Autumn Leaf
Since 1992
WARNING: SPOILERS
This thread may contain spoilers for the current GOTM. It is here to allow discussion of the GOTM away from the main thread.
As the designer for this map, I'm ineligible to win this GOTM, but as it seems to be challenging people, here is my game from 3000 BC up till the defeat of the major enemies. The period from 3980 BC to 3000 BC is in the main thread.
2960: Harlem discovered. Manoeuvres near Harlem, waiting for reinforcements to come up. York's Phalanx arrives in New Zimbabwe. Seems I didn't need the fortress-city-on-a-mountain after all.
2940: Americans build Hanging Gardens in Columbia. Tenochtitlan completes Temple, starts work on Pyramids - may complete them or may switch to another Wonder later, but it may be the fastest route to a better form of government in this slow-early-technology game. Tax T5L0S5 > T3L0S7 to speed up science. My expenses are now slightly higher than my income but it's temporary and I plan to sell some captured Walls & Barracks to balance the budget. Settler rushed in York.
2920: York becomes a Settler. Reinforcements trickling through New Zimbabwe. Exeter founded.
2900: Birmingham founded. Reinforcements reach Harlem. Oxford completes Temple, starts work on Colossus. Wish I had Trade so I could use Caravans for portable shields, but until now, survival was more important.
2880: English capture Zulu Harlem! Chariot finds (unwalled) Zulu Isandhlwana.
2860: English capture Zulu Isandhlwana. Barracks sold, worker placed on mountain - typical rubbish AI location, too close to Harlem. I'll use it to generate a couple of Settlers, then uproot it.
2840: Writing > Mysticism. An advancing Chariot bumps a Zulu Militia and for the first time they offer peace. Per this GOTM's rules, I turn them down. The Zulus are obviously on the ropes, so now I need to start scouting and planning how to take down the Vikings. The River currently protects them (and me) from a mass invasion, since I only have the single NONE Trireme I started with, which is returning but hasn't arrived home yet (currently near Tenochtitlan). It may be time to build more ships and some Diplomats. The main options are a mass landing on a hilltop near Parolando (Operation "Guillotine") or a Diplomat initiative against one of their smaller and more remote settlements to gain a bridgehead on their side of the River followed by a conventional land campaign (Operation "Overlord"), or some combination. Eric will certainly have a much larger military than I do, so Overlord will be slow and expensive. Guillotine offers a faster win (a lot of their strength will evaporate if I can capture Parolando and Soul City early) and lets me do the hard part before attrition grinds my army down, but it depends on capturing and holding a hill or mountain near the target that I can build up on. That's risky.
2820: English capture Zulu Intombe. Zulus again sue for peace. No.
2780: Chariots outside Mpondo.
2760: English capture Zulu Mpondo. Zulu civilization destroyed by English! Woohoo! I was afraid they might have founded some little city far downriver that would drag my six-Chariot eastern army a long way from home, but this is OK. Time to pull them back, ready to take on the Vikings. Cavalry are pretty much played out for military use, so I'll send my NONE Cavalry downriver to explore (I already have a Chariot exploring upriver). In other news, my Trireme has spotted Viking units on the far bank as it comes back downriver, but no settlements yet. (I've been looking for good targets for Overlord.)
2740: Trireme spots Viking Tifonujo on the bank across from Brighton.
2700: Mysticism > Mathematics. Dover builds Diplomat.
2680: Diplomat lands a square away from Tifonujo. (If I landed it next to the city it would almost certainly be destroyed between turns.)
2660: Babylonian civilization destroyed by Ethicals! Hastings founded from a hut. Diplomat arrives at Tifonujo. Eric Bloodaxe pops up and demands 600 coins for peace. No. I need that money! Dissidents will give me Tifonujo for just 216 coins. But it has no walls and my army is still near Harlem, so I'm not ready to go Overlord yet. If I bribe Tifonujo now, it will probably just get retaken and give Eric a technology. On the other hand, opening a front here might suck Viking military into the roadless north, which may make Guillotine easier. I gamble and instead send my Diplomat south, looking for something I can defend and make Eric bleed against.
2640: Canterbury founded. Diplomat incites Iyeyasujo to revolt for 315 coins, also gains 2 Phalanxes, a Chariot and a Cavalry. What a bargain! I stick the Chariot and one Phalanx on a beautiful mountain south of town. Dover builds another Diplomat. This one will try Tifonujo. Harlem builds a Trireme. I load a Chariot and a Phalanx aboard and send it off to scout for good landing spots for Guillotine. My other Chariots are gathering on a coastal forest west of New Zimbabwe, ready to be ferried across when/if a beachead is established. Checking the Attitude Advisor, hello, suddenly Intombe is unhappy. Looks like I have too many cities for Despotism. Tenochtitlan is 208/300 for Pyramids, 7 turns away with a production of 14 shields. Good enough. Monarchy should reduce the pressure, and once I finish off Eric I can go Democratic, although I'll need to spend big on luxuries.
2600: Mathematics > Astronomy. Diplomat buys Tifonujo, two Phalanxes and a Chariot for 207 coins. My painfully accumulated Treasury is a shadow of its former self, but I have bought Eric a major headache with the money. Harlem's Trireme finds a hill opposite where my army is gathering and drops its passengers there, hopefully catching Eric off balance. Two Chariots replace them on board the ship, ready to land next turn.
2580: My hilltop advance guard withstands a Cavalry counter-attack. The Chariot reconoiters - and finds Soul City, WITH NO WALLS! I thought I gave it walls. Well, that simplifies things. The Phalanx advances to cover the Chariot, which kills one defender (hopefully causing the city to change production to replace the defender, if it was working on an offensive unit) while two more Chariots land on the hill and two board the Trireme.
2560: My units are not molested between turns, and English capture Viking Soul City - including the Lighthouse. Trireme makes port with two Chariots, so now I have 3 Chariots with movement left astride the Viking rail network. It's not quite enough to risk an attack on Parolando, but I sow devastation amongst the vulnerable units in Eric's rear. Next turn I'll have 5 Chariots to throw at Parolando. Sevastopol destroyed. Construction from a hut.
2540: English capture Viking Parolando! Three Chariots survive to occupy the city. Next turn will see two more landed at Soul City. The northern units start moving south. There's an unseen city somewhere between Parolando and Iyeyasujo that is about to experience a nutcracker.
2520: Banbury founded.
2500: English capture Viking Cernskujo.
2480: Manoeuvers near Publia.
2460: PYRAMIDS IN TENOCHTITLAN. Code of Laws from hut. English capture Viking Publia. Vikings sue for peace. No, of course. ENGLISH IN REVOLT.
2440: English form Monarchy. Way too many units in the field at present for militarised Republic without Woman's Suffrage, but the Vikings are on the ropes and once they go down I can finally demob my army. I've already stopped building military units except defensive. Nobody else is nearby, and even if the Romans pop up nearby, a Republican military can handle them while they're new. Meanwhile Monarchy fixes all those unhappy citizens. An exploring Chariot meets Americans far upriver, trades Literacy for Mathematics. Peace treaty, plus 200 gold from them!
They are so far away I currently couldn't make war on them even if I wanted to. They can't touch me either.
2420: a Chariot climbs a mountain and looks down on Kleomanujo.
2400: Newcastle founded. Kleomanujo destroyed. Viking civilization destroyed by English! Eric Bloodaxe's head is paraded on a pike through the streets of Oxford as the city rejoices.
This thread may contain spoilers for the current GOTM. It is here to allow discussion of the GOTM away from the main thread.
As the designer for this map, I'm ineligible to win this GOTM, but as it seems to be challenging people, here is my game from 3000 BC up till the defeat of the major enemies. The period from 3980 BC to 3000 BC is in the main thread.
2960: Harlem discovered. Manoeuvres near Harlem, waiting for reinforcements to come up. York's Phalanx arrives in New Zimbabwe. Seems I didn't need the fortress-city-on-a-mountain after all.
2940: Americans build Hanging Gardens in Columbia. Tenochtitlan completes Temple, starts work on Pyramids - may complete them or may switch to another Wonder later, but it may be the fastest route to a better form of government in this slow-early-technology game. Tax T5L0S5 > T3L0S7 to speed up science. My expenses are now slightly higher than my income but it's temporary and I plan to sell some captured Walls & Barracks to balance the budget. Settler rushed in York.
2920: York becomes a Settler. Reinforcements trickling through New Zimbabwe. Exeter founded.
2900: Birmingham founded. Reinforcements reach Harlem. Oxford completes Temple, starts work on Colossus. Wish I had Trade so I could use Caravans for portable shields, but until now, survival was more important.
2880: English capture Zulu Harlem! Chariot finds (unwalled) Zulu Isandhlwana.
2860: English capture Zulu Isandhlwana. Barracks sold, worker placed on mountain - typical rubbish AI location, too close to Harlem. I'll use it to generate a couple of Settlers, then uproot it.
2840: Writing > Mysticism. An advancing Chariot bumps a Zulu Militia and for the first time they offer peace. Per this GOTM's rules, I turn them down. The Zulus are obviously on the ropes, so now I need to start scouting and planning how to take down the Vikings. The River currently protects them (and me) from a mass invasion, since I only have the single NONE Trireme I started with, which is returning but hasn't arrived home yet (currently near Tenochtitlan). It may be time to build more ships and some Diplomats. The main options are a mass landing on a hilltop near Parolando (Operation "Guillotine") or a Diplomat initiative against one of their smaller and more remote settlements to gain a bridgehead on their side of the River followed by a conventional land campaign (Operation "Overlord"), or some combination. Eric will certainly have a much larger military than I do, so Overlord will be slow and expensive. Guillotine offers a faster win (a lot of their strength will evaporate if I can capture Parolando and Soul City early) and lets me do the hard part before attrition grinds my army down, but it depends on capturing and holding a hill or mountain near the target that I can build up on. That's risky.
2820: English capture Zulu Intombe. Zulus again sue for peace. No.
2780: Chariots outside Mpondo.
2760: English capture Zulu Mpondo. Zulu civilization destroyed by English! Woohoo! I was afraid they might have founded some little city far downriver that would drag my six-Chariot eastern army a long way from home, but this is OK. Time to pull them back, ready to take on the Vikings. Cavalry are pretty much played out for military use, so I'll send my NONE Cavalry downriver to explore (I already have a Chariot exploring upriver). In other news, my Trireme has spotted Viking units on the far bank as it comes back downriver, but no settlements yet. (I've been looking for good targets for Overlord.)
2740: Trireme spots Viking Tifonujo on the bank across from Brighton.
2700: Mysticism > Mathematics. Dover builds Diplomat.
2680: Diplomat lands a square away from Tifonujo. (If I landed it next to the city it would almost certainly be destroyed between turns.)
2660: Babylonian civilization destroyed by Ethicals! Hastings founded from a hut. Diplomat arrives at Tifonujo. Eric Bloodaxe pops up and demands 600 coins for peace. No. I need that money! Dissidents will give me Tifonujo for just 216 coins. But it has no walls and my army is still near Harlem, so I'm not ready to go Overlord yet. If I bribe Tifonujo now, it will probably just get retaken and give Eric a technology. On the other hand, opening a front here might suck Viking military into the roadless north, which may make Guillotine easier. I gamble and instead send my Diplomat south, looking for something I can defend and make Eric bleed against.
2640: Canterbury founded. Diplomat incites Iyeyasujo to revolt for 315 coins, also gains 2 Phalanxes, a Chariot and a Cavalry. What a bargain! I stick the Chariot and one Phalanx on a beautiful mountain south of town. Dover builds another Diplomat. This one will try Tifonujo. Harlem builds a Trireme. I load a Chariot and a Phalanx aboard and send it off to scout for good landing spots for Guillotine. My other Chariots are gathering on a coastal forest west of New Zimbabwe, ready to be ferried across when/if a beachead is established. Checking the Attitude Advisor, hello, suddenly Intombe is unhappy. Looks like I have too many cities for Despotism. Tenochtitlan is 208/300 for Pyramids, 7 turns away with a production of 14 shields. Good enough. Monarchy should reduce the pressure, and once I finish off Eric I can go Democratic, although I'll need to spend big on luxuries.
2600: Mathematics > Astronomy. Diplomat buys Tifonujo, two Phalanxes and a Chariot for 207 coins. My painfully accumulated Treasury is a shadow of its former self, but I have bought Eric a major headache with the money. Harlem's Trireme finds a hill opposite where my army is gathering and drops its passengers there, hopefully catching Eric off balance. Two Chariots replace them on board the ship, ready to land next turn.
2580: My hilltop advance guard withstands a Cavalry counter-attack. The Chariot reconoiters - and finds Soul City, WITH NO WALLS! I thought I gave it walls. Well, that simplifies things. The Phalanx advances to cover the Chariot, which kills one defender (hopefully causing the city to change production to replace the defender, if it was working on an offensive unit) while two more Chariots land on the hill and two board the Trireme.
2560: My units are not molested between turns, and English capture Viking Soul City - including the Lighthouse. Trireme makes port with two Chariots, so now I have 3 Chariots with movement left astride the Viking rail network. It's not quite enough to risk an attack on Parolando, but I sow devastation amongst the vulnerable units in Eric's rear. Next turn I'll have 5 Chariots to throw at Parolando. Sevastopol destroyed. Construction from a hut.
2540: English capture Viking Parolando! Three Chariots survive to occupy the city. Next turn will see two more landed at Soul City. The northern units start moving south. There's an unseen city somewhere between Parolando and Iyeyasujo that is about to experience a nutcracker.
2520: Banbury founded.
2500: English capture Viking Cernskujo.
2480: Manoeuvers near Publia.
2460: PYRAMIDS IN TENOCHTITLAN. Code of Laws from hut. English capture Viking Publia. Vikings sue for peace. No, of course. ENGLISH IN REVOLT.
2440: English form Monarchy. Way too many units in the field at present for militarised Republic without Woman's Suffrage, but the Vikings are on the ropes and once they go down I can finally demob my army. I've already stopped building military units except defensive. Nobody else is nearby, and even if the Romans pop up nearby, a Republican military can handle them while they're new. Meanwhile Monarchy fixes all those unhappy citizens. An exploring Chariot meets Americans far upriver, trades Literacy for Mathematics. Peace treaty, plus 200 gold from them!
They are so far away I currently couldn't make war on them even if I wanted to. They can't touch me either.2420: a Chariot climbs a mountain and looks down on Kleomanujo.
2400: Newcastle founded. Kleomanujo destroyed. Viking civilization destroyed by English! Eric Bloodaxe's head is paraded on a pike through the streets of Oxford as the city rejoices.
