Mediterranean Adventure

[beetle]

Blah, I missed winning IG by 20 hammers. I had annexed Venice, so there were forests I could have chopped. Or I could have starved Rome down a bit for hammer specialists. Or Sicily could have been helping instead of build a Lighthouse. Its production was so meager, I didn’t think it could matter.

We have Sicily back, and not likely to loose it again, but war with Carthage is still pretty much it is a stalemate. Alex just denounced us, so things might be getting ugly soon.

Are we allowed to lump-sum sell stuff? We have a few spare lux.

Details under spoiler because the turns are getting long.

Spoiler :

• T241 Monaco is now our ally, and they have quests for units, so so I gift them an XB, and send that novice spy to Athens. Coup in Yerevan (success), gift last XP for bonus influence to them. Gift (last) Pike to Tyre for bonus influence. Move veteran Spy to Monaco since I figure we want them forever. Give PoP to Mombassa since they are looking for TR. Cargo Ship to Tirana (Genoa) for quest. Buy Silver from Nebuchadnezzar for market rate and WLtKD. Make peace w/ Enrico. Embark Archeologists to unfog map as much as anything.
  • Kill tally: GWI, GG, Battleship (prized), 2x Frigates
• T242 Harun now pretending friendly and asks for OB (last turn, he wanted like 10 gpt for OB). Alex takes Salona, killing off Enrico. GMu spawns, which will help with a couple CS quests, but we do not have any Opera Houses. Land an Artillery on Sicily to see if that will work. Rent a Coal and upgrade Caravel.
  • Kill tally: We lost the prized Battleship; Kill 5x Privateers (one prized), Calvary. I resolve to burn Great Admiral if I prize another Battleship.
• T243 Archeologist captured, and Prized Privateer dies; Kill 2x Battleship and 2x Privateer.
• T244 Harun enters Atomic Age; Morocco adopts Freedom. Move novice spy to Mecca. IG vote is up, and I check that all cities are one turn to next build, and switch all to production focus. Liberate Santiago. Liberate Sicily (which was only tricky because I didn’t notice that a couple CS ships in the area were hostile). It is not the highest yield for our GW, but I burn it any way because it will let me unlock Volunteer Army. Move GWB to Sicily
  • Kill tally: loose a Privateer (veteran, which tried prizing last turn), and two Artillery (the one that landed on Sicily, and another one that embarked; Kill Battleship and GWI.
• T245 LOL, Dido thinks we would be happy to give her four cities for peace, and throws a dozen units into the water. Songhai still jamming up the strait between Carthage and Sicily, but now that is working for us. IG passes, and all cities but Sicily assigned to IG. Venice comes out of resistance, so I annex it so it is helping too. FLeas and 3x Artillery are moving NE, to take out Dido’s two isolated cities in France. I cannot get to Agadir because Isabella is blocking it with her ships. Burn Admiral to repair fleet near Sicily (including our only Ironclad).
  • Kill tally: Loose another Privateer; GWI, Calvary x2, Machine Gun, and two CS ships (Galleass and Privateer).
• T246 Isabella take Agadir. Dido has landed an Artillery on Sicily. Sign RA with Darius. Coup Yerevan and gift 0xp Privateers to them and another CS with unit quests.
  • Kill tally: Artillery, 2x Privateer (one prized), Machine Gun, 3x Battleship.
• T247 Babylon denounces us. Milan has captured Agadir and is razing it; I cannot re-liberate because I had withdrawn and there are now too many ships for me to get through. Askia is at war with Spain; that may have happened a while ago, but I just noticed. Buy inquisitor for Rome. Electronics unlocked, start Refrigeration. Frigate upgrade to Battle ship is 390 each.
  • Kill tally: loose a Frigate; Kill 3x Battleship, GWI
• T248 Ramesses denounces us. IG is 50% done and we have 1600 hammers, but GA ends next turn. Looks good to me, so I keep going. Santiago is under heavy assault from CS, so I withdraw. Dido will accept White Peace, but FLeas and Arty just arrived at France, so no thanks.
  • Kill tally: Loose two privateers; Kill battleship and 2x Privateer (one prized).
• T249 Alex denounces us. Isabella DoWs Sulimand. GA born, which I burn to keep the IG GA going. Dido has submarines now. Sicily has no targets other than Lilybaeum, but I am not so interested. Arty in range of Hippo Diarrhytus, but I do not have LoS.
  • Kill tally: loose a Frigate; Kill submarine, 2x Artillery, machine gun, GAd, Battleship.
• T250 Harun denounces us, and DoWS Suleiman. Theodora and Ahmad ask us to DoW Suleiman, but I decline. Coup in Yerevan then gift our least experienced Frigate.
  • Kill tally: loose Frigate and Privateer, and GWB (on my turn, from bombing sub); Kill 2x Battleship, GWI, GG
• Interstitial: loose IG by 20 hammers. Our only battleship dies, but it was merely level 2, and we finally have gold enough now to upgrade one of our double-tap +1 range bombarding Frigates.

@raider980, you are up! There were no MoV to kill. Again, I think you will have fun, giving Dido some payback. But I have no idea what our end game is here.

 

[raider980]

Looks good. Good question, what is our endgame. When can we expect an AI to win, early 300's?

Dido has regular bombers. If things get too heated, I'm going to peace out with her unless someone really objects. I won't peace out before taking those cities in France though.
The promo "Bombardment" doesn't affect attacks on cities right? I'm almost sure I tested it one time and it doesn't, it only affects actual land units.

 

[raider980]

Is there a reason we stopped working scientist specialists? Edit, should we work merchant specialists now? I thought I read something about that above.

 

[raider980]

Allright, I'm going to have dinner. Its the beginning of T253, what should I research? Plastics for Research Labs? Or Railroad to Ballistics for Anti-Aircraft Guns. We didn't get hit by any bombers this turn so maybe if we keep out of her range she won't attack us. Dido is willing to give us 30gpt for peace also.

 

[Nizef]

Allright, I'm going to have dinner. Its the beginning of T253, what should I research? Plastics for Research Labs? Or Railroad to Ballistics for Anti-Aircraft Guns. We didn't get hit by any bombers this turn so maybe if we keep out of her range she won't attack us. Dido is willing to give us 30gpt for peace also.

I would go Plastics. RLs are just so powerful that they might save the game for us.

 

[raider980]

I would go Plastics. RLs are just so powerful that they might save the game for us.

Good, That’s what I was going to do, just wanted to make sure.

And before I mess up another Raze/Puppet choice, if I do take the French Carthaginian cities what to do with them?

 

[raider980]

I only played to T255 and don't have time to play the rest of my turns so you all can continue from here. I'm going on vacation tomorrow so won't be able to play our Mediterranean Adventure any more (unless its still going on Sunday when I get back but I think it should be over by then). Here's what happened T251-T255.

T251. 1705AD. Dido has Bombers and AA guns. As long as she keeps embarking units, we'll keep destroying them; kill 4 embarked units.

Interim. One of our frigates died to 2 bomber hits. Alex enters Atomic era. No longer friends with Sidon, Belgrade, Bucharest, Jerusalem. Persia lost its capital; come on Darius, hold out, we need your ideological pressure.

T252. Lost a privateer to a bomber. Killed some more embarked units and a battleship. Closest French Carthaginian city in the yellow from Arty attacks.

Interim. No longer friends with Antananarivo.

T253. Killed 2 battleships, some embarked units and two unguarded great generals, one of them embarked. (Maybe we should add to our rules that we can't kill unguarded great generals/admirals, why dose the AI always do that.)

Interim. Dido completes Apollo Program. WLtKD in Rome and Cumae, not sure how.

T254. Pearls + Al trade with Ramesses for sugar is up - he wants everything except the kitchen sink to renew so we don't. Killed carrier with bomber and triplane on it, battleship; Dido has an endless supply of units. Alex still won't DoW Dido. French Carthaginian city in the red.

Interim. Valencia (CS) captured by Spain. DoF with Morocco is up, do not renew since I think people hate him and he's weak anyway.

T255. Venice finishes University, starts Aqueduct. Sicily finishes Aqueduct, starts walls.

That is where I stopped. There are still some units to move in T255. I had stopped because I was debating whether to move the FLeas in range of the French Carthaginian city to try and take it next turn or wait. It is way into the red but there is a bomber and a machine gun inside, a GWI nearby and an Arty behind the city. I won't be able to get back on and finish the turn though so I'll leave it up to you @Nizef .

I look forward to reading how the game turns out! If you all want to start another succession game next, count me in.

 

[Nizef]

I only played to T255 and don't have time to play the rest of my turns so you all can continue from here. I'm going on vacation tomorrow so won't be able to play our Mediterranean Adventure any more (unless its still going on Sunday when I get back but I think it should be over by then). Here's what happened T251-T255.

T251. 1705AD. Dido has Bombers and AA guns. As long as she keeps embarking units, we'll keep destroying them; kill 4 embarked units.

Interim. One of our frigates died to 2 bomber hits. Alex enters Atomic era. No longer friends with Sidon, Belgrade, Bucharest, Jerusalem. Persia lost its capital; come on Darius, hold out, we need your ideological pressure.

T252. Lost a privateer to a bomber. Killed some more embarked units and a battleship. Closest French Carthaginian city in the yellow from Arty attacks.

Interim. No longer friends with Antananarivo.

T253. Killed 2 battleships, some embarked units and two unguarded great generals, one of them embarked. (Maybe we should add to our rules that we can't kill unguarded great generals/admirals, why dose the AI always do that.)

Interim. Dido completes Apollo Program. WLtKD in Rome and Cumae, not sure how.

T254. Pearls + Al trade with Ramesses for sugar is up - he wants everything except the kitchen sink to renew so we don't. Killed carrier with bomber and triplane on it, battleship; Dido has an endless supply of units. Alex still won't DoW Dido. French Carthaginian city in the red.

Interim. Valencia (CS) captured by Spain. DoF with Morocco is up, do not renew since I think people hate him and he's weak anyway.

T255. Venice finishes University, starts Aqueduct. Sicily finishes Aqueduct, starts walls.

That is where I stopped. There are still some units to move in T255. I had stopped because I was debating whether to move the FLeas in range of the French Carthaginian city to try and take it next turn or wait. It is way into the red but there is a bomber and a machine gun inside, a GWI nearby and an Arty behind the city. I won't be able to get back on and finish the turn though so I'll leave it up to you @Nizef .

I look forward to reading how the game turns out! If you all want to start another succession game next, count me in.

Would you care to share the t255 file?

 

[raider980]

Dang why do I forget that. Its attached above.

 

[vadalaz]

If you all want to start another succession game next, count me in.

@Nizef, @beetle, would you be interested in another game as well? If so, any suggestions on civ, map, rules?

Details under spoiler because the turns are getting long.

They really are, there are so many units to click through. I like to finish my sessions in one go, but I haven't been able to do so the last couple of times.

 

[beetle]

I would go Plastics. RLs are just so powerful that they might save the game for us.

Agree w/ Plastics and that RL are a game changers. But are you thinking about Dom VC? Map is not so big, but there are so many extra capitals to drill through.

With the extra civs — and Alex in the game — I was thinking Diplo VC would be a suitable challenge, and maybe faster than SV.

@Nizef, @beetle, would you be interested in another game as well? If so, any suggestions on civ, map, rules?

Yes, these two have been very interesting, and educational! And as much I complain, I enjoy having to negotiate over play styles.

They really are, there are so many units to click through. I like to finish my sessions in one go, but I haven't been able to do so the last couple of times.

From a playing time perspective, this game is probably only half over.

 

[Nizef]

I am up for another game. I kind of like our current game, so maybe another coastal start for some naval engagement? The map could perhaps be a normal template like Fractal/Shuffle/Continents.

 

[beetle]

Definitely a coastal start please, just much more interesting. I have since played that YNAEMP map (we used for Ethiopia) as Polynesia and Indonesia (both trying to leverage Australia, didn’t work out for me). A Spain start would start out strong, as Rock of Gibraltar is near her spawning point. A Japan play might be fun too.

I also liked this map very much. So we could try try Carthage or Byzantium?

 

[raider980]

I should’ve added to my write up that Morocco didn’t ask to renew the DoF so it’s still available if you want it.

As far as the next map I agree
water would be nice. If this were Pangea and Dido was that close I fear we would’ve been toast a long time ago. Having her across the sea was a good thing.

 

[Nizef]

Okay, now we are at a crossroads and I want your input before I continue. I took Hippo Diarrythus on t257 and now Carthage itself on t260. Dido is prepared to pay 23 gpt for peace. She cannot retake right away but we have additional resources for recapturing even if she has some units in the shadows. White peace or continue the war against Dido?

 

[vadalaz]

Nicely done! If happiness allows, I say we take more cities.

 

[Nizef]

We are 2 in the green right now. I was thinking about selling Hippo Diarrythus, if we continue our war campaign.

 

[vadalaz]

Yeah, we should only keep good cities at this point. As for happiness, do we have Temples and Colosseums everywhere? Can we work more specialist slots? I'm always reluctant to build Zoos, but those are an option too.

 

[beetle]

Nice job @Nizef !

I love that we have Carthage! I was thinking we would raze Hippo Diarrythus and Dido’s other city in France. Then maybe plant one new city in the middle, on the river.

I am all for selling Hippo Diarrythus. But what is our rule regarding lump sum trades? Can we gift to Alex to put him the red?

And again, what is the VC we want to push towards?

 

[vadalaz]

But what is our rule regarding lump sum trades?

Originally the idea was to allow lump sums, but I didn't think about selling cities at the time. How about a limit of 1000 gold? A drop in the bucket for the AI at this point, pretty significant but not game-changing for us.

Maybe for the next game we can try a softer version of the gpt rule and have a limit on total gpt received from other civilizations instead of an outright ban as well.

And again, what is the VC we want to push towards?

Probably Diplo at this point? It's the cheapest option tech-wise, there's a pretty good level 2 Freedom tenet for it, and we might be able to buy some AI votes as well. Could try to resurrect Enrico and Maria (and Ashur? he's dead right?) on the turn before the vote too.