RK-08: Atomic Betty

[frankcor]

You want pictures? You can't handle ... er ... wait, that's a movie line. Sorry.

Because I've signed up for vra's plan, I feel obligated to comply with his task wish list.

As I see it, the list is:

Repell Chinese invaders: It probably goes without saying: We can't use nukes for this.

China captured Sigtuna.

*sighs while absorbing the boos*

They landed 3 Artillery, 2 marines and an Infantry. Against a Redcoat. I upgraded him and added a tank hoping to call thier bluff..meh...nope.

First, I should say that the 1950AD save I picked up appears to be one year before the final situation that vra wrote about. Siguna had yet to be lost and no Chinese units were cavorting with the livestock in the pasture NE of Roskilde, although although you can see their wounded transport sitting off our shore:


I evacuated 2 sleeping workers from Sigtuna, the Infantry could not be loaded. I upgraded a Rifleman to Infantry in nearby Bremen so he can fortify Warwick. Warwick is another of our infamously ungarrisoned coastal cities that was at the time the host base of our entire bomber airfleet. (doesn't that make you just a little bit nervous, vra?) I started a tank in Warick and would rush-buy it after letting it work for 1 turn.

Here's what we are producing in our core cities in 1950:


I switched a few bombers to ground units and I will focus on adding more ground units to building queues over the next few turns and unless China sends a lot more units our way, our east coast should survive. Oh well, it's like they say, if you're not losing a few cities every game, you need to move up a level in difficulty.

Prevent China from taking out Japan: Hmmm, reminds me of a Steeley Dan song.


Toku has his hands full. And we can't use nukes here either. I really like vra's suggestion to base some bombers in Samsun that can support both our invasion and the defense of Japan. Only one problem was that we hadn't captured Samsun yet.

I gave 500 gold to Toku -- that should upgrade his 5 Riflemen in Kyoto. Then loaded up enough force to take 2 more Mehmed cities next turn, Samsun and Marsin:


I loaded up some more transports to make an amphibious landing on the hills outside of Istanbul. That's Mehmed's most heavily garrisoned city. All three cities were put on the Nuke targeting list for next turn.

"Oh, please be light on the Nukes."
Sorry, vra, but this game is called Atomic Betty, n'est ce pas?

Two out of three requests ain't bad. I'll start playing now.

 

[vra379971]

Not that I'll expect you'll see this in time to matter, but there's another stack in shadow 2 NE of that Tank you see in Japan territory that I just remembered about. So yeah, needless to say...we need to hop to it or...well poor Toku will be smoked like a ham.

And I like my Japanese food either raw, steamed or fried

Oh, and you're right. Two out of three ain't bad at all ;p

 

[frankcor]

Well, maybe it'll only be 1 out of three. Toku is in serious trouble and we simply don't have enough bombers to make a difference. In additon, we really need some bombing sorties for our own force's protection.

I'm thinking the best thing we can do for Toku is to start lobbing blind nukes into China's biggest cities to cripple their military production. Within 5 turns we'll be in a better position to start capturing Chinese cities and Toku will be okay then. Meanwhile, we'll let Chinese workers clean up the fallout while we deal with Mehmed.

I played 2 turns last night then started making moves and went to sleep instead. I'll try to finish tonight and post a full report.

 

[vra379971]

Wise ;p I find playing Civ when I should be sleeping leads to making bad moves ;P

Lobbing blind Nukes sounds lke a lovely plan. That said we may be able to eat our cake too as, I've observed that AI behaviour when bombed is to huddle and heal THEN attack when healed. And if I recall, they have no medic, and even without cultural defence, a City Defender 3 promoted Infantry is nasty when they have only Calvalry and the odd Marine. So, we don't really have to kill them...just weaken them a bit so they stop to heal instead of attacking.

Then again, there's always bribing Toku to make peace.

---------------

Oh, something that just occured to me. Organized Religion is no longer providing any benefits to us really (except in rebuilding Korea). Perhaps a revolt to Free Religion?

 

[Immaculate]

Please screenshot every single nuke you launch. Can you get a spy inside a city for before and after shots?
Thanks.

 

[frankcor]

Before I continued play, I needed to restart Warlords because I had movies turned off and I see Immaculate asking for screenshots of mushroom clouds. Modern warfare takes a long long time. And this map runs very very slowly on my computer. So far, it hasn't crashed on me, yet. You folks cost me some real -- I've ordered more RAM so I can play this map (and keep PhotoPaint, Notepad and Mozilla open at the same time)

I figure I'll post the results of my first 2 turns and I apologize for missing the first mushroom cloud.

Inherited turn (1950 AD):

IBT: A Chinese Destroyer sank our transport outside of Sigtuna taking our two evacuating workers to the bottom. Sigtuna fell as previewed by vra.

At Newcastle, Mehmed brought 10 Cavalry and a Canon up to the city. Two Cavalry died attacking our tanks.

Turn 1 (1951 AD): London trained a Bomber > Tank(1). Hastings trained a Bomber > Infantry(1). Canterbury constructed an Observatory > Fighter(4). Nidaros trained a Bomber > Battleship(3). Lodose constructed an Observatory > Fighter(8). Haithabu constructed a Stock Exchange > Infantry(3). Athens trained a Bomber > Tank(2). Munich constructed an Observatory > Infantry(3). Corinth constructed a Jewish Temple > Bomber. P'yongyang constructed a Colosseum > Battleship(5). Seoul constructed a Library > Jail(5). Inch'on constructed a Theatre > Confucian Temple(3). Pusan constructed a Factory > Gunship(2). Wonsan constructed a Forge > Lighthouse(4).

At Sigtuna, we sank every Chinese ship visible in the eastern ocean along with an Ottoman Frigate, losing a Battleship. We had the upper hand in the eastern ocean now but our navy needed lots of healing.

At Samsun, I pulled our navy back one square, then one ICBM brought the city from this:


To this:


(I didn't need a spy here because we had LOS -- does a nuke endanger our spy if she's in a target city? I pulled back our navy because I presume friendly units would suffer losses adjacent to a nuke strike)

The city fell and we moved in a good defensive force along with a bunch of bombers and killed some wounded stragglers outside the city.

Marsin was spared the same treatment. Instead, I landed a force outside of the city that could take it next turn after some softening up with bombers.

IBT: Mehmed counterattacked at Newcastle and Samsun but we suffered no loses thanks to our stalwart gunships. We could use more of them! We lost fishing boats to pillagers on our southern coast.

Global warming hit an Iron mine outside of Pusan.

Turn 2 (1952 AD): London trained a Tank > Airport. York constructed an Aqueduct > Infantry(2). Nottingham trained a Bomber > Bomber(2). Hastings trained an Infantry > Gunship(3). Jelling trained a Bomber > Infantry(2). Uppsala trained a Bomber > Tank(2). Cologne trained a Bomber > Bomber(3). Hamburg constructed an Airport > Marine(3). Dortmund trained a Bomber > Bomber(4). Sparta trained a Bomber > Bomber(2). Knossos constructed a Stock Exchange > Jewish Temple(2). Stuttgart constructed an Observatory > Gunship(3). Conventry constructed a Grocer ? Infantry(3).

We captured Marsin, mopped up some counterattackers and landed at Istanbul. This was a because I forgot to drop a nuke prior to hitting the beach. Ooops. I bombed 2 chinese stacks outside of Kyoto but didn't accomplish much. The Japanese capital will fall.

As I suggested before and as vra concurs, I'll start lobbing nukes into the biggest Chinese cities. It will slow them down greatly and give their workers something to do. And we won't have to deal with the movement penalties in fallout zones.

 

[ruff_hi]

ouch - a nice size 20 city to [sniff] size 8

 

[vra379971]

The Chinese will capture Kyoto? Oh dear...keep bombing...

*bites nails and hopes for an allied breakthrough*

And I think you can't bomb if spy is in city...so much for dying for your country!

 

[Immaculate]

This is great. I've never launched a nuke before, but now i get to see what they do.
Are the city's improvements really screwed up?

 

[frankcor]

Immaculate, random buildings are destroyed by ICBMs but not wonders, I am told. I'm trying to get a spy into a target city to get some before & after shots of the city screen. Meanwhile:

Turn 2 (1952 AD): Before hitting Enter, I counterattacked and eliminated the Chinese invaders in our pasture -- er -- plains at Roskilde.

I took a look at Mao's cities:


That's our beach head in the northeast corner of this continent. Here were his three largest cities:


Guangzhou made a tempting target with that large force there but unfortunately, one of our Destroyers was adjacent to it. Xian is close to the Japanese border so it looked to be the optimum target in 1952. We just so happened to have one more ICBM. No before-and-after pictures here - our nearest spy was several turns away. So perhaps an artistic montage will have to suffice:


Finally, just before hitting Enter, take at look at our beach head, seen in this view looking towards the southeast at our upcoming land battle, Istanbul.


IBT: We got hit hard:
At Istanbul, 3 Ottoman Cannons attacked our invaders - no losses
At Samsun, 5 Ottoman Cannons, 3 Ottoman Infantry and a Chinese tank attacked our garrison - 1 Infantry 2 Gunships, 2 Tanks lost.
At Marsin, 1 Ottoman Infantry attacked our units outside the city - no losses.

Turn 3 (1953 AD): London constructed an Airport > Gunship(1). Birka trained an ICBM > Airport(3). Athens trained a Tank > ICBM(6). Pharsalos constructed a Jail > Infantry(7). Pusan trained a Gunship > Confucian Temple(2).

Kyoto survived but only has a wounded artillery and rifleman there. I gave Toku another 200 <sigh>. Chinese losses in the IBT assault appear to have been massive. I used half our available bombing sorties on the fresh arriving Chinese forces.

At our beach head, I did some select counterattacking but avoided anything less than 95% odds. We were pretty much turtled-up and healing. We're suddenly a little thin after that massive wave we just withstood.

Here's our next target, just before:

(our ICBM posed for this shot)

During:

(the frigate basking in the glow is a nice touch)

And after:


Owww, that's gonna leave a mark.

Some workers arrived at the beach head but I learned we need to research Ecology before we can scrub fallout.

At Istanbul, our artillery reduced the cultural defense to 0%. I let our infantry heal -- we'll need all our artillery to cause collateral damage if we are to take this key city any time soon.

IBT: We got hit, but fortunately, this was not a massive wave like before. We held with no losses.

Kyoto fell, sorry vra.

Turn 4 (1954 AD): London constructed a Gunship (our first airlift unit) > marine(1). York trained an Infantry > Infantry(3). Nottingham trained a bomber > Bomber(2). Jelling trained an Infantry > Airport(4). Uppsala trained a Tank > Marine(4). Nidaros trained a Battleship > Confucian Academy(3). Haithabu trained an Infantry > Infantry(4). Sparta trained a Bomber > Infantry(3). Knossos constructed a Jewish Temple > Infantry(3). Munich trained an Infantry > Gunship(2). Mycenae constructed an Observatory > Fighter(4). Cheju trained a Tank > Theatre(2). Inch'on constructed a Confucian Temple > Barracks(1). Pusan constructed a Confucian Temple > Infantry(1). P'yongsong constructed a Christian Temple > Workboat(5). Phrygian constructed a Jail > Infantry(11). Nampo constructed a Factory > Infantry(3).

At Samsun, Ottoman SAMs started showing up (and dying).

IBT: 2 Ottomans died while attacking Samsun.
Global Warming struck near Tonsberg, turning our dye plantation into a desert. Mehmed birthed a Great Engineer.

(to be continued)

 

[frankcor]

Turn 5 (1955 AD): London trained a Marine > Tank. Hastings trained a Gunship > ICBM(6). Canterbury trained a Fighter > Airport(9). Cologne trained a Bomber > Marine(3). Hamburg trained a Marine > Tank(3). Stuttgart trained a Gunship > Jail(3). Ephesus constructed a Jewish Synagogue > Bomber(3). Thebes constructed a Stock Exchange > Granary(2). Conventry trained an Infantry > Islamic Missionary(1). P'yongyang trained a Battleship > Christian Cathedral(4). Inch'on constructed a Barracks > Courthouse(7). Pusan trained an Infantry > Airport(3).

Our great General arrived at our beach head and I used him to promote our Explorer to a Super-Medic. I then moved him offshore Istanbul where he can help speed up our invasion force's healing:


We recaptured Sigtuna. The Chinese must have had quite a party in there because it was pretty much trashed.

IBT:
He Capitulated and is now a vassal state of Mao Zedong. Makes me feel real good about all the gold and bomb sorties we spent on him. .
Mehmed hit us with 2 Artillery at Samsun and 1 at Istanbul.

Turn 6 (1956 AD): London trained a Tank > Gunship(1). Nottingham trained a Bomber > Airport(4). Birka constructed an Airport > Tank(3). Roskilde trained a Bomber > Infantry(4). Uppsala trained a Marine > Tank(3). Bjorgvin trained an ICBM > Infantry(2). Dortmund trained a Bomber > Bomber(5). Munich trained a Gunship > Tank(3). Coventry trained an Islamic Missionary > Islamic Missionary(1). Cheju constructed a Theatre > Bomber(3). Seoul constructed a Jail > Barracks(1). Ulsan constructed a Courthouse > Factory(11). Wonsan constructed a Lighthouse > Theatre(5).

With our ally gone, Mehmed's cities felt the full force of our growing bomber force. Edirne and Oidu were bombed and ready to be assaulted but we have no troops to take Eidirne yet. I questioned my decision to skip to Istanbul outside of bomber range. Oidu on the other hand, was within reach of our ground force:


I had established naval picket lines in both oceans to catch expeditions just like this:


All four vessels are now resting comfortably on the bottom of the ocean.

Hangzhou was the next Chinese city to suffer our insanity:


IBT: The counterattack at Istanbul was substantial this turn -- 4 artillery and a Trebuchet hit us – no loses.

Maio completed the Apollo Program – I’m glad to see he’s been putting his diminishing supply of hammers to such a peaceful use..

Turn 7 (1957 AD): London trained a Gunship > Marine(1). York trained an Infantry > Christian Missionary(1). Nidaros constructed a Confucian Academy > Gunship(2). Sparta trained an Infantry > Tank(3). Knosos trained an Infantry > Jail(2). Thebes constructed a Granary > Infantry(3). Corinth trained a Bomber > Theatre(1). Coventry trained an Islamic Missionary > Islamic Missionary(1). Seoul constructed a Barracks > Infantry(4). Nampo trained an Infantry > Confucian Temple(2).

This was the situation at Istanbul:


All our infantry and tanks were wounded but our artillery was for the most part intact. I made the decision to strike now rather than try to heal any further and take more collateral damage IBT. Our artillery performed admirably. I used all of them to take the city without a combat loss. I left a couple wounded foot units on the hill outside the city to protect our artillery but moved the rest of our force to garrison the city. I airlifted a Gunship from London to help protect the city.

Running this game at sufficient resolution to show fireballs and mushroom clouds takes a long time on my computer. I’ve got 3 turns remaining to play but I have to take some time off to earn a living .

I’ll be back (tonight) ...

 

[Immaculate]

Woo Hoo!!!

Massive Civilian Casualties!

More bombs please!

 

[ruff_hi]

Very nice report. Did you notice that the A-bombs actually kill off units too - the fishing boat in Guangzhou bit the dust. It would be interesting to see how that shows up on the log (if at all).

 

[vra379971]

Two nukes kill off all units in a square.

 

[frankcor]

I forgot to mention and get a screenshot,but Mao has sent wounded (10/100 health) Infantry into Mehmed's territory, I guess as a threat to us. It's almost laughable but you gotta hand it to the guy's schmaltz.

IBT: A total of 1 Ottoman Artillery counter-attacked at Istanbul.

Turn 8 (1958 AD): London trained a Marine, started a MechInf(1). York trained a Christian Missionary, started another(1). Jelling constructed an Airport, started a MechInf(3). Cologn trained a Marine, started a MechInf(5). Hamburg trained a Tank, started a MechInf(4). Berlin constructed a Confucian Temple, started a Work Boat(2). Frankfurt constructed a Stock Exchange, started a Work Boat(1). Stuttgart constructed a Grocer, started Jail(2). Ephesus trained a Bomber, started another(4). Corinth constructed a Theatre, started Barracks(2). Coventry trained an Islamic Missionary, started Bomber(3). Mycenae trained a Fighter, started anther(3). Pusan constructed an Airport, started a Gunship(2).

We have plenty of bombers now. Every enemy unit we can see is wounded at 50/100-health. I will continue building some bombers though because we'll start taking losses as the enemy deploys SAMs and fighters. So far, we've had 1 bomber shot down by an enemy destroyer sitting in port.

We made an amphibious landing at Edirne but they're still 2 turns from being able to attack. We were healing at Istanbul but any healthy units were sent south east to Malatya, also 2 turns away..

IBT: An Ottoman artillery hit our force advancing on Malatya.

Turn 9 (1959 AD): London trained a MechInf, started another(1). York trained a Christian Missionary, started an Airport(5). Birka trained a Tank, started an ICBM(8). Uppsala trained a Tank, started an ICBM(7). Nidaros trained a Gunship, started a Gunship(3). Lodose trained a Fighter, started another(9). Athens trained an ICBM, started a Bomber(2). Frankfurt trained a Work Boat, started a Fighter(5). Munich trained a Tank, started a Colosseum(2). Argos constructed a Factory, started a Jewish Temple(4). P'yongyang constructed a Chritian Cathedral, started a Lighthouse(1). Inch'on constructed a Courthouse, started a Colsseum(2). P'yongsong trained a Work Boat, started a Lighthouse(8). Namp'o constructed a Confucian Temple, started a Theatre(2).

I have forgotten to mention a force I had dispatched to Izmir, north of our beach head. The commander there sent the following photo in his report:


Note that we are approaching the Domination limit.

I haven't been mentioning all the Ottoman and Chinese units we've been killing in the open every turn. This turn, we eliminated the first stack of Japanese to make an appearance. I love these kinds of matchups:


Our force arrived at Edirne. We may have brought too much army. Our mobile units (choppers and tanks) emptied the city but because I wasn't paying close attention, the last one was killed by a Gunship. So we have around a dozen infantry and marines sitting outside an empty city.

We also may have built too much navy. Check out the mini-maps in the screen shots below. Our pickets now cover aproximately 3/4 of the world's oceans. Atomic Betty is really kicking some booty, let me tell ya, uh huh.

Oh, another One of our spies arrived at Ankara. I wanted to show before & after shots of the city screen of a nuclear target. But I attempted to steal Mehmed's plans before launching the nuke and our spy got caught.

So instead, another Chinese city got picked, this time Mao's capital:


IBT: Global Warming struck near Inch'on.

Turn 10 (1960 AD): London trained a MechInf, started another(1). Nottingham constructed an Airport, started a Gunship(2). Haithabu trained a Mechanized Infantry, started an Islamic Temple(1). Bjorgvin trained a MechInf,started a Gunship(3). Bremen constructed a Confuican Temple, started a Work Boat(6). Dortmond trained a Bomber, started another(4). Dusseldorf constructed a Factory, started a Barracks(2). Sparta trained a Tank, started a Jewish Temple(3). Berlin trained a Work Boat, started a Jail(14). Knossos constructed a Jail, started a Barracks(1). Stuttgart constructed a Jail, started a Gunship(3). Corinth constructed a Barracks, started a Colosseum(3). Cheju trained a Bomber, started a Taoist Temple(3). P'yongyang constructed a Lighthosue, started a Granary(2). Pusan trained a Gunship, started a Confucian Academy(3).

We captured Malatya.


Mehmed reloaded Edirne, you betcha.


But our bombers messed them all up and the city fell. A great general was born in Jelling during the assault. I left him there, it'd make good sense to have him build an academy there, or we can airlift him to our beach head. We could use another Super-Medic and there's a Medic II Infantry sitting in Marsin in the northern portion of our beach head.

Speaking of our beach head, it's grown quite large now:


We've killed a lot of Ottoman units and I feel the fight is going out of Mehmed. With MechInf arriving at the front, we can kill any unit out in the open but I haven't done any significant upgrading -- it's not really necessary right now but I can see Chinese tanks approaching. Make sure you cover any open units with gunships,

Our empire:


We now own 7 cities on the "other" continent. Do you think it's worth 3 turns of anarchy to revolt to Free Religion and spread some religions around to those unhappy cities? Or to revolt to Police State? (nahhh) Or we can just crank up the culture slider and keep slogging through the war weariness for a few more turns. I don't think we need any more techs. Or maybe we do; what do we need to build SDI?

Here's The Save: Have fun!

 

[vra379971]

Now the question is...can I do 5&#37; land in ten turns...Hmm...

 

[vra379971]

Well that was fast...and as it was, we'll do a story...

After leading the English for several thousands of years, it was understandable that when January 1st 1961 rolled around, to her, it was just another date on the calender, another sunrise to be suffered...

Her doctors had just been to see her, and with worrying looks they conversed in low voices, putting on polite smiles as they glanced in her direction. Pah! As if she didn't know that they thought her days were numbered and were keeping a track in little white lettters in their common room!

"That's the thing about near immortality," she commented wistfully, "near is never complete."

Motioning for her attendants to apply Ponds Cold Cream, she remembered a day where she did not have a palace to live in, a bed to sleep in...days where the world was young, and the triumphs on the battlefield not a world away.

It had been a long time since Lizze had heeded the words of an advisor who told her that she must lead the people by serving them from where best she could. It had been hard being a Consitutional Monarch, but she was not as young as she wants was...nor her pains as bad. However, she was not removed completely form events as the Joint Chiefs of Staff met daily in her throne room...

"Come Patricia...I must prepare..."

Taking her place on her throne, her majesty perfumed and powdered listened as best she could to her Ministers speak and argue on this and that...

"NO! We must raise taxes!"
"Buut! What about foreign investment!"
"WHAT?! We're at war with everyone, and I don't think the fish buy war bonds!"

...tiring of their debate, Liz called on her Domestic Minister, a charming young lady who had already impressed with a sense of maturity and a clear head.

"What...what news do you bring of the world..."

Well, your Majesty...the people are enjoying your cultural programs here in England...but, many of our young people are rejecting the old ways and, adopting long beards while protesting what they call an unjust war!



"Would you call this war unjust..."

Taking a deep breath, she replied softly, "Yes your majesty, I do."

A roar quickly exploded from all parts of the room, and the guards started for her, staffs out...

"Stop!"

At the sight of thier Queen on her feet, shaking with effort, all came to a stand still.

"I've come to the same conclusion! This war is unjust! Call in our commisioners! It's time...to get down - to a peace!"

A few days later, the surly courts of Mao and Mehmed (Tokugawa was not permitted to come) were led into seperate rooms...It seemed that Mao was ready to make peace, and would even give a city and 800 gold pieces for it! Mehmed was ready to make a pace to...but he would not capitulate. Six hours in, our foriegn minister was about to go mad.

"Our troops have you surrounded! It's only a matter of time you fool! Do you have that turban on too tight?!"

"We refuse to fight our friends! We'll never help you do that, never!"

At this point, Liz decided to step in.

"War Minister...would he consent to sign a capitulation agreement if we made peace with the Chinese and Japanese first?"

"Yes, bu-"

"No buts! Go now, make those treaties then! We have no need of war any longer. From this moment henceforth, you are relieved of your command. If you want, the Ministership of Public Works is open. if not, please, go. if you want to see me, I'll be in my throne room...it is...time to plan for the peace."

After the treaties were signed makign peace and addign the Ottoman lands under the English banner, a group of excited social scientists demanded an audiance. They demanded to show Her Majesty the new geopolitical concept of "Domination Victory" they had just conceived.

Scurrying in, they ran to her chambers, and rushed to her throne room...but she would not be awoken.

And so...But it's true what they say...heroes never die...they just go away for a little while. And they always come back...when we need them most. It was a peace signed by treaties, and sealed with vows, a peace that would last one thousand years...and if you believe that...you'll live happily ever after.

--------------------------
Queen Elizabeth the First and the Only!

Born: Circa 4000 B.C. - Died: Jan 1st, 1961
May the sun never set on the British Empire.
--------------------------

And that folks, is the game. We got a Ceaser rating a 23721 Normalized Score, a 6819 Score and London was the best city to live in. And oh, the demographics had us in first all the way. This gentlemen has been an honour. Such an honour infact, I think I'll have a banner made =)

 

[Immaculate]

May the sun never set on the British Empire.
--------------------------

Who cares about the sun when the earth glows like a red-hot coal?

 

[Clovis]

Who cares about the sun when the earth glows like a red-hot coal?

With nukes, I hope!

Global warming ain't gonna get even close to red hot.

Oh, did you hear that global warming is supposed to last for centuries? Just like we were headed into the second Ice Age in the 70s! Don't worry, we'll have another ice age all cued up by the media in about 2025! Then all the politicians looking for someone to please can jump back on the, er, NEW bandwagon.

 

[vra379971]

I'm going to be having a banner made btw. Victory this total deserves to be immortalized