The German Raiders

[trada]

This is a account of a game I am currently playing (on King level). Normal game options. I played the Germans because I've never really played them properly.


The early years of the German civilization was bland. I found myself on a medium-size island with incredibily average terrain. There was room for about 7 cities and that was it. I decided to focus on culture and tech. Not exactly building up my cities to mega sizes but rather going on Wonder sprees and tech advancement. By 1AD I hadn't put a foot in the sea and had a nice democracy going (thanks to the Pyramids). I was up to the gunpowder tech level when I decided to go on a campaign to conquer my fellow civilizations. I build a fleet of 8 sails fulled to the brim with Cannon armies ready to take on the world for the glory of the German race. Yes, morale was high in those days.

Our fleets traversed the seas. We discoved two major lands. One looked like a genie coming out of a bottle so we named that one 'Genie-land'. And the other was just a blob. The shores of Genie-land was just packed with stone age cavemen with spears and chariots. All a Cannon division could gain from landing was the knowledge that two military civilizations populated this dark land: The Mongols and the Russians. Although they were at peace with each other at the time of the landing.. us Germans were sure it was merely a momentary cease-fire rather then a full on alliance. And since the Cannon division that landed was mobbed by a group of Russian chariots not 2 years after its landing.. I was happy to leave them alone for the moment.

The second land (the blob) consisted of the English and the Egyptians. These two had a full-on alliance going that would take more then Cannons to break. Although they were slighly behind me in techs I knew it wouldn't be long before they overtook me. So it was planned: a massive attack on The Egyptians (now found to be the dominant civ) cities. It would cripple them and , by doing so, make sure they didn't stand in the way when the Germans would eventually own the globe. Our entire fleet (now 12+ sails with more offensive Cannon armies and defensive armies in them) would desend on the Egyptians west coast and spear inland. And then the world would be for the Germans to be the sole dominator.
Hah! if only we knew then how powerful the AI is.. we would have disbanded our navy and run back home with our tails betweeen our legs!

To cut it short, the first raid (about 400AD) didn't go so well. We lost everything only to hold an inland city for about 4 years. So, the Germans just built up a second invasion force. This one, while not stronger in numbers, will have a better plan. We would attack from the east coast, take a key coastal town and drive to the Egyptian capital. Once there, we would move quickly and sweep down on the other Egyptain cites and hold.
Well, the first bit of the plan went well.. we took 3 cities (including their capital) and manged to hold. What we didn't count on was Egypts allies actually helping out. And they had more allies then I thought.. The English came in by their dozens ready to keep the pressure up.. the Mongols and the Russians were enlisted to work against the Egyptian's east coast which I had control of. I attempted to get my lone ally (the Babylonians who were, like me, an outcast of the great English-Egyptian-Mongol-Russian alliance) but they were too far off to do any damage or make a difference (they lived on a tiny island somewhere down south). Before I knew it, what once was Egypt heartland had become a international community. Each of my cities were taken by a different pro-Egypt civ.
But Egypt was now but a limbless cripple. Grateful for its friends, yes. But nothing could quench it's hate towards the Germans. And though it was weak, it was still the leader of it's alliance. Four civs now had their eyes on me.


More tommorrow. ^.^

 

[Alex Johnson]

Oooh, story time! This one is called "The World Hates Prince Alex!"

My last game, which I threw in the towel on last night after several days of repeat attempts to pull victory from the jaws of defeat, played as the Russians at Prince level vs 7 civs. What I didn't know until the early AD was that I began on one of the middle-sized islands of a great, maze-like archipelago, far from the only two continents.

4000BC:The sun rises on the Russians in 4000BC. They founded their capitol along a river at the base of a north-pointing peninsula. After a short period of expansion during which two additional cities were founded, cities that would one day become the might of the Empire, growth was halted by the simultaneous discovery of the Zulu and the Germans (3000BC). They had the choke point on the octopus-shaped island. Prince Alex was able to bull through with his charioteers to strike at the German capital of Berlin. They were outstanding defenders, worthy of respect, but a thousand years of development on the part of the Russians and isolation of their single city left them vulnerable to the bombardment of Russian catapults. The Russians, under Alex, then raced across the rest of the island, flattening the primitive Zulus (who foolishly stayed neutral in the Berlin seige) in only a century.

750BC: Having discovered his world was but an island, Prince Alex ordered the research and construction of triremes to carry his people to nearby lands. To the north was another mid-sized island on which the Greeks had nearly developed to capacity. The ruthless Greeks were without honor and repeatedly initiated sneak attacks on the Russians, forcing them to ramp up the war machine yet again. This time the Russians gained an advantage by switching to a monarchy. The added production in their first three cities turned the tide and the Greeks were washed under, all six of their cities captured.

1500AD: The next thousand years were a golden age of growth and exploration as numerous tiny islands were found, explored, and populated. Eventually, half the world was mapped, but no more could be done without sails and frigates, so energy was put into astronomy, navigation and magnetism. Sadly, this event led to the demise of the great empire, as the exploration of deeper oceans revealed two large continents, heavily populated by Mongols, Egyptians, and French. All three civilizations were at peace with each other, but were militaristic, expansionistic, and bent on the destruction of the Russians, who offered them only peace.

Game was pretty much over around 1750AD. The Egyptians, Mongols, and French each had about as much land and cities as the Russians, but half their cities were heavily walled and repelled all attacks, even from wave after wave of knights and catapults. Any time a city was taken, they would counter attack, all three civs working together, to reclaim the lost city, often showing a strength of scores of units in a tiny space. The blasted Mongols kept stealing technology with their diplomats and giving it to the other two civs on the same or following turn. I managed to take half a dozen cities, only to lose each one a few turns later.

*This map had an interesting glitch. The German capital of Berlin was at the northern edge of my island and directly south of it was a fish symbol. Right in the middle of plains! I built a city there after Berlin was razed and it did give me the fish bonus. Never seen that before.

*I also found a neat place to build that would have proved to be invaluable if the game continued to the modern era. A tiny island positioned such that when I built my city I had access to 4 fish symbols at once. I had to rush every project in that city but in the end it was about a 12 population with 40-50 knowledge production without a single wonder. If I had some years of peace, I would have built the knowledge doubling wonders and jumped to the space age!

Edit: Changed "Chinese" to "Russians". We were a confused people (forgot what culture I was)!

 

[simonnomis]

^^ Alex, if you still have the game, post up the save so someone else can have a go. I'd certainly like to give it a shot...

 

[trada]

I applaud you Alex as I just *love* reading civ1 stories. And espessialy (sp?) ones that highlight civ1's often mis-looked diplomacy/alliances/blocs feature.

Good story too. I will carry on mine when I have time..

 

[trada]

Double post.

Us Germans weren't stupid. We knew we had to command a third strike against our enemies swiftly lest they have the freedom and time to launch an offensive against our island. So we gathered what troops we could from our already sapped cities and sailed for the English west coast (which was on the same continent as the Egyptians). We landed and straight-away suffered blows. With half our 10 army strike force gone we pushed foward and ignored our losses. Our generals smiled widely as we realised that the English defensives were soft; mere spears versus our mighty cannons. We drove into the English heart and took 3 key cities. But then the Babylonians decided there wasn't much hope for us and joined the grand English-Egyptian-Mongol-Russian alliance, knowing that if they didn't join now they run the risk of death. I was suprised when the Grand Alliance accepted the Babylonians so easily.. but then I found out that the Babs were showering them with gifts of techs. Soon I was the only one without railroads or Riflemen or armors (*gasp*). The English drove us out and the third raid was over. The English had played their cards well and managed to secure the top spot over the Egyptians in the Grand Alliance. The date was 1750AD. And the Germans were about to fall under the hardest times they have ever faced.

Soon, the German Sails lost control of the seas. Battleships and Crusiers made sure only pro-Alliance boats stayed afloat. We Germans knew we would have to catch up in techs.. but with a hardened Depotist govenment and a virtually non-existent economy we knew we would have to steal our techs. So we focused on a recently discovered Babylonian colony. And only just did we manage to capture it AND discover the power of the automobile. We started to mass-produce ARMORS and took to the last place on earth where we were not inferior: The still stone age Genie-land.

The German homeland, crippled from centuries of solely weapon making, could only muster up three ARMORS. But that was enough. We took to the dead-centre of Genie-land where we met with the Mongols capital. Quickly taking it the Mongols had a civil war. The Chinese were born out of the ashes and quickly the Grand Alliance accepted them in. All but one. The Russians looked kindly upon us Germans and allowed us to construct a secret city deep in their biggest bay. This German base would allow us to survive if/when the Grand Alliance desended onto our homeland island. We were grateful towards the Russians and gave them gifts.


This is where I have played up to (the year is 1800AD) and will continue playing and thus posting about this game later.

 

[Alex Johnson]

^^ Alex, if you still have the game, post up the save so someone else can have a go. I'd certainly like to give it a shot...

I still have the save (I hope...playing multiple games with only 4 save slots availible isn't easy, but I've been doing it trying to remember how to win). Two questions: 1) IF I still have the save game, it is the most recent one in about 1750AD, so you would have to play as me with all my blunders and cities the way they are. Still want it? 2) HOW do I upload a file? Oh, looks like there is an attach button. I have to post it in 9 hours, since I'm just starting my work day.

Edit: I found a 3000BC save game right before I met the Germans and Zulus! I also have the 1750AD save game that I gave up on. I guess I can try again from the beginning once I discover the right strategy.

 

[Alex Johnson]

Trada, I hope you don't mind sharing this thread. At first I thought it would be good to just post short descriptions of a game, one post per game, for all of us. But your game is still ongoing and my game has drawn requests for save games.

Here are the save games: 3000BC (3 towns size 1-3, militia only, 3 moves from meeting the Germans and Zulus), 1786AD (about 15 cities size 8-15, knights, at war with everyone). Good luck and if you find a good way to beat them from my last save, tell me how you did it.

 

[trada]

Nah, that's cool. But I plan to continue my story.

 

[void]

Great story Trada! Can you post the save/map files from the current point in the story?

 

[conquer_dude]

Nah, that's cool. But I plan to continue my story.

Well, can you continue it? Awesome story.

 

[trada]

Will do. I gotta play the game first though

And I plan to play today.

 

[conquer_dude]

BTW trada I joined your Wiki.

 

[trada]

My wiki? Who's Shaka?

 

[conquer_dude]

Holy crap! Edited it. I was so into my story with shaka I called you that.