The Republicans go to War
- Thread starter Lanzelot
- Start date
Exactly. I guess that under these conditions a Domination victory is probably the easiest to achieve, so I started already to build settlers in the conquered territory that is too far away to become productive.
T0131, 70AD:
Teotihuacan completes the Statue of Zeus.
A Greek horseman appears at Ephesus, another chance for an SGL:
Archer (5/5) vs horseman (3/3): horseman retreats (1/3)
Horseman (3/3) vs horseman (1/3): horseman (4/4)
And a Viking galley appears at Köln (again running over our whale tile![[pissed]](/images/smilies/pissed.gif "Pissed [pissed]")
)
Curragh (4/4) vs galley (4/4): curragh (3/5)
At Ephesus:
Barbarossa (12/12) vs hoplite (3/3): Barbarossa (9/12) and captures Ephesus.
I rush the settler at Eindhoven and 60s into the courthouse in Bremen. Bremen will then build the Forbidden Palace.
Also rush 80s into the aqueducts at Hamburg and Köln.
T0132, 90AD:
Feudalism -> Invention
I thought a bit again about whether I should go for Chivalry or Military Tradition. But then the fact that there is still no iron in sight and Vikings and Greeks don't seem to have any either, made me choose Military Tradition. The reason is: when I still have no iron by the time I finish Chivalry, I still have only attack-2 at my disposal. But on the way to Military tradition I at least get Longbows.
Königsberg: horseman -> galley
Frankfurt: horseman -> horseman
Eindhoven: settler -> settler
At Ephesus:
Archer (5/5) vs horseman (3/3): archer (4/5), and again horseman retreats.
Horseman (4/4) vs horseman (1/3): horseman (4/4)
Rush a slave at Ephesus, before it shrinks due to unhappiness...
Rush 20s into the settler at Heidelberg.
T0133, 110AD:
Hamburg: aqueduct -> harbor
Ephesus riots and produces slave. Start a galley for now.
Another Viking galley appears at Köln, but outside the reach of my navy.
T0134, 130AD:
The Viking Galley unloads a warrior/archer pair at Hamburg and then attacks my galley!
Galley (4/4) vs galley (4/4): galley (3/5)
Heidelberg: settler -> worker
Barbarossa discovers Sparta and attacks:
Barbarossa (12/12) vs hoplite (3/3): Barbarossa (11/13) and captures Sparta.
Darn, I didn't want that... I just wanted to kill another unit. Now Sparta can't complete Artemis for me...
Dortmund is founded on top of the spices. The lux rate can be reduced to 20%. Now is the time to start building marketplaces, I guess. I switch those cities to a marketplace, which are currently unhappy at 20%: München and Frankfurt. (Bremen will get one after the courthouse.) A clown and two scientists keep these cities happy for now.
Science rate is increased to 60% for now, even though it does not yet reduce the time needed for Invention.
Battle at Hamburg:
Horseman (4/4) vs warrior (3/3): horseman (2/4)
Archer (5/5) vs archer (3/3): archer (4/5)
Curragh (5/5) vs galley (3/5): curragh (1/5)
Hamburg needs to rush 2 missing shields for our last 8 gold...
T0135, 150AD:
Königsberg: galley -> galley
Köln: aqueduct -> marketplace
Groningen: galley -> settler
Bremen: courthouse -> marketplace
The Greek start the Hanging Gardens. Mental note to myself: don't destroy that also (especially as I won't research the tech for it).
At Sparta:
Barbarossa (11/13) vs horseman (3/3): Barbarossa (11/13) and captures a slave.
Athens is discovered: it's size 7 and the city that's building the Hanging Gardens, so there's a good chance they will finish it!
T0136, 170AD:
A Greek horseman comes out of Athens, gets hit by the ZoC of Barbarossa and recaptures the worker...
Hamburg: harbor -> spearman
Heidelberg: worker -> worker
Copenhagen finishes the Great Lighthouse. It's about time I pay the Vikings a visit... But the preparations will soon be complete.
Horseman (4/4) vs horseman (2/3): horseman (2/4)
Barbarossa re-recaptures the slave... and kills another horseman:
Barbarossa (11/13) vs horseman (3/3): Barbarossa (11/13)
Oh no, and he discovers the Persian borders:
Fortunately no contact yet. Hopefully the Persians will stay at home this turn...
Brandenburg is founded in Utrecht's place and begins a harbor.
T0137, 190AD:
We can observe a Persian warrior fighting against "someone". Obviously the Greeks and the Persians are at war, too. Perfect...
Amsterdam: library -> marketplace
And we have contact with Persia Unlike the Greeks they have already reached the medieval age and got Monotheism and Feudalism, one of course as their freebee. So they are up Monotheism on us and down Literature, Republic, Engineering and soon Invention. They have two iron! They are currently constructing Temple of Artemis and Sun Tzu's Art of War.
Well, they will need it: I declare war...
T0138, 210AD:
An immortal loses to a hoplite. And a Greek horseman re-re-recaptures the slave.
Hamburg: spearman -> horseman
Königsberg: galley -> galley
Heidelberg: worker -> worker
At Sparta:
Archer (5/5) vs horseman (3/3): archer (4/5)
Barbarossa discovers the Persian town of Thermopylae (the Greeks obviously failed...
) and attacks:
Barbarossa (13/13) vs immortal (3/3): Barbarossa (13/13)
Archer (5/5) vs warrior (2/4): archer (4/5)
Science can be reduced to 20%.
Just checking F7: Athens stopped building the Hanging Gardens?!? I've never seen an AI abandon a wonder built before?! Darn.
T0139, 230AD:
At Athens:
Archer (3/3) vs horseman (4/4): horseman retreats (1/4)
Invention -> Gunpowder
Science back to 70%, Gunpowder due in 6.
Sparta: slave -> longbow
Nürnberg: library -> marketplace
Hannover: aqueduct -> courthouse
At Athens:
Archer (5/5) vs archer (3/3): archer (4/5)
Barbarossa (13/13) vs immortal (3/3): Barbarossa (8/13)
I better cover him with a horseman and an archer.
T0140, 250AD:
The Greek lose Mycenae to a couple of immortals.
Immortal (3/3) vs Barbarossa (8/13): Barbarossa (4/14) the archer fired on defense, which probably saved Barbarossa's red neck... 
Heidelberg: worker -> worker
I now concentrate on taking Mycenae from the Persians. It's easier than taking the Greek towns from the hoplites... But first I need to retreat: there are 5 immortals visible against 4 healed units on my side:
The Persians obviously did quite well against the Greeks:
It's about time, that I finish my infrastructure build-up at home and the preparations for the Scandinavian invasion and then finally send some real troops over to Greece/Persia.
One archer is not able to escape, so it attacks:
Archer (4/4) vs immortal (3/3): immortal (3/4)
Germany in 250AD:
Teotihuacan completes the Statue of Zeus.
A Greek horseman appears at Ephesus, another chance for an SGL:
Archer (5/5) vs horseman (3/3): horseman retreats (1/3)
Horseman (3/3) vs horseman (1/3): horseman (4/4)
And a Viking galley appears at Köln (again running over our whale tile
)Curragh (4/4) vs galley (4/4): curragh (3/5)
At Ephesus:
Barbarossa (12/12) vs hoplite (3/3): Barbarossa (9/12) and captures Ephesus.
I rush the settler at Eindhoven and 60s into the courthouse in Bremen. Bremen will then build the Forbidden Palace.
Also rush 80s into the aqueducts at Hamburg and Köln.
T0132, 90AD:
Feudalism -> Invention
I thought a bit again about whether I should go for Chivalry or Military Tradition. But then the fact that there is still no iron in sight and Vikings and Greeks don't seem to have any either, made me choose Military Tradition. The reason is: when I still have no iron by the time I finish Chivalry, I still have only attack-2 at my disposal. But on the way to Military tradition I at least get Longbows.
Königsberg: horseman -> galley
Frankfurt: horseman -> horseman
Eindhoven: settler -> settler
At Ephesus:
Archer (5/5) vs horseman (3/3): archer (4/5), and again horseman retreats.
Horseman (4/4) vs horseman (1/3): horseman (4/4)
Rush a slave at Ephesus, before it shrinks due to unhappiness...
Rush 20s into the settler at Heidelberg.
T0133, 110AD:
Hamburg: aqueduct -> harbor
Ephesus riots and produces slave. Start a galley for now.
Another Viking galley appears at Köln, but outside the reach of my navy.
T0134, 130AD:
The Viking Galley unloads a warrior/archer pair at Hamburg and then attacks my galley!
Galley (4/4) vs galley (4/4): galley (3/5)
Heidelberg: settler -> worker
Barbarossa discovers Sparta and attacks:
Barbarossa (12/12) vs hoplite (3/3): Barbarossa (11/13) and captures Sparta.
Darn, I didn't want that... I just wanted to kill another unit. Now Sparta can't complete Artemis for me...
Dortmund is founded on top of the spices. The lux rate can be reduced to 20%. Now is the time to start building marketplaces, I guess. I switch those cities to a marketplace, which are currently unhappy at 20%: München and Frankfurt. (Bremen will get one after the courthouse.) A clown and two scientists keep these cities happy for now.
Science rate is increased to 60% for now, even though it does not yet reduce the time needed for Invention.
Battle at Hamburg:
Horseman (4/4) vs warrior (3/3): horseman (2/4)
Archer (5/5) vs archer (3/3): archer (4/5)
Curragh (5/5) vs galley (3/5): curragh (1/5)
Hamburg needs to rush 2 missing shields for our last 8 gold...
T0135, 150AD:
Königsberg: galley -> galley
Köln: aqueduct -> marketplace
Groningen: galley -> settler
Bremen: courthouse -> marketplace
The Greek start the Hanging Gardens. Mental note to myself: don't destroy that also (especially as I won't research the tech for it).
At Sparta:
Barbarossa (11/13) vs horseman (3/3): Barbarossa (11/13) and captures a slave.
Athens is discovered: it's size 7 and the city that's building the Hanging Gardens, so there's a good chance they will finish it!
T0136, 170AD:
A Greek horseman comes out of Athens, gets hit by the ZoC of Barbarossa and recaptures the worker...
Hamburg: harbor -> spearman
Heidelberg: worker -> worker
Copenhagen finishes the Great Lighthouse. It's about time I pay the Vikings a visit... But the preparations will soon be complete.
Horseman (4/4) vs horseman (2/3): horseman (2/4)
Barbarossa re-recaptures the slave... and kills another horseman:
Barbarossa (11/13) vs horseman (3/3): Barbarossa (11/13)
Oh no, and he discovers the Persian borders:
Fortunately no contact yet. Hopefully the Persians will stay at home this turn...
Brandenburg is founded in Utrecht's place and begins a harbor.
T0137, 190AD:
We can observe a Persian warrior fighting against "someone". Obviously the Greeks and the Persians are at war, too. Perfect...
Amsterdam: library -> marketplace
And we have contact with Persia
Unlike the Greeks they have already reached the medieval age and got Monotheism and Feudalism, one of course as their freebee. So they are up Monotheism on us and down Literature, Republic, Engineering and soon Invention. They have two iron! They are currently constructing Temple of Artemis and Sun Tzu's Art of War.Well, they will need it: I declare war...
T0138, 210AD:
An immortal loses to a hoplite. And a Greek horseman re-re-recaptures the slave.
Hamburg: spearman -> horseman
Königsberg: galley -> galley
Heidelberg: worker -> worker
At Sparta:
Archer (5/5) vs horseman (3/3): archer (4/5)
Barbarossa discovers the Persian town of Thermopylae (the Greeks obviously failed...
) and attacks:Barbarossa (13/13) vs immortal (3/3): Barbarossa (13/13)
Archer (5/5) vs warrior (2/4): archer (4/5)
Science can be reduced to 20%.
Just checking F7: Athens stopped building the Hanging Gardens?!? I've never seen an AI abandon a wonder built before?! Darn.
T0139, 230AD:
At Athens:
Archer (3/3) vs horseman (4/4): horseman retreats (1/4)
Invention -> Gunpowder
Science back to 70%, Gunpowder due in 6.
Sparta: slave -> longbow
Nürnberg: library -> marketplace
Hannover: aqueduct -> courthouse
At Athens:
Archer (5/5) vs archer (3/3): archer (4/5)
Barbarossa (13/13) vs immortal (3/3): Barbarossa (8/13)
I better cover him with a horseman and an archer.
T0140, 250AD:
The Greek lose Mycenae to a couple of immortals.
Immortal (3/3) vs Barbarossa (8/13): Barbarossa (4/14)
the archer fired on defense, which probably saved Barbarossa's red neck... Heidelberg: worker -> worker
I now concentrate on taking Mycenae from the Persians. It's easier than taking the Greek towns from the hoplites...
But first I need to retreat: there are 5 immortals visible against 4 healed units on my side:The Persians obviously did quite well against the Greeks:
It's about time, that I finish my infrastructure build-up at home and the preparations for the Scandinavian invasion and then finally send some real troops over to Greece/Persia.
One archer is not able to escape, so it attacks:
Archer (4/4) vs immortal (3/3): immortal (3/4)
Germany in 250AD:
Spoiler :
Last edited:
T0141, 260AD:
Another Viking galley runs over my whales. This has to stop...
Hamburg: horseman -> marketplace
Königsberg: galley -> horseman
Curragh (5/5) vs galley (4/4): galley (3/4)
Galley (4/4) vs galley (3/4): galley (3/5)
Galley (4/4) vs galley (3/5): galley (2/5)
Galley (4/4) vs galley (2/5): galley (4/4)
Sh*** I need to replace two galleys for my invasion
Switch Hamburg and Königsberg both back to galleys.
T0142, 270AD:
Immortal (4/4) vs spearman (4/4): spearman (2/4)
Immortal (3/3) vs spearman (2/4): immortal (2/3)
Immortal (4/4) vs archer (5/5): immortal (3/5)
Frankfurt: marketplace -> horseman
Heidelberg: worker -> worker
Archer (4/4) vs immortal (3/5): archer (1/4)
Archer (5/5) vs immortal (2/4): archer (3/5)
Horseman (4/4) vs immortal (4/4): immortal (1/4)
Horseman (4/4) vs immortal (3/3): immortal (2/3)
Horseman (4/4) vs immortal (2/3): horseman (2/4)
Archer (4/5) vs immortal (1/4): archer (4/5)
T0143, 280AD:
Immortal (5/5) vs archer (4/5): immortal (2/5)
Immortal (3/3) vs archer (3/5): immortal (2/4)
Immortal (3/3) vs horseman (2/4): horseman retreats (1/4)
Königsberg: galley -> marketplace
Köln: longbow -> marketplace
Barbarossa (14/14) vs immortal (3/3): Barbarossa (10/14)
Barbarossa (10/14) vs immortal (2/4): Barbarossa (9/14)
Barbarossa (9/14) vs immortal (2/5): Barbarossa (8/14)
Greece has meanwhile entered the middle age and got Engineering.
I raise science to 80% and switch my scientists to taxmen to finish Gunpowder this turn at -32gpt with 35g in the bank...
T0144, 290AD:
The Scandinavians want peace...
4 more immortals appear in sight and also a Greek horse. I thought I had taken their horse resource, when I captured Sparta?!
Gunpowder -> Chemistry
Hamburg: galley -> marketplace I have saltpeter already connected, because I can build musketmen!!
Heidelberg: worker -> worker
The Greeks are building the Hanging Gardens in Athens again. Let's hope the Persians don't capture Athens, before it's complete...
Barbarossa (8/14) vs horseman (3/3): Barbarossa (7/14)
Reduce science to 60%, Chemistry due in 7 at +14gpt.
My invasion fleet is finally ready:
T0145, 300AD:
Immortal (4/4) vs spearman (3/3): immortal (4/4)
I need to stop research for a moment and rush some longbows in Sparta. The situation becomes a bit critical...
4 more immortals are in the fog. I can only hope, that the Greeks and the Persians will fight each other...
Frankfurt: horseman -> horseman
München: marketplace -> horseman
D-Day at Stockholm:
Science down to 0%.
T0146, 310AD:
Galley (4/4) vs galley (4/4): galley (1/4)
The immortal kills the Greek archer...
Heidelberg: worker -> worker
Attack on Stockholm:
Longbow (3/3) vs spearman (3/3): longbow (3/4)
Horseman (4/4) vs spearman (3/3): horseman (1/4)
Horseman (4/4) vs swordsman (3/3): horseman (4/4), Stockholm captured, a galley destroyed
How did they built that swordsman?? CivAssist does not display any Scandinavian iron.
Edit: never mind, it must be somewhere in the fog...
Lots of irrigation in Scandinavia, even though they are still in Despotism... The guy who programmed the "AI" part of Civ3 must really have been a bone-head...
I captured one incense resource, so if I can find and capture Copenhagen with the Great Lighthouse soon, I can ship this precious resource back home!
Rush the longbow in Sparta and fire research back up to 60%.
T0147, 320AD:
Swordsman (3/3) vs horseman (4/4): swordsman (3/4)
And another swordsman appears, but has no movement left to attack.
Sparta: longbow -> longbow
The Persians also start the Hanging Gardens. Let's check where: ah, in Sidon. Athens, by the way, is again no longer building it...
Attack on Trondheim:
Horseman (4/4) vs spearman (3/3): horseman retreats (1/4) without making as much as a scratch...
Horseman (4/4) vs spearman (3/3): spearman (2/3)
Horseman (4/4) vs spearman (3/3): horseman (4/4)
Horseman (4/4) vs spearman (3/3): horseman (4/5)
Horseman (4/4) vs spearman (2/3): horseman (2/4), Trondheim and a harbor captured.
Longbow (3/4) vs swordsman (4/4): longbow (3/4)
Horseman (4/4) vs swordsman (3/3): horseman (4/4)
T0148, 330AD:
Frankfurt: horseman -> horseman
München: horseman -> horseman
Heidelberg: worker -> worker
Bremen: marketplace -> Forbidden Palace
Rush a slave in Trondheim.
Barbarossa (14/14) vs horseman (3/3): Barbarossa (13/14)
T0149, 340AD:
~10 immortals appear near to my spices resource!!
Trondheim: slave -> longbow
Amsterdam: marketplace -> musket
Berlin: Temple of Artemis -> Leonardo's Workshop
Athens starts the Hanging Gardens again... The Persians apparently switch Sardis (their current Artemis build) to the Hanging Gardens.
How to save this situation...? Barbarossa and two horsemen can be there next turn. I can rush another horseman in Eindhoven and the Longbow interturn.
At Trondheim:
Horseman (4/4) vs swordsman (3/3): swordsman (1/3)
Archer (5/5) vs swordsman (1/3): archer (3/5)
T0150, 350AD:
The Persian stack moves in.
Heidelberg: worker -> worker, zoom to Dortmund and rush longbow.
Hannover: courthouse -> marketplace
Eindhoven: horseman -> settler
Dortmund: longbow -> longbow
Attack on Bergen:
Horseman (4/4) vs spearman (3/3): horseman (4/5)
Horseman (4/4) vs spearman (3/3): horseman (4/4)
Horseman (4/4) vs swordsman (3/3): horseman (2/4), Bergen and two slaves captured
Battle of Dortmund:
Barbarossa (13/14) vs immortal (4/4): Barbarossa (12/14)
Longbow (3/3) vs immortal (3/3): immortal (1/3)
Horseman (4/4) vs immortal (3/3): horseman (4/5)
Horseman (4/4) vs immortal (3/3): horseman (1/4) retreats
Horseman (3/3) vs immortal (3/3): immortal (2/3)
Battle of Sparta:
Horseman (4/4) vs archer (3/3): archer (1/3)
Archer (4/4) vs archer (1/3): archer (3/4)
Longbow (3/3) vs archer (3/3): longbow (3/3) and gosh, it's going to be lost to a Greek horseman next turn.
In anticipation of the loss of Dortmund, I raise the lux rate to 40% and also lower science to 0%. We will need more cash to fix this problem asap...
The German core in 350AD:
Another Viking galley runs over my whales. This has to stop...
Hamburg: horseman -> marketplace
Königsberg: galley -> horseman
Curragh (5/5) vs galley (4/4): galley (3/4)
Galley (4/4) vs galley (3/4): galley (3/5)
Galley (4/4) vs galley (3/5): galley (2/5)
Galley (4/4) vs galley (2/5): galley (4/4)
Sh*** I need to replace two galleys for my invasion
Switch Hamburg and Königsberg both back to galleys.
T0142, 270AD:
Immortal (4/4) vs spearman (4/4): spearman (2/4)
Immortal (3/3) vs spearman (2/4): immortal (2/3)
Immortal (4/4) vs archer (5/5): immortal (3/5)
Frankfurt: marketplace -> horseman
Heidelberg: worker -> worker
Archer (4/4) vs immortal (3/5): archer (1/4)
Archer (5/5) vs immortal (2/4): archer (3/5)
Horseman (4/4) vs immortal (4/4): immortal (1/4)
Horseman (4/4) vs immortal (3/3): immortal (2/3)
Horseman (4/4) vs immortal (2/3): horseman (2/4)
Archer (4/5) vs immortal (1/4): archer (4/5)
T0143, 280AD:
Immortal (5/5) vs archer (4/5): immortal (2/5)
Immortal (3/3) vs archer (3/5): immortal (2/4)
Immortal (3/3) vs horseman (2/4): horseman retreats (1/4)
Königsberg: galley -> marketplace
Köln: longbow -> marketplace
Barbarossa (14/14) vs immortal (3/3): Barbarossa (10/14)
Barbarossa (10/14) vs immortal (2/4): Barbarossa (9/14)
Barbarossa (9/14) vs immortal (2/5): Barbarossa (8/14)
Greece has meanwhile entered the middle age and got Engineering.
I raise science to 80% and switch my scientists to taxmen to finish Gunpowder this turn at -32gpt with 35g in the bank...
T0144, 290AD:
The Scandinavians want peace...
4 more immortals appear in sight and also a Greek horse. I thought I had taken their horse resource, when I captured Sparta?!
Gunpowder -> Chemistry
Hamburg: galley -> marketplace I have saltpeter already connected, because I can build musketmen!!
Heidelberg: worker -> worker
The Greeks are building the Hanging Gardens in Athens again. Let's hope the Persians don't capture Athens, before it's complete...
Barbarossa (8/14) vs horseman (3/3): Barbarossa (7/14)
Reduce science to 60%, Chemistry due in 7 at +14gpt.
My invasion fleet is finally ready:
T0145, 300AD:
Immortal (4/4) vs spearman (3/3): immortal (4/4)
I need to stop research for a moment and rush some longbows in Sparta. The situation becomes a bit critical...
4 more immortals are in the fog. I can only hope, that the Greeks and the Persians will fight each other...
Frankfurt: horseman -> horseman
München: marketplace -> horseman
D-Day at Stockholm:
Science down to 0%.
T0146, 310AD:
Galley (4/4) vs galley (4/4): galley (1/4)
The immortal kills the Greek archer...
Heidelberg: worker -> worker
Attack on Stockholm:
Longbow (3/3) vs spearman (3/3): longbow (3/4)
Horseman (4/4) vs spearman (3/3): horseman (1/4)
Horseman (4/4) vs swordsman (3/3): horseman (4/4), Stockholm captured, a galley destroyed
How did they built that swordsman?? CivAssist does not display any Scandinavian iron.
Edit: never mind, it must be somewhere in the fog...
Lots of irrigation in Scandinavia, even though they are still in Despotism... The guy who programmed the "AI" part of Civ3 must really have been a bone-head...
I captured one incense resource, so if I can find and capture Copenhagen with the Great Lighthouse soon, I can ship this precious resource back home!
Rush the longbow in Sparta and fire research back up to 60%.
T0147, 320AD:
Swordsman (3/3) vs horseman (4/4): swordsman (3/4)
And another swordsman appears, but has no movement left to attack.
Sparta: longbow -> longbow
The Persians also start the Hanging Gardens. Let's check where: ah, in Sidon. Athens, by the way, is again no longer building it...
Attack on Trondheim:
Horseman (4/4) vs spearman (3/3): horseman retreats (1/4) without making as much as a scratch...
Horseman (4/4) vs spearman (3/3): spearman (2/3)
Horseman (4/4) vs spearman (3/3): horseman (4/4)
Horseman (4/4) vs spearman (3/3): horseman (4/5)
Horseman (4/4) vs spearman (2/3): horseman (2/4), Trondheim and a harbor captured.
Longbow (3/4) vs swordsman (4/4): longbow (3/4)
Horseman (4/4) vs swordsman (3/3): horseman (4/4)
T0148, 330AD:
Frankfurt: horseman -> horseman
München: horseman -> horseman
Heidelberg: worker -> worker
Bremen: marketplace -> Forbidden Palace
Rush a slave in Trondheim.
Barbarossa (14/14) vs horseman (3/3): Barbarossa (13/14)
T0149, 340AD:
~10 immortals appear near to my spices resource!!
Trondheim: slave -> longbow
Amsterdam: marketplace -> musket
Berlin: Temple of Artemis -> Leonardo's Workshop
Athens starts the Hanging Gardens again... The Persians apparently switch Sardis (their current Artemis build) to the Hanging Gardens.
How to save this situation...? Barbarossa and two horsemen can be there next turn. I can rush another horseman in Eindhoven and the Longbow interturn.
At Trondheim:
Horseman (4/4) vs swordsman (3/3): swordsman (1/3)
Archer (5/5) vs swordsman (1/3): archer (3/5)
T0150, 350AD:
The Persian stack moves in.
Heidelberg: worker -> worker, zoom to Dortmund and rush longbow.
Hannover: courthouse -> marketplace
Eindhoven: horseman -> settler
Dortmund: longbow -> longbow
Attack on Bergen:
Horseman (4/4) vs spearman (3/3): horseman (4/5)
Horseman (4/4) vs spearman (3/3): horseman (4/4)
Horseman (4/4) vs swordsman (3/3): horseman (2/4), Bergen and two slaves captured
Battle of Dortmund:
Barbarossa (13/14) vs immortal (4/4): Barbarossa (12/14)
Longbow (3/3) vs immortal (3/3): immortal (1/3)
Horseman (4/4) vs immortal (3/3): horseman (4/5)
Horseman (4/4) vs immortal (3/3): horseman (1/4) retreats
Horseman (3/3) vs immortal (3/3): immortal (2/3)
Battle of Sparta:
Horseman (4/4) vs archer (3/3): archer (1/3)
Archer (4/4) vs archer (1/3): archer (3/4)
Longbow (3/3) vs archer (3/3): longbow (3/3) and gosh, it's going to be lost to a Greek horseman next turn.
In anticipation of the loss of Dortmund, I raise the lux rate to 40% and also lower science to 0%. We will need more cash to fix this problem asap...
The German core in 350AD:
Last edited:
So how can the current situation be assessed? The invasion in Scandinavia of course went quite well and made good progress. Also the construction of infrastructure at home made good progress, lots of libraries, marketplaces, harbors and aqueducts were constructed, the Temple of Artemis finished and the Forbidden Palace as well as Leonardo's Workshop well under way.
These two projects (Scandinavian invasion and infrastructure build-up) of course swallowed a lot of resources and consequently I have not been able to send any reinforcements down south. Despite the fact that my opponents down there always suffered higher losses than I did, the constant fighting has worn my southern army out. There is not much left besides Barbarossa, while my opponents (who are probably in Golden Age by now) have been able to keep harassing me with their reinforcements and now even threaten to take my spices resource.
The good news is, that most cities are done or almost done with their infrastructure improvements and can go back to unit-production now. I will soon be able to send a constant flow of horsemen down south and turn the balance back into my favor.
Also most cities will be at size 12 soon, my Golden Age is about to start in 27 turns, and Cavalry is only two more techs away...
Losses so far in the Viking war:
Germany: 2 Curraghs, 4 galleys, 3 horsemen for a total of 240 shields
Scandinavia: 4 Galleys, 2 warriors, 1 archer, 7 spearmen, 5 swordsmen for a total of 450 shields
Losses so far in the Greek War:
Germany: 1 Horseman for a total of 30 shields
Greece: 3 Hoplites, 4 archers, 8 horsemen for a total of 380 shields
Losses in Persian war:
Germany: 4 Archers, 2 spearmen, 3 horsemen, 1 Longbow for a total of 250 shields
Persia: 13 Immortals, 1 warrior for a total of 400 shields
These two projects (Scandinavian invasion and infrastructure build-up) of course swallowed a lot of resources and consequently I have not been able to send any reinforcements down south. Despite the fact that my opponents down there always suffered higher losses than I did, the constant fighting has worn my southern army out. There is not much left besides Barbarossa, while my opponents (who are probably in Golden Age by now) have been able to keep harassing me with their reinforcements and now even threaten to take my spices resource.
The good news is, that most cities are done or almost done with their infrastructure improvements and can go back to unit-production now. I will soon be able to send a constant flow of horsemen down south and turn the balance back into my favor.
Also most cities will be at size 12 soon, my Golden Age is about to start in 27 turns, and Cavalry is only two more techs away...
Losses so far in the Viking war:
Germany: 2 Curraghs, 4 galleys, 3 horsemen for a total of 240 shields
Scandinavia: 4 Galleys, 2 warriors, 1 archer, 7 spearmen, 5 swordsmen for a total of 450 shields
Losses so far in the Greek War:
Germany: 1 Horseman for a total of 30 shields
Greece: 3 Hoplites, 4 archers, 8 horsemen for a total of 380 shields
Losses in Persian war:
Germany: 4 Archers, 2 spearmen, 3 horsemen, 1 Longbow for a total of 250 shields
Persia: 13 Immortals, 1 warrior for a total of 400 shields
I found this while reading another thread where this post was linked.
I would like to know how the experiment ended. I'm not asking for the blow by blow which was very entertaining, but just in general is Republic viable for a basically all war game?
I would like to know how the experiment ended. I'm not asking for the blow by blow which was very entertaining, but just in general is Republic viable for a basically all war game?
Update: as you noticed, all my old attachments got lost during the forum upgrade last year, in particular the pictures for this story (as well as the Asterix training game). Now I discovered, that I still had about half of the screenshots on my desktop, and even more important: the CivAssist-archives of this game were still present on my desktop and my laptop, where I played part of the game, so I was able to recreate the missing screenshots!
All posts are now updated with the missing screenshots.
I stopped the game in 350AD, because other projects like GOTMs and SGs got into the way, and then didn't get to resuming it. But I have some time again now, so I think, I will continue it, maybe even today...!
All posts are now updated with the missing screenshots.
I stopped the game in 350AD, because other projects like GOTMs and SGs got into the way, and then didn't get to resuming it. But I have some time again now, so I think, I will continue it, maybe even today...!
Ok, after a rather long pause, I decided to continue this experiment. We left the game in the following critical situation.
The Persians are about to storm my spice town! The big question is: should I let them take it (and put up with the 16 additional war weariness points), hoping to retake it quickly, or should I abandon Dortmund and bring another settler, once the area is safe again?
In the end I decide with a heavy heart to abandon it, because it is not only the war weariness, but also the fact that they can use Dortmund for faster healing and the road connection for moving on to Eindhoven in one turn. I need to slow them down, as my forces in the core are still quite weak: only three cities producing units, the other ones still busy with a couple marketplaces or even wonders.
Another advantage of abandoning it is: I can now see exactly, how much the lost spices resource will force me to increase my lux slider. Originally I had set it to 40% in anticipation of the loss of Dortmund, but after abandoning it, I can now see, that 30% is in fact sufficient.
So I press enter and suffer another disappointment interturn:
immortal (3/3) vs horse (1/4): immortal (2/3)
immortal (3/3) vs Barbarossa (11/13): Barbarossa (not exactly sure, how many hitpoints lost. It went yellow, so probably around 7/13)
immortal (3/3) vs Barbarossa (?/13): immortal (?/3)
horse (4/4) vs longbow (4/4): horse (4/4)
T151, 360AD:
Königsberg: market -> horse
Frankfurt: horse -> horse
Tenochtitlan completes the Great Library.
The loss against the Greek means, that Sparta now also needs to be abandoned:
archer (3/4) vs archer (3/3): archer (3/4)
6 of the original 10 Persian units are still alive and will probably capture a big stack of slaves and threaten Ephesus next. All my holdings in the south crumble - it's about time that my infrastructure build-up in the core is finally finished and I can produce units again!
horse (4/5) vs immortal (2/3): horse (1/5)
The horseman retreats back to safety. I rush a longbow in Ephesus and 40s into the musket in Amsterdam. 3 Horses from the core on their way south.
Scandinavian front:
longbow (4/4) vs sword (3/3): longbow (2/4)
Lux slider now needs to be increased to 40%. I raise science to 40%, Chemistry due in 3 turns.
T152, 370AD:
Heidelberg: worker -> worker
Ephesus: longbow -> galley
Brandenburg: harbor -> library
The Greek have unloaded an archer next to Amsterdam, fortunately on flatland.
horse (4/4) vs archer (3/3): horse (4/4)
Near Athens:
archer (3/4) vs horse (4/4): archer (2/4), but horse retreats.
T153, 380AD:
The Vikings lose a sword against a spear on the hill, the Greeks kill my archer.
Artemis provides culture expansions in all towns that didn't have one yet!
Situation on the southern front:
Not enough troops yet for an attack, so unfortunately i have to let them onto the mountain. Let's hope they advance further towards my empty towns and don't fortify there.
While trying to find Copenhagen (with the Great Lighthouse), I meet the Aztecs and declare war.
They are up Monarchy and Monotheism, I'm up Feudalism, Engineering, Invention, Gunpowder and next turn Chemistry.
A stack of 6 horses and an archer moves onto the incense hill near Reykjavik.
T154, 390AD:
Chemistry -> Metallurgy
Amsterdam: musket -> musket
Hamburg: market -> horse
Königsberg: horse -> horse
Frankfurt: horse -> horse
München: musket -> horse
Heidelberg: worker -> worker
The Aztecs start Sun Tzu's
Reykjavik is on a hill, so I ship my now healed longbow there as well, before attacking.
In the south the Persians move closer, as expected. A total of 8 units can now be seen on the border.
Science increased to 60%, Metallurgy due in 7 turns.
T155, 400AD:
Attack on Reykjavik:
longbow (4/4) vs spearman (4/4): spear (2/5)
horse (4/4) vs sword (4/4): horse (3/4)
horse (4/4) vs spear (3/3): horse (3/5)
horse (4/4) vs spear (3/3): horse (1/4)
archer (5/5) vs spear (2/5): spear (1/5)
horse (5/5) vs spear (1/5): horse (5/5) and Reykjavik is ours.
Their capital jumps to the tundra town Oslo, so where the heck is Copenhagen? Would be really nice to get the Lighthouse and finally ship the Scandinavian incense home!
On the southern front the Persians increase their immortal force to 10!
One of them and an archer had moved onto flatland next to Eindhoven, so a vet horse kills the reg immortal and an elite horse attacks the archer, and:
Ok, that's gonna be my first Cav Army!
(Apart from the fact that Firaxis again cruelly misspelled the name of the leader: the name of the Red Baron was Manfred von Richthofen! -- A compound of two nouns: "Richter" = judge/squire and "Hof" = court. "Ofen" on the other hand would mean "oven"...)
T156, 410AD:
Interturn the Vikings unload a spear/settler pair next to my former spice town Dortmund! Perhaps I can safe the settler for that later on...
Strangely enough, only 4 of the 6 immortals move towards my empty Eindhoven. The other two, together with reinforcements, move towards Groningen?!
But my horses don't really cut it this time: of the 4 I have down there, 1 loses, 2 retreat and only "Richthofen" wins. I fortify the musket in Eindhoven. With two more immortals arriving next turn, the situation could again become desperate. As my gold reserves are burned, I turn off research for a while. (Not to mention that I have to increase the lux slider to 50% now!! I need my spices back, and I need the Lighthouse!) Gold is used for rushing a unit, wherever the situation becomes critical.
In Scandinavia, my stack advances into the dark, covered by a musket.
T157, 420AD:
Interturn all three immortals, even the 1/3 one, attack Eindhoven. My musket gets promoted but barely survives with 1/5.
5 more Persians appear from the fog, increasing their total force again to 12. This is, what I can muster for stopping them:
I rush a longbow in Groningen and a few shields into another musket in Amsterdam.
In Scandinavia, I finally find Copenhagen.
How did that town build the Great Lighthouse...??
My troops move into position.
T158, 430AD:
The immortal kills my musket at Eindhoven. 5 Units move next to Groningen. Three more appear on the border, making it a total of 15 units.
The Greeks start Sun Tzu's.
My longbow loses cleanly to an elite immortal in a forest. That means Groningen will have to be abandoned next.
But my horses have better luck: three wins, one loss and one retreat. However, two horses are exposed to counterattacks now, so more losses to be expected.
I did not report build project completions for a while, but by now a steady stream of horsemen is going south, 1-2 being completed every turn, so I hope I can soon stem the tide.
Rush another LB at The Hague.
Attack on Copenhagen:
4 horses lost, 2 retreats, only one win. That sucks. What's the matter? It's not on a hill! Now I would need to bring at least 5-6 horses as reinforcements, but I need them all in the south!
I'm losing on both fronts at the moment, so I need to change plans. Concentrate everything on Copenhagen, hoping to connect the incense, or concentrate everything on the Persians, hoping to push them back and finally secure the spices again? As the Persians are much more dangerous (can't let them approach to Amsterdam, which is a nice productive city by now!) I decide to fall back to passive defense in Scandinavia and first deal with the Persian threat.
T159, 440AD:
Interturn I lose 2 horses at Eindhoven, 7 Persian units move next to the city.
The LB and a few horses finally arriving from the north or healed to 3/4 in Eindhoven manage to kill 4 of them, one loss, one retreat.
Three attackers vs four (half-dead) defenders, but next turn I can fortify Eindhoven with a musket again.
In the north, my navy kills a Persian galley. Can't let them land anything there, don't have any units for defense at home...
At Ephesus my longbow kills a Greek archer, but is exposed to a horseman now.
T160, 450AD:
Interturn: at Eindhoven, the Persians kill a longbow and two horses, the three immortals from the mountain approach. The Greek horse kills my LB at Ephesus, but I rush a replacement.
In Scandinavia, another swordsman attacks my retreating stack, but loses to the 2/4 musket.
At Eindhoven I kill 2 immortals, but lose one horse. It's now 4 vs 4, but 2 of the Persian units are wounded, so will probably retreat next turn.
More reinforcements now on their way south (3 horses just got finished this turn).
At Ephesus, the Greek horse retreats from my LB. But at least Ephesus is safe for the moment.
For some reason I now need 60% lux!??!
The Persians are about to storm my spice town! The big question is: should I let them take it (and put up with the 16 additional war weariness points), hoping to retake it quickly, or should I abandon Dortmund and bring another settler, once the area is safe again?
In the end I decide with a heavy heart to abandon it, because it is not only the war weariness, but also the fact that they can use Dortmund for faster healing and the road connection for moving on to Eindhoven in one turn. I need to slow them down, as my forces in the core are still quite weak: only three cities producing units, the other ones still busy with a couple marketplaces or even wonders.
Another advantage of abandoning it is: I can now see exactly, how much the lost spices resource will force me to increase my lux slider. Originally I had set it to 40% in anticipation of the loss of Dortmund, but after abandoning it, I can now see, that 30% is in fact sufficient.
So I press enter and suffer another disappointment interturn:
immortal (3/3) vs horse (1/4): immortal (2/3)
immortal (3/3) vs Barbarossa (11/13): Barbarossa (not exactly sure, how many hitpoints lost. It went yellow, so probably around 7/13)
immortal (3/3) vs Barbarossa (?/13): immortal (?/3)
horse (4/4) vs longbow (4/4): horse (4/4)
T151, 360AD:
Königsberg: market -> horse
Frankfurt: horse -> horse
Tenochtitlan completes the Great Library.
The loss against the Greek means, that Sparta now also needs to be abandoned:
archer (3/4) vs archer (3/3): archer (3/4)
6 of the original 10 Persian units are still alive and will probably capture a big stack of slaves and threaten Ephesus next. All my holdings in the south crumble - it's about time that my infrastructure build-up in the core is finally finished and I can produce units again!
horse (4/5) vs immortal (2/3): horse (1/5)
The horseman retreats back to safety. I rush a longbow in Ephesus and 40s into the musket in Amsterdam. 3 Horses from the core on their way south.
Scandinavian front:
longbow (4/4) vs sword (3/3): longbow (2/4)
Lux slider now needs to be increased to 40%. I raise science to 40%, Chemistry due in 3 turns.
T152, 370AD:
Heidelberg: worker -> worker
Ephesus: longbow -> galley
Brandenburg: harbor -> library
The Greek have unloaded an archer next to Amsterdam, fortunately on flatland.
horse (4/4) vs archer (3/3): horse (4/4)
Near Athens:
archer (3/4) vs horse (4/4): archer (2/4), but horse retreats.
T153, 380AD:
The Vikings lose a sword against a spear on the hill, the Greeks kill my archer.
Artemis provides culture expansions in all towns that didn't have one yet!
Situation on the southern front:
Not enough troops yet for an attack, so unfortunately i have to let them onto the mountain. Let's hope they advance further towards my empty towns and don't fortify there.
While trying to find Copenhagen (with the Great Lighthouse), I meet the Aztecs and declare war.
They are up Monarchy and Monotheism, I'm up Feudalism, Engineering, Invention, Gunpowder and next turn Chemistry.
A stack of 6 horses and an archer moves onto the incense hill near Reykjavik.
T154, 390AD:
Chemistry -> Metallurgy
Amsterdam: musket -> musket
Hamburg: market -> horse
Königsberg: horse -> horse
Frankfurt: horse -> horse
München: musket -> horse
Heidelberg: worker -> worker
The Aztecs start Sun Tzu's
Reykjavik is on a hill, so I ship my now healed longbow there as well, before attacking.
In the south the Persians move closer, as expected. A total of 8 units can now be seen on the border.
Science increased to 60%, Metallurgy due in 7 turns.
T155, 400AD:
Attack on Reykjavik:
longbow (4/4) vs spearman (4/4): spear (2/5)
horse (4/4) vs sword (4/4): horse (3/4)
horse (4/4) vs spear (3/3): horse (3/5)
horse (4/4) vs spear (3/3): horse (1/4)
archer (5/5) vs spear (2/5): spear (1/5)
horse (5/5) vs spear (1/5): horse (5/5) and Reykjavik is ours.
Their capital jumps to the tundra town Oslo, so where the heck is Copenhagen? Would be really nice to get the Lighthouse and finally ship the Scandinavian incense home!
On the southern front the Persians increase their immortal force to 10!
One of them and an archer had moved onto flatland next to Eindhoven, so a vet horse kills the reg immortal and an elite horse attacks the archer, and:
Ok, that's gonna be my first Cav Army!
(Apart from the fact that Firaxis again cruelly misspelled the name of the leader: the name of the Red Baron was Manfred von Richthofen! -- A compound of two nouns: "Richter" = judge/squire and "Hof" = court. "Ofen" on the other hand would mean "oven"...
)T156, 410AD:
Interturn the Vikings unload a spear/settler pair next to my former spice town Dortmund! Perhaps I can safe the settler for that later on...
Strangely enough, only 4 of the 6 immortals move towards my empty Eindhoven. The other two, together with reinforcements, move towards Groningen?!
But my horses don't really cut it this time: of the 4 I have down there, 1 loses, 2 retreat and only "Richthofen" wins. I fortify the musket in Eindhoven. With two more immortals arriving next turn, the situation could again become desperate. As my gold reserves are burned, I turn off research for a while. (Not to mention that I have to increase the lux slider to 50% now!! I need my spices back, and I need the Lighthouse!) Gold is used for rushing a unit, wherever the situation becomes critical.
In Scandinavia, my stack advances into the dark, covered by a musket.
T157, 420AD:
Interturn all three immortals, even the 1/3 one, attack Eindhoven. My musket gets promoted but barely survives with 1/5.
5 more Persians appear from the fog, increasing their total force again to 12. This is, what I can muster for stopping them:
I rush a longbow in Groningen and a few shields into another musket in Amsterdam.
In Scandinavia, I finally find Copenhagen.
How did that town build the Great Lighthouse...??
My troops move into position.
T158, 430AD:
The immortal kills my musket at Eindhoven. 5 Units move next to Groningen. Three more appear on the border, making it a total of 15 units.
The Greeks start Sun Tzu's.
My longbow loses cleanly to an elite immortal in a forest. That means Groningen will have to be abandoned next.
But my horses have better luck: three wins, one loss and one retreat. However, two horses are exposed to counterattacks now, so more losses to be expected.
I did not report build project completions for a while, but by now a steady stream of horsemen is going south, 1-2 being completed every turn, so I hope I can soon stem the tide.
Rush another LB at The Hague.
Attack on Copenhagen:
4 horses lost, 2 retreats, only one win. That sucks. What's the matter? It's not on a hill! Now I would need to bring at least 5-6 horses as reinforcements, but I need them all in the south!
I'm losing on both fronts at the moment, so I need to change plans. Concentrate everything on Copenhagen, hoping to connect the incense, or concentrate everything on the Persians, hoping to push them back and finally secure the spices again? As the Persians are much more dangerous (can't let them approach to Amsterdam, which is a nice productive city by now!) I decide to fall back to passive defense in Scandinavia and first deal with the Persian threat.
T159, 440AD:
Interturn I lose 2 horses at Eindhoven, 7 Persian units move next to the city.
The LB and a few horses finally arriving from the north or healed to 3/4 in Eindhoven manage to kill 4 of them, one loss, one retreat.
Three attackers vs four (half-dead) defenders, but next turn I can fortify Eindhoven with a musket again.
In the north, my navy kills a Persian galley. Can't let them land anything there, don't have any units for defense at home...
At Ephesus my longbow kills a Greek archer, but is exposed to a horseman now.
T160, 450AD:
Interturn: at Eindhoven, the Persians kill a longbow and two horses, the three immortals from the mountain approach. The Greek horse kills my LB at Ephesus, but I rush a replacement.
In Scandinavia, another swordsman attacks my retreating stack, but loses to the 2/4 musket.
At Eindhoven I kill 2 immortals, but lose one horse. It's now 4 vs 4, but 2 of the Persian units are wounded, so will probably retreat next turn.
More reinforcements now on their way south (3 horses just got finished this turn).
At Ephesus, the Greek horse retreats from my LB. But at least Ephesus is safe for the moment.
For some reason I now need 60% lux!??!
So how can the situation be evaluated? In the south, the Persians, beefed up by their Golden Age, pressed forward with might and I had to make a fighting retreat with heavy losses on both sides. Three towns had to be abandoned. Fortunately the Greek (crippled by their war with Persia?) only showed the occasional single unit, otherwise the war in the south could have ended in a catastrophe...
In Scandinavia, my limited invasion force made good progress, a total of 4 towns are already captured, but when I finally got to the most important town, Copenhagen with the Lighthouse, which would allow me to ship urgently needed incense back home, I got hit by the wrath of the RNG gods, a stack of 8 attackers managed to kill only one single spearman and had to limp back to safety. This puts an end to my hopes of connecting the incense anytime soon.
Due to the critical situation in the south, I had to shutdown research for a while in order to cash-rush units down there. Also war weariness has risen to the point where I need 60% lux, severely limiting my gold output.
If the situation isn't going to improve quickly, the experiment of "Always War under Republic" is going to end in a failure. But there are good chances that the situation is going to change now:
A quick look at the power graph shows, that despite the big losses in the south, I managed to hold things together:
Production of the core:
Short-term, München and Amsterdam can also be brought up to 10spt, then I'll have seven cities with 10spt and one with 20spt. During GA, most of them will be at 20spt and Berlin at 30spt, for a total of 170 shields per turn. I think, if I survive the next 10 turns in good shape, the future will be bright...
And if we compare to the original SGFN-08 in 450AD, I'm not doing that bad: like in my game, they were conducting a heavy defensive battle at Eindhoven at that time:
But I have already made a big dent into Scandinavia:
SGFN-08:
RAW:
In SGFN-08 we just finished Invention, so are 2 and a half techs behind.
And also F1 looks much less impressive in SGFN-08:
Even though I need 60% lux, I'm still making 100gpt compared to their 37gpt, and the 8 biggest cities make 96spt compared to their 71spt.
If we take a look at what has already been built infrastructure-wise, we can see that the choice for Republic (and the much shorter Despotism period) payed off so far:
SGFN-08: Great Library (rushed by SGL), Forbidden Palace, 9 turns left on Heroic Epic,
11 barracks, 1 granary, 4 libraries, 1 aqueduct, 5 harbors, 2 walls
RAW: Colossus, Mausoleum of Mausollos, Artemis, Heroic Epic, 7 turns left on Forbidden Palace, 17 turns left on Leonardo,
9 barracks, 2 granaries, 19 temples (from Artemis), 7 markets, 9 libraries, 6 aqueducts, 11 harbors
Only my military looks a bit weak at the moment:
SGFN-08: 14 workers, 16 spears, 19 horses, 20 cats/trebs, 8 galleys, 3 armies
RAW: 24 workers (+ already joined many into cities), 2 muskets, 8 horses, 5 galleys, 1 army
(I omitted some odds and ends in both cases, like a lone warrior, archer or LB here and there.)
In Scandinavia, my limited invasion force made good progress, a total of 4 towns are already captured, but when I finally got to the most important town, Copenhagen with the Lighthouse, which would allow me to ship urgently needed incense back home, I got hit by the wrath of the RNG gods, a stack of 8 attackers managed to kill only one single spearman and had to limp back to safety. This puts an end to my hopes of connecting the incense anytime soon.
Due to the critical situation in the south, I had to shutdown research for a while in order to cash-rush units down there. Also war weariness has risen to the point where I need 60% lux, severely limiting my gold output.
If the situation isn't going to improve quickly, the experiment of "Always War under Republic" is going to end in a failure. But there are good chances that the situation is going to change now:
- The Persian GA, which probably already got triggered in their war with Greece, must be over by now (or within the next couple of turns), while my own GA is about to start in 17 turns.
- The infrastructure build-up in the core is almost finished now. 5 cities are already producing units, some more will follow soon. Over the last 20 turns or so, I have invested huge amounts of shields into libs, markets, aqueducts, courthouses etc, which was the reason why I got pushed back so heavily in the south, but soon this is going to pay off and then my entire core can produce nothing but units for the rest of the game. Also most core cities have reached size 12 by now, or soon will.
- I still have a big tech lead (Invention, Gunpowder, Chemistry and half of Metallurgy over Persia and Greece, even more over Scandinavia) and should be able to finish Milliary Tradition before the start of the GA. (Followed by building lots of Cavalry during GA, using disconnect/connect over saltpeter... )
A quick look at the power graph shows, that despite the big losses in the south, I managed to hold things together:
Production of the core:
Short-term, München and Amsterdam can also be brought up to 10spt, then I'll have seven cities with 10spt and one with 20spt. During GA, most of them will be at 20spt and Berlin at 30spt, for a total of 170 shields per turn. I think, if I survive the next 10 turns in good shape, the future will be bright...
And if we compare to the original SGFN-08 in 450AD, I'm not doing that bad: like in my game, they were conducting a heavy defensive battle at Eindhoven at that time:
But I have already made a big dent into Scandinavia:
SGFN-08:
RAW:
In SGFN-08 we just finished Invention, so are 2 and a half techs behind.
And also F1 looks much less impressive in SGFN-08:
Even though I need 60% lux, I'm still making 100gpt compared to their 37gpt, and the 8 biggest cities make 96spt compared to their 71spt.
If we take a look at what has already been built infrastructure-wise, we can see that the choice for Republic (and the much shorter Despotism period) payed off so far:
SGFN-08: Great Library (rushed by SGL), Forbidden Palace, 9 turns left on Heroic Epic,
11 barracks, 1 granary, 4 libraries, 1 aqueduct, 5 harbors, 2 walls
RAW: Colossus, Mausoleum of Mausollos, Artemis, Heroic Epic, 7 turns left on Forbidden Palace, 17 turns left on Leonardo,
9 barracks, 2 granaries, 19 temples (from Artemis), 7 markets, 9 libraries, 6 aqueducts, 11 harbors
Only my military looks a bit weak at the moment:
SGFN-08: 14 workers, 16 spears, 19 horses, 20 cats/trebs, 8 galleys, 3 armies
RAW: 24 workers (+ already joined many into cities), 2 muskets, 8 horses, 5 galleys, 1 army
(I omitted some odds and ends in both cases, like a lone warrior, archer or LB here and there.)
Last edited:
tjs282
Stone \ Cold / Fish
I'm enjoying reading this. I never deliberately tried playing any of the 'classic' variants like AW, or 5CC, or 1CC, so this project is interesting. I see you're playing hardcore AW, tho, not even trading for techs before DOWing... 
(I also apologise right now to you and any lurkers for any role I might have played — via our shared SGs, which have apparently overlapped this project — in distracting you from completing it prior to this!)
Might I suggest 'RAW' (= "Republic Always-War")...?
(I also apologise right now to you and any lurkers for any role I might have played — via our shared SGs, which have apparently overlapped this project — in distracting you from completing it prior to this!)
Wondering what the 'M's for here? "Monarch level"?
Might I suggest 'RAW' (= "Republic Always-War")...?
Elephantium
Malcolm was a very good cat.
They do say that 'RAW' is 'WAR'
"RAW" sounds good, especially as you can also read it as "Republicans At War". So this game finally has a TLA that I'll use from now on!
To shorten things a bit, I'll leave out the battle details now, but you can assume, that each turn a fair bit of it is taking place. Also the map didn't change (except for another town in Greece I had to abandon), so less pictures... Here we go:
T161, 460AD:
The two immortals attack Eindhoven, promoting my musket to elite...
My LB at Ephesus kills a Greek horse on defense, but loses to a second one.
I set research back to 30%. Ephesus will probably have to be abandoned next turn, but I don't want to burn my cash forever for single units that die a turn or two later anyway. I want Cavs now.
T162, 470AD:
Abandon Ephesus.
T163, 480AD:
Over the previous turns, the fighting against the Persians has continued. Nothing I can't handle, since by now 7 cities are building units, but with bad RNG luck as usual, I lose more units than necessary, and war weariness has now reached the next level: I need to go to 70% lux rate! No way I can finish Military Tradition before the start of my GA, especially since I shaved a turn off the construction time of Leonardo's by planting a forest for Berlin.
T164, 490AD:
Finally a turn with good results: kill 5 immortals at no own losses (one horse retreats). I hope that the war weariness will cease again, once I clear the enemy units from my territory and stop fighting for a few turns?
Cahs reserves are gone, so I need to reduce research to 20%...
T165, 500AD:
Again a fresh 4/4 LB dies against a 3/3 immortal on grassland! And a 5/5 horse against that same immortal (now 1/3)!!
issed:
I have too many clowns, so lux to 80%, science to 10%...
T166, 510AD:
The Aztecs start building the Knights Templar, but still no one has invention.
The WW has gone down, I can reduce lux to 60% again, set science to 20% and even make some plus (so can alternate with 30% science whenever there is some gold in the box).
T167, 520AD:
Bremen finishes the Forbidden Palace. I hope I can set up that city at 15spt soon and build 2-turn horses:
For the moment, I'm giving the mountain to Bonn, though, to speed up the aqueduct there.
Sardis completes the Hanging Gardens. One more reason to finally take out the Persians: all my WW will be gone, and I get an additional happy face empire-wide!
I can now raise science to 30%, and thanks to the FP, Metallurgy is now due in 4 turns. Finally we are getting somewhere!
Also you can see, that now 7 cities are making 10spt (one is not visible in the screenshot). And of course Berlin at 20.
T168, 530AD:
The Greeks start Sun Tzu's.
T169, 540AD:
Nothing but the usual fighting against the Persians. But their appearance has now slowed down to a trickle. So their GA is definitely over now...
T170, 550AD:
A Babylonian galley appears near Reykjavik. So another one has found us and we declare war. Hopefully it'll be a cold war like against the Aztecs, with whom we just exchanged a galley each.
Babylon (like Scandinavia) is still in the Ancient Age...
Killed another 3 Persian immortals and finally captured the mountain, though I lost two horses, among them another elite against a 2/4 immortal
But it's another progress: a few more reinforcements, and I'll be able to capture Stavanger! Repair the road, and I'll have my third luxury again!
And fighting against the Persians can now take place outside my territory (I don't expect, they'll be able to ever retake the mountain now), hopefully easing my WW further.
T171, 560AD:
Metallurgy finishes. (That's why I played 11 turns this time.) Finally start Millitary Tradition, currently due in 12 turns at 30%, if the gold does not run out.
Darn, Stavanger of course dropped to size 1 this turn
So, what happened this turnset? Another contact (but probably as harmless as the Aztecs), I lost another town, but finally brought the stream of Persian units to a halt. Infrastructure buildup is now complete, 8 (soon 9) cities building military at a decent production rate.
FP is finished and 5 turns left on Leonardo's. And no one knows Invention, yet! Keep your fingers crossed! If I can trigger my GA, the game should be over the hill.
Köln needs two more forests, and then I'll have 8 cities at 10spt and one at 20spt (but of course the GA will change all that again for a while, and Bremen is also not yet at it's peak).
The power graph shows, that I have stopped Persia now:
To shorten things a bit, I'll leave out the battle details now, but you can assume, that each turn a fair bit of it is taking place. Also the map didn't change (except for another town in Greece I had to abandon), so less pictures... Here we go:
T161, 460AD:
The two immortals attack Eindhoven, promoting my musket to elite...
My LB at Ephesus kills a Greek horse on defense, but loses to a second one.
I set research back to 30%. Ephesus will probably have to be abandoned next turn, but I don't want to burn my cash forever for single units that die a turn or two later anyway. I want Cavs now.
T162, 470AD:
Abandon Ephesus.
T163, 480AD:
Over the previous turns, the fighting against the Persians has continued. Nothing I can't handle, since by now 7 cities are building units, but with bad RNG luck as usual, I lose more units than necessary, and war weariness has now reached the next level: I need to go to 70% lux rate! No way I can finish Military Tradition before the start of my GA, especially since I shaved a turn off the construction time of Leonardo's by planting a forest for Berlin.
T164, 490AD:
Finally a turn with good results: kill 5 immortals at no own losses (one horse retreats). I hope that the war weariness will cease again, once I clear the enemy units from my territory and stop fighting for a few turns?
Cahs reserves are gone, so I need to reduce research to 20%...
T165, 500AD:
Again a fresh 4/4 LB dies against a 3/3 immortal on grassland! And a 5/5 horse against that same immortal (now 1/3)!!
issed:I have too many clowns, so lux to 80%, science to 10%...
T166, 510AD:
The Aztecs start building the Knights Templar, but still no one has invention.
The WW has gone down, I can reduce lux to 60% again, set science to 20% and even make some plus (so can alternate with 30% science whenever there is some gold in the box).
T167, 520AD:
Bremen finishes the Forbidden Palace. I hope I can set up that city at 15spt soon and build 2-turn horses:
For the moment, I'm giving the mountain to Bonn, though, to speed up the aqueduct there.
Sardis completes the Hanging Gardens. One more reason to finally take out the Persians: all my WW will be gone, and I get an additional happy face empire-wide!
I can now raise science to 30%, and thanks to the FP, Metallurgy is now due in 4 turns. Finally we are getting somewhere!
Also you can see, that now 7 cities are making 10spt (one is not visible in the screenshot). And of course Berlin at 20.
T168, 530AD:
The Greeks start Sun Tzu's.
T169, 540AD:
Nothing but the usual fighting against the Persians. But their appearance has now slowed down to a trickle. So their GA is definitely over now...
T170, 550AD:
A Babylonian galley appears near Reykjavik. So another one has found us and we declare war. Hopefully it'll be a cold war like against the Aztecs, with whom we just exchanged a galley each.
Babylon (like Scandinavia) is still in the Ancient Age...
Killed another 3 Persian immortals and finally captured the mountain, though I lost two horses, among them another elite against a 2/4 immortal
But it's another progress: a few more reinforcements, and I'll be able to capture Stavanger! Repair the road, and I'll have my third luxury again!
And fighting against the Persians can now take place outside my territory (I don't expect, they'll be able to ever retake the mountain now), hopefully easing my WW further.
T171, 560AD:
Metallurgy finishes. (That's why I played 11 turns this time.) Finally start Millitary Tradition, currently due in 12 turns at 30%, if the gold does not run out.
Darn, Stavanger of course dropped to size 1 this turn
So, what happened this turnset? Another contact (but probably as harmless as the Aztecs), I lost another town, but finally brought the stream of Persian units to a halt. Infrastructure buildup is now complete, 8 (soon 9) cities building military at a decent production rate.
FP is finished and 5 turns left on Leonardo's. And no one knows Invention, yet! Keep your fingers crossed! If I can trigger my GA, the game should be over the hill.
Köln needs two more forests, and then I'll have 8 cities at 10spt and one at 20spt (but of course the GA will change all that again for a while, and Bremen is also not yet at it's peak).
The power graph shows, that I have stopped Persia now:
What I didn't mention so far, but might be useful to know: ever since I started changing irrigations to mines or forests for the core cities, I at the same time performed the forestry operations. Usually I do this only when I have rails and can move large stacks of workers wherever they are needed, but in this game I need every 10 shields I can get asap, and it saves worker turns, if I do it already now, for example for an irrigated BG: irrigation -> forest -> chop -> mine = 19 turns versus irrigation -> mine -> (later) forest -> chop -> mine = 25 turns.
Of course it slows down the completion of the core a bit, if I do it now, but first I needed every unit I could get in this critical situation, and then I don't expect that "later" I'll have an abundance of workers to do it with a waste of 6 turns per tile. Workers is the scarcest resource in this game. I have Heidelberg running as a 2-turn WF for ages, but in most other games I have two WFs, and also in this case I joined workers to core towns much earlier, in order to get commerce and production going (and to keep the unit upkeep low).
Another factor is, that I have much less slaves than in an ordinary game: no trading for them, and I wasn't able to bring those I captured in the south back to safety, as they were caught in the sudden Persian wave overrunning my captured territory in the south...
Of course it slows down the completion of the core a bit, if I do it now, but first I needed every unit I could get in this critical situation, and then I don't expect that "later" I'll have an abundance of workers to do it with a waste of 6 turns per tile. Workers is the scarcest resource in this game. I have Heidelberg running as a 2-turn WF for ages, but in most other games I have two WFs, and also in this case I joined workers to core towns much earlier, in order to get commerce and production going (and to keep the unit upkeep low).
Another factor is, that I have much less slaves than in an ordinary game: no trading for them, and I wasn't able to bring those I captured in the south back to safety, as they were caught in the sudden Persian wave overrunning my captured territory in the south...
Toxicman007
Custom User Title
Looks good! You almost have this win in the bag. Took me about 5 minutes to realise you writing "4/4 LB" didn't mean it had 4/4 stats (as obviously longbowmen do not), but actually 4/4 HITPOINTS.
Ok, here is another installment.
T172, 570AD:
Nothing special.
T173, 580AD:
A bit of fighting again in Scandinavia: the Aztecs land two Jaguars, and a Viking swordsman appears next to Bergen. An LB and two horses take care of that.
T174, 590AD:
Two Persian Knights appear on the southern border now! Just when I thought things would finally get easier in the south... oh well...
The Aztecs and Persia now know Invention. Now please no cascade in the next two turns!! If one of them finishes Sun Tzu and the other one switches to Leonardo and finishes that one as well, it would mean goodby to my GA...
Stavanger has grown to size 2 again. I bring 12 horses into position, but it is doubtful wether I should attack next turn: the Greek finally have sent some troups again right now (didn't see anything of them for a long time), and with Persian Knights close by, it is doubtful whether I could hold that town.
T175, 600AD:
No wonder gets finished, phew! Now Leonardo's should be mine.
I kill 2 of the Greek horses and 2 immortals, but I refrain from taking Stavanger. Who knows, how much Greek reinforcements are waiting in the background. Let's first wait for better weapons to fight the Knights.
T176, 610AD:
Thanks to the GA, I can now lower the lux slider to 50%. Military Tradition now due in 5 turns, yeah!
After some shuffling of the tiles, my most productive cities can now build 2-turn horses or 2-turn LBs. Berlin finally gets its market in three turns.
A few more turns, and then Stuttgart, Heidelberg and Salzburg can also make 10spt. It just needs an extra citizen or an extra mine here and there.
I try to kill one of the Persian Knights with a 5/5 Longbow, but again it dies 0-5. These stupid LBs just don't cut it in this game?!
T177, 620AD:
Next try, this time a 4/4 LB kills a Knight! A trebuchet hits the other one, so I decide to attack it with horses. I lose 7 horses against one knight and one immortal But nevertheless I can lower the lux rate to 40% now?!? At least for 2-3 turns, as long as I have food in those cities where I needed to hiere an entertainer.
T178, 630AD:
And already I have to go to 50% lux again?! Who understands the happiness system...
Another Persian Knight appears on the border, but I will remain passive now for the last 3-4 turns until cavalry.
I start chopping a forest into a barracks in Eindhoven in anticipation of the coming upgrades... The Persians will be in for a big surprise...
T179, 640AD:
Berlin finishes the market and starts a pre-build for the Military Academy.
Some of the 20spt cities start prebuilds for cavs. No more of these lousy longbows...
Persepolis completes Sun Tsu's Art of War. The Aztecs cascade into the Knight's Templar.
I sink two Babylonian galleys without own losses!
T180, 650AD:
Another LB dies against an immortal... and another one against a Knight.
Science is lowered to 20%, MT next turn with ~380 gold in the coffers. Everything is ready at Eindhoven:
At a rate of 75g a piece, I can upgrade 5 cavs interturn. Three will be filled into the Richthofen Army, so we are going to have some fun next turn, stay tuned...
The only question will be: until I have the spare workers for disconnect/connect, what can I do with the 15spt cities?? I don't have any 20-shield intermediate rush-target. I need to bring them to 16 spt for 5-turn Cavs.
This was a critical set of turns. If someone would have discovered Invention a bit earlier or the wonder cascade would have been a bit earlier, taking both Sun Tsu and Leonardo, then it would have been very difficult indeed to start a Golden Age. But everything worked out perfectly (except for the usual bad RNG luck...) and now I think I can agree with Toxicman's statement "the win is in the bag".
The next stage is getting rid of Persia with the help of Cav Armies, thereby a) eliminating the heavy War Weariness I'm suffering from the Persian war and b) getting access to more luxury resources. After that I can use shields and gold income for massproducing Cavalry, and the game should be easy sailing from then on.
T172, 570AD:
Nothing special.
T173, 580AD:
A bit of fighting again in Scandinavia: the Aztecs land two Jaguars, and a Viking swordsman appears next to Bergen. An LB and two horses take care of that.
T174, 590AD:
Two Persian Knights appear on the southern border now! Just when I thought things would finally get easier in the south... oh well...
The Aztecs and Persia now know Invention. Now please no cascade in the next two turns!! If one of them finishes Sun Tzu and the other one switches to Leonardo and finishes that one as well, it would mean goodby to my GA...
Stavanger has grown to size 2 again. I bring 12 horses into position, but it is doubtful wether I should attack next turn: the Greek finally have sent some troups again right now (didn't see anything of them for a long time), and with Persian Knights close by, it is doubtful whether I could hold that town.
T175, 600AD:
No wonder gets finished, phew! Now Leonardo's should be mine.
I kill 2 of the Greek horses and 2 immortals, but I refrain from taking Stavanger. Who knows, how much Greek reinforcements are waiting in the background. Let's first wait for better weapons to fight the Knights.
T176, 610AD:
Thanks to the GA, I can now lower the lux slider to 50%. Military Tradition now due in 5 turns, yeah!
After some shuffling of the tiles, my most productive cities can now build 2-turn horses or 2-turn LBs. Berlin finally gets its market in three turns.
A few more turns, and then Stuttgart, Heidelberg and Salzburg can also make 10spt. It just needs an extra citizen or an extra mine here and there.
I try to kill one of the Persian Knights with a 5/5 Longbow, but again it dies 0-5. These stupid LBs just don't cut it in this game?!
T177, 620AD:
Next try, this time a 4/4 LB kills a Knight! A trebuchet hits the other one, so I decide to attack it with horses. I lose 7 horses against one knight and one immortal
But nevertheless I can lower the lux rate to 40% now?!? At least for 2-3 turns, as long as I have food in those cities where I needed to hiere an entertainer.T178, 630AD:
And already I have to go to 50% lux again?! Who understands the happiness system...
Another Persian Knight appears on the border, but I will remain passive now for the last 3-4 turns until cavalry.
I start chopping a forest into a barracks in Eindhoven in anticipation of the coming upgrades... The Persians will be in for a big surprise...
T179, 640AD:
Berlin finishes the market and starts a pre-build for the Military Academy.
Some of the 20spt cities start prebuilds for cavs. No more of these lousy longbows...
Persepolis completes Sun Tsu's Art of War. The Aztecs cascade into the Knight's Templar.
I sink two Babylonian galleys without own losses!
T180, 650AD:
Another LB dies against an immortal... and another one against a Knight.
Science is lowered to 20%, MT next turn with ~380 gold in the coffers. Everything is ready at Eindhoven:
At a rate of 75g a piece, I can upgrade 5 cavs interturn. Three will be filled into the Richthofen Army, so we are going to have some fun next turn, stay tuned...
The only question will be: until I have the spare workers for disconnect/connect, what can I do with the 15spt cities?? I don't have any 20-shield intermediate rush-target. I need to bring them to 16 spt for 5-turn Cavs.
This was a critical set of turns. If someone would have discovered Invention a bit earlier or the wonder cascade would have been a bit earlier, taking both Sun Tsu and Leonardo, then it would have been very difficult indeed to start a Golden Age. But everything worked out perfectly (except for the usual bad RNG luck...) and now I think I can agree with Toxicman's statement "the win is in the bag".
The next stage is getting rid of Persia with the help of Cav Armies, thereby a) eliminating the heavy War Weariness I'm suffering from the Persian war and b) getting access to more luxury resources. After that I can use shields and gold income for massproducing Cavalry, and the game should be easy sailing from then on.
Here is the .sav file.
Comparing to the original SGFN-08 in 650AD, we see that at that time we just got Gunpowder from the Great Lib. So Republic & self-research was faster than relying on the AI to come up with the important techs.
This is even more highlighted by the fact that I will have Cavs in 660AD, while in SGFN-08 we got Cavs only in 890AD.
Coincidentally, we started the GA at about the same time!! In SGFN-08 we built the Knight's Templar in 620AD (using the Great Lib that was rushed via SGL as SCI wonder), while I finished Leonardo in 610AD (using an earlier hand-built Mausoleum as SCI wonder).
Comparing to the original SGFN-08 in 650AD, we see that at that time we just got Gunpowder from the Great Lib. So Republic & self-research was faster than relying on the AI to come up with the important techs.
This is even more highlighted by the fact that I will have Cavs in 660AD, while in SGFN-08 we got Cavs only in 890AD.
Coincidentally, we started the GA at about the same time!!
In SGFN-08 we built the Knight's Templar in 620AD (using the Great Lib that was rushed via SGL as SCI wonder), while I finished Leonardo in 610AD (using an earlier hand-built Mausoleum as SCI wonder).
As the game is now big fun again, I couldn't resist playing another turnset... Finally wanted to use my nice Cav Armies...
T181, 660AD:
Interturn: Military Tradition comes in, set research to 0%, switch Collosseums to Cav. Berlin is switched to Millitary Academy. When the barracks in Eindhoven finishes, I upgrade 5 horses.
Fill 3 Cavs into Richthofen, who then kills 3 Knights and an immortal. eHorses kill two immortals, the remaining two Cavs another Knight at the loss of one Cav.
Cover the exposed cav with a musket.
T182, 670AD:
Troops advance a bit more, covered by muskets. I can see brown borders now, but no contact yet.
I hope, I'm not forced to use the Shift-D trick...?!
In Scandinavia an eLB wins against an archer and finally we get another MGL: Hengest!
Berlin needs 9 more turns for the Mil Academy, Bremen is making 25spt, so could build the Pentagon in 16 turns (actually 17, as I only have 15 turns of GA left.) Can I build and rush a third Army in 8 turns? I decide yes and switch Bremen to Palace.
T183, 680AD:
Richthofen has healed last turn and now takes Stavanger!
We now have contact with Russia and declare war. That means, we have now discovered all the nations of the world and are at war with all of them, even though we can see only the Greek and the Persian territory. Fortunately only the war against Persia is "hot", the Greek send 1-2 units every other turn, and all the other civs send a lone galley with some crap units like every 5-10 turns. Otherwise the war weariness would probably have reached untolerable heights by now...
The Hengest Army is formed in Köln and collects a few Cavs on its way south. (Gets to Amsterdam, where a thrid Cav is going to produced interturn.)
Finally some progress in the south:
The big stack protected by the musket has 8 cavs... A worker to repair the road segment to Stavanger is on the mountain.
T184, 690AD:
Two Armies and 13 more Cavs are now in operation on the Persian front. As the situation in the south is now going swell, I decide to ship 4 Cavs to Scandinavia and try another run on Copenhagen.
T185, 700AD:
Razing the Russian town (Cirta?) and advancing.
T186, 710AD:
Apparently the WW has eased up a bit, I can now lower the lux slider to 40%. Didn't have any losses against the Persians in the last couple of turns.
A stack of slow units advances towards Copenhagen, 4 Cavs have been shipped over and can join them next turn.
It is astonishing, that Persia can still produce such a big amount of units: after 3 Knights were killed, on this picture we can still see 3 more and an immortal.
They must be suffering from WW by now as well (they are running a Feudalism government), and usually the AI deals with that by hiring entertainers instead of using the lux slider?!
I have now 26 Cavs in the field, 6 of them in Armies. All horses have been upgraded, except for a couple elite ones and a few in Scandinavia, where I don't have saltpeter yet available. I will safe a bit of money now for rushing the third Army, once the shields for the Pentagon are ready, and for shortrushing.
T187, 720AD:
3 Cavs and a horseman are enough to finally storm Copenhagen. Even though incenses are now finally shipped home, people become unhappier rather than happier! I would even have to raise the lux slider from 40 back to 50%, but I know that the road to the spices is going to finish interturn, so I can leave the slider as it is.
In the south, the 8 Cavs take the Persian town Dakyanus on a hill, protected by city walls and pikes and knights. We lose one Cav, and another one that's trying to eliminate a nearby Knight.
Now I only need to build a road/town link through the jungle towards Persia.
T188, 730AD:
The Aztecs unload two Ancient Cavs in Scandinavia. Persian Knights kill two more Cavs in Dakyanus. ## Cavs fortified in a hill town should have better defense than that!!
Spices are now connected, and everybody is happy.
Two LBs die trying to defeat one Ancient Cav! And a Cav goes down to 1/4 before finishing the job!!
T189, 740AD:
Destroy Halikarnassos (Greece). Take Birka (Scandinavia). Kill more Knights.
T190, 750AD:
And 3 more Knights appear interturn, killing 3 Cavs, unbelievable! And the Persians now have muskets:
Hengest kills 3 of them, and then two more Cavs are necessary to take Herat. The Knights are also eliminated, at least no losses this turn.
Need to increase the lux slider to 50%, as otherwise Nürnberg would starve.
Here a picture of our homeland. As you notice, a warrior and 7 workers are now assembled on the saltpeter resource next to Hannover, so we can now start the disconnect/connect mass production of Cavs, using five 15spt cities and four 10spt cities for horseman production. The income (~300gpt, i.e. 4 horses every turn) should be enough for that, leaving the cash reserves (~1500g) mostly for emergencies and for rushing the remainder of the third Army, once the time for the Pentagon has come.
Three 20spt cities can build cavalry directly. Berlin is building the Military Academy, Bremen the Pentagon.
The power graph finally goes into the right direction again, the discovery of MT and the Golden Age came right in the nick of time...!
T181, 660AD:
Interturn: Military Tradition comes in, set research to 0%, switch Collosseums to Cav. Berlin is switched to Millitary Academy. When the barracks in Eindhoven finishes, I upgrade 5 horses.
Fill 3 Cavs into Richthofen, who then kills 3 Knights and an immortal. eHorses kill two immortals, the remaining two Cavs another Knight at the loss of one Cav.
Cover the exposed cav with a musket.
T182, 670AD:
Troops advance a bit more, covered by muskets. I can see brown borders now, but no contact yet.
I hope, I'm not forced to use the Shift-D trick...?!
In Scandinavia an eLB wins against an archer and finally we get another MGL: Hengest!
Berlin needs 9 more turns for the Mil Academy, Bremen is making 25spt, so could build the Pentagon in 16 turns (actually 17, as I only have 15 turns of GA left.) Can I build and rush a third Army in 8 turns? I decide yes and switch Bremen to Palace.
T183, 680AD:
Richthofen has healed last turn and now takes Stavanger!
We now have contact with Russia and declare war. That means, we have now discovered all the nations of the world and are at war with all of them, even though we can see only the Greek and the Persian territory. Fortunately only the war against Persia is "hot", the Greek send 1-2 units every other turn, and all the other civs send a lone galley with some crap units like every 5-10 turns. Otherwise the war weariness would probably have reached untolerable heights by now...
The Hengest Army is formed in Köln and collects a few Cavs on its way south. (Gets to Amsterdam, where a thrid Cav is going to produced interturn.)
Finally some progress in the south:
The big stack protected by the musket has 8 cavs... A worker to repair the road segment to Stavanger is on the mountain.
T184, 690AD:
Two Armies and 13 more Cavs are now in operation on the Persian front. As the situation in the south is now going swell, I decide to ship 4 Cavs to Scandinavia and try another run on Copenhagen.
T185, 700AD:
Razing the Russian town (Cirta?) and advancing.
T186, 710AD:
Apparently the WW has eased up a bit, I can now lower the lux slider to 40%. Didn't have any losses against the Persians in the last couple of turns.
A stack of slow units advances towards Copenhagen, 4 Cavs have been shipped over and can join them next turn.
It is astonishing, that Persia can still produce such a big amount of units: after 3 Knights were killed, on this picture we can still see 3 more and an immortal.
They must be suffering from WW by now as well (they are running a Feudalism government), and usually the AI deals with that by hiring entertainers instead of using the lux slider?!
I have now 26 Cavs in the field, 6 of them in Armies. All horses have been upgraded, except for a couple elite ones and a few in Scandinavia, where I don't have saltpeter yet available. I will safe a bit of money now for rushing the third Army, once the shields for the Pentagon are ready, and for shortrushing.
T187, 720AD:
3 Cavs and a horseman are enough to finally storm Copenhagen. Even though incenses are now finally shipped home, people become unhappier rather than happier! I would even have to raise the lux slider from 40 back to 50%, but I know that the road to the spices is going to finish interturn, so I can leave the slider as it is.
In the south, the 8 Cavs take the Persian town Dakyanus on a hill, protected by city walls and pikes and knights. We lose one Cav, and another one that's trying to eliminate a nearby Knight.
Now I only need to build a road/town link through the jungle towards Persia.
T188, 730AD:
The Aztecs unload two Ancient Cavs in Scandinavia. Persian Knights kill two more Cavs in Dakyanus. ## Cavs fortified in a hill town should have better defense than that!!
Spices are now connected, and everybody is happy.
Two LBs die trying to defeat one Ancient Cav!
And a Cav goes down to 1/4 before finishing the job!!T189, 740AD:
Destroy Halikarnassos (Greece). Take Birka (Scandinavia). Kill more Knights.
T190, 750AD:
And 3 more Knights appear interturn, killing 3 Cavs, unbelievable! And the Persians now have muskets:
Hengest kills 3 of them, and then two more Cavs are necessary to take Herat. The Knights are also eliminated, at least no losses this turn.
Need to increase the lux slider to 50%, as otherwise Nürnberg would starve.
Here a picture of our homeland. As you notice, a warrior and 7 workers are now assembled on the saltpeter resource next to Hannover, so we can now start the disconnect/connect mass production of Cavs, using five 15spt cities and four 10spt cities for horseman production. The income (~300gpt, i.e. 4 horses every turn) should be enough for that, leaving the cash reserves (~1500g) mostly for emergencies and for rushing the remainder of the third Army, once the time for the Pentagon has come.
Three 20spt cities can build cavalry directly. Berlin is building the Military Academy, Bremen the Pentagon.
The power graph finally goes into the right direction again, the discovery of MT and the Golden Age came right in the nick of time...!
Two more pictures from the Scandinavian front and the Greek front:
Very limited forces (4 Cavs and a few assorted units like horses, LBs and muskets) have sufficed to bring Scandinavia under my control. Unfortunately, I can't eliminate the Vikings completely: they still have an overseas town in Greek territory, right opposite of München. I could ship 4 Cavs over there, but as neither flip risk nor war weariness are a problem with the Scandinavians, I don't want to scatter my forces too much. They can wait until I'm dealing with Greece. For now, top priority are the Persians. They are my main (only?) source of war weariness, they own the Hanging Gardens, and perhaps they have another lux resource? (We were 4 nations on this continent, Germany, Netherlands, Greece and Persia, but I have found only 3 lux resources so far.)
Once they are gone, all my problems are over: with a total of 5 luxes, Artemis, Hanging Gardens and no WW, I should be able to reduce lux spending from 50% to 0% and put all the money into cavalry...
Now is perhaps also the time to make some long-term plans. Originally I wanted to stop research after Military Tradition and keep the power of Artemis alive for the rest of the game. But now I have a different idea:
Once I have my continent under control and completely settled, and all towns had their culture expansion, and once happiness is no longer a big problem, there is actually no need of keeping Artemis alive. Better ships (to get my Armies to other continents) and Steam Power would definitely be helpful. (Perhaps even getting Steam as my freebee... But even Nationalism would be helpful for going into mobilization.)
I have no idea, how far the AI as meanwhile advanced on the upper tech tree. On the lower branch, Persia and the Aztecs are still missing Chemistry, Metallurgy and Military Tradition. (The others are still further behind, while Scandinavia is still in the Ancient Age...) Perhaps they have done more research on the upper branch, so if I leave Persia and the Aztecs alive, when I capture the Great Library in Tenochtitlan, I could get most of the upper branch for free and then complete the 2-3 missing techs?!
But this plan depends on how long it takes to get my continent under control, and how far away Tenochtitlan is.
Considering that it is already 750AD, not much is known about the world yet...
So far I have deliberately not scouted the world in order to avoid/delay contacts as long as possible. But now that I have all contacts, it can perhaps not hurt to discover where everybody is located? I'll put that on my todo-list for the next turnset.
Very limited forces (4 Cavs and a few assorted units like horses, LBs and muskets) have sufficed to bring Scandinavia under my control. Unfortunately, I can't eliminate the Vikings completely: they still have an overseas town in Greek territory, right opposite of München. I could ship 4 Cavs over there, but as neither flip risk nor war weariness are a problem with the Scandinavians, I don't want to scatter my forces too much. They can wait until I'm dealing with Greece. For now, top priority are the Persians. They are my main (only?) source of war weariness, they own the Hanging Gardens, and perhaps they have another lux resource? (We were 4 nations on this continent, Germany, Netherlands, Greece and Persia, but I have found only 3 lux resources so far.)
Once they are gone, all my problems are over: with a total of 5 luxes, Artemis, Hanging Gardens and no WW, I should be able to reduce lux spending from 50% to 0% and put all the money into cavalry...
Now is perhaps also the time to make some long-term plans. Originally I wanted to stop research after Military Tradition and keep the power of Artemis alive for the rest of the game. But now I have a different idea:
Once I have my continent under control and completely settled, and all towns had their culture expansion, and once happiness is no longer a big problem, there is actually no need of keeping Artemis alive. Better ships (to get my Armies to other continents) and Steam Power would definitely be helpful. (Perhaps even getting Steam as my freebee... But even Nationalism would be helpful for going into mobilization.)
I have no idea, how far the AI as meanwhile advanced on the upper tech tree. On the lower branch, Persia and the Aztecs are still missing Chemistry, Metallurgy and Military Tradition. (The others are still further behind, while Scandinavia is still in the Ancient Age...) Perhaps they have done more research on the upper branch, so if I leave Persia and the Aztecs alive, when I capture the Great Library in Tenochtitlan, I could get most of the upper branch for free and then complete the 2-3 missing techs?!
But this plan depends on how long it takes to get my continent under control, and how far away Tenochtitlan is.
Considering that it is already 750AD, not much is known about the world yet...
So far I have deliberately not scouted the world in order to avoid/delay contacts as long as possible. But now that I have all contacts, it can perhaps not hurt to discover where everybody is located? I'll put that on my todo-list for the next turnset.
Last edited:
Before the next turn, I start the disconnect/connect phase.
T191, 760AD:
Berlin: Military Academy --> Army
Capture Oslo at the cost of one Cav.
The two Armies in the south keep taking turns killing the Persian newcomers...
T192, 770AD:
The Greeks start the Sistine Chapel.
Auto-raze a Persian town.
T193, 780AD:
At the Greek front: take Marathon.
At the Persian front: take Istakhr.
T194, 790AD:
Take Charkemish from the Babylonians. Take Mykene (in Greece, but from Persia), and Bactra.
Land 8 units (mostly muskets to cover the beach head, and a few Cavs) on the continent west of Scandinavia.
T195, 800AD:
The Aztecs unload 3 units near Bergen. For an AI, this is a real invasion...! Rush a Cav to deal with them.
Two LBs take Magadan (Russia), the Cavs deal with the incoming Aztecs.
I need to ship another Cav fresh from the assembly lines in norther Germany to Bergen to clear out all 3 Aztecan intruders.
In the southwest we take another former Greek town from Persia Thermopylae, at the cost of 3 Cavs! But we finally get another MGL, Horsa, which forms the third Cav Army. Switch Bergen to Pentagon, 4 or 5 turns left. (GA is going to end this interturn).
Kill a stray Greek LB with an eLB and get another MGL: Rommel! Finally the game is going my way...
These two Armies will be directly immediately against Greece, as I think the forces currently in the south will be enough to finish off Persia.
In the south, Hengest advances into Persian territory and defeats two Knights. Waiting for more reinforcements, before further cities can be taken there.
Increase the lux slider to 60% in anticipation of the end of the GA.
T196, 810AD:
Amsterdam goes into riot anyway...
Set up cities for normal production. Completion time for the Pentagon goes up to 5 turns, so it was indeed 6 turns in 800AD.
T197, 820AD:
Richthofen and a few Cavs attack Sardis, which has the Hanging Gardens, and take it with no losses. Unfortunately two cities prevent the lowering of the lux slider back to 50%! (Can't hire specialists there, as the food chamber is empty.) So it'll still take a while, before I can lower the lux slider to normal levels, either until Persia is eliminated or until I can capture the furs resource in Greece. (Can't see it on the map, yet, but F4 shows they have furs connected.)
Rush the Army in Berlin for 660 gold. I'm going to ship it over to Aztecia and fill it with 4 Cavs as soon as the Pentagon is finished.
5 Cavs attack Persepolis, kill two muskets, but can't take the city.
Attack on Athens with Horsa and Rommel: defeat 5 units, mostly hoplites, and take the city.
T198, 830AD:
The Aztecs now really mean business: they have marched a big army from their core up north to my beach head at Madagan. (Their productive core is much further south; you will see it on the screenshot depicting my exploration during the current turnset.)
A total of 11 units, mostly knights and ACs. I have 8 defenders there (two of them muskets) and ship-chain the 1st Cavalry Army, that just got finished interturn, from Berlin to Madagan together with 3 Cavs. Unfortunately I can't assemble it yet, as the Cavs have no movement points left. I try a limited counter-attack with some LBs and eCavs to reduce the number of attackers: I manage to kill 5 units, losing one eHorse.
Richthofen, who helped taking Sardis last turn and stayed almost undamaged (13/14), goes down to 3/14 before defeating an eMusket in Persepolis! The attack on Persepolis has again to be aborted.
In the west, two Cavs take Thessalonica, some more continue to march north towards the last Scandinavian town.
T199, 840AD:
Interturn, two Persian knights counterattack, killing two Cavs. The stay dangerous up to the end, don't they? I have killed so many Knights over the last two turns, how do they manage to keep them coming? Probably pop-rushing.
The Aztecs get a bloody nose against my muskets in Madagan...
Hengest eliminates another musket in Persepolis, but also suffers some damage, so I retreat him on a hill, as cover for Richthofen.
Now that I finally have enough troops in place to attack Argos, it has shrunken to size 1 and gets auto-razed.
Rommel and Horsa attack Corinth, killing 3 hoplites.
T200, 850AD:
Capture Aarhus, and Scandinavia is gone.
Kill 7 units (Aztecs and Babylonians) at Magadan. The area is now clear and I hope I can go on the offensive in two turns (need some more healing and a few more Cavs ship-chained to the beach head).
With 5 Cavs I try another attack on Persepolis, defeating 3 muskets, losing one Cav, but there are still at least 3 more muskets in that town. Hengest and Richthofen need to heal two more turns, before they can attack again.
The current front line in the south:
Take the former Greek town Knossos at the loss of one Cav.
Horsa and Rommel at Corinth heal for a turn too.
The front in the west:
A galley of mine started to explore the Aztecan coast, so we have a better view of the map now. Unfortunately I can't see many city names, so don't know whether we have discovered Tenochtitlan yet.
A a look at the power graph shows, that the worst is over now...
Cavalry is really a game breaker, and if it is combined with disconnect/connect/Leonardo and with Armies, the game becomes like stealing candy from a baby...
T191, 760AD:
Berlin: Military Academy --> Army
Capture Oslo at the cost of one Cav.
The two Armies in the south keep taking turns killing the Persian newcomers...
T192, 770AD:
The Greeks start the Sistine Chapel.
Auto-raze a Persian town.
T193, 780AD:
At the Greek front: take Marathon.
At the Persian front: take Istakhr.
T194, 790AD:
Take Charkemish from the Babylonians. Take Mykene (in Greece, but from Persia), and Bactra.
Land 8 units (mostly muskets to cover the beach head, and a few Cavs) on the continent west of Scandinavia.
T195, 800AD:
The Aztecs unload 3 units near Bergen. For an AI, this is a real invasion...! Rush a Cav to deal with them.
Two LBs take Magadan (Russia), the Cavs deal with the incoming Aztecs.
I need to ship another Cav fresh from the assembly lines in norther Germany to Bergen to clear out all 3 Aztecan intruders.
In the southwest we take another former Greek town from Persia Thermopylae, at the cost of 3 Cavs! But we finally get another MGL, Horsa, which forms the third Cav Army. Switch Bergen to Pentagon, 4 or 5 turns left. (GA is going to end this interturn).
Kill a stray Greek LB with an eLB and get another MGL: Rommel! Finally the game is going my way...
These two Armies will be directly immediately against Greece, as I think the forces currently in the south will be enough to finish off Persia.
In the south, Hengest advances into Persian territory and defeats two Knights. Waiting for more reinforcements, before further cities can be taken there.
Increase the lux slider to 60% in anticipation of the end of the GA.
T196, 810AD:
Amsterdam goes into riot anyway...
Set up cities for normal production. Completion time for the Pentagon goes up to 5 turns, so it was indeed 6 turns in 800AD.
T197, 820AD:
Richthofen and a few Cavs attack Sardis, which has the Hanging Gardens, and take it with no losses. Unfortunately two cities prevent the lowering of the lux slider back to 50%! (Can't hire specialists there, as the food chamber is empty.) So it'll still take a while, before I can lower the lux slider to normal levels, either until Persia is eliminated or until I can capture the furs resource in Greece. (Can't see it on the map, yet, but F4 shows they have furs connected.)
Rush the Army in Berlin for 660 gold. I'm going to ship it over to Aztecia and fill it with 4 Cavs as soon as the Pentagon is finished.
5 Cavs attack Persepolis, kill two muskets, but can't take the city.
Attack on Athens with Horsa and Rommel: defeat 5 units, mostly hoplites, and take the city.
T198, 830AD:
The Aztecs now really mean business: they have marched a big army from their core up north to my beach head at Madagan. (Their productive core is much further south; you will see it on the screenshot depicting my exploration during the current turnset.)
A total of 11 units, mostly knights and ACs. I have 8 defenders there (two of them muskets) and ship-chain the 1st Cavalry Army, that just got finished interturn, from Berlin to Madagan together with 3 Cavs. Unfortunately I can't assemble it yet, as the Cavs have no movement points left. I try a limited counter-attack with some LBs and eCavs to reduce the number of attackers: I manage to kill 5 units, losing one eHorse.
Richthofen, who helped taking Sardis last turn and stayed almost undamaged (13/14), goes down to 3/14 before defeating an eMusket in Persepolis! The attack on Persepolis has again to be aborted.
In the west, two Cavs take Thessalonica, some more continue to march north towards the last Scandinavian town.
T199, 840AD:
Interturn, two Persian knights counterattack, killing two Cavs. The stay dangerous up to the end, don't they? I have killed so many Knights over the last two turns, how do they manage to keep them coming? Probably pop-rushing.
The Aztecs get a bloody nose against my muskets in Madagan...
Hengest eliminates another musket in Persepolis, but also suffers some damage, so I retreat him on a hill, as cover for Richthofen.
Now that I finally have enough troops in place to attack Argos, it has shrunken to size 1 and gets auto-razed.
Rommel and Horsa attack Corinth, killing 3 hoplites.
T200, 850AD:
Capture Aarhus, and Scandinavia is gone.
Kill 7 units (Aztecs and Babylonians) at Magadan. The area is now clear and I hope I can go on the offensive in two turns (need some more healing and a few more Cavs ship-chained to the beach head).
With 5 Cavs I try another attack on Persepolis, defeating 3 muskets, losing one Cav, but there are still at least 3 more muskets in that town. Hengest and Richthofen need to heal two more turns, before they can attack again.
The current front line in the south:
Take the former Greek town Knossos at the loss of one Cav.
Horsa and Rommel at Corinth heal for a turn too.
The front in the west:
A galley of mine started to explore the Aztecan coast, so we have a better view of the map now. Unfortunately I can't see many city names, so don't know whether we have discovered Tenochtitlan yet.
A a look at the power graph shows, that the worst is over now...
Cavalry is really a game breaker, and if it is combined with disconnect/connect/Leonardo and with Armies, the game becomes like stealing candy from a baby...
Last edited:
Subscription post! This has been a good read, from the tense early Dutch rush, to steady expansion southward, to the Persians stealing a march and being a real threat for awhile, to now turning the tide with Cavalry and making quick progress again. I agree that the tide appears to have been decisively turned. But it's all the better of a read for their having been a moment of doubt when all those Immortals were advancing. And I hadn't realized just how dire it was until you posted the 650 AD army comparison, when you only had roughly a dozen units, at good chunk of whom were in Scandinavia. Prior to that I'd thought maybe securing the Great Lighthouse prior to sending more troops south, since it would not have been at risk of re-capture, may have made more sense... but when seeing how weak the south was it made sense why you chose to reinforce it and slow the Persians down!
Looking forward to the demise of Persia and Greece, and also appreciate the story continuation and re-uploading. It was a real cliff-hanger when the Persians were advancing!
Looking forward to the demise of Persia and Greece, and also appreciate the story continuation and re-uploading. It was a real cliff-hanger when the Persians were advancing!
Similar threads
- Poll
