[Story] The tale of a great war

[Tiberiu]

Hello guys. I want to share with you the story of a really hard game that I won some time ago, saving from a loss with the help of a militaristic approach. I think it's pretty instructive to show that even hopeless looking empires can be brought to success with patience and a lot of warmongering.

Since the forum allows 10 files/ post I will split this in 2 posts.

It was a shuffled map (i.e truly random in every possible way).
India / jungle start. India is not one of the civs to say I am strongest with, but even so, I think this map is harder than the average Deity game.

My plan was to build the Temple of Artemis and the Pyramids and have a comfortable game. Note that this most probably wasn't the best way to play this position, as it has jungle and few forests, and the risk is very high but I am too greedy sometimes.
Without Shaka as my neighbour and menacing everybody, my plans would have most probably worked better, but he complicated things by a great deal.

Here is turn 29 building ToA. I am late with a few turns...already not a good sign. (just to clarify, I did build it, but later than I wanted to)

In turn 63 I was building Pyramids and I had one more city.

I sent the Liberty settler far away, to an area that was rich and safe - straight on that Copper.

Turn 92 - things have gone wrong because unexpectedly Shaka made allies with the City State near my city. I was forced to give it away, I gave it to Venice.

I took it back quickly in a matter of few turns.

Turn 105. Meanwhile, my far away city was producing another settler for yet another weird expansion city, and the Scout managed to intercept a swedish settler, I captured it as my worker.

Turn 112 is when the serious war started. Shaka citadel bombed me, stole my Sugar. And he sent one more general. I had to decide if I will let him do it or start the war and destroy his general. I attacked. Another possibility would have let him to settle the citadel and take his both citadels as mine, later, with another general.

Turn 118 - things have gone terribly wrong. The Honor great general was ready, but I didn't want to use him for defense, but it came at a high cost. I was losing both of my cities and my army was destroyed by Impis. I gave both cities to Venice in exchange for a steady income. Most players would have scrapped the game now. I decided to hang on and do all my best to take revenge on the Zulu.
I would use that income to buy army and also build army in my Capital.

Meanwhile turn 133 - the far away cities are doing well, building infrastructure.
My demographics are awful and I am 11% behind in Literacy, leader is Rome.
Main empire is soon taking back the second city from Venice.

 

[Tiberiu]

Turn 147 -- payback time! The beggining of the end for Shaka. The Pikeman was legendary in defense with Cover and Shock promotions and held the citadel for a lot of time. I started the war with Fortification bonus to be extra safe. Open borders for this was needed and bought.

Turn 183 -- I was forced to retreat after Shaka kept spamming Impis. They were simply too many of them to be able to hold position. But I had 2 generals and more army was being produced. No important units were lost.

Far away empire is having its own problems, having to deal with a now Coastal Assyrian army... thankfully the area is very easily defended. I bought a Galleas who would end up a double-shooting Battleship later thanks to all the XP from defending. Much later (around turn 300, one of these cities would end up building Neutschwanstein wonder.

Turn 200 -- the war is raging. Shaka has brought Riflemen, but they feel like a downgrade from the 3 movement Impis. A lot of citadels are needed to hold back the Zulu army and Pyramid wonder is now a blessing, as workers can repair them in a single turn.

turn 209 --- the Legendary Pikeman is back in position and Crossbowmen are soon taking down the Zulu city.

turn 212 -- the city has fallen, but I gave it to Persia to have some time to rest and regroup.

Turn 240 -- only 3 civs have an ideology, ironically those with low Tourism. The world was heavily stopped by War. Only Assyria is very ahead because of their UA which allowed them to tech while at war.

Turn 251 -- the assault against the capital is in progress. Gatling guns in citadels still receive a lot of damage and have to be moved back and forth. I still had 2 war elephants with range+logistics, they were useful for extra total 4 damage/turn on the city.

Turn 269 - After 18 turns of siege, Ulundi falls!

Turn 277 - The loss of Notre Dame and other happiness wonders has caused unrest in the Zulu empire, they now have to deal with Great War infantry barbarians appearing)

 

[Tiberiu]

turn 300 - The Zulu empired has been defeated and Prora Wonder is coming. The army is very well promoted and ready to attack the Roman Empire. Assyrians are 10% ahead in literacy.

Turn 346 - The attack on the Assyrian army in progress. I liberated China who had been eliminated, and removed Assyria from the game in around 25 turns from now. They were still 10% ahead and had build 3-4 parts when they lost.

Thanks for reading! Be sure to let me know down in the comments if you enjoyed anything in this story.

 

[Tiberiu]

I thought about also sharing the map, who knows, maybe somebody wants to try out this very hard game!

 

[mbbcam]

@Tiberiu -- Interesting thread -- thank you. There is a lot to process here. You seem to like a challenge, though! I get the impression that you turn things around during the mid-game period, and build on that. I just mention this because I have had games in which I've realised that if the competitors get nukes too far ahead of me, they have too much advantage. Trying to catch up in the late game can be -- well, too late!