This time, Shaka forward settled ME

[Vidszhite]

Spoiler :

Tried to eat the sh*t sandwich and not say a word so he might DoW me after Alexander at least, but alas...

Spoiler :

This was on Deity, if anyone is surprised to see Impi in BC times. My capital's giant nameplate is hiding another one and a spearman. Not shown are the five I killed.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

he's a beast...

 

[alpha00alpha]

that is ungodly

 

[Hebbe]

You can't really expect to be on turn 89 with one city and not be forward settled on, not even on emperor, let alone on deity. Shaka is a menace, but you should've settled at least one city at least 30 turns earlier and had like at least 5 CBs before even smelling an impending attack with him as a neighbour

 

[Shimmler]

Why did you settle your second city so far to teh south? If I were you, I'd settle so that my borders would impede anyone from sending his settleres south, thus reserving the whole peninsula for yourself.

 

[Vidszhite]

You can't really expect to be on turn 89 with one city and not be forward settled on, not even on emperor, let alone on deity. Shaka is a menace, but you should've settled at least one city at least 30 turns earlier and had like at least 5 CBs before even smelling an impending attack with him as a neighbour

I DID settle a second city, and I did have more CBs than shown here, they were just not capable of reaching my capital because he forward settled the two cities south of my capital immediately after that.

 

[Hebbe]

Why did you settle your second city so far to teh south? If I were you, I'd settle so that my borders would impede anyone from sending his settleres south, thus reserving the whole peninsula for yourself.

Lol, I didn't even check the minimap for a second city, I just assumed that he would've filled the gap since it looked like a perfectly viable settling location to the northeast.

I DID settle a second city, and I did have more CBs than shown here, they were just not capable of reaching my capital because he forward settled the two cities south of my capital immediately after that.

Yeah I noticed that after shimmlers post. I only missed it because I couldn´t imagine that a second city would´ve been settled anywhere but on the river to the northeast. Your CBs not being able to reach your capital in time is a second reason not to settle 15 tiles from your capital

 

[Vidszhite]

Why did you settle your second city so far to teh south? If I were you, I'd settle so that my borders would impede anyone from sending his settleres south, thus reserving the whole peninsula for yourself.

Because that spot at the south had Mt Kilimanjaro and Marble. I WANTED to settle the spot in the northeast first to prevent Shaka from grabbing it, but he grabbed it first.

Lol, I didn't even check the minimap for a second city, I just assumed that he would've filled the gap since it looked like a perfectly viable settling location to the northeast.

Yeah I noticed that after shimmlers post. I only missed it because I couldn´t imagine that a second city would´ve been settled anywhere but on the river to the northeast.

Oh trust me, that was my first choice too. Shaka had it before I even got 3 pop in my capital. Then he settled another city right next to it so I didn't get any funny ideas. Knew I should've gone Liberty... not that it would've helped!

There really weren't any other spots left but Mt Kilimanjaro by the time I got my first settler out. I didn't want to settle in the desert where Nongoma was, since there weren't any luxes and one wheat in a desert is not enough food to grow, and Kwadukuza is next to a lux I already have. Shaka was gobbling up all the land northward, so I had to go south where there was enough food to grow an actual city. I was building CBs in my second city because I had to finish the nat college (which I did), but then he settles two more cities, and blocks me off. He even did this while at war with Persia. I think I hate Shaka now.

TL;DR - YOU GUYS ARE TELLING ME THINGS I ALREADY KNOW AND TRIED TO DO BUT SHAKA WAS FASTER AND ISDFASDFHASDOGHAWEOJRFADFGASDF

 

[Shimmler]

Because that spot at the south had Mt Kilimanjaro and Marble. I WANTED to settle the spot in the northeast first to prevent Shaka from grabbing it, but he grabbed it first.



Oh trust me, that was my first choice too. Shaka had it before I even got 3 pop in my capital. Then he settled another city right next to it so I didn't get any funny ideas. Knew I should've gone Liberty... not that it would've helped!

There really weren't any other spots left but Mt Kilimanjaro by the time I got my first settler out. I didn't want to settle in the desert where Nongoma was, since there weren't any luxes and one wheat is not enough food to grow, and Kwadukuza is next to a lux I already have. Shaka was gobbling up all the land northward, so I had to go south where there was enough food to grow an actual city.

South-east, where the river begins, is another good spot for a city in my opinion.

 

[Hebbe]

Oh trust me, that was my first choice too. Shaka had it before I even got 3 pop in my capital. Then he settled another city right next to it so I didn't get any funny ideas. Knew I should've gone Liberty... not that it would've helped!

There really weren't any other spots left but Mt Kilimanjaro by the time I got my first settler out. I didn't want to settle in the desert where Nongoma was, since there weren't any luxes and one wheat is not enough food to grow, and Kwadukuza is next to a lux I already have. Shaka was gobbling up all the land northward, so I had to go south where there was enough food to grow an actual city.

Haha ok, that's shaka for you. You probably never stood much of chance then if he settled there when you had 3 pop

 

[Vidszhite]

South-east, where the river begins, is another good spot for a city in my opinion.

It is! But I already HAVE Silk in my capital, and I wanted to make sure I had at least one unique luxury before settling there. I tried that too, but before I could get a second settler out, he had another TWO running past me, both right next to each other, and settled there. I cancelled the settler, built walls, then a CB and Nat College, another CB, which I sent south to go barb hunting while I waited for my second city to build its own CBs, and then he declared war.

Shaka on Deity, everybody. He fast expands until his happiness is -8, and keeps on going. Seriously! I saw the "people who like to smile the most" popup, and he was deep in the negatives, and probably still building settlers. and Impi.

 

[dragonxxx]

Why are you building artist guild while shaka is surrounding your capital with cities? You are supposed to build units at that time ... And also, there is an option to kill the settlers. I find it pointless the wait him to prepare and DOW you, you better do taht first, so you get him off guard.

 

[Vidszhite]

Why are you building artist guild while shaka is surrounding your capital with cities? You are supposed to build units at that time ... And also, there is an option to kill the settlers. I find it pointless the wait him to prepare and DOW you, you better do taht first, so you get him off guard.

I'm not sure it would have mattered at that point, since he declared war literally 1 turn after I took the screenshot, and he did escort his settlers with MANY units, so it's not like his guard was ever down in the first place.

I think you guys are underestimating just what Shaka does. He's not like other AIs, in that they usually only expand within reason, give peace a chance, and leave wide holes in their strategy. Shaka does two things: expand like he doesn't give a sh*t, and build an army because he wants to take your sh*t, and that army moves faster, flanks harder, and is highly resistant to ranged attacks. Maybe if I try the game again from turn 0, he might make different decisions, and that might result in a different outcome, but the cards were just not in my favor this time.

 

[Shimmler]

Well, Deity + Shaka

Why are you building artist guild while shaka is surrounding your capital with cities? You are supposed to build units at that time ... And also, there is an option to kill the settlers. I find it pointless the wait him to prepare and DOW you, you better do taht first, so you get him off guard.

+1, just captured Carphage settler after killing his warrior escort with my slinger and scout. Because that awesome citrus+spices+pearls spot is MINE!!!!11111

 

[dragonxxx]

Well, his cities are 4 and 3 pop. That means, that you had 20-25 turns after he settled em to prepare for the war. In that time you can definitely make 5-6 more CB And settling the silk location is just so you can cut his road to the south, so you do not get surrounded when the time comes.

Anyway, you might have no chance at all even if u do these things.

 

[Shimmler]

Well, his cities are 4 and 3 pop. That means, that you had 20-25 turns after he settled em to prepare for the war. In that time you can definitely make 5-6 more CB And settling the silk location is just so you can cut his road to the south, so you do not get surrounded when the time comes.

Anyway, you might have no chance at all even if u do these things.

I noticed taht it is general Shaka's style on any difficulty. He just spams undeveloped cities with minimum pop. He always has the most number of cities, but the lowest overal population on the planet. And always in major happines deficit and enermous minus in GPT.

 

[livsbrand]

I never was that close to Shaka on Deity, but shouldn't you just DoW on sight? Or rather, walk up, take a worker, and not accept peace until he has only one city left?

 

[El Ravager]

Something else you could try is to send Shaka after the Greeks... one of his weaknesses is that he is so easy to bribe into wars, even at neutral or worse attitude.

Do you have the turn 0 save by any chance so we could all die trying to beat Shaka?

 

[redwings1340]

hahaha, oh Shaka... Well, your capital is gone, but you still have Mount Kilimanjaro and a decent second city. I would recommend trying to do anything you can to get Alex to go to war with Shaka, and try and survive for long enough to build up and army and make Shaka pay. You aren't winning this game, but maybe possibly if Shaka doesn't care a ton about your second city, you could theoretically possibly make him pay?

That's a funny screenshot though. I think having your capital be within a million miles of Shaka was your problem in this game.

 

[kb27787]

O-ooh Shaka! O-ooh Shaka! love that theme
now srsly (I'm sure you had 100 gold at some pt in the game) when you see that settler, just buy off a square to the left and then position your warrior or whoever on that remaining square to close off the peninsula (at least to non-military units) so he can't get in without open borders.
Had the assault come from just one direction I'm sure your units would have had an easier time defending.

This is precisely why I hate Shaka not only is he extremely hawkish, he's also an expander.