Recent content by Apricottage

Ultimately, I've reached the realization that winning that other game was hopeless. I only have two cities capable of any kind of production or research, and three created just because I get some extra trade routes. People were already starting to switch to Free Religion, and sooner or later...

Cool update. The tech-trade dance around Nationalism was fascinating to watch, and indeed quite educational. I've been trying out espionage, and it does seem rather strong. Strong enough, in fact, that I'm able to pull out a tech lead despite having four cities total and two of them locked...

Very kind of you. I'm eagerly awaiting the next stage in your journey. Wow, I really should try playing a game with Hatshepsut. Seems like a load of free wonders waiting for me to claim them...

Thanks for your answers. Do you happen to have a resource you use to identify traits? All I know at the moment are the very general traits, like warmongering and ease of tech trading. The unit building counts had completely flown past me. I'm looking forward to your next update.

What a fascinating game this is. I'm afraid I'm a low-level player, and can only take wins on Immortal (and eke those out with the standard, imbalanced timing attacks such as Elephults or Cuirassiers). I still very much enjoy reading your account of the game. I do see that I need to work a lot...

In this situation, it sounds like The Great Lighthouse was what gave most of the benefit. It's the reason Archipelago maps are kind of silly: it turns the entire game into trying to land it, and maybe The Colossus if you're feeling ambitious.

I'm sorry, but this is just absurd. You say that funds don't mean much, but ignore that funds are what BUY food, men, and guns (incidentally, guess which country had an abundance of all three?). You say that Russia could have conquered all of Europe when it only barely managed to hang on in the...

A few things: 1. Russia was not involved in the recapture of France. That was primarily funded by the Americans (because the French didn't have a country and the British were bombed to hell). 2. Russia was not involved in the defeat of Italy. That was a joint effort between Montgomery's...

Worst thing about Tokugawa is that he's such a pain in the ass to actually get rid of. Stupid Protective trait.

There are two kinds of aquatic trade routes: post-Sailing and post-Astronomy. For Sailing, you need to have a path completely unbroken by fog or anything else running along Coast tiles from one of your cities to one of their cities. If there's a city owned by Barbarians or people you don't have...

The adviser is generally wrong. Ignore it.

You build eleven Castles. If you don't have eleven cities, you get eleven cities. By force, if need be.

The desert is rough, but I can see three or four good city locations. With five cities and that huge desert to limit troop movements into your territory, I think you could definitely pull off a solid war. 6-7 Catapults, 5 Axemen, a Spearman, and an Archer (for fortifying the first captured city)...

Oh, the other big reason to NOT raze cities is the diplo penalty. It can mess things up sometimes, especially if it's a Holy City. Not that you'd ever really want to raze one of those anyway.

That's why you prepare city defenders with First Strikes and use Siege to soften up the stack the turn before they hit. If you're running into lots of problems with THEIR Siege, you can also do something crazy like use Horse Archers and Knights to do suicide flanking runs. Generally something to...