A Peaceful World turns Chaotic!!

[The Mad Russian]

I've never seen such a nice quiet peaceful game go so wrong so fast.

I'm doing one of my "Future Era" start games on a Continents map. Small size/all map settings Random/Prince/Marathon, 8 Civs, 12 CSs, only Time and Domination as victories, Start Bias was disabled.

I drew Rome in the middle of a decent sized continent. Inca and Egypt to my left, England directly south of me. On the other continent was Monty, Bismarck, Sully and Wu.

The first Civ to go was China with only two cities and an ever expanding very aggressive Monty to her north who engulfed her very quickly like the plague. That happened quite early and no one really denounced or turned to Monty with hateful eyes. With Germany to his west, border against border, I knew things were going to get ugly sooner or later as he was beginning to take out CSs and settle new cities.

On the homefront to my west, bordering the Incans, I conquered Sidon shortly after China fell and then the world turned into a peaceful place for a very long time. I was mid range with military, ranked #3 or #4, had a few Golden Ages, then jumped to #2 (Monty being #1 of course) and allied myself with three CSs that wear near both hotspots on my continent.

As a Time victory grew closer and closer, I sensed that either Egypt or the Incans would jump on me, even though I had good relations with both of them in the entire game. I rarely ever traded with England but I never thought a war would come from that side, so I lined up MIs and MAs with artillery, SAMs, along the western border ready for action while on my very short border with England I had one GDR with some MIs and one MA with Bombers. Fighters and SBs in both Sidon and Cumae. I had one Nuclear Missile in Rome (range modded to 25 in my games)

"Next Turn"...

Germany DoWs me from across the ocean. Big deal. With naval warfare even slightly improved (at least from what I have seen post patch), I still had no worries with Germany pulling a D-Day move on me. I brought in Monty to help with him so I was able to focus on whatever would happen in my lands.

I piled even more forces and might on my Western border and then a surprise came as England with her three cities, DoWs me and begins moving forces navally instead of attacking me over land to try take out my forces across her border. My bombers wipe out her attack squad with ease and I counter-attack, taking out Nottingham two turns later with a GDR then moving further south to London. Sully DoWs me after this and joins Germany against Monty. Together they still caused no trouble for the Aztecs and with my CS ally placed in such a way over there, I was able to watch all the carnage and see fallout everywhere (the AI uses less nukes post-patch that I have noticed) and i think they have to pushed to the brink or nuked themselves to retaliate, I don't know if they are a first-strike weapon or used in defense. But anyways, I take London, then the Incas DoW me to the west, so now I have a two front war going on. Egypt turns from Friendly to Guarded after London is annexed. Right then, I knew they would jump in on me.

Now the Incans are last in the game score wise, but with my brutal show of might on their borders, I never thought they would declare. They moved a surprising fighting force against me, one I was NOT ready for, and I haven't even been able to get close to their cities, only with air raids and SBs. We've been duking it out, mostly in their borders but it's a war of attrition now as we'll see who lasts the longest until peace is restored. My CS allies are helping out somewhat but i have to make sure that they aren't attacked en masse so I have to keep forces back just in case I have to liberate them.

World War I was swinging into high gear!!

Egypt decides that I can't be trusted and from the looks of the diplomacy factors, they were coveting my lands all game and even though we have been on friendly terms though trading wise, he's had enough of me and DoWs me three turns after Inca declares. I knew I was going to lose ground right then.

As I now have to pull forces away from England's last city to support my battle weary forces to the West. There is no way I can fight both the Incas and Rammy while making sure my CSs don't get attacked or in case the spoils of war from the British conflict get taken back.

Currently, I've built 2 more GDRs and one Nuke because of taking a uranium patch in London and those GDRs are heading right for the Western Front. If I was to get attacked in the middle part of my country navally, or if either front's forces fail, the middle of my country is not defended at all, only a garrison in each city with city strength in the mid 80s. If Egypt gets through, my capital is toast! I'm about 85 turns away from a time victory (about 340 pts. ahead of #2 Monty) but if I can't hold on, Rome falls.

I'm going to jump back into the game later on if I can pull myself away from Fallout 3 and Borderlands or even Football Manager '11. But I know Egypt like a swarm of locusts will contaminate my empire.

 

[gingerbill]

sounds like fun

 

[Fabiano79]

I really like to read this kind of thread.

Sometimes, ciV can be actually fun.

 

[Misterboy]

Sounds like pushing into England was a tactical error. Easy to see in retrospect... but yeah... I would have gone after Lizzy for her insolence too!

It seems like you have already, but if not, you need to commit to a total war economy. Pump out troops

 

[The Mad Russian]

Yes I have MIs, SAMs and Bombers on Queue ready to go. Since I have more than enough Oil, that won't be a problem but am low on Aluminum and unless I detonate a Nuke, have no Uranium. Taking London just might cause the downfall of Rome

 

[Drawmeus]

I really like to read this kind of thread.

Sometimes, ciV can be actually fun.

I really like that we're getting more and more of them now. It feels like they crossed a threshold where the game is engaging enough now to really suck people in and have them feeling like the god-king of a nation rather than gamer playing a strategy game.

EDIT: Also, don't forget that if they bring a mass of troops large enough to pose a problem for your defenders, dropping a nuke in on them is always an option. Desperate times call for desperate measures and all that.

 

[The Mad Russian]

UPDATE:

Things got really hairy this morning as World War I reached its climax. I'm about 60 turns away from a Time Victory in this game but it wasn't easy and I never saw such an onslaught of units in my life attacking cities or unit vs unit combat before on a scale like I saw in my last session.

When I last left off, my army was just about an empty shell, but I had about 3 GDRs, some MIs and several MAs.

As the two bright and shiny new GDRs were heading towards the Western front to try to hold off the Incans and Egypt, the attack on England came to a close with the aid of Warsaw, one of 4 of my allied CSs. As York fell, my lovable ally Monty eliminated Germany on other continent then turned his gaze towards Sully.

My British troops healed then made their way West as my MA/MI stock began to build up once again for a final push on the Incans while the GDRs held off what would be an absolutely amazing attack from the NW by Egypt. Nukes were built just in case but I'm hoping not to use them. It doesn't seem that neither Egypt or the Inca have uranium, so I think I'm safe.

As the war of attrition grew intense and very bloody, Egypt decided that it would be more beneficial to them to be on my side than to fight against me, and he came to me for straight up peace, and I took it. Not one turn later, he DoWd the Incans and began his southern push with Cruise Missiles, Bombers, Rocket Artillery, SAMs and MIs with a couple of MAs thrown in there for good measure. My eyes just popped open at the might of Egypt and the fact that I was able to hold them off like I did conducting a war against my three continent neighbors. My GDRs earned each and every one of their promotions. I've never been prouder

As Egypt made their way down and captured Cusco, the Incans came to me for peace and offered me just about everything they owned. I didn't want their horses, Iron, and all that crap, not in a Future Era start game. I wanted money and their southernmost city (Machu) I was getting ready to attack. He didn't bat an eye as he accepted.

I'm posting 4 pictures of the carnage in my game. Two pics of Monty's conquests, and two of my own.

The last Incan city, Tiwanaku, is going to fall without the next couple of turns, making the border between our countries very long. Annexing York and Machu wreaked havoc on my happiness (I went from 19 to 5 I believe) but I rushed Stadiums in my undeveloped new cities as well as Temples, Monuments, and Barracks to get it back into the mid teens.

I know there is going to be a long and brutal war in the near future with Egypt and I hope I have the time to prepare for it.

Here are the pics:

Spoiler :

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I should be able to hold off rather nicely unless Egypt DoWs me when the peace treaty ends. My GDRs I believe will save my skin in this one.

 

[Furycrab]

Just curious because of the last part... Steam Summer Sale victim?

I picked up a few things myself and can't find the time to play half of it.

<.<

 

[The Mad Russian]

Yeah, I went on a little spree, something I haven't done in ages. Picked up quite a bit of software but luckily I have the time to spread around and focus on each one. I go from Fallout 3/NV to Football Manager '11, Borderlands, Civ 5, GTA 4 and even Amnesia/Penumbra, which scares the hell outta me so I don't go long sessions in those games. But yeah, I was Steam's whipping boy for about 4 or 5 days :\

 

[The Mad Russian]

The game finally ended as the cataclysmic war with Egypt never came.

One thing of note though:

Monty attacked Rio de Janeiro, one of the few CSs I wasn't allied with but I decided to gift them some troops, including a GDR and some MIs.

I then proceeded to become Allies with Rio and then Monty suddenly made peace with them instantly as most of the game he said the world cowers from the might of my military.

Now, if he made peace with Rio because I became their Ally, I would say that would've been a very smart move for the AI to do. Has anyone ever seen this before? One AI backs off a CS when you, as the most powerful military in the world allies with them?