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Aabra-cadaabra: Demigod Iroquois
- Thread starter Aabraxan
- Start date
Chapter 21: Russian Rumble Wrapped Up; Brennus-Bashing Begins
If you followed the last few chapters, you can guess what the plan is. I've made some decent expansion at Cathy's expense, but Brennus is nearing the 100k mark. I've got a couple of turns of PT left with Brennus, so I'm going to use those turns to take just a few more select Russian towns, then turn my attention to Brennus. I need to start killing Celtic cities and I need to kill them fast. I just want to seal a couple of chokepoints against Russian invasion & kick Cathy off just a little more land.
At the moment, Cathy won't talk to me, but that's OK. Her counterattacks have been manageable for a few turns, so I think I can prepare to go back to beating up Brennus. Wish me luck.
On the IBT (after 1804), the Russians sink one of my destroyers, but lose one of theirs trying to sink a second one. Other than that, very little happens.
1806 AD --
Celtic culture = 95,496
My land = 52%
Russians won't talk.
Chelyabinsk is destroyed. It had both uranium and aluminum close at hand.
I took one other Russian city, but forgot to write down the name. It was of little strategic importance, aside from the tiles it controlled.
1808 AD --
My land = 52%
Celtic Culture = 95,943
Russians won't talk.
I proceed to secure a chokepoint 4 tiles SE of Yakutsk, settling Neodakheat 3. I finish off the Russian settlements on this landmass east of there, and begin shipping units to Celtic land. Cathy still won't talk, but I've quit razing her cities for now, so maybe she'll talk soon.
As it turns out, I never did use those barricades/fortresses/etc. that I built. The Russians never mounted enough of a counter-attack to get that close to my cities.
Apparently, I wasn't watching the island off the eastern coast of Old Egypt all that well, because the Celts have expanded there and reclaimed the oil. I can't tell if they've succeeded in re-roading it, but I do know that I cannot sell them oil right now.
On the IBT after 1808, Brennus comes calling. He wants to renegotiate peace. Unfortunately, my armies are not quite in position. It looks like I need to renegotiate peace for the moment. Yes, I'm going to have to ruin my reputation in this game. I'm going to lose 2 luxes when he and I tango again, but I need for this (quite possibly last) war to be on my terms.
On that same IBT:
A quick trip to the F7 screen shows me that he's building it at Camulodunum (which always sounds a bit like "camel dung" to me). I'm more than willing to shell out 142 gold to check this out.
Spoiler :
OK. I've got 12 turns to stop this. I count 3 Mechs, 1 tank, 6 TOWs and a fighter. Unfortunately, it's also on the far end of their landmass from me.
The Russians still refuse to acknowledge my envoy in 1808. Hmmm, that may be a result of my burning their cities down.
Ok. I've taken a look at the Celtic landscape and here are my targets. Looks like I've got my work cut out for me.
Spoiler :
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Princess Bloodthirsty is sick today, so I'm home on Daddy Duty until noon.
As of 1810 AD, the Celts are up to 96,390 culture. I've got 54% of the land, 71% of world population, three armies on the Celtic landmass and a couple more on the way. I need to DOW ASAP.
In 1812, I try to call Cathy, but she's still giving me the cold shoulder. The Celts are at 96,841, so I really can't wait any longer. Time for a DOW.
I had 18 turns left in the PT. If my rep wasn't shot before, it sure is now. This does ugly, ugly things to my economy. I have to raise my lux slider to 50% to keep Aabraxa from rioting. The WW isn't gone. Things with markets are mostly OK at 50%, but my specialist farms look like circuses by the time I'm done. I'm seriously considering a revolt to Monarchy. According to CA2, if that would let me drop the lux slider back to 30%, that would make Monarchy about 700 gpt more profitable than Republic. It would mean at least 7 turns of anarchy & no production during that time, but I might have enough units to hold off the Celts for that period. I'll wait a couple of turns to see.
Oh, and going back to Spoonwood's comment about flipped cities & government, both the Celts and Russians are Fascists.
I raze Seville.
I raze Tiwanaku.
I raze Lezoux.
I found New Niagara Falls 3.
So, after turn 1 of The Celtic War of 1812, here's the new Celtic landscape.
In 1814, Cathy is finally willing to talk to me & we make peace.
I'm also getting her WM and TM, but she wouldn't give up Space Flight, at least not for peace. That lets me push the lux slider back down to 30% and shuts off mobilization. (Maybe the Celtic WW was gone or significantly decreased, after all.) However, I still want the mobilization. It lets Aabraxa build 1-turn MA and I likes that! First, I go back through my cities and swap clowns for IRS agents. I don't get to swap them all, but the vast majority of them go back to money-making activities.
I dial up Cathy again and she's not particularly keen on an alliance against Brennus, oddly enough. And she sure doesn't want to trade Space Flight. I offered SF, tons of resources and luxes, waaaaaaay more than I'd actually give her for it, and she won't bite. She wants coal and oil for Gems. I tie that to an alliance against Brennus. I don't particularly like her making bombers, but if she'll make them to use against him, I'm ok with that.
So, here's the deal:
I give:
MA vs. Brennus
Coal
Oil
She gives:
MA vs. Brennus
Gems
It's not enough to let me push the slider down to 20%, but it lets me fire a few more clowns. The Celts are at 97,275.
New Grand River 3 is founded.
Battleship destroys a fighter parked at Vilca.
New Allegheny 3 is founded.
Huamanga is captured.
New Oil Springs 3 is founded.
Vilcas is captured.
New Tonawanda 3 is founded.
New Mauch Chunk 3 is founded.
Machu Picchu is captured.
New St. Regis 3 is founded.
New Centralia 3 is founded.
New Akwesasne 3 is founded.
The founding of New Akwesasne 3 does several things. It creates a chokepoint, gets me a native source of spices and moves me to 58% of the land area. Russia and the Celts are tied at 16%. The Celts are at 97,275 culture. Also, I captured 2 enemy workers, one after the other, with one cav this turn. Not particularly significant to this game, but interesting in reference to something that came up in "Quick Answers/Newbie Questions."
Next stop: Entremont!
By the way, ImageShack redid its website and I'm having some trouble figuring out the new setup. Someone please let me know if these pictures are working.
They look fine. Why were you so anxious to get an MA with Cathy? Why not just let her stew, the most she could do it sign up against you. With no bombers, not much she could do other than annoy you is there?
What was Russia culture again, was it less than 50k? What is the map size, is it standard? If it is larger the culture Celts should need more than 100k. 160k for huge.
Edit: I found were you said Russia was a bit ore than 50K in 1845AD or there abouts, so they should be at least some what larger now.
What was Russia culture again, was it less than 50k? What is the map size, is it standard? If it is larger the culture Celts should need more than 100k. 160k for huge.
Edit: I found were you said Russia was a bit ore than 50K in 1845AD or there abouts, so they should be at least some what larger now.
Bucephalus
Shooting from the lip....
Did Brennus just switch to Fascism, Aabra; if he did it should halve his projected culture growth and give you a few more turns grace.
This is a real nailbiter - best of luck, mate.
This is a real nailbiter - best of luck, mate.
Glad to hear that the pics worked. I made the MA deal to keep Cathy from pestering me. I'm not exactly worried that she'll ravage my empire, but I don't want dozens of TOW Infantry (she's got bunches of them) nipping at my heels while I'm trying to move forces overseas. I'd rather have her nipping at Brennus' heels. I wanted her gems, but she wanted coal and oil for them. This way, if she makes peace with Brennus, at least she loses the resources.
Buce, I'm not sure when he switched to Fascism, but I think he's been in it a while. He was in it at least by 1808. IOW, if his culture has already been halved, that's pretty scary!
Interestingly, the cities that I took in that chapter only had 3-4 defenders each. Brennus only had 102 gold in the 1808 AD picture of the Manhattan Project and when I captured Machu Picchu, I only got 13 gold. I get the feeling that the Celtic economy is already strained. At least, I'm hoping so.
Buce, I'm not sure when he switched to Fascism, but I think he's been in it a while. He was in it at least by 1808. IOW, if his culture has already been halved, that's pretty scary!
Interestingly, the cities that I took in that chapter only had 3-4 defenders each. Brennus only had 102 gold in the 1808 AD picture of the Manhattan Project and when I captured Machu Picchu, I only got 13 gold. I get the feeling that the Celtic economy is already strained. At least, I'm hoping so.
Bucephalus
Shooting from the lip....
That's precisely the point that I was making to vmxa previously; he (Brennus, not vmxa) might have hundreds of units spare but he'll only ever defend with 4 or so on DG.
I've got some jet fighters doing recon & I'm not seeing a lot of loose (non-city-defending) units, either, though. On the IBT after my first attack (taking Tiwanaku), Brennus sent one Mech Infantry on counter-attack. (Not that you'd get any of that information from the screenshots or my turnlog, though.)
Chapter 22: From Entremont to Endgame
We begin this chapter on the IBT after 1814 AD. According to MapStat, the Celts are generating 697 culture per turn!
By comparison, the Russians are generating 131, and my civ generates a whopping 92 culture per turn. My forces are nearing Entremont. I need to take down Alesia first, just because it's on the way, but the big E is the prize right now. It's a size 21 city, & that means lots of shields, lots of money and lots of culture. Time to go a-whippin' and a-whoppin', a-rompin' and a-stompin' ever' livin' thing in sight. A quick investigation of Entremont reveals that it is only producing 43 culture per turn, though.
Hmmm. It' also protected by 10 mechs, and has a tank in production, 1 turn out. I go ahead and investigate Verulamium. It's produing 52 culture per turn.
If I can take those two down in fairly short order, that cuts Celtic culture prodcion by almost 100 per turn. This may or may not work. I figure that I've only got ~4-5 turns to claim 8% of the land area. Otherwise, the Celts will hit 100K. They'll still have to get to twice what the Russians have, but I don't think it'll be but a few extra turns.
One problem with archipelago maps is transport time. I can't airlift settlers. I can't airlift artillery (which has never made sense to me), but I can airlift workers. So I've begun airlifting workers out of Old Egypt to Celtic lands, and building settlers in my cities near the font lines. I then use the workers to replace the population loss from the settler builds. Rush, rinse, repeat.
In 1816, the Celts have 97,475 culture. I have 58%.
New Tyendenaga 3 is founded. 59%
New Kahnawake 3 is founded.
Alesia is captured.
IBT:
The Celts lose ~4-5 mechs attacking Alesia.
Cathy comes calling. She's annoyed that I have troops near Khabarovsk. (It's just a couple of BBs.)
1818 AD:
I have 59% of the world area and 73% of its population. Russian has 16% of each. The Celts have 97,660 culture. That's an increase of 185? I thought they were doing better than that. I pull up MapStat. Somehow it's showing 97,527 for celtic culture, with no indication of culture per turn. I don't get it.
But I've been thinking. I've got 4 armies (2 cav & 2 tank), along with a few MAs and a coupla dozen arty sitting around near the Russians. My rep is already shot, and the Celts are closing in on 100K. Do I really have anything left to lose by DOWing Cathy? I'll lose a lux and WW may shoot through the roof. OTOH, I only have to claim another 7% of the land to win.
I investigate Yakutsk.
Three Mechs an arty and a bomber. I can handle that.
What about Khabarovsk?
Two Mechs. OK.
Finally, Novosibirsk.
Three mechs. So . . . if I can take out Yakutsk and seal that choke, then killing another ~15-18 city defenders, along with whatever comes at me from the south, I might be able to push the Russians off of that little spit of land. Combined with the progress I'm making against the Celts, I just might, and I mean MIGHT pull this rabbit out of my hat.
New Caughnawaga 3 is founded in Celtic territory.
New Oka 3 is founded in Celtic territory. I'm now at 60%.
I begin the siege of Entremont. Neither my artillery nor my bombers seem particularly effective, but I'm able to take it with MA armies.
There are *19* resistors, but I'll try to hold it, if only for the tiles. First things first, though. I immediately sell off almost all of the infrastructure. If it's gonna flip, the Brennus is getting back half the city he used to have. On the bright side, though, I do have Sun Tzu's now.
DD kills a Celtic fighter at Augustodurum.
Camulodunum is 8 turns from the Manhattan Project.
It's also guarded by a boatload of defenders. I'm not even sure they'll finish it before hitting 100K. If MapStat is to be believed, they'll have to hit ~108K before they actually win, by the way.
New Chondote 3 is founded. 61% & I am now totally out of room on the land I share with Cathy. I have to either clear some room, or settle some islands.
Eboracum is captured.
New Gandasetaigon 3 is founded.
Augustodurum is captured. 62%.
According to MapStat, I'm 92 tiles from domination. Also, according to MapStat, I've got 58 resistors total, so the happiness tab is going nuts. Anyway, 92 tiles is probably more than I can claim by the end of the turn. Based on that, and after much consideration and a snack, I decide not to DOW the Russians this turn. Next turn, I'll reconsider. No, I won't. I know good & well that I'm going to DOW her. I move some BBs into position. Those will be used to bombard Yakutsk. Then I'll overrun a few Russian cities in an attempt to claim more land.
Richborough is captured. That gets me Celtic uranium.
IBT:
Some resistors at Entremont quelled. Naturally, riots ensue.
Notably, not one single Celtic counterattack comes!
1820 AD:
I'm at 62% of land, 77% of people. Celtic culture = 97,781. That's only ~120 culture more than last turn, right? Or is my math totally screwy? If I'm counting right, their culture production has slowed by quite a bit.
Vitcos is captured.
A half dozen extra arty finally arrive near the Celtic front. Did I mention that I dislike the fact that I cannot airlift artillery? I begin shelling hilltop railroads. If the Celts want to attack me, they're going to have to come at me on flat ground.
My next two targets are Verulamium and Lugdunum.
I take a closer look at MapStat. The culture numbers still aren't showing up quite the same as the game tells me they are. MapStat says that the Russians have 55,359 at +516, and the Celts have 97,943 at +218. I, magnificent builder of temples and cathedrals that I am, have a whopping 21,679, at +92 culture per turn. The game says that 97,781. Obviously, there are some discrepancies, but if MapStat is close to being right about the Russians having 55K and the Celts making ~220 culture per turn, then I've got a little more time than I thought. I'll skip DOWing the Russians for one more turn, in the interest of not sending my WW through the roof.
IBT:
Richborough flips
1822 AD:
62%, Celts have 97,895 culture.
New Ganogeh 3 is founded.
New Gayagaahe 3 is founded.
Richborough is recaptured. 63%
While clearing out Celts that tried to retake Entremont:
The two towns that I founded, New Ganogeh 3 and New Gayagaahe 3 were placed to get me closer to Celtic towns, like Lugdunum and Verulamium.
64%
Of course, even though I'm out of artillery and bombers, I can't resist the urge to take some of those MA armies north to Lugdunum.
I investigate Gergovia and find that it's only got 3 defenders. I'm sorely tempted to go ahead and attack it, but I decide not to. I don't have any MA armies at full health. The only fully healthy armies I've got on this landmass are tank & cavs, not so good against mechs in metros.
I'm 37 tiles from domination at this point. Was it Howard Cosell that used to say? He. Could. Go. All. The. Way!
In 1822, I investigate Camulodunum again. 6 turns until Manhattan is complete. 3 mechs and 6 TOW.
New Gewauga 3 is founded. 64%, 31 tiles to domination. If MapStat is right and I really am 31 tiles from domination, I can win the game by kicking the Celts off this landmass. I've counted the tiles.
I check with my military advisor. I'm strong compared to everyone. The Celts are down to a total of 10 mechs. The Russians still have 58 mechs, but I don't think I'll ever have to face those.
1822 IBT: Again, no Celtic counterattack. I think the wind has been taken out of Celtic sails, militarily speaking anyway. Culturally, they are now at 97,967. MapStat says they're at 121 culture points per turn. I calculate 186 since the last turn, but I don't expect them to win by culture, regardless of whehter they're making 186 or 121 culture points per turn. The Celtic mortality rate is simply too high. The Russians have ~55K in culture. They can't make it to 100K before I hit 66%, either.
1824 AD:
An investigation of Gergovia reveals 2 mech infantry and 3 tows.
New Goigoien 3 is founded.
Gergovia is captured. 65%
New Kawauka 3 is founded.
Agedincum is captured. 66%
I sure would like to go ahead and capture Camulodunum, though. After some consideration, I decide to risk it. Camulodunum sits on a hill, so it is a costly batle for me. Nonetheless:
That removes the last of the Celts from this landmass. So, I've stockpiled a few settlers and then:
New Kente 3 is founded.
New Kiohero 3 is founded.
New Owego 3 is founded.
New Neodakheat 3 is founded.
New Oiogoien 3 is founded.
New Skannayutenate 3 is founded.
New Onnontare 3 is founded.
There. The last of the Celtic landmass is mine. That puts me at 68%. If I hold it all through the IBT, then this game is over. CivAssist 2, MapStat and the game all agree that I'm over the domination limit.
So, I hit enter and:
Verulamium flips. Wouldn't you know it? It's not enough to stop my victory, though!
I'm really glad that I went ahead and took Camulodunum and planted those extra towns. If I hadn't, I still would have won, but it might have taken an extra turn or two.
I'll say this one time: I HAVE DEFEATED DEMIGOD AND I ROCK! Now that I've said that, though, my heartfelt thanks to all who followed, read, and offered advice. I'm not sure I could have done this, and I can promise you all that it would not have been nearly as enjoyable, without you.
Congrats, yeah you could have done it.
AFAIK, MapStat gives you PRECISE information on the domination limit (given that you have the entire map revealed), but not so precise information on total culture. I know in my Deity histographic game MapStat told me I had some 5 or so tiles, I planted a city to sit I think 1 tile under the domination limit, and I stayed there without going over for hundreds of years.
CommandoBob
AbstractArt
Good job and a great read!
TheOverseer714
Overseer
WTG, man! You are the 
of storytelling and kicking DG at the same time. I have beat DG once, but not while writing about it too.
Bucephalus
Shooting from the lip....
Nice one, Aabra, and an enthralling read!
templar_x
usually walks his talks
gratulations on your victory, Aabra, and especially thanks for sharing it with us.
templar_x
templar_x
Sparthage
Fighting Tyranny
Wow. Nice story. I have yet to play demigod and I am in awe.
Indeed!
What a long and winding road; what an epic game. It's a shame the mods don't upkeep the legendary games index because this win, at demigod, certainly ranks right up with the best of them. I really love the fight against time at the endgame.
This game does NOT rank up with almost all of the games in the legendary archive, which almost all came, at least prima facie, as more difficult AND also better played (once we agree on an idea of "better play"). This doesn't take away from Aabraxan's game, it just puts it in proper perspective. He won, sure, but it's more like he won a three-game regular season series of baseball than the World Series.
gmaharriet
Ancient Crone
Aabra!!! Congratulations, my friend. I'm subscribed to your thread and have been following it all the way. Way to go!!!
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