Aeon mod, game 2 - USA

[MeteorPunch]

Spoiler :

Russia and Netherlands both begin golden ages.

With the Age of Sail tech learned, the industrial era begins.

This graph...what's with the USA curve at the bottom!?

 

[CommandoBob]

A resource for Coffee!



Obviously, it must, just must, be a strategic resource, that allows for better research (since it keeps the geeks up all night).

 

[BuckyRea]

What? No whaling before sailing? What about those poor Eskimos with their canoe technology?
What are they gonna do to prove their manhood now?

 

[MeteorPunch]

Heh, well there are no eskimos here, unless some of them snuck into the Canada civ.

Going by ye olde wikipedia entry there could be 4 good dates for whaling to emerge, so I went with the bolded one. It's pretty easy to change though.

Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms dates to at least 3,000 BC.[1] Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales. Industrial whaling emerged with organized fleets in the 17th century; competitive national whaling industries in the 18th and 19th centuries; and the introduction of factory ships along with the concept of whale harvesting in the first half of the 20th century.

Also it's fun to have a Whale resource pop up just out of reach of one of your coastal cities.

 

[MeteorPunch]

A resource for Coffee!



Obviously, it must, just must, be a strategic resource, that allows for better research (since it keeps the geeks up all night).

That may be true if there was research in this game at all.

It provides production, commerce, and happiness.

 

[MeteorPunch]

Update 4

Spoiler :

AD 1754 War ends with Russia. In a normal game I would try to attack them next, but I need to do some observation this era - see what kind of units they build here mainly. The war with Ethiopia will continue, and I believe they have the largest army of anyone at the moment.

AD 1760 Ethiopia lands 10 units outside these cities. Luckily I have an army that will make it there on this turn. (The ability for the AI to make huge effective landings greatly hampers my military offensive for a long time, prior to a railroad network for defense.)

AD 1775

Where all the action is. (This island is the main area of war for me for the next 100 or so years.)

 

[MeteorPunch]

Spoiler :

AD 1784 Naval Academy built, this is the only way to get the top ship of the era. (I have skipped a bunch of wonders that I built because it's pointless to just show a picture, so I'll post some more including explanations.

AD 1784 Tijuana captured.
AD 1791 Salzburg captured and I make peace with Germany.

AD 1797 2 more Ethiopian convoys which will likely have 10 more units landing by Dallas. I've been farming the units they have for a leader, but having bad luck with it. I'm probably around 20 elite wins without a leader.

AD 1797 Winter palace built, aka Forbidden Palace on my second continent.

AD 1803 Finally knocked Ethiopia down to my level.

 

[MeteorPunch]

Spoiler :

AD 1806 I finally feel ready to make a small invasion of Ethiopia's second island when I get this. The Dutch are strong, but they have 3 cities which I think will be easy to go after.

AD 1812 Salamanca and Stuttgart captured plus MGL #4.

AD 1831 First invasion of Ethiopian lands begins on their second continent, which is kinda neglected.

AD 1834 Harer and Hosaina captured.

 

[MeteorPunch]

Spoiler :

AD 1846 MGL #5
AD 1852 Lose a city here, but capture it back next turn. MGL #6, but I'll need more cities to make another army.

AD 1861 Dila captured.
AD 1868 Asela captured.

Korea moves units into my land and declares war. Going to end the long war with Ethiopia to deal with Korea, as they are pretty strong.

AD 1898 Statue of Liberty build in Atlanta (USA-only +trade/production wonder).

Inch'on captured.

AD 1902 A Korean cavalry that I didn't notice wins a battle verses a single infantry, and burns the city to the ground.

Pyongsong captured. Peace made with Korea.

I'm now at peace with everyone and intend to try to build more units before going after either my long-time trade partner, Spain or recent rival, Ethiopia.

 

[BuckyRea]

Winter Palace in Mexico City! I love it!

You seem to be losing more than the usual number of cities. A couple of times are you leaving them unguarded or just underguarded? Or is the AI really good at arranging large force invasions in this game? Normally they suck at strategy (which is why Sid created multiplayer!)

You might buy off Russia with a tech bribe or two to ally with you and thus distract Korea's attention, or at least split their invading forces in half. I find that a pretty successful strategy as long as you keep your other neighbors happy with you and don't run the risk of a world war.

 

[MeteorPunch]

You seem to be losing more than the usual number of cities. A couple of times are you leaving them unguarded or just underguarded? Or is the AI really good at arranging large force invasions in this game? Normally they suck at strategy (which is why Sid created multiplayer!)

I showed a screen of the AI landing 10 units outside a city; this happened 3 or 4 times so far, in addition to other 4-5 units landings. Keep in mind it's an archipelago map so sea power is relatively strong, but the thing is the AI can pop out of the shadows and surprise land at any point. Considering what I've used for defenses, I think my city losses are low.

Also at this point I now have connected all cities through railways, so a small, mobile rail defense can now cover an entire continent with minimal/zero city defenders...

...until WW2 infantry come into play, as they have the amphibious attack ability - and will use it (they have low attack strength though, but can be effective when combined with naval bombard, or against lightly defended cities). A few other marine units become available later as well with higher attack ratings, thus all coastal cities will once again need to be covered.

 

[MeteorPunch]

Update 5

Spoiler :

AD 1905 I notice Spain's core has been reduced to 5 cities so I'm gonna try to quickly get some units over there before it's too late.

AD 1907 Mass landings made at Santiago, Seville, and Madrid.

AD 1908 ..and captured.

AD 1910 Pamplona and Vitoria captured, wiping out the Spanish.

Map update:

 

[MeteorPunch]

Spoiler :

AD 1912 Units from round the world, including the newly formed tank army, are gathered into transports for an Ethiopian invasion.

"Hey, just passin' through."

AD 1918 Invasion force of 10 transports carrying 59 units is assembled north of Ethiopian lands, ready to strike.

Triple landing at Gonder, Dire Dawa, and Jijiga.

1919 Transports steam home to pick up reinforcements.

 

[MeteorPunch]

Spoiler :

A few deals are made to ensure even teams.

AD 1919 Pisa is a city that's been fought over for thousands of years, resilient, but often changing hands. Now it is razed to dust (...you know...I just didn't like the location...yeah...)

City of Gonder is take after heavy losses, mostly from the Ethiopians.

In a huge underestimation of the Ethiopian military, the divisions at Dire Dawa and Jijiga are unable to capture their objectives.

Fleeing transports are forced to turn around and pick up what injured units remain, even leaving some injured to be captured and killed.

1921 The Dilemma. I only managed to take one city and it is full of a mixture of injured and healthy units. Ethiopia has sent multiple stacks totaling 80 units to the cities borders, ready to attack this turn.

I'm ending my play here for now to decide between 2 options: 1. retreat all units, burning Gonder to the ground and preparing for a second invasion in 5 turns or so, or 2. Stuff all units I have, including those retreating to make a valiant attempt to hold the city for 1 turn, at which time dozens of reinforcements will arrive.

 

[MeteorPunch]

Update 6

Spoiler :

AD 1922 The epic battle that was supposed to happen at Gonder...didn't. Russia, and I suspect another civ, land units and distract the Ethiopians outside the city who are pillaging the landside.

Nekemte captured.

34 Units land at Bahir Dar.

AD 1924 Bahir Dar and Awasa captured.

AD 1926 Dire Dawa captured
AD 1927 Jima captured.

 

[MeteorPunch]

Spoiler :

AD 1927 This doesn't seem right.

AD 1929 40 units surround the Ethiopian capital.

AD 1931 Addis Abeba captured.
AD 1932 Whoa, defensive MGL?

AD 1932 Dese and Adama captured.
AD 1934 Mekele captured.
AD 1937

Post-Ethiopian map:

 

[MeteorPunch]

Spoiler :

Nov 1939 Mount Rushmore built in Denver starting our Golden Age. In this mod every civ has a unique wonder which starts their golden age at roughly the best time for it that I can approximate.

Mar 1940 Secret Police HQ. Commie-USA? Yeah.

Jul 1940 Victory through Air Power built in Atlanta. USA-only wonder which produces B-24's bombers.

Jul 1940 I mentioned before that I haven't been able to test out the Industrial and Modern ages as much as I'd like so I'm excited to be able to use carriers for the first time (not every nation can use these).

Nov 1940 Germany begins Golden Age. Having played a test game with Germany, they become a beast at this time period.
Jan 1941 Queen of the Seas built in Miami. This is a small wonder available to every civ and it produces battleships. For the major powers, these can be upgraded to more powerful battleships; King George-V, Iowa, Bismarck, etc.

 

[MeteorPunch]

Unfortunately this may be my last update here. At the beginning of the March 1941 AI turn the game crashes and I haven't yet figured out why. I made a completely new installation on another PC and loaded the save there, and the game crashes in the same way. The whole mod becomes completely on hold until I find out what's going on...what little needle in the haystack must be found.

If I figure out the problem, the game will continue. So far I've learned some more things that can be improved in future versions and would like to finish this one out.

 

[CommandoBob]

This has been a good read; once I get my current Civ 3 goals accomplished I'd like to download this and try.

Hope you find the error soon.

And that is not a misplaced semi-colon!

Which would be as bad as

 

[MeteorPunch]

It's fixed now, so the game will go on.