Aeon mod, game 3 - Japan

[MeteorPunch]

This is a play through of the World Map scenario for my mod. I haven't played this much at all other than 2-3 short game tests, which didn't even get out of the ancient age. There is very little writing skill here - just me seeing if things work.

I'm playing as Japan, one of the two "small island" civs, along with England. My closest neighbors are China and Korea, with India and Mongolia a bit further off.

The game is on demigod which should be kinda hard, considering it's a a difficulty I haven't played on the scenario yet, and I'm rusty on Civ3 in general. Going for a military victory - domination likely, which is slightly different for this scenario than the standard game - it's 25% land area, with the standard 66% population.

SETTINGS
Map Size: World Map scenario 180x180
Civs: 24
Difficulty: Demigod+ (second hardest)

Spoiler :

BC 3705 Here's the start, my units have been checking out the area.

BC 2879 A small boat makes it's way into the Mediterranean from the Red Sea.

BC 2348 Catastrophe strikes the mainland, but it's just an annoyance to future mining projects.

BC 2053 Japan builds it's first Wonder. I'm not going to post every wonder pic but there will be a few.

BC 401 On world maps I like to name my cities based on the location, unfortunately the AI doesn't share my beliefs about this...maybe I will forcefully rename them when captured. There's a Korean ship here who thought it would be funny to just block my path for a few hundred years.

 

[MeteorPunch]

Spoiler :

BC 165 Two of my best and fastest units hit the trail to reach a place of fable, far in the distance: Europe.

AD 484 "Why, hello there!"

AD 543 A new era begins.

AD 633 A second Asian continent city is founded, this one in a very questionable location.

AD 665 Japan adopts a unique government with promises of Samurai, Ninja, Shogun, and all those fun things.

AD 665 Empire overview. Silly China building in the desert when there is great land below you.

Here's a peek at the world map at this point.
- I like the Japan/Korea pincer attack on China...oh it's coming.
- Lolamerica, down to 3 cities
- France with a city in North America?
- South Africa, because they have a great starting location, should be embarrassed to have 2 cities lost to Algeria

 

[MeteorPunch]

Update 2

Spoiler :

AD 665 Here's the extent of my European travels before I kept getting kicked out. Didn't get very far, huh?

AD 729-761 Lots of wars going on...France is sending a stack to India. Really guys?

AD 793 Time to roll out some Samurai (This wonder makes them).

AD 872 Korea and China have been going at it. My ship spies as my forces build until the time to strike.

AD 1079 Map trading becomes available and I net a great view and a lot of gold.

 

[MeteorPunch]

Spoiler :

AD 1111 Two interesting events: Russia is the first to be eliminated, While Korea takes China's capital. I am strong vs. China, and weak vs. Korea, according to my advisor.

AD 1159 War is declared and the first wave lands on China's shore.

AD 1159 A powerful wonder granting Shoguns is finished.

AD 1175-1190 I take two of China's major cities, while Korea takes another, leaving them with only two weak desert towns.

AD 1222 Overview.

 

[ZeletDude]

Great story! Will be reading!

 

[Arexander]

Me too!

 

[MeteorPunch]

Thanks, glad you like it!

Update 3

Spoiler :

AD 1238 Himeji Castle is built, beginning a golden age!

AD 1302 China is eliminated.

Defeated Civs:

1. Russia
2. China

AD 1318 The first wave of forces arrives to begin the invasion of India. Backed with a Golden Age fueled production of military units, this should go well.

AD 1366 Forces converge upon a mountain east of Kolhapur, the city appears empty after ongoing sieges by Korea and Mongolia. Actually there are invisible Assassains still left defending.

AD 1381 Well, boo. Mongolia captures the town and I'm forced to heady west.

AD 1397 Korea and Mongolia begin war. I sign a Right of Passage treaty with Korea which helps get forces to India a little quicker.

AD 1429 In a lucky stroke for me, India recaptures Kolhapur from Mongolia, which I then take from India, along with Bombay.

 

[MeteorPunch]

Spoiler :

AD 1461 Mexico finishes what Canada began and eliminates the Americans.

Defeated Civs:

1. Russia
2. China
3. United States

AD 1557 While I'm doing pretty well, certainly in the top 5 of civilizations in the game, there's one that worries me - Mexico. Over the past few decades, they've started to tear into Canada, and have become the land and population leaders, in addition to their cultural dominance. Having one civ control all of America would be "interesting."

AD 1604 What's left of Ottowa, Canada's ex-capital.

AD 1636 Wars in India progressing well.

AD 1652 So I just noticed Canada was missing Saltpeter. Just giving them a freebie here to help stay in the game longer.

AD 1668 Curious about how soon they could get a single city cultural victory (which is 9k, not 20k). At this moment I'm guessing it would come in the early part of the fourth era (the game is currently at the tail end of the second era). It may be possible to hit it late third era though, if more cultural buildings double and if they build more. I might have to throw every unit I have at this city and burn it to the ground at some point.

 

[MeteorPunch]

Spoiler :

AD 1684 India goes down swinging. Modern civs just can't hang in the Medieval Times I guess.

Defeated Civs:

1. Russia
2. China
3. United States
4. India

AD 1716 Iran begins to fall without much resistance and I finally get a leader.

AD 1748 Industrial Era begins.

 

[GamezRule]

Subscribed.

 

[ZeletDude]

Aah beautiful black smoke belching from beautiful smoke stacks
Good to see you have killed India and China.
Who will you go after next? Korea?

 

[Karalysia]

Is that orange in Central Asia the Netherlands?

 

[BuckyRea]

Is that orange in Central Asia the Netherlands?

Crazy, isn't it? I love it when the AIs do that. They go where the land is. How many games do you play on the Earth Map in which you have to end up killing off several civs in the late industrial age after they've gotten bunched up around northern Siberia or Baffin Island?

Defeated Civs:

1. Russia
2. China
3. United States
4. India

so much for historical accuracy!


This is the best "industrial era" picture ever!

Spoiler :

This looks like a great mod. Is this just you beta testing it or is available on CivFan for download yet?

one last question: How come you made the Red Sea to Med Sea an open channel instead of a land bridge? I'd think that would make for some horrible traffic jams for all the AIs trying to crowd through the Red Sea. How well does that work out in-game?

PS, totally subscribing

 

[MeteorPunch]

Who will you go after next? Korea?

An one point we had a rainbow striped pattern of territory, which was cool. I was worried about having several fronts, but it may be doable now.

JAPAN
KOREA
JAPAN
KOREA
JAPAN

Is that orange in Central Asia the Netherlands?

I'm kinda proud of the Dutch, their core is only 2 cities, the capital and another, yet they made a second contiguous core of 6 cities in the middle of Asia. It's now down to 4 though.

This looks like a great mod. Is this just you beta testing it or is available on CivFan for download yet?

The mod has been out for a few months now, but I just finished the world map scenario, which is the base game, plopped on a world map, a few rule changes, and somewhat realistic resource placement.

You can check every thing out here: link

one last question: How come you made the Red Sea to Med Sea an open channel instead of a land bridge? I'd think that would make for some horrible traffic jams for all the AIs trying to crowd through the Red Sea. How well does that work out in-game?

I saw that the Age of Imperialism mod used a passage like that and I thought it was cool, but now I'm looking at that map and it has 2 open tiles for passage rather than one which...I will have to borrow in the future.

Maybe for now a traffic jam is something you risk when trying to send a large force through a small opening. Declare war on any potential squatters or go around.

 

[MeteorPunch]

Update 4

Spoiler :

AD 1752 Rising sun > Eastern crescent.

Defeated Civs:

1. Russia
2. China
3. United States
4. India
5. Iran

AD 1773 Ship of the Line producing wonder comes online.

AD 1799 "I don't quite agree with your statement, but uh...yes master, anything you say."

AD 1803 Saudi Arabia is scouted for invasion. Charge!

 

[MeteorPunch]

Spoiler :

AD 1807 Raising the capacity of Armies from 3 to 4.

AD 1807 Counterattack?

AD 1820 Pretty good deal for me here. My offensive forces are kinda pathetic at the moment.

AD 1824 Dum, Dum, DUUUUM! Mexico is very much neck and neck with me in territory and population.

AD 1820-1867 The Dutch, through the years...ahhh.

 

[MeteorPunch]

Spoiler :

AD 1824 An early iteration of Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force

AD 1858 Always amusing to see one of these.

AD 1858 One of my favorite wonder pics.

AD 1862-1879 Two heavyweights, Korea and Mexico have been going at it. Guess who's winning?

 

[MeteorPunch]

Spoiler :

AD 1884 How they survived as one city in Siberia for so long remains a mystery.

Defeated Civs:

1. Russia
2. China
3. United States
4. India
5. Iran
6. Turkey

AD 1901 The past few decades for me have been spent industrializing. Creating workers for railroads and factories, coal plants, and hydro dams where possible. It's pretty much required, otherwise my production would be unable to keep up with the more expensive units.

AD 1914 Time to get back to business.

 

[MeteorPunch]

Spoiler :

AD 1920 An appropriate leader rises to power.

AD 1925 Ethiopia has 2 cities across the sea just ripe for the taking.

AD 1927 I've been sending transports in advance in order to allow this invasion, as well as a possible European offense.

AD 1929 Their capital is captured and we make peace, as their last remaining city is down in South Africa, and not worth taking.

 

[MeteorPunch]

Spoiler :

At this point I think there are 4 options, hardest to easiest:

1. Invade Mexico.
2. Try to take Africa, before it becomes completely Algerian.
3. Finally get around to attacking my buddies, Korea.
4. Europe: small nations on excellent land. Very tempting.

6 World Power remain:

1. Mexico
2. Japan
3. Algeria
4. Korea
5. Norway, a somewhat recent phenomenon
6. United Kingdom

25% land area and 66% population needed for a win.