Always War Charlie

[rah]

While Julius is a strong leader, praetorians don't make the game easy. As always, the difference between an easy and a hard map is huge.

And if you want it REALLY hard, then play AW with K-Mod

Just wanted to pop in and thank you guys. The game has gotten a bit stale recently and I haven't been playing much. These AW threads got my interest up. I went out and downloaded K-mod and marble and fired up a Sitting Bull start and raced to Machinery.
(YES K-MOD makes it a lot harder)
The most interesting thing was reading about taking advantage of esp for teching, which is something I've never really done. Since I usually only played MP it was always no tech trading. I now understand what everyone was talking about and am feeling stupid for never taking advantage when the circumstances were right.

I thought I had the game in the bag when I had over a dozen super C-BOWS, the K-MOD AI's were relentless and I eventually went down somewhere late in the game. I have never had more fun playing a game, My interest in the game is BACK. One more turn baby.

Thanks again for all the AW discussion. (and more thanks to K-Mod) More of you should try it. BACK to another game.

Maybe I'll shadow one of those you guys are playing, but I need a bit more experience in AW games first.

 

[Pangaea]

Sounds great rah The game was getting a bit stale for me too, so these AW attempts have been like a new beginning. Admittedly they can be very frustrating when you get torn asunder, like I did in this map, but it's also fun and a new experience. Fun to learn something new, and this is certainly a new kind of challenge. Every tiniest decision can be the difference between life and death, and you may not know the answer until 100 turns later.


@BiC

Spoiler :

Can only say I'm impressed at your opening so far. Well done luring out some defenders and that axe, and then having the RNG on your side Winning odds, but you know how it is...

Loaded the save and see Ramsy has BW now, but that the mine is not hooked up yet. Looks like you busted all his food, so I suppose workers will do that first, but presumably you don't have a lot of time before the copper is hooked up and the time to take Thebes is over. Maybe it would be overextension anyway.

Nice done getting to the coast west. I never managed that I dreamt about that spot up north, as it looks like the continent has a natural choke point there. Maybe it's too far out, and you're under too much pressure now and in the near future, but getting that spot would be very good.

6 cities by 1400BC is some very serious REXing! Guess you wouldn't be able to do that if you went for the GW. I'm still a little concerned about the lack of hill cities. It's past 1000BC now, so more serious stacks will start to arrive, and Augsburg isn't a natural target right now. Particularly from the north you are 'soft'. I can see Louis up there.

Also, don't you just hate it when units fortify like that archer has done? Happened with several Egyptian spears in my case, and I simply couldn't remove them with a mounted army.

I don't have any advice and you have done much better than me. Except I really hope you can get some hilly blocker cities at some point. The (randomly picked) AIs on this map are capable, and sooner or later you'll get under pressure from both north and west.

Suppose you have picked CoL so far due to those boosted courthouses and a bad economy, but could it also be an option to self-tech IW? At least currently you don't have access to metal. Getting copper looks a bit awkward, unless you can somehow get Thebes.

Maybe I have too much respect for the map given how it went for me, and this sounds too negative. I'm very impressed with how you have done so far though I'm just concerned about a lack of good defensive spots, that's all. Swords against flatland archers is rough, even behind walls.

Good luck

Must admit I'm a little tempted to go back to this map and improve on my effort, but fear I'll just get frustrated and stomped into the ground again.

 

[Gumbolt]

I would give it another try Pangea. To me it seems you stabbed yourself in the back from your start. Only 3 cities is not going to win you the map with Ai streaming into your borders.

 

[rah]

What, no autosave?

 

[rah]

Yeah, the reading of these threads have been quite informative. I'm still playing my Sitting Bull one. Slogging through the later years. Behind in tech but down to only three opponents so I'm not being outproduced as much. I must have 20 or so GG superunits out there. The only way to survive the onslaught of artillery. I don't have them yet.

After a little more learning, maybe I'll join the fun here. More skill needed.

 

[Pangaea]

Very nice pop there, and it looks like the cities appreciated that silver lining

You're doing very well so far

Pains me to see a settler losing hammers, but I guess your economy can't take another city?

 

[Rusten]

And that's why reloading is bad kids! Once you start you can't stop.

Nice game btw, I read all the spoilers now. Regret it a little bit as I cba to play it myself now, but it's nice to see someone winning.

I completely agree with the decision to skip early wonders on this map. Great land and great traits for expanding. Early cities paying off.

 

[Pangaea]

Even skipping the GW? That's a pretty sweet wonder to have in these games. I have to assume there have been some headache due to barbs. But on the other hand, not building it allows settling cities earlier, and REXing that hard clearly paid off.

 

[Rusten]

GW without stone costs about the same as 2.5 IMP settlers (and you need early masonry). With green rivers and gold available I know what I'm picking.

(Not bothering with a spoiler tag here as it's page 5 already.)

 

[Pangaea]

Looks good, and glad you finally managed to reproduce the taking of the city.

Things are looking very bright, and even more so if you can settle that blocker city.

Still a very long way to go, though.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

There is a certain amount of baseline micromanagement skill you need before you can keep sufficient units to survive + economy. It's one thing to say "yes, get longbows fast you need them". I've done enough AW in distant past to know you'd need them.

But great players separate on economy pretty fast. I think my fastest liberalism time ever is ~500 AD on standard settings deity, but typically significantly later. You can win like that sometimes on non-AW but it tells the tale of lacking for enough econ to be surviving AW and progressing to the point where you can go on the offensive.

I just never found the planning/micromanagement enjoyable enough to do it, despite knowing it was always my biggest weakness in the civ series.

 

[Rusten]

^Many good points there. I can relate. Especially this:

Acquiring good strategic thinking...
... I'm not there, yet
I think it can come from not playing. Seating back. Fantasizing.

I always felt like I was a better player when coming back from a long hiatus. I would not have played any games, but the cerebral process was running. It's difficult to put it into words without making a (too) long post.

I would not have played any games but maybe I had visited CFC from time to time. Upon return I had a much easier time analyzing my game and getting rid of/noticing bad habits, because all of my thinking had been of the bigger picture. It's like you start with a clean sheet, but still with all the knowledge from before and weed out whatever you find to be poor.

 

[Gumbolt]

A few reloads but on settings like this that is probably acceptable. I got so close on my last game but I just ran out of steam when I was so far behind on techs. Sometimes too many cities can be a bad thing. Especially when the Ai suddenly get rifles.