Review:
Outstanding mod here R8XFT. All the praises that have been heaped on you in this thread and elsewhere are thoroughly deserved. Many thanks for the pleasure your monumental project has given us.
Anno Domini has rejuvenated Civ3 for me in its epic form and shown many ways for modding aspects of the game. I love the detail, logic and expansion of choice/paths in the tech tree. I've never been a fan of the modern era so the whole historical focus is greatly appreciated. Also love all those new improvements, wonders, the trade victory (although I've never come close to achieving it), the cultural flavours add a great deal and, of course, it really is the treasure trove of new art that you bill it as. But the crowning achievement has to be how well you have made it all work together. There is a consistency of concept and presentation that makes this a very impressive pacckage.
Game report:
Notched up an effortless and constantly expanding Domination victory with the Byzantines recently. It was mainly characterised by military tech advancement, so that's what this little report will focus on.
Game settings: Quaestor / Regent level (1 too easy for my usual but I wanted to explore the new mod), huge map, continents, 12 civs.
Game lasted till one tech into Anno Imperii. 450 turns or so.
Slingers: Found I was on a very large continent early. You could just tell with so many civs being on it. So while my population was growing enough to build Nomads I concentrated on getting out some stacks of Slingers, after some storyteller's huts. I basically went on a 'pruning' mission with these stacks. Destroying any cities belonging to other civs that came into areas where my future interest may lie. This kept the power of my neighbours well in check. Out of Ghana, Isoko, Athens, Illyria and the Goths nearby it was the Goths who looked like posing any competition. So they got a double dose. No one ever got more powerful on the histograph than me with this strategy employed. Turned out I was on the powerhouse continent.
Archers: With this new military unit I wiped out Ghana, who was very small fry, being the closest and most beaten up of my neighbours. These were also used against Illyria who was small but expanding into 'my land'. They lost a few cities to archers, who made light work of their Tool Aged Spearmen.
Swordsmen: Having carved out a large empire early and with some handy tech trading I had the luxury of a nice tech lead, which was never lost. So I hit Ironworking well before anyone else did. Again, stacks of swordsmen were created by a now large military production zone and Athens was wiped out with devastating speed. Like everything I faced on the continent in terms of defence thereafter, the Athenians fronted Bronze Age warriors. In fact, no one had any spearmen to offer as protection in the whole game. The Athenian campaign was like a heated knife through butter.
Boats: The attack on Athens was the first navally assisted attack. 6 curraghs loaded with Swordsmen ran along our shared coast and executed some advanced hits, quickening their downfall. This lesson proved to be a poweful template for recreating.
The Goths: These chaps were far more numerous, ambitious and with a much larger empire than any other competitor on the continent. An early pruning mission found they too could produce stacks of Slingers themselves. Moreover, they had been taking cities of Ethiopia in the very far north and had also begun to settle a nearby continent with curraghs. They needed to be met in the field of battle, just in case they harboured any illusions of grandeur. I made comprehensive preparations...
Ancient Cavalry: These units are devastating. The whole Gothic campaign revolved around the Horsemanship tech and the use of AC. I was prebuilding large stacks of horsemen (which I hadn't used previously), secured the Horses supply in eliminating Athens, was saving up cash for a mass upgrade and had boats all ready for an invasion of the new Gothic continent. Well it all worked like a dream. With swordsmen in support, the Ancient Cavalry ripped through the Gothic kingdom and they were all gone within a matter of a few turns. Ethiopia for some weird reason also declared war on me and they got all their cities taken off them, including the one with the Great Lighthouse. This was all thanks to the combined speed and more advanced attack of the Ancient Cavalry. And they were used all the way to domination victory.
Hoplites: Shortly after that campaign the scientists discovered how to make Hoplites. As the strongest defenders around till the end of Anno Laxamenti (Bowmen) these were made with vigour and posted to the far flung reaches of the Byzantine Empire.
Now the stage was set for me to push home to victory. Having wiped out everyone except the Israelis in the northern most tip, I now controlled all of the home continent and had also taken over half of the other continent which the Goths had had designs on. Second on the powergraph were the Arabs. They were on a continent fairly nearby, all alone, and were focusing, I mean wasting their time on, making pretty buildings that made people happy.
Seafaring, Wonders and the end of Arabia: What really sped up the domination victory was the fact I'd captured the Great Lighthouse. Actually it was crucial. With the extra sea movement from it and my Seafaring trait I could just about reach the Arabian continent. So once again preparations were made to do some 'pruning'. I just wanted to take some spices off them on a peninsula. The pruning went better than expected and, when they re-declared war before the first peace pact was expired, they soon found the Byzantines taking all their cities off them. A much better fight back from the Arabians (who fronted Swordsmen, Archers, Horsemen, Camel Warriors and Bronze Age Warriors) but ultimately no match for the numerous landings of Hoplites and Ancient Cavalry. The seafaring logistics to get them there was the trick no one else could pull off and it only got worse for them when I built the Double Harbour and was moving Biremes 8 tiles a turn.
This same Hoplite and AC template was put to use on the fourth and final continent. This saw the Byzantine landings ripping into the Irish and Cornish (securing Incense), whilst the Brigantians and Egyptians had to content themselves with counting out the days before they got it too.
Victory was acheived just as I learned how to train and build Fyr Spearmen. No one had any chances after that, even if there would have been time to capitalise on them.
Great game, great mod. Thanks a lot.
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