Ok I played this game as a random civ (got Tokugawa) on Prince, Standard Size, Fractal (turned out to be Pangaea). IStrap yourself in cuz this is quite a story!!
I have gold in my BFC and I say wow!! Then, i find my nearest neighbour's capital ~10 tiles from mine and its Shaka
Good things never come in bunches + I soon discover he has copper in his BFC - double dang!! I gotta take this guy down before he comes to me...
There is no other copper nearby but I research animal husbandry since I have pigs in my BFC too - I discover horses a bit to the west and settle my second city there; I wasn't sure whether to go for iron working now (iron may not show up) or get horseback riding and do a horse archer rush for the first time - I do realize that Shaka's impis can eat my horsies apart but I decide to go ahead and try it. I get HBR and start mass producing (with chopping) a bunch of horse archers - seeing 1 archer in Shaka's capital a mere 10 turns earlier, I decide to attack with 6 HA's and a chariot I built before.
When I approach his capital (after DOW), I see 4 impis, 2 archers and 1 axeman in his capital !?! I move on to another city after pillaging Shaka's copper and his other resources; the city defended by an archer and an axeman and I capture it but lose 2 horse archers, giving others shock promotions so they can fight an impi counterattack - the impis manage to kill one horse archers but the others survive. Now, I make peace with Shaka and research iron working, building up a bunch of swords for the next strike as well and also some archers for defense. Islam spreads to me from Saladin and I convert to it. The other civs at this point are much behind me (at least 3 techs) but have larger empires (Zara and Lincoln have 9 cities to my 5!!!)
I build up another force and I invade Shaka - I easily capture 2 of his cities bu t lose the one I captured in the first war. That gets me really mad so I get contruction and chop 4 cats and go after his capital which has 8 defenders - a mix of archers, impis, and axemen (I have 8 swords and 4 cats) - his capital falls and I make peace. He gives me some gold and that city back. Now, I've got 9 cities (its 1000AD) but I'm 2-3 techs behind Zara, Lincoln, and Victoria and about level with others (Shaka is way behind) and Shaka is still not done. I'm researching at 50% at a deficit so I gotta do something about my economy fast, build up a bunch of samurai and cats and go take care of Shaka once and for all. This should give a large enough land and population so I can stay competitive with other civs. Lincoln and Zara are the 2 largest civs and they have 11 cities so they are not way ahead by any means.
I think I can recover but I need to be smart. I think I should revolt to slavery and whip courthouses in all of my cities (only 2 or 3 have them) and then work on improving my income - only my capital and one other city have been cottaged. Then, I gotta build up some military and go finish Shaka off and maybe Huayna too .. he's right south of Shaka who's south of me and hates me also. I figure I should also get some advice from the experts here who know much more than me.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/117021/Tokugawa_AD-1020.CivBeyondSwordSave
I have gold in my BFC and I say wow!! Then, i find my nearest neighbour's capital ~10 tiles from mine and its Shaka
Good things never come in bunches + I soon discover he has copper in his BFC - double dang!! I gotta take this guy down before he comes to me...There is no other copper nearby but I research animal husbandry since I have pigs in my BFC too - I discover horses a bit to the west and settle my second city there; I wasn't sure whether to go for iron working now (iron may not show up) or get horseback riding and do a horse archer rush for the first time - I do realize that Shaka's impis can eat my horsies apart but I decide to go ahead and try it. I get HBR and start mass producing (with chopping) a bunch of horse archers - seeing 1 archer in Shaka's capital a mere 10 turns earlier, I decide to attack with 6 HA's and a chariot I built before.
When I approach his capital (after DOW), I see 4 impis, 2 archers and 1 axeman in his capital !?! I move on to another city after pillaging Shaka's copper and his other resources; the city defended by an archer and an axeman and I capture it but lose 2 horse archers, giving others shock promotions so they can fight an impi counterattack - the impis manage to kill one horse archers but the others survive. Now, I make peace with Shaka and research iron working, building up a bunch of swords for the next strike as well and also some archers for defense. Islam spreads to me from Saladin and I convert to it. The other civs at this point are much behind me (at least 3 techs) but have larger empires (Zara and Lincoln have 9 cities to my 5!!!)
I build up another force and I invade Shaka - I easily capture 2 of his cities bu t lose the one I captured in the first war. That gets me really mad so I get contruction and chop 4 cats and go after his capital which has 8 defenders - a mix of archers, impis, and axemen (I have 8 swords and 4 cats) - his capital falls and I make peace. He gives me some gold and that city back. Now, I've got 9 cities (its 1000AD) but I'm 2-3 techs behind Zara, Lincoln, and Victoria and about level with others (Shaka is way behind) and Shaka is still not done
. I'm researching at 50% at a deficit so I gotta do something about my economy fast, build up a bunch of samurai and cats and go take care of Shaka once and for all. This should give a large enough land and population so I can stay competitive with other civs. Lincoln and Zara are the 2 largest civs and they have 11 cities so they are not way ahead by any means. I think I can recover but I need to be smart. I think I should revolt to slavery and whip courthouses in all of my cities (only 2 or 3 have them) and then work on improving my income - only my capital and one other city have been cottaged. Then, I gotta build up some military and go finish Shaka off and maybe Huayna too .. he's right south of Shaka who's south of me and hates me also. I figure I should also get some advice from the experts here who know much more than me.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/117021/Tokugawa_AD-1020.CivBeyondSwordSave
