Having to give up Santiago on my southern border to Joao for Peace in 150BC was really humiliating!
After my terrible start and fighting off Joao's 1120BC declaration of war (delayed until 775BC by gifting Gift City to get Pleased and begging for 10
(Not enough power to make a demand at Cautious)), I had to get back into the tech game.
No way to take anything from Joao with that kind of defensive stack on my border.
Attempts to lure that stack of doom away by bribing Joao to DOW Monty failed.
My 2nd Great Person bulbed Philosophy.
Left Buddhism for 5 turns to get Open Borders with Monty to send a Work Boat through to the east. The northern workboat died to a barb Galley and the southern one got turned around by
Bulbed Education to get to Liberalism fast.
Met France which became my 1st Jackpot move.
His map indicated Inca were nearby so I dispatched a Caravel to make fast contact
Spreading a whole lot of missionaries to Washington and a tech trade to convert to Buddhism eventually got him to Friendly.
Liberalism -> Nationalism in 700AD, far later than when
Fippy got it.
Monty was plotting war against someone since 425AD, so I had to send scouts to make sure he wouldn't march through America to attack me.
Could I bribe Washington to DOW Monty?
Of course not.
Friendly Washington continued to troll me all game by refusing trades and teching whatever I teched 1st.
Cannons and Conquistadors were off the table without Iron.
Tech all the way to Rifles before attacking Joao?
Nope, Iron located!
In 900AD, Monty DOW'd the island nation of France, a very stupid war.
My Caravels also got the circumnavigation bonus 1st.
All cities built Citadels and built 10xp Catapults once I switched to Theocracy.
Washington sadly adopted free religion, losing my Friendly status until I could bribe him back to Buddhism.
Tried to flip Joao out of Hereditary Rule to mess up his diplo with Monty.
That way I might be able to bribe Joao to DOW Monty.
The 73% spy failed.
Eventually, I bribed Joao to adopt Caste at least.
Switched to police state + free speech to get Conquistador whips and Friendly with no-religion Washington.
Iron was hooked up in 1050AD.
Washington kept demanding I break my deals with Monty which would break all my trade routes with 3 civs. I refused and he dipped back to Pleased.
Joao was a real piece of work.
When he was willing to DOW Monty, I did not have enough techs.
When I had enough techs, he was on good terms with Monty since they both shared Hereditary rule.
When I had enough techs and Monty+Joao's relationship was all messed up by me, then Joao said he had nothing to gain with a war against Monty.
With a Conquistador in a Citadel (24
with defensive bonus!), Joao couldn't touch my cities.
So I performed a timing attack and struck while Joao's Stack of Doom was far away in 1120AD.
Got Rifling in 1140AD.
Wanted to trade it for Washington's Steel, but the war against Washington's friend Joao made friendly relations even farther away, so I had to wait.
Eventually, I forked over 490
to bribe Washington back into Buddhism. (My money!
)
Ack! +1 shared religion bonus.
He was Buddhist from Turn 143 to Turn 160, so I thought it would be +2 bonus, but I guess the shared religion bonus decays.
Hateful game....
Finally, all the pain and suffering paid off when I
lured Joao into a killing trap.
8 Barrage III catapults, fresh from the Heroic Epic capital.
They caused insane collateral damage!
Time to flatten Joao right?
WRONG, he got Rifling the next turn.
Signed a Cease Fire in 1180AD.
Would need to wait until Cannons to DOW again, so I teched it myself since Friendly Washington was not a possibility until 1250AD.
Avoided Economics to keep Citadels giving +5xp to Catapults, Trebs, and Cannons.
Joao Round 2 was a hell of a war!
He had Rifles and Airships, but I had Cavalry, Cannons, and later Frigates.
His army was in the northeast so I Cavalry charged up the left side, hit him hard in the middle, and then wiped out his counter attack.
Police State + Theocracy + Citadels meant I could whip 10xp Cannons in all my cities.
Joao was suspiciously smart enough to blow up 2 Citadels.
Washington was nice enough to found a colony with 3 island cities, so I was able to trade a little with freshly founded Asoka a bit for Washington's techs without WFYABTA.
Also, about my 4
City Raider III Rifles.
One died because I though my Combat I Rifle would guard it, but I was wrong.
City Raider III gives +10% vs. gunpowder units, so it took the attack instead of the Combat I Rifles and died!
My 2nd City Raider III Rifle died in its first battle at 97%.
I lost 2 out of 4 right at the start of the war.
Joao was finished after his 2nd huge stack of units was destroyed.
Just a pile of Rifles in each city to smash away with CRIII Cannons.
At the end, I had to decide if I wanted to Vassal Joao to get techs or kill him off completely for happiness reasons (motherland anger) and to draft right away (need 10% or higher tile culture on city tile).
Decided on a 2nd ceasefire and gift away 4 of my cities that I whipped to 10 anger.
Conquered them back and vassalled Joao to get Communism.
I noticed that the AI did not want to trade Corporation even though all of them had it?
I had to get it from my vassal.
Washington was a vicious super power with destroyers, raildroads, and most importantly infantry, so I could not attack him before getting infantry myself.
The Inca also had railroads and destroyers, so I did not want to fight their rifles either.
Went after weak France who had Musketeers and Longbows.
Gobbled him up until halfway through he got Rifling and made it more interesting.
Conquered every single city for Sushi resources.
Founded Mining Inc. and later Sushi on my 3rd try for Great Merchant.
Grew and went for space without any more war.
Washington vassalled Monty before I could sail past France to join in.
I tried to get rid of Joao by demanding his 1 resource a few times, but he kept giving it to me.
3 wars and 1 razed city meant he was Annoyed and I could do that.
1 Refusal and I would have had no vassals at all because I kept a City Raider III Infantry there with a few other units the rest of the game.
Eventually my vassal Joao and I both got back to Friendly with Washington, but I was only able to trade for 1 monopoly tech before I
stole 5 techs from Washington with another spy gift city.
Internet got me 5 more techs because I left Inca alone, and then it was a brawl between me and Washington for space parts and
spies blowing up 2 of my spaceship parts.
The AI will not trade away any tech that unlocks a spaceship part, saying "we'd rather win the game".
Launched my ship with 12 turns to go after a sabotage because I was too scared to take 1 turn to build the 16th part.
What if my cockpit got blown up next!?
Anyway, Washington was the 1st AI I ever saw stand up to +20
per turn Sushi pressure.
He also made my run Free Speech most of the game at the end just for diplo and keeping my borders up.
I always ran Nationalism or Bureau usually.
This was also the 1st time I moved heaven and earth to get Friendly with another AI and it didn't really pay tech-trade-wise.
So much fun.
Sorry, can only fit 30 screenshots in 1 post.
Did I want to go nuclear on Washington?
Of course!
But that would not have gotten me into space faster.
And now Joao will trade iron! (Did he always have two iron resources in his territory or did he pop an extra one? I'm not sure.) He wants an outrageous price for it, but I'll pay when the time comes.
