So, here's what happened. I started on a continent which had 5 city states, Russia and Rome. There was a land bridge (about 10 tiles from my capital) on the other side of a city state to the rest of the world, but I didn't notice until around 800-1000AD. Anyhow, Russia did bugger all, didn't even bother to claim El Dorado (about 5 tiles away from her capital) and as such allowed Rome to become a run away monster whilst she was sitting there getting ready for complete annihilation. After some time there was me with about 5 cities, Rome with about 8-10 and Russia with 3 or 4. Rome then proceeded to bulldoze Russia and then move onto me.
Allied with a few city states I decided to help myself to one of the city states that was trying desperately to end my existence. I was as such, labelled as a war monger for all of time. During this time Russia and I become close allies. About 20 turns later after somewhat of a stalemate the war died down. Rome however thought that it was just insulting to them for me to not give them my entire empire and all its riches for peace despite a shot not being fired in a lot time (about 10-15 turns at this point).
Rome then decided enough was enough and helped themselves to the rest of Russia and sent a small killsquad up to "finish me off". After they lost these 10 odd units in quick succession my army of camel archers (I was arabia) then turned the tide and we quickly moved the boarders down to what was Russia taking 4 cities in the process. Here they finally accepted a "fair" treaty whereby nothing was given to either party.
All well and good. It was at this time I noticed a city state right next to me had lost most of its health and I suddenly met Persia. They was slowly killing them. I then realised they were on a land bridge and couldn't get any units there to attack the city, hence it just sat there. Realising the strategic advantage and the fact that Persia hated me for being a warmonger and had a quite large empire I quickly seized upon the oppertunity with an idle warior left over from previous times. Probably a good time to point out that there was no iron in my empire, Rome, Russia, Persia or any of the city states! I had been taking cities just with camel archers and a couple of spearmen/pikemen. With this city in hand I fortified this board, now having complete control of the bay and the land bridge I felt confident that Persia wouldn't bother me.
So, where does Catherine come into this. Shortly after this all happened I met India, Denmark and they along side Rome then decided to dog pile me to show me that I'm evil and wicked etc. Babylon sent a unit or two who were massacred by my defence on that land bridge. I then met France and we were united in our great evil (they truly were, having taken some 5 city states it turns out). He joined my war against Rome and kept them busy on one front while I bulldozed back through some 10 cities. One final city on Rome's east remained, a remnant of Russia. Not having any use for the City I decided to liberate Russia (having already gotten control of the rest of her Empire having taken it from Rome).
Catherine came back to life and then proceeded to berate me about being too friendly with one of their former city state allies. She was already concerned that I was building cities too quickly. She was the closest thing I had to an ally early in the game, I liberated her, she only existed again because of me and yet she doesn't really care. This slight dislike turned to hatred rather quickly.
I finished off Rome and now had an enormous empire, by far the largest on the planet (though not in population). Rome right to the last thought that paying me for peace wasn't a good idea. Babylon strangely enough had a similar attitude, thinking that a war where the only action had been at this one land bridge where some 10-20 units of his had died for no reason or gain was greatly in his favour. So much so that he demanded all my cities, all my gold, 160ish out of my 180ish gold per turn, all my luxuries, all my other resources apart from 2 horses (???) and pretty much anything else he could ask. I remained stunned by this as the war continued for a very long time.
Denmark became the whipping boy of the West continent and whilst holding this great title did his masters India and Babylon's bidding. It also turns out that the Inca, whom I never met had been massacre about 2 cities in by my blood hungry friends France, who was now enjoying the most bloody war I've seen in this game with a certain pacifist.
Suddenly, from nowhere Babylon send a rampaging kill party at me. They actually snuck it around my ships, up north and down as to take me by surprise. Whilst desperately trying to get some defences up to the threatened city he quickly got to work taking it. It was a 2 population little hole of a city in the middle of a desert with no resources or strategic valley. I called the Jimrock because I was calling all my cities Jim for some reason... I am still yet to figure out why. Anyhow, I managed to beat most of his army but the city was so weak that he managed to just take it and before I could recapture my beloved Jimrock they razed it. I then finished off their troops and fortified the area before normal service resumed and now a steady trickle of about 2 units every 3 turns scarified themselves to my land bridge defences. I founded a new city in that desert that I called New Jimrock, in honour of the brave souls that died in that great sneak attack. I can see why some 15 units and ships were worth razing that worthless rock.
At this point Russia denounced me and France, and well... Let's just say that it expired after 3 turns.
Time passed, my empire became a run away power along side France and Babylon lost many many troops to that land bridge. After a while I relocated some of the New Jimrock defence force to more useful assignments protecting targets of actual value. This is exactly what Babylon wanted apparently. This time they got an even bigger army in and caught me ever so slightly off guard. Whilst they never said anything, I'm fairly sure Babylon was thinking "Hahaha! I bet you'd never think we'd try exactly the same thing again?!?!". This time it was around 15-20 units, a massive army (I really have no idea how they produced this many troops!). They lost most of them and New Jimrock was safe for another day.
After this failed invasion of New Jimrock I asked them for peace. First they said it was impossible, and the next turn they again asked me for my empire and all its riches. Whilst this was a tempting offer considering the threat that they and their upward of 1000 year war (at this point) was to my empire I decided to "go down fighting".
The situation changed with the advent of battleships, planes, nukes and the like. This time they went for what was Rome (this being on the south side of the land bridge). I should have guessed something was up when the trickle of units into my defences stopped. This was an even bigger army, and in truth could have been a problem. Oh wait, no it couldn't, because I had around 8 battle ships stations a mere turn away and 2 nukes. A turn later their army was no more.
After once more being asked for my entire empire I decided enough was enough, this game was moving too slowly (I was coming up to a time victory, that's how slowly) and as such I decided it was time to fight back. I nuked Babylon and their other biggest city from around 25 down to 5, then took that other city, and razed it whilst screaming (metaphorically); "FOR JIMROCK!!!" The turn after this they offered me peace for... nothing. Oh well! The next turn I won by time and was filled with an overwhelming sense of... boredom. I won with a far greater score than everyone else. To summarise the final state of affairs:
France - Too busy trying to tasting the blood of anyone that moved to care that I was going to win by time
Babylon - Too busy sacrificing endless armies of units on my land bridge to do anything about me winning
India - Too busy fending off France
Denmark - Making Babylon a coffee
Rome - Where my biggest threat until they attacking me that time and wouldn't let me out of that war while they had an empire
Russia - Could have been spared, but apparently I shouldn't have allied myself with a city state they once "had relations with" after they no longer exited. Apparently reviving them was unimportant as well.
Inca - ...
Overall whilst the diplomatic AI has gotten better I am completely baffled by peace treaties and reviving nations!
- Why on earth did I had civilizations demanding literally my lands and all my riches for peace in even wars?
- Why did they never offer me anything even when they were on their knees?!
- Why did Russia hate me and never even acknowledged that I saved them?
On the plus side:
- The new diplomatic modifiers are good
- The tactical AI actually can make plans
On the down side again:
- Whilst it can make a decent plan, some plans should definitely have been rethought
- Jimrock with its several tiles of desert on the empty coast was not worth the units they wasted
- Then again, neither was attacking that land bridge
Long story short (and sorry if that's a tad long), this game has gotten better, but the AI is still a bit...
...yeah...
Allied with a few city states I decided to help myself to one of the city states that was trying desperately to end my existence. I was as such, labelled as a war monger for all of time. During this time Russia and I become close allies. About 20 turns later after somewhat of a stalemate the war died down. Rome however thought that it was just insulting to them for me to not give them my entire empire and all its riches for peace despite a shot not being fired in a lot time (about 10-15 turns at this point).
Rome then decided enough was enough and helped themselves to the rest of Russia and sent a small killsquad up to "finish me off". After they lost these 10 odd units in quick succession my army of camel archers (I was arabia) then turned the tide and we quickly moved the boarders down to what was Russia taking 4 cities in the process. Here they finally accepted a "fair" treaty whereby nothing was given to either party.
All well and good. It was at this time I noticed a city state right next to me had lost most of its health and I suddenly met Persia. They was slowly killing them. I then realised they were on a land bridge and couldn't get any units there to attack the city, hence it just sat there. Realising the strategic advantage and the fact that Persia hated me for being a warmonger and had a quite large empire I quickly seized upon the oppertunity with an idle warior left over from previous times. Probably a good time to point out that there was no iron in my empire, Rome, Russia, Persia or any of the city states! I had been taking cities just with camel archers and a couple of spearmen/pikemen. With this city in hand I fortified this board, now having complete control of the bay and the land bridge I felt confident that Persia wouldn't bother me.
So, where does Catherine come into this. Shortly after this all happened I met India, Denmark and they along side Rome then decided to dog pile me to show me that I'm evil and wicked etc. Babylon sent a unit or two who were massacred by my defence on that land bridge. I then met France and we were united in our great evil (they truly were, having taken some 5 city states it turns out). He joined my war against Rome and kept them busy on one front while I bulldozed back through some 10 cities. One final city on Rome's east remained, a remnant of Russia. Not having any use for the City I decided to liberate Russia (having already gotten control of the rest of her Empire having taken it from Rome).
Catherine came back to life and then proceeded to berate me about being too friendly with one of their former city state allies. She was already concerned that I was building cities too quickly. She was the closest thing I had to an ally early in the game, I liberated her, she only existed again because of me and yet she doesn't really care. This slight dislike turned to hatred rather quickly.
I finished off Rome and now had an enormous empire, by far the largest on the planet (though not in population). Rome right to the last thought that paying me for peace wasn't a good idea. Babylon strangely enough had a similar attitude, thinking that a war where the only action had been at this one land bridge where some 10-20 units of his had died for no reason or gain was greatly in his favour. So much so that he demanded all my cities, all my gold, 160ish out of my 180ish gold per turn, all my luxuries, all my other resources apart from 2 horses (???) and pretty much anything else he could ask. I remained stunned by this as the war continued for a very long time.
Denmark became the whipping boy of the West continent and whilst holding this great title did his masters India and Babylon's bidding. It also turns out that the Inca, whom I never met had been massacre about 2 cities in by my blood hungry friends France, who was now enjoying the most bloody war I've seen in this game with a certain pacifist.
Suddenly, from nowhere Babylon send a rampaging kill party at me. They actually snuck it around my ships, up north and down as to take me by surprise. Whilst desperately trying to get some defences up to the threatened city he quickly got to work taking it. It was a 2 population little hole of a city in the middle of a desert with no resources or strategic valley. I called the Jimrock because I was calling all my cities Jim for some reason... I am still yet to figure out why. Anyhow, I managed to beat most of his army but the city was so weak that he managed to just take it and before I could recapture my beloved Jimrock they razed it. I then finished off their troops and fortified the area before normal service resumed and now a steady trickle of about 2 units every 3 turns scarified themselves to my land bridge defences. I founded a new city in that desert that I called New Jimrock, in honour of the brave souls that died in that great sneak attack. I can see why some 15 units and ships were worth razing that worthless rock.
At this point Russia denounced me and France, and well... Let's just say that it expired after 3 turns.
Time passed, my empire became a run away power along side France and Babylon lost many many troops to that land bridge. After a while I relocated some of the New Jimrock defence force to more useful assignments protecting targets of actual value. This is exactly what Babylon wanted apparently. This time they got an even bigger army in and caught me ever so slightly off guard. Whilst they never said anything, I'm fairly sure Babylon was thinking "Hahaha! I bet you'd never think we'd try exactly the same thing again?!?!". This time it was around 15-20 units, a massive army (I really have no idea how they produced this many troops!). They lost most of them and New Jimrock was safe for another day.
After this failed invasion of New Jimrock I asked them for peace. First they said it was impossible, and the next turn they again asked me for my empire and all its riches. Whilst this was a tempting offer considering the threat that they and their upward of 1000 year war (at this point) was to my empire I decided to "go down fighting".
The situation changed with the advent of battleships, planes, nukes and the like. This time they went for what was Rome (this being on the south side of the land bridge). I should have guessed something was up when the trickle of units into my defences stopped. This was an even bigger army, and in truth could have been a problem. Oh wait, no it couldn't, because I had around 8 battle ships stations a mere turn away and 2 nukes. A turn later their army was no more.
After once more being asked for my entire empire I decided enough was enough, this game was moving too slowly (I was coming up to a time victory, that's how slowly) and as such I decided it was time to fight back. I nuked Babylon and their other biggest city from around 25 down to 5, then took that other city, and razed it whilst screaming (metaphorically); "FOR JIMROCK!!!" The turn after this they offered me peace for... nothing. Oh well! The next turn I won by time and was filled with an overwhelming sense of... boredom. I won with a far greater score than everyone else. To summarise the final state of affairs:
France - Too busy trying to tasting the blood of anyone that moved to care that I was going to win by time
Babylon - Too busy sacrificing endless armies of units on my land bridge to do anything about me winning
India - Too busy fending off France
Denmark - Making Babylon a coffee
Rome - Where my biggest threat until they attacking me that time and wouldn't let me out of that war while they had an empire
Russia - Could have been spared, but apparently I shouldn't have allied myself with a city state they once "had relations with" after they no longer exited. Apparently reviving them was unimportant as well.
Inca - ...
Overall whilst the diplomatic AI has gotten better I am completely baffled by peace treaties and reviving nations!
- Why on earth did I had civilizations demanding literally my lands and all my riches for peace in even wars?
- Why did they never offer me anything even when they were on their knees?!
- Why did Russia hate me and never even acknowledged that I saved them?
On the plus side:
- The new diplomatic modifiers are good
- The tactical AI actually can make plans
On the down side again:
- Whilst it can make a decent plan, some plans should definitely have been rethought
- Jimrock with its several tiles of desert on the empty coast was not worth the units they wasted
- Then again, neither was attacking that land bridge
Long story short (and sorry if that's a tad long), this game has gotten better, but the AI is still a bit...
...yeah...
