Civ3 GOTM #6 *Spoilers* Thread

[Alc0p0pz]

... finally my Caravels have made it to the other continent, I've got the World Map, and I'm "allowed" to read this thread!

OK, in brief ...

• Excellent luck with 'Huts, Settler from first, tech from two others, no barbs!
• Built lots of Warriors immediately since I got a free Settler
• Found the Babs at the chokepoint, fortified it with Warriors, built maybe my 4th or 5th city there, right by the lake
• Found the Persians, got Iron Working off them, saw I had no Iron, didn't worry too much as we have Elephants, started rolling out Temples and Barracks in all my lovely river cities!
• Prebuilt a massive army of 48 Vet Horsemen ... and this is where I screwed up ... I made the mistake of not attacking with them
• Got to Middle Ages, got Monotheism of Xerxes and Feudalism off Hammurabi, then beelined to Chivalry, upgraded as many Horse as I could afford (about half of them, 24 or so) and attack! attack! attack! !! I signed up with Xerxes and we attacked the Babs. Sued for Peace and got Invention - let Xerxes finish off Hammurabi.
• At this point, I own 2/3 of the Continent, I'm in a golden age 'cos of Elephants, and upgrading 3 or 4 Horse to Elephant per turn (80 gold a pop). Now I attack Xerxes, but he already has his Immortals, and proves to be suprising difficult to beat. I take a few cities, sue for peace for gold/turn.
• No f*cking leader despite many Elite wins, so I manually build the FP in an ex-Bab city with bonus grass, hills, a river and a cow. It's nearly finished - my research should soar when all those ex-Bab cities w/ Libraries come good.
• It's now the 1300s, and I've made contact with all and got the World Map. I have a slight tech lead at the end of the Middle Age, and I have built all the Wonders I care about, although I missed the Sistine by 4 turns.
• I've the highest score, land area, production, money and population.
• I cannot be arsed with military victory. I hate the micromanagement of large maps I'll most likely kill Xerxes to take the whole Continent (most of which should be uncorrupt) and gun toward the SpaceShip, or maybe see if I can get a quick Culture win, perhaps burning a few enemy capitals on the way.

 

[Pal {UI}]

Finished GOTM 6 today - my first attempt at a GOTM.

Managed a cultural victory (100K+) in 1808 AD, which I guess isn't that good, however I didn't go to war at all (the only units I ever fought were barbs), and I only actually built about 10 military units for the whole game. Inherited most of my military from defecting cities, but never used it anyway.

Final score = 1777 which seems very low, but then it was warlord.

All very sedate, but can't say its the most fun way to play!

 

[D.K.]

well, my first GOTM on Civ Fanatics and i was a little surprised it was on Warlord - i notice alot of people saying how easy it was and how bored they were - i think u should remember u are trying to do better than the other humans playing the same game - sao it may be easy, but u need to do it better than everyone else.

anyway....


didnt get any luck from huts - no settlers, i think i got pottery and then just maps and barbs - at least non of my warriors died from barbs

i dont know if this iron respawned but i claimed some iron just past the chokepoint, right by the ivory, so no resourse probs for me.

i went for total expansion, sending settlers (with spearmen) beyond Babylon cities to settle behind them where they had not filled.

just as the free space was running out, babylon declared war on me - i had no military other than spearmen in the cities that were in effect in babylon terriory, so i paid persia some techs, my map and gold per turn to declare war on babylon.

To my delight, the persians rolled through babylon raising on the way, so i filled in the newly made gaps

the persian made peace when the babs were down to around 7 or 8 cities

i had done nothing in the war at this stage, so the babs would not make peace with me

i had by now gathered a small force of swordsmen and horsemen - Prob 5 Swords and 3 Horse - so i took the three bab cities nearest the choke point (claiming the remaining horses on the continent) and the sued for peace taking two more bab cities and leaving them with 2

with no leader and not fancying a war with persia who i could see had droves of immortals i built my FP manually around the middle of the left half of the continent. I easily became tech leader and was able to bridge the gap to new lands once i had the great lighthouse

i missed the oracle and great wall but have all other wonders


having discovered the world map, i noticed a large unsettled area in the northeast of the continent, where the japs were - i assume most of their cities were raised so i started colonising this area - I also got 4 cities on the southern tip by england which has earned me gems through culture.

this colonisation delayed my attack on persia due to not building up an army, so i decided to wait until cavalry


however, no saltpeter

persia had colonised the little island south of my contient, but the saltpeter square was conveniently available so i plopped a settler on it and a harbour later i was in business.

i have just finished taking over my whole contient and am continuing to colonise the north east of the larger landmass

persia still exists on the small island south of my contient, but the babs are no more


still not sure how i will win, the victory is certain now.

 

[Bamspeedy]

I'm on my way for full scale milking, now. I have the english down to just their capital (a former German city, of Koningsberg or something like that). I have a unit fortified on every single square that their citizens could work, and pillaged it. So, they will be starved down to one. From what I can tell, their military is down to 2 rifleman (in their city), 3 man of wars, and 1 ironclad. They had been landing a unit on my land, but their unit keeps dissapearing, probably having to be disbanded since they can't support their military with cash at 0 . Hopefully their navy will disappear, too, since my navy only consists of 18 transports.

I have 184 cities (might add another city or two within my culture borders) and exactly the number of tiles before domination. If mapstat is correct, then just 1 more tile and I will trigger domination. I have settled the former chinese, zulu, and Japanese lands. I am calling the vast emptiness of the southern large continent 'no man's land'. I have to place a unit every 3 or 4 squares so no barbs pop up. I eventually plan on pillaging all the former terrain improvements and making 'no man's land' one big forest/jungle with a single pathway of railroads going through it, or maybe set up colonies on every resource and luxury in the jungle/forest. What happens if barbs attack a colony?

I was thinking of going all the way to 2050 A.D. without getting into the modern era, but I think I may need those mass transits, and the Cure for Cancer and Longevity wonders. Otherwise there would be no point to getting to the modern age. Also, thinking of a very late game switch to Communism (after I have everything rush bought!), so I can benefit from the 4 military police instead of 3 in monarchy.

 

[Babble-on]

Well, I am working on a cultural victory and so far my culture war to take resources away from other civs has been working well. I have two colonies of three cities on the large continent about thirty squares apart, with only the british between them. At home, I have my workers building a rail infrastructure. All is going well, I am building Universal Suffrage and other wonders, and then....

I get attacked by the Persians. This normally is not a big deal, but the fact that I had been buttering them up all game to have them leave me alone, only to see this, really pissed me off. And I was not in any shape for a war. I was rushing for a tech development to update all of my military units. The only advanced military I had were cavalry and riflemen. So I had a war along my border with persia. They defeated and burned three of my cities to the ground. DAMNIT! I managed to pull almost everyone into the game against them, and then Germany pulled me into a war with the English. Fortunately, the English had a shoddy military at best, so the cities I lost on the Persian front, I gained on the British front. I almost closed the gap between my two colonies on the coast. I managed to sue for peace with the English and gain two more cities, and I got peace with the Persians and replanted Settlers where my former burned down cities were. This was total surprise, and it ruined my plans, but I did NOT RELOAD, like a good civ player!

So I am rushing to get the technology I need to get Modern Armor and then the Persians and the British are the first to go. Total annihilation is the only acceptable end to them burning down my cities! Just one of the drawbacks of being a builder is that you have to keep on top of your military to avert any possible wars while you are building.

 

[Alc0p0pz]

... my first GOTM
(Couldn't submit last month's because I started again ... )

I doubt I'll do very well in the ranking, 'cos like I said above, I couldn't be arsed to expand beyond the starting continent ... too much Worker micromanagement ... it was bad enuf as it was, shuffling around about 50 odd Persian and Babylonian slaves.
And I only build a Hospital in one city to avoid population pollution.

How about Small and Standard maps only?
Pretty please?

 

[ProPain]

Started this months game last weekend and was surprised to see warlord level. Still overestimated the AI though, expected the AI to take the tech lead thru trading and went all money. Turned out to be a mistake

Sent out a warrior to scout right away and found the babs. Traded the one tech they had and I didn't. Declared war and took their lonesome worker. This was very early in the game and it slowed them down even more than I hoped for. Babs started making their UU and sending it over to me instead of expanding. I just build some archers and waited for them. Killed a few bab units and they asked for peace. Had found the persians who were more of a treath having 2 iron sources and immortals. I sent in an army of archers and took one of the iron cities and destroyed two other cities. Got peace, attacked the babs and allied with the persians in this war. Persians ended up killing the respawned babs. My reinforcements killed the Persians afterwards. Finally got to do some backstabbing on the AI instead of the other way around That really made me feel good!

So at the end of the wars (beginning of the AD's ) I had the whole island, NO gl , all wonders except great lib and great wall. Both weren't of any interest to me. After completing the lighthouse (should have done that way earlier) I searched for the other civs. Ran into the Chinese first and met other civs.

I was one tech behind the civs on the other island, which really amazed me. They researched 5 civs to 1 (me) and i was on full money at the start of the game. SHould have gone tech straight away!`

Spent a few hundred years building horsemen and galleys and researching till chivalry. When i reached chivalry I upgraded the horsemen and sent them over to China. Stupid Mao refused to pay tribute so I attacked him. IN a quick war I took/destroyed two thirds of his cities. Got peace and got the rest. Decided to go for conquest vic. Still hoping to get a GL to build FP in old bab/persian territories. The rest of the game shouldn't take to long, probably finish next weekend when I can play again.

Warlord is quite something different than emperor lvl combined with the occasional deity. I had never expected to keep up in tech being 1 against 5 o/w I would have played differently but that's what keeps the GOTM interesting.

ProPain

 

[IronKnight]

I decided to go military since it works at higher levels.

I really, really like the starting position!!!

I moved Delhi southeast from the start point to get a few extra grassland tiles.

Built Bombay west along the river in the grasslands. This turned out to be my most productive city. Built the Pyramids, Sistine Chapel & JS Bach's Cathedral there.

Like everybody else, I had no iron. I built horsemen and attacked Babylon.

I was the first to map making. I immediately started building the Great Lighthouse. I also began exploring like a mad man. I lost many ships, but I eventually met China

About this time, a lot happened at once. I finished off Babylon, met the other civs, masterd chivalry, and finished the Great Lighthouse. I immediately started to do two things.
1. Built War Elephant attack force for Persia
2. Started ferrying Settlers and War Elephants to the other continent.

Persia was no match for my War Elephants. Was I had enough stockpiled strategically near their cities, I attacked 3 different cities all at once. It was a well fought battle, but they were wiped out. Persia and Babylon never met the other continent's civs.

I used the Jungle area between England and Japan to get a foothold established on the new continent. Once I had enough forces, I attacked England. Germany joined in, and England was gone very quickly.

I have built my Forbidden Palace on the new continent, with a Great Leader. I hope to use this area to stage my onslaught of the new continent.

 

[IronKnight]

I LOVE THIS STARTING POSITION

I would love to have such a rich starting area at a harder level. I assume the area is so nice since it is only Warlord? Is it possible to start with grasslands and rivers at a higher level?

Isn't starting position a function of difficulty level?

 

[Babble-on]

I feel very proud of myself. There has been an all out world war taking place, and fortunately I have not been in the middle of it. China and the Zulu were fighting it out, and burning cities to the ground between them. Germany and England got into it, and so too did Japan. Then Persia got in the mix, and started in on Germany. So what did I do? I loaded up my Galleons with Settlers and Infantry and built cities in the large empty swaches of territory left where all of the "torched" cities once were. I had the benefit of previously improved terrain, and I was able to plant cities near enemy border cities and have them flip over because of my high culture rating. I am currently in the early 1800s, and I am one tech away from modern age, over-all culture is in the high 70,000, and my most cultured city, Delhi, is at about 7,500 in culture. I might be able to get a cultural victory here! At least I am hoping.

In the mean time, I continue to rob the other competitors of their money with my luxury exports, and I am getting their cities to flip to my civ, left and right. Very nice indeed.

I am beginning to manufacture Tanks like crazy in an effort to invade Persia. Anybody know how to get a civ to get rid of a Mutual Protection Pact once it has expired? The Chinese have ganged up with the Persians so it is preventing me from attacking them. Any suggestions will help!

-Babble-On

 

[IronKnight]

To get rid of a mutual protection pact that has expired, go to the negotions screen. At the bottom, there is the "New" and "Active" buttons at the bottom. Go to the "active" one. You'll see your expired MPP, just click on it. You can renew or get rid of it from there.

 

[Babble-on]

Actually, I am not the one that has the MPP, it is two rival civs that have it. I am trying to "persuade" one of them to get out of the pact so that I can attack the other without pulling him in. Any ideas?

My thanks in advance.

 

[Trash]

Nice, change of pace from the harder games.

My problem is that i don't like attacking other civs too much, so since no-one has attacked me i haven't fought a single battle, and from looking around the world map, i don't think anyone has for any great period of time.

I expanded quickly grabbed the iron then surrounded & squeezed the babs & persians with culture. I only flipped about 4 cities from them despite having about 4 times the culture of both together.

I stuffed up the forbidden palace because i'm not fighting i ain't got any GL's so i started building 1 slowly during my golden age (60 turns or so) after the age finished i had 150 odd turns to go, i left it ended up building a courthouse and starting the forbidden palace again and now it's gonna take 40 turns. oh well better late than never.

I've built all wonders except the Oracle & Hanging gardens. After building the Lighthouse i've been flooding settlers into every gap i can find on the larger continent. (Like other i thought pangea maps meant all the land was connected) But i've managed to secure all 8 luxuries with 0 fighting. I was lucky to get a english city flip to give me easy gems, but i was about to squeeze it out through culture anyway. Just about to discover navigation to connect the last luxuries. Then I'll switch back to 100% tech (been at 20% while getting tech through GL, and rushing temples everywhere!) Then it'll be a few more settlers to fill in the few gaps left and milking the last 300 turns or so. (Hope i make it by the end of the month milking takes me sooo long)


I've had VERY funny experiences with the culture flipping, and it's just too random for my liking.

In the early game of the 4 cities that flipped, some of them were only 4-5 squares from their capital. Then other places where i've squeezed cities to a few squares and they are 15+ squares from capital they don't flip. Also i had a city flip against me to CHINA!!! I'm a republic with 10 times the culture and the city was 14 squares away from their capital, and it had a temple and had about 40 culture itself. I've got cities about 6 squares from the chinese capital and these cities are fine. I just don't get it

 

[Sullla]

Umm.... okay. I "won" the GOTM some time ago and have been building score just below the domination threshold. On the last turn, China moved a stack of some 20 swordsmen into my territory. They are currently getting 4 luxuries from me, 2 of those FOR FREE, plus 35g/turn for free and a ROP. I have never fought them and we have been polite the whole game. "We have a strong miltary compared to them!" says the military advisor. So... what is Mao thinking? Whenever I think I have the AI figured out, they do something like this...

Not like it matters (as if any other civ on warlord could even take a city from me ) but a war could hurt my score... and I disbanded 50 cavalry earlier because I saw no need... but my economy can easily pump out 3 or 4 just on rush buys every turn. If China attacks, they will pay in blood with the razing of all nearby cities. It might make it harder for me to win diplomatically though

I'll post later on what happens

 

[fRisKy]

Originally posted by fRisKy
Well last night I got the world map so now can finally see how everyone is doing!! My first trireme went east and and died but my second going north survived...

Anyways am only just in the AD's, and in a good position to go for a few victory types... don't have the patience for moving hundreds of units and cities so that rules out domination and conquest... think I might go for spaceship to see what happens, I still haven't completed a Civ3 game, I usually play on Monarch or Emperor and get bored once its certain I'm going to win...

But seeing this was Warlord took a risky civ1/2 strategy of just expand, expand, expand, expand, expand... managed to kill the Babs with some elite warriors and two or three vet archers real earlier, then just totally pushed west as hard as I could towards the Persians... and just managed to grab the iron on the edge of my borders... sweet. Built my Forbidden Palace one city to the west of the original capital, then flipped the Palace over to Nineveh in the centre of the west part of the island and right on the Persians borders. Got Colossus & Great Lib in the same turn (the Zulus beat me to Pyramids by *one* turn ) which triggered my GA... useful for building lots of granaries... ... am just in a republic and the middle ages now saving money and building units in preparation to clear my island which will happen in the next few hundred years methinks... have one militia in each city, build a few horsies, get Leonardoes and then upgrade... cut the Persians iron and it'll be all over red rover.

Then libraries, unis, copernicus & newtons in my three gold mountains/river science city should rocket my science ahead to an early space race... stay tuned...

Continued... tried initially to go max gold and rely on Great Library but the other civs were SOOOOO slow I soon gave up on this idea and researched everything myself... Lenoardos & SunTzu took me so long to build (and researching was so quick) that I went straight to cavalry and bypassed elephants... wiped out the Persians in a few short turns with about 20 cav... eat that immortals. Did have a minor prob, had to build the Great Lighthouse to connect the saltpeter on the island, so that let the Persians live a few more turns...

After the Persians died, researched everything at 4 turns and launched the spaceship in 1754AD. Could have done much better I think if I had done all research myself from the beginning rather than overestimated the AI as others have, but nevermind (this was my lowest level game... started playing Civ3 on regent and only played that once as too easy).

Had a minor hiccup, two turns before my LAST spaceship component tech was due, my uranium source required to build it runs out, so I had to give the civs on the other continent all the technologies bootstrapping them ALL the way through the industrial age and to fission, so I could trade uranium from them. And they still were only polite rather than gracious after I gave them all the industrial age technologies!!!!!

One city had 3 gold mountains and Copernicus, Newtons, SETI, was cranking 200+ beakers... another point was I had to sell all my temples about 1500AD, when I did finish I was on about 80,000 culture, could have got culture victory earlier than spaceship if I tried, and thats without any culture-producing colonies on the other continent. Culture vic is too easy on the low levels with a big civilisation!!

I'd be interested to hear any other spaceship lauch dates/strategies...

 

[Sullla]

In lieu of explaining what happened to the Chinese army sent after me, I thought I'd post a "before and after" pair of screenshots (edited to avoid giving anything away):

Before:

After:

I guess the AI will never learn!

 

[Badluck]

WEll Update:

As soon as i had galley i made search, for another continents, soon found it and trade map.


Now, i will probably won'T finish the game since it took me WAY to many time just to play 20 turn, because i am now building **** New Dehli 5 ****
i was inspired by aeson dense building technique, it seem to work for me at warlord i didn'T build any unit, except settler, worker, galley, caravel ( and except some to take care of babylonian and persian...)

But because of all those Citys each turn it takes a while just to change production and everything, turn are VERY VERY SLOW,

But i enjoyed, the game and learned a little bit more what i should do when *dense building*

does it matter if i submit my game even if not finished?

 

[Phillip_martin]

This is my first post and my second GOTM (the first was last month's which with a bit of luck was a moderate score spaceship win . The whole GOTM concept is enhancing my recent purchase of CIVIII by providing tips and strategies in a friendly competetive way. Great site . Like many others I will not be actively milking a game due to time and patience so the fastest awards will be my goal.

As for this game.......

The BC time was spent blocking off the chokepoint, building infrastructure and an elephant army to take over the second part of the continent. I was surprised to get all of the early Wonders except for the pyramids. The invasion started around 10AD which meant I forgot about the save game until 110AD (hope that's OK Matrix ???) and started with the Babs and then moved onto the Persians. During this war I discovered the other continent via the Chinese side and started to establish contact without letting on about my war. Finished of the Persians with one GL and a manual build of my FP in Babylon.

By this time I knew the layout of the other Civs and had my first major decision for my end game. Consolidate by cranking up my tech which had been running around 50-60% to go for a space race, diplomatic or cultural win, or continue to feed my bloodlust. After the previous GOTM my dark side won and I decided on the English as they were closer to my more productive side and they had left a blank area which I quickly planted with a city.

Many trips later I had a large elephant army poised....... and then the Chinese declared war folowed by the Japanese with whome they had a MPP! Ignoring the sabre rattling and quietly discounting a diplomatic victory I declared war on the English and prepared for the Chinese invasion............. which never came???

On the outskirts of London the Germans who I had been buttering up to leave me alone declared war along with the Zulus at a later date. So I was at war with everyone in the 16th Century!! Time to get those diplomatic skills into gear. The Japanese and Zulus after a few turns finally listened to my call and made peace without firing a shot. The Chinese accepted a peace offer of the one city I took on their mainland. The English puzzled me??? I was sitting on their strategic resources with their capital under my control and they would not give me any other city in a peace deal.

With my GL I rushed my palace over to London to bring this continents cities under resonable control. At this stage with Sun Tzu's my elephant army was being converted into Cav and felt confident of concentrated on the English while holding the Germans at bay.

The Germans did cause me some pain. The first example was their assault on a hilly border town of mine which threatened their saltpetre. Instead of mindlessly throwing cav units one by one at my fortified elephants they managed to raise all surrounding tiles (My elephants were just about to become cav) and took it with a rush. The second was when a veteran German cav destroyed my fortified “City Buster” cav army (7 out of 12 hit points available) which was created with my only other GL produced .

It is now 1640 and I have finished off the English with the game at another major decision point. The Chinese, Japanese and Zulus are now in awe of my culture. The must also be in awe of my millitary as they declared war on the English (soon after I made peace with them) and the Germans. I now have hordes of units making their way past me on a mission to raise German cities.

Do I -
Consolidate. Make peace with Germany and let the other civs clear a swathe of ex-German land for my settlers which I should then churn out. Switch my Government from Communism to Democracy and focus on keeping ahead in tech and keeping my nose clean. Victory options: Culture or Diplomacy if I can put all my excess resources to use and make the other civs forget our differences. I may have left my run too late for an early space race win.

World Domination. Stay in Communism. Possibly make peace with Germany to keep them alive longer to fight the other civs. Focus on building a millitary force and try and catch one of the other civs with the majority of their force a long way from home down in ex-German land. Focus on getting tanks ASAP. Victory options: Total Annihilation if I burn or Domination if I don’t.

Hmmmmmm, I suppose I should check what my score is..........

 

[pnp_dredd]

Ok heres my stury briefly. After I built the first 4 cities I was like OMG look at all that potential food, and I decided there and then to go for an early cultural victory.

I ditched everything and just went for wholesale expansion. Lucky I found no barbs for quite some time, and that was on the other side of the choke point. The most any of my cities are built apart is three squares, and thats only where food resources/mountains made building them closer not advantageous. Most are 2 spaces in a nice grid formation. Through some micro management you can get 3 cities using 4 food squares quite well, and churning out settlers.

I built the main settler producing cities quickely near the food resources, and then started putting cities everywhere they would fit. These cities built a warrior, then a temple rushed, then a library rushed (went straight for litrature). The other cities continued to churn out settlers.

Im not sure if I wouldnt have been better to fit a temple in these cities at some stage, as that culture doubling coupled with the decreasing speed of each turn (in years) means that an early temple is a culture machine!

So anyway I had almost completely filled my little slice of the continent with cities before I even found the choke point. So I have no iron, but I dont see this as a big problem. During the lull between libraries and colleseums I built a horseman army and took over the persians, mainly in order to get a great leader.

Who never came

No barracks, so no vet units. In fact I didnt even make an elite horseman. So no forbidden palace for me

I will be in Despotism till the end of the game I think to take advantage of pop rushing. I cant see myself ever getting to communism, as I have switched off science after getting cathedrals.

The problem now is micro managing all of my cities to keep GOLD even. I only have about 200 spare, and with all the temples/libraried/cols/caths still coming online from my settler farms I will have a real cashflow problem. Babs are paying a bit of tribute for techs etc, but they cant afford much.

Its about 500 AD and I have cracked the 20K culture mark, and with the exponential curve I have created (new cities all the time, and temple/library doubling) it should be a cultural win only a little past 1000 AD.

Assuming of course that I dont go completely insane from micro management of tax collectors.

 

[Matrix]

I'm done and placed one of my best games! GOTM IV (English, emperor) was the best and this is my second best.

Of course, once you find out you're alone with one or two others, you simply need to wipe those out. I did this successfully, before they even met someone else, so all the treaties I've broken don't care at all.

Then I developed, developed and developed. At a certain time I could't build anything else but cavalry, so I did that. When I have a very lot of them I tried to invade China. It only gave me two cities and a couple of angry faces (the others). So I didn't try that anymore. But when I got modern armor and mech inf, I tried again, and they were wiped out in a blink of an eye; at least at their home land. I made a right of passage agreement with the Zulus and simply continued the tour (cos the English had a mutual protection pact with the Chinese) and before I knew it they only had some silly meanlingless bunch of cities left. And when the game ended (cultural victory), the English were destoyed and China had one city left (near Germany).

I conquered/destroyed more than half of the other continent, but it was only because I had too much production and found it a shame just to get more and more money. So that's why I started that war. When I saw the replay I was actually amazed what a production left-over is able to do. I also didn't want to get a conquest game, though it appeared I could easily do that. I guess warlord is pretty easy.

The destruction of London: