COTM 29 Final Spoiler
- Thread starter ainwood
- Start date
Predator Class, going for Conquest.
Ancient Age Spoiler
There wasn't really much of a Middle Ages. I reached the Middle Ages in 310 BC drawing Monotheism. I think there were only 2 other civs (both not scientific) to reach the Middle Ages at all, and neither of them completed researching any Middle Age techs.
I used only horsemen and 1 sword army to conquer everyone. There wasn't a single scientific or expansionist wonder built - I was thinking if I could capture one to satisfy one trait, then maybe I would build the other, but I wasn't about to build 2 wonders that I didn't need, so I never had a Golden Age.
I tried to balance my attack so I could conquer most civs at around the same time and not waste time moving my horses from one end of the map to the other. I still need work on that, but I did better than usual. The final tally:
130 BC Kill both the Dutch and the Portuguese.
230 AD Finished the Byzantines.
250 AD Spain gone.
290 AD Vikings done.
320 AD Carthage wiped out.
330 AD Conquest victory.
Ancient Age Spoiler
There wasn't really much of a Middle Ages. I reached the Middle Ages in 310 BC drawing Monotheism. I think there were only 2 other civs (both not scientific) to reach the Middle Ages at all, and neither of them completed researching any Middle Age techs.
I used only horsemen and 1 sword army to conquer everyone. There wasn't a single scientific or expansionist wonder built - I was thinking if I could capture one to satisfy one trait, then maybe I would build the other, but I wasn't about to build 2 wonders that I didn't need, so I never had a Golden Age.
I tried to balance my attack so I could conquer most civs at around the same time and not waste time moving my horses from one end of the map to the other. I still need work on that, but I did better than usual. The final tally:
130 BC Kill both the Dutch and the Portuguese.
230 AD Finished the Byzantines.
250 AD Spain gone.
290 AD Vikings done.
320 AD Carthage wiped out.
330 AD Conquest victory.
C3C 1.22 Open.
As mentioned in the first spoiler, I have entered middle age in 850BC. At that time I have concentrated on enlarging the Russian empire by building more settlers. I have had quite a big tech lead over all AI and I continued to research at 100% towards Military Tradition. I wanted to build 3 key Wonders - Forbidden Palace, Sun Tzu's Art of War and Leonardo's Workshop. I managed to do that easily. In all of my cities I built Libraries for cheapest culture and research and a lot of horsemen. With barracks in all of the cities and cheap upgrade I planned to upgrade them all to cossacs when time is ready. Few turns before I researched MT, I slowed down the research and I have sold out some old techs to gain as much money as possible for upgrades.
In 420AD, Portuguese attacked! They captured 1 of my cities, but few turns later I took it back together with 2 other cities and made peace treaty for another 2 cities. It was short war with horsemen, but in 480AD Military Tradition was researched, half of my 50 horsemen were immediately upgraded to cossacks and I started to march against Carthage. I was happy to have the Golden Age from 500AD to 700AD, beause cossac production was significantly speeded up. The AI nations were withdrawn in the following order - Carthages, Byzantines, Portuguese, Spanish. Vikings were almost defeated and I was still in peace with Dutch when the Domination limit was reached at 800AD. I have always starved the conquered cities and built/rushed libraries there to increase culture = area for domination. No flipping during that war occured.
As mentioned in the first spoiler, I have entered middle age in 850BC. At that time I have concentrated on enlarging the Russian empire by building more settlers. I have had quite a big tech lead over all AI and I continued to research at 100% towards Military Tradition. I wanted to build 3 key Wonders - Forbidden Palace, Sun Tzu's Art of War and Leonardo's Workshop. I managed to do that easily. In all of my cities I built Libraries for cheapest culture and research and a lot of horsemen. With barracks in all of the cities and cheap upgrade I planned to upgrade them all to cossacs when time is ready. Few turns before I researched MT, I slowed down the research and I have sold out some old techs to gain as much money as possible for upgrades.
In 420AD, Portuguese attacked! They captured 1 of my cities, but few turns later I took it back together with 2 other cities and made peace treaty for another 2 cities. It was short war with horsemen, but in 480AD Military Tradition was researched, half of my 50 horsemen were immediately upgraded to cossacks and I started to march against Carthage. I was happy to have the Golden Age from 500AD to 700AD, beause cossac production was significantly speeded up. The AI nations were withdrawn in the following order - Carthages, Byzantines, Portuguese, Spanish. Vikings were almost defeated and I was still in peace with Dutch when the Domination limit was reached at 800AD. I have always starved the conquered cities and built/rushed libraries there to increase culture = area for domination. No flipping during that war occured.
Open - going for space.
Ancient Age
Entering MA 950BC we traded for Theodora's free monotheism and got then feudalism.
Research was engineering, then upper branch to give the AI time to research invention.
And that's also all help I got from the AI. I even did slow down banking a bit (but I could use money anyway for rushing settlers).
After buying invention all techs from then on to the spaceship were researched in 4 turns each.
And that's about all to tell about MA. No war, just settling the still available prime real estate.
I intended my first target to be the civ that builds the pyramids. Just that didn't happen in AA or MA. And I don't wanted to expend my meager troops on an adventure w/o much to gain.
Entered IA in 310 AD. Big picture trading got steam - our free tech was nationalism
.
Also my golden age started the same turn by building Newton's and already having Copernicus'.
Another indication how pitiful the AI was, is that I later (340AD), even still build the colossus because I ran out of useful builds in my only good coastal city.
Usually I try to at least get replaceable parts from the AI, but here it looked hopeless with their weak empires. So I just used them for money.
Finally in 330AD I had enough peace and attacked Carthage, one of the candidates to build the pyramids.
And really they built it in 340 and I captured it in 370.
I had allied Byzantines, Portuguese and Vikings hoping they would spare me the effort to hunt down every Carthage village, but they didn't help much.
In fact I left them a tundra town and made peace in 550.
Culture flips are not really an issue if you have nearly 100 times their culture, so no need to kill them.
Next interesting development was Byzantines showing up with military tradition in 590.
Bought it, upgraded some knights - so now we need a target. For good measure I warred Netherlands and Portugal simultaneously.
Netherlands for their fertile land, Portugal because I could get them to declare by a boot order.
Portugal destroyed in 670. Dutch go in 720.
There was no real reason, but I also destroyed Sapin between 750 and 800 and Vikings 850 to 900.
Entered modern age in 870.
Bought Byzantine free rocketry, got fission myself and used ToE for computer and miniaturization.
Internet and Seti pre-builds flipped over to complete immediately for Internet and 2 turns later for Seti.
The rest is just a bit micromanagement for a few more points and watching the domination limit. Research and build capacity was by far enough.
Launch in 1190AD
Ancient Age
Entering MA 950BC we traded for Theodora's free monotheism and got then feudalism.
Research was engineering, then upper branch to give the AI time to research invention.
And that's also all help I got from the AI. I even did slow down banking a bit (but I could use money anyway for rushing settlers).
After buying invention all techs from then on to the spaceship were researched in 4 turns each.
And that's about all to tell about MA. No war, just settling the still available prime real estate.
I intended my first target to be the civ that builds the pyramids. Just that didn't happen in AA or MA. And I don't wanted to expend my meager troops on an adventure w/o much to gain.
Entered IA in 310 AD. Big picture trading got steam - our free tech was nationalism
.Also my golden age started the same turn by building Newton's and already having Copernicus'.
Another indication how pitiful the AI was, is that I later (340AD), even still build the colossus because I ran out of useful builds in my only good coastal city.
Usually I try to at least get replaceable parts from the AI, but here it looked hopeless with their weak empires. So I just used them for money.
Finally in 330AD I had enough peace and attacked Carthage, one of the candidates to build the pyramids.
And really they built it in 340 and I captured it in 370.
I had allied Byzantines, Portuguese and Vikings hoping they would spare me the effort to hunt down every Carthage village, but they didn't help much.
In fact I left them a tundra town and made peace in 550.
Culture flips are not really an issue if you have nearly 100 times their culture, so no need to kill them.
Next interesting development was Byzantines showing up with military tradition in 590.
Bought it, upgraded some knights - so now we need a target. For good measure I warred Netherlands and Portugal simultaneously.
Netherlands for their fertile land, Portugal because I could get them to declare by a boot order.
Portugal destroyed in 670. Dutch go in 720.
There was no real reason, but I also destroyed Sapin between 750 and 800 and Vikings 850 to 900.
Entered modern age in 870.
Bought Byzantine free rocketry, got fission myself and used ToE for computer and miniaturization.
Internet and Seti pre-builds flipped over to complete immediately for Internet and 2 turns later for Seti.
The rest is just a bit micromanagement for a few more points and watching the domination limit. Research and build capacity was by far enough.
Launch in 1190AD
That's a feature of CivAssist2.PoorAxl said:
You have to archive all auto saves.
After finishing the game you open the archive and can use the "export multiple minimaps" option by right clicking on the minimap in world map view.
I then use still an external tool to scale and optimize the resulting animated gif.
Played a culture game for a change.
Killed Spain and the Dutch pretty early, just waited for Netherlands to finish the Pyramids before moving in and then held back until I knew where ToA ended up. It was built in Madrid so naturally they were next on the list. Captured Madrid in 90BC and from then on just focused on settlers and ICSing the lands. Had expected to get double culture from temples after 1000 years but discovered the doubling did not apply to ToA temples. The single temple I had finished before 90BC was doubled however.
Pushed to MT and built Cossacks for a low intensity war on Scandinavia and Portugal. The war on them and occationally including Byzans on the opposite side started in the mid 1000BC and continued for the duration of the game with Carthage as my ally. Was close to the domination limit almost the whole game and gifted towns to Carthage whenever I got to below 10 tiles of the limit. The culture flips were nonexistent even though I had 50 times the culture or more the whole game. A single Portugese town flipped. This I found a bit odd but it did create a calm game.
Techwise the AI was so backwards and since I planned to stop research before Education I did not see any value in gifting Byzans into MA for a tech trade. The best AI's made it to Education and Chemistry by the very last turns of the game.
Killed Spain and the Dutch pretty early, just waited for Netherlands to finish the Pyramids before moving in and then held back until I knew where ToA ended up. It was built in Madrid so naturally they were next on the list. Captured Madrid in 90BC and from then on just focused on settlers and ICSing the lands. Had expected to get double culture from temples after 1000 years but discovered the doubling did not apply to ToA temples. The single temple I had finished before 90BC was doubled however.
Pushed to MT and built Cossacks for a low intensity war on Scandinavia and Portugal. The war on them and occationally including Byzans on the opposite side started in the mid 1000BC and continued for the duration of the game with Carthage as my ally. Was close to the domination limit almost the whole game and gifted towns to Carthage whenever I got to below 10 tiles of the limit. The culture flips were nonexistent even though I had 50 times the culture or more the whole game. A single Portugese town flipped. This I found a bit odd but it did create a calm game.
Techwise the AI was so backwards and since I planned to stop research before Education I did not see any value in gifting Byzans into MA for a tech trade. The best AI's made it to Education and Chemistry by the very last turns of the game.
denyd
Emperor
After seeing what Klarius did, I'm glad I screwed up. I was happily moving along towards a space launch in the mid-1700's when I accidentally passed the domination limit. With all of the tools available, how it this possible you ask? Well, I'll tell you. I blitzed Carthage taking about 15 cities in 4-5 turns and moved to within about 115 tiles of winning. I now own all of old Spain, old Portugal and the original Dutch lands. Also all of Carthage's lands up to the great mountain range (Hannibal had taken out Ragnar earlier). Also all of the lands to the south up to the choke point where half of the Byzantine empire resided. At this point, the wars were over and I was quite secure. I had 7 of 8 luxuries and was far ahead of all the other nations in tech, military culture and economy. I had a pre-build going for the UN to secure an unexpected ending. As I reached the Modern Era, I recieved Rocketry as the bonus. I gifted Theodora to the era and she recieved Fission, but Rocketry + 3000g was not enough to pry it from her. I began researching Computers to use that as trade bait. I was successful 9 turns later in acquiring Fission and completing the UN. Now I signed peace (I had been leader farming in the interim with a success that was targeted for the Apollo Program). I noticed research times were all 8-10 turns in length so I decided to switch to Democracy and ride that to the end the game. Rather than pay support on 30+ Cossacks (since I had 6 Tank Armies) I used them to hurry along libraries in my new ex-Carthage cities. When the 6 turn anarchy, ended and research dropped to a very nice 5 turns all appeared to be fine. Then it hit. All of those new libraries caused cultural expansions and suddenly I was over the limit and victory was thrust upon me. I had even given away the four cities that I got in the Carthage peace deal to Theodora and was keeping 4-5 tundra cities to abandon as the expansion happened to prevent domination so that I could launch.
Oh well, at least I might win the lowest scoring domination shield.
Time to load up the Babylonians and see what GOTM 60 has to hold.
Oh well, at least I might win the lowest scoring domination shield.
Time to load up the Babylonians and see what GOTM 60 has to hold.
King Of America
Warlord
Except for a stupid attack by the Netherlands, I was at peace until Spain attacked in 1000 (give or take a turn). My 50 Cossacks were ready (I built up horses without connecting iron till later).
Domination in 1505, one turn off my goal (not enough time for a culture win) and a personal best for time.
Domination in 1505, one turn off my goal (not enough time for a culture win) and a personal best for time.
Andronicus
Emperor
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2005
- Messages
- 1,672
Early sneak attack by Netherlands razed St Petersbourgh whilst I was in early expansion phase.
This was followed by sneak attacks from Carthage (razed a town), Portugal and Spain in short order and it became a scramble to survive (on monarch level
). Volcano taking out the horse tile after I had built only 1 horse was frustrating.
After early setbacks I decided to play with cossacks, so cruised to mil trad (taking forever in monarchy). Never researched chivalry and MDI and horses had conquored Portugal, Carthage and Spain when cossacks came on line. A GA and leader to rush FP and it was all over in about 10 turns. Dom 740AD.
Didnt find cossack's blitz all that helpful as most times needed to heal after first attack - not worth the extra 10 shields IMO.
I hadnt noticed that AI aggression was set high until after I had finished - should have built some military early to discourage sneak attacks.
This was followed by sneak attacks from Carthage (razed a town), Portugal and Spain in short order and it became a scramble to survive (on monarch level
). Volcano taking out the horse tile after I had built only 1 horse was frustrating. After early setbacks I decided to play with cossacks, so cruised to mil trad (taking forever in monarchy). Never researched chivalry and MDI and horses had conquored Portugal, Carthage and Spain when cossacks came on line. A GA and leader to rush FP and it was all over in about 10 turns. Dom 740AD.
Didnt find cossack's blitz all that helpful as most times needed to heal after first attack - not worth the extra 10 shields IMO.
I hadnt noticed that AI aggression was set high until after I had finished - should have built some military early to discourage sneak attacks.
DJMGator13
Still breathing
This is my first game on Predator level.
I entered the MA in 775BC, only a few turns behind Klarius’ game. I also got a free city, although a little farther away then I would have liked it to be, but I did manage to pop Literature from a GH so I shut down my settler factory and built a library.
1000BC stats
6 cities, 19 pop, 1 granary but I had 4 libraries and I was already a Republic
From here the game turned ugly for awhile. The barb uprising on the age change was the most ferocious one I have encountered in a long time. One barb camp alone produced 48 horses and I was hit by at least 4 different camps. From 775BC until around 410BC Moscow was reduced to size 1, lost it’s granary due to all the gold stolen by the barbs and I was also being attacked in St. Petersburg (located between the incenses and the jungle silks). It lost production on a nearly completed granary. Not counting all the pop that was lost I also had my gems pillaged. Overall I think I endured over 150 barb attacks. But the most amazing thing that occurred during these attacks was that Portugal founded a city 2 tile away from one of the barb camps.
So I had to rebuild my granary while letting Moscow grow back into a settler factory. If not for the game being on Monarch level I might not have been able to recover from the barbs. As it turned out I was still able to secure the gems, furs, incenses and silks along with horses and iron. I lost out on the spices.
From there it was a pretty straight forward research game, until the discovery of Steam and I had to attack the Vikings (to the NE in my game) to acquire coal. I dogpiled the Vikings hoping to keep everyone preoccupied, which was working until Carthage decided to sneak attack me so I dogpiled them too. I did not stop either war until all the military alliances had expired and I eliminated the Vikings completely. Surprisingly I had about 4 or 5 cities flip to me in this game.
I ended with a Diplo victory in 1285AD, after being attacked by Spain about 15 turns from the end of the game. Due to military alliances and freely gifting techs I even managed to get Carthage’s vote.
I entered the MA in 775BC, only a few turns behind Klarius’ game. I also got a free city, although a little farther away then I would have liked it to be, but I did manage to pop Literature from a GH so I shut down my settler factory and built a library.
1000BC stats
6 cities, 19 pop, 1 granary but I had 4 libraries and I was already a Republic
From here the game turned ugly for awhile. The barb uprising on the age change was the most ferocious one I have encountered in a long time. One barb camp alone produced 48 horses and I was hit by at least 4 different camps. From 775BC until around 410BC Moscow was reduced to size 1, lost it’s granary due to all the gold stolen by the barbs and I was also being attacked in St. Petersburg (located between the incenses and the jungle silks). It lost production on a nearly completed granary. Not counting all the pop that was lost I also had my gems pillaged. Overall I think I endured over 150 barb attacks. But the most amazing thing that occurred during these attacks was that Portugal founded a city 2 tile away from one of the barb camps.
So I had to rebuild my granary while letting Moscow grow back into a settler factory. If not for the game being on Monarch level I might not have been able to recover from the barbs. As it turned out I was still able to secure the gems, furs, incenses and silks along with horses and iron. I lost out on the spices.
From there it was a pretty straight forward research game, until the discovery of Steam and I had to attack the Vikings (to the NE in my game) to acquire coal. I dogpiled the Vikings hoping to keep everyone preoccupied, which was working until Carthage decided to sneak attack me so I dogpiled them too. I did not stop either war until all the military alliances had expired and I eliminated the Vikings completely. Surprisingly I had about 4 or 5 cities flip to me in this game.
I ended with a Diplo victory in 1285AD, after being attacked by Spain about 15 turns from the end of the game. Due to military alliances and freely gifting techs I even managed to get Carthage’s vote.
Getting those crucial wonders so early is really great. I got them a lot later, Pyramidas were built in TrondheimWotan said:
Why does it "create a calm game"?Wotan said:
You are aware that you don't have to accept flips, aren't you?When did it end? Jason score?Wotan said:
Did you rush other culture buildings? In Feudalism?
Yes, I am aware of it. But at that very moment I totally forgot about it.Paul#42 said:Why does it "create a calm game"?
When did it end? Jason score?
Did you rush other culture buildings? In Feudalism?
1305AD 10978 Jason
I had planned to change to Feudalism for poprushing culture but had such a strong economy I actually goldrushed a lot of cathedrals and even a few coloseums.
Open - 100k
My game was quite similar to yours, Wotan. Except I conquered the world first and then started poprushing culture. Obviously yours was stronger...
A long exhausting game. I wish I had played more focussed to give this effort a chance for an award
The result:
Game status: Cultural 100K Victory for Russia
Game date: 1330 AD
Firaxis score: 7220
Jason score: 10472
Time played: 32:41:16
My game was quite similar to yours, Wotan. Except I conquered the world first and then started poprushing culture. Obviously yours was stronger...
A long exhausting game. I wish I had played more focussed to give this effort a chance for an award
Spoiler :
. CivAssist prospected end 1520 AD...
217 towns, 1416cpt, 65k, victory date 1345 AD...
212 towns making some 1534 cpt.The result:
Game status: Cultural 100K Victory for Russia
Game date: 1330 AD
Firaxis score: 7220
Jason score: 10472
Time played: 32:41:16
PaperBeetle
Emperor
The Ancient Age
I build two towns within the ring of mountains, and then a ring of towns beyond the mountains, although the Vikings manage to grab one of those positions. The capital runs as a 6 turn settler factory, and inspired to a large degree by the local geography, I use a rather loose town placement. This is something of a novelty to me; when I started GotMs I had just learned to cram towns, and it worked so well that I haven't really tried other styles since.
I research hard towards Republic, but miss the slingshot thanks to Philosophy from a hut. So I go for Literature first, prebuild some libraries, and research on to Republic; the anarchy ends just before I trade my way to the medieval in 750bc.
Les Invasions Barbares
The arrival of the medieval triggers pretty severe uprisings. The long peninsula due south of Russia is a particularly fertile breeding ground; I am trying to settle the jungles to grab luxuries, but it is a painful process, and in the end I leave a town standing empty, soaking up the barbs while I keep my treasury empty. This last endeavour is quite trivial, as my Republican economy is not coping well with the (relatively meagre) number of horses that the core can push out. Research continues as fast as possible along the bottom of the tech tree.
Reaching My Goal
Invention in 270bc, Guns in 90bc, Chemistry in 90ad, Metallurgy in 230ad and Mil Trad in 310ad. That will do me for research this game. The date isn't terrible, but I am a bit disappointed; if I had made the Republic slingshot, surely it would have been earlier. Anyway, I have been at war with Carthage for some time. Mostly it was a cold war, but a Carthaginian party eventually made its way through Holland and took one of my towns, so I upgrade a horse to cossack and send it off to war... it withdraws from the numidian. Meh. The golden age starts with the retry in 340ad.
Conventional War
In 360ad, Holland completes Leonardo, which is an important wonder for me, but I want to attend to the Vikings first, as they are the closest civ to me, slightly obstructing my core area. I dow Ragnar in 390ad, and send in the cossacks. Stray units and low-tech defenders mean I can get quite a lot of blitzing done. The Vikings are destroyed by 440ad, which is reasonable for a war conducted without ROP rape. I will be using that tactic with my next victim, however.
The Crippling Blow
With the Vikings gone I turn my attention to the Dutch in the west. The plan is to knock out their core with a ROP rape, taking Leonardo in the process. A crippling blow to the Dutch, and a move which will allow me to really accelerate production of my disconnect/reconnect army of cossacks. The plan is not well executed. I start in 460ad, and take four towns, including Leonardo, but the Swiss (mostly defending hill towns) are chewing up my cossacks at a frightening rate. The initial attack stalls before I can reach Amsterdam.
The Second Wave
Dutch resistance may be strong, but the next wave of cossacks enabled by Leonardo arrives pretty quickly. By 540ad, I am ready to try a tech trick. I pay everyone for war with Holland, and sell techs as far as Chemistry and Theology. Then I take Eindhoven, only to realise that there is another Dutch town which I had forgotten about. It is behind Portugese borders, and hard for me to reach, so I am left paying some hefty gpt until Portugal finishes off Holland... that's the risk of tech tricking!
Back To Research
For a long time I had a large prebuild going - originally Sun Tzu, but that wonder went to the AI (A Leonardo prebuild similarly got converted to a very expensive market
). I had stopped research on reaching Mil Trad, but taking the Glib from Holland brings me as far as Theology, so I decide to research on to Music so I can put those shields into Bach. The wonder is built for about 800 shields in 590ad. In the meantime I have been able to sell Education for some good gpt that was left over from the Dutch war deal. Henry helpfully puts the finishing touch to my tech trick by killing Will in 560ad.
Spain and Portugal
South of Holland lies Spain; the obvious next stop for the veterans of the Dutch campaign. I rape Bella's ROP in 590ad, knowing that I can't quite manage a one hit kill; their southernmost town is well guarded by rugged terrain. Even so, the Spanish are gone in 600ad. I am also feeding new cossacks northwest into Portugal. As veterans of this campaign cannot easily proceed to the another war, it is not so important to finish it quickly. I rape Henry's ROP in 650ad, but they are not destroyed until 690ad. This war gains me Sun Tzu.
My Final Victims
I am feeding streams of new units southwest to Carthage and southeast to Byzantium. The Byzantines defend only with spears, and I am able to annihilate them in a single turn (700ad). With their numidians, the Carthaginians are tougher. I start the war in 710ad, and finish the job next turn, for a conquest recorded as 730ad. 56% land area scores me 6745 Firaxis points, which translates to a 10k Jason score.
In retrospect, I see that this map was cooked to provided the cossacks with good blitzing opportunities, i.e. there were not enough resources for the AI to have decent defenders. It was good fun, but I'm still not convinced that the cossack is a worthwhile UU in a normal situation.
I build two towns within the ring of mountains, and then a ring of towns beyond the mountains, although the Vikings manage to grab one of those positions. The capital runs as a 6 turn settler factory, and inspired to a large degree by the local geography, I use a rather loose town placement. This is something of a novelty to me; when I started GotMs I had just learned to cram towns, and it worked so well that I haven't really tried other styles since.
I research hard towards Republic, but miss the slingshot thanks to Philosophy from a hut. So I go for Literature first, prebuild some libraries, and research on to Republic; the anarchy ends just before I trade my way to the medieval in 750bc.
Les Invasions Barbares
The arrival of the medieval triggers pretty severe uprisings. The long peninsula due south of Russia is a particularly fertile breeding ground; I am trying to settle the jungles to grab luxuries, but it is a painful process, and in the end I leave a town standing empty, soaking up the barbs while I keep my treasury empty. This last endeavour is quite trivial, as my Republican economy is not coping well with the (relatively meagre) number of horses that the core can push out. Research continues as fast as possible along the bottom of the tech tree.
Reaching My Goal
Invention in 270bc, Guns in 90bc, Chemistry in 90ad, Metallurgy in 230ad and Mil Trad in 310ad. That will do me for research this game. The date isn't terrible, but I am a bit disappointed; if I had made the Republic slingshot, surely it would have been earlier. Anyway, I have been at war with Carthage for some time. Mostly it was a cold war, but a Carthaginian party eventually made its way through Holland and took one of my towns, so I upgrade a horse to cossack and send it off to war... it withdraws from the numidian. Meh. The golden age starts with the retry in 340ad.
Conventional War
In 360ad, Holland completes Leonardo, which is an important wonder for me, but I want to attend to the Vikings first, as they are the closest civ to me, slightly obstructing my core area. I dow Ragnar in 390ad, and send in the cossacks. Stray units and low-tech defenders mean I can get quite a lot of blitzing done. The Vikings are destroyed by 440ad, which is reasonable for a war conducted without ROP rape. I will be using that tactic with my next victim, however.
The Crippling Blow
With the Vikings gone I turn my attention to the Dutch in the west. The plan is to knock out their core with a ROP rape, taking Leonardo in the process. A crippling blow to the Dutch, and a move which will allow me to really accelerate production of my disconnect/reconnect army of cossacks. The plan is not well executed. I start in 460ad, and take four towns, including Leonardo, but the Swiss (mostly defending hill towns) are chewing up my cossacks at a frightening rate. The initial attack stalls before I can reach Amsterdam.
The Second Wave
Dutch resistance may be strong, but the next wave of cossacks enabled by Leonardo arrives pretty quickly. By 540ad, I am ready to try a tech trick. I pay everyone for war with Holland, and sell techs as far as Chemistry and Theology. Then I take Eindhoven, only to realise that there is another Dutch town which I had forgotten about. It is behind Portugese borders, and hard for me to reach, so I am left paying some hefty gpt until Portugal finishes off Holland... that's the risk of tech tricking!
Back To Research
For a long time I had a large prebuild going - originally Sun Tzu, but that wonder went to the AI (A Leonardo prebuild similarly got converted to a very expensive market
). I had stopped research on reaching Mil Trad, but taking the Glib from Holland brings me as far as Theology, so I decide to research on to Music so I can put those shields into Bach. The wonder is built for about 800 shields in 590ad. In the meantime I have been able to sell Education for some good gpt that was left over from the Dutch war deal. Henry helpfully puts the finishing touch to my tech trick by killing Will in 560ad.Spain and Portugal
South of Holland lies Spain; the obvious next stop for the veterans of the Dutch campaign. I rape Bella's ROP in 590ad, knowing that I can't quite manage a one hit kill; their southernmost town is well guarded by rugged terrain. Even so, the Spanish are gone in 600ad. I am also feeding new cossacks northwest into Portugal. As veterans of this campaign cannot easily proceed to the another war, it is not so important to finish it quickly. I rape Henry's ROP in 650ad, but they are not destroyed until 690ad. This war gains me Sun Tzu.
My Final Victims
I am feeding streams of new units southwest to Carthage and southeast to Byzantium. The Byzantines defend only with spears, and I am able to annihilate them in a single turn (700ad). With their numidians, the Carthaginians are tougher. I start the war in 710ad, and finish the job next turn, for a conquest recorded as 730ad. 56% land area scores me 6745 Firaxis points, which translates to a 10k Jason score.
In retrospect, I see that this map was cooked to provided the cossacks with good blitzing opportunities, i.e. there were not enough resources for the AI to have decent defenders. It was good fun, but I'm still not convinced that the cossack is a worthwhile UU in a normal situation.
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