DDD VII: Napoleon

[Doshin]

Round 3

In 1020 AD, I meet two of the off-shore AI with my Caravel exploring towards the NE:

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Frederick has capitulated Peter. Before Freddy gifts Optics to his vassal, I make a trade for Construction:

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If I have to pay 20 Gold, Peter must be close anyway.

On the following turn, the SW Caravel meets another AI:

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I'm becoming more and more glad that Lincoln is my neighbor.

Gilgamesh is very backward, which is strange because he has a religion and can't be isolated. I make a big trade while I still can:

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And on the next turn more of the puzzle pieces come together. AI #5 is Hatchet:

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So I was right about an Egyptian leader, although I was wrong about which one. Hatchet and Gilgamesh are at war, which explains why Giggles is backward.

In 1040 AD, then, the trading situation looks as follows:

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Since I can trade Philosophy with four of the AI, I use one GS to bulb the tech:

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And my second GS adds +1662 to Astronomy:

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In order to bulb Astronomy, the crucial thing is to avoid Civil Service. CS leads to Paper, which leads to Education, which leads to Printing Press. All of these techs trump Astronomy when it comes to GS bulbing.

Now that I had burnt a GS on Astronomy, I no longer had to worry about cutting off certain bulb lines. Philosophy supplied a number of good trades:

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Then, in 1100 AD, I was the first to reach Astronomy:

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...which was well timed, as I met the final AI, who I was beginning to suspect didn't exist:

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Boudica has only met Lincoln, whom she dislikes:

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This meant that we could make a trade:

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A bunch of common and outdated techs for Guilds? Thank you.

Good stuff. Boudica has drawn the short straw and ended up isolated in the far north:

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I played a few more turns and then decided to call it a night. The trade screen in 1140 AD:

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Freddy won Lib and took Economics or Printing Press.

The world, as my maps currently stand:

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Overseas trade routes are in:

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Thanks to my four exploring Caravels and a map trade with Hatchet, I was also the first to circumnavigate the globe.

There's no pressing need to go to war. Since I'm the only civ with Astronomy, no-one else can send troops to attack me yet. Being in Free Religion also helps: even if an AI is ambivalent towards me, they're still more likely to hate somebody else.

For now, I am most interested in settling the Island that lies between my homeland and Boudica's:

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There are two barb cities, and room for at least four more. No-one else can reach this yet, so I'll try and make the most of my Astronomy advantage and settle it ASAP.

The general plan at this point is quite simple: get more cities than Freddy. Well, ok, it's not quite that simple. But he has 17 cities as things stand along with a vassal. He also loves to build wonders and has the Sistine Chapel. I need to keep an eye on the victory screen, to make sure that he doesn't get too close to winning via culture.

Short to medium term priorities are:

1) Settle the barb island and any other good spots.
2) Tech to Steel or Rifling before Lincoln and declare war.
3) After vassaling Lincoln, try to attack Boudica before she catches up in tech.
4) Reach Communism, so that I can switch into State Property.

Simple.

 

[ben-jammin]

At this point is it not a good idea to cancel open borders with Lincoln? Then he'll have zero foreign trade routes.

 

[Doshin]

He's running Mercantilism, so it wouldn't make a difference. Current civics:

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I hadn't realized Freddy was in Free Speech. Boudica won't enter Mercantilism for a while, which helps with my trade routes. Hopefully some of the AI will start switching into Free Market soon.

 

[Doshin]

Round 4

I started the round by sending Settlers and a few troops to the northern island via a single Galley. This isn't comprehensive, but should give you an idea of how things went:

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I didn't have Dye or Stone before settling this land, so that's a plus. Peter settled an awesome spot right in the middle of the desert.

While I was busy taking over their homeland, the barbs even performed a naval invasion, which made me chuckle:

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Noooooooo. Unprotected city

As I think I mentioned, I had planned to go to war against Lincoln with Cannons or Rifles. Since Hatchet went for an early Steel, I opted to pursue Rifling. In 1390 AD, I declared war:

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The initial stack:

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I know it looks pretty paltry, but Lincoln really has no troops. Maybe three LBs, one Mace per city. I want to hit him hard and fast before he gets to Rifles.

My real problem in this war was production. I just don't have that many high hammer spots, and no Heroic Epic. As such, I mostly whipped Maces and upgraded them en route to the battlefield. The economy is in good shape thanks to the GLH.

The aftermath:

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As my stack was preparing to march on Washington, I noticed an awfully suspicious looking fleet:

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Boudica has been plotting for ~400 years and just got Astronomy. She declares war against Lincoln a few turns later.

After losing four or five Spies across multiple turns, I finally managed to incite a city revolt against Lincoln. A good thing, too, since he had just reached Rifling:

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My attack wiped out most of Lincoln's stack before he had a chance to upgrade. On the turn after the revolt, I cleaned up.

With his capital and SOD gone, Lincoln was willing to capitulate:

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Job's a good'un.

Next stop, Boudica, who already has enough on her plate:

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Hatchet declared war on the turn I capitulated Lincoln. Boudica's stack is stuck in my territory. She shouldn't have any trouble warding off three Knights, though.

 

[Manco Capac]

Thanks for the good read, Doshin.

 

[Shaandore]

After such a craptastic start, this is very impressive. This game shows very well how strong GLH is. I'm glad that the exploring workboat payed off. Going behind Lincoln was a very nice play.

How about tech pace? Can you keep up with the AIs with all this warring? What is your endgame plan? Diplo, Nukes or Space?

 

[Doshin]

Cheers Tachy. Nothing compared to your own contributions, of course.

After such a craptastic start, this is very impressive. This game shows very well how strong GLH is. I'm glad that the exploring workboat payed off. Going behind Lincoln was a very nice play.

How about tech pace? Can you keep up with the AIs with all this warring? What is your endgame plan? Diplo, Nukes or Space?

Thanks! Tachywaxon once pointed out to me the need to explore more thoroughly on non-pangaea mapscripts. That advice paid off here, and the GLH/Organized combo helped keep me solvent while settling far flung, expensive cities.

Here's a summary of the AI and their proximity to techs/victories:

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Germany is the clear front-runner. Frederick will presumably build the late game culture wonders, because he's an Industrious leader already at Electricity whereas Hatchet isn't even at Physics.

Fortunately Freddy's wonders are focused in two cities. Bremen will catch up sooner or later, thanks to the Eiffel Tower, even if it doesn't get any of the happiness wonders that grant +50% culture (Broadway, Hollywood, etc.).

Berlin is coastal, but is located in a cove that would take nine moves to reach:

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You can also see from that screenshot that Hamburg is located inland. Bremen is, however, easily accessible:

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Freddy has 19 cities, a vassal, and I have no way of slowing him down by dragging him into a war. He'll beat me to Space if I choose that route, so I'll need to conquer him at some stage. When I reach Combustion, I can start to build a real navy. With Flight, I can begin to build Fighters and Carriers. Industrialism will let me build Marines and/or Tanks. If necessary, I can also go to Advanced Flight for Jet Fighters, and/or Robotics for Mech Infantry. I try not to build Nukes unless the AI already has them (which happened in my Joao game).

If Germany is going to win via Space, I'll attack Berlin after capturing Cologne. If it looks like a Culture win is more likely, I'll attack and raze Bremen.

But before that, it's on to Boudica.

 

[Manco Capac]

That game is so weird and the other way round. Think about it! Wimps crush strong ones. Freddy crushed Peter and even more weird, Hatshe crushed Gilgamesh. I thought that last guy was pretty strong on average.
I haven't seen the vassals' land, but it must has to do with their loss to wimps.

I will forever recall that game where Gandhi put Ragnar to his knees in the BC and made him capitulate....that was INSANE! Deity is the place for insanity. You won't see that on EMP and below.

 

[Manco Capac]

Frederick is dangerous late game because his typical improvements are windmills and any production improvements. He is pretty industrious in that sense. He doesn't have the trait though.

 

[Doshin]

Whoops. I confused Bismark and Frederick's traits.

Yeah, there was a total flip in usual AI relations. Peter/Freddy:

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Peter built Stonehenge and could only push out with two cities. Freddy had a Gold/Marble/Corn capital and, after blocking Peter with two cities, had room for at least ten more.

Hatchet/Gilgamesh:

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Giggles has no city spot SW or NE of his capital. Two of his cities are in the tundra. His capital ain't great. I'd guess that he declared war and got stonewalled bombarding Memphis' culture,.

The Hemispheres map also meant no warmonger dogpiles or peace-vassaling.

Finally, spare a thought for Boudica, who was both isolated and had five times as much snow/tundra as grassland:

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One wet Corn, one Fish, one Plains Hill Sheep, one Plains Sheep, and a Tundra Deer to feed an empire.

 

[Manco Capac]

It becomes now clear. Again, it's the island config that made them so weak. Peter is inclosed in a small peninsula and so for Gilgamesh.

 

[The Oz-Man]

The funny thing to me is that you're basically in the same position as Peter and Gilgamesh (i.e., trapped on a peninsula by a neighbor who can easily cut you off) and look how that turned out. It speaks to the sort of things an intelligent player can do to compensate for AI advantages.

 

[Silverbow]

It speaks to the sort of things an intelligent player can do to compensate for AI advantages.

Bolded is the reason why Lincoln wasn't able to pull a Freddy here. AI is incredibly demented when it comes to settling in such circumstances.

Anyway, this is a cool game Doshin!

And reinstall your BtS or something, Celtia has a bugged flag too

 

[The Oz-Man]

Maybe Boudica's green flag means she's not Boudica and is secretly Gaddafi.

 

[WelshGandalf]

Peter rarely does well when I see him. He often doesn't trade, and seems to do poorly diplomatically.

 

[Doshin]

It speaks to the sort of things an intelligent player can do to compensate for AI advantages.

That's not entirely true. I, for one, am quite unintelligent.

And reinstall your BtS or something, Celtia has a bugged flag too

I've uninstalled/reinstalled BTS a few times and I think it's been like this for a while. It might have something to do with when I installed BUG, which felt like a huge travail at the time (playing a Steam version of Civ on a Mac). The flags don't bother me too much.

Peter rarely does well when I see him. He often doesn't trade, and seems to do poorly diplomatically.

He's better than Freddy, though. I think Freddy falls into the category of AIs that make TMIT rage because they don't play to win.

 

[Doshin]

Round 5

Before I begin, I'd like to show Washington in its full glory:

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This is what a capital should look like.

After the war with Lincoln, I sent a few Rifles to the north to conquer the last two barb cities on the map. I usually wouldn't bother, but they were actually pretty good:

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I have no source of Silk, and can trade Sheep with Freddy for GPT. And the Rifles can be quickly and easily transported to Celtia when war is underway.

Lincoln was teching to Assembly Line when he capitulated, so I let him continue down this path. In the meantime I went from Steel ---> Railroad ---> Combustion. In 1590 AD, with Railroad (me) and AL (Lincoln) in, I traded Steel for Corporation. So long, GLH routes :

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In 1590AD, I had some fun right before declaring war against Boudica. Washington had just revolted:

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Boudica's stack was milling around my undefended cities:

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And my stack was about ready to invade:

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So, with a bit of effort, I tweaked New York and Boston so that their borders would pop on the following turn:

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Meaning that, when I declared war:

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Boudica's stack was stuck between a rock and a hard place:

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If someone makes a "what is the most OP unit in the game?" thread, I'm going to nominate "mountains."

Anyway, the invasion itself wasn't too difficult. First Bibracte:

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I bribed Hatchet this turn to make peace, before Boudica could capitulate:

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After that things were pretty straight forward, although Boudica seemed to take forever to give in:

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The tactics were simple. Bombard a city with Frigates where possible. Suicide one lowly promoted Rifle to eliminate the top defender. Clean up with other City Raider Rifles. Move back onto Galleys, and repeat.

Towards the end, a couple of Rifles were upgraded to Infantry, negating the need to suicide troops. Some Airships also flew over to help weaken the top defenders.

Boudica's stack never did see any action. Peace brought another magic carpet ride:

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In other news, I finally built some National wonders. I've been very bad about this throughout the game. Oxford is in:

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I finally have a GP farm:

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Still no Heroic Epic, Moai Statues, Wall Street, or Iron Works. Ugh, this will change in the next round.

I just generated a Great Merchant:

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I need to decide whether I should go to Medicine in the next round to build Sid's Sushi. At the moment I'm leaning towards "yes."

Tech screen:

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I've been getting a few trades out of Gilgamesh. He likes me because, way back when we first met, I gave in to his demand for Paper.

Victory screen:

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Freddy has all of the late game culture wonders. Hamburg received two of the +50% culture wonders, and Berlin the other. It looks to me like Bremen will take a long time to hit Legendary.

Freddy is in war mode. I'm 90% sure he's plotting against Hatchet, since she's his worst enemy and, when he started plotting, he was Pleased with me and Lincoln. I'll move some Airships around in the next few turns to figure out what he's doing.

My cities are well on their way to being industrialized. Soon it will be time to go into all-out war mode and churn out some troops.

Also, I learned something new about the Charismatic trait. The cheap promotions means that, with a Drydock, all naval units can be instantly upgraded to Navigation I. That's my promotion of choice for Transports, since it means they can keep pace with Battleships. It's the small things...

 

[shadojack]

I just wanted to echo the other comments and say thanks for your entertaining, informative and educational series. It is by far the most enjoyable thread currently being posted on this forum. I was going to ask if you had built Oxford before Astronomy, but nevermind, good job anticipating questions. I am only an Emperor player and have no plans to move up the difficulty levels, but your series have given me ideas for my own games. I also greatly respect the humble attitude you demonstrate in your comments. I will continue to follow as long as you post.

 

[Grashopa]

AH-Fishing-Sailing start is better I think.

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Grew to size 5 with an immediate lighthouse. My 3rd settler is out 3 turns before yours + better beakers. The first settler was out 4 or 5 turns after your first I think.

I was also thinking straight to CoL and running caste with the same Astronomy target as you. I'm guessing that would speed things up quite a bit. But I don't think I'll be playing it out unfortunately.

 

[Doshin]

I just wanted to echo the other comments and say thanks for your entertaining, informative and educational series. It is by far the most enjoyable thread currently being posted on this forum. I was going to ask if you had built Oxford before Astronomy, but nevermind, good job anticipating questions. I am only an Emperor player and have no plans to move up the difficulty levels, but your series have given me ideas for my own games. I also greatly respect the humble attitude you demonstrate in your comments. I will continue to follow as long as you post.

Ha, you're too kind. But thanks!

Regarding Oxford: my aim here was to tech Astronomy rather than Lib. I wasn't sure that I could win Lib (I only left the island in 1000 AD, after all), and Astronomy was infinitely more useful than the usual safe Lib targets (Nationalism, Military Tradition, Printing Press). A Philosophical leader probably could have Lib'd Astronomy.

Trying to bulb Astronomy meant ignoring Civil Service, Paper, and Education. I traded for Civil Service and Paper after burning a Great Scientist. Education came a little after Astronomy, at which point I was trying to settle more land and preparing to go to war.

AH-Fishing-Sailing start is better I think.

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Grew to size 5 with an immediate lighthouse. My 3rd settler is out 3 turns before yours + better beakers. The first settler was out 4 or 5 turns after your first I think.

I was also thinking straight to CoL and running caste with the same Astronomy target as you. I'm guessing that would speed things up quite a bit. But I don't think I'll be playing it out unfortunately.

I think you're right regarding the start. Animal Husbandry was worth teching thanks to the Sheep and Pigs, and I hadn't factored in Napoleon's cheap Lighthouses. There was some leeway with Settler #3, but my GLH date was really iffy.

More broadly, I wonder how much the Shwedagon Pagoda hurt or hindered my early game. It presumably slowed the overall Astro date, but bulbing Philosophy still generated several good trades. I find it much harder to judge the benefit of entering Free Religion than, say, switching into Theology or Organized Religion.

I also didn't set up a dedicated GP farm until the ADs due to avoiding Poly and Lit. My four GP came from three cities, when the capital or Orleans could have benefited from the National Epic.