Deity Denmark Photojournal (of an amateur)

[amateurgamer88]

Im not sure if I would settle the Natural Wonder. First, the Atoll and one Fish is too far away. Second, I think you cant settle exactly right of the Natural wonder, that one comes as a 2 tile Wonder if I remember correcly, one tile very juicy, the other one is completly unusable. And settling on that Barb Camp (tundra forest) would lose the Fish in the South West. I might only settle that Wonder if I am wrong about the second tile of it, if not I am not that sure if the wonder and one fish and one tundra hill sheep is enough to justify a city, maybe for specialists, but I personally try to avoid to settle such cities ...

I was thinking of settling on top of the sheep tile. This might not seem amazing now but Runestone will give it a nice boost to the coastal tiles and I do plan on going Imperialism afterwards and that will make the city decent. I normally avoid settling these locations too but I like to try it and see how it goes so I can learn from it.

What's wrong with Council of Elders, again? Too many yields? <Gets out nerf bat>

G

Haha, it seems real powerful but I do think we have to balance with Standard. Marathon Speed does have lots of imbalances and maybe that's what attracts me.

 

[CrazyG]

As Denmark you should certainly settle that island with natural wonder, no questions asked.

 

[YukiN]

What's wrong with Council of Elders, again? Too many yields? <Gets out nerf bat>

G

On one hand, it's the game speed. On the other, it's by design really snowbally, giving much of its yields early on and not much after a while, so we are seeing it at its strongest phase right now.

 

[Minh Le]

What's wrong with Council of Elders, again? Too many yields? <Gets out nerf bat>

G

On one hand, it's the game speed. On the other, it's by design really snowbally, giving much of its yields early on and not much after a while, so we are seeing it at its strongest phase right now.

Is it possible to make the yield scale with map size? On large map where there are a lot of cities Coucil of Elders is really broken.

 

[amateurgamer88]

As Denmark you should certainly settle that island with natural wonder, no questions asked.

I'll know that in the future. Let's just say that plans changed a bit in this game.

 

[amateurgamer88]

Chapter 6: No More Delays

Spoiler I. Getting Angkor Wat :

I will admit that assassinations are pretty annoying overall and, with more cities being converted, I should be queuing up Wonders to get the most out of those hammers. Angkor Wat helps my other cities too by allowing them to expand their borders faster which certainly works quite well with Authority. I do wonder if I can keep this up as I'm getting a lot of Wonders very quickly.

Spoiler II. About Time :

The faith I've invested in all those Missionaries have finally paid off. China has now adopted my religion and will actively convert her other cities. She will also help me pressure England in religion so that will help me quite a bit in terms to less faith needed to defend my religion. The boost is going to be huge but I'm walking a dangerous line here since a snowballing China is not something I want either.

Spoiler III. Preparing for War! :

I'm definitely grabbing the Alhambra since I went Authority and I have a feeling that there's some fierce competition for this. By getting this, my future units in my capital will get an extra promotion so I can fight on an even footing with Deity AI whose units have lots of promotions at the very start. I also deny other civs as I believe that, at this point, there are two civs that are snowballing out of control. In the meantime, I'm really struggling to get my happiness up right now.

Spoiler IV. Reformation Belief :

If I'm going to conquer my entire continent, then I'll need Crusader Spirit to benefit my units more. I do realize that China will also benefit from this since she's adopted my religion but, once I'm fighting on the offensive, she won't be getting the benefit. The war with China is still some time away so I won't be worrying about that yet. However, there will come a time when I have to deal with her.

Spoiler V. China not Faring too Well :

Another war concluded between China and England. As you can see in the screenshot, England came out on top with another Chinese city taken. This is worrying because England is getting a bit too strong for my liking. Luckily, this can work in my favor if the stars align because China gets weaker and weaker while England will force stalemates with her as I take English cities. However, I doubt I'll be that fortunate.

Spoiler VI. Happiness Tanking and New Policy :

I have never had happiness issues on Immortal so I do believe that the AIs are raising the threshold I need to remain happy. I guess I need to greatly up my game or just improve further on Immortal. As for the new policy, I can now slow down influence decay or even gain influence from TR with the CS. That will save me quite a bit of gold in the long run and those yields are pretty good as well.

Spoiler VII. I Think it's Time to Strike! :

I find this screen to be one of the most bugged screen in the game. I had situations where, if I select the first option, I go to war with the AI that's asking me to go to war with. As for the second option, I think it wasn't bugged until I saw what happened in this game. The key takeaway is that I'm building up my military as I do want to take at least one English city. I have some conquering to do and do a bit of snowballing myself to get further ahead.

Spoiler VIII. Odd AI Decisions :

I can never understand the AI where they don't wait for a joint war. I guess they aren't programmed to keep track of that so that makes sense. In a way, this will likely help me due to China distracting a large portion of English forces. I do expect lots of English units given that this is Deity difficulty. On Immortal, I recall a lot of units. If Deity get more bonuses, I'm expecting a whole lot more units. This is going to be such a grindfest.

Spoiler IX. Stupid Bugs :

What ended happening is that I got the screen with China asking me to declare war and I did. Yet, I wasn't at war with England and I couldn't declare war as though I was already at war. I had to load an autosave earlier so I can declare war personally. I do hope this bug can be saved because it can be quite annoying. I'm finally at war with England and get my first taste of war against England.

Spoiler X. New Policy :

Previously, I was looking forward to the extra spies in the next policy as it can help me keep up in tech quite easily. Now that Council of Elders propelled me ahead of both England and China, I guess I need to discover the two snowballing civs so I can steal some techs from them. At this moment, I'm still mostly focused on military production because I wasn't ready for the war just yet. My units are operating around Almaty where the CS can hold its ground. The war is still going to be messy until my units are ready.

Well, that's it for our update! Will we make any progress against England?

 

[amateurgamer88]

Chapter 7: Wars Everywhere!

Spoiler I. Meeting the Aztecs :

Well, whoever suspected this civ to be the Aztecs clearly knows the game well. We have a powerful Aztecs in the game with a pretty significant lead in policies. I'm actually ahead in tech with 1 or 2 more techs at this time but lagging in policies hurt a lot. If I was playing any civ other than Denmark or China, I'd be quite worried about being behind like this (though I guess Poland can work as well with his UA). I think we'll see soon the power of the Runestone in catching up in policies.

Spoiler II. Small Progress :

I control the seas which is very nice as English Triremes can't do much against my Caravels. There was a reason why I decided this timing for war since I'll have a pretty big edge in navy. On land, England unlocked Knights so that's quite a problem. I have lost quite a few units to her but I was willing to pay the price since I can't fight extended wars as my happiness isn't doing too well. Let's just say my happiness is going to stay negative for a long time.

Spoiler III. Build it just Because :

I got my Reformation so I only built this for the Order in my capital. I just find no reason to not get a ton of buildings that give experiences because, with Authority, the units you can purchase by gold with full experience is something you should be abusing to your best abilities. Even the Landsknechts are quite OP with the amount of gold they can potentially steal from cities and those stacked promotions for gaining gold from attacking cities stay during upgrades.

Spoiler IV. New Policy :

If you compare the last two screenshots, you would've noticed that 3 turns have passed and I went from 43 turns before the next policy to getting my policy. This is the power of the Runestone as I'm actively pillaging tiles. The fact that I don't waste movements on my melee units pillaging means that I can pillage without slowing down my advances. The fact that I'd get same yields for my puppets when they get Runestones means that, as time goes, each pillage will be enormous in terms of culture yields. As for my new spies, I send them to CS to rig elections because I'm ahead in tech for the time being.

Spoiler V. That Unhappiness :

I don't recall ever becoming this unhappy in any of my Immortal games so I'm clearly doing something wrong here. I have much to learn regarding my yields and micromanaging my cities. With this sort of unhappiness, I clearly need to end the war as WW is putting me above 20 unhappiness. I hope that time of peace will give me a chance to recover, though the high distress is quite hard for me to manage right now.

Spoiler VI. First Peace Deal :

Our first war has come to a close and I got a decent peace deal out of it. Now, I will be focusing on a couple of things like improving my happiness while also upgrading many of my front line units into Tercio to get a bigger edge against England in the next war. I just don't know when that war because it depends heavily on how well I make a dent on my unhappiness which is the main limiting factor to how quickly I can expand and how long I can fight wars.

Spoiler VII. Another Capital Falls :

I don't know who this other civ is but it's obvious that the Aztecs are doing quite well. I noticed that, during my time of peace, Aztecs has an edge in science as he is steadily catching up to me. I'm definitely lacking in a lot of infrastructure and the Aztecs seems to be be well established given the difficulty. I think my unhappiness is also taking a severe chunk out of my culture and science. I'll have to fix this eventually.

Spoiler VIII. The Himeji Castle :

Against Deity AIs, I find that I will have to fight on the defensive at the early stages of the game. I'm not too worried about England since she is falling more and more behind. China, on the other hand, is a different story since she shares my religion and has bonuses when attacking in enemy territory. My happiness situation improved a bit when I shifted all my cities to production focused. Overall, I do think that I haven't been doing enough with my improvements which is why I'm hurting this much.

Spoiler IX. Another Capital Lost :

If this is indeed Rome, I think this should be fixed because it's quite broken if we know civs we've never met. Regardless who this civ is, it is a good indication that we have two powerful civs in this game. We are vying for control against this civ and Aztecs so controlling my continent is a must. The only problem is the defensive pacts as China currently has a defensive pact with the Aztecs and I don't think I want to fight Montezuma just yet. As for Almaty, China succeeded in a coup so I'm trying to reclaim the CS.

Spoiler X. Guess It's War Then... :

Note that I wasn't actually aiming for war. I just positioned my units in my territory that happened to border hers. I don't want any stupid negative modifiers that last a long time so I decided to attack her. I think I have enough happiness, at least before I hit -20, to take at least one of her cities. I do have a balancing act here since I don't want England to grow too weak and let China take advantage of the situation to grow further.

Well, that's it for our update! Will our happiness tank once again?

 

[amateurgamer88]

Chapter 8: Meeting all the Civs

Spoiler I. Crazy Montezuma :

I don't know what friendship he speaks of but we are the two biggest rivals. And yes, we do have a Rome in the game but I think the Aztecs is the bigger threat and I will have to deal with him eventually. He has over 20 cities at this point which's terrifying. After exploring a bit later with my Explorer and Open Border, I realized that he had lots of land to expand to so that gave him a significant edge over the other civs on his continent.

Spoiler II. Meeting Rome :

Rome isn't so overly powerful as the Aztecs since he has less techs than me and on par in policies. Since I've only just started my conquest spree, I expect to leave Rome more in the dust as time goes by. At this point, I still don't know if Rome and the Aztecs share a continent or not. It's possible that they're on two separate continents that is split up by a narrow coast. However, I prefer if they share one continent and continue warring with them mostly in stalemates.

Spoiler III. Taking Hastings :

Hastings has been surprisingly poorly defended as England lacks units to defend this city too well. My Tercio just attacking the city with Crossbowmen support sees it fall rather quickly. Now, we get to the hard part due to the rough terrain northwest of Hastings. Those forests are going to make progress slow since Tercio don't have that extra movement like the Berserker and it slows them down drastically. In addition, my Crossbowmen and Cannons must move a lot to have a line of fire against English cities.

Spoiler IV. New Policy :

Given my situation, I don't think there's a debate as to why I need the happiness from my TR. I know I'm not in the positive yet but every bit matters if I want to keep this war going. The other policy is more focused on WC but I have enough votes to make a difference at this point. I'm almost done with Statecraft and, given that I will be going down the warpath, Imperialism seems like the no brainer for the next tree. After all, how else will I conquer rest of the world?

Spoiler V. More Great People Please :

The Wonder was available so I chose to grab it. More Great People can be powerful in the late game once I get more Great Scientists and such. I am aiming for a more rounded approach right now despite knowing that I'm going domination victory. At this point, Aztecs is slowly widening his lead in tech against me. There's something that has to be done and I have to hurry unifying my continent. Until I do so, I think attacking the other continent can drain a lot of my resources.

Spoiler VI. Fall of Liverpool :

My single Tercio was able to take this city and I couldn't believe it worked. The pillaged tiles made him quite powerful and I was able to pillage all the tiles around the city before assaulting the city to benefit from all my Runestones. I can't believe how incredible Runestone is and I'm not even talking about the production. The culture is significant amount that can't be underestimated. I might be 2 policies behind the Aztecs but I can see myself catching up once I pillaged enough tiles.

Spoiler VII. The Brutal Siege :

Canterbury finally falls and those rough terrain around it was quite tough to get through in terms of logistics. To make progress, I had to risk sending my units forward to really push English units back. While the bulk of my units were focused on taking Canterbury, I have Tercios operating around London to halt any English reinforcements to Canterbury and pillage tiles while I'm at it.

Spoiler VIII. WC is Found :

Out of everyone, I didn't expect to see China being the civ to find WC. I'm not too bothered since she still has very few votes to make too much of an impact. With the founding of the WC, I learned that the other two civs are the Netherlands and Germany. With only 3 cities, Netherlands is clearly not doing too well, especially when his current capital isn't Amsterdam. I have to assume that, with his location, that Rome took the Dutch capital.

Spoiler IX. Poor Germany :

Germany AI is certainly doing worse than the Netherlands but not by much. 2 cities are left and Germany is currently fighting the Aztecs. Seeing how China and England are both fighting Germany, then it's a safe bet that Germany declared war on Aztecs and brought about his downfall. I know it's crazy but England and China both have defensive pacts with Aztecs. This can be tricky since I don't want to fight Aztecs until I'm completely prepared.

Spoiler X. Finishing Statecraft :

When I grabbed the second last policy to this tree, the screen said 101 turns before I get my next one. Instead, only 14 turns have passed with me taking two cities and pillaging tiles so that's a lot of turns being shaved off. With this sort of culture spikes, I don't worry too much about catching up in culture. However, Denmark does seem to require war at all times to really benefit from his UA and UB. The main difference is that he doesn't even need to win decisively since pillage many tiles will get him huge spikes in yields that I don't think any other civ can do. Denmark seems pretty weak, at least in my current situation, during peace compared to war.

Well, that's it for our update! When will my war with England end?

 

[CrazyG]

Just some math for Denmark.

Looking at Liverpool, I see 5 tiles that remain unpillaged upon conquest. You have 12 runestones? Maybe more, I don't know if the recent conquests have them yet. In Renaissance era and standard speed, that would be worth 396 culture and production. It scales with gamespeed too, so on marathon that is a lot yields missed. I wouldn't conquer a city unless you had already pillaged absolutely everything.

 

[Minh Le]

Sometimes its even better to do the raiding style, pillage, steal money, peace => repeat

 

[amateurgamer88]

Just some math for Denmark.

Looking at Liverpool, I see 5 tiles that remain unpillaged upon conquest. You have 12 runestones? Maybe more, I don't know if the recent conquests have them yet. In Renaissance era and standard speed, that would be worth 396 culture and production. It scales with gamespeed too, so on marathon that is a lot yields missed. I wouldn't conquer a city unless you had already pillaged absolutely everything.

Haha, I cringe at these because I know I can do better. I will be actively checking every tile in the future wars to take full advantage of the Runestones. I sometimes get lazy so please understand my human flaws.

Sometimes its even better to do the raiding style, pillage, steal money, peace => repeat

I feel like that's too gamey for my liking. I'd rather just pillage every tile (will improve after this) before conquering cities.

 

[amateurgamer88]

Chapter 9: Concluding the War

Spoiler I. London Falls! :

As soon as Canterbury fell, English resistance drastically disappeared. The ability to only use one movement for embarking means that my units can move very quickly in territory with lots of coast. Logistics was only a problem when there are lots of hills and forests/jungles. Now that my units got to more open space with more coasts to work with, English units were easily disposed of since they had nowhere to run and Crossbowmen were one of the more deciding factors for this war.

Spoiler II. Preparing for Future Wars :

London is massive because it holds a Wonder England stole from me. Therefore, it's only fair that I take what's rightfully mine because the Danish navy will be heavily feared around the world. I actually don't have much of a navy at the moment. I have a ship in most of my cities but the majority of them are still Triremes and Dromons. You might wonder why I keep them. First, they serve as garrison so I get happiness and culture. Secondly, the capture of Liverpool gave them really good experiences so they are on par with any new units I can build. At the moment, gold isn't an issue, though happiness is.

Spoiler III. One Terrifying Aztecs :

The Aztecs finally talk peace with me. He didn't threaten me but the presence of his Caravel near some of my cities were worrying. My defenses need more work so I will definitely be very carefully about going to war with him. Those two defensive pacts are going to be annoying but I'm sure China or England will attack one another. Whoever is the aggressor will lose that defensive pact and I'll attack that civ. Meanwhile, I can't believe how I'm still in the game with my unhappiness pretty much constant around -10.

Spoiler IV. Going Imperialism! :

With the coastal cities I have and the conquests awaiting me, I most definitely should take Imperialism. Those cheaper upgrades will be quite useful. I don't know about other people but, at certain stage of the game, I'd have so much gold from capturing cities and such that I don't have anywhere to spend them anymore. I kinda wish the game had a place where you can sink gold to invest into something much later in the game.

Spoiler V. Good Luck, Rome? :

I doubt England will be bothering Rome in any ways since I'm destroying or rather destroyed her forces. China might pose a threat since her ships can maybe reach Rome. I said maybe because I don't believe China have unlocked any Caravels yet. I guess this is a good time to see how Rome fares against the Aztecs because those cities with all their buildings intact is going to make Rome quite the powerhouse. Though, Rome is fairly behind in tech so we'll see if that has an impact.

Spoiler VI. Taking Nottingham :

For those telling me that I'm not pillaging everything, I am trying to improve. I even made the effort of getting a Tercio to that Deer so I can pillage it. I'm just not quite the player who likes to max and min everything. I usually do things to the point just before I find it too tedious and not fun anymore. Therefore, I apologize to anyone who cringe at some of my plays because, while they aren't optimal, they are enough to keep me in the game and continue playing. Marathon games do take a long time sometimes.

Spoiler VII. Last Conquest :

By last, I meant for this war. I think I'm pushing my luck enough with my unhappiness. If I was playing any other civ, I don't think I can handle this much unhappiness. The yields from Runestone is just so powerful that it doesn't matter as long as I stay above -20 happiness. I guess any person that wants a real challenge can try to keep happiness to as low as possible and still win. I'm sure it's doable but that's painstakingly tougher than getting as high of a number as possible.

Spoiler VIII. Merciful Sparing Elizabeth :

That GPT for England looks quite pitiful. To be honest, I've taken so much gold that it's ridiculous. I find that I probably gained more gold from attacking cities with my melee units. The usual Tercio gets about 200 gold on one attack while those that were promoted from Landsknechts get around 300 gold per attack. Those add up very quickly and, if you really want to exploit it, you can attack a city till it's red in health before letting it recover and repeat. That's too exploitable for my liking though.

Spoiler IX. Positive Happiness? :

I honestly don't know what happened but all those buildings I built due to Runestone probably helped. I think my unhappiness was due to both not enough yields in the tiles around the city and lack of proper buildings. I find the ones that deal with Distress to be quite weak compared to the other ones that help with Poverty and Boredom. I think I need more games to understand how to deal with my unhappiness issues.

Spoiler X. Stacking Great Engineers :

Industrial era is coming up and there are quite a few Wonders I have in mind. Two of them have to be built in a city that isn't my capital due to mountain and river requirements. Those Great Engineers are going to be very helpful, especially now that I got three of them in my capital waiting for tasks. Even now, the Elder of Council, combined with the Runestone, means that my capital is such a production powerhouse. Despite building so many Wonders, my capital actually has many of the other buildings too. Oh ya, my happiness is looking good now. I am curious if you can play well with unhappiness through most of the game though.

Well, that's it for our update! What will we do when we can't pillage and capture cities?

 

[amateurgamer88]

Chapter 10: Finding an Opening

Spoiler I. Birth of Bergen :

I know it's quite late but I'm confident it will work out eventually as I settled Bergen with a Pioneer. It starts out with some decent buildings but the fortification can use some work. There's also that Crossbowmen that I will need to rid of in the foreseeable future. I don't know why but apparently there's also Fur on that forest tile. I will let this city develop but, given what I've seen so far, a Runestone will speed up the development of this city drastically.

Spoiler II. The Missing AI :

There was an AI missing from my game and I finally discovered who it was with my Explorer in Roman territory. Assyria was probably quite a dangerous threat due to his Siege Tower but the Roman UU is active around that time as well. It's obvious that Rome needed to get past Assyria to expand further while the Aztecs had lots of room to expand before needing to conquer anyone. That explains the disparity in their power at the moment, at least in terms of their techs and policies.

Spoiler III. Equal in Strength? :

Rome and the Aztecs ended the war without either civ really winning. The city of Wittenberg was taken a number of time so that will weaken Rome somewhat but it was a puppet so I doubt Rome is bothered that much. Otherwise, Rome seems to be holding his ground quite well and that's very terrifying to see. My plan was to attack Rome after uniting my continent and then prepare for that epic showdown with the Aztecs. Now, I wonder if that will be feasible or not.

Spoiler IV. New Wonder :

I am still using my Council of Elders bonus despite it not being as good as before. While it's true that the production and science do cap out eventually, those bonuses seem significant enough that I will noticeably benefit from them until I get into the Modern Era. That means quite a few Wonders can be slightly rushed with those conversions and, as I expand my territory further, I can potentially keep up those small rushes until the production really add up.

Spoiler V. New Wonder :

Even though I'm not going as crazy in terms to grabbing all the Wonders, I'm doing quite well right now. I do need Sistine Chapel a lot since the Aztecs are two policies ahead of me and I'm struggling to close that gap. However, I have to be honest that the Aztecs were at one point 3 policies ahead so I closed the gap slightly. If I have a major war filled with lots of pillaging, city captures and unit kills, I think I'll catch up quite easily.

Spoiler VI. New Policy :

With the puppets I control, the new policy is an obvious one here. The only monopoly I have is Pearls and that's not exactly something I'm too excited about. As I start conquering more of my continent, I will get more monopolies but, to be honest, none of them seem spectacular. Luckily, that isn't so important because I'm growing quite strong as time passes and it's only a matter of time before I start snowballing myself.

Spoiler VII. Opening I Need? :

With England attacking China, I can see a pretty good opening to expanding my interests. Some of you might think that I'm targeting England but she still has a defensive pact with Aztecs. It's actually China who lost hers due to another defensive pact she had with Netherlands who was attacked by the Aztecs. Poor Netherlands was actually eliminated by the Romans while Germany only has a single city left at this point.

Spoiler VIII. This is Not Good... :

I want to unify my entire continent but Rome clearly has other ideas. I can't let him establish a firm foothold so I decided at this point that we cannot wait any longer. China is having issues fighting England and Rome so there's no better time to strike her cities while she's forced to fight so many fronts. I expect to push steadily forward and, as England is busy with China, I don't need as many units to defend against England at this point.

Spoiler IX. Let's Get This Started! :

While I did enjoy some good relations with China for a long time, we all know that the continent is too small for both of us. I already did her plenty of favor by weakening England who was giving China a lot of problems. I guess it's only fair that she offer up a few cities and lots of tiles to be pillaged to Denmark as a proper payment. At this point, it's obvious that, if she didn't give them to me, she would give them to Rome. England isn't going to make much progress with her so called army.

Spoiler X. New Wonder :

I have used my first of three Great Engineers that I've been saving and got Neuschwanstein in a reasonable amount of time. I have yet to really take advantage of the Runestone production so this Wonder was entire investing, city production and that GE. Any future Wonders will be sped along rather nicely with so little risk. I guess that's why we want changes to the Runestone to prevent such massive boosts from a UB that seems more broken than any other UB (at least in my experience).

Well, that's it for our update! How will China fare against Danish raids?

 

[amateurgamer88]

Chapter 11: Rise of the Vikings!

Spoiler I. Fall of Kaifeng :

Kaifeng was the first to fall because I stationed many units around Hastings and reaching the city was relatively easy. The defenses of China in this area has been quite weakened and I think England helped me there since a few English units were operating around here too. Overall, Kaifeng fell very quickly as soon as my Cannon got into position. This time, I remembered to pillage all the tiles before taking the city.

Spoiler II. New Policy :

With all the pillaging and my puppets prioritizing Runestone before all the other buildings, I get a ton of culture from pillaging the tiles. Of course, I also can't forget about the production that is quite massive. I realized that even my puppets will be very powerful as these production help them build up their infrastructure very quickly. The more I pillage, the faster I can annex the puppeted cities due to them having all the buildings I need.

Spoiler III. Odd Development? :

I sometimes really don't understand how these votes go. The Aztecs have 10 delegates which's the second most in all the civs. Yet, he voted for me instead when he could've clearly vote for his own interests. I find it equally hilarious that both Rome and Aztecs view me as a good friend when they hate each other's guts. I do intend to be a good host on the WC as we all know war is the best diplomacy in this game.

Spoiler IV. Poor China :

You know China is in trouble when she has rebels spawning in her territory. There's very little she can do against me as my forces are pressuring her cities a lot. I made a few mistakes now and then by losing a unit or two but I have plenty to win this war. China is collapsing and I still have reinforcements arriving from the west. Those rough terrain made unit movement extremely slow for those needing to get to the front lines.

Spoiler V. Fall of Yangzhou :

Yangzhou is an interesting settle by China because it was a really late city that even the AI seems to hesitate to want. I don't blame them as even the natural wonder doesn't make the location any better. This city was a bit harder to take with all those forests and rivers but I eventually got the cannons needed to drop its health quickly. Oddly enough, the rough terrain is slowing my troops down more than Chinese units. Once I get to Yangzhou, then I expect to make faster progress.

Spoiler VI. A Minor Inconvenience :

I don't like Rome getting a foothold on this continent because their captured cities keep all of their buildings. Normally, you can let another civ conquer a few cities so those puppets are weaker overall. With Rome, it's not exactly viable so I'd rather they not take more cities than they can. Rome has agreed to a peace deal with China for now but he probably won't enjoy peace for long. Aztecs desire his land and I'll be soon attacking him for even thinking about attacking my continent.

Spoiler VII. Plotting Against Rome :

Rome is interesting in that I didn't know if I wanted to target him initially. We all know that the Aztecs is the bigger threat so it might be wiser targeting him to slow him down. However, Rome has arrived on my doorstep and I can't exactly let him do as he pleases. I will need a big navy soon because I have to transport a big army to the other continent. As long as Rome and Aztecs keep fighting one another, I will only get stronger in the meantime.

Spoiler VIII. Fall of Ningbo :

I decided that I can divert my troops a bit so they can cover more ground. I don't need all my units to surround Guangzhou when I can target multiple cities. I'm also succeeding in killing many Chinese units as soon as they are produced. I have a single Lancer that's pillaging everything ahead of my units because I don't need healing that much with no resistance from China and I like to get those yields as soon as possible.

Spoiler IX. New Policy :

Well, that was really quickly and I don't mind at all. This is indeed the power of Runestone because I couldn't get close to this much culture from my normal output. What's interesting is that I had a CS quest that checks who can get the most culture. I had a brief lead before the Aztecs overtook me steadily with his much larger output. I didn't think I'd catch up but my culture yields from Runestone quickly caught me up and, at the point, I regained the lead while I still have more tiles to pillage.

Spoiler X. Fall of Norwich :

England was foolish to settle a city here as it's much easier for China to take. When my units are within striking distance of Norwich, the city only had a CS of 12 which's very pathetic. The city fell very quickly and that Cho-ko-nu is going to die a horrible death. At least that unit will enjoy an oasis before his death and not be in the desert. I'm working on Beijing at this moment because I can and I want a relatively clean border to work with.

Well, that's it for our update! How will Denmark look after the war?

 

[amateurgamer88]

Chapter 12: Decisions, Decisions...

Spoiler I. Fall of Shandong :

It's obvious that China is broken at this point. Her army is mostly shattered and the few remaining units aren't going to turn things around. Looking at Beijing in this screenshot, you can see two Heavy Skirmishers and a Cho--Ko-Nu and they aren't going to do much. First, Beijing can only garrison one unit so the other two will be swiftly dealt with as my lancers are pushing forward very quickly. Most of the tiles are pillaged since I can pillage without using up a movement. That means that I can pillage so many tiles along the way as I slowly close down the encirclement of the Chinese capital.

Spoiler II. New Wonder :

Uffizi happened to be available so I pursue it without any hesitation. Those production from the pillaged tiles quickly add up and makes even a Wonder seems easy to finish in a reasonable amount of time. There might've been other extra production yields like from the Council of Elders but the pillaged tiles are the main contributors. I just grabbed this Wonder for the extra culture that will be greatly bolstered in my capital.

Spoiler III. New Policy :

As I have many promotions coming up since Rifling is completing soon, I will need more gold going forward. In addition to what I gain from attacking cities with melee units and pillages, I can now also get a large sum upon taking a city. Regimental Traditions doesn't seem to be the most useful now but I will need it for the extra Great Admirals. and Great Generals. We have some serious wars to fight very soon as soon as I unite my entire continent.

Spoiler IV. Fall of Beijing :

China has lost her capital but I'm not quite ready to end the war yet. There's one more city I plan on taking before I sue for peace to at least make my borders look nicer overall. China will be mostly irrelevant but I am worried that Rome might try something now that China is even weaker. My primary focus for now is to quickly end this war and upgrade my army as soon as I can. Soon, this continent will belong solely to me.

Spoiler V. Fall of Shanghai :

There's a good chance I would've expanded more into Chinese territory if Rome hadn't taken Baoding. That city's location just happens to be between me and the other Chinese cities. While I have no doubt that I can deal with whatever China throws at me, Rome is certainly a different issue. I wanted one strong front to deal with Rome in the upcoming wars that he will no doubt initialize. Ideally, I'd be fighting Rome and China at the same time so I can finally eliminate both of their presences on my continent.

Spoiler VI. Decent Peace Deal :

China might have lost many cities but her economy is still reasonable. I chose to end this now as prolonged war against China benefits no one. I have two bigger threats, the Aztecs and Rome, in this game and China mostly became irrelevant. I'm not saying that China can't become a threat later but her losses in this war to me isn't going to make her empire stronger enough to challenge me.

Spoiler VII. New Wonder :

Gold is invested in this Wonder which, combined with pillaged tiles, means a quicker Slater Mill. You must remember that I've been at war with China for quite awhile so my production is taking a hit due to supply cap deficit. However, I'm still getting these Wonders in a reasonable amount of time despite all that. This Wonder will be huge because I'm building it in Aarhus. I need all my coastal cities to have lots of production because I'll need a navy for any future wars.

Spoiler VIII. Total Instant Yields :

This was taken 4 turns after the war ended with China. For the past 10 turns, these are some insane yields overall. Gold is enormous due to the latest policy in Imperialism. Production isn't something to scoff at as it's very solid overall. That culture is absolutely insane. I basically got 40 turns of culture in 10 turns and this was near the end of the war. You can imagine the yields I got for that entire war.

Spoiler IX. Do I Smell Fear? :

I think someone is afraid that Denmark is becoming too powerful. Unfortunately for Monty, I'm not exactly a pushover like Germany and the Netherlands in this game. I will also make Rome look quite passive. I was debating at this point who I'll attack first. I think that I can get a large enough navy to fight both Rome and Aztecs if I have to. One will be on the offensive while the other defends my coast. I hope Monty doesn't regret attacking me.

Spoiler X. Alright, I'll Unite My Continent Too :

If England do insist that I take her city so I can unify my continent, then I'd gladly do so. Most of her cities have 20 or so CS which is very low at this point. My Field Guns are going to have a field day. I also should mention that England has Warwich that is a target of a CS quest. I guess I better build all my units soon so they will get some good experience. I do think I'll conquer rest of England at this point because other civ's opinions won't matter. I guess Rome might attack me soon if he doesn't target Aztecs first.

Well, that's it for our update! Will we see a world war or, rather, Denmark against the world?

 

[Erikose]

I like both your writing style, and explanations behind your decision making, amateurgamer88. Thought I would give this a quick read before plunging into a new game myself, but instead found myself bingeing your playthrough on and off the last few hours! Much easier than looking up and installing the latest updates to my favorite mods, modifying some files, and making my setup decisions.

One question: what is your trade situation? Notice you seem to always have a full trade roster, but no details. Just curious.

Hope I won't have to wait too long for the rest of the season! Enjoy your game and thanks for posting.

- E

 

[amateurgamer88]

I like both your writing style, and explanations behind your decision making, amateurgamer88. Thought I would give this a quick read before plunging into a new game myself, but instead found myself bingeing your playthrough on and off the last few hours! Much easier than looking up and installing the latest updates to my favorite mods, modifying some files, and making my setup decisions.

One question: what is your trade situation? Notice you seem to always have a full trade roster, but no details. Just curious.

Hope I won't have to wait too long for the rest of the season! Enjoy your game and thanks for posting.

- E

Thanks for the kind words! I've definitely enjoyed playing with Denmark before their nerf. I know that updates and such can be tedious but playing has its charm too.

As for trade situation, I'm not quite sure what you mean by it. Are you asking about trade routes? I'm trading with CS because the yields are really good due to Statecraft. I get at least one Caravansary in one of my cities since gold isn't an issue for Denmark when it comes to buying Cargo Ships or Caravans. Or are you asking about trades with other civs? I usually trade my extra luxury to them for GPT since any bit can help a lot. At this point, I expect all my neighbors to hate me so war is inevitable. I don't get too cozy with any of them and TR to any other civ would be wasted eventually. I find CS to be far more trustworthy.

I am afraid that rest of the game is going to take a long time. Why? There are lots of units I have to micro and they can be such a pain. For instance, I complete a CS quest with experience as rewards and I have over 50 units needing promotions. Fighting Aztecs and/or Rome isn't going to be a walk in the park. I will play when I can but there's also that China game which I have to finish. Marathon games do take too long sometimes but these long drawn out wars can be so addicting.

 

[amateurgamer88]

Chapter 13: A Bloody Continent

Spoiler I. Stupid Rome :

I don't like the fact that Rome is expanding more at the expense of China. I would've preferred if he targeted me instead since I do have an army to handle him. However, I do question the strength of my navy at this point because most of my ships are focused on defending against Aztec aggression. I don't expect China to last very long before she crumbles under Roman pressure. This does widen the front I'm fighting Rome so that can work in my favor though.

Spoiler II. Completing Imperialism :

With the last policy, I expect to see a lot more Great Admirals who will be vital for my combat in the future against the Aztecs. Future? I don't intend to invade the Aztecs first. I have learned that I mustn't get too greedy and focus on unifying my continent first. I'm building up my military right this moment and am planning a landing zone on that other continent. It will be a very bloody offensive for sure but I expect to have the stronger navy due to my focus and the faster production speed to melee naval units.

Spoiler III. Going Autocracy :

With my focus on war, Autocracy seems like a no brainer. I expect some serious naval battles to take place in the foreseeable future. I wish I can show you a screenshot of 8 of my cities all producing naval units within 7 turns or so. I know I'm producing Corvettes and Frigates but the rate I'm getting them out is ridiculous. My navy might have been average at one point but the world shall fear the Danish navy soon enough. In the meantime, I need to find a good balance between my navy and army because I will need to launch a land invasion to conquer the Roman and Aztec capitals.

Spoiler IV. A Bloody Affair :

This bloody for England because her units were trying to launch a secret attack from Tianjin but they failed miserably. I intercepted them and quickly wiped out any English units in the area. Once isolated, Tianjin was practically defenseless and I took it without a Cannon or Field Gun here. My Fusiliers attacking the city head on is more than enough at this point and i can use the extra gold to promote all of my units.

Spoiler V. Fall of Brighton :

I took Brighton before but I had to let England retake it due to her small navy here. Thankfully, Zurich was very helpful with its Corvette that was far too powerful for England's backwards fleet to deal with. I made a mistake of sending one of my Tercio forward and had it trapped behind enemy lines. I had to withdraw a bit before reorganizing my offensive. Now that Tianjin was taken, I can direct more units to support this northern front.

Spoiler VI. Not Even a Fair Fight :

I know it's ironic that I'm saying this when I'm fighting England. However, I wasn't the one to declare war on England while Rome was the aggressor in his war. China has little to answer to all those Fusiliers and Field Guns. I expect China and England to be both eliminated by the end of these two wars. Will I miss China? I am grateful for all the tiles she improved for me to pillage but I'm sure that her fate would've been no different had I been in the shoes of Rome.

Spoiler VII. Interesting... :

If I had known this would've happened, I would've focused on pillaging all those tiles before Zurich succeeds. England has to be drastically weakened if she couldn't even defend against a single Corvette. Once I reorganized my line after losing a Tercio, I pushed with a stronger force and English units crumbled under pressure. I guess that I have mostly dealt a mortal blow to England and it's only a matter of cleaning up her last few cities.

Spoiler VIII. The Roman Navy :

I did get a chance to see the Roman navy from my war with England. It seems strong but it's nothing like the Aztec navy. I lost four Corvettes against Aztecs because he outnumbered my melee ships nearly 4 to 1. I had more Frigates and used them to systematically dispatch the weaker Aztec Corvettes. The reason why I'm losing Corvettes is that I use them to block Aztecs Corvettes from reaching my Frigates. While I lost 4 Corvettes, the Aztecs lost his entire navy because no more ships arrived afterwards. I'm lucky that Aztecs only had two Cruisers to fight me because an army of those can be a major issue.

Spoiler IX. Fall of Warwick :

What surprised me was how weak these cities were. You'd expect England to invest more into defenses like Castles but she didn't do that. This made my Field Gun ridiculously powerful as it can take chunks out of the city health. What slows me down is the pillaging where I try to get all the tiles. Against England, I can certainly do that with few losses. Against Rome who is on equal tech footing as me, I don't think I can pillage everything if I don't want to lose my army against his.

Spoiler X. More Experience and Another Target :

Warwick was a very nice acquisition due to the experience I'm getting from my CS. However, the issue lies in that I have around 90 units at this point. Have you tried promoting 90 units with some of them getting two promotions at once? It was certainly tedious and I was very glad when I finished. Dynamite is almost over so my well experienced Frigates are going to be monsters when they become Cruisers. I think the world should fear me soon.

Well, that's it for our update! When will my war against the Aztecs end?

 

[amateurgamer88]

Chapter 14: A Bloody War

Spoiler I. Aztecs Took... :

I don't quite understand what made the Aztecs took Freedom when Autocracy seems to suit him better. Regardless, I never expected to be buddies with him after this war as I don't want Rome to be so weakened that Aztecs can just take advantage. With the Aztecs being a bigger threat, it makes sense to deal with him first before I deal with Rome. Once the Aztecs is dealt with, I'd have a large enough army and a wide enough front to win quite decisively against Rome.

Spoiler II. Mass Upgrades :

It's certainly time for me to upgrade a lot of my units. Dynamite means that I will see many Cruisers showing up in the current war. I highly doubt that I can upgrade all of them before I defeat England because England is literally on her last city and the encirclement of that city is already taking place. England is about to be wiped out from the game and I think this is a great revenge for all those annoyances England caused me with her spy.

Spoiler III. RIP China :

As soon as Rome succeeded in breaking through the Chinese outer defenses, it was only a matter of time before he captures all the remaining cities. Somehow, the Roman AI managed to time it so all Chinese cities were captured on the same turn. That's the end of China and leaves only me and Rome on the continent. As we know from this photojournal, the continent is just too small for two superpowers.

Spoiler IV. Farewell...and I'm not Interested in a Trade Agreement :

England will certainly not rise in this game and she knows it. England made the mistake of being the most annoying AI to play against. Her spy can hinder your progress so much with stealing gold and sabotaging your production. Overall, I'm glad to see her gone because that's one less spy to deal with in the capital. The fact that her spies are more experienced to begin with means she'll give me more issues than the other civ after losing a spy.

Spoiler V. Fall of Teayo :

Aztec must've thought he was pretty smart by settling Teayo where he can have a launching zone to attack my empire. In the end, his city only proved to be another source of good yields as I get gold, science and culture from capturing it. The city did, at one point, have over 70 CS so it was a difficult city to take down. With the access to Cruisers, I was able to pepper the city much easier. My two Corvettes are also taking less damage from the city so, if I don't attack, they can last for a long time.

Spoiler VI. Rome was Sure Sneaky :

It was pretty obvious when Rome was moving his units towards my border. China gave him little trouble so he was geared for another war. He probably wanted a tougher opponent but he greatly underestimated what I was capable of. However, he did catch me at a bad time since I'm still preparing my defenses around Hangzhou after capturing it from England. I'm not in a great position overall to deal with Rome but I think I can afford to lose some units in this war. Why? I need to prepare for my war against Aztecs after I unify the continent.

Spoiler VII. A Brief Truce :

The Aztecs certainly lost more than me because I believe that I sunk most of his navy. At least, I'm sure I crushed his navy that were operating on his eastern front. There are other ships but those units were lucky to avoid fighting me. Now that my navy is in a better state with the upgrades to Cruiser and eventually Ironclads once I get the tech, Montezuma better be ready for one of the largest invasions he'll experience in his history.

Spoiler VIII. Fall of Baoding :

The war has been difficult from the start given how many Field Guns Rome had. I didn't have enough Lancers and the terrain certainly didn't help. Ideally, I would've pillaged all the tiles around Baoding before capturing the city. In this case, I wanted to win the war with fewer losses so I went to capture the city. Why? There's a Citadel that isn't pillaged yet northwest of the city. With my Fusilier pressuring the Field Guns, they will likely withdraw without pillaging the tile or, if they do, those units won't get too far. Lancers at this point feel very weak and just doesn't cut it for what I need them to do. Without the ability to ignore ZOC, those Lancers can't maneuver around very effective when Rome has so many units. I have my navy but they can't support so far inland.

Spoiler IX. Slow Progress :

I was fortunate that the Roman Field Guns didn't pillage the Citadel (currently occupied by my Cavalry. It was still a bloody affair where I had to keep pushing aggressively. It's at this point that I realized my army isn't well build for this war. They would've been fine is I had a tech advantage but, fighting against an enemy on equal footing, it was very lacking. Due to poor preparation, I had to go a route that isn't recommended to most players. I pushed very aggressively as I took out most of the Roman Fusiliers. Their Field Guns are forced to withdraw and I keep pressing my advantage. You must understand that even the AI struggle when it lacks tiles to maneuver around with. I might not be pillaging all the tile but I felt like it was quite possible we'd enter a stalemate that isn't great for my current situation if I didn't prioritizing pushing Roman units further back.

Spoiler X. Hoping for a Stalemate :

Given the number of units Deity AI possesses, I very much doubt that the losses Rome experienced in my war affects his war against the Aztecs. At this point, I'm finally pushed through and cleaning up what remaining Roman units are still there. Those Field Guns are going to experience a nasty death as my Fusiliers and few remaining Lancers systematically eliminated them. Facing less resistance, I can finally pillage all the tiles before I capture the cities. Rome certainly hasn't made this easy.

Well, that's it for our update! Will Rome crumble under pressure against the Aztecs?

 

[amateurgamer88]

Chapter 15: The Finale?

Spoiler I. New Tenet :

I don't think I've ever taken Commerce Raiders before as a Tenet because navy very rarely played a key role in my games. Here, I can actually see fierce naval battles taking place between me and my two enemies. The Aztecs and Rome will field a stronger navy as this is Deity so I can see some challenging fights before I can secure a beachhead on the other continent.

Spoiler II. New Wonder :

Eiffel Tower is certainly going to work very well with my Runestones. Less culture required means that my pillaging will have a greater impact. Once all of my puppets got their Runestone, the culture I'll be getting per pillage should be insane to the point of broken. Pillaging will be a slight issue since I need to get a beachhead before I can start pillaging effectively. There are some sea resources but they are far fewer than the land tiles with improvements.

Spoiler III. Fall of Macau :

As soon as the Roman frontline of Fusiliers were eliminated, Rome can no longer hold my units back. They are withdrawing the best they can but my units are relentless in their push. In the screenshot, you see the bulk of the Roman navy operating in the area. It's not that threatening if I use my small navy right. The fact that I have Cruisers and Ironclads is an enormous advantage for my side. I doubt Rome will be this easy to defeat.

Spoiler IV. Fall of Leeds :

I did lose a Corvette earlier when I pushed it too far ahead. I haven't upgraded all of my Corvettes because I don't have enough Coal connected to my empire. I need Factories in a number of cities to help improve their production further. I need plenty of units to be produced for my war against Aztecs because, while a navy can play a key role, I need a powerful army landing on the other continent to take most of the Aztec cities. And why does Rome send unescorted Field Guns south of the my ships?

Spoiler V. Fall of Xian :

Once all my Field Guns were in range, Xian's days were numbered. I also used this opportunity to rid of the Roman navy in the area. I make sure my Ironclads get the killing blow on the enemy ships so their health remain high. My Cruisers are dealing some serious damage while the extra movement and range makes their survivability so much better. I don't think Roman reinforcements will arrive when I dominate the seas now.

Spoiler VI. Financial Problems :

This seems to always happen when I enter Industrial Age. I guess I'm not doing something right because my income is hurting quite a bit. Those building maintenance is hurting me quite badly in terms of finances so I have to annex a few cities to deal with it. I don't know if it's my playstyle or if the GPT you get late game happens to be neutered quite a bit for some balance purposes. I'm not going broke but making around 200 GPT at this point doesn't suffice anything.

Spoiler VII. More Annexations :

I think, in this game, I realized that Runestone does have a downside. You have lots of puppets? Pillaging give them as much production as any other cities. As a result, your puppets build infrastructure far faster than they normally do. Those maintenance starts adding up drastically while you have limited happiness to deal with annexing a lot of them. I guess that, if you know how to do it, you can certainly annex cities and time them so Courthouses finish faster due to pillaging in a war. However, the costs in tech is going to add up very quickly.

Spoiler VIII. Fall of Chengdu :

At this point, I'm just in the process of removing the last Roman presence on my continent. Rome has landed on the wrong continent thinking he can expand without any resistance. China and England were overall pushovers this game but I'm quite the opposite. Rome will hopefully rethink angering Denmark next time because this is a decisive loss for him. Of course, I do think that he has made it clear that peace cannot exist between us.

Spoiler IX. Continent Unified :

Oxford falls and my continent is unified. This feels great but we all know that it's too early to claim victory. The Aztecs and Rome are both extremely dangerous at this point so I have to deal with them personally. Launching a serious offensive across the sea on another continent is going to have its challenges. Logistics aside, we also have to find a way of entry. Both of my enemies are well entrenched on their continent so I hope I won't need too long to probe for weaknesses.

Spoiler X. And It's Over...For Now :

I'm not impressed with the peace deal but unifying my continent is the main prize. At this point, the Aztecs have yet to make any serious gains against Rome. If anything, the two civs seem to be stuck in a stalemate which's the ideal case. This will give me more time to prepare for my future war. While Rome seems like the easier target, the Aztecs is the bigger threat so I think it makes sense to deal with Montezuma first. Once I defeat the Aztecs soundly, Rome will be facing a very terrifying force indeed.

Well, that's it for our update!

For those wondering why I called this update a finale. In a way, this is the finale. This is my last written update. For future updates, I will be linking my videos of the progress so you can see my slow progress in upcoming massive wars. Let's just say that moving over 70 units each turn take awhile to happen. Who will I attack? You will have to wait to find out!