Deity - First Attempt

[dalgo]

Once the Germans would talk to me I made peace with them and found I had actually caught them up in technology. The Maya also made peace with Germany but then declared war on the Hittites so I guess they won’t be around much longer. In fact they only lasted a couple of turns and the original 12 civs that had started the game were now down to just 5 – and I was one of them. Then the Russians demanded ivory. I was preparing to fight them soon but if they declared on me first I would get an initial bout of war happiness, so I told them to piss off. Russia duly declared war and – Oh Sh*t!

This is just a small part of the stack of units that crossed into my territory. 21 Cossacks led the way from this stack of 10 guerrillas, 91 infantry, 3 marines and a TOW, but surprisingly no tanks.

I had no choice but to throw everything I had into the front lines. My plan would be to take out the Cossacks first then bombard the main stack of infantry and pack the threatened border town of Exeter with troops. At least it had barracks and a wall. The Russians would either retreat their wounded units or attack anyway. However I had no idea yet where their tanks and bombers were. That lone TOW wasn’t a good sign either.

I attacked with the few cavalry I had for one loss and a new leader. Then my armies accounted for the rest of the Cossacks and I sent in 62 artillery. They damaged the TOW and 42 infantry. There are still a lot left though. I moved 10 armies and a dozen infantry into Exeter along with sundry other units and hit end turn. Well I found out where the bombers were! There were 25 bombing attacks on my border towns, injuring units and unfortunately taking out Exeter’'s barracks. The wounded infantry retreated but the rest stayed put and were reinforced with even more. No Cossacks this time, and still no tanks, but not looking good.

 

[Arexander]

lurker's comment: At least the AI took its role as Mother Russia of endless Infantry supplies seriously.

 

[dalgo]

The battle on the home front was a serious grind so it was a relief to be able to have some success elsewhere. I had left troops in my island town and I used them to capture the neighbouring Russian town, destroying three bombers in the process. I replaced it with my own settler and embarked my victorious troops on to transports to hurry them home where they were sorely needed.

I also made some minor trades with the Maya, Celts and Germany that netted me a lux and gpt that enabled me to put the research slider up to 90%, Motorised Transportation (and tanks) due in 4 turns.

 

[dalgo]

I rushed another barracks in Exeter and bombarded the massive Russian stack beside the town again but I can'’t actually kill any of those units. The bombers returned in force but the newly built barracks in Exeter healed most of my units. The main stack of enemy infantry was still reluctant to attack a well defended town and split up with some retreating to heal, some staying put and some moving on towards my next town. However two very large new stacks containing 100 infantry and guerrillas approached a border town further down my defensive line.

I successfully planted a spy with the Russians and investigated their border town of Staraya Russa. It only had two defenders so I moved artillery into position to bombard them and sent an army across the border to capture the town. This also destroyed three bombers and a jet fighter. My army returned and I abandoned the town allowing my border to expand. The enemy movement had left a smaller stack of 14 units exposed on flat ground and I bombarded them from Exeter and then cleaned them up with my newly healed armies. My artillery also did a lot of damage to a second much larger stack of enemy units. I automatically assumed all those troops were restricted to just a single move as there were no tanks yet, but they had craftily hidden a single mobile SAM in their ranks and it broke away and almost reached an unprotected town!

The bombers continue to be a nuisance and I had to rebuild the barracks in Exeter. The first couple of tanks appeared on the front line but I eliminated them as well as a stack of 23 infantry and guerrillas. Next turn more tanks appeared and some injured enemy troops in my territory had healed – Russia has obviously built the small wonder Battlefield Medicine. I had been expecting their wounded units to retreat but now they can heal in place.

 

[bbrady413]

I must say, this has been an extremely interesting read, and I've learned quite a bit! Thanks for a well narrated difficult game! I'm looking forward to see what will happen next!

 

[dalgo]

When I entered Modern Times in 1590 AD Russia and the Maya were there ahead of me. Russia had one MT tech while the Mayans had all four first level techs and probably several more. They have completed both the United Nations and the Manhattan Project and are currently building SETI, and they have also declared war on the Celts and will probably overrun them. My plan of beating both Russia and the Celts was looking a little ambitious. However I would still like to be able to take control of my own continent.

Russia currently have 166 units in my territory but I am able to do a lot of damage each turn now that my full force of 78 artillery is available, and I have just build my 16th army and am starting to build tanks. However the main problem is their bombers. My fighters are long gone and although I can knock out a few bombers with flak each turn Russia can easily replace them. Most of my own bombers have been shot down by enemy jets and a lot of my front line troops are injured. My border town of Karasjok came under the heaviest attack and lost its barracks, wall and temple to bombers in the same turn and now has four large stacks of enemy units outside the gates.

I used my artillery to bombard several smaller stacks of enemy units and then my armies removed 4 tanks and 26 infantry from my territory. I cash rushed several tanks of my own, and a barracks in Karasjok, and packed my threatened cities with defenders. I also traded resources to Germany for gpt but turned off research for a turn to build up my bank balance.

Again the Russians declined to attack; they just moved their units around and pillaged a few tiles. As long as they do that I can keep whittling their forces down. They used fewer bombers this time too and could only find two tanks to send into my territory. With my own tanks now coming on line I was confident enough to take the initiative. I bombarded the town of Pskov and redlined the four defenders, then took them out with two armies. It was very gratifying to watch the destruction of 7 bombers and a jet fighter.

 

[dalgo]

I captured another Russian border town - and destroyed another 8 bombers. The Russians kept moving their units around without making any attacks and I was able to pick on a couple of stacks each turn and redline every unit. My tanks could then take them out two at a time, getting promoted into the bargain. When an elite tank produced a leader I formed my first tank army, although it is debatable whether that is more useful than four individual tanks.

Convoys of Russian ships kept trying to sail down my coast but they foolishly stayed in artillery range (a battleship is a nice fat target) and I was able to finish them off with bombers and destroyers. Then in a co-ordinated landing a flotilla of Russian ships sailed out of the fog of war and landed a dozen units behind my lines (7 cossacks, 3 infantry and 2 marines). They were the first cossacks I'd seen since the opening day of the war but I wiped them out without any problems. Next turn they landed another 16 units but again they were just target practice for my tanks. Russia was probably producing more military per turn than me but the difference is that they all died whereas I was only losing one or two units each turn.

War weariness increased which slowed my tech progress but I was enjoying putting the Russian army to the sword. I had finally cleared my territory of enemy troops and was able to go on the offensive. I had been getting a good supply of leaders too, including three in one turn, and when I found that the established Russian cities were defended by Mech Infantry I decided that tank armies were definitely a good idea. As well as establishing new towns I could see that I was going to have plenty of jungle clearance work to do; Russia has been very slack with their backyard clean-up.

 

[dalgo]

Russia has a very strong navy headed by carriers and battleships, far too many for me to attack at sea. However I pinged some of them with my artillery and was pleased to see them dock at Larsa for repairs. When I captured that city I destroyed 2 carriers and 6 other warships plus 7 bombers and a jet fighter. Then Russia signed a military Alliance with the Celts against me and that cost me a lux but I made up for it with war happiness. I quickly sent a couple of armies out to the island I shared with the Celts and just as they got there the Mayans landed some tanks and mech infantry. They razed one Celtic town while I captured the other two and resettled them. This gave me full control of the island which may allow me to invade the second continent in the future.

I researched Computers and started building Research Labs, but I could not persuade Germany to do a deal for Rocketry. However when I offered to renegotiate our peace deal they suddenly became more amenable. For Computers they gave me Rocketry, 429 gold, their world map and an alliance against the Celts. I decided to go for Fission before Space Flight to check out the global uranium supply. Russia was still finding plenty of troops to send into my territory and I had to work hard to dispose of them each turn. They were mostly TOW and mech infantry now so my artillery was less effective. Also my main heavy hitters (the tank armies) were elsewhere engaged, razing large Russian cities. While doing so they overran Russia's last rubber resource so hopefully that should mean they can no longer build mech infantry.

I'm getting good at my new found tactic for killing enemy ships. I don't have much of a navy myself as my core cities are inland but I have plenty of artillery (over 100 now). So I bombarded three naval squadrons and then watched as 15 ships (including 3 carriers) docked at Ellipi for repairs. Next turn I captured the town and destroyed all those ships, plus their bombers.

The Battle for Akkad

I was getting into a comfortable routine for dealing to Russian cities. Send in a tank army, which used up two of its moves, then attack the defending mech infantry with its final move. The army had more than enough firepower although often its health bar was reduced into the yellow. Most cities had four defenders so four armies were usually enough. Next turn those armies would return home to heal while others took over, I had a total of 14 tank armies by then. My cavalry armies weren't strong enough for this job (unless I could give them artillery support) and I was mostly using them for defensive work.

Then I came to Akkad: I duly sent in my armies, the first four defeated four mech but there were still more left. After eight attacks I'd defeated eight mech and had run out of tank armies for that turn. Next turn I could start using those armies already at the gate until their health bar was dangerously low, then newly healed tank armies until thankfully the city ran out of mechs and I could use cavalry armies on the remaining TOW and tanks. Altogether it took 25 successful attacks over two turns to subdue Akkad. I've no idea why the Russians considered it so valuable; it was just an uninspiring desert town that had originally been built by the Babylonians.

I certainly hope the remaining Russian cities aren't as strongly defended. Fortunately when I checked with my Military Advisor I found that Russia currently had 129 mech infantry at an average of less than four per city. I was also pleased to see they only had four bombers left

 

[dalgo]

There was a big spike in war weariness so I asked Russia what they would pay for a peace treaty. In spite of the damage I had caused they wouldn't part with a tech but I accepted 1040 gold in reparations. I had given Russia a bloody nose, but no more than that. We had been fighting in occupied territory; originally owned by Babylon. I had only just reached the Russian homeland and their core cities were still intact. With peace they could now re-build their military (and they had found a new source of rubber). Although they were no longer a major threat I couldn't afford to turn my back on them.

However the world leaders were still the Maya. While I had been fighting Russia they had made serious inroads into Celtic territory. Even if I did manage to take over my own continent completely there would not be enough available land on the second continent to complete a Domination victory without taking on the Maya and that would be too tough. I had been able to defeat the Russians by having my core cities churn out military to use on the front lines immediately, and it had still been a very close contest. Fighting a major war on the other side of the world would involve a long supply line and my navy is the weakest part of my game.

This is the world map at 1680 AD, Germany is down to a dozen cities and the Celts are losing badly to the Maya.

When Fission came in I found there were five sources of Uranium on my continent and I had them all. Unfortunately the Maya had plenty too so I couldn't deny them that resource. Russia and the Maya both had Space Flight but they wouldn't trade so I started researching it myself. I can do it in seven turns by cutting into my gold reserve. Another alternative would have been to turn off research completely and build up enough cash to try and steal the technology, but I've never had much luck with that in the past. I also started a pre-build for the Apollo Program although that's wishful thinking as the Maya has already built three Space Ship components.

With my military currently unemployed I decided to at least make a token effort to gain some territory on the second continent. I sent some tank armies out to my island and from there landed beside the nearest Celtic city. It was only defended by infantry so I captured it easily enough but between turns the Mayan juggernaut rolled past and their Modern Armour took out a neighbouring Celtic city. The writing was on the wall so I abandoned the attempt and left the Celts to their fate. With no need for more military and my building program at an end I was able to set all my cities to Wealth and crank up the science rate to 100% in order to research Modern Times techs at six turns apiece. I completed the Apollo Program and the first three Space Ship components but the Maya have a big lead. At least I am still in the game; unlike the Celts.

 

[Lanzelot]

Then Russia signed a military Alliance with the Celts against me and that cost me a lux but I made up for it with war happiness.

No, you don't get war happiness, if an AI declares war of you because of a military alliance or a mutual protection pact!

Fighting a major war on the other side of the world would involve a long supply line and my navy is the weakest part of my game.

Use workers! (I hope you still have a couple dozen workers/slaves left over from the rail-roading phase?) Here is how it works:
- use 50 workers or so to plant 50 airfields in your territory.
- ship one worker over to the Celtic town you captured and plant an airfield next to it. (cash-rushing an airport also works, but why spend so much cash in a crap town that will be lost anyway...)

And voila: you can now fly in 50 units per turn! You will need a few transports for your Armies though.

It looks like the Mayas will win the space race, so your only chance is to capture their capital, before their ship launches. Sign a RoP with them, and when they are at 7-8 SS parts, capture the capital. You will probably lose all your units in the following turn, but the spaceship is destroyed, buying you time to finish your own spaceship at home. (An AI invasion on your continent is not to be feared, unless they are willing to use their ICBMs, then it could become ugly. So have multiple towns working on enough SS part prebuilds.)
While you are at it, you may also want to use a few units for pillaging all relevant Mayan resources on the first turn of war.

I know, it's a dirty trick, but probably the only way to still win the game.

 

[dalgo]

No, you don't get war happiness, if an AI declares war of you because of a military alliance or a mutual protection pact!

I was interested in your comment on war happiness because it is something I know little about. At least with war weariness your citizens tell you when it occurs but there seems to be no equivalent for war happiness.

In this case I had a lux deal with the Celts which I lost when Russia signed an MA with them against me. However I did not get any increase in unhappy citizens so I assumed war happiness was helping out. For instance my capital went from 5 lux to 4 which meant losing three happy faces but in spite of that the mix of happy/content/unhappy stayed almost the same (it actually went from 7/0/4 to 6/1/4). My lux slider was unchanged at 10%.

I'’ll keep in mind your suggestion of using workers for mass airfields for the future, unfortunately in this game I have few units that I can airlift. My military strength lies with 28 armies and 105 artillery. I kind of understand why you can’t airlift armies but why not artillery?

I choose not to use ROP rape in my games, however I have no difficulty with others using it; everyone is entitled to play the game in their own way.

 

[dalgo]

When the Celts left the game I was automatically at war with Germany because our MA still had a couple of turns to run and it had been included with a peace deal. That was unfortunate, not because they posed any threat but I because I was unable to trade. Then I was surprised to hear that Russia had started building the Internet. Hadn't that already been completed? I remembered seeing the message that it had been started by the Maya back when I was fighting for survival. I was rather busy at the time and hadn't taken much notice because I knew how fast they could build wonders. So where were they building it; Leipzig! That is obviously not a Mayan core city. In fact it was a heavily corrupt city they had taken from the Germans. Maybe if I'd chosen a different tech path I could have built the Internet myself instead of building individual Research Labs. I was annoyed at missing out on that possibility as it is one of my favourite wonders because the Labs also give a culture boost for all cities, very useful for a quick border expansion for newly established towns. Not that it would have made any difference to the overall result of the game though.

I researched Nuclear Power and The Laser then traded with Russia for Miniaturization, and started on Robotics. When Germany came to the negotiating table I made peace and took Ecology for Nuclear Power. However the Maya had already completed nine Space Ship parts and started on their last one. Hopefully they are building it in Frankfurt! Russia had actually beaten the Maya to build the Internet and their research speed increased. They knew Satellites and Synthetic Fibres but wouldn't swap either for Robotics so I started to research Superconductor in order to set up a 1 for 2 deal. Amazingly I am only three techs away from completing my Space Ship. My Incas and Russia have built five SS parts each but the Maya are on match point. Germany had lagged behind but I gave them The Laser for some Industrial Age techs, gold and gpt.


And then - of course - the game ended

Bugger. My final score of 7870 placed me 2nd in the world ranking, not bad for a first attempt at Deity I guess. It had actually been a very enjoyable game even though most of the time I was struggling for survival.

 

[Arexander]

Excellent first try, I'd say. Made for an entertaining story too!

 

[bbrady413]

I think Dalgo should make another run at Deity and post a similar story. Not only is the game well narrated, but I enjoyed all of the pictures and maps that are included.

 

[dalgo]

I came back to check this thread after the migration to make sure all my screenshots had survived. They had, but there were a host of extraneous characters added that made the text almost unreadable in places. This is an example:

'I am still three techs away from my own cavalry – and I don’t have any saltpetre, so I’ll have to start the war with what I’ve got.'

I'm not sure when this happened, I haven't visited here for a while, but I went through my posts and edited them.

 

[tyjo]

Really interesting read. Thanks for the story and for so many pictures!

 

[dalgo]

Really interesting read. Thanks for the story and for so many pictures!

Unfortunately those pictures all vanished - replaced by a ransom demand from Photobucket! I have had to go through and replace them all individually (fortunately I'd saved the originals).