Diety Game #2: Crowded House
- Thread starter BasketCase
- Start date
Lord Parkin
aka emperor
Meh. You get used to them... I usually play as Babylon, so whenever cultural starts are on (accidentally or not), Persia is always next to me. It's enabled me to learn how to deal with them most efficiently, and to know how they're thinking even before they do. 
BasketCase
Username sez it all
Run for cover, this next update is gonna be VIOLENT.
Note that Rome rebuilt Hispalis all over again after I destroyed it--and that Spain is sending a Settler past Entremont. Looks like Spain needs a spanking as well.
I decide to tell the Spanish to get their intruding aggressive colonialist jack-booted thugs out of my territory or declare war. Then I remember that the troops who have been acting like intruding aggressive colonialist jack-booted thugs are mostly MY troops, so instead I just tell Spain to get out of my territory or declare war.
Guess what Spain does?
So now I'm at war against everybody on the map who can actually get at me (France and Russia got sent to The Island; they don't count). I had some war weariness a moment ago, but Spain helped me eliminate that. Then I do some eliminating of my own; the Persian troops and Spanish settler in the area are killed. This takes a couple of risky attacks by wounded Mounties, but they succeed.
I hit the F1 key, sort my cities by shields, and switch several to military production.
End of turn. Persia only makes one attack, against one of my wounded Cavalry; his attacking Immortal turns out to be mortal after all. Various other troop movements by the AI's.
Entremont starts rioting for no immediately visible reason.
1620 AD:
Well, there's the reason Entremont got rowdy--Rome founded a city (Viroconium) smack on the only road to the rest of my empire, cutting off the flow of luxuries. Shows you how much damage a Settler can do. I destroy Viroconium immediately to regain control of the road. I also kill off those Ottoman troops that were visible in the very bottom left corner of the previous screenshot. A couple of Knights (one Roman and one Persian) also die. Deciding I need more offensive strength at Entremont, the troops that made those last two attacks are sent to Entremont after they win their fights. I now have 3 Cavalry and my Army stationed there.
1625 AD: Rome sends a stack of six Knights into the area. They head northwest, right past Entremont, ignoring it. I only have one Cavalry in Entremont who is full-health; he avoids the Roman stack and kills a Persian settler/escort pair instead.
Entremont needs a second land route so it doesn't get cut off so easily. I send a stack of workers--a BIG stack--to try and build a second road over the mountains and through the jungle. Naturally, that stack of six Roman Knights goes straight for my worker stack. The Knights can't actually REACH the stack this turn--they have to move through jungle to do it, and end up one tile short--but I guess the lure of twenty workers guarded by one Musketman is just too much to resist.
Persia is willing to give up 200 gold for peace, so I accept.
1630 AD: The minute the game passes the baton back to me, I notice Persia IMMEDIATELY built a city in the same spot Viroconium was built: on that critical road between Entremont and my capital. GAAAAAAHHHH!
There's a little good news to be seen as I discover Steam, and start building railroads. With three stacks of 12 slave workers handy (each stack can railroad flat ground in in one turn), it very quickly gets easier to move new combat units to the front. I can also build the Iron Works at Ephesus.
But things don't get any better than that. I'm able to destroy the stack of Roman Knights, but my workers are forced to retreat to Marathon during the battle. The Romans manage to squeeze in the city of Lugdunum, erasing more of my progress.
I begin looking elsewhere in search of a breakthrough. I notice that taking the Spanish town of Alesia would give me an easier way to build a connecting road. Two Cavalry manage to take the city, but the Spanish counterattack and destroy Alesia next turn. Without a Greek city present to exert its cultural influence, Barcelona makes building a connecting road pretty much impossible. I attack from the other direction, positioning my Army to hit Barcelona from the southeast (so it doesn't have to attack from across the river):
Next turn, the Army attacks, and gives a dismal performance, taking a severe beating in order to kill just one defending Pike. The Army retreats to the woods east of Barcelona, and reaches Entremont next turn.
I use my new railroads to launch a more determined offensive against Barcelona, with seven Cavalry. I send this force south from Marathon, PAST Barcelona, and move them to that tile southeast of the city so they don't have to attack the city from across a river.
This move turns out to be a mistake. Rome comes to Spain's defense, attacking my stack with a pair of Knights and scoring two wins. Then Spain attacks with a longbowman and makes another kill. More bad news is revealed as the AI's play their turns; I've destroyed the city of Lugdunum, but now the PERSIANS have built a city there--and three MORE Persian settlers have been sighted in the area.
And so, after a century of bloody fighting, I've gained very little. While the body count has been stacked heavily in my favor, the ongoing Settler attack is simply relentless.
Oh, and sometime during this knock-down drag-out, France declared war on Russia.
Note that Rome rebuilt Hispalis all over again after I destroyed it--and that Spain is sending a Settler past Entremont. Looks like Spain needs a spanking as well.
I decide to tell the Spanish to get their intruding aggressive colonialist jack-booted thugs out of my territory or declare war. Then I remember that the troops who have been acting like intruding aggressive colonialist jack-booted thugs are mostly MY troops, so instead I just tell Spain to get out of my territory or declare war.
Guess what Spain does?
So now I'm at war against everybody on the map who can actually get at me (France and Russia got sent to The Island; they don't count). I had some war weariness a moment ago, but Spain helped me eliminate that. Then I do some eliminating of my own; the Persian troops and Spanish settler in the area are killed. This takes a couple of risky attacks by wounded Mounties, but they succeed.
I hit the F1 key, sort my cities by shields, and switch several to military production.
End of turn. Persia only makes one attack, against one of my wounded Cavalry; his attacking Immortal turns out to be mortal after all. Various other troop movements by the AI's.
Entremont starts rioting for no immediately visible reason.
1620 AD:
Well, there's the reason Entremont got rowdy--Rome founded a city (Viroconium) smack on the only road to the rest of my empire, cutting off the flow of luxuries. Shows you how much damage a Settler can do. I destroy Viroconium immediately to regain control of the road. I also kill off those Ottoman troops that were visible in the very bottom left corner of the previous screenshot. A couple of Knights (one Roman and one Persian) also die. Deciding I need more offensive strength at Entremont, the troops that made those last two attacks are sent to Entremont after they win their fights. I now have 3 Cavalry and my Army stationed there.
1625 AD: Rome sends a stack of six Knights into the area. They head northwest, right past Entremont, ignoring it. I only have one Cavalry in Entremont who is full-health; he avoids the Roman stack and kills a Persian settler/escort pair instead.
Entremont needs a second land route so it doesn't get cut off so easily. I send a stack of workers--a BIG stack--to try and build a second road over the mountains and through the jungle. Naturally, that stack of six Roman Knights goes straight for my worker stack. The Knights can't actually REACH the stack this turn--they have to move through jungle to do it, and end up one tile short--but I guess the lure of twenty workers guarded by one Musketman is just too much to resist.
Persia is willing to give up 200 gold for peace, so I accept.
1630 AD: The minute the game passes the baton back to me, I notice Persia IMMEDIATELY built a city in the same spot Viroconium was built: on that critical road between Entremont and my capital. GAAAAAAHHHH!
There's a little good news to be seen as I discover Steam, and start building railroads. With three stacks of 12 slave workers handy (each stack can railroad flat ground in in one turn), it very quickly gets easier to move new combat units to the front. I can also build the Iron Works at Ephesus.
But things don't get any better than that. I'm able to destroy the stack of Roman Knights, but my workers are forced to retreat to Marathon during the battle. The Romans manage to squeeze in the city of Lugdunum, erasing more of my progress.
I begin looking elsewhere in search of a breakthrough. I notice that taking the Spanish town of Alesia would give me an easier way to build a connecting road. Two Cavalry manage to take the city, but the Spanish counterattack and destroy Alesia next turn. Without a Greek city present to exert its cultural influence, Barcelona makes building a connecting road pretty much impossible. I attack from the other direction, positioning my Army to hit Barcelona from the southeast (so it doesn't have to attack from across the river):
Next turn, the Army attacks, and gives a dismal performance, taking a severe beating in order to kill just one defending Pike. The Army retreats to the woods east of Barcelona, and reaches Entremont next turn.
I use my new railroads to launch a more determined offensive against Barcelona, with seven Cavalry. I send this force south from Marathon, PAST Barcelona, and move them to that tile southeast of the city so they don't have to attack the city from across a river.
This move turns out to be a mistake. Rome comes to Spain's defense, attacking my stack with a pair of Knights and scoring two wins. Then Spain attacks with a longbowman and makes another kill. More bad news is revealed as the AI's play their turns; I've destroyed the city of Lugdunum, but now the PERSIANS have built a city there--and three MORE Persian settlers have been sighted in the area.
And so, after a century of bloody fighting, I've gained very little. While the body count has been stacked heavily in my favor, the ongoing Settler attack is simply relentless.
Oh, and sometime during this knock-down drag-out, France declared war on Russia.
Lord Parkin
aka emperor
Cool. Maybe you should get some peace agreements going with a few of the AI, to narrow down the immediate field. Then just concentrate on eradicating one or two civs at a time, rather than the whole lot. Things'll go a lot faster that way. 
BasketCase
Username sez it all
Actually, as the number of civs drops, the map seems to be getting messier. My war against the Zulus was a lot cleaner than this.
I may end up having to just start building settlers.
Quick addenum, by the way:
I get a lucky break when my four remaining Cavalry manage to destroy Barcelona. My three surviving Cavalry, all wounded, run like hell for safety. Well, two of them run--I accidentally hit the space bar with the third one, leaving him standing there, red-lined and with three royally pissed-off enemy units right next to him.
So I've made a little progress on the southern edge of the battle area.
I may end up having to just start building settlers.
Quick addenum, by the way:
I get a lucky break when my four remaining Cavalry manage to destroy Barcelona. My three surviving Cavalry, all wounded, run like hell for safety. Well, two of them run--I accidentally hit the space bar with the third one, leaving him standing there, red-lined and with three royally pissed-off enemy units right next to him.
So I've made a little progress on the southern edge of the battle area.
Ansar
Détente avec l'été
Minimap time.
I cant believe that OCC vs OCC is happening.
I cant believe that OCC vs OCC is happening.
Toshiro126
Warlord
Great story, as usual. Can't wait to see how it all turns out. 
Desertsnow
πr²
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2004
- Messages
- 1,794
Excellent story, Basket. I've been laughing my arse off all along 
BasketCase
Username sez it all
@AnsarKing: see previous minimap and chop off one white dot from the left side of Spanish territory. That's about the only difference.
DvD-IT
Busy Legionary
yea you should definitely try a settler strategy, or keep the cities you conquer for a while until you will secure the defense there.
Great story anyway!
Great story anyway!
Lord Parkin
aka emperor
It's probably because your front is now so large.BasketCase said:Actually, as the number of civs drops, the map seems to be getting messier. My war against the Zulus was a lot cleaner than this.
With the Zulu, you had a nice chokepoint through which you had to naturally concentrate your forces. Now, you're having to spread them over a very wide area, and thus they're less effective. May be a good idea for a few turns, just to stop the AI settler rush into any neutral land whatsoever. Might be a good idea also to have a few spare settlers always hanging around to move in instantly as soon as you destroy a town.BasketCase said:
Bugger, I hate it when that happens eh!!!BasketCase said:
BasketCase
Username sez it all
Whew! I'm gonna need a rest after tonight's play session! Big action.
1680 AD: Entremont finishes its Marketplace, and I regain my 100% approval rating.
Persia complains at me about my troops near one of their tiny hole-in-the-wall cities. I tell them to shove it. Errrr....gee, it seems Persia and I are suddenly at war again. I'm quivering in my boots. Mostly with anticipation at the thought of another chance to shred the Persian military the way a combine harvester shreds overripe wheat. Right away, Persia sends a strong force of Knights my way, and the festivities begin. Something about this game just has me really steamed and wanting to REALLY beat the stuffing out of the AI's. Of course, I have no idea how I'm gonna top that previous game--half the planet got nuked.....
I finish Electricity and need 9 turns to research Replaceable Parts. A stack of 12 workers gets a road built in the hills a few tiles west of Entremont, and that road immediately proves its value; enemy forces have been routinely taking the southern roads in an attempt to get at all these enticing stacks of workers, and the new road allows my troops at Entremont to hit them very effectively. Still, I get careless a couple of times and lose six workers in two AI raids.
In 1690 AD, the RNG turns around and hands me a HUGE bennie: a leader is spawned near Marathon! I immediately use him to build an Army. That's not actually the bennie. The bennie is that I get a second leader the very next turn.
Wow.
So I build another Army--giving me three. I load my two cavalry units that recently spawned leaders into one of those armies (those units can't spawn leaders any more, so no loss) and this Army proves its worth right away, eating a stack of three Persian knights for breakfast with room to spare.
Rome sends another raiding galley at me--and for once I'm ready, sinking it with a frigate BEFORE it can land any troops next to my capital. Various AI's have gotten away with that trick again and again and again over the ENTIRE course of the game, and it's only now that I finally put the defenses in place to stop it. Delphi is my main (well, my only) naval producer, building a frigate every five turns.
Spain builds a new city where Barcelona was. Another Ottoman settler appears in the area.
War weariness finally begins to show up in 1725 AD, after something like two centuries of constant warfare against practically everybody. I turn up the luxury slider a notch for absolutely no reason other than to keep my 100% approval.
I finish Replaceable Parts! My workers start building those railroads twice as fast, and my Musketmen start ditching the antique weapons and fancy plumed hats for dungarees and much better guns. The new gear ain't pretty, but it does the job three times as well.
I start researching Scientific Method. My next goal is tanks; Scientific Method is required to get tanks; building Theory of Evolution will get me to tanks faster. That's my logic here. Factories aren't a high priority, since I'm planning to just avoid pollution completely this game. Max city size 12, no factories. Well, hey--the Greeks ARE green, ya know.
I compare various cities in search of a good site for building the Military Academy. Big production is a good idea--that is, after the thing is built. My empire has hooked up all the railroads needed for effective military transport, but is still working on railroads for economy. Doomville has the best production at the moment, but is almost fully railroaded up.
Since Paris is producing almost as many shields and has fewer railroad tiles, it actually looks like it will be a better choice in the long run.
So Paris gets the Military Academy.
In 1740, the tide of war begins to take a definite turn for the better. Having three Armies instead of one turns out to be a big help, not just for cracking enemy strongpoints such as cities, but because they're chewing up twice as many enemy units in the same amount of fight-retreat-recuperate time. Having Infantry covering the principal lines of attack by enemy troops is another big help; their presence in the computer's favorite hills and mountains forces them into jungle and grass tiles, reducing their defense. There's combat every single turn, with me doing most of the attacking. And as the bodies stack up, my attacks become more and more savage. I even start using my Infantry units on the offense, hoping to promote a few to Elite for defending those extra-special map locations. A single Infantry now renders my worker stack south of Marathon impregnable; the computer avoids attacking it, and I'm able to start building a railroad to Entremont with no further interference.
As if in response to my new defenses in the mountains east of Marathon, every AI on the map seems to shift its forces southwards in an effort to find a hole. Meanwhile, their casualties mount. My workers finish the rail line to Entremont, and a big pile of workers (15) that were trapped in that city by the fighting are immediately deported by rail to the core of the Greek Republic and put to work.
A quick snapshot of the Greek Republic:
Northwest
Northeast
Southwest
South
Southeast
The red arrows show the paths the AI troops have been using (almost always sticking exactly to the red arrows).
1680 AD: Entremont finishes its Marketplace, and I regain my 100% approval rating.
Persia complains at me about my troops near one of their tiny hole-in-the-wall cities. I tell them to shove it. Errrr....gee, it seems Persia and I are suddenly at war again. I'm quivering in my boots. Mostly with anticipation at the thought of another chance to shred the Persian military the way a combine harvester shreds overripe wheat. Right away, Persia sends a strong force of Knights my way, and the festivities begin. Something about this game just has me really steamed and wanting to REALLY beat the stuffing out of the AI's. Of course, I have no idea how I'm gonna top that previous game--half the planet got nuked.....
I finish Electricity and need 9 turns to research Replaceable Parts. A stack of 12 workers gets a road built in the hills a few tiles west of Entremont, and that road immediately proves its value; enemy forces have been routinely taking the southern roads in an attempt to get at all these enticing stacks of workers, and the new road allows my troops at Entremont to hit them very effectively. Still, I get careless a couple of times and lose six workers in two AI raids.
In 1690 AD, the RNG turns around and hands me a HUGE bennie: a leader is spawned near Marathon! I immediately use him to build an Army. That's not actually the bennie. The bennie is that I get a second leader the very next turn.
Wow.
So I build another Army--giving me three. I load my two cavalry units that recently spawned leaders into one of those armies (those units can't spawn leaders any more, so no loss) and this Army proves its worth right away, eating a stack of three Persian knights for breakfast with room to spare.
Rome sends another raiding galley at me--and for once I'm ready, sinking it with a frigate BEFORE it can land any troops next to my capital. Various AI's have gotten away with that trick again and again and again over the ENTIRE course of the game, and it's only now that I finally put the defenses in place to stop it. Delphi is my main (well, my only) naval producer, building a frigate every five turns.
Spain builds a new city where Barcelona was. Another Ottoman settler appears in the area.
War weariness finally begins to show up in 1725 AD, after something like two centuries of constant warfare against practically everybody. I turn up the luxury slider a notch for absolutely no reason other than to keep my 100% approval.
I finish Replaceable Parts! My workers start building those railroads twice as fast, and my Musketmen start ditching the antique weapons and fancy plumed hats for dungarees and much better guns. The new gear ain't pretty, but it does the job three times as well.
I start researching Scientific Method. My next goal is tanks; Scientific Method is required to get tanks; building Theory of Evolution will get me to tanks faster. That's my logic here. Factories aren't a high priority, since I'm planning to just avoid pollution completely this game. Max city size 12, no factories. Well, hey--the Greeks ARE green, ya know.
I compare various cities in search of a good site for building the Military Academy. Big production is a good idea--that is, after the thing is built. My empire has hooked up all the railroads needed for effective military transport, but is still working on railroads for economy. Doomville has the best production at the moment, but is almost fully railroaded up.
Since Paris is producing almost as many shields and has fewer railroad tiles, it actually looks like it will be a better choice in the long run.
So Paris gets the Military Academy.
In 1740, the tide of war begins to take a definite turn for the better. Having three Armies instead of one turns out to be a big help, not just for cracking enemy strongpoints such as cities, but because they're chewing up twice as many enemy units in the same amount of fight-retreat-recuperate time. Having Infantry covering the principal lines of attack by enemy troops is another big help; their presence in the computer's favorite hills and mountains forces them into jungle and grass tiles, reducing their defense. There's combat every single turn, with me doing most of the attacking. And as the bodies stack up, my attacks become more and more savage. I even start using my Infantry units on the offense, hoping to promote a few to Elite for defending those extra-special map locations. A single Infantry now renders my worker stack south of Marathon impregnable; the computer avoids attacking it, and I'm able to start building a railroad to Entremont with no further interference.
As if in response to my new defenses in the mountains east of Marathon, every AI on the map seems to shift its forces southwards in an effort to find a hole. Meanwhile, their casualties mount. My workers finish the rail line to Entremont, and a big pile of workers (15) that were trapped in that city by the fighting are immediately deported by rail to the core of the Greek Republic and put to work.
A quick snapshot of the Greek Republic:
Northwest
Northeast
Southwest
South
Southeast
The red arrows show the paths the AI troops have been using (almost always sticking exactly to the red arrows).
Lord Parkin
aka emperor
Wow, what luck!!! Two leaders in a row... finally, the RNG has mercy on you, BasketCase!!!
Globetrotter
...wherever i may roam...
Nice shots there! Guess it's time you start using Combat Settlers (settle near enemy cities to provide an advanced outpost and claim half their lands, then attack these enemy cities and raze them!)
Me-262
playing my guitar loud
Keep going BasketCase.I luv the story and your doing very well. 
