DMAW04 - A Testing War

I think we may want to shave 1/4 off the stack and join it to the second stack. The game would proceed faster if we have multiple stack running.

Got it, I would try to play today.

--
I agree. Although, just shave the pikes and maces and leave the knights. The other stack I mentioned is mostly knights and cannons at this point.
 
We got an engineer in Beijing early in my turnset ...

DMAW4-AD1740-engineer.jpg

He is still there :crazyeye: Suggest rushing the ironworks ... somewhere.

We also got two stupid events :gripe:

DMAW4-AD1742-stupid-event.jpg


DMAW4-AD1756-stupid-event.jpg

I hate these events.

After some fierce battles (a CG3 Longbow isn't that easy to get rid off), we captured Damascus.

DMAW4-AD1744-Damascus.jpg

I kept it as Ozzy suggested and the remaining trebs and cats are all upgraded. Made a stupid mistake of moving off a small stack to Egypt ... it may not be enough to take it.

DMAW4-AD1760-atk-forces1.jpg

Nevertheless, we still have to leave sufficient forces if we intend to keep Damascus under our control. Meanwhile suggest the next player ot move more knights to Alexandria while the cannons tear down the defence. Use the roads in the no-man land to the west of Damacus, may save us a turn of movement.

The second stack has moved off and razed Hanover.

DMAW4-1754-Hanover.jpg

These AIs are replacing the cities razed faster than we can raze them :aargh:

The second stack is now outside German border ready to go in.

DMAW4-AD1760-atk-forces2.jpg

I think I made a mistake in the screenshot. The forces indicated in the above picture should not be the second stack outside German border, but the stack outside Alexandria.

On the home front, someone think it is a good idea to build mines outside of any cities' BFC. It is actually a waste of time, as these mines has no effect whatsoever (not even popping a metal, as resource pop will only occur in worked mines). So I get all the workers to the front lines chopping away forests and jungles. Someone also think adding unoccupied forts in open space is a good idea. Well, I disagree, and these forts were pillaged. They only serve to give protection to enemy if they are not occupied by us. Instead, the correct thing to do is to chop away forest surrounding our occupied forts. This will force approaching stack to be out in the open for us to attack.

Some red faces are appearing, due to our casualties. Time to apply the whip and get some banks running.


Spoiler :
Logging by BUG Mod 2.11 (BtS 3.13)
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Turn 380/750 (1740 AD) [10-Nov-2007 22:54:25]
Archimedes (Great Engineer) born in Beijing
Gondar finishes: Knight
Ecbatana grows: 12

IBT:
Civics Change: Hatshepsut(Egypt) from 'Hereditary Rule' to 'Representation'

Turn 381/750 (1742 AD) [10-Nov-2007 22:58:16]
Gondar begins: Cannon (10 turns)
A Fort was destroyed
A Fort was destroyed by Persian Knight
A Fort was destroyed
A Fort was destroyed by Persian Knight
The whip was applied in Persepolis
Persepolis grows: 15
A Town was built near Pasargadae

IBT:

Turn 382/750 (1744 AD) [10-Nov-2007 23:01:15]
While attacking in Arabian territory at Damascus, Knight loses to: Arabian Longbowman (0.90/6) (Prob Victory: 20.5%)
While attacking in Arabian territory at Damascus, Knight loses to: Arabian Longbowman (4.98/6) (Prob Victory: 24.3%)
While attacking in Arabian territory at Damascus, Trebuchet loses to: Arabian Longbowman (1.86/6) (Prob Victory: 5.4%)
While attacking in Arabian territory at Damascus, Catapult loses to: Arabian Crossbowman (1.50/6) (Prob Victory: 61.5%)
While attacking in Arabian territory at Damascus, Maceman defeats (6.40/8): Arabian Longbowman (Prob Victory: 96.9%)
While attacking in Arabian territory at Damascus, Maceman defeats (8.00/8): Arabian Catapult (Prob Victory: 99.4%)
While attacking in Arabian territory at Damascus, Maceman defeats (8.00/8): Arabian Crossbowman (Prob Victory: 100.0%)
While attacking in Arabian territory at Damascus, Maceman defeats (8.00/8): Arabian Pikeman (Prob Victory: 100.0%)
While attacking in Arabian territory at Damascus, Maceman defeats (8.00/8): Arabian Pikeman (Prob Victory: 100.0%)
While attacking in Arabian territory at Damascus, Maceman defeats (6.72/8): Arabian Crossbowman (Prob Victory: 100.0%)
While attacking in Arabian territory at Damascus, Maceman defeats (8.00/8): Arabian Longbowman (Prob Victory: 99.9%)
While attacking in Arabian territory at Damascus, Knight defeats (10.00/10): Arabian Pikeman (Prob Victory: 100.0%)
While attacking in Arabian territory at Damascus, Knight defeats (6.80/10): Arabian Maceman (Prob Victory: 100.0%)
While attacking in Arabian territory at Damascus, Knight defeats (10.00/10): Arabian Camel Archer (Prob Victory: 100.0%)
Christianity has spread: Damascus
Hinduism has spread: Damascus
Captured Damascus (Saladin)
Damascus begins: Courthouse (181 turns)
A Mine was built
A Mine was built
A Fort was destroyed
A Fort was destroyed by Persian Knight
Persepolis finishes: Knight
A Village was built near Pasargadae
Ecbatana finishes: Cannon
Aksum finishes: Knight

IBT:

Turn 383/750 (1746 AD) [10-Nov-2007 23:14:38]
Persepolis begins: Cannon (4 turns)
Ecbatana begins: Cannon (10 turns)
Aksum begins: Knight (5 turns)
A Mine was built
Beijing begins: Bank (15 turns)
Cannon promoted: City Raider I
While attacking in Persian territory near Ecbatana, Knight defeats (10.00/10): Egyptian Horse Archer (Prob Victory: 99.9%)
While attacking in Persian territory near Ecbatana, Knight defeats (8.60/10): Egyptian Horse Archer (Prob Victory: 99.8%)
While attacking in Persian territory near Ecbatana, Knight defeats (4.90/10): Egyptian War Elephant (Prob Victory: 99.7%)
While attacking in Persian territory near Ecbatana, Knight defeats (8.70/10): Egyptian War Chariot (Prob Victory: 99.9%)
While attacking in Persian territory near Ecbatana, Knight defeats (10.00/10): Egyptian War Elephant (Prob Victory: 100.0%)

IBT:

Turn 384/750 (1748 AD) [10-Nov-2007 23:20:49]
While attacking in Persian territory near Ecbatana, Knight 1 of Gondar (Knight) defeats (10.00/10): Egyptian Horse Archer (Prob Victory: 100.0%)
Pasargadae finishes: Cannon
A Hamlet was built near Aksum
Tarsus finishes: Cannon

IBT:

Turn 385/750 (1750 AD) [10-Nov-2007 23:24:40]
Pasargadae begins: Maceman (8 turns)
Tarsus begins: Maceman (4 turns)
A Mine was built
Susa finishes: Cannon
A Village was built near Ecbatana
A Hamlet was built near Ecbatana

IBT:

Turn 386/750 (1752 AD) [10-Nov-2007 23:26:43]
Susa begins: Pikeman (4 turns)
While attacking in Persian territory at Damascus, Pikeman defeats (2.16/6): Arabian Camel Archer (Prob Victory: 89.8%)
Knight promoted: Combat III
While attacking in Persian territory at Damascus, Knight defeats (4.90/10): Arabian Camel Archer (Prob Victory: 79.5%)
While attacking in Persian territory at Damascus, Knight defeats (3.20/10): Arabian Camel Archer (Prob Victory: 75.1%)
Persepolis finishes: Cannon
A Hamlet was built near Susa
A Town was built near Ecbatana
Aksum finishes: Knight

IBT:

Turn 387/750 (1754 AD) [10-Nov-2007 23:32:06]
Persepolis begins: Bank (8 turns)
Aksum begins: Knight (5 turns)
Maceman promoted: City Raider III
Cannon promoted: City Raider I
Cannon promoted: City Raider II
Cannon 1 of Ecbatana (Cannon) promoted: City Raider I
Cannon 1 of Ecbatana (Cannon) promoted: City Raider II
Cannon promoted: City Raider I
Cannon promoted: City Raider II
Cannon promoted: City Raider III
Cannon promoted: Barrage I
While attacking in German territory at Hanover, Knight defeats (10.00/10): German Pikeman (Prob Victory: 96.1%)
Maceman promoted: City Raider I
While attacking in German territory at Hanover, Maceman defeats (1.28/8): German Crossbowman (Prob Victory: 68.7%)
While attacking in German territory at Hanover, Knight 1 of Gondar (Knight) defeats (7.00/10): German Crossbowman (Prob Victory: 99.4%)
While attacking in German territory at Hanover, Knight 2 of Persepolis (Knight) defeats (6.40/10): German Trebuchet (Prob Victory: 99.9%)
While attacking in German territory at Hanover, Knight defeats (10.00/10): German Crossbowman (Prob Victory: 99.9%)
While attacking in German territory at Hanover, Maceman defeats (6.48/8): German Crossbowman (Prob Victory: 95.8%)
While attacking in German territory at Hanover, Knight defeats (6.60/10): German Longbowman (Prob Victory: 100.0%)
While attacking in German territory at Hanover, Knight defeats (10.00/10): German Longbowman (Prob Victory: 100.0%)
While attacking in German territory at Hanover, Knight defeats (10.00/10): German Longbowman (Prob Victory: 100.0%)
While attacking in German territory at Hanover, Knight defeats (10.00/10): German Maceman (Prob Victory: 100.0%)
Captured Hanover (Bismarck)
Razed Hanover
Hanover lost
The whip was applied in Beijing
Beijing grows: 13
Beijing finishes: Bank
Susa grows: 14
A Village was built near Tarsus

IBT:
While defending in Persian territory at Damascus, Knight defeats (6.40/10): Arabian Trebuchet (Prob Victory: 61.9%)
While defending in Persian territory at Damascus, Maceman defeats (6.80/8): Arabian Maceman (Prob Victory: 96.4%)
While defending in Persian territory at Damascus, Pikeman defeats (0.72/6): Arabian Camel Archer (Prob Victory: 78.3%)
While defending in Persian territory at Damascus, Pikeman defeats (6.00/6): Arabian War Elephant (Prob Victory: 95.6%)
While defending in Persian territory at Damascus, Pikeman defeats (6.00/6): Arabian War Elephant (Prob Victory: 95.6%)
While defending in Persian territory at Damascus, Knight defeats (10.00/10): Arabian Maceman (Prob Victory: 96.0%)
While defending in Persian territory at Damascus, Knight defeats (4.40/10): Arabian Crossbowman (Prob Victory: 99.1%)
While defending in Persian territory at Damascus, Pikeman defeats (3.30/6): Arabian War Elephant (Prob Victory: 95.6%)
While defending in Persian territory at Damascus, Maceman defeats (6.32/8): Arabian Trebuchet (Prob Victory: 99.8%)
While defending in Persian territory at Damascus, Knight defeats (7.40/10): Arabian Crossbowman (Prob Victory: 97.6%)
While defending in Persian territory at Damascus, Maceman defeats (1.36/8): Arabian Camel Archer (Prob Victory: 51.7%)

Turn 388/750 (1756 AD) [10-Nov-2007 23:43:55]
Pikeman promoted: Combat II
While attacking in Persian territory at Damascus, Pikeman defeats (4.20/6): Arabian War Elephant (Prob Victory: 95.8%)
While attacking in Persian territory at Damascus, Knight defeats (10.00/10): Arabian Trebuchet (Prob Victory: 100.0%)
While attacking in the wild near Bremen, Crossbowman defeats (2.94/6): German Pikeman (Prob Victory: 82.1%)
Maceman promoted: City Raider II
Maceman promoted: Medic II
Knight 2 of Persepolis (Knight) promoted: Combat I
Knight promoted: Combat I
Cannon 1 of Ecbatana (Cannon) promoted: City Raider III
Persepolis grows: 16
Beijing finishes: Cannon
A Village was built near Susa
A Hamlet was built near Aksum
Tarsus finishes: Maceman

IBT:
While defending in the wild near Bremen, Crossbowman loses to: Arabian Camel Archer (8.50/10) (Prob Victory: 0.1%)
Civics Change: Saladin(Arabia) from 'Decentralization' to 'Mercantilism'

Turn 389/750 (1758 AD) [10-Nov-2007 23:51:12]
Beijing begins: Pikeman (5 turns)
Tarsus begins: Market (10 turns)
While attacking in Persian territory near Ecbatana, Knight defeats (4.90/10): Arabian Camel Archer (Prob Victory: 87.9%)
While attacking in Persian territory at Damascus, Knight defeats (10.00/10): Egyptian Horse Archer (Prob Victory: 100.0%)
Susa finishes: Pikeman
A Town was built near Susa
Gondar finishes: Cannon

IBT:
While defending in Egyptian territory near Muscat, Knight defeats (8.90/10): Egyptian Trebuchet (Prob Victory: 99.9%)
While defending in Egyptian territory near Muscat, Cannon defeats (12.00/12): Egyptian Trebuchet (Prob Victory: 99.9%)
While defending in Egyptian territory near Muscat, Cannon defeats (12.00/12): Egyptian Trebuchet (Prob Victory: 99.9%)
While defending in Egyptian territory near Muscat, Pikeman defeats (4.32/6): Egyptian Horse Archer (Prob Victory: 98.9%)
While defending in Egyptian territory near Muscat, Pikeman defeats (1.68/6): Egyptian War Elephant (Prob Victory: 80.6%)
While defending in Egyptian territory near Muscat, Knight defeats (8.00/10): Egyptian Crossbowman (Prob Victory: 97.4%)

Turn 390/750 (1760 AD) [10-Nov-2007 23:56:01]
Susa begins: Cannon (6 turns)
Gondar begins: Bank (19 turns)
While attacking in Persian territory near Ecbatana, Knight defeats (10.00/10): Arabian Camel Archer (Prob Victory: 100.0%)
Knight promoted: Combat IV
 
On the home front, someone think it is a good idea to build mines outside of any cities' BFC. It is actually a waste of time, as these mines has no effect whatsoever (not even popping a metal, as resource pop will only occur in worked mines).
That would be me. Really? I didn't know about that resource popping issue, although I seem to recall having resources popped on tiles outside my bfc before. I only remember because I always gripe about it when it happened :p
 
I'm sorry abuot the wait, I've got it now - it helps I've got this week off my Uni work :D. Since Conroe hasn't posted, I'll take this one for tonight/tomorrow morning.
 
We got an engineer in Beijing early in my turnset ...
He is still there :crazyeye: Suggest rushing the ironworks ... somewhere.
I like the idea of using our newest GE to rush the IronWorks. It'll only be a 50% bonus since we don't yet have coal. Any suggestions on where we should build it? I'd say either our capital or Beijing.
 
I suggest a city close to the war front to our troops can :hammer: faster
 
OK, here goes 10 turns from Turns 390 - 400

So after ending the turn, I hurried the IronWorks in Beijing. This was a good city for several reasons:
+ Close to front lines
+ Lots of :health: to offset the unhealthiness from IW
+ Has lots of food to allow use of the 3 extra engineer specialists from IW
+ Has two Great Mil. Instructors, so perfect for building units with high initial XP

SS.JPG

This turn (or the next, I forget which :crazyeye:) I captured a German city just outside our borders, a couple squares east of Dortmund, which I think had the name Bremen.

Turn 392 left our economy in a slightly worse state than before, since Hattie has changed to Emancipation civic, and our citizens want it too....:rolleyes:

Also, funnily enough, there seems to be less troops in Alexandria...maybe they are frightened? I don't blame them:

SS1.JPG

SS2.JPG

Then I got this tiny city next turn:
SS3.JPG


Turn 394 brought us this minor gift:
SS4.JPG

Then, after some positioning of troops and battering of walls, I take Dortmund next turn, getting a GG in the process:
SS5.JPG

This turn (395) Military Science was also discovered, and I have moved on to Paper in the hope of getting Printing Press for a great economy boost.

Turn 396 - Here's Memphis - should be easy enough next turn (why so little defense?!)
SS6.JPG


Turn 397 - Memphis is captured and razed:
SS8.JPG

Then I build a Military Academy in Beijing, just to make it an even more powerful military city.
SS7.JPG

It turned into this monster production city:
SS11.JPG

In the following turns I capture and raze a couple more cities

I used a small stack of CR2/3 Grenadiers to take this city:
SS10.JPG

And a few units from our 'German stack' to take this one:
SS9.JPG

Then a small stack to take this German city:
SS12.JPG

Paper was discovered in turn 399, and research on the Printing Press was begun.

So, here's the situation on the Egyptian front, with Thebes being the next target:
SS14.JPG

Now the situation on the German front, and I think that these could be their final two cities!
SS13.JPG


The scores:
SS15.JPG


On a negative note, our economy isn't doing so good. We are living on the gold pillaged from the cities we capture, and this should be a good source of income for many turns to come (expecially with some of the big cities that are going to go in the next few turns). We do need some banks/apothecaries, and some cities have started on these and could be whipped when the next player feels it is right. Our net income is -53 gold/turn. Emancipation is responsible for this, as is the increasing war weariness.

On a much more positive note, we are not far from a conquest victory, and I think that if we don't do anything stupid (which won't happen with any of us ;) ) then victory is imminent.

From the demographics, I can make an estimate of how far we have to go.

Land Area
Us: 284k
Best: 107k (Saladin, 13% of total land area)
Average: 76k
Worst: 44k (Germans I think)

Which means the civs have the following amount of land:
Saladin: 107 squares
Hattie: 77 (+/- 1) squares
Bismark: 44 squares

OK - take it from there!
 

Attachments

Looks like I'm up. Excellent :hammer: there, James!

and I think that if we don't do anything stupid (which won't happen with any of us ;) ) then victory is imminent.
I wouldn't be so sure. I'm usually good for 1 or 2 weedy moves every game. And I think I might be overdue in this game. :ack: Of course, I did talk Oz out of building that wonder that grants 2 happy faces in every city. :shifty:
 
Looks like I'm up. Excellent :hammer: there, James!

I wouldn't be so sure. I'm usually good for 1 or 2 weedy moves every game. And I think I might be overdue in this game. :ack: Of course, I did talk Oz out of building that wonder that grants 2 happy faces in every city. :shifty:

Thanks Conroe - I know what you mean, I'm only a Noble player myself, although I'm possibly moving up a level to Prince. However, we've all been doing good turnsets. I actually didn't think this was possible to win until recently. I'm a more cautious player, and a builder, so this all out war is a little out of my realm (that's probably a similar case for some of you).

Well done Jamesds. A nice lot of razing there.

It does look like we've got this one won but you never know...

Thanks Ozbenno, and yes, you never know! However, even just looking at our soldiers and power graphs convinces me that we should have the victory here. If I remember right, we have approx 700k soldiers, whilst the civ with the largest number of soldiers has around 300-400k. Overall, I think the total power of rival civs is equal to our own power, which is a vast improvement to what it was earlier in the game, where we had to fight to get an edge.

So, let's be encouraged by that fact whilst still keeping that edge, and constantly increasing it until victory is imminent. Let's keep the pressure on the AI - don't ease up the pressure!
 
I actually didn't think this was possible to win until recently.

After the original panic of Charlie being so close and possibly starting with a warrior, I knew this was a very winnable game, especially after we dusted 3 AIs so quickly. Doesn't mean we were going to win, just that we had put ourselves into a winning position.
 
Wow, the previous reports weren't kidding about the war weariness being bad. :eek: We've got 6 angry citizens in our capital. All but 2 of our cities are starving.

dmaw041780adangernl2.jpg


My first thought was to revolt to police state for the 50% reduction in war weariness. But then I noticed that we don't yet have the culture slider. :crazyeye: We've yet to research Drama. I also note that we have accumulated the most war weariness with Saladin. Bismark is giving us the least number of angry citizens. But since he is down to his last 2 cities, that weariness will go away once he is eliminated.

dmaw041780adwarwearinesao2.jpg


By far, though, the greatest amount of war weariness is undoubtedly coming from Egypt. They have built the Statue of Zeus in Thebes. Fortunately, James has left a considerable stack just outside of the gates of the Egyptian capital. Our own cities should be looking much better once that city is razed.

dmaw041780adstatuezuesdc0.jpg


Thus I have formed my gameplan. Raze the SoZ city of Thebes and eliminate the Germans! We start losing population in 4 turns. So that is how long I have to do it in. I also decide to switch our research. While I firmly believe that Printing Press is a good tech for us, I think we have more critical techs to research first. I switch us to Aesthetics and Drama.

I also noticed that we were building a lot of Banks, Markets, and Grocers. Only 1 city was building troops. :confused: Quite odd for an AW game, if you ask me. Anyways, I pulled out my trusty :whipped: and cracked it a few times. It never ceases to amaze me that slavery eases the war weariness, as well.

The last thing that I did before pressing Enter was to fire some of our excess Workers. I brought us down to a more reasonable number of 10 Workers. And then on to battle!

Up first was the German city of Köln ...

dmaw041782adcolognebg7.jpg


followed the Egyptian city of Thebes ...

dmaw041786adthebeszm0.jpg


And with the destruction of the Statue of Zeus, my theory on war weariness is proven to be wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong! We lost a grand total of 1 angry face after I razed Thebes. :sad: But fortunately, Drama and the culture slider were soon to be available to us.

Bismark's capital was the next city to be razed ...

dmaw041788adberlinit7.jpg


And since the Germans were still in the game, this meant that Bismark had at least one more city. So much for plan A! At this point, though, Drama came in and I bumped the culture slider up to 10%. I also queued up Theatres in many of our cities. Salvation was finally at hand!

My efforts to prevent the population from starving in our capital turned out to be futile. A slave revolt cost us the population anyway. After the revolt was over, I sent 2 more citizens to their graves by whipping a Theatre. The city was out of food and was going to lose more population anyway.

dmaw041790adslaverevoltjp2.jpg


After Drama completed, I set research back to Printing Press. However, I also turned research completely off to begin accumulating cash for the Grenadier upgrades.

And then it was back to the war ... this time in Arabia. The city of Mansura, built upon a hill, was defended by a pair of CG3 Longbowmen. Ouch. We lost some good troops taking the city, including a CR3 Grenadier.

dmaw041790admansuraic3.jpg


Next up was the German city of Frankfurt ...

dmaw041794adfrankfurtzr1.jpg


Which turned out to be Bismark's last city. The Germans were no more ...

dmaw041794adgermanymz4.jpg


Unfortunately, Bismark did not take much war weariness with him. The culture slider and the Theatres, though, are working well. But those citizens that refuse to be entertained are savagely whipped! ;)

The Egyptian city of Heliopolis was razed next. As this city was on the far end of the map, this stack would see no more battle during my set. They are still marching back towards civilization ...

dmaw041796adheliopolisxx0.jpg


Despite the name, Hamburg is an Arabian city. Or was ... I razed it ...

dmaw041798adhamburgus6.jpg


Immediately followed by another Arab city: Khurasan.

dmaw041798adkhurasanjq5.jpg


And with that, my last turnset in this game comes to an end. This game is over. We have won. We just don't know what year, yet. I'm guessing there are maybe a half dozen cities remaining between the Egyptians and the Arabs. It'll probably take about 10 or 15 turns to finish them off, simply because they are spread out over the map.

I built a couple of Spies during my set. The first one was caught just as she crossed the Arabian border. :rolleyes: The other was a bit more useful, but not by much. Overall, a waste of hammers.

Since our forces cut a path through the middle of the map, there are a bunch of barbarians running around in the dark. A lot of them seem to head towards Damascus. We saw no action whatsoever on the borders of our core cities.

I still have research turned off and have accumulated about 1600 gold for upgrades. I didn't do any upgrades, because frankly I wasn't paying enough attention. There is a small stack of troops in Damascus with movement that can be upgraded immediately. Frankly, though, we really don't need the upgrades. Once the Cannons get done with the city defenders, it doesn't take much to take a city.
 

Attachments

After the original panic of Charlie being so close and possibly starting with a warrior, I knew this was a very winnable game, especially after we dusted 3 AIs so quickly. Doesn't mean we were going to win, just that we had put ourselves into a winning position.
Agreed. I was also feeling pretty good about this one after the first 3 civs were taken out.

I started getting nervous, though, when we spent so much time defending our borders. Its hard to win a war when you are on the defensive. I think this map helped us out tremendously, though. We had a fairly narrow choke point to defend, rather than a long border. I think this game could have easily gone the other way if weren't for that. That pause allowed us to recover our economy and then tech ahead of the AI. And by that time, they'd run out of gas slamming into our fortified stacks.
 
Excellent turnset Conroe, we are certain of a win now :D. Your moves to rescue our declining economy are great.
So, who's going to make the winning move? I can see it happening during the 2nd/3rd turnset from now.
 
I started getting nervous, though, when we spent so much time defending our borders. Its hard to win a war when you are on the defensive. ... And by that time, they'd run out of gas slamming into our fortified stacks.

I played lots of AW in Civ3, and those games usually followed a similar pattern; early expansion followed by a period of defensive warware which lasted until the AIs have destroyed their early advantage by suiciding their armies, and I have had enough time to build a big stack with (by now) heavily promoted troops. Then it's razing time. It seems that the strategy works in CIV too.
 
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