Earth 18- Beyond Rome

[Skallagrimson]

Played E18 as Frederick early this morning. Holy crap, my first "easy" win on Immortal!

Woooooooot!

 

[Ignol]

Just a little advice for GK;

Spoiler :

I would advise not invading Japan until you have extremely advanced troops in comparison. Toku just produces unit after unit until he has like a 50 man army in Kyoto. Simply not worth it. Just take the mainland stuff, killing China, and moving into India. It's also smart to reposition your capital, since it's going to be quite spread out in comparison to a conquered empire. GK is a hellish climb to the top, even on the lower levels. I wasn't top dog until nearly 500 AD, at which point I controlled all of SE Asia save Japan, but still lagged behind tech-wise. Tech will be the biggest problem you have as GK. I advise tech trading to be used fully if possible.

 

[vanatteveldt]

Inspired by Neal, I just started two E18 games as germany, one on deity and one on immortal.

In both cases, I settled on the copper, researched IW and chopped an axe army. In the immortal case, the army of 8 or so axemen took rome, paris, madrid, and london. The freaky thing was, madrid and london were guarded by a pair of warriors each. The game was in the bag.

In the deity game, I was totally overrun by the AI and couldn't even get Rome down. The game was lost.

Do other people have the same experience of immortal vs deity? or was I just unlucky in the deity attempt? I like playing E18, but it seems that it is either unwinnable (ie a crap leader at a decent difficulty or a good leader at deity) or cheesy-easy (one level down). What are your experiences?

 

[Lone Wolf]

Currently playing Mongolia, Monarch, Epic, Earth18civs, Kublai instead of Gengis, Raging Barbarians, Aggressive AI, some other changes. Things were pretty grim at first:

Spoiler :

Having modded-in Meiji instead of Tokugawa was good:

Spoiler :

And finally, when the Barbarians where defeated, I managed to capture Beijing and its many wonders:

Spoiler :

And that's how Mongolia looks now:

Spoiler :

Soon it'll be the time for another push into China. Notice that the whole Old World is Taoist.

 

[CHEESE!]

Please put your report in SPOILERS Wolf.

Also could we keep mods to a minimum, this is for the Vanilla scenario.

 

[DMOC]

I basically played Hatshepsut for a few turns. I managed to get a city by copper (a few tiles away from Persepolis) and then backfilled a city. For some reason, I just...stopped playing. I don't know why LOL.

Then I played Rome (yes, sorry) on Immortal, just like the Hatshepsut game. It's about 1800 BC and I've got 8 axes ready to invade Catherine with about 5 others guarding the homeland and 3 others ready to strike soon as well. Catherine only has 3 cities but they're guarded by about 3 archers and 1 warrior each. Spain, France, and Germany have been wiped out. I have 6 cities by this point, and am going for Sailing for the Great Lighthouse. No wonders or Iron Working yet.

If I ever get off my lazy ass and post screenshots, I'll do so (in spoilers of course).

 

[Gooblah]

I will post a non-BTS game, probably Huayna Capac/Monarch/Epic.

My Strategy:

Spoiler :

I'm thinking moving the settler 1 SW to get a Coastal, while keeping the Gold and Corn. Settle two cities quickly - the 2 Corn, 1 Dye site to pump out settlers, and the 2 Copper site to pump out Galleys and Work Boats. Settle Colombia and Venezuela, then Argentina. Brazil and the interior should be left for last, with a large amount of Workers ready.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Also could we keep mods to a minimum, this is for the Vanilla scenario.

Which is not that different from the original Earth18. (Unless changing a few leaders and changing the terrain graphics counts as something game-breakable). So I did keep mods to a minimm.

 

[ComradeVlad]

I like to play as Alex, you can axe rush east or west although i nab the west europe every time because it puts me in first place point wise..

 

[Skallagrimson]

Gave up as America on Immortal...

Spoiler :

...due to axe-rushing attempts at Monty absolutely going nowhere. Full plunders down to bare earth and with two size-1 cities he could still make enough archers and jaguars to keep hold of those cities.

I plan to try again with a "policy of containment", starting with a plunder-rush, keep his two cities under siege with a skeleton crew, suppressed rather than killed, and meanwhile try to settle a few cities into the midwest, get some economy rolling, and establish trade with Huayna Capac. With any luck he'll be a different religion than Monty or else I'll have to beeline contact with Europe for trade routes.

 

[DMOC]

So I continued playing my Rome game on Immortal difficulty and epic speed. I played to 25 AD. Screenshots below:

Spoiler :

Overview

Closer view of Europe.

My plan is to go after Alex next. I can still use praets with catapults for this war.

 

[Jarbo]

I just finished a very fun game with Spain, where I eschewed the "rush everyone (or anyone for that matter) in Europe" strategy completely and still won!

Issabella/Monarch/Epic:

Spoiler :

Moved over East one or two spaces for first city (you can tell where to go because of the resources) to grant water access, took advantage of Mysticism to get first early religion, which spread to rest of Europe except Russia and Greece as Arabs founded other early religion. Actually sent a few missionaries to ensure the religion stuck as Hinduism was beginning to spread and I was afraid Italy and Germany would flip on me, so I converted a few of their secondary cities. Generally tried to keep good relations with other local powers with trade and open borders, and out of their wars.

Built an early galley and founded second city in about Tunisia to make sure Rome or Egypt didn't move there, and then third city right where Atlantic and Mediterranian Sea meet (which recaptured a resource or two I lost in Iberia by moving Madrid east). Then I just put some emphasis on culture buildings to keep the borders stable, built up a modest deterrent defense, sent a missionary to Mansa who was still without religion to keep him peaceful, and got some good tech trades from Mansa as well.

During this time, I was peaceful with my neighbors. I did get war declared once by Mongolia for some odd reason who managed to actually get a stack to Madrid through open borders which my archers handled nicely, and once by Persia who never attacked. (This was the scary part, as Persia was by far the leader, with an empire stretching from Siberia to Vietnam, but Persia was in more or less perma-war with Russia, China and India so it never had a chance to attack me.) There were various unimportant wars in the area, the only notable one being Russia taking Paris and eliminating the French, the only elimination the entire game. My little three city empire was fairly competitive in tech and my overall was just enough to put me in the top third.

I didn't completely beeline it, but I did reach Astronomy well before everyone else, so I was able to implement my strategy from the beginning: South American Dominance!

My earlier caravel and explorer (I got the first caravel too, and of course circumnavigation bonus thereafter) confirmed what almost always happens: Monty preoccupied with Washington and the Incas too dumb to build a galley and put a settler on it to escape their mountainous prison. The bulk of South America, with its breathtaking river run plains, hilly resource filled coasts, and poorly defended but semi-developed and well placed barbarian cities was completely up for grabs. Isabella wasn't intimidated by all that jungle of course, being Expansive, knowing that clearing it and jungly health issues wouldn't be too bad.

Long story short, during the midgame I built enough of a galleon navy to protect my intercontinental shipping lanes and move troops about, an army to conquer the three barb cities, enough settlers to build cities to seal off the coast from Argentina to Panama (starting from the point of land in Brazil closest to Europe and spreading from there), and then had my new cities spawn enough settlers and workers to claim the Amazon basin all the way to the Andes. I wasn't quick enough to expand over the whole continent to stop Mansa from establishing a city on the southern tip and also the Faulkland Islands, but he was a middling power and my closest friend so I didn't get anal about it.

As I was establishing and developing my South American empire, China became the sole true superpower, with Mongolian and Japanese vassals (both five or six city powers in themselves) and a bunch of cities where you would expect. Persia was also strong, with a wedge up to the arctic between Russia and Mongolia and pushing India almost completely out of Asia mainland but for two cities, although India was still respectable in size if not development by being the one to claim most of Indonesia and Australia. Russia was in good shape, having taken a lot of Germany, Scandinavia, and Siberia until it hit Persia, as well as Paris as I mentioned earlier, although Germany still had two cities. England had a few colonies in the tundra area of Canada, one in Cuba and also two in South Africa, so was respectable. Egypt had most of East Africa and the Mideast, leaving the Arabs with just two cities in Arabian penninsula. Mansa was average in West Africa. Rome and Greece were both two city powers, eventually vassalled to Russia and Persia respectably. No one in the old world paid much attention to me, although I did pay out some tech bribes from time to time to keep it that way.

Halfway through settling South America, Monty made America and the Incas his vassals and of course declared war on me. However, through naval dominance and the fact that a mountain separates North and South America, this wasn't a problem. I just kept sinking his ships. He did land a couple of invasion forces on the northern part of South America but I was able to beat them back. We went back and forth between war and peace until the end of the game. I was tempted to take the three cities of his Incan vassal because Incan culture was impeding on my Amazon cities, and probably should have just for the aesthetic value of owning the continent save for Mansa's two cities in the south, but didn't because by then I was well on my way to winning.

Winning via space, of course. I had kept my research high throughout and built all the research buildings wherever reasonable, wasn't wasting many resources on military beyond basic city defense (and a fairly large army in Madrid with transports to take them to my two North African cities if necessary, and a big army in South America just in case), wasn't building much of an economic base beyond a gold city in South America, and wasn't paying attention to espionage at all.

Once I got Apollo, I had three monster production cities ready to build what I needed (two in South America, both former barb cities, the other in North Africa which I had earlier given Maori). It was all she wrote from there!

This game was fun because it didn't rely on the usual crush your Western European neighbors strategy and glide to the win. I got pretty lucky avoiding ruinous war early on, the mid game rush to fill out South America before anyone else gets there is fun and takes some strategy, and it felt great to stuff it in China and Persia's face at the very end when they were leading the whole game and to beat them without a shot ever fired.

The South American strategy works well for a bunch of countries but probably the best with Spain. Expansive is a big help clearing out the jungle, and with Spain you don't have to worry about the lack of open borders shutting down sea lanes once you get Astronomy to exploit it (Rome or Greece might be boxed in by a Spain which refuses to grant open borders for example; same with Germany being cut off by England). Mali would work great too, maybe even better. And of course if you play the Incas, do what computer Incas never seem to do, build a galley early and claim the continent for yourself before anyone else discovers Astronomy.

 

[CHEESE!]

Good report and welcome to the forums Jarbo! !

 

[Supr49er]

Good report and welcome to the forums Jarbo! !

I Agree. Welcome Jarbo.

 

[Nials]

@Lone Wolf - Are you running any kind of graphical mod? I think your terrain looks really slick.

 

[Lone Wolf]

@Lone Wolf - Are you running any kind of graphical mod? I think your terrain looks really slick.

It's the terrain from latest Rhye's and Fall.

Update:

When I got Rifling, I build myself a huge army and declared on China (who had Infantries) again, two times. The AI demonstrated militiary incompetence in these wars twice (once deciding that the best way to attack my Rifle-Cannon SOD is when it's on a hill and across a river, and once decining that tutrling in a resisting city captured from Khmer is more important than reinforcing a core city). Thus the Chinese are now only in India (they conquered North India) and also they hold a Siberian city.

I play with No Tech Brokering. Perhaps that's the reason no AI has researched Artillery yet, and for some time I'll be the only one with Rocketry. Thus, I stand some chance in the space race.

The conquered Chinese lands:

Spoiler :

Note the strong Japan - that's what happens when it's not leaded by a cranky xenophobe, - and a strong Arabia - the founder of (nearly) One True Faith.

 

[ungy]

I've played this scenario a lot--my default is immortal and I give any nearby AI archery+2 archers. I also try and play as if I don't know the map. Most of these games I didn't finish--I don't play them out once they're decided.

Spain

Spoiler :

Settle 1E on the coast. Rush France. A little tougher but still works. Capture a bunch of wonders then take out England=game over.

France

Spoiler :

This was tougher--I wonderspammed then took out Spain, Rome, Greece, Arab. Easier to conquer the wonders than to build'em

Rome-I played deity but gave the AI no bonuses

Spoiler :

I guess they needed the bonuses. Still after conquering France, Spain, England, Germany, Greece and picking up several wonders I think I was third in score

Germany

Spoiler :

This was a little interesting as I settled on the coast like one normally would and lost the copper. I rexed up into Scandinavia but had a little excitement as I got ganged up on a bit but played defense then took out France, England

Greece

Spoiler :

I went east and took the good lands there--no troubles.

Persia

Spoiler :

too easy

Mali

Spoiler :

this was tough. Capital sucks and couldn't get anything going--gave it up

Mongols

Spoiler :

I played this twice. After scout move the better capital site with 2 sheep is revealed and settled there. First attempt I tried to get the UU and rexed a bit but Qin rushed me. Next game I chariot rushed QSH and won but it seemed I got a bit lucky. Chinese lands are too good so that was enough.

HC

Spoiler :

this was a good game (not necessarily well played). I hurried to the GLH, then played a peaceful space game getting most of the continent as I dithered a bit settling. I won by about 25 turns.

Japan

Spoiler :

rexed a bit, China was part of a large AP block--got overwhelming land--resources are awesome, etc. Just too strong even without attacking China.

England--deity

Spoiler :

I take out Louis and think I'm in pretty good shape when Rome whacks me

USA--

Spoiler :

I lose this one--I rexed too much and Monte rushed me before I was ready.

Egypt--

Spoiler :

settle city 2 up by the sheep/stone and it's just too strong.

Asoka-

Spoiler :

lands are very strong--peaceful cultural although I surely could have done others

Cathy-

Spoiler :

rexed into uber lands--fell behind on tech for a while but then got it going and had waaay too much land before I even started warmongering

My top picks--Europe--Louis (or Liz up a level)
Mongols
USA for a challenge.
HC for a peaceful game

 

[DMOC]

Rome is incredibly fun on this map...

Here's some screenshots from my 745 AD game on Immortal difficulty (with Epic speed). I have 6 civs dead and 2 vassalized so far.

Spoiler :

The overall view:

I am currently at war with Saladin, who will soon lose his capital. After I capture the cities on the Arabian mainland, I will vassalize him since he has many cities in Africa, including Madagascar. Next up on the target list will probably be the Asoka and Cyrus team.

I like this tech screen.

A view of my capital and best city, Paris.

I think I started out well but kind of stagnanted somewhere between 1 AD and 500 AD due to lack of workers and focusing on wonders instead of military. But I'm still planning on getting a Conquest win ASAP.

I researched Liberalism sometime around 700 AD and took Astronomy with it. I was hoping to get Open Borders with the Aztecs and America, but Montezuma won't OB with me even though he's Cautious towards me.

And Roosevelt hasn't researched Meditation and Priesthood yet?!? Genghis Khan hasn't researched Priesthood as well...and on top of that, I actually gave him 2 free gold resources in his capital to help him out! GK and Roosy are not Immortal AI's.

 

[CHEESE!]

Mind putting that last bit in a spoiler DMOC?

 

[Gooblah]

Damn, Paris is nice.

My HC game up and died. I tried to REX like crazy, but barbs starting hitting my cities before I could whip Archers into place. Gave up when I saw an English Galleon next to my Galley.