Emperor Hiwatha

[Freedom]

I've played a few Emperor games but never finished any. The last two games I played (PTW Carthage and C3C Maya) I got half-way, was close to winning, got bored, and moved on. But I'm going to complete this one, and just to make sure, I'll detail it here for you all.

The settings :

Standard Map
Difficult : Emperor
Continents 60% Water
Normal, Temperate, 3 billion years
Normal aggression
Victory types allowed : Conquest (I'm not a builder )
Cultural Conversions and Scientific Leaders are allowed, Preserve Random seed is on. Everything else isn't checked.

I played a few turns on a few maps and finally I've decided to play this one through :

The situation isn't bad. I have Ivory and Irons within my borders, and horses right outside. My opponents on the continent (that I know of) are the Mongols and Arabs, both easily exploitable through the Alphabet->Writing->Philosophy (slingshot to)-> Code of Laws thing. That allowed me to become the tech leader of the known world. I'm currently up Horseback Riding, Iron Working, Philosophy, and Code Of Laws on Arabia, and Code of Laws on the Mongols. However, I'm lacking in pretty much every other demographic which explains how I'm so far behind Victory Points-wise to Arabia/the Mongols.

The Persians have the Pyramids, and Arabia is working on the Oracle. That sucks because I wanted the Pyramids on at least my continent to take full advantage of the agriculture trait. Oh well.

My plan is to expand (surprise!) and then ally with the Mongols against the Arabia. I will probably be able to attack with Mouted Warriors because I'm only 28(!) turns away from the Republic in 2479BC. With Mounted Warriors and a golden age soon, I will probably be able to take my entire continent very quickly....

Let's see how this turns out....

 

[shady milkman]

Good start and good luck! Emperor scares the hell out of me, but then it's just another step in the staircase to Sid. Hope you can get a victory out of this one!

 

[Cheeze]

I've played a few Iroquois games on Emperor, and I also did the get bored, quit game thing with those.
The only time I tried for the Republic jump (CoL then philo) it worked, somehow.
Maybe it was just an aberration, but once I was first to phil as the PERSIANS on Emperor. The AI researches MM and the Monarchy tree first most of the time.

EDIT: Quick horses? Them A-rabs are going down.

 

[Freedom]

Hi

I do intend on updating this soon, I just have to turn my turn log into a post and upload screenshots and everything. School has just been hectic lately and I dont really have the time at the moment.... maybe later tonight

 

[Freedom]

It's Saturday and I've finally got some time to update!

2430 - Arabia wants both Code of Laws and Polytheism for Philosophy. No way. I've also lost my tech lead on him by Iron Working & Horseback Riding. Not good... There's probably another Civ on this continent that I havent met.

2190 - Arabia is building the Temple of Artemis

2150 - Arabia has Map Making

1950 - It appears I was right, there is another Civ on my continent. And, to my pleasure, it's Persia! The Pyramids are on my continent, and they will be mine soon...

~1920 - I discover Republic and go into Anarchy (5t). Arabs demand Philosophy, I don't give in and they declare. Perhaps it wasn't the greatest idea to go to war with the world superpower while in anarchy but their military isn't anything special - certainly not enough to threaten my cities - and they'll offer a fantastic opportunity to trigger my golden age as soon as I hit Republic. Mounted Warriors are stationed around my borders....

1600 - I become a Republic. A warrior attacks Kahawake and fails. An enemy Archer attacks a wounded Warrior and wins (This is actually good. It would've likely captured Kahawake if it had attacked. A mounted warrior counters the archer and kills it, becoming elite and triggering my golden age. Perfect timing.

Here is the situation in 1600, I'm able to shave off 6 turns from Literature for a 4t run at it with my golden age :

1525 - The Elite attacks an Archer bound for Kahawake and....

First elite win, too! Amazing. It retreats to Kahawake to fend off a lone warrior. The leader also goes to Kahawake to create an army.

1475 - Abysmal RNG. I attack a Hoseman and Archer with the army and its yellow-lined! IBT The Army is redlined by the counterattack! Bah! It retreats to a barracks town to heal. Walls are rushed in Kahawake.

IBT - A mounted warrior is killed by a horseman (unavoidable). A spearman defends against an archer at Gyagaabe

1425 - Barracks are rushed in Kahawake, the army is fully healed, mounted warriors attack the redlined horseman, an archer, and the defenders at Damascus. No casualties. Damascus is razed. I can't hold it without a wall/baracks as I can see horseman are coming into the area. Its also in a bad position for my CxxC city creation order. Next target : Mecca

1350 - We take Aden, Mecca (!!!) and Khursan with no resistance. We keep Aden because it doesn't have much culutural pressure from Arabia, and Mecca because it has a wonder (Sistine Chapel, I believe) 6 extra slaves are nice. I switch some cities to Libraries from Mounted Warriors. This is the situation on the western front (the eastern front is mostly a bunch of random archer/MW chasing) :

1250 - Our first offensive casuality hits when attacking Ajran, but we are victorious in taking the city. Another dies attacking a spearman/settler pair. However, the remaining attack Baghdad (the new capital) and capture it. 1 spearman redlines 3 Mounted Warriors in Basra, another kills a Mounted Warrior. Ouch. The RNG was not with me this turn. A suicide galley finds the Byzantines.

1225. Basra is captured, along with Medina. No casualties, just how I like it. The Arabs also completed the Great Lighthouse, soon to be mine of course. A galley finds the Babylonians.

1200 - Salamenca completes the Statue of Zeus; Grand River the Forbidden Palace

1125 - War Weariness finally sets in, and at the perfect time too! Najran and Fustat are taken over, and Arabia is down to OCC in a far away city. I also have the Great Lighthouse, too. Peace is signed for Monarchy, 8 gold, and 9 GPT. A pretty prosperous war and a good use of my golden age. My golden age will end next turn. I've also contacted Spain. This is my empire at 1125:

Yes, I am in the middle ages. I don't think I've traded any of my techs because with my golden age I've become ahead of everyone else. Unfortunately I didn't record much on that. :-\ My goal for now is to fill in those spots, focus on infrastructre in my core, and run the Mongols/Persians into the ground.... The once great Arabia has been reduced to one city (they were the most powerful at the beginning of the war). Perhaps a lesson in biting off more than you can chew?

Questions, comments? I could use any bit of advice you can give.

 

[Own]

No advice to give, looks great!

 

[Freedom]

1100 BC - A bunch of improvements (libraries, marketplaces) and settlers roll in on the final year of our golden age. The Babs are making Sun Tzu's Art of War. I decide to investigate the city making it as I would like to have it if possible. I also have a near-monopoly on Monarchy so the Hanging Gardens are possible, though I'm not going to put too much effort into it because those shields could be spent elsewhere perhaps even more productively... I establish an embassy with Babylon, but am unable to investigate their city till I find it. I demand 40 gold from the Mongols and they grant my demand. They would have just blown it on a deficit, anyway. I set all Arabian towns to starvation and turn all citizens into taxmen. This effectively gives me around +50 gold and the towns are slowly starving out Arabian citizens that would support help a flip. A win/win situation. On second thought, I should have done this earlier in the war.

1050 - I extort another 50 gold from the Mongols )), abandon, and sesettle some areas to fit city placement. My first ancient calvary is born. I meet the Aztecs (through finding one of their galleys), they are in second place in VP and have a huge military, though are alittle backward (down Republic, Monarchy, and all middle age techs). I don't know where they are located, though.

1000 - I resettle more areas. I research Engineering and decide to go down the Mlitary Tradition path. I decide to forgo Chivalry because Mounted Warriors are only a little worse than them but more than twice as cheap. Besides, I shouldn't have any problem conquering my continent with Mounted Warriors (they have yet to research any middle ages techs, and are not aware of any of the opponents on the other continent. Arabia was close to finding them with The Great Lighthouse, though), and I will probably have Calvalry by the time I decide to attack the other continent/s. I get Monotheism for Monarchy, 30 gold, and a promise I won't attack the Byzantines for at least 20 turns.

I demand 30 gold from the Mongols and they finally refuse me, turning furious. I was planning on this, anyway. I will want him furious when I declare (I believe the other civs don't care as much if you declare on a furious opponent). Some more MM'ing to starve down the Arabian cities and give me gold from Taxmen, though many of the cities are down to size 1 right now and only Mecca (with a pitiful 0.1% chance) has a chance to flip. It's mostly about the gold, right now. The end of the golden age is leaving my coffers pretty dry.

975 - I extort 11 gold from Spain, and I'm getting pretty desperate for money (if I want to keep up my tech pace). I find the Aztec island, and it appears the Byzantines are warring against them.

950 - I do some MM'ing to not go into a deficit while still maintaining a 2 turn pace towards Invention.

875 - After researching Invention I decide to resarch Gunpowder with one scientist. There is not anything incredibly important to get right now and my unit support costs are through the roof. They need to be used on the Mongols, but first I want to make sure I have the forces I need. I will attack in about 10 turns. Here is my military :

Yes, 12 settlers! They're taking a while getting to new lands. I also have 3 Ancient Calvaries that can't be caught onscreen. I decide to create an embassy in the Mongol capital, hmmm :

No iron! I won't have to worry about Pikeman or even Swordsman when I decide to invade. The Temple of Artemis would be nice, but sadly, Spain completed it in the last IBT. They won't be getting it, that's the result of a cascade. Orerall they don't look very threatening. Incense is connected, and I can reduce lux tax to 10% for an overall 121 GPT. I start Leonardo's Workshop in Salamenca.

850 - The Mongol war is going to have to be moved up to now. Unit support costs are starting to come through at around 20 a turn, and that fertile land/spice luxury will be nice for my settlers/citizens. I declare war, rushing a Spearman in one of my border cities.

825 - I raze... some city with no casualties, I forgot its name heh. I lose one MW attacking an Archer unfortified on a hill and another attacking a Spearman in a jungle.

800 - I capture Darhan, Ulbaanataar, and do some skirmishing. Here is my empire at the moment :

775 - I capture Ulbannataar. No-one will trade accept GPT deals for anything, and I wonder why. Apparently I broke a trade deal with the Mongols by declaring on them. I don't remember ever having a GPT deal with them, however. (Does anyone know is breaking peace deals destroys your GPT rep too?)

730 - War Weariness starts to set in, lux up to 20%. I need that lux town...

710 - After so many turns of skirmishing, the spices town finally falls to us

The spices aren't connected and the redlined horse successfully defends against 2(!:#) Mounted Warriors, so I have to use the redlined army if I want (and I do) to bring workers into that area. I also take Almarihk, and the way is clear to attack the capital.

650 I get the dreaded message, Madrid has started Leonardo's Workshop! I establish an embassy and....

(Yes, Madrid is completely developed!!) Madrid will complete it the same turn as me, and it will grow within 3 turns! Salamenca will grow in 2. Disgusting. I have nothing to fall back on, and so I will try to speed the production by merging workers although this will cause a food shortage. Hmm... we will see, it will be a very close race.

630 - The Babylonians and the Persians have started work on Leonardo's Workshop. I have to increase lux to 30% because of WW. I take another town with the army.

IBT - I almost lose my army to a horseman. It's redlined to ONE hit point. Phew.

610 - Persia has been sending settler/archer/horseman/spearman pairs across my borders for too long. He's furious, I need some war happiness, and I have the chance to ask him to leave or declare. What a marvelous combination. He declares, and I take out most of his warriors within my borders gaining a bit of slaves.

590 - I decide to make peace with the Mongols, simply because the war weariness is hurting and if I make peace with them, combined with the spices that have just been hooked up, and my luxury spending, I can hopefully make WLTKD in Salamenca to beat Madrid to Leos. Madrid will complete it one turn before me at the moment (it grew last turn).... we'll see. I make peace for :

and my acquisitions :

and also some workers. Mhm. Hopefully the Mongols will keep the Persians distracted.... However, by doing that I unfortunately tied my peace treaty to a military alliance with Persia, so, if he makes peace with Persia we're at war (I believe). Dumb move... one that will cost me soon...