Enders Game 1: The Training Game Competition - Team 2

[Sirp]

Shaesha, it's ok to leave backwater cities undefended, especially in times like this. You have lots of cossacks sitting around in former Ottoman territory, when they are needed on the frontlines!

However don't feel too frustrated about your turn: I felt frustrated too! Fighting war with cavalry against an enemy with Nationalism isn't pretty. There's a double-whammy: they have rifles, AND they can conscript.

Sorry guys, I really should have spelt out our tech plans better. In fact, perhaps we shouldn't have started researching at all. We didn't really need railroads.

Anyhow, after a frustrating hour trying to penetrate into Egypt, I realized that it's pretty futile. I signed peace with all our enemies, started researching again, and developing our core. We're going to win, of course, just not yet.

We got industrialization, and most of our core is railroaded. We're building factories now. We want to avoid selling techs in most cases, taking a tech lead. We can either get to infantry/artillery, and start conquering again using artillery, railroads, and cavalry, or we can wait all the way until tanks if necessary. Heck, we could even change our minds and go for a spacerace victory.

Good luck to Stuck as a Mac!

-Sirp.

The Game

 

[Rubberjello]

Gahh!!! We should have used one of our leaders for a Capitol relocation then, so that we could have 2 core productive areas.

In hindsight, we should have realized how powerful Egypt was. They've been peaceful, near the top of the power curve, only slightly behind in tech, and enhanced their army immensely with the war with the English.

 

[Sirp]

Unless you're trying to maximize score, instead of just win the game, trying to develop a second core at this stage is not really worth it in my experience.

Don't worry, we'll easily win, it'll just take a little longer. We inflicted lots of hurt on Egypt, and we're clearly the best civilization now, it's just frustrating to throw cossacks against rifles, that's all.

Sure, Egypt was a reasonably strong civilization, but if they didn't have nationalism, we'd have crushed them. Look what we did to England who was similiar, and look how much further away from us they are!

-Sirp.

 

[Stuck_as_a_Mac]

Just a question-
build up infastructure?

 

[Sirp]

Yes, absolutely. Build up factories, banks, etc etc. Go for the Theory of Evolution to get Electronics so we get the Hoover Dam. Go for Replaceable Parts so our workers work faster, and so that we get infantry and artillery.

Progress toward tanks. Try to keep the AIs away from the important techs.

-Sirp.

 

[Rubberjello]

Dang! Looks like we are in for the long haul. I was kind of hoping to wrap this up before my summer vacation. I'll be taking 7 days off pretty soon. I'll let you know when I can't take my turns any more.

In your opinion, how many turns were we away from successfully taking out the Egyptians? (I.e. if we attacked 3 turns earlier, 7 turns earlier, etc.)

 

[Sirp]

Yes, I am sorry to say that we are in for the long haul. Sorry guys, I didn't explain our strategy well enough, and it's probably going to cost us a good 40+ turns on our finish date.

I'm not sure when exactly Egypt had gotten Nationalism, and that's the crucial stage. If we had gotten 4 turns at them without them having Nationalism, that'd have been enough.

However, it also depends on battle tactics. I think that Shaesha could have beaten them if she had managed the war very well, but then, it's unreasonable for me to expect people to have brilliant tactics in a training game.

I'm thinking that it was a mistake to start researching at all though. If we had kept the tech pace slow, I don't think anyone would have seen the industrial age, and that'd have been fine with us.

If we get railroads and factories and hoover's and hospitals, we can go at them again soon. Then our core will be able to pump out five or so cossacks a turn, which is enough to take out even rifles, so long as they don't have infantry. If we have artillery supporting us, then all the better.

I founded a city that will keep us within striking distance of the Egyptian capital, and Shaesha did manage to take out a good portion of their core.

So basically, 20 turns of peace, then go at them again, harder. Lots harder. The AI can't stand against the power of an industrial age human-controlled civ.

-Sirp.

 

[Stuck_as_a_Mac]

Penguin on the Railroad. Another 10.
Inherited Turn: I set research to Electricity and lower the slider to 70 precent, putting us in the black at the cost of 1 turn.
T1: Nada. Just railroading
T2: I found the Ottomen. Oh! and look at that! the peace treaty expires. And our ship gets there next turn. Hah! Also, Egypt lacks Salt and Coal.
T3: Oh, BTW, Canterbury is an ironworksable town. oo:. I approach the Ottoman galley. "Attention Sultan Bagrash! Surrender or be attacked. Whats that? Never? Okay..." #$%@. He defeats the caravel with his... galley. I rush an ironclad for 252g. Due next turn, it will HOPEFULLY destroy the galley.
T4: Celts and Otto's sign embargo. Factory producers start coal plants, due in 4, perhaps for US after that. Iron clad kills galley, no problem. Embargo "magically" ends. "We have destroyed the Solid Ottomans, Prime Minister."
T5: See T1
T6: Did I mention I'm railroading?
T7: Ive been workin on the railroad...
T8: Electricity is discovered. Start Sci Method, due in 6. Coventry riots (oops, missed that one). I start Odessa on US. Can be vetoed by the next player, but I feel it may be helpful.
T9: *Whisteles*
T10: Doo Do Doo Doo Doo Doo DOooo DOoooo. Everybody! All the livelong day!
Well, I managed to get everything other then Ottoland railroaded. Next player should finish that off. Also, As stated, US is vetoable. And more units are on the way.

The Save

 

[Sirp]

Stuck as a Mac, your turn looks great, except for one thing....you vetoed our research on Sanitation!?

We had been researching it for several turns, and I set us to research it since it's relatively cheap and lets us build hospitals, which mean powerful cities! I didn't mention that we wanted it explicitly, because I assumed that I having already set us to research it would be indication enough.

Not a real big deal, as Electricity is a good tech to research, but we do want Sanitation at some stage.

We probably don't want (m)any coal plants at all. Get one city building US, and another a pre-build for ToE. A third city that is on river should build a pre-build for Hoover's. As soon as we get ToE, use it to get Electronics, and we will have the Hoover Dam.

Rubberjello is up.

-Sirp.

 

[Rubberjello]

*looks at the demented waterfowl sidewise*
See! I TOLD you all he was genocidal!. He's managed to kill off every Civ we've battled so far! (Well, except the Egyptians...but just you wait! He'll administer the coup de grace there too!)

Got it.

To be frank, I'm kinda looking forward to a builder set of turns. Seems like we've been at war forever.

 

[Sirp]

Indeed we have been at war for a while.

Btw, feel free to take more than 10 turns while we're in "builder mode" so we can speed up our win.

-Sirp.

 

[Rubberjello]

Database timestamp screwup post - please ignore the moldering pile of gelatinized dessert in this corner of the refrigerator!

 

[Rubberjello]

We are 3-7-0 on the slider with Scientific Method due in 4. We're up Industrialization and Electricity on the rest of the world. Trade some luxes to Greece for 60 Gold and 60 gpt. Greece wants coal, but I'm not selling it him. Egypt and the Celts have neither Coal nor Saltpeter! No Railroads for the rest of the world. Sell Gems to Greece for 30 Gold and 4 gpt. Spices to Celts for 6 gpt. (I assume Celts are going to be a secondary target after Egyptians.)

1255 AD (1) Change Kiev over to Military Academy for pre-build for ToE. I'm not going to mention all the individual city production choices this set of turns (I think that would be a TAD boring to read!) I'm just putting an emphasis on Banks, Factories, then Cathedrals until Stock Exchanges become available. I'm just going to put a single Railroad line through to the Otto cities, and returns some workers to the core to Micro-manage some squares to allow pop growth. Trade World Map around for the heck of it. Hurry some border-city libraries to help with cultural borders for the upcoming war.

1260 AD (2) The rest of the world learns Industrialization (Fat lot of good it will do them without coal!) Egypt starts U.S.

1265 AD (3) Argh! Egypt forces us to renegotiate Peace. We lose the 30 gpt from the original, but I manage to get 2 gpt for the new one. I don't know if 20 turns fits in with everyone's plans, but we maybe at a stage where we don't care about our Rep anyway.

1270 AD (4) Greeks also force a renegotiate Peace. They have also learned both Industrialization and Communism. We learn S.M. and start on The Corporation in 6 turns. (I like Stock Exchanges!) Kiev switched over to ToE due in 7. St. Petersburg starts Military Academy as a prebuild for Hoovers.

1275 AD (5) Celts have learned Industrialization. Bunch of border expansions extends our borders into Egyptian territory.

1280 AD (6) We get a palace addition. Railroading.

1285 AD (7) Railroading, improving some squares.

1290 AD (8) Same as above.

1295 AD (9) Pollution! (just to be different)

1300 AD (10) The Corporation discovered. Atomic Theory next. Slider set to zero science since ToE is due next turn. The Greeks have discovered Sanitation. Bunch of Stock Exchanges set.

1305 AD (11) Two wonders in one turn! Kiev builds the ToE. Odessa builds Universal Suffrage. We Discover Atomic Theory and Electronics. St Petersburg switched over to Hoover Dam due in 8 turns. We finally set up for Sanitation due in 4.

1310 AD (12) Zzzzzzz

1315 AD (13) Greece hasn't even given Sanitation to Egypt or Celts yet.

1320 AD (14) Zzzzzzzzz

1325 AD (15) Couple of fringe cities rioted...bad me! We discover Sanitation and start some Hospitals. Set research to Replaceable Parts, but that is veto-able, certainly. We now have 44 Cossacks. Our economy is very robust now...sorry if I over-built. We should be able to support a huge military for a long war if need be. Hoover due in 4 and then we can sell our Coal Plants. The AI is way behind the Tech curve now. (Still haven't discovered Electricty.)



The Save (1325AD)

time stamp check!!

 

[Stuck_as_a_Mac]

[twitching]...Im not genocidal... its just the voices...
the voices... they tell me... they tell me too kill them... kill them all... all of them... they say, "SaaM... why dont you kill them. You'll make the Angry Little Penguin happy if you kill them all. You want him to be happy, dont you?" [/twitching]
seriously, though. I just happen to like killing them all

 

[Shaesha]

Preturn - I was able to get rid of the entertainer in Brighton and had to add one in Canterbury.
Got rid of the entertainer in Krasnoyarsk. Fired another entertainer in Nanking. We are set
to 80% science at a deficit of 38gpt.

1330AD - Spice Addicts Stock Exchange > Hospital(5). Sevastopol SE>Hosp(5) Trondheim Cossack>
Stock Exchange (19)

1335AD - same kinda thing

1340AD - see above

1345AD - Completed Hoover Dam. and the normal stuff

1350 AD - The Celts declared war on us! We immediately capture Gerovia at a loss of 3 Cossacks

1355AD - Start Moscow on Battlefield Medicine. We've almost got our second city

1360AD - Burdigala riots - sorry We take Augustodurum!. Lugdunum is ours!

1365AD - Egypt wants to renew peace again. I am going to have to decline. Egypt captures one of
our workers. We take Busiris from Egypt. The Celts lose Richborough to us. We take Pithom from Egypt.
We get a GL! Trotsky! I moved him to Kiev where he will be safe.

1370AD - The celts offer peace - I decided not to go with that... Kahun is ours. We also get Elephantine
off Egypt.

1375AD - Well I messed up and lost a bunch of workers then I got them back.

Sirp, we need to move the happiness slider... everyone rioted... and the workers over by the celts you
may want some extra protection for them...




The Save

 

[Rubberjello]

Dem Celts sure are dumb!

Sorry. I didn't know we would be at war again this soon, or I would have built some more units for you.

Did you sell the Coal Plants when Hoover kicked in?

 

[Sirp]

Ok I got it, played part way, game crashed, frustrated, will play again later.

I did capture Entremont and save before the crash. Gee that city was a glue factory if there ever was one!

Crucial thing to do at this stage: Bulk up cities with workers, until you can get several cities that are getting 90 shields per turn. Such a city can get us a cossack or artillery battery every turn. I've gotten us two cities like that. Other core cities get a cossack or artillery every other turn.

-Sirp.

 

[Rubberjello]

Hmmmm.....methinks Sirp has lost his enthusiasm (just a smidgeon!) for this game.

Anyways...Its time for me to bow out. Not because I want to, by any means! 8 Day summer vacation starts tomorrow. No internet access!!! YIKES! I'm gonna go through de-tox withdrawal!

I would expect this to be over when I get back, but if not, I'll be happy to take up the rotation again.

It's been a pleasure to play with you all! I hope to join another SG with you soon! I've learned tons!

Thanks.
RJ

PS I sure hope I don't meet that demented penguin in a dark alley at night! *shudder*

 

[Stuck_as_a_Mac]

Oh.. dont worry... I have the save next .....
Besides, Harry Potter should help calm down the Genocide

 

[Shaesha]

Hmmmm I know Sirp is around here somewhere

<looks under the desk>

Wonder where he went!