Experiment 626's Solo TDG

[Experiment 626]

I played the next 10 turns, but not enough happened to warrant a full Journal Entry. Sorry . . .

Here's what happened:

1. No cities Culture Flipped to Korea or Maya.
2. The Barricade has been built on the Iron.
3. A Veteran Pikeman has been garrisoned in the Barricade, and another is on the way.
4. We have learned Education.
5. We cannot gift Education to Maya without gifting Theology first . . . Fat chance of that happening!
6. We will learn Astronomy next turn.
7. The Knights have been withdrawn back to the cities with Barracks.
8. The 'We Love The President Day' has ended in Austin.

We have 604 Gold (-6 per turn). We can't adjust this and still learn Astronomy next turn.

I am seriously considering playing the next Set of Turns tomorrow after work, and going to WAR!

 

[CommandoBob]

I am seriously considering playing the next Set of Turns tomorrow after work, and going to WAR!

Don't stress out on not keeping your schedule. You've done an excellent job in keeping to it this long.

But we all know that RL trumps C3C. And your game is much larger now than it was three months ago. If you need to play slower (more than a week between turnsets) or to play fewer (less than 10 turns per turnset), do so. We haven't tagged along this far to quit on you now.

In fact, before you start this war, why not post what you have done and what you plan to do on the opening turns of the war? This will give us 'advisors' something to examine and drool over!

 

[Marsden]

Don't stress out on not keeping your schedule. You've done an excellent job in keeping to it this long.

But we all know that RL trumps C3C. And your game is much larger now than it was three months ago. If you need to play slower (more than a week between turnsets) or to play fewer (less than 10 turns per turnset), do so. We haven't tagged along this far to quit on you now.

In fact, before you start this war, why not post what you have done and what you plan to do on the opening turns of the war? This will give us 'advisors' something to examine and drool over!

Harumph! Harumph!

 

[Experiment 626]

Okely-Dokely!

Here are our brave troops guarding our border with the hated Koreans!

Here are the troops watching the Northern Mayan border near EDM:

Here are our fine-freckled-faced kids outside of AUS:

Here is our STACK OF DEATH ready to RAZE a little hell!

Here are our brave troops in the Southern tip of our Empire:

Notice in the South that all of our cities are now garrisoned with a Pikeman!

Any thoughts? I'll get home from work about 4:30PM (GMT-4) tomorrow. I'll check in here first for any advice. Thanks!


Edit: I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! There I was at work today at about 2:00 PM thinking that I'll get to go home in a couple of hours, and guess what? Some lazy so-and-so called in sick! The manager asked (told) me to work from 4:30 PM to 7:00 PM. It's past 7:30 PM, and I just got home.

I'm so P.O.ed right now that I want to kill something! Perhaps Smoke-Jaguar?!! BWAAAAA-HAAAAA-HAAAAA-HAAAAA!

 

[Eltrai]

Mr. Pres. Congratulations on setting this up well. We are ready and now victory will be ours!

I will be gone the next week (back the 29th) I must scout new lands for new ideas for our science. (Ok, I am really going on vacation).

Do well looking forward to the next set of turns when I get back.

 

[Experiment 626]

I went ahead and played the next 15 turns (THE MAYAN WAR!).

I didn't accomplish even 1/4 of what WarMonger . . . er, I mean, WarMaster Marsden did, before War Weariness ground my Empire to a halt. I stink at war!

It's very late, so I'll try to post the pics and the brief Journal tomorrow.

Good night, all!

 

[Experiment 626]

THE MAYAN WAR HIGHLIGHTS!​

1. EDM is ours! The city is razed to avoid flip.
2. We get a Palace Expansion!
3. We capture Cuello without firing a shot! As soon as the SoD was next to the city, the City's defenders attacked us, and died horribly. The city is razed to avoid flip.
4. Calakmul is ours! The city is razed to avoid flip.
5. Yaxchilan is ours! The city is razed to avoid flip
6. St. Louis (Saltpeter Camp) is founded. Workers build the Saltpeter road first, followed by a Fortress and Barricade.
7. Unfortunately, the Saltpeter road (once completed) does not connect the Resource to the rest of the Empire.
8. The Workers move to build the connecting road to the Empire.
9. Two Pikemen are garrisoned in the Barricade on the Saltpeter.
10. We learn Banking. Economics is next.
11. The WLTP Day ends in VAN because of War Weariness.
12. Since the war is dragging from War Weariness, a bunch of Pikemen are upgraded to Musketmen costing me most of my Gold.
13. The Mayan Capital, Chichen Itza, is captured and razed, destroying The Temple of Artemis.
14. Buffalo is ours! The city is razed to avoid flip.
15. Smoke-Jaguar has had enough. He contacts me.
16. The Peace Treaty is signed with Maya getting the Peace Treaty, and America getting the Peace Treaty, New Orleans, and 3 Gold.
17. As soon as the Peace Treaty is signed, TRE, VAN, MIA, AUS, CAM, BAL, CON, RCH, and ALB all celebrate a WLTP Day!
18. Tours (France) has completed The Sistine Chapel.
19. Najran (Arabia) has completed Copernicus' Observatory. Washington, D.C. was 5 turns away from completing it. There are no other Wonders to switch to, so I sabotage WSH's shield production until after Economics is learned, and we can switch the produced shields to Adam Smith.

The Year is 1200 A.D. We have 186 Gold (+17 per turn). We will learn Economics in 8 turns.


Here's the savegame file:

View attachment Exp626 of the Americans, 1200 AD.SAV


It's a far cry from what WarMaster Marsden did, but the RNG wasn't as kind to me at all. I lost a lot of units.

I wish that I had some clue as to how to run an effective war without War Weariness threatening to throw 75% of my cities into disorder. Twice during this Set of Turns, I had to babysit my cities so they wouldn't riot. Thankfully, I had CivAssistII on to Alert me the turn before they rioted.

Any comments, suggestions, or advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[CommandoBob]

I think I know why WW was so bad, but I am not sure. I could be very wrong on my reasoning, but I do see a problem, but it may not be the proper problem that caused the WW to be so bad. (That's almost a flip-flop, but I think the proper term is 'waffling'. In every day words, I may be dead wrong.)

Lack of happy people due to luxuries.

You've got a good number of markets, but only one luxury. You need about three or four luxuries before markets make happy people.

The Mayans have incense (three near Copan) and gems (near Coba) and will swap both of them for either Chemistry or Education. Your gold will not buy them. They also have unconnected furs near Ake.

There is a Korean settler/spear pair near Copan which may try to connect to an incense. If possible, you need to get this incense before Korea does.

Korea
Did we sign an MA with Korea vs. Maya? If we did so, did 20 elapse between the time made the MA and the Mayan peace? If not, we took a rep hit.

Military Units
We have a lot of military units doing MP duty, which is not needed in republic. We have free support for 59 units, the extra cost us 2gpt, for a total of 112 gpt. We can reduce this upkeep cost by disbanding some of these interior units.

 

[Experiment 626]

Originally posted by CommandoBob:

You've got a good number of markets, but only one luxury. You need about three or four luxuries before markets make happy people.

That might be it.

The Mayans have incense (three near Copan) and gems (near Coba) and will swap both of them for either Chemistry or Education. Your gold will not buy them. They also have unconnected furs near Ake.

Okely-Dokely!

There is a Korean settler/spear pair near Copan which may try to connect to an incense. If possible, you need to get this incense before Korea does.

I'll look in to it.

Did we sign an MA with Korea vs. Maya?

Yes, we did. All it cost us was Horses.

If we did so, did 20 elapse between the time made the MA and the Mayan peace?

No, it didn't. The WAR lasted 15 turns. It was getting very late, and I didn't want to stop in the middle of the WAR. I was about to go to

If not, we took a rep hit.

D'OH!​

I did not know that!

We have a lot of military units doing MP duty, which is not needed in republic. We have free support for 59 units, the extra cost us 2gpt, for a total of 112 gpt. We can reduce this upkeep cost by disbanding some of these interior units.

That's an idea, but, during the WAR, a Mayan ship dropped a lone Pikeman near Jamestown. I thought that he would make a beeline for the Iron, but he never got near it. A Medieval Infantry ended this trespass in a rather bloody fashion. I'm a bit nervous about leaving cities undefended.


I think what I need (aside from a brain transplant ) is a primer for WAR. How to attack, when to attack, the rules of combat (MA means you must WAR at least 20 turns), etc . . .

Another thing is bugging me . . . I've had 2 WARS now, and I have yet to see a Great Leader.

I'll probably play the next Set of Turns (15 turns this time) on Tuesday.

Good night.

 

[CommandoBob]

Another thing is bugging me . . . I've had 2 WARS now, and I have yet to see a Great Leader.

Well, Great Leaders come from Elite units winning a battle. No elites, no GLs. So the first thing to do is create Elites, which are only promoted Veteran units. Once you have some elites, you want to protect them, which means that veteran units attack first. If the vet wins, good. If not, possibly still good. They may have weaken the defender. When you are leader-farming or leader-hunting, you want to have healthy elites attacking wounded units, preferably red-lined ones. (The crass way to refer to this is cripple-killing or whacking-baby-seals.) But this is warfare and a fair fight is not what you want.

IIRC, the chances of a Militaristic civ getting a unit to promote is 1 out of 12. All other civs are 1 of 16. And this any promotion: conscript to regular, regular to veteran, vet to elite and elite to GL.

Once a unit has created a GL, an asterik ('*') follows the name of the unit. It cannot directly produce another GL, ever. Indirectly, it can. The unit would have 1) to be upgraded (warrior to sword, for instance) and in this upgrade it would drop in rank from elite to veteran (hard-coded) and 2) promote itself from veteran to elite a second time by winning a battle and finally 3) promote from elite to GL.

No unit can be upgraded and retain Elite staus. It will always become a veteran of the new type.

 

[CommandoBob]

...during the WAR, a Mayan ship dropped a lone Pikeman near Jamestown. I thought that he would make a beeline for the Iron, but he never got near it. A Medieval Infantry ended this trespass in a rather bloody fashion. I'm a bit nervous about leaving cities undefended.

I understand your nervousness about leaving cities undefended and you have an excellent case of why you would want to garrison your cities. I think the same way. I see all those cities with no defenders and get worried that the AI may attack my rear.

But, consider a timeline. Where did that Mayan ship come from? What is the closest Mayan coastal city to Jamestown? How long would it take a boat to sail from there to Jamestown? I think (translate 'I guess') that the Mayan ship loaded the pike before the war started. Once the war began, the AI is focused on defending from you. True, the AI is looking for easy targets (undefended cities), but mainly from the front lines. Once the fighting starts, the AI is not going to load up a bunch of boats, sail them around and drop them on your backside. A human would do this out of reflex, but the AIs are just not programmed that way.

So what did happen? The AI had a pike on a boat and saw it could land and possibly take one town, so it landed that unit to take Jamestown. It was a landing of opportunity, not of strategy.

And so what if the AI took Jamestown? How bad have you been hurt? And how hard will it be to take it back? And how productive will that city be for the AI?

In this case, Jamestown is far from the Mayan borders, so it will very corrupt, probably netting only one shield per turn. It will also be weakly defended, only one pike for a long time. And once the city is taken, that pike will stay put. The AI will not leave a city like that undefended, so your nearby cities are safe for a while.

Your reaction if Jamestown is captured? Switch some cities near it to make some knights, rush if needed, and take the town back in less than 5 turns, possibly even 1 turn.

My head understands this. My heart still gets nervous will all the open cities.

 

[Marsden]

You need to get more luxuries. Throw the citizens a few goodies and the'll stay in line. There are gems, furs, and spices in the south, and if you can grab the incense up north you'd be able to fight till the cows came home. Also, war weariness is tied to losses of units and cities and units spending time in enemy territory.

Don't worry too much about your rep now, you can take what you want.

About the road, you should the road upto the border and then cross over. Don't forget, founding a city automatically roads the square it's in.

I don't agree with razing our own cities, but you're the Pres.

Maybe since your rep is already hit, you can cancel the peace treaty and take those luxuries in the south, I wouldn't give them anything. Just make sure you have plenty of settlers and workers to fill in the gains and seize those luxuries. Miss Stein needs a new fur coat and a diamond! Not to mention some purfume and some nice spices for her drink.

 

[Experiment 626]

Thanks to everyone for their comments. I just wish that I had a clue on how to run an efficient war.

I will play the next Set of Turns tomorrow. As always, I'll check in here first before I play for any last minute advice.

Time to go to now.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

Simple rules of war:

Have a reserve.
When in doubt, do simpler things (2 instead of 3 attacks)
Concentrate your forces.

And don't worry about being as efficient as you can - for one thing, the RNG has a way of throwing off any thoughts of efficiency - what you think might be sufficient has a way of ending up as overkill, or as barely enough.

 

[vorlon_mi]

Adding onto the simple rules ...

Build reinforcements. Once the war starts (and even a turn or two before),
when a city with a barracks finishes its build, it should build a unit.
Yes, even if the war is supposed to be short. You will lose some, due to
the RNG, and you want to remain strong after the smoke clears....
in addition to whatever cities that you have set aside for building units.

And I would definitely second the "Keep a reserve" advice. I've had
several instances where my main attack force hits a run of bad luck,
and my cavs or knights have retreated, while yellow- or red-lined.
They can't attack until next turn, and there's only one defender left!
If I wait until next turn, the AI defender will heal in the barracks.
Since I don't have battlefield medicine, I would have to pull them
back to heal, or risk fighting at less than full strength next turn,
agains a healed defender.

If I have another fast-mover tucked away in a city close to the front,
it can gallop up the roads (or better, rails) and finish off the dregs
of the resistance.

 

[CommandoBob]

One more simple rule of war (which sounds like a great idea for a new thread somewhere):

The AI loves to kill your cripples and stragglers. Return the favor, in spades.

 

[Experiment 626]

I feel a bit bad that the past couple of Journal Entries have been a tad brief, so I will endeavor to be a bit more verbose.

Here are the city abbreviations going into Turn 236:

WSH=Washington, D.C., NYC=New York City, BOS=Boston, PHI=Philadelphia, ATC=Atlantic City, CAM=Cambridge, CHA=Charlotte, JAM=Jamestown, BAL=Baltimore, SAL=Salem, CON=Concord, RCH=Richmond, ATL=Atlanta, TRE=Trenton, PRO=Providence, MIA=Miami, LYN=Lynchburg, CAL=Calgary, TOR=Toronto, MEM=Memphis, VAN=Vancouver, MAC=Macon, HAR=Hartford, ALB=Albany, NWO=New Orleans, CHI=Chicago, DET=Detroit, AUS=Austin, HOU=Houston, PIT=Pittsburgh, CLE=Cleveland, and MIN=Minneapolis.

As always, when a new city is added, I will give you the abbreviation.

During this entire Set of Turns, I begin the process of upgrading all Units to Cannons, Musketmen, and Calvary.

*****

IBT

Excuse my language, but this absolutely sucks!

I mean, really! I had 312 of the 400 shields produced for Copernicus’ Observatory, and there is no other Wonder to switch to. I switched to University (the most expensive improvement available), but I ended up wasting 112 Shields!




Turn 236 (1210 A.D.):

I visit every city in my Empire, and reassign citizens that had been turned into Entertainers during the WAR.

A Settler founds Nashville (NSH).

Economics in 3.


IBT

I contact Maya, and obtain some luxuries.

Turn 237 (1220 A.D.):

Economics in 2.



IBT

I get a Palace Expansion!

I adjust the SCI slider down to 0% to maximize Gold.




Turn 238 (1230 A.D.):

A Settler founds Phoenix (PHX).

Economics next turn!



IBT

We have learned Economics. Physics is next.

The SCI slider is adjusted up to 20%.


Turn 239 (1240 A.D.):

WSH switches production from Bank to Adam Smith’s Trading Company.

Physics in 9.



IBT

Nothing.



Turn 240 (1250 A.D.):

The last Knights are upgraded to Calvary, and all 8 Trebuchets are upgraded to Cannons.

Physics in 8.


IBT

Nothing.



Turn 241 (1255 A.D.):

Physics in 7.



IBT

Nothing.



Turn 242 (1260 A.D.):

A Musketman arrives and garrisons in the Iron Barricade. The 2 Pikemen that were defending the Iron are sent to CAM for upgrade.

Physics in 6.



IBT

Nothing.



Turn 243 (1265 A.D.):

Physics in 5.



IBT

Nothing.



Turn 244 (1270 A.D.):

A Musketman arrives and garrisons in the Saltpeter Barricade. The 2 Pikemen that were defending the Saltpeter are sent to AUS for upgrade.

Physics in 4.



IBT

Korea and Maya sign a Peace Treaty.



Turn 245 (1275 A.D.):

A Settler founds Indianapolis (IND).

Physics in 3.



IBT

Arabia contacts me, and this trade is made.

I think that I got a good deal, but I’m not sure.



Turn 246 (1280 A.D.):

A second Musketman garrisons in the Iron Barricade.

Physics in 2.



IBT

I adjust the SCI slider down to 0% to maximize Gold.



Turn 247 (1285 A.D.):

A second Musketman arrives and garrisons in the Saltpeter Barricade.

Physics next turn!



IBT

We have learned Physics! Theory of Gravity is next. The SCI slider is adjusted to 20%.


Turn 248 (1290 A.D.):

I contacted Maya, and tried to purchase Yaxchilan (the second one) with Mayan Workers. I offered to return 12 of his citizens (Workers) to him, but my Trade Advisor told me that ‘they would never accept such a proposal’. I even threw Banking on the table to sweeten the deal, but the TA still said the same thing.

Fine! Since Smoke-Jaguar doesn’t want his citizens back, I tried something.

I executed (disbanded) 8 of the 12 Mayan Workers in WSH to see if I got Shields added to ASTC’s build. I didn’t. Oh well, live and learn, I guess.

Theory of Gravity in 10.



IBT

I get another Palace Expansion! I guess my People enjoy a Mass Execution!



Turn 249 (1295 A.D.):

A Settler founds Santa Fe (Sfe).

Theory of Gravity in 9.



IBT

Nothing.


Turn 250 (1300 A.D.):

Theory of Gravity in 7.


*****

Here is the Northern region of our Empire:

Here is the Southern Region of our Empire:

Here is the Info Screen:

There’s no point in posting a pic of the mini-map as Maya and I are the same color.

Here’s a pic of the remaining Spearmen and Pikemen that need to be upgraded.

It costs 60 Gold to upgrade a Spearman to a Musketman, and 45 Gold to upgrade a Pikeman to a Musketman. Thank God that I got Leo’s Workshop.

Here is the savegame:

View attachment Exp626 of the Americans, 1300 AD.SAV


The Year is 1300 A.D. We have 116 Gold (+17 GPT).

As always, your thoughts, comments, suggestions, and advice are greatly appreciated.

 

[Marsden]

Disbanded units never add shields to wonders.

AI never sell cities, it's hardcoded into the game from a patch back in vanilla, you can only get them in peace treaties. And the AI don't give a S--t about captured workers.

I like to convert over to an all slave workforce, thus allowing my citizen workers to settle down in my cities, but that's me.

Keep going, your doing very good, wether you believe it or not.

 

[Experiment 626]

A couple of posts back, I posted this:

I stink at war!

I've thought about it, and, while I didn't achieve everything that WarMaster Marsden did, I've come to realize that I achieved my objectives. They were:

1. Raze Cuello. CHECK!
2. Raze Calakmul. CHECK!
3. Ending the Cultural pressure in the region. CHECK!
4. Razed Edmonton. CHECK!
5. Razed Buffalo. CHECK!
6. Founded a city next to the Saltpeter. CHECK!
7. Built a connecting road from the Saltpeter to the rest of our Empire. CHECK!
8. Built a Barricade on the Saltpeter. CHECK!
9. Protected the Saltpeter. CHECK!
10. Razed Chichen Itza, destroying the Temple of Artemis, thus ending Maya's Cultural advantage. CHECK!
11. Regained control of New Orleans. CHECK!

All things considered, not too shabby at all. Sometimes, I'm my own worst critic.

 

[CommandoBob]

I've thought about it, and, while I didn't achieve everything that WarMaster Marsden did, I've come to realize that I achieved my objectives. They were:

1. Raze Cuello. CHECK!
2. Raze Calakmul. CHECK!
3. Ending the Cultural pressure in the region. CHECK!
4. Razed Edmonton. CHECK!
5. Razed Buffalo. CHECK!
6. Founded a city next to the Saltpeter. CHECK!
7. Built a connecting road from the Saltpeter to the rest of our Empire. CHECK!
8. Built a Barricade on the Saltpeter. CHECK!
9. Protected the Saltpeter. CHECK!
10. Razed Chichen Itza, destroying the Temple of Artemis, thus ending Maya's Cultural advantage. CHECK!
11. Regained control of New Orleans. CHECK!

All things considered, not too shabby at all. Sometimes, I'm my own worst critic.

Wanna make a bet that the reason you thought you stank at warfare was because your planning for warfare wasn't focused? No objectives means no way to tell if you have done good or bad.

And by the way, notice how much more you see when you play slow (10 turns, stop and think)?