Fall Patch Immortal Meatgrinder

[Heerlo]

It looks like someone's taken an autocracy spree lately.

 

[smallfish]

The way unit names are displayed can be a tad wonky, combined with how short the name space is for creating new ones.

So you get redundant information like "Marseille Night (Land Ironclad) (Dalmace Land Ironclad)".

You should go Viva la France!!! those Polynesians.

The name placement could certainly be better, but I think its alright for now unless it happens to be one of those things that hogs the system resources real bad.

Unfortunately the Polynesians will have to wait for a variety of reasons that will be displayed...

It looks like someone's taken an autocracy spree lately.

Autocracy's a pretty fun SP to pick for games like these. Wished they had kept the revamped social policies from Smoky Skies, but the current setup is just about alright if a bit humdrum. Anyways I've never realized how powerful French Foreign Legions were until this game, incidentally... the Austrian Hussars died super badly to them, they kept getting thrown at my lonesome wall of well-promoted Foreign Legion and they still couldn't dent it a single bit. Yes, sometimes they will land that lucky hit and kill one or two of them... but those were either mostly in retaking cities or done with huge hordes backed by a Great General. Unit for Horde, the Foreign Legion outclasses all of them big time

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Sad Hussars... dying in the Snow of Vienna

And of course, because FFL is a unique Great War Infantry unit, they stick throughout this game... and they increase your military demographics exponentially. I used to think Runaway Immortal France was amazing in getting 500,000 troops by Turn 250, but now I know better and more importantly the root cause - the Foreign Legion, most of them upgraded from Musketeers.

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And here's a relevant bit of the Tech Tree - not intending to go deep beyond the Airship Era because there's really not much to be had in units there.

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But due to some frustrating crashes, we had to revert back all the way to Turn 331 (was at T375 enjoying the fruits of being world military leader by blackmailing all kinds of city-states before killing them when the game hated me )... but this should be just as good, and of course, there will be more constant manual saving

It is now 1911 AD, and the world is at the cusp of an Airship Frenzy...

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[Sonereal]

Yeah, not much needed after you get the Sky Fortresses and Land Leviathan. It seems like there are some regular air units in this mod? If the Sky Fortress can carry a Great War bomber, it would be EXTREMELY potent. Combined with the Sky Fortress's natural bonus against landships, and you got yourself a fleet of city-busting ships.

Until you run up against Flyers and Fighters of course.

 

[Heerlo]

I didn't realize how much these mods changed the game until this update.

 

[MikeIII the 2nd]

good story. I wish I could use that mod... curse you firaxis for giving us MAC users the low end of the game...

 

[smallfish]

I didn't realize how much these mods changed the game until this update.

Quite a bit, but other than the addition of land ironclad/airship units (and a pre-triplane "Flyer"), flavor-themed buildings (Patent Office/Tesla Coil) and certain interesting unit requirements (Battleships require coal instead of oil), it's practically an end in Modern Era mod.

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No machine guns though, only the Gatling...

good story. I wish I could use that mod... curse you firaxis for giving us MAC users the low end of the game...

That does suck indeedy

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Yeah, not much needed after you get the Sky Fortresses and Land Leviathan. It seems like there are some regular air units in this mod? If the Sky Fortress can carry a Great War bomber, it would be EXTREMELY potent. Combined with the Sky Fortress's natural bonus against landships, and you got yourself a fleet of city-busting ships.

Until you run up against Flyers and Fighters of course.

We'll find out, I'd suppose. No carriers to rebase those GW planes... but that Polynesia is spamming colonies everywhere. It started off with Tonga, and now its gone a step further with that deserted frontier subcontinent off the coasts of Adrianople.

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The worse thing is that this island seemed to be made for the Incans - tons of hills to wade through, gold everywhere, that mountain range separating Tubuai, Aotearoa, Rapa Nui... Te Wai Pounamu. Only thing that's going for La France now is that the Polynesians are unable to rebase their short-ranged Flyers anywhere in their colonies... and not that they need to, given that we just made them busy with President Gustavus Adolphus

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But apparently they caught wind of the Foreign Legions marching towards them. Somehow. They just knew it, as if the Pacific wind whispered the secrets of the world to them...

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Maurice of Nassau had to make some cockamamie excuse about these placement of troops, something about them being on field exercises and that this big island of Polynésie française belonged to the gloriously-reborn Third French Empire

But that proved to be a mistake because Kamehameha was intending to turn this into another big island of Greater Hawaii

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therefore the charade had to be quickly dropped off, and Operation Castor - the Colonization of Polynesia - had to happen now or never.

As Tubuai was taken and then razed down to ashes, General Maurice had to curse the two-timing western islanders that Paris would not send them much in the way of naval support other than a single ironclad

The only big plus was that everyone else relevant in the world was massively distracted with the other warmongering autocratic runaway. Thusly this should delay Polynesian naval elements from intervening.

Hopefully...

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(and vell... Vive la France!!!)

 

[MikeIII the 2nd]

i wish i could post screenshots... nice update

 

[smallfish]

As fortuna would have it, the Polynesian navy failed to show up on the big island of French Hawaii. But then as if Ancient Carthage rose from its grave, from across the island's mountain range the western islanders unveiled a new and terrifying type of weapon that would dominate this Airship Era for all time.

One of Maurice Nassau's cavalry guards barely survived from a brief encounter with one of them. Rapa Nui was beginning to look more like a walk than a stroll.

A walk in Hell.

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And as it turns out, the Polynesian Navy was indeed busy elsewhere. First and foremost, off the coasts of French Europe where their frigates and privateers were attempting to disrupt trade/supply routes and if possible take some cities too

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With the bulk of the French Army and Navy tied up to the east, there was very little in the way of garrisons to handle the Polynesian raiders...

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Meanwhile on the Big Island, panic nearly griped the colonial expedition when more of those infernal sky forts attacked one of the artillery units and disappeared as quickly as they came, beyond the mountain range

This was messing up the siege plan for that damnable city, fumed Maurice as he surveyed the unfortunately terrible terrain. Nothing like Byzantium at all... or perhaps it would be. The worst parts of it.

A slow but steady push towards Rapa Nui was made under heavy fire, but that Legion leading the way would survive...

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But then suddenly, out of the blue, the infernal Maoris and their Sky Fortresses blazed in, wiping out that Foreign Legion in a hailstorm of smoothbore autocannonae from heights unfathomable

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Artillery fire merely pinged off the infernal attacker, and it scuttled away unscathed and mostly intact, vengeance to be had for the countless civilians massacred in Tubuai

This opening however gave Nassau's expedition the room it needed to hammer down the walls of Rapa Nui and take it with their lone naval support...

Only for the Polynesians to reveal a counterstroke the next turn with this sudden Privateer rush... and the fact that they had more than one of those flying fortresses. Having lost their sole naval support and an unacceptable amount of Legion casualties, the reality began to sink in that it was time to call Paris for reinforcements before things really got out of hand...

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Through organizational Esprit de corps and ingenuity, Nassau's Legions managed to bring down one of those flying fortresses. Its wreckage was quickly sealed up and shipped back to Paris for the Consul's engineers to analyze while they worked on their own... prototypes

But trouble was not yet done with this little expedition, for the Maoris were quick to avenge their brother's loss (and another city gone) by killing one of Napoleon's favorite cannons...

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Then a mercantile CS was brought in to the fold of the Third Empire, and it revealed some interesting... facts about the Polynesian foe

Namely the insane maneuverability of their sky fortresses...

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But all this was to be set aside as sideshows when on August 1929, the Grand Consul Autocrat-for-Life Napoleon the First "unveiled his master plan for World Domination"... and French Foreign Legions began landing everywhere along the Swedish coast as Stockholm itself was pounded by artilleries and battleships

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The Father of Modern Warfare vs the World's Greatest Military Genius

October 1930: With some reinforcements at hand and a secured rear for the artillery train, Maurice of Nassau commences the assault of Aotearoa with Operation Gabrielle

An embarked FFL took the beating even as it carefully manuveured off the shores of the largest Polynesian city in this subcontinent, but in doing so it may have saved its comrades on the ground side from further bombardment at the hands of the infernal artilleries

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Casualties mounted after one of the cavalry units got wiped out by artillery fire... but then the city was taken (not shown)

Polynesian skyforts then started appearing to try and retake their city (not shown)

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Now we will present to you a fusillade of unrelated screenshots, most of them relating to Polynesia's love of skyforts and the death of the Carolean Infantries

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Land Ironclads are indeed tough buggers, but nothing compared to those infernal Skyforts

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The best use of cavalries in addition to double rolling tactics - reconnoitering behind enemy lines and pillaging their resources

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A desperate purchase of a certain powerful unit as Maori raiders threaten the homeland

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Polynesian "Happy Time" at its height

 

[Heerlo]

A Byzantine great prophet running around during your war with Polynesia.

 

[Sonereal]

Those Sky Fortresses. Best counter is AA Guns or Flyers, or hordes of anything else.

Do Battleships use coal or oil in this mod? Since, as far as I know, oil doesn't have real use Airship Era+.

Also, Sky Fortresses and mere Land Ironclads? That's wonky tech progression, even for this scenario.

 

[smallfish]

A Byzantine great prophet running around during your war with Polynesia.

It definitely ran away when the fighting started to intensify - that is when those sky forts became more... daring in showing up on the frontlines.

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Those Sky Fortresses. Best counter is AA Guns or Flyers, or hordes of anything else.

Do Battleships use coal or oil in this mod? Since, as far as I know, oil doesn't have real use Airship Era+.

Also, Sky Fortresses and mere Land Ironclads? That's wonky tech progression, even for this scenario.

The Polynesians really loved spamming them. The Austrians build Land Ironclads, the same thing for the various city-states... but Kamehameha knew that Skyforts would dominate this age and he wasn't wrong in that regard. They could carry aircrafts (all kinds), they can travel on any tile without needing to (dis)embark, they have the combat strength of a Panzer (80 str - and they can definitely specialize in anti-armor roles off the bat)... only thing is that they can't take cities, but Polynesia didn't have a problem with that

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While the mountain ranges were initially a huge boon in preventing the artilleries from being destroyed by cavalries and other melee units than those skyforts, they were now proving to be a pain to bring said siege guns to bear on the western colonies...

Fortunately the French Navy arrived just in time for help, much to Nassau's relief (and shame)

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And yes, one could in fact rebase GW Bombers, Bombers, Fighters and Atomic Bombs on those Sky Fortresses given that they are carrier-types. We began to see why they were left out of the base game...

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But ya'll might think the Big Island colonization attempt was bad?

Pushing into Polynesia proper was worse. The Swedes couldn't put up a fight, having been whittled down by Kamehameha's skyforts before the Foreign Legions knocked down an already-battered door...

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But even with all of their promotions, the Foreign Legion was still at best a 50 strength unit. They don't last very long when your foes are packing with dozens of 80 strength ones, some of them packing their own little parasitic air force...

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The push towards Jerusalem and Honolulu in general had been stymied, for now. New-fangled aerial siege engines were immediately brought in the now annexed factories of Stockholm to make sure those Polynesians thought twice about their supposed superiority in arms...

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General El Cid orders his men to nonetheless prepare themselves for a bayonet charge and run down those Maoris with cold hard French steel and gunfire

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On the other Big Island, with the taking of Raratonga and the death of its Polynesian garrisons plus the utter lack of interest in reinforcing it, Paris decides that now would be the good time for Nassau's Legions to make themselves useful in Europe

Plus he sort of had an experience with facing those infernal Skyforts...

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Meanwhile things were going MAXIMUM bad over at the outskirts of Jerusalem. Thus far, the lack of citadel dropping was causing far more casualties than expected - and the Consul would have none of it especially when reports streamed in that another FFL unit got utterly annihilated by those skyforts

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Over the front commander's objections, he orders a citadel to be dropped in front of the Polynesian salient

Hopefully this should keep more of his men alive to face those Maori hordes...

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Well maybe not. One of the Skyforts was playing havoc with the artillery rear (using insta-heal is not only just advantageous for human eh) and this got something bad because even with the advent of aerial units and tanks, there was little that could individually go toe-to-toe with the Sky Fortress

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The point of no-return came with the destruction of one of the newly rushbought Landships and further rampages into the rear with those skyfort

Insane maneuverability indeed

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The Siege of Honolulu, circa 1944 AD:

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yes, the game is won by now. yes, we could have taken the last capital and won domination 50 turns ago. but that wouldn't have been much more impressive, satisfying and more importantly, score-worthy. the more cities one takes before a victory, the more it contributes to points

but that too got thrown out of the window when Jerusalem was finally liberated

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the Polynesian response was a vicious counterattack

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one could have imagined that the next turn or two should have been spent on getting it puppeted... but nope, somewhere along the line even that plan of high scoring got derailed =/

oh well at least the land leviathans got their time in the sun

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yes...

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even with a massive two pronged attack going on, Samoa was tough for the FFL bois to take

next time note to self remember Polynesian tactical moais and their love of "Defender of the Faith"

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1948 AD: After years of blood-drenched stalemate and inability to break through Polynesian's northern hinterlands, the Grand Consul Autocrat finally gives the go ahead to take Honolulu

for what its worth, for failing to conquer the entire world

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FIN

 

[Heerlo]

I think the Polynesians love sky forts.

Good win, btw.

 

[strijder20]

Congratulations!

 

[MikeIII the 2nd]

awesome!! you have taken over the world!

 

[smallfish]

Once upon a time, there were two Romes. One in the East where the Ganges flowed and ebbed, the other in the harsh western deserts of yore. Despite its incredibly bleak foundations, the Western Rome was generally considered the superior of the duo - in culture, the economy, its scientific prowess... and of course, the force-of-arms it carried across its harsh frontiers

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For many years, however, the Western Rome had realized that it was the superior of its siblings and left its other nameless brethren alone, to shrivel in its inferiority and naval-gaze at the Gods. But then it also realized that the outer darkness of mythical Eurasia were full of barbaroi who were just as strong and stronger than it - alone

And then Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus, once simply known as Octavian, realized that he was never really comfortable with the idea of "Empress Theodora, beloved Leader of the Eastern Empire" or the fact that there was such a place called "Byzantium", and thusly THIS NEEDED TO BE CHANGED REALLY BADLY QUICK ON MERCURY'S SANDALS

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And so conflict ensued, a numerically superior army washing itself on the Ganges and around it, a great tide out of legend to sweep this eastern affront to the One True Rome. Grim was the fighting and fierce in its bloody clashes, and the Western Romans were finally at the gates of Holy Constantinople intending to put the city and its queen to the torch

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But it had one thing that its superior brethren had not, and that was the magnum opus of John of Rhodes himself

The Dragonflask, also simply known as "Artillery"

But even with this wonder weapon of legend, the Western Romans proved to be cunning and numerous enough that a handful of artilleries were unable to defend against. They had too many men and material pouring all over the west, and even cunningly, from the Great Indian Seas in the myriad attempts to flank their eastern brethren

Respite finally did come... in the form of an intervention by the previously hermit northern kingdom of "Red China".

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The northern nations were a curious lot. Red was their color and proudly they flew them in their flags, their teachings, the view of the world and all things related to the world at large. Aforementioned China, also known as Socialist Zhongguo, was governed by the mysterious Chairman Wu who was as enigmatic as her friendly demeanor suggested. The friendliest among them however was the great democratic nation of the United Socialist States of America, under the helm of its President-Chairman George Washington

George Washington the Great Helmsman

George Washington, Friend of Eastern Rome

George Washington the Lying Cherrychopper

George Washington the Traitor of Ancien Englavo

And finally...

George Washington That Backstabbing Lying Rodent

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"Backstab is such an ugly word," he added before taking leave. "I prefer to acknowledge this as "Reinterpreting our Friendship"

And with the chilling cry of "WOOOOOOOOLVERINES" ringing all across the Gobi mountains, thousands upon thousands of Worker Militias (in their ushankas and checkered sweaters) began storming their way towards Adrianople, Gateway of the Himalayas, reeducation and red glory in their peasant minds (and the usual pillage/loot yadda yadda)

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While all this racket was going on, the forces that be had managed to take Antium from an immensely distracted Augustus. But then the willy Chinese had managed to swipe away the neighboring city of Cumae from them

It was then that Empress Theodora realized that she might be going a little tad too far, and while the wretched Westerners were paying in blood and tears for their treachery, they were still at heart kin and brethren

Siblings.

And the communist hordes of the darkest north were intending to kill them off with weight of numbers

It was certainly not the wisest of moves in her history of rule, but Eastern Rome then declared war on that northern hermit communist kingdom and may the lord grant them the strength to preserve through

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Unlike the USSA and Western Rome, Red China had innumerable reserves at its beck and call to be flung like water against the meatgrinder.

Even after Cumae was swept clean of the oriental menace, they still came shambling from the north in the millions. Perhaps the Americans had millions too themselves, but they were busily bashing head and neck against the heroic city of the Gobi Gate

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So for many years the Eastern Empire was under existential threat, each day and month pushing out another communist incursion only for another to take its proverbial rifle and march in place

Then the jungle-strewn nation of faraway Nova Gallia was met, and its leader Napoleon Bonaparte proudly proclaimed the beginnings of a fruitful relationship between two beleaguered empires (for they too were beset by their ferocious neighbor the Nordlanders, the human-sacrificing Mexica and the "Hermit Kingdom", guarded by countless Turtle Ships). He then offered anything to the Eastern Roman empire that Nova Gallia still had left in stock, and these Empress Theodora consulted with the immaculate John of Rhodes to pick...

"Would they be enough to triumph over the infernal hordes of red?" questioned the Empress, relaxing on her recliner but looking really worried.

"Not by themselves, and certainly not both at the same time"

"Then what good would they be?"

"Oh, you shall see your majesty. Pick one front to focus them on."

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And the most endangering of the two was picked, and the first thing it revealed was that there were gaps in the supposedly numerous hordes

With a fine combination of valiant men-at-arms at the front, artilleries at the back and this new flying terrors, the Red Hordes were slowly whittled down and even pushed back

In this revolutionary interm, having seen thousands of his Wolverine shock troops die needlessly and failing to accomplish any reasonable war gains, George Washington accepted that peace had to be made with Rome (no longer Eastern for it is the One True Rome) lest they too meet the fate of their Chinese neighbor...

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So peace was indeed made, long before the Fall of Beijing (cir. 1901), but Empress Theodora would never forget that wretched villain and scum who betrayed her byzantine trust

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Like with all wars, it began with a tiny little spark. But this one was even simpler - along the borders of Byzantine China and Bostongrad, a lone caravan of American settlers was making its way for destinations unknown

The strategic calculus was that since the USSA was entirely surrounded by hostile forces, it would need a breakthrough point somewhere to present a hedgehog defense against all potential foes. Such as establishing a city in one of those many chokepoints in this Central Asian sinkhole was.

Unfortunately they were caught just as Roman troops rolled into Philadelphia, victims of the opening moves in the 2nd American-Roman War

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Fighting was initially tough as the Americans too had adopted the dragonflasks of Eastern Rome and were using them extensively along their defense lines

And having seen the successes of the terror flyers in that struggle for China, they began adopting a type of automatic flak cannon to counter any aerial threat

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Bostongrad would change hands several times in some of history's most bloodiest battles

But the Romans took the fortress city of "New York", supposed jewel of the Gobi, and despite the pressure they were maintaining on Bostongrad, the communists could not fight off a two-pronged assault

It was thus the beginning of the End

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With the loss of their rear to the enemy, Washington saw no choice but to pull all his forces back across the Potomac to defend his Kremlin

But they too were repeatedly harassed and obliterated by the general superiority of Roman arms, and the lines between two old friends began to crumble like a house of cards on fire

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In a cringe-worthy moment of final salutations, just before the first battalions of Roman infantry stormed the Worker's Mall and Red House, just as his ole cherry-tree house was set on fire by a wayward artillery shell, George Washington gave his last words of congratulations to the Great Roman Empire

before he leapt back into his burning house and disappeared into the ashes of history


END

 

[smallfish]

I think the Polynesians love sky forts.

Good win, btw.

Congratulations!

awesome!! you have taken over the world!

Thank you all, glad to hear ya'll been enjoying dis

We'll see what comes next eh

 

[Heerlo]

You're doing a number on Marxism.

 

[smallfish]

You're doing a number on Marxism.

look, I'm just defending myself from a sandwiched start where everyone inexplicably choose some mind-boggling policies instead of Autocracy!

Also currently am embroiled in some Deity struggle where the reverse was true and things went even more pear-shaped, so I don't think it be apropos for this thread but some pics will be displayed anyways because I love pics!

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Funny thing is, he became my Bestest Friend later and when the UN got built he voted for me

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The Final Redoubt

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Next target - and a big puzzle

hopefully this doesn't go nuclear but we'll see

 

[Heerlo]

So that's deity. Good luck. I've never seriously played on anything above king except on multiplayer, where me and my bro tried deity once.

Have you ever won on deity?

 

[smallfish]

So that's deity. Good luck. I've never seriously played on anything above king except on multiplayer, where me and my bro tried deity once.

Have you ever won on deity?

If with later era starts... yes, its doable, but good luck if you start off sandwiched like that or worse

So many units to wade through, Giant Death Robos were really handy units and you get them plopped in a citadel and they do wonders against that unit spammage

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My previous continent had basically turned into a nuclear nightmare. Monty nuked the Dutch who nuked Monty back... while up north, well Nappy and Oda just went ape on each other. Vicious thermonuclear slugfest that had cities obliterated; Nappy was pushed into a corner, and this isn't the first time I've seen him do something like this when backed into that corner

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Hmm, outproducing the Deity AIs? Actually two other civs were close ranks with me in terms of military...

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e: this level 8 is indeed a great blast for coop games. Danke btw!