Stuporstar
Warlord
I've only finished one game so far on Warlord, just to get a feel for the game right through to the end. It was a total walkover, and I ended up not getting a very good feel for the game at all. So I started my first full Noble game: standard map, continents, medium ocean, normal play speed, playing as Saladin - spi/philo.
At first I was doing great. My early game I was ahead. I founded my second city a little far from my first just to take a good strategic position to blockade the only other civ on my continent. It was one of those lovely squares with ocean tiles on both sides, and on a hill with stone nearby to boot!
The only other civ on my continent just happens to be Alexander. He found out pretty quick that he couldn't grow very far with that one city in the way (also my cultural capital and absolutely HUGE) so he went to war with me pretty fast. I held my own throughout the entire war but didn't want to take his cities until I filled in the rest of my territory and built up infrastructure. He just kept throwing his units up against a brick wall.
Then came the other civs. It turns out I'm right in the middle of the map with 4 continents: two moderate ones with each a single civ, and a large continent of three smaller civs. I'm stuck right in the middle of them. They've all got buddhism (I went for hinduism/judaism right off the bat) except for the English, and have hated me the entire time. None of the smaller 3 civ coalition are big enough to take me on...by themselves, and luckily out of the three I managed to get Rome on my side fast before he decided I was a heathen. After converting to Free Religion we're on good terms again, and he's the biggest of the three.
The other two civs on the map are a problem. The Aztecs have one good sized continent to themselves and so do the English. They've been happily producing with no interference whatsoever. I'm sandwiched between the two of them. The Aztecs hate me, because I've been a heathen for far too long. They're the bastards that spread buddhism to all the other nations because their continent was much closer and had sea tiles to get early contact.
On the other hand, the English love me. Unfortunately the English are my biggest problem right now. After years of war with Alex my economy has become pretty drained and the English have shot way beyond me in tech. Occassionally they throw me a bone and give me a tech (one that I could have researched in two turns) but generally if it comes to a space race victory, I'm screwed. If I ever research a path she's a little behind on she DEMANDS my tech. As if she even needs it, the *****!
I'm also a little annoyed because, for being a philisophical civ, I sure haven't gotten very many great leaders. All the ones I got were in the early game, where my tech was far enough ahead that I used them to build infrastructure rather than research techs. Now I'm needing them to boost research and the well has dried up.
The Aztecs on the other hand, have a huge military stockpile, which they use to invade every once in a while whenever they feel my city defences are getting a little thin. At one point they managed to take my 14 pop science capital by shipping in a huge stack of cav/riflemen. Not only that, the Theocratical bastard sold all my religious buildings during those turns of occupation. With Alex still breathing down my neck, the last thing I wanted to do was ship my units overseas, so after I took it back in less than 10 turns I sued for peace soon after.
In the rankings it's the English at the top and the Aztecs right below me. Taking that one city was enough to bump the Aztecs to second place, but back down again when I got it back. It's a close race. What a really want to do is soften them both up a bit.
Now the English have signed a mutual defence pact with me. I'm thinking I could use this to my advantage. Now here is my question. Should I get the English to pick on a weaker civ with me (Alex) and thus strengthen us both in the end? The advantage would be mine because I'm on the same continent and could make the most land grabs. On the other hand, all Lizzie might do is send a few pitiful goodwill units over and not make much of an effort, leacing me to carry the burden while she happily makes her way to the space race.
I wanted to go to war with the Aztecs, but seeing as I'm right in the middle, I'm the one going to take the most damage from them. The English would probably make an effort against these guys, because she's at the very least sharing a small island with them and might want to take that, but once again the English stand to gain more than I do and I could very well get trounced in the process.
The third option is the 3 civ block on the last continent which I've happily ignored for so long. The advantage being, they all hate the English even more than me. It's very likely the three of them will form a coalition against her if drawn into a long war, and they're sandwiched right in between us. If I did this should I make an effort to take a chunk out of them, or let the English do all the work while I catch up in research?
My second question is which victory condition should I be going for at this point? Conquest seems right out. It's already 1910 and nobody's pounded each other enough. Also, I suck at warfare, otherwise I would have picked an aggressive Civ and played that way. Domination seems out for the same reasons. Cultural victory is a very VERY remote possibility, but unlikely. The UN is more dangerous than anything. It's probably going to be Lizzie that builds it, but no one is going to vote for her. I have a very bad feeling the Aztecs might take this kind of victory. My last hope is Space Race, and if I don't get the English into a crippling war before endgame I'm screwed on this one. Does anyone have any suggestions?
I'm definitely not giving up on this game, even though it might be a lost cause. It's been a great learning experience in any case.
At first I was doing great. My early game I was ahead. I founded my second city a little far from my first just to take a good strategic position to blockade the only other civ on my continent. It was one of those lovely squares with ocean tiles on both sides, and on a hill with stone nearby to boot!
The only other civ on my continent just happens to be Alexander. He found out pretty quick that he couldn't grow very far with that one city in the way (also my cultural capital and absolutely HUGE) so he went to war with me pretty fast. I held my own throughout the entire war but didn't want to take his cities until I filled in the rest of my territory and built up infrastructure. He just kept throwing his units up against a brick wall.
Then came the other civs. It turns out I'm right in the middle of the map with 4 continents: two moderate ones with each a single civ, and a large continent of three smaller civs. I'm stuck right in the middle of them. They've all got buddhism (I went for hinduism/judaism right off the bat) except for the English, and have hated me the entire time. None of the smaller 3 civ coalition are big enough to take me on...by themselves, and luckily out of the three I managed to get Rome on my side fast before he decided I was a heathen. After converting to Free Religion we're on good terms again, and he's the biggest of the three.
The other two civs on the map are a problem. The Aztecs have one good sized continent to themselves and so do the English. They've been happily producing with no interference whatsoever. I'm sandwiched between the two of them. The Aztecs hate me, because I've been a heathen for far too long. They're the bastards that spread buddhism to all the other nations because their continent was much closer and had sea tiles to get early contact.
On the other hand, the English love me. Unfortunately the English are my biggest problem right now. After years of war with Alex my economy has become pretty drained and the English have shot way beyond me in tech. Occassionally they throw me a bone and give me a tech (one that I could have researched in two turns) but generally if it comes to a space race victory, I'm screwed. If I ever research a path she's a little behind on she DEMANDS my tech. As if she even needs it, the *****!
I'm also a little annoyed because, for being a philisophical civ, I sure haven't gotten very many great leaders. All the ones I got were in the early game, where my tech was far enough ahead that I used them to build infrastructure rather than research techs. Now I'm needing them to boost research and the well has dried up.
The Aztecs on the other hand, have a huge military stockpile, which they use to invade every once in a while whenever they feel my city defences are getting a little thin. At one point they managed to take my 14 pop science capital by shipping in a huge stack of cav/riflemen. Not only that, the Theocratical bastard sold all my religious buildings during those turns of occupation.
With Alex still breathing down my neck, the last thing I wanted to do was ship my units overseas, so after I took it back in less than 10 turns I sued for peace soon after.In the rankings it's the English at the top and the Aztecs right below me. Taking that one city was enough to bump the Aztecs to second place, but back down again when I got it back. It's a close race. What a really want to do is soften them both up a bit.
Now the English have signed a mutual defence pact with me. I'm thinking I could use this to my advantage. Now here is my question. Should I get the English to pick on a weaker civ with me (Alex) and thus strengthen us both in the end? The advantage would be mine because I'm on the same continent and could make the most land grabs. On the other hand, all Lizzie might do is send a few pitiful goodwill units over and not make much of an effort, leacing me to carry the burden while she happily makes her way to the space race.
I wanted to go to war with the Aztecs, but seeing as I'm right in the middle, I'm the one going to take the most damage from them. The English would probably make an effort against these guys, because she's at the very least sharing a small island with them and might want to take that, but once again the English stand to gain more than I do and I could very well get trounced in the process.
The third option is the 3 civ block on the last continent which I've happily ignored for so long. The advantage being, they all hate the English even more than me. It's very likely the three of them will form a coalition against her if drawn into a long war, and they're sandwiched right in between us. If I did this should I make an effort to take a chunk out of them, or let the English do all the work while I catch up in research?
My second question is which victory condition should I be going for at this point? Conquest seems right out. It's already 1910 and nobody's pounded each other enough. Also, I suck at warfare, otherwise I would have picked an aggressive Civ and played that way. Domination seems out for the same reasons. Cultural victory is a very VERY remote possibility, but unlikely. The UN is more dangerous than anything. It's probably going to be Lizzie that builds it, but no one is going to vote for her. I have a very bad feeling the Aztecs might take this kind of victory. My last hope is Space Race, and if I don't get the English into a crippling war before endgame I'm screwed on this one. Does anyone have any suggestions?
I'm definitely not giving up on this game, even though it might be a lost cause. It's been a great learning experience in any case.
