From dust to Stars: Brenus

[Soirana]

To 25 AD --- rather boring, infra building and tech whoreing phase....

Well capitol kept doing three pop whip settlers and where was also ton of lighthouses and workboats. Just 4 workers although.... which makes me sad.


Got to all planned spots.

Spoiler :

It is rather reasonable spot, just unsure if it makes main goals faster. Probably not worth bothering.
At 825 BC Egyptian creative traded me maths for Aesthetics.

Asoka played along plan building Paya and jumping into free religion. That sort of ended Hindu block although I guess it will eventually cause faster global tech, sigh.
Still maybe giving him access to Aesthetics was not in vain.

At 600BC our first GS was born. Ended thinking quite some time about him. Academy would have been nice, but I was till whipping cap. also quite a chance of second great person being merchant [which it was -- did quite nice mission in Egypt lands.]
So I ended bulbing philo to block AI from lib path and tyo allow some spiritual patches of running pacifism+caste.

At 125BC egypt built AP and i voted for Issy since she was so afraid of Celtic tech advantage... took +12 visible to get her to friendly, heh.



did some map extrade which showed missing AI - romans

Spoiler :

guess could have found earlier

As far as I am concerned Julius can live in his judaism corner for quite some time.

Some notes about Egypt
Land

Spoiler :

Very long patch, which can be attacked nicely from couple points....

Wonders

Spoiler :

She built Mids at 800BC and all the time run US? Jesus, that is so dumb. So memphis is must have city as is Thebes at least for AP control.

Techs:

Spoiler :

Well surely I plan to cuirasiers [note: ought to have built city on silver. third ring horses is just unacceptable.]. Thing is as soon as NE is done [calculated 75AD] I am gonna run longish patch of pacifism+caste.
So either do some back filling - archery/HBR/music [although i can always get archery/HBR from friendly Issy at later day] and two bulbs -- education and lib.
Or self tech education, bulb lib and wait to see if Ai techs nationalsim while i deal with stuff like gunpowder.
Although safest probably would be - self tech Nationalism while bulbing Edu and Lib, could also get through Drama>Music but I don't think I get much if anything in return.

Plan with nationalism is probably best as I would need at least few AI to have it and likely wonder to be gone to get in trade. It also probably worst one if I pop another merchant....

Hasnibal went into fist mode like last turn... I would guess he is against egypt. Issy been planning for long time... probbaly something she can't reach by land... like Julius?

 

[FlyinJohnnyL]

Good looking game thus far, I'd probably self tech nationalism and bulb edu.

 

[Soirana]

To 800AD. Or rather to point there I declared on Egypt.

Most important events:
IBT 25AD-50AD Hanibal declares on Egypt.
Well, i wish you best luck buddy but Numidians actually don't make cut against war elephants... Guess, I should have picked up that loose ivory of charlie just to prevent Egypt getting it. But who would have ever thought charlie will convert to Buddhism.... [although she might had some her own ivory at later point.]

175Ad - overpower Egyt culture on last Vienne inner city,
good thing some pikes and Egyptian elephants would not make surprise visit, bad.... we will come to this.

250AD - bulb edu, Hanibal looses first city. Couple of his cities in east is actually cut off...

300AD some cab fed artists make enough work to reach tundra horses.

375AD Julius shows up. Not as backward as I would have thought. Luckily in the full hand mode already as few turns later he chooses me to be his worst enemy... So typically ******ed

425 Vienne spits GPerson just before Ne overtakes the job as protective measure to allow double bulb. Well, running some artists for two turns comes to bite. GA is born and starts golden age - NE spot uses some starvation to make next GS in one turn...
Lib is bulbed I start trading through machinery line.

475Ad

Spoiler :

Mmmm... GLH is tad ******ed thing, no?

Spoiler :

Hanibal was just about to loose third city so I pulled the pacifying trade. Last thing I need is Hatsheput having vassal.

475AD -800AD preparation works. at~700ADish Julius declares on
Egypt and soon suicides his Kinght/xbow stack. Damn i hoped he will sit and bombard for millennium.... Worst thing Egyptians are still building units and not very much loosing them.

800AD - Asoka finishes Taj, AP vote just come in and another is scheduled to be vote for AP ownership. Issy has full hands again, Asoka just contributed 10gp to Celtian course.

Spoiler :

Damn, those fishermongers did not wanted to be ferried to mainland and put on tundra horses, but it is totally not like I would care about it.

Not so bright parts:
Celtia currently has zero theaters and zero stables....

Also

Spoiler :

5 elephants and 4 pikes all c2... I am pretty sure that stack will go on offensive as it is more or less [Knights were Ha at time I guess] army which rolled through Carthage cities. Don't think I can afford her to go siege first so some maneuvering before that stack is dealt with will be needed.
I tried calculating movement and it looks like the only sensible option is to wait for that stack coming towards my territory...
Guess I also should try picking GG as soon as possible as some healing will be needed.

 

[vranasm]

at points it seems to me you didn't say clear enough what path you really chose etc...

the Nationalism was then selfteched? and how come Asoka beat you to taj?

Very impressive date for Lib->Mt.

 

[Soirana]

at points it seems to me you didn't say clear enough what path you really chose etc...

the Nationalism was then selfteched? and how come Asoka beat you to taj?

Very impressive date for Lib->Mt.

He self teched it too. Beat is a bit wrong word since i never attempted to build it. Well, i never do without marble/industrous.

Tech wise I did -- about two turns into education while deciding, self through nationalism - trades gave like drama, music, HBR, theology - bulbed and finished Education, went through gunpowder and turn into liberalism before getting second GS.... Backfilled on philo/paper for machinery/engineering, manufactured some sort of trade on guilds too [guess for nationalism]... self teched banking [mostly out from stupidity I guess] and started on RP>Rifling.

Well, swift date does not yet mean swift war. It is 940AD and Egypt is still has Mids, h arrases troop fairing with caravels, while believing they are fine on their own... and lost just 4 cities.
From good news they are not running around with any sort of stack.
From bad ones Carthage is being pounded by Charlie and Isabella and I don't think I can even attempt to salvage him...

 

[vranasm]

thanks

I think lack of stables really hurts you, I usually whip stables everywhere and once I tried a game where I didn't whipped them and went with 1 promotion cuirs... it makes pretty big difference

 

[Soirana]

thanks

I think lack of stables really hurts you, I usually whip stables everywhere and once I tried a game where I didn't whipped them and went with 1 promotion cuirs... it makes pretty big difference

Huh?
Due to spiritual I ran Theocracy>> racks+theo is two promos. Same +stables is two promos either but close to third and third is like healing package packed with horse food.
If i had some good hammer places instead of whipping halls these would get stables as they would get military instructors to make c3 or c2pinch out of gates.

Spoiler :

Celts even got Chemistry in the process I am just afraid that due to warring I am currently down to three workers... but some surely can be whipped in unbelievable case Celts would choose to terraform instead of future wars.

 

[Soirana]

800AD- 980AD Conquest of Egypt.

So I did declared on 800AD but for few turns all i did was picking stray units and trying covering curaisiers with some last second made pikes.

Between pikes working against mounted and killing loose longbows at 820AD we picked GG which was instantly made into supermedic. That stack of Egypt ofcourse choose to ignore Julius and went full speed towards Vienne.

Spoiler :

I left sacrificial injured pike on that tile hoping to drag some parts of stack... and it arrived where whole.
No pikes on hills and after dealing with it i can position curaisiers to charge into thebes next turn... Sure they won't be on full health but hopefully one of two spies will succeed...

Spoiler :

Size 17 with forge means lots of available production

Pikes and stray elephants were still making some problems by acting aggresively. but nothing to major.

Had to turn espionage slider on since fortified spy was caught in Heliopolis and back up had just few turns of discount... Yet Egypt cities kept falling.

At 900AD Charlie spinned of one island colony in Frederick...

Spoiler :

At very least Frederick had spare whale to trade.

960AD

Spoiler :

Finally made to Mids. Funny by that time most world including me had constitution. I picked it hoping to stuff it to Julius for Chemistry but while I charged towards next city [that excarthage exbabr cow spot] Hatsheput aguired chemistry which she gladly gave together with capitulation.


Tech situation:

Spoiler :

Well due to these fat happy Egypt cities I actually managed outscore Asoka by 20-30 points so i have like zero trades available....

There is also issue of Izzy declaring on Hanibal and having eaten one city already.
Charlie was likely bribed in on Hanibal so likely won't do much if anything.

On another not so cute topic Izabela will remain AP resident as charlie will happily vote for her on behalf of shared war.

Some potential land

Spoiler :

Carthages western core is close enough and likely good enough. Risk of him capping to spin in process is very real although.
Northern Spain seems juicy [shrine...] and isolated enough not to be dampened into remaining spain culture - getting 4 cities before AP potentially shows up [voting is next turn according to BUG and I need few turns of heeling/relocation] is rather doable. Spain however seemingly broke through military tradition... and idea of her spinning votes return cities to spain does not sound fantastic either....
Plan C would be do strike India while Asoka is researching SM and alike we could do educational detour to indian lands... especially since in turn or so we will gain city visibility due to directed espionage from curthouses.

Of these stab on Carthage seems severely weakest option. Will see how it goes after i scout north spain defenses and check how many units i've got left [on paper that is 46 except some are still on that island and some are rather badly injured and some city defense in egypt cities is needed.]

 

[vranasm]

seems to me like you're very close to 4 biggest cities of Isabella...

 

[Soirana]

980AD-1090AD
Crippling the Spain

The troops which where missing by being near dead or too far away there fixed by supermedic and some whipping on mainland. So in 1030AD I declared on Isabella.
Well, bad part of that was that in few turns she got eastern part of Carthage conquered and vassaled Hannibal. Absolutely nothing I could do to stop that.

Memphis got swamped in spain culture delaying strike although

Spoiler :

On good side:

Some nice cities:

Spoiler :

Will need bank too


Hagia will help a bit with plan to workshop up some places, sankore is sweet and mausoleum... don't think I will get two great people anywhere soon.

Meanwhile...

Spoiler :

Well, charlie got through rifling which meant he was unlikely in between few next targets. Also if Hatshepsut ever finishes steel that won't be too much of problem. Maybe....

Well, sightseeing through Spanish cities went on.

Spoiler :

In typical mounted warfare fashion Cordoba was bypassed and lightly defended Seville was taken instead.... which started be worrying where is Issy's stack.... It ought to be somewhere.
I needed to take Cordoba to reduce cultural pressure on land, but c2 pikes fortified on hills in 80% cultural is so no fun.....

At that point had to kill some Spanish troop on flatlands...

Spoiler :

Nah, buddy, we will introduce you to rifling just not this way.

1090AD after some regrouping charge went on.

Spoiler :

minor shrine, meh.

Spoiler :

Statue of Liberty is mighty welcome given size of empire, lol.

And with help of freshly whipped Cavalry:


which makes spanish land look like:

Of course since she has vassal she won't cap.
Also:

Spoiler :

Phew, found that stack. So I took some free workers, killed couple stray units at 90%+ odds and called it a peace.

Spoiler :

And we got ex barb, excarthage, exspanish city, which sucks especially since Hatsh won't take it. Still no reason to leave it in Spain.


So Spain is down to three cities one of which is ex Carthage on roman border. Hannibal meets all requirements to break free [hopefully]. Asoka is rather lightly defended and does not have rifling while we have gold to upgrade like 12 units to cavalry. I so wonder what will happen in next segment.
Ugly thing AP vote is next turn, which.... I guess I can simply exterminate Spain to trigger AP reelection.

Spoiler :

That is like toughest defended Indian city.....

Not so bright thing is Julius has full hands and I guess it must be on me due to refuse in demands. He got grenadiers... mmm... Egypt will have steel in five turns and if I do not want cheese out I will have to subdue Romans anyway....

Not so bad for this moment assuming I put stop on Indian attempts to tech away very soon. Well, good thing with 3 military instructors, theocracy and HE+police state capitol can pump 4 promo Cavalry nearly each turn......

Other places...

Spoiler :

I guess they are just not horse loving people.

 

[admtanaka]

Looks good. Nice shrine from Spain, nice whipping as evidenced by the whip anger.

 

[Soirana]

1090AD - 1210AD
Fall of India.

Well, some stuff went not along the plan.
First - Isabella totally refused to give steel for MT and RP. Some clicking showed that she actually had most of MT... guess answer is get techs from Asoka.

Second hopes of Julius taking some time to attack were not too realistic. Good thing scouting showed that.

Spoiler :

Since he could make to Toledo next turn I ended DoW him and beat crap of these grenadiers. Naturally Cavs ended being rather hurt in process.

Third Asoka was fast teching through Assembly line and if he ended with rifling I could have ended on wrong side of infantry which meant that Cavs did not had much time to heal [if any at all although Asoka went for Fascism after AL]

So despite all that Celts declared on India in 1180AD. Same turn we got two border cities...
At 1200AD with some help of spies

Spoiler :

We got some more shrines and Spiral Minaret.... So budhist temples where giving hammers, beakers and money....

At 1210AD apparently Asoka had enough...

Spoiler :

Well, he won't give tech and I did not make to Dheli [for Notredame], but that would slow me down like two more turns and cavalry is in rather poor shape - so these two turns I would rather spend healing.

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Some rather reasonable deals. SM leads to communism and will allow to get steel from Egypt.
Surprisingly between all religious wonders and other nice stuff I can do around 400 beakers with tolerable deficit.


War situation Issy still bombards Meinz.... which is good.
I would like Charlie very much just don't believe I have enough pinch Cavalry to pull it off against rifles. On other hand I can always go for Spain/Carthage.

And Charlie does not have Sm yet so hopefully I can use that to bribe him off Spain.
Techwise - half world has cannons. Rifling just me and Charlie....

As Bantu goes - I gifted it to Hanibal, which resulted it being captured by HRE and than Spain again - such a popular city. At least it ensured Issy's and HRE stacks have stand off. As soon as Issy's Conquistadors die to rifles that war will have to be stopped.

 

[vranasm]

airships should really help against cannons and grenadiers.

Against rifleman...well against low spam unit AI probably you could war airships+cavs against rifles, but would be very borderline effective (which charlie clearly isn't...).

 

[Soirana]

Against rifleman...well against low spam unit AI probably you could war airships+cavs against rifles, but would be very borderline effective (which charlie clearly isn't...).

That is not that bad in this situation due to Charlie being very longitudinal on main map - I think I can kill like 3 cities on T-zero. Losses would be... I would estimate 7-8cavs per city. The main problem, IMO, is general low gain from mentioned war.
Maybe I should do this just to prove my point and to avoid boredoom [boring plan would be - kill spain, cap carthage, use canons [coupled with some fast strikes of cavalry] to cap Rome - than abuse vassals trading to get to mass media - in this scenario charlie lives long and happy life].

 

[soundjata]

-1 to boredom

 

[Soirana]

Decided to keep it simple:

Spoiler :

Last spanish city. Cures all that sick for home land for good. Hannibal capped like t\urn before.


Started conquest of barb islands too

tech situattion before Issy dying

Would get remaining part of communism from Asoka in two turns [for Military science].
Due to some capturing of mostly spanish workers have like twenty of these, exEgypt is mostly workshoped and watermill.

With 20+ really productive cities, levees and upcoming switch to caste+state property.... well, surely if i can't get enough land from barbs and romans I will beat Charlie [who is lagging behing in tech quite a bit already] to AL and artilery, so one way or another game is mostly done.
Guess i will finalize at some point without screenshots or writeups.