G-Major 13

[Harbourboy]

Hawk, did you need to build much in the way of anti-mounted units (Spearmen, Pikemen, Elephants)? My big problem once I get into battle with the big boys are the hordes of mounted units (usually advanced ones) that rampage all over the place pillaging everything.

 

[Harbourboy]

OK, here is an updated screenshot. Any comments or advice welcome. I still haven't attacked Asoka because I felt inadequate after Hawk's casual reference to a stack of 30 Hwacha. Not sure if the stack in Medina is ready to rampage through India yet.



My next key window ends when Gunpowder and musketmen arrive, which can't be far off. I think I need to have made some serious inroads into India by then.

 

[Methos]

We're having some technical difficulties with the HOF Site and are working on them.

 

[Thrallia]

That stack should be able to take out Asoka...you've got spears for mounted defense, and plenty of hwachas.

As long as you've got a medic somewhere in that stack, preferably a General Medic 3, you should be fine.

 

[Airny]

That stack should be able to take out Asoka...you've got spears for mounted defense, and plenty of hwachas.

Are you sure about that?
I see a maceman and some horse archers on Asokas side.
First you should destroy those horse archers on the border.
Maceman will give his swordsmen a hard time, adding longbowmen to that list and I don't think his army will destroy Asoka.

 

[Thrallia]

Maces will face his Hwachas, as they give a 50% bonus against Melee units
The Horse Archers will attack him, he won't need to attack them, thus they'll face his spears.

Asoka may have longbows, but if he's been peaceful so far, he shouldn't have any that have more than 2 city garrison promotions, so his Hwachas should be able to take that kind of a defensive stack pretty well.

Now, he probably can't take Delhi, but I'm sure he can take most, if not all, of Asoka's bordering cities.

Especially if he pulls a trick I learned recently...kill all but 1 wounded defender in a city, then let the AI reinforce the city....then smack it again. Do that a couple times, and the AI will have very few troops left for anything else.
Another note, Harbourboy...is that if you take a city, but don't think you'll be able to keep it...then just raze it unless it has a wonder or shrine in it. That way, even if you don't win the war, you still hurt Asoka.

 

[Airny]

Maces will face his Hwachas, as they give a 50% bonus against Melee units

That's right, but he'll loose some hwachas at every town then.

The Horse Archers will attack him, he won't need to attack them, thus they'll face his spears.

I wouldn't count on that. They won't go suicide in his large stack.

Despite that, I agree with you.
Your trick is nice, I hope I remember it for my next games.

 

[Infantry#14]

Maces will face his Hwachas, as they give a 50% bonus against Melee units

But Maces have strength 8, a Hwacha even with a 50% bonus against melee can only go up to 7.5. The combat promotion will furthur favor the Mace, unless you get shock promotion.

 

[Harbourboy]

Thanks for the ideas, guys. I did use a Hwacha, War Elephant, and Spearman to take out that Horse Archer / Longbow stack before attacking Delhi. Here is that state of play in 1142.



Any further ideas welcome as your suggestions have all proven to be successful so far.

 

[Jimmy Thunder]

I just finished a game where I tried a new tactic. I didn’t attack anyone early (ie with warriors or axemen) but made a beeline to construction instead. The second part of my plan was to generate 2 early GS with the help of the Great Library to bulb machinery and engineering.

With the delay before pumping military units I had to pounce very quickly once I had hwacha and war elephants to slow down the AI and grow my empire. By aiming to lightbulb the next expensive military techs, it wouldn’t be long until I had trebuchets to make the final inroads that I needed.

I’m far from an expert or even an experienced player, but since I’ve learnt so much from the forum threads I thought I should contribute since this game turned out very well for me.

I should also add that the map I played was PERFECT for this gauntlet. Had a capital that was able to tech quickly and my second city picked up the strategic resources I needed. I actually teched fast enough to self research machinery before popping engineering with the GS (which was generated without the help of the GLib). Also, once I met 6 (out of 8) rivals in the first 20 turns I knew I could probably get a domination victory.

In hindsight the victory was more due to the map than the tactics, possibly.

Better not get too excited because a few of my recent hof games haven’t made it through cos I must have stuffed up the settings somehow. Did a fresh Civ4 install before this one to be on the safe side.

 

[Harbourboy]

Nice work, Jimmy.

 

[Airny]

Nice idea Jimmy, perhaps I'll try that too.

 

[The-Hawk]

Hawk, did you need to build much in the way of anti-mounted units (Spearmen, Pikemen, Elephants)?

I built a handful of spears. Most were single units to sit in captured towns so the population would not whine about millitary protection. I had a few stashed in my capital (near my western border) while I was cleaning up to the east and south. At one point Peter decided to sucker punch me, DOW from the west towards my capital. IIRC a handful of elephants and horse archers. Bad news for him was my capital had a couple of spears and a hwacha or two as defense. Also, my capital could produce a spear pretty much every turn. He never even managed to pillage a tile before I mauled his stack. I ended up razing a crappy border town of his just to teach him a lesson. Other than that, no AI ever DOW on me. I was ahead on power pretty much the whole game.

 

[Thrallia]

Harbourboy, it looks like your continent should have enough land for a domination victory, as long as you can take everyone out.

I would attempt to take at least Bangalore from Asoka still, possibly whatever city is above it as well, before making peace with him(and try to get some good military techs when you do!). Then I'd tech to Engineering, and using lots of Hwachas and Trebs, try to take down Khan as well. It would definitely be a good idea to have some spears/pikes with you when you hit Khan, and maybe a X-bow or two to fend off the Maces.

If you can take 3-5 cities from Khan, you should have this game in the bag!

 

[Miraculix]

Once you have explored your continent, is there an easy way to determine whether that continent is above the domination limit?

I just played a practise game for this Gauntlet on Prince level. I was happy to find out that my continent had 6 out of 11 civilizations including myself. After conquering the 5 AI civilizations on my continent, my land area was still only 20%. It took me about 50 extra turns to expand my cultural boundaries and settle more cities, only to find out that my continent was only 47% of the world total land mass.

 

[Harbourboy]

Guys, I need your inspiration again as I am getting bogged down in 1472 AD - still not having touched Kublai Khan. See screenshot for the tech trading status:



And the theatre of war. I went after Churchill because his culture was killing London.



Any more good ideas very welcome.

 

[Thrallia]

Do your best to get Printing Press from Mansa, that should greatly improve your economy.

Also, see if you can trade for Astronomy from Cyrus...that will allow you trade with the other continent, where hopefully you can grab a few gpt in resource trades.

As far as Khan is concerned...if you can finish off Churchill, Asoka, and Saladin, then I would attempt to declare war on Khan, bribe Mansa in, and then after you've hurt Khan, take out Mansa...if you can take down either of them, you should be able to take out the other one by simply fighting a war of attrition due to your massively larger empire.

I would also adopt Police State ASAP...hopefully one of the cities you grabbed had the Pyramids.

 

[Harbourboy]

Thanks again Thrallia. I have now eliminated Churchill and Asoka which means I am first in score! Unheard of!

But I am still 4th in power. Does that mean Kublai has a massive army that will engulf me when I turn on him?

 

[Padraig]

I was doing great in my last well in my last attempt, I had taken out 2 of the 5 civs on my continent and hand and had secured the southern 40% or so of my continent so I made the push against Cyrus eventhough he had a tech lead over me, I had the military advantage. I'm laying seige to his capital when Isabella declares war on me and for some reason my stack seiging Cyrus' capital is booted back to my nearest city eventhough Cyrus and I never made peace. Then Asoka declares war the next turn and I'm at war with my entire continent without tech parity. I even spent time converting all my cities to Buddhism to try and keep Isabella off my back a century before this happened, but to no avail. Unfortunately she was the furthest away from me on the continent so I never considered prempting her.

 

[Padraig]

View attachment 155679

Thanks again Thrallia. I have now eliminated Churchill and Asoka which means I am first in score! Unheard of!

But I am still 4th in power. Does that mean Kublai has a massive army that will engulf me when I turn on him?

I would scout his land and try to locate where the bulk of his military is. Presumably he'll send a couple of massive stacks your way, all you have to do is be ready to destroy those stacks and his power will plummet.