[GEM] Kaitzilla vs. The World

Sounds like the GEM developers missed this when upping the movement values, perhaps extending visibility by 1 square above the base game??

Strangely, it doesn't feel too bad with normal vision.

Yes, the barbs are far more terrifying, but it gives extra incentive to explore and guard precious Settlers using cheaper units.
No more sending Settlers out by themselves and moving them 1 tile at a time to be safe.
It also makes you pay more attention to diplomacy and send out even more scouts and spies to keep eyes on your neighbors.

Having units that move twice as far as normal lets you quickly move from hilltop to forest if you think barbs are nearby too.

It's definitely a different flavor of civ.
Buildings matter, scouting matters, unit promotions matter, everything slows down with the expensive techs.
It certainly feels better than regular civ in many ways, but I'd have to play GEM on Normal Speed to give any kind of good opinion.

One (downside?/upside?) is the windows to exploit tech advantages against the AI are much larger in GEM.
Like drafting rifles might allow you to kill 1AI is BTS Deity Normal Speed, but on GEM with faster units and double tech prices you could conquer 4 or 5 civs before the AI caught up and closed the window.
 
Turnset 53 (T272)

T272 - Barbarians: 2 Axe and 1 Spear died.
The barb Axes are becoming a nuisance.
I can't expect to keep winning 68% battles with them.
Will withdraw the Vision Chariot from Poland to assist my northwest and have another Chariot help protect my northeast.
Spoiler :



Spain has completed the Parthenon! :eek:
How on Earth?!
She didn't even have Aesthetics on T269!
So much for my plans to build it in Varanasi.
Not even a tiny bit of fail gold either. :cry:
Spoiler :





I can barely believe it.
AI don't get any Deity bonuses when constructing wonders, they have to build it same as the human.
Parthenon is 1200:hammers:
Even with marble and Org. Religion, that is still 1200/2.25 = 533.3333 or 534 raw :hammers: needed in only 3 turns.
**Edit**
Ok, Madrid looks like a production powerhouse now that I look.
It is 13 Population working 2 stone, 2 marble, super wheat, pigs, super wine, horses, etc.
It can generate +17:food: per turn at 4 pop and has tons of hills to work and forests to chop.
Doesn't have Math though hmm.
Maybe she chopped every forest into Build Research?
Spoiler :

**Edit 2**
Oh! Madrid has 7 pop on T252 and the screenshot of Madrid is T251 (13 pop)
She whipped half her capital population away to get Parthenon so fast...
90*7 = 630 divided by 2 for whipping a Classical Wonder = 315 raw :hammers:
Interestingly, the penalties experienced while whipping Wonders are not all the same.
Doshin, who is a better micro player than me, explains here:
A classic article. :)

If you would like to add or update further, I think the whip penalty associated with wonders is more varied than the 50% or 100% you cite?

malekithe wrote that the whip formula is:

Originally Posted by malekithe
W – The wonder modifier – 2.0 for a world wonder, 1.5 for national wonder, 1.0 for everything else

C = [ H / ( 1+B) * K * W * Z ]

But this is only true for the early game, and there are exceptions:

  • Early National Wonders (Ancient to Renaissance) incur a 50% penalty (1-pop = 20 :hammers:)
  • Later National Wonders (Industrial Age and beyond) incur a 100% penalty (1-pop = 15 :hammers:).
  • The Moai Statue are an odd exception, incurring an early 100% penalty; the National Park reverses the trend: just a 50% penalty. The game designers apparently hated the seaside, but loved greenery.
  • Early World Wonders (Ancient to Renaissance) incur a 100% penalty (1-pop = 15 :hammers:)
  • Later World Wonders (Industrial Age and beyond) also double their penalty, to 200% (1-pop = 10 :hammers:).
  • "Game winning wonders," i.e. The Apostolic Palace, UN, and Space Elevator :)lol:) cost 300% as much. (1-pop = 7.5 :hammers:)
I believe those costs are correct, but I can delete this post if they are not.

Arabia demanded that I convert to Islam. :lol:
NO!

Got my 1st pillage of the game in.
A weak 3:gold: for destroying a farm near Korea in neutral territory.
Spoiler :

Cyrus appears unchanged.
My Khmer Axes have almost reached Pataliputra, so if Cyrus wants to kill me for maximum effect, he should do it soon before they reach Varanasi.
My Polish Vision Chariot has discovered 2 Cyrus units on its way home in Babylon's Kutha.
Just need to keep away from that Spear or it will use roads to kill my Chariot when war starts.
Spoiler :





My Qin gift Settler is now safe since my Axe has reached a forest.
Will try to settle as close to Qin's capital as possible to get the (Liberate) option after the Gift City 2 debacle.
Spoiler :





The 2nd Yue city on Khmer's border is another well defended hilltop stronghold.
Much like Cherokee, Hangzhou will be quite difficult to capture. :)
Spoiler :

Gifted Silver to Suryavarmen to build relations. (Trading a resource for another resource or selling a resource for gold-per-turn also builds relations just the same)

3-pop whipped a Settler in Varanasi to gift to Qin of China for a 2nd city gift. (Overflow will go into a Wonder)
If both cities are the coveted (Liberate) variety, will get +3 relations.
Will march it northeast this time to China since I now have open borders with Khmer.

Unlike last turn, 100% slider will finish Aesthetics this time.
Prepare for tech trades!
 
What, Isabella built the Parthenon in 3 turns???
 
How many workers does she have? Wow! Even with that whip/pop, wouldn't she have to time chops on 3-4 tiles?
 
Izzy whipped her capital! :mad:
7 whole pop to make sure I can't have any of the good Wonders. :lol:

Next best is Shwedagon Paya (1350:hammers:)
Even better, Isabella doesn't have any Gold, so it should take her a long time to build it.

She does have a source of Ivory from another AI, so Statue of Zeus (900:hammers:) could go pretty fast if she whips it in another city.
 
Turnset 54 (T273)

T273 - Barbarians: 1 Warrior died.

Aesthetics discovered! :dance:
I have now entered the Classical Era. :cool:
The face on the sun dial looks like it is screaming, doesn't it? heh
Spoiler :



Isabella is also in the Classical Era, which means she gets another 5% bonus. (because Deity is unfair)
Thankfully, the bonus is multiplicative and not additive, so instead of 60% cost units and buildings she now only has to pay 0.6*(0.95) = 0.57 or 57% costs.
That means she only needs 57% of the hammers a Human needs to build units and buildings.
Also, she also only needs 57% of the food a human needs to grow her cities each population.

This can be seen in a test game where I gave the AI enough techs to reach the Future Age (6 ages), so it gets a 30% bonus.
What cost me 50:hammers: on Marathon to build in the test game costs the AI (0.60*0.70) = 0.42*50 = 21:hammers:, which is exactly correct once I world builder in a Great Spy, infiltrate, and inspect the test AI city.

The list of techs that advance you or the AI to the next Era can be found here.
Spoiler :
Human (on marathon speed)


Deity AI (Future Era)


Now it is time for the Tech Trading mini-game. :crazyeye:
Here are all the trade possibilities.
David, Julius, Willem, Mieszko, Louis, Hannible, and Stephen are all interested in my Aesthetics.
Also note that Poland is willing to DOW Cyrus for the right price. :deal:
Poland is Pleased with me, Cautious with Cyrus, and isn't plotting war, so that is why he is willing to DOW Cyrus.
Spoiler :







My goals are to acquire the following techs in order of importance:
1) Alphabet
2) Iron Working
3) Masonry (Walls)
4) Sailing (to connect Chinook to my empire and get Galley for goody hut)
5) Polytheism (so I can start teching Literature)
6) Meditation (so I can start building Schweda Paya)

Obviously no one will trade me Alphabet for Aesthetics.
Deity AI only offer me 77% value for techs, and my Aesthetics is no longer a monopoly tech that only I own. (boosts value)
Looking at my choices, I can see that Poland is missing Sailing and Iron Working.
I need to trade Aesthetics for Sailing+Iron Working without any AI trading Aesthetics to Poland in between turns.
That will let me trade Aesthetics+Iron Working+Sailing to Poland for Alphabet easily.

Consulting Civ Illustrated, Willem will trade techs when about 15% of the AI know the tech, David 20%, Hannibal+Louis+Stephen at 30%, and Julius at 40%.
I can't remember if the dead civs count. :hmm:
Anyway, there are 24 civs left including myself, so I should be able to allow 23*0.2 = 4.8 or 4 civs to have Aesthetics.
More than that, and my 20% trading partners might start trading Aesthetics away.
Counting myself and Isabella, I can safely trade Aesthetics to two of Willem/David/Hannibal/Louis/Stephen/Julius without them trading Aesthetics to Poland.
(Note: Alphabet will always be able to be traded by the AI no matter who else knows Alpha, because it doesn't unlock any units or buildings.)

First up I see that Louis won't trade Iron Working for Aesthetics.
That means Louis has Aesthetics already teched part way.
Poking around for various deals for 5 minutes with my goals in mind, I found two good trades.
Traded Aesthetics to Hannibal for Iron Working.
Traded Aesthetics to Louis for Masonry+Sailing.
Spoiler :





Iron Working Discovered! :D
Sailing Discovered!
Masonry Discovered!
I got Iron everywhere.
Will send 6 Workers to hook up the source near Pataliputra as soon as possible for Swordsmen.
Got -4 "Traded with our Worst Enemy" diplo hits with England and Germany since I've known them so few turns, but I could care less about their civs.
Spoiler :











Cyrus now has a truly impressive stack of 16 units in Gordium. (4Axe, 6Spear, 6Archer)
But I have an equally impressive stack in Varanasi with a Wall coming in 1 turn. (13Axe, 1Chariot)
I also have 4 Axes and a Chariot ready to attack the 2 Axes in Dariush Kabir as soon as hostilities start.
Spoiler :



Scouting has discovered Hungary's capital of Budapest.
All the Axes and military units have me down to -10:gold: per turn.
Will keep building more!
Spoiler :



Barracks whipped in Kashgar (my northeast city), will overflow into a Wall.
Pillaged a Horse tile near Korea for 2 measly gold.
My Rice to Hungary for Marble deal got canceled.
Gifted Rice to Hungary.
 
Turnset 55 (T274 to T275)

T274 - Barbarians: 1 Archer died.

Great Merchant was born in a faraway land. (Japan?)

Hmpf, still no DOW by Cyrus. :confused:
Hopefully Cyrus doesn't stay in War Prep mode forever like Israel.
(Seriously, is David ever going to DOW someone? He's been plotting since T213)
I have little hope of defeating Cyrus' giant stack of units while they sit in hilltop Gordium. (+25% hill, +25% fortify, +20% culture)
They are just too strong and have a good mix of units.
Up to 18 units now in Gordium! (6Archer, 6Axe, 6Spear)
Spoiler :

Nobody traded Aesthetics in between turns, so my tech trading plan worked.
Also, Stephen didn't manage to acquire Iron Working yet, so I can get Alphabet from him instead of Poland.
That means I have enough techs to bribe Poland into war with Persia. :D
Traded Aesthetics + Iron Working to Hungary for Alphabet + Polytheism.
Traded Aesthetics + Iron Working + Sailing to Poland for War on Cyrus + Meditation.
Spoiler :







Alphabet discovered! :dance:
Now I can build :science: in my cities.
Polytheism discovered.
Meditation discovered.

Switching tech path to Literature.
Spoiler :





Mieszko of the Polish Empire has Declared War on Cyrus of the Persian Empire. :devil:
Poland has Open Borders with Babylon, so there shouldn't be anything stopping Mieszko from marching his huge stack in Gdasnk straight down to Persia's capital in about 8 turns.
Spoiler :



Scouting has revealed that Tokugawa has 9 units occupying the Korean city of Kaesong, so the AI must know how to do amphibious invasions at least a little in this mod.
Spoiler :

T275 - Barbarians: 1 Archer and 2 Warriors died.

YES!, Persia's Stack of Doom in Gordium just vanished. :D
It must be marching west towards Cyrus' capital and then northwest to attack Poland.
Will try to guess how far it marched each turn and put down a sign to keep track of my estimates.
Spoiler :

Now I can go on the offensive once Persia is out of position.
The war for India is about to start. :ar15:
Will just have to live with a lot of -1 diplo penalties if Persia won't attack me in the next few turns, because I am certainly going to be attacking him!

Shuffling troops so I can make 4 seperate attacks.
3 Axes and 1 Chariot near Gift City 2 will attack Cyrus' Bronze near his capital.
2 Chariots and 4 Axes will attack the 2 Axes in Dariush Bakir.
A whole bunch of Axes will attack Sardis once they get down to Estruscan. (This will take 4 turns to set up :sad:)
And my main force of 13 Axes and 1 Chariot will attack Gordium.
(Note the 9.77% chance my Combat I Axe has to do no damage to that hilltop Cyrus Archer in Gordium.
Generally, you never want the odds to do no-damage to exceed 15%, or you are wasting your time and units.)
Spoiler :




Another good trade opportunity showed up.
Traded Alphabet to Babylon for Monotheism + War against Ragnar.
Spoiler :

Monotheism Discovered!
Will wait until later to revolt for Organized Religion.
The war with Cyrus is more important than a 25% building bonus.

The Babylonian Empire has Declared War on Ragnar of the Scandinavian Empire. :devil:
Now I'm sharing a war against Ragnar with Hammurabi. :)
Wouldn't have been possible if I hadn't gotten Babylon to Pleased.
Spoiler :



My northwest Vision chariot will die if Cyrus' DOW's me next turn, but I need that vision in case a distant AI approaches with an army and to fogbust barb Axes.
The risk of Cyrus attacking me has gone down a lot now that he's marching for Poland. (probably)
Spoiler :
 
Last edited:
Turnset 56 (T276 to T277)

T276 - Barbarians: 2 Archers died.

Great Scientist was born in the Nertherlands.
Frederick of Germany demanded I cancel my deals with France. Nope!

Hinduism spread to Varanasi! :D
Kashgar popped borders, so I'll have a 2nd source of Bronze soon.

Just noticed that Isabella of Spain and Julius of Rome are saying "We Fear You Have Become Too Advanced" when I try to trade for their Monarchy tech.
They are some of the few civs who won't tech trade with you on Deity once they see you trade and receive 6 techs from any AI.
There is a 5% chance each turn that they will forget about a tech trade, but I just traded for 7 techs and will trade for more soon. (They might even still remember my Hunting/Fishing/Archer trades on T208/T209/T240)
The only way I will be able to trade techs with them more is if I can get them to Friendly relations.
Thankfully, I've gotten both Spain and Rome to +10 relations, so Friendly is a merely another +1 away I think.
Spoiler :





A good trade opportunity came up.
Traded Monotheism to Netherlands for Priesthood.
The slightly beneficial trade and short time I've known Willem gave me +1 Fair Trade bonus which got me to Friendly with the Netherlands, my 1st Friendly civ. :D
(Willem is the only civ that gives a secret +1 for being ahead in score I think)
Priesthood discovered!
Spoiler :



Hammurabi of Babylon finally fixed his finances enough to accept regular city gifts once again.
Gifted Gift City #2 to Babylon to lock in +4 Fair Trade relations and have 1 less city to defend against Cyrus.
Spoiler :



I'm guessing at this point that Cyrus' 13 or 14 unit Stack of Doom is at Susa or slightly to the east. (depends on how many roads there are)
I have no idea if Poland's Gdansk stack has moved south towards Persia.
My northern Vision Chariot must keep away from Cyrus' Spear and can't go look safely.
Spoiler :



Scouts report that Tokugawa owns Korea.
Also, Willem's stack of Chariots+Axe are still looking for Ragnar just north of Greece now. :lol:
Spoiler :



Barracks whipped in Khotan.
Spy whipped in Estrustcan.
Galley whipped in Chinook. (Will drop Archer near the Tribal Hut. Don't have time to make a Scout for better odds that hut has something good)
Spoiler :

Got enough espionage on Qin of China to reveal demographics.
I have a 1.374 Power Ratio with Qin, so I'm a fair amount stronger. :)
Will switch :espionage: over to the Yue Empire.
Cyrus doesn't have any Walls to sabotage, and it would take too long to build up enough espionage points to revolt a city.

T277 - Barbarians: 1 Archer died.

Egypt DOW'd Cyrus!
I'm pretty sure Babylon bribed Ramesses to do it since there wasn't any plotting by Egypt.
Spoiler :

Iron connected to my empire!
I'm going to build Swords in all my cities since it is my favorite unit in Civ 4. (Cheap and strong, their only real weakness is being slow which isn't the case in GEM)
Since they cost 60:hammers:, I can whip them producing 90:hammers: instantly and nearly complete a 2nd Sword on the following turn.
20 more Swords will absolutely make my economy scream in pain, but I just need to conquer fast and have high losses to get back to positive gpt.
Spoiler :

My game's first Spy was born in Estruscan and will prove invaluable scouting deep into Persian lands and watching for enemy stacks.
I've decided to put my southern stack of Axes to the northwest of Estruscan to attack in multiple directions, so my DOW is set for T279.
Will have a Woodsman II Axe available to steal Workers during the campaign.
Spoiler :







Scouts reveal that Rome owns all of Greece and western Africa is empty.
Hungary will have lots of Iron to trade, and the Roman Empire has an iron source to steadily make 8:strength: Praetorians (Swordsmen).
Spoiler :






 
Turnset 57 (T277 to T279)

T277 Continued - My military buildup (which I can't afford for long) and tech trading has made the Turks the #1 Civ on the scoreboard with the #1 Army. :king:

Power Graph shows that Persia finally stopped whipping/producing units.

Tech trade screen shows that I could probably trade Priesthood+Aesthetics for Math if Julius was Friendly, but he's not.
There isn't any easy way to get more relations either because the only resource he wants is Gems and there's no room for city gifts. grrr
Spoiler :



Samarkand finished a Library.
Traded Ivory to Poland for Crab.

T278 - Barbarians: No deaths.

Tokugawa of the Japanese Empire declared war on Gaujion of the Yue Empire!
Now Japan + Khmer are beating up on the Yue together.

A Hindu missionary from the west spread Hindu to Tashkent southwest of my capital, but I didn't see which AI it came from.
Any of the civs running Organized Religion could have done it.
Spoiler :

Great Spy was born in Spain.

Swordsman 1-pop whipped in Kashgar, Invincible City, Tashkent, Delhi, Lahore, Pataliputra, Biskek, Dhaka, and Chinook.
The overflow will be almost enough make a 2nd Swordsman in each of these cities. (Sword costs 60 hammers, whip produces 90)
18 more Swordsmen will exist in a few more turns and severely strain my budget.
Persia must die!

Tile counting and road guessing had me expecting to see Cyrus' main army 2S1E of Copper, but it isn't there.
Probably just a few tiles behind.
There are 5 defenders in Gordium and a new Archer in Dariush Kabir that will slow my 2 Chariot vs. 2 Axe plan.
Spy has revealed the garrisons in Ecbatana and Tarsus (hilltop) to be 3 units each, with 3 extra units near Ecbatana.
Spoiler :







Moved a few things around during my last turn of peace.
Spoiler :



Time to pop the goody hut down south.
FREE TECH gogo!
..
.......
It spawned barbs. :cry:
Maybe they will attack the brand new island city Cyrus settled down there last turn?
I saw a Persian Galley at that island 2 turns ago, so the most there could be is 1 defender.
Spoiler :



The Qin gift city Settler has finally arrived after eating my gold for 20 turns.
Hopefully it will proved a huge diplo boost with China who is still at war with Scandinavia.
Going from Cautious to Pleased with Qin increases my no_war_prob from 30% to 80%, so I won't be safe from a Qin DOW but it will become much less likely.
Spoiler :

T279 - Barbarians: 3 Warriors died.

Cyrus demanded I give him Meditation. No! (Plus, a 10 turn peace treaty right now with Persia would be a bad idea)
Khmer demanded I convert to Islam. No again!

Khotan popped borders down in southeast India.
Once that hilltop city has Walls, Khmer will find it very hard to conquer.

Gift City 3 was (Liberated) to Qin of China.
It gave +4 Fair Trade and +1 Liberated City, so I'm now Pleased with China.
Spoiler :





Still no sign of Cyrus' main army.
My Spy doesn't see them anywhere either.
**drums fingers on keyboard**
Spoiler :

On T279 I currently have
17 Cities, 17 Workers, 2 Settlers, 1 Spy, 1 Workboat
49 Axemen
12 Swordsmen
7 Chariots
3 Archers
2 Spears

There are 7 civs that are Pleased with Persia, but I only care about Rome and Poland.
Everything is in position to attack Persia. (35 Axes, 2 Swords, and 4 Chariots)
No extra Cyrus units near my cities that I can't handle according to my Military Advisor.

Cyrus infuriatingly has Horses now from a trade, so I'll have to deal with Immortals. (Chariots that get defense bonuses!) :mad:
Will just have to adapt to wherever Cyrus' main army shows up.
My Power Ratio with Persia is 1.531, so I'm 53% more powerful than Cyrus.
Time to start the Battle for India™

I declared war on Cyrus of the Persian Empire.
Immediately I received -1 relations with Rome, Poland, England, Khmer, Japan, Zulu, and Arabia for attacking someone they were Pleased with.
Spoiler :









The first target was Persia's source of Bronze.
My Vision Chariot moved onto the hilltop and pillaged the bronze mine with a bunch of Axes to protect it.
Cyrus' capital revealed!
Persepolis is a hilltop city with 40% defenses, 9 population, and 4 defenders. (2Axe+Spear+Archer)
I don't have the troops to capture it and probably won't until the end of the war.
It's farthest from my Empire and will just have to wait its turn.
Spoiler :

Dariush Kabir is a hilltop city protected by 1Archer + 2Axes, so my 4Axes + 2 Chariots will need some luck to capture it this turn.
Just need my Shock Axe to do significant damage to the Archer so that my 2 Chariots can each attack an Axe.
If it works, most of my forces can lunge for Ecbatana this turn.
..
......
My Shock Axe lost against Archer in Dariush Kabir at 19.4% odds to win. (Very little damage)
Boo!
Moved up 2 units to check the battle odds across the river, but my Chariots will be murdered by the Archer and the Axes will easily beat my Axes.
Dariush Kabir is safe this turn, but I will move in enough forces to crush it next turn for sure.
Ecbatana will have to wait.
Spoiler :






 
My Shock Axe lost at 19.44% odds against Archer in Dariush Kabir. (Very little damage)
Boo!

I still think if the odds are absurdly in your favor that your unit shouldn't die, just get really really badly wounded. Maybe I've just too many battle to the absolute fairness of the great and powerful rng.
 
Aw, I was sure Cyrus would DoW you first!
Oh well.

I do have a bad feeling about Cyrus' main stack, though.

Finally, the silly Dutch are still aimlessly lost, that is hilarious :rotfl:
 
I still think if the odds are absurdly in your favor that your unit shouldn't die, just get really really badly wounded. Maybe I've just too many battle to the absolute fairness of the great and powerful rng.

Heh, just last month Vincentz posted a screenshot of an 83% health Frigate losing to a Galley at 100% odds for success. :spear:http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=14085852&postcount=8222

Aw, I was sure Cyrus would DoW you first!
Oh well.

I do have a bad feeling about Cyrus' main stack, though.

Finally, the silly Dutch are still aimlessly lost, that is hilarious :rotfl:

I'm worried about that stack too.
A 14 or 15 unit army that I've lost track of could be devastating if it attacks somewhere I'm not ready for.

The Dutch are totally lost ya. :lol:
 
Turnset 58 (T279 to T280)

T279 Continued - Only 1 of Cyrus' 10 cities was expected to fall this turn. (Sardis)

Sardis is a hilltop city defended by 2 Axes and a City Garrison II Archer.
No real strategy on this one.
Just throw Axes at the city until the strongest defender is an Axe, then kill it with a Chariot.
Spoiler :

Axe lost against Archer in Sardis at 2.8% odds.
Axe lost against Axe in Sardis at 23.4% odds.
Axe won against Archer in Sardis at 35.7% odds. :)
Great General born!
The winning Axe that got 4xp was created in Varanasi according to its name, so I have no idea why the Great General was born in Lahore. :dunno:
GG's are supposed to be born in the city that created the unit that got the necessary xp to spawn the GG.
Meh, Lahore is close enough.
Will use the General Patton to make a Super Medic to heal all my units +25% and a City Raider III Sword. (10xp for each unit)
The Super Medic will heal +30%/+35%/+40% per turn in enemy/neutral/friendly territory, so it's worth its weight in gold on any game speed for the warmongering player.
Spoiler :







Continuing the attack on Sardis' 2 remaining Axe defenders...
Chariot won against Axe in Sardis at 95.5% odds.
Axe won against Axe in Sardis at 97.3% odds.
Sardis captured! :dance:
The city gave 152:gold:, has 4 population, and a Granary.
Spoiler :





After taking a city it's always good to kill lone Persian units if I've got good odds.
Once I gathered as much information as possible, I moved my main army from Varanasi to 1E of Gordium.
Not that I carefully surrounded Gordium so that a Cyrus Immortal can't be created in between turns and easily capture Varanasi which is defended by 1 Axe.
A better warmonger like Duckweed could tell you if my stack was big enough to "scare" the Gordium units enough to stay in the city no matter what, but I prefer to play more like Chess and give my enemy no options.
Axe won against Spear in Greece at 99% odds.
Sword won against Archer 1N1W of Sardis at 86.6% odds.
Spoiler :







Gobbled up 6 Workers using roads and Woodsman II Axe. (My finances! @_@)
The army that will crush Dariush Kabir next turn will have 8 Axes, 1 Chariot, and 1 Sword.
They won't have to attack across a river either. (-25% penalty)
I'm dangling a free Worker 1N1E of Chinook for Cyrus to take if he wants to leave his city unprotected since I just got 6 free ones.
Spoiler :











To keep my deficit from spiraling to -100gpt, I had to disband my southeast Asian exploration workboat.
I don't really need info on the Japanese home islands, and contacting the civ in Australia is impossible.
Spoiler :

Mmm, the worst thing that could happen in between turns is if Cyrus' Stack of Doom doubled back somehow and arrives in Gordium next turn.
Gordium is a strong hilltop city with +20% defenses and already has 5 defenders.
15 more would stall my war in its infancy and once again threaten Varanasi+Pataliputra.

T280 - Barbarians: 1 Spear and 1 Warrior died.

Great Scientist born in Pataliputra! :D
Since I'm not finishing any chops any time soon and am focused on building military, I'll wait 8 or 9 turns to bulb Math.
I'd still like to trade for Math ideally.

Great General born in the Yue Empire.

Shaka Zulu DOW'd Mansa who still has 1 city.
Goodbye Mansa. :cry:

My injured Sword lost defending against Spear 1N1W of Sardis at 9.4% odds.

Persia's 1st Immortal spotted in the capital Persepolis.
Pillaged the road on Bronze and then moved southwest to scout with my Vision Chariot.
Persian Stack of Doom discovered! :eek:
(14 units on hill 1N of Pasargadae: 4 Axes, 7 Spears, 3 Archers)
It could be 1 tile from Delhi by T282 if it goes on the offensive.
Moving Axes and Swords towards Delhi to help defend just in case. (Got to keep my 3 Axes away from Persepolis and Pasargadae Immortals too)
Spoiler :




 
Turnset 59 (T280)

T280 Continued - Gordium is a hilltop city with 20% defenses guarded by 3 Archers and 2 Axemen.

Once again, there's no fancy strategy for Gordium.
Just beat it to death with Axes. :hammer:
Axe lost against Archer in Gordium at 7.7% odds.
Axe lost against Archer in Gordium at 7.7% odds.
Axe lost against Archer in Gordium at 7.7% odds.
Axe won against Axe in Gordium at 26.8% odds. :)
Axe lost against Axe in Gordium at 30.8% odds.
Sword won against Archer in Gordium at 94.8% odds.
Axe won against Archer in Gordium at 96.8% odds.
Axe won against Archer in Gordium at 99.9% odds.
Axe won against Axe in Gordium at 100% odds.
Spoiler :



















Gordium captured!
The city yielded 122:gold:, has 4 population, and has no buildings.
After giving it a lot of thought, I razed Gordium. :devil:
It really crowds 2 of my major cities, I don't want to have to defend it if I can't get ahead of Cyrus' stack of doom, and it really should have been settled 1 tile west.
Spoiler :



Took some revenge against the Spear that killed my Sword near Sadir.
Axe won against Spear near Sardis at 85.9% odds.
(It should have 7 or 8 xp next turn. Will promote it to Medic and then attach Great General to get 17xp and make a super medic Axe)
Chariot won against Axe north of Pataliputra at 78.7% odds.
The victory revealed that Cyrus' northern city Ergili is 3-pop on a hill and protected by 2 Archers.
This northern city and the island city east of Chinook are both runt cities and will be mostly ignored until the end of the war.
Spoiler :





Dariush Kabir is yet another hilltop city that is defended by 1 Archer and 2 Axes. (Woot, no new defenders!)
The strategy is same as last turn, hurt the Archer and hit an Axe with my Chariot.
Axe won against Archer in Dariush Kabir at 14% odds. ^_^
Chariot won against Axe in Dariush Kabir at 65.9% odds.
Axe lost against Axe in Dariush Kabir at 12% odds.
Axe won against Axe in Dariush Kabir at 99.4% odds.
Dariush Kabir captured!
The city yielded 113:gold:, has 4 population, and has a Granary.
Spoiler :









Rawr, 3 cities in 2 turns!
Now Cyrus has only 5 big cities left. (They fit inside a single screenshot too)
Everything now depends on how I handle that 14 unit Stack of Doom 1N of Pasargadae that is Persia's main army.
Spoiler :

Decided to finally pay attention to Diplomacy again now that the war is going well and all my tech trades have died down.
Last turn I was only Friendly with the Netherlands.
This turn I'm Friendly with Netherlands, Israel, and Carthage.
First thing I noticed was the punching bag Ragnar is down to only 3 cities.
Hopefully he continues fighting to the bitter end against me and all the other civs at war with him.
Spoiler :

Gifted Rice to the Netherlands to boost relations.
Gifted Horse to Egypt so Ramesses will build War Chariot to beat on Cyrus with.
Gifted Ethiopia Sailing, Meditation, Polytheism, and Iron Working. (Got +4 relations and Friendly status)
Gifted Rome Priesthood. (Got +1 relations)
Gifted Yue Polytheism, Priesthood, and Iron Working. (Got +4 relations and Pleased status. The Yue was shockingly not Worst Enemy of Japan/Khmer)
Gifted Hungary Monotheism. (Got +2 relations and Friendly status)
Gifted Japan Mysticism. (Got +4 relations and Cautious status. The Fair Trade boost of +4 is because I've known Japan so few turns)
Gifted France Polytheism and Priesthood. (Got +2 relations)
Traded Priesthood to Hannibal for war on Cyrus.
Carthage declared war on Cyrus! :devil:

Axe whipped in Delhi! (Will overflow into Wall. Need to be prepared for Cyrus Stack of Doom in case it goes north)

Moved some units around to continue the war next turn.
Spoiler :


 
Turnset 60 (T281 to T282)

T281 - Barbarians: 1 Warrior died.

Israel completed the Chichen Itza. (+25% defense in all cities. Requires Code of Laws)
The Mali civilization has been destroyed. (Shaka!)
Shaka is very technologically backward. (Does not have Pottery or Mysticism)
As long as I keep loading up Ethiopia (Friendly) with techs, sooner or later he will go to war against Shaka with superior forces.
If all goes well, Ethiopia and Carthage will one day both own Africa and trade me all their techs. :cool:

Cyrus' Stack of Doom headed east towards Susa, so Delhi looks safe. :whew:
Will hedge my bets and complete the Delhi Wall anyway.
Spoiler :

Vision Chariot won defending against Immortal at 31.9% odds to win. :D
Vision Chariot lost defending against Immortal at 0% odds.
Not sure why Cyrus didn't attack with the capital Spear.

Scouting reveales that the Hungarian city of Szekosfehervar has enormous amounts of food, marble, stone, and other prosperous tiles.
It is truly a shocking city to behold!
Trade screen shows the Yue Empire still has 9 cities even though they are at war with both Khmer and Japan.
2nd Bronze in Kashgar is online, but it doesn't matter as much now that I have Iron.
Spoiler :

There's a new barb city to the east of Kashgar named Thracian.
It is food poor and guarded by lots of Archers, so I'll probably leave it alone for Qin to take.
Spoiler :

Traded Mysticism to Genghis Khan of the Mongolian Empire to DOW Cyrus.
Traded Pottery + Mysticism to Shaka of the Zulu Empire to DOW Cyrus.
(What about the Zulu tech embargo I just mentioned? Lawl, I really hate Cyrus!)
Mongolia declared war on Cyrus! :devil:
Zulu declared war on Cyrus!

Now it is me, Poland, Egypt, Carthage, Zulu, and Mongolia vs. Persia.
Spoiler :



I made a mistake and got lucky. :o
There are 6 units in Ecbatana, not 3, so any one of them could have used the road to recapture hilltop Sardis.
My 6 units near Sardis could have taken it back, but it's still a blunder because I didn't even consider defending Sardis nor defending my 3 Workers.
Got to get used to 2:move: units!
Spoiler :

Pooled together and moved 4 groups of my units.
Ecbatana is in big trouble next turn!
Spoiler :









T282 - Barbarians: 1 Axe and 1 Warrior died.

Axe won defending against Axe southeast of Delhi at 50% odds.
Spoiler :


Thracian is lively!

Rome completed the Statue of Zeus.
I will get 200 fail:gold: since I was building it in Tashkent.
Switching to something else in Tashkent because any further chops or hammers that I put into a World Wonder that already got completed will vanish.
Qin converted to Hinduism!
I am now Friendly with China and Qin will no longer plot war against me.
:banana:
Spoiler :

Ecbatana is a 20% defense grassland city guarded by 7 units. (3 Axes, 3 Immortals, 1 Archer)
My Spy reveals that Cyrus' stack of doom is only 3 tiles away to the west.
Spoiler :



This is the key moment of the Persian War.
Should I take Ecbatana and pile in to guard it against Cyrus' army?
Should I raze Ecbatana and hide in the jungle hilltops and pick off Cyrus' army?
Should I capture Ecbatana and let Cyrus' army retake it?

Mmmmm, I don't think I want to do any of those things.
I will capture Ecbatana, use 2 units to pillage the Wheat+Road 2W1S of Ecbatana, and move all my forces into Ecbatana.
If I do it that way, then the closest Cyrus' army can get next turn is 1W of Ecbatana, or 2W if it crosses the river into the elephant jungle and halts.
It will give me 1 whole extra turn to reinforce Ecbatana and plan my next move.
It takes all 2 movement points to cross a river into a jungle even if both sides are roaded until Construction unlocks bridges, then it is 0.5 movement points.

First I'll take care of a Persian unit trying to ninja back Dariush Kabir.
Axe won against Spear near Dariush Kabir at 95.5% odds.
Spoiler :
 
Turnset 61 (T282 to T283)

T282 Continued - Finally, it is time to attack Ecbatana.

Axe lost against Axe in Ecbatana at 21.3% odds.
Axe won against Archer in Ecbatana at 28.1% odds. (YES!)
Axe won against Axe in Ecbatana at 51.5% odds. (Not sure why Cyrus Axe didn't have fortify bonus)
Axe lost against Axe in Ecbatana at 65.2% odds.
Axe won against Axe in Ecbatana at 65.2% odds.
Axe won against Immortal in Ecbatana at 69.9% odds.
Axe won against Immortal in Ecbatana at 69.9% odds.
Axe lost against Immortal in Ecbatana at 70.3% odds.
Chariot won against Axe in Ecbatana at 100% odds.
Axe won against Immortal in Ecbatana at 100% odds.
Ecbatana captured! ^_^
The city yielded 164:gold:, 5 population, and a Granary. (I'll take it!)
Spoiler :





















Immediately moved up 2 sacrificial Axes to pillage the road.
If Cyrus is smart he will kill them with Immortals, but the only Immortal I see is guarding 2 Workers so there is hope for them to do damage.
Spoiler :



Deleted the injured European scout Axe.
I don't have money to spend on units that run out of things to explore.
My China gift Settler has revealed that Qin is keeping 11 Axes in Beijing even though he is still at war with Ragnar.
Spoiler :



Created a Super Medic Axe and City Raider III Swordsman using General Patton.
Moved the northern army onto the jungle hilltop to put maximum pressure on Susa.
Spoiler :







Traded Fish to Zulu for Deer.

T283 - Barbarians: 1 Axe died. (My Axe then died to barb Archer next to Thracian)

Egypt demanded that I convert to Organized Religion.
I'm going to do it sooner or later, but I don't want any Anarchy until Persia is crushed, so I told Ramesses no.
England demanded that I cancel my deals with France. No!

Axe won defending against Axe west of Ecbatana at 74.1% odds.
Axe won defending against Axe west of Ecbatana at 74.1% odds.
Axe won defending against Axe west of Ecbatana at 56.1% odds.
Axe lost defending against Axe west of Ecbatana at 4% odds.
Axe lost defending against Axe west of Ecbatana at 0.2% odds.
Hahaha! Stupid Cyrus lost 3 Axes killing my pillage sacrifices, and damaged 2 more.

Great General born in Cyrus' capital.
Great General born in a faraway land.
Cyrus' army retreated to Susa!
Spoiler :

Elsewhere, Cyrus continues to be a pest unleashing Archers from Ergili.
Will send a Sword or two to straighten that out.
The Spears sneaking southwest to recapture Dariush Kabir are also hopelessly outmatched.
Shock Axe won against Spear near Dariush Kabir at 91% odds.
Spoiler :



Swept the board clear of Axes that I could see.
Chariot won against Axe near Ecbatana at 93.9% odds.
Chariot lost against Axe near Ecbatana at 68.5% odds.
Chariot won against Axe near Ecbatana at 93.6% odds.
Chariot won against Axe near Ecbatana at 91% odds.
Spoiler :







Moved up even more units to menace Susa now that Cyrus' army is there.
The rest (mostly Axes) stayed near Ecbatana to heal up using the Super Medic. (It heals in all surrounding tiles too!)
Have a 2nd army of 2 Swords and 3 Axes coming down from the north.
Might try to attack Pasargadae if it is lightly defended.
Spoiler :



African scout discovered that Rome has a city named Arettium off the west coast of Africa near Hannibal.
The west coast of Africa was unsettled.
Spoiler :

Traded Copper to Carthage for Fish.
 
I am taking a break and putting this story on hiatus.
Kaitzilla vs. The World will resume on February 11th. :king:

To be continued...​
Spoiler :
T284 - Barbarians: No deaths.

The Yue asked me to DOW Japan. No!

WOW CYRUS IS AN IDIOT
He just moved half his army, 7 Spears + 1 Archer, right next to my freshly healed army of Axes. (Onto a plains tile!)
I have no words...
Spoiler :




 
I find it slightly amusing that Rome is the second in score. Apparently, the giant size of the map allows some European civs the prominence they rarely achieve in normal-sized Earth18.
 
GG's are supposed to be born in the city that created the unit that got the necessary xp to spawn the GG.
I've heard that said many times but there's clearly more to it than that - as you have found!
 
Congratulations on a great beginning of the war!

I always thought GGs spawned in a random city? Playing with named units (Unit Naming modcomp) I usually see GGs born in cities that are not the winning unit's hometown.
 
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