Help me take advantage of my poor tactical situation!

[Afterburner]

As mentioned in other threads, I'm trying to move up to Regent level (been playing on Warlord level since God was in short pants). For those of you who recall my "Oy" thread, welp, I have saved that game because I'm RILLY behind the 8-ball there. I plan on revisiting it when my Civ3 skillset improves.

For now, I have started another game. Once again as the Incas. My start was a little better than the start of my "Oy" game. My settler started out in year 4000 standing directly on top of a cow, and next to another cow. I spent a turn moving him to a hill where he could take advantage of both cows, plus get the defensive bonus for being on the hill. And, more generally, the terrain is much friendlier than the terrain was in my "Oy" game. 5 wheat tiles, 2 dye tiles, and a couple of game and sugar tiles have made my little island a home.

However, it's still a little island. Hopefully, though, putting the advice of this forum to use, I think I have made better use of my land. Viz:

One problem, though: Iron Working and The Wheel have both come and gone, and nary a single horse or iron deposit can be found on my resource-poor island. Clearly, I will need to expand.

Fortunately, the Egyptians are right next door.

Even more fortunately: They're (A) smaller than I am; (B) less technologically advanced; and (C) suffering from a prolonged war with the technically and numerically superior Japanese, who have been at war with them since I first made contact with Cleopatra at least a couple dozen turns ago.

Unfortunately, they don't have any iron either.

Even more unfortunately: Their Japanese neighbors are (A) highly aggressive ; (B) already in the Middle Ages; and (C) possessed of at least one Iron deposit.

Still and all, if I am to have any hope of gaining my first Regent win, Egypt has to go. To that end, Macchu Picchu is serving as a base for my military buildup:

My questions:

1) What would be the best strategy for reducing the Egyptians to a distant memory, using only the tools at my disposal? I am at least 45 turns away from Invention and Longbowmen, so it's Archers, Catapults, and Spearmen for the foreseeable future.

2) What's the best way of keeping my newly acquired territory from the depredations of the Japanese, who will certainly be fielding Medieval Infantry and Samurai in short order?

3) What are my options for crushing the Japanese if they have iron and I end up with none? Wait for Gunpowder and hope that I have some and they don't? Race to Nationalism and the Rifleman?

Any help you can provide will be appreciated.

 

[Mordack]

I would establish an embassy with Japan and sign an alliance against Egypt

this should guarantee them remaining at war for at least 10 more turns

Archers en masse should be enough to overpower their spears and their offensive units should be tied up on their border with Japan

wouldn't worry about Japan turning on you - I find them to be less prone to sneak attack and they certainly won't turn on you while allied

you should be able to take 5 or 6 of Egypt's cities - but make sure you take it all the way and wipe them out

after that it's going to be a real challenge expanding further

 

[vmxa]

Deleted this post.

 

[tR1cKy]

1) What would be the best strategy for reducing the Egyptians to a distant memory, using only the tools at my disposal? I am at least 45 turns away from Invention and Longbowmen, so it's Archers, Catapults, and Spearmen for the foreseeable future.

In one word: numbers.

2) What's the best way of keeping my newly acquired territory from the depredations of the Japanese, who will certainly be fielding Medieval Infantry and Samurai in short order?

Plant an embassy, be nice, offer some bucks, bow to their demands & so on. I wouldn't recommend to sign an alliance against Egypt. Although it would be of help in avoiding a devastating war, there's high chances that Japan will conquer a nice chunk of egyptian land. It's YOU who need to expand, not Tokugawa.

3) What are my options for crushing the Japanese if they have iron and I end up with none? Wait for Gunpowder and hope that I have some and they don't? Race to Nationalism and the Rifleman?

With Samurais at their avail, it wouldn't be a good idea to rely on spearmen for defense. You'd better wait for Gunpowder then rush-research to Military Tradition. In the meantime you develop your territory. With cavalries and muskets (and later riflemen) Japan can be overcomed.

 

[hievery]

I wouldnt be worried about the Japs sneding out military -- the AI is awful at anything having to with boats.

 

[DBear]

wouldn't worry about Japan turning on you - I find them to be less prone to sneak attack and they certainly won't turn on you while allied

huh?

 

[Turner]

The AI doesn't always use the navel assets to the best of their abillities.

Often times, you will see a transport being escorted by two or three ships as defense, all to drop off one attack unit on an island.

 

[Commander Bello]

Try to establish a brigdehead.
Land some spears as defense, add catapults and your best attackers.
Then, redline the Egyptian defenders with your catapults, and take them out with your attackers.
Make sure that the first city you take is not adjacant (spl?) to the Egyption borders. This may require to raze or take other Egyptian towns as well. After this has been guaranteed, rush for a barracks in there (to heal your troops most quickly).
Promote your attackers to elite. Go for MGL and create an army.
Repeat.
Use next MGL for another army, or to rush any needed building (especially for that small wonders which raises the chances for MGLs - haven't played standard C3C for a while, so don't know which wonder it is).
Repeat.

Celebrate your victory.

 

[Scuffer]

Also, get some aquaducts built in cities that need them now, or are likely to need them shortly. Ideally, have them in place before the city maxes out at 6. The extra pop will really help your production, research and unit support.

 

[Mordack]

huh?

yes, I have said this in other threads

you may think I am crazy but I find certain AI civs to be more prone to sneak attacks and/or treaty breaking

in fact, the C3C instruction booklet shows in it's description of the new civs an "aggressiveness" rating

example:

Mongols - highest rating
Koreans - lower rating

etc.....

 

[DBear]

I understand that, Mordack, but you imply the Japanese are not one of the sneak-attackers. They certainly are in my games...

 

[Mordack]

Interesting - they are usually meek in my games

I find that the Mongols, Zulus, Celts, and Arabs consistently sneak attack and Egyptians and Babylonians almost never do it

I am glad that the gameplay experience varies from person to person

 

[Louis XXIV]

I think your invasion force is fine. I would capture Alexandria. After this, take what you can (your goal is the western cities so you can get horses). You can continue to land forces to reenforce your losses if you feel it is needed, but I don't think you need to worry about an Egyptian invasion.

I don't think you have to worry too much about a Japanese invasion, unless you do something to provoke them. If you are especially concerned, you could always let Egypt keep their eastern cities as a buffer. This has the advantage that you might be able to get cities through a peace treaty that would be difficult to capture otherwise. Of course, you might want to completely destroy the Egyptians so they don't attack again.

 

[Afterburner]

Update:

Well, the war with the Egyptians -- soon to be recorded in the annals of history as the 500 Year War -- has come to a conclusion.

Before:

After:

It took Many Turns(tm). Part of it is just that the only combat units I had at my disposal were units with a movement of 1. But also I just need to work on conducting war more efficiently.

The year is now 1305 AD. Egypt has been reduced to a handful of small cities, 3 of which are located deep in the tundra. The Mighty Incan Empire is experiencing a few years of anarchy as it shifts to a more enlightened form of government (been in Despotism since the dawn of time), after which it will begin developing its cities with culture and population, and advancing its knowledge.

The current downside is that Gunpowder has been discovered, but once again the Incans have been shafted by the RNG gods. No Saltpeter exists anywhere within Incan lands. The only source of saltpeter seen so far is deep within Japanese territory.

On the upside, I did find a small island with an unclaimed Iron deposit:

The Ottomans were already there, and a Roman settler is currently looking in vain for a place to set up a new town. (I've got a unit fortified in the only place left to build a city on the island.)

But soon, I will have iron in my empire, and all of my spearmen will be upgraded to pikemen. And we'll be making a beeline to Nationalism so that my lack of Saltpeter will be less burdensome.

 

[Praetorian]

1) Ally yourself with the Japanese.
2) Declare war on the Egyptians.
3) Take as much territory as possible, while maintaining territorial continuity.
4) start a MASSIVE build up and wait for an opprotunity to cancel the alliance with Japan. make sure that it causes no rep damage.
5) When you have enough military power take out Japan.

 

[Chieftess]

Looks like you're doing pretty well actually. I'd build the FP somewhere on the mainland (in a city that'll make good use of no corrupted shields soon). I wouldn't consider island starts a poor tatical start. In fact, I like larger islands. I can get the land I want without being pinned in. I always go for the Great Lighthouse, though (and hope that I can cross onto the mainland). If I can, I usually have 30-40 units waiting to attack, along with good resupply lines.

 

[tR1cKy]

I'd go directly for the Japanese - the border you share with them and the position of their borderline cities allow you to do a devastating first strike, supposing you have the necessary units, of course!

 

[Afterburner]

I'd go directly for the Japanese - the border you share with them and the position of their borderline cities allow you to do a devastating first strike, supposing you have the necessary units, of course!

That's the plan.

Thanks to my flawless rep, Japan was more than willing to trade me some of their extra Saltpeter.

And, thanks to my construction of the Smith Trading Company, my empire has gone into a Golden Age.

And thanks to some shrewd trading, I now have the tech lead, including Military Tradition (and, thus, Cavalry).

LET THE MILITARY BUILDUP BEGIN!

 

[Dreadnought]

Keep us posted. By the way, are you the only one with M.T.? If you do, you should attack as soon as you have 10-20 Cavalry, and keep on building more. Try to have an army of about 40 Cavalry if you can, and pillage resources.

 

[Afterburner]

Keep us posted. By the way, are you the only one with M.T.? If you do, you should attack as soon as you have 10-20 Cavalry, and keep on building more. Try to have an army of about 40 Cavalry if you can, and pillage resources.

Nope. Everybody else has MT, too.