Immac's Arabs (a 5-headed hydra)

[Immaculate]

In 1508, I immediately settle the great scientist in Thebes. I also switch engineers and priests (which seem to be automatically assigned to all cities when you assume mercantilism to scientists in cities with libraries, university and academies.

In 1535, London falls. I really love city-raider cannons and city-raider 3 grenadiers. I was able to crack this tough nut without any losses due mostly to these troops. Despite not losing too many troops, war weariness is starting to really kick-in. Addionally, I don’t really foresee signing a temporary peace anytime soon; the troops are really steam-rolling Victoria and I see now reason to stop that. So… time for a civics change. The Arabs are now a police state. We are also a divided into vassals, slavers, mercantilists, and pacifists. We have wire-taps in every room but if you say something we don’t like, we aren’t likely to do anything. Strange combination pacifism and police state.

I trade Frederick printing press and liberalism for nationalism. I had intended to trade printing press to Asoka for economics, but after I traded for nationalism I got the ‘we fear you are becoming too advanced’ message, and couldn’t complete the trade.
Victoria adopts representation and theocracy. Too late I think but we will see.
In 1550AD I take York, but in the IBT, I lose a city-raider 3 grenadier to the counterattack and lose York. The next turn I reclaim York and fortify it (having learned my lesson). I also swallow my pride and dial research down from 100% to upgrade two city-raider 3 catapults I have been using for awhile. York has the Sistine chapel.

A few turns later, Hastings falls to the mighty Arabic pacifist war-machine.

Cantebury falls and we capture four workers.

Oh noes! Stupid English city flipped to the Indians. That’s it Asoka; you’re going down.

I’m still angry about Nottingham flipping to the Indians, so I am feeling pretty good about the death of the English. When the English die, I switch back to representation. Asoka just hit (another) golden age. Stupid Asoka. I really hate him in this game. Two golden ages and more then his share of wonders, at least he is small.

In 1592, upon discovering steam power, the Arabians are found to possess only ONE source of coal and it is found under a windmill. Workers are dispatched to remedy that situation immediately.

Giza has coal.

Egyptian cities want to rejoin the motherland. Win/win I think. I'll join them alright, the way a good pacifist war machine should. Goodbye Hatsheput.

In 1602, Mecca spawns a great engineer. I had been running a few priests in a hope of getting a prophet. I now have two engineers just waiting to build wonders. I think two of them should be sufficient for whatever task. Once researching railroad is complete, I must select a tech suitable to the wonder I want to use them for.

In 1622, the Arabs squish the petty bugs that are the Egyptians. By then the Arabs had coal already, but it needed to be done anyway. Sure enough all opponents now I have a -4 diplomatic modifier for attacking their friends. In a little bit, they are about to have a -5. I should point out that I was completely unable to break up the ‘friends club’ despite my best efforts.

Also at this point, slavery can take a break for a bit, I switch to caste system, mostly to run artists in new English colonies. When railroad is complete, the Arabs will find themselves in serfdom.
In 1628 I fire all the priests in Cherokee and set the workers in the field. The prophet required for the temple of Solomon is born! After the temple is built, 124gpt are being produced by Mecca. At some point, I want to REALLY spread some missionaries.

Shortly thereafter, Oxford is completed in Thebes. The cottages are still a little small but it has more potential then any other city. The coal and iron also could build oxford quickly.

Shortly thereafter, the Arabians abandon their hybrid specialist economy for a full cottage economy with one or two small GPP producers. A HUGE amount of great people have been generated under pacifism and more will continue to be produced as the game progresses but the rush for prophets is over and its time to take advantage of other civics. I return to slavery to assist the smaller English colonies fight German and Indian culture by whipping theatres and monasteries.

 

[Immaculate]

That decision has diplomatic ramifications. Cyrus closes his borders. Cyrus has the world’s larges army and is annoyed with me. That’s not good.

On the other hand, Asoka’s power level is pretty low. People hate me already, might as well give them a really good reason. Hey, don’t you know Asoka that you shouldn’t let your power level drop too low, people might take advantage of your weakness. You’ve been a great trading partner and all that, but you know, your beads bother me. They always have. I can’t take them. They drive me into such a rage.

Delhi falls to the experienced troops of the Egyptian and English wars.

New troops from Calcutta, Cherokee and Mecca converge on Bangladore

Unforutnately, they got caught up in the moment and decided to abandon their conquest to help take Bombay. Bombay falls, but Bangalore is returned to the Indians. Grrrrr. Sloppy….

Democracy is developed and I assume emancipation. Two engineers can build the statue of liberty in one turn.

I happily go around assigning specialists.
I soon carve the heart from the Indian empire and leave Asoka with three small insignificant cities. I will press the offensive and finish him however. I now have the chichen Itza and the spiral minaret. The spiral minaret does not aid me in free religion.

Within 4-5 turns, the Indian empire is no more.

I drop out of vassalage and assume free speech. I don’t think I will need as many troops for a bit. Both Frederick and Cyrus are upset with me (cautious and annoyed respectively) and I have a total of -5 diplomatic penalties with them for attacking their friends.

Thats the end of that session.
Theres a couple options available now. I can press the military aspect and try to take Frederick or Cyrus.
I could pump out missionaries and use that as a basis for a spaceship victory.
I could push towards a diplomatic end with mass media development
I could build infrastructure and try a modern war.
Combinations thereof?

Anyway, got to think about it a bit before i play the next session.

 

[Landmonitor]

I just read the last part, it was interesting... made me want to play Civ. I used the combination of Vassalge and Pacifiscm in a game I recently finished. Its really good because the free troops effectively save you twice as much money as they would on theocrazy and if you're going to have a pacifist army, you're going to want to keep size down and quality up.

I would go spaceship with modern war to slow down their ship (LOTS of pillaging - build gunships!). If you only fight one or the other you can probably do it with just a couple cities building units. Its cool that you're in the middle... that will force you to keep both borders well-garrisoned.

I've also found the city raider III Grenadiers to be probably the sweetest unit ever. Especially once they get combat I and pinch!

 

[Landmonitor]

Oh and by the way, screw Cyrus! You should bring him down a peg.

 

[Immaculate]

Oh and by the way, screw Cyrus! You should bring him down a peg.

Yeah, but who has Versailles? Germans if I recall correctly.

 

[Landmonitor]

Yeah, but Versailles is hardly worth bringing down a country for, I mean its lower maintenance but that wouldn't shape my foreign policy.

And worse case scenario you get attacked by one while fighting the other... better to have your main offensive army taking the fight to the Persians while you defend against Germany. Otherwise you have your offensive army (typically the best one for me) fighting the weaker enemy, which could mean getting him out or at least down quicker, but that means your "Echelon B" troops would be the ones squaring off against Persia.

In a game I hadn't played since August I had two Engineers saved up. I rushed half of the statue of liberty (once I had enough shields already to get it the turn after), then the next turn I discovered Communism and rushed the Kremlin. I'm Carthage (Fin/Cha), I have a ton of cottages and the free specialists from the statue... I will never be behind in tech for the rest of that game.

Anyway, gotta study, and by the way, Screw Cyrus! You should bring him down a peg. They probably make fun of your army. I heard they were burning effigies of your leader in Persepolis... You gonna just sit there and take that? Persian newspapers are being dismissive of your military strength, and they printed a story saying that the Emperor of Arabia wets his bed.

I don't know, I wouldn't take that, but then, you can play the game however you want if you don't mind them saying that about you...

Looking forward to hearing what happens!

 

[Immaculate]

Yeah, but Versailles is hardly worth bringing down a country for, I mean its lower maintenance but that wouldn't shape my foreign policy.

And worse case scenario you get attacked by one while fighting the other... better to have your main offensive army taking the fight to the Persians while you defend against Germany. Otherwise you have your offensive army (typically the best one for me) fighting the weaker enemy, which could mean getting him out or at least down quicker, but that means your "Echelon B" troops would be the ones squaring off against Persia.

In a game I hadn't played since August I had two Engineers saved up. I rushed half of the statue of liberty (once I had enough shields already to get it the turn after), then the next turn I discovered Communism and rushed the Kremlin. I'm Carthage (Fin/Cha), I have a ton of cottages and the free specialists from the statue... I will never be behind in tech for the rest of that game.

Anyway, gotta study, and by the way, Screw Cyrus! You should bring him down a peg. They probably make fun of your army. I heard they were burning effigies of your leader in Persepolis... You gonna just sit there and take that? Persian newspapers are being dismissive of your military strength, and they printed a story saying that the Emperor of Arabia wets his bed.

I don't know, I wouldn't take that, but then, you can play the game however you want if you don't mind them saying that about you...

Looking forward to hearing what happens!

You got your wish. Cyrus declared. One town was pillaged down to unaltered plains. I lost a rice farm, a corn farm, and a plains farm. Also, i lost some units (mostly cannons). I am fighting with pikes

 

[Immaculate]

At this point, I want to consolidate my lands, build infrastructure and spread missionaries. Throughout the empire, various cities are finishing monasteries in anticipation of the day when they won’t be able to build them anymore.

In 1715, the corporation is invented and scientists set their sights on ‘assembly line’. Mecca starts on walls-street. In 1721, a great scientist is born in Elephantine and sent to Thebes to study at Oxford.

As the missionary work progresses, more and more of them fail to spread their faiths. This is an uphill battle.

The missionary work goes on for awhile, but then, in 1736, Cyrus decides he wants a piece. So that’s what he gets. He captures about 4 workers on his first turn but no cities are set to siege. I spend about 10 minutes looking over the vast and complicated battlefield. This, finally, will be a battle of epic proportions.

Luckily railroads make reinforcing lightly-defended cities much easier. Also, Cyrus is using catapults (which would be good for him if he had MANY of them, but he does not), though he does have a few cannons also.

I attack the troops approaching Pi-Ramses and destroy them all except one longbowman that doesn’t frighten me. I also destroy an unprotected catapult and a pillaging cavalry unit. The stack outside of Nottingham is whittled down a bit with cannons but remains in place. I have not yet lost any units to Cyrus (except workers).

Cyrus had mounted his attack from Anasazi. Using the rail network, I sneak behind Cyrus and capture his forbidden palace, and the source of his attack, which lies deep inside my territory. That’s a blight on my landscape I am glad to see go.

In 1740, Assembly Line completes. I trade the Germans democracy for scientific method. I start research on astronomy so I can get physics and later, industrialism.

I need vassalage again, so in 1742, I adopt vassalage and slavery. The English and Indian colonies are going to get whipped hard. Emancipation? You demand it? Emancipation is a privilege, not a right. First you must prove you are loyal vassals before I can emancipate your woman. Demand all you want… if you are unhappy about it, then you will be thrown to the whip, then at least you will be good for something. Its sort of late in the game to go around whipping large cities, but unhappiness is useless to me and production of theatres and temples is useful.

After a few turns, I am still weathering the Persian assault. Cyrus has still not run out of troops. Though I do not lose too many units, I find myself losing farms and occasionally towns/villages on the borders. Large stacks are being dealt with cannons and grenadiers. Pikemen, because they are cheap, are a great counter to marauding Persian cavalry.

In 1748, I finish astronomy (its strange that I have an ironclad in production but can’t build frigates yet- the Arabs just never learnt how to get over their fear of deep water!) and trade that and combustion to Frederick for rifling and his money and maps. I start on physics in the hopes of getting there first for the free great scientist.

In 1750, I take Sidon, a smaller Persian city on my border. From here I can strike at Arbela and Susa, two major Persian production and research centers.

In this year, I also built wall street in Mecca. You can see that the various shrines are bring in 83 gold before modifiers, and 249 after multipliers. Two-hundred and forty nine!!! That would be every turn, just from the shrines. I really want to push that, but for now I have a war to fight. You can also see in this screenie the plains cottage that was pillaged and the corn farm that I lost. Stupid Persian cavalry.

I sort of thought Cyrus was running out of steam so I moved some troops into range of Pasagrade. I was wrong. Cyrus has plenty of steam left. Most of my production cities are building factories. And this is great, but better to build factories in peace-time and troops in war time. Oh well, can’t always decide when you get attacked. I must say that I love woodland hills overlooking major cities. Over the next 30 years or so, I would camp these hills/woods and periodically send in two-star, pincher infantry to harass Persopolis without fear of major reprisal. I am guarded by medic machine-guns.

In 1764, Arbela falls to grenadiers and cannons. The war has been slow, but it has been steady. I have been patient and willing to accept some pillaging to avoid battles at nasty odds and accumulated war weariness. Arbela comes with an academy despite being a minor city. Most of Cyrus’s cities must have academies.

In 1766, I discover physics and Carl Gauss is born in Mecca. I send him to Thebes, but just to hang out and be lazy. Though registered at Oxford, Carl is a poor student and doesn’t join his class-mates. Instead, he is just going to hang out behind school and play pool for quarters until another great person comes along and they can really party!

In 1772, we take Ergili. Its not much of a city, but it does clean up the backyard a bit.

In 1782, the Arabs learn the secrets of electricity. Onwards to industrialism.

In 1784, we take Susa, losing a cannon. We also get a grenadier promoted to 37 experience. I will promote him to pincer and upgrade to infantry.

In 1794, we capture Tarsus. It too comes with an academy. It also comes with a drydock, something I don’t normally build.

The following turn we finally take Pasagrade after skirmishing in the woodland hills since 1758. No academy this time.

In 1806, we finish industrialism and begin work on plastics. Soon the tanks will roll out.

In 1808, we take Gordium.

In 1811 we take the Persian capital of Persepolis. It has the Colossus, the Oracle, and Stonehenge. And it has an academy.

My soldiers were just taking a stroll through Bactra and Sardis and they may have accidently knocked over a lantern or something. Either way, in 1814, great fires engulf boht Sardis and Bactra. Poor Persians citizens. I feel bad for them and sign a peace treaty with Cyrus for military tradition, money, and his map. He now has two cities and will never again pose a threat.

I adopt peace-time civics. I also choose to adopt organized religion to assist in the spread of prophets now that I can no longer build monasteries.

Infrastructure (of sorts) commences. I focus on building missionaries. For each one that succeeds in spreading the faith, the Arabian empire gets 3gpt. And we still have a ways to go yet. In 1820 we finish plastics. Three turns after that we finish biology.

 

[Immaculate]

In 1826, St. Peter and Carl Gauss get together and kick off the party in style. An infrastructure golden age is the best sort of golden age. I would much rather build the empire then fight for the empire and waste the golden age with war weariness and nastiness.

In 1827, we, well, we win. This was an accident. I wasn’t looking at the victory conditions. If we had played longer we could have spread more missionaries but Cyrus forced my hand and I guess I got carried away.

And the single most important screenshot. How much money does a five-headed hydra provide to an empire in the end-game? At 100% science, Mecca was producing 345gpt, 3 of which was from a priest specialist. Which means that 342gpt were produced from religions. That’s a lot of missionaries. Its also a lot of failed missionaries. Most cities had between 3 and 5 religions by this stage of the game.

Well,thats it boys and girls. I had sort of wanted to go for a shrine-powered spaceship victory, but all in all, that was pretty satisifying even with Cyrus forcing me into a domination win (though i hadn't really planned that).

Hope you liked the read. Lots of people have done similar things with huge multi-shrine capitals; this is just my take on it.

I.

 

[Landmonitor]

That was as sweet game. 345 gpt is pretty good for one city at 100% science.

Just for curiosity, could you post another shot of Mecca with the building slider on the left scrolled down to see each shrine?

Back to studying! (this was my break)

 

[Immaculate]

No sorry, i didn't keep the save to go back and take pictures. I am sorry.


Anyone interested in reading the second flavour challenge is welcome to visit 'Spain Takes the Low Road'.