Immortal++ University XV - Churchill in a Hostile Continent

[MattX]

Enjoy.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=268

Thanks. Been wanting to try that too.

 

[Snaaty]

Havent had time to play much lately so I just have continued this game tonight... ...and found out that I was actually at a crossroads:

Buildering like usual and doing a late renaissance war, or go bersek earlier...

Spoiler :

I think the following pictures dont need any more explanation...

View attachment 193562

Taking revenge on Genhis, kicking him around pretty badly... ...taking a brake after conquering his capital because a rel. big stack with catas approaches and my units need to heal

View attachment 193563

Captured his capital and two other cities, raze one of them

...

Redeclare 2 turns later on Genhis, killing his stack and kicking him some more, but next turn this happens...

View attachment 193564





Stupid girl... ...basically, I ignore Cathy, phanting and cataing everything down that approaches my newly conquered cities in Mongolia, and simply continue to advance on Genhis... ...I have quite SOME phants and catas at that point btw, so even if Nappy and/or Shaka should join in, I wouldnt really worry

After having lost about 15-20 units (killing like two or three of mine... ...bad plan to advance with hachers, swords and catas against phants, catas and axes), Cathy hands over her cash and goes back to where she came from...

View attachment 193565

...

From this point on, fights are going pretty bad, loosing about 8-10 lvl 5 phants and heaps of catas at odds off 80-90%+

But thanks to the good production, that doesnt really matter and Genhis gets more beating

View attachment 193566

I took over the lead in power some time ago btw... ...and being used to fight on deity with about 50% power of the rivals, this cant be good for the poor AIs...

Plan frome here on:
Kill Genhis, kill Nappy, kill Pacal, kill Shaka, kill Cathy... ...doesnt have to be exactly in this order, but as a basic plan, this will do...

(I already reached a critical size, after the last courthouses are whipped/chopped/build I simply will build units until the game is over, killing the AI with sheer number...)

...

EDIT:
I still have no bronze or horses...

 

[Snaaty]

save......

 

[Snaaty]

Played some turns more and have reached a pretty strong position, thanks to massive phant/cata-spamming:

Spoiler :

You know the drill, some more beating on poor Genhis

View attachment 193592

While moving heaps and heaps and heaps and heaps of units arround to finally reach Genhis last city, Cathy knock on my door again and tries to bother me again... ...umh... ...wait... ...thats new...

View attachment 193597



Well... ...why not... ...hasn´t happened to me before, but well, I also would vassalise to me, after looking at the powergraph

View attachment 193598

...

Hm... ...after checking the diplo screen, I know why Cathy wanted protection... ...Nappy has vassalized Shaka after taking 2 of his cities (on the other side of the world btw) and was moving an impressive army around near the russian border

...

I cant see his power, but he cant have more army then we do, so I simply declare on him right now (and let Genhis off the hook with his last city), moving the army towards the French border instead...

And there comes Nappy´s army:

View attachment 193593

Zonk... ...NOT enough... ...BY FAR... ...Nappy´s army dies 2 turns after he crossed our border, at the cost of 2-3 English units...

...

I guess that was the final battle, the rest will simply be collecting French cities until Nappy capitulates, Pacal, Gilga and Shaka simply are too small to compete and Huy... ...I guess the dom. limit is reached before we can cross his border

So back to the kill-list: Genhis (can be considered dead), Cathy (vassalized herself), Shaka (got more or less killed by France), Nappy (getting killed right now), only leaves us with Pacal and Gilga... ...dont know if I will continue the game, but this map and game was great fun so far

 

[ungy]

I finish it out:

Spoiler :

At my last save I was preparing for a draft redcoat/cannon expansion war. I decide to go after Nappy, as he doesn't have rifling yet and his SOD is on my border for easy destruction. However, he techs AL as I attack and then picks up rifling in trade so I slog through infantry. He caps then I go for Genghis...his entire stack is trapped in Sumeria

An interesting look at AI city mismanagement:

Yes the AI built forge, factory, coal plant and w/o health this lovely city starved all the way down to 1!

Rest of game is pretty dull--HC does the mix of tech/culture guaranteeing that he'll neither launch nor get cultural. Dom in 1832.

 

[silverbullet]

FINALLY I get some free time to play civ again.
There are so many games I have missed and I am probably the last one to submit a game on this thread.

Played until 50BC

Spoiler :

I settled in place and decided to research Agri->BW->road->pottery->hunting->archery.
Late archery meant more potential barbarian trouble and initial scouting showed that there is quite a lot of land between the AI and our capital. So a lot of fog buster warriors were built after the initial worker.
I think it was worker->warriorx4 (maybe 5)->worker->settler

Managed to settle 5 cities. I could have probably settled more agressively, but knowing war would come at some point, I decided to settle only the best spots and delay close border tension as much as I can. It seems to have worked because no war has happened so far.

Settled land:

Spoiler :

Around 1000BC I get a random event - copper in my capital on the plain hill. I feel this is against the intention of the game so I enter worldbuilder and delete it.

After writing and some backfilling techs I set the slider to 0% science to accumulate cash and see what others do before committing to a path.
I decided to go for CoL. Gengis had founded confucianism and no one else had bothered to research it.

I managed to get mathematics, alphabet, monarchy and iron working.
After receiving mathematics I hoped to trade Calendar, but Pacal wouldn't trade it. Instead, he gave me 310 gold for CoL, which is great. I had just built an academy in London and 100% research in deficit will accelerate civil service.

275BC I manage to trade currency.

150BC civil service is discovered.
125BC I trade CS to gilgamesh for construction+calendar+cash.
75BC horseback riding discovered.
50BC HBR+CS to HC for feudalism

Current tech status:

On the next turn I can probably trade feudalism for MC to cathrine.

Diplomacy is a real lovefest here with monarchy being a favourite civic of so many leaders.

I think it's time to plan for phants+cats war. Shaka seems really weak, but Genghis seems like a better target to me. He doesn't have feudalism yet, but even if he gets it, he doesn't have a lot of archers. Most of his army is swords/axes.
Also, I think I will convert to judaism to make Cathrine and Gilgamesh better friends (and Shaka too).
The power graph shows that we have 0.4 the power of gengis, which means he shouldn't be too difficult after some whipping of longbows elephants and catapults.

I am not sure what to research next. I could focus on the liberalism path but I am really lacking in GS production (27 turns for the next) and with the coming war and no bulbing I am likely to lose it to HC (who has philosophy already). I still think it's a good path to take though. I will need education and oxford to drive research after the war.

I am looking for some suggesions and feedback on how to continue.

 

[Dirk1302]

^Hi, long time no see. You're doing great here.

Spoiler :

CS in BC's is very fast, you have great research going. I'd forget about lib here, instead trade CS for MC and go machinery/engineering directly. With your research rate it won't take too long. You'll get these techs so fast they'll probably have good trade value as well since many haven't got MC yet. Good chance you can get feudalism for machinery or engineering. GK has quite a bit of power so having some good defensive LB's/XB's in stack'll help. After you can go guilds for knights.

Maybe you can join the upcoming deity cookbook, such a game doesn't cost as much time as an open game i think.

 

[silverbullet]

^Hi, long time no see. You're doing great here.

Spoiler :

CS in BC's is very fast, you have great research going. I'd forget about lib here, instead trade CS for MC and go machinery/engineering directly. With your research rate it won't take too long. You'll get these techs so fast they'll probably have good trade value as well since many haven't got MC yet. Good chance you can get feudalism for machinery or engineering. GK has quite a bit of power so having some good defensive LB's/XB's in stack'll help. After you can go guilds for knights.

Dirk

Spoiler :

I already have feudalism (just received it this turn). I plan to trade it for MC.
Gengis doesn't have construction and feudalism yet, but I expect him to have it by the time I attack.

The reason I was thinking of liberalism is:
1) I don't really need machinery and engineering yet. I can whip a phant/cat/longbow army that will probably eliminate Gengis (Not 100% sure about that because I don't have a lot of experience in pre-renaissance wars)
2) If conquest is fast enough, I could get cash for deficit research to fund liberalism.
3) No one has theology yet - there is a good chance HC will go to the religious path (theology->divine right), giving me more time with paper->education.

It might be too risky to try liberalism though. If I can get engineering early I can wage a constant war, taking gengis, pacal, shaka. With so much land I am guaranteed a late game lead (and friendly cathtine and gilgamesh).

I think I will take your advice and go for engineering.

Do you think I should attack Gengis now or wait until after engineering?
I think I should start now. All my food cities don't have anything better to do, I should whip some army.

Do you think Gengis should be my first target? I think he must be the first target because it's too risky to go to war with him so close. He also has good land and I don't want Cathrine to start a war against him and vassal him.

Maybe you can join the upcoming deity cookbook, such a game doesn't cost as much time as an open game i think.

I want to join, but I will have to see how my schedule goes. To really enjoy a cookbook game I need time to open all the various saves and examine them, understand why one is better than the other, etc.

 

[Dirk1302]

^

Spoiler :

I think liberalism is overrated unless you go for a renaissance war in which the tech slingshot is useful. All the techs pre physics/steampower/steel/demo/rifles usually come in with trade easily anyway unless you've completely fallen out off the tech circle.

I agree you don't need machinery, trebs will cut down on your losses though, they're really a huge step up from cats if you can use them against cities.I'd start the war against GK once you're at 0.7 of his power.

In my game i had to take on Zulu as GK was much too strong. This has one advantage, you'll neighbour HC.GK has much better land though so if you can do so take him by all means. Set Zulu on HC btw if you can.

 

[silverbullet]

Played until the end

Spoiler :

Finished last report in 50BC with a very nice research rate and 5 cities.
Gengis is close and dangerous, and Shaka is incredibly weak and tempting. He got blocked by HC and me.

Following dirk's suggestion I neglected liberalism and beelined engineering.
With some trading for cash and this amazing capital I have managed to get quite a nice lead:

This lead is AFTER I already traded a lot of older techs to Shaka for a war with HC.

Gengis declares on Shaka, and a few turns later I declare on gengis, with some trebuchets, macemen, elephants and catapults. Gengis built a lot of axemen and swordmen, and not a lot of archers and longbows, which makes him an easy target.

Napoleon joins the war fest and declares on Gengis. I still keep no religion to avoid diplomatic penalties. Gilgamesh and Cathrine begin to like me because I am monarchist like them.

With stone and protective wall production multiplier is x3, I managed to get a lot of cash by whipping and chopping overflow walls.
Together with the cash from conquest, I managed to maintain a 100% slider for a long time.

HC (the tech leader) decided to go after engineering and guilds, so I decided to take a shot at liberalism after all.

After engineering I researched philosophy->paper->education->liberalism (1 turn left)
I bribed napoleon for peace with GK (to avoid capitulation)

I made peace with GK when he was reduced to 2 crappy cities (one bordering Nap - Samarqand).
This saved me later when Nap got enough on his hands again - if I killed GK completely I am pretty sure I would become the next target.

Gilgamesh becomes friendly and trades nationalism and I decide to slingshot constitution from liberalism (I was forced to tech it around 900 AD when pacal teched all the prerequisites). Constitution will be a good trade token, but with Cathrine and Gilgamesh around I am staying with monarchy. I need trade partners more than I need extra beakers.

Pacal becomes a voluntary vassal of Nap and they both finish off GK.
Napoleon locks all his cuirassiers in an old mongol city (Samarqand - the city near cow and 2 gold) that is almost completely surrounded by my culture. This is a great opportunity to destroy most of his offencive army.

I signed a defencive pact with both Cathrine and Gligamesh.
Religions at this stage:
pacal+nap Buddhist
Cathy+Gilg+Shaka Jewish
HC hindu
Me (churchill) no religion

In the mean time I have built oxford and used a GS for a golden age (my 2nd GS this game, which came really late), and used the golden age to switch to Judaism, pacifism, caste and I get 2 great scientists from 2 different cities that I starve. With the DP I am not afraid to annoy napoleon.

At the end of the golden age I switch to nationalism (globe is done) and theocracy and begin drafting.

Cathrine becomes friendly and offers to become a voluntary vassals. Great! now I can trade for horses.
A few turns later Gilgamesh becomes a vassal too.
Time to put them to work.
I use a GS to bulb chemistry so I can have some good workshops. After that I switch to cash only and ask my vassals to research for me.
Cathrine is working on steel and Gilgamesh is working on steam power. I diverted both of them from democracy which saved me some unhappy faces.

Napoleon had just discovered rifling so I decide not to delay my attack. I bring all my trebuchets and attack units to attack Samarqand.
Napoleon loses a lot of units and bribes Shaka to war against me.
I can't really conquer any land from Nap or Pacal without cannons (they both have cavalry and rifles), but I can destroy most of their army before they upgrade.
After a few turns Pacal decides to renounce Nap's protection, and Nap agrees to pay me some gold for peace.
I make peace with both and go to kill Shaka.

In the meantime my loyal vassals researched steel and steam power which I trade for rifling and scientific method. I ask them to research biology and railroad now, while I am trying to go to assembly line, but in the end it wasn't needed. Cannons and redcoats and some cavalry just sliced through pacal and napoleon and I reached domination 1565, and my highest score ever.

 

[Dirk1302]

^Impressive .