1640 AD:
There is way too much unhappiness. It is not clear how long the wars went on before I got the game, but some of the prime cities had almost half entertainers. This is not acceptable. Aztecs are religious, so I switch to monarchy. I think the switch was made in 1640 or 1645.
Set science to 0% and luxury at 10%. Aztecs need all the gold they can get to update these old units to riflemen.
Workers start building the railroad skeleton, and units are deployed.
Xerxes and Hammurabi continue to ignore my envoys.
Getting a better look at Persias units. They are strong. They took Teayo and razed it.
1645 AD:
Still cant open dialogue with either enemy. Man this is killing me!
Persia takes Teptlaoxtoc.
1650 AD:
Finally Babylon is ready to talk. Make peace with them and get an MPP. Had to give industrialization. Finally Persia will have more than one target.
Signed MPP with Lincoln too. It cost some techs, but we can afford to give them for survival. I did make a mistake here though, since Ragnar was willing to sign MPP too for wines, nationalism and steam power. He looked much stronger than America, but once I signed the deal with America he wouldnt do it. I guess the value of the techs went down after they were sold to America.
Gave Ixtapaluca to Russians. It was doomed anyway, and gave one more unit to defend the core.
I have been trying to attack weak units with the remaining cavalry. I also learned that the game must be modded, because riflemen attack at 5, not 4 as the standard game. I put this to work attacking selected stacks of Persian units right next to a city, so the riflemen can stay in the city and defend it.
1660 AD:
Tamuin falls to Persia in 1660
Samarra falls in 1665
1670 AD:
Finally the attacks have slowed.
1675 AD:
My plan to drag others into the war pays additional dividends as Babylon signs a military alliance with Iroquois against Persia.
1680 AD:
Down to 42 units left: 18 worker, 3 musketman (in an army), 12 riflemen, 3 cavalry, 5 jaguar warrior. We are building units, including our first cannon.
The good news is Aztecs can defend the entire core from land attacks from 5 cities. Persian units are in Aztec territory, but lack the sheer volume to beat the riflemen defending the cities. I am starting to feel like the damage is under control.
1690-1695 AD:
I am getting nowhere against these Persians. Aztecs need more units. Decide to switch to war-time mobilization.
Made a trade with Russia. Gave wines, collected 16 gpt some badly needed gold!
11 turns to go on MPP agreements. I will not make peace with Persia before then.
1700 AD:
Iroquois have been coming through Aztec territory since they signed MA with Babylon, so I decide to sign ROP with them and let them through. Now they are polite.
Persian incursion has ended, as no Persian units are in Aztec territory.
Next its time to reconnect the horse resource, build a new city, shore up defenses and prepare for offensive.
After I completed my turn, Iroquois immediately went into Babylonian territory. I conveniently forget that I had signed an MPP with them, and was forced to declare war on the Iroquois. What a disaster! Iroquois take the capital Tenochtitlan because they have units right next to it and I have it left undefended!
Capital moves to Tlatelolco.
This starts the AI dogpile. Persia coaxes Russia and England into military alliances against us.
I am certainly questioning my tactics, and my desire to play on.
1705 AD:
Quickly set up ROP with Vikings, French and Germans. I have to minimize the dogpile effect. Start damage control on Iroquois mistake.
1710 AD:
Retake Tenochtitlan. Its back but all the culture buildings are gone. Still have plenty of Iroquois to worry about.
France declared war on us. Germany and Iroquois sign a trade embargo.
Vikings declared war on us too, though I dont recall exactly what turn it was.
1730 AD:
Germany demands Theory of Gravity and we give it.
Slowly working on the Iroquois units. At least no more cities are lost.
Founded a new city zerksees in Aztec territory. There are a few tiles not being worked, so this city will use them.
1740-1754 AD:
Babylon and Persia sign MA against us. Why not have one more at the party?
Up to 47 units, and the last of the Iroquois units are cleared out.
Russia declares war on America.
1758 AD:
Made peace with Persia. It cost 150 gold plus 55 gpt. And it cost Persia a rep hit breaking their MA with Babylon.
Made peace with Iroquois at no cost
Made peace with England at cost of 10 gpt.
Made peace with France at cost of 7 gpt.
Got out from under the dogpile, with no additional losses!
1762-1764 AD:
Persia, England, Russia and Germany declare war on Iroquois.
Founded city Impossible on ruins of Teayo.
I am now looking squarely at Ixtapaluca, which I had given to Russia. I plan to take it back. I sent a unit there to look and see who is in there. Oops this triggers Russias MPP with England and Elizabeth declares war on us again. I am not gaining points for any UN vote, thats for sure.
Somewhere here I turned science up to finish electricity.
1766 AD:
Took Lagash from Babylon. Serves them right for attacking me. I got a great leader out of it but was unable to get it back to a city in time, as universal suffrage was built by someone else at the end of the turn.
Catch a lucky break when Tamuin defects from Persia to us.
1774-1778 AD:
Made peace with Babylon. Get sanitation, give 20 gold and 15 gpt.
Sign ROP with Bismarck
France declares war on Iroquois
Capture Ashur from Ragnar in 1776. He offered peace before but Aztecs refused. Serves him right for kicking a gift horse in the mouth. Then made peace with him and collect 55 gold and 5 gpt.
Sign ROP with Persia. It cost 75 gold, and Xerxes is still furious.
Sign ROP with Iriquois, they stay furious too.
Sign ROP with Americans, they are now polite.
Rush build FP in Tamuin with a great leader. Any expansion will be to the south, plus the cities near there have a good lot of corruption already.
Found city of Build Truck in open space just west of Lagash in 1774.
1780-1786 AD:
England and Persia sign a trade embargo against us
.didnt I tell you they were evil?
Made peace with England and collect 20 gold. Immediately sign ROP with them, they are now up to cautious.
All the wars are over.
Switch over to republic. I did not write down the details, but I know gold went up after the switch. I am hoping to stay out of war for a while. I could have chosen feudalism or fascism (not normally available in PTW), but I know what republic can do so I go with that.
War time mobilization is over as well so I can start on other improvements and start getting regular culture growth.
Sign ROP with Babylon. Sign ROP with France costing us 40 gold. Trade with Ragnar get spices for wines and 5 gpt.
Iroquois and America asked for embargo against Russia. I agree to both, though I cant recall why as I write this.
1788 AD:
Had a problem with the game. It failed when it could not locate a unit named cruiser in pediaicons.txt. Realizing I could edit a text file, I went into the file and found all instances of AEGIS cruiser, and created duplicates for cruiser. This is the first time I have modified that file.
Founded a couple more cities, Football and Queen Barbie (my kids named them) and completed researching electricity.
Phase 3: Rebuilding
1790 AD:
We have lost the tech lead but we can still sell to some of the civs. Trade electricity to England for the corporation, printing press and world map. Trade the corporation to Babylon for espionage and 240 gold. Trade wines and 100 gold to Ragnar for dyes.
Science set at 50%.
Most cities are busy building infrastructure- like temple, marketplace, banks, libraries, aqueducts and factories.
Aztec treasury is up to 2012. Income is 579 per turn. 276 to science, 54 to corruption, 121 to maintenance, 38 to unit costs and 84 to other civs.
Aztec army has 63 units. 24 workers, 2 knight, 31 riflemen, 4 cavalry, 1 catapult and 1 cannon. In the melee we lost our saltpeter resource so we build catapults and knights to upgrade once we can trade for some saltpeter. I am purposely not building the military up too much right now. I want to save gpt cost and have been trying ROPs and trading to keep the AI dogpile off the Aztecs.
Apparently the rebuplic has been modded in this game too. At this point 44 units are allowed at no cost, and additional units cost 2 gpt to maintain. Aztecs have 63 units, 19 over the limit, and so it cost 38 per turn to support the military. This is interesting.
Aztecs have dropped to third in score with 1004. Persia has 1306, France 1075 and Iroquois have 779. The others are lower.
1796-1814 AD:
Not much to do except build up infrastructure.
There are plenty of wars going on but Aztecs are staying out of them. We are building.
Trade 2000 gold and territory map to England for steel.
Renew peace treaties with France, Persia and Russia.
Aztecs up to #3 in population, GNP and mfg. goods. This is promising. Maybe it is because most of the AI are in fascism. Again another game mod since PTW does not come with fascism. I somehow think this must be like communism (inferior to republic) so I figure I have the best government.
1816-1828 AD:
Renew ROP with Xerxes for 35 gold.
Renew ROP with Iroquois, Americans, and England.
And the building continues
1830-1844 AD:
Complete research on scientific method.
Xerxes is building Theory of Evolution in Persepolis. Investigate the city in 1832 and find he is a size 6 city, and will take 30+ turns to complete. Switch production in Xochiacalco from military academy to TOE, and complete it 5 turns later. Got atomic theory and electronics.
Building stock exchanges, cathedrals and factories. Aztecs have 78 units in 1834.
Vikings are wiped out by Russia in 1836. This is deceiving though since I think France took most of the Viking cities.
Bought combustion from France for 2290 gold.
Complete Theory of Evolution in 1840, pass go and collect 2 free techs.
Trade replaceable parts to Russia for saltpeter, world map and free artistry. Now to upgrade those knights and catapult
Trade electronics and 480 gold to England for mass production.
Trade refining and steel to Babylon for communism. He only has one city left on an island.
In 1844, Paris will complete Hoover Dam in 12 turns, we will complete it in 11.
Strategy
1846 AD:
Decide that the best way out of this game is by spaceship or the UN. The UN is dicey, particularly since I dont know what may have happened before 1635 AD. Aztecs will have to build the UN to control the election, or else Joan or Xerxes will be calling elections whenever they can. I have some decent production cities, so I think the spaceship is the way to go. This will be the first time I launch the spaceship in a space race. Other times I built the ship I was in command of the game, and the remaining civs were tiny and not close to starting their space programs.
Domination or conquest do not seem too likely, given Aztecs small size and tiny military, and with a little over 150 turns to go there is not enough time. I also think histograph is out since I wont have enough time to reverse Frances growing lead in score.
Phase 4: Diplomacy fails
1854-1856 AD:
Renew ROP with Germany and Iroquois. Renew ROP with Persia paying 60 gold. Persia did not want to renew this but I convinced them. I need peace with them to build infrastructure and go after the spaceship.
1858 AD:
I experience a civ first for zerksees ROP rape. The Persians did it, and took my capital city of Tenochtitlan. I had no units in there, and they took it with a single cavalry. As they did their damage I got a progressively sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I worked hard to get Aztecs back on their feet, and now this. Several new cities to the south were razed or captured. The initial assault left some 50+ cavalry, 30+ infantry and 5 tanks in Aztec territory. Sadly the entire Aztec unit count was 70 20 workers, 10 cavalry, 36 infantry and 4 artillery.
I put the game down for a while.
1860 AD: Damage control.
While the game was waiting for my enthusiasm to come back, I went to CFC and researched fascism. I found a thread in the mods forum describing a fascism mod for PTW. I made a bold assumption that necrosmith must have applied this mod before setting up this game, and decided to switch to fascism. I couldnt do it immediately since I was two turns away from finishing Hoover Dam.
Switch to war-time mobilization again.
The people were unhappy right away. There must have been a ton of war before I picked up the game or something about republic was modded. I set luxury up to 20% to keep workers busy finishing Hoover Dam. Tech at 50%.
Decide Xerxes needs some more enemies.
Signed MA against Persia with Russia, giving atomic theory and mass production
Signed MA against Persia with Germany giving the corporation, espionage and electricity
Signed MA against Persia with America giving industrialization, communism and electricity
I tried the others but had no techs and not enough gold to bring them in.
Started picking at the stacks. Used the four artillery and cavalry to attack the cavalry stacks. Right now I am just playing for containment. Retook Tenochtitlan. Stupid AI took it with one cavalry. Even the weakened Aztec armed forces could take that back. The bummer is all the religious buildings are gone and other improvements were sold.
Discovered the capital had moved to Tlatelolco.
Abandon city named Shirty in the south. It was doomed anyway, and preferred to scrap it rather than let the Persians own it.
At this point I am ruefully aware that the only way to win this game is to take Xerxes head on. Should the Aztecs survive this betrayal, zerskees has the formidable task of defeating a much stronger and better armed Xerxes. And I will have to complete it before Xerxes can build the UN or the spaceship. zerksees is concerned.
On this turn Babylon is finally eliminated by the rampaging English. Babylon had been hanging on to a lone city on an island for a long time. At least we outlasted them!
