King of the World #11: Darius I

You have a tech lead a score lead and a production lead? how haven't this game been won for a long time already?
 
Gift Chendu to Asoka, Sick Caesar onto Qin, the other civ's are just making up numbers, EXCEPT KOREA!!!. Who seems to be singly handed taking on Chinese might.

Attack Qin with Caesar, and mop the east by following Roman troops and breaches.

Once you have knights, build some and quickly run through the Roman heartlands.

Of course, taking the Apostolic palace from Carthage, and sending a Buddhist monk to one city to declare a war on the infidels would help.

Engineering 1st, take for Calender Yes, get Caesar involved in a war, burn up those excess troops of his.
 
re: Terrible Cities- Yeah, I know, I know.
.....
I think that, as long as my economy can stand it, getting those cities up and running now for the cost of a Settler and maybe an Immortal escort is worth it, no?
No.
Power in civ comes from the good or at least reasonable land. If someone else sits on the good land, like the Indians, then the next step is :hammer:
Even a settler and an escort is wasting efficiency on those useless desert spots.
 
Xerxes paced aboard his battle-throne. Everything was going so wrong! He was at war, yes, and it felt good to lead his hordes of Macemen and long train of siege weapons deep into the heart of India. The war was even going well, all things considered. But now the very life of Persia was in danger, and this brought a flutter of fear into his immortal heart.

Centuries ago, Xerxes had laid the foundations of a wartime economy by trading his secrets to his neighbors in exchange for gold and technology:

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Calendar would allow the multiple sources of Dye and Incense across Asia and Africa to be harvested and used to gladden the Persian people in the face of conflict. Aesthetics would unlock a number of awe-inspiring Wonders which would keep the masses quiet. And the gold would pay for chainmail and heavy Maces to upgrade Persia's numberless Swordsmen.

After years of buildup, Xerxes was prepared to embark on at least a limited war:

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The army was small, but Asoka was backwards and would not likely remain so for long. Even modest success would be welcome as Persia continued to bring its ponderous military might to bear.

Sadly, the window of opportunity was even smaller than Xerxes had anticipated:

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Someone had traded the secrets of modern warfare to India! And Asoka had split off a large stack to begin wreaking havoc on Persepolis!

Thankfully, the Indians were peace-loving fools. The troops rushed Pataliputra as diplomats descended on Delhi:

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Come, Asoka, reason with me. It would be a regrettable waste. I could make you king of all of Asia, if you will but get that stack of Catapults out of my face.

This gave Xerxes time to send more Macemen and Trebuchets to the front. Caesar had, meanwhile, finally declared war- On Korea, of all people:

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Caesar was Pleased with Wang Kon before. I smell China giving Rome the world in exchange for military aid. Needless to say, I joined in on the dogpile. Wang Kon's days are numbered...

By 550 A.D., the Persian army was replenished enough to face even modern opposition. Xerxes boarded his battle-throne (carried on the backs of slaves originating from everywhere from Ethiopia to central Russia) and headed off to erase the Indian stain from the map:

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Again, still not superhuge, but big enough to do some damage.

The calls to Crusade sent waves of religious fervor throughout the empire. On the banks of the Nile, one man felt the touch of divinity:

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He loped off to Babylon to sanctify the Confucian cult of the emperor with a shrine.

In Persepolis, meanwhile, newfound sophistication in Persian battle Music lent a frenzied ecstasy to the new war:

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The new sounds heightened productivity across the empire, triggering a profitable Golden Age.

Those same sounds that drove workers on in Mecca and Moscow spelled doom for the people of Delhi:

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Rocks pounded the walls and blood streamed through the streets as the drums pounded and the chants rose to the heavens.

Out west, in Odessa, those same chants were used to bless the halls of a splendid new Cathedral:

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This galvanized the Persian people behind the war and behind Xerxes. The emperor smiled. There would be no widespread revolts to save Asoka from certain doom.

Delhi fell in 655 and its riches came under the control of a Persian governor:

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No settled Great People, but Scotland Yard and an Academy. Not a bad haul.

As Persian men-at-arms marched east, trying to connect Chengdu to the rest of the empire, Asoka continued to stubbornly continue building Wonders. Apparently he was unaware that his petty nation was crumbling around his ears:

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Not that the University of Sankore is any great shakes, but I'd rather India build it than another handful of Macemen!

Vijayanagara fell without much of a fight:

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The city was devoid of anything remarkable, but, hey, it's a solid site, and it makes our empire contiguous again.

Then the unthinkable happened:

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All right, so maybe it wasn't so much "unthinkable" as "utterly predictable." I mean, Asoka was friendly to Rome, Feudalism was in play, Caesar's always looking to take on a new vassal....

I started pumping out garrisons along the Russian border, and sent my troops south to crush Bangalore quickly:

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The University was mine!

The somewhat battered remnants of my army continued south so as to contain Asoka in the north:

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I don't know why I kept that city. Ah, well. It's not like my economy is crashable at this point...

So anyway. It's 860 A.D., we've been at war with Rome for a decent while now, and Caesar won't talk to me, despite my successes against his vassal. He also hasn't sent anything, which worries me. Either this is a fake war, or something real big is coming real soon. Considering the disparity in power graphs, I'm leaning towards the latter.

Here's a little peek at our western frontier garrisons:

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A look at the empire as a whole:

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And the tech situation:

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On the Power Graph, Rome continues to be a big dog all his own:

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So here's where we stand. The next round could well be the last round, as the Purple Plague envelops the empire in its all-consuming hunger. Or we could carry on blissfully, signing peace with Caesar after an uneventful fake war. I think it'll be somewhere in the middle. I think we're gonna lose some cities, at least in the short term. Then, after we take'em back, maybe we can win peace. I'm away from my computer right now (I'm being a bad boy, posting a round while at work!), but I'll put up the save when I get home.

I look forward to your thoughts.
 
:eek:

Build those forces up! Now! Now! Whip the people! Whip! I'm telling ya! WHIP!

You know what else you could do now?

Play the next round!!!!!
 
why is Moscow building a library ?

i would change the cities to building longbows and pikes instead of siege + mace and whip wall+castle in Moscow and Odessa, the AI usually dont bring enough siege so this will buy you time

also try to bribe the Greeks to close borders with Rome it will shorten your front, India is finished so you divert the espionage focus to Rome to get a better idea of what Caesar is up to

edit: you also have lots of gold , use it the upgrade the archer and swordman into something more useful
 
C'mon Neal, what's the panic about? Rome's got all of 7 cities, you have more than 20! You can crush him like a bug! Put every city to military builds and you will gain the advantage. It's all about the :hammers: and, while you may have to remain on the defensive for the short term, he won't be able to keep up. Just try to avoid having China join a dogpile on you. If Caesar was bribed in, it may be a phony war, or he may be moving a big stack back from the eastern front. Scouting will be key. If you have an immortals with a spare promo, give them mobility and use them to keep a look-out on the eastern from. Build some spies as well and use them to scout the roman heartland to see if he's putting together a SoD. But above all, build units. This is a good opportunity to gain the upper hand militarily. You've done a good job of building an empire capable of winning the game. Now it's time to put that empire to work.:goodjob:
 
Um, Neal, why don't you show us the Roman lands? You can see the cities because you got the espionage advantage right?
 
Ridiculous builds currently in progress: 2 monasteries, 2 apothecaries, and a buddhist stupa. :rolleyes:
 
Seeing the power graph, IMO Asoka and Pericles could work as ''buffer states'' and you could easily turn them your vassals if you have researched Feudalism (Asoka by capitulation and Pericles by sheer volunteerism), so as to have some more time to prepare your counterattack stack in case Rome and China attacks you. More than that, they seem to be quite good techers.
 
I don't expect Asoka to be a good tech anymore, his empire got destroyed!

As for Pericles, few cities means good tech rate in the beginning of the game but terrible at the end. The beginning's done, so he won't be useful for the rest of the game. (besides, look at how many techs are on him!)
 
@Matthew5117: Seeing the diplo screen before the war, Asoka did not have only the ''fringe cities'' Calcutta/Madras, but two other cities... Australian colonization perhaps??
Right for Pericles, but Asoka a) is ahead in techs and b) has the potential to remain if colonizes Australia, Siam, Indonesia and such.
 
If Asoka still has cities in indonesia/SE asia then capping him would probably prevent qin or anyone else from grabbing oceania and maybe eventually make him useful for tech.
 
Neal stopped providing saves because you kept lecturing when you looked at it. :lol:

:joke:

It may be true though...
 
re: Eridu- I figure that, there at least, the cultural struggle against Greece still kind of takes precedence over what might still be a shadow war with Rome. You all are right about Moscow and the Monasteries, though...

re: Pericles- He's already kissed Qin's ring, so he'll be tough to vassalize without wiping him out completely...

re: Asoka and Caesar- Caesar wasn't bribed into this war, and I can't capitulate Asoka. Julie joined in because Asoka vassalized to him. India was willing to capitulate, but I wanted to take a few more cities first. Apparently, my continued success made Asoka seek out other means to get me off his back.

re: Roman might- That's a damn fine point, actually. Here's a look at the Roman core, along with what is probably shaping up to be Caesar's Doomstack:

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Not too terrible, I must say. Still, I think it's time to get some Pikemen up and running in Odessa... Also, Rome's cities are surprisingly lightly defended. Rome itself has two Longbows! Not that I could get a stack that far without Caesar fortifying, of course...

re: The Save- As I'd said, I didn't have a save because I was away from my Civ computer. Matthew's statements regarding my feelings weren't too far off, though :blush: Lemme steel myself for criticism. *deep breath* Here it is:
 
Not too terrible, I must say. Still, I think it's time to get some Pikemen up and running in Odessa... Also, Rome's cities are surprisingly lightly defended. Rome itself has two Longbows! Not that I could get a stack that far without Caesar fortifying, of course...

But look at the 125% defense advantage! That's nothing to sneeze at! Bring lots, and lots of trebuchets!

re: The Save- As I'd said, I didn't have a save because I was away from my Civ computer. Matthew's statements regarding my feelings weren't too far off, though :blush: Lemme steel myself for criticism. *deep breath* Here it is:

:blush:

I was being sarcastic... I guess I have to be more serious.
 
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