Mansa Musa = my archenemy

[DABegley]

I am playing an emperor game where Mansa has 4 cities and I have 9 as Hannibal (+ GLH) and he is still out-teching me. I have Mids as well so it's strange but I don't have the best turf either. He has hated me from second one as I brutally blocked him off then he snuck a couple settlers behind me, one by boat, and it was game on (he had 6 cities to my 5 at the time). NCs took the two infiltrator cities despite him having Macemen to my NCs and me having no iron, copper or elephants but I had horses and he didn't. Both had cats. Took copper in the war and got to macemen before the next war when he rolled in musketmen so even after taking two cities and building two more he was out-teching me. Seems strange when I have the GLH and mostly coastal cities with some Cothons but then I don't know what he has, I have gold and gems as well.

Oh, still in next war. He came in with 7 trebs and 10 muskets. 5 defensive suicidapults later my 5 macemen and 10 NCs took out the stack. That flanking attack on siege is great. War still going as I build up to exact revenge.

He also has never been willing to trade anything with me from the moment we met, man that must have been a bad roll for initial relations.

 

[Sincro]

He's in my current game, too. He hasn't much cared for me the whole game, and he's been the last AI I trade stuff to, cause I know that once he gets hold of a tech he'll whore it out to anyone.

Anyways, our relations are going steadily downhill and he starts making demands. Like him demanding Philosophy the turn after I got it, or him demanding education while I was teching liberalism. Deny! Deny! Deny! Two turns after I got liberalism, he DOWed me. And, lord, he had to send his units through two different empires to get to me. His first units were 2 horse archers and a cat. Which I killed. Then I bribed Hatty and Saladin to close their borders to him, and he's been sitting in impotent rage now for a dozen turns.

As soon as I get cannons, I'm going to wipe him off the map.

-Sinc

 

[cracked]

I sometimes play as Mansa, and he really does tech quickly. A great civ to play as.

 

[wickedcherub]

I ended up winning the game I had with Mansa - but unfortunately Hammurabi DOW'd on me so it wasn't a no war game after all. He had like 6 units come across the water so it was pretty much a non event. One day I will get the diplo right so I never have to war again!

I only won because I built the Internet that got me 5 techs. Grr Mansa.

 

[Ramesses]

One day I will get the diplo right so I never have to war again!

Well good luck with that.

 

[wickedcherub]

Well good luck with that.

.... I could do it on Chieftan I reckon.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

.... I could do it on Chieftan I reckon.

You can do it on any difficulty if the right leaders are in the game.

Usually you can direct wars elsewhere even with normal, random leaders though. The exception is when you start off bordering a troublesome leader, but you can't go warless in ALL of them, just most .

 

[turnip]

I like Mansa. He's always trading with me, giving me techs and almost never attacks me. (that mainly because I've a bigger army than Mansa).

Imo if you keep your army big enough, don't worry about attacks. If they happen use siege and beat them to hell!

You'd think so! I had the lead in power, and within a few turns of him DOW'ing me I had taken 2 cities and sacked two others. He's an unstable twitchy bastard, that man is.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

He's financial, which helps, he's spiritual, which means that he probably gets 10 turns less anarchy than a lot of other guys, he trades with everyone, so he'll stay up in tech, he's got a good early UU so he's tough to beat early and he makes more money.

4 cities, it's quite possible for him to be up. he might be running 90 or 100% science with the mint and low overhead, and his civics choices are generally ones the help with research. What's he running, compared to you?

 

[toll_booth]

I sometimes play as Mansa, and he really does tech quickly. A great civ to play as.

Every time I try another civ to get a boost, it seems like I'm always a step behind when I play as Mansa (Hannibal is about the only exception, particularly on water maps). Spiritual makes switching between war and peace civics effortless, plus gives cheap temples. And it's hard to go wrong with Financial.

 

[Yngvi]

Give Mansa Musa a break!
Yes, Mansa can be annoying when he becomes a vassal, but he dosen't always lead in everything. In the game I'm playing as Frederick on Monarch, Darius (whom I hate far more than Mansa Musa) is first, I'm second, Wang Kon third, I think Peter fourth, and Mansa is fifth.
He's always good to trade with, resources as well as techs, and you RARELY have to worry about him attacking you. Yes, he's a tech whore, so I just become a regular customer.