Monarch HOF Run (Maya)

[Elear]

Yeah it is.

Since I plan to go to war at cavalry (no iron near me and no one has any spare to import), I suppose I'm gonna get some barracks in my reasonably productive cities to spam horseman for horse->cav upgrade , then use all my spare cities to flood settlers/workers to keep up with my new empire.

As I near AD years I'm running into insane numbers of fairly/mostly corrupt cities.

I can't just keep building workers like I have been... even with markets and roads and lower research rates that will put me in negatives before long because there's just so many cities that would be doing that.

Not sure what to do with them :S

 

[Elear]

Well I figured out things to do with all my cities.. tons to do.

And I think this is for some reason a Pangaea map because of a few things but I can't be sure...

10 AD screenshot update:

86 cities
120 workers
Researching invention at near min to get gold
Met all civs but Germans, I am tech leader, Koreans closest in tech of all AI, Sumerians most powerful of all AI

Main Maya Empire

South Maya Empire

Expansion Prospect #1, Korean Peninsula

Expansion Prospect #2, Russian Peninsula

Power graph

Unit report

 

[Tone]

Wow! That score is well ahead of my Monarch milk game. I guess that I'll have to get used to the fact that I'll be dropping down a slot soon.

BTW welcome, Elear. It's always good to see a new face around here. Keep us posted! (and with plenty of screenies please)

 

[Elear]

Hey thanks Hi to you too.

Not so sure about you dropping a slot.. a lot can happen during conquesting and milking.

 

[Elear]

Alright ... now I have to smash some people with my Cavalry

Basically, I'm kinda in the center of this snaky pangaea continent.

To my west, are the Koreans, Babylonians, and Germans. To my east, are the Greeks, Sumerians, Persians, Russians, and Byzantines.

The way I figure it, I got 100 cavalry. I could send 50 at each side then reenforce by building more cavalries.

Pros to this is a double sided attack.. I see this a lot in HoF games to conquer the world faster.

Cons is that if one of my forces is defeated, that front will be slowed down awhile because I need reenforcements to arrive.

Or... I can send all 100 out against the 5 in the east, then set my core to building cavalry to attack the west front.

Pros is that I guarantee I destroy the east, but I could be majorly slowed down in the west because I have no idea how long it'll take to rip through Korea, Germany, and Babylon.

I'm not sure which is better... any advice?

Either way, I'm starting my attack kinda late (650 to 700 ad) due to getting Cavalry instead of using Knights. However.. when using Cavalry, it should only take a few turns to run through a civilization, so I hope to be done conquering by 1200.

 

[Tone]

I guess it depends upon what you are attacking. I wouldn't worry about losses against spears or probably pikes. Muskets might slow you down a bit but 50 cavs on each side should still do it I would have thought. If in doubt how about having an unbalanced thrust with the minor one getting the reinforcements to give it a boost?

How close are you to rails?

 

[Elear]

The tech rate of this game is a snooze. The AIs have like theology and chivalry, whilest I'm up gunpowder+chemistry+metallurgy+military tradition at 650 and by 700 I'll have enough gold I believe to get my cavs.

I think I'm gonna 60 on the east and 40 on the west, then supply more to the west as needed.

Back when I had 40 horses... I was 'average' to Sumeria, Greece, Korea, and Byzantine... so 100 cavalry should blow them down I think...

EDIT: Yes 40 should do, it appears the civs in the west are generally less advanced than east ones.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

and remember - a force of cavs moves pretty fast on roads - 9 tiles a turn.

Look to see what resources the guys you are attacking have, and how big the cities are, too.

 

[Elear]

Greeks just declared on me too early (maybe because they wanted my saltpeter?).. too bad that I have to spend some horseman to counter their assault as I wait for funds for cavs.

Oh well.. I lost a couple border cities, no big.

EDIT: Update... I annihiliated with my 100 horses all the Greek troops and took back my cities.

EDIT2: Entered a Golden age... perfect, just when I need it, as I finish massing forces and need the extra gold to make 130 upgrades into cavalry ... +786 gold per turn

EDIT3: First elite horseman victory produced a great leader

EDIT4: Fourth elite horseman victory produced a great leader

 

[Elear]

First, a little screenie of the unit who popped my 3rd leader

Now... to the start of the CONQUEST!!!

Looks like I'm gonna get about 100 cavalries in the east and 100 in the west... though I'm currently looking at about 70 in the west and 90 in the east.

Now I'm actually making cavalries from cities, with saltpeter hooked up.

And I just upgraded the first 120 cavalry out of these eventual 200, I'll be upgrading more as I can and sending them on their way...

Screenshot of the 750 AD upgrade:

My score is 3386, which is somewhere between the lowest Monarch score in HOF and Kuningas' #1 spot.

Next turn... Greece will be torn into pieces!

--Elear

EDIT: War weariness hit tons of cities all the sudden and I don't know what to do, it's so bad that the luxury slider can't even fix it all. Should I try to slash through Greece quickly then stop my war a bit, then resume? I am going to stop for the night and wait for some advice because I don't want to charge headfirst into a war when I know *have* this and screw things up because of war weariness.

 

[killercane]

Keep going and dont stop until you get close to the domination limit. Use specialists to take care of the unhappies. I have stopped warring before, like you are thinking of doing, and it is never as efficient as just continuing onward through the WW.

 

[Tone]

I'm honoured!

The last poster knows all about aggressive tactics. I'd take his advice every time.

 

[Elear]

Alright then I'll try to push the assault as fast as I can.

COMBAT TURN LOG OF MAYA CONQUESTS:

760 AD:

Captured the Greek city of 096.
Captured the Greek city of Eretria.

770 AD:

Captured the Greek city of Thermopylae.
Captured the Greek city of Ephesus.
Captured the Greek city of Pergamon.

770 AD interturn:

Germans declare war and seize 088.

780 AD:

Captured the German city of 088.
Captured the Greek city of Delphi and put an end to this Knights Templar nonsense (lost 3 cavalry to a freaky elite hoplite though )
Captured the Greek city of Phocaea.
Captured the Greek city of Miletos (these pesky city walls are annoying with the hoplites... oh well, it's like it'll be when facing Sumerian muskets)
War declared on Korea.
Captured the Korean city of Manp'o.

780 AD interturn:

Babylon declares on the Koreans... good.. that keeps the Koreans' south/west distracted so I can destroy them.

790 AD:

Razed the Greek City of Athens (with the Great Wall)
Captured the Greek city of Mycanae.
Captured the Korean city of Sariwon.
Captured the Korean city of Paegam.
(after this point, Korea starts to crumble, unable to withstand 60 + cavalry with only spears and longbows)

800 AD:

No captures in Greek territory, I spend the turn healing and positioning troops to take a couple more cities next turn.
Captured the Korean city of Namp'o.

800 AD Interturn: Thermopylae flips back to the Greeks.

810 AD:

A victorous cavalry, Killercane, has popped a leader. This is made into an army at Sparta.
Captured the Greek city of Sparta. (This city makes me nervous flip wise)
Captured the Greek city of Megara.
Captured the Greek city of Thermopylae.

820 AD:

Captured the Greek city of Marathon.
Captured the Greek city of Argos.
Captured the Greek city of Corinth.
Captured the Korean city of Cheju.
Captured the Korean city of P'yongyang.
A victorous cavalry, Boogaboo, has popped a leader. This is made into an army at P'yongyang.

830 AD:

Captured the Greek city of Pharsalos.
Razed the Korean city of Seoul.

840 AD:

Heroic Epic completed in 003.
Thermopylae deposes again to the Greeks. One cavalry lost.
Razed the Greek city of Thermopylae.
Captured the Greek city of Halicarnassus.
Captured the Korean city of Pusan.
A victorous cavalry, AutomatedTeller, has popped a leader. This is made into an army at Pusan.
Razed the Korean city of Wonsan.
A victorous cavalry, Kuningas, has popped a leader. This is made into an army at P'yongyang.
Captured the Greek city of Troy.

850 AD:

Golden Age ends.
Captured the Korean city of Inch'on.
Captured the Greek city of Artemsium.
Captured the Korean city of Hyangsan.
Captured the Greek city of Herakleia.

850 AD Interturn:

Manp'o flips back to the Koreans. 1 cavalry lost.
War weariness by the masses. Entertainers are hired.

860 AD:

Captured the Korean city of Taejon.
Captured the Korean city of Pyongsong.
Captured the Korean city of Manp'o.
Captured the Korean city of Ulsan.
Captured the Greek city of Knossos.
Destroyed the Greek city of Gortyn.
Destroyed the Greek city of Rhodes.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

yay!! Kill them all!!

 

[Elear]

Alright, that was the end of major Greek and Korean combat. They each now have a few cities left which will be gone within a few turns, with the exception of a Korean island city which could take awhile.

Now we get some screens.

The Army of Maya 760 AD... you can see the minimap in this picture:

General Tone arrives with reenforcements, who fight resisters in former Greek cities:

And build a little blockade to prevent the Sumerians from poaching the land whilest I get settlers there:

Greece lands, decimated:

Korea lands, decimated:

This took 10 turns of major combat.

My next target is Germany, shown in the picture below. Seems lucky they exhausted their swords on my cavalry as I made my way through Korea? They just made my attack easier:

What's next? I will be immediately turning on the German lands as soon as I can, and I will go onto Sumeria as soon as their 100 gpt deal with me runs out in 5 turns. I'm leaving Babylonians (to south of Korea) alone for now.. I'll backtrack my army from Germany and deal with them later... I can't do both at once effectively, though I'd like to.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

If you can still, you could make peace with the Koreans for that town on an island, then break the peace and finish them off.

 

[Elear]

Aye, I could. But I don't consider that honorable exactly. In the same way I am waiting for the Sumerians GPT deal with me to run out, I won't cheat the Koreans like that.

My score right now... well...

It's on track to be lower than the #4 spot, and higher than the #8 spot.

I am guessing #6 or so (just about Eman's score) if the game doesn't speed up or slow down score-wise. To beat Space's score at #5 then my conquest speed must pick up during this Sumerian/German campaign.. which it very well might considering I have a lot of elites, Heroic Epic now, and soon the Pentagon and Military Academy. In addition, each front has recieved 25 (west) and 35 (east) reenforcements each from the core. Or, another way to get #5 would be having a better milking position than he... possible also.

 

[Elear]

Let's continue the warfare.

870 AD:

Captured the Greek city of Mytilene.
Captured the Greek city of Sicyon.
Destroyed the Greek city of Tegea.
(Greece has 1 tundra city left, its capital, and it says 'Greece has defeated stronger enemies than Maya, let us fight on!'

880 AD:

On the Sumerian border I'm massing troops. I have decided to use a similar trick as I saw in Pleb's Sid thread.. trap a unit of theirs and make em mad so my rep is still good. As I stated above, I am honorable but I can't afford to wait 6 turns without an alternative. Will do it in a turn or two, so my troops are ready.

On the other hand, there WAS an alternative to that Korean island city. I sent 2 cavs on a boat rushed from a Korean port city I took Will only take a few turns.

Captured the Korean city of Suwon.
Captured the Korean city of Chenju.

Then... I decide. What the hell? This is Monarch level. I have 80 cavalry on the Sumerian border, or something like that. All but one are veterans or elites. The Pentagon comes in just a couple turns. I have 4 armies stationed there. Everything is massed on the Sumerian border. What am I waiting for? I have no time to lose and I decide that I am not giving ANYTHING to these AI... I'm redoubling my efforts now and I will launch all heck on them.

I quickly swarm troops around a Sumerian Enkidu Warrior/Settler pair. I will keep them there and keep demanding he gets out. I might end up waiting for that GPT deal to expire... if he gets all meek on me and doesn't declare which I suspect will happen, considering Sumerians arent aggressive and my aggression setting is 'least aggressive'. Regardless... in any case it prevents the settler pair from settling whilest I wait for any chance to trigger a war. In the meantime I will continue to get more and more troops to the border and heal everything to absolutely full, as well as eliminate the Greeks.

Back to the point though (880 AD).

Captured the Korean city of Kaesong.

880 AD Interturn:

Herakleia flips to the Greeks.
Ulsan flips to the Koreans.

890 AD:

Captured the Greek city of Herakleia.
Destroyed the Greek city of Syracuse, and get this...

Captured the Korean city of Ch'ongfu.
Captured the Korean city of Taegu.
Captured the Korean city of Haeju.

900 AD:

Captured the Korean city of Taegwon.
Captured the Korean city of Huich'on.
Captured the Korean city of Tokch'on.

 

[Bartleby]

You're obviously well in control, but I'd like to ask why you're doing zero research on Chivalry; wouldn't you be better off doing at least Lone Scientist research towards Railroads?

Also, what's your Domination Limit?

 

[Elear]

Actually.. I'm not quite sure why I'm doing that! You are right, I do need railroads, but I know I can get most of the techs from Sumeria by suing for peace. Sumeria has been researching down that line (they have most of the upper level techs that you can get without metallurgy)

At the same time, it's probably a good idea to put on something so I don't get railroads too late.

Thanks.. I was so caught up in fixing disorders and waging war that I completely forgot

Having no railroads in such a large empire really does hurt My 50 or settlers take more time than they should to get to their locations. So I'm certain I lost some points on that.

And my domination limit is ... Mapfinder says 4349.

EDIT: I traded a bit with Sumeria and Byzantine (non GPT deals of course) and got Education, Astronomy, and Physics. Researching Theory of Gravity at 12 turns with a small surplus. (my slider is 40 science, 40 lux)

910 AD:

Completed the Pentagon. Started Military Academy. All armies get a 4th unit now.

Captured the Korean city of Namwon.
Captured the Korean city of Chinje.

920 AD:

I reached the German border. Korea has one mainland, and one island city left. In 930 the mainland falls.

There is no rest though. German swordsman continue to come in stacks, throwing theirselves at my troops. I will push through the German cities as I have Korea; their best units are spears and swords. I spend the turn resting injured troops mostly... I couldn't make much of an advance this turn, because some sword stacks were blocking me.

On another note, the army led by Kuningas valiantly fought a stack of swordsman on a hill. All the swordsman died and the army survived with only a few hp

930 AD:

More repositioning, more resting, more dealing with german stacks (10 spearmen at once is still annoying, no matter how easy)

940 AD:

Captured the Korean city of Hamhung.
Captured the German city of New Nuremberg.
A victorous cavalry, Moonsinger, has produced a great leader! This is made into an army at New Nuremberg.
Captured the German city of Hamburg 2.
Captured the German city of New Dortmund.
No more GPT with Sumeria...
I declare war on Sumeria.
Destroyed the Sumerian city of New Umma.
Captured the Sumerian city of Babil.
Captured the Sumerian city of New Kish.

950 AD:

A victorous cavalry, Bartleby, has produced a great leader! This is made into an army at New Nuremberg.
Captured the German city of Konigsburg 2.
Captured the Sumerian city of Kuara.
Captured the Sumerian city of New Lagash.