Gee, this is cool - I've never played Joao before. With expansive and imperialistic, sounds like a great situation for peaceful rexing - fast settlers and workers, a decent city in Lisbon once I hit calendar, this'll work out great...until:
8 turns into the game, I meet Hannibal. He and I go way back - I've always had a hard time when he's near me - that stupid financial trait, and then he gets those experienced numidian cavalry up and running, forcing me to build more spears (which I hate). I vividly remember losing a nice game with Cathy where I had rexed and he invaded. He also appears to have decent cottage land with the river around Carthage, which means he'll have plenty of early game cash. He's pretty close, and he's going to have elephants with Carthage, meaning he'll be a pain at Construction, so I tech BW right after agriculture, and...
Yes, I can hook up copper almost instantly. Peaceful rex my butt, Hannibal's going to build my workers and settlers for me. I am not very good at the early rush at these higher levels, as I never seem to get units out fast enough to take on the enemy. I whip and whip, but just never seem to do it quite right. My first mistake was probably building that settler you see in the above pic, but I wanted a congregation city up near Hannibal and to claim the rice (I think it's rice - doing this from memory). I really need to learn to build nothing but axes - the settler can wait. Oh well, this is how I learn these things - the rest of this isn't going to look all that pretty, but I just figured after how close he is, and after seeing the production power of Carthage (especially given Lisbon is lacking in production), that the only choice is to rush.
While I'm hooking up copper and starting to build axemen, I pop a scout from hut and send him and a warrior south and west and meet...
Brennus seems much closer, but doesn't concern me too much, as I rarely have much trouble with him. Not much experience with Suleiman, but not overly concerned if I can secure two capitals. It also appears I can close them off with a well placed settler and backfill (although I still haven't done that at 470 BC for reasons I'll explain).
Then the bad luck starts to hit. Two slave revolts, my warrior loses fortified on a hill to lions, and my scout does the same in a forest. The revolts severely stunted my axe production, as both cities lost 2 pop. Stupid random events - I figure that cost me 2 axes at least (2 uses of the whip, plus lost production and time). So my stack is only 9 axes (8 at the edge, and 1 right behind them) when I invade Carthage, and because I lost time, Hannibal had just hooked up his copper.
Turn 106 on epic - that feels way late for an early rush - I like to DOW about 10 or so turns earlier with more units, so this could be a real crapshoot. The settler and the revolts slowed me down. So Carthage had 1 axe, 2 archers, and he whipped a spear just before I got there. 9 on 4 is NOT good odds for me. I figure it's 50-50 I take the city. I win on 28% odds against the axe with my second axe, which is absolutely huge, so even though I later lose with 94% odds, my 8th axe does this:
I can't wait for the production power of this city once I get it online. 5 mines, two solid food sources. Look closely above too - Hannibal had an axe fortified outside the city on a hill - weird - might have saved Carthage if it was in the city. Here's where it again got frustrating. I had a weakened axe and a full strength axe in Carthage. He attacks with that fortified axe, and crushes me, and was at 4.1 out of 5 strength afterward. I moved my 3 other axes in, so no way he takes the city, but I wanted to attack him right after he attacked me, and he still had the 25% fortify bonus??? I figured since he attacked me with that axe, he'd lose that bonus. So I wait, he kills another axe with his super axe, and finally I eliminate that lone ranger axe.
Hannibal had managed to found what appears to be two other cities, but without his copper, should be in trouble. I go to take the southernmost one, Hadra-whatever, and the random number generator strikes. First, a quick sidebar. I was producing axe reinforcements from Lisbon, but when I finished teching AH, saw horses close to the southeast, right near the fish. I had to claim that site. So I decided not to block off Brennus with a southwest city, and raced out a settler to claim horses and fish. It hasn't bitten me yet, but I'm worried Brennus could get a settler there while I'm up finishing off Hannibal. That'll be where I start off the next round.
Anyway, back to Hannibal. I have 8 axes get to Hadra-whatever, and he has two archers, but...I also see a chariot coming - yikes - he has horses and the ultimate axe counter. I get to 90+ percent odds after the first two axes suicided, and proceed to go 2-3 with the next 5 battles, all at 92% plus. So I'm left with two full strength axes in Hadra-whatever, and he has a chariot. He kills one without losing any HP, but I use my other to kill him (at 69% odds), and move my other axes into Hadra-whatever. Decide to keep it because it has food and looks like a decent, if not great, city site. On monarch, I can get away with keeping it, but I think I'd probably be better off razing and backfilling later at higher levels.
That's where I cut off. He still has another city it appears, and it looks like I'll need a spear or two. So that's for the next round - finishing off Hannibal, blocking Brennus, and then strengthening the economy. I seem to be teching ok - I teched writing, dropped to 0% research to build up gold, quickly whipped two libraries, and am starting to research at 100% with the libraries and scientists to catch up. However, I figure I'm still going to need a force to deal with Hannibal, so I may have to declare peace and rebuild. I've weakened him to the point where he'll no longer be a factor in the game though, so I could just ignore him for now - we'll see. The rush took way too long though, because I'm not a great early rusher, and those events really stunted my rush. I like to complete an early rush before 500 BC, not have it still dragging like this one is. But it's been successful because Carthage will be a production force for me all game long. The empire:
I haven't done a really good job at scouting because I lost a scout and two warriors to barb animals, but I can do that the next round. Also almost have alphabet and can backfill if I need to. Barbs are coming regularly from the south, but they're mainly a nuisance now, because I have axes and a chariot to counter. Overall, I think I'm in ok shape - there's some nice backfill land for later, but if I hadn't built that settler before the axe rush, think I could be much better off now. That's my main learning point from this game so far.
Anyone reading this and playing epic - how fast do you target the DOW in an early rush? I always try to DOW by around turn 90-95 (and with more than 9 units - stupid revolts) - would be interested in others thoughts. Obviously depends on the map - if it's lacking hills, later may be ok.
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When the war was over I was extremely backward, teching PP, and the most backward civs didn't have RP (which offered the first trade oppurtunity since currency). They say land is power, damn right. My techrate exploded at the end of the war. This is the second game at monarch where the UN interrupted my attempt at the space race by offering an easier win
. I did what I did because I know all the AI tendencies (and when I don't, I have a 2nd computer with the spreadsheet up so I can check). Looks like an either/or choice on this map/diff tho.
