Monarchists' Cookbook I

[TheMeInTeam]

Wow, cool TMIT. I never realized that trick about switching everyone to another religion. I thought you were referring to the hammer-bonus switcheroo, but that was cool.

So if I had just taken the AP from Sal when it was Hindu, I probably would have had it, eh, after switching to Confu and forcing Sal into Confu, so he wouldnt be eligible for the vote. I see it now . . . well done, indeed. Seriously, that is EXACTLY the kind of manipulation I was hoping you would do, so I could see it first-hand. I have read your reports in other series, but since they tend to differ so wildly from my own games, especially those PYL, I didnt "see" see it.

Outstanding mate. I promise to get the next PYL up soon for ya, LOL, I can tell your looking for stuff to do when you played this old MC next-day after I asked, heh.

Thanks . I'm glad you got something out of it! The reason I'm tearing through games so easily the past few weeks is that for me there's a couple week break between the end of spring classes and the start of summer. I do work part time, but that's hardly enough to keep me occupied . Civ, madden, golfing, fixing things up around the house etc etc. It's nice while it lasts .

By the way, there is no requirement that anyone in the world actually be running the AP religion to get the religious leader victory. In fact, I usually try to avoid that, because that person becomes eligible and will suck votes off of you, even if they're a vassal (they'll still vote for themselves). Sometimes it doesn't matter or you can get enough votes anyway but it's much easier to knock EVERYONE out of the AP religion.

That is, of course, if you want to use it for a diplo win. Many of the other resolutions require two full members, aka someone else in the religion. This is true of the "declare war on X" and "assign city to rightful owner" etc. Similar to the manipulation I did here, you can stack these votes in your favor and do some nasty non-victory stuff with the AP. IMO, it's actually MORE complicated than the diplo win, but it can be more fun .

I will say, however, that AP victory gets a bit tricky when you have multiple enemies who don't want to open borders, or your friend is just BARELY at friendly and running spies to swap his civic out of theology might drop him out of friendly due to the diplo hits. There's usually a way, but at some point it might not be worth it.

 

[Diamondeye]

Spoiler Part 1 of Round 5 (20 images) :

My autolog bugs me still. I write by memory. If you ask for a techpath, I'll have to let you down. I played a rather long time and without my autolog, I am unable to precisely recite it. Very well, here we go:

First off, nice to complete trade fleet quest. Navigation 1 will synergize nicely with circumnavigation, and the fact that I am going to kill off lots of overseas people.

I find some very nice settleable land for laters, if needed.

Chem to grab steel with Lib.

Hmm... another quest. I don't know the rewards, but I decide it might be worth it, so I get some of my idle cities building castles sooner rather than later.

Lib -> Steel grabbing, afterwards heading rather straight for Communism. Too bad about the from Monastries, but whatever.

First AP vote comes up:

SB votes for me... Odd. I have majority alone though, but Toku won't open borders, so no AP victory there.

I am doing some serious privateering to cripple KK and Joao, my planned targets. KK goes boatnuts:

And SciMeth rolls around:

And reveals oil, one of them near Cologne, nice:

I have 15 turns for Communism, and I have a GA in stock (had 2, settled one in city on Sals continent). With MoM, on Epic, a GA is 15 turns, so I start a GA so that I can shift into SP in its last turns (as well as other war civics, Theo and Nat):

I get Sal to friendly somehow, and get an event solidifying our relations:

Since I don't plan to take out Sal any time soon, I agree to trade a bit:

And then, I complete the Best Defense quest:

I am quite certain I chose this option. I can't remember the first one, though.

SB settles new cities, I am teching Rifles now:

Okay, ready for a stoopid AI move?

Guess who rings the doorbell one turn before rifling?

Heh. This'll be fun.

I remind myself to check AI diplo to see if anyone can help me. Shocking results. It looks as if the world is on the edge of world war:

I bribe Joao to join in (I think! Stuuupid Autolog!). Some turns pass. Louis gets hold of a border city I had originally taken frmo barbs, but I get it back by Rifle. He is currently near death, available for Capi (which I do not intend), and I am well on my way to be ready to wrap up someone else. I have a couple of very nice Privateers in Mongolian waters (Drill IV, Sentry, Nav I, Combat I-III), and my first Blitz Frigate in "French" waters. Save attached if anyone cares.

Last trade with Sal: