tjs282
Stone \ Cold / Fish
In my current solo-game (using Player1's Patch Suggestion mod; Emp, Large, all-Random [70% Continents, I think]), resource-denial has been a lifesaver.Resource denial is a very effective way to slow an enemy down, especially if you cut key resources like salpeter, rubber, oil and aluminium.![]()
Spoiler Because I don't know when to shut the hell up :
I rolled the Celts as my Civ, but although it turned out to be on the largest Continent, my spawn-point was dry (Grass/Plains, Hills) and near-coastal. I moved my starting Settler inland by 1 tile to make space for a 1st-ringer on the east coast (I could see a Cow!), but still could not see any freshwater. After founding Entremont, I discovered that it was about halfway between 2 long rivers (running NE and SE, but initially out of sight). My first Settler founded Alesia (3 Wines!) on the River, CxxC SE from Entremont, and the second founded Lindum (also dry and coastal, but had 2 Cows which I watered to become my Settler-pump). I then planted towns at Cx(x)(C)xC, with the intention of playing a long game and disbanding filler '(C)' towns (including, eventually, Entremont) after Sanitation.
But by the time I could see the nearest Iron (on the banks of the NE river), the Americans had already forward-Settled it (they strung out 4 towns from Washington, just to get to it!) -- and I was already getting dog-piled by the entire continent. The Incans started hostilities (I discovered much later that they'd captured London before Lizzie had even managed to found her 2nd town), then brought in the Aztecs and Americans. (I must have accidentally left 'Culture-linked starts' switched on, because the Mayans and Iros were on the other big Continent as well). During these early wars, I also missed the Republic-slingshot, and had to research it the hard way.
Although I did have Horses, in the early stages they were mostly used for routing invading Archers and Swords/Maces, rather than leading my own invasions. So all-in-all, my start and initial expansion was seriously nerfed. Having finally fought my 3 (Meso)American neighbours to a standstill, signing peace-treaties that cost only GPT, I marshalled my troops to the borders to take Philadelphia (Abe's Iron-town) and Buffalo immediately after Abe's next expected DoW (he had Swords/Maces, I didn't: it was only a matter of time). This worked perfectly, and I could finally start building my Gallic Swords (45 shields per head in this mod) -- but by the time I'd finished knocking Abe out, Monty and Pacha had long-since found and begun tech-trading with the Babs, Persians (one island each), Greeks, and Russians (on the other Continent, but fighting each other) and may even already have been researching their first Industrial techs.
Having made it into the Medieval myself, I (bumble)bee-lined to Gunpowder (luckily I had Salt) and MilTrad, intending Monty as my next target. When he duly DoW'd over some imagined slight (or I told him to take his tribute-demand and shove it!), I got Pacha in on a (very expensive) Alliance, to draw some of Monty's units away from me, and expanded my borders northwards, taking Tenochtitlan (and ToA, not that it did me much good by that point) out from under Pacha's nose. But during the Aztec war I majorly screwed up, by jumping my Palace to San Francisco too early. The Americans -- and Aztecs -- had Great Tracts 'o' (Grass)Land, but a lot of it was closer to Cuzco than Entremont, so I'd always planned to jump it eventually. But I couldn't remember if an MGL could rush the Palace, so when I got one, I set the build -- then accidentally clicked the 'Finish improvement' button
This of course rendered my original (highly-developed) core nearly useless in one fell swoop. I could simply have disbanded SanFran, but then my Palace would likely have jumped back to Richborough (which already had my FP) or Alesia (which would have been too far from my new borders).
But by the time I could see the nearest Iron (on the banks of the NE river), the Americans had already forward-Settled it (they strung out 4 towns from Washington, just to get to it!) -- and I was already getting dog-piled by the entire continent. The Incans started hostilities (I discovered much later that they'd captured London before Lizzie had even managed to found her 2nd town), then brought in the Aztecs and Americans. (I must have accidentally left 'Culture-linked starts' switched on, because the Mayans and Iros were on the other big Continent as well). During these early wars, I also missed the Republic-slingshot, and had to research it the hard way.
Although I did have Horses, in the early stages they were mostly used for routing invading Archers and Swords/Maces, rather than leading my own invasions. So all-in-all, my start and initial expansion was seriously nerfed. Having finally fought my 3 (Meso)American neighbours to a standstill, signing peace-treaties that cost only GPT, I marshalled my troops to the borders to take Philadelphia (Abe's Iron-town) and Buffalo immediately after Abe's next expected DoW (he had Swords/Maces, I didn't: it was only a matter of time). This worked perfectly, and I could finally start building my Gallic Swords (45 shields per head in this mod) -- but by the time I'd finished knocking Abe out, Monty and Pacha had long-since found and begun tech-trading with the Babs, Persians (one island each), Greeks, and Russians (on the other Continent, but fighting each other) and may even already have been researching their first Industrial techs.
Having made it into the Medieval myself, I (bumble)bee-lined to Gunpowder (luckily I had Salt) and MilTrad, intending Monty as my next target. When he duly DoW'd over some imagined slight (or I told him to take his tribute-demand and shove it!), I got Pacha in on a (very expensive) Alliance, to draw some of Monty's units away from me, and expanded my borders northwards, taking Tenochtitlan (and ToA, not that it did me much good by that point) out from under Pacha's nose. But during the Aztec war I majorly screwed up, by jumping my Palace to San Francisco too early. The Americans -- and Aztecs -- had Great Tracts 'o' (Grass)Land, but a lot of it was closer to Cuzco than Entremont, so I'd always planned to jump it eventually. But I couldn't remember if an MGL could rush the Palace, so when I got one, I set the build -- then accidentally clicked the 'Finish improvement' button

Spoiler More sorta-bragging :
Similarly, after going Commie (partly to salvage the botched Palace-jump), our most recent war started during an interturn, with him signing an MA with Cathy (who was only 'fighting' me due to a pointless MA she'd signed with Hammi, who'd been signed up by Smoke, who'd been recruited by Hiawatha...), and immediately using his few Modern Armour (plus a back-flipped ex-Aztec town that I'd taken from him) to bypass my heavily garrisoned border-towns and gut my nearly unguarded Aztec conquests. But having immediately cut off his Oil again, I've slowly pushed him back.
It's now 1954, but of all the AI-Civs, only Pacha has started building his Ship (it's possible that most/all the Alu is on our Continent). Having also finally entered the Moderns (ahead of only the Jerk), my Tanks, Bombers, and (Mech)Infs have now (re-)taken all my/his Aztec conquests, all 5 of his offshore towns, and all his cities north and east of Cuzco (razing several for better placement, and to kill his Cultural-influence): as of the latest save he is down to only 3 Metros (including Cuzco, which is building his Spaceship), and one waste-of-space town which will be mine later this turn (although Bombers do not have Lethal Land-bombardment in this mod, Cruise-missiles cost only 40 shields...).
Update:
Wrote most of the above yesterday, played last night. Cuzco has fallen, and the Jerk (and his Incense) is now in my crosshairs: so I've just started exporting the misery to Persia, and once it's under my control, that will give me easier access to Babylon, because Hammi's just started Ship-building as well...
It's now 1954, but of all the AI-Civs, only Pacha has started building his Ship (it's possible that most/all the Alu is on our Continent). Having also finally entered the Moderns (ahead of only the Jerk), my Tanks, Bombers, and (Mech)Infs have now (re-)taken all my/his Aztec conquests, all 5 of his offshore towns, and all his cities north and east of Cuzco (razing several for better placement, and to kill his Cultural-influence): as of the latest save he is down to only 3 Metros (including Cuzco, which is building his Spaceship), and one waste-of-space town which will be mine later this turn (although Bombers do not have Lethal Land-bombardment in this mod, Cruise-missiles cost only 40 shields...).
Update:
Wrote most of the above yesterday, played last night. Cuzco has fallen, and the Jerk (and his Incense) is now in my crosshairs: so I've just started exporting the misery to Persia, and once it's under my control, that will give me easier access to Babylon, because Hammi's just started Ship-building as well...