My First Campaign. Epic!

[DoubleAG]

Ok first of all I'm new to the forums and the civilization franchise but with all the negative threads that I've seen recently I thought some would enjoy some positive feedback. My experience with civilization started with civ rev. I liked it but like all console strategy games, it lacked the depth that I wanted so I eventually decided to make the leap over to civ 4.

My first experience with civ 4 wasn't good. I'm usually an aggresive player and the stacks of doom really bothered me so civ 4 didn't get much playtime until recently. When I saw that civ 5 was coming out soon and all the new features that it had, I decided to jump back in to civ 4. I bought both the expansion packs and played around with some mods until civ 5 was realeased.

This will mostly be a summary of my conquest since I really don't remember all the little details that happened. I decided to play as Greece first because of its unique ability with city states. I was planning on going for a diplomatic victory by befriending as much city states as possible. The map was huge earth and standard time. I later realized that starting on a huge map was a mistake because I had to go down to mostly medium video settings and the turns got really long (up to 1 min) near the end. Anyways, I start up my campaign (really liked the history of my empire narration at the beginning BTW) and used my brave warriors to scout the country side. I soon realize that my glorious greek civilization is situated on the east coast of India. Hmmm interesting.

I'm not gonna lie the first 100 turns were I wouldn't say boring but it was a slow start. I met two military city states in Persia and northern India, Siam next to the city state in Persia and England in nothern China. I suffered a few setbacks early on from some barbarians. I lost a warrior and had to get an archer out real quick to defend my city. It seems like the barbarians are kinda shy about moving in to attack.

Ok fast-foward to the future. I have three fine greek cities situated in India. The English are expanding rapidly in China and Siam is inching closer into Northwest India. I am allied with the military city state (Budapest I think) in northern India and Monaco, a culture city state, who I found in Thailand. I founded a new city in Northwest India by a river and that's when things started to get a little tense with our Siamese neighbors.

I will end this post for now just to see if anyone actually cares about reading this lol (and to generate a little suspense ). If you would like me to scour my memory for more details just let me know.

 

[V. Soma]

Welcome to the forum, DoubleAG!

What level are you playing on?

 

[r0ck]

Welcome.


May your goodie huts be many and your rng rolls be high!

 

[smileylad]

Welcome to the forums. Nice to read a bit of enthusiastic play for a change

 

[hardcore_gamer]

The map was huge earth and standard time. I later realized that starting on a huge map was a mistake because I had to go down to mostly medium video settings and the turns got really long (up to 1 min) near the end.

Just out of curiosity, what are your computer's specs?

 

[drowzyus360]

welcome to the forum! i noticed that on most of the lets play videos the 'end turn' took longer then previous civ games...

 

[DoubleAG]

I'm playing on prince difficulty. I have an intel core 2 duo 2.8 ghz, nvidia gtx 275, 8gb ram, windows 7 64bit, playing on 1920x1080.

 

[DashieBaby87]

I can't wait to play this game! Reading your story makes me wish the day would go quicker so that I could get home from work and start it up. Haha!

Going to start at the extremely difficult level of Settler, like I did w/ Civ IV. lol!

♥

 

[Masher8559]

What can you tell me about the a.i? is it as bad as most threads say it is? (i'm in England so can't play until tomorrow )

 

[AlexandrosV]

I think early comments on AI are simplicistic and not accurate: most people say that it's too belligerant and often demands tribute... instead my neightbor Caius Julius Caesar (not the most peaceful guy at all) didn't send his legions against me, signed a pact of cooperation and accepted to not build near me. I'm a veteran Civ player, spent years so on, but with monarch difficulty the AI doesn't seem too weak or stupid... but i still have to expand the sample. I think that the goodness of AI choices depend on the different situations, in my experience (limited right now) AI could be not so bad (for example civs doesn't seem to build many cities (that make much longer the way to social policies) and tend to build them in places with luxuries instead of food resources (that just give +1 food).

 

[DoubleAG]

From what I've seen so far the A.I. tends to do some strange things. As you will see in my later campaign posts, the ai makes some odd offers. Also, it doesn't look like they're teching up very well. Hopefully that will change in higher difficulties. The A.I. builds a ridiculous amount of cites in my game. Perhaps too much.

 

[DoubleAG]

I wish I would have written this as I played but I will try to add a little bit more details. It looks like happiness is of vital importance if you want a large empire. I only had 3 cites for quite a while until I became allies with Monaco who gave me gold and boosted my happiness. It was also necessary of me to trade my resources for gold as much as possible since I really wasn't making that much on my own.

The diplomacy might be weaker in some ways than civ 4 (no world map trade, not being able to see what civs think of each other) but I really like how leaders pop in every once in a while. Ramkhamhaeng, the leader of Siam, began making snide comments towards me as a massed my spearmen and archers in my new city. Ramkhamhaeng wants to know what I'm doing with so many troops by his border. Who me? Oh I'm just passing through. Why would a small insignificant empire such as myself want to threaten you? (Siam had a score at least 300 points higher than mine). He even had the audacity to personally insult me! Something along the lines of "I see you have a small army. You better watch your back." That's when I knew that war was inevitable.

After centuries of peace, (I think this was in the 13th century) our humble empire was plunged into war. Ramkhamhaeng finally showed his true colors and attacked with a large force of elephants (his unique unit), crossbowmen, and pikes. My city had a river and a forest to the northwest where I positioned my spearmen. My archers were located on the hills to the northeast. Fortunately, I was able to ally with another military city state, Altamy, who blocked off Ramkhamhaeng's army to my empire. The Himalayas (I think) were north of Altamy so the only way Ramkhamhaeng could get into India and the heart of my empire was if he went through us. Unfortunately, that's exactly what he did.

I had no opportunity to build my unique units for this war. As a matter of fact, I barely built any units at all lol. My loyal city state allies were providing me with military units which made up the bulk of my army. Apparently spearmen are garbage when compared to Siamese elephants. They smashed through them and was becoming a threat to my city. Luckily, I had some catapults and trebuchets that were able to hold them back.

Things were looking up. I had a pact of secrecy against Ramkhamhaeng with both Gandhi and Askia (the Songhai leader) who were in Africa but I don’t think it helped any. They never declared war and if they did it sure wasn’t stopping Ramkahmhaeng from trampling over my forces. Since I was able to fight off the first wave of elephants, I thought it would be a good idea to push further into Persia and take a Siamese city. Not a good idea. Suddenly, Ramkahmhaeng pushed forward with at least 4 elephants and some crossbowmen. I was forced to pull back but the elephants weren’t heading for me, they were moving to crush Altamy! I knew that if I lost Altamy my city would be surrounded and I wouldn’t stand a chance of holding it but there was nothing I could do. Poor Altamy didn’t stand a chance against the ruthless elephants (they have a ridiculously powerful city attack). When Altamy fell, I knew that my only choice was to fall back and defend the core of my empire in India. My devoted Greek citizens were at the mercy of the merciless Siamese emperor. The city fell. The Greeks demand retribution! They shall have it!

 

[DoubleAG]

Things were looking grim for the Greek civilization. I had just lost a city, my army was in tatters, and Siam had a tech lead against me. It wouldn’t be long before his dreadful armies stormed into the heartland of Greece with their strange new weapons to crush me. Siam was a massive empire. Their lands stretched from Persia, into North Africa, in parts of Eastern Russia, and into Eastern Europe. The English were going ballistic in the east. Their empire consisted of most of modern day China and parts of Russia. They fought a very successful war against Catherine in central Russia which put her at the bottom of the score list. The English empire was sparsely populated though probably because of the enormous happiness penalty that they would incur had their cities been bigger. Rome was doing well in Western Europe and Scandinavia. The Songhai fell to either Gandhi or Ramkhamhaeng so they were the sole powers in Africa. The new world was still a mystery because I was just entering the Renaissance.

In the demonstration that the developers were kind enough to show us before the game was released, I learned of a very important ability. The all-powerful citadel! The sacrifice that my brave Greek soldiers made was not in vain. They’re efforts granted me a great general, who I used to make a citadel just north of my northernmost city. It was on a road behind a forest which extended six tiles to the northwest of it. Just like Altamy, Budapest (my other military city state) formed a convenient barrier to the Siamese. If they wanted to get into my empire they had to go through my citadel or Budapest. I used some extra gold that I had to upgrade my trebuchets into cannons and placed them on the hills south of my citadel. I moved some pikemen and a great general left over from the last battle inside the citadel. My Greek soldiers eagerly awaited the arrival of Ramkhamhaeng’s vile troops with the knowledge that the fate of their great civilization depended on their ability to hold the line.

Shortly after I built the citadel, the first elephants began to show up. I absolutely love the citadel! The elephants were completely and utterly helpless as my cannons began to rain hellfire on them while my citadel inflicted three damage for every turn they ended adjacent to it. The Greek soldiers cheered in glee as unit after unit of Siamese troops were utterly obliterated by my cannons. I suppose this is where the A.I. shows its weakness. The Siamese sent at least 10 units straight into the gaping jaws of my citadel. A better strategy would have been to concentrate on Budapest and then navigate around the citadel since I’m sure they would’ve had no problem taking them out. The Greek soldiers however were delighted at the senselessness of Ramkhamhaeng’s army! They gained great experience from the slaughter. After the elephants fell, Siam finally sent their modern units in. It seems that they didn’t have as big of a tech advantage as I thought. They sent in some musket men and a cavalry unit but nothing that I couldn’t produce myself (besides the cavalry).

 

[DoubleAG]

I was gonna wait for any suggestions that anyone might have but since there hasn't been any comments recently here's the next few turns..

After the smoked cleared, the forest was littered with the bodies of Ramkhamhaeng’s men. My soldiers were now veterans ready and willing to take the fight into Siam. I was in the late Renaissance at this time and I think Siam had just entered the industrial era. I finally built a caravel and began to explore the world’s oceans. In its journey, I met Rio de Janeiro on an island south of Thailand who I bribed to become my ally which netted me a healthy amount of food and pearls to aid in the happiness of my citizens. Australia seems to still be empty although I’m sure the endlessly extending English empire will colonize it as soon as they get some decent ships (lol the English with a garbage navy, how sad).

At this point I thought it would be best to go for a science victory instead of a diplomatic one since Siam was the only one ahead of me and everyone else was hopelessly behind. It looks like I may have to raise the difficulty for my next game. My ship makes it to a vibrant new world with some powerful civilizations. The Iroquois dominate South America with poor Babylon surrounded in southern Chile. Something seems a little off about Nebuchadnezzar II. He greeting went something like “Greetings, those fools outside consider me a god but I don’t think that’s the case.” I found that hilarious! In North America, the Arabs dominate the southwest. I saw a large portion of the great wall in modern day central U.S. Apparently a lot of civs were wiped out without me noticing because I think there’s only nine when there’s supposed to be 12. The Germans were in a very sad position in Siberia with only 2 cities.

It is retribution time! My economy is booming resulting from the trade of iron and other resources with the fabulously wealthy Arabs. I was able to found 3 more cites. One on the island off the coast of India (I think its called Ceylon) and 2 east of India. I put several citizens into libraries to work as specialists so I can catch up to Siam in the tech race. My army which consisted of two cannons, two musket men, one rifleman, and a knight march northwest to reclaim my city and liberate Altamy. When I return to the old battleground I find something shocking!

Apparently Ramkhamhaeng is stingy with his wealth. I see a few of his men still using antiquated crossbows and pikes! Shame on you Ramkhamhaeng. You will pay dearly for this mistake. My muskets and cannon make short work of the Siamese defenders and reclaim the city. However, it appears Ramkhamhaeng had his best troops deep in his empire. His musket men swarm the city and my cannons take up defense on the hills with my muskets in front. I also built 2 frigates which I sent in to provide naval support. The Siamese outnumbered us but they were no match for my cannons. I defeated their counter attack and liberated Altamy which made them my permanent ally. Well well well look what we have here! Only one city sits between me and the Siamese capital in Persia! My armies heal and are ready to turn the tide of the war! We were ready to paint Persia red with blood when the most extraordinary thing in the history of my civilization gaming experience happens.

 

[DoubleAG]

Hmm no new comments? This board is filling up so fast that no one can see my glorious campaign! Blasphmey! Something must be done about this... I posted this on the 2k forums too so does anyone know if the same people use both of these forums? If that's the case then I can just continue this on the other forum

Well anyways, here's the next few turns... Rage quit FTL!

My goal was clear. March into Persia, seize the Siamese capital, and force a surrender. I had struck fear into the heart of a mighty empire. Like the real Greeks of ancient history, my forces overcame a much larger foe. I suppose Ramkhamhaeng realized that he was in real danger so he surrenders before I have a chance to attack and gives up half of his empire in the process!

My jaw extended far lower than its supposed to when I saw Ramkhamhaeng’s deal. He was willing to give me at least half his empire, (maybe 5 or 6 cities), plenty of luxury resources, and gold for peace. IMO this is a little ridiculous lol and they should really look at fixing this in a patch. This is FAR more generous than they ever were in civ 4. This wouldn’t have been so surprising had this been settler difficulty but I was stunned to see it on prince.

I accepted the deal and my economy proceeded to collapse lol. It was a slow process and even though I made the new cities puppet states it still was too much for my happiness level so I gave up some of the cities in Russia to India. The end of the war made me the most powerful empire in the world. My empire stretched from Thailand into east Persia. Siam was reduced to west Persia, the Middle East, Northern Africa, and Eastern Europe thought they were slowly being pushed out by the Romans.

 

[tmaxim]

That was a good read. Thank you.. in 3 days its my turn. Can't wait.

 

[DoubleAG]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. There's more to come if you stick around .

 

[DoubleAG]

Behold! The next few turns! The Greek's bloodlust is not yet satisfied! Ramkhamhaeng's empire will burn!

Of course I was far from done with Siam. Their lands were rich with powerful cities filled with wonders. Siam also still had a tech advantage over me which greatly influenced my decision on restarting the war. Not much happened on the economic side during peace time. It was the usual trade with Arabia and other civs for luxury resources to keep my happiness up and the slow buildup of mostly science but some happiness buildings throughout my empire. Since I had time to build up my economy I was able to upgrade my muskets to riflemen and my cannons to artillery. The advisers are actually quite helpful at least when it comes to war. He informed me that Siam was no match for my army. The time for waiting was over. I declared war against Siam and moved my artillery in range of their capital (Siam gave me the city next to their capital when they made peace with me).

Unfortunately for me, my army was still at a technological disadvantage. Siam had two infantry units defending their capital. The odds clearly showed me that my riflemen stood no chance against his infantry so I had to depend on my artillery and my frigates that were positioned in the Persian Gulf. My combined assault was able to take out their infantry. The great Siamese capital was now at the mercy of my army. Normally I make conquered cities puppet states at first but I wasn’t sure If the wonders would have any effect so I decided to annex it. Siam was completely devastated after this. However, when I demanded that Siam surrendered its cities in the Middle East in exchange for peace he turned me down. Insolent fool! I shall now reduce Ramkhamhaeng’s empire to rubble!

His cities feel quickly to my forces. First his second capital which contained two more wonders, then his cities in Palestine and Anatolia. I then liberated Cape Town located where modern day Istanbul is. I was finally ready to end the war. I decided to be generous to the Siamese by not demanding anything for peace. Ramkhamhaeng was smart and accepted. With the progress that I made during the war it was clear that victory was in my grasp. I now had a clear lead in tech which means that I shouldn’t have any competition with the spaceship victory. But wait… what’s this?! The English are flooding across my borders? With longbowmen and swordsman in the 20th century?!? WTH!!!

 

[DoubleAG]

The English didn’t attack immediately after the conclusion of the war with Siam but it was more dramatic to end the last post like that lol. The time between the war with Siam and the war with England was uneventful (I don’t exactly remember what happened so I’m assuming it was uneventful). Although I did advance significantly in tech and mechanized infantry was now in my possession. I didn’t know whether to laugh at hysterically or mourn the lack of progress by the A.I. It was sometime in the 20th century and the English was still in the Medieval age . I’ll definitely have to increase the difficulty for the next game. I’m assuming that the English empire was so large that it caused their happiness to drop thus hindering their progress.

The English began sending forces into Thailand and the Gobi desert (I think it’s the Gobi desert, it was about northeast of India across the Himalayas). I sent a single tank unit in to crush them and massed my two artillery units in the hills to the south along with a few riflemen. Then the horror started. Slowly the Gobi desert kept filling with longbowmen and archers until nearly the whole thing was full! There were at least ten longbowmen facing down my lone take and city to the west! The Greek soldiers in the tank must have had a good laugh at the sight of so much antiquated units in front of them . Their laugh was short lived however. In the next turn the longbowmen unleashed a devastating wave of arrow which apparently was enough to pierce tank armor (good news to anyone who was upset about spearmen not being able to take out a tank anymore, no problem just build a billion archers). My tank was utterly destroyed but my artillery was getting free target practice taking out archer after archer.

My city didn’t fare too well. The longbowmen took out all of its defenses but their melee units couldn’t get to the city to capture it because of all the archers lol. The Greek artillery men had a grand time gunning down archers in the middle of the desert with no cover. I also had a fighter which hit the units that the artillery couldn’t reach. While that was going on, I was fighting off Elizabeth’s other forces in Thailand with my infantry. The English were slowly getting pushed back but my three mechanized infantry that I was training was finally completed. I rushed them to the front lines and the burning of England commenced.

 

[HiroHito]

Its almost an AAR, nice