My First Diety Game

[BasketCase]

You won't be disappointed, T. More ownage follows!

It's 1060 AD. Fourth turn of the Third Zulu War. The Zulu empire has been chopped in two by a blockade on the isthmus west of New Bapedi, cutting off the western half of the empire from reinforcements. The western half will be my target for tonight. Flipopolis and Korbelgrad, with their huge food surpluses, will be my settler pumps with which to claim the newly liberated territory.

The following images show what's what. Flipopolis, my key military center for most of the war, is boxed in red as a reference point.

Here's the west half of the Zulu empire.....

....and the east half.

During tonight's engagement, the Persians move several units--five or six cavalry, a few riflemen, and their army of Immortals--through my territory in search of Zulus to destroy. Tough luck, guys. I do the conquering around here.

I sort my full-health offensive units--rail lines are very nice for moving units into separate stacks to organize your forces. I have four veteran Sipahis and two elites that are ready for action; four more full-health veterans are up north, where Old Bapedi used to be before it was turned into a parking lot.

1070 AD: The two elites and four of the veterans are able to attack Umfolozi (way up top and a little west) this turn. The city has five spice tiles next to it. Its second defender is an Impi--which manages to red-line one of my elite Sipahis! Though it's close, Umfolozi is destroyed without losses, and the Ottomans take control of the world's spice trade (the sixth spice tile is in the east near Umtata).

Further west, Zunguim is destroyed. Again without loss, though my first two attackers are red-lined. Once Zunguim is toasted, the newly-liberated roads nearby allow my other Sipahis in the area (with that awesome 3 moves per turn!) to move further west and destroy New Hlobane.

Three cities flattened in one turn. BOOYAH!

In the east, I have less luck; my troops take losses attacking New Intombe.

1080: War weariness starts showing up. GRRRR. In the east, a mean-spirited Zulu cavalry sneaks around my fortified riflemen and kills a red-lined veteran Sipahi! BASTARD!!!

The last of my MI's are disbanded.

A settler founds the city of Denizli to hook up the spices. This solves my empire's war weariness problem for now. Some of my cities will soon need marketplaces and/or cathedrals to keep the citizens in line. With war weariness cropping up after only six turns, I'm beginning to consider a Communist government (or, being a staunch anti-Communist, perhaps Monarchy) for the remainder of the game.

1090: The Persian attack on Isandhlwana last turn left an Impi visible defending the city. I have only a Rifleman next to it. Hmmm.....a strength 4 attacker against a fortified Impi....I take the risk and have the Rifleman attack the city. FOOM! Isandhlwana is toasted. The Persians are probably pissed right now, seeing as how their cavalry did most of the work and killed off that city's tougher defenders.

The results of this cruel and vicious campaign of destruction are shown below. A blockade line, marked in Ottoman orange, has been established to keep mischievous Persian settlers out.

The Ottoman reign of terror continues.....can anything stop it!?!?

 

[BasketCase]

1100 AD: The Persians beat me to Isipezi and capture the city instead of razing it. Nuts.

In between turns, the Zulus take a few swings at me; my attack forces poised next to two cities are hit by Zulu cavalry in those cities. Two Sipahis are killed.

1110 AD: Three of the Zulus' last four cities fall. It's down to their last bastion, New Bapedi. Only two Sipahis are able to attack it this turn; both are repelled. One is killed.

1120: The hills west of New Bapedi prevent me from getting at the last Zulu city this turn. DAMN.

1130 AD: I trade Electricity to Rome for Communism and 81 GPT; Electricity to Carthage for Industrialization; Electricity to Egypt for Medicine (hey, Cleopatra is going to get destroyed by her neighbors anyway, and I already traded Electricity to both of those neighbors--might as well profit by Egypt as well); and Electricity to Persia for 2000 gold. I could have gotten about 200 more gold from Persia by going GPT, but I expect to be at war with them fairly soon, so I take straight cash up front.

A Carthaginian caravel drops off three cavalry near New Bapedi in the hopes of getting some spoils off the Zulus. Won't happen, Hannibal. Go fight Rome or something.

And so it comes down to this. The Last Stand of the Zulus.

My elite units attack first, in the hope of popping a leader. First up is an elite Sipahi against a slightly wounded veteran musketman. The musketman dies.

Next up: an elite Sipahi vs. a regular pikeman at full health. The Sipahi is redlined and runs away. No leader for me today.

Round three: a veteran Sipahi kills the wounded pikeman.

And finally, one more veteran Sipahi kills the last of the Zulu Impis.

The score / power / culture graphs:

And a world map that now looks a lot nicer.

 

[BasketCase]

Final notes for the night: Persia and Carthage are still at war against Egypt--and my work force is now up to 78 slave laborers!

 

[Shadzy19]

Im really enjoying reading this , keep it up and kick some Zulu's $SS

 

[Chunky Kong]

Um, Zululand is dead.

 

[BasketCase]

 

[T-Money]

w00t! Very nicely done, basketcase.

 

[BasketCase]

I'm going to be a while getting back into the game tonight. Right now I'm just staring at the map and considering my next step. Persia will eventually have to be stomped, but right now doesn't look like a good time to do it. The question is whether to hammer on Persia with a bunch of Sipahis (which will be really painful against Persian riflemen, and suicidal once Persia gets Replaceable Parts), build a bunch of Infantry and send them into his empire to pillage stuff, or start building big stacks of artillery.

 

[BasketCase]

Sorry, guys, but war with Persia isn't going to happen in the near future. First off, their army is comparable in size and technology to mine. Second, the Persians have an MPP with Babylon--who has an MPP with Rome. As a Republic government, that's a kind of chain reaction I really don't need. Especially when one of the civs in that chain reaction is across the ocean; getting such a civ to make peace when you have no navy and can't get your troops across the pond to FORCE a peace settlement....that would be very costly. Before I consider getting myself into that sort of mess, I need to think about switching to a non-war-weary government and building up a military that can beat up two or three enemies at once.

Current events:

The pillaging of the Zulu empire allowed a barbarian camp to spring up on the eastern peninsula. One of my Sipahis in the area clears it out. Also in that area, I use four Sipahis to pin those Carthaginian cavalry that landed there.

The desert in the middle of my empire is fully railroaded; with irrigation, each desert tile now produces 2 food, allowing nearby cities to start growing again.

My pile of slave laborers is much larger than I will ever need, so I join some Zulu workers to a few of my core production cities to bring them to size 12. For the most part, this won't add shields, but it does add a good deal of commerce (most of the joined workers end up working sea tiles).

1180 AD: Persia and Rome are up by Corporation and down by Replaceable Parts. Nobody else seems to have that second one yet.

1190 AD: Corporation finishes. 8 turns until I find out who's got the oil. Salonika starts building a Palace as a Wall Street pre-build.

Persian and Babylonian ships are sighted heading for the eastern peninsula that was vacated by the Zulus. Looks like people are trying to swipe my territory (which IS mine even though I haven't actually claimed it yet). Blockade time. My Sipahis, who were mostly sitting fortified at Junkograd ever since the Third Zulu War ended, are moved east to occupy every coastal tile on the peninsula and prevent landings. All other Zulu territory has been claimed by placeholder cities with rushed libraries; culture expansions have covered everything except the mountains in the central north section of the old Zulu Empire. The only problem now is that one city the Persians captured smack in the middle of those mountains.

Virus scanner kicks in and ganks up my PC. Oh well, time for a break. I grab a soda and run off to make some more trouble in OT.

Catch ya later!

 

[BasketCase]

New and further-improved palace.

Current world map now has a lot more orange on it. Looks MUCH better!

The northwest half of my empire's border with Persia:

A little south to show the rest of the border:

The center north section, with that annoying captured Persian hole-in-the-wall city:

And the eastern peninsula, complete with pinned Carthaginian intruders:

 

[BasketCase]

Egypt wants to sign an ROP/MPP agreement. No thanks, I don't need to be going to war against Persia AND Carthage just now. Rome and Babylon declare war on Egypt. Now everybody in the game is at war with Egypt, except me. Lisht, a tiny city on the very tippy north end of Egypt, is already in Persian hands. Farewell, Cleo. Looks like you're the next one getting voted off the island. I offer her free Wines in the hope of easing her passing.

The beginning of the end for Egypt:

1230 AD: My Golden Age finally ends. Yes, it took that long and that many posts for me to play 20 measly turns.

I pass up Babylon on the scorecard to take fifth place.

1260 AD: Rome demands Replaceable Parts. I know Caesar is bluffing--well, actually I don't, so I guess I'll have to make sure. Yep, he was bluffing.

Egypt loses Heliopolis to Rome.

Babylon gives me Sanitation for Industrialization (which everyone else already has) and Spices.

1265 AD: I finish Refining--and I HAVE OIL! Turns out it's under Bakkaville, right near my capital city. There's a second source just inside my border with Persia--that one's not connected yet.

I set my research path to Steel and Combustion--next step is to get busy on a modern navy.

A little advance planning: I stick a settler and two Infantry units aboard a caravel and set it on a course for Egypt. The plan there is to lurk in the area while Egypt is torn apart, and see if a spot opens up for me to sneak in a city. This will be important later.

I take a calculated risk--and gift Replaceable Parts to Egypt in the hope that it will help Cleopatra slow her enemies down. Everybody now has Replaceable Parts--except Babylon. However, Babylon doesn't have Electricity yet, so there's no immediate risk Babylon will extort Replaceable Parts out of Egypt. Babylon appears to be hopelessly behind, anyway. Then I gift rubber to Egypt so Cleo can build Infantry.

1280 AD: Egypt loses Giza.

1290 AD: Persia and Egypt make peace. Carthage, however, keeps pounding, and takes Memphis. Cleo only has four cities left.

1295 AD: Persia declares war on Egypt again. There's a peace treaty that didn't last! Hieraconpolis falls to Rome. Rome now holds most of northern Egypt, Carthage has most of the south. My ship with settler and Infantry aboard is amid a horde of Roman and Carthaginian ships unloading cavalry on Egypt and bombing its coastlines. Things are so thick it's going to be hard to find a place to land. The good news is, I can see Egyptian Infantry units from offshore, so my gifts to Egypt weren't wasted. Hopefully Cleo made her enemies bleed.

I make an ROP with Egypt so I can use her roads, and land my two Infantries and my settler.

1305 AD: I've got a front row seat for the fighting in Egypt. Egyptian infantry units at Thebes repel a brutal Roman and Carthaginian cavalry assault, taking no losses. Avaris isn't so lucky; it falls to Rome.

I finish building the last Stock Exchange I need, and Wall Street becomes available for construction. I go to Salonika and switch the pre-build from Palace to Wall Street....

Howzzat for good timing??? Hot DIGGITY!!


1310 AD: Rome and Carthage mount another offensive. Thebes starts losing infantry--the invaders are taking heavy losses, but the final outcome is certain. Among the invading forces, Medieval Infantry units are visible--and Persia even has an army of Immortals moving to attack Byblos! Somebody wake the AI's up and inform them what year it is!!!

Egypt isn't ready to give up yet. Thebes has a cavalry unit hiding in it; that unit makes a surprise counterattack and kills a Roman cavalry.

Persia no longer has an MPP with Babylon--but does have an MPP with Rome. Maybe Persia and Rome will have parted ways by the time I'm ready to go to war against Persia.

1315 AD: Persia's army of Immortals attacks Byblos, gets turned around and bent over, and gets its ass kicked big time. Army dies. Thebes continues its heroic stand. Egypt lives to fight another day.

1320 AD: Thebes finally falls to the Romans. The city's cultural border shrinks accordingly, giving me a nice hill to found a city on:

1325 AD: Cleopatra receives no mercy of any kind. The last Egyptian city, Byblos, is pounded from all sides. Ships bombard the shores and unload troops all around the city. Cavalry, medieval infantry, pikemen, and an army move in from shipboard and from the east. Two tiles within the city radius are pillaged. Still, the defenders hold out.

Stay tuned for the fall of Egypt....and the next chapter of this world's unfolding history!

 

[BasketCase]

1330 AD: The Roman siege on Byblos continues.

Cavalry units attack the last Egyptian city one after another; several are red-lined and retreat. Two are killed. Finally, Rome plays its trump card: an army loaded with a cavalry and three medieval infantries. The army is dropped from nearly full-health to four points--but, in the end.....

No problem, Cleo. You fought well. See ya next game!


All other civs are up by Scientific Method and Espionage. I'm up on everybody by Steel; Babylon is also missing Refining and Replaceable Parts.

Carthage is willing to pay for Steel with Scientific Method, 2010 gold up front, and 91 GPT. Tempting. Rome is willing to give Scientific Method, Espionage, and 660 gold for Steel. I don't agree to either just yet.

An alternative: Babylon is willing to give Scientific Method and Espionage for Replaceable Parts (which everyone else already has) and some gold. I can get two techs without giving Steel to the other civs, if I forego 91 GPT. Nobody else except Carthage has much of any value to purchase Steel with. So, after considering my options, I trade with Babylon.

I open the negotiating window with Carthage, and pay the AI's back for a stunt they have always been pulling on me in previous games: constantly cranking up the price I gotta pay for luxuries. Carthage ponies up 32 GPT for wines. Revenge is kinda fun.....

Persia renews its MPP with Rome. HANG it all!!!

Goobergrad begins building the Intelligence Agency. Rome and Carthage, the two biggest contenders in the game, are both Republics. Easy prey for spies. An alternative approach to research might be worth my while.....

I'm now third in score.

Edit: Didn't get much done tonight, so I figured I'd just tack this in as an edit. Played several turns, but not much happened.

Persia completes the Theory of Evolution.

Combustion research completes, and there's more bidding for this one from the other civs. Persia is willing to fork over Atomic Theory and 112 GPT for it. Rome will trade Atomic Theory for it, but won't pay so much as 1 GPT. Guess I hosed my rep with them somehow. Carthage is willing to pay 55 GPT for Combustion. If I trade with Persia for Atomic Theory, Rome will have nothing to offer; I can probably get more total GPT by trading with Rome first.

Plus, my Intelligence Agency is done, and I was able to sneak a spy into Persepolis. The military screen shows Persia has about as many cavalry as I have Sipahis--and twice as much infantry. No worry there--I've got a nice stack of artillery building up at Junkograd.

I built a library in Suicidograd (that city I plunked down in between Roman and Carthaginian conquests in Egypt to hopefully prevent flippage. Now building walls.

 

[T-Money]

Wow. You hopped pretty quickly to the top part of the pile. Good job, impatiently awaiting more.

 

[BasketCase]

Well, I can throw in this tidbit until I get back into the game tonight:

A couple turns ago, pollution hit Costa Lotta. I sent a stack of slaves to immediately clean it up so I could switch the city's workers back to the correct tiles right away. Nevertheless, next turn I notice Costa Lotta's production is short four shields.

I'd had Costa Lotta's workers arranged so it was producing 40 shields (after corruption) each turn--just right to build an artillery every 2 turns. I fixed the polluted tile right away, so I'm confused where those four shields vanished to.

Then I realize what happened: the computer did the pollution rolls, applied pollution on that one tile, then added up production before handing control back to me.

Hey, ya learn new things all the time.

The above is especially important for food--a city that's reached its maximum population and has no food stores can suffer immediate starvation if one of its food tiles is hit by pollution! Hence--once you've got a city at the population you want, be sure to let it fill its food box most of the way before you stop its growth.

 

[T-Money]

I've been experiencing this phenomenon of crappiness for some time, but I never thought of that....well, you know what they say, the answer's always right under your nose.

 

[Xerol]

It might be that Rome just doesn't have any GPT to pay. (Actually, I've found the AI more likely to pay GPT when your rep is trashed, they just won't take it.)

 

[CoolioVonHoolio]

wow its only 1330 and your modern? or is it industrial i cant tell anymore...

i ususally get to industrial around 1500-1600 **lucky**

 

[BasketCase]

Everyone's late Industrial at the moment. Four or five more techs and people are going to be hitting the Modern Ages.

This is actually normal for higher difficulty levels--at these levels, the AI players all get a research bonus, so the techs are going to come in faster.

 

[BasketCase]

Okay, I hate espionage now.

From last night up till now, the question of whether I should try to steal Electronics from Persia has just been TORTURING me endlessly. I've only got enough gold on hand to do an immediate, and I just KNOW I'm gonna get a fail, and Persia is already furious with me.....BUT I WANT ELECTRONICS!!!!

 

[BasketCase]

Here's another interesting note:

The city of Bolu, founded by myself after bulldozing the Zulu capital out of the area, grew quickly to size 11. At that point, its production was around 38 shields per turn--35 of which were lost to corruption.

With the simple addition of a courthouse, and without WLTKD, that courthouse kicked the city from 3 shields a turn to 13. HUGE. I didn't know courthouses were that effective!