My First Diety Game

[BasketCase]

In the interim, Persia gets a little revenge. Turns out there was a one-tile-wide gap in my cultural border, creating a path using only Persian and international railroads that went right up to within 2 tiles of Edrine. A Persian tank sneaks right in and steamrolls the city:

OOPS!!!

Another one of those mistakes that makes you feel like a complete n00b. Fortunately, Edrine had just been built recently to establish cultural territory. No harm--except to my pride.

Next turn, my tanks are all repaired, and Persia is punished for its unprovoked attack on Edrine! I take out my anger on Persepolis. Faced with 30 full-health tanks, Persepolis doesn't have a chance. After that, Tyre is taken in the west, and the cultural shift brings Pasargadae within reach. Pasargadae is conquered as well.

Six cities in four turns. Last war, Industrial Age tanks took that long to conquer ONE city. 20 Ottoman tanks were lost during this campaign. The Persians are down to four cities, 20 MI's, and one Industrial Age tank. For all practical purposes, they're out of the game.

to Xerxes for offering a stiff challenge. He was a worthy opponent. Certainly more so than the Zulus.

 

[BasketCase]

1750 AD

Point Gratha, Costa Lotta, and Goobergrad are my current main producers at 61 shields a turn. Just right for cranking out MA's. Basketgrad and Locograd are 40-shield producers. Strange that my capital city is a second-string city all of a sudden. (Actually, these five cities have been this way ever since I starte building modern tanks)

Persia gets stingy on tech trading; Xerxes wants Ecology AND Space Flight in exchange for Nuclear Power. Everybody else already has Ecology and Space Flight, so I go ahead and pony up. Xerxes is no longer a threat anyway.

Flipopolis has built a hospital and is now a 60-shield powerhouse (after corruption). Not bad. In the beginning, this city was just a placeholder for a luxury. I build a nuclear power plant in Flipopolis, getting it up to 80 shields a turn. None of my other main cities can build nuclear plants (no fresh water within city radii).

I'm starting to seriously fall behind in technology again--but the game has reached the point where this is basically no longer a concern. I have MA's, MI's, and am a few turns away from Satellite technology and ICBM's. The only other thing I need is SDI defense. Manufacturing plants would be nice, but those aren't essential. I try an Immediate tech steal on Carthage. Spy fails, but escapes detection.

Babylon finally receives a peace offer from Rome. Babylon is now a shattered fragment of its former insignificance (Babylon never did much this game):

And so, the final act of this world's six-thousand year drama is about to begin. Rome and Carthage both have huge forces of MI's (more than a hundred MI's each), but very little armor, little air power, and naval forces that pale compared to mine. My biggest advantage over them, however, is yet to be revealed.....

 

[Barbed Ayrian]

New to the forums, loving this story - always good to see the Persians getting a good seeing to , good luck against the Romans

 

[BasketCase]

After much consideration, I finally take the plunge and have another revolt. I get 6 turns of anarchy--and then I do something I've never done since I first played Civ1: I institute a Communist government.

Up to this point, my empire only had six major production centers: Flipopolis, Goobergrad, Point Gratha, Costa Lotta, Basketgrad, and Locograd. While these six cities could produce a tank in 2 or 3 turns each, I have to potential to have a whole lot of major production centers elsewhere. Also, going Communist and having production centers everywhere means my production won't be harmed as badly if I get nuked. Carthage does have nuclear weapons at this point (3 tacticals and 3 ICBM's are showing in the Military Advisor window), and at diety level I'm pretty sure the computer will be more willing to use them.

The minute I start the revolution, several cities are in danger of starving as the despotism/anarchy production penalty sets in. I micro those cities as best I can, except in three minor cities where starvation is totally impossible to avoid. Oops. Sorry about that, folks.

That's not the real bad news, however.

After the revolution ends, I begin to get an idea of what I'm in for. I end up having to go through EVERY single city on the map and redo just about everything. Laborers need to be moved, cities need to get growing, more land needs to be roaded, irrigated, and mined--as a Republic, these outlying areas could be ignored with no impact. But now they are only "outlying" areas by sense of physical distance. Everybody is a potential producer. The city of Riza, way up on the northeast peninsula, can build the Iron Works (I stuck that city there for that reason, but a courthouse wasn't sufficient to make Riza productive with an Iron Works, so I skipped it). Riza now has a lot more potential.

Coastal cities need harbors so they can get growing. Many of them will be able to make good use of factories. Several will be able to build nuclear power plants. Production at my six (former) best-producing cities has been only modestly reduced, and my reduction in research and GPT is actually very minor. Unit maintenance costs have suddenly dropped to zero (I can still support about 20 more units without paying a nickel of maintenance).

But....the amount of work I'm going to have to do to maintain the Empire will be colossal!

Some of my fully-developed cities start building ICBM's. I figure one missile each in my core cities will be a decent deterrent for now.

Miniaturization will take 17 turns to finish, if I want to have a decent budget surplus. Time for a change of venue. Espionage will be a lot faster, my spies are more reliable under my new government, and if one of my spies screws up....well, such a declaration would occur during my turn, letting me get the first shot in.

Rome has declared war on Babylon again. Also, Persia signed another MPP with Rome. What is WITH those two??

Expect a very slow update rate in this thread for a bit, until I get my cities set up with this new government. The good news is that I've had a lot of practice at managing large numbers of big cities.

 

[BasketCase]

Farewell, Babylon.

I think I've finally got the game moving again. Getting a handle on what needs to be done where. I gained Miniaturization from Carthage with an Immediate steal. Also, I used my leader to rush the Iron Works up at Riza and jump-start that city. Gonna turn that one into a major producer.

 

[BasketCase]

A little later in the evening:

No tears for Babylon; they were a bit player all game.

A massive infrastructure buildup has caused me to fall behind militarily. Rome and Carthage are ahead on MI's, catching up on tanks and pulling ahead in naval power. However, I've now got more than a dozen cities producing 40+ shields a turn, and my spies are doing tech steals every 3-4 turns. After failing 3 times in a row (but not getting caught by Carthaginian agents) my spies snag Robotics. I'm caught up in tech again. Integrated Defense is the only important one left that I need. Carthage doesn't have it yet. They're not likely to be around long enough to make any use of it.

I'm turning out to be a sloppy Communist player. I've had cities fall into disorder now and then--and I've been forgetting that Communism CAN use military police. I'm not micromanaging well (gimme a break, I've got a whole lot of cities to deal with! ), but the large number of big-production cities is more than making up for this. Guess I had to cut my socialist teeth sometime!

 

[Own]

I'm hungry for more, this is a great game.

 

[madviking]

Basketcase- are you still here? like Own said im hungry. (even though i just ate dinner )

 

[BasketCase]

Yep, still here. It's just that I pretty much only have time to play the game during the weekends.

This one's drawing to a close, however, and I'm frankly ready to be done with it. Once my nation becomes this big, and the conclusion of the game is foregone, it's no longer as much fun. The first half of this six-thousand-year trip, however, was AWESOME. A thoroughly enjoyable challenge.

 

[Tribute]

Wow! Is this the only way to play deity though? I've never seen anyone be entirely peaceful.

 

[T-Money]

you say that like it's a bad thing.

 

[BasketCase]

At Diety level, the computer gets a head start on getting land. When your opponents have a 40% bonus to production and research, AND more cities than you, you're toast.

So no Trib--Always Peace isn't likely to work well. But hey, peace is for the meek.

 

[Invisible Rhino]

Great story! Hope to see the finale soon!

 

[Jay]

I just signed up about 3 days ago and i was reading this thread. took me 3 days to read it but it was great. it inspired me to try my first emperor game that im doing well on (i hate thoses stupid persians) persians ruled but then the turkish terror shows up and kicks thier asses . ottoman rule. well anyway a great read!

 

[BasketCase]

Okay....after a very busy couple of weeks, I've finally got the time to get back into this game.

It's down to the big dogs now. Babylon is gone and Persia only has five cities left. It's just me, Rome and Carthage. So pull up a chair and grab your popcorn!!!

IT ENDS TONIGHT.

In 1810 AD, Persia declared war on Rome. Now, this is not such a smart decision to begin with: declaring war on a major world power. It's also not too bright to declare war on somebody who has an MPP with another major power--say, Carthage. So now Persia, with its five remaining cities, is at war with two empires several times its size. What the hell is wrong with Xerxes??? Somebody didn't see "suicidally insane" on his resume' when they chose him to lead a civ.

But then, in the "Your Nemesis" thread in Civ 3 General Discussion, it seems EVERYBODY hates the Persians. Guess it's only fitting they return the favor.


Current situation:

It's 1824 AD. My spy in Carthage got caught and executed a few turns back, but I managed to replace him. I have 61 MI's, 60 MA's, five ICBM's and five tactical nukes--four of which are loaded on ballistic missile subs parked near Carthaginian coastline. Rome has 148 MI's, 30 MA's, and a few obsolete tanks. Carthage has 155 MI's, 63 MA's, and 22 radar artillery units. Rome and Carthage both have a nuclear force about the same size as mine. Carthage acquired Strategic Defense a couple turns ago, and will be able to finish its SDI system a few turns after it gets nuked off the map.

At least four Carthaginian nuclear subs have been spotted off my southern and eastern coasts. I'm assuming each one is carrying a nuke. My own subs are shadowing them, accompanied by battleships and destroyers to eliminate them the minute war breaks out. Additionally, I've got my trump card ready:

I extended my airfield farm further, and I now make use of it. The rule with airfields is that each can only airlift (i.e. send) one unit per turn--but an airfield can receive any number of units per turn. With 19 airfields at home and one airfield in Suicidograd--smack in the middle of enemy territory--I can put a gigantic strike force on Hannibal's doorstep with very little warning.

The strategic initiative now lies entirely with me; I can attack in large numbers at will. This war is already over. (For the record, this isn't the first time I've pulled an airfield rape. I got addicted to this a while back, and it's a favorite strategy of mine....)

I now have 16 MI's, 38 MA's, and some jet fighters in Suicidograd; the city is size 9 and has a Civil Defense in it. Plus, in a few turns, Suicidograd is going to have a nice big buffer of Ottoman territory around it; Suicidograd will not be taken.

Well, maybe it will get 'ed.....

The big variable in the strategic equation is the MPP currently in force between Carthage and Rome. I'm gonna be fighting both of these guys at once. Guess they saw that the hammer was poised to drop.....

I'm going to leave Persia alone for the time being. With Persia and Rome at war, Persia is serving as a buffer between me and Rome on my home continent when Rome declares war on me.

I now have 17 cities producing 40 or more shields a turn. The tech tree is done, except for Stealth and Genetics, which I don't need. I'd say "no more Mr. Nice Guy" at this point, but I was never really a nice guy to begin with in this game.

All right. I've blabbed enough. Off to the game!

 

[Lord Parkin]

Yeah, I'm loving this story too BasketCase - particularly your screenshot-cartoons! Are you going to finish off this game, or leave it at this point? (By the way, you didn't disable cultural victory... is anyone close to that? Otherwise, your best bet is domination, and that could take quite a while...)

 

[BasketCase]

1826 AD

The unthinkable....becomes real.

Carthage, Leptis Magna, Leptis Minor, Hadrumetum, and Theveste are flattened by theronuclear detonations. There is no advance warning, and no declaration of war.

The missiles were launched from the ocean, and Carthaginian subs observe Ottoman ballistic missile subs off the west coast of the continent. The conclusion is obvious. Rome immediately condemns the Ottoman government and declares war.

Almost the moment that declaration is made, ballistic missile launches from the Ottoman homeland are detected. Twenty minutes later, the six largest Roman cities, including the capital, are incinerated.

From their secret base in Suicidograd, on the Roman/Carthiginian continent, Ottoman heavy tanks lash out in every direction. Key radar towers near Thebes are destroyed. To the east, Alexandria is taken by a coordinated strike from three Ottoman armies. In the northeast, Memphis is wiped off the map. Other Ottoman tanks make forays to the south.

Meanwhile, off the south coast of the Ottoman homeland, the Ottoman battleships Pillager, Avenger, Invincible, and Immortal track and sink Carthage's entire ballistic missile submarine force. That, and the loss of missile silos in Alexandria and Memphis, cut Carthage's nuclear strength by two-thirds.

Okay, the following pic looks kind of deceptive--the missiles are going from right to left. But if you've seen the movie Wargames, your first impression will probably be the opposite:

The nuclear nightmare spreads as Rome and Carthage launch a retaliatory strike. Unfortunately, with most of their communications net destroyed by the initial Ottoman strike, most of the missiles are all launched at the same target: the strategically unimportant city of Smackograd on the east coast.

Okay, exiting story mode for a moment: I have no idea what the heck the AI's think they're doing here. Carthage has four nukes left after my attack. Instead of nuking my capital, he nukes Smackograd. Three times. Then he drops his last nuke on the tiny size-3 city of Yozgat on the northeast peninsula. Both cities have aluminum (Smackograd's source is in the same tile as the city) but there's no reason to nuke a city three times.

Then it gets better. Rome gets its turn--and Smackograd is hit THREE MORE TIMES! Rome's fourth nuke hits--is anyone surprised?--Yozgat, which Carthage already hit. Rome's last nuke is launched with a little more sense; that one lands on Urfa, a fairly hefty producer with uranium under it. Seems like a complete waste of megatonnage to me--but seeing as how Smackograd went from size 16 to size 1 in a single turn, ya gotta give the AI's credit for a thorough job.....


Now, the bad guys have more success with their conventional forces. Carthage retakes Alexandria without too much work (knew I shoulda razed it), and then sends several tanks around from the east to hit Suicidograd. A few of my MI's there are dented. None are killed. Rome then follows up with an even bigger attack on Suicidograd, and fares no better. Rome and Carthage send other tanks to attack stray Ottoman units. A hasty defensive line I put up in front of Alexandria is toasted. Some of my tanks that were retreating for repairs are destroyed, including one of my armies. Then Rome attacks my second, mildly-damaged Army with (get this) an army loaded with CAVALRY and MEDIEVAL INFANTRY. To their credit, one of the medieval infantries actually scores a hit....

The Ottoman battleship Invincible is sunk by Carthaginian ships. Guess that name was a bad omen. Then the Immortal is sunk--by Carthaginian IRONCLADS.

You know, I am really not having a lot of luck at ocean warfare here. This is the second time this game I got 'ed on the high seas. Plus I seem to have cursed a couple of my ships with inauspicious names--the Invincible and the Immortal, well, turned out to be neither....


But wait, there's more! Before the war, I was trading with Rome for dyes and ivory (bet you can already guess where this is going). Then during their turn, Rome bombed Intombe and disconnected the silks there. I didn't plan for this before opening the world's nuclear age, and the loss of three luxuries caused almost my ENTIRE empire to plunge into civil disorder!!! We're talking riots on half the entire map here.....

Rome still has five tactical nukes left; I haven't been able to spot his ballistic subs yet, but will be keeping an eye out along their most likely routes of approach.

Thirteen Roman battleships which had been shelling Persian cities depart that area, presumably to attack me:

All thirteen are hit by a tactical nuke launched from Point Blanke.

I am surprised by the results--only nine of those battleships are destroyed. The other four each take two hits of damage. Having never fought a nuclear war in this game before, I didn't know this could happen.


Current situation: The Romans and Carthaginians have had their entire production cores microwaved. Meanwhile, I only lost one major producer. If either of them had tossed a nuke at Suicidograd, they would have been able to pulverize almost my entire military with a single swift stroke. Clearly the AI code for nuke targetting ain't up to snuff.

On the plus side, there's somebody besides me who is really enjoying the way the game is going:

Keep watching, Cleo--I haven't even started with these two posers yet.

 

[Lord Parkin]

AWESOME!!! Nukes are fun, aren't they?

That really is weird with the AI's wasting six of their nukes on a single city, though! I wonder if they'll make the same blunder next turn?

 

[madviking]

You should build a super secret nuke facility on Baghdad Island!

Strange how the AI only the same targets. How is Smackograd doing be smacked by the nukes?

 

[Invisible Rhino]

You should build a super secret nuke facility on Baghdad Island!

I so agree

Edit :

By the way, what program are you using for your screenshots?