My Huge Sid Milk Run

[keldr]

I think that I would abandon the aztec cities. Since you have rails, and can get settlers in fast that would be my choice when they have such a cultural lead. Then you can decide the city placements, and not waste any growth-time on cities that eventually will be abandoned.
Just to contradict myself a little, there is no doubt, that it will benefit your score if you can keep the aztec cities until your settlers arrive, so you can get points for both the tiles and aztec population. But I would only do that if you have the military police to spare, so they don't flip back. The disadvantages are that flips could occur at inconvenient locations, that your military cannot reach in a single turn, or that you have to slow down the conquest of the aztecs due to leaving units behind to prevent flips.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that IMO it all comes down to how much military you have to spare without slowing down your conquest. Maybe just keep the cities that are in good spots, and you might consider keeping later on...

Regarding research I'd vote for sanitation as well, I think it has the biggest potential for trade afterwards...

 

[Lord Emsworth]

Comments from the peanut gallery requested –

1. Raze Aztec cities or capture them? The Aztecs have roughly twice as much culture as I do, and I will not eliminate them that quickly (they have some cities off the mainland which I won’t get to for a while), but the instant boost in population from capturing a city is always nice.

I doubt you will have to depend on AI population. As soon as you are a Communist, and have enough railed and irrigated tiles you should be able to set up many 2-turn worker factories where you can easily and extremely quickly breed population. The Aztec population as long as you at war will be either in resistance, or be quite unhappy anyway.

I think territory score will be a greater concern, at least for a few turns. So, maybe you can take them as long as you are still in anarchy or a fledling commie, but once you can easily build settlers and workers, abandon the cities?

 

[Spoonwood]

Rifles effectively defend at, at least 12 or 13 in cities (does the 10% flatland bonus round up from .6 to 1?), and infantry at 21, right? So, *when you think about it*, it shouldn't come as too surprising that cavalry armies can sometimes have trouble with fortified rifles in size 12 cities by themselves, and infrantry make for units hard to kill.

 

[Chamnix]

IBT – America and Ottomans sign peace. Babylon and Mongols sign alliance against Russia (Babylon declares). The Russians and Americans continue their heavy fighting while I watch. The Americans are really taking a lot of heat off the Ottomans. The Aztecs continue to have a lot of cavalry. The world is still not a very friendly place.



940 AD – It looks like I didn’t leave myself any Aztec cities to capture this turn. There are not really many military moves at all as my armies could use a turn off to rest anyway. I do kill the final 12 Aztec units in my territory with 6 elites and 4 veterans and pick up 1 more leader. I am well set to ravage Azteca next turn.

My Treasury is at 132 gold with -239 gpt, so I hire a bunch of taxmen, borrow 597 gold from the Russians for 43 gpt, then replace all my citizens leaving me at 729 gold and -360 gpt (5 turns of anarchy to go). I tell the Russians to get out of my territory hoping I will get a leave or declare option next turn.

My cities look OK for food for this turn, so my workers complete the railroad to Aztec territory, and I put some warriors in the resisting towns. I have a halfway decent rail network throughout my territory.



IBT – The Aztecs ship a couple cavalry behind my front lines, but nowhere is dangerous anymore. Nothing else noteworthy.

950 AD – First thing I note is that I have a leave or declare option against Russia, so I can get my gpt back if I want. I am giving them 379 gpt right now, but I am getting gems from them. I guess I’ll make them declare, but I’ll decide that at the end of the turn. I don’t think I really need the gems – I should be able to keep a size 12 city 100% happy with 6 luxuries, JS Bachs, and 3 sources of war happiness. That makes it a certainty that I will goad them into war. Obviously I should have cut off the Russian choke with armies earlier, but I do have 2 armies there, and hopefully the third will find a break in the action to keep me from having to pay much real attention to Russia.



First, to kill some Aztecs.







That was fun. Both sources of previously Aztec saltpeter are no longer in their territory.

OK, Russia time. First, I have to get what they have so I pick up their 346 gold and their world map for 28 gpt. Now get out or declare, and they declare.

On the frontier, I capture the hills and let them pass through the jungle if they want. Another army will be there in a turn or two.

Meanwhile, I have 1 army that can restart the pillaging process.

 

[Elear]

Your gold situation seems precarious whilest in Anarchy. I'm inclined to agree and say forget the gems (you seem fine without them) and just get all that GPT back.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

Rifles effectively defend at, at least 12 or 13 in cities (does the 10% flatland bonus round up from .6 to 1?), and infantry at 21, right? So, *when you think about it*, it shouldn't come as too surprising that cavalry armies can sometimes have trouble with fortified rifles in size 12 cities by themselves, and infrantry make for units hard to kill.

Rifles at 11.1, infantry at 18.5 (.1 for flat, .25 for fortification, .5 for size 7)

 

[Calis]

And 4 cavalry armies backed by a Military Academy attack with 12, if I am not completely mistaken. So the armies should do well most of the time...

 

[Chamnix]

IBT – The Aztecs move 11 cavalry into sight. At least they can’t build anymore now without saltpeter. I watch as the Americans continue to get their butts whipped by the Russians. The Russians opt not to go into the jungle around my armies instead heading north for Mongolia and America. They do land 5 Cossacks (carried by 1 caravel and 2 galleons) in my core.

960 AD – 4 more Aztec cities leveled. They now have no saltpeter, iron, or horses. There is plenty of good land for me to settle. I just need to get out of anarchy (3 turns) so I can build more settlers.

I capture my first Mongol city. The Mongols have about the same culture as the Aztecs, but this is a small city, and I don’t think I’ll have to defend it from the Mongols at all. My units attacked starting the turn outside of Mongol territory, and since I used armies of course I didn’t lose. I’m going to try to conquer the Mongols without losing my war happiness if at all possible.

Since I am no longer paying massive gpt to the Russians, I don’t need taxmen anymore, so I change them to scientists to work on Sanitation. I think it will take me longer to build the Theory of Evolution than it will take me to research Scientific Method, so I might as well squeeze in Sanitation first. I really could use some hospitals regardless.

I now have over 200 cities .

 

[Chamnix]

IBT – The Zulu have a longbow ! He comes rushing out of their city to threaten to attack me next turn . The Russians land 2 more units in my core. The Mongols switch to Fascism.

980 AD – The Incans suddenly have gold available. I trade them ivory and furs for 107 of their 117 gpt. What will I do with all this gold in Communism ? I guess I’ll capture Leo’s and start upgrading stuff, but we’ll see how things look when I get out of anarchy.

I go back to attacking the Aztec cities, but they are so far apart, even cavalry armies can only attack once each when they start outside Aztec territory. Nonetheless, 3 more Aztec cities are razed, and my slave count keeps increasing nicely. My cavalry armies are now at the gates of the Aztec capital. Too bad the Aztecs didn’t build any cool wonders – all they have is the Great Lighthouse.

The Zulu longbow was not kind enough to generate a leader for me – maybe in 16 turns, the next one will give me a leader. No leaders from the Russian landing party either.

New Isandhlwanda is captured from the Russians so they no longer have any presence on this side of my army wall. The citizen is an Ottoman.

 

[Elear]

Good progress again!

Starting to feel that wave of confidence? Or better put, do you feel like you have absolute control of this game now?

 

[Chamnix]

Definitely - I've got about 40 armies, and no AI is anywhere close to Flight. I couldn't lose even if I tried .

 

[Elear]

What about exceeding the domination limit?

Even though I know you're great at managing that sort of thing, I've had too many heartbreaking histographic games screwed up by that, so I'm concerned for you anyway until you hit "2050 AD".

I don't have the heart to run at 65.99% anymore. I edge closer to 65.20%.

 

[Spoonwood]

I trade them ivory and furs for 107 of their 117 gpt. What will I do with all this gold in Communism ?

Military alliances maybe? Research more or use more for the luxury slider?

 

[Elear]

Military alliances maybe? Research more or use more for the luxury slider?

I favor the latter.

If you're in total control of this game, everything should be screaming "MILK".

That reminds me, Spoonwood, we need to start discussing proper city positions and milking strategy since we're in total control of OUR game, too.

 

[Lord Emsworth]

980 AD – The Incans suddenly have gold available. I trade them ivory and furs for 107 of their 117 gpt. What will I do with all this gold in Communism ? I guess I’ll capture Leo’s and start upgrading stuff, but we’ll see how things look when I get out of anarchy.

You could cash rush in a very roundabout way. Build and upgrade cheap units, and disband them elsewhere. The 'bought' shields would cost 12 gold without and 6 gold with Leo's. It is not great, but better than nothing.



And once you get to Replaceable Parts, the AI do not ever attack an Infantry in a fortress in my experience. At least not with Cavs or Infantries, but I have no clue about Sipahis. If it works in C3C as well, this could help you quite a lot to build Tunnel of Dooms or Walls cheaply without the need to use armies.

 

[Chamnix]

The luxury slider won't help right now - I have enough luxuries + war happiness that everyone is already happy.

 

[Elear]

The luxury slider won't help right now - I have enough luxuries + war happiness that everyone is already happy.

I like Emsworth's suggestion, in this case. It's kind of a time consuming proposal but what other choice do you have?

 

[Chamnix]

IBT – I become Communist. The Babylonian incense deal has expired, and it takes both Banking and Physics to get it renewed for 20 more turns. Aztecs up to the Industrial Age – I don’t think they will get Nationalism in time to be too inconvenient.

990 AD – Science up to 100%, and Sanitation is due in 9. I’m sure I could push it to much faster if I went crazy with scientists, but I don’t want to lose the happy faces.

The corruption is a little worse than expected. Cities without a courthouse are 63% corrupt, and a courthouse makes them 48% corrupt.

I’m going to give up a lot of points probably in the next few turns, but hopefully it will pay off long term. I’m giving up many happy citizens to hire more cops for shields, and any town that is not designated as permanent will build settlers/workers, even if the town is a “core” town that is above size 6. I need to settle the Aztec land, and I have to improve terrain around my permanent cities (including mining over some irrigation) so courthouses and police stations don’t take forever. At least my workers have picked up the pace a bit since anarchy ended.

I guess I won’t be building any military for a while, but I seem to be doing OK with what I have – multiple cities are falling almost every turn, and the challenge is more reaching cities than destroying them.

After some hellacious micromanaging, of my 207 cities, I think about 25 of them are building settlers, 125 workers, about 7 cavalry just because they have too many shields to change (they will be settlers next), and 50 improvements – aqueducts, harbors, courthouses, or police stations. I would prefer many more settlers, but 30 shields seems a tall order for many of my towns. The settler-builders won’t exactly be factories as it is.

Tenochtitlan was only guarded by 3 muskets and a spear. Tula, New Mpondo, and 2 other miscellaneous Aztec cities with unpronounceable and unspellable names also get razed.

The Ottomans still won’t part with Industrialization, but they have amassed quite a Treasury so I sell them Electricity, ivory, iron, and saltpeter (they don’t have horses) for 2953 gold and 153 gpt. I will now be making a profit at 100% science so I can research Sanitation and save for a steal of Replaceable Parts and/or Industrialization.

Let’s get 1000 AD out of the way…

IBT – The Zulu have another longbow! How’d they do that so fast ? The Mongols irritate me by frigate-bombing some of my units that were left near the coast in the former Aztec territory.

1000 AD – The Russians will talk peace with me, and they have Replaceable Parts which I must get immediately somehow. My entire Economy of 2891 gold and 992 gpt gets me close. Now I have to think about this. The Russians also put a very high value on a Mutual Protection Pact with me. If I add a MPP to the table, then 966 gpt and no gold up front gets me Replaceable Parts.

I decide this looks like a good time to blow my reputation. I don’t expect the AI to beat me to that many techs anymore, and I have no use for borrowing cash in Communism. The only problem is that I will probably be blowing my RoP rep at the same time – I have 2 armies in Russia that can’t get out this turn, and I refuse to wait even 1 turn for Replaceable Parts. I’d like to use RoP abuse against the island nations of Babylon and Inca, but I want Replaceable Parts more.

I think what I’ll do is sign the MPP with Russia but no RoP. I will pay gpt for 1 turn, but then next turn Russia will doubtlessly give my units the boot. Paying 966 gold to keep my RoP rep sounds like a pretty good deal. There is a chance that the Ottomans will find a way to attack Russia and make me declare on Ottomans while we have an RoP, but I can’t imagine there are very many Ottomans outside their own borders by now.

The greater danger may be that Babylon attacks Russia and forces me to declare. It won’t do anything to my rep, but it would cost me Babylonian incense.

Anyway, I spend one more turn pillaging Russia and killing as many Russian units as I can find before signing the deal. While I’m pillaging, I see Russian infantry guarding their cities .

The final deal we agreed to – we sign peace, a mutual protection pact, and alliances vs. the Americans, the Mongols, the Zulu, and the Aztecs; I pay 972 gpt, and Russia gives their 210 gold, their world map (just in time for the 1000 AD update ), and Replaceable Parts .

I do not have any rubber in my territory, but there is a source in the open terrain where the Aztecs used to reside, so I will have that one soon enough. The Russian source is on an island off their coast which will not be that easy to pillage:



The Ottomans still won’t give Industrialization for anything, but I’ll get it soon enough.

Of course, now all my carefully set up worker stacks are the wrong size again, and did I mention how awful micromanaging was last turn? I get to do it again with civil engineers.

Back to the conquering first. The Zulu longbow again refuses to provide a leader. Another 4 Aztec towns are reduced to rubble. The Aztecs will not be on the mainland for very much longer.

I line up a few armies just outside of Mongol territory but within reach of their city.

The workers continue to work. I disband several artillery units and some other obsolete units to get settlers faster.

1000 AD Stats:

Score – 7265. That’s less than half of all 3 80K games, but it is a decent lead over SirPleb’s 64K game, so my goal of 70K is hopefully still within reach.

220 Cities
1067 Citizens (37% of world population; always 100% happy except for the ones I turn into specialists)
1 settler (22 more due next turn since I just escaped anarchy)
257 native workers
384 slaves
39 armies
137 cavalry
30 medieval infantry (almost all in armies)
1 mounted warrior (elite of course)
8 musketmen
5 warriors
49 cannons (21 native, 28 captured)
59 trebuchets (40 native, 19 captured)
44 catapults (43 native, 1 captured)
9 galleys

Weak to Russia and Inca; strong to everyone else.

1911 tiles (26% of world)
1770 domination tiles









And that is right after buying Russia’s map – those are all their current terrain improvements.

 

[Chamnix]

IBT – The Ottomans found a way to attack Russia triggering our Mutual Protection Pact . The Ottomans were paying me 153 gpt, and we had an RoP, and I had units in Ottomans territory . The Ottomans capture 1 worker.

The Mongols continue to bomb my coastline – I have to find someone to sink the Mongols’ frigates for me so I don’t lose war happiness. The Aztecs beg for peace but don’t get it. Russia boots my armies out of their territory.

1010 AD – Check my RoP reputation. It is damaged but not very badly. The Babylonians still me of course since they are at war with the Ottomans, but even the Incans who are not at war will still accept an RoP, but they’ll make me pay 80 gold for it.

The Russians have 1001 gold thanks to my 972 gpt, so I buy the rest of their gold and an updated world map before declaring war on them – bye-bye reputation .

While I’m in a peace-loving mood, the Americans will give up the city of New Machu Picchu on the Incan mainland for peace – I’ll take that along with their world map and 6 gold. Since I have no pride whatsoever, I even sign peace with the Zulu and pick up their 92 gold. I have units in both the Mongol’s and the Aztec’s territory, so I don’t sign peace with either because I don’t want to have to move my units to redeclare.



Back to war. For a first target, I recapture the Ottoman city with Sun Tzu’s saving me 20-30 gpt. I’m still going to hold off on selling barracks – I certainly don’t need gold right now anyway.

Two more Aztec cities razed, one Mongol town captured, one Ottoman town captured (I decided to try to keep Ottoman towns this time since I should be able to eliminate them soon enough), and 20 or so new towns founded in the formerly Aztec land claiming over 200 tiles in one turn, but I still need more settlers badly.

Redeclare on Russia to get my gpt back and on America and the Zulu to get my war jollies back. The Aztec territory sporting their new purple look:

 

[Elear]

Interesting progression.

I look forward not only to the Russian war, the climax, obviously, but also the invasion of the Incan island. That is going to be brutal if easy in the end.