Nobles' Club 232: Ragnar of the Vikings

[sylvanllewelyn]

@sylvanllewelyn

Spoiler :

You have been visited by the peace vassal fairy! Congrats on killing Augie. Are you going to sit back and tech up or go back in to take on Mansa with zerkers?

@Jellybug

Spoiler :

Peace vassal fairy is not completely random. You can check the diplomacy screen every turn to see if your enemy is willing to put capitulation on the table. If they are, then that means they are ready to become someone's vassal. In this case I was committed to finishing them off to avoid motherland happiness penalties but it wasn't entirely unexpected.

@prettification

Spoiler :

I am not a fan of keeping vassals on prince difficulty. I only do it for domination victories on immortal/deity because your vassal, with AI bonuses, will easily out-produce you, making them an invaluable war ally for the rest of the game.

 

[sylvanllewelyn]

Emperor, NHNE, 1480AD to 1862AD Diplomatic Victory

Spoiler :

History lesson: The Great Wall of China was for offense, not defense.

After eliminating Mali, the natural next target was Ethiopia. But my goal was diplomatic victory, they were already friendly, and...

... for some reason, with only cities and no castles, their power was still above mine. Their armies were completely up-to-date with rifles and cannons. I needed population but I didn't have to pick on them. Instead,

The Incas were backwards and I could pick up mutual military struggle points. Then it was a matter of building the United Nations

... and sucking up the AIs for victory. I only had +9 with Korea but I knew that was fine because they have +1 modifier, pushing it to +10.

Not my best game but I wanted to try out The Great Lighthouse. It was... alright? Fighting against Roman legions was definitely an experience.

 

[ariosto]

Spoiler Immortal T115-T249 1695 AD Domination Victory :

Great Engineer was born T115 and I decided to go for berserker + catapults war because AI were behind and I wanted to give berserkers a try. T117 bulbed machinery and switched to police state + bureaucracy. Whipped every city until unhappiness limit and declared war T133. Won music race meanwhile, it was pretty secure on my continent.

Spoiler T133 attack Rome :

I wanted also use fast galleys, so I captured south city (Neapolis) on first turn of war, meanwhile main stack went straight to the capital. It turned out unexpectedly - Caesar splitted his army so half of his army sitted at Rome and others captured empty Neapolis - my 5 berserkers retired with galleys. So main stack easily defeated one half and then another. Nothing interesting next, captured Rome T155. I think, 22 turns on this war is probably too much and I need to improve this part.

Spoiler T155 Rome destroyed :

Zara built AP, so I spreaded buddhism and built temples + monasteries. There was forest in Rome - it was chopped to University of Sankore, Rome also had GLH, so with representation and cast system I was able to double-bulb Education and lib Astronomy T171.
My initial plan was to conquer my continent and go for space victory after, since I don't like intercontinental wars generally, but I changed my mind totally when I met Frederick - he didn't even knew alphabet, so I decided to conquer my Mansa, Zara and him for easy domination. Therefore I teched grenadiers and stopped teching until the end of the game. Switched to teocracy + PS, built galleons + CR2 berserkers, then upgrade.
T203 declared war on Mansa, T205 he capped

Spoiler T203 attack Mansa :

I begged 1 gold from Zara, so I had to wait T213 to declare on him. T216 he capped. I gifted hib back cities to forget about revolts...

Spoiler T213 attack Zara :

Spent a lot of time to regroup and attacked Frederick T228 with 51 gren. He capped T234 losing all coastal cities, but it was 0.5% not enough to reach domination limit (I thought 2% during the game, but rechecked after). So I had to attack Korea T241, destroyed it T248 and won T249.

Spoiler T249 Victory :

I was 5 tiles short of skipping Korea war! Well, it costed me about 5 turns

@AcaMetis thanks for the map

Spoiler :

This map was perfect for Viking's amphibious grenadiers + 6 movement galleons, especially Mansa's layout

 

[Excal]

T200 1400AD

2 vassals down

Spoiler :

after discovering horses upon settling the island = cuirs
preference would be Augustus first, but Mansa has 11 cities and is tearing away in tech, so having learned from Justin in the last game, Mansa = 1st target
at one stage I bribe Zara into war with Mansa, but war lasts all of four turns

got 3 GrMerc from Uppsala to TempArt x1500 gold
upgraded horsearch (expensive)
burned 3 of Mansas cities south of the choke-point (Rome culture will flip)

Mansa bribes in Zara (cant peace treaty because pressing too hard )
captured 4 inclu Timbuktu and cap Mansa & give-back (I will try to keep everything Rome south of choke point)

Zara next - only six cities - capture 2 incl Aksum and cap Zara & give-back (Mansas culture is a killer from past experience)

plan now take out all Augustus and then over water to Fredrick - who is very behind in tech

T225 1575AD

Spoiler :

Rome DEAD
just as I start making some progress - Rifles
so slowed things down a bit, but Frigates certainly assist on the coast

Rome = GrLight/Sistene

there shall not be any returning of anything to Malinese
(just hope the AP - Zara - agrees)

T253 1715AD

Spoiler :

Germany DEAD

probably the easiest overseas continent conquest ever
Frederick is way behind in Tech with 10 cities
should be enough to get 64% land

T255 1725AD
(unintended) Diplomatic UN

Very enjoyable game
Thanks to all those who contributed with write-ups/comments etc
Always interesting to compare/share/learn - both good/bad experiences
(and hope everyone is staying safe from covid19)

Spoiler :

Capac built the UN - I will win comfortably

 

[Capellan]

Fired this up on the weekend and decided to step up to Prince as I start to get back some of my Civ4 skills (modest though they always were).

Dom Victory 1985AD

Spoiler :

SIP.
Bumped into Augustus almost immediately. Romans, yay?
Settled a city on the river W of the cap to grab the stone, and then on the deer to the S.
Stonehenge for free border pops.
Cottage spam while expanding.
Got to six cities, but lost the Dye site to Rome by 1 turn. Gah!
Mansa turned up, then Zara. Looks like we are on a decent sized block of land as I am nowhere near their borders.
Judaism spread and everyone else was in it, so I joined the love in.
AP palace is Jewish, too.
Mansa has 11 cities, some just north of where Rome Dye-blocked me. Zara is miles away
Rome is the smallest, closest and most backward AI I know about. WAR it is!
Trebs and Berserkers vs Praets does not work well for AC.
I capture 3 cities and sack a 4th before AP unhappiness (defied 2 "stop the war" calls) forces a breather.
I get Lib first and use it for Gunpowder - not the highest beaker option, but the most effective for my war plans.
I come back for the other half of Rome with rifles and cannon.
AC vassals to Mansa!
Mansa bribes in Zara!
Zara runs the AP and calls a vote to stop the war against him!
I cackle gleefully and vote Yes
Rome go bye-bye and I have the same tech and far more troops than Mansa
He refuses to cap until the point where it is not worth keeping him, since he might sneak out a win somehow
The Incans and Germans show up during all this bloodletting. I say hello to them, and eventually work out how to sail on the ocean so we can even trade!
It's just me and Zara on the continent now, and I see no reason to share
Squish!
I have 2x Incan power and 3x German, so I pile my boys on boats and go see Huayna
Belatedly I realise that he must have killed the Koreans at some point
His Infantry and Cav do not fair well against Mech Art and Mech Inf
Two cities captured, he caps and I go well over the Dom limit

 

[Fish Man]

@bdubbs

Spoiler :

Stone does not reduce the cost of The Great Lighthouse.

Emperor, NCNH, BC4000 - - BC0500. When the Danes came, they came as...

Spoiler :

... traders. I always hated building The Great Lighthouse but this sentiment does not seem to be shared by other players. Whenever I get sailing and masonry early, some critical tech goes missing
View attachment 552223
I will keep an open mind and give the GLH another try.

There are of course consequences:

Spoiler :

I got my GLH. The Romans got their desert mine with 4 production in Roman territory. 260 production could have been 7 axemen knocking down Rome Or 2 settlers and a worker. This better be worth it.
View attachment 552224
Exploring the continent with a 3-movement galley is pretty sweet though.

GLH was serious misplay, I think. Augustus is the most likely leader to build that wonder, as he starts with fishing/mining and is industrious, with a high wonder build rate...this goes double for cases like here where he has a COASTAL high-food and high-hammer capital. You could've taken it from him via conquest, and spent those 200 hammers on more expansion (settlers/workers), or the "six agg axemen" wonder.