One Chance - zerksees vs. Sid

[zerksees]

One chance

There is only one opportunity to beat Sid on the first try. No do-overs. No restarts. Either you win or you don't. This is what I am undertaking. And you can read along.

I want to serve multiple purposes with this game. Besides beating Sid on the first try, I want the game to help me improve my position in the HOF, so I am sticking with parameters that will allow the game to be submitted. I will be picking the game settings, but that is all.

Many of the articles I have seen so far reference finding a "suitable map", or having many retries to ensure a good starting position, acquiring the Great Library, or whatever. There will be none of that here.

When I hit start game the first time - that will be the game I play.

Planning Phase

I was fascinated with the Sid always ware strategy, well documented in Handy900's Theodora Sid Always War Excellent Adventure. Those familiar with the game know that he built his approach on the work of Arathorn and maybe others. The irreverence that Handy showed made the game seem easy. I decided I would use the same approach. I have read extensively on Sid games and have a fair idea what I am up against, but this is my first attempt at Sid level.

All I need to do is play it like chieftain and I will win hands down

I chose the Byzantines, though Theodora is not going to have the same wits as Handy's adventure. I like the Dromon for pillaging and controlling the tech pace by limiting contact. For this reason I also chose standard size archipelago map with 80% water. This should keep them separated enough until astronomy. I like the always war aspect to keep the AI from finding me. I chose wet and warm to make for some nice lands for me to work. The AI has such ridiculous advantages worse conditions would probably not hurt them that much. In fact I want them to make units quickly so they will drown in the costs for supporting them.

I also chose max aggression in hope that the AI civs would fight each other. Since I am doing always war - what difference would it make? I chose Zulu, China, Mongols and Rome as the AI opponents. All four start with warrior code, and all four are militaristic. Rome starts with alphabet, but I am not too worried about them beating me to the Great Library, since literature is optional and it usually takes a while for the AI to research it.

Barbarians are off, no respawn AI, and 3 billion year old earth to increase my chances of having mountains to land on when invading AI islands.

The general strategy is to use Dromons to keep the AI's isolated, keeping the tech pace nice and slow, build the Great Library so we can use our cash to upgrade units and support the army, and systematically take the AI out one by one. Monarchy will be our government of choice until communism.

All the HOF victory conditions are on: histograph, conquest, domination, spaceship, culture, diplomatic.

We could use some help from the map. Obviously each AI should have its own island, and not be able to reach the others. A nice size island with settler factory potential, some luxuries, iron and saltpeter would be ideal. I would like to win by conquest if possible.

Let us see what the RNG gods give me...

 

[tupaclives]

Good luck Zerksees!! You can do it! I'll definately be watching this one

 

[biggamer132]

I've read some of your other stories zerk, and you are definately one of the best. Good luck!

 

[Own]

If you're going for first try, standard 80% arch is a bad idea. Handy900's map was an insanely good map, but most are about 1/3 that size with limited fresh water, luxuries, and maybe an opponent on it. In Arathorns AWS game, his island was the average island size on those map settings.

 

[zerksees]

If you're going for first try, standard 80% arch is a bad idea. Handy900's map was an insanely good map, but most are about 1/3 that size with limited fresh water, luxuries, and maybe an opponent on it. In Arathorns AWS game, his island was the average island size on those map settings.

Thanks for the tip but it is a little too late as I have already started playing the game.

 

[Own]

You're welcome .

Good luck!

 

[zerksees]

Chapter One - The Story Begins

4000 BC - A gift! My settler is located directly next to fresh water and two cows on grassland. Dyes are in sight. I start research on writing.

2350 BC - Stop first session of the game. Writing due in 15 turns. I have some regrets about starting writing as pottery (and a granary) would be handy right now. I have four cities, four workers and a warrior. I have circled my island and lost my curragh in the sea on a suicide mission. The capital city placement is not so good - as I cannot even get half a circle around the capital. And the island is average size. Time will tell how it compares to the others.

Re-read Handy's story and am relieved he went for writing first to get the GL.

Need some warriors for MP, curraghs to explore and more than one worker per city.

2270 BC - Mongols build the Colossus.

1830 BC - China completes Pyramids

1675 BC - Meet Mongols. Trade alphabet and 18 gpt for pottery and masonry. Immediately break the deal and declare war on Mongols. Not my regular approach to Civ but fun.

Start GL pre-build soon after.

1175 BC - Meet China. Trade 93 gold and 32 GPT for map making. Immediately break the deal and declare war on China. They did not know about my new reputation for treachery.

630 BC - To my dismay the Chinese complete the GL. Oops - guess I should not have traded alphabet to them. The little piggy beat me to the GL! Time will tell how tragic this mistake was. Switch the prebuild to forbidden palace. It will be done next turn.

630 BC - Meet the Romans. Trade 1372 gold for mathematics, iron working, code of laws and ceremonial burial. They must have known about my past deals as they would not accept GPT. Immediately declare war on them too. At least I am treating them all equally. There is an island to my north that sadly they have settled on. Need to send some Dromons up there to stop them. They built the Great Lighthouse.

Unfortunately this island is not reachable without spending time in sea or ocean tiles between turns. It is only one turn in the sea tiles though, so I can plant a Dromon out there, and if it survives another can come to load it, and it can carry units to the north island. This will cost me some Dromons no doubt.

570 BC - Mongols are not afraid to attack my Dromons, even stacked. They fail though and the Byzantine Golden Age begins.

330 BC - Took the one Roman city on the island north of me. Used Dromons and a warrior. These Dromons suit my style - a kind of floating artillery is really cool. I need more, more, more!

Made peace with Mongols and trade literature to collect philosophy, the wheel and 190 gold. Immediately demanded gold from them and when they refused, I redeclared war.

Pulled same trick with Rome giving literature and 480 gold for horseback riding and construction. They too refused to give me 10 gold so I redeclared on them also. I can hear the AI advisors now: "Those Byzantines have attacked us before, I don't know if we should trust them". Buuhuhuhwaaaaah!

170BC - Golden Age ended. Made peace with Rome collecting 220 gold. Immediately redeclare war.

90BC - Make peace with China collecting monarchy paying 714 gold. Immediately redeclare war.

50BC - I now feel like I am a civilization without a cause. I pause to reflect and develop strategy. Discovered the Zulu on the prior turn (I had seen their city for a while - they built it in an area I had explored but they had not built on yet). Seems they are already wise to my ways, and must be in contact with nearby China. Tech pace is a little fast as the Romans have no doubt met Mongols and probably more.

So to get things moving again here is the plan:
- Get to monarchy ASAP
- Explore the rest of the map
- Populate the north island ASAP, acquire the iron up there.
- Farm some elite units by leaving a coastal city undefended -see if I can draw Rome in. Need a few more catapults and archers to counter any landing

Need to decide to continue AW by declaring war on the Zulu.

30 BC - Decide to go to anarchy. Do some MM and currency will be done in 14 turns using scientists. Unfortunately I am stuck with 7 turns of anarchy.

70 AD - Make peace with China collecting 80 gold. Immediately redeclare war.

Completed currency and the free tech was feudalism.

170 AD - Make peace with Mongols. Collect Engineering and Republic for Feudalism. Immediately redeclare war.

My one elite archer came back to the home continent. I hit pay dirt as the Romans started landing units on the north coast of my island. On the second landing my elite archer generated a leader. I then built an army with two archers. I almost lost it but it withdrew with one HP when I attacked a 2 HP spearman. But it healed quickly and now I can build heroic epic.

Main focus is on marketplaces as I completed currency.

I am surprised all the landmasses have not been claimed yet.

 

[zerksees]

Here is zerksees mighty empire at 50 BC. Missing the GL but still afloat.

 

[Own]

No GL was a bummer, but still winnable if you can get 'powder before every AI has attack three units or higher.

 

[Takeo]

Many of the articles I have seen so far reference finding a "suitable map", or having many retries to ensure a good starting position, acquiring the Great Library, or whatever. There will be none of that here.

When I hit start game the first time - that will be the game I play.

I'll admit that I am spoiled by all the HOF games that I have played. Spending days(or weeks) looking for the ideal start position to milk from. I've always admired the people that just start the game up and go with what they get! After 'Takeo takes on Deity' is done, I might play deity again and play a random game.

Good start so far! Sorry about losing out on the GL.
Can't wait to see some pics.

 

[zerksees]

Chapter Two - The End of Always War

330 AD - Grasshopper must find his own way. I am ready to abandon AW. Instead I am adopting almost always war. I made peace with China. It is obvious they are fighting the Zulu (as they share a continent) and are losing. I cannot mount any sustained attacks since my Dromons need to cross open seas to get off the main island. I have been minimizing losses during transport by putting the Dromon out there and if it lives, allowing the other Dromon to bring units and load into it.

I am refining my plan of expansion and trying to reach more of the open islands. Also need more units at home.

410AD - Collect 60 gold from Zulu for peace. Immediately redeclare war on them. They are still at war with China.
Mongols - 10 cities, down invention
Romans - 11 cities - even tech
Zulu - 20 cities - down invention
China - 5 cities - down monotheism
Byzantines - 30 cities

430AD - Make peace with Rome paying 1180 gold and collecting invention. Redeclare war immediately. Trade invention to China collecting 6 gpt. This is funny because they would get it free the next turn anyway because of the Great Library. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

490AD - Slow moving. Starting to believe I can win this game though, as the AI are not running away with it.
Inventory: 7 settler, 18 worker, 18 warrior, 14 archer, 6 spear, 7 horseman, 1 longbow, 2 catapult, 1 army, 1 medieval infantry, 1 trebuchet, 28 Dromons, for a total of 104 units.
At 10% lux and 0% science I am making 79 gpt, with 762 gold in the kitty.
Lo and behold, we passed China for fourth in score.

560 AD - We pass the Romans in scoring. Mao has only one city left.

570 AD - Make peace with Mongols - pay 1302 gold and collect gunpowder.

740 AD - Made peace with Romans - pay 1890 gold for chemistry.

760 AD - Zulu lose a city to me on remote island. Have been seeing caravels and this is posing new challenges for me.

770 AD - I am paying Mongols for MA vs Zulu, 50 gold + 6gpt. The next turn Rome and Mongols sign MA vs Zulu.
Voila - the Zulu are under the AI dogpile. I made a bonehead maneuver though and my only source of saltpeter is in serious jeopardy from the Zulu.

As soon as the Mongol peace treaty was up they came demanding 80 gold. I paid it this time, expecting they would pass over us and stay at war with someone else - namely the Zulu.

1000 AD - We just completed a battle with the Zulu for our only source of saltpeter. It is located on a small island south east of our main island. The problem here is the island requires travel over ocean tiles and that is not allowed until astronomy. We lost some units and a city, but the land is now ours and we burned two Zulu cities in the process. Yikes that was close. It will take 20+ units to lock them out but that is what I am going to do so it will be safe until marines come along. I sank quite a few frigates and galleons from the Zulu but lost a fair share of Dromons.

 

[Own]

Good job getting the saltpeter .

It seems China is the runaway here?

 

[zerksees]

See the saltpeter under the Zulu medieval infantry.

 

[zerksees]

It seems China is the runaway here?

Actually the Zulu are beating China - they are the runaway candidate at this point.

 

[zerksees]

Chapter 3 - The Great Library

At some point Rome made peace with the Zulu. We chose to make peace with them too. Collecting theology for 775 gold. Now it is decision time. Shall we go all out for the Great Library? By the time we get it there will be techs a plenty to take. Obviously we have to stop buying techs since education will make it obsolete. Since Mao has the GL and is a OCC I think it is possible. I still need to look at map logistics. Establishing an embassy, I see China has 28 units, including a trebuchet, a settler and an array of longbow, spear and pike. To take this I would guess I need about 30 offensive units, 15 defensive, peace with the Zulu, a couple settlers, a couple workers, and some bait. I guess always war has been abandoned. Some damage has been done, but it is nothing I have not dealt with before.

1040 AD - Starting to put the plan together. Hopeful the Mongols will research a few more techs before I start this war. The Zull will give ROP for 22 gold, so I might take a chance on that when I get closer. Right now I am thinking I should bring a settler too. Too bad Beijing is one tile inland and I can't reach it with the Dromons. The settler should draw out some of the spears or pikes to pillage my tiles. This might make taking the city easier.

Let us hope the Zulu do not decide to strike first.

1050 AD - Hello privateers. You can tell they are Zulu but they are sinking my Dromons. I lost four this turn. It scared me for a turn or two but the plan continues. I have a serious inclination to take out the Romans first, but I need astronomy so I must continue on my quest.

1070 AD - Rome decides to declare war on us. We take the opportunity to remove one of their island cities. I successfully removed them from their city around 1100 AD. All 10 citizens are resisting but I need to hold on until I have a settler to put a new city in its place.

This is not easy. I have made myself accustomed to holding all the cards and the AI definitely has some right now. The Mongols are teeming with units. The Zulu have cavalry and will probably have riflemen very soon. A couple of my islands are very weakly defended, and Zulu ships pass by constantly. I don't have any musketmen yet. And there is no one to blame but myself if it does not work out. This is the adventure of Sid I guess. I feel like I am out of my Civ comfort zone.

1160 AD - Rome still not acknowledging our envoy. Eight citizens still resisting.

1230 AD - Made peace with Rome. They had nothing to give so I just made peace. Their citizens had stopped resisting. I have been starving them out and built one Roman worker. Waiting patiently for the AI to declare war on each other. Sadly the Zulu and Mongols made peace the prior turn.

1260 AD - Our lone Roman city culture flipped back - one round after peace. Yikes had to declare war on them again. This time I razed it.

1275 AD - We pass the Mongols for 2nd place. The migration south for Operation Great Library is underway. The little piggy will be surprised (sorry I can't resist calling Mao the little piggy). We still manage around 80 extra gold per turn, and have well over 2000 in the kitty.

Recent turns have been tedious as all I have been doing is building longbows, moving spears up to north island to upgrade to pikes, and moving longbows and pikes through the seas on the long trek to China. The troops are massing on the southern tile of free space on a medium size island to my west that I share with one Zulu (former Roman) city. From there it will be about 5-6 turns to get to China. I have several workers that are idling, and I am moving them to the north island to lock up all the tiles to ensure no one can invade until marines.

1295 AD - Ouch the Zulu have infantry. The Mongols demand 100 gold and we give it. One thing at a time here. The pile is getting larger.

1330 AD - Landed a couple units in Zululand on China border. It proved too tempting as the little piggy declared war on us!

1345 AD - Zululand declares war on China. Oh crap there goes my plan.

1350 AD - Zulu destroys China. This hurt. And caused a serious plan redraw. The ships were loaded and two turns from landing.

1355 AD - Decide to pull back and go after Rome. I made peace with Rome paying 1190 gold and collecting education. I then revisit all the cities and switch taxmen to scientists. I put science up to 90% and can research astronomy in 7 turns. I switch some of my pre-builds to university. Ugh this is a disaster.

I came so close but not close enough.

Astronomy came and that will end losses to my Dromons. I can get everywhere I need to go on sea tiles, but I need navigation to go on ocean squares. I pillaged an area on the south of Roman territory and landed my units. They have no horses but a lot of muskets, longbows and other units appeared. I was greatly outnumbered. Oh well, now I need to pillage their lands to ruin their economy while I work to improve mine.

 

[Takeo]

It's a big bummer when carefully laid plans go awry, but on the other hand it can make it exciting! It feels great when you eventually overcome something that messes up your plans.
Do you have any pics to show us?

 

[Mirc]

I didn't mean to post here. Sorry!

 

[zerksees]

Argh! You can see the Dromons on their way. That little stack is 25+ Dromons full of units to take the GL.

 

[tupaclives]

damn you were so close... keep going zerksees you can do it!

 

[zerksees]

Chapter 4 - A New Direction, Pillaging and Misdirection

1425 AD - Signed a deal with the Zulu - an alliance against Rome. I have been pillaging but do not have enough units to take a city. They have a lot of large stacks. Maybe some Zulu units will help deplete their forces. At least I can hope the Zulu will not attack me. With astronomy I can trade dyes to the Zulu and collect 9 gpt as part of the deal.

1430 AD - Land my stack on Roman territory for the second time (10 pikes and 30+ longbow). Bombed out all the roads except one I can't reach and land on a mountain top. Made sure only units from the one city could reach that turn. To my surprise no one attacks from the city just two tiles away. But too many units are around, and even fortified the regular pike only wins about 60% of the time, and considering about 60 longbows were in range for next turn, we all got back in our boats.

Back at home I am building caravels, upgrading to pikes and will have banking in 7-8 turns. I start some bank prebuilds.

1465AD - Finally hit pay dirt. In 1460 I had stripped all improvements away around Neapolis, landed all my units to the north of the city, and bombed all units in the city to 1 hit point (1 musket and 4 spears). To my surprise the musket left, and in 1465 I took the city. Rather than raze I kept it for a chance at two units they had nearby. Sold all the improvements except the barracks, which I will sell before abandon. I am trying to farm elites and leaders. I think I'll keep it one turn and see who shows up on my doorstep.

1485 - Zulus take a Roman city. Not sure how long it will last, but I think I am going to pull my units off soon so all Roman units go there.

1490 - Take Pisae, and as a bonus my elite longbow generates my second leader of the game. Create army in nearby Pisae and put two pikeman in it. Shortly thereafter I rzed the city.

I now plan to move my units off the continent to see if the Romans can knock the Zulu off the continent.

This plan failed. The Romans would not attack infantry in the cities. So whenever a cavalry landed and was exposed the whole group would gravitate towards it like urchins in the sea. This is obviously not going to help me win the game.

1515 AD - So I decided to build a city on the southern tip of Rome's landmass and let them come and get me. The strip is narrow so my 40+ Dromons can bombard them on the approach, and there is a Zulu city north of me that they will have to pass by. Sadly, the urchin effect keeps pulling them away.

The new plan is to take the next northern city from Rome and plant a settler on the incense nearby. I plan to build a road on one tile and put the army in the city. This will be my elite/leader farm for a while.

1550 AD - Took Rome's 3rd last city. Units all around - only five in the city. My pike army kept them from attacking. So I made peace collecting magnetism for 80 gpt. This game my reputation has been built on treachery, so no sense changing now! Do you really think I am going to pay that? Sorry Caesar the war is back on! Also have been seeing Zulu aircraft carriers and bombers. At least I have magnetism and my two luxuries are now being shared across most of my civilization.

Rome has taken a couple cities back from the Zulu - finally the Romans decided to attack them. They have so many units that even when they had only 3 cities, my military is weak compared to them. Did get another leader.

1595 AD - The futility of this game is starting to set in. Recently the Zulu signed a MA with the Mongols against Rome. About four turns later the Zulu declared war on the Mongols. I have been working to get a leader. From New Fort Rome, I have been bombarding the smaller stacks and taking them out, so far with very few losses. However it has not been providing me with the elites I need to generate more armies. The Zulu are way over half the power bar, and they no longer want to trade with us. Could be because I stiffed the Romans again - at least that is my hope. They have 50% of the land and almost 40% of the population. We are at 30/30. Furthermore, the Romans finally decided to attack New Fort Rome. I have a library there but no barracks or walls yet. I was lulled into safety as they have not been attacking. Ouch. Fortunately there first attack failed. Now there are two 30+ high stacks on the door. I am going to hit one with all my bombardment power and try to hold out against the other. Walls will be out next turn.

The anomalous attack ended with no further incidents. In fact the Romans took back a couple of their cities and for a short time put up another city. I tried my best to get leaders from knocking out their stacks, but so far have only 3 elites to show for it. Several 20+ high stacks have been knocked out. I guess RNG is catching up with me.

We started building some cities of our own - the first south of New Fort Rome and then another on top of incense not far from Rome.

Chapter 5 - Goodbye Caesar

1635 AD - We are still in second place. I grow weary of the Romans. Their units are now nowhere near my territory and are not helping me with leader farming. The close calls with their sizeable stacks of doom are no longer fun. I need their land so I can support more units. I plan to move more settlers over to the new world and take out Rome itself. It has the Great Lighthouse but I can't afford the culture flip so it has to go. If I get lucky and it is the last city I will keep it. Caesar still will not acknowledge my envoy. Not my fault he took that GPT deal. Anyway soon I will have the incense hooked up and happiness will increase in my fair land.

As far as end game:

It is clear the Zulu are way in the lead. They completed theory of evolution and I am sure they will have tanks soon. Bombers scare me more as they will be able to attack my navy with them. My plan now is to keep them busy attacking everyone else, and hope they do not have any uranium. If they do I am sure they will launch the spaceship, and I might try some ROP violation to take the capital after 9 pieces are complete.

1675 AD - Been working to eliminate the Romans, making very little headway. The good news is that I have a couple good opportunities to farm elites - no leaders still. They have too many units still, although less than before. The Zulu and Romans keep trading two cities. Both can take but neither can keep. I am sure the Romans are losing more units than they can produce. I now have a road to the edge of my territory and can land directly next to Rome. There is one road left going in and out of Rome and I need to pillage that - then I should be able to take it out, because Rome will not be able to resupply their defenses in one turn. There were at least 8 muskets in there last time I hit them with Dromons. I guess the elite farming will continue until the time is right.

Finally learned theory of gravity and got nationalism as our free tech. The same turn our saltpeter ran out.


1695 AD - Finally our military is average compared to Rome. For whatever reason the Romans approach us for peace. They will give a city but I refuse. Then the Zulu land tanks next to that city. In 1700 AD we collect a city for peace.

1715 AD - Our military now strong compared to Rome. Zulu has two stacks of units outside but there are 60+ units in Rome. Need to have them weed it down a bit. Made a trade with Rome - gave them nationalism for chivalry and military tradition. I seem to have caught up with the Mongols in tech - now working on communism at minimum research. All extra scientists to taxmen. Hope the Mongols are working on something else. They have steam power which I am guessing they will trade for communism when I get it. Zulu have been in fascism for a long time. I can hope this slows their culture a little bit.

1745 AD - Mongols extorted dyes from us. We gave it since I want to have peace with them and trade techs with them. It hurts a little but this is survival. Zulu just entered modern times so we are a full age behind. I also have noticed for a long time that they have gold, a little over 2000 at the moment, so quite apparently they are not bankrupting themselves with unit support costs. This is certainly not what I expected at the start of the game. At some point in the game they must reach a large enough size that they will not bankrupt themselves. Let this be a warning to all who assume the AI will drown under unit support.

1750 AD - We waited one turn too long and the Zulu took Rome.