Play With Me 2: Iroquois, Part 9. Something new in the east.
Last time, things weren't looking so good with me being at war with all of my neighbours, two of them the guys with the strongest armies of the planet. Read on to see if I can pull my neck out of the noose.
Turn 183/184
Nothing much is happening, really. The World War 1 association I had the last time was aptly chosen because nothing much is moving on any front. I'm not quite in trench warfare yet but neither side is making progress. Luckily Siam signs a white peace with us both threatening one of the other's cities. I probably won't resume hostilities before I have riflemen or artillery to deal with his elephants.
Economically, I'm letting a few cities grow slightly more now that all good accessible (i.e. not endangered by hostile AI units) settling spots are taken and the desert in the middle of my empire is still blocked by barbarians. This is the current state of my empire. Some more size 3 cities as you see.
To give me a better chance against Elephants, I will build some pikes to upgrade to Riflemen.
Turn 186
Alex conquers Edinburgh. There's nothing I can do at this point except to wait for him waste some units.
Turn 190
Well, I'm not posting much and this represents the news I can tell you. I created another deathzone near Rome, this time even worse because Greece has to attack over a river. At least I can play more fluently now without writing all the time.
New cities are still building Colosseums and libraries, I let them grow to size 3 now I have the FP. My primary cities (Vienna, Onondaga, Brantford and Salamanca) and puppets are allowed to grow as much as they like and I'm hoarding money for when I finish Big Ben. Here are some economy shots for you.
Turn 197
In perfect timing, I generate another Great Scientist the turn I research Rifling. I spend him and the one I still have around on Fertilizer and Dynamite.
Turn 199 - Mahal's tears
Woohoo, a golden age! At the end of turn I also get a Great General, whom I will use to lengthen it. Taj Mahal is possibly the best wonder in the game. A 15-turn golden age is quite awesome. Only rivaled by the Pyramids and, in ICS the Forbidden Palace, maybe.
Turn 203
Because he had an annoying settler who would have founded yet another city right next to Rome, I declar war on Siam again. I have a couple of pikemen who were promoted to Rifles so I shouldn't have any big troubles handling his elephants. Onondaga will finish Big Ben in 2 turns, then I'll buy some things like Artillery.
Turn 205
I capture and raze Vientiane. I have a settler ready to replace it with one of my own cities because I don't like such large cities in bad positions, as puppets, if I can help it. Definitely not in a 0-culture game.
Big Ben is finished. I buy windmills in Onondaga and Salamanca. Next turn, I'll start buying Artillery in Vienna when it finishes a Barracks. I define Lake Simcoe, Kanawale and Oneida Lake as additional primary cities and allow them to grow.
Turn 210
The rough times are a thing of the past now. I have a lot of happiness surplus that I can put into vertical growth now and I'm rolling in cash. My production is constantly rising and my army is now almost the largest in the world due to both buying new units and defeating hordes of enemies. The game is already pulling city names from other civs, too. I'm at 39 cities now.
Unfortunately I lose Gao this turn because Siam has juuuust enough experience for an instant heal of one of their overpowered elephants. This is precisely why I hate instant healing, it just makes taking cities way too easy. I don't care much. There's 30 more where that came from and I'll retake it in two turns or so anyways.
Turn 215 - We're the good guys
I liberated Edinburgh. I'm also eating into Siam quite quickly. If you're first to artillery (and I am by a long margin, even though I wasn't really playing too well as I have to shamefully admit), you stand a pretty good chance of dominating the political landscape for a while, which you should use.
Turn 217
Alexander offers a white peace. I want to cut him down to size before I sign one, though. Below some before and after screenshots of scientist reassignment.
Turn 219
I once again take Teotihuacan. This time, I highly doubt Alex will be able to retake it for long.
Turn 221
My golden age is over. I will rekindle it in a moment with another Great General but I wanted to take some un-boosted economy shots for your reference. Due to the razing bug I can't really end the game now to reload later but I'll take a break nevertheless.
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Sorry for all the economy shots but there simply wasn't much to talk about. This part of the game is just wrapping up and doing what you like with all your money and research. I really got my universities going too late due to the lack of a happiness golden age you usually get when you get Freedom and the Forbidden Palace some time later. Still, this session was significantly more fun to play because I finally saw some progress. I knew I was making progress before but it's not really fun progress, just plopping down cities. Seeing these cities grow now and building some wonders is a lot more fun. Nevertheless, I think this little experiment proves nicely that the power of ICS doesn't really depend on Social Policies. Alex was close to a run-away civ and I easily outteched and later also outgunned him. Read about how good the Iroquois ability is in the modern era in
Part 10