[BTS] Prepare to DIE! #2

[BornInCantaloup]

I really wanted to replay this as Prepare to Die and play a similar opening but I found myself lacking the Attack Courage to lose all my units at 10% odds again.
So I went for the less stressing approach. This is The Funk :
To T75 :

Spoiler :

I went Settler first. Tech path : Mysticism, Masonry, Bronze, Agriculture. Hamburg provided the first worker.
Now I have 2 settled priests already. The second one was a little lucky at 50% odds.
Wonder dates :

Spoiler :

I think this is acceptable. SH and TGW were very safe. Both were completed in Berlin at size 2 (no Agriculture).
Now, turn 75, I have revolted into Representation and have a nice cultural buffer to secure Western and southern cities.
I will be researching Archery, now, into Aesthetics. (Or I will simply replay the opener I want, settle on the marble and go Agriculture, Archery) :

Spoiler :

This is essentially OCC with more cities and a nasty neighbour.
TGW proved very useful to send the hordes of barbarians in the right direction and slow down Julius' expansion.

 

[BornInCantaloup]

This is Prepare to Die, second attempt.
I played a whole turnset yesterday, as far as 3040 BC, and then I had to stop to control the urge.
The time is now 2880 BC (turn 28). I believe this is the turn :

Spoiler :

The turn I DoW Rome.


My second Archer has just been done ; for some reason, it is also named Archer 1. I'm now starting on a third.
Rome has 2 workers but I cannot claim the other one.
I flipped 4 turns ago, because a settler+archer party appeared 1E of the rice, going for the hills 3-4 East of Antium. Could I declare and prevent the settling ? Erf... No way to steal a worker, then. Hence the pause.
Fortunately, I realized I could delay a little. The settler party went 1E again and 2 barb archers appeared from the South-East. So, now, Rome has a settler party somewhere in the fog in the floodplains area, harrassed by barb archers.
I'm still too weak and out of position. I think I have to make allies of the barbs to do Rome some damage. Preventing a city is a good start, now if they could injure some units for me to finish off, that would be great.
I'm starting with 3 archers, here, because, ideally, I can prevent Rome from ever settling their third city At least not hilltop - I want those hills for myself. There is distance and a lot of land to cover. This is not easy. Still, this is the plan.

Turn 35 : I believe this is working out (you better believe before it all slips out of control) :

Spoiler :

No further damage has been done but invisible damage :

Caesar's worker is way out of position, SE of the ivory. I hope he gets enslaved by Ice Archers. My warrior has kept harassing it, limiting the number of chops/roads it could complete.
Julius now has lots of Archers (almost 10) but he still hasn't used his settler.
My northern archer is heading for the gold tile. Most important tile to pillage.
The worker has been escorted back. I've revolted into Slavery and am 2 turns away from my settler. I want to claim the copper 1st ring. It is conveniently outside of Antium's 2nd ring culture. It will all get easier if I can get a couple of Woodsmen Axes.

Julius doesn't seem to have a lot of Attack Courage (I haven't checked the value). My warrior survived a turn by Rome with 5 archers in the city : he wasn't attacked.
This is both good and bad. The bad thing happens when he tries to overrun with huge numbers, rather than consistently crashing small numbers.
He has Sailing. I hope he builds more galleys, now

I'm starting to have ok map control with 2 forward archers. The 3rd stayed back for barbarian control.

With a little help from my friends (T25) :

Spoiler :

Go, my minions, go ! I have faith in you ! Release the kraken ! Lay waste to civilization ! All roads lead to Rome but none shall be paved ! Do my bidding and forbid the name of Ravenna from ever coming into existence !

^ This is the binding my time part I was referring to. My warrior danced on those hills for a turn. The two barbarian archers making their appearance is a blessing from pagan gods.

We can all see how difficult it would be to deny the 3rd city without their help and how crucial it has been to reaching my T35. You can also understand how awkward the situation was on T24.

This makes me realize I probably don't want to fogbust the northern floodplains at all, so more spawns of the nether powers shall appear. In fact, I want barbarian cities, now.

 

[Fish Man]

This is Prepare to Die, second attempt.
I played a whole turnset yesterday, as far as 3040 BC, and then I had to stop to control the urge.
The time is now 2880 BC (turn 28). I believe this is the turn :

Spoiler :

The turn I DoW Rome.


My second Archer has just been done ; for some reason, it is also named Archer 1. I'm now starting on a third.
Rome has 2 workers but I cannot claim the other one.
I flipped 4 turns ago, because a settler+archer party appeared 1E of the rice, going for the hills 3-4 East of Antium. Could I declare and prevent the settling ? Erf... No way to steal a worker, then. Hence the pause.
Fortunately, I realized I could delay a little. The settler party went 1E again and 2 barb archers appeared from the South-East. So, now, Rome has a settler party somewhere in the fog in the floodplains area, harrassed by barb archers.
I'm still too weak and out of position. I think I have to make allies of the barbs to do Rome some damage. Preventing a city is a good start, now if they could injure some units for me to finish off, that would be great.
I'm starting with 3 archers, here, because, ideally, I can prevent Rome from ever settling their third city At least not hilltop - I want those hills for myself. There is distance and a lot of land to cover. This is not easy. Still, this is the plan.

Turn 35 : I believe this is working out (you better believe before it all slips out of control) :

Spoiler :

No further damage has been done but invisible damage :

Caesar's worker is way out of position, SE of the ivory. I hope he gets enslaved by Ice Archers. My warrior has kept harassing it, limiting the number of chops/roads it could complete.
Julius now has lots of Archers (almost 10) but he still hasn't used his settler.
My northern archer is heading for the gold tile. Most important tile to pillage.
The worker has been escorted back. I've revolted into Slavery and am 2 turns away from my settler. I want to claim the copper 1st ring. It is conveniently outside of Antium's 2nd ring culture. It will all get easier if I can get a couple of Woodsmen Axes.

Julius doesn't seem to have a lot of Attack Courage (I haven't checked the value). My warrior survived a turn by Rome with 5 archers in the city : he wasn't attacked.
This is both good and bad. The bad thing happens when he tries to overrun with huge numbers, rather than consistently crashing small numbers.
He has Sailing. I hope he builds more galleys, now

I'm starting to have ok map control with 2 forward archers. The 3rd stayed back for barbarian control.

With a little help from my friends (T25) :

Spoiler :

Go, my minions, go ! I have faith in you ! Release the kraken ! Lay waste to civilization ! All roads lead to Rome but none shall be paved ! Do my bidding and forbid the name of Ravenna from ever coming into existence !

^ This is the binding my time part I was referring to. My warrior danced on those hills for a turn. The two barbarian archers making their appearance is a blessing from pagan gods.

We can all see how difficult it would be to deny the 3rd city without their help and how crucial it has been to reaching my T35. You can also understand how awkward the situation was on T24.

This makes me realize I probably don't want to fogbust the northern floodplains at all, so more spawns of the nether powers shall appear. In fact, I want barbarian cities, now.

I finished my game - may talk about it later today.

In the meantime, holy crap, this is brilliant.

Spoiler :

 

[BornInCantaloup]

The trouble starts like T37. I can't seem to play more than 5 turns straight on this map without losing my grip.
It's always like that, you know ? You choose a nice saving point and two turns later Genghis DoWs you or some other terrible thing happens ^^

 

[Fish Man]

The trouble starts like T37. I can't seem to play more than 5 turns straight on this map without losing my grip.
It's always like that, you know ? You choose a nice saving point and two turns later Genghis DoWs you or some other terrible thing happens ^^

Can't get DOW'd if you DOW the other person on the continent yourself

Spoiler :

 

[Gwaja]

Spoiler :

The first hurdle has to be getting JC out of the way. If seeking a peaceful way to coexist with him, we'd better get him to at least "Pleased" as a "Cautious" JC 100% guarantees his DoW on us if we don't do that to him first. Even though getting him to "Pleased' and attempting to somehow peacefully coexist with this dude may be possible, this surely could result in creating a very big JC, sometimes even with a vassal of his own creation. @soundjata's game looks scary with 16-city JC. For peaceful approach, gifting him a city is, without a doubt, an absolute necessity. The OCC approach is interesting and fun, but then, it may come at the expense of necessary expansion. The Great Wall is probably the most important wonder, as pointed out earlier, that the Great Spy can kickstart a spy economy that can sort of replace a tech trade issue of semi isolation, as well as the elimination of barbarian headaches that can go out of control. It is my belief that if the tiles near the capital weren't so badly filled with desert, I am sure JC would have had no trouble boxing us in completely in that corner of the continent. Even then, just the simple fact that we are the only civ that this crazy maniac can pick on... still leaves good probability of being DoWed, even at "Pleased" with very little time for us to prepare, such as "1-turn red fist before DoW" nonsense. Getting him to "Friendly" takes too much time and too much effort to put into just one AI opponent without even knowing the others.

This leaves the aggressive approach, but there is also another problem in that, the only reliably close strategic resource is the horse. we could try building a settler immediately upon settling the capital, and then settling on the river hill site next to the other horse, which blocks JC's expansion east and forces him to settle his 3rd city northward instead of eastward. This almost always leads to JC DoW at some point, but it also means getting close to the copper. Still, hooking all that up and creating an army takes time, and by then, JC is already running around with praetorians with multiple number of cities.

@Fish Man's capture of Rome with just warriors was brilliant; I am not sure I could replicate that myself. Choking JC out of his metal and horse with warriors early, in combination with worker steal may be the best option, though barbarian problem sometimes goes out of control and that can be a hindrance. Hence, earlier JC is out of the way, the better and easier this game gets, and we can play out the game until Optics like a peaceful isolation game at least, without an aggressive and large neighbor right on out doorstep and not even being in control of our own continent.

@BornInCantaloup: On your OCC approach, aka "The Funk": did JC end up DoWing you and if so, when?

 

[BornInCantaloup]

@BornInCantaloup: On your OCC approach, aka "The Funk": did JC end up DoWing you and if so, when?

I allowed him to dagger me (nice way to put it ) once I had 2 defenceless bordering cities and border tensions. Kinda my bad, although he also had Praetorians, War Elephants and Longbowmen, by that time.
Somewhere aroung T80. It could have been any turn later and I'd have been toast just the same.


I have more hopes in my Always War approach than I have in The Funk.
I'll give you my T37 or T38 tomorrow, you'll understand my pain

 

[Gwaja]

@BornInCantaloup

Spoiler :

Whether it is a bug or not, Turn 75 screenshot shows no red fist, which means 5 turns was all it took for JC to DoW. Granted, he was only at "Cautious" but... you would have to surely gift him a city in order to make him "Pleased" which also means you probably may have lost out on a wonder for sure. I am sure you had no metal and no horse, so only archers. That sure sounds like pain indeed.

I am more interested in the peaceful approach and how one could go about it RELIABLY without any luck factor, but I am not sure it is even possible. Taking JC out as early as possible may be the only way to go forward.

 

[konata_LS]

Very interesting gameplay and attempts by several top players The discussion in this thread is also inspiring for lurkers at lower levels

Spoiler :

But, if we don't have map knowledge, how should we handle semi-isolation with warmonger?

For example, the player sits in front of the computer, thinking "let's have fun with BTS today", and starts a new game in a Fractal map, after some turns finds out it's semi-isolated with Shaka or Genghis.

In this case, we don't know we're semi-isolated on T0. It takes some turns to "realize" the semi-isolation. Assuming it's Deity level. Usually how many turns is it required to draw a conclusion? Around 20 turns? 30 turns? or 15 turns?
I assume it's Deity, because it's quicker to make such a decision when Deity AIs start with free scouts. On lower levels it might be tricky. In an off-line Monarch game I thought I was semi-isolated with AI Pericles, but around 500BC suddenly Giglamesh showed up in the northern jungle - it was not semi-isolation.

After confirming the semi-isolation, if we keep playing the game and don't reload from 4000BC auto save,
how quickly should we react to the semi-isolation?
how should we plan the attack? Elepults, HA rush, or warriors/archers choking?
if the attack (example: we have to tech HBR and construction for Elepults) need some time to prepare, should we gift a city to the warmonger so that we don't get attacked before we're ready?

 

[BornInCantaloup]

T37 Run away ! Run away !

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Now I have to retreat. It's possible I lose the warrior, no big deal.
Both my archers are now Combat 1 and wounded.
Julius' settler is 1N of Antium. It's possible I can prevent the settling again.
My Northern archer was my 1st. I went Agri -> Archery and Worker -> Archer for my build order. The unit went 1 tile West each turn since it has been produced. It has not yet reached the gold tile Rome has BFC iron, which mean they insta-connect when they reach Iron Working I have tested Archer defence against AGG swords, recently, and the swords have positive odds. Now, those are Praetorians incoming and there's nothing I can do about it

I can still hope to settle the copper, connect it and have Axemen for defense. I know Julius will threaten that tile, I just know it. So it all needs to happen very fast.
However, my worker steal has not helped my, yet, in that endeavour. I couldn't start roading, as i've just researched The Wheel. The worker is thus just now completing its first chop.



^ This is very awkward. Many worker turns have/will be lost. I'm probably building a worker in Berlin, now. Settler is a place-holder.

should we gift a city to the warmonger so that we don't get attacked before we're ready?

Spoiler :

Possibly, yes, but this will never be a 100% guarantee. It is also a setback towards your own development. Julius has it all, here. He's pretty much guaranteed to have a long-lasting tech lead, which makes it very difficult to plan an invasion.
It's possible that peaceful play is the way to go and the most secure but I feel it just leaves you at his mercy.

On your other question, I think somewhere about T20 it becomes clear we are stuck with him. Possibly a little earlier, even.

 

[CarpoolKaraoke]

Spoiler T141 Struggle Bus/ Spoilers: Foreign Contact :

Full disclosure, I played this map with full knowledge of the map, and tried so many stupid strategies.


Start: settle on stone, worker --> warrior --> size 2 Settler. Tech: Agriculture, Bronze Working, Archery, Masonry.

T24:

I set out with the goal to steal a worker and destroy the gold mine --> looking to delay Caesar's path to Praetorians as much as possible.

Some AI code rules:
1. on turn of war declaration, AI moves are already set. It's possible this is true aside from an attack courage override criterion.
2. If there is 1(+) archer in the city, they will not risk hitting your warrior.

Using these two rules, I capture two workers, amble over the gold mine, and suicide the warrior to pillage the gold mine.

T44:

I chop 3! archers - 1 to block Roman settle (AI rule -- will auto-path unit to anticipated settle spot), 1 to pillage Iron that Julius has not discovered yet, and 1 to choke Antium. It's really too bad Antium is the founding site for Hinduism.

I also pre-chop the Great Wall, and finish it just as barbarians come knocking. Now it's "2" vs 1.

T51: Mission destroy Iron mine complete, assisted by a helpful barbarian archer.

T70: I settle aggressively forward, relying on double hill archers to grab river floods. Hamburg is working on the Pyramids in the back, assisted by chops. I step forward on the forest hill whenever Julius tries for the copper, but I have to alternate with barbarians so they don't accidentally hit me instead.

A great spy is born - looks like it's time to use some spies.

T105-T118: Turning point

Figuring out tech was fairly straightforward, Alphabet needed for stealing Iron Working/Mathematics/etc. With Optics in mind, I decide to tech Aesthetics since skipping Fishing allows a Machinery bulb with a scientist. If a second great spy appears, I'll just steal more tech.

What was incredibly annoying was Caesar's Iron/Ivory cap. Despite blocking Iron, once he finished Construction, Horseback Riding soon followed. Consequently, my solution to stopping both was to stream in double hill archers from the hill range above Antium to loop around Rome and stop workers from working either tile. This took me 3 tries to figure out. On top of that, my Iron was in the middle of nowhere, but by 400 BC, I finally manage to steal Iron Working and start streaming in Swordsmen to permanently disable both resources.

With spy missions, cities begin to fall.

However, I could not steal much as the second great person was a scientist. As a result, I take a massive peace deal to acquire tech: (Math/Currency/HBR/Polytheism +3 turns of MC). I bulb Machinery.
).

T132: Someone mad lad discovers Liberalism in 400 AD. At least my Caravels are out. I declare a second war on Caesar as I realize I messed up and need the ivory/silver resources. This timing is decent, as it allows Caesar to settle a tundra city for future tech stealing. However, I take a golden age with the 2nd Great Spy instead of building Scotland Yard as it's more pressing to obtain a Scientist to bulb into Astronomy.

T141: I Discover Astronomy in 600 AD, which I thought was pretty decent all things considered. Unfortunately, despite a marathon campaign, almost 4 people already have Astronomy, making trades limited. I really wish Hinduism had been founded on another continent so they could've had some holy wars, and Antium wouldn't have been a pain to take.

 

[BornInCantaloup]

I think this is very well played, CarpoolKaraoke, and it keeps a sense of possibility.
Some moves are unnatural but, really, this is on the map. It's like a 13/10 as far as difficulty is concerned.

I agree this is the right game plan (as opposed to gifting cities). I just think it's a pity we have to game it so much to make it work.
I'll take a loss with the right game plan any day.
(You gotta try it to make it work, if you don't, then it won't.)



I'll be interested to see a peaceful approach succeed.

 

[CarpoolKaraoke]

I think this is very well played, CarpoolKaraoke, and it keeps a sense of possibility.
Some moves are unnatural but, really, this is on the map. It's like a 13/10 as far as difficulty is concerned.

I agree this is the right game plan (as opposed to gifting cities). I just think it's a pity we have to game it so much to make it work.
I'll take a loss with the right game plan any day.
(You gotta try it to make it work, if you don't, then it won't.)



I'll be interested to see a peaceful approach succeed.

I mean, how natural do you think the following play is?

Spoiler T79 Peaceful, Quick Proof of Concept :

Size 1 Worker --> Settler, Pyramids/Copper faceplant. Tundra city gift.

T27 --> 2 turns ahead of Julius.

T79 - Gifted a city around T70. Do you think he'll attack? Not sure how to tell without neighbors.

T79: Build

If Caesar doesn't declare......then it's a free build

 

[Gwaja]

@konata_LS

Spoiler :

In my humble view, 15-20 turns is probably good enough, unless the map is funky like having a giant swath of desert or jungle in between, or a 1-tile narrow strip of land connecting two large landmass like how Panama is. Also, the espionage information is a good indicator when we see how many EPs our one and only known AI opponent is putting on us.

Presence and location of strategic resources, as well as the distance between us and our neighbor are probably the most obvious factor when considering offensive war. Choking the opponent by not allowing that AI to utilize their workers, as well as depriving them of strategic resources could help, but we'd better back it up with shinier weapons than simply warriors or archers, as soon as possible. Realistically on Deity, I'd say Horse Archers are probably the earliest form of reliable weaponry in rushing. I am not fond of Axes and Swords to be honest. Otherwise, it would have to wait until Construction to use at least Catapults, and if there are ivory available, then Elephants are overpowered and very reliable.

It'd be preferred not to be DoWed, but sometimes we may prefer to be DoWed on purpose, if we are capable of defending. AI are capable of making some dumb mistakes in warfare, and we can exploit that to full advantage also. If horses are nearby, I'd look to rush to Horseback Riding ASAP. Thankfully on this map, horses are the only thing that is realistically easy to obtain than other resources. ^_^

 

[Gwaja]

@CarpoolKaraoke

Spoiler :

Some really excellent play on your 1st posting there. The AI from the other continents look scary and it seems as though they have been teching and trading peacefully I assume? Bad news for us if so.

On your 2nd posting... I wouldn't feel safe just yet. It is rather a "weak" "Pleased" and with more border tension caused by culture, that could quickly earn more demerits. Once he is out of places to expand, he most likely will point his shiny weapons at us. I may consider getting archery and at least consider putting up walls in the 3 border cities. Since you haven't choked him out of any resources, he's got full access to metal, ivory, and horses. Without Alpha on both sides, it is not exactly clear if he has Horseback Riding, but if so.... ouchy!

 

[BornInCantaloup]

I mean, how natural do you think the following play is?

Settler at size 1 claims copper before Bronze Working is researched ? You tell me.
Once we're past that, you make a good claim for your case.

I probably underestimated the gift city and how "much safer" it would make the peaceful approach. But this is more a general consideration than one specific to this (very difficult) map.

 

[CarpoolKaraoke]

@CarpoolKaraoke

Spoiler :

Some really excellent play on your 1st posting there. The AI from the other continents look scary and it seems as though they have been teching and trading peacefully I assume? Bad news for us if so.

On your 2nd posting... I wouldn't feel safe just yet. It is rather a "weak" "Pleased" and with more border tension caused by culture, that could quickly earn more demerits. Once he is out of places to expand, he most likely will point his shiny weapons at us. I may consider getting archery and at least consider putting up walls in the 3 border cities. Since you haven't choked him out of any resources, he's got full access to metal, ivory, and horses. Without Alpha on both sides, it is not exactly clear if he has Horseback Riding, but if so.... ouchy!

Spoiler :

Yep, 400 AD Liberalism.

He does have HBR --> there's a war elephant in that stack

 

[Gwaja]

@CarpoolKaraoke

Spoiler :

On your 2nd attempt... your city placements are EXACTLY how I would have placed them. Hamburg that claims both copper and horse is probably the most vital one, as settling there first ensures that JC settles north instead of towards us and it, along with Cologne, can work as blocking cities. I would even consider making Cologne a future capital, seeing as how the shared cottages on floodplains make for one killer cottage capital. Hammers aren't so bad either there.

As a matter of fact, before checking out your save, I was trying this very same settling act, resulting in exactly the same city positions, albeit with one less city.

This approach surely requires the foreknowledge of the map, knowing exactly where the copper and the horse are located. On a blind first attempt, this probably wouldn't be possible. But I personally don't care for that, as I believe that Civ 4 is a game meant to be replayed and dissected for player improvement and continued enjoyment.

And yeah... I see that one Elephant in his city stack with Praetorians and Catapults. Looks a lot like a future invasion stack to me.

 

[Fish Man]

Finally, the long-awaited conclusion to our Fallout, err I mean, Civ game! A t239, or 1645AD conquest victory!

Spoiler :

First of all, as an aside, I noticed in my final sessions that I killed more barb units than Gandhi's units. Even some random savages in loincloths, it turns out, put up a better fight than the supposed strongest runaway AI in this game...from a certain point of view.

That being said, we were considering going nukes but what really sealed the deal was Mansa having already gone fission.

Spoiler :

He was teching like a champ with just a few crappy cities, but without enough production to make much military, all good things must come to an end...

Spoiler :

Despite having bribed Hatty on me, Mansa caps after one turn of war and me taking Timbuktu (+1 other city that was being annoying culturally)! Truly the biggest wuss I've ever seen, though with less than 12 land tiles on the mainland and a few crappy island cities, it's not like he could've fought back more. His navy was also conveniently blasted when I bribed him on Gandhi and Gandhi subsequently destroyed his frigates with destroyers. Then 2 turns later Hatty uses AP to make peace with everyone...she wouldn't have been a threat anyways, as I was 80% her power at this point with only relatively few arties + cavs + rifles running around, and Gandhi with his shiny tanks was a sufficient meatshield.

Afterwards I traded smartly to quickly catch up. I used my strategy of ping-ponging between the two vassals at this point. I gave artillery to Gandhi for part of AL, rocketry to Gandhi for a part of electricity (IIRC), rocketry to Mansa for part of fission, fission to Gandhi for part of industrialism, and then industrialism back to Mansa for railroad! But even on our way to nukes and not having reached them, though, the fun didn't end there. Lincoln for some reason went medicine and radio before rifling and assembly line (or even steam power...sure...). He got rifles and then infantry in a trade when I landed my now respectable stack, but it was too late, so all I had to do to cap him was kill pretty much 3 infantry and a bunch of medieval crap. It didn't help that Lizzy declared on Pacal a few turns prior and bribed him in, so his entire army (probably 10 cuirassiers or something dumb) was roaming Pacal's lands. After I capped him I got a pretty sick trade...almost was tempted to go space at this point, as you all know is my nature .

Spoiler :

Speaking of Pacal...poor bastard was 2 eras behind. Despite having a gold and corn start, which I think @Gwaja may have edited or hand-picked to make him OP...his extremely low comparative peaceweight and isolated religion made him a pariah. Being the worst enemy of 3 people (later 4, as Hatty was bribed in into the war) doesn't do good things for your tech pace...regardless of how financial you are. He also decided to go culture before rifling...probably because he realized he had no chance in **** of winning space? Somewhat smart, except that meant I could also murder his medieval crap with impunity. When you made this map, I don't think you expected me to use arties + infantry vs longbows and cuirassiers against multiple AIs .

Spoiler :

Finally it was time to move to the big boys (or, well, girls). Around this time I traded fission and completed Manhattan projected, and queued ICBMs/tactical nukes in every city. I got flight and industrialism to mass-airlift Panzers which really sealed everyone's fate, but...at this point, that was more of a formality. After nuking every single city and stack 2-3 times, there was no resistance against even my unupgraded rifles, much less my now-veteran core army of arties and battle-hardened infantry. My woodsman-medic had now became an ubermedic with the full +40% healing/turn promos, while I also think I got a CRIII axe from all the way against JC to become a nutcracker infantry for the paltry resistance in the irradiated wastelands I had left behind (my great general units were named General Iroh, Medic TF2, and Raiden...I think fitting for 2 healers and a dude who started out as someone who chopped people into pieces with a large and sharp implement, if you get the references). I used ships to nuke and capture London and 1 other city in the first turn of the war against Lizzy; she gave in after 2 more rounds of nukings + captures. I used similar naval tactics to strike against Hatty, and she too gave in after 4 cities were taken. I even got some mobile artillery at the end, purely for style points because it really wasn't even necessary. At the last turn, Hatty finally amassed some tactical nukes...so I nuked her nukes and took the cities that contained them, crushing the last resistance to my reign of terror . And thus, on t239, 1645AD, a mere 40 turns after I had just capped my first AI, I won conquest - and world peace was achieved with a worldwide nuclear cleansing .

(Pictures continued in next post because of attachment limit).

Spoiler :

 

[Fish Man]

Some additional pictures of the nuclear wars.

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

On the bottom of the next screenshot, you can see her entire army/siege stack is marching in single-file formation, conveniently outside her bomb-sheltered cities and therefore easily destroyable with just 2 convenient ICBMs! Not that a few extra regular artillery would have mattered against a mobile artillery enjoyer such as myself...

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

And that's a game!

Spoiler :