Randomly Conquering Monarch 6CC

[Nad]

Once again, my weekend has proved to be far crazier than I'd anticipated. Don't know what it is at the moment, I have loads of spare time during the week but come Friday/Saturday/Sunday I have so much stuff to deal with. Anyway, will be playing soon and report should be up in a few hours, thanks for your patience

 

[Nad]

ok scratch that, don't have time tonight, tomorrow morning is the plan now. Thanks again for your patience!

 

[Nad]

ok, I now finally have a chance to play! Sorry for the delay

 

[Nad]

First off, I played 15 turns. This was partly because I was enjoying myself so much that I got the one more turn syndrome, but also the turns don't seem to take very long now that so much of the Civ 3 micromanagement tedium has been removed. Therefore, as host of this SG, I'm inviting all players in this game to take up to 15 turns for their round. You can still play 10 if you want to, but I think 15 is now acceptable if you want to make more of a contribution in each turnset.

Inherited turn, 680AD

Regarding the decision to capture New York, which the team had been discussing: I think it was a mistake to capture it rather than raze, I'd have looked for a better spot for our 6th city. However, since we now have the city, I don't think we should try to metagame around the mechanics. The decision to capture was made by a member of the team, and I think we should carry on with the situation as it is. It's not a terrible spot, it has access to resources and it is coastal, and who knows what future resources might turn up. So I'm going to keep it rather than try to starve it and gift it away.

I decide to promote/heal the unmoved troops before pressing our assault against America.

My aims in these turns will be to improve our economy and logistics somewhat while carrying on with the attack against our rivals. This will probably involve some pillaging and opportunistic attacking. I think we should try to eliminate America and Inca while they're on the back foot and we have military dominance. Then we can move on to Persia...

Turn 1, 700AD: Orleans completes war elephant, starts Heroic Epic. Lyon completes catapult and starts aqueduct (it's already unhealthy).

War elephant (94.9%) kills Scythian archer (the figure in brackets here and henceforth is the success chance).

War elephant (86.5%) kills Incan longbow and captures settler.

Turn 2, 720AD: Tours whips library.

War elephant (94.9%) kills Scythian archer.

War elephant (98.2%) kills Scythian archer and razes Scythia.

IT: American catapult attacks our task force and collaterally damages 6 units before withdrawing...biatch.

Turn 3, 740AD: Rheims completes catapult, starts lighthouse. Tours completes library, starts granary. New York completes barracks, starts library.

Axe (99.0%) destroys the offending catapult. Boston could be a nasty obstacle.

Turn 4, 760AD: heal the damaged units and begin bombing the defences of Boston.

Cyrus knows literature so decide to trade it to Peter, pick up monotheism + 20g, Peter is pleased now.

Trade spices to Peter for corn.

I now notice that Paris is showing the Buddhism symbol. Not sure when this happened (I certainly haven't seen a pop-up) but we now have the option to convert to it. Since Peter and Cyrus are Buddhist, this could be a useful tool if we need to improve relations for any reason.

IT: war elephant succesfully defends against a barbarian sword.

Turn 5, 780AD: still bombing Boston.

Turn 6, 800AD: monarchy learned, start currency.

Boston now has another longbow unit defending it. That's unfortunate but I'm in no particular rush. Carry on bombing.

IT: an American longbow leaves Boston?! And we're the most backward nation in the world

Turn 7, 820AD: the American longbow that moved out of Boston also took the axe and settler with it! The Americans are looking to expand while they have an army outside their capital!

This is absolutely idiotic. I've been reading other SGs and RB Epic reports and many people have been praising the AI improvements in Civ 4. I agree that there have been notable AI improvements and have seen some in solo games, especially in naval landings. But this is totally crazy and an example of Civ 3 AI idiocy... sending out a settler trio when there's an army on the doorstep . With 3 longbows and an axe to overcome, there was no way I was attacking Boston, the odds were stacked well against us. But now with just 2 longbows, we have a great chance to take the city. Something similar happened in my last round with the Inca too. I'm not going to look gift horses in the mouth, but if any of the Civ 4 programmers are reading, check this one out, will you .

Catapult (0.0%) suicides against longbow, collaterally damaging 1 unit.

Axe (17.1%) loses to longbow but damages it badly, down to 0.9 health.

Axe (16.6%) loses to other longbow, but takes it down to 2.5 health.

Axe (90.0%) loses to longbow

Axe (98.7%) kills longbow.

Axe (99.6%) kills longbow, captures 2 workers and razes Boston.

 

[Nad]

IT: the threesome of stupidity found another American city on previous city ruins.

Turn 8, 840AD: Lyon completes aqueduct, starts lighthouse. Rheims completes lighthouse, starts axe. Tours completes granary, starts axe.

The new American city is Chicago, and troops are on the way . Our Incan taskforce is now outside Tiwanaku (defended by 2 longbows and an axe).

Turn 9, 860AD: Orleans completes Heroic Epic, starts war elephant.

Move units around.

IT: American longbows kill one of our axe/spear pillaging parties.

Turn 10, 880AD: Paris completes the Great Library, starts National Epic (Pyramids + Great Library should give us a few engineers and scientists, so might as well get the Epic complete to speed them up). Orleans completes war elephant, starts sword.

Begin bombing Tiwanaku.

Turn 11, 900AD: Orleans completes sword, starts axe. Rheims completes axe, starts war elephant.

Troops move into place outside Tiwanaku, continue bombing.

Turn 12, 920AD: Orleans completes axe, starts war elephant. Lyons completes lighthouse, starts axe.

Tiwanaku now has a catapult too. I don't want that injuring our stack so I press with the attack one turn sooner than I wanted to.

Catapult (0.4%) suicides against longbow, collaterally damaging 3 units.

Catapult (2.4%) suicides against longbow, collaterally damaging 3 units.

Catapult (2.4%) suicides against longbow, collaterally damaging 3 units.

War elephant (93.0%) kills axe.

Axe (74.7%) loses against axe...bummer!

Axe (86.1%) kills longbow.

Spear (79.0%) destroys catapult.

Tiwanaku survives by the skin of it's 0.8 health axeman, a battle we had about 75% chance of winning . In hindsight maybe I should have waited, but not sure I could have played the odds much better.

IT: an Incan spear (which was defending Tiwanaku's stone quarry) moves instead to defend the city...some smart AI after all. A barb archer is near Chicago.

Turn 13, 940AD: currency is researched, start code of laws.

Hanging Gardens BIDAL.

The reinforcement of Tiwanaku means our injured troops have little chance of taking it now. Going to have to heal and wait for reinforcements of our own.

Catapult (0.5%) attacks Chicago's longbow in a suicide attack, collaterally damages 1 unit and retreats.

War elephant (73.1%) kills longbow.

War elephant (97.4%) kills axe and razes Chicago.

War elephant (99.8%) kills barb archer.

IT: war elephant succesfully defends against American spear.

Incans beg for peace, offering code of laws + 130g .

Turn 14, 960AD: Orleans completes war elephant, starts market. New York completes library, starts forge.

Tiwanaku now has a catapult too. We might have to heal a bit longer if it attacks our stack.

Philadelphia, America's final city, is defended by 2 longbows and an axe, the AI's preferred defence group, it seems.

IT: war elephant succesfully defends against American longbow but succumbs to a 2nd.

Incredibly, the Incan axeman in Tiwanaku attacks our stack (headed by a Combat 2 axe in a forest!!!). We win easily. More AI stupidity.

Turn 15, 980AD: Lyon completes axe, starts market. Rheims completes war elephant, starts market. Tours completes catapult, starts market.

For the second time this round, the AI has doomed itself. I did not dare attack Tiwanaku's combat 2 axe while it was fortified with our only healthy axe in the area (we had less than 40% odds), so what possessed it to attack our axe IN A FOREST?! With just a spear and a catapult left now in Tiwanaku, the city is doomed. This AI behaviour must be rectified.

Axe (99.0%) defeats Incan spear.

War elephant (83.7%) defeats Incan catapult and Tiwanaku is razed, collecting 168g (screenshot did not register).

America and Inca are playing OCC

 

[Nad]

So now we have to decide, do we finish off these wretched AIs or do we extort techs for peace? I would say we finish them off, get some infra done while we heal and regroup our troops, start building galleys and fresh troops, and take it to Persia in approx 20-30 turns. What do others think?

Code of Laws completes in 2 turns, we need a round of courthouses once the markets are done. After that, I reckon we need engineering, machinery, feudalism and civil service soonish so we can upgrade our military machine.

I spent approximately half my turns getting some infra done but also built some military. We have a steady trickle of troops making its way to the front to bolster our forces (which are a little thin now). These reinforcements should be enough to finish off America and Inca. After that we need to think about posting more troops on barb-watch as well as reinforcing our cities (cutouts at the moment, bit risky) and organizing potential invasion forces.

A quick note to succeeding players: don't trade our ivory! I know we have 5 sources and Cyrus and Peter will constantly offer their luxuries for it, but we could be fighting them soon and we don't really want them to have jumbos, do we?

Finally, some demographics:

Our 6CC Empire is somehow 2nd in land area Our production and military is also good. We have naturally leaped ahead of America and Inca in GNP but that is still the area we have to try to improve the most. Cottages, pillaging, city razes, markets, banks, whatever, we need the money!

We've killed plenty of stuff too:

The Saved Game: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads11/RCM6CC_AD-0980Nad.Civ4SavedGame

Nad...just played
grs...UP NOW
Greebley...ON DECK
goraemon
knupp715

Remember, it's 10-15 turns, your choice.

EDIT: just noticed that grs has posted that he is away until 25/01 in the out of pocket thread. Greebley, can you swap this round and take it before grs?

 

[ThERat]

some comments as a lurker (hope you don't mind).

Keep in mind that pillaging even in neutral territory will give you money. Since you play 6CC this might be a great way to gain more income.

 

[Greebley]

I am in feast mode. I think I will wait for Grs to play first.

 

[grs]

@Greebley: I will probably not be able to play before Friday evening. If that is not ok, please swap with me.

 

[Nad]

grs, you said Friday evening. Can you play this round or do you want a skip?

 

[Nad]

we'd better skip grs, this game needs to get moving again.

Nad...played
grs...skipped
Greebley...UP NOW
goraemon...ON DECK
knupp715

Remember, play 10-15 turns as you desire.

 

[grs]

Got it.

I was away longer than I anticipated. Since I do not see a got it, I will pick it up now and play tomorrow.

 

[Nad]

ok grs, welcome back

Nad...played
grs...GOT IT
Greebley...ON DECK
goraemon
knupp715

 

[grs]

Not much really.

1010AD Code of laws - civil service. Start to pillage on the way to the last American and Incan towns.

1060AD Johannes Keppler is born - academy.

1080AD Civil service - ... I make a really big mistake here: I set research on feudalism as a dummy, because I want to look around for trades first. Sadly I forgot to switch back and wasted 2 turns of research. Please pick a better tech before pressing enter! Well, I trade civil service to Cyrrus and get machinery and 50gold. I trade spices for sheep with him too.

1100AD We become a bureaucracy and raze a barb town.

We can attack and raze the last american town soon, it will be bombarded down to zero in one or two turns. Killing the Incas will be no fun at all, since they are heavily defendend. We could still extort for peace.

 

[knupp715]

Looks like we will be able to take out America in a turn or two and the Incas in a few turns. Their defenses will need to be lowered more. The Incas only have 3 defenders so taking them out shouldnt be too hard.



America only has 2 defenders. Should be able to destroy them next turn.


Who's up?

 

[Greebley]

I got it.

 

[Greebley]

Turn 170 (1100 AD)
Research begun: Paper

I chose paper because noone has it and it is up the tree a bit. I considered music, but figured we wouldn't be first (we don't even know where most civs are).

Turn 171 (1110 AD)
War Elephant defeats (3.20/8): American Longbowman
War Elephant loses to: American Axeman (2.50/5)
War Elephant defeats (8.00/8): American Axeman
Captured Philadelphia (Washington)
Razed Philadelphia
Philadelphia lost

We won the battle with poor odds (1st) and lost the battle with good odds (2nd).

The Americans have been destroyed. We have a lot of units near the incans but only 1 Cat so it will be a bit of time to kill them. I think we need more Cats. We only have 2. The rest were probably killed in the wars.

Our second Cat finds a barb city.

Turn 172 (1120 AD)
Catapult defeats (4.40/5): Barbarian Archer
Catapult defeats (2.90/5): Barbarian Archer

Survived attack by 2 archers.

Turn 173 (1130 AD)

Turn 174 (1140 AD)
Tech learned: Paper

Turn 175 (1150 AD)
Research begun: Education
War Elephant defeats (3.52/8): Barbarian Archer
Razed Apache
Tech learned: Feudalism
Tech learned: Compass
Catapult defeats (0.65/5): Barbarian Archer

Destroyed the barbarian city mentioned above.

Traded Paper for feudalism and compass. For Persia we could only get compass, and for Peter it was Feudalism or Drama. I did consider drama as culture would be nice to expand borders.

Turn 176 (1160 AD)
Contact made: Indian Empire
I give away HBR to improve relations. They already have a -4 because we traded with Peter. That seems silly to me. They instantly know all our past dealings with Peter? How?

Turn 177 (1170 AD)
Catapult defeats (0.80/5): Barbarian Swordsman

Turn 178 (1180 AD)
Swordsman loses to: Incan Longbowman (3.96/6)
Axeman loses to: Incan Longbowman (4.20/6)
War Elephant defeats (4.64/8): Incan Longbowman
War Elephant defeats (6.16/8): Incan Longbowman
Axeman loses to: Incan Axeman (3.10/5)
War Elephant defeats (6.48/8): Incan Axeman
Axeman defeats (0.80/5): Incan Catapult
Axeman defeats (1.60/5): Incan Catapult
Taoism has spread: Cuzco
Captured Cuzco (Huayna Capac)
Razed Cuzco
Taoism has spread: Cuzco
Cuzco lost

I finally got the city to 0 defense. It was still a tough fight.

User comment: Inca are now destroyed.

Turn 179 (1190 AD)
War Elephant defeats (6.80/8): Barbarian Swordsman

Turn 180 (1200 AD)
War Elephant defeats (6.80/8): Barbarian Archer

Notes:
I feel we should go for a war with Persia as soon as we have the troops to kick him off our island, and then we should invade. The real problem will be keeping our island and their island (assuming we win) clear, but I think we do want to start working on it when we can.

New York needs irrigation. I set things up so that we can get them irrigation as soon as the borders connect. Getting more culture in New York would be a good thing if we can to get the expansion sooner. We need Drama for that though.

 

[Nad]

Nice going grs and Greebley. 2 foes destroyed, and we can now see where the other 4 civs are. We're looking in good shape for where we are in the game, the real danger will be if we fall too far behind in the tech race. I think we need to try to keep our research high as long as we can...we're not going to bleed any more cash in maintenance costs, so that's great, but we do need to keep building the multiplier buildings (uni's, Oxford). And we should be looking to war as much as possible if only to grab gold through pillaging and razing.

Persia next! Let's regroup (though keep some obsolete troops out on barb watch), rebuild some siege weapons (this game is beginning to help me appreciate the power of cats, the splash damage is amazing in helping improve the odds for other units), and give Cyrus the kick in the goolies he needs.

Nad
grs
Greebley...just played
goraemon...UP NOW
knupp715...ON DECK

You can play 10-15 turns as you desire.

 

[Greebley]

I did build some cats - we may have 5 now. That is probably enough for the city on our island, but we will need more so we can also invade their lands.

 

[goraemon]

OK, I see it. I'll try and play sometime tomorrow.