RB1 - Cuban Isolationists

[Sullla]

On the Greek front, Alex seems to be making his last major stand at Gepid:

His other cities only have a handful of defenders, but wow is that one packed. I start smashing it with bombers, then prepare to send in the tanks. The battle goes like this:
Barrage armor kills infantry
Barrage armor kills marine
Barrage armor kills marine
Barrage armor kills marine
"Ordinary" City Raider III armor kills marine
City Raider III armor kills infantry
City Raider III armor kills marine
City Raider III armor kills infantry
Combat III armor kills SAM
City Raider III/Drill armor kills SAM
Combat II/Pinch armor kills Cavalry
Combat III armor kills Cavalry
City Raider III armor (badly injured) takes out Cavalry (without a scratch!)
Mech kills Cavalry
Mech lasers another Cavalry (that looks SO cool!)
Mech kills Cavalry

All out of attacks now, killed 16 defenders, and Alex still has seven defenders left in Gepid!

Gepid still stands! For one more turn, anyway. I went through over half my attacks before I could even see all the defenders without the list extending off the screen. Amazing. TONS of units in there. Also a plus, Alex's navy will go down the drains next turn when I take the city, heh.

By the way - recon with our jets shows that Tokugawa is still defending with rifles. Heh. At least we'll have easy sailing once we get past the Inca.

(2) 1957AD Between turns, our jets shot down an Incan fighter and intercepted two more. Nice work guys. We build about almost a dozen units, which (aside from the logistical nightmare of moving everything) will certainly help us out as well.

Get this: Alex has moved even MORE units into Gepid!

He must really want to hold onto this place! To be fair though, this is really good AI behavior, making a stand at one city rather than spreading out its forces to be picked apart and killed. Good stuff! Soren's AI continues to impress me at every turn. (Wait till you see what the Incans did in the south, I'll get there in a minute.) Still, we have an overwhelming lead in military force and technology. I send in the bombers, then begin the Battle of Gepid, Part Two:
City Raider III armor kills marine
City Raider III armor kills marine
Combat III armor kills marine
Combat III armor kills infantry
City Raider III armor kills infantry
City Raider III armor kills cavalry
City Raider III armor kills cavalry
City Raider III armor kills SAM
City Raider III armor kills artillery
City Raider III armor kills artillery
City Raider III armor kills artillery
City Raider III armor kills artillery, and FINALLY the city burns!

So I killed 16 defenders there last turn, and 12 more this turn. Not to mention that 5 boats sank when the city was captured. Total losses for the Cubans: ZERO. I think we just gave Alex a whuppin!

Alex founded a small city in the north last turn, defended by a cavalry and an artillery. Our scouting units in the area decided to inform him that Artemisium did not, in fact, belong to him:

Easy come, easy go Alex. If you're going to found a city, you better defend it! The remaining tanks up on the northern front either stop to heal (if badly hurt) or push on further for the next Greek target, the southern port city of Ephesus.

 

[Sullla]

Down on the Incan front, look where Huayna has moved his stack from last turn:

I have no clue where that will land, but if it comes into Cuban waters, it will be sunk easily. If the stack lands in the icy south, I can hit it with bombers and take it out that way. In any case, the threat should be under control. But pretty clever stuff from the AI, you have to admit. Troops closing in on Cimmerian and Cori... something. Also getting a stack into range to head after Cuzco itself. Stuff looking good.

(3) 1958AD Madrid finishes the Space Elevator. We were building it? Uh yeah, I guess I remember that... Doesn't make too much difference now. OK, first things first: Huayna landed his naval stack and used it his gunships to capture a worker group (gah, forgot that the gunships can move immediately after unloading). Here's the scene:

You can see that the main stack is south of our airbase, but the gunships also detached themselves from it to attack/pillage. Their mistake. I take them out with some stray SAMs we have lying around, and their absense from the main stack allows our armor to take it out with ease. The picture below shows my units cleaning up the exposed stack.

Meanwhile, my armor in the south (with bomber support, as always) easily attacks and razes Cimmerian without losses:

Piece of cake.

Outside Cori, the difficult terrain has meant that only one detachment of (hurt) armor has been able to reach the city. I support them with all the bomber power I can muster from our base, but this is still going to be a tough one. Here's a view of the two sides:

It wouldn't be so bad if that city weren't on a hill, but it is. Fortunately, there is only one mech in the city, else it would be a true bloodbath. OK, here we go. Healthiest City Raider III tank attacks, dies, redlines mech. Armor cleans up from there in what turns out to be an easy battle. (Wouldn't have been nearly so simple before the change to the combat system involving hit points and combat strength!) Cori is razed to the ground as well:

Yet, despite the pounding we're dishing out, Huayna is still not done yet. Here comes big 'ol stack #3 (just of my turns, that is) heading after Air Base 532:

Hey, at least he's proving to be a worthy opponent! Huayna is starting to run out of gas though, I can see that his cities are slowly draining of units. He certainly couldn't be building units faster than I've been killing them.

 

[Sullla]

Up on the Greek front, a small detachment of armor blitzes Ephesus without air support. We still had 90% odds to win, even against infantry with 60% cultural defense!

The city of Hello, Alex is founded to serve as a new forward base on the Greek front. (We were starting to outrun our air cover!) Bombers are rebased there this turn.

There's a picture of the forces moving forward on the Greek front. Those aren't individual units of armor - they're stacks of armor and mechs. I can move the units much more freely on the Greek front since Alex has no gunships. When fighting the Inca, I must be careful to keep any group of armor covered with a mech to ensure that it can't be picked off with ease by the anti-tank helicopters. Despite tons of fighting, my losses have been almost non-existant on this turn, though no doubt that's largely due to the fact that Sirian gassed these AI civs on his last turn.

(4) 1959AD Alex comes begging for peace - even willing to chip in 840g and Communism. But of course I decline... We discover Future Tech!

Not that that really does all that much, but hey, we've got to research SOMETHING, right? We were hit by a few Incan fighters last turn, but they did no significant damage. No surprise there.

The target for this turn is Cuzco, the Incan capital. Our jets go out first to use up the intercepts of the Incan fighters, which they do nicely. Then the bombers go out - well, you know the drill if you've read this far. Here's the view of the city as I prepare to attack:

City Raider III/Barrage tank takes out the mech and doesn't even get scratched, so he blitzes on and takes out one of the infantry as well. With only 3 hurt defenders remaining, and a half dozen armor on hand for my side, it's all over for the Incan capital:

Easily done. Now the task at hand is to take out that Incan stack that I showed last turn. Our own gunship, SAMs, and mechs take out the Incan gunships there, and then the armor can move in and attack freely. Not surprisingly, a slaughter ensues.

It helps to have those Combat IV/Pinch tanks on hand! Our units are disgustingly promoted by this point. One more thing to note:

Having some fun with our Commando tank! How often do you see THAT in a game of Civ4! I love promotions. Stacks are now closing in on Ollantaytambo and the Incan city of Nara.

Side note: Scott and I just bid (and won) a pair of tickets to this weekend's Baltimore vs. Cleveland football game for $2.75 per ticket. That's $5.50 for TWO tickets to an NFL game! At times like this I'm glad that the Browns had a subpar game this season. (Of course we do have to drive out from Baltimore to Cleveland, but that's what roadtrips are for. )

 

[Sullla]

On the Greek front, the former barb city of Polynesian is the first one to get burned down:

Knossus is the next target, and even though we have to attack across a river, since there are only 3 defenders and plenty of tanks on hand, it too is committed to the fires:

You can see the tanks attacking across the river there in that shot. I usually wouldn't do that, but we didn't suffer any losses and the attack must go forward! Plenty more tanks where that came from, after all. I have tanks in position to hit 4 Greek cities next turn, if all goes according to plan.

(5) 1960AD Get no fewer than 7 border expansions this turn! (Still not close to Domination though, fortunately) Alex has a Destroyer tooling around our possessions in former Rome, so Sirian you may want to smack it down on your turn if you get a chance. No naval units up there at the moment.

Look at this:

Sirian wasn't kidding when he picked out that name! OK, as for the action. Bombers on the Incan front split their damage between Ollan and Nara. First attack comes at Nara in the extreme south:

That opens the way to the Japanese city of Izumo, so naturally I keep on moving forward. Blitz!

So much for Izumo. And yes, the last defender in that city was a longbow (the only other one was a rifle, not exactly tough going).

That takes care of the south (two cities already razed this turn). Now in the northern part of the Incan continent, the fighting rages around Ollan. The result, however, is as predictable as always:

That means that the Inca are now down to a single city on their home continent! (Huayna also has a junk city in the ice north of Alex.) Sirian won't be able to do too much on the Incan front next turn, but he should soon be able to start ripping the Japanese a new one (Tokugawa still has rifles as his top defenders ).

 

[Sullla]

Up on the Greek front, after bombing as always with our stealths, I start with Miletos and begin working counter-clockwise around the Arctic Circle:

Then the fires of Troy's burning light up the night sky:

More cities burning, being fed into the giant bonfire that used to be Greece:

Corinth burns, the colors of the fire are so bright, so pretty...

And that about does it for the eastern half of Greece. Four cities razed to the ground this turn (I have a settler that was just airlifted in this turn to set up a new air base at a location of your choice, Sirian). Six cities razed total this turn - Alex is running out of places to hide!

Sirian: I have airlifted one of our Great Engineers over to the Incan continent (he's in Air Base 532). Please use him to rush a transport there once we get a city on the eastern coast to take out the Japanese city of Satsuma. Given all our war weariness, I don't think we want to swap out of Police State if we can avoid it. There's already a settler on the Incan continent right outside Air Base 532 (even you can't miss it ). Please use it as you see fit, keeping in mind that that one Japanese city is on an island.

Look at those kill totals! We've destroyed endless numbers of infantry and SAMs, while only losing 7 tanks and 8 armor. That's efficient use of force. You can also see what units the AI civs like to build in droves...

I can't seem to get the Flying Camera mode to work (was it changed to something other than Ctrl-F in the new patch? Does anyone know?) so these satellite shots will have to do. First, the Incan continent:

And the Greek continent:

We're rapidly approaching the end, so keep pushing forward and adding more cities to the pyre.

 

[TerrisH]

GLORY TO TEH CUBANS! BURN THEM, BURN THEM ALL!

absolutly Loving this thread. it almost seems a shame to end it. oh well, may they opose you to the very end. (so we can enjoy it more.)

 

[Sirian]

BURN THEM, BURN THEM ALL!

Fahrenheit 532, the temperature at which cities burn.

Have you ever seen a Hydra whose "breath weapon" can scorch an entire world?

You have now.


- Sirian

 

[Andygal]

FEAR THE WRATH of the Almighty Hydra!

Burn the infidels! Burn them all to ashes! Spill their blood across the ground! Kill them all! Women and children too!

 

[Artanis]

Yay! More turns!

All the Hydra!

 

[theGrimm]

Sorry to go back to the dark ages (no pun intended), but I don't recall whether Sullla ever got a satisfactory response to why the Cubans where often so low in terms of GDP.

Of course, it could be there was, but I didn't spot it amongst all the spam. Hehe.

Might it be because GDP is affected by your research rate? In other words, is based on the % of your total commercial "income" that doesn't go towards research?

On another note, it seems that (apart from flaming hydra breath), having multiple heads allows multiple foes to be smited at the same time. No prizes for guessing what Cuban Tank drivers paint on their tanks.

 

[Burebista]

Originally Posted by Sulla
I have airlifted one of our Great Engineers over to the Incan continent (he's in Air Base 532). Please use him to rush a transport

Great Engineers can rush units too? I thought they can rush only buildings. I never tried to use one to rush a unit though.

 

[Artanis]

They can rush almost anything, but doing so on anything less than a wonder is usually a waste.


Edit: this sort of situation is the reason why I say "usually" instead of "always"

 

[Sirian]

All things end.

Last call.

 

[Sirian]

HinBudJewIsm the Magnificent!

The ultimate isolationism is when there is nobody else left.


Please ignore the "patch-altered" dates on display.
I will provide the correct dates, according to v1.00, from which we sprang.


1991AD: "With your shield or on it." - Closing on the Gateway to Greece.

1992AD: "Going down fighting." - The last major Incan City falls.

(Every dog has his day!)
(Check the image properties on that last picture! Yep.)

We are the firemen, coming for you.

(Check the image properties on THAT picture, too.)
(That's the real, unaltered, unmanipulated order in which I processed those!)
(Some things are just meant to be.)


Sulla ==

Sirian ==

 

[Sirian]

1992AD: Bug with borders. (RE-introduced in this patch? Arrgh!)

Apparently, they went home ON their shields.


These machine gunners look pretty cool firing from atop a hill!

Prepare for the firebombing of Tokyo.


1993AD: The Incans were overdue for extinction.

Check out the goose egg next to Capac's rating.

Fahrenheit 532, the temperature at which civilizations burn.

 

[Sirian]

1994AD: Did you know that, in real history, MANY more people...
...died in the (conventional) firebombing of Tokyo...
...than in both atomic bomb droppings combined?

We're going to have to play an SG as Japan some day... and nuke the bastids back!

Today, however, is not their day. Not by any stretch of the imagination.


I tried to take Athens "a turn early" with a barely-adequate rushing vanguard.

Alex wasn't having any of that.

Every dog has his day.
(Then it's my turn again.)

1995AD: We had a Great Person due to pop in Havana.
If (IF!) it were to be a Great Artist, we could finish this game without a further "rules fudge" with the shipping.
There was better than a 49% chance to pop the artist.

Instead, this is what we got:

Therefore, this is what I had no choice but to do:

Oh, and obviously, I have switched back to Universal Suffrage (and rushed the transport).

 

[Sirian]

1995AD: Because I attacked Tokyo with my TRAILING troops last turn...

...the leading troops take down Kyoto on this turn!

532'ed.


The last moments of Alexander the Forgotten:

Goose Egg!


I have no idea what people are complaining about in the combat graphics.

Clearly, those spearmen CAN reach the helicopters with those reallllllly long pikes!



As for the walking on water thing... Objects in camera lens are closer than they appear!

(Isn't the lighthouse in that shot just the mac daddy of cool graphics?)

OK OK, so it's all a bit silly. Hey, lighten up. A little bit of silly can be fun.


As this turn comes to its close, there is but one target remaining.

 

[Sirian]

1996AD: Mano y mano. Our Commando Armor vs their entire army.

1997AD: Now promoted to Combat V, our Commandos apply the coup de grace.

40 XPs! City = 532.

THE END


Credits:

Lunatic #1 ---- Robert "Sirian" Thomas
Lunatic #2 ---- Michael "Sulla" Soracoe
The Hydra ---- as Herself


Music:

"Spain on a Lake" - written and composed by Sirian, performed by Sulla.

"The Hydra is Born" - composed and performed by Sulla.

"Pink Dot" - written and performed by Sirian.

"Julius Oh Julius" - writter, composed and performed by Sulla.

"I Think I Want To Conquer The World" - composed by Sirian and Sulla.

"Oh My God What Happened To The English" - performed by Sirian

"I'm Coming to Get YOU, Caesar!" - (Woops. Went a little overboard there!)

"Pure in Spirit, Safe on the Sea" - written and composed by Sulla.

"Fahrenheit 532" - written by Sirian, performed by Sirian and Sulla.

"All Things End" - author unknown, performed by The Hydra.


These screenshots filmed in Technicolor.
Civ4 images Copyright(C) 2005, Firaxis Games
Writing Copyright 2005, Sirian and Sulla, and various contributors.
Brought to you by CivFanatics Dotcom.


Now for the "DVD Extras"!

 

[eldar]

Now for the "DVD Extras"!

I can't wait for the out-takes reel! Umm, and well done, highly entertaining, etc.

 

[Sirian]

The top five cities in the world are, of course, the first five cities we founded. In order.

Who can ever forget Saint Pink Dot, M-City, and Saint Bob? Not you, right?


Enemy KIA:

Our Honored Dead:

History of the Cuban Isolationists

Nara revolts and joins the Incan empire:

The Final War begins:

The Fall of Rome:

Fahrenheit 532:

Stats:
Sirian's pics > 550
Thread posts > 1000
Thread views > 200,000
Corny jokes = more than anybody wants to remember!


With that, my friends, I bid you adieu!

If you want more, tune in to our Civilization IV websites. (Bookmark them!)

Sirian's Civ4 Site

Sulla's Civ4 site

My entire Epic One report has been posted (finally).

You DO NOT want to miss out on our RBCIv Adventure Two reports. (Trust me!)
Look for that in mid-January.

Of course, you're also welcome to come to RB and get in on the fun yourself.


I don't know when we'll do something like this again, so I hope you enjoyed it.


- Sirian