Macedonia. I wonder what our strength is. Everybody else has some nice options.
Persia has the most land and the best early offensive unit (4/2/1 immortals) to complement a good defense (2/3/1 numidian merc available to everybody). Rome has all kinds of benefits -- garrisons, legions galore, citizens. Carthage has a corner start and only one foe to complement their war elephants.
I know we get a 3/3/1, but that's hardly a match for a paired 4/2/1 and 2/3/1. What's in it for Macedonia?
We have fairly OK opening lands. Our starting army is 1 settler, 11 workers, 3 archers, 6 horsemen, 5 galleys, 1 army, and 23 hoplites. That's a strong military compared to Persia -- that must be our edge -- a starting strong military. That means we're gonna have to hit hard and fast. In fact, we're strong compared to everyone but Rome. Of course, a support cost of 20 gpt isn't going to help matters at all.
Persia has the most land and the most people to start the game. The longer a stalemate is developed, the better things are for them. As I look around, I'm very convinced we're going to need to hit them hard and fast.
Sign Egypt to Alliance vs. Carthage for their worker and 80 of their gold. What a bargain! Anything to distract Hanni for a bit.
Odd. Rome will pay a worker and 317 gold for the privelege of fighting the Persians, but asking for worker and 318 gold is simply insulting. Oh well. I do NOT want a two-front war, so we sign them up as well.
UNITS:
Numidian Merc - 30 shields - 2/3/1
Hoplite - 40 shields - 3/3/1 -- EXTREMELY LAME UU alert -- 33% more expensive and only a bit better on offense? UGH!
Swordsman - 30 shields - 3/2/1 -- a better buy for us, actually
Horseman - 30 shields - 2/1/2 -- just like "regular"
Archer - 20 shields - 2/1/1 -- normal
The unit we'll ultimately want is Heavy Cavalry - 60 shields - 5/2/2.
City management -- they're poorly set up, believe me.
Miletus will be a good worker factory for us. Granted, it's near the front, but we'll need workers there, too. It can get 5 fpt now and should be able to get into a worker every other turn pattern in 15-20 turns. Maronea, too, is designated worker factory.
Lux is turned up to 10% to get everybody to work. Science set on Monarchy, but nobody/nothing is working on it.
Homeland troops shuffle a bit and aim to explore and to defend our meager cities. MUCH WORKER ACTION IS REQUIRED all over the map.
Contact Scythians immediately with an exploring hoplite. Trade them Masonry + Alphabet for worker, 50 gold, and their world map.
Think to check with Carthage before the turn ends. They'll pay worker, 70 gold, and WM for the privelege of allying with us, too. Is this a scenario design problem? A result of our strong army? Or something else entirely? I take the deal, though.
We're industrious, commercial, and seafaring. The last of these does us almost no good at all, as the map is very much already revealed and I don't plan many/any amphibious landings. But industrious and commercial will be very nice.
Our government is an Oligarchy, which is pretty good. If/when we get Imperialism, it'll probably be worth switching, but otherwise we look good to go. Republic is nicer, but it's probably not worth an anarchy to change into.
And, after only 45 minutes, I think I may be done with my zeroth turn.
(I) Persia sends on immortal out towards us. I tremble in fear, NOT!
(1) 345- Move on two Persian cities. We want to hit hard and fast. I also have a couple galleys heading towards them, hopefully they will serve as a bit of a distraction.
The one thing we don't have and could really use is a settler factory. I have no idea where to start one of those, however.
(I) Persia sends out an immortal against a hoplite and...
(2) 340 - Re-MM cities for GA production.
Army wins twice and we capture Iconium and a slave. Iconium's been whipped heavily, so it gets a scientist to start a run on Monarchy. And for some odd reason, we have 104 culture in Iconium. Bug? A horse dies attacking an immortal in the open and Persia's GAing, too.
(I) Defend successfully vs. immortal. Athens starts Heroic Epic. We're going to want as many armies as possible.
(3) 335 - Move on cities -- lose a horse.
(4) 330 - Trade galleys with Persia -- losing 6 hps to their 3. Oh well. (NOTE: galleys are 1/1/3 in this scenario)
Capture Ancyra -- barely. Finally hoplite had one hp left when I won. That was close.
In Ancyra's cultural borders, we spot 3 Persians archers and 2 horsemen. Sigh. So much for my blitzkrieg advance. Looks like a bit of sitzkrieg now, while I try to heal and absorb counter-attacks.
But I do kill an immortal and two archers down by Iconium.
(5) 325 - Killing Persians. Healing. Some swords are starting to complete and are moving towards the front. Horses will be connected before too long. One archer is out exploring, but more would be nice.
Make a bunch of cash selling world maps. Nobody else seems to be exploring at all. Cash does us little good at this point, but I imagine it will help greatly to keep up in techs, once the AI decides to learn something.
(I) Volcano by Messana is now active, whatever that means. I hope it means Crete becomes valueless for both Carthage and Rome, but I don't think it does.
(6) 320 - Writing to Scythia for WM and 32 gold. He likes his WM and he's expansionist, so maybe I can get good trade for it. Plus, I don't care if the barbs tech some.
Contact w/Scythia to Rome for contact with Celts.
IW + WM to Celts for WM + 60 gold. IW gives them their UU but they should trouble Rome/Carthage with it a lot more than us!
Sell WM a bunch more times for a bunch more gold. End with 1450 gold and 99 gpt income.
(7) 315 - Sink Persian galley without losing any.
Lose one horse killing 3 archers and an immortal. Start moving on another Persian city.
Carthage now has the world's largest population, taking that title from the falling Persians.
(I) Persia and Egypt sign peace. Then Cleopatra comes offering TM for TM. I accept and then pay her 190 gold to go back to war with Persia!
Volcano erupts and destroys Roman city of Messana. Carthiginian cities of Syracuse and Marsala appear to be unaffected.
(8) 310 - Little happens. I kill an immortal and an archer. Persia's targetting is shifting. We should be ready to move again in the north soon and the south is already moving.
(I) Rome and Persia sign peace.
(9) 305 - Thebes can do a horseman every other turn, but it needs MM to grow. Put a citizen on the fish for one turn and then on the forest the next. This will give it slow growth and still make 30 shields every two turns.
(10) 300 - I go ahead and capture Antioch. Our culture is still very similar to Persia's and it'll be a nice forward base. Our army is outside the city, but it's still healthy enough that we should be fine. I hope I don't put the next leader in an awkward position....
Resisters, but we have 120 culture there, so no forces can reach the lone sword defending it. Granary, market, courthouse, harbor survived....too bad the barracks didn't.
(I) Pull a Charis and gotta make sure I don't lose the army. Get a Pyhhric victory in the north (elite hoplite offs attacking immortal, giving Pyrrhus!!! IN DEFENSE!)
(11) 295 - Move the army into Antioch and cross my fingers. No fewer than 10 immortals can attack it this turn, with another 8 or so available the turn after. Antioch is on a hill, though, so....
(I) Kill them all but am red-lined. I wonder how many hp the army will recover. There are lots of immortals still nearby. But with Pyrrhus around to replace the army if necessary, I think I will pass off now.
Scythia allies with Rome against Carthage.
(12) 290 - Army recovered zero hps? While fortified in a city? I guess I did move it in last turn. I don't see any way it survives the next interturn. Sorry guys. I would use the sword in Antioch to attack out once, against the stack to the north. And hope.
I guess +1/-1 army isn't TOO bad, though. And we should be good to go in the north.
I'm not entirely convinced Persia will be around by my next turn.
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads6/rbc3d-290bc.zip
Arathorn
The suspense is thick in the air...
