Return of the Mohawk-guy - Iroquois 1v1v1v4 Deity Marathon Americas

[maltz]

Hello,

I was lucky to saw a forum post about Steam putting Civ 5 DLCs on 40% off! So I bit the bait and fulfilled one of my longtime wishes - playing a game on the Americas map as one of the American aboriginals (Iroquois - north, Aztec - central, Inca - south) against selfish colonizing empires,their obnoxious exploits, and their childish sense of glory! England! France! Spain! and the United State of... eww, America! Kick them back to Europe!

DLC: Map of Americas (63x54)

Spoiler :

I have heard many good things about Iroquois, but have never tried them before. Iroquois' version of Swordsman, Mohawk Warrior, gets a gigantic fighting bonus in forest and jungles. Looking at the map of Americas, I can see lots of forests and jungles. Nice!

The opening message of Iroquois states that the warriors fought effectively although vastly out-teched by the Europeans. But we all know the end. The tribes couldn't stay united. They were bribed, divided, conquered, slaughtered, and reduced to what they are today.

In this game, I will try to reproduce that scenario, by allying all colonizing Civs as one (so they get their technology advantage), but let the Native Civs (Iroquois - North, Aztec - Central, Inca - South) stay divided. It is an uphill battle for the Iroquois and the other two, but Hiawatha is now inspired by the almighty human, while the others are controlled by the mentally challenged AI.

Spoiler :

Setup
Map: Americas (Default 6 Civs, 12 City States, now 7 Civs, 12 City States. This map is bigger than a standard "Small Map". And I really wish to fit in Washington as he should be eligible to fight on a Americas map, right?)
Civs: Four Colonizing Civs teamed as 1, versus natives in their own teams
Difficulty: Deity
Speed: Marathon
Advanced Setting: all default except No Ancient Ruins. I like to start perfectly from scratch. Ruin is too much luck. Plus if each of the four Europeans got 2 free techs, Hiawatha may as well jump into the Atlantic Ocean.

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

The very first map I saw was this - American Rockies. No forest! The entire Americas map was covered by forests and jungle except the American Rockies (and the central prairies to the east). Not very attractive to Iroquois.

But the silver and gold caught my eye. When playing earth maps before, I always wondered the feasibility of starting in the Rockies. I have been to the Canadian Rockies and they were so absolutely beautiful that I had my honeymoon trip there. As long as I get get the food problem solved, the extra hammers should allow me to pump out important buildings fast. And the mining business could bring enormous profit with a Mint, too!

And if I look on the bright side - probably everyone else's home is filled with forest and jungles. Isn't it a great news for Hiawatha's future conquest?

Spoiler :

And when the starting warrior climbs on a low hill, "Ya Da Da Su Ke!" he exclaimed. That's the Grand Mesa! I... I had no idea what it is. So I looked it up. Grand Mesa's bonus 0/2/3/0 isn't that impressive. But I have never had a Natural Wonder in any of my cities before (I am a fan of real-world maps).

While sitting on a precious-metal hill is always a good idea for early cash, I decided to move one tile to the east and found Hiawatha capital on the mountain-surrounded riverside desert. Reasons:

(1) Food concern. This location is filled with mountains and farm-able tiles are very limited. The original birth place is a flood plain (2/0/1) alongside the upstream of Colorado River. There are more ideal farming tiles to the east (including a wheat alongside the upstream of Mississippi River).

(2) Earlier Gold Mine. I can get access to Gold a little earlier, but not lose early access to Silver. It is always good to have more variety of resources for sale than a single kind - in case for a single rich buyer or whoever already has Silver. I am not planning to go after Tradition this time (as you know, it better be a conquest game against 4 Deity AIs in a team), so I have to minimize the number of resources that is 3 tile away from the capital. They could take a long time to reach and tile buying can be an expensive investment after a few purchases.

 

[vanjito]

Yey, maltz is back!

 

[tamasei]

Yay a new one! This sounds like fun!

Where are the European civs? does this map has Europe?

 

[DragonHead]

yes!!!!

 

[maltz]

Thanks for your encouragement! I am sorry that I will be a little slow on the updates.

Spoiler :

004. I checked Iroquois' capital in the game on Google Map - marked by the yellow cross in Utah State. The city is indeed a desert region surrounded by mountains. Each tile in the game is about 100 km in reality.

Grand Mesa is in Colorado. The capital in the game is beside the upstream of Colorado River (called Green River), which flows south, carves the Grand Canyon and supplies Las Vegas. On the north there is the upstream of Columbia River called Snake River. On the east there is the upstream of Rio Grande. There seems to be no Grand Canyon natural wonder in the game? I thought it is much more famous thatn the Grand Mesa.

However, I find the rivers are not very well-drawn on the in-game map. Green River flows into Rio Grande instead of Colorado River. Snake River flows into Colorado River instead of Columbia River. And the upstream of Rio Grande flows into Brazos River instead of continue being Rio Grande. What a mess! I also find the Asia map's east Asia (haven't looked up the rest) not very well done, either. My ancient china map is 100x more accurate.

On the northwest of the capital is Salt Lake City. The Great Salt Lake was not drawn in the game - it should be quite close to the edge of the map already. This Americas map actually cut away a huge portion of North America, including Iroquois' actual homeland (around Lake Ontario). I guess the developers didn't want to have a very vertical map. What a pity!

Later it might be a good idea to spawn a few cities in the west coast (San Franciso, Los Los Angeles) to harvest more resources.

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

005. Capital Onondaga is surrounded by mining resources - I can see 3 Silvers, 1 Gold, and 1 Marble within 3 tiles (and later another Silver will be revealed to the west), plus an Incense to the north. That's the craziest mining city I have ever seen!

Warrior #1 explores south and discovered Aztec! Monty's capital is located in Texas. Looks like he will become a major ivory dealer. My original hope of the game was to make friends with the natives to fight against the Empire Team, but Monty is obviously my closest neighbor and already covets my land on Turn 5...

The warrior also found a wondering Settler of City State (CS) Cape Town, who failed to found a city because they are too close to Monty's capital. Farewell, Cape Town! the Iroquois people will remember your sacrifice to defend Americas against greedy invaders. (Captured the worker.)

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

006. Soon after the Iroquois was greeted by Queen Isabella of Spain. This is my first game with Spain in it. They don't seem to be a terribly powerful Civ in early stages. That's good.

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

007. Warrior #1 explores east and found the Capital of Spain buried in deep forest. This one should be easy for Iroquois! But there is a not-so-friendly Aztec in the middle. Does Hiawatha have to turn against his own American borthers before fighting against the European invaders?

And there is another CS Settler, Rio de Janeiro, that failed to found a city. Since patch .217 I have seen a lot of failed CS settlers possibly because that the spawning script is still based on the old maximum city settling distance of 2. And even worse, sometimes all City States will be spawned in a huge crowd beside Civilizations.

There is another City State Venice (Maritime) just southeast to Aztec.

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

008. Here goes Hiawatha, right into Monty's tent.

Monty: "Wa yo la la na wa la!"

Hiawatha: "Indeed, it is such a nice day out, eh? Oh great Montezuma, I am here with a noble proposal. I see that you have 125 gold, and I have 125 gold as well. What a conincidence. How about I pay you 2 gold per turn so I can have your 125 gold?"

Monty: "Ti go chi chi wu eh no..."

Hiawatha: "Yes, you will gain 55 gold from it. A good deal, eh? And I happen to notice that there is a City State Venice very close to you. Their hostile attutide really annoys me. So how about I sponsor you some gold and you take that CS down for the good of both of us, huh?"

Monty: "Ti go chi chi me lu chi ya..."

Hiawatha: "240 gold is fine. But I really need some cash, so how about I pay you another 4 gold per turn so I can get to keep that 240 gold?"

Monty: "In den jiu gui! E suo si chuen~"

Hiawatha: "Holys* you speak Mongolian, too? Let's call it a deal then. See you around! (grin)"

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

009. Monty was happy to bid farewell to Hiawatha, as he had Hiawatha promised him to give him 6 gold every turn.

Suddenly, news broke out from the northeast - Iroquois has robbed the workers in Teotihuacan! Iroquois has declared war on Aztec!

Monty: "Wa la la wu la la wa la!!!"

 

[Nonevah]

Pretty good story you got there, Maltz.

 

[vanjito]

Bold move there, early war against Monty

 

[Sparthage]

lurker's comment: Another Maltz story!

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

010. When Hiawatha returned to the Iroquois' Rockies Headquarter, there is someone with funny curly hair standing beside the bonfire. It was the Emissary from the United States of urgh, America.

Emissary: "Greetings! Would you like to declare friendship with the United States of America?"
Hiawatha: "Greedy imperialists! You think you can win our people's heart over with just sweet words? Now show me the gold."
Emissary: "I am sorry, my boss didn't tell me to bring gold..."
Hiawatha: "Yeah I don't think you need gold for this... Anyway. We will agree this time since we are busy with someone else at the moment. Remember to bring some gold next time you see me, eh?"
Emissary: "Thank you!"

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

011. Monty was apparantly busy with CS Vernice, as the Iroquois warrior reported a defenseless Aztec capital. That presents oppurtunity for the 3rd free worker!

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

012. The Aztec Scout was right beside the captured Worker after his capture. And in order for the Warrior to survive, I cannot protect the Worker immediately (or it will be shot to death by both Aztec's city defense). I thought the Worker will be recaptured by the Aztec Scout, but the Scout totally ignored the undefended Worker.

I noticed that the AI does not realize the Scout can be used to capture non-combatants. But I use my Scouts to do that and pillage strategic resources all the time.

After the Warrior returned to the capital, he killed a bold Aztec Scout watching nearby with the help of the capital's city defense. 3 units killed - Venice's mission completed! Free alliance and +3 food per turn for the capital!

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

013. I started the game by building a Scout in the capital, so I can communicate with the other Civs and City States in South America as soon as possible. The Scout travelled down Central America and unfortunately, hit a dead end. A barbarian camp occupies a one-tile passage. No contact for Inca and other City States for a few thousand years.

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

014. Thanks to the free Workers, very soon I was able to start selling resources. This is the very first time in my not-so-long Civ5 experience that Washington does not have enough cash to pay for my first resource. He is usually ridiculously rich in early game.

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

015. I built a Monument in the capital after Scout, so I can push through policies a little faster. My goal is to get to Meritocracy as soon as possible in order to rush Steel with the Free Scientist. Ideally, I should time the arrival of the third policy point at the same time as Metal Casting finishes.