Rhino's Return - Immortal Brennus
- Thread starter OneLeggedRhino
- Start date
OneLeggedRhino
King
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- 656
He lost the other leg to diabetes. Too fat.
gorf37
Warlord
Always a great read OLR! At times I prefer reading your games to playing my own! 
OneLeggedRhino
King
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Making My Move (Turns 690-702, Years 1590-1614 AD)
Thanks guys. Glad you're enjoying the game.
1596: I have my stack:
And my city defenders:
I check that Justinian doesn't have a big stack of his own nearby, and move out:
And get absolutely slaughtered. With railroads, he doesn't have to have a stack nearby. He can attack me from anywhere in his empire.
I give as good as I get, but a few turns later the attack is dead. I rage quit, then reload 1596. I know, Lamez0rs. Mea culpa.
From the reload, I still declare. (I do try to avoid totally changing history.) Then I hang out in the city. Justinian sends a few cavalry to attack Tours, maybe because it's so lightly defended:
They never make it. And thanks to airships, I take zero losses.
I make my landing in Marseille:
Two turns later, it's burned. Toward the end of this turnset, I realize that I'll never get my troops off that island, and they're obsolete anyway, so I'd disband them to save 10 GPT.
1600: My plan is working. Justinian comes to attack Orleans:
I soften him with an airstrike, and huddle inside the city. This way, at least I have some cultural defense, and I don't have to leave city defenders behind while my stack moves out.
Also, now that I know Justinian is paying attention to Orleans, not Paris, I send a small stack to attack Louis:
A rifle, two muskets and two elephants stay to defend the city.
1602: Justinian kills my cultural defense by revolting my city with a spy. He's Rhino-ing the Rhino!
But he only manages to take one artillery. Most of his cavalry withdraw.
Notice how he has one healthy rifle, and a bunch of weak units? That's what airstrikes are made for. It raises my artillery success rate from around 65% to 85%. I take the whole stack with no losses.
I feel like I'm exploiting the AI here, just waiting for him to come. A human would coordinate better and take Paris. It would be nice to have a clean win, where I march up to his cities, take the hit and hit him back. But more than that, I want to win, and I think this is how to get it. In all, I'm not terribly pleased with my play this game. But it was coming off a 2-month break, so that's not too surprising.
On the other side of the ocean, Justinian's transport is pillaging my seafood:
I use a galley to bring a cavalry over to Island Fish, and upgrade the longbow. (380 G). Afterward, I realize I should have just drafted.
He doesn't land:
But I gotta assume there are troops in there. I pull some cavalry back to defend Babricate and Inner Gold. (We'll come back to this later.)
In Orleans, Justinian's next stack is approaching:
I airstrike it, and take zero losses. Can't recall if it attacked or fled to heal, but I mop up the few cavalry lying around and heal my stack.
1606: Combustion completes. A stack of workers build an oil well, and I have oil 3 turns later.
Remember how I'd pulled those cavalry back to defend Babricate? Well, a different transport lands in W Fish:
This was one of my marginal cities. Very little infrastructure, not much population. In other words, not that big of a deal. When I retake it, I've only lost a lighthouse:
It does create a lot of war weariness, though.
Justinian's other transport just keeps pillaging seafood. I manage to always have a few troops defending every city it could hit, and it never makes land. But it really sucks having no navy. It forces you on the defense and ties up a ton of troops. That one transport probably tied up 8-10 modern land units.
Back on the other continent, I think Justinian is finally running out of steam. Now it's time to leave the city:
It'll take a few turns to get to that hill 1N of J's city, though.
1608: Justinian founds Sid's Sushi. Still not worried. Corps are great for long-term, but terrible short-term. I'm thrilled he'll be spending hammers on execs instead of infantry.
My stack arrives at Louis' next city:
It's a short fight, no losses. The city has 5 people and a granary, nothing exciting, but it's in the back line and Louis isn't a threat any more, so I keep it.
Around now, my war weariness is getting really out of control, like +7 unhappiness, on top of +4 from emancipation. So I swap to Police State. It's a big hit to research, but Flight is a long way off, and it helps keep my cities going. Most of them are making theaters, which will help with the culture slider a lot, and once I eliminate Louis, both of those sources of unhappiness will drop to half.
1612: My stack is finally to the hill 1N of J's city:
It took a lot of fighting to get there, and you can see that no one is at full, but I'd rather take the city than weather more attacks from the defenders. Plus, with the airships, none of his defenders will be at full, either.
Incidentally, I've totally come around on airships. They rock. The key is to have 4 or 8 of them. (You can only have 4 per city.) Because if you have 1, you just weaken 1 guy, and who cares? But if you weaken 4 guys, that's probably all his really good defenders. It makes a huge difference.
Anyway, the half-health cannon bombard, the artillery attack, and I take the city with no losses.
That sure ain't bad. But I don't have the mojo to defend it, and I can't let J reclaim it. Burn.
It does, though, free up some land for Orleans:
Progress!
Next turn, Justinian steals artillery! Only costs him 6k. Gulp.
But, hopefully by now I've weathered the worst of his attacks. I have combustion, so I can defend myself and ship reinforcements over. And I have a stack rolling through his cities that he can't stop for at least a little while. Things are looking up.
I weather one more set of attacks, and consolidate my stack on a hill to heal:
Up in Louis' land, my stack is at the next city. I have an elephant and a couple artillery joining them, since I'm not so worried about Justinian attacking anymore. Soon, Louis will be gone, my unhappiness problems will be solved, and I'll continue burning J's cities. My plan is to burn until he capitulates, and not worry about the land, though if I get the feeling that he really is just cowering in cities, I'll keep them.
One last shot: The manufactured goods chart.
That's me, kicking butt and taking names. My research rate is also better -- we're even on GDP (at least, when I'm in Representation), but he's much higher on culture and espionage. Now if he'd just stop stealing techs… But I don't think I know anything he doesn't anymore, so his EPs shouldn't matter, and hopefully I'll start catching up. (Maybe I'll swap out of flight, too.)
It looks like having over 2x as many cities really does help long-term. Who knew?
Next turnset, I'll keep rampaging through J's and Louis' cities.
Thanks guys. Glad you're enjoying the game.
1596: I have my stack:
Spoiler :
And my city defenders:
Spoiler :
I check that Justinian doesn't have a big stack of his own nearby, and move out:
Spoiler :
And get absolutely slaughtered. With railroads, he doesn't have to have a stack nearby. He can attack me from anywhere in his empire.
I give as good as I get, but a few turns later the attack is dead. I rage quit, then reload 1596. I know, Lamez0rs. Mea culpa.
From the reload, I still declare. (I do try to avoid totally changing history.) Then I hang out in the city. Justinian sends a few cavalry to attack Tours, maybe because it's so lightly defended:
Spoiler :
They never make it. And thanks to airships, I take zero losses.
I make my landing in Marseille:
Spoiler :
Two turns later, it's burned. Toward the end of this turnset, I realize that I'll never get my troops off that island, and they're obsolete anyway, so I'd disband them to save 10 GPT.
1600: My plan is working. Justinian comes to attack Orleans:
Spoiler :
I soften him with an airstrike, and huddle inside the city. This way, at least I have some cultural defense, and I don't have to leave city defenders behind while my stack moves out.
Also, now that I know Justinian is paying attention to Orleans, not Paris, I send a small stack to attack Louis:
Spoiler :
A rifle, two muskets and two elephants stay to defend the city.
1602: Justinian kills my cultural defense by revolting my city with a spy. He's Rhino-ing the Rhino!
But he only manages to take one artillery. Most of his cavalry withdraw.
Spoiler :
Notice how he has one healthy rifle, and a bunch of weak units? That's what airstrikes are made for. It raises my artillery success rate from around 65% to 85%. I take the whole stack with no losses.
I feel like I'm exploiting the AI here, just waiting for him to come. A human would coordinate better and take Paris. It would be nice to have a clean win, where I march up to his cities, take the hit and hit him back. But more than that, I want to win, and I think this is how to get it. In all, I'm not terribly pleased with my play this game. But it was coming off a 2-month break, so that's not too surprising.
On the other side of the ocean, Justinian's transport is pillaging my seafood:
Spoiler :
I use a galley to bring a cavalry over to Island Fish, and upgrade the longbow. (380 G). Afterward, I realize I should have just drafted.
He doesn't land:
Spoiler :
But I gotta assume there are troops in there. I pull some cavalry back to defend Babricate and Inner Gold. (We'll come back to this later.)
In Orleans, Justinian's next stack is approaching:
Spoiler :
I airstrike it, and take zero losses. Can't recall if it attacked or fled to heal, but I mop up the few cavalry lying around and heal my stack.
1606: Combustion completes. A stack of workers build an oil well, and I have oil 3 turns later.
Remember how I'd pulled those cavalry back to defend Babricate? Well, a different transport lands in W Fish:
Spoiler :
This was one of my marginal cities. Very little infrastructure, not much population. In other words, not that big of a deal. When I retake it, I've only lost a lighthouse:
Spoiler :
It does create a lot of war weariness, though.
Justinian's other transport just keeps pillaging seafood. I manage to always have a few troops defending every city it could hit, and it never makes land. But it really sucks having no navy. It forces you on the defense and ties up a ton of troops. That one transport probably tied up 8-10 modern land units.
Back on the other continent, I think Justinian is finally running out of steam. Now it's time to leave the city:
Spoiler :
It'll take a few turns to get to that hill 1N of J's city, though.
1608: Justinian founds Sid's Sushi. Still not worried. Corps are great for long-term, but terrible short-term. I'm thrilled he'll be spending hammers on execs instead of infantry.
Spoiler :
My stack arrives at Louis' next city:
Spoiler :
It's a short fight, no losses. The city has 5 people and a granary, nothing exciting, but it's in the back line and Louis isn't a threat any more, so I keep it.
Around now, my war weariness is getting really out of control, like +7 unhappiness, on top of +4 from emancipation. So I swap to Police State. It's a big hit to research, but Flight is a long way off, and it helps keep my cities going. Most of them are making theaters, which will help with the culture slider a lot, and once I eliminate Louis, both of those sources of unhappiness will drop to half.
1612: My stack is finally to the hill 1N of J's city:
Spoiler :
It took a lot of fighting to get there, and you can see that no one is at full, but I'd rather take the city than weather more attacks from the defenders. Plus, with the airships, none of his defenders will be at full, either.
Incidentally, I've totally come around on airships. They rock. The key is to have 4 or 8 of them. (You can only have 4 per city.) Because if you have 1, you just weaken 1 guy, and who cares? But if you weaken 4 guys, that's probably all his really good defenders. It makes a huge difference.
Anyway, the half-health cannon bombard, the artillery attack, and I take the city with no losses.
Spoiler :
That sure ain't bad. But I don't have the mojo to defend it, and I can't let J reclaim it. Burn.
It does, though, free up some land for Orleans:
Spoiler :
Progress!
Next turn, Justinian steals artillery! Only costs him 6k. Gulp.
Spoiler :
But, hopefully by now I've weathered the worst of his attacks. I have combustion, so I can defend myself and ship reinforcements over. And I have a stack rolling through his cities that he can't stop for at least a little while. Things are looking up.
I weather one more set of attacks, and consolidate my stack on a hill to heal:
Spoiler :
Up in Louis' land, my stack is at the next city. I have an elephant and a couple artillery joining them, since I'm not so worried about Justinian attacking anymore. Soon, Louis will be gone, my unhappiness problems will be solved, and I'll continue burning J's cities. My plan is to burn until he capitulates, and not worry about the land, though if I get the feeling that he really is just cowering in cities, I'll keep them.
One last shot: The manufactured goods chart.
Spoiler :
That's me, kicking butt and taking names. My research rate is also better -- we're even on GDP (at least, when I'm in Representation), but he's much higher on culture and espionage. Now if he'd just stop stealing techs… But I don't think I know anything he doesn't anymore, so his EPs shouldn't matter, and hopefully I'll start catching up. (Maybe I'll swap out of flight, too.)
It looks like having over 2x as many cities really does help long-term. Who knew?
Next turnset, I'll keep rampaging through J's and Louis' cities.
vranasm
Deity
don't forget to whip airports in Heroic city and strongest hammer cities back home and start drafting/whipping/building units. You can then transport them to your island cities.
if the target city doesn't have airport then you can transport 1 unit/turn to that city.
The unit can be airlifted from the city that has airport only when it didn't move before (so if you have some waypoints forget them, after airports much better to whip airports in every city that produces units and airlift them as reinforcement)
Upgrade some airships to fighters, they can damage up to 50%.
Tanks would be good option after flight and then go Radio for Bombers if the game drags for that long.
Btw airports bring up the number of airships/fighters/bombers in city to 8 from 4, but you won't have this option in newly captured cities.
I like that you found your way to airships.
if the target city doesn't have airport then you can transport 1 unit/turn to that city.
The unit can be airlifted from the city that has airport only when it didn't move before (so if you have some waypoints forget them, after airports much better to whip airports in every city that produces units and airlift them as reinforcement)
Upgrade some airships to fighters, they can damage up to 50%.
Tanks would be good option after flight and then go Radio for Bombers if the game drags for that long.
Btw airports bring up the number of airships/fighters/bombers in city to 8 from 4, but you won't have this option in newly captured cities.
I like that you found your way to airships
.Justinian is actually... being competent. I'm somewhat shocked. Securing his continent early by beating up on the wonder-spammer, using naval dominance to fork cities and tie up defense while pillaging; selecting reasonably good priorities for research; making excellent use of espionage (instead of just poisoning wells over and over); grabbing one of the better corps on a map with a fair amount of the resources for it.
It's not human-level playing skill, but still one of the most creditable AI performances I've seen.
It's not human-level playing skill, but still one of the most creditable AI performances I've seen.
Um the Muse
King
Agreed with coanda. Don't feel too bad about the restart.
I would think that Bombers would be a lot better than tanks at this point, but I got to admit I don't usually play games this far out. Do you use tanks for pillaging RR, vranasm? I guess I could see that being more useful than bombers if you're hunkering down like Rhino is doing.
I would think that Bombers would be a lot better than tanks at this point, but I got to admit I don't usually play games this far out. Do you use tanks for pillaging RR, vranasm? I guess I could see that being more useful than bombers if you're hunkering down like Rhino is doing.
vranasm
Deity
tanks are 2-moves in enemy territory, have high str base (28) if you end next to city they can attack twice (blitz promo)
fighter support should be enough for "true blitzkrieg".
not sure with collateral from bombers now (don't know the cap if it's 50 or 60% or higher) so tough to judge if bombers + cavs would work better then fighters+tanks
tanks don't have any limitation on numbers in enemy territory is big plus in this scenario i guess. You can rip enemy apart after the first sod is away very quickly (no need to reposition air support etc)
I like tanks warfare ;-). They actually don't suck (compared to the instance they made in CiV)
OneLeggedRhino
King
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The Sun Never Sets on the Celtic Empire (Turns 702-710, Years 1614-1630 AD)
Or for those of you more comfortable with pimp speak, I got hoes in different area codes.
Thanks guys. I feel better knowing Justinian is playing uncharacteristically well. And thanks for the tips on flight. Now, on to the turnset.
I start by killing that darn transport.
It was so satisfying, I took a screenshot.
I also take Rheims:
I think things are calm enough in the north to keep it. But Louis' culture is killing me.
1624: My stack reaches Justinian's next city. Along the way, I made about 100 G from pillaging some towns.
I think about just attacking with cavalry and airships, but the odds aren't very good. It's worth waiting the turn for artillery. Now that that's done, I take the city without losses.
It's another nice city. But, again, I don't want to leave defenders. So I burn it. But now, all my French cities have a culture buffer. Which makes them much easier to defend.
In the North, I move on Louis' last city:
I count the squares to Chartres. It's four tiles from his city. He has no mounted unit's. So I empty the city out, to get a couple more attackers. (I have plenty of siege, but very few regular rampaging through France.)
I think I'm all slick. Then I hear the sound of the city being taken. And I remember, France's unique musket has two moves. And I feel soooooooooo dumb.
Anyway, those two muskets take the city back, and it's no big deal except for the war weariness. Which should go away once I finish Louis.
1628: Justinian has a settler! He's seriously trying to reclaim the burn the cities in the middle of this war.
I was already moving a couple of city defenders from Orleans to the front, since it has culture borders now. Them, plus a couple of airships, take those cavalry, and get me another worker over here. Nice.
And my reinforcements arrive:
It was a bit risky, bring them over in my wood boats. But Justinian's navy has been harassing me around Babricate, and I haven't seen anything up north for a while. Plus, with three frigates in the stack, I could lose a few fights before losing any troops.
1630: I take Louis' last city.
I keep it. 3x as many cities as Justinian now. He still won't capitulate, though.
And in the South, my main stack is at Justinian's next city. Not enough cavalry to take it out, but enough to cause a lot of damage:
No losses, but now I have very few healthy defenders. I think I'll offer peace, regroup and heal for 10 turns, then declare again. With any luck, he'll re-settle those cities, and I can conquer them and keep them this time.
Though it might not matter. I'm at 62.5% land, and victory only needs 64%. Once the borders of the French quarter pop, that might put me over.
Or for those of you more comfortable with pimp speak, I got hoes in different area codes.
Thanks guys. I feel better knowing Justinian is playing uncharacteristically well.
And thanks for the tips on flight. Now, on to the turnset.I start by killing that darn transport.
Spoiler :
It was so satisfying, I took a screenshot.
I also take Rheims:
Spoiler :
I think things are calm enough in the north to keep it. But Louis' culture is killing me.
1624: My stack reaches Justinian's next city. Along the way, I made about 100 G from pillaging some towns.
Spoiler :
I think about just attacking with cavalry and airships, but the odds aren't very good. It's worth waiting the turn for artillery. Now that that's done, I take the city without losses.
Spoiler :
It's another nice city. But, again, I don't want to leave defenders. So I burn it. But now, all my French cities have a culture buffer. Which makes them much easier to defend.
In the North, I move on Louis' last city:
Spoiler :
I count the squares to Chartres. It's four tiles from his city. He has no mounted unit's. So I empty the city out, to get a couple more attackers. (I have plenty of siege, but very few regular rampaging through France.)
I think I'm all slick. Then I hear the sound of the city being taken. And I remember, France's unique musket has two moves. And I feel soooooooooo dumb.
Anyway, those two muskets take the city back, and it's no big deal except for the war weariness. Which should go away once I finish Louis.
1628: Justinian has a settler! He's seriously trying to reclaim the burn the cities in the middle of this war.
Spoiler :
I was already moving a couple of city defenders from Orleans to the front, since it has culture borders now. Them, plus a couple of airships, take those cavalry, and get me another worker over here. Nice.
And my reinforcements arrive:
Spoiler :
It was a bit risky, bring them over in my wood boats. But Justinian's navy has been harassing me around Babricate, and I haven't seen anything up north for a while. Plus, with three frigates in the stack, I could lose a few fights before losing any troops.
1630: I take Louis' last city.
Spoiler :
I keep it. 3x as many cities as Justinian now. He still won't capitulate, though.
And in the South, my main stack is at Justinian's next city. Not enough cavalry to take it out, but enough to cause a lot of damage:
Spoiler :
No losses, but now I have very few healthy defenders. I think I'll offer peace, regroup and heal for 10 turns, then declare again. With any luck, he'll re-settle those cities, and I can conquer them and keep them this time.
Though it might not matter. I'm at 62.5% land, and victory only needs 64%. Once the borders of the French quarter pop, that might put me over.
The Oz-Man
Enter: The VAIKE!
I'm still only playing on Monarch, but these last few rounds in particular have been very educational. I'm sure I'd have just ragequit altogether (or just wussed out with a space win) facing this kind of heated opposition from Justinian. Seeing how you handled the war--and Airships in particular--has been insightful. Thanks for putting this up!
OneLeggedRhino
King
- Joined
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- Messages
- 656
Thanks! I'm glad I could help.
By the way, the simplest way to do a railroad-age war is with your navy: Land on a hill right next to a city, so you never walk through flatland. It won't get all his cities, but it should get enough that he doesn't have a stack anymore. Like I did with Orleans. I just didn't have that option vs Justinian.
By the way, the simplest way to do a railroad-age war is with your navy: Land on a hill right next to a city, so you never walk through flatland. It won't get all his cities, but it should get enough that he doesn't have a stack anymore. Like I did with Orleans. I just didn't have that option vs Justinian.
OneLeggedRhino
King
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A Peaceful Victory (Turns 710-717, Years 1630-1644 AD)
I start the turnset with 62.5% of the world's land:
Plus a bunch of tiles just waiting for cities to come out of resistance:
Which I think will be enough. I make peace. (No treaty, though, just in case.)
1634: Chartres comes out of resistance. I'm up to 63.5%.
1640: Rheims comes out of resistance. 63.8%.
Here's my stack, just in case.
But I don't think I'll need it. I notice this sliver of land:
And whip a settler out of Orleans. Will it let me win?
Yes! I actually wind up with 64.8% land, thanks to the last French city coming out of resistance also.
Let's watch the replay:
The gray is a bit hard to see, but Justinian starts right at the choke on that Western continent.
It's a great place to start, and he expands North. He and Louis never have a war, Justinian simply expanded until they met, and treated the whole southern half of that continent as his backfill.
By the time I'm conquering Ragnar, Justinian is already huge:
A bit later, Gilgamesh grants freedom to his island, creating the Babylonian Empire. This was a terrible move, and must have slowed down his research a ton.
The next major event was me claiming my whole island:
Then conquering Hammurabi, Gilgamesh and Zara:
The first war with Justinian and Louis, claiming my beachhead:
And the final map. I'd actually declared in 1640 before noticing the sliver of land. This time, I didn't end the turn, so I don't feel guilty about the reload.
Also, that last Great Scientist bulbed Education.
My one “here's a trophy” shot:
He looks really happy, especially for dude with only one leg.
And that's a wrap. Thanks for reading. I'll post some closing thoughts in a little bit.
I start the turnset with 62.5% of the world's land:
Spoiler :
Plus a bunch of tiles just waiting for cities to come out of resistance:
Spoiler :
Which I think will be enough. I make peace. (No treaty, though, just in case.)
1634: Chartres comes out of resistance. I'm up to 63.5%.
Spoiler :
1640: Rheims comes out of resistance. 63.8%.
Spoiler :
Here's my stack, just in case.
Spoiler :
But I don't think I'll need it. I notice this sliver of land:
Spoiler :
And whip a settler out of Orleans. Will it let me win?
Spoiler :
Yes! I actually wind up with 64.8% land, thanks to the last French city coming out of resistance also.
Let's watch the replay:
The gray is a bit hard to see, but Justinian starts right at the choke on that Western continent.
Spoiler :
It's a great place to start, and he expands North. He and Louis never have a war, Justinian simply expanded until they met, and treated the whole southern half of that continent as his backfill.
By the time I'm conquering Ragnar, Justinian is already huge:
Spoiler :
A bit later, Gilgamesh grants freedom to his island, creating the Babylonian Empire. This was a terrible move, and must have slowed down his research a ton.
Spoiler :
The next major event was me claiming my whole island:
Spoiler :
Then conquering Hammurabi, Gilgamesh and Zara:
Spoiler :
The first war with Justinian and Louis, claiming my beachhead:
Spoiler :
And the final map. I'd actually declared in 1640 before noticing the sliver of land. This time, I didn't end the turn, so I don't feel guilty about the reload.
Spoiler :
Also, that last Great Scientist bulbed Education.
My one “here's a trophy” shot:
Spoiler :
He looks really happy, especially for dude with only one leg.
And that's a wrap. Thanks for reading. I'll post some closing thoughts in a little bit.
OneLeggedRhino
King
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2011
- Messages
- 656
Closing Thoughts
Wow, tough game. Good to be playing again, though. Here are a few things that struck me.
Aggressive AI
I used to play with Aggressive AI. It makes the AI build more units, and more likely to declare war. (Not sure if that's just war verse the player, or war verse anyone.) In the Deity Hatty game, Mylene talked me out of it. So this was my first serious game in a while with the normal AI.
At first, it seemed much easier. Ragnar didn't build many troops, and had a really weak attack when he declared. Joao was never a threat.
But Justinian was hard. Seriously. Mylene was right, it's much harder to fight a slightly-less-aggressive, faster-teching AI.
I will say this, though: Justinian never actually declared on me. I was basically free to play the game I wanted. Those who call the normal AI “sandbox mode" -- because you're free to do basically whatever you want -- aren't wrong.
I'm still not sure which AI I like better, or which one is genuinely harder. But I'll play my next few games with the normal AI.
Charismatic
I'd gone in thinking Charismatic was the best early-game trait. I'd been happiness-limited a few too many times, and the main thing you notice as the game goes later is your cities getting bigger.
I don't think it's that good for early-game anymore. I had a hard time in developing enough worthwhile tiles in all but a few cities. (The 2 gold cities, plus the fur city, stayed small all game.) And ultimately, all it does is let you delay Monarchy.
For early game traits, I think I'll take Creative. Placing your cities in slightly better spots will help long-term, too. And for late game, my favorite is still Organized.
Airships
Airships rock. Before this game, I'd only used them for scouting, and I only got physics as a pre-req.
This game, I found 2 things. (Thanks vranasm.) First, airships can re-base anywhere on the map, not just within their range. Second, a single airship isn't that great (because the enemy will still have several good defenders), but 4 or 8 airships are awesome, because they'll probably damage all the good defenders, and leave you attacking the guy's cavalry or other non-defensive units.
I'll definitely prioritize physics and airships next game.
Railroad-Era Warfare
When your opponent can relocate his entire army in 1-2 turns, it's really hard to take the offensive. The attack against Orleans was easy, even though it was my beachhead. The slog through Justinian's land was much harder.
I think the right answer is naval warfare: You land on a hill next to a coastal city, and never walk through the flatland. What that means is that naval superiority is really, really important. Which, again, means that higher tech matters more than aggression.
Thanks for reading. See you next time.
-Rhino
Wow, tough game. Good to be playing again, though. Here are a few things that struck me.
Aggressive AI
I used to play with Aggressive AI. It makes the AI build more units, and more likely to declare war. (Not sure if that's just war verse the player, or war verse anyone.) In the Deity Hatty game, Mylene talked me out of it. So this was my first serious game in a while with the normal AI.
At first, it seemed much easier. Ragnar didn't build many troops, and had a really weak attack when he declared. Joao was never a threat.
But Justinian was hard. Seriously. Mylene was right, it's much harder to fight a slightly-less-aggressive, faster-teching AI.
I will say this, though: Justinian never actually declared on me. I was basically free to play the game I wanted. Those who call the normal AI “sandbox mode" -- because you're free to do basically whatever you want -- aren't wrong.
I'm still not sure which AI I like better, or which one is genuinely harder. But I'll play my next few games with the normal AI.
Charismatic
I'd gone in thinking Charismatic was the best early-game trait. I'd been happiness-limited a few too many times, and the main thing you notice as the game goes later is your cities getting bigger.
I don't think it's that good for early-game anymore. I had a hard time in developing enough worthwhile tiles in all but a few cities. (The 2 gold cities, plus the fur city, stayed small all game.) And ultimately, all it does is let you delay Monarchy.
For early game traits, I think I'll take Creative. Placing your cities in slightly better spots will help long-term, too. And for late game, my favorite is still Organized.
Airships
Airships rock. Before this game, I'd only used them for scouting, and I only got physics as a pre-req.
This game, I found 2 things. (Thanks vranasm.) First, airships can re-base anywhere on the map, not just within their range. Second, a single airship isn't that great (because the enemy will still have several good defenders), but 4 or 8 airships are awesome, because they'll probably damage all the good defenders, and leave you attacking the guy's cavalry or other non-defensive units.
I'll definitely prioritize physics and airships next game.
Railroad-Era Warfare
When your opponent can relocate his entire army in 1-2 turns, it's really hard to take the offensive. The attack against Orleans was easy, even though it was my beachhead. The slog through Justinian's land was much harder.
I think the right answer is naval warfare: You land on a hill next to a coastal city, and never walk through the flatland. What that means is that naval superiority is really, really important. Which, again, means that higher tech matters more than aggression.
Thanks for reading. See you next time.
-Rhino
Um the Muse
King
I believe you meant "hill" there 
I agree that CRE is better than Char in the early game, but I'd like to argue that the extra happy from Char isn't for growing extra big but for whipping heavily.
Lastly, congrats!
I agree that CRE is better than Char in the early game, but I'd like to argue that the extra happy from Char isn't for growing extra big but for whipping heavily.
Lastly, congrats!
OneLeggedRhino
King
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Thanks.
On whipping, I thought that at first, too. But the thing it, it doesn't actually let you increase the rate of whipping. It just lets you do it an extra time. I can imagine situations, like very quickly preparing for a war, where an extra whip would matter. But most of the time, it's just an extra whip that you got at some time in the past, which isn't that big of a deal.
On whipping, I thought that at first, too. But the thing it, it doesn't actually let you increase the rate of whipping. It just lets you do it an extra time. I can imagine situations, like very quickly preparing for a war, where an extra whip would matter. But most of the time, it's just an extra whip that you got at some time in the past, which isn't that big of a deal.
Um the Muse
King
It takes 30 turns for whip anger to wear off. At the happy cap, you obviously can't whip faster than once per 30 turns without making your cities unhappy.
Let's say that it takes you 10 turns to grow to the next population, no matter what population you're at (this is for convenience. Call it your average growth rate). I'll also assume that you have a monument.
What happens if you two pop whip with two extra? Basically you can afford to grow your city faster:
YMMV, depending on how fast you actually grow and whether you can raise the happy cap. Still, it's kind of cool to know that you can whip about twice as fast as normal. Do note that this increases the opportunity cost, so don't do this if your Nth tile is actually worth working for production (grassland hill/ workshop or resource).
Edit: I just realized that I didn't actually need the monument boost to get this started. So, all your city needs is a granary, a food surplus of something like +3 food (? I've never actually calculated it out) and a +1 for a sustainable 2x whip 
. With a +2 you could whip even harder, faster, stronger.
Let's say that it takes you 10 turns to grow to the next population, no matter what population you're at (this is for convenience. Call it your average growth rate). I'll also assume that you have a monument.
What happens if you two pop whip with two extra
? Basically you can afford to grow your city faster:Spoiler :
YMMV, depending on how fast you actually grow and whether you can raise the happy cap. Still, it's kind of cool to know that you can whip about twice as fast as normal. Do note that this increases the opportunity cost, so don't do this if your Nth tile is actually worth working for production (grassland hill/ workshop or resource).
Edit: I just realized that I didn't actually need the monument boost to get this started. So, all your city needs is a granary, a food surplus of something like +3 food (? I've never actually calculated it out) and a +1
for a sustainable 2x whip . With a +2 you could whip even harder, faster, stronger.still have a lot to read, but I'd like to say that in my experience, Justinian is consistently one of the strongest AIs if you don't mess him up in the early/midgame.
Also, creative is a beast of a trait. The border pops are huge - they let you position cities better, they save hammers, they block land, they give you your BFC many turns sooner, they are a godsend on little islands where the fish are in the outer ring, and you can skip mysticism for a long time.
the real treat though, is that because libraries are cheaper and a fast great scientist (or 2 or 3) is the secret ingredient in loads of early moves, creative opens up a lot of possibilities that otherwise just wouldn't be realistic.
Also, creative is a beast of a trait. The border pops are huge - they let you position cities better, they save hammers, they block land, they give you your BFC many turns sooner, they are a godsend on little islands where the fish are in the outer ring, and you can skip mysticism for a long time.
the real treat though, is that because libraries are cheaper and a fast great scientist (or 2 or 3) is the secret ingredient in loads of early moves, creative opens up a lot of possibilities that otherwise just wouldn't be realistic.
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