Role Play Challenge: Asoka and the Doomsday Machine

[madscientist]

Well I am tired of trying to guess what happens in this game. Here I thought you were making a friend out of Shaka and now he's dead. With all the cities you've razed in Mongolia, Kubla's never gonna be anything but furious towards you, I would up and attack him hard being that he's still your neighbor. (If your rules permit) You get him cleared out of there, you can really start thinking about how to win the game. It ought to be an interesting finish.

Indeed, I am wonder myself!!!

Shaka completely surprised me and rather infuriated me. If you look at civopedia you will not that Asoka was a peaceful guy but also a bloodthirty butcher until he found Buddhist enlightenment. So look at it this way, I am just going in reverse of history!

Right now JC, KK, and SB are Furious with me. But Stalin is only annoyed so there is hope.

Now as far as attacking KK, that may not be in our best interest at teh moment. Let him and the Russians tear each other apart while we tech and build a stronger army. And if you are worried about Russia getting too powerful remember he's still at war with SB and those very highly promoted longbows.

Victory? Perhaps I should just let the world kill themselves and win by default! Agressive AIs are morons, I have said it before. War-maniacs but not much brains.

 

[AmazonQueen]

I think fair play to eliminate shaka, he wasn't really into the whole spirit of buddhism
@ifinnem the only way to spread a non- state religion to someone in theocracy is to force them out of theocracy, I think a spy can do this.

Or you can bribe them to change Civics. Won't work if their preferred Civic is Theocracy but I doubt thats the case with Stalin. Unfortunately theres nothing to stop them changing back to Theocracy after 10 turns so this could be very expensive in gold and/or techs if 1 batch of missionaries isn't enough to convince them to change religion.

 

[bestje]

if you raze every other holy city am i right in saying that any new city can only become buddhist unless a missionary is used, so this might be a way around the lack of open borders

 

[madscientist]

Asoka and the Doomsday MAchine: Part VI

OK, we are starting to really get more of a tech lead. We got to liberalism first and we could probably have held off on that and taken industrialization as the free tech. Have I ever said that agressive AI is dumb as a stump. Basically we teched/rebuilt, got Stalin to cautious with Open borders, and got into another war with Kublai. I will say Stalin is a bit of a concern as he has grenaders and crussairs to our muskets and knights although rifling is about a dozen turns away.

To start the tehc path: paper/education/phil/liberalism/(took printing press)/Replacement Parts/chemistry/rifling.

We got a Great Prophet which we used for a GA. A popped Great Scientist we used to bulb most of PP.

Our GP

First to liberlaism

Liek I said we took PP and our gold got a nice boost.

Stalin declared on Sitting Bull and a few turns later.

The AP did not allow us to drag SB and Stalin into the Fray. Yes Sitting Bull now has 12 Buddhist city.

Kublai brought an enormous stack against Corinth which we shredded with the tank, trebs for collateral damage, and knights to get that flanking damage on his trebs.

Notice the drop in KK's Power graph numbers?

We them grouped 2 forces, one from the north (which took Shaka lands) and the other from Corinth and attacked Kublai's middle city

We then took Old Sari on the northern border again. We moved the tank into the new border city and then sat down with KK.

OK for ten turns we'll take drama. Kore importantly we got a map finally

I saved here, eastern borders

A view of the entire map.

Now note that Stalin's land is broken in half by Mongol territory. We could only convert 2 of Stalin's cities as we could nto reach any others.

Powergraph numbers

Just wish I could get Stalin to help dogpile KK. I'll need to work on that a bit.



Tech

OK, doing justr fine, and the other AIs have a bit to go before rifling. We need to keep an eye out for those Russian Cossacks.


And Victory conditions

I am thinking Domination is in reach soon.

So where to go from here?

I am thinking teching rifling, mass produce them and finish off KK and JC. Then let's see if we can get the AP win. The only issue is there are cities off the continent which are Mongol.

 

[Mesousa]

To start the tehc path: paper/education/phil/liberalism/(took printing press)/Replacement Parts/chemistry/rifling.

We got a Great Prophet which we used for a GA. A popped Great Scientist we used to bulb most of PP.

[...]

First to liberlaism

Liek I said we took PP and our gold got a nice boost.

Um, did you first bulb part of Printing Press with a Great Scientist and then take it for free from Liberalism? Thereby completely wasting that GS?

Now note that Stalin's land is broken in half by Mongol territory. We could only convert 2 of Stalin's cities as we could nto reach any others.

Do Stalin and the Khan get along well enough with each other to have open borders? Then you could just gift missionaries to Stalin for him to use on his cities you can't reach.

 

[IPEX-731BA5DD06]

Not the brightest move made...should just have researched the rest and taken Replaceable parts..........

Oh well...........doing well......

Tech Rifles , and wipe them out...ALL OF THEM.........

Sitting bull, seems to be the Tech'er out of the bunch....

Maybe try for an Appolotic palace dog pile........

Remember, you can't get a diplomatic victory, if you can vote yourself the winner, and ALL players need 1 city of religion...........

What about JC??

 

[madscientist]

No, I am pretty certain I took chemistry with the GS not PP. Sorry it was late when I posted the segemnt.

KK and Stalin hate each other, noone has open borders.

 

[madscientist]

Asoka and the Doomsday Machine: PArt VIII

Asoka has turned into a bloodlusting savage. SO much for the peaceful approach. These heathens have been slow to see the truth of the Buddhist approach and must be forced to realize this. These other civilizations have incompetant leader with the exception of the Noble Russians, once our enemy ealy on but now our friend. So sit back and enjoy as the pacifict Indian civilization shows these idiotic agressive leaders what a true War-Monger is.

First our techpath throughout the segment

Rifling/Music.Military tradition/Optics/Scientific method/communism.steel/Steam Power/partway through railroad.

We used a GS to bulb part of SM while we held a popped GP for a future GA.

Now, First we have open borders with Stalin as we have theocracy and mercantilism. We also got a random event that gave us +3 relations with all leaders, which brings Stalin to pleased. Thus

Yeah, he's no Buddhist yet but that is on the way.

We also got this off Stalin

Yeah, yeah, yeah I am supposed to NOT bribe AIs into wars. That's a guideline, plus the Mongol dog is not human, he's nothing but keshik dung. Let him feel the wrath of another Buddhist brother.

And then the fiend Native American insults the great Buddhist gods!!!! We agree for now but you shall pay SB, you shall pay!!!

Our techs are doing pretty well, especially the military ones. Remember how pathetic we were, no more. The Agressive AIs are plain idiotic, teching in a very impotent way and allowing the mighty Indians to regroup.

Pretty soon we get that expected request.

We declare war as we cannot deny a Buddhist brother that request. He's not Buddhist yet, but he will be he will be!

This time we are out to eliminate this Mongol menace.

Easy pickings

We sent part of our army north and south, we take another city.

Yes, Yes this feels good. All hail the glory of the Buddist religion. At this point we are sending Missionaries into newly conquered lands as well as gifting them to Stalin who definitley knwos what to do with them,.

Then we find a Native American city in the path to more Mogol cities. We remember that insult, death to Sitting Bull!!!!!

Here is a view to the north, as you can see we now connect to all Russian lands!!!

We gifted the most northern Mongol city back to Stalin for some Brownie points. Unfortunately Shanghai culture flipped to him later, no great loss.

Finally we take the last Mongol city near our borders. KK has been a dog and a constant threat to the Indian empiure, he had this coming.

Finally we allow peace in exchange for compass. The Mongol dog is left with three former Roamn cities, he cna wait.

Meanwhile we recapture Snaketown from SB.

And take peace

But we are meerly catching our breath.............

To be continued.

 

[madscientist]

Asoka and the Doomsday Machine: Part VIII continued

Back to the war, er I mean game. Actually that pease treay with SB was for 650 gold, took the screenshot too early.

So we are building units like crazy. Cavalry/rifles/cannons. Our former maces we had upgraded to rifles. Liekwise the knights to cavalry and the few trebs to cannons. The former Zulu capitla of Ulandi
had 2 settled GGs, we built the HE and West Point there plus settled another GG. All units coming out of that city have 17 XP or 4 promotions. We are getting cannons at CR III and barage I.


Oh though all of this our tank sat arround doing nothing. At this point the Indians are completely self-sufficient with no real need of the God's protection. Still they are devoted Buddhist and plan to destroy those who oppose then.

Now Comrad Stalin. We fed alot of Buddhist missionaries to him, then used a spy to convert him to Buddhism. Once we got communism we adopted state property and got the favorite civic bonus. He was mostly friendly at this point. Ands we got this request

Time to exterminate teh Native Americans.

We sent our stack into the heart of NA lands.

Note SB actually had rifiling and cavalry but he was no match for our Indian power.

We hit the NA core

Here we actually converted Stalin to Buddhism and kept doing it every 10 turns until he adopted FR, which as allowable.

And our civics once he converted

We did have to raze SB's Holy christian city.

SB is down to a few tundra coast cities which we take fairly easily.

And as you cna see....

That's 3 down!

I saved at this point, wanting to see some reaction before I move in for the final kill here.

Note that KK is easily accessable, as well as JC's only continentla city.

Our current civics, with Stalin at FR

And most important, the victory conditions.

For completeness the world, at least the heathen lands.

So how do we get victory here?

I am pretty sure taking those remaining Mongol cities and Romes last continental city should get us the needed land for a doination win. Just not 100% certain.

Attacking Stalin is definitely out, he is our friend now (unless he pulls a Shaka move).

We can easily get teh UN vote but that is ALOT of work.

The AP requires us to convert 1 Roman city after eliminating KK. I am thinking of taking JC's last continental city, converting it to Buddhism, then gifting it back to him. That should bring up the AP vote.

What do you all say!!!!

 

[NintendoTogepi]

I would personally wipe out KK and JC (when did JC de-vassal from KK?) and try not to win before you do so.

After which, I would go for a AP win or a Domination win.

 

[Inspector Dex]

Is anyone else seeing "bandwidth exceeded" instead of the pictures for the last round? I hope it's not just me.

 

[tycoonist]

Is anyone else seeing "bandwidth exceeded" instead of the pictures for the last round? I hope it's not just me.

ditto.....

 

[IPEX-731BA5DD06]

No, I just see 'exceptional bandwidth'

YES...I'm seeing it 2, to, two, too.....what ever

back to the game/challange at hand.

Umm Asoka...that sucker Asoka, that's what I allway's say, seems to have gotten the taste for domination.

In reality, he did concour most of modern india, so seems true to history.

A.P. palace victory, you cant' get the vote if you can vote your self in only...isn't that the new mod to it........

What the hey, give it a spin.....

 

[NintendoTogepi]

I see the pictures fine.

Edit: NOW they're broken

 

[grandad1982]

I see no pictures!

 

[madscientist]

Asoka and the Doomsday Machine: Final


First of all I do not know why everyone is having problems viewing the pictures. I can see them fine and have done everything as I usually do. I had some internet problems on my older home computer but not the newer one. Problem with photobucket or Civfanatics?????

Well, let's hope it fixes itself.

Onto the game, we essentially ran a simple game. WE made nice with Comrad Stalin our Buddhist brother. We also wiped all the heathen Mongols and Romans off the map and obtained a Domination win although we had enough votes to get the AP win also regardless of what Stalin thought.

First we continue trading with Stalin.

YEs astronomy for 2 reasons. I anticipate doing the naval assault thing for JC's off shore cities and we need it for Physics and those airships in case things sour with Comrad Stalin.


We wind up and toss the Indian war machine at the Mongol dogs who are incompetant at wiping JC off th map.

We ask Stalin to join for 1 reason, we do not want KK vassaling to Stalin triggering an Indian/Russian war. Besides, he would likely do it anyway.

Taking those three Mongol cities were pretty easy.

And then

There were 2!

We started building a modest navy on our eastern shore, plus spammed all machine guns (drill IV) from Ulandi incase Stalin has some second thoughts about us.

Soon we declare on JC, taking the last continental city

And swamping his off-shore islands quickly

You can see how close we are

We make another trade with Stalin to cement technology superiority against Stalin

And then there was 1> But we will allow our Buddhist brother to live.

A last view of our Doomsday weapon which we give distinct honor to in our capital

And very soon

Our domination victory.

Note we could have gotten the AP win if we had to.

The religious distributionm of Buddhism, not to bad and alot of Missionaries were on their way!

And a final view our Peace loving war-monger!!!

Thanks to all for your interest and support on the game. Not the way I envisioned it, but a great challenge nevertheless.

I will post my thoughts on the challenge in the nest post.

EDIT: Wow I see the bandwidth problem now!!!! I am thinking photobucket is asking for either myself or all readers to upgrade to version PRO. Well I thought it was for free but perhaps that has changed. Definitely a problem if I plan to do antoehr challenge. Any suggestions out there are appreciated!!!!

 

[r_rolo1]

Photobucket isn't exactly free... it gives you some bandwidht usage per user per month in the free acount ( only gives you unlimited bandwidht if you pay ). If your pictures are widely seen you'll break the limit soon and you'll need to wait until the end of the month.... Aelf stumbled on it a while ago.

You could make a second account ( not sure if it works... ) or try another photo server for a while.

 

[bestje]

Photobucket isn't exactly free... it gives you some bandwidht usage per user per month in the free acount ( only gives you unlimited bandwidht if you pay ). If your pictures are widely seen you'll break the limit soon and you'll need to wait until the end of the month.... Aelf stumbled on it a while ago.

I think that makes you a victim of your own popularity

well done on the win, have to say that I for one wasn't expecting a domination victory.

any thoughts on what is up next?

 

[r_rolo1]

^^he already responded in his planning thread: OCC with Augustus

 

[madscientist]

First regardingthe bandwidth messages, I shall purchase the photobucket_pro to remedy that problem. Just be a little pateint.

Next challenge is The Glory of Rome, a OCC game on an inlad sea.

Now regarding the Asoka RPC

Comments about the RPC rules;
1) We did adjust the peaceful orientated rules to deal with teh Agressive AIs. Asoka ws a peaceful Buddhist but there was a need to defend the faith, and turning agressive was the only way.
2) For the entire game we kept closed borders with the exception of Stailin (opened during merc/theocracy then switched civics to SP once Stalin adopted Buddhism).
3) Asoka did bribe Stalin into some wars against the heathen dogs.
4) The Doomsday weapon was an excellent defensive toll and essentially saved our Buddhist buts early against Shaka and later against the Mongols, all hail the mighty weapon of the gods.
5) We were very happy to raze all of those holy cities though. The only one we did not get to I believe were the Islam and Hindu Holy cities, but that would have been bad form for Asoka, the Russians were our friends.

Comments about the game:
1) The early attack on Alexander to secure the iron was big.
2) USing teh AP to manipulate others against the Mongols was a big deal. AP is one of the strongest wonders in my opinion.
3) Shaka's backstab was classic, gotta love how CIV made that AI!!! Of course it was a clear rules violation not to let him off the hook but the hell with him.
4) Once Shaka was defeated and there were signs of good relations with Stalin the game was essentially won.
5) The economy: was completely trashed early-mid game. A lesson to all new players, any economy can be resurrected. We were steamrolling and could easily have outteched Stalin if we chose,. The more land the better.

Educational:

1) Well not teh best example of diplomacy, I confess.
2) Agressive AIs are stupid and much easier to handle once you get over the initial start.
3) Indian War-mongers: India is one of those peaceful agressors!!! Asoka's traits Spi/ORG are very stronge and the lack of agressive or charismatic made no real differece once we settled a few GGs while running theocracy. Ulundi was a military monster with teh HE and WP plus some setteld GGs from Shaka, we were producing CR III/Barrage I cannons and Drill IV macjine guns right out of the gate.

Hope eeryone enjoyed the game>>>