Role Play Challenge: Hannibal's Deal with the Devil!

[Der Graf]

HBR is 62 turns away atm - in this time, countless trees should have fallen victim to your civilian axes to build the bad, bad military brothers-in-the-axe.
And then wreak havoc on this Lincoln-guy.

Axe-rush ftw !

 

[bestje]

SH costs as much as 5 axes/ 4 Numidians so it shouldn't be that much of a delay.
So go for it it will only delay you by a little bit, whilst it builds your cities are growing and you can tech HBR at the same time

 

[madscientist]

From a strategic point of view rather than RPC, Lincoln is one of the weaker military leaders. He has already deviated to mysticism and polytheism, thus is probably a bit behind. He's Charismatic, but so is Hannibal. My best guess is Building Stonehenge and teching HBR is worth it.

Now if Peter was as close I would be thinking otherwise as all teh Russians know how to fight.

Finally, Stonehenge get's me a head start on a Prophet for the Hindu shrine.

 

[madscientist]

Hannibal's Deal with the Devil: Part II

Aye me fine friends out there, we have done a fine thing in this here game. I am sure the audience shall be much pleased.

We started by switching our capital to Stonehenge. Unfortunately it was built overseas although we got a nice boost to our treasury allowing us to run at 100% for a long time. But mad, how can a missed wonder last such a long time in teh treasury. Aye, good question me friends, let's discuss the matter.

Our tech path for a financial leader with gold and floodplains

Masonrry/HBR/hunting/archery/writing/Math Currency

And shiver me timbers, there be yet another leader in 'dis hemishpere

Sigh................

So we started building nothing but military, monuments, and barracks.

Quickly we get a small stack to take over that nearby Barb city

Floodplains, wine, hills. Nice haul for a Barb city.

And the faith of dem Hindu gods has spread to us.

Ah mister Lincoln, we shalt join your heathen faith!

We also got a message about horse wispering

Normally a mission I fail at, but I expect this early to be a getting those 7 Pony Stables!

But down to some serious business here, Old Abe, 'dis world just aint big enough for the two of us

Ah Mister Lincoln, that capital of your's is real peachy.

And the devil just aint getting involved here!

Boston seams a bit overdefended is yer ask me so we went towards that city named New York where I hear you can have a grand old time!

Aye lads, we be akeepin' that nice town as those Jumbos can provide a powerful punch against those otehr leaders.

But I am getting ahead of meself there, about Boston

Methinks that mine in da' middle of nowhere be perhaps an iron mine!

And old Abe managed to send out one last settler which we ran down and razed.

Sorry ABe, yer such a great trading partner, too bad old Aztecio wasn't the close leader!

Now we got's ouselves a whole lot o' booty from American. In fact, we got ourselves currency well before we trashed the economy. Come maties, take a peep at our lands

Aint it a fine land for a financial type leader! Plenty of cottages my people, we need alot of comemrce here for I see some fast northenly expansion!

As we saved starting to tech Code of LAws, a look at whats to the north

Mighty tempting there to block off land with a Panama type city! That old devil certainly makes things atempting! But we shall pass, looking to restructure a we bit.

So if there are no complaints out there, I am a thinkin' we should research CoL for courthouses followed by Construction. Adopt slavery and then perhaps pay our northernly a visit with some well promoted units!

Oh, by the way. I settled our first Great General in the capital figuring we are going to be building ALOT of military and the capital is always a grand production Powerhouse!

 

[Matthew5117]

NO! Stonehenge! It would have worked out so great!

Perhaps it was built in Tenochiltin (or whatever the Aztec's capital is)... or even in Russia's capital.

No, no, no! We cannot go after Stonehenge. We need to go along.

My plan for you would be:

-once New York's borders pop, you'll have secured tons of land from the Russians and Aztecs, luckily you don't have to race to settle up north because, well it coasts all over!
-beeline CoL, it looks like you will get currency in 2 turns, so once that's researched, build wealth where possible until you get CoL
-once your economy improves, settle the land around you
-long term plans, I'm looking at medieval wars with mace men and trebuchets (if not musketmen)

The other alternative is to attack Peter right now. You're 2.1 times in power!

 

[Loki Strikes]

I would kill Peter while you can Mad, them Russians know how to fight as you yourelf pointed out, you have a huge advantage right now, use it, and while you are at it kill Monty, you are on a large landmass, it may be enough for dom by itself, if you kill everyone and settle it out you could see a dom victory without late war or divine intervention.

 

[Joshua368]

It'd probably be worthwhile to place a panama city down, simply to grab that marble. Stuff like Mausolleum or Great Library will help even if you plan on warring a lot.

 

[Matthew5117]

It'd probably be worthwhile to place a panama city down, simply to grab that marble. Stuff like Mausolleum or Great Library will help even if you plan on warring a lot.

No settling on the coast! One of the RPC rules!

 

[UWHabs]

I think you've done enough killing for now. Build a city to grab the 5+ floodplains and wheat, then expand out west while Monty and Peter fight it out.

 

[Killroyan]

Arrr, he can settle a city west of the bananas. It is landlocked, but does have some filthy coastal tiles. It is however a great blocking city, maties.

 

[huerfanista]

Keep some military near the isthmus to guard against the Lunatic and teh Backstabber. With all your juicy land, tech to machinery and CS and invade with xbows, numis, and maces. It'll be a cakewalk (take out those jumbos that pete has asap, btw). Oh, and try to get your economy in shape before invading (courthouses in all your cities, markets in commerce cities). Once you start capturing all of Pete and Monty's cities, you will be paying a TON of maintenance (both distance and number). Be prepared for the economy to crash. Building wonders for cash once you have enough military is a good way to stay afloat. Be sure to pick a decent city of theirs to build the forbidden palace in, it will make a huge difference. Long-term, you should beeline communism after lib. You'll really need SP to get your economy humming. Great job so far.

EDIT: If you don't have IW, get it ASAP and build some swords. You can raise cash and get them up to CR3 by taking out barb cities in the tundra and the jungle to the southwest. When you invade, upgrade to CR3 maces for some real pirate fun. With a settled GG, build a woody2 axe and get him up to woody3 hunting barbs. They make great healers (no need to waste a GG on a M3 healer). With CHA it's pretty easy to get to W3M1, which is as good as a M3 unit (except it doesn't have the adjacent tile healing).

 

[oynaz]

I vote for continuing the war. Get your gold from from plundering. Pirates don't need no economy!

 

[AlienSexFilth]

Get panama (and marble as well if possible), get trebs + maces and go pay pete a visit ;-)
GO GO MAD!

 

[Krill]

That is one evil SOB land bridge. On the south you would have to settle next to the rice so that a new city would overlap on the gold tiles and have some desert, or a northern city would be on or adjacent to the banana, 8 tiles away. Either way you need the fogbusters....

 

[huerfanista]

I've been playing a shodow game, with somewhat relaxed rules, which are no shipbuilding of any kind ever, coastal cities are OK and working water tiles allowed (but not developed using workboats), "sailing" techs may be traded for but not researched (calendar, optics, compass, and astro are not tied to sailing in the real world, after all - and besides, I do want to be able to win this game ), fish resources pillaged by bards may not be replaced.

I'll try not to post past where Mad is at the time, and will avoid any map spoilers. It certainly will play out differently than Mad's game, but hopefully is in the spirit of the RPCs (especially relaxing the rules ).

So without further ado:

Spoiler :

Prelude: Sympathy for the devil

Hannibal, the old pirate, slept uneasily, his dreams disturbed by old memories of the heartless sea. Although it tolerated man's trespass on it's vast expanse, the sea was ever ready to unleash untold fury. Countless lives it had claimed, and Hannibal knew that he had been lucky to survive. His dreams of vast wealth and power had gone unfulfilled, however. What wouldn't he give for a chance to gain a bit of wealth and power before he died?

Suddenly, he felt a presence - a vast menace wreathed in sulferous smoke. He jolted fully awake, and in the shadows of his bedroom he could just make out the shadow of a man. Quickly lighting his whale-oil lamp,he saw a gaunt form, thin and lanky, with a face carved with creases of a lifetime of hard partying. "Who the hell be you, and what be your business" he demanded.

"'Who the hell', indeed! Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste," spoke the stranger, with the lilting voice of a singer. "Let me elaborate. Hit it, lads!" And from the shadows poured forth a symphony of sound, for the stranger had brought a band of others, like himself, worn with the ravages of time, including one so gaunt and wrinkled (one "keith", as he later learned) that it was hard to believe he could call forth such melodious tunes from his strange stringed instrument.

"All right, all right, belay that, beautious though it may be", demanded Hannibal. "Speak plainly and state yer business."

"They call me Old Mick... er, I mean, Old Nick. And I'm here to make you a proposition, for my own entertainment as it were. I will grant you the means to fulfill all of your old dreams, and much more, Hannibal. Vast lands, boundless wealth, nay, dominion over the entire world will I grant you if you will forever abandon the sea." Thus spoke the ancient rocker, and Hannibal knew in his bones that this mysterious stranger - the devil himself or one of his minions, no doubt - had the means to grant this boon.

"Let me get this straight," replied Hannibal."You mean that I may build no ships or boats of any kind? How, then, am I to gain power over the other continent that lies far over the seas, where lords of great power dwell, even assuming that I can overpower the lordlings of my own land? Do you mean to temp me with dreams of power, only to deceive me by denying me the means to transport my armies o'er the sea?"

"Nay, nay," replied the stranger, "Once the lords from beyond your shores have made their presence known, I will rise up from the sea a vast bridge of land, over which your armies may travel to yon foreign shores."

"Interesting," murmered Hannibal to himself. "Well then, the devil is in the details, as they say. If I may not build any ships, surely my people may be allowed to cast their lines and nets from the shore? And if, perhaps, I were to capture cities with fishing farms intact, I should be allowed to work them as well. And any arts and sciences that derive from sailing should be mine to know, so that I may be able to advance the power of my armies and harvest the bounty of the land!" he demanded. "Elsewise, this quest will be impossible to fulfill."

"Not what I was planning," said the stranger, "but you make some good points. You are a pirate, aren't you, and not a lawyer?"

"What's the difference?" replied Hannibal.

"Good point. Well, then, yes, I think I can accept those terms." The eyes of the stranger seemed to glow with anticipation as an evil grin spread across his face. Hannibal had never seen lips that large!

"Just one more thing," replied Hannibal. "I want control over when and how this land bridge be fashioned. It will be damned difficult to get an army over such an endless and narrow causeway, and I may wish it to be done in stages so as to give my armies at least a chance of success."

"You drive a hard bargain, Han. More lawyer than priate, seems to me. Yet I will agree, with the following conditions: you may not research any of the sciences based on sailing, but you may trade for them. And not a single boat shall you build, not even a workboat, nor any lighthouses. And any nets that are pillaged by barbarians may not be replaced."

"Then we have a deal," said Hannibal. "Shall we sign our names in blood?"

"Let it bleed!" replied Old Nick.

Act 1: There's gold in them thar hills!

I start by moving the warrior NW to get a better view of the surroundings, and spot gold in the distance! Since this is marathon and I'm financial, I decide to take a gamble and head for the hills. (Unfortunately, the mouse moved wile taking the screenshot, so ignore where the settlers arrow is headed ).

Once we get there, we see lots of floodplains for an excellent starting location. I settle on the forested riverside plains tile to grab both gold hills and as many floodplains as I can.

The starting tech order is BW, wheel, pottery, agriculture, mysticism, IW, and the starting build order is worker, warrior, barracks. When BW finishes, copper is revealed in the BFC! So those of you who wanted to see an axe rush will get your wish. Moving the settler puts us right next door to Lincoln, which is perfect for the axe rush. The worker first mines one of the gold to speed up research until BW finishes, and then farms a floodplain. Once pottery is in he starts cottaging floodplains and mining hills. Once BW is in, we switch to working floodplains and cottages until size 3, then work the gold mine again to keep research humming. We also meet Peter fairly early.

Once the barracks is done, the build is *axes. Meanwhile, the starting warrior popped a bunch of huts for 279, and reached woody2. Once I get him back to Carthage after revealing most of the starting continent north of the isthmus, I spend some of that gold to upgrade him to an axe. This should make it very easy to get him to woody3 for a great medic unit, and will help stealing Lincoln's workers. In fact, I DOW him twice, in 2800BC and 2500BC, to grab workers, taking peace ASAP each time (he's such a pushover). After all, what's more piratey than stealing workers!

Act 2: Mr. Hannibal goes to Washington

Finally, in 2100BC my W2 Axeman spots an archer and settler leaving Washington and heading NW. I decide that it's time to pull the trigger, so I kill the archer (getting another worker from the settler) and send 4 axes in while my W2 axe heals (I know, it's not enough - one of my main problems with early DOWs - but the time was ripe so I took a gamble. Hey, pirates love to gamble!) Luckily, Washington only had 2 archers, but 1 was CG. I lost the first 2 CR1 axes (probably should have promoted them shield), the 3rd won, but the 4th died at good odds. By then, my W2 axe (I call him John Wilkes Booth ) is healed, so I send him in for the win and Washington falls in 2050BC. Lincoln dies in his box at the Ford Theater, and the American civilization is destroyed.

I send all my workers to Washington and they start chopping the Great Wall until it finishes. Since stonehenge was build around 2300BC I was nervous about getting it, but we succeed. Here's a shot of the pirate empire in 1610BC:

To end this segment, Utica is founded to block the isthmus and claim the iron. I'll be building swords to raise cash and gain promos from barb cities. I'll keep the one that's popped up near the jumbos/floodplains, but will rze the rest unless they're founded in a good location. Monty finally showed up as well. The Lunatic and the Backstabber! Interesting neighbors. It will be fun to send them both to Davy Jones locker, and soon.

 

[Matthew5117]

@huerfanista

Spoiler :

No settling on the coast!!!

 

[huerfanista]

@Mathew5117

Spoiler :

I'm not playing under Mad's rules! I posted the rules I'm playing under, and not settling on the coast is not on the list.

 

[Matthew5117]

@huerfanista

Spoiler :

Whoops. I don't read intros...

 

[madscientist]

Hannibal's Deal with the Devil: Part III

Aye me friends, 'tis a rather tame and slow segment o' building up da' mighty empire.

First of all let us take a peak at the old techrate

CoL/Poltheism/Priesthood/Construction/Monarchy/Fuedalism/Metal Casting/Machinery/start Civil Service

Aye, tis a mouthfull there!

Yet early in the segment we find Petey-boy has done discovered alphabet

As we pirates always like a good trade, we opened ourselves up a bit

And of course we have iron unless old Abe was mining plain air

And Aztecio comes asking for some booty, Arg we hates giving it up but

Best to stay on good terms with the neighbors.

And after CoL...

Aye maties, we got's 2 holy cities! We send the free missionary to teh capital and build us a pair of temples real quick-like. Once done we run the two priests.

Meanwhile we build city #7 to work more floodplains and to get that 7th Stable.

We done investigated dat' northern continent to see what dem' folks are up to.

Seams old Aztecio got's himself quite a few coastal cities while Petey build alot of land-locked. Down right interesting-like, wouldn't yer say!

We also done trained our fighters a wee bit

just to keep our abilities RAZOR sharp

Another few trades

And we adjusted civics to HR. We had adopted slavery earlier and whipped a bunch of courthouses.

Aztecio also made several "requests"

Me thinkin' is Aztecio is 2 techs from Stompin Jumbos and Petey is well, a bit thin skinned dis's game. In fact we got's peace a littel later.

We got's our seven stables

And opted for 7 free Numidian archers! 7 free UUs are too much to pass up.

Our biggest problem was Barbarina who harrassed our southern borders non-stop.

And after Fuedalism, we changed civics

Time to start gerring up a bit.

We dropped our last city

And finally got the Great Prophet which we used for

And as we are teching Civili Service to open up Macemen, we decide to send out our first major army.

And saved.

Our cities

And techs

OK mates! Who do we attack first! Do we attack Aztecio who has a larger backwards army but alot of coastal cities we need to raze. Or do hit the weaker Petey-boy who has pathetic power numbers but has Longbows.

Make up your minds people, me sword arm is getting a littel itchy........

 

[Matthew5117]

Nice pirate text!

Tough choice. By going after Monty, you'll have succeeded:

- Taking out the Stronger AI in terms of military power
- Taking out a pest
- Taking out him won't make you lose a tech friend

But...

- lose lots of cities because of coastal rule

Taking out Peter lets you:

- Remove the threat of Longbows becoming a major nuisance
- capture many cities that don't interfere with rules

But...

- Lose a tech friend

Not much more to say... if its possible, I say take out Peter then immediately Monty. If not, go after Monty. He's too annoying to not attack.