SAM-01 Smoke and Mirrors

[Whosit]

OK, hi guys. I think I can play my set this afternoon. I'll see about doing the full twenty this time, heh, since I'm feeling a bit more "with it" than I was last week.

Norvin: Yeah, sometimes I have trouble figuring out exactly what was going on, though usually as long as the player explains their thought processes in their report, I can get a handle on it. I do group stacks when I move 'em, but I always disengage them before I give any individual order. The goof on my set when I promoted everything Combat II was because I thought I had hit the separate button already.

Anyway, the plan seems clear. Onward to glory! To Heracles Hill!

Oh, yeah, why don't you guys start brainstorming some new town names for our acquisitions? I'll come up with a few before I start my set; I'd just like to have something pronounceable to work with by the end of my set. Otherwise, I'll just come up with new names unilaterally.

 

[Glare Seethe]

Do you find it hard to figure out what the player before you was doing? For instance, when I got the save from you all the stacks were grouped together. In my SP games I don't do that as there are countless times that I accidentally gave the whole stack the exact same promotions. So when I took over I ungrouped them so as not to screw up. It pretty much doesn't matter in this situation as we are slicing through HC like nothing but it certainly would if it was a tough battle.

If it was a tougher war I probably would have been more careful with stack composition and grouping and such as well. It takes me maybe 10-15 minutes to get up to speed when I open the save - especially in the middle of a war when you have to figure out which units are going to do what, which have movement left, which are in possible danger, what are the targets, etc. But normally I just check every city and look up all the workers, check possible trades, diplo, etc. so it goes relatively fast.

I think we have been doing a good job with detailed reports, though, so I am never totally lost, I always know more or less what's going on and what I should be paying attention to, and often we have a plan already decided upon when one of us starts playing.

That said I admit I play relatively fast, so it's possible that some things the previous player was doing I end up not noticing... I never do any food/hammer calculations for cities, for example - Whosit did a lot of that for this game, I'm sure that must have taken some time. I kind of just make quick decisions and roll with them, which is why my SP games rarely reach turn 100 (on Epic!), I get annoyed with small mistakes and quit. Kind of why I decided to play some SGs, it slows down my playing and forces me to think a lot more, and there is a team to answer to, can't just quit the game...

 

[Glare Seethe]

Oh, yeah, why don't you guys start brainstorming some new town names for our acquisitions? I'll come up with a few before I start my set; I'd just like to have something pronounceable to work with by the end of my set. Otherwise, I'll just come up with new names unilaterally.

Unpronounceable names actually go well with the rest of our empire, I think! Ollantaytambo can just be Ollan, like Mezhdurechensk is Mezh.

 

[Norvin_Green]

Either that or we go with Abe, Ben, Cam, Don, etc.
As far as grasping the situation in 10 minutes, that amazes me. I quit my SP games all the time. My strength is early game MM but I tend to falter once the game gets "too big" to do that.
Oh, I did build a Military Academy in Yakutsk or Yaroslavl for our ship-building operation.

 

[Whosit]

I'm not so good with micro-management at any point in the game, and when games get longer and bigger, I tend to overlook things (especially bad in RTS games, heh). But, um . . . what was my strong point, again?

Well, anyway, the main reason I quit my SP games is a short attention span, I think, or if a game just doesn't "grab" me after a few dozen turns. I think a lot of people say that SGs force them to play through to the end.

 

[Norvin_Green]

So basically we all have the same problem!

 

[Whosit]

Smoke and Mirrors: Red Destiny

This is kinda long. Apologies in advance. Even when I try to keep things to a minimum, this happens.

Inherited Turn 401, 1782 AD

Alrighty, gonna take a quick sweep over the Empire, though it looks like I may have to take this as quickly as possible. Still some infrastructure we should have in Stalingrad, like a Bank and Observatory. I'm going to make that a priority so we can suck as much out of Bureaucracy as we can before we switch.

I stagnate Mezh, hiring a Spy and a Merchant in order to accelerate the production of a Great Person. 43 turns now, instead of 64, but still awhile. Biology will net this town 6 more food.

The Security Bureau being constructed in Elektrogorsk makes me happy. Once that's
done, we'll slot in the National Park. I see a forest preserve under construction,
but I'll see if I can spare any more workers, or perhaps build a few more if needed.
Realization: Ah, we are building railroads. Yes, those are important. Once war is concluded, or at least as soon as it looks like it's in the bag, I'll put the Iron Works in Svetlograd since that's where we were planning to put it, as I recall. Probably far too late for the SoL since it was started during the last set. It's a nice Wonder, but not necessary, I think.

I make a note to ensure that Werz works some of those grassland farms when it grows.

Most everything else looks good, but I'm going to prioritize cultural buildings in our furthest French cities to try and minimize the revolts. Yeah, they won't be contributing to the war effort, but they're not doing much good if they're in revolt half of the time.

Anyway, things look pretty good city-wise.

I cut Espionage Points off of Capac since he's gonna be a Vassal soon. Focus on Pacal, and a few on Mao. I don't know if we'll be seeing anyone's research any time soon.

*drools looking at all of the Incan workers up north* Maybe I can snag me a few.
Though they'll probably all just run to their cities. Hrmf.

OK, some of our troops still have move, so let's see what damage I can do. I can attack Corihua--yeah, a few times. I am SO going to rename a few cities. I'll note what I do so we can change it later, but I'm set on this.

Kill a few defenders, not enough troops to take it, though. No flawless victories, either. Oh. There are a bunch of unescorted cannons. Bad, bad idea. Luckily, a couple wounded Cossacks can still move to cover them.

I also notice a cossack with the Mobility promotion. Against my better judgement, I move him onto Heracles Hill in the hopes of catching a worker next turn.The troops in Arequipa are still healing a bit, so I'll wait on that.

Name changes

Ollantaytambo --> Olligrad
Vilcas --> Heraclesberg
Corihuayrachina --> Huaynagrad (because Capac was much more reasonable than Nappy when it came to giving up).

Everything else that we control seems manageable, for now.

OK, looks good, I think. Let's go!

Turn 402, 1784

In between turns, we lost a Cossack defending ___ to a Grenadier. The garrison had been hit by a catapult right before.

Stalingrad: Rifleman < Rifleman (3 turns)
Archangel: Forge < Customs House (30 turns)

We won the AP vote. Yay.

OK, let's see. We have a bunch of workers down by Archangel. I'm trying to eye where we have railroad already, it looks like we have a decent east-west connection, so that's good. I don't think I want to work down south, though, so I'll find other places for them to work.

A destroyer heals, so I send it out. Ah, it was an upgrade Frigate. I rechristen it "Red Rebirth." It sinks Capac's frigate. 'Nother upgrade Frigate. Ahh . . . . "Red Crest." Promote and upgrade a Galleon to a Transport.

Nab some workers. Let's see if I keep 'em.

Don't have quite enough troops in position to take Cori, but I think I can do some damage. Bombard with cannons and will follow up with Cossacks.

No losses, they have a catapult left. Sad.
As I take out a wandering Grendadier, I notice the Blitz Cossack I was using was on guard duty. I'll send him to the front lines next turn.

OK, got enough healthy troops to march on Machu Picchu. May sandwhich it, we'll see.

*sigh* moved some troops 'cuz I didn't notice they were bunched. But that's OK, cuz now they can kill the Incans threatening the French holdings in Vilcabamba. Lose a Combat II Cossack to a CII Grendadier. Mop-up after that. Make a couple other reckless attacks. No losses this turn, but let's see.

Man, this is only the end of my first full turn?! Oy.

Turn 403, 1786 AD

Sury wants us to change to Organized Religion. Not during a war, buddy!

"Nobody ever listens to me." Gee, I wonder why?

Bug says that Capac will capitulate, perhaps. But not yet, not yet.

St. Petersburg: Rifleman < Rifleman (8 turns)
Rostov: Courthouse < Rifleman (3 turns). Needs some more infrastructure, but it'll have to wait. We could put another Confucian Academy here to add a couple hammers.

A fire burns down a Khmer forge. Heh.

Capac retreats a few workers, but three are still ripe for picking. Hee hee. Reinforced his town, but it will be for naught.

Our cannons ensure that the new defenders are not "fresh." Cossacks stomp all over them.

Fail to spread Confucianism in Cuzco. Alas.

I divert another worker to get a jump start on forest preserves.

Gaius Marius is our new Great General. I'm going to embed him in Rostov since it looks like that town might be another good military pump.

Finally, end of turn. I think I'll have to type less from now on to get through things. Let's just assume that I'm doing my best not to screw up.

Turn 404, 1788 AD

Karachev: Rifleman < Customs House (7 turns). Its trade routes are profitable already, so why not increase the commerce here?
Novgorod: Observatory < Jail (11 turns)
Yekaterinburg: Courthouse < Lighthouse (5 turns)
Bactrian: Rifleman < Confucian Temple (5 turns). Deal with unhappiness and add some hammers to boot.

Is it me, or are some towns set to produce one unit exclusively? How can I shut that down?

Workers Acquired: 4. Still in enemy territory, though.

Moving into position. May be able to get Vilcas during Capitulation.

turn 405, 1790 AD

Stalingrad: Rifleman < Bank (6 turns)
Moscow: Rifleman < Intelligence Agency (8 turns)
Svetlograd: Rifleman < Rifleman (3 turns)

Bombard towns this turn.

Turn 406, 1792

Mine destroyed by infiltrator. It was on an iron source near Olligrad.
Rostov: Rifleman < Rifleman (4 turns)
Grenoble: Intelligence Agency < Theatre (4 turns)
Hartwickgrad: Rifleman < Theatre (3 turns)
Mezh is suffering from war weariness. Let's wrap this up, then.

Lose a cannon going into Machu Picchu. It's enough to give Capac a Great General. Heh. No other losses. Machu Picchu is ours and we net a worker in the process. Capac wasn't giving up a tech, so I took Vilcas (he was still offering it), renaming it Heraclesberg, at last honoring the other great explorer who fell long ago.

Capac is now offering another city which I don't really want. Let's see what I can do, if anything. I get Corporation in its place (should have asked for Physics, too, but didn't expect to get it) and our finances improve significantly. We're almost running a profit at 60% science now. I'll trade for Physics, I think. Capac is Pleased. And at 1/4 of our power.

Oh, he won't trade with us, his worst enemy. Pah. Sign Open Borders, though.

OK, now I get to let the Builder Within loose! MwahahahahahHAhaa! Er, wait, is that the kind of laugh a builder should laugh? Ah, nevermind.

Gotta shuffle troops around, now, to have adequate garrisons and such. I'll also try to keep transport and troops building so that we are ready for the next war.

Total Workers Captured: 5. The Whosit is pleased.

Because we're running State Property, I'll pull down some riverside farms to put up watermills. So long as the farms are not required for chain irrigation, of course.

Turn 407, 1794 AD

Magnitogorsk: Levee < Jail (3 turns)
Rheims: Library < Confucian Temple (10 turns); A levee would also do wonders. I'm going to create a rally point near our north shore for leftover troops. All siege will be there, of course.

I clear off Heracles Hill. If we want to use it, we always can rebuild something useful there. Instead of a windmill. Bleh. Capac's GG is currently enjoying the view from the Hill.

Well, now Capac won't trade with us because he fears our advanced technology. Grr, you fool. I'll keep an eye out for other trade opportunities.

Turn 408, 1796 AD

Svetlograd: Rifleman < Iron Works (14 turns)
Chartres: Harbor < Confucian Temple (15 turns)
Pacal got the SoL at some earlier point and I didn't notice. *shrugs* Stalingrad is only rated as the second greatest city?? Mutal of the Mayans is #1.

After I realize I need to manually assign citizens after revolution wears off, our finances improve enourmously! Tiwanaku, the gem town, is marvelous, and we don't even have the BFC yet. Still can't afford 70% science, though. We're making +63 gpt, and cranking it up changes the + to a -. Should be easier to afford upgrades, at least. Biology next turn. Woohoo!

Turn 409, 1798 AD

Biology < Assembly Line (10)
Yekaterinburg: Lighthouse < Harbor (8 turns)
Hartwickgrad: Theatre < Confucian Temple (6 turns)

Shoot, I see Nappy is sending a Great Artist east. He's probably gonna culture bomb his town. I cancel Open Borders with the French, kicking the GA back to the west.
That should take care of that. We can get Physics from Nappy. He wants Communism and Biology, greedy bastard. I substitute Steel for Biology. Maybe he'll build some cannons and drydocks to aid us in future wars?

I note that Pacal has Artillery. Hrm.

We discover 4 sources of Uranium in our territory. 1 is under a mature town in Moscow, but the others are in decent locations that can be mined.

Turn 410, 1800 AD


Magnitogorks: Jail < Rifleman (2 turns)
Rostov: Rifleman < Rifleman (3 turns)
Bactrian: Confucian Temple < Levee (10 turns)
Grenoble: Theatre < Market (12 turns)

We can probably put some farms down by Novosibirsk if we run out of other things to do, or better yet, perhaps watermills.

Probably want to cut back on the farms around Magnitogorks now, too. It's at +12 food and is working just about every tile. Since it's supposed to be a military pump, let's replace some farms with watermills, and turn others into workshops. For now, I guess it'll run specialists.
Novgorod can probably run some more cottages, too.
Rostov has excess food.
A lot of towns will need to be re-done. But that's good.

Turn 411, 1802 AD

Stalingrad: Bank < Observatory (4 turns)
Karachev: Customs House < Intelligence Agency (7 turns)
St. Petersburg: Rifleman < Aqueduct (8 turns)
Goth: Courthouse < Theatre (8 turns)

As I begin "renovations," I note that each farm converted now nets a loss of 2 food, not 1.
I'm also trying to get some of our new acquisitons on line, as well as completing a rail line all the way out into our Incan conquests.

Turn 412, 1804 AD

Magnitogorsk: Rifleman < Aqueduct (2 turns).
Olligrad: Confucian Temple < Courthouse (15 turns)

Realized too late that the farm I was replacing at Karachev should be with a cottage, not a watermill--it doesn't really need more production, now does it? This is one of my faults as a player: I emphasize production, probably still a holdover from Civ III, or maybe just personal taste?

Pacal has Assembly Line already. Should be able to beat him to the Pentagon, though.
Svetlograd will have the Ironworks done in 10 turns, so all's good. May need to slot in an aqueduct, though.

Turn 413, 1806 AD

Capac asks for Replaceable Parts. Since he's our Vassal, I agree. I, too, try to treat my vassals fairly well. He's Friendly now.

Moscow: Intelligence Agency < Wall Street (19 turns). We wanted it here, right, due to the shrine? Should we still try for the Islamic Shrine and spread that around a bit? We'd need to gun for another Prophet, of course.

Rostov: Rifleman < Machine Gun (3 turns).
Elektrogorsk: Security Bureau? < National Park (15 turns) It'll have enough slots for 7 spy specialists. Glee.

Did another city sweep, placed a few signs. With biology, and the AI's focus on food in some areas, we can cottage up some farms, and make some improvements elsewhere.

Turn 414, 1808 AD

Stalingrad: Observatory < Jail (3 turns)
Magnitogorsk: Aqueduct < Grocer (4 turns), for the health benefits.
Mezhdurechensk: Customs House < Christian Temple (6 turns). Priest slots! May want to put the next Confucian Academy here, and spread Christianity enough to get the Cathedral. We may be able to pull a Prophet out of here if we're gunning for the Islamic Shrine.

Cuzco: Courthouse < Library (5 turns)
Heraclesberg: Lighthouse (6 turns)

Turn 415, 1810 AD

Novgorod: Jail < Aqueduct (7 turns)
Juli: Jail < Drydock (10 turns)
Vitcos: Confucian Temple < Grocer (16 turns)

AP vote comes up. We have "stop trading" votes for all the heathens. I pick . . . Pacal, hoping it might slow him down. OK, just realized that we're getting 24 gpt from him . . . . Oops, but we're making 110 gpt at the moment, so we'll still be in the black. But I guess that's money he can invest in research now. Hope he loses a bunch of trade routes!

Kinda wish we had more workers, but it'll all get done eventually. No point in building more now, I think.

Oh, looks like there was a revolt in Vilcambaba. Viva la revolution! We can open borders with France again when the city is ours.

I think that Pacal is putting a ton of EPs on us . . . .

Turn 416, 1812 AD

Novosibirsk: Intelligence Agency < Library (15 turns)
Rostov: Machine Gun < Jail (4 turns)
Machu Picchu: Theatre (4 turns)

We successfuly stopped trade with the Infidels . . . heh. We can kinda control the votes considering that we have 750 out of 943 ourselves . . . . That's the Russian way!

A collapsed wedding breeds tension between the Maya and Chinese.
Demographics say that Pacal has a lot more income than we do. Figures. We'll have to kick him in the kneecaps soon.

Hartwickgrad is in another revolt . . . need more culture! Oh. Our income is still +93 gpt after losing Pacal's trade. Boosting research doesn't speed things up at this point and just puts us in negative. At least this was we can upgrade tons. Still 28 turns away from a GP, so I don't know if we want to wait that long to revolt to new civics.

Give Nappy Sheep for 5 gpt.

Turn 417, 1814 AD

Stalingrad: Jail < Christian Temple (2 turns)
Yekaterinburg: Harbor < Customs House (17 turns)
Rheims: Confucian Temple < Levee (17 turns). Lots of river tiles!

I think most of the Windmills around Machu Picchu can be replaced with mines now. I start on that. This town could have decent production if managed right, I think.

*sigh* Just realized I goofed on an improvement at Karachev, again. Could turn a cottage back into a farm, but whatever. I've had too many lost worker actions for my liking this set, though in my defense, there's a lot to manage.

Magnitogorsk is gonna be a monster production house, not even considering military, especially once we give it more watermills and workshops.

Turn 418, 1816 AD

Capac wants to give rice in exchange for his, er, our gems. I let him have 'em. We have Assembly Line. I can't remember what we wanted next, but I go for Fascism. I think we can still get the free GG.

Karachev: Intelligence Agency < Security Bureau (9 turns)
Magnitogorsk: Grocer < Factory (5 turns)
St. Petersburg: Aqueduct < Confucian Temple (4 turns)
Huaynagrad: Granary < Forge (4 turns)

Nevermind, Pacal has Fascism. I switch to Artillery, 7 turns. Cannons to Artillery can't hurt us. Learning how to fly also seems like a good idea.

Turn 419, 1818 AD

Stalingrad: Christian Temple < Factory (6 turns)
Bactrian: Levee < Grocer (5 turns). Needs more health before we can give it a factory.
Goth: Theatre < Confucian Temple (14 turns)
Huamanga: Confucian Temple < Courthouse (17 turns)
Cuzco: Library < Barracks (2 turns)

Workers do more stuff.

Turn 420, 1820 AD

Mezhdurechensk: Christian Temple < Aqueduct (8 turns). Try to get an Islamic
Missionary here.
Rostov: Jail < Infantry (4 turns)
Lyons: Work boat < Theatre (4 turns)
Tiwanaku: Library < Lighthouse (7 turns)
Machu Picchu: Theatre < Factory (18 turns)
Heraclesberg: Lighthouse < Forge (5 turns)

I can't tell what's going on with Pacal. I think he's in anarchy? 'Cuz the demographics says his income has dipped to zero. I'm not sure canceling trades has harmed him much. Ah, Pacal adopts Environmentalism. Good for him.

I interrupt Yaroslavl's Destroyer production to slot in a 10 turn Factory, so subsequent naval units will build that much faster.

OK, so this is a huge block of text. I took a few screen shots, maybe I'll put them in tomorrow, maybe I won't. Dunno if I'll be able to. Anyway, scattered throughout this report are ideas I have on where to go. No time to consolidate them right now.

Workers: I've got a lot running around. I've put up signs to direct where I think things should go. Basically, Biology lets us further specialize cities, at least as far as I see it. We don't need specialists everywhere, I think, so commerce cities get more cottages, production cities get more workshops and/or watermills. I have a 3-worker group running around just laying down rail track. I've been sporadic with other workers, laying rails some places, switching improvements around others. Capac didn't really layout his towns the way I think we want them, so they'll require some work.

I slotted in the Pentagon to go in after Svetlograd's Ironworks; Magnitogorsk could do it, but I think Svet will have the production advantage after it finishes the IW.

Magnitogorsk: I've added watermills, working on a couple more. I just noticed that Ill be cutting irrigation to Moscow, but we can start a new path from the river to the south. Whoops. Magni can also handle 2-3 workshops. I think it will be able to put out any unit in 1-2 turns. Wicked.

Elektrogorsk: I have 4 forest preserves finished, a 5th being built. Make sure every forest in the BFC gets a preserve, because once the National park is done in 8 turns, each preserve is worth a specialist (fill out the Spies first. If we can get a Great Spy and build Scottland Yard . . .).

I think a few Incan towns can be made decent production sites, the rest we should just cottage over, right? Gotta try and keep up with Pacal. I think we're gaining on him, EP-wise. We're only down 2000 now. We were down 3000 earlier in my set. Keep the Jails and Intelligence Agencies coming as able to.

Mezh just slotted in a Aqueduct, but we could do Confucian Academy. I kinda hope to get a priest and turn Moscow into a double-shrine Wallstreet city.

Um, what else? I know I went into builder mode as this set progressed. I tried to keep a few military units coming, but we have such a big leftover stack, I figured I could splurge and try to get some neglected infrastructure in place. Honestly, I'd like to keep going and see some of my pet projects finished . . . but it's the end of my 20 turns and it's late.

Just make sure to go through all the towns every few turns, and keep in mind that even some of our established towns can re-improved.

Pacal has Medicine, now, too. He hasn't exactly run away next, but I'd like to hit him soon, and hard. It won't be the easiest fight, but we can outproduce him. We're about tech-even with him now. Yeah, we don't have to fight him to win, but I'd like to. We can fight him now on even terms, or later when we still have tanks and infantry and he has Modern Armor and Mech Infantry.

If we can manage to even take a chunk of his territory, it should cut into his profits. I'd aim at his west coast. Anyway, all up for discussion.

Oh, yeah, as you replace farms, try to be a bit more careful than I was to avoid cutting off irrigation chains. And be a little more careful than I was to calculate how much food a town will need, though the only mistake I caught was around Karachev.

Oh, Capac is gonna have Electricity in 8 turns, but I dunno if he'll trade it to us.

I feel like I'm forgetting something . . . well, I can always add a bit more tomorrow, perhaps.

Anyway, I'm out for now.

 

[Glare Seethe]

Oh man, calculating food is not my strong point. But I shall do my best. I am super busy today, and tomorrow, and Monday, and Tuesday and pretty much for the next two weeks while we work on our new apartment and moving all of our stuff, but I am pretty sure I can sneak in my set tonight (in 12 hours or so). Otherwise I don't know when I could take it next, maybe Monday night.

Lots of infra in this set, that's good. Agree with Artillery and maybe we should head towards Industrialism for tanks. Or Flight, alternatively, though I usually don't use air units at all, so not sure how that would work exactly. But we can hit Sury with our current army while teching towards the next military advantage with which we might be able to take down Pacal.

Huayna probably won't trade Electricity cause he'll start on Broadway or something. Would be nice to have those wonders and Radio is a pre-requisite for Flight if I remember correctly, but on the other hand wonders are just a diversion from our militaristic goals.

Wish I could check out the save but we're heading out, I think I'll only be able to look at it tonight when I start playing. If you guys have any more ideas or things you'd like me to do/focus on, post them soon.

 

[Whosit]

So, I came up with an evil plan to save the world. Maybe.

If we can get Confucianism to spread to just one of Mao's and Zara's cities, they would have to abide by AP decisions, so long as they don't defy them, right? We could use that to try and get them to break deals with Pacal, too, or even get them to declare war (though we'd have to be at war ourselves, essentially). The main flaw is that they could defy resolutions. But I still wanna go after Pacal sooner than later, and if we can open up another front, even with backwards weaklings like those two, might help.

We already have the prerequisites for flight. Radio is needed to get bombers. Flight opens up carriers and fighters which we can use to soften up, well, whatever we need to. I've used air units, so I can give a few pointers if needed. One simple reason to bring a few fighters along is air cover from Pacal's air units. He's sure to have something, even if nothing more than airships, and I'd rather shoot them down than let them bomb us with impunity.

We could switch our shipyard over to building carriers and put airports in Magnitogorsk, Stalingrad, Rostov, Svetlograd, etc., so they can build planes with the bonus experience; we might also want airports in Moscow and financial cities for the extra trade route.

A push for Industrialism would be good, though. Probably don't need tanks to take down Sury. Y'know, tanks have never served me that well, even when attacking inferior enemies. I don't really get it. They tend to break on me. Anyway, Industrialism (needs electricity), and Flight are key. I would like to get the Eiffel Tower for the free Broadcast Towers, but I think the Cristo Rendecto might be more valuable for the free Civic changes. Though that means that we'd have to burn turns on Electricity and Radio. Might want to avoid Mass Media for awhile, though, since it obsoletes the AP. I'm pretty sure we'll be a contender for the U.N. whether we build it or not, so no worries there.

 

[Glare Seethe]

IT, 1820AD:

Put in Confucian Academy in Mezh, shifted some tiles around in some cities. Otherwise everything looks good. I'm thinking cavalry + artillery against Sury. I give him Communism for 650g since we need more money for upgrades and what's he going to do with Communism anyway? He doesn't even have Replaceable Parts. Hang on, he doesn't have Replaceable Parts? Who needs artillery then? More transports is what we need, so I slot in a few in Yaroslavl' before the factory.

Also just noticed some fishing boats have been pillaged so I slot a few where necessary.

1822AD:

Workers are following Whosit's signs around, thank you for that Whosit. Pacal has 35gpt for trade, lost some deals maybe?

1824AD:

Napoleon asks for open borders and I agree since he has apparently used his Great Artist already (he doesn't appear in the military advisor and I scanned all his cities).

Upgrade four galleons to transports. Also noticed there was a galleon hiding in Chartres for some reason so send him to Yaroslavl'.

Honestly can't figure out why Huayna has built so many forest preserves around his cities.

1826AD:

Nothing much.

1828AD:

Nothing much.

1830AD:

Artillery in, start Flight. Add some more specialists in Mezh to speed up the GP.

Upgrade time:

Actually that's not enough for me, let's put the slider down for one more turn...

1832AD:

Upgrade five more cannons to artillery.

1834AD:

Pacal completes The Pentagon. In more interesting news, Elektrogorsk finishes the National Park:

Five free spies and more on the way. I put in a factory cause we can pollute this city all we want now.

Red Rebirth, Red Desire and Red Night accompany our fleet on the way to the Khmer Empire. Going to try for three cities on turn 2 (turn 1 we land). I guess I shouldn't be scared of Sury's fleet cause even transports can handle frigates and caravels very easily.

1836AD:

We get ~700g for our Pentagon attempt. Totally forgot we were building it.

1838AD:

Transports are in place, will attack next turn. Oh yeah, AP resolution came up, again picked embargo on Pacal.

1840AD:

It passes.

More importantly:

Red Rebirth promptly sinks a frigate and heads with the unloaded transports back to Mezh.

1841AD:

Capture Isvarapura:

Capture Nagara Jayasari:

It comes with an Academy and a settled Great Scientist.

Capture Hariharalaya:

1842AD:

Hmm, Sury's willing to capitulate, so I take it. We are at 52% land and need 64%. Zara doesn't have Rifling yet so we can immediately move on to him. Maybe capitulating him will be enough?

I give Sury sugar for his only whale resource and Replaceable Parts to convert to Confucianism. Wish I hadn't sent the fleet back home, but the troops have to heal for 1-2 turns anyway.

1843AD:

French revolt in Lyons, man I am sick of this. Culture slider to 10%. Stop revolting!

1844AD:

Nothing much.

1845AD:

Nothing much.

1846AD:

Nothing much.

1847AD:

Flight in. At this point it really doesn't matter what we choose next, game should be over soon enough. Since we got this event for Medicine I decide to go ahead and finish that off.

1848AD:

Great Engineer bors in Mezh. Do we really want a golden age now? Don't think it matters much. Send him to Svetlograd in case we want to rush a wonder.

1849AD:

Our new cities come out of revolt. Just going to build culture here, it produces more culture than culture-producing buildings at this point. We are close to domination. Our fleets are moving out towards Zara.

1850AD:

Nothing much.

1851AD:

Nothing much.

1852AD:

Medicine in, start Electricity. Maybe our GE can rush a wonder.

1853AD:

Nothing much.

1854AD:

Vilcabamba finally flips to us.

And I am ending my set here cause our transports are in place.

Fleet 1:

Heading for Lalibela.

Fleet 2:

Heading for Aksum.

Fleet 3:

Heading for Adulis.

Alternatively you can combine 2 and 3 if you feel they are weak (as you see they are in the same tile), but we are much more powerful than Zara and I doubt he will put up much of a fight. Hopefully I am not underestimating his stacks and our own stacks are big enough. I guess we'll see!

There was also another AP resolution a couple of turns ago and I picked a trade embargo on Zara. That also passed.

 

[Whosit]

Wow. I think that is the shortest Civ war that I have ever seen. Capitulation after one turn?

Though I have only one response to Pacal's acquisition of the Pentagon: W. T. F. Either he had a Great Engineer or we are much further behind than I originally thought. Going after Zara is the right move for a quick victory. Maybe I'll take care of Pacal myself once the game is officially over (whoever plays last, put up a save after victory is achieved, please). Still too early to discuss SAM-02, so we'll wait on that, yes.

Regarding the Great Engineer, I'm not sure what to do with 'im. There's really no wonder coming up soon that we'd need, I think. Considering that we're not expecting the game to last much longer, we might as well spend him on a Golden Age and finally make the civic changes we've been meaning to. Only thing I'd use him on would be either the Eiffel Tower or the Three Gorges Dam, but those are both a little ways away. So I wouldn't mind spending him. Let's get to Industrialism, in case we need to field tanks, and put up a few airports where we can, including in the cities we acquire from Zara to hasten reinforcements as much as we can.

Otherwise, no real comments at the moment. Everything's looking peachy.

 

[Glare Seethe]

Yeah I've already started putting some airports in. If Pacal used a GE for the Pentagon maybe we can use ours to steal Broadway or something. But more likely Huayna's well on his way to finishing that one.

Also requesting a save from right before victory or the replay, it'd be nice to have an official listing for this game in my high scores.

 

[Norvin_Green]

Nice job guys. This is a got it. Will post plans and such tomorrow. Probably play Tuesday or Wednesday (sorry for the delay!)

 

[Norvin_Green]

Ok, here's the plan - make sure I save every turn in case it ends up being the next-to-last one!

 

[Whosit]

That may not be completely necessary. You can check the victory conditions each turn to see how close you are to getting the territory limit. Tho' if you want to save every turn, I guess that can't hurt, either.

 

[Norvin_Green]

That was mostly tongue-in cheek! Think I will be able to play tonight.

 

[Whosit]

That was mostly tongue-in cheek! Think I will be able to play tonight.

Oh. Well. Yes, of course.

. . .

It seems that I have betrayed another one of my special abilities: Taking things too literally. Anyway, I look forward to the report and am hopeful of a speedy victory!

 

[Norvin_Green]

Turn 0 (1854 a.d.)

Just for fun I placed a call to Zara to see if he might capitulate before the smackdown. He didn&#8217;t want to talk to us.

Spoiler :

So landed our troops by Lalibela, Aksum and Adulis. There were barely any troops in his cities. Hit enter.

Turn 1 (1855 a.d.)

One curaissier attacked our stack on the IBT. I carelessly attacked each city. I knew it wouldn&#8217;t take much. One turn &#8211; three new Russian cities. You don&#8217;t get deals like that everyday. Checked the victory screen and we are close but Zara won&#8217;t talk.

Lalibela:

Spoiler :

Adulis:

Spoiler :

Aksum:

Spoiler :

Turn 2 (1856 a.d.)

No counterattack at all. Moved all wounded units into newly captured cities to heal. Zara will capitulate.

Spoiler :

Check the victory screen and we are at 64.08%.

Spoiler :

I expect to see the domination sign next turn. All other units, including workers, just got skipped.

+1 Event:

Spoiler :

Turn 3 (1857 a.d.)

Wrong, our # dropped to 63.something or other. Great.

Turn 4 (1858 a.d.)

Ta da! Victory for SAM!! Way to go guys.

Spoiler :

Info Screen:

Spoiler :

Final Score:

Spoiler :

What our civilization must have looked like from a distance:

Spoiler :

 

[Norvin_Green]

Ok, here's the save for HoF reasons. It was lots of fun. Is it too soon to start talking about SAM-02? Are you guys in? If so do we move up a level or try some kind of variant. We will also need to recruit a few more players. Let me know your thoughts.

 

[Whosit]

Whoo! First (real) SG victory for me! *dances* Great job, everyone. Sorry your last set had to be so brief, Norvin, but it was a clean sweep. Personally, I don't think that it's too soon to talk about the sequel. Who was it had talked about a No Slavery game, and I'm OK with that. To make it really daring, I also wanted to gun for war early and often. Obviously, I'm not disappointed with the outcome of this game, but I think that we could have taken down France and the Incas earlier, though it would have been messier.

Lesse, this was on Monarch? We seemed to do fairly well, so I'd be willing to bump up the difficulty. I seem to recall that I haven't done so well at Monarch in my Single Player games, though I guess the collective mind is better here. Anyway.

There were a few other ideas I had. I was kind of hoping to do a Terra Map since I just kinda like 'em. And Toroidal wrapping, heh. But what I really wanted to do was to make use of our ability to rename civilizations. I figured that as a group we could decide on the name for our civilization and the capital city. After that, each player who founds or captures a city could name it whatever they want. I kind of see it as a way for us to express our "creativity." . . . . It'd be my luck, though, if the civ name decided on was "Munchkin Land" or something like that.

Oh, and yes, I think we might have to recruit a few more people.

Hmm, and what would the full SG name be? SAM-02: Back in Action? Salmon and Mayonnaise? Stealth Action Machines? The Second? Ha ha ha ha . . . . Yes, I think I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. Let's see what the rest of you come up with.