Scramble for Africa strategy?

[JDR]

Diety Boer is very very difficult. Thanks to ImAPaladin for his insights, but I'm still at a loss. I get early rushed pretty much every time. One time I didn't get attacked until like turn 60, but because you get so much culture from kills, I ended up losing on points.

Only insights I have at this point are;
-Don't scout. At all. If you can hold off meeting Germany and Portugal you may not get double DOWed until turn 10 or so.
-Save early, save often. Especially when things are going well.

That's all I've got.

 

[ggmoyang]

The key was not being DoWed by Portugals.

First, bribe them to go war with Zulus.
While you are warring with England, you'll capture plenty of workers. Send some of them to find Ethiopia. If Portugal is about to wipe out Zulus, (happens about T50) bribe them to DoW to Ethiopia.

 

[Cyssero]

The key was not being DoWed by Portugals.

First, bribe them to go war with Zulus.
While you are warring with England, you'll capture plenty of workers. Send some of them to find Ethiopia. If Portugal is about to wipe out Zulus, (happens about T50) bribe them to DoW to Ethiopia.

How do you get Portugal to not DoW you? I've tried everything to bribe them, I even gave them a Zulu city that I captured one time in hopes they would leave me alone and I still always get DoW'ed by them, and usually Germany DoWs me soon after.

 

[Mesix]

I've tried the Boers twice now.

Portugal hasn't been a problem. England hasn't been much of a problem either. My problem has been the Zulu. England DOW on turn 2-3 in each game. One time Portugal did too. Zulu wait a bit, then DOW about turn 10. The Zulu have swarms of Impi and siege weapons to attack with. Even though I can kill a few units each turn, they have more replacements ready to attack. It feels a bit like being on the receiving end of a Zerg rush in Starcraft. By turn 20 I have lost me second city in both games so far.

If I could get the Zulu to war with the Europeans, I could turtle my way to survival and perhaps build up a counterattack force. I think Victoria's two cities in South Africa are ripe for the taking if I can keep the Zulu at bay.

 

[Cyssero]

I've tried the Boers twice now.

Portugal hasn't been a problem. England hasn't been much of a problem either. My problem has been the Zulu. England DOW on turn 2-3 in each game. One time Portugal did too. Zulu wait a bit, then DOW about turn 10. The Zulu have swarms of Impi and siege weapons to attack with. Even though I can kill a few units each turn, they have more replacements ready to attack. It feels a bit like being on the receiving end of a Zerg rush in Starcraft. By turn 20 I have lost me second city in both games so far.

If I could get the Zulu to war with the Europeans, I could turtle my way to survival and perhaps build up a counterattack force. I think Victoria's two cities in South Africa are ripe for the taking if I can keep the Zulu at bay.

Yeah, if the Zulu take too much of your time and bleed off too many of your units, England's production gets out of control and they just end up with too many units.

 

[ggmoyang]

How do you get Portugal to not DoW you? I've tried everything to bribe them, I even gave them a Zulu city that I captured one time in hopes they would leave me alone and I still always get DoW'ed by them, and usually Germany DoWs me soon after.

It has to be done fast. Avoid meeting the Portugals. When you meet them, bribe them outright to ensure your safety.

If I could get the Zulu to war with the Europeans, I could turtle my way to survival and perhaps build up a counterattack force. I think Victoria's two cities in South Africa are ripe for the taking if I can keep the Zulu at bay.

You can't bribe Zulus, but you can bribe Portugal easily.

 

[Mesix]

Here is a decent starting save for the Boer. The Zulu capital is blocked off by a mountain range and there are a lot of luxury resources in the area. Victoria will (of course) DOW almost immediately, but in the 20 turns or so that I played, she was busy with the Zulu and I was able to build up a bit.

I'm curious to see what other people can do with this start.

 

[Cyssero]

Here is a decent starting save for the Boer. The Zulu capital is blocked off by a mountain range and there are a lot of luxury resources in the area. Victoria will (of course) DOW almost immediately, but in the 20 turns or so that I played, she was busy with the Zulu and I was able to build up a bit.

I'm curious to see what other people can do with this start.

I'll try anything at this point. I got tired of getting trampled over by the Zulu + British right away, so I decided to take a gamble and abandon the hell hole that the Boers spawn in completely. I took 10 turns heading up north and tried to settle as far from the coast (see: Portugal) as possible. That middle area of the continent is empty, so I figured maybe they would leave me alone I plopped one city down next to Mt. Kilimanjaro and one 5 tiles away. England and Germany DoW'ed me quickly, but that was fine. England was so busy with the Zulus I never even saw them. I never encountered a German troop either. The Portugese and Belgians DoW'ed me though and ended up overwhelming me.

 

[Cyssero]

Here is a decent starting save for the Boer. The Zulu capital is blocked off by a mountain range and there are a lot of luxury resources in the area. Victoria will (of course) DOW almost immediately, but in the 20 turns or so that I played, she was busy with the Zulu and I was able to build up a bit.

I'm curious to see what other people can do with this start.

I had a couple throwaway starts, then I got one where the Zulu DoW'ed the British two turns after the British had DoW'ed me. Once again however, Portugal has to ruin everything. They DoW'ed me around turn 15 and having to deal with them plus the British left me unable to help the Zulu and I had to play defensively. I ended up making peace with Portugal for the first time ever, but by that time it was too late. England had already taken the Zulu capital, their production was way better than mine, and 9 rifle cannons later I was dead.

The thing that's the most frustrating is that by spending 50 turns at war with me England has given up any chance at winning. My score was 1.1k at the end, which was over 150 higher than England's. I tried to make peace every turn but Elizabeth wouldn't listen. I wish there was way to reason with the computer and point out to them that unless they stop focusing all of their resources on me, they have no chance at winning the game.

More than any spawn location, the key to beating this has to be keeping Portugal out of your hair. IF you could somehow avoid going to war with them and the Zulu and British go to war, I think you would have a great chance. 2 fast cannons + your army and the Zulu meatshields should be enough to overwhelm the British, but I feel like I'm never going to get lucky enough to make this happen.

 

[Cragspyder]

If you read the Boer entry, it mentions something about the Boer fleeing South Africa and settling further north, forming two independant republics.

I beat the game with the Boer (on King, so no big deal) by settling in place, but I wonder if that's what you're supposed to do? Though the delay on city production might be insurmountable.

 

[Cyssero]

If you read the Boer entry, it mentions something about the Boer fleeing South Africa and settling further north, forming two independant republics.

I beat the game with the Boer (on King, so no big deal) by settling in place, but I wonder if that's what you're supposed to do? Though the delay on city production might be insurmountable.

I spent 12 turns migrating North and a few times (deity) and it never worked out for me. It ends up delaying your production quite a bit obviously and you also have no one to buffer for you when the European civs come knocking. I got the endless spam of Portuguese and Belgian troops every time that I tried it.

 

[Halcyan2]

I have already beaten Deity with the Ottomans and am now working on Deity with the Boers.

Currently around Turn 65 (1/3 of the game is left). I am at 2000 score, Ethiopia is at 2300, and Egypt is at 2600. We are each gaining about 50 points per turn.

After a long protracted war (50 turns) I have taken all of England's cities.

Portugal wiped out the Zulus and was about to attack me, until I liberated a Zulu city (bringing them back to life), paid Portugal to DoW the Zulus again, and surrounded the Zulu city with 6 units so that it can't be taken.

Right now my main score competitors are Ethiopia and Egypt. I can't reach any of them with my army, so I'm worried about their scoring. Both are at war with the ineffective Dutch but that's it. Most of the European civs aren't too interested in attacking Ethiopia and Egypt (have tried bribing them but they don't want to do it).

In the north, Italy took several of the Ottoman cities, but Italy is otherwise at the bottom in terms of score.

I don't want to attack Portugal because they have a ridiculous number of units near me (fortunately occupied with the Zulu city).

My only other target is Germany, who has one city nearby.

What else can I do to maximize my score? (I have my two initial cities and Cape Town annexed, all of which have built the culture buildings. I then have 3 other English cities which are puppeted).

What else can I do to contain Ethiopia and Egypt? (Alas, they won't war on each other or any of the Europeans. And most Europeans don't want to war on them).

 

[Magma_Dragoon]

I've read Ottomans can beat Italy easy if you can acquire coal. Capture their ironclads with your own and the med is safe, actually winning is a different matter I know nothing about.

 

[Halcyan2]

I've read Ottomans can beat Italy easy if you can acquire coal. Capture their ironclads with your own and the med is safe, actually winning is a different matter I know nothing about.

If you can survive the initial Italian rush, that's the first step. With your Prize Ships, you should be able to build quite a fleet and take over the Mediterranean.

However, the big challenge is beating Egypt (can't DoW), Ethiopia, and the Boers.

My strategy for Egypt was to send all my trade routes to Morocco (NONE to Egypt, though I did get 4 trade routes from Egypt).

My enormous fleet gradually made their way down the west coast. I was about halfway through when there were 30 turns left, and started accepted peace with the Europeans, so that I could rush to the south. The plan was to take Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, and from there assault the Boers. In a peace deal, Elizabeth gave me a pair of cities right next to the Boers. The Boers easily had the highest score by quite a bit, but simply had 2 cities. For some reason, no one had attacked them. So I bribed Elizabeth/Victoria to attack and in a few mere turns, the Boers were no more.

Ethiopia was something I planned to handle on my own. I had a DoF with them, so while waiting for it to expire, I sent a dozen Rifled Cannons to get into position. When the DoF ended, I attacked, easily taking several cities. (Around this time, they also lost several to Germany, so perhaps my attack wasn't needed). I couldn't hold most of those cities, so as soon as I took them, I sold them to Egypt for massive amounts of gold. Was able to then eliminate Ethiopia.

 

[Mesix]

In my game as the Ottomans, Egypt is the problem. Since I cannot DOW, I cannot take the Suez Canal from Egypt. I suppose it might be possible to bribe someone else to war with Egypt, but it is difficult to have the AI take Suez for me.

Italy is tough, but manageable. As has been pointed out, the Prize Ships makes it possible to steal the Italian fleet to use against them.

Once the Mediterranean is secured, what is a good strategy to earn the necessary victory points?

 

[Halcyan2]

In my game as the Ottomans, Egypt is the problem. Since I cannot DOW, I cannot take the Suez Canal from Egypt. I suppose it might be possible to bribe someone else to war with Egypt, but it is difficult to have the AI take Suez for me.

As mentioned, I did not send any trade routes at all to Egypt.

In addition, I eventually started conquering French cities, which I sold to Morocco and much later Ethiopian cities which I sold to Egypt. Egypt will pay a lot for adjacent cities so you can drain a lot of their GPT that way.

Morocco had actually been crushed by the French (left with 2 or 3 cities), but I liberated some and sold others (both Moroccan and French) back to them. Since all my cargo ships were going to Morocco, I essentially got ALL of the trade route income, because Ahmad was selling me the GPT back for his cities.

I haven't tried it, but in theory, you could maybe try settler spam, creating crappy small cities near Egypt and see if he will pay for them.

Once the Mediterranean is secured, what is a good strategy to earn the necessary victory points?

I had a massive fleet which I continued to use to stake out more land, much of which I sold to others.

Get lots of GP (mainly get as much gold from Egypt as you can).

You can get others to kill the Boers.

Get others to attack Ethiopia but prepare an army to do it yourself if necessary.

 

[Mesix]

What is the formula for gold to victory points? It is clearly not a 1-1 ration for gold per turn. My score did not seem to increment as I killed enemy units (earning gold for the kill). It is difficult to come up with a strategy to win when the scoring system is opaque.

 

[pozz]

What is the formula for gold to victory points? It is clearly not a 1-1 ration for gold per turn. My score did not seem to increment as I killed enemy units (earning gold for the kill). It is difficult to come up with a strategy to win when the scoring system is opaque.

I do not believe gold/kill does give you any vps (which must be an oversight surely)

 

[Yzman]

I am about to start trying these due to getting all of the other achievements. Not looking forward to either one...

 

[Halcyan2]

I do not believe gold/kill does give you any vps (which must be an oversight surely)

Is it really?

Reminds me a lot of the Wonders of the Ancient World scenario, where GPT was counted but not lump sum gold gains.