Shaka goes crazy!

[Zanttu]

I was trying to do a bit of wonderspam on monarch with Ramesses in normal pangaea map (I wanted Big and Small but somehow misclicked or something). Once I noticed I was on Pangaea I knew someone would probably come and kick my ass since I didnt have army... Just like couple of warriors and pair of war chariots wouldnt hold attacks. But this is crazy. It's 1AD and Shaka declares on me, and HE LIVES EXACTLY ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD . I mean, he probably sent that army like million turns ago to fight against me.. My capital is defended by lone warrior and he's about to face 2 Axemen, 4 Imps and a swordsman in 3 turns . I guess it's time to start over . But jesus, I have never been on same continent with Shaka and definitely dont want to know what it would be having him as a neighbor!

 

[Carabodes]

Here's your answer to Shakas behaviour. It was his nature, you see.

 

[Zanttu]

Here's your answer to Shakas behaviour. It was his nature, you see.

"He expanded his territory systematically" Yep, for sure he did.

 

[Janus0]

Off topic, but...

You have the pyramids, your capital is only size 6, and you have hapiness problems? Farm that flood plain so you can work all your mines and go into either HR or Representation. If you go into rep farm the grasslands too and run a specialist or two, otherwise cotage them. You spent all those hammers on a wonder and really aren't putting it to use.

 

[Refar]

I have never been on same continent with Shaka and definitely dont want to know what it would be having him as a neighbor!

If you have him as neighbour you just got to rush ihm befor ehe rushes you

 

[Zanttu]

Off topic, but...

You have the pyramids, your capital is only size 6, and you have hapiness problems? Farm that flood plain so you can work all your mines and go into either HR or Representation. If you go into rep farm the grasslands too and run a specialist or two, otherwise cotage them. You spent all those hammers on a wonder and really aren't putting it to use.

Whoops, thats my most common mistake, I forget to switch civics after I finish pyramids.. It happens about 80% of the times I build it ^^

 

[KMadCandy]

Shaka declares on me, and HE LIVES EXACTLY ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD . I mean, he probably sent that army like million turns ago to fight against me.. My capital is defended by lone warrior and he's about to face 2 Axemen, 4 Imps and a swordsman in 3 turns .

in one of hubby's first BtS games it was a terra map, and shaka was literally on the farthest side of the continent from him, just like he was from you. hubby had made a couple wonders, he had more cities than you, and more troops, but he wasn't very high on power.

shaka did the same exact thing. he had a pretty good size army with him. impis of course and axemen, i don't think any mounted troops, and it was before construction. total surprise, hubby was not expecting that! he lost one city but then he took it back and got shaka to give him money for peace. he wasn't about to go crawl across the map himself to go try for shaka's cities. shaka's behavior itself didn't really surprise me, but based at the map, it was like OMG what is the guy thinking? and the city he took, he didn't raze. yeah good luck affording maintenance on that one, even with an ikhanda, you're lucky you didn't hold onto it!

for the rest of the game, any time anybody was at war with shaka, no matter who started it, hubby joined in . once he had decent navy techs so that he could sail troops over he had fun fighting him. before that it was a pain, since toku was one of the civs in the way.

 

[futurehermit]

shaka is one of the best creations by the programmers. he's a legitimate threat to the player via warfare. can't say enough about him really.

 

[KMadCandy]

shaka is one of the best creations by the programmers. he's a legitimate threat to the player via warfare. can't say enough about him really.

he's awesome. even when he's doesn't go to war with me, say he starts on another continent and i don't meet him for ages. if he's done well in the early stages, and didn't overexpand in his lust for blood and land, he really manages what he has quite well for someone with no "tech traits". there have been games when i meet him and the scary part isn't that i think he'll beat me up it's the techs he has that i don't. which is really spiffy, he's definitely not one-sided!

well okay, he's awesome except when he makes me lose. more likely, makes me quit out of despair . but even that's nifty, i like that it's a challenging game.

 

[gallego]

They will do that on huge maps too even.

 

[futurehermit]

he's awesome. even when he's doesn't go to war with me, say he starts on another continent and i don't meet him for ages. if he's done well in the early stages, and didn't overexpand in his lust for blood and land, he really manages what he has quite well for someone with no "tech traits". there have been games when i meet him and the scary part isn't that i think he'll beat me up it's the techs he has that i don't. which is really spiffy, he's definitely not one-sided!

well okay, he's awesome except when he makes me lose. more likely, makes me quit out of despair . but even that's nifty, i like that it's a challenging game.

yeah, and it always seems to be shaka that gives deity players a hard time as well

 

[Carver]

Zanttu, as others have said, change you civics. Either whip units or do whatever is necessary to sue for peace with Shaka, except for giving up a city. Your start isn't bad. You only have three cities but you have good room for expansion: up towards that barb city, NW of your capital (which I think you have culture blocked, don't sign RoPs with anyone), and towards the center of the continent.

Also: those Portugues cities are ripe for the picking and are bound to be lightly defended. Also take Angkor Wat and you'll have the Khmer and the Ports under control.

 

[cripp7]

I had a similar game myself with Shaka also. I had decent size army, close to the end he dozens and I mean DOZENS of horses and pillaged my to hell. Very clever character, very untrustworthy too
Cripp

 

[futurehermit]

But he can make an AWESOME ally if you are able to get a collar around him. Basically, as long as you're not pushing borders against him, cave in to his every demand, go to war with him, gift him stuff, etc. etc. etc. if you're able to get him to friendly, he'll declare on anyone at the drop of the hat. You can gift him key military tech and he is a BEAST you can unleash on your opponents. I haven't had that happen alot but I remember one game in particular I was able to collar him and it was good times.

 

[Polycrates]

What's crazy about it? You've got a city protected by about 3 squares of border, with Pyramids and Stonehenge and Great Wall and possibly other wonders in it, protected by a single warrior. I'd declare war on you from across the globe too, if I saw that (nothing personal, you understand )

 

[Pantastic]

While Shaka is one of the crazy ones, I don't see what's crazy about that. He's not that far away from you, looks like maybe 2 city widths of distance away, and you've made your capital a tempting target and failed to defend yourself at all. I'd certainly attack in that situation, killing a warrior and 2 chariots for a wonder is definately worthwhile.

 

[KMadCandy]

He's not that far away from you, looks like maybe 2 city widths of distance away

*boggle* shaka has to cross the borders of three different civs to reach this player's capital

 

[6K Man]

If you look at the move from the perspective of "does this help the AI?", then attacking you from the other side of the world is a terrible move.

If you look at it from the perspective of "does this punish the player who doesn't defend his cities?", then it's a great move.

 

[Deepflow]

In my last game (cultural, ghandi) i started next to Shaka and he didn't declare on me once. I just converted him to my state religion early on, kept giving him stuff, and re-converted him 4 or 5 times during the game (through bribery) to keep him on side.

He's bound to attack someone, and you can just make sure it isn't you. Then its a GOOD thing to have him nearby.

 

[MrFelony]

What's crazy about it? You've got a city protected by about 3 squares of border, with Pyramids and Stonehenge and Great Wall and possibly other wonders in it, protected by a single warrior. I'd declare war on you from across the globe too, if I saw that (nothing personal, you understand )

same thoughts exactly