SSE/WE RAMESSES II Insane BtS Walkthrough

[obsolete]

1140
Popped Great Scientist, now it is time to run an (academy). I was expecting to get more scientists earlier and have the academy up and running faster (due to TGL), etc, but things were a bit delayed. We simply got everyone else from great merchants to spies instead. That’s how it goes sometimes, and why settling your first GS instead of running an academy is not always optimal, even when on paper the theory is sound.
-ni

1180
Woohoo!!

I don’t get this every day. One of the benefits of taking religious sides I guess.

Notes: This city was originally founded by Isabella. Then ended up being taken over by Justinian.

However, it was going into revolt because of my culture pouring from my capital. It is possible that Isabella thought the city was rightfully mine before attacked by Justinian, because it most likely had more than 50% of my culture in it, despite she founded it?

Or did I actually get it to flip to me just before Justinian waltzed right in? I don’t remember that, but it’s possible.

Whatever the case was, I am now up another city, I can’t complain.

 

[obsolete]

1200
Popped another great spy.
-ni


1210
2 Million strong.


1220
Ok, lets found yet ANOTHER city. Finally we have some iron resource, time to grab it!

Next, I’ll try to get a chain-irrigation of farms to get this poor growth city going.

 

[obsolete]

1260
Popped a great merchant.
-ni

1340
Saladin greets us for the first time. I actually love his guy now, but used to hate him in vanilla.
-ni

1420
We met the Holy Roman Empire. What’s his name.. chara… chagguannay… charachole? Char….. character…something. I always hate his long hard-to-spell name.

Also, we popped a great prophet.
-ni

1430
We holds 5 Million strong.
-ni

1505
Met Tokugawa
-ni

1510
Entered Industrial Era.
-ni

1530
Met Zara
I don’t know how he behaves very well, so I’m a bit worried if that means I have to watch out for some run-away culture victory ATM.
-ni

1560
Popped great scientist.
-ni

1600
We now hold 10 Million.
-ni

1640
Christ!!

What a sham! We had broadway ready to go at the end of this turn, and yet Zara beat us to it! I guess we are learning how he behaves (the HARD way)!

 

[obsolete]

1695
Popped the mighty and overpowered great-artist.

Well that’s game! There’s simply no way anyone can do anything against such a monsterly & owerpowered great-person. So I should probably just quit the game right now as the rest will be a boring result of me just steamrolling over both continents with this GA.

Oh well, I guess you want to see for entertainment value what happens. Alright, I’ll continue. For now I’ll keep the mighty GA in reserve until later when I need to unleash a big can-of-whoopass.
-ni

1700
RocknRoll is ready for dismantling. Umm, completion.

Right now, while I’m busy having all my other cities simply crank out cavalry. And before that I had them cranking out curaissers (SP?). As you will notice, my science spending is put on 0% again. That’s ok, as you can see, we will have Mass Media researched not too long from now, and we are actually the only one’s who are already up to radio tech.

Culture is on 20% to keep my capital guys happy and building wonders as fast as they can. I’m actually NOT using OR right now, because I have theocracy running for my military units in all my other cities.

All the older curaissers (WTH, how do you spell it?) are being upgraded each round to cavalry with my cash that I’m stockpiling.

Eventually, I plan to push into Justinian for some revenge to make us even.

Ok, ok, it won’t be even, I want a bit more than my fair share…

Spoiler :

 

[obsolete]

1720
Cristo is ready for completion. Now you may ask isn’t this weird, as I am spiritual to begin with. Well that is true, BUT I want to deny the benefits of this to non-spiritual civs.

BTW, there is a 1-turn cool-down period added to the Cristo in the latest patch. This penalizes the spiritual civs even MORE than they were at the beginning of BtS.

It looks as though Firaxis discovered what looks like a mistake, that really wasn’t, and then tried to fix it, which now made it even more broken.

Frustrating bias like this makes me wonder why can’t they go and penalize stuff like financial leaders with some other wonders that duplicate traits?

Spoiler :

 

[obsolete]

1740
Attack!!!!

Alright, first some quick explanation. Physics is a great tech now, because you can actually use it to make something! We made a lot of airships. Now, unfortunately you can’t put more than 4 in a city (yeah, I know it’s a dumb rule, but that’s how it is). So… the solution is to put 4 in each city that is in reach of any available targets, and that’s exactly what we did.

Then we made a lot TON of cavalry from both production and upgrades of older units. Stockpile them up and get ready for attack.

Don’t forget the spies! We cranked up the spy points vs Justinian and have at least one city (often two) who only crank out spies all game, or at least a big portion of it.

Now just remember! There is a weird bug in this new patch (or I’ve been told this is a bug). When you declare war, your spies will be removed out of the enemy’s territory. So, the only work around you can do is cause city revolts FIRST, and THEN declare war. And hope you have some sort of spring board that lets you attack the enemy city on the same turn you declare war.

And as evident, we did that here.

Note: We have just caused the revolt, and we have a stack here of 40 cavalry alone. But there are more. More are coming in the back, and more will continue to be created by our cities. And our cities are loaded with blimps. Now pummel the city with airships, and CHARGE in with an attack.

Due to the stupidity of the AI, it likes to stockpile a gigantic army in areas that border you. This is it’s downfall as we will cripple it’s entire army in one gigantic blow this turn.

*** And…. We gained a great general after this big attack commenced.

--

Now, let me spare you a TON of details and shots.

Lets just sum things up and say, for a while after this, all we do is ---

ATTACK, ATTACK!!

And while we have a few cool-down periods in new cities for cavalry to heal, fresh reserves continue on and continue to stock pile as we…

ATTACK, ATTACK!!
ATTACK, ATTACK!!

Always using our spies and air-ships to remove defenses and soften up troops.

And don’t forget to…

ATTACK, ATTACK!!
ATTACK, ATTACK!!
ATTACK, ATTACK!!


BTW, did I forget to mention that you should ATTACK?

 

[obsolete]

1745
Eiffel Tower ready for completion. Don’t worry, the other cities know to attack still.

Notes: I replaced some mines with windmills here for a change. Unfortunately the growth comes at a cost. A lot of extra unhappiness which forces us to crank the slider up, especially during times of war and anti-emancipation.

That maybe wasn’t such a good plan after all.

Spoiler :

 

[obsolete]

1750
We gained another GG.

And don’t forget to…

ATTACK, ATTACK!!
ATTACK, ATTACK!!
ATTACK, ATTACK!!
ATTACK, ATTACK!!

ATTACK, ATTACK!!
-ni

1780
We are told we are now 20 Million strong.
-ni

1785
I won an Apostolic palace vote despite it was 2 vs 1!

whoopie….
-ni

1790
Hollywood is ready for completion this turn. No it isn’t. Umm, actually yes it is.

And boy do I need this one. My people are getting very unhappy at this point.

Spoiler :

--

Wow, what a mess that’s going on in the world today. And to think I was asked if I wanted to join in a war vs Isabella too!? Why can’t they ever figure out that sometimes I AM TOO BUSY AT THE MOMENT MYSELF!

 

[obsolete]

1804
Another Great General is farmed. Geeze, how did that happen?

Don’t forget…
ATTACK, ATTACK!!
ATTACK, ATTACK!!
-ni

1810
The United Plumbers Union is ready for completion. Actually, while I am tempted to just cancel this at the last moment to gain extra gold, it’s actually ok to complete this building. Our population is at the point where we are assured of getting on the vote list anyhow. This means we don’t have to worry about too much a lopsided vote. And I am just a sucker for great person points!

Note: science still on 0% but we’re doing ok. Excess gold is now poured into the spy system. I’m simply taking city by city so rapidly I need to keep enough revolt points getting through.

Spoiler :

 

[obsolete]

1812
Another great artist arrives.
OMG! That’s so overkill. It’s like, starting off with two modern armours in 4000 BC. No one can counter TWO great artists!
-ni

1816
Ok, I FINALLY took Justinian’s capital. But I’m not done with him yet. Now I’m off to take his holy city, and I wont dare let up until we get him down to 1 last city.
-ni

1828
Thebes reaches legendary culture. (surprised?)
-ni

1830
Alright, all in a day’s work, Capitulation!

While one may argue we should simply wipe him off the face of the map, I’m not sure of this. If we capitulate him, we get a free corporation tech, which is something. The map and extra gold are of no real concern. But it is interesting to note that each vassal WILL gain us a free +1 happiness in EVERY one of our cities. That’s half the value of a Charismatic trait. Also, since culture issues with vassals are not as bad as they once were, I’m willing to vassal him here. But no one has to agree with this.

 

[obsolete]

1834
Ok, I decided to build a corporation, the Civilized Jewlers. Maybe I’m just paranoid, but I didn’t want to risk an AI building this and getting some last second culture victory on me through it. Keep in mind, I plan to keep running State Property, so this corps will be useless to me, but that’s ok. I just wanted to prevent another AI from getting it.

Besides, it was just a GA (gasp!)
-ni

1846
Declare war on Isabella and attack attack attack!
Also gained ANOTHER GG from this.

BTW, who cares if she has tones of infantry (and marines coming). I have so much cavalry I can slam them all into her and wear her down through attrition.

And of course, my airships and spies can still do their nasty work.

Note: I saw a transport new one of my cities from Charlemagne. While he was probably just scouting, it was possible he could have been loaded up and tempted to hit a very weak (alright, vacant) city of mine along the coast. So, just to be safe I bribed him to go to war to war with Zara.
-ni

1858
The end of Isabella.

Unfortunately, Isabella was not yet willing to talk to us, so instead of waiting around for her to vassal to us, I decided it was best just to wipe her last city off the map. (I mean capture it).

In total, there were 2 Holy cities she had, as well as the Apostolic palace. Here’s a shot of her Mahabodhi city just before I finished her off.

Later on I would put my Oxford in here.

 

[obsolete]

1868
Charlemagne capits to Zara (. .. .. .. .!)

I was trying to avoid that, I even gifted him my airships and tried to get all my ridiculous amounts of cavalry but it was taking too long to build transports and send them over the distance.

Popped Great Prophet

-ni

1876
Zara completed Internet (. .. .. .. .!)
Argghhh!! Another setback that spoils my plans.
-ni

1988
Stole Biology through a spy.
It should be noted that Zara built a city on my continent to gain a resource. It was oil so that is understandable, but basically this allows me to use my spies quickly and cheaply against the top running civilization.
Obviously, I am putting 100% spy focus on him.
-ni

1901
I completed Manhattan project. This almost was an accident, as it’s just fine to let the AI build it for you instead, so THEY waste time and resources doing it. But since I can start building nukes right away, why not.
-ni

1907
A rather embarrassing shot. I was so busy with all the attacks and other city managements going on that I failed to notice that Heliopolis really is still a poor city. Somehow my chain-irrigation got broken and it’s only at pop 7.

Note, I built the NP here and am running a half spy/half beaker economy.

 

[obsolete]

1914
Popped Great Merchant.
-ni

1929
Stole Super Conductors.
-ni

1934
Started Golden Age with the remaining GA.
What the hell, after super conductors we have a lot of parts we can make, might as well get them all out in a quick shot. Zara is also worrying me how he’s getting so advanced and rolling along in space parts.
-ni


1937
Popped Great Engineer?
I can either save him until I pop another guy, or put him to work. I decided to just absorb him into my capital. Though it probably wasn’t the best option at this stage. I mis-calculated some timing issues and didn’t expect the space race to continue by the time another would pop.
-ni

1941
Popped another Great Prophet (and he wants me to lightbuilb theology!?) LMAO!

Now, if I had kept that GE, I could have started yet another Golden Age. Oh well, murphy’s law is that I would have popped another GE instead and then have been behind anyhow on both sides.
-ni



1947

victory.jpg

Victory screen look. Despite Zara had everything but the SS engine completed, we sabotaged the hell out of him so bad, that now Saladin has taken the lead for the AI. But he just doesn’t have a hope vs us now.

Instead of sticking around to complete the second SS engine, I’m going to launch… now!

12 turns to victory!

Up.. Up.. and away.

The rest of our cities are mostly working on commerce, to pour into spy points. And we are sabotaging Zara’s own space race into the stone age. He can’t build parts as fast as we are destroying them.

Note: Also we had been running some anti-espionage missions on both Zara and Justinian. This is because we want to make it expensive as hell for any of them to sabotague us. And since we are making 3168 spy points a turn, surely we can afford 150-200 pts every 10 turns.

 

[obsolete]

1958
A last look at our settled specialists..
We are going to be done a few turns before yet another one was bound to pop, and our NP city also is past halfway to getting one to pop as well.

Also note, 5 military instructors! Usually I don’t go so over-board on my warring, but there’s always something new to do.

Spoiler :

 

[obsolete]

1959
WTH! Zara, declares war on me!? LOL, but the game is already over so I can’t even do anything. A bit too late there Zara.

Did I mention the AI is stupid?

BTW, he got his vassals Characoalallapalozuza, and Togu against me, but I also had a defence pact with Saladin, so poor Saladin was going to take the brunt of it, LOL.

And interestingly enough, I was just thinking, you know what, since it’s the end of the game anyway, why don’t I nuke the hell out of that little city Zara founded in the top left of my continent. However, when the space race says 1 turn left, they really mean 0 turns (this is a change I have to get used to!)

So I apologize for no final nuke shots to get. Yes, I stockpiled a bunch of ICBMs, and had modern armour abouts, but just never got the chance (or had the need) to use them.

Maybe next time.

-ni



----

Once again, I’ve never failed to hit top city.

All in a day’s work (2 days when including writeup).


GG…

 

[VoiceOfUnreason]

Of course, we just have to sweat out the fact that we may lose on a wonder tie (Murphy’s law)

Or you could realize that the AI can't construct anything during your turn. If they haven't built it by the time your turn starts (check the wonder screen), they aren't going to build it before your turn ends. Since the production phase happens at the end of your turn, they aren't going to beat you.

 

[absimiliard]

I find it very interesting that over time your demonstration games have evolved. Initially you settled very, VERY, few cities. Now you actually build a small empire before going to war.

I'm curious, was it an increase in non-wonder production that caused you to start this? Since it allows you to focus the capitol more precisely on wonders, and they are what drive your economy, that would make perfect sense to me.

-abs

 

[Gliese 581]

You got Justinian's character wrong, he's just as much a religious nut as Isabella and very aggressive about it, with those two in a cage you always have some entertainment. When I saw you ended up between them I knew you'd be warring more than usual.

 

[obsolete]

Or you could realize that the AI can't construct anything during your turn. If they haven't built it by the time your turn starts (check the wonder screen), they aren't going to build it before your turn ends. Since the production phase happens at the end of your turn, they aren't going to beat you.

That was not so in Warlords. I lost more than my fair share of wonders due to ties. So either this is a new change (which I'd like to see mentioned somewhere) or we are still going by turn-order. And that over-flow explanation is pure bogus.

 

[obsolete]

You got Justinian's character wrong, he's just as much a religious nut as Isabella and very aggressive about it, with those two in a cage you always have some entertainment. When I saw you ended up between them I knew you'd be warring more than usual.

Well Geeze. NOW you tell me!

Is there some sort of updated leader personality list somewhere? Seems just as I'm getting them all figured out, then out comes a whole new expansion pack.