Sultan Sally (Adventure map)

[Izuul]

It was feeling too easy in the sense that i just had a feeling something bad was going to happen.

 

[shakabrade]

First, thanks to Fippy (or My) for the effort. The game was truly refreshing and has refueled me for more civving!

Anyway, the game.

Spoiler :

So, the initial reaction to both a Camel Archer and Islamic Mish was: Hooray, we have spawnbusters!

And that's what I used them for at the very beginning. Also, when we got religion at T5, I was truly surprised. Religion popped second border quite fast and afterwards only one warrior was needed for spawnbusting our starting basin. I figured out that Egypt is a good techer with the land it had (had warrior shipped to check) and also never wanted to break at hill Longbows amphibiously. And Mish was sent to spread the love. I think Fippy hoped for that.

First city was pigscows south on the river for commerce boost and decent help with workers and settlers. Second city was probably on Silver + Gold to get the beakers and happy for whips.

Camel Archer went for blood path and one warrior was already there. I decided to harass Toku as he would declare on me anyway. I pillaged him badly. At one moment I put my warrior in danger and he was killed by Red General. But Camel Archer was close by and already killed one city (2 Archers) and had Combat + Shock.

Result:

Spoiler :

If I remember it right, odds were around 85% in my favor.

I continued harassing and also gave medic promo and later March promo so that our Camel Archer does not need to stop harassing, ever.

I gifted 2 captured cities to Egypt for these reasons:
- get safe havens for my Camel Archers inside of Toku borders
- get fair trade diplo bonus
- Hatty is Creative, therefore she can fight cultural push better (and is therefore less likely to liberate cities to toku than what Washington would be)
- Hatty is good and Raggy will hate her more than me
- she might tech faster

Spoiler :

Peace with Toku was made for Civil Service.

Later, Toku was killed. Before 1AD. And, yeah, I gave city to Hatty at northern pass so that she would become my Land target:

Don't have real screenie here, only one when I entered WB to see what I missed on the map. :/ You probably have a hunch that she Peacevassaled.

Raggy actually declared on Hatty and has taken those Japan cities from her. Then I stepped in, took them for myself and capped Raggy with Camel Archers mostly, but also some trebs and muskets were needed as Pikes proved to be a nut too tough for Camels to break.

Spoiler :

To cap Washington, I needed to gift him 4 cities and 3 units.
One city was gifted to be a land target and now I only needed 40 War Success to cap him. Killing 4 units in offense is 12 and capturing 3 cities is 30 more. I have more than twice the land of his too:

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Let's talk about north. So, I never made city at Unknown river because I didn't have resources when I was in war with Toku and later my Egypt-canal city popped borders and I saw where it lead. Also I got contact from Justy. Regarding northern pass, after meeting Toku and Raggy, I decided not to push for barb settlement and get potentially more trouble. I got contact with Izzy over mountains and she hated me soon.
But she demanded a tech and I gave it to her and she was fine with that long enough for me to invade at my own terms (and on Justy who she had signed Defensive Pact with).

Spoiler :

Too bad I had to wait for rifles. However, she had so many units that I had to kill her Conquistadors before them. Offensively, Cannons are the best unit in the game, but defending with them and Muskets against streams of Conquistadors is bad and I did take some losses from both Izzy and Justy in Barcelona which was captured easily. Having cannons in a city makes them not feel damage from Flanking. I waited for Rifles to break out. And after that I switched to Nationhood, BTW:

Spoiler :

3rd 12T Golden Age.

And now it was all formality:

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Sorry for not that interesting screenies, but I always forget to take them.


For me, this is the ultimate screenshot one can make as you can interprete whole history of the game and good part of the economy from it.

Spoiler :

This map was so filled with content that I couldn't wait to reward my win with a peek in Worldbuilder and hunt for easter eggs. For instance, I completely missed naval route because I capped Raggy and he had a city blocking me to settle more. And, oh, unit names.

Again, thanks, Fippy!

 

[Fippy]

Ty so much Shaka, such an entertaining report and it's always a lot of fun reading those after making maps

Spoiler :

I liked your stream of cannons best ~~
Very creative play you show, yup Islam mish was thought for Hatshie.

Do you maybe remember if / when Isa + Justi broke thru the barb city?
I had them planned for an unpleasant surprise
They always started plotting fast in test games, with Conqs and Cataphs

Bit in a hurry now, i will read every detail later

 

[shakabrade]

Ty so much Shaka, such an entertaining report and it's always a lot of fun reading those after making maps

Yeah, after an effort like this, at least some feedback is expected. I am glad it was entertaining, to me it always seems dull.

Spoiler :

I liked your stream of cannons best ~~
Very creative play you show, yup Islam mish was thought for Hatshie.

Thanks! It was endless, afterwards Cavs joined too!

Do you maybe remember if / when Isa + Justi broke thru the barb city?
I had them planned for an unpleasant surprise
They always started plotting fast in test games, with Conqs and Cataphs

Mhm, around 300AD maybe?
I did see the LB and Archer number drop at one point but one LB, who else than Bored Soldier survived for some time. But if they did invade, defending with protective Drill 4 and CG3 LBs on a hill city would be cost effective. It is always easy when you have choke points. Also there was a possibility of making a city across by the mountains just across the Spain. That city would have been given for peace (AI values cities much more then tech or gold, from my experience) and then you have at least 10T to breathe. It worked on that map where I was double DoWed from two opposite sides in BCs.

Bit in a hurry now, i will read every detail later

Take care!

 

[Powerfaker]

@Fippy
Compliments on this map. You definitely didn't make it too easy.
I underestimated the first opponent and felt forced to make a restart after getting to ± 200AD.
My second attempt I got him, but the signs are I'm not in a winning position just yet.

Spoiler :

My first attempt went much like Izuul in terms of expansion. I didn't dedicate myself enough to defeat Toku, got stuck with his 2 southern cities, was unable to take over ''fortress'' Kyoto. I underestimated what he had up north. He got pikes at some point, then I lost faith. So I started all over, since I figured my own area woudn't be enough to win.
Minor thing om the side, I missed that 2 hills were flood plain, and build mines way late there. Brrrr......

Second attempt I put much more effort in raising lots of camels as soon as I could. Sent packs around his empire to pillage and that worked much better. I took all cities surrounding Kyoto and drained his forces so that eventually Kyoto fell 300 AD. That's where I am now. I killed 90 units, lost 8. I still need to take 1 city defended by some archers. So Toku's defeat is a heavily fought one I would say!!

Now that Toku is (almost) out of the way another pressing issue is awaiting. Justinian is ranked highest atm with lesser tech, so he must be pretty strong in forces and land. He's currently at war with rank 3 Ragnar who conquered the mountain passage (I'm no2). I should pick a side in a few turns. Ragnar is more vulnerable to my forces, but that would make Justinian even more powerfull...... I still have a lot of mapping to do. Hopefully that gets me the answer??

 

[Fippy]

Before i forget, i also want to give @Nate a much deserved compliment for his pics (first ones). Hopefully i did not annoy you with talking about what i could have made more difficult, surely was not easy in your story.

Spoiler :

Camels vs. Samurai fight will be remembered

@Izuul, okay. I again keep thinking too much about the difficulty, takes the most time when creating maps. I hope i can drop that with more experience.
Will be interesting to see what you do now.

@Powerfaker, ty as well
All very interesting games, good luck!

 

[nate46]

@fippy

Spoiler :

hahah... I lost this game. He just has too many units. I got super frustrated and sent my whole camel stack + 3 cats vs kyoto with mosty 50-60% odds. Did not win.

I still have a lot to learn about war tactics, obviously. Shaka's idea of gifting cities to hatty for safe spaces didn't even occur to me.

 

[Rusten]

~1300 BC

Spoiler :

-Captured 3 workers from Toku (in 2 separate attacks). The unimproved copper was a nice bait.
-Starting area is not so strong long-term, but very productive early on so I was happy to settle it. Next is taking out Toku and Ragnar with Camel Archers (hopefully).
-GS from Medina in 5T --> bulb philosophy (pacifism) and switch to priests --> get holy city. Thank you madrassa -- who said this building is useless?
-Getting the holy city because I spread Islam to Rose Garden and can steal techs from Hatty. I expect regular teching to be so-so from war with Ragnar and Toku.
-Have a settler standing by at unknown river, but not settled yet.
Washington got alpha ~1400 BC which resulted in a lot of tech trades and also resource trades from Hatty. A big help for the coming whip anger.

Screens:

Spoiler :

 

[Powerfaker]

Strategic alert about Egypt:

Spoiler :

The city at the river to Rose Garden is unable to build ships. So, as ships are able to enter forts I was thinking of builfding a chain of forts all the way from the sea at Ragnar to send ships from there across the continent and deserts to that river. However as a test the galley there is unable to enter the first forts I built. Is there some exception for desert forts or is the funtion disabled?? Or do you need to complete a chain first to make them accessable?

Anyhow, this would mean Hattie's erea is untouchable.......... The only thing you can do to her is Shaka's trick......

 

[Fippy]

About Hatty

Spoiler :

Intended that invading her would be slow and / or difficult, i make adventure maps so you fight the bad guys and if you want to "betray" friendly AIs you need creativity

She's only building 4 cities, so with some tricks you can win in other ways.
I gave away all Relis so she has no chance getting one, and will always be friendly if Islam is spread.

Your galley can transport spies (nice idea from Rusten), Islam mish early and only few units (3 with Galleon if you want later), but i did not want her transporting stuff over or players more than what's possible with 1 ship.

It's also why there are several AI workboats edited in, if they make cities there they are not building them and Hatty never built them in Rose Garden too

 

[Powerfaker]

Thanks. I thought I was missing something maybe.

With her ''X'' cities she's the tech leader in my game. And she may very well become the biggest thread to victory with her culture. So I was looking what I could to about it, if needed.

 

[MyOtherName]

Spoiler :

The city at the river to Rose Garden is unable to build ships. So, as ships are able to enter forts I was thinking of builfding a chain of forts all the way from the sea at Ragnar to send ships from there across the continent and deserts to that river. However as a test the galley there is unable to enter the first forts I built. Is there some exception for desert forts or is the funtion disabled?? Or do you need to complete a chain first to make them accessable?

As I understand it,

Spoiler :

Only waterside forts (and cities) can host ships.

 

[Rusten]

200 BC

Spoiler :

Followed plan of CoL --> philo. Great Prophet spawned 700 BC --> holy city.

Declared on Toku around 900 BC and proceeded towards his iron city. Razed this and his marble city but kept two southern cities.

Spoiler :

By the time I had taken Nara T89 he still wouldn't give me CS for peace, so I decided to keep going. He was willing to give monarchy though, so I knew it was only a matter of time.

Spoiler :

Cities like Najran have marginal tiles, but make for great spy and settler whippers.

Spoiler :

Take Kagoshima and Nagoya (settled on iron) 525 BC and take CS for peace.
It hurt to leave my CAs idle for almost 10T, but CS is needed for nationalism to continue my espionage path.

Spoiler :

225 BC:
-Settle a garbage city 1NW of the gold and gift it to Hatty (for espionage).

-Redeclare on Toku and grab Kyoto (nice prize!)

Spoiler :

He's settled the marble again but it's easy pickings. Leaving me with the following empire 200 BC. Ragnar is next.

Spoiler :

 

[Fippy]

Nice going Rusten

 

[Powerfaker]

1650AD. Entering final stage.

Spoiler :

All game I seem to be walking a thin lifeline. Gradually I got a little behind in tech. So I lost Lib race, no Eco first either and in wars I face truckloads of ± equal quality units, which take quite some turns to grind.
Thusfar I eliminated Toku 300AD, capped Ragnar 1470AD, pushed back Just/Isa (Isa=vassal of Just) somewhat.

Currently I'm 3 turns away from access to Inf. Then I will reopen the war.
In the meantime Hattie's cities have passed 20k culture. So the clock is ticking........

Since there's so much fighting I kept track of casualties: overall 450 killed, 80 lost.
Worth mentioning is ''the battle of Tresspassing'' where a combined Byz/Spa army of 90 units (canons/cavs/rifles) was killed in 1 turn of defense and counter attack, at a loss of 25 units unfortunately including my entire force of 26/37 XP elite cavs.

If I win this the win date will not be great but it will be a highly satisfying victory.

 

[Fippy]

Sounds like an epic game, Powerfaker ~~
I had something like that in mind with Trespassing, so not only would winning be satisfying for you but your game going this way is a bit for me

 

[Powerfaker]

Last part was less trouble than expected.

Spoiler :

Reopened war with Just/Isa 1685AD. While I take out the weaker Isa, Just is only able to send small packs of ± 10 units Art/Cav/Anti-tank (anti-tank against my Inf, really?)
His city defense is much better, but my army of 100+ units is unstoppable. I feared he would get bombers or tanks at some point, but none of that. He has a west rim of 3 cities left when Domination is reached 1816AD (took over barb cities south east too).

Final casualty count: 710 kills, 150 lost, 140 survive (along with 50 garrison).

Don't wanna stir up anything but I think Pro has been much more useful than Spi this game. It's save to say it saved me at 1 huge attack. Later Lots of drill4 Inf won lots of battles at 75-90% odds. 1 more drill promo lifted the odds there in a critical way imo. (and oke, Spi is a little bit wasted on me)

Another thing I worth mentioning:
I was amazed Ragnar got to Mil Science while not having techs like Code of Laws and such => Didn't know AI's would beeline that far (at first I suspected it was handed out to him ha ha, but later I checked and it wasn't, so quite impressive by Ragnar). Needless to say he gave me a headache with his grens. Expansion stopped till I got cavs 10-15 turns later.

@Fippy
Thanks for hosting this. Again, nice map making. Keep it going if you like.

 

[Fippy]

cg
And ty for the compliments, i enjoyed making this one but i need a new idea for another map lol.