T1-4: Temple of Doom
- Thread starter Jet
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Jet
No, no, please. Please.
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1840 - move some troops down from the northeast toward TOD. IBT Shaka razes Lyons.
1841 - I form a human shield in a desperate attempt to fool the AI pathfinding. Yes, that is a Horse Archer in row 3, and yes, that is a Trebuchet in row 6. While I think it might fool the pathfinding, I'm fairly sure the units won't be strong enough to keep the AI from pounding through it anyway.
IBT, Shaka is completely unimpressed and smashes through my wall-o-units in three places.
1842 - I "advance in the opposite direction".
1843 - Nationalism finishes. Start Theology (4). Adopt Nationhood, Paganism, and Buddhism.
Vote yes on Open Markets.
Now notice who Shaka has open borders with:
So I get all tricky n' stuff:
Merry Christmas, Mao!
You know when you dropped that culture bomb on Gaul and I vowed to raze it with extreme prejudice (which I later did)? I forgive you!
WHO da man? No... no---- nononono --- Y---- YOUUU da man, Mao Zedong!
The result so far:
1843 - Well THAT can't be good:
Nationalism done, revolt to Nationhood and Paganism and adopt Buddhism. Start drafting.
Vote no on Free Speech. It fails.
1844 -
Mao's borders have expanded somewhat. There's still a pesky diagonal gap in the north, though.
1845 - he's advancing.
1846 - advancing more, and has snuck another stack through the north. I finish chopping the forest next to TOD, but at the cost of 2 of the workers that were chopping it.
1847 - vote yes on Emancipation. In the south Shaka is mostly spread out in mini-stacks (20 units in 9 stacks), but there's one 26-unit SOD. In the north he has 22 units in 3 stacks. In the north I had hoped to shut out more of his units and pick them off in the open, but 22 units is more than I can handle there. I amputate Tlaxcala and Teotihuacan so that the map looks like this:
So now new Tenochtitlan in the north is surrounded by Incan and Chinese culture, where it's safe from Shaka for now. I'd like to milk more units out of Hammer T but I guess that I might be able to cut off the Aztec culture around Tlaxcala if I give it up, so I amputate it too:
No kidding.
This is the result:
Shaka still has one path of entry through the North but I hope it will disappear soon. All units, except the lone Rifleman in new Tenochtitlan, are headed for Temple of Doom.
1848 - Emancipation succeeds. Sending units down to TOD, with Zulu stacks closing in. Sell our gems to Mao for 3 GPT. HC is Friendly and has war on Shaka whitelined, but won't do it for love nor money.
1849 - the North is sealed off; one of Shaka's minor stacks has gotten through. His second stack has moved next door. Here's the lowdown (wide):
I give all our siege units barrage and blow them all on his stack. The rest of the units all get City Garrison, with a couple extra Medic Is thrown in so that we have 4 total. His units are down to around 75-80% strength, and he only has 2 Artillery, so we should survive this first assault pretty well. Oh yeah, and I can draft one more Rifleman.
1841 - I form a human shield in a desperate attempt to fool the AI pathfinding. Yes, that is a Horse Archer in row 3, and yes, that is a Trebuchet in row 6. While I think it might fool the pathfinding, I'm fairly sure the units won't be strong enough to keep the AI from pounding through it anyway.
IBT, Shaka is completely unimpressed and smashes through my wall-o-units in three places.
1842 - I "advance in the opposite direction".
1843 - Nationalism finishes. Start Theology (4). Adopt Nationhood, Paganism, and Buddhism.
Vote yes on Open Markets.
Now notice who Shaka has open borders with:
So I get all tricky n' stuff:
Merry Christmas, Mao!
You know when you dropped that culture bomb on Gaul and I vowed to raze it with extreme prejudice (which I later did)? I forgive you!
WHO da man? No... no---- nononono --- Y---- YOUUU da man, Mao Zedong!
The result so far:
1843 - Well THAT can't be good:
Nationalism done, revolt to Nationhood and Paganism and adopt Buddhism. Start drafting.
Vote no on Free Speech. It fails.
1844 -
Mao's borders have expanded somewhat. There's still a pesky diagonal gap in the north, though.
1845 - he's advancing.
1846 - advancing more, and has snuck another stack through the north. I finish chopping the forest next to TOD, but at the cost of 2 of the workers that were chopping it.
1847 - vote yes on Emancipation. In the south Shaka is mostly spread out in mini-stacks (20 units in 9 stacks), but there's one 26-unit SOD. In the north he has 22 units in 3 stacks. In the north I had hoped to shut out more of his units and pick them off in the open, but 22 units is more than I can handle there. I amputate Tlaxcala and Teotihuacan so that the map looks like this:
So now new Tenochtitlan in the north is surrounded by Incan and Chinese culture, where it's safe from Shaka for now. I'd like to milk more units out of Hammer T but I guess that I might be able to cut off the Aztec culture around Tlaxcala if I give it up, so I amputate it too:
No kidding.
This is the result:
Shaka still has one path of entry through the North but I hope it will disappear soon. All units, except the lone Rifleman in new Tenochtitlan, are headed for Temple of Doom.
1848 - Emancipation succeeds. Sending units down to TOD, with Zulu stacks closing in. Sell our gems to Mao for 3 GPT. HC is Friendly and has war on Shaka whitelined, but won't do it for love nor money.
1849 - the North is sealed off; one of Shaka's minor stacks has gotten through. His second stack has moved next door. Here's the lowdown (wide):
Spoiler :
I give all our siege units barrage and blow them all on his stack. The rest of the units all get City Garrison, with a couple extra Medic Is thrown in so that we have 4 total. His units are down to around 75-80% strength, and he only has 2 Artillery, so we should survive this first assault pretty well. Oh yeah, and I can draft one more Rifleman.
Jet
No, no, please. Please.
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1849 IBT - our true love gives to us:
one Infantry a-swimming, two SAM Infantry a-laying, one TREB-U-CHET....
three War Elephants, three Riflemen, two Grenadiers...
and he started it with two Artillery.
No, no, please. Please.
We kill them all, and the remnants disperse to pillage.
1850 - Sun Tzu was born in IBT. He retires to the hills for a powwow with our lone Horse Archer, and rides back as a Medic III.
We successfully pick off all stragglers within a safe distance of The Temple.
1851 - Secretary-general is up again; I vote for our boy HC.
1852 - Mao wins. His culture had almost sealed off our eastern border, but this year there's another Aztec revolt in Texcoco. Meanwhile, sizeable Zulu reinforcements (27 units among 3 stacks) have crept in through France.
We're down to pop 6, so I enjoy our last draft. Xochicalco has grown to size 6, so I draft there, too, then evacuate its tiny garrison and amputate the city.
1853 - a stack of 14 has pulled up, so I blow a couple cats, but reserve a few for the next stack.
IBT, he blows 13 units, again with no casualties to us.
1854 - I pick off a couple stragglers and sit tight. Picking off stragglers, lose a Combat 5 Grenadier at 90% (humph) and a Guerilla III Grenadier - attacking a Rifleman on a hill - at 78%.
1855 - I vote Yes on Non-Proliferation.
There's a stack of 11 next to us and a stack of 21 coming up behind. We have 5 cats, one injured. I blow one cat and save the rest.
1856 - IBT he blew 4 units (no casualties) and moves up his larger stack. I blow the rest of our cats (no other major stacks are on the radar).
1857 - IBT we suffer our first defensive casualties. We lose 11, he loses 27. His stack is depleted. We have 38 units left in TOD. I expect him to have about 20 units visible, but looking at the military advisor he actually has... sixty four? I hadn't noticed that stack of... err... 34 units, including four artillery, that is now immediately to our north. It may have attacked last turn, because a few units in it are damaged. We still have our Medic III, but we have a good chance of not making it. I blow our two cats on the 34-unit stack. His earlier stack still has 9 units in it.
Meanwhile,
* Ramses renounces the protection of Shaka.
* HC, oddly, is no longer Friendly with us, and no longer has war on Shaka white-lined. Interestingly he's running Universal Suffrage instead of his favorite, HR. Perhaps that's why we don't currently have a favorite-civic bonus with him.
I turn off Quick Combat (Defense) to watch the fireworks.
one Infantry a-swimming, two SAM Infantry a-laying, one TREB-U-CHET....
three War Elephants, three Riflemen, two Grenadiers...
and he started it with two Artillery.
No, no, please. Please.
We kill them all, and the remnants disperse to pillage.
1850 - Sun Tzu was born in IBT. He retires to the hills for a powwow with our lone Horse Archer, and rides back as a Medic III.
We successfully pick off all stragglers within a safe distance of The Temple.
1851 - Secretary-general is up again; I vote for our boy HC.
1852 - Mao wins. His culture had almost sealed off our eastern border, but this year there's another Aztec revolt in Texcoco. Meanwhile, sizeable Zulu reinforcements (27 units among 3 stacks) have crept in through France.
We're down to pop 6, so I enjoy our last draft. Xochicalco has grown to size 6, so I draft there, too, then evacuate its tiny garrison and amputate the city.
1853 - a stack of 14 has pulled up, so I blow a couple cats, but reserve a few for the next stack.
IBT, he blows 13 units, again with no casualties to us.
1854 - I pick off a couple stragglers and sit tight. Picking off stragglers, lose a Combat 5 Grenadier at 90% (humph) and a Guerilla III Grenadier - attacking a Rifleman on a hill - at 78%.
1855 - I vote Yes on Non-Proliferation.
There's a stack of 11 next to us and a stack of 21 coming up behind. We have 5 cats, one injured. I blow one cat and save the rest.
1856 - IBT he blew 4 units (no casualties) and moves up his larger stack. I blow the rest of our cats (no other major stacks are on the radar).
1857 - IBT we suffer our first defensive casualties. We lose 11, he loses 27. His stack is depleted. We have 38 units left in TOD. I expect him to have about 20 units visible, but looking at the military advisor he actually has... sixty four? I hadn't noticed that stack of... err... 34 units, including four artillery, that is now immediately to our north. It may have attacked last turn, because a few units in it are damaged. We still have our Medic III, but we have a good chance of not making it. I blow our two cats on the 34-unit stack. His earlier stack still has 9 units in it.
Meanwhile,
* Ramses renounces the protection of Shaka.
* HC, oddly, is no longer Friendly with us, and no longer has war on Shaka white-lined. Interestingly he's running Universal Suffrage instead of his favorite, HR. Perhaps that's why we don't currently have a favorite-civic bonus with him.
I turn off Quick Combat (Defense) to watch the fireworks.
Jet
No, no, please. Please.
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1858 - the score IBT is Templars 12, Zulus 7. We're not dead yet! We're feeling much better! I City Garrison up and sit tight.
1859 - the score IBT is Templars 19, Zulus 4. We accidentally vote yes on Free Religion, and finish a catapult. We have 27 units. He has two stacks of 5 units each next to The Temple, and another 18 units spread around. No major reinforcement stacks are visible, but the reinforcements now include Marines. I might be able to pick off a couple stragglers, but since he's pillaged just about everything, I don't bother. I do blow our new cat on the stronger of the 5-unit stacks, and City Garrison the rest. We're back up to pop 6, so I draft again. Small pleasures! I realize that most of our production is coming from our five non-pillagable settled great prophets, which is pretty cool. That could be a good tactic in MP, I guess.
In other news, Shaka will talk! And amazingly, he somehow hasn't researched Liberalism. Well, no wonder he's such a sourpuss. We can't give him any cities (that is, our one city apart from the capital), but he won't take peace for everything else we've got. Not yet, anyway. I set research to zero and sit tight.
1860 - Free Religion fails. Well THAT'S good. The score for the latest round is Templars 5, Zulus 2.
Shaka won't name a price for peace, but I try entering our best offer manually anyway, just in case. And get this: for the first time ever (I think), I realize that you can type in the amount you want to offer, instead of clicking up arrow...
for every...
single...
unit of wealth.
1861 - IBT Score is 3-2. One of the losses was from a Marine, unsurprisingly, but the Marine is down to 5.8/24 now. We build a new cat and I blow it on the small stack that has the two Marines in it. To my pleasure I reduce the lead Marine to 22.8/24.
I can't resist - I renegotiate our Gems for 3 GPT to Mao to 15 GPT. He has 31 GPT, but won't do it for 20 (his offer was 3 GPT + Marble).
1862 - Well, I *hope* Shaka is running out of steam. He still has a number of pillagers about, but no reinforcements are visible at the moment. The last score was 1-1. He has pillaged almost everything.
1863 - the score is 4-0, and I vote No on Free Speech.
1864 - the score is 1-0. I finish a cat and blow it on the one stack that's left, which has 5 units.
1865 -
In the end game credits, I notice that HC made up for his pitiful failure to build any early wonders by building EVERY SINGLE modern wonder. Kremlin? Check. SOL? Check. Every single wonder after that? Check! I don't think that bastard fought a single war all game!
.
1859 - the score IBT is Templars 19, Zulus 4. We accidentally vote yes on Free Religion, and finish a catapult. We have 27 units. He has two stacks of 5 units each next to The Temple, and another 18 units spread around. No major reinforcement stacks are visible, but the reinforcements now include Marines. I might be able to pick off a couple stragglers, but since he's pillaged just about everything, I don't bother. I do blow our new cat on the stronger of the 5-unit stacks, and City Garrison the rest. We're back up to pop 6, so I draft again. Small pleasures! I realize that most of our production is coming from our five non-pillagable settled great prophets, which is pretty cool. That could be a good tactic in MP, I guess.
In other news, Shaka will talk! And amazingly, he somehow hasn't researched Liberalism. Well, no wonder he's such a sourpuss. We can't give him any cities (that is, our one city apart from the capital), but he won't take peace for everything else we've got. Not yet, anyway. I set research to zero and sit tight.
1860 - Free Religion fails. Well THAT'S good. The score for the latest round is Templars 5, Zulus 2.
Shaka won't name a price for peace, but I try entering our best offer manually anyway, just in case. And get this: for the first time ever (I think), I realize that you can type in the amount you want to offer, instead of clicking up arrow...
for every...
single...
unit of wealth.
1861 - IBT Score is 3-2. One of the losses was from a Marine, unsurprisingly, but the Marine is down to 5.8/24 now. We build a new cat and I blow it on the small stack that has the two Marines in it. To my pleasure I reduce the lead Marine to 22.8/24.
I can't resist - I renegotiate our Gems for 3 GPT to Mao to 15 GPT. He has 31 GPT, but won't do it for 20 (his offer was 3 GPT + Marble).
1862 - Well, I *hope* Shaka is running out of steam. He still has a number of pillagers about, but no reinforcements are visible at the moment. The last score was 1-1. He has pillaged almost everything.
1863 - the score is 4-0, and I vote No on Free Speech.
1864 - the score is 1-0. I finish a cat and blow it on the one stack that's left, which has 5 units.
1865 -
In the end game credits, I notice that HC made up for his pitiful failure to build any early wonders by building EVERY SINGLE modern wonder. Kremlin? Check. SOL? Check. Every single wonder after that? Check! I don't think that bastard fought a single war all game!
"...Montezuma?! But nobody could have survived that explosion! ..."
.
Jet
No, no, please. Please.
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I just noticed a couple things looking at the 1864 save in cheat mode (chipotle and Ctrl-Z).
One is that HC's cities are running an insane number of specialists, like seven each.
Another is by Beijing. One worker is farming over a cottage...
and another worker is cottaging over a farm.
Edit: hmm, it's a "tricky" situation with irrigation. Adding the farm will spread irrigation to some tiles that need it, but cottaging over the existing farm will remove irrigation from other tiles that need it. Still funny!
One is that HC's cities are running an insane number of specialists, like seven each.
Another is by Beijing. One worker is farming over a cottage...
and another worker is cottaging over a farm.
Edit: hmm, it's a "tricky" situation with irrigation. Adding the farm will spread irrigation to some tiles that need it, but cottaging over the existing farm will remove irrigation from other tiles that need it. Still funny!
Jet you are to be commended for completing that game. We got crushed despite your brilliant play. You must be the most tenacious player ever!
This was fun. Great thanks to all who played and to all those who lurked to the very end.
Kudos to Blake for his BetterAI mod. The AI did stuff that was really unexpected and that's a lot of fun.
So where did we go wrong? Should we have tried an early rush on Huayna Capac? It would have given us a large chunk of territory with which to grow.
Or is this variant (requirement for priests) combined with Blake's mod just doomed to fail?
This was fun. Great thanks to all who played and to all those who lurked to the very end.
Kudos to Blake for his BetterAI mod. The AI did stuff that was really unexpected and that's a lot of fun.
So where did we go wrong? Should we have tried an early rush on Huayna Capac? It would have given us a large chunk of territory with which to grow.
Or is this variant (requirement for priests) combined with Blake's mod just doomed to fail?
We stayed alive long enough to wave goodbye to the spacers. That is an accomplishment.
And BlakeAI is a treat. Even in the standard Warlords game you see more agressive play by the AI, but nothing like this. Getting stomped by barbarians, then the French, then the Chinese, and having to cope with the monster concentrations of troops they brought to the party was was something to watch, and experience.
Almost any variant is winnable, and I think this one is too. Three things hampered us: 1) Centuries of WFYATBA, almost millenia in fact; 2) reaching too far in the early settlement phase; 3) not reaching far enough in the middle game.
Getting pummeled by the barbarians early didn't help either. That Great Wall Wonder is a nuisance as it seems to put the every barbarian on the map on my doorstep every time I don't build it.
And BlakeAI is a treat. Even in the standard Warlords game you see more agressive play by the AI, but nothing like this. Getting stomped by barbarians, then the French, then the Chinese, and having to cope with the monster concentrations of troops they brought to the party was was something to watch, and experience.
Almost any variant is winnable, and I think this one is too. Three things hampered us: 1) Centuries of WFYATBA, almost millenia in fact; 2) reaching too far in the early settlement phase; 3) not reaching far enough in the middle game.
Getting pummeled by the barbarians early didn't help either. That Great Wall Wonder is a nuisance as it seems to put the every barbarian on the map on my doorstep every time I don't build it.
Arlborn
Legendary Noob
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Lurker: Great game! Got drawn by a post in the funny screenshots thread and did read it all in a single blow!
Haha, what a funny game! Shaka hitted you guys Really hard, even harder than Mao+Vicky!
And you guys had to go to HC earlier ^^
And you guys didnt use an build of Better AI with dagger stacks and Cultural victory by AI??!!? Haha, you would get owned even harder then
But some of you Really played a good game full of skills! Congratulations anyway
Haha, what a funny game! Shaka hitted you guys Really hard, even harder than Mao+Vicky!
And you guys had to go to HC earlier ^^
And you guys didnt use an build of Better AI with dagger stacks and Cultural victory by AI??!!? Haha, you would get owned even harder then
But some of you Really played a good game full of skills! Congratulations anyway
angeleyes
mood indigo
1. We have learnt
2. We were only allowed to settle for free near our capital, so we settled as far as possible
. Settling nearby also means less problems with barbs. 3. The first wardeclaration on Shaka was imo opinion a mistake, not in the spirit of the variant cause we didn't go after him. We were already at war with Nap so we could celebrate our first prophet with him.
4. We should have been focusing on taking out Nap.
Swiss Pauli
Emperor
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We lost! And we were doing so well...
What did we learn:
1. A deceptively poor start: unwatered rice is weak, as is sugar;
2. Monty isn't such a great leader (but we knew that anyway);
3. Iron is essential;
4. Grab marble for the Epics or forget 'em;
5. Even getting whupped can be fun!
What did we learn:
1. A deceptively poor start: unwatered rice is weak, as is sugar;
2. Monty isn't such a great leader (but we knew that anyway);
3. Iron is essential;
4. Grab marble for the Epics or forget 'em;
5. Even getting whupped can be fun!
angeleyes
mood indigo
It went from bad to worse to worst...
angeleyes
mood indigo
In oasis you never start with iron, but Aztecs don't need iron ????
Swiss Pauli
Emperor
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Not at first, but it needs to be conquered. With Cannon we could have taken out Boney, I'm sure.
If we replay as Monty, I'd say shift to Prince as the latest versions of Blake's AI are really good. If we stay on Monarch, then Capac's the man.
angeleyes
mood indigo
We could have taken out Nappy without cannon's easily if we didn't had messed up first with Shaka and Mao.
I would like a replay on whatever level ...
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