disjointaccount
Chieftain
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2025
- Messages
- 45
Having a very chaotic game at the minute. Playing military Xerxes (I forget which name is for which one), going for a 12/12 legacy paths game to get as much XP as possible. Met everyone pretty quickly, allied with Isabella while Charlemagne hit me with some nasty forward settles. Isabella actually grabbed one of Charlie's settlements I wanted to grab for Pax Imperatoria, but I snagged two more, which eliminated him from the game (hadn't realised they were his last 2). Throughout this I'd been working on my 7 wonders, and I kept being denied them mid-construction, all but one by Isabella's Egypt. My temp was just feeling sluggish overall and I decided to break my alliance with Isabella and take her capital (which had 5 wonders she'd built along with the Grand Canyon in it, explaining her insane momentum). As I geared up for the war, I managed to snag the 7th wonder and secure my first Golden Age. My codices were coming along OK, and capping two more cities in a war with Isabella should have secured both Pax Imperatoria and Silk Roads. Looking at the age progression ticking down, I declared from a neutral relationship, using my stockpiled influence to reduce her bonus support from the surprise war back to 0. My various boosts as Xerxes held up against the ever-infuriating defensive Medjays, but as I was about 4 or 5 turns from taking Waset, the age jumped from 95 to 100% progress as Isabella hit 12/12 on her Pax Imperatoria (and going 4/4 on Golden Ages, the first time I've ever seen the AI do that). The age ended with me only having achieved 1 of my target 4 Golden Ages.
Going into exploration, I decided a slight change of tack was needed. I had to increase my tempo drastically to recover the momentum needed to hit more Golden Ages in the subesequent ages. Fortunately, Isabella had built me the perfect way to do it. I slotted in Ankus, chose Bulgaria, and on turn 2 of the Exploration Age, I declared on Isabella. By turn 5, I had the five-wonder Waset along with 2 more of her 9 settlements. By turn 20, she was down to just 1. And shortly after, she was down to 0 and out of the game. It probably wasn't necessary to wipe her out completely, but I was feeling vengeful. I did keep most of her settlements, as they were almost all solid, and Xerxes makes settlement caps a lesser concern. At 18% age progression, the war was concluded and I had regained the momentum I'd lost when Isabella ran away with the game in the back half of Antiquity.
As this early war had been going on, I'd been scouting the distant lands, and had met the three leaders who'd started there - Tecumseh, Friedrich, and Augustus. As I began moving troops to the coast to get ready to embark, mere turns after eliminating Isabella, Tecumseh and Fritz eliminated Augustus (whom I'd noticed they were at war with, but hadn't realised was in such a weak position), bringing the game down to just 5 of us. Another of my homelands neighbours, Hatshepsut, also briefly declared on me here but was easily fended off. With some trade spam to secure decent relationships with her and Napoleon (my other remaining neighbour, who hated me since he'd been allied with Charlemagne last age) so I didn't have too much to worry about at home, I set off with most of my commanders to find some nice treasure-filled cities to liberate. To avenge Augustus, of course.
As it stands, I've just declared on Tecumseh. Looking at the yields, after absorbing a second well-built empire in the war with Isabella, I'm comfortably winning and the game should be mine to lose. The real question is whether I'll hit all my legacy paths from here. Treasure fleets always suck but hopefully Tecumseh has built some nice offerings for me like Isabella before him...
Going into exploration, I decided a slight change of tack was needed. I had to increase my tempo drastically to recover the momentum needed to hit more Golden Ages in the subesequent ages. Fortunately, Isabella had built me the perfect way to do it. I slotted in Ankus, chose Bulgaria, and on turn 2 of the Exploration Age, I declared on Isabella. By turn 5, I had the five-wonder Waset along with 2 more of her 9 settlements. By turn 20, she was down to just 1. And shortly after, she was down to 0 and out of the game. It probably wasn't necessary to wipe her out completely, but I was feeling vengeful. I did keep most of her settlements, as they were almost all solid, and Xerxes makes settlement caps a lesser concern. At 18% age progression, the war was concluded and I had regained the momentum I'd lost when Isabella ran away with the game in the back half of Antiquity.
As this early war had been going on, I'd been scouting the distant lands, and had met the three leaders who'd started there - Tecumseh, Friedrich, and Augustus. As I began moving troops to the coast to get ready to embark, mere turns after eliminating Isabella, Tecumseh and Fritz eliminated Augustus (whom I'd noticed they were at war with, but hadn't realised was in such a weak position), bringing the game down to just 5 of us. Another of my homelands neighbours, Hatshepsut, also briefly declared on me here but was easily fended off. With some trade spam to secure decent relationships with her and Napoleon (my other remaining neighbour, who hated me since he'd been allied with Charlemagne last age) so I didn't have too much to worry about at home, I set off with most of my commanders to find some nice treasure-filled cities to liberate. To avenge Augustus, of course.
As it stands, I've just declared on Tecumseh. Looking at the yields, after absorbing a second well-built empire in the war with Isabella, I'm comfortably winning and the game should be mine to lose. The real question is whether I'll hit all my legacy paths from here. Treasure fleets always suck but hopefully Tecumseh has built some nice offerings for me like Isabella before him...
