[C3C] The Nine Conquests

[Lanzelot]

Age of Discovery, part 1

T0, 1490 AD: As indicated in the preflight, the Caravel from Bristol sails westwards to meet the three northern New World nations, another Caravel with a settler and a scout sails southwards to settle my first colony in Brazil and meet the Incas. The scout can cross South America from east to the westcoast.

Researching Printing Press at full speed, though I won't be able to keep the -38gpt for long, unless I meet those rich American nations...

Trade world maps to everyone for some change and sign a RoP with everyone except France, who want some gold for it. But the Netherlands give me 36 gold for RoP. Great, that's another turn of research...!

Spain and Portugal are now gracious towards me. Nice

With my amphibious Medevial Infantry I attack the barb Camp near Dublin, and also sail my Trebuchet over there. This camp needs to be eliminated, before the barbs cause trouble.

And indeed, in the following turn I can defeat the remaining two barbs and collect another 25g.

In 1493, turn 3, we reach the New World and are the first to meet the Iroquois:



Strange that they only have 125g, I thought all the American nations start with 200?

Next turn we meet a Spanish Caravel coming from the south, so they will probably have met the Aztecs before me?! No, a quick check in F4 shows otherwise. Trading my map every other turn proves to be a steady source of income, everyone has now nearly spent it's starting capital of 200g, while mine increased to 305, despite running a deficit of -38gpt...

In 1497 my Caravel meets the Mayas and the Aztecs and collects another 198g. How on earth did they manage to spend their money? Looks like everyone is running deficit research?!




In 1500, turn 10, my scout meets the Incas. They still have all their gold and I get it for two ancient techs.



Spain gives me wines and some gold for my world map?! And of course more gold from everyone else. After 10 turns, I have Printing Press almost finished, and I'm swimming in gold.

In 1503 the Portuguese know Printing Press, saving us 1 turn of research. The following turn I start Banking, still at full speed, due in 13 turns.
And my settler finally reaches its destination, my future Colonial Capital in prime location:



1505, turn 15, Lisbon finishes the Sistine Chapel, and Jamestown is founded, starting a Courthouse.

After one turn, I rush the Courthouse (still swimming in gold, map-trading covers my deficit...), and Jamestown is now building a Temple (turn 17). The plan is to get it big and productive as quick as possible.



We have pretty good maps of the world by now, thanks to the information of the native tribes and thanks to my scout, who meanwhile reached Cap Horn.

We can see the four European colonies, the Dutch and the French in the north, the Spanish in Louisiana and the English one in Brazil. I think I can develop quite undisturbedly down there. My ship chain already goes down to the Canary Island, almost half the distance to Jamestown and the first Colonist is soon to be shipped to Brazil as well. London will finish my Naval Academy in 11 turns, increasing ship speed by two and therefore extending the length of my ship chain by 10 tiles. One more ship and then upgrading the Caravels to Caracks, should already suffice to connect Plymouth with a harbour in my Brazilian colony.

Interturn Paris finishes Leonardo's Workshop, and Madrid cascades into Copernicus' Observatory.

In 1509 Portugal and the Netherlands know Magnetism. If I can trade that for Banking (due in 7), I can already build better ships: Carracks, which are 2-3-5 compared to 1-2-4 Caravels. So as seafaring nation and with the Naval Academy, my Carracks have speed 8.

In 1511, France also knows Magnetism, and Spain is the only European nation without Printing Press. I sell it to them for 15gtp and a renewed RoP.
Great: the next turn, Spain knows Gunpowder and Magnetism, the Netherlands as well. Hopefully I can pick up both with Banking!

In the interturn of 1515, turn 25, Banking is finished, and I can sell it to Spain for Gunpowder, 36gpt and 109g. France then wants Gunpowder and Banking for Magnetism. I also sell Banking to Portugal for 73g and 3gpt, but the Netherlands simply don't have anything to offer...

Start Colonization now at 90%. (Some time ago I had to raise lux to 10%, as London and another city had grown. Oh, I see there is another ivory resource available at the west coast of Africa. So I'll send the Colonist, who is currently on its way to Brazil, that way.



I have now founded my second settlement in the New World, while Spain, France and the Netherlands have only one and Portugal has three in Africa. Strange, if you consider that Brazil is the furthest away and the AI grows much faster than me?! Probably still busy building wonders?!

1518, London completes my Navigation School.

And my ship with the second Colonist arrives down by the ivory resource, but looks like the Portuguese beat me by one turn.



But why are they still building Settlers? They know Printing Press!
Ok, what I could try is settle to the north of the ivory, rush a Temple and hope that Portugal quickly builds a Harbor in Africa that I can use. Or I continue with the original plan of founding my third Brazil colony by the tobacco and sugar, and then in 14 turns, when Colonization finishes, I can build the first plantations there and use the gold from the Treaures to buy ivory from the Portuguese, once it becomes available on the market.

(BTW, there are only four lux resources in this scenario: silks, dyes, wines and ivory. Furs, gems and spices are strategic resources, and there is no incense.)

I'll do that (meaning: sending the Colonist to Brazil as originally planned, instead of competing for the ivory), as the other plan requires a lot of effort to keep the cultural dominance over the Portuguese town, and is not guaranteed to yield any return on investment, if the Portuguese take forever to build a Harbor for me...

I renew my RoP with Portugal, as otherwise they would constantly disrupt my ship chain, which needs to run through their waters.

In 1520, my wines deal with France expires. As I don't think I will be building Knights anytime soon, I sell them my horses for wines and some gold.

 

[Lanzelot]

Age of Discovery, part 2

In the interturn of 1529, I am the first to finish Colonization. I rush two Tobacco Plantations and a Sugar Plantation immediately, so the first Treasures will soon be shipped home to London. Argh, I disbanded my scout in Jamestown, when I still thought I would require a Cathedral there to get it big. Later I decided I rather use it as a prebuild for the Colonial Capital, but now I cannot switch! Should have rushed that Cathedral ages ago... Ok, doing it now. Darn that delays my Colonial Capital quite a bit.

After the first 40 turns, my Colony in Brazil is slowly taking shape:



While the three northern colonies are still in their infancies:




Portugal has a sizable colony in Africa, and some holdings in the Caribean:




So in the long run, the French will be able to build one Trapper Camp, the Spanish a Sugar Plantation and a Gold Mine and the Portuguese a Sugar and a Tobacco Plantation, a Gem Mine and a Gold Mine. I already have three Plantations and two more in two turns.

The Iroquois have reached the middle ages 1-2 turns ago, amazing! The other American nations still have 2-4 ancient techs to go.

Spain, Portugal and France finished Naval Ordnance this very same same turn that I finished Colonization. The question now is, should I trade it for Colonization, or keep Colonization back a while to get a head-start on Treasure production? I can wait at least a couple of turns, perhaps I can even get Naval Ordnance for Metallurgy, which I am now researching at full speed. Then the AI doesn't need to know Colonization for quite a while...

In 1531, Spain declared war on the Portuguese! That'll be an interesting war... I watched a few fights from my ships and noticed that Conquistadores are also amphibious!



The Netherlands come up with Protestantism. Looks like I can keep my head-start on Colonization for quite a while, and will also be first to Mining. While the Colonial Capital in Jamestown is slowly finishing, I will set up a ring of towns around it, four of which will have access to the gold mountain. That would mean 5 Treasures every 3 turns! I need to prepare now enough ships and units to ship all that stuff home. I remember from earlier games in the past, that I always produced more Treasure units than I could transport, so they were stockpiling in the colonies, some even until the game was over. I hope I can prepare this better this time around...



In 1534 I sell Portugal my spare resources of iron and saltpeter for 100g and 55gpt. I hope that doesn't affect my good relations with the Spanish...

Guess that came too late: in 1535, Spain captures Lisbon! The Portuguese capital escapes to Madeira.



With a Conquistador win, they might also have already started their GA (while Portugal's is long over), so Spain threatens to become a powerhouse here. They already gained a decent VP lead in the war.

Not sure, whether I will have to do something about this later?! At the moment my troups are much too weak to take part in a European war. Good is, that the Spanish colonies still consist of only two size-1 towns in Louisiana and one in the Caribian. So they are a long way from bringing home treasure.

In 1537, the Portuguese know Metallurgy, reducing the time I have left for it to 7 turns. Should I buy it for Colonization and speed up my time to Gold Mines by 7 turns? I could also get things like Naval Ordnance and Protestantism in a 3-fer, but that would speed up the general research pace quite a bit, and I don't want that.

Note by the way, that the Mesoamerican tribes cannot handle this game well: Tenochtitlan is size 3, Chichén Itza size 2 and Cusco size 1, 47 turns into the game! They are by now building the nice cultural wonders like Temple of the Moon and Temple of the Sun, but at that rate, it'll take them forever. So I don't think a cultural win by the Americans is a threat here.

 

[Lanzelot]

Age of Discovery, part 3

And in 1538 finally the big moment: my first two Treasures!



My ship chain from Bristol to Brazil is meanwhile complete, and two Pikes are ready to grab the two Treasures, but they'll have to wait one turn, because first I want to use the chain in the opposite direction to send another Colonist down south.

In 1539, Spain and Portugal sign peace. I thought the Spanish would capture Oporto as well, but they didn't. And the first two treasures arrive in London, but Spain gained so many points in this war, that it is not enough for first place.

The money will soon be invested into our colony, hoping for even more RoI...

Darn, France, Spain and Portugal now all know Colonization. I hope I didn't miss the point for cashing in on it... Let's see whether I can at least get something from the Netherlands.

Well, I have been offered better deals for Colonization, but before I'm left behind in the tech race, I better take it.

1543 is another eventful year: Metallurgy finally finishes, the VPs for that let me overtake the Spanish and I can get at least 255g back from the Netherlands. I start Mining at 90%, due in 11 turns. Ok, it's about time to connect my gold near Jamestown!
Also the second treasure fleet returns to Bristol (a year late, as last year my ship chain was blocked by a Spanish fleet...), 3000 points put me firmly in the lead, and I'm again swimming in gold...

Two more Treasures are returned in 1547. Spain knows Professional Armies in 1549, another optional tech that doesn't do them any good. (2-3-1 Pikemen instead of 1-3-1, honestly, who wants to attack with Pikemen??) A turn later, the Netherlands must have researched Piracy and traded with Spain.

1552, the next three Treasures arrive in London, almost one third of the way, and Spain knows Mining! Fortunately only Santo Domingo can have a gold mine. I will finish Mining next turn and then rush 2 Mines (red), with 4 more to follow in 2-3 turns (green) and 3 more long-term:





I buy Piracy from the Netherlands for Mining , 700g and 12gpt. They don't have any gold or gems. Piracy now allows the Seadog, the English UU, so I can trigger my GA. Only need to find a suitable victim, as actually I don't want to get into any war against a major power. Perhaps the native American tribes have some ships scouting the shores?! All of them, except for the Aztecs, have Map Making (amazing, that Mayas and Aztecs are still in the ancient age). I sell Map Making to the Aztecs for 31g.

Start Ship Building at 90%. Don't know, whether I still need another tech for winning this game, but gold will come via Treasures, so I might as well invest the commerce into science and get some extra points that way.

In 1555, my Colonial Capital is finally finished in Jamestown. In terms of corruption it indeed acts like a second Palace, even towns in second-ring distance are pretty productive now.

First build project is now a Gold Mine. Jamestown had been the only town around the gold mountain, which didn't have a Mine yet...

In 1557, T67, the next shipload of three Treasures arrives in England, score goes up to 15360. And the first Seadog sets sail towards the Caribean, looking for a native ship to capture and starting the Golden Age of England!

Meanwhile, all European nations know Fortification, not that that is particularly useful... The American nations have now all entered the Middle Ages, still no big Temple was built, but Tenochtitlan is now over 1000 culture (1166/4000). Need to watch that a bit.

Three more Treasures in 1560 and four more in 1561. Treasure production and shipping them home now really gets going, and I still have two more Mines to build in Brazil.

In the interturn, I see two Privateers attacking someone elses ships and one of my Carracks. Unfortunately no Seadog within reach. I need to build more of those and use them to protect my ship lane. I wonder whether a victory over a hidden nationality Privateer triggers the GA, or counts as a victory over a barbarian (which do not trigger GA)? And Portugal declares war on Spain! They are brave indeed. I guess they want to take back Lisbon.

1563: four more Treasures arrive in London, six more are in stock waiting to be shipped home. Score is now at 26375. The end is near.
1564 and 1565 both see another four Treasuries arrive in London, raising the score to 34375. I could now buy Fortification from Portugal, if I give them my gems resource, my horses and my cash (985g). But I think this would not suffice to push me over 35000: tech price is 2140 beakers, and I think we get 25% of the beaker price as victory points. (Or even less, now that I think about it: for the 9 techs I already researched and traded, I got only 1320 VPs so far.)
So I skipp that deal and wait for next turn. I still got three Treasures waiting for a passage.

In 1565, Portugal and the Netherlands sign an MA agaist Spain. The following turn, the Netherlands sign up the Mayas and the Incas. But Spain razes Oporto! This is getting ugly.



In 1566, the big moment has finally come: two more Treasures put me at 36375 points, way ahead over Spain with 5815 points. The best cultural city, Tenochtitlan, also still has a long way to go: it's currently at 1244/4000 points.



In retrospect I have to say: even though I was very afraid before the game, that the Deity AIs would run away with the game on victory points, this scenario after all is much too easy. As England, you are safe from attacks, just set up a good colony and bring home Treasures via ship chain, and it's a guaranteed win. Even though my colony in Brazil was not yet quite finished (one last Colonist was waiting for the jungle to be cleared up, so it could found another town near the gold resource and set up another gold mine), treasures were produced really quickly. In the end I had 5 gold mine, 2 gem mines, 2 tobacco plantations and 4 sugar plantations. In the after-game replay, I saw that the other European nations had only picked up a handful of Treasures and returned home only 1-2 each, while I had returned 36. The AI obviously can't handle this treasure mode correctly.

VC victory in turn 77 -- the game went by so fast, that I didn't even get a chance to start my GA...

 

[Lanzelot]

Sengoku, part 1

I still have very fond memories of the Sengoku scenario, having played it three times in PBEM matches against human opponents 2008-2010. However, the multiplayer map for this scenario is quite different from the singleplayer one, with more space, more islands and more opponents. After studying the map a bit, I decided to go with the Hojo, because they start on a river, are close to a location with two food boni, and are not as cramped by nearby neighbors as some of the other starting spots. I think I will walk my settler three moves to found the capital directly by the cow.

This game has basically three possible victory conditions, besides the usual tie breaker on points after 540 turns:

• Domination: own 35% of territory and population
• Diplomatic: build the "War Council" and get elected as sole Shogun of Japan
• Conquest: eliminate all rivals

What else is important to know about this scenario, before jumping into it?

• Every one starts with a king unit, the Daimyo, a 2/2/2 unit, which can be improved/upgraded over time as you progress along the tech tree. Each level adds another attack and defense point, until you reach the Level-10 Shogun at 11/11/2. So your Daimyo can become a powerful unit, but if you lose it, it's instant game over...
• The early barbarians are ordinary 1/1/1 Ashigaru, but later on, barb camps spawn Ronins, who at 4/3/1 are quite annoying buggers... And they usually appear before you have the appropriate counter weapons...
  I remember one "funny" incident from one of the multiplayer games: Calis (a top notch PBEM player, with quite a number of victories in multiplayer matches under his belt, and also a #1 HoF player with many high-ranking entries in the HoF tables) had gone on vacation and had asked Chamnix (one of the top GOTM players at that time) to be his substitute. On his first day as a substitute, Chamnix parked his Daimyo outside a barb camp, with the intention of clearing it next turn. But in the same turn, I finished the last tech of the first era and traded it with my ally. This triggered the general barb uprising, and each barb camp spawned 24 Ronins... The first player of the next turn then got the pop-up message that the "mighty Calis empire" had been eliminated.
  It took us quite a while to figure out what had happened, and whether we wanted to replay that turn, because it did not seem fair that Calis, who had been well in contention for first place at that point of time, was eliminated from the match due to an unfortunate slip of his substitute, who might not yet have been completely familiar with all the subtleties of the scenario...
  Anyway, a decent military is required in this game, because the barbs are much stronger than in the standard game, and come in bigger numbers: there are around 60-70 barb camps on the map, and they keep re-appearing until the map is pretty much settled, and the barb uprising at the end of an era spawns 24 units per camp instead of the usual 16. (Although these 24 we saw in the PBEM games were on Emperor level. Could be that on Deity the number is even higher?!) Anyway, looks like the party-town approach will be needed here at the end of the first era...
• Ronins can later also be built by the non-barbarian civs, and they have hidden nationality, so can't be distinguished from ordinary barbs... This might come as a useful tool for paying your next-door neighbor a little visit and causing some havoc there without having to declare war...
• The Ronin later upgrades to the Ninja, which additionally is invisible and has stealth attack. At 6/2/1, it poses a serious threat to any only half-way upgraded Daimyo. However, as I learned in one of the PBEMs, despite having hidden nationality, it is not possible to assassinate a rival Daimyo, without first declaring war?! (Must be a bug in the game.) The Ninja is also amphibious and treats all terrain as roads.
  The only counter against the Ninja is the Yamabushi Warrior Monk, who can detect invisible units.
• The game goes the full 540 turns, so I expect it will be a bit more "forgiving" with respect to early mistakes. It is still possible to catch up later without running the risk of quickly losing a victory point race, like for example in the rise and fall of the Roman Empire games.
• Chopping forests takes 10 turns, that slows down making forest areas productive quite a bit.
• Max research time is 40 turns, but the tech costs aren't that high, that research will become problematic, not even at Deity.
• No tribe has any unique traits, so building any one great wonder will trigger the GA! (Which is by the way the only way to trigger the GA, as there are no unique units either...)
• And as we all know, on Elvis' birthday, Jan. 8th, all king units in the game get replaced by a little Elvis unit! I considered delaying this game a bit longer so as to make sure that I would still be playing it on Jan 8th, but I have to use the Christmas vacation time now: early January will probably be a bad time again for continuing this series.

As this is the only one of the nine conquests with a UN victory enabled, I will try to go for that. The research strategy for this game then becomes quite simple: in the first age one needs to strive at researching and trading all techs as fast as possible, because the last tech of the era is Feudalism, which finally allows you to get out of Despotism. Note that the Feudalism government of this scenario is very different from Feudalism in the standard game! It is more like the standard Monarchy with a much higher unit support (4/6/8 for town/city/metro). Also, we have cash-rushing instead of pop-rushing. And (as I re-discovered while playing the second session of this installment) two improvements of the Feudalism government are not even mentioned in the Civilopedia of this scenario: it boosts worker speed to 200% and it adds +1 commerce to each tile (so it's in fact an improved Republic rather than an improved Monarchy!) In any case, it's a huge improvement over Despotism.



In the second era, we have an upper tech tree, which allows most of the more advanced military units, and a lower tech tree, which leads to Diplomatic Finesse, allowing the War Council and "Shogun elections". The good thing here is, that Philosophy grants a free tech, like in the standard game, so if I am fast enough (and the AI goes for the weapons first...) I will only have to research three techs in the second era and have a pre-build for the War Council ready. The bad news is, that if the plan with diplomatic victory fails, I will have no advanced weapons... Perhaps in that case I could go for the remaining two techs in the lower tree and use Ninjas for eliminating some rivals, before their Daimyos become too strong?!



The third age basically provides access to gunpowder-based units. This will probably not become relevant in this game, unless it turns into a long-drawn stale-mate kind of struggle, where the extra punch of the gunpowder units (10/8 compared to the 7/7 of the strongest non-gunpowder unit) really matters.

There are a few great wonders in the game, but non that really matter. Perhaps I can go for the Great Library (Literature) in order to catch up in case the diplomacy plan fails. On Deity (and with so many AIs, a total of 17!) it may be quite useful, and in this game it never expires...

I guess that's all there is to say, so let the fun begin!

The first phase (turn 0, Jan 1450 - turn 36, Jan 1468) went pretty much as outlined above: I moved the settler three tiles, irrigated the cow, chopped and mined the deer, built two warriors (Ashigarus) and a granary and got a 4-turner running quite early.



I sent my starting Ashigaru northwards and the Daimyo southwards to get a number of contacts quickly. First tech was Pottery, and I was able to trade three slaves and 50-60g for it. Next, I researched Alphabet and got Metal Working, half of Sword-Smithing another slave and further gold for it. (The good point about the barbarians in this scenario is, that the AI often moves their first worker into the capital for shelter, where it is available for trade then...)
Invention is almost finished, and then I will probably collect some cash for Ashigaru -> Bushi upgrades, while waiting for the AI to come up with a few second-tier techs, which I can trade for Invention.



Libraries ("Archives") are a whooping 100s in this scenario, so they are probably not useful in the early game. But I am building a few barracks (50s) in order to upgrade to Bushis (3/2/1), once iron is connected. Some better defense against the barbs will soon be needed.

In turn 36, I have the first three towns settled and getting up to speed thanks to the four slaves:


As you can see, iron and five luxuries are within reach, Jade, which is required for Ronins and Ninjas, is available further north, but probably too close to the Takeda for me to claim in time. If I really need it, I can hopefully trade it, or start the first war against Takeda.

Out of the 17 AIs, I have already met 9. Three more or further south on our island, and the remaining five are on different islands, so I will first need ships to get there. (I wonder, whether an election will have any chances of success, before knowing all the nations on the map?!)

In turn 37, I manage to trade the remainder of Invention for Alphabet and some gold from Takeda, then trade Invention for Mysticism and some gold with someone else, and then get my gold back from Takeda for Mysticism. Instead of shutting down research, I start Masonry now. Perhaps I can get a little head start on Construction and then build The Great Wall as a cheap starter of my GA?! Get 50 more gold for a first-tier tech the following turn. The AI is astonishingly slow for Deity.

Meanwhile it is turn 67, Jul 1483. I have researched Masonry, Wheel, Construction and Shinto Precepts and traded for Mathematics, Code of Laws, Ancestor Worship and Sojutsu, and of course lots of gold and a couple more slaves. Still have a monopoly on Construction, trying to get the Great Wall, though the town that's building it, is progressing only slowly. Hopefully someone will finish the Oracle soon, that would break any possible cascade.



I connected iron and upgraded seven Bushis for 60g a piece. Still the treasury is over 700 gold. The first ring is settled, and the first few Archives will finish soon. I think I can then race to Feudalism alone, leaving the AI despotic for a little while longer.



I have met all twelve tribes on the main island, and my Daimyo is on his way back home from the south, so he can finally get upgraded from level 1 to level 4. We have a decent view of the map now:

 

[Lanzelot]

Sengoku, part 2

The build-up phase continues. Map Making is done in turn 70, Jan. 1485. I trade the world map around to all known 12 tribes on the main island, collecting their spare cash in the process. Despite more upgrades and deficit research, the bank account is still at ~800g. We now have a complete map of the main island.

One of my coastal towns is switched to a galley, but still needs a few turns. The plan is that the galley can meet the remaining 5 tribes on the southern islands, before the Shogun election.

Currency is finished in turn 75 and Horseback Riding in turn 80, Jan 1490. In the same turn, the Oda finish the Oracle, and many other Oracle builds are switched to the Great Wall. Chiba (where I had joined a worker to speed things up) still has 15 turns left on the Great Wall. Let's hope I can make it. The next possible wonder would be the Great Library, but at that time a Golden Age is no longer that useful, if two techs later the election can take place. Or I use the prebuild already for the War Council, but then I would play the game without GA...

This is also the turn, when Grandmaster Daimyo Hojo Ujiyasu returns home from a long journey through the southern lands and gets his promotion from Shogun-1 to Shogun-4, for 177 gold.



Meanwhile I'm pretty much squeezed in from all sides. If I want to expand further, I need to do it by force. At first I thought, I might be able to play this game completely peacefully, but the Uesugi to the north only have a handful of small size 1 towns, and their military is rated average compared with mine. I think I still have time to take over their empire before the election.



In Jul 1490, the Miyoshi complete the Great Wall in Kyoto, darn. I switch to palace. Let's see, what will become of it... My first galley sets sail along the south coast.

The fourth luxury resource is now connected, the fifth will follow in 3 turns, and I have already snatched the sixth from the Uesugi, as can be seen on the map of their lands, though connecting it will still take a while. Anyway, with 6 luxuries, I can soon grow my towns to large cities and use the military police for a quick strike against the Uesugi...

Turn 82, Jan 1492: apparently the Uesugi peasant worker has not yet noticed the change of ownership of the incense hill and sticks to his orders of building a road on that hill...



I wanted to ask the Uesugi now to "leave or declare", but I guess I still wait a while until that road is finished. I can assemble a few more troops in those 6 turns.

Turn 86, Jan 1493: we are the first to finish Feudalism and immediately start a revolution -- and draw 7 turns of anarchy! I am pretty sure, the Oda (currently in GA due to their Oracle) will also finish Feudalism during that time and establish a better government before us...

Jan 1494: as expected, the Oda have finished Feudalism and already are a Feudalism. They must have completed it immediately on the following turn and then drawn one turn of anarchy. We still have 5 turns of anarchy left So much for being first to Feudalism... At least everyone else is still in Despotism and lacking between 1 and 6 techs.



In July 1495, the Urakami have also entered anarchy.

Turn 93, Jul 1496, we finally become a Feudalism, after the Oda and the Urakami. We have 9 turns left on Calligraphy, and currently 42 turns left on the 400s needed for either the Great Library or the War Council. I guess it's going to be the War Council and no GA for me (or rather: a GA kicked off on the last turn of the game...)

And I notice two effects of Feudalism, which are not mentioned in the Civilopedia: worker speed is doubled (200% instead of the 100% mentioned in the Civilopedia) and each tile gets +1 commerce, like in Republic! Ah yes, I remember this now from the multiplayer times back then... Feudalism was really a game breaker...! I'll update the introduction accordingly.



In turn 95, the Oda know Bojutsu, that was fast... In any case, they are going for the military techs...



In Juli 1499, turn 99, two more tribes know Bojutsu. I guess I will be able to trade it for Calligraphy, once I get that. My galley finally meets the Chosokabe, the first of the southern island nations.

A turn later, I finish Calligraphy and get Bojutsu plus contact with one of those other southern island tribes for it. I take that deal, although my galley would soon meet them anyway. Bojutsu now allows the Yamabushi, at 2/5/2 the best early defender and a detector of invisible units.



I spend all my money on embassies, over 500g. Interesting is Nagoya, the Oda capital. They are going to finish Sun Tsu's soon, breaking any cascade for the Glib or the War Council...!



My galley meets the Ichijo, that makes 15 out of 17, and in 9 of them I have already established an embassy. For the Uesugi, I don't need an embassy, as I'll attack them soon. I trade my world map around for some more gold and the remaining two contacts. We now know all of Japan:

I use the gold for three more embassies, and agree to a right of passage with all these twelve tribes, making them polite towards me.

The Oda and the Matsunaga now know Suieijutsu, which is not particularly useful: it allows harbors and caravels, which I don't think I need for finishing this game. The plan for the remaining phase of the game now looks like this:

1. Finish two more techs, Literature (1200b) and Philosophy (1600b), and then pick Diplomatic Finesse as freebee.
2. While doing that, swallow the Uesugi.
3. Save some more money for the remaining four embassies.
4. Sign a RoP with these four tribes as well to make them polite.
5. Join a few more workers to Chiba, so that it can finish the remaining 200s for the War Council faster. At the moment I need 8 turns for Literature and 11 turns for Philosophy, but with more towns growing to cities and 2-3 more Archives, I think I can shave off 1-2 turns from that time. Chiba currently needs 29 more turns for reaching 400s, so that definitely needs to be sped up. At size 8, it is currently doing 7spt. It will grow in 3 turns, then I can join 3 more workers. Chiba can then use 3 forests and a mined grassland for 7 more shields, but 1-2 will probably be lost due to corruption. Also happiness might become a problem: It doesn't have a marketplace yet, and with 6 luxuries and 3 military police, it will remain happy only up to size 10. Running 10% lux tax would be ok, but if I'll have to increase that to 20% only for this single city, it might slow down research too much... I need to find the right balance for finishing the last remaining techs in about the same time as the prebuild for the War Council...!

 

[Lanzelot]

Sengoku, part 3

Turn 102, Jan. 1502: the war with the Uesugi begins. I declare and march in. I considered gifting them up to Feudalism first, to prevent them from pop-rushing, but I would have to gift them like 4-5 techs in order to do that, so I thought what the heck. All their towns have enough culture, that they don't autoraze. The following turn I take Soma, but just barely, and all units take so much damage, that I need to pause a turn healing in Jan. 1503. I collect another round of cash and slaves for maps and out-dated techs, so that I can establish another embassy and a RoP.

Chiba is pushed to size 10, making 10spt with the palace prebuild now due in 18 turns.

Turn 105: the Daimyo takes Sukagawa alone, defeating two Ashigarus. I didn't know so far, that Daimyos have the blitz ability?! And one of the first Grandmaster victories generates my first MGL. I debate with myself, whether I should use it for rushing the Izumo Shrine in a coastal town, but I think the game is too short for that to pay off, especially as I would also need an aqueduct first and grow the city to size 12 in order to get the full benefit of the Izumo Shrine (+1 food, shields and commerce for each water tile of the city). The game will hopefully long be over, before that will make a difference, therefore I decide to form a Bushi Army instead. The Uesugi do have quite a few units they are throwing at me, and I need to beat them down before the election.

Turn 108, Jan. 1504: Literature is finished, Philosophy due in 9 turns, however, the prebuild still has 14 turns. I guess, that gives me enough time for buying the last remaining votes and for eliminating the Uesugi. Due to high losses, my advance has stalled. I need to let the Army heal and then send it on a mission to kill the Uesugi Daimyo, who will hopefully be sitting at home...

In turn 109, the Oda know Bujutsu. But as long as Philosophy is not yet secure, I hold on to Literature.

In Oct. 1505, turn 113, the Oda and two others know Literature! I still have three turns left on Philosophy. I hope that this scenario has minimum research of 4 turns...

In Jul. 1506, turn 116, I finally finish Philosophy, get Diplomatic Finesse as freebee, switch my prebuild to the War Council -- and notice it still needs 16 turns instead of 6! Ah, it's 500s! I'm getting old... What a well-planned game... At least that gives me enough time to clean up the mess I created by starting the Uesugi war: it might not be so easy to get their Daimyo in a town well-protected by lots and lots of Spearmen (defense 3) -- unless they upgraded it and it is now top of the stack...

I only hope, that no one will cascade into the War Council during that time! There are currently three GLibs and one Kabuki Theatre being built. But no one has Philosophy nor Diplomatic Finesse at the moment, and I can still join two workers and perhaps get the time down to 14 turns.

A turn later, I finally establish the last embassy, by coincidence in Kobe, and see that it will finish the Great Library in six turns. Another noteworthy fact is, that their capital is protected by seven Yamabushi Warrior Monks! Without any of the advanced weapon techs, any military victory would be quite difficult here...



To my big surprise, my capital grows to size 13?! Hmm, I checked it in the editor: none of the improvements in that city (palace, granary, archive, marketplace, barracks) allows city level 3, and level 2 has the usual limit of 12 citizens?! Anyone any explanation for this?

I join two more workers to Chiba, and the War Council is now down to 12 turns. Just as a test, I move a third worker into the city and -- the join button appears as well! The city center gets an extra shield, and build time goes down to 11 turns. I can still build another mine.



Very interesting. That city has no improvments whatsoever (been wonder building basically from turn 1, after 1-2 ashigarus), so it must be the river that allows level 3?! Strangely enough, none of the AI capitals has reached metro size yet, they are all between size 4 (pathetic) and 10. On Deity I would have expected them to grow fast, especially when building a wonder?!

And of course the very next turn, Chiba is hit by pollution... Cleaning it up takes 2 turns, so I need to switch a tile with the capital to prevent starvation. Here the state of the empire in Jul. 1507. The Uesugi keep throwing their forces at Shirakawa and I just manage to hold the balance there, no progress possible, even though four of my cities are now building troops. Meanwhile the Bushi Army has reached Sendai and will try to eliminate the defenders, until the Uesugi Daimyo can be caught. Sendai is on grassland and only size 6 and defended by spearmen (1/3/1), perhaps this will be possible in the remaining 9 turns.



Oct. 1508, a victory with my Daimyo spawns another MGL! I form another Bushi Army and will send it to Sendai asap.

And a turn later, the third MGL! I'm running out of units for Armies... I think I will try a Yamabushi Army and see, whether that can also treat all terrain as roads.

Turn 127, Apr. 1509, the Oda build the Kabuki Theatre, after Kobe had already completed the Great Library a few turns back. The War Council is now safe!

In turn 128, all three Armies at Sendai try a final attack, killing 6 spearmen and a Stone Crossbow. I should have gifted the Uesugi up to Feudalism, before starting that war, that would have made things much easier: they pop-rushed Sendai down from size 6 to size 1 by now... Five extra spearmen to kill. Top of the stack is now a regular Ashigaru. Their Daimyo must still be regular and level-1!



But I don't think, I'll get another chance for an attack, as the War Council is going to be completed interturn, and I'll immediately trigger an election. Everyone is polite towards me, and I have gifted maps, techs and gold to everyone the last couple of turns, I will hopefully win the vote without the Uesugi. However, a big stack of Mori Stone Crossbows arrived at my southern border. I hope they won't try any funny business on the last turn, depriving me of their vote. My rival will probably be the Takeda. But I'm trying to win without the military alliance trick.



Oct. 1509, turn 129, the big moment:



I think this War Council looks pretty much like the "Scourge of God" that the Huns built a while ago, doesn't it?!

And of course:



Never had such a well-timed GA...

Then the vote starts, and as expected, Takeda Shingen is my rival.


But the result is overwhelming!

I realize that this game felt much too easy and not very interesting: build a decent core, research fast, meet everyone and trade like crazy, start a senseless war, mess up the timing for pretty much everything, the GA, the research, the prebuild -- and then just hold an election and win...

But I can promise that friends of exiting military action will be delighted next game: I will definitely play the Napoleon scenario for a domination victory, anything else would not be fitting! I still have 3-4 days before the release of next quarter's GOTMs, and still some spare time, so fighting will commence soon...!

 

[Lanzelot]

Napoleonic Europe

This scenario is another favorite of mine, and this time, no map studying is needed to pick my nation: France! Many of you may say that this is cheating, France is way too overpowered, and I should pick one of the minor powers like Prussia or Austria for some extra challenge... But this time, I just want to have fun and re-enact the Napoleonic Era! Also you need to consider, that this scenario is pretty short, only 96 turns, and that might be too short for an uphill struggle that would definitely be required to win with one of the minor nations, all the while the AI is ramping up victory points by killing each other's stacks...

Which already brings us to the first point: the victory conditions:

1. Victory Points: the first to reach 60000 VPs wins
2. Domination: the first to reach 40% population and 40% territory wins

And that's it already, except for the usual tie breaker on points after 96 turns. As I have already four wins by VP and only one by Domination, I want to go for Domination this time.

Victory points can be achieved in only three ways:

1. Holding a VP location: 25 points per turn that you hold it with one of your units. VP locations are basically the capitals of all European nations (including e.g. Budapest, even though Hungary is part of Austria in this scenario) and a few important locations like Gibraltar.
2. Killing an enemy unit: 5 * shield cost
3. Capturing an enemy city: 100 * city size

Other things, that used to give VPs in earlier scenarios, like completing/trading a tech, completing a wonder, sacrificing slaves or cashing in treasure units, don't count here. Nevertheless, as we have seen for example in the Fall of Rome scenario, the Deity AIs can rack up quite an amount of VPs quickly, if they go to war with their big stacks... Therefore I am a bit torn between signing up some other nations on my side (so that I don't have to face the full brunt of the British alliance alone) and keeping things as quiet as possible (so that the VP pace is as slow as possible and I have enough time for reaching the domination limit). But as the rich English merchants will sooner or later sign up the remaining powers (in particular Prussia, Austria and Russia) against me anyway, I might as well have them fight on my side rather than having them fight on the other side... For the VP score it'll make no difference, on whose side they fight...

So how does the diplomatic situation look like at the beginning of this scenario in Jan. 1800? There is a locked war between two alliances:

• On one side there is France and Denmark (though Denmark with only 3 towns will not be of much help, it will rather be an obligation, if I have to defend them...)
• And on the other side there is Great Britain, Portugal, the Kingdom of Naples and the Netherlands (though the Netherlands is only one city and can be neglected like Denmark)

Then there is a number of neutral powers, who might join the fight on one side or the other at any time: Russia, Austria, Prussia, the Osman Empire, Spain and Sweden. France is a Republic (pretty much like in Vanilla/PtW: +1 commerce, war weariness, no free unit support, no military police), while the rest of the world is a Monarchy (slightly higher corruption, no war weariness, 2/4/8 unit support, 3 military police). For some strange reason, France already starts with war weariness at the beginning of the game! Never noticed that before. That means, importing luxuries will be important to keep the country afloat and the research going. One more point pro signing the neutral nations up against the British alliance right away.

The points in favor of France are:

• France is the second largest nation. Russia is bigger, but with the capital St.Petersburg up in the far north, I think that due to corruption Russia's production and research is lower than France's. (Not taking the Deity bonus into account, that is.)
• France starts with an extra tech: Nationalism, which allows drafting as well as the second generation of powerful foot soldiers. The standard foot soldier of the time is the Musketman at 2/4/1. It is no match for the new type of volunteer soldiers motivated by patriotism, which Nationalism allows:
  

  Nation	Unit	Stats	Cost
  France	Voltigeur	6/5/1	90
  England	Redcoat	5/6/1	90
  Russia	Jäger	4/5/1	80
  Austria	Grenzer	4/4/1	70
  Prussia	Füsilier	4/4/1	70
  Osman Empire	Sekhan	3/4/1	65
  Spain	Soldado	3/4/1	65
  Everyone else	Musket Infantry	3/5/1	70

  
  
• France has the best cavalry units (but also the most expensive ones... )
  

  Nation	Unit	Stats	Cost
  France	Imperial Cavalry	8/4/2	140
  England	Household Cavalry	7/4/2	130
  Russia	Cossack	5/2/3	100
  Austria	Hussar	6/4/2	110
  Prussia	Kürassier	5/4/2	110
  Osman Empire	Sipahi	5/3/2	100
  Everyone else	Cavalry	5/2/2	90

  
  
• France has the best elite units (third generation foot soldiers, allowed by the Advanced Tactics technology)
  

  Nation	Unit	Stats	Cost
  France	Imperial Guard	8/8/1	150
  England	Lifguard	7/7/1	130
  Russia	Guard	6/6/1	110
  Osman Empire	Janissary	5/5/1	90
  Everyone else	-	-	-

  
  
• France can immediately start it's Golden Age with a Voltigeur, however, this may also be a drawback, as the French cities are not yet fully grown and improved. (Workers are desperately lacking at the beginning.) The Brits on the other hand, need a naval victory with one of their Man-Of-War units. (The other nations mainly start their GA with their cavalry type unit, e.g. Cossacks, Hussars, Kürassiers.)

However, there are also a number of drawbacks:

• Great Britain is only slightly weaker and cannot easily be attacked due to the very limited see power of France at the beginning of the game. Building up a fleet that could stage a successful amphibious landing, will take a while and will divert resources that might bitterly be needed for land units...
• Denmark is not of much help, while two of the British alliance partners may indeed put up a stiff resistance: Naples and especially Portugal, if England gets enough time for enforcing the Portuguese positions with Redcoats.
• Also, if England manages to sign up a couple of neutral powers, France might end up in a dog-pile, surrounded by enemies from all sides... This is something that needs to be prevented.
• France already starts with war weariness, and it is never going to end, because the war with Great Britain will last until the game is over. Revolting back into Monarchy is probably not an option in such a short game of 96 turns and with (hopefully) such a big empire...
• Britain starts with Smith's Trading Company, which pays the maintenance for things like harbors and markets.

Research strategy is pretty simple for this game: there aren't any governments to shoot for and no wonders, so the important things are mainly better weapons...



I have marked the ones which I will go for first:

• Advanced Tactics for the powerful Imperial Guard unit
• Artillery Tactics for much better artillery: any Canon (bombard 8, rate of fire 1, 40s) can be upgraded to a Grand Battery (bombard 12, rate of fire 2, 50s) for only 30g a piece! That is basically a "triplication" of firepower!
• Military Logistics for the General Staff School (250s), which increases Army size to 4 (like the Pentagon)
• Code Civil, which doubles worker speed (may be desperately needed to improve the growing cities)

These are the most important to start with. If I go for the upper tree, I hope I will later be able to trade for some of the lower techs. (Getting Code Civil in a trade early on, would be great!)

Other noteworthy special features of this game:

• Settlers cannot be built. So let's hope the AI doesn't raze too many cities, otherwise reaching the domination limit may turn out difficult...
• Choping forest takes 7 turns instead of 4. Well, at least not as bad as in Sengoku... There is a lot of forest to clear to allow some of the cities to grow.

The game plan looks like this:

• Use Nationalism to trade for everybody's spare cash, luxuries and a military alliance against Britain (or one of her allies).
• Take Amsterdam quickly, before it becomes a nuisance (while at the same time delaying the start of the GA as long as possible... Hmm, let's see how that goes... )
• Then turn the attention south for a quick conquest of Italy (Kingdom of Naples).
• Then the immediate threats to the French borders should be taken care of, and I can make a new assessment of the diplomatic situation. Perhaps I can then turn towards Spain to finally reach Portugal and kick the last British stronghold off the continent, or I take on one of the other smaller countries like Prussia or Austria, increasing my empire eastwards.

Now for me it only remains to say:
Vive la France!

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité!​

(or translated into English for those of us who are not that firm in French: "Infantry, Artillery, Cavalry!")

 

[Lanzelot]

Napoleonic Europe, part 1

Turn 0, my first day on my new job: "First Consul of France", and there is so much to do...
The money-bags in London have formed another coalition against our young Republic and are trying to re-establish a Monarchy in France, re-instating a fat and incompetent King in Versailles! That needs to be prevented at all costs, we didn't decapitate our old King for nothing! I need to be quick now and set up good relations with our neighbors, before the Kings in Wien, Berlin and St.Petersburg rejoin forces with London, like they had done 10 years ago.

Also there is a lot to be gained by peaceful trading with our new friends: a total of 1700 gold as well as nice furs and useful dyes, which are urgently needed to keep the people happy. (They are already beginning to doubt, whether it was such a good idea to get rid of the King - how quickly they forget how much they were suffering and starving back then!)



I think I can sell them our new ideas of "Nationalism", allowing a re-organized and much more effective army. Perhaps it will help to spread the idea of freedom and equality throughout Europe. And if I can get them to declare war on the British coalition, that will prevent them from sharing this new knowledge with our enemies! The deal with Csar Alexander was a very promising begin:



Russia declared war on all our four enemies and is now gracious towards us. Similar deals were signed with Austria, Prussia, Osmania, Spain and Sweden, while our old friends, the Danes, also supported us with 200g.

With a bank account of 2100g I can now fund our research for better weaponry, keep the people happy and later shortrush a couple of urgently needed Imperial Cavalry units. Because the danger is not yet over: the Brits have established a bridgehead in Amsterdam, threatening our borders from the north, while the Neapolitans threaten to invade from the south.

Napoleon forms a first Imperial Cavalry Army in Paris, which will try to take Amsterdam, while Davous also forms an Army, but still needs to wait until three more Cav units are ready for action. We started this year with three Cav units scattered in cities around Paris, but didn't have enough for a second Army. And I don't want to waste our great leader Davout on a Voltigeur Army, he will carry much more punch leading a mounted Army! I shortly considered using Davout for rushing a Forbidden Palace in Lyons as I didn't want him to sit idle for a long time without an Army to lead, but with all the gold we just earned, it'll take only 2-3 turns to provide him with the necessary men and horses.

Next I have to go into each French city and send all the entertainers back to work in the fields and tell them what to produce. Now with 10% lux tax, the economy is finally thriving:



Moving the troops northward towards Amsterdam and southward towards Milan, but I hope I won't have to employ our new Voltigeur units yet, which would surely motivate all of France to work twice as hard. And that would not yet be effective, because the country is still recovering from the deprivations of the monarchistic times and growing quickly. Having this boost of motivation at least 2-3 years later, would be much more beneficial.

We also stil have 14 old-fashioned Musketmen units from the days of the King, but upgrading them to the new Voltigeurs would require 120g a piece, money that is currently much better invested in research and mounted units.


The first turn didn't see much action, except for the Dutch attacking Hanover with a Cavalry. Had they attacked Brussels instead, it might already have meant a GA for me... Further troop maneuvering, but no action from my side as well. And nothing important also in the second turn, except for the Dutch declaring war on Sweden?!

Turn 2, May 1800: Napoleon is ready to lead the attack on Amsterdam. The Prussians are there to help as well!



One Dutch Musketman defeated, but at heavy losses, I need to retreat with 5/10 and cover my Army with three Musketmen and a Cannon. Hopefully the Dutch will not counter-attack, or if they do, they rather choose the Prussian Kürasiers...

After Napoleons victory, Paris switches to the Military Academy. Armies is what will decide this game...

Turn 3, July 1800: the first two Imperical Cavs which had been shortrushed two turns before, are finished. I rush a third one in Turin, and next turn they can be assembled and make their first attack on Milan. I have now spent almost 1000g on these three Cavs, I have gold for one more turn of research (at -154gpt) and then we need to slow down or find additional funds...

Interturn I can see, that the Austrians are attacking Milan from Venice, good.

In Sep. 1800, Davout defeats the first Musket in Milan. A quick look at the VPs shows that, surprise, surprise, the Spanish are leading! They must be doing some successful fighting against the Portuguese and Gibraltar?!

Many cities have grown now, and the bank account is almost empty. I need to increase lux to 20% and lower science from 80% to 50%. Let's hope that Davout can quickly conquer Italy, as there is a nice silks resource down there, which would be our 6th luxury.

I sell horses, gems and wines for some spare cash and gpt and can research three more turns at -43gpt.

Turn 5: Napoleon is completely healed and rides another attack on Amsterdam, defeating two more Muskets, but again going down to 5/11. I move in a Voltigeur and a Canon for cover.

Interturn, the Prussians are back as well, killing another Musket and moving two more Kürassiers into position. Napoleon retreats back to Brussels the following turn, while Davout after one turn pause, runs another attack on Milan, reducing the number of defending Muskets by 3. But still no decisive result.

Turn 7, Mar. 1801: need to lower science rate to 40% now. The Austrians had run another unsuccessful attack on Milan, killing only one Musket at heavy losses to themselves, and this turn Milan is now protected by at least two Musket Infantry (3/5/1), one drafted. Ok, the enemy now also knows Nationalism, that was rather quick. Davout heals a turn.

Turn 8, Milan has drafted two more Musket Infs... The AI will never learn, that it is no good to draft down to size 6... The defensive bonus of a city is now gone, and Davout kills 3 conscripts, but going down to 6/13. Sending two Voltigeurs for cover. Napoleon kills two Muskets in Amsterdam. I move in the Voltigeurs now, as I want to take Amsterdam, before they also start drafting Infs, even if it's at the cost of a GA. Paris has now reached size 12, and a few more cities size 10, so a GA would not be that bad anymore. At least it would speed up research again as well as the FP and the Military Academy.

Interturn, the Austrian Hussars capture Milan! In Jul. 1801, Napoleon finally takes Amsterdam, I even don't need to use the Voltigeurs yet. He immediately gets on his way southwards to help in the conquest of Italy. It's good that the Austrians helped us here, but I don't want them to capture Rome and the silk resources. I sign RoPs with Austria (and Prussia) and send the Voltigeurs from Turin past Milan. Italy now needs to fall quickly...

And I realize now, that I made a big big mistake on turn 0: I tied the lux deals with the Russians and the Ottomans to the military alliance against the Dutch -- and now with the capture of Amsterdam, the Dutch have ceased to exist! (And with them the lux deals...) Darn! Buying the dyes again from Osmania costs 28gpt! But I don't renew the furs deal with Russia, as I have my own furs near Boulogne, and a worker there who is mining a wheat. Should have prioritized connecting that furs resource...

Increasing lux to 40% and shutting down research for a while.

Turn 10, Sep. 1801: our troops move into position at Florence, soon to be joined by Davout and Napoleon.



Over the next turns, I will cash-rush some slaves in Amsterdam and then rebuild it as a French city.
Everyone signs peace treaties with each other...

And interturn, our GA begins, as the Italians attack our Voltigeurs at Florence.

Nov. 1801: before joining Davout in Italy, Napoleon has to make a detour to Nantes and deal with a surprise landing of the Portuguese:



Thanks to the GA, the Military Academy will now be done in 5 turns, the Forbidden Palace in 6.

The following turn, the Brits also land at Nantes, but with a bit more firepower than the Portuguese:



Good luck that Napoleon already is in that area, otherwise that could have meant the loss of a city, if I didn't have enough units around. Thanks a lot, Portugal! For the future, I will keep at least 2 Imperial Cavs on the west coast as "fire-fighters" for emergencies... And the Muskets there are upgraded to Voltigeurs.

Meanwhile (Jan. 1802) Davout storms Florence, the rest of the troops advance towards Rome!

 

[Lanzelot]

Napoleonic Europe, part 2

In Mar. 1802, turn 13, all bigger neutral countries know Naval Tactics. In two turns, my furs are connected, and then I can fire up research again, finish Advanced Tactics quickly and hopefully trade with one of them.

In May, the diplomatic situation gets more involved: Osmania declares war on Sweden, and Russian Cossacks arrive at Rome, together with Napoleon and Davout...



And interturn, this happens:


This makes things more complicated. I was already toying with the idea of taking over Spain after the Italian campaign in order to secure my backside before turning eastwards. But this may change things a bit. Looks like Prussia is going to be the next lucky country to be liberated from monarchic rule...!

With the concentration of French forces at hand, the battle of Rome poses no difficulty: Davout and Napoleon take the Eternal City without leaving anything to do for the 6 Russian Cossacks that meanwhile arrived in Italy. The rest of the army advances towards Naples.

Turn 17, Nov. 1802: as there are already 14 Cossacks in Italy, 3 of them ready to strike Naples next turn, I decide to storm Naples already now, even though the Armies are not yet fully healed. We defeat 5 Musket Infs, losing 4 Voltigeurs, but Naples still stands, thanks to countless conscripts. My furs are now online, but I desperately need the Neapolitan silks, so if they fall into Russian hands interturn, I will have to take the bull by the horns already at this early stage of the game and declare war on Russia, perhaps with the help of the Austrians and Prussia. La Grande Armée, nine years earlier than expected... We'll see.

Meanwhile, the Military Academy and FP are finished, Advanced Tactics needs three more turns, so it might be a good time for another picture of the French empire:



In the interturn, all three Cossacks retreat from Naples, so I give my Armies a turn of rest and will try again next turn. There are four new Cossacks now at Naples, but with two more conscripts inside, it will certainly withstand another attack...

Turn 19: this time, the Cossacks even manage to defeat two Musket Infs! Davout and Napoleon defeat 5 more, and Naples with its silks is finally ours! I can reduce the lux tax to 20%.

With the Isthmus to Palmi blocked, the last Italian city will also be mine, and the Cossacks will probably return all the way home...



Portugal has now sent a lone Cavalry across the Pyrenees. We'll welcome it with two Imperial Cavs...

As expected, the Russians sign a peace treaty with Naples interturn. Advanced Tactics finishes, and I trade it with the Spanish, who have the best offer:



And I get more cash and gpt from a few other neutrals. With 823g in the bank account, I can now run a bit of deficit research again and finish Military Logistics in 8 turns. Time to start a prebuild for the General Staff School. I pick Nancy for that, but I'm letting it finish one Imperial Guard first.

Darn, the turn after I traded Advanced Tactics around, every one now has Seapower as well as Espionage. Hopefully I can trade those, when I get Military Logistics.

Not much happens in the next couple of turns, except that Medicine and Code Civil are now also known to some nations. The Brits are landing the occasional Household Cavalry at Nantes, and a few more wars have restarted, probably because of Mutual Protection Pacts and Spain fighting a hot war against Portugal again.

Turn 24, Jan. 1804: the Spanish have taken Lisbon and conquered all of Portugal! (This means my gpt from Spain is no longer coming in...) And the French troops have finally taken Palmi and liberated all of Italy! Now let's turn east. A third Army is almost finished in Paris and will be filled with three Imperial Guards. Once the General Staff School is finished, I can add a fourth one, resulting in a monstrous 20-HP unit! (I think that's the best use of new Armies, as a 16-HP Imperial Cav Army might have a higher risk of dying against entrenched enemy Guard units. Don't know, whether the extra speed is that important here.)

War weariness is significantly reduced now, thanks to Portugal and Italy being eliminated! I can even reduce the lux slider back to 10%. A look at the current map of Europe might now be in order. Great Britain is deprived of all its allies, Gibraltar being her only bridgehead left on the continent. Perhaps mighty Spain (they are the tech leader now together with Russia, and are four techs ahead of me...) might be able to deal with that alone. I am preparing for a quick push through Prussia, liberating their three VP locations at Frankfurt, Berlin and the mis-spelled Königsberg...



After selling wines and silks to Austria and Russia, I can again increase the science slider to 70% and finish Military Logistics in 4 turns.

In turn 25, Sweden has Espionage, but they are not willing to give it for Advanced Tactics?!

Turn 27, Jul. 1804, Military Logistics finishes, but neither Russia, nor Prussia nor Spain is willing to give Code Civil for it!! I have to add 145gpt to the deal in order to get it. I buy it from Prussia, as I plan to declare on them soon anyway. Once I traded for the other three techs, I no longer need my trade reputation...

In the remaining deals, I get Espionage, Seapower and lots of gold, but no Medicine. Going for Artillery Tactics next, currently due in 7 turns at a high deficit (-311gpt), but my GA will be over soon and my treasury empty, so it'll take much longer. Denmark now has Medicine too, but won't part with it for Military Logistics. Hey, you are supposed to be my ally!

The Austrians are sending many units towards Gibraltar and blocking my southern roads...



In Sep. 1804, three Armies and 5 Imperial Cavs are ready to start the offensive at Frankfurt next turn:



But of course, interturn this happens:



So how can I get out of this dilemma? First of all, I sign MPPs with Spain and Austria, so I don't need to worry about these fronts. Then I renew my dyes deal with the Osmans (for 46gpt instead of 28gpt ), so that it still runs for 20 turns, even after I break my trade rep. (In 20 turns, I can perhaps capture the Ottoman dyes town across the sea from Italy.) Unfortunately, Russia is unwilling to sign an MPP with me, so that will mean war!

I declare on Prussia and attack once, so that the Russians declare on me. I leave an unprotected worker near Brussels, which the Kürassier will certainly catch, triggering my MPPs with Spain and Austria. There is still a Russian Cossack at Florence, which will also attack, triggering my MPPs as well. So in the end it will be me and Austria (and Spain, though this is probably negligible, as they are too far away) against Prussia and Russia!

And everything went as expected, Spain, Austria and me are now at war against Prussia and Russia. A bit unexpected, however, this happened:



Not a big deal, but we were still getting a bit of gpt from Sweden, and I was hoping to eventually trade Medicine from them.

Taking Frankfurt was not difficult, although I lost a Voltigeur and an Imperial Cav in the counter-attack.

As the GA is about to end, I increase lux tax to 20%.

 

[Lanzelot]

Napoleonic Europe, part 3


Turn 32, May. 1805: here go my dyes... Darn.



Fortunately (because there were lots of Sipahis in my territory on their way to Gibraltar), the Ottomans moved before the Russians. These Sipahis could have done quite a bit of damage. Hopefully they will trigger my MPPs with Spain and Austria, and then chaos will be complete...

And our Armies will now carry quite a bit more punch...



And yes: having units inside the foreign territory is apparently enough, even if they don't attack?! Austria and Denmark also declare on Osmania.



However, the situation in the south is dire now, with the Ottoman Sipahis suddenly trapped in my borders:



There are 15 Sipahis shown on this picture. 5 are in the mountains in Spain and cannot attack, but the other 10 are dangerous. I can kill the one at Turin with a Guard, and another Guard, two Imperial Cavs and a Voltigeur can attack the stack of 7, taking it down to 3. But that still leaves 5 Sipahis who could cause damage next turn. I can only hope, the Austrian Hussars move first and come to my help, and that the Sipahis go after the workers I left as bait, instead of attacking Bordeaux. Spain has over 300g, but I have nothing to trade, otherwise I could perhaps get 120g and upgrade the Musket in Bordeaux to a Voltigeur.



At the Prussian front, the situation doesn't look too good either. I already lost a couple of Cavs against Kürassiers, and this turn, 4 Kürassiers and 2 Cossacks appeared on the border. I managed to defeat them all, but my Guard Army went down to 5/16 (and no 4th Guard yet within reach) and Napoleon down to 8/17. Only Davout at 14/17 is still in good strength. And a 5th Kürassier becomes visible in Austria.



Holding my breath and pressing enter....

This was the most gripping interturn of my life! First of all: yess! The Austrians move first and defeat all 5 remaining Sipahis! They are true friends, I will honor our alliance for the rest of the game! Then the remaining Sipahis in Spain attack and capture Pamplona, but the Spanish Cavalry immediately retakes it!



In Prussia, my Armies don't get attacked, but instead 2 Kürassiers move towards weakly defended Frankfurt. Then out of the fog 8-9 Cossacks appear and attack Prague. About four of them win, some die and some retreat, but Prague holds! My Armies will certainly help the Austrians out there.



And finally, for good measure, the Brits drop off another Household Cav at Nantes (as can be seen in the Pamplona picture above)...

Turn 33, Jul. 1805: first a Cav and a Voltigeur defeat the remaining two Sipahis at Pamplona, and a Guard throws the Brits back into the sea. But how to deal with the situation at Frankfurt? I have the three damaged Armies, a Voltigeur, the now healed Cav in Frankfurt and 4 Cannons, and I also want to help out Prague (there are 5 Russian survivors of the battle, which need to te taken care of...)

But I decide that helping the Austrians needs to wait until I have secured Frankfurt. First the Cannons retreat into the city and bombard the Kürassiers. At def-4 they are more dangerous than the Cossacks at def-2. We score two hits.
Then the Guard Army retreats to the barracks of Frankfurt for healing (and getting its 4th member) and kills one Kürassier on its way back (the one E of Frankfurt).

The Cav kills the other one, and the Voltigeur attacks the Cossack on the hill, but loses. So I let Napoleon take care of that, and then Davout is free to kill at least the elite Cossack at the top of the stack N of Prague. Sorry, that's all I could do, Austria! More to follow soon!

Next turn, the Brits drop of a Lifeguard and a Redcoat at Nantes. With defense 7 and 6, these are tougher nuts to crack, but I still have enough troops nearby. Or so I thought... An Imperial Guard dies without making a scratch, but an eCav defeats the Lifeguard, spawning my first leader (for some strange reason called Davout, but I rename him Murat).

At Prague, the Austrians defeat one more Cossack, the other ones retreat, and at Frankfurt 3 new Kürassiers and a Cossack appear.

Artillery Tactics dropped in price this turn, even below of what I have already researched, but none of my friends has it, so probably a couple of civs from the British alliance learned it this turn. I finish it with a lone scientist, and will now collect cash for upgrading my Cannons and short-rushing more units.

Interturn I sell Spain Mil Tactics for 540g and 30gpt. We are afloat again...! But nobody is willing to give me Medicine, unless I throw in over 1000g and some gpt. I wonder why, since Medicine doesn't do anything, except for allowing the next tech?!?

Anyway, I shut research down now (turn 35) and will use the gold for upgrading and short-rushing. I don't think I need Hospitals that urgently.
Upgrade my first Grand Batteries (wish I had built more Cannons earlier, but there was always something else to do...)
My Guard Army is joined by its fourth unit and advancing towards Leipzig, Murat forms the fourth Army, this time a Cav Army again.

After the Austrians and the Osmans, now the Spanish send lots of Cavalry (over 20) through southern France, only in eastern direction... Why don't they first clean up their backyard and take Gibraltar?? I only hope they stay true to our alliance.

In Jan. 1806, the Prussians attacked Prague with 4 Kürassiers, the Russians then took it. My advancing Armies take out three Kürassiers and a Prussian MGL: a misspelled "von Blucher".



Turn 37: the Imperial Guard Army and Napoleon take Leipzig! Davout marches towards Prague, killing two Russian Guards on the way. (One was red-lined by our new Batteries fist.)

Interturn, 3 Kürassiers from Berlin attack Leipzig, but our Imperial Guard defeats them all!

Meanwhile, some naval action is also taking place: last turn, our two Mediterranean Frigates accidentally ran across an Ottoman Ship-of-the-Line and sank it, then the Spanish sank a British Frigate at Brest, and now two Ottoman ships turn up at Brest?!



We have a Ship-of-the-Line and five Frigates there, which sink the Ottomans.

 

[Lanzelot]

Napoleonic Europe, part 4

But back to land: the Spanish have now arrived at Prague in large scale:



I have Davout and two more Cavs there and try to storm the city. We succeed, and keep it to ourselves for now. More units reinforce Leipzig, and I will be ready for a first attack on Berlin next turn.

Turn 39, Jul. 1806, all four Armies and two Cavs storm Berlin, defeating 8 Füsiliers, losing one Cav. Interturn, the Spanish attack Hanover and block the road from Berlin, so they will probably take it next turn. I still have some firepower left, so I decide to attack Posen with five Batteries, Napoleon, 1st Army and three Cavs, defeating 7 Füsilliers and taking Posen.

The next two turns are mainly defensive actions and consolidating the front in Germany. The Brits now land their units at Brussels instead of Nantes (perhaps because of all the Spanish Ship-of-the-Lines protecting my west coast...

Noteworthy is, that the Swedes are willing to sign peace give me Medicine (for three techs of mine, but at least without any extra gold payment...). Prussia, Russia, Osmania, Austria and Spain both have General Education as well as Sanitation, the last remaining techs in the tech tree. Perhaps I can later get Sanitation in a peace deal, if I beat the Prussians or the Russians badly enough...



Turn 42, Jan 1807: Stettin is taken by two Armies and a couple of Cavs. The war in Germany will soon be over, and then I can turn my full attention to a march on Moscow!



Meanwhile, Paris has finished the Second Army (Imperial Guards) and will rush the Third one with Cavs soon. These two Armies are meant to lead an expedition to Osmania to secure the dyes resources once and for all. Too bad that Denmark had made peace with Osmania interturn, and now we are at peace with them, too! Hopefully they don't make peace with Prussia now, before I can extort Sanitation from them...

"Austria and Spain have signed a mutual protection pact". I already have one with Spain, but perhaps I should join the one with Austria as well, if it's not too expensive. Interesting: they are willing to accept an MPP as is.

Lot's of peace treaties going on again in the interturn: Spain signs peace with the Ottomans, but re-declares on Prussia (due to the MPP with me...), and Denmark signs peace with Russia, which ends the hostilities between France and Russia as well. Doh. I need to tell my good friends in Copenhagen, that this is not in the interest of the French Emperor... But Austria declares war on Britain now, though I doubt that that will be of any help: by the time the Austrian Navy reaches England, the Napoleonic Wars will be over...

In May 1807, Russia and Britain also sign an MPP. That shouldn't matter much... And because of our new MPP with Austria, we have to re-declare on Russia. Would have done that soon anyways...



Turn 45, Jul 1807: Davout and Napoleon take Hamburg. And in turn 46, we are back at war with the Ottomans, because they attacked our Austrian brothers!

Turn 47, Nov 1807, The Brits land three tough units (Lifeguards and a Redcout) next to undefended Hamburg. Fortunately Davout was still healing there from the attack on Hamburg and can take care of that invasion.
The Spanish have just taken Danzig, so I offer the Prussians the following deal:



With only one city left, they will not last long... No idea, whether it will be useful for the rest of the game, but a few cities with surplus tiles build a Hospital.

Two Armies and a couple of Cavs take Warsaw. For some strange reason, the people here are Austrian?! So the Russians must have taken it early on in their war with Austria, and I haven't even noticed... But this looks to me like a slight historical inaccuracy to me: wasn't the area of Warsaw Russian during the Napoleonic time? It is true that Austria occupied parts of Poland at that time, due to the Three Polish Partitions 1772-95, but that was further south. Ok, Wikipedia still knows what I have forgotten from my school days... Warsaw was in fact part of the piece that went to Prussia. So in either case, it is wrong in this scenario...!

And already in the interturn, our MPP with Spain triggers the next war with Prussia... our gpt payment to Prussia is over...
The Russians attack Danzig several times, but it holds with a redlined Cav as top defender. Perhaps I am lucky, and the Russians are able to re-take Danzig from the Spanish, and then I can "liberate" it again...


After the heavy fights, all Armies need a bit of healing.

Mar. 1808: the Russians have indeed taken Danzig from Spain. Murat attacks once, but it is already well-defended. I move in more troops and hope to take it next turn, before the Spanish take it again. Why do they have to send their Cavalry all over Europe, but Gibraltar is still British??



Meanwhile my Ottoman expedition corps has reached the first target, Mostar. Imperial Guards to hold the liberated territory are on their way as well.



Interturn: the Spanish have one single Cav that can attack Danzig and that is enough to kill the lone Russian Guard there! Darn, Danzig is Spanish again... But fortunately, the Russians can easily re-re-take it. Phew!

So in May 1808, turn 50, I finally take Danzig and move everything in for defense. The two Armies at Mostar are also successful. I think I will send the next two Armies to the Balkans as well. This seems to be a softer target than Russia.



Paris has meanwhile finished the Hospital, grown and then been bumped up to size 15 by worker joins.

In July 1808, the Brits drop a real invasion force at Amsterdam!



I have only 4 defenders within reach, and three more Cavs in Brussels, Hamburg and Frankfurt, which can attack the beachhead this turn. Perhaps I can use the workers as decoy again and stave off the worst...

The three Cavs attack the Lifeguard at the top of the stack, one loses, the other two retreat, but at least the LifeGuard is down to 3/6. The other units dig in. For some reason, I need to increase lux rate to 30% now.

Interturn, not one of the Brits attacks Amsterdam. They kill my Cav in the open, chase the two workers and destroy a tile improvement. But they drop off two more Lifeguards.



But my relief troops, who arrived on the scene meanwhile, (including Davout from Danzig) are able to kill four of the invaders.
And two more Armies manage to storm Königsberg -- Preußen is no more! And I can reduce the lux rate back to 20%.

The Cav Army on the Balkans arrives at Skopje, the location of the dyes resource!

 

[Lanzelot]

Napoleonic Europe, part 5

Turn 56, May 1809: on the Balkans, Skopje and the dyes are taken, lux can now be reduced to 10%! And just about in time: the Austrian Navy had landed 4 Hussars at Skopje this turn.



And on the Russian front, after a siege of several turns, two Armies finally take Vilnius. We have entered Russian soil three years ahead of time. And for the fist time in the game, I have overtaken Russia in the domination stats:



However, at the moment it looks like due to all the fighting, my VP score is growing faster than my territory, so I have no idea, whether domination will be doable in this game?! I just rushed Army no 7, which will join the action on the Balkans. If Domination is possible, then by gaining territory & population in the Osman Empire, where it does not involve the same heavy fighting as in Russia.

Turn 57: It is very difficult to get reinforcements to the Balkans: the Spanish Cavs block the roads in Albania, and a Spanish Ship-of-the-Line is blocking the Isthmus between Italy and Greece for already half the game! I wonder why? Did they forgot, they have that ship fortified there?! But perhaps I should prepare a few ships now in Italy and ship troops directly to southern Greece or Turkey?

The happiness about the newly acquired dyes didn't last long: this turn all cities went from 50-50 to this:



So from 8-1-8 it went to 2-5-10! I have to increase luxury rate back to 30% again. And in the more corrupt southern cities, even that is not enough anymore, and I have to hire entertainers.

Turn 58, Sep. 1809: Denmark has signed a peace treaty for me with Russia again, right when my troops have closed in on Minsk! But I have no time to lose now, if I want to reach the domination or VP limit by 1815, so I just re-declare right away. Who cares for his reputation in times like these...

But before I do, a quick look into my cities: no, the happiness situation is still the same as before the peace treaty with Russia, so the war weariness is not coming from that war. And there wasn't that much going on in my war with England, so it must be the units I have in Ottoman territory?

Minsk is taken, the attack on Riga begins. And interturn, the Spanish take Sofia.

Next turn, we take Riga in the north and Thessalonika in the south. As the Spanish still want lots of gold for an MPP, I sign an MA against Britain with them for dyes and 3gpt. That will give my southern border in the Pyrenees some protection, where British Redcoats have appeared last turn (did they come all the way from Gibraltar?!)

Rushing another Army in Paris.

Turn 60, Jan. 1810: the Brits apparently got an MGL in Spain:



I can see that the Spanish are now going after Istanbul. If I want to get this door into Asia Minor, I have now rush there myself, and leave Athens for later. There is another lux resource in Asia Minor: incense! That would be my 7th, so would provide 4 happy faces! The Second Army (Guards) is ready to march, but the Third Army (Cavs) still needs to heal a turn in the barracks of Thessalonika



Very funny: first the Ottomans sign up the Swedes against me, and then the Danes sign me up for a peace treaty with the Ottomans...

In Mar. 1810, Napoleon and Murat attack Pskov (size 14). I can already see the increased defense bonus of a metropolis: both Armies can attack only once and then have to stop: they go down to 6/17 and 3/18! Beating down the Russian counter-attacks with Batteries and elite Guards finally results in my second MGL, Bernadotte, who will form an Imperial Guard Army.
Interturn, the Russians and the Austrians sign peace, and the Austrians do not re-declare right afterwards, even though the Russians moved troops into my territory?!

Turn 62, May 1810, thanks to the RoP I signed with the Ottomans interturn, I can now attack Istanbul 5 times. And the Fifth Army, which is marching down the Balkans as reinforcement, takes Belgrade.
In the north I see that the Russians have drafted twice at Pskov, bringing it down to size 12... The AI makes the same mistake over and over again. Once my two Armies are healed Pskov will then pose no problem anymore...

At Nantes, the Brits seem to be up to something again, I better move some troops there.



Turn 64: But the Brits turn around and go back north?!
6 more attacks on Istanbul, they are now down to conscript Sekhans.

Turn 65, Nov. 1810: the AI indeed uses Espionage.



And the Ottomans apparently listened to me: they did not draft from 8 to 6, but only to 7?!



In any case, I will heal a turn again, and then try next time. But meanwhile my northern Armies have taken Pskov, and the Russians are closing in on Minsk:



These are 25 units, mostly Guards. (I wonder, why the Russians no longer build Cossacks, those would have been quite a bit more dangerous and would force me to defend my captured cities?! They still have two horses connected.) Anyway, I will dig in with two Armies, 10 Grand Batteries and a few loose units, and then bombard and attack the stack SE of Minsk. Shouldn't be a problem.

Paris has produced our 10th Army (two starting leaders, two MGLs and six produced by the General Staff School, numbered one to six). Now it can no longer produce Armies: we reached the city limit, in fact we even overstepped it: currently 10 Armies, but only 39 cities. When we got the second MGL (Bernadotte) and used it for an Army, Paris was currently working on an Army and was allowed to finish it, even though the number of cities was no longer sufficient. But now we need to capture 5 more cities, before we can build another one. I shortly considered using the Intelligence Agency as prebuild for the next Army, but I still need 5 more cities, before I can form the next, and at the rate I'm progressing in Russia, this may take longer than the 10 turns required for an Army.

And guess what: in the defensive fights at Minsk, I get my third MGL, Friant. And have nothing to do for him...

Turn 66, Jan. 1811: with virtually the last hitpoint, my force of Fourth Army (Cavs), 4 Batteries, 2 Voltigeurs and a Cav capture Orsovo, 3 workers and 2 Batteries! 4 Austrian Hussars would otherwise have captured the city next turn, so that was good luck.

Istanbul is now size 6, so the Second Army (Guards) kills two Janissaries with less effort, Third Army still heals another turn.

At Amsterdam, the Brits cause trouble again, landing 3 Lifeguards. The fresh Sixth Army (at the moment 3 Guards) coming from Paris on its way to the east, can kill one.

And in the interturn, they land four more on the other side of Amsterdam. Without that Army in the area, the situation would now already be critical...

Mar. 1811: the Army and a few more units clear 4 of the invaders, losing one Cav. The other two had marched away into Spanish territory at Hanover.

A look at the stats shows the following picture:



Reaching domination in the remaining 29 turns looks pretty hopeless, but the missing 11220 VPs shouldn't be a problem. If not, it depends on how fast I'm catching up to the Russian's on score. At the moment, the tiebreaker would still go to them. The reason, why domination is so difficult in this case, is that on Deity the capture of cities requires so much fighting, that the VPs go up much faster than the gained land and population... I have already been thinking, whether I should not repel all those tons of units that counter-attack, but instead just gift the captured city to a neutral nation (like small Sweden), until Russia is eliminated, and then just re-take them from Sweden on my way back. But then the VPs for capturing a city would be applied twice, and that would probably result in even more VPs than those for the defeated units... (e.g. a size 20 city would give 4000 VPs, when capturing it twice, and the Russians have several of them...) So that's no solution either.

I think, it might be possible to go for domination, if playing the Russians (who start with the biggest territory), take a few of the minors (Sweden, Prussia) and then join forces with France and take Austria and/or Osmania. In my fight on the Balkans, the Spanish and Austrians did a lot of the fighting, so if one can repeat that with the French, they would kill most of the units in the open (getting the VPs for that), while the human player concentrates mainly on the cities (getting pop and territory towards a domination win). Perhaps some time I will try that strategy.

In the south, the two Armies kill another 5 units in Istanbul, but still no decision. At least they can't draft any more conscripts here now...

 

[Lanzelot]

Napoleonic Europe, part 6

In turn 69, Jul. 1811, Istanbul finally falls into our hands, next target will be Afyan for the incense at the end of the world:



In Sep. 1811, we take Staraya Russa, another size 12 city. The plan is to take all productive cities around St.Petersburg, but not the capital itself. Then the rest of the empire will be far away from the capital and suffering from severe corruption...



The danger at Amsterdam is finally cleared, but I'm not sure, whether I can now continue letting the Sixth Army march east as intended, or keep it at Amsterdam for home defense against future British landings?!

Turn 72, Jan. 1812, the continuous stream of Russian Guards at Minsk has finally ceased. The "ordinary" units were enough to repel them this turn, so I move the Armies to Polatsk, trying an attack there next turn. The northern Armies attack Novgorod three times, but will need to heal now.

Mar. 1812: only 4 attacks were necessary to take Polatsk, as it was defended by one guard and three Jäger?! Apparently they sent all their Guards on these futile attempts to retake Minsk...

I thought I would also be able to take Bucharest this turn, after the Spanish had just taken Varna, but a single 3/6 Janissary took down my Cav Army from 17/17 to 2/17!?! I tried a few more attacks with ordinary units, killing that two Sekhans, but losing 2 Cavs, and then had to abort the attempt. The Spanish and the Austrians have also killed various units in Bucharest over the last 6-7 turns, so it is astonishing that the city still holds. At least it went down from 15 to 8, otherwise this attack would have been even bloodier... The whole Balkans is a real mess right now...:



At least the Guard Army has now reached Afyan, and I have detached 6 units to Athens, which is defended only by Musketmen, so might be easier to take.



Turn 74, May 1812: Afyan was only defended by one more Sekhan, they moved the Janissaries to Istanbul...



And this is now my 44th city, so I switch Paris to Army, and then let use the MGL to form another one, Friant. This little trick allows two more Armies...

And the incense allow reducing lux to 20%, and just about in time, as the food box of Montauban only had two bushels of grain left...

In the domination stats, I have now reached 30%, but the next major city will push me over the 60000 VPs:



And indeed, I keep attacking Novgorod with three Armies, take the city, and after cleaning up a few more units near Istanbul and Novgorod, I am now over 60000 -- the game is suddenly won.



I think, this game confirms that the VP scoring system is not really well-balanced for the higher difficulty levels.

Last world map:



Points that surprised me:

• No cities got razed the entire game! But then, the AI didn't do that much city conquering, despite the fact that a lot of heavy fighting took place, especially between the Spanish/Austrians and the Ottomans. Spain captured six cities, Russia two and Austria two (one in the very last interturn, after I had removed most of the defenders in Bucharest...)
• Spain did really well, considering they only had the standard Cavalry unit at 5/2/2!!
• Even though the Spanish and the Austrians kept building and using their Cavalry type unit, I did not see any Cossacks nor Sipahis for about the second half of the game?! Why? Could it be, that the AI no longer builds the Cav units, once it is able to build the Guard-type units, because of the extra hitpoint? (Note that France, England, Russia and Osmania are the only nations that can build these Guard units!)
• England never played any significant role. They have a huge navy, but only dropped a handful units on the French coast once in a while...
• And nothing happened in Scandinavia?! In the games I remember from the past, Denmark and Sweden both got into deep trouble early on...

 

[Lanzelot]

WWII in the Pacific

 

[need my speed]

Could you put down a post when you add an update, so that we get a notification? You actually inspired me to play these scenarios as well!

 

[Lanzelot]

Sure. The first two Conquests are now finished, including the writeup. Seven more to go...

I am not yet sure, whether the format - one post for one Conquest - is really ok. I already split up Rise of Rome into two posts, and fear that the later and longer scenarios will need still more space (and more pictures).
I noticed that @choxorn 's story ran into a similar problem: if all nine stories (and all those pictures) are on the first page, the load time may be too much?! (Although choxorn's attempt at the Conquests was 12 years ago and the Internet got much better in most parts of the world since then?!)

I will probably end up editing and rearranging this story quite a bit...

 

[choxorn]

I too have run into the problem of "never completed all 9 on the same machine," as seen in the Victory Status Screens I posted a few times during my story- for that matter, since I took like 8 years to finish part 7, I managed to start it on one machine, continue it on a second when that one got old and slow, then finish it on a third when the second one started crashing a bunch at random. I guess I might have to actually play all 9 of them on one machine at some point, whenever I get around to it.

Given the differing levels of detail the two of us put into our after-action reports, I'm guessing you'll probably finish this before I get around to finishing mine. Definitely have to get around to doing parts 8 and 9 one of these days...

 

[Civinator]

Besides the C3C epic game, I made a German translation of the Conquests and a massive graphical improvement by using the specific Civ 3 units and graphics for leaders, buildings and so on and by correcting the partly historical nonsense in the Firaxis texts. The settings of the Conquests were not changed (with the one exception, that in the WW 2 in the Pacific Conquest B-29 bombers are not allowed to start from aircraft carriers) and all can be run with the English Civ 3 Complete.

I especially like the new look of the Sengoku Conquest with the buildings of ShiroKobbure. Even for civers who are not understanding the German language, it can be interesting to have a look at the pictures of the used units, leaderheads and buildings of those graphically improved conquests. You can find them here and in the following posts.

 

[Spoonwood]

I don't have a whole lot of experience with these scenarios. Most of them I haven't touched.

What I can say though comes as that in the Age of Discovery scenario it's possible to catch up in technology as a Native American civ to the Europeans if the level is low enough and one uses disconnect-reconnect of roads for luxuries/resources and technology (and getting gpt from the AIs by selling them gold for their gpt, and then "purchasing" that gold back with a luxury or resource in the deal with gpt going to the AIs, which then get canceled by pillaging/disconnect of the trade route to one's capital). But, when I played it recently, I played at Regent level, and caught up to the Europeans in technology as The Maya, but I don't know how tech cost scales for that scenario.

I also looked at the replay, and saw all this stuff about the Europeans finding "treasure" and returning it to their capitals. I don't know what that was about, or if it influenced victory points or score.

Nice series Lanzelot! I look forward to reading it!

 

[Quintillus]

Well done, and more importantly in this forum, well written!

I thought at the start, well, that is brave, choosing Diety for all nine. And I see the Macedonians already reminded you of that! There was some real tension in that story, for a while I was wondering if you were going to have to throw in the towel and try again. But you managed to find a way by pulling out all the stops! Clever idea using the army to cover for a city-razing tour.

I agree with you on the first Conquest too, Wonders aren't the most powerful way to go. The points for capturing cities probably should have been toned down fairly heavily in that one. But then it wasn't designed for players with 19 years of experience.

Looking forward to reading the next installments!