Vikings III (Deity)

[Sandman2003]

War happiness occurs when a civilisation declares war on you. It acts as a minus one on the war weariness counter. There is a very detailed article about the workings of war weariness in the academy on this site. Essentially, you can usually drop the lux slider a notch as a consequence of war happiness, so it is nice to get, especially if you do not fear the threat of that civ declaring war on you!

I'm really worried about your rep though

Yes, so am I, Steviejay. I was going to zealously protect my rep this game. Losing my rep means that you have to have the cash in the bank to trade for techs, making it much harder to keep up, especially on Deity where your window of opportunity to get multiple techs as you trade one around, doesn't last very long! However, the opportunity to strike the Russians before they built a bunch of pikes and MIs was also going to fade out fast. On balance I think I had to do what I did, and I just hope it doesn't bite me too badly!

 

[El Loco]

One qq (quick question) If you are in a republic and have a large army how can you manitain a good research pace and a large army since unit support is 2gpt?

 

[Sandman2003]

The rep is already gone, El Loco.

 

[T-Money]

Just another quick question; the English are in this game, right? I really want to see London burn under Viking hand this time around after that upset loss in the last game.

 

[Sandman2003]

the English are in this game, right? I really want to see London burn under Viking hand this time around after that upset loss in the last game.

Actually, no they are not. The opponents were just set to random, and as it turns out the Greeks and the Ottomans are the other two opponents.

 

[Sandman2003]

290AD cont - OK, here are some maps to update our current status.

The new world map with substantially more glorious Viking purple! The last city of the Japanese lies on Matsuyama Island, named after the Japanese city there. We have two turns of peace left on the treaty with the Japanese. We also have two cities on this island, and the Russians have set up a city there too! The Russians also have a city on Fukushima Island. On New Scandinavia, the Russians are down to a single city, which also happens to be their capital. They also have a city on the Babylonian island called Nippur Island. It is possible that the Russians have an island city in the unknown area to the west of their capital as well. The Russians have 6 cities left, but I know the locations of only these four with any degree of certainty.

Note, also that I have found two uninhabited islands just south of New Inca, but to get there, it is necessary to go through New Inca, and then risk a turn at sea. Fortunately, from what I know so far, there are ocend tiles seperating the landmass, and so the great lighthouse is not enough for the Babylonians to try and settle the area. In addition, we still do not have contacts with the two remaining civs. They must inhabit somwhere in 'The Great Unknown'. I suspect that they will be slightly backward in tech also, as they have not had the advantage of contact with the rest of the world to speed tech trading. However, I still must find them soon!

The war front

This is where all the current action is at. Note that the Incan city of Cuzco in the NW is home to the Great Library, the Pyramids and the Statue of Zeus.
The city of Babylon has the Colossus and the Great Lighhouse, and is building Leonardo's workshop. The babylonian city of Samarra has the Great Wall. The babs are also building Sun Tzu in Ninevah (adn I do not even know where that is).

The victory status information:

For some reason (probably our cramped up start), we are still in last place in score, but that will probably quickly change due to our aggressive expansion. The power graph looks good, and in culture we are in reasonable shape thanks to the temple of artemis. It is just a shame that the ToA doesn't extend to cities beyond the landmass on which it is built. Against the Babylonians we have about 1/3 culture so we shall have to watch them.

Our plan from here is to finish off the Russian war quickly, and try and give Catherine enough incentive to part with feudalism in the peace treaty. She will already cough up two cities, but I need the tech to take on the Babs! If I can not get feudalism this way, then we will revert to a great library snatch off the Inca. This will also get us the very useful Statue of Zeus. I would prefer to leave the Incans alone for now, though, because it delays attacking the only real threat at the moment which is the runaway Babylonians. So obviously this builds up to the anticipated strike against the Babs. Only thing is, they have about twice the number of cities than I can see, and are also strong versus us militarily. So that could be quite a war!

The main reason to go after the Babs as soosn as possible is to stop their runaway victory. Leaving England alone cost me in the last Viking attempt, so I will not let the Babs do that to me here. But, in addition, the Great Lighthouse will really help the search for the other two civs.

 

[steviejay]

it cost me as well.

In my first Spanish game, I left the Celts to their own devices whilst taking on the rest of the world. I learnt too late that the main threat was at home, rather in some far off field.

What tech are the Babs on at the moment? Do you know if they've been in any wars to trigger their GA?

 

[Sandman2003]

What tech are the Babs on at the moment? Do you know if they've been in any wars to trigger their GA?

All I know for sure is that they have full first tier MA, and invention. It is probably more by now. They must be stopped!

 

[T-Money]

Yes.....looks like you're doing real good in the power graph, and I imagine the Babylonians' military might will be no match for human ingenuity....or something like that.

 

[Sandman2003]

300AD - I note that all 756 of our gold and 13gpt will get us feudalism off Russia as part of the peace talks. (You can still do gpt deals as part of a peace treaty even with a wrecked rep). I am tempted, but I think we will hold out a couple more turns and take a couple more cities first. The Babylonians have also found the uninhabited islands, as I see a Bab galley there by my exploring galley.

IT - The Russians land a sword and a spear by Rostov.

310AD - Our cats get two hits on the elite Russian sword, and then a vet and an elite sword of ours clean up the Russian resistance. The uninhabited islands now are habited by Babylonians!

IT - Now the Russians try landing an archer on the volcano SE of Rostov. The cats redline him, and a horse finishes off the Russian.

320AD - Movement

330AD - Seige of Smolensk - The town is defended by a reg spear. The spear has help from an archer, but quickly succumbs to the veteran sword attack. A second spear defeats a vet sword, but is redlined, and leaves the archer defending. We use two elite swords to capture Smolensk, no leaders though.

IT - The babs colonise the other uninhabited island and complete Sun Tzu! They also start Knights Templar, and so must have chivalry as well.

340AD - Movement

IT - Japan declared war on the Russians

350AD - We discover that the Russians do in fact have a city on Shuruppak Island, and so galleys are dispatched to take this holding. And then we discover that the Russians actually have two cities oin this island!

Our exploring galley has found the unmistakably hue of the Ottomans empire!

360AD - The Ottomans only have 6 cities and are still in the AAs, lacking currency. They won't swap this for monarchy though. They are scientific, so they will get a free tech upon entering the MA. Maybe I can use this to my advantage.

Seige of Vilcas - A vet sword kills a reg spear and promotes. An elite sword kills a reg spear. An elite sword dies to a reg spear. Our vet horse finishes the defenders off though and Vilcas is ours.

Our exploring galley has spotted green borders, unmistakably a sign of the Greeks.

370AD - The Ottomans obviously know the Babs, because now they are in the MA and know engineering. This could be useful.

Seige of Vladivostok - Three cats can not scratch the vet pike defender. Then our vet swords go one for one against vet pikes, injuring but promoting the surviving vet pike. A vet horse retreats, then a second kills the pike, leaving a vet spear. An elite sword is successful, taking the city and removing the last Russian habitation from New Scandinavia!

We use another elite sword to kill a recently landed vet archer by St Petersburg. An archer by Vilcas is killed by our horse there. An archer by St Petersburg retreats our horse there. OK, Russia has only two cities left, but I have wasted enough time on them. Let us see what we can get for peace. Since we can use gpt on the Russians, we take Feudalism for peace, but cough in an extra 33gpt (out of 75gpt we earn currently). Feudalism and 259 gold nets us engineering and monarchy from our new friends the Ottomans.

The Greeks have only five cities and are well short of the MAs, not even possessing writing. We sell Alexander writing and currency for his whole treasury of 6 gold. Philosophy, code of laws, and map making are gifted next. But the greeks get engineering (it was a 1/3 shot that he might get monotheism and enable me to complete the first MA tier). Never mind. Now to upgrade units to the advanced MI and pikes and to attack the evil Babylonians before they win the game.

380AD - Upgrades and unit shuffle. We will have to take Shirrupak and Nippur before we can attack the Babylonian core. This is to give us a safe passageway through to the core on Babylon. Then the plan calls for overwhelmong force to be applied against Babylon itself. Without the Great Lighthouse, the Babylonians will lose much of their position of strength, and may lose contact with some of their cities! We are building settlers so we can replace the babylonian cities that do not have important wonders. Flip risk is huge!

390AD - The Babylonians are now building Sistine Chapel, so clearly they are at Theology.

400AD - We discover another island holding of the BAbylonians north of Greece.

410AD - We move out of the Babylonoan territory. Our military looks like this
2 settlers
4 workers plus a bunch of slaves
2 warriors
9 spearmen
20 swordsmen
10 horsemen
7 pikemen
8 galleys
1 sword army (stuck on Scandinavia until magnetism)
13 medieval infantry.

War Time. The Babs have 21 cities. Let us see what we can do about that. Oh, we are also breaking deals with the Babs as well, but since our rep is already trashed, that does not matter. The deals were a sale of spices for 12 gpt, and the extorted gift of wines (still with 7 turns remaining). Enough prepare for your doom, Hammurabi. We will hear no more arrogant demands for anything from the Vikings. You will soon know who is King!

We give him the boot, but he complies. I am not waiting to see the galleys move.

We try to bring the Inca in on the war, but they will not bite! Shuruppak now faces an MI, a pike and 4 elite swords.

420AD - Seige of Shuruppak - We see a vet pike defending this town (remember that he has the Great Wall, though, so the defense is as if it was a city). The MI dies after a long bow reacted to the charge, and then the pike held him off. However our four elite swords went 3-1 on pikes after that, but there is still an injured pike and the longbow defending. So the city still stands.

IT - Babylon completes Leonardos workshop! The Longbow kills itself against our fortified pike. A babylonian pike has also advanced to be by Smolensk on Nippur Island.

430AD - We have two 4/5 swords against what may well be a single fortified pike. Do we give it a go. I decide yes. They both die without inflicting a scratch on the pike, and promoting it to elite. Time to retreat and wait for reinforcements.

War isn't going well on the Babylonian front, so we decide to hit the Japanese. We declare. We land 4 MI by Matsuyama. Unfortunately, the Japanese have a worker on the hill, so we can not land there, and have to land in the forest instead. Japan has a sword defending, so he may well attack our little force.

IT - By Matsuyama, an archer dies attacking the MI stack, promoting one. By St Petersburg, the Babylonians land a longbow and a pike.

440AD - Seige of Matsuyama - Three MI units step up to the plate, and down go a Japanese sword, and two Japanese spears giving us...

This will become an MI army, but the unit will not be filled until it lands by Babylon! That is also the fall of Matsuyama, but the Japanese also conquered the Russian city on this island, so there is still one Japanese city to go before they are eliminated from the game, and remove the final flip danger that still exists.

By St Petersburg we only have horses that are in range to attack. Two are retreated against the pike before it dies. The longbow dies to an elte horse.

 

[Sandman2003]

One qq (quick question) If you are in a republic and have a large army how can you manitain a good research pace and a large army since unit support is 2gpt?

Lone scientist research. I am only getting techs when I can trade or demand them at present. Our army is 75 units, we are currently allowed 33, so it is costing 84 gpt, but we are still making a net 27gpt, even paying the Rusiians 33gpt.

 

[biggamer132]

Another leader! Looks like Babylon is in for it.

 

[T-Money]

Wow, fast updates. Keep up the good work stickin it to the Russians.

 

[Sandman2003]

IT - For some reason we get a double palace expansion. The Japanese land a spear and a sword by Matsuyama.

450AD - We kill the spear by Matsuyama. The elite* loads into the army and the army boards a galley to be whisked back to the mainland. The other MI units advance into Matsuyama, and two reinforcements arrive.

Two MI arrive in Smolensk and attack the Babylonian pike that is pillaging there. Theh first dies, but the second is promoted to elite.

IT - Babylon sign up the Inca against us! On defense we get another leader at Matsuyama. The Incans land an MI and a pike by Vladivostok, defended by a lone horse. I suspect that this will fall.

460AD - Eric Bloodaxe forms another army. I think we will need them. At Vladovostok, we sell the barracks for 5 gold and then abandon the city. The horse flees to Rostov. We kill two Japanese spears by Matsuyama.

IT - Another Japanese spear steals three slave workers. The Babylonians land a bowman by Ise. The Japanese sink an empty galley. A Babylonian longbow kills a pike by Shiruppak. The Babs also land an MI and a pike by Vilcas.

470AD - We kill a Japanese spear and the bowman on Matsuyama Island.

IT - The Babs attack Vilcas and kill the pike defender. Also a knight advances on Smolensk.

480AD - We attack the Vilcas pike with an elite sword, but fail to make an impression. Our MI at Smolensk attacks the knight, but dies yellowlining it. Two more are brought in to continue the fight. The knight is killed by the next one. Reinforcements at Vilcas finally dispatch the intrusion.

IT The Japanese land troops by Itse - 2 archers and a sword. The babs land an MI and a pike by Smolensk, and a longbow and pikeman by Vilcas. The Incans are advancing an MI/pike towards Yaroslav.

490AD - At Vilcas, the trebuchet takes an hp off the pike, but we still lose an MI while we dispense with the threat. We lose an MI by Smolensk against a pike. The RNG really isn't working for us here. These unfortified pikes should die when attacked by MIs! The situation is becoming a little untenable, having three fronts. We can make peace with Babylon, so we do, but get this. Before I attacked Babylonian troops, peace cost 140 gold. Because the attack by Smolensk temporarily emptied the city there, peace jumped to 175 gold and 10gpt. After putting a unit back into the city, I can get peace for 120 gold. I take it, though this peace may be amongst the shortest in civ history. As soon as I have enough troops and enough galleys we will invade Babylon again, but this time in much superior numbers. We get an ROP and 14gpt for wines.

I fear that Itse will fall to the Japanese as we are not well able to cover it, but we shall see.

IT - Itse does indeed fall to the Japanese. The Incan MI impales itself attacking an elite sword on a mountain, but the Incans land another MI/longbow pair by Yaroslav.

500AD - Seige of Bryansk(Japanese) - Two vet MI kill two spears and we get one city back. But then we lose an MI attacking a spear in the forest.

By Yaroslav, one horse dies and two retreat before the Incan troops are killed.

510AD - We start probing towards the north of New Scandinavia where the Incan now have two cities.

IT - The Incan land by Vilcas.

520AD - We are unable to repel the Incans by Vilcas so we sell the improvements and abandon the city.

IT - An Incan longbow attacks our mini SOD approaching . The Babylonians are building Copernicaus, and so must be at Astronomy.

530AD - We are in range to attack the Incan city of Yakutsk next turn.

540AD - The Japanese land troops by Bryansk, so again we are forced to abandon a city instead of keeping it as our MI dies attacking a sword. Thanks RNG.

Seige of Yakutsk - The trebuchets score a hit each off the two reg pikes defending. Then two vet MI kill the two pikes, and an elite kills a longbow to take the city. We can now get peace with the Inca and get Invention in the deal for 66gpt. Since we can only get gpt deals when we strike peace, we will take this so we can refocus on the Babylonians again.

550AD - It seems that the Inca, and the Babylonians also have gunpowder. This will make attacking the Babs a bit difficult. One bit of good luck this move. We are finally able to assault the last Japanese city of Itse, and

 

[T-Money]

Haha...finally the Japs are dead. You got a plan for the rest?

 

[Biral]

Looks like you have the right idea of getting on the Babs asap, they have gunpowder and astronomy, watch out! Good read so far, i've enjoyed all your stories.

 

[El Loco]

Some how, there is always a civ that separates from the pack in tech, in this case it is Babylon (no s--t) so it was clever of u to start a war but i think it was too premature. With better planning and more units Babylon is your for the taking.

 

[Sandman2003]

Thanks T-Money, Biral and El Loco. I agree that the Bab war may have been a bit premature. I also needed the Inca on my side, but they wanted too much of my economy, In hindsight I should have bit the bullet and gone for it. Also committing to the Japanese fight at the same time was simply stretching my resources just too far. It also cost me three galleys (the Japanese did the attacking and lost zero - that doesn't seem right). In fact the only reason I went after Japan was because there still was a small chance of a flip in my forbidden palace city. Imagine if that had happened! Still the plan from now is to renew the war with the Babs ASAP - probably doing an ROP rape in the process. We really do not want to send our archaic units up against cavalry and rifles.

 

[T-Money]

What's the world seed on that map? I'd like to play it.

 

[Sandman2003]

560AD - Movement. Note that the second place (in tech) Inca do not have monotheism, but have gunpowder. Even the great library would not be much use to me. There is one civ way in front, and then everyone else. I might be able to trade monotheism for gunpowder if my min research comes in first, and I have enough cash on hand, otherwise the Inca will get it automatically, of course.

570AD - Movement. We renew peace with the feeble Russians.

580AD - The Inca got to monotheism 7 turns before we did. Min research really is no good for trading opps on Deity in conquests!

590AD - Movement. First Berserk built. We will create an MI and a berserk army on the Bab mainland and take out their core!

610AD - We land our first units by Babylon (using the ROP), two MI. Babylon has muskets defending, and is now a size 11 city.

620AD - So much for our ROP rape of them -

They kill our two MI on their mainland. But their MI dies attacking ours in Smolensk. Lots of Caravel movement.

630AD - For 25gpt we bring the Inca in on our side. We land forces intended for the mainland on Nippur Island, by Nippur. The babs have two cities on this island. A bab MI dies attacking ours in Smolensk.

640AD - We retreat a knight attacking Smolensk. Then have to kill a pike to get to the knight. But we kill both. A musket threatens fom the rear.

Seige of Nippur - We have 8 MI attacking vet muskets in a city. We lose three before we kill one, and now there are only injured muskets left. We end up one unit too few. There is a one hp elite musket left!

We transfer a pike and an MI to Smolensk. It looks like our original plan of clearing this island first will have to happen.

On Matsuyama Island, it appears that the Babs have founded a city where we abandoned previously, and a knight has come out to threaten Matsuyama. We have two MI in this city, so we attack first. The vet MI dies, but the elite does this -

As much as I hate to waste an army, I think I will create an MI army here and clean up this Bab city. We rush an MI build there and bring the other MI on the island towards Matsuyama.

650AD - On Nippur Island, the musket by Smolensk doesn't attack, but we do. The trebuchet does nothing, but an elite MI sorts this guy out. I have decided to 'waste' an army on this three city island as well. Better to get them utilised and make progress against the evil Babylonians than continue to keep them waiting in the hope we will get to the Bab mainland. The army that already had an MI in it is brought over to Nippur island and arrives in Smolensk. This army will be the glorious first MI army. We remove our forces from around Nippur 9Two surviving MI and a settler ready to replace the city. We will be back after we advance from the north.

On Matsuyama island, the rushed MI joins the army. This will be the second MI army. It advances towards the Bab city of Ebla, pickuing up the elite* MI on the way.

Min research is on gunpowder. We really want chivalry at the moment, but the Inca do not have it, so the only ready source is the Babs. (Our own research would take 24 turns at breakeven!)

660AD - On Matsuyama, the second MI army is now fully formed. The babs have dropped off another reg musket, but we do not fear it just yet, we will see what it does.

On Nippur Island, we have the first MI army advancing on the Bab city of Eulbar.

670AD - Our troops are on the doorstep of Eulbar.

680AD - Seige of Eulbar - We have 4 trebuchets, 3 MI and an MI army attacking this city. We scored one hit on the musket, revealing a pike. The first MI army dispenses with the Pike without damage, revealing another musket. We have a redlined army, but we are successful, and now the injured musket shows. We redline this guy, but there is another pike there! Our elite MI succeeds, just, and now we have one elite MI versus a redlined musket. Eulbar falls!!!!!!! Take that Hammurabi! In clean up, an elite MI kills a bab longbow.

Matsuyama Island, Seige of Ebla - Our MI army has arrived, and an elite pike is the showing unit! We only have one attack, unfortunately, because now a spear is showing!

IT - The Babs land a pike and a spear on New Scandinavia by Novgorod.

690AD - On Nippur Island, we sell improvements and abandon Eulbar. Stockholm is founded in its place. We land a bunch of units by Nippur.

On Matsuyama Island, the Bab musket has advanced to the gates of the city of Matsuyama. We rush another pike, and hide the worker. The army by Ebla strikes again. The spear was the final defender. Ebla is now ours and the entire Island is in Viking hands.

On New Scandinavia, we attack the pike with a horse. It retreats only doing one hp of damage. We have two berserks in the area. Shall we risk kicking off a golden age? Why not, we are in the middle of the war for control of the planet with the evil behemouth the Babs, what better time than now!

The berserks do a convincing one-two against these foes!

In the GA we can research chivalry in 9 and still have positive cashflow - we decide to do so. Knights will be very helpful in this war.

IT - The babs land a musket, a longbow and an MI by Smolensk on Nippur Island. There is only an elite MI there at the moment. They also pillage on Matsuyama Island.

700AD - The first MI army is partly healed, and can reach Smolensk to do a single attack, and so it does, killing the musket. The elite MI attacks the MI but perishes only doing 2 hp. We can not get any further units there so a nervous time awaits us.

IT - On Nippur Island, both Bab units attack our army, but perish reducing our army to three hp in the process. The Babs complete the Knights Templar! The babs land a musket on Fukushima island.