I get this feeling sometimes. You all know it - 'I gotta play me some Civ! '. In goes Conquests - new stuff, could it get any better?
So, never a fan of scenarios, I go Epic once again. Large, largest continents, 16 civs, sounds about right. Mayans eh, they look interesting. And what's this agriculture thing?
So I get into the game, do some building, meet up with my neighbors, send out a couple of these cool new little dinkeys to scout the coastline. My ring of cities spreads slowly but surely, I grab some ivory infront of an AI, and life is good. There are some quarrels on my northern border, but nothing I can't handle. Note to self: Send a couple of warriors to those mountains, that should do it.
Turns out I've got five buddies on my continent. The iroquese and the incas aren't very polite, if manners didn't matter in global politics I'd call them rude! My American buddy could probably hold the iroquese off my back .. lets see, let him send his two settlers down this way.. yup. Bordered nicely between me and them. Coasts clear.
This nifty Zeus thingmajig I put together has been giving me some mean little horsies. It's time Mr. Inca left and gave his space to me anyway, so - they move into position, support troopers line up, workers ready to road deep into enemy lands, and... Chaarge! Cities burn and cities fall, 'till he has 4 left. He wants peace, and he pays me 3 cities for it. Jeebus, I think, you just signed your own death penalty, friend. I agree, I betray him, and take his last city. RIP Incas.
My empire is now 1/3 of our continent. Damn aztecs have been trying to break into my territory for some iron, but they haven't broken through. I send the forces down to meet them, and start pushing back into their territories. Cities fall, cities burn, we know the song. Ah, settler on a boat, I suspect. They dont die, but they make peace, and I can live with that. Now I've gotten the iroquese and americans surrounded by cities. Time to teach those damned iroquese to mind their manners. You dont demand tribute from me. You just dont. So the war machine rolls on. Knights and Ancient Cavs roll across the battlefield and their cities burn to the ground. Moohaha, I've got 3/4s of the continent, and things are well. Abe is getting annoyed at my might, and as old friends I owe him some help. I quickly put him out of his misery, the former-iroquese cities I've captured function as a spearhead deep into his lands and he loses his iron during the first round of battle. Not much he can do but counterattack, but my waves are too much for him. Three fronts, he breaks one of my lines, but lose massively on the other two. Washington falls, along with his center cities. His units are in disarray, and unable to mass a proper counterattack he is chopped to pieces by my fresh reinforcements. I control my continent, and although I've found another AI on an island in between the two continents, there will be some time and research yet before I can move completely across.
Conquests so far: Whoa. Those cool new boats, and the Statue of Zeus? I'd say almost too much, but atleast it's good fun.
Time rolls along, my forces are massed and the cities grow. My preparation for the invasion of my neighboring island has turned me into a powerful nation, and when I finally am able to sail across the waters I feel joy in what I find. A bunch of small bickering civs, fighting for what precious resources they can find. They're about as advanced as me, so I didn't lose too much by not having any friends for a while. Large front between the English and the Portugese is the key to this continent. They're the largest nations and they each have their group of follower-civs. Time to pick your friends wisely.
I start shipping my experienced units across to the center island, and in little time I've decimated the pathethic Mongols and gained a nice staging point for future combat operations. Hurrying in some musketeers to keep the island covered, I send my ancient cavs and knights deep into enemy lands. I must put them to good use before the germans can find a source of saltpeter!
Positioning myself on both sides of their peninsula, I make my first strikes on the new world. The split tactic didn't work as planned - the germans mass their entire counterattack directly at my right flank, and nearly break it before I can even move. I quickly return the surviving units to my central stronghold for reinforcing, and resupplies. They will be out of comission for a critical amount of turns, lets hope I can do some damage with my fresh flank. I know it cost the germans much to attack my mountainholds with musketeers, but how much?
I move in on them like fire in drybush. On massing their counterattack they nearly emptied all their rear cities, totally ignoring the left side. I'm almost tempted to consider it a bug, but I'm too thrilled about the situation to give it much thought. The cities fall, and I'm able to take 4 german cities(out of 9) the first turn. What remains of their defences returns only to die like waves on the shore. I hold my conquerings, I have their resources and their friends have abandoned them. My troops return from their supplytrip to the motherland, and the 5 remaining cities fall quickly.
Now begins the war of attrition. The egyptians, only found by me, are on a tiny island with 4 cities. They have almost no science and have no contacts, which makes them ripe for the picking. I quickly disperse ships with new troops from the mainland, this time sending them the other way around the world. Egypt falls and I have a new staging point for further combat operations. I position my units in ample hotspots, from which they can reach to almost any place in the world within reasonable time.
My war machine is getting costly, and I soon look around for more weak points where I can assault. Ah, the roman mainland. The romans have a couple of cities on the peninsula I captured from the germans, which annoy me. They have no business there! I move rashly and declare war, capturing the two cities I wanted. However, my roman friends were anything but weak. Soon I find my recent captures flooding over with hostiles from their homeland. I lose the cities, but am able to retake them and decide to abandon them both. Perhaps I can drive him to reason that this is MY island, and he should not be here.
Caesar refuses to see me. Frustration spreads as my resources are getting thinned out, and his seemingly endless warmachine pours onto my weakened defenders. I cannot lose my foothold on this continent! I mass whatever defence I have on the ridge along my northern border, and hope the hills and mountains will help me overcome. I have troops coming in from home, aimed at his main island, in hopes of taking a city or two there and forcing him to accept my envoy. But before they can get anywhere, he breaks the line! He found a weak spot on a hill in my line and his units(mainly spearmen and longbowmen at this point) simmer through. Instead of taking my empty cities(I needed the defense to hold the line), he continues to Berlin, pillaging his way and taking double the time he could've used. I quickly release all cities of their defences, and move them in to meet him. It's all or nothing now, I'm hoping this is the last of his attacks. Catherine the Great accepts my gold per turn for ROP, and hopefully that will keep her from attacking my defenseless southern border.
And as by will of God I manage to hold it them off. My ancient cavalry are chopping at their flanks while they advance, and they are unable to do anything with their 1 movement other than advance at a dying pace. Their last units fall before the walls of Berlin, and the advance has been halted. My ships are now on his shoreline, ready to start what I hope will turn into a surgical incision in his stronghold.
Breather & Conquests opinion: IF you've bothered to read this far.. the game is great! The hunger for resources everybody seems to have now adds much more planning. While I dont claim to understand all of the AIs actions, I'll assume they were random.
I land my forces just outside Rome. My ancient cavs are now on the end of their string. They aren't very effective on the battlefield, and their older brothers the cavalry are doing most of the hard fighting. I survive the first counterwave, but only barely. I have never seen such an armada of warriors, phalanx, legionares anywhere before. Being couped up on this little island of his must've left him with little to do besides build up a massive army, ready for any challenge. And when I come and challenge him, he snaps my back and throws me back out. My units were completely decimated before I could do anything. His steady armada of galleys cut my caravels to pieces and I can do nothing but watch my expeditionary force wither away with little to show for it.
However, he agrees to see me! I humbly explain my actions for going to war, that those cities belonged to me, and as one empire to another, Caesar and I find common ground. He offers peace for a little tribute, which I'm happy to oblige. I need to take a breather, nearly all of my offensive punch is gone and the other nations have started laughing at me. Even Catherine is cautious now, there is no pleasing anybody. Like wolves, they are, always after me.
It's time to save and end my loong story. If you made it this far, I salute you.
It's been 12 hours since I started, and I'm beat. I've been on a computer since I was 7 (that's 14 years ago, men), and I've never had any problems with "mousearm" or carpal tunnel and other nasty surprises. I think, however, that Conquests might've coined a new term for me - Civ-elbows. I think I'm gonna tape some pillows to my table for when I resume the game, my elbows are sore!
Final judgement on Conquests?
I'm amazed at the difference. I was happy with PtW, but this is just amazing. Kudos to Firaxis and the boys for making a great game better, and ruining many weekends to come for me. It is still a lot of fun, and even more so with all the new stuff in here. If there are any doubters on buying Conquests out there - skip the doubts and go buy it. You'll be grateful you did.
(If you bothered to read this far and didn't skip anything, chances are you like Civ as much as me. Doesn't it just make you all warm and fuzzy inside?
Let me know if you want the rest of the story, once I resume playing. 
)
--
scorf
'I gotta play me some Civ!'
So, never a fan of scenarios, I go Epic once again. Large, largest continents, 16 civs, sounds about right. Mayans eh, they look interesting. And what's this agriculture thing?
So I get into the game, do some building, meet up with my neighbors, send out a couple of these cool new little dinkeys to scout the coastline. My ring of cities spreads slowly but surely, I grab some ivory infront of an AI, and life is good. There are some quarrels on my northern border, but nothing I can't handle. Note to self: Send a couple of warriors to those mountains, that should do it.
Turns out I've got five buddies on my continent. The iroquese and the incas aren't very polite, if manners didn't matter in global politics I'd call them rude! My American buddy could probably hold the iroquese off my back .. lets see, let him send his two settlers down this way.. yup. Bordered nicely between me and them. Coasts clear.
This nifty Zeus thingmajig I put together has been giving me some mean little horsies. It's time Mr. Inca left and gave his space to me anyway, so - they move into position, support troopers line up, workers ready to road deep into enemy lands, and... Chaarge! Cities burn and cities fall, 'till he has 4 left. He wants peace, and he pays me 3 cities for it. Jeebus, I think, you just signed your own death penalty, friend. I agree, I betray him, and take his last city. RIP Incas.
My empire is now 1/3 of our continent. Damn aztecs have been trying to break into my territory for some iron, but they haven't broken through. I send the forces down to meet them, and start pushing back into their territories. Cities fall, cities burn, we know the song. Ah, settler on a boat, I suspect. They dont die, but they make peace, and I can live with that. Now I've gotten the iroquese and americans surrounded by cities. Time to teach those damned iroquese to mind their manners. You dont demand tribute from me. You just dont. So the war machine rolls on. Knights and Ancient Cavs roll across the battlefield and their cities burn to the ground. Moohaha, I've got 3/4s of the continent, and things are well. Abe is getting annoyed at my might, and as old friends I owe him some help. I quickly put him out of his misery, the former-iroquese cities I've captured function as a spearhead deep into his lands and he loses his iron during the first round of battle. Not much he can do but counterattack, but my waves are too much for him. Three fronts, he breaks one of my lines, but lose massively on the other two. Washington falls, along with his center cities. His units are in disarray, and unable to mass a proper counterattack he is chopped to pieces by my fresh reinforcements. I control my continent, and although I've found another AI on an island in between the two continents, there will be some time and research yet before I can move completely across.
Conquests so far: Whoa. Those cool new boats, and the Statue of Zeus? I'd say almost too much, but atleast it's good fun.
Time rolls along, my forces are massed and the cities grow. My preparation for the invasion of my neighboring island has turned me into a powerful nation, and when I finally am able to sail across the waters I feel joy in what I find. A bunch of small bickering civs, fighting for what precious resources they can find. They're about as advanced as me, so I didn't lose too much by not having any friends for a while. Large front between the English and the Portugese is the key to this continent. They're the largest nations and they each have their group of follower-civs. Time to pick your friends wisely.
I start shipping my experienced units across to the center island, and in little time I've decimated the pathethic Mongols and gained a nice staging point for future combat operations. Hurrying in some musketeers to keep the island covered, I send my ancient cavs and knights deep into enemy lands. I must put them to good use before the germans can find a source of saltpeter!
Positioning myself on both sides of their peninsula, I make my first strikes on the new world. The split tactic didn't work as planned - the germans mass their entire counterattack directly at my right flank, and nearly break it before I can even move. I quickly return the surviving units to my central stronghold for reinforcing, and resupplies. They will be out of comission for a critical amount of turns, lets hope I can do some damage with my fresh flank. I know it cost the germans much to attack my mountainholds with musketeers, but how much?
I move in on them like fire in drybush. On massing their counterattack they nearly emptied all their rear cities, totally ignoring the left side. I'm almost tempted to consider it a bug, but I'm too thrilled about the situation to give it much thought. The cities fall, and I'm able to take 4 german cities(out of 9) the first turn. What remains of their defences returns only to die like waves on the shore. I hold my conquerings, I have their resources and their friends have abandoned them. My troops return from their supplytrip to the motherland, and the 5 remaining cities fall quickly.
Now begins the war of attrition. The egyptians, only found by me, are on a tiny island with 4 cities. They have almost no science and have no contacts, which makes them ripe for the picking. I quickly disperse ships with new troops from the mainland, this time sending them the other way around the world. Egypt falls and I have a new staging point for further combat operations. I position my units in ample hotspots, from which they can reach to almost any place in the world within reasonable time.
My war machine is getting costly, and I soon look around for more weak points where I can assault. Ah, the roman mainland. The romans have a couple of cities on the peninsula I captured from the germans, which annoy me. They have no business there! I move rashly and declare war, capturing the two cities I wanted. However, my roman friends were anything but weak. Soon I find my recent captures flooding over with hostiles from their homeland. I lose the cities, but am able to retake them and decide to abandon them both. Perhaps I can drive him to reason that this is MY island, and he should not be here.
Caesar refuses to see me. Frustration spreads as my resources are getting thinned out, and his seemingly endless warmachine pours onto my weakened defenders. I cannot lose my foothold on this continent! I mass whatever defence I have on the ridge along my northern border, and hope the hills and mountains will help me overcome. I have troops coming in from home, aimed at his main island, in hopes of taking a city or two there and forcing him to accept my envoy. But before they can get anywhere, he breaks the line! He found a weak spot on a hill in my line and his units(mainly spearmen and longbowmen at this point) simmer through. Instead of taking my empty cities(I needed the defense to hold the line), he continues to Berlin, pillaging his way and taking double the time he could've used. I quickly release all cities of their defences, and move them in to meet him. It's all or nothing now, I'm hoping this is the last of his attacks. Catherine the Great accepts my gold per turn for ROP, and hopefully that will keep her from attacking my defenseless southern border.
And as by will of God I manage to hold it them off. My ancient cavalry are chopping at their flanks while they advance, and they are unable to do anything with their 1 movement other than advance at a dying pace. Their last units fall before the walls of Berlin, and the advance has been halted. My ships are now on his shoreline, ready to start what I hope will turn into a surgical incision in his stronghold.
Breather & Conquests opinion: IF you've bothered to read this far.. the game is great! The hunger for resources everybody seems to have now adds much more planning. While I dont claim to understand all of the AIs actions, I'll assume they were random.
I land my forces just outside Rome. My ancient cavs are now on the end of their string. They aren't very effective on the battlefield, and their older brothers the cavalry are doing most of the hard fighting. I survive the first counterwave, but only barely. I have never seen such an armada of warriors, phalanx, legionares anywhere before. Being couped up on this little island of his must've left him with little to do besides build up a massive army, ready for any challenge. And when I come and challenge him, he snaps my back and throws me back out. My units were completely decimated before I could do anything. His steady armada of galleys cut my caravels to pieces and I can do nothing but watch my expeditionary force wither away with little to show for it.
However, he agrees to see me! I humbly explain my actions for going to war, that those cities belonged to me, and as one empire to another, Caesar and I find common ground. He offers peace for a little tribute, which I'm happy to oblige. I need to take a breather, nearly all of my offensive punch is gone and the other nations have started laughing at me. Even Catherine is cautious now, there is no pleasing anybody. Like wolves, they are, always after me.
It's time to save and end my loong story. If you made it this far, I salute you.
It's been 12 hours since I started, and I'm beat. I've been on a computer since I was 7 (that's 14 years ago, men), and I've never had any problems with "mousearm" or carpal tunnel and other nasty surprises. I think, however, that Conquests might've coined a new term for me - Civ-elbows. I think I'm gonna tape some pillows to my table for when I resume the game, my elbows are sore!
Final judgement on Conquests?
I'm amazed at the difference. I was happy with PtW, but this is just amazing. Kudos to Firaxis and the boys for making a great game better, and ruining many weekends to come for me. It is still a lot of fun, and even more so with all the new stuff in here. If there are any doubters on buying Conquests out there - skip the doubts and go buy it. You'll be grateful you did.
(If you bothered to read this far and didn't skip anything, chances are you like Civ as much as me. Doesn't it just make you all warm and fuzzy inside?
Let me know if you want the rest of the story, once I resume playing. )--
scorf
'I gotta play me some Civ!'
