Warlords Playthrough: Emporer with a twist

[Pete2006]

Played another 1000 years. Got a GG, lost a GG, got some vassals and went to war.

Saladin declares on Monty. I switched from researching Metal Casting to CS since 2 other civs had MC. I need to keep trading to keep up.

Pop a GS, my first of the game, and build an Academy in my capital.

Built up my economy over the last several hundred years and am on par with the GNP leader. Saladin is probably using a specialist based economy anyway, so I'm nowhere close to the top in research.

The plan was to build up a navy and take out Khan but it didn't work out. My eastern cities have next to zero production and my other cities were concentrating on infrastructure so the ships never got built. Besides, I would need 10 galleys to ferry over enough troops to take a couple cities. Then I'd lose 1/2 to Triremes. I decided to wait to Astronomy.

Monty and I ganged up on Shaka and took him out of the game. Shaka was no threat to anyone in this game.

I am not the most popular civ in this game. I guess Monty was mad I took Shaka's cities before he could and Khan just hates me. Khan never even attacked me after he declared so I'm not sure what his problem is.

My first GG. I'm a bit underwhelmed with the GG. If they were more common then I would settle them all for +2 exp in my capital. +10 exp would be freaking awesome. However, it is ~1000 AD so I guess I'll get one more in the game. That's pathetic. I decide to attach him to a maceman.

I get peace with Khan and bulldoze Monty.

Monty becomes my first vassal. It took me a while to figure out how to use him to my benefit but, wow, what a benefit! It is much more profitable to make a civ your vassal than to finish them off.

 

[aelf]

How do you make sure that the civ you are battering capitulate to you? In my game as Ragnar I crushed Brennus, but he made himself a vassal to Qin (who was Pleased with me) and dragged the Chinese into a war with me. That was very annoying.

 

[Pete2006]

Red Peter gets to Liberalism first. That means he's probably #1 in research.

I decide to eliminate him while I still have a military tech lead.

I guess he's friends with Khan but again Khan is just a big talker in this game. He pillages some seafood but otherwise stays out of the way.

Boohoo. My GG dies in combat. What a waste. I don't think I'll use my next GG that way.

I take out all his cities but one. Khan agreed to peace a couple turns after he declared.

Red Peter becomes my second vassal.

Built my second National Wonder. The first being the HE in my capital.

I did conquer the Colossus in Moscow. After I got that wonder and my coastal tiles went from 2 to 3 commercs, my GNP jumped 30%.

Not playing a financial civ is a major handicap.

I am milking these guys for everything they have. They won't give me their techs though. That's frustrating.

Saladin declares on Monty and pulls me into the fray. Monty loses one city and I send my troops south. I got peace as soon as I could.

I'm building Grenadiers as quickly as I can. This is sort of the same situation as my Freddy game. Saladin has Nationalism and Replaceable parts. I have grenadiers and elephants. I can attack now and hope to do some damage or rush to Liberalism, go free religion and try to become friends and beat him in the Space Race.

I get a GE - I've been running mercantilism. No wonders can be rushed to I burn him on Replaceable Parts. I'll probablyt skip Cavs and go for a rifle/grenadier army.

 

[Pete2006]

Here's how things stand. Not bad for my first Warlords playthrough.

Theoretically I could win a domination without fighting Saladin. I think it is rather unlikely since he will declare on me at some point and I don't see how I can take Alex's land without going through Saladin.

~ #1 in everything that counts. My production is very strong. If I can keep peace with Saladin long enough to build rifles, I will win by domination. I would be able to build a 30-40 unit army with rifles and grenadiers that would be unstoppable.

I'm going for Liberalism here to solidify my GNP lead. Then it'll be striaght to Rifles.

Saladin is slightly more powerful than me according to this graph...

I have a monopoly on Chemistry. No one will trade with me, not even my vassals.

But really, I just need some rifles and should be good to go. If I can't beat Saladin, I can sure as hell finish of Khan and I will have the production power to win a Space Race.

One thing that perplexes me about these charts: According to the victory conditions screen I have ~43% population which is #1. However, according to the Info screen, my population is #2. What's the truth?

 

[aelf]

How do you make sure that the civ you are battering capitulate to you? In my game as Ragnar I crushed Brennus, but he made himself a vassal to Qin (who was Pleased with me) and dragged the Chinese into a war with me. That was very annoying.

Oops. I posted not knowing that your update wasn't over yet, with the result that my question was buried in it.

 

[lost_civantares]

One thing that perplexes me about these charts: Accrding to the victory conditions screen I have ~43% population which is #1. However, according to the Info screen, my population is #2. What's the truth?

Are the conditions screen counting the vassels' population in addition to yours, and the info screen just your pop?

 

[Pete2006]

How do you make sure that the civ you are battering capitulate to you? In my game as Ragnar I crushed Brennus, but he made himself a vassal to Qin (who was Pleased with me) and dragged the Chinese into a war with me. That was very annoying.

I don't know. I haven't played many Warlords games so as far as I can tell, it's luck.

 

[Pete2006]

Are the conditions screen counting the vassels' population in addition to yours, and the info screen just your pop?

Maybe but Monty has one tiny city and Red Peter only has two cities.

 

[Pete2006]

Some ovehead shots of the map.