Persians, large map, 9 other civs, regent, small continents.
Firstly, I have learned it's better to add a few extra civs when playing Persia. It's just too hard to resist the temptation to wipe a few extraneous civs from the map with those awesome immortals! The problem here is, your future trading partners no longer exist, and this I believe, is bad for business.
I start off on a smallish continent, all alone! Plenty of room for maybe 9 good cities. I have wine, ivory, and 2 sources of iron on my continent! There is a narrow isthmus, (is that redundant? Like 'hot water heater'?), connecting me to a slightly larger continent to the north. I wisely fortify an elite warrior on that isthmus to keep nosy neighbors out of my backyard.
Then I discovered the Americans. And there I was with all these Immortals just laying around......so, I decide to remove Abe and his ilk from the equation. I field a great army of Immortals, and send them marching north. First city to fall was Washington, (thus securing me two more wines, gold, and possibly some horses later). The French made their appearance shortly thereafter, and I am on friendly terms with them....for now. The Greeks, and Babylonians also make their pressences known. No problem, they are all seemingly friendly, and leave me to my business.
After I have destroyed all but two of the Americans cities, I make peace with good 'ol Abe, and take all his techs, one of his two cities, and all his gold for a temporary peace. Meanwhile, the French move a settle down by my isthmus, and promptly plunk down a useless city...thus blocking my armies of Immortals. I suffered through a turn or two of Joan's constant whining about her 'territorial sanctity', or somesuch nonsense, and having grown tired of that, I declared war, and quickly burned Amiens to the ground, re-opening my causeway to the north. The greeks, seeing me in yet another war decide to pressure me for some quick cash. I invite them to go suck eggs, and they declared war on me.
No worries, my Immortals now number near 75, and they are streaming northwards. I quickly order most of my forces already in the north to fortify the cities I have already taken possession of, while waiting for the reinforcements. Then good ol' Abe makes an appearance at the isthmus, and plunks down a city where Amiens was. Grrrrrr. I break the treaty with Abe, destroy Seattle, and resume my march north. Several size one cities belonging to the Greeks are put to the torch, and they quickly sue for peace. Since I have my hands full with the French, and Americans, I agree.....for a price, (more techs, more gold).
A turn or two later, a greek settler arrives at the scene of ex-Amiens, and ex_Seattle, and plunks down a city. (Yes, I did anticipate this....the greeks beat my settler to the location. My settler was even in the new cities radius when it was built). So, doing what any blood-lust crazed Persian leader would do, I broke the treaty with Greece, and burned his new city to the ground. The French, meanwhile had snuck a bowman down far enough to attack my settler, so I was immediately unable to replace that city with one of my own.
I ordered one of my cities to switch production to a settler, and waste a number of perfectly good Immortals trying to guard that spot! The French, having laughed themselves useless at my expense, decide I've been punished enough, and offer peace. I accept, and get two extra techs out of the deal.
To summarize so far, I'm at war with the Greeks, and Americans. I have razed three size one cities on that one spot at the northern end of the isthmus. With the isthmus now opened, I continue to prosecute the war against the Greeks, and Americans. I lose Boston to the Greeks, but quickly recapture it. The Greeks, BTW, are becoming increasingly hard to deal with, it seems they have hoplites, which are tough nuts to crack, even with Immortals.
Anyway, as you can surely guess, the French take advantage of the shaky peace to send out a number of settlers to the sites of now destroyed cities. And of course, one settler arrives at the isthmus, slips through a gap in my line of Immortals, and plunks down a city, (and name it Amiens), blocking my isthmus again.
I'm rather suspicious at this point. Three seperate civs all making beelines for this one particular spot. Coincidence? I don't think so. I believe I've seen the AI do similar stunts in the past, so the AI can do some pretty smart things.
I like this map enough that I'm thinking of going back a few saves, and replaying it, (with time to get my own settler to that spot first).
Firstly, I have learned it's better to add a few extra civs when playing Persia. It's just too hard to resist the temptation to wipe a few extraneous civs from the map with those awesome immortals! The problem here is, your future trading partners no longer exist, and this I believe, is bad for business.
I start off on a smallish continent, all alone! Plenty of room for maybe 9 good cities. I have wine, ivory, and 2 sources of iron on my continent! There is a narrow isthmus, (is that redundant? Like 'hot water heater'?), connecting me to a slightly larger continent to the north. I wisely fortify an elite warrior on that isthmus to keep nosy neighbors out of my backyard.
Then I discovered the Americans. And there I was with all these Immortals just laying around......so, I decide to remove Abe and his ilk from the equation. I field a great army of Immortals, and send them marching north. First city to fall was Washington, (thus securing me two more wines, gold, and possibly some horses later). The French made their appearance shortly thereafter, and I am on friendly terms with them....for now. The Greeks, and Babylonians also make their pressences known. No problem, they are all seemingly friendly, and leave me to my business.
After I have destroyed all but two of the Americans cities, I make peace with good 'ol Abe, and take all his techs, one of his two cities, and all his gold for a temporary peace. Meanwhile, the French move a settle down by my isthmus, and promptly plunk down a useless city...thus blocking my armies of Immortals. I suffered through a turn or two of Joan's constant whining about her 'territorial sanctity', or somesuch nonsense, and having grown tired of that, I declared war, and quickly burned Amiens to the ground, re-opening my causeway to the north. The greeks, seeing me in yet another war decide to pressure me for some quick cash. I invite them to go suck eggs, and they declared war on me.
No worries, my Immortals now number near 75, and they are streaming northwards. I quickly order most of my forces already in the north to fortify the cities I have already taken possession of, while waiting for the reinforcements. Then good ol' Abe makes an appearance at the isthmus, and plunks down a city where Amiens was. Grrrrrr. I break the treaty with Abe, destroy Seattle, and resume my march north. Several size one cities belonging to the Greeks are put to the torch, and they quickly sue for peace. Since I have my hands full with the French, and Americans, I agree.....for a price, (more techs, more gold).
A turn or two later, a greek settler arrives at the scene of ex-Amiens, and ex_Seattle, and plunks down a city. (Yes, I did anticipate this....the greeks beat my settler to the location. My settler was even in the new cities radius when it was built). So, doing what any blood-lust crazed Persian leader would do, I broke the treaty with Greece, and burned his new city to the ground. The French, meanwhile had snuck a bowman down far enough to attack my settler, so I was immediately unable to replace that city with one of my own.
I ordered one of my cities to switch production to a settler, and waste a number of perfectly good Immortals trying to guard that spot! The French, having laughed themselves useless at my expense, decide I've been punished enough, and offer peace. I accept, and get two extra techs out of the deal.
To summarize so far, I'm at war with the Greeks, and Americans. I have razed three size one cities on that one spot at the northern end of the isthmus. With the isthmus now opened, I continue to prosecute the war against the Greeks, and Americans. I lose Boston to the Greeks, but quickly recapture it. The Greeks, BTW, are becoming increasingly hard to deal with, it seems they have hoplites, which are tough nuts to crack, even with Immortals.
Anyway, as you can surely guess, the French take advantage of the shaky peace to send out a number of settlers to the sites of now destroyed cities. And of course, one settler arrives at the isthmus, slips through a gap in my line of Immortals, and plunks down a city, (and name it Amiens), blocking my isthmus again.
I'm rather suspicious at this point. Three seperate civs all making beelines for this one particular spot. Coincidence? I don't think so. I believe I've seen the AI do similar stunts in the past, so the AI can do some pretty smart things.
I like this map enough that I'm thinking of going back a few saves, and replaying it, (with time to get my own settler to that spot first).
