Wrath of the AI
- Thread starter Quintillus
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Through 1740, about 6:1, or about what I'd need to stem the tide. In the next section, it's not quite so good. Turns out that even with the Civ AI, it's difficult to ensure the AI is always fighting with the worst possible odds.
Another update should be appearing in the next few days, as it's been played, but the screenshots have not yet been cropped.
Update: Pictures uploaded, copied the story to the wrong computer, will have it up this weekend!
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Things didn't start out great in 1740, as we learned that we no longer had a source of spices.
We weren't sure why, but it was a bummer.
As for that stack of Cavalry approaching The Fens? We counted 41 Cavalry, guarded by two Infantry, and supported by nine Knights and two of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. By now, we were up to 47 Cavalry, all at full strength - not quite enough on their own, but perhaps adequate to destroy the stack with some help from Medieval Infantry and Swordsmen.
Before dealing with the Cavalry, there was some bad news from No-Man's Land - the Talented had built a new city between the former sites of Bright Future and Thunderfall.
Virtuoso 3 was within striking distance, once we didn't have a Cavalry stack to destroy, but it was nonetheless aggravating. Still, it did get us thinking. Once the war ended, there would be a race to settle No-Man's Land. How might we best exploit that opportunity to reclaim our losses? There were some ideas being thrown... some crazy enough that they just might work. For now, it was decided to leave Virtuoso 3 alone, with the thought that if the Talented rebased their air force there next turn, it might provide an excellent opportunity to wipe it out.
The Cavalry stack, however, would be attacked - but strategically so, with the goal of maximizing the use of the limited resources we had. The Army Corps of Engineers had a plan:
A barricade would be built on the wheat to serve as a forward base, from which cannons could pulverize the Talented stack with little chance of annihilation. Then, either our Cavalry could attack, or we could wait for them to pass by and take Zone of Control damage - or both.
Unfortunately, the Seafaring were blocking the rails we needed for our engineers to reach the front.
We still had a Right of Passage with them, which meant we couldn't diplomatically declare war on them (though it did expire the next turn). There were, however, about 30 workers north of that area - perhaps enough to build what we needed without help from the south. And it turned out this was enough workers to build rails to the site, and build a Fort, and half a barricade - but not a full barricade. It was decided to go ahead with the plan anyway, and if it looked like we would need the barricade, to deal with that when the time came.
And thus, the bombardment began.
Five catapults took three hitpoints off the enemy Infantry... not bad for ancient units, and definitely worth sending them in versus upgrading them that turn. The cannons were next.
Eighteen Cannons combined to redline the Infantry, and take the two Elite Cavalry down to four hitpoints... overall, 10/18 Cannons hit, or 55%, versus 60% of the Catapults. Ancient technology proves the best yet again!
The question now was whether to attack into the Forest, giving our enemies a 25% defence bonus, or to wait back and let them come to us. With about 40 Riflemen in the area, we could likely hold them off from a Barricade, and with somewhat better odds in each battle. But it would risk passing up a good opportunity to reduce their dangerous Cavalry stacks. There were proponents for both sides.
In the end, the decision was made to attack after all. Losses would be slightly higher, but our Cavalry would be effective, whereas they would not be very effective versus the Infantry stacks. Our Riflemen, by contrast, could stop (or at least slow down) those Infantry stacks.
Eight enemy Knights were defeated to open the combat, with one Cavalry lost on our side. This left the mass of their Cavalry exposed to attack.
The battle raged for days, as more and more Cavalry entered the fray. On the whole, our Cavalry did quite well, taking out 30 Talented Cavalry, with 7 losses of their own. The Talented stack was left with 4 Cavalry with 4 hitpoints, plus various injured Cavalry. The immediate threat to The Fens had been effectively nullified.
And as a result, the Medieval Infantry and Swordsmen were saved for another day. The obstructionist Seafaring were also left alone for now. Instead, a dozen Riflemen moved into the newly-constructed fort to secure the approach to the Fens, as well as to protect our Cannons.
Seven Pikemen were added to the mix as well, and then it was time to let the Talented advance once more.
An interesting development happened soon after giving our rivals control. The Commercial declared war on the Seafaring.
This somewhat played into our plans, as it would likely wipe out the Seafaring Adventurers seeking to colonize No-Man's Land. But it also meant the Commercial would likely conquer the Seafaring, a not-so-ideal situation.
The Commercial would declare war on the Defenders as well. This was less likely to be consequential.
The Hippophiliacs, meanwhile, decided we were the perfect target.
Fantastic. Another war is exactly what we needed.
It also meant we would lose our supply of silks. So much for the life of luxury.
Wars continued, with the Innovative also declaring war on the Defenders. Truly the world had lost its way.
The Talented began their turn with a single bombing run, and then an attack on our fine Navy.
Needless to say, we were not victorious.
The injured Infantry by The Fens retreated, while Infantry advanced toward Desert Mine.
The uninjured Cavalry, meanwhile, advanced toward Swampy Plantation, and a few new Cavalry arrived from the north.
All in all, not too bad... but we were becoming increasingly concerned with the Infantry approaching River's Source. There were hundreds - far too many to stop.
Despite the impending doom, we took some time in 1745 to explore trading options, now that we lacked Silk as well as Spices. And we found some interesting offers. The first was a straight-up Incense-for-Ivory from the Honourable. There was really no downside - this might even let us decrease the luxury slider, which had been at a high 30% to ensure production continued unabated.
And we found that indeed, this allowed us to turn the slider down to 20% with only a couple cities, such as Oar, being notably upset.
To deal with this, we drafted the unhappy citizens into the army!
We also found that the Scientists were willing to pay a good price for Steam Power. With many civilizations already having it, there was really no downside, so we accepted.
Finally, the Aviators were willing to chip in a decent sum for some wine and coal. As they already had Coal, just not connected, it was a bit of a no-brainer.
At 0% science, this allowed a surplus of 493 gold per turn, or more than double what we had the previous turn. Not bad at all.
Back on the battlefield, the first order of business was defeating the remnants of the Talented advance towards The Fens. The artillery fired first.
Yellow-lining the entire force - not bad. Now if we had 10 times the amount of artillery, we might do something to their Infantry stacks!
Some ancient combat was mixed in as well.
All in all, things looked better when that area was mopped up.
And even more so once their infantry began taking maces to their faces.
Okay, so only 1/3 of our Medieval Infantry won. Perhaps Operation Maces to the Faces is somewhat obsolete.
While chasing down the retreating enemy Knight, we did get a glimpse of Virtuoso 3.
The plan called for it to be destroyed next turn - but for now, we left it be.
Down south, things still weren't looking very good. Desert's Mine was a lost cause, and River's Source wasn't looking a whole lot better. We began building fortresses northwest of River's Source in preparation - we really didn't want to lose it.
Finally, it was time to abandon Desert's Mine once and for all.
And then, it was time to let the Talented advance once again.
We weren't sure why, but it was a bummer.
As for that stack of Cavalry approaching The Fens? We counted 41 Cavalry, guarded by two Infantry, and supported by nine Knights and two of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. By now, we were up to 47 Cavalry, all at full strength - not quite enough on their own, but perhaps adequate to destroy the stack with some help from Medieval Infantry and Swordsmen.
Before dealing with the Cavalry, there was some bad news from No-Man's Land - the Talented had built a new city between the former sites of Bright Future and Thunderfall.
Virtuoso 3 was within striking distance, once we didn't have a Cavalry stack to destroy, but it was nonetheless aggravating. Still, it did get us thinking. Once the war ended, there would be a race to settle No-Man's Land. How might we best exploit that opportunity to reclaim our losses? There were some ideas being thrown... some crazy enough that they just might work. For now, it was decided to leave Virtuoso 3 alone, with the thought that if the Talented rebased their air force there next turn, it might provide an excellent opportunity to wipe it out.
The Cavalry stack, however, would be attacked - but strategically so, with the goal of maximizing the use of the limited resources we had. The Army Corps of Engineers had a plan:
A barricade would be built on the wheat to serve as a forward base, from which cannons could pulverize the Talented stack with little chance of annihilation. Then, either our Cavalry could attack, or we could wait for them to pass by and take Zone of Control damage - or both.
Unfortunately, the Seafaring were blocking the rails we needed for our engineers to reach the front.
We still had a Right of Passage with them, which meant we couldn't diplomatically declare war on them (though it did expire the next turn). There were, however, about 30 workers north of that area - perhaps enough to build what we needed without help from the south. And it turned out this was enough workers to build rails to the site, and build a Fort, and half a barricade - but not a full barricade. It was decided to go ahead with the plan anyway, and if it looked like we would need the barricade, to deal with that when the time came.
And thus, the bombardment began.
Five catapults took three hitpoints off the enemy Infantry... not bad for ancient units, and definitely worth sending them in versus upgrading them that turn. The cannons were next.
Eighteen Cannons combined to redline the Infantry, and take the two Elite Cavalry down to four hitpoints... overall, 10/18 Cannons hit, or 55%, versus 60% of the Catapults. Ancient technology proves the best yet again!
The question now was whether to attack into the Forest, giving our enemies a 25% defence bonus, or to wait back and let them come to us. With about 40 Riflemen in the area, we could likely hold them off from a Barricade, and with somewhat better odds in each battle. But it would risk passing up a good opportunity to reduce their dangerous Cavalry stacks. There were proponents for both sides.
In the end, the decision was made to attack after all. Losses would be slightly higher, but our Cavalry would be effective, whereas they would not be very effective versus the Infantry stacks. Our Riflemen, by contrast, could stop (or at least slow down) those Infantry stacks.
Eight enemy Knights were defeated to open the combat, with one Cavalry lost on our side. This left the mass of their Cavalry exposed to attack.
The battle raged for days, as more and more Cavalry entered the fray. On the whole, our Cavalry did quite well, taking out 30 Talented Cavalry, with 7 losses of their own. The Talented stack was left with 4 Cavalry with 4 hitpoints, plus various injured Cavalry. The immediate threat to The Fens had been effectively nullified.
And as a result, the Medieval Infantry and Swordsmen were saved for another day. The obstructionist Seafaring were also left alone for now. Instead, a dozen Riflemen moved into the newly-constructed fort to secure the approach to the Fens, as well as to protect our Cannons.
Seven Pikemen were added to the mix as well, and then it was time to let the Talented advance once more.
An interesting development happened soon after giving our rivals control. The Commercial declared war on the Seafaring.
This somewhat played into our plans, as it would likely wipe out the Seafaring Adventurers seeking to colonize No-Man's Land. But it also meant the Commercial would likely conquer the Seafaring, a not-so-ideal situation.
The Commercial would declare war on the Defenders as well. This was less likely to be consequential.
The Hippophiliacs, meanwhile, decided we were the perfect target.
Fantastic. Another war is exactly what we needed.
It also meant we would lose our supply of silks. So much for the life of luxury.
Wars continued, with the Innovative also declaring war on the Defenders. Truly the world had lost its way.
The Talented began their turn with a single bombing run, and then an attack on our fine Navy.
Needless to say, we were not victorious.
The injured Infantry by The Fens retreated, while Infantry advanced toward Desert Mine.
The uninjured Cavalry, meanwhile, advanced toward Swampy Plantation, and a few new Cavalry arrived from the north.
All in all, not too bad... but we were becoming increasingly concerned with the Infantry approaching River's Source. There were hundreds - far too many to stop.
Despite the impending doom, we took some time in 1745 to explore trading options, now that we lacked Silk as well as Spices. And we found some interesting offers. The first was a straight-up Incense-for-Ivory from the Honourable. There was really no downside - this might even let us decrease the luxury slider, which had been at a high 30% to ensure production continued unabated.
And we found that indeed, this allowed us to turn the slider down to 20% with only a couple cities, such as Oar, being notably upset.
To deal with this, we drafted the unhappy citizens into the army!
We also found that the Scientists were willing to pay a good price for Steam Power. With many civilizations already having it, there was really no downside, so we accepted.
Finally, the Aviators were willing to chip in a decent sum for some wine and coal. As they already had Coal, just not connected, it was a bit of a no-brainer.
At 0% science, this allowed a surplus of 493 gold per turn, or more than double what we had the previous turn. Not bad at all.
Back on the battlefield, the first order of business was defeating the remnants of the Talented advance towards The Fens. The artillery fired first.
Yellow-lining the entire force - not bad. Now if we had 10 times the amount of artillery, we might do something to their Infantry stacks!
Some ancient combat was mixed in as well.
All in all, things looked better when that area was mopped up.
And even more so once their infantry began taking maces to their faces.
Okay, so only 1/3 of our Medieval Infantry won. Perhaps Operation Maces to the Faces is somewhat obsolete.
While chasing down the retreating enemy Knight, we did get a glimpse of Virtuoso 3.
The plan called for it to be destroyed next turn - but for now, we left it be.
Down south, things still weren't looking very good. Desert's Mine was a lost cause, and River's Source wasn't looking a whole lot better. We began building fortresses northwest of River's Source in preparation - we really didn't want to lose it.
Finally, it was time to abandon Desert's Mine once and for all.
And then, it was time to let the Talented advance once again.
I can only assume you meant to put a picture here?
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Oops, I ended up moving that picture up (it's the engineers' plan with the star where I would build the star fort), but didn't remember to take that placeholder out. I've now removed it and merged the paragraphs before and after it. Thanks for pointing it out!
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The Talented showed yet another technological advance in 1747 - an aircraft carrier.
More planes than the previous turn attacked in the south as well. There was nothing that could be done to stop them.
But on the main front, there was reason for optimism - could it be a retreat?
Well, not a total one - our Spearman was attacked.
And won!
But sure enough, the Talented were retreating units - and lots of them. Perhaps to counter the scientists; perhaps to advance on The Fens since their Cavalry attack had failed, but we were glad to see the retreat.
In the end, only four regiments advanced south - a curious number.
Thankfully, this was also a number that we were confident our cannonry could deal with thoroughly. And, aside from one lone Talented Infantry down south and one Cavalry up north, this was curiously the extent of their moves against us this turn.
And could peace be in the air? Apparently the Commercial thought so; this either meant we were out an ally, or we would soon be at peace as well.
War was in the air, too - but not against us, at least.
And so we came to 1750, the Year of the Potential Peace. But... it was not to be.
The Talented hated us, and wanted us to know it!
And thus, we had a problem. There was no way of knowing when, or if, the Talented would accept peace. Perhaps in one turn. Perhaps in a century. Perhaps only after our complete and utter annihilation. Either way, we needed a plan. The main plans proposed were:
1. Invade the Militarists of Frisky as easy, off-shore targets.
2. Invade the faraway continent as a more safe harbor, though a tougher initial target.
3. Batten down the hatches and try to ride out the storm.
For now, (3) was chosen in the hopes that peace would come quickly. Talented domination of the seas also meant that the other options were, to put it lightly, risky.
The first order of business was taking out the Talented units closest to us. A zillion cannons combined to redline the forces nearest River's Source, allowing Cavalry to take them out.
Next, we destroyed the Cavalry that had invaded from the north.
And then a Crusader within sight.
This revealed no units besides the regular defenders near Virtuoso 3. Had the Talented been willing to make peace, we would have sacked it this turn, but as they were not, we elected to keep our Cavalry intact for later.
A couple final adjustments were made, with the fort line extended, and science increased to 60% - if we were going to remain at war, we'd need better production and troops. And then the Enter Key of Fate was pressed...
1751 began with some moderately bad news - not only did the Talented hate us, but they wanted others to hate us as well.
"Moderately" because the Seafaring were very weak... but our border with them was still highly vulnerable.
We did catch a break with the Talented deciding that Urban shipping was a higher bombing priority than our units, at least.
And the mysterious retreat, surprisingly, continued. This was either good news, or it meant The Fens was going to be totally doomed in a few turns.
The Sailor invasion, meanwhile, was bad news.
With that quick of a gain, I suppose the Talented must not have had to try very hard to convince them to join the war.
The Sailors also defended Tiller from the Commercial successfully.
As always, they had a knack for being a real pain in the side of whoever they were fighting.
As the calendar turned to 1752, the bad news continued - the Talented were still unwilling to consider peace. And to add injury to insult, they'd also crafted a new town in our former territory.
This was not going to be a walk in the park.
More planes than the previous turn attacked in the south as well. There was nothing that could be done to stop them.
But on the main front, there was reason for optimism - could it be a retreat?
Well, not a total one - our Spearman was attacked.
And won!
But sure enough, the Talented were retreating units - and lots of them. Perhaps to counter the scientists; perhaps to advance on The Fens since their Cavalry attack had failed, but we were glad to see the retreat.
In the end, only four regiments advanced south - a curious number.
Thankfully, this was also a number that we were confident our cannonry could deal with thoroughly. And, aside from one lone Talented Infantry down south and one Cavalry up north, this was curiously the extent of their moves against us this turn.
And could peace be in the air? Apparently the Commercial thought so; this either meant we were out an ally, or we would soon be at peace as well.
War was in the air, too - but not against us, at least.
And so we came to 1750, the Year of the Potential Peace. But... it was not to be.
The Talented hated us, and wanted us to know it!
And thus, we had a problem. There was no way of knowing when, or if, the Talented would accept peace. Perhaps in one turn. Perhaps in a century. Perhaps only after our complete and utter annihilation. Either way, we needed a plan. The main plans proposed were:
1. Invade the Militarists of Frisky as easy, off-shore targets.
2. Invade the faraway continent as a more safe harbor, though a tougher initial target.
3. Batten down the hatches and try to ride out the storm.
For now, (3) was chosen in the hopes that peace would come quickly. Talented domination of the seas also meant that the other options were, to put it lightly, risky.
The first order of business was taking out the Talented units closest to us. A zillion cannons combined to redline the forces nearest River's Source, allowing Cavalry to take them out.
Next, we destroyed the Cavalry that had invaded from the north.
And then a Crusader within sight.
This revealed no units besides the regular defenders near Virtuoso 3. Had the Talented been willing to make peace, we would have sacked it this turn, but as they were not, we elected to keep our Cavalry intact for later.
A couple final adjustments were made, with the fort line extended, and science increased to 60% - if we were going to remain at war, we'd need better production and troops. And then the Enter Key of Fate was pressed...
1751 began with some moderately bad news - not only did the Talented hate us, but they wanted others to hate us as well.
"Moderately" because the Seafaring were very weak... but our border with them was still highly vulnerable.
We did catch a break with the Talented deciding that Urban shipping was a higher bombing priority than our units, at least.
And the mysterious retreat, surprisingly, continued. This was either good news, or it meant The Fens was going to be totally doomed in a few turns.
The Sailor invasion, meanwhile, was bad news.
With that quick of a gain, I suppose the Talented must not have had to try very hard to convince them to join the war.
The Sailors also defended Tiller from the Commercial successfully.
As always, they had a knack for being a real pain in the side of whoever they were fighting.
As the calendar turned to 1752, the bad news continued - the Talented were still unwilling to consider peace. And to add injury to insult, they'd also crafted a new town in our former territory.
This was not going to be a walk in the park.
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