Emperor of Great Britain, version 1.5 final report
March 17th, 1941:
The Great War has ended. Celebrations are particularly exuberant in Belfast and the rest of the Emerald Isle as this day of celebration takes on a new meaning: freedom from the misguided concept of "Facism". Far sooner than even our most optimistic generals anticipated the last city of the so-called Axis powers has fallen. Germany, Italy, Japan, Thailand, and Finland have all been conquered utterly, and their people are beginning to adapt to their new lives as subjects of the British Empire. Their leaders have been apprehended and are currently on trial for war crimes perpetrated during the early, dark days of the war. What more can be said? The surprise attacks on Poland and China have proven to be fatal mistakes, under estimating the will and might of the Empire. God Save the King, and Rule Britannia!
So some impressions at the end of my first game of this wonderful mod:
Britain most certainly is not unplayable. Their extensive holdings at the start of the scenario give them unmatched potential if only the first waves can be held off. In retrospect, I should have gone with a higher difficulty, but it was fun nonetheless. I don't think any of the AI's got even most of the 1940 techs, where I was starting in on the 1943 research when it didn't matter any more! The lack of the tech trading that so characterizes most Civ games really hampers the AI.
I got the feeling that there were way more units available than were really needed. I know that most of them are there for flavor and accuracy, but there really were only a small subset that I ever built:
-Matilda 2's as the best defense
-Lancaster bombers, ~100
-Spitfires, changing to P-38's and Typhoons near the end
-King George V BB's, about one every 7 weeks all game
-Lots of Infantry, mostly drafted early on
-Large amounts of heavy and mobile artillery, which dished out the vast majority of my damage, along with the bombers
-CA's and BB's from the beginning of the game stayed around and useful for coastal cities the whole time
-A few DDF's carrying infantry to help take the Japanese islands
-Lots and lots and lots of workers
Those filled basically every necessary niche, with the starting units filling some specialized roles (carriers). About the only thing missing were tanks, which I would have built when the better ones became available (early Brit tanks suck eggs), only everyone died too soon.
Re-evaluate lethal land bombardment. With the Lancasters and heavier artillery, almost every city fell by infantry walking in unopposed. That would force building more tanks and such, to take out the 1HP defenders. It's a tricky proposition, and hotly contested for as long as Civ3 has been out, but IMO lethal land bombardment should be used sparingly (not so sea bombardment... just about everyone should, and does, have that). It's as much a game balance issue as one of "realism".
Those are the main observations that I didn't make per se during the game. I wonder if the Democratic powers ultimately have an insurmountable economic advantage (from the AI's perspective, humans can always make it work) over the force labor, no trade bonus Fascists. I'm starting a German Sid game now, and I'm eager to see how the different government and more powerful units change my impressions of the game.
But for now, from all of the little Civeons in Great Britain: Great Game!
I wouldn't cry if this ability was removed though. Heck, when I first got the game, I figured my first move would be to invade Canada
it ought to be very cool.
