AU501 - DAR6: Endgame

[Rhothaerill]

Originally posted by Rhothaerill
(I for one enjoyed the resource distribution since it added a bit of flavor to what was otherwise a slightly easy win...I should have played on demigod level).

I think that came out wrong. It wasn't that it was easy per se, just that the AI is notoriously bad at archipelago maps and I had a huge tech lead early on because of that. I essentially controlled the tech pace starting in the late ancient age and continuing throughout the game. Even when I stopped quick research to build my cash flow for knights I still hopped back in and quickly became the leader again.

[Aqualung71]

Originally posted by Rhothaerill

It wasn't that it was easy per se, just that the AI is notoriously bad at archipelago maps

"Easy" in terms of lower risk of getting walloped or out-REXed early on because you're on your own island, agreed. Still enjoyable because the AI stayed competitive much longer in my game.

I was thinking I might try demi-god next time, but I'm not a good enough Emperor player yet and if the above factors aren't in play then the next game will probably be tougher.

[Aeson]

Just finished my game. Domination victory in 1670AD score of 7860. Took 47h 27m 3s overall, about half of that spent in the Modern Era.

My free tech was Computers. Someone was going to get Amphibious Warfare soon so I finally started garrisoning towns using Mech Inf. Was able to get about half garrisoned before the Russians did research it.

I had set up a nice ferry system to help clean up pollution without maintaining large numbers of Workers on each island. 6 units could move anywhere in my territory except the two small islands in the S, so I felt safe with just half my towns garrisoned. Put the Mech Inf along the outer coasts near the Russians, and started building up a navy, airforce, and offensive army.

I wanted to keep things fun, so limited the number of Bombers and Artillery to less than 20 each. I also didn't build a lot of Tanks, and no pure Tank armies. I wanted to have a real combined arms approach to the upcoming war(s).

My first target were the Mayans, as they had the top cultural cities and all the wonders basically. As luck would have it, the Mayans had a few units in my territory, and didn't like me much at all. I demanded they remove their units just as my landing force was in position, and then signed the English and Russians up against them. The French and Dutch were already at war with the Mayans.

Because the French were at war with them, the Mayan forces were up North, and my initial landing of 2 Cavalry Armies, an Infantry Army, and 9 Artillery met hardly any resistance. Landed next to the Volcano and took a city the third turn. The second wave landed, a mixed unit Tank/Mech Inf Army, the rest of my Artillery, and an Infantry/Guerrilla Army. I had built the Military Academy in my Capitol and been pumping out Armies ever since.

It took about 3-4 turns on average to take a city. Slow going even with the Armies. I was being careful not to let any cities flip with units in them, keeping about 30-40 units in a massive stack, and using cheap individual units as defenders. Every turn I set every pop point to Scientists (or Taxmen when a tech was about to complete) and rushed a Settler or Worker from each captured city, after first rushing a Library. This seemed to work really well, and I only had 2 flips the whole game.

The Russians were able to capture a Mayan city, but I took the rest. The French were much easier as they never had Rubber. My alliances were just ending, and I had purposely not made any deals with the French so I could declare war on them. Took all the French cities except the one I wanted, the one with Aluminium. I could trade with the Russians for it, but it would cost a tech. So I went to war with the Dutch next as they had captured that city and had 2 others on the French/Mayan island.

About this time the Russians decided to attack me again. They landed 4 units the whole time I was fighting them, a full 20 turns due to alliances I signed with everyone but the Mayans. Most of their units seemed headed towards the Dutch, as I had a few ships just watching their convoys go North. Luckily they had waited until after I was able to secure the Mayan source of Rubber.

The Dutch war was the most fun I've had in a while. Island hopping, ship chaining, and making good use of airpower and naval bombardment to take out all the pesky Radar Towers. I think there is a point where you could use AI Radar Towers as an exploit though, as they always will put a unit on one. Then they are sitting ducks for a combination of Naval and Air bombardment. Much easier than dealing with the units in their cities. I made a point of destroying the Radar Towers after killing the units on them because of this.

The Russians were still at war with the Dutch, and we kept fighting naval battles in Dutch territory. I had terrible luck on one turn failing to sink a couple of Russian Aircraft Carriers and then losing half my fleet to them. After that I left my transports to the North of the Dutch islands, and sailed the tatters of my fleet back home. This allowed the Russians to take the Southern Dutch island, except for one city I got from the Dutch for a peace treaty. Made peace with the Russians and kept the city.

The game was getting kinda long at this point, and so I decided not to wait the 20 turns before finishing off the Dutch. Up till then I had kept every agreement. Quickly finished off the Dutch and then sent everything I had to go hit the English. I also put together 2 Modern Armor Armies to help finish things off quickly.

I had built the UN, and would have won by vote at this point. Elizabeth had been voting for me each time, Catherine for herself, and the Dutch abstaining. With the Dutch gone, I decided not to call any more votes and go for a Domination victory.

First I scoped out all the English Carrier and Transport groups. On the first turn fighting the English I sunk 3 groups of ships and landed 8 Armies and all my Artillery (had captured quite a few by now) next to London, their Aluminium, and their Oil. 4 Aircraft Carriers full of Bombers and about 40 other ships bombarded the cities and Radar Towers, and I took 3 cities the second turn. After that it was slower going due to terrain and focusing on the Transport groups the English were sending out almost every turn. Really wish I had made a couple Marine Armies. The English had taken most of the NE Dutch island, and so I made peace for 4 of the cities there after taking about half their main island. Then broke the peace treaty and hit the Domination limit by taking 2 more of the main English cities.

I had stopped researching very fast at all (had gone for Stealth instead of 'space' techs), so the Russians were ahead of me in the Space Race, but I still had 2 techs they didn't. Had been able to stay in a Republic the whole game even with all the fighting.

[alexman]

For one hundred years after the discovery of Flight, the World entered a period of Cold War. The People’s Republic of Byzantium had entered the modern age as the technology leader over the World’s remaining Democracies, but the Mayas, English, and Dutch refused to acknowledge the superiority of the vast red empire. Instead, the democratic nations tried to spread their anti-communist propaganda, casting Theodora as an evil leader aiming for nothing else but world domination. That may have been true, but Theodora didn’t like to be hated like that. She boiled inside, but managed to control her temper. She spent her energy modernizing her empire’s infrastructure and at the same time continued building tanks and airplanes - just in case.

Finally, in 1405 AD, William of the Netherlands went too far. He had troops in her territory left over from an invasion of former Sumerian lands, and when Theodora asked them to return home, William declared war. It was a mistake that would cost the Netherlands dearly. Byzantine scientists had in the meantime reinforced their tanks with Synthetic Fibers, which made them better for breaking things. No, the Dutch military was no match for the Byzantine combined arms invasion force.

[alexman]

In just 65 years, Theodora reduced the Dutch archipelago from a rich and prosperous trading empire to just another component of the Byzantine Communist States. The Byzantine military machine, however, was far from done. In fact, it was just getting warmed up for the big showdown against hated Smoke-Jaguar, who had been the world’s largest superpower since the Ancient Age.

[alexman]

Theodora knew that she would obtain her world domination faster and easier if she went after Elizabeth next, but she wanted to play with her modern age toys by beating the biggest, meanest boy on the block.

So she used her veteran spies and her considerable accumulated gold to steal the plans for Smoke-Jaguar’s military, and then attacked him. These plans were especially valuable for locating and destroying the Mayan navy and air force before they had a chance to harass the Byzantine invasion force.

The battles that followed in the former French province of the Mayan mainland were fierce, and casualties from both sides were mounting. The Mayas eventually lost most of their navy and air force, but they still kept on fighting. When their Tanks were destroyed, they were smart enough to avoid confrontation with the Byzantine Armies. Instead, their counterattacks consisted mostly of sending swarms of TOW and Mechanized Infantry to flood and pillage the French countryside so that Theodora could not supply her recently conquered cities. The Byzantines countered by rushing harbors in the conquered cities, and using their navy to transport their army from one target to the next. Roads were not needed for the Power of Seafaring!

Finally, in 1520 AD, as Theodora’s forces approached the gates of Chichen Itza, Smoke-Jaguar took a look at the world map and realized that it was 66% covered by Byzantine Red. He saw no point in continuing to resist.

Theodora smiled in satisfaction. Her countless hours spent micromanaging workers, civil engineers, and ship chains had finally paid off. She had led her seafaring nation to world domination, and had a blast doing so.

[Dominae]

Awesome game alexman!

Equally-awesome report!

It's great to see many of you playing with Modern-era toys. Even on Deity most of these scenarios end with Tanks (and often long before that). Many of you commented that the Modern era was not really necessary, but I'm just glad the scenario was conducive to exploring it.


Dominae

[Theseus]

Great game and report, alexman. That's one heckuva Commie military machine you got goin' there!

My report's coming up shortly.

[Theseus]

As I had left off with the discovery of Flight, and Computers as a free tech, I was basically an idiot and playing out the game as a builder, rather than 1) thinking about the late game strategic resources that I would need and almost certainly NOT be available in my lands, and 2) taking advantage of a Monarchy empire built for warmongering.

Silly man.

On the other hand, and I think this is what sucked me into that path, I had one heckuva economic machine going, with very manageable corruption / waste, and as I’ve always said great warmongers have to also be great builders!

So, I was banging away at 100% research, had typically 800-1000+ gpt coming in, my treasury was well north of 10,000g, and so was building out and short rushing the fun late-game stuff like crazy…. Offshore Platforms, Mass Transit, Commercial Docks, etc., and then actually circle back for some of the not-quite-so-valuable buildings like Colosseums and what-not. For the lesser-developed cities, a quick ramp-up through the basics, but then getting them through Courthouses and Police Stations to self-sufficiency for the bigger builds, like Factories and Hydros. Everything was RRed and properly mined or irrigated by now, so I joined all of my native Workers to mostly Sumerian and Hittite cities, and had the slaves on pollution patrol. I used an SGL for the Internet, and hand-built SETI and then the CforC.

It was really a lotta fun!!

Here’s a pretty good representative screenie… Varna and Adrianapole were the only cities really fully built out, so I had them tasked to slooowly building out modern sea and land units. My military was pretty limited, with a TOW Infantry or MI in each city, sometimes one of each in key coastal cities; I had a whopping total of 2 Tanks at this point (although I did still have four Armies waiting for MA toppers).

[Theseus]

The Russians (amazing comeback) built the UN in 1630AD, but never called a vote… I wasn’t really worried about it, given the many MPPs and MAs and ongoing wars throughout the game. I was first outta the gate on building a SS, and got started on the Engine, Exterior Casing, Cockpit, and Docking Bay in the early 1600s. Looking back at saves, I still, for the LIFE OF ME, can’t imagine what I was thinking, knowing that I’d have major resource problems, and still just happily building away. I finally, FINALLY, started to wake up to the upcoming military challenge in the mid-1600s, and started loading MAs into the Armies and committing to military builds and a jump-point in Bad-Tibira at the northern tip of Sumeria. I still hadn’t decided whether to go after the Dutch or Maya.

[Warning: More stupidity in the road ahead. ]

Well, the good news about having built so much, and thus having gotten the productivity of most cities up to a reasonable level, and also of having saved up so much gold, was that I was able to whip up a meaningful military force pretty darn quickly. At the end of 1695 AD, I was posed to attack the Dutch, with two naval stacks as pictured below, splitting:
2 BB
2 Cruiser
4 Destroyers
6 Frigates
14 Transports
Two 4xMI Armies
Two MA+3x Cav Armies
Two MA+Cav+2xKnight Armies
Two MA+3xKnight Armies
10 MI
10 MA
4 MS
4 Arty

[Sidenote: As I posted at MZO last night, I absolutely LOVE how the extra movement point for Armies balances out 2- and 3-movers! ]

Typically, I prefer to mount much more massive and combined arms IC invasions, but I figured that given the strength of my Armies I could forgo such… and much like each of my previous wars in this game, I was wrong, and that meant this went slower than usual, and I had to scramble for reinforcements.

I also, absurdly, was still playing by Marquess of Queensbury diplo rules (which included not being in any current trades with the Dutch), and sillily (sp?) continuing with my builder-ish ways.

/me looks for the “I am the WARMONGER formerly known as rpodos” hat and t-shirt that have obviously been misplaced.

[Theseus]

But here was where my fundamental IDIOCY kicked in: Yes, the IC invasion was all but unstoppable, and yes, on the next turn I realized that more Colosseums, etc., was stupid, and switched most every decent city back to military units, and yes, I had completed seven SS components… but all of a friggin’ sudden, the Mayans were 5(4)/10 and the Russians were 4(4)/10, and both at tech parity or ahead of me, having researched different paths and traded!!

1700 AD sorta stopped my cold. I actually took a day or two off of playing to think about what I wanted to do.

[OK, hang on a sec, I’ve gotta digress into one of my “Civ3 meets Theseus’ RL” stories. My little pause in the end-game was, oh, about a week and half ago, call it 2/10. In RL, I advise corporations on real estate matters, and one of the initiatives I am involved in is as co-head of a team focused on European multinationals with significant North American operations. So, I’m on a conference call about this with people from all over the US, Canada, and Europe, but I’m also working on an unrelated memo, and I’ve got Civ3 stuff running in the back of my head, mostly AU 501 and GS… the discussion is about which countries to focus our resources on, and the woman charged with the Benelux countries (i.e., Belgium, Netherlands , and Luxembourg) complains that there aren’t enough companies to go after. I’m listening with half an ear, and someone says “Alright, then, let’s forget Benelux,” upon which I start with alarm, and blurt out “NO WAY! We’re going after the Dutch!!”]

Back to the game:

This whole situation s*cked, and it was my own damn fault. I decided on a four part plan:
1) Gotta go ahead and take down the Dutch, for the rubber and aluminum.
2) Need to massively and quickly build additional aggressive forces, concurrently getting my SS built.
3) Need to engage the world in MAs against the Maya (I’d take my chances on Russia).
4) Need to take down Chichen Itza.

Well, that was a whole lot to chew on, and it made for one heckuva end-game. I prolly cut it a wee bit overly close, due to my under-manned initial attack on the Dutch.

That said, I did in fact slam into the b*stards, taking down the southern Netherlands in short order, and thus securing the various resources. Back at home and in Japan, Sumeria, and Hittite-land I converted all meaningfully productive cities to military, primarily MAs but with a smattering of Destroyers, MIs and MSs in the low-shield cities.

But more importantly, by now we were all up to Smart Weapons, and the friggin’ Mayans were at 9(1)/10… I dialed back to 0% research, and between techs, resources, and gpt, enlisted the remaining world against them. On the edge of my seat… (!!!)

Next turn, they had stopped building the final SS component!!

Cutting it very close, I had left the four Armies that included Knights and one of the 4xMI Armies and just barely enough MAs, MIs, and MSs to take out the last two homeland Dutch cities, and was able to land an IC invasion force at Chichen Itza 21 in 1745 AD:
One 4xMI Army
One 4xMA Army
Three MA+3xCav Armies
6 MI
23 MA
3 MS

It cost me quite a lot… I burned my treasury down to 1000g or so in the process. Unfortunately, I could only deliver a Cruiser and a Destroyer in support in this time frame, so the boys were going in without any form of arty, air, or meaningful naval support. This was an old-fashioned, slug-it-out, brute force, low ground landing, with g*ddamn enemy radar towers all over the place, and against what was now the definitive KAI of the game.

Jesu Christo, the Mayan counter-attack was something to watch!! I actually first had gotten up to let the AI part of the turn play out, but when I came back I realized the Mayans were still going, and in fact re-loaded to watch it play out… maaaaan, Cruise Missiles galore, Bombers, Radar Arty, MAs, Tanks, MIs, Cavs, you name it, Smokie came after me HARD!!

But not enough, you big-ass earring mofo… and you gave up on your last SS component due to the world attacking you… and more importantly, mighty BYZANTINE launched for Alpha Centauri in 1750 AD!!

SS win, 1750 AD. I’d clawed my way back to top stats across the board, and scored out at 4554. Both Maya and Russia put up a damn good fight though, in various respects being right behind me, or even ahead of me. A real nail-biter. J

The space race going into 1750 AD:

[Theseus]

And beyond…

But hey, WTF, this is FUN with a capital F, U, and N!!

For the first time ever with C3, I think, I went past the win just to keep banging around with the AI civs. Felt like Civ2… you own the game, but you’re not yet done with your empire nor your military conquests.

I had actually won without completing my domination of the Dutch home continent, nor punishing the friggin’ Mayans as they deserved!!

So, a little mayhem, perhaps?? Hmm hm hm hm hm? Just in case, btw, Tac Nukes built on three of my four primary isles, and one ICBM on the way.

First, the incalcitrant Dutch… even with my Armies, they are stubborn little buggers. I mount an atttack on Utrecht (northernmost on their homeland, on an iron hill), and get my head handed to me. :grr: Retreat to heal.

Ahhh… the Maya-b*stards have taken a city on the near-west isle… that calls for, hmm, MODERN PARATROOPERS! Fast-builds in the homeland, and an Airport in Trebizond (my westernmost homeland city).

And the major attack on Maya’s turf takes place, and Chichen Itza is captured… but it’s an ugly sight.

[Theseus]

Flash forward a few years… dateline: 1766 AD:

It’s a messy world. I finally took down the Dutch homeland, and negotiated peace, catching up on a few of the non-SS techs I hadn’t bothered with. Rules of thumb: Rush Library and Temple; keep a fair number of units there until pop is <6; starve pop and build Workers till town is below 3 pop, then start building.

[Theseus]

I was almost there smacking around Maya on the western isle, but wanted some Stealth Bombers before trying to use 8+ MPs to take out Der. Lost several MPs, but with them sitting on a mountain with 11d, Maya paid a heavy price for not that much aggregate damage. The MP graphic is very cool.

[Theseus]

Production at home:

[Theseus]

I nailed the stray Mayan city on the western isle… MPs are cool, but I didn’t really think through what to do with them after!

[Theseus]

And yes, the Power of Seafaring, I’d finally consolidated much of my navy and my brute force land units in and around Maya, and was picking off the southeast cities one by one, not even bothering overland sorties, but rather taking a city, waiting to heal, offloading onto my naval stack, and razing. MWAHAHAHA!! vmxa1 is right, the group commands should be at the TOP of the right-click-menu…. I had a massive invasion going by this point, and for both the land and sea stacks clicking a gajillion times to get to the group commands was way painful. Jesu, look at Palenque… one of the juiciest AI cities I’ve ever seen! Also, btw, Maya really did get some great territory, supporting KAI-evolution theory. Oh, and also, btw, France was now gone and Egypt was on the verge of extinction.

I secured control of Palenque and Bonampak in 1780 AD, and called it a day.

Again, post-win, but I was havin’ some fun!

[Jaybe]

... vmxa1 is right, the group commands should be at the TOP of the right-click-menu ... clicking a gajillion times to get to the group commands ...

You have a scroll wheel on your mouse, don't you? You can USE it there with C3C (also with production queues).

[Theseus]

Thanks, I'll try that.

[Dominae]

Very cool game, Theseus!

You seem to have enjoyed the endgame more than the early-game in this scenario. As the scenario creator, that makes me happy.

It took a good long while to figure out what you meant by "MPs" in your last posts. Your screenshot is the first time I lay eyes on those suckers.

Your "Civ3 meets Theseus' RL" story still cracks me up! Do your coworkers think you're just weird, or have you explained your Civ3 addiction to them?




Dominae

[Mountain Sage]

Theseus,

You know what? Your're sick!

Next, play my game on the 'Emperor' thread (I will post it today), but accordingly to MY rules.

If you play it nicely, you're in for a surprise!

[Theseus]

Originally posted by Dominae
Very cool game, Theseus!

You seem to have enjoyed the endgame more than the early-game in this scenario. As the scenario creator, that makes me happy.

It took a good long while to figure out what you meant by "MPs" in your last posts. Your screenshot is the first time I lay eyes on those suckers.

Your "Civ3 meets Theseus' RL" story still cracks me up! Do your coworkers think you're just weird, or have you explained your Civ3 addiction to them?




Dominae

Happy to oblige the creator... REAL happy, this was the most fun I've had in a while. Sorry I didn't chime in more re the scenario and the nature of the resource distributions in your defense. An absolutely great job.

And I definitely did have a lot of fun with the end game, although mostly due to my own mistake in being to builder-ish at the wrong time!

Re my co-workers, there is one guy who is into games, mostly FPSs, but we've talked. After the call, he came to my desk, and sorta whispered, "Civilization, right?" BUSTED. That wasn;t nearly as bad, though, as the time I was running a WebEx and a little pop-up showed on the screen that I had a PM from Dominae!! Now, we all know that's the astral thing, but imagine what everybody who saw it was thinking!

[Theseus]

Dom - Also, you've gotta try Modern Paras at least once... very cool animation of the chutes adn landing.

MS - Sick in a GOOD way, though. Lookin' forward to your game.

[DrSpike]

Link to DAR5:

http://www.apolyton.net/forums/showt...82#post2754682

Short and sweet, though one amusing anecdote. As you can see from the screenies in DAR5 I had to research Fission. This was despite gifting Sumeria and Russia into the modern age. Thus my slowed down backup prebuild turned out to be aptly timed, since I could switch it to Seti in the intervening turns.

UN was built in 1200AD, and I didn't even have to cook the results since everyone hated Egypt, who had switched midgame out of Republic and opened up a severely large can-o-whoopass(TM).

Good game. Cheers Dominae.

[Tall Stranger]

Well, I technically won this game, but I can't say I'm particularly proud of it, overall. I'm not sure what to be more embarassed by: the length of time it took to finally complete this game or the half-*ssed way I wound up pulling out a victory.

Playing AU mod, Emp level. When I last posted (1380AD), I had managed to obtain a foothold in former Mayan territory, and had just begun a war with Cleo. My plan was to seize the Egyptian/ Russian continent mainly to get the critical rubber resource I needed.

Since the unclaimed spaces I had landed my cav strike force on were suddenly (due to culture expansion) part of Egyptian territory, I was forced to declare war on the Egyptians turn. Since I hadn't brought any defensive units, the Egyptians managed to rip into my cav stack, costing me a few and damaging several others.

1405AD: My rotten luck continues. Lose a couple more cavs to crappy RNG rolls, but finally manage to take the city of Yakutsk. As soon as the resistance ends, I rush an airport there so I can start surging in defensive forces. To make matters worse, the Dutch are starting to get frisky, patrolling my territory and looking suspicious. To try to stay on his good side, I trade him Electronics and ivory for Communism, spices, 1321 g and 88gpt.

1410AD: Holding pattern on the Egyptian front, recuperating. Dutch are acting up, so I suggest an MPP and offer him gems for 522g, 9gpt and his map.

1420AD: Still moving forces into Eyptian theater for next push. I sign an MPP with the English, hoping that will serve to dissuade the Dutch from doing anything stupid. (You can already see where this is going, can't you?) I then demand they leave; they refuse and declare. They have 2 naval battle groups, each with 2 frigates and a galleon. They are clearly trying to land on the former my home continent and the island immediately to my west, but I've surged all my workers, lingering obsolete units, etc. to serve as a seawall.

1425AD: I heavily bombard the two frigates, then manage to sink one of the galleons. The reality is I need to end the war with Egypt, but I MUST seize the town of Rostov to get the rubber. Fortunately, I've rebuilt my assault force, and take it this turn. Once the cultural border expands, I'll have rubber.

1450AD: The Dutch are finally willing to talk, but I don't dare make peace, since I still have an MPP with the English. Instead, I decide to start cranking out tanks and moving on the Dutch mainland.

1470AD: Want to keep the English friendly with me, so I trade Lizzy Radio for Fascism, 2150g and 150gpt.

1515AD: My tanks seize the city of Groningen on Netherlands coast. I'd like to take whole island, but doubt I can w/o major war weariness.

1520AD: My MPP with English expires, so I can seek peace. I decide to target the island city of Harlingen, which has Netherlands only source of oil. As I begin building this up, Stupid Cleo declares war. Fine. This time I will remove her cities on the southern end of the other big continent and get her dyes.

1525AD: I generate a MGL versus the Egyptians. Since I'm only 2 turns from my third army (being built), I choose to save the MGL so that I can rush the Pentagon in Yakutsk.

1530AD: I take Vladivostok, but my tank/ cav assault on Amsterdam fails, as I brought too few attackers. I will need to end this war soon, once Harlingen is mine, as WW is becoming a problem.

1535AD: I finish assembling the Harlingen strike force, which will set sail next turn.

1545AD: I take Yekaterinburg from Egypt and land forces near Harlingen. I just need to hold Groningen (which has been under a pretty vicious counterattack) for 1 more turn.

1550AD: FRICKIN MAYA declare war on me, moving on my sole possession on his continent, the city of Quirigua. I'll make him pay for this insult, but I need to finish the Dutch war first. I take Harlingen, ending his access to oil, then sue for peace, getting 120g and 4gpt. I also make peace with Egypt, getting a couple gold and the city of Avaris (isolated far island, next to oil reserve). I start trying to get Egypt on my good side, so I trade her ivory, gems and iron (which is useless to me now anyway) in exchange for Espionage.

1555AD: I'm still concentrating on getting defensive forces to Quirigua. I actually use two workers to build airfields in former Egyptian lands in order to more rapidly move troops out of that theater into Quirigua. On the next turn, I'll flow some MA in to go on the offensive.

1570AD: I trade Rocketry to English for Amphibious Warfare, 10g and 136gpt.

1575AD: Thanks to about 10 MA plus an MA army, I take the Mayan city of Palenque (near his wines).

1585AD: I take the city of Bonampak, but the Maya still won't give me Calakmul (their sole city on the far northern island). Not surprising, since it has aluminum.

1595AD: On a roll, I take Chichen Itza. Finally, the Maya will make peace.

1655AD (or so): I'm not happy with having only one outpost on the Dutch continent, so I declare on the Netherlands. I decide to use Marines to take out the Dutch radar towers, then use my MA to take the Hague. I really loved the way that works. It makes marines useful to prepare the battlefield.

1665AD: I manage to take Amsterdam, and would ideally like to take this whole island, as a way of keeping the Dutch cultural reach as far away as possible.

1675AD: I take Rotterdam, but WW is starting to set in.

1680AD: NOT AGAIN!! The stupid Egyptians declared. That does it, they're getting wiped out. I'm tired of Cleo. Since I retained a few MA there, I start by taking Pi-Rammses.

1685AD: Manage (again using marines to take down the towers) to take Utrecht from Netherlands. Now I just need to take Arnhem to finish off this continent and turn my attention to Egypt.

1690AD: I take Arnhem, so I make peace with Dutch and get 250g. At this point, I make a stupid assumption. I figure that all I need now for a domination victory is to take the entire Egyptian continent (the Russians had been chased off the continent by the Egyptians a while back.)

1695AD: Rolling along, happily taking Novgorod, Edfu, El-Amarna this turn.

1700AD: I get another MGL, turning it into an army of MA and take Yaroslavl.

1710AD: Good year, as St. Petersburg, Hieraconopolis and Alexandria fall. I also take Heliopolis via amphib attack.

1715AD: Continuing to roll forward, I take Memphis and Abydos. I've been rushing libraries ASAP so that I can get the cultural expansion.

1720AD: Take Asjut, Orenburg, Thebes and Elephantine. All their cities are gone, but they've not been destroyed. They must have a ship floating around somewhere with a settler.

1725AD: I sink one Egyptian fleet, but I know they have at least one more.

1740AD: AAAAARGH!! I am sooooo stupid! I never bothered to check the diplomacy screen, or I would have known that they had two cities left, on a distant island. I have no desire to redeploy all my forces to that island, so I make peace with Cleo, taking Khabarovsk and all her gold for peace. After all, I must be getting closer to a domination victory. Once all the cities on the former Egyptian continent expand, I'm sure I'll have enough.

1752AD: It is rapidly becoming clear that I won't get enough, as it looks like I control only about 58-60% of the land (I have more than enough pop). Great, that means I will have to move all my forces north and destroy the Maya.

1768AD: Moving the armies, tanks, etc. takes a long time and is a horrible bore, but I finally launch a surprise attack on Maya and take Yaxchilan, Copan and Lagartero. I get yet another MGL (must be my 5th or 6th), so I make another army to speed things up.

1772AD: I take the city of Tikal, but still haven't got enough land. Crud, now I will need to go through French territory to get at the last couple Maya cities. Not that this is a big deal, since the French are still using Riflemen, but it's just another obstacle to deal with. I delare on them and take Chatres and Tours.

1776AD: I take Orleans.

1778AD: Take Paris and Lyon, putting me at 64% of the land.

1780AD: Lovely, I attack the last Maya town, without realizing that it's pop 1. I end up destroying it accidently.

1782AD: At long last, Rheims falls, and I get enough land to win.

I apologize that I have no screenies, but was so ticked off at myself most of the time that I didn't even think of it.

There was nothing graceful or pretty about this win. I just ended up out-slogging the AI. Not my best game. In fact, it's probably the worst win I've ever had. The scenario design itself was fantastic, but I somehow managed to transform it into a mangled mess. Ah well, any landing you can walk away from...

[Aqualung71]

Originally posted by Tall Stranger
Crud, now I will need to go through French territory to get at the last couple Maya cities. Not that this is a big deal, since the French are still using Riflemen, but it's just another obstacle to deal with. I delare on them and take Chatres and Tours.

Man TS, you are one nonchalant mother****** of a warmonger!!!! Loved it!

[vmxa1]

Congrats Tall Stranger. Have you read up on the GS game lately?

[Tall Stranger]

Originally posted by vmxa1
Congrats Tall Stranger. Have you read up on the GS game lately?

Actually, I've been checking in over there pretty much every day. I've not been saying much, but that's mainly a function of a) some RL constraints preventing me from looking too closely at the save; and b) being in general agreement with most of what's being said/ decided there.

[DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN]
Beside, now that we have completed researching fission and have determined that we control the entire world's supply of uranium, it's just a matter of building enough ICBMs to bomb our opponents back to the stone age.
[/DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN]

[Aqualung71]

Originally posted by vmxa1
Congrats Tall Stranger. Have you read up on the GS game lately?

Whats GS?

[Rhothaerill]

Originally posted by Thriller


Whats GS?

Gathering Storm...one of the teams in the first Play The World Democracy Game. That's what the red and blue shield civgroup signifies on many members posts (my PTWDG is Vox Controli signified by the yellow V on red banner).