AU 502 DAR6: Endgame

[ducki]

This is the last DAR thread for AU502: Celtic Power. Use this space to describe the last portion of your game, from Flight onward.

Did you win? Did you win the way you meant to?

[Aeson]

No, I'm not skipping ahead here...

I came, I saw, I built 5 Warriors, had Barbarians plunder the Oasis, and the Sumerians saw just how easy it could be. I held them off, losing 4 of my 5 cities, but I held them off. First went my Silks, then the Incense. A Cow town by the lake, and finally my Iron town.

The Iroquois joined my side (probably just to capture the cities I was losing). Not officially of course, they just inundated my lands with their Warriors, Archers, Spears, and MW's. Enkidu's ruled the day though, pillaging everything I had while beating back the Iroquois horde. And just before re-establishing communications between our civilizations, Sumeria signed the Germans up against me.

My 19g could buy off the Sumerians, but Bismark is all business. The great Celtic civilization spanned the ages... 1h 17 minutes and 33 seconds.

I would now like to request the Chieftain version please.

[vmxa1]

LoL, what's that song by Queen. Another one bites the dust. Ole El Sid was not on good behavior or was it his younger brother (deity)?

[Makahlua]

Emperor - stock C3C

The Race for Space

When last we spoke, the Celts had just enterd the modern era not very far behind the Inca and French, and the advent of Flight had inspired Bodiacea with a dream. She looked up into the starry sky at night towards a close neighboring star called Alpha Centauri and wondered if her advisors were correct and a Paradise awaited those intepid enough to venture there. But the inspiration was enough, and she directed the focus of her people towards the building and construction of a ship to take them there.

But she was not alone in this dream because even as the Celt workers and scientists worked overtime on the logistics and science, the French and Inca were beginning similar programs of their own.... Bodiacea concentrated her people on two main things: producing goods that could be sold for money to fund their research, and continued development of the younger additions to the empire. A brief timeline of 'Project X' follows :

1788 Celt scientists finsh a prototype 'computer'. After discussion, the plans are sold to the Inca for training in Amphibious Warfare and a goodly sum of gold (397 gpt, 1730 g)

1800 The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence is built in Berlin; the PM wanted to make sure their target planet was clear, but also search for neighbours. Because if they were alone out there, it seemed like an awful waste of space.... A virtual cookie for the first person to recognize that quote... ^^

1804 Celt scientists figure out how to Minaiturize things and still keep them funtional, reducing the planned ship size greatly. Computer plans sold to the French for expertise in Rocketry and some cash (223g and 11 gpt), thus reducing the ship size further. At least the former Queen wouldn't have to sell the old palace now!

1816 Celt scientists discover Ecology, reducuing the large amount of pollution the cities had started to produce. After all, most of the Celt nation would still be living here after the ship left! This expertise is traded to the Incans and French for decent sums of gold (Inca - 354gpt, 1360g; Fr - 72gpt, 190g) - and to help keep our home Green (my fingers are getting tired of Shift-C'ing for most of the turn..)

1826 The Inca also discover Minaturization and start their own 'Internet' project but are doomed to failure by the Celt's network coming online in 1826, and helping our researchers and engineers co-ordinate the Project

1830 On April 12, Celt scientists testing Space Flight launch their first manned capsule into orbit! Plans are started in Berlin for a manned flight to the moon. Tips on Miniaturization traded to France for knowledge of Fission, we contract some of our experts in space flight to the Inca for a steep fee(517gpt and 1030g) French geologists help us find the 2 deposits of Uranium in our lands - one is right under the old Sumerian capitol of Lagash! We decide to mine a site on the former Iroquois island instead. And in a shocking move of aggression the Incans and French sign an alliance against backwards Byazntium

1832 A scary moment for all the world when Incan scientists detonate the first atomic bomb at an undisclosed site near Tiawanaku

1840 The French capital of Paris becomes host to the Untied Nations, a forum for nations to air their greivances against each other in a 'neutral' enviroment. Back in Celtia, our scientists discover how to make much stronger Synthetic Fibers to be used for PX. We also contract some of our experts in space flight for a modest fee to France(38gpt and 30g)

1842 On the 21st of July, Celt astronauts are the first to set foot on the Moon A wave of enthusiasm for the last frontier sweeps the nation and in a stirring address welcoming the heroes home, Bodiacea makes public her dream to take the Celts to another world! The next day lines are out the door at all the contractors as the Celtic folk rush to join the Project ^^ (SS engine, exterior, cockpit, storage and docking started)

1848 Docking, Engine and Storage finished and delivered to the launch site

1850 Celt scientists complete their study of human Genetics; our spies report the Inca finish their docking module. We start a project to cure cancer, as well as a study on longevity; and after many years of trying, we -finally- get a spy in Paris! The farce of the UN failed to protect the Byzantines and their last city falls to the Franco-Inca alliance

1854 Cockpit module finished and deliverd to the launch site

1856 The French their socking module; Inca complete storage and cockpit modules. I'm worried that the Incan forces may have turned their attention our way; a small force has landed in our territory near their oil colony.....I smell a Incan sneak atack brewing.... We contract Genetic expertise to the French for reasonable terms(19gpt and 1150 g)

1858 Our fears are vindicated - the Inca sneak attack and storm Rutupiae before airlifted Mech. Infantry can reinforce. We gift the technology of Genetics to the French in exchange for their support against the Incan aggression Our scientists finally make a working Superconductor, allowing us to start two new modules even in the face of an economy shifted to war production. (but not mobilized, because this looks like a small scrap.) Also this year, before the war, B signed the Modern Emanicipation Act, liberating the hardworking, and so vital to the Celts' growth former slave workers, helping them to find homes and jobs in the booming Celtic economy (they had been considered citizens since the end of the last Iroquis war; no longer 'our slaves' but 'our workers')

1860 French complete their cockpit module. The cowardly Inca hunker down in Rutupiae fearing to brave the stalwart defense of the airlifted Celt armies

1862 The Inca complete their engine module; our contractors deliver the casing and the ship is starting to take form. Joan calls for a UN vote to elect a Secretary-General figurehead, but all nations vtoe for themselves, shockingly

1864 Fuel Cells completed and delivered by our contractors.

1866 A new General makes his legacy defending Kawauka againt the second Incan landing party - later on the year Rutupiae is liberated, and we take the oil colony of Tamuin for reparations. GL used to hurry an offshore platform in Rutupiae. Oh -now- I see what was going on there! Rubber. I've been trading it to France for lux for a while, but witholding it from Inca, and with them both having Synth. Fiber, Paca wanted it to build Modern Armour! Which explains all the TOW infantry

1868 French add storage module; Inca add fuel cells

1870 Life support installed on our ship.

1872 Celts figure out how to keep satellites in a permanent orbit

1874 Celts across the land celebrate as a Cure for Cancer is finally found!

1876 French finish their engine; Celts celebrate again as the Longevity project discovers a set of therapies to help people live longer

1880 We complete additional thrusters to speed the ship

1884 The second UN election is called; we and the Inca abstain; Joan votes for herself

1900 French finally decide on a final exterior for their ship, we sign peace with the Inca after successfully defending ourselves against their pitful naval logisitics

1902 Relaxation lounge for the crew is done; it's gonna bea long trip after all

1904 French add fuel cells to their ship

1906 Celt scientists practicalize Robotics for widespread use

1908 French add life support to their ship

1910 Inca add casing and thrusters plus life support in early 1912, but their efforts are in vain because........

on June 21st, 70 years to the day after the Celts first walked the Moon, the interstellar colony ship 'Faith, Hope and Glory' is launched from the space complex at Berlin!

(pics coming shortly )

[Makahlua]

[IthacaMike]

During my last war with France I managed to get the three remaining AI Civs into a knot. The Aztecs were at war with the Incas and they were both in totaltarian forms of government. I figure that the Aztecs were bigger so they would have eventually won but the war seemed pretty static.

The Byzantines were confined to a small island and lacked Coal and Rubber so they were no longer a threat.

I did the Computer - Miniaturization two step to get the Internet for the quick Research Labs. Entremont built SETI, every one else sticks to wealth except for the Internet pre-build.

Next Fission - Nuclear Power to get the UN and the productivity boost from Nuke Plants.

Then Rocketry - Space Flight - Satellites to get started on SS construction and for ICBMs but I never needed them.

Laser - Robotics to get the Manufacturing Plants up.

Ecology - SYnthetic Fibers to get started on the expensive bits.

And finish off with Superconductor.

Most of my core cities were producing wealth. I was running 70% Science and 20% Luxury.

Launched in 1957, 95 years after Flight.

The final rap-up:

65% of the map (Aztecs had 15%)
79% of the population (Aztecs had 10%)

97,122 total culture (43,688 Byzantium)
I was racking up ~500 points a turn so a cultural victory was 7 turns away.

Score: 3,473

[nbarclay]

With the secrets of Flight uncovered, Celtic artillery, bombers, and destroyers devastated the obsolete ships of the Byzantine navy. The few troops the Byzantines managed to land before defenses became too thick for further landings to be possible were dealt with easily, serving as no more than a nuisance. By 1335, the once-mighty Byzantine navy had been reduced to three frigates and a galleon, and bomber pilots slept at night with sweet dreams of what would happen if those ships dared to approach Celtic territory. In the meantime, the Aztecs went back to war with the Incas. Maybe the Incas would keep getting rubber from me after all. Then again, maybe not. If the Aztecs could take some Inca territory and then I’d come in and “rescue” some of the conquered cities…

In 1345, the first of my transports finally made it around the continent to land a 4x tank army and a veteran infantry outside Talbot. The Byzantines had finally learned what to do with coal, but if the Celts had anything to say about it – and we did – they would never get the chance to put their theory into practice. Talbot fell a turn later, and the former Inca city of Juli a turn after that.

The Celts’ luxury deals came up for renewal again in 1360, and we gave up our secrets of Mass Production. That reduced our tech lead to three techs and most of a fourth, less any work the AIs might have put into Flight. I ended up selling France more rubber after all the turn after that when a few more deals came up for renewal, because I was researching at a serious deficit (over 200 gold per turn for turns I was researching at 100%) and didn’t want to eat into my gold reserve.

The Internet went into operation in the year 1375, bringing with it a dramatic increase in Celtic science. Rocketry could be researched on a four-turn pace even though the first of the four turns had been undertaken before the Internet was ready. At that point, things were looking good for a four-turn tech pace for the rest of the game if I could afford to keep the science slider high enough.

Two 4x tank armies and two MechInfs landed at the western end of the Byzantine homeland in 1380. At long last, the invasion of the Byzantine homeland was underway. Transport capacity in the area was still a problem, but with tanks and MechInfs against an enemy that’s most advanced units were riflemen and a single cavalry (according to our spy in Constantinople), huge numbers of troops would not be truly necessary. And once my coastal cities were finished building offshore platforms to boost their production, I would be in a stronger position to increase my transport capacity. With my plans to use Inca territory as a staging area to invade the Aztecs later on, I decided to sell the Incas coal so they could perhaps start building a rail network I could use to move troops to the Aztec front lines. (That turned out not to work – the Incas were too busy with their war to build railroads – but it was worth a try.)

The war with the Byzantines dragged on, hampered initially by not having any workers to build railroads to help the troops advance and by the fact that the numerous Celtic armies (some from leaders and some from the Military Academy) were being reserved for Modern Armor once they would become available. Constantinople fell in 1415, by which time only nine turns were left before the optimal time for the war against the Aztecs to begin. (That was when the trade deals were scheduled to expire.) The original, obsolete Celtic army was dispatched to disband to build an airport on the Byzantine continent, along with some miscellaneous conscript and obsolete units that could be disbanded for any additional shields needed. On the mainland, cities without hospitals started shifting from building troops to building airports, while metropolises started work on mass transit systems in an attempt to bring the plague of pollution under control. After an extended period of being considered average militarily compared with France, the Celts were finally considered strong.

In 1430 AD, the Celts unlocked the secrets of Synthetic Fibers and spent a large portion of their gold reserve upgrading two dozen tanks to modern armor. Those would most likely be the only tanks ever upgraded, partly because the cost of upgrades was so prohibitively expensive and partly because communists aren’t nearly as afraid of losing outdated military units in combat as their democratic counterparts would be. It was starting to look like at some point, the Celts would almost certainly have to build Wealth to maintain their research pace, and without Leo’s, building MAs made more sense than spending gold on a maximum number of upgrades only to have to build Wealth to make up the lost gold. Some upgrades could be justified to help get the process of pre-positioning troops for an attack on the Aztecs started. But with a total of almost ninety tanks before the upgrade process began, and not having Leo’s, the entire Celtic treasury could not have paid for all the upgrades. (After the upgrades we did do, we had 1960 gold with a deficit of 348 gold per turn.) The countdown had reached six turns until optimal timing for an assault on the Aztecs.

The Byzantines were down to three cities at that point, one of them being the one-tile island of Sardica. Under the standard rules, I would have had an interesting choice: I could have researched Amphibious Warfare, or left the Byzantines with just the one city, or left the Byzantines with another city for the duration of a peace treaty and (presumably) gotten Sardica in peace negotiations. But because I’m playing the AU Mod, and because we gave Special Forces an amphibious assault capability, all I had to do was start building Special Forces to take the island. This is exactly the sort of thing I was afraid of when we gave Special Forces an amphibious assault capability: what would normally have been an interesting strategic choice became a no-brainer. The next turn, the Byzantines were down to their single one-tile island, an island with oil that they had no idea how to use. The Special Forces completed the conquest of the Byzantines in the year 1445, just after the French joined the Aztecs in an alliance against the Incas.

[nbarclay]

In 1460, the main luxury trades with the French and Aztecs expired. Those two nations had both recently entered the modern era, while the Celts were two turns away from Nuclear Power, our seventh modern tech. We sold Ecology to the French to renew our luxury deal, and went ahead and sold it to the Aztecs as well since they had a bit over a thousand gold we could make good use of. Then we launched an attack on the Aztecs. Modern Armor armies with cavalry army and MechInf support captured two cities in the Aztec core. Other Modern Armor took two cities on islands that we and the Aztecs shared, and additional tanks, MechInfs, and Modern Armor landed on the small plains island west of our homeland. A MechInf and five elite tanks landed outside an Aztec city on the northern tip of the Aztec/Inca continent, and the Celtic destroyer flotella sank a number of Aztec ships (including their only cruiser). One of the island cities contained the Aztecs’ only oil supply, so unless something would go horribly wrong, the Aztecs were doomed to fight the rest of the war with neither oil nor rubber.

[nbarclay]

In the Aztecs’ turn, they made an enormous mistake: they captured the Inca city of Cuzco. Cuzco was the home of the Pyramids and Leonardo’s Workshop, which, at first glance, would seem to have made the city a good target. But it was also right next to one of the Aztec cities I’d just taken, so in my turn, I took it away from them. With my gold reserves replenished from the sale of Ecology and the cost of upgrades reduced to a more reasonable level, I upgraded over thirty additional tanks to modern armor. I also captured the plains island and the isolated northern city.

The attack continued, with the Celts disbanding a cavalry army to speed production of an airport to bring in additional forces. Modern Armor, both in armies and functioning independently, flooded the continent, and in the year 1485, the Aztecs were no more. I controlled sixty-five percent of the world’s area and eighty-two percent of its population, so all I had to do was wait for some borders to expand to reach the domination threshold.

[nbarclay]

Once the war with the Aztecs was essentially over, we started selling the Incas rubber again (not that they could afford to pay anything of consequence) to help them fend off the French. France had already captured three Inca cities and razed another, and while we had no interest in going to war with France to stop them (especially with deals for three luxuries at stake), anything we could do peacefully to undermine their war effort seemed worthwhile.

In 1495, the French and Incas made peace, with the Incas having three cities left on their home continent and a two-tile island. I used a “spare” settler I’d built long before to build a city where the French had razed an Inca city. In 1500, I used my other spare settler to build a city near the southwest of the former Aztec/Inca continent. That took me up to 66% of the world’s area and 83% of its population, which, coupled with at least two temples scheduled for border expansions, put me on the edge of victory. I also transitioned numerous cities from building military units to building Wealth so a four-turn research pace wouldn’t bankrupt me. (Robotics is not exactly the cheapest tech on the tree, but at least I’d grown enough and developed enough that I could research it in four turns at 90% instead of having to go all the way to 100%.)

The Celts achieved our dream of world domination in the year 1505. We were thirteen turns away from having all the techs needed for the space race (and proper build and prebuild scheduling could have had all the parts ready). Or we could almost certainly have won the U.N. vote when the next election came around since there were only three civs left and my two rivals had been fighting recently. All in all, a successful game considering how easily I could have been destroyed very early if the Iroquois had targeted me instead of the Sumerians.

(By the way, no, I didn't spend 135 hours playing the game. But as long as the computer stays on and C3C is running in the background, its game time clock keeps ticking.)

[ZargonX]

I know I haven't posted my actual AARs up to this point, but I'm going away on vacation, and I just finished this the other night and I'm excited to share my victory This was my first win at Emperor level, and my first domination win in a good long while (I'm a builder, what can I say )

[ZargonX]

And here is the main bulk of the Celtic military at the end of the game...

[ZargonX]

And, finally, our score and power comparison. I'll share the exiciting tale of how we got to this point when I return next week (and if there are any AU panel votes in the meantime... well.. just put me down as a yes )

[jshelr]

Not much to add. We selected SS win a long time ago. Most of our core cities have been producing wealth for ages. (Actually, you should probably produce something like coal plants and sell them over and over.)

The French are researching motorized transport, I think. We have all the first row modern era techs and did miniturization in order to do the internet, saving a couple of tanks per city that were used in the long-lasting democratic war against everybody. Thank God for Universal Sufferage.

We have only strayed from the home land mass only to capture one city on the island in the near west (oil) and to capture diamonds in France.

To make matters worse, a SGL popped on ecology and we now can do 4-turn techs with a gold surplus.

So, we will putter along to the end. I still think facism and communism kill the AI's competitiveness completely but the changes to the mod are definitely a step in the right direction.

Had fun with the game and Dars as usual. Thanks Ducki.

[Chemical Ollie]

The easiest and fastest win I can recall, and definitely my smoothest AU game. I had monopoly on rubber, so I guess no one dared to attack me in the late game. Could had been fun to attack guerillas with ICBMs, modern armour, stealth bombers and special forces, though.

Tested to make a special forces army, but it could not be paradropped.

Researched at 4 turns per tech after building Internet. The other civs didn't even enter the space race.

Launched in 1876.

[Chemical Ollie]

I might wan't to replay this game on a higher level. It only took me 2 days on monarch. I've never tried demi-god (might take only 20 minutes ).

[Andydog]

Where we last left off I had just relocated the palace and was spending all money and effort getting the new core humming. I’ve decided to go for Science Victory, so focusing everything on research and money.

1435 – complete Adam Smiths. I’m purposely avoiding building navy. At this point I’m taking the quickest route to techs, which means I don’t want to waste production on ships, and gold on upkeep, keeping that for rush buying. If anyone declares war, I’ll deal with them as and when.
1440 – SGL!! That would be the 3rd one folks I’ll save that for the Theory of Ev.
1500 – Byzantine declare war on me??? They land some swords and med inf. I wipe them out straight away with my armies. Pretty much all my cities are in WLKD at this point because of the reverse WW effect, also I’m trading France for the remaining luxs, and have all the happiness improvements built in all cities + wonders except for Bach’s.
1550 – offer peace and they take it.
1585 – Military Academy complete.
1610 – Universal Suffrage complete – the AI’s don’t like me much except for France. The world looks jumpy and I can see unpredictable wars ahead, therefore need to look after that WW.
1630 – Hoover Dam complete, and Battlefield Medicine, but missed out on Longevity to France.
1670 – Wall St completed. Science at 70% to achieve techs every 4 turns, and still raking in 214gpt.
1700 - Now Inca declares war on me. Switch coast cities to producing battleships as have bugger all troops except for armies and don’t want their ships bombarding my coast and bothering my production.
1774 - Offered them peace and they take it. They were sending in Frigates guarding Galleys loaded with med inf and cavalry – which I just picked off with my armies, and then sank their boats with cruisers. Made another two armies and loaded them with tanks just to make sure of things. Haven’t bothered building airports and bombers to save money.
1780 - Completed the Internet
1794 - SETI Complete in FP city – that’s the three big science wonders in the single city - science frothing at 257.
1802 friggin Byzantine declares war again! They sneak land more cavalry. I wipe them out again. I’m tempted to raze their entire civ.
1826 friggin France declared war, completely out of the blue, despite being gracious toward me. This is a royal pain in arse because they were trading me 4 luxs. Lost a few WLKDs as a result. They sneak land a stack of 20 inf, cavs and muskets, but I had a big stock of cruise missiles saved, so blasted the stack with those and my armies did the rest.
1840 my cruise missiles sink dozens of their ships and transports. I offer peace they accept. Not far off the spaceship.
1870 Science Victory. The magnificent Celts had: half the worlds pop with 36% world area, 76000 culture, 894gpt with techs every 4. Virtually all cities had all worth while improvements built and were producing wealth. Managed to score 5 MGLs, and 3 SGLs.

I’ve provided a few Post Game Comments . Good Game, enjoyed this one, thanks Ducki and the rest of the Apoly Uni lads.

A few closing screenys:

[Andydog]

Final score 4039

[Andydog]

and finally

[Catt]

DAR 6a – Emperor – Stock Rules

As above, Brennus wanted to click through to a win. When the UN was built, Brennus declined to call a vote – by now, with a bit of grog in him, a leisurely race to Alpha Centauri seemed enjoyable and he wanted to see how far back the other civs remained. The French, the leading competitor by a smidgen, had not yet discovered Industrialization. Seti was completed in Niagara Falls, the Internet in another city, adding maintenance-free research labs to the Celtic cities.

Yet again the French declared war! And they soon dragged in the Aztecs. Brennus had had enough. Late at night, with much grog in his belly, he decided to make a surgical strike that would teach the French a lesson they’d not forget. Oh well, at least he’d also control Sistine Chapel, making all the wonders of the world his except the Colossus (Byzantines) and the Great Lighthouse (Aztecs). Rheims, home of the Sistine, was just in range of Celtic bombers. It was pounded down to 1 citizen as invasion forces assembled. The Aztecs were removed from the western islands. Brennus planned to make two landings in France – one outside Rheims and one outside a city just SW of Rheims that controlled a supply of furs. Each invasion force consisted of a mech infantry army, a tank army, and numerous additional tanks and mech infantries. Both Rheims and the SW city fell the next turn with little casualties – France was using riflemen as defense. But then Brennus was surprised. Under an onslaught of more than 100 units, perhaps 20 cavalry and the rest rifles, musketeers, medieval infantry and even longbowman, Rheims was retaken! A 4x mech infantry army, a wounded 4x tank army, and numerous individual units perished. Reinforcements were slow in coming to occupied France as the homeland was busy completing mass transit centers. The next turn upwards of 100 rifles / muskets / medieval infantry assaulted the French stronghold (now I fully understood why French research was so slow). They did some damage, but the Celtic forces easily held this time. It became a bit of a turkey shoot – healthy tanks destroyed French forces then healed while French forces attacked. Virtually every unit in France was elite, and the leaders came frequently. One MGL rushed a temple; another a barracks. But the onslaught threw Brennus’ plans awry – war weariness in the Celtic Republic became unbearable, and Brennus decided to revolt into communist one-party rule. Oooh, the French would pay for dragging out the end game. After the switch to Communism, research slowed to a 6 or 7 turn pace, but production skyrocketed – the island cities and fringe cities built courthouses, markets, libraries, universities, etc; many fringe cities became fully-functioning metropolises, and the research again dropped to the 4 or 5 turn pace.

Below is a screen shot of the occupied French SW city packed with armies. This is shortly after Rheims fell and after the generation of 4 or 5 additional MGLs in France. Reinforcements arrived and the destruction of France commenced as the supply of French forces dwindled.

Catt

[Catt]

DAR 6b – Emperor – Stock Rules

Soon enough the French cities fell one by one. France was eliminated in short order, French citizenry were sacrificed to build temples and cathedrals, and with border expansions the Celts controlled approximately 70% of the population but only 65% of the world’s land Veterans of the French war bundled aboard transports for a short sail north to Byzantine (who had declared war during the French campaign). With the prompt fall of two Byzantine cities, Brennus had achieved his world domination – a culture victory was a half-dozen turns away, but Brennus was racing to achieve domination first since he had, against all his wishes, been forced to convert to communism and go on the war path again.

The competing civilizations’ economies had imploded at the end of the Middle Ages. France never fielded an infantry, and neither the Aztecs nor the Incas had discovered Replaceable Parts; the Byzantines were still in the Middle Ages. Sad.

Catt

[Aqualung71]

AU502 – DAR6 Endgame, part 1

Demigod level, AU Mod

1550AD: University rushed in Brothers and Sisters, hoping to get our Oil back.

1560AD: Colosseum rushed in Brothers and Sisters. Spy planted in Tenochitlan. Now ready to sabotage their production. Oops, sabotage will cost 13,000g. Brennus decides that he has other monetary priorities…..which is a diplomatic way of saying he’s got a snowball’s chance in hell of raising that kind of money before the Aztecs finish the UN!

Still can’t get that pesky Oil back within our borders. Perhaps we will need to go to war for it after all – though more of a convenient excuse than a resource-shortage driven war! Not that any excuse is really needed for a tattoo-faced Celt to “send the Tanks in”, but we do have an unruly citizenry to control who are prone to mounting violent revolutions involving the lynching of government leaders because of some wussy doctrines about freedom of speech and democracy.

1570AD: Aztecs build UN. Let’s hope they don’t call an election or we could be toast!

1575AD: Researched Amphibious War. Going to save up cash for a couple of turns then try to trade my way into the Modern age. With no achievable wonders left for the time being, Palace pre-build in Bat Out of Hell switched to Airport for the loss of 350 shields. Ouch! Realistically, a UN pre-build at that stage was just wishful thinking. But we won’t win without a little optimism, right lads?

1585AD: Sold AW to Aztecs for Atomic Theory + 1500g. Sold AW to the French for Electronics and 830g from us. And finally we enter the Modern age, to find that Aztecs have all 4 starting Modern age techs, Sumeria has 3 and France only 1. Sold AW and AT to Theodora for Fascism. Sold AW to Gilgamesh for the vital Oil supply, and gave him 20gpt as well. Now we need to build-up our forces for 20 turns while the trade deal runs its course….although given that our reputation is already crap because Bismarck decided to die on us (and cut our trade route with his last dying breath, as his last two-fingered salute to the living), it doesn’t really matter….so go figure!

We choose to research Advanced Flight since no-one has that. No-one has researched Free Artistry either, but its value may be too small to elicit any techs in trade. Still, being the first one to get it is important (SGL?….ha-ha, as if!), and we can probably research it at 4-turn pace and still produce cash. We may employ this strategy later.

So, the plan from here: put all core cities on Tank production and invade Sumeria. We have 6 empty armies waiting for tanks. Stupid Gilgamesh doesn’t understand that trading Oil to us may bring down his empire. Or maybe stupid Brennus doesn’t understand that Sumeria is too strong even for Tank Armies!

1605AD: Theodora demands Electronics. She can go jump! And she does, crawling back to her island. Brennus has no further use for Theodora. Besides, she’s getting a bit past it! On the other hand, Queen Boadicea is as vibrant and dangerous as ever! Brennus is seriously considering putting her at the head of his Tank Armies. Yes that’s right, standing right in front of them as they go into battle, actually!

1615AD: Researched Advanced Flight. Slider set to zero to get some gold for trade backup.

1635AD: Having amassed 2800g, Brennus invites all the world’s leaders to his capital Aqualung for another round of trade talks. Resisting the temptation to have them all summarily executed by his Royal Guard of Gallic Swordsmen, he proceeds to trade AF + 2775 to Theodora for Fission (with only just enough cash) and AF + Fission to France for Computers + 17g – we didn’t have enough cash for Rocketry as well and should have waited a few more turns since it was unlikely anyone was researching AF. Also traded AF to Aztecs for 1648g + 46gpt + Uranium (we have none), then AF to Sumeria for 1784g + 34gpt + map. We then sold Computers back to Theodora for all our money back on the Fission deal. So we picked up 2 Modern age techs plus 3600g + 80gpt for an optional Industrial age tech. Pretty shrewd trading from the wily old Irish lad! But we’re still miles behind, so let’s not get too cocky!

Now researching Miniturisation in 10 to go for the Internet. Palace pre-build in place in our highest production city.

1685AD: France declared on Sumeria and stole our thunder. Oh well, at least we’ll have a ready-made alliance partner. Miniaturization researched and sold to France for Rocketry, 350g, 9gpt and a luxury. Unfortunately Aztecs and Sumeria have just researched it. Internet in 2.

1690AD All deals with Sumeria expired, including our Oil. Gilgamesh raises his eyebrows when Brennus declines to renew the trade deal, making Gilgamesh annoyed. He will soon find out what we’re up to!

1695AD: The Internet built for the Celts’ first wonder of the whole game!!!! Yippee! At least it’s a useful one to have, at this stage of our game.

1700AD: Brennus politely asks Gilgamesh’s trespassing worker to leave Celtic territory. “Surely our good friend Gilgamesh will understand and be sympathetic with the concept of territorial integrity.” Brennus explains to his adjutant. “I mean, he’s asked us to leave his lands many times before, so being the honourable statesman that he is, surely he will accept our gentle rebuff in the good spirit with which it is intended and promptly order the offending personnel home for a good flogging.”

And he does. Bugger! So Brennus declares war anyway. “Well, I mean, the damn impudence of the man. He left a trail of candy wrappers all the way back to Sumeria. I must declare war out of principle, or I will lose my face!”, Brennus explains unconvincingly to his adjutant. MA signed with France.

The Celtic Air Force begins its bombing campaign of the Lagash surrounds, destroying Radar Towers. Then the bombing of Lagash proper begins….and promptly stops as 60% of our Bombers are shot down by Jet Fighters and SAM Batteries. Brennus brings up the Artillery, which though less effective, are in substantial numbers and are able to knock hit points off the defending MI on a “hit and miss” basis. Tank Armies finish the job and Lagash becomes a Celtic possession, along with its Copernicus Observatory. Obsolete units are rushed into the city to deal with its resisting pop count of 23.

Celtic Tank Armies also annihilate the defending forces in Isin, the troublesome Sumerian city in the heart of the Celtic homeland. The city is razed to the ground to provide space for the surrounding Celtic cities to expand. The news filters back to Gilgamesh, who is horrified at the audacity and the mercilessness of the Celtic Prime Minister, Lord Brennus, his childhood companion and friend.

The third initial target, Erech, displays substantial resistance, and without the support of Artillery, the Celtic ground forces make little headway against the defending MI. Instead, forces are withdrawn and all surrounding Celtic cities are reinforced with sufficient ground units to prevent catastrophic counter-attack. However, Brennus’ earlier strategy of isolating the city has paid off handsomely – totally surrounded by Celtic territory, the Sumerians cannot move reinforcements into the city and its citizens sit patiently for 5 years, resigned to their doom.

The Sumerian town of Tyendenaga on the western island is also captured by the 9 Tanks airlifted there previously, to put an end to the constant see-sawing of that vital Oil resource.

The Sumerians then land 6 strong units in the midst of the Celtic homeland from a convoy they had nearby that was probably diverted from its original destination of France. Amazingly, the French convoy of 5 Destroyers simply steamed straight by the Sumerians without engaging! So much for our alliance!

The Celts are now the second most populous nation on earth, which could be important if Montezuma decides to call a UN vote. We must have Theodora on our side, if she lasts that long.

1705AD: Brennus’ domestic advisor announces that the citizens are unhappy because of the war. “WHAT?”, roars Brennus. “We’ve only been fighting for 5 years!”. Nevertheless it is so, Lord. Even with 7 luxuries and Cathedrals in most cities, the luxury slider has been nudged to 10% for the first time in many, many years. Brennus arranges to meet with “that Marx fellow” to discuss ways to fool the people into thinking they are actually part of the machine of government – perhaps that will make them happier.

Meanwhile, Brennus orders his generals to prioritise the capture of Ur, with its Sistine Chapel.

Celtic Bombers pound the presumptuous Sumerian units into the “red”, and sundry units mop them up.

All 7 Tank Armies retire for healing, to return later for the siege of Erech and then push on towards Ur.

Just in case Gilgamesh got any bright ideas in his desperation, we enlisted the Aztecs in our alliance against him. While Montezuma wanted our Spices for the deal, he was still prepared to pay 18gpt for them. We also brought in the inconsequential Byzantines, safeguarding any possible future UN vote. Gilgamesh now has the entire world at war with him for the price of 3 phone calls.

1710AD: As a very clever diversionary tactic, Gilgamesh drops 2 Paratroopers in the middle of our lands, on plains terrain, 2 tiles from any of our cities. They die in pain. Well, it diverted Brennus’ attention for 10 seconds and gave him a laugh, at least!

Our 29 Artillery gets the Erech defenders down to 3 HP’s and some even to 2, while one of 5 bombers gets through the SAM to have an effect. The Air Force marshal wisely decides against sending more pilots to their deaths. 5 of our Tank Army commanders are sent in and with the assistance of single Tanks and eventually, MI, Erech falls to our troops. Being of 15 pop and close to our capital, the city is retained.

1715AD: Strangely, no counter-attack follows. Our Spies inform us that although Sumeria has in excess of 100 MI, she has only 12 MA and virtually no other offensive ground units. Rather poor planning on Gil’s part, reflects Brennus. “...or maybe he just trusted me!”

Attached screenie shows the theatre of war after the capture of Lagash and Erech. Most Tank Armies are recuperating in nearby Celtic cities and will soon be unleashed again to blot out the stain of Sumeria on our lands:

[Aqualung71]

AU502 – DAR6 Endgame, part 2

Demigod level, AU Mod

1720AD: Bad-Tibera captured, again by our seemingly invincible Tank Armies. Magellan’s came along with it together with Ivory, our 8th luxury, though increasing War Weariness from the exceedingly impatient Celtic peoples forces us to move the luxury slider to 20%. Our advance has now reached the Sumerian capital Ur, with Sistine, Sun Tzu, Universal Suffrage and SETI, and the obsolete Oracle. Taking (and holding) this city will be a severe blow to Sumerian culture. Capturing big metro’s is great fun – even with 11 of 15 citizens resisting, we can still build a Temple in 3 turns!

Gilgamesh agrees to see Brennus’ envoy, however he’s not willing to give us any techs. The family of our latest martyred envoy is sent the customary 3 loaves of bread.

1725AD: Bombers try to take out Sumerian Radar Towers while our Armies heal. Lost 5 of 10 Bombers to Jet Fighters, only destroying one tower, which isn’t enough. Bombers are really hamstrung in the modern age when faced with SAM’s and lots of Jet Fighters. Still, Sumeria does not have a strong military. They have only 101 ground units (mostly MI) and 81 air/naval units. By contrast, the Aztecs have a whopping 366 ground units, including 202 MI, and 108 air/naval. We have 186 ground units and 22 air/naval units.

1730AD: Gilgamesh finally wakes up and sends 3 of his few MA to try to re-take Lagash, but our numerous Infantry aided by Metropolis walls were easily able to withstand the trickle of units. Then Aztecs declared war on France.

Our 29 Artillery knock a massive 6 hit points off the defending MI in Ur, with the last 15 taking not one! Our first Tank Army takes out the remaining nearby Radar Tower, and our remaining 7 Tank Armies demolish the 10 MI defending, and Ur is taken. And along with the capture of Ur we gain the aforementioned wonders….and Sumeria loses them….and 10836 culture points in the process. Ur, formerly the world’s culture capital, becomes the cultureless slum of Celtania, rather fitting for a city named after an audible hesitation. Ur’s Universal Suffrage helps keep WW at bay for another turn, and the capture of Sistine helps most of our cities with Unhappiness – luxury slider dropped back to 10%.

15 Tanks had also approached the Sumerian city of Merad on the western isle. To capture it we only needed 4, and generated an MGL in the process that was quickly turned into another Tank Army and sent off to capture the last Sumerian settlement on the island with the remaining Tanks. However, AU1.04 gets in the way, as the only 2 roaded squares to this isolated town are occupied by French and Aztec forces, clearly with the same idea. The remaining approaches are all unroaded mountains and marshes! A Sumerian Rifleman hides in the mountains and pokes his tongue out at our Tanks. We stupidly send a Worker to road the marsh, and of course the Rifleman kills him, knowing (?) we cannot touch him in the marsh!

Having achieved his short turn objectives of clearing out Sumeria’s cities from inside our territory and capturing their 2 best wonder cities, Brennus considers accepting peace. However, Gilgamesh still won’t give techs for peace. Besides, we have signed MA’s against Sumeria with the other 3 civ’s and don’t want to break those arrangements with the UN still hanging over our heads. Brennus, clearly delusional, stands on the eastern shores of his territory and gazes towards the Aztec lands, The seeds of a plan to raid the coastal city of Teotihuacan and destroy its UN building begin to form in his pathetic mind. We shall continue to wage war with Sumeria, expecting our populace to revolt. So far we’ve captured 6 cities and destroyed one.

Something I haven’t seen before – Sumerian Bombers attacking one of our cities were intercepted and shot down, twice, by Jet Fighters from an adjacent Aztec city! What nice allies, patrolling our air space for us!

1740AD: Lagash flips, taking our 15 assorted units with it, though nothing heavier than Infantry. Not surprising, considering pop was 21 and it had decent culture, though resistance had ended. Recaptured after Sumeria drafted a couple of MI, reducing the pop to 14 which saved us the trouble! Promptly garrisoned with 13 Knights and Medieval Infantry. On the bright side, our unit support costs are now 15 lower!

We called up Joanie for a chat, and noticed she didn’t have any Rubber. How about 58gpt for our old spare tires? Yep, she agreed!

1745AD: Artillery attack and destroy 2 Radar Towers protecting Kish, while 6 healed Tank Armies move into place.

Researched Ecology, but the French won’t give us Space Flight. We shall wait.

The road now being vacated, our units close in on Hannover for the kill. Sumeria has now been removed from the western island.

1750AD: Kish captured without much resistance. A couple of Tank Armies that weren’t required also popped down to Agade and politely asked the Governor to yield. He refused, so they smashed the walls down and took the city anyway. The Governor wasn’t seen again.

After only 10 turns in our MA, France signs a peace treaty with Sumeria. What is that treacherous Joan up to?

1752AD: Our Artillerymen seem to be improving their aim, and our 29 Artillery redlined the 4 defending MI in Sumer and 4 of our Tank Armies finished them off with one shot each, leaving them each the ability to move into a city at the end of the turn. The obsolete Great Wall was captured – all that the former culturally glorious empire of Sumeria has left is the GL and the Mausoleum, both in the former Germany capital of Berlin. To add insult to injury, Berlin has now become the Sumerian capital.

Surely our people are going to revolt any turn now. We have been at war for 11 turns, and WW started on the first turn. Problem is, we don’t have Communism yet and are still trying to save enough money to buy Space Flight from the French for Ecology.

We sign another MA with France against Sumeria, hoping they don’t break it this time. It’s against Brennus’ better judgement, but we can’t afford for Sumeria in their desperation to enlist France as an ally at this stage….not least because we are curently sourcing 3 luxuries from Joan and with WW at 50% we vitally need them. Of course Joan wants Ecology for the alliance, but crafty Brennus isn’t going to be fooled, so he settles on 23gpt.

Meanwhile, after watching the Aztecs slowly move a single Special Forces personnel through our territory for about 6 turns towards Sumeria, we finally watch him attack the entire nation of Sumeria single-handedly and unfortunately, die.

1754AD Frankfurt is next, and after our previous praise our Artillerymen outdo themselves – our 29 Artillery succeed in taking a total of 4 hitpoints off the defending MI. (ok, fortified in a Metro on a hill, so I guess that’s 100% + 50% + 25% = 175% x 18 = 49.5 defence even without Civil Defence). Nevertheless, out Tank Armies through strength of numbers and vastly superior hit points again overcome the defensive strength and take the city.

The Sumerian war was quickly becoming a route, and everyone knew it except Gilgamesh who continued to refuse to give up even one tech for peace.

Joan still won’t give us Space Flight for Ecology, even with our 3600g bribe. To research it ourselves will effectively cost 7200g, while stealing a tech safely will cost only 3600g. So instead, we swap Ecology for Communism + 830g + 42gpt and decide to save cash and steal techs from here on in. But our agent fails, although escapes without detection. What a waste of money that was!

1756AD: Kish flips back to Sumeria. Size 18 and only a 5 garrison. We just don’t have enough units to garrison these largish Sumerian conquests. Luckily Brennus is very wary about resting Armies in such large captured cities.

1758AD: Kish recaptured – had already dropped from pop 18 to pop 11 in the Sumerian turn, which is strange even with 2 units drafted. Akshak also captured.

1762AD: Can’t trust anyone these days. Aztecs sign peace with Sumeria after only 14 turns in our MA. We sign another one, giving them Spices in the process. Synthetic Fibres stolen from the Sumerians, but we don’t have enough money left for a trade with France.

The last Sumerian cultural bastion, Umma, is taken, destroying 17 of Gil’s 51 Jet Fighters in the process.

1766AD: Sold Synthetic Fibres + 1290g to France for Space Flight.

Tank Armies take Berlin, the Sumerian capital, along with the obsolete Mausoleum and GL.

1772AD: Hamburg taken and the new Sumerian capital Munich also taken.

1774AD: Kua, the latest Sumerian capital, captured.

Researched Free Artistry – switched Palace pre-build to Shakespeare. Sold FA to Aztecs for 1590g and to France for 760g.

1778AD: Took the new Sumerian capital of Der.

Shakespeare built, which will have absolutely no affect on the game whatsoever. Good decision to build that one, don’t you think?

1780AD: Heidelburg and Nuremburg taken. Zabalam finally taken, ending the Sumerian presence on the Celt homeland. This coincidentally also destroyed Sumeria totally, as the Aztecs had destroyed their remaining island cities.

We steal Superconductor from the Aztecs for 4100g, then sell it to the French for Nuclear Power + 250g.

Started work on 5 SS components, plus 2 Nuclear Plants for the expensive parts. Aztecs now have 550+ military units, are ahead of us in techs, but haven’t started building the SS! The only concern now is France, with whom we do not have a spy. Everyone is annoyed with us now, since Sumeria is gone. Meanwhile, all other cities put to wealth, as we try to gather enough funds to steal the last 3 techs and go to space. Now generating 1000+ gpt.

1786AD: Stole the Laser from the Aztecs.

1792AD: Got caught trying to steal Satellites from the French, since they wouldn’t sell it to us for a reasonable price.

1798AD: Stole Robotics from the Aztecs, then sold it to France for Satellites + 1500g. Started work on the last 2 SS components. France and the Aztecs are too busy attacking each other to worry about a silly Spaceship.

1804AD: Our Spaceship is launched.

We win. We shouldn’t have!

[vmxa1]

Way to hang in Thriller.

[nbarclay]

Congratulations! And very entertaining story-telling.

[Aqualung71]

Thanks chaps. While it wasn't a pretty or even a deserving win, at least I learnt something, which I guess is the whole object of the exercise!

[jshelr]

Originally posted by Thriller
Thanks chaps. While it wasn't a pretty or even a deserving win, at least I learnt something, which I guess is the whole object of the exercise!

You are playing at a level that is challenging for you as opposed to others (me) who cruised in on a more comfortable level. Congrats are deserved.

[Madine]

I was cruising toward a space race victory, when Sumeria and France declared war on me. While I was clearly superior to either of them, I thought that having them both against me might be an even match.

Luckily though, I was able to get France to switch over to my side. Sumeria sent large stacks on infantry into my territory, but didn't do much with it. I figured I might lose a couple cities, but taht didn't even happen. Mostly they just pillaged. Eventually they attacked a city, but by then I had built up enough to hold them off.

My production advantage started toshow, and many tanks later, I had pushed Sumeria off the continent. It came at a price though, my democracy was overthrown. I switched to Facism.

The Aztecs had eliminated the Inca during the war. I finally eliminated all of the Sumerian cityies. So, only Celts, France, and Aztecs were left.

Eventually, I built the UN. The second vote, Aztecs voted with me.

[Chemical Ollie]

Playing on the dark side. Conquest, genocide and betrayal Using my knowledge of the map to my advantage. The other tribes' lack of resources is a major disadvantage to them, especially detrimental to the Sumerians, Aztects and French. I had only about 20 turns of peace since BC, slowly but steadily conquering Iroquis, Sumerians, Germans and Byzantins. Now it's 1888, and it's time to take on the French mainland.

Well, if you have no rubber, you have no contraceptives either. Then you can build millions of TOW...

[Chemical Ollie]

As expected, the frogs kicked me back in the ocean. I had 3 armies of 4 Mech Infantry defending, but they eventually died, after killing a 3rd of the French TOW hordes. They had 197 to begin with, so their victory was very costly...