How I destroyed the mighty Chinese (war by proxy)

The diplomat · November 19, 2001, 09:18

In my game yesterday, I decided to play as the Indians to see what the War Elephant special unit was all about. My game was standard map, on 2nd difficulty level.

I had a decent size empire of about 6 or 7 cities. I was sandwiched between the Russians to the North and the Chinese to my South. The Chinese were the no. 1 superpower. Their empire was about the same size as mine, many 1 or 2 cities bigger and the same tech level. I was in no. 2 spot.

I entered the Middle Ages in about 200 AD (a record for me). Finally I could test the infamous War Elephant. So I cranked out about 7 Elephants and sent all of them against Beijing. To my horror, Beijing was heavily defended with pikemen. My assault utterly failed. Now, China was mad and counter attacked. I lost one small city that had defected to me a while back. I was able to capture 2 Chinese cities that were to the north trapped between me and the russians. I got the russians to agree to a military alliance against the chinese, and they soon poured units after units through my territory to attack the chinese. Then I sued for peace with China, and let the Russians and the Chinese duke it out. Then the Japanese signed an alliance with the Russians against the Chinese. Soon, both the Japanese and the Russians were pouring unit after unit through my territory against the Chinese. At first, it looked like China was so strong that they could resist both the Russians and the Japanese. They were after all sending fairly obsolete units against the Chinese. But the Japs and the Russians just wore the Chinese down for almost 500 years. And the inevitable happened. The Chinese lost a city to the Russians then another one, then another one. Soon, afterwards, another Chinese city fail to the Japanese then another. The Chinese empire was falling right before my eyes. It was time to move again.

By now, I had cavalry and rifleman. I mobilized a small strike force of cavalry with riflemen in support and attacked the last remaining chinese strongholds. I seized 2 chinese cities before the Japs took the last chinese city that was on another continent.

The Chinese have been completely wiped out! What was once the no. 1 superpower is no more!

And now, the situation is right where I want it. All the chinese cities that were conquered by the Russians and Japs have no culture. I have my culturally strong cities right next to them. Since the Chinese were to my south, and the Russians and Japs were far to my North, my capital is much closer than theirs. This means that all those Chinese cities that the Japs and Russians conquered will defect to me sooner or later. One Chinese city taken by the Russians defected to me 1 turn after the war was over. My culture is literally equal to all the other AI's put together. It is huge. So, I will soon have all the cities that the Russians conquered.

I essentially will use my culture to take the cities that the Russians and Japanese conquered. I essentially let them do the conquering for me. The perfect war by proxy with a twist of culture!

Culture is extremelly powerful in civ3. Don't worry when the AI expands faster than you. Often, those cities will defect to you because of your culture. Don't worry if the AI conquers a bunch of cities near your border. Again, those cities will probably defect to you if your culture is strong enough. Be patient. Use culture to turn the AI's strength into a weakness.

quinalla · November 19, 2001, 13:09

Great story! I have only played a few games so far, but it is great when you can get the AI to do the dirty work for you.

-quinalla

vmxa1 · November 19, 2001, 20:59

The same technic is used by the AI. They saw me clobbering England (I was Persian) and after 4 or 5 cities fell, two other Civs declared war on England and raced me for the last cities on the contenient. I though that was pretty sharpe move by the AI, except, they should have gone after me next, since those cities were too far to be held on their own.

G.A · November 20, 2001, 16:47

Hehe, looks like you really are a computer

AI players seem to never go to war without having allies. Usually it ends in them ganging up on the other civ. Usually it`s me, as I prefer, when someone declares a war on me, to immediately invade their territory, and so they all think that I`m agressor, and activate mutual protection pacts. Btw this is strange, cause the one who declares war shouldn`t be treated as a "victim of aggression".

D4everman · November 21, 2001, 01:10

It works both ways....I destroyed the zulus in a similar manner. By making pacts and alliances against them so they couldn't rally the masses against me. (They started the war too)

Also, when I had to fight the persians...who I assume were pissed because by the time they got to the zulu battlegrounds the war was over and i had all of the prizes) I instantly bribed/brought support from all the others. The persians could have taken several outlying cities from me, but the french had basically sent a lot of trops to the border and fought my war for me! They took a few cities, but the main thing is that while the french held the persians at bay I had the resources to smach into the Persian homeland and take the capitol and more inmportant cities!

And after the war the french were gracious....

fanatic civver · November 21, 2001, 02:38

In my game I had signed mutual defense pacts with two civs. Two other civs had also signed one with each other. Then one of those civs declared war on one of my allies and I was pulled in to a war. The chain reaction meant that everyone else was forced to go to war, so it was 3 vs 2, and 2 neutral civs. I got those 2 neutrals to join my side, so now it is 5 vs 2.

I love it how one action can trigger a huge world war

vmxa1 · November 21, 2001, 14:16

I agree if they declare war on you, they should be the aggressor even if they do not atack. I think some polish is needed in this area. If I clobber them and they ask for peace and I accept, they often sign a pact with someone I am at war with? Next turn they declare war again??? This is not how nations would act?? In fact if you lost the war and started another, it could/should lead to a revolution (unless you in IRAQ).

MarshalN · November 21, 2001, 14:31

That's how World War I got started