Deity for beginners.

[Txurce]

Background

While all of you are having fun with 1.29, I’ve had to figure out something to do, apart from playing I the CFC Mac tourneys, which are on lower levels. I decided to balance that off by trying my hand at a deity game. After one full game, two pretty quick failures, and one ongoing game, I’m ready to post my first, tentative findings, and – more importantly – ask for feedback and advice.

In my first game I played the Zulus, and developed a strategy that worked well enough to enjoy the fantasy of eventually winning by domination. Unfortunately, the Aztecs launched a spaceship in 1500, and that was the end of that. In the three games I subsequently started, I turned off the spaceship option, and tried to verify the value of my strategy. My current game with the Aztecs is going according to plan, which is of interest mainly because it's so... achievable.

State of the Aztecs: 1000 AD

I chose the Aztecs because the JW could be about as much of an early nuisance as the impi, the hope for GLs is justified by the military trait, and being religious has the obvious benefits. I got a good start: fertile territory on one end of a five-civ continent, with plenty of room for expansion. After researching bronze working (thinking of sword upgrades) I set the research counter at zero, where it has remained all game.

I attacked the Romans to the south, and the cheapness of the JWs (with a GA) allowed me to stay even or ahead in numbers. As with the impis, I pretty much raided units and improvements. Once I quit making progress, I linked up my iron, upgraded the JWs to swordsmen, and took a city. Rome promptly gave me peace plus the last three ancient-era techs in 570BC.

By now the other civs were well into the middle ages, but I was able to pick off one Roman and two American cities behind my borders in later wars, because these cities typically aren’t well-defended (and AI research outpaces production – they often haven’t upgraded their units). I became a monarchy in 50BC, and made alliances with the Iroquois and Egypt that kept me from risking being overrun. Despite constant warfare, it took me until 300 AD to get my first GL, which became the FP, and I switched to republic one turn later.

At this point, the Aztecs were next to last in all categories and hoplessly behind in tech, but third in size. This is what I wanted. I now applied my ivory monopoly and solid income into buying techs, and reached my first goal – replacement parts – in 720. Soon after I switched to democracy, and am now building my rail system. I am still virtually defenseless, never built one mounted unit (!), but now have the tools to establish a credible defense, even against MI. I remain sixth or seventh in most categories, and have exactly zero great or small wonders, but am at least in the same age as everyone else. My long-range plan is very similar to what “Babylon and On” called for: buy myself up to military tech parity, build up my MA, and remind the AI that it’s no Big Blue with a domination win.

Here are the conclusions I’ve come to so far. Again, I look forward to different approaches and general advice.

Early expansion is everything

This is pretty true at emperor level, but essential at deity, where the AI swiftly pulls away in tech. If you don’t have enough cities to raise the funds to buy tech, you’ll never catch up. Equally relevant is that even as the AI pulls ahead in research, its units remain roughly contemporary for a surprisingly long time at the beginning. You have to take advantage of this, as the day will come when you have spears, and they have infantry.

Boosting the early war effort

A GA is well-spent at the start, since the ancient era is the most active one with my strategy, and any help producing units versus the AI production advantage is welcome. The Middle Ages and most of the industrial era is spent buying tech and building improvements, with GWs long since built by the AI. The only other time that a GA could help would be in accelerating the modern-era military buildup, but this doesn’t seem as crucial. (The Germans would be the obvious civ with which to opt for a late GA, since the panzer holds up well for a long time, and the early game could be focused on an early archer rush followed by swords.)

Units and tactics

The AI is pulling away rapidly from the first turn on, so it’s essential that you engage them as quickly as possible. Which approach works best against a civ that is even or ahead of you in weaponry, and outnumbers you to boot? Given these factors, it seems key to play with a civ that has an ancient-era UU, so that you have a chance in your early wars.

I’ve verified that early guerrilla harassment (Impi or JW) will lead to concessions; you could do the same with Japan’s chariots, except for the mountain-jungle handicap. WCs take longer to research, but have the advantage of moving fast and retreating – they pillage as well as attack decently.

A ten-archer rush ought to gain two quick cities via surprise, although large enemy numbers will likely end this slowmover offensive soon after. The Bowman is a good all-around early unit for a civ with low production, but slow and one research level away at the start.

JWs upgrade to swordsmen, and this transition clinched my first (and longest) war. On the other hand, I suspect that the Immortal and Legionnaire come too late, and are too expensive to build, to help me with early conquest.

Likewise, I’m not sure if the wait for horseback riding is justified, unless you upgrade chariots or go for broke with MWs; but the Iroquois need to gain three techs to build their UU. Horses work well as a second-stage unit, though, augmenting an early tech unit like the Impi. But speed doesn’t seem as important, because you’re not likely to have the manpower to sweep through an entire civ.

The best traits

The best ones here closely match the general consensus. The military trait gained me cheap barracks for those early wars, and a shot at more GLs, and thus GWs and a fast FP. Religious makes a lot of sense, in that it makes people happy cheaply even without happiness wonders, gives you some culture defense, and most importantly, maximizes output by making frequent government change painless.

I haven’t tried industrious yet, but early road building and later general efficiency would help my civ grow faster and be more productive in its primary historic goal: generating gold for tech. That said, it’s not going to be a decisive factor.

Scientific provides culture defense but no happiness, and the science benefit is worthless until late in the game. Three free techs are nice, but I’ll get them by staying in business with government changes while religious.

The expansionist trait gives you a shot at free tech from huts and, with luck, trading your original ones. But I fell way behind in tech very quickly anyway, and those eaerly techs meant nothing in either the short or the long run.

And then there’s commercial. It actually has value for a civ that’s trying to generate gold with a moderate number of cities… but not enough.

Learn to lay low for a millenium or so

By the time you leave the ancient era, the AI can kick your butt militarily. You can still pick off the odd city not connected to the enemy’s homeland, but your warring days are basically over for the next 1000 or 1500 years. What are you waiting for? Infantry on rails, which should make you feel safe again. This means two things. First, be careful in whom you choose to antagonize in the ancient era, as they will want revenge. Secondly, you will need alliances to keep you safe from those furious civs.

Geopolitical diplomacy

I’ve done well diplomatically in both my games, remaining miraculously war-free despite a small spear-and-pike defense force. I did this by doing regular business with everyone remotely dangerous, and paying shamelessly for MPPs, as well as joining alliances against far-off civs. That said, this is the part of the game where I am playing sim city while skating on thin ice… and it lasts a long time. It is essential not to break any treaties (which I inadvertently did with the Zulus) as I want the AI to trade me techs for luxuries and gpt.

Spend your money wisely

Once I’ve researched my first tech or two – whatever I need to go to war – I put the slider at zero and leave it there. Making money is what counts, and I build marketplaces after temples, with only the odd harbor as an exception. Libraries are important mainly as cultural bulwarks – you might be the least cultured civ on the planet, but you can’t have none.

Which techs to trade for? If I have a GL which could gain me a useful wonder, I’ll beeline for that (pursuing Bach’s with the Zulus, I went from late ancient era to music theory in one turn). Otherwise, the only meaningful milestones are theology and banking for infrastructure, steam power and replacement parts to provide the units for a credible defense, and then on to motorized transport. Once I’ve built a dozen tanks, I know I can’t lose a domination game. After that, it’s only a matter of time… or so I think.

[Catt]

Txurce - a solid article. Much to digest, but after a first read, I don't find fault. Well thought-out, well-articulated, and well-played.

[Theseus]

Txurce, hey, how are ya??!!

Good analysis and strategy. Couple of comments:

* So you're saying that extremely early harassment / disruption is a MUST... enough that a 1) offensive, 2) Warrior-level, 3) fastmover unit, i.e., JWs, is critical to bring pain to the enemy ASAP.

* If I understand correctly, pillaging and unit destruction in the ancient era is enough to be able to extort for peace... cool, I didn't know that.

* I find it hard to believe that you need to wait for Infantry for further military action. Is it the lack of sufficient defense? I've always though Cavs could handle almost anything except Tanks and up... they can even take on Infantry with enough Arty support.

Is there gonna be a 1.29 Mac patch?

[Lord Merciless]

I have started a Deity game with the Chinese on a standard continental map. My immediate neighbor are the Persians, and a little bit far away are the Americans. I followed a strategy of REX. After building up to 10 cities, I started creating an attack force of 10 Swordsmen and 6 Horsemen. I don't think Archer rush will work anymore as the tech rate is way too high.

My initial offensive captured the Persian capital with the Pyramid and cut their access to both Iron and Horse. The Persians answered by rushing dozens of Archers against my troops. As expected, Archers don't have a chance against Swordsmen and Horsemen. Not only were those Persian Archers massacred, my civ managed to train many elite units and get a GL same time. When I went to the peace negotiation, Persians not only gave me 5 techs, but also their entire treasury and world map.

Conclusion: playing a militaristic civ, REX, and rush with Swordsmen/Horsemen are a good start to a Deity game.

[Txurce]

Thanks, Catt.

Theseus, I'm out in the cold is how I am, so it's nice to have something to say to you guys. The Mac ought to have a 1.29 patch eventually, but they're finishing the editor first (yes, they haven't had one so far). Now to answer your other questions:

Is early guerrilla warfare a must? I'm not sure, but it does slow down the civ in question - yep, cause them pain - keeping them relatively close until you can build an army to actually take some territory. I also got tech just for pillaging in three of my four starts; I didn't get it in a game where I waited until the civ in question was big enough to just get pissed. Impis and JWs are good at this because they get there quickly, and can wreak more havoc while dancing away from archers. You could do it with warriors as well, but they take longer to reach a target and are much less likely to survive. My feeling about guerrilla warfare is that you don't want to let it turn into a war of attrition, because the AI will win that war. And you have to be ready to escalate, meaning fight back with archers, horsemen, or swords, if the enemy doesn't give up easily. But the AI pain threshold in the ancient era is as low on deity as it is on emperor - you know they'll beg for peace if you take one city, max two - so it's not that surprising that pillaging makes them react.

I'm not going to fight with infantry; I'll just feel safe for the first time in an eon having them. My plan is to not fight until I have tanks and, in some cases, MA. I may have had a small window where I could have used cavalry, but my railroads aren't ready (not enough workers - my fault). My sense is that cavalry could have carried the day against the neighboring Romans, but not against anyone else (infantry). Artillery would help if I had any, but I'm still building aqueducts! You have to remember that at this point every civ on the board can outproduce me. This is why I decided strategically to keep a relatively weak Rome between me and Egypt, rather than gamble on taking them out, and then having a border with someone I can't take. The counter-argument is that Egypt couldn't take me, either, and I admit that I'm taking a conservative approach. Remember, I'm still a long way from winning my first game on deity! I'll make a deal with you: I'll try to see if a cavalry offensive is feasible in my next game.

Lord Merciless, great start. You could be right about an archer rush being too little, too late; it certainly is after you've built ten cities. I may try the classic Sir Ralph model, with four cities. I also pursued a REX strategy (as I do in every game) until I began my guerrilla war, at which point I built only one or two settlers at a time. But your approach - with units other than archers - is a good alternative to a guerrilla start, because you inevitably catch the AI off-guard, can almost always take two cities, and are then in excellent position to negotiate a favorable peace. I just fell in love with the novelty of pillaging for profit, and was surprised by the rewards.

[Lord Merciless]

I tried an archer rush with 4 cities yesterday, got busted badly. My current is progressing kind ok. I have the Persians beaten up badly, they are down to three cities. I have caught up in the tech race with the Great Library. What I really need now is another GL to finish up Sun Tzu's.

If you are interested, take a look at the savegame:

[Txurce]

Lord Merciless, I can't open 1.29 files, but using your GL on the Great Library instead of thge FP is an interesting, daring move. Keep me posted on your progress.

[Txurce]

The Aztecs finished their rail system, and plugged away on infrastructure. Then in 1160, they were dragged into a war with America due to an MPP with the Iroquois. Rome separated the two countries, but America had an ROP with them. So the Aztecs gave their erstwhile arch-enemies ivory and 50 gold to ally against America. The Aztecs then sat back as Egypt and the Iroquois steadily reduced America down to one island city. The Aztecs made peace with America in 1310, their reputation was damaged due to the war effort, and entered the modern age.

In 1360, Egypt invaded Rome. This left the Aztecs no choice but to attack Rome as soon as they could muster several MAs, before Egypt conquered all of the land to the Aztecs' south. War was declared in 1390, and the Aztecs mobilized. Three turns later, Rome was history. The Aztecs managed to take two cities, and built four more on Rome's scorched earth, as well as picking up two more luxuries.

Egypt, eager to flex its might, attacked the powerful, neighboring Iroquois in 1425, and the Aztecs found themselves at a crossroads. They are third in size and mfg. goods (mobilized), but effectively last in population. Their modern army consists of eleven MA and six MI. Everyone has nukes except for the Aztecs. But if they stay out of the war, they risk the likelihood of Egypt becoming too big to overtake. The choices seem to be joining the Iroquois in a risky, premature war against Egypt as soon as more MA are built, taking adavantage of our ROP to cause some major first-turn damage... or joining Egypt against the Iroquois in a war where our borders are safe, some gains are all but guaranteed, but would leave Egypt significantly more powerful at the end, with the Aztecs as their only neighbor.

What should the Aztecs do?

Below is a map of the Aztec-Egyptian-Iroquois borders, with a world map featuring China and England offshore.


PS: Some crazy AI is building a spaceship that won't launch, as I nixed that option.

[vulture]

Originally posted by Txurce

What should the Aztecs do?

PS: Some crazy AI is building a spaceship that won't launch, as I nixed that option.

Is this the point at which you discover that you only *thought* you'd turned it off? Anyweay, bearing in mind that I don't know much about how your military compares to Egypt's...

As you say, you don't want to watch Egypt grow strong while you stagnate. And Cleo may well turn on you if she wipes out the Iriquois, regardless of whether you help or not. Assuming Egypt is your main military threat, you shouldn't want to spend units fighting the Iriquois. You may gain a boost on the powergraph taking Iriquois towns, but it will stretch you miltarily, probably weaken the defense of your main territory, and not noticably improve the output of your empire I imagine.

Ideally you want all your enemies to be of equal size, and fighting each other rather than you. But (for me) having them of roughly equal size is useful. To that end, I'd be inclined to attack Egypt. Egypt will then have to fight both sides of the war with only part of its military (obviously). This gives the Iriquois a good chance of holding their own, if they are weaker than Egypt. They wont take any Egyptian towns, but they should fight each other to a standstill, eating up lots of units, ready for your latyer swarming of the Iriquois. Meanwhile, you get to attack Egypt while much of her army is occupied elsewhere. Particularly, if you wait a few turns now (to improve your army) then all of Cleo's mobile forces will be a few moves deep in Iriquois territory, and it will probably take them a few truns to get back to the Egyptian road/rail network to move over to your battle front. This should give you a few turns grace in which to whack a city or two without having to worry too much about a counterattack. Since the enemy has an advantage in numbers, try to neutralise that strength by organising the fighting such that the Egyptians are caught en route for the important parts. If this ploy works, you should end up fighting the Egyptian army in two or three seperate groups, rather than one big swarm. And as a plus, you can try to pick nice defensive positions for the Egyptians to some and bash their heads on. If you wait until after the Iriquois are dead, you'll have to deal with the single swarm, probably while your army is disjointed through former Iriquois territory. ('probably' might be an overstatement, but it might happen, and your army wouldn't last long if it did).

So my two cents worth is to wait a few turns (hopefully getting some MAs foff the production line) and try a fast strike against the three nearest Egyptian towns. If I'm reading the map correctly, taking the Egyptian town between you and the Iriquois would only leave a 1-tile wide land bridge connecting Egypt and the Iriquois. If you can, it might be worth getting a battleship around there to destroy the road across the bridge, to further slow down the movement of units back from Iriquois territory, and buy yourself a little more time (and maybe break the counterattack up further into two smaller counters).

Caveat: I'm no expert at this.

EDIT: Given the AI's aversion to fighting multi-front wars, a hard strike gaining you three or four cities might just enable you to negotiate peace with Egypt again before any serious counterattck arrives. I would't count on it, but you might be lucky.

[Lord Merciless]

I got those techs from the GL:
Polytheism,
Philosophy,
Code of Laws,
Map Making,
Construction,
Currency,
Republic,
Monarchy,
Feudalism,
Monotheism,
Theology,
Engineering,
Education.

It was worth it. I just got another Great Leader, shall I use it for Sun Tzu's, Sistine Chapel, or the FP?

[Arrian]

LM,

Oh, what a decision. I would say either the Sistine or the FP, depending on the size/geographical layout of your empire. You're china, so non-religious... hmm, Sistine is a little less inviting then. Go with the FP if you have a decent spot for it. If not, go with one of the wonders and pray you get more leaders.

By the way, for a warmonger diety game, I would think the single most important GW would be Leo's, no?

-Arrian

p.s. Anyone else notice how oxymoronic the thread title is?

[Txurce]

Arrian, thanks for noticing! The funny thing is that my approach to the game has been just that: a relatively simple, easy-to-duplicate approach, rather than a more state-of-the-art one.

I'm not sure if Leo's is crucial to warmongering; I guess it would depend on when you start building your army. I didn't bother building any more spearmen because they were outdated, but in retrospect, it would have been cheap to upgrade them (and hence, Leo's). But I think you could fight more frequently than I have been, like LM, and then its value increases. The GL saves you tons of cash; the Pyramids gives you a production boost for population (and therefore, cash). For me, the FP is critical, as soon as possible, in bringing down the production imbalance.

LM, the GL really paid for itself, then. I would lean toward the FP because of its instant production benefits, which will allow you to hang close. Given that you're not religious, you may want to consider Bach over the Chapel. A big factor is how many luxuries you have, or will soon have. I rushed Bach in my first game with my one GL, and built the FP. In my current game, I have no wonders, but happiness hasn't been a problem.

Vulture, terrific advice. I will reply in detail after I make my move. It's going to be fun.

[Lord Merciless]

Thanks, I'll choose the FP since I already got a nice spot to place it. I have also reduced Persians down to 1 city which I'll then use to generate Great Leaders.

[Txurce]

I agreed with Vulture's analysis, and decided to wait a few turns, hoping that Egypt would beat itself senseless against the Iroquois while I built a few more MAs. In the meantime, having no navy with which to bombard, I dispatched my remaining swordsmen and JWs to sit atop the Egyptian oil and rubber, as well as the lone road connecting them to the Iroquois in the south. I'd never broken an ROP before, but if it was ever going to help, it was this time.

Egypt was steadily gaining Iroquois territory, and I decided I couldn't wait any longer. In 1455, my saboteurs pillaged the aforementioned Egyptian infrastructure. I then offered ivory to China and England, and they declared war on Egypt; moments later, everyone also signed an embargo against them. I had 27 MAs, and they razed the Egyptian city in my northeast peninsula, while taking Antium and Rome (which came with Leo's and the HG). It also gave me my second leader of the game, which I converted into an army. I then spread out my seven (!) MI near the front, and waited two turns for the Egyptian counterattack.

There were a lot more of them than I expected. The Egyptians took one of my new-ish size-one border cities, and we traded it for the rest of the war. I was forced to draft almost twenty MIs in an effort to contain the Egyptians, using the railways to shift all of my defensive units where Egypt threatened. In the meantime, I attacked with MAs every Egyptian MA concentration that wasn't on a mountain, and any MI heading in a direction that would have stretched my front to the breaking point. This kept the Egyptian counteroffensive corraled, and they kept losing all of their offensive units, while I was being bled white. Finally I was in position to have my army take another of their cities. Predictably, they agreed to terms in 1490, and gave me 500 gold to boot.

The war lasted seven turns, during which my population decreased, and my government shifted from democracy to republic. On the other hand, I gained another luxury as well as extra resources, and the Aztecs grew bigger than anyone except Egypt. The war was costly, but I gained three cities I shouldn't lose (they're Roman), and significantly slowed down the Egyptian invasion of the Iroquois. While they are still whittling the Iroquois down, they are having to deal with maritime raids from China and England, and will be suffering from the global embargo for a long time to come. In the meantime, I'm building the HE and Academy, and hope to have a slew of MA armies for Round Two.

Egypt has been slowed, but not stopped. But I think I turned the corner.

(And no one's building the spaceship. My mistake, thank God.)

[candybo]

C'mon already, Txurce! Anxiously awaiting the next exciting episode....

[Lord Merciless]

Txurce, did you use the Mobilization? I once managed to pump out 96 Tanks, 24 Artilleries, 5 Fighters, and 1 Bombers with 15 cities in 16 turns. I managed to wreck an empire as large as your Egytian ones in less than 5 turns. Of course, I sneak attacked them with a ROP in effect.

[Txurce]

LM, that is impressive. I am definitely using mobilization, but don't have the shields - low population and only some factories - to build the sort of army that you did. My first war was an ROP betrayal, but I didn't have enough units to really make it hurt. Where did you rank in population and mfg. goods when you built that monster?

[Txurce]

After making peace with Egypt in 1490, I built temples and cathedrals in my captured cities, then switched back to a wartime economy. My Iron Works city built the Academy, Pentagon, and two new armies; most of the other cities built MA. I was first in GNP, and third in manufacturing and productivity.

In the meantime, the rest of the world - all communist - is furious with me, regularly waging propaganda campaigns against me, even stealing my military plans. But more importantly, they were still at war with Egypt. China gained temporary footholds on the western end of the continent, and the Iroquois gave up cities grudgingly reduced to six in the course of 135 years. Egypt’s dominance had been seriously reduced, but they were grinding their way to victory. By 1625, I again felt that the Iroquois were about to crack, and I couldn’t put off attacking any longer.

I had an attack force of four maxed MA armies and 24 MA. My defense against an Egyptian counterattack was 16 MI, 4 stealth bombers and two artilleries. Clearly, this was not enough fight a protracted war against a counterattacking enemy with deep defensive reserves.

My plan was to break Egypt’s back in one deep southward thrust: take Busiris and Cumae, then go for Thebes with its three wonders, including Suffrage, and finally Memphis, with two wonders including Hoover’s. I had no hope of holding the latter two, given Egypt’s huge cultural advantage – after taking Thebes and Memphis, I would raze them. The result would leave Egypt with a large population loss, and a serious drop in both their production and ability to wage war.

I took Busiris, and then Cumae, with the armies and one MA, and sent the rest of the MAs into the hills outside Thebes. Over the next four turns, the Egyptians whittled away at my MA stack, while keeping my armies and bombard units busy fighting back a series of counterattacks. Once again, I was forced to draft heavily to prevent my two captured cities from flipping (one flipped anyway). But by 1650, I had three armies ready to join the assault on Thebes. I don’t know how many MI Egypt had in there – I barely made it in. There was no way I could take Memphis with my severly reduced forces - and my lack of happiness wonders makes fighting in republic difficult even with all the luxuries - so I offered Egypt a deal which netted me 400 gold.

My attack caused Egypt to lose ground in the west – the Iroquois retook a city and the Chinese now had a real foothold (see map below). Egypt made peace with the Iroquois two turns later. In the meantime, I abandoned Thebes (!), built temples and cathedrals in the two small captured cities, and went back to pumping out armies and MA. Because I wasn’t done with Egypt yet.

It is now 1690, and I have seven armies and 31 MA ready to move on Memphis. As you can see, it will take me three turns to get there, but I think it’s key to knock out Hoover’s. At the same time, I’ll draw the Iroquois back into the war with an offer of oil, which they lack. Depending on how things go, I will either try for a peace treaty asap after that, or else settle in for the long haul against a once-dominant enemy that will be on the ropes. Either way, I expect to finish this war as the #1 world power.

The map below focuses on my two captured Egyptian cities, and the route I have to take to reach Memphis in the south. The gap in between is where Thebes was.

The world map shows Egypt’s relative gains against the Iroquois, but keep in mind that the western half of their empire is captured, and probably unproductive.

[Theseus]

What about Egyptian Bombers?

[Txurce]

Theseus, one of the biggest (welcome) surprises of the two wars with Egypt is that I haven't seen one enemy bomber, and their navy has caused negligible damage. The latter is probably due to over a century of tangling with the Chinese and English navies, so I assume they lost their bombers against the Iroquois. For that matter, I have taken seven Egyptian cities, and have yet to capture a single artillery piece. This is even weirder, since these units tend to not die in intra-AI battle.

[Lord Merciless]

Here is the game shortly before my offensive:

[Theseus]

Weird... especially with large cities with airports right there.

So, 3 moves to the hills, 3 to the mountains, and then attack?

Couple of sidenotes:

* To build a barracks, esp. if militaristic, I will typically disband highly damaged and / or obsolete units in a newly captured city in the late game.

* Keep your treasury above 1K! (assuming you've built Wall Street).

And a question:

Was there anything about Egypt starting conditions, or early game, that made it killer?

[Txurce]

Theseus, I am not complaining about the clear blue skies of Egypt. Actually, I play without animation, and do experience some "artillery" damage on a few (very few) of my coastal roads, so I guess this could be aircraft... but these hits are never on my units, which is why I assume I'm being hit by naval shelling. I'll try to remember to fight one battle with animation on, and get a better view of what's going on.

Yes, that's my path, all right, although I will also feint a thrust toward Alexandria on the first turn, and then just past toward the capital right behind it in the next turn, so as to minimize the concentration of enemy forces in Memphis. And given how long it will take me to reach Memphis, I better leave some MA at home for once, since we all know the AI prefers to go for your weak spot, and my entire country is undefended behind the front-line cities.

I do have Wall Street, but dipped under 1k in my gold reserves rushing MA for the upcoming action - as you can see from the last paragraph, I may be stretched a little thin. I'll be back up in two turns, and then will keep it there, barring an emergency.

I'm out of obsolete units, and am not about to disband any damaged MAs, but I'm writing down that barracks tip for a more opportune moment.

Egypt's original peaceful expansion took it west as far as that inland sea; to the north was Rome, which never got fully untracked because it was my only neighbor, and therefore the civ against whom I waged periodic war throughout the ancient era. The western half of the continent was split horizontally by the Iroquois and the Americans to their north. At one point, the Americans were as strong as Egypt, but declared war against the Iroquois, and were jumped by everybody (I took two cities in my rear). You can see their one and only city on the world map, on that island to my northwest. After Egypt took Rome (minus my piece), their holdings - which included half of what was once America - gave them a definite edge over the Iroquois, and a huge one over me. They also have the world's best culture, which is why I expect to keep only their smaller cities, and resettle the rest of them.

[Jaybe]

Txurce, did you ever attempt to plant a spy in Cleo's capital? I found some time ago that you can also do it during wartime (assuming an embassy, of course).

[Txurce]

Jaybe, I haven't, because being behind, I've been throwing all my gold into either buying tech or, more recently, rushing MA. Are you suggesting that I steal their military plans? I've only done this once before in all the games I've played. It makes a lot of sense here - think it's worth saving my pennies to do so?

[dojoboy]

Ah-ha, Txurce. Sleeping w/ the enemy are we? Great thread! It makes me want to jump from monarch to deity - forget about emperor! Well, maybe not.

[Txurce]

This is the land where I was born, Dojoboy! It's been fun being in over my head... although I've turned the corner, and think I see the downslope.

[Txurce]

In 1690, I ignored the Iroquois theft of my military plans, and sent seven armies and about twenty MA toward Memphis and its four wonders. I split my remaining eleven MA between a feint at size-27 Alexandria, and guarding the home front. I shifted immediately into monarchy – no happiness wonders are a killer – and for a third time, drafted heavily to defend my border cities. (I finally found the enemy using radar artillery… but not a single plane.)

Memphis fell fairly easily in 1700, costing me only two MA. I had captured Hoover, Smith’s, SETI, and the Cure for Cancer. But after selling what I could, I abandoned the city. My reasoning was that I couldn’t have held it against Egypt’s big cultural edge, and I didn’t yet know how much of a fight they’d put up.

While the Monsters of Memphis made their way back to the Aztec border, the Egyptians took the two small cities on my southwest corner. But the counterattack was stopped in 1710 and, even as my returning units reached my railroads, I could see that Egypt was approaching exhaustion.

I brought the Iroquois back into the war in exchange for oil and coal. The opportunistic Chinese moved eastward on my continent, taking some of the original American cities from the reeling Egyptians. I hurried to seal them off as best I could, betraying Egypt one last time for a peace treaty that gave me New Orleans.

When I attacked them on the very same turn, they showed their displeasure by nuking New Orleans. This made me a little nervous, as I had no nuclear weapons, and worse, no nuclear defenses. England responded by nuking Egypt with an ICBM; Egypt nuked London, was nuked a couple more times in return, and nuked me one last time, destroying one of my victorious armies. (You can see the damage below!) In the end, all the nuking allowed me to pretty much walk into the remaining Egyptian cities, and in 1762 the world’s first superpower was swept into the dustbin of history.

I had some tidying up to do: settling cities in much of the razed territory (see below), and taking the lone American city before somebody else did. All these goals have been accomplished, and I need to settle on a strategy for the next phase of the game… apart from cleaning up all that radioactivity.

China is directly in my way, but they are the world’s most productive civ, and I can only imagine how many MI they and England must have on their islands, since neither has fought a serious war. I could easily kick them off my continent, but I also have nukes to worry about, don’t I? My immediate plan is to research or trade up to SDI as quickly as possible, while building a few nukes myself. My guess is that I’ll skirt past the Chinese and take the wobbly Iroquois next, but the cautious approach would be to hope China attacks someone, and join in. I don’t think I’ll win by domination with only my continent, so nuke-happy England will have to be dealt with. At least now I can build the Battlefield Medicine wonder, even though I have yet to build a single hospital… those seriously reduced Egyptian cities all have hospitals!

[Xpert]

interesting, might try deity soon=/

[Arrian]

Kill the Iroquois. No doubt about it.

-Arrian