AU 105: The Power of Gold: Spoilers

[Theseus]

Man, I'm having fun.

By 1772AD, Egypt is again a democracy, I'm at peace with the world, and every city on the Persian continent is at 5 pop or less, and has a Temple, Cathedral, Courthouse, and Police Station, and is up to level 2 (i.e., 21 tiles). Several have Harbors or Airports, so max luxuries. This is down from 20+ pop cities and huge resistance in 1760AD.

I'm an exportin' fool:

[Theseus]

The 1772 map:

[Theseus]

Done... 3451 in 1852AD.

Went space race... even though I had built the UN, I declined to take the chance on a vote.

This was a lot of fun; definitely had that one-more-turn feeling, even through the space race.

I stopped military aggression after securing the Persian continent. Interestingly, at one point I sold Superconductor to India for over 1000 gold and 640 gpt... I was pretty sure this would bankrupt Gandhi, so for once I entered into MPPs with the Aztecs and Americans as a protective measure, and when India (inevitably) on the next turn attacked, I also bought a military alliance with the Iroquois. All of which basically distracted the AI civs from the space race, although India had 6 out of 10 parts built, and was working on the other 3, when I launched.

Back to the key of the game, I think I used the GA to pretty good effect; I've never had such a sharp increase in power before:

[Jaybe]

(I didn't realize I would get to Syn Fibers so quickly, and filled up the Armies with Tanks)

Theseus,
I NEVER fill my Armies until I am about to use them. If I am doing a trans-ocean invasion, I often don't fill the Army units until after I have landed (except to secure the beach).

Pentagon requirements for number of Armies are not dependent on having Armies with units in them.

(Sorry for the nitpick.)

[Theseus]

No, you're right, I clearly should have waited until the attack was imminent.

And even then, I broke my own mixed unit rules!!

[nbarclay]

The rest of my game went pretty much as expected. I got a bit dirty toward the end, buying alliances with AI civs and then turning on my allies shortly after the war was over. First I allied with America against the Iroquois in the hope that America would capture an Iroquois city behind the American and Aztec lines. (They did.) Then I allied with the Aztecs and Indians against America and, during the war, moved my palace to an American city. (That actually cost me a significant amount of gold through the rest of the game, especially since I never got Nationalism much less Communism, but it created long-term potential for essentially all of my cities to be worth something.) Finally, I allied with India against the Aztecs.

The Aztecs actually came up with a couple roving stacks of swordsmen and pikemen, which distracted me somewhat from my offensive. I'm not sure they actually killed anything, but injuries incurred taking them out took units out of action until they could heal. Then finally, just as I got ready for a sustained push that would have finished the Aztecs in three turns or so, I got a domination victory.

As I'd hoped, I never saw a single rifle unit, although musketmen were out in force. India and the Aztecs made it into the industrial era several turns before the game was over, and even got Medicine from me in a tech-for-luxuries deal, but the secrets of Nationalism remained elusive. (By the way, my decision not to research Nationalism in order to get Communism was fueled largely by a desire to ensure that whatever AI researched Nationalism would have to pay first-researcher prices for it. I don't know whether one of my opponents might have gotten Nationalism by the end of the game had I not taken that precaution, but it seemed like a good insurance policy.)

The game ended in 1360 with a score of 4805. I probably couldn't have pulled it off playing with the mod, or if I hadn't had the luck to get a free settler early, but I always enjoy dominating the world with cavalry nonetheless.

A couple more tidbits: (1) The Iroquois got three early wonders and the Aztecs one, but after that, I built every single wonder - eight of them in Thebes alone. (2) As seems typical this game, an AI snatched the Colossus away from me remarkably early - 1225 BC, about five or six turns before Thebes would have finished it. (3) By the end of the game, there were only five mandatory industrial techs I hadn't researched. I could have won just a little more quickly had I wanted to at all costs, but researching and improving my cities took precedence over maximizing cavalry production and using gold to rush temples.

Nathan

[Theseus]

WOW, very aggressive! The only wars I fought in the eastern hemisphere were bombardment exercises.

I think your game points out something for the newer players... never forget that whatever your status in a given game, it's usually possible to make a "big push," even intercontinental, with Cavs and then with Tanks.

Nathan, could you highlight your invasions a little? In addition to the usage of alliances, what were the primary objectives, landing approaches, combined arms composition, etc.?

BTW, whether to end a game, or to "use up" my Cavs, I will often stretch myself to the limit in such wars of conquest.

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by Theseus
Nathan, could you highlight your invasions a little? In addition to the usage of alliances, what were the primary objectives, landing approaches, combined arms composition, etc.?

BTW, whether to end a game, or to "use up" my Cavs, I will often stretch myself to the limit in such wars of conquest.

"Combined arms approaches"? That's enough to get me laughing, literally. Cavalry are so fast that nothing they could possibly combine with could even dream of keeping up with my offensives, especially without a rail network. If I wanted to attack riflemen with cavalry, I might at least think about a different technique. But when the best an enemy has is musketmen, I'm quite happy with a force of essentially pure cavalry.

As for "primary objectives," they were (1) capture luxuries as quickly as possible to minimize disruption to happiness. (2) If I don't capture a harbor in my initial invasion, try to get one as soon as I can. (That actually ended up being a lot more problematical than I expected; the Iroquois didn't seem to have much in the way of harbors.) And (3) Defeat the enemy as quickly as possible.

My initial intercontinental invasion force consisted of something like eighteen cavalry units, several of them elites (and a couple even "elite plus leader") from the Greek and Persian wars, with two infantry units for cover against enemy counterattacks. (I eventually had a total of four infantry on the continent before deciding that any more would be pointless.) I landed just north of the spices by Cattaraugus, which also put me within striking distance of Oil Springs and, after Cattaraugus fell, of St. Regis as well. (Sorry I can't show the actual landing, but my closest save is from when Persia fell a few turns before.)

I took all three cities the turn after the landing, but the Iroquois managed to get a surprisingly large offensive force - more than half a dozen units, some landed by sea - into my newly conquered territory in response. Their counterattack was actually almost large enough to cause some real problems, especially given the number of units wounded in the initial assault, but only almost. About three turns later, a second five-galleon wave of forces - mostly cavalry - landed in Cattaraugus and the Iroquois didn't have a chance. From there, the only real limit on how quickly I could finish off the Iroquois was movement rate. (That second wave stripped the home continent bare of forces, so from then on, reinforcements didn't do much more than just keep up with casualties.)

As I said in my previous post, America took an Iroquois city I couldn't have gotten to without going through American or Aztec territory. But that was all they took, although I suspect that American cavalry softened up a city or two for me. (There was actually a horribly wounded American cavalry unit sitting right outside the last Iroquois city when I took it.)

Here's a map of what later became the landing zone.

[nbarclay]

I normally play at 1600x1200 resolution (on a 21" monitor), which lets me show a lot of area in a screenshot if I'm willing to sacrifice detail. I've labeled the map below to show the city names better (red lines) and to show my initial invasion path (blue lines). Note that I'm still working from a saved game from prior to my invasion of the Eastern continent; at the time of the actual fighting, the Iroquois had been completely defeated.

After the Iroquois conquest, I had to decide whether I wanted to choose the Aztecs or the Americans as my next victim. The Aztecs' luxuries were closer to the border, and it looked sort of like the Aztecs had been researching faster. But I ultimately wanted my palace in American lands, and attacking America first maximized the likelihood of getting a leader at a reasonable time to make the move. That tipped the balance in favor of attacking America.

I originally decided on a two-pronged approach, positioning about half my forces in Niagra Falls to hit Seattle and the other half in Tonawanda to hit Philadelphia. The plan didn't quite work out as expected, though, because when my Niagra Falls force attempted to strike, it found an Aztec pike unit in the way. Fortunately, the Tonawanda force was able to capture both initial objectives. Interestingly, Seattle had several wounded units in it when I struck; apparently I healed up from the Iroquois war more quickly than the Americans did. I got my last great leader of the game in the attack on Philadelphia (or it might possibly have been San Francisco) and built my new palace in Seattle the following turn.

From there, my eastern force moved north to capture San Francisco and then west to capture Houston (barely having enough units left to do it without waiting for troops to heal, since I'd had to raid lots of its strength to take Seattle) before rejoining the main strike group. The main, western force, rejoined after the initial delay, hit New York, then Boston, and then Washington. I suffered minor losses to cavalry counterattacks, but America didn't have many cavalry to counterattack with. Once Washington fell, the rest was anticlimactic cleanup.

The Aztecs and Indians didn't capture any American territory at all, which was pretty much as I'd hoped (given the greedy mood I was in at the time). The Aztecs did do some fighting around Mauch Chunk, but I was the one who took the city. (From a strictly military viewpoint, I had no need for alliances in the American and Aztec wars, but the alliances were useful for cutting off my victims' tech and luxury trading.)

[Theseus]

Well done.

I understand why your initial landing against the Iroquois was where it was, but, man, I hate landing on open ground versus a hill or mountain.

As far as I'm concerned, 1 Infantry in a landing stack of Cavs counts as combined arms.

I'm going to reiterate: a butt-load of any strong attacking unit, whether Swords, Knights, Cavs, or Tanks, goes a looooong way.

[nbarclay]

The map in this post is from a save two turns into the Aztec war.

After the American war, I took only a bare minimum of time to rest and reposition troops before attacking the Aztecs. The invasion was complicated by the Aztecs' having two cities away from their core and even having about three pikeunits moving through my conquered American territory headed for their core. So I couldn't concentrate all my forces to attack the Aztec core. My alliance with India was purely for the purpose of denying the Aztecs all opportunity to trade; India was too far away to make any real difference militarily.

My initial operations were mostly successful, capturing the two remote cities (not shown) and Allegheny and Tlaxcala in the Aztec core. But my offensive action stalled quickly. On the northern front, I didn't have quite enough forces to take Tzintzuntzen, and my northern cavalry then got too busy dealing with the two Aztec offensive stacks to resume offensive operations for a few turns. My southern front similarly bogged down, with my first two strikes at Teotihuacan failing and another forced to retreat before entering attack range. Eventually, though, my northern force dealt with its attackers and captured its targets and my southern force got enough reinforcements (and had enough wounded units heal) to capture its target as well. The Aztec capital fell almost immediately after, and my force levels had built up to critical mass. Distance was the only defense the Aztecs had left that could slow me down. But just as that happened, the game ended due to domination.

By the way, war weariness was just starting to kick in by the end of the Aztec war, in spite of my being a republic rather than a democracy. (I hadn't researched Democracy because I'd hoped the AIs would waste their time on it, and while one of them had in fact gotten to the point of researching Printing Press, none had discovered Democracy as of the time the game ended.)

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by Theseus
I understand why your initial landing against the Iroquois was where it was, but, man, I hate landing on open ground versus a hill or mountain.

As far as I'm concerned, 1 Infantry in a landing stack of Cavs counts as combined arms.

Actually, I don't think the Iroquois attacked my invading stack at all when it first landed. Most of their offensive forces were toward the Aztec/American end of their nation. In any case, I sort of think I remember one of my advisors' indicating that the Iroquois' most powerful offensive units were longbowmen, which Infantry can typically turn into dog meat in short order. (Their problem wasn't a lack of tech, but rather a lack of resources.) Certainly, I never saw anything more powerful than longbowmen and mounted warriors among the forces that tried to counterattack against me.

Using a couple infantry to cover an invasion is about as minimalist a "combined arms" concept as one could ask for. I suppose it technically qualifies, but it certianly doesn't fit the picture the term usually conjures in my mind.

Nathan Barclay

[Harovan]

Here's the report from my 6:30pm-4:30am nonstop AU 105 session:

I played the version with the AU mod and because I didn't play for quite a while, I went Monarch, to have a nice "warm up" game.

I - Early wars: The starting location is very nice and makes a 10-turn settler factory possible. I didn't find an early Settler, but that didn't hurt me. I built only 2 warriors for exploration and then switched my capital to Settlers. Very soon I had built 7 good cities. When the early resources became visible, I saw, that I lack Horses, while the Romans have some. I had a couple of veteran Warriors hanging around, upgraded them to Swordsmen, took Rome and razed some other Roman cities and made peace for 4 techs and 3 cities! Now the Romans had only 1 city left, complete in the jungle and unable to build a settler. I waited for the peace treaty to expire, and finished them off. After building some more jungle cities, about half of the continent was mine.

II - Build up: After I got gunpowder and saw, that I'm lacking Saltpeter, I understood, that alexman wanted to tease us with a scarce resources game. For some reason, I didn't want to attack neither Greece nor anyone else, so at this point I decided to play a peaceful builder game. The Iroquois sneak attacked me by landing a Knight and a Longbowman. No big deal. I bribed Abe with a tech and allied with him against Hiawatha. I took only one Iroquois city, an outpost on my continent. After the alliance expired, I made peace, and my former ally got finished by the Iroquois. I didn't build a single Saltpeter unit in the whole game.

I succeeded to sneak 4 more cities on the Persian continent. Then I built lots of workers and concentrated on road building and jungle cleaning. No leader for an FP, so I built it the hard way in a 1-shield city, which later under Republic gave 2 and finally even 3 shields. I built rougly 100 turns. Until it was ready, I barely succeeded to catch up in tech. Now my economy got a big boost and I quickly got a tech lead. I was the first entering the Industrial age.

III - Winning the tech race: After Steam Power I saw, that I can build the Iron Works in Thebes. I had an almost complete Bank there, switched to IW and built it in a few turns. This time I had researched Industrialization, and I quickly added a factory. This resulted in a rougly 100-shield city, which was able to build wonders quickly, and I built the Universal suffrage in just a few turns. Now I beelined for Scientific Method and Electronics and built the ToE and Hoover. The latter was the final winner, because now I had, what this game was about: A Golden Age, triggered by a wonder and with the Ironworks ready! (where is my Gold Star? )

Anyway, here's a picture:

[Harovan]

IV - Winning the game: During my Golden Age my tech lead grew from 1-2 techs to 3, and my gold reserves from roughly 1,000 to about 10,000. We are rich, rich, rich, Sire. The other civs meanwhile ganged up against the Iroquois, who were the leaders by landmass (after consuming America). But none of them went communist, so their research remained intact. Of course, I had no Oil. No big deal, I used the fact, that the Aztecs had plenty, but no Refining yet, so I bought oil for 1 gpt and used it for a decent navy, mainly for exploration. After the deal expired, Monte was insulted even when I offered 100 gpt, so I cancelled the deal. I discovered a one-tile island to the north, tundra with oil, and about 30-40 barbarians. It took several turns of a transport full with Marines, to take it. Now I had Oil, and built Tanks and Air force as well. The (peaceful built) Military Academy gave me 6 armies (2 Tank, 2 Infantry, 2 empty).

After I hit the Modern ages and discovered Fission and Rocketry, I saw, that I lack Uranium and Aluminium as well. Yea, as expected. No big deal. I had enough tech lead to trade for the resources and go for the Spaceship, but my relations to all AI civs were very good (all polite), so I thought, the UN would allow a quicker victory. I built the UN in my IW city and won in the very first election. Diplomatic victory 1695AD with 3236 points:

[Harovan]

About the AI game:

Overall, the AIs did very well, but something must have been happened with the navies. In the standard game, the AIs build ships eagerly. Not here. Far from a few galleys, I didn't see a single AI vessel. It was me, who discovered the whole map, with Destroyers. That must be a bug in the mod! Anyone who had the same in his game?

[Harovan]

I forgot to attach a map. Here's the final one. Not very impressive, such a builder game map, right? No invasions, no big conquest. But it was enough for a comfortable win. And believe me, I had fun in the game.

[Catt]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
In the standard game, the AIs build ships eagerly. Not here. Far from a few galleys, I didn't see a single AI vessel.

Sir Ralph - I didn't have a whole lot of time, so I played an OCC game using the AU Mod on Regent. I will probably post my report tonight. In my game, I saw a few galleys but that was it. I do know that others built at least a few ships, as I watched (from a distance) several small invasions of my home continent by those from the east. Still, I saw a lot fewer AI naval forces than I would have expected on this map.

Catt

[Theseus]

I saw some naval action... Persia against Greece, and India against me. More lightweight than usual, though. Overall, it was a non-miliary game though (other than my shenanigans). I got the sense the AI civs were spending every dime on research.

[Catt]

I didn’t have a lot of free time to play the game as a straight-forward game, and eventually decided that I wouldn’t be able to play it within a reasonable time period, so I plunged in and read the spoilers thread – only then, after reading alexman’s posts, did I think to play an OCC, or One City Challenge. An OCC is a game in which the player is limited to building only one city – the precise rules vary from player to player, it seems, and the rules on whether culture flips may be accepted, what to do with them, etc. are left up to the player. The first time I played a Civ 3 OCC (I have never played Civ 2 where the OCC challenge seems to have been born) I played under very strict rules – I didn’t even allow any units to leave my city radius – no goody huts, no colonies, no exploration, and no offensive military operations. I later learned that these were not widely employed rules and so played what I think is a more conventional OCC in AU 105.

I played the OCC on Regent, using the AU Mod bic, with obvious foreknowledge of many aspects of the game from reading the spoilers (good knowledge of the map and competing civs, foreknowledge of the availability of the Iron Works in the start position, and perhaps most importantly, the knowledge that in others’ game that the AIs built the Colossus early – I built the Colossus earlier than I otherwise would have with this advanced knowledge). My strategy was three-fold – a victory by culture, diplomacy, or spaceship – whichever I could get to first – this meant lots of wonders, early culture improvements, and no broken deals to sully my reputation. Some of this spoiler will seem laboriously commented on – I want to make sure that less-experienced players will understand some of the reasons behind my decision-making (to see where I went wrong and where I went right) and erred on the side of providing more information rather than less.

I built Thebes in the start position and my worker built a mine to the northwest, moved across the river north and irrigated and then roaded the cow tile. I then moved back to the south to road my previously mined tile before heading southwest to road and mine a bonus grassland along the Nile. Science was enjoying 90% of my income and was devoted to Bronze Working – the initial research time would be 18 turns. My initial city build order was warrior, warrior, Colossus (employing a barracks as a pre-build while I finished researching Bronze Working), temple, and spearman. One warrior remained in Thebes as a military policeman and defender, the other moved south and east.

By 3300 BC I could see the borders of Rome, and I soon made contact with Caesar. In 3200 BC I made my first trade, giving Caesar Masonry and Ceremonial Burial for Alphabet, 10 gold, and Bronze Working (I only had 1 turn to go on this). I intended to try and secure both the Great Lighthouse and the Great Library, so Alphabet was what I was really after. In 1870 BC, Caesar unceremoniously demanded the knowledge of Writing from me. I refused, believing that I could both hold off a defeat and maybe even inflict a little pain if I had to. Caesar was bluffing, but his little gambit and my stiff spine moved his attitude from Polite to Cautious.

I wasn’t able to secure a RoP with Rome until after the discovery of Writing (which allows embassies which in turn allow diplomatic agreements like rights of passage), and not wanting to unduly anger my southern neighbor, I didn’t try to slip by Rome to reach Greece. I eventually did secure a RoP and soon thereafter made contact with Alexander. Soon, I completed my research on Literature, quickly built a library, and started the Great Library. After researching Map Making, I set my research sights on Monarchy – I needed to get out from under the thumb of the Despotism tile penalty as soon as possible.

Even though I was playing a “spoiled” game (with my advance knowledge) and was also playing an OCC versus a standard game, I hoped to earn a gold star by triggering my Golden Age with an Iron Works in place – this would almost certainly require a Golden Age triggered by wonders since it would be tough to ensure an Egyptian UU win after Steam Power. Because I intended to win via culture if possible, and in any event because I coveted the numerous “religious” wonders such as the Colossus, the Oracle, Sistine Chapel and JS Bach’s, all of which generate a good amount of culture, I knew I couldn’t build an “industrious” wonder until after Steam Power – so I had to avoid the Pyramids, the Hanging Gardens and the Great Wall. I succeeded in building both the Colossus, and the Great Library, I missed the Great Lighthouse by 2 turns, and lost the Oracle to a wonder cascade upon my completion of the Great Library. Rome built both the Great Wall and the Great Lighthouse, Tenochtitlan (Aztecs) built the Oracle and the Hanging Gardens. Kanadseagea (Iroquois) built the Pyramids.

In 430 BC, the Roman town of Antium, to Thebes’ southeast, overthrew their oppressors and pledged allegiance to Cleopatra. Not quite sure what to do in this OCC game, I flirted with accepting the town and immediately abandoning the city (if only to deny it to Rome), I instead resolved that the Egyptians would rebuff all rebels seeking to join our city-state.

In pursuing a possible culture victory, I felt it important to get the fairly cheap but culturally powerful buildings like temple and library up as early as possible so as to secure as much benefit from the 1,000 year culture-doubling effect as possible. Thebes, between its wonder-building, built a temple in 2,230 BC and a library in 1,500 BC. At the end of the game (in the 1900s), both the temple and the library had each produced more total culture than every other improvement (including 11 great wonders) other than the Great Library, the Sistine Chapel, and, just barely, the Colossus. Early culture is very powerful, and you don’t have to build wonders to build a powerful cultural base.

Even though I lost the race for the Great Lighthouse to Rome, I managed to secure first passage to the other civs via a sea voyage off the western coast of Roman / Grecian lands. I got lucky (couldn’t remember the map well enough from the spoilers) and spotted a short (but risky) passage on my first try, even though I lost the galley looking for passage. A second galley also sank before reaching landfall, but the third galley made it safely to the land of the Iroquois. A fourth galley anchored near the crossing point, watching for Roman galleys that might make contact (and thereby destroy the value of my newfound asset – contact with the eastern continent). As the only civilization with contact with the other 7 civs, my research costs should theoretically be lower than all others’ – however, the combination of my possession of the Great Library and my willingness to focus a decent percentage of my income on science meant that I often had the tech lead. I didn’t want to amass a large treasury of gold (and thereby paint a large bulls-eye on Thebes for my continent-mates), but I also wanted to benefit from the “free ride” offered by the Great Library. I compromised, racing to Monarchy, getting out of Despotism, and setting science somewhat low until the last of the ancient age techs had been secured – I then ratcheted up research again, and set my course for securing both Leo’s Workshop and Sistine. I settled on Leo’s because I intended to upgrade my defenders at each opportunity, and I intended to have more defenders than offensive units. I also expected to\hat I would risk losing Sistine to someone else if I tried to get Sun Tzu’s, Leo’s and Sistine – especially with 2 scientific civs in the game (and therefore 2 civs getting Monotheism for free, putting them within striking distance of Theology and Sistine). Finally, I planned on building a barracks when needed for new units or upgrades, and then selling the barracks to avoid the one gold-per-turn upkeep. I decided that Sun Tzu’s would be a bluebird, but not a wonder I would go after.

In 300 AD, some 6 turns away from Theology, Alexander demanded “Contact with the Aztecs.” When I refused his demands, Alexander declared war. I wasn’t terribly worried about Alexander: (1) I felt that I had sufficient defenders to secure the high ground around Thebes and Thebes itself; and (2) I intended to bribe Caesar into a military alliance against Greece, and then let Roman Legionaries do all the fighting, which would also make my territory very difficult and time consuming for Alexander’s troops to reach. I was immediately able to bring Caesar into the war on my side, but actually had a few qualms about doing so – I could see from the diplomatic trading screen that Rome’s supply of iron had already depleted. I hoped that Caesar had a deep bench of Legionaries and/or worried that I would have to trade my sole source of iron to keep Caesar in fighting form.

Below is Alexander’s declaration of war in 300 AD, which gives a good look at the world. BTW, I divined that the Aztecs and the Iroquois engaged in a fair amount of early war – the Iroquois looked neatly trimmed, and there was no trace of Salamanca (the expected capitol of the Iroquois).

[Catt]

In 410 AD, while still at war with the Greeks, Hiawatha demanded contact with the Greeks from me. Given that Hiawatha couldn’t even transport any troops to my continent or establish an alliance with any civ on my continent, I declined to give in to blackmail. Hiawatha was bluffing.

In 460 AD, Ravenna, a Roman town to the northwest of Thebes, overthrew their oppressors and pledged allegiance to Cleopatra. Again we declined the foreigners.

In 570 AD, the Aztecs demanded contact with the Greeks from me. As with Hiawatha, I declined Montezuma’s obnoxious request. Montezuma declared war even though the method by which he might deliver forces to my shores remained a mystery.

Around this time, Caesar, having lost a gem city on his southern frontier, made peace with Alexander. When a stack of 6 Greek swordsmen took up positions in the mountains south of Thebes, I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and made peace by paying a small tribute in gold. Rome still had not secured an alternate source of iron, and had still not used the Great Lighthouse to establish contact with the other great continents. Also sometime around this time (before the war was over) I was able to establish a trade of furs for incense, a RoP and gold to Xerxes, and with a second luxury, and Sistine up and running a switch to Republic was in order.

In 960 AD, the (now) city of Ravenna again sought to join the Egyptian empire after having been rebuffed a half millennium ago. Once again Cleopatra declined to accept a rebellious province.

Sometime around 1000 AD, upon the discovery and diffusion of Astronomy among several civs, I sold contact and world maps to all 7 other civs, moving from civ to civ according to whom could provide the greatest spoils – I did however avoid seeking exorbitant gold-per-turn deals as I wanted no ready incentive to a declaration of war.

In 1290 AD, enticed no doubt by a treasury of 1000+ gold and a tech lead, treacherous Greek units betrayed the Egyptian trust and abused an existing RoP to launch an assault on Thebes. Egyptian diplomacy immediately switched into high gear with the following results:

[Catt]

The dastardly Aztecs, after having entered into and then broken (by making peace) an alliance against Greece, demanded furs from Egypt in 1385 AD – upon refusal, the Aztecs declared war. This, in my mind, was a tremendous betrayal, and marked Montezuma as an entirely untrustworthy leader for the duration of the game. I was able to secure an alliance against Montezuma from each of Abraham and Hiawatha – but I worried that such an alliance would merely weaken the Americans and Iroquois since the Aztecs seemed to hold a commanding position on their continent.

I made peace with Alexander on turn 20 of my alliances (after terminating all alliances first). Nonetheless, Alexander demanded furs form me in 1495 AD – just as Montezuma had done. Given that Caesar had suffered greatly from the earlier war and I therefore couldn’t count on the Romans for help, I gave in to Alexander and supplied the Greeks with furs for 20 turns.

The world continued to spin around the sun’s axis, and war eventually turned to peace. Montezuma again demanded tribute – this time 100 gold in 1690 AD – I gave it to the Aztecs rather than risk war. I was only 7 turns from Replaceable Parts (Infantry and Artillery) at which point I would accede to no more demands.

In 1792 AD, Montezuma once again made demands on the Egyptians – demanding the mysteries of Sanitation. Upon the righteous Egyptian refusal, the Aztecs declared war. Cleopatra’s scientists had at this point already discovered the mysteries of Scientific Method and built the Theory of Evolution (generating the discoveries of Atomic Theory and Electronics). But given that Egypt had not yet researched Sanitation at the time of the discovery of Electronics, Cleopatra ordered the citizens of Thebes to delay starting the Hoover Dam (knowing it would trigger an Egyptian Golden Age) until the city grew beyond 12 citizens (towards 21 citizens). In 1826 AD, Greece once again demanded tribute – this time, the secrets of Electronics. I declined (relying on my infantry and artillery fortified in forts on the high ground around Thebes). For once, Alexander was bluffing, and he slunk away with his tail between his legs.

In 1842 AD Thebes completed its work on the Hoover Dam. This Great Wonder triggered a Golden Age for the Egyptian peoples. Thebes, with a population of almost 1,400,000 people (size 16), immediately began producing 210 shields per turn – had Thebes already built the Military Academy (instead of preserving it as a modest pre-build), the city could produce an army every two turns during the GA. Just for fun, Cleopatra put her empire into war-time mobilization (on a reload, to see the result), and found that Thebes could produce 259 shields per turn.

[Catt]

In the past, in a previous life (in an earlier game ), Cleopatra had enjoyed a trade deal of 1 gold for a supply of oil. She concluded that this fabulous deal was available because she had no practical use for the oil (she hadn’t discovered Combustion at the time). In this game, with only one city, Cleo was able to trade for oil on very favorable rates – while researching Fission, she was able to trade 9 gold-per-turn to Gandhi for a steady supply of Oil – Cleo cautiously concluded that the opposing civilizations valued strategic resources according to the production power of the human civ – how many units, of what power, could the human build during the 20 turns of a trade deal?

After buying Fission from the Greeks for 1500 gold (having researched 10 or 12 turns out of 26 total), Thebes was able to build the United Nations in 1926 AD. Cleopatra immediately called for a vote to elect a General Secretary of the UN – she expected that she, Alexander and Montezuma would be nominated as candidates, and hoped to win by default based on the repeated bad behavior of the two superpowers. Unfortunately, the first polling was inconclusive, generating 3 votes for Cleopatra, 2 votes for Alexander, and 1 vote for Montezuma. Alexander and Montezuma voted for themselves as expected, but Gandhi, despite a long an honorable relationship with Cleopatra decided to vote for Alexander, his then-current ally (MPP). Ah well, a cultural victory was just around the corner, and Cleopatra had been patient all game.

Unbelievably, in 1940 AD, Montezuma returned to his offensive manner, and demanded 23 gold from the Egyptians. Upon being rebuffed, he declared war. Only a few turns later in 1940 AD, Greece, a turn or two after striking a luxury deal with the Egyptians, signed a military alliance with the Aztecs, and declared war against the Egyptians. It was a true return to Alexander’s despicable roots – breaching agreements at the drop of a hat. And Cleopatra suspected that it was because Alexander knew he was lost – his warmongering days had come back to haunt him, and his only hope was to destroy Thebes. Unfortunately for him, it was far too late. The Egyptians would achieve a cultural victory in 1950 AD, and expected an additional UN vote prior to that time. In 1948 AD a second vote of the UN was held – Gandhi recognized that while Greece might be a powerful nation, Alexander himself was a megalomaniac seeking only to dominate the world. Gandhi switched the vote of the Indians and Cleopatra was elected with 4 votes.

At the end of the game, Thebes had built 11 great wonders: Colossus, Great Library, Leonardo’s Workshop, Sistine Chapel, Copernicus’ Observatory, Newton’s University, Universal Suffrage, Theory of Evolution, Hoover Dam, United Nations and SETI Program, and clearly was the greatest city in the world.

The screenshot below is taken from 1940 AD when Greece betrayed the Egyptians for the last time. It gives a good sense of the Egyptian fortifications against foreign aggressors.

[Jawa Jocky]

I've never tried OCC, I don't think I have the patience for it. Is there an OCC strategy thread?

Anyway back on topic.

Playing Emperor and I get to gunpower. Of course I don't have access to saltpeter so I did something I've never done before. I gave the totally broke American's a bunch of tech's so they would have knowledge of their saltpeter. My best friends were more than happy to trade that resource to me. (I thought it would be nice since the Greeks keep attacking me). I've never done this to get a resource before, does any have an even better story regarding this strategy?

[Theseus]

Catt, great game!! Superb GA... gutsy move delaying Hoover. Greece looks damn scary.

I haven;t done an OCC either.

[BillChin]

Hello everyone. Glad to see there is still some kind of monthly game on Apolyton.

I like the AU mod. Most of the changes seem like good ones, while overall play is basically the same.

My game is on Emperor level. The great starting position allows me to make short work of the Romans with an early Swordsmen attack (1200 B.C.). Next is Persia and a Golden Age. The Golden Age makes the war much easier. Finally is Greece and the manifest destiny of ruling the Hemisphere. Persia remains on the one-tile island.

Eventually India meets me. The other continent is higher tech. I ally with the Americans and am now in the end game. Aztecs and Indians have lots of troops. I am to Infantry, but need bombers or tanks to really press the offensive. This end game is a bit tedious. The Aztecs snuck in and took one of my cities. Annoying, but of little importance. Once bombers show up, the Aztecs will pay.
- Bill

[Theseus]

Welcome back Bill!! Glad you like the mod.

[vmxa1]

I seem to remember a few OCC threads.

[BillChin]

More on the AU mod: the 8-10-1 Infantry makes attacking easier than the standard 6 attack value. I am able to storm the Aztec capital using a human wave attack. I surround the capital with my troops. The Aztecs burn a lot of units attempting to open a road to the capital. My superior production allows wave after wave of fresh troops to overwhelm the defenders in a bitter war of attrition.

In the standard game, it is unlikely my 25 or so infantry could have taken the well defended capital, with only 2 artillery. Bombers or tanks would have been needed.

One more turn until Flight and then my soldiers will have an easier time.

About what I learned, for Egypt is a good idea to hold off on War Chariots and the Golden Age until the second war. The exception may be on certain Diety level maps, when the first war may not be be won without this, or if there is no iron.
- Bill

[Jawa Jocky]

3005 point SS victory in 1790 on Emperor. I was really suprised that I won this one. I was behind in tech and had to buy Ur and Al everytime I want to build a part.

I'm still having problems riding myself of building tendencies. I keep falling off the offense and building when I should keep attacking. I ended up being the same size as Greece and all of our wars ended in stalemates. It seems like everytime I try to build an attack army they are obsolete before I get to use them.

Back to reading the forums for some more tips on the post anceint era.

[Killerdaffy]

Ok, coming back from some time off the game and 'Poly I decided to go for AU 105, Mod version, to come back.

This post will be a bit long, but I made a step by step AAR while playing and don't want to re-write everything.

4000BC: I decided to play Monarch, mostly for comparison purposes even though I normally tend to play Emperor. It shouldn't change strategy too much. The starting spot is sweet (having seen the environment in the tips & hints thread) and I'll build Theben right there. Analysis of the opponents and conditions for the game leads me to research Pottery (it's fast, only 14 turns @100%): I'll meet Greeks and Romans soon enough and I'll trade Warrior Code and Bronce Working from them. I'll build just one or two warriors right now, since there is effectively only one direction to go to.

3500BC: Shock! The Romans are *close*!

3350BC: The Romans are too close for comfort and they are blocking my way: They'll have to go, and preferably before they get Iron...

2950BC: I'll take a risk: Rome is only guarded by a warrior, so I attack Rome with only one archer (regular) in place, with another on the way. I don't like it but they developed Bronce Working 2 turns ago and oonce they have a spearman it will just be more difficult. - Shouldn't have done that. They had an archer for defence and killed mine. That was unprofessional.

2750BC: I meet the Greeks. They don't know the Romans, yet. I also got lucky and made my second archer into an Elite on the Roman expeditionary force.

2710BC: Developed the weel. Aargh! The Romans also happen to sit on the only horses in sight! I knew they had to go.

2430BC: I don't believe it! The "Lucky Bastards" generated a GL in their first fight as Elites!!! But what now? The FP is not yet available, the Pyramids (my usual choice) would trigger an immediate GA and the Colossus I can build without Ramses' help. An army it is, I guess.