AU502 DAR4: Steam Power

[Rhothaerill]

Rhoth's AU502 DAR 4b

Demigod level - AU mod

440ad - Capture Bad-Tibira and a worker

450ad - Capture Tyendanaga and the saltpeter source. Now they won't have any strategic resources at all during this war since both other civs they know are at war with them.

460ad - Capture Lagash. I haven't really come up against any real opposition yet. I've been methodical with my stacks and haven't let my knights get ahead of my 20 trebuchet force. The result has been that I haven't lost too many knights at all while attacking the Sumerian cities.

480ad - The Sumerians destroy the Iroquois. A side benefit. Now I don't have to bother with them again since they still hated me despite the alliance. And I capture Agade, their ivory source (so that I don't have to pay the German for one anymore) and that brand new Bach's Cathedral they built a few turns ago. Thanks.

490ad - A round of trading. I trade 78gpt to France for astronomy. I then trade astronomy and 400 gold to the Aztecs for chemistry. And then I trade astronomy and chemistry to the Germans for printing press, music theory, 50gpt, and 110 gold. I didn't really need the techs from the Germans, but I wanted to have the potential for democracy later in the game and they were just fill-ins since that was all the gold they had. But after all was said and done I paid only 43gpt and 110 gold for four techs.

500ad - Capture Ur along with the Statue of Zeus, Leonardo's Workshop (thanks again ), the Oracle, and the Great Library. Not a bad haul.

510ad - Somehow I missed it before, but the Aztecs offered me 1183 gold for music theory...a tech that is worthless since Bach's is already built.

520ad - Capture Erech...and in the process gain my fourth great leader which I turn into a three-knight army. The amount of leaders I've received has been pretty good. I haven't actually promoted that many units to elite since the Celts are no longer militaristic. But I've taken pretty good care of most of the elites I do have and the result has been three armies and the forbidden palace.


to be continued...

[Rhothaerill]

Rhoth's AU502 DAR 4c

Demigod level - AU mod

550ad - Capture Kish. I still haven't lost all that many units thanks to using my trebuchets to soften up the opposition in every city.

570ad - Settle Ratae Coritanorum to encroach on German lands and prepare for the eventual conquest of the Germans.

580ad - I abandon Cauhnawaga which was one of the cities on the south island I had received from the Iroquois. I couldn't protect it adequately enough from the small stack the Sumerians brought next to it.

590ad - The French complete Copernicus Observatory. I also settle Tolosa...this one close to Sumer, the only remaining Sumerian city on the continent. This served two purposes. One it's a combat settler designed to bring my forces to the doorstep of the opposing city quickly, and two there was a large gap of unused tiles that I filled in with it.

600ad - Navigation is discovered by the French so I end up trading world maps with them and the Aztecs so I don't have to bother exploring their coast anymore. And then I capture Sumer and kick the Sumerians off to their island cities. My alliance with Germany hasn't ended yet so I kept the war going a little longer.

610ad - Settle Lindum to fill more unused Sumerians tiles. They were pretty lax in number of cities settled on their initial land.

620ad - The alliance with Germany ends so I give peace to Sumeria for navigation and their world map. I unfortunately couldn't get any of their cities despite the havoc I created in their homeland. The Germans are now annoyed with me again even though I did everything properly with ending the alliance before ending the war. Oh well it just means they will be my next target all the sooner.

I also trade incense, dyes, spices, and 350 gold to France for metallurgy which results in an upgrade of all my trebuchets to cannons.

660ad - Settle Nemausus near the spot I had abandoned Cauhnawaga earlier.

670ad - Germany and Sumeria sign a peace accord.

740ad - I trade 65gpt and 50 gold to France for physics. They've been my best trading partner so far. During this time I've been building up my knight forces for the upgrade to cavalry and then I plan to start a world war. Since the Germans have saltpeter and iron it will be tougher to dislodge them than Sumeria.

770ad - Aztecs complete Magellans Voyage.

810ad - Germany, France, and the Aztecs all enter the next age all of a sudden. They were all two techs away from it, but now they've all advanced and have researched democracy to boot. Must have been a three way between Joan, Monte and Bizzy...uhh three way trade that is. I give the Byzantines incense, dyes, and wine for military tradition, their world map and 95 gold. If I can't get in on the trading and it still costs too much to buy the techs then I'm going to prepare to take them with cavalry. I also give banking to Sumeria for 110 gold and their world map, but that was just more to keep the money out of the hands of the big three.

820ad - Now Joan wants to trade. The prior luxury deal we had expired this turn so I'm able to give her spices, dyes, wines, the world map, and 1400 gold for magnetism and theory of gravity. Apparently medicine was the German's free tech as no one has steam power yet. So I start it as quickly as I can (which isn't really that quick )

830ad - My forces are in place on the German border so I declare war on them. I give chemistry to the Sumerians for an alliance to keep the islands busy while I go after the main cities. I capture Umma and the Great Lighthouse which used to be a Sumerian city. All of my cannons are in the south though, prepped to bombard the big cities.

Back to my world war comment earlier. The Aztecs and French had been in a war when I met them, but after that became good trading partners. I didn't want to see them get too far ahead as they were both KAI status...quick researches and had the two biggest armies in the field (my army was weak to both, despite being strong to all others). I had a good relationship with France while the Aztecs didn't like me so I declared war on them and then brought France into it for 280 gold. And finally I brought the Byzantines into the war against both the Aztecs and Germans for Theory of Gravity. That also catapulted them into the next age where they received steam power...but wouldn't trade it to me, even for all the gold and gpt I had.

And here is another funny little saying. I used to never pay attention to what they would say to me in the diplomacy boards, but I've actually been reading them this time and they're pretty funny.


to be continued...

[Rhothaerill]

Rhoth's AU502 DAR 4d

Demigod level - AU mod

840ad - I had rushed a galley in Sumer with the sole intent to plop several musketmen down on top of the German's only source of saltpeter. I plopped them last turn and one survived (barely) so I was able to cut their supply this turn. They still had a bunch of musketmen and a few cavalry (someone must have sold them horses when I wasn't looking since the Sumerians had grabbed the only horse resources on the islands).

I capture Hamburg in the north along with 52 gold and 2 workers. All my units were beat up by now as I had not softened up the city with cannons beforehand. In the south, after a bit of cannon-softening, I took Frankfurt with no loss and little damage.

850ad - The Germans park a bunch of units next to Hamburg. My units hadn't healed yet so instead of trying to hold the city and lose all my units I retreated and abandoned the city. I also had to disband two slave workers as they wouldn't have been quick enough to move out of the way of the German units and would have been recaptured.

I also decide to bring in France into the German war for 470 gold and Sumeria into the Aztec war for physics. I didn't want either one to sign an alliance and start attacking me.

A quick look at the diplo screen...a lot of red, but it would get worse soon.


to be continued...

[Rhothaerill]

Rhoth's AU502 DAR 4e

Demigod level - AU mod

860ad - In between the last installment and this one I almost lost Umma because of misjudgment. I expected the Germans to counterattack against my forces that I had spread out near Berlin and Frankfurt but they did not. Instead they sent several units along the roads that were still in place near Umma. The cavalry I still had in Frankfurt was just barely able to get there and attack as most of the units in Umma were the ones that hadn't had a chance to heal yet after abandoning Hamburg. I lost several units to their one musketman and a pesky defending medieval infantry, but I had just enough healthy units to destroy all but one of their stack...and my units in Umma would be all healed by next turn and could get back into the fray against the next stack the Germans had sent that way.

870ad - Settle Curovernum as another combat settler. This city location gave me access to get to either Berlin or Munich with my cannons in only one turn from the new city.

880ad - Capture Berlin. I lost a few units as they had six musketmen in the city...and it was on a hill! I didn't realize that until afterward.

890ad - The French landed two cavalry near my minimally protected cities on the southern island last turn. This turn, totally unprovoked and while they were still gracious to me, they attacked me. I counterattacked and all in all lost six gallic swordsmen while killing their two cavs, with only one surviving. They had more unist on the way so I decided to abandon those cities again. In case of German sea attacks from the islands and possible Aztec sea attacks, I had been building up more cavalry forces in old Iroquois lands after sending most of them to the German front. It was a good thing too since now the French would be sending units after me as well. I decided once again to pull in more help so I enlisted the Byzantines for 280 gold and the Sumerians for theory of gravity to make sure the French didn't get either of them on their side. I was now involved in a war with all three major AI powers at once (though the French were also still at war with Germany and the Aztecs too). I felt reasonably safe with my cavalry defense in the south so I continued on with my march into German lands.

910ad - The Aztecs call up and give me 100 gold for peace. I was happy since they were still at war with everyone else and I could opt out of being at war with at least one of the major powers for now. And a bonus...with France having declared on me, the extra luxuries I had traded them recently were back so I gave all three to the Aztecs along with 20 gold for steam power! And I have coal...not that I doubted it with the amount of former-jungle in my lands. let the railroading begin.

A quick look at what is about to happen on the German front and then on to DAR#5.


to be continued...

[Catt]

DAR 4 – Emperor – Stock Rules

In 1080 AD the French declared war. Bastards! With the home continent in control, with virtually all of the wonders of the world, with the leading economy and a 4-turn pace, Brennus decided all his goals had been met, and given other pressing matters planned on just coasting to a win via diplo or spaceship (possibly culture). He envisioned a burst of activity at the coming of Steam Power, but was content to let the years pass without effort or interest.

The French of course could do nothing to the Celtic empire. Brennus’ troops occasionally destroyed small French landing parties, but took no offensive action. As the war concluded, Brennus began to again trade luxuries to the French. The idyllic life returned. Though the French built Copernicus’ Observatory, with their early branch lead (Brennus had researched south through Metallurgy to prolong the life of the Temple of Artemis), all remaining wonders would be Celtic – Magellan’s Voyage was rushed by an SGL with only 6 turns to go (nothing better for an SGL to do) on the same turn as Adam Smith’s was completed. Newton’s University was built in Niagara Falls (the FP city). With the control of wonders, the Celtic cities enjoyed maintenance-free barracks, granaries, markets, harbors, banks, and temples for a time. Again the French declared war, and again Brennus ignored it – though the interruption of luxury trades was quite annoying. Peace soon reigned again.

Hordes of Celtic workers awaited the discovery of Steam Power, as soon as it was discovered, rails were laid across the land.

Catt

[Arrian]

My God man! Hold that SGL for ToE or Hoovers, if you've nothing better to do with it! You can have more than 1, so holding a SGL is in no way deterimental!

That's free insta-Hoovers you had there!

-Arrian, who needs to start this game (after he forgets the map )

[jshelr]

Originally posted by Arrian
My God man! Hold that SGL for ToE or Hoovers, if you've nothing better to do with it! You can have more than 1, so holding a SGL is in no way deterimental!

That's free insta-Hoovers you had there!

-Arrian, who needs to start this game (after he forgets the map )

When you get as far ahead as Catt was and when you don't want to go to war so you can finish sooner in real clock time, then building Hoovers with shields is cheap and anything that speeds research has priority. Probably should have hit the "speed research" button (even if he was already at 4-turns per tech). Not sure why any wonder needed help to be built in his situation.

[Arrian]

The scientific GA thing is buggy, so I understand not doing that.

-Arrian

[jshelr]

You are correct. If you dial down research on the last turn, for example, to a level that shows you will get the tech in one turn, sometimes you fail to get it.

It does seem to speed research, however. At least in my imagination.

[vmxa1]

I only use it for science once and it dropped the turns from 6 to 4, but later I was stuck on 2 (IIRC) for at least two turns. So in the end I gain no turns. Have not tried it since.

[Catt]

Originally posted by Arrian
My God man! Hold that SGL for ToE or Hoovers, if you've nothing better to do with it! You can have more than 1, so holding a SGL is in no way deterimental!

That's free insta-Hoovers you had there!

-Arrian, who needs to start this game (after he forgets the map )

jshelr pretty much nailed it, although I hadn't yet put the pedal to the metal on tech advancement -- I actually researched PP, Demo, and FA just so I could build Shakespeare's when there really was no need. At the point of the SGL, I knew that the game was put away and that ToE and Hoovers couldn't possibly be lost. On the other hand, it was the last point of any sort of appearence of tech risk -- the French had beelined to Navigation and were also building MV; I doubt they would've got it, but, (1) with the SGL "science GA" buggy as all hell, (2) a good handful of techs left in the Middle Ages (ToE and Hoover's a long time off), and (3) the fact that SGLs bar MGLs (in case someone declared and landed leader-fodder for me - I still had to build the Pentagon IIRC, so an MGL would be put to good use), I just figured I'd use the thing right away. In retrospect, I could've used it on the Pentagon, I guess.

Remember, this was a real sandbox game, and at the time I was only just realizing that the AIs were at the point of stagnation. Heck, I built Bach's instead of Copes, and after Smith's and MV on the same turn, beelined for FA and Shakespeare's. I don't do that very often

Catt

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by Arrian
My God man! Hold that SGL for ToE or Hoovers, if you've nothing better to do with it! You can have more than 1, so holding a SGL is in no way deterimental!

That depends. If you're at peace, holding a SGL is in no way detrimental. But having a SGL prevents you from getting MGLs, and is thus definitely detrimental during a military campaign where you expect MGLs to appear.

The proper name for the science boost a SGL can provide is Age of Scientific Discovery, or ASD if we want to use an acronym. It would probably be good if we got in the habit of using the correct term and acronym.

In my experiemce, setting the science slider two notches high the last turn of research during an ASD seems to reliably get a tech on schedule (although preparing for that that may require setting the slider higher than appears necessary earlier in the research process). Still, the research cost bug is a very annoying one, especially since I'm pretty sure I've also seen it at times when I wasn't in an ASD.

Nathan