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Being a Barbarian is fun!

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  • Being a Barbarian is fun!

    I found that out the hard way in a recent game of Civ 4. I had been dominating Monarch so I stepped up to Emperor and I wasn't quite prepared for the higher maintenance costs. It started kinda rough, I lost my scout fairly early after getting nothing more than a couple maps from the villagers, but otherwise I had a beautiful starting location with a couple of great nearby locations I settled immediately and the game was going great for the most part. I settled another area for horses, giving me four cities early on...and then something happened on the way to bronze working. I ran out of money...I mean I *really* ran out of money. The combination of the early scout loss meaning no money from goody huts and no techs meant I stalled out on tech long before pottery, with about 12 turns to go (at 50% tech) before bronze-working. (Emperor/Huge/Marathon/Pangea)

    I had great production from my cities, but outside a gold mine in my capitol commerce was marginal. Thus I ended up with gobs of archers for the barbarian wars and nothing to build but more archers and workers, so soon I had a small army of archers and workers and no way of paying them. I started the Parthenon at my capitol in hopes someone would soon build it and I'd get the financial windfall, but it soon became apparent my money would completely run out even with every city micro-managed to produce the most commerce possible. I finally figured in five turns I'd have 0 gold at 0% tech and a deficit of -5 and growing as I had nothing to build but more archers/workers except for settlers, and the last one of *those* had been the straw that broke the camel's back settling the fourth city for the horses.

    So I got this evil thought...you see Montezuma of the Aztecs was my nearest neighbor. If anyone deserves a little brutality at my hands it's him. He seems to be in virtually every game I start, usually right next to me (or if not he'll declare from halfway across the map with no way for me to get to him) and starts utterly pointless and destructive wars which do little more than annoy me and/or waste otherwise good starts razing his worthless Aztec ass to ashes.

    So I gathered up all my archers and a few wayward warriors and headed in his direction, a force of something like 18 archers and two or three warriors. My object was to raze a couple cities for the plunder which would allow me to restart tech and get BW and eventually pottery and get my economy going. Or at least just to buy time until someone built the bloody Parthenon and I got gobs of cash from that, as it was halfway built in my capitol already, having waiting for dozens of turns for someone to build it and thus solve my financial crisis.

    It soon became apparent I was going to run out of time just short of his nearest city. I'd run it too close to the edge, even with all my citizens going for maximum commerce forgoing things like cows/plains for unimproved water/coast hexes for the two commerce despite the fact the city would soon starve, I had a deficit of -6 at zero tech and my army would soon go on strike and start disappearing. So I got another idea....I was sitting on a nice fat floodplain filled with villages, hamlets, cottages, farms etc. Monty had been a busy little builder! I was jealous of his beautifully developed area, it looked like mine usually did when the roles were reversed and I was peacefully building away and he showed up with a couple archers and declared war for the pointless practice of pillaging my countryside. Or, even like the barbarian hordes who will stop at nothing for the chance to wreck any improvement they can get their grubby little barb hands on.

    However, unlike him I had more than a couple archers, and unlike the barbarian hordes I had a sense of strategy. Having no other option but disbanding troops two hexes from his nearest city I chose to pillage the village I was sitting on with my SOD. Completely unexpectedly, I got 26 gc just for the village! I was astonished, I hadn't pillaged anything since I first started the game, despite the 'hints' telling me it was lucrative I had been decidedly disappointed when I tested it. Otherwise I never plundered as I generally would only attack cities I planned to keep, and why would I destroy my (soon to be) own stuff?

    However, 26 gc when you've a thousand gold in the bank and 26 gc when you're on the brink of bankruptcy is quite a different thing. Hell, that was about five more turns of life! So I gleefully separated my stack to cover every improvement I could reach and started joyously pillaging everything in sight. Soon I had over 300 gc and this silly grin I couldn't wipe off my face. It was just euphoria solving my problems at Monty's expense like this I couldn't stop giggling with each and every sound effect of burning buildings. I razed his roads, despite not getting anything for them, just because I could!

    I went through his entire top-rated empire like that, as locusts leaving nothing but destruction behind. Soon his five or so city empire had nothing but a wayward unconnected road or two outside the city limits. For the most part he just turtled and took it, his couple attempts at venturing out to protect his assets being punished severely by my archers who I didn't mind losing anyway. On the open plains even a Jaguar doesn't last much longer than a two archers worth, and I still needed to lose troops.

    But like any good barbarian king, my glory was short-lived. The Aztec plunder financed my getting Bronze-working, and I took a barbarian city which had bronze in it's outside radius. Ironically I did that with the chariots I could build now that the problematic fourth city I'd built--which was in part responsible for all this--expanded with the completion of their monument and reception of Hinduism. Unfortunately that bronze was about twenty hexes away and while my army of workers reached that fairly quickly, it was impossible to keep that supply train intact with the Aztec having discovered Axmen from somewhere deep inside the bowels of it's empire, and what with those and the Jaguars and my distaff army of veteran archers and chariots actually having something to defend, it became apparent I couldn't maintain it any longer.

    The final nail in my coffin was when I built the Parthenon. Despite doing all I could *not* to build it, eventually I couldn't avoid it as I couldn't stop working the gold mine. I was amazed I could build it with that many other players, and maintaining low production in the city for about half the time. It was like the other ten or so civs were s******ing amongst themselves at the silly Celt going bankrupt thus conspired not to build it just to end my game. Also the Aztecs wouldn't give me peace despite being at war for thousands of years without my giving them my best city. I wasn't going to do that, after eons of terrorizing his once-great empire I wouldn't give Monty the bloody satisfaction.

    So I packed it in, with a lesson learned about the gravity of the economic situation on Emperor. Next time I won't build more than my initial two cities until my economy is better developed, in fact with early wars and barb cities I might not build another at all. At any rate I whiled away hours having lotsa fun destroying and pillaging the Aztecs, and now somewhat understand the mentality of the barbarian hordes who try to do the same to me every time I play 'raging.' It IS kinda fun to simply destroy and watch your gold balance get higher every turn.

  • #2
    Oh I agree, a good pillaging can be a ton of fun. Even later in the game. When you have that irratable civ half way around the world who just wont leave you alone, simply fill galeons with 3 units a piece, say a rifle and 2 cavalry, land upon his shores spread out and usually, until you move adjacent to a city, you can destroy those pesky towns and mines and knock them back to the bronze age with utter glee.
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?...So with that said: if you can not read my post because of spelling, then who is really the stupid one?...

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    • #3
      At least you seemed to be able to take it with a smile and not put a hole in the wall!

      Good luck on your next attempt!
      You Learn Something New Every Day!
      Member of the ARDA MOD (LOTR)

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Hauptman View Post
        Oh I agree, a good pillaging can be a ton of fun. Even later in the game. When you have that irratable civ half way around the world who just wont leave you alone, simply fill galeons with 3 units a piece, say a rifle and 2 cavalry, land upon his shores spread out and usually, until you move adjacent to a city, you can destroy those pesky towns and mines and knock them back to the bronze age with utter glee.
        I'll consider doing it more now. Before I wouldn't stoop to that level, being as I would hate when I was dutifully building up and some clown, often Monty, would declare and I'd find all he had for this 'war' was a few units for pillaging. No SOD, just a couple Archers/Chariots/HAs without any hope of taking a city. I'd think: 'How LAME--is this the best you can do?!?

        But for the expense, these little pillage wars are pretty cost-effective, and as I found out--lotsa fun!

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        • #5
          Originally posted by xmen510 View Post
          At least you seemed to be able to take it with a smile and not put a hole in the wall!

          Good luck on your next attempt!
          When you play the Celts, you learn to take things in stride. I don't have BTS, I'm playing CIV4 Gold, so all I have is Brennus and his Spi/Chr combination which has to be the worst in the game. At least for my style of play, as I have no probs playing the Vikings, (Agg/Fin) Greeks (Phi/Agg) and especially English with either Victoria (Imp/Fin) or Elizabeth (Fin/Phi) with whom I usually dominate.

          Being a Celt myself, and thus hopelessly stubborn, I won't consider a level 'won' until I can do it with Brennus regularly. The one thing they have going for them is the Gallic Warrior, which can be used fiendishly in combination with guerrilla improvements to make an attack force not unlike the storied knights of Civ 3. Very cool animation too, I half expect them to take out a pint of whiskey after they finish 'golfing' their way to victory.

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          • #6
            It was fun to read.
            I am myself a peaceful player and do not start wars or pillage,
            but I do find malicious pleasure early in the game, when some civ builds a road connecting its newly built cities, which have small radius. The road is often outside their culture border then, and I destroy it just to make it all harder for them
            "I realise I hold the key to freedom,
            I cannot let my life be ruled by threads" The Web Frogs
            Middle East!

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            • #7
              Pillaging is definitely fun, but building an army of privateers and hearing that gorgeous 'ca-ching'-sound about twenty times at the start of every turn while you sit back and do nothing is possibly even better
              You are all individuals

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              • #8
                i felt the same way when i started whipping, which was very recently. the thought that had occurred to me was "why didn't i do this sooner?
                I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.
                [Brandon Roderick? You mean Brock's Toadie?][Hanged from Yggdrasil]

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                • #9
                  Ah, the feeling of power when one whips. I love the sound of whipping in the morning

                  Hate the +1 unhappiness "We cannot forgive your cruel oppression"-penalty though. I mean, it's for a good cause, usually for defence, what's with the whining? They'd rather be raped, slaughtered and pillaged by invaders? Damn citizens. It's so lonely at the top.
                  You are all individuals

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                  • #10
                    Welcome to Apolyton Rempedaalops.
                    And indeed there will be time To wonder, "Do I dare?" and, "Do I dare?". t s eliot

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                    • #11
                      Thanks Supr49er! Here's to whipping and pillaging and much rejoicement
                      You are all individuals

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                      • #12
                        welcome, sir. enjoy your stay and mind the trolls.
                        I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.
                        [Brandon Roderick? You mean Brock's Toadie?][Hanged from Yggdrasil]

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                        • #13
                          Yeah, if I remember right pillaging does bring in a fair amount of cash so when you're broke it is a great way to get some spending money. Plus you'd have to disband the units anyway so why not put them to good use?
                          Try http://wordforge.net/index.php for discussion and debate.

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Rempedaalops View Post
                            Ah, the feeling of power when one whips. I love the sound of whipping in the morning

                            Hate the +1 unhappiness "We cannot forgive your cruel oppression"-penalty though. I mean, it's for a good cause, usually for defence, what's with the whining? They'd rather be raped, slaughtered and pillaged by invaders? Damn citizens. It's so lonely at the top.
                            Welcome to poly, man.
                            Try http://wordforge.net/index.php for discussion and debate.

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                            • #15
                              Cheers everyone
                              You are all individuals

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