Sid Orwell's Civ 1984

[The Mad Monk]

I've been playing the same game of Civilization II for almost 10 years. This is the result.

http://imgur.com/a/rAnZs
I've been playing the same game of Civ II for 10 years. Though long outdated, I grew fascinated with this particular game because by the time Civ III was released, I was already well into the distant future. I then thought that it might be interesting to see just how far into the future I could get and see what the ramifications would be. Naturally I play other games and have a life, but I often return to this game when I'm not doing anything and carry on. The results are as follows.

The world is a hellish nightmare of suffering and devastation.

There are 3 remaining super nations in the year 3991 A.D, each competing for the scant resources left on the planet after dozens of nuclear wars have rendered vast swaths of the world uninhabitable wastelands.

-The ice caps have melted over 20 times (somehow) due primarily to the many nuclear wars. As a result, every inch of land in the world that isn't a mountain is inundated swamp land, useless to farming. Most of which is irradiated anyway.

-As a result, big cities are a thing of the distant past. Roughly 90% of the worlds population (at it's peak 2000 years ago) has died either from nuclear annihilation or famine caused by the global warming that has left absolutely zero arable land to farm. Engineers (late game worker units) are always busy continuously building roads so that new armies can reach the front lines.

Roads that are destroyed the very next turn when the enemy goes. So there isn't any time to clear swamps or clean up the nuclear fallout.

-Only 3 super massive nations are left. The Celts (me), The Vikings, And the Americans. Between the three of us, we have conquered all the other nations that have ever existed and assimilated them into our respective empires.

-You've heard of the 100 year war? Try the 1700 year war. The three remaining nations have been locked in an eternal death struggle for almost 2000 years. Peace seems to be impossible. Every time a cease fire is signed, the Vikings will surprise attack me or the Americans the very next turn, often with nuclear weapons. Even when the U.N forces a peace treaty. So I can only assume that peace will come only when they're wiped out. It is this that perpetuates the war ad infinitum. Have any of you old Civ II players out there ever had this problem in the post-late game?

-Because of SDI, ICBMS are usually only used against armies outside of cities. Instead, cities are constantly attacked by spies who plant nuclear devices which then detonate (something I greatly miss from later civ games). Usually the down side to this is that every nation in the world declares war on you.

But this is already the case so its no longer a deterrent to anyone. My self included.

-The only governments left are two theocracies and myself, a communist state. I wanted to stay a democracy, but the Senate would always over-rule me when I wanted to declare war before the Vikings did. This would delay my attack and render my turn and often my plans useless. And of course the Vikings would then break the cease fire like clockwork the very next turn. Something I also miss in later civ games is a little internal politics. Anyway, I was forced to do away with democracy roughly a thousand years ago because it was endangering my empire. But of course the people hate me now and every few years since then, there are massive guerrilla (late game barbarians) uprisings in the heart of my empire that I have to deal with which saps resources from the war effort.

-The military stalemate is air tight. The post-late game in civ II is perfectly balanced because all remaining nations already have all the technologies so there is no advantage. And there are so many units at once on the map that you could lose 20 tank units and not have your lines dented because you have a constant stream moving to the front. This also means that cities are not only tiny towns full of starving people, but that you can never improve the city. "So you want a granary so you can eat? Sorry; I have to build another tank instead. Maybe next time."

-My goal for the next few years is to try and end the war and thus use the engineers to clear swamps and fallout so that farming may resume. I want to rebuild the world. But I'm not sure how. If any of you old Civ II players have any advice, I'm listening.

Edit: -Wow guys. Thanks for all your support. I had no idea this post would get this kind of response. -I'll be sure to keep you guys updated on my efforts. Whether here on Reddit, or a blog, or both. -Turns out a whole subreddit has been dedicated to ending this war. It's at /r/theeternalwar

http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comme...vilization_ii/

[C0ckney]

[gribbler]

Civ II is the best civ game of all time

[AAHZ]

Orwell a real civver.

[Oncle Boris]

How come he let the game reach that state?

[gribbler]

He didn't want to stop playing? And the AI's keep attacking him and using nukes?

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

That's quite profound, but also a bit mad.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

bit like us here, still posting after 10 years. Didn't we have enough of constant warfare and nuclear fallout? I guess not...

[Oncle Boris]

He didn't want to stop playing? And the AI's keep attacking him and using nukes?

The thing is that Civ2 is easy enough to beat that there's no reason not to have conquered the AIs by the time nukes exist.

[Elok]

I get the impression that he's not really the sort of hardcore Civ player who approaches it as a challenge to be defeated as quickly and efficiently as possible. If he were, he certainly wouldn't be a commie after all the techs had been discovered; that removes fundamentalism's one otherwise-gigantic weakness and makes it the best government in the game by far. I'm a pretty bad player (too lazy to be good at it), but even I know that. Anyway, I think he just likes to fart around and play in the world without bothering too much over whether he's doing it right. Note how he tried to stay a democracy, against all reason, for purely romantic purposes--he doesn't want to be a tyrant over his nonexistent digital people.

The real way out of his predicament, of course, is to open rules.txt, change every unit's cost to "20," and use the negative-gold bug to crush all before him. At this point, he might as well...

[gribbler]

No, the way out of his predicament is to turn cheat mode on. Don't you know anything?

[Hauldren Collider]

I remember playing Civ II when I was six and cheating for aircraft carriers and having them disappear because my prehistorical civilization couldn't pay the upkeep. Then I became sad and went back to playing SimTower.

[gribbler]

The first time I played civ, I built nothing but phalanxes but I never kept any of them in my cities. Instead I attempted to attack my enemies with them but without much success. The AI kept recommending that I build more of the things so I assumed that they were the best.

[Elok]

No, the way out of his predicament is to turn cheat mode on. Don't you know anything?

My way is more fun.

[Felch]

My buddy sent that to me this morning, and my first thought was the same as Elok's: Why the **** is he running Communism when the tech race is over?

[Elok]

I remember playing Civ II when I was six and cheating for aircraft carriers and having them disappear because my prehistorical civilization couldn't pay the upkeep. Then I became sad and went back to playing SimTower.

You mean the upkeep for all the aircraft carriers plus their associated aircraft? One of the goofy things about Civ is that, whether it's costing you shields/hammers or gold, a unit is a unit is a unit for support purposes. A group of obsolete archers costs you just as much per turn as a nuclear missile. Maybe they fixed that in five, but I doubt it. I think they just make you do annoying arithmetic-juggling for every resource-requiring unit the way you have to for missionaries and executives in four.

[gribbler]

Just a guess: since he's using spies to nuke people, he wants veteran spies, and that's what Communism is for.

[Felch]

That's a good point. I still think that he'd be better of going fundy, but maybe he wanted the vet spies.

[Elok]

Yeah, I considered that, but honestly, he could rush-buy three times as many spies in fundy, take a few losses from non-veterans and still have surpluses to buy other stuff, without any unrest and with the precious shields of his diminutive cities saved from support costs. Assuming I'm reading him right and he does have actual revolt problems--the way he describes it makes it sound like the barb uprisings are due to unhappiness, which isn't the case, so maybe he's just being cute. Anyway, if there is actual unrest he shouldn't tolerate that for the sake of veteran spies. If he can stand up to the computer as a commie he should crush them on a more even footing.

[Dinner]

I saw your article. It's good to see someone is writing civ related material for poly. Good job.

[Al B. Sure!]

I was inspired to write a little short-story based on this. With the population numbers and destruction he describes, there's no way they're still advanced. I saw other people on reddit writing stories inspired by this. Maybe I'll post mine on there if making an account isn't a problem. More Fallout than 1984.

Spoiler:

The caves are haunted.

He sat alone in the darkness, his heart still racing. The cool dank air had a pungent odor but his lungs screamed for it. He inhaled and exhaled rapidly, a hard rhythm like the muffled shuffle of the bare feet that had chased him. He knew they would not follow him here. Their fear was too great.

The caves are haunted.

There was protection here, in this labyrinth of concrete and steel. Even the screams above were muffled by the thick ceiling. They sounded faint and distant, though he knew he sat only a hundred feet and a few cracked, mossy steps away from the slaughter.

The Kelta would never follow him here, certain of his inevitable death in the caves. He was safe for a few hours until their raiding party moved on. Cinnati was a wasteland, a mountain of broken concrete, bent steel, and shattered bricks. The raiders would ravish their feminine spoils and offer the burnt flesh of the men to their god, Soshul. Inevitably, Soshul would go hungry as the raiders would use the charred flesh to satisfy their most pressing appetite. The Kernul (the cognomen used by all Kelta raiding chieftains who disavowed any other name on their ascendency to that exalted station) would then mark a concrete slab with the knotted cords and cross of the Kelta, declaring Cinnati annexed by the Kelta Soshulist Republik. The raiders would then move on, probably south to the swampy hills of the Kentuck.

The caves are haunted.

The thought again crossed his mind as his breathing quieted and his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He could see thick, straight shapes ahead of him; a line of evenly-spaced robust guardians that held the ceiling in place for untold centuries. They stood burdened in tribute to the long-forgotten ancestors who had constructed the caves. For a moment, he wondered how strong the ancients must have been to carve this voluminous cavern into the earth and place this line of Atlases to hold up the great weight of the mountain of Cinnati. Why would they build this, he wondered? Did the ancients flee to these tunnels when the sun god crumbled their 'towers to the sky' into the mound of Cinnati Mountain? What amazing relics of ancient hubris could he find in these caves, abandoned for centuries?

His people weren't primitive. Though they lived migratory lives, surviving off hunting and foraging through the remnants of destroyed cities, they were part of the proud Usa Confederation, heirs to the ancients. Though he had never gone further than the twin settlements of Indi and Apolis, he knew far to the west were great cities like Omaha, untouched by the ancient wrath of the sun god. When he was a child, he saw the might of the Confederation: giant silent beings, hairless metal skulls, only steely eyes peering through gas masks. Known as the 'Police' for their distinctive clear shields emblazoned with that name, they marched through Wrightpatt many years ago, a phalanx armed with an assortment of weapons from shovels to spears (railroad spikes attached to long lead pipes).

Intimidation was their strength. The Confederation Police were bogeymen to enemies and Usa citizens alike. While the Kelta raiders armored themselves with random scavenged pieces of metal, the Police wore the equipment of the ancients. While their hulking vehicles and rifles had fallen into disuse several decades before with the paucity of fuel and viable ammunition, their millennia-old masks, shields, and armor remained in pristine condition; a testament to the Confederation's status as heir to the ancients.

But there were no Police here to kill the hated Kelta raiders who pillaged above. They had not been seen in the Ohio for over two decades, despite repeated Kelta intrusions. Many believed that the sun god had returned after centuries and snuffed out Omaha in a flash of light, as he had done ancient Cinnati. The Confederation did not exist, they said, and the known world would descend into the savagery and barbarity of the Kelta Soshulists.

The caves are haunted.

His subconscious repeated the fearful mantra as he sat alone in the darkness. He dared not venture into the dank abyss, superstition eclipsing his curiosity. The cave was silent now, as not even the savages above could be heard. He wondered if they would notice his small frame running to safety amid the concrete slabs above. He couldn't stay down here much longer. The caves are haunted.

He touched his wet brow, noticing his hand trembling. His eyes darted from column to column, wary of a creature emerging from behind the concrete. The caves are haunted. He stood as his heart raced. The caves are haunted. He turned to the cave's entrance, a few dozen feet away. Surely the Kelta would not be monitoring the entrance. There is no sense in remaining in this cursed cave. The caves are haunted.

He darted for the entrance, tripping over the broken steps. As a sting of pain crossed his face and blood entered his mouth, he hobbled into the bright light above. He knew the Kelta heard him. He knew the Kelta were picking up their weapons. He could hear the rattle of their armor and the shuffle of their bare feet. He ran. The caves are haunted.

[Zoetstofzoetje]

The first time I played civ, I built nothing but phalanxes but I never kept any of them in my cities. Instead I attempted to attack my enemies with them but without much success. The AI kept recommending that I build more of the things so I assumed that they were the best.

same here, i won eventually though, it was a matter of stacking enough of them.

[Tuberski]

This is on the front page of Yahoo right now.

ACK!

[Dinner]

link or STFU!

[gdijedi7]

I remember one truly epic game of mine, though not nearly so epic as this one is.

I was a Democratic America on the large world map (I loved that thing. Wish I could still play on a world map with real starting locations.). In something like 200 BC, I'd saved Cleopatra from being anihilated, so we quickly became allies...and stayed that way while I conquered everything else on the map, including the Mongols who'd conquered all of Asia, and half of Europe. And (this will surely make Sid happy, since the game is increasingly designed to heavily discourage nukes) I never used a single nuclear weapon.

Of course, that was back in the day before the game decided that whatever you did for it wasn't enough to make it actually like you...

[Ben Kenobi]

I had a game just finished.

"Fall of Great Kesh" with the Kyra.

Turn one, Kesh DOWs me. Turn 3 Manikor DOW me. Turn 5, Telis DOW me. For those playing at home, that's my northern, western, and eastern border all fighting a war against me. I'm a tiny monarchy with the lowest population and production. I manage to sell units to get caravans to crank out Mike's Chapel.

Shift units around to defend the key points, build city walls in my cap and 2 other core cities to form the 'iron triangle', start cranking out dragoons.

Manikor roll over one city, drain themselves of all their units trying to take hard fortress A guarding the western approach to the iron triangle.

Telis, easily crush the most eastern city. I started with 7 cities, and am already down to 5. Telis successfully smash through the entire eastern defense of the iron triangle and succeed in breaking through, taking my southern cities. I'm down to just 3 cities. Fail to break through to the iron triangle.

Kesh signed peace with Midekemia, also on northern border, Midekemia DOWs me to join the 'great war with Kyra". Empire of Novindus and Empire of Kesh end their eternal war. So Kesh can now devote all her resources to the conquest of her former territories. Starting first with little ol' me who blocks progress.

Once I get 5 dragoons, start crushing the manikor, I managed to destroy the last of their initial troop buildup, and cut through to the heart of their nation. Negotiate peace, decline stating, you DOWed me, not the other way around. No peace. Drive through and conquer them entirely, cranking up the dragoon numbers and triple my initial population. One down. Now, I'm catapulted into third position (that is how strong the Manikor were, I put most of my troops out west and weakened the east.

Meanwhile, Kesh got Leo's and got rifled arms. All of their massive initial troop buildup is converted from muskets to rifles. They easily crush the iron triangle northern barrier. Manage to take the eastern portion of the 'iron triangle', my largest and strongest city. The Pyramids have fallen and so has Copes, which was in a trash city in the south.

Dragoons return to Kyra, force stalemate with the Empire of Great Kesh, holding the other end of the iron triangle. Military leader, "we need more naval technologies".

Look at the map and realize that I can force a stalemate, but that I need to start teching up by theiving. But, as I desperately need the Dragoong to build up my 'non-existant army', I actually stick to vet dragoons vs non vet riflemen.

Eventually retake the iron triangle, and protect the northern fortress with dragoons, but know that my time is coming if I don't start getting back into the tech race. My desperate dragoons keep rushing as fast as they can to invade the Telis cities, (I don't care about my trash cities in the south).

Break through the Telis, rush, take all of their cities and quickly occupy. Northern fortress holding as about half my troops are there grinding down Kesh's massive initial troop advantage.

Wrap up and regain my territory from the Telis. We've been fighting 50 years non-stop. I haven't built a non-unit in any city from the beginning of the game and I only just got my territory back. Conquer the Colossus from Telis.

Next turn get a message (I'm still using Musketeers and Dragoons). "Flight has cancelled the effects of the Colossus". Umm, what? I have muskets and now you have the ability to build planes? ****.

Midekemian 'campaign' stalls out as bombers (yes bombers only require flight), start kicking my ass. I lose most of the Telis territory, and Kesh retakes city number 3, trying to end this 'civil' war.

Novindus and the Ancients sign an alliance with Kesh, (since they feel Kesh will win). They both have massive navies, so I strip all my units out of my cities, and put them in internal fortresses to prevent the advance of Kesh's ground troops. Put them also in internal fortresses in Manikor ex-territory, so that when they drop units to take a city, I can counter-attack and take it back.

Already I'm enjoying this game, because, damn, how often do you see that?

I can't even crank out spies, just diplomats. Shift production from Dragoons to diplomats, steal tech from each of my former cities as Kesh advances and I retreat. Eventually, I get flight, after losing about 15 cities (about half my empire), and get somewhat caught up in tech. start building fighters, and use Tactics and amphib to push back his troops.

Get Communism, so I finally convert to Commie, just so I'm not monarchy. Kesh doesn't have Fundy, nobody has Fundy but Novindus that has a massive cash advantage, due to building the Statue of Fundamentalism. So much for my strategy of building Mikes? Keep cranking out the cavalry and eventually push Kesh out from my territory and from the Telis territory again. Stalemate on the Midekemian front.

To give you an idea of Midekemia, think of one city size 15, their capital, never been taken.

Every other city in the entire border is size 3 or 4. The whole area is a wasteland of war due to being on the frontlines 24/7. Realize I cannot project sufficient advantage to actually hold the cities in this area. But the fighting continues, because 'there's no where else to fight!'

Kesh gets advanced flight, (which in this scenario), gets you jet bombers are the way of the future. It also makes stealth 'fighters', stealth 'pussies'. They can't attack other *air units* only ground units. Which means that with the vet jet bombers, they have massive range, and can destroy any unit anywhere. They proceed to lay waste on my depolyed army. I decide to take a gamble, and take 5 cavalry units all the way up to the Kesh/Novindus front and occupy a mountain on the hill. This has the effect of cutting off their ground advance, and trapping their units. Then I manage to finally defeat the Midekimean capital.

Novindus has succeeded in taking the war torn coast, their first cities on the Keshian mainland. This proved to be fatal. I was able, through diplomacy, eventually able to get enough techs from Kesh (by running diplomats all the way up the tiny string to the mountain fortress, then going from there to steal technology. Stole espionage from the Novindus city, after I had gotten all their other techs from Kesh. Still about 10 techs behind Kesh, and praying they don't get Armors. Armors are souped up in this scenario.

I then get a brilliant inspiration that changes the whole outcome of the war. I'm capped on how many troops I can build due to my economy. Rather than putting everyone on troops, I actually reduce my troop count, and build up the former Midikemian capital. The idea being to shelter some troops from the bombers, and build up the stack, slowly but surely, while the bombers could do nothing against the border fortresses, or the cities. My General goes ballastic. The wealth dude is all, "let's do lunch sir" So here I am about to lose a war where I am going to be crushed, and I am building marketplaces and banks. Oh, and I decide that it's a good thing to be building Railroads, so that I can link my cities together to help Kesh conquer me faster.

100 turns into the game I finally build my first marketplace, still not under fundy.

Get my large stack and split the stack to try to protect another city. Big mistake, bombers cut me a new one, but I managed to salvage half the stack of 10 units to 5.

Kesh finally breaks through the northern fortress, the only thing holding back all their ground troops. I steal Rocketry, but it doesn't really help me against the bombers. Kesh bribes the city that I've been using to stack up defenses so that I could eventually turn the tide. Not only do they get half of my military, they get the best half. I have no defenses on the rest of the front, all my troops defending the northern front, not the cities.

Kesh retakes the wasteland that is now Midekemia, and takes all the Telis cities, retakes the third city on the iron triangle. This marks their high water mark. 150 turns in the war, and I'm just about done for. Finally, Novindus researches Armor, and takes one of my coastal cities in the Manikor area. They hold it easily, but I instantly rush spies, and take Fundamentalism (thank God!) and Armor. I sell off all my remaining obsolete units to build up a core of 5 armor, all under SAMs, deep in my territory, just out of bomber range. Kesh announces that they want to wipe my nation off the face of the map - and wants to end it with capital number 3 of the rebel caps.

The tanks plus railroads, rip through their entire ground forces, in a huge turn. I lose 0 tanks and destroy (tanks getting 5 moves) 15 units on the front. Kesh can't build more because we've been fighting for so long already that neither one of us has any reserves. Destroy another 15 the next turn, and one more group of 15 to end their advance.

Then I start retaking my cities, since Kesh is pratically defenseless. Novindus offers me peace(sensing that the loss of 45 precious ground troops meant the end of the war of Kesh, and that they'd better get behind the only authority now. Again - you declared war on me, I am not giving you guys peace. No nukes since nobody's built the Manhattan project.

Tanks roll through Kesh, and I finally go up to number 2 worldwide, with the worldwide empire of Novindus (still at war with me, but no land borders), owns the sea with a massive navy, and with 5x my production (despite the fact that I tripled the size of my nation by taking Kesh).

Only then can I finally start the rebuilding after the civil war. All the cities in Midekemia are trash, and I really need to fix the economy, now that I don't have to go on a total war front.

Fix everything, get to productive parity, and build up a massive naval force. I eventually manage to steamroll Novindus, with epic naval battles. It wasn't crucial to the overall results because once I was able to effectively harness the resources of Kesh, the war was pretty much over.

But I still can't get over how Kesh bribed the lynchpin city of my admittedly piss-poor 'strategy' of staving off the bomber war. Had Novindus not researched Armor I would have been done for.

So, key to the game. Yes, white goods are so powerful that even if you lose half your empire, building white goods will make you more powerful. Also, RRs rock. You should spend money building engineers to build railroads even if you have no troops.

Funniest part of the game ever, after I beat Kesh?

"We need more soldiers, general, any half-baked revolutionary could whip our army where it stands!"

[Tuberski]

link or STFU!

www.yahoo.com

ACK!

[Alexander's Horse]

My son sent me the article. That guy must be the most incompetent player ever or just wants to keep playing. There is no way a game could go that long if he was playing well, unless possibly he went huge map and didn't take advantage of some rules like city bribe. Civ II is my favorite, I still play it, but the AI just isn't that smart. I think he made the whole scenario up.

[N35t0r]

tldr, but after global swampization, your infrastructure (roads and rails) should still be in place. Your army of engineers should quickly turn everything back to grassland. Only incompetent players suffer from it.

[Felch]

He mentioned the enemies are pillaging the roads, but you're right that he should have had enough engineers to deal with whatever came up.

Of course we all know that if he were any good then he's have won before it even became an issue.