My Civilization Notebook

[Shrapnel12]

I really loved reading the summaries of your games. They sounded very exciting. The bad part is, I always feel left out. My games never seem to be as exciting when people describe their games. For example, you mentioned some very exciting diplomatic action. Getting several civs on your side, having them actively help you with wars, being able to have them attack other civs. I get very frustrated because I can never do any of this. The civs are never more then pleased with me and most are cautious because they always make outrageous demands of me and I won't give in. If I get someone to declare war, they hardly do anything. Finally, I can hardly ever get them to do anything. The options are almost always in red, even if the coutries are pleased with me. I'm almost embarassed to admit, but I still play on Cheiftain. Perhaps this is part of my problem? I always win at this level, so maybe I need to try going higher. I tried the next level up once, but started to get my butt kicked because I didn't have a large enough army, a problem I suffer from frequently at levels above cheiftain. Just can't seem to make those troops fast enough.

[wodan11]

Shrapnel, if you read carefully, you can see that he did "an aggressive program of spreading" his religion (Hinduism). Religion is probably the single most important influencer on diplomacy. Most of the time, all you have to do is get a religion in more cities of an AI than any other religion, and he'll switch on his own. There are a few other things you can do, such as pay them to stop trading with another civ. Eventually, you build up negatives between one AI and anoher, and you build up positives between you and the first AI. At that point, it's easy to get him to join you in a war against the second AI.

Wodan

[ayronis]

Originally posted by Crossfire
In that I already generally have more war than I can handle when playing with Better AI (see my post about getting my butt kicked) I haven't turned Aggressive AI on. Do you find that it makes the AI's more aggressive toward each other and not necessarily just to you?

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to post this, I really enjoyed reading it.

Thank you, I am happy to hear that others enjoyed reading it.

My experience with Aggressive AI turned on has been a mixed bag. It works differently with BetterAI, but in standard Warlords it does exactly what you'd expect - increases the amount of aggression - toward you and the other AIs. I have seen a higher frequency of AI-AI wars with it on, but without the BetterAI mod, they rarely have the tactical ability to take more than a peripheral city or two, so it ultimately means more stupid wars against the player.

Aggressive AI works differently in BetterAI. Not only does it turn up the aggression of the various leaders, but it also allows them to ignore current relationships if there is something significant to gain from a war. Normally a 'pleased' status with an AI is enough to protect you from everyone but the traitors, like Catherine, but with Aggression on, even your allies will attack you if they see something they want bad enough. I have not experimented enough to have a preference for which is more "fun", but I can state that there is certainly a difference. Monty would have probably attacked me much sooner in Game 7, for example, if I had turned on Aggressive AI.

Originally posted by Shrapnel12
I really loved reading the summaries of your games. They sounded very exciting. The bad part is, I always feel left out. My games never seem to be as exciting when people describe their games. For example, you mentioned some very exciting diplomatic action. Getting several civs on your side, having them actively help you with wars, being able to have them attack other civs. I get very frustrated because I can never do any of this.

I think Wodan touched on one of the main reasons for the diplomatic situations in my games - early religious lines have a huge impact on who will befriend whom during the game. It isn't the only factor, but it is very important.

You should not be afraid to exchange tech or resources with an ally or two either. I realize that you want to "win" but the long term benefits of trading tech, even giving some away from time to time, can go a long way toward creating a diplomatic environment that is more favourable to your goals.

[ayronis]

Game 8
Prince, Smartmap (New World), RagingBarb, BetterAI
random> Qin Shi Huang - China (red-pink)

I was in the mood for more complex diplomacy and after writing the report for Game 3 I decided to try a Terra-like game again. The Smartmap has a Terra-like setting called New World which does virtually the same thing, so I experimented with the settings until I found some that I liked and I fired up a fresh map.

The noble games had been fun but, now that I was back in the habit, I needed a greater challenge, so I went back up to Prince, my preferred setting. The game opens and I discover that I am to play as Qin and that my start is rather desert-like and poor. I move the settler east a couple turns until I find some flood-plains next to hills.

(sorry about the graphics glitch, there are better maps below)


My second city was a resource grab on a defendable hill towards the Ottomans, my eastern neighbour. My third city was further north, near food and flat-lands that would later host many towns. For the rest of the game these three cities would constitute the crux of my civilization because all other cities, no matter how developed they became, were too far away and too specialized to be considered crucial to my empire.

The AIs grab the remaining areas around me and they begin to develop faster than me. Saladin (Arabs), my northern neighbour, circumnavigates the globe by 850BC and becomes an early leader, while MehmedII (Ottomans), my eastern neighbour, got some free tech from goodie huts and was the early tech leader. Mehmed initially converts to Buddhism, which would have linked him with civs far from me, but Saladin founded Confucianism in 550 BC and, shortly after it spread to me, I was able to make some missionaries and convert Mehmed creating a Confucian bloc in the middle of the continent.

I struggled to catch up in tech most of the game and fear of an ever increasing Ottoman military kept me from fully committing to commerce and research. By 660 AD I had built the Great Library and had three coastal cities, but their growth was painfully slow because of the abundance of desert in my region. I experimented with Caste System during the late first millennium but had mixed results and failed to produce any useful advantages. Meanwhile, Saladin seemed to stagnate at this point while Mehmed significantly increased his lead spreading northward into the arctic forests that had previously been the domain of barbarians and snowmen.

I finally get some Triremes and Galleys on the water during the 10th and 11th centuries, but I find that the nearest continent is already populated by a barbarian city and a German colony. Shortly after I found my first colony there, the German's discover Taoism and their colony becomes a holy city. From this point forward I begin to like Fredrick (Germans) less and less. Three times he builds wonders the turn or two before I am about to complete mine. While I'm busy giving Fred the evil-eye, in 1310 AD Mehmed decides to invade India in the northeast corner of the world and in less than 100 years, takes 3 of their cities and makes Gandhi a vassal.

I continue to build defensive units to hold off Mehmed while pursuing better naval technologies. In 1570, I finally discovered the New World south and west of me and immediately tried to colonize it, but my first two colonies were annihilated by the locals. Bringing more military on my second voyage is more successful and I grab three of the most fruitful regions of the new continent. For the first hundred years, these colonies cost me a fortune, but by the middle of the 1700's they are finally starting to provide more than just resources to the Chinese empire.

Pic Series:
See the natives advance upon Macau
See the survivors flee
See the natives turn on Shadong
See the reinforcements arrive too late

By this point there had only been a single war in the game. Mehmed had crushed Gandhi in a matter of turns, but otherwise the only conflict in the world was against the native barbarians. In 1755 Saladin became a peaceful vassal of Mehmed, and I thought that things were going to change, but I was wrong; peace reigned until the end of the game.
My late game strategy was determined as soon as Saladin signed with Mehemed - I knew that the world loved one another too much to risk invading anyone without losing friends, and since my empire was stretched over three continents, I could not risk fighting a multi-fronted war. For most of the game I had run a 10% cultural slider, now it would seem that it was my only hope.

I built Broadway in 1836 and the Eiffel Tower, and Rock 'n Roll shortly afterwards. My cultural output exploded as I pushed up the cultural slider as high as I could afford to, and I traded all my techs and resources as necessary to ensure that the world liked me enough to ignore me. Nobody tried to stop me. 1969 AD Culture Win.




Discussion: Game or Simulator?
It was slightly absurd that Mehmed did not try to attack me however. This is where we have to make a decision about whether Civ is a game or a simulator - although I can see the advantages to both, it shouldn't try to BE both. If Mehmed had even the smallest interest in winning, he would have attacked me at SOME point. His power was usually three or more times higher than mine...


...but yet, he never did. He didn't attack me because we were "allies", shared a similar religion and had a history of friendship. As a simulator, this is good, and I can see the importance of creating a believable notion of 'friendship' in the game, but on the other hand, I won, and nobody even tried to stop me. I think my next game will be with Aggressive AI turned back on - Blake says that the AI in BetterAI will ignore relationships if he or she wants something bad enough; while this may be less 'real', it will probably be more fun.





Highpoint: Once again, it was exciting and dramatic to explore the New World and to fight battles against hoards of native peoples with only a limited team of military units. Losing my first two colonies was a bit harsh, but I learned my lesson. I spent most of the game expecting to try for the culture win, and I discovered that the benefits of having a high culture in the late game are frequently underappreciated. It was very useful having three or more tiles between my heartland and any of my neighbours.

[ayronis]

Game 9 -
Prince, Smartmap (New World), RagingBarb, BetterAI
Genghis Khan - Mongolia (brown)

I craved horsemen. My favourite units in the ancient age have always been the horse-based units because mobility is such a crucial consideration when taking risks and I hate being limited because my defences are too slow. Since I craved horseman, I began shopping around for who to try next, and I realized that I had not tried Mongolian keshiks with stables (Ger) yet.

Reviewing my Civ Notebook here I noted the following:
Game 2 - Diplomatic Win, 3 - Time, 5 - Domination, 7 - Space, and 8 - Culture, this meant that I lacked only the conquest victory to complete the cycle.

I loaded a new Smartmap-New World map and find that my starting region is dry and flat with mountains and hills in the distance south. I moved south, away from the coast, which is always a hard decision, but the food was too hard to resist.



The early exploration reveals that I am on a medium sized continent with four other AI's, apparently the Smartmap put the remaining two in the eastern hemisphere somewhere else. In 2720 BC I found Beshbalik, a lynch-pin in my strategy, in the centre of the continent at a tactical position beside three flood plains and several hills. I bee-line for Horseback Riding whilst building mines and farms everywhere. The hoard begins as two Combat II Keshiks eventually join the cluster of chariots waiting to march to war.



In 925 BC the Arab war begins as I invade my southern neighbour driving a dagger straight between his capital with second city and his two peripheral cities. The hoard then back-pedals and consumes the peripheral cities before returning to Mecca for their first conquest. The Arabs, with BetterAI, mount a fairly decent defence but they are no match for the Hoard. I count Mecca among my possessions and look eastward toward Egypt.

The Egyptians resisted longer than expected, but their fortutude only aided me in the end. The first Egyptian war, in 250 AD, demonstrated how powerful cultural defensive bonuses can be before catapult is discovered. My economy was grinding to a halt under the weight of my new Arabian cities and the expense of the war and after pillaging Hatshepsut's infrastructure, there was nothing left to rob so I sued for peace. Her tech lead was substantial and she agreed to give me 3 techs, which went a long way towards amending my tech problems. Once I had Construction the catapults began to roll out and her fate was sealed. I counted Thebes among my possessions in 1040, the same year I founded Taoism.

My economy was suffering. The production advantage that helped me to destroy two civilizations was no longer sufficient to support the empire. One solution I came up with was to grab a religion and fortune smiled on me because I founded Taoism. Most of the Middle Ages were spent focusing on the construction of a solid economy based on this, and Islam, which I founded in 1240. I even persuaded Gandhi to convert for much of the game even though he possessed the Buddhist holy city.



I launched a crusade against Hannibal in 1500 AD that led to his demise as well. He offered much less resistance than Hatshepsut did and by 1595, Hannibal's head was mounted in my garden where I drank his wine and ate his fish.

My last neighbour, Gandhi, was keeping up with me technologically but possessed almost nothing in the way of productive tiles and would never truly be a threat to me. This afforded me the opportunity to begin expanding into the two unoccupied continents of the world. Thus, we met Tokugawa.

Tokugawa was strong in this game. When we met, he possessed a significant tech lead over me and had built nearly all the wonders that had eluded me. I was also surprised to discover that Wang Kon, the last civ, was his vassal. Tokugawa was the sole master of the north and thus my real enemy. Our colonies quickly came into conflict. In 1750 the First Japan War began. I seized his only colony in the middle continent and was drawn into a naval war that he very certainly won. Wave after wave of caraval appeared and sank my neglected navy. My first galleons tried to turn the tide but his first frigates pushed me back on land. The First Japan War drew to a close when Tokugawa launched the largest naval invasion I have ever seen by an AI against Tabriz, my most distant Colony. I was able to save New Sarai, its sister-city, only by trading with Gandhi for Nationalism and drafting 3 musketmen in time to stop the small force Tokugawa sent. It was clear that he wanted Tabriz however, and I allowed him to keep it and we signed a peace treaty.



The 54 years of peace between the First and Second Japanese wars were a tease and I foolishly believed that Tokugawa was going to allow my ever expanding economy to finally close the tech difference between us. I was wrong, and in 1906 Tokugawa began the Second Japan War. The second war was different from the first because my tech level was much closer to his, eventually overtaking him, with Gandhi's help, during the conflict. Extensive jails and Mount Rushmore ensured that the war could go on as long as necessary.

In 1962 I completed the Manhattan project before Tokugawa had artillery and thus, I knew I had won. Three ICBM's were dropped on Osaka, a site which my spies indicated contained the majority of his forces and in a flash 92 of his best units, both land and sea, were sublimated. After this I rolled out the tanks and marines and while there were a few noble attempts to slow me down, his defeat was inevitable. The 1980's saw the defeat of his coastal cities. The 90's saw the end of Korea and the addition of Wang Kon's head to my garden. Finally in 2030 the inland cities of Japan were destroyed and I kept Tokyo, his final capital, as a trophy of the wasteland that was left of his continent.

Gandhi alone remained yet I had only 20 years (turns) left to erase his pathetic civilization. Like a type of vermin, he had spread to the four corners of the world in places that no decent dictator would ever find himself in. I regrouped the forces and mass-built transports to deliver everything I had and amazingly, I managed to pull it off - eliminating 14 cities, on 4 continents, in 6 years (turns). Conquest victory 2040 AD.



And so, the pentad is complete - I have completed all five victory types before purchasing Beyond the Sword, and I had a great deal of fun doing it. Warlords is a great expansion for Civ4 and when combined with the BetterAI mod and the tactical variety of the Smartmap, I have consistently played the most enjoyable games of single player civ so far. I have enjoyed the additional content provided by Warlords and although this was certainly the shortest period of time I have ever played with an expansion - my "warlords era" lasted all of four weeks - I will remember it as the time that single player civ changed from being a great deal of fun to virtually impossible to stop playing.



Highpoint: There were two highpoints to game 9. The first was the successful rush by my hoard against both the Arabs and Egyptians in the early game - when your military is that strong in the early game it is very easy to feel invincible. The second highpoint was certainly the more surprising and enjoyable of the two: watching the AI launch an invasion featuring 6 galleys loaded with grenadiers and riflemen and then to watch them successfully capture one of my well defended colonies was highly satisfying. If the BetterAI is any indication of how good the AI in BtS is, then I am certain BtS is going to be the best civ-experience yet.

[Virdrago]

I really enjoyed your comments and reading about the games you played. Thanks for the entertainment.

[ayronis]

Game 10 -
Prince, Big & Small (islands, mixed in)
Hammurabi - Babylonia (purple)

Amidst a torrential downpour I schlepped out to the local gaming store to purchase a fresh copy of Beyond the Sword last Friday. On some streets the water came up to my knees as I walked through temporary streams in the low lands outside of town. The journey was harrowing but I found the prize I sought and returned home victoriously. The expansion loaded without any problems, even on my weak machine, and ran noticeably smoother than Warlords.

I began a new game on the Big and Small map as Hammurabi. I immediately fall in love with the new Mesopotamian looking settler and warrior units - so cool. Babylon is founded on a coast littered with clams. I expand outward to discover that most of my region is desert but further south is a river with excellent land before disappearing into a jungle. I find Shaka (Zulu) living just south of the jungle so I stretch out further than I normally do to keep him away from the good valley and place my second city on a hill overlooking the river. Subsequent cities later fill in the hinterland.

By year zero Shaka and I have an even parity on our continent; he is militarily more powerful but I have a stronger economy and a tech lead. Neither of us had met any outsiders yet but elsewhere the world looked very different. There were two more continents, in the south Mansa Musa (Mali) and Brennus (Celts) were creating a peaceful land of Jews whilst on the Northern Continent the Hindu Pericles (Greek) and JoaoII (Portugal) were in a tense cold war over rapidly disappearing expansion room.

Although I had seen a couple random events, which I enjoyed throughout the game, none of them really affected anything yet. Two distinctly Beyond the Sword things happened by this point: first, I used my cheaper courthouses to establish a significant espionage advantage over Shaka thus enabling me to keep an eye of virtually all of his activities, and second, Shaka was building a genuine invasion stack in one of his border cities.



By 620 I founded my first overseas city and came into contact with the Jewish South. This greatly helped my economy - intercontinental, international trade is now noticeably more beneficial (a great improvement!), but it would take a long time before their religion would spread to Babylonia. Shaka converted to Judaism much sooner, which complicated the diplomatic options available to me. Finally in 1505 AD, almost certainly just before Shaka was going to invade me, I gained a Jewish city and converted immediately thus avoiding a pointless defensive war.
By the 1500's the Greeks were a major force in the game. In addition to having the largest and best land of the world, they had built several of the Classical age wonders and were still expanding outward. In 1550 I managed to grab the last barbarian city on their continent, appropriately called Assyrian, and use it as a base of operations against the North. In 1600 I finally acquired some available iron in an icy branch of Antarctica, creating an overseas city that would become crucial later on as my sole source of oil.

From the 18th century forward the game began to play out very differently from anything I had ever seen before, and it was in this period that I became aware of just how much better BtS is. For 100 years Portugal and Greece had been fighting their inevitable war, when in 1780 Brennus, from the Jewish southern continent, declared war on Pericles. The Celts landed a force of significant size beside Pericles' second largest city, a mere 5 tiles from the Greek capital, and captured it during the first turn of the war! The AI was successfully launching naval invasions! Things continued to go badly for Pericles as he tried to whip a defence in Athens, his capital, only to have a slave revolt make it revolt for a turn. Fortunately for the Greeks, the Celtic invasion was not able to advance further into the heartland and they established peace before too long.

Thanks to the Jewish Apostolic Palace, we made Joao very sorry that he tried to seize three of the Shaka's island cities located in the middle of the ocean. After capturing all three outposts I was able to select "Declare War on Joao" as the resident of the AP, and all the members agreed! A holy war was declared on Portugal in 1864 and I watched nearly every nation of the world declare war on our common enemy. Most of us concluded our "crusade" by 1898 but the Greeks pressed on eventually taking a few peripheral cities and keeping Joao on the defensive for the rest of the game. Rhodes, an originally Greek city located between both nations, eventually changed hands 4 times.

I made a fortune during the age of piracy as Pericles was much too involved in a land war to stop me for a couple dozen turns. I probably made nearly 500 gp plundering his largest cities. Check out the pirate flag.

My diplomatic advantages combined with my commercial position to make me a powerful contender in the Industrial age. I finished the Apollo project in 1913. During the 1900's both Brennus and Shaka tried another war with Joao, and although each succeeded in taking a couple of Portuguese cities, Portuguese culture ensured that they amounted to nothing and eventually flipped back or were re-taken. With all my diplomatic relationships working in my favour, I thought I had this one won.. but Shaka wasn't going to make it easy for me.

Shaka in 1967.

In 1994, with only 5 SS casing components and 1 engine remaining to launch my spaceship, Shaka attacked me with an industrial force.

Shaka in 1994.
His initial land attack was insignificant and my modern units had no trouble eliminating his infantry, but at sea I under estimated his navy and 18 destroyers appeared outside Babylon. For about 8 turns he had naval superiority over me and pillaged at least 9 of the 21 sea resources I was using to feed the 12 million people living in Babylon who ate Sid's Sushi. As the last spaceship components were locked into place I raised a proper invasion force from amongst my idle cities and spend the early 2000's carving up the eastern half of his continent. Compared with the previous nine games, the AI made far fewer stupid mistakes this time. In July 2022 my Space Ship reached Alpha Centauri - Space Race Victory.


Highpoint: I have no clue where to begin choosing just one highpoint for this game. The entire game was improved and compared to previous games, the entire game was a high-point. I really enjoyed the privateering era but I think that if I had to choose just one, the highpoint of this game was watching the AI successfully launch multiple invasions against one another and to finally see the political map change in a significant way throughout the game. Beyond the Sword is worth it for that feature alone.

[ayronis]

Game 11 -
Prince, Terra (rocky, low sea level), Raging Barbs,
Isabella - Spain (pink)

I have a lot to learn. BtS has changed all the rules and I am greatly enjoying the process of rediscovering the game. Game 11 provided me something I have been seeking for a long time: surprise. I am deeply impressed by Blake's AI. In many ways this is exactly the game I have been hoping for since the early nineties.



The dawn of history occurs and I am presented with a strong coastal region upon which to found Madrid. When I explore outwards, I discover a satisfying tactical map (I love the rocky climate setting on Terra maps) with a mountain range to the north and desert to the west.



The majority of this game is defined by my failed attempts to combat Ragnar and his Viking armies west of the Desert Oro. Throughout the course of the game, I am attacked four times by this warmonger. In the first Viking war, 700 AD - 1010, he attacks Barcelona, weakened by riots and looting, with a well built siege stack. Strong walls hold him off until I am granted a peace request. The second Viking war, 1020 - 1120, occurred immediately afterwards! It would seem that the "Settle for Peace" option no longer provides a Peace Treaty (10 turns) the way it used to - I have no idea if this was intentional. Once again I am able to hold off but this time Ragnar needs two techs to finally grant me peace.



The third Viking War, 1755 - 1820, marked the beginning of the decline of Spain. In the same year that Ragnar declared war on me, again, Cyrus and Shaka launched an invasion of England, my ally on the West Coast of the Old World, and Persia managed to capture virtually all of England. Elizabeth capitulated making Cyrus the clear leader of the game.



In 1842 the Viking wars had finally taken their toll on the Viking civilization. This is almost certainly due to my possession of the Statue of Zeus burying their society in war weariness. Ragnar signed a vassal agreement with Cyrus and I began to lose hope that I could turn this around. I signed a Defensive pact with Roosevelt, my northern neighbour, as a last ditch effort to dissuade Cyrus from adding us to his collection. It didn't matter.

Cyrus initiated a continent-crushing Great War in 1900. As Ragnar kept me busy in the Desert Oro, Cyrus overwhelmed Roosevelt. When Washington fell, Mali, in the southern sub-continent (Africa) took Roosevelt as a vassal and tried to stop Cyrus but failed to change any borders. I offered some resistance but Cyrus took all my continental cities in the 1990's.



The last laugh was ours, however. Mansa Musa won a cultural victory in 2017, robbing Cyrus of his domination prize.



Although it did not effect the outcome of the game, I experimented with the Colony System quite a bit in this game. I created a German colony in the island region of Southeast Asia and an Ottoman colony in the New World. The German colony failed to amount to much more than a decent trading partner, but the cultural bonus of his palace applied a little extra pressure to some Viking overseas cities and it was great to regain some of the gold I was wasting on maintenance. The Ottoman colony, on the other hand, remained a decent tech trading partner once he got started, and he expanded to fill much of the New World independently - granting me new resources without much work. Overall, the Colony system is a great addition to Civ but I will need more practice to figure out their strategic use.

Highpoint: Losing. Not because the AI had major advantages over me but simply because I was outplayed by, not one but, two AI civilizations.

[Jvstin]

I see you still had barbarians as late as 2000 ad in this game.

I like how you named features. I am going to have to try this map setting, I liked how yours came out.

[ayronis]

Game 12-
Prince, Big & Small (temperate, random isle size, random separation), Aggressive AI, Raging Barbs
Gilgamesh - Sumeria (blue)

I had a great time with this game. It ranks second, only slightly behind Game 5 as the most fun game of (single player) Civ that I have ever played. This episode was a thoroughly enjoyable game with a few dramatic twists and enough surprises to keep to it interesting right through to the finish. An early war, initiated by a militarily superior neighbour, provoked an earlier militarization than I had expected and ultimately led me to expand earlier than I had anticipated. In the end, I pulled off a clear and certain victory, but it was only possible because of the new corporation mechanic. Here is what happened...



The Ancient Era was a period of calculated expansion and development. My start was fairly strong but I was far from any coasts and buried in a forest that would take millennia to become truly useful. I used the Vultures (a truly excellent early unit with multiple uses if promoted right) to clear a path through the barbs but decided not to go for an early dagger-strategy because the Suleiman (Ottoman), my closest appropriate enemy, was far to the south. Standard expansion and development was assisted by the Sumerian Ziggurats that made me the EP leader until the Modern Age.



The early Medieval period was frustrating since Justinian (Byzantium), my eastern neighbour, religious leader, and closest ally, was out pacing my research and Suleiman built most of the early wonders. It is difficult sharing two borders with rapidly expanding Imperialistic leaders. I focused on building strong, specialized cities, and blocked the Ethiopians from settling a long stretch of land that would become my expansion back-fill once my economy could sustain it.




Suleiman grew tired of our proximity and declared war on me. The first Ottoman War (1100 - 1290 AD) was bad for my Sumerian people. I had anticipated attacks coming from the much wider region in the east, but Suleiman launched an attack on Eridu, my commercial heartland, in the west, via a narrow strait between some mountains. The defenders did not fight as well as they should have, or perhaps the Ottomans simply had greater morale, but Eridu was lost. Justinian built the Apostolic Palace and the addition of my Christian city to Suleiman's roster made him subject to its decisions - so when Justinian called for peace between us, Suleiman agreed. Three hundred years later, during the High Middle Ages, he spontaneously declared war on me again. The exact order of events leading to the war is unclear (possibly due to a bug - see next post), but in 1505, the AP announced that Eridu should be returned to me, which Suleiman agreed to, but he immediately declared war on me as well.

The Second Ottoman War (1505 - 1720) was a catastrophe for the Ottoman people. Several battles were fought during the initial years, with losses mounting on both sides, but the Sumerians began to gain the upper hand by the seventeenth century. Roused to awareness by the Sumerian victories at Kayseri and Malatya, Justinian finally declared a Holy War on Suleiman in 1655 and the Christian powers of the world descended on him. Finally, in 1720, while the Byzantines were busily capturing the eastern portion of the Ottoman empire, Suleiman capitulated and became my vassal.



The Industrial Age saw Boudica, a Christian ally far to the west, try to gain advantage by invading China, the former ally of Suleiman. Her progress was slow against the highly paranoid, and defensive, Qin, so she called on her allies to assist her. Justinian captured enough of China to force Qin to capitulate, making Justinian and I the only super-powers, and contenders, in the game. I gained the Islamic holy city but would lose it one hundred years later in the last war of the game. I also received my favourite event so far at this time: a senatorial scandal.



In the Modern Age, I decided to attempt a cultural victory because my focus on the religious buildings and creative bonus had combined to give me a significant headstart, and because I had several irons, coppers, and gold so I saved a Great Engineer to build the Creative Constructions corporation. This decision would ultimately win me the game.

Throughout the modern age Justinian continued to grow in power as our tech levels remained parallel turn after turn. In 1882 I incorporated C-C. In 1908 Qin built Broadway, and Rock 'n Roll shortly afterwards. Without these multipliers, I relied on religious buildings and the sick bonus of 54+ culture per turn (multiplied by cathedrals in each city) to catapult three cities to Legendary as quickly as possible. Justinian saw that I was approaching victory and he tried to take Ur, possibly because of the enormous pressure it was putting on his borders, but the attack was invalidated by my air superiority and bombers - a lucky break, considering I'd skipped tanks in favour of them. The UN stepped in to enforce peace a few years later and I achieved a Culture Victory in 1963.



Highpoint:The situations created by the additional features of BtS made this the most enjoyable Modern Age I have ever experienced. Air combat, in particular, was graphic and enjoyable, and the strategic options created by the addition of corporations made me think longer than I have ever had to about how I wanted to play my endgame. I have heard stories of the AI spamming corporations inside their own borders, to death, but in my game it took an enormous amount of effort to spread them myself. The payoff, both in culture at home and money from abroad, took dozens of turns to finally be returned, but when it came it came like a flood. Great game.

[ayronis]

Possible Bug:

In 1505 AD the AP called a vote to return ownership of Eridu to me from the Ottomans. The vote succeeded but immediately afterwards, Suleiman declared war on me. When the message screens vanished, the Ottoman forces were still in the city but I had control over it (and could access the city-screen). During the next turn, he moved all of his units out of the city where I rapidly raced to cut them down. Half of the units retreated to his home-country, the other half were killed trying to invade mine. NONE tried to re-take the undefended city that I had so recently been awarded.

Download the save

a) Shouldn't the units be deported when the decision is announced?
b) Shouldn't the AI want to invade an undefended city?
c) Is the AI supposed to split its invasion force into pieces like that? Isn't it essentially wasting the half that invades by only doing so with half its numbers?

[ZargonX]

Great write up, Ayronis! That bug at the end there is an interesting one. I've noticed that the AI seems to ignore undefended cities in some cases. In my last game, I captured a city well within my enemies cultural borders, defended it for a few turns, then decided to leave it behind. The AI moved units up to it, but never took it back.

[Shrapnel12]

Left to the mercy of an invading army, the citizens of said undefended city rallied in an ingenious plan to save their city. They stuffed bags full of straw and stuffed it in leather coats. Using any weapons laying in the local armory and making more from sticks and rocks, they armed their straw soldiers and placed them in key positions. With the gods looking over them, the enemy army fell for the ruse and left, thinking the city too well defended.

[_BuRjaCi_]

Originally posted by Shrapnel12
Left to the mercy of an invading army, the citizens of said undefended city rallied in an ingenious plan to save their city. They stuffed bags full of straw and stuffed it in leather coats. Using any weapons laying in the local armory and making more from sticks and rocks, they armed their straw soldiers and placed them in key positions. With the gods looking over them, the enemy army fell for the ruse and left, thinking the city too well defended.

[Red Adept]

Left to the mercy of an invading army, the citizens of said undefended city rallied in an ingenious plan to save their city. They stuffed bags full of straw and stuffed it in leather coats. Using any weapons laying in the local armory and making more from sticks and rocks, they armed their straw soldiers and placed them in key positions. With the gods looking over them, the enemy army fell for the ruse and left, thinking the city too well defended.

How Apropos of Nothing.