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Since I thoroughly enjoyed reading through Hauptmann's AR/AAR as well as the Culture Wars AAR by LzPrst I got inspired to do one of my own as well. I'm usually a peaceful player and don't often go to wars unless I have technological superiority or a strong ally with me. So I decided to go with Ragnar and decided that my game would revolve around maritime warfare, regardless of the maptype. My objective is to make as many coastal raids as possible and Vassalize the AI's like it's going out of fashion.
So, the game settings I chose were Standard Map Size, Monarch, 10 AI's. RandomScriptMap with all settings allowed, Permanent Alliances on, Choose Religions. I did regenerate the map a few times because I didn't at first get a coastal location which was required for me to pull this off. All the way I was hoping for either Big and Small, Hemispheres, Islands or one of the funkier map types of RandomScriptMap.
Here's the start location:
Not bad. A coastal location with 2 clams, gold, corn and wine along with a river. Not a bad start for the game I'm going after. It also appears that it might be an island or atleast a peninsula - both of which would be very good for me.
Settled:
Wow. A deer is revealed in the BFC and I see both Stone and a Marble along with other resources just outside my city radius. RandomScriptMap is sometimes very generous with resources and I seem to be settled in a really nice area. Perhaps I should play a peaceful game and build wonders, having both stone and marble?
Moving on, my scout does short work of investigating my surroundings and it turns out that I'm on an island all alone.
The island is fairly large and the land is very hospitable. I plan to settle 8 cities and perhaps more in the surrounding islands if I find good locations. I also don't have to worry about Archery or other military techs early on.
Soon we get a piece of good news!
Seems that Izzy got a barb uprising and died. In 2815, before even the roaming Barbarian warriors spawn. Oh well, atleast it wasn't me.
A few centuries after I send my second work boat to explore whether I might find my future vassals nearby.
Sure enough, the island to the north has the Malinese on it and I'm glad that I'm starting so near to them since Mansa would probably get crazy if he was left unchecked for longer periods of time. He'll be the first target of my Berserkers-to-come.
And here's a picture of our budding empire in 1660 BC.
I built Uppsala there to avoid the Malinese building a city that would ruin my build order and it's not a bad place with 2 Cattle and a Gold anyways. Haithabu was settled to get access to the Stone but in retrospect that was dumb since just a few turns after Nidaros' borders expanded and I got the Stone. Oh well, the town will eventually host my Moai Statues. I'm leading the Malinese, which leads me to believe that their island might be even smaller than mine, since I'm not exactly doing anything special up to now.
True to the maritime theme, I start building the GL and 5 centuries later:
I get the GL, but my expansion is slowed by this and the empire still has only the three cities. Mansa's Island is really small and could host only 3 cities. He, however, has chosen to settle only 2. My workboat has met Zara's Work Boat and it turns out he is in a nice lead (considering the date). Oh well, if he's not too far away he shall be our second target. Now I focus on expansion to get my island settled before I get any unwelcome visitors.
A few centuries later the best event of the game makes an appearance!
And sure enough:
Hello, Expansive.
Upon researching IW I am happy to see this:
Mansa's Iron is in Uppsala's BFC and since he hasn't settled the southern tip of his island he'll have get Iron from somewhere else. Good news. My island has 1 Iron Source but it's not within any of my cities' radius (bottom left corner of the screen.
I also notice that a little island nearby looks like paradise:
I have to get there before Mansa or anyone else. I've found Zara to the west but he has no coastal access to the island so it's safe for now. Mansa has expanded to the continent north of him and Bismarck, Zara and Peter also seem to live there. I On the northern tip of the continent I've found Madrid, the holy city of Christianity (Izzy discovered it just turns before her demise). The city has 5 seafood resources of 3 varieties, a horse, 5 grassland hill tiles and a river. I'm so glad that the barbarians got it and decide that the city shall be mine one day. Huge potential for a GP farm or a production city.
Following centuries are a bit quiet. I did get a good trade off Zara though:
And find out that there's atleast one more potential powerhouse yet to be found.
I'm 4th in score but not by a large margin. It's anyone's game. The Malinese just make their cities even more enticing to capture:
Both cities have wonders (nothing special though. I think Oracle in Timbuktu and some other non-important wonder in Djenne. Anyways, there's the Dai Miao which would fund my invasion. The other nations have formed the basis for a Judaist block but I'm not worried since they're all peaceful nations and I don't think that anyone of them would have the guts to declare war on me - the mighty norse ruler!
As I'm researching Machinery to gain access to Berserkers I get an event I haven't gotten before: He's planting an orchard in my vineyard!
2 Taoist Weddings occur within a few years from each other and my relations with Mansa would soar to +16 if I hadn't chosen the default option. I didn't think I'd need relations with him seeing that he was just a couple turns away from becoming my Vassal.
In the picture you can see that I'm already building my Berserkers and there's one already waiting for a transport. 230 AD, works for me. After completing the settling of my island I've gone past everyone else. I plan to stay ahead for the remainder of the game!
My "expeditionary" force underway. Also note, the Malinese land just keeps on improving. An event to discover Spice:
Upon declaring war on Mansa Bismarck joins in. I thought that there would be no-one helping Mansa seeing that he's a heathen in the eyes of everyone else.
Oh well, shouldn't be too hard to deal with even if he bothers to actually send troops my way. I notice that I didn't build an escort for my troops and am glad that my Galley beats Mansa's.
Timbuktu is guarded by a few Longbowmen and falls quickly. I suffer 3 casualties and to my dismay notice a Trireme on the coast (there were 2, actually) and decide that I'll have to assault Djenne the old-fashioned way. There wasn't too much resistance though:
There also was no wonder in Djenne except for the Daio Miao so I was wrong earlier. Either way, a good cash cow.
Upon losing his capital cities Mansa gives up:
He's only Cautious with me and will move up to Pleased. The Germans also give me very good terms of peace which include their Map, 20 Gold and 1 gold per turn. Very good considering that we never saw each other on the field.
My veteran Berserkers move on Madrid:
Yes, it's that good.
And to conclude this post here's the World Map focused on the Viking Empire a century afterwards. I was the first to circumnavigate so I can outrun anyone on the seas (as if I couldn't before). I had converted to Judaism since the Jew-block had built AP and I didn't want to be told not to invade this and that country. I also like the extra hammers
I lead by a wide margin and have discovered the Sumerians, Romans, Chinese (and their Mongol Colony) and the Carthaginians. The Romans and Chinese are hugely backwards but both Hannibal and Gilgamesh look like they might have some fight in them. I'm a bit upset that there's no real warmongers out there (The Mongol colony doesn't count)
More to come...
Any comments, both positive and negative are most welcome!
So, the game settings I chose were Standard Map Size, Monarch, 10 AI's. RandomScriptMap with all settings allowed, Permanent Alliances on, Choose Religions. I did regenerate the map a few times because I didn't at first get a coastal location which was required for me to pull this off. All the way I was hoping for either Big and Small, Hemispheres, Islands or one of the funkier map types of RandomScriptMap.
Here's the start location:
Not bad. A coastal location with 2 clams, gold, corn and wine along with a river. Not a bad start for the game I'm going after. It also appears that it might be an island or atleast a peninsula - both of which would be very good for me.
Settled:
Wow. A deer is revealed in the BFC and I see both Stone and a Marble along with other resources just outside my city radius. RandomScriptMap is sometimes very generous with resources and I seem to be settled in a really nice area. Perhaps I should play a peaceful game and build wonders, having both stone and marble?
Moving on, my scout does short work of investigating my surroundings and it turns out that I'm on an island all alone.
The island is fairly large and the land is very hospitable. I plan to settle 8 cities and perhaps more in the surrounding islands if I find good locations. I also don't have to worry about Archery or other military techs early on.
Soon we get a piece of good news!
Seems that Izzy got a barb uprising and died. In 2815, before even the roaming Barbarian warriors spawn. Oh well, atleast it wasn't me.
A few centuries after I send my second work boat to explore whether I might find my future vassals nearby.
Sure enough, the island to the north has the Malinese on it and I'm glad that I'm starting so near to them since Mansa would probably get crazy if he was left unchecked for longer periods of time. He'll be the first target of my Berserkers-to-come.
And here's a picture of our budding empire in 1660 BC.
I built Uppsala there to avoid the Malinese building a city that would ruin my build order and it's not a bad place with 2 Cattle and a Gold anyways. Haithabu was settled to get access to the Stone but in retrospect that was dumb since just a few turns after Nidaros' borders expanded and I got the Stone. Oh well, the town will eventually host my Moai Statues. I'm leading the Malinese, which leads me to believe that their island might be even smaller than mine, since I'm not exactly doing anything special up to now.
True to the maritime theme, I start building the GL and 5 centuries later:
I get the GL, but my expansion is slowed by this and the empire still has only the three cities. Mansa's Island is really small and could host only 3 cities. He, however, has chosen to settle only 2. My workboat has met Zara's Work Boat and it turns out he is in a nice lead (considering the date). Oh well, if he's not too far away he shall be our second target. Now I focus on expansion to get my island settled before I get any unwelcome visitors.
A few centuries later the best event of the game makes an appearance!
And sure enough:
Hello, Expansive.
Upon researching IW I am happy to see this:
Mansa's Iron is in Uppsala's BFC and since he hasn't settled the southern tip of his island he'll have get Iron from somewhere else. Good news. My island has 1 Iron Source but it's not within any of my cities' radius (bottom left corner of the screen.
I also notice that a little island nearby looks like paradise:
I have to get there before Mansa or anyone else. I've found Zara to the west but he has no coastal access to the island so it's safe for now. Mansa has expanded to the continent north of him and Bismarck, Zara and Peter also seem to live there. I On the northern tip of the continent I've found Madrid, the holy city of Christianity (Izzy discovered it just turns before her demise). The city has 5 seafood resources of 3 varieties, a horse, 5 grassland hill tiles and a river. I'm so glad that the barbarians got it and decide that the city shall be mine one day. Huge potential for a GP farm or a production city.
Following centuries are a bit quiet. I did get a good trade off Zara though:
And find out that there's atleast one more potential powerhouse yet to be found.
I'm 4th in score but not by a large margin. It's anyone's game. The Malinese just make their cities even more enticing to capture:
Both cities have wonders (nothing special though. I think Oracle in Timbuktu and some other non-important wonder in Djenne. Anyways, there's the Dai Miao which would fund my invasion. The other nations have formed the basis for a Judaist block but I'm not worried since they're all peaceful nations and I don't think that anyone of them would have the guts to declare war on me - the mighty norse ruler!
As I'm researching Machinery to gain access to Berserkers I get an event I haven't gotten before: He's planting an orchard in my vineyard!
2 Taoist Weddings occur within a few years from each other and my relations with Mansa would soar to +16 if I hadn't chosen the default option. I didn't think I'd need relations with him seeing that he was just a couple turns away from becoming my Vassal.
In the picture you can see that I'm already building my Berserkers and there's one already waiting for a transport. 230 AD, works for me. After completing the settling of my island I've gone past everyone else. I plan to stay ahead for the remainder of the game!
My "expeditionary" force underway. Also note, the Malinese land just keeps on improving. An event to discover Spice:
Upon declaring war on Mansa Bismarck joins in. I thought that there would be no-one helping Mansa seeing that he's a heathen in the eyes of everyone else.
Oh well, shouldn't be too hard to deal with even if he bothers to actually send troops my way. I notice that I didn't build an escort for my troops and am glad that my Galley beats Mansa's.
Timbuktu is guarded by a few Longbowmen and falls quickly. I suffer 3 casualties and to my dismay notice a Trireme on the coast (there were 2, actually) and decide that I'll have to assault Djenne the old-fashioned way. There wasn't too much resistance though:
There also was no wonder in Djenne except for the Daio Miao so I was wrong earlier. Either way, a good cash cow.
Upon losing his capital cities Mansa gives up:
He's only Cautious with me and will move up to Pleased. The Germans also give me very good terms of peace which include their Map, 20 Gold and 1 gold per turn. Very good considering that we never saw each other on the field.
My veteran Berserkers move on Madrid:
Yes, it's that good.
And to conclude this post here's the World Map focused on the Viking Empire a century afterwards. I was the first to circumnavigate so I can outrun anyone on the seas (as if I couldn't before). I had converted to Judaism since the Jew-block had built AP and I didn't want to be told not to invade this and that country. I also like the extra hammers
I lead by a wide margin and have discovered the Sumerians, Romans, Chinese (and their Mongol Colony) and the Carthaginians. The Romans and Chinese are hugely backwards but both Hannibal and Gilgamesh look like they might have some fight in them. I'm a bit upset that there's no real warmongers out there (The Mongol colony doesn't count)
More to come...
Any comments, both positive and negative are most welcome!
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