AU 301 DAR 2 - 1000 AD ~ Industrial Era

[ZargonX]

Post your AU 301 DARs part 3 here.

[Vaugula]

Prince(Solver's patch)@Normal

1000 AD – 1866 AD

After skirmishing with Monty for a while, Toku joins the party and declares on me too. Toku was looking nasty at the time, I believe he was second when the war started. Both Monty and Toku send largish stacks with decent Siege to my eastern border cities and I have to build up a lot before killing the units. I managed to clear out both stacks but no one was willing to make peace with me.

I capture a Barbarian city in the SW of territory:

This makes my 8th city. I figure I can fit another one in near the incense. I then get a bit of a thought, with 3 religions in my territory and 9 cities I can have a red hot go at a cultural victory. I am not sure if I have left it too late but I will give it a try, the only way to know is to try right? I managed to snag Taoism too so I end up with 4 religions, once again, it is just a question of how much time I have remaining and if I can hold off these psychotic AIs long enough.

I have a positive turn in the war with Monty, the “mercy” event comes to my aid. I jump all over it to get peace with him. Leaving my just up against Toku. Who now has Samurai. Against Archers! I was looking pretty much screwed at this point. I just stacked as many units as I could in his target city hoping to buy time and to hopefully win some surprise victories and clean up the rest of his stack. I try to tech like a madman to Crossbows and Longbows while also building units which will avoid my demise. The AIs can tell I am weak and are extorting all sorts of things out of me but I am only too happy to oblige because another war at this point would finish the game. I don’t dare declare a state religion. I even consider gifting the AIs things in order to make sure they don’t kill me.

Toku absolutely mauls my defenders in his target city. I have researched Crossbows and Longbows but the reinforcements won’t get there in time to stop it from falling. I get to the point where I am desperate to hang onto it so I call him up and offer him CoL (the only tech I had that he didn’t, I would have offered him all of them), 69 gold (all my gold), 19 gold per turn (my whole surplus) for peace. I didn’t think it would work but he accepted and I was off the hook! I doubt I could have retaken it and I am sure he could have rolled up my whole empire at this point but maybe he had other concerns. Or maybe I am reading way too much into this.

With impending death no longer hanging over me I start rebuilding my military and building towards my cultural victory as much as I can. I get a GE which I use to rush the Sistine in Aksum. I convert to the same religion as the AP (Judaism – Periclese and Ragnar with Bismark as a voting member) and I revolt into Caste and Pacifism.

Just when I think things are finally getting back to normal, Periclese asks me to declare on Ragnar! I thought we were all on the same team! I more interested in being friends with Periclese than Ragnar so I agree. Bismark also joins in the dogpile. The drums of war are beating all over the world now and Monty asks me to declare on Toku. Still remembering my lucky escape, I decline. Also I hate Monty. For not doing that Toku offered open borders with me for probably the first time ever. I agree because I would rather be friendlier with him.

Shaka, who supported me in my last war with Monty asks me to join with in smashing Monty so I agree. The AP then has a resolution declaring war on Monty which carries making Monty at war with everyone. How to win friend and influence people, Monty style:

With Gunpowder in hand I build up a force of my UU to defend my borders. I just sit around and kill any stray units that come into my borders which trying to build up temples and Cathedrals for my attempt at a Cultural Victory. Periclese has an attitude of Friendly so I set up a trade with him to trade my Iron for his Copper. I do this because Copper is a resource multiplier for some Cathedrals (Hindu and Tao I think) and so will help me build up faster. Iron also helps keep my relatively powerful ally alive. I found city number 9:

I end up coming from behind to win the Liberalism race! I also get elected to the AP. All in all it was a pretty successful section of the game for me.

The Germans stomp the Vikings and end up vassalising them while Toku does the same to Monty. I snag Democracy and revolt to US and Free Speech. I use the ability to cash rush to build the required temples in city number 9 give me the ability to build 4 cathedrals in each of my culture cities. As the Industrial era dawns (with the discovery of Steam Power) there is an uneasy peace over the land and I think this game is going relatively well. I come crashing back to earth in my next report though

The real key to this section, I think, was diplomacy. I read a post by Blake recently that reinforced the value in picking friends and sticking with them even though any request they make, including going off to war when you don’t really feel like it. This becomes even more important in the next DAR, but more on that when we get there.

My empire:

[joncnunn]

Jon's Dar Noble - Normal - Unoffical Patch
The Renance Era: 1470 AD - 1750 AD

1470 AD Start Philosphacy as prereq to Liberalism. Add Universites to queues

1505 AD Start Liberalism. Complete Forbidden Palace in Debre.

1515 AD Great Scientist born in our Southwestern most city; we're going to send it over to the city on the other coast and building an Academy there when it arrives.

1520 AD We run across an underwater forest tile near the barb town of Saxon in an island. We decide it must have been a map bug and go into the map editor to surface that tile.

1525 AD Stop trading with the infidels motion succeeds. We helped bring it over the top because the specific target is the Japanese and they have never traded with us. However, this only appears to bind full members and not voting members.
Buy Gunpowder from Greeks for Philosphacy + Paper. Add our UU to several cities queues. It's free promotions will make excelent rifles.

1540 AD Choose Astronmeny as the free tech. Start Economics.
Hum, due to the large size of our empire it now would take 2 turns instead of 1 to switch 2 civics. But it would still take 2 turns to switch 3 civics. So we are going to defer switching until we have economics.

1565 AD Get a Great Merchant from Economics. Start Printing Press. Switch civics to Free Speach, Free Market, and Free Religion.

1575 AD The Apolostic Palace votes to end trades with the Aztecs. We don't like them either so we agree.
After coming out of anarchy we go thru the cities and specalists and are able to bumb up the science rate to 70%.

1580 AD Huh, the Aztecs declare war on us. We bribe the Germans to enter the war on our side. Conduct a trade mission in Athens.

1585 AD The Aztecs retreat the surviving units of that stack out. Due to Japan's borders being closed to us (while open to Japan) that effectively ends the first battle. We're now just going to wait out until they talk. Indeed we actually moved more units to a town that's on the frontier with Japan since we are more much more worried about Japan and/or the Zulus intervening than the Aztecs.

1590 AD The Vikings sell us the rest of Printing Press for 535 gold and our world map. We immedately sell our world map to everyone other than the Aztecs for additional revenue. Start Nationalism

1615 AD Start Constitution as a prereq to Democracy.

1620 AD Great Prophet born in our Southwestern most city. Release the forced (minor) prophet in our holy city. Aztec stack reenters my terriory. Towards the end of the combat this turn, a Great General is born in Gordon. I join him into one of my UUs. Start Heroic Epic.

1625 AD Remaints of the Aztec stack exit my territory into Japan, ending the second battle. The Aztecs will now talk; they agree to give me all their gold + 3 GPT. We accept this because the darn Japs won't open the borders to let us march thru their territory. Construct a holy shrine. Bump up the science rate to 80%

1640 AD Start Democracy. Confuncism has now been spread to our entire empire.

1645 AD Buy Replacable Parts from the Vikings for Nationalism + 290 gold

1650 AD Famine strikes the Zulu city of Ondini; we decide to "spare no expense to help our Zulu neighbors." -100% food in our capital (which didn't need to grow due to being at the health limit anyway) -15 gold, +3 diplomatic relations. Vikings declare war on Germany.

1655 AD The ungrateful Zulus declare war!!!

1660 AD First Zulu wave repelled.

1665 AD Adopt Universial Suffrengage, Emancipation, and switch back to Merchanism since there was by now only one country that we both had open borders with and was not Merchanism. Start Rifling instead of the usual Corpoation since we're at war and also Merchanism.
Japanese fugitive captured; we decide to interogate him (+500 esp points against Japan; -1 relations)

1670 AD In the middle of the second Zulu Wave, we get another great general. We decide to have him instruct new recruits in our Heoric Epic city to help train those units. Second Zulu wave repelled.

1685 AD Ranker defines motion to stop the war against him by Bismark. 3rd Zulu Wave repelled.

1690 AD Great Prophet born, we'll settle him in the capital. Buy Military Tradition from Greece for Education & 260 gold

1700 AD Massive upgrade using saved up gold of units to Rifles and Calvary. Disband all remaining scouts & explorers. Start Chemistry

1705 AD Sell Dem to Greece (2 turns remaining) for Theology & and an update on their WM. Begin major bombardment of Nordwingo.

1710 AD Aztecs make peace with Germans. Following this second round of major bombardment, combat begins against Nordwingo with it down to ~25% against Gunpowder units. Lose one Calvary and get two other Calvary retreats, but then he's out of effective units and loses most of them. In fact he seems to have retreated a wounded unit instead of reinforcing it with capible units.

1715 AD Following third round of bombardment down to ~15% vs gunpowder units, easily wipe out remaining defenders at Nordwingo and raize the city to the ground. This doesn't seem to have actually moved the culture boundary.

1720 AD Start Corporation

1730 AD Start Scientific Method

1735 AD Bombardment of Ondini begins. 4th Zulu wave repelled

1740 AD 2nd round of bombardment of Ondini

1745 AD Complete Oxford in capital. 3rd round of bombardment of Ondini. With the city down to 20% vs Gunpowder units, major combat begins. Lose a rifle in the early stages until he runs out of good units

1750 AD Discovery of Scientfic Method advances us to the industrial era.

[Swiss Pauli]

Emperor - Normal 3.13

Much delayed, but better late than never...

I left off having joined Bismarck and Ragnar in their war against Zulu. I only skirmished a bit with Shaka, but Bismarck lost Berlin and Cologne. I bribed my way out of the war when the AP vote to end the war came up; Pericles - the other full member - had other ideas and blocked the motion! That early game DoW by Bismarck was still gnawing at him. Fortunately for Germany, Shaka tired of the war and he handed Berlin over. Cologne got given back to Germany in an AP vote (Pericles had calmed down).

All the warring had made the tech pace slow, so I was trading in Machinery, CS & Feud in the 1100s. Flogged CoL to Greece in 1200 Pericles is also going for culture and had mopped up the wonders, but I used access to Marble to get me Mausoleum of Marsallos, then Taj Mahal, both in . Hermitage went in the cottage heavy capital. The third Legend will be the artist farm (Yeha).



Three more cities were founded in this epoch:

Debre Behan for the furs, Adulis on the the two fish island, and Qohaito on the desert incense.

After concluding his war with my friends, Shaka chose to take Monty as a vassal, thus putting him at war with Japan - just glad it's not me! He marched around to Japan and took two cities before calling it quits.

A Great Spy was born, and he was saved for a golden age further down the line as the theif economy won't pay out as I've traded my way into rough parity. I could have won control of the AP, but I chose to vote for Bismarck for the +2 relations

Forgot to take an empire overview shot on hitting the industrial era (1665) but I might post one up later, if I have a save from around that date. With Shaka leaving me alone, I seem well set for a culture win, though I'm not neglecting military: my HE city is more or less exlcusively training units (2-3 turns each) to keep my power level up to deter attack.