Now this is when it gets fun

[Solomwi]

Some of you may have seen my post last night regarding my current war with Babylon. Well, completely independent of that, Egypt and Russia (the only one not pictured) go to war. I draw Greece into my war, since they're across the continent from the Babs and small, so they should cost plenty of unit transit turns. Alexander also went recruiting. That's how it began, and here's the entire timeline:

1320: Babylon declares war on me (Inca). I sign an MPP with Greece. Greece declares war on Babylon.
1325: I sign an MPP with Sumeria. No declaration, and none was expected. This was more of a safeguard since they're Babylon's biggest and closest neighbor.
1330: Egypt declares war on Russia.
1335: I begin building barriers along my German border and get embargoes against Babylon with everybody except Russia and Germany.
1360: Both my borders with Germany are now lined with barricades, except strategically located openings. Any possible attack will either be funneled to my two heaviest defended cities or get caught on the wire.
1375: Greece gets India as an ally against Babylon.
1385: Greece brings Persia in as an ally against Babylon. A Bab spearman enters a recently captured city's radius, triggering a declaration of war by Sumeria.

So, as of 1385, it's Egypt vs. Russia and Inca, Sumeria, Greece, India and Persia against Babylon, with the last three formally allied. Fairly straightforward. This is where it begins bordering on comical.

1395: India enlists Egypt as an ally against Babylon. Russia enlists Persia as an ally against Egypt. India and Persia are still allied against Babylon.
1405: Persia enlists Greece as an ally against Egypt.
1410: Greece, my informal ally, reaches out and brings Germany in as an ally against Egypt. My MPP with Greece gets triggered, causing me to declare war on Egypt. Bismark pops up demanding furs. When I tell him to KMA, Germany declares war on me and tries to attack (loving those barricades right about now ). Of course, that triggers my MPPs and Greece and Sumeria declare war on Germany.

Obviously, Germany's no longer allied with Greece, but is still at war with Egypt. I had been looking at throwing my lot in with Egypt against Russia when I got Babylon pacified, but I now find myself at war with Egypt. India and Persia's alliance is looking pretty shaky, and all in all, I'm loving it.

[Theseus]

Hammie the Hated.

I love games like that... I have a mind to experiment with Machiavellian mischief earlier and earlier, as one more tool to seriously mess with the AI civs. Gotta be careful about generating too many / too powerful KAIs though.

[Solomwi]

And it's already changed since I posted that. Now Russia and Egypt have made peace, Alexander the recruiter has brought Russia in against Germany and Sumeria is at war with Egypt.

I figure if any KAIs come out of this, I ought to be able to play them off each other. One thing I hadn't thought of is that I no longer want to sell tech for gpt, even to longtime friends.

[vmxa1]

I hope you are not in Republic form, it may be hard to get peace all around.

I had a painful run of that today before I finally won. I was suffring badly as I had to stay at war along to to get oit and then AL. I only had 3 lux the whole time. I finally got those two resources and a 4th lux and made peace in time to win culturally.

I was really bleeding from the WW.

[Solomwi]

I'm in republic with no problem. Actually, because I had two countries declare on me, war happiness is running rampant. I made peace with Babylon when they had only one city left, excluding the ones I got in the peace deal (mainly to save myself the trouble of having to get to them), and had a handful of cities drop out of WLTKD. Oops. No biggie, though, I( got sucked right back in by my MPP with Sumeria, and there's no more Babylon.

I only have a few metros, and only one of those is at size 20. Also, I've got four natural luxuries on my continent, have picked up two from Babylonian cities, and another from an Egyptian city I took. I'm trading for the eighth with India. I can afford a bump or two on the luxury slider, if need be, too.

I will say that the barricade walls I set up have saved me in WW terms. On the first turn of war, Germany sent 11 cavs at me, and on the second sent 20 cavs, and a handful of knights and horsemen. If those units had been able to attack my units, even if they'd lost, it would have erased the WH bonus pretty quick, and probably put me into thew 25% unhappy level pretty quick.

[theDragon]

Sounds like you built up a pretty impressive defensive wall against the Germans, perhaps you would be so kind as to post a screenie of said Great Wall of Solomwi ? That would be much appreciated.

(BY THE WAY... I HAVE YET TO HAVE ALL MY CIVS GO APES88T ON EACH OTHER LIKE THAT... AT THIS POINT I WISH THEY HAD IT WOULD BE FUN. )

[Solomwi]

Ask and ye shall receive.

First, the Rhine Wall, spearating the barbaric Germans from the civilized Incan province of Roma (if you can't read them ,the cities there are Veii, Ravenna, Neapolis, Virconium, Lugdunum and Pisae):

[Solomwi]

Second, the eastern portion of the Desert Wall (the portion that gave the barrier it's name, incidentally), spearating Germany and the province (again, civilized, peace-loving and all) of Chapare:

[Solomwi]

As you can see, the barrier wasn't so much designed to repel an invasion, a la Maginot, as it was allow me to stretch my forces. This way, I only had to defend Florentiana and Lugdunum, as an attack anywhere else would get hung up on the wire, so to speak, leaving me plenty of time to react and destroy the invaders. The only downside is, and I haven't verified this, it seemed at times like the German units got the barricade defense bonus when I attacked them on the wire. I may have just read too much into a bad RNG run, too, though.

Finally, the wetsern part of the Desert Wall, standing between those foul-smelling Germans and the ever so clean provinces of America and Roma Nova:

[Solomwi]

Ugh, once again forgot that attaching the file helps.

[Solomwi]

Originally posted by theDragon

(BY THE WAY... I HAVE YET TO HAVE ALL MY CIVS GO APES88T ON EACH OTHER LIKE THAT... AT THIS POINT I WISH THEY HAD IT WOULD BE FUN. )

Back on topic, I can't tell you how much fun it is, indeed. One recent turn, my FA popped up to tell me that Germany and Egypt ahd signed a peace treaty. Well, I had Germany down to a couple of cities, and Greece, Sumeria and I had Egypt down to about three, and it occurred to me that I doubt anyone had even noticed Germany and Egypt were at war with each other, too.

[Theseus]

Nice killing grounds at Lugdunum and Florentiana.

[Solomwi]

Well, they would have been, but Bismark just kept throwing his cavalry onto the wire and letting me pick them off on my terms. C'est la vie.

[theDragon]

Please explain the concept of "throwing themselves onto the wire" ... i am un aware of what you all mean. Can barricades work as unroaded mountains for enemy units?

[Solomwi]

I don't know if you're aware or not, but moving onto a barricade in enemy territory ends that turn for that unit, regardless of how much movement it would otherwise have left (now that I re-read your post, yes, unroaded mountains is a good way to think of it, but barricades will also stop 4-movement units, like pure cavalry armies).

The way my walls worked was that they forced Bismark to either attack at a predicatble spot, for which I would be more than ready, or take an extra turn getting to my border cities. He chose the latter, so on the first turn of German movement in the war, for instance, eleven cavalry units moved onto one or another of the Rhine Wall barricades. Even though it was flat ground, they all stopped on the barricade. So, when it came my turn, rather than having had to withstand the sttack from those eleven cavs, I was able to bombard them, then make short work of them. Since the graphic for the barricade is a fortress surrounded by barbed wire, I always think of units that get halted on one as being "hung up in the wire" or "throwing themselves onto the wire".