The world in 1914

[rjmatsleepers]

I thought it might be worth starting a new thread rather than continuing on the new citizens thread. I played until 1914 and then noticed that Erika had only played until 1912 - no matter, we can still choose between the 2 saves. And anyone else who wants to try a few turns is welcome. Here is my log:

1904 - increase science to discover robotics as soon as possible; re-arrange workers to add a few more beakers; part rush some vet armour; start constructing railway linking all cities; start moving forces towards embarkation points.

1905 - Egyptians at war with the Zulus (good that may keep them off our back); I continue part rushing and moving troops

1906 - More of the same

1907 - discover Robotics - now to build lots of howies; switch einsteins to taxmen and raise tax rate; sign peace treaty with Persians; start to rush howies.

1908 - sign peace treaty with Sioux; rush a couple of howies

1909 - The world turned upside down! The Zulus signed a peace treaty with the Egyptians; then they offered me a peace treaty which I accepted; then the Egyptians and Zulus cancelled there treaty! More rushing of howies.

1910 - More moving the invasion forces to Apolytonia and rushing howies; we now have 5 transports which will carry 40 units to attack - but what make up? 10 spies should be enough and 10 vet armour so I will build as many howies as I can - if I can't build 20 in time, I'll use additional armour; first wave will be the spies and armour. I will set the target invasion date at 1914.

1911 - Blast! One of my transports is blocked by Zulu subs; I may have to go with a reduced force.

1912 - I have 12 howies; that will have to do since I only have 4 transports.

1913 - My 5th transport is now free so I'll postpone D-day by a year to use a full force.

1914 - only 4 transports are in position, but I'll have to go with that.

The invasion force is more or less in position. My plan is to ask the Zulus for tribute and thus provoke them into declaring war. Bring down the walls in Intombe and capture it with my armour. Move the transports into Intombe. Capture Zimbabwe with the howies thus bringing the Zule spaceship back to earth. Skip off into the sunset humming gently.

Here is my save.

[rjmatsleepers]

Originally posted by Broken_Erika
I still think that mountain square could prove useful, it should be out of the zulu cities zone of control and is 2 squares away from zimbabwe, i figure, put an engieneer there, nuild a fortress and give it some good defencive units, (assuming the zulus don't kill the engieneer) also, helicopters would be good in an attack, mainly to kill zulu ships and artillery before they can strike. basicly a large overcomplex plan is what i would do, but most of my strategies i think of need good air and naval support, both of which we lack.

The mountain square has the advantages you mention, but if I remember correctly, it is not attached to the railway network, so unless we build something it will use some movement points to start the attack. Also it will take time and use up space to transport engineers to build a fortress or a rail connection. We have to take Zimbabwe on the 1917 move at the latest.

RJM at Sleeper's

PS Congratulations on reaching Prince - all those unit posts in the scenario forum paid off!

PPS Should that be princess? Or perhaps you are a man with an unusual name

[Broken_Erika]

[SIZE=1]
PPS Should that be princess? Or perhaps you are a man with an unusual name

I AM a girl you %*@&
anyways, like i said, we have the tech to build helicopters, they should prove useful in an invasion, that way we can destroy any attempted armored counter attack, and it will give us a way to attack the zulu fleet

[rjmatsleepers]

Originally posted by Broken_Erika

I AM a girl you %*@&

OK Princess it is then.

anyways, like i said, we have the tech to build helicopters, they should prove useful in an invasion, that way we can destroy any attempted armored counter attack, and it will give us a way to attack the zulu fleet

We need to decide whether to play on from your save or mine. (I'm assuming that there is no-one else out there who wants to have a go at taking us from 1904 to 1914).

I think it would be hard work to capture Zimbabwe by 1917 from your save, so I suggest we take mine forward. What do you think? If you prefer your own save, we could each play on for another agreed period.

RJM at Sleeper's

[Broken_Erika]

my save is doomed, let it rest in peace
yours will be good

[Bloody Monk]

Cheers!!

I am back home after spending the holidays in the hospital. Hopefully I will not be going back there any time soon.

Before I checked out I had played ahead a good bit, but did not want to spoil the fun by posting any saves. I feel that a better benchmark for the next stopping point is not any particular year, but rather, the crashing of the Zulu spaceship, as that is our main short term goal. I accomplished that in 1911 but utilized a spy with a nuke in her knickers. I have also taken a good many more cities, by that date, but then I didn't bleed off so many units for Zululand.

I suggest others play out their strategies up to the crashing of the Zulu s-ship, and then we can compare. I suspect they will be quite different if you haven't used the spy-bomb, if only for the number of skulls.

Monk

[rjmatsleepers]

Originally posted by Bloody Monk
Cheers!!

I am back home after spending the holidays in the hospital. Hopefully I will not be going back there any time soon.

Before I checked out I had played ahead a good bit, but did not want to spoil the fun by posting any saves. I feel that a better benchmark for the next stopping point is not any particular year, but rather, the crashing of the Zulu spaceship, as that is our main short term goal. I accomplished that in 1911 but utilized a spy with a nuke in her knickers. I have also taken a good many more cities, by that date, but then I didn't bleed off so many units for Zululand.

I suggest others play out their strategies up to the crashing of the Zulu s-ship, and then we can compare. I suspect they will be quite different if you haven't used the spy-bomb, if only for the number of skulls.

Monk

Welcome back Monk.

Playing through to the return of the Zulu space ship seems fine to me. I expect to accomplish that on the next turn - unless there is a nasty surprise lurking in the wood work. That gives a maximum of 4 years more to play in the next session since unless it returns, the Zulu bird lands in 1918.

I intend to capture 2 Zulu cities next year, which will allow me to take 2 technologies. It struck me that maybe we should go fo AC landing rather than conquest and thus we should take technologies that allow us to build our own spaceship.

RJM at Sleeper's

[rjmatsleepers]

The Zulu space ship has returned to earth

Despite a couple of unwelcome events, the Zulu bird is back. As expected, the Zulus declared war as soon as I asked for tribute. I lost rather a lot of spies bringing down the walls of Intombe, but once they were down it fell to my vet armour. I could then bring the rest of my invasion fleet into port and take the howies by rail to Zimbabwe which offered little resistance. However ... instead of the spaceship returning to earth, the Zulu empire split into Zulu and Viking and the capital moved to Gnome (?). With the additional movement points from capturing Zimbabwe I could bring the 5th transport into Intombe which gave me plenty of howies that I used to capture the new capital and bring the space ship back. I saved at that point. The Zulus are not yet asking for peace, and we probably have sufficient resources to capture one or 2 more cities.

If we make peace with every one, we can probably now build our own space ship and win by AC landing. If we have to, we can use the same trick of capturing the capital of any AI civ that manages to launch.

On the other hand, I suspect we have the resource to win by conquest if we want to. Either way, I believe the game can be won.

RJM at Sleeper's

[Broken_Erika]

Just keep an armor force near every capitol,

[cavebear]

OK, finally a situation I can deal with (1914). I'm playing from there and will ofer a save in a few hours.

HAL-aluhiah!

I am so impressed with what RJMAT and Erika have done!

[cavebear]

1915 - Fortify Apolytonia units. Zulu capture Thebes and Elephantine from Egypt. Egyptian govy overthrown. Apolytonia builds SAM and starts Transport. Demand tribute from Zulus and they declare war. OK!

Capture Mpondo and take Space Flight. Capture Zimbabwe and split empire into Zulu and Vikings. Zulu capital is now Ngome which is close to us. In Zibagwe, we get Copernicus’s, Magellan’s, Statue of Liberty, and Apollo. Get 440 gold and Fusion Power. Capture Intombe and get Superconductor and some gold.

1916 - Celt govt overthrown and they break cease-fire with us. They use nukes on Mpondo. They demand Fusion Power and I refuse. They offer peace and I accept it. I ask for tribute and get War. We lose Dimas Emrys (sorry about that). I accept peace this time. Zulu use nukes on Zimbabwe but SDI thwarts it. Zulu take Mpondo. Egypt becomes a democracy. Egyptians and Vikings sign peace treaty. Intombe completes SDI. Zimbabwe completes City Walls. Zulus offer peace and I accept.

[cavebear]

Is it just me or did the "attachment function" change? I'd love to post my game...

[rjmatsleepers]

Originally posted by cavebear
Is it just me or did the "attachment function" change? I'd love to post my game...

It seemed to be working normally when I posted my save. Have you brought the Zulu ship back to earth? Remember that it lands in 1918

Thanks for the knd words to Erika and myself - however most of the credit should go to Monk. He got us close to discovering robotics and it was his 1904 save that we played from.

RJM at Sleeper's

[Bloody Monk]

RJM

Very nice!! You got it done by "conventional" means where I used spy-bombs on 5 Zulu cities. In my effort it is the beginning of the 1912 turn. There are 38 cities and 75 techs to our credit. And some skulls....

Here is the save

[Bloody Monk]

cavebear,

Attach function works fine now. Is the Zulu s-ship still flying??

Sorry for the missing log, friends. Typing it up is more than I can manage right now. I wanted to do it before going to hospital but could not get it done in time.

While it is tempting to build a ship now (and I have collected all the needed techs), I believe the Zulu, Kelts, and Vikings need to be bonked-on a bit more to be on the safe side. I have enough cities to crank out freights for s-ship parts, but, once we launch, we will be under sever pressure from the AI.

PS: I hope you appreciate my not spoiling the surprise unvolved in 'grounding' the Zulu ship. I found it to be an interesting learning experience and thought that my "telling" what to expect would not anchor the lesson nearly as well as actually having it happen. This has been a very interesting game, on many levels. I wish I could finish it, but am very glad that the torch has been picked up. Good luck, all.

Monk