AU501 - DAR5: Flight

[ducki]

Not to step on your toes, Catt, but I just hit the PrtScn key by itself, no Alt needed. Then again, I've got a Natural Keyboard, so that might be (relatively) newish.

And as vmxa1 and I have noted before, IrfanView is very good for this purpose, though editing and drawing on the screenshot are(for me) not near as easy. For raw screenshots, though, it's tops.

[alexman]

Theodora's smile: part 9

Just 10 years after the Byzantine scientists discovered the power of steam, Cleopatra decided that the threat of sharing an island with warmongering Theodora was not a promising idea. The problem was that the Egypt/Byzantium alliance was still active against Russia. Actually that wasn’t really a problem. Cleopatra signed peace with Catherine and sneak attacked Theodora!

Fortunately for Theodora, both Egypt and Russia had been weakened from centuries of war against each other, and their number of units was nowhere near that of Japan and the Hittites in the previous wars. It was only a matter of time before the heavy Byzantine bombardment coupled with the steady stream of leaders conquered the continent. Egypt surrendered in 850 AD, and Russia followed in 870 AD.

Meanwhile, other civilizations were in Democracies and busy researching at a relatively fast pace. The Maya researched Fascism, the Corporation, Replaceable Parts, and Steel, and England discovered Industrialization, Ironclads, and Sanitation. The Dutch were always able to trade for all state of the art technologies, but Sumeria was starting to fall behind. All this time the secrets of Communism and Espionage remained unknown to the World. Theodora thought this was unfortunate because she had been reading the teachings of a guy named Marx, and she thought that his ideas would be ideally suited for ruling her vast island empire. She would have liked to see some other civilization discover Communism though, because she was busy with science to get into politics. She needed a Scientific Method to publish her Theory of Evolution.

Her work got published in 920 AD and was a huge success. It gave Byzantium a great momentum in research. The discoveries of Atomic Theory and Electronics followed in the same year. Theodora was finally recognized as a scientific leader, so she could turn to politics once more. After all, she realized that Russia was no longer an independent state, so the discovery of Communism was a Byzantine responsibility. So it happened. Theodora’s Communist revolution took place in 990 AD.

Unfortunately, conservatives throughout the empire were resistant to change, so Byzantium was in a state of anarchy for 90 years (9 turns). However, economical analysts of the time published data suggesting that Communism was a wise choice for Theodora, especially since she was about to start another war:

[alexman]

Theodora's smile: part 10

Rostov, a small tundra town in its days under Russian rule, was chosen to be the administrative center of the Russian continent. With the Iron Works to boost production and the Secret Police Headquarters to keep corruption at a minimum, Rostov was not the most cultured city in the World, but Theodora didn’t care as long as it could pump one Infantry unit per turn, which it did.

Theodora needed some military victories with which to spread her Communist propaganda. Gilgamesh had been a good friend and trading partner, but he had outlived his usefulness. He could no longer keep up with the big boys (and girl) so Summeria was going to be the next unfortunate civilization to become a Byzantine territory. With Riflemen and Cannons from the Russian campaign upgraded to Infantry and Artillery, respectively, all Sumerian holdings were in Byzantine hands by 1290 AD.

At this point Theodora decided to take a break from war for a change and build up her empire. The new technologies of Mass Production, Motorized Transportation, and Flight, had rendered her glorious army and navy obsolete. A modernization program was in order, and what better time for this to happen than in the Modern Age?

This modern age, which Byzantium entered in 1305 AD, promises to hold a great showdown between the remaining superpowers, using all the new toys of the era, including airpower.

[Dominae]

Very cool move with Communism, alexman!

Somehow I knew you would use this course as a case study for the various governments...

[Aqualung71]

Re: Re: Re: DAR 5.2

Originally posted by Cort Haus

repeat until allpicsdone();

Thanks CH

[Aqualung71]

Originally posted by Aeson
I thought it might be fun to build some Privateers. So I built a couple and started sinking all the Galleys that wandered by

Aeson, in between building Privateers for fun, losing 20 men from a volcanic eruption,
being repulsed by the Japanese not once but twice and then calmly waiting for a more opportune time, setting the rest of the world at war against each other with a couple of phone calls, defending cities with workers, and successfully using the IA to steal techs........tell us how you really get your fun at DEITY level!!!!!

[Theseus]

The next wave of GWs took place over the ensuing 100 years, including Smith’s (mine), Bach (Sumeria ), Newton, and Shakepeare’s.

Next up: Sumeria. I started by clearing, roading, foresting, and forting the chokepoint at Aleppo77 (what dumb city placement, btw… I planned on later putting a city at the chokepoint, abandoning Aleppo, and building a new town at 3 of there). This allowed me to use the jungle at 4 of the chokepoint as my staging area. As luck would have it, Sumeria cleared and irrigated the jungle next to the chokepoint, giving me open 3 move access to Lagash.

Yeah yeah, the Sumerians had Rifles, but three 13hp 3xKnights Armies do wonders for aggressive boldness!! Backed up by Cavs, I took down Lagash in 1060 AD. I had two wolf packs of 6 Dromon and 1 Frigate each to the east and west of the coastal Sumerian cities, ready to start raining fire.

Another slow war… again producing an MGL in Lagash. Along the way, at home, built the Mil Academy, the FP in Nicaea (for a planned Palace relo that I never executed… ahhh, at least I got the OCN up), got Factories going, and, in 1200 AD, completed the ToE. With only three core Sumerian cities remaining, and with a then tech lead of, at minimum, Atomic Theory and Electronics, I traded my way into another dogpile against Gilgamesh, and more importantly, Medicine and COAL (as luck would have it, a new source of coal appeared in former Japan during the following 20 turns). I still had loads and loads’o gold coming in as well.

By 1300 AD, I had ejected Sumeria from their homeland, gaining Bach’s and Copernicus in the bargain. I had maintained my tech lead with Atomic Theory and Electronics, but via other trades had also gotten up through Espionage, Refining, and REP PARTS!! $%^#$^#@%)(*#$)*(%&^@$#@$@# Frick’em frack’em, one more friggin’ resource to deal with. :grrr:

So, I settled back into builder and RR mode, and started organizing forces for an attack on the Netherlands. Of course, about now the idioHittites declared on me again, fools, as by now I also had upgraded every unit possible, and I’d gotten the Military Academy and one 3xCav Army completed… so while building up for the northern attack, I wiped them out and then started getting the southern isle into decent shape.

The other AI civs started really pounding the remains of Sumeria… all over the seas, I was seeing either wolf-packs of 3-4 Frigates and Ironclads, or the same accompanying a Galleon or two.

I missed Univ Suffrage to the d*mn Mayans, who were shaping up to be a very very powerful after having smacked the everlovin’ cr*p outta France, but I did successfully build Hoover in 1420 AD. Some of my non-homeland cities, especially on Japan, were in very good shape in terms of builds, corruption/waste, and pop by now, and actually were put to good effect building Factories, with Hydros to come. Also, I drafted quite a bit when cities hit 12 pop, and disbanded in lesser developed towns / cities, often using this as a means to short-rush.

I completed Amphib Warfare in 1430 AD, and generated an SGL. I’d hold him for the next GW.

In looking back at my game, I dunno what I was thinking, but after completing Amphib Warfare, I totally neglected to build a kick-*ss force of Marines, and instead went totally builder… Commercial Docks, Stock Exchanges, etc.

I researched Motor Trans in 1460 AD, and traded it for Flight and other goodies, thus entering the Modern Era and gaining Computers. AGAIN, I don’t know WHAT I was thinking, but stayed on a builder path, shooting for a SS win obviously, but oblivious to the lack of rubber and DOH! surely aluminum and uranium down the road. This would put the game in serious jeopardy for me down the road (ah, the cliffhanger… ).

#1 in land, but have dropped to 2-4 in the other top stats
[WHAT WAS I THINKING??!! ]
54 towns / cities / metros with 19.8 million pop
22 native Workers
36 Rifles
15 Guerrillas
9 Knights
16 Cavs
5 Arty
9 Transports
8 Frigates
4 Destroyers
12 Dromon
4 Armies
1 SGL

[Theseus]

Byzantine's Eastern Possessions

[Cort Haus]

REP PARTS!! $%^#$^#@%)(*#$)*(%&^@$#@$@# Frick’em frack’em, one more friggin’ resource to deal with. :grrr:

This became a bit of a talking point ...

That was an impressive AI landing you had on the other thread, Theseus. The most visitors I had drop by unexpectedly was four, and I thought that wasn't bad going.

[Tall Stranger]

OK, here's the next segment of the story. (Sadly, I don't have the storytelling ability of alexman, so I'll just do the usual routine.) AU Mod, Emp level.

At the end of the previous posting, I had full control of the Sumerian/ Hittite continent (eliminating both civs), almost all of the small island to that continent's south (the English landed one city on the final piece of tundra in the far south), as well as Japan and the two western jungle islands. Me, the Maya and the Dutch are the three real powers in the game, with the English a close 4th. I had recently completed the first Mayan war, having kept it limited to sinking a few Mayan warships.

With my new-found wonder of Railroads, I began using my vast slave and worker force to start the tedious task of RRing my vast holdings while also clearing marsh and jungle.

The Mayans were not pleased with their poor showing in the last war, and began to get frisky again. Finally, in 960AD, after one too many naval incursions, I demanded that they depart and they again declared war. They responded by sinking 3 of my beloved dromons with Privateers out by the far western island.

Twenty years later, I discover Electricity and generate my first SGL of the game. Since I was heading for the ToE/Hoovers route (as always), I figure this will just make my job easier. I decide to use it to rush Hoovers on the old Sumeria/Hittite continent, figuring that the larger number of cities will help make up for the slightly higher corruption.

In 1040AD, I sink a large portion of the Mayan attack fleet (several Frigates and 2(?) Galleons), and slaughter the one Med Inf they manage to actually land on my territory. I've been building up my cav forces, and now decide to go on the offensive.

1060AD: The fool Joan signs an alliance against me. If she was actually a power, it would matter.

1070AD: Alarm bells go off as the Netherlands also starts getting frisky (again), so I quickly make a tech/lux deal, sending Electricity and gems off in exchange for 590g and 299gpt. I hope it keeps him neutral.

1090AD: My valient forces take Quirigua, two square from the volcano. Having proven my point (and suffering from WW) I make peace with Smoke. This city will serve nicely as a base of operations for a follow-on war.

1130AD: Byzantine scientists announce the wonderous discovery of Replacement Parts. Dom, you're a bast*rd. No fricking rubber on all that crappy jungle on those islands??? BUT, nice of you to leave one under Maya capital. It gives me something to aim for later on.

1150AD: Hoping to restrain the Maya I signed an MPP with English and another MPP plus ivory go to the Netherlands for massive amounts of gold.

1160AD: Continuing to try to sustain my sci rate while building up my mil, I trade Sci Method and Gems to Netherlands for Spices, Sanitation, 153g and 75gpt.

1190AD: Trade Industrialism and 3 lux to English for furs, Nationalism, and some gold.

1230AD: Around this time, I decide that an assault on the Maya is foolish and start looking at that nice deposit of both oil AND rubber in the former Russian lands now controlled by Cleopatra. The Egyptians have a few cities down there, but there's still several unclaimed tundra squares I can land on. From there, I can to a one-turn assault on a couple of her towns, seize the resources, and develop modern weaponry.

1360AD: My strike force of about 12 cav land on the tundra. At the end of this turn, Egypt's borders expand to all the remaining tundra spaces, leaving all my units on Cleo's soil.

1380AD: I complete Flight. Cleo forces me to declare, as I refuse to have all those units teleported back to my territory. Problem: Assuming that my strikes were going to be fast and furious, I did not bring along any Rifleman as guards., This war could get ugly; on the opening battle, I lose 2-3 cav, with others damaged.

Here's a picture of my southern empire at the end of this segment.

[Tall Stranger]

And here's the western islands. At the top you can see the foothold I have retained on the Mayan continent.

[DrSpike]

Link to DAR4:

http://www.apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?postid=2754438#post2754438

It's pretty much snoozeville from here on in. I got ToE and took Electronics and Radio. I was hoping to get traded Industrialization but the AI were researching hopelessly slowly. I had been using some of them to fund research for some time, and from now I on I took whatever I could get from everyone.

I took Coal from a lone Sumerian city on the westernmost isle.

I got flight in 1120AD.

[DrSpike]

Tbh I should have finished this age sooner, but I got sloppy. To add insult to injury Suffrage was granted far earlier than I expected in the Mayan empire, screwing up my prebuild for the UN. Fortunately I had a backup, albeit one that was slightly slower.

The western Isles:

[DrSpike]

The former Sumerian empire:

[Theseus]

Your CP is so different from mine it is almost unrecognizable. Again... Ancyra is a strictly Worker camp?

At this point did you start to worry about Egypt? (I would have)