AU 502 DAR 5: Flight

[ducki]

This is the fifth DAR thread for AU502: Celtic Power. Report here on your game between DAR4 (Steam Power) and the advent of Flight.

What victory condition are you attempting? What obstacles, if any, do you forsee?

[Makahlua]

Emperor - stock C3C

Grrrr. Stupid Inca Forget my comment about a tech lead, it's a 2 horse show between myself and the Inca with France only staying up since I like their cash This period was fairly quiet, mostly me shuffling workers about, all the fighting happened elsewhere. Let me break it down timeline style:

1470 Trade Steam Power to France for Wines, 20 gpt and 170g; to Aztecz for 24gpt and 60g

14xx Scientific Method discovered. Well, since Nationalism is gonna cost too much I'll just research that myself while I work up Theory of Evolution. And I'm starting to get into the 4-turn realm, and that's before Democracy ^^

1500 Say goodnight Hiawatha.

1515 Nationalism done. A note : no coal at all for Inca and Aztec. I'm not selling mine either ToE is over 20 turns off so let's flip to Democracy now.

1520 Well that wasn't so bad! Econ to 3.7.0 (and I -have- been milking the slider for extra cash on the last 4 turns of a tech, fear not. ^^ )

1550 Replaceable parts! And we have rubber, lots of it All available cities swapped to infantry, we need to boost our defense in case France or Inca get antsy...

1570 Inca finish Universal Sufferage We trade Electricity + lux to France for 2 lux; to Aztec for 24 gpt + 15 g

1575 Industrialization done; France and Inca declare on Aztecs

1590 Communism done. All money into tax during the last 4 turns of ToE

1595 ....and the Inca beat me by 3 turns Research resumes with Atomic Theory. Well at least Berlin has a factory for the next wonder I try... trade Replaceable Parts to France for Corporation

1670 Trade Atomic Theory for Espionage and Refining from France

1685 Electronics done

1725 Heeee! I beat the Inca to Hoover Dam ^^ pppppbbbtt! Childish I know, but it made me feel good

1730 Radio done. Traded to Inca for Facsism, Steel, 50 gpt and 530g; to France for Combustion

1752 Mass Production done (had a crash in the Foreign Advisor screen, thank goodness for autosave!) (something) to France for 2gpt and 100g

1760 Motorized Transport done - Inca have almost finished off Aztec, nor will they trade MT for other tech but I do get 169gpt and 1380 g ^^

1770 We finally get flight and it kicks us into the modern era I rush a bunch of factories and such this turn, al the way down to ~ 300g MT to France for 18gpt and 280g

End game goals? Domination/Conquest? Well I haven't been able to get a spy in France yet but my agent in Cuzco tells me that 106 rifles and 16 artillery defend their shores, along with 8 bombers, 37 guerrillas and 27 Cavalry not to mention the 27 destroyers and 6 transports that their fleet consists of. The logisitcs for me attacking boggle the mind Neither they or the French have rubber but I am trading it to France in exchange for luxuries; I could get a big chunk of armour together but... meh. Diplomatic would feel kinda....cheesy at this point, Culture won't happen since I'm closing in on France and neither of us has a 20k city yet. I'd also like to point out that even if I'd waited to switch to demo -after- ToE, the inca would still have beat me by 1 turn. Stupid Inca, stealing my wonders!

Which leaves us with the Spaceship My production now that I have factories nearrly everywhere and Hoover on the main isle should make it...well not so stressful at least ......and would give me a good excuse to play a game as the Gaians in Alpha Centauri later..... I've got all the available minor wonders done in there to (Wall Street, Battlefield Medicine, et al) I'm headed for computers with Berlin prebuilding the Internet. Let's see the Inca research faster than me with that!

Just wanted to show off how the North Isle's developing

[nbarclay]

Demigod Level, AU Mod Version

In 890 AD, I finished researching Electricity on a six-turn pace only to find that an AI had beaten me to it. That’s not something I normally expect to happen. Worse, the Aztecs were building Longevity, indicating they were ahead of me not only by Medicine but also by the next tech along that branch. They also had Communism, which I didn’t. I was really surprised at how competitive the AIs, the Aztecs especially, were in the tech race. I guessed that the AIs would be more likely to pursue Replaceable Parts next than Corporation, so I started researching Corporation on a five-turn pace in the hope of getting a branch lead that would give me something to trade. In the meantime, I was working on Universal Suffrage as a prebuild for either ToE or Longevity (and I would try a palace prebuild in another city as soon as its coal plant was complete in two turns).

The plan ended up only half working. The Aztecs decided to go for Corporation and barely beat me, but I was able to buy Corporation from them for a trivial price and trade it to France for Medicine. That didn’t do anything about the Aztec tech lead, but it did let me start researching Scientific Method on a five-turn pace. Building the Theory of Evolution would bring me back to at least tech parity, and I could switch governments to Communism once the races for ToE and Longevity were over. (Getting Universal Suffrage too would be nice, but not practical with Demigod-level AIs having a head start and my two most productive cities – indeed, the only two with coal plants – otherwise occupied.) What was really puzzling was how the Aztecs were out-researching France by a considerable margin even though France was bigger and currently had more luxuries. (France had three native luxuries and all four of the luxuries from my home continent, while the Aztecs had none of the four from my home continent.) Could the Aztecs have been benefiting from a science boost from a SGL, by any chance?

I had a very, very close call when the French completed Universal Suffrage the turn before I finished researching Scientific Method. But by leaving the build on Universal Suffrage even though the wonder had been completed, I was able to catch the city when I discovered Scientific Method and change its build orders to ToE. That left me with an interesting situation. If I set research to Atomic Theory, I’d lose a turn that I could have been researching but gain a lot of gold. Or I could trade Scientific Method plus either saltpeter or two luxuries to the Aztecs for Sanitation, change my capital to building Longevity and my second major production center to ToE, and try to find something to research in the four turns before my second city would finish ToE. But what if I set my capital for Longevity and the Aztecs (currently my only potential competitors for it) beat me to it? A quick embassy and city investigation (using essentially all my spare gold) showed that there was no risk of my losing such a race, so I decided to go ahead with that approach and research Espionage (partly for the Secret Police HQ and partly as something I hoped I could trade). Longevity and Theory of Evolution were thus both slated for completion in four turns as of 970 AD, almost perfect timing to celebrate a new millennium.

Thinking about that issue caused me to realize I’d put the question of building my Forbidden Palace on the back burner and not thought to do something about it when I conquered enough territory to give me a good place for it. I should have prioritized that over a factory in Ur, but at least Ur’s factory could help me build it in a reasonable amount of time (and the cathedral the city had been working on gave a little bit of a head start).

By the time I finished researching Espionage in the year 1010, the French and Aztecs both had Replaceable Parts. With the Theory of Evolution complete, Atomic Theory proved to be valuable enough that I could trade it to the French for both Communism and Replaceable Parts and get them to throw in some horses besides. (Since I didn’t have any horses of my own, I’d traded for them from both the French and the Byzantines at various times.) The Aztecs were willing to pay 219 gold per turn plus seventeen up front for the technology, and while the gold per turn would not be useful for rush building after the impending Communist revolution, there were plenty of obsolete units that could be upgraded. Rubber proved to be yet another resource the Aztecs lacked, and this time the French shared the problem (as did the Incas, at least for the present). After my workers finished their actions for the turn and I rushed a couple aqueducts using the majority of what little gold I hadn’t already spent, the newly formed Communist Party started its revolt.

The change to Communism initially pushed research into Combustion back from a six-turn pace to an eight-turn pace. But when the Forbidden Palace was completed two turns later, it seemed to win back essentially a full turn of research speed. The completion of the Secret Police Headquarters about three turns after that provided an additional help.

Around 1060 AD, the Byzantines landed three knights on a mountain overlooking Talbot, a Celtic city founded to claim a coal deposit discovered on the island to the northeast. With amazing luck, the one cavalry and one Gallic Swordsman defending the city drove off both that attack and a second attack by a knight and a MedInf with no losses, and with the cavalry promoted to elite.

Twenty years later, in spite of the Byzantine skirmishes, the new Communist government began implementing one of the planks in its platform: the conquest of the Iroquois. They had long been unhappy at how the Iroquois had demanded dyes a century or so earlier, and with the cannons newly upgraded to artillery (at long last), they were equipped to do something about it. Rather than declare war themselves, they made Hiawatha furious through a series of absurd demands for Iroquois cities and then ordered him to withdraw his troops. Hiawatha fell into the trap and declared war, and the two Iroquois cities in what was once German territory fell quickly (along with what was probably a rather large percentage of the Iroquois’ offensive forces). Unfortunately, I had taken long enough that the Iroquois had been able to obtain Nationalism, so many of my enemies would have rifles instead of antique muskets. But rifles are woefully inadequate weapons against cavalry that have industrial-strength artillery support.

Traditionally, I have almost never used the draft. It makes people unhappy; the conscripts cost just as much to support as veterans; and the fact that conscripts are relatively easy to kill can be a problem in regard to war weariness. But with a communist government, war weariness is not an issue, and I had free support available for more than a hundred more units than I had. I also had four cities that were at size 12 and maximum food and running a food surplus, which would allow them to grow back immediately after a draft.

And here’s something I don’t remember us thinking about when we moved Longevity into the industrial era in the AU Mod. With a government that allows drafting more than one unit in a turn, Longevity makes it possible to draft two units instead of one when a city reaches maximum size and food and still have the city grow back the next turn. That can be a significant advantage for a civ that needs more up-to-date defenders than it has. Since my first conventionally built infantry was still a turn or two away and I’d been able to afford only a very limited number of upgrades, that extra drafting power was all that let me attack when I did with anything I was willing to consider adequate safety.

Gallic Swordsmen got a chance to shine in response to the Iroquois counterattack. A few Iroquois cavalry units entered Celtic territory but did not have enough movement left to attack, and two others survived killing a conscript infantry unit and an elite pike unit defending one of the Celtic cities along the border. The Celtic cavalry force was mostly injured from its own attacks the previous turn, and would be of limited use against the Iroquois counterattack. But once artillery pinged the attackers down to just one or two hit points each, Gallic Swordsmen could handle them fairly easily. Further, the Gallic Swordsmen could use the rail network to withdraw back to cities and avoid subjecting themselves to counter-counterattack.

By the year 1150, four Iroquois cities were in Celtic possession and artillery were positioned for an assault on the capital. Unfortunately, the island city of Talbot had recently fallen to the third Byzantine assault on it, creating the potential for the Byzantines to have coal if they could build a road and a harbor. (Not that they were even close to knowing what coal was yet.) At that point, I hatched an evil scheme: I bribed the Incas into joining me in an alliance against the Iroquois in the hope that the Iroquois might take an Inca city or two I wanted (including one with coal in its radius) on the jungle island. Before Talbot fell, I was reluctant to involve the Incas in my war with the Iroquois for fear that Iroquois forces might land outside Talbot and I would not be able to make peace to save the city. But with Talbot no longer mine, I no longer had reason to fear that the Iroquois might send an attack to a place where I could not deal with it. I also got a third leader for a third army that turn and changed a build order from Intelligence Agency to Pentagon.

After I drew the Incas into an alliance against the Iroquois, the Iroquois and Aztecs joined in an alliance against the Incas. Since the Aztecs had been my most dangerous technological rival, I decided to give the Incas Replaceable Parts and supply them with rubber. But there were two problems. First, the Incas had joined the Byzantines in an embargo against me, so I persuaded the Incas that fighting the Byzantines would be more worthwhile than embargoing me. And second, I’d had to trade my second rubber supply to France as part of my last round of deals for French luxuries. Speaking of the French, they had a mutual protection pact with the Aztecs and thus were quickly drawn into war against the Incas. At that point, every nation in the world was at war with at least one other nation. The Byzantines were in Feudalism at the time and the rest of the world in Democracy.

In 1170 AD, I beat the French and Aztecs to Refining after having had essentially a tie to Steel. That gave me Refining and Electronics as techs that I had and my leading rivals didn’t. Shortly after, the French and Aztecs both had Fascism, and indications are that they were probably both researching it at the same time. Both nations changed governments, leading to a high probability that they would no longer be competitive in the tech race.

I drove the Iroquois off my home continent in 1210 AD, but that still left the Iroquois with a decent-sized nation. They controlled the entire island to the southwest and most of the jungle island to the west, with the Aztecs having claimed the plains island just west of those two. The Iroquois had taken one of the Inca city by the coal on the jungle island, but the Incas still had a city by the oil. My three galleons were in a position where they could have landed troops on the jungle island the next turn, but I decided to attack the southern island first and see if I could get lucky and have the Iroquois take the remaining city from the Incas so I could take it from them. There was some risk involved, though, since if the Incas could by some miracle spare the troops from their other actions, they might be able to take some territory from the Iroquois instead of having territory taken from them.

[nbarclay]

As things turned out, it was the Aztecs that took the Inca oil city. Once that happened, I no longer had a need to delay my attack on the jungle island, so my three newly upgraded transports dropped a 4x Cavalry army, a cavalry, three elite infantry (two of which had already generated leaders), and nine artillery on the island. That wave took two cities, and then the transports went back for another load to take the rest of the Iroquois possessions on the island. In the year 1260, the Celts made another round of trades for luxuries, this time giving up Refining. With Fascism obtained in one of the deals, the Celts were up to a three-tech lead: Electronics, Combustion, and the newly discovered Mass Production. (Unfortunately, working the deal for Fascism from France resulted in the Aztecs’ placing such a low value on Refining that it was necessary to sell them luxuries, something I’d really hoped to avoid.) Mass Production had just been researched on a four-turn pace, and Motorized Transportation was also scheduled for a four-turn pace. The Incas were in Anarchy, so I decided to give them Fascism in the hope that it would help them fend off the Aztecs and French more effectively. (Indeed, giving Fascism to the Incas was my main reason for researching it.)

In the year 1290, I issued an order that production priorities be diverted from infantry to artillery in cities where tanks would require three turns but less expensive units could be built in two. (Not that a huge number of cities were building units; I’d ordered that cities prioritize improvements over units once the defeat of the Iroquois became just a matter of time.) I had plenty of infantry but only seventeen artillery, and with a continent and two islands to defend and the Byzantines to invade, I really needed more artillery. By that point, I’d finished conquering all but the one Iroquois city on the jungle island and taken four of the seven Iroquois cities on the southwestern island.

The Celtic people learned how to build effective aircraft in the year 1305, the same year the Iroquois were finally eliminated. Cities that had been producing tanks were diverted temporarily to bomber construction in order to obtain a more effective means of dealing with enemy ships. The Byzantine war still simmers, and a mixed force of knights and cavalry was just destroyed when it dared to land on my continent (with two tanks promoted to elite in the bargain). The Celtic Academy of War in Ur is a turn away from producing its first army, and will be able to churn out an additional army every four turns after that.

Starting into the modern era, at my current rate, it will take seven turns to research Computers. But playing with the science slider a little, I’m pretty sure that a combination of growth and construction of additional city improvements will bring the time down to six turns. I have a prebuild for the Internet slated for completion in fourteen turns, and I’m hoping that that plus additional growth and development will get me on a four-turn tech pace eventually. I still haven’t had a scientific great leader all game.

My current plan for the rest of the game is to retake the island city the Byzantines stole from me and capture another city on the same island that they took from the Incas, and then to conquer the Byzantine homeland itself. After that, I’ll probably sign a Right of Passage agreement with the Incas, preposition a large force in Inca lands, and go to war with the Aztecs. Then, depending on how the Incas behave themselves, I can either turn on them or go after the French if I need more territory for domination. Of course if one of the AIs decides to declare war on me, that could throw my plans a bit out of kilter.

The mutual protection pact between France and the Aztecs is no longer in effect. The Aztecs and Incas have made peace, but the Incas and French are still at war and all three civs are in Fascism.

I’m now up to a five-tech lead (more precisely, four and a fraction), with France and the Aztecs not having yet researched Combustion or Electronics. The Incas are missing Corporation, Atomic Theory, and everything after, while the Byzantines only very recently entered the industrial era and got Nationalism as their free tech.

The Incas and Aztecs haven’t had coal hooked up the whole game to date, and both of them and the French as well are at my mercy where rubber supplies are concerned. I’ve been supplying the French for gold and the Incas to help them fend off the Aztecs, but I doubt that I’ll renew the deals once they expire. This is definitely a game where resource scarcity is doing nasty things to the AIs. It will be interesting to see how it influences people’s thinking regarding the resource scarcity issue.

[IthacaMike]

Regent level - AU Mod - the forever war

This game was right in my comfort zone, more or less. I did the Steam Power - Industrialization thing to get factories up ASAP. I dis like micro-management so I use the shift-control-R to get the basic rail net laid out and end up with the workers in my core. Then I use shift-A to get the rest of the rails laid down.

Initially I was concerned that I might not have coal but there was plenty on the home continent. If Allegany had been moved slightly I could have had the Iron Works.

The next step was to get Replaceable Parts. I want the faster workers and I want to know if there is going to be a problem with rubber. Nope, I've got it too.

Then the Hoover Dam two step with pre-builds.

I was already having problems with War Weariness and I had a huge number of cities. I thought I might need Communism as an option so the next research thread was Nationalism - Communism - Espionage. This is where my master plan went off the tracks.

The French lacked Rubber. They stationed a task force in my waters just off the south western island, the one that has Rubber. I told them to leave and then I was at war. I had the edge in production but I needed a fairly fast victory. I started producing Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery and Frigates to escort them to France.

In the mean time the French were doing a number on my island holdings. My first task force manages to recover two cities while my Aztec allies recover two more. One flips back to me.

Then I start the massive invasion of France proper. I get ashore and manage to batter my way into Toulouse (extreme western tip with the furs). Then the French stack of doom shows up. The good news was that they were out-of-date units. The bad news was that there were 50+ of them. I love my Artillery. Between it and the Cavalry I managed to damage enough of the attackers so that the Infantry survied.

I kept adding more units and the French kept coming.

By this time I've decided I'll need tanks so I'm going up that branch of the tree. When I get to combustion I upgrade my galleons and can transport my Ancient Armies accros. I needed them.

The battles really see-saw until finally I arrive at the gates of Paris, population 26. (!) Thats when I realise what has happened. Paris had Iron Works! Iron Works, Sun Tzu's, Shakespear, and JS Bach. I can't hold the french cities I've captured with out taking Paris or they will flip. By this time I had 30 Artillery all within range of Paris blasting away and they could not read-line the defenders. I finally got Motorized Transport and loaded up the Armies I had been stock piling with Tanks. It took 5 3-Tank Armies to crack Paris. I had 12 armies in the field. 4 Gallic Swordsman and 1 Medieval Infantry armies doing rear area security or occupation duties, a Cavalry arrmy and 6 3-Tank armies (leave room for the Mech Inf) to do the heavy lifting.

In the mean time I had been doing the dipolmacy thing and I had got the Aztecs into a war with the Byzantines. Neither could really hurt the other but then neither was going to quit either. The Byzantines roped the Incas into the war against me and I used a MPP to get them into a war with the Aztecs.

By the time I researched Flight the French were down to three cities.

I decided to go for the Starship. I could get domination victory very easily but I like the video. The UN victory was out. It would be between me and the Aztecs and neither of the Byzantines or the Incas would vote for either of us. Cultural looked possible.

All in all I was at war with the French from 1778 until 1862 when their last city fell.

[jshelr]

Cornell, IthacaMike? Haven't been back in 25 years now. Back in my day you would still have been under 5 feet of snow at this point in the year.

[jshelr]

"In the meantime the French were doing a number on my island holdings. My first task force manages to recover two cities while my Aztec allies recover two more. One flips back to me."

I tend to avoid Island holdings early because it's expensive to ship necessary units and the sort of thing IthacaMike describes can cause war weariness problems later. It's generally easy to take the island holdings you need when you need them for resources.

[Risa]

Emperor Level, AU Mod

This DAR actually goes a bit further than Flight.

===================================

President Bennnus looks around the world. French are advanced, having the knowledge of Nationalism and Indstrialization. They have 3 kinds of luxury resources, and 2 sources of coal. Aztec's scientific progress is roughly equal to Celts. They have 1 kind of luxury resources but no coal. Though it seems they've already purchased it from France. Incan people still lag in late middle age, and without horse or saltpeter. Byzantine haven't learned Gonpowder and Chivalry! The next target seems so obvious. Brennus orders Celtic techicians concentrate their efforts in commercial uses of Electricity, all cities arrange universities, and ground troops and ships to eastern ports.

In 1325AD, Celtic technicians feel confident enough to announce their mastery over Electricity. Brennus holds an international scientific confronce, selling Electricity to france for their knowledge of Industrialization, 10 gpt and 106 golds, buying Nationalism from Aztecs with Idustrialization, Electricity and 370 golds. French people are ahead us by three optional techs. 5 years later, a long prebuild project is convert to Universal Suffrage and completed in Alesia.

Mighty Celtic invasion fleet arrives at Byzantine coast in 1350AD. Unfortunately they have already known what is Gunpowder and practise Chivalry a few years later. Celts' troops are able to takes half Byzantine without too much resistance. However, due to some wrong tactics and some bad luck, two armies are lost. That, in addition to heavy bombardment from Byzantine dromos, requires Brennus sending reinforces before attacking next city. There's also a one-tile island city of Byzantine that Brennus wants to take, so peace is signed in 1460AD, with Byzantine's handing over that city.

We lose the race to Medicine, but win in Scientific Method. Considering how improtant the Theory of Evolution is, Brennus tells his Science advisor to withhold our learning of Scientific Method. By this time, two cities has built factories and coal plants. One is assigned ToE building, the other starts a prebuild for Hoover Dam. We lose another race to Replacable Parts, but fortunately, Celts is the only nation in the world that produce rubber. Brennus takes those remaining time before the completion of ToE to research Ironclads, and a scientific leader emerges! "All our people are warmongers, it seems." commented Brennus.

ToE is finished in 1455AD. Hoover fifteen years later. Brennus trades Ironclads and 300 golds to French for their furs, gems and knowledge of Corporation, Ironclads and 110 golds for Aztec's arts of Espionage. Then he share Atomic Theory with French, for a price of Communism, 153 gpt and 747 golds. Sanitation is discovered in 1475AD. With help of scientific leader, the Longevity project is completed in 1480AD.

Knowing that everyone else has rubber, Brennus decides to hurry up his conquering plans. Despite of foreign advisor's warning, he declares war on Byzantine within the 20-turn peace treaty. Byzantine is soon destroyed.

Brennus pays for his ruthless. Celts people discover Steel in 1555AD, sell it to French for wines, 1120 golds and 37 gpt, to Aztecs for silks, 19golds and 4 gpt. In right next turn French declares war on us! The following turn Aztecs join the alliance against us! They have complete control of oceans with their frigates and ironclads, landing small amount of troops every turn. Most are killed in the same turn. However, one French division has successfully forced Brennus to abandon a former Byzantine's city.

Brennus regains ocean control by his destroyer fleet eventually. By this time he has controlled 58% of the world area, and more than 60% of population. Beating Inca will be easieat way to ensure his domination, but Brennus decides to invade France, since they are closer, they have some nice wonders, and they're also lack of rubber. Six full loaded transports land Celts invasion force, consisted of 2 three-infantry armies, 16 artilleries, 12 infantries and guerillas, on the beach outside French city Chartres. French doesn't attack. Brennus thinks that is because French doesn't have enough spare troops to attack, so he orders his artilleries fire to Chartres, prepares to take it at once. To his surprise, there're still uninjured defenders in Chartres after bombardment. Brennus sends a spy to Paris, and is shocked by the report: they have 40s of cavalries, 110s of riflemen, and 130s of guerillas! Another six transports of artilleries and infantries reinforces quickly debark. Two divisions together take Chartres in 1635AD, and suffer fierce counter attack. All infantries and guerillas die in the charge of French cavalries, the only survivor is a 1hp-left army. Hundreds of slowmovers are also aproaching, there's no other choice for Brennus than signing peace with French people. The third six-transport reinforces arrive at Chartres in 1655AD, with several brand-new iron monsters and a new army on board.

Celtic scientists master Flight in 1675AD, announcing we've entered modern age!

An airport is rushed in Chartres in 1690AD. Now we can get tank reinforces every turn, there's no reason to keep that useless peace treaty. War is redeclared. French throw their 20s remaining cavalries against Chartres, which is now defended by 3 four-infantry armies, more than 20 artilleries, about thirty infantries and guerillas, and several tanks. Those cavalries can't even damage our armies to yellow state, but enough to undermine our democracy. Brennus founds Celts Communist Party and provokes a revolution. "No one can stop our Red Army. French can't, nor can the Senate."

It takes 30 years to wipe out French slowmovers. During that period, 4 leaders emerge, 3 of them comes shoulder by shoulder in 1720AD. That is the turning point of Celt-French war. Riflemen in metropolis with civil defense may stop tanks for a while, but tank armies are just invincible. In 1760, once French core is ours, and no one can deny the domination of Celts.

[Risa]

Mighty armies:

[Risa]

former French core:

[jshelr]

Brennus war with everyone went well, I suppose. France and the Aztecs were very stubborn. Bombers and shore arty bombardment butchered wooden ships carrying units for landing. We were forced to finish off Hi and Bismarck when they signed alliances.

Eventually, Joan of A had to be convinced to give up by means of theft of her diamond mines. Taking her diamonds got her attention.

Still have a huge tech lead but our citizens were beginning to revolt against the war. Demo is our winning edge.

[Aqualung71]

AU502 – DAR5 Flight, part 1

Demigod level, AU Mod

After the grumpiness displayed by the scribe in the second half of the last DAR, Brennus has once again nailed the head of a former member of the Celtic Royal Court to London Bridge and selected a new literary hopeful to continue the Celtic Chronicles. Still, he doesn’t have much to go on for a while, since we will have our heads down in Research/RR/Build mode for some time to come.

1255AD: RR’ing starts in earnest, as we have 2 Coal sources and 60+ workers. Brennus meets with his planning advisors: “Get our there and railroad the entire empire. And while you’re at it, I don’t want to see a single tree, forest or jungle in any corner of my lands. Is that clear?” The Celtic Times reports the following day that another head has appeared nailed to London Bridge, formerly belonging to Brennus’ planning advisor with environmentalist leanings.

1275AD: Aztecs building Hoovers, then complete ToE. They must be miles ahead in techs by now! We shall stick to the top branch.

1290AD: Industrialisation researched. Corporation in 5.

1315AD: Corporation researched. Aha! Byzantines and French don’t have Refining. Brennus believes he is starting to catch up, finally! Refining next – but in 10.

1350AD: Refining researched – traded to Theodora for Electricity plus 20g from us. Steel next in 8.

1360AD: Disraeli Gears has now built every improvement available and is starting on the Army production line.

1375AD: Aztecs complete Hoover Dam

1385AD: Researched Steel, but that nasty b***h Theodora won’t give us Replaceable Parts for it, and of course we’ve got a bad reputation haven’t we, so forget gpt bids! Dropped to zero research for one turn to raise cash for the trade.

1390AD: Traded Steel and 400g to Theodora for RP. We have Rubber, yay! Dropped to zero research for a few turns for mass upgrades

1395AD: Quick about-face on the upgrades – too darn expensive, and with several cities now producing 2 turn Infantry/Artillery, we can get a good defensive force up and running pretty quickly. Will leave the old units as garrisons and upgrade them later if we have spare cash. Need to catch up on research now.

Meanwhile, our Galleon with Settler and marsh-workers arrives on the northern part of the western island to grab Oil from under Gil’s nose. The AI is really bad at this – we just need to settle before his borders expand, then culture bomb and Bob’s your uncle!

1420AD: Entire empire completely RR’ed and all practical pop adds have been completed, with more on the way once we’ve built a few aquaducts and happiness management buildings in the annexed lands. As per Brennus’ orders, not a single tree remains in the Celtic Empire. The remaining 50 workers will be whittled down slowly and used as pollution clean up gangs. Brennus is getting a little bored, so he hatches a plan to surround the Sumerian city of Erech by doing a mini ICS and culture bombing…let’s see how it goes!

1430AD: Combustion researched – neither France nor Byzantium has it, which means France will be our new trading partner since the rest of the world is at war with Theodora and she’s down to 3 cities, meaning we may not be able to trade with her too much longer. Combustion sold to Joan for Medicine, 21gpt, 141g and world map. Theodora won’t give up Sanitation AND Ironclads for Combustion, so we will collect some cash and wait another turn.

The resource play worked for now and we got the Oil when our town culture-expanded from the rushed Temple (even before it culture expanded actually).

1440AD: Combustion and 700g to Theodora for Sanitation and Ironclads. We can now build the usual 5 hospitals for some mega-cities, which will activate Battlefield Medicine…..pretty much the most useless Small Wonder.

Meanwhile, Mass Production in 15 while we build up to 1000g for the Wall Street interest. Only Aztecs are still way ahead of us now, having recently entered the Modern age (so much for catching up in tech on this DAR!). Brennus is very concerned about his idea for a United Nations (meaning, the 5 nations that remain!) monument being pre-empted by Montezuma – better watch that guy very carefully.

A discussion with our military advisor reveals that the Aztecs and Sumeria are in Fascism, France in Communism and Byzantines in Monarchy. Let’s hope this allows our Democracy to catch up somewhat.

We lost our Oil due to a Sumerian culture expansion, so Cathedral rushed now. Our elastic borders promptly expand to reclaim the Oil.

1445AD: Town of Closing Time founded and temporary town abandoned for the ICS play. Let’s hope that volcano doesn’t blow!

Here's the site before we founded the new town - with the temporary town having culture expanded and providing the single square of territory for our settler to use:

[Aqualung71]

AU502 – DAR5 Flight, part 2

Demigod level, AU Mod

Town of Segusio founded (to be renamed Closing Time) and temporary town abandoned. We now have a new town that was entirely Sumerian territory only a few turns ago!

[Aqualung71]

AU502 – DAR5 Flight, part 3

Demigod level, AU Mod

1475: Aztecs demand 45g and Brennus submits to further a**e-licking.

1485: MP researched, MT in 7. France and Sumeria got it the same time we did, so no trades. Theodora still won’t sell us Nationalism.

1500: Aztecs sign peace with Byzantium, who are down to one city. This is useful as it will give us more trade opportunities for longer.

1505: Aztecs approach our shoreline with Destroyers and Transport. We dispatch Infantry and Artillery to cover any landings. Meanwhile, Gilgamesh displays his Mechanized Infantry. Yikes! Must have got Computers as his free tech. Damn, invasion plans become a distant dream!

1510: Researched MT. Sold it to the French for SM + 336 g + 12gpt. Flight in 7.

1525: Cultural border retreats and we lose our Oil again. Library rushed to get it back! (it doesn’t’ work, nor does the University rush next).

Meanwhile, Aztecs begin the UN and we are in real trouble. France has entered the Modern age. We’re really looking down the barrel now!

1540: Flight researched. Sold Flight and MT to Theodora for Nationalism and some change. Then sold her SM for Espionage. This was critical so I can build the IA and sabotage Aztec production on the UN.

Overall, I feel I have let this game get away from me by not being opportunistic and ruthless early enough. The Sumerian lands, with their nice terrain and nearby wonder-cities (not to mention the Ivory), were ripe for the picking and I should have turned on them after securing the Iroquois Saltpeter, probably even earlier. The Iroquois were no longer a threat and could have been finished off any time thereafter. By waiting a further 10 turns, they made it to Riflemen and then Infantry soon thereafter. I then had no hope of launching a successful invasion spearheaded by mere Cavalry. It may also have been a mistake supplying them with Iron trades, but it would have been hard to keep in touch on technology without doing so.

So now we remain behind the Aztecs, Sumeria and French, all of whom are in the Modern age. We have begun a substantial military build-up and are slotting Tanks into our 7 waiting empty Armies, and building Bombers. It is likely we will be facing Sumerian MI by the time our invasion is ready, but that can’t be helped now.

In the meantime, our biggest threat is the Aztecs completing their UN build before we’ve had a chance to get to Fission. Assuming we do not lose diplomatically, we may have little choice than a space-race, since a domination/conquest victory is looking well-nigh impossible at this stage. Frankly, any kind of win will be difficult from this point.

Still, a Celt never gives in. Roll on endgame!

Here's the state of the nation a couple of turns after Flight was researched.

[Aqualung71]

AU502 – DAR5 Flight, part 4

Demigod level, AU Mod

Here's the oscillating Oil resource on the western island - we keep culture bombing it, but it regularly flips back into Sumerian territory. We may eventually use this as a poor excuse to declare war!