AU 503 DAR 6: Endgame

[Catt]

Into the Modern Age and towards victory or defeat! This is the sixth and last spoiler thread for AU 503: Pillage and Plunder.

Are you in control or hanging on by your fingernails? Is pillaging still a viable and worthwhile tactic? How will you bring the game to a conclusion?

[Catt]

Stock Rules; Emperor

Part 7 of 7

With a two to three technology lead and no scientific civilizations remaining (the Ottomans having been dispatched by the Chinese), Pachacuti believed victory was his. The Incans researched Fission to secure the United Nations; they then researched Computers and Miniaturization allowing for greatly enhanced defense (if they could acquire some oil) as well as Seti and the Internet. All goals were met. At each prompting for a UN vote a vote was allowed – Mao voted for Mao, Pachacuti voted for Pachacuti, and all others abstained.

Ragnar of the Vikings foolishly declared war for some unknown reason. The Vikings forfeited Odense, the oasis city east of Cuzco, for their impertinence. Peace soon returned.

The remaining challenge was to maintain sufficient technological leadership to build the spaceship, trade for the required resources, and build the necessary parts, all the while beating back any aggression. Through technology trades, the Incans were readily able to acquire access to oil and during such trades had built a small force of tanks and bombers as well as upgrade infantry to mechanized forces. The Chinese elected to beeline towards Space Flight while the Incans researched north and south, wanting to enable as many spaceship builds as possible when the resources became available.

During this time the insatiable Chinese had established a foothold on the home continent, destroying the Hittites in the process. Pachacuti watched the Chinese advance very closely. By 1840 AD the Chinese controlled approximately 55% of the world and 62% of the world’s population.

In 1840 AD Pachacuti traded Fission, dyes, and ivory to Mao for Satellites, wines, furs, gems, and 1000 gold. He traded Fission to Ragnar for incense, oil, and 105 gpt. And he traded Fission to the Mongols for aluminum, 27 gpt, and a world map. The Incan tech lead consisted of Miniaturization, Ecology, and Synthetic Fibers. A medium-sized force of modern armor was quickly assembled should the expulsion of Chinese forces from the home continent be necessary.

Research was ratcheted up as far as possible (sometimes incurring great deficits) to enable the discovery of Superconductor, Nuclear Power, and the Laser before the import of aluminum was ended.

In 1880 AD Pachacuti traded Superconductor, dyes, and ivory to China for Uranium, oil, amphibious warfare, ironclads, gems, wines and furs. Pachacuti traded Computers to Ragnar in exchange for incense, 60 gpt, and a world map. The trade of Computers was intended to support Ragnar in his ongoing war against Mao – Mao had turned on the Vikings following the destruction of the Hittites and despite the need to ferry troops across the ocean was gaining the upper hand and taking Scandinavian cities in the former Hittite lands. Pachacuti quickly settled in an opening to the southwest caused by the merciless razing of Scandinavian cities by China – the new Incan city controlled a source of aluminum – handy but not necessary as Pachacuti could easily trade for a supply.

In 1892 AD, the Incan spaceship was ready to launch – only one piece remained and it would be constructed in the next turn by Machu Picchu. China remained the closest technology competitor, but lacked knowledge of Synthetic Fibers and the Laser (plus the Inca were one turn from Robotics). Just before the launch Mao controlled approximately 58% of the world’s land and 66% of the world’s population.

Catt

[Catt]

Bonus screenies of worldwide development:

Catt

[Catt]

Last one:

Catt

[Strollen]

Argh my lengthy replied was lost when I attached two screen shots...

So to summarize the last 50 turns were pretty anticlamatic, I mostly hit space and F.

The ottomans were me only serious tech rivals, and they only beat me to the Space Rech tech. I didn't get a single SGL during the game, and was surprised that even with twenty odd cities, and the internet I wasn't able to research at 4 turns (generally 5 turns at 80% science.).

My only war during the modern era was a short one against Portugal, cause I was caught planting a spy. I grapped the Portugal Gem city which gave me 6 luxuries and also got an MGL!

Between 1430 and 1620, Portugal and Ottoman completely destroy both India and China, with Portugal gaining most of the territory. The Ottoman army was large and modern 100 infantry (which were quickly upgraded to Mech inf!!) and 55 tanks and 80 other units. My army was 220, so an invasion would have been difficult, especially when the year I launched the space ship 1715, Ottomans complete the Mahattan project!.

[Strollen]

Score from game.

[Strollen]

final map

Final Map

[Jawa Jocky]

Originally posted by Strollen
So to summarize the last 50 turns were pretty anticlamatic, I mostly hit space and F.

I like to use shift+enter. However I don't know if I take advise from the 1st declared loser.


AU 503 replay,Monarch,AUmod

I’m laughing all the way to the “Hall of Shame”. While most people would use the replay to improve their game, I have done the exact opposite. I’ve lost! I was doing very well in my 1st game but choose to replay, since I felt I had missed out on the pillage theme of the game. I’m kicking myself for deleting the 1st game since I now have the urge to back up my claim that “This game was already won”. Oh well, maybe I’ll start a re-replay

[nbarclay]

Emperor Level, AU Mod

Shortly after I entered the modern era, I finally started having spare production to start building units instead of relying on conscripts for all my military units more modern than MedInfs, pikes, and trebuchets. Since India was still a little behind the other AIs in tech, I decided to gamble trading them Combustion (which the Ottomans and Vikings already had) for oil. The down side to that was that my doing so helped India catch up in tech, and long-term, they looked like the only civ with any real hope of giving me serious competition in the space race.

Maybe a dozen or so turns after that, two wars started. India decided to attack the Ottomans, and the same turn, the Vikings decided to attack me. So much for my plans for a peaceful space race victory.

Fortunately, the Vikings had waited too long. By waiting until they could build tanks of their own, they gave me enough time to build up a decent tank force with a few artillery units to support it. Since I'd been raking in gold like mad for centuries in my deals with the AIs, I could also afford to upgrade my twenty-someodd trebuchets to artillery. My second turn of the war, I reclaimed the former Mongol capital, uniting my empire and dividing the Viking empire. I then started reclaiming my cities that had flipped to the Vikings, and after that taking additional cities. Viking bombers did a bit of damage, especially to tiles I had workers on, but were more an annoyance than a serious threat.

After a few turns of slow conquest with tanks supported by artillery, war weariness became a serious problem. I really needed to end the war quickly. Fortunately, my scientists were able to provide the means: Synthetic Fibers. I upgraded my non-elite tanks to MAs (except for one or two I missed) and marched up the Viking subcontinent to take their last seven continental cities in a single turn.

To do so, I used a combination of tactics. I'd already positioned elite tanks and a number of artillery units to attack the first city on my target list. In most cases, the Vikings' unusually tight city spacing for an AI let me use artillery support in almost all my attacks, and I rationed my artillery instead of trying to reduce everything to one hit point before attacking. The Viking capital was out of range of artillery support, so I saved my armies for that attack. (I'd deliberately left two armies empty instead of populating them with tanks so I could put MAs in them, and I got a leader for a third MA army on that turn.) So I finally had my revenge on the Vikings for how they'd treated me in the past.

I'd signed up India for an alliance against the Vikings earlier, mostly to make sure the Vikings couldn't sign them up in an alliance or embargo against me and cut off my luxury deal with them. I ended up violating the terms of the alliance by making peace with the Vikings once they were off my continent, but I felt no shame in doing so. I'd already rendered the Vikings impotent as a significant power, leaving India free to finish them off or ignore them as Gandhi saw fit. And since India already blamed me for a breakdown in trade that wasn't really my fault (it having been caused by an earlier Viking attack against me), I didn't have to worry about the effect on my reputation. With war weariness already a significant problem, neither I nor my voters saw any great point in trying to finish the Vikings off.

On the other side of the world, I was able to help the Ottomans hold off India. I traded Computers to the Ottomans, and made sure it wasn't one of the techs I traded to India. Later, I provided the Ottomans with free oil (since my conquest of the Vikings had given me my own supplies), and later still, free rubber. In the end, although the Vikings took a few Ottoman cities, the Ottomans remained mostly intact, becoming the first of India's intended victims to resist successfully.

My research pace through the modern era was generally quite good. Computers and Miniaturization, my first two techs, took six turns each. I'd gotten a SGL near the end of the industrial era, and decided to use him to build the Internet the moment Miniaturization was discovered. Fission, my third modern tech, took five turns, but from then on, I was doing four-turn research for everything but Space Flight. (I got Ecology and half of the research for Rocketry in trades, but I think I researched everything else in the modern era myself.)

Then, in 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed. Not independence of one country from another, but rather a declaration that mankind itself would no longer be dependent on a single planet for its survival. No one else was even competitive in the space race, with India six techs behind and the Ottomans seven behind.

[Aqualung71]

I've moved on straight to the endgame from DAR4, skipping DAR5 in the process.

Nothing too eventful.....I concentrated on the top branch of the industrial age tree, trading all new techs with the Portuguese and Chinese (when not at war), then later with the Ottomans and even Indians.

Everyone except the Ottomans were removed from our continent, who had most of the former Viking territories. We stayed in Republic for the rest of the game, not wanting to experience more anarchy even though I was keen to try out Fascism with the new SPHQ. This didn't really hurt research too much, since India and Ottomans were in Fascism/Communism.

Entered the Modern age only 2 techs behind and it was a simple matter to catch up from there, particularly with the modern age no brainer Internet wonder pre-build. The only military threat was the Ottomans, whom we kept happy with luxury trades and made sure we built up a formidable military to prevent any silly temptations.

After Miniaturization, we traded our way to tech parity....even stealing a tech from the Indians for half its purchase cost then cheekily reselling it back to the Ottomans in return for another SS tech.

Spaceship built in 1850, before any other civ had even built a single part, even though they could easily have done so.

[Jawa Jocky]

AU503, Monarch, 3rd Play, AUmod

I thought I was off to a great start. Soon after 2150 Manchu Picchu was founded desert irrigation began. City 2 built veteran spearmen (who would be placed in highlands to discourage the AI) while our capital built a couple replacement Chasqui. I tried to get a peace agreement with the Mongols but they keep demanding Manchu Picchu.

As one of my Chasqui went off to pillage Viking lands my other successfully returned two slaves. However 3 mongol warriors were following this group back to Manchu Picchu. A newly built Chasqui was sent north to relieve my only spearman from barbarian defense so he could go South to meet the Mongols. Unfortunately the Chasqui was killed by a barbarian and the spearman was sent back to defend our Northern City (without a defender I couldn’t get a unit completed before the next barb showed up).

A second Chasqui was completed and sent south because extra defense was needed quickly. I had two Chasqui for defense with a spearman one turn away when the battle for Manchu Picchu began (the Mongols had two regular warriors). The 1st Mongol warrior defeated one of my Chasqui and was left with 1 health point. The 2nd Mongol warrior died attacking my only remaining defender, robbing him of a health point, and starting my GA. The next turn a spearman arrived and asked to see the healthy Mongol who just arrived. The Mongols still wanted Manchu Picchu for peace.

On the next turn I lost a spearman (fortified on a hill in a town) to a Mongol warrior. The turn after that I lost my Chasqui and Manchu Picchu fell into Mongol hands. I decided at that point that if I play out AU503 it will be with my 4th attempt.

[Action]

Monarch
1754-1880

The modern age is where I really started to pull away from my enemies.

The Indians did not go back to Democracy, but stayed in Fascism.

The Chinese stayed in Fascism as well.

The Ottomans were a Democracy, but kind of backwards.

The Portuguese were fascist primatives.

In short, none of the AIs were doing a lot of research.

I went into the age with a tech lead, and by the time I won the game that lead was 6 or more techs.

You may have noticed I didn't mention the Hittities. They started the age as a small Democracy which was slightly behind me in tech, but even with the AI tech leaders.

I decided to gobble them up, as I didn't really like sharing a continent. With me using Mech infantry and Tanks and them using Cavalry, Guerillas and Infantry, it wasn't much of a contest. Although their capital did flip back during the war.

I finally got my first two leaders, one of which built an army and the next rushed a hydro plant (all the small wonders I could build were built).

I had secured my continent except a small southern outposts the Indians had stolen from the Vikings earlier.
So I made peace with the hittites, leaving them with a couple of tiny offshore Islands. This was a mistake as a small Hittite city on the continent defected back to them later on, after we had made peace. It was not very valuable so I just let them have it. What I should have done though is wiped them out and gifted the island cities I didn't want to Portugal, the weakest AI.

My continent secure and completely lacking a navy, I settled into builder mode. I built all the modern wonders except longevity, cure for cancer and SDI. The techs for those were not discovered before I won. The AI never came close to getting a modern wonder, I finished them before it had even learned the techs. With the internet, my tech was down to four turns at 70% science.

There was nothing much to do but sit back and watch India devour China and Portugal and clean up pollution. India was getting huge but it would not have enough time to get much from it's conquered lands. India the warmonger eventually wiped out China and relegated Portugal to two one tile Islands. Then it turned on the Ottomans.

When I finished the space ship, India had just started one part and had zero finished parts. Overall, the modern age was not exciting. I should have played Emperor, but this was my second game after taking a year off from Civ.

[Mountain Sage]

1745AD:
We finally entered the Age of Victory. 20 turns to go for Computers. In the meantime, we’ll churn out some good ol’ tanks.

1780AD:
With Computer, we upgraded 42 Infantry to Mech. Inf. Our army of 58 Tanks, 42 Med Inf. and 35 Artillery, supported by 8 Tank Armies is ready. Time to bonk some heads…

1782AD:
We declared war on India and went on War-Time.

1786AD:
We made an alliance against India with China for 360 gold and a trade embargo against India with Portugal. Now it’s the final countdown…

1806AD:
The Portuguese declared war on us! And promptly lost their 4 galleons to one of our subs! Another clever move…
We (finally) made peace with… Scandinavia.

1810AD:
The continent is our (and a small bit to China too, of course). We have now 57% of the world population.. We have 92 tanks, 37 Med Inf. and 35 artillery, plus 14 armies and a grand total of 274 military units.

It’s time to move right along….

[Mountain Sage]

Economics

[Mountain Sage]

The Power Graph