AU 505 The Power of Fascism DAR 5 - Research of Fascism Complete

[Theseus]

This DAR covers the period from contact with all of the AI civs until the player either enters the modern era or finishes the game early.

Most importantly, tell us about your shift to Fascism, and how that tied into your military, diplomatic, economic, and scientific plans. Where do things stand at this point and what are your remaining plans?

[-SafaN-]

Am I the only one this far?
Well i forgot to take screenies, but ther wasn't much to see anyways.

50 AD:
Antium overthrown!
City is renamed Caesar's Women

150 AD:
Founded the tongue, germany and dutch have feudalism.

190 AD:
founded Flowers
research complete: Education,
trade with dutch (they have gl) for feudalism

310 AD
research complete: Astronomy
trade with dutch: astro for engi, printing pr, 30 g + 20 gpt

390 AD
used leader for Sun Tzu's

400 AD
completed Sun Tzu's and Sistine. I'm hoping to stop the wonder cascade: copernicus and leonardo are left
trade with germans: invention for education

480 AD
research complete: democracy (no revolt)

550 AD
research complete: free artistry, build shakespeares in Eternal Softness (cattle, iron)

630 AD
trade with carth: astronomy for gunpowder

690 AD
research complete: chemistry

790 AD
research complete: metallurgy

920 AD
wonder complete: Smith's

940 AD
research complete: theory of gravity (yes i forgot a few)
traded arround: new age
Now comes the decision:
do i follow the normal path (steam power, electronics, mass production, trade for nationalism)
or will i go fascism first?

i'm researching steam power first.

1030 AD
research complete: steam power
coal on my continent: in greece and carthage
germans give coal for silks *grin*
we go for electronics and hoover dam first.

1110 AD
research complete: medicine

1220 AD
research complete: elektricity
traded with dutch: nat for elek

1270 AD
research complete: scimeth

1290 AD
okay, rome sneak attacked me, since i'm still in republic i cant fight back :/
yeah lost a heavy cavalery vs unfortified legion in the open
went into mobilisation and refocussed research to fascism

1295 AD
OMFG i lost 7 fortified rifleman against 8 Medieval infantery, i hate the rgn

1335 AD
finaly researched fascism, people will share behind me in 4 turns
my revenge will be sweet

[Modo44]

Emperor level, AU Mod

First, the important dates:

• 230 BC: Washington (AUmerican ) builds Great Lighthouse.
• 90 BC: Carthage (Carthaginian) builds the Statue of Zeus. Shdt.
• 50 BC: Spot a Roman Galley near Celtic lands. So much for trade monopoly.
• 50 AD: Curragh finishes going aroud the other continent. On it's way, it repelled some 8 barb Galleys. Gets home Elite, with 1 HP.
• 110 AD: Finish Theology, start Education. Start Sistine Chapel in Washington.
• 170 AD: Get Incense from Rome for Monotheism. That's our 8th luxury. Everyone is happy, lux slider to 0%.
• 210 AD: Celts declare on the Russians. The war lasted very long, giving Russia 2 new cities.
• 300 AD:
  Due to upgrades and adding some Pikes lately, we're back to average in military rating.
  We are also second in land area and first in important demographics.
• 330 AD:
  Amsterdam (Dutch) builds Sun Tzu's Art of War.
  Yaroslavl' (Russian) builds Knights Kemplar.
• 370 AD: Finish Astronomy, switch Washington to Copernicus' Observatory. 1 turn to go, lost exactly 4 shields.
• 410 AD: Rome (Roman) builds Leonardo's Workshop.
• 450 AD: Carthage (Carthaginian) builds Sistine Chapel.
• 470 AD: Find an island to the north just out of reach, even for a Lighthouse-propelled Caravel. Caravel sinks.
• 540 AD: Finish Navigation. Caravels with 3 Settlers move north. Get World Maps for Economics from civs that don't have this tech yet.
• 570 AD: Amsterdam (Dutch) builds JS Bach's Cathedral.
• 700 AD: Washington (AUmerican ) builds Newton's University.
• 730 AD: Rome (Roman) builds Smith's Trading Company.
• 740 AD: Hippo (Carthaginian) builds Magellan's Voyage.
• 820 AD: Celts declare on the Germans. This is suicide, as it turns out later.
• 900 AD: Finish basic Rail network, finish core Factories.
• 1010 AD:
  Research Fascism, build ToE (Washington), get Atomic Theory and Electronics for free.
  Start researching Espionage, to make some use of the surpulus cash Fascism brings with it.
  Start Hoover Dam. No prebuild - too busy with other things. Later delayed due to Mobilization.
  Moscow (Russian) builds Universal Suffrage.
• 1020 AD:
  Sell Fascism to Germany for 180gpt. They are big, having nearly exterminated the Celts. Good, they'll be a big target for Russia.
  Sell Fascism to Greece for Sanitation. We can use a Hospital in Washington and (later) in a few other cities.
• 1030 AD Germans destroy the Celts.
• 1050 AD Anarchy. "Only" 6 turns.
• 1090 AD Netherlands declare on the Germans. Talk about suicide...
• 1120 AD
  Fascism established.
  MM cities to regrow the lost population. Ouch, that hurt.
  Attack Rome. Finally.
  AI Army sighting (Cavalry)!
• 1180 AD:
  End of the Romans. Well, except for a city somewhere in the Russia Taiga. We were in Mobilization, so we sign peace.
  Sign MPP with Germany. Not required for any reason, but fun.
• 1190 AD:
  Declare war on Greece.
  Moscow (Russian) builds Longevity.

That's it, so far. I'll be playing the rest of the game later tonight.

I kept a trade log, for this was a very trade-intensive game for me, but it's boring to read, so I'll have mercy on you and won't post it. Suffice is to say, that we had trades running whenever possible, to drain all AI civs of their money, and to supply us with all luxuries for most of the Medieval Age. This meant checking trade possibilities (F4 screen, diplomacy screen) virtually every turn. Time consuming, yes, but definately worth it.

Someone did a great job encouraging AI growth. I see lots of not-so-random resources placed in the western part of the bigger continent. Very funny. OTOH, the home continent is obviously rigged for easy conquest in early Industrial Age...

Washington was building Sistine Chapel from scratch (I'm addicted to this wonder ), when Astronomy was discovered by AUmerican scientists. I figured, we'd have enough cash for upgrades (I don't do massive pre-builds), so waiting for Leo's Workshop wouldn't be necessary. Also, with all luxuries coming in on a regular basis, we didn't need the Cathedral boost from Sistine's. Not that AUmerica had any Cathedrals at that time... Barracks were not an issue, because of the small size of the empire - no point in Sun Tzu's. Last but not least, Washington has great sciencie potential. So instead of building Sistine Chapel, or any other expensive wonder, the shields were used as a prebuild, yielding Copernicus' Observatory a turn after we discovered Astronomy.

After some turns into the Medieval Age, Workers started showing up again for trade, mostly with Greece and Rome. Got a slave army from those guys.

Many Medieval Age wonders were built on home continent, giving nice targets for our first military campaign.

I din't want to hurt AUmerica's spotless trade reputation while conquering the home continent, so we've been forfeiting deals with Rome, Carthage and Greece in anticipation of discovering Fascism. Still had something running with the latter two when the tech was discovered, but the last treaty with Rome was about to expire, to be followed by treaties with Greece (soon) and Carthage (a bit later). When Fascism was finally established, both Rome and Greece had no deals with AUmerica, making them fair game.

Fascist Workers with Replaceable Parts officially rock! Approximately 2 turns to finish RRing Mountains. That's all Muntains and some remaining Hills in 2 turns.

AI upgrading problem showed. I saw lots of Archers, Longbowmen, Medieval Infantry, even a Warrior, not to mention some UUs left over.

Trouble with AI armies. Without Artillery their power is very limited. Also, they are fast, which entices the AI to use them to get deep into enemy territory, where the new Armies are dead pretty fast. A Cavalry Army attacking a Veteran Infantry died miserably near Thermopylae. Earlier, another one entered 4 tiles into AUmerican territory... to capture Workers. I bet you can guess what happened to it.


I'm currently at war with Greece. Still very far from reaching the Modern Times (I'll explain my tech choices in my next post - later tonight). Not even finished conquering the home continent yet, so here is an interlude. Conquered cities are marked with the civs' respective colours.

[Modo44]

Emperor level, AU Mod
(continuation of the previous post)

Important events:

• 1210 AD: Carthaginians enter AUmerican territory. We tell them to beat it, they declare. Party on.
• 1230 AD: Finish researching Steel, and get Einstein (SGL) out of it. My very first MGL, playing above Regent level (and I didn't play many games on Regent level...). About time one showed up.
• 1265 AD: Buh-bye Greece.
• 1270 AD: Washington builds Hoover Dam, by using Einstein. AUmerica enters Golden Age.
• 1280 AD:
  MPP with Germany ends. They want cash to prolong it. Well, frick you, dear former ally.
  Sign peace with Netherlands and Rome, wars brought to us by the MPP.
• 1300 AD: Carthage loses it's last city on AUmerican continent. Now it's clean of usurpers, and we sign peace.

[EDIT: I said I'd explain the tech choices I made. Well, I always go this way in the Industial Age: straight to Industrialization, straight to Scientific Method, Replaceable Parts + something cheap while waiting for ToE to finish. I never go for Tanks first, because they are just too boring (read: too powerful and therefore boring). I never go for Nationalism. I often pick up Sanitation in trades, instead of researching it, because very few of my cities can ever grow above size 12. In this game, I was running out of things to build at this time, and upkeep costs started growing. I wanted to start the war in the Modern Times, but my military build-up just happened too soon, and I didn't feel like waiting longer. So the tech after Replaceable Parts was Fascism, followed immediately by a switch of governments and the resulting rampage. ]

After the war machine started rolling, it only stopped down in the cold southern regions of the AUmerican continent.

Einstein was used for Hoover Dam. I wanted the war to end quickly, so AUmerica went into Mobilization, after switching Hoover to something else (a Cathedral, I think). Unfortunately that meant we would have to build Hoover again from scratch. Since it was time to start the Golden Age now, our SGL did the job. Not much use for him anyway - not this late in the game.

Russia is still better in score, but we have the biggest Land Area now. At the moment, it is all peaceful. What a shame.

From here on it's 5 techs until the Modern Times, but I won't bore you with that. Basically tiles were being improved, infrastructure built in conquered territory, and more units in core cities (including lots of ships, simply because we could). I could have started an invasion even before Tanks, but I didn't. I often find myself weak in a war without proper preparation, and there was no real rush - after conquering the continent and upon entering GA, the AUmerican tech lead was overwhelming, the army strong, and I was simply falling asleep (It's hard work, playing Civ all day ). And you are right, I never ever used the F15 before, and wanted to have a go. Boys and their toys.


[EDIT: Asked Alexman. The fact that Frigates can't be upgraded is not a bug after all. So instead of the previous pic, here's AUmerica 1395 AD, a turn before entering Modern Times.]

[UnOrthOdOx]

Emperor level, STOCK.

Well then.

Medieval ages were rather interesting. Shortly after getting all contacts, Russia and the Dutch go insane, and manage to mop the floor with everyone on the other continent.

So, I got GREAT BIG Russia, and GREAT BIG Netherlands that have been signing alliances against everyone else to date...oh great.

The good news is that with them duking it out, and me under Republic, with the Great Library, I tanked research, rushed up libraries and markets everywhere, and was in good shape come education to make some stabs at being first to targetted techs.

Music Theory, I didn't trade till 1 turn before finishing Bachs. Got Theory of Gravity, and Newtons before trading, same with economics and Smiths. A failed Leo's prebuild netted the Hanging Gardens which proved most usefull due to my single lux.

As previously mentioned a lucky Barb horsie took out a settler stack of mine earlier. This proved most eventfull as it meant I was left without Gunpowder.

Industrial comes, and I WANT LUX!!! So I beeline Fascism, counting on Nationalism and riflemen to be the primary offensive tool left at my disposal.

I happened to see Russia grabbed Nationalism for free, so I traded it around, and got gold and salt peter. I begin building cavalry, noticing that neither Greece nor Carthage have gunpowder either, and both have been at war for the duration of the game at this point, both are weekened, and quick crushing of both will net me ivory, gems, and furs. Just what the doctor ordered.

Most cities, however, begin working over the cannons as artillery will eventually be the key, I can see.

Fascism comes, I'm finally free, and as soon as the switch comes I invade greece with my MASSIVE army of *cough* 6 *cough* cavalry and an assortment of rubbish.

Exactly 1 cavalry and 2 muskets were all Greece put up in true defense other than the hoplites that were simply crushed.

5 elite units, 8 elite victories, no leader.

Discovered Steam Power. Yeah, you can guess it: No Coal...Carthage, however, has some...

Carthage crumbles to this same massive military might. 6 elite units, 28 elite victories, no leader.

Carthage, however, had signed an alliance with the Dutch right before the end, who were making a nuisance of landing crap. But that lovely 200% in addition to industrial trait had made very short work of the rail system, and allowed me to rejoin workers to compensate for the pop hit by this time. Hence it was an annoyance more than anything else.

Russia doesn't want to talk, so I make what will be a great mistake. I sign MPP with Rome, along with ROP...

It basically becomes a cold war, and I figure to keep it that way just to keep the AI from focusing on their infrastructure.

I trade Fascism for Electricty from Russia, they obligingly go to war with the Dutch on their own, and I grab Scientific Method and ToE, choosing replacement parts and Atomic Theory, since I'm far enough ahead theres no danger of losing on Hoovers.

Upgrade of cannon to artillery, I'm fortunate to have rubber, and I build a MASSIVE nave of 4 whole galleons to go attack a small Dutch Island to the NE:

[UnOrthOdOx]

Russia was gettting the worst of the fighting, so I traded Replacement parts to them for Industrialization and started going for tanks.

Well, with those units (mostly artillery) gone to fight the Dutch, Rome figured they would show their true colors at this point. I had never bee anything but nice to them, no wars to this point, had never broken a damn thing all game...

Bam, ROP rape with a bunch of units they had put in my territory due to them fighting some dutch that had landed because of how the turn order goes, they moved before me...

I got a a few leaders the following turn, but it was about THIS point, I was thinking I was in serious doodoo...

[UnOrthOdOx]

It's just as well, since I LACKED OIL TOO!?!?!

I needed to take some Roman towns to grab it. It was a little sticky there for a while, but massed Artillery won out. Grabbed a source of oil from Rome and one from the Dutch.

Currently just entered modern, about to finish Computers with a nice prebuild for Seti to trigger GA, mass produce tanks to upgrade to MA, and kick some dirty roman ass. I'm leaning towards rebuilding all their towns with my own settlers at this point, with the exeption of perhaps rome itself which houses the pyramids.

[UnOrthOdOx]

About my use of Fascism.

Typical: Capture of town, end resistance, draft units, pop rush temple. If town still over 6, draft more, pop rush something else. Starve rest down to 1. Rejoin 2 native workers.

Conscripts stay as police, and bonk weekened enemy units. Preferably outdated ones after all elite's have had their shot. This works much better as a militaristic civ, but it's still somewhat effective. The only down side is coming up with enough native workers.

[nbarclay]

Emperor Level, Theseus's Original AU Mod Variant

America continued its research on the top part of the tech tree through Astronomy and then, having acquired Engineering and Feudalism in trades, started across the bottom of the tree. The process of collecting wonders continued with the Sistine Chapel in New York in AD 430; the Knights Templar in Chicago in AD 700 (after trading for Chivalry, taking advantage of a prebuild); Sun Tsu's in New York and Leo's in Washington in AD 710; and Copernicus's Observatory in Seattle in AD 810. Seattle wasn't an especially good place for the Observatory, but finishing it quickly there with a prebuild made sure the Observatory wouldn't be involved in a wonder cascade later.

America led the world into the industrial era in AD 840 and started researching Steam Power. Unfortunately, no coal was readily available, so it took a while (and a rush-built temple to steal tiles from the Dutch on an island) to get coal hooked up. That delay was annoying, but the size of America's tech lead ensured that it would not be worse than just annoying.

In AD 970, the Romans decided to attack America again. Fortunately, I'd seen some suspicious troop movements in their previous turn and made a few last-minute preparations (mostly diverting production in western cities and doing some rushing since the western cities were separated from the core empire). As things turned out, Rome decided to attack my core instead of striking in the west, but even so, my building maneuvers gave me a safety margin.

By that point in the game, I had enough Ancient Cavalry and other assorted units that I felt like I could afford to commit to alliances without a risk of being forced to sue for peace early (thereby damaging my reputation). Toward that end, I brought Greece and Carthage into the war on my side. With a little luck, all three nations would smash their offensive forces against each other just in time for America to change to Fascism and start its own offensive operations.

America's tech lead at that time was very large, especially considering the nation's relatively small size. America was one turn away from Industrialization, its second industrial tech. In contrast, Greece and the Dutch had neither Physics nor Metallurgy, although they did have Music theory which America lacked. Rome was in roughly the same league with them. Russia, the Celts, and Carthage were farther back, with neither Education nor Gunpowder.

In the ensuing fighting, Rome got clobbered. First they lost most of their offensive military attempting to reach America's cities, causing only minor losses to American forces in return. Then Carthaginian and Greek troops started pouring into Roman territory, with Carthage invading southern Rome and Greece moving in on the Roman capital. Carthage made headway relatively quickly, but Greece needed a lot of bloody fighting before the Eternal City changed hands.

The fighting triggered Greece's and Carthage's golden ages, which in turn provided America's technology salesmen with some nice opportunities. I was somewhat concerned that helping Greece reach the industrial era might result in their getting Nationalism before I was ready to attack them, but on the other hand, I might get lucky and have them get Medicine as their free tech. (As things turned out, they ended up with Steam Power when the time came, which neither helped nor hurt me to any appreciable degree.)

America's research and arms build-up continued, but for the moment, the fascist movement was content working behind the scenes to encourage the nation to build up a larger military for "defensive" purposes. America did go ahead and research Nationalism and Fascism, completing the latter in AD 1150, but it wasn't quite time for the fascists to come out into the open and seize power yet.

America made peace with Rome in AD 1190, allowing the Romans to focus their attention on their Greek enemies. (Carthage and Rome had already made peace.) A century later, America discovered Replaceable Parts, the final ingredient deemed necessary for a fascist war machine.

The screenshot below shows how the political boundaries changed as a result of the alliance against Rome. (The alert might notice that I snuck in a dye city after Carthage took Rome's dye city.)

[nbarclay]

The timing of America's change to Fascism was based on a balance of three considerations.

1) If I switched too soon, I wouldn't have as large a military as I wanted to attack with.

2) Having Replaceable Parts for artillery, infantry, and faster workers would be useful, and research would be a lot faster if I stayed in Republic.

3) On the other hand, if I waited too long, the AIs would start getting Nationalism. So if I wanted a chance to use heavy cavalry against musketmen - often musketmen already weakened by artillery - I dared not wait too long.

So I researched through Replaceable Parts (having previously researched Industrialization and Fascism) and then changed governments.

As things turned out, my timing was beautiful. When the new government emerged in AD 1305, Greece had Steam Power and Industrialization (the latter purchased from me) but had not yet researched Nationalism. The Dutch had not yet acquired Magnetism, and since they were not Scientific, I did not have to worry about their getting a free tech when they did get Magnetism. Everyone else was even farther behind technologically, with Russia not yet having Physics or Metallurgy and Germany reduced to a single city on its way to extinction at the hands of the Dutch and Celts.

With the new government established, it was time for war. American forces celebrated their new government by invading Greece, capturing Athens and with it Bach's Cathedral (the only medieval wonder built by anyone other than America). Other cities also fell in the initial onslaght, followed by still others as time went on.

When the peace treaty with Rome expired, America opened a second front. That would delay the conquest of Greece just a little, but America's forces were ample to take on two badly weakened opponents at once.

Note: from what I can tell, conquests do not show up on the minimaps below (which are taken from the post-game replay) until the turn after they take place.
I've tried to get the dates right in the narrative, but it's possible that I made a mistake or two somewhere.

[nbarclay]

The Greeks were expelled from the mainland in AD 1340., and the last Roman city was conquered half a decade later. That left only Carthage sharing America's home continent.

Early in the war, Greece had brought in the Dutch as allies, leading America to arrange an alliance with Carthage and Russia against the Dutch. That had been annoying from a financial perspective, since the Dutch had been fairly good customers, but it also ensured that the Dutch military would be worn down by the time America got around to invading them. In the meantime, Dutch island cities were fair game, and America razed the one next to its coal supply in AD 1345.

In AD 1355, a luxury deal with Carthage expired, so America decided to complete the conquest of its home continent. A decade later, Carthage had been reduced to three cities.

[nbarclay]

The last Carthaginian city fell in 1370, and the last Greek city in 1380. The final conquest of Greece was intresting mainly in that the Greeks had acquired a truly massive amount of gold since being exiled to their island home. That conquered gold, plus bits of income from other civs at various times, would make deficit research possible for the rest of the game.

[nbarclay]

With Greece and Carthage conquered, it was time for America to turn its attention to the Dutch mainland. Four infantry led the way, and the Dutch were so busy dealing with America's allies that they didn't even try to attack the infantry. Other forces followed and, in AD 1405, America conquered two former German cities to establish a foothold. Better, one of those cities had spices and a harbor. With the help of wines imported from Russia, that gave America access to all eight luxuries.

[nbarclay]

By the time America invaded the Dutch mainland, the Dutch had entered the industrial era but had not yet researched any industrial techs. So the fighting would be heavy cavalry and infantry with artillery support (when the cavalry commanders bothered to wait for it) against an enemy equipped mostly with Swiss Mercenaries. Even worse for the Dutch, American workers equipped with replaceable parts and motivated by fascist fervor were quickly ferried over to connect the newly conquered cities with rails, allowing cavalry to reach distant targets the moment the galleons carrying them reached port. The end result was a complete massacre, with the Dutch exiled to their two remaining island cities in 1440. Only then was America willing to make peace. (I could have gotten one of those two cities in a peace treaty, but since I was about to go to war against the Celts and probably later the Russians, I decided against demanding a city that I could not get defenders to quickly.)

With the Dutch exiled, the Celts became the logical next target. The Celts had worked their way into the industrial era - barely - but once again America would face an opponent with no industrial military hardware. The problem was that America was selling some luxuries to the Celts and really didn't want to break its deals if it could find another solution. Fortunately, another solution was available.

Early in its fascist era, America had researched Espionage so the nation's secret police could build a headquarters in a formerly Greek city where an iron works would provide a production boost. More recently, New York had completed America's new intelligence agency. So America demanded a city from the Celts, making them furious, and then attempted to plant the most incompetent spy they could find. The spy failed, exactly as hoped, and the Celts declared war. America could then point to the fact that the Celts were the "aggressors" in persuading the Russians to join an alliance against them. (Fortunately, Russian leaders seem to be a tad stupid about not realizing how dangerous it is to make deals with fascists. )

The war with the Celts was another short one, with the last Celtic city falling in AD 1465. That left Russia as the only remaining target of consequence - and left almost half of Russia's knights (according to a newly planted spy) in American territory where they could be killed in the opening phases of a new war. Thus, no sooner had the last Celtic city fallen but a new war against Russia started. And Russia still hadn't entered the industrial era.

[nbarclay]

The Russian war was another short one in spite of Russia's relatively large size. American forces conquered city after city, some with artillery support and some without, until they pushed Russia off the continent and then obtained two additional cities in a peace treaty. That didn't quite put America over the domination threshold in amount of territory within its cultural borders, but border expansions (helped by two or three new cities filling in gaps) would occur more quickly than American ships could reach the remaining Russian islands to invade them if we didn't make peace.