AU 107 Spoilers

[Catt]

Part 2 of 9

Up to 450 AD: Rome’s remaining 4 galleys have congregated in the port of Pompeii; they will soon operate as a ferry service, transporting 8 legionaries across the sea to Persia every two turns. Caesar plots the attack on Persia when Xerxes, bless his heart, has the nerve to demand something from Rome. Xerxes is rebuffed and declares war.

Caesar notes how fortune has smiled on Rome – Xerxes had been involved in long warfare with Elizabeth and perhaps Catherine and Bismarck too, and the deprivations of extended warfare show clearly on the Persian empire – it is smallish, and though more advanced than Rome, is technologically backwards compared to its immediate neighbors. Eight Roman legionaries disembark in the forests east of Persepolis – only two turns march from the Persian capitol’s gates.

490 AD: Persepolis is captured by Rome! A major blow to Persia. Though Persian pikemen and some immortals are in view, Rome’s conquering heroes report no sightings of knights. And from Rome’s field commanders arises a Great Leader. An army of legionaries is formed. At the time of Persepolis’ fall (and after the casualties suffered in taking Persepolis), the Roman forces consist of 15 Legionaries, 12 warriors (soon to be Legionaries), and 6 spearmen. Most Legionaries are either already in Persia or boarding galleys in Pompeii for the short trip to Persia and “New Rome.”.

The mobility of knights is cause for concern, and as reinforcements from the homeland arrive in the forests outside occupied Persepolis, the advance force moves south to capture Susa and its supply of horses. It too falls quickly, although Rome’s troops are dismayed to see a Persian horse colony established farther south, many miles’ hike. Reinforcements continue to flow across the channel and soon Roman legionaries take Arbela to the northwest of Persepolis – Arbela controls Xerxes sole supply of iron and with its fall comes the end of trained Persian immortals.

Unfortunately, Caesar’s decision to use Rome’s golden age to build as many marketplaces and aqueducts as legionaries, combined with growing war weariness at home in Old Rome, compels Caesar to cut short Rome’s march of conquest. In 680 AD a peace treaty is signed with Xerxes.

Here is a view of the Roman empire at 690 AD:

[Catt]

Part 3 of 9

830 AD: Xerxes, after repeatedly being ordered to cease marching Persian bowmen and pikemen across newly secured New Roman lands, declares war even before the peace treaty expires. Roman legionaries take a spice-rich city to the north of Arbela, and later use a second Great Leader to inspire building a new Roman Palace in Arbela.

910 AD: A third Great Leader forms another Roman army, and around 930 AD, a Roman army and supporting legionaries converge on the then-current Persian capitol of Antioch located in rich floodplains to the south. Despite being guarded by a musketman formation and pikemen, it falls. Sporadic warfare and city destruction to the north allows new Roman settlements in the frozen tundra that is so reminiscent of the “home” of Old Rome.

950 AD: Unprovoked and non-allied Babylon declares war against Rome. Caesar does not fear the distant Babylonians.

980 AD: Hammurabi bribes Catherine of Russia into an alliance against Rome, and Caesar quickly entices Bismarck to plunder Russia.

1020: AD: with approximately 6 turns of research remaining for the discovery of Theology, the Babylonians complete Magellan’s Voyage. Caesar understands that the Roman empire is the better part of an age behind its foes, and frets about his continued capacity to lead.

1100 AD: With the Roman city of Caesaraugusta established on the hills above the Antioch floodplains, Roman forces concentrate their attack on Pasargadae, intent on destroying the city and rebuilding Jerusalem on its ruins. Two separate Roman legionary armies, supported by numerous other legionaries, march on Pasargadae from different directions. Despite facing fortified musketmen in a city on a hill, their objective is met, and with the Persian capitol now located in the forests to Arbela’s west, Caesar once again makes peace. The Romans secure both Music Theory and Astronomy from the Persians as part of the peace treaty.

The assault on Pasargadae:

[Catt]

Part 4 of 9

1225 AD: Caesar is both thrilled and surprised to have succeeded at discovering the understanding of Economics prior to any other civilization. Trading the knowledge of Economics, especially prior to the completion of Smith’s (and therefore presumably more valuable), allowed the Romans to acquire all remaining required Middle Ages technologies except for Theory of Gravity, but failed to secure the knowledge needed to train cavalry.

1240 AD: Bismarck captures the last remaining Russian city, destroying the Russian empire and securing the whole of the continent south of New Rome for the Germans. France controls most of the peninsula to the east of Germany.

1250 AD: the remnants of Persia are destroyed by both German and French forces.

1315 AD: Restless German cavalry storm into southern New Rome without even a declaration of war, bypassing the hill cities of Jerusalem and Caesaraugusta defended by legionary armies in favor of Tyre, defended by a lone musketman and a legionary division. Caesar is said to declare “I think I’m screwed” and frets that German forces, superior both in technology and in numbers, will eventually seize all of New Rome’s budding cities. Caesar immediately induces the French to enter the war against Germany.

The German surprise assault:

[Catt]

Part 5 of 9

Tyre is captured and destroyed by the Germans. The razing of Tyre emboldens Roman defenders to fight to the death and spare no advantage – death and destruction are all that await with defeat.

1330 AD: The Roman city of Veii completes Adam Smith’s Trading Company – a financial boon to the Roman empire as all existing and future harbors, marketplaces, banks and airports will come maintenance-free.

1320 AD – 1425 AD: Roman forces valiantly fight a defensive war against invading German forces. Roman legionaries, sometimes supported by the odd musketman, engage the enemy on open ground, taking advantage of the mobility available to them through the Roman road network. Whenever possible, Roman forces secure the high ground and turn the approach to inviting Roman cities into killing fields. Though valiantly fought, the Roman casualties far outnumber the German losses, and only a steady stream of reinforcements form the Roman homeland prevent further city losses. All Roman cities are training troops for the war effort, and all civilian infrastructure projects are abandoned, dealing a further blow to Caesar’s ambitions to compete with the great nations.

The Franco-German front to New Rome’s southeast seemed to draw much of Bismarck’s attention, for the raiding German forces become smaller and smaller, and Caesar learns that several French cities have been razed. When Joan of Arc makes peace, breaking her alliance with Rome, Caesar quickly negotiates a truce with Bismarck. Both Germany and Rome must have been close to violent overthrow of the governing rulers for the war was bloody and long.

Thankfully, the German war ends with no land lost to Rome. A new city is built upon Tyre’s ruins. But the war cost dozens of Roman legionary divisions their lives, and severely disrupted Caesar’s modernization process. Unabated military production and training continued for many years after the war’s conclusion in order to secure New Rome’s southern border with Germany with sufficient troops to either deter or repel future German aggression. Thereafter, libraries, banks, and universities are built as quickly as possible – obsolete troops are sacrificed to the cause, powerful cities build new units to be transferred to distant cities as available supplies, and the treasury is stretched thin with judicious rush-building.

1400’s AD: Roman scientists, upon entering the Industrial Ages, focused their research on Nationalism out of necessity – the war with Germany raged, and trained riflemen were needed at the front. Towards the conclusion of the war and then with the peace, Caesar directed his scientists to do all they could to work towards the discovery of the Theory of Evolution.

Here is a minimap from 1425 AD:

[Catt]

Part 6 of 9

1560 AD: Roman scientists discover Electricity, a monumental achievement for Rome. First because the secrets of Electricity were traded for Sanitation, Industrialization, the Corporation, Communism, Espionage and over 500 gold, putting Roman knowledge on virtual parity with the world’s leading civs, and second because the new knowledge allowed the southern portion of Old Rome, as well as a few scattered fields throughout old Rome, to be irrigated. Irrigation allowed Old Rome’s south to grow and prosper.

1605 AD: Once again converting an ongoing construction project, Roman scientists are able to build a great wonder of the world: Theory of Evolution. The construction switch wasted 283 accumulated shields (a huge amount), but Caesar did not rue the waste – the goal of securing ToE was worth the far over-cautious approach of undertaking as much pre-building activity as possible. Soon thereafter Arbela completed Hoover Dam, prior even to the time when many cities in New Rome had completed factories.

1610 AD – 1780 AD: This period consisted largely of massive Roman infrastructure projects in an effort to bring Rome’s productivity up to world standards, and two different wars of aggression from Hammurabi of Babylon, the first in 1620 AD when Hammurabi petulantly demanded the secrets of Atomic Theory but was rebuffed. Caesar, with no common land border with Babylon, took little offensive action, preferring to bombard passing Babylonian ships and to bombard and then destroy landed Babylonian troops. At one point, a significant force of Babylonian cavalry and infantry landed in the mountains east of Rome, but bombardment and defending infantry soon enough made short work of the invaders. During the second war, Hammurabi declined to even accept Caesar’s envoy for many, many years. Finally, in an effort to end the hostilities, a Roman expeditionary force was assembled and sent south to harass the northern-most Babylonian cities. A force of 5 infantry, 3 cavalry and 8 artillery landed in the hills outside Izibia. After one turn of heavy bombardment, Hammurabi was ready to discuss terms. After understanding the terms Hammurabi could offer, Caesar decided to take and raze the city, as punishment for the Babylonian aggression and to secure more favorable terms.

But Hammurabi was a crafty diplomat. After Caesar determined he could secure peace plus a tribute of 83 gold (all the Babylonian treasury), he made the decision to destroy Izibia and then seek peace. Before the next opportunity to do so, however, Roman diplomats reported that the Babylonians had succeeded in securing an MPP with France, Rome’s long-standing trading partner. The MPP with France was disturbing – Caesar presently imported gems from France, but perhaps more importantly, an older Roman expeditionary force which had secured 2 Zulu cities in the far east of France’s lands during a brief skirmish with Shaka remained lightly defended, were surrounded by French cities and troops, and supplied the Roman mainlands with a needed supply of luxurious furs. Caesar, faced with possible war with France, decided he must make peace. Crafty Hammurabi demanded tribute of his own (20 gold) in order to secure a treaty, which Caesar begrudgingly paid.

In the meantime, Caesar continually upgraded and strengthened his defensive forces along the German – Roman border.

[Catt]

Part 7 of 9

1850 AD: After several years of offensive war, the Babylonians succeeded in destroying the Zulu. It was a particularly treacherous war, as Hammurabi had long traded with Shaka and violated an existing agreement with the Zulu in declaring war. Caesar concluded that the Babylonians were led by an egomaniac who would stop at nothing short of world domination.

1864 AD: Powerful Roman strike forces land outside the Babylonian cities of Nippur and Zariqum. Each force, consisting of numerous Mechanized Infantry, Tanks, a few workers, a Roman settler and an empty army, captures and razes its objective. New Roman cities are established on the Babylonian continent. Empty Roman armies are used to rush airports, and with airports come ivory and dyes to the Old and New Roman lands, and reinforcements to the Babylonian outposts. Nonetheless, Hammurabi puts up a very strong counteroffensive, and despite a steady stream of Roman reinforcements (subject to a cautious build-up of defensive forces along the New Roman and German border) the Roman expeditionary forces are able to make little headway. Caesar contents himself with having taken the initial objectives – ivory and dyes – and makes peace with Babylon.

1916 AD: Babylon declares war against Germany.

Some years before, Caesar had concluded that war with Germany, and the taking of Berlin, would be necessary. German scientists were presumably working feverishly towards launching a spaceship, and German technological leadership now far outstripped Roman knowledge. In 1926 AD, in an overtly hostile act and in an attempt to precipitate a war, Caesar clumsily planted a spy in Berlin. But his efforts went undetected, and peace reigned. The new Roman spy reported that Berlin was indeed constructing a spaceship, and had already completed or commenced building 6 of the 10 necessary components. Caesar directed the spy to do something, anything, but to be caught en flagrante in an effort to start a war with Germany, but also to show the world (and the Roman citizens) that Bismarck, a traditional enemy of Rome, had once again acted the aggressor and declared war. The Roman spy was promptly caught attempting to steal Bismarck’s personal copy of the German world map, and Bismarck declared war.

Here is a look at the battlefield, immediately before hostilities:

[Catt]

Part 8 of 9

In the first year of the war, the prepared Roman forces of Modern Armor (approximately 70 total) stormed across the border, seizing 4 German metropoli amid heavy casualties. A total of 7 Roman settlers were dispatched to the newly acquired lands where they built Roman cities as the German cities were abandoned and destroyed. In one fell swoop, Rome’s armor had severely damaged the German economy and morale, and had secured a rail link to a forward city within striking distance of both Berlin and the rich gem mines to Berlin’s north.

But the crushing Roman offensive spurred the madman Bismarck to throw caution to the winds. German nuclear missiles were launched and fell upon both Caesaraugusta and Persepolis causing much death and destruction. Caesar expected his longtime ally Joan of Arc to immediately express her countrymen’s outrage at this first use of nuclear weapons by declaring war against Germany, but the French remained neutral. Perhaps France was aware of the Roman propensity to either raze or abandon captured German cities and so felt little outrage at Germany’s nuclear strikes.

Here is a look at the battlefield, 4 years into the war:

[Catt]

Part 9 of 9

1932 AD: With sufficient Roman forces to take Berlin readied on strategic high ground two tiles outside Berlin, Babylon launched a direct nuclear strike against Berlin, ravishing her defenses and cutting her population in half. The nuclear strike was welcomed by Caesar (still far from the ability to build nuclear weapons) as Berlin needed to be taken rather than razed (it contained Sun Tzu’s Art of War and the Great Pyramids), and a lowered native population would lessen the resistance (flipping chances). Berlin was taken the next year.

1958 AD: Having reduced Bismarck’s German holdings to less than half their former size, having seized control of all eight available luxuries in the known world, and having secured an accessible land border with France (should an invasion of France be necessary), Caesar made peace with Bismarck. The war effort was simply putting too great a strain on the Roman scientific progress, as much spending needed to be diverted towards morale in order to avoid a vengeful and war weary populace from revolting. The war was won, and many objectives were achieved, but the obstinate Bismarck still refused to deliver the knowledge of Space Flight to Roman scientists.

With the conclusion of the war, Roman scientific research once again went into full gear, and, after trading Ecology for Space Flight, Roman scientists were able to research Satellites in 4 years and Superconductor in 5 years. While the conquering Roman forces rallied just outside Babylon’s territorial waters for a planned march on the capitol and the destruction of the Babylonian spaceship (6 parts completed), Caesar began to realize that Rome could probably build her own spaceship before Babylon was able to launch.

The Roman expeditionary force remained lurking at sea should the order come, but Caesar devoted all effort into securing the necessary spaceship componentry to launch.

1978 AD: Babylon appears to have completed its research on Synthetic Fibers (long since known to Rome), for the Babylonians have finally begun constructing 3 of their 4 remaining spaceship components. But it will be for naught, Rome is only a few years away from understanding the Laser, and with it, enabling a launch to colonize Alpha Centauri.

1980 AD: The Roman spaceship launches successfully, achieving for Caesar his hard-fought acclaim as master of the universe.

[Catt]

Additional Strategic / Tactical / Gameplay Notes:

* After getting a sense of the bleakness of Roman lands, I set my mind as follows: (1) Very few cities will grow beyond 2 citizens with harbors; (2) even with harbors, very few cities will grow beyond 6 citizens without a tremendous wait while building aqueducts in a shield-poor environment; (3) I can’t do much to increase food supply beyond harbors and I won’t have much in the way of shield production – gold production is the only alternative; (4) gold production requires a Republic on this map – if I can find a way to keep people happy up to size 6, I should get to Republic as soon as possible; and (5) I have to explore and ultimately go on a war of conquest with (probably) out-dated troops and with the hurdle of a sea-borne invasion.

* I lost far more units to barbs than I have in previous games – just bad RNG this time. I had the right idea of trying to station sentries to push back the fog of war before an uprising, but didn’t get there fast enough.

* I got really lucky in that Persia, my closest foe, was stunted quite considerably by some early warfare. In my experience, I could expect to see knights and possibly musketmen by 500 AD or so on Emperor; my invasion of legionaries met with a few pikemen, some immortals, but no Persian knights.

* I used my GA to build infrastructure as much as to build units – I really felt I needed marketplaces and aqueducts up in “Old Rome” to help in generating gold – I was running research at 0% with one scientist, and really was producing a ton of gold during my GA. Still, a more focused effort on shipping legionaries to New Rome would have netted me more land more quickly, and reduced the number of musketmen fortified in cities that I had to face in the second Persian war.

* As I think I mentioned in earlier posts, I had the distinct pleasure of getting to kill 3 AI leaders this game – 2 Germans and a Babylonian.

* Germany was an absolute “Killer AI.” Better concentration of German forces on New Roman cities would have cost me the game. The AI seemed to avoid my legionary armies at all costs – even though their total defense of approximately 7 (fortified in a city on a hill) was more or less matched by German cavalry. The loss of one of the two army-defended cites would have been crushing – they were obviously going to be production and population powerhouses for me.

* First time I’ve seen an AI launch a first nuclear strike and not had other civs immediately declare war / counterstrike. Joan sat on her hands, and Hammy waited some time before striking (it’s possible that Hammy didn’t have nukes yet).

* At the time of my war with Germany, I had Ecology and Synthetic Fibers, and Germany had Space Flight, Satellites, and Superconductor. I had to turn science down to nothing for many turns during the war while researching Nuclear Power, but Bismarck still beat me to that tech by 2 turns after the war had concluded. Even the perpetually trailing France acquired Space Flight before me, and Hammy definitely had both Satellites and Superconductor before I had Space Flight.

* I bit the bullet with the German invasion, expecting to be nuked, but confident that I could get to Bismarck’s sole uranium supply quickly. I did, pillaging the connections and holding the position with several MI in a mountain, but a new uranium source appeared pretty quickly thereafter – fortunately, it too was within reach, and Bismarck never got a chance to build another nuke until the game was a turn or two from being over.

I had a lot of fun with this game! I thought I had lost it several times, especially when Germany invaded with cavalry against my few musketmen and out-dated legionaries. Once again, a more focused and diligent AI tech research could have also cost me the game – first, someone (Babylon?) researched The Corporation before Electricity, enabling me to sneak into ToE, and secondly, by goofing around in the Modern Age with needless warfare instead of just out-researching me to a SS launch.

This was definitely the toughest Emperor game I’ve played, and was far harder than most Deity games I’ve played. It was a bit much though – I don’t want to do this every game. It took a long time because I felt I had to concentrate so much on each move (particularly wartime logistics), and because I had to micromanage much more than I am usually willing to put up with. I was still manually controlling all my workers until the very late Industrial Age, and I did a lot of “build in the core and disband in the hinterlands” which I normally avoid out of sheer laziness (it is an effective tactic, just takes time and effort).

Catt

[vmxa1]

That is just a tremendous write up and fine job of playing. A lot more fortitude than I am willing to use. I read every word.

[mattcj]

Great story, Catt... a very entertaining read.

[Arrian]

I can only echo the last two posts.

-Arrian

[Dominae]

Yup, nice game and write-up Catt. Attacking Berlin to mess up their SS dreams must have been very fulfilling!

Just for interest's sake, am I the only one who went for the Babs instead of the Persians?


Dominae

[Theseus]

Unbelievably great game, story, and observations.

Haven;t had much more time to play it... Dominae, I went after both the Babs and the Germans.

[Dominae]

Originally posted by Theseus
Dominae, I went after both the Babs and the Germans.

Heh, I would expect no less of you Theseus!


Dominae