AU 107 Spoilers

[alexman]

Post spoilers for AU 107: Son of "so very cold..." here.

[Theseus]

Does anyone else find this as depressing as I do? On the other hand, the come-back will be glorious!!

I'm playing AU mod 1.04, Emperor... my first pleasant surprise was on establishing an embassy with England (I think), which was the only cheap one. Mining, and not irrigation!! Hurray!

Aside from the fact that this is a max challenge, as I established more embassies I observed OUTSTANDING AI civ performance. Uhhh, Rome is struggling by with a barracks, temple, and library, and the strong AI civ capitols have all of those, as well as colosseums, cathedrals, GWs, and working on universities??!! (Not to mention my Spearmen versus their Musketmen!!)

Nothing fancy so far... early on, my first contact was Persia landing a Settler / Spear combo. I got what I could, and whacked him with one Archer and three Warriors, to hell with reputation. MORTAL TERROR of an Immortal invasion, but they came two by two, and I could handle it. Filled the island... 2 tile spacing in all of the badlands.

It's now 950AD. I've met everyone, am at peace, everyone's polite except Persia, have no maps except France's territory, and am waaaay behind in tech. I've got 19 towns and 1 city (Rome). Beelined for Republic, and disbanded all Warriors and Archers after the gov change, with nothing but Spearmen now. One Galley exploring. Exporting all resources, including my only iron and horses, which is scary but the right thing to do.

Not enough horsepower (no pun intended) to attack Persia, even when I get to Cavs. Must wait for Tanks. Considering the Machiavelli MPP Dance when I get to Riflemen. GA is coing to be a btich... might have to wait for total resource denial, and a vulnerable Longbowman.

I guess Ive been spoiled lately... haven;t been in a situation where I couldn;t break one of the cycles fairly early. This degree of catch-up sucks, but DAMN am I gonna enjoy being the grim reaper!

[Theseus]

I dreamed of this game last night... and woke up with a shout!! (my fiancee was pissed).

What an idiot!! Beelined for Republic... all wrong, all wrong.

I'm starting over.

[Theseus]

What a world of difference... it's still a ***** though.

[Catt]

This is a devilish start. Since I didn't know it would be an AU game when I started, I won't have a lot of good early screenshots (I'l reload for a few picks).

I started my game with research on Bronze Working - figuring I'd nab the Colossus - I've gotten so used to being able to build wonders on Emperor. A bit of exploring caused my heart to sink. Beelined for Map Making so I could build harbors -- figured I needed people power. After Map Making I beelined for Republic - figured I needed the commerce boost and I wasn't likely to grow too many cities beyond size 6 . Colussus was built while I still had something like 20 turns to go. Made what in retrospect was a silly error -- after my initial exploration, I decided my capitol should be centered in the island -- I disbanded Rome by building a settler at 2 pop and relocated my Palace to the center of the island (just west of the wheat, IIRC). Of course later I would realize that a Palace relocation off of "Hilly Ice Island" was imperative, and I could have done just as well with a Palace in Rome and an FP to Rome's west.

Had terrible luck with barbs. Kept popping huts to find barbs, and they kept killling my units . I had two elite warriors from barbs, but they were largely wortheless -- who would I use a warrior against? On the other hand, I think I lost 4 warriors and 1 galley to barbs.

With the beeline to Map Making I was actually able to make contact with most civs first -- nice, but only served to confirm how incredibly far ebhind I was. I had not yet discovered Iron Working when the first barbarian uprising occured - indicating that at least 2 other civs had entered the Middle Ages! Beyond building temples, barracks and harbors, my cities produced nothing but warriors and several galleys. I was able to upgrade 8 warriors to Legionaries and dart across the western channel to Persia in four galleys -- by the time the galleys had crossed back and had movement points for the next run, I had built the cash for another 8 warrior upgrade.

I debated long and hard about invading Persia or Babylon -- I defintiely needed to establish an empire off of "Hilly Ice" Island. Persia was the weaker civ, had a sole supply of iron (for the deadly immortals), had a sole supply of horses, and was exceedingly week culturally. But I didn't want to share a border with the maniacal Germans. Babylon had more resources, did not inspire fear with its bowmen, but had a strong cultural presence and also seemed to have a lot of jungle tiles. Given my frustration at non-industrious workers' challenges with forest and my concern that my culturally pathetically weak civ couldn't sustain war in Babylon, I selected the Persians. They obliged by making a demand and declaring war just before I would have done so (before my first 4 galley-loads entered Persian coastal tiles).

My war against Persia was successful. I managed to take the easternmost section of Persia, and marched fairly quickly towards the sole Persian iron source. When that city fell, I felt I had the Persian war in my hands. Perhaps countering my horrible barb luck, I generated a GL on my second elite battle -- hello Legionary army! I also began building the FP back on Hilly Ice Island, on the southern shore west of Rome's start spot.

Much more to come later (including the fact that at one poitn I began thinking of how to describe my "humiliating defeat" but now think I have a chance -- even though I may not secure ToE for the first time in a recent memory).

As far as technological backwardness . . . well, after having traded for all the Ancient Age techs upon peace with Persia and then seeing Zimbabwean galleys about to make contact -- I was researching Theology at 0% with one scientist for 40 turns -- at about 15 turns to go, IIRC, someone built Magellan's Voyage! I figured I was about 2/3's of an age behind, if not an entire age.

Quick thoughts: England was crushed, respawned and then eliminated quickly. Theseus -- I am seeing an awful lot of AI mining tiles for some reason, and I am playing a standrad Civ 3 rule set.

Catt

[FrustratedPoet]

FP's Game-In-Progress Report. Part One

Regent Level
AU Mod version

4000 BC - The location of our capital city is not as bad as we had feared, but our Gods advise us that there is a harsh road ahead of us. We are suprmely confident however, and shall prevail! We begin by transferring our intial workforce to the forest near Rome instead of the lake. The city will grow more slowly that way, it is true, but the additional production we shall accrue will help us gain more soldiers to scout out our terrain faster.

3750 BC - Our first warrior found a village in the hills to the east, unfortunately the encampment was deserted when he arrived. Bah! Our God's seem intent on presenting us with the hardest task possible. We, however, remain undaunted - the Romans are made of stern stuff!

3500 BC - Our scouts report an abundance of Silks in the vicinity of Rome. This wonderful luxury shall surely aid us in future trade negotiations.

3200 BC - Uh oh! Despite the warnings from our Gods we had been unprepared for the reality of our situation. Our island is small and the terrain is rugged, we shall need to get off this rock as soon as possible if we are to encounter (and conquer) other cultures.

1550 BC - Our initial phase of rapid Empire expansion is proceeding nicely and we have grown to 4 cities. A few measely Barbarians have been put to the sword and, although we expect many future encounters with them, we hold their activities in contempt and will have no hesitation in pounding them to dust.

[FrustratedPoet]

1000 BC - The Barbarian attacks grow stronger by the day, they are sending horsemen at us now. However, our warriors are gaining good experience from our victories over these simple men and we have decided to postpone their eradication for a millenia or two. They make no dent in our Imperial crown so we shall despose of them at our leisure.

550 BC - Our Empire now consists of 6 cities and our two bands of settlers will soon make that 8. Horses have been sighted in the north-west and we intend to domesticate them for our own use: neither man nor beast will stop us from achieving domination over this world. Our first galley has set forth from Neapolis in search of far and distant lands and it has already crushed a Barbarian vessel. Soon other cultures will feel our wrath, our terrain is harsh and unproductive, but it breeds tough men - a fact that others will soon have revealed to them at their cost.

[FrustratedPoet]

510 BC - The Persian city of Hatra has been sighted by our Galley. This tribe of savages may have access to technnology that we do not, but their annoyance at out arrival betrays a lack of the civilised behaviour that our glorious Empire prides itself upon. In order to educate them and make them more receptive to future negotiations we gift them a small amount of gold. One can only trust that the riches shall not go to their head.

450 BC - The heathen Persians agree to exchange maps of their territory for ours. We are loathe to divulge deatails of our Kingdom to such a rabble, but feel that we shall gain more from the exchange over the course of time.

250 BC - A curse upon the Persian Empire! They stubbornly refuse to share their knowledge with us. Do they not know with whom they are dealing?
When our Legions are ready for battle and poised to strike at their heart they may come to regret their folly.

210 BC - Our exploring Galley has encountered the German leader Bismarck. He has agreed to share with us knowledge of his lands, he has many cities and the terrain looks good. Hmmm .... I wonder what our Palace would look like if transferred to Berlin. These mountains are beginning to bore me.

170 BC - Our Empire has grown to 10 cities now, but we have used up all the workable land. Conquest is the only way to advance our purpose now. The slow progress of working our Iron deposits is enraging me. This work should have been completed centuries ago! Someone's going to get such a whipping for this...

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Well, that's all for today folks. I hope you enjoyed that.
I'm not doing very well so far, am I? God knows why I neglected to connect up my Iron for so long.... just dumbness on my part I suppose.
Hopefully there will be a few all-action war pics to go with the next exciting installment of my struggle against extinction.

[DaveMcW]

I wanted to invade somebody to get off this glacier as soon as possible, so I went for Bronze/Iron Working at 10% science and covered the island with ICS and barracks. When the first Persian settler landed and built a town I razed it with warriors, then used the peace treaty as a bargaining chip to buy contacts and Map Making.

Only the Persians, English, and Russians had a trade route open when my harbor finished, but silks to the English and Russians plus the last of my gold was enough to trade up to Monarchy. The revolution ended just as the Persian peace treaty expired.

The Persians nicely started the war with a demand. The Germans finally got a trade route so I paid silks and 11 gpt for an alliance. While I waited a few turns for the gold to upgrade my warriors, the Persian army left the coast to invade Germany. My legionaires easily took over the fertile Persian coast and soon Persepolis fell, giving me the Pyramids!

This is where I really screwed up. I used a GL to rush the palace in Persepolis, but I had forgotten to build a harbor on the Persian continent! Four silk deals were cancelled for lack of a trade route and my reputation was shot. Oh well, beating techs out of them is more fun anyway.

The Germans were willing to pay 12 gpt to renew our alliance, but I didn't want to commit to 20 more turns of fighting. Instead, I offered an ROP to prevent them from turning on me.

Just as I took the Persian iron city, they upgraded to musketmen. When my golden age ended I signed a peace treaty for Monotheism, Engineering, and Feudalism. I figure I'm 6-8 techs behind right now on Emperor using the standard rules, and I'm racing to build a big enough army to take Germany when they finally stop beating on Persia.

-DaveMcW

[DaveMcW]

Apparently if you preview your post you lose the attachment.

[DaveMcW]

20 towns and growing at 10 AD.

[FrustratedPoet]

OK ... I couldn't resist continuing. This game is too much fun!

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70 AD - We have made contact with the Russian Empire. They, like the other foolish brigands we have encountered, refuse to trade with us for any of their knowledge. My list of 'People Who Must Be Taught A Lesson' has had another name added to it...

260 AD - Our legions are massing, if the Persians only knew what was in store for them they would be shaking in their boots!! Unfortunately our Galleys are not able to transport large amounts of our soldiers in one go and so our Navy will have to expanded before any full-scale invasion can take place.
*Later that year*
Ha! The Persians have become abusive and demand tribute for their patience. I shall throw this puny demand in their faces. Rome has been for too long out of the limelight of the world stage. Come Persia! Bring all that you have, Rome is not afraid!
*The Persian envoy returns with news of their response: there will be no war .... yet.*
It seems the 'mighty' Persian Empire is but a collection of downy-cheecked young boys and weak old ladies, their threats were nothing but boast and bluster. When the time comes we shall show them how real men play the diplomatic game!

280 AD - We have now met both the French and English Empires and we are not impressed. While we ourselves have long been the scorn of the proud and haughty civilisations of Russia and Germany these two new-comers are trailing far behind even us in power. They may have the technology that we do not, but still they are weaklings. Perhaps one day they will be useful to me, however, one is ever in need of allies and the weaker contries are often the best. Once our wars are won I can destroy them with ease - if one allies with a major power one only makes them stronger by the effort. All this is far in the future, however, and my people have many miles to travel until then.

390 AD - The WAR has begun! Our mighty Roman legions have destroyed the town of Hatra. The settlement has sat on the far side of the channel for millenia now, serving as a symbol of Persian snobbery and as a challenge to our great Roman men to rise up and assert our personalities on the savages to the west. I have a dozen Legions waiting to replenish our raiding party. Some of my generals want to push straight on to Persepolis and burn the Persian capital to the ground, while others want to pass by Susa on the way and teach the proud Persians a lesson in civilised butchery.
I am undecided on this matter, but favour a short war if at all possible. I will make the Persians feel very sorry for the way they have treated me. If they will not trade with me then I'll thrash them and take what I want!
A wise man once said: "In diplomacy, speak softly and carry a big stick". I feel he should have continued: "If nobody listens to your voice, use the stick!".

[FrustratedPoet]

410 AD - I have heard many rumours about the supposed strengths of the Persian Immortal. I hear that in Berlin strong men weep at the very mention of their name, while in Moscow children are frightened into good behaviour by the fear of these sword-wielding furies. It appears the rumours were mistaken. These Immortals may very well be formidable in attack, but they commit themselves too early and are left open to counter-attack. Two units of them came in sight of my invasion army, they stood on eh dar side of the plain, sneering and goading me into attack. Ha! My men are well trained and it seems that the Immortal's supposed invincibility has made them soft, flabby and over-confident.

460 AD - The city of Susa has been razed to the ground. The buildings have been brought down to the rude earth upon which they were built. The dirt that the first Persian settlers felt beneath their feet when they founded the city is now stained with blood of their ancestors. The citizens of Susa fell beneath the swords of my Legions, and their cries echoed all the way back to Persepolis with a sound to make Xerxes tremble.
Can you hear me, O Great Emperor of Persia? Can you feel my footsteps on your continent? There is no place for you to hide Xerxes! My Legions shall fall upon you like plague and reduce your kingdom to ruins! Prepare yourself, for your doom is at hand!

470 AD - The sneaky Germans have founded the city of Brandenburg on the northermost tip of my continent! Bah! This is a grave insult indeed and should not go unpunished. However, the city is weak and isolated from the German Fatherland, it will do them no good. Let them keep it! They can sit there on that rock all they want.

520 AD - The Persians have been humbled! With hordes of Legions encamped at the gates of Persepolis Xerxes sent a quivering diplomat out to bargain with me. He offered contact with the Zulus and the technology of Literature for a truce. I considered his proposal for while before grudgingly accepting. I hate Xerxes with passion - and one day his head SHALL decorate the gates of palace - but my objectives for this campaign had been achieved. Susa and Hatra had been annihilated and 3 bands of Roman settlers were disembarking on the coast of what once used to be the Persian Empire. My foothold on this continent was assured and, furthermore, I have aspied the Babylonian civilisation on an island to the south-east. These people are urbane and scholarly, their territory is lush and fertile. Perhaps it is time for someone to teach them the art of war? I believe a spot just came open in my diary...

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PS-> What my bloodthirsy Roman friend neglected to mention was the stack of Persian Knights that were waiting on a hill west of Persepolis when I arrived. I felt confident, but not THAT confident.

[vmxa1]

Very nice

[Theseus]

FP, you actually put me in mind of the real-life Romans...

"What? The Semites dare oppose us??!! The sheer, unmitigated gall of the creatures... send another Legion. Slave, where's my flavored ice?"

Well done. Redde Caesari quae sunt Caesaris.