AU 202: Analysis, Solutions, and Stories (spoiler)

[Aeson]

Well it was my 5th elite victory (first with the Scout trap) before it happened.

[Konquest02]

I played on 1.29f, regent level (I planned to play on Monarch but forgot to change it...), as the Amercians. I got up to 1550 BC.

I cleared all the huts on the continent, except one which the Iroquois took just under my nose.
1-Warrior
2-Nothing
3-Settler (The same hut in which Dominae got his. See his screenshot)
4-Maps
5-Ceremonial Burial
6-Bronze Working
7-25 gold
8-Nothing
9-Maps
10-Mysticism
11-Warrior
12-Maps

The game is going pretty good so far. I decided to archer rush the Iroquois before they get horses and the dreaded MWs... I worked quite well as I have taken Salamanca and got 2 techs, all their gold and Niagara Falls (thier 2nd city) in the treaty. My forces are now rebuilding in order to crush them completely.

I think I made a huge mistake. I used to do like Aeson and lead barbs to Athens, the Greek capital that would never grow... Located in the mountains I went near a barb camp and led them up to Athens, destroying all their hopes (work on settler, credible defence, etc...) I then walked next to Athens with a conscript warrior and saw it was undefended. Thinking the AI respawning was off (which is in my usual games), I walked right in Athens, forcing the Greeks to respawn somewhere else on the continent. Now, they have a great start position, are between me and the Germans and are Furious towards me... I have unleashed the power of the Greeks...

Gotta go back to play, as I got some expansion to do... (half of the continent is now empty...) This is probably turning in an UP game!

--Kon--

[Arrian]

WOW! Aeson, that's insane! Grog lives! Well, if there was to be a nemesis for the Germans, it ought to be the Russians, huh?

I miss worker buying, btw. Great tactic using scouts to lure barbs to other civ's capitols. Brilliant, even.

Now, what are you going to do with the leader?

Kon - I'm not entirely sure taking Athens was a mistake. You still hurt them terribly.

-Arrian

[Aeson]

I rushed the Pyramids because it was the only thing available. Didn't have enough cities for the FP, though I probably should have just saved Ivan for that or the Great Library. Ended up building the FP regularly, even though I got 2 more leaders (both when I was almost done building the FP) in the BC's (army, Sun Tzu's), and the Great Library was taken by the French, who had all of 3 cities.

I'm not sure why, but the Iroquois (and most of the other AI as well) have been doing amazing in my game. Even after killing about 50 Iroquois units I couldn't break through. I killed 6 Spearmen in Salmanaca in one turn, and they still had at least 4 remaining. Salmanaca built 3 of the Ancient Wonders, but for some reason they started the Great Library in another much smaller city. Ended up only being able to raze 3 of their cities, and captured 1 (which I probably will lose to a flip).

My Scouts did very nicely in the Iroquois war though, pillaging their Iron and Horses at the start, then leading some Archer/Swordsmen stacks around for a few turns, getting some more pillaging in before they were taken. Now I just got Chivalry from the Greeks for a peace treaty and a bit of gold. Sending some more Scouts in to pillage the Iroquois Iron and Horses once the peace treaty expires again.

[Arrian]

You amaze me.

-Arrian

[Nor Me]

Only difference between my turn 2 screen and dominae's is Ceremonial burial(-- turns).
Why the wheel in 40 turns?

huts:
1. Settler (turn 2!)
2. Bronze working
3. Masonry
4. 25 gold
5. The Wheel(we have a road to bring horses into York.Good work!)
6. warrior
7. warrior
8. Deserted

I built enough scouts but sent too many North so I've missed a few huts. Got contact early enough to be selling rather than buying tech on emperor.

Then things went downhill. 8 turns away from horseback riding, the Iroqouis have it and they declared war. My cities are defended with chariots.

[Arrian]

Oh dear, that sounds bad. Do you have any warriors you can upgrade to swordsmen to toss into the fray?

If the MWs stop before your cities, your chariots can at least attack with 1:1.1 odds, which beats the hell out of 3:1.1 odds.

-Arrian

[BRC]

Why the wheel in 40 turns?

If this was directed to me, I wanted to get the location of all of the horse resources. On my attack of the Iroqouis, I beeline to the horse just SE of Salamanca. I also was able to build chariots early, and could get my "Mongolian Horde" up and running.

[Nor Me]

I have enough warriors but not enough gold ( about 80). Also none are veteran. At the moment the Iroqouis are attacking 1 city, mostly with warriors and across a river. I've only seen 1 MW but they have 3 cities connected and I can't do anything about it. I will conterattack with chariots and wait. If they don't reinforce quickly I'll be OK.

[Dominae]

Aeson,

My memory is horrible, but I assume you're playing a version (1.29f) where Worker-buying is as yet unfixed (Workers go for ~30 gold instead ~120)?

Although I think you were pretty lucky with the first three Archers, your subsequent planned "gamble" with Elites sure made you deserve that Leader. Nice one!

Strangely enough, in my game (Emperor), the Germans did the same Archer rush on me as well. Due to the lower difficulty, they only brought along 2 Archers and 1 Warrior though. I used a Scout to shadow them as they trekked down towards me, and a Warrior to block the direct route (forcing them to zigzag every turn). This allowed me to set up a reasonable defense (2 Spearmen, 2 Warriors) which handled the "surprise" attack easily.

Can Scouts Pillage? I feel I should know this, especially playing this game!

Using Scouts to aid in offenseive maneuvers is brilliant (Pillage or no). I'm busy getting a Horsemen force ready right now, but I'll squeak in a few Scouts here and there.


Dominae

[Dominae]

Originally posted by Nor Me
Only difference between my turn 2 screen and dominae's is Ceremonial burial(-- turns).
Why the wheel in 40 turns?

Pretty sure this question is directed at me. Goody Hut strategy dictates that you should research the cheapest available tech so that you can potentially "pop" the others for free. Although a great idea in theory, I really wanted The Wheel ASAP (with the Iroquois right next door, this turned out to be a good policy). The main reason for this is that it's the only tech available to me that I could "use" immediately, either by building Chariots or seeing Horses. I don't build Temples early. I ended up getting The Wheel in far less than 40 turns, as Bismarck discovered it before I did and I had extra Commerce from (surprisingly!) early cities.


Dominae

[Arrian]

Dominae,

Aeson is indeed playing 1.29.

Scouts can pillage.

-Arrian

[Dominae]

Thanks for the info Arrian.

Progress report: the English aren't half bad! With Expansionist to set up a strong early-game (tech-wise, mostly), and Commercial to support a sprawling empire (which this map encourages), the English traits are serving me well. Now, let's see if I can get my UU to shine...


Dominae

[Nor Me]

Dominae, It worked for me. I got the wheel in much less than 40 turns. Money-wise, I'd have been much better off to research writing in 40 turns.
But my strategy required me to get the wheel early. You got enough huts to be faily certain of getting the wheel eventually if you played for it.

Yes, the English are good. Didn't you expect that?
I think I've almost won already. Should have played on deity.

[Aeson]

They went after you too eh? I'm just glad they started so far away. I'm also glad they got it out of their system early, as later they just were flooding the map with military units. For close to 1000 years my western territory was just about covered with a constant stream of German units heading to fight in Greek lands.