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Spoiler Thread for AU 203

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  • #61
    Bah, I can't win. I tried against Babylon, my Cavalry were dropping like flies against the Babylonian Infantry. I dont have a clue what to do. They just produce sooo many Infantry, I can't compete. I am definatly going to finish the game, but I have pretty much givin up all hopes of winning now

    Too bad the game was so tough, we didnt really get to test communism to well, did we? (If someone did, speek up!)

    Comment


    • #62
      Worried, but happy

      Well, I've been dancing with China, as you can see below.

      They keep sending Archers and Warriors into my territory, I block the hole, they leave, I open the hole, ad infinitum. Now I'm seeing Med.Inf, too, and getting worried - who are they sending these troops against? They are not at war...yet.
      We have trade deals, so I hope it's not me, but I can't open my interior up without serious risk.


      Previously, I built the Great Library, so I was able to save up a bit of cash for when Knights rolled around by leaving my Research at ZERO until this turn.

      When I entered the Middle Ages, I really needed a Wonder to replace my placeholder, the Pyramids, as Persia would complete it in a couple of turns, so I did something I never do - gave tech away for free!
      Not to everyone, mind you, but to every Scientific civ, I sold or gifted (at any price) the techs needed to get them into the Middle Ages. I needed someone to get me to Invention ASAP since I didn't really want SunTzu's, but preferred Leo's for this situation.
      It paid off. Persia finished Tzu's 2 turns before me, but a few turns after Invention was discovered.

      I got Leo's - which, as a surprise to me, began my Golden Age.

      Which is where I am now.

      Do I try my hardest to maintain peace with China while building infrastructure, finishing my FP 1 turn before the GA ends(see screenshot) and trying to claw my way back up to my former position of second from my current fourth?

      Or do I switch every available city, barracks or not, to Knights and call China's hand, demanding they leave or declare war?

      I would almost welcome a war, but I hate to blow my GA building Knights, which I can't use to attack with. My road network is complete bunk, many cities are working unimproved tiles, and I have no idea how I'm going to hang on until Communism.

      Oh, and my research path. Since I only just reinstated my researchers, I decided to head for Democracy, not to switch, but to sell. I pretty aggressively steered the AIs towards Invention/Gunpowder, even giving away Engineering/Feudalism to a couple, hoping to a)get all the way to Invention for free(done!), b)extend the life of my Great Library(done a little!) and c)attempting to keep more AI civs "in the tech game" so I wasn't the only "weak" target(done!).

      Now I've got a tough decision ahead, but the fact that I can't invade and put some hurt on is pushing me towards attempting to maintain peace for the next 19 turns.

      I'm not even to the "meaty" part of this game yet and I'm already somewhat exhausted, but this is a complete blast!
      Attached Files
      "Just once, do me a favor, don't play Gray, don't even play Dark... I want to see Center-of-a-Black-Hole Side!!! " - Theseus nee rpodos

      Comment


      • #63
        ducki, your game looks hauntingly similar to mine (side note: one of the most fascinating things about the AU games is watching the different performances of the AI civs in everyone's games). My map attached below is at 1600AD on the advent of replaceable parts hitting German factories.

        You mentioned Chinese troops repeatedly trying to come into your territory, wondering where they were going. If Mao has been passive towards you, he is probably going to Russia or Persia for some bloodlust. I was a spectator for three major Sino-Persian wars on occur on my territory. I let them duke it out for two reasons: 1) to exhaust their economies and slow down their tech pace (although THAT didn't seem to work very well); and 2) to keep them out of my business. Amazingly Otto has gone 5,600 years withough one drop of German blood being shed to foreign blade or bullet.

        The time is quickly approaching though. The German people are restless and bored with their leaders' isolationism. They feel the world has got it all wrong and needs some serious and rapid Germanization.

        ducki, where will you go once you get and decide to 'invoke' Communism? I think I'm planning on hitting Persia first, allying with China (surely Mao will be sympathetic to the proletariat trying to overcome). However, China is the tech leader, and I should consider bringing him down earlier rather than later. Decisions, decisions.

        The world according to Germany in 1600AD:
        Attached Files
        "One riot; one ranger."
        --A motto of the Texas Rangers

        Comment


        • #64
          Out of curiosity, were the people who had China absolutely crushing the world playing with the AU mod? I've been dealing with a world-dominating China and a rest-of-world-dominating Persia, and I'm playing with the mod. I know it was designed to help breed a killer AI, so it seems to have succeeded.
          I make movies. Come check 'em out.

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          • #65
            Zargon,

            I am playing with the AU mod. China and Persia seem to be on even and powerful keels. Someone must have said something in ancient times to set the stage for millenia to come because they absolutely hate each other. The armies they send are quite large and the battles are bloody; but because their strengths are about the same, they are always merely wars of attrition.
            "One riot; one ranger."
            --A motto of the Texas Rangers

            Comment


            • #66
              Ok, my game is far enough ahead now that I can allow myself a peek at this spoiler thread. I must say, I quite like what I'm seeing. I'll post an report of my game thus far (1300AD) tomorrow afternoon. For now I have some general comments:

              1. Community interest

              I'm really glad there are so many people taking an interest in this game! Just a couple of days, and this thread is getting huge. I'm very impressed at the average level of skill of all AU "students". This is not an easy game, people, so give yourselves a thumbs up (but do not forget to stick in there and win it for the Communists!).



              I'm especially happy to hear that everyone is taking this game as a learning experience. I had a feeling that most players feel the need to warmonger early to remain competitive (I know I do), so it's nice to see people change their routine. Similarly, I doubt most of us look forward to an big Industrial era war. In my case, I thought I had them game in hand, then remembered that I've got some serious conquering to do! Although later wars can be tedious, at least this scenario provides a reason to see it through.

              2. Scenario setup

              BRC, you're twisted and evil, but you sure know how to cook up a fun game! From the presence of Killer AIs to the opportunity for early survival due to chokepoints, you've made this The Power of Communism a success, IMHO. I was somewhat surprised to see the unnatural distribution of resources, but now that I'm quite far along I wouldn't change a thing (ok, maybe put the Furs just a bit northward so that I wouldn't have to expand so far to get them, but that's it!). Nice work.

              3. Rules and retaliation

              I forget who pointed this out, but the fact that the rules prevent you from retaliating against a fast-mover (i.e. Cavalry) if they're not in your borders is just brutal. I think I've been fending off the same 15 Chinese Cavalry now for about 30 turns. They bump up against my Infantry, go down to 1HP, and retreat to heal every single time. The only upside is that all my units are Elites, so the Leader potential is huge.

              4. Killer AIs

              Although I believe that the presence of Killer AIs in this scenario is mostly due to the map layout, there is definitely something about the AU mod that is helping too. In my game, the Persians were nearly unstoppable early on, so much so that I think they could have won the game with Knights if I had not pulled some devious diplomatic maneuvers ("sure, you can attack the Chinese through my lands, but there's an awful lot of troops along the chokepoints...you may find it so crowded that you'll just have to turn back and take the long way after all"). I'm sad to hear that the AI does not threaten Domination, even with the current changes. This is definitely something Firaxis needs to fix.

              5. Nor Me's game

              Nice job playing it through to the very end. If anything, you're gathering valuable informatino about how Killer AIs handle the end-game (not so well, from your comments). At this point, if you manage to win the game by with any victory condition, I'm sure you'll get an excellent grade.


              Ok, gotta sleep. I'll post tomorrow.


              Dominae
              And her eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming...

              Comment


              • #67
                Crazy

                Germany - AUMod - Monarch

                Yup, plum loco.

                I just had to know if my longtime trading partner, Mao, would break off a luxury deal merely because I demanded he respect my sovereign borders.

                He did, and declared war.
                Fortunately I had already knighted half a dozen Horsemen for this possibility.

                On the same turn, I convinced everyone I could without spending cash to join my cause.
                Catherine and Caesar both joined for tech or luxury or both, and 1 turn later, Elizabeth did the same, losing the two towns on my border(damn!) even though I gifted her with Gunpwder after checking to ensure she had Saltpeter.

                My GA is just past half over, I think, and I just learned of an extremely gifted general in my military called Barbarossa. I've asked him to create a formal Army and report on its uses. I could send him to Frankfurt to inspire the builders of my vacation retreat, but our people are already doing so much, and our military could use a boost.

                Education is still currently undiscovered and I've distributed the knowledge of Gunpowder far and wide, hoping to further delay Education.

                P.S. - See what you guys have done to me, Theseus? I found a way to start a war even here. Unless I get more leaders, though, the only real value will be Persia's, aside from this odd sense of glee have now.
                Strangely, no Riders. Maybe I can get out of the war before they become a problem.
                Attached Files
                "Just once, do me a favor, don't play Gray, don't even play Dark... I want to see Center-of-a-Black-Hole Side!!! " - Theseus nee rpodos

                Comment


                • #68
                  Another strange note on my war...
                  When China declared war, it broke two 20-turn trade deals, yet in buying Russia, Rome, and England into the deal, all 3 are Gracious to me.

                  Shouldn't they be cranky about the broken trade deal?
                  "Just once, do me a favor, don't play Gray, don't even play Dark... I want to see Center-of-a-Black-Hole Side!!! " - Theseus nee rpodos

                  Comment


                  • #69
                    Originally posted by ducki
                    Shouldn't they be cranky about the broken trade deal?
                    Why? It wasn't with them. The only effect should be their being reluctant to do similar deals with you.

                    Does anyone know why the AIs researched Chemistry before Banking in my game? I don't.

                    Comment


                    • #70
                      That's not how it normally is for me, NorMe.
                      Usually, if you break a 20-turn deal with any AI, the rest of the AIs start to drive really hard trade bargains and get cranky, because you can't be trusted, are a "back-stabber".

                      I wonder if that reputation hit got fixed for when the human is not in any way at fault for the deal falling through...
                      "Just once, do me a favor, don't play Gray, don't even play Dark... I want to see Center-of-a-Black-Hole Side!!! " - Theseus nee rpodos

                      Comment


                      • #71
                        This is called the age of defense.

                        You need lots of artillery to fight an offensive war when the oppoents have infentry and you don't have tanks.

                        See the Civ III Democracy game which is currently succefully fighting an offensive war during the age of defense.

                        The alternative is to just foritfy your own Infentry in place and slaughter the AI's infentry as they attack.

                        Originally posted by trickey
                        Bah, I can't win. I tried against Babylon, my Cavalry were dropping like flies against the Babylonian Infantry. I dont have a clue what to do. They just produce sooo many Infantry, I can't compete. I am definatly going to finish the game, but I have pretty much givin up all hopes of winning now

                        Too bad the game was so tough, we didnt really get to test communism to well, did we? (If someone did, speek up!)
                        1st C3DG Term 7 Science Advisor 1st C3DG Term 8 Domestic Minister
                        Templar Science Minister
                        AI: I sure wish Jon would hurry up and complete his turn, he's been at it for over 1,200,000 milliseconds now.

                        Comment


                        • #72
                          Originally posted by jshelr
                          I don't believe I've ever heard of the AI getting a domination win.
                          I've managed to lose a game this way. It was several months ago so my memory is a little foggy. I apologize for going off topic, but I did want to bring it to the class' attention that an AI domination win can happen

                          It was the first time I made it very far on the Emperor level. I was on a fairly small island and everyone else was on a big continent. One AI was slowly killing off everyone else and taking control of the continent. They even tried to invade me, but my build up of battleships and tanks made me to difficult to attack. I was only a couple of parts away from winning a SS when the AI achieved an domination victory.

                          I think there are 2 reasons why we don't see very many AI domination victories.

                          1) They spent a lot of time balancing the civs against each other when they created the AI for this game. They didn't want civs to run away with the game.

                          2) We don't stick around on lost games long enough to see the outcome.


                          And back on topic.

                          I'm having a hard time on Monarch too due to the warmongering limitations. I'm never this small going into the industrial era.

                          Comment


                          • #73
                            I think that on smaller maps that the AI is much more likely to achieve a Domination victory mostly because even over the OCN limit the AI will keep cities with luxary and strategic resources, and there seems to be a higher percentage of cities with at least 1 resources on smaller maps than the larger ones.

                            It's also easier for 1 AI to run over 2 other AIs than 5.
                            1st C3DG Term 7 Science Advisor 1st C3DG Term 8 Domestic Minister
                            Templar Science Minister
                            AI: I sure wish Jon would hurry up and complete his turn, he's been at it for over 1,200,000 milliseconds now.

                            Comment


                            • #74
                              joncnunn just made me remember that my Domination loss was on a small map.

                              Comment


                              • #75
                                Originally posted by Jawa Jocky
                                1) They spent a lot of time balancing the civs against each other when they created the AI for this game. They didn't want civs to run away with the game.

                                2) We don't stick around on lost games long enough to see the outcome.
                                Neither of these apply to why the Chinese didn't acheive domination in my game. The map size probably is the deciding factor.

                                The Chinese were given plenty of opportunity to settle the former Russian territory since I had to use galleons to get there:
                                Attached Files

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