Spoiler Thread for AU 203

[Dominae]

Nor Me, might I suggest that you play another dozen or so turns, then post your results on the "Why, oh why..." AI thread. Clearly there is something wrong with the code if the Chinese cannot pull a win in that situation.

Maybe Mao is just milking his score...




Dominae

[Dominae]

A New Beginning

I focus on expansion in the early game, as this is the only way to be competitive without attacking the AI. I set up Granaries in 3 of my core cities, and build nothing but Warriors and Workers in all others until enough food is available for a Settler. With the wonderful start location, I have a high enough Shield output to produce a Barracks in a couple of my Settler-pump cities, and I use those to produce Veteran Spearmen.

I could have built Temples in my outlying cities to boost Culture, but I was not happy about this option because Literature would bring a far better option in all respects, the Library (lower cost, higher culture, better effect). So I wait for Literature to build any improvements (other than the initial Granaries and Barracks), at which point I poprush Libraries in all my cities at the first available opportunity.

Upon seeing the 2 chokepoints, I send all my military units to these in hopes of slower down AI expansion. This means leaving all my cities undefended, but at this point I'm convinced Barbs are not a problem.

I research Iron Working first in hopes of trading it for most of the first level techs, with mixed results. I keep up fair enough, and reach the Medieval age one turn behind China and Persia.

Sometime during expansion, I discover a nice side-effect of having multiple backwater civs: Worker buying is back! Since I'm not worried about trading techs away to these puny civs (Romans, English and to some extent Russians and Aztecs), I can trade for Workers easily. I end up with a set of 2 Workers from each of these civs (4 from Russia, actually). That's 10 Workers before I even built another myself!

I'm psyched that expansion is going so well, but I'm painfully aware that I'm far behind in infrastructure, Wonders and basically everything else. China and Persia scare me, because I just know they're going to reduce their weaker neighbors to pulp before I can do anything about it. Will I ever get to be a Communist? I dream of the day...

Here's a screenshot of shortly after I hit the Medieval age. As you can see, the Persians stole my Furs right from under me. Also, I'm surprised to see that I'm actually second in Power; maybe builder is not so bad after all!

[Dominae]

The Persians Strike Back

Although I would love to keep the peace with everyone and trade away, the other civs are convinced that I'm evil and thus feel the need to make demands every few turns. Eventually, the Russians ask for Theology or something similarly ridiculous, and I'm convinced I can fend them off so I refuse. Sure, enough, they're not quite powerful enough to punch through my defenses. But, at the end of the war, they get the Persians in the action. Uh oh. Suddenly, I've got about 20 Knights to deal with. Things do not go well, and I have to abandon a few cities and pull back.

The Persians eventually threaten me enough that I get Russia to ally with me (for Chivalry and Engineering, I think). My military at this point is something like 8 Pikemen, and 2 Spearmen and 4 Knights, so I cannot hope to push back the Persians without some help. The Persians easily overrun the Russians; I've created a monster! The Persians lose their bloodlust after killing countless Russians (something to do with reaching the OCN?), and we sign a perpetual peace agreement.

I'm racing for Sistine at this point, and it occurs to me that Bach's would be a much better Wonder for this game. I hit Education and hold off on trading it until I'm very close to Music Theory (the AIs are busy with Printing Press and Invention). I then sell Education to obtain tech parity, and switch to Bach's.

And this is when the game completely turns to my favor.

I know the AI will offer a nice price for Music Theory since I have not completed yet (actually I'm around 20 turns away, so I suppose I tricked them). However, I was not expecting an average of 50 gpt from the Big Three (Persian, China, Babylon). With these funds I jump ahead in tech, and act as a tech broker until the end of the Medieval age in order to ensure my lead. I focus on the required techs (with a sidestep for Smith's), and reach the Industrial age a full 3 techs ahead of the competition.

My military is horrible at this point, with fewer than 20 troops. I'm concentrating on being a builder, and a builder I am! I decide to build the Forbidden Palace just south of Berlin (roughly where the two "arms" meet...Heidelberg in the screen below). The spot is not ideal (lots of Desert and Plain tiles), but I want all my own cities to be maximally productive when I reach Industrialization. At first, the FP takes 200 turns to complete, but Corruption ends up not being so bad and I finish it in around 40 instead (this seemed a little easy, perhaps the new Corruption in Despotism is too low).

Here is a screenshot from the turn after I complete the Forbidden Palace in Heidelberg.

[Dominae]

Return of the Germans

I hit the Industrial age in 800AD. I begin producing military units in my cities that are done infrastructure-wise, because I feel that Persia or China will not put up with my sudden jump in power for long. All other cities are busy with most improvements, with the exception of Cathedrals (too many Luxuries!).

Sure enough, China declares war in 950AD, and even though they're 4th in the power ranking, they have the largest military, as I soon learn. They are also the only civ with Military Tradition, and their Cavalry comes knocking on my door. I'm counting on my Riflemen to hold them off, but losses are higher than expected. Caught once more unprepared for battle, I get the Persians to ally with me, for the painful cost of Steam Power. This is actually great for me, because now the world's largest military powers are fighting it out. I steal Military Tradition from the Babs to defend myself better, but largely avoid the war.

I get two Leaders during these turns. One makes an Army, the other rushes the Heroic Epic. With all my Elite units, I expect many Leaders in the near future. I end up disappointed.

I hit Industrialization and complete "industrializing" (rails everywhere, Factories everywhere) by 1160AD. The AI is losing the race fast: when I complete the Theory of Evolution, they're still getting Sanitation and Espionage. When I reach Radio, no other civ has Electricity, and I'm getting a tech every 7 turns. Ah, if only the AI could understand the Industrial age!

The Theory of Evolution triggers my Golden Age (unexpectedly, I'm embarrassed to say). I use it to further complete all infrastructure in my cities, all the way up to Stock Exchanges.

The year is now 1300AD. I'm waiting to get Panzers to jump into Communism, at which point I really start playing AU203. My short-term plan when I get out of my GA is to beeline for Tanks, and use Mobilization as a second Golden Age to crank out units. The campaign will be against Persia, and oh it will be sweet.

Below is a screen from my current turn. The Chinese have sent countless troops against my fortifications on the English border. All my other cities are undefended.


Dominae

[trickey]

Your game is looking great so far Dominae

I think I'm going to try AU 203 again, with a different approch this time. (I know I will have an advantage, but who cares).

Btw, Dominae, what difficulty are you playing on?


EDIT: To spell Dominae's name right

[Dominae]

trickey, trying the game the second time is a great idea; you'll see what works and what doesn't. Please post your results when you're done.

I'm playing on Emperor.


Dominae

[laissez-faire]

Act II – A Reactivist Germany

Great game, Dominae. Your tech brokering puts me to shame. You are about 300 years ahead of me.

1600AD saw the introduction of replaceable parts to my German industry and the Hessian people suddenly became fascinated with the idea of military units. They still had never actually seen them work, but the sight of them increased the rhythm of their Teutonic blood. Running parallel to this military build-up, there began a workers’ movement that stated all German brothers to be equal. In the mid-18th century, a man by the name of Marx circulated a Manifesto and debates across the country flourished. There were riots, expropriations and a few assassinations, all culminating in the October Revolution of 1786.

In that same year a world war began. The Triple Alliance (China, Babylon, and the Aztecs) had declared Persia to be an evil empire. Much like 1930s Spain, the new ruling party of Germany thought it an excellent opportunity to test out their newfound military swing. Controlling the chokepoints, I also controlled the input of units from the world’s largest military (China) which means Mao did not get anything onto the battlefield after his first wave of tanks. In less than 20 years, millions of Persian children were learning German in school.

The war was short and now I am running a peaceful communism. It is 1850AD (see map below), and I find myself at The Pivotal Point of my game. I am at least 3-4 techs behind both Babylon and China. I see Babylonian Mech. Infs, but have yet to see a Chinese one.

A thought I’m having is to sign a life-long brotherhood pact with Hammurabi, then gang the Aztecs and the German-Babylonian Alliance against China to bring that civ down to its knees. China has several key wonders including STWA, LW, JSBC, and the HD. The idea behind the pact with the Babs would be to win a Domination victory without ever having to raise arms up against them.

The Issues

• The pros of Communism – Excellent for wartime happiness. Excellent for conquering an empire and building temples/libraries to repel resistors and expand borders (conquered large Persian cities spit a temple out in 2 turns with no pop-rushing). Excellent for a sprawling empire.
• The cons of Communism – Science, and being profitable at science.

Ideally, I would like to have computers before a war with China, but with Communism in-place it will take a while (currently researching Radio with about 5 turns to go; Computers will take an anticipated 15 turns). Is it worth the 8-turn switch to Democracy and back? I have an available leader for a palace-flip to Persepolis which, with the FP located at the ‘fork,’ would do democracy really well. I have a full day at work to think about it. Any help would certainly be appreciated.

Note: Dominae, strange. I built ToE but it did not trigger my GA. Is this a random variable?

The World According to Germany in 1850AD

[Dominae]

laissez-faire, nice report on your game (especially the quasi-historical bits!). You seem to have piloted the Communist Germans well. Now you need to finish it off!

Without having seen your game, it is difficult to say if a switch to Democracy and back would be useful. My gut reaction is to say no, unless you plan to get a tech lead while in Democracy, or at least obtain techs the AI doesn't have. All you need now are MI and MAs; secure those and you should be fine.

I trigged a GA with the Theory of Evolution (Scientific) because I had previously built the Universal Suffrage (Militaristic) (useless in this scenario, I know, but I miscalculated the ToE prebuild...at least it forces the AI to be in Communism if they are at war, which is a good thing).


Dominae

[jshelr]

Interesting game from a difficulty point of view.

I stayed in republic in this game and missed ToE by one turn and longevity by two turns, probably nipped by leaders. Ugh. So, we are still lumbering along just behind the tech leaders with endless RoP agreements to keep everyone from attacking. At least the RR buildout lets them go back and forth through Germany without my having to watch each unit take each step. If the mod's intent is to downgrade republic as an effective form of government, I think it's working well.

I'm probably crazy, but am I wrong to recall that sometimes a palace build with one turn left will have produced enough shields to build ToE immediately? This game the result was 15 turns to ToE and I'm a bit confused as to why so much time was left......

On the golden age, we are planning to trigger it with panzers. In fact, I can't wait until panzers are available...

[laissez-faire]

Act III - Scene I - Bloodlust

I monitored China with each turn, watching my turns-to-Computers drop one at a time. Suddenly in dropped from 14 turns to 8, and sure enough both China and the Aztecs had picked it up (Babylon had it and four other techs on top of it all along). With that, I decided the time had come for war; but how war came about is actually pretty funny.

I had an MPP signed with the Aztecs and the Babs and China was all over my territory (mostly with workers). I demanded Computers from them, but they refused. I went to declare war but accidentally hit "Remove your troops..." instead. I didn't want to risk them removing all their workers because I wanted to capture them and, under communism, conscript them into lean mean infantries. Luckily Mao didn't recall them, and declared war on me.

And so it began with the most important stats as:
Tanks
Germany - 70
China - 60
Infantry
Germany - 103
China - 210

This game has become so intense for me (kudos to BRC) that the first turn of war took over 45 minutes. Looking at the map attached below, I took two cities along the yellow bracket to open up my kingdom. What I found after that was Mao's entire army located in the red circle (or at least 85% of it). Around that city (Tarsus) alone I slaughtered 31 tanks and 18 infantry including four 4-unit armies! The next turn he moved up 15 more tanks and 10 or so more infantry. It's all snow and mountains down there, so he can't move too fast. The next turn I'll take the rest out and he'll be left to his factories.

Post first turn of war stats:
Tanks
Germany - 46
China - 29
Infantry
Germany - 101
China - 171

Also, the Babs, Aztecs, Rome and England all declared war on the Chinese. A favorable two years indeed.

The world according to Germany in 1870AD

[BRC]

LF: Nice game going there. It's good to see you have a plan. A little luck never hurts either.

I'm probably crazy, but am I wrong to recall that sometimes a palace build with one turn left will have produced enough shields to build ToE immediately? This game the result was 15 turns to ToE and I'm a bit confused as to why so much time was left......

I'm pretty sure that the cost of building your palace is directly influenced by the number of cities you control. I don't know exact numbers, but the more cities you own, the more expensive the palace is to build. You not owning many cities is probably the reason for this occurence.

[jshelr]

Thanks, BRC. That makes good sense and I've never run across that tidbit before.

[joncnunn]

4 Chinese armies? I wonder if the AI knows how to use a GL to rush a Great Wonder.

[Nor Me]

Originally posted by joncnunn
4 Chinese armies? I wonder if the AI knows how to use a GL to rush a Great Wonder.

They do. I've seen it. In my game China has 8 armies of course.

[Arrian]

I've seen the AI use a leader for a wonder, but they usually do build armies instead.

Nor Me... wow, I haven't rooted for a human comeback this much since Aeson's legendary "So Very Cold." Good luck!

Good reading, fellas. Not my cup 'o tea, though. I hate playing the Germans.

-Arrian