AU207: Big Planet - Strategy, Spoilers and Comments

[nbarclay]

Once the Theory of Evolution was completed, Egypt wanted another leader for the Hoover Dam. Unfortunately, a quick war to finish off Germany was not enough to give us one.

[nbarclay]

Going Viking (1400 AD - 1440 AD)

With the main continent and its nearby islands divided among only three powers, and with Japan and Mongolia posessing reasonably modern forces, Egypt turned its attention to the Scandanavian island to the southwest. Four transports unloaded a total of eight infantry, seven elite cavalry, an elite swordsman, and sixteen tanks on Viking shores. That seemed more than sufficient against a rival that was only about halfway through the medieval era.

[nbarclay]

The first turn or two of the Viking war went much as would be expected - successfully. But then dozens of spearmen, archers, horsemen, and even chariots swarmed into view. If the Vikings had attacked my tanks on a hill southeast of Stockholm instead of trying to go past them through their zone of control (taking damage along the way), they might actually have managed to take a bite out of my attack force in spite of the immense disparity in power. As it was, my tank reinforcements were left undamaged to counterattack. And as my forces grew from reinforcements and the Vikings' dwindled, the tide swung to a point where finishing the Vikings off was as easy as the whole war had been expected to be.

The good part about the unexpectedly heavy Viking resistance was that it produced eight leaders (three of whom rushed SETI, the Internet, and Longevity) and well over twenty elite tanks besides the ones that produced leaders. The death toll was higher than expected, but so were the rewards.

(Unfortunately, I didn't think to grab a screenshot of the Viking resistance. It can be seen mostly in the fact that the 1525 and 1530 minimaps are omitted because they would show no additional conquered Viking posessions.)

[nbarclay]

Target: Japan (1485 AD - 1490 AD)

In 1480 AD, the greatest project in the Egyptian military since the invention of the War Chariot bore fruit. In 1485, the upgrades were complete. Only Japan's 29 elite tank units that had not yet produced leaders were allowed to keep their tanks. The other 195 modern offensive units in Egypt's arsenal were upgraded to or completed as modern armor.

[nbarclay]

In a single turn, it was effectively over. Only the island city of Sapporo was left under Japanese rule, and Sapporo had six elite tanks and two mechanized infantry sitting outside of it. By the end of the following turn, Sapporo belonged to India, since India already controlled the other half of the island and current Egyptian policy at the time held no interest in the other continent.

[nbarclay]

Target: Mongolia (1500 AD - 1505 AD)

Mongolia, Egypt's sole remaining ancient rival, was next. Egypt's forces stopped for a little well-deserved R&R, and then launched an attack. Mongolia's terrain was more of an obstacle than Japan's had been, so the annexation required two turns.

The image on the left has its colors shifted to make it clearer which lands the Mongols still held after the first turn of the conflict. (Mongolia's pre-war borders were essentially the same as in previous minimaps.)

[nbarclay]

Here is an artist's conception of the battlefield after the war was over. Seven leaders were produced in that conflict, six the first turn and one the seventh.

[nbarclay]

And something very interesting happened with two of those leaders: they were generated from modern armor units that had previously generated leaders as tanks. (The units that produced leaders in the Viking war had been given designations "Supreme".)

[nbarclay]

The Second Continent (1510 AD - 1575 AD)

After defeating the Mongols, Egypt would have been quite happy to trade with its overseas rivals and coast to a cultural victory. But Arabia had other plans. They demanded incense, and instead found themselves facing a rather incensed queen - especially when they declared war over Egypt's rejection of their demands. Egypt enlisted the entire world in an alliance against Arabia and started short-rushing transports for an intercontinental invasion.

Rather than sail to Arabia, Egypt sailed to Ottoman shores and had its modern armor travel to the Arabian front on an overland route. A Russian worker got in the way part of the time, slowing the MAs down a turn, but otherwise, the operation went wonderfully. Before long, a great leader rushed an airport to provide an additional way to bring reinforcements in.

The image below shows the route and landing strategy, but it's based on a screenshot from after Arabia was conquered.

[nbarclay]

Misfire

[nbarclay]

The image below shows the progress of the battle against Arabia, leaving off when the Arabs were down to a single city.

[nbarclay]

With the Arabs defeated, my troops who arrived relatively late started to get upset that there was no longer anything for them to do. Cleopatra decided that she could not possibly let such a situation stand, so she sought the Ottomans' cooperation in a joint campaign against India and the Celts (whose treaties with Egypt ended with the Arab conquest). The Ottomans refused, and soon found themselves added to Cleopatra's target list instead. England joined in on the enemy side, and Korea was brought in on our side, but water limited the activity of both of those nations. Ever-growing numbers of Egyptian forces rampaged through the territory.

[nbarclay]

If you look carefully in the 1565 screenshot above, you will see that Russia, the only country that had been neutral in the world war, took one of my cities. That called for revenge. Russia was added to my army's target list. Also, when free troops were available, I took out England in a single turn (using a Right of Passage agreement with Korea to get to two cities that I could not reach directly).

[nbarclay]

Not surprisingly, that last bit of conquest put me over the top for a domination victory. The screenshot below shows my culture graph with my current culture inserted after I won. Guess what would have happened in the following turn if I had not won by domination first?

[nbarclay]

The F11 picture at the end of the game is a bit interesting. That's what I get for building troops while Korea was no doubt building libraries - world domination with only one city among the world's top five cultural centers.