Clipping the Celtic Wings

[zorbop]

i often have problems with the celts, but normally they are wiped out when 12 AI civs all declair war on them.

i've noticed the aztecs and americans also become VERY powerful.
aztec seems expected, but the americans confuse me. as a civ they royally suck, but the AI does so well with them...

[Last Conformist]

The Celts have never been a trouble to me. The Gallic Swordsman is a bit to expensive to be a truly great threat - Mounted Warriors or Immortals are much more scary.

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by zorbop
but the americans confuse me. as a civ they royally suck, but the AI does so well with them...

The Americans are a good builder civ. Industrious is the best trait, and with Expansionist you can get a granary up v. quick. Add to that the chance of free settlers from huts and you can get a strong start.

The AI does OK with them because Industrious is the easiest trait for it to exploit.

[Yahweh Sabaoth]

Originally posted by Catt
FWIW, I view the Celts as a dangerous early-game neighbor, but a helpful long-term AI. They might present a direct challenge early, but if I can avoid a costly war (as opposed to a "not costly" war) with them, they can do a lot of dirty work for me. I find the Celts often acquire a large empire early but are woefully inept at managing it later. If the Celts are distant and beat up on AI civs that otherwise have an inherent advantage, then Brennus is a good friend.

Catt

They can be managed, and Brennus can be a good friend, but I'd have to disagree slightly about the infrastructure point. The Celtic infrastructure is certainly sub-par, but compared to the German infrastructure around the same time, it's golden, and it's often effective enough by the late-medival/industrial age to be a problem to any invader (esp. if the Celts have 15-20 cities)

[Catt]

Originally posted by Yahweh Sabaoth

They can be managed, and Brennus can be a good friend, but I'd have to disagree slightly about the infrastructure point. The Celtic infrastructure is certainly sub-par, but compared to the German infrastructure around the same time, it's golden, and it's often effective enough by the late-medival/industrial age to be a problem to any invader (esp. if the Celts have 15-20 cities)

Well, I'm not sure what you mean specifically with respect to the infrastructure. In the majority of my games, if Brennus survives into the early industrial age, he tends to have been trimmed and is an insignificant runt civ, or he is a sprawling civ laden with a ton of somewhat outdated units but without the ability to compete on tech research. This tends to turn into a vicious cycle -- Brennus is more "powerful" than a more compact, more developed neighbor; Brennus is falling back in the tech/econ race; Brennus decides to beat up on the neighbor to even the playing field; the war is inconsequential in terms of Brennus catching up; but Brennus may slow down the more developed neighbor.

I just can't clearly remember a good instance where a powerful (military and econ) Celtic empire prospered well into the Industrial Age -- whereas I can clearly remember numerous such instances with a wide swath of the other civs.

Catt

[Yahweh Sabaoth]

Well, I'd have to admit it goes both ways. But whereas, I'm not so scared (just irritated) to see the French sizable, or the Germans, or pretty much any civ, I am scared to see the Celts sizable by this time - they tend to be behind in tech, and I tend to be able to defend myself against them, but ALL THOSE KNIGHTS, even if they're just knights, are STILL a major pain, and if the Celts are allowed to get Cavalry, they will build a zillion of 'em. And that is a major headache, no matter what state of their union.

And very often I have seen the Celts take advantage of their GS, beat up all their neighbors in the early-mid game, and come out as a power to be reckoned with by the industrial ages. If they don't border me, that is... I tried to swallow any civs they might have in mind whole.

Then again, I have limited experience to be sure.

[johncmcleod]

I started playing with the Celts and I'm addicted. The religious trait has given me a very powerful culture, and I have a very well trained army. I have a bunch of Gallic Swordsmen and I completely wiped out all of the Iroquois League (every city razed every captured worker disbanded) with the loss of like 2 units. I am now beating up the Americans. I probably have the largest military in the world, and I started on a continent with a bunch of other civs, whereas many of the other civs have large islands to themselves. The problem is I am having a hard time keeping up with technology. Everyone except Babylon is a couple of techs ahead of me, and everyone is annoyed with me except for two other civs who are polite and one is furious with me (not including America).

[vmxa1]

johncmcleod post a save. Lets see why this is occurring.

[johncmcleod]

I'll try again. It doesn't seem to be working. I click reply and it doesn't take me there.

[johncmcleod]

save

OK, here it is. If anyone has any suggestions for this game I'd really appreciate it. I have unpatched PTW with some minor mods. The biggest one was I renamed some of the civs (Celts to Celtia, Mongols to Mongolia, etc.). I also redid the Iroquois. They are now the Iroquois League complete with real city names and Iroquois leaders. I also changed marines to 10.8 and made them a little bit more expensive. And, I will post my military history of Celtia (I copied Solomwi).

[vmxa1]

You have to select the "post reply" as oppose to the quick reply. Then you will have a browse option to attach files with. The file must be under the max size, so you may need to zip it if it is very large.
It must met the file type conventions. This should not be a problem for an early game sav file.

[johncmcleod]

I figured out the problem. The save is on another computer without the internet. I put it on a disk and brought it to the one with the internet. Apparently the computer can't read it. I tried putting it on the hard drive but it wouldn't work. I'll post the military history and see if I can figure this out.