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After Action Report, Part 2
I'll resume my AAR with my plans and events of the second session, starting in 265AD. I've only got 4 cities started, but space for 7 or 8 more on the big island, plus more empty land out there on other islands. Louie is happy with me, and we share the Hindu faith. My exploration galley has wandered a twisted path, and found the Native Americans, the other Americans, and Caesar so far.
Demographic status: GNP 140-#1, Prod 35-#2, Crop 74-#2, Mil 181k-#5, Land 59k-#2, Pop 822k-#2. Tech is doing fine; I'm about even with Caesar, the AI leader at the moment.
Plan for now...No immediate threats of war, so I want to plant cities and do slow mil. buildup. Having only 4 cities at 250AD is not good. So much for fast buildup (sigh). 4th or 5th on Mil. score is fine for the moment.
In play...The next ~750 years are pretty quiet. Explorer maps out some lands of all the civs I've found so far. Still two more out there. I miss Colossus by one turn, but do get Great Library. Four more cities founded, another settler almost out the door.
During this period, I do lose one settler/new city two turns after it is founded to a freak Barbarian pop - they still have their permanent alliance with the RNG. This was while building a city at the north of my big island. I've had either archers or cities fog-busting for centuries, so there are only two hill squares at the far northwest corner, plus a few ice squares at the far south, where any barbs could possibly show up. So, I took a calculated risk and sent out a settler north, with an archer en route from farther south. The window of vulnerability for my new city would be exactly two turns...and of course I get bit again. A barb swordsman appears the instant Delft is founded, and tromps towards it. Even a rushed axeman at the capital can't get there in time to save the new city - razed 20 years after it was founded. I resettle a few turns later, still shaking my head in a combination of disgust and amusement.
1030AD - save game, demographic status check: GNP 263-#2, Prod 74-#1, Crop 133-#2, Mil 136k-#6, Land 93k-#1, Pop 1.9m-#3. Whoa! Military needs some love, score went down even though I've got more units than before. Longbows coming soon, though. For recent wonders, I put up Angkor, GL, and Sistine is 80% complete. Rome has Mausoleum, Zeus, and Parthenon. Colossus and HGardens are location unknown. 8 of 12 mainland cities are built; I'll be starting on nearest island spots and finishing corners of mainland in the next few centuries. I need more and better troops! OK, just as soon as I whip out some courthouses....
1110 - Finally learn Civil Service, so switch to Bureaucracy and Pacificism.
1140 - GS appears in Amsterdam (good timing) so he founds academy, and research jumps a good chunk for the second time in just a few turns.
I finally run across Ragnar the very next turn; surprise, surprise, he's ahead in score by about 15%. At least I'm ahead in tech. He'll be one to keep an eye one.
1400 - Ah, Joao and I bump caravels. So he's the last one out there. The Portuguese don't look too tough, and are willing to trade for now.
1450 - My sailors manage to circumnavigate, and I finally take the lead in score over Ragnar. I just lost UnivSankore by two turns though, and I would have rushed it if I'd been paying attention. That may hurt. I'm starting to miss stuff 'cause its late.
1500AD - Time to call it a night. f9 check says:
GNP 830-#1, Prod 143-#1, Crop 270-#2, Mil 294k-7th, Land 123k-1st, Pop 9.2m-2nd. GNP and Prod are both ~40% more than the #2, so I have a significant economic lead. Military is less than half the strength of #1, who has 679k (probably Ragnar or Augustus).
Taking a good look around, Military is at red-alert status - last, AND less than half the strength of the leader. First thing tomorrow I will be upgrading all remaining galleys, and adding to all cities' garrisons. Fortunately, only Ragnar and Augustus (plus me) have Astronomy so far. I have 10 cities on my main island, and 4 more planted on other islands (3 of these are pushing culture on the french...this will be slow, with two Creatives going at it). Cash flow is positive w/ Sci set at 70%. OK, time for bed....
NIGHT 3
Right - 1st need is to do a Mil buildup. I redo all city's prod queues. I look at the potential of privateers with all these islands and water trade routes. Start on war builds in most cities.
1520 - Good! I'm now out of 7th place in Mil score, plus Chemistry (and privateers) will be learned in 5 turns.
1530 - Sure 'nuf, Ragnar declares war. I am shocked, shocked, I say!
- Over the next few turns, I pop out more military, and two Great People. A GP pushes along Printing Press, then a GS rushes a good chunk of Education. Still waiting on Ragnar while my tech is jumping ahead of everyone.
1575 - First Vikings show up. His ships are better than my ships, but he didn't send many. Meanwhile, I finish Education. Could do Liberalism now, but no one else can even start it. Research plan is Rep. Parts, Liberalism, then Steam Power as free tech. Only ~15 turns til Dikes!
1585 - The random number generator STILL doesn't like me. I've lost almost every sea battle so far, including two at ~50% odds and two at over 70% in the last two turns.
1630 - I FINALLY win a near-even sea battle, and get a Great General for my trouble. I seriously consider making the GG an admiral for Naval units, but end up settling him instead.
1640 - The Dutch learn Liberalism, and Steam Power, (and coal and dikes). YAAAAY! After stomping a few units Ragnar landed, I ask for peace, and he accepts. This was going nowhere fast, but he was winning the naval side. I want time to build dikes, then more navy. Louis got to settle almost all that nice big island off to the NE while Hornhead and I were shrinking each other's navies. Oh well.
1685 - 10 dikes under construction in various cities. The military is being scoffed at again by other world leaders, though. Even with Nationalism and drafting lots of musketmen, I get no respect. Just you wait.......
1740 - "Hello? Ragnar? Oh, we're at war again? Ah, that explains the fleet of 4SoL, 5 FR, and 6 GAL bombarding my north coast. Right, I'll let my admirals know. Bye-bye!" Again it is late, not the best time to start a more serious war. Note to self - review cities, civics, and Military at beginning of Night 4. Off to bed.
And Night 4....
1740+ Naval Battles recommence. I'm building lots of frigates, and losing them about as fast.
1750 - Pentagon and Statue of Liberty under construction. Change civics from Repr/Natl/Slav to UnSuf/FrSpch/Emanc. BIG chunk of unrest...
Caesar declares war on the French, who promptly split off 5 cities in their north (my northeast) as a colony (the Chinese under Qin). After a while, peace is declared, but feelings are tense all the way around.
1800AD - Demographics: GNP 1830-#1(#2=1051), Prod 328-#1(#2=195), Crop 402-#1(#2=372), Mil 636k-#4(#1=981k), Land 137k-#2, Pop 24m-#1. Good - economic lead is up to ~70% over #2 (looking at GNP and Prod). 15 cities currently built. Statue of Liberty up in 16 turns (no one else has Democracy yet); just lost Pentagon by about 5 turns, once again to Rome.
About 1820, Ragnar and I get tired of sparring again and I buy peace for ~100 gold or something like that. He briefly took Rotterdam via amphib. assault earlier, but I retook it a few turns later - about the only land action of the war.
My explorers keep finding barbarian cities at the edges of civilization, mostly in the Antarctic. I start sending some small expeditions that way to take what no one else seems to want.
In the early 1800s the other AIs start picking on Louis and Qin. After 20 turns or so, even Ragnar joins the fun, so it is Louis/Qin vs SittingBullAugustus/Wash/Ragnar/Joao....but no one is taking any cities. Well, fine. Louis may be my buddy, but I'LL take some cities. I DoW and make it WW1. Gotta see what these newfangled "tnak" thingies can do... So I take 4 French cities, and one from the Chinese....and suddenly I'm at peace with everyone? (blink) Huh? bu..bu...wha? I wasn't done with the tunks yet! Lessee. Sitting Bull is now master of the French, and Ragnar is master of the Chinese. All right, I'll set up to conquer China, since it's closer and I *know* Ragnar and I are gonna get into it again.
Night 5 - Basically, I conquer most of the barbarians (about 8 cities total) either with small invasions or culture. They won't produce much until I get dikes built, and some won't grow well until I get a good corporation, but they are still good for score and my economy is in great shape. I found Creative Constructions and start spreading it around. My score is now solidly in first, and I've got a good tech lead over Augustus and Joao. Ragnar and the rest are even further behind.
Night 6 - Saturday (last) night of the submission period. I've still got about 20 techs left in the tree; either a spaceship or cultural victory is easily done. Domination is just not practical - I could do it, but it would take too much real time to fight the wars. I need to crank out 160-200 turns in ~6 hours if at all possible. I decide to shoot for spaceship (usually better points) since I've got all these massive production cities to work with (about 6 at 100prod or so, and two at near 200 hammers - that's before Laboratory and Space Elevator.)
So, I build up military in prep for any future war with Ragnar/Qin, Sitting Bull/Louis, or whoever, tech up evenly (and get most of the free Great Whatevers). Ragnar beelines to Rocketry, while I take my time. Thus, he is actually one turn ahead of me in completing Apollo Program. No big...I'm ready to do things with Apollo.
I guess Ragnar must have seen my Apollo as a challenge, though...he and Qin send me a DoW the next turn. Fine. Whatever. Here's my "defence", hornhead. I proceed to take all of China's cities (/bye Qin) and one of Rag's over on the big island to my NE, while shredding his navy, taking about 15 turns. Nope, he still won't talk. OK, take two cities on small islands and bombard his coast plus blockade...you ready to listen? Good! Let there be peace.
And so there was peace, for the rest of the game, between everyone. Ragnar got pummeled down to about 4th in score during our tussle, and everyone else was trying for Apollo (two others eventually got a piece or two done).
I decided to found and spread AlumCo, as I was short of aluminum (only 1 available when I founded). I tried for ~150 turns to get a Great Merchant so I could found Sid's Sushi, but the RNG kept popping up GE or GP or something else I didn't really need every dang time. If there was ever a world where Sid's would have rocked, this was it.
The silly war with Ragnar took a couple of hours of real time, so I went past the submission deadline. I chugged along until I was falling asleep during turns, about 3a.m. my time. OK, time for bed.
Got up the next morning, checked that submissions had closed, (oh well), and cranked out the last 25 turns or whatever it was. Finished with a 1975 spaceship victory, and a pretty decent score, though nothing near what the winners had. About 6000 raw, 21000 adjusted.
In hindsight, my biggest mistakes were losing a settler and a new-built city to barbarians - I should know better by now. Looking back at my initial goals, it may not have felt like I did a fast expansion, but I managed well enough looking at the demographic scores. It could have been much better, but wasn't all that bad even with my goofs. My main other problem was not having enough military units - garrisons were weak until the 1800s, and navy was weak until the 1900s. It may have felt like the RNG was out to get me early on, but that doesn't affect how much I should have built. I got out of this bad habit after a couple of month of Warlords last year...looks like I forgot that lesson. Need to relearn when to build how much....
The Dutch are EXTREMELY powerful in the Industrial age and later. They are even better than Catherine in Vanilla CIV for a Builder-type. Dikes plus careful city placement can make for massive production totals. If I'd had the time, I would have gone for a domination...I was up to around 40% land and pop by end game.
Shalkai
I'll resume my AAR with my plans and events of the second session, starting in 265AD. I've only got 4 cities started, but space for 7 or 8 more on the big island, plus more empty land out there on other islands. Louie is happy with me, and we share the Hindu faith. My exploration galley has wandered a twisted path, and found the Native Americans, the other Americans, and Caesar so far.
Demographic status: GNP 140-#1, Prod 35-#2, Crop 74-#2, Mil 181k-#5, Land 59k-#2, Pop 822k-#2. Tech is doing fine; I'm about even with Caesar, the AI leader at the moment.
Plan for now...No immediate threats of war, so I want to plant cities and do slow mil. buildup. Having only 4 cities at 250AD is not good. So much for fast buildup (sigh). 4th or 5th on Mil. score is fine for the moment.
In play...The next ~750 years are pretty quiet. Explorer maps out some lands of all the civs I've found so far. Still two more out there. I miss Colossus by one turn, but do get Great Library. Four more cities founded, another settler almost out the door.
During this period, I do lose one settler/new city two turns after it is founded to a freak Barbarian pop - they still have their permanent alliance with the RNG. This was while building a city at the north of my big island. I've had either archers or cities fog-busting for centuries, so there are only two hill squares at the far northwest corner, plus a few ice squares at the far south, where any barbs could possibly show up. So, I took a calculated risk and sent out a settler north, with an archer en route from farther south. The window of vulnerability for my new city would be exactly two turns...and of course I get bit again. A barb swordsman appears the instant Delft is founded, and tromps towards it. Even a rushed axeman at the capital can't get there in time to save the new city - razed 20 years after it was founded. I resettle a few turns later, still shaking my head in a combination of disgust and amusement.
1030AD - save game, demographic status check: GNP 263-#2, Prod 74-#1, Crop 133-#2, Mil 136k-#6, Land 93k-#1, Pop 1.9m-#3. Whoa! Military needs some love, score went down even though I've got more units than before. Longbows coming soon, though. For recent wonders, I put up Angkor, GL, and Sistine is 80% complete. Rome has Mausoleum, Zeus, and Parthenon. Colossus and HGardens are location unknown. 8 of 12 mainland cities are built; I'll be starting on nearest island spots and finishing corners of mainland in the next few centuries. I need more and better troops! OK, just as soon as I whip out some courthouses....
1110 - Finally learn Civil Service, so switch to Bureaucracy and Pacificism.
1140 - GS appears in Amsterdam (good timing) so he founds academy, and research jumps a good chunk for the second time in just a few turns.
I finally run across Ragnar the very next turn; surprise, surprise, he's ahead in score by about 15%. At least I'm ahead in tech. He'll be one to keep an eye one.1400 - Ah, Joao and I bump caravels. So he's the last one out there. The Portuguese don't look too tough, and are willing to trade for now.
1450 - My sailors manage to circumnavigate, and I finally take the lead in score over Ragnar. I just lost UnivSankore by two turns though, and I would have rushed it if I'd been paying attention. That may hurt. I'm starting to miss stuff 'cause its late.
1500AD - Time to call it a night. f9 check says:
GNP 830-#1, Prod 143-#1, Crop 270-#2, Mil 294k-7th, Land 123k-1st, Pop 9.2m-2nd. GNP and Prod are both ~40% more than the #2, so I have a significant economic lead. Military is less than half the strength of #1, who has 679k (probably Ragnar or Augustus).
Taking a good look around, Military is at red-alert status - last, AND less than half the strength of the leader. First thing tomorrow I will be upgrading all remaining galleys, and adding to all cities' garrisons. Fortunately, only Ragnar and Augustus (plus me) have Astronomy so far. I have 10 cities on my main island, and 4 more planted on other islands (3 of these are pushing culture on the french...this will be slow, with two Creatives going at it). Cash flow is positive w/ Sci set at 70%. OK, time for bed....
NIGHT 3
Right - 1st need is to do a Mil buildup. I redo all city's prod queues. I look at the potential of privateers with all these islands and water trade routes. Start on war builds in most cities.
1520 - Good! I'm now out of 7th place in Mil score, plus Chemistry (and privateers) will be learned in 5 turns.
1530 - Sure 'nuf, Ragnar declares war. I am shocked, shocked, I say!
- Over the next few turns, I pop out more military, and two Great People. A GP pushes along Printing Press, then a GS rushes a good chunk of Education. Still waiting on Ragnar while my tech is jumping ahead of everyone.
1575 - First Vikings show up. His ships are better than my ships, but he didn't send many. Meanwhile, I finish Education. Could do Liberalism now, but no one else can even start it. Research plan is Rep. Parts, Liberalism, then Steam Power as free tech. Only ~15 turns til Dikes!
1585 - The random number generator STILL doesn't like me. I've lost almost every sea battle so far, including two at ~50% odds and two at over 70% in the last two turns.
1630 - I FINALLY win a near-even sea battle, and get a Great General for my trouble. I seriously consider making the GG an admiral for Naval units, but end up settling him instead.
1640 - The Dutch learn Liberalism, and Steam Power, (and coal and dikes). YAAAAY! After stomping a few units Ragnar landed, I ask for peace, and he accepts. This was going nowhere fast, but he was winning the naval side. I want time to build dikes, then more navy. Louis got to settle almost all that nice big island off to the NE while Hornhead and I were shrinking each other's navies. Oh well.
1685 - 10 dikes under construction in various cities. The military is being scoffed at again by other world leaders, though. Even with Nationalism and drafting lots of musketmen, I get no respect. Just you wait.......
1740 - "Hello? Ragnar? Oh, we're at war again? Ah, that explains the fleet of 4SoL, 5 FR, and 6 GAL bombarding my north coast. Right, I'll let my admirals know. Bye-bye!" Again it is late, not the best time to start a more serious war. Note to self - review cities, civics, and Military at beginning of Night 4. Off to bed.
And Night 4....
1740+ Naval Battles recommence. I'm building lots of frigates, and losing them about as fast.
1750 - Pentagon and Statue of Liberty under construction. Change civics from Repr/Natl/Slav to UnSuf/FrSpch/Emanc. BIG chunk of unrest...
Caesar declares war on the French, who promptly split off 5 cities in their north (my northeast) as a colony (the Chinese under Qin). After a while, peace is declared, but feelings are tense all the way around.
1800AD - Demographics: GNP 1830-#1(#2=1051), Prod 328-#1(#2=195), Crop 402-#1(#2=372), Mil 636k-#4(#1=981k), Land 137k-#2, Pop 24m-#1. Good - economic lead is up to ~70% over #2 (looking at GNP and Prod). 15 cities currently built. Statue of Liberty up in 16 turns (no one else has Democracy yet); just lost Pentagon by about 5 turns, once again to Rome.
About 1820, Ragnar and I get tired of sparring again and I buy peace for ~100 gold or something like that. He briefly took Rotterdam via amphib. assault earlier, but I retook it a few turns later - about the only land action of the war.
My explorers keep finding barbarian cities at the edges of civilization, mostly in the Antarctic. I start sending some small expeditions that way to take what no one else seems to want.
In the early 1800s the other AIs start picking on Louis and Qin. After 20 turns or so, even Ragnar joins the fun, so it is Louis/Qin vs SittingBullAugustus/Wash/Ragnar/Joao....but no one is taking any cities. Well, fine. Louis may be my buddy, but I'LL take some cities. I DoW and make it WW1. Gotta see what these newfangled "tnak" thingies can do... So I take 4 French cities, and one from the Chinese....and suddenly I'm at peace with everyone? (blink) Huh? bu..bu...wha? I wasn't done with the tunks yet! Lessee. Sitting Bull is now master of the French, and Ragnar is master of the Chinese. All right, I'll set up to conquer China, since it's closer and I *know* Ragnar and I are gonna get into it again.
Night 5 - Basically, I conquer most of the barbarians (about 8 cities total) either with small invasions or culture. They won't produce much until I get dikes built, and some won't grow well until I get a good corporation, but they are still good for score and my economy is in great shape. I found Creative Constructions and start spreading it around. My score is now solidly in first, and I've got a good tech lead over Augustus and Joao. Ragnar and the rest are even further behind.
Night 6 - Saturday (last) night of the submission period. I've still got about 20 techs left in the tree; either a spaceship or cultural victory is easily done. Domination is just not practical - I could do it, but it would take too much real time to fight the wars. I need to crank out 160-200 turns in ~6 hours if at all possible. I decide to shoot for spaceship (usually better points) since I've got all these massive production cities to work with (about 6 at 100prod or so, and two at near 200 hammers - that's before Laboratory and Space Elevator.)
So, I build up military in prep for any future war with Ragnar/Qin, Sitting Bull/Louis, or whoever, tech up evenly (and get most of the free Great Whatevers). Ragnar beelines to Rocketry, while I take my time. Thus, he is actually one turn ahead of me in completing Apollo Program. No big...I'm ready to do things with Apollo.
I guess Ragnar must have seen my Apollo as a challenge, though...he and Qin send me a DoW the next turn. Fine. Whatever. Here's my "defence", hornhead. I proceed to take all of China's cities (/bye Qin) and one of Rag's over on the big island to my NE, while shredding his navy, taking about 15 turns. Nope, he still won't talk. OK, take two cities on small islands and bombard his coast plus blockade...you ready to listen? Good! Let there be peace.
And so there was peace, for the rest of the game, between everyone. Ragnar got pummeled down to about 4th in score during our tussle, and everyone else was trying for Apollo (two others eventually got a piece or two done).
I decided to found and spread AlumCo, as I was short of aluminum (only 1 available when I founded). I tried for ~150 turns to get a Great Merchant so I could found Sid's Sushi, but the RNG kept popping up GE or GP or something else I didn't really need every dang time. If there was ever a world where Sid's would have rocked, this was it.
The silly war with Ragnar took a couple of hours of real time, so I went past the submission deadline. I chugged along until I was falling asleep during turns, about 3a.m. my time. OK, time for bed.
Got up the next morning, checked that submissions had closed, (oh well), and cranked out the last 25 turns or whatever it was. Finished with a 1975 spaceship victory, and a pretty decent score, though nothing near what the winners had. About 6000 raw, 21000 adjusted.
In hindsight, my biggest mistakes were losing a settler and a new-built city to barbarians - I should know better by now. Looking back at my initial goals, it may not have felt like I did a fast expansion, but I managed well enough looking at the demographic scores. It could have been much better, but wasn't all that bad even with my goofs. My main other problem was not having enough military units - garrisons were weak until the 1800s, and navy was weak until the 1900s. It may have felt like the RNG was out to get me early on, but that doesn't affect how much I should have built. I got out of this bad habit after a couple of month of Warlords last year...looks like I forgot that lesson. Need to relearn when to build how much....
The Dutch are EXTREMELY powerful in the Industrial age and later. They are even better than Catherine in Vanilla CIV for a Builder-type. Dikes plus careful city placement can make for massive production totals. If I'd had the time, I would have gone for a domination...I was up to around 40% land and pop by end game.
Shalkai
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