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**playshogi** · March 3, 2008, 00:02

I was already skeptical that I could pull off a domination or conquest win on a global highlands, standard map at emperor level against raging barbs, agressive AI on normal speed, but after I saw which AI I would be facing, I almost gave up on the spot. I like challenges, but this was ridiculous. On top of this, I got 5 bad random events in a row, losing a monument, and a library, in various cities plus several improvements destroyed. Anyway, I managed to expand to 4 cities by 1AD and I thought I had enough military to defend, but Shaka had other ideas crossing half way across the map, bypassing Genghis and Boudica to attack my gem city of Ankara easily taking it in 150AD despite being on a hill. At that point, I gave up, but only for 8 days. Dominae reported being defeated and this, perversely, gave me new hope. I built 6 catapults among axes and elephants and launched the counterattack on Ankara. I lost all 6 catapults, 5 of them with odds of 50-55% chance of survival. That left me with 8 units to defeat 8 defenders. It seemed unlikely, even at 80%+ odds each, but the RNG evened out and I recaptured Ankara. Now the smart thing would be to continue to build military and find Shaka in the fog and maybe raze a city or two, but I parked 8 units in Ankara and resumed building infrastructure, (not walls). I could not get a peace treaty with Shaka, except by surrendering Ankara, but I thought I was safe. Meanwhile, I engaged Genghis and Monty in war on the request of Boudica and Tokugawa respectively. Genghis was losing bad, with a lower score even than mine, while Monty would be unable to cross AI territory to reach me, lacking open borders. Buddhism also spread to me and it was the Apostolic Palace religion as well as the religion of my neighbors Boudica and Huanya, so I made it the state religon. Eventually, Shaka showed up with a stack of 6 catapults, 6 horsemen, and assorted impi, and archers. I quit playing for 3 days until I remembered that maybe I could offer a tech for peace. So, Shaka settled for Civil Service and diplomacy saved Ankara from a second sacking. So, 200 turns into the game, tech-wise, I was profitable at 50%, but with only 5 cities. Huanya was 'friendly' and waaaay ahead in tech. Boudica was only pleased and was the only tech trading partner I had. She was also nice to gift me the world map. I could expand to the far north and capture/raze a barb city, but there was absolutely no food up there except 3 plain grassland, albeit next to rivers, so maybe, better get there before the AI does. Alternatively, war with Tokugawa seemed the only other choice, but he had longbow and my best unit was elephant. I used a GS to finish Education and traded it to Boudica for Feudalism and Machinery.

STATE OF THE NATION 1500AD (TURN 210)

5 cities and next to last in score. Friendly with Huanya and Boudica, mostly due to shared religion. I made peace with everyone paying 60g to Monty and got Genghis' map. It looks like the northern third of the pangea is still unsettled having been blocked off by Tokugawa. I'm still behind engineering and guilds, with Boudica, while it will take me 22 turns to research Liberalism. I cleared out the northern barb city without loss and have move a settler in place, but do I want to kill my economy for this scrap city?

I took the plunge in 1530 and declared war on Tokugawa who was also at war with Monty. I immediately regretted it because expenses shot way up because of so many units in foreign lands, and Toku was defending on a hill with a fortified samaurai. My huge stack would probably be decimated. By the time my cats dropped defenses to 0% (3 turns) peace was restored as Tokugawa capitulated to Montezuma. So, I'm facing a situation similar to game 2 where I'm stymied on all fronts. Well, I could wait out 10 turns and attack Toku/Monty, and by that time I'll know if I'm first to liberalism, or not. No matter what, it seems unlikely to win by domination, or conquest(!), and turtling for a culture victory seems to be my specialty.

1575

I was the first to reach liberalism. Pretty generous since Huanya could've researched it long ago. I traded it to him for Gunpowder, and to Boudica I traded liberalism and nationalism for optics, engineering, guilds, and drama. Meanwhile, Shaka, Monty and Boudica are all 'have too much on our hands' which can only mean war most likely with me and Boudica.

I decide to sign a defensive pact with Huanya since he doesn't 'have too much on his hands' and hope he helps me when Monty's stacks show up. Sometime in the 1500s, Genghis was completely eliminated.

1665

Unexpectedly, it is Shaka who declares war on me, while Boudica and Montezuma begin duking it out. The defensive pact proved useless because Huanya never sent any troops and eventually there was a AP vote to stop the war against Huanya. It didn't matter, however, as I had plenty of troops on hand to defeat the 3rd assualt on Anakara. I'm worried about a dogpile from Monty/Toku, however.

Eventually Monty does attack me around 1800. I have to make peace with Shaka for a tech and rush the defenders of Ankara to the capital, Istanbul. I probably erred by not beelining to Rifling at some point, because Monty had a huge stack with a few cavalry. I held out as best as I could, but eventully Istanbul fell. Huanya was no help, although he was fighting on my side. He eventually re-captured Instanbul and vassalized Monty. I pressed on with an attack on the Japanese cities surrounding Istanbul and captured 2 of those while (much later) Huanya liberated Istanbul back to me. By this time, I was trying to 'win' the game culturally, but it was too little too late. Shaka attacked, one more time, in 1920 or so, and I saw the power of Flanking 2 cavalry. Ankara fell, this time permanently, in 1923. The very next turn, Shaka capitulates to Huanya.

Huanya finally wins by space race in 1974. Inca's financial trait led to an overwhelming tech lead, while the industrial trait enabled it to build almost all the wonders and to top it all, it had the most space for early expansion.

**RobWorham** · March 3, 2008, 04:20

Great work playshogi!!!!!

**Dominae** · March 3, 2008, 10:01

I got greedy in this one and tried to rush build the Great Wall before building a set of sentries. I didn't notice that an approaching Barbarian Archer was actually a stack of two Archers, so I didn't switch my build figuring I would be all right with two Warriors defending the capital. I was three turns away from finishing the Wonder when they attacked...

It's too bad, it looked like an interesting setup. Grats to playshogi.

**Compromise** · March 3, 2008, 12:46

Nicely done, playshogi...your TLT victory is a contemporary retelling of the fable of the Tortoise and the Hare!

In good faith, I couldn't bring myself to complete this game. The "bizarre fortune" I mentioned in earlier posts was a result of me letting my starting settler look around for a bit to find a place for the capital. In a couple of turns, I finally decided on this fine plains hill:

Since I'd gone Mining -> Bronzeworking, I had axes available immediately and the barbs were basically no threat at all. This felt totally unfair to me in a competition, so when I had to decide where to put my free time as the deadline loomed, I decided to put it elsewhere.

I am going to play game 11 to a finish though. Then playshogi will actually win outright!

**Shalkai** · March 4, 2008, 21:48

This one was such a challenge I turned it into my own personal Apolyton University!

This was the first game I've had time to actually play to completion since moving up to Advanced, so I was looking forward to finishing it, no matter what the result. Well, I got my wish, and much quicker than I wanted.

Attempt One - Settle in place (elephants are nice enough) and set out to explore. Research path was Hunt-Mine-Pott-Bronze-Arch, I think. My civ was briefly at two cities, but Edirne was destroyed about 2 turns after it was founded, and Istanbul was lost a few turns later when barb archers swarmed in from all directions. I was able to whip out all of two archers to fend off the horde, and they just weren't enough. RIP Ottoman Empire @ 2360BC. ~40 turns, 15 minutes or so gone by.

OK, I was kinda expecting to lose this one, but THIS early!?!?! @#$%! I've obviously got some MAJOR adjustments to make before I can play with the big boys. This game isn't going to score in the tournament, but I can still learn from it! (Silly me, I should have made a save and grabbed an autosave before I restarted, so I'd have a valid submission. All I had was a replay showing my wipeout.

)

Attempt Two - Resolve to build more warriors, and get Archery sooner. Settle in place again, which I do for all future attempts. It's a decent site with the FP and heffalumps; moving to anything better would cost time and use ill-gotten knowledge. Research path was Hunt-(hut/pop Mysticism)-Poly-Mine-Bronze-Arch. I was hoping to get a religion after I popped Myst ~Turn 6 and started Poly, but then saw both religions founded before I was halfway done with Poly. (sigh) So, I spent til ~500BC beating off hordes of barbarians. My lands aren't safe until I have archers fortified in all directions, with a few axemen ready to whack the ones who try to sneak past. I'm dead last in score. Not good enough. Try again.

Attempt Three - Resolve to forget chasing early religions, and get Archery even sooner! Research path Hunt-Mine-Bronze-Arch-Masn-Pott, then I chop out the Great Wall. That takes care of Barbarians. Hah! So I play this one til bedtime, up til around 250AD and Alphabet.

Next night, I decide to abandon #3. Great Wall is nice, but not something I should depend on. This is for practice, plus Rob and Nugog seem to have Raging Barbs turned on just about every game in Advanced. Time to start again, w/o depending on wonders.

Attempt Four - Resolve to forget Buddhism and Hinduism, but try for Judaism, then spread the faith! Plus deal with those pesky barbs. Research is Hunt-(pop Myst)-Mine-Bronze-Arch-Masn-Poly-Pott. Plus I pop Iron in the last hut I find! Whee! This time I've got ~ 2 warriors and 4 archers on border duty before the hordes start appearing, so things go much better. Getting Archery before 2500BC was key.

City expansion goes reasonably well. I pick off the barbs as they appear, and replace the odd unlucky border guard. I successfully found Judaism, but the diplomatic usefulness of that turns out to be less than expected. I know where Toku is ( no Open Borders with him!) and Boudica (Hindu founder) so I can't convert either of the neighbors whose cities I know about early. I could spread to Boudica, but meanwhile she's converted just about the whole world.

So, into the Middle Ages, and the first round of serious wars. I'm in the middle in tech, and towards the bottom in power. I have no real friends since I share religion with no one, just a couple of mildly pleased tech trading partners. Geng invites me to help in a war against Toku, and I oblige (I was already building up to hit Toku soon, anyway). I take two small cities, but lose a good chunk of my army doing it.

Then Monty comes to visit, with his buddy Shaka - there go my hard-won conquests. Stopping Monty costs most of the rest of my field army. Shaka's stacks are small, not to hard to defeat, but Monty likes big forces. I eventually buy peace temporarily for some techs and build units while I can. Now I'm small goldfish in the power rating.

Monty attacks again after a bit, this time with Shaka and Geng to help. Things are not good. They fight over my gems city, which Geng gets to take. I kill the Zulus, bribe the Mongols, and endure the Aztecs until I can buy peace from Monty again. At this point my score is wimpy, my empire trashed by raiders, and I'll be enduring round three shortly in all likelihood. Definitely not a winning situation, and one I'll be unlikely to survive. Lessons learned? Make some religious friends, even if it means you can't have your own, and keep up the power rating.

Can this game be won by me? Well, let's give it another try - Game 10 still isn't out yet. The map and neighbors are big disadvantages, but I've already tried a bunch of failed strategies, so let's keep looking for some successful ones.

Attempt Five starts pretty much like Attempt Four. Research priority is a bit different - this time I don't beeline Mono; I head for Alpha then CoL. Path is Hunt-(pop Myst)-Mine-Bronze-Arch-Pott-Iron-Writ-Alph-(trades)-Priest-CoL. No Iron hut pop this time. Barbarians again controlled with archers, then a few axes to help. I manage to chop Oracle and get MCast just before I'm first to CoL.

Even though I found Confucianism, I don't convert - I wait for a city to get Hinduism...and wait...and wait. Boudica has converted Huayna, Geng, and Toku by the time I discover CoL. I even build roads to connect us to try and hurry things.

So, 40-50 turns pass before I finally get Hinduism in a city. Grrr! OK. Convert. Spread Hind. Spread Conf. Cities can finally grow a bit.

Toku is Hindu, like I am, this time...but he's the only neighbor I've got a prayer against. Well, my conquests have to start somewhere, so east we head. Huayna is too big, and Boudica is tech leader. So again I build up in the east...only to have Shaka DoW me. Can't he find someone closer? I kill the invaders, rebuild my forces, then attack Toku. I capture one city, then found two more to push borders. My military can't capture more yet, as Toku has some Samurai now. I get a tech from Toku for a ceasefire.

Assorted AIs are beating up other AIs. I keep a wary eye on things, making sure to keep Huayna and Boudi happy with me. Monty soon attacks Toku, and invites me to help. I accept. We each take a city (Monty takes Kyoto) but sheesh Toku's units are tough! Eventually, Geng attacks me, so I make peace with Toku and fend off the Mongolians. Monty hits Shaka and vassalizes him while he's taking a break from Toku.

Renaissance...knowledge, and new weapons. Grenadiers and cannon head back into Japan. This time I'm not stopping until Toku is a vassal or his cities are gone. Monty and Shaka join in the dogpile. Toku becomes my vassal after I take two cities (and Monty grabs one).

Huayna beat up Boudi and (temporarily) vassalized her. So it's Huayna>Boudi, Monty>Shaka, [Shalkai]>Toku, and Genghis on his own. My economy is strong, research up around #2, power still very low. Military has quality units, but very few.

Genghis hits me right after I finish with Japan, while both Toku and I are both still weak. After a few turns, Boudi thoughtfully puts out an AP vote for "Stop the war against Shalkai". I vote yes, and hope it passes - I know who's out to get me. Hit end-turn. And find out I didn't really know who was out to get me - Monty declares war on me, too! Monty has a single grenadier attack one of my cities, then the papal legates pass the word - there shall be peace! Wierd. World's shortest war...

My next decision is who to fight - Monty or Geng. Monty has a big military - #2. Attacking Geng would just leave me in the middle of the map, open to attack from everyone, though. So, I gear up for war with Monty, tough though it will be. AIs build units faster, though. Monty DoWs me while I'm still prepping, and the war is on. Toku loses a couple of cities, and I briefly lose a border city. Eventually I get the upper hand (though I begin to wonder if the random number generator is skewed towards the AI on Emperor?) and start moving on Monty's cities. Huayna and Boudi join in, and Shaka breaks free after a bit.

Huayna and Boudi both bring in biiiig armies. They head towards the city closest to them, so I head farther east. I end up with Monty's core 3 cities, Huayna got 1, Boudi 2 small ones, and Toku 2 small ones in the north. Monty ended up as my vassal, and the map was starting to look like a patchwork quilt.

After this, I started prepping to hit Shaka. Huayna decided to hit me, though. Fortunately, he did it with big stacks of mostly cavalry. They did poorly attacking cities on hills, even coming in with stacks of 30+. Luckily for me, Huayna wasn't super-intent on his attack. After I defeated two huge stacks, and took one small border city, he was ready to accept peace.

So, back to my regularly scheduled domination plan. Shaka next. Unfortunately, all of his units were down where I attacked, so my vassals got 2 of his 5 cities. Then build some more, and get ready for Genghis. I was basically going around this world, clockwise. Huayna started attacking Geng while I was taking over Shaka, so I had to move quickly before he took too much. We split his cities, and Geng became a Huayna vassal.

The last little bit of domination was peaceful, as I used Creative Construction to push borders and get up to 64% of land area. Highlands with all that copper and iron gives CC a LOT of benefits. Fighting either Boudica or Huayna would have been very tough, as both had powerful militaries. I don't think I was #2 in power until right at the end, and at no point did I have a clear military tech lead over those two. So, we just pushed borders. I was trying to get a GA and a GM for the other two culture corps, but no luck by game's end.

So...I did win it, with many retries and strategic choices designed to work for this game. We'll see how well all this translates to future games. This ended up as my current BtS high score (~48k), and one of only 3 Emperor wins in any flavor of CIV. I don't know about the rest of you, but Emperor is a LOT of work for me.

One surprising thing was the amount of wonders I was able to construct - I didn't think I'd get more than a couple, yet I got a decent number (including most of the ones I really wanted, like GL, Sankore, and Oracle) in this game.

The toughest period for me remains the time right before rifles/cannons. My military is usually very weak, and I never seem to be strong enough to avoid getting DoWs before I can get up to mid-pack in the power curve. I'm at just about that same point in Game 10, and seeing the same thing.

Shalkai

**RobWorham** · March 5, 2008, 01:44

Great write up Shalkai!!!!

And fantastic perserverence!!!!

I editted your above post as 80% of it was flashing which made it real hard to read..........

It was tagged with the blink command???

**Shalkai** · March 5, 2008, 12:31

Blinking? How did I manage that??? Heh, I didn't even realize you could do that. I must have hit the secret cheat code without knowing it. Thanks for the edit!

**RobWorham** · March 5, 2008, 12:48

Originally posted by Shalkai
Blinking? How did I manage that??? Heh, I didn't even realize you could do that. I must have hit the secret cheat code without knowing it. Thanks for the edit!

Me neither......

**Compromise** · March 5, 2008, 14:36

Shalkai, that was a great writeup. And I think you've got exactly the right approach for learning on a higher level: Try what you think will work, then modify based on experience and try again. Repeat until you get a sense for it, then try in a totally new situation.

Well done!

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