Thank you to Sirian for making this very fun scenario. The map was very good at setting up a situation that was challenging, but not un-winnable.
Very brief summary:
Domination Victory in 1998.
Short Report
Starting Strategy
I played 4 practice starts of Deity, raging barbs, going to 3300BC-1000BC. This showed me that while barbs are dangerous, they can be dealt with, as long as military remains my primary focus early on.
I settled on the starting spot, because all nearby hills contain resources. I didn't want to settle on gold, because gold mine near river is one of the best tiles in the game, giving easily defensible source of income better than two pre-Printing Press villages. There was slightly less production and defense in the short run, but that didnât matter as soon as I got metal-based units.
My early research was Hunting -> Archery -> Bronze Working -> Iron Working -> Wheel -> Pottery.
Production is 2 Warriors -> 3 Archers -> Worker -> 2 Archers (giving city time to grow to size 5) -> Settler.
After finishing gold mine (which put my GNP on par with average AI), I built a mine on Pig hill, which, along with abundant forests, solved any production issues I might have had.
2nd city was founded in 985BC in desert directly south of Iron. Rome completed Barracks at the same time worker completed Iron Mine and, after detour for training an emergency archer to replace a loss, I entered the age of Praetorians in 415BC.
Age of Praetorians
Barbs founded a city on the south of my peninsula, so settler intended to found on furs settles a coastal cottage heaven SW of grassland copper. That city also has a lot of forests and forested hills it can work while building improvements.
In 55 BC a single Praetorian captures southern barb city (kill defender, heal, kill defender, heal, etc.), giving me silver (when rebellion is over) and, after borders expand, furs. In 260AD a couple Praets capture Circussian, the barb city near silks. This city, connected to barb road network, becomes a lightning rod for their attacks until a couple of two-Praetorian teams captures Aryan, a large city north of the western lake, in 1166AD. That year I also found a port on the southern coast, south of 3rd city. This gives me even more secure cottage land, because all western barbarians attack Aryan and sometimes Circussian.
My research meanwhile had been proceeding on a beeline to Rifles, with a long term goal of Fiber Optics. I was putting priority on financial techs, researching military techs as necessary. Research:
Iron Working (1660BC) -> Wheel -> Pottery (cottages) -> AH (reveal horses) -> Writing (libraries for science and culture) -> Metal Casting (115BC) (forges for production and happiness) -> Math (for Currency->CoL and option to research Construction and Calendar) -> Currency (710AD) -> Sailing -> Calendar (980AD) (happiness resources) -> CoL (1112) -> Civil Service (1220) (Beurocracy)
I see barb Longbows in 1196, so after Civil Service, I research Masonry -> Construction for Cats, before going back to Paper -> Education (Univercities)
Barb Horse Archers show up in 1244.
Barb Macemen show up in 1442. They never got Axes, so this is the first upgrade for their warriors, but they prefer to train longbows and Horse Archers anyway.
My heroic Praetorian legions still manage to capture 2 more cities, Polynesian to the north of Rome is captured before barb maces and Ghoth, a port to the west of my south-western port, is captured in 1520. During that siege I realize that CG longbows are a bigger threat to my CR Praets than Maces, so delaying availability of my own maces was a good idea. (Maces are much more expensive, but no better against longbows.)
I get emancipation anger in 1448, so after discovering Education in 1454 I have to take a detour to Mysticism -> Meditation -> Priesthood -> Monarchy to connect Wines and get Hereditary Rule to counter Emancipation anger. Yes, Iâve researched Education before Mysticism in this game. With the constant threat from Barbs and Deity AIs, Romans didnât have much of a chance to contemplate mysteries of the universe.
At that time Barb Maces became very common, so I had to finally research Machinery, ending the Age of Praetorians in 1532.
The End of Barbarians
We meet Gandhi in 1547 and Quin in 1601. They like each other because of shared religion (Confucianism). My territory is comparable to theirs at the time and is growing, while their growth is stalled. I immediately open borders and start resource for cash deals with both to foster good relations. (Resource deal with Quin can start only in 1661, when he finally gets a trade route with me.) In 1625 Gandhi demands we switch to Confucianism and I agree, improving relations even further. However, I refuse Gandhiâs Defensive Pact in 1637, not wanting to anger other AIs or get pulled into possible wars.
My own research meanwhile went into Printing Press (1577) (lots of cash and prereq. for rifles) -> Feudalism -> Guilds -> Banking (1625) I still have no foreign trade routes, so I switch to Mercantilism right away.
I then research Engineering (faster movement) -> Replaceable Parts -> Gunpowder -> Compass -> Optics (to finally find last 2 civs) -> Chemistry
I chose Chemistry because Grens are better against Rifles and Barbs got Rifles in 1706, while I was researching Optics.
During this time, I secure south-western part of my continent and found 2 cities there in addition to captured Barb cities, while AIs start colonizing north-western part. I capture barb city near the place where north-western and south-western parts of the continent meet, and another barb city north of it and settle a northern port to north-west, defining the borders of AIâs part of the continent.
After researching Chemistry, I upgrade maces to Grens and conquer south-eastern part of the continent, founding 1 more city in the gaps, and letting AIs get northern and north-eastern coasts, because I am too busy with infrastructure.
Endgame Buildup
After seeing how far Gandhi is ahead of me, I abandoned hopes for building Internet and decided to simply rush towards Modern Armor (Composites) and Mechanized Infantry (Robotics). After that, AIâs tech advantage wouldnât matter and, with my much larger territory, I would have production advantage despite AI bonuses.
I research Philosophy -> Liberalism and start spreading around Confucianism and Taoism for Free Religion happiness. In 1776 we discover Economics and make the massive civic switch: Free Religion (to get its benefits and improve relations with Louis), Free Market (Mercantilism is nice, but 3 (soon to be 4) foreign trade routes are better), and Free Speech, because while Beurocracy was nice, we now have enough Towns trhoughout the world to get more benefit from Free Speech.
I then research Nationalism -> Constitution -> Corporation (1806). The moment that research is done, Quin donates Steam Power! This allows me to discover Assembly Line in 1816, allowing me make my first trade, buying Scientific Method from Louis.
Pentagon is still available, so I try a gamble, researching Democracy, revolting to Universal Suffrage, and running 0 science for about 10 turns to gather enough gold to buy the wonder. Unfortunately, Gandhi completes Pentagon in 1828, 5 turns before I would have been able to buy it. However, this wasn't a total waste, because saved cash allows me to run 100% science for a while (instead of 80%), and I needed Universal Suffrage and Emancipation anyway. Gandhi also kindly donated Steel around this time.
I then research Railroads and use it, along with some saved up cash, to buy Physics from Izzy. Next I research Combustion and buy Rifling, Monotheism, and Alphabet in 1837. I guess Romans had been using hieroglyphs until mid-nineteenth century.
Gandhi constructed Manhattan Project in 1842, but nobody besides me ever built any nukes. So my SDI and bomb shelters Iâve built in almost every city turned out to be a waste of resources.
Over the following years I research the last techs I need, trading with Izzy for remaining optionals like Fascism, Communism, Theology, and Military Tradition. Cities that finish Factories, Coal Plants, Theatres, and Jails start work on air-force, because planes canât benefit from Vassalage and can be easily upgraded later.
In 1889, with several Modern Armors about to complete, I switch to Vassalage, State Property, and Theocracy.
I end all research in 1904 with discovery of Refrigeration. For the rest of the game Iâll be generating only cash and culture.
In 1915 I get bored of waiting and attack China. This is the first time Iâve ever declared war on Deity AI. Hopefully, my plan will work.
Final War
My plan for Chinese war consisted of 4 parts:
1. Capture all 9 cities on my continent, razing the 3 that are surrounded by Indian culture.
2. Use my fleet of over 30 battleships and some Destroyers with bomber support to sink all counter-attacks.
3. Capture an island near Chinese coast.
4. When island city comes out of rebellion, rush-buy an airport and airlift in an invasion force.
Here is how this played out:
1. Three cities were captured the first turn, with 4th stripped of all defenders. Quin airlifted some defenders into that city, whom I quickly killed, leaving the city empty again. This continued for a couple rounds until I got bored and captured the city. Meanwhile, many of Quinâs bombers were stationed in two cities near the border, which easily fell to strike-forces gathered inside my borders, wiping out a large part of his airforce. In 1919, just 4 years after the start of the war, I raze the last Chinese city on my continent.
2. My fleet is split into two halves, stationed on islands to the east and west of my continent with their bombers. The fleets perform admirably, destroying many carrier groups, and several invasion fleets, including a 20 ship SoD with 10 transports. (2 of those transports get through because I ran out of ships, but 8 land units were much easier to deal with than 40.)
3. In 1929 western fleet captures an island fortress north-east of Chinaâs coast. Next year I capture another nearby island city also with minimal losses, and, two turns later, I capture a first mainland city. To avoid instant death of invading forces, I use 5 Gunships to destroy all nearby improvements and railroads. So when the massive retaliation forces arrive, most of them stop next to the city, giving me a chance to destroy one of the stacks with help of my bombers and evacuate the same turn.
4. When the islands come out of rebellion, I capture another beachhead, while using rush-bought airport to bring in massive reinforcements. I also launch a second invasion from south-west of Chinese lands, using eastern fleet. I lose many units and some cities, because I donât bother seriously protecting my conquests, but with most of their reserves spent China falls easily and peace is declared in 1962, with China down to a single city, which is holding back Indian culture on the causeway between northern and southern parts of the continent.
I next spend 10 turns building up nukes and trying to force Louis to give up a city, but the prospect of that looks unlikely, so I stop wasting time and build up to capture India. Details of nuclear experiments will be in my full report.
The main trick of Indian war was that I had built all possible culture buildings in my border cities as soon as possible and, after Chinese war was over, I turned culture slider up, rather than down (I was in Police State, so gold was useless). I also built culture in these border cities, and started a Golden Age to speed up military buildup and cultural production. As a result, my borders were right next to Indian border cities, allowing me to use suicide Artillery, and letting Modern Armors blitz, killing over 80 units on the first turn of the war with minimal losses. I also attacked China shortly before this, letting me blitz into India before borders adjusted. I razed Chinese and Indian border cities, putting the causeway under my cultural control, while I captured two Indian cities on south-eastern peninsula of northern AI continent.
The war started in 1985 and ended in 1994, when I got Indiaâs largest remaining city on my continent for peace, leaving them only 3 cities there. This slightly sped up my victory, because I didnât have to wait for this city to come out of rebellion. Details of the war will be in my full report.
Domination Victory in 1998, as some cities began coming out of resistance and expanding their borders. Total playing time: 63 hours and 53 minutes.
This âbrief summaryâ turned into a short report, but I still plan to post a full report based on my 28 pages of notes. So if you want to see more details of my tactics, rather than just strategy, as well as screenshots, maps, and thoughts I had while playing, check out the full report Iâll post later in the week.
I want to again thank Sirian for setting up this extremely fun game.
Very brief summary:
Domination Victory in 1998.
Short Report
Starting Strategy
I played 4 practice starts of Deity, raging barbs, going to 3300BC-1000BC. This showed me that while barbs are dangerous, they can be dealt with, as long as military remains my primary focus early on.
I settled on the starting spot, because all nearby hills contain resources. I didn't want to settle on gold, because gold mine near river is one of the best tiles in the game, giving easily defensible source of income better than two pre-Printing Press villages. There was slightly less production and defense in the short run, but that didnât matter as soon as I got metal-based units.
My early research was Hunting -> Archery -> Bronze Working -> Iron Working -> Wheel -> Pottery.
Production is 2 Warriors -> 3 Archers -> Worker -> 2 Archers (giving city time to grow to size 5) -> Settler.
After finishing gold mine (which put my GNP on par with average AI), I built a mine on Pig hill, which, along with abundant forests, solved any production issues I might have had.
2nd city was founded in 985BC in desert directly south of Iron. Rome completed Barracks at the same time worker completed Iron Mine and, after detour for training an emergency archer to replace a loss, I entered the age of Praetorians in 415BC.
Age of Praetorians
Barbs founded a city on the south of my peninsula, so settler intended to found on furs settles a coastal cottage heaven SW of grassland copper. That city also has a lot of forests and forested hills it can work while building improvements.
In 55 BC a single Praetorian captures southern barb city (kill defender, heal, kill defender, heal, etc.), giving me silver (when rebellion is over) and, after borders expand, furs. In 260AD a couple Praets capture Circussian, the barb city near silks. This city, connected to barb road network, becomes a lightning rod for their attacks until a couple of two-Praetorian teams captures Aryan, a large city north of the western lake, in 1166AD. That year I also found a port on the southern coast, south of 3rd city. This gives me even more secure cottage land, because all western barbarians attack Aryan and sometimes Circussian.
My research meanwhile had been proceeding on a beeline to Rifles, with a long term goal of Fiber Optics. I was putting priority on financial techs, researching military techs as necessary. Research:
Iron Working (1660BC) -> Wheel -> Pottery (cottages) -> AH (reveal horses) -> Writing (libraries for science and culture) -> Metal Casting (115BC) (forges for production and happiness) -> Math (for Currency->CoL and option to research Construction and Calendar) -> Currency (710AD) -> Sailing -> Calendar (980AD) (happiness resources) -> CoL (1112) -> Civil Service (1220) (Beurocracy)
I see barb Longbows in 1196, so after Civil Service, I research Masonry -> Construction for Cats, before going back to Paper -> Education (Univercities)
Barb Horse Archers show up in 1244.
Barb Macemen show up in 1442. They never got Axes, so this is the first upgrade for their warriors, but they prefer to train longbows and Horse Archers anyway.
My heroic Praetorian legions still manage to capture 2 more cities, Polynesian to the north of Rome is captured before barb maces and Ghoth, a port to the west of my south-western port, is captured in 1520. During that siege I realize that CG longbows are a bigger threat to my CR Praets than Maces, so delaying availability of my own maces was a good idea. (Maces are much more expensive, but no better against longbows.)
I get emancipation anger in 1448, so after discovering Education in 1454 I have to take a detour to Mysticism -> Meditation -> Priesthood -> Monarchy to connect Wines and get Hereditary Rule to counter Emancipation anger. Yes, Iâve researched Education before Mysticism in this game. With the constant threat from Barbs and Deity AIs, Romans didnât have much of a chance to contemplate mysteries of the universe.
At that time Barb Maces became very common, so I had to finally research Machinery, ending the Age of Praetorians in 1532.
The End of Barbarians
We meet Gandhi in 1547 and Quin in 1601. They like each other because of shared religion (Confucianism). My territory is comparable to theirs at the time and is growing, while their growth is stalled. I immediately open borders and start resource for cash deals with both to foster good relations. (Resource deal with Quin can start only in 1661, when he finally gets a trade route with me.) In 1625 Gandhi demands we switch to Confucianism and I agree, improving relations even further. However, I refuse Gandhiâs Defensive Pact in 1637, not wanting to anger other AIs or get pulled into possible wars.
My own research meanwhile went into Printing Press (1577) (lots of cash and prereq. for rifles) -> Feudalism -> Guilds -> Banking (1625) I still have no foreign trade routes, so I switch to Mercantilism right away.
I then research Engineering (faster movement) -> Replaceable Parts -> Gunpowder -> Compass -> Optics (to finally find last 2 civs) -> Chemistry
I chose Chemistry because Grens are better against Rifles and Barbs got Rifles in 1706, while I was researching Optics.
During this time, I secure south-western part of my continent and found 2 cities there in addition to captured Barb cities, while AIs start colonizing north-western part. I capture barb city near the place where north-western and south-western parts of the continent meet, and another barb city north of it and settle a northern port to north-west, defining the borders of AIâs part of the continent.
After researching Chemistry, I upgrade maces to Grens and conquer south-eastern part of the continent, founding 1 more city in the gaps, and letting AIs get northern and north-eastern coasts, because I am too busy with infrastructure.
Endgame Buildup
After seeing how far Gandhi is ahead of me, I abandoned hopes for building Internet and decided to simply rush towards Modern Armor (Composites) and Mechanized Infantry (Robotics). After that, AIâs tech advantage wouldnât matter and, with my much larger territory, I would have production advantage despite AI bonuses.
I research Philosophy -> Liberalism and start spreading around Confucianism and Taoism for Free Religion happiness. In 1776 we discover Economics and make the massive civic switch: Free Religion (to get its benefits and improve relations with Louis), Free Market (Mercantilism is nice, but 3 (soon to be 4) foreign trade routes are better), and Free Speech, because while Beurocracy was nice, we now have enough Towns trhoughout the world to get more benefit from Free Speech.
I then research Nationalism -> Constitution -> Corporation (1806). The moment that research is done, Quin donates Steam Power! This allows me to discover Assembly Line in 1816, allowing me make my first trade, buying Scientific Method from Louis.
Pentagon is still available, so I try a gamble, researching Democracy, revolting to Universal Suffrage, and running 0 science for about 10 turns to gather enough gold to buy the wonder. Unfortunately, Gandhi completes Pentagon in 1828, 5 turns before I would have been able to buy it. However, this wasn't a total waste, because saved cash allows me to run 100% science for a while (instead of 80%), and I needed Universal Suffrage and Emancipation anyway. Gandhi also kindly donated Steel around this time.
I then research Railroads and use it, along with some saved up cash, to buy Physics from Izzy. Next I research Combustion and buy Rifling, Monotheism, and Alphabet in 1837. I guess Romans had been using hieroglyphs until mid-nineteenth century.
Gandhi constructed Manhattan Project in 1842, but nobody besides me ever built any nukes. So my SDI and bomb shelters Iâve built in almost every city turned out to be a waste of resources.
Over the following years I research the last techs I need, trading with Izzy for remaining optionals like Fascism, Communism, Theology, and Military Tradition. Cities that finish Factories, Coal Plants, Theatres, and Jails start work on air-force, because planes canât benefit from Vassalage and can be easily upgraded later.
In 1889, with several Modern Armors about to complete, I switch to Vassalage, State Property, and Theocracy.
I end all research in 1904 with discovery of Refrigeration. For the rest of the game Iâll be generating only cash and culture.
In 1915 I get bored of waiting and attack China. This is the first time Iâve ever declared war on Deity AI. Hopefully, my plan will work.
Final War
My plan for Chinese war consisted of 4 parts:
1. Capture all 9 cities on my continent, razing the 3 that are surrounded by Indian culture.
2. Use my fleet of over 30 battleships and some Destroyers with bomber support to sink all counter-attacks.
3. Capture an island near Chinese coast.
4. When island city comes out of rebellion, rush-buy an airport and airlift in an invasion force.
Here is how this played out:
1. Three cities were captured the first turn, with 4th stripped of all defenders. Quin airlifted some defenders into that city, whom I quickly killed, leaving the city empty again. This continued for a couple rounds until I got bored and captured the city. Meanwhile, many of Quinâs bombers were stationed in two cities near the border, which easily fell to strike-forces gathered inside my borders, wiping out a large part of his airforce. In 1919, just 4 years after the start of the war, I raze the last Chinese city on my continent.
2. My fleet is split into two halves, stationed on islands to the east and west of my continent with their bombers. The fleets perform admirably, destroying many carrier groups, and several invasion fleets, including a 20 ship SoD with 10 transports. (2 of those transports get through because I ran out of ships, but 8 land units were much easier to deal with than 40.)
3. In 1929 western fleet captures an island fortress north-east of Chinaâs coast. Next year I capture another nearby island city also with minimal losses, and, two turns later, I capture a first mainland city. To avoid instant death of invading forces, I use 5 Gunships to destroy all nearby improvements and railroads. So when the massive retaliation forces arrive, most of them stop next to the city, giving me a chance to destroy one of the stacks with help of my bombers and evacuate the same turn.
4. When the islands come out of rebellion, I capture another beachhead, while using rush-bought airport to bring in massive reinforcements. I also launch a second invasion from south-west of Chinese lands, using eastern fleet. I lose many units and some cities, because I donât bother seriously protecting my conquests, but with most of their reserves spent China falls easily and peace is declared in 1962, with China down to a single city, which is holding back Indian culture on the causeway between northern and southern parts of the continent.
I next spend 10 turns building up nukes and trying to force Louis to give up a city, but the prospect of that looks unlikely, so I stop wasting time and build up to capture India. Details of nuclear experiments will be in my full report.
The main trick of Indian war was that I had built all possible culture buildings in my border cities as soon as possible and, after Chinese war was over, I turned culture slider up, rather than down (I was in Police State, so gold was useless). I also built culture in these border cities, and started a Golden Age to speed up military buildup and cultural production. As a result, my borders were right next to Indian border cities, allowing me to use suicide Artillery, and letting Modern Armors blitz, killing over 80 units on the first turn of the war with minimal losses. I also attacked China shortly before this, letting me blitz into India before borders adjusted. I razed Chinese and Indian border cities, putting the causeway under my cultural control, while I captured two Indian cities on south-eastern peninsula of northern AI continent.
The war started in 1985 and ended in 1994, when I got Indiaâs largest remaining city on my continent for peace, leaving them only 3 cities there. This slightly sped up my victory, because I didnât have to wait for this city to come out of rebellion. Details of the war will be in my full report.
Domination Victory in 1998, as some cities began coming out of resistance and expanding their borders. Total playing time: 63 hours and 53 minutes.
This âbrief summaryâ turned into a short report, but I still plan to post a full report based on my 28 pages of notes. So if you want to see more details of my tactics, rather than just strategy, as well as screenshots, maps, and thoughts I had while playing, check out the full report Iâll post later in the week.
I want to again thank Sirian for setting up this extremely fun game.