Impi Swiss'un - Pauli's report

[Swiss Pauli]

RBW1 – Impi Zisshun

Well, it’s a variant-less game for our first Warlords Epic. Impi aren’t exactly my favourite UU and the bleating over at CFC about war being the only way in 2.08 is rather tiresome: I’d already achieved a space win on a Pangea without war and with the likes of Ragnar knocking about, so I decided on Space (or Diplo) with an added ‘Honourable’ element. I decided to ease the Emancipation rule somewhat: I cannot be last into Emancipation (I wanted to slave-rush labs if needed), but I cannot bribe Civs into a war of aggression (which was a tactic used in my previous 2.08 game), though I can bribe them to come to my aid if need be.

The opening: well we’ve got a lot of food here, so the first tech is pretty obvious. Medium term, we’d like to use the Oracle to grab Monarchy and unlock those fine wines and thereafter use a Great Scientist to lightbulb Philosophy, so we can use the huge food surplus to run a bunch of scientists at Ulundi.



The scout’s a fairly obvious move, as a worker will be idling and warriors aren’t needed that urgently, given that AGG will make them less likely to die to animals. That 75g will be very handy.

Once Fishing is learnt, we’re onto Mining in order to get early Bronzeworking as we’ll want to whip out those early workers and settlers. Production maximized at size 2 in order to get our workboat out soonest (with the scout bumped back in the queue). Our initial scout defeats a lion and grabs some XP from a hut. BW is started in 3400 and in 3310 Buddhism is FIDL, with Hinduism falling the next turn. Hi Izzy:



Ms Hindu is quite a long way off, so I’ll try to settle in her direction as rapidly as possible. Her presence could be a bit of a headache for my plans to run Pacifism, unless I catch her religion which, given the distance, isn’t too likely. We revolt to slavery on learning BW in 2830, on which turn we also meet Huang, who looks good after his facelift.



He’s someone I’m really pleased to see: his favourite civic is Bureaucracy and I’m going to be running this ASAP. It’s time to head down the path to the Oracle, so we start on Mysticism. Our first settler gets started around 2600 BC and in 2350, Izzy (natch) founds Judaism, just as we’re starting on Polytheism.

Our settler is whipped in 2320 and we found nMgungundlovu on the tundra to the east of Ulundi. It has access to hills tundra deer, marble, copper, and wines, but it is relatively food poor until Biology. I could have settled on the copper for more food, but I’m thinking long term here: with the relative lack of late-game production a worry on this map, I decide to leave the coast for once.

In 2110, we learn Poly and move to Preisthood. We start to build some warriors as barbs are beginning to show up, but we endure some rotten luck in 1990BC when a barb warrior defeats our hill-stationed C1 warrior! The bugger gets two promotions for this victory and I have to send out Ulundi’s garrison warrior (causing anger) in order to defeat him. Stonehenge is BIDL in 1820 and meanwhile we finish our Ikhanda in Ulundi and train some warriors. nMgungundlovu is working on the Oracle.

In 1480, we whip another settler and send him east to expand our empire. As we close on our target tile, we spot a barb archer in the vicinity. However, I have two warriors that I can upgrade to Cover and they now get a 25% city defence bonus, so I should be fine.



Oops! As expected, the archer defeated my first warrior. What I didn’t expect was that he didn’t take so much as a scratch. And the RNG didn’t come to my rescue on the next turn as you can see above and thus Nobamba is but ruins. I’m getting a bit miffed at this point, so my notes are a bit sparse, but I recover my composure enough to rush the Oracle in 1060 and pick Monarchy on the next turn. Thus I’ve secured my first strategic objective.

From this point, we move forward with the twin objectives of lighting Philo and expanding our empire eastwards. With only Izzy and Huang to trade with, the route to Philo will be via Code of Laws. In 285 BC, CoL is completed and I found Confucianism in nMgungundlovu: a pleasant bonus indeed as the missionary is sent to the capital. Another happy occurrence is that learning Animal Husbandry meant that Nobamba was not resettled in place, but instead was founded 1 tile southeast, making Bulawayo a production powerhouse.

In BC 160, we expand our empire further by taking a barb city:


On the next turn, a GS is born in Ulundi and lights Philo for us, founding Taoism in Bulawayo. Our expansion has put our economy in the bin, so it’s time to head to Alphabet in order to trade in some techs, seeing as we’ve got some juicy bait in Philo. In order to boost happiness, Confucianism is adopted in BC 100: Izzy can get stuffed, seeing as she has few interesting techs and I want to reap the benefits of Pacifism. In AD 170, Alphabet is mastered, but we can’t get anything like full beaker value out of Huang yet, so it’s onto Literature at 40% science. In AD 245, a great prophet is born in nMgungundlovu and he builds the Kong Miao on the spot. I’m hoping that this will help spread Confucianism to Huang (and I’m also sending missionaries his way), but instead Taoism takes root in his lands. Maybe it’s to do with Bulawayo being coastal that religion spreads easier from there?

In 350, Nogoma is established and in 440 AD, the Great Library gets rushed in Ulundi. I could have waited a few turns and saved some pop, but at this point I’m struggling to control Ulundi’s pop without causing too many angry citizens. Right now, my research has moved from the bin into the toilet: I’m toiling away on CS at 30% science and still Huang doesn’t want to start trading away any techs. Therefore, I have absolutely no comment on the next 300 years, until 725 when we pop another GS and found Ulundi’s academy. In order to chummy up to Huang, I convert to Taoism in 755AD, which is when I first encounter that good Christian, the saintly Mr. Montezuma.



Finally! Some 600 years after learning Alpha and at least 400 years passed since Huang had both of those techs in hand. At this point, I’m getting a bit worried about my game: normally, CS will be in the bag centuries sooner and the Big B will be driving my research like a runaway train. With Izzy and Monty around, Diplo is out of the window. Oh well, nothing else to do than to press on to Space. A couple of turns of deficit research later and CS is in the bag, with Paper next in line. Naturally, we revolt to BUR.

[Swiss Pauli]

In 1055, Ghengis (Buddhist follower) discovers me, but I can’t find his ship anywhere: I guess he must have sailed through my line of sight. We’re trying to be first to Liberalism and with our research problems, we’ll need to grab what we can with it. To this end, I burn a GS on Education in 1084. In 1196, another GP is born in nMgungundlovu and he heads to Bulawayo to build the Kong Miao in 1202. The next item of note is that we win the race to Liberalism:


In 1292, another GS joins Ulundi and I decide that I’ve run the gauntlet of heathen religion too long and switch to Free Religion. Being the first to Astro means that I can get some tasty benefits from trade routes for which I need to get OBs. Also, having generated a good many G-Men, the benefits of Pacifism were in decline, so all things considered Free Religion was the safest bet. Following on from this, Free Market was the logical choice when I traded for it in 1340. In 1382, Oxford gets rushed in Ulundi at the cost of 6 pop, and with it all the most essential infrastructure for a space win is in place, with the added income from 2 shrines we should really pick up research speed now. But in 1436, we’re still a laggard in the two most important categories (although GDP is misleading to our detriment):


1454 is a landmark date: we’re cash positive at 90% research, so we’re getting to where we want to be. In 1460, we gain revenge for our earlier hard luck against barbs when our catapult wins this battle:


What goes around, comes around. In 1478, we’re first to learn of Physics and we settle the GS in the capital. Next tech is Electricity and we’re mainly building science related infrastructure, with the odd military unit thrown in every now and again. Somewhere along the line, I’ve also adopted Representation, but the annals are too vague to determine the exact date. In 1526, Monty has me shifting uncomfortably in my seat when he adopts Theocracy and Vassalage. He obviously doesn’t like Isabella, but I’m much weaker and he does have Astronomy:


Some added priority is given to military, until the following report comes in:


This is excellent news: these two will surely tussle with each other (as worst enemies) for the rest of the game as they’re too evenly matched for one to roll over the other.



We’re clearly closing the gap on the leaders now: the Modern Era arrives for Zulu in 1574 with the discovery of Radio. Onwards to Computers (1610) then Fission is started. In 1619, after trading in its prerequisites, we switch to Assembly Line, leaving Fission incomplete. At this point, we’re approaching parity:


Monty invites us to pile on Bella in 1625, but we decline with thanks. Typically, the two warring states declare peace a few turns later. Assembly Line is complete in 1646 and a few turns later we revolt to Emancipation: we’re in no danger of being last as Izzy’s not yet got Democracy but we’re picking up 2 angry pop in Ulundi and we’re trying to be honourable here…unlike the Great Khan, who puts the wind up me with this little combo:


He’s got enough on his hands as well, but he does have a defensive pact with Alex, which he might not be so keen to break. I take the hint anyway and sign a pact of my own in 1679 with my good friend Qin Shi Huang, a.k.a. my bodyguard. This is a momentous turn: Industrialism is complete and we have two sources of aluminium. Yay for Zulu! Some snooping around in 1703, reveals that Alex has Rocketry, but not Industrialism and that he has aluminium within his lands. We learn Rocketry in 1718 and start the Apollo program in Ulundi; Bulawayo is building the Ironworks. In 1754, Monty comes over all TheoVassalous and duly declares on Izzy in 1766. By this time, we’ve discovered Satellites and Fibre Optics, as well as finishing Fission, and have just started on Fusion. Alex is no slouch himself, though:


In 1782, Fusion is ours and so too is Henry Ford who is saved for a Golden Age. Apollo completed on the next turn and here’s the state of affairs in 1788, with a look into Ulundi to boot:




Wall Street went here because Bulawayo was building the Ironworks and nMgungundlovu simply lacked the hammers to complete it. In 1794, another GS was born to spark a GA. By 1796, we’ve completed Plastics and move to learn Robotics, and the next turn, Alex completes his first Casing. In 1804, he finishes two more and by 1810, he’s got all five. What am I doing about it? Seeing as I’ve teched deeper, my biggest production cities are working on bigger parts (Thrusters, Engine) whilst the lesser cities are building Casings, so I catch him quite rapidly:




It’s all over bar the shouting now, but I pop one just to put a cherry on top:


In 1838, the fat lady sings:



Alex’s tech rate was impressive:


Without looking it up, I’d say he produced roughly as many beakers as I did (though I did give him a few thousand beakers in trades). And in terms of production, there was little to separate us either:


We both started end game Golden Ages at the same time. Those that say that 2.08 sacrifices hammers for beakers haven’t played until the late game, I reckon.

This was a highly enjoyable game and my earliest launch ever, as far as I can remember. And I do launch a lot of Spaceships. One thing that helped was the improved AI: if you look back to the shot of Ulundi, check that trade income; it’s huge. Another thing that benefited me was Huang’s willingness to shield me by signing a defensive pact: I’ve yet to play a build of Blake’s improved AI where the AI won’t do this, but it should certainly make things tougher.

[sooooo]

Good game - you beat my launch date comfortably. I think the difference was that you cottaged your cities of Bulawayo and Kassite, while I workshopped their respective cities in my game into military production centres.

[Swiss Pauli]

Yeah, cottaging first then bulldozing them for farms and workshops in the home stretch is the best option for spaceships. I was very surprised about how early I launched, after my dark ages: I think CS took 25 turns to research!