Adv29 - Defrosting Stalin's Corpse

[Olodune]

Extreme Adventure 29 Game Report

Pre-Game Thoughts (and misconceptions?)

Setup
Stalin
Immortal
Raging Barbs
Boreal Map

‘nuff said, really.

I really like the scenario design (based on the info page). The idea of a frozen Siberia-like landscape headed by Stalin is too good to pass up. Visions of Russian Gulag style forced labor means that slavery will feel very natural for a change. Besides, everyone knows that an invasion of Russia during winter is doomed … hopefully our local raging barbarians read history too.

I’ve played three test games {with Stalin/Immortal/Boreal/Raging Barbs} to ~500bc and expect a few things.

-There will be lots of reindeer, sheep, wheat, and gems. But little else.
-Raging barbarians don’t mess around, they will start hitting hard before 2500bc
-Stalin has fantastic traits/starting techs for making a run at the great wall
-Health and especially happy caps will be low
-The AI is slowed considerably

I would *really* like to see a game played without building the great wall, but if the start looks promising I’m going all out for it – it’s obscenely powerful for this game type.

An early rush doesn’t make too much sense as there will be plenty of mediocre city sites, and early military will be on barb duty. In fact this game may even lend itself to some old fashioned wonder spamming.

Thawing Stalin

Well, the revealed tiles leave something to be desired, even for a boreal map. I’m willing to gamble and “chase the river” a bit, at the cost of a turn or two. I have absolutely no idea if it paid off, but it’s nice to start next to deer tiles. Agriculture can be delayed (I hope the gods-who-look-over-those-who-foolishly-try-for-early-wonders are on our side this day).

Moscow is Born:



Research is set to bronze working, and initial build to a worker. Our scout finds some gold along with a fellow scout. After only 5-6 turns of research our second scout locates a tribal group wielding dull metal tools



Thanks! Masonry is selected next, and our chances at the great wall are looking better yet.

Moscow builds worker->warrior->warrior. Just before the second warrior is complete the first barbarians raise their fists, brandishing their bows :wow:



Both my warriors move onto the forested camp and Stalin calls back a scout to help. One warrior wins and the other looses. The surviving archer kills my scout and my wounded warrior but a newly trained warrior saves the city – the deer camp is pillaged.

More warriors are trained and by 2480bc I’ve built 6 warriors, lost 4, and killed 5 barbarian archers. Luckily, it looks like I won’t loose this game just yet; our salvation is at hand:



Building Stalin a Campfire

With the great wall done we slowly expand to four cities. I’m using stacks of two warriors to scout – they seem to survive a bit better than the lonely variety.


I’m trying to chop out a fairly late oracle, it works and we choose monarchy. I considered metal casting since we are industrious and have gems, but hereditary rule is just too attractive. The pyramids are still open too – I suspect they will play a part in someone’s game, but not mine.

A great spy is born, who is promptly instructed to use his guile to scout and avoid barbarian patrols.

Many warriors are trained, allowing several cities to grow quickly. Stalin’s domain in 1ad:




Plains cottaging and research building (we know alpha) has allowed the Russian Empire to build a small tech lead (I’ve done zero tech trades so far this game):



Looking ahead to the coming years I see no reason to halt our peaceful expansion. Three settlers are currently under production. Snagging the southern marble means that a run at a few marble wonders is in order. The Great Library and the Mausoleum of Maussollos would be ideal.

Warming Stalin’s Cold Heart

A newly built settler and her sword escort run into an unguarded goody hut in 400ad. Does this count as luck?



The free great artist is born. Our marble proves to be a real boon, helping along the construction of the Parthenon, Mausoleum of Maussollos, The Great Library, and our two Epics.

Moscow is developing nicely:



Stalin is feeling imperious these days, and commissions a giant statue in his likeness:



By 1000ad our corner of the known world has mostly been settled:



Preparations for an invasion of America are under way. (I always enjoy playing against a leader that I’ve played recently. Let’s see how honorable Lincoln does this time around, shall we?)

Research is going well and most of the Russian core is at (or slightly above) the current health cap.

[Olodune]

Stalin’s First Flame Dance

Sending our invisible Hoover down south into Abe’s territory reveals an interesting sight:



Lincoln has no strategic resources! This is actually a little unfortunate because his largish stacks of longbows are going to be annoying to kill, especially when holed up in a hill city. Engineering is being researched for trebuchets (I can’t even recall the last time I self-researched this tech. It is amazingly useful, but expensive.)

Exactly one turn away from building my seventh library I get the “classical literature” quest. Thank you kindly:



We step onto American soil in 1100ad, and play “dancing with SoDs” for nearly a hundred years. By 1200ad cities are falling nicely



Genghis senses an opportunity and dogpiles into the action, from the other side of the map. Despite the long and arduous trek he’s brought a reasonable stack



After our main stack marches through the streets of Washington, Lincoln has had enough. Stalin doesn’t mind subjugating an American or two:



The war was surprisingly bloody (and long).

Stalin’s Losses
9 cats
4 trebs
3 xbows
2 maces
1 sword
1 pike

Lincoln’s Folly
43 longbowmen (!!)
25 cats

Thanks to the Great Library + Parthenon + National Epic + Free Scientist we’ve been getting a steady stream of great persons. Two academies are built, two golden ages started, and several techs have been bulbed. In 1340 we get liberalism first and choose Nationalism. Unfortunately, I’d end up loosing the Taj by one turn, despite having marble and being industrious. Oh well.

Genghis has switched targets to Justinian. Since I still have a largish idle army I figure it’s my turn to dogpile.



Genghis is bringing some heat, once again



The war turns into a real meat grinder. Constantinople is added to the Russian empire in 1555 ad – it even comes with a 34gpt Buddhist shrine. That same turn Justinian finally gives up hope:



By now I think it’s possible to get some rolling vassalizations going. So the plan is to keep marching east through English and Incan lands. The Russian core will build banks to support our far flung cities.

Unleashing Stalin’s Fiery Wrath

Into England we go:



Getting what we came for:



Constant war has taken its toll on our science slider. Still the tech screen looks fine:



Stalin halts his war machine long enough for our trebuchet teams to be outfitted with steel cannons, and then we head into Incan territory. The first Incan city is a good place to train some grenadiers. Huayna Capac capitulates shortly thereafter.

Because I’ve taken on so many vassals we’re still quite a ways away from Domination. It’s quite possible that conquest will be triggered first. In any case Pericles is starting to pull away in tech, so marching back our main army and attacking Greece from the Russian heartland seems like a good plan. The normal-speed marching time means rifles and Cossacks will be able to support the war effort.

The first few Greek cities fall easily (Pericles has avoided military techs going through Scientific Method for Communism and Physics). But we soon run into harder resistance:



Pericles brings Genghis into the war, causing total war to break out across the frozen lands. Genghis brings his hammer down on my vassal (the Mongolian leader still has about 30% more power than we do):



Meanwhile our Russian hordes punch deep into Greek territory taking over half their cities. Belatedly I realize the reason I can’t get Pericles to submit is that he is “Afraid of Your Enemies”. I quickly sign peace with Genghis, bringing serenity to the snows once more (1816ad). We are close to domination, so rather than going to war with Genghis I instead opt to fill in cultural gaps with new settlements.

In 1844 we plug enough holes for victory (final score ~111k):



Graphs and Final Thoughts

GNP



We built up a strong early economy, but threw most of our advantage away while warring.

Power



Genghis surely knows how to build troops out of his small Empire That’s really quite impressive.

This was a fun adventure. The ambiance was great and the map was very interesting with two large mountain ranges breaking up the taiga and forming strategic chokepoints. Greece’s “shallow sea full of unique resources” was a nice touch. Very well designed/picked.

The AI is definitely hampered in such harsh conditions; this wasn’t as difficult as a typical Immortal game. Do you think this is because of raging barbs or constraining resources? My impression is the latter.

I think I played the early game very well (the peaceful part …) Strangely, I never used the whip despite switching into slavery early – so much for our Gulag oppression system Once the warring started I was a little sloppy and was consistently surprised at how difficult several of the capitulations became. In hindsight I should have marched straight into Mongolia after Greek capitulation; it took too long to settle obscure corners of the map.

Like a said earlier I hope that someone plays without the Great Wall. A game avoiding hereditary rule in favor of representation would be another interesting comparison. I think all victory conditions are viable on this map, but I expect most to be of a military bent.

Looking forward to the other reports

[sylvanllewelyn]

Congrats for playing the game the way it was meant to be. Anyhow, if the game sponsor didn't want us to build the great wall, he would've banned us from doing so. Besides, it's not an automatic decision. I could have leveled up my axeman with barbs and then go rush someone.

Your Genghis looked fierce enough to be a human warmonger!!! Having him dogpiling against your enemis is very nice. He's like Monteczuma except his armies are much more advaned usually. I guess a powerful Genghis bashing on Huayna was also the reason why he didn't pull off any legendary culture cities yet. In my game, Genghis started off well again Pericles, but the latter hit infantry by 1750AD, which is around the time when it's too late to stop a runaway Mansa Musa like tech whore.

[Olodune]

Your Genghis looked fierce enough to be a human warmonger!!! Having him dogpiling against your enemis is very nice. He's like Monteczuma except his armies are much more advaned usually.

Genghis did well, bringing impressive stacks towards several enemies. He was a religious buddy with Pericles -- I suspect trading with the Greek helped keep his tech moving along.

If I hadn't intervened in the Lincoln and Justinian Wars (taking them as Vassals) Genghis' aggression may have payed off.

[sooooo]

Horay, domination! Well done! I was impressed you were able to start warring at 1000AD - at that point I was still at about 20% science or something. Though you did have the foresight to build the great wall ...

[Olodune]

Horay, domination! Well done! I was impressed you were able to start warring at 1000AD - at that point I was still at about 20% science or something. Though you did have the foresight to build the great wall ...

The Great Wall was a big help .... besides that I prioritized currency (getting it around 200bc) and chopped/built markets in my core cities. With the low science slider and cottaged plains tiles, they raised my slider to 30-40%. Not outstanding, but enough to field an army while still making technological progress.