Epic IV - Gideon

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This is the first time I played Deity, and the first time I played raging barbarians, so I had no idea what to expect. However, I feel I’ve done well up to 2050, when I stopped playing. I was placed second at the time, behind Gandhi, had research everything up to Future Tech 2, and even got 2 wonders: Colossus and Internet.





The fight against the barbarians was balanced on a knife edge for most of the game. At the start I weaved my worker through advancing Barbs, taking units out onto forested hills to try and stop them before reaching my lands, sometimes having no option but to fall back, take a gamble or two, and rebuild an improvement or two. I took mostly Extra First Strikes for my Archers, to be able to use them in open play too. Fighting Barbs totally dominated the game up to about 1700AD, after the completion of two great wars in which Gandhi and I wiped them from the continent.



The year 410AD: I was still fighting waves and waves of Barbs (often coming in crippling groups), but had managed to expand a little, having 6 cities of sizes 7, 5, 5, 3, 2, 2. I run science at 30% or 40% for most of the game, up until about 1700AD, when it started to increase gradually up to alternating 90% and 100% for the last 60 turns. My research was semi-non-existent until very late in the game, taking about 40 turns per Tech. I did, however, not heed the warnings and sent my opening warrior out in a circle around Rome to get some goody huts, and I think I got three Techs early on from huts, and another one from taking defended huts. I got a few Great Merchants throughout the game, with two Great Scientists much later on used for Academies. Also, I got Calendar only very late. I didn’t want to obsolete Obelisks, since I was using them in all new cities do get my borders expanded as quickly as possible, to use resources and increase sight. This could have been a mistake, since Rome could use those plantation to good effect. I also got Monarchy quite late, for the Wineries.



While I was on Praetorians and Barb on Swordsmen (around 1200AD), I decided to build a shipload (actually I never used ships, except fishing boats and an exploring transport right at the end) of Axes, Praetorians and Catapults to try and take out some of the Barb cities that was churning out units like crazy. I had to attack on three fronts, but I started on the South Eastern side. I thought if I could take out those tree cities, the entire eastern side of the continent would be safe.

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Gandhi and Qin Shi Huang made their appearance during this period.



However, a few turns before attacking, Barb Macemen made their appearance… I decided to go through with the attack in any case, better now than later. I lost a whole lot of units taking the first city, and pressed forwards for the next. However, it was a stalemate for a few turns. I could have handled that better by waiting about 15 turns to get a bigger force together, but I wanted to push through. So, as the reinforcements arrived in their one’s and two’s, I send them towards the second city, where a few was killed off en route to the city. Anyway, I mustered enough to barely take the second city, by which time the third city had only a Horse Archer and a Longbowman defending. By that time, Qin Shi Huang had two cities in the area and was moving towards the Barb city with a rifleman, but I finished it off with a Catapult and three Macemen (I got them during the long war).



On the Western front, all was not quiet. I was able to hold off scores of Barb Horse Archers, Swordmen and Macemen, and decided to push forward to the closest city (West). I had a Woodsmen II Swordsman with two fellow Swordsmen fortified two tiles from that city for years, killing quite a few Barbs, while bringing in a horde of Catapults and Macemen to join them. I took it, but lost it the next turn. The process started again, building up a stack, Catapulting en masse and taking the city. This time I kept it, even though losing a few units to retaliating Barbs. I also managed to scrounge a few units together to go for the smaller Barb city to the South West. I had huge losses there, but made it through with about 3 units with less than 1 hit point. At about this stage I noticed that Gandhi had already started settling in the West, but there was still 2 huge Barb cities close to my borders. I went after one in the North, but lost all my units, and scurried some new ones over just to ward off any attack. Luckily, Gandhi was settling all around the big Barb cities, and their attacks were not directed at me so much anymore. I decided to build 5 cities close to where I decided our borders could be, but two of these eventually left the Roman Empire, while we had quite a Culture War with the other three. I did, however, get two of the Chinese cities to the South East. Gandhi also took the two huge Barb cities on my borders, as well as the rest of the Barb cities in the West.



By 1855AD I had founded all the cities I could, throwing in three or four in very overlapping territory to make use of some of the in-between land.

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Gandhi’s and Qin’s scores was about 2.5 and 1.5 times mine, respectively. However, I was starting to gain steadily on Qin, and Gandhi’s ratio got closer and closer to 2.



A Barb warrior in 2048! I sent out a transport to meet any potential nations on that cunningly cut-off piece of land to the North and, indeed met a backward Louis and Isabella. Both of them demanded quite a hefty sum of money not to attack me. Ha-ha.

And there you have it. It is 2050AD, and I’m just in time with the Internet (after three forest chops) and Future Tech 2. There have been peace all round between me, Gandhi and Qin, while the two Eskimo nations had their squabbles.

I was not going to start building a force to try and take all of Gandhi’s lands to be able to win this game (anyway, it was half past one in the morning of the game’s closing date), so I left it at that. It was a huge struggle, but I enjoyed it for the most part. And I finished second!