Epic 25 - Remember Us

[Kylearan]

Hi,

here's my report, finally. My apologies that it's a bit late, but I got sick yesterday and was unable to complete it.

You can find it here.

Because of my illness I had to rush it out now and didn't have time to proof-read it yet, so please excuse any errors (beyond those I usually make ).

Hope it's not too late and you still enjoy it. I've forgotten how much time report writing takes! At least I can read other reports now...

-Kylearan

[Imhotep]

Nice game, and great report! Congrats on the comeback to Civ! As to the Crossbows I had to laugh out loud at that moment - it's just the same as rushing Horseback to slave out a big stack of HAs and discover then you miss Archery still...

[Olodune]

What a wonderful game (and report). The Machinery sling was great! Around the time when you founded Corinth I was thinking "Oh no, he's going to get swamped -- way too cautiously played." Nice dedication to get a scout for Horseback Riding too. You probably were right about not needing to wait for Infantry, but in an un-timed game the more robust bet is a good call. Great read.

[timmy827]

Great job, it's nice to see another quality game/report from you. Yeah, it takes one AW event on these settings to realize that plowing through AI's with large numbers of old units is not only viable but better for finishing the game quickly.

Also nice to see that I get the official stamp of "illustrious" from one of the RB vets Maybe it's because I copied your Epic 3 Monarchy slingshot my last two games

[RefSteel]

I really enjoyed your report (and the unusual strategy!) - great to see you with CIV time again!

"good then that Sparta is full of variant scum who do not like to play the same again and again...."

Yeeeeup. Gotta love it.

[Compromise]

Very cool. Nice strategy, nicely played, nice report. I thoroughly enjoy your writings. The movie stills were a nice touch too.

I have to say that once again I like your use of the Oracle.

In this particular game, however, my favorite play is the scout-on-a-galley-to-reach-the-unreachable-hut. I think HBR is a fair return on that kind of gambit!

Hope you're feeling better now (or soon).

[T-hawk]

Great to read a report from you, old buddy!

Nice move with the crossbow slingshot. I've seen mention of the strategy on occasion on the CFC forums, though it is unusual. Mostly it's tried with the Chinese and their crossbow UU. The problem is resource risk: crossbows need iron but there's no time to research Iron Working, so the plan can crash pretty badly. What you didn't know actually helped you.

My strategy of beelining to elephants was similar, getting to a strong unit in a similar time frame. Crossbows worked better against Praetorians, I didn't think of that. By the time I got Machinery, I had loads of Shock elephants to kill praets. Even so, you started attacking Tokugawa pretty late as compared to the other reports. Once he had elephants, he was trouble. I averted that problem by swiping his ivory by settler before he did.

I settled Sparta on the same spot by the copper. I think the underpeformance of this city site is overestimated. I wasn't unhappy with the city. It did grow slowly, but had the granary early with the copper, and it got to size 6 working 5 cottages surely enough. Sparta's cottages saved me from economic trouble while I was building my real commerce cities in the jungle river area.

Pikemen as counterattackers against siege+knight stacks? Neat. I did the same with elephants. And with City Raider 3 cannons. Ironclads? I guess you aren't familiar with Ships of the Line, which you had right there at Military Science?

Yeah, Infantry take forever to research. Assembly Line has such a thick web of prerequisites. Rifles do beat cavalry - did you not notice the inherent 25% bonus vs mounted units? Another option is Airships at Physics, which I've used to good effect before. Bombing a defending rifle from 14 strength to 11 is like facing a grenadier instead.

And yes, most every player was behind on tech. Two Financial AIs protected by Aggressive lackeys can tech ahead of the player, even on Prince. Sounds like your AIs were smarter about choosing relevant military techs; I did all my conquering while Darius and Mansa were researching useless junk in Constitution and Corporation and Physics.

[Speaker]

Drill IV Grenadiers? /me remembers fondly when Protective gave Drill I + Drill II, which was said to be too overpowered. Protective is so the suck as is, unfortunately.

[Kylearan]

Hi,

thank you all for your kind words! Very motivating.

Even so, you started attacking Tokugawa pretty late as compared to the other reports. Once he had elephants, he was trouble.

Yes, attacking so late was a bit problematic, especially combined with my overcautious strategy of turtling up in the poor lands of the starting peninsula instead of founding cities beyond the choke. But Toku's elephants were not the problem; the large stacks from the other AIs were. Between getting rid of Monte's, Mansa's, Shaka's and Darius' sometimes impressively-sized stacks and healing, there was surprisingly little time to advance on Toku's cities. He didn't build many phants in my game.

Ironclads? I guess you aren't familiar with Ships of the Line, which you had right there at Military Science?

I cannot open the game right now, but don't Ships of the Line need another (additional?) tech to unlock? I seem to remember that I had been able to build Ironclads but no SotLs, which came later. Or did I remember that wrong?

Rifles do beat cavalry - did you not notice the inherent 25% bonus vs mounted units?

I noticed and remembered much later. A lot I had forgotten about CIV came back to me during this game...I have a really bad memory unfortunately. :rolleyes:

-Kylearan