Old Harry wins! Here are some post game screenies:
I just whipped some workers for railroads, expecting war to kick off in a few turns.
Notice the three new cities Mjmd planted. Next game I need to use combat settlers too. Could have had 1 more city towards Cairo as well (around where I razed one).
Tech path was one of my biggest mistakes this game. I should have gone for the cannons over rifles as I had planned at first.
I thought I would face knights from Charriu, but seeing as he's protective, it makes perfect sense he'd hole up in his cities. I underestimated the power of protective and walls/castles.
On the latest invasion when I had cannons, they just tore through the city in 1 turn. Massive difference even though Charriu had built up an even bigger defense.
Going for ironclads, machine guns and railroads was probably a good thing. Naval superiority + land mobility + city and air defense. We didn't see them in action, but I reckon that path was fine.
Here's my super capital. I think stacking it with bonuses made sense. But in the future games, I want to switch to yield civics earlier. Universal suffrage, Free Speech (if in peace) and State Property.
Switching away from Slavery.. it's tempting, but is it ever going to be worth it apart from switching back and forth in GA? I'm still unsure. Maybe if you have a lot of farms or workshops, which I did not in this game.
I also need to manage my GP's better, or rather keep managing them after the first two Golden Ages.
Fast banks are really goddamn good. You could hit that bonus to nerf Fin, but I'm not convinced that it's needed. This map was favorable to Fin with all the coastal cities and rivers.
As expected OH popped off after he finished his wars and got to build up in peace. Very interested to see if his land is just all workshops and farms.
Same story with food.
When my all-in assault on Charriu's capital couldn't cross the finish line, I was worried I would straight up get eliminated.
Luckily I managed to build back up even though the future looked bleak. Of course, by now I was out of contention for winning, but I still prefer survival over being eliminated.
With Mjmd getting knocked down by OH and me, I climbed up from clear #4 to about an equal status with Cairo, with a tech lead over him.
The 3 cities I captured from Charriu after he suicided his stack were comparatively really strong cities despite having to be rebuilt entirely.
That part of the war was great for me. However, going for rifles and Charriu constantly whipping his cities to ground while I had to build a rifle stack out of nothing was terrible for me.
I also should have had way more catapults. I did sacrifice my old catapult stack, so there is that excuse, but I should have made up for those numbers in the rebuild.
As for the first war where we dogpiled Charriu, two major mistakes with it:
1) AT went in too early and got wiped before I could travel over to the other side to flank Charriu. Charriu made it back in time to defend his capital and I had to leave it.
2) When retreating, I got caught out of position due to misunderstanding how capture/culture mechanics work. That cost me two cities.
What was awkward about the Charriu wars was that it wasn't me who initiated them. First war, it was a reaction to AT and taking the opportunity given. I still gained cities and made my neighbor weak for the rest of the game, so it wasn't all bad. Next war was initiated by Charriu, the one where he suicided his stack. I got some gains from that too, but I was not ready for war. I was planning to tech up and then take Charriu when it would be easier, but he (probably correctly) forced the war earlier. So now I had Charriu whipping all his cities to ground before I even started on my offensive stack. I still could have won that war and conquered Charriu with better play, but it was very awkward. The third war was not really against Charriu, but to stop Mjmd from conquering him. It was very risky, if my stack got wiped at any point I was in real trouble, but it did work out. So next, I add cannons and I actually PLAN to go to war, and it goes so much smoother. I take cities from AT and Mjmd in one sweep, and then finish off Charriu.
E: Almost forgot, cut the goddamn road in that second war! I would have been able to take the capital without the reinforcements arriving for Charriu. FFS.
I want to give advice of what went wrong for the other players from my point of view. This might not be good advice because I don't know your situation as well as you did, but here goes:
AT, when you go for an invasion, you have to really commit to it. More whips, bigger stack, more siege. You had no chance vs me, and even Charriu wiped you out even though he was low in power and unprepared. Your opponent can and most likely will react to your build-up, but they will never know for sure until it happens. The opponent won't be whipping to the ground until the war starts and they see a stack coming their way.
Charriu, you need to be more diplomatic with your neighbors. I had two neighbors. If one had been an enemy and one had been a friend, would I have joined the enemy to attack and backstab my friend? Highly doubtful. Things like declaring war to steal a worker way deep into the game ignores that you are playing against humans not AI. Even though you didn't do a real invasion, IIRC you ended up declaring on me every time AT did. Being scared of two hostile neighbors made me build a stack for defense, and that stack ended up being used to attack you when AT turned around and suggested we go invade you instead of fighting each other. E: Actually I suggested AT to attack you, then AT asked me to join.
Mjmd, you had two paths to victory. You could attack OH when he was weak. That is easier said than done since he was still doing good on power despite being behind in economy, and he is a veteran player who'll put up a fight. The other path was to attack Charriu or AT when they were weak and pre-occupied by their wars. In the end you did go for it, but it was just too late. I know Charriu's cities were free for the taking for a long time, and while AT did a great job defending against Cairo, I don't think he'd be able to do much against you both. Towards the end you also tried a naval invasion against me. I don't think you realized OH was sending hints to me, but in any case, I wasn't really a big threat. I had already jumbled my game on my own. These resources could have been used against your neighbors. You also created an enemy out of me by doing it. I now had a reason to side with OH and to side against you.
SD/OH/Gira I've got nothing for ya, just don't know enough. Well, I can assume what went wrong with SD, he thirsts for blood and doesn't like to micro
For other warmongers reading this, I'll just say that war is a lot more fun when you're winning, so do your micromanagement homework!
![[Image: noidea.gif]](https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/images/smilies/noidea.gif)
In this game that's going to help us because he's going to go to the negotiating table with twitchy eyes and slightly too wide a grin and terrify the neighbors into favorable border agreements, one-sided tech deals and staggered NAPs."
