This is my first post here, but I have been reading this site regularly. As I am new to reporting and was in a hurry getting this report done, I don't have too many detailed notes from the game. I will rather try to outline my thoughts about the adventure in general and sneak in some details also.
I am a builder, usually, leaving my defences very thin. As I had never won on Prince before (I would have won a couple of times, but got tired in the modern ages) and the adventure required the player to have the lagest military at the end, this seemed to be a good time for doing some smacking-in-the-face. So I set my goal to a domination victory. I know this seems even too obvious, but it is not so for me.
Opening the save file, I noticed that the starting location was abundant with resources. I moved the warrior and didn't actually get any more help as for whether to found Rome on the starting tile. I also considered founding one tile NE, since I would only lose the other wine and possibly gain something in excange for that. I decided to found on the starting tile, however, and immediately found out that there would have been marble in range, if I had founded NE. Overall the land around the starting tile was more fertile, so I don't think that would actually have changed things any better.
I started researched straight towards Bronze Working to start my romping. Scouting revealed more fertile grounds to south and I founded my second city (Antium) to the SE corner of a small lake there, giving me gold and sheep once the borders would expand. Even before that Buddhism and Hinduism were founded in a distant land. I would later find out that Isabella got both of them.
In 1850 BC I built the Stonehenge in Rome for some early GP points. The obelisks would also help grabbing some land. I was going to found my third city west of Antium in between the southern river and another lake. Just before my settler arrived there, I found out that there was Iron on the exact spot where Cumae was planned to be. Not wanting to waste a resource tile, I founded one tile north of it, instead. This was in 1280 BC.
Cranking some military units out of the gates, but I also wanted to get a northern stronghold to secure my capital from occasional barbarins. So Neapolis was founded by a one tile lake, next to a sugar resource and grabbing me another iron as well.
125 BC saw the hanging gardens built in Rome and one turn after that I would capture the barbarian city of Kushans in the north. This was a size 4 city, if I recall correctly. Being located in a strategically good spot behind the only two mountain passages in the north, I would keep the city and try to secure all land behind it for my use. This turned out to be no problem, as Biz, who was located on the western side of the mountains, would not even try to cause me any trouble for a long long time.
I know that I should have started a war a lot earlier, if I really would have wanted to accomplish something big here. Instead, I concentrated to developing my core cities and building some more up north, where there was some decent land and no need for any further defences, as it was enough to defend the passages by Kushans. This allowed me to amass a nice stack of some 8 praetorians and several cats. In 780 I finally declared war on Isabella, who was located west of my southern lands. Seville, west from Cumae blocking a passage between two lakes there, fell in 840 AD. For some reason, which I have forgotten by now, I only had one defender there, and it was recaptured on the following interturn. Next turn I captured Seville again, this time making sure it would not fall again.
The way to the heartlands of Spain was open and I proceeded straight to Madrid located SW of Seville. Not surprisingly Isabella made strong resistance there, but the city fell after heavy bombarding and a few suicide cats to my praetorians. My losses weren't really that heavy, but I didin't feel comfortable enough going on at this time. Peace was signed in 1080AD. I think I managed to get a tech and some change for it.
I had built several wonders, not getting any real competition there. I had saved some GPs for a second GA for the final Spanish war, but seeing that Isabella really dind't have enough forces to stop the fierce praetorins from tearing her nation apart, I didn't use them until a bit later. This time I also had some mighty Kinghts helping my cause. Spain fell pretty easily to me and meanwhile I was the first to discover Liberalism in 1430AD. In 1510 Isabella was recuced to a few colonies up north, and it was time for signing peace once again.
Since Biz had been angry towards me for a while, I was not surprised to see him declare on me in 1635AD. I had been amassing two armies of cavs, and would have declared some turns later myself, so I thoght I would be holding upper hand in this matchup. All Biz could throw at me was some war elephants and a few knights, which didn't have a change vs. my cavs. I used some praetorians to clean up my borders, while i sent a stack of perhaps 6 Cavs to a pillaging task at the gates of Berlin. Several cats joined them to take down the city walls in preparation of a attack. Biz had foolishly sent all but a few defenders on attack, so I decided to take the city right away in 1665AD. GA number 3 begun a turn later. On the northern front the city of Essen, which had been facing Kushans on the other side of muontains, fell to my cavs in 1675AD. In 1720AD I captured the cities of Hamburg, Frankfurt and Dusseldorf. Cologne and Bremen followed, reducing Biz to some OCC. Peace was signed in 1735AD.
The next thing I did was to call Isabella and sound the warhorns for the third-and last-time. It was a walk in the park to finish the once so mighty Spanish empire. The domination limit approached and I figured that it would be fastest to raze a few English towns on the border of formes Germany, thus allowing my cities there to expand westwards and gaining me the last few percentages of land still missing. So, nothing personal, Liz, but I prefer to win, sooner rather than later. Newcastle and Nottingham were both razed easily in 1785 and 1790, respectively. I would have had gas for going after a lot more, but this was enough, as I won a domination victory in 1795. I guess, I should also mention that I did have the largest army by far at the end, so this game should be eligible for a victorious one.
The game was a success, even though I guess that I could have shaved off a few hundred years from the finish date by attacking Isabella earlier, pushing the attack further after capturing Madrid and going for Liz also, when Biz was only waiting for the final punch. Considering the situation, where I started, I cannot be disappointed, however. Next, I must try something on Monarch, perhaps adventure 11...
Missed the DL by half an hour, I hope this will still count.
I am a builder, usually, leaving my defences very thin. As I had never won on Prince before (I would have won a couple of times, but got tired in the modern ages) and the adventure required the player to have the lagest military at the end, this seemed to be a good time for doing some smacking-in-the-face. So I set my goal to a domination victory. I know this seems even too obvious, but it is not so for me.
Opening the save file, I noticed that the starting location was abundant with resources. I moved the warrior and didn't actually get any more help as for whether to found Rome on the starting tile. I also considered founding one tile NE, since I would only lose the other wine and possibly gain something in excange for that. I decided to found on the starting tile, however, and immediately found out that there would have been marble in range, if I had founded NE. Overall the land around the starting tile was more fertile, so I don't think that would actually have changed things any better.
I started researched straight towards Bronze Working to start my romping. Scouting revealed more fertile grounds to south and I founded my second city (Antium) to the SE corner of a small lake there, giving me gold and sheep once the borders would expand. Even before that Buddhism and Hinduism were founded in a distant land. I would later find out that Isabella got both of them.
In 1850 BC I built the Stonehenge in Rome for some early GP points. The obelisks would also help grabbing some land. I was going to found my third city west of Antium in between the southern river and another lake. Just before my settler arrived there, I found out that there was Iron on the exact spot where Cumae was planned to be. Not wanting to waste a resource tile, I founded one tile north of it, instead. This was in 1280 BC.
Cranking some military units out of the gates, but I also wanted to get a northern stronghold to secure my capital from occasional barbarins. So Neapolis was founded by a one tile lake, next to a sugar resource and grabbing me another iron as well.
125 BC saw the hanging gardens built in Rome and one turn after that I would capture the barbarian city of Kushans in the north. This was a size 4 city, if I recall correctly. Being located in a strategically good spot behind the only two mountain passages in the north, I would keep the city and try to secure all land behind it for my use. This turned out to be no problem, as Biz, who was located on the western side of the mountains, would not even try to cause me any trouble for a long long time.
I know that I should have started a war a lot earlier, if I really would have wanted to accomplish something big here. Instead, I concentrated to developing my core cities and building some more up north, where there was some decent land and no need for any further defences, as it was enough to defend the passages by Kushans. This allowed me to amass a nice stack of some 8 praetorians and several cats. In 780 I finally declared war on Isabella, who was located west of my southern lands. Seville, west from Cumae blocking a passage between two lakes there, fell in 840 AD. For some reason, which I have forgotten by now, I only had one defender there, and it was recaptured on the following interturn. Next turn I captured Seville again, this time making sure it would not fall again.
The way to the heartlands of Spain was open and I proceeded straight to Madrid located SW of Seville. Not surprisingly Isabella made strong resistance there, but the city fell after heavy bombarding and a few suicide cats to my praetorians. My losses weren't really that heavy, but I didin't feel comfortable enough going on at this time. Peace was signed in 1080AD. I think I managed to get a tech and some change for it.
I had built several wonders, not getting any real competition there. I had saved some GPs for a second GA for the final Spanish war, but seeing that Isabella really dind't have enough forces to stop the fierce praetorins from tearing her nation apart, I didn't use them until a bit later. This time I also had some mighty Kinghts helping my cause. Spain fell pretty easily to me and meanwhile I was the first to discover Liberalism in 1430AD. In 1510 Isabella was recuced to a few colonies up north, and it was time for signing peace once again.
Since Biz had been angry towards me for a while, I was not surprised to see him declare on me in 1635AD. I had been amassing two armies of cavs, and would have declared some turns later myself, so I thoght I would be holding upper hand in this matchup. All Biz could throw at me was some war elephants and a few knights, which didn't have a change vs. my cavs. I used some praetorians to clean up my borders, while i sent a stack of perhaps 6 Cavs to a pillaging task at the gates of Berlin. Several cats joined them to take down the city walls in preparation of a attack. Biz had foolishly sent all but a few defenders on attack, so I decided to take the city right away in 1665AD. GA number 3 begun a turn later. On the northern front the city of Essen, which had been facing Kushans on the other side of muontains, fell to my cavs in 1675AD. In 1720AD I captured the cities of Hamburg, Frankfurt and Dusseldorf. Cologne and Bremen followed, reducing Biz to some OCC. Peace was signed in 1735AD.
The next thing I did was to call Isabella and sound the warhorns for the third-and last-time. It was a walk in the park to finish the once so mighty Spanish empire. The domination limit approached and I figured that it would be fastest to raze a few English towns on the border of formes Germany, thus allowing my cities there to expand westwards and gaining me the last few percentages of land still missing. So, nothing personal, Liz, but I prefer to win, sooner rather than later. Newcastle and Nottingham were both razed easily in 1785 and 1790, respectively. I would have had gas for going after a lot more, but this was enough, as I won a domination victory in 1795. I guess, I should also mention that I did have the largest army by far at the end, so this game should be eligible for a victorious one.
The game was a success, even though I guess that I could have shaved off a few hundred years from the finish date by attacking Isabella earlier, pushing the attack further after capturing Madrid and going for Liz also, when Biz was only waiting for the final punch. Considering the situation, where I started, I cannot be disappointed, however. Next, I must try something on Monarch, perhaps adventure 11...
Missed the DL by half an hour, I hope this will still count.
But seriously, I had some problems trying to finish this one, as I tried to register just 2 hours before DL and only one hour later figured out that the activation mail that I should have received was probably delivered directly to my Junk Mail folder. This didn't really leave me too much time for the actual writing process.
