This is the Mac version, Game of the Year Edition, with the beta Mac patch from over on the Civfanitics forums.
I decided to prove to my self, if nobody else, that my ideas on how to manage Diety worked. Huge map. All civs. Continents. Extra land. Normal settings. Raging barbarians. Always war. All war, all the time, from start to finish.
I pondered for a long time on what civ to play. Militaristic and religious where probably the obvious choices, but, not for me. Egypt was an option. But corruption would be a bit of a problem later with out the commercial trait. I went into the game fully intending to do one of "Doc's Communist Gambits." So I needed a commercial civ. The commercial trait was almost as good as a free court house in every city. I thought long and hard about Rome. Infact, I nearly clicked them and started the game. Rome makes a very powerful communist empire later. At the last moment though, I chose France. I decided that I would need the industrial trait for combat workers. So I set about covering the world in a pink plague.
Paris, was chilly. Some tundra forests with game, a fresh water puddle, some bonus grasslands, and, after expanding my borders, there would be two cows and a wheat! On plains. Oh well, nothing is ever perfect. After popping out a few warriors, I went exploring and popped a hut. Scored a settler! My second city was founded on what could only be a perfect city spot. Six hills with wines, a grasslands wheat, on a river. Started the Pyramids in that city, with no temple. Wheat would come online later after border expansion, but the wine hills would have to do.
France, as it turns out, is on a chunk of land shaped like a six fingered hand. All six fingers are frozen lands... But rich with fish, whales, game, and dyes and silks. Manage to get 2 cities on one finger, 3 cities on 4 fingers, and 4 on the last. Minimal overlap. Paris and Lyons are in the palm. Down on the wrist is a few cities, with Tours as my Fortress of France. Tours was founded in a rush after I found a 1 tile wide spot hooking me up to the rest of the continent. Built on a hill, with a no man's land of mountains stretching for about 2 city lengths, this was my stronghold, my gateway to the South. Met Babylon first, they are already swarming through the mountains with bowmen. I have not yet gained a solid foothold in the mountains. I need to get construction ASAP to build fortresses in the mountains, and fill them with catapults and defensive units. I managed to score the Pyramids. Woo!
On Diety, I very rarely cave to AI demands. I have found that in many cases, but, not all, early war can cripple an AI. Just turtle down and hold tight, it will be over soon. Once an AI expends it's units, gets a few tiles pillaged, perhaps loses a city, they have to make peace, and soon. Or other AIs will smell blood and swarm them. Early war is the most effective form of crippling a human player has, contrary to conventional wisdom of caving to everything. Babylon is about to become a case study in this.
I sent down what units I could muster to invade Babylon. A few swords from Tours. (Founded on an iron hill... What's Sirian say about it being better to be lucky? ) Archers. I had a lot of archers. I had NO horses. Nowheres. Not one frigging horsie in any of my lands. And I sent down a legion of spearmen. The Pink Hoards poured into Babylon, pillaging, taking one city, and killing Babylon's army in a frenzied spree of murder and mayhem. I also had a chance to declare war on Germany, Rome, and Persia as I was making my self a pain in the ass to Hammerhead.
Babylon had it's golden age. I lost a spearman to a bowman. Babylon would never live to see it's golden age end.
About halfway through the war, with the City of Babylon it self pillaged right back to it's starting point, and Babylon taking heavy losses, something amazing happened. Germany and Rome stopped attacking me. They completely ignored my units. They were gang raping Babylon. Blood it seemed, had trickled from Babylon's severed wrist. The sharks were quick to move in. Rome captured the city of Babylon and it was all over very soon, with the Germans delivering the killing blow. One down... Lots to go. The army that had invaded Babylon now cut a bit into German lands... Germany was stretched thin from smashing Babylon... And I started to see Roman Red attacking German Blue. Roman Legions were coming now. Conflict, this wonderful ancient war, was truly brutal.
I met the Zulu a short time later, when they sailed by in a boat. We chatted for a bit, traded world maps, traded a few techs, and communications, and, I declared war.
I looked over at Zulu Island and I coveted what I saw. The Zulu had their own island, roughly Australia sized if put in scope. It was Jungle Hell... It was almost all jungle, with a few mountains and some hills. Also had three lux... Gems, incence, and spices. Zimbabwe had built the Collosus. Zimbabwe was an amazing city... Two mountains with gems, out on a finger of land over the water, with 3 fish and two whales. The AI would never use the Collosus in such a city to full potential. I decided right then and there to invade the island and take it as my own. And it had horses! I could see now what my war mongering had done to Germany and Rome. Rome had control of Berlin. A lot of Roman cities were flying blue flags. Yep. What a mess. And Persia was cutting into both, probably with armies and armies of Immortals. Down on the bottom of the land mass were America, England, and the Iroquois.
Early war, on Diety, ripples through the whole game. Rome and Germany had this blood fued going, peace would never last, keeping them in a constant state of trying to build a bigger army and swallow the other. There is nothing a player can do that hurts the AI like ancient war. It shapes the whole game. Once the ball starts rolling, it gains momentum and can not stop. The center does not hold, and once blood comes out, it can't be put back. Rome, Persia, and Germany, all of them had one thing in common. Roughly 90% of their cities had not expanded their cultural borders. Their cores were war torn and ravaged in an early and often critical stage where infrastructure can leapfrog you ahead.
I had roughly 50 or so swords, dozens of boats, and a few spears loaded in a short time and invaded Zulu island. Starting in Jungle Hell, the Zulu had never really gained a foothold. There were Impi, some archers, and mostly warriors. Oddly, most of my casualties were not from Zulu units, but of my troops suddendly dying to disease while fortified in a jungle. I was shipping over settlers ASAP to fill the gaps. I got a leader, made a sword army, and scored a victory. Another great leader arrived in the Battle for Zimbabwe. He rushed the Forbidden Palace right there in Zimbabwe, and I bought a harbor next turn. I began pumping out industrius workers by the boatload. Using another great leader, I rushed the Great Library right there on Zulu Island. The last of the Zulu fell as I joined the Middle Ages. I had one hell of a productive core now. Roughly 20 cities on Zulu Island. Lots of jungle to clear though... But I had armies of workers and captured workers slashing and burning... When done, this island would be almost all grassland with a few hills and mountains.
Fast forward a bit.
I had Musketeers. Infact, I had 3 Musketeer armies. I had a bunch of explorers built. I had a few knights, and roughly 100 or so super cheapo longbowmen. I summoned my war commander and made plans.
Colonel Angus, do we have the French Ticklers ready?
Yes'm. We do. We will be sending them down South soon, to moister, hotter places. Might make them droopy.
Colonel Angus, you suprise me... French soldiers might get a bit droopy, but can still give the enemy a good licking.
Yes'm, we will have them screaming soon enough!
Known pillagers, (Like Sirian) might appreciate what I was about to do. A Musketeer army would advance, covering almost a dozen Explorers. When they reached their destination, the Explorers would fan out to a nearly city sized spread and pillage, and then move back under the protection of the army, It was brutally effective. I cut a swath of destruction all the way down to America just to say hello to Abe. I must have done something terrible... All those cut roads must have broke some deals or something, perhaps lux deals, or resources to pay for peace. All of a sudden, there were a lot of AI cities rioting... Smoke pouring from many of them. Something you don't see often. And war broke out. Not a border skirmish or two, but all out WAR. Must have been a lot of angry people with broken trade deals and injured reputations. Knights crushed most of the enemy long before they reached the armies. Longbows moved along with the stacks, fanning out to swarm cities that were weak and small and presented an opportunity. I went out pillaging, razing, and looting. All hell broke loose in Rome. Lots of their harbors started disapearing. Cities starved. Rome must be rioting like hell.
Scorched Earth. This is what sets a human apart from the AI in CivIII. Humans can organize mass pillagings. Scorched Earth is terrible for Diety AIs. Diety AIs get production bonuses up the ying yang, and many other advantages. Pillaging wrecks this. If there is nothing to produce with, there are no production bonuses. And on Diety, lets face it, a lot of times it's a juggling act to keep cities happy. Scorched Earth is one of the Great Equalizers. Rome was ruined. They would never recover, never see the industrial age. Germany finally took the war home to them, recovering Berlin, and later Rome, and finally crushing them with armies and armies of longbows and knights. Once there was Roman blood trickling, England, America, Persia, and the Iroquois all jumped in as well, with Persia taking a number of their Southern holdings. The Iroquois let loose a swarm of what had to be hundreds and hundres of Mounted Warriors that swirled all around me, attacking Roman, German, and Persian units and largely ignoring me. Scorched Earth had slowed down the local tech pace too.
Elsewhere in the world, Egypt was becoming a monster. They had Sun Tzus. They had eleminated the Japanese, the Chinese, and the Aztects so far. I had not met them, had not seen a map, I would find this out later.
Germany was becoming a Monster. With a capital "M". They had taken most of Rome and the Industrial Age was coming very soon. Most of Germany had still not expanded it's cultural borders, war had been HARD on them... But they were recovering and on our landmass, they had the most of the spoils of war. I shuddered when I had thought of Diety AI on a huge map with Panzers. I had faced this before, During my failed Queen of the Earth England Game, Germany had sent almost all of it's 2000 or so Panzers at me in one giant rush. Yeah. Those numbers are right. Near the very end, that number had swollen up closer to 4000, due to Golden Age production and Germany having so many cities that they had cities called Bonn 2. Germany had to be neutered and soon, if not outright destroyed. I doubted I had the forces to kill them completely though. Germany was at war with all of the other Civs on our landmass, and, they were winning. This was of course, very bad. With all this in mind, I summoned Colonel Angus.
I mustered up a huge army, the largest one so far. Left over swords, spears, pikes, musketeers, warriors that somehow had been forgotten to be upgraded to swords, longbows, more knights, archers that had not been upgraded yet, more explorers, I actually left my homeland a little thin on defense... But I felt confident. The occasional boat landing was never actually threatening. Roughly 700 or so units all told.
I tore into Germany with all I had, razing any city I could that was only defended by spears or other weak unit types. Instead of cutting a line down the continent with a pillaging crew, I ripped up every last little bit of German soil I could get my hands on. I pillaged them back to the stone age... There was disorder and starvation. And my troops were being cut to ribbons by Germany's current army... But there were few replacements. Mostly it was longbows that started coming out to refill the ranks, but, oh holy moly, that was a LOT of longbows. I pulled back my stronger units to the no man's land of mountains where I had many fortresses and cannons and defensive nests. The weaker outdated units stayed behind and fought to the last man. There were a few leaders, but, none had made it home alive.
Meanwhile, at home, there was a massive production run on shiny new rifles, saddles, and uniforms for France's new Calvalry divisions. While my pitiful outdated units kept the Germans busy and kept workers from repairing the damage, and scrambling to hold off unescapable death... I was popping out Cavalry. When my armies had died, and the smell of canarge was still in the air, before Germany could catch it's breath again, I let loose with all the Calvary I had, led by a Calvary army from the new Military Academy. I carted over to the mainland by boat, and my homeland units decended on Germany. Over 100 cavalry, many of them upgraded knights I had left behind just for this purpose. I ripped through the very heart of German territory, destroying Hamburg, (Their capital) and razing city after city. Others got in on that action too. I met Egypt during the blitz... They had landed and founded a city. I prompty razed that to, just to be polite and say hello. German spears, with a scattering of pikes and muskets... Do not last long against Cavalry. Lots of leaders, some of which made it home by waiting boats or defensive supply lines, while others captured a smoking hulk of a city for only a moment to gather an army of fine French soldiers. My Cavalry numbers had nearly doubled, and, I was almost done with Magnetism to enter the Industrial age.
Swarms of Cavalry destroyed the Germans... They survived with two cities out on an island I could not land on till Marines.
Combined Arms. Another player advantage. The AI tends to be somewhat stupid in it's tactics and troop selections. I hammered Germany to the point of weakness with mostly ancient age units, using coordinated strikes and careful assaults to pave the way for what I had coming. While those units died, they served their purpose in paving the way for what had to be a perfect textbook example of cavalry charges. I built a long roadway down behind my main force as it went forward, and posted musketeers along the roadway in fortresses, using any hill or mountain I could find. If it was open ground, I used my combat engineers to plant forests. This was my vital supply line, it kept the war going over the huge landmass. I kept it well defended and if it was damaged, I would repair it ASAP. I would be able to take over this landmass, and soon.
Persia was caught with their pants down, at war with the Civs on the bottom of the land mass. I started settling the land now. My supply line road was vital to this cause. I planted a settler down where Berlin used to be and used a spare leader to rush a palace. Egypt and other civs, new civs, minor bit players wanted to settle here too... And I crushed them. I was the Pale Pink Menace.
Persia went down hard and fast. He had muskets in almost all of his cities, but only one musket usually. Along with a pike or two and a bunch of spears. Most of his armies were out in the field down south. He did not recall them home in time. I am actually using leaders now to rush temples in my newly founded cities.
I had 10 cities that did nothing but produce workers. Worker factories. Every turn, out came a worker. On Zulu island, they would go to the nearest port, would take a free cruise, the only vacation in their life, and then work the mainland.
Persia fought me down to the last Immortal, in the city of Ghulaman. Xerxes was executed for crimes against all Civ players.
Industrial now, have Nationalism and am working toward Communism. I started off, with barely a pink sliver of power on the graph, and now I am only second to Egypt. I was small and meaningless for the longest time. Now, I am about to unleash what has to be the worst can of whoopass I have ever opened in CivIII.
England died screaming, Liz did manage to get a few rifleman to try to fend off my Cavalry charges... But it did no good. America never made it to the Industrial age... And neither did the Iroquois. I had taken my home landmass and was settling it rapidly. I started seeing cities like Paris 2 and new I had achieved what I like to call critical mass which makes Communism work so well. I built a temple in each new city, followed by a courthouse to prepare for the new French Share The Wealth Program. I was going to have to get Universal Suffrage somehow, I just HAD to have it. Doubling the effect of police stations, including the corruption effects, made Communism absurdly powerful. Especially with a commercial civ. If I was lucky, I could get corruption down to 2 or 3, maybe 4 shields per city, giving me the production base I needed to crush all opposition. If I could get, say, 20 or 30 cities, each one producing a Tank every turn or two, I would be ok. I captured Leos from the Iroquois in Salamanca. I kept that city and took it last so it would be easier to manage.
Share The Wealth took effect quickly, only suffering a 5 turn Anarchy. I gained nearly 600 gpt! I lowered taxes considerably and cranked science and lux tax a bit... After tinkering a bit, I had ALL of my cities celebrating We Love The Saint Day, further killing corruption, raising up research time, and causing me to actually bring in more gpt then I could by raising taxes. Take note, sometimes it's better to lower taxes and raise lux instead if you need cash. Reaganomics works kids! 20% taxes, 30% lux, 50% sci. I was able to pull in Steam Power in 7 turns.
The city I founded on the site of old Berlin was an Ironworks city, and I had built a palace there. No wonder the Romans and all the AIs had a hardon for this city spot. I built the Ironworks, and cranked out Suffrage.
And suddenly, I was golden. I built Hoover Dam. I pushed infrastructure. Factories in all my new cities, and maybe a marketplace and a library. That's all most of these cities would ever produce. No banks, no universities, nothing that was not important. Aquaducts and hospitals were built only in cities that would get the most use out of them. I was cranking out Infantry and Artillary by the hundreds. I built transports. I built Smiths, which is a key wonder in a Communist Gambitâ¢.
Egypt was in Communism as well, but, the AI does not know how to properly exploit it's strengths. A few bit players had died as well over on Egypt's side of the world. I disbanded almost all of my Cavalry to push infrastructure in my new cities. They had served their purpose, and their time in the sun was done. Life was going to get BLOODY and I would not send hundreds of horses to their deaths. Humans are replaceable, they breed like rabbits, but horses are infact, better creatures in general then most human beings
Egypt had been sending over minor annoyances this whole time now. I was about to invade in force. I was going to plant close to 1000 infantry and over 1000 artillary on their shores. One HUGE naval invasion. I did not yet have airports, and no tanks. Yet. But Egypt needed to be slowed down now. Ironclads, destroyers, transports, and troops in the thousands. These are the armies of the Huge Map World. This was going to be ugly. Did I mention that Egypt had rails? I had not yet managed to plant a spy in Egypt, so I had no idea of what I was facing.
I was going to divide my forces into 3 seperate charges. I would invade from the North, in former Aztec lands. Hopefully, fewer troops and fewer rails out of Egypt's core. I would invade from the East, landing on Beijing's beach. This was Egyptian heartland... I wanted to draw as many troops as possible. And finally, my last bunch would land on the beaches of Thebes. Yes, the capital. It had Sun Tzus. I had no intentions of capturing Thebes, I intended to burn it to the ground, hopefully ridding Egypt of most of it's barracks. My trident three pronged attack served another purpose as well, pulling AI strings in three directions, hopefully gaining me enough footing to survive the initial assault.
If only if I had known what would happened when I landed I would have just went for a spaceship victory.
I landed. I planted around 500 troops or so at Thebes, plus equal numbers of artillary. About 200 in impossible to spell Aztec lands. And about 250 or so at Beijing.
Nothing happened after I hit the spacebar. Said please wait for a few moments. Then I thought my machine froze. But no... Egypt was moving it's masses to counter me.
I left my computer to go do stuff. I made lunch, ate, scooped kitty litter, fed critters, and said hello to all the birds sitting outside my living room window. I only meant to be away for about 10 minutes, but, it somehow had turned to 30 minutes. And when I got back to the computer... EGYPT WAS STILL MOVING TROOPS!!!
HOLY CRAP!!
More then troop movement, there was furious battle. I had made Armies of Infantry, actual Armies from the Military Acadamy just for this purpose... And they were already getting chewed up. Egypt had matched my thousands with her thousands and thousands. Longbows, cavalry, rifles, infantry, knights, even swords flung themselves at my armies... My artillary was blasting... It took forver before it was my turn... My machine sat for over an hour while the opening battle played it self out.
Thebes took a pounding in the first turn, about 20 some odd infantry in the city plus older outdated units. Lots of units. Maybe a dozen muskets and a few rifles in there for good measure. My artillary blasted them down into the red, and many of my infantry died even against the wounded defenders. Thebes had been over size 20... It was blasted down to 8. And some conscription action in there too. I threw everything at it, knowing it was do or DIE. Sent injured units rushing against the walls...And in that first glorious turn of taking the war home to Egypt, Thebes fell. I burned it to the ground. My forces in former Azteca survived the landing assault. The forces at Beijing did not. The forces at Beijing Beach were slaughtered to the last man and my artillary was captured. Egypt had sent most of it's forces to Beijing... Beijing was an Ironworks City too, built on a coal hill and having iron in a mountain. The staggering losses at Beijing though, which had recieved most of Egypt's defending force, had allowed me to demolish Thebes. I vowed to avenge the staggering loss of human lives at Beijing Beach... I would not take any other Egyptian city till Beijing had been burned to the ground.
A few more bit players exited. All that was left was India, Egypt, myself, and Russia. We were the Big Dogs. Russia and India had their own islands, their own landmass, which made them tough nuts to crack. Russia had no rubber though, and India was out of iron for the time being. India was just bloody annoying... They sent elephants at me by the boatload. Elephants!! All that trumpeting... Elephants against Infantry... = Lots of dead elephants. It was pachyderm pandamonium. India would send over caravels and galleons by the dozens, each loaded full up with elephants. My Navy was tied up bombarding Egypt's coast line back to the stone age. I really should have peeled a boat or two or a dozen to rid my self of this problem, but it was no real threat. Why swat flies when I have a potential Godzilla to be rid off?
The Azteca Invasion Company went on a pillaging and looting spree. I blew up city improvements, blasted roads and a few rails, destroyed marketplaces and temples, and tore up a few lux tiles. Egypt fell apart... Most of their armies went back into their cities trying to police civil disorder.
I got tanks finally... Not modern armor, and not an overwhelming force, but still good in their own way. I had to strike while the iron was hot. Cleopatra needed a good French Spanking. Perhaps Cleo was unhappy and uptight because she needed a visit from Ol Colonel Angus?
I waited for a sizeable number of tanks to be built and started shipping them over, waiting patiently just off the beach under a stack of battleships and destroyers. I was taking no chances... I wanted Beijing in a bad way. I itched for it like a junkie craves smack. I had tank armies and infantry armies, fresh out of the military academy waiting for a green light. There was a narrow window of opportunity here, Egypt would most likely getting their own tanks too, once they could fix all the civil disorder and anarchy. Beijing, like most of Egypt's coast line, had suffered bombardment and was starving to death. Egypt was gassed... Sure, lots of fighting ahead, but, they were done for.
Beijing fell. I took great satisfaction in burning it to the ground. In that same turn, I took several other cities. Want to know how to destroy a Communist AI? Destroy their cities. Troop count support is based on number of cities, and, right before my eyes on the battlefield, troops just vanished. Egypt was unable to support such large armies. After more then a dozen cities burned, I started seeing results. An Army of rifles and infantry just vanished. Harbor anchors started disapearing as Cleo sold city improvements to pay for her armies. Cities starved and shrunk, causing further losses to the army as Communist army support is based also on city sizes.
There will be a part two in a bit.
I decided to prove to my self, if nobody else, that my ideas on how to manage Diety worked. Huge map. All civs. Continents. Extra land. Normal settings. Raging barbarians. Always war. All war, all the time, from start to finish.
I pondered for a long time on what civ to play. Militaristic and religious where probably the obvious choices, but, not for me. Egypt was an option. But corruption would be a bit of a problem later with out the commercial trait. I went into the game fully intending to do one of "Doc's Communist Gambits." So I needed a commercial civ. The commercial trait was almost as good as a free court house in every city. I thought long and hard about Rome. Infact, I nearly clicked them and started the game. Rome makes a very powerful communist empire later. At the last moment though, I chose France. I decided that I would need the industrial trait for combat workers. So I set about covering the world in a pink plague.
Paris, was chilly. Some tundra forests with game, a fresh water puddle, some bonus grasslands, and, after expanding my borders, there would be two cows and a wheat! On plains. Oh well, nothing is ever perfect. After popping out a few warriors, I went exploring and popped a hut. Scored a settler! My second city was founded on what could only be a perfect city spot. Six hills with wines, a grasslands wheat, on a river. Started the Pyramids in that city, with no temple. Wheat would come online later after border expansion, but the wine hills would have to do.
France, as it turns out, is on a chunk of land shaped like a six fingered hand. All six fingers are frozen lands... But rich with fish, whales, game, and dyes and silks. Manage to get 2 cities on one finger, 3 cities on 4 fingers, and 4 on the last. Minimal overlap. Paris and Lyons are in the palm. Down on the wrist is a few cities, with Tours as my Fortress of France. Tours was founded in a rush after I found a 1 tile wide spot hooking me up to the rest of the continent. Built on a hill, with a no man's land of mountains stretching for about 2 city lengths, this was my stronghold, my gateway to the South. Met Babylon first, they are already swarming through the mountains with bowmen. I have not yet gained a solid foothold in the mountains. I need to get construction ASAP to build fortresses in the mountains, and fill them with catapults and defensive units. I managed to score the Pyramids. Woo!
On Diety, I very rarely cave to AI demands. I have found that in many cases, but, not all, early war can cripple an AI. Just turtle down and hold tight, it will be over soon. Once an AI expends it's units, gets a few tiles pillaged, perhaps loses a city, they have to make peace, and soon. Or other AIs will smell blood and swarm them. Early war is the most effective form of crippling a human player has, contrary to conventional wisdom of caving to everything. Babylon is about to become a case study in this.
I sent down what units I could muster to invade Babylon. A few swords from Tours. (Founded on an iron hill... What's Sirian say about it being better to be lucky? ) Archers. I had a lot of archers. I had NO horses. Nowheres. Not one frigging horsie in any of my lands. And I sent down a legion of spearmen. The Pink Hoards poured into Babylon, pillaging, taking one city, and killing Babylon's army in a frenzied spree of murder and mayhem. I also had a chance to declare war on Germany, Rome, and Persia as I was making my self a pain in the ass to Hammerhead.
Babylon had it's golden age. I lost a spearman to a bowman. Babylon would never live to see it's golden age end.
About halfway through the war, with the City of Babylon it self pillaged right back to it's starting point, and Babylon taking heavy losses, something amazing happened. Germany and Rome stopped attacking me. They completely ignored my units. They were gang raping Babylon. Blood it seemed, had trickled from Babylon's severed wrist. The sharks were quick to move in. Rome captured the city of Babylon and it was all over very soon, with the Germans delivering the killing blow. One down... Lots to go. The army that had invaded Babylon now cut a bit into German lands... Germany was stretched thin from smashing Babylon... And I started to see Roman Red attacking German Blue. Roman Legions were coming now. Conflict, this wonderful ancient war, was truly brutal.
I met the Zulu a short time later, when they sailed by in a boat. We chatted for a bit, traded world maps, traded a few techs, and communications, and, I declared war.
I looked over at Zulu Island and I coveted what I saw. The Zulu had their own island, roughly Australia sized if put in scope. It was Jungle Hell... It was almost all jungle, with a few mountains and some hills. Also had three lux... Gems, incence, and spices. Zimbabwe had built the Collosus. Zimbabwe was an amazing city... Two mountains with gems, out on a finger of land over the water, with 3 fish and two whales. The AI would never use the Collosus in such a city to full potential. I decided right then and there to invade the island and take it as my own. And it had horses! I could see now what my war mongering had done to Germany and Rome. Rome had control of Berlin. A lot of Roman cities were flying blue flags. Yep. What a mess. And Persia was cutting into both, probably with armies and armies of Immortals. Down on the bottom of the land mass were America, England, and the Iroquois.
Early war, on Diety, ripples through the whole game. Rome and Germany had this blood fued going, peace would never last, keeping them in a constant state of trying to build a bigger army and swallow the other. There is nothing a player can do that hurts the AI like ancient war. It shapes the whole game. Once the ball starts rolling, it gains momentum and can not stop. The center does not hold, and once blood comes out, it can't be put back. Rome, Persia, and Germany, all of them had one thing in common. Roughly 90% of their cities had not expanded their cultural borders. Their cores were war torn and ravaged in an early and often critical stage where infrastructure can leapfrog you ahead.
I had roughly 50 or so swords, dozens of boats, and a few spears loaded in a short time and invaded Zulu island. Starting in Jungle Hell, the Zulu had never really gained a foothold. There were Impi, some archers, and mostly warriors. Oddly, most of my casualties were not from Zulu units, but of my troops suddendly dying to disease while fortified in a jungle. I was shipping over settlers ASAP to fill the gaps. I got a leader, made a sword army, and scored a victory. Another great leader arrived in the Battle for Zimbabwe. He rushed the Forbidden Palace right there in Zimbabwe, and I bought a harbor next turn. I began pumping out industrius workers by the boatload. Using another great leader, I rushed the Great Library right there on Zulu Island. The last of the Zulu fell as I joined the Middle Ages. I had one hell of a productive core now. Roughly 20 cities on Zulu Island. Lots of jungle to clear though... But I had armies of workers and captured workers slashing and burning... When done, this island would be almost all grassland with a few hills and mountains.
Fast forward a bit.
I had Musketeers. Infact, I had 3 Musketeer armies. I had a bunch of explorers built. I had a few knights, and roughly 100 or so super cheapo longbowmen. I summoned my war commander and made plans.
Colonel Angus, do we have the French Ticklers ready?
Yes'm. We do. We will be sending them down South soon, to moister, hotter places. Might make them droopy.
Colonel Angus, you suprise me... French soldiers might get a bit droopy, but can still give the enemy a good licking.
Yes'm, we will have them screaming soon enough!
Known pillagers, (Like Sirian) might appreciate what I was about to do. A Musketeer army would advance, covering almost a dozen Explorers. When they reached their destination, the Explorers would fan out to a nearly city sized spread and pillage, and then move back under the protection of the army, It was brutally effective. I cut a swath of destruction all the way down to America just to say hello to Abe. I must have done something terrible... All those cut roads must have broke some deals or something, perhaps lux deals, or resources to pay for peace. All of a sudden, there were a lot of AI cities rioting... Smoke pouring from many of them. Something you don't see often. And war broke out. Not a border skirmish or two, but all out WAR. Must have been a lot of angry people with broken trade deals and injured reputations. Knights crushed most of the enemy long before they reached the armies. Longbows moved along with the stacks, fanning out to swarm cities that were weak and small and presented an opportunity. I went out pillaging, razing, and looting. All hell broke loose in Rome. Lots of their harbors started disapearing. Cities starved. Rome must be rioting like hell.
Scorched Earth. This is what sets a human apart from the AI in CivIII. Humans can organize mass pillagings. Scorched Earth is terrible for Diety AIs. Diety AIs get production bonuses up the ying yang, and many other advantages. Pillaging wrecks this. If there is nothing to produce with, there are no production bonuses. And on Diety, lets face it, a lot of times it's a juggling act to keep cities happy. Scorched Earth is one of the Great Equalizers. Rome was ruined. They would never recover, never see the industrial age. Germany finally took the war home to them, recovering Berlin, and later Rome, and finally crushing them with armies and armies of longbows and knights. Once there was Roman blood trickling, England, America, Persia, and the Iroquois all jumped in as well, with Persia taking a number of their Southern holdings. The Iroquois let loose a swarm of what had to be hundreds and hundres of Mounted Warriors that swirled all around me, attacking Roman, German, and Persian units and largely ignoring me. Scorched Earth had slowed down the local tech pace too.
Elsewhere in the world, Egypt was becoming a monster. They had Sun Tzus. They had eleminated the Japanese, the Chinese, and the Aztects so far. I had not met them, had not seen a map, I would find this out later.
Germany was becoming a Monster. With a capital "M". They had taken most of Rome and the Industrial Age was coming very soon. Most of Germany had still not expanded it's cultural borders, war had been HARD on them... But they were recovering and on our landmass, they had the most of the spoils of war. I shuddered when I had thought of Diety AI on a huge map with Panzers. I had faced this before, During my failed Queen of the Earth England Game, Germany had sent almost all of it's 2000 or so Panzers at me in one giant rush. Yeah. Those numbers are right. Near the very end, that number had swollen up closer to 4000, due to Golden Age production and Germany having so many cities that they had cities called Bonn 2. Germany had to be neutered and soon, if not outright destroyed. I doubted I had the forces to kill them completely though. Germany was at war with all of the other Civs on our landmass, and, they were winning. This was of course, very bad. With all this in mind, I summoned Colonel Angus.
I mustered up a huge army, the largest one so far. Left over swords, spears, pikes, musketeers, warriors that somehow had been forgotten to be upgraded to swords, longbows, more knights, archers that had not been upgraded yet, more explorers, I actually left my homeland a little thin on defense... But I felt confident. The occasional boat landing was never actually threatening. Roughly 700 or so units all told.
I tore into Germany with all I had, razing any city I could that was only defended by spears or other weak unit types. Instead of cutting a line down the continent with a pillaging crew, I ripped up every last little bit of German soil I could get my hands on. I pillaged them back to the stone age... There was disorder and starvation. And my troops were being cut to ribbons by Germany's current army... But there were few replacements. Mostly it was longbows that started coming out to refill the ranks, but, oh holy moly, that was a LOT of longbows. I pulled back my stronger units to the no man's land of mountains where I had many fortresses and cannons and defensive nests. The weaker outdated units stayed behind and fought to the last man. There were a few leaders, but, none had made it home alive.
Meanwhile, at home, there was a massive production run on shiny new rifles, saddles, and uniforms for France's new Calvalry divisions. While my pitiful outdated units kept the Germans busy and kept workers from repairing the damage, and scrambling to hold off unescapable death... I was popping out Cavalry. When my armies had died, and the smell of canarge was still in the air, before Germany could catch it's breath again, I let loose with all the Calvary I had, led by a Calvary army from the new Military Academy. I carted over to the mainland by boat, and my homeland units decended on Germany. Over 100 cavalry, many of them upgraded knights I had left behind just for this purpose. I ripped through the very heart of German territory, destroying Hamburg, (Their capital) and razing city after city. Others got in on that action too. I met Egypt during the blitz... They had landed and founded a city. I prompty razed that to, just to be polite and say hello. German spears, with a scattering of pikes and muskets... Do not last long against Cavalry. Lots of leaders, some of which made it home by waiting boats or defensive supply lines, while others captured a smoking hulk of a city for only a moment to gather an army of fine French soldiers. My Cavalry numbers had nearly doubled, and, I was almost done with Magnetism to enter the Industrial age.
Swarms of Cavalry destroyed the Germans... They survived with two cities out on an island I could not land on till Marines.
Combined Arms. Another player advantage. The AI tends to be somewhat stupid in it's tactics and troop selections. I hammered Germany to the point of weakness with mostly ancient age units, using coordinated strikes and careful assaults to pave the way for what I had coming. While those units died, they served their purpose in paving the way for what had to be a perfect textbook example of cavalry charges. I built a long roadway down behind my main force as it went forward, and posted musketeers along the roadway in fortresses, using any hill or mountain I could find. If it was open ground, I used my combat engineers to plant forests. This was my vital supply line, it kept the war going over the huge landmass. I kept it well defended and if it was damaged, I would repair it ASAP. I would be able to take over this landmass, and soon.
Persia was caught with their pants down, at war with the Civs on the bottom of the land mass. I started settling the land now. My supply line road was vital to this cause. I planted a settler down where Berlin used to be and used a spare leader to rush a palace. Egypt and other civs, new civs, minor bit players wanted to settle here too... And I crushed them. I was the Pale Pink Menace.
Persia went down hard and fast. He had muskets in almost all of his cities, but only one musket usually. Along with a pike or two and a bunch of spears. Most of his armies were out in the field down south. He did not recall them home in time. I am actually using leaders now to rush temples in my newly founded cities.
I had 10 cities that did nothing but produce workers. Worker factories. Every turn, out came a worker. On Zulu island, they would go to the nearest port, would take a free cruise, the only vacation in their life, and then work the mainland.
Persia fought me down to the last Immortal, in the city of Ghulaman. Xerxes was executed for crimes against all Civ players.
Industrial now, have Nationalism and am working toward Communism. I started off, with barely a pink sliver of power on the graph, and now I am only second to Egypt. I was small and meaningless for the longest time. Now, I am about to unleash what has to be the worst can of whoopass I have ever opened in CivIII.
England died screaming, Liz did manage to get a few rifleman to try to fend off my Cavalry charges... But it did no good. America never made it to the Industrial age... And neither did the Iroquois. I had taken my home landmass and was settling it rapidly. I started seeing cities like Paris 2 and new I had achieved what I like to call critical mass which makes Communism work so well. I built a temple in each new city, followed by a courthouse to prepare for the new French Share The Wealth Program. I was going to have to get Universal Suffrage somehow, I just HAD to have it. Doubling the effect of police stations, including the corruption effects, made Communism absurdly powerful. Especially with a commercial civ. If I was lucky, I could get corruption down to 2 or 3, maybe 4 shields per city, giving me the production base I needed to crush all opposition. If I could get, say, 20 or 30 cities, each one producing a Tank every turn or two, I would be ok. I captured Leos from the Iroquois in Salamanca. I kept that city and took it last so it would be easier to manage.
Share The Wealth took effect quickly, only suffering a 5 turn Anarchy. I gained nearly 600 gpt! I lowered taxes considerably and cranked science and lux tax a bit... After tinkering a bit, I had ALL of my cities celebrating We Love The Saint Day, further killing corruption, raising up research time, and causing me to actually bring in more gpt then I could by raising taxes. Take note, sometimes it's better to lower taxes and raise lux instead if you need cash. Reaganomics works kids! 20% taxes, 30% lux, 50% sci. I was able to pull in Steam Power in 7 turns.
The city I founded on the site of old Berlin was an Ironworks city, and I had built a palace there. No wonder the Romans and all the AIs had a hardon for this city spot. I built the Ironworks, and cranked out Suffrage.
And suddenly, I was golden. I built Hoover Dam. I pushed infrastructure. Factories in all my new cities, and maybe a marketplace and a library. That's all most of these cities would ever produce. No banks, no universities, nothing that was not important. Aquaducts and hospitals were built only in cities that would get the most use out of them. I was cranking out Infantry and Artillary by the hundreds. I built transports. I built Smiths, which is a key wonder in a Communist Gambitâ¢.
Egypt was in Communism as well, but, the AI does not know how to properly exploit it's strengths. A few bit players had died as well over on Egypt's side of the world. I disbanded almost all of my Cavalry to push infrastructure in my new cities. They had served their purpose, and their time in the sun was done. Life was going to get BLOODY and I would not send hundreds of horses to their deaths. Humans are replaceable, they breed like rabbits, but horses are infact, better creatures in general then most human beings
Egypt had been sending over minor annoyances this whole time now. I was about to invade in force. I was going to plant close to 1000 infantry and over 1000 artillary on their shores. One HUGE naval invasion. I did not yet have airports, and no tanks. Yet. But Egypt needed to be slowed down now. Ironclads, destroyers, transports, and troops in the thousands. These are the armies of the Huge Map World. This was going to be ugly. Did I mention that Egypt had rails? I had not yet managed to plant a spy in Egypt, so I had no idea of what I was facing.
I was going to divide my forces into 3 seperate charges. I would invade from the North, in former Aztec lands. Hopefully, fewer troops and fewer rails out of Egypt's core. I would invade from the East, landing on Beijing's beach. This was Egyptian heartland... I wanted to draw as many troops as possible. And finally, my last bunch would land on the beaches of Thebes. Yes, the capital. It had Sun Tzus. I had no intentions of capturing Thebes, I intended to burn it to the ground, hopefully ridding Egypt of most of it's barracks. My trident three pronged attack served another purpose as well, pulling AI strings in three directions, hopefully gaining me enough footing to survive the initial assault.
If only if I had known what would happened when I landed I would have just went for a spaceship victory.
I landed. I planted around 500 troops or so at Thebes, plus equal numbers of artillary. About 200 in impossible to spell Aztec lands. And about 250 or so at Beijing.
Nothing happened after I hit the spacebar. Said please wait for a few moments. Then I thought my machine froze. But no... Egypt was moving it's masses to counter me.
I left my computer to go do stuff. I made lunch, ate, scooped kitty litter, fed critters, and said hello to all the birds sitting outside my living room window. I only meant to be away for about 10 minutes, but, it somehow had turned to 30 minutes. And when I got back to the computer... EGYPT WAS STILL MOVING TROOPS!!!
HOLY CRAP!! More then troop movement, there was furious battle. I had made Armies of Infantry, actual Armies from the Military Acadamy just for this purpose... And they were already getting chewed up. Egypt had matched my thousands with her thousands and thousands. Longbows, cavalry, rifles, infantry, knights, even swords flung themselves at my armies... My artillary was blasting... It took forver before it was my turn... My machine sat for over an hour while the opening battle played it self out.
Thebes took a pounding in the first turn, about 20 some odd infantry in the city plus older outdated units. Lots of units. Maybe a dozen muskets and a few rifles in there for good measure. My artillary blasted them down into the red, and many of my infantry died even against the wounded defenders. Thebes had been over size 20... It was blasted down to 8. And some conscription action in there too. I threw everything at it, knowing it was do or DIE. Sent injured units rushing against the walls...And in that first glorious turn of taking the war home to Egypt, Thebes fell. I burned it to the ground. My forces in former Azteca survived the landing assault. The forces at Beijing did not. The forces at Beijing Beach were slaughtered to the last man and my artillary was captured. Egypt had sent most of it's forces to Beijing... Beijing was an Ironworks City too, built on a coal hill and having iron in a mountain. The staggering losses at Beijing though, which had recieved most of Egypt's defending force, had allowed me to demolish Thebes. I vowed to avenge the staggering loss of human lives at Beijing Beach... I would not take any other Egyptian city till Beijing had been burned to the ground.
A few more bit players exited. All that was left was India, Egypt, myself, and Russia. We were the Big Dogs. Russia and India had their own islands, their own landmass, which made them tough nuts to crack. Russia had no rubber though, and India was out of iron for the time being. India was just bloody annoying... They sent elephants at me by the boatload. Elephants!! All that trumpeting... Elephants against Infantry... = Lots of dead elephants. It was pachyderm pandamonium. India would send over caravels and galleons by the dozens, each loaded full up with elephants. My Navy was tied up bombarding Egypt's coast line back to the stone age. I really should have peeled a boat or two or a dozen to rid my self of this problem, but it was no real threat. Why swat flies when I have a potential Godzilla to be rid off?
The Azteca Invasion Company went on a pillaging and looting spree. I blew up city improvements, blasted roads and a few rails, destroyed marketplaces and temples, and tore up a few lux tiles. Egypt fell apart... Most of their armies went back into their cities trying to police civil disorder.
I got tanks finally... Not modern armor, and not an overwhelming force, but still good in their own way. I had to strike while the iron was hot. Cleopatra needed a good French Spanking. Perhaps Cleo was unhappy and uptight because she needed a visit from Ol Colonel Angus?
I waited for a sizeable number of tanks to be built and started shipping them over, waiting patiently just off the beach under a stack of battleships and destroyers. I was taking no chances... I wanted Beijing in a bad way. I itched for it like a junkie craves smack. I had tank armies and infantry armies, fresh out of the military academy waiting for a green light. There was a narrow window of opportunity here, Egypt would most likely getting their own tanks too, once they could fix all the civil disorder and anarchy. Beijing, like most of Egypt's coast line, had suffered bombardment and was starving to death. Egypt was gassed... Sure, lots of fighting ahead, but, they were done for.
Beijing fell. I took great satisfaction in burning it to the ground. In that same turn, I took several other cities. Want to know how to destroy a Communist AI? Destroy their cities. Troop count support is based on number of cities, and, right before my eyes on the battlefield, troops just vanished. Egypt was unable to support such large armies. After more then a dozen cities burned, I started seeing results. An Army of rifles and infantry just vanished. Harbor anchors started disapearing as Cleo sold city improvements to pay for her armies. Cities starved and shrunk, causing further losses to the army as Communist army support is based also on city sizes.
There will be a part two in a bit.
![[Image: vipersig.jpg]](http://www.danasoft.com/vipersig.jpg)