Civ-4 GOTM 01: Rome
- A brave new world
- Early expansion
- War (huh!)
- Planning
- Fixing my broken economy
- Meeting everyone
- Spreading the faith
- The UN
- Victory and conclusion
RBCiv4 Epic 1
Theta Tau
RBCiv4 Adventure 2
RBCiv4 Adventure 1
RBCiv4 Adventure 3
RBCiv4 Adventure 4
GOTM 3
Fatal Errors 1
RBCiv4 Adventure 8
RBCiv Epic 4
RBCiv Epic 5
GOTM 8
RBCiv Adventure 9
RBCiv4 Epic 6
RBCiv4 Epic 7
Adventure 42 - Joy to the World
Adventure 45 - Hannibal's Muse
Okay now that I have a chance to review the results of Session 2, time to think about a few things.
- I don't have a religion. The early 3 have all been founded (I believe). That leaves me Theology, Code of Laws, Philosophy or Divine Right as my religion techs. Philosophy needs Drama and Meditation. Code of Laws I could get with Meditaiton and Priesthood (cheaper techs). Theo would need Polytheism and Monotheism and Divine Right is after that. I think that I'm pretty advanced, and have a decent shot at the free Great Artist with Music. But if I take that, I might not get Philo first for Taoism. The other option would be just to not sweat a religion and just convert to a religion of the other continent (I don't think Alex has one).
- I need some galleys out. Given the fact that due to the first post of the first spoiler thread (which by definition is not a spoiler) I know contact with the other continent is not far off. As an aside, in the future I think I will not even read the first post of that thread till I'm sure I'm past the criteria, since I think even knowing this much is kind of spoilery. But the mods said it was not a spoiler, and I'm not going to bother "pretending" I don't know that. I don't know to which side I should start exploring, but Cumae (as my only coastal city for now) needs to build a galley or 2 to head west and east.
- I want to claim this whole continent. I have 3 cities now, and Alex has 3 with a 4th on the way. I figure maybe 2 cities to the north of Rome, another one west of Antium, one in between my lands and Greece (kind of in the desert) and maybe 1 or 2 in the southwest. There is a barb city NW of Rome that a praet or two should be able to take out. That would make about 12 cities total for my empire. I'm not going to bother expanding off the continent unless I have to.
Okay so what are my objectives in this war. I think if I take Athens, that would cut off the supply of both copper and iron (as it doesn't look like any of his other cities would get either the iron or copper in their city radius. Maybe the new city to the NE of Athens would get iron - it would depend on where exactly it gets placed but it's only going to have 9 tiles at first.
Speaking of 9 tiles, I'm going to need Drama soon to build Theatres as a cheap border expander, since when I do Calendar, my obelisks will expire. I think my plan is to finish Math, then go Drama, Calendar, Music, Philosophy (Meditation first if I can't trade for it by then - it should be a 1-2 turner).
I'm going to want to turn science down to 90% to get cash positive. I have about 95 gold and going from 100-90 takes me from -2 to +3 gpt I believe. I may need to upgrade another warrior or two.
Okay back to the war. I think I must strike at Athens. I will approach from the west. The forces that I already have will begin their trek immediately. I really don't want to wait because by the time I get down there we may have even more forces to deal with. 4 Praets (the 3 existing ones and the one rolling off the line in Antium in 2 turns), my 1 axe, and the scouting warrior already there will be Task Force Athens. We will approach from the west. The first mission will be destroying the phalanx on the copper. Once he is gone, the warrior will stay back to pillage the hill (allowing the good units to continue the march to Athens).
By the time those forces have made it to the south to Athens, I'm going to want to have Task Force Sparta on its way to its objective (umm Sparta, duh?). With (at least) 2 axes and an archer, I'm going to want probably 3 Praets, or maybe 2 Praets and an axe. Maybe I should reduce science to 80% to get some more gold to upgrade, especially considering I'm not going to want to leave the northern front undefended due to barbs. I think even one axe in the north would probably be enough.
The hill 2NW of Sparta (where TF Sparta would need to be) is 6 tiles from Rome, 6 from Cumae and 7 from Antium. Though I guess by that time war would already be declared so add 1 more tile for it to be next to Sparta and ready for whuppin.
The jump off point for TF Athens will be 3W,NW of Athens or WNW of the copper mine. My graphics suck, but I believe I can get there in 8 turns from Antium. 11 turns from Rome and 11 from Cumae. Actually going through Greek lands I think I can make it in 10 turns from Cumae and 9 from Rome. If I had a better idea of where I might get thrown out if I declared war while in Greek lands, I might give that a try, but 10 turns will get me N-NW of the copper mine.
I may need to veto the worker in Rome to build 2 more Praets to have enough folks for TF Sparta. If I can take Sparta and Athens while ensuring that the Greek copper and iron remains unhooked up, then I can sign peace and re-declare in 10 turns. Or I can continue whuppin should I have enough forces. I do need to get some galleys, workers and settlers going, so a 10 turn break might be worth it.
Wow you're still here? :-). Okay now that I've had a chance to look at things, it looks like some changes. I veto the worker in Rome for a Praet, and drop science to 80% (+6 gpt). I put one of Antium's citizens on a plains hill to get another shield. Cumae will grow in one but after that I'm going to halt growth to work the iron hill, and switch it to a galley. A Praet and an axe go from Rome to the staging spot, while Cumae's Praet heads towards the iron in case we need to knock that out too. Because I'm a loser :-), I take the time to rename these guys "Task Force Athens 1-5". Since we're at 25 years apart, war should be declared in 775 BC.
975 - Now that CUmae grew to 3, I have halted its growth, galley in 6.
950 - Antium Praet-Praet. Worker south of Rome finishes his mine. I stare for awhile. Greek update. Sparta has a phalanx and an archer. Corinth (new city) has 3 axes, Athens has a phalanx and 3 archers.
900 - TFSparta1 is formed in Rome.
875 - I see a settler in Athens. This could be a good thing.
825 - Math->Calendar (I decided to do that before Drama). TFSparta2 in Rome. Galley->Galley in Cumae. 4 barbs start in my lands - 2 near Rome and 2 near Antium.
800 - I promote an axe to deal with the northern barbs. Send Antium's Praet to take care of the western barbs.
775 - Before I can get to the Greeks, 2 barb warriors die to my axe near Rome. And now war!
The eastern praet captures the worker of course, and 2 praets, 1 axe and a warrior invade from the west (with another praet 1 turn behind). I see 2 axes and a settler on the road to Sparta - wonder what they will do. 750 - Promote TFA4 to Combat 1 and send him in at 8.8-8.0 odds - he wins.
725 - No counterattacks. The TFA5 Warrior pillages the copper mine. The settler heads off to the NW of Sparta with his 2 axes. Antium's praet finishes off the western barbs. I divert TFA6 to Sparta, because it's on a hill and I think it will be harder to take. 700 - Okay here it goes. 3 Praets and an Axe vs. a Phalanx and 5 archers. Praet (8) vs. archer (3) should be a rout. TFA1 is promoted to City Raider 1 and in he goes at 8.0-7.8 odds and wins, but is down to 0.4 health. Down goes another archer. The copper-phalanx killing praet is promoted to cover. But he and the axe are still too weak. 675 - Praet->Praet in Antium and Galley->Worker in Cumae. This galley heads north to go that way.
650 - Things aren't going that well in Athens. 3 Praets in Sparta should be able to take out a Phalanx and an archer. First praet dies but knocks the phalanx to 0.5/5. 2nd one kills the archer and 3rd one mops up the phalanx without a scratch and Sparta is mine.
525 - Things haven't been going that well. I'm not much of a warmonger. I've been trying to build up forces near Athens. I sent a Praet up to Magyar (barb city). He whacks the warrior with no problem. I raze Delphi.
I'd have liked to have waited till it was Size 2 to keep it, but oh well. 475 - Sparta Warrior->Barracks. Cumae Worker->Library (to expand the borders). Magyar is captured.
450 - Confucianism founded and the Oracle built.
425 - Alex will take peace. I'm thinking about it, but maybe not yet. I do have some war weariness starting to creep in.
400 - Calendar->Drama.
325 - Neapolis formed north of Rome. I had the settler for awhile, but after my doom in Epic 1, I have learned a lesson about barbs. Okay, this is it for Athens. 2 healed praets, 4 injured ones and a healed axeman. After twice! losing my praet despite being up 8.0-7.2 in odds (and only barely scratching the archer), this time at 8.0-7.2 I win without a scratch. Naturally the next praet at 8.0-6.4 dies. An axe dies, but I knock Athens down to one final defender. I'm at even odds with my last wounded praet, but I'll hold off a turn since I have the first guy at full strength to go in 300 BC.
300 - And down she goes!
I decide to take peace for now because I don't have any units left to fight on. But I plan on finishing off Alex in 10 turns.
There are horses at Thermo, and 2 more sets W and NW of Rome. I circumnavigate the continent and find... nothing? Hmm...maybe I'm not as smart as I thought. There's a barb axe messing around near Rome. I was worried but he attacks Rome and dies. I had one axe in Rome but nothing else and wasn't willing to attack him and risk losing.
250 - barracks->Library in sparta.
200 - Barb pillages my mine before I kill him. First silks come in. Pisae formed in the SW - it has crabs, copper and stone in range.
Not much goes on until 25 BC when the 10 turns is up. Which means!
Then in 100 AD, I raze Pharsalos and down goes Alex. Time to stop for the night and plan for the next time.
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