Civilization V : THIS! IS!

[RK47]

The clock is ticking. The German War Machine is about to break Cape Town and they have settled near our borders. Pretty soon border tension will break and peace is nothing but history. Co-existence is only possible through lordship of others.

With a heavy heart, we marched towards German borders after resting in St. Petersburg. The two Russian cities are converted to puppet states. We let the governors handle their production while the workers are busy connecting the roads to Sparta.

Our nation is also the envy of the Arabs, the wealthiest nation to the south whose lands I've not yet discovered.

While the smaller ones plead for crumbs of the conquest.

I turned them away politely. And wrote their names in a tiny little scroll of vengeance. They will have to wait their turns.

We can finally tame these horses and use it in our fight. While taking longer to train and breed, our Companion Cavalry is the fastest horses in the land and able to hit and run with startling effectiveness.

A new era dawned upon us.

The Empress of China is willing to cooperate in a research pact. We've coin to spare and I'm counting on my luck to gain a nice breakthrough.

And with the study of trappings, we can now construct trading posts to generate more coins for the kingdom's coffers.

The captured workers have finished building the road from Sparta to Moscow and is now busy constructing trading posts everywhere.

More business deals concluded.

To the south of Moscow, we've finally arrived.

Prepare for Glory.

 

[ScottishMartialArts]

Whoa whoa whoa. No wonder Skyway hates the game :D

So can you annex these new minors without repercussions?

At this early stage of the game you can get away with it. Once other civs start establishing protectorates and allying themselves with city states, then you actually start pissing people off if you conquer a city state or two.

Great LP, btw. Learning a few things by watching you play, in fact. It had never occurred to me to barter away luxury resources for cash, since happiness is otherwise at such a premium.

MOAR!!!

 

[RK47]

Bismark let down his guard. The underpriced Gems we sold to him made him careless. There was nary a defender garrisoned at Munich. Each Hoplite took their respective positions as war was declared in the hills of Munich.

Munich is ours.

And Cape Town is overjoyed.

Bismark was also in a middle of yet another greedy expansion, he sent a settler guarded with a lone swordsman past Sparta, where I dispatched a hoplite unit, warrior and scout to do a quick encirclement aided with the city's bombardment.

And Cape Town bought us more time to assault Cologne.

We also unlocked the secrets of construction, which allows us to build Colosseum to entertain the populace and build walls to defend ourselves. More importantly, roads now include bridges to cross rivers more quickly.

We razed Cologne to the ground as the workers flee in terror.

A sudden rush of wind from the East.

Cologne burned in the South as the Battle of Cape Town reaches its peak.

A tempting offer...

The hilly terrain back at Sparta makes defensive battle slightly more advantageous, if only I have the units to do so. A warrior, a hoplite, scout and one archer was all I had to defend it. A newly trained Cavalry will be facing swarms of spearmen and archers. Not good odds.

Shall I make peace with the Germans? Will it make a difference if the main forces return to Sparta? Stay tuned!

 

[ScottishMartialArts]

The force you have in front of Sparta should be enough to handle the Japs, provided that there aren't 6 Japanese swordsman just beyond your LOS, and provided that you deploy your forces well.

How much left does Bismark have? If Bismark still has multiple cities and a moderately sized army, and if Japan has a much larger army waiting just off screen, it might be preferable to let Bismark pay dearly for a 10 turn respite while you deal with the Japanese. Once the Japanese are no longer an immediate threat, and those 10 turns are up, you can pick up right where you left off.

How far off is Iron Working btw?

 

[RK47]

I think it's not really priority at the moment. Cause Horses > Iron for me. The problem here is the Japan AI. Is he going to stop or continue?

The problem with German AI is, if you let him get Civil Service and unlock his Unique Pikeman, he'll start swarming you like nobody's business. It's cheap to make and cost the same as Spearmen except it has 10 attack! Think I saw a catapult too. So definitely need to finish them off when I continue my game.

Japan...I got no idea what they're tech like. But if they unlock Samurai I might be in trouble with Bushido damage.

 

[ScottishMartialArts]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the Landknecht. Too bad Civil Service is so early in the tech tree, huh?

 

[DwarvenFood]

Nice to see a LP of this.. keep it up!

 

[RK47]

Thoughts from work:
1. Russia - eliminated
Their unique ability is Siberian Riches - each strategic resource tiles under their control (i.e horses, iron) gives an extra hammer and double yield. Nightmare scenario - 12 swordsman attacking Sparta averted.

2. Germany - war in the south
Cannot be underestimated. Advancing to Civil service will give access to cheap pikemen. Since they have no resource requirement, Bismark can spam these at will while the iron goes to his siege engines. I've already seen a few catapults, these things pulverize a full strength hoplite to 1 health when caught in the open. Definite threat. Set to terminate. The AI bear grudges lasting ages. There can be no peace.

3. Japan - war in the east.
Unknown strength. Access to iron is confirmed. If they can slingshot to Samurais, I'd be in trouble. But I haven't seen much aside from Spears, Archers and the odds swords. No visible lands either. No time to scout with war going on. Will play defensively till German front is done.

4. Arabs - Hostile - somewhere south of Germany
These guys has the highest points so far. Probably the richest nation as well with multiple research pacts between nations, ensuring tech. superiority. Will check Military Advisor claims that 'they have an army that threaten our very existence'. They'll probably declare war soon.

5. China - Neutral bordering upon hostile - Unknown location
They will never deal fairly with us anymore. We've developed a bad reputation by breaking deals with the Germans & Russians. Might still be useful for research pact buddies tho.

6. Songhia - Southwest of Germans - Unknown location
Current holder Lhasa, a city state we captured early game. I've seen two of their horsemen unit making a bee line for Copenhagen to take it over. Will have to see if they succeed or not. I'm not in the mood to piss them off. They're our best customers so far and will pay fair trade prices. But things might change if Lhasa and Copenhagen borders grew too close to Sparta.

There's one more unknown rival out there. But so far this is what we've got. Hands are kinda full. Let's pray I won't die a horrible death. Predicting I might lose to technological advantage in the end.

 

[Kthan75]

"Can't we all just get along?"

Meaning, I guess you're not really aiming for a diplomatic or cultural victory.

Speaking of those, how easy/hard it to win the game other than domination? In Civ 4 the space or domination victories were most common, and cultural was somewhat difficult.

What's it like in Civ 5?

I just started my first Civ 5 game, i'm around turn 70. This game is to discover how the game is played. Some things I like (combat and the new culture system), others suck (some of the stuff skyway said), but haven't made up my mind about the game yet.
What i know for sure, it's still very easy to get addicted to see just one more turn...

 

[Kthan75]

Also, great LP.

 

[Luzur]

Always bet on Paradox!

atleast til you read in the codex news section that EA is going to buy them up.

 

[RK47]

Thanks. Skyway's complaints are valid. They neutered the AI. There really isn't much they can do below Immortal level when you rush them with simply Spearmen. But some are outright lies. He mentioned High Strength always overcome lower strength, that's not true. With ranged firepower and flanking maneuvers, even a lowly Hoplite can defeat a superior foe like a Swordsman, like I demonstrated twice in this game. Each extra friendly unit occupying a tile next to a hostile will add 15% flanking bonus. So always try to do that to minimize damage inflicted when attacking a highly fortified foe.

I can't possibly go for Culture victory in Deity. These guys are overwhelmingly hostile. They start with 2 settlers and expand like rabbits. Which means border tension is unavoidable. There's no respect from their side, even if it's clearly their fault for settling so close to my territory. Science victory? No fucking way. I'm near the bottom of the science rank until I unlock the Patronage state policy to gain city states science rates. I haven't even had time to build a monument in my capital city. LOL.

 

[ScottishMartialArts]

So are you back from work yet? MOAR?

 

[RK47]

...Well. fuck. Someone revisited Mass Effect 2 LP and ate my image hosting account's bandwidth. Time to delete that thread. LOL. I really need another image hosting account.


Yeah, I'm back from work.

 

[Overweight Manatee]

"Can't we all just get along?"

Meaning, I guess you're not really aiming for a diplomatic or cultural victory.

Speaking of those, how easy/hard it to win the game other than domination? In Civ 4 the space or domination victories were most common, and cultural was somewhat difficult.

What's it like in Civ 5?

Basically, the only way to keep enemies from randomly declaring war on you and maintain peace is to have a standing army significantly larger then theirs, to the point where you have nothing to lose by conquering them and taking a domination victory anyway. I frankly can't see how anyone could go for a non-domination victory, you would just be spamming end turn for an hour because there is almost no depth to the non-combat portion of the game.

 

[ScottishMartialArts]

So RK, what's your opinion of Civ 5? Banal, shit, boring? Good for what it is? Ought to be good once it gets out of beta?

 

[RK47]

Scott: I think it has a slightly more interesting combat. But anything below Emperor's difficulty is terrible. There's no challenge with the current AI. Empire management is kinda dumbed down. I'm milking every last bit of fun in deity at the moment. Probably the easiest Civ I've ever played.

In Defense of Sparta.

The fog of war concealed much. Japanese invasion currently consists of an archer, swordsmen and a spearmen division.

So we dared to be brave.
Ok. Here's how it goes.
1. Hoplites will rush for the archers.
2. Archers bombard the weaker spearmen.
3. Warriors stopgap the spearmen.
4. Scouts provide flanking bonus against the Spearmen, who are in uphill position
5. Cavalry then finishes off the move by charging at the Spearmen.

At the end of the move, the fog war uncovered a terrible truth.

We're in trouble. The warriors were slaughtered by Swordsmen, Scouts butchered by Archers. And the Cavalry destroyed by enemy spears rushing forward. A newly trained hoplite rushed from the gates of Sparta into the fight.

Against my better judgement, I did not pull back my archers and decided to pepper the adjacent swordsman instead. The forward hoplite completes his rush at the enemy archer, killing it. The next turn, that hoplite eats a fistful of arrows and nearly died.

Amazingly, our archer survived the swordsman rush. Barely.

And what's more, the people have gained enough happiness to trigger a golden age. LOL. This means we'll have increased gold and production.

Still got a battle to win.

1.The heavily wounded hoplite will be probably die in the front anyway. So I pull him behind the swordsman to add 15% flanking bonus.
2. Then using the combined flanking bonus from both the archer and hoplite, the full strength hoplite finishes off the swordsman.
3. Finally, our Archer retreat to heal.

A king...must do what he must.

 

[Rude Dude]

I wouldn't trust them

 

[RK47]

Meanwhile, down south....

We descend upon Hamburg. A catapult was caught in the open and destroyed.

In Moscow, a hero emerges! Ivan the Terrible will lead the men in Sparta against the evil Japanese!

Give them NOTHING! But take from them EVERYTHING!

The Germans' Last Stand, LANDSKNECHT!

Two divisions stood before Berlin. Defending her to to death!

The men moved in encircling positions to bait the wounded defenders into attacking. One across the river to the south. Others move onto the grass tile outside of Hamburg. The General moved slightly south to cover a two tile radius around him to command the army.

It worked. There's a German general in Berlin and it cancelled out my General bonus. But the rough terrains and flanking bonuses was enough for our hoplites to repel the Landknecht and kill them outright when they attacked!

Our smiths promise iron swords.

You fought well, Bismark.

King Leonidas marched out of the German Palace all smiles. He will now have enough to repel Japan from the East. He hasn't signed that humiliating peace treaty yet...

That smile turned into frown however, when he turned his sights to the southern horizons.

"Arabs," he spat under his breath.

 

[Brother None]

Fight them all, Leonidas! For glory or DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEATH!

 

[Silellak]

Regardless of your opinion of the game itself, this LP fucking rocks.

This means we'll have increased gold and production.

I'm pretty sure a Golden Age makes your units fight substantially better, too. Isn't it something like a +50% bonus?

 

[RK47]

Choices and consequences:

Arabs catapults are in the open. What are their intention moving such forces along the southern borders? We could dismantle his siege engines easily if we strike the first blow.

How to deal with Japanese attacking forces? Shall reinforcements be called from the southern Hoplite forces?

Tech. Research - Military / Economy? We have no catapults.

 

[Silellak]

Choices and consequences:

Arabs catapults are in the open. What are their intention moving such forces along the southern borders? We could dismantle his siege engines easily if we strike the first blow.

How to deal with Japanese attacking forces? Shall reinforcements be called from the southern Hoplite forces?

Tech. Research - Military / Economy? We have no catapults.

I dunno, you could get screwed by Fog of War again. Who knows how many units are waiting just past those catapults? I'd say call up your southern forces and repel the Japanese rather than open up a 2nd front, especially since it looks like your southern Hoplites don't seem to be in the best of shape.

 

[deuxhero]

Can you ask China or Songhia for military aid against either Japan or the Arabs?

 

[RK47]

They won't help. I'm having trouble pacing the LP. Cause they won't sign peace. And I can't settle the wars quickly. I'm stuck on defense. And that is probably the first road to defeat.

Anyone got any tips? Halp?

And the AI tendency to just eat the weakest nation is going to turn me into a target practice soon enough.