2020-01-28 (c) Brett Paufler # # # # # # DIPLO # # # # # # 2020-01-29 4000BC T0 The goal is to Win either a Diplomatic or Religious Victory. But I am not going to be too particular. So, maybe the concept is that I want to be open to that sort of Victory. Meaning, I should at least have some of the pieces in place. Thus, I intend to Found both Hinduism and Judaism... and sweep the Religious Wonders. {In the Winning Game (my fourth attempt), I elected not to Build a Single Wonder!} {The following is an explanation as to why I chose Huayna Capac as my Leader.} Interestingly, I did a bit of math and assuming 5 Cities with 5 Tiles for 500 Turns (5x5x500), the Financial Trait is worth 12,500 Beakers. The way I build Wonders, Industrious is worth a fair number of Hammers, as well. The next closest contender (for me) was Spiritual for the lack of Anarchy, but it is hard to believe the Hammer/Beakers will be close... especially since I tend to run the same Civics the entire game: Representation, Bureaucracy, Caste, Free Market, Organized Religion. On the other hand, it is fun to be able to Revolt whenever without any hit. {And now, back to Our Game, already in progress.} Researching: Polytheism -> Mining -> Masonry -> Monotheism I will likely reload if I miss Polytheism. For the Builds, I'll forgo both Stonehenge and The Great Wall; and instead, will get a few Workers and Settlers out first... maybe try for a Quechua rush if that looks viable. # # # 2020-01-28 630BC T287 I am looking at the time it is going to take for me to Build a Library (23 Turns) and I am losing heart. The Diplomatic situation is not that bad. Half the board hates me. And the other half does not. What's really nice is that Tacky is smack dab in the middle between me and the Enemy... so no worries. Still, I am going to reload. If I shift my Capitol one Tile East, I get an extra Hill. Actually, I thought it was two, so that's not so great. And then, I had a thought. What if I switched this to a One City Challenge. We are all on the same continent, so I can do that {with an Inland Start}. Victory will be difficult, however. Still, with an Ally I can pull it off. I think I shall. Perhaps, I shall change back. But that's the plan. Those two Oasis are going to get changed into Hills. {I opted not to change a thing in the end. I simply reloaded and shifted my City one Tile to the East.} # # # # # # END -01 START -02 # # # # # # 2020-01-28 970BC T253 I lost the race to Confucianism by 5 Turns. I'm not going to accept that. I don't feel like my play is inspired. In truth, I likely have a great map for Total War, so I may be hobbling myself by focusing on anything else. Still, in the end, it is Enemies on all sides. And Early Wars have never much to my benefit. On the other hand, I do not feel like I am running away with the Tech Race... so, Cannons against Longbows seems unlikely. Perhaps, I should try for Buddhism, instead... and then, switch focus. Live with a single Religion and work the War Game from there. # # # # # # END -02 START -03 # # # # # # 2020-01-28 210AD T371 This go round is turning out rather well. I don't have the Wonders that I usually do. But I have Gunpowder at 210AD. And in under 100 Turns, I expect to have Steel. Three Civilizations Attacked me in concert... or really, what I should say is that they Declared War in unison. Snow Leopard was the instigator and arrived with a Stack of Units that I handily Defeated with nary a single casualty. After which, he gave me 45 Gold for Peace. So, thanks for the Experience Snowman. John the Pole has two Units on my Border. And I expect to kill both of them in a turn or two. Oh, just by-the-by, I've got the best Units on the board. No one else has Civil Service, so I am rocking Heavy Infantry versus much weaker stuff. I only have the single City. And for the moment, I want for no more. After Steel (and building a dozen Cannons or so), I will go on the Offensive. But not yet. When I do, I will Capture more. I just looked on the Demographic screen. I don't really know what it means, but I have 373 GNP, versus my Best Rival who is at 202 GNP. It is very likely my first target will be Mansu. But it is too early to tell. I guess I will go for one of the Tech Laggards. Yep. I've got a good 100 Turns of hitting End Turn ahead of me... unless things get interesting and larger Stacks are sent my way. # # # 2020-01-29 925AD T485 The Cannons worked wonders against the Zulus. Unfortunately, I did lose a few Units (5 odd) in a game where I can't really afford to lose any. And when Mandela (the Zulu Leader) took a City back, I lost faith. There are quicker routes to Gunpowder and Steel than I took {down the Tech Tree}. And this is the route I should go. Also, I question whether The Great Library is worth the diversion. Though, I like having the single City. The truth is that it will never get much beyond where it is. I don't have the Health Resources to let it grow. As such, I am thinking that a target Size of 10 or so is more prudent, allowing me to fit two starting Cities in my Starting Land Grant. I should expand more. But I don't know where. I really only like awesome Cities. Also, though it would be nice to be Friendly with Persia, that does not seem to be happening. # # # # # # END -03 START -04 {The Final Game!} # # # # # # 2020-01-29 525AD T405 It has been quite the playing spree this morning. Basically, it's all I've done. I am going straight for the Military Technologies. Which means, my Research is at half or less of what it was in the Previous Game. On the other hand, I have expanded peacefully to 8 Cites, making me third or so in Power. Unfortunately, Darius is first. And I protect him from Tacky, both of whom may well have been fighting by now if they shared a border. 8 Cities 3 Producing Units Tacky is a bit backward, not even having Longbows. So, he is sure to be my first target... unless Darius Attacks. All Four Games have been different enough. Yes, the Board layout is the same. But the Religious alignments are different. The Last Game and This Game, Mansu Peace Vassalled to Darius. I do not know what Darius gets out of it. I mean, since he could eat Mansu, he's not getting much out of it really. If he had ate Mansu, he'd have the game wrapped up. Period. # # # T411: Tacky Declared War, which makes sense for Tacky... but not in reality. I do not have his Target City Garrisoned nearly enough. But I have superior troops, so I may last. # # # T412: I lost a single Longbow in the Assault. If Darius does not Declare on me, this is a non-issue. # # # 2020-01-29 710AD T442 I have Captured the first Japanese City that was worth saving. Well, the first City that I Captured Auto-Razed, but I might have Razed it anyway. I got fairly lucky in my Attack. I lost one or two Units. I just checked. It was one. But there were plenty of Attacks at 85%. So, I could have lost a bunch more. Of course, 85% means 1 in 6 or so. Which means, I probably lost what one could expect. Thankfully, the loss came late in the Attack. So, it did not feel so dear. Darius' Power is growing ever steadily. Soon, it will be twice mine. Which is a shame, since I'm at 50% Unit Production. Sure, I can go 50% higher. But that last 50% doesn't mean all that much. Darius is Plotting. But he can't Plot at Pleased. So, hopefully that is locked in. # # # T445: Tacky will Capitulate. But I am inclined not to accept. He has two more Cities that I want. This War really has just begun. Also, I just decimated his Stack. So, there's not much left. All the AI ever has is that first Stack. They lose the will or knowledge to fight after that... and just sort of wait for the end. Thus, I am inclined to finish Tacky off. If Darius Attacks, that's bad. If the Pole Attacks, that probably doesn't make any difference. Yeah, the Pole is almost as backward as Tacky. He poses little threat. Darius is the one who can tear me a new one. # # # 2020-01-29 805AD T461 The Japanese Civilization is no more. I feel kind of sad about knocking Tacky out. But I really had no choice. Well, we always have choices. But he Declared on me. And I would have gained nothing by accepting his Capitulation. John the Pole got a few of Tacky's Cities. At five, I got the majority. More importantly, I have been over estimating Darius' Stack: 4 Crossbows 2 Horsemen 1 Immortal 8 Catapults It is enough to take over Any One City. But that is it: One City. Assuming I am given the chance, I am going to Build Infrastructure for the next 35 Turns, amass a bit of Gold, convert my Trebuchets to Cannons, and go after someone new. Someone may force the issue. Also, Tacky was pretty much everyone's enemy, so who knows who will be next. It could well be me. I've pretty much refused every Diplomatic Request This Game. # # # T473: We have a World Wide Love Fest Going On. No one is Plotting. No one has a Worst Enemy. I will be changing that and marching down the Peninsula before too long. Say, another 50 Turns on the outside. Likely, a bit sooner. # # # T493: John the Pole has Declared War, saving me from having to think about whether to Attack him or Darius. John it is. It looks like the Zulu Nation will be joining him before long. # # # 2020-01-29 1000AD T500 Darius is going to be hard to knock out. Mansu and Darius are Teching way faster than I am. On the other hand, I still have Cannons on everyone and Gunpowder on everyone but Mansu. John killed my three Defenders with no casualties, which seems kind of cheap. But then, I would have taken the reverse. And I do not know what his odds were... or the promotions involved. I do know that I basically had better troops. Anyway, I took the City back and have taken over the City John took from Tacky. My Stack is marching south. # # # 2020-01-29 1335AD T527 And that, my dear friend John the Pole, is why it is a mistake to Declare War on someone much more Powerful. John is no more. I haven't a single ship, so I gave Sitting Bull Peace for 110 Gold. Darius and Mansu are pulling away. I still may get the victory, however, as I'll control the rest of the map outside of their territories. Still, if they get Infantry and Artillery ahead of me, I am sunk. I have Steel on Mansu and Chemistry on Darius. But that will not last long. Unless someone else volunteers by Declaring, I will be Attacking Smoke Leopard next. It will be a two pronged Attack, coming up from the South with the Troops I used against John and coming down from the North with Fresh Recruits. Smoke Loepard does not have Gunpowder. Which means, he doesn't stand a chance. Unless I counted wrong, Darius has 42 Units Stacked in Tarsus. It is too many for me to Defeat at the moment. So, yes. Smoke Leopard is next. I just hope Declaring on Smokey won't push me over the limit with Darius. Maybe I should antagonize Smoke Leopard... whose real name, it turns out, is Smoke Jaguar. # # # I should note somewhere that this fourth game comes courtesy of numerous restarts in the first 100 Turns as I tried to get the Micro right. {So if one wants to count those, it's more like the 8th Game on This Map.} Also, I made some mistakes in the notes, filing the wrong copy away. I think I managed to set the right copy as the master. But one never knows. There was an error. Who knows how many or how deep the error went? # # # 2020-01-30 When writing, I do manual version control by renaming my files. file_save.text - 2020-01-28 - 1 file_save.text - 2020-01-28 - 2 file_save.text - 2020-01-28 - 3 file_save.text - 2020-01-29 - 1 And then, at the end of a writing session, I pull the older versions into a repository {a special directory created for that purpose}, which I compress and keep forever to prove any writing {or other creative work} is mine. Thus, I have sequential build ups of my work, along with a history of the edits... to a point. It takes up a fair amount of space, as a novel may consume half a meg as a doc file for each save. But after compression, most things reduce to about the size of a single copy. So, long-term, it makes no difference. Anyway, yesterday, I must have misnamed my documents somehow, because the last file I kept was not the last version. file_save.text - 2020-01-28 - 1 file_save.text - 2020-01-28 - 2 file_save.text - 2020-01-28 - 3 file_save.text - 2020-01-29 - 1 Files named thusly sorts in order on my computer. So, I grab everything but the last file and move it to storage, leaving the latest as my working copy. Yesterday, I assume (there were other errors, so who knows for sure at this point where things stand or what I lost), I misnamed my document, kept the wrong copy, noticed the error (I'm sure that I don't always), and corrected the mistake. However, after such occurrences, I always wonder how much I lost... its unsettling, because, you know, long-term, how much stuff have I deleted without noticing. I have dreams about this sort of thing... you know, as in, there are novels that I've completely forgotten that I've written... which is probably true, as this is most definitely true for short stories... or throw away asides like this. # # # 2020-01-30 I would prefer not to play today and write instead. That likely will not happen, as my brain obsesses on the game. It's one of its addictive properties. When I do start, I need to go slow. There is no sense rushing into the War with Smoke Jaguar. But that just means a 5-10 Turn wait rather than Declaring immediately. If this switches Darius from Pleased to Cautious, I am doomed. Once Smoke and Mandela are eaten completely, there will be a long period of hitting End Turn as I build up my forces, Darius Out Techs me, and I build my population to Win a Diplomatic Victory. I have every expectation that Mansu Mansu will be a bud and build the United Nations for me when the time comes. # # # 2020-01-30 1150AD T530 Time to press my neighbours for Cash and Other valuable prizes. I knew I wanted to wait a few Turns prior to Declaring on Smokey, so I asked him for Optics and he gave it. I'm going to ask something of everyone. Smoke Jaguar gave me Optics. Sitting Bull and I have a Peace, so I cannot Demand Tribute. In other news, I have a Missionary headed his way with a Galley under Construction. And I want to Convert at least one City to Judaism prior to angering him. Mandela refused Theology and then Music, which I knew he would the second having refused the first. Interestingly, our Diplomacy was not effected. I got a -1 for Demanding Music of Mansu, which he refused. Darius refused Music, but he is Pleased so there was no Diplomatic Hit. {Thus, in the end, I got Optics from Smoke Jaguar.} # # # 2020-01-30 1250AD T550 I am at War with Smoke Jaguar. This is the first time I have seen the Blockade function put to good use. The only Trade Route that I have to my Southern Cities (those that I Captured from John the Pole) lay along Smoke Jaguar's Coast (and through his Lands). So, he has Blockaded the Route. The net result is a little Unhappiness in Marginal Cities. But it is more than I have ever managed... or seen in action before. The really important thing is that Darius is not Attacking... and to a lesser extent (in importance, he certainly is not Attacking to the same degree), neither is Mandela. Mandela is next. And if he were smart, he'd be aiding Smoke Boy. # # # 2020-01-30 1330AD T566 Smoke Jaguar is no more. It's sort of odd that Civilizations which are about to be Destroyed don't offer everything. "If you don't Kill me, I'll give you all I've got... and like you, to boot." But they don't. So the smart play is to eat them whole. I have 405 Votes in the Apostolic Palace and need 450 for the Win. No one else will vote for me, of course. So that means owning The World. I'm 27 Turns away from Researching Steam Power and another 51 Turns after that away from Railroads. It seems a hopeless matter to grow organically to the size I need. So, I'll be planning on another War. Of course, if I attack Mandela, I expect Darius to Declare. So maybe, the play is to Declare on Darias, as I don't think Mandela has what it takes to be a threat. I Revolted (for 5 Turns) into my End Game Civics: Representation Bureaucracy Cast System Mercantilism Organized Religion I typically like Free Market over Mercantilism. But I don't have Corporations. In all likelihood, this game will be over before I have access to Free Markets. Actually, Revolting may have been a bad idea. But it is done. {Eh, let's figure it out. Was Changing Civics a bad idea?} I have 27 Cities, so Mercantilism yields me an extra 162 Beakers a Turn. And I was running at something like... well, I was going to say 360 Beakers/Turn or so. But I can figure it out. Railroad at 20,181 Beakers = 51 Turns So, I was getting 395 Beakers a Turn, which means I make up the Beakers for Revolting in around 12 Turns. Factor in lost Hammers (by offsetting every lost Hammer with an additional Beaker), and I'm ahead after 25 Turns or so. Smoke Jaquare had The Pyramids, so I am Running Representation. Thus, a Scientist is worth 6 Beakers. And of course, I can run Merchants elsewhere, allowing me to increase the slider, and get more beakers to those Cities with Libraries and such. Then again, I haven't even Discovered Education, much less Built a single University. So, advancing the Slider really doesn't make much difference. A Beaker is a Beaker. I do, however, have a number of Gold Buildings. Whatever. I must get ready for an outing. # # # 2020-01-31 1476AD T633 I Begged 1 Gold each from Darius and Sitting Bull, which gave me 10 Turns Peace. The Next Turn (so, my timing on this was not ideal), I Declared War on Mandela. I expect this War to be over before anyone can Counter Attack. And I expect to Win a Religious Victory in 16 Turns at the next Election, as my Vassalled Zulu Friends will vote for me. Game Over! But I intend to play it out. # # # 2020-02-01 1512AD T651 Religous Victory! Score: 4223 Normalized: 160390 The Game Play was not that much different from a Typical Game. It's actually amazing that I would say such a thing. The End Game was exactly the same. But I became a Tech Laggard, had little infrastructure, and Built not a single Wonder. So, yeah, it was a lot different. It's sort of annoying that The Game (any of them) is not continuing on until the later years. Seriously, I barely had Mining, Inc. for more than a few Turns. I wonder what sort of Map would tilt the difference, force The Game to last longer, but still give me a shot. I actually think Multiple Isolated starts would work... and then, perhaps a rule that I could not drill down into the Technology Tree, but maybe could only go one or two levels deeper. It would give a lot of advantages to the AI. If I gave the AI lots of Scrub Land (Tundra, Desert, and what not), they will expand into it, which is not overly wise. So, yeah. I'm thinking about the next game. Winning would have been a lot harder without going for the Religious Victory. It saved me a few hundred Turns... or a War with Darius. It's hard to say if I would have won or not. Give it another 25 Turns of building nothing but Machine Guns and I would have Won. But soon enough, he was going to get Infantry. So, it's hard to say. Anyway, I like running a Religion and having the possibility of a Religious Victory in my back pocket is nice. I guess the real problem is creating a 'Challenge' that I am sure to Win... or very much likely to Win. Once again, I likely could have benefited from more focused {End Game} behaviour. In that, none of the Building that I completed in the last 100 Turns did much good. Certainly for a Military Victory (which this basically was), Troops are what is important at The End. Now, I say that. But I like to think my Research position increased greatly. So if I hadn't gotten the Victory, I likely would have pulled ahead of Darius (and Mansu) before too terribly long. # # # # # # 2020-02-03 (c) Copyright Brett Paufler