Desert Sands In Game Notes (c) Copyright Brett Paufler 2018-10-20 Playing as Arabia # # # There will be no pregame planning. There are no wonders to research. And my tech tree shall be military, Oh, I'll have to figure that out as I go. But beyond Feudalism, I do not know that I will need anything. I am hoping for a speedy victory. # # # 2018-10-20 And my first turn, I hit end turn instead of founding a city. Not a good sign. I do that a lot. Reloading. Crap like that simply does not count. # # # 2018-10-20 4000BC T0 Hunting (for Elephants) -> Agriculture (for Corn, but more importantly, a second research arrow to) -> Animal Husbandry Building a Worker. Will look at city size when done whether to build a second worker or grow on something. Worker -> Worker -> Settler With Barracks -> Military Units Mixed in there. # # # 2010-10-20 3400BC T15 Working a flood plains. Improving the corn first. Building a Barracks to grow on. Mining (silver for happiness) -> Pottery (for cottages) -> Horseback Riding (because I have horses) # # # 2018-10-20 2220BC T45 Medina (the second city) has been founded three squares (so, the minimum distance) to the south on a desert tile. It's the same configuration as last game. And the main purpose of Medina is to work shared cottages for Mecca... until it's services are no longer needed and Medina becomes a city of size one for the rest of the game. Archery (for Horsemen) -> Bronze Working (for Slavery) -> Iron Working (well, I'll need to know where to settle that iron city, won't I) # # # 2018-10-20 375BC T100 Well, it certainly does not feel like winning at the present time. But soon enough, my Camel Archers will come online (not really sure what that will get me): and after that, Alphabet, which will let me see how I am doing comparatively. No religions. No wonders. Another ten or twenty turns and it will be time to attack Gilgamesh... steal a worker or two and make him hate me if nothing else. # # # After a day or two of thinking (and mostly, living my life), the only real insight is that I will win more by a war of attrition than I will lose. As soon as I can take a worker (not required) and destroy Gilgamesh's copper mine in the opening turn, I am declaring war... and picking off his vultures (or running for cover). Well, I'll do a few alt hovers and see what the odds are. Maybe I will be forced to wait... but, even a peace a few turns later might be worth it. Anyhow, war is the order of the day. Death to Gilgi. # # # 2018-10-22 100BC T111 Ragnar declares war upon contact, which seems sort of silly. But, OK. Bring it, Ragnar. I reloaded twice, because... well, the first time I thought it was a glitch. And the second, well... why not. I had thought I had somehow clicked the wrong button. But, no. Ragnar is cruising for a bruising. A few turns back, I had declared war on the Babylonian empire for a Settler. Well (using that word, 'well', a bit much, so perhaps I should stop), I thought I was going to get a settler, but I got a worker, instead. Still, not bad. I should have check with William von Oranje, because he would have made peace. On the reload, this is not something I pursued, because that would have been cheating. The reload was soley due to my thinking I had clicked the wrong button, not because Ragnar wants to lose a few units. # # # 2018-10-22 425AD T132 I've been at war with half the board and my economy is in the toilet. But I took over Uruk from Sumeria, which is their capitol... and the second best city site on the continent. My game plan for Sumeria is to now whip them like a dog, kill their units, and accept peace for technology... eventually allowing them to capitulate. But for now, it is ten turns of peace. I question whether I will capture the rest of the board as quickly as I did in the other game {playing as Egypt}. Certainly, there will be more casualties. Actually, I don't really know what a {successful} war game feels like. So, I have no idea how I am doing. For the moment, the economy is in the crapper. Hopefully, it pulls out. Whatever the actuality, this does not feel like winning. # # # 2018-10-23 880AD T154 Sumeria has been eliminated. None to helpfully (so maybe I should not have bothered to captured them), they built two cities on desert. Ownership of these cities is nothing but a monetary drain. Oh, well. In another thirty turns, which goes to show how poor my economy is, I can start building caravels and destroying all the pirate triremes out there. And based on that idea (going nowhere, waiting forever for the next offensive), I switched a bunch of citizens over to scientists. And it's only fifteen turns until I can start building my navy. Much better. Ragnar has been willing to trade, so I will not attack him first. Actually, I will not attack him first because both the Dutch and Babylonians have founded their own religions. So, I am hoping they have settled the religious shrines. I need the money. Since they are aligned, it's a two-for {attacking the one is like attacking the other}. Not much else to say (always a boring thing to say), I shall be running the clock out until I can build a navy. Maybe build a galley or two in the meantime, as they can do the transportation of troops. Buy they will need to be escorted by Caravels. Thus, I am building a bit of infrastructure (Madras, as my replacement to libraries) along with a lighthouse or two. But other than that, it's troops and ships. # # # 2018-10-24 1460AD T206 I got into a bit of a trance at the end of this session... and not in a good way. There isn't that much to do, so I'm rushing. Anyhow, I probably should have stopped after knocking the Dutch empire out of the game. But I kept on going, planning on killing the Babylon empire prior to quitting for the night. But I just did not get there. Research is at 0%. I'm at -3 gold a turn. And it will take me 1,700 odd turns to research Astronomy, which is likely the last technology I need. I can see why others turn off technology research after a time. I simply am not going to get any further benefit from any future discoveries. And it is extremely likely that my Camel Archers will give me the military might I need to make it to the end. After all, Hammurabbi only has bowmen, not even longbow men. So, his fall is just a matter of time. The logistics of transporting my invasion via galley being time consuming. Ragnar has a small army (on his small island), but it too will fall. I'll land a small stack of 6-8 defensive melee units; and then, reinforce with catapults and camel archers. No real learning taking place. It was a death march this evening. Then again, I think I should lean into the death march, call it for what it is, and go full bore. Oh, I forgot to mention. My treasury is at 568 gold, which is what will see me through this war. Having troops outside my domestic territory is getting costly. But the total attack time on the Dutch was ten or so turns and Babylon will fall just as quickly. Just as a final note, I think my Total War venture will wind up winning later than my Wonder Fest game. Though, this did not take nearly as long to play {when measured in in clock time}, I believe. # # # 2018-10-27 1460AD T206 I took a few days off; and all I've really decided in the interim is that it is full on war with everyone... well, maybe not Ragnar to start. But yeah, everyone. # # # 2018-10-27 1675AD And I am done. I have not been enjoying myself. Though, in the end, losing is just as well. I mean, that's sour grapes and all. But losing took me into the STRIKE economy. And the first time for anything is a learning experience. # # # It has been a few moments and I have eaten a hamburger, so I am feeling much better. This is not a good game for me... certainly score wise. But it may be interesting to see how it plays out. I blame bad odds. If my attack had gone even halfway decently and I had not lost six sequential 50%+ odds attacks (I mean, I was losing the 69% and 74% attacks along with the 42% and everything), I may have taken over Thebes, Egypt have capitulated, and that would have been that. But that was not the case. Anyway, in a STRIKE economy, I should have switched to 100% research, as there is no reason to try for gold {a strategy that the game does not allow}. And you know what, I'm going to go back into the game now, make peace with Egypt and see what I can do... retrieve the victory if not a killer score. # # # 2018-10-27 1695AD T249 The stupid Apostolic Palace wanted to assign a city to Egypt. I should have agreed. The maintenance is killing me. But I clicked no too soon and there's no way (that I know of) to change my vote. I cannot push my research slider to 100% in the STRIKE economy. I am losing three units every few turns. On the plus side, I have a few courthouses under construction, so I should stop bleeding money shortly. # # # 2018-10-27 1842AD T291 'This will go quickly.' Nope. Not a chance. I finally took over Thebes, but Ramsesses did not capitulate... or Master Controller as he is being called this game, along with me. I do not know if I should declare war on Darius. Likely, not. I'm not doing well. I get Astronomy in a few turns. I'll settle the island up North. And continue my harassment of MC. I should be glad I have as many catapults as I do. Five survived the attack, despite the odds, which sort of makes up for the previous fiasco. Eh, I'll wait. I don't know, exactly, how I will defeat Egypt. But I think it has a decent city to the West, so I'll take that. If it won't capitulate after that... well, maybe I'll attack Darius first and go in and out of war with Egypt for the free goodies. The game is in the bag. Score: 4,209 Normalized: 31,609 Which is insanely high considering I am doing so poorly. I'll garrison my troops in Amsterdam in preparation for landing... I know not where. Wow! Just... Wow! I got a map from Egypt, as part of the peace deal. And Egypt did not settle the secondary sites. Wow! Just... Wow! Turns out my first build in Thebes will be a deuce of settlers to take advantage of the situation. OK. The sea {as a tile to work} is better in some ways, but not that much better than cow/iron... or gem/silk double oasis. So, this will wrap up quickly. But then, thinking that has set me back time and again this game. Still, not much left as neither Egypt nor Persia has much in the way of crops or production. Neither can field an army Ah, so the land army should move towards Persia. And one more assault by sea will give my Egypt. Done! Finally! And it will be a colossal victory for a game I was about ready to throw in the towel. Oh, and if I did not mention it, which I think I did. One cannot set research to 100% during a STRIKE. # # # 2018-10-28 As I start up again, it is undeniable that Persia and Egypt do not have long to live. They may well be more advanced than me, but they do not have the means of production to field a meaningful army. I can starve them out if nothing else. # # # 2018-10-28 1874AD T307 Score: 4712 Normalized: 30,244 I switched to a land attack of Egypt and a sea attack of Persia. The kill was straightforward with very little to learn from it. I didn't really get my three settlers out in time (settled two, one in transit). But I would have eroded as many points a turn as the added population would have given me. This was a lot harder victory than playing as Egypt. Well, and there you are. My score playing Egypt was easily twice as high. So, I did play better. I do better at builder then war, as opposed to straight war. I question how much I learned this game. Much of it was a Death March... even if it was others who were dying. # # # Final Score: 4,738 Normalized: 30,146 1876AD # # # 2018-10-28 (c) Brett Paufler