My goal this game is to earn Ten Great Generals... with the caveat that I will count any Unit with 100 Experience Points as a Great General.
- Ten Plus
- Great Generals
- In existence, so Settled Great Generals are the safest.
- But being Warriors, we are not about safety.
- Units with 100+ Experience
- This may well be impossible...
- But being Warriors, we do not fear great odds.
So in case that is not clear, there is only one way for me to Win The Game. And that is by fighting a lot... and I mean, a lot.
Upon loading The Game (in anticipation of doing some preliminary research, as is my wont), I rolled this start (with this Leader) at random. It is good enough... especially since I already knew I needed an Imperialistic Leader... and Industrious never hurts.
Augustus Caesar
Roman Empire
- Industrious
- Imperialistic
- Forum
- Marketplace which accelerates Great People
- Praetorian
- An 8 Strength Swordsman...
- Which many consider to be the strongest Unique Unit in The Game.
As I said, prior to launching The Game, I selecting Settings as I thought I might like and which likely are what I would have used as the basis for endless Regenerations.
Noble
Aggressive AI
Permanent Alliances
Fractal Map
Cylindrical
Standard World Size
Temperate Climate
Medium Sea Level
Ancient Starting Era
Marathon Game Speed
Six AI Opponents
All Victories
There really is not much else to say. I can only win if I manage to earn Ten Great Generals. We will assume that Units with 100+ Experience have an implicit Great General Attached. Though, after that I can achieve any additional Victory that I may (or may not) choose.
Beyond the Sword 3.19
BUG Mod 4.5 [Build 2221]
BULL 1.4 [Build 243]
BAT Mod 4.1
Leaderhead Expansion Pack
with The Modern Era Expansion
The Victory was decisive. Though, two of the Civilizations were from the Expanded Leaderhead Pack and they just did not expand, allowing me to Settle their lands fairly late in the game.
At around T500, Dido of Carthage had a single City. But her land was fairly nice, inducing me to ship over three Settlers (count them) and nab three Flood Plain Cities. Choice real estate in my book.
Robert the Bruce of Scotland did a bit better, Settling three Cities. But that still left me about half of his continent to Settle, giving me a Three Seafood City and a Middling City.
In short, my opposition was not much of one.
Combat Results
Turns: 705
Combats: 354
Civilizations Dominated: 4
Great Generals: 7
Max Number of Combats in Turn: 27
Combats by Number
| Win | Lose |
| Attack | 254 | 4 |
| Defence | 91 | 5 |
These results are likely off by a bit, as the starting data point of 705 Turns is incorrect. Or at least, In Game, I am told I am on Turn 714.
Whatever.
The combat was one sided and decisive. This Late Game War Strategy of waiting until I have Cannons is working out for me.
The Debriefing
Luck
It helped that my Enemies sucked. I don't know why they sucked. But they did.
More Luck
Germany remained Peaceful throughout The Game. By the end, we were great Friends. And my Diplomacy with Bismark was at +14. Still, that doesn't explain why he did not attack when he was only Pleased and his Power doubled mine. Yeah, it was worth Bribing him to Attack Victoria.
Limited Cities
Most likely, whatever Cities I can Settle on my Starting Continent or acquire by say T500 (Marathon) will be productive. After that, they are just counters towards the Victory Conditions. I'm actually leaning towards Six Cities as being ideal. But I would not turn down a Sixth or Seventh City if it were a powerhouse. The real thing to avoid (from my perspective) is Settling Scrap or Capturing Crap. I razed almost the entirety of the Aztec Civilization... and was fairly heavy handed with Robert the Bruce, as well.
Religious Victory
I'm fairly confident I could have Won a Religious Victory by the time I stopped playing, provided I had pushed my Missionaries sooner. In the next game, I do believe that will be my goal: Religious Victory or Diplomatic Victory... with any Military Maneuvers designed to force the issue.
Great Generals
Milking Great Generals was easy. And I cannot see not doing it again. On the other hand, after the Third Great General (or so), I reached diminishing returns. I may be better off simply Attacking with Loads of Siege and be in no hurry to finish off the first City in any Campaign, letting the AI reinforce it as it desires. And when I am done playing with that first City (and presumably, having Destroyed the vast bulk of the AI Forces), it's time to Finish the Civilization or let it Capitulate.
Notes From My Notes
In rereading my In Game Notes (
030-random-war-notes.txt), these are my major takeaways.
Single Spies
In the past, I have stacked Spies in my Cities, thinking additional Spies gave me additional protection. But that is not the case. A single Spy is as good as twenty. Further, discovery of any Foreign Spy occurs on The Roll (and not during movement), so lining transportation networks with Spies (for the most) is impractical. On the other hand, I learned that Stealing a Technology takes about 1.5x the Beaker cost in Espionage Points. So, that's not going to happen very often.
Advance Settler Production
I very often Discover Open Land (on an island or behind Enemy Lines) and then (and only then) Build myself the needed Settler. Having an Extra Settler at the Ready would put me 5-10 Turns ahead in many Settlement Races. Though, since it so often seems that I am in some kind of race (for a Wonder, Military Units, Spies, Missionaries, or whatever), I don't really see how to implement this meaningfully.
Sitting Pretty
Only certain AIs will plot at Pleased. None can start plotting at Friendly, but they can follow through on plans they have already made. Since I almost always start Warring later, this makes running a sparse Military in the Early Game easier (well, more predictable), as I can now rule out Attacks from certain quarters.
75,000 Points
Just by the by (for internal scoring purposes, not that I am tracking my games, maybe I should), I'm calling this a 75,000 Point Game.
Nose to the Grindstone
I need to tighten my focus in the End Game... only Building Units for a Military Victory if that's what I am going for. Of course, this would imply that I am certain of the victory and feel that it can only go one way. I waiver and oscillate back and forth quite often.
