A very crowded world
Jun. 16th, 2010 07:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gridloreDuring my enforced stay at home as the latest bout of pneumonia works it's way through my system I've been playing a lot of CivIV:BtS. What I've been doing is experimenting with different world settings and difficulties for a little variation in the game. Yesterday I set all the world parameters to random, set up with one of my favorites (the Holy Roman Empire) at Chieftain difficulty and waited to see what developed.
What I got was a game where I kept running into more and more civilizations. Turns out to have been a Huge world, with 11 competing civilizations. I was sharing my continent with India, Mali, Japan, and America. The other continent held Rome, the Ottomans, Korea, Spain, the Khmer, and the ever-wacky Aztecs. I followed a conservative path, building up technology and culture and avoiding wars until I was bloody well ready for them. Having Tokugawa as a neighbor drove Mansa Musa into my arms, and I got Mali as a vassal state. After catching several of Washington's spies in my nation, it became obvious that I had to do something about him. Since I had riflemen and cannon, and he was just developing muskets, the outcome was never in doubt. He capitulated in 1938 with one city left (and honestly, it was so remote I wasn't going to bother with it.)
That's when things got interesting. The very next turn both Gandhi and Suleiman offered to become my vassals. Gandhi I understand, I was sitting on his border with a rapidly-modernizing army, but the Ottomans? Weird, but I took both of them and then set my sights on the Japanese. By this time I had tanks. A lot of tanks. Tanks against Samurai isn't much of a fight. I and my allies made short work of the Japanese and destroyed them. I had built the UN, but it became clear that there was no way for me to win a Diplomatic victory with so many competing factions. A crash naval building program followed, along with the development of flight, and I was off to crush my only remaining real rival, the Roman Empire and their Korean vassals.
By the time I launched my attack I was building modern armor, attack helicopters, and mechanized infantry. The Romans were still fielding praetorian swordsmen. Add in my use of bombers and the ability to fly in reinforcements, and the Roman Empire fell rather quickly. Without a pause, I swung right into the Koreans, taking several cities before demanding their surrender. After that it was just a matter of a few turns before cultural expansion took me over the line for a Domination victory.
I'm the yellow. Dark green is the Ottomans, light green is the Aztecs, that peach-colored blot is Spain, dark blue is the Khmer, blue-gray is the Koreans, purple is India, and brown is the Mali.
What I got was a game where I kept running into more and more civilizations. Turns out to have been a Huge world, with 11 competing civilizations. I was sharing my continent with India, Mali, Japan, and America. The other continent held Rome, the Ottomans, Korea, Spain, the Khmer, and the ever-wacky Aztecs. I followed a conservative path, building up technology and culture and avoiding wars until I was bloody well ready for them. Having Tokugawa as a neighbor drove Mansa Musa into my arms, and I got Mali as a vassal state. After catching several of Washington's spies in my nation, it became obvious that I had to do something about him. Since I had riflemen and cannon, and he was just developing muskets, the outcome was never in doubt. He capitulated in 1938 with one city left (and honestly, it was so remote I wasn't going to bother with it.)
That's when things got interesting. The very next turn both Gandhi and Suleiman offered to become my vassals. Gandhi I understand, I was sitting on his border with a rapidly-modernizing army, but the Ottomans? Weird, but I took both of them and then set my sights on the Japanese. By this time I had tanks. A lot of tanks. Tanks against Samurai isn't much of a fight. I and my allies made short work of the Japanese and destroyed them. I had built the UN, but it became clear that there was no way for me to win a Diplomatic victory with so many competing factions. A crash naval building program followed, along with the development of flight, and I was off to crush my only remaining real rival, the Roman Empire and their Korean vassals.
By the time I launched my attack I was building modern armor, attack helicopters, and mechanized infantry. The Romans were still fielding praetorian swordsmen. Add in my use of bombers and the ability to fly in reinforcements, and the Roman Empire fell rather quickly. Without a pause, I swung right into the Koreans, taking several cities before demanding their surrender. After that it was just a matter of a few turns before cultural expansion took me over the line for a Domination victory.
I'm the yellow. Dark green is the Ottomans, light green is the Aztecs, that peach-colored blot is Spain, dark blue is the Khmer, blue-gray is the Koreans, purple is India, and brown is the Mali.
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no subject
Date: 16 Jun 2010 23:20 (UTC)no subject
Date: 16 Jun 2010 23:25 (UTC)no subject
Date: 17 Jun 2010 08:56 (UTC)Fun game even though I suck at it - now I have my first game as a Warlord where I have a chance to win, year 1500 or so.
I like big worlds, too, but it seems the others build up more impressive empires before I meet them.