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Part I of Writing History Series
Part II of Writing History Series
(Un)necessary Introductions
Hello and welcome the the third installment of Writing History Civilization III report. Throughout the human history, many leaders attempted to conquer the entire world. Just as our technology finally advanced enough to allow such a conquest, people stopped trying--how typical. Thankfully, what may not be possible in the real world, can still be achieved in Civilization III, the game of global domination.
Part 2 of this account ended with your favorite despot Raider (who had fooled his people into believing he was heading a representative government) liberating the Mayan people from the Mayan rule with the help of his cunningly-persuaded allies. At the end of the war, Raider's empire emerged as the largest nation on earth.
NOTE: the dictionary definition of empire is: a nation formed through conquest.
Yet the quest for global domination was far from over. Across the ocean, a super power was emerging: the French boasted the most advanced technology and the largest army in the world. What's more, they were in the process of waging war on their neighbors, growing stronger with each newly-captured city. If I did not manage to find an answer to their ever-increasing might, the future of my empire could turn out to be bleak indeed.
Below you can see the summary of my progress so far in comparison with the world's leaders in each category. My greatest asset was the size of my empire. My goal was domination victory (66% world area and 66% world population). As a failsafe, I had to pass France in overall score to secure victory should I fall short of achieving that.
In the field of technological progress, I was doing fine. Though a good amount behind France, I was leading the rest of the world, finding myself at the final stages of the Insutrial Age.
This concludes the analysis of the situation. Now to arms!
Death of the Least Fit
1455-1490 AD - A despot has a long memory, especially for the names of his enemies. The necessity to start a war against the Mayas made me postpone completing the conquest of Sumeria. Now was the time to bring out the tactical plans for those missions once again. Across the ocean, France was waging war, and I did not plan on letting them get ahead of me. In fact, the next stage of my expansion consisted of two parts, of which Sumeria was but one. For ages untold I have been forced to buy furs from the Chinese, who controlled the only sources of this luxury resources. It was time to put an end to this. I would capture their island and with it the coveted resource.
Both of my targets were located on islands. I started building up my navy, concentrating on destroyers and transports. Inland, some cities took up troops production for this new conquest, while I focused on getting the newly-captured Mayan territory into gear. Meanwhile, on the other continent, the war raged. Japanese fought Korea, France, and the Ottomans. France was attacking Japan, Zululand, and Korea. Ottomans were rallying forces against the Japanese. And all the while the combattants enlisted allies from my side of the world to help them in their cause. After a while, almost the entire world was allied against the French. This did little to ease my concerns. France's enemies fought amongst themselves, and France was light years ahead in military size and technology.
In the midst of all this, I kept rallying my troops towards Sumerian shores. Within just a few turns, the first invasion force was ready. I landed 18 cavalry divisions near Sumerian city of Zabalam, using a destroyer to protect my troop transports.
Two things happened as soon as I declared war on Sumeria. First, they immediately signed an embargo against me with the Hitties. That I did not care about. But then Ottomans declared war on me because they had a Mutual Protection Pact with Sumeria. That wasn't good. They were out of my reach for the moment, which meant I would have to find a way to appease them somehow once I was done with Sumerians.
At least my military efforts on Sumerian island were going well. On the first turn following the lading, I captured two of their cities and even got a great leader in the process.
I rallied more troops to the island before taking the capital, bringin my cavalry army from the former Mayan capital of Chichen Itza. With its help, I was able to capture the enemy capital quickly, completing my conquest of Sumeria. In addition to new territories, I also captured a lot of Sumerian workers. Each was awarded a set of chains and tools necessary for the various terraforming tasks and sent to join the Mayan slaves that worked on building terrain improvements across the empire.
During this short war, I continued building up infrastructure in the cities across my empire. I also started adding libraries and universities in the more advanced cities. I put my huge gold income to use, hurrying production across the empire. I was at the head of the world in technology, and would need to start doing my own reserach soon if I wanted to avoid paying ludicrous prices to buy technologies from the French, my main rivals. During the construction process, I was worried about keeping people out of the libraries (educating your population is just asking for trouble). To my great delight, once the facilities were completed, barely anyone used them.
1495-1520 AD - I did not get to celebrate my victory. I was going to actually, but just as I ordered the tables set up for the feast, an envoy arrived from France, bringing me a signed photo of Joan of Arc along with her request for a tribute of 76 gold. That spoiled everything. 76 gold was not going to bankrupt me considering I was making over 1,700 each turn, but it was a clear sign of disrespect. I hate being disrespected. My psychiatrist tells me I have a sensitive ego, but I figure you can afford to have one if you have an army at your back.
Still, Ms. Arc's army was a good deal bigger and more advanced than mine; that was something to consider. I considered for a while, then ordered the envoy killed and sent back with my personal compliments. Joan did not like that one bit. She did not declare war, but did become rather displeased. Well, it was long past time I stopped buying luxuries from the French anyway. Paying them gold was not something I enjoyed.
Soon after the French incident, as I was preparing for the campaign to capture the Chinese island, world events took an interesting turn. Japan signed an alliance with Netherlands against the Hitties. This caused a war between two of the larger nations on my continent, which meant opportunity. Both nations would be weakened by a war, which would allow me conquer one of them easily. I called off the war with China and started rallyinh my forces towards my borders with the Hittie-land.
The war with the Ottomans still was on my mind. They would not even aknowledge my envoys, robbing me of opportunity to make peace. Some of my people were starting to rumble, ready to launch into fully-blown anti-war protests, when the problem solved itself: the Ottomans were completely conquered by the French. I was so happy that I even offered the dethroned Osman of the Ottomans asylum. I quickly recovered, however, and had him executed as soon as he crossed my borders.
Plans vs. Reality
1525-1530 AD - I was happily moving my troops into position along the Hittie borders when one of my advisors showed up in my office with the face they always got when they were about to get hanged. Apparently the operation We Care which consisted of planting spies in all major nations had gone quite wrong. After discovering our attempt to plant spies in his nation three times in a row, Prince of Orange of Netherlands got somewhat upset and declared war on us. This changed a few things. Obviously, invasion of the Hitties was out of the question. Not all was lost, however. Netherlands was at war with both America and the Hitties, so they were not in the perfect position to start a war. I did not know their exact troop count, but I was quite certain they could not be too far ahead of me. My military advisor told me happily that, generally speaking, we had a strong military. That reassured me even more. Abandoning my old battle plans, I commenced an all-out campaign to conquer the Dutch. The first move of this war would be mine.
The Dutch only controlled one source of rubber (strategic resource necessary to produce infantry, the 6.10.1 unit, the strongest available to them) and that source was right near a city that was withing one-turn striking distance from my borders. That was where I aimed my first strike.
A cavalry attack followed an artillery bombardment, taking the city with the loss of just two divisions. My cavalry army was unstoppable, overcoming all three defenders after the first two single divisions had failed.
Not everything worked out quite so well, though. As the first artillery shells began to fall, the Japanese declared war on me. Apparently, they had a Mutual Protection Pact with the Dutch. As unpleasant as that was, in the end I did not care. Japan was across the ocean from me and already up to its heels in wars. The only major negative impact was the loss of silks that I had been buying from them and could not get anywhere else. Well, my citizenry would have to get used to a little shortage. I converted some tax collectors into entertainers and continued with attacks, laying siege to a small city the Dutch had captured from the late Mayas in the north.
1535-1540 AD - During their turns, the Hitties seemed to be doing their job of punishing the Dutch, at least as far as I could tell (the two nations shared a long border that was outside of my surveilance). When it was my turn to attack again, I moved my troops against Arnhem, one of the most powerful of the Dutch cities. In the image below you can see the core of the Dutch territory along with both Haarlem (red arrow) and Arnhem (red box).
I captured the city losing only 5 cavalry divisions thanks to the damage done to enemy troops by my artillery bombardment. I immediately set the city to starve and ordered its citizens to build a temple. The city population complained about the lack of jobs, so I converted all of them into workers. There was a slight misunderstanding in the matter because, I believe, the locals held the absurd notion that they would get paid.
In addition to this important conquest, I also destroyed the Dutch city in the north, their only foothold outside their core.
1545-1560 AD - I continued with my war efforts, capturing Utrecht, while at the same time blocking the Dutch army from entering my territories. Once Utrecht was taken, I took a turn to shell the Dutch invasion force into oblivion with my artillery stack and then crushed it completely with a mix of infantry and cavalry. Note: remind me to never attack anyone with 60+ artillery units.
I finally managed to plant a spy in the Netherlands capital, which allowed me to see their troops count. Everything looked good. The bulk of the Dutch forces was made of Infatry (71 divisions). Most of those would be busy defending their cities, which meant that they had very limited ability to counter attack. My own military outnumbered theirs by a good margin, so I ordered the invasion to continue.
In a more disturbing development, I received a notification that the French were building the United Nations and the Manhattan Project wonders. The Manhattan Project would allow all nations that discovered the necessary technologies to build nuclear weapons. This worried me primarily because it meant that the French were quite far ahead of me and could, in fact, make nukes. The United Nations allowed the possibility of a diplomatic victory. Once they finished the United Nations Wonder, the French would be able to call the election of World Leader, the winner of which would win the game. Though this was not a welcome development, it did not worry me too much. As the largest nation in the world, I was guaranteed to be one of the candidates. Additionally, no one except my immediate enemies hated me, whereas France had been at war with just about everyone in the world at one point or another, which made me a good deal more popular in the world.
1565-1580 AD - I kept pressing the Dutch while they did their best to damage my infrastructure by sneaking their units into my territory. Meanwhile, France had conquered all of Korean continental cities and made peace with what remained, securing for themselves a larger empire and the everlasting hatred of the Korean leader.
As I was attacking Rotterdam of the Dutch, I noticed that their cities had adopted a more modern look, indicating that they had entered the modern times. It was a good thing I had cut off their source of rubber, or I would have to face tanks. Yet anything can be made into an asset. My income stood at over 2,200 gold per turn, and the 3,000-5,000 cost in gold to attempt a steal technology spy mission seemed like pocket money. I expected quite a few failures before I finally got it, but to my great surprise I succeeded on the first try, stealing Flight from the Dutch. This allowed me to build airports in my cities and Bombers and Fighters units.
Bombers are the first of the heavy bombardment air units you get to control in the game. Bombers cost 100 shields to produce. They have a bombard strength of 12, a rate of fire of 3, and have an operation range of 10 squares. They have to stationed in a city or at an airfield (a terrain improvement that workers can make) and can hit targets up to 10 squares away (hence operational range). Unlike land-based artillery, bombers are capable of lethal bombardment, which means that they can kill the units they bombard rather than just damaging them heavily.
Fighters are air superiority units. They have attack of 4, defense of 2, and operational range of 6. Fighters are capable of bombardment, but they have very low bombard strength, making them mainly useful at intercepting enemy aircraft. They can cover an area of 6 squares, either conducting air missions or intercepting enemy aircraft within that range.
I immediately started bomber production in my major cities. The dutch had started using them against me, and it was time I returned the favor. My first two bombers came off the production line just in time to aid me in the capture of Amsterdam, the Dutch capital. I bombarded the city using artillery first, and then finished off two of its six defenders using bombers. Then my ground forces swept the remaining opposition despite the Dutch brining out a few emergency tanks (they must have bought rubber from someone).
Tanks are 16.8.2 offensive units that require oil and rubber to produce. They are the first of the motorized ground units in the game and have the ability to attack one time for each movement point each turn (the ability is called blitz). They cost 100 shield and represent another shift in the attack/defense balance in the game, giving the advantage back to the attacker.
I did not get to celebrate my success in war once again because of the French, who threw another surprise my way. My advisors informed me that they had completed one of the 10 parts of the space ship. If they managed to complete the entire project, they would win the game via the space race victory. I needed to find a way to prevent them from achieving that. I ordered a few spy missions to see if I could find any more cities building space ship parts. After a few tries, I found the cockpit portion one turn from completion in the city of Edrine. I immediately ordered my spies to sabotage production, picking the safest (and the most expensive method). Luckily for me, it worked, and all production on the project had been destroyed, forcing the French to start over.
I formed my plan. I would find two or three cities where the French were trying to build their space ship and destroy production there each time it got near completion. If the French caught me and declared war on me, so be it. I had no other choice. Meanwhile, I would attempt to keep stealing technologies with what spare money I had.
Done with that, I still had some problems to take care of. Japanese kept bombarding my coasts with their warships (destroyers and cruisers). I did not want to go to war with them and asked them for peace. They agreed, and I was left with just the Dutch to worry about.
The Red Path
1585-1640 AD - My empire had grown to a rather large size, and corruption was becoming a big problem. It was time to change government type and pick one that better suited my ambitious designs and the size of my nation.
Communism:
Unit support per town / city / metropolis : 6 / 6 / 6
War weariness: none
Corruption: communal (same in all cities, regardless of their distance from the capital)
Standard Tile Penalty: no
Standard Trade Bonus: no
Cost/extra unit: 1 gold
Draft limit: 2
Military police limit: 4 (units that can be used as police in cities to keep citizens content)
Worker rate: 100% (normal)
Hurry Method: forced labor
Spies: veterans (as opposed to normal under the peaceful representative governments--means cheaper missions and better chance of success)
Under Communism, corruption is only determined by the total number of cities, which makes that government type perfect for large empires. You decrease the overall corruption by building a Forbidden Palace (which I have) and a Secret Police HQ, a building unique to Communism, which acts as a second Forbidden Palace, increasing the optimal number of cities. While Communism does not benefit from the trade bonus of the representative government types, the size of your empire when you make the switch should make up for the difference.
The government switch only took me one turn, thanks to the religious attribute of my civilization. My income went down by about 400 gold to the high 1,700s, but industrial production in most of my cities went up significantly. A turn later, I added a Secret Police HQ, and my income jumped by over a hundred gold.
Once my empire was up and running under Communism, I continued the campaign against the Dutch. I pressed on with my ever-frowing army, taking one city each turn. I would use artillery to bring all defenders in a city down to 1 health, then use my bombers to try and finish them off. Finally, I attacked with cavalry and rolled over whatever was left of the city defense. Then I moved infatry divisions into the city to quell the rebellion. Meanwhile I would take what artillery I did not use and move it within range of the next city along with spare infantry and cavalry. Next turn I would repeat the procedure. It took me less than 10 turns to capture all the cities the Dutch controlled on the continent. The captured cities were set to starve for a bit and ordered to make temples. Their citizens were converted into civilian engineers and entertainers. Once I captured all the Dutch holdings on the continent, I stopped starving the population of their cities and loaded 6 transports full of infantry/cavalry/artillery mix and headed for the Dutch island, where they still held two cities.
While this was going on, I kept conducting spy missions against the French. I found that they were trying to build the engine portion of their space ship in the city of Tours. I kept an eye on that city, and whenever the project would get within 2 turns of completion, I would sabotage the production there, forcing the French to start from scratch. By the time my transports headed for the last Dutch outpost, I had already sabotaged the French production twice, both times without getting caught. My task was made easier by the fact that Joan of Arc was running a Democracy and thus her spies were regular. Since mine were veterans, thanks to my Communist regime, my spy missions had an increased chance of success.
After I sabotaged the production the second time, I noticed that I still had over 8,000 gold left, enough for some more fun. I had just discovered Mass Production after 50 turns of research and had new technological research paths open to me. Naturally, I cheated.
I sent out my secret agents on a mission to steal technology from the Dutch. There was no risk involved since I was already at war with them. I picked the most risky (and the cheapest) option and was delighted when my agent succeeded. I stole Motorized Transportation, which would allow me to finally produce tanks.
I still had over 6,000 gold left, so I sent my agents to France, again on a maximum risk mission (I was getting real cheap here) with orders to steal more technologies. The mission was a success, and I got Computers for meager 2,733 gold. I love democratic nations! Getting obviously greedy, I ordered another mission to France. Again my agent succeeded, stealing Minituarization for me at the cost of barely over 2,900 gold. I could not help rubbing my hands together and laughing in a somewhat sinister fashion.
I was finally out of cash though and decided to use my diplomatic prowess to see what I could get out of the other nations. When I contacted the Koreans, I saw that, depiste being reduced to just a few cities on a remote island, they had a lot of the technologies that I did not and over 7,000 in cash. But they needed Computers and Minituarization technologies. I traded them Computers for older technologies (Ironclads and Amphibious Warfare) and 7785 gold (all they had). Then I traded them Minituarization for Rocketry.
After those trades I had money again. Without even pausing to think twice, I organized another mission chez Joan of Arc...and got caught. For some reason, however, she did not declare war on me, just became thoroughly displeased. Reflecting for a bit, I ordered my piests to pray, and went back to my command center. I planted another spy with the French and sent him on yet another mission. This time it was a success...again. I got my hands on Space Flight. If I wanted I could try and start a space program of my own.
Korans still had one tech left that I needed. I traded them Space Flight for Ecology.
These actions slingshot me well into the Modern Times. From cavalry and semi-automatic weapons, I moved straight into the domain of Jet fighters and advanced machinery. You can see my up-to-date tech tree below.
Thanks to my technological progress, I gained access to quite a few new weapons of war.
Battleship - Sporting impressive 18.12.5 stats, and capable of bombarding up to 2 squares away with the strength of 8, Battleships are the most powerful of the sea vessels. Unfortunately this power comes at the price of 200 shields and slower speed. A fleet of battleships can hold the key to superiority on water, but they should be used to complement the faster and less costly ships rather than replace them completely since a fleet of destroyers can easily ambush these slow ships and slaughter them for cost. Battleships require oil to produce.
Carrier - Carriers are possibly some of the coolest units that Civ III has to offer. They cost 180 shields, require oil to produce, and become available with Mass Production. Their stats of 1.8.7 are negligible, except for their fast movement. Their true worth is in their ability to carry up to 4 aircraft. Since in Civilization III aircraft have limited range, carriers play an important role by serving as mobile air bases. Just as in real life, they allow airial attacks on locations far away from the homeland.
Submarine - 100-shield 8.4.4 naval units that are not detectable by most warships. Though they are much slower then surface ships, submarines are capable of stealth attacks, which allow them to select a specific unit out of a stack to attack. This ability makes them perfect for taking out protected troops transports without having to engage their escort.
Mechanized Infantry - This is the ultimate defensive unit of the game. Upgraded from infantry, and costing 110 shield, mech infantry sports 12.18.2 stats. They become available with discovery of Computers and require oil and rubber to produce. The key advantage of this unit is its ability to keep up with advancing tanks, something that regular infantry with 1 movement point could not hope to accomplish.
TOW Infantry - Should a player lack the necessary resources or technologies to produce mech infantry, TOW infantry can become his only chance of defending against the enemy armor. TOW infantry units cost 120 shields, have 12.14.1 stats and require no strategic resources to produce. In addition, they have a zero-range bombard strength of 6, giving them a chance to damage the attacking unit before it even has a chance to engage. TOW infantry is the upgrade to guerillas. While these unit may not be as effective as mech infantry at defense and straight up advance in the enemy territory, they can be used strategically in ways not open to armored vehicles.
Marine - Another tactical unit. At 120 shield and 12.6.1 stats, marines are not all that strong in the age of tanks and mechanized infantry. However, they alone in the game have the ability to attack directly from transports. Normally, you have to unload units from transports before they can attack, which can be a big setback when you are landing on a hostile coast. Marines, on the other hand, can attack directly from the sea, allowing you to capture a city on the turn of your landing. Combined with airial and naval bombardment, 12.6.1 marines can become the bane of coastal cities. Of course, such operations can be very costly, but so they are in real life. Think WWII marine landings.
Jet Fighter - The next step up from the regular fighter that becomes available with the Rocketry advance. It costs 100 shields to produce, has attack of 8, defense of 4, and operational range of 9. It can also bombard with strength of 3, but that is not its strong point. The most common use for the jet fighter is defense against enemy aircraft.
Mobile SAM - An alternative to coutering aircraft with aircraft is using land-based systems. Mobile SAM can protect your ground forces from air raids. They are 1.6.2 units with anti-air defense of 4 that cost 100 shields to produce.
NOTE: I am not sure how exactly anti-air defense works in the game. If anyone does, feel free to post in the comments section. In practice, mobile SAM is very effective at shooting down enemy aircraft.
Cruise Missile - The first missile unit of the game, the cruise missile works like a one-time bombard unit with range of 4, bombard strength of 16 and rate of fire of 3. It is capable of lethal bombardment, which means that it can actually kill the unit it attacks. Cruise missiles cost 60 shields and require aluminum to produce.
This tech boost put me on equal footing with the French and miles ahead of other nations. I ordered my cities to start producing tanks and set about upgrading infantry to mech infantry and guerillas to TOW infantry. In addition, I was once again at the point where I could compete for great wonders. I started the Internet and SETI programs. Both were wonders that increased scientific output, and thus not something I needed. Still I wanted to try to get them if for no other reason than to keep them out of the hands of the French. If I could beat the French to those projects without resorting to espionage, I would be happy.
1645-1650 AD - After a short voyage my invasion force, composed of a mix of infantry, artillery, and cavalry, landed on the island controlled by the Dutch, their last foothold. A small Chinese detachment was already there, trying to get a piece of the dying foe for themselves. They did not manage it, however, as my 42-strong force captured both remaining Dutch cities in the span of one turn, losing only one division in the process. The Dutch empire ceased to exist.
The Cold War
1655-1660 AD - Yet another nation had been swallowed up by my armies, and the victory seemed no closer. I dared not start an open war against France, but the need to slow their mad expansion was undeniable. Every city they conquered boosted their strength. At the moment they were at war with China and with Japan. Out of those two, Japan was the one most at need as it bordered France. Technologically backwards, outnumbered, and lacking natural resources, the Japanese could not hope to hold back the French troops. Something had to be done.
I contacted Tokugawa of the Japanese and gave them all the military technologies I had, bringing them up to the same tech level as the French. Then I agreed to supply them with oil, which they would need to produce modern war machines. With that I bundled a gift of all the luxuries they lacked, which would allow them to dedicate less money and citizens to maintaining happiness of their population. Finally, I granted them 1,500 gold, hoping they would use it to upgrade their outdated military. Then I did the same for the Zulu. They were not at war with France at the moment, but I was planning on getting them to join it shortly, and I wanted them to be ready (they too shared a border with France). With both of my future allies well-supplied for the moment, I turned to my own affairs.
My original plan was to conquer China next, but now I was not sure I had the time. If Japan fell to the French, taking them down would be much more difficult. With war-ready Japan in the north, strong Zulu in the south, and my invasion force in the heart of their empire, the French would be hard-pressed to defend themselves. If the Japanese were gone, the French would have their cities contributing to their might. I would have liked nothing better than to launch an immediate attack against Joan of Arc, but the simple truth was, I lacked the forces to do it. I needed more transports, a stronger navy, more tanks, and the means to counter the French airforce once I landed. So the immediate invasion was out of the question.
There was another factor to consider. The French were at war with China. If I lingered, they could take over the Chinese island before me, gaining a strategically-important stronghold as well as the monopoly on furs. I could not risk that happenning.
I considered for a while, but there really was no choice in the matter. I had to invade China before the French could and at the same time prepare for the inevitable invasion of the other continent. Hopefully, by the time I captured the last Chinese city, I would be ready. My troop count, though lower than that of the French (about 70% of their strength) was formidable nonetheless, and within a few turns it would grow to be even greater.
1665 AD - In one of my routine checks of the status of all nations, I noticed that I had finally passed the French in score, gaining the number one spot in the world. Great as that was, I had other concerns at the momember: the French had not given up their attempts to build a space ship. I used my spies in another raid against the French space project, destroying their production of the Docking Bay component once again.
This covert operation had obviously gone unnoticed by my dear Joan of Arc, as the following turn she approached my offering to sign a Mutual Protection Pact. I would have accepted, except that I wanted her dead, so it was a no go.
On the other hand, I did notice that the French had discovered the next military technology: Synthetic Fibers. I ordered another spy mission, and stole it, paying under 3,000 for the tech, which allowed me to produce modern armor units. Upon stealing this technology, I immediately shared it with the Zulus and the Japanese to help them against France. Japan wasn't doing well at all. It had already lost 2 cities to France, and it looked like it was not going to live long enough to be a part of my war.
Modern Armor is the next step up from tanks, a 24.16.3 unit that costs 120 shields. It is capable of blitz just like regular tanks, and requires oil, rubber, and aluminum to produce. It is the most powerful land unit in the game.
I immediately set about upgrading my existing tanks to modern armor units.
1670-1730 AD - Just as this turn started, I received notification that Americans and the Hitties, the two nations on my continent, signed a Mutual Protection Pact. I wasn't too happy about that, but decided to use it to easily raise my standing with both of them.
The Hitties were at war with China, and just then my transports arrived at China's coast. I offered the Hitties an alliance against the Chinese. They accepted, and even agreed to pay me 30 gold for it. It was nothing to me, but the payment made me feel inexplicably happy. I guess I just like money.
Having allied with the Hitties, I landed my invasion force on the Chinese coast.
After the initial landing, I ferried the troops from the former Dutch island over as well--mostly for the artillery stationed there. It slowed me down by one turn, but damage done to the enemy by artillery bombardment before attack was well worth it.
After I captured the first city, Chinese mounted a massiver couter attack. They might have even had more troops than me, but I had the technological advantage. On my turn, I bombarded Chinese troops and then attacked them with cavalry. It took me two turns to completely destroy the enemy.
The capture of that city put one of the coveted furs resource under my control. The city harbor survived my attack, which allowed me to make furs available to the rest of my empire.
While I was attacking China, Joan of Arc kept unfolding her invasion of Japan with significant success. Her forces took over several major metropolises, but she must not have wanted to deal with massive resistance movements that would inevitably take place in the 20+ population cities, because instead of occupying them, she burned them to the ground. Suddenly, there was a large unoccupied area on the other continent. Moreover, the newly-open territory contained the two luxury resources I was missing, wines and incense. It was an opportunity I could not miss. I immediately ordered a few of my largest cities to produce settlers and gathered the two transports I had floating by near my western coast. A turn later, 6 settlers, 2 workers, and a few mech infantry divisions were on their way across the ocean escorted by 3 cruisers.
When my expeditionary force arrived, the French had already started building cities of their own among the Japanese ruins. They had already established settlements near both luxury resources. I placed my own cities near their borders, and managed to get control of incense. Unfortunately, I could not push back the French borders far enough to do the same for the wines--they had made 2 cities near there. I built 5 cities in the clear space while trasporting more forces there. The French were working to occupy the area as well, so I had to hurry if I wanted to secure a good chunk of land. My five new cities immediately started working on culture-providing improvements. The French were all around them, and I had to ensure that they would not be swallowed up by the enemy borders. Thanks to my Communist regime, the new cities experienced fairly low corruption despite being on a different continent than my capital. This allowed them to build quickly. Since I could not use gold to hurry improvements, I disbanded my units to convert them into minerals. A disbanded mech infantry allowed me to complete temples in just one turn.
Below you can see the map of the world at that time. The French are clearly dominating their continent, though they are behind me in size. Japan is almost dead, and will probably be eliminated soon. France and I are competing for its former territories. Carthage and Korea are down to 1-2 cities each, and are no longer factors in the game. I was planning on taking over what little they have left with the force that is currently fighting in China. Until then I would shower them in small gifts to make sure they like me in case there was a UN vote for Wold Leader. While France and I are clear world super-powers, there are three second-tier nations, the Americans, the Hitties, and the Zulu. All of them control large territories and have strong armies. Of the three, the Zulu are the strongest thanks to the technology gifts they received from me. At the moment I am actually considering doing the same for the Americans and the Hitties and signing a Mutual Protection Pact with them to secure their friendship and help for the war against France. Once the French are conquered, I would be strong enough to deal with those nations despite technological parity. The case against this is my unwillingness to give them the tech, which would allow them to compete in the Space Race. It's a close call, and at the time I was leaning towards sharing and allying with them. The only issue there was that America and the Hitties were warring against the Zulu. While that was going on, Mutual Protection Pact was out of the question. I did not want to be drawn into war with one of them. I could arm them though and try to get them to start a war against France and forget the trouble amongst themselves.
The Americans had money, so I just contented myself with selling them Ecology (yes, they got to Modern Times on their own) for 1,920 gold and 155 gold per turn. The extra money was always welcome, even if I was making over 2,500 gold per turn. Then I stole yet another tech from the French (Space Flight). This allowed me to build ICMBs.
ICBM, or Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile is a nuclear weapon with unlimited range. They cost 500 shields to produce and can be launched from any of your cities. When they detonate, they pollute terrain within one-square radius of impact and damage or destroy all units in that range. If launched at a city, the nuke will kill half of its population. Use of nuclear weapons has a strong negative impact on the environment and will cause great dislike for you among other nations (up to war declaration against you by the entire world). Besides the ICBM, there is another nuclear weapon in the game-tactical nuke. It has the same effects, but costs only 300 shields and has a range of only 6 squares. It can be launched from your territory or from nuclear submarines. Both nuclear missile types require alluminum and uranium to produce.
Nuclear Submarine - With discovery of Fission, comes the ability to build nuclear submarines, which are faster versions of the regular submarine. They have 8.4.5 stats and cost 140 shields to produce. In addition to the stealth attack ability of the regular submarines, nuclear subs can also carry one tactical nuclear missile. Combine with their invisibility, this ability can be a very effective means of delivering nuclear strikes against far-off targets.
I kept adding more and more cities on the other continent until there was no more room. Transport after transport of troops, workers, and settlers arrived at their destination across the ocean. Finally, I established a net of cities and pushed French borders back sufficiently that I did not have to worry about losing my new resources.
New Threat
1735-1750 AD - All was going well. My spies kept the French space exploration efforts in check and provided me with latest technologies. I got caught a few times, but the Joan of Arc merely muttered obsceneties and threatened. I was just considering helping out the Americans with more technologies, when they declared war on me and sunk one of my nuclear submarines. Then their infantry poured into my territory, capturing stray workers and slaves. There was no backing out. If war was what what they wanted, then war was what they were going to get.
Before I ordered any military operations, I needed to take care of more sensitive matters. Americans had a Mutual Protection Pact with the Hitties. If I simply attacked the Yankee forces, the Hitties would enter the war on their side, and I would be facing a two on one. I had no doubt that I could handle that, but there was no reason for this complication. So I contacted the Hitties and signed a Mutual Protection Pact with them myself. Now all I needed to do was wait to attack the Americans on their own soil for one turn, and the Hitties would enter the war on my side.
Diplomacy behind me, I called my generals. Just because I could not attack the Americans on their soil, did not mean I could take care of their invasion force. I had transported a number of troops to the other continent, but I still had a large force stationed at home. Outside of the troops defending my cities, I had at my disposal 60 modern armors, 66 artillery units, 5 armies (4 with 4 tanks each, and 1 with 4 modern armors), 3 mech infantry units, and 16 mobile SAM units. And, of course, new units constantly came off the assembly line. America's forces consisted mostly of infantry, of which they controlled, according to my spy reports, 164 divisions. In addition to that, they had 6 tanks, 29 ironclads, 20 artillery units, 14 bombers, and a few other assorted naval and ground troops.
Ironclads are the first of the industrial warships. With 5.6.3 stats, and costing 90 shields, they are stronger, though slower, than the sailing ships of the Middle Ages, but are no match for modern warships. Ironclads require coal and iron to produce.
I started the cleanup process with the southern region of my empire. I bombarded the invaders with artillery, then ordered a modern armor attack. My forces decimated the Americans there, killing 29 American infantry divisions at the cost of just one modern armor unit. I used up all my artillery moves in the process though. The force that moved north consisted of 47 modern armors.
In the north, 15 enemy infantry divisions had entered my territory through the mountain passes. I attacked them head on with my modern armor. It was hard attacking infantry hiding in the mountains (+100% defense bonus). I lost 7 modern armors in the attack, and many more were heavily damaged and would have to be repaired, but the entire enemy force had been wiped out. The ability to retreat from combat when fighting the slow infantry units saved a lot of my tanks.
With the ground war over for the moment, I started moving my 5 fully-loaded carriers covered by 4 cruisers towards the American territories. On the way, my bombers sunk 3 ironclads. Positioning my troops along the American border, including a number of mobile SAMs to counter the American airforce, I ended my turn.
Just as I expected, the Hitties declared war on the Americans as soon as it was their turn. And on the Chinese. Then the Zulus attacked the Hitties, and I had to declare war on them. Crap! That wasn't supposed to happen.
During their turn, Americans bombarded one of my cities in China, even destrying some buildings there. So my next turn I transferred some jet fighter to those cities to make sure that did not happen again. I also had to deal with another invasion force. This one was not as big and was all on low ground. I dispatched it with just 2 modern armor losses.
After taking care of all the attackers, I shifted gear and went on offense. In the shot below you can see part of the southern American holdings with red arrows indicating cities I captured on that turn.
In the next few turns, I captured the rest of American cities in that area (long ago those were Babylonean cities, and I actually captured their former capital Babylon), and prepared for the invasion of the core of their empire. America's original territories to the north were lay on some of the best landscape in the world. Consisting mostly of grasslands, crossed everywhere by rivers, with a few scattered mountains providing valuable minerals, it would make a grand prize. Assimilation of America would strengthen my empire significantly. I began the invasion with an attack on San Francisco, located on America's west coast.
1752-1754 AD - Starting in 1750, each turn became only 2 years. San Francisco fell to my bombardment and armies' attack despite being defended by 10 divisions of various kinds of infantry. On the next turn, I took 4 more major American cities. When I ran out of artillery, I simply attacked with modern armor. At this rate, America would not last half a dozen turns.
While I waged war on America, I did not let up my campaign in China. I had already captured 6 of their 8 cities and my troops were ready to conquer the remaining 2 in the next few turns. Suddenly French warships emerged from beyond the horizon. They bombed the two Chinese cities using aircraft, then landed a force of modern armor there and rolled over what defenders had survived, capturing the last two Chinese strongholds. All the sudden, I found myself sharing the island with my rival.
Though I no longer had a hope of getting the island all to myself, there was still something I could do. As I have mentioned before, one of the main values of the island were its sources of fur. If I could keep those out of the hands of the French, I could still accomplish the main objective of the invasion--securing monopoly of furs.
1756-1760 AD - Joan of Arc was not willing to sit idly while I expanded my domain. She declared war on the Zulu and showed that she meant business by conquering two of their cities on the first turn of the conflict.
My old plan of attacking the French while they were busy with the Japanese and the Zulu was going to pieces. Still, I wanted to see if I could pull it off. Americans weren't going to be around much longer. If I could get my army to the French continent before they were done with the Zulu, I should be able to cause quite a bit of confusion.
I needed to get more troops somehow. Well, there was one way. I focused on one of my larger cities. It had 6 more citizens than were necessary to work its area. I drafted two of them, converting them into 2-hit-point mech infantry units. I was not going to use them in battle, but I could leave them to defend my cities while the 4-hit-point mech infantries that currently had the job would be free to go to front lines. I went through a large number of my cities, drafting one or two citizens everywhere. This produced minor discontent among my citizens, but with all 8 luxuries available to them, the effect were negligible. In one turn I added over 30 mech infantry units to my army.
1762-1764 AD - City after city, I conquered America. My armor columns advance could not be slowed by the enemy's meager resistance. The Hitties managed to get a few of the smaller southern cities to themselves, but the vast majority of the Yankee holdings came under my control. Huge populations of northern American metropolises pushed me over 50% of the world population mark. 66% necessary for victory no longer seemed so far out of reach. Area-wise I was not doing as well, though I was firmly in the 40s range. Domination victory still good deal away, I was a clear leader, having established a clear lead on the French. The only danger to me was completion by them of the Alpha Centauri space ship, but I kept preventing them from completing the Casing component by constantly sabotaging production in the city where it was being built. In addition, I started my own space ship. I did not plan on launching it, but it was better to keep my options open.
Another cause for concern was the rate at which the French gained culture points. They have passed 90,000 for the entire civilization, and were moving towards the 160,000 necessary for victory on the huge map size. My own culture rating was still only around 60,000, and it did not look like I would be able to catch them. If left unchecked, the French would accomplish the culture victory. I needed to hurt them before they got there.
Overall though, I was doing quite well. My military finally achieved the necessary size to compete with the French, and with the powerful American cities quickly regaining their maximum production levels, I would soon surpass them by a significant amount. Below you can see some graphs and charts that summarize my situation at the time.
First, the unit count for me and for the French:
DEFENSIVE UNITS (Arabia - France):
Infantry: 9 - 5
Mech Infantry: 185 - 187
TOW Infantry: 3 - 69
Mobile SAM: 17 - 1
Total: 214 - 262
-----------------------------
OFFENSIVE UNITS:
Cavalry: 28 - 0
Tank: 15 - 2
Modern Armor: 110 - 52
Artillery: 75 - 36
Total w/o artillery: 153 - 54
-----------------------------
NAVY:
Frigate: 0 - 4
Carrier: 7 - 2
Destroyer: 11 - 57
Battleship: 0 - 6
Nuclear Submarine: 2 - 1
Cruiser: 11 - 3
Total: 31 - 73
-----------------------------
AIRFORCE:
Fighter: 0 - 2
Bomber: 22 - 24
Jet Fighter: 17 - 15
Total: 39 - 41
-----------------------------
OTHER:
Naval Transport: 19 - 14
Tactical Nuke: 1 - 1
ICBM: 1 - 5
Cruise Missile: 0 - 9
Worker: 55 - 15
Army: 8 - 1
My defensive capabilities were slightly behind the French, but mostly because they controlled a large number of TOW infantry divisions. Though they cannot match Mech Infantry in speed and defensive perfomance, with their defensive bombard ability, they are still formidable fighters. In the airforce department, we were about equal. French navy, however, was several times the size of mine. Before starting a war, I would need to build up my ship numbers. If the French controlled the strongest navy, when it came to the offensive ground army, they were not even on the same level with me. The only other notable details was France's superior nuclear arsenal, but that did not cause me much concern since 6 nukes could do no significant damage to my empire.
Victory Status Screen
World Map and My Military Support and Land Shots
Power Histograph
In addition to doing well overall, my recent projects had gone well. On the former Chinese island, my two new cities pushed back the French borders far enough to take all furs sources out of their control, leaving them with 7 luxuries out of 8. In addition, I was at the moment supplying them with ivory. After that deal was over, they would be down to 6 luxuries, which would mean they would have to devote a lot of resources to keeping their population happy.
Once America was defeated, I started a project to move troops to the other continent. I had already built a number of airports, now I began constructing more, both in cities and outside as terrain improvements. I used them to airlift units to the airport I had constructed across the ocean.
NOTE: each turn you can airlift one unit from an airport to control to any other airport you control. Late game this becomes the quickest and the most efficient way of transferring units between islands and continents. Unfortunately, some units, such as artillery, cannot be transported in such manner, for whatever reason, so you still have to rely on transports to move them. Since you can airlift one unit per airport per turn, your airlift capacity is equal to the number of airports you control.
At the same time, my armies, which could not be airlifted, were shipped by sea transports to the French continent. I was preparing a major invasion.
In addition, I ordered many of my largest cities to produce Nuclearn Power Plants. Unlike all other types of power plants (Coal, Hydro, Solar) which increase factory shield output by 50%, nuclear plants increase factory output by 100%. The end result is that with the 50% shield production increase from the factory and then that 50% being doubled thanks to the nuclear plant, you can double the total shield production in the city. The only drawback to this type of power plant is that they will melt down and cause a nuclear explosion should the city enter civil disorder. Thus when you have a nuclear plant in your city, citizen happiness is the top priority. Of course, if you do let it melt down, half the citizens will die, and the unhappy citizens will go away.
The Next Step
1776 AD - But I could not keep producing quietly for long. The French were about finished with the Zulu and had just passed the 100,000 culture points mark. Though my incessant sabotage of their production prevented them from completing one of their space ship parts, I could not afford to stay passive. I still did not feel confident enough to attack them head on. I did not have the numbers just yet, and my troops were not in position. On the other hand, right under the shadow of my empire huddled the vast, but technologically backwards, nation of the Hitties. I called my military advisor and asked him, in a by-the-way manner, if he liked Hittie food. He said he had never had it, but was willing to try.
For 5 turns I gathered all my new troops into 3 division, preparing an invasion of the Hitties' homeland. In 1776, only 5 turns after conquering the last American city, I launched the campaign against the last major nation on my continent. My forces invaded the Hittie territory in three places: Their largest city Aleppo, which was located right near my borders, and two of the cities that they had captured during their wars, which were now completely surrounded by my territory.
On the very first turn, before the Hitties even had a chance to react, I captured 5 of their major cities, and destroyed one small mining town. Of the 5 captured cities, you can see 3 on the map below--Aleppo, Tyrana, and Hubishna. The other two were 12+ population cities in the north that were political islands in the middle of my territories. I also captured numerous workers that had ventured too close to my borders and at least 5 cannon batteries that defended the conquered cities. I upgraded cannons to artillery, and the workers I put into chains and shipped to the other continent to help develop those territories. In the process I lost 2 modern armor division. Negligible, but still surprising, considering that I was fighting riflement and cavalry.
Once all the attacks were complete, I directed damaged troops into the newly-captured cities to help quell the resistors. Then I positioned the majority of my mechanized infantry divisions inside the cities to defend against counter-attack and the rest in strategic locations along the Hittie border, mostly defending workers assigned tasks there. The Hittie military may have been lacking in advanced technology, but all they needed was one cavalry division to enslave a whole stack of workers.
Once all my troops were in position, I pressed the end turn button and waited for the counter by the Hitties.
1778 AD - The counter-attack came without delay. Over 40 divisions of cavalry moved into my territory. They surrounded the city of Isin, preparing to attack it next turn. Behind them advanced a force of riflemen, ready to defend any gains. And though I did have several mech. infantry divisions defending the city, I did not think they could stand against the concentrated attack. Most of my forces that had attacked last turn were damaged and currently recovering. They were not in no position to do much fighting. The rest of my forces were overseas. If I had to fight with what I had the turn before, I might have been in quite some touble. Luckily, there was no need for that. My industrial capcity was my greatest assest at this point in history. In one turn my war machine spat out over 20 new modern armor division. Column after column of shiny new tanks attacked the Hittie invaders, grinding them down into nothing.
Once the attackers were eliminated, I gathered a the newly-produced modern armors that had not participated in the defensive effort and used them to capture a few of the weaker Hittie cities.
Throughout all this, I kept drafting my citizens, producing divisions of novice mech infantry, which I used to police newly-captured cities. Doing so is quite useful since it gives you a lot of quick and free troops. If you do it intelligently, you will never feel the negative impact it has on your citizens' mood.
Last of all, I contacted the French and saw that they had discovered Robotics, one of the most advanced technologies in the game. First and foremost, it made possible contruction of SS Stasis Chamber, the 10th and final part of the Space Ship. My espionage effots to prevent the French from ever completing the Exterior Casing of their ship. Now that they had discovered all the necessary technologies, if I let them complete that part, there would be nothing stopping them from launching into space.
Besides making it possible to complete the space ship, Robotics allowed construction of the Manufacturing Plant, city improvement, which increases the mineral output by 50% (of the base mineral output before factory and power plant modifiers). The only drawback to this improvement is that at 320 shields, it costs as much as some of the wonders. Finally, discovery of this technology allows construction of Radar Artilery and AEGIS Cruisers.
If you thought regular artillery was powerful, Radar Artillery will blow your mind. At 120 shields, and requiring aluminum to produce, it's a (16)0.0.2 unit with bombard strength of 16, rate of fire of 3, and range of 2. This means it is actually over two times as powerful as regular artillery. Most importantly, its fast movement gives it the ability to keep up with armored columns. Additionally, it has te radar ability, which means it can see up to two squares away, regardless of terrain.
AEGIS Cruiser is basically an upgrade to a regular cruiser, but one that makes a huge difference. It costs the same 160 shields as a regular cruiser, and has stats of 15.10.7 with bombard ability of 6 (rate of fire 2, range 2). The important changes come in the form of radar, which same as with regular artillery allows it to see up to 2 squares away, regardless of terran. It also allows it to detect submarines, something that a regular cruiser could not do. Finally, it has anti-air rating of 3, the highest of any other naval vessel, and 3 times that of a regular cruiser. It requires uranium and aluminum to produce. As an interesting side note, since AEGIS cruisers cost as much as the regular cruisers, you can upgrade your older ships to these beauties for free. If this seems somewhat odd to you, you aren't the only one. A number of mods have been made that fix this either by increasing the cost of AEGIS cruisers or by making regular cruisers not upgradable.
1780-1788 AD - I started building manufacturing plants in some of my bigger cities. Then took what healthy modern armor divisions I had (from the previous turn and new ones being produced) and launched a series of diorganized attacks against the Hittie cities. Despite lack of coherent planning, I captured 6 cities, 5 of which, Adana, Smolensk, Larsa, Yaroslavl', and Mari, you can see in the image on the right. You can also see my armor divisions scattered throughout the area. I would have never allowed myself such carelessness when fighting a more serious foe. In this case, however, I had little to fear. Despite my rag-tag approach to the conquest, the captured cities only cost me 2 modern armors.
My navy also got a piece of action when the Hittie ironclads showed up. I took no losses while sinking 4-5 of the coal-run ships.
From there on, constant stream of Modern Armor divisions from my cities delivered by the railroads to the front lines pushed against the remaining Hitties strongholds, conquering over 5 cities each turn. In 1784, my troops captured the last of their settlements, ending this short war. Not counting a few cities that the Zulu, Koreans, and Carthagians held at random spots on the map, the world was now divided between me and the French. I controlled by far the greater part, but thanks to the AI paying only 60% of all the prices, the French still controlled a larger military, at least defensively, with almost 300 mech infantry divisions, and about a third of that number of TOW infantry. I was catching up quickly, at least my military advisor kept telling me so. For the moment, I chose to believe him.
Sprint to Finish
1790 AD - I had entered the finishing straight. I had achieved the first objective with 66% of world's population now under my control. With 54% of area, however I was a good deal away from my goal there. The majority of the remaining world territory was now controlled by the French, the other world super power. To win I had to challenge them to open war. What's more, I had to do it soon. While my constant espionage activities kept them from completing their space ship, their culture rating was approaching the final goal of 160,000 point at an incredible rate. I had at most 40-45 turns at their current rate of cultural development before they achieved the level of cultural dominance that would grant them absolute control of the world.
1792-1800 AD - Over the course of the next decade (5 turns), while I kept building up my forces, the French completed their conquest of the Zulu and of the Carthagians (the latter had only one city left at the time the French remembered about them). During that same time, expansion of borders in the newly-captured Hittie cities brought my map control up to 59%. And as the timer ticked down, the French got 5 turns closer to the cultural victory.
During this time period, I also started doing my own research. I had accumulated over 25,000 gold in the bank, despite conducting non-stop espionage missions (no wonder, considering my income of 3,500 per turn). By devoting 100% of my fund to reaseach, I could complete research of any single tech in just 5 turns, at the cost of having -1,200 gold per turn loss. I could afford that. What I needed was Stealth technology in order to be able to construct stealth bombers. My regular bombers would not last long against the large numbers of jet fighters the French controlled.
At a final stage before the war, I started a massive missile production program, building ICBMs and Cruise Missiles in many of my cities.
1802-1812 AD - My research of Stealth finished, allowing me to build Stealth Bombers.
Stealth Bombers are the strongest air bombard unit. At 240 shields per unit, they are quite an investment, but their power more than makes up for the cost. Besides being capable of lethal bombardment with strength of 18 and rate of fire of 3, they also have only 5% chance of being intercepted by enemy fighters (as opposed to 50% chance for a regular bomber). A wing of these can single-handedly destroy an entire army. Stealth bombers require oil and aluminum to produce.
With a number of these beasts lined up in production (and the French still lacking the technology), it was time to make my move. I ordered my forces to advance towards the French borders.
1814 AD - My fleet of transports approached the French coastal city of Paegan, escorted by an armada of 6 battleships, 12 AEGIS cruisers, and 5 destroyers. My spy reports indicated that the city was defended by 2 mech infantry, one modern armor, and one TOW infantry division. In addition, there was a Radar Tower within a 2-square radius, which would give the defenders an extra 25% defensive bonus.
I spread out my fleet, making sure that each group had at least one AEGIS cruiser to defend against air strikes and commenced naval bombardment. Non-stop fire from all my ships damaged the defenders, bringing them all down to 1 hit point, with the sole exception of TOW Infantry, which had 2 hit points remaining. With defenders weakened, I sent in the marines.
First to land was my marine army. It took out the TOW infantry unit and one of the two mech infantry divisions. Next, single marine divisions moved in. They captured the city without losses. I moved part of the forces in the transports into the city. Modern armor divisions, mech infantry, radar artillery, cruise missiles. I needed enough to defend and to take the city Namp'o located directly in the south. The rest of the invasion force was under orders to move to assault the next location.
Once inside the city, I took at look at the state of its infrastructure. Out of all improvements, only the harbor had survived (which was the great from my point of view since it allowed me to get all the luxuries into the city to appease its citizens once they were done rioting. I ordered production of a worker. Once done, he would build an airport near the city so that I would be able to airlift in reinforcements from across the ocean.
In the north, I was unfoding a parallel campaign. My goal for the first stage of the war was to capture all the French cities that were intermingled in my territory. I started with New Marseille. Air bombardment by regular bombers, followed by bombardment by radar artillery were followed by a modern armor attack. I took the city with no losses. Once it was captured, I stationed several units of mechanized infantry there.
New Tours was next. Same procedure yielded the same result, except this time one of the battles produced a great leader. I used him to create another modern armor army.
Nara was defended much better and was situated in the hills, giving its defenders an added 50% defense bonus. It took a while to wear its 10+ defenders down with artillery bombardment, and even after they were weakened, I still lost a division of modern armor before I finally captured it. The fighting, however, produced another leader. A new army, cool!
Kyoto and Nagoya fell easily as well--I lost no more than 3 modern armor divisions conquering them. The Japanese portion of the population was very happy to see me. Apparently, conqueror number two is viewed much more positively than conqueror number one.
After those two cities, I used up all artillery moves. Yet I still had 2 more cities to conquer. Lucky for me I had brough another armada to the west coast, and this one included 7 aircraft carriers loaded mostly with bombers. Air support helped me win New Chartres, but there was still one city left. It was time to put armies to use. Two was enough to capture New Avignon.
The small town of Edo was last. There lay the trap. This population 4 city was defended by 16 divisions of mech and TOW infantry. It took me 5 armies to take it, and most of those armies became damaged in the process, meaning that they would not be able to fight during the next turn, the turn when the French were going to counter-attack.
Fighting over for the moment, I positioned mech infantry and mobile SAM units strategically throughout the area and ended my turn after ordering my researchers to work on Integrated Defense technology, which would allow me to build missile defense system, which would make me safer from the French nuclear retaliation.
Below you can see a sample of my defensive formation made up of mech infantry that blocks the entire mountain range. The reason for that is units gain 100% denfesive bonus in the mountains, so any enemy units that took up those positions would be very difficult to weed out. Of course, it is possible to just muscle through and take the ridge anyway by destroying the mech infantry stationed there, but that would cost quite a bit of units because each stack contains 2 mech infantry divisions, and two of them on a mountain are quite a force.
1816 AD - To my great surprise, the counter from the French was very weak. According to my military advisor, the French controlled over 150 modern armor divisions. Out of those, only maybe 10-15 attacked me that turn. The only explanation I could come up with was that those troops were still away from home after fightnig on the Zulu islands. One way or another, even though the French pushed back my mech infantry line in some places, the whole frontal formation held, and no enemy units made it into my mountains. A few enemy mech infantry divisions showed up in the end and pillaged railroads near their border, but that was it. A rather passive turn for my opponent.
Whatever the reason for the lack of retaliation from the French, I was going to capitalize on it. The ground attack on the main Frech front continued. The key to my strategy was artillery. As long as I could use it to bombard the enemy before attacking, my losses would be minimal because I would be fighting critically damaged units. My main worry, however was a massive counter attack that would catch my army unprepared. I did not mind losing a city or two, but if I lost units, that would be harder to replace. My quick victory depended on high survival rate of my units. Losing a large portion of my invasion force would set me back quite a lot, possibly even to the point where the French cultural victory would become a critical threat.
I began by clearing the enemy mech infantry units that had invaded my territory. An aerial bombardment from the carriers, followed by bombardment conducted by my radar artillery group, preceded the armor attack, just as before. My 100+ radar artillery units and the two dozen bombers allowed me to capture Satsuma, Sinop, Antalya, Salonika, Sapporo, and Hakodate with almost no trouble. After Hakodate, I no longer had battle-ready artillery. Any more cities I attacked, I would have to take through brute force.
Edrine, a population 25 city, was the prime target for me, of course, but my spies reported that it was defended by over 10 divisions. Combined with the defensive bonus of being a metropolis, Edrine would be a tough nut to crack. In addition, I learned that France was currently in its Golden Age, giving them greater production.
To the north-west of Edrine lay the town of Aydin, which was smaller and was only defended by 4 divisions. I ordered its capture. I took it with the help of the three of the older tank armies, losing only one modern armor division. Next I looked to the city of Iznik. It was defended the same as Aydin, 3 mech infantries, and a radar artillery. This time, however, I had no more combat-ready armies. All the fighting would have to be done by single modern armor divisions. Luckily, I had 105 of them standing by, awaiting orders. 1 was lost in the attack, and 3 more were heavily damaged. All in all, however, it went better than I had expected.
Only one city remained within one-turn striking distance besides Edrine--Ankara, a population 26 metropolis. To my surprise, it was only defended by 5 divisions. My military advisor started celebrating before he even knew my reaction. He did not celebrate in vain, though. As soon as I received the report, I odered the attack. I lost 4 modern armor divisions, but took the city. Considering that he Ankara had civil defense built (+50% defensive bonus) and was a metropolis (another +100%) I got it for cheap.
Encouraged by my success, I decided to go for the gold. Edrine was going to fall...now. My troops fought well. They died well. In the end, 6 had been destroyed, and 14 were heavily damaged, stationed outside the city, and I captured Edrine. In addition to securing a huge metropilis, I also gained control of the Hanging Gardens great wonder and destroyed one of the French ICBMs. The Hanging Gardens had become obsolete long time ago, but it was still as good for walks as ever, and it did provide extra 14 gold per turn in tourist commerce.
Without pausing to celebrate, however, I attacked New Paris. The town fell quickly. I only lost one division in that attack and went on to attack Istambul, population 23 defended by 4 mech infantry divisions. There, I finally hit a bump. 7 modern armors were destroyed in the attack. I took the city, but it was finally time to pause. Too many of my units were either damaged or tied up on city defense/police duties.
Yet the northern front was not the only theater of battle for me this turn. On the French eastern coast, I had captured the city of Paegam, and now was planning to use it as the staging point for attacks in that region. The first strike was to be against the nearby city of Manp'o. It garrison was nothing special--only 4 divisions, but it was in range of a radar tower, which would give its defenders an extra edge. Luckily, I was prepared. My transports had unloaded a large detachment of troops, artillery, and even cruise missiles. After combined bombardment by radar artillery, the navy, and cruise missiles, 2 of the defending divisions were destroyed, and the remaining two were so damaged they were easily defeated by two divisions of modern armor. Once I captured the city, the square with the radar tower ended up inside my borders, and so the tower was destroyed. I then used the modern armor army that had come in transports to take out the defending mech infantry on the hill.
The next step was taking control of the French cities on the former Chinese island. The preliminary spy investigation brought back incredible news. Shanghai, defended only by 3 divisions was the current staging area for the French airforce. Most of the their bombers were stationed there. Yet, there were complications. While the French troops were modern, the majority of my detachment in that region consisted of cavalry. I did have radar artillery there, however, and my main hope was that I would be able to take destroy modern armor and mech infantry with outdated troops after conducting a bombardment. This plan proved to be a good one, as I was able to capture both cities once my radar artillery batteries reduced all of their defenders' hit points to one. Two small battles, and I completely eliminated the French airforce. Those 30+ bombers would have done a lot of damage next turn.
Finally, I used a small detachment of troops to capture New Lyons, a city the French had founded on my continent during one of the wars of the past. It cost me a 3 modern armor divisions, but I could not allow the French to control a foothold on my shores. Once New Lyons was under my control, I ended the turn.
Once it was their turn to act, the French finally showed their teeth. Cruise missle after cruise missile hit my troops that were stationed in the open. At least 10 of my modern and armor and mech infantry divisions had been destroyed, and at least as many heavily injured. Following the mass cruise missile attack, the French rolled in their main army. Stack upon stack of modern armor rolled out of the Frech territory. They attacked whatever they could reach and then turned back and vanished. Their attacks along my border destroyed a thirty-strong stack of modern armor and mech infantry, which contained one army. They lost a lot too, though less than me, but in the end, only heaps of mutilated metal remained from my troops.
For some reason, the French stayed away from the cities...for most part. A few enemy modern armor divisions snuck up through the mountain roads that were still under the French control and recaptured the city of New Pais, which I had just conquered. Once that was done, the French fortified the city with more modern armor divisions, and the turn passed to me.
1818 AD - I loooked around. I had lost a lot of troops that I was planning on using in attack this turn. What was worse, the French had captured and destroyed a small stack of radar artillery (about 15), which had been too close to the border and was only defended by 4 mech infantry divisions. That was one less city I would be able to bombard this turn. To add to it all, a lot of the enemy units had managed to escape following their attacks. Out of what looked like 60-80 modern armor divisions that the French had attacked me and survived, no more than 15 remained within my borders, unable to return home. The rest had attacked close enough to their own border, that they were able to turn around a flee after the battle.
I was not going to let that sort of attacks go unpunished. As the first order of business, I recaptured New Paris and destroyed what French troops remained within my borders. Once not a single French division remained alive within my territory, moved against the French cities. Unfortunately, only Kafa was within one-turn striking distance from my borders. Other cities were too far away, which meant my forces would have to spend one turn in the open in the enemy territory. Below you can see the map of that part of the world with my attack plan drawn in. A small tank icon signifies a detachment fortified in the enemy territory at the end of turn in order to attack next turn. A red crossed circle indicates an attack on the city conducted this turn.
I commenced my attack with carrier-based air bombardment of the French radar towers. I managed to destroy a few of them, but some of my bombers had been intercepted by French jet fighters and destroyed. Because of that, I was unable to remove all the towers I wanted. Some of the cities I planned on attacking were still covered by the French radar network. Despite that, I ordered my troops to move in. Following my usual tactic, I bombarded each city before attacking it with modern armor. I took Kafa, Konya, Bursa, and Izmit. Once I had the newly-captured cities secured, I took the remaining troops and artillery and divided them into two groups. One I sent one within striking range of Marseilles, and the other of Avignon. Each attack force consisted of 15 radar artillery units, 45 modern armor divisions, 10 mech infantry, and 2 mobiles SAMs in case the French had built more bombers and tried to conduct air strikes. Once all my troops were fortified and ready to defend against what attacks the French were going to throw their way, I ended my turn.
The French counter exceeded all my expectations. First, a huge ground assault hit the cities I had just captured. A force of over 50 modern armor units recaptured Izmit, Konya, and Bursa. The French lost 15 modern armor divisions in the process. The enemy attack force, then turned around and hit the strike force stationed near Marseilles. The 15 radar artillery I had stationed there helped me by bombarding the first wave of enemy modern armors, damaging most of them before they even had even reach my positions. My mech infantry had no problem handling those, and my losses were few. However, the French pressed on. My artillery was no longer firing, and the attacking modern armor was reaching my front lines undamaged. My defending mech infantry put up a great fight, but they were no match for the sheer numbers that the French were throwing at me. Once mech infantry was gone, I was forced to defend with modern armor, which are slightly weaker in that role. At first I had a glimpse of hope as the next 5 enemy divisions were beaten back. After that, Mars showed clearly that he favorder the French, as their troops rolled over my defensive positions, destroying everything, including the 2 mobile SAMs. My artillery was captured and moved in direction of Marseilles.
After completely decimating one of my attack groups, the French moved away from my borders, fortifying their cities. Burnt earth mixed with iron and blood and smoke rising towards the sky were all that remained of my glorious army. In the years to come, photographers, who had never seen the face of war would come there to take pictures in hopes of selling them to a magazine for a few hundred dollars.
1820 AD - Though I expected to be countered hard, not even in my wildest dreams did I see losing an entire army. What's more, I had no idea how much the French had in reserves because attacking the force near Marseilles obviously did not exhaust their offensive capabilities. I knew their military was comparable in size to my own, as were their production capabilities due to the reduced costs for the Deity level AI. If they concentrated their attack in one spot, I could potentially lose a lot. I was actually starting to doubt my ability to win a straight land war. Yet I did not need to achieve complete victory over the French. My goal was to control 66% of the world area, and I was within just a few percent. Soon, the borders of my newly-captured cities would expand, and all the might of the French would not matter. All I needed was to not lose any cities until that happened.
The only thing standing between me and my goal was the French army, which could attack me anywhere. Though I did not know the exact size of their force, I did know where it was. I saw all units retreating towards Marseilles, and my spy reports confirmed that a large number of troops was stationed in the city, many of which were damaged, indicating to me that that was the army that had just delivered such devastating attack against my nation. Once I knew where the French army was stationed, I brought forth the final solution. Nuclear strike authorized.
Five ICBMs hit Marseilles in succession. When the dust settled, nothing lived in the city. All roads and terran improvements in its vicinity were obliterated. 95% of the population was dead. Marseilles had been erased from the face of the planet.
I had two more ICBMs left, and I launched them at Paris and Orleans, the cities with the highest production. Half the population in each was killed, and terrain improvements around them were destroyed. With all roads gone, no trade was coming to the cities. No strategic resources were being delivered and no luxuries. These cities would not be producing anything for a long time.
There was going to be no more powerful attacks from the French. But there was going to be retaliation. I ordered my citizens underground.
As soon as I ended my turn, the French answer came. 6 of my major cities were struck by nuclear missiles. Yet, the overall damage was not as great as to the French. They had lost more troops, each of their cities was more important than mine. I had more production centers and could afford to lose a few.
After the nuclear strikes all was quiet. The French did not have the ground forces to attack me.
Koreans, the only other surviving nation became infuriated with me due to atrocities committed, but they declared no war. My military strength was too great.
1822 AD - I attacked Avignon. Despite being down, the French did not go down easy. The city garrison survived artillery bombardment with very few of its defenders damaged. I attacked with modern armor. 10 of them fell in the assault, but I finally took the city. There was nothing more to be done this turn. My spies had successfully stopped the French work on the space ship once again, so there was nothing to worry about for at least a few turns.
When it was the enemy's turn to act, I saw some troop movement along my borders, but no army crossed into my territory to attack, and no more nuclear strikes had been initiated.
1824 AD - It was finally over. Borders of many of my new cities finally expanded, and I received the message I had been waiting for. DOmination victory was mine. Envoys from the French and the Koreans arrived at my palace brining news that their respective leaders were offerring their eternal friendship and servitude the great nation of Arabia. Graciously, I accepted their offer.
Here you can see the ppolitical map of the world as it looked at the end of the game. Light pink is Arabia, bright rose is France, and little purple blotches represent Korea.
Next is the victory screen, which summarizes my progress towards the various possible victory conditions.
Finally, here is the list of top 5 cities in the game as well as national rankings in various categories. As you can see, my administration's disregard for culture and educations is quiet obvious. Fortunately for me, you do not need to be educated to carry a big stick. Have a nice day.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this series because otherwise it was a rather big waste of time on my part :). All your comments are appreciated. You can find the link to the comment section at the top and bottom of this report. Thanks for reading.
DISCLAIMER:
Obviously, all the photos and paintings used in this report are not my work. Duh! Whoever made them gets the credit for their making and my personal gratitude.
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Part I of Writing History Series
Part II of Writing History Series