Difficulty: Immortal
Civilization: Egypt
Leader: Hatshepsut
World Size: Duel
Opponent: Alexander
Map Script: Archipelago (Snaky Continents)
Rules: No Tech Trading
Victory: Domination, Cultural, Space Race, Time
Variant Rules:
You may not land any units on the Enemy Home Continent (where Athens will be located) at any time. (Bombardments from the air are allowed).
You may not acquire or settle any cities on the Enemy Home Continent. Not through peace deals and not through culture flips. All other lands, however, are fair game.
You may not fire nuclear weapons at any cities on the Enemy Home Continent.
Closing Day: Monday, September 4. Reports due by the end of Wednesday September 6, your local time. (An extra day for Labor Day Weekend in the States).
Pre-game analysis
I'm a player who has serious problems even on Monarch difficulty. Here, I'm facing an Immortal variant game, against a harsh opponent, in a map type that I never played, and without the possibility to rush the other civ early. So, it will be like a walk in the park .
So, as far as I know, the map script will create two dinstinct continents separated by the ocean, so maybe I will make it to the middle ages at least. The continents should be quite thin, lowering the barbarian threat (hopefully). My leader is Hatty, which is spiritual and creative. I like these two traits, but creative has a limited use here... On the other hand, Alex is aggressive and philosophical, which means he'll grab most of the wonders and run away tech-wise thanks to the GPs. So to recap, space race is out, as well as time and domination. This leaves the cultural win. Hmm... maybe I should think about surviving first!
The game
In the first turn, I settle where I am, then go for fishing. There is fish, a lake, and I want a religion. I know it will be a hard thing, but if I have to win by cultural ways, at least one religion is mandatory. Plus, it could help me much with all the happiness problems I'll have in this game. I can see that my max population is 4 at the moment, and this is definitely not a good thing. The hut gives me a scout, which is very welcome. After the discover of fishing, I beeline meditation, hoping Alex will prioritize other things, and swap the production from the original worker to a workboat.
In 3220 BC, I found Buddhism, and convert immediately. Now I'm thinking if I could try to get hinduism, too. Having two holy cities would be immensely helpful, but I don't want to cripple my economy either. On the other side, I don't see any reason to keep it in a good shape (!) if I'm trying to win by culture. At the end, I decide to take the risk and go for polytheism. The gamble, sadly, fails for one turn. I'll have to go other ways, then. I go for BW now, hoping to be able to chop out some settlers quickly, and claim most of my continent before Alex comes. There are 4 luxuries, and I must have them all.
When I complete the worker, I choose the monastery as my third building, Because it provides both culture and science, and I surely won't have money to spend on organized religion for missionaries later on. I research bronze working, and find that I have no copper. Great, fortunately I won't need it much. I try to push my research forward choosing pottery/writing as my next techs. I try to pick stonehenge, it would be a great thing for the prophet. I must notice, this city has a big production potential, with two food resources and several hills. Even at size 5, it has a very nice production. In 1480 BC, I win my first battle with an exploring warrior, against an archer . Hm, these barbs will be quite challenging after all...
In 1360, I complete Stonehenge! This is really good news, considering that Alex will already have several cities at this stage. I think it's time to expand now, so I start on barracks. After writing, I go hunting/archery, to contrast the barbs. As soon as I reach archery, I start the production of an archer and research IW.
The year 655 BC is important, because I enter the classical age with the discovery of iron working, and because I found my second city, Memphis. This will probably be my GP farm, as it has two food resources and apparently less production than Thebes. Iron pops out in a location that... well... could have been better! It's in my borders, but on a tiny tundra island that I will never settle! And it was the only metal source I could see! This forces me to pick sailing as the next tech, So that I can explore the seas. While Alex builds the hindu shrine and the colossus (strange thing), I'm thinking to rush music and drama, while hopefully picking CoL with the prophet. The science rate is not bad at all, but I need to expand further, too. In 265 BC, I found my third city, Heliopolis, north of Memphis. This is my designated third legendary city, although it has little food it can count on some nice water tiles. Too bad I missed the oracle! My science rate has already dropped to 70%, but it won't go much deeper for a while. The prophet pops out and - whoops - I haven't researched monotheism yet, so I switch to it quickly. Obviously, one turn before I discover monotheism, Confucianism is founded by Alex. That was some quality , that's for sure. If only I had researched that tech before... So I use the prophet to build the shrine.
In 125 AD, I meet Alex. Let's see... He has 6 cities! I sign an open borders agreement with him, because I need to know, where the sacred Enemy Home Continent is. But, who said Greece is an enemy? We will live forever in peace, sharing knowledge and culture, until I win. Yeah, he'll let me do that, for sure. The next turn I discover alphabet and see he's already up at least five techs! And I have half of his power. I think I'll build more soldiers... In 440 AD, he cancels the deal. I make a desperate move: revolt to atheism! I need to keep Alex friendly above all.
In the next turn, I found Elephantine, which hurts my cash, so I sell my stone to Alex for 3 gpt. I don't really need it anyway, and that gold is more useful to me. Some turns later, I restore the OB, renegotiate the deal and get clam + 4 gpt, which is very good. Now Alex has +3 with me, when the OB bonus kicks in, I'll revolt to Buddhism again. It's nice to be spiritual!
In 980 AD I complete the GL, and start the Parthenon, while Alex is spawning GPs. I reach music, but Alex was already there . Let's go for drama... I get a scientist in Thebes, which I use to build an academy, of course. I found Alexandria (not quite the right name...) in the south, kicking my economy back to 30%, but I need that silver there. Suddenly, Alex adopts vassalage! I feel the death coming... I try to reach feudalism before it's too late. Islam is founded in a junk city settled by Alex on my continent. I have hopes to convert that city, getting a second religion would be awesome!
In 1322 AD, the Parthenon is completed, by me! How could Alex have missed that wonder? I managed to build it in Memphis, which already has the national epic, now I'll have a nice artist-popping city. Alex hasn't attacked yet, and in fact he's at +4 with me, thanks to civic choices (HR), open borders, and trade. In 1466 AD, I add my first artist to Thebes. I'll need a lot more...
Many anonymous turns follow, with me falling incredibly behind in technology and hoping that Alex will be kind with me. As soon as I get public service, I swap the improvements in Memphis to max food, and start the artist production.
All seems quiet, when in 1796, Alex finally declares. I'm totally unprepared (!), because I've been so busy improving my culture. This will be rough... Alex lands a stack of 6 cavalries in the south, which may seem ridiculous, but my best defence are a couple of longbows. I try desperately to garrison the capital while he is busy razing Alexandria, but I can't avoid losing my capital in 1808 AD (13-14), and with that, lose the game. Now, it will be interesting to see how many turns will I resist to Alex !
I manage to make peace in 1819, paying Elephantine. How much will it take for the next attack? I try to build as many cats and longbows as I can. Alex attacks again in 1864 AD. He lands some other cavalries, together with a couple cannons, and goes for Heliopolis. The city resists two turns, then falls. I discover gunpowder, and manage to survive the first wave in Memphis thanks to my new musketeers. Actually, I reach the 2000s, only to lose 16 turns from the end. My musketeers had no chance against air power, helicopters, and one modern armor. I even try producing a settler, but he is killed the same turn I lose my last city. I wanted to embark it in a caravel, hoping to hide it somewhere in the sea, but I couldn't load it onto the ship. So I moved it in the last turn, trying to squeeze in as many turns as possible.
Here I put four screenshots of the endgame timeline map, in the major moments of the game: the first AD turn, my maximum expansion, the capture of Thebes and the last year, before the end. I'm also placing the shot of the culture I've acheved in Memphis at the end of the game. After all, maybe I wouldn't have been able to win even without warring... Then the power graph, which speaks for itself , the statistic screen and the final one, with the units I've built. Sure, they were few, but how many chances would I have had, with longbows only? Even an amazing number couldn't have saved me, because I lost every single battle. I could have stayed in atheism, but Alex was still pleased when he attacked, and I don't think his status was the main reason to attack. My fault was not pushing aggressively at the beginning, when I could harm Alex. Over time, he's grown too big for me, and I haven't had any chances. If I had faced Gandhi, maybe... but this is not the way to go on Immortal level.
Summary:
This game was too much for me, and I surely won't be able to compete at Immortal level for a while, but at least I know that, now . I thought it was even harder, however. The strategy I've used, and the amount of time he needed to beat me, make me think that a very aggressive strategy, with early naval warfare, and heavy pressure on all the colonies near the Greek core (which was pretty small) could probably win the game. The easy of this game, was that there wasn't a distant runaway civ, and you could make war from the start of the game. Of course, I'm too much of a builder and didn't even think about setting up such a strategy with a leader like Hatty, against an aggressive one. The economical disaster I suffered killed every other chance to compete tech-wise in the middle ages, and that was my fault, because grabbing code of laws with the prophet would have been a better move than building the shrine, given the horrible maintenance costs that I suffered for so much time, and that I hadn't considered. Then, in the late game, Alex had such a technological edge that it would have been impossible to defend myself. Luckily, he did only in the 19th century, and after conquering all of my cities except the last one, he leaved me in peace for many turns, just pillaging my lands and doing nothing else. It's not because I endlessly resisted, that I reached the 2000s, the attacks just stopped after the conquest of Heliopolis.
I'll have to go other ways, then. I go for BW now, hoping to be able to chop out some settlers quickly, and claim most of my continent before Alex comes. There are 4 luxuries, and I must have them all.
. Hm, these barbs will be quite challenging after all...
, that's for sure. If only I had researched that tech before... So I use the prophet to build the shrine.
. Let's go for drama... I get a scientist in Thebes, which I use to build an academy, of course. I found Alexandria (not quite the right name...) in the south, kicking my economy back to 30%, but I need that silver there. Suddenly, Alex adopts vassalage! I feel the death coming... I try to reach feudalism before it's too late. Islam is founded in a junk city settled by Alex on my continent. I have hopes to convert that city, getting a second religion would be awesome!
!
. I thought it was even harder, however. The strategy I've used, and the amount of time he needed to beat me, make me think that a very aggressive strategy, with early naval warfare, and heavy pressure on all the colonies near the Greek core (which was pretty small) could probably win the game. The easy of this game, was that there wasn't a distant runaway civ, and you could make war from the start of the game. Of course, I'm too much of a builder and didn't even think about setting up such a strategy with a leader like Hatty, against an aggressive one. The economical disaster I suffered killed every other chance to compete tech-wise in the middle ages, and that was my fault, because grabbing code of laws with the prophet would have been a better move than building the shrine, given the horrible maintenance costs that I suffered for so much time, and that I hadn't considered. Then, in the late game, Alex had such a technological edge that it would have been impossible to defend myself. Luckily, he did only in the 19th century, and after conquering all of my cities except the last one, he leaved me in peace for many turns, just pillaging my lands and doing nothing else. It's not because I endlessly resisted, that I reached the 2000s, the attacks just stopped after the conquest of Heliopolis.