[PC] Of Spock and Communism: Civ IV Succession Game

I'd be up for this. The elimination of culture victory makes me sad, but I guess it's a lot harder to pull off in vanilla.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Oh, come on, this is Gamingforce, sucking at games is no justification for not playing

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Hacks? The fake ISO shouldn't cause any problem at all in applying patches.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I'm ready to roll whenever.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Father slept away the night quietly; he was cold when we went to wake him for his breakfast. He had lived long, and in his life had done more for our people than any before him. But we have no time to grieve.

As the funeral pyre burns, I send the best of our fighters further north. To hunt, to seize wealth, to bring the outlying tribes under our banner. There is much to do.



Then: a great discovery, at last. Armed with an understanding of karma and its workings, our people will surely be the most fortuitous upon the Earth. While I could decree that everyone should follow this wisdom, I restrain myself; too much divine knowledge in too short a time could give the people into unrest. There will be a time for that, but not until we know where we stand in the world. Excited by our findings, I order our shamans to continue their investigations into the numinous. Truly, the spirits smile upon our endeavors here.



Our explorers stumble upon yet another tiny village, full of primitive tribesmen ignorant of the Great Wheel Of Being. Surely, like all the others, they will be happy to aid us.



Mayhap not. Armed savages rush out of their huts, ululating savage war cries. What could have caused this descent into animalistic madness? Then, I see the answer.



Heathens are afoot. Foreign ones, monsters. Mere proximity to their sinful culture has driven our once-peaceful tribesmen into disarray and madness. We have no choice but to put them down for their own good.



The rebellion quashed, I send an emissary to meet with these.... these invaders. Their leader is unimpressive; a mere girl. She is not fit even to take as a wife. Still, contemptible though she may be, we cannot safely dismiss her. Her corrupting influence has already spread too close to the palace for my comfort.



Our second battalion of troops is trained and ready at last. We will surely need them in the dark days ahead. It is tempting, now, to build a great wonder that will shame the invaders, but we cannot spare the time. Instead, I order the assembly of a conclave of holy men, that we may more easily understand the mysteries of the cosmos and spread our wisdom to the world around us.



I hesitate to send the new fighters away, knowing of the danger that hovers on our borders — but, more than ever, it is imperative that we learn what else may surround us. The little queen surely does not dare to strike at us. Not yet. For a time — a short time — we can shoulder the risks of leaving the palace defenseless.



Our first squad, exhilarated by their victory over the savages, continues their journey to the north — finding a most unpleasant sight indeed. Only in my great-grandfather's day did the Endless Cold begin to retreat from the world, and to find these icy rocks looming so close... lurking there, waiting to starve and freeze us, to hide the fish under a wall of ice... it is infuriating. There is no sense in walking further in this direction. Only death awaits to the north. Only death.



Closer to home, our new recruits stumble upon more villagers. Their little sums of shiny rocks and smelly furs will impress nobody, but we are in no position to refuse charity. Like the others, we issue them behind the city walls.



They are just in time to witness our next triumph. The Great Wheel, it seems, operates under the command of a host of the most mighty spirits. Spirits of war. Of death. Of creation and destruction. We have always respected the spirits, but it is fortuitous indeed to know which ones can best repay that respect. As with our last discovery, I decline to forcefully evangelize on the matter. Let our people reach wisdom at their own speed. I have confidence in them.



While my desire for great monuments must be withheld until the completion of our monkish conclave, it is not too soon to begin preparation. Soon, we will move to seize the stones we found so long ago, and when we do so we must be ready to use them. Our simple way of carving little rocks into sharp points will kill bears and imbeciles, but I feel instinctively that the Great Spirits will soon demand of us a mighty tribute. For that, we will need to pull massive stones from the bosom of the Earth itself.

I am old myself now, and tired. I suspect tonight's feast will be my last. But while I join the spirits now, I know I will return. The Great Wheel has promised me that.

In case it's not clear, we did successfully found Hinduism; Washington is now double-holy.

Vivi, you're up.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Araes

Pang: Nice writeup and with the comment about stones at the end, does that mean we're going for Masonry now?

Yeah, I figured we'd want to jump for Pyramids/Stonehenge reasonably soon and we'll need it if we want to snag Monotheism (and Judaism).

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

There's no rule that says anybody has to be a big RP fag just because I am

Most amazing jew boots

Skippin' the RP this time since frankly not a whole lot happened:

Finished the farm workers were assigned to, sent them to build the quarry for that stone;

Citybound Warrior safely arrives and fortifies;

One of our exploring Warriors was unfortunately killed by a barbarian ambush while healing;

Finished Archery and quickly picked up Writing, then got started on Iron Working (considered Code Of Law but I think three religions is plenty for now, if you disagree Iron Working's only had one turn of research put into it);

Finished building the Settler, personally I favor the space just south of "Bronzington" as it will get us the Bronze that much faster and avoids the trap of water squares on a noncoastal city;

Started building a Warrior to escort the Settler to their destination since we know Barbs are nearby;

Discovered some Bronze and Silver in the far northeast but I don't really expect to be able to secure it anytime soon.

http://www.saxypunch.com/miscimg/ML2....Civ4SavedGame

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Extremely uneventful:

Fortified Warrior killed off an Archer barb

Finished Settler, moved to and resettled the Bronzington site. I fortified a roaming Warrior there to assist the existing Archer in place and started on a Barracks. It's becoming obvious that our peaceful lifestyle isn't sustainable

Started building a temple in Washington to offset the population anger. Need to put together some missionaries to get our religions into New Bronzington. Bloating our cultural borders might slow down the squeeze Hattie's trying to put us in.

Worker finished building the quarry; I've got them building roads toward our reacquired source of copper.

So many people have dropped in and out I have no idea whose turn it is now, but here's the file:

http://www.saxypunch.com/miscimg/ML2....Civ4SavedGame

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Crap, didn't notice your post had updated. I promise I will get this done tomorrow

There's nowhere I can't reach.

http://www.saxypunch.com/miscimg/ML2....Civ4SavedGame

Founded Missoura, started her on a Barracks and sent two Bronzington Spearmen over to defend it. Finished Monarchy and got started on Feudalism.

At this point I will be amazed if we survive into the modern era, let alone win.

How ya doing, buddy?

http://www.saxypunch.com/miscimg/ML2....Civ4SavedGame

Basically just ground out some more Axemen, plus an Archer here and there since we can't ignore defense just because we plan to go on the warpath. Honestly I think we'd have more luck taking out Hurrian before we attack Egypt proper, if nothing else that would cut down on the constant stream of archers harrying us while we try to build up troop numbers. It's not in the greatest location but it should be a pretty easy capture and we need more hammers any way we can get them.

KRELIAN, IT'S YOUR TURN. ACTUALLY DO IT THIS TIME.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Spent my turns churning out alternating Axemen/Spearmen, started building a Barracks in Pi-Ramesses so our new citizens can contribute more usefully to the war effort. Egypt fails to retaliate in any meaningful way as of yet. I start sending troops toward the apparent Egyptian settlement to the west of Pi-Ramesses, realizing too late that Alexandria is waterlocked and we have no navy to speak of. Hatshepsut is open to negotiations, so peace should be easy to achieve should we find ourselves pinned. However, it looks like this war may be more winnable than I would have guessed.



http://www.saxypunch.com/miscimg/ML2....Civ4SavedGame

Rychord?

I was speaking idiomatically.

Wow, 1680 already? My burgeoning optimism about this run is starting to fade. I don't know if we have enough time to pull ahead even if we kick ass from here to 2050.

Not a lot to report, started churning out Horse Archers instead of Chariots and produced a few Catapults to help take the more heavily-defended cities closer to Egypt's core. Started connecting the Iron, so should be able to switch to Knights very soon. Managed to take out Heliopolis without artillery support, though at a cost of of 5 or 6 casualties. Still, a population 11 holy city should give us a significant score bump once the rebellion dies out.



http://www.saxypunch.com/miscimg/ML2....Civ4SavedGame

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

http://www.saxypunch.com/miscimg/ML2....Civ4SavedGame

Captured Alexandria at the loss of 4 artillery, not bad. Recommend we shoot for the Egyptian/Barb settlements to the east for now while we assemble a less embarrassing navy.

FELIPE NO

http://www.saxypunch.com/miscimg/ML2....Civ4SavedGame

Captured Al-Amarna and Byblos, churned out quite a few more units than we'll probably need to capture Giza which I expect is the last of Egypt. We might consider turning our guns on Germany or Greece as long as we've got this military stockpile sitting around.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Alright, let's see. Coming out of the anarchy our economy immediately spirals into a massive deficit, leaving our coffers empty within two turns. In response I start building long-overdue courthouses where I can, and banks in those few places courthouses are already present. A Great Prophet pops up and I fetch us the Mahabodhi which is worth a cool 15 gold a turn. Khan didn't seem inclined to give us something for nothing.

Still hurting for cash but we can run 40 science/10 culture for a while without bleeding too much.

http://www.saxypunch.com/miscimg/ML2....Civ4SavedGame

Jam it back in, in the dark.

http://www.saxypunch.com/miscimg/ML2....Civ4SavedGame

Finished up Assembly Line, started on Electricity. Poked around in search of trades, but no dice. I leave the troop-upgrading to someone better schooled in the arts of war than I. A Great Artist popped up, I used it to squeeze... what was it, the Mongolian city on our north border.

That's about it!

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Our military is not quite what it could be and our funding (while considerable) isn't up to outfitting us for a war with a major player just yet. For the time being I begin moving our limited array of semi-modern units toward Oxford in a planned amphibious assault. It's not the best-located city by any means but it should be laughably easy to seize.

While the prevailing attitudes seem to be drifting toward war I hedge our bets and pick up the last few techs we'll need to escape our Earthly cradle: Industrialism, Artillery, and of course Rocketry. Happily Industrialism reveals Aluminum within our borders and the workers immediately rush to link it up.

Seeing Frederick as hardly any kind of significant threat, I make a couple of somewhat-lopsided tech trades with him. As has been pointed out, Internet is kind of in the far future for us if ever so I thought it wise to begin nabbing forgotten techs here and there.

We can begin Apollo within 2 turns, and — provided we avoid getting into any wars we can't win — we should have this thing in the bag. Probably advisable to continue beefing defences where possible while Apollo is under construction just to discourage any... opportunism from our neighbours.

http://www.saxypunch.com/miscimg/ML2....Civ4SavedGame

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

The first few turns are largely uneventful but before long our launchpad is built and we're ready to begin building our chariot to the stars. Attempts to coax some other nation into harassing the Khan go nowhere, but Frederick - despite his disappointment when we refuse to help him against Greece - is happy to trade us a couple of missing (if nonessential) techs. Even if we'll never use Fascism, collecting it gets us one step closer to Future Tech and the extra health and happiness it brings. A Great Engineer appears with a Great Artist in tow, just in time to bless the start of our great project with the dawn of a Golden Age; we'll need those extra hammers if we want to recoup the lead Kublai Khan's already got on us.

There's a turn of Golden Age left if the next person wants to make any quick civics adjustments. Let's see if we can wrap this up by 2100, hmm?

http://www.saxypunch.com/miscimg/ML2....Civ4SavedGame

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

All is in readiness.



A few minor adjustments to our technology...



A handful of crucial components...





And we are soon prepared to slip the surly bonds of Earth. Frederick, our oldest friend, remains embroiled in one of the little conflicts that seem to form the basis of terrestrial life. It all seems so petty. I turn down his request for aid. Only one project concerns me now. Perhaps my successor will have mercy on the Germans when I am gone. Frederick shoots me a look of contempt as I hang up the vidfone, but I'll never need to worry about his opinions again.



And then it is done. The selection has been complete for weeks, and the candidates already sleep in their cryogenic pods. 3,000 of our greatest scientists, engineers, athletes, artists — the greatest Americans alive today. The government and its functionaries we leave behind us. When we reach our destination, some untouched and beautiful place — these people can choose how to govern themselves. Alpha Centauri has no use for our old bureaucracies. As of launch day, I've abdicated my position as Prime Minister. On this craft, I'm just another old man. Too old, in fact, to survive the cryosleep process. I'll never see our new home. But I will see the stars.

They're beginning the countdown now. Farewell, America. Farewell, Earth.

YouTube Video

October 8, 2114. Ship's time: 10:30 AM. We are now less than a day's travel from the binary star system Alpha Centauri. Scanning for habitable planets.

Success.

Waking captain in 10. 9. 8. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.

Good morning, Colonel Santiago.

YouTube Video

Spoiler:

I was speaking idiomatically.