CFC OT Warlords - Spoiler

[Matrix]

The Warlord Pitboss game with CFC Off-Topic lads. Weird, but ok.

Half the number of players are dead already! Sparta is huge now. BCLG100 and I are quite big as well, but I actually only conquered one city from someone else, namely Javy. (Only after I noticed BCLG100 was kicking his butt... [mischief]) HitAnyKey became azzaman333's vassal, and recently let the AI take over. Apparently he got bored. [lol]
http://www.straland.com/images/cdz/CFCOTWar01.jpg

And here's east of my vast empire:
http://www.straland.com/images/cdz/CFCOTWar02.jpg

Har is the holy Christian city. I don't have the Church of Nativity yet, but I'm trying to get a Great Prophet in either Goon or Strastad. My entire empire is Christian, and so is the (tiny) Chinese empire and three other cities.

To the west I have:
http://www.straland.com/images/cdz/CFCOTWar03.jpg

Now let's politics. Again there are two major alliances:
IglooDude, VRWCAgent, BCLG100, Matrix
azzaman333 + HitAnyKey, Kan_Sharuminar, Branawaga, Sparta

The second alliance was planning an attack on me for a long long time. I learned about that just a few days before I went to South Africa from BLCG100, and told Kemal, my temporary replacement, all about it. When he took over all hell broke loose! Miraculously Kemal was able to keep everyone out, for which he deserves a very lot of credits!! [worship] He only lost Libiaan to Kan_Sharuminar, but that was also the best thing to do IMO. (Not worth defending.) When I took over again there was still a gaint Japanese stack (Bran) next to Leniken. With catapults and my stack of knights I killed his entire stack and lost only six catapults and one knight!
http://www.straland.com/images/smilies/jump.gif That was the happiest moment of my Civ-life! http://www.straland.com/images/smilies/jump.gif

I then moved towards Branawaga's capital and destroyed it without any problems. But since I am at war with Sparta I immediately went back to Leniken to defend myself against a possible attack. The threat was eliminated anyway. Sparta and BCLG100 are currently not at war, but BLCG100 told Sparta that if he'd go anywhere with his stack (or one of his stacks I suppose), he would take advantage and take the city the stack is in now.

But I'm kinda bound to defend my empire against Sparta as well. Here's my border with Sparta (plus some other info). The units in the bottom left corner is what I currently have in Leniken, but I have just as many similar units in (former) Japanese territory and even more knights than this.

http://www.straland.com/images/cdz/CFCOTWar04.jpg

Note this power graph and study it closely:
http://www.straland.com/images/cdz/CFCOTWar05.gif

First of all you can see the demise of Branawaga's power after I killed his stack. I only destroyed his capital this turn, so it won't show until next turn. But what's important: my alliance is smaller than the other alliance. Sparta's empire is huge, but his power as well!! I myself have never controlled this many units in a Civ4 game at the stage before. Because of this, I have made the following bold and disturbing suggestion to Sparta and BLCG100: to join together against the rest of the world! We have enough firepower to conquer the rest of the world, and or all reputations and relations were equal we'd be fools to attack each other and cancel each other's armies out! Perhaps we're even fools now... BCLG100 already replied and said he couldn't turn his back on VRWCAgent and IglooDude. I'm still waiting for a response from Sparta; he hasn't read it yet. (I sent him a notification via PM.)

I suppose it's not gonna happen, but I wonder how we'll get out of this status quo.

[Kemal]

Note that Kan lost most of his stack after capturing Libiaan - see power graph - to your knights so if you would be so inclined taking back the city would be fairly safe I think. :)

Furthermore, during my period at the helm, me and BCLG decided that we definitely needed to pursue Military Tradition ourselves asap too (since Sparta already had it), however while it is apparent you entered a GA via the Taj Mahal and thus have nationalism, no sign of any cavs being produced on those pics just yet... You are researching MT instead of BCLG doing so, I presume?

Also, if I may so ask, a graph of the GNP would be interesting too.. last thing I remembered Sparta's GNP was crashing down probably due to upkeep issues, which is also why us eastern alliance members expected an attack soon (and why we decided to surprise attack a force near our borders), but it seems Sparta is tangled up into some kind of arms race with bclg. Maybe you could profit if you could get cavs yourselves and a war between bclg and you finally breaks out, leaving them in shambles.

Thanks for putting up a spoiler btw!

[Matrix]

We blundered with the research: I was four turns away from Chemistry while BCLG100 was three turns away. I wasted five 'golden' turns on research. Because I was already researching Chemistry when I took over, I thought that was discussed. And BCLG100 asked multiple times what I was researching, but in the game, and those messages never arrived.

So two turns ago I switched to Military Tradition. But now I really would like to see some cash from them so that we can have MT a.s.a.p.! I doubt the necessity is that clear to them. http://www.straland.com/images/smilies/undecided.gif

[Matrix]

We're still not out of the status quo, although a major event has occurred: Sparta destroyed BCLG100's capital from the sea [eek] doing a double move [cringe] which apparently is allowed. If someone would do that to me I'll freak.

Eventually though, my alliance is weaker than Sparta's alliance. My saving lies in changing the relationships. Somehow I do need to break that alliance, and I prefer breaking their alliance above keeping mine. If only Sparta would ally with me alone that would be better than this. Not yet though, because both our science rates are not very high... I don't even have one courthouse yet, let alone Forbidden Palace. [sad]

This is the only city of Sparta bordering me. We're conveniently far away from each other: none of us can reach each other's city. My stack is slightly smaller, but he's got way more power.
http://www.straland.com/images/cdz/CFCOTWar06.jpg

[Matrix]

azzaman333 DM's me.

http://www.straland.com/images/cdz/CFCOTWar07.jpg

[Kemal]

Was this the end of this game, or has it progressed beyond this still? Just wondering how it ended eventually... :)

[Matrix]

It's still going. I don't know the current situation though. Except that Straland is now annexed by Starta. [cry]

I have to correct the statement that azzaman333 DM'ed me. He didn't; it was just a clever sneak attack. But right after that (while realising that my alliance wouldn't win in the end) I simply attacked Sparta with my stack of units and lost. Such a shame, especially since you did such a splendid job, Kemal. :(

[Kemal]

It's too bad but to be honest, Sparta really was the top dog all along and there was little hope in stopping him, imho. Maybe BCLG or someone else can fill in the gaps, if they happen to read this. :)