[Civ V LP] Enrico's Hat Conquers the World- Game Thread

[Borgholio]

So how does capturing cities work as Venice compared to a different faction? You said it was different at the start but I've never payed Civ V (or any of them) so I'm slightly confused as to how you managed to "take over" Bratislava as it were.

Civ 5 gives you three options when you capture a city...burn it to the ground, install a puppet government, or annex it fully. Venice cannot annex, so they can install puppet governments. These governments will build whatever they want so you have no control over that, but you can still control units after they've been produced, and you get tax income from them.

[Tribble]

If that guy succeeds at enslaving Santa he is not going to leave any presents for your children. That's no good.

I agree completely! So the question is: should I stop Captain Crazy-Pants' Mad scheme, or do I enslave Santa for myself?

The images are much better and I enjoy the story so far.

Cool, thanks for the help! I am going to get back to the older images at some point, I'll email an update over to you once that's done.

So how does capturing cities work as Venice compared to a different faction? You said it was different at the start but I've never payed Civ V (or any of them) so I'm slightly confused as to how you managed to "take over" Bratislava as it were.

In addition to what Borgholio said, you can also purchase units in the cities that you have installed a puppet government in. One of Venice's strong suits is having a large amount of cash at hand because they can have double the number of trade routes compared to other civs. So later in the game I should be able to compensate for the lack of control by just buying units outright. Provided I am able to trade (there's a max range, and you have to be at peace with the civ).

I haven't had the chance to build any trade routes yet because of the barbarians and wonder building, so I'll show that mechanic when it comes up.

Also, Venice has the unique ability of converting over city-states via their great merchants. You don't actually use any cash in the transaction (Austria has the ability to buy city-states via cash) so what is the great merchant actually doing, plot-wise? He never comes back from his mission after all. So either I installed him as governor or I offered him up as some kind of sacrifice. The ladder seemed a bit more likely given the game settings as well as my total apathy towards my slaves citizens

[Purple]

I agree completely! So the question is: should I stop Captain Crazy-Pants' Mad scheme, or do I enslave Santa for myself?

Wait and see how the war goes and than join the wining side near the end. Maximum spoils minimum risk.

[Thanas]

My natural instincts as a German tell me that you should do this to the poles:

[Borgholio]

Yes indeed, Bratwurst can be quite fatal if mishandled.

[Thanas]

I would argue that it was a proper application.

[InsaneTD]

The great merchant of Venice, a special great person that other civs can get with the right social policies and city state friends. This unit can be used up to "buy"a city state. It basically just gives you control of the city with no war. Almost like you traded another cic for their city. The other option is combat.

[LaCroix]

I would argue that it was a proper application.

German sausages applied to Polish people do have a long tradition, especially on video.

[Thanas]

Jeez man.

[phred]

You automate your workers? I always manually control them for the first era or so, at least until i have the resource tiles properly upgraded.

[Purple]

You automate your workers? I always manually control them for the first era or so, at least until i have the resource tiles properly upgraded.

I newer did understand the point of automation in any civ game. Maybe it makes sense in 5 (have not played it, don't know) but in all the ones I have played I always manually control every single thing.

[Jub]

You automate your workers? I always manually control them for the first era or so, at least until i have the resource tiles properly upgraded.

I newer did understand the point of automation in any civ game. Maybe it makes sense in 5 (have not played it, don't know) but in all the ones I have played I always manually control every single thing.

Automated workers can ease the tedium of managing 8+ workers across 12 cities once your core improvements have been taken care of. If you toggle on don't replace improvements and don't chop forest/jungles, they're competent at ensuring your tiles get upgraded and anything pillaged gets repaired. Still, you shouldn't automate them before turn 300 because every bit of efficiency lost early game puts you further and further behind.

[Purple]

Automated workers can ease the tedium of managing 8+ workers across 12 cities once your core improvements have been taken care of. If you toggle on don't replace improvements and don't chop forest/jungles, they're competent at ensuring your tiles get upgraded and anything pillaged gets repaired. Still, you shouldn't automate them before turn 300 because every bit of efficiency lost early game puts you further and further behind.

To be honest I do not see anything tedious about it. If anything I feel in control and thus fun when micromanaging every single detail.

[Jub]

Automated workers can ease the tedium of managing 8+ workers across 12 cities once your core improvements have been taken care of. If you toggle on don't replace improvements and don't chop forest/jungles, they're competent at ensuring your tiles get upgraded and anything pillaged gets repaired. Still, you shouldn't automate them before turn 300 because every bit of efficiency lost early game puts you further and further behind.

To be honest I do not see anything tedious about it. If anything I feel in control and thus fun when micromanaging every single detail.

Most people could care less about which exact tile gets improved when they've already got all of their prime tiles worked and specialists set, especially given that each city will only ever work so many tiles. If your citizens are already working at capacity, any extra tiles are only useful for squeezing out some extra production for a rush towards a wonder/tech/policy. So at best, you might miss out on a hammer or two due to a certain tile not being upgraded in the correct order, this level of power increase is unrewarding next to things like wars, diplomacy, and well, anything else you could be doing and thus most people, after upgrading the tiles they know they'll be working and building the roads they need simply don't bother with the added work required in micromanaging their horde of workers.

If you like to micro-manage everything, control every worker, set and reset your citizens each turn, and never set a single unit to auto explore, you're almost certainly in the minority of those who play Civ V. It may also be a sign that you'd be a terrible manager in real life due to a need to control things that are better left to others.

[Tribble]

Sorry, was there a question directed towards me that I missed?

Ummm, I am semi-automating my workers and citizens. Automated workers in Civ V seem to default to "build up tiles with resources on them, then regular tiles" which is fine by me. I only take control when I want to prioritize something such as improving a particular resource or road-building (which the worker seems to put at the bottom of the list). As for citizens, I switched from "default" management to "focus on production" when building the Great Library as I wanted to make sure I beat everyone to it. But again, most of the time I just leave things be. I am sure that micro-managing is necessary on higher level difficulties / competitive play, but as I've said at the start I'm just an average person who likes games.

I haven't shown the city screen yet, nor have I shown how resources work. I'll include that in my next post in addition to trade (presuming I have the time to spare to actually build a trade-unit of course). You guys have given me some good ideas.

[Tribble]

Part 3: Funeral for a Friend

The war with Attilia the Hun and Rome continued...



I guess they had more than two warriors


While my people decided to worship me even more than usual:



Hurray! Statues of me for everyone!

As you can imagine, a Golden Age increases your Civilizations commerce, tech, production etc for its duration.


Meanwhile, the time had come to make a decision: should I stop the mad ravings of the Babylonians, or help them crush Santa Claus's army? Although my advisiors had waited for me to watch and see, I decided to take action and go to war. Who would it be?



Yes, I am looking at you, Crazy-Pants.


I chose to go to war against the Babylonians, namely because I felt like being lazy and their city was closest

But why go to war right away when I can piss them off first?



Apparently they weren't too happy about me publically denouncing them...



Demanding all of their money...



And telling them not to build any cities near my territory.


Crazy-Pants figured out what I was up to when all of my units lined up on my border, and demanded that I either declare war or state to the world that I meant no harm. What was my response?



I'm sure you guys figured as much.


Although I had lost the element of surprise, I began bombarding their city:



Soon you will be mine.


I decided to check on my neighbours and see what they thought of this particular little war. Their response was... a little more erratic than I was expecting...



Although Santa Claus wishes me good luck in my current conflict, apparently I'm still on his naughty list. Even though he and Captain-Crazy pants hate each other's guts.



Persia isn't happy either.



Attila the Hun, one of the biggest war-mongers in the game, supposedly dislikes other warmongers. Even when he's in the middle of a war.



Ditto for the Assyrians. Pot, meet Kettle.


The "war-monger" status is a new feature in Civ V. In previous games, the A.I. civs would only get pissed of if you attacked their friends. If they were neutral, they didn't really care, and if they were hostile to the other civ, you might even get a relationship bonus and have them join in. In Civ V any time you go to war, all the other civs take notice and will usually get pissed off, even if they are bitter enemies with the civ you are attacking. This includes the situation where you are attacked first and take a city in retaliation. Plus, the "war-monger" status is usually permanent: the A.I. civs will rarely forgive you, even after thousands of years (and hundreds of turns) have passed. And as you may have noticed, the modifier doesn't appear to impact their behaviour, and they will happily wage war and make alliances with each other whenever they want.

It's frustrating because in the previous Civ game you could actually have a meaningful relationship with other civs, whereas in Civ V everything you do tends to piss them off. Have a small army? They will attack you for your weakness. Have a big army? They will be pissed off as they see you as a threat. Build cities? They will get pissed off for expanding. Don't build cities? They will get pissed of as they expand towards you,
because the close borders spark tensions. And so on and so forth.

It does make for a good Let's Play though

Edit: turns out that Egypt and Ethiopia were perfectly fine with my war, though they are supposed to be very against warmongers. I'm guessing my circle-jerking earlier on declarations of friendship was the most likely cause. Perhaps it's not quite as useless as I thought.


Undeterred by my neighbours erratic behaviour, I carried on the attack:



And every time I attack the game makes sure that I hear the wails of all the women and children screaming. Music to my ears


I captured the city (with Betty's help), and puppet it.



How the hell do you pronounce that anyways?


Around this time the game decides to mock-me by pointing out how the A.I. cheats via having more production than it should make a list as to how many social policies each civ has:



So I have less policies than Atilia the Hun, even though he has been locked in war for centuries. Go figure.


I decided to make peace with Captain Crazy pants, as his capital is far too difficult to take atm:


I want all your concubines too.


But not before Babylon was able to fire over / around a mountain to hit my spearman on the other side. I think their archers won the contest. Unfortunately I deleted the screenshot before remembering why I took the picture


I gain a new social policy:



Good to know I at least equal the Huns in Social development. That's not saying much.


Crazy-Pants decided he had something important to say:


Admit it, you're just pissed off that I stopped you little scheme. No Elves for you!


That didn't stop us from working together to take out some barbarians:



I even let him take the encampment and the gold. I'll just take it back the next time I attack him.


I suddenly remembered my promise to show off the city screen, so here you go:



As you can see, it's a pretty straightforward design


Alas, my grand total of 10 turns of war was more than enough time to spawn another barbarian camp, as well as an extra unit:



I think I'm starting to regret switching barbarians over to raging.


Santa Claus decided now was the best time to go to war, and attacked the Babylonians...



What about the whole "I hate warmongers" schtick?"


And promptly got his ass kicked.



Serves you right, you fat bastard.


While Rome declared war on Egypt and took Thebes:



Damn, I guess the Romans really like yellow/blue candy canes.


Not to be outdone in the hypocrisy department, the Persians soon declared their intentions to go to war with Egypt as well:



After having their capital sacked, Egypt is a threat to the world eh?


I decided not to get involved, especially because...



Halleluiah!


Time to use my Great Prophet to found an organised religion:



My only regret is that I forgot to customize the name. Obviously people should have been worshipping the almighty Tribble!


Btw, bike the pantheon, an organised religion allows to pick various bonuses for the cities that follow it.


To continue this orgy of violence, the Ethiopians asked if I would sign an alliance to go to war with the Babylonians. I asked for 10 turns to prepare. After all, what's the worst that Crazy-Pants could possibly do?


During the preparations, I finally managed to build a trade ship.



Too bad there was nothing near my capital to trade with!


Luckily, Bratislava was within range of Antwerp. While I could have used the trade-ship to funnel extra food over to Venice (which doesn't take away from the food in Bratislava), I needed money more.


I gather my forces to the Babylonians' northern city (as I still don't have enough forces to take his capital)



Betty is looking forward to more action.


Crazy-Pants randomly decides that now is a good as time as any to insult me


[/img]
Oh, you'll be paying for this. Big time.


Before you know it, 10 turns have elapsed:



...And we're off!



I launch an all-out attack on the city. Betty gets in the final shot.


But alas, the Enemy had the last laugh, as during their response they launched a volley of arrows...



BETTY?!?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!


If only I had realised that using a scout unit to attack a city could lead to disaster!

Fortunately Betty's sacrifice was not in vain, as a Named Character spawned right at that moment to avenge him...



I hope his name is not referring to his generaling skills...


And he had damaged the city just enough for me to capture it, after my warrior ate some horses to gain health:



Well, he pillaged the tile. Same thing really.


And another barbarian camp spawned. How many have I killed so far?



But it's a horsie this time!.


The battle of Akkad continued:


It was actually a lot closer than it looks, as I had just killed a swordsman and warrior.


In the meantime, I decided to go for Petra, a wonder in this game that would greatly improve Venice's desert tiles:





After a few more turns of struggle. I finally finish off the Babylonian forces


Long live Venice!


And some guy decided to tour the world and hand out questionnaires asking how many people could read



Sadly, only ~15% could be filled out due to the low literacy rate


Still not able to take on the capital, I decided to attack the only other Babylonian city left of the map (the Ethiopians took the other one):



Ok, maybe I am a little bit bloodthirsty.


A barbarian horseman provided a useful distraction, as it absorbed the Babylonian counter-attack. In gratitude, I executed them on the spot.



What could go wrong this time?


Looking back over at Venice, I quickly found out:



Karma is a bitch.


Luckily I had enough money to purchase a spearman and upgrade my archer to a composite bowman:



Aww look, he brought friends!


After taking the latest Babylonian city (with the help of Ivan the Terrible, who gives a 15% combat bonus to any unit within 2 tiles of him), I made finally made peace.


I've pretty much got them surrounded by this point.


I wonder what the response from my neighbours will be?


Surprise



Oh no he didn't!



Atilia the Hun is now... friendly with me? And no longer pissed at my war-mongering? Though angry that I am "building new cities too aggressively?" I guess he's like the Goldilocks of warmongers- he'll only like you if you rape and pillage just the right amount.



Hey dude, remember when you, you know, asked me to invade this guy? Or are you just jealous that I took more cities than you?


As I said, the A.I. is crazy. I've gotta love their spin-doctoring though, it'd make even Janeway blush


And now, let us pause for a moment in remembrance of our beloved fallen hero, Betty:


Some artist renditions of Betty's Last Stand:

















The last one is probably a bit more accurate.



R.I.P. Master Pain Betty. 4000-485 B.C.


Well, Goodnight, Sweet Prince. You will be missed... for at least a few more turns.

[InsaneTD]

You can actually reduce warmonger penalty be taking cities that have been conquered by someone else and then liberating it. I did find I couldn't always liberate a city, I think it was cause it had been held for too long. Not sure what happens if you just liberate cities others have captured.

[Thanas]

The city-screen picture is a bit..off.

[Tribble]

The city-screen picture is a bit..off.

Yaaa, I realised that this morning. I should have a new game: spot all the newbie mistakes!

You can actually reduce warmonger penalty be taking cities that have been conquered by someone else and then liberating it. I did find I couldn't always liberate a city, I think it was cause it had been held for too long. Not sure what happens if you just liberate cities others have captured.

Yes, you can indeed reduce your war-mongering status by declaring war on a civ, taking their cities and handing them back to their original owners. Or as Atilia just pointed out, by just declaring war and attacking a civ left right and centre! The A.I. in Civ V is a master of spin-doctoring and you never really know what the hell its doing. Of course, the civ you took the cities off of won't be too happy about it, so someone is still going to be pissed off at you in the end.

Oh, and don't think that the liberated city's civ will be grateful to you... on more than one occasion I've had them denounce me right after I handed over the city to them. Because they are now best buds with the civ that just attacked them 5 turns ago. Things like that.

[Tribble]

Oh right, almost forgot that every funeral needs a soundtrack:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EZf01621vU