With Spain gone and Pikeman soon going obsolete, Crossgate2003 can now focus on internal growth. Persia has three potential enemies, Alexander to the northeast, Harun to the north, and Ramey to the west. The worst thing is that they all attack at the same time, so one has to become a friend.
Unaware of early Persian conquest on City States, Ramey's attitude towards Darius was quite friendly. The two even managed to sign a Defense Pact before Arabia declared war on Persia. So now Egypt is at war with Arabia.
dba5. If you can't read it - that's a declaration of friendship. Personally I am really reluctant to declare friends with AIs as their demands are unending. However, the "happy donations" can be viewed as peace tribute - to pay to an AI so they direct their sea of units elsewhere.
c3e5. Harun's first wave of invasion arrived immediately after the war declaration. There are quite a few of them, even with Camel Archers! But the Camel Archers are suffering from 50% resource penalty. Harun might have gotten the horse from Ramey?
b33f. More and more Arab units show up. Crossgate2003 made a very brave decision - he converted his only Great General in the area to a Citadel northeast of Geneva. Now Harun's sea of units have a much harder time capturing the city, but they still outnumber the defenders many to one!
I bet most of us never used Citadel in their games against the AIs, as it is not necessary - the AIs have so little army and so little wits. But every game design could be considered in Level 9!
181e. Ramey came to ask for "protection fee"! Crossgate2003 paid. (I would slap Ramey's face and tell him to work for his own money.)
ad14. And Alexander declared war all of a sudden! I thought Crossgate is in huge trouble here, but Alexander's army never actually showed up. I guess Alex was just bribed to declare war on Darius by perhaps Harun.
d586. More and more units came to the front line to help. Harun's didn't really try to avoid the Citadel. Suddenly Harun's chance looks bad.
And Egypt also declared war on Alexander due to the continued Defense Pact (needs manual renewal after each war declaration).
f58a. And that's the end of Harun's first invasion on Geneva. The Archers can't run faster than the Horseman!
cb3f. Next policy goes to Commerce. This is the beginning of a very important for the end-game strategy aiming at the greatest possible discount on nuclear bombs. Crossgate2003 is heading down to Mercantilism (25% discount on purchase).
4d0a. Signed first RA with Suleiman. Suleiman, with the riches of Nile, is one of the richer civilizations in this game.
70c1. Suddenly Harun's Cannon and Musketman showed up, but that's it. Crossgate2003 sacrificed another Great General for a Golden Age.
f4f0. A digusting friend took another 11 gold/turn away. There is no end of their greed.
0ac3. But the small band of elite troops are not here to attack Geneva! They go after a barbarian camp. After the camp is destroyed, the units run in all directions... and eventually got themsleves killed. That's just some brilliant moments of the AI. They are as easily distracted as ADHD kids!
c038. Discovered England, sold more resources, and signed another RA. Compared to my game, Crossgate2003 purposely delayed his exploration in order to cover his aggression towards City States. In my game, I want to meet with the leaders as early as possible to always find buyers of my extra resources. Crossgate gets his cash more from his own cities and the 3 puppeted rich former City States.
e2b8. Signed RA with Egypt. Pretty much paid for Ramey's expense already... but the good side is Egypt now uses his army on Arabia and perhaps Ottoman, instead of Persia. That could make a lot of difference.
25cd. A Great Engineer is born. Used him to rush the Porcelain Tower.
5628. Rushed Printing Press with the free Great Scientist from Porcelain Tower, and the capital starts building the Taj Mahal for another Golden Age.
b22d. Picked another policy that gives Golden Age. This one is especially good for a long game, and should be picked as early as possible.
eef6. Finally signed a peace deal with Harun and traded more resources. Harun doesn't seem to hold a grudge. But we all know he will invade again.
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