France IA - Part 5 The Strong get Stronger

Hi everyone, Pork here with another potentially exciting episode of the France IA Game! Happy Thanksgiving to you Yanks, happy last Thursday in November to everyone else! Last round's strawpoll winners are the Visigoths with 5 votes, followed by Vercingetorix with 4. Louis, William, Anne, and Alfred have 2, and Robrecht has 1. Everyone else has 0.

We start this part with the French attacking the Breton city of Le Lude, an attack from last part that is continuing. If you look to the bottom right, you'll see the remains of the Norman Expeditionary Force that attacked Charles and failed.

Here's a shot of Louis' core. Exciting right? Probably, if you're into that kind of thing. By the way, that new city that Louis founded translates to PrettyTown-on-Loire... Bit lazy, if I'm honest.

Here's the northern section of the Gallic Empire. You can see that they and the Swiss are at war, and that the Swiss are on the offensive.

The defense of Le Lude doesn't appear to be working. Halps, no can defend this.

Wonder what the Visigoths are up to? Not much, their core is pretty empty. Shame that, they could take someone out again if they were to accidentally seriously a war.

Le Lude falls to red quite quickly. Things are looking bad for Anne... Anyway, Poitiers falls to yellow under the Visigothic attack. It would be helpful if they had a melee unit though.

Lots of Flemish UUs there, it'd be a shame if Robrecht invaded Louis.

Remember the Franks? No? Me neither... They have potential, but don't seem to be aware of it.

Kind of like you, if you got off your lazy arse and stopped reading Civ AI battles. But where's the fun in that?

The Gauls have pushed the Swiss back from Dole. This war is going nowhere. It'd be nice if they ended it, but they won't thanks to the aggressive and expansive mod.

Roger still lives in the form of 1 scout somewhere in Normandy... Anne, Charles/Louen, and Viriato need to get their shit in gear...

Vercingetorix and Alaric are doing well for themselves. An invasion of England to the tune of 1066 would have problems too.

Vercingetorix isn't just strong, he has a passion for culture too. Unfortunately, his core is empty of units.

Alfred completes that skewed tower thing in Pisa. He should fire the architect... Where is that embarked settler going?

Le Lude falls to France! Louis is a harsh master, so he burns the hell out of it. Shame, that could have been a good launching point to finish the Bretons or attack the Normans.

There it is, told you Andorra was still kicking around. Not for long though, as I've just declared them bandits. Toodles mate.

The French and the Bretons make peace as the last unit from Andorra dies a quick death.

Really? Is it going to happen? A trans-Channel settle?

Where will you strike next Louis?

Well, that was fast... Louis vs Charles, round 2 (I think)! Who is the true king of France.

Flanders could do some serious damage if they invaded right now. Also, France has their UU, the Mousquetaire. Its the same as vanilla, so no details page for you.

Alaric settles close to the Iberians, will this lead to future conflict between the two? I can only hope.

Say bye to Le Lude, as its gone next turn. Maybe William's invasion wasn't for nothing, as Louis has no defenses to defeat before attacking Charles's cities.

Bourges falls to 1/3 health, and you can see the extents of 7 different empires here. Hopefully we can see some pretty awesome wars here in the future.

It happened! Alfred has successfully settled across the Channel! Why he didn't pick a coastal spot he could easily defend I have no idea, but still, a cross-Channel settle!

Bourges falls to yellow and Loches to red. Charles is crumbling like a soggy paper bag.

The Gallic army to the southwest of Bern is just chilling in the mountains (get it?) while a single knight attacks around Vesoul.

Louis takes and burns Loches while Bourges falls to very low health. Alaric, being the dick that he is, refounds Saintes in the same spot it was in...

The Alpine Gaul Special Taskforce finally moves to take Bern. It took them a while to get moving, but they should be able to do some serious damage to the city.

Alaric's core is still pretty empty, but those forces north mean bad news for Charles. Notice Alaric's riflemen near Tarbes and Toulouse.

Oh God, the migration of forces. If Alfred has a strong enough force in Brittany he could invade Normandy. How contrary to history...

Yes yes me, I pointed them out a while ago. Flanders has so many of their UU, they should use them before they become outdated.

Oh, I guess you do get this. Well, happy reading.

The AGST takes its time and casualties getting to Bern... To the left of the screen, a Swiss spearman attacks some pikemen around Autun.

Bourges falls to Louis as Robrecht enters the industrial era! Charles is in deep, and his paddles are lost.

William has gatling guns, and Louis builds the Sistine Chapel.

Remember that force heading north from the Visigothic empire? Its here! Pillage and loot the place lads!

Why Louis why? You had Nevers! At least Alaric hasn't wussed out and not taken Poitiers, in fact, he's even delt damage to it!

The Swiss probably shouldn't be alive right now, yet somehow they still exist. This makes me question Vercingetorix's military leadership...

Anyway, Alaric completes Machu Picchu and founds another city on the other side of the Pyrenees. That's what Roger Bernard should have done but didn't...

Poitiers shouldn't be able to last with all those forces aligned against it.

Alfred is serious about his occupation of Brittany... That's almost scary. Hirel would be screwed if the Anglo-Saxons invaded.

The last major area of unclaimed land lies here. Who will take it? Vercingetorix? Alaric? Charles (lolno)?

Methinks Anne is next for war, as William amasses his forces near Nantes.

Yes. Religion Stuff. Probably because someone (Anne?) updated their religion, so I'm showing it a bit late. Sorry.

The road to Bern is open, take it Vercingetorix! Take it and win!

Loches is gone and Poitiers is now Visigothic. Charles has fallen from what little height he had.

I see things early when I comment and late when I record. Weird.

Congrats Alaric. Now there are two Great Empires in France. Napoleon laughs at this from his submarine.

No, I don't know why the French have a town named Oven either... Maybe Trois sounds to similar to Troyes (Which is to the north).

Where did the forces around Nantes go? Whatever, please tell me you're invading William Alfred!

Robrecht missed an opportunity, but Louis will take full advantage of it! Maybe! Chateau-Thierry looks undefended, maybe Robrecht can take that while holding Louis back.

Vercingetorix forward settles Alaric for the last open space!

Yes, Louis, found a new city right on the edge of a war zone. I'm sure the citizens of Sens will find it charming.

William completes the Red Fort, his cities should be pretty hard to take now.

The first ideology is taken by the Gauls! It makes sense that they take Autocracy, as they have the largest army.

Maybe now they'll be able to take Langres?

This looks like a pretty even war. Both UUs are decent, so it'll be a battle of attrition.

Alfred has a significant force in Brittany, and William looks to be preparing to invade France.

Here's the Gallic-Visigoth border. Both are undefended, which must mean they trust each other.

The Anglo-Saxons get the second ideology, Communism (Order). Where's Thatcher when you need her? (XD)

Charlemagne suddenly becomes worth of an image by building the Uffizi. He also settled two cities in... bad locations.

Langres actually takes damage! Maybe Vercingetorix can take it before the part is over, if he's quick about it.

Louis ignores the defense of Sens and continues the meatgrinder in the north.

Its so close! Just take it!

Vercingetorix founds another city in the open space, but Alaric won't let it be taken that easily.

Here's the Iberian-Visigothic border. Nothing much going on here.

Maybe it isn't as big of a meatgrinder as I thought, Louis seems to be taking the initiative.

Many wonders here.

Not so much here.

We'll end this part with the Gauls taking Langres. Finally.

Sorry for not showing Iberia, but they don't do much. They founded a couple cities this part but that's about it.

Strapoll: http://strawpoll.me/6109755

Stats time! The Gauls pull ahead in score with the Visigoths just behind them. Anne and Charles are doing much much worse.

Alaric takes the lead in military, while Vercingetorix takes a bit of a plunge. Charles, how do you have such as small score?

You can draw your own conclusions I think.

The Goths have a nice population lead. The Anglo-Saxons and Normans are pretty much tied for second, and the Gauls aren't as numerous as I would have thought... Charles is right where he should be.

There may not be many Gauls, but they're very productive. Charles not so much.

A lot of unhappy people... Yup, this map is luxury resource poor. Except in England somehow?

The Anglo-Saxons are in the lead, but almost everyone relevant is clustered together 2-5 techs behind them.