France IA Redux: Part 8 - The Clock Strikes 11

Hello, and welcome back to France IA Redux! This is the penultimate part, so I hope you're ready for some action.

Only 12 this week, and unsurprisingly 10 of them are for West Germany. Francois and the Visigoths both got 1. Short vote recap this week.

We start this part off by looking at the current state of affairs in Gaul. Since the end of last part, Lutetia has fallen, as well as Alesia. Every city in Gaul has taken damage except for Versailles, and the composition of the defending army is weak, as there are many hybrid drones, a ranged unit, and few melee units ready to recapture cities.

Francois and the Flemish decide to eliminate confusing borders between Francois and Catherine de Medici, as they both declare war on her. All of de Medici's cities except for Bayonne and Tours take damage on turn 1 of the war, so all that's needed are some melee units.

A view of the Flemish front. Flanders appears to have been caught off guard by their own declaration, as they have no military near Lancaster for the attack on de Medici.

Limoges is the first city to fall to Francois, and you can see that southern Gaul is probably the only place that is likely to remain well defended in the short term.

Well, nevermind what I said 2 slides ago, Flanders captures de Medici's capital of Tours with some paratroopers. De Medici has a few forces nearby, but the crawler is a siege unit that can produce missiles and the other is a mech artillery, another siege unit. Hopefully that SAM missile battery can recapture the city.

In the south, Nantes falls.

Nemossos and Dijon fall to West Germany. Vienne looks set to fall next turn while all of Vercingetorix's cities are in the deep red.

Chartres, Antium, and Nimes fall to Francois as he expands his empire. Clermont-Ferrand has managed to flip.

At this point in time, de Medici's empire consists fo Bayonne, Mont-Saint-Aignan, and Clermont-Ferrand. For some reason, the Gauls are attacking de Medici and have a force attempting to capture Mont-S-A instead of defending against the West Germans.

There goes Vienne, next stop Cherbourg by the look of it.

Francois builds the Floating Islands, adding +3 culture and gold to nearby ocean tiles, while atolls produce +2 culture adn gold, and + 1 food and production. Obviously, this requires a nearby ocean tile and is a hyperstructure.

Thanks for the notification help, past me, but I covered it last slide. Francois captures Mont-S-A, while the Gauls capture Bayonne. I wonder if Clermont-Ferrand fell? Cheating by looking ahead, it has, thereby eliminating Catherine de Medici.

Catherine de Medici of France (Rank: 13/40) did well early on, warring with Louis XVI and gaining cities, and doing the same with other neighbours like Anjou. After building tall cities and not expanding for a while, she focused on those big brains to join the top of the science game, but Francois couldn't let someone else have the highest science so he took her over, along with some help from the Gauls and Flanders. Well done in early expansion and late game science, just a shame it didn't go anywhere.

Yup, there goes Cherbourg, as Francois builds Sky City.

Sky city increases the yield of the Vertical Farm building by +4 food and gold, and +2 happiness. It is a hyperstructure as well. Francois sure does like his hyperstructures.

Oh no, Gaul gives up everything except their capital to stop the West German assault. Well, its worth it in the short term, but this takes the Gauls out of the game until one of their neighbours feels like eliminating them.

Louis XI declares on the Roman Empire, but I have no idea how they'll get over there as the Roman navy is stronger than Louis' navy. Also present: an HRE great admiral.

Flanders wasn't happy with their gains against Catherine de Medici apparently, as they declare war on New France. Both sides look equally ready for war, Flanders looks ready in the north, and New France in the south. I have no idea why that New French musician is important though.

Saint-Jean falls to Flanders, as the New French military gathers in the south.

In the north, Saint-Lo falls to Flanders while New France recaptures Saint-Jean and captures Lancaster..

Francois takes the lead in tourism, probably thanks to his hyperstructures.

Wait, Louis did what now? I guess that embarking all of your units technically constitutes a navy, but I wouldn't have expected it.

Julius Caesar of Rome (Rank: 12/40) was a middling player, ganging up on his neighbours then doing not much else until the Visigoths came a-knocking. While fighting the Visigoths, Rome managed to also hold off Louis XI's bungled attempts at invading Neapolis, but it was Catherine de Medici who swooped in and conquered the Roman core. Exiled to Cumae, Caesar waited for someone to take him out, this time that someone being Louis XI. In my test game, Jules was aggressive in the beginning and was rewarded by being the target of a 25 empire coalition. Guess what, the ended up losing. Shocker, eh?

New France captures Tours from Flanders, but Flanders captures Maldon and has a large army pointed at Saint-Lo, ready to capture it.

New France manages to recapture Maldon, but Wareham flipped. De Champlain should think about moving his navy to the region to shoot at troops moving to invade his domain.

Oh, well there go Sorel-Tracy and Maldon again. Also, West Germany goes full communist. You never go full communist.

Ok, things are looking better, New France controls all the territory they did before, and even has a smattering of military units nearby for when Flanders pushes again. On top of that, they have the southern Flemish cities that were used as eyes for airdrops into southern New France. This is a good position for de Champlain, as the front appears to have stabilised.

Oh, I didn't see that the Gauls kept Borbetomagus. Seeing as Louis XI just declared war on them though, it won't be for long.

Flanders and New France trade Maldon for Trois-Rivieres, but I don't think either will stay that way for long.

There goes Borbetomagus, leaving Vercingetorix with only Bibracte this time for sure.

How the hell did de Champlain let that happen? Laval and Lancaster fall to Flanders, as do Stafford and Sorel-Tracy. All de Champlain has to show for this turn is the recapture of Maldon.

That's the first filp for the Gauls, will they be able to survive any more?

Turns out they can't, as next turn they'll go to peace, so this eliminates the Gauls! RIP winners of the first France IA, not even making it to the top 10.

Vercingetorix of the Gauls (Rank: 11/40) did well for their starting position. Blocked from eastward and westward expansion by Napoleon and Burgundy respectively, they went north and warred early with Louis XVI. Wars with Napoleon flipped their core city of Alesia, but they ended up winning that war. After warring with the Carolingians and Franks, they grew wary of Louis XI's power, and pruned him back, giving them a frontier with their greatest opponents: West Germany. The anvil that was de Medici primed the Gauls for a beating by the West German hammer, forcing them to give up everything but 2 cities in the eventual peace deal. Louis XI, eager to eliminate his rival from earlier, delivered the coup de grace. Well done Vercingetorix, maybe focus more on defense next time?

Woah, ok. So, there was a bit of a problem with the save, so we've skipped some major events in the New France-Flanders war. Anyway, the save appears to have stabilised so we'll take it from here. Flanders has captured Tours, Matane, Saint-Lo, and St. Malo, with most of de Champlain's eastern cities damaged as well.

Thankfully for him, de Champlain manages to recapture his capital.

Bad news for de Champlain, Francois feels like capturing some of that sweet sweet New French clay. St. Malo falls again, adn Francois pushes up from the south towards Rennes.

Rennes falls, while New French troops gather to retake their capital.

Adenauer grows his tourism some.

Naoned falls to Francois, and somehow the Flemish have captured Brest. At least Algiers should be tough to capture, considering all of the Visigothic peacekeepers.

Likely equal parts bored and equal parts sleeping, West Germany declares war on the Holy Roman Empire. I don't expect the HRE to survive long if the Gauls are an example of what happens to opponents of the West Germans.

Ville de Quebec falls to Francois while Ville Marie goes FLemish. New France is now reduced to de Gaulle's former empire.

As well as these English colonies, but it looks like Warwick could fall in Flanders decides to bring any ships.

There go Magdeburg and Geneva, 1/3 of Otto's cities.

Brest falls again and de Champlain resurrects de Gaulle to act as a buffer between his attackers and his damaged empire.

This reminds me of this one point in history where... You know what? You probably already know it.

Cologne remains HRE only because of that mobile SAM. West Germany had captured it before that due to turn precedence. The capital of the HRE looks set to fall.

Oran falls to Flanders, and it looks like de Champlain foolishly didn't renew his open borders with the Visigoths, removing them from his territory.

A turn has passed, and Algiers fell to Flanders, as did Warwick. Chester is all that remains of one proud New France.

Oh, well here's all that remains of the HRE. I guess its a race as to who will be eliminated first then!

Surprise surprise, it isn't New France. Peace with both of his assailants means he'll survive another day as a has-been.

Not content with his reduction to a has-been, de Gaulle and Asturias declare war on him, not that it matters.

Note: I'm not going to update anyone who is brought back to life's rank, as it would throw everything into shambles and odds are these reborn empires will only last a few turns...

Just like that, as if it was nothing (because for them it was), West Germany conquers the Holy Roman Empire.

Otto of the Holy Roman Empire (Rank: 10/40) did... Uh... A lot of warring with Switzerland, and he eventually managed to take them out. After the 7th war or something. Between and during these wars, he warred with the Palatinate and Franks, capturing and razing their cities instead of using them to better his empire. Long lasting, but not tough acting.

Cornwall, the Visigoths, and the Anglo-Saxons have joined in against what remains of New France. RIP them too I guess.

This is why I'm not updating revived empires' ranks. Francois declared war on and captured de Gaulle's empire.

Yup, there goes Chester, and so does New France, captured by Cornwall of all people. This is the height of the Cornish empire.

Samuel de Champlain of New France (Rank: 9/40) did well, considering he crowded starting location. He stagnated against de Gaulle for a while until he had a larger empire in the east, warred well against the Anglo-Saxons, Anjou, and civs on the Loire river, but was taken out by Flanders with some help from Francois. De Champlain played well, its a shame he didn't last long once the going got tough.

Current military scores are up, and the Visigoths are catching up to West Germany. That's impressive.

Tired of seeing red on the minimap, Francois declares war on Asturias. Francois has a large amount of troops down here somehow, so this invasion should be successful.

Also, how on the cylinder does West Germany own that mountain tile?

Wait, did I say that the invasion would be successful? Well, so far Asturias is on the offense, taking back control of Madrid. The city will likely flip though, considering the amount of French troops in the area.

Yup, there it goes, as does Seville. The Asturian army was outdated before, but now it also looks outnumbered. So much for a successful resurgence from Asturias.

Pravia falls next, and the Asturian army has disintegrated.

Yup, there goes Cangas de Onis. Asturias more civilian units than military ones here.

Francois binge on hyperstructures made up the difference of wonders with West Germany, how balanced.

Down goes Leon. There isn't much to say, as Asturias has no hope of winning.

And there's the elimination of Asturias. It was bound to happen eventually.

Pelagius of Asturias (Rank: 8/40) started the game in a tough spot. Stuck in a corner and bordered by Franco's Spain, it took some work to get anywhere. After settling a barrier of cities to prevent Franco from settling close to his capital, Franco snuck in and settled Barcelona in the middle of Pelagius's territory. Several centuries later, after exchanging Barcelona for Pravia, Navarre and Asturias took Franco out with some help from Cornwall, but Asturias slept when Francois took out Navarre instead of jumping in to claim some of the spoils. Leaving Francois alone was Pelagius's big mistake, among many, as it allowed Francois to eliminate Asturias at his leisure. Which he did.

Hey, there's my Deity level happiness. That seems a bit excessive Francois...

Francois declares war on the Anglo-Saxons... Will this lead to anything more?

Sure it will! Cornwall joins in as well, but they'll need to thread the needle north of Warwick to do anything.

Or they could just have sleeper agents go undercover for 8 turns and capture the city of Wallingford. Good news however, Cornwall has open borders with Flanders.

Seems like Adenauer took the Visigothic threat seriously, and bumped his military up again.

We see that Cornwall has captured Winchester, the Anglo-Saxon capital. That isn't good.

But the Anglo-Saxons capture Wallingford back, take that Cornwall!

Oh. Nevermind. Francois and the Anglo-Saxons go to peace.

Seeing that the conquest went too slowly, Flanders jumped in and captured both Wallingford and Buckingham, eliminating the Anglo-Saxons.

Alfred's Anglo-Saxons (Rank: 7/40) didn't do much. He settled what he could of England, then tried to settle Normandy, but was repulsed by New France. He also warred a bunch with Flanders in the past, but nothing came of it. After that, the Anglo-Saxons slept until this part where they were eliminated. A bad show, they only are ranked this highly due to their geographic location.

And Francois builds the Forbidden Palace, finally.

Francois declares war on Cornwall, upset that the Cornish actually made gains in that war. Unfortunately for Cornwall, I think that war against the Anglo-Saxons effectively used up their military.

Oh, this is why Francois went to war with Cornwall, so that they could take Santander. Makes sense. Santander should fall quickly, there's no way for Michael an Gof to reinforce the city.

Yup, there goes Santander.

Francois jumps back into the lead for number of wonders built.

Cornwall and Francois will go to peace next turn, with no other cities exchanged. It really was all about Santander.

This is a potentially risky move by Francois, as he declares war on Flanders. Flanders captures Ville de Quebec from Francois.

Nice, Naoned and Gwened are captured by Flanders, while Francois recaptures Ville de Quebec

Ville de Quebec adn Rennes fall. It doesn't appear that Francois has thought this war out, he's been on the losing end for now.

Rennes is recaptured, but Francois loses Le Mans and Montpellier. The high population Amiens will soon be on the front lines.

A cheeky snipe by a Flemish Nexus (essentially a land aircraft carrier with the medic promotion/citadel combo) captures Nantes.

Francois rallies and recaptures Montpellier, Nantes, Le Mans, and Rennes, but I don't think he'll be able to keep it up. Meanwhile, Lucon falls.

Lucon is recaptured, but at the cost of Montpellier.

But Lucon falls again, as does Le Mans. This war isn't going how Francois imagined it would, methinks.

We'll end this part here, with the razing of Gwened and the fall of Toulon. This splits Francois' empire in two.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to catch the next part as it is the last one! Please vote in the usual poll: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfggsfYcdrV_ogwItShMKJy7ZDP-Yx0p4IQANybxQ2qTkAqtQ/viewform

West Germany leads the population race, but if Francois hadn't lost all of those cities I think he would have had a billion people.

Probably the same for production, Francois lost some big cities.

Ok, I have no excuses here, as both West Germany and the Visigoths build up their militaries.. Also, we're on the list!

Finally, tech race. 122 is the max, so this slide is essentially pointless.

Please vote in the poll, and I'll see you next time for the last episode of France IA Redux! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfggsfYcdrV_ogwItShMKJy7ZDP-Yx0p4IQANybxQ2qTkAqtQ/viewform