France IA - Part 8 Here be Planes, Ouch

Author: porkpotpie
Published: 2017-08-31, edited: 1970-01-01

Part of the campaign:

France IA

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Game: Civilization V, Sid Meier's

France IA - Part 7 Cross Channel Shenanigans

Images: 65, author: porkpotpie, published: 2017-08-31, edited: 1970-01-01

Hi everyone, welcome back to the France IA game, this is part 8! 19 people voted this round, 7 of which voted for Vercingetorix and 6 of you voted for Alfred. 5 others received a smattering of votes.

We start off this part looking at the combined Gallo-Flemish advance into Frankish territory. Vercingetorix has a settler going past the Frankish border cities. Isn't that cheeky of him.
Meanwhile, Vercingetorix is amassing a force around Nevers, and the French are heading towards... Somewhere. You'd think they'd upgrade those trebuchets into cannons, but they may not have the tech for it.
Viriato is still holding off the superior Visigothic army, though the Iberian forces around Zarautz are a bit lacking. Logrono is fine though, with many crossbowmen in the area.
Yes, take it! Nevers takes some damage, finally.
But so is Caen. Not that it'll amount to anything, there are no well positioned melee units to take the city.
Nancy and Verdun start to take more damage, and are both in the yellow. The Flemish comprise the majority of the attacking forces, but Vercingetorix is wily, he can probably snipe the cities before the Flemish.
Caen will remain in Norman hands for the time being, as William sighs in relief.
The attack on Hirel is going nowhere either, though reinforcements look like they're on their way.
Zarautz is fine, actually, thanks for asking. The Visigoths aren't doing too well in their assaults. Shame, really. It'd be awesome if the Iberians would take the initiative and force them back across the Pyrenees... A guy can dream, no?
SETTLE ALREADY GOD DAMN YOU!
Nevers falls, and as further insult to the Normans there is a settler on the front lines with no defensive unit. Take that William!
Rethel looks set to fall to the Flemish, but Verdun could go either way except remaining Frankish.
As if Vercingetorix's forces weren't strong enough, he constructs the Brandenburg Gate... Vercingetorix for hegemon anyone?
Nevers falls. William has been pushed back to Normandy and the southeast of Brittany, and Vercingetorix controlls a lot of the map with his invisible cities.
Vercingetorix takes and burns Nancy, which is a shame as its a nice city probably. He also founds Saarbruken. I would have kept Nancy and not founded Saarbruken myself, but what do I know?
Alfred sends his ironclad to attack Caen. I'm pretty sure that if Alfred was competent (read: not an AI), Caen would have fallen a long time ago. Good thing D-Day didn't go like this or we'd probably still be fighting on the Beaches.
The attack on Hirel started up again, and that naval support will surely bring the city to its knees. Hirel could fall if Alfred concentrates his forces, which would be a nice change of pace.
I'm fairly certain (~80%) that that is the first artillery of the game. I say ~80 because I've checked the previous slides and didn't see it but likely missed it in another slide.
Rethel falls to the Flemish, who burn the city. It's also probably a pretty city, but keeping it would be terrible for the Flemish happiness. Probably not, but we'll pretend that's why.
Go Viriato go! Autocracy should help, but Alaric is amassing his army near Zarautz again.
Maybe that French army is heading towards Switzerland? Maybe, we'll see, I honestly can't remember.
Somehow Verdun hasn't fallen yet. The name lives on in France as a fortress, and it seems to be continuing in this game.

Fun fact, I'm friends with the ex-Bishop of Verdun. He likes Talisker Whiskey. :)
The assault on Hirel appear to have grown into a full scale assault, which is nice. The city might actually fall which would be nicer.
Look, the Franks' other UU the Paladin. Unfortunately its not the artillery system, but it does construct siege units.
This could be useful if Charlemagne uses it correctly. Seeing as its an AI, I doubt it'll happen.
Hold Iberia, hold! Resist the Visigothic invaders! You got this! Use your mystery UA!
Hirel takes damage for the first time in a long time. So does Caen, but that's old news as nothing will probably come of it.
Verdun falls lower in the red. If I was a betting man I'd say the Flemish are going to get it, but that's uncertain.
That French force on the highway to nowhere is looking outdated... What's it doing?
His troop movement decisions are interesting, and so are his wonder choices. The Hanging Gardens are built in Pithiviers.
Uh oh, Alfred is in the modern era. This should make things interesting hopefully.
Or not, the assault on Hirel is going nowhere again. *sighs*
Viriato defend your cities with units, not with your obviously massive testicle-shields.
With Verdun now flying proud green and gold colours, Virton is the next target. I would be worried.
Uh... The Centre can't settle any more, so I'll probably declare them bandits soon. Maybe. Charles was a moron, if he had moved his settler he could have restarted, and lost, his empire again.
Alaric enters the modern era and refounds Bram. Anyone remember that city? Alaric razed it in part 2 I think. Imagine if he had kept it, it would have been a great industrial centre.
Strasbourg starts to take damage. It'll fall because Charlemagne has no troops in the region, so Vercingetorix has that going for him which is nice.
Alfred is solidifying his hold on Brittany, but that's about all he's doing.
Lovely, seeing as nothing would have happened anymore.
You know the drill.
Here's a shot of the Swiss, who are busy doing Swiss things.
Things aren't looking good for Viriato as Alaric transfers much of his army southward.
Caen might actually fall, Alfred has bombers. Poor William.
Carl Benz has been spotted, though I doubt that his cars will help the war effort. Maybe if it was the early 1940s, but its only 1555.
Caen is taking a lot of damage from those bombers, maybe it'll actually fall? pffft, nah...
Oh my, things are looking rather bad for Viriato's Iberians. Remember that Alaric has planes in Pamplona, so Varautz and Logrono will take damage hard and fast.
Meanwhile, here is southern Gallia. Gibralter has been claimed by Nice, which means that Vercingetorix controls Monaco.
Nancy is gone, and Strasbourg has fallen. Virton looks like it should fall in the next couple of turns.
Hasselt will soon experience a world of pain. Ouch.
Caen is taking reliable damage from Alfred. William should place units nearby to flip his capital when it eventually is taken.
Oh Viriato, you poor soul. If you had started to do something earlier this wouldn't be happening.
I don't expect that Caen will stay in the yellow for long as it flips, not with 4 GWBs nearby. On top of that, there aren't many units nearby with which to flip the city.
Viriton goes to the Flemish, who decide to keep the city. Probably a good idea if you want to keep up with Vercingetorix.
Where are you going? You've been sitting there for ages...
We get it me, Alaric has bombers. Zarautz takes a lot of damage from them and will probably fall shortly.
Charlemange has a pathetic military. Even less than our 1 nuclear sub. That sucks.
Especially when Vercingetorix has 164 times your military. Don't forget that Robrecht is also attacking the Franks.
There goes Hasselt, which Robrecht keeps, and Vercingetorix founds another useless border city.
Caen falls! Hirel is about to! Vercingetorix is a dick to everyone and founds another city right next to Caen! How exciting!
We'll end this part with Alaric taking Logrono and assaults Zarautz with a massive army. I'd be surprised if Viriato got out of this without losing a bunch of land/cities.

Strawpoll is here: ->http://strawpoll.me/6233191
The Gauls and the Visigoths are running away with the score race.
And the military race.
I like the pretty red and yellow colours.
Gallia is catching up to the Visigoths population-wise. That can't be good for everyone.
Their production lead keeps expanding.
They aren't too happy though, which could limit their gains from the war with Charlemagne.
No real tech lead, everyone is close apart from the failed empires club.

Next chapter:

Game: Civilization V, Sid Meier's

France IA - Part 9 A France at War with Itself

Images: 62, author: porkpotpie, published: 2017-08-31, edited: 1970-01-01

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