Civ 4 - the losing streak is over!

FINALLY... FINALLY.... FINALLY... my long and frustrating losing streak at Civ 4 is over. It took a lot of patience, and a lot of planning, but I did it. My opponents were Germany, Japan, Mali, Russia, France, USA, and my nemesis from Zulu. The world map was small, so I wanted to expand as quickly as possible. I only was able to build one more city, and then there was no more room. So I had to go with only two cities. Surprisingly, it worked quite well. I was able to develop both cities very quickly, as all my workers were focussed on them rather than being stretched out over 4 or 5 cities.

By the year 1000 AD, I had a strong economy, strong culture, and was doing very well in research. Around 1200 AD, Germany, my neighbour, declared war on me. In previous games, I had been unprepared for a war. Not this time. I was able to easily push the Germans back, and even took over one of their cities. In the next 50 years, I had wiped the Germans out. I then started to concentrated on research, building universities and specialists. By 1500, I had a big and advanced enough military to make a move on Russia. I invaded, and to my surprise, the USA and and Japan both declared war on me at the same time. I managed to hold the Japanese and the Americans at bay, while taking over a Russian city. After declaring peace and giving my troups a bit of time to heal, it was back to war with the alliance of Russia/Japan/USA. The war dragged on for 25 years or so, but late in the war I made peace with Japan and the US, leaving Russia to face me. I wiped them out quickly.

At this point, I declared war on the Zulu, reducing them to one city. But I had a plan for them. I wanted to leave them for last, to get revenge for all the past times they made me lose. So I declared war on France, and after about 50 years, wiped them out. Around the year 1700, I took a bit of time to concentrate on research again, and by 1880, I was ready for the stretch run. First up was Japan, and they were tough, and it took me about 50 years to beat them. I then beat the Malinese quickly, as they only had one city. Around 1950, I went after the USA, and by 1963, they were gone.

Hello Zulu empire. Remember all those times you caused me pain? Caused me to lose? Well now it was their turn. They had managed to build a second small city, which was gone by 1965. In 1966, I had a large group of tanks at the Zulu border, and kissed them goodbye. 1967 - game over - I win. Bye Zulu, thanks for coming out. Score one for the good guys. So I'm back in the winning column. Hopefully I can build on this momentum now that I've rid myself of the Zulu curse.

Go Leafs Go, and take the Zulu empire with you.

Lost at Civ 4 again - hopefully this time I'll win

The Zulu empire did it to me again. They invaded me just before I got "Chemistry" and grenadiers. So I started another game, and even though I wasn't invaded, I ran out of money because I only built 4 cities and a HUGE army. Eventually, my army went on strike and I started losing units like crazy. I was stuck at a 10% research rate, and had to drop down to 0%. That meant my research would take way too long, and the other civs would be too advanced for me and be able to easily take me over. So I started a new game.

This time around, I took the strategy of making only 3 cities. My immediate neighbour is England, and we share two islands. I am their biggest ally but am planning to invade them shortly - I don't really want to, but I really need to get more cities quickly as I'm falling behind in research. I've taken over one of their cities culturally but taking over militarily would be a lot faster. The other civs are China, Greece, the US, India, Carthage, and Spain. At this point in my game, the year is 1908 and I'm about 100 years away from getting tanks - I already can build marines. I have tons of money, and I'm starting to build my army. I still need to wait to build a navy, but I've hoping to invade England in about 120 years. My game score would be pretty low, but I need to get back on the winning track! I'll let you know how it goes. And speaking of going - Go Leafs Go, and take the Argos with you.

Another Civ 4 loss

Well, I was right. I lost in Civ 4. AGAIN. The Zulu empire "pearl harboured" me and I had to start a new game. This time, I am playing the Roman empire, and my opponents are Greece, France, Egypt, Russia, England, Carthage, and Persia. So far, the year is 748 AD and I only have 4 cities, but I just discovered iron. I'm going to use it to get some powerful army units of praetorians developed, and hopefully take over France before 1000 AD. If not, I may lose again. I seem to be in a slump lately. Everytime I'm close to getting a winning strategy, it seems someone invades me. Hopefully this time I can do it to them before they do it to me.

I'm starting to research technologies that will lead me to Education, and then I can build universities in my cities. Then I plan to make a beeline for Chemistry, so I can develop grenadiers to replace the praetorians. After that (if I survive), I can make a beeline for Rifling and Industrialism, which will allow me to develop tanks, marines, and battleships. If I can beat the other countries to those by about 150 years, I should be in a good position to win the game. We'll see what happens. Go Leafs Go, and take the Blue Jays with you.

Another Civ 4 try

I've started a new game of Civ 4, and I'm frustrated because I've lost a few games in a row. The problem is, I keep getting too impatient and either try and expand my cities too quickly, or try and take over other civs too quickly. In my current game, I'm playing as the Persian empire. The other civs are the Incans, the Americans, the Zulus, the Koreans, the Japanese, and the Celts. At this point, the year is 1451 AD, and I have 7 cities. I just finished researching Education, and I'm making a beeline for Industrialism. It may take me a few hundred years, but I hope to get there before someone declares war on me. I think the Zulus are close to invading me, so I'm starting to build a small army made up of a few swordsmen, a couple catapults, and trying to add some musketmen. Most of the world has been settled so there's not too much of an opportunity to build new cities. I'll have to take over a couple cities culturally, otherwise I'll have to take over militarily. I can win the game via a cultural or conquest victory, but at this point, it looks like a cultural victory would take too long. So I'll build up an army and see how it goes. Speaking of going, Go Leafs Go, and take the Argos with you

Free agent season

Back to hockey! Today was the first day of unrestricted free agent season, a time all hockey fans look forward to. So what did my Leafs do? They signed defenseman Jeff Finger, who I guess isn't too bad, but it didn't really excite me. They also got Niklas Hagman, a 28 year old forward who hasn't scored a lot historically, but had a career year last season and has the potential to be a very good player. What got me really excited was the fact that we signed Curtis Joseph to a 1 year deal. We will only pay him $700 000 next season, and he can help tutor Justin Pogge. It was a great signing.

We still don't know if we will sign Mats Sundin, especially since the Canucks offered him $10 million a year, but hopefully we can get a couple other players if we don't sign him. I was a bit disappointed that we didn't sign either Mark Streit or Brian Campbell, but that's the way it goes. Speaking of going, Go Leafs Go, and take the Argos with you.