It has been exactly one year since my last Mega Empires after action report. However, it has been a very busy year in terms of Civ games.
As mentioned in my 1 year review of the blog back in March, we had already played two games by then. I was planning to write some reports for those, but had my phone with all the pictures stolen and had not yet uploaded them, so those will not be happening. Since then, we have played 6 games for the Far East playtesting - and thus I am obviously not allowed to discuss or report on them. That means this is my ninth game this year, certainly a lot more than any other year of my life. For this game, we had only a single day to play and some of the players had some evening plans, so we had about 7 hours to play, not nearly enough time for a proper game and there was no day 2 coming. Thus, we decided to give ourselves the highest chance possible of finishing and went with the Short Game variant (henceforth refered to as "quick start") with Basic AST. I set the game up the night before, so as soon as player arrived they were dealt a random start position and a random quick start set. We had only 5 players, not everyone has Rememberance Day off apparently and some people already had plans or were ill. We play the classic Western 5, a game setup I have played many times over the years which I know results in tight games with a lot of interaction between all players.
We deal out civs and quick start sets, the only notable combination is that Assyria gets the one with Naval Warfare, which is suboptimal but not necessarily bad. We saw in the last report that Assyria can really put out some naval pressure if they want to, once their Levantine coast is established. I am quite happy to get Hatti, a fairly secure and simple position, and my starting techs are a solid Engineering and Universal Doctrine. They don't really give me much of a direction, but are perfectly fine. My only complaint is that, I think, this is the set with the fewest credits to start.
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Minoa is the first to move (which I think is probably a problem with this setup, and I planned to grow my pop suboptimally to get the movement advantage had I rolled Minoa) and immediately land on the shores of Assyria. [Assyria] responds to this aggression by dumping their treasury into boats to defend with Naval Warfare and also to invade Cyprus. I, [Egypt], and [Hellas] decide to be normal and just build up to 7 cities.
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Despite the quick start setup, we have a normally uneventful first turn with calamities. There is a Treachery somewhere, and a superstition hits Egypt - probably the least impactful place it could hit.
I buy Agriculture this turn. Usually, I don't particularly like Agriculture, but I only had about 100 points of trade in value and needed to purchase a 3 to advance. My other option was Literacy, which I think is probably the better choice overall, but Hatti is one of the starts that benefits most from Agriculture and I felt like playing a style I don't usually do and haven't in a while.
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Following in the footsteps of [Minoa], [Egypt] invades [Assyria]'s coast in Tyre. [Minoa], on the other hand, changes targets and takes two of my cities, despite me being the only other person with Engineering. I lose a Textile and an Incense to the Minoan incursion. Usually, I wouldn't care so much about losing an Incense, as 7s are not often a major element of trade. However, because of the quick start setup [Hellas] started the game with Cartography and most players have had 7 cities from turn 1, there is a lot of trade in 7s.
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We have some interesting calamities this turn. Barbarian Hordes invade a Minoan city on an isolated island, and happen to follow up and sweep right through the lands that [Minoa] had just taken from me, which was extremely convenient as I could immediately convert them using the Universal Doctrine I started the game with. Across the sea, things are not so nice; Egypt has a Civil War, which goes to Hellas, the seeming leader at that moment, due to a Slave Revolt they had. In the wake of the Civil War comes Civil Disorder, just to rub the bad position in. I would not wish to live in Egypt during these times. [Assyria], my only land border, buys Military and Metalworking - I prepare to go all in with personal diplomacy, planning to be congenial and look weak and unthreatening.
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[Hellas] started the game out very strong, getting good tech on turn 1 and a strong board position on turn 2. The world decides that this is not an acceptable situation, and all across the known world Hellenic cities are invaded. In Egypt, the Assyrians assist their neighbours and together eliminate the three Hellenic cities along the coast. Only a handful of the men of Hellas survive, but they will fight a long guerilla war for centuries to come.
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Yet on the greek mainland things are not much better. [Minoa] changes their target once again, and begins to invade their neighbour. [Hellas] loses four cities this turn, distributing trade good accordingly.
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The calamities do not pull any punches or relent this turn. Egypt is hit with an Earthquake, and soon after an Epidemic. [Hellas] loses everything on their flood plain, and Famine in Assyria causes a swathe of Superstition. In the end, [Egypt] is the most damaged of all and takes three cities along my coast when my people revolt against my apparent Tyranny. The worst thing of all is that I am forced to trade in a set of 4 Tin to avoid egregious discard, knowing that I will likely not complete it having seen the final one in last turns trade in pile. I get nothing of note for this, tragically.
This is a turn of peace and growth, there are no invasions as everyone is recovering from the calamities and warfare of the prior turn. I am a little stuck, [Egypt] began the game with Diplomacy, and thus the stolen cities along my coast are momentaraly unasailable. [Minoa] does continue some light pressure on [Hellas], just to keep them on their feet and incomfortable, it mostly results in thousands of deaths on both sides and no meaningful change.
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When calamities come, [Assyria] takes a border city from me with Treachery. They are then struck by a Cyclone, which damage the newly rebult Egyptian coastline just as much. This, in turn, means that the second round of Civil Disorder in Egypt actually does very little. There is a Slave Revolt somewhere amongst the two warring greek cultures.
I feel under pressure, and spend a hand of 4 gold and 6 wool to buy Military and Roadbuilding, investing heavily into my boardstate - not something I usually like to do, but after an early Agriculture it just seems like the only option I had. I need either Military or Diplomacy to take my cities back from [Egypt], and it was not effective to try to keep either set in hand. I had a number of high value cards, so where I would have been happy to keep four Gold the 6 Wool required too much discarding, and I could tell from the state of the game that there were not going to be any new 9s entering circulation any time soon. Like Agriculture, I think the area that Hatti is in is quite suitable for Roadbulding, and I already seemed to be investing in Orange cards so it was a cost effective way to spend my points.
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[Hellas] has a bad day, [Hellas] suffers invasion from all sides. [Minoa] and [Assyria] collude to sac cities and neuter defenses together, and I opportunistically take two city sites that ended up undefended instead of building the one wilderness city I was intending to. I am also able to retake my cities from [Egypt], but do not end up with any extra trade goods as they only had one and [Assyria] also took a city of theirs and had AST priority.
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I think this turn was the cataclysmic ending of the Assyrian power, and the end of [Assyria]s hopes of winning the game - or even placing well. Trade was dead, with so much conflict on top of rebuilding from last turn there were few new trade goods in circulation. I think I made only one trade, some small value trade with [Assyria] where I also handed of a Barbarian Hordes. Maybe there was another trade or two. What really mattered though was that [Assyria] was first struck with a Barbarian Horde - which I was in control of and thus could optimize for my Universal Doctrine - and then suffered Tyranny with [Egypt] as the beneficiary. Due to Assyria being a Monarchy, [Egypt] was able to take 20 unit points, which essentially amounted to the entirety of the Assyrian coastline. [Assyria] suddenly went from a very strong position to a weak and neutered state. Yet, as we know, there is always opportunity to recover ones board state and come back strong. What really put the nail in the coffin was the absolute disaster of a trading phase and the final hand that [Assyria] was left with - 2 Copper, 3 Oil, 3 Fruit, 3 Fish, 2 Papyrus. Where, if others had been able, [Assyria] would normally have been able to turn such a hand into likely 200+ point, they were instead forced to trade in sets of 2 and 3 for some pitiful value. The world conspired against [Assyria] and turned what could have been an incredibly strong turn into a complete disaster.
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This turn was slow, it took time. Every player strictly followed turn order, there was no shortcutting - there was, however, a lot of thinking. In the end, the thinking and the time led only to more conflict. At this point in the game, [Hellas] and [Egypt] have reached the second last space on AST - if either of them can progress they are almost certainly the games winner. We also count Advancement Scores and confirm that they are both notably ahead. The rest of us, that is [Minoa], [Assyria], and I put our heads together and do our best to stop any progress from occuring. [Assyria] take on their natural enemy [Egypt], [Minoa] continue their game long invasions of [Hellas] and also adds some of the Egyptian coast into the mix, and I - ever the team player - sit back and rebuild my cities. In fact, I build up to 9 cities, a first for this game.
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Although not high in number, the calamities this turn do work. I get flooded, wiping out my cities on the Tomi flood plain (I did not notice that Odessus is not a flood plain city spot until after the game, oops), and then reduce even more cities to a Civil Disorder. The Hellenic Civil War results in an Assyrian enclave on the Aegean. Minoa is struck by Piracy, and I am a secondary victim but am able to effectively negate that with Universal Doctrine.
All said and done, [Hellas] cannot advance due to being a city short of the required five, and [Egypt] was not able to afford the required 3rd 6-point tech. The game will last at least another turn.
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Once again the turn is about keeping the two "leaders" down. I build back up to 9 cities whilst also destroying one of [Egypt]'s. [Hellas] and [Minoa] have a lot of scrappy conflict. [Assyria] does their absolute best to build even just one more city and maybe maintain some territy on the other side of the world.
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[Egypt] is first struck by a Famine, then by Regression. They have been nuking [Assyria] with their Fundamentalism for most of the game, and paid the price here. At this point in the game, moving back 2 spaces is effective elimination from the race for first place. This was one of those moments where experience really reared its head - 9s are, overall, the easiest stack to count; and it had so lined up that a player who is paying attention and looking for this would know, with near absolute certainty, that the top card of the 9 pile was a Regression, there was a look between myself, [Hellas], and [Minoa] when [Egypt] chose to spend 15 treasury to buy the card. Its a tough position to be in, helping the newer players is generally the right thing to do, but doing so here was effectively handing the win over and [Egypt] is not so new of a player that it feels unfair to not do so.
Otherwise, the calamities are largely neutral - [Minoa] eats both the Volcano and the Slave Revolt, and from [Assyria] I retake a city of mine from eons ago with a Treachery of my own. I gave them the Treachery with the assumption that they would be able to trade it forwards, but they accidently named the card while trying to trade with [Egypt] and negotiations collapsed. I actually think that [Egypt] should have taken the trade, as Treachery is probably better than a Famine (especially without Pottery protection) and certainly better than a doubled Regression - just the chance of discarding the Regression would have been enough for me.
In the end, I somehow have 9 cities, and advance into the penultimate AST space along with [Minoa]. [Hellas] remains stuck. I end the turn with as many cities as [Egypt], [Minoa], and [Hellas] combined, and [Assyria] is trapped in a corner with only one city to their name - of 19 cities on the board, 9 are mine.
I had an extremely good trade round, and am able to buy Trade Empire and some other stuff while also keeping a hand of 5 Textile + fodder. However, after looking at my position of having 9 cities and little way to defend, I decide that it is not worth the risk of keeping a high value hand and cash the Textiles in for Mining as well. This reduces my overall potential over this turn and next, but guarantees that I have the tech to advance as long as I can keep my city count up.
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The final turn of the game is extremely anti-climactic. Egypt is desolate and depopulated, with pirates and Minoans as common as Egyptians themselves; the great cities of Sidon, Tyre, and Jerusalem are empty, barren wastelands. The once mighty Assyrian Empire is but a speck on the border of Glorious Hatti, a handful of farmers surrounding a single city. The Hellens and Minoans fare only slighty better, still ravaged but better positioned to recover should the game continue for another turn. Which it well could, should invasion and calamity keep me down enough to not progress - losing 5 cities in a single turn is not uncommon when in such a dominant position. I am well positioned to defend myself now, the only other player with Military is [Assyria] who can reach only one city of mine which I can preemptively defend - all other players move before me and thus I should be able to prevent too much damage from the invasions I am expecting. But no invasions come, I am left alone. We move to trade, I recieve all 9 cards and purchase an extra 9. Trade is slow and empty, there are few cities on the board so only a handful of good can move. I end up with 94 points of trade in value, enough to buy out the 3-point Oranges left and maybe another one or two 1-point cards, and no calamities. All I must do now is survive whatever secondary effects are thrown at me while everyone else resolves their calamities.
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There are no calamities.
I progress up AST, along with [Minoa], and the game ends.
Where usually we play the normal game with advanced AST, playing the quick start rules with basic AST was an interesting enough experience, in short, I think we will schedule more of these when there is time pressure. In long; while there is much lost playing this variant, it does condense most of the core experience quite well. It is generally agreed upon within my playgroup that the peak gameplay happens in the mid-game when everyone has different things going on and various strategies are interacting with each other - using basic AST quick start essentially cut everything but that portion of the game. I personally very much enjoy the early turns and seeing how things develop from the begining, and the minor variations that arise from that play; I also enjoy watching tech strategies build from the get go and exploring them over the extremely long duration of the normal game. The quick start adds some variety by starting people off with some of what we would consider unconvential first purchases - I certainly don't see a world where I buy an early Universal Doctrine without certain game states being reached (such as some very early Wonders). However, starting with some techs also forces certain paths for players while excluding others - for instance, I started with zero credits in Blue and thus it just wasn't efficient for me to get Blue techs ever. This is both a good thing and a bad thing, I think it is good for playgroups where players often use the same strategies and do the same things, but I think I prefer a less restricted start where I can really react to the way the game is developing. These aspect, along with the condensed playtime, certainly made the experience feel gamier than usual, and less like a grand epic. All in all, a great way to spend a day with some friends if we don't have time for a proper full length game.
As far as how the game went, I am pretty happy with it overall. It is always nice to win a game, and this one felt very close and took a lot of work to get their. And also some very good luck, keeping 9 cities through the last 2 turns of the game should not have happened, but I also ended up far enough ahead in score that I very likey would have won at that point even with significant disruption. I am happy that I managed to keep myself mostly under the radar while increasing my score right up until the very end, and keeping a strong board presence with Agriculture, Roadbuilding, and Military while not appearing to be a candidate for winning certainly helped me have a such powerful few final turns. I also got lucky in avoiding calamities, I am very surprised that we didn't have an Epidemic in the final turn (I checked after the game and it was the next card in the stack, so I was very close to drawing it) and am glad because I was extremely vulnerable to it with Trade Empire and Roadbuilding and no protection to speak of. In a full length game my strategy would have petered off at that point comapred to others, as I was nearly fully invested in Orange while others had some big generic discount cards like Mathematics, and I would certainly be shredded by an Epidemic at some point soon. [Minoa], as usual, played a good game - they seemed particularly aggressive this time, which has been a slow buildup over the year. I think Minoa is a disadvantaged start in this setup, as they are pretty thinly spread and also the first to move. [Egypt] a surprisingly good game, having managed to get a solid third place despite suffering through many calamities. They have clearly learned some lessons in prior games, and were going for a win off of a very early Mathematics. [Hellas] played well, but was definitely punished for being an early leader and having a reputation of being aggressive - despite spending the game mostly as a victim and not really making aggressive moves. [Assyria] had probably the worst luck at the table, and suffered for it. The naval start forced them into a plan they are not particularly experienced in or comfortable with, and their heavy calamity turns were quite brutal and lined up very poorly with other aspects of the game.