Realms Beyond Adventure 8: The French Revolution

Sponsor: Sirian
Game Speed: Normal
Difficulty: Noble
Civilization: France
Leader: Louis XIV
Map Size: Large
Map Script: Inland Sea
Rules: No City Razing
Victory: Conquest, Domination, or Time
Variant Rule: No Abuse of Anarchy to postpone Domination threshold
Scoring: One point per rival civilization eliminated from the game (by any means)

Opening Thoughts


Editors Note: I wrote this before the game started and didn't actually follow it very closely..

The only goal here is to eliminate as many rivals as you can. Getting most of them should be easy, but finishing off the last few will be the trick. The only other thing to watch out for is maintinance costs for the empire. With no city razing and no organized or financial trait, bogging down the economy is a serious worry. I usually play the builder, and last time I tried a warrior game I drove my empire to bankruptcy without noticing by the end of my first war. I shouldn't be afraid to cripple an opponent and make peace should my coffers demand it. I should aim for an early war involving axemen/horse archers if available, hopefully wiping out one opponent, and then see how the economic/technological shapes up. Probably build up infrastructure and aim for a second war around musketeer age to take advantage of their 2 movement. [I never actually had to make peace, though I did in a few phony wars. The pace of wars was a bit faster than I thought, and I could have supported faster still. Musketeers weren't actually employed until my 3rd war.]

Tech-wise, ignore religion. I'll take any holy cities I need and the techs are merely a distraction. I'll start off with pottery to help out the economic situation (since I already have roads and farms), and then on to mining and masonry or bronze working, depending. Have the scouts look for good production sites to help build my army. [The lack of religions was a good idea, but I got Confucianism anyway due to my tech lead. It spread quickly and turned out to be rather handy. A good idea not to pursue the early ones though as Izzy created a BudHin hydra in Madrid in 3400BC and 2760BC. I actually guessed my tech path to these first 3 (bronze working) correctly!]

Louis is industrial, so wonders should be pursued to help with military and economy. With stone nearby, pyramids should be doable though I usually don't go for them. We're creative so I won't place a high priority on stonehenge. Aim for the oracle too for the great prophet points. Great Library should round out the ancient wonders sought after, with a possibility of Colossus if we're near the sea. Wonders should take second place to military around wartime, however. I can always conquer them later and none of these are must-haves.[Wonders were had, but not the early ones I wanted. Oracle and Great Library were both snatched away, but that didn't slow my tech pace much. It did deny me a Great Sceientist and the accompanying academy until physics, however. The sea wasn't even a factor in this game though I did build the Colosus... in 1705AD... 3 turns before discovering Astronomy.

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