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Description
Early February 2008 hosted my most epic game (so far) of Sid Meier's Civilization IV. And I really wish my hard drive hadn't crashed since, or else I'd still have the save file and hall of fame and all that. But whatever. At least I recorded much of the event into my notebook, the Gaia forums, and into my own brain.

This game was on a map with a bunch of lakes instead of oceans. It was also at Warlord level (I have low aptitude) and Marathon Mode (slow progression of time for those unfamiliar). Because I wanted to simply build up military and conquer other empires while the other ten fight over wonders and religions, I decided to play as Boudica of the Celts.

And naturally, due to my stubbornness, I still winded up founding four of the first five religions and building a bunch of wonders. Fortunately, I also built a bunch of units. They helped me out when a bunch of horse archers came out of nowhere (or possibly from ill-fated Spanish territory, considering Spain was wiped off the map early on).

As the game progressed and I worked to try to spread Hinduism worldwide, a few other empires adopted Christianity while Buddhism spread from the remains of Spain to Inca. So I figured the leader most likely to declare war on me would be either Huayna Capac of Inca, Zara Yaqob of Ethiopia, or Catherine of Russia (my next-door neighbor to the east). Well, Huayna ended up not caring too much that we were using opposing religions, and he even asked to become my vassal later in the game. (I accepted.) Zara and Catherine turned out to remain nuisances, though.

Soon, Shaka of the Zulus declared war on Catherine. Not long after, he asked for me to join the war against her. I accepted and started claiming Russian cities. Later, Catherine and Shaka stop fighting each other, so it's basically me conquering what's left of Russia.

Then Catherine asked to become a Vassal to Kublai Khan of Mongolia. In that transaction, I found myself at war against Kublai Khan, in addition to Catherine. I wounded up focusing much more of my forces against Mongolia than Russia, as Russia posed much less of a threat. Soon I got Rifling and upgraded most of my units, blasting Kublai's forces to the point where he could no longer keep Catherine as a vassal.

Meanwhile, half way around the world, Zara Yaqob and Shaka wound up fighting wars against each other and a few other local empires. By popular demand, I decided to stop trading with Ethiopia, but not declare war as that empire was on the other side of the planet.

Back to my more immediate concerns, Cyrus of Persia decided to use the Apostolic Palace to vote to end the war against Catherine. I voted against as I really did want to conquer all of Russia. Everyone else voted in favor, though, so my war narrowed down to exclusively me vs. Kublai Khan.

That is, until he asks to become a vassal to Mehmed II of Ottomania, my next-door neighbor to the west. I also found out that Kublai had another city in territory I had yet to explore. I had to bribe Willem Van Oranje of the Netherlands with Banking to find out where: wedged between Incan and Ottoman territory.

It wasn't my day, but I figured I could still win the game easily enough, so I continued.

These drawings probably were at least in part an excuse to draw a female version of me. (Why not? I was already playing the part of Boudica in this game. :b)

Civilization IV - Beyond the Sword (c) Firaxis Games and 2K Games.

Description
Early February 2008 hosted my most epic game (so far) of Sid Meier's Civilization IV. And I really wish my hard drive hadn't crashed since, or else I'd still have the save file and hall of fame and all that. But whatever. At least I recorded much of the event into my notebook, the Gaia forums, and into my own brain.

This game was on a map with a bunch of lakes instead of oceans. It was also at Warlord level (I have low aptitude) and Marathon Mode (slow progression of time for those unfamiliar). Because I wanted to simply build up military and conquer other empires while the other ten fight over wonders and religions, I decided to play as Boudica of the Celts.

And naturally, due to my stubbornness, I still winded up founding four of the first five religions and building a bunch of wonders. Fortunately, I also built a bunch of units. They helped me out when a bunch of horse archers came out of nowhere (or possibly from ill-fated Spanish territory, considering Spain was wiped off the map early on).

As the game progressed and I worked to try to spread Hinduism worldwide, a few other empires adopted Christianity while Buddhism spread from the remains of Spain to Inca. So I figured the leader most likely to declare war on me would be either Huayna Capac of Inca, Zara Yaqob of Ethiopia, or Catherine of Russia (my next-door neighbor to the east). Well, Huayna ended up not caring too much that we were using opposing religions, and he even asked to become my vassal later in the game. (I accepted.) Zara and Catherine turned out to remain nuisances, though.

Soon, Shaka of the Zulus declared war on Catherine. Not long after, he asked for me to join the war against her. I accepted and started claiming Russian cities. Later, Catherine and Shaka stop fighting each other, so it's basically me conquering what's left of Russia.

Then Catherine asked to become a Vassal to Kublai Khan of Mongolia. In that transaction, I found myself at war against Kublai Khan, in addition to Catherine. I wounded up focusing much more of my forces against Mongolia than Russia, as Russia posed much less of a threat. Soon I got Rifling and upgraded most of my units, blasting Kublai's forces to the point where he could no longer keep Catherine as a vassal.

Meanwhile, half way around the world, Zara Yaqob and Shaka wound up fighting wars against each other and a few other local empires. By popular demand, I decided to stop trading with Ethiopia, but not declare war as that empire was on the other side of the planet.

Back to my more immediate concerns, Cyrus of Persia decided to use the Apostolic Palace to vote to end the war against Catherine. I voted against as I really did want to conquer all of Russia. Everyone else voted in favor, though, so my war narrowed down to exclusively me vs. Kublai Khan.

That is, until he asks to become a vassal to Mehmed II of Ottomania, my next-door neighbor to the west. I also found out that Kublai had another city in territory I had yet to explore. I had to bribe Willem Van Oranje of the Netherlands with Banking to find out where: wedged between Incan and Ottoman territory.

It wasn't my day, but I figured I could still win the game easily enough, so I continued.

These drawings probably were at least in part an excuse to draw a female version of me. (Why not? I was already playing the part of Boudica in this game. :b)

Civilization IV - Beyond the Sword (c) Firaxis Games and 2K Games.