Tag Archives: Civilization Series
Civ5 AAR: Empires of the Smoky Skies, Part II
How Smoky are the Smoky Skies? Well, they’re starting to heat up ~
By Brant Guillory, GrogDude
Click images to enlarge
Last time, we kicked off the scenario and got our first city in the ground. This time, we’re going to poke around the area a bit, and put a few more cities down.
Howdy Neighbor!
Pulias is just north of me.
Swap Embassies
And poof! his capital is on the map.
Civ5 AAR: Empires of the Smoky Skies, Part I
Going back to the Civ5 well again ~
By Brant Guillory, GrogDude
Click images to enlarge
For this scenario, I’m headed off to an ahistorical scenario. The Empires of the Smoky Skies is the ‘steampunk’ scenario with the Civilization 5 Gods + Kings expansion. There are five nations, all suitably decked out in their best Victorian-industrial chic. The military units are also tweaked to bring in airships and landships, although destroyers and battleships are not renamed.
Empires of the Smoky Skies
As noted, this is one of the built-in scenarios that comes with the Gods + Kings expansion pack.
Empires of the Smoky Skies
There’s some background on the scenario.
Tracer Rounds – My History of 4X Gaming
Rearranging history, one X at a time ~
Anyone that pays even half-conscious attention to GrogHeads knows that I’m a sucker for a good 4X game. Heck, most of the time, I’m a sucker for a bad 4X game. I can’t help it. They appeal to me in a way that no other kind of game can. And what’s odd, is that despite being a wargamer (albeit a bad one – another column for another time) it’s rare that I win 4X games by rolling over the world under my armored boot. There was one epic Civ2 game where I once played the Celts and conquered everything but maybe 1 city, and had every wonder you could build in the game in my clutches, but outside of that game about 15 years ago, I’ve rarely been the warmonger. (edit! I did conquer a bunch of the world the first time I played Venice with the Gods + Kings expansion to Civ5).
My love affair with 4X games predates the term, even. Alan Emrich is usually credited with coining the 4X term in 1993. My first foray into 4X gaming dates all the way back to 1983, with Dragon Magazine #77 and King of the Tabletop, a Tom Wham game about building your realm and crushing your neighbors. You had a “playing deck” full of critters you could recruit, along with cities, treasure, magic, and mines. You had another “land deck” full of lands you could draw to build your realm; and note to MtG players everywhere – the lands in KOTT way back in 1983 were swamps, forest, mountains, and plains (and deserts instead of islands, but go with it). You had mercenary characters to recruit, and monuments to build. Random events might bring on an earthquake or brushfire. And for a bunch of 6th-graders playing at lunchtime with each other, and occasionally their student teacher (here’s to you, Mr Blankenship!) it was a ton of fun.
The Omnibus List of Civ V Africa AAR Episodes
Here’s the full list of all of Brant’s episodes – in order! – for your perusal and/or enjoyment
The Scramble for Africa – A Civ 5 AAR (Part 1)
The Scramble for Africa – A Civ 5 AAR (Part 2)
The Scramble for Africa – A Civ 5 AAR (Part 3)
The Scramble for Africa – A Civ 5 AAR (Part 4)
The Scramble for Africa – A Civ 5 AAR (Part 5)
The Scramble for Africa – A Civ 5 AAR (Part 6)
The Scramble for Africa – A Civ 5 AAR (Part 7)
The Scramble for Africa – A Civ 5 AAR (Part 8)
The Scramble for Africa – A Civ 5 AAR (Part 9)
The Scramble for Africa – A Civ 5 AAR (Part 10)
The Scramble for Africa – A Civ 5 AAR (Part 11)
The Scramble for Africa – A Civ 5 AAR (Part 12)
The Scramble for Africa – A Civ 5 AAR (Part 13)
The Scramble for Africa – A Civ 5 AAR (Part 14)
The Scramble for Africa – A Civ 5 AAR (Part 15)
The Scramble for Africa – A Civ 5 AAR (Part 16)
The Scramble for Africa – A Civ 5 AAR (Part 17)
And the feedback thread in our forums >>
The Scramble for Africa – A Civ 5 AAR (Part 17)
How do you like your Africa, sir? Poached? or Scrambled?
By Brant Guillory, GrogDude
Click images to enlarge
Last month we suddenly got some shade thrown our way by our erstwhile “allies” with whom we’d been all buddy-buddy for the entire game. This time? Let’s see…
Scoring
It looks like I’m way ahead, and in a base game, I’d be totally cool with that. But I have no idea if there is any end-of-game scoring in this scenario, or how it would apply.
Moving Through
I need to get some guys home through French territory. No way we can just swap open-borders treaties right now with everyone getting an attitude with me lately, so I’m going to have to bribe him.
