Civ V: Gods & Kings Diary One Against the World

After a solid defensive effort, I manage to make peace with most of my enemies, with just Siam and Carthage still at war with me, and I have faith that I can take a few cities from them, beef up my army even more and then take over most, if not all, the continent.

I don’t usually play this way but I am now committed and suspend most city development and only continue work on one Wonder in order to focus on cannons, musketmen and pikemen, the mix of forces I plan to use in my takeover.

I lack the iron to create swordsmen and cavalry takes too long to train, so I drop them from my plans.

I made a move towards Muang Saluang, but a strong defensive line of war elephants and a trebuchet stationed in the city cause heavy losses, and I make a wrong move with my cannons which ends in one of them getting destroyed.

Things are not helped by the fact that Sidon, which has so far been on my side, has switched sides after an espionage-based coup (I suspect Russia) and has hit my flank.

I reposition my forces in order to defend Chichen Itza, and the host of enemies that has recently made peace with me quickly sense my weakness, denounce me and then declare war.

Then, Sweden once again launches an attack with plenty of siege engines, and Hanoi is taken over very quickly, with Lisbon being their next target.

I managed to stem the tide somewhat by bringing up my reserves and quickly ending some wars in the West and, basically, after more than 100 hours of war I ended up in pretty much the initial situation, with less scientific process and less Wonders that I would otherwise have.

I guess war does not really pay or that my strategy is somewhat deficient because it caused the entire world to unite against me.

Via: Civ V: Gods & Kings Diary One Against the World