Check this out. Sometimes the AI does little things that are quite good. My exploring Praet popped a hut and stirred a hornet nest.

The AI, instead of attacking, upgraded one of the warriors to Axemen!

Not a good sign that they have that much money to burn, but on the other hand, the AIs get such HUGE, MASSIVE discounts on everything economical, perhaps it's not that big of a deal. (That much cash is a big deal to players, though.)

After Monarchy I went on to Writing, which prompted my largest slavery projects to date, especially at food-rich Antium.

My position has evolved in to one primary front (at the iron town in the northwest), one secondary front (in the east), and two tertiary fronts (units from Hittite moving south to harass Rome directly, and units slipping beneath Ravenna to harass Antium's Sheep resources).

Here you see the first enemy Horse Archer coming in on the eastern front. I, of course, have no Spearmen yet, having faced only foot troops, but I will now have to change that, and quickly.

My Wines are connected but in danger. I had to defend outside the city, on that jungle hill, as well as the city itself.

Here's the western front, where Horses started regularly pestering Antium, requiring me to mount anti-horse defense outside the cities there.

Luckily, only the horses seemed interested in thrusting south. The foot troops mostly attacked Ravenna, with a couple threatening the roads up there but always near the city, where I could pop out and then back in to safety and medical aid.

My exploring Axeman was brought back around to Hittite, where I used him to feint toward the city. I parked him on the Dyes, across the river and outside the enemy culture radius, but within two plots of the city along the diagonal. The barbs swarmed out like yellow jackets, in a mindless protective rage.

An enemy Axeman and three Archers were burned on this assault, with my unit surviving the fight, though wounded.

I retreated him north in to the jungle, where he had the chance to heal up. The loss of the enemy Archers protecting that city would be significant later, so keep that in mind.

We're almost to 1000AD. My kill tally has climbed to almost two hundred, with almost all of the new kills being stronger enemy units like sword, axe and horse.

I've lost two Praets in the fighting, though, trippling my total land losses -- and it's going to get worse.

My new spear forces are giving the enemy horse units fits, though.

This is as close to Civ3-style Always War as you're likely to experience in Civ4. I'll have to keep that in mind, though, as it should be a concept worth revisiting (with some adjustments) for future events.

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