Man, I wonder what he did that got him in that state. With me and grand strategy games I find that if I survive the early game and manage to establish my empire, i become next to unstoppable. In almost every 4x game I play the challenge is at the beginning when I am expanding and have limited resources and troops. Once I establish myself, the A.I can do nothing to prevent my ascension into godhood. However, even though my victory has been pre-determined i must go through the tedious chore of finishing off my opponents which can take hours and hours depending on the game.
I remember playing a game of Civ V and early on the French and Chinese were easily the top powers in the game. I managed a decent empire and was expanding being extra careful not to start any wars because I was not ready for them. Then the French thought it would be awesome to invade me. What followed was the greatest war I have ever played in a Civ game. Cities would change hands often and I was in the fight for my life. They had invaded from the east and were advancing slowly. After a drawn out conflict they seized Boston and were only a stones throw from Washington. If my capital fell than the game would be over so I took EVERY army i had in the west (which was there to defend against a possible attack by the English) and threw them into the defense of Washington. They weathered the storm and I managed to secure my capital and slowly start regaining territory. A couple hours later at like 5 a.m in the morning, Paris fell to my armies. I came out of the conflict the clear sole superpower in the world. My army and territories were the largest and I was way ahead in technology. However, even though my victory was cemented I still had to defeat like 5 other Civilizations and that took hours and hours of marching numerical and technologically super forces at the A.I.
