I'm a struggling emperor player on C3C, I can win half the games I play on that level. But I can't even beat Rise and Rule on warlord. I'm pretty sure learning Rise and Rule has been harder for me than learning regular civ was, and so I'm going to do one of my first serious games for RAR in the story section. My plan? To get as much advice and help as possible in this game from those of you who know RAR better than I(Pretty much everyone who has picked up RAR.)

Map Settings:
70% water continents, warm temperature and middle climate.
Random Barbarians.
Huge world.
16 opponents(I'm a masochist)
Playing as Egypt. I figure the agricultural and industrial trait will help smooth over some of my faults.

I'll post my start in a little bit. And yes, I'm going to look for an easy start. :p

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/Start6.JPG

Moved the tribe one space SW, and founded. I'll have ample flood plains to get started, and some plains for shields later one. No bonus materials, but it will have to do. Set research to Scrape Mining, and production of Thebes to scout.

In the year 4000 BC, Thebes was founded on solid plains near a very fertile floodland. The tiny town grew fairly quickly, for an abundance of food ensured every citizen a full belly and a full larder all year long. It was perhaps the only luxury the people of Thebes enjoyed.

The elders had always spoken of other peoples like them, but as far as the common man knew, there was no one else. Just the Egyptians, housed in Thebes.

Then the much revered Chief Kenneth, the leader of the Egyptian people, decided to take a risk and send out a scouting party into the untamed and unknown wilderness in search of the other peoples spoken of in Egyptian folklore.

Three hundreds of searching the wilderness ensued, and then finally, the scouts descendants found another gathering of people to match that of Thebes. They called themselves the Mali, and they had men armed with fearsome weapons. Upon hearing the scout's reports of armed forces, Chief Kenneth was distrustful of the Mali people--he envisioned them as a danger to his own people. However, Chief Kenneth offered his hand in friendship to the Mali, hoping that through diplomacy he could avert conflict between the two cities.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/Mali.JPG

For more than a thousand years, an uneasy peace lasted. Thebes grew quickly, a welcome sign at first. But then, as the population continued to grow, the older families began to complain about how crowded and noisy the city had become, how dirty parts were becoming. Chief Kenneth sympathized with the original families, and, in a surprising act, he expelled all but the original few families from Thebes. The exepelled citizens were put under the control of Chief Andrew, the brother of Chief Kenneth, and sent to the Southwest to settle their own city, the city of Memphis.

Then, the scouting party dissapeared, never to be heard from again. This greatly worried Chief Kenneth, for he believed the Mali had played some role in the scouting party's dissapearance. With that in mind, Chief Kenneth ordered Chief Andrew to begin training troops for a possible conflict with the Mali.

By the time the first archer division was fully trained in Memphis, Thebian men had discovered humped creatures in the fertile lands by Thebes. They called these animals Camels, and the Thebian men learned how to use them to make their jobs easier.

Thebes and Memphis were incredible city locations; Thebes had the camels so they had a high production, and Memphis had an oasis on a foodplain--6 food! :goodjob:

Meanwhile, in Thebes, another exodus had occured, as more 'lesser' families were sent out of Thebes to resettle. They followed Chieftess Marie, the sister of Chief Andrew and Chief Kenneth, and they founded on a hill southwest of Memphis. They called their city Heliopolis. In the mountains near Heliopolis, a blueish ore was discovered, and only a few years later did the Heliopolians learn that if the ore was melted from the rocks, it formed a very beautiful, easily-worked metal. The metal was named Silver, and it was dispersed throughout the Egyptian lands.

Silver! Woohoo for luxuries!

Then, just as Chief Kenneth had predicted, Mali troops menaced Heliopolis. Chief Kenneth was enraged, and sent an envoy to demand the troops be removed from Egyptian lands. The Mali, in an obvious act of war, sent the envoy back in five different shipments.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/Maliwar.JPG

Fortunately, Chief Kenneth had been prepared for this. Both Heliopolis and Memphis were garrisoned with tribal guards, and a brigade of archers was placed on the road inbetween both towns, capable of reaching either with but a moment's notice. Mali Archer brigades and warrior packs attacked both Heliopolis and Memphis, but were repulsed.

Appealing to his people's senses, Chief Kenneth declared that the war was caused in part because the three chiefdoms were too independent and didn't cooperate well. His own city of Thebes backed him, and declared him omnipotent king of all Egypt. Many in Heliopolis and Memphis agreed with this sentiment, and began putting pressure on Chief Andrew and Chieftess Marie to back down.

I really shouldn't have gone into anarchy during the war like that...But I think I'll survive the anarchy period alright.

After repulsing all the Mali aggressors, Chief--soon to be King--Kenneth ordered the biggest army ever seen in the known world-five archer brigades and a company of spearman-into Mali territory. The spearmen company defeated a counterattack of two archer brigades outside of Jenne, and then in a surprisingly easy offensive, the archer brigades took Jenne, the hilltop city, with only the lost of one archer brigade.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/Takingjenne.JPG

cool story. It will be cool to get a fe mali cities, or even destory them

1125 BC, the Mali people came to their senses. Lord Kenneth, and by now he had truly become a lord, demanded that the Mali end this senseless conflict. And in order to heal the rift that had been created between the two nations by the Mali's foolish actions, the Mali wisemen would teach the Egyptians about their mysticism, and give the Egyptian's their design of the wheel. Also, during the course of the war, the Egyptian people became acquainted with the art of slavery-by practicing it on the losing Mali troops.

Peace reigned for a while, during which time two more chiefs were sent out of Thebes, which had grown disturbingly large during the war. The two cities were relatively minor compared to the three original cities. They were the towns of Elephantine and Alexandria. Horses were discovered North of Thebes, and a colony was built to tame the wild beasts. It only seemed logical to the Egyptians to combine the wheel the Mali had taught them to use the the horses to create highly mobile platforms of death. Spearmen and archers rode on the newly invented chariots. Many divisions of these chariots were trained in a relatively short time.

But, peace with the Mali seemed impossible. The ruler of the Mali sent an envoy to Egypt demanding that the Egyptians share their advanced construction knowledge with the Mali. Lord Kenneth refused their demands. The envoy declared that the Mali would come and take the secrets-Lord Kenneth laughed and had the envoy butchered alive, his entrails packaged and sent back to the Mali.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/Maliwar2.JPG
I didn't think anyone could be more aggressive than Shaka! WTF!

In what became to be known as the Hundred Days war, or the Tessaouan Exchange, Egyptian Chariots raced down the road connecting The Mali town of Daffa to Egypt and razed the settlement. The Egyptian people were elated at the success of their ingenuity! The citizens were happier and more productive. Historians refer to this time period as the true Golden Age of Egypt. The construction of The Sphinx was completed in honor of the war chariot's success. The Mali were humbled by such a response to their declaration of war, and came begging for peace. In exchange for their lives, Lord Kenneth took Tessaoua, a town south east of the ruins of Daffa. He warned against further violence, promising much harsher punishments.

A decade after the Tessaouan exchange, the town of Pi-Ramesses was founded on the site of Daffa. There were ripe grapes, and the Pi-Ramessesians quickly became proficient brewers.
Woohoo! Let the booze flow! :dance:

Great story, but a few things:

Could you resize the images so they don't break the borders? We have to move the screen left and right to read every line.

And could you tell me what terrain modpack you are using (and how did you get it to work with Rise and Rule?)

I'll work on the pictures, sorry about that.

And I'm using snoopy's graphic mod I think, and I didn't do anything special to get it to work for Rise and Rule.

The Mali seemed to be a tamed lion after the Second Malian War, but Lord Kenneth was not fooled. He continued his troop buildup while improving several of the major cities.

It seemed like the Egyptian people were the chosen people of the world, for the Golden Age of Egypt continued on in a magnificent fashion. Several new cities were created, the current cities built upon, and many major projects were undertaken. The newly conquered city of Jenne had many rolling hills nearby, and Lord Kenneth had the steadily increasing population building many, many magnificent wonders. Over just under a millenium, Jenne produced The Academy, the most comprehensive school in the world, a training ground for Sun Tzu's teachings on the art of war, and the beautiful Shangri La. Religion became important to the people of Egypt, for Lord Kenneth was in his office by divine right, and thus the people wanted to have places to give thanks to the Gods for his rule. Shrines, monuments, temples, and even monastaries began appearing in every city flying the Egyptian flag.

The people of Thebes, the seat of Lord Kenneth's divine rule, also expressed their gratitude for his omipotent rule by constructing monuments in his honor. Three pyramids of epic sizes were constructed, so that the Lord might have a place to rest when he finally departed this world. The Palace gardens were also extended, and beautified extensively. Lastly, the most comprehensive and rigorous training grounds were created inside Thebes, near the palace so that the Lord might look upon his most elite soldiers.

But, while things seemed to be peaceful and prosperous, Lord Kenneth kept a few cities, namely Heliopolis, busy training the mounted units of The Lord's army. The camels discovered near Thebes were used to create fast mounts capable of traversing the desert, and when iron was discovered near Jenne, another few brigades of Arabian knights were commisioned.

Peace continued, however, and the Mali showed no signs of aggression. Other civilizations were met, like the Chinese, the Indians, the Arabs, and the Germans. All of which seemed peaceful, or at least cowed into submission by Egypt's power. The hundreds of men comissioned waited impatiently for the sign of war to begin...But none would provoke Lord Kenneth.

And then, in perhaps the most contested move in Egyptian history, Lord Kenneth declared a preemptive war on the Mali.

The troops amassed outside the Mali border surged in. Tahua was destroyed the very day war was declared, and Maraoi was occupied by war chariots within the year. The aggressors of Maraoi and Tahua merged and marched on the Mali capital-Gao. The freshly trained Arabian knights and camels also marched on Gao from the Egyptian border.

No Egyptian soldier left the battle field alive. In what became known The Massacre at Gao, the commanders ordered all the chariots and knights to charge the city. The spearmen and archers in Gao defended their homeland with ferocity, and killed every Egyptian.

The old chiefs and chieftesses that had been surpressed when Lord Kenneth rose to kingdom saw their chance to regain power and rose up against Lord Kenneth. They questioned his divine right to rule, and brought discord to the people. Furious for their treachery, Lord Kenneth declared martial law and began to surpress the rebellion.

Having learned my lesson about anarchy during war last time I did it, I decided to switch to feudal monarchy during this war. D'oh. :sad:

Finally, Lord Kenneth ended the rebellion and his divine rule. No longer was he dependant on the supernatural-Emperor Kenneth cowed the people and established his own rule free from any guiding power. He was ruler because he was the best.

With the people unified, he began to amass more troops to take Gao. Skirmishes continued along the border uneventfully. That is, until the year 500 AD. The charismatic commander of a simple archer brigade rose to prominence when he led his brigade to victory against a superior spearman. General Ramses left the battle field and strode into Jenne, the mustering point of the Arabian knights. He spoke out fiercely, calling upong the Arabian knights to take up arms and end the battle once and for all. Cavalry brigades, camel riders, and a single Imperial Guardman-The personal bodyguards of Emperor Kenneth himself- began a charge across the desert towards Gao.

The massive army paused outside Gao for only a shortwhile before surging in. Those under General Ramses, the greatest hero of Egyptian history, led the charge. The two brigades he personally led into battle strode through the first two lines of hardened spear men, and then the auxillary Arabian knights and camel riders broke the rest and took Gao without any serious casualties.

Ahem, erhm. So maybe I forgot pictures. I wish I had taken the before and afters of the first battle of Gao. NONE of the slightly less than 20 units retreated! None! I almost cried. :(

Without Gao keeping the Egyptian knights occupied, there was little resistance to be had. The army surged onwards, raising a small hamlet and taking the new base of operations for the Mali resistance, Timbuktu.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/Malilands.JPG

Emperor Kenneth had expected stronger resistance. When there was none forthcoming, he came up with a daring plan.

Why risk further incursions when he could occupy all the lands belonging to the exiled Mali government?

Is that picture any better? Also, updates are going to be fairly frequent now. I'm on school vacation and I think I can bang this game out in a week given this start.

There was a somber pall hanging over the continent at the dawn of 660 AD. The Malinese had only two backwater towns left in their control, and the egyptian desert riders, imperial guards, and the army was working through the thick jungle towards them. It seemed that history was about see one of the major nations of the world entirely consumed by the leading superpower of the era-Egypt. There was no reason for the Mali to hope for anything but a swift execution when the two provinces were taken.

But the people of Egypt wanted no more war, no more lost soldiers to Malinese men. With victory in Emperor Kenneth's grasp, his own country slipped into disorder. The former chiefs, whom had been delegated a city to govern, began to amass their own independent forces.

Egypt was in flames, and no foriegn soldiers had set foot inside their lands in ages.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/EgyptinFlames.JPG

Emperor Kenneth had no choice but to call off his armies to squash the uprising.

An envoy worked out the peace treaty with the wary Mali representatives. They'd hand over Kano, one of the two remaining provinces, an unheard of 1200 gold coins, and their wisemen would be taken back in chains to teach the Egyptians of Democracy, elephant training, and sailing.



With the crisis averted, Emperor Kenneth turned his wary eye on the aggressively expanding chinese. Their traditional homeland was on a peninsula blocked off by the Egyptian heart land, but now they believed they were entitled to all lands not claimed by Egypt. They'd left their peninsula and began to settle the jungles south of Egypt.

Emperor Kenneth was not pleased with their daring actions.

glad you can finish!