Ok...this is my fourth or fifth story game...but all the others led to crushing defeats. I still suck, but I have decided I'm not gonna give up this time, no matter what. I will stick with it and fight to the bitter end.

Settings

Difficulty: Warlord (modded to slightly harder, so warlord/regent hybrid. Don't laugh please.)

World: Standard continents 70%, temperate. "Default" settings.

AI Civs: Random. Aggression normal.

Civ: Good, fast early UU. So Zulu.

The game rules are modded slightly. I have lowered the cost of muskets, made sugar and tobacco luxeries, small changes like that.


Anyway, here we go. First, let's meet our fearless and apparently intoxicated leader:

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/1-meetmoneyman.jpg

The map generator is kind and shines its golden face upon the Zulu people.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/2-goodstart.jpg

4000 B.C.

Money Man is a happy man. His start position landed on a patch of wacky tobaccy and has two wheats which will be directly within city limits when the capitol city is built. This, combined with the hills to the east, will mean a decent settler factory with quick growth and later on a very nice, productive city for wonders. A small regiment of serfs is sent southwards to irrigate that wheat! (IIRC wheats can get irrigation bonus even in despotism.) A warrior division is started in Great Zimbabwe and will be sent eastwards upon completion of training.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/3-warrioreast.jpg

The warrior group to the east has uncovered some very promising thingies: first, the wheat. There is another wheat within the city limits of Zimbabwe which will probably jump over to another city later on. Second, the silks to the east. Money Man wants these silks, and no matter what happens, he shall get them. Thirdly, the sugar.....er...yeh, sugar to the southwest.



I shall continue this at a later date.

wow! this will be interesting. some tips on using impi:

1. build horsemens, not swords. this way you'll have an extremely fast military, without the horses waiting for the spearmen to protect them.

2. impi are great for the Capital Isolation Strategy, a strategy that can be found in the war academy.

3. don't be afraid to attack with the impi! just cause they are good defenders dosen't mean they can't attack.

good luck! :)

If i was you, i would have settled on the hill just north of the starting point. Now you need an acqueduct to grow past size 6 in Zimbabwe. Those 100 shields would have been better spent on 5 archers, or a barracks + 3 archers, or a marketplace.

@Own- I was thinking about trying that this game, restricting my military to fast units instead of the shock value of swords. For this reason I chose the Zulu, so I could have less defensive units and just shuffle them around.

@tR1cKy- yeh, I went back and forth on that a LOT, but for some reason I chose to settle on location. Keep in mind I'm not too good at this game. :D

Thanks for the feedback, please make suggestions/criticisms as you see fit. I need all the help I can get.

3600 B.C.- The warriors sent east have further accentuated the stupidity of Money Man's decision to settle his people on location. One tile to the SE and he would have had the same two wheat, plenty of nice hills, and a river to boot. Word says that a great scholar of Civ named tR1cKy once gave simliar advice, but of course now it is too late for Money Man to do anything at all about that. He will just have to tough it out and fight harder for it.

3550 B.C.- The same expedition has uncovered some more good news: this time, in the form of a goody hut. The barbarian peoples indiginous to the far east have gifted the brave warrior group with knowledge, and these warriors have returned to herald this knowledge to Money Man's scholars. The head scholar, a bald-headed brain named Sid, brings news of a new discovery based on this knowledge: a new form of burial, including a ceremony and prayers and stuff. This new form of burial is widely preferred by the Zulu people over the previous burial method of dumping dead bodies in a pit and lighting them on fire. Meanwhile, back in Zimbabwe, another warrior group has been sent south to scout around down there.

3350 B.C.- Two hundred years later, and the eastern warrior group uncovers another group of indiginous peoples who trade knowledge to them for some pottery and other small trinkets. Once again, this knowldge is brought back to Zimbabwe, and once again, Money Man's cheif scholar brings him good news:

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/4-warriorcode1.jpg

And, completing an incredible hat trick of good luck, the souther warrior expedition fall upon yet another group of indiginous people. These people have developed a round thing with a hole in it that can be rolled and pulled by horses and other four-legged beasts of burden. With this knowledge, Sid gets to work, and a while later presents Money Man with the third large presento of the era:

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/5-thewheel.jpg

And, praise Allah, the scary goody hut near Zimbabwe popped gold instead of angry barbs.

3150 B.C.- After many years of wating patiently, a settler is completed in Zimbabwe; Money Man commands that these brave people be sent.....where?? The souther warrior group has changed course westward, and uncovered a lot. But where should the new city be built?

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/6-city2,dotmap.jpg

Money Man gets together with his advisory council and comes up with this map: the red dot, indicating the first priority settling position, and the blue dot representing the second priority settling location. The red dot will be a nice FP city that will have lots of growth and decent shields; for this reason it will be a new settler factory. Zimbabwe will probably become a worker factory. The blue dot city, meanwhile, could be settled to the SE for a bonus of being coastal, but Money Man thinks this is compensated for by the fact that by building the city on site, sugar will fall into his hands immediately. Also, if the city were founded to the SE, a BG would go to waste.

3050 B.C.- Ulundi founded. Begins construction of a Barracks to train great legions of Impi fighters.

Sometime between 3000 and 2080 B.C- The western warrior group has head northwards and contacted an enemy scout. This scout comes from a great nation called Mongolia, headed by a man named Temujin. Money Man requests a hearing with this man, and soon after, Temujin treks to Zimbabwe for the world's first known peace council.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/7-mongols.jpg

All over Zimbabwe, mirrors break, small children scream. Women faint in the street at the ocular and nasal overload of Temujin and his stinky soldiers. Money Man learns from Temujin that while the two nations are roughly equal scientifically, Mongolia has more luxuries and gold, so at this point in the game Money Man is getting his ass handed to him. By the Mongols. How embarrassin'.


To be continued.....

2630 B.C.- Another group of brave Zulu citizens is gathered in Zimbabwe. These settlers will head westward. Money Man's warrior scouts have verified that the Zulu nation has started on a peninsula, so Money Man has made the decision to build out towards the Mongols before filling in the land to the south and east. The settlers will take the road to Ulundi, then move west and find a good spot to settle down. Barracks is almost complete in Ulundi.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/8-newsettler2.jpg

2630 B.C.-1790 B.C.- pretty uneventful. New cities have been founded. Bapedi, to the south, is a productive city with good growth due to the sugar on hills to north. Hlobane and Islwhanda are nothing special, just trying to fill up that space before the Mongols do.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/9-5cities.jpg

At this point, my strategy is this:

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/10-techtree.jpg

1/ Hit CoL first. Temujin recently acquired Iron Working, and Money Man wants it. Of course, CoL is worth much more than Iron Working, but Temujin will probably be willing to give up more than just IW for CoL.

2/ Hit Philosphy. Nice tech to have for trading, plus the slingshot to Republic will mean a quick transition to a representative government.

3/ Rep from Philo.

4/ Hit either Masonry or Lit. Cross that bridge when we come to it.

5/ Masonry-Maths-Currency/ Maths-Currency. At Maths or, more probably, Currency, Money Man will declare on Mongols and get and Impi win to trigger GA for nice MA wonders and markets.

A Few Turns Later (turn log deleted)- Deal with Mongols for IW. If I give CoL, they are willing to give up Iron Working and their treasury for it. This is worth it to me because they will be dead soon enough anyway and I want to know where my iron's at.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/11-deal.jpg

A Few More Turns Later- Sid pops into the throne room with good news (as usual). This happens:

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/12-republic.jpg

We revolt immediately upon discovery of Republic. Steam off to Lit and preparamos for the regaining of government control. Once the nation is back under control, Money Man will begin surveying the Mongol lands and draw up a battle plan. Horses and Impis will be churned out in massive quanties if we have horses. If no horses, swords. If no Iron, archers....Mongolia will fall no matter what.

1025 B.C.- many cities have been founded since the last update. The great Zulu have spread Westward, cutting off a large portion of land that Mongol hordes were eyeing greedily earlier on. Intombe, Swazi, and Mpondo are the newest cities, and a new city will soon be founded across the Gulf of Swazi. Two major production centers have sprung up in the southwest, marked in red. Ulundi will be a true powerhouse once Money Man is satisfied with settlement. Unfortunately, due to the Mongols' crappy city placement many more settlers will be needed during the upcoming war. Intombe, the surprise production city, is capable of 3-4 turn Impis and will be even more powerful upon completion of its courthouse. And, of course, Great Zimbabwe has begun production of a huge library where all the greatest scholars of the Zulu world will gather to research.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/15-southwestlands1.JPG

975 B.C.- Masonry is discovered. Money Man's scientists begin work on figuring out Mathematics.

850 B.C.- Sid and his fellow scientists have comleted work on a new form of writing involving lots of funny numbers and signs. This will allow construction of cool things called catapults, but Money Man will probably not make use of these. SoZ would be a priority at this point, but the only sources of Ivory are in Mongol hands and the war is coming too soon for a deal to work. Currency will roll in in 6 at max science (+1 gpt).

Preparations for war w/ mongols begin. Ulundi, Bapedi and Ngome begin churning out Impis.

In the east, good things:

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/14-horsesandiron.JPG

Money Man's empire holds 1 native source each of both iron and horses. This is very, very good. Productive cities will begin spitting out Chariots. Money Man is not sure if more experienced players would observe this as an exploit, but he will hold off on Horseback Riding as long as possible for a mass upgrade after a science cut when it is discovered.

The east is an enigma as much as it is a celebration. Placement of cities will be limited to 2 to leave as much production to each city as possible. Horses will be needed as quickly as possible, but no arrangement allows them immediately, so a colony will be set up. Together with his trusted Foreign, Domestic, and Crappy Paint Skill advisors, Money Man draws up the following dotmap.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/19-dotmapeast.JPG

The red dot represents the first city location. Once this is settled, roads (brown dashed lines) will be run through to the horses and a colony (green circle) set up there. The blue dot is the second city location, on a river with hills and a BG will be a nice all-around city.

please continue. nice write-up.

Yes good story... to the east of you, thats the mongols right? i cant tell with the colors... otherwise once your done settling start building a whole bunch of impis and horsemen and distroy them!

Sorry for stopping fellas....I'm having a HUGE problem with spyware f***king up my system. I had to flush my comp for the second time in a week, but I think the problem's solved now. I will restart this game the same way and play far into it before posting.

I got a hint for you: ditch Internet Exploder. It sucks. It stinks. It acts like the Byzantine Babe Magnet on spyware programs. Use Internet Exploder and it's only a matter of time before a spyware program will come to visit you, usually followed by some friends.

All those crapware do exploit bugs of Internet Exploder, but they usually don't care about Mozilla & so on. Why? The 85% of the netsurfers still use Internet Exploder, so why bothering about the latter 15%?

Is that supposed to say Zulu Experiment?

@tR1cKy- really? I'll have to switch to Mozilla....does that work for windows too?

@chunky kong- yeah...I spelled it incorrectly but realized it too late and couldn't change the thread name.