After the successful attempt at AWDG Standard Pangaea and some failed attempts at AWD Standard Pangaea in the Mump SG series, I kept on looking for that excellent start that could be a winner. I played at least three starts until cavalry (for the AI that is), but every time there was something missing. Either some important resource, or a manageable geography, whatever...

I finally got a start that looked very promising in every respect. Due to time constraints, I didn't care to play it as an SG, because I would only hold up the team. I started playing the start as a solo game instead, so I could stick to my own tempo.

But I do want to share the story on my attempt. I always enjoy reading AW stories or SGs, and I'm guessing there are more people who share the same interest. This will be more turn-log oriented than a true story though.

These are the settings and the look of the lands after I moved the settler:

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/9519/mump6settings1gb3.jpg

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/1628/mump6settings2ow0.jpg

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/5193/mump6startwy7.jpg

Berlin is founded in 3950BC, in the midst of some very interesting lands.

To the south there are at least 5 jungle tiles, and to the north at least 4 desert tiles. Not exactly fantastic, but even then there is a potential of +10fpt at size 3, and plenty of shields as well. The worker has started irrigating the nearest flood plain wheat, and I decide to go all out on food in Berlin.

The first build is a worker, the second will be a settler. I'm hoping other towns will be able to provide military in time for Berlin to stay on workers and settlers exclusively.

Research goes on Iron Working at minimum.

Working the forest for one turn and then the FP gives me growth in 5 (the fastest possible), but also my second worker in 3650BC (turn 7).

The next point to decide is the site for my second city. Obviously, the site northwest of the river mouth would be ideal. However, when I move the first worker, this is what I see:

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/2144/mump6siteee5.jpg

Of course I don't want to settle on top of that bonus grassland. On the other hand, I want as much food as possible for the second town to grow quickly. Placing the second town northeast of that BG will put it out of range of the cow. The flood plains wheat will come into play instead, but I don't want to slow down growth in Berlin. Then I spot the oasis to the east. That'll serve for shields too, so the second town will go just southwest of there. Worker 2 will start preparations.

When Berlin grows to size 2, I keep working the forest at +4fpt. The cow will come in next turn to compensate for growth.

This is the look of our lands after Berlin's first cultural expansion:

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/9092/mump6expansionzl5.jpg

Our workers continue their hard labor finishing mine and road, just too late to be able to go for 3 turn growth and still finish the settler in 3. Oh well...

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/7077/mump6size3vw0.jpg

The settler completes and the next one is immediately queued. Leipzig is founded the next turn, in 3100BC (turn 18). Furthermore, the lands and especially the land form are beginning to look very appealing.

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/9286/mump6leipzigei7.jpg

In 2710BC (turn 26), Hamburg is founded northwest of Berlin. We still have no military at all, but that is about to change. Seems the food gambit is going to pay off.

By 2430BC (turn 33), our fourth settler is built in Berlin, and our second spear completed in Hamburg. This is the world as we know it:

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/9402/mump64thsettlerlg7.jpg

I'll be checking this one out. Signed up and ready to read. Great start!

Looks pretty good, Maybe I will start a new game soon

As you can see in the last picture, we don't know very much about our surroundings yet. That's what you get for building no military for 1500 years. I'm going to continue on the assumption that we're on a choke area of a peninsula that extends north, given the sea tiles on either side of the visible land, and our position on the minimap.

I move the settler north, hoping I'll be able to spot a good location in the next few turns. I also move the spearman in Hamburg towards the mountain north of there to take a look:

http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/6698/mump6furstd7.jpg

I ponder the possibilities for about five minutes. The location of the rivers makes for a bad CxxC combination with our existing towns. The furs being coastal makes me want to found on top of them. In that case I lost a turn moving the settler. So in the end I let the current settler go for the eastern river, and the next one will go for the furs. Berlin is switched to another settler.

Konigsberg is founded in 2310BC, and will also work on military. Leipzig is at 7spt already. Unfortunately, disease strikes it next turn :(. And then again a few turns later; even :(er. Down from size 5 to size 2 again.

I found Frankfurt on the furs in 1990BC (turn 44).

In 1830BC, we discover silks just to our south, 4 tiles from Leipzig. :)

In 1725BC, on turn 51, we finally get this:

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/1949/mump6ironfb4.jpg

There is another iron source in the north, and our exploring spear spots enemy borders.

Our exploring units have confirmed my suspicions on the land form. This is the known world at the end of this chapter:

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/2513/mump61725bcoverviewwt0.jpg

Iron is highlighted in red, luxes (furs and silks) in yellow, and our first enemy in blue.

We have quite a lot of land to settle. Even though there's an easy crossing in the north, which will allow landings, I'm going to concentrate on the south first. I'll also peel off settlers from other towns as long as we haven't met an enemy.

Another important task is to start a GLib prebuild. As you can see, I've been building some regular units. That's because I didn't want to pay upkeep for a barracks in the GLib town of my choice: Hamburg.

Onwards and upwards we go...

Turn 51 - 1725BC
Switch research to pottery for a quick granary in Berlin. The prebuild will not be slowed by this. Pottery is due in 4 turns at 90%.

Turn 55 - 1625BC
Discover pottery, start on masonry due in 6 turns at 90%. Found München on top of the iron hill, and start a walls prebuild. We have spotted more yellowish borders, but haven't met them.

Turn 57 - 1575BC
Berlin grows to size 4, and I whip the remaining 40 shields of the granary.

Turn 58 - 1550BC
We meet the Arabs:

http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/4402/mump6arabiags0.jpg

They are not the civilization whose borders we can see.

Turn 61 - 1475BC
Masonry is in, start on alphabet in 8 turns at 90%. Iron is connected, and some builds are switched to swordsmen. The Arabs start SoZ, and the unmet Russians finish the Pyramids in Moscow.

Turn 62 - 1450BC
The French finish the Oracle in Paris, the Arabs start ToA and restart SoZ.

Turn 63 - 1425BC
Our first swordsman is built. The Mongols complete the Colossus in Kazan.

Turn 66 - 1350BC
The Arabs finish the Statue of Zeus. That spells trouble.

Turn 68 - 1300BC
Alphabet is in, start on writing due in 12 turns at 70% (we need 30% lux). The prebuild will run for 34 turns.

Turn 69 - 1275BC
Heidelburg is founded on the silks, start on walls first. Lux can go down to 20%, but no change on writing.

Turn 73 - 1175BC
Build a settler out of Leipzig and lux can go down to 10%.

Turn 74 - 1150BC
Found Nürnberg. The French finish the Great Wall in Lyons.

Turn 75 - 1125BC
I stop here for now at this nice round number. In the next set we'll see if I can get the Great Library; writing has dropped and is due in 2 turns now. And I hope to settle a lot of these red dots:

http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/3299/mump61125bcoverviewvv5.jpg

We haven't seen the Arabs' initial rush yet. Leipzig has been at 10spt for some time now. I made a mistake by not having the BG by Berlin mined, so I've built two 5-turn settlers. The mine will finish next IT, and the 4-turn settler factory will start operating.

Some more pictures; our military situation:
http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/2588/mump61125bcmilitarymk4.jpg

And the demographics screen:
http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/5970/mump61125bcdemona9.jpg

I'll be watching this with interest. I find pangea deity to be quite a challenge by itself. Throw in Always War and it sounds fearsome even with a nice corner spot. Best of luck!

Ill be watching this... nice start & I hope u kill Arabia :D :evil: Good luck!

Bonne chance, mon ami! :goodjob:

As I look back at the last chapter, and the picture, I see that I am low on workers. The speed of my expansion will be dictated not only by the speed at which I can build settlers, but also by the speed at which I can get those settlers to their destination. Furthermore, there's a lot of jungle to clear. What I need is a worker factory. I should be able to work that out in Heidelburg, but it will take some time.

But the most important question in this chapter will be: will I get the Great Library?

Turn 76 - 1100BC
We meet the French, whose warrior appears from the south, at Heidelburg:

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/1241/mump6francece5.jpg

Science can go down to 30%.

Turn 77 - 1075BC
Writing is in, Literature is due in 12 turns at 90%. Köln is founded, and starts a worker. The Arabs start the Hanging Gardens.

Turn 78 - 1050BC
The lone Arab warrior finally advances, and so does the French; probably the new and undefended town that attracts them. The French start ToA.

Turn 80 - 1000BC
The French warrior has moved to flat land, and is killed by our swordsman, who promotes to elite.

Turn 81 - 975BC
The Arab warrior has also moved to flat land and dies. We may have an excellent kill zone here.

The Hittites complete the Temple of Artemis in Hattusas, the Mongols complete the Mausoleum of Mausollos in Karakorum, the Arabs complete the Hanging Gardens in Mecca, and then this:

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/8381/mump6gldangerwg8.jpg

Turn 84 - 900BC
Found Hannover; we can build the Forbidden Palace now. More Arab warriors in sight now. The French also start the Great Library.

Turn 85 - 875BC
Literature is in, I start on the Wheel in 4 turns at 60%. I'll keep on researching as long as the GLib isn't certain. We have 11 turns to go. The first Arab ACav appears.

Turn 86 - 850BC
Found Bremen. Kill a warrior and promote again; we have 2 elites now. On the IT, the ACav attacks our spearman wall in the forest and dies without making a scratch :).

Turn 88 - 800BC
Kill 4 Arab warriors in the zone, no promotions. Found Stuttgart to complete our core. I have to cover a tile at München to avoid starvation, which implies contacting the Mongols:

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/3277/mump6mongolszt1.jpg

The Egyptians complete The Great Lighthouse in Heliopolis.

Turn 90 - 750BC
The Wheel comes in and I start on HBR due in 4 turns at 80%. The Mongols start the Great Library too, the French restart it. We have 7 turns to go...

A picture of our horses and of the death trap:

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/2584/mump6horsesoz4.jpg

As you can see, the Mongol town closest to München has expanded culture. I'd like to take it out sooner rather than later, but it's on a hill, so I want an army and/or catapults first.

Turn 91 - 730BC
Another ACav dies on our forest spearman, and promotes it to elite.

Turn 92 - 710BC
I have to register the first loss: a brave vSword dies on a Frech rWarrior in the Heidelburg flood plains. I immediately lose another vSword on an Arab rWarrior. We do gain an elite. The first Arab archer is sighted.

Turn 93 - 690BC
The Mongols start Sun Tzu's. A French horse appears.

Turn 94 - 670BC
Horseback riding is in, and I shut down research. Three turns to go on the Great Library. Bonn is founded.

On the IT, 2 Mongol swords show up.

Turn 96 - 630BC
Kill a bunch of units. Lose 2 swords on defense to the Mongol swords in the Heidelburg jungle. But all that kinda gets lost in the excitement:

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/1914/mump6glibru5.jpg

That's it for this chapter. Another overview picture below. As you can see, I'm running out of "easy dots". The next chapter should see some military build-up and hopefully a great leader.

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/439/mump6610bcoverviewet6.jpg

Another snapshot of our growing military force:
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/5478/mump6610bcmilitarybs7.jpg

My next goals will be to adjust my empire to take full advantage of the new knowledge we're about to acquire, to complete the land-grab in the north, and to build up and deploy our military in preparation of our first attempt at making a dent in the enemy.

I'm hoping for a quick army to make some room in the south. Getting worker stacks together and protecting them will also be a chore.

Turn 97 - 610BC
The kill zone is a bit crowded, and the fast attackers get in the way a bit. So I have to retreat our workers, and there are some attacks in the IT: our spearman in Heidelburg defeats an ACav, a sword dies defending against a Mongol sword. The second (healthy) Mongol sword retreats.

We get Ceremonial Burial, Mysticism, Mathematics, Philosophy, Code of Laws, Map Making, Polytheism, Currency, the Republic, Monarchy, Construction, Feudalism, Engineering, and a palace extension. Monotheism was our free tech.

Looks like our neighbours are quite formidable:

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/5285/mump6bedeth3.jpg

Turn 98 - 590BC
I upgrade three spears, which should suffice for now to take on the occasional unit that slips through. I'll be building some horses to upgrade.

Turn 99 - 570BC
I upgrade a sword for faster healing. We'll be in a tough spot until we get some trebs. There are 5 Mongols swords in the area now. To make matters worse, we go 1-1 in Heidelburg on defense.

Turn 100 - 550BC
I upgrade one more spearman. The Mongols at Heidelburg will attack across the river, against a pike behind walls. Our elite spear defending the München grassland holds off an ACav but goes down to 2hp. Then the Mongols attack: the first sword kills the second spear, a healthy veteran. The 2hp spear then goes down to 1hp, but still defends against two swords and an archer, and lives to see another turn :D. No leader though. No attacks at Heidelburg.

Turn 101 - 530BC
I lose a healthy eSword on a 3hp warrior on flat land :mad:.

Up north, this landed on the IT:
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/3646/mump6aztecslandsa9.jpg

They are the Aztecs, and they're behind:
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/5961/mump6aztecsrm1.jpg

I found Salzburg right in front of them.

On the IT, our pikeman in Heidelburg is promoted. The Aztecs move inland.

Turn 102 - 510BC
Found Dortmund. I attack the Aztecs but my sword dies. Scramble to cover towns. Our forces in Heidelburg defend against 3 attackers. Mongol MDIs are underway now though.

Turn 103 - 490BC
I can attack out of Heidelburg now, and the area is pretty much secure.

Turn 104 - 470BC
The Aztec settler pair dies, and we have an elite horse now. Hamburg has grown to size 9, and I put a lone scientist on Invention. An ACav and MDI kill 2 pikes on the München grassland. Seems like this is not worth the effort.

Turn 105 - 450BC
I move the remaining elite spear back into München and I rush a pike there to use up the pop unit I'd lose on the IT (because of starvation when the grassland is occupied).

A picture of the front, with my dots and the enemy dots that will have to go. I haven't counted elite victories, but I'm due a leader any time now; then I can go on the offensive.

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/2378/mump6450bcfrontwb8.jpg

great job so far...nice to grab the GLib. I hope you get lucky with a leader, else you are in trouble. Especiaslly on deity, you need to expand, always...

Maybe you should let the aztecs build that city & wait for it to get to size 2 then capture it& keep it if the city is in the plans.

Good luck :goodjob:

Thank you all for your interest and encouragements.

There seems to be a lot of jungle, so in a way it will be hard to expand (there's more jungle in the fog, as you can see in the last screenshot, above the "er" in "border"). I really want fast roading capability before I move that far out, which means a stack of 9 workers. I'm not close to that yet. I did rush a granary in Heidelburg a few turns ago, failed to mention that in my log. So more workers are underway. On the other hand I have switched a lot of worker builds in the north to trebs.

If I get an army soon, I can take out Darhan and I'll settle the northern dot first. In that case the 3 workers I have nearby now will suffice. If I don't get a leader, I'll settle the central dot first. That will require 1 FP road and 1 jungle road, also doable. That dot will become my Forbidden Palace location. Anything beyond that will require more workers.

I hope the jungle will also prove useful at times. So far, it hasn't: I had hoped the swords would not attack spears in the jungle, but they did.

Maybe you should let the aztecs build that cityToo late, the settler was already captured. I preferred the free workers. Besides, that settler pair would probably not have settled there because it was too crowded in the AI's mind. They would have tried to travel all across my territory instead.

In other words, this is a note to self: cover the Leipzig wheat FP before going into the next IT (French horse can block it).

The Mongols start Leo's, so they have invention. No real use continuing the research then.

Turn 106 - 430BC
Found Brandenburg, start worker. We get invention from the Mongols and Arabs.

Turn 107 - 410BC
We lose 2 units on defense. Theology comes in.

Turn 108 - 390BC
The Mongols start Knights Templar, so chivalry is on its way :).

Turn 109 - 370BC
With that said, there couldn't be a better time for this:

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/8362/mump6mglnv2.jpg

Chivalry does come in during the very next IT.

Turn 110 - 350BC
I upgrade 3 horses in München to fill the army next turn, and 3 more just because I can. I move a lot of units forward to establish a new base of defense in the middle of the München woods. Our worker crew of three is roading forward, and everything should be timed nicely to destroy Darhan, get to roads finished and found a new town all at about the same moment.

The Hittites finish Sun Tzu's in Hattusha.

Turn 111 - 330BC
Our knight army moves out, and sees more lush lands for us to occupy:

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/4215/mump6spicesti3.jpg

It also spots the opposition we'll face the coming turns: 5 MDIs, 4 LBs, 1 swordsman, 6 horsemen, 2 archers, 2 pikes, 2 spearmen, and 3 warriors.

Turn 112 - 310BC
Found Essen to fill out our peninsula to the north. I lose an MDI and a knight trying to dislodge a stack of Mongol MDIs in the jungle. I'll have to reestablish some better defense there fast.

Only on the IT, the majority of the Mongols turns around, even though there is no full blockage. 2 LBs and an MDI die on a pike, promoting it to elite.

Turn 113 - 290BC
The knight army kills 2 spears and:

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/4695/mump6darhanoq1.jpg

Turn 114 - 270BC
Education is known by both Mongols and Arabs, so I switch 4 towns to libraries.

We kill 3 units on defense and lose 2.

Turn 115 - 250BC
An Egyptian galley has appeared near Stuttgart:

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/5449/mump6egyptiansit0.jpg

I lose two vMDIs on a horse and an archer :eek:. Luckily, on the IT our settler defenders are able to hold on, but only barely.

Turn 117 - 210BC
Found Düsseldorf, start walls. We are extremely light on units: 7 knights and 1 MDI just aren't going to cut it. We lose another unit on defense. And it gets even worse:

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/2418/mump6templarfq3.jpg

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/7969/mump6leospi0.jpg

Turn 118 - 190BC
I make a slight mistake while reinforcing our forward stack in the jungle, leaving an opening for several horses to reach Heidelburg. They attack the weaker forces there. But instead of killing our knight and swordsman defenders, they give us this:

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/6649/mump6secondmglpm3.jpg

Turn 119 - 170BC
The fresh army goes to cover the worker in the jungle. The Russians complete the Sistine Chapel in Rostov.

Turn 120 - 150BC
Move a lot of units towards Heibelburg in anticipation of the large stacks arriving there.

A picture of the front:

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/9752/mump6150bcfrontai3.jpg

An overview of our extremely meager military forces:

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/6686/mump6150bcmilitarysq2.jpg

Despite the two leaders, things aren't looking very good. I am desperately short on units. The stacks that are arriving right now have weak attackers in them, so I'll play defense for a while, trying to build up forces again.

So far, I haven't had to stall my expansion for lack of military, but that will change in the turns ahead. I hope that won't cost me the game. Libraries have been built in most core towns, so I can get back to units. I'll probably halt Berlin's settler output for a while, while I build a university and probably a marketplace too. But I'll need two or three more settlers first to grab my FP spot and those spices.

Switching to monarchy will be the next challenge. I had hoped I could do that shortly after getting the Great Library, but I just didn't have enough units to get through the anarchy. As you can see from the last picture above, I'm well below unit support. There are a few towns that can grow to size 7 relatively fast. So the economic side isn't an issue, it's just that I can't afford to halt production for an indeterminate number of turns right now.

All in all, I'm not too optimistic right now. I've had some very bad luck with combat outcomes recently; that will definitely have to change, or this game will be over fast. If I can hold on for the next 20 turns or so, I may be back in business. Fingers crossed.

Well, it's been a long time since I last played this game, but as soon as I open it up, I remember what a tight spot I'm in. I consider the possibilities with the army at Düsseldorf: I can move to attack a town next turn, or I can use it for defense. In general one needs to expand all the time in AW to have a fighting chance, so my preference goes toward attacking Almarikh. However, I really have very few units available, either to attack or to defend. There will be little use in razing Almarikh if we're going to lose our own towns. I have 3 pikes in the vicinity, which isn't nearly enough. I do have some spearmen, but I'll need to upgrade those first, and then get them into position. The offensive will have to wait just a bit.

Turn 120 - 150BC
I rush the barracks in Heidelburg. I use the army to kill the 4hp eMDI on our FP hill.

IT
With the shift in our defenses, and the army gone near Düsseldorf, the Mongol troops decide to turn around.

Turn 121 - 130BC
Upgrade a few spears and move around units. Roading crews are moving forward, as is our FP settler. Just 1 attack this turn.

IT
Lots of units move towards Düsseldorf, mostly Mongol.

Turn 122 - 110BC
There are 7 French rHorses next to Düsseldorf, and 1 vKeshik. We have a pike and spear inside. We do have 2 extra pikes nearby, and a few MDIs that can attack, as well as 5 trebs. With the armies nearby, I have the flexibility I wanted. MDIs and a knight kill 2 horses and retreat 2. Armies kill 4 Mongol attackers in the future-FP-town forest.

IT
The Mongols start splitting their forces! They are still a bit away from us, so for now this is a good thing. I'll be able to pick and choose more battles. Our forces are also slowly growing, so an advance should be possible in the future. The Egyptians land an LB near Frankfurt.

Turn 123 - 90BC
Found Verbotene Stadt, start walls. There are a lot of Mongol troops around, but now our own situation isn't too bad either:

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/1977/mump6mongolmassesao4.jpg

We have 3MDIs, 2 swordsmen and a wounded knight... And a couple of armies. :)

Trebs go 4/6, and I start by killing that spear furthest up north. Armies and a sword thin out the stack in the forest until one 3/4hp LB remains.

IT
The wounded LB attacks our roading crew on the IT, but dies on our vPike. Things are definitely looking up now.

Turn 124 - 70BC
Things are much more quiet now. I don't think I attacked this turn, just shifting units.

IT
We lose a pike in Düsseldorf. The problem is that Keshiks can move in across the mountains. I'll see if I can block them. The western Mongol stack moves past Heidelburg. The Mongols start Copernicus'. And their first crusader shows up.

Turn 125 - 50BC
Gain 2 elite MDIs cleaning up units around Düsseldorf. I don't have nearly enough artillery near Heidelburg though, so I still can't move an army out.

Turn 126 - 30BC
I redline and kill the crusader, and take position on one more mountain at Düsseldorf. I also decimate the stacks on the flat land near Heidelburg. As soon as the roading crews are ready, I'll be able to finally move on Almarikh. I'm using the opportunity to take Berlin off settler duty and produce our first university. There are no attacks during the following IT, but there are a lot of units around again.

Turn 127 - 10BC
18 healthy French horses can reach Verbotene Stadt on the IT. I kill some of them, and hope for the best. There's still an army in there, so they should move past it.

IT
It turns out they do. The French aren't really a factor, and I'd actually rather have them attack for a higher efficiency. Unfortunately, the Mongols get in the way of such a plan. They no longer attack Düsseldorf, but are amassing a lot of strong units there now. Flexibility just went down again. I'll have to keep the armies tied up on defensive duty.

Turn 128 - 10AD
I need some leaders now. Knight count is up to 11, and I have 4 MDIs, and more units are being built of course. I move the army from Heidelburg into Düsseldorf. I expect to see some Mongol dancing again. The army in Verbotene Stadt is injured slightly, but there are only 8 horses left, and they're all injured too.

IT
The Mongols land a spearman near Frankfurt, and move towards München in force. That puts them on better land for me to attack, and because of the forests between München and the other frontline towns, it also means I can reduce defense there. But Düsseldorf and Verbotene Stadt still require armies in place.

Turn 129 - 30AD
At the start of the turn, this is the stack I have to deal with:

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/7213/mump6mongoldusseldorfbauh8.jpg

Luckily, there aren't many other units around, and we have plenty of trebs available. In the end, two 3/4 Keshiks remain, and the 3 LBs. We incur no losses, but our units and armies are still severely injured.

IT
We kill 2 units on defense, and are lucky that there aren't more attacks. It's strange sometimes how the AI decides to attack against the odds in isolated cases, but then doesn't press on.

Turn 130 - 50AD
This turn, I'm just killing units that can strike next IT. Other troops aren't used, not for lack of targets, but because some healing is required. The last turns saw some attacks with injured units. I've been lucky it hasn't turned out too bad (yet).

That concludes a long overdue session. A view of the current status at the front:

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/2023/mump650adfrontws7.jpg

And the military stats:

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/9465/mump650admilitarycu8.jpg

As you can see, the situation still isn't very good, but it's slowly improving. The horsemen are elites that I want to promote before upgrading. Besides, I don't have the funds to upgrade right now. One of them is in the north to handle landings, but I'll try to replace him with a knight when the situation allows. Or rather, I'll try to add a knight or two, because landings are bound to become stronger.

The single settler on hand is waiting in Düsseldorf. I'm hoping to free up an army very soon now to expand again. I've also taken a look at Mongol city names, and I notice that Almarikh is their fourth town. That would put our front very close to their core. If that is true, it may be an especially good idea to start in their direction as soon as possible.

There are five cities building knights right now, yielding an average output of 0.57 knights per turn. I may take Berlin off settler duty if Heidelburg can produce enough. In that case, I expect to obtain 0.76 knights per turn. I'm producing only 0.1 pikes per turn in two cities. For now, I do have enough defenders though. Eight cities are producing 0.4 trebuchets per turn, which is sufficient for now, and that number should increase drastically very soon. When the FP comes in, I expect to have better numbers on troops as well.

I see I forgot to put a research update in the pictures: Gunpowder will come in in 4 turns at +4gpt and with 17g in the kitty. I'm beelining to cavalry of course.

Ah, now this is a good read and well illustrated to boot.

Keep up the good work.

Those stacks look pretty mighty! :eek:

Mump, what part of Belgium are you from?

The stacks in 50 AD (last picture) aren't as mighty as the stacks I saw earlier. I think the military situation is under control for now. Also, I haven't seen a single Egyptian or Arab unit for ages, and only a few Aztecs. The Mongols and French are the only real adversaries right now, and the French still have no iron. I haven't checked the tech situation in a while, but no-one seems to have gunpowder. As long as the French don't get musketeers, I should be able to play defense against them while going for the Mongols. We still haven't met the Hittites and the Russians.

I played five more turns yesterday. I'll try to post the continuation of this story tonight. I wonder if I should give you, my dear audience, a little teaser...
There will be no "(part IV)" in next chapter's title. Maybe not the kind of teaser you expected, but it does say something. Whether that something is good or bad will remain a mystery until tonight at least. :)And finally, some irrelevant information for the curious among you: I'm from Flanders, the northern, Dutch speaking part of Belgium.

Turn 130 - 50AD
I fix some MM, thereby already increasing treb production.

IT
15 French horsemen move into our territory, all on forests. One non-essential road gets pillaged by the Mongols. Retreat one Keshik at Verbotene Stadt.

Turn 131 - 70AD
We kill a bunch of horses and all Mongol units near München. We have a wounded army again though.

IT
We do very well at Düsseldorf, where pikes retreat a Keshik and defend against an LB and a crusader. The Egyptians start Bach's.

Turn 132 - 90AD
While killing one of the many French horses, I finally get lucky again:

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/1559/mump6mgl3dm3.jpg

Hengest forms an army, which is filled immediately to kill 2 more horses and still be in position to attack Almarikh next turn. Another army moves onto Almarikh now, killing another unit along the way.

We're suddenly above unit support, not bad :). Furthermore, there are only 2 healthy strong attackers (Mongol LBs), and 5 French horses in range.

IT
A stack of weak Aztec units approaches, and ... the French attack the Aztecs!

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/4571/mump6pentamessagebg2.jpg

Our first university finishes in Berlin, and Verbotene Stadt finishes its walls.

Turn 133 - 110AD
One army kills 3 pikes in Almarikh, a second army kills another. There are units healing there though, so the city holds. This will be a tough nut to crack.

I am able to shift some trebs forward to the Düsseldorf Mountain nearest to Almarikh, and kill 2 Keshiks with the third army.

Because of that, the tactical situation improves a lot, and I take a chance. I use a 2hp eKnight to kill a redlined LB, and:

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/4201/mump6pentagonmglpr4.jpg

He rushes the Pentagon in Düsseldorf.

I have 6 trebs to spare, that move next to Almarikh to aid in next turn's attack.

IT
A knight defends against an unexpected attack by a wounded LB and promotes. Gunpowder is in, Chemistry is due in 23 turns.

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/4929/mump6pentagonci4.jpg

Turn 134 - 130AD
Trebuchets do well at Almarikh, but there are just too many defenders inside to take it this turn. I let all the armies heal. The additional units I put in place last turn just kill of units that are returning to Almarikh.

I then turn my attention to clearing more of those French horses, and my luck really has turned:

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/5271/mump6fpmgllp6.jpg

Rommel rushes the Forbidden Palace in Verbotene Stadt.

The promised land:

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/9562/mump6promisedlandkh0.jpg

IT
We retreat a Keshik at Düsseldorf.

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/9532/mump6fphl2.jpg

Turn 135 - 150AD
First I clear this turn's batch of French horses. The influx of those will slow a bit since I saw a nice even exchange between the French and the Aztecs during the IT. With all our armies, we are a bit short on units again.

Bombardment reveals 3 pikes in Almarikh, and there must be at least a couple of healing units still there. Since I have two armies there, I decide to press on this time.

The battle for Almarikh

The first army, that still has only three units in it, is at 11/13 hitpoints and attacks a fortified 3hp veteran pike. A defensive treb shot hits, but the pike does no further damage, so the army is still at 10 hitpoints. An unfortified 3hp veteran pike is next. A defensive LB shot does no damage, but the pike itself defends better this time, and takes off 3 more hitpoints. The army is at 7/13 hitpoints now, with one movement point left. A fortified 2hp regular pike is defending now. I take a chance and go again. Both a defensive LB shot hit, and the pike does well. The army ends up with only 4 hitpoints left, but the third pike is gone.

The second army has only 7 hitpoints to start with, and there are 6 Keshiks and a crusader visible nearby, that could attack in the coming turns. So I think I'll have to call off the attack. I do decide to "take another look" by attacking with a 3hp *MDI. That attack shows yet another LB with a defensive volley, but another pikeman does bite the dust. The next unit showing is a 2hp regular LB. A 4hp elite sword takes care of that one, and there is no more defensive shot. That means there are at most 2 LBs left in there.

The army should be able to handle that. The first LB takes off 1 hitpoint of our army, the second one does no damage, and:

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/1298/mump6almarikhyg0.jpg

I found Karlsruhe on the hills near the Almarikh ruins. It's in a very good defensive spot, with jungle or mountains on all adjacent tiles except one, and a river nearby. The 6hp army will do defense for the first turn.

I finish by using the third army until it goes down to 4hp, but it does kill 3 Keshiks.

Here's another picture of the situation at the front. It should be pretty self-explanatory.
I've provided details for every stack, the stats for loose units can be read from the hitpoint bars.

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/7581/mump6150adfrontrj7.jpg

As you can see, the red dots and exploration area aren't in the same place as my planned attack.
That could be a problem. I'll have to think that over before continuing.

Our military again:

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/2756/mump6150admilitaryke3.jpg

And an annotated snapshot of the economy, with the strongest producers:

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/922/mump6150adcitieszg7.jpg

Not all towns are in their standard configuration, due to a chop finishing soon. I put the "standard" figures in as well. "(CH)" means I'm building a courthouse there, which should help of course. Berlin will finish a settler next IT, but I'm getting close to putting it on military, and peeling off settlers elsewhere. As soon as happiness in Heidelburg becomes manageable (I poprushed a lot there), I'll shift main settler production to there. Stuttgart will finish its barracks on the IT, and will also start producing knights. It can do 5spt at the current size, and will grow soon into even more shields.

I've played 15 turns since I posted that things weren't looking good, and I gave myself 20 turns to fix that. Our military is still very light considering. Any big landing up north would be problematic, and we lack MPs in a few places. But the situation is markedly better now. I've taken down the first enemy town, and was able to replace it immediately. A third luxury resource is within my grasp. Towns are growing steadily. The FP has been built, and production is up due to that. So things are looking better indeed.

I'll try to squeeze in some more infrastructure if possible. As soon as the spices are under control and the combat situation allows, I'll revolt to monarchy. I'm hoping the front can be controlled with one army, which would allow the other two to make a dent in the Mongol core. That'll have to wait a few turns though, because I haven't even filled all the armies yet.

hmm... deity ill be following this story til the end! ive seen an Iroquois sid archipelago once,that was really good, so i expect this is gonna be fun =D

Subscribed!

Some bit of luck with the leaders!! If you get another leader will the military academy be on the cards?

Subscribed!

Some bit of luck with the leaders!! If you get another leader will the military academy be on the cards?
u only need 1 army and military tradition to build military academy

I did get lucky with all those leaders for a moment there, but then again, it had been a long time since I got my first. I haven't counted the number of elite victories, but I've had a lot of those of course.

Like CivRulesAll said, I don't have MT yet, so no academy yet. The next leader will become an army for sure. The one after that will probably rush the Heroic Epic (which I still haven't built), unless I've succeeded in taking out several more enemy towns. If that's the case, I'll take a town off troops and hand-build the HE, and the leader will become another army for higher conquering speed. I don't think the situation will feel sufficiently comfortable to do that though.

I didn't expect to get back to this game so soon, but I just had to continue with the next turns, given that some serious attacks on the enemy are finally coming. You know the feeling. ;)

But it will be hard for a little while. Like I sketched in the comments with the last overview picture, I'd like to settle the next towns to the south, which is in the path of French, but away from the much stronger Mongols. On the other hand, as far as military strategy goes, the reasons for going after the Mongols are compelling: they are stronger, and we are probably very close to their core, where there are some nice prizes to be had (Knights Templar, Leonardo's Workshop).

The dichotomy is unfortunate, but I decide I'll have to live with it. There's no use in expanding very slowly in the jungle and playing defense only. The time has come to attack.

Turn 136 - 170AD
We have contact with the Hittites, probably via PP-contact, because I can't see any units:

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/7042/mump6hittitesdf5.jpg

With all the trebs near Düsseldorf, I succeed in pinging most units. I only kill one though, and let the other troops heal.

IT
French and Mongol boats approaching in the south.

Turn 137 - 190AD
There's an archer and a horse in the Verbotene Stadt forest. The archer is killed by an elite knight. I don't have many units to spare, so I take a 4hp elite swordsman from Karlsruhe mountain. It gets hit by a ZoC shot from one of the Keshiks outside Düsseldorf. A redlined horse still shouldn't be a problem, so I attack anyway, and I'm glad I did:

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/7595/mump6mgl4mr3.jpg

Barbarossa forms our fourth army. I have to use another army to kill those Keshiks near Düsseldorf, because our trebs perform poorly. They would have threatened our roading crew.

I load a third army with a fourth knight, and move it out, killing an Aztec swordsman along the way. This is what it reveals:

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/3510/mump6foundtatuqc0.jpg

I already pillaged the road where the army is, and I'll pillage the other marked roads as well, during this turn and the next. It is very strange to see so little of the lands improved there.

IT
An Arab caravel approaches from the north. We may see some landings soon. The Mongol and French galleys from the south continue northbound.

Turn 138 - 210AD
Our lands are almost clear of enemy units. I leave the French and Aztecs alone because they will go after each other. I move a second army towards Ta-Tu and kill a pike there.

IT
:eek: The Aztecs attack the French as expected, but the French attack us. They lose all the units in their stack of about 5 or 6, on the 3-unit army in Karlsruhe. The Mongols land a lone LB at Frankfurt, no problem there.

Turn 139 - 230AD
Kill another pike in Ta-Tu, but it takes a lot out of the army. Since it came from the other side, I have to waste all the movement of the second army there to cover it. All roads to Ta-Tu have been cut though.

I move a new settler towards its spot. It's just the French there, so I can cover with pikes and a knight. Roading crews are small, but larger ones are forming. There are some roads already in place too. Verbotene Stadt's borders have expanded, so one roaded hill is under our control now.

Here's the situation on the western side of the front:
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/3854/mump6230adwestap1.jpg

Here's the situation on the eastern side of the front:
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/3069/mump6230adeastus4.jpg

I noticed I haven't posted a picture of the northern lands in a while. Here's an overview at the end of turn 139:

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/4485/mump6230adoverviewrk1.jpg

:goodjob: , careful with the AI landings, although you have some defense there

I have more than enough landing defense, for the current landing area. I'm just afraid of what will happen when I cover one too many of the precious tiles around my big producers, and the landings shift to the north all of a sudden. I stand to lose some towns then. I have 1 knight by Bremen, and that's it. Actually, I'd like some units in the northern towns just to serve as MPs. I'm just way short on troops. You can see in that last picture that I'm building regular pikes in Köln and Hannover, to take up some MP duty. But there's nothing I can do right now. I just have to hold on a few more turns and produce more units, all the while hoping there aren't any landings in the north.

I have been contemplating what to do next, and the priority should be to become a monarchy. During the last five turns, research time on chemistry has gone from 20 turns to 20 turns. Not good. I'm hoping monarchy will allow faster research. I'll need the spices hooked up, so that will be the next step.

IT
The French unload an archer and two horsemen by Berlin. They are still at war with the Aztecs luckily; I see some attacks again.

Turn 140 - 250AD
I start by killing off the French landing party without much problems. At the front, trebs perform ok, so there aren't many units I have to kill really. The Aztec stacks are in the jungle, so I'll just whittle those down before decimating them. I can attack two French horses on flat land, and the second kill gives me:

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/2817/mump6comfortableknightsq8.jpg

I don't have nearly enough knights to fill another army, so Richtofen will rush the Heroic Epic next turn, in Verbotene Stadt (our citizens will finish building a barracks there next IT).

IT
We are attacked by a few Aztecs at Karlsruhe, but they do little damage.

Turn 141 - 260AD
I have so few units, I'd rather not attack too much. However, I want to move my current settler forward, so I have to kill some Mongol LB that advanced to Verbotene Stadt. The only unit that can reach it is an elite horseman, and well, you can guess what happens when he wins:

http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/9179/mump6reachinghorseag3.jpg

The leader creates an army that will sit empty for a while.

The units in Düsseldorf retreat some Keshiks, that are then finished off by the army in Karlsruhe. I move units and settler forward to the empty hills. I also move the western army forward, with another settler underneath.

IT
Only exchanges between French and Aztecs, mostly in favor of the French (who are really blessed with good RNG).

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/8057/mump6heiy6.jpg

Turn 142 - 270AD
Augsburg is founded in the middle of more jungle, cutting off some French supply lines.

IT
The Arabs and the French each land a unit by Berlin. The French start Bach's. A pikeman covering a roading crew near Heidelburg defends against a Mongol LB.

Turn 143 - 280AD
Here's another tactical nightmare, especially with my inferior numbers. I'm afraid to take the army out of Karlsruhe, because the Aztecs might do some damage.

http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/4144/mump6280adproblemzi3.jpg

I go ahead with the plan outlined in the picture (sorry about the poor quality of the blue texts). We lose an eMDI on the crusader, and a vKnight on the landed French spearman. A regular spearman has to finish him off (he was on a jungle tile too).

To make things right again: knight army kills vPike, rPike and vSpear; second knight army kills redlined Keshik, and:

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/5734/mump6tatufu3.jpg

Capture 3 trebs and 5 slaves. The money our troops plundered allows me to turn up research again.

IT
We fend off three attacks, but also lose one battle. We gain an elite Pike.

Turn 144 - 290AD
Our 3-knight army kills 2 spearmen in Lisht. An LB remains and if I attack I won't be able to defend our own settler, so I hold off.

Turn 145 - 300AD
Spices are hooked up.

Our army kills 3 more units in Lisht, and:

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/9816/mump6lishtsb2.jpg

I found Freiburg in its stead, and start walls of course. I'll probably revolt next turn, after our next knight is produced. I'll have 5 knights not in armies then, and I can upgrade a *Horseman too. That should get me through the anarchy. :lol:

IT
How rude, they didn't even come to say hello:

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/1196/mump6russiansxq0.jpg

Turn 146 - 310AD

Now that we know everyone, let's see what our military advisors can teach us about the inter-AI diplomatic relationships. The following picture is based on the records on unit captures on the F3 screen. Some workers may have changed hands peacefully, so this isn't conclusive, but these wars have probably been going on:

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/5686/mump6diplomatskw3.jpg

The Aztec-French war has been confirmed, and is still raging. All this is probably the reason why I'm still alive.

I pull the trigger:

http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/8310/mump6anarchyom1.jpg

IT
We hold on to our army in Freiburg by 1 hitpoint! The Russians start Bach's.

Turn 147 - 320AD
At the end of this turn, there is only a single enemy unit within our territory. It's been ages since our lands were this safe. Still, that one unit could do some damage. Trebuchets are on their way to help out starting next turn.

IT
The damned French longbow kills our pike in Freiburg. :(

Turn 148 - 330AD
Our fallen comrade is avenged by an elite knight. We get a university in Leipzig:

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/6424/mump6mgl5go0.jpg

IT
This time we defeat an LB at Augsburg.

Turn 149 - 340AD
Augsburg is garrisoned with an army now. The empty army that we still had is getting filled now. We have 3 free knights left, two of them in our core to handle landings.

IT
The first musketeer shows up.

Turn 150 - 350AD
Somehow, this game is getting easier. I can actually move an army forward towards the Mongols again. 3 turns of anarchy to go.

IT
It would appear the landing spot has shifted, because lots of boats are now sailing around towards the München area.

Turn 151 - 360AD
Oh, look what I've found:

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/7485/mump6foundkarakorummw7.jpg

IT
An Aztec swordsman lands by empty Leipzig.

Turn 152 - 370AD
Just killing units and pillaging around Karakorum.

IT
http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/9366/mump6monarchylz4.jpg

Turn 153 - 380AD
The first thing I ordain as a monarch is to rush walls in Augsburg.

There are currently 10 units in my territory, some wounded. I'm using three armies for defense right now, but I should be able to reduce that to two when I get some more roads up. That'll give me three armies to play with at Karakorum.

Some more great news: if one goes three tiles east from Karakorum, you see the ocean. I'm seeing an 8-tile front line right now. Aztecs are coming from the north, all other civs except the French are coming by boat. So I may be able to isolate a big chunk of land all for myself.

is it possible we could get a map?

Hey Mumpulus :wavey:

I'm probably retired from civ at least for a long time, but I just had to say that this game here is out the control. Good luck! I'll be watching (as you may have noticed, I do lurk the SG forum from time to time).

is it possible we could get a map?

I duly apologize for the lack of a map. I really wanted to post one, but I decided instead to go with the verbal description in the last paragraph in the post above.

Allow me to explain.

I wanted to play just a couple of turns yesterday, to round up the turns that I had played the day before and also a few I played a week ago, and get right up to the turn where I would revolt. I then put my report together, and that was supposed to be that. I finished around 9pm. I had played only two turns, as planned. I hadn't planned on playing any more turns beyond that.

But then I suddenly succumbed to this strange and complex disease called "One More Turn (TM) syndrome": I got this irresistible urge to get these anarchy turns out of the way. I just had to find out if those turns would mean the end of this game. And I thought, hey, there's not as much need for micromanagement during anarchy, so these turns will be fast. And after all, it was only 9:00pm, what else was I going to do? Anyway, you know how these things go, right?

But then everything just went horribly wrong. First off, I got contact with the Russians. Now, I had already seen on the F3 screen that there were other wars going on. I had resolved, some time ago, to make that picture showing the AI wars as soon as all contacts were in. So I just had to make that picture. That makes it 9:30pm.

I don't remember exactly what I did after that, but I see from the timestamp on my picture files that it took me another half hour to create the revolution picture. I probably spent some time looking over things to determine if there were other tidbits of information worth dispensing to my audience. And I must also have pondered for a few more minutes whether or not I really felt ready to go into anarchy.

Then came the micromanagement for anarchy, where I had to shuffle quite a few tiles to keep cities from starving. By the way, I didn't mention this before, but Nürnberg lost some population (one pop unit to be exact) due to the reduced productivity. Add another 20 minutes before the Anarchistic Knight shows up. Also, clearing all those enemy units with so few of our own units available requires some planning, especially with troop depletion being more of an issue during a period of seven turns without replacements.

During the next few turns, 340AD to 360AD, I started using the armies to attack more. That takes more planning, because you don't want to end up with an army out of place. You can also see that during those turns, enemy target count decreased ("this game is getting easier"). One consequence of that was some unused trebuchets. Well now, in my log I don't describe this in detail, but that requires even more planning. Firing a trebuchet is done quickly: find the strongest defender covering attackers that can attack, point, press 'B' and click. But moving a trebuchet is an entirely different beast: you have to estimate how the enemy will move, then based on that estimate determine where the dangerous attacker stacks will be and whether or not they'll be sufficiently well defended to warrant the use of artillery. Actually, in this case I looked two turns ahead, to decide if I could send out an army (which I did in the end).

With all that, it is 11:08pm by the time I have found Karakorum and made a picture to share my joy.

Let's say it took 15 minutes per turn on average to play those quick anarchy turns. Plus some overhead to create the pictures and log. At 11:30pm I finish actual play. So now I'm angry with myself because in reality I knew up front that anarchy turns don't play fast if I'm the one playing them. No turns play fast in AW. But anyway, I've played those turns so I might as well post about them too, right? Surely, some folks on CFC must be curious if I got through the anarchy in one piece, right?

Putting the log together and uploading the pictures to a fairly unresponsive imageshack site takes another thirty to forty minutes. Actually debating with myself if I'm going to make a screenshot of the Mongol lands takes a few minutes as well.

In the end, it's 0:20am, and I decide against posting a map. I just put in the quick note, and decide to make a picture before I start the next sitting.

Ah, don't you all love that nice feeling you get when you've played civ for too long, even when you swore not to fall into that trap again?

Anyway, before I forget: you'll find a map, with directions, in my very next post.

http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/8475/mump6380adplanoc0.jpg

The current state of the German military. Numbers between parentheses show the number of elites per unit type. I'm paying 45gpt upkeep right now. Four towns will become cities soon (8pgt). I'll also try to settle some of those red dots soon.

http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/1444/mump6380admilitaryas6.jpg

An assessment of our strength by our military advisor:

http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/4492/mump6380adenemieswf3.jpg

Berlin, our Kingdom's capital city, was founded in 3950BC. It is only in recent times that it began to fully develop into a true city. Before that, it had been the main center of efforts towards our nation's territorial expansion.

Berlin will finish a marketplace in 2 turns, a barracks after that in 2 more turns, then 5 turn knights. It already has a granary, library and university.

At +14spt, it will have +4fpt, with no problems to do +8fpt every fourth turn for growth in 4 turns. With the granary there, I'll often peel off a settler.

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/1337/mump6380adberlinld2.jpg

Leipzig is our second city, founded in 3100BC. It has always been the most versatile city, both strong in production and commerce, while also providing settlers and workers at times.

Leipzig is just getting started on a fresh Knight. Leipzig really does 12spt after corruption, except on this first turn of the cycle for extra growth. You can see a free mined plains tile that will be used for that. For this turn only, I keep it free for München to pick up upon growth next IT. Leipzig does 6 turn knights for now. Once it reaches size 8, it will be able to do 5 turn knights.

Leipzig has a barracks, library and university.

http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/809/mump6380adleipzigwm1.jpg

Founded in 2710BC, Hamburg is the largest city in the Kingdom in terms of population. The population was grown this large to construct the Great Library, to which it is home. Hamburg has a regular library as well, and barracks.

At 14spt after corruption, it has been our best knight producer for a long time. Right now, it is running at 13spt only and there is a slight food deficit. This is to allow Berlin to grow faster. I'll invest some gold to get the extra shields required to still finish the current knight within the regular 5 turn schedule. Once Berlin has grown, Hamburg will get the floodplains with wheat back.

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/2620/mump6380adhamburgim1.jpg

Konigsberg was the fourth city we founded, in 2310BC. It will become a true city in two turns, when it grows to size 7. It is building 10 turn knights now, going towards 9 turns after growth. This city is slightly hampered right now because of the lack of improved tiles, both in its own radius, and because other towns (Köln and Nürnberg) are using some tiles for lack of better alternatives. We have six workers in the vicinity, working hard to remedy that.

Konigsberg has a library and barracks.

http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/4540/mump6380adkonigsbergmw5.jpg

Frankfurt was founded in 1990BC to become a shield powerhouse. With furs underneath, the center city tile produces an extra shield. There's an additional bonus grassland currently used by Bremen, to the north. Frankfurt is building 6 turn knights for now. I'll try to schedule the construction of an aqueduct as soon as possible. Once the aqueduct is completed, a grassland tile will be irrigated to bring the northern mountain into play.

Frankfurt has a courthouse, library and barracks.

http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/2712/mump6380adfrankfurtpg3.jpg

Central Cities

The central cities lie between Berlin to the west and Verbotene Stadt to the east.

München - founded 1625BC
Heidelburg - founded 1275BC
Nürnberg - founded 1150BC
Stuttgart - founded 800BC

Except Stuttgart, they were founded very early for very specific reasons: to acquire iron, to acquire silks and to serve as a gateway to the north.

München has always been a very small town. Its growth was hampered early on, not only by incessant incursions by enemy troops, but also by conscious choice to emphasize production. München is our most important pikeman producer. It is well behind our lines now, so it should start to see some improvement soon, when our workers are done around Konigsberg.

Heidelburg is our fastest growing city. It will reach size 7 next turn. It has a granary and will produce the many settlers we'll need in the near future. There are still 6 jungle tiles surrounding Heidelburg. Our second worker crew is focusing on clearing some of that jungle soon.

Nürnberg has a nice mix of surrounding lands, with excellent commerce and production. It is unfortunate that it lost some population during the anarchy. It will grow back to size 7 in 6 turns. There is a mountain being mined, which should allow some decent production. Knight production is on a 10 turn cycle for now, but it should be possible to get that down to 8 turns without a courthouse.

North-Central

Three towns just to the north of our core are about 50% corrupt, but are still becoming very good producers because of the ample bonus grasslands available.

Köln - founded 1075BC
Hannover - founded 900BC
Bremen - founded 850BC

Köln and Hannover will require an aqueduct at some point in the near future. They are both finishing barracks now, to aid in knight production. They are currently at 5spt, but that will improve a bit to 6 or 7spt, so together they should be able to help a lot.

Bremen is constructing a courthouse. It is size 5 only and growing slowly. It is on a river however, so I'll probably increase its rate of growth or possibly merge a worker.

The Northern Coast

Bonn - founded 670BC
Salzburg - founded 530BC
Dortmund - founded 510BC
Brandenburg - founded 430BC
Essen - founded 310BC

These towns, all along the northern coast, are producing only 1 to 2spt. They're our trebuchet producers. Via Bremen, it will be possible to easily bring irrigation to three of them, and turn them into science farms.

Verbotene Stadt Ring

Four relatively new towns are placed in a perfect CxxC pattern around our Forbidden Palace town, Verbotene Stadt.

Düsseldorf - founded 210BC
Verbotene Stadt - founded 90BC
Karlsruhe - founded 150AD
Augsburg - founded 270AD
Freiburg - founded 300AD

These five towns have one thing in common: jungle, lots of jungle. It will take a while to clear all that, and to get these towns off the front, but once that's done, they'll form a powerful new source of both commerce and production. Three of these towns are on a river too.

Back in 50 AD, I made a summary of military production output. Let me do that again, about 25 turns later. Numbers between parentheses indicate previous values.

There are 8 cities (5) building knights, yielding an average output of 1.11 knights per turn (0.57). There are 3 cities (2) building pikes, yielding an average output of 0.49 pikes per turn (0.10). There are 5 cities (8) building trebuchets, yielding an average output of 0.27 trebuchets per turn (0.40).

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/1046/mump6380adpoweruh1.jpg

We need more power!

IT
The Arabs land a spear by Berlin. Luckily, the Egyptians contact us after that, so I can fix tile assignment. The French pillage a road near Karlsruhe.

Turn 154 - 390AD
The Mongols experience a sudden deterioration in their trading capabilities. :D

My leader luck continues. The "Reaching Horseman" that gave us Hengest in 260AD was upgraded to a knight, and now yields another leader:

http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/8318/mump6reachingknightbq9.jpg

We're still at the army limit, so he rushes a marketplace in Leipzig. A big round of tile reassignments results from that.

IT
The French land a horseman and a longbowman in the forest between Frankfurt and Bremen, a new landing spot.

Turn 155 - 400AD
The Russians will talk now, which allows me to get an overview on the tech situation:

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/300/mump6400adtechsuo3.jpg

As you can see, chemistry is more widely known now, which allows me to lower research to 20% and hire some tax collectors instead of scientists for a long awaited cash injection.

I move out two more armies towards Karakorum. I spot a French settler pair approaching, I'll keep an eye on it and try to take slaves.

IT
Enemy troop movement is really well under German control now. I should have no problems to defend with the two armies that stayed home. I'm also pinging galleys in the north, and the ones I damaged turn around as expected. The French settler pair turns around too.

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/9665/mump6chemistryzu6.jpg

The Mongols and Egyptians are the only ones with metallurgy.

Turn 156 - 410AD
The actual ETA on metallurgy is 24 turns right now. That is at 40% science and at -7gpt, with 39 gold in the treasury. In a few turns, I'm hoping to get another cash injection, but not from our own economy this time. The Mongols have a lot of money lying around, just waiting for us to pick up.

The first pikeman in Karakorum dies.

IT
The Hittites start Smith's Trading Company. The Mongols have a whopping 7000 gold now.

Turn 157 - 420AD
First thing's first, let's try to take some of that Mongol gold.

The first battle of Karakorum
14/18 knight army kills 4/4 pikeman, 8/18 hitpoints left
15/17 knight army kills 4/4 pikeman, 13/17 hitpoints left
13/17 knight army kills 4/4 pikeman, 11/17 hitpoints left
11/17 knight army kills 3/3 pikeman, 9/17 hitpoints left
8/18 knight army kills 3/3 pikeman, 8/18 hitpoints left
8/18 knight army kills 3/3 pikeman, 7/18 hitpoints left
19/19 knight army kills 4/4 unfortified spearman, 16/19 hitpoints left

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/81/mump6karakorumto8.jpg

Karakorum still has its barracks, and the Mausoleum of Mausollos and Knights Templar of course. It also has 8 resistors (out of 8 citizens). I put it on wealth, because I don't expect to be able to hold on to it long enough to build a worker.

Metallurgy is due in 13 turns all of a sudden. :mischief:

After this successful attack, I continue to clear out enemy units in our territory, and I am able to move a roading crew of 9 workers forward.

IT
An ePike in the jungle is attacked by an Aztec MDI, but wins. I don't think I have seen an AI attack at these odds before. We immediately get our first crusader.

Turn 158 - 430AD
A most uneventful turn. Just kill a few units, move the army out of Karakorum.

IT
The Mongols attack the Aztecs! And we lose a pike covering a treb stack. Disease strikes Karlsruhe. The French finish Bach's Cathedral in Paris. The Mongols have gone industrial.

Turn 159 - 440AD
We get our trebs back, killing a Keshik in the process. I use them to bomb out a road to increase our security.

IT
We are defeating units on defense now, and the Mongols are still mostly targeting the Aztecs. Excellent.

Heidelburg produces our first settler in a long time.

Turn 160 - 450AD
I have to waste some army hitpoints to kill 4 Aztecs that would capture Karakorum. I'd rather take the Mongol money, thank you.

IT
The Mongols recapture Karakorum. They steal 3 gold. Let's see if we can get that gold back with interest.

Turn 161 - 460AD
Find the differences:

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/8914/mump6karakorumsecondts5.jpg

That last IT was a good investment, with a return of 12900%.

We are up to 29 knights, so I start another round of infrastructure builds: three universities and an aqueduct.

IT
The others fight. :)

Turn 162 - 470AD
Münster is founded on red dot 1.1, and starts on another settler. The French settler pair has reappeared, and promptly dies. One army starts pillaging around Baruun-Urt. The northern front is absolutely quiet, there isn't a single unit threatening or even approaching our towns. The south is more busy, but well under control with the many trebuchets we have there.

IT
Well, well, an Ancient Cavalry (Arab) shows up near Karakorum. The Hittites learn metallurgy, and the Aztecs are also catching up with astronomy. We get our second crusader.

Turn 163 - 480AD
Metallurgy has dropped to 5 turns.

An army kills the ACav, and I empty Karakorum again. It is at size 6 now, so this may be the last time.

IT
The financial loss in Karakorum amounts to 4 gold this time. That brings the Mongols to 8790g in total.

We lose a vPike and an eMDI in the Augsburg jungle. It's about time I stop playing, I'm getting sloppy.

Turn 164 - 490AD
One Keshik and one spearman later, and we hold the prize again:

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/975/mump6karakorumthirdtz9.jpg

That was fun, but now it's time to move on. I'll not give up Karakorum willingly again.

I'm starting to lose units again; those musketeers in the jungle are formidable, even when redlined.

IT
Our palace gets a new lawn. The Egyptians start Shakespeare's Theater. France acquired metallurgy.

Turn 165 - 500AD
Metallurgy has dropped to 2 turns at 70%.

Armies pillage and explore. Trebuchets bomb. Nothing new really.

http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/5195/mump6500adoverviewdr0.jpg

Excellent work fracturing the Mongol empire! That will make regional dominance much easier to attain.

Taking a little break between playing turns has proved to be a good thing more than once in this game. Even though it's been only a couple of days since I played the last turns, I'm beginning to see some things that I missed before. I'll have to rethink my short term game plan a bit before I continue.

Some noteworthy remarks:

The Mongols are about to get rifles. As soon as they went industrial I thought of this, and I wanted to speed up my actions against them. However, I'm about to get cavalry, so rifles won't really be an issue. They aren't going to be fielding cavalry, because they clearly lack saltpeter. And I'll have advance warning if they're going for it, because I can see what is probably their only saltpeter source. The Mongols are a good target to get some money, and I should certainly raze the cities that put Karakorum under cultural pressure. But especially with their new war against the Aztecs, they really shouldn't be the main target.
Like us, the French are about to learn Military Tradition. They are fielding musketeers and they have had horsemen in the past, hence they will be able to produce cavalry. They should be the main target for now.
I've been pillaging around Mongol cities to keep them from reinforcing, but also to keep them from building pikemen. With Karakorum safe now from out-of-the-fog Keshik attacks, I'll stop doing that, and just pillage their visible iron source. If that source is their only one, I should be able to still get some quick city razings before they can train too many riflemen. My pillaging efforts should shift towards the French. I was thinking of going for Hovd next, but instead the army I have between Hovd and Dalandzadgad will go looking for the French saltpeter immediately.
We still haven't seen much from the other civs. I'm assuming they're still in a lot of wars among each other. But when those wars end, we might be seeing a lot of new units all of a sudden, and stronger, faster units than we've seen so far too. I'll put every effort into regrouping our forces to be ready when that time comes.

So then, the new game plan:

Two armies will stay in the Karakorum area; I'll try to take out Choybalsan and Baruun-Urt to alleviate cultural pressure, but I'm not going to overextend our troops here.
One army will start pillaging the French.
Two armies will support our settling actions according to the plan I posted earlier, and take out the occasional enemy city.
Preserve our defensive forces and deploy them well. Don't get sloppy again.

You should really try to do something about the -65 gold per turn.

You should really try to do something about the -65 gold per turn.

If I can capture one Mongol city every five turns on average, I will be at about 0gpt net. In other words, the Mongols are funding my research right now :D. At this point, there's little else I can do with additional gold. I do occasionally short-rush stuff when MM gets messed up by enemy units or when two or more cities just can't agree on what tiles to use, but I don't need that much gold for that.

I'll also be founding more towns, to lower unit support costs (at 54gpt now).

I fix some of my own micromanagement before going into the next turn; another benefit of getting some rest in time.

IT
Every single enemy unit seems to be drawn to Karakorum. All in vain, because:

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/5272/mump6karakorumdeposedjz7.jpg

Turn 166 - 510AD
Our crusader and and army attack, and we take Karakorum for the fourth time:

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/5953/mump6karakorumfourthyg5.jpg

Kill a total of 13 units this turn (2 spearmen, 3 musketeers, 8 longbowmen); lose none.

IT

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/6029/mump6metallurgyhq8.jpg

The Mongols and the Egyptians have MT already.

Turn 167 - 520AD
Berlin is at 18spt for 4 turn knights now. Research goes back up to 80% at -87gpt now (still running 20% lux), which makes MT due in 12 turns. Seems like I'll need some more of that Mongol gold. We'll also be finishing some universities in the upcoming turns.

Kill a total of 8 units this turn (1 spearman, 7 longbowmen), lose none.

IT
We get our third crusader and our third palace expansion.

The Egyptians start Newton's University, so they're probably also in the industrial age.

Turn 168 - 530AD
Wiesbaden is founded on red dot 1.2, close to Karakorum. All our towns are on the road network now. We have three more settlers ready to found within three turns at most. Our roading crews have done well to prepare all necessary roads. It'll be a bit tricky to defend them all though.

Our French army (you can see the path it followed, look for tiles without improvements) strikes goldsaltpeter:

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/7043/mump6frenchsaltpetergv7.jpg

Kill a total of 4 units this turn (4 longbowmen), lose none.

Without your leader luck, you couldnt have defeated the mongols, right?

Without your leader luck, you couldnt have defeated the mongols, right?

Hmm, that's an interesting question/statement.

First off, this is Always War Deity, so merely the fact that I'm still alive implies that I've had a lot of luck.

But I don't think that I've been exceptionally lucky with leaders. If I'm counting correctly, I've had 10 so far. It's unfortunate that I didn't count (elite) victories/defeats. The actual fighting has been going on for 88 turns now; the very first combat was on turn 80, and I got my first elite right then. My estimate would be that I've killed somewhere between 5 and 10 units per turn on average, and that about 1/3 to 1/2 of those kills have been by elites. That makes somewhere between 150 and 440 elite victories. I believe that puts me on the low end of the leader generation statistics.

It took 21 turns of fighting to get my first leader. I think that's a rather high number of turns without leader. I remember that I had been expecting a leader much sooner than that, and that the lack of an army was becoming problematic. Getting your first leader sooner is a much more decisive factor than getting more leaders but getting them later.

The second leader came 9 turns after the first. That was actually the first real break I got, because it allowed me to push forward by settling. I don't think I could have founded Verbotene Stadt and later towns without that second army. I was really thin on troops during that time.

The third leader came 14 turns after the second. At that point, the most tense period of fighting in this game so far was just behind me, with a lot of victories, many of them undoubtedly elite victories. Again I had been expecting a leader for a long time. I named the unit that spawned the leader "Break-out Medieval Infantry", because I knew the third army would allow me to finally make real forward progress. I got three leaders in the first half of the fighting turns so far.

It's only after that moment that maybe I got more lucky than average. Leaders four and five came the first and second turn after leader three. Those leaders weren't turned into armies, so they didn't contribute as much in the progress made against the Mongols. My last two leaders became a university and marketplace in Leipzig, so they also didn't do much for our military.

I have five armies now. I used only three armies to take Karakorum, and I could have done it with two armies as well (it would have taken a few more turns, that's all). I think three armies would have sufficed in any case to be where I am now. Having five now has allowed me to make even more headway. The French will be without saltpeter next turn, and I am able to do some fast catching up on territorial expansion because I can keep my settlers and workers safe.

I think that even if I'd gotten only five leaders instead of ten, the Mongols would be in the same trouble they are now. But I would be in more trouble myself, against the French. Had they been able to field cavalry, that would have been a problem.

But to reiterate, I don't think I've been lucky on the leader front. In fact, you can expect to see many more leaders in the future. Then how have I been lucky? I've been extremely lucky on the geography front, and on the AI-wars front. The Egyptians, Russians, Arabs and Hittites have sent virtually nothing to us. The Aztecs have done very little. In fact, what they're doing now is giving the Mongols the final blow.

This game has had its ups and downs. Around turn 120, it felt as if the game could be lost any turn. Around turn 150, it started feeling much easier, and right now I'm thinking the game is in the bag. However, our military is still very light in the homeland, so a strong landing could set me back a lot. The AI wars could also end all of a sudden, and then I could be in even more trouble. So it could be that at turn 180 I feel like throwing in the towel again. Or I could just take out the Mongols and French easily, and then discover that in the mean time the other civs have come to terms and are forming an impregnable block that has jumped ahead in tech. You never know what will happen. That's what makes these games fun, right?

If I can capture Karakorum every five turns on average, I will be at about 0gpt net.

Fixed your typo. ;)

:lol: I've been thinking that I should have turned off cultural conversions. But since I didn't, there was nothing I could do but to relinquish/recapture it a few times. It was just a nice "side-effect" to get so much gold every time. The AI shouldn't be so stupid to capture a city they can't hold, and then let money lie around. Again, it's not my fault, it's Civ's.

But now I really want to try and hold on to it, to make sure I don't miss any of those nice crusaders. I'm all set to take Tosontsengel next turn, and Choybalsan soon after.

http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/432/mump6530adeo6.jpg

IT
Karakorum always has a flip risk, so it is empty again. The enemy is drawn to it once more.

Well, I've never seen this happening before: a trebuchet dies from disease in the jungle :dubious:. This of course happens after the unit support cost is taken from our treasury, which is reportedly running low. I'll let my domestic advisor have a little chat with my military advisor. He can help.

Turn 169 - 540AD
Our domestic advisor returns. She tells me she's had a good conversation with our military advisor, who's reassured her. This is what our military advisor said:

http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/5406/mump6tosontsengelss6.jpg

That army started at full health and had to kill a veteran and a regular pikeman. It'll be out of circulation for a few turns.

The army in French territory incurs no losses at all to perform its critical mission. After pillaging the saltpeter, it moves further into French territory to explore some more.

The Mongols are without iron, and their current capital has two armies at its doorstep.

Kill a total of 7 units this turn (4 longbowmen, 3 pikemen), 3 with elites, no losses.

IT
An elite pikeman is killed by an Ancient Cavalry.

Turn 170 - 550AD
Saarbrücken is founded on some hills northeast from Hovd. Aachen is founded next to the Mongol iron source, on red dot 3.1.

Our first army at Choybalsan kills 3 pikemen without too much trouble, but the second army goes down from 15 to 3 hitpoints (after an internal promotion) to kill the next regular pikeman. A longbowman stands to hold the city for another turn.

Kill a total of 12 units this turn (1 musketeer, 5 pikemen, 6 longbowmen), 1 with an elite, no losses.

A view of our two new towns, with two more settlers and destinations marked in red:

http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/9885/mump6550adyq6.jpg

The French stack northeast of Tabriz consists of a musketeer, a spearman and 4 longbowmen. I have 6 trebuchets near Aachen to take on the musketeer, and a few knights to attack the archers. I can also move an army in if need be. I moved another pike into Münster after I took the picture, just in case.

IT
I lose a knight because I forgot that Keshiks can move across hills fast.

Then some good news:
http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/1324/mump6tabrizisfrenchfh2.jpg

And some bad news:
http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/5619/mump6egyptiancavalrysu1.jpg

The Russians complete Smith's Trading Company in Moscow.

So it appears that we're seeing the end of the medieval era, and the dawn of a new age: cavalry is on the way, and civilizations that have remained dormant so far, are starting to stir. Did I say this game is in the bag? It didn't even take until turn 180 before I had to rephrase that: this game ain't in the bag yet.

Turn 170 - 550AD
Saarbrücken is founded on some hills northeast from Hovd. Aachen is founded next to the Mongol iron source, on red dot 3.1.

I don't understand the reference to red dot 3.1. Can you explain that, please?

real cool game

waiting for updates !!


btw first post xD

I don't understand the reference to red dot 3.1. Can you explain that, please?

Hmm, now that I look at it, I agree that it's ... uhm ... a bit far fetched to reference implicit data in a picture I posted on page 2, in post 37 (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6829931&postcount=37). There, I put forward some steps that I've followed somewhat closely since then. Steps 1 and 3 involved founding two towns each, for which I drew red dots, that I numbered 1.1, 1.2, 3.1, and 3.2 in my head. Red dot 3.2 will be founded next turn, the others have been founded already (and I mentioned my imaginary numbering for all three of them). What I termed "some hills northeast from Hovd", was also a red dot by the way. See, I'm following a plan here. :)

I should adhere to a more narrative style, and not force my readers to jump back and forth in the thread just to be able to follow. Especially when the numbers I put in my pictures are blurred the way they are in that particular picture.

waiting for updates !!

btw first post

Hi, AkK47, welcome to CFC. I'm flattered to have a first time poster in my thread. I'll definitely take another look at this game right after I finish writing this. Not sure I'll be able to play much though, because I have some more evaluating and planning to do first. I think I won't take any chances, and make sure defenses are up in the north before I turn my attention to the French. That Egyptian cavalry will surely bring some friends. I'll get back to you and other lurkers and let you know how I plan to defend the German kingdom against these new aggressors.

During my last session I played only two turns, and neglected to have MapStat open. A quick update on changes in techs: the Hittites and the French also have Military Tradition now. I contact the Hittites, and find out they have no horses. Now that I'm at it, I also contact the Russians: they have no horses and no iron. The Arabs have no saltpeter.

That makes all the difference in the world. Defense in the north won't have to be so strong after all, with only one other civilization able to build cavalry. We'll learn Military Tradition in 6 turns.

I'm still faced with three problems right now.

Problem 1 - Defending Karakorum and establishing the northern front line

Saltpeter will come online in three turns. I'll train a few muskets to take up guard in Karakorum. I'll also try to quell resistance as soon as possible, and then rush some culture to have more advance warning of incoming enemies. Until then, I'll shift an army forward. That army can also take back Karakorum if it should flip again.

Problem 2 - Neutralizing that Egyptian cavalry

That cavalry can reach Karakorum or Wiesbaden, or two of our worker pairs, or the new town I'm about to found, or the army that will raze Choybalsan (which will be vulnerable if it loses too much health). Action radius of the cavalry highlighted in the picture below.

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/1161/mump6560adproblem2dz7.jpg

Problem 3 - Neutralizing the French stacks

I have 6 trebuchets, 3 elite knights, and 1 slightly wounded veteran knight to deal with this:

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/2305/mump6560adproblem3tp4.jpg

If I keep the nearly healthy army in the new town I'll found, I can deal with the French over two turns. But I'll probably need that army for the resolution of problem 2. A real conundrum. I also have those workers on the silks to think of. They've been "pre-chopping", and will put 10 shields into the box of the new town immediately.

Turn 171 - 560AD
Mainz is founded as planned.

The army near Choybalsan loses only a single hitpoint taking out the veteran spearman, and the next unit is the longbowman that held the city last turn. He once against fights valiantly, taking three more hitpoints off the army, but the outcome was inevitable:

http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/9016/mump6choybalsancc0.jpg

Hovd becomes their new capital, I'll have to take care of that soon now.

I move the army by the saltpeter forward, and spot incoming Aztec and Arab troops. On to problem number 3 then: the army in Mainz goes down to 6 hitpoints just to take out one musketeer. This problem remains unsolved, as does number 2: the cavalry will probably attack, although there are some empty towns nearby.

Killed 3 units this turn (1 spearman, 1 longbowman and 1 musketeer), no losses, no elite victories.

IT
Ok, I'm starting to feel embarrassed here: the Aztecs and Arabs fight each other. Don't these guys know they're supposed to fight me? The Egyptian cavalry goes down to one hitpoint but still kills a crusader in Karakorum, and then moves to a safe distance. Our troops manage to quell one resisting citizen. One French longbowman kills a veteran pikeman, another retreats an elite knight. The rest of the French stack moves onto flat land.

The Hittites finish Shakespeare's Theater in Alaca Huyuk. The French finish Copernicus' Observatory in Paris. The Arabs finish Magellan's Voyage in Aden.

Turn 172 - 570AD
Potsdam is founded right on top of our saltpeter source. The last jungle in our core has been cleared, and reveals another bonus grassland.

I let most of the armies rest, using just one to kill a French longbowman threatening Aachen. I lose a veteran knight there, but manage to kill the musketeers. There are 10 French units within striking distance.

In total, I killed 5 units this turn (1 spearman, 2 longbowmen and 2 musketeers), 1 loss, 3 elite victories.

IT
I lose 2 slaves to the Egyptian cavalry. I overlooked that, but the good thing is I'll be able to kill the cavalry now. Saarbrücken is bypassed by a veteran longbowman; it has an elite pikeman inside, and is built on hills.

We get our fourth crusader, and quell another resistor (one more to go). The Mongols finish Newton's University in Erdenet.

Turn 173 - 580AD
The second elite attack this turn, the 9th since I started counting, is a crusader out of Karakorum, killing the redlined Egyptian cavalry:

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/3314/mump6cavaliercrusaderkc6.jpg

Barbarossa becomes an army, that will wait three more turns to be filled with cavalry. I leave Mainz empty, which should lure the remaining French troops onto flat land. Two armies will be able to attack four times at Baruun-Urt next turn.

Killed 8 units this turn, 4 with elites, no losses.

Awesome, truly awesome! :)

IT
The resistance in Karakorum had ended.

Turn 174 - 590AD
A single knight army kills 2 pikemen and a longbowman, and:

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/985/mump6baruunurtee0.jpg

We capture two slaves and three trebuchets.

The ship marked with the yellow team disc you can see peeking out from under the dialog is an Egyptian frigate. We've got some shore bombardment coming.

The second army I had set for Baruun-Urt attacks Kazan instead, and kills 2 pikemen. Leonardo's Workshop is located there, so I'm thinking the capture of Kazan will be well timed with our learning Military Tradition.

The German military registered 12 kills this turn, 3 by elite troops. We lost 1 knight on a longbowman.

Science goes back to 40%, Military tradition still due in 2 turns.

IT
The Mongols are still fighting the French, but the French seem to mostly focus on us.

Turn 175 - 600AD
One army attacks Tabriz, but the French had a musketeer there, and that takes a lot out of the army. It can continue for one more attack to kill a spearman, but has to rest after that. A knight takes out a longbowman, but there are still healing units left. A second army will heal a bit. I also let the army by Kazan heal, because I'll probably won't hold it for more than one turn, so I'd rather take it next turn.

The French pillager army has returned and is next to Hovd now. In two turns we'll have a fresh cavalry army next to it as well.

We killed 7 units this turn, 1 with an elite.

IT
The Aztecs land a pikeman at Leipzig.

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/9454/mump6militarytraditionpq2.jpg

Turn 176 - 610AD
I can't take on that pikeman just yet, I'm hoping it doesn't pillage but goes for empty München instead.

Our army kills 2 pikemen and 1 spearman in Kazan, but a fourth spearman takes up defense. Seems like I wont be upgrading cheap this turn. I upgrade 5 knights for now; 30g isn't that much and I want to send out the new army as soon as possible.

We do have plenty of units to kill a spearman and 2 longbowmen in Tabriz:

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/1151/mump6tabrizws2.jpg

The French must have gotten a lot of money when they took Tabriz from the Mongols, but it seems they have spent it all on women and wine.

The knight army at Hovd can only kill a single veteran pikeman before it has to rest. The next unit showing is a regular pikeman.

I counted 8 kills this turn, 3 by elites, no losses.

Astronomy is due in 5 turns at 80%, still at a deficit of 88gpt. Science farms are growing though, and we'll get a lot more in the near future.

IT
The Aztec pikeman moves to München mountain.

Turn 177 - 620AD
Our first cavalry win is against that pikeman.

The French are kind enough to expose a lone longbowman:

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/5898/mump6academicknightxh2.jpg

That was the 10th elite victory since the last leader. We are still a city short for our next army, so Richtofen will rush the Military Academy.

This turn saw only 3 kills in all. Targets are getting scarce.

Magdeburg is founded northeast of Karakorum, next to the ruins of Baruun-Urt. I rush the library in Karakorum.

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/9500/mump620adoverviewnp1.jpg

An summary of what's going on right now:

We have three settlers in the Augsburg-Freiburg region; as soon as Hovd has fallen, I'll move the knight army northwest to take the smaller Mongol town there, and then I can settle aggressively in the direction of Amiens.
The cavalry army will help out at Hovd first, then go straight for Cherbourg, where the French saltpeter is.
There are two armies at Kazan; they'll take and hold that city while I upgrade units, but after that I'll probably raze it. I may allow the Mongols to retake it for some extra money.
Berlin is building 4-turn cavalry, Hamburg will be able to run a 6-turn cycle soon. A lot of the other cities are on infrastructure builds still, but that'll end soon.
The French have incense and gems; I hope to find and grab those soon.
I'll keep three knight armies in the north, and the other two knight armies and the cavalry army in the south. The next army will also go after the French. I should be able to cut through them fast, hopefully before they get rifles.
I'm running out of Mongol cities to take to fund research, but science farms are finally forming, so that should compensate.

That was the 10th elite victory since the last leader. We are still a city short for our next army, so Richtofen will rush the Military Academy.

I'm assuming this happened right before you founded Magdeburg? (I counted 28 cities total, but might've counted one twice).

Where did you put the MA?

Magdeburg included, I have 30 cities. And I have 6 armies. And I still can't count. I can create another army. You guys pay attention well.

The leader had sufficient movement only to get to Aachen, but not to do anything there. I rushed the 3 remaining shields on the worker build there, and was planning on rushing the Military Academy next turn. I'm not going to build armies anyway, so it doesn't matter where I put it.

But another army is more important, so the Military Adamy will have to wait a little while longer. When the time comes, I'll still put it in any town that can be reached by the leader I'll have then and doesn't have too many shields in the box. Those will be the only criteria.

Where did you put the MA?
Oh, ok.
EDIT: Just read the post before this one more carefully.

I upgrade two more knights since I'll have an additional army next turn. I have only elite knights or knights in armies now. I also spend some cash on short-rushes. I get Hamburg on the anticipated 6-turn cavalry cycle right now by shifting around some tiles.

IT
The French and Mongols exchange some units, we don't get attacked. We do get another crusader and a library in Karakorum. Karakorum starves for the last time and is size 1 now. It will now become a fully integrated part of our society.

Turn 178 - 630AD
There are 5 French longbowmen next to Hovd, so I think it is now or never if I'm to get some of the 9331 gold the Mongols have. The French are getting richer too though, with 1197 gold right now.

The cavalry army kills 2 pikemen and a spearman, at the loss of 6 hitpoints in all. The knight army kills another spearman, and:

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/839/mump6hovdug5.jpg

I'm very disappointed at the amount of gold we get, and I start wondering how I'm going to keep up research if my funding dries up. Even with Leonardo's Workshop, I'm not going to be able to afford any upgrades. And anyhow, I've upgraded mostly everything that needed upgrading, so after our army kills 3 spearmen, I decide to raze:

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/964/mump6kazanpa8.jpg

We can see Aztec borders to the north now.

I wonder again why I'm getting so little money, so I take another look at MapStat. It turns out it's the Egyptians who have all the money now, I just misread before. :sad:

The 7 kills this turns were all inflicted by armies, so no elite victories. No losses either. Next turn should see some regular combat again.

IT
The French move just a few units towards us. If this continues, I won't be able to leader fish. Then I won't get more armies. Then I won't be able to move fast enough to kill the French before they get rifles. Then again, musketeers are already pretty strong, so it doesn't make much difference.

Turn 179 - 640AD
It had to happen some time:

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/1815/mump6mongolriflexv9.jpg

Will this be a problem? Let's take another look:

http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/5158/mump6mongolriflewitharmxg8.jpg

I lose an elite knight on a 2hp musketeer. Another elite knight kills him. The one other battle was also an elite killing a longbowman.

We've found wines ...

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/2586/mump6winessn7.jpg

... and incense ...

http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/6816/mump6incensepo0.jpg

Science can go down a notch to 70%, Astronomy is due in 2 turns at -75gpt. We're still running 20% luxury tax.

IT
I lose an elite swordsman as expected, no worries.

Turn 180 - 650AD
Bielefeld is founded close to the ruins of Hovd.

The veteran musketeer in Marseilles completely takes the wind out of one of the knight armies, which goes down to 1 hitpoint before finally winning. The second army has less trouble killing 2 more musketeers, only to reveal ...

http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/38/mump6frenchcavalryaq1.jpg

There are two yellowlined musketeers that I wasn't going to attack this turn, but seeing the French cavalry gave this game some more sense of urgency, so two elite knights attack anyway. The second yields another leader:

http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/7853/mump6urgentknightnt5.jpg

Hengest immediately rushes the Military Academy in Wiesbaden (for real this time).

We had 5 victories this turn, 2 of them elite. No losses, although we came way too close with that one army at Marseilles.

You'd better put some defense in Wiesbaden. If you don't, i don't think you can build another MA if that one is captured or razed; and it must have been a tough decision razing leo's.

It won't be long before Wiesbaden is shielded by other towns, and until then I'll make sure I always have a view of the tiles just north of Wiesbaden, to avoid any enemy unit making an unexpected attack. I have two armies in the area, as well as plenty of other troops and trebuchets to deal with anything the AI can throw at me.

Razing Leo's wasn't so tough a decision: the only units I'm going to be upgrading are knights, which costs 30g per upgrade. The 15g I would have saved with Leo's isn't going to make a difference now.

IT
The French drop 2 units north of Freiburg. We lose an MDI to that "cavalerie marseillaise".

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/4025/mump6astronomygw5.jpg

http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/2214/mump6milacademybw2.jpg

Turn 181 - 660AD
Cavalry army kills 2 rifles in Ereen:

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/3904/mump6ereenhh6.jpg

We found Mönchengladbach and Kiel in that area.

The French saltpeter is pillaged again, and this time we will stay close to it.

In the north, our knight army kills 2 rifles in Tsetserleg:

http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/64/mump6tsetserleglj0.jpg

Killed 10 units this turn, 2 with elites, no losses.

Banking is due in 5 turns at 70% and -69gpt. We have 292g in the bank, even though we don't know what that is yet.

IT
We lose a crusader and a trebuchet to a combined French and Mongol attack. I had hoped the units threatening ours would have taken each other out. I hope the French and the Mongols haven't made peace.

Turn 182 - 670AD
The French have riflemen now.

They will be no match however for our cavalry armies. One of them kills 2 rifles in Amiens:

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/3929/mump6amiensxf6.jpg

Killed 6 units this turn, 2 with elites, no losses.

IT
The Arabs and the French are at war. We get some very unfortunate landings in the Kiel area. I scroll ahead to rush a spearman in Mönchengladbach.

Turn 183 - 680AD
I'll have to retreat some workers here, and hope the regular spearman I just rushed will hold:

http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/972/mump6badlandingfw2.jpg

Cavalry army kills 2 rifles in Cherbourg:

http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/8374/mump6cherbourgtq0.jpg

We capture 2 trebuchets and 9 slaves.

Killed 5 units this turn, 1 with an elite, no losses.

IT
The Arabs and the Egyptians are at war with the Aztecs. We lose a crusader to the French cavalry that was threatening Kiel. Our spearman in Mönchengladbach defends flawlessly against the musketeer.

Turn 184 - 690AD
Duisburg is founded very close to Dalandzadgad. I have to turn down research, and lose a turn on banking.

A cavalry army kills one rifleman in Brest.

Kill 8 units this turn, 2 with elites, no losses.

An overview at the end of 690AD:

http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/3658/mump6690adoverviewin2.jpg

4 cavs in 1 army=low defence Modern Armor :evil:

Where are you getting all the German names from?

Where are you getting all the German names from?

I often go to various places in Germany (it borders Belgium, so it isn't too far). One gets to know these names by driving around a lot.

Nice progress Mumpulus! :goodjob:

I am trying to get a feel for the lay-out of the French cities. I've numbered cities in the map below according to their founding order. I can't make much of it though. It seems they've founded in a pretty random pattern, even filling up spaces later on. I've also listed the number of troops we can see right now. That particular mix should get me some more easy leaders for sure.

http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/3973/mump6francein690adtf0.jpg

The story continues...

IT
The Arabs soften up defenses and then the wealthy Egyptians take Ulaanbaatar, formerly Mongol and Aztec. We lose a slave stack to a French cavalry.

Turn 185 - 700AD
I think the easy stretch I had before is over, and this game has become a challenge once more. Have a look:

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/4600/mump6700adtacticaltk6.jpg

I want to do several things this turn, but I'll have to deal with the French in order to do it:
I want to move the settler near Kiel; however, the cavalry that's hiding in the fog will have to die first
The southern cavalry army is covering a stack of 9 slaves, which I want to hold on to, to start clearing all that jungle. I'm also hoping I can recuperate the slaves that were already captured by the French. Furthermore, there's a settler pair nearby. I don't want the French to settle, certainly not near that saltpeter source, and I never say no to more slaves.
There are 4 longbowmen outside Duisburg, they'll have to die because I have no defense there, and no roads to bring in reinforcements.
There are a lot of units trying to get past Bielefeld.
I have 4 cavalry and the three armies to deal with all that.

I also have an elite MDI and some trebuchets in Bielefeld. So the first thing I do is bombard the two longbowmen there, and kill one of them (just barely).

I then turn my attention to Duisburg. The two cavalry stationed there are at 3/4 and 2/5 hitpoints, so they won't be able to contribute much. I can't afford to lose units now. So a veteran cavalry out of Duisburg takes on the first LB, and an elite out of Kiel goes for the second, giving us:

http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/6659/mump6corneredcavalryti6.jpg

I have one more veteran cavalry in Kiel, and then also the one visible in the screenshot above, near Karlsruhe. Horsa creates our seventh army in Bielefeld, and is joined by the Karlsruhe and Kiel cavalry units. That army then goes on to kill the third longbowman at Duisburg. The final longbowman is killed by the 3/4 cavalry out of Duisburg itself, at the expense of 1 hitpoint. After this victory, that cavalry unit also joins the 7th army.

The knight army in Kiel kills a musketeer, a spearman and a longbowman.

I think long and hard, and decide to go for Brest with the more weakened army. It kills 2 riflemen and a redlined longbowman, and razes the French town:

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/2037/mump6brestrq3.jpg

I finally decide to have the second cavalry army go for the rifleman and the hidden cavalry. I'm hoping the French settler pair will make another move before settling. We also recuperate the slaves that were lost during the IT.

The situation in the south at the end of this turn:

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/3387/mump6700adaftermathsoutul8.jpg

I then turn my attention to the north. A Mongol longbowman is killed by an elite knight near Mainz. The French cavalry you can see in the last leader picture is killed by the knight army.

Below is another picture. For lack of satellite technology, this is a "knight-army composite": the southern army moved to the hills to see the Egyptian cavalry, and to the plains to spot the Mongol longbowmen. There is only one army really there.

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/6057/mump6700adnorthya0.jpg

The yellowlined cavalry barely kills the nearest longbowman. The knight army kills the rifleman and the second longbowman. Due to the reconnaissance mission, it doesn't have sufficient movement to kill the last visible Mongol longbowman.

The northern army pillages the road it's on, and then moves west to avoid attacking across the river.

I killed 17 units this turn, 3 with elites, and incurred no losses. The new leader appeared on the 9th elite victory since the last leader.

You sure are having leader luck. I got 3 leaders once,and it was the max! You got what,15,20?

I've had 14 leaders so far, or 15 if you count the one I just got during turn 186. :D

Since I started counting, 35 elite victories gave me 5 leaders. That's 1/7 on average, where 1/12 would be "normal". So I've been pretty lucky since I started counting, that's true. But overall, I still don't think I've been exceptionally, incredibly, or overly lucky.

I don't know if you've ever played an Always War game, but you always get lots of leaders in that kind of game, because of the sheer number of battles that are fought. There are several examples of games where players got multiple leaders during a single turn. Take a look at this (turn 6) (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=5538899&postcount=410) for example.

IT
Our pair of elite pikemen near Potsdam retreats 2 Egyptian cavalry. A crusader kills a French cavalry and promotes to elite. The French and the Mongols each land a longbowman next to empty Freiburg.

Turn 186 - 710AD
Koblenz is founded on the edge of the French marshlands.

Armies and an elite knight kill 4 Egyptian cavalry up north. The next target is a Mongol conscript rifleman. The second trebuchet shot hits, and an elite knight attacks:

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/8442/mump6saarbruckenknightwu4.jpg

Rommel will have to wait a while until one more town is founded.

12 units were killed this turn, 2 with elites, no losses.

IT
I've overlooked something again, and once more lose a stack of slaves. This time the Hittites land a musketman near Freiburg.

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/8730/mump6bankingyz7.jpg

Turn 187 - 720AD
We get the slaves back, plus two more from the settler that moved again.

Killed 10 units, we still have our leader so e