It took some time until I found a convincing concept for a Bulgar Mod for the Middle Ages Conquest...but here it is.

The Bulgar tribes started somewhere at the Volga river, and parts of them moved to the Balkan area during the 7th century. Under their Leader Asparukh, they mixed with the Thracian and Slav inhabitants of that region, and fought successfully against the Byzantine supremacy. Asparukh proved to be a very wise ruler, recognizing his empire would not last for long if they simply surpress the Slavs and Thracians, thus he granted them a lot of freedom. As a result, the Bulgar Empire prospered - but only as long as it was ruled by capable Kings.
The Bulgars most likely were Muslims originally, but adopted the Eastern Orthodox Christian Faith during the 9th century.

Our lands:

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/lands.jpg

Our starting units:


http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/F3.jpg


The files (as usually, a .biq file to be installed in the .../Conquests directory, plus the 2 .txt files to replace the existing ones (note they include the Castile/Celts/Magyar modifications as well).

The Mighty Bulgars (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/4e_Middle_Ages_Bulgars.zip)



Tweaks:

Market and Temple for Pliska
REL/MIL traits
UU: Bulgar Swordsman at 3.3.1, replaces the Swordsman; Immortal animation.
We start with an empty Army; the UU is useful due to being the best Defender before Knights/Cataphracts/Pikes, but not that strong in a scenario that's all about attacking. But to mimick the power Bulgaria could be under a strong ruler, I gave us the Army.
Since the Bulgars originally were Muslims, we start with Arab Learning, but are of Byzantine flavor (and can build Cataphracts, but neither Knights nor Ansar Warriors)


Rules:
Nothing really special, except that the first Tech we research needs to be Byzantine Learning.

Sign-ups:

Doc Tsiolkovski
romeothemonk
DeceasedHorse
Bede
SesnOfWthr

Discussion:

What level? Deity for a challenge, or Demigod for a relaxed game?
(I'd prefer Demigod, but I have no strong opinion here)

Opening strategy?
(Growing a bit, connecting Iron and cities, beat on the Byzantines and trigger GA around turn 20 I'd guess.)

Who starts?

Checking in.

Will do pre-flight tonight. Can't commit to start, though.

Demi-god is good, relaxed is better than a challenge

I like the Idea of Demi-God. The SGOTM and Next RBCiv picks up quickly. I am not sure that I can devote the time needed to a Deity Middle Ages game.
I agree with the quickly expand, then wipe off the Byzantines. We can steal their Greek Iron and then reconquer all of Greece and Turkey, then visit Jerusalem and show the Abbassids the error of their ways.

I think we would benefit more from a limited war against Theo, otherwise the Turks and Abbasids may grow too big. Better getting Greece and Constantinople, extorting some Techs and keep them around.

And Demigod it is.

Are the Mongols in this one around? ;)

Checking in.

No. I didn't feel like Facsism everywhere again...

Bulgars 843AD

Having some free time on my hands, and seeing nothing I could make wrong during the very first turns, I just start this one.

Initial builds:
Pliska/Granary, Ruse/Rax, Sredets/Settler (maybe we could get the Iron before Theo), Kutmichevetsa/Temple, Vidin/Granary, Pitesti/Temple, Great Bulgar/Temple.
Start Byz Inguenity with a Scientist in Great Bulgar. Contact Theo. Send out Kings.

Turn 2: 846AD
Contact Magyars.

Turn 7: 861AD
Contact Turks

Turn 8: 864AD
Contact Burgundy. Contact Germans.

Turn 10: 870AD
Wool connected to most cities
IBT:
Sredets (Settler)->Rax

Turn 13: 879AD
Contact Danes and Poland

Turn 14: 883AD
Found Veliki Preslav, hopefully denying the Byz iron for ever.

Turn 15: 886AD
We could buy a Worker from Theo for 130gp, but neither do we really need him, nor do I think that will cripple them in any way. And in fact, their roads will help us soon…

No need to haste IMHO.
Build a few more Vet Warriors, rush the Temple in Veliki Preslav maybe. connect VelP, then our Iron, build a road to Adrianople, and as soon as we have about 10 non-MP Swords, strike. Adrianople/ Constantinople first, of course.


Roster: (feel free to switch!)
Doc Tsiolkovski - just played
Deceased Horse - up
Bede
romeothemonk
SesnOfWthr
---*roster filled*---


The game is here. (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/Bulgars885AD.zip)

---open slot---

I might want to help you with that little problem.

Since I just played a different civ on the same map, my complaint about the amount of learning is at least somewhat nullified. (I think?)

How many sets to you plan on for this one? I have five Sg's going (fifth very soon), so I can't afford a normal time commitment. If you're talking three or four sets each, that's a different story.

Of course, I shouldn't be so presumptuous (sp?). Will I drag you guys too far down?

sesn, those games are usually over around turn 160, so everyone will most likely only get 3 or 4 rounds. And, this is by far more a regular game, with building stuff, regular Govs etc.

If you're still interested, welcome aboard. :)

Sounds like it will fit my schedule rather well.

Slot me in wherever. :)

I guess I am up. Will get to this today then. Sorry.

There was no real roster so far, no need to apaologize (in fact, I wrote DH is up).

But of course, take it if you can!

Whoops. I was using the roster in the first post. I can't get to it until 5:30 PM Mountain Standard time, so if anyone else wants it, please claim it.

Got it. :king:

PRETURN: Rush the temple in Velkili Preslav. We need to get as much of a head start on culture generation as possible if we are going to take on the Byzantines.

Turn 1: Kutmetchevista: Temple-> Barracks Velkili Preslav Temple-> Barracks

Turn 2: Make contact with Denmark.

Turn 3: Great Bulgar riots, hire taxman.

Turn 4: Spend 96 gold rushing the granary in Vidin. Make contact with the Turks when we run into one of their horsemen in the Russian steppes.

Turn 5: Nothing much.

Turn 6: Byzantine Spear enters our territory. Make contact with Burgundy and France; Horseback Riding is available now for ten gpt and all our gold. Begin upgrading warriors.

Turn 7: Continue upgrading warriors.

IBT: Disease strikes Pliska.

Turn 8: Load three Bulgar Swordsmen into the army.

IBT: Disease hits Pliska again, combining with the settler build to drop its population to two. Crap.

Turn 9: Income drops to +7 gpt due to the die-off in the capital.

Turn 10: Continue moving soldiers into attack position.

Notes: We have around six swordsmen, counting the army, in attack position with plenty more building. See attached for 'battle plan'.

The Save (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/BULGARS918_AD.SAV) ]

6 Swords may be a bit thin to strike - this is DG after all.
Better build a road first towards Adrianople.
Don't think we can isolate Greece, guess we'll see a lot from the Byz Navy.

And how did you contact 3 Civs we already met ;) ?

Doc - Would you mind posting a real roster so we're not just grabbing it willy-nilly?

You're right (though I did something like it in my report).

Official roster:
DocT
DH-just played
Bede-up
romeothemonk
SesnOfWthr

Will pick up and play tomorrow.

Build some more swords and head towards the Byzantines.

Not much to report in thirty years.

Built swords everywhere I could and upgraded some warriors. Great Bulgar and Vidin are not happy places.

We are now ready to take on the Byzantines with an army group ready to take Adrianople and a second defensive group in the forest and on the hills at Veliki Preslav. The Byzantine still have no iron :smug:

Founded one city in the west and met the Swedes. Tried every turn with everybdy to make a trade for HBR but was unsuccessful. :mad:

French, Germans and Burgundians are building the Holy Roman Empire.

Suggested campaign

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/DOCT948.jpg

Oj, what light through yonder window breaks...

romeothemonk-up
SesnOfWthr
DocT
DH
Bede-just played

Ill get this on Saturday.

Looks good. I'd keep a couple of Swords stationed at VelPR, the Byzantines always have the annyoing tendency to make landings, and they have Horses.

On tech: I'd think Norse will be best; HBR will be bought at some time, and any Byz tech comes by :hammer: .

A quick Update.
IHT: Byzantines declare rather than leave. Trigger GA. Sword in our army promotes.
IBT: Stuff Moves.
Turn 1: Capture Adrianople and 2 slaves. Two swords win at Larissa but a third dies to an archer. Next turn then.
IBT: Lothair Boots us, Meet the Celts, kill a byz archer.
Turn 2: I think Doc modded our swords down. Lost 2 swords at Larissa to 2 archers. Kill a few spears around Adrianople
IBT: Kill 2 archers, a warrior and redline a horse. Then Adrianople flips, Taking our army with it. It had less than a 5% flip chance.
Turn 3: Capture Larissa no losses. Raze Adrianople out of Spite. Swap Great Bulgar to Settler and rush it. The extra unit support will be very nice.
Where do I go from here? Will continue later today

Although the flip chance was low, I am not suprised that Constantinople was able to flip our cities, given its cultural power.

How many swords do we have left? What will Theodora give us for peace?

Constantinople... :mad:
Ouch.
Nevertheless, I cannot imagine Theo could hurt us, so I wouldn't make peace now.

We have 10+ Swords left. I have no desire to make peace until Greece is ours.

I think it's pretty obvious what you have to do, go replace that army! :p

How many MGL's would you like Sesn? I might need to save some for SGOTM.

I would expect you'll be seeing horses and archers in any counter attack. If you can, keep them out of the mountains and build a strike force between Larissa and Constantinople making use of the terrain to keep the Byz in the open. I would also expect to see lots of Westerners wandering around with settler pairs. They can be a nuisance when they start tying up the road net.

Turn 4: Cont. MOve up some troops. We really need workers.
IBT: Pliska gets disease again. Lose the Sword that leveled adrainople.
Turn 5: Lose a sword to a spear in the open. Kill the spear, kill a horse.
IBT: Lose a sword and a horse. Kill 1 horse. Resistance in Larissa Ends.
Turn 6: Position troops for next assualt.
IBT: Byz navy moves up for a drop on our Western flank
Turn 7: Lose 1 Sword. Capture corinth with a harbor and burn some ships. Whack some loose archers.
IBT: We flawlessly defend against BYZ, but barbs kill worker and settler by great bulgar.
TUrn 8: Kill byz counter, but archers kill 1 sword and redline 2 more.
IBT: Kill archer at Corinth, but lose 2 swords and a slave to increasing counters.
Turn 9: Just notice research was shut off completely. Sorry about this guys, I probably built a settler in our science city. OUr science city is now great Bulgar.
IBT: A lot of Byz troops come in. Poles and Burgundians start HRE.
Turn 10: YOu are really set up to go get Athens next turn. After this greek campaign we might need some peace.

Sorry about the turns, they are not up to my normal level, but we hurt the strongest empire on DG, and are still making headway. The naval landings are all just ferrying more troops over to throw against our sword stack in Greece. I have not seen a real landing yet. This game again showed me that something is broken with the Byz AI, as it uses curraghs exclusively for its transports, when it has the very nice Dromons just sitting there.

OOPS! Guess that's me, didn't even realize. :blush:

I'll have turns up by very late tomorrow, at worst.

I am going to stop and post what I have now and ask for some advice. I'm not 100% sure what our goals are here.

First off, for research, are we planning on pursuing the Byz path, and try to get up to the cataphracts?

Is there any reason why I should not raze Constantinople, if I get the chance? I imagine there is no way we could hold it against a flip.

Here's my log thus far:
IHT – Stack moving on Athens. Byz units all over our southern territories. No units moving on Constantinople, yet.

IT – We win about four counterattacks, but lose an elite sword.

978 ad (1) – Our swords go 4 for 5 at Athens. All spears defeated, but we don’t have a unit to attack the king unit. Elite sword wins vs vet archer on a hill, flawless, and Sesn’s Slayers ride again. I win about four skirmish battles vs swords and spears. I only have a rl sword in range of Corinth, so I will let it fall. I’m kind of confused as to how we have a horseman running around? :hmm:

IT – We win and lose three counter battles, mainly losing very injured units.

981 ad (2) – I opt to retake Corinth rather than press at Athens, as both have spears showing now, plus archers underneath. I am not optimistic about our chances for holding the city though.

IT – Lose an elite sword to two horses. Great Bulgar is pillaged by a keshik barbarian.

984 ad (3) – I win five random battles, and lose none. Move units to reinforce Corinth. The good news is that we have four defenders to deal with the three possible attackers there. The bad news is that none of them have more than 2 hps.

So, do we want to roll the dice and take whatever losses in Corinth, or make peace now? I wanted to wait until Byz learning came in before peace so we could get the next tech in line, along with HBR. Screenshot to follow. Also what the heck can I do to secure Great Bulgar? The keshik barbs attack at 3.2.3.

The units in Corinth are at this state:
1/4, 2/4
1/5, 2/5

As I said, we can definitely hold it, but I'd hate to lose those elites....

I also figured this was an oppurtune time to stop fot the evening. ;)

Call peace. Wait 3 turns. Tell Theo to move or declare. Then Proceed again with the war. I would take Constantinople the first time, raze the second. I would not heavily fortify Constantinople, but it is just too nice a city to raze offhand.

Agreed. And don't station anything of worth in former Byz cities, especially Corinth. The flip risk is insane.

To answer some more questions:
Research: How many turns left on Byz In? I'd try to get the next tech here and HBR for peace. Then, research Norse Traditions at minimum, we'll trade/pointy stick for everything else.
Barbs: You cannot defend.

We started with the horsemen, actually.

IHT – Some of the advice was contrary, now that I think about it. I can’t make peace now and still get the next tech in line…

I get 10g, 2gpt, and HBR for peace from Theo.

987 ad (4) – Shuffle and heal some units.

IT – Byz demand we move. I move, then demand the same of her. She doesn’t. We win five battles.
Byz Ing comes in, start on Norse Trad with a scientist.
Larissa deposes, we lose a single sword.

990 ad (5) – Win four random battles, promoting two vets in the process. Move a half dozen units on Constantinople. Larissa retaken by the army.

IT – It takes two archers and a horse to kill our 3/5 sword.

993 ad (6) – Kill 7 random units, but a vet and an elite are in danger.

IT – We do indeed lose the vet and elite, although we take down two archers with them.

996 ad (7) – lose an elite to a reg spear. The rng hates me, as I do a total of 6 points of damage in the process of losing 4 swords before calling off the attack on Constantinople.

IT – Lose another sword in counters at Constan.

999 ad (8) – Army loses 9 hp killing 2 spears at Athens.

1002 ad (9) – Pillage the horses just over the border. As always, some random skirmishes that we win. Army moves back to Corinth for healing.

IT – Byz land three horses near Larissa, and move other units in from the east.

1005 ad (10) – Kill off most of landing party, but leave defended with only a rl vet.

To be quite honest, I’m really disappointed in these turns. I didn’t make any real gains, and felt like I merely held my ground. I can’t believe I couldn’t even take one city. There are many swords running around, and even a few elites managed to survive. We have several swords in and around Pliska if someone wants to test the rng at Constantinople again. The army is healing in Corinth. I know it’s a risk, but we really need the healing, and I did build a temple there.

Looks good sesn. I had the same feeling on my turns. Then I realized that our advantage is a slight one, and that we are facing the most powerful nation in the world. The Byz are strong right away, and we start fighting in their core. Constantinople gives them a troop every turn. I think just keep slugging away, and we can take greece. Once that happens, we can hit the Magyars for a bit, or really funnel to Constantinople.
Take courage my brothers. We will prevail. (We have 2 "monks").

Nobody expected the Byzantines to crumble soon. Nice that we have an Army again :) . Maybe I can get one more, then it's pillaging time.
Only problem is - when we fight them later, they may have Dromons...

Guess I'll at least try to secure all of Greece.

Got it.

The Save (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/Bulgars1035AD.zip)


Bulgars, 1005AD

That’s quite an impressive stack of Swords next to Pliska – but considering Constantinople builds a unit per turn, I don’t think we can capture it anytime soon.
But: We lack Horses, and there’s a nice, non-aggressive spot W of Adrianople’s rubble that’ll claim those hairy beasts.
No trade routes at all, that’s bad.
Kill a 1HP Byz Horse next to VelPr.

IBT:
Poland boots us.
Byz Horse promotes a Sword to Elite.

Turn 1: 1008AD
Kill a couple of Byz units. Rush Temple in Larissa.
IBT:
Celts and Norwegians contact us – that means, Map Making is known
Several Civs start Bayeux.
No losses.
GA ends.

Turn 2: 1011AD
We’re paying 22gpt unit support; that’s more than our income! Order more Settlers.
Kill about 10 Byz units.
IBT:
Corinth’s borders expand, netting us Wines.

Turn 3: 1014AD
Kill 3 units at Athens, still an Archer left.
IBT:
Loose a ¾ Sword against a reg Archer.

Turn 4: 1017AD
Slay Archer and King, raze Athens for 2 Slaves.

Turn 5: 1020AD
Found Adrianovdiv (claiming Horses), and Athenovdiv.
Capture Chalkedon.
IBT:
Loose a Sword to a Horse.

Turn 6: 1023AD
Repositioning. Vidin is a 2-turn Worker farm now.

Turn 7: 1026AD
Capture Heraklea.

Turn 8: 1029AD
Zzzz…finally can trade with a couple of Civs, but we cannot get more than 60gp for our Iron.
IBT:
Get a defensive MGL!
Turn 9: 1032AD
Form an Army, but do not fill it – I want a MDI or Cataphract Army.

Turn 10: 1035AD
Finally get a unit next to the last Byzantine city in Greece, and it is Trebizond.

So, Iron and 260gp to Danes for Castle Building.
Kill every Byz unit in reach, fishing for Leaders and promotion, but to no avail.
Make peace with Theo for Code of Laws, Early Siegecraft, Trebizond and 70gp.
CoL to Celts for Worker and 8gp.
CoL to Magyars for 27gp.

Found Stara Ladoga.

Switch about every build to infra.

We should now build up our empire; we need a lot of Worker action, Townhalls, Granaries, Libraries. No chance to get to Norse Traditions faster, so we should use our gp to trade for some techs. Get at least one Curragh, and contact as many Civs as possible.

Once we have Blacksmiths online, I think we should turn on Theo again with MDIs/Cats. Maybe we halted their expansion enough to prevent them from settling the Iron in the East.

We have 4 different Luxes, 4 Iron, Horses, Quarry and Tar :) .

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/Bulgars.JPG

Looks good doc. I would spend the next turn set on Infra, then help the Magyars decrease their army costs. We could use a couple of their cities.

We cannot touch the Magyars for the next 20 turns, our trade route to the Danes runs through their lands; since we own a Harbor, this may change once we reveal more of the map, though.
But after that, sure, why not?

I forgot:

Roster:
DocT - just played
DH - up
Bede
romeothemonk
SesnOfWthr

Ooops, I was looking at the wrong roster. Got it.

OT:

I think it's time to move up to a Sid level SG (not Middle Ages, default C3C). And I want to invite everyone from this team to get beaten up ugly...

Preturn: Even running 100% science will only increase our research rate by five turns, so leave science at zero. Medieval Combat is now fairly well known by the larger civs. The Turks have Jihad. We could buy one or the other, possibly both if we throw in a resource deal and/or mortage our economy. Jihad is cheap because it has no direct benefit for us. Buy two slaves from Theodora for 270 gold, since neither tech is particularly useful to us at the moment. Lux tax to zero, income is now +53 gpt.

IBT: The usual swarms of settler pairs wander by. The Burgundians start the Tapestry.

Turn 1: Not much. Start another library and a courthouse.

Turn 2: 30 gold per turn and 138 gold to the Turks for Medieval Combat.

IBT: The Poles finish the Holy Roman Empire in Poznan, triggering a barb uprising.

Turn 3: Not much

Turn 4: Same.

IBT: AL-Mansur shows up; he has map making and is brokering contacts around. I make sure to withold our map for now. Buy contact with the English for 30 gold.

Turn 5: Dial up England. She is behind on tech and totally broke. Map making is known to the big civs (Byzantines, Turks) now. Declare war on Cordova; time for some leader fishing + slaving. Kill spear, capture settler w/ Elite Swordsmen. Do the same against Castile. Four more slaves to work the land.

IBT: Notice that the Constantinople has dropped to size 9; the Byzantines are popping settlers like mad.

Turn 6: Usual. Buy contact with the Fatmids for 3 gpt. They are broke and behind in tech, of course. Medium-size civs like Burgundy now know Map Making.

T7: Nada. First MDI loaded in second army.

T8: Dyes now on-line, but I could immediately turn around and trade them to the Burgundians along with some more of our economy for map-making; however, so far as I can see, we do not actually own a harbor and our trade route would therefore go through Magyar lands. Our entire economy plus either tar or iron (or no money if we gave both) would get map making (but not lost roman secrets) from the Byzantines, but I don’t think that that is a good idea. I make one more pass, looking for a harbor and finally notice the one in Corinth. Dyes, 79 gold, and 16 gpt get us map making. Trade Early Seige Craft to Germany for WM and 17 gold. Early Seigecraft to the Rus for WM and 16 gold (note: They also have Lost Roman secrets, but won’t trade. Typical. If we can get a trade route to the them we could sell Iron and luxes and maybe get a shot at the tech). Early Seigecraft to the English for WM. Quarry and 5 gold to the Danes for WM. World Map and five gold gets Jihad from the Turks. Contact w/ Magyars and Fatmids gets us WM and 10 gold from the Norse. After this, details get a little boring. Final Tally: We are up to 167 gold and 14 gpt, with the Byzantines paying us one gpt and the Abassids five. We could now get Lost Roman Secrets off the Rus, but it would take two techs, 60 gold and our map. I’ll wait until we can get a trade route first. We could get assassination from the Turks or the Abassids but not for cheap. Not the best haul ever, but not bad considering how late we got the tech.

Turn 9: Usual. Lost Roman Secrets deal w/ rus is no longer possible; they got Medieval combat from someone else. Rush a temple to pull the greek wine into our borders.

IBT: The French start on the Domesday Book.

Turn 10: Load another MDI in army. We have a 6000 to 3000 (approximately) VP lead on the Abassids. Accidentally hit enter. Oh well; turns where off by one anyway. This way I am handing the game over at turn 75 (no moves take)

IBT: Cordovan Sword/Settler pair show up north of the capital.

OT:

I think it's time to move up to a Sid level SG (not Middle Ages, default C3C). And I want to invite everyone from this team to get beaten up ugly...

Having never even beaten deity (or demigod for that matter) by myself, I am a little hesitant. Then again, I play at least a difficulty level higher on SG's so I'm game.

Nice trading, DH. Selling Iron to Theo would be in fact not a good idea...

OT:
Never tried Sid so far, but win Deity most of the time when I'm still alive at 0AD. But then, they're playing Sid AW all over the place :)

Im playing my first Sid game now with Arathorn et al. as France in the Napoleonic conquest. As school is starting, I am really hesitant to start another game, but I will have to see. Put me down as a maybe.

OT - I'd be willing to give it a go.

Presuming that you'd be patient with me for the first few sets until I can get a few games cleared up, that is.

I have not played any real epic games lately, but I have a diety game I am doing well in that I have played here and there for weeks.

OT:

I think it's time to move up to a Sid level SG (not Middle Ages, default C3C). And I want to invite everyone from this team to get beaten up ugly...

Having lots of practice getting beaten up ugly (see Bede02 and Ank07) so sign me up. This is a good bunch to suffer with, thanks for the invite.

Bede, you're up!

Bede, you're up!


Sorry, Doc. Play today.

NP; this was meant to be a relaxed game, so don't feel forced to play ASAP.

NP; this was meant to be a relaxed game, so don't feel forced to play ASAP.

It was in the plan I just forgot to post the GI. It is a lot of fun and I am looking forward to it.

0-1068
If we are serious about theDomesday Book move it over to Vliki Preslav and build MDI at Pliska.

Run a round of map trading and pull in 40+g and a bunch of maps from people and get familiar with what everybody wants and needs.

1-1071
Kill two Cordovan and collect some more slaves.

Hire a tax collector in Pliska.


Joan D'Arc opens an embassy with us. Magyars start the Domesday Book.

2-1074
Do a quick check of our maps and find all of our trading partners have harbors accessible by coastal squares. We have two armies, swords and MDI and 35 Bulgar swordsman lookinf for a little exercise

3-1077
Pull workers and kings back from front lines.

Open an embassy with the Rus as involving them will keep the Magyars busy on their backlines. Then buy a Right of Passage from them for 30g as our lone horseman needs a way home. Then get 8g back in a map trade.
Rush catapaults in both Madara and Stara Zagora as stone throwers will be handy to have aginst pop6+ towns. Start swapping garrisons around to put elites on the frontlines.

4-1080
Manuevering and building MDI and catapaults. The Magyar cities are too big to take without some artillery support. I don't see any need to hurry this war as we have a comfortable VP lead against the Abassids

5-1083
Building MDI and watching Cordovan horsemenin the mountains.

6-1086
Cordovans come closer to Madara. One more move and they will inside the borders.

7-1089
Kill three Cordovans with elite swords, no promotions. Pay a call on Cordova and Castile, neither have anything to offer for peace.

Danes come calling wanting to trade Early Siegcraft for a World Map. Call Ragnar a Danish Ham and suggest he return to his can.

8-1092
Piling up forces on the borders.

Burgundy and France go to war with the Turks.

We lose the Domesday Book in the cascade from the Tapestry.

9-1095
Velliki Presalv gets a really expensive library.

10-1098
Putting forces in position.

There are two armies and a couple of cats ready roll on Belgogrod and six troops and a cat ready to rock on Mohacs.

We appear to have a slim to none cultural advantage on the Magyars, so maybe a raze and resettle forward tactic might work est fro preserving the forces. We are starting to get shield heavy for the production of MDI and swords and I have been using taxment ot keep a lid on the discontent and to generate cash flow for unit support.

Our VP position is 150% of the Abassids but they have been gaining.

There were no trades of any value avaiable. The people needing knowledge had no money and the ones having knowledge weren't selling. We have a comfortable mainstream position relative to the Scandavian nations so once Norse Tradition is learned we can probablymake some profitable trades for techs on that path, if the boyos have been learning anything at all.


Rota:
romeothemonk - UP
SesnOfWthr - on deck
DocT
DH
Bede - just played

Got it. Will prolly post tomorrow Evening.

IHT: Wake stuff and move them around. Kill 2 cordovan horses, retreat a third. Upgrad our last two warriors.
IBT: Byz and franks ally against turks. Cordova and France against turks. Rus declare on turks.
Turn 1: Whack another cordovan Horse, Declare on the Magyars. Kill 2 spears at Belograd.
IBT: Castille starts bringing the noise. Our bulgar swords lose a couple of battles. Kill about 8 units in the interturn, but the magyars flash about 50. Denmark and France declare on the Turks.
Turn 2: Expose the regent at Belograd, but lose a MDI and A BS. Whack a magyar settler pair. Sign peace with Isabella. Lose 2 Elite swords but raze Mohacs.
IBT: Lose about 5 swords to just a swarm of Magyar units. Kill more than we lose, but I think they have a bit to give.
Turn 3: Embassy in Castille, sign them in for Early seigecraft. They have 2 gigantic SoD's next to the magyars SoD's. Kill cordovan Settler pair. Rush walls in Pitesti. Get 32 gold and a WM from Cordova for Peace.
IBT: Castillians go to work for us. They kill at least 10 magyars that were headed our way. OUr whole left flank is cleared by the Castillians. We whack another 5+ units on D and lose 2 swords.
Turn 4: Norse tradition comes in. Start for markets due in 40. Get seafaring, WM and 40 gold for ES from Danes. Get smithing and WM from Norway for MC. Sparingly start some smiths. Get furs from swedes for MM.
IBT: Hokey smokes batman, the Magyars are just spamming troops against everyone. And losing quite a few as well.
Turn 5: get viking sagas from the norse for MM. Clean up some units, a major healing turn. The Magyars look gassed, but we are as well except for our armies, which need to heal.
IBT: Castillains really applying the hurt to the Magyars. Massive unit slaughters on both sides. 10+.
Turn 6: Found Pleven. Win some more elite battles. I think Doc has MGl's turned off for me. The cordovasn just showed up with 20+ units. I get them to go in on the Magyars for MM.
IBT: BYz and abbassids go at it. Cordova is signed to a bunch of MA's, as are the Celts. Bottom of the barrel??
Turn 7: All our hurtful deals expire, and we now have 5 luxes. Merge some native workers into Adriandive. We now make 66 gpt.
IBT: Watch an amazing number of units for a DG game slay each other, again. Are we honestly sure this isn't sid? Cordovan Ansar wins, triggering their GA. They were not GA when I built their embassy.
Turn 8: We finally whack their regent in Belograd, and raze the city. No MGL even on their regent. Hmm. Lose some misc units clearing out some trash.
IBT: Turks are at war with nearly everyone, and are really losing now. Cordovans march on Pest.
Turn 9: Found Sliven on the ruins of Belogrod. Healing and minor counters turn.
IBT: In relavent news, france and castille declare on Cordova.
Turn 10: whack 2 magyar settler pairs. Lose a few MDI to spears in the open. Arrghh
Not the greatest turn set. I razed and replaced 2 magyar cities. Our economy is looking up now though and our first smiths come online very shortly.
And the Save (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/Simeon_of_the_Bulgars,_1128_AD.SAV)

No MGL even on their regent.

Is there supposed to be an increased chance there?

Anyhow, I think it's mine next, so I'll probably play tomorrow.

SOunds like a lot of :hammer: - Oh well, this is the Middle Ages Conquest, not a Space Race :D

sesn: Realistically, no. But somehow it seems to happen quite often (probably only because killing the last unit of a city often results in a promotion).

I'm at the half way point. I'm going to wait till tomorrow to finish up.

You did say "relaxed", right Doc? ;)

IHT – Damn there are a lot of units on our borders. Their units that is, not ours. I guess the first order of business is to keep our holdings.

IT – We lose 2 vets and an elite to attacks.

1131 ad (1) – Our first smith’s come online. Kill a half dozen units.

IT – Lose a vet MDI flawlessly, on a hill, to an archer. A regular at that.

1134 ad (2) – Kill another half dozen units. We’ll be OK if I can keep up this kill rate.

IT – Magyars come offering peace and 4 slaves. If that’s all they’ve got then I’ll press on for now.

1137 ad (3) – This time only 5 units fall.

1140 ad (4) – No kills this turn. Trying to heal, and the Magyars are headed for Pleven, which is defended by a spear. I have a surprise nearby though.

IT – Magyars smell the trap and turn tail.

1143 ad (5) – Kill two units, still healing. Should be able to go on the offensive next turn though.

1146 ad (6) – Move armies on Biatorbagy, kill two stray units. Assemble stack to move on Szeged.

IT – France and England pile on against the Byzantines. We may want to shift our focus back there soon…

1149 ad (7) – We captur Biatorbagy, and get 4 new slaves for our troubles. Kill two other random units, promoting a vet MDI in the process.

IT – Flawlessly lose a vet sword to a vet sword.

1152 ad (8) – Trade Kievan Rus wines, iron, WM, and 711g for middle class. Start on milling.

1155 ad (9) – I take Szeged with no losses. Finally have what I believe is my first offensive loss, a vet sword vs a vet spear. Another sword finishes the spear off. I think Romeo’s bad luck stayed with me, leader-wise. I have had numerous elite wins thus far.

IT – I lose a vet MDI on defense to a Bulgar MDI.

1158 ad (10) – Bah! I stupidly let Ruse riot after pulling part of it’s garrison. Celts establish embassy. Should have kept my mouth shut, as I lose two units on offense this turn. Pillage one source of iron.

Recap: I feel more positive about these turns than the last ones. I was able to take two cities, our armies are threatening Debrecan, and we have a stack moving northward towards Miskolc. We may want to send somebody out to pillage the other iron before many more MDI’s appear. There was no trades of any real value that I saw, other than the Middle Class trade. I built a couple of settlers, but I’m not real sure where to put them. The Magyar cities don’t seem to be any real flip risk. I did have an idea for getting an extra city squeezed in, see below.

Current VP’s: Us – 11210 Next (Abbasids) - 7390


>>>SAVE<<< (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/Simeon_of_the_Bulgars,_1158_AD.zip)

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/Doc_map.jpg

Looks Good. I would have the next leader take the Armies to Pest and just wipe out the magyars. We have some lose settlers handy and should do a nice land grab. Then we can turn around and waltz towards the Byz, or press on vs the Poles, Germans, or Burgundians.
Team decision really.
We can also start a prebuild for a wonder, Notre Dame for example. With our production we could/should be able to land a sherriffs office and Robin hood, if we wanted it. The directions here are nearly limitless.

Nicely done, gentlemen.

Robin Hood, eh? Take from the Byzantines and give to us...

Would be nice if we could seriously cripple the Byzantines before they have Longbows and Inquisitors...

Got it.

The Save is here (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/Simeon_of_the_Bulgars_1188AD.zip)

Bulgars, 1158AD

:eek: Our capital is defended by a King, our border cities to Cleo have a total of 3 Spears and a reg Sword, despite us having no fast units. We are completely overstretched without any need, a slow approach versus Magyars would have been no problem. Just imagine Theo demanding Iron…
And we are researching a pretty useless Tech (Milling). We are building military in cities without Barracks, and Cats with a lot of wasted shields in cities with Rax…:nono:
At least, Byzantines have no Iron. So I think I’ll grab a couple more Magyar cities, make peace once the MAs expire, and prepare for another war against Byzantium.
Switch research to Theology.

Trade Middle Class to Germany for WM, Worker and 120gp.
Trade Middle Class to Cordova for Assination, WM, 10gp and 11gpt.
To England for Wm and 218gp.
Iron to Norway for 210gp and WM.
Middle Class to Danes for 260gp and WM.
Get Medicine from Turks for WM.
Assassination to Fatimids for WM and 360gp.
Hawk around WM.
End with about 1200gp +12gpt and 2 Techs.
Start a lot of Markets.

IBT:
The Magyars are far from being gassed, lots of units including MDIs approach.
The good thing: A Vet MDI attacks an 3/5 Elite Sword protecting Cats near Szeged, and Boris appears :D.
Couple of treaties, nothing affecting us.
See a Dromon sinking a Frankish Curragh – if Theo didn’t have a GA so far, now she has.

Turn 1: 1161AD
Capture Debrecen, comes with 7gp, Barracks and 2 Slaves.
IBT:
Sweden demands Quarry, agreed (they have Zerks and a couple of Longboats near).
Danes declare on Franks.
Ack, Burgundy starts Notre Dame.

Turn 2: 1164AD
Theology is known by 4 Civs, but still costs about 1300gp. Continue researching it for another turn.
Form a MDI Army. Kill a number of Magyar units.
IBT:
Nothing affecting us, several Civs start Notre Dame.
2 Markets complete.

Turn 3: 1167AD
Capture Miscolk without casualties.
Tarding is interesting, a few Civs are up Theology, Divine Right and Polearms, but Byzantines have Polearms and Theology, and Rus DR and Theology. First, hawk our WM for small change and WM to minor Civs.
Then, buy DR from Abbasids for 1530gp. DR and 57gp to Byzantium for Polearms.
Polearms to Turks for Theology, WM and 1gp.
Start on Education, the only Wonder we’d really need is Magna Charta.
Start a Sheriff’s Office in Vel Preslav (join a Settler).

Turn 4: 1170AD
Supply of Furs ends, buy it for Polearms from Sweden. Start another Sheriff’s Office in Pliska. Abbasids and France have Mercantilism.

Turn 5: 1173AD
Usual stuff, killing some Magyars, repositioning.
IBT:
Rus start Robin Hood, lots of Civs Notre Dame.

Turn 6: 1176AD
Zzz…

Turn 7: 1179AD
Capture Jaszbereny without losses.
IBT:
Rus and Abbassids sign MA against Byzantium :D
Magyars declare on Rus :crazyeyes:
Danes join against Byzantium.

Turn 8: 1182AD
Zzz…, surprisingly.
IBT:
Norway declares on Byzantium.

Turn 9: 1185AD
Trade Seamanship from Danes for Divine Right, Tar and 200gp. Hawk WM to get the gp back. Kill Magyars.
IBT:
Grr….Franks demand WM and 60gp, cave (stack of Knights in our territory.
Byzantium somehow managed to get iron.

Turn 10: 1188AD
Somehow I didn’t make any real progress…

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/Bulgars.jpg

NOTES:
-We need more cities. Once we finish with infra, settle on the red dots. A Curragh+Settler is in Athenovdiv, settle the island next (doesn’t need a defender, no amphibious units aside from Berserks).
-Since Byzantium has Iron anyway, we should just slowly -prepare a war against them; use Assassins to take out Longbows, build Fortresses, play carefully. We have a comfortable point lead, all we need is a favourable kill ratio against Theo.
-I’d continue the war against Magyars for leader fishing and VPs, they’re not gassed, but no real problem.
-We are REL, so we don’t need the happiness wonders (Cathedrals!). But Arab Medicine could be helpful.
-Start the war with Theo with a steal of a Byzantine tech, Cataphracts are great for Armies.
-I did more than minimal research on Education, consider investing more for it.
-Be extremely careful with the redlined Army (didn’t move this turn) at Veszprem, the Magayars seem to rush a Spear there every turn!
-Pliska should be able to pull the magical 40spt after the SO with intelligent tile distribution.

Im gonna need a skip here guys. RL is severly limiting my civ time.

DH, you're up here (and in CZ02 as well).
I read in another thread you may not be able to play at the moment, so if you don't post a 'Got it' within 24h, over to Bede.
(This SG is meant to be relaxed, and you have been absolutely reliable in the past, so np problem, just post when you need a skip/switch).

Got it. Play tomorrow.

The Save (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/Simeon_of_the_Bulgars,_1218_AD.zip)

Not the best set of turns in my career as a Bulgar. Pressed too hard in the west and hurt too many units trying for leaders. The good news is the Magyars are now down to the occasional swordsman, archer and spear with no iron to build more swords and no horses.

We have pretty stout sefenses in the east against Theo, with fortresses, pikes, assasins, MDI, and cats in waiting. Capitol is cranking right along at 40spt.

Rus have too much of a head start on Robin Hood so I let that one go in favor of military training.

Few trades were done as not much of interest was available. Did some map swapping for small change and intel. Sent old tech to Castille for a little treasury kicker.

East
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/DocT01_1218East.jpg


http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/DocT01_1218.jpg

0-1188AD

Employ three more alchemists to keep research rate the same but reduce spending and gain 14gpt.

Run an elite MDI over to Miskolc for some leader training against the Magyars.

1-1191
Workers finish a fortress on the border with the Byzantines start another. A second party joins the first.

The elite MD fails his boards but whacks the Magyar MDI, rests in the forest exhausted. Sesn's Slayers take out a second MDI, leaving a Magyar sword in the mountains. A healthy MDI covers the wounded in the forest.

Cats bombard at Veszprem but the wounded army has to take out an encroaching Magyar horseman that killed a lone MDI on the plain inside our border. Army returns to the hill.

Boris's Boys start a march to reinforce Sliven which is facing four incoming Magyars with a single pike in defense.

Move another elite to join Sesn's Slayers in a pillaging mission at Pest.

Franks complete Knights Templar.

RUs 'zerks take Vacs from the Magyar near Great Bulgar.

Burgundians cascade to Notre Dame but don't finish.

2-1194
Swap armies at Veszprem. Wounded army hikes to Jaszbereny to replace the army now at Veszprem as the Magyar MDI turned away from Sliven

Found Dobrich on the island.

Open an embassy with Burgundy as Lothar has lots of units crossing the territory and I'm wondering who he's at war with: England, Abassids and Norway, an RoP with Stephen.

Army and elite sword move onto Magyar iron above Pest.

3-1197
Bombard Veszprem and the fresh army kills two spears, one injured still standing and at least one more behind him.

Get Stephen's iron and move the army back into the hills to wait for more Magyars to emerge.

The citizens of Veszprem overthrow the Magyar government and the city is ours.

4-1200
Army and cats move on to next Magyar target from Veszprem.

Build a mine at Pliska and the mystical forty is in the bag.

Franks and Turks sign a peace treaty.

Then the Franks ally with Castille against Cordova. BTW the Franks are now our VP competitors at ~11000 vs our ~15000. Throughout the remainder of the set Franks and Abassids kept trading the 2nd spot back and forth.

5-1203
Magyars send an archer out of Pest. Elite MDI has a hard time killing him and fails to promote.

6-1206
Take Balatonboglar with light casualties to the army. Bulgars now control Magyar horses.

Castile and Turks are now at peace.

Celts and Byzantines ally against the Turks.

The English start Robin Hood

7-1209
Two elites fail at Pest. Three defenders are killed, one by MDI two by army.

The Magyars are showing an MDI and two archers at Balontobogar and a sword and an archer at Pest.

Army and two elites begin march on Pecs.

8-1212
Found Bourgas on the harbor hill

Assault on Pest is carnage. Army gets heavily wounded killing two spears. Should never have tried it without catapults.

Magyar MDI kills Rus 'zerk outside Pecs.

Rus and Franks ally against Cordova.

Rus raze Pecs!!!

9-1215
Manuvering the army at Pest back to heal.

Rush a couple of settlers to fill the holes left by the Rus destruction of Pecs and to claima forward base against Pest.

Cordova and Celts are now at peace.

Castile signs a peace treaty with Magyars now that the alliance has expired.

10-1218
Moving new settlers east and west. East toward the rubble of Pecs and west to the keyhole at Pest.

If we can finish off Pest we will have a secure western border and can put three armies in the field against Theo.

Nicely done, Bede.
I wouldn't settle keyhole, remember Pest will be destroyed; and this is a far better spot.

Is that to me now?

BTW - When we destroy Pest, then the rest of their cities will also be destroyed, right? Should we try to capture those couple of others before finishing Pest? Or should we just try to spam a few settlers? I would think an already established and growing city would be better.

Indeed, with DH and romeo skipped, it's your turn, Sesn.

And yes, all cities will be rubble; I'd try to capture those 2 cities in reach.
Btw, Rel Prosecution should be available soon; Vidin seems the natural choice for the FP, what about starting a prebuild?
And consider building the Arab Medicine/Battlefield Medicine SM (in Vel Preslav, most likely).

Edit:
Something else - those cities in the East will be fully corrupt, thus they are best used to farm Specialists. A irrigated Wheat will feed 2 Specialist. So get as many cities as possible there.

Maybe I'm crazy, (I feel like it today), but I don't think there is a file inside the zip Bede attached.

Can someone confirm?

Which?
:)

Which?

I don't understand the question? I did not find a save file inside the zip you posted.

As I said though, I may just be crazy

EDIT: :rotfl: OK, NOW I get it. Which am I asking for confirmation on. Been kind of a long day, apparently. :rolleyes:

I'll post the save. :)


Try this (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/Simeon_of_the_Bulgars,_1218_AD.SAV)

Doc - I really hate to do this, but I won't get to this until Wed now.

Between my defiant turns, and a certain "senior moment", this didn't get played as I had hoped.

If you don't mind waiting, I would like to play the turns when I get back from the Cape on Wed afternoon. If you'd like to push through, then that's OK too.

Sorry for the delay. :(

Absolutely no problem, Sesn.

Good news, I guess.

The tuns trip got canceled due to inclement weather. :( So I should be able to get turns up tonight or tomorrow.

delurk:

please forgive presumptuous question. The guys from Jerulsalem are huge, so are the turks. what VC are y'all attempting? I've been lurking whole game and would appreciate edification, if'n y'all would descend to my level.

Hmm, don't rightly know. I'm too single minded to think that far ahead. Me just likem bust head!

Doc does seem to have a soft spot for dom in this scenarion though. Realistically, we'll probably hit VP before anything else.

@Admiral: In Middle Ages, Domination above Emperor seems impossible, unless you start with a Viking Civ (Danes especially, the easiest Civ to win with surprisingly), and kill off a couple of Civs by decapitating all Kings. So, we always go for VP score.
And since we're pretty familiar with this Scenario, we now don't need silly relics or wonders for that, just kill stuff and capture cities :hammer: Right now, we have a solid VP lead (something like 15500 to 11000, but the only AI Civ that can be really a competitor is Byzantium, and they won't live long enough to defeat us that way :evil: )
Except for Sesn, we play that scenario the umpteenth time; and given Sesn's preferred playing style is exactly what's needed here to win anyway, it wasn't necessary to enlighten him about the details :lol:

Btw, don't underestimate our power; we have several cities that produce a MDI or Pike a turn, drawn in resources, have a good defensive position, are in sight of the tech leaders, and have 2 Armies running around. Realistically, we are the strongest Civ around now, with only the Abbassids and France somewhat comparable - but the Abbas cannot reach us due to being at war with Theo, same with Turks.
For more strategic guidance, see DocT01a (Castile), b (Celts), c (Magyars), d (Mongols, though this one was heavily modified), or the RBC SGs.

IHT – Couple of minor unit movements. We already have a Sheriff building in Vidin, so I’ll just use that for the FP prebuild. Change Vel Pres to Arab Medicine.

IT – See a crapload of Rus units headed for the last two cities.

1221 ad (1) – Pick off a spear with an elite MDI. MDI army kills vet spear in Gyor. I have a settler who seems to be in a city-like spot in the south, so I settle Rousse.

IT – The Rus complete Robin Hood in Pskov.

1224 ad (2) – MDI army takes Gyor. City of Shumen is founded.

1227 ad (3) – I count about 70 Rus units headed for the last Magyar town. :crazyeye: Pick off a couple Magyar strays. I can take Pest this turn, but I’ll wait until I get that little city first.

I get tired of looking at the screen here, and off to bed I go. :)

IT – The Rus declare on the Turks.

1230 ad (4) – I move our MDI army to capture the last city. I’ll only get one shot at it, or the Rus will take it.

IT – Paris builds Notre Dame. Repton builds Krak de Chavaliers, or something like that.

1233 ad (5) – Three cities riot because we lost our furs. Strangely, we can’t trade anyone for them again. MDI army goes 2 for 2 at Szombathely, but an archer still shows. Attack and kill about 5 units in Pest, beating up both armies in the process.

IT – Ummm, didn’t we say there was no flipping in this Conquest? Because Szeged definitely just did.

1236 ad (6) – Army finally captures Szombathely. I heal the armies outside Pest for a turn.

IT – A crapload of MA’s/DoW’s.

1239 ad (7) – The armies knock out the spears defending Pest, though the MDI’s are left with 1 hp. Elite MDI finishes them off, but no leader. The Bulgars are no more.

On a side note, it suddenly seems as though waiting to take Pest was a mistake. :( The French are rapidly approaching our VP total, though they haven’t gained any obvious land. I sure hope the Byz war will give us a nice boost…

BTW – The Byz now have Rel Persecution, but aren’t interested in trading.

1242 AD (8) – Montana founded on the ruins of Pest. Move armies into city to heal.

1245 AD (9) – Vraca founded on ruins of the flip city. Sword army heads for the Byz front.

1248 ad (10) – Not much, one army reaches the Byz border.

Recap: To be honest, I didn’t realize that there weren’t VP locations in this scenario. I would have been more concerned with killing units if I had, and would have declared on the Byz a few turns ago. As it was, I didn’t want to declare at the end of my turns, so I’ll leave that to Doc. The sword army can reach the front next turn, and the other MDI army should be pretty much healed next turn. Hopefully, the Byz will have a bunch of units to kill, because our VP lead shrunk a LOT during my crappy set. It is now down to about 2k.

There seems to be a lot of sets in this game that we’re just not thrilled about. Hope it doesn’t change the end result….

BTW – I saw the Orange drop off what looked to be a knight army just south of Constan during the last IT. :eek:

Also, a question – would an assassin army be invisible still?

>>>SAVE<<< (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/Simeon_of_the_Bulgars,_1248_AD.SAV)

EDIT: Found this to be VERY funny, even if this set didn't show it:
Except for Sesn, we play that scenario the umpteenth time; and given Sesn's preferred playing style is exactly what's needed here to win anyway, it wasn't necessary to enlighten him about the details :lol:

would an assassin army be invisible still?


inquiring minds really want to know :lol:

Im really certain that they do. I used a Ninja Army in Sengoku and that lost its Stealth attack, which was good I guess, as a stealth attacking Ninja army would just own Shoguns. It also got attacked in the open, and the Assaian and the ninja are very similar units.

Got, btw. (We need a smiley to indicate 'Too short')

Bulgars, 1248AD



First, build an Embassy in Constantinople, to check what we have to expect – 11 units, oh well. But Theo is at the receiving end…she’s at war with nearly everyone.

Sell DR to Castile for WM, 30gp and 4gpt. They won’t give Improved Siegecraft, but are about the only Civ lacking DR. Hawk around WM. Try to figure out where Theo gets here Iron from. Must be either Sweden or England. Establish Embassy in Chippenham – no, they have all 3 of their Iron. Establish Embassy in Sigtuna, bingo. Sell Wines to Poland for 126gp.
France, Rus and Abbasids know Education. Buy it from Abbasids for WM and 21gpt. Education to Turks for WM, Invention and 8gp. Ship Germany Horses and Education for Professional Armies. Invention to England for Mercantilism and 30gp. Invention to Poland for Improved Siegecraft and 45gp. Get Furs from Sweden for Education.
Theo has a monopoly on Religious Prosecution, but we’d have to throw in gpt, so I don’t make that deal.
Upgrade a bunch of units. Switch Plisska to University.

Start on Parliament, but will collect money first.

Hire a lot more Taxman. Switch Adrainovdiv from SO to Granary. Larissa to Hospital. Redistribute a lot of tiles for Commerce.

After an hour, press ENTER.
IBT:
Nothing affecting us, Theo lands 2 Inquisitors outside Constantinople?
Couple of WltKDs.

Turn 1: 1251AD
Abbassids have Exchequer, England and France know Rel Prosecution. Now we’re talking.

Sell Theo Education and Professional Armies for Religious Prosecution, WM and 73gp (all she has, makes about 40gpt). Byzantines are not at war with Sweden, England, Cordova, Fatimids, Burgundy and us. Well, that will change :lol:
Sell RelPros and WM to Abbassids for 1330gp.
Get Lost Roman Secrets from Rus for RelPro, WM and 6gpt.
Do an immediate steal on Byz. Succeed, Heavy Cavalry.

We are now at 18670VPs without a single combat :D.

Declare.
Sign MA with Sweden against Theo for ProfA. England wants all our economy, will have to pass here.
Build Embassy in Tripoli.
Buy in Fatimids for Education. Cordova for Medicine. Burgundy for Invention.
Now everyone except for England is at war with Byzantium, an unless I’m completely wrong, England has no longer a trade route to them. Also, since a couple of Dromons where in our territory, I think Theo’s rep is trashed.

Slay the 2 Inquisitors with Elites, no luck. Move in our stack of 9 Trebuchets + cover.

Part-rush University of Pliska. Adjust production to match the new units available. Start joining our native Workers, we’re at 26gpt unit support and have lots of Slaves. Upgrade our only Horse. Kill that Byz Archer in Greece.
IBT:
England drops off a Spear next to Constantinople :crazeye:
Byz land a Cataphract next to undefended Bourgas.

Turn 2: 1254AD
Trebs at Const fail miserably. Kill the Sword with an Assassin, and a Pike with the MDI Army.
Kill the Cataphract in Greece.
IBT:
A single Byz Longbow shows up.

Turn 3: 1257AD
Byz managed to upgrade all Pikes at Constantinople? WTF! Don’t get it. Barely manage to kill one with the Army. Kill the Longbows with Assassins.

Turn 4: 1260AD
Not worth reporting.
IBT:
Inquisition finishes. Arab Medicine finishes.
A completely minor Swedish city completes Hanseatic League.

Turn 5: 1263AD
Off the Longbows at Constantinople. Wonder why Theo isn’t drafting.
Start Magna Charta prebuild in Veliki Preslav.
IBT:
Byz drop Inquisitor in Greece.
Abbassids get Parliament.

Turn 6: 1266AD
Constantinople:
Trebs go 4/6.
MDI Army kills SM.
Elite Assassin kills SM.
Longbow kills SM.
Longbow looses to SM.
Cataphract kills SM, Elite.
Elite MDI kills Spy, and spawns a MGL called ‘leader’.
Vet MDI kills Spy, Elite.
Vet MDI looses to Spy.
Vet Assassin kills Spy.

Stop for that turn. Form Cataphract Army.
Kill the Inquisitor in Greece.
IBT:
Another Inquisitor lands near Athenovdiv.

Turn 7: 1269AD
Constantinople is drafted down to size 11. Notice Theo doesn’t have another Harbor :D .
Trebs do their job.
MDI army kills ¾ SM
Cata Army kills 2/4 SM
Cata Army kills Conscript SM
Elite MDI kills Conscript SM
Vet MDI dies to Vet Spy
Elite Assassin kills Vet Spy
Elite Assassin kills ¼ Spy, and Constantinople falls.
IBT:
Byz Inquisitor impales on SM in Const.
Sweden and Germany sign peace.
Resistance in Constantinople ends. Note our culture matches the Byzantines.
Abbassids start Magna Charta.

Turn 8: 1272AD
Capture Nicae for the loss of a MDI.
IBT:
France and Rus start Magna Charta; our prebuild is at 153sp already, we should have it (Abbassids build it in Bagdhad).

Turn 9: 1275AD
Capture Varna without losses. Rush Settler in Constantinople. Temple in Nicea.
IBT:
Celts want MA against Castile, decline.
Usual Byzantine Inquisitor lands. Resistance in Varna ends.

Turn 10: 1278AD
Approaching.

NOTES:
• There’s a Settler near Nicea, should settle on the red dot.
• Keep enough units in the Fortress on the polluted tile between Nicea and Constantinople to deal with flips.
• Research Intelligence Operations next; if we miss the Magna Charta, keep the prebuild shields and use it for the IA.
• Cities are optimized for units, should require very little MM.
• Always attack with an Assassin first, this tells you all about the defenders (target a Longbow or Spy).
• Capture Ancyra last, obviously.

VP status: 22145 vs France @ 17560.

Don't think I see this again.

Nice relaxed game, gentlemen :thumbsup:

I'll attach the screenies form the investigated cities, for the reference.

The upload server seems down, and I cannot attach the save and most screenshots due to exceeding the size limit. WIll try later again!

Doc, you could also Email it to me. I will PM you my email.

Server is back:

The Save (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/Simeon_Bulgars1278AD.zip)

Tripoli (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/Tripoli.jpg)

Sigtuna (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/Sigtuna.jpg)

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/BulEnd.jpg

The Save (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/Simeon_of_the_Bulgars,_1308_AD.SAV)
IHT: Not much to do.
IBT: Turks and Franks sign against Denmark.
Turn 1: Assualt Ephesus, Take same no losses. Get a pult which for the low price of 30 gold becomes a trebuchet. Rush a few temples in the former Byz lands. Burn a dromon.
IBT: Castille and Celts sign peace. Byz want peace, I say no.
Turn 2: Redline an army without killing a swiss merc. Bummer, Parliment comes in, magna carta in 1. IO in 9 turns.
IBT: England and France Ally against Celts, say goodnight Brennus.
Turn 3: Varna flips to the byz, Magna Carta comes in, Cathedral started. Recapture Varna. Found Haskovo on the Red dot. Heading out to take more cities.
IBT: Not much.
Turn 4: We are pumping military very nicely. Capture Smyrna, burning some more dromons. Build Kazanlak. Kill a few baddies at Sinop.
IBT: Lose a MDI to a longbow
Turn 5: Kill a few units and capture Sinope. March on the next city.
IBT: Cordova and Norway sign peace. Burgundy and Norway sign peace. Jimmy Carter seen leaving the building.
Turn 6: Abbassids have over 12,000 gold. Capture Naissus. Move on Ancyra. Tired of messing with the Byz, and Patience was never a strength of mine.
IBT: Fatimids and Cordovans have signed peace. English put down the Celts. Burgundy and Rus ally against Cordova.
Turn 7: Decide to move up trebs versus Ancyra.
IBT: Stuff.
Turn 8: Capture Dyrachhium. Abbassids are climbing the Byz Tech tree. Kill 5 Swissies at Ancyra, lose 10 units. Hmm Try again next turn I guess.
IBT: Byzantines and Castille sign peace. Castille and Denmark sign peace.
Turn 9: Kill another 5 Swiss in Ancyra, lost 4 units. His best defender is now an unfortified conscript spear. Also killed a conscript spear, and a reg sword and a vet Spy.
IBT: Castile and Sweden sign peace. Cordova and Germany sign peace. We lost our furs.
Turn 10: Whack the Byzantines, get a leader on their king. We have 28,000 VP. I will now pass off with most units unmoved. I think we can go after the abbassids, or declare on them and let them come to us.
Next guy should finish this in 4-6 turns.
Enjoy, and clean this up. This was an ugly set, but the business got done.
Whacking a king with an Elite nearly always gives an MGL, and I was glad to see it come through again for us in Spades.

You know, when I got the last Magyar knig, I specifically saved an elite for it. Nada.

At any rate, thanks for putting up with me guys (yet again), and thanks for helping me realize that the scenarios can be fun too. :)

Good game, all. :goodjob:

We aren't done yet Sesn, but we are in the Home stretch. I was recently kicking around the idea of playing the chineses on Deity in WW2. I was lurking in AK3, and came up with the idea. Any of you guys interested in just a major slugfest where we are short of everything but enemy?

We aren't done yet Sesn, but we are in the Home stretch. I was recently kicking around the idea of playing the chineses on Deity in WW2. I was lurking in AK3, and came up with the idea. Any of you guys interested in just a major slugfest where we are short of everything but enemy?

Sure. I'm in.

Did that already during beta, so I won't participate. but thanks for the invitation.

I'd like to set up an additional challenge for this game:

We all can win this with an arm tied behind the back by whacking a neighbor. A mere clean-up.

But Simeon has decided different. Ashamed by his blowing success in eliminating the Byzantines with her lovely Theodora, while he originally only wanted to make a shopping tour in Constantinovdiv...er Constantinople, he decides to spent the rest of his live in a Monastary and never pick up his sword again.

Now, who can win this fastest without a single combat? :D

Should be a nice training for those not as familiar with diplomacy than with :hammer: ...

Why do I think that's aimed at me as much as anyone else? :p

I'm really not this bad at trading, I just don't know these techs. No excuses though, I'll pick it up and give it a go, perhaps tonight.

I would build as many libraries as possible, and get the first optional techs. The rest of the techs in the tree can be garnered for roughly 100-300 gold. Although each of the techs is only worth around 150-300 VP, and we have 10 techs left total. This might make it hard to Truely win this way, and I would imagine that it would take close to 15-20 turns.
Just my thoughts.

OMG, sorry guys to jump like that in your great game, but couldnt resist cause heck im bulgarian :P i cant believe i havnt come across this mod earlier, hehe and i can see you are doing quite well. I have no essensial remarks on it, except bulgars was the name of the tribe under Khan Asparuh and at the balkans they are called bulgarians :). Ironicly Czar Simeon's dream was to conquer Constantinople and in fact in the 920s AD the relations had gone so bad for the Byzantines that he openly declared himself ruler of Bulgarians and Byzantines. The reasons we adopted christianity is of the need ot have long lasting treaties with byzantium and to rule easily, as you know everything doen in cristianity can be justified in gods name. During the bulgarian supremacy in eastern europe by order of the czar, the cirylic alphabet was created. As for the origin muslim wouldnt be exactly right, the bulgars at the river Volga were in the Great Bulgaria as it is recorded and due to barbaric invasion were forced to abandon their lands and move. As a result 4 nations were founded which only one survives to bear the name of Bulgaria. Religously they were pagean, believing in god Tangra and were sure that different elements of nature have mystical powers.

If you have any questions i'd be happy to answer them and once more great job on the mod, i will definetly play it

Are we all supposed to try and finish this one Doc?
Is it fastest RL time or fastest turns?
Is this game still breathing?
Why am I asking so many questions?
Do I need a beer?

Do I need a beer?

:beer: :beer: (One is never enough)

I have just found out that I am part of the traveling coaching staff for our football team. I will be gone Friday, Saturday and portions of Sunday. Thanks for your patience and sorry for any inconvience.
Go Hardrockers. (Team is South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Hardrockers).

Bulgars 1308AD
Inherited – disband units, order Settlers, sell off unneeded structures (Barracks, Granaries in maxed out cities). Research to 0%, hire Taxman. +314gpt.

1 – 1311AD
Max out Const. Start more Wealth.
IBT:
Watch the other fight.

2 – 1314
Milling is finally known. Buy it from England for Wines, Dyes, WM and 53gpt. Ship Milling, Dyes, Wines, WM and 50gpt to Sweden for Exchequer and Furs. Sell some more spare resources.
VPs 29015.0

3 – 1317AD
Careful steal for Western Church from Castile succeeds (since I sell them Horses, they wouldn’t have declared anyway).
Trade for the other 3 Christian Techs with Castile, Burgundy and Poland.
VPs 29840.
Lend 4050gp from Abbassids for 260gpt.
That’s insane – 4400gp, 17gpt, Silks and Wines is not enough for Defender of Europe!
So, Science to 100% @ -386gpt, DoE in 3 turns (hey, I didn’t know minimum research time here is less than 4, or did we sink some turns into it before?)

4 – 1320AD
Well, now we can buy DoE from the Rus for about 4000gp, 17gpt and Wines. Make the deal, VPs 30040.
IBT:

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/Vic.jpg



Don’t think we would have won in 4 turns by :hammer: .
Anyone faster? :D

Replay reveals nothing exciting. Celts must have been at war with England throughout the whole game, staying alive with not much more than Dalriada until 1296AD (they even got a MGL, oh well…) was a pretty good job; Turks are down to Ghuzz + 2 cities, Poland and Danes have Relics.
We are #1 in power, and even #2 in regular score (behind Abbas).

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/VPScore.jpg


Nice, relaxed, fun, well-conducted game again, Gentlemen :thumbsup: !

Final save (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/SimeonoftheBulgars_1320AD.zip)

Great Job Doc.