[Sword of Islam]: Byzantine Conquest

Turn 0: 1189AD
Move Sunni Missionary out from Smyrna towards Hamah. Upgrade some Cataphracts to Heavy Lancers. Rearrange some defensive Lancers between cities. Move troops out of Ahvaz towards Al-Basra. Invade Georgia. Turn off Spy specialists in a couple of cities, we don't really need any more espionage now. Steal Treasury from both Fatimids and Seljuks with our Assassins for more XP. Trade Sheep to Gujarat for 4gpt. Trade Barley to Yemen for 1gpt.

Turn 1: 1190AD
Black Powder is learnt, choose Welfare State next. Destroy 2x Georgian units. Trebuchets pound Al-Basra for XP. Trade Honey to Gujarat for 2gpt. Trade Barley to Ghaznavids for 4gpt.

Turn 2: 1191AD
Great Engineer is born in Smyrna. I keep for now, bulbing is no longer good use of Great People and we will soon enough need to build the Tokapi Palace. The Assassins return to Damaskos. More XP for Trebuchets at Al-Basra. Destroy a Pirate War Galley @ Cyprus. Rearrange our fleet sending some ships back to the capital, ready for the Venetian Crusaders. Begin to rationalize defenders in Anatolian cities, dismissing some redundant Archers and Spearmen.

Turn 3: 1193AD
Franks respawn as Kingdom of Cyprus. Open Borders with KoC. Some Bulgars spawn in northern Thrace. Grand Bazaar is built in Konstantinopolis. Knights Hospitaller return to Attaleia. Spread Sunni Islam in Hamah. Trade Barley to Ghorids for 2gpt. More XP for Trebuchets at Al-Basra. Destroy 2x Georgian Horsemen.

Turn 4: 1195AD
Welfare State is learnt, choose Military Drill next (14 turns @ 70% science). Prioritize Public Baths in Konstantinopolis. Destroy more Georgian units. Most of their cities are now down to the last defender. Destroy the current wave of Bulgars, including +4XP for the Siphonarios. Great General is born in Attaleia, where I settle him. Attaleia can now produce L4 Marksmen. Upgrade deal with Makuria from 4 to 5gpt. Upgrade some Cataphracts to Heavy Lancers.

Turn 5: 1196AD
Meet Oman (Annoyed). Venetians return to Konstantinopolis. Trade Fish to Khwarezmids for 5gpt. Trade Wheat to Buyids for 1gpt. Healing units outside of Georgian cities. More Cataphract upgrades.

Turn 6: 1198AD
Genoans return to Tarsos. Beat up on more Georgians and also the Rebels in Al-Basra. Upgrade our War Galleys to Great Galleys.

Turn 7: 1199AD
Trade Olives to Seljuks for 2gpt. Trade Wheat to Armenia for 3gpt. Trade Sheep to Oman for 1gpt. Move science up to 80% (1 turn off Military Drill). 589g +20gpt.

Turn 8: 1201AD
Dye exhausted @ Damaskos. Trade Fish to Seljuks for 7gpt. Upgrade deal with Fatimids from 3gpt to 7gpt. Trade Hemp to Yemen for 1gpt. Beat up on some more Georgians. Some of our trebuchets now upgrading to L5.

Turn 9: 1202AD
Bzantine revolt in Al-Basra. Our Spy is lost exploring in Khwarezmid territory. Barda is razed. Trade Sulfur to Fatimids for Horse.

Turn 10: 1204AD
More bombarding @ Al-Basrah. Upgrade some more Cataphracts to Heavy Lancers.

To do:

1. Resist the urge to conquer more cities until we can build Light Cavalry and the Tokapi Palace.
2. Show the Venetian Crusaders what Greek Fire is all about (promote the Siphonarios in the process)
3. Save the Great Engineer for the Tokapi Palace
4. Build a Caravan to explore some of the desert.

I disagree that within Georgia we should aim to keep Poti. Tpilisi is better because it has both Deer and Fur, two of the remaining resources that we do not currently have. Poti has no new resources for our empire.

I think the Dye near Damascus is scripted to go off, just like the hemp near Baghdad. It's not a total loss--convert the former dye to a farm and let Damascus grow a little more.

Yeah, it seems to always be the dye that exhausts. However, I haven't always lost the hemp. I always keep my fingers crossed that I lose the olives next to Ghaza rather than the fish.

Playing now.

Turn 0 Switch espionage on Zengids, because sometimes they have loads of gold.

Turn 1 We make peace with Georgia for 50 gold.

Turn 2 More Heavy Lancers started as we are seriously lacking them in order to decimate the Mongols properly.

Turn 3 Our veteran assassin is caught.

Turn 4 Georgia offeres to vassalise, I refuse. Basra flips, I disband it.

Turn 5 Seljuks and their vassal Ghorids declare war! Stupid AI..
I trade Opium to Fatimids for incense and sell Music Theory for 150 gold. Al-Muizz becomes pleased. Great Scientist is born in Tarsos, I save it for a Golden Age once we have the Shalimar Gardens. Seljuk stack attacks our group of marksmen. They lose 5 trebutchets and one Seljuk HA, three of our marksmen die.


Turn 6 Seljuk army withdraws.

Turn 7 Crusade, finally! They get lucky against one of our ships, but the rest are mopped easily. Their army follows soon after, no losses. Siphonarious gets Drill III. Couple Seljuk trebutchets are killed.


Turn 8 We research Military Drill, next Administrative Reforms (15 turns). Makuria takes Aksum. One of the latins has survived the Byzantine onslaught and is screaming horribly somewhere in the corpse pile, this causes unrest in Constantinople..


Turn 9 Our Empire holds five million citizens. I Open Borders with the Zengids, since they found an annoying nameless city. Our veteran trebutchet stack heads towards Kermanshah to collect experience points.


Turn 10 We get a juicy event!



Note and suggestions

-Should we go for the Patronage Line or for Light Cavalry next?
-Collect experience points for the trebutchets in Kermanshah, but make sure to withdraw before the Mongols spawn.
-We should spare our Great Persons for golden age(s) after the Shalimar Gardens have been built.
-Raise more Heavy Lancers and Bombards against the mongols, they come in with numbers.

Jusos2108 said:

-Should we go for the Patronage Line or for Light Cavalry next?

Click to expand...

We should not obsolete Spiral Minaret for as long as possible. It is way more useful than any of the Wonders that Patronage directly provides. Eventual Shalimar Gardens is not worth destroying our Church/Monastery economy, when there are other tech paths open to us that have more useful military application.

EDIT:
Attaleia doesn't need Public Baths, it is already well above the health cap and going backwards in food due to running out of extra food producing tiles to work. Attaleia has all those settled Great Generals and if we are producing units, we should be using Attaleia before most of our other cities (Ankyra excepted).
Wasit has 2x unhappy citizens, suggest a Weaver is the next building to be built here.

I completely agree--Patronage wonders/Shalimar Gardens/Taj Mahal aren't worth it until we research all the other useful military techs.
Too bad we don't have pictures of the Latin crusade...I've always wondered how many units were represented.
Will play after I get back from the gym...

0. Switch Attaleia to heavy lancers. Maximized pop growth in Amastris.
1. Razed Kermanshah (will flip to Safavids in the future, if we play that far).
2. Phasis(newly indy) wants to join us--I disband the city. Oman wants us to be Sunni--no.

3. Mongols have reached the Caucasus! They raze Otrar (Khwarezmid city).
4. Some Bulgar horse archers appear around Adrianopolis. Al-Muizz is the Sharif of Hejaz. 2 more Khwarezmid cities captured by Mongols. We destroy the 10+ stack of Seljuk horse archers and spearmen near Samarra with no losses. I don't know what's up with Amastris' artists :

I decide to make peace with the Seljuks for Hamadan which has decent production. (I wanted Esfahan but they won't give it).
5. Kill a Mongol east of Trapezounta. KoC wants to vassalize, no.

6. Steal 165 g from Zengids.
7. Jews settle in Perre.
8. Byzantine revolt in Tpilisi?! Assassin caught in Zengid capital. Knights Hospitaller comes to Smyrna, adding 13 hammers and making it the most productive city.
9. Rayy (Seljuk) captured by Mongols.
10. Kill a Mongol who dared to pillage our iron mine near Hamadan. Mashdad (Seljuk) captured by Mongols.

To do:
1. Mongols will come pretty soon to Anatolia, we still need some more heavy lancers around Ankyra. Hamadan has a major stack which can mop up the Seljuk cities after they collapse.
2. Administrative Reform will be done in 2 turns--build Topkapi Palace (don't need GE--better saved for golden age) and I think we can start our expansion after the Mongols are gone.
3. Most Anatolian cities are building gold to achieve 100% science.
4. Cartography is only 2 turns and might net us a lot of gold by selling maps. I usually sell the map before I build the Embassy to maximize the value of our current map.

blizzrd said:

EDIT:
Attaleia doesn't need Public Baths, it is already well above the health cap and going backwards in food due to running out of extra food producing tiles to work. Attaleia has all those settled Great Generals and if we are producing units, we should be using Attaleia before most of our other cities (Ankyra excepted).
Wasit has 2x unhappy citizens, suggest a Weaver is the next building to be built here.

Click to expand...

You are completely forgetting the plague that's going to hit after 1300, we need all the health we can spare. Maybe it is a bit early, but still.

AnotherPacifist said:

Too bad we don't have pictures of the Latin crusade...I've always wondered how many units were represented.

Click to expand...

5 Foot Knights, 2 trebutchets, 1 Italian crossbowman, 1 Italian infantry.

AnotherPacifist said:

snip..
I decide to make peace with the Seljuks for Hamadan which has decent production.
snip..

Click to expand...

Why would you ever take Hamadan. Now we need to defend it too against the Mongols and it slows our science. Useless.

AnotherPacifist said:

snip..
3. Most Anatolian cities are building gold to achieve 100% science.

Click to expand...

We still need more units to counter the Mongols in Anatolia, Iraq and Persia.

Jusos2108 said:

You are completely forgetting the plague that's going to hit after 1300, we need all the health we can spare. Maybe it is a bit early, but still.

Click to expand...

No I'm not completely forgetting it, but no need to build Baths in a city with 2x Great Generals this far out when we are in need of military unit production.

Why would you ever take Hamadan. Now we need to defend it too against the Mongols and it slows our science. Useless.

Click to expand...

I was similarly wondering why we expanded, when the idea was not to expand. I believe my suggestion was along the lines of "avoid the temptation to conquer any new cities for now". Apparently not.

Turn 1: The mongols have started conquering cities in Armenia. I continue building units, and send some forces back from Hamadan to defend Iraq.


Turn 2: Administrative reform finished, started cartography (1 turn). I start Topkapi palace in our best production city Hamah (13 turns).

Turn 3: Cartography finished, started Matchlock (11 turns). A large stack of mongols come to the now-destroyed Poti. They might threaten Trebizond, which is essentially undefended (1 marksman, 1 archer), so I redirect forces there. Iraq start to build walls. Two great engineers are sleeping in Smyrna, one great artist and one great scholar in Constantinople. I sell our world map for a total of 480 gold (and some other maps).


Turn 4: Trebizond starts Ibn Bauttas Embassy, other cities mostly produce units or walls/castles. Mongol stack headed towards Armenia, not us. Orthodoxy spread in Hamadan.

Turn 5: Sell sorghum to fatimids for clams. They declare war on Makuria.

Turn 6: Makuria wants to vassalize, Fatimids wants us to declare war on Makuria, I deny both. Buyids finally collapse. Ani (Armenian capital) is captured by mongols. "The mongol empire has launched a major offensive with the intent of capturing Anatolia." We'll see how that goes!


Turn 7: The mongols are at the gate. Tblisi captured by Armenia, so they are at least fighting. Both stacks of mongols are destroyed, for the loss of one bombard.


Turn 8: Nine more mongols arrive. War against Makuria seems to be going well for Fatimids. Both stacks are destroyed for the loss of two bombards. A great general is born in Constantinople. I'm not sure of where to settle him, do we want to have him closer to the Indian front later for siege weapons? I let him wait two turns in Constantinople for safety, so we can decide on where to settle him.


Turn 9: Nine mongols outside Ankyra. They are destroyed for the loss of a bombard.


Turn 10: Ten more mongols near Ankyra. They are destroyed, though we lose one bombard and two heavy lancers. A second round of map selling gives 455 gold, and ivory from Makuria for the cost of honey.


I think that was the last Mongol in Anatolia. Total cost: 5 bombards, two heavy lancers. All improvements saved.

To do: Slaughter mongols in Iraq!

For those lurking: In this game, we were extremely well prepared and knew where to expect the Mongols. The first times I met the Mongols as Byzantines, Turks or Khwarezmids were much more dangerous and epic.

When I said "most cities were building gold" I meant the cities that are out of harm's way (Smyrna, Constantinople). Cities with GGs were still building units.

Re: Hamadan:
If we don't get GG points from Mongols (previous versions), I would not have taken Hamadan. Besides, taking a good city with intact infrastructure and 100% culture (because they gave it to us) isn't too bad, especially as an advance post to station troops when we're ready to expand (which is quite soon). We have so much science that it barely made any difference to our rate (slowing down just 1 turn at most). Also, since most of our established cities have finished economy buildings, and we need to expand our economy continuously, Hamadan isn't hurting in that respect.

We have PLENTY of troops to defend it and Iraq, especially now that they are promoted with the XP from killing the Mongols in Anatolia. Those heavy lancers will reach Iraq in 3 moves.
---
Why build the Embassy in Trebizond? Why not Smyrna (to concentrate the great people points)?

Which city is building the Topkapi Palace?

Wasit needs a church or something to keep them happy before a library.

There are a lot of workers sleeping, now that the Mongols are destroyed, send them to Iraq and Levant (where I'm sure there will be more improvements destroyed).

"I start Topkapi palace in our best production city Hamah (13 turns)."
The reason for embassy in Trebizond was that it was a non-prioritized wonder with no city-specific effects except the one great people point, that still took quite a while to finish.

Yep, workers from Anatolia should head down. I thought improvements would need rebuilding in Anatolia and kept them there, but we were too well-prepared

Downloading now.

Is it safe for me to assume we are done with Mongols in Anatolia? If so, I'll move all our forces to Mesopotamia.

I think so. But many soldiers are hurt, so we might as well let them heal up in Anatolia and be the rearguard.

1247: Change Wasit from library to weaver
GG sent to Perre

1249:Build units in Anatolia
Samarra finishes castle; begins weaver
Perre finishes University; begins market
steal 48g from Zengids

1250: Bagdad fisnishes library; begins university
Kufa finishes castle; begins market
Hamadan finishes courthouse; begins guild hall
GS born in Constantiniople
Armenia+Zengids declare war on Yemen.

1252: Refuse Ghorid invitation to declare war on Makuria
Matchlock learned; Wheelock research begins
Samounta finishes heavy lancer; begins pikeman
European General settles in our lands; I choose to give all our mounted units shock (other choice was to give melee units pinch)
GG sleeps in Perre

1253: Build more units in Anatolia/Damascus; I start building Arquebusiers.
Hamhah finishes Topkapi Palace; begins university
Wasit finishes weaver; begins Textile Factory
Mongols spawn near Hamadan, but in Seljuk territory (so I can't fight them yet)

1255: Mongols everywhere
Refuse another request to delcare war on Nubia
Refuse KoC's offer to be vassal
Peace with rebels (event)
Bagdad hemp exausted

1258: Hulagu Khan and his forces destroyed NE of Baghdad.

1259: Perre finishes market; begins confectioner
GG born in Hamah

1261: Refuse Zengid request for war with Yemen

1262: Hamah finishes university begins bank
Ahvaz finishes university; begins confectioner

In sum, the Mongols killed an Italian Crossbowman, a trebuchet and about three HL's. I spent my last few turns mopping them up. I now have stacks of HLs outside Mongolian controlled cities in Persia and have whittled them down to one defender each. I suggest the next player should raze these cities on turn zero, but I didn't want to unilaterally do it myself. (or should we keep some of the cities even though they flip to Safavids?)

Also, we now have a pair of unused GGs, which city should we settle them in? Or should we build military academies in Ankara and Attalea?

I say either build military academies in Attaleia and Ankyra, or settle both in Hamah.

Nice job with Persia. I would raze everything but either keep Esfahan, or raze it and build another city around there. Oman likes to build cities in Persia if they're not held in check (they'll probably try to conquer Shiraz).
Note it's after 1250, we should conquer Egypt ASAP. The Fatimids should really die.
We need another stack to take on the Ottomans in 1300.

Fatimids will build the Embassy wonder on our next turn (1 turn before Trapezounta will build it).

I propose to use a Great Engineer to build it in Smyrna on Turn 0 instead. Any objections? At least we will get the (~450) from the production using this approach.

Trapezounta was a poor choice of location to build this wonder.

That's fine, 450 g is better than nothing. Agree that Trapezounta wasn't the best choice. (in general I build wonders in just a few cities to avoid dilution of GP points)

any way I could convince you guys to link the turnsets into the op?