[Sword of Islam]: Byzantine Conquest

Please don't (I don't have enough space and I've already deleted some of them).

I just meant links to the posts that contain the actual turns (ala Jusos first post in the SOI strategy thread)

Turn 0: 1262AD
17g - 157gpt @ 100% science. Time for some trading. Trade World Map to Zengids for 20g. Algebra to Makuria for 40g + WM + get them to change civics. Algebra to Sindh for 80g. Trade Wheat to Sindh for 3gpt. Music Theory to Armenia for 50g + WM and change civics. Trade WM to Solanki for their WM. Trade Algebra to Ghaznavids for 190g. Trade Stern Rudder to Ghorids for 20g. Demand 20g from Yemen. Trade WM to Oman for 80g. Trade WM to Malwa for 5g + WM. Trade WM to KoC for 10g + WM. Trade WM to Makuria for 10g. Trade Optics to Fatimids for 70g.

Switch Trapezounta away from building Ibn Battuta's Embassy. Rush Embassy in Smyrna with a Great Engineer. Dorylaion has no Fairground, so I stop producing Wealth there to start a Fairground. Amastris switches from Arqubusier to Aqueduct in preparation for the Black Death. Send our sleeping Great Spy out exploring towards the fog of war. Settler our 2x Great Generals in Hamah. Destroy a Barb Muslim Maceman @ Damaskos.

Dismiss some unpromoted defensive units. Adrianopolis starts a Religious Prosecutor to clear Amastris of Sunni Islam. Start some Orthodox Churches/Monasteries in Iraqi cities before Textile Factories. Upgrade our Horseman in Damaskos. Tehran is razed. Gorgon is razed. Qazvin is razed. I hold off capturing Esfahan, hoping that it will flip to us with some infrastructure intact. Upgrade our Heavy Spearman @ Adrianopolis to a Pikeman.

As our next target is Cairo, I re-route a bunch of our Heavy Lancers and other units from Iraq and Anatolia through Fatimid territory whilst we still have Open Borders in place. Some of these units head for Makkah, and some for Jerusalem but most head for Cairo.

Turn 1: 1264AD
Trade Barley to Solanki for 8gpt. Trade WM to them also for 80g. Ibn Battuta's Embassy is built in Smyrna. More Orthodox buildings started in Iraqi cities. Samsounta joins the anti-Black Death production list with some Public Baths. Trade Pig + Cow to Fatamids for Gold + 1gpt. WM trading (various) for 190g. Upgrade deal with Oman from 1 to 2gpt. Trade Fish to Ghorids for 3gpt. Trade Barley to Ghaznavids for 6gpt. Raze Mahabad. Raze Shiraz. Finish with 666g -228gpt @ 100% science.

Turn 2: 1265AD
Esfahan joins us! Trade WM to Makuria for 60g. Dorylaion finishes Fairground and builds more health. Hamah builds an Orthodox Missionary (eventually for Esfahan). Hamadan finishes Guild Hall, starts Blacksmith.

Turn 3: 1267AD
Yazd razed. Steal 60g from Zengids. Spread our Espionage around amongst all civs instead of focusing on Zengids (with whom we already have way more than we are every going to need). In hindsight I think we should have been sending espionage to Fatimids, they probably have a tech that we could steal at the moment. Troops continue to move through Fatimid territory towards Cairo, Makkah and Jerusalem.

Turn 4: 1268AD
Esfahan cultural borders expand (after building some culture). Kufah razed. Hook up Silk outside Hamadan (+40gpt due to companies). More troops moving into position.

Turn 5: 1270AD
Rice @ Ahvaz is exhausted. Bam razed.

Turn 6: 1271AD
Perre water supply is poisoned. Makuria collapses, we lose our access to Ivory. Raze Baku. Purge Sunni Islam from Amastris.

Declare War on Fatimids. Capture and raze Acre after winning a Relic. Capture Makkah, Al-Muizz loses Sharif of Hejaz title.
Troops approach Cairo en-masse and also approach Jerusalem.

Turn 7: 1272
A Heavy Lancer which approached the hills east of Cairo from a tile which didn't have Fatimid culture in Sinai acts as a decoy to our main stack, as the Fatimids bring their big stack of Trebuchets, Marksmen and Berber Cavalry out to meet it. The Heavy Lancer dies, but takes 3 Fatimid units down before succumbing. Cairo is left with just 4 defenders, and for the loss of 3x Heavy Lancers, we capture Cairo. (Forgot screenpic, sorry).

Meanwhile over in Palestine, Jerusalem has many more defenders than Cairo but most of them are Berber Cavalry which our Heavy Lancers have >90% odds against. We capture Jerusalem for the loss of one Heavy Cavalry to the best Marksman defender. Gaza is also captured and razed (no loss).

Turn 8: 1274AD
Ajmer vassalises to Solanki. Remnant Mongols (3 units in total) appear @ Perre and Damaskos and are summarily dispatched. Steal 51g from Zengids. Our main stack of Heavy Lancers cross the Sinai peninsula and smash into the main Fatimid stack. For the loss of one Heavy Lencer, we destroy 1x Spearman, 2x Marksmen, 3x Berber Cavalry and 8x Trebuchets (mostly due to collateral damage). There are about 6 Fatimid units left in their main stack after these losses, mostly injured.

Trade Religious Unity to Malwa for 10g + WM which reveals most of the fog in India. Trade Sheep to Ajmer for 2gpt. Various WM trading for 80g. Our peace with (one of) the Rebels finally expires and we Raze Sirat. Spread Orthodoxy in Esfahan.

Turn 9: 1276AD
Refugees arrive in Esfahan. Assassins company arrives in Esfahan. Fatimid injured units run away and hole up in Domyat, their new capital. Our Trebuchets arrive at Al-Aqaba and pound the walls. All but one defender is removed from Al-Aqabah (ran out of Heavy Lancers in the vicinity). Capture and raze Tabuk (SE of Al-Aqabah).

Turn 10: 1277AD
Remove most defenders from Domyat. I think there are just 3 left and some workers/boats. Raze Al-Aqabah. Raze Mashhad. Lots of healing of Heavy Cavalry in Cairo. Makkah comes out of revolt, starts a Work Boat for the Pearls.

To do:

• Clean up the Fatimids. They are currently willing to give us Alexandria in exchange for peace, and given it has at least one Wonder we need to keep this city so it might be worth getting it intact with infrastructure. Plan B is to sue for peace and get Companies (which Fatimids have already learnt - I knew we should have had our espionage on them). Less likely to work though.
• Build some Light Cavalry once Wheellock comes in (2 turns).
• We are about to get our 2/3 UHV Golden Age during the next turn set. No need to use the Great People for a Golden Age just yet perhaps?
• We need to decide which cities to keep in each civ's spawn zone.
• We have accumulated a reasonable stack of units in Dorylaion ready for the Ottoman spawn, but we will need to keep adding to this stack over the next two turn sets.
• We should build a regular stream of Orthodox Missionaries in Damaskos and keep them heading to the far reaches of our Empire to ensure that Orthodoxy is spread.
• We only need build military units in Ankyra, Attaleia and Hamah from here. No more 4XP promoted units from other random cities please.

I just hit end-turn after posting the save and the Fatimids collapse instantly.

So we should definitely sue for peace on Turn 0 and ask for Alexandria and Medina (I think they will give us both), both of which have World Wonders and therefore (SG rules) we cannot raze. We may as well get the infrastructure intact too.

Actually, we did not become the Sharif of Hejaz just like we are not the Commander of the Faithful. Al-Muizz lost the title.

As Orthodox, we cannot assume any of the Islamic titles.

I would raze Al Minya and leave Al-Uqsur alone, wait for the Mamluks to spawn (with a much smaller force) in Al-Uqsur, and then vassalize them while feeding them cities from Makuria. Mamluks can always respawn so it's best to vassalize them.

I say we should turn our attention next to Oman and Yemen (to avoid them founding/conquering rebel cities in Persia). Armenia and the Kingdom of Cyprus can probably be left till last since they are the closest to us.

AnotherPacifist said:

Actually, we did not become the Sharif of Hejaz just like we are not the Commander of the Faithful. Al-Muizz lost the title.

Click to expand...

Yes I realised that we are not Sharif of Hejaz this morning when I re-read my post.

Instead of a workboat, I would build a great galley first (otherwise the workboat will be pillaged by Yemen and pirates).

For India, these are the cities I would keep:

Ghorids: Peshawar
Gujarat: Dwarka (the Hindu shrine has been built). Anhilwara and Khambhat look rather tasty too but our stability might not allow them.
Malwa: Dhara Nagari
Ajmer: Ajayameru
Bahmani: Mambai
Sindh: Thatta
Samanids/Khwarezmids/Timurids: Samarkand.

If the Ghorids are not alive but the Sultanate of Delhi is, then Delhi is a must. AFAIK Multan and Lahore don't flip to SoD if the owners are solid or stable, but I've had a Delhi flip to them when I was stable.

AnotherPacifist said:

I would raze Al Minya and leave Al-Uqsur alone, wait for the Mamluks to spawn (with a much smaller force) in Al-Uqsur, and then vassalize them while feeding them cities from Makuria. Mamluks can always respawn so it's best to vassalize them.

I say we should turn our attention next to Oman and Yemen (to avoid them founding/conquering rebel cities in Persia). Armenia and the Kingdom of Cyprus can probably be left till last since they are the closest to us.

Click to expand...

Agree with this general approach. Don't forget that we need a city in Makuria for ourselves at some point.

I have to say though that the KoC looooves to found cities on the Levant when space opens up (like around Acre and Gaza) in their spawn territory. As my vassal when I played Byzantines without founding Hamah but have Ar-Raqqah and Damascus, I've seen them refound Tripoli 3 times (when I disbanded it 2 times).

jammerculture said:

I just meant links to the posts that contain the actual turns (ala Jusos first post in the SOI strategy thread)

Click to expand...

Done. Check out the 2nd post in the thread.

cool thanks your the man I am going to attempt to distill what you all have done into a general strategy for Byzzies

Unfortenately I can't play until sunday, so you skip me for this round.

OK, I'll play tonight.

Same for me, I'll be unable to play before sunday, so skip me this round too.

OK, I'll go after AP then.

0. Make peace with Fatimids, receive Alexandria and Madinah in return. Wheelock delayed by 1 turn due to those extra cities.
1. Fatimids collapse. I attack Domyat. Lots of heavy lancers in the eastern part of the map... but as I noted above, Oman needs to be eradicated (and without galleys it's a little tough to do with the really long trek in the desert, so Ormuz needs to be captured). Relic settled in Tarsus.
Workers building roads around Ghaznavid territory towards Khwarezmia and beyond.
2. Domyat (Tamiathis) is razed.
3. Cairo gets refugees and Orthodoxy. Wheelock learned, chemistry next. Sell map for 200 g. Trade for silver (which we have none) from Oman with sulfur (the only thing they want). 2 turns of espionage tells us that San'aa might be a little challenging without a surprise attack:

4. Kill a couple Bulgarians. Makkah gets Orthodoxy. Al-Minya is razed (alas, we lose 24 piety due to Orthodoxy there).
5. Dorylaion gets Sunni purged. Troops amassing in Makkah. Send workers there to build a road towards Yemen. Road towards Ormuz being built. Marv razed.
Some Mongols appear near Damascus.
6. Uneventful.
7. Chemistry done, professional armies next (I decided to delay Metallurgy since it obsoletes the Theodosian Walls). Great scientist born in Smyrna. I move him and the great engineer back to the capital (in case they flip to the Ottomans).
Al-Uqsur razed. (Aswan is still there so the Mamluks can still respawn there I think)
Ormuz captured by Sindh! Stupid Zengids found Rakka.
8. Bukhara is razed. I decide to attack Sindh since Ormuz is not a bad city to build ships from which to attack Oman. OB with Oman.
9. Golden age starts! (we control at least 8 provinces in 1290). I switch to serfdom and Theocracy (cheaper civics)--we can always go back to OR towards the end. We get some Persian rugs:

Ghaznavids found Gwadar. I capture Ormuz but all the infrastructure is gone. So I build a settler in Hamadan and we should build a city around there (for more infrastructure).
10. Refugees arrive in Esfahan. I decide to start the Summer Palace in Cairo. Khiveh razed.

To do:
1. Ottomans will appear in 1300. Do NOT attack them until the next move (otherwise they get free units). Our major stack is sitting on the iron SE of Constantinople. I would kill their units the 2nd move, then move as many units out as possible of the spawn area after killing their 2nd stack. (that area is Dorylaion and Smyrna) I left a heavy lancer and marksman in Smyrna in case their stack spawns near there.
2. Build city near Ormuz and start ships there for transport to Oman. Normally I would build a drydocks but seeing that we probably only need 2-3 boats, that's not necessary.
3. Major stack is sitting outside Yemeni territory. They do have quite a number of marksmen so we may need to kill them with some more siege machines. A spy is en route to Sana'a so we can open city gates.
4. Aswan is left for the Mamluks to respawn. A medium sized stack is sitting just south of Cairo for that. (Cairo has 2 settled GGs so should build units from there for the rest of Africa).
5. Ghaznavids are rather peskily founding cities in eastern Persia. They should be our next target after Oman and Yemen.
6. The various stacks of heavy lancers that were sent towards the east are just happily razing cities in future Timurid land. I think we should leave Samarkand (for future conquest) but destroy the improvements.
7. We're still at war with Sindh, so be careful. I left a stack near the former site of Ormuz.
8. After the Ottomans are gone, go for Metallurgy. We can use some more production in our cities.
9. ?Switch back to OR later. Personally I would like to do Free Religion (or whatever it's called in this mod) but that might go against our goals. (Can one even build persecutors when in Free Religion?)

I'll play my set tomorrow morning.

I did half of my turn-set and the Ottomans flipped our stack on the iron. Should I redo the set or should I keep playing?

Turn 0: 1292 AD: Nothing

Turn 1: 1294 AD: Free Scholar in Constantinople. Raze Urganj.

Turn 2: 1295 AD: I carelessly lose a worker in Sogdiana to a weakened Mongolian HA.

Turn 3: 1297 AD: The weakened Mongol HA parks itself next to our bombard in Sogdiana. The odds were 86.6% and the bombard had 4/5 experience so I thought it would be worth it to attack the HA.
Unfortunately, the HA won and destroyed the bombard, but I destroyed the HA with a Marksman.

Turn 4: 1298 AD: Sindhi city of Chachkand razed.

Turn 5: 1300 AD: Ottomans spawn and flip our stack on the Iron SE of Constantinople (should I redo this turnset?)

Turn 6: 1301 AD:

Turn 7: 1303 AD:

Turn 8: 1304 AD:

Turn 9: 1306 AD:

Turn 10: 1307 AD:

You're kidding, right? Of course replay it!

Just reposition the stack then! Sit them 1SE of Constantinople if you have to! Trial and error!
Bombards and trebuchets should never be unprotected--it takes way too long to get them where they are. I would rather lose 2 heavy lancers than a trebuchet next to a city.