[Sword of Islam]: Byzantine Conquest

If this was my personal game, I'd definitely replay it, but I wanted to fly it by you guys first.

I actually initiated that attack with the bombard; I thought the experience would be worth it.

At this stage, since we have so many troops, the value of siege machines is exactly that--siege. I only use them for knocking city walls down and to soften stacks in cities (only with city-attack promoted bombards and trebuchets). Individual units out in the open should be killed with cavalry.

1 SE of Constantinople still doesn't work, so I'm going to try inside the city itself.

Science Rules said:

1 SE of Constantinople still doesn't work, so I'm going to try inside the city itself.

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That's unfortunate...because it's very possible that we won't be able to reach Smyrna in time across their territory if their 2nd stack spawns near there...should have built more noble horsemen instead of heavy lancers. The few light cavalry I was able to squeeze near the end might not be enough.

Why are the Ottomans spawning? o.0 I thought they wouldn't show up if the Rum-Seljuks were wiped out soon enough.

Gruekiller said:

Why are the Ottomans spawning? o.0 I thought they wouldn't show up if the Rum-Seljuks were wiped out soon enough.

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I think the Ottoman spawn isn't related to the speed at which the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum dies. If Rum is strong enough, perhaps Ottomans do not spawn? I have never not seen the Ottomans spawn myself.

The code for Ottoman spawn is based on Rum's stability (similarly for Ghorids vs. Sultanate of Delhi, Fatimids vs the other Egyptian civs). 10 turns prior to the Ottoman spawn, if Rum is anything other than stable, depending on the number of cities they have, they are scripted to collapse. They can later respawn as the Karamanids. Also depends whether the human is playing Rum or not.
The specific code is in Riseandfall.py--makes quite interesting reading to decipher the intentions of edead. (for example, it looks like at one point the Zengids might have been playable...)

After a few tries, I finally kept our stack from flipping to the Ottomans!

Turn 0: 1292 AD: Nothing

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

Turn 2: 1295 AD: Nothing (I've stopped listing all the spam the AI leaders give us)

Turn 3: 1297 AD: Nothing

Turn 4: 1298 AD: Mongols raze Rakka and we get refugees.

Turn 5: 1300 AD: Ottomans spawn. Sindhi city of Chachkand razed. Armenia takes Samarkand.

Turn 6: 1302 AD: Ottomans obliterated. I declare war on Yemen and move our stack in. Our assassin is in Sana'a and our stack will be at the city gates in a few turns.
Yemen has sent a small stack of their own to greet ours. Bukhara flips to us . I disband it.

Turn 7: 1304 AD: Razed Fargana. Razed Otrar

Turn 8: 1306 AD: Troops are adjacent to Sana'a. Ottomans are back and looking for trouble. They flipped Smyrna's garrison. I dispatch cavalry from Constantinople to the hills south of their spawn zone.

Turn 9: 1308 AD: Professional Armies Learned. I select Metallurgy and Heavy Armor as our next research project, but this is just a placeholder.
I use the Assassin to put Sana'a into a revolt and take the city. A pair of Heavy Lancers exploit weak Sindhi defenses and raze Bela (I lost one of the HLs though). Ottomans routed for the second time.
We have two GGs born in Constantinople (one from Professional Armies and another earned the old-fashioned way). I put them to sleep given the existential Ottoman threat.

We really should keep 1 city in the far east as the base of our Indian operations (to minimize costs of troops outside our territories). Thatta might be a good candidate (once the Sindh capital is razed or if Sindh collapses).

Settling the 2 GGs in a far east city might also help us produce troops closer to the Indians. We should use one for a military academy, and one settled (so that siege machines have 2 promotions). Thatta, Ghazni or the city south of Ghazni (just NW of the mountain pass) might be good candidates--they all have decent production.

BTW, we should just produce light cavalry from the Anatolian cities from now on--nothing else is going to get to the front lines in time. Cities closer to the frontline can build things like marksmen and pikemen.

On turn 0, please move all available heavy lancers (that still have 2 movement) to Attaleia. All troops left in Ottoman territory by turn 1 (after killing the flipped units) should be disbanded. Smyrna and Dorylaion can be undefended (since we're in serfdom we can always draft marksmen, but if there are no units to flip, they can't capture our cities!).

I'll play in about 2-3 hours

What's wrong with our cavalry's current location? (except the one in Smyrna)

Actually, nothing is wrong with your placement in terms of flipping. But we don't need any more troops close to the Ottoman spawn area any more. Get the troops back to the closest city (Attaleia) to heal up before sending them east.

All we need to do on turn 0 is to delete heavy lancer in Smyrna and move the marksman in Dorylaion to Ankyra. The worker north of Smyrna will flip, but he can be captured later on.

OK, I understand now. This is the first time I've ever refused a flip in a game of mine. I wasn't sure if there could possibly be more Ottoman units on the way. There's also a former Ottoman worker north of Smyrna. Do we need to delete him as well?

BTW, I forgot to mention earlier that I founded Bandar-e-Abbas.

Deleting the worker is not a bad idea (it will eliminate the "we want to join our motherland" unhappiness). But it's not really necessary and we can recapture him later on.

Got Internet again, so I'll be ready to resume my spot after AP has played the next time, provided there is anything left of the world

Oh, don't worry, I think the honor of killing the first Indian civ will probably belong to you. (I, on the other hand, would like to do the Ghaznavids, since they're just in our way and founding cities where there should be none)

I am back too and able to play after Blizzrd.

Sorry for the slight delay. My monitor went "bzzzt" and stopped working whilst I was on Turn 9 yesterday. I'm sending this message from my work computer. I now possess a new monitor and will finish the turn set tonight.

AnotherPacifist said:

Oh, don't worry, I think the honor of killing the first Indian civ will probably belong to you. (I, on the other hand, would like to do the Ghaznavids, since they're just in our way and founding cities where there should be none)

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I have attacked the Ghaznavids and they are now collapsed. All of their Persian cities are gone and their core cities are independent.

In that case, rrosen, you might win the game for us, since Jusos will probably take out the Omani and an Indian civ, while I mop up Africa and another Indian civ. Don't forget the Armenians, KoC and Timurids.

Science Rules, you only played 9 turns in that set, so I started my set at Turn -1.

Turn -1: 1308AD
568g - 90gpt. We have some cities with a problem that can easily be rectified by trading Dates to Armenia for Deer. Sorted. Disband a Worker near Smyrna and the Heavy Lancer in Smyrna. Evacuate our Marksman from Dorylaion. That should put an end to the Ottomans, although the "some of our units are joining the enemy" will persist for a while yet. Dismiss a whole range of redundant units, generally unpromoted defensive units. We still have a lot of Marksmen parked on hills dotted around Eastern Anatolia - do we still need these? I kept them, but I think they might not be needed any longer. Upgrade our Horseman in Damaskos to Light Cavalry. Use an Arquebusier to destroy a Barbarian Horse Archer that has pillaged our Iron near Esfahan.

Change production orders in a number of cities. We are operating at 100% science, so as a general rule we should prioritize science buildings before gold buildings to make best use of our commerce. Also, we should be ready for the Black Death soon and there are many buildings that have not yet been built in some of our cities. We will also need more to allow Foundries once Metallurgy is learnt. And we have dropped down below 80 Piety (which give the Blessed promotion bonus to our newly built units) so we should focus on spreading Orthodoxy and building more Orthodox buildings to get our Piety above 80.

Damaskos -> Orthodox Missionary (for Sana'a). Hierosolyma -> Blacksmith. Al-Qahira -> Orthodox Church. Tarsos -> Jewish Quarter. Kaisareia -> Religious Prosecutor (for Smyrna). Trapezounta -> Orthodox Missionary (for Phasis). Sevasteia -> Hospital. Kufa -> Orthodox Monastery. Ahvaz -> Public Baths. Perre -> Public Baths. Hamadan -> Library. Hamah -> Public Baths.

Switching to producing buildings instead of Wealth means that (a) we should be in Organized Religion and not Theocracy and (b) we need more funds, at least while we build a bit more infrastructure. And seeing as how we have all of these Great People sitting around, the time has come to put some of them to use. Selecting a Great Artist and Great Scientist from our Capital, we launch a Golden Age. Switch to Organized Religion (weren't we supposed to switch back to this just before the end of our last Golden Age?).

Trade our World Map to various civs for a total of 90g. Trade Citrus to Zengids for 1gpt. Upgrade our deal with Malwa from 1gpt to 2gpt. Trade Music Theory to Solanki for 150g. Upgrade our deal with Armenia from 5gpt to 7gpt. Request 100g from Armenia for 10 turns of peace. Pillage a huge number of improvements outside of our cultural borders for a total of 215g. We finish with 983g - 183gpt @ 100% science (in a Golden Age).

Turn 0: 1310AD
Perre gets a Confectioner event, I choose the +2. Attaleia and Ankyra both finish Light Cavalry and start Public Baths. Wasit finishes Market and starts Orthodox Monastery. Upgrade our deal with Ghorids from 3gpt to 4gpt. Trade Algebra around for a total of 180g. Pillage lots more improvements for a total of 226g.

Destroy a Yemeni Axeman outside of Madinah. Destroy a Sindh Swordsman NW of Thattah. We don't have enough units to do anything to the Sindh at this point and they aren't prepared to give up a good city for peace, so I accept peace for 70g + their World Map. Destroy a Rebel Marksman at Kashgar.

Turn 1: 1312AD
Tarsos finishes Jewish Quarter, starts Royal Mausoleum. More cultural pressure on KoC can't hurt? Damaskos starts another Orthodox Missionary (for Oman or Soccotra). Esfahan finishes Textile Factory, starts Orthodox Church. Spread Orthodoxy in Phasis (Armenian). Settle our 2x Great Generals in Sevasteia, which has better production than most of our other cities (that do not already have 2x Great Generals). Pillage lots more improvements for a total of 204g.

Destroy another Rebel Archer at Kashgar. Declare War on Ghaznavids and invade Tocharistan. Meanwhile in Yemeni territory, our troops arrive at the gates of Zabid.

Turn 2: 1314AD
Bukhara (Barbarian) joins us and is disbanded. Smyrna switches back to Wealth. Attaleia, Ankyra and Hamah finish Public Baths and revert to Light Cavalry production. Kaisareia finishes Religious Prosecutor and starts Public Baths. Damaskos finishes Orthodox Missionary, starts Sunni Mosque. Kufa finishes Orthodox Monastery, starts Library. Ahvaz finishes Public Baths, starts Hospital. Perre finishes Public Baths, starts Hospital. Alexandria finishes Guild Hall, starts Blacksmith. Al-Qahira finishes Orthodox Church and starts Aqueduct.

More Mongols spawn near Damaskos. Kashgar is razed. Our Light Cavalry invade Ghaznavid territory in Western Khorasan. Destroy a Rebel stack of 4 units that had moved out from Aswan into neutral territory. Our Caravan completes a Trade Mission in the Zengid capital. Our troops pound Zabid and remove 2x defenders. Various pillaging for a total of 68g. Trade Citrus to Sindh for 4gpt.

Turn 3: 1316AD
Our defenders on the hills outside Damaskos kill all of the Mongols who foolishly attacked. Sevasteia finishes Hospital and starts Light Cavalry production. Samarra finishes Library and starts Aqueduct. Esfahan finishes Orthodox Church and starts Fairground. Al-Qahira finishes Aqueduct and starts Orthodox Monastery. Trade our World Map around for 15g. Open Borders with Solanki and Malwa.

Bander-e Abbas finishes Roundship and starts another. Start loading troops and ferrying to Oman. Zabid (Yemeni) is razed. Raze Balkh (Ghaznavid). Raze Beihagh (Ghaznavid). Pillage improvements for a total of 85g.

Turn 4: 1318AD
Esfahan finishes Fairground and starts Library. Madinah finishes Library and starts Orthodox Church. Refugees arrive in Esfahan. Knights Hospitaller spread into Smyrna. Purge Shia Islam from Smyrna (was unhappy due to too many religions). Some Bulgars spawn north of Adrianopolis. Pillage various improvements for 75g. Temporarily raise our culture slider to 20% to pop borders in Sana'a which is starving. Raze Zinjibar (Yemeni) and Gwadar (Ghaznavid). Steal 27g from Zengids. We now have 1697g - 321gpt.

Turn 5: 1320AD
Metallurgy is learnt, Heavy Armor next. Sana'a and Bander-e Abbas borders expand. Al-Qahira finishes Library, starts Weaver. Return Culture slider to 0%. Cities that were producing either Light Cavalry or Wealth switch to building Foundries. Our economy takes a big hit, but we have plenty of in hand at the moment so we can afford 100% science for now. Bulgar units are destroyed. A barb Horse Archer is killed near Samarkand. Mukalla is razed and Yemen is destroyed. The Caravan that we captured in Kashgar completes a Trade Mission in Armenian-controlled Samarkand. Pillage more improvements for 55g.

Turn 6: 1322AD
Market completed in Hamadan, start Foundry. Another Great Engineer is born in Trapezounta. I consider using him to rush an Orthodox Cathedral here, not sure if we could flip any Armenia city though? Might be worth a try. Ghaznavids collapse. Raze Turbat. Pillage various improvements for 43g.

Turn 7: 1324AD
KoC wants to vassalize -> No. Esfahan finishes Library, starts Foundry. Al-Qahira finishes Weaver, starts Foundry. Samarra finishes Aqueduct, starts Foundry. Our Golden Age ends. Orthodoxy is spread in Sana'a. Pillage more improvements for 29g.

Turn 8: 1326AD
Bukhara spawns again and is razed. Our cash has run out, so I drop science to 80% whilst we are still building infrastructure. Should be able to raise back to 100% once more Foundries come online.

Turn 9: 1328AD
Wasit finishes Library and starts Foundry. Destroy a wandering Rebel near Aswan. Steal 32g from the Zengids. Trade Cartography to various civs for 270g. We have infiltrated Oman with plenty of units now, time to Declare War on Oman. Also our troops invade former Ghaznavid core territory. Science back to 100%. We finish with 525g - 387gpt.

Turn 10: 1330AD
Hierosolyma finishes Courthouse, starts Orthodox Church. Orthodox Church in Madinah, starts Courthouse. Trade Olives to Sindh for 1gpt. Oman core territory falls very quickly. Capture Masquat. Raze Sohar. Raze Sur. Raze Salalah. This should be the end of Oman, but they must have another city somewhere in the fog, because they have not been destroyed. Meanwhile in former Ghaznavid territory, we also raze Zaranji and Farah, although these were heavily fortified cities and come at the cost of 3x Heavy Lancers (in total).

To do:

1. Decide which former core Ghaznavid city to keep.
2. Spread Orthodoxy to Oman
3. Build a settler for the island of Soccotra (in Ahvaz perhaps?) and transport using the Roundships (but wait until Oman collapses first, they have lots of ships!)
4. Build some Roundships in Anatolia to invade KoC
5. Consider starting another Golden Age with our Great Spy + Great Engineer + Great Scientist.
6. Invade Ghorid territory, as they have annoyingly recently spread north and founded another city.
7. Keep building Orthodox Missionaries so that we may continue to spread Orthodoxy in each city that we keep. It's a long walk to Hindustan.
8. Consider rushing an Orthodox Cathedral in Trapezounta, maybe we could flip an Armenian or former Georgian city?

Our next Great Person will be born in Tarsos in a couple of turns. Armenia is currently researching Patronage, so have I switched our espionage to them (can't remember on which turn I did this). But maybe we don't actually want to steal it due to obsoleting good wonders. Anyway, they won't learn it for at least another 20 turns or so.