The Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian): Wonders of the Orient

Nice story behind this. Keep it up.

stocktracker said:

In the way of how the rules are set up, it would be in the best interest of the other civilizations to stay at war against you for the entire game!

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Yes, but they don't know this rules.

True, the AI only have things to gain and nothing to lose from being at war with me. I'm not allowed to take any of their cities until all the modern age wonders are built, and for now I'm even going to extend the restriction to not even pillaging terrain improvements. We'll see if I can keep that up later on.

One thing I did allow myself to do is pursue enemy units into their territory; technically I'm not attacking their cities, so that should still be OK.

I definitely hope the AI's don't try to remain at war with me forever; I want to get out of despotism (preferably into republic), and I was even counting on trading tech with them later. Keep in mind the tech rate is the same as it is on huge size maps (200 I believe), so if we all screw around fighting each other, there's a possibility we don't even get to modern age by 2050. Doing my own research would suck, since all the land has been taken by now; in the last minimap, you may already have seen that Japan has settled the three islands in the south. I'm at 11 cities; Japan has 17 and India 12.

It also turns out that most of my Golden Age was spent building courthouses. Is that a waste of a GA, or would there have been much of an advantage of delaying it until I switched to republic?

Courthouses are usually useless.


700th post!!!!
I got so easy from 500 to 600 posts, but this hundred was looong

Courthouses aren't useless, but don't build them early, better is to build markets/libs if you want economy boost. Build them only in high-corrupted towns or in big core towns which are producing many gold or shields.

@Mirc:

Chapter 12: Dawn of a New Era


In 500 AD, a Chinese farmer plowing the fields near Hangzhou unearthed a strange stone tablet with mysterious drawings and markings engraved upon it. Curious, he turned it over to the local authorities, who, puzzled by the unintelligible symbols, could only wonder what the meaning of this could be. The tablet was transferred to Beijing, where the best scholars of the country would analyze every detail until they could reach a conclusion. They quickly determined it was probably a piece of foreign literature, and guessing from the larger-than-life depictions of several figures in the scene, they were able to guess that these were some kind of deities that these ancient people must have worshipped.


Mao was skeptical of this new discovery, and he was debating whether or not it was a complete waste of national funds to research this topic.

"What can we do with this?" he asked Deng, the science advisor.

Deng didn't say anything.

"Can we form new military units knowing this idea?"

Deng shook his head.

"How about some different kind of building to add to our cities? A new wonder would be nice, we don't even know of any new ones that we can build."

Deng shook his head again.

"Maybe a new task for our workers to do? They are still quite busy improving the land though."

Deng gave up. "I am afraid that polytheism doesn't give us any tangible benefits," he finally admitted.

Mao glared at him. "What have you been doing all this time? You--"

But Deng wasn't paying attention to him anymore. He was looking outside the window at the city of Beijing. For some reason, it just seemed... different....


"Interesting," said Mao when he noticed it as well. "I won't bother you with that anymore. You may go."

The following years did not bring much good news of the war, however. Chinese galleys repulsed more Japanese naval maneuvers, but with heavy losses of their own ships. The weakened force patrolling the Ryukyu Channel eventually could not prevent one Japanese galley from landing troops on Taiwan Island.


"Regrettably, there was no way to stop them in time," reported Admiral Zheng He of the Shenlong. "Their ship departed Satsuma harbor in the morning and had already unloaded their troops by the afternoon."

But Commander Zhu De was well prepared on the island. He immediately ordered the workers to be evacuated into the city for protection, and seeing that the Japanese had landed only a small force, he decided to attack before they were prepared. The swordsmen were called to duty once more, and they performed admirably in the field.


The defeat of the second Japanese invasion drove Shogun Tokugawa completely insane. When a Chinese galley blocked off Satsuma harbor from any future landings like the last one, Tokugawa could no longer speak in meaningful sentences. Mao proposed a peace treaty, and the Shogun, thinking he was accepting the Chinese surrender, readily signed it.


Thus, the Treaty of Satsuma brought an end to the War of Nobunaga's Cheek, the first war between China and Japan, with both sides claiming victory.

Chinese casualties: 3 galleys
Japanese casualties: 9 galleys, 1 spearman, 1 swordsman, unknown number of land units drowned

With the war over, the Chinese people first breathed a sigh of relief, then began their celebrations. Suddenly the celebrations grew out of control, with local authorities unable to contain them. In time, anarchy reigned in the country.


Mao patiently waited for the anarchy to subside, but it seemed like it would take a while before there would be order again.


Finally, in the year 600 AD, the Republic of China was formed, and Mao Zedong, due to his popularity before the revolution, was elected Prime Minister easily. Once again the Chinese people returned to peace and prosperity.

Score check:


Score, Power, and Culture graphs at 510 AD (just entered Middle Ages).

Japan has now taken the lead in terms of score. Not surprising since they have 17 cities (China has 11 and India has 12).

Also it looks like the religious trait is kicking in, they're starting to eat away at my culture score.

Status report at beginning of Middle Ages (510 AD):


Wonder list, top 5 cities, demographics, Beijing and Shanghai pics


(Some more shameless post-whoring on my part, but I'd like to extend a big thanks to ImageShack for their bandwidth and hosting space for the images.)

It appears that you have land in your territory that can't be used by your cities (too far away). Will you fill in some of the spots with more cities to get more production and trade?

Sima Qian said:

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I guess you observed the Easter egg...

stocktracker said:

It appears that you have land in your territory that can't be used by your cities (too far away). Will you fill in some of the spots with more cities to get more production and trade?

Click to expand...

We'll see. I don't really like city overlap (which is probably one of my worst weaknesses as a civ player), but if there is enough motivation for me to do so, I will.

You can't use ALL 21 tiles before you will learn Sanitation. But when you will do it, the game will be almost ended. Best city placement is CxxC, or CxxxC for core cities around capital, and CxxC for others.

Smart said:

You can't use ALL 21 tiles before you will learn Sanitation. But when you will do it, the game will be almost ended.

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Not in this game. I think the AI will still attempt to put up a fight well into the modern age.

Wonderful story!

^What he said.

Chapter 13: Double Jeopardy


The Chinese Republic flourished, with increased commerce and productivity in every city. Mao found himself sitting on an ever-increasing pile of gold in the national treasury, and even though the taxation rate was no different than in the despotism, the amount of funding that went to scientific research nearly doubled. Deng Xiaoping, who before the revolution had estimated that it would take 16 turns to complete research on feudalism, now predicted that 9 turns would be enough.

But only 8 turns later, the science advisor informed Mao that he had been wrong. Feudalism was learned earlier than expected.



While together they wondered how this could be, news from the embassy in Delhi reported that the Indians had begun a new project of a magnitude never imagined before. It was clearly another Great Wonder.


"How do you have to spend so much time and resources to build a book?" asked Deng. "Besides, Chinese strategists have learned the secrets of Sun Tzu ages ago."

Mao ignored him, only looking southward in the direction of India. Great minds think alike, thought Mao. I would do just the same as Mahatma Gandhi this time. He now knew that Indian research on the same subject had somehow been leaked to the Chinese, allowing them to finish at about the same time.

But then he looked at the report more closely, and noticed something strange.


"Calcutta?" It was the first time Mao had heard of the city. "Are you serious?" he asked the messenger.

The messenger nodded. "There can be no mistake about it. Calcutta, the tiny Indian settlement at the southeasternmost extreme of our continent."

Calcutta was only size 3, less than 70,000 souls strong. The population of Beijing was nearing 500,000. Mao did not even bother asking his ambassador for a detailed report about the town. Sun Tzu's Art of War would most definitely be completed in Beijing well ahead of the competition.

While Beijing started work on the new Great Wonder, the other cities took advantage of the opportunity to catch up on infrastructure and defense. Marketplaces, aqueducts, and libraries were constructed, and new military units were assembled, foot soldiers well-trained in the art of wielding a long iron spear known as a pike.

Mao noticed something else about the Republic that was different from before. Soldiers stationed in the cities no longer acted as peacekeepers for the people; rather, they focused on defense alone. Economic advisor Liu Shaoqi suggested that luxuries goods should be acquired to please the citizens. Surprisingly, the only two goods that India could offer were wines and furs, which China already had access to in the vineyards of Hangzhou and the forest near Nanjing. The new goods would have to come from Japan.

Liu volunteered to go to Kyoto to negotiate the deal. He spent many days scouring the streets for the best products, as the Japanese still had no idea of what a marketplace was. Of the four luxury goods that Japan had to offer, he picked his two favorites: a soft, attractive cloth called silk, and a powder called incense that emitted a pleasing aroma when burned.

Shogun Tokugawa had recovered his senses by now, and was extremely suspicious of any Chinese offers of trade. But the Japanese were still technologically backwards, and the offer of some ancient techniques was enough to satisfy Tokugawa's demands.


Silks and incense were brought to marketplaces all around China, making some citizens so happy they celebrated in the streets. Mao was satisfied with Liu's negotiations, but something still bothered him about it.

"Tell me," he asked Liu one day, "did the Shogun say anything strange when you closed the deal?"

Liu scratched his head. "Not that I remember," he said. "But when I was on my way out, I turned my head back to look at him one more time, and he was biting on his fingernails."

Mao frowned. "Which finger was he biting on?"

"I'm not sure I remember," Liu said, staring up at the ceiling while trying to recall the event. "Oh, I think it was his right index finger."

I have a bad feeling about this, thought Mao.

As if the omen were true, in 790 AD Oda Nobunaga appeared in Beijing one day with the same ridiculous demand.

"Our illustrious Shogun allowed you to trade with us only if you refrained from using your devious Chinese merchants' tricks," he fumed, "but clearly you cut our deal a little short. We request that you make up the difference for us now, by giving us contact with the Indians."

"Certainly," said Mao. He raised his head and shouted toward the entrance of the palace, "Ganesh Gupta! We need your help here once more."

The Indian worker had barely poked his head into the room when Nobunaga edged nervously away from him. I will not fall for the same trick twice, he swore to himself.

Ganesh walked toward Nobunaga and extended a hand for him to shake, but the Japanese envoy kept a distance of several feet between them. Seeing no progress being made, Mao asked them to stop.

"Ganesh," said the Chariman, "our friend Nobunaga has made such a long and difficult journey to pay us a visit. What kind of gift would you suggest we give him?"

Ganesh pondered the situation for a moment, then spoke. "Lord Nobunaga, I know of the perfect gift for you. It has been handed down from my ancestors in India for thousands of years, and now I think is the right time that I show it to you."

Nobunaga turned to look at him but refused to approach.

That split-second was just enough time for the Indian's fast reflexes. Ganesh cocked his head back, made a quick but disgusting gargling noise, then launched a mass of yellowish-brown phlegm with incredible speed SPLAT! onto Nobunaga's forehead.

"Aaaargghhhh!!" Nobunaga bellowed with rage. Then suddenly he bent over, coughed, and then deposited his morning breakfast on Mao's palace floor.

"Oh I'm sorry," apologized Ganesh. "I didn't know you were seasick." With that he hurried to clean up the mess.

Nobunaga stormed out of the palace and was so ashamed of his two miserable failures that he drew his katana and committed seppuku on the voyage back to Japan. His attendants, weeping with sorrow, delivered the tragic news to the Shogun.

"I will avenge my friend!" declared an enraged Tokugawa. "The next boat to leave Japan will not contain a single speck of incense or a shred of silk. Order the troops onto the galleys, we will destroy the Chinese for good this time!"


These Japanese never learn, thought Mao. But alas, the outbreak of war had ended the luxury trade, and there would have to be some other way of keeping the citizens entertained.

Defense minister Zhu De was soon back in Kaohsiung to lead the troops. A Japanese combined force of archers and spearmen had occupied the hill northeast of the city, but they were quickly surrounded by Chinese defenders, who entrenched themselves for a fierce battle.


But the Japanese archers made a surprise attack, wiping out the defending spearmen on the hills in the northwest. Furious, Zhu ordered his swordsmen to launch a counteroffensive as soon as the Japanese moved out of the rugged terrain in the hills.

The attack was a complete success. Not a single swordsman was lost, and the entire Japanese spearman division was destroyed, and the troops were now China's most seasoned fighters.

The Japanese archers attempted to escape, but were pursued and wiped out immediately thereafter. Shogun Tokugawa, however, was emboldened by the fact that a Japanese land unit had finally been victorious in battle, although short-lived. "Send the second wave of the invasion," he ordered. Two groups of swordsmen landed on Taiwan soon thereafter.

With only one spearman and a warrior defending Kaohsiung, the situation looked bleak for the Chinese. Zhu had already told Mao to prepare for Kaohsiung's fall, as his swordsmen had chased the Japanese archers too far away to come to the rescue.

The spearmen fell beneath the Japanese blades. But by some stroke of incredible luck, the second wave of the Japanese attack faltered, and the ragged warrior band in Kaohsiung butchered the attacking Japanese swordsmen to the man with their flint axes. The city was saved. They had bought enough time for Zhu to return and wipe out the rest of the Japanese.


Hearing of the close call at Kaohsiung, Admiral Zheng He retaliated, destroying two Japanese galleys in the Ryukyu Channel with his flagship Shenlong. But there were too many ships this time for the Chinese fleet to handle. Tokugawa is serious now, thought Mao. He ordered some more reinforcements to be sent to Kaohsiung from Shanghai.

During this time, Deng Xiaoping reported that Chinese researchers had developed a formal practice of engineering.


"Look, Chairman," he said. "We now have a bridge across the Yellow River. It is now easier than ever for our workers and troops to cross to the other side."

Mao was unimpressed. "Can you build a bridge from Shanghai to the island of Taiwan? That is what I really need right now."

Deng shook his head. "But there's a new topic I'd like research," he said. "We have some vague idea of how to develop longer, more powerful bows for our archers, enabling them to inflict much greater damage on the enemy. Plus, I hear that this leads to a new Great Wonder, Leonardo's Workshop."

Too preoccupied by events of the war to think about building a new Great Wonder, Mao gave his science advisor the funds and asked him to start working on it right away. Kaohsiung was still in trouble. Commander Zhu reported that another combined force of spearmen and archers had landed, and they even destroyed the mines in the northeastern hills.

But Mao was distracted by something else. It was the year 880 AD, and two Indian horsemen had been spotted in the vineyards outside Hangzhou, tearing up the grape vines as they recklessly passed through. The governor of Hangzhou, alarmed, informed Mao that he had an emergency at hand.

Gandhi was polite when Mao met with him, but clearly he was hiding something. "Nice to see you today, Mao," he said. "Would you like a nice vegetarian curry?"

"I don't think you put grapes in your curry, do you?" snapped Mao.

"What do you mean?" Gandhi looked confused.

"No, what do you mean to do, sending your horsemen into my vineyards? You have no enemy to the north, so what are your troops doing passing through my territory?"

The Mahatma grinned. "You are mistaken, Mao. We do have an enemy in the north."

Mao eyed him suspiciously. "Who is this unknown enemy you are after?"

Gandhi paused for a moment, leaned forward, and whispered, "It is you, Mao."

Holy crap your're in bad shape. But you can easily hang in there no problem.

You got burned on that deal with Japan. I guess it is a good idea to keep the other two civilizations isolated, they could declare war with one another and one could become a superpower.

Chapter 14: One Hundred Years of Solitude


It was now the whole world against the Chinese. Although there was no contact between Japan and India, their combined attacks were just as deadly as if there had been an alliance between the two. Many Chinese troops perished in the ensuing fighting, and the Hangzhou vineyards were pillaged by the Indian horsemen. There would be no wine for Chinese dinner parties for a long time.


From Kaohsiung, Commander Zhu launched a costly but effective counterattack against the Japanese. With reinforcements arriving from the mainland, he soon established what he declared to be the "impregnable" Fortress Taiwan, with no available landing zone for any more Japanese. With the Taiwan Strait blockade still in place, the Japanese remained cut off from India, with no possible cooperation between the two.


Seeing that Zhu's job was complete in Kaohsiung, Mao transferred his military advisor to Hangzhou, which was besieged by the Indians. The Indians avoided attacking the city directly, preferring to destroy land improvements in the vicinity first, with the goal of fighting a war of attrition. Or perhaps their horses were terrified of the giant boulders that were flung at them by Hangzhou's catapults every time they tried to make a move. A few of the horsemen attempted to attack the city but were forced to retreat by the defenders.


Mao had expected a siege of similar scale around Nanjing, as it was deep inside Indian territory, but it was actually surprisingly uneventful in the south. A lone unit of Indian spearmen wandered inside Chinese borders and managed to disrupt Nanjing's supply of horses, but after successive bombardments by catapults, they were weak enough to be wiped out by some rather poorly trained Chinese warriors. (Apparently these warriors couldn't even hold still for a photo opportunity, so a rare action shot is presented here.)


But Gandhi had a different surprise in store. One day in 930 AD, the governor of Qingdao reported a sudden landing by Indian forces in the forest just outside the city. In a panic, he sent a desperate plea to Mao for reinforcements, but clearly there was nothing that could be spared. The southern front was consuming all of China's resources.

Mao scoffed at the report. "Look at you, getting all jittery after seeing such a tiny invasion force!" he rebuked the governor. "Would you like to be transferred to Hangzhou for a change?"

"Uh, no thanks... I'll... I'll try my best." The governor nervously slinked away from Mao, back to his home in Qingdao.

This time Mao was right. The Indian warriors were no match for the defenders in Qingdao, and Mao wondered if Gandhi actually thought he would be fooled by such an obvious decoy.


Nobody, however, could predict the next unexpected news. Even though China and India were at war, news got leaked that the Indian city of Delhi had stopped recruiting for the armed forces and was breaking ground on a new project. Based on the magnitude of the resources they were gathering, it was clear that this was no ordinary city improvent--it had to be another Great Wonder.


From this, Mao learned that the Indians had overthrown their despotism, and Mahatma Gandhi now ruled as the Emperor of India, under a government known as a monarchy.

"Monarchy!" exclaimed minister Deng. "I had never thought of that before. I always thought a republic would be the way to go, but clearly I missed something here." But it was too late for him to change his plans; invention was due in six turns.

Advisor Liu had an idea. "We can pretend we are building a palace in Shanghai," he suggested. "Then as soon as we learn about monarchy, we can switch our project to the Hanging Gardens."

Mao agreed that this would be a good plan, but just as he was about to set it in motion, a wild commotion sounded off outside the palace in Beijing. The capital was in complete chaos. Apparently the Indian troops had cut off all roads to Nanjing, preventing the vital supplies of furs that had kept the citizens happy. Similar disturbances were reported elsewhere in the cities of Nanjing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou, the most populous in the country. Seeing no alternatives, Mao reluctantly ordered more funding for the people's entertainment.


Despite the civil disorder, the battle raged around Hangzhou for decades, with both sides suffering heavy casualties. Gandhi, however, made a crucial tactical mistake in ordering an assault on the Chinese troops fortified in the hills and mountains, and even though he was ultimately successful, the losses inflicted upon the Indian military were substantial. By 970 AD the Indians were in a general retreat, having vacated most of their troops from Chinese territory.

Both China and India were exhausted by now, and in 980 AD, after a hundred years of war, Mao and Gandhi met at Hangzhou to negotiate a peace. Gandhi was satisfied with a truce, a peace without victory, but Mao suggested that since India started the war as the aggressor, Gandhi ought to offer something as compensation for all of China's losses.

Mahatma Gandhi was firm. Monarchy would remain an Indian secret. But, seeing the reasoning in Mao's argument, Gandhi added the Indian world map to his offer.

"Take it or leave it," he said. "That is as far as I will go."

Mao nodded, and they signed the treaty. It wasn't a bad deal after all; the Indian world map filled in the last details on China's map, which was only missing some of the inland regions of Bangladesh Island.


The Treaty of Hangzhou brought an end to the war between India and China, but not a word was said about the Japanese. It really wasn't necessary. The blockade was still in place, and no more Japanese troops were able to land on Taiwan.

Chinese casualties: 2 warriors, 2 spearmen, 1 pikeman, 3 swordsmen
Indian casualties: 3 warriors, 2 spearmen, 1 archer, 1 swordsman, 8 horsemen

Mao breathed a sigh of relief. Gandhi was a respectable opponent, he thought to himself. I think we can still work with him in the future.

He didn't need to pay attention to the war with Japan anymore. China had some building to do.

nice story bro