Pacal's (Ball) Court

2560 BC:



Welcome! I, Mansa Musa, humble ruler of Mali, offer my hand to you in friendship.
So I guess you'll have peace with no more than two civilizations, then. Lucky me!
What?
Or am I supposed to chop off my own hand and give it to you in return or something?
It's a figure of speech! Jeez! Why are all other civilizations always such primates!
Who you callin' a primate, primate?
Just someone who has less scientif- ~GASP!~ Crud! You're more advanced than the Malinese!
Yup!
Enjoy your tech-lead, kid! You won't have it for long!
Until then, shall we have peace?
Yeah. Sure... ~grumble, grumble~
See you 'round!

2480 BC:

We've discovered Medi-
Go for Priesthood. First, I want me some Code of Laws. Secondly, maybe, just maybe we can get the Oracle, too!
Oh! My sweet little boy has so many ideas!
Oh, and mom? Now that we've trained a Work Boat in Lakam Ha... let's train another!

2360 BC:

Son, the Persians have become the first civilization to convert to Hind- err, I mean Cosmology!
Good, good. All is going according to plan...


2320 BC:

We have disc-
Writing!
Oh. Okay...


2280 BC:

Ah! Another trained Work Boat in Lakam Ha. Hm... Should I train another Work Boat, or a Settler?
Or an Archer...
Let's go for another Work Boat!
Darn.


2120 BC:

Groovy! The third Work Boat's already trained! That sure didn't take a lot of time! Alright, we'll train a Settler, now!
No you won't.
Why not?



AAAAAAAARGH!
Have you thought about taking some fresh air or something?
NO! I barely started this game! [BLEEP]!! You suck! I have to reboot, plus, my darn PC will want to check the Hard Disk's status for half an hour or so. You better make up for this later, Spirit of Random Events!
Yeah, ~chuckles~ THAT's likely to happen!

Who is the diplomatic adviser?

Alright. When was the last time I saved?


2280 BC:

Train Work Boat in Lakam Ha...


2240 BC:

Our Warrior called Scroll Jaguar I slew a Lion and earned the Combat I promotion.
huh! That didn't happen last time... maybe the game won't crash, this time...


2120 BC:

... And begin training a Settler in Lakam Ha.


1960 BC:



SCORE! Not only is our wonderful Mayan Empire the most advanced... Mansa Musa is third! Awesome!
Mommy is so proud of her little shield! We've just discovered Writing, too!
Excellent! Research Code of Laws!


1840 BC:

Pacal, my sole unbearded neighbor! Shall we make use of your newest technology and share Open Borders?
Sure thing, Sitting Bull. See you 'round!


1720 BC:

Pacal, my puny little neighbor! Give me Crabs!
Ha! Ha! Do you know how wrong that sounds?
Why would it sound wrong? Gimme Crabs.
Right. Against what?
Against my good will.

Give me Crabs!
Alright, fine. But know that this deal will be canceled in precisely ten turns.
Heh! You always forget!
Not this time. This is turn 57. I'm writing it down on a post-it note that I'm presently sticking to the side of my screen. Mark my words, in 1280 BC, this deal is over. Goodbye, Sitting Bull.

Arlborn said:

Who is the diplomatic adviser?

Click to expand...

Diplo-what, now?



Laham Ha has trained its first Settler!
Good! Train another one!


1600 BC:

PACAL!!
GHAAH!
You remember when you asked me to make it up to you?
Yeah?
Check this out:



Free Cover? Sweet! Thanks, Spirit of Random Events!
You're welcome!
Alright. We've got one trained Settler, and another one coming soon. Better get a settlement plan together...



Any objections to the current course of action?
Yes. Shouldn't we try to find a source of Bronze? Or at least Horses? Our army will be the laughingstock of the world if we don't!
Lemme research Iron Working first... After Code of Laws. Maybe we'll have Iron somewhere in our lands. Or maybe horses.
~Grumble~
Alright! Let's found Green Bundle, AKA First Prophecy, AKA Tikal, AKA Mutal!

1520 BC:

Ah! My funny little friend!
Ah! Mehmed! My strangely hairy compadre! What do you want?
What say you we Open our Borders?
I say sure, why not, whatever, dude!
Excellent!
See ya later!


1320 BC:

Ah! Lakam Ha trained another Settler. Let's have it train...
An Archer?
No. Another Work Boat.
Darn it! Why?
Well, you do know "Lakam Ha" means "Big Water," right?
Everybody knows that!
Well, I'm making that water BIG, baby!
And, son, bad news. Stonehenge has been erected in FALoE.
FALoE?
Far Away Land of Evil.
Right.

God, that is a horsehockey start position!

1280 BC:

Hmm... hmm... hmm...
Hello? Who is it?
It's me, dude.
My best friend Pacal! What a delight to talk to you!
You seem happy to see me!
Of course! You gave me tribute! You're my best bud!
Speaking of which...
Yes?
NO MORE CRABS FOR YOU!
Aww, you remembered?
Yes. I told you about the post-it note, didn't I?
Well, you're still my best friend.
Groovy. See ya later!


1200 BC:



HOODY HOO!
Aww! My little shield is such a good boy!
Now, reasearch Agriculture. I want Mutal's flood plains farmed like they've never been farmed before! Because... you know, they never have been.
Right away!

1120 BC:

Mutal trained a Worker!
Teh awesome! Make it build... Courthouse, or Barracks?
If you don't build Barracks, I swear I'll spank you, Ahau or not!
Barracks it is, then!


1080 BC:

Judaism has been founded in DLoE.
That would be Distant Land of Evil, of course.
Of course! But there is a slight problem.
Yes?
You just founded Chichen Itza.
Ah! "At the Mouth of the Itza People's Well" is founded! What's wrong with it?
Nothing much. You just forgot to take a screen shot of it.
Oh. I thought... Hm. Since Mutal's next to the Oasis... I thought maybe Mutal should have been where Chichen Itza is and vice versa. Would have been a better fit with the city names and all.
Don't worry, son. Nobody cares about city names.


1040 BC:

We now know all about Agriculture.
Okay. Let's research Iron Working.
THANK YOU! Was about time!


850 BC:

We've disc-
Research Alphabet! I want to be a bigger tech whore than Mansa Musa!
Oh, my! That's a tall order!

725 BC:

Pacal, my Youthful and slightly too close for comfort neighbor!
'Sup, Darius?
Care for Open Borders?
Not really, but I don't mind.
Fantastic!
Adios!
Son, you know we have knowledge of Iron Working, right?
We do? Why didn't anyone tell me?
i was going to, but you cut me off!
So do we have any Iron nearby, or is our civilization a casualty waiting to happen?



We got Iron, all right!
Ceeeeleeebration!
Let's all celebrate and have a good time!
Ceeeeleeebration!
We gonna celebrate and have a good time!
YAHOOO!
It's a celebration.
YAHOOO!

SCORE!!! I hope there will be some iron or horses near to you otherwise good luck.

Edit: Rofl you popped iron while I was writing. Corn, iron and stone, not bad. So again SCORE. Celebration!!!!

650 BC:ç

Pacal. Have I got a trade for you!
What is it, Mansa?
I'll give you Pottery if you give me Meditation!
You Already have Alphabet? Darn it!
So is it a deal?
Yeah. It's a deal.
Excellent!
And would you give me Clams if I gave you some of my Antarctic Crabs?
Certainly!
And what would you give me for Code of Laws?
How about Alphabet, Masonry, and Animal Husbandry?
Deal!
By the looks of things, we'll get along quite well, I think, Pacal!
Whatever, Mansa. Goodbye!
Little shield, Darius has erected the Great Wall:



Great. We're not going to suffer from any espionage missions now! Pfft!

600 BC:

So... Lakam Ha and Mutal both built their Barracks? Have both cities train some Archers, then!
You make me proud, young Ahau!

450 BC:

Ah! Our Archers are trained! We're still researching Currency, right?
Yes. It'll take a while, still.
Alright, then. Have Lakam Ha build a Cosmic Monastery; we have a few neighbors to convert still. As for Mutal, have it erect a Courthouse. Corruption is never good - unless it's rampant in Mali, of course!


400 BC:

Mansa Musa has made the terrible mistake of converting to Confucianism, I'm afraid.
Mistake? No! This is great! While I'll convert everyone else to Cosmology... he'll have fewer friends and trading partners! This is excellent news!
Oh. Okay...


350 BC:



We're the largest? Huh? Lookit that! I really thought we wouldn't be...


300 BC:

Son!
Yeah?
If we had a diplomatic adviser, he (or she) would tell you that the Ottoman Ambassador has committed a major faux pas in Cahokia, angering the Native Americans.
Was it a Casino joke gone awry?
I don't know the details.
Oh.


225 BC:

Christianity has been founded in DLoE, little shield.
50 gold that the DLoE in question is Mali!
It would be a good guess.
Alright... So we have a conversion race on our hands, huh? No problem!

175 BC:

We have discovered Currency!
And it already makes a big difference with our Science Rate! Let's go for Mathematics, now.
Very well. Oh, and before I forget... Sitting Bull and the Native Americans have converted to Cosmology.
Awesome! That means I only need to convert Mehmed... for now!


50 BC:

There you have it: Mansa Musa converted to the religion he founded: Christianity.
HA! Someone owes me fifty gold! Hold on...
Pacal! May I propose a trade?
By all means, Darius!
Here's my idea: I give you Monarchy and 20 gold while you give me Currency.
How about: No way, dude, that trade is way uneven and there's nothing that you could give me to make it worthwhile?
Oh. Well, goodbye, then.
That's right. Goodbye. Now, let me make a call...
Hello?
Having fun with your one false faith, Mansa?
False?
You know the Clams VS Crabs deal we had?
Yeah?
Well, we don't have it anymore. Goodbye!

One more call...
Who is it? Pacal! My best buddy!
'Sup Sitting Bull! How would you like Crabs and Gold against your Clams and Jewels?
I would enjoy that very much!
It's a deal, then! Laterz!


25 BC:

We have discovered Mathematics!
Muy bien! Let's strat studying that Calendar business! Oh... and since Chichen Itza has built it's Courthouse... let's start erecting Chichen Itza over there.
What? Why?
I mean... I don't really want Chichen Itza (the Wonder) all that much, but, quite frankly, if it's not built in Chichen Itza, then it's just wrong, man. Wrong. Therefore, it shall be built in Chichen Itza.


1 AD:



Ah-Ha! So Lakam Ha trained a Cosmic Missionary? Great! We'll send him to Istanbul to convert Mehmed.
Speaking of Mehmed... I've just noticed that Istanbul has converted to Judaism. I assume he'll convert next turn.
DARN IT! Well... I'll convert him more.
Right.
For now, though, Lakam Ha really needs to build another Settler so we can get that Iron. So, the general plan for Lakam Ha is to train a Settler, eventually train another missionary, though we might erect the Moai Statues first.
I'd really love to have the Great Library in Lakam Ha...
I'd love that too, but I doubt it's going to happen. Mansa Musa already has Aesthetics, and I can wager he's reasearching Literature as we speak if he doesn't have it already. Then, we don't have a Library, and we don't have Marble. No, the Great Library is probably out of reach for us, humble Maya...

As for Mutal, I'd like to build an Aqueduct and attempt to build the Hanging Gardens. It's a long shot as well, but more realistic than the Great Library...




As for Chichen Itza...
That's a pretty pathetic city, son!
I know. It ain't much now, but once my worker is done farming the jungle on the river tile just north of the city, and once we complete two nearby plantations, things are slowly going to change over there.
And, again, Chichen Itza (the Wonder) seems like a long shot at best, right now.
Could you guys be any more pessimistic?




As for expansion. I'm only sure of one thing. We're founding Uxmal right on top of our Iron ore. I usually dislike doing that kind of stuff... but it combines access to the Corn, and Stone, creates a coastal city AND we get the fresh water lake.
Besides, since that's our sole source of Iron, it'll be protected from any pillaging attempts or sabotage. In my mind, son, that's key.
Otherwise, I don't have any definite expansion plans. That's mostly because I've done a rather poor job of exploring, so far. One of the slightly more distant islands we almost see could be a hidden jewel, for all we know.
I guess "exploring" will have to be added to the long list of things we have to do, huh.
Just like "build an army."
"And convert World to Cosmology."
And "convert to Cosmology ourselves."
And "adopt Slavery so we can whip our people silly!"


Well, there you have it. The save file is attached, date: 1 AD.
Feel free to play and/or give your best advice. I won't get to play until at least next Monday or Tuesday, so there's plenty of time.
Readers will have to be patient for the next installments, so you might as well play and/or chip in!
(Do be careful in revealing any spoilers, if any... like surprise DoWs and those sorts of things.)

Great stories. Tell me (please), how do you do the writing on the screen shots. I can do it with GIMP but yours looks sooooo much better. Looks like you do it with a shadow or something like that. Can you give step by step instructions for the graphically challenged?

I hope the parents are going to slap some sense in Pacal. The capital has enormous growing potential (13 excess food ) and is not whipped (no slavery, poor Pacal). Those grassland hills will add some nice production. With a state religion this city can grow a lot. SO slap some sense in that little bugger. Other then that I can only say it again:

SCORE!!!!!

ruff_hi said:

Great stories. Tell me (please), how do you do the writing on the screen shots. I can do it with GIMP but yours looks sooooo much better. Looks like you do it with a shadow or something like that. Can you give step by step instructions for the graphically challenged?

Click to expand...

I use Photoshop, and have never used GIMP - but both applications can do simple stuff like that for sure.

As an artist, I've become a big fan of "layers" pretty much by default. Especially layer modes, which allow you to blend each layer with another using all sorts of effects, including transparency (you see the bottom layer through the top one), which I use very commonly.
You can also add specific effects to layers (layer styles), like drop shadows, bevel & emboss, or inner glow.

All text, in the last map, for example, has the layer style "Stroke" added to them, which adds a contour line (color and width of your choice) around the object on the layer.
So, basically, in the layers window, I right click on the layer I want to apply the effect on and select "Blending Options." This opens the Layer Style window, in which I select "Stroke." Select the color and width I want to use and voilà.

GIMP has to be able to do something as simple as this, considering it's capable of doing much, much more. However, I don't know how...

Apologies to all who have not understood a single word of what I've babbled.



Killroyan:
Actually, because I have the nagging tendency to reduce to a minimum the number of Anarchy periods (unless I'm Spiritual, of course), I tend to overlook Slavery needlessly too long.
In fact, I only discovered recently the wonders of Slavery (the civic, NOT historical slavery) fairly recently. I had played a whip happy game shortly after the Suleiman game with great results - so great, in fact, it should have converted me forever. But I guess it didn't because I completely forgot about Slavery until I read one of those early replies. Only then did I think about it, and by then, we were already at 1 AD.
In my defense, it has been a while since I played a game, so I reverted to the old tricks instead of the new ones.

It seems you guys will slap some sense into Pacal well before his parents do. He is the Ahau, after all. His parents don't really have any authority over him anymore...

Ack!
Gawd darn it!
Looks like I started this game mere hours before patch 313 came out!


Can I upgrade and still play this game or do I have to wait until it's done?
If I can't upgrade yet... well... I hope 313 sucks!