Evil Game I - Carthage, Regent (Picture Intensive)

The last time I ran a story, it didn't turn out quite the way I wanted. First of all, it didn't get finished in story form. Second, despite being called To Bring Enlightenment it ended in 1977 by Space Race Victory after about 20 years of thermonuclear hellfire. It taught me something though, and that's that pacifisim sucks, and fighting a war with no offensive units except ships and nukes isn't particularly effective. I wanted to do something different this time, something unique, and something hopefully challenging as well. I decided on a unique concept: how fun would it be to play a rogue state? Yes, that's right, no goody-goody world peace in this one, lets be unscrupulous and back-stabbing. At the same time I want to prepare myself for a jump up to Monarchy, so I've decided to put something together that shouldn't be too easy. So, without further blather, I present to you:

Carthage takes on the World!...Eventually!
Map Type: Large, Pangaea, 60% Water, Arid, Warm, 3 Billion Years, Roaming Barbarians
AI Type: 11x Random AI, Default Rules (minus Respawn AI), Regent, Normal Aggression
Player: Carthage

I suppose if I'd wanted to be masochistic I could've set it to Highest Aggression and Raging Barbarians, but that's retrospect for you. You're probably wondering "What the hell is this man thinking, playing a seafaring civ on a pangaea map?!" and you're probably right. It makes it a bit more difficult but it also plays into the general strategy I'm currently envisioning for the later half of the game. Industrious is good for my purposes too and I have a thing for the blood red civ color. So I generated a few maps until I got the first one that was at least servicable, and the story began from there. Just a warning, this part moves pretty slow, but it should pick up speed pretty quickly as things start really happening. Hope you enjoy it if you press on.



The people who would one day be know as Carthaginians had lived upon the Plain of Tunis - bisected by a great, which was know simply as "Great River" - since time immemorial. They were not so much a people as groups of individuals speaking the same language clustered in small gatherings of huts near one another. Infighting was constant, life was cheap, and dying was easy. This changed, at least somewhat, one day when a man named Hannibal turned what was in truth an inconsequential victory against a neighboring village into what was seemingly a great victory through what would today be called propaganda. Bestowing upon himself the title of General and rallying the people to his supposed great leadership, he banded the small villages together and pooled their resources along the Great River, forming a city. This city was to be called Carthage, and the people were to have a new name, taken from this glorious new paradigm of civilization: Carthaginians.



Carthage itself was built at a unique position, at place where the Great River and Great Sea beyond its delta were both within fairly easy reach of one location. The land around the city was fertile, and while not exceptional, good enough for the early needs of such a people. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Carthage's location was that scouts reported there were groves of Spice-bearing plants due South of the city. Hannibal and his newly formed group of Advisors, the Council of Six, all recognized it would be in their best interests to find a way to get these Spices to Carthage, for it would pacify the people and keep them from challenging the regime's rule. The Trade Advisor especially recommended this, but the other Advisors were not so agreeable over what else the new city should do. The Military Advisor demanded a combat force be raised for defense, while the Science Advisor was seemingly distraught with the myriad array of possible ideas he and his fellow Sooth-Sayers might explore. A compromise was agreed to: the group of Workers the Trade Advisor had organized would built improvements toward the Spices, the Military Advisor would work to organize a group of Warriors to defend Carthage, and the Science Advisor would find a way to put thoughts and words into permanent form to facilitate further though - sadly he was given a very small amount of resources to do this with (Study Writing, 10% Research).

It took many years to combine the pre-city fighting techniques and hunting skills of the Carthaginians into a set of rudimentary combat tactics, but the results were ultimately successful, and soon a group of the best Warriors Carthage had to offer was formed. Above the objections of the Military Advisor, whose words have been lost to time but were something to the effect of "You're nucking futs!", the Warriors were sent East along the Great River to explore for new lands and peoples rather than defend the city. At about this time, the first great effort of the Carthaginians to bend the earth to their will bore fruit, as a mine was constructed Southwest of Carthage. Despite - or perhaps due to - the enormous effort put into this undertaking, few could imagine it would be the first of a countless number of such constructions.

The exploration along the Great River continued for quite some time, until eventually an interesting thing was discovered: it split.



There were also abundent cattle in the region of the split. It is believed the art of barbeque was discovered by the Carthaginians sometime around this point. Faced with a dilemma, the expedition decided to take the Northern branch, and sent back runners with word that the Southern branch should be explored by a second party sometime soon. Such an opportunity would not take much of a wait as the second expeditionary force of Warriors (the Military Advisor was only further enraged that they too would not be used for defense) was organized shortly after the news arrived. However, due to either leader inexperience or perhaps possible intoxication - historical sources are unclear - the second group immediately headed Southeast rather than East along the Great River.

Meanwhile, the first group, having continued to navigate upstream on the Northern Great River, finally encountered a people at least somewhat comparable to themselves - the Thracians. The Thracian people were friendly and gave the Carthaginian envoys maps detailing the regions surrounding their village.



The maps themselves were well detailed but not of much practical use - despite Carthage's expanding influence these regions were still well outside of its current capability for expansion. They did show a fertile landscape however, and there was the promise of good sights for further settlements sometime in the future. What really interested the leader of the Warrior party was the presence of another village of the Thracian maps, and he and his men immediately set about to meet these new people. At around the same time, records indicate a rather eccentric individual living on the banks of the Great Sea - his name has been lost to us - managed to convince several locals to join him on a strange floating craft for what he called "a great adventure" - they would have no idea how great. In Carthage proper, efforts also began on organizing a group of settlers who would go and found another city, similar to Carthage, elsewhere upon the fertile Plain of Tunis.

While the endeavor of organizing such a party was occuring, the Workers of Carthage finally managed to connect a road to the Spices in the South, and the people of Carthage rejoiced as the first loads of such goods entered their city. Hannibal and the Council of Six felt sure that the people would not question their authority for some time with such goods. All the while during preparations for colonization the first Warrior group was advancing on the new, unknown village, having little idea what they might encounter. Upon finally reaching their destination, there were shocked by what they discovered.



These seeming primitives had knowledge of something advanced beyond the Carthaginians themselves! Although upon seeing such things, some of the Warriors could not understand how no one in Carthage had ever thought of making a clay pot before, this new invention was eagerly adopted from the friendly Samaritans.

Elsewhere, to the South, the second expeditionary group, despite having a green commander, being drunk, or perhaps having a drunk green commander, managed to encounter a group similar to the Thracians who called themselves Illuyrians, and also had maps to share.



The maps showed the South to be dry and a place of sifting sands and rock, dubbed the Zearm Desert, while in the East there were giant mountains - even one which spewed fire! Strangely enough to the North it revealed a tributary to the South Great River. Perhaps the commander wasn't so foolish after all. The second Warrior group continued in a Southeastern direction, exploring around the mountains and desert, while their counterparts in the first group eventually discovered coast due North of the Samaritan village. The unsanctioned group under the guidance of the eccentric coast-dweller also reported something odd: there were mountains at the coast South of the second group.

Sometime after these landmark exploratory events, just as the first Carthaginian settler party was preparing to venture from the city, a strange thing happened. A man named Toynbee entered the city, carrying with him an odd tome. At first the guards thought he might be a spy of some kind for some foreign power, though they had never encountered anyone more advanced than the Samaritans, but he said he was merely a "theologian" and demanded to be taken to see their leader. Upon meeting with Hannibal and the Council of Six, he revealed the contents of his book to them.



Although the Scientific Advisor balked at the idea the Carthaginians couldn't be the most advanced nation in all of existence, Hannibal was more curious - and weary. Who were all these oddly named people, and where were they?

Exploration continued abreast of the following years. A member second Warrior party is reported to have said to one of the Minoan villagers that his wife wasn't "a pleasant sight at the campfire and would be better sticking to the huts". Needless to say, things got hostile pretty quickly.



It's hard to imagine how an insignificant village in the middle of a desert could muster a force that was 150% the size of the entire Carthaginian military at the time, but apparently they take insults very personally.

Elsewhere, the brave - perhaps stupidly so - party on the Curragh continued its journey South along the coast, going quite some ways before spotting the hallmarks of civilization: fishing boats out at sea. Though just barely able to reach the edge of this territory, they soon reported contact with one of the peoples in Toynbee's book: the Mongols. Attempts were made at negotiation with their strange leader, Temujin, and the results were most fruitful.



At around the same time, the Settler party finally reached its destination, and the new town of Leptis Magna was founded. The citizens of Carthage were content - so much so that they got constructed an actual building for Hannibal and the Council of Six to replace the cave they'd been operating out of previously.

Things continued a pace for some time, until the Southern Warrior group managed to do something right again, contacting the Suren people and obtaining knowledge of Mysticism.



Up North the first Warrior group made contact with the Indians, who were a truly civilized people. Sadly, they had nothing worth trading for. A few years later more signs of civilization were seen in the South.

Soon thereafter the people who were identified in Toynbee's work as the French were contacted. Despite his listing of them as a major technological power, they strangely had nothing of value to trade, and were therefore for the most part ignored for the moment. It was also around this time that the French and Indian capitols of Paris and Delhi, respectively, were discovered, but the next great leap in exploration would not come until the far-wandering crew of the intrepid Curragh encountered a new people: the Vikings.



Sadly they too seemed to be boring, uninventive people, if not even more prone to drink than the second Warrior group. They had no significant amount of gold to trade for either. Concurrent with contact with the Vikings, encounters with the more primitive peoples in the general vicinity took a sour note. After getting fairly useless maps from a tribe of Numidians another of their villages was discovered and they turned hostile, with a group of hostile Patzinal tribesmen discovered soon thereafter. Carthage began to grow weary of contacting tribesmen in light of these experiences. The only sure progress was that of the explorers on the Curragh, who encountered the Inca - who at first seemed to be just as dull as the rest. A few years later however, shortly after the founding of Utica, they sent envoys to Carthage with an offer.



The Science Advisor wanted to take the deal immediately but the Trade Advisor intervened, and managed to barter with the Incans for 5 Gold in addition to their technology. Soon after this, another book arrived in Carthage, much like that of Toynbee had a millennia earlier.



If three cities could get you the number three spot, thought Hannibal, then the world must not be too advanced. Still, it didn't seem like a whole lot. Further expansion would have to occur soon.

Aside from skirmishes here and there with barbarian scum, and the first encounter with the greatest of their kind, the Estruscans (who were to annoy Carthage for centuries), not much occured over the next few centuries. The Eastern, costal edge of the colossal mountain range to the Southeast of Carthage had been discovered, and the range was given the formal name of the Atlas Divide, but it had generally been assumed the mountains did indeed bisect the Indo-Carthaginian peninsula from the rest of the continent. The next biggest thing to occur for Carthage happened in 1790 B.C., with the discovery of Writing - the Science Advisor's gambit had paid off. The fact that the exact year is known is a biproduct of this discovery, though why such an arbitrary number was chosen is unknown. That same year the city of Sabratha was founded and expenditures on Research were massively increased (70%)

In the following years the new technology was used to broker sales with the other nations of the Earth, with the Vikings giving Iron Working and 10 Gold for it (fortunately a source of iron was discovered just North of Utica), and the Incans paying 105 Gold for the same priviledge. Costal exploration also continued yielding contact with further civilizations, including the Arabs in 1675 B.C. and the Dutch in 1400 B.C.

Upon contact with the Arabs it was discovered they didn't even have an Alphabet yet, so they were kindly sold a copy of the Carthaginian one for 35 Gold. The march of scientific progress continued forward at a good clip, with the Mongols making a proposition in 1500 B.C., offering Carthage the knowledge of Horseback Riding in return for Writing. The Science Advisor once again had to be held back from leaping at the offer as the Trade Advisor negotiated, managing to get an extra 17 Gold from the deal.

In 1350 B.C. the city of Rusicade was founded, and Carthage finally began to feel somewhat secure as the capitol was now ringed by a series of smaller settlements, though defensive units to garrison all of them were distinctly lacking.



Simultaneously nearly all territory North of the Atlas Divide had been mapped. It was becoming apparent to Hannibal and the Council of Six that the Carthaginians were in an excellent defensive position due to the Atlas Divide, but in order to exploit it to the fullest the Indians would need to be...removed. The Carthaginian military began secretly drilling squads of Warriors while the Worker squads were allowed to finish their current tasks before going to Iron Mountain North of Utica.

A few years after the founding of Rusicade, Oea was founded (1250 B.C.) near in the port access between the mountains near the volcano. It was a hazardous position but the port was a vital one, so the risk was taken. The range in which the volcano existed was christened the Tibesti Mountains. The same year the ever roving Curragh party encountered the Zulu, who, like the Arabs, didn't have an Alphabet. They were sold one for the low price of 50 Gold.

Centuries of quiet followed before a monumental feat was accomplished in 0975 B.C.



More good news came with the publication of one of the Millennial Books, this time by Thucydides.



Hannibal and the Council of Six were pleased with their progress. They were taking a leading role in world affairs, both economically and technologically. And then everything went to hell.

That's it?!

I demand more! A very good job

It makes me want to dl the watercolor mod.

Very awesome job.

Hannibal slammed his fist on the great wooden table which occupied the center of the Situation Room before bellowing "Unacceptable!"

All the members of the Council of Six sunk in their chairs slightly at the outburst and even the Generals had moments of shock. "But sir," responded the Military Advisor "it'd be really damn stupid to--"

"I don't care! Anything but this they can have!" exclaimed Hannibal, cutting his Advisor off. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms before muttering "Whatever it takes..."

The troubles began simply enough in 0950 B.C. with the establishment of an Embassy in the Persian capitol of Persepolis. The initial intelligence reported back by the Ambassadors stated that the Persians would complete The Great Pyramid approximately seven campaign seasons ahead of Carthaginians (33 turns vs. 40 turns). For any other Wonder Hannibal probably wouldn't have batted an eye, but The Great Pyramid would - somehow - enable a Granary to appear in every city under Carthaginian control. Hannibal didn't see how this made sense but his Science Advisor assured him it was the truth, but Hannibal didn't care how it happened - just that it did, because it would be invaluable to Carthaginian expansion.

It was decided to send a single Warrior group, the legendary (drunken?) Second Expeditionary Warriors, to attempt to disrupt the improvements around Persepolis and delay their production of the Pyramids. This plan was, of course, sheer madness, and everybody including Hannibal knew it. But Hannibal also knew they were the only unit in range, as the other Warriors were waiting in Sabratha for Iron to be available. There was also another problem...



They had appeared the campaign season before. Two Mongol Warrior groups. There should be no reason for them to be here - Hannibal and the Council knew that. Surely the Mongols weren't planning on starting something? It was decided to try diplomacy with the Mongols.



It seemed diplomacy had failed.The most outrageous thing wasn't that they had planned a sneak attack in the first place, but that Temujin was polite right up the moment he declare war. Two Warriors weren't a great concern against powerful defenders such as Carthage's mercenaries, Hannibal, the Military Advisor, and the Generals all agreed on this, but more might be coming, and they would likely go straight for Leptis Magna. The Numidian Mercenary squad was ordered to be ready for an imminent attack.

Hannibal knew his main priority lay with the Indians - he couldn't afford to fight even a slow stream of Mongolian fighters. An attempt was made to solict aid from foreign powers - an Embassy was constructed in the French capitol of Paris and a deal was struck with them: the Carthaginians would give them Writing for a Military Alliance versus the Mongols and 34 Gold. The French agreed. Further study showed the French had knowledge the Carthaginians did not, Mathematics, while the Persians had Philosophy. Then a bizarre thing happened that nobody had been counting on.



One Mongol Warrior group fell to the Numidian Mercenaries while the other took up position on a nearby mountain. Two more Mongol Warrior groups were sighted coming to reinforce that position. Hannibal ordered another Numidian Mercenary garrisoned in the city immediately, and some citizens were put to the whip to make it so. It wasn't the optimal timing for such a thing as a Golden Age at all, especially over so minor a victory.

Research funding was slashed nearly in half (40%) to accomdiate economic growth and at the same time the Curragh, which had so long ago departed from Carthage, finished its circumnavigation of the continent. Soon thereafter, the event the Carthaginian military had been waiting for occured.



Simultaneously, two further Mongol Warrior groups were destroyed outside of Leptis Magna. Funds were quickly diverted from the Treasury in Carthage to Sabratha to finance the reequipment of all six Warrior groups there, in the process creating the deadliest known fighting force in the world.



Officially formed in 0875 B.C., this group was called the Dancing Swords Army, and after being given a campaign season to readjust to their new equipment the D.S.A. immediately disembarked for Indian territory. During their rest period Philosophy was discovered by the Carthaginian Sooth-Sayers, and was traded, along with Literature, 54 Gold, and 4 GPT to the French in return for Mathematics. Mathematics was, in turn, used to get the Persians give Carthage a Military Alliance against the Mongols and 59 Gold. With a slight net cash income and an upswing in the Carthaginian economy allowed the Research budget to return almost to pre-war levels (60%).

Little did the Persians know that the deal against the Mongols was all a ruse however; the orders to the Second Expeditionary Warriors had never been rescinded. The next campaign season they demanded the S.E.W. withdraw from their territory and Hannibal and his Generals declined - instead choosing to declare war. The decision wasn't a hard one to make, as Persia would now be stuck fighting the Mongols and Carthage was far out of range of any immediate attack. And so began one of the strangest military escapades in world history. Meanwhile, North of the Atlas Divide, the D.S.A. was all the while closing in on Indian territory...

Can you post a mini-map?

Not all that much was done exploration-wise aside from sending a Curragh around the coast. To be honest, exploration was not high on my priorities list, contact with other civs was. Here's the mini-map from 0800 B.C.



Clockwise from the top are the Zulu, Arabs, Inca, Vikings, Mongols, Carthaginians, and Indians. The Persians are visible in the interior of the continent and the Dutch are on an island of some kind in the East. The Spanish and Russians are... somewhere.

how did you shade in your borders in your above pic?

There was this software that came with an Epson Printer that was recently purchased, ArcSoft Photo Impressions 4. It's only OK as far as software goes but it enables you to set change the opacity of colors. I used 50% on some of the first pieces (which haven't been posted yet) and the one you see there is 35%. The problem is that I have to do it with a paintbrush, and a small one if I want to do the borders well, so it takes awhile. If you look close you can see gaps where I missed some spots. Going over it again doubles the layer too, and I only have round brushes so I can't make nifty arrows like Daftpanzer does (his screens were the inspiration for the idea).

Probably more than you wanted to know. I'm sure something more advanced like Photoshop or PSP can do something similar pretty easily.

I myself would recommend Flash both for the shade and for the arrows. Though I didn't manage to make Daft-style arrows yet, I think it comes with just a little skill and determination.

Very good so far. I take it your goals would be "conquer the world or die trying"?

It's hard to imagine how an insignificant village in the middle of a desert could muster a force that was 150% the size of the entire Carthaginian military at the time, but apparently they take insults very personally.

Click to expand...

Maybe they just invited some friends?

das said:

Very good so far. I take it your goals would be "conquer the world or die trying"?

Click to expand...

Speaking of Flash, I feel it's appropriate to quote perhaps one of the greatest (and cheesiest) film villains ever when I make my reply: "I like to play with things a while... before annihilation."

Conquest is not in the vocabulary of Carthage unless it happens to save time! You'll see. I have to rush off to a class soon but I'll post some updates later today.

Very nice - keep writing!

V

Good! Crush those Mongols....! Oops i'm a Mongol Fan!

Great work indeed .

Shortly after the betrayal of the Persians the Vikings came calling with an offer: they'd give Carthage Map Making in return for Mathematics and 40 Gold. The price was negotiated down to 25 Gold and the Science Advisor was directed to refocus his efforts on Construction. The next campaign season Horses were brought within range of the Carthaginian trade network, and then another bizarre twist of events happened.



Apparently sometime around 0750 B.C. the French had founded Marseilles well out from their other settlements - and in a location to which Carthage felt it had the right of expansion. This insult would not stand. Clearly the French were the same as all the rest of the peoples to the Southeast - untrustworthy.

The next brushfire conflict in the region was to be Carthaginian in origin and the most significant in nature - in 0690 B.C., the D.S.A finally entered Indian territory. The threat was obvious to the Indians, and they demanded Carthage withdraw its forces. Simultaneously they had poached a perfect location for a city in the cradle of the Tibesti Mountains. Though their fate had already been sealed years before in the Situation Room of Hannibal's Palace, the leader of the Carthaginians skillfully used this and other grivences - mostly fictitious - to rally his people to war. Who were the Indians to boss the Carthaginians around?

War did not come immediately, and in the lull before fighting began the city of Hadrumetum was founded, while Horses were sent from Utica to the Southern cities of Carthage to train for a lightning raid on the French intruders.

The fight against India began in earnest in 0650 B.C. with the fall of Bombay and the annihilation of its garrison.



The news of glorious victory was not limited to the Indian front however, as that same year the S.E.W., which had been forced across the many lakes East of Persepolis to evade superior Persian strength of arms, won a minor victory against a similarly equipped Persian unit (1x Warrior) on it's way South to flank the Persians from around the Caspian Sea. Then, two campaign seasons later the impudent French were taught a lesson in humility with the razing of Marseilles and the death of its defenders (1x Spearman). What was unquestionably the greatest victory of the war occured with the capture of Delhi in 0590 B.C.

The next few seasons saw skirmishing with assorted Indian forces (1x Warrior, 1x Spearman) before culminating in the destruction of Karachi in 0510 B.C.

That same year Hannibal and the Council of Six were made aware of an internal concensus among the various Sooth-Sayers and sub-Advisors of Carthage.



As if to confirm this, shortly after the report the newly founded city of Sulcis was raided by a band of Estruscans and 9 Gold was stolen. Hannibal was not pleased with the report of either event, but the war against the Indians was proceeding well, and he was not much troubled. In 0470 B.C., the most famous battle of the period, the Battle of Calcutta - fought by the units of the D.S.A which had rested in Delhi while the others raided Karachi - proved him right, for from the fight rose the greatest hero in Carthage's history.



In what was perhaps a mistake that might have prolonged the war - albeit only slightly - Hamilcar was immediately summoned back to Carthage for audience with Hannibal (read: I forgot MGLs can't rush wonders anymore) where he remained for quite some time. Despite this, the defenses of Calcutta were finally crushed and overrun in 0450 B.C., and the Indians were willing to talk - the price for peace would be high.



Faced with little choice the Indians agreed. Hannibal thought the decision wise on their part - it would only shorten the inevitable.

Pwned those Indians

yes you did

Can Great Leaders be used as military units?

Armies. For Swordsmen it gets them 2 movement points.

Yeah, I know that. But can you actually fight with your Leaders?
I've never gotten a MGL in my entire history of playing civ (about half a year now) and I'm quite curious.