Basic Noble Story Time :D

Im not 100% sure that this is the right place, but...

I am planning on posting about 4 games over the course of the year, in order to get one of my new years resolution "Get back to Civ IV, and win a game on the level above noble. I think its called Prince. Oh, and do it with no help whatsoever.".

Anyway, that doesn't seem too bad. Except that in my 10 games I have played Noble, I have been above the 50% mark ONCE. So, I am a HUGE noob, and I have a long way to go to win in Prince.

Here is the game data:

Civ: HRE (Yay for the overpowered medieval UU)

Size: Huge

Map: Pangea

Difficulty: Noble

Speed: Epic

Gameplay changes: Not much. I plan to stop every 20 turns (maybe 30?) and give an update about whats happening. Every day without fail. However, I have made one tiny gameplay mod: Global Warming (which should actually be nuclear winter) produces TUNDRA, not DESERT, so you can build improvements on a nuclear wasteland (if they are riverside), and they also provide a tiny amount of food and commerce.

If there is anything I need to know, or any recommendations (for example, the number of turns between updates...) please tell me. I start tommorow, but the first 1 or 2 days will just be popping goody huts, and learning the lay of the land... so that gives us 3 days to discuss what I should do in this thread.

A few questions:

* Is 20 turns too short?
* Is this the right forum? There will be a tiny storyline, but I don't think (on the days that I am working) I will be able to make a good story. On the days I don't work, the story will be much richer (comparitively)
* Is this the easiest setting (I want an easy noble game, and work on to a hard noble game by June. My first Prince game will be in July, and I should get to get my resolution by then, if I stay on course)
* Do you guys need any more info?

A few things about my gameplay:

* Leader traits? What are they? I judge a civilisation ENTIRELY by its UU and UB... so thus I choose the HRE with its fast expansion and its overpowered UU. The only trait I care about is charasmatic, as I LURVE the quick promotions and the extra , as I always run out of in the early game.

* I build up an economy until the medieval era, and then attack. Thus a medieval UU is paramount. However, I have a problem with specilisation, IE. I label cities "Production city", "Money city" etc., but when I start losing money, I have a nasty habit of spamming markets in EVERY city. I know I shouldn't, but I do it none-the-less

* I suck at attacking. I do it too late, and very unstategically. I can't raid resources to save myself, and my SoD are small (compared to some people) (although quite balanced). HOWEVER, while defending, I shine, and can defend against people with twice the power rating with ease (IE. Not losing a city)... in vanilla.

* I have a problem. If I found a religion, I can't spread it effectively, and I have huge diplo problems later on. If I don't, none of my neighbors do, and I get huge later on. Thus, Pangaea FTW!! (But when I move to continents, or, god-forbid, archipelago, I am screwed.

* Naval war is very poor for me. I can defend OK, but I seem to lag unusually. (Huge tech lead, but still...) Some people say that the AI spams caravels when the human player attacks with privateers. I can't confirm that, as as soon as I get privateers, the AI has friggin AIRSHIPS!!! And when I just get ironclads, they have (bee-lined) for destroyers, ON A PANGAEA MAP. Its crazy, and I just hope it doesn't happen for me...

* I don't know how I do in the modern era in noble. I haven't thought it worthwhile to continue. I did have one game I nudged into the the modern era, and I tried to rule the skies, but when someone got a huge spaceship lead, I gave up. On Warlord difficulty I spam fighters in every city, then I get bombers and tanks. If I survive this game, I will exchange tanks for paratroopers, unless people say thats a bad idea.

I am planning on winning via a conquest/diplo/domination win. I will crush all people by my mighty landshknelts, and then vassalise everyone. I will get one (or two) good friends, wipe out my nearest neighbour so that I can rapidly expand, bee-line code of laws (but not adopt Taoism (??)), and then crush all people who aren't friends with my friend(s)

Good idea? Wrong forum? I hope that I get feedback within the next 10 hours, while I am sleeping.

hey man, I too have a similar resolution, all though mine was to first create an account, then do this. I've been reading these stories for about a year now and it sounds like this will be a good one. Screenshot are a must though, but either way, ill be a reader. I'm gonna start mine today too, so im gonna go do that and ill be back sometime o see if you've updated

Thanks, glad someone is looking

Anyway, to the story. A small note, I have decided (after playing 20 turns) that 20 turns is TINY in peace-time, so I am giving an update every 40 turns, but each turn in war-time is equivelent to 2 turns in peace-time...

Anyway to the story...

The year was 4000 BC...

... and a small group of nomads that had hunted together for millenia had banded together, hoping to make a stronger tribe. Little did they know that they were about to create one of the most important civilisations of history. The tribesmen were complaining about where to lay thier first city, a small town in the middle of the desert.

"We must settle here, on the tribe Nosgood's hunting grounds. We are surrounded by lushous floodplains and even a mystical oasis to the south. We also have corn to the south-east (unfortunatly guarded by the Nobbly tribe) and plentiful hills that we can mine for resources later on."

Digit, the immortal leader of this alliance of tribes shook his head. "No. This site is far too lacking in production. We need to expand quickly so we should make this first city a high production city. If we grow too quickly we will surely have revolting citizens as soon as our city gets too crowded. If we move to the west, we will gain the extra production for settling on a hills/plains area, and that will mean we can churn out extra production."

The tribes were unhappy with this decision, and plotted on a method to kill Digit, and destroy his ridiculous tribe. But the settlers moved west, and on the day before Digit was to be assasinated and buried alive, the settlers found a clearing that gave the lay of the land for the first city:



"SWEET HOLY MOTHER OF PAGANISM!!" the tribesmen yelled out as one, before falling to the ground, shaking and in awe of Digits brave leadership.

Digit stood up, and bellowed in his best commanding voice "Let this site be the location of the first city. This city shall be a Great Person Farm, but if ever the populace is about to become angry with overpopulation, let them work in the hills and the elephant plains in order that the city shall not grow. Let the ivory from the elephants travel into our cities as soon as possible, and trade the ivory ONLY to the civilisation that we deem worthy of such a gift. And let the city be named... AACHEN!!"

And the tribesmen said as one: "Let it be so."

The year was 3650 BC...

... And a small band of warriors were marching near Aachen.

A small band of men, clothed in furs, ran up to the palace.

"We are loyal followers of Suliman the magnificant. We demand an audience with your puny empire!!" the mens leader said.

Digit walked out of his shining wooden palace.

"What do you want, Ottoman's?" he said.

"You have but only two choices, you can either succumb to our wishes, and let there be peace, or you may be crushed by our unstoppable power."

Digit looked at his milatery advisor, who had drawn, in pictograms, the following message:

"1 scout is less than 1 warrior. We would be crushed."

Digit stared at the emissaries, and then ordered " Go back to your empires palace and tell your leader that there will be peace, until the Gods declare that the peace shall end. I wish that will never happen, but for so long as it does, you shall be my friend. "

Over the next millenium, Digit met Washington of the Americans, Justianian I of the Bysantines, and Julius Caeser of the Romans. Peace broke out between all of them, but espionage was also increased against all of them, so that Digit would know when they were about to be attacked.

The year was 3500 BC...

And the first scouting party, the ancestors of the very first tribes met had encountered another tribe. But the scouts knew that something was very wrong.

"This tribe is useless. My great-great-great-great-great grandfather once found a tribe of villages covered in gold. All tribes so far have been covered in gold, and showered us in gold. We have brought back over 200 gold caravans of goods from the tribes... but this one is covered in FLAX!!"

"Nonetheless, we should see what they have to offer..."

"1 gold caravan" one of the scouts smirked. As everyone turned to glare at that person, they saw a well-built female, with giant peacock feathers sticking out of her short hair.

"What are you men doing here? And what tribe do you come from? For our tribe is a peaceful tribe, unless you would want to face our wrath..." she said, staring at the band of scouts.

"We are men of the Holy Roman empire! We are not a small tribe, but a mighty civilisation. We ask if you would like to join our illustrious empire, and become legal citizens. All we ask from you is that you give us a gift of some sort, and join us in exploring the world."

"How much gold do you guys have?" asked a younger scout, before being knocked down by several other members of the scouting party. The punishment for nearly enraging native tribes was death, and it had always been. But the leader looked away from the brutallity of the party.

"You have wise morals, stopping people from enraging us. We WILL follow you. But, we don't have any gold, nor any silver. What we do have is this..." she said holding out a large peice of paper. One scout grabbed it and looked at it.

But the scouts leader yelled out "NO!! Its a map. The most worthless of gifts. They only ever give wide tracts of bland and pointless ocean."

The scout smirked. The woman said "Oceans are boring. We have marched across many miles of land, and this is our entire knowledge. Take it, please..."

The scouts leader smiled when he saw the map. "Digit will be pleased with this..."



And he was.

Sadly, that same scouting party, after 100 more years, was brutally slain by a pack of enraged panthers. The milatery advisor was stunned with the news, and was instantly executed for such a shocking strategic loss. The scouts were in a forest, on a hill, and was attacked from across a river. And as such, the age of exploration was slowed by several hundred years

The year was 3000BC ...

And Digit stood in the courtyard, were a mound of ivory was standing, waiting for the Gods to come down and guide him in his leadership. He had nearly linked up some wheat from the north-west, which was originally hidden, and was ready for that wheat to enter the courtyard too, to make the citizens healthy, and free from the mosquitoes that plagued the floodplains.

"Oh wise Gods", he yelled " GUIDE ME!!". And some mists decended, and tried to form human bodies.

Help me? Am I doing good? Do you like the story? (The first 40 turns is always boring, but I am glad about the amount of gold I have, and the site of the first city. I still need to find a few more people, and find where they live before I can find who will be the first to die...

The lay of the land:



Tech report: (Why Archery? I hate archers, way too overpowered, and the barb archers pop up too early...)



If you Gods need anything else, just ask. I might respond, if I have time.

No gods to help me yet? Dang...

Well, I will post an update in 10~11 hours. You can still help, and I will probably follow your instructions (if I want to ).

I have posted a save-game, but please no spoilers. I am planning to attack one of the closest civilisations (which, from memory, would probably be Suliman, which is useful, as his UU clashes quite nastily with mine (6 strength vs. 11.25 is never good odds ) But until I see a city, I can only assume he is the best target. But that is still a few days away, as by tommorow I would probably be getting a barracks, a few archers and a settler, and thats about it.

About the save-game, how do I remove stuff from the upload folder, as it is slowly filling up...

First you say as part of your New Year's resolution that you'll try to win on Noble with "no help whatsoever." Now you're asking for help. What is it?

Also, you've got some grammatical and wrong spellings. Not that I'm perfect either. Just trying to be constructive. You've misspelled "military" quite a bit.

Furthermore, it's not very realistic for a leader declare a city to be a Great People Farm. Great People Farms are a game mechanic and not really something someone would plan a city around.

Finally, how is it that your leader is immortal? I believe you'll need to give your readers some sort of an explanation because it'll be hard to suspend disbelief without it.

Hope this helps.

Close, but not quite. I never said that I would win on Noble with no help whatsoever...

Get back to Civ IV, and win a game on the level above noble. I think its called Prince. Oh, and do it with no help whatsoever.

Click to expand...

Its a year-long new years resolution, and I expect to be able to win Prince with no help whatsoever by December. ATM though, I need help with noble

Leaders are ALWAYS immortal. Unless the story is about one specific (and late-game) war, or not based on a game at all, they are immortal. (I have looked at the top two stories of this forum during my "night", both with 5 stars and over 30000 views, and both have immortal leaders). Its not a 100% realistic story, but I'm trying my best. I plan, as soon as I change leadership civics, to drag Digit out of the leadership circle, and (although he is still immortal) have mortal leaders of the civilization, but Digit is PERFECT for the role of a Barbaric (is that the default leadership civic?) leader, as a barbaric leader listens to NO-ONE. [Edit]Another way to have mortal leaders, is to not actually follow the leader through a game, but if I did that, the story would be so confusing that no one would be able to understand it, let alone help me with it. Your story made me write this, and its a good one too, but I can't do something similar...[/Edit]

I am also trying to balance an interesting storyline (which will probably be revealed for the first time either with the Oracle, or the first significant random event), with enough information to allow people to actually help me. People may want to know what this new city would be like, so I tell them. The main part of that first part of the story was that I found a frikkin AWESOME starting location, 1 tile west of the initial starting location, by moving, which I NEVER do, so its a first, and I'm checking if other people agree that its an awesome starting location...

Finally, about spelling. Military. Milatery. Hmm, I use the FireFox spell-checker, and it must have slipped through the cracks... as it is popping up as a spelling error right now (but, a few minutes later, it isn't!!). But there is no grammar-checker, so you're going to have to live with poor grammar (I also may exchange American spellings for British ones, as my spell-checker is an American spell-checker, but I live in NZ, which uses British spellings for everything. If something slips through the cracks again, its more likely than not to be a British spelling for something. Of course, now I'm defending the spelling of TWO WORDS, but meh. I guess I better look more carefully next time when the grammar police is around

Starting the game in about an hour, and updating the thread in about 2 hours. Help is still appreciated, but I know that, since the year is still 3000BC, there is not much to discuss

I got work in *looks at watch* 30 minutes, so if the story cuts off unexpectedly in the middle of the story, thats the reason .

The year was 3000BC...

And the countless shamans were burning the ivory. There was only a small amount left, and Digit was getting nervous. The only God which had came complained about something called grammar, which Digit took to be a divine sign, and told his scientists to discover this 'grammar' (IE. Bee-lining Alphabet, after using the Oracle to get Code Of Laws ). Unfortunately, after Digit ordered the God to take back its comments about his immortality, the God disappeared.

A shaman stepped up to Digit. "Sorry sir, but the Gods do not favor you. You will have to rely on the spirits that lay in this plane of existence"

Digit stared at the black mound of ivory. A few sparks still lived in it, but it was almost dead. "That is true. Sadly, it is. Hopefully, in a later time, we may ask for their help, but for now, we don't have enough resources".

The year was 2125 BC, and in Prague, the new Production city next to Rome...

... The tribal leader of Prague was annoyed. The children of the city were wearing the new togas of the Roman people. Roman culture had entered every part of their life...



Digit had arrived, after walking for many years with his team of bodyguards who would defend him from the animals that lurked in the forests.

"Soon I will be able to get here much faster, as I am planning on building a road to here. But what is this stupid culture problem that you are ranting on about?"

"On whose advice did you take, to think it was a good idea to settle a city so close to the Roman palace?" he shouted. "I am trying to subdue Roman riots here, which luckily at the moment, haven't disrupted the city, but the Roman empire is refusing access to some of our most prized resources!! The rice feed our families, but now we aren't allowed to harvest it!"

"I ordered you to build a monument, as I foresaw this happening. However, I still thought that we had about 200~300 years before this happened. Unfortunately, I realize now that that was a big mistake, and I am sorry. When will this monument be raised? I hope I look handsome in stone..." Digit said, staring at the large stone base that had already been constructed.

"It will take nearly 400 years at the present rate. All we can hope is that Rome doesn't found another religion... that will give it the culture boost to convert my city" the leader said.

Digit turned around. "Well, hopefully this city holds. I am sending the 1st archer battalion to this city to decrease the chance of a revolt. All I ask of you is that you make my face look good on this monument."

The mayor stared at Digit. "To be honest with you, I don't know if your face will be on the monument, or if Caeser's face will be on it."

On the period between 3000 BC and 2000 BC, Digit met Boudica of the Celts, and Qin Shu Huang of the Chinese. Digit also secured a second source of ivory, a source of wheat, and a source of corn, and founded one city (Prague), which was destined to be a major cultural/production city.

The year was 2000 BC...

"OH GODS, HELP ME!! I am in die need of your help, should I have made that city so close to Rome, and is it possible to prevent a capital city from overthrowing a regular city? Should I kill Rome in order to relieve the pressure? What shall I do?" Digit moaned from the privacy of his bedroom. It was the last day of 2000 BC, and he was shaking with the fear of losing his very first city. "I have made a settler to found a new city (possibly one to make lots of gold), but I have decided to wait until I get bronze working so that I can see what sources of copper I can find... so as soon as my settler is made, he will wait 25 years (1 turn) until we can find a new site for the new city. But I can't do anything without your help...What shall I do!?!?" he cried.

He had been doing this every day for 3 years, so imagine his surprise when the mists decended from his fireplace, and tried to form human bodies. Digit held his breath...

Just a note, I HATE this terrain. Although the starting location is OK, the actual surrounding area SUCKS. I love a place with nice amounts of food, and one or two large commerce piles. What do I have now? Plains, more plains, some hills, some more hills, and for some variety, plains ON hills. Its terrible.

I call all my 'sub-optimal' city locations "Military". Sadly, nearly HALF of my (nearly 10) city locations are Military, which says something about the landscape. There are NO commerce piles near me (except 2 wines, which are likely to be nabbed by the Ottomans, and aren't great commerce producers anyway), and only a few food resources. Most of the terrain is plains, hills, desert and peaks, but a few floodplains (seriously, 2 City locations that don't clash have floodplains) make a few decent sized, non-entirely farmed land, which will probably be used to try and build a small commerce supply with cottages and stuff...

What would YOU do with this yucky, high-production-if-I-could-friggin-get-the-food-to-work-the-friggin-tile land?

[Edit2] Well, you don't HAVE to help, if I was coming across too strong . One VERY good thing you could do, if you want to comment on my game is to comment on what I HAVE done, so that I don't miss any lessons (its how I learn). Also, I am now splitting the thread into two parts. The first part will be a small story, and then the second post will be a description of what I did. This will mean less of Digit announcing game-play ideas, and a more interesting story. There will be an element of mystery to it, and as my civilisation develops, the mystery will be revealed. But if my civilisation doesn't develop, then the mystery will remain unsolved, so its up to YOU to make sure the story survives.

No more crying to the gods, kk?[/Edit]

Ive played the next 40 turns, and its been tough, I tell ya. All Im scared about is whether Pretorians will pop out faster than I can get shock-promoted horse archers (that, as long as my forests are dead, and the armies travel along plains, can probably beat them quite easily...)

But again, what would YOU do in the next 40 turns? Its a REALLY long 40 turns, so the update won't be for another 14 hours or so...

The Story Post​

The year was 1500BC, the location, the highway on Prague...

Digit's chariot stormed over the road network that connected Prague with Aachen. A large force of 3 (slightly damaged) battalions and one city leader blocked the road. The warriors leaped to attention, and the archers drew their bows, expecting another Roman raid, but the roman cultural influence could only spread so far, so they were safe here. But when they saw the Holy Roman insignia on the chariot, their knees buckled in fear.

Digit stepped out of the chariot. "I heard you had problems with Prague. Mitinius," (who was the leader of the city), "why are you here, and not in Prague? You should be stifling the revolt. I have loaned you THREE full-strength battalions to protect the city from the Roman influence, and rapidly built a monument to secure the city. This will be the last rebellion, as in approximately 1000BC, we would have reclaimed the rice again, with our culture from our monument. Why aren't you protecting Prague?"

Mitinius shook in fear. "I am sorry sir, but ... this is no normal rebellion. Its a revolution. Prague is now firmly in Romes hands."

Digit stood back in shock. "I TOLD you to warn me if there was any rebellions. Oh well, the good news is that any city-flipping always has a turn or two of resistance BEFORE the city flips. Go back and fix this problem" Digit commanded.

Mitinius struggled to disobey Digit. "You ... you misunderstand sir, the city... it fell WITHOUT resistance. It became a Roman city immediately, and the entire city pushed us back here."

Digit was angry. "You mean... Prague is Roman now, and we have only two cities left?"

Mitinius nodded his head sadly. "That is so."

Digit was boiling with rage. "You, and your family shall be CURSED until that city lies in our hands. You, and your children, and your children's children, and so on, shall be slaves to the 2nd Archer battalion of Aachen until Prague returns to its rightful ownership, Holy Rome"

The year was 1075BC ... the location, outside Rome, the Roman capital

The forest was quiet, as the invasion force was sharpening their weapons. Holy Rome had declared war on Rome to reclaim Prague in 1200BC, over 125 years ago. 4 generations of people had passed since Prague fell in 1075BC, and was reclaimed by the Holy Romans. But the cultural pressure from Rome was still far too extreme, and the army had to march north to conquer, or raze, Rome from the maps.

4 battalions of axemen, a battalion of chariots, and an archer stood next to the thriving city of Rome. But outside, a battle-scarred battalion commander stood on a rock to talk to all his warriors.

"These orders have come from Aachen ITSELF, and we MUST conquer Rome. The fight will be much harder than Prague, as the defenders love the city they are defending. But, that same love for the city, and their country, is the exact reason WHY we must destroy Rome. The fight will be long, and arduous, but we WILL remain victorious throughout this fight. Holy Rome will NEVER DIE!!" he yelled. The invasion force cheered as one. The force of their resolve had never been stronger. Nervousness fell away, as each man incited more excitement to his neighbors. As this excitement flowed through the army, the leader yelled a triumphant "CHAARRRRGGGEE!!!!", and as one, the invasion force charged across the clearing into Rome.

Horns roared across Rome, alerting the city defenders that their empire was under attack. Archers woke up from their slumber, and grabbed their bows. The lack of walls meant that the archers had to find appropriate tall towers to protect, and the city was suddenly alive. Citizens and garrisoned workers lit the torches that enlightened the roads. And the city was ready for defense.

The Chariots were the first people to charge into the city. The chariots were, unfortunately, too slow to avoid the arrows flying through the air, however, and many charioteers died as they tried to enter the first Roman road. Some charioteers charged into the city, however, but most of the Archers were in the towers, so they were hardly effective fighters.

Then the axemen entered the city. One man, Claudius, was the great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandson of Mitinius. As soon as his family was freed, a fair portion of that family joined the army as full-payed soldiers. However, this was the first real combat he had ever encountered, and it wasn't pretty.

He sprinted down the narrow streets of Rome, and tried to get towards the palace, as the commander had ordered. But as he turned down the last road, he saw a huge group of archers, trying to organize the defenses of the palace. Claudius was shocked, and tried to turn around, to hide behind the corner. The rest of his battalion did the same thing, but they were mostly too slow. The archers spotted the axemen, and fired as many arrows as they could muster. Claudius' two best friends were struck down by two arrows each that embedded themselves in their backs. Claudius was able to hide behind the building at the corner, however, along with less than 30 of his buddies.

"Whose left?" Claudius whispered. "We need to take out those archers."

"Thats right..." the leader of the battalion said quietly, his voice in agony. Everyone turned to see him, and the sight shocked the battalion. His body had no less than 6 arrows sticking out of it, and by crawling, he had made a thick trail of blood. "Those archers ... they can fire from range ... but if you can get close enough ... they will be crushed." he said, panting after every few words.

"CLAUDIUS", the leader yelled, after a small period of silence. After 10 seconds he spoke again. "You ... are ... the leader." he said, almost inaudibly. A putrid smell overtook the leader, and he died.

Everyone stared at Claudius. "What shall we do?"

Claudius peeked around the corner of the building, and quickly ducked behind it, as an arrow roared past his head. "The archers have their backs against the building. If we can get in, we can take them. The 3rd Axemen division from Aachen is around the next corner, so they can't run, but they wouldn't enter the palace, as it is holy, unless they have to. We need to take them from surprise, through this building." he whispered.

"Then lets cut down the doors, and charge through the building then..." one of the warriors said.

"That won't do. If the citizens in the building yell, the archers will flee to the palace. We need to take them by surprise, by going through the building, in a place where no-one is..."

The warriors looked at their feet, as they had no ideas. Then, one warrior whispered, "Roman!!"

The battalion stared at the Roman. He was darker than most Romans, and must skinner. In Latin, he said "I am a slave, but all I wish is that I become a Holy Roman citizen, when this despicable civilization crumbles. I will tell you how to get to those archers, but only if you promise that I will become a citizen."

Claudius nodded. "Tell us, and if I survive, I will make it my life-long goal to get you citizenship."

The slave smiled. "Segregation in this city is sometimes useful. The Romans hate us slaves so much, they have made specialized chambers, or corridors, for us to travel through, so that we don't have to dirty the floors of the 'real' Romans corridors. We can use those, and I can get some more of my slave friends to fight with you..."

Claudius smiled, and lead the battalion through the corridors. The corridors were tiny, cramped, and dusty. It took nearly 3 minutes for the men to crawl through the spaces, to travel only 100 meters, with all their battle gear on. But they got there, and Claudius silently opened the hatch.

The archers were nervous, fidgeting, and trying to find a way out of this place. Claudius turned around, counted down silently from 3, and as soon as he said 1, he jumped out.

Claudius had his axe on his back as he jumped, but he landed on two archers, who crashed to the ground. The remaining archers jumped back in surprise, looked at the new hole in the roof, where new axemen were jumping out of, and then looked at Claudius. In their shock it was a full second before they decided to leap at Claudius at once, but by that time, Claudius had ripped his axe of his back, and swung it around, killing 3 archers. 2 more men jumped out of the hole, and landed on the archers. the next two axemen were hit with arrows, and had to be pushed out, but Claudius and the few people who were out of the hole, were cutting down the archers.

Claudius, after killing 15 men, and now bleeding from his back and thighs, spun around. One lone archer had ran away from the melee, and was aiming his bow at him. Claudius spun around, to see the 3rd Axemen division of Aachen sprinting from the opposite direction. They couldn't be any help. He stared at the archer, knowing that this man couldn't miss. The archer drew his bow back, and time seemed to slow for Claudius...

Then the archer released the bow, but it flew just 4 meters before it hit the cobbled ground. The archer was now on the ground, and slaves were pouring out of the holes in the building to bash the archer to death with their bare hands. Claudius turned around, and saw the 3rd Axeman division of Aachen finishing off the last archers. But no matter how hard he tried to look, he couldn't see any men from the 1st Warrior(Axeman) division, who had been promoted to axes so many years ago. He was alone. The leader of the attack was right, too right. The battle was a victory, but it still, to him, felt like a devastating loss.

(PS. Firefox doesn't know how to spell axe... thats pathetic. If there are any spelling / grammer errors, ignore them please )

Game Post​

Now for the description of the game...

IN 1875BC, I got bronze working, adopted slavery, and made a city (Vianna) next to the nearest source of copper, which was sadly too far away from the horses, but still meant that the north-western city-placement idea had changed quite significantly.

By 1800BC I had copper in my cultural boundries. And in 1750BC Prague revolted (but didn't flip) for 2 turns. Thus, I couldn't rush-build the monument. However, as soon as the revolting stopped, I killed one population, and got the monument I wanted (in 1675BC) It all seemed good, then everything went pear-shaped.

In 1650BC I got the wedding feud that made a -1 diplo hit on Caeser.

In 1500BC Prague revolted, and flipped to Rome. I knew the only way to get it back, and stop Rome's rapid increase in power (which was happening BEFORE Prets too...) was to attack back. I reduce science to 20% so that I could quickly upgrade my warriors to axemen.

1475 Nurembourg was founded, a resonable city with enough growth to warrent it as a commerce city.

Then, I paniced in 1225 BC... (No screeny sorry, as I forgot )

"The Oracle has been built in a far away land".
"Confusanism has been founded in a far away land".

SOMEONE had beelined Code of Laws / Oracle WITHOUT getting the basic economy techs first. I hadn't even begun researching Priesthood, as I still hadn't researched sailing (which was required so that Nurembourg could grow.). However, as long as the person wasn't Boudica (I think, without checking the game), I would find the person next turn. However, it was going to take an AGE before I could get Rathues'

1200 - Justinian I converts to Confusanism.

Thats it, I hate him now, but he is too far away to do any damage ATM...
In that turn, I also invaded Rome.

1175- Prague fell, with no losses.

1075 - Rome (the city) fell, and I made peace (DANG!! I should have raised another city, but that could have left Rome with too few defences, and also risks the "Patisan" event which could destroy my invasion force. But I should have done it, and THEN made peace. Oh well, at least I am learning... Rome is still very weak, and Rome (the city) is AWESOME!! Gems, Sugar, corn, ivory and (I think) horses, sea-side, fresh water... Its a gold city for SURE (Or maybe production... Its really annoying having the only >5 commerce tile in the same city which has horses, ivory AND an efficent mine... I feel split between two views. I need commerce, however, so I will sacrifice the production city (as if I need more of them ))



975 BC - Finished the game, a turn too late... And that is where the save-game is ATM. BTW... how do you remove save-games from the Manage Attachments thingy? I have only enough room for about 10 more save-games.

The year was 750 BC, and in Holy Rome was thriving. The location was Constantinople, in the Byzantine empire

The Culmnark house, the house and family of which Claudius belonged to, almost a millennium ago, had endured many struggles and triumphs and had become one of the most influential houses in northern Holy Rome, which still had a powerful Roman influence. However, over the decades, those Roman traditions had been slowly decaying.

One of the major members of this house was Micharius. He had been tasked to deliver a large shipment of pots to Constantinople, in order to convince Justinian that Pottery was a very useful technology to have. He had been told not to settle for anything less than the knowledge that the Priests of Byzantine knew.

Micharius stood at the edge of the the palace, as the lavish Byzantine Palace guard marched down. Three priests, two on either side of the immortal leader marched down the palace steps holding two large flags/Umbrellas that were protecting Justinian I from the monsoon rains that were pouring down. One priest, dressed in a silver coat, and with strange changing markings on the front marched down, chanting some words that seemed to be a cross between Latin, and some unidentified language. The unidentified language disturbed Micharius, as he knew every known language that Holy Rome interacted in.

The palace guards, and Justinian stopped a few meters away from the Holy Roman embassy. The chanting man continued to walk away, however, and soon was lost in the crowd standing behind the two groups. Justinian spoke: "I hear you come to give us technology. What can you technologically backward Holy Romans offer?"

Micharius smiled, and took a sealed pot out of his bag. In it was a small amount of corn. "This." he said, smiling.

Justinian laughed. "We have corn. We harvest it from our own farms!!"

Still smiling, Micharius said, in archaic Greek: "Not the corn. The thing the corn is stored in. It is light, easy-to move, and stores the food very well. This corn has been standing for nearly 6 weeks, and the food is still fresh."

Justinian was impressed. "This is a big technological advantage. Surely you wouldn't want it without something else..." he said.

"We want the knowledge your priests know. I am sure you wouldn't mind that..." Micharius said, glad he got a good first impression.

Later on, in the city hall, Justinian nodded. "If you allow your potters to stay in the city, and teach our citizens about these ... pots, then I will tell you about all things our priests know."

"First off, can you tell me how that priests cloak changed colors? And what language was that priest saying?" Micharius said.

Justinian was shocked. A priest stared at Micharius.

"Sorry, you must be mistaken. No Byzantine Priest can speak. Their tongues are ripped out in the initiation. They speak entirely through writing, something you Holy Romans haven't learned yet. They don't write pictures, they write words."

"But this person was chanting, and wearing a colored robe that changed colors."

Justinian was shocked. "Who is this man? He must be a pagan priest, something that we have disposed off since we have adopted Confusinism... where did you see him?"

"In front of you, when you were marching out of the palace. He must have been, maybe a couple of steps in front of you, three or four at most. He was chanting so loud that I could hear him as soon as he marched out of the palace." Micharius said, his voice rising in anguish and panic.

Justinian was now confused. "Is this some joke? There was no-one in front of me. I say, this this is an outrage that Holy Rome would send THIS man, to converse with ME, the leader of one of the mightiest civilizations in the world."

Micharius stared back at his diplomatic team. He was on the verge of making a major faux pas. Someone shook his head sadly. "I only saw two priests. Trust me, I payed attention, as Digit told us to." he whispered so quietly that Justinian couldn't hear.

Micharius sighed. "I am sorry, sir, but that was an example of a joke in the Holy Roman empire. A form of pun, or a play on words. Unfortunately, I haven't quite got the hang of the type of joke in Greek, sir." Justinian seemed satisfied with this in-promptu excuse, but secretly, he always knew that this priest, which he called the 'Ori', based on a shape-shifting spirit in the Holy Roman Pagan beliefs, existed, as he had heard it, and seen it, and focused on it for the best part of 3 minutes. He couldn't explain why no-one else could, however.

950 BC: Get Open borders with Justinian I, to try and get Confusionism. In the same turn, meet Pacal II.

900 BC: Stop learning Iron Working, as Justianian isn't going to give me Alphabet (he already got all techs I have, and he has 4 techs I don't... I feel bad that I have SUCH a tech deficit...). Focus on Alphabet.

800 BC: Meet Sitting Bull

750BC: Trade Pottery, to get Priesthood. Useless until I get a religion, but I need the ASAP... its the only thing holding me back...
Turn where the story post is added.

425 BC: Rome's borders expand, and gems give 1 extra .

350 BC: Last turn, meet Hammurabi...

Nothing exciting is happening, except that I am slowly slipping behind in tech... its a pity I couldn't get to Alphabet sooner...

The year was 7 AD, the location: Aachen

Digit was not at his palace. In fact, he was in a mountain range, east of Nurembourg. He faced 4 giant rocks, and chuckled. One of his advisers sprinted up.

"Sir, Mediolanum has been founded, a Roman city, just outside our cultural influence. It seems as if the Romans haven't learned from our mistakes. We expect it will be under our control..." she said, before being cut off.

"Do you know what these rocks symbolize?" Digit asked.

"No, sir."

"They represent my age. Each markings show a new summer, and thats why I come here every year."

"But... there are so many... How many markings are there?"

Digit smiled. "Each marking is set in groups of 10, (as the Holy Romans had very little understanding of mathematics, he used the term "All my fingers" to mean 10.) and there are 10 groups in each row. After each 10 rows, I draw a box around it. I also must maintain the older carvings from the rain, so it takes a long time. Its what I do for a week out here."

"So... why did you leave so obviously. We were in a middle of a meeting, and you stormed out in the middle of a sentence about the Byzantine trade situation..."

Digit smiled, as he chiseled away at a box. The final chiseling took several minutes, and the adviser was getting annoyed. Then he turned around.

"This is the tenth box, and it is complete. I am 10 sets of 10 sets of 10 sets of 10 sets of 10 summers old (The holy Roman description was unbelievably long, as each instance of 10 was replaced by "All my fingers", and the word "sets" was a very long word in the Holy Roman Latin)"

And that was how Digit celebrated his 10,000th birthday. He was, in fact, much older, possibly in the millions of years old, however he had been alive, and not cut in two, or trapped in a cave, for 10,000 years. He then wrote in his diary, in the palace about what he expected would happen in the next 2000 years, as he noticed that, in just 4000 years, he had went from tribal customs to a civilisation that could wield currency, bronze, and even farm for land, and keep lots of food in granarys. The mind boggled at the rate of advancement.

The year was 60AD, the location: Mediolanum, in the Roman empire

And Octovius, was walking silently through the paved roads in this small Roman town. He had got a message, that he was to meet a small gang of Holy Roman 'thugs'. These people, who ranged from 8 summers old, to 25 summers old, were the scourge of the Roman empire, and the roman guards often cracked down on them. However, the city had no idea that one of the most guarded secrets would be stolen by these un-educated thugs.

Two young men walked beside him. "You want rocks?" one man said, holding out a hand of rough, pointless rocks, which had just come from the road.

Octovius looked at his hand, and counted 3 rocks on his fingers. Staring at the man he said glumly: "Sorry, sir. I already have lots. Have some of mine." And with a subtle wave of his hand, 4 1000 denerius coins dropped into the mans hand. This was enough to buy a house, and most people would be shocked. The man just smiled, pocketed the gold, and turned left at the next house. The man who recieved the gold fired a flaming arrow into the sky, and disappeared into the nearest house.

Meanwhile a small child, who couldn't be much older than 7, crawled up to a mans house. The child was crippled, as both his legs were broken and skinny. He obviously hadn't eaten in days, and the cold night was biting into his small frame, with which only a rotting rag covered a small section of his dark skin. He was a beggar, and scrapped at the door of a well known brick-smith. This man was not wealthy, but his buddist faith meant that he tried to give all the possessions he could to the poor. He was a kind man, and because of that, he was targeted, but very few people knew that fact, lest of all him.

The brick-smith looked down at the little boy. He hadn't seen a beggar so needy before, as he didn't venture into the central town often. "I understand your needs", he said, "Let me fetch you some food, some clothes, and a bed for you." And the man disappeared. As soon as the door closed, six large men closed in, and hid themselves in the shadows behind the door.

When the brick-smith returned, he saw that the beggar-child was further away than he thought. He was holding a grey cloth, and inside it, a warm smell of bread, corn, and fish wafted out of it. "Here you go, young lad..." he said, bending down to give the food to the kid. But just as he did, the shadows pounced, and hit the man from behind. He was almost immediately on the hard brick road, and tried to yell out, but the men roughly choked him, and soon everything went black.

A carriage rode by, and looked at the brutal beating this man was enduring. The carriage was full of Holy Roman guards, temporarily assigned to maintain order in Rome, as a part of a trust-building exercise with the Romans. One man stepped out, and the shadows scattered. If these were Roman guards, they would be killed on the spot. But the archers kept their bows down, and their arrows in their pouches.

"If that man is dead, your reward is not given". One man said from the carriage said. Two men strode down, and touched his neck. "You are lucky" the man said. "He is barely alive, but that will do. I am sure our medics will attend to him, and get him talking quickly."

The men, one of them Octovius, gave the thugs another 500 denerius, before dragging the brick-smith into the carriage. The thugs disappeared into the night, and the beggar took his share of 50 denerius which was conveniently dropped by the thugs.

Octovius was a Holy Roman spy, and he had undertaken the most dangerous mission, steal the secrets of Masonry from the Romans. He was proud that he had done his country a favor, and never thought for a second about the man who would no doubt be killed for the information he possessed. This was the business he had chosen, and that was how he survived.

Meanwhile the beggar fiddled with the coins, and took of his rags, and covered the coins in his rags. He dragged himself towards the city, and then looked back. Staring at the cloth with the food in, and the blood which was spread out to where the carriage used to stand, he had second thoughts about his actions, which would break the hearts of the kind brick-smiths family. Dragging his tiny body along the road, he got to where the cloth and food lay, whereupon he ate most of the bread, wore the cloak over his tiny shoulders, and pocketed the rest of the food. He was a beggar, and that was how he survived.

Game Post​

Just as an aside, does anyone notice that Holy Rome doesn't seem to have any... morals? I guess thats because if a civ is going to win by war, it shouldn't have its populace ... thinking too much

Anyway:

290 BC: Get Alphabet (YAY!!)
Trade Iron Working for Alphabet of Boudica (Boudica is very weak, far away, and Justinian has drained Alphabet of any benefits hoarding it would have. Thus, I did the unthinkable...)

Think "How to get iron?". The only source of iron is in Sulemans territory, and just outside Americas borders (screeny coming maybe tomorrow ). I can't fight without iron (my beautiful landshnelts wouldn't be built ), so I would be MUCH weaker.

200 BC: Say "Hi!!" to Salidin.
Buddism enters my land (Christianity enters as well, but I can't remember when)
Don't adopt Buddism as state religion, as I still need the diplo modifiers with Justinian.

80 BC: Trade Currency for Monarchy + Polytheism.
Trade Corn for 2 GPT (with China)
Get Charles Darwin (Great Scientist), use him to build academy in Rome (+50% science, and, more importantly, +4 CULTURE!! Soon Rome will be 50% Holy Roman... very very 'soon' (IE, in about 3 days -.-)

55AD: Steal Masonry from Rome (From the turn-set the story is based on)

115AD: Adopt Hereditary Rule/ Organized Religion.

130 AD: Pyramids built, but no-one has taken advantage of them, and I think I know EVERYONE...

160 AD: Build Maoi Statues, in my sea-side production city...

250 AD: Get horseback riding. Remember, too late, that the stable quest is in my OTHER game. Oh well, Horse archers are useful for anti-Pret invasions (The flanking promotion requires 3 promotions, which is hard to get, and I can get shock for 2 promotions. However, longbows WOULD be better, maybe... if I can get them fast enough)

I am rapidly gaining in science, and am often the leader in score... however I have a problem. My tax rate is breaking even at 40%, however to get iron, I need a new city, in the south. This will cost me another 3 GPT, probably, and if Mediolanum flips to me, then I will lose 1 GPT in EVERY CITY as I will get above the 1 GPT "Number of cities" maintainance cost. Now Rome's idea of giving me a free city is becoming more evil...

Also, religion is suddenly more important. Do I go with Christianity, and please Suliman (strong, and my neighbor), and go against the tide of popular opinion? Or do I get swayed by peer-pressure, get the AP (no doubt some buddist will get it), and risk a war with Suliman, who is getting quite strong, and quite close.

Im going with buddism, as soon as the third Holy Roman city becomes buddist.

Story Post​

The year was 378 AD, the location: Rome

Augustus was a border-patrol scout, and liked his job. He was in charge of making sure that no-one got in, or out, of Holy Rome. He was payed alot, so that spies could not bribe him, and for most of the time he sat down, doing nothing. Occasionally, he (or one of his sub-ordinates) would spot a potential refugee trying to get to a better place (although it didn't seem like either Holy Rome, OR regular Rome was better of. They were both cesspools of theivery and corruption. At least, out this far from Aachen there were. And in Rome, in the few times he had to go there to stock up on resources, there always seemed to be too much anti-Roman feeling. People were beaten up from whether they thought one particular type of architecture was better than another. Thus, he tried to stay away from the big cities, and enjoyed the life in the country.

However, on this day, he had brought his son with him, just to show him that the country was much better than the city. His shift started today, and ended in 40 days time.

When he was 40 kilometers from the tower he was meant to be observing from, he saw a roman, who seemed to have stolen some battle gear, cleaning up a rudimentary latrine he had just made. He turned to his son.

"Crossing the border takes guts, son. Many refugees make the mistake of getting so wound up about crossing this invisible line, that they get all ... uptight. We just track them, if they pose some threat to us, we nab them when they are doing thier buisness. Hurry now, he might get his sword back soon." he said, breaking into a sprint.

"HALT!!" he yelled, when he was a few meters away. "You are breaking the Bi-Roman peace treaty and immagration laws! Stay where you are, or we WILL use force. This is by order..."

Then he faded away. As he turned around he saw a Roman Centurion holding his son. His son wasn't struggling, as he had been trained in unarmed combat extensively, and knew that by struggling, he would only tire himself out.

"By order..." he continued, his voice getting weaker and weaker as he noticed the royal insignia on the Romans chest, and the Roman flag that was billowing behind him. "By order", he repeated, "of King Arterius, of the Holy Roman... empire."

The centurion threw his son at another soldier. "Order? Caeser doesn't TAKE orders from mere mortal kings. You go off and tell your king, that Caeser demands the ROMAN city of Rome back. In fact... I have an idea. Shackle these two together!!" he commanded.

After Augustus and his son were shackled together, the commander said "Fight to the death. Have these swords, and fight each other. I don't get to see much excitement here, and my men are tired from marching. I am not a cruel man, so I think I will reward my men" he said, smiling. "And if you don't fight well enough, then you will be BOTH executed".

The fight between Augustus and his son was vicious and brutal. However, after 3 minutes of fighting, Augustus dealt the final blow, killing his own son. After he threw away his sword, he stared at the commander.

"Is your brutal, and cruel entertainment over? Please, you have ordered me to kill my own son, and you now must give me your side of the bargain."

The commander laughed light-heartedly, as if he said something funny.

"Sorry sir, but ... I forgot that I had already SENT a messanger to Aachen to tell the king about this war. Your services are no longer nessecery, I fear." he said, smiling throughout the conversation as if it was the funniest thing in the world. With a quick movement of the hand, two pretorians marched in to kill Augustus.

His last thoughts were: 'I now know who is better. Holy Rome doesn't have people like this in it, and I am glad for it.'

The year was still 378 AD, and the location was Aachen

Digit was furious. He had marched for nearly 100 kilometers on foot, because the King was unable to lead the people. Why had he ordered that the civilisation be run by a mere mortal, even a family of mortals?

The palace was much more luxurious than it was just 1000 years ago. It was now 3 stories high in some places, and ivory and gems encased the building. Four guards protected the doors. One marched up.

"You there. The king does not converse with mere citizens, let alone one that looks like a slave." the guard smirked.

"Oh really? Drop your weapons, mere mortals", he commanded. His booming voice resonated deep into the persons head, and he felt forced to comply. "In fact... Go to sleep, all of you"

Within a second, there was a huge crash as several spears and bronze armor crashed to the ground. The guards had all collapsed, and were out cold. Digit steped over the men, and marched into the sacred halls.

The king, on his throne, was conversing with one advisor, when he saw the doors opened. The king stood up to demand the man to turn around, or command his guards to kill this intruder, until the man saw his face, whereupon he ordered the advisor to leave.

"Do you not listen to your advisors?" Digit cried. "I told you to force the slaves to equip the axemen with powerful axes... why have you not sent out the order yet?"

The king shook with fear. "Sir... the Romans, it may still be a horrible mistake. We can still prepare for peace... surely... as peace IS the way, right? Killing hundreds, no THOUSANDS of citizens to make weapons that may not necesserily be used... that isn't wise, sir..."

"DO YOU QUESTION MY JUDGEMENT?" Digit yelled.

The king was forced to reply with the truth. "Yes, sir..."

"This is a Roman invasion. Premeditated and planned. You MUST prepare the troops."

Now the king was mad. "You first put me in power, and then order me around? My ancestors were put in charge by you, and obeyed you with your voice. Although you may be immortal, and impervious to damage, you can only control a few people, and even then, only for a few days at most. I KNOW your weaknesses, and you know that I will be the first king to oppose your dictatorship rule. The people will not like a revolution to a dictatorship, and you will be trapped in a dungeon with no food for millenia. You CANNOT rule me..." he yelled, and punched Digit.

Digit smiled. "I could kill you, you know?"

"What? Order my guards to kill me? They are loyal towards me, and the people love my rule. If I die, the anarchy would shake the civilisation!!"

Digit smiled. "No. Surely you are more loyal to you, than your guards are..." the king was confused. Then Digit turned towards the kings family.

"Kill yourselves. All of you, except the heir". They did as they were told, and within 30 seconds only the king, his heir, and the guards remained in the room.

The king stared at Digit. "You wouldn't... surely... please I value my life. I will always be loyal to you" he cried, barely holding back tears.

Digit turned at the hier. "For as long as you obey me, and your advisors, you will be blessed with stability and power. But look upon your father, and remember today. Obey me, and the advisors, always."

Then he turned towards the King. "You will be alive, but you will wish you were dead. Leave this palace, throw off your robes, and become like a crazy beggar. For as long as these words echo in your mind, you will be crazy... the guards will no longer respect you, and will not stop you"

The King, after 5 seconds of resistance, leapt from the palace, and left a trail of brown robes that didn't end until the streets.

Digit stared at the hier: "Don't worry. As long as you obey me, your life will be blessed. I am not evil, I just feel that punishment is required for people that don't obey me..."

Game Post​

280 AD: Adopt Buddism, as I needed the +25% building production, and the +1

355 AD: Aussberg (The Iron outpost, which will probably be the only place, aside from Rome, to ever get walls and a castle), is founded, and iron, marble, and cows surround the city. Here is a picture of the city a bit later on...



370 AD: A Pret invaded Holy Rome, and the second Roman war begins. Try and reinforce it with the best counter: Axes.

Bribe China into the war, but since I started losing money, the corn for 2GPT deal is canceled...

490 AD: Build Great Lighthouse, giving +2 trade routes in 5 out of 7 cities Sadly, the lack of intercontinental trade routes is going to make that a MUCH weaker wonder (But ... 4 extra commerce in 5 cities, is about 4~6 extra GPT, and even more later on )

535 AD: Get Buddism in Aussberg, accelerating the rate that the iron will get into my borders. The good news is that the iron will be secure just in time for my landshnelts

I have a small cat army, and 3 axes ready to invade the next Roman city in 7 turns time, which will remove the Romans of all coastal cities. Also, the lack of major cultural pressure makes it a good choice. Finally, China should annoy the new Roman capital (which recently stole one of my ivory sources, and another gems supply), and the war should mean that I will have time to get a couple of extra cultural buildings in Rome, at least enough to fight back the gems and the ivory.

The great news is that with this new roman city, I would have 6 (count them, 6 coastal cities!! Ruling the seas will be a priority with this map, as well as holding my two cultural Peninsula's (Rome and Aussberg)

The year was 863AD, the location, Antium

The Culmnark house was enjoying a huge golden age, due to being the owners of the new iron mine, that was selling cheap weapons to the new Holy Roman army. As such, the Culmnark house had a representative in the diplomats of Holy Rome.

That representatives name was Mytinium, who was surrounded with a few swordsmen. He stood in front of the Roman palace, that had recently been stripped of its most expensive decorations, in order to pay for a few more soldiers to fight the Holy Romans.

After an hour standing in the rain for nearly an hour, a guard marched down from the palace.

"I see you are serious about these peace talks. Enter..." he said, gestering towards the palace.

The Holy Roman diplomats, soaked to the skin, walked into the palace, and was led to Julius Caeser. He had many luxurious statues and cloaks decorated around the room. Mytinium smirked, as it was obvious that the Romans had got all the decorations from everywhere near the palace, and dumped them in this one room. There was a CHAMBER-POT in there, for buddha's sake...

Caeser looked up at the soaking diplomats. "Sit. I am sure you will be quick to negotiate your surrender..."

The diplomats sat down, and Mytinium smiled. "Caeser, don't play "high-and-mighty" with me. You KNOW the situation of the war, and you KNOW that you haven't got a chance of victory. Our army almost out-numbers you 2 to 1, and the only attacks you have EVER launched were two naval attacks, of which, only one was successful. You cannot say that we will surrender, as you know, we are demanding things from YOUR empire."

Caeser stared at the diplomats, and sighed. Everything the diplomats said was true. "We can fight, and defend, surely."

The diplomats rolled their eyes. "It will only be a matter of time before our spear-men and swordsmen and axemen come knocking at this pathetic excuse for a palace."

Caeser frowned. "What do you have to offer?"

The diplomats slipped a piece of paper with Roman pictographs on it. Caeser looked at it, and laughed.

"You want us to become your VASSALS? Become SLAVES to YOUR empire? That must be a joke, surely. I would rather be trapped in a dungeon here, than become your slaves..." he said, furiously.

The diplomats stood up. "Well, we will put that to the test, unless you can think of another idea. If you want us, then we will be in the Commanders inn. Otherwise, I hope that your wishes are fulfilled."

Caeser looked around at the walls, and he flinched when he saw the chamber-pot. Then he quickly said "Wait here, I may have something for you...". He disappeared into another room.

The diplomats waited for an hour, and after an hour, they stood up to leave. the guards pushed them down. "Sorry, but Caeser WILL get a reply soon. If he wanted you dead, he would have killed you already..."

After 2 more hours, Caeser returned holding a large wad of paper. It had the Holy Roman alphabet all over it. The diplomats quickly read it.

"So ... what I am getting from this, Caeser" Mytinium said, after reading the entire thing, "is that you will give us 90,000 carriages of gold, and 1,000 carriages of gold for every 10 years, subject to inflation, for as long as peace reigns between us, which will be a minimum of 100 years, right? Up to a maximum of 100,000 carriages of gold?"

Caeser nodded.

"This is entirely unacceptable. We do not need your gold." Mytinium said. One diplomats tugged on his shoulder.

"This is all they have. They must be selling the palace to raise this amount of money... I think that this is the best deal we can get. Holy Rome is struggling to break even, and a new city has been made, which is sucking our coffers dry as we speak. The war is just meaning we are building lots of military units, and deploying them to our border cities, which, quite frankly, are everywhere. I believe Holy Rome DOES need the gold."

After much deliberation, the diplomats turned back. "I do not believe that this deal will be acceptable. But we will be back soon, within the year, to confirm this."

But 3 years later, the diplomats returned, and signed the Bi-Roman treaty of 866. And in that manner, the second Roman war ended, with very few military losses

625 AD: Rush a collosium to avoid unhappiness in Aachen when my catapults leave.

655 AD: Sign an open borders agreement with America before a Roman archer invades Aussberg. Destroy it with a chariot

730 AD: Rome makes peace with China, as the huge stack of Axes, spears and chariots came knocking at Cumae.

760 AD: Assault on Cumae. Falls with no (or maybe one cat, I can't remember) losses. From this battle, Sargon (GG) is created. He becomes an instructor in the city with Maui Statues and the Great Lighthouse (as the new wonder city is the city south of Rome, as I need the cultural pressure to flip the Roman city next to my borders.

775 AD: Reach 2 million people. Seriously, the population size in Civ IV is screwy. Rome (the city) had 1 MILLION people (including slaves) by 100 or 200 AD, I think. My history may be off, but Im sure one of the largest nations in 775AD had MUCH more than 2 million people...

830 AD: Adopt Vassalage. Vassalage + Ratheus + calender, for those who don't know, means RAPID expansion. When my landshnelts come to play, I bet the HRE will roar to first place. As long as the Ottomans don't attack, or build Jannaseries...

860 AD: Second roman war ends, for 90 gold, and 1 GPT. No vassalage, sadly...

870 AD: Burn Rhoisan (Of the barbarians) but get 4 free workers, and a fair chunk of gold to boot

Thats really it. Not much to say. As soon as my pikemen UU come out to party, Rome will fall so quickly. And after that... America (I need to secure my Iron trades)

I feel sad that Rome won't capitulate. He has relation strengths of -1 or higher with EVERYONE in the game... so vassalising him would mean no -1 We are worried about our rivals being vassals to your empire modifier. As long as Caeser remains civil.

But that will have to wait. (PS to stop confusion about Rome the city, and Rome the empire, I will now refer to Rome the city as Roma and Rome the nation as the Roman Kingdom.). As #2~5 in the civ scoreboard I seem to be doing quite well, and I probably have the best civ I have ever got (even with the bad terrain, which is really helping my war effort. I can't wait for my next Golden Age, its going to be INSANE with all those plains (+1 hammer, +1 commerce in all those tiles )

Story Post​

The year was 912 AD. The location: Aachen

The Ottoman embassy was surrounded by the largest diplomatic guard ever made. An entire battalion of swordsmen was called in to carry Suliman himself deep into Holy Roman territory. Obviously, only 20 soldiers were allowed into the city, so that left over 900 soldiers back, behind the sprawling metropolis, which was Aachen, the largest city in the world.

The guards crossed thier spears to block entry to the palace. "Sorry sir, but Digit is not ready for your presence. You will have to wait 10 minutes"

Suliman laughed. "Holy Roman Guards, go home to your families and tell them how much you love them. You will need to tell them that BEFORE this civilization crumbles". After nearly 30 seconds of resistance, the guards disappeared into the night to talk to their families.

Digit was, conveniently, talking to his financial and military advisers, to check if there was any way to increase the size of the military. He looked up at Suliman, but didn't recognize him immediately.

"Didn't the guards stop you? Go outside now, and wait for me to finish" he said.

"That voice doesn't work on me" Suliman said, smirking.

Digit rose to his feet immediately, and stared at the man. He was an immortal, and very large... His accent...

"Suliman!" Digit said, trying to force a happy charm into his voice. He tried too hard and sounded like a little child, with his foot underneath something heavy. "What brings you to my home, and what can I do for you? What is so urgent that you can't wait 10 minutes." his voice became more chilled and borderline-angry as he ended that sentence.

"I am sure I can count on your assistance. I demand 320,000 carriages of gold. No less, no more."

Digit was shocked. "Do we even have that much?" he asked his financial adviser.

"Yes ... but ... in 3 decades, we wouldn't. We are losing so much gold..." she continued.

Digit turned to Suliman. "As you can see, the Holy Roman economy is struggling enough as it is. If we give you this ... sizable amount of gold, our empire would be bankrupt within 30 years."

Suliman stared, his red eyes burning with rage. "You do not understand what you are doing, Digit. You must give into our demands, our you WILL be crushed. We are stronger than you, and MUCH larger. You will not be able to hold our many armies out of your cities."

Digit looked at his military advisor. "We aren't all that much weaker than you, and part of the reason we ARE weaker is that we have less cities to defend." he said to Suliman.

"You only have one more chance. Do you chose to please us, or do you choose death?"

Digit smiled. "Death would be very nice. The world will be a better place without blackmailers and back-stabbers like you"

And so the first Ottoman war began, and war raged

The year was 1028 AD, the location: Malatya

For ten long years, the Holy Roman catapults had been smashing important cultural icons, houses, academies... and the people were tired because of it. The slaves had recently been forced to design thousands of bows for the archers, and had been allowed only 3 hours sleep for the 10 days they had to work in a row, and then they were allowed to sleep for the 11th.

Many people had died because of this important task, but the slaves died without any recognition for the service they were doing. It infuriated the slaves, but what could they do?

But, on the third day of the sixth month, the Holy Romans attacked. The siege started targeting important strategic locations with granite boulders that killed the people, but left the defensive structures mostly intact. The chances of the Ottomans holding the determined attack off was almost none.

Actil Clumnark, one of the few members of the house that he knew about, was leading the major catapult attacks against the Ottoman city. They had to get this city, he was told, for the strategic (it was nearly cutting off the only supply of iron they had) and diplomatic benefits it held.

He watched as the siege machines slowly rolled towards firing range of the central district. The Elephants were pinned down, and needed some heavy boulders to destroy some of the nearby buildings that were blocking the only way into the culde-sack.

However Actil saw a rouge man, marching in the opposite direction. He was obviously Holy Roman by the way his face looked, but he was out of uniform, and walking very quickly in the opposite direction.

Actil sprinted down to the man, and walked beside him. He was shouting nonsense, and even though it was obviously Holy Roman, he was only saying numbers, without any other words.

"Stop." Actil said, attempting to grab the man, who was covered in a flashing cloak. But Actil's hand went straight through the man. Actil was a deeply superstitious man, and freaked out at the sight of the ghost.

He waved his sword through the man, but it did nothing, except make a cool swishing noise. Eventually, after about 2 minutes, the ghost disappeared into nothing, never to be seen again by Actil.

Game Post​

Only one screeny. I am sure I took more... meh.

880 AD: Ivory for clams+fish (yay for health). With ... the Ottomans.

910 AD: Ottomans declare war, after I refuse thier demand of 320 gold. I don't know the AI did that... it must be a noble thing. I have refused demands, and they haven't done anything about it...

Gift Code of Laws to America, so that the Ottomans don't get a war ally (we are both cautious towards him, and America is the only person bordering the Ottomans.

930 AD: The Ottomans 'invasion force' of one swordsman and one chariot attacks Aachen (on hills, 40% cultural defence, and a longbowman, and and archer), in what should be the stupidest decision in war yet. He should have razed my ivory, in my opinion. The troops die, with no losses on my side.

950 AD: Gt 5 GPT from boudica (for Ivory)
Get 5 GPT from Qin Shin (For my only Marble). Realise that the Mausolom is double production with Marble (instead of stone, which was what I was thinking it was), and slap myself.

1020 AD: Assault Malatya. Both cats die, but no other losses.

1060 AD: Finish the Mausoleom of Mausollous. Its an awesome wonder for me, as most of my tiles will get both the +1 commerce, and the +1 hammer bonus in a golden age, and to expand it further is great. Plus, the +10 culture is awesome for flipping the Roman city

1080 AD: Trade copper for deer for America (+1 diplo, I don't need the copper, and the sickness is KILLING my empire...)

And thats it...

I am winning the war, and I'm only 13 turns from landshnelts. But I have no siege, and no spies (so no recon about what to expect). But my tiny navy seems to have found horse archer armies, so my landshnelt army should make short work with them...

But the Ottomans seem to want Macemen really quickly... I still don't know how close they are to gunpowder... And if they get Macemen, then my landshnelts will have equal odds (12 vs. 12), so it will be who gets the most promotions. Theocracy will have to be started as soon as all cities have 2 religions...

I have built a spy in the last turn, and I am rapidly building an army of at least 4 trebs (preferrably 6). After getting 4 Horse Archers, and 6 Landshnelts, my army of 14 units will invade, and capture 2 Ottoman cities and raze two more to get a cultural buffer. By that time, all going well, I will be third from the bottom in score, suffering from killer unhappiness, but the Ottomans will have gunpowder, and I will have to end the war...