Just thought to make a little story about everyone's best friend, Shaka, inspired by Neal's fantastic King of the World series (not the Shaka one in particular). Sorry if this has been done a 1000 times already or something, I'm a new guy around here 
Shaka doesn't muck around. He knows the world rightfully belongs to him, and he has perfectly good means in securing that right with his Impi warriors. This story tries demonstrates this to good effect or die trying. (I actually think that the Impi is a crappy UU, but bear with me)
In game terms, this translates to:
- Large Pangaea
- Always War
- Prince difficulty
- Only 0-1 Settlers allowed, depending on if the capital has Copper in BFC
- Only other units allowed to build or use: Worker, Scout, Impi and Great People
- Only allowed to win through conquest
- Cannot complete buildings that produce culture
So there we go. Not sure if this fits in the strategy forum (or anywhere else for that matter
) instead of the stories or something, but I guess it shows how efficient Mobility units can be for a Pillage economy (as for 95% of this game it runs a money deficit at 0% science).
Shaka looked around and decided in place was a good place to begin his quest for world domination. His indentured servants (as the concept of slaves hadn't crossed his mind yet) began to till the land by harnessing the docile beasts nearby to do their bidding.
Shaka's scouts found a small tribe where a warrior fighting with a big club wanted to join Shaka's empire. As spears are the only acceptable weapon of the Chosen, this warrior was promptly sacrificed to the spirits by our scouts. Shortly afterwards, a larger tribe of ghastly-looking humans was found lurking nearby.
Shaka's first priority was to ensure a steady supply of spearheads for his Chosen warriors to use. A remote colony was founded and brave individuals began to build a great highway to transport the metal, protected by cunning scouts.
The first Chosen made contact with the nearby enemies by stripping them of their metal supply. After this the Chosen retreated quickly as the inhabitants chased them with strangely effective weapons resembling a very wide spearhead mounted on top of a shaft. Shaka's elders noted that the Zulu could make such weapons as well, but they were quickly sacrificed to the spirits for their blasphemy.
Meanwhile, Shaka's scouts found an even more timid tribe of people living in the far east; they were even able to burn down a settlement that was lightly defended. Then the scouts continued their guerilla tactics of denying the enemies metal sources.
Shaka finally felt that the time was right to get rid of his annoying neighbors; he amassed countless warriors (as he couldn't count to more than 10) and attacked.
After this neighboring tribe was liberated into slavery, Shaka renamed the city slightly because he could not pronounce the original name (side note: did you know that the Zulu language is one of only a handful of languages that have the same basic letters as English: A-Z with no diacritics, umlauts or accents etc?).
Shaka swooped southwards to find two poor tribes that had not even found a source of spearheads; these fell quickly to the mighty Impi.
The great eastern scout, now having reached the rank of Wimpi, continued to wreak havoc on the American and Mongolian tribes.
Shaka kept his people happy mainly by arranging great elephant tournaments with gold prizes. His people revolted greatly as mysterious warriors emerged from the jungle to ransack his holdings.
Wimpi was joined by his brethern to establish a reign of terror on the Mongolian tribe. They had sneaked a supply of strange greyish weapons that the Zulu had no knowledge of, but they still stood little chance before Shaka's veterans.
As a great Impi warrior named suNtutuzu once said: when in the enemy lands; steal his food. A stolen food portion is worth 20 food portions supplied by ordinary means, and a stolen replacement spearhead is worth 20 regular spearheads:
Now was the time to strike down the American tribe once and for all. All nearby warriors were gathered to make a unified strike against the great hilltop stronghold.
Shaka listened indifferently to the list of casualties; they were weak, so they didn't deserve to survive. The main objective, the liberation of waSgungungton, was a success and the so-called American "empire" was ground to dust.
News of this had reached Darius in his faraway dwellings though, and by a cowardly sneak attack he took the newly acquired city from Shaka's hands.
The next adversary was a worthy challenge; unlike others, their bow-wielders wore women's skirts, which greatly confused Shaka's Chosen. Many brave warriors were shot to death as they were bedazzled by this anomaly.
Fresh reinforcements were sent with the info that despite the skirts, the enemy was largely the same as the ones that the Chosen had encountered before. Hammurabi's capital fell shortly after.
Raiding parties had tried to keep Darius' metal source in check; they had even scratched notes on hillsides where they suspected the metal might have been mined. When Shaka's newly appointed (2700 years after the last ones were sacrificed) elders finally learned how to identify this strange metal, they found out that the LAST remaining possible source was the culprit! Also, turns out that Ulundi had stood for millenia right next to an Iron deposit, never suspecting that the red-tinted ore might actually be useful.
Darius was already fleeing in terror and sent his emissaries to every corner of the world in search of a safe haven. To Shaka's astonishment, one such emissary had founded a thriving colony right on his own doorstep. Somehow he had missed this until some raving lunatics talking about "Confucianism" found their way to Shaka's villages.
Another such emissary was found hiding in the remote southern coldness.
Shaka's Chosen felt empowered by the vast emptiness of the world. Ruins of whole civilizations now filled the land, their huge road networks now leading to nowhere and overgrown by plants. The scattered barbarian city-states formed almost half of the world's population.
Darius made his last stand at the conquered barbarian city of Yue-Chi. To show his respect to him as an adversary, Shaka challenged him to a duel in hand-to-hand combat and gave him a warrior's death.
The last remaining Persians fled to the already once conquered city of waSgungungton, where they were slaughtered to the last man. The city was set to flames to warn the future generations of what happens to those that cross Shaka's path.
This fulfilled Shaka's quest. Many brave warriors had fallen, but now Shaka stood as the ruler of the world in its entirety.
In hindsight, I probably could have gone with a bit higher difficulty, so the enemies could have gotten higher tech and forced me to build even a tiny bit of infrastructure. Then again that would probably have only made the game more boring. Also, turns out that the barbs let loose by the razing conquest harassed the remaining Civs to good effect, also hindering their research rates. I was lucky as well that no one found an island city, don't know how Shaka would have managed that
For an RPC, I dare someone to do the same on a huge map
Shaka doesn't muck around. He knows the world rightfully belongs to him, and he has perfectly good means in securing that right with his Impi warriors. This story tries demonstrates this to good effect or die trying. (I actually think that the Impi is a crappy UU, but bear with me)
In game terms, this translates to:
- Large Pangaea
- Always War
- Prince difficulty
- Only 0-1 Settlers allowed, depending on if the capital has Copper in BFC
- Only other units allowed to build or use: Worker, Scout, Impi and Great People
- Only allowed to win through conquest
- Cannot complete buildings that produce culture
So there we go. Not sure if this fits in the strategy forum (or anywhere else for that matter
) instead of the stories or something, but I guess it shows how efficient Mobility units can be for a Pillage economy (as for 95% of this game it runs a money deficit at 0% science).Shaka looked around and decided in place was a good place to begin his quest for world domination. His indentured servants (as the concept of slaves hadn't crossed his mind yet) began to till the land by harnessing the docile beasts nearby to do their bidding.
Spoiler :
Shaka's scouts found a small tribe where a warrior fighting with a big club wanted to join Shaka's empire. As spears are the only acceptable weapon of the Chosen, this warrior was promptly sacrificed to the spirits by our scouts. Shortly afterwards, a larger tribe of ghastly-looking humans was found lurking nearby.
Spoiler :
Shaka's first priority was to ensure a steady supply of spearheads for his Chosen warriors to use. A remote colony was founded and brave individuals began to build a great highway to transport the metal, protected by cunning scouts.
Spoiler :
The first Chosen made contact with the nearby enemies by stripping them of their metal supply. After this the Chosen retreated quickly as the inhabitants chased them with strangely effective weapons resembling a very wide spearhead mounted on top of a shaft. Shaka's elders noted that the Zulu could make such weapons as well, but they were quickly sacrificed to the spirits for their blasphemy.
Spoiler :
Meanwhile, Shaka's scouts found an even more timid tribe of people living in the far east; they were even able to burn down a settlement that was lightly defended. Then the scouts continued their guerilla tactics of denying the enemies metal sources.
Spoiler :
Shaka finally felt that the time was right to get rid of his annoying neighbors; he amassed countless warriors (as he couldn't count to more than 10) and attacked.
Spoiler :
After this neighboring tribe was liberated into slavery, Shaka renamed the city slightly because he could not pronounce the original name (side note: did you know that the Zulu language is one of only a handful of languages that have the same basic letters as English: A-Z with no diacritics, umlauts or accents etc?).
Spoiler :
Shaka swooped southwards to find two poor tribes that had not even found a source of spearheads; these fell quickly to the mighty Impi.
Spoiler :
The great eastern scout, now having reached the rank of Wimpi, continued to wreak havoc on the American and Mongolian tribes.
Spoiler :
Shaka kept his people happy mainly by arranging great elephant tournaments with gold prizes. His people revolted greatly as mysterious warriors emerged from the jungle to ransack his holdings.
Spoiler :
Wimpi was joined by his brethern to establish a reign of terror on the Mongolian tribe. They had sneaked a supply of strange greyish weapons that the Zulu had no knowledge of, but they still stood little chance before Shaka's veterans.
Spoiler :
As a great Impi warrior named suNtutuzu once said: when in the enemy lands; steal his food. A stolen food portion is worth 20 food portions supplied by ordinary means, and a stolen replacement spearhead is worth 20 regular spearheads:
Spoiler :
Now was the time to strike down the American tribe once and for all. All nearby warriors were gathered to make a unified strike against the great hilltop stronghold.
Spoiler :
Shaka listened indifferently to the list of casualties; they were weak, so they didn't deserve to survive. The main objective, the liberation of waSgungungton, was a success and the so-called American "empire" was ground to dust.
Spoiler :
News of this had reached Darius in his faraway dwellings though, and by a cowardly sneak attack he took the newly acquired city from Shaka's hands.
Spoiler :
The next adversary was a worthy challenge; unlike others, their bow-wielders wore women's skirts, which greatly confused Shaka's Chosen. Many brave warriors were shot to death as they were bedazzled by this anomaly.
Spoiler :
Fresh reinforcements were sent with the info that despite the skirts, the enemy was largely the same as the ones that the Chosen had encountered before. Hammurabi's capital fell shortly after.
Spoiler :
Raiding parties had tried to keep Darius' metal source in check; they had even scratched notes on hillsides where they suspected the metal might have been mined. When Shaka's newly appointed (2700 years after the last ones were sacrificed) elders finally learned how to identify this strange metal, they found out that the LAST remaining possible source was the culprit! Also, turns out that Ulundi had stood for millenia right next to an Iron deposit, never suspecting that the red-tinted ore might actually be useful.
Spoiler :
Darius was already fleeing in terror and sent his emissaries to every corner of the world in search of a safe haven. To Shaka's astonishment, one such emissary had founded a thriving colony right on his own doorstep. Somehow he had missed this until some raving lunatics talking about "Confucianism" found their way to Shaka's villages.
Spoiler :
Another such emissary was found hiding in the remote southern coldness.
Spoiler :
Shaka's Chosen felt empowered by the vast emptiness of the world. Ruins of whole civilizations now filled the land, their huge road networks now leading to nowhere and overgrown by plants. The scattered barbarian city-states formed almost half of the world's population.
Spoiler :
Darius made his last stand at the conquered barbarian city of Yue-Chi. To show his respect to him as an adversary, Shaka challenged him to a duel in hand-to-hand combat and gave him a warrior's death.
Spoiler :
The last remaining Persians fled to the already once conquered city of waSgungungton, where they were slaughtered to the last man. The city was set to flames to warn the future generations of what happens to those that cross Shaka's path.
Spoiler :
This fulfilled Shaka's quest. Many brave warriors had fallen, but now Shaka stood as the ruler of the world in its entirety.
Spoiler :
In hindsight, I probably could have gone with a bit higher difficulty, so the enemies could have gotten higher tech and forced me to build even a tiny bit of infrastructure. Then again that would probably have only made the game more boring. Also, turns out that the barbs let loose by the razing conquest harassed the remaining Civs to good effect, also hindering their research rates. I was lucky as well that no one found an island city, don't know how Shaka would have managed that
For an RPC, I dare someone to do the same on a huge map
or 1
3
