Athens? No, this is...

SPARTA!

I'm confident on an entertaining Deity play. So off we go. Standard Pangea.



Arise Spartans! Tis' time to reclaim our glory!

A source of marble to fuel our glory. At the moment, we lack the knowledge to process it.




Our warriors are mighty but lack the necessary weapons of war. A fine bronze plumed helmet and spear shall suffice...



An eastern kingdom made contact this year. They call themselves 'Japanese'. Their battle raiment looks impressive. We shall see if they can match our fine spears.



From the west, a kingdom called 'Russia' arise to meet us. Its queen looks...weak.



The Japanese empire signed a pact of Cooperation with us. Buying us a little bit of favor and time before hostility increases.



To the south hails the Germans. Their ability to tame barbarians are exceptional. We must not let them get too strong.



Our scouting warrior found the city state of Copenhagen to the north. They are weak and alone.



Our scribes completed their research on bronze working. Our metalsmiths will now begin forging our weapons and arms. We will need plenty of gold.



Meaningless treaties are signed in exchange for gold.



Forests are cut down to accelerate the production.



War can't come soon enough.



The tiny state of Lhasa neighbours Copenhagen to the north-west. It is weak militarily compared to Copenhagon and presents an easy opportunity.



Finally we can exploit the marble resources, workers were sent immediately to work on a quarry.



Our excited scouts reported the capital of Russia just to the west of us. A chariot stood guard over it.



Nobunaga is a snake. I wonder if he's also plotting behind me? Whatever. That means he will not get angry if I attack Catherine of Russia.



Two divisions of Hoplites marched forth towards Lhasa, intent in capturing it.



Unsuspecting workers. And no warriors to defend their town. It's finished.

The First of Many.



Lhasa fell without a hitch. Despite losing one Hoplite.

Two freshly formed divisons, one purchased by gold, the other produced by the city marched towards Moscow.



The bandit kingdom of Songhai hails us. They bring many gold they've plundered for trade...



And we have just the perfect item for trade.



The city of Lhasa was sold for a princely sum. Its gold spent on more Hoplites.

Moscow beckons.

Speak for yourself, slut. Also, we sold our 30 year supply of Marble to a Chinese Empress for more gold.



The battle of Moscow is underway. One unit of Russian warrior is garrisoned within the capital, facing four scores of elite Hoplites.



If you look carefully there's an Oracle under construction just outside the city's southeastern border. Now you'll know when your opponent is building a wonder. And that is why Moscow is lightly defended!

During Russia's turn, the city defenses fired at the southern unit and attacked with its warrior. The hoplite survived, but suffered high casualty. We need to pull it back and recover while the other three get into position to the attack the city directly from the north.



Two more divisions of hoplites are marching from Sparta to Moscow to reinforce the three currently in combat. The captured worker is bring marched back to Sparta to be sold as slaves.



Somewhere in the south, Germans are making expansion plans of their own.



Just as Moscow was about to fall, two Russian chariots arrived to complicate matters, thankfully one reinforcement arrived.



The two war chariots were quickly dispatched. The heavily wounded Hoplite pulled out of city defenses range. The fresh one engage the city once more.

And nobody like Catherine.



It's over. Moscow has fallen. Russia has lost its capital.



The two gem mines outside the city was quickly brought into operation and sold to the highest bidder.



Scribes at home has successfully learned how to plant cash crops. As a result, plans were made to exploit the nearby cotton fields.

Turn 52. 1920 BC

With the fall of Russian capital of Moscow, many predicted huge tributes and mercy of the Spartans.

They were wrong. The tribute of iron ores means Russians are ready to equip themselves with swords, capable of fending off our spears with ease. We must finish them off before they achieve critical mass. In a one to one fight, our hoplites will lose out. Numbers are all we have now. So let's keep it that way. St. Petersburg beckons.



Recap: We conquered the city state of Lhasa to the north and sold them off to Songhai. With the gold, we bought ourselves an invasion force to attack Moscow. We recently took Moscow with minimal losses, but down to south, the city state of Cape Town reported that Germans are attacking them. We need to hurry up before we draw too much attention to ourselves.

Also, our glorious battle has birthed us a Great General. His presence alone will inspire our men to give 25% more in battles. Death enemies of Sparta!



The Russian deployed their first swordsman backed with a lone archer, which is out of position and within striking range. The archer is of no concern, the strength 11 swordsman is our biggest problem.



We used Moscow ranged defenses to weaken is slightly before setting up a flanking maneuver.



Begin streamlined, next-gen, deep, tactical maneuver.



Yep, that'll do the trick.



er did survive the attack, just barely. Killed it next turn though.



Then another one came out with another archer.



But this time, we have a great general. Engage skyway-disapprove-deep-streamlined-tacticular-maneuver.



Surrounded and destroyed!



Looks like that's all they got.



Discovery of the wheel will allows us to connect our cities to the capital, therefore gaining revenue from established trade routes. Seeing as how these conquered cities have built roads for us, we'll take their workers captives and finish the job ourselves to Sparta!



Hmm, so where were we...



Last ditch diplomacy? You still have iron? I don't like that....



St. Petersburg was captured and the extra Marble quarry load was sold to the Germans the very next day.



Genoa is Catherine's final stronghold and it fell without challenge.



We also developed new tactics and discipline as a result of our cultural advancement.





I tossed her to the men for spears target practice. We could use live target dummies.



Genoa was previously a Maritime city state capable of producing lots of food for our capital and other cities when allied. Liberating them has secured their alliance. In the future, when they have sent a workboat, they will be able to provide us with Pearls.

Meanwhile, Cape Town's burning. We've got a city state to save next time! Vs the Germans!

The clock is ticking. The German War Machine is about to break Cape Town and they have settled near our borders. Pretty soon border tension will break and peace is nothing but history. Co-existence is only possible through lordship of others.



With a heavy heart, we marched towards German borders after resting in St. Petersburg. The two Russian cities are converted to puppet states. We let the governors handle their production while the workers are busy connecting the roads to Sparta.



Our nation is also the envy of the Arabs, the wealthiest nation to the south whose lands I've not yet discovered.



While the smaller ones plead for crumbs of the conquest.



I turned them away politely. And wrote their names in a tiny little scroll of vengeance. They will have to wait their turns.

We can finally tame these horses and use it in our fight. While taking longer to train and breed, our Companion Cavalry is the fastest horses in the land and able to hit and run with startling effectiveness.



A new era dawned upon us.



The Empress of China is willing to cooperate in a research pact. We've coin to spare and I'm counting on my luck to gain a nice breakthrough.



And with the study of trappings, we can now construct trading posts to generate more coins for the kingdom's coffers.



The captured workers have finished building the road from Sparta to Moscow and is now busy constructing trading posts everywhere.



More business deals concluded.



To the south of Moscow, we've finally arrived.



Prepare for Glory.

Bismark let down his guard. The underpriced Gems we sold to him made him careless. There was nary a defender garrisoned at Munich. Each Hoplite took their respective positions as war was declared in the hills of Munich.



Munich is ours.



And Cape Town is overjoyed.



Bismark was also in a middle of yet another greedy expansion, he sent a settler guarded with a lone swordsman past Sparta, where I dispatched a hoplite unit, warrior and scout to do a quick encirclement aided with the city's bombardment.



And Cape Town bought us more time to assault Cologne.



We also unlocked the secrets of construction, which allows us to build Colosseum to entertain the populace and build walls to defend ourselves. More importantly, roads now include bridges to cross rivers more quickly.



We razed Cologne to the ground as the workers flee in terror.



A sudden rush of wind from the East.





Cologne burned in the South as the Battle of Cape Town reaches its peak.



A tempting offer...



The hilly terrain back at Sparta makes defensive battle slightly more advantageous, if only I have the units to do so. A warrior, a hoplite, scout and one archer was all I had to defend it. A newly trained Cavalry will be facing swarms of spearmen and archers. Not good odds.



Shall I make peace with the Germans? Will it make a difference if the main forces return to Sparta? Stay tuned!

looks good, keep up with the updates!

Currently at work. But I'm planning to beeline for Steel. Is this a good decision to make? I'm not getting fair trades anymore after being such a backstabbing bastard. I fear Arabs might be getting a little bit ...strong. 500+ points for them. The rest hovering at 300s. I'm punching above my weights as military adviser pleading me to make peace. That fool.

Tech-wise, I'm slightly behind. For the next step: Should I go catapults , crossbows, or long swordsman?

Cats/Long Swordmen. The AI can't handle the cats but the 18 str of the long swordmen is nice to have for both taking cities and defending their suicide attacks.

The problem always is the "other" ai that you couldn't get to.

I'll admit I laughed out loud at Leonidas making his mad face at Catherine while declaring war. Already having hoplites and companions, I would personally go for crossbows, then catapaults, then longswords. I like variety.

very nice read thus far. I have only been able to play a couple games, but the early war seems to be the only way to define yourself. Keep up the good work. Teach those Germans whose boss, and send those Japaneese back to their homeland.

This is my second attempt anyway. The first attempt at Deity went bad really quick. I wasn't able to stop Bismark from gaining access to his unique unit. Deity swarms are scary when you let them do so.

Current empire status:

Sparta - Capital

Puppet states : 03
Moscow, St. Petersburg, Munich

Cities razed :
Cologne - German. There were no luxury resources nearby.

Allied City States : 02
Cape Town - Maritime
Genoa - Maritime

Current Rivals:
Arabs - Powerful and rich. Number one civilization so far. Hostile to us.
Germans - Probably on their last dying moments. But still they struggle strongly.
Japanese - No idea how strong they are but iron working is confirmed. Defensive war for now.
Chinese - Hostile and gives unfair trade deals. I have no idea where their cities are.
Songhia - Fairest trading partner so far. Currently holds Lhasa to the northwest and attempting to take Copenhagen to the northeast. I suspect their lands lies southwest of German territory.
One unmet civilization remains.

One thing I noticed about the diplomacy AI is how ungrateful they are. I learned this throughout King difficulty and upwards. They settle near your lands and they accuse you of taking theirs. Funny. They ask for military help in fighting a rival, and they call you a warmonger. So, I try not to care too much about diplomacy. Cooperation is always possible, but never trust the AI completely. They flip out so easily and playing the peace game is trying to please a bunch of irrational jerks. Kill them before they kill you.

State Policies Adopted
Honor 1 Point Invested.
Discipline : 15% Bonus when military units are adjacent to another friendly unit. Crucial when flanking, both in attack and defense. The rest of the Honor aren't bad, but aren't that great either. 50% unit upgrade discount is nice but not yet necessary.

Future Policy planning:
Patronage: 3 Points investment planned.
This is where I'm going to get my science and happiness from. Also saves a lot of gold in the long run when maintaining the City States Alliance.

Tradition: In case our grand campaign gets halted, and massive foreign troops assault our borders, we will adopt the 33% bonus strength when battling within our own territories to even the odds.

Looks like my image uploading site account got suspended for too much traffic. LOL. Time to start up a photobucket.

Maximum Sparta
All day
Everyday

In Defense of Sparta.

The fog of war concealed much. Japanese invasion currently consists of an archer, swordsmen and a spearmen division.



So we dared to be brave.
Ok. Here's how it goes.
1. Hoplites will rush for the archers.
2. Archers bombard the weaker spearmen.
3. Warriors stopgap the spearmen.
4. Scouts provide flanking bonus against the Spearmen, who are in uphill position
5. Cavalry then finishes off the move by charging at the Spearmen.



At the end of the move, the fog war uncovered a terrible truth.



We're in trouble. The warriors were slaughtered by Swordsmen, Scouts butchered by Archers. And the Cavalry destroyed by enemy spears rushing forward. A newly trained hoplite rushed from the gates of Sparta into the fight.

Against my better judgement, I did not pull back my archers and decided to pepper the adjacent swordsman instead. The forward hoplite completes his rush at the enemy archer, killing it. The next turn, that hoplite eats a fistful of arrows and nearly died.



Amazingly, our archer survived the swordsman rush. Barely.



And what's more, the people have gained enough happiness to trigger a golden age. LOL. This means we'll have increased gold and production.



Still got a battle to win.

1.The heavily wounded hoplite will be probably die in the front anyway. So I pull him behind the swordsman to add 15% flanking bonus.
2. Then using the combined flanking bonus from both the archer and hoplite, the full strength hoplite finishes off the swordsman.
3. Finally, our Archer retreat to heal.







A king...must do what he must.

Meanwhile, down south....



We descend upon Hamburg. A catapult was caught in the open and destroyed.



In Moscow, a hero emerges! Ivan the Terrible will lead the men in Sparta against the evil Japanese!



Give them NOTHING! But take from them EVERYTHING!



The Germans' Last Stand, LANDSKNECHT!



Two divisions stood before Berlin. Defending her to to death!



The men moved in encircling positions to bait the wounded defenders into attacking. One across the river to the south. Others move onto the grass tile outside of Hamburg. The General moved slightly south to cover a two tile radius around him to command the army.



It worked. There's a German general in Berlin and it cancelled out my General bonus. But the rough terrains and flanking bonuses was enough for our hoplites to repel the Landknecht and kill them outright when they attacked!



Our smiths promise iron swords.



You fought well, Bismark.



King Leonidas marched out of the German Palace all smiles. He will now have enough to repel Japan from the East. He hasn't signed that humiliating peace treaty yet...

That smile turned into frown however, when he turned his sights to the southern horizons.



"Arabs," he spat under his breath.

Great story so far! Any chance the first six posts of photos will be uploaded elsewhere?

I must admit this Deity difficulty is finally hitting the right note for me. I'm never out of things to do all the sudden. This despite having only 1 capital and the rest being puppet states .

That 'one more turn' syndrome is starting to re-appear again, finally. I'll try to fix the screenshot when I get home from work. I didn't know the bandwidth would get capped so quick.

One thing about facing hordes of enemies is that I can't afford to make mistakes with my units - flanking, proper tile placements are important to ensure my units don't get too wounded or die.

But I do notice that the AI has the tendency to gang up on human players. I think this needs to be looked at. Cause right now, after 2 nations beaten, the rest are just going to get harder with better techs from now on.

Here's hoping this run doesn't end before 0 AD.

A thousand warriors of Arab and Japan will descend upon us. Their numbers will blot out the tiles!






Did we bring this upon ourselves? Or is it only a matter of pre-emptive strike?

Whatever happens,

Berlin is a lost cause...for now. The Arabian war machines across the rivers would pulverize our men should they approach. Their swordsmen will cut them down in a hail of blades and rain of chariot arrows.



While the Japanese has settled in, building more stronghold near Sparta.



We let Berlin fall while our men get in position to retake it. We will wait for Greek Companion Cavalry reinforcements to arrive.



Once again, Sparta and her allies are attacked.



This time, the outcome is not clear cut.