r_rolo1
King of myself
After 2 long and tiring games revolving around espionage ( and thankfully we managed to win the second in spite of being a game with low sealevel ), I decided to gie a go to one of my favourite scenarios that come with the stock game, the BtS version of Earth 1000 AD ( for those interested, Single Player-> Play Scenario->Earth 1000 AD ( there is the vanilla version, that has some diferences , that is called in the same menu in BtS as Earth 1000 AD ( Civ4 ) ... also fun if you don't mind 2 minor civs ) .And because in the last time there was a poster that called me a coward for going with Japan in monarch, I decided to pick one of the civs that start in Deity 
Well, it is not as dificult as that, since ( as I'll show below ), Saladin has some good oportunities ( and dangers ). But again , this is a game where some civs play in Chieftain ( Spain, for a example ) ...
Anyway, the full variant :
The third rule is both to roleplay and to give a gameplay twist. One of the things that I noticed in RR13 is that the BtS stock AI is pretty stupid regarding war concessions: It is normally easier to get a AI to vassal, than to acept any other concession ... and I want to see if it will be easier to steamroll the world and kill everyone or to keep all civs in peace and harmony ( with some cop work of Arabia 
)
There are some big caveats , though ...
Let's start with our diplo situation in game start:
Lovely, isn't it ? And, to make things harder, they will all be in RTT for quite a while ...
Anyway, let's look at the maps, starting by the west:
This is easily the worst part of our empire ... mainly because 2 of this cities are doomed. Cordoba has 2 unpromoted archers and Spain has 6 free knights, so most of the times you will lose it very fast. Syracuse will also be lost with ease, either to any European that has knights as to German ( er... HRE
) via cultural pressure ( Rome is packed with culture stuff ). The two Afican cities are backwaters and will most likely suffer blockades from one of christian powers ( normally Byz ), so not een seafood can save them. No military units worth mentioning, a issue when barbs start to come out
Egypt and Western Arabia
This is a area where you don't have competition. More, you have here 2 of your finest assets: Cairo, with his insane BFC and with Mids in ( a normal target for humans playing Eropean powers
) and Mecca, that has the Islamic shrine and has a quite good prod potential. It also has a lot of unused FP south of cairo and a easily capturable barb city ( I strongly suggest to capture it, since it is a Christian city )
Military worth mentioning: on Camel Archer in both cities. The one in cairo will probably fend out barbs and capture Aksum, while the mecca one will have most likely a certain death in the next map area.
Middle East
This is where the Arabian civ game is really decided ( and the AI normally loses it's act sooner or later )
The real prize in here is Jerusalem, with 2 shrines. Unfortunately this is also the target of 4 civs: the French, HRE and English ( 2 units + galley, representing the Crusades ) and Byzantium. The Europeans alone normally are not a concern ( human controled Europeans are other issue, since Cairo is easily taken with the European knights ), but Byzantium is a very, very serious issue, due to the fact that they start with 4 Cataphracts and they cut through anything before rifles as butter. I've played a game or two as Byz and if you push the cataphract window to the fullest, they only lose steam when you reach Korea ( after killing everything in between ) ... not that the AI will do that , but it makes defending Jerusalem a very problematic issue ( made worse by the lack of LBs there ). Thism eans that normally you need to send eery unit in hand to Jerusalem .. and that is where the CA from Mecca will probably die ).
Adding to that, those barb cities to the north of Baghdad ( a major powerhouse after watermilling it ) hae some barb HA ... a nuisance, but it means you can't leave Baghdad undefended or simply with a token archer.
Military worth mentioning: One Camel archer in Jerusalem, other in Baghdad. The first is needed there and the second ... well, the second IMHO should go east. More on that below.
Persia and Oman
In itself it is a very unspectacular area, with lots of plains and desert and not much of food. The real prize in here is a almost undefended India to the east, with only a couple of phants... and a quite lucrative Benares ( the other double shrine of this map ) in hand if you move fast enough.
Military worth mentioning: 3 Camel Archers in Ghazni, other is Suhar. The first ones, more the one in Baghdad, are to blitzkrieg India before they start making LBs, the Suhar one is to cover for Baghdad.
Last but not least, the AP screen:
Why this screen? First to show that the AP is Christian ( duh ... btw ,for those really really distracted, it is in .... Rome ) and that we are part of it. There will be a leader vote between Justinian and Charlemagne in t0 and another vote in t9. The AP is normally nice for Sal, since it might stop wars against him ( we can also pray for a stop war vs Justinian vote in here ) and it is a way of gaining some diplo ... a vote for Justinian is normally a wise move in t0
I forgot to grab a tech screen, but we have the southern brach of the tech tree up to Guilds ... the northern branch is quite more depopulated and Engineering is sorely lacking ( no pikes to deal with justinian cataphracts ). In the middle we hae up to paper ... Anyway none of this is much of importance, since our tech rate is quite abissal ( 34 turns for Edu in break point ) in the beginning and the military issues trump tech in the first sets.
My plan for the first set would be something like this:
- Defend Jerusalem. No matter the cost.
- Take Aksum
- Try to get to Benares ( this one is heavily RNG dependent ... if we lose 2 CA taking the more western Indian city, we can't take benares most likely )
- Revolt from Serfdom to Slavery . I know we have much to war and much to improve in our lands, but we need to whip improvements and units ( top priority is a wall in Jerusalem and maybe a LB in Mecca )
Roster
r_rolo1
nocho
lymond
ruff_hi
LKendter
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Alternates
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(?) means pending confirmation
P.S First no save ... for obvious reasons. Second, internet cookie for the SG title meaning as usual ( the latin form is not the best possible, but I have to work within the restrains of my keyboard ... anyway, three latin languages have a direct derivative with roughly the same meaning, so it should not be as hard as that ... to add 2 members of the team actually speak 2 of those latin languages )
Spoiler :
Well, it is not as dificult as that, since ( as I'll show below ), Saladin has some good oportunities ( and dangers ). But again , this is a game where some civs play in Chieftain ( Spain, for a example ) ...
Anyway, the full variant :
Code:
- E1000AD as Saladin on Deity
- All VC open
- No matter how we win, all the surviving civs must have Islam as state religion in the end of the gameThere are some big caveats , though ...
Let's start with our diplo situation in game start:
Spoiler :
Lovely, isn't it ? And, to make things harder, they will all be in RTT for quite a while ...
Anyway, let's look at the maps, starting by the west:
Spoiler :
This is easily the worst part of our empire ... mainly because 2 of this cities are doomed. Cordoba has 2 unpromoted archers and Spain has 6 free knights, so most of the times you will lose it very fast. Syracuse will also be lost with ease, either to any European that has knights as to German ( er... HRE
) via cultural pressure ( Rome is packed with culture stuff ). The two Afican cities are backwaters and will most likely suffer blockades from one of christian powers ( normally Byz ), so not een seafood can save them. No military units worth mentioning, a issue when barbs start to come outEgypt and Western Arabia
Spoiler :
This is a area where you don't have competition. More, you have here 2 of your finest assets: Cairo, with his insane BFC and with Mids in ( a normal target for humans playing Eropean powers
) and Mecca, that has the Islamic shrine and has a quite good prod potential. It also has a lot of unused FP south of cairo and a easily capturable barb city ( I strongly suggest to capture it, since it is a Christian city )Military worth mentioning: on Camel Archer in both cities. The one in cairo will probably fend out barbs and capture Aksum, while the mecca one will have most likely a certain death in the next map area.
Middle East
Spoiler :
This is where the Arabian civ game is really decided ( and the AI normally loses it's act sooner or later )
The real prize in here is Jerusalem, with 2 shrines. Unfortunately this is also the target of 4 civs: the French, HRE and English ( 2 units + galley, representing the Crusades ) and Byzantium. The Europeans alone normally are not a concern ( human controled Europeans are other issue, since Cairo is easily taken with the European knights ), but Byzantium is a very, very serious issue, due to the fact that they start with 4 Cataphracts and they cut through anything before rifles as butter. I've played a game or two as Byz and if you push the cataphract window to the fullest, they only lose steam when you reach Korea ( after killing everything in between ) ... not that the AI will do that , but it makes defending Jerusalem a very problematic issue ( made worse by the lack of LBs there ). Thism eans that normally you need to send eery unit in hand to Jerusalem .. and that is where the CA from Mecca will probably die ).
Adding to that, those barb cities to the north of Baghdad ( a major powerhouse after watermilling it ) hae some barb HA ... a nuisance, but it means you can't leave Baghdad undefended or simply with a token archer.
Military worth mentioning: One Camel archer in Jerusalem, other in Baghdad. The first is needed there and the second ... well, the second IMHO should go east. More on that below.
Persia and Oman
Spoiler :
In itself it is a very unspectacular area, with lots of plains and desert and not much of food. The real prize in here is a almost undefended India to the east, with only a couple of phants... and a quite lucrative Benares ( the other double shrine of this map ) in hand if you move fast enough.
Military worth mentioning: 3 Camel Archers in Ghazni, other is Suhar. The first ones, more the one in Baghdad, are to blitzkrieg India before they start making LBs, the Suhar one is to cover for Baghdad.
Last but not least, the AP screen:
Spoiler :
Why this screen? First to show that the AP is Christian ( duh ... btw ,for those really really distracted, it is in .... Rome
) and that we are part of it. There will be a leader vote between Justinian and Charlemagne in t0 and another vote in t9. The AP is normally nice for Sal, since it might stop wars against him ( we can also pray for a stop war vs Justinian vote in here ) and it is a way of gaining some diplo ... a vote for Justinian is normally a wise move in t0I forgot to grab a tech screen, but we have the southern brach of the tech tree up to Guilds ... the northern branch is quite more depopulated and Engineering is sorely lacking ( no pikes to deal with justinian cataphracts ). In the middle we hae up to paper ... Anyway none of this is much of importance, since our tech rate is quite abissal ( 34 turns for Edu in break point ) in the beginning and the military issues trump tech in the first sets.
My plan for the first set would be something like this:
- Defend Jerusalem. No matter the cost.
- Take Aksum
- Try to get to Benares ( this one is heavily RNG dependent ... if we lose 2 CA taking the more western Indian city, we can't take benares most likely )
- Revolt from Serfdom to Slavery . I know we have much to war and much to improve in our lands, but we need to whip improvements and units ( top priority is a wall in Jerusalem and maybe a LB in Mecca )
Roster
r_rolo1
nocho
lymond
ruff_hi
LKendter
----------
-----------
Alternates
-----------
-----------
(?) means pending confirmation
P.S First no save ... for obvious reasons. Second, internet cookie for the SG title meaning as usual ( the latin form is not the best possible, but I have to work within the restrains of my keyboard ... anyway, three latin languages have a direct derivative with roughly the same meaning, so it should not be as hard as that ... to add 2 members of the team actually speak 2 of those latin languages
)
?
