Fall Patch Immortal Meatgrinder

The discovery of El Dorado by a Carthaginian scouting party changed everything. With the amount of gold brought back to the coffers of Carthage, it allowed the young nation to shore up its defenses against a "Friendly" neighbor, Arabia. Despite his friendliness, Queen Dido suspected that there was something terribly amiss with that caliph Harun al-Rashid

Then on a midsummer night in , an urgent report dispatched by an unofficial envoy in Mecca proved that the Arabs were no friends and had no intentions of remaining so



But such hidden tensions were temporarily disabused when news came in that a just-met city-state, Hanoi (who could give us Panzers if allied; not shown), were suddenly and brutally conquered by an unmet foe



Not foe, however, but Friend when contact was initiated

The Austrians were proud and militaristic lot, and there was an air of efficiency that immediately grabbed the Carthaginian queen when she saw the virtuous Hussars and polished jackboots marching in front of the Schloss Schönbrunn while on a stately visit.

This path to Autocracy was perhaps the wave of the future, and thusly something to be emulated at all costs



Dido's determination to not fall behind were to be further bolstered when new information came in that the Arabs were planning to initiate hostilities with someone, and at that very moment in Summer 1800 AD, they were marching on "exercises" towards somewhere



The massing of troops at the Arab borders had been planned for years in advance, including the eventual push into the Caliphate itself, but this sudden news dramatically changed the calculus - they could be literally under attack at any time when the Carthaginian Army was at its weakest



Thus would the clever and inquisitive queen, still in thrall with Austrian might, transform Carthage into a war-footed empire and set in motion the plans to quash her furtive neighbor once and for all



With the ascension of Dido the Terrible to All-Seeing Autokrat (a term borrowed from the Austrians) of Carthage, Empress Theresa offers her warm salutations and support for the Carthaginians, that they might stick together as autocratic empires in the world and subdue all who would stand in the way of Greatness



"Freedom" became a political term synonymous with "weak and feeble", and this would characterize how Carthage would view the other nations of the world starting with her neighbor. Then came contact with the denizens of the mysteriously steamy East, the Chinese, and "hedonistic oriental" entered the state-dictated dictionary alongside Freedom despite the Easterners' high standards of living (mock-up lies!) and lush silken products (an opium of decadent soft peoples!)



Still, the Autokrat was wise enough to notice that a terrible gap between Carthage and Arabian military strength existed, and that blunt force would have to be applied carefully

Such as getting the Austrians to "support" them first



It was simple enough - the Caliphate was recklessly expanding towards the north, close but not too close to the Austrian Reich, but still enough for the latter to take notice. Thus would Empress Theresa gladly accept the Carthaginian token in exchange for Austrian declaration of war against the Arabs

In addition to that, Austrian "advisors" were sent down to Hippo Regius to help lead and train the newly-developed Artillery arm of the Carthaginian Army in lightning operations

Starting with the city-state of Geneva



The results were indeed quick and spectacular, and with the creation of a wider frontage against the Arabian border and cold hard belief in the power of artillery guns, Carthage then declared war on the Inevitable Caliphate



"Make sure you put up a fight!" was the Caliph Harun al-Rashid's last furious words to some Carthaginian envoys before they hastily departed back for the motherland by rail

This should be good.

Is it just me, or are you writing a little more in a history book style than normal in this thread?

Heerlo said:

This should be good.

Is it just me, or are you writing a little more in a history book style than normal in this thread?

Click to expand...

Well, it was. Now we resume back to our earthly beyond the fourth wall style of monologuing of crunching itsy bitsy hostile forces into fine powder! Well, sorta...




Ya know, we weren't entirely sure what she meant by this when the first thing we noticed on first contact was their very own brutal subjugation of Hong Kong (mercantile CS; she used quite a bit of Chus with gunpowder units)

But anyway let's get back to the program... of absolutely massive holding action across a wide front, with the schwerpunkt here at Geneva. The Arab counteroffensive was indeed huge since they came in from all sides of a 180-degree angle

Most of their Camel Archers came in from the north, trying to break through the meatshield of Rifleman/Gatling therein



They did not stand up well to Artillery though

But the push for Geneva shifted from the south when they broke through the Carthaginian rifle screen with Lancers and began pushing in all their Ren Era siege units. Arabian Gatling guns also began appearing, but thus far only to the north and seemingly to guard their left flank from any unwanted cavalry units streaming in from Utique/Carthage



Well apparently not... because not shown here was another big wave of Arab units making a push towards Utique (hence why the Gatling gun is moving east - to cover the attack force's bottom flank from any naughty business). Geneva had become a "second priority" so to speak, a quite horrendously treated one too as can be seen with this haphazard waste of a Camel archer

And yes, an Indian caravel visited Utique some turns ago and thus we were greeted by a Gandhi who despised us off the bat [he also went Freedom =/]. And he was a fast techer to boot...



Thus while Carthaginian cavalry units and gatlings were being sent to cover Utique in some really big defending action (not shown), the time had come to take the initiative and go on the offense - starting with this citadel towards Mecca



Bloody fighting ensued as a slow push was made through rough terrain and heavy resistance, but Carthage had artillery... and Arabia? Looks like their tech plan was a mess. Initially it seemed they were going down for bottom techs what with their acquisition of the Kremlin and Lancers... but then they veered back up for public schools and gatlings, very possibly gunning for Biology and then a straight beeline for Flight. It was a gamble that backfired in their face, and we for one are glad that our foe is not omnipresent perfect

Meanwhile, on a fast exploration cruise to the Farthest East, a Carthaginian privateer encountered the Mayans... one of the rare few breed of folks who took a different path than the freedomites or autocrats.

He just chose Order as usual



With the massive weight of losses the Carthaginian armies were inflicting on the Arabs, and the subsequent taking of Mecca, the Austrians finally see light in officially pronouncing an Autokratik Alliance between both close-minded empires. Herein, Dido dreamt of eventually making a Dual Monarchy that would encompass the globe amidst the chorus of jackboots and blazing guns...



1864 AD - the Carthaginian Great General Hannibal rises from the ranks of the masses, to lead the charge against Carthage's hated foes

A quick flip through of Gandhi's cities revealed that he has been an extremely naughty, naughty fellow - which does make us wonder why he didn't even take Autocracy at all with the amount of puppets he has



And then the other inhabitant of the Farthest East was met, and it seems he too was a Freedomite who hated everyone else not in the mold of Democracy... yeah no he also hated Gandhi too but that may be because our good Mohandas might actually be a hidden warmonger (a bad thing)

And the Funny Headdress Lonely Communist went Full Crazy and had to denounce everyone else but the kitchen sink, as well as being engaged in some unspecified struggle against the Pharaoh

(unsurprised at Egypt's list of wonders? Neither were we...)



A showcase of the Geneva Front long after the Fall of Mecca and the push towards Medina itself was made

There indeed was heavy fighting west of Utique, and it was thanks to the efforts of those brave gatlings, cavalries and artillery that the Arabs were whipped back to their staging point at Medina



And then Carthage suddenly and deliberately closed the hammer on that Arab city to Geneva's anvil... and this was the end for Arabia

The Caliph's forces could attempt to retake it, but they would be rapidly worn down with Lancers and artillery... and that was their ignominious end here at the bloody fields of slaughter



With new awareness of the hostile world beyond this isolated bit of Pangaea, Autokrat Dido decides that she has to move the pieces carefully and hopefully make a string out of the kaos and bend it to her will.

Thus it began with a simple request to Austrian allies to keep Pacal really busy



Off the shores of Mecca, the remnants of the Arabian navy fought to the last ship... even as their wooden hulls were blasted apart by long range Carthaginian gunfire. The only damage they managed... was the destruction of a fishing boat (as healthpack) by their Privateer

And then Gandhi declared war on Pacal?!



By 1888 AD, the last of the Arab forces in the vicinity of Greater Carthage had been well and truly obliterated

Sensing the need to put an end to the local Freedomite once and for all, the Autokrat orders her men to take the final stronghold of Damascus at all costs; nothing would cross the purple line and live to tell the tale



The Caliph would now truly regret the day he tried "winning the game in a similar manner to Dido the Terrible"



Meanwhile the Chinese were making terrible noises about certain technologies of theirs being stolen by some Carthaginian hoodlums.

Nothing of that sort was ever condoned by Dido, she was told. Fair Carthage was truly an honest and just nation seeking to preserve the peace, and if liberating technologies for everyone else was the best way to do it, then it would only be in an Carthaginian's civil responsibility to do as such!

Wu Zetian was unfortunately not amused...



Then while some of our privateers were privateering the Mediterranean , Dido was approached by the great souled leader of India to help him in war against the accursed Egyptians

"Give us several years to prepare," the Autokrat proudly proclaimed, but secretly preparing to ignore the request should it ever come back up



1894 AD - Empress Maria Theresa of the Austrian Reich declares war on China, allegedly in response to a series of private complaints by the Carthaginian Autokrat that "her oriental neighbor was too troublesome for her own good..."

1899 AD - the defeat of Harun al-Rashid as the Damascus stronghold was blasted apart, and his subsequent execution upon the bronze altars of Ba'al and Tanit, secreted deep within the heart of Carthage...

At the turn of the Century, the entrance of India into the Atomic Era whispered that another era of significant change had dawned upon the world. On a visit to the Mayan port city of Uxmal, the crew of this Carthaginian privateer were given a shocking glimpse to the mighty military advances of the Mesoamerican socialist state



The reality dawned upon the Autokrat that powerful Artillery guns will not matter much for long. Having seen her fellow ally adopt early airplanes, Dido was quick to ask the Holy Roman Empress for aid in the now accelerated plans for the creation of a Carthaginian Air Force. This time round, only a few pioneering individuals - men such as Wilhelm Kress and Anselm Franz - were sent to Utique and Hippo Regius to help set up the necessary infrastructure and perhaps add in some unofficial advice on aerial tactics.

All this effort was almost rendered moot when on , China announced to the world that it now has the Atomic Bomb

This was followed a couple months later by an Indian declaration of war on Egypt... Gandhi the Terrible has a nice ring to it, but it could only be made possible if he just taken Autocracy instead



Then on 1903 AD, as the Carthaginian city of Gades was founded next to this legendary city of gold, more worrying news from over the Atlantic came in that the Mayans were now an Atomic power to be reckoned with as well



Fearing that the new holdings of Damascus and Gades could be threatened by one of these major powers intervening with a simple coup, Dido immediately orders the commencement of Operation Focus: the invasion of Singapore



Years before the war, trench tunnels to funnel in Carthaginian units had been dug straight into the heart of the city... as multiple artillery units were covertly ringed around its jungle exterior. The effort had proved to be a resounding success as the Singaporeans were completely taken by surprise



But the most decisive arm of the campaign against this Atomic city-state had to be the Carthaginian Air Force - four squadrons of Gotha Bombers helped to effectively pummel down the defenses before the footsloggers could move in for the kill.



Denouncements for this wanton act of aggression came in from every corner of the globe...

The Only Communists

Indian India

But the most shocking of them all, not China or those perfidious wonderspammers, was from Carthage's personal ally - the Autokrat's very own role model herself



She had even completed the Neuschwanstein in Hippo Regius, in honor of the majestic white castles of Austria and as a summer palace for the Austrian empress to stay in if she had deigned on a state visit to this wet and temperate lands



Even as various world leaders began mocking Carthaginian resolve to defend its honor, the Autokrat could not imagine what could have prompted this sudden and unprovoked backstabbing by her cherished role model. Was she not merely doing the right thing and marching Carthage to the tune of progress alongside her powerful ally? Was conquest not the wave of future?



As the years slowly passed, the influx of Austrian advisors and trade had all but dried up, and both empires walled up in paranoia, though unsettlingly real and direct, the Austrians were always few moves ahead

I believe you have been backstabbed.

Good read, btw.

Heerlo said:

I believe you have been backstabbed.

Good read, btw.

Click to expand...

Indeed, it looks like they all hated us (and each other, can't stress this enough!) thanks to warmongering antics. And it was quite a shame to see Austria conquer city-states instead of just using her unique ability... I don't think I've seen her marry any since the patch, actually.

A true shame given the amount of independent mini-civs set in this game (17+ IIRC, and only 7 civs)...




Ok, we gotta admit that was too funny to just cut up and paste - seeing an angry communist headdress Mayan swinging a pogo stick at us as we told him to stop settling our lands made us roll over the floor twice. But indeed what prompted this sudden demand, that had a high percentage chance to provoke a war with a superpower and was thus something to be avoided (for now)?

Well they didn't like us, Cho, and apparently the Palenque Politburo decided the best way to tell this to someone on another "continent" was to settle in their face... grabbing as much of their luxes and resources at the same time

Well at least Carthage had battleships now...



But at the end of Spring 1908, things were looking extremely grim for Dido. Pacal was well ahead of everyone else in literacy rate, and he cemented this with a war declaration on China who was now forced on a two front struggle.



But the main reason with this uneasiness... was the next fellow to complete Manhattan. Yes, him.



1910 AD - Tibet under siege by the Mayans, just as the latter had entered the Information Era first



The Austrians were proving to be no slouches either and entered the era of Atomics on that very turn. It took Carthage three years to catch up with the bulbing of Enrico Fermi...



But three years might as well have been the equivalent of an eternity when the colony city of Bregenz was founded perilously close to Carthage... even closer than that perfidious Mayan sinkhole

With parity with the Austrians at hand, Dido finally decides to move against her old friend... but she did offer them a diplomatic chance first with this simple request



The Holy Roman Empress simply brushed it aside and got all flabbily angry that we would ever consider her as "unfit to expand" or something. We weren't sure about that

But what we were really, definitely certain about was that War was the only solution to this predicament. Civilizations had fought for lesser reasons after all...

1915 AD - Carthaginian Declaration of War on the Austrian Reich



Well, that was fast. Mombasa (maritime city-state) to the south became an unlikely ally many moons ago, and they were certainly quick to jump into the fray when the balloons went up

Glad to see them being aggressive for a change for us humans



The city was taken and put to the torch on the very next turn... and Carthage was now confronted with the daunting task of invading Austria itself

But at least her first carrier group had just come online



Good thing too because one of our rocket artilleries stationed on the outskirts of Singapore was suddenly bombarded by Austrian bombers (the red HP unit), and there were no AA guns in the pipeline (all production cities were pushing out either Bombers, Fighters, ships or siege units with the occasional tough melee)

A vicious aerial battle over the skies of the Singaporean jungle coasts ensued, and that spilled over to the seas when the Austrians gave this hard response to a Carthaginian naval probe



It was wiped out by a gunline of Carthaginian BBs, some submarines, an onshore rocket artillery and some modern Bombers



More aerial dogfighting... and at this point, acknowledging Carthage's aerial superiority in the region for now, the Austrians settled for keeping down their aerial presence while their casualties were slowly replaced

(and yes, that is a Carthaginian Foreign Legion)



But just as we were ready to start a far more.... intensive probing action, starting with some submarine wolfpacks, the Egyptians unilaterally joined the war on Austria's side



Panic in Carthage; Pharaoh finally reveals his true intentions and renames himself Settra the Imperishable, proclaims the magnificent "rebirth" of the Undying Dynasty of Nehekhara and states that nothing will stop him from unifying the world in glorious undeath

Starting with faraway Carthage (???)




beep, beep, beep...



beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

The rare FoY makes an appearance!

Time to see if the AI is smart enough to pull a naval invasion on you.

ense7en said:

The rare FoY makes an appearance!

Click to expand...

Indeed, and one has to thank alpaca for sharing this map with the entire fora. He isn't posting here much this days, maybe the Fall patch did scare 'em llamas off =/

Heerlo said:

Time to see if the AI is smart enough to pull a naval invasion on you.

Click to expand...

I would like to say sorta, but that would be a lie. Read on though, this one has some of the toughest fighting I've seen post-Fall (ie. a massive "world war").

I'm also going to put in more long posts to make up for two days of inactivity. Thus, screenies ahoy...


Alright, we now get back to our regularly scheduled program of probing Austria's naval defenses - starting with a Privateer Destroyer privateering this Austrian submarine off the shores of Hanoi

Yaaaaaaarr mateys



It's almost rare to get anything done at all with Privateering these days, thanks to the Furor Teutonicus-esque game of chance each time your privateers go in for the kill. I'd suppose we'll have to thank the Carthaginian God(dess) of Luck (???) for this little tidbit here

And when we said "intensive probing action", we actually meant "fullscale naval invasion of Austria"



We weren't sure if leaving most of our naval gunlines as reinforcements was the best of ideas here. The thing was that after Hanoi was taken, suddenly we were confronted with the prospect of a carpet o' doom swarming it back and undoing all of our efforts to establish a beachhead (in addition to killing off some precious melee units).

So we liberated it to give Carthaginian ground elements some breathing room to push in... but then the Austrians didn't make peace with the now un-allied Vietnamese and simply went for a huge offensive against our little pocket there



Then as if to hammer the point home that Carthage was the Pariah of all Pariahs, Wu Zetian decides that now would be the best of times to "destroy that terrible villain Dido the Terrible

At least it wasn't the usual nonsense about contested land spaces or "stepping stone to world domination", and it was rather refreshing given that our beachhead had stabilized to some extent



Well, somewhat

The siege of the Carthaginian beachhead rages on... but this time a wider frontage aimed at Vienna has been created

Still this doesn't dissuade the Austrians from using tanks to capture civilian hostages



Well it got wiped out by ZOC and gunlines... and the very next turn powerful Infantry units were fronted towards the Austrian heartland. A Great General (nope not Hannibal) was even brought in to prepare for certain actions...

All in all things were looking up



THEN THE LONELY CRAZY MAYAN HEADDRESS COMMUNIST GUY DECLARED WAR ON US THOSE CRAZY MAYAN COMMUNISTS CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAZY



Someone over the main fora was talking about not being able to take Kamehameha seriously because he was too Hawaiian or some such. Well with Pacal here it was quite the opposite because Crazy Communist Mayan - with his impeccable headdress and pogo stick - literally made us jump out of the seats with his frothing craziness

Literally

And this shock might or might not have to do with the fact that our only source of trade now was from a very, very hostile India



But yes folks, that Great General o' ours was sacrificed to create a star fort



And it was needed, much needed.

Hanoi was too cramped for anything maneuver warfare related, and since we had a ton of units parked around it for the eventual push towards Vienna (and beyond!), it made the sword of Damocles that hung over the beachhead even more noticeable



A massive aerial battle over the skies of Hanoi ensued even as the Austrians took out one of our Infantry units

Poor meatshields



But that battle did wipe out the Austrian air force... well, its offensive capabilities. It still had its atomic arsenals that it didn't want to employ... and if we were to hazard a guess, it might have been due to the fact that Maria Theresa still considers us as fellow Autokrats



Thus now we will show ya'll what why mounted units are all the rage, even from before the Fall Patch.

Also the death of the Austrian Atomic Damocles




Austrian General: Herr Colonel, the Holy Empress demands that you and your men fight to the death
Austrian Colonel: But sir, we have lost all our atomic devices... and Vienna has fallen!
Austrian General: I will not hear such defeatist talk! Go forth and RETAKE the Fatherland from the untermensch



Austrian Colonel: Sir, we have just retaken the capital...
Austrian General: Hah, I knew those Carthaginian scum weren't up to the task of waging war against zee-
Austrian Colonel: Well sir, I also have some bad news
Austrian General: ... And what would that be?!
Austrian Colonel: We have lost the capital again.



Austrian General: YOU WILL TAKE BACK THE BELOVED CAPITAL OR GET COURT-MARTIALED
Austrian Colonel: Righht... away.. Sir!



Austrian Colonel: Sir, I have some... news
Austrian General: And what is it this time? It had better be gooooood...
Austrian Colonel: Well sir, its your wife. She has just given birth, to two beautiful twins
Austrian General: Oh...
Austrian Colonel: And we just lost the capital again.



Austrian General: *inaudible rage and fire*
Austrian Colonel: *gulp* ... and we had just lost Graz, sir



*one court martial/firing squad later*
Austrian General: Now Lt. Colonel, I certainly hope you will be up to the task moreso than your predecessor
Austrian Lt. Colonel: Well sir, I shall do my very best...
Austrian General: Excellent, now we can begin sweeping the untermensch out of zee Vaterland for good. May the Holy Empress shine upon us her guiding light!
Austrian Lt. Colonel: But sir, would it not be more prudent if we made peace now instead... the Carthaginians number over us significantly, and we have taken heavy losses



Austrian General: *fuse blow up* IS THAT DEFEATIST TALK I AM HEARING, LT. COLONEL? DO YOU WANT TO END UP LIKE YOUR FELLOW IN THE GALLOWS?
Austrian Lt. Colonel: No... sir...
Austrian General: Then you will retake both Vienna and Graz from zee untermensch! Immediately!




Poor Infantry units were indeed meathshields from the invasion's start - they never had a prayer of a chance in surviving (it would suck to be in this Carthaginian army, btw - 100% casualty rates for Infantry units), but without them, doing ZOC and fronting pushes would have been a lot harder

And the Austrians weren't even willing to give up at this point. Carthage had the military initiative, but the Reich was still standing proud and strong despite losing three of its best cities



Then the Chinese bought off one of our ex-CS allies, Belgrade... they were kept alive unlike Geneva and Singapore because they had something useful to offer (Foreign Legions - only got one ). But now in retrospect it would have done Carthage a lot of favor to have just crushed them long ago



But that is all in the past. For now Salzburg was taken with some extensive firepower and mobile units



While our ad hoc garrison on the mainland was fighting to the death against the Serbians, another Great General was brought in to neutralize this nascent Austrian atomic threat by stealing the uranium (completed Manhattan some turns ago)

At the same time, Salzburg was retaken by an Austrian destroyer with some Jet Fighters supporting its advance, and the Austrians began fronting powerful Modern Armor as well



But this extensive focus on using mounted units apparently paid off *big time* when we just received our very first Blitz Tank



Rocket artilleries are apparently peashooters when going solo against those Leopard IIs...

But a whole line of them with a Blitz Tank charging in for the kill will wipe it out real good



As for the fate of that imaginary Austrian General and his underlings... who could say?

On August 8, 1945, Carthage becomes the very first nation in the history of the world to employ nuclear weaponry when it dropped 350 kilotons worth of firepower on the Austrian city of Jakarta

From here on, there will be no corking of this particularly loathsome genie

You timed this, didn't you?

Good grief! I'm not sure if I've ever seen such a war on Civ5. Good job, though.

So are you going for domination?

strijder20 said:

You timed this, didn't you?

Click to expand...

Peculiarly enough, it was a good combination of random numbers and timing. By the time we got a nuclear weapon up and running, Austria finally saw the light in a peace with Versailles... but Carthage was not going to let some backstabber get off so lightly eh

Heerlo said:

Good grief! I'm not sure if I've ever seen such a war on Civ5. Good job, though.

So are you going for domination?

Click to expand...

The most surprising thing about this is actually a couple things -
1) The AI literally fighting on despite being at a numerical disadvantage (last time they would just give up at that point), and fighting really hard sans nukes
2) AI taking back two of its cities on the same turn. This one is the bigger surprise, I've never seen AIs prepatch or Vanilla do this, and even in the ole Hunnic Industrial game with the runaway Mongols they only focused on one city at a time (and only that one).

They are literally a far more terrifying beast to contend with these days thanks to the rushbuying/annexing rules and various coding tweaks, and that was only a "mini-runaway civ"

And yes, yes we are... unless ya'll want us to stop at some point, maybe at 2012?

(update coming soon btw - currently busy with some Arabian Medieval Chiv Rushes )

smallfish said:

And yes, yes we are... unless ya'll want us to stop at some point, maybe at 2012?

Click to expand...

We already saw that that didn't happen in real life.

Just however you want to do it.

ATTENTION: The 6 week absence is a false alarm. I will be available and have another story soon. Great war and story btw.

I can't wait to see the international

:removes sunglasses:

fallout.

What was behind the decision to drop the bomb near Jakarta exactly?

Heerlo said:

We already saw that that didn't happen in real life.

Just however you want to do it.

Click to expand...

Mike III said:

ATTENTION: The 6 week absence is a false alarm. I will be available and have another story soon. Great war and story btw.

Click to expand...

Well I have my own False Alarm too folks, the promised soon-update has now arrived...

Almost a day later

Sonereal said:

I can't wait to see the international

:removes sunglasses:

fallout.

What was behind the decision to drop the bomb near Jakarta exactly?

Click to expand...

This is what some noticeable folks hereabouts would call "Reconnaissance-Through-Nuclear Firepower Application". Before the expansion, those who just play with Quick Combat turned on (or Multiplayer) wouldn't notice because there would not be a nuclear explosion scene every time a nuke hits something.

With the advent of Gods & Kings, however, you get to fiddle between Quick Combat and Animations in the options menu... and thus get the chance to use this extremely useful tactic to wage post-modern thermonuclear war effectively. Creating a Nuclear Corridor becomes so much more powerful when you can see your foe's carpets and blast them smartly instead of going in with a blind beeline and hoping you actually kill stuff instead of dirtying empty hexes

Thusly with this in mind, it should come as no surprise that Jakarta was taken really quickly... and then peace was declared with Maria Theresa as she finally saw the light in surrendering. Unlike Harun however, she was just exiled to some frigid northern sinkhole of sadness



A special package was delivered to that newly-taken city, and on the very next turn, the Chinese city of RagasuRagusa (sporting some Bombers/Stealth) went up in atomic pyre



Meanwhile over on the Carthaginian mainland, just as the troublesome Serbians were finally put in their place by rocket artilleries and bombers, the loathsome shamblers of Settra the Imperishable finally show up...



Don't laugh! One of our brave spies reported some turns ago that they were planning on massive sneak attack on Gades... but some subs were sent over to their area and we think some artilleries and destroyers were shot up so they were indefinitely delayed

Till now.

Yeah.

But in retrospect, considering later events and Egyptian Nehekharan lack of oil, it was a smarter move (meathshield recon) than a Carthaginian "probe" (ie. attempted privateering) near Hong Kong here



Carthaginian interceptors valiantly fought to keep the Chinese Stealth Bombers at bay and keep this Heroic Privateer alive at all costs...



But they were too few and unsupported by missile cruisers, and thus that lonely destroyer died big time after a conventional Bomber did it into Davy Jones' locker.

A poor move on Carthage's part and one that would have been easily avoidable through bombing raids and gunlines instead



... Or with the submarines, who were busily disrupting Mayan naval movement to their "colony" down south



At the same time, Egyptians revealed their cards by pushing in 3 destroyers into Gades and taking out our Destroyer there...



But as stated, they apparently had no aircrafts or battlewagons in the vicinity. The more puzzling thing was their lack of missile cruisers, given that they were already way at the top of the tech ladder. It was figured that the Egyptians forgot to put it in their queue order and shipped the invasion off real hasty... perhaps they also had a spy in Gades who reported all being well (read: little garrisons/strike here plz), but that seems unlikely as well...



Or maybe it was.

The next turn they wiped out the submarine on overwatch, and suddenly Gades was defenseless save for its land garrisons



The employment of another tactical nuke on a Chinese army group maneuvering on the outskirts of Ragusa, following its downfall in late 1949 AD:



This push into China, titled Operation Purple Hearts, followed up with a naval bombardment on Hong Kong. The 16-inch shells of Carthaginian Iowas barely scratched off its ablative paint, but that's when the Bombers would come into play...



But all that was rendered moot when the Chinese pushed in another army group through the fallout and difficult terrain



And took it back with one of their Mech Infs

But at least we managed to take HK eh... not that it was anything spectacular.

And Guided Missiles really should get the 33% bonus against cities ability. They may be cheap and powerful spammable little things, but they are also oneshot weapons and unlike nukes they are definitely not that powerful enough to wipe out entire armies...



But this is a pretty alright response force. With not much fighting to be had in some thirty+ turns, Wu was given the time and space to amass a huge military like this. Nothing compared to the Mayans, but it was more than enough to take back stuff... and if she had been even more creative (ie. human), it would have made a decent spearhead for taking other peoples' lands too

The only thing that would drag it down would be the slow artillery - they could be converted to Rocket tubes, but then that's six less aluminum for stealth bombers...

Pretty decent unit placement all in all, since she kept her powerful stuff (MRLS) way the back while melee units go upfront with some (obsolete) tubes alongside them



Unsurprisingly they took HK back next turn... and while they were at it, Ragusa was still being hammered at (took it back - I love those Blitz Tanks)



Unlike the Austrians, the Chinese didn't react fast enough to take back both cities at the same time

And unlike the Austrians, we were now very, very, ohsoveryhappy happy to demonstrate why post-Atomic wars are basically Ragnarok Incarnate



Finally, Wu Zetian "the Wise" saw the light in a Versailles; she wasn't very keen on one a couple or so turns ago



Her terms:



Dido wanted the cash only, so none of that crappy spam city, and then peace was made while Carthage restocked the nuclear arsenals and reinforced her newly-forged eastern holdings



But while 600+ gold is good, the Crazy Communist Mayans made an even better offer to which we declined:



We wanted to trim his navy down, so to speak. Antique diesel subs vs missile cruisers, destroyers and nuke boats - the only saving grace for the former was that we had a CS ally in the vicinity and the carrier groups for air support



But that didn't stop them from breaking through and sinking some of our reinforcements:



So to replenish some losses and to make the Mayans pay for sinking that many destroyers (and a submarine), a Carthaginian Privateer Destroyer bravely went up to the task of capturing a Mayan missile cruiser... and successfully so



Then Peace was to be had with the Mayans...



A Peace that came just in time to narrowly avoid losing that prize ship of ours, and now that the 30-limit-per-post is almost being reached, this whole post will just speedrun through some key events

1) Paying off the Mayans to DOW China and later on, Egypt. They were apparently going for Total Domination, as can be seen with their ICSing ala Rome, and thus were easily susceptible to having a go at their neighbors now that the end was nigh. It led to some... hilarious stalemates



Apparently they were planning on restarting a war with Carthage too... (Mayans are like Romans, btw - warmongering expansionists who will expand like crazy and declare war like crazy, so don't be fooled by Pacal's funny hat and sadface)... so they were paid off to have a go at the Undying Court of Nehekhara instead


2) The fabled Egyptian naval invasion. It was bigger than we let on... but then as said they didn't bring in battlewagons or even missile cruisers... or even nuke boats with cruise missiles. The former was kinda understandable (they had no base oil), but even with all these limitations they still tried landing in some ground artilleries

Some, btw

And of course, (recklessly) expanding the all-seeing Eye of Settra to the purple lands, whose hubris could only match that of said legendary godking...




3) What could Gandhi be up to...

That's sounds like some tough wars.

hey guys I will use this profile to make my stories. good war btw smallfish.

Heerlo said:

That's sounds like some tough wars.

Click to expand...

MikeIII the 2nd said:

hey guys I will use this profile to make my stories. good war btw smallfish.

Click to expand...

I feel bad for not updating this game, mainly because I've been launching more than one game since last week. So we'll share with ya'll some tidbits on our current Medieval game, which is going pretty interestingly and will indeed enter interesting times...

And we haven't played this fellow for a really long time, so lets give him a shot now eh...

(and we will continue quests of Carthage Autokrat Pangaea sometime soon. Promise.)



DOWed Hiawatha early to get one of his workers, and as seen, he won't quit because of his Mohawks and there were a ton of them



But we still managed to take Oshinka with a pair of spears and three comp bows, and even brought in some swords/longswords in the interim peace



Then the Musketeers came. We cannot overstress just how powerful this fellows are, especially with the right promotions and terrain tiles, even against uniques who have forest bonuses



And to flatline a Medieval city real fast, cannons are your best friends. Cannons last a long good time - backed by a Great General, they can even take down Industrial cities with 80 strength (and the Kremlin/Himeji innit). Cities in the low 20s will undoubtedly be torn down rapidly...



And then... well, it was a good ole conquest spree. Byzantium Rome was our friend, but we didn't like the fact that they had a ton of wonders and were pretty backwards to boot



But they had the Greatest Wall, yeah? That would be extremely mean business to wade through, especially with the spam that the Eastern Romans were dishing out



Then one of our ad hoc Musketeer reinforcements stumbled upon the Legendary City of Gold while they were hunting barbs for CS quests slowly trudging up through an unexplored and indirect route from the south



But you may be wondering - what were the Byzantines up to and why were they shifting most of their units down south?

Well its pretty simple, folks. They wanted to wipe out Hiawatha that's what happened. So on the same moment that Hiawatha got bushwhacked hard, the Musketeers rolled out and Beloved Theodora could only sputter curses at the world's greatest military genius



It was indeed slow and tedious, but the Musketeers were extremely durable units and Byzantium had no answer to them...



Until we came into full view of their Dromons...



But they had no Industrial defenses, and we were already in that age of death-dealing Cavalries. Thusly Adrianople fell just as quickly as Constantinople, though with far more casualties than we would like

Then Napoleon took the mantle of the Terrible, and Kamehameha from across the western ocean welcomed him into the mold of Autocrats



Peace was indeed to be had with Byzantium once they were thoroughly defanged, and then a colony was founded across the Pacific with the aim of creating a supply chain for a long campaign somewhere...

And a French Minuteman from our friends in the Liberty enclave of Hanoi. "I trust that you are a Friend to Liberty" indeed...



Who knows what the Future would bring eh?



It certainly looks... steamy

The way unit names are displayed can be a tad wonky, combined with how short the name space is for creating new ones.

So you get redundant information like "Marseille Night (Land Ironclad) (Dalmace Land Ironclad)".

You should go Viva la France!!! those Polynesians.