Brittish Isles Succession Game - The Saxon Menace

1 or 2 more players are needed for the Saxon Menace. Post here or email me if you are interested.


Civilization: Essex (Expansionist and Militaristic. UU is the Berzerker. Brief history at bottom of post.)
Difficulty: Monarch
Map: Large. Random type, temp and age
Opponents: Random
Victory Conditions: All
Barbarians: Restless

Turn submission:
24 hours to pick up or pass your turn (post a message saying that you have the game)
24 hours to submit after picking up the game

Turn duration:
15 rounds

Game rules:
No save/reload
No trainers
No worker automation before Republic is discovered
No retiring
Post a timeline or story brief with your completed turn.

Game Modifications:
This succession game uses the British Isles mod Version 6.2 or 7.0. You'll need this mod in order to play. It has install and uninstall files so switching between the mod and regular game settings will not be a problem. Please email me if you need one of these versions as the forum thread carries only the most current version.

Modifications include:

• All civs replaced with Kingdoms of the British Isles
• Barracks reduces corruption
• Brehon Law tech/government added
• New unique units for all civs. Essex has the berzerker, a 5/1/1 swordsman.

Player order:
Shaitan
Charis
Grey Fox
Xrang


Brief history of Essex, courtesy of Infoplease.com:
Essex is one of the early kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England. It was settled probably in the early 6th century by Saxons who traced their royal line back to a continental Saxon god instead of to Woden, as did the rulers of other early kingdoms. Essex eventually included the modern counties of Essex and Middlesex, most of Hertfordshire, and London. Under the influence of his uncle, Æthelbert of Kent, King Sæbert of Essex accepted (c.604) Christianity, but the kingdom lapsed into heathenism when his successors expelled (617) Mellitus, bishop of London. In c.653, however, at the request of King Sigbert, Oswy of Northumbria sent Cedd to convert the East Saxons and to build churches. The submission of Essex to the overlordship of Wulfhere of Mercia marked the beginning of a long domination by the larger state. In 825, Essex joined other eastern kingdoms in submitting to Egbert of Wessex and became an earldom. Heavily settled by the Danes, it became part of the Danelaw by the treaty of 886, but was retaken by Edward the Elder of Wessex in 917. Its most famous later earl was Byrhtnoth, who was killed in the battle of Maldon in 991.

I am not sure, so save a place for me, okay?

Originally posted by das
I am not sure, so save a place for me, okay?

Click to expand...

Okay, just let me know for sure before the list fills.

Hello. This sounds very interesting and fun. I would be interested, but how good of players do you want. I am fairly good. I have been playing on Regent, and although not doing exceedingly well, I am holding my own. If you have no particular requirements for skill level. I would enjoy participating.

Originally posted by Colonel Kraken
Hello. This sounds very interesting and fun. I would be interested, but how good of players do you want. I am fairly good. I have been playing on Regent, and although not doing exceedingly well, I am holding my own. If you have no particular requirements for skill level. I would enjoy participating.

Click to expand...

Welcome aboard. A mix of player styles and skill levels is what makes succession games so cool.

Welcome aboard Garret. That brings our player total to 4 which should be good to get started. Look for the first installment (4000bc to 3050bc) tomorrow morning.

Colonel Kraken, you'll be up after that.

Getting excited now. This is going to be great!

Welcome to History 101, "Birth of a Power - Essex in the 4th millenium before Christ". I am your instructor, Professor Shaitan.

This lecture will concentrate on the burdgeoning growth of the Essex Empire. Though you all must be intimately familiar with the current power and might of the Empire, this class will cover a time when Essex was neither powerful nor mighty. Specifically, we will look at the birth of Essex through approximately 3000 BC.

In 3950 BC, the city of London was founded on the shores of Lake Henk. London was veritably surrounded by grasslands teeming with massive herds of cattle. With the easy accessibility of fresh water and bountiful food sources, the tiny village very quickly began growing. Exploration of the homeland revealed the surrounding territories to be just as fantastic and ripe for expansion. Was this the catalyst for the classic Essex expansionist mentality? With so much prime land so close to London it must have proved to be an irresistable lure. (See slide 1)


Shortly after the founding of London, the Essex encountered a small tribe of Goths. The Goths proved friendly and imparted the knowledge of cremation and burial to them. This was quite a wakeup call for the Essex. Their own seers and mystics had made neglible gains in discovery while this tiny tribe had possession of such amazing knowledge. It is my belief that this sparked a fantastic cultural hunger for knowledge that would one day propel the Essex to technological mastery.

Continued growth and exploration led to the meeting of the Northumbrians, an Angle civilization with homelands to the east of Wessex. The two peoples had little to share with each other. The Essex (thanks to their Goth allies) had knowledge that the Northumbrians lacked but Northumbria had nothing to offer Essex in return. As the lay of the land unfolded it would reveal that these two civilizations had posession of the finest territories available. Both homelands were bountiful and blessed with resources. Each was jelous of the other's posessions and saw the destruction of the other as the most secure way to ensure their own peoples' growth. As a result there was tension between the two from their first meeting.

By 3500, London had expanded to almost thrice its size, was well protected by native warriors and had fully explored its immediate surrounds. Essex could easily defend its north reaches by stationing troops on the Trey isthmus north of Lake Henk. The militaristic minded Essex had begun active preparation to build up their military and expand their empire at the expense of Northumbria but found their goals jeopardized by a new tribe. To the south of Essex across the Great Desert, scouts discovered the homeland of the Wessex. Though they were a Saxon tribe like Essex, the Wessex were quite hostile. They also had knowledge superior to Essex and no desire to share it.

The turn of the millenia proved to be a monumentous time for Essex. A rich tribe of Gepid helped finance the purchase of the Wessex knowledge of Masonry. This in turn spurred the founding of Enfield to the South of London. Enfield's addition to the empire gave such an immediate boost to production and the economy that Essex was able to deal with Northumbria to acquire knowledge of carts and chariots. The wild horse herds of London and Enfield suddenly took on a new and very important military aspect.

Although Essex was now beholden to both Northumbria and Wessex, the seeds of Essex greatness had been planted. With their native militaristic skill, local resources of horses and the knowledge of chariots, what could stop the Essex expansion? (See slide 2)



That is all for today students. Please file out in good order and leave your assignments on the table near the door.


Timeline turn notes
4000 BC Incredibly fertile grasslands with massive herds of wild cattle found. We have a coastline to the west but there is another coast to the East. In the hopes that this second coast is fresh water our settler moves to the east. Our gamble proves true. Our capital will be founded with a source of fresh water and 2 herds of wild cattle. Our scout has found a river to the south with wild grains growing right on the sea coast. Could our homeland be any more fertile?
3950 London is founded and begins training warriors. Our mystics begin researching the secrets of Masonry. This will allow us to build the Pyramids.
3900 Excellent grasslands to the northeast and southwest. Fertile plains found to the southeast.
3850 We have discoverd a Goth tribe who has taught us ceremonial burial. Our scout has found a scout of the Northumbrian tribe. Edwin of Deira, king of the Northumbrians seems friendly enough but it is distressing to discover another advanced tribe so close to our homeland. We could have traded our newfound knowledge of Ceremonial Burial but Northumbria is so poor that it would have netted us little.
3800
3750 Desert found to the southeast of the plains area.
3700 London has completed training a warrior. Warrior has been assigned to protect London. London now begins gathering citizens to found a second city. An extremely fertile river basin runs through the eastern desert. Spice is there in abundance.
3650 The borders of Northumbria have been found. It lies due east of London.
3600
3550
3500
3450 The borders of London have expanded because of its high culture. This reveals a very defensible isthmus between our fertile lands and that of Northumbria. Our settlers will be gathered soon. Once they are sent on their way we will train another warrior and station them on this isthmus to protect the homeland.
3400
3350
3300
3250 Our scout has met representatives of Caewalla of the Wessex. Although they are Saxons like us, this tribe seems highly aggressive. The Wessex have the knowledge of Masonry that we are struggling to learn but we do not have enough to offer them in turn for the knowledge. They already know our guarded secret of Ceremonial Burial.
3200 Our group of settlers has departed for the fertile river basin area to the south, accompanied by London's warriors for protection. The site should prove even more productive than the capital, if not so encouraging to fast growth.
3150
3100
3050 Our scouts have found a Gepid tribe that gave us 25 pieces of gold. We gave us enough funds to trade with the Wessex for their knowledge of Masonry. We offered them a small tribute as well as the bulk of our treasury. They now have knowledge of the wheel but would not even consider trading that secret. We are now researching Bronze Working. Enfield has been founded and immediately begun construction of a granary. With their lower harvest capability they will need this to achieve growth comparable to London. The increase in revenue from founding Enfield has given us the income to purchase the secrets of the Wheel from Northumbria. The cost was exhorbinant - twice the tribute we pay Wessex, plus the secrets of Ceremonial Burial.



Current Status thoughts
London is one turn away from finishing its warrior. This was earmarked for the isthmus between our lands and Northumbria (very nice defensible spot in the forest). Was planning another warrior next, for London garrison, then next settler. London is growing so quickly that there's no need for a granary yet (probably not until it passes size 6). The worker has been mining and roading the herd filled grasslands (no benefit to irrigate these in a despotism) but now that we have the wheel, it could be a good idea to build a road to the horses north of London. The river in the plains looks like the next best place for a city (otherwise Northumbria will probably take it). Northumbria already claimed the floodland/river/spice area in the desert south of their capital. Another scout to check out the lands south of Enfield would be good too. I hope the hills near Enfield have some iron or it could get pretty ugly for our position in the iron age. Should probably start planning on waging war against Northumbria. We're definitely going to want the entire fertile north of our continent. Build up troops until our tribute to them ends then attack to take over their cities. They'll probably respawn to the south somewhere, in the desert.



Next up
Colonel Kraken, you've got the ball. Please post when you pick up the game so we know you've got it.

Good luck and kick butt!

Hiyas...

Just downloaded the mod and this looks pretty interesting. (Had a shock to see those 5-1-1 ancient troops!) If you would like a fifth player, I'm interested. If you've got enough though, no problem, I'm already in a few RBD games at the moment...

Charis

I've never played on Monarch before, but I've been very successful on Regent. I'm willing to play if ye need another player, this sounds interesting.

Welcome to the game Charis and Exsanguination!

Colonel Kraken hasn't responded for his turn and Garret is unable to play this round. That puts Charis in the driver's seat with Exsanguination on deck.

Colonel Kraken, let us know what's up. We can reshuffle the order so you don't lose your turn.

Das - I need your decision whether you're going to play or not, our list is complete if you are playing. Thanks.

Originally posted by Charis
Hiyas...

Just downloaded the mod and this looks pretty interesting. (Had a shock to see those 5-1-1 ancient troops!) If you would like a fifth player, I'm interested. If you've got enough though, no problem, I'm already in a few RBD games at the moment...

Charis

Click to expand...

They're a double edged sword too. In play testing I had several masses of berzerkers obliterated by horsemen. The AI is very aware that they have a defense of 1. You're almost forced to send a spearman with each one.

Got it, will play shortly this eve... :crazyeyes:

Charis

Herein lies the tale of the reign of an unlikely leader. One "Charis O'Saebert",
an Irishman at the helm of the Essex nation. At this early stage in history,
they had not yet had 'run ins' with other cultures and did not think this
odd at the time...

3050 BC (0) - Charis O surveys the situation. Notices science was "off"
so he spends the 1 gold to go after Bronze Working. Agrees with assessment
to fortify the choke point and that Northumbria is a likely early foe.
Charis O didn't care for the granary choice with this much exploring to
do, but in deference to the founder of their nation, he leaves it be.

3000 BC (1) - If we're planning military units, better get London a Barracks.

2750 BC (6) - Barracks done, start on Warrior to finish before city grows.

2710 BC (7) - Takes a look at Enfield, and tries to move a worker. City governor
is on for my citizens ???? (Snaps that puppy off)

2670 BC (8) - Starts a temple for culture and happiness, in London.

2550 BC (11) - Whips the granary in Essex now that it needs 38 to complete.
Starts another scout.

2390 BC (15) - London hits size 4. Governor wants to make an
entertainer. Charis fires the governor and pushes up luxury rate a notch.

2310 BC (17) - London and Enfield both start Settlers (finally!)

2230 BC (19) - Great, a barbarian camp just below us. No surprise with
no one to watch the area ;p

2190 BC (20) - Settler pops out, ready to get that nice river wheat spot.
He'll need protection, so an archer is started, with the firepower to
take out the camp. He's headed to the spot to the SE of the wheat,
which is on the river and lake, and knight's move from the game, and next
to the mountain. The warrior is sent with him, leaving London (gasp) bare.
Archer due in 3 can follow them while London pumps out another mil unit.
The worker is on a road now, expected to road to the horses next. When
he does, we'll have access to Chariots. (If another archer is made, can
switch before it's finished.)

That's 20 turns, so quick There is a barbarian camp just south of the
Southern scout, and just North of the Northern scout, so careful!
You can see the camp, just not the barbs, due to fog.

Bronze Working is due in 11, with a push up of science and recent road
development. Watch if a city grows to see if luxury rate needs to go
back up. (London will need 20% luxury when it hits 4 I think). From
scouting, it seems, though not 100% sure, we're on an island with these
other two civs. Should be a bloodbath at some point. We're short in
everthing - cities, military, and infrastructure. That only leaves us
our wits ahead of the AI!

Good luck!
Charis

Sweet. I agree we'll need some infrastructure soon.

Exsanguination, you're up. Post to let us know when you pick up the game.

Exsanguination, are you there? For that matter, Colonel Kraken and Das - are you there?

Much silence from everybody except Garret and Charis. If Exsanguination doesn't pick up today I'll grab the game this eve and we'll just start the go round again.

I've got the game and this will be the start of round 1.5.

All players besides Charis and Garret please respond if you are still playing. From the silence it looks like we'll need to clean up the player list and start recruiting again

Turn notes
2150 Scout chased north by barbarians, finds Goth tribe. Goths teach us Bronze Working. We're now researching Iron Working. This will give us BERZERKERS! 40 turns to world domination. Research turned way down - was no turn advantage to higher research (40 turns no matter what). Entertainment pumped up to 30%. Keep (most of) the peeps happy. (picture)

2110 London switched production from archer to Pyramids. Should be complete by the time we get Iron Working (Berzerkers). Enfield switched production from settler to spearman for London defensive garrison. Basically turning from expansion to conquest at this point. There aren't enough fertile lands in the north of our island continent if Northumbria is allowed to compete.
2070
2030 Phoenecian raiding party ambushes one of our scouts.
1990 Workers complete road to horses. Enfield production switched to chariot.
1950
1910 Edwin of Deira (Northumbria's king) tried to extort us for our entire treasury. I told him to go sit on a pike. He backed down. Hatfield is founded, begins construction of a temple. Enfield completed our first chariot unit bound for London defense. Begins construction of a temple. We need a decent culture base to capture Northumbria cities and hold them.
1870
1830 Northumbria has founded the town of Durham directly north of our isthmus defense force. Warrior moved west to other side of isthmus to escape Northumbrian territory. Enfield whips out their temple. Will start a barracks next turn.
1790 Caewalla of Wessex offers us Iron Working in exchange for our entire treasury plus an annual tribute equal to our entire economic growth. We agree. Our own science can be turned down as well as our entertainment to bring back economic growth. This way we have Iron Working more than 30 turns faster than planned. There is iron right next to Enfield. Worker immediately put on road construction to the iron deposit.
1750
1725
1700
1675
1650 A barbarian is seen to the south of Hatfield. Hatfield fortifies for defense.
1625 Enfield completes barracks. Begins training archers. This will be switched to berzerkers as soon as our iron source is functional.
1600 Hatfield successfully defends against Anglican barbarian assault. Damned Anglicans. Don't they recognize Saxon superiority? Iron source brought online. Enfield production switched to berzerker. Luxury rate raised to 40% to prevent riots with population growth next turn.
1575
1550
1525 First berzerker unit trained. Sent to London to help hold the peace in the growing burb. Enfield begins training basic warriors as local garrison/police forces. (photo)


Ruminations
Planning on pumping out cheap warriors for local defense and crowd control, 2 per city. Mobilize berzerkers and spearmen for assault on Northumbria. Berzerkers must be paired with spearman or they get slaughtered when defending.

I took a fairly big chance by abandoning the expansion plan and tooling up for conquest but the techs fell in very nicely so it is working so far. Enfield is tooling up to be a fantastic production center.

Players
Charis, you're up next. Garret is on deck. This is still 20 turns per player (round 1.5)

Had to trim the player list for apparent fallout so we're actively recruiting again. Pipe up if you're interested.

Shaitan,

Alas, when I try to load your save file, the application crashes about 60% through the read. I can start a new Essex game, or load my old files, and got this crash repeatedly, only on this save file, so the mod is correctly installed. We can either...

- have you try to upload a new different freshly zipped version
- have Garret see if he can load this turn's save


Charis

Originally posted by Charis
Shaitan,

Alas, when I try to load your save file, the application crashes about 60% through the read.
Charis

Click to expand...

Here's a new one. Fresh off the zipper.

Thanks for the retry, but drats.... it still doesn't work -- the
program crashes.

Let Garret try this turn?


Charis