Part Thirty: The Enemy of Your Enemy is Your Enemy
1930 AD - The loss of Dacca didn't hurt as much as I'd expected on the happiness front. 75% of the populace still approves of my reign, and only one city went into civil disorder over the lost gems. What does sting, however, is that it was Persia that took the city. But Greece won't let such an insult stand for long.
Simply divert a few Infantry from the Australia-Asia route and suddenly the Persian troops there find themselves in a very poor position!
In the Middle East, once again the main Greek goal is to defeat the Persian forces on Greek soil. After the artillery bombardments the situation looks as follow. The Persians don't exactly have anywhere to run.
Greece's Marines surge through the Infantry on the mountains, but a brigade is lost to the infantry on the open flood plains. What matters is that the task is completed, so that if all goes well an offensive can be mounted soon.
Look what our Cruiser found by Hawaii:
Pirates! While we could easily crush these pirates, as our spies tell us they are not Aztec, we figure we might as well let them sail around Aztec Hawaii for awhile.
Our landing party in Aztec territory continues to take potshots at the surrounding countryside. This time it damaged transportation on the mountains south of Teotihuacan. We also engage an Ironclad sailing near the city. The Ironclad fights well, but loses to our Cruiser. But now it's really time to retreat - even a modern Cruiser can destroy only so many Ironclads, Frigates, and Galleons before it needs repairs.
Off the east coast of Africa, two other Greek Destroyers sink a Persian Ironclad and Galleon. Though still a small force, our 6 cruisers are doing a good job of showing the world who's navy is boss!
Oh, and remember those Mongol Spearmen? Well, I got a Spy in Karakorum, and there's lots of them! Mongolia's army has 20 Infantry, 18 Spearmen, 15 Riflemen, 9 Crusaders, 4 Cavalry, and 3 Keshiks, with small numbers of other units. If it weren't for my 35 Hoplites, I'd say that's not keeping with the times!
1931 AD - We are witness to a naval battle between a Persian Frigate and a Babylonian Caravel. Babylon wins. Meanwhile, the pirates by Hawaii make a smart move and don't attack my Cruiser.
In territorial news, the Portuguese have taken the city of Odense from the Aztecs to unify their island. I'm guessing it was a cultural conversion given that Portugal had one pikeman a few turns ago.
The Incans signed an alliance with Persia against America this turn. I doubt that'll result in much of a change in the war given the Ottomans and Aztecs between them. We also gain an ally, however.
That's thanks to an alliance between Rome and Spain. One more nation fighting Persia, one step closer to victory. Never mind that we're at war with our new ally.
Unfortunately, we lose an ally in the New World.
I'm kind of surprised. I thought America would fight on until they claimed their prize of J.S. Bach's Cathedral - they're closer now than ever.
1932 AD - We consider carefully considered the deal Lincoln offered us.
It is of course a steal for getting Lincoln back into the Aztec war. But a Mutual Protection Pact with this many wars going on carries much higher risk than a simple alliance. By our tabulations, we stand to gain an ally against the Aztecs, Celts, and Hittites from this pact, while Lincoln stands to gain an ally against the Zulu, Russians, English, and Inca. The Inca we can cancel our deals with any time, as with the English, though the latter are paying us a decent amount of gold. The Russians we have a three turn deal with, which we feel is no danger. The Zulu, on the other hand, we have an 18-turn peace treaty deal with. Planting a spy in Zimbabwe, we learn that the Zulu have only one Galley as their navy. Fairly sure America's navy isn't too strong, either, we agree to the deal. It won't be long before the Aztecs are fighting America again. And while we're at it, we formalize an embargo against Persia and increase the amount of gold America is paying us for Silks by 50%, to 36 gold per turn. Altogether an excellent negotiating session.
With our negotiating for the turn settled, it's off to the battlefield. The first goal is to retake Dacca.
The city falls easily. I will leave two Infantry on the island and have a sailing ship come by to take the rest to the mainland.
We chance upon a Persian Galleon out in the open in the Indian Ocean.
It is defeated with little trouble, and our Destroyer continues towards harbor and repairs. En route, it can't help noticing the downright wealth of Frigates in the area:
But the real target of the move against Persia is the city of Hyderabad on the southeast shore of the Caspian Sea. Thanks in part to seven Infantry and Pyrrhus arriving via ship from Australia, we are able to move a massive force of 9 Infantry, 4 Artillery, 2 Artillery, a Marine, Pyrrhus's Medieval Infantry Army, and a Hoplite right next to the city.
We're pretty confident about our ability to take this city next turn.
This turn our big target is Teotihuacan. The Aztecs can't expect us to complacently sit outside the city forever!
The key was the Aztecs drafting the city down to size 6. The AI doesn't seem to understand that the 50% defense bonus is worth a lot more than one more conscript in a well-defended city.
Artillery bombardment isn't especially successful, but we don't care too much. The attack will commence!
The first Infantry faces the toughest challenge, of course. A Guerilla unit aids the defending Infantry, but progress is made:
Ultimately our troops redline the defenders but fall. Another unit charges in, this time against Regulars.
It gets owned.
It takes two more Infantry to reduce the now-promoted Aztec unit to two hitpoints. The unit after that, however, gives us our first victory of the assault. The only Elite Greek unit then attacks, the result being the first Elite Aztec unit. That wasn't what we intended - oh well.
Another Infantry falls, but reduces the defenders enough that Guerillas are now the frontline Aztec troops. They are redlined by my next attack, but survive. However, the tide has turned. The next three Greek attacks succeed, and Teotihuacan is taken! The final losses are seven Greek Infantry, three Aztec Infantry, and an Aztec Guerilla. Not too bad for an Infantry assault on a city on a hill.
Heeding our spies' warnings of the Aztecs having fairly high numbers of Cavalry, we move two more Infantry into the city, but leave most outside. There's a pretty high flip chance right now.
1933 AD - The Byzantines and Vikings signed a peace accord this year. It's great news for the Scandinavians, who had all their non-core cities taken by the Byzantines. It also allows for the Byzantines to focus more against Persia - good news for me!
We also make a peace deal this turn, with the Hittites. They realized the implications of my pact with America, and suddenly giving up 15 gold and their World Map wasn't a high price at all.
Rather than reinforcing Hyderabad, Persia sends large numbers of troops west from the area in an apparent evacuation. We won't complain.
Yay!
The Celts attack the city of Rome, but don't fare well. Rome also attacks, but neither nation can take out a Marine. Long live Greece!
Rats. I didn't think that would happen that quickly. Oh well. Costs us a bit of gold, but I don't think it smokes my reputation. And Greece will still live a long time!
1934 AD - We complete our first Bomber!
Now we must decide which front to put it on...
It's time for the attack on Hyderabad! Pyrrhus leads the attack.
No more Pyrrhus. Guess Medieval Infantry just aren't top-of-the-line anymore. So we go to what
is state-of-the-art and attack with a Marine. It also loses. So we call in an Elite Infantry. Predictable result. It loses. We really need some better offensive weapons.
The next unit to attack is the Cavalry of Ajax. Another loss. Then an Infantry gives us a victory. Yay! Short-lived success. The next three lose, and it looks like Persia got a Great Leader on their third victory of that set. Finally we start to turn the tide and win the next two battles. Only one Persian unit remains...
Sure enough, Persia did have a great leader. But they cannot defend him against our overwhelming numbers, and we take the city. Final casualty count: 5 Greek Infantry, one Greek Marine, one Greek Cavalry, and one Greek Army composing three Medieval Infantry, for a total of ten Greek units. Persia loses three Infantry and a Cavalry. Our Infantry numbers are down big the past two turns, but world conquest does not comes without sacrifice.
The rest of the turn is mopping up, which, other than losing a Marine to a Pikeman, goes well. We set up another attack for our next turn, and let the other Civs take theirs.
The biggest changes not involving Greece in the past few years have been in the New World. America has established herself as a legitimate power, if not the most advanced, and now trails only Greece in land area. In South America, the Hittites are making a bit at becoming the regional power, having taken two cities from Japan, who has become noticeably weaker.
Despite the high casualties, we're now making steady progress towards world domination! And our rate of conquest will only get quicker...
Fortunately it was only one turn, and I have the Notepad file of events, so it won't take long to go through that turn again and rewrite any events that change.
. Even in Windows 2000 mode. I've got several hits in Search for the Fault Module Name, though, so hopefully it'll lend a solution.
Well, I've got a few plans to get it to work eventually on my fast new computer. For now I'll be playing on my old XP machine again. And yeah, one of the plans is to get XP for my new computer.
, but in reality, they do no good against cavalry. And I think that you should protect your home-island a little better.
