Humiliated by its defeat at the hands of barbarian archers, the Russian Empire ceased its development of cultural edifices and began pouring all of its energies into war. The technology of the amazingly strong alloy "bronze" enables an army of axe-wielding soldiers to be built and sent to patrol the distant corners of the empire.
PRETURN (500BC). Copper was already connected, though I don't understand why. Is it sailing that connects it? Moved one of Moscow's two warriors northwest to forestall the barbarian warrior there. I can defend in the forest with as good odds as defending in the city, and get the warrior to attack us instead of pillaging. St. Petersburg's axeman is sent to the south to fogbust and serve as distant early warning.
TURN 1 (475 BC). Pyramids are completed in Moscow, and barracks are next. The mine was finished in St. Pete and worked. The St. Pete worker starts to irrigate a plains tile to give us 2F/1H/1C as a slight improvement over a grasslands forest. Plus, farmer's paradise.
TURN 2 (450 BC). St. Pete completes an axeman and another is begun. Our advance guard warrior NW of Moscow is defeated, leaving Moscow protected only a single warrior. The barbarian warrior has been knocked down to 0.2 health, but now stands right next to Moscow!
TURN 3 (425 BC). One unlucky roll could still destroy Moscow and turn this thread into a firestorm
. I've never been so nervous about a battle with a 99% chance of victory ... fortunately, we win. To celebrate, barracks are completed and an axeman begun. The Moscow worker is set to build roads toward St. Pete to accelerate troop movement. There's a barbarian archer to the southeast that was injured down to 2.5/3.0 strength - was he fighting Saladin?
TURN 4 (400 BC) The St. Pete axeman is moved to the north to stand on a hill and see incoming barbarians.
TURN 5 (375 BC). Barbarian spotted to the northwest of Moscow. An axeman is sent northeast to protect that frontier
TURN 6 (350 BC). Bede reports that the Arabs are the world's most advanced empire; we are third. St. Pete's has grown and is unhappy as predicted. I'm going to wait one turn to put some hammers into our axeman build before whipping down our population. Moscow has produced another axeman and this one is sent south to guard that frontier.
An axeman to the north is promoted to Woodsman I and planted next to the barbarian warrior to invite attack. If we win, Woodsman II may be useful for greater mobility and future scouting-with-axeman.
TURN 7 (325 BC). Even the bloodthirsty barbarian AI declines to attack an axeman with a warrior: the barbarian heads towards Moscow and our roadbuilding worker instead. Moscow's new axeman is sent to greet him. St. Pete's whips an axeman. Oops - miscalculated whipping penalties and and St. Pete's is now in the red because of -2 "We can never forget your cruel oppression".
TURN 8 (300BC). St. Pete's has forgotten our cruel oppression and is happiness-neutral again. Iron Working is researched, and ... iron is discovered within Moscow's fat cross! A worker is sent there to start the mine. Saladin adopts Organized Religion, and I switch research to Monotheism for a future revolt to Organized Religion as well.
TURN 9 (275 BC). Novgorod has 3 barbarian archers and the AI dispatches one of them toward Moscow. I move in an axeman. In the north, we attack the warrior in the forest with an axeman and win easily.
TURN 10 (250 BC) Our aggressive axeman is promoted to Combat I and then attacks the Archer, killing him. Great Prophet Mahavira is born and sent to St. Pete's to found the Kong Miao.
So ... Novgorod has grown to size 2 and is defended by only two archers now. I notice that Saladin has put down a city just south of Novgorod, possibly threatening our attempt to cut off the southwest.
(Note, I have not revolted to a different civic - didn't want to stall production while we were thin on defense)
So now, several axemen stand guard on hills around our empire for maximum visibility, and we are well defended from barbarians (perhaps too many axemen at the cost of not developing infrastructure, but at least they will last us for a long time). For now, some of our axes can be pulled to conquer Novgorod - definitely the one north of the iron can go - and Swordsmen will be available soon.
The citizens of Novgorod cry out for liberation ...
I agree with beestar's decision to wait on the revolt though, as it now looks like we are much better suited in the military department. Revolting now should be alright.
) says is ours. It might be something to think about.
