So, today, after a couple of unsuccessful attempts (and after no more than a dozen failed tries in the past 20 odd years) I finally won the game on Emperor, OCC style (Once City Challenge). It was quite an interesting game indeed. Many peculiar empire splits, none of them really engineered by me, even though I did have to stop two Civs from beating me to space. So I'll just run down the 'rules' I played by before I leave all of it here for you to comment.
- I didn't use the settler trick at all, I just fast-cleaned a few squares of nuclear pollution near the end, when those NONE settlers popped out of the former Mongol capital. (BTW, that was also the only time in the game I resorted to using a nuke).
- I didn't found or conquer cities for expansion. Whenever I HAD to conquer, i.e. someone built on my land or I needed to get to their capital to stop their space ship, I would put all citizens out of work, sell all improvements and starve the city down ASAP, maybe only rush buying diplomats along the way for some more impact (no military or SS parts).
- I didn't abuse the save/load trick and random luck (very much). What wonders I got, I got. Sometimes I did use save/load or save/swap for caravans though, I consider that fair, since the AI gets them shipped immediately upon creation. So if one of my trade missions landed in the middle of a battle I'd do the save/swap thingy and use the exploit to get the trade route.
- I did use the change-building technique near the end for the construction of my space ship, but not to the fullest, and I'm pretty sure I would've made it on raw cash alone.
My general plan is to grow a bit under despotism, while I stake out my turf and build the initial wonders and caravans, and then I want to max out my city under a republic/democracy government and stockpile enough cash to be able to build the space ship and anything I might need to win the game. Then, later, I might (and did) switch to Monarchy (can run as a Republic at only 20% luxury rates) for painless warfare around the globe. This is pretty much what I usually do, only with a few more cities. In this game, at max size 20, without the Colossus, but with about 30 arrows coming in from trade routes, Rome generated over 80 trade and 40+ shields with mfg. & power plant). Curiously, I won exactly in the game-year 2016, talk about good timing for this Christmas present.
I’ll start off with this: I intended this to be much, much shorter and more summary-like, but I was so entertained and enticed by writing the story that the account of my first OCC win turned into a sort of fan fiction alt-history mini-novel. It actually took me more time to write and research the story than it took me to finish the game. Just another example of how immersing Civ can be. So I hope you enjoy the reading as much as I enjoyed the writing.
THE RISE OF ROME
3900 B.C. After a hundred long years of wandering through the metaphorical desert with his bands of settlers, Caesar founds what is to be the eternal Rome on the fertile edge of a small Southern continent, also inhabited by the tribe of the French. This is good. He trades with them to great benefit, but he must also clearly stake out his territory by demolishing a couple of their infringing new cities. The emperor sets out to develop intensive commerce, science and diplomacy in tune with the rest of the known world as early as possible. His efforts bring to Rome great wonders such as the Colossus and great minds such as those of Copernicus, Newton and Bach. The fledgling French empire can't grow quick enough or exert enough power to be a threat to the rise of Rome.
In the meantime, masters of the world are the Chinese and the Egyptians who share the largest continent on the planet and are perpetually a few steps ahead of Rome in all matters concerning global influence. But China and Egypt are also constantly vying for domination.
At the same time the Mongols share a large landmass with the English, whom they will eventually reduce to history. The Zulus are isolated on a tiny island to the Northwest of Mongolia that can only hold three cities. The Zulu civilization seems to be developing more along the lines of the ancient Babylonians, ruled by a peaceful representative government, stuck in the past (and great for trade). Imagine that, Zimbabwe, the new Babylon!
Both the French and Zulus try to colonize parts of the snake-like-winding continent the Mongols inhabit, but are summarily thrown back into the sea. The Mongols even counterattack and for a time occupy one of the French cities on the mainland, which the Romans keep in check (like the rest of France) with their well-placed and well-garrisoned hilltop forts and the massive standing armies behind Rome’s walls. The French have it hard, they can't compete even with the single city of Rome, barbarians and Chinese are constantly raiding (and conquering!) Avignon in the extreme South of their lands, and now the Mongols are pressing them from the Northwest. But the Zulus have it even harder. The Mongols are not only counterattacking them too, they will eventually drive them out of their small home island! But not before The Great War goes down...
It’s 1800 and the Chinese are setting up colonies all over the world… Including, peculiarly, Macao, which they build on a small island just north of Rome around 1600, just about the time the Portuguese did it in our world, and in a similarly trade-oriented manner. This is not only mentioned as a curious historical analogy, the gods shall bestow a very peculiar fate on this island later on.
Even though the Chinese are riding the high seas and taking over Mongol and Zulu colonies, while setting up their own, the Egyptians already have a clear edge in both technology and power – they’ve recovered from the Zulu and Mongol raids that had devastated Northeast Egypt for centuries and now have a tight grip on their continent and are launching a nuclear program – technology at this time only possessed by them, and soon – by the small but powerful city-state of Rome. But not even Rome is ready for the Chinese-Egyptian War.
Between 1820 and 1840, an only 20-year span, the Egyptians conquer five out of seven Chinese cities on their shared continent and even strip them of Avignon, which they have held in the south of France for what seems like eons. An eternity gone in just one generation.
The Chinese now only possess the enclaves of Peking and Tsingtao on their original mainland and three island colonies, the aforementioned Macao, Shantung near the North Pole, and Chinan on an island just across the straits from the besieged capital Peking… After a brief cease-fire, Peking falls to the Egyptians in 1842. Curiously, even though they presently have nothing even resembling an empire, the Chinese empire splits. They are left with only one (1!) city, Tsingtao, on the mainland, which now houses the palace. The three overseas colonies of Shantung, Chinan and Macao are now… Greek. Even though they were originally founded by Chinese settlers. Apparently, being Chinese is falling out of fashion.
Macao is Alexander’s capital and a sprawling megapolis. Sahntung and Chinan are small and defenceless colonies, and summarily taken over by the Zulus and Egyptians respectively, leaving Macao as a lone city state, very much like Rome, which lies perhaps as little as only a few hundred miles to the South.
They cannot drive them out of Ulundi, but the Zulus have stiffened their resistance against the Mongols, launching invading fleets against them, and against the French and the Greeks. They even take part in the rape of Peking on a brilliant stroke of luck! Shaka manages to capture the devastated former Chinese capital and hold it for over 30 years amidst a sea of Egyptians! The Chinese people’s plight finally ends in 1886, when the Egyptians decide that China will be no more and, after dealing with the Mongol opportunists in Peking, annex Tsingtao, the last remaining bastion of Chinese identity.
1916. The dawn of another Great War. The Egyptians suddenly blitz the Mongol capital of Samarkand. Government collapses, all Mongol holdings north of the Coventry-Ulundi line turn separatist and declare themselves ‘American’. London has been held by the Zulus for centuries, just like Ulundi has been Mongol for over 300 years, but with Lincoln on the stage this status quo will not last long…
Ghengis quickly takes the reins of the situation, relocates his yurt-palace to the safety of Karakorum and proceeds to wage a devastating 35-year war, in which he manages to both drive out the Egyptians out of Bokhara and Samarkand AND use Ulundi as a beachhead to capture Bapedi, leaving Zimbabwe standing as the only Zulu-controlled city in Zululand. In the meantime the Americans are rising fast and take away London from the Zulus, securing their southern flank and reaching an agreement of peaceful coexistence with their former Mongol masters.
The Americans, however, are not at all that peaceful. They’ve tasted freedom and now they intend to also taste power. In 1961 they invade Romano-French lands by capturing Bordeaux and using it as a base for further operations in the region, just as the Egyptians had done with Avignon.
French and Roman efforts manage to contain the American threat, just as they had managed to contain the Egyptian threat decades ago – French diplomacy and ground troops blockade the invaders while the powerful Roman fleet and air force devastate any incoming reinforcements.
1966. Another dark year in history. The fall of Zimbabwe. Very much contrary to popular opinion about Shaka and his administrative abilities, his capital had for centuries been a splendidly rich and beautiful city. It would remain like this under Mongol rule, but Shaka would never again be able to enjoy the splendour of his ancestors’ palace, as Zimbabwe finally succumbed to the golden horde. The Zulu nation is now on the run and scattered across the vast oceans on two tiny islands. By the end of the century, it too would be reduced to a single city. Unlike Rome or the Greek city-state of Macao, it would not fare all that well.
1981. The Egyptians strike again. Ramesses conquers… the Moon. Even though virtually everybody is running their own secret space R&D, the world is in awe at the news of the success of the Egyptian Apollo Program. It looks as if the civilization that for six millennia has been following the eternal cycle of the sun is now about to journey towards other stars. The first step has been made. But the next surprise follows even quicker than the second.
Apparently satisfied with reaching the Moon, or perhaps troubled by the screaming rise of the Americans as a rival global power, the Egyptians decide to neglect their space program and the young American nation embarks on the rapid construction of a space Ark, which would carry thousands of colonists across the galaxy to light the flame of the American spirit on other worlds…
But Rome has other plans. The eternal city has been increasing its influence and might for millennia, lying in wait for the moment it would finally have to prove its worth, alone against the entire world. Now, it’s time to show what Rome stands for.
Upon receiving news of the breakneck pace at which the Americans are advancing, Caesar not only speeds up the construction of his own space ship, he also dispatches a powerful expeditionary force across the seas to subdue the American hubris. But they are not his only trouble. To the South, the resurging Mongols are also hastily assembling what looks like it could easily be a star ship. The race for space is on.
In 1989 the Romans hit the American port of Dover and hit it hard. A combination of land and sea artillery bombards the defences of the city into dust, and as the mechanized Roman legions roll in, Dover changes hands yet again, for the third and final time in its almost 6000-year history. Founded by the English at the dawn of time, painfully taken away by the Mongols, later on rebelled to become American, and now – being literally depopulated by the ruthless Roman military. After all, why would Caesar even deign to waste his time and resources Romanizing these inherently barbaric lands, when his goal is to turn the skies themselves into a mirror for the one and only Rome? He now only wants to clean the specks. To not let the dreaded kindred Americans and Mongols contaminate space with their foul, technologically enhanced seed.
In 1991 Kashgar too is crushed under the steel-heeled Roman sandal and the road to the American capital (with an also very American-sounding name, Tabriz) is open. Lincoln sues for peace in a desperate bid to save Tabriz and his testament to the universe, the American space ark, which is already inbound for the distant star system of Alpha Centauri, four light years away and then some. Insolently, Lincoln even demands reparations from the Romans. And surprisingly, he receives them. Caesar needs time to plan the final assault. And he know he has it. But only just enough.
Over three years have passed and Lincoln’s Ark was nearing AC. On Earth, time was running even faster! The ship was never going to reach light-speed, but it was doing the best it can to approach it. Communication delay with Earth was already immense, taking over six years for a message to be delivered and an answer to be received. But all systems were functional upon last transmission. Newspapers in Tabriz were apparently making jokes that the next elections (which will, as always, result in good ol’ honest Abe winning) will take nine years to organize, because of the radio-delay for the vote-count. More serious analysers have other things in mind.
Soon the first inflatable makeshift edifices of New Washington would glint under the shine of a completely alien sun. Two suns in fact! And a smaller one that didn’t really shine all that much. Adventurers that came from over a parsec away would take for themselves a piece of a foreign planet, just like they once took a piece of their own, centuries ago. Then, wielding muskets and rifles, now, armed with the technological, philosophical and social achievements of 6000 years of civilization. Would there be some sort of Alphacentaurian Mongols expecting them there? To try to stifle and subdue them? And, more importantly, what would happen to the very earthly but no more Earth-bound Mongols that are now on their heels?
Ghengis Khan also had by now set upon his longest ride, one that would last lightyears. But the technology and resources the Mongols possessed ensured that the American steed would reach its distant destination first. Would the Americans deal a final blow to their former oppressors by jingoistically blasting them back into space? Or maybe they would assimilate them into their new-born society and let them pursue the ‘American dream’ of doing somebody else’s work for half the pay? After all, they would have several years in advance on a completely virgin planet. And who could possibly know how to exploit these circumstances better than the Americans?
Unfortunately for the Greatest American Epic that was to be Lincoln’s Arc, all of this was happening in space.
Back on Earth the Roman ring around Tabriz is tightening. Caesar’s expeditionary force has regrouped, moved on and laid siege to the capital. The Roman-American war explodes once more. It is a conflict that would decide the fate of the galaxy.
In an attempt to sever Roman communications, American forces take back an effaced and unrecognizable Kashgar, its infrastructure ruined, its people starving and all of its riches syphoned off to Rome, that lone city, which throughout history has done nothing but smelter gold and cast it into power. And now it’s casting that power into space. But Caesar’s expeditionary force is entirely supplied by sea, by Rome, as it always has been.
The war reaches an end with the inglorious fall of Tabriz next year. Humiliated, Lincoln is forced to turn the rudder of his predestined fate around. To burn the proverbial log cabin. To recall the Great Ark he built.
The order on the ship came only a few days after even the smallest and dimmest of the three AC stars, Proxima Centauri, had become visible to the naked eye. As soon as the monitors began flashing and the ship’s computer system impassively announced with a bleep that an order was received and that it undertook some action, one of the Ark’s engines roared into life. Proxima and the two bright suns, AC-a and AC-b began quickly sliding to the side of the portholes and out of the horizon… As much as there can be a ‘horizon’ in space. For the first time, many babies and children born on the ship saw the other side of space, the one that had a view towards the Sun and the Earth, the home-planet of their parents and their species.
The instructions were not long. In fact they were just a code. The code-book read “Abort all. Execute order 432”. ‘432’, one of the hundreds and possibly thousands of contingency plans the Americans had made for their crowning non-earthly achievement, stated ‘Immediate return to Earth-orbit. Circumstances dangerous to survival of Americans on Earth and in Space. Extreme diligence required.’
Or, in other words, sh*t has hit the fan.
Or, as Lincoln sees it now, pure racketeering. Having swiftly taken over all American communications channels when he finally conquered Tabriz yesterday, Caesar’s scientists, with the help of American dissidents, are at this very time abusing an override function in the Ark’s ground control system, rewiring it to extort. Even though time is a matter of perception and sometimes even of dispute.
‘Extreme diligence required’ is also code, signifying that any attempts to manually redirect the Earth-controlled ship would result in its self-destruction. All is calculated, all is executed with pinpoint Roman precision, so that even millions of miles away and years ahead in time their influence can be felt with a jolt.
This was the moment Lincoln woke up to the fact that he had already became a part of history and space, but not in the way he wanted to. He lost his impact. Abraham had nothing to do but comply with the Roman demands in order to save his lineage, the tens of thousands of American souls in space. It might have seemed cynical after he literally lost millions while fighting the Romans on Earth, but here, on the Ark, where his mind was, were the best and brightest of the American minds. The vanguard of human civilization. The filthy Mongols and the insidious Romans were only following in the space-distorting propulsion trails of his Ark. The Americans were the First. The Greatest. The Yuri Gagarin of their Universe! How that came into his mind when the Earth hadn’t even seen a Russian civilization, he could not fathom. But the dream was over and it was time to wake up.
11.IX.2001. While the Roman’s own space vessel is undergoing final preparations for launch, a reality-shattering explosion detonates over the sprawling Mongol capital Karakorum. After the first and only, and completely unexpected use of nuclear weapons in war in history, unopposed Roman forces occupy the still burning city and force Ghengis Khan out of his bunker and onto the negotiations table. And this time Caesar doesn’t even offer alternatives…
Three years after the Earth’s atmosphere had produced its brightest and deadliest spark, the light finally reached the SS Mongol Falcon, carrying ten thousand hand-picked men destined to forge a new, star-bound Mongol empire. The passengers didn’t even realize something was happening. The systems of the ship were subtly reprogrammed without the knowledge of the crew, by a radio signal that came not only from Earth, but from Earth’s past, years ago, when there was war. They were almost half-way through their 16-year journey to Alpha Centauri when the trajectory of the ship shifted unnoticeably. They would not know it until the very last few weeks of their journey, but the Falcon was not going to land in its nest, the intended planet. It was now going straight for one of the stars.
2020. After his final bath at the palace, the last in an ancient line of Caesars is about to publicly retire from his throne after receiving the news that his legacy is complete. In early 2016 (Earth-years) the Roman SS Legion has reached and successfully disembarked on an inhabitable planet in the AC star system. Out of concerns about the constantly looming threat of the sleeping Egyptian giant the 4-year-old radio message is heavily encrypted and it takes several seconds for the powerful computers in Rome’s aerospace centre to read out the four simple letters it contains:
SPQR
After six millennia, Rome finally has founded its first colony.
2016. AC.
Structural integrity: 100%. Radiation levels: benign. Communications operational. Water and oxygen filters operational. Hydroponics operational. Artificial pressure operational. Pressure: 632,27 hPa. Oxygen: 18%. Stand by for statistical health-status update of individuals 1 - 11 204…
Yes. People had died and people had been born on the ship. The colony had been growing even as it was travelling. Over a thousand children born in space! And now experiencing real, not centrifugal gravity for the first time. Stepping on hard ground.
As the brazen Roman colonists first set foot on Alpha Centauri and excitedly began building their new home after 14 years of star travel, they weren’t even aware of what calamities had happened on Earth in order for them to become the first humans on another planet. In fact, their expectations were that they would be met by the Americans and Mongols and that they would join the ranks of a new and united human race in space and forget about the troubles of Earth and the past. In reality, the man who sent them across the galaxy had also made sure that they would never be threatened with destruction there, as their forebears had always been threatened on Earth. Caesar made sure Rome would rule space ad eternum.
The crimson sunset was sending strange sparkles along the lines of Ramesses’ grey-shaded eyes. Pharaoh in the palace at Giza. There must’ve been a hieroglyph for that at the time of his great-great-great-ad-nauseum-great-grandfather. Whoever it was who moved the palace from Thebes to Giza all those centuries ago. Such a Roman term, ‘ad nauseum’. Really, what does it matter? In a matter of months Ramesses could easily erect a palace on the Moon if he wanted to! And he could call it ‘Villa Lunaria’ and, like Cleopatra, he could invite Caesar for a sip of wine, maybe stage some weird space-gladiator games for him.
He chuckled. While the underfed Romans out there on AC were probably about to devour what little supplies they had, and then devour each other, he could probably ship enough bricks to the Moon to build one of those absolutely pointless pyramids. Of course, it was not the Moon or Luna, it was Khonsu, traveller, giver of life, who keeps watch over time by signifying it with his passing over the night sky. Just like Ra does during the day, which is now fading away.
He knew well that there is no real merit in the conquest of space and time and their countless iterations and outreaching realities. Merit lies not in the conquest, but in the preparation. And Ramesses knew one should only undertake a journey when one is prepared for it.
His kind, not the Egyptians, but those who transcended the boundaries of purely physical want, since the dawn of ages knew that each and every one of them would become part of a star and as light as a feather upon his spiritual, not his physical departure from this world. Upon joining with Osiris and then being spewed back out in a cosmic flurry of karma. A balancing burst of Maat. Justice and order. Balance in the universe. What would be his place then, he wondered.
That was up to the gods. As for his tangible, yet, he felt it, completely illusory existence, he intended to take for himself the Earth, while he was still on it. And then who knows? Maybe he could make the Romans build him a pyramid or two on Alpha Centauri before he finally arrives…
EDIT: of course, I forgot the savegame attachments. You can just end the turn and enjoy the replay to get a better picture of the whole story. It's just too bad that the game's replay function doesn't properly display empire splits and leaves cities in their original civ's colour. Macao, f.ex. remaines blue until the end of the game, even though it became Greek after the fall of Peking. This leads to the interesting situation of Macao still being shown in light blue when later Samarkand falls and the Americans appear. If you look carefully through the replay you can see exactly which cities split and which remain loyal after both the fall of Peking and Samarkand.
- I didn't use the settler trick at all, I just fast-cleaned a few squares of nuclear pollution near the end, when those NONE settlers popped out of the former Mongol capital. (BTW, that was also the only time in the game I resorted to using a nuke).
- I didn't found or conquer cities for expansion. Whenever I HAD to conquer, i.e. someone built on my land or I needed to get to their capital to stop their space ship, I would put all citizens out of work, sell all improvements and starve the city down ASAP, maybe only rush buying diplomats along the way for some more impact (no military or SS parts).
- I didn't abuse the save/load trick and random luck (very much). What wonders I got, I got. Sometimes I did use save/load or save/swap for caravans though, I consider that fair, since the AI gets them shipped immediately upon creation. So if one of my trade missions landed in the middle of a battle I'd do the save/swap thingy and use the exploit to get the trade route.
- I did use the change-building technique near the end for the construction of my space ship, but not to the fullest, and I'm pretty sure I would've made it on raw cash alone.
My general plan is to grow a bit under despotism, while I stake out my turf and build the initial wonders and caravans, and then I want to max out my city under a republic/democracy government and stockpile enough cash to be able to build the space ship and anything I might need to win the game. Then, later, I might (and did) switch to Monarchy (can run as a Republic at only 20% luxury rates) for painless warfare around the globe. This is pretty much what I usually do, only with a few more cities. In this game, at max size 20, without the Colossus, but with about 30 arrows coming in from trade routes, Rome generated over 80 trade and 40+ shields with mfg. & power plant). Curiously, I won exactly in the game-year 2016, talk about good timing for this Christmas present.
I’ll start off with this: I intended this to be much, much shorter and more summary-like, but I was so entertained and enticed by writing the story that the account of my first OCC win turned into a sort of fan fiction alt-history mini-novel. It actually took me more time to write and research the story than it took me to finish the game. Just another example of how immersing Civ can be. So I hope you enjoy the reading as much as I enjoyed the writing.
THE RISE OF ROME
3900 B.C. After a hundred long years of wandering through the metaphorical desert with his bands of settlers, Caesar founds what is to be the eternal Rome on the fertile edge of a small Southern continent, also inhabited by the tribe of the French. This is good. He trades with them to great benefit, but he must also clearly stake out his territory by demolishing a couple of their infringing new cities. The emperor sets out to develop intensive commerce, science and diplomacy in tune with the rest of the known world as early as possible. His efforts bring to Rome great wonders such as the Colossus and great minds such as those of Copernicus, Newton and Bach. The fledgling French empire can't grow quick enough or exert enough power to be a threat to the rise of Rome.
In the meantime, masters of the world are the Chinese and the Egyptians who share the largest continent on the planet and are perpetually a few steps ahead of Rome in all matters concerning global influence. But China and Egypt are also constantly vying for domination.
At the same time the Mongols share a large landmass with the English, whom they will eventually reduce to history. The Zulus are isolated on a tiny island to the Northwest of Mongolia that can only hold three cities. The Zulu civilization seems to be developing more along the lines of the ancient Babylonians, ruled by a peaceful representative government, stuck in the past (and great for trade). Imagine that, Zimbabwe, the new Babylon!
Both the French and Zulus try to colonize parts of the snake-like-winding continent the Mongols inhabit, but are summarily thrown back into the sea. The Mongols even counterattack and for a time occupy one of the French cities on the mainland, which the Romans keep in check (like the rest of France) with their well-placed and well-garrisoned hilltop forts and the massive standing armies behind Rome’s walls. The French have it hard, they can't compete even with the single city of Rome, barbarians and Chinese are constantly raiding (and conquering!) Avignon in the extreme South of their lands, and now the Mongols are pressing them from the Northwest. But the Zulus have it even harder. The Mongols are not only counterattacking them too, they will eventually drive them out of their small home island! But not before The Great War goes down...
It’s 1800 and the Chinese are setting up colonies all over the world… Including, peculiarly, Macao, which they build on a small island just north of Rome around 1600, just about the time the Portuguese did it in our world, and in a similarly trade-oriented manner. This is not only mentioned as a curious historical analogy, the gods shall bestow a very peculiar fate on this island later on.
Even though the Chinese are riding the high seas and taking over Mongol and Zulu colonies, while setting up their own, the Egyptians already have a clear edge in both technology and power – they’ve recovered from the Zulu and Mongol raids that had devastated Northeast Egypt for centuries and now have a tight grip on their continent and are launching a nuclear program – technology at this time only possessed by them, and soon – by the small but powerful city-state of Rome. But not even Rome is ready for the Chinese-Egyptian War.
Between 1820 and 1840, an only 20-year span, the Egyptians conquer five out of seven Chinese cities on their shared continent and even strip them of Avignon, which they have held in the south of France for what seems like eons. An eternity gone in just one generation.
The Chinese now only possess the enclaves of Peking and Tsingtao on their original mainland and three island colonies, the aforementioned Macao, Shantung near the North Pole, and Chinan on an island just across the straits from the besieged capital Peking… After a brief cease-fire, Peking falls to the Egyptians in 1842. Curiously, even though they presently have nothing even resembling an empire, the Chinese empire splits. They are left with only one (1!) city, Tsingtao, on the mainland, which now houses the palace. The three overseas colonies of Shantung, Chinan and Macao are now… Greek. Even though they were originally founded by Chinese settlers. Apparently, being Chinese is falling out of fashion.
Macao is Alexander’s capital and a sprawling megapolis. Sahntung and Chinan are small and defenceless colonies, and summarily taken over by the Zulus and Egyptians respectively, leaving Macao as a lone city state, very much like Rome, which lies perhaps as little as only a few hundred miles to the South.
They cannot drive them out of Ulundi, but the Zulus have stiffened their resistance against the Mongols, launching invading fleets against them, and against the French and the Greeks. They even take part in the rape of Peking on a brilliant stroke of luck! Shaka manages to capture the devastated former Chinese capital and hold it for over 30 years amidst a sea of Egyptians! The Chinese people’s plight finally ends in 1886, when the Egyptians decide that China will be no more and, after dealing with the Mongol opportunists in Peking, annex Tsingtao, the last remaining bastion of Chinese identity.
1916. The dawn of another Great War. The Egyptians suddenly blitz the Mongol capital of Samarkand. Government collapses, all Mongol holdings north of the Coventry-Ulundi line turn separatist and declare themselves ‘American’. London has been held by the Zulus for centuries, just like Ulundi has been Mongol for over 300 years, but with Lincoln on the stage this status quo will not last long…
Ghengis quickly takes the reins of the situation, relocates his yurt-palace to the safety of Karakorum and proceeds to wage a devastating 35-year war, in which he manages to both drive out the Egyptians out of Bokhara and Samarkand AND use Ulundi as a beachhead to capture Bapedi, leaving Zimbabwe standing as the only Zulu-controlled city in Zululand. In the meantime the Americans are rising fast and take away London from the Zulus, securing their southern flank and reaching an agreement of peaceful coexistence with their former Mongol masters.
The Americans, however, are not at all that peaceful. They’ve tasted freedom and now they intend to also taste power. In 1961 they invade Romano-French lands by capturing Bordeaux and using it as a base for further operations in the region, just as the Egyptians had done with Avignon.
French and Roman efforts manage to contain the American threat, just as they had managed to contain the Egyptian threat decades ago – French diplomacy and ground troops blockade the invaders while the powerful Roman fleet and air force devastate any incoming reinforcements.
1966. Another dark year in history. The fall of Zimbabwe. Very much contrary to popular opinion about Shaka and his administrative abilities, his capital had for centuries been a splendidly rich and beautiful city. It would remain like this under Mongol rule, but Shaka would never again be able to enjoy the splendour of his ancestors’ palace, as Zimbabwe finally succumbed to the golden horde. The Zulu nation is now on the run and scattered across the vast oceans on two tiny islands. By the end of the century, it too would be reduced to a single city. Unlike Rome or the Greek city-state of Macao, it would not fare all that well.
1981. The Egyptians strike again. Ramesses conquers… the Moon. Even though virtually everybody is running their own secret space R&D, the world is in awe at the news of the success of the Egyptian Apollo Program. It looks as if the civilization that for six millennia has been following the eternal cycle of the sun is now about to journey towards other stars. The first step has been made. But the next surprise follows even quicker than the second.
Apparently satisfied with reaching the Moon, or perhaps troubled by the screaming rise of the Americans as a rival global power, the Egyptians decide to neglect their space program and the young American nation embarks on the rapid construction of a space Ark, which would carry thousands of colonists across the galaxy to light the flame of the American spirit on other worlds…
But Rome has other plans. The eternal city has been increasing its influence and might for millennia, lying in wait for the moment it would finally have to prove its worth, alone against the entire world. Now, it’s time to show what Rome stands for.
Upon receiving news of the breakneck pace at which the Americans are advancing, Caesar not only speeds up the construction of his own space ship, he also dispatches a powerful expeditionary force across the seas to subdue the American hubris. But they are not his only trouble. To the South, the resurging Mongols are also hastily assembling what looks like it could easily be a star ship. The race for space is on.
In 1989 the Romans hit the American port of Dover and hit it hard. A combination of land and sea artillery bombards the defences of the city into dust, and as the mechanized Roman legions roll in, Dover changes hands yet again, for the third and final time in its almost 6000-year history. Founded by the English at the dawn of time, painfully taken away by the Mongols, later on rebelled to become American, and now – being literally depopulated by the ruthless Roman military. After all, why would Caesar even deign to waste his time and resources Romanizing these inherently barbaric lands, when his goal is to turn the skies themselves into a mirror for the one and only Rome? He now only wants to clean the specks. To not let the dreaded kindred Americans and Mongols contaminate space with their foul, technologically enhanced seed.
In 1991 Kashgar too is crushed under the steel-heeled Roman sandal and the road to the American capital (with an also very American-sounding name, Tabriz) is open. Lincoln sues for peace in a desperate bid to save Tabriz and his testament to the universe, the American space ark, which is already inbound for the distant star system of Alpha Centauri, four light years away and then some. Insolently, Lincoln even demands reparations from the Romans. And surprisingly, he receives them. Caesar needs time to plan the final assault. And he know he has it. But only just enough.
Over three years have passed and Lincoln’s Ark was nearing AC. On Earth, time was running even faster! The ship was never going to reach light-speed, but it was doing the best it can to approach it. Communication delay with Earth was already immense, taking over six years for a message to be delivered and an answer to be received. But all systems were functional upon last transmission. Newspapers in Tabriz were apparently making jokes that the next elections (which will, as always, result in good ol’ honest Abe winning) will take nine years to organize, because of the radio-delay for the vote-count. More serious analysers have other things in mind.
Soon the first inflatable makeshift edifices of New Washington would glint under the shine of a completely alien sun. Two suns in fact! And a smaller one that didn’t really shine all that much. Adventurers that came from over a parsec away would take for themselves a piece of a foreign planet, just like they once took a piece of their own, centuries ago. Then, wielding muskets and rifles, now, armed with the technological, philosophical and social achievements of 6000 years of civilization. Would there be some sort of Alphacentaurian Mongols expecting them there? To try to stifle and subdue them? And, more importantly, what would happen to the very earthly but no more Earth-bound Mongols that are now on their heels?
Ghengis Khan also had by now set upon his longest ride, one that would last lightyears. But the technology and resources the Mongols possessed ensured that the American steed would reach its distant destination first. Would the Americans deal a final blow to their former oppressors by jingoistically blasting them back into space? Or maybe they would assimilate them into their new-born society and let them pursue the ‘American dream’ of doing somebody else’s work for half the pay? After all, they would have several years in advance on a completely virgin planet. And who could possibly know how to exploit these circumstances better than the Americans?
Unfortunately for the Greatest American Epic that was to be Lincoln’s Arc, all of this was happening in space.
Back on Earth the Roman ring around Tabriz is tightening. Caesar’s expeditionary force has regrouped, moved on and laid siege to the capital. The Roman-American war explodes once more. It is a conflict that would decide the fate of the galaxy.
In an attempt to sever Roman communications, American forces take back an effaced and unrecognizable Kashgar, its infrastructure ruined, its people starving and all of its riches syphoned off to Rome, that lone city, which throughout history has done nothing but smelter gold and cast it into power. And now it’s casting that power into space. But Caesar’s expeditionary force is entirely supplied by sea, by Rome, as it always has been.
The war reaches an end with the inglorious fall of Tabriz next year. Humiliated, Lincoln is forced to turn the rudder of his predestined fate around. To burn the proverbial log cabin. To recall the Great Ark he built.
The order on the ship came only a few days after even the smallest and dimmest of the three AC stars, Proxima Centauri, had become visible to the naked eye. As soon as the monitors began flashing and the ship’s computer system impassively announced with a bleep that an order was received and that it undertook some action, one of the Ark’s engines roared into life. Proxima and the two bright suns, AC-a and AC-b began quickly sliding to the side of the portholes and out of the horizon… As much as there can be a ‘horizon’ in space. For the first time, many babies and children born on the ship saw the other side of space, the one that had a view towards the Sun and the Earth, the home-planet of their parents and their species.
The instructions were not long. In fact they were just a code. The code-book read “Abort all. Execute order 432”. ‘432’, one of the hundreds and possibly thousands of contingency plans the Americans had made for their crowning non-earthly achievement, stated ‘Immediate return to Earth-orbit. Circumstances dangerous to survival of Americans on Earth and in Space. Extreme diligence required.’
Or, in other words, sh*t has hit the fan.
Or, as Lincoln sees it now, pure racketeering. Having swiftly taken over all American communications channels when he finally conquered Tabriz yesterday, Caesar’s scientists, with the help of American dissidents, are at this very time abusing an override function in the Ark’s ground control system, rewiring it to extort. Even though time is a matter of perception and sometimes even of dispute.
‘Extreme diligence required’ is also code, signifying that any attempts to manually redirect the Earth-controlled ship would result in its self-destruction. All is calculated, all is executed with pinpoint Roman precision, so that even millions of miles away and years ahead in time their influence can be felt with a jolt.
This was the moment Lincoln woke up to the fact that he had already became a part of history and space, but not in the way he wanted to. He lost his impact. Abraham had nothing to do but comply with the Roman demands in order to save his lineage, the tens of thousands of American souls in space. It might have seemed cynical after he literally lost millions while fighting the Romans on Earth, but here, on the Ark, where his mind was, were the best and brightest of the American minds. The vanguard of human civilization. The filthy Mongols and the insidious Romans were only following in the space-distorting propulsion trails of his Ark. The Americans were the First. The Greatest. The Yuri Gagarin of their Universe! How that came into his mind when the Earth hadn’t even seen a Russian civilization, he could not fathom. But the dream was over and it was time to wake up.
11.IX.2001. While the Roman’s own space vessel is undergoing final preparations for launch, a reality-shattering explosion detonates over the sprawling Mongol capital Karakorum. After the first and only, and completely unexpected use of nuclear weapons in war in history, unopposed Roman forces occupy the still burning city and force Ghengis Khan out of his bunker and onto the negotiations table. And this time Caesar doesn’t even offer alternatives…
Three years after the Earth’s atmosphere had produced its brightest and deadliest spark, the light finally reached the SS Mongol Falcon, carrying ten thousand hand-picked men destined to forge a new, star-bound Mongol empire. The passengers didn’t even realize something was happening. The systems of the ship were subtly reprogrammed without the knowledge of the crew, by a radio signal that came not only from Earth, but from Earth’s past, years ago, when there was war. They were almost half-way through their 16-year journey to Alpha Centauri when the trajectory of the ship shifted unnoticeably. They would not know it until the very last few weeks of their journey, but the Falcon was not going to land in its nest, the intended planet. It was now going straight for one of the stars.
2020. After his final bath at the palace, the last in an ancient line of Caesars is about to publicly retire from his throne after receiving the news that his legacy is complete. In early 2016 (Earth-years) the Roman SS Legion has reached and successfully disembarked on an inhabitable planet in the AC star system. Out of concerns about the constantly looming threat of the sleeping Egyptian giant the 4-year-old radio message is heavily encrypted and it takes several seconds for the powerful computers in Rome’s aerospace centre to read out the four simple letters it contains:
SPQR
After six millennia, Rome finally has founded its first colony.
2016. AC.
Structural integrity: 100%. Radiation levels: benign. Communications operational. Water and oxygen filters operational. Hydroponics operational. Artificial pressure operational. Pressure: 632,27 hPa. Oxygen: 18%. Stand by for statistical health-status update of individuals 1 - 11 204…
Yes. People had died and people had been born on the ship. The colony had been growing even as it was travelling. Over a thousand children born in space! And now experiencing real, not centrifugal gravity for the first time. Stepping on hard ground.
As the brazen Roman colonists first set foot on Alpha Centauri and excitedly began building their new home after 14 years of star travel, they weren’t even aware of what calamities had happened on Earth in order for them to become the first humans on another planet. In fact, their expectations were that they would be met by the Americans and Mongols and that they would join the ranks of a new and united human race in space and forget about the troubles of Earth and the past. In reality, the man who sent them across the galaxy had also made sure that they would never be threatened with destruction there, as their forebears had always been threatened on Earth. Caesar made sure Rome would rule space ad eternum.
The crimson sunset was sending strange sparkles along the lines of Ramesses’ grey-shaded eyes. Pharaoh in the palace at Giza. There must’ve been a hieroglyph for that at the time of his great-great-great-ad-nauseum-great-grandfather. Whoever it was who moved the palace from Thebes to Giza all those centuries ago. Such a Roman term, ‘ad nauseum’. Really, what does it matter? In a matter of months Ramesses could easily erect a palace on the Moon if he wanted to! And he could call it ‘Villa Lunaria’ and, like Cleopatra, he could invite Caesar for a sip of wine, maybe stage some weird space-gladiator games for him.
He chuckled. While the underfed Romans out there on AC were probably about to devour what little supplies they had, and then devour each other, he could probably ship enough bricks to the Moon to build one of those absolutely pointless pyramids. Of course, it was not the Moon or Luna, it was Khonsu, traveller, giver of life, who keeps watch over time by signifying it with his passing over the night sky. Just like Ra does during the day, which is now fading away.
He knew well that there is no real merit in the conquest of space and time and their countless iterations and outreaching realities. Merit lies not in the conquest, but in the preparation. And Ramesses knew one should only undertake a journey when one is prepared for it.
His kind, not the Egyptians, but those who transcended the boundaries of purely physical want, since the dawn of ages knew that each and every one of them would become part of a star and as light as a feather upon his spiritual, not his physical departure from this world. Upon joining with Osiris and then being spewed back out in a cosmic flurry of karma. A balancing burst of Maat. Justice and order. Balance in the universe. What would be his place then, he wondered.
That was up to the gods. As for his tangible, yet, he felt it, completely illusory existence, he intended to take for himself the Earth, while he was still on it. And then who knows? Maybe he could make the Romans build him a pyramid or two on Alpha Centauri before he finally arrives…
EDIT: of course, I forgot the savegame attachments. You can just end the turn and enjoy the replay to get a better picture of the whole story. It's just too bad that the game's replay function doesn't properly display empire splits and leaves cities in their original civ's colour. Macao, f.ex. remaines blue until the end of the game, even though it became Greek after the fall of Peking. This leads to the interesting situation of Macao still being shown in light blue when later Samarkand falls and the Americans appear. If you look carefully through the replay you can see exactly which cities split and which remain loyal after both the fall of Peking and Samarkand.
