Hegemon

[Takhisis]

Tonight's report! Lots stuff going on. I do believe that we should copy and then paste from our Notepad.

Spoiler :

Now at 416 B.C., we see that the Lydoi-held colony of Hypaipa 2 on Lesbos has been conquered by troia. Still, it won't last.

It's a pity that the Temple of Hera has been built in Sparte. The Hecatombs would help us against Lydia.

The Spartans will Plato's Academy in 9 Turns, our Ambassador reports. The Operational costs were the astronomical sum of 94 Talents.
Our own will also be completed in 9 turns, but our population would starve before it's completed, giving the Spartiatai the advantage anyway. So we'll just switch produciton to a Stadium.
Next turn we'll begin a process of political change!

The Kykladitai ask me to join them against the Chalkidikeis! I must do this. ROP expires in 2 turns.
I'll take the entire contents of their treasury (150 Talents) for my troubles.

Argos/Hermione joins the Chalkidikeis in a war against Phokis.

The Thevaioi join in a Trade embargo against us.

We poach Iron Working through our Historians.

"The defeat of the Athenians at the hands of Aetolian javelin men". While I like the flavour of such comments, I cannot help but be painfully aggravated by the taunts you direct at my nation. We declare we will wage war against the Rambuchanidikeis unless reparations are made.

415: The Lydoi pay us 200 Talents for us to conclude a peace agreement.

A couple bugs: the Phrygai's pink letters fade in the foreign advisor screen and Philippos of makedonia gets a black square around his circle.

Missing link: when on anarchy, I can't hurry, This contains a link to an invalid entry.

I have Spartiates, Ambraciotes, Messenians and an ROP passage in exchange for Thebans and Boeotians as a permanent deal. Serpent column, here comes Athinai.

Since the Spartans don't want to sign an alliance with them against the Chalkidikeis, then we sign an embargo against them.

We decide to change governments and our treasury indeed rises by 57 Talents per turn.

414BC: I'm investigating Thassos. Apparently the Pangaion mines and Nine Ways Garrison can be built both at Thassos and in a few places along the coast, namely the current city of Mende. Two more sources of Tirbute, eh?

We find Iron Mines in Ikaria, this will weaken those Lydoi.

22189 to 22279. It's feasible, but the massacring of the Troes is compensating for them. It's only a matter of time until Phrygia falls under their dominion.

Kerkyra joins Sparte against the Chalkidikeis.

The treacherous Kikladytai remain Polite but are refusing to extend our Peace Treaty. They shall be punished once Thassos has been dealt with.

The Thevaioi break the trade embargo by trading Territory maps with us.

413 BC: Both cities on Lemnos succumb to disorder.

412 BC: Now that the Aegean Sea has been pacified, we send a Mycenean Galley with two Gymnitoi to Chíos, to be able to transport the Libation Wines. The same will have to be done with the island of Furnoi so as to transport Temple Offerings.

Messenia tries to drag us back into the war against the Lydoi. Thanks but no thanks, there's riper pickings in the Kyklades and Thassos.

Makedonia joins in the war against the Chalkidikeis, sealing their fate.

Argos throw in their lot with Chalkidiké by joining an embargo against us. In some time the Makedonai will be called pon to destroy those little vermin.

Chersonesos and Makedonia join against the Lydoi. Will make for itneresting cross-strait fighting.

Ah, and the Aetolioi finally start building the Aetolian League.

411 BC: the Spartiatai sign a peace treaty with Lydia. And one of our transports ran headfirst into a Bireme returning to Chalkidiké and as nearly sunk with two Athenian Hoplites aboard. Phew!

410 BC: our transport reachs Hágios Evstrátios in safety to reinforce the garrison there.

Krete is pushed by the Makedonai into attacking the Lydoi. And THEN Krete makes the Phrygai attack Lydia. Oh well, another orgy of Tribute for the Lydoi. We should regroup, take Thassos and the Kyklades and then attack the Asiatic barbaroi again.
They attempt to drag us back in, thanks but no thanks.

409 BC: We have so many scientists that work on Seafaring is being done.

Reports from Krete indicate that the Kretai have expelled the Spartiates from their island, only Antikythéra remains under Sparte's Hegemony.

Akrothoi has been conquered by the Makedonai from the Chalkidikeis.

Troia and Lydia sign a peace treaty. The Troads still have a scattered empire through the Nótioi Spórades as well as Lesbos and Imro.

As foreseen, the Spartans build Plato's Academy.

408 BC: now I get it, the Ithakeis' city is censored 'cos it's called Pronni.

The moronic Kykladitai betray their alliance with me by signing a peace treaty with Chalkidiké.

But then the Makedonai push the Thracians into the same war! AND they then convince them to attack the Lydoi. Thessalia also joins in the Great Northern War.

We begin 407 BC under a new, youthful government, a Democracy.

 

[Takhisis]

We switched to Democracy last night, now we are on to the next level of warfare.

Spoiler :

The beginnings of Democracy, 407 BC.

The Illyrians under Teuta have conquered Elatea on the Aegean coast. The city is useless as it merely ensures that no one can get to the nearest sanctuary so a war with the Illryans isn't a priority.

I am running into a problem: Thassos has had a Radar Tower/Trophy built on it. I can't land on that tile. WTH?

The immense profits we made during the times of Anarchy allow us to push scientific research into discovering Seafaring in 4 turns, at the expense of 133 Talents withdraw from our Treasury annually.
Thankfully, our Tribute will compensate.

The Spartans have dragged the Kerkyraioi into a war with the Kretai. Stupid.
Then they make us negotiate a treaty that used to be set in stone. Now we have Right of Passage, receive Spartiates and give Thebans and Boeotians.

Phokis want us to take our fleet off their waters and we end up exhchanging World maps and signing a Trade Embargo against the Chalkidikeis.

Also, the Illryans move so many units they make me press Shift. A few cores of Gymnitos will attempt to fight their way through the mountains to Kyrrha next turn.

406BC
We switch production in Thevai from Oracle to Constitution of Cleisthenes. ETA: 6 turns.
"We the People"? I don't really like that pic.

The Lydoi have begun using Merchant Galleys and escort them with biremes, effectively wasting a lot of ships.
But then, they're Lydoi.

Our Champions attack New Stagira on Thassos and find there's a Miktos Toxotes, a Psilos and another Miktos Toxotes defending the place. How silly can these people be?
Only the Psilos survives.

On the mainland, they've lost three cities to the Makedonai and four to Sparte. olynthia will fall soon.

Phrygia actually declares war on the Kretai!
And pushes Karia into the same war again.
The Karieis begin building Cosmopolis.
Illyria's hordes of javelinmen eventually overwhelm the Phokaeis as Kirrha falls to their vicious attacks. Only Echidamia and Abai stand.

We scout into Lydia's waters around Samos where an Akonistes and Gymnitos have been landed.

Suggestion: for the Fire Catapult, use the Fire Catapult graphics included in Firaxis' Rise of Rome.

The morons in Olynthia sail one of their Biremes past one of my Galleys (1.1 Galleys) carrying two Champions. Seeing is believing.

We pilfer Mechanisms from whoever. Lydia and one other.
405 BC
We conquer Thassos.
The Ithakeis defeat some of the defenders on Samos and destroy the roads leading to the islanders!

404 BC
We squeeze through the Chalkidikeis and land two champions, two heroes and a couple bowmen next to Mt Athos.



The Kykladitai sensibly sign a peace agreement with the Lydoi.

Epeiros signs an embargo against us with the Chalkidikeis.
Then the Chalkidikeis sign a peace treaty with Troia.

Sarte and Krete sign a peace treaty.

403 BC

Seafaring discovered! Imperial Trireme= 5.4.5, soon to be 5.4.6 after Cleisthenes finishes his Constitution

The Bardia has no sounds.

The war trophies help the warmongering tribes in their quest for Tribute!
The Phrygai are starting to lose the war.

Lydia 25613
Athinai 24334
Sparte 23065

We pay 788 Talents to hire extra Workers to finish the Episkopoi Lodge.

Sparte declares war on the Ithakes. How the crap are we supposed to get the Ambracian Shipyard now?

402 BC
'Some improvements in this city are annoying'. Boo-hoo, now I have to build you a Temple. And a Trade House.
Actually, Cleisthenes will see to it that this is solved quickly.

We take 450 Talents from Chalkidiké in exchange for peace.

26237
24434
23145

Damn! This war is terrible.

Chersonesos and Lydia sign a Peace Treaty.

Chalkidiké bribes the Thevaioi into declaring war against Thrake.


We pilfer Architecture from Chalkidiké and Lydia.

And so we get Unity. Serpent Column, here we come!
Shall take 12 turns according to City screen.

We check the new era: why does Phillip's War Academy come after Alexander's Conquests?

The Dodekanesioi have built the Dorian Hexapolis! makes the place worthy of Conquest now.

Firaxis faces. OH, MY EYES!

Firaxis modern music. Oh, my ears! *moans*

We build Thorai on the Gulf of Korinth.

Really, Imperial triremes are a blast. A few thoughts:
-the traitorous Kykladitai are next.
-Anarchy can make you rich
-no military police, but then, no forced labour. This rocks!
-Warmongers get a LOT of tribute. Does it operate as first-past-the-post, or is it like Culture?
-we pwn the seas! I used to have to escort Mycenean Galleys with other Mycenean Galleys, now I can send a lone Imperial Trireme as a transport witha Settler, and three defenders and we just rbeeze through the would-be blockaders.

 

[Sasebo]

You must have missed the Temple of Poseidon, 5.4.7 Imp. Triremes rock even harder.

I stopped my Athens game to go back and see if quitting my Sparta game was premature or not. Also, I had about a 5k tribute lead on Lydia, with a lot more coming since I got the Paonian Mines and Episkopoi Lodges built. I couldn't help but keep warmongering, the opposition was just so feeble! If I had know you lose stealth attack when you put Champions in armies, I would have stuck a hoplite in there for the third unit instead.

Sparta was indeed over, I worked my way up to Makedon's border while wiping out everyone else to the south. Early Xiphomosis armies are a killer. So who to try next...?

 

[Rambuchan]

I should have some time tomorrow to respond to all those posts you guys have so kindly been making. Great to hear what you've been getting up to. For now though...

So who to try next...?

Well, if you're enjoying the mainland Greek dynamic, but you're up for something a bit different, try dealing with the larger playing field and the marauding hordes up north. Any of the guys in the north: Illyria, Thrace, Epeiros, even Aetolia and, of course, Macedonia.

If you'd like some islands hoping, naval activity any of the island Greeks will scratch that itch, though it's hard to win the game with them. Cyclades, Crete or Euboea, dropped a couple of difficulty levels, are probably the best bets for a shot at victory.

And, if you're into building big land empires, with lots of different resources and luxuries, then go for the guys in Asia Minor. Lydia of course are the easiest. But it's achievable with Aiolia, Bithynia and Phrygia too. Ionia get that action and the islands hopping game too.

 

[Rambuchan]

Sasebo - So, did you decide on who to go with next? Here's another idea for you: why not try for the Hegemonic Victory? It's a challenge!

OK, let me get back to your other points and comments:

- Pedia error on Constitution of Cleisthenes - Thanks for spotting that. I'm going over the whole civilopedia and double checking everything, as well as writing all the entries that I didn't get round to last time. At the very least you'll be getting all the Civ entries written in full on Herodotus style!

- Lame Wonder for Bithynia - I'll take a look and see what I can come up with. You know, some of them are supposed to be lame though. Not everyone gets great stuff. Only those that were great in history. Still, you're right, a scout every now and then probably isn't that great and they do need help with the economy. Thanks for the tip off.

- More anti-corruption buildings - I hear you. Corruption is a pain. But it is realistic and I do need to keep some of the economic balance going. I might add that function for some buildings but it's always a danger to make everything too easy. The game can also get boring that way.

- Giving regular hoplites +1 HP - I spent many many many hours trying out all kinds of variations with the unit stats and HP values etc. What you're playing with is the best result and achieves pretty realistic power balances between the civs and AI behaviour.

- Lydia on the rampage - Just out of curiosity: Did you clock how they were doing on the Domination percentages? Although they give you a run for your money on the Tribute Victory, they do plateau and it's the Domination that they are truly dangerous at. This only becomes evident right into the late game when it becomes a race to the finish. So, anyway, did you notice what percentages they had please? I ask because I've dropped those requirements to make it an even closer finish: 25% land & 40% population is what I'm looking at releasing.

- Sparta using navy well - Good to know. With the tweaks I've made for the upgrade AI naval activity is even more frisky!

I think that's all your points. Sorry if I've missed any. Very short on time right now. Let me know if I missed anything and I'd be happy to respond.

 

[Rambuchan]

Takhisis - Thanks for the reports. Victory must be a reality for you now, eh? Love the avatar by the way.

- Asterix - Oh man, I was a major Asterix fan when I was a kid. Looove those and still have them all.

- Your suggestions for Rhodes / Dodekanese - I'll think about it. They got up to some glorious things, no doubt. But they never really hit the big time and made a massive impact on world affairs. So that's why I've toned them down. I'll try looking at giving them some better ships at least, but they shouldn't ever really be proper players on the scene.

- No Slingers in the game - Yeah, I know! I've already filled up so many other kinds of units. I should really have put some in. There are a few civs which could get a slinger for their UU I suppose. I'll try and do that if I can.

- Grapes - The change has been made.

- Ships' stats - Like I say, I've gone over all the naval stats already.

- I am running into a problem: Thassos has had a Radar Tower/Trophy built on it. I can't land on that tile. - You've got amphibious units to attack with. They should do the trick.

- Fire Catapult graphics - I think Vuldacon and I looked at that already. By the way, we've totally tweaked the War Fire unit. That really rocks now!!!

- Firaxis faces. OH, MY EYES! - You mean Pop Heads? We've done those too. Vuldacon has come up with some real awesomeness there and we worked out some great solutions for specialists too. You're going to love it.

- Imperial triremes are a blast -

 

[Takhisis]

Tales from Caturday night.

Spoiler :

Argos declares war on the Ithakes.
Ithake sogns a peace treaty with Lydia.

Silandos on the isle of Chíos defects to Lydia again. Now we simply must destroy the scum.

399 BC
We retake Silandos by destroying its lone Siege Archer and the Lydoi are at war with us.

The Lydoi troops disembark on Léros: a Cimmerian and a Gymnitos.

Aetolia allies with thevai against Thrake. Great Northern War continues.

Eleusis is churning out an Imperial Trireme every three turns.

We lag 1800 points behind Lydia.

Note: Silver should be more useful than just an Athenian-only resource.

397 BC
The Lydoi have discoevered Seafaring and are now bringing in Triremes. Our Mycenean Galleys are fast enough to elude them but until the Imperial Triremes get to the scene we cannot face them on any sort of a head-to-head battle.

"Under your hand the Atheniaoi people have prospered, Pericles. The people of Dodekanesa seek protection from the aggressor nations of this world. Will you agree to this pact?"

We agree, but the idiots say "The offer is a bit light". WTH?

Lokris declares war on the Argioi. Poor, poor Argioi. They must wish they'd never invaded me, as I never wanted to have possessions on the Peloponnessos anyway.

Three Cimmerian Cavalrymen land on Léros again.
396 BC
Chalkidikeis now resembles a map of Poland after the Austrians, Prussians and Russians were done with them.

We sign an MPP with Sparte.

We land two Champions as well as one of our special Hoplites on the Kykladitai mainland.
They do not have roads. Sheesh.

Our Leader builds a Forbidden Palace from Amorgós.

Potentially, we could build two more Episkopoi Lodges on the isles of Naxos and Herakléia.

To prevent the Cimmerians from escaping, we first move one foot unit into each non-Cimmerian tile on Léros and then start hacking throught them. None remain.

Forbidden Palace! We could have something more Mediterranean-looking than the literal Palace from China.

Sparte declares war on the Lydoi, and our MPP also forces us to declare war on the Ithakes.

395 BC
We oust a Cimmerian from Lemnos.
Then several ships converge on the Kykladitai and start attacking them.

The tale of the assault on naxos itself will come another day, but everyone will soon be attacking Lydia again, perhaps I'll seize the chance for a grab at the Thevaioi in Plataia and/or Illyrian-owned Phokis. THe Forbidden palace on the island of Amorgós helps my Southern Spórades and the war effort there.

 

[Sasebo]

Lydia was ahead on domination in both categories, but far from winning, though it did look like they were going that route. They were not even half way yet, and there were a few really big civs left over there; it did look like by the end of the game that it was going to be a race to see who would win, them by domination, or me by tribute. I had the tribute lead well in hand, with more coming in in the future with several League improvements coming on line.

I ended up trying Troia. Asia Minor is interesting, tough I have noticed from my games that they seem to have troube getting the military resources they need in a lot of cases. That's one reason they often don't have their best defenders, which also explains why Lydia seems to win out there. My game with Troia went something like this:

Great, good, great! Difficult to get even on tech though. Aiolians were doing really great on that front until Lydia wiped them out all of a sudden. Then Lydia builds one of their next cities headed in my direction next to the mouth of the river on that long bay. I manage to get mostly caught up on tech, and starting laying plans to jump that Lydian city nearest to me, try to trim them a little bit, but they come with a tribute demand before I am ready. I say no. Lydia proceeds to stomp me(I admit getting a real bad run of combat results too, but that was frosting really). If I had paid the tribute and jumped them when I was ready I think it could have gone differently. Certainly Aiola getting squished early was bad for everyone in Asia Minor not named Lydia. Ithake starting with a ship next to my capital was a blessing, they were one of my best tech trading partners.

I might try Illyria next if I get a chance, I was almost going to take them instead. Or just possiby Thessalia, they look interesting.

 

[jlvfr]

Finally finished my 1st game (waaaay too much work...). Played Athens. Fortunatelly, I followed my usuall tactic of "build moar early cities at expense of all else", so managed to plot down 5 cities before meeting my first neighbour, which had only 2... which I promply "converted to Athenian Democracy" *coff*

Was forced to go conquer the large island just offshore, and a smaller one next to it, due to shortage of resources. The locals welcome my conquest with open arms *recoff*

After a while (and some more head-butting) I figured I was doing well. Had a good chunk of groudn, was well developed... and then Lydia traded maps with me, at which point I realise that Athen is just a small nation in Greece!

Had to start atacking left and right to try to gain more ground. Gotta hurry! Managed to kick Sparta out of south and central Greece, and grabbed most of my local neighbours. largest naval battles ever: at one point, I had a stack of 60 galleys (!!) smashing up 50 of Macedonians. Ended up with 5...

But Lydia keeps getting terrain! It's now up to 20% of all land! Hurry!

Aaaahd damn... 5 turns to end... gonna loose... *DING* Victory Points Win!!! Yayy!!

Never had a doubt *coff*

 

[Takhisis]

Democracy? What? Tyranny, I hope.

 

[Takhisis]

Thanks for the reports. Victory must be a reality for you now, eh? Love the avatar by the way.

No, victory isn't near yet. The Lydoi continue to rampage through Phrigya although they're much slower than when they atacked Troia and Karia.

As for the avatar, O RLY?

- Asterix - Oh man, I was a major Asterix fan when I was a kid. Looove those and still have them all.

- Your suggestions for Rhodes / Dodekanese - I'll think about it. They got up to some glorious things, no doubt. But they never really hit the big time and made a massive impact on world affairs. So that's why I've toned them down. I'll try looking at giving them some better ships at least, but they shouldn't ever really be proper players on the scene.

I've been reading up on the history of commercial law (for uni) and I stumbled across the Rhodians appearing to have pioneered maritime (trade) law. The Rhodian law was the standard in the Mediterranean (especially after Hellenism expanding under Alexander) and Antoninus Pius apparently made some reference to him ruling the lands and Rhodian law the seas.
The Byzantines appear to have codified a Nomos Rhodion Nautikos between 600 and 800 according to Wikipedia.

See the nauticum fœnus and other legal practices invented -or at least standardised- by the Greeks.

From what I can read with these eyes from crapsty Google Books, Rhodian trade continued to be developed during the Roman Empire, unlike many other of the Greek cities.

Yeah, I know! I've already filled up so many other kinds of units. I should really have put some in. There are a few civs which could get a slinger for their UU I suppose. I'll try and do that if I can.

I'm totally not plugging our old Slinger conversion here.

You've got amphibious units to attack with. They should do the trick.

Not necessary. As you will see from the following update, I simply landed on the tile next to it and conquered Thássos and one of the Chalkidikean horns a couple turns later. Now I'm just gathering gold and rushing the buildings (already got a Smithy) in order to build mines. I'll need a crapton of ships to keep up.

 

[geminisama]

Haven't had time to play this mod since it's early days, thanks to Hearts of Iron 2: Darkest Hour, but I'm glad to see it's still coming along nicely!

 

[Takhisis]

Your heart is cold and hard like iron if you haven't been playing this.

 

[johnnyjal]

I'm going to give this a try.
Your other scn was one of my favorites.

 

[jlvfr]

Saddly my workload is increasing like stupid... I'm going to have to stop and wait for the next version

 

[Sasebo]

largest naval battles ever: at one point, I had a stack of 60 galleys (!!) smashing up 50 of Macedonians. Ended up with 5...

Hypers! I've seen plenty of ships running around, but nothing like that....

Why in God's name would you build 60 galleys in the first place? Was the Imperial Trireme that far away?!

I decided to try Thessaly in the end, but I haven't got that far with it yet. I need to grab a horse resource, pronto!

 

[jlvfr]

Hypers! I've seen plenty of ships running around, but nothing like that....

Why in God's name would you build 60 galleys in the first place? Was the Imperial Trireme that far away?!

I decided to try Thessaly in the end, but I haven't got that far with it yet. I need to grab a horse resource, pronto!

By "galleys" I meant every warship available, and yeah most were Imperial Trireme. And at this point I was at war with 10 nations...

 

[Takhisis]

Thessaly? Horses? Face off the Lokroi or else try fighting the Euboeis.

 

[Leobon]

I'm really enjoying this scenario. There's still work to be done, but it is great thus far. The "Standing Army" tech is missing "Steel" as one of its requirements, though. On my own copy I went through each civ's color and gave them a unique color (a lot of them have shared colors, so they get random color assignments). I didn't like the Spartans being blue, or the Athenians being yellow, so I gave Athens navy blue and the Spartans dark red.

 

[Takhisis]

Why is the Longevity wonder carried off from vanilla civ?
Waaaait. It requires Epicurus' Gardens…

Full update of our adventures -including the near-fall of Athinai- to come soon.