Hell-Born, The Hittites.

[Protean]

Settings: Arid, hot, 5 billion year old. Emperor.

I intended to try out the hittites for the first time, so I was looking for a good start...When I stumbled across one of the worst starting locations ever. All desert with one plains tile.


After reading Tricky's thread about his famous bad start, I decided I wouldn't abandon this just yet. While I'm not cramped for space, I don't have any grassland for two or three rings of cities, and most of my cities will end up maxing out at size 2 or 3.

Pics and story-form to come, stay tuned!

 

[madviking]

Ohh!!!!
Flame on! erm, write on!

 

[Protean]

4000 BC​

At approximately 4000 BC, all sixteen civilizations of the world began to settle down from their nomadic lives. Many settled in nice, fertile locations ripe for starting a civilization, such as the mongols who settled on a bend in a river prone to flooding-an area where rich sediments from upstream made the land very fertile after the floods. Most settled on rolling grasslands, having followed the ancient migratory patterns of buffalo, deer, and all the other animals early man preyed on, into the rich grasslands. One civilization, however, the desert-nomads known as the Hittites settled in the driest, most inhapitable spot north in the entire world, La Peninsula De Diablo. Their only source of water was a tiny oasis directly south of the fledling city.

You can't see it, but there really is an oasis south of the city​

The desert nomads, if nothing else, had early on mastered the art of scouting. In the early years, several scouting parties were sent out to explore the world. Away from the hot, sandy deserts that the hittites called home, the scouts found many different cultures of men, similiar to the hittites but in their own way, totally different. The Americans, the Incans, and the Mongols were all very far from the home of the hittites, and so they were not given much attention. On the homefront, a settler expedition was finally sent forth between 2900 and 2800 BC to form a third hittite city-for the city of Tarsus was formed when a band of other desert dwellers joined the hittites.

Later on, historians agree that while the Hittites were not born from the most hospitable landscape, it appeared that they had all the necessary tools to wage destructive war on their neighbors.

 

[Symphony D.]

That is indeed one of the worst start locations I've ever seen. Only way it'd be much worse is if there was a volcano right next to Hattusas.

Definitely going to watch this one just to see if it can be pulled off! Interesting builds in Hattusas and Ugarit too. Any reason for focusing on culture and military over expansion?

 

[Protean]

Because of the amount of food available to those cities(Read: NIL!) I quickly filled up my 12 allowed military units, with some extra just because. I had to find something to build instead of military, else I'd go bankrupt. I have about 20 turns from size 2 to size three, and settlers in 6 turns in hattusus, 8 in the other. So I've got some build time.


Buuuut due to some stupidity on my part, those builds are going to change pretty soon. I'll go over that next update, though.

 

[Vilati Timmadar]

Yargh!

This is definitely the worst starting location ever!! I don't think that I'd have played this...OK, one city in the desert - accepted, but two..??

Good luck!!

 

[MeteorPunch]

You could jump your palace to a better location by disbanding Hattusus.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

I was going to suggest abandoning the capital as well.

 

[Ansar]

I see a heavenly spot for a new Capital...

 

[Tribute]

What, south of Tarsus?

 

[Ansar]

Southwest of the Ivory so the capital can be on teh coast and recieve both Ivory for resource bonuses and the horses.

 

[Protean]

To all: Thanks for joining the thread, sorry for the delays in writing. Hopefully I'll be able to bang out things more quickly now!

To all Cappy jumpers: Well, yes, a jump would help me out tremendously. But I think that's a bit of an exploit, if you ask me. It's something the AI would never do, so I won't plan on doing it. Buuut I still have lukewarm feelings towards armies, what do you think folks? Should I use armies or try to win it without?



Now then, where were we?

Early on, the hittites faced premature destruction. The Incans demanded some monetary from the militarily weak(At the moment) hittites. For some reason, the hittites refused to give in. (AHHHHH! No, why did I say no!? This isn't a frigging monarch game!

The Incan Route of Attack​

Thankfully they attacked in one solid line, which made the defense much easier--though still so, very frightening.

The Incans, with their superior military might, refused to give in to peace demands without the Hittites coughing up a city for it. However, a fairly clever ploy by the hittites caught the Incans off guard. The Hittite main forces were indeed quite occupied with holding off the Incan attacks, but a force of three conscript warriors had been exploring near Incan territory when the war began. When suddenly three warrior brigades appeared next to the Incan capitol, the Incans suddenly seemed more prone to accepting reasonable peace terms. 200 gold pieces were enough to satisfy them this time around. The hittites were spared from extinction this time.



But the close call made the hittite ruler realize how weak his nation really was. Immediately he began plans to build an expensive ivory statue to the barbarian God Zeus. He knew that building such a religious monument would attract the skilled barbarian horse riders to his cause. With their aid, he though he might be able to reclaim his lost honor with a second war against the Incans....

Edit: Grrrr....Curse you, paint! It added that white border, sorry if the picture messes you guys up.

 

[Protean]

After the first Incan war ended, the hittites actually made out very well. Unlike the other civilizations of the world, the hittites had a passion for exploration. From their base in the hot, sandy deserts of Hattusus, numerous scouting expeditions ranged out from the world, and by the end of 1000 BC they knew 9 of the 15 civilizations of the world. And, very luckily for their survival, the other civilizations were only familiar with their immediate neighbor. Using their position as the most well-traveled nation in the world, the hittites began trading knowledge as succesfully as modern stock brokers. They bought the knowledge of mathematics from the celts for an annual tribute of 10 gold for many, many years to come. Trading ensued, and eventually the celts bought and traded for polytheism, horse back riding, writing, map making. They even came out with 600 gold, and managed to trade the celts to cut their tribute in half for different technologies. For a brief moment in time, the hittites looked like they would be secure for centuries to come...
(Woot! That went soooo much better than I thought it would. I can't believe I got the celts to trade me gpt from my deal! Such a good trade deal! )

The Desert Empire! Three man chariots being built everywhere, the SoZ due in 8 turns​

 

[Ansar]

WHOO! Go Protean!

Three- Man Chariots are perfect for lowlands like deserts.

 

[Protean]

As predicted, the Incans were soon in the habit of demanding money of the hittites. But this time, the hittites had a powerful, if small, army of three man chariots and ancient cavalry. The battle plan called for the Hittite army to take and hold Vilcas, and to defeat all Incan reinforcements until such a time as the Incans took peace--this time on the hittite's terms.

The Plan​

But, much to the general's surprise, the plan was too conservative! The mounted units overwhelmed the counterattack outside of Vilcas, and then overran and occupied the city without much trouble. The nation was whipped into a nationalistic fervor by the victory, as production and commerce increased dramatically. The three man chariots were continually produced in greater and greater numbers, although reinforcements were slow to come through the forest. When the main attack force had healed, they battled through Incan horse and archer brigades to reach the city of Tiwanaku. Once the city fell, the Hittites faced a severe problem. The city of Victos, the next city in line to fall, was surrounded by jungle and was unreachable by the three man chariots. So, in a daring move, the three ancient cavalry brigades split from the main force to engage the city of Victos, while the three man chariots began towards Ica. Once the city of Victos fell, the Hittites managed to negotiate a very acceptable deal.

Woot! That went extremely well, I think. Much better than I anticipated, especially since the Incans built the great wall the turn after I declared war! Unfortunately, my end of the world is very scarcely populated, and the three nations around me, while extremely powerful, are technological numb-nuts. Pointy sticking won't get me much technology, I'm afraid. Here's the histograph thus far--You can see I'm second to last, and the Incans are FIRST! Ha!

 

[tR1cKy]

After reading Tricky's thread about his famous bad start, I decided I wouldn't abandon this just yet.

A bold move, man. I'm glad to have been of inspiration. In front of a bad start, the coward flee in terror while the braveheart stands up and face the challenge with a smile.

Now, as the supreme ruler of the Hell-Born, bring Hell on Earth!

 

[Protean]

Ansarking: Exactly! I lucked out with my UU choice, I think. I can assault all three of my neighbors, the dutch(I mistakingly called them the mongols earlier! ), The Americans, and the Inca(Now that I have a roadway through the jungle). It's time to mass produce and conquer.

Tricky: Thanks man, I appreciate the vote of confidence from a player of your caliber.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now then, I'm back in the saddle and I need to figure out what I'm going to do. First things first, sort out my priorities:

Irrigation: Not a high priority. I'm not agricultural, so even if I irrigate all the desert, my cities will cap out at size 2. Oh joy.

Governments: Switch to Feudalism, ASAP. Since I'll be ICSing the desert, I'll have a huge unit support. Absolutely incredible unit support. And with access to ivory, and soon dyes as well, none of my little size 2 cities should revolt.

Pointy stick some research: I can't!!! None of my neighbors have new techs. Abe and I are in the middle ages, but neither of us have any technologies. I'll have to build up a huge army while I conquer my neighbors and try to use my power to renegotiate peace treaties to include technology with my far away, technologically advanced 'friends.'

Expand: Every city I have grows so slowly that I can't hope to expand like the AI, even if I have every town producing a settler as soon as possible.

My prognosis: I'm gonna be playing catch up with the crowded, high-tech western end of the Pangea until the IA, probably when I hit communism. Right now I'm just going to focus on conquering as much land as I can while my neighbors are as dumb as I am! Using that land I can probably start to develop a good economy. But for now? Boring expansion. I'll do an update of action in a little while.

For your viewing pleasure, my city spacing plan:

 

[Xerol]

I'd suggest making the 2 cities NE of the capital coastal - harbors can definitely help out a low food situation, and you can have a couple of more powerful, gold-raking cities.

 

[Ansar]

Xerol makes a good point , with harbors and fishes and whales(some coastal places) you can make at least decent cities. Coasta cities I mean.

 

[Protean]

Xerol, good point about the coastal cities. That makes sense, I'm glad someone pointed that out before I made such a stupid mistake.


Also, another priority. Slow down the tech pace of the crowded western half of the pangea. My solution? Deny the Maya, the civilization furthest away from, when they make a demand. As expected, they declare war on me. I sign the Zulu and the Chin ese against the Maya, and every turn a new civilization is dragged into war. With any luck that should bog them down for a few centuries...


And speaking of war, my neighbors are finally picking up techs. The Dutch have monotheism, and the Incans and Americans have all three first tier techs. The dutch, being without strategic resources, are my first choice of targets. With their lands I'll gain incense and an open window towards the Americans. Who have Iron and Feudalism. With any luck I'll be able to bash feudalism out of the Incans second, and not have to hit the Americans up for some time!

My plan of attack, the blue lines being my first round actions, the red showing the second plan of attack. If they won't give me what I want by then, I'll raze their capitol. Battle log in the making!