"Babylon has fallen." General Patton paced in front of his assembled troops. "But Hammurabi isn't licked yet. Men, this stuff that some sources sling around about Native America wanting out of this war, not wanting to fight, is a crock of bull. We have the finest food, the finest equipment, the best spirit, and the best men in the world. Why, by the Spirits, I actually pity those poor sons-of-. .. .. .. .. .es we're going up against. We don't want yellow cowards in this army. Just remember: no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."
As Patton exhorted the troops deep in enemy territory, the people of Hawkeye sang songs and drew up posters cheering on the war effort:
Morale was flagging. The war economy was faltering. The tenuous beachhead in the Middle East could not hold out forever. What the people needed was Emancipation. And the only way Emancipation could be implemented without halting the wheels of industry was a Golden Age.
Meanwhile, the time for speech-making in Babylon had come to a close:
Hammurabi's assault was driven off with relative ease, but this only brought on the Starving Times. The Babylonians locked down the fields surrounding their old capital, allowing their brothers and sisters to starve for the sin of allowing their city to fall. Patton's troops, living in a world without supply lines or other such concessions to realism, persevered, and continued to be reinforced by boat.
By 1625, Flight had been discovered, and Airports were being built across North America. The Babylonian emperor, perhaps seeing the implications of this, or perhaps just finally prepared after a nationwide muster, set off a new series of furious assaults:
But, by all the Spirits, Babylon held! Seeing that Babylon, always a people for whom "bigger" meant "better," were researching massive Artillery, Native American scientists followed suit. The war with Babylon was becoming a tedious slog, but the tide could not be permitted to fully turn with a drawn-out detour through Electricity on the path to Radios.
In 1645, jazz great Miles Davis, with the support of Hawkeye scientists and Tenochtitlan businessmen, revolutionized the Native American musical scene with the release of his signature album,
Babylon Blue:
The album's success could only be compared to that of the "Wyld Stallyns" debut centuries later. It was an era-defining cultural event. It made miners work harder and the pace of scientific research move faster.
Babylon Blue even cracked old Sitting Bull's stoic facade, leading him to soften his hard political stances in the name of harmony:
Well, harmony and efficiency. With colonies springing up across the Old World, an archaic devotion to the Way of the Spirit, particularly in the fanatical form worship had taken in recent centuries, was outmoded. The Caste System was abolished and every child was allowed to pursue his or her own destiny. The presses were once again allowed free reign in their editorials, and, in his most surprising move, Sitting Bull himself stepped down from his throne. The
Tenochtitlan Times and the
Islander Post-Gazette praised the changes, and expressed optimism that the new, leaner government might be able to break the stalemate in the Middle East.
With Democratically approved funds flowing across the empire, Airports and infrastructure were built almost overnight. Reinforcements came flying in from Blue Bomber, Brave, and Cahokia. General Patton finally felt confident enough to lead an expedition north, to Eshnunna:
It was a minor outpost, though one with production potential (see every other came where I've settled and/or captured that spot). Its main purpose was to remove the northern threat and potentially free up some food to allow Babylon to grow again.
The Mayans, impressed with the implications of Corporation and slightly miffed at their northern neighbors' decision to accept all religions as equal, decided to play hardball:
Yes... We will definitely be upgrading to 3.19 for the next game... That said, Corporation was a two-turn tech at this point, so the intrepid Native Americans would just have to do it themselves.
In 1655, Thucydides published a work which mortally offended the increasingly-reclusive Sitting Bull:
Since stepping down from his throne, he spent most of his days playing with his grandchildren in the garden while his son, Michael Bull, continued the family business. But this insult by this... this hack historian could not go unpunished. The Native American empire spanned a supercontinent, and had made not-inconsiderable inroads into Eurasia! Justinian's size was a house of cards built upon the backs of fractious vassals. Small wonder that Athens was well within Byzantine territory. Yes, Justinian and his craven subjects would pay.
Justinian himself continued the insult with his ridiculous offer for the secret of Flight:
Were it not for the delicacy of the operations in Babylon, the messenger would have been returned in a knapsack.
As the reinforced offensive forces that had been pinned in Eshnunna pressed south to rejoin the main army in Babylon, they came under furious assault:
Losses were heavy, resulting in the deaths of even a few newly-promoted Great Generals, but the force was once again united. They began pressing east, to Akkad.
Back in the Americas, a small expeditionary force brought down the Barbarian State and founded the new tributary nation of Cuzco:
It's true use this late in the game would be debatable, but it should at least pay for its own upkeep in the long run.
In 1685, a true bloodbath was narrowly averted. Or, some might say, postponed:
Justinian brought his raging Hellstack to the gates of Ehnunna, and his vassal Charlemagne had similar stacks squatting on the borders in Europe. A quick check at the Byzantine embassy found the place deserted, with only a quick note reading that they "had enough on (their) hands right now." Michael Bull, seeing that his inherited empire teetering on the brink of destruction thanks to his blustering father, knew that only that very same bluster could save him now.
"Mr. Justinian, we can both see your massive stacks of conventional troops stationed outside of my cities. What you can't see, though, are my own reserves, which, with my total air superiority, can strike anywhere, at any time. We're both reasonable men, Mr. Justinian. Contrary to my father's ravings, I have no quarrel with you, but you can surely see that your troop movements are causing my people concern. Now if you were to send a paltry tribute of, say, 40 gold over to Cahokia, and pull back your forces, well, my people would be mollified, your people could continue to live peacefully, and we can put this whole ugly episode behind us."
By all the gods (including those paltry Islam and Taoism gods that are worshipped in like three cities each), it worked! Justinian's will wavered and then broke, and his troops withdrew! Of course, it would only be a matter of time until his extensive Spy network would inform him that there was no such hidden reserve army, so, at best, Michael had only bought time. But with his production capacity, time was on his side.
The Battle of Akkad was intense. Each step by the Native American Army brought with it new attacks by Babylonian guerillas and insurgents. After years of pitched battle, the battered survivors managed to take the city:
Patton remained stoic as his men secured the ramparts. "War is hell" he was heard to murmur while standing atop a pile of rubble that had once been a Library.
Another stack, meanwhile, marched south, seeking to relieve Babylon's southern pressure by razing Dur-Kurigalzu:
But the Byzantine threat loomed. Those troops might be needed to ward off Justinian.
Michael Bull sent an emissary to Hammurabi to find out what, if anything, he would be willing to offer for peace:
Well, well,
well. And, of course, if Babylon is willing to bow to us, he's also willing to bow to Justinian. So, while the deal has not yet been taken, it probably will be.
And so I've ended the round. We've won the war with Hammurabi, but the final conflict with Justinian might come sooner than expected.
Here's a look at the tech tree:
And the Diplomacy Screen:
As you can see, the big networks are us (with Pacal and, soon, Hammurabi), Hannibal's African Alliance, and, of course, Justinian's Evil Empire. So what do we do? Cheese out by demanding a pittance of gold every 10 turns? Send everything we have to defend our borders? Accept that our border cities are casualties of war and try to take Constantinople? We're at an interesting decision point, and I'm interested to hear some comments and arguments.
Oh, and lemme say, with our Siege of Babylon, that Protective was a BIG help.
Here's the save: