LotR 2 - Zealous Zulus (Monarch variant)

Here's the world after ToeCheese3's last turn. The iron in question is on a mountain to the SE of Ngome, our southernmost city. Its actually closer to the Chinese than to us. There are 4 Roman, 7 Russian, 2 Greek, 5 Chinese, and 6 Iroquois units either in our land or on their way.

 
Still doing ... what we're doing.

Early turns -- anarchy

Middle turns -- fighting the enemy

Late turns -- being led

Arathorn, the Insane, took control in 50 AD? On one hand, it felt like the game should be much later than 50 AD, considering all of the action that had taken place. On the other hand, we're just getting into the Middle Ages, which is a pleasant change from Deity which seems to be Industrial Age around the AD/BC change-over.

In 50 AD, Arathorn's first act in office was to encourage the people of Tegula to finish their temple faster (saving 37 shields). The death of so many people in the effort is widely believed to be responsible for Arathorn's insanity. Immediately afterward, he ordered a change in government. "It'll be alright", he soothed. The people, unconvinced, descended into anarchy.

Then, the priority of each and every city was examined and modified. Food was the only priority -- food, food, food. Revolting people want to eat -- and to be entertained. And collect taxes.

Even in the midst of anarchy, Arathorn directed his forces towards Iron Mountain, as it grew to be named. In 70 AD, the settler, protected by a number of impies, moved from Ngome towards the hill from which they hoped to sneak out and mine iron. The path was cleared by brave horsemen. A catapult provided additional security.

In 90 AD, both the Romans and the Russians, perhaps sensing weakness, sent massive invasion forces -- the Romans primarily archers and horsemen, the Russians simply swordsmen. Iron mountain, too, was buried in enemy forces.

Some workers were again reassigned by the insane one. "Shields", came the cry from the far corners of the nation. But happiness is still important, too.

In March of 107 AD, Arathorn is proclaimed the first king nut of Zululand. "We love the Nut" celebrations erupt in a few cities.

110 AD sees the movement of forces onto "Yellow hill" near Iron Mountain. The name "Yellow hill" is a carry-over from previous rulers and is now almost too embedded in the lore of the nation to erase. At least a half-dozen impis are in the area, guarding the settler and the workers who are attempting to build a road to the proposed city site.

Arathorn wishes more things hurried, to fill the void in production left by the anarchy. Some of the treasury is spent encouraging cities to speed production. "At least there are no more deaths" the chief treasurer assures Arathorn, before the latter tries to bite him. The insanity is getting worse.

130 AD -- "The nation mourns the loss of Bronski's Horse, an elite regiment of our nation's finest. Bronski is post-humously awarded the Green Liver, our nation's highest honor. He is survived by ..." Thus ran the story in the Zimbabwe Imp, Zululand's leading newspaper.

Other news included the founding of Temp Iron City on yellow hill. The newspaper conveniently omitted the mention of several units of Russian swordsmen very near Zimbabwe. Impis are rushed in from neighboring cities to help defend (thank goodness for movement 2!). Horsemen are on the way but will arrive too late to attack this year.

The Romans foolishly begin building an academy in hopes of luring Sun Tzu, the great tactician. Their tactics are so poor, there is no way Sun Tzu would join them!

The Russians, too, decide not to attack Zululand's capital, prefering to pillage and flee. A mine and a road are lost, a significant loss, but nothing compared to the loss of the entire city.

5 horsemen attack the newly founded city on yellow hill. Two elite impis successfully fight them all off.

150 AD saw the arrival of the first Great Leader in many years (OK, not THAT many, but still...). He arose from the fighting around Temp Iron City and was sent to Bapedi. Feudalism is found in the Great Library, sealing Cetshwayo's role, luring Sun Tzu to join the might Zulu cause.



170 AD saw the breaking of ground for an academy in Bapedi. The presence of his good friend, Cetshwayo, enticed Sun Tzu to join up almost immediately. Barracks in some cities sold this turn, others the next. A few Russian swords die near Zimbabwe.

190 AD was a confusing year. Zulu forces massed near Lugdunum, hoping for the first Zulu offensive against an enemy city. Iron came online, but the mighty Zulu impis refuse to use it, not upgrading to pikemen. ???? Arathorn froths at the mouth even more than usual.

210 AD had mixed results. Our forces attack Lugdunum, after catapults fire. A veteran horse attacks and retreats, dealing no damage. Second horse, same as the first. Thid vet kills a spear. Elite kills a spear. Archer left defending Lugdunum. Vet impi attacks, is quite wounded, and wins.

After a bit of deliberation (more than it really deserved), Arathorn ordered the city burned to the ground. Roman forces were all around and the Zulu troops were exhausted from the assault and could not hope to defend the city.

It was hoped/expected that a slave would appear, but none was forthcoming. Another mind-boggling incident to shatter any remaining hints of sanity in Arathorn.

That insanity is not responsible for, but often blamed for, what happened next.

The Russians ate their Wheaties. It was scary. Regular swordsmen charging up mountains, killing elite impis without taking damage. Regular swordsmen attacking cities with catapult/impi defenses across a river, taking no prisoners. Bapedi just BARELY survived, and that only because I'd overloaded it and the last Russian unit to attack was an archer. I think I lost mroe units during that Russian turn than the rest of this reign combined. UGLY!

230 AD, another leader, who prefers to remain anonymous, appeared to lead the Zulu people. His reign was noted for its renewed attack on the Russian swordsmen, with limited success, and the completion of the Sistine Chapel in Ulundi. He also received news that some barbarian tribe calling themselves Americans had been destroyed.

The last leader, the one of 250 AD, was unsure of his purpose. He eventually slew the babbling Arathorn and formed an army of impis to defend Iron City.

The forces at Intombe are in disarray, having campaigned out to kill approaching Russians, still reforming from the sacking of Lugdunum, and generally out-numbered. The next leader will need to rule with a bit of care there in the very near future.

This chapter of Zulu history is, well, history!

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads/lotr2-zulu-250ad.zip

Arathorn
 
Scribbled in the almost illegible way of all of his notes, Arathorn's advisors found the following general principles/comments/questions/observations/remarks:

- Hlobane can produce a worker every other turn with no ill effects on size. Keep doing this, as jungle-clearers are needed.

- Isand actually has two shields of production right now! Woohoo!! Recommend a harbor after the 'pult is finished. And then maybe upgrading the warrior there to a sword.

- Intombe is sorta stocked, maybe use some of those forces to push into Roman territory -- fight on THEIR terrain for once. They seem to be getting low on gas. Of course, things are quite disarrayed there right now.

- Razing might be best, as it appears that the AI has been whipping a fair bit. Not sure about this, though.

- A bit of infrastructure here and there is probably good. Some of our bigger cities (Ulundi and Zimbabwe) are teetering on happiness bounds, even with 20% luxuries. Cathedrals? We at least need some libraries for the day when we need to start researching on our own again.

- Does any civ but Russia have iron? I've not seen pikes/swords/legionaries from anybody but Cathy. Getting the iron source by Bapedi might be more important than we thought, just to prevent others from getting it.

- What is the rest of the world up to -- besides killing America? ??? Are we behind/ahead in tech????

- Naval assaults are semi-frequent but always understaffed. Can't abandon our coastal cities, but they don't need too much defense, either.

- Evaluate all build orders before moving on. Some decisions were made (really, NOT made) with the intention of having the next leader VETO.

Jester, you're up! Hope you got the CD situation resolved.
Sirian, on deck.

Arathorn
 
Grueling. :) This concept has definitely turned out to be more different in its execution than just about any other I can remember. I'm hanging on the edge of my seat!

- Sirian
 
Awesome turn Arathorn! Changing into Monarchy, razing Lugdunum, and getting iron online all in one turn! No to mention getting Sun Tzu's Art of War and the Sistine Chapel.

It'll be interesting whether the other civs go for Education or Chivalry next, I think one is pursuing the military line and one is pursuing the cultural line.

Maybe we should build some more horses so that when Chivalry comes we can spend gold to upgrade them (much cheaper than rushing them) and have a temporary military advantage.

Three leaders on your turn! If enough of these pop up, we might just snag most of the Great Wonders, as long as we can keep up in research. Have to get the marketplaces and libraries going.

I'm with Sirian, this game is really exiciting! The pressure of trying to expand with more cities, improve terrain with workers, keep our economy going, keep up in research, and fight on multiple fronts simultaneously makes these very tough turns.
 
Exciting? Oh, yeah!
Grueling? Definitely!
Fun? I'm having a blast!

It's that "I want to do this and this and that, but I need this done ASAP or I'm toast, even though people are recommending thus-and-so" feeling that I love. It's lasted for at least two full rounds of the SG and shows no signs of letting up. Tons of fun.

I built ZERO swords. I wanted the iron online to deny the AI, because other people wanted it, but most importantly, so it would be ready when Chivalry came along. Hopefully, we can go on the offensive at some point.

I got real lucky with the anarchy -- only 3 turns. I've suffered plenty of 8 turns worth. I was just really hoping I wouldn't spend my whole turn in anarchy.

The leaders? Yeah, I "farm" for them by trying to use elites a lot, especially for battles I expect to win. But they just come when they come... I've actually been farming a little less than I used to. Since elites have a better retreat chance, I've been using them occasionally to "soften" up a foe -- like the darn hoplites the Greeks sent at one point.

Still, they're a function of the die -- which is sometimes good and sometimes bad. I've had my fair share of luck -- both good and bad. The one Russian attack was terrifying. And I remember sending lots of good units to die against the walls of Moscow in RBD13. Very good luck in my lotr1 war years, though. <Shrug> The leaders were nice -- wasn't really sure what to do with the third. At this rate, we'll be rushing universities and cathedrals with 'em (which isn't necessarily a bad idea).

The iron online had all been set up for me. I may have gotten to do the "glory" part, but it was all passed off to me "ready to go". I just kept the trend going. Your work, cpp1, and Toecheese's did that for us, I just continued the plan.

I really hope chivalry pops out of the GL before it expires. We're really not in much of any position to REALLY research ourselves -- not enough infrastructure. Knight armies, though, can be massively deadly in the MA. I worry a bit, too, about whether we'll have any saltpeter -- we're not exactly swimming in desert or hills or mountains. We have some, but.... Of course, we got lucky with the horses, so maybe we will again. Or maybe karma will catch up with us.

I expect research priorities are going to be very interesting once the GL expires. On the one hand, we really need the military options -- gunpowder, metallurty, military tradition, etc. On the other, we might have lots of leaders for wonders, if we do those research paths. On the third hand, we might just have to follow the AI, researching whatever is cheapest, so we don't fall too far behind. On the fourth hand, I have too many hands. On the fifth, getting into the Industrial Age could be very difficult but is important and has issues with side-path research. On the sixth, we can ignore the democracy/printing press line, except for the seventh hand noted below. Not being able to trade is wicked painful.

One note I should mention, Ulundi is a big culture producer. All win conditions enabled. Build a library there and try to get a couple more wonders there and go for a cultural win??? (seventh hand -- Shakey?) Not at all how I expected to win this game (still don't, really), but it might be nice to do, as a back-up option if nothing else.

Arathorn
 
We will fight the world.
So that you will fall in love with our people.

Cultural victory in a must attack everyone game?
This one is wierd.
 
It's a possible, if unlikely outcome. If I'd've noticed it earlier, I would have built Sun Tzu in Ulundi, too, one turn later. And started a library there.

Just crazy enough to work. I mean, it already has 3 wonders in it, which is often near-critical mass. Pretty hare-brained, I know, but I would LOVE it, if it turned out that way, just because it was the last thing on my mind when I started the game.

Arathorn

[In all actuality, I think it won't happen, as we will have to wipe a few people out in order to survive. And we started too late with library and such. GL in the wrong city. And once we get strong enough to wipe out a couple civs, I semi-expect the rest of the world to fall. Still, this game has been full of surprises.]
 
Something Arathorn said just caught my eye, that elite horses have a better chance to retreat than other horses. I knew that 1.17 patch made retreating a random die roll instead of automatic, but I did not know that the chance of retreating depends on how good your unit is.

Does anyone have any details, do vet horses retreat better than regular and so on? What is the chance of retreating for various levels of units? I have been using elites to clean up wounded units in the hopes of a great leader, but it may be better to send them in first if they have a better chance of retreating. Thanks.
 
If i remember correctly its a matter of exp differences and vet against vet should have a 50% chance to retreat.

HTH

Rowain


PS: really a great game you have running there :)
Good Luck
 
Same experience level is about 50% to retreat. Each "level" of difference modifies that by 5-10% (Firaxis hasn't said, that I've seen, and different people doing tests have shown different results).

Thus,

regular attacking elite -- 30-40% chance to retreat
vet attacking elite -- 40-45%
elite attacking regular -- 60-70%

etc.

==========

Jester hasn't posted since the 7th. I'm guessing his CD is still AWOL. I sent him an email, but I'm not too hopeful of immediate response. It has been over 24 hours without an "I got it" message....

Sirian, if he hasn't posted anything for about 4 hours after this post (and when you have time), post an "I got it!" and play, please. But do post the "I got it" just to make sure you're not stepping on toes. [I hate this part of SGs -- the cooperation and discussion is AWESOME but the keeping track of people, who have RLs to deal with, can be a pain.] Jester, similarly, feel free to post a "Got it!" anytime before Sirian does and play.

Edit: [party] CHEER! Iester's back in action. Most of the above is now pointless, but I'm leaving it. We're back to full force.

Arathorn
 
My Civ 3 CD is back in action! (as is my Diablo II cd and starcraft cd, which I didn't notice was also gone until I tried to find D2X for last night's game!)

So all is well. I could have posted got it earlier, but I didn't want to until I had my CD safely in my hand.

So, uh, got it!

Jester
 
Well if someone actually plays something other then civ...
 
Indeed there are. :)

Civ3 comes out of my CD tray almost daily. (Of course, it goes back in almost daily, too).
 
Good news and bad news. The good news first.

We got two new leaders, one of which is an empty army, the other is waiting in zimbabwe.
We've got some swords roaming around.
The southern front is a running joke, a meatgrinder for everyone who attacks us.
We can now build the Pentagon (...)
We've got some pikemen around.
The Russians don't seem to have iron anymore, since they've stopped throwing swords and started throwing archers.

The bad news, however...

The russians pillaged a pretty fair sized swath, disconnecting our horses as well as trashing some mines and roads. We've got workers on it already, but we'll have to remedy all that.
The romans have discovered iron, presumably by yanking it from the russians. That front is getting a LOT hairier these days, with legionaires descending upon us. Troops are moving up to counter, I hope we can hold it.

So, use up the leader, either to rush the pentagon or to build yet another army, and fill the one we have with anything you like. And manage those elites well; the leaders just pop right up!

Jester
 
I seriously doubted rushing Heroic Epic back about 20 turns because of the relatively small amount of shields it takes to build. Unbelivable that we've had FIVE great leaders since then - mad props to Arathorn and Iester for maximizing elite troops.
 
All we have are elite troops! OK, maybe not, but it sure feels like it sometimes. With constant battles turn after turn after turn after turn, units get pretty advanced pretty quick.

I'd say mad props to Toecheese3, too, for getting the Epic rushed so we could use it!

Jester, that report is a bit ... thin. Care to fill in some details -- like cities lost/gained/razed, tech situation, Isand, maybe a screen shot? I don't expect a blow-by-blow by any means (although those are fun to read, too), but a little more in-depth set of highlights would be appreciated.

Or, cpp1, since you seem to have (had) time to do a lot of screenshots, would you like to do one for us all to enjoy? Even though our world picture is not changing much, they're nice to have occasionally. (and indicate some tech stuff)

We didn't have 'pults and horsies in place to stop the Russian rush through our lands? Disconnecting our horses? That's quite a ways in.

At some point, we're going to hit the city/army ratio limit which I had always scoffed at before. A leader rushing a knight????????? Although I would use the current one to rush Pentagon in Ulundi. Only 1 culture/turn but it's still early. Plus, saves us 400 shields. A 4-knight army will be nearly invincible -- if we get to that point.

Sirian is up now, if he can stop making rbd23 dot maps long enough to play. cpp1 on deck.

Arathorn
 
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