I've been playing my game as Greece for a couple of months now, and one aspect of it in particular has taken on a life of its own - our war with Kush. It's our second one; the first one we started, thinking we could snag a city site. We were wrong, were roundly defeated, and were forced to pay a hefty tribute in training.
Eventually, Kush demanded that we install their preferred candidate as Grand Vizier. But we'd been rebuilding our military, and balked at their demand. This time, while we bent, we did not break.
But Kush was not deterred when their initial attack failed, and out counterattack proved to be a disaster. Their had onagers just waiting for us, plus plenty of reinforcements. Our troops were annihilated, and we had just enough to repel their counter-attack that attempted to take one of our nearest cities.
And so it has basically settled into a stalemate. This is aided by the terrain - there's only one way to attack, across a no-man's land of desert, with mountains barring any other passageway. Kush has many onagers and mangonels forming an artillery wall preventing any of our advances from breaking out, and we have been setting up the same. Every once in a while we'll send some storm troopers in to destroy a line of their artillery, but they always have another. They thought to put armor on their horses and send in cataphracts like tanks, but we had enough pikemen to be ready for that.
The second war started in 115 AUC, when King Themistocles was 54 years old and King Shabaka was 53. Several times ambassadors were sent to inquire as to peace, but Kush never sends a response. First Shabaka died, then Themistocles, but nothing changed. Queen Eurydice would prefer that Greece's efforts be spent on colonizing the islands in the middle of the map and establishing naval dominance before Rome or the Hittites do, but sparing enough resources from the war with Kush is a difficult proposition.
At this rate, the war feels like it could go on forever. Were this Civ, the AI would almost certainly accept a white peace, and the human could gain an advantage elsewhere, but Kush is determined. I suspect that the only way the stalemate will end is when Hatti attacks me, or when Rome attacks Kush.
It's different than my previous Old World games, which always had more open terrain, but has made for an interesting story. So I thought I'd share it. You never quite know what you'll find when starting a game of Old World!
Eventually, Kush demanded that we install their preferred candidate as Grand Vizier. But we'd been rebuilding our military, and balked at their demand. This time, while we bent, we did not break.
But Kush was not deterred when their initial attack failed, and out counterattack proved to be a disaster. Their had onagers just waiting for us, plus plenty of reinforcements. Our troops were annihilated, and we had just enough to repel their counter-attack that attempted to take one of our nearest cities.
And so it has basically settled into a stalemate. This is aided by the terrain - there's only one way to attack, across a no-man's land of desert, with mountains barring any other passageway. Kush has many onagers and mangonels forming an artillery wall preventing any of our advances from breaking out, and we have been setting up the same. Every once in a while we'll send some storm troopers in to destroy a line of their artillery, but they always have another. They thought to put armor on their horses and send in cataphracts like tanks, but we had enough pikemen to be ready for that.
Spoiler The Front :
The second war started in 115 AUC, when King Themistocles was 54 years old and King Shabaka was 53. Several times ambassadors were sent to inquire as to peace, but Kush never sends a response. First Shabaka died, then Themistocles, but nothing changed. Queen Eurydice would prefer that Greece's efforts be spent on colonizing the islands in the middle of the map and establishing naval dominance before Rome or the Hittites do, but sparing enough resources from the war with Kush is a difficult proposition.
At this rate, the war feels like it could go on forever. Were this Civ, the AI would almost certainly accept a white peace, and the human could gain an advantage elsewhere, but Kush is determined. I suspect that the only way the stalemate will end is when Hatti attacks me, or when Rome attacks Kush.
It's different than my previous Old World games, which always had more open terrain, but has made for an interesting story. So I thought I'd share it. You never quite know what you'll find when starting a game of Old World!
