Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. And Hannibal, you have
seriously ticked off this little Russian lady! Did you think about the fact that Catherine is the ONLY woman on the planet? Huh? I didn't THINK so!
No nookie for you, big guy. Stylish stubbly beard or no. I mean it.
Unfortunately, Hannibal does not realize that "no means no". He and a few of his friends are camped on our doorstep, drunk, singing bad love songs, and waking the neighbors. Time to explain the facts of life.
For some reason, many of the screenies I
thought I took are not there. So just use your imagination...
Inherited Turn - 1840
Bribing someone to help us is...well...problematic. As in, nobody is interested. Brennus and Khan are both Pleased with Hannibal, and we have little to trade.
For instance:
Guess we're going to have to do this the hard way.
In the meantime, I go on a sales trip. Khan and Cyrus both want to see some of our Musicals (13g/turn and 15 g/turn), and Brennus has a thing for Bananas (5 g/turn). That puts us at +81 g/turn, or -12 if we go 100% culture. Leave it at 90% for now, 'cuz we're going to need the $$$.
I buy a Cossack in Yakutsk, promote the longbow to CG2, and look at the odds on a counterattack. Not good (25%ish). So, cross fingers, press Enter.
IBT - Hannibal throws an Arty at us, killing the newly-promoted Longbow. Another Arty and a Cav attack, but two of our Cossacks take 'em out. Plus some pilaging and bombardment. All in all, not too bad.
Oh...and that Great Person we were expecting? Another Engineer. Not so useful now, but whatever.
Turn 1 - 1842
I'm not going to belabor all the builds. Suffice it to say that, outside the big 3, I'm building Cossacks, Rifles, and Grenadiers as appropriate, unless I say different.
Near Yakutsk, I throw the brand-new Cossack at the beseiging stack - I wanted to cut it down before the next one moved up from behind. Lost to the Grenadier, but retreated, and the Gren is at 1.0/12. Again, any other counterattack has lousy odds vs. the Artillery. Hunker down, start praying.
Also start the third Buddhist temple, in Novgorod.
IBT - Hannibal throws most of the stack at Yakutsk, killing a Grenadier and a Musket. Loses three cavs, and the only Arty that attacks loses, but retreats.
More pillaging, bombardment, etc.
Turn 2 - 1864
Temple is done, Novgorod goes back to culture. Start the Stupa in St. Pete.
Hannibal gets a GG...and so do we. Ours appears in Yaroslavl'. Basically across the Empire from where all the combat is happening.
Yakutsk is down to 30% defense, and Hannibal's stack is mostly Artillery, with a single rifle and grenadier, but more cavalry is moving up. Sargon, our first Warlord unit, is due another promo, so he gets Medic to help the garrison hold out. And I decide to make the counterattack - lost 1 Cossack, killed four arty, one rifle, one grenadier, and all units are back inside the city. Sorry no screenies of the combat, but the stack outside Yakutsk is GONE. Everyone heaves a sigh of relief and tries to heal up a bit.
IBT - NO ATTACKS!
A few units are wandering the borders, but nothing major is happening.
Turn 3 - 1846
IBT - Cyrus wants me to stop trading with Japan. Buddy, I can only make one person happy per day. Today is not your day, and tomorrow ain't lookin' good either.
Turn 4 - 1848
Another biggish stack is heading toward Yakutsk - 6 Cavs, 2 Grenadiers, and a couple Artillery. This is getting old.
Our GG shows up near Yakutsk, too. I merge him into ONE cavalry, making a 27XP unit, and promote him to Medic III. Now we're cooking with gas! Send him back into the city and hunker down again.
IBT - Mini-stacks (2-3 units) head toward Rostov and Yaroslavl'. The stack near Yakutsk retreats!
Turn 5 - 1850
Ah...Hannibal's town near Yautsk is under severe cultural pressure (down to 49% native culture). The big stack is parked in there, perhaps trying to suppress rebellion? Oh...and he's upgraded some of the units to SAM infantry. That can't be good.
Turn 6 - 1852
Killed off the mini-stacks near Rostov and Yaroslavl'. Lost a couple of Cossacks, but we've got more coming up.
There are now no enemy units on our territory. The war is now ten turns old, but Hannibal still won't talk, even if I cry. Rats.
Here's a shot of the stack parked in Shangian:
IBT - Hannibal is moving units around our western and southwestern flank, through Khan's territory. Not much I can do about it except keep my eye on it. And leave a few modern (for me) units down by Sakae.
Turn 7 - 1854
St. Pete finishes the Stupa. Everything is over 500 culture now. Start Heroic Epic in Rostov.
Turn 8 - 1856
Since St. Pete is still well behind the other two, I burn our GE on Oxford (+4 culture) there. Slap down a wandering enemy Cav, too.
Turn 9 - 1858
Snore.
Turn 10 - 1860
St. Augustine shows up to lift my spirits.
Thanks for nothing. At least it looks like I can wrap this war up soon - we've bloodied Hannibal's nose, and our kill ratio is very good, so if he'll ever TALK to us...
Anyway, I keep playing.
Turn 11 - 1862
Kill a couple of pillagers. Otherwise, not much.
Turn 12 - 1864
Finally Hannibal will talk to me. Let's see what he'll give us to go away.
I'm...underwhelmed. Ok. Kill another pillager and keep thinking positive.
Turn 13 - 1866
Let's see if Hannibal has come to his senses. No!?! Not even a Cease-Fire? How about a Treaty, if I give you 400 gold and my world map?
Ah...yes. No screenshot (grr), but he took it. And then he took some Musicals for 15g/turn.
War over, peace in our time, etc. Let's get back to business.
And, just to TRY to keep the bad Don Johnson clone in line, I set this deal up:
Yes, you read that right. We have a Defensive Pact with Japan. Must be my winning smile.
While I'm at it, I renegotiate a bunch of resource deals. Now, if I force two Merchants in Moscow (and why not?), we are balanced at 100% culture. Let's rock!
Turn 14 - 1868
Not much. IBT Cyrus offers O/B (which I accept) and Brennus shows up immediately to demand that we cancel deals with Cyrus (which I decline). Brennus is still Pleased, so that's OK.
Turn 15 - 1870
I start Rostov on West Point, just in case we wind up in another war. Feel free to veto, but why?
I also notice that we have
bunkers in our cities' build lists. Nobody has built the Manhattan Project yet, but someone has the tech.
And that's where I stopped. I had to force another merchant somewhere to balance the books (inflation or unit maintenance kicked up), but here's the city summary:
- Moscow in 32 turns.
- Novgorod in 32 turns.
- St. Pete in 37 turns, and game over.
And finally...
the save. Try not to make us all dead 'n' stuff, Oz.
ers. The 1gp per military unit won't go so well with the economy either. So OR we stay.
! Must have more culture 
.
