Plains-Cow and Shikhar Agrawal Play Earth18Civs India on Monarch

[sylvanllewelyn]

If you're interested, you can download the real-sized Earth map on the forums and simulate alternative Indian history there. The map is a work of art.

 

[Harv]

Here is my Session 3 up to Turn 90 - I just called it The Gambit.

I am still struggling to find a balance between building cities and workers and it's possible I have been doing too many buildings. Our economy should be completely crashed by now and we have failed to do this and this means we are not expanding fast enough. The dilemma I have in this that I am struggling with is our next city sites are in the jungle.

Spoiler :

T70 We banned slavery for a few turns. We thought we did this earlier.
T71 Scout 1 in Delhi. Monument in Vijayanagara.
T73 Barracks in Bombay. We finished them because they were almost finished.
St. John the Great Prophet is preaching somewhere in the world. This happened about 25 turns after Stonehenge was built. So we are guessing it is very likely that whoever built Stonehenge was Philosophical and we can only think of two such leaders and that is either Alex or Fred. (It turned out to be Fred.)
We sent our Scout towards Persia and spied their units. They have at least 2 Workers, 2 Warriors, 2 Archers, 2 Immortals, and have already discovered Iron Working and will soon work on a mine. Persia is actually off to a great start.

T74 Masonry.
Our explorers and traders have reached China and our economy is still expanding.
T76 Somebody built the Pyramids. (It turned out to be Hatty.)
T77 Settler 6 in Delhi. Worker 6 in Bombay.
Contact with Toku.
T78 Lighthouse in Bombay. Library in Pataliputra.
T79 Founded Agra at the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent.
T80 Worker 7 in Delhi. Library in Vijayanagara.
The Arabs had a setback in their research. We have contact with the Mali Empire.

T81 Iron Working
Contact with Cathy, Hatty, an Alex.
T83 The Waters of Life can be found in Timbuktu.
Contact with Caesar.
T84 Worker 8 in Delhi.
Somebody built the Oracle.
T85 Worker 9 in Bombay.
T87 Axe 1 in Delhi. Worker 10 in Viayanagara. Barracks in Patal.
Here our economy peaked at 69s / -16g or 44g. We should be at about 0g and grinding our way towards Currency.

T88 Granary in Agra.
The Chinese are expanding and we lost the race to the copper mine.
We also shamelessly reloaded this in an effort to avoid a bad monsoon season destroying our granary in Delhi. We were also successful.
We found that we avoided whipping the Barracks in Vijayanagara for a turn and that prevented the Romans from demanding a cow from us and that prevented the trigger for the monsoon event. The gods will punish us soon enough. Either that or karma will get us.

T89 Settler 7 in Delhi. Worker 10 in Bombay.
Did I count my workers correctly?
T90 Mathematics. Barracks in Vijayanagara. Granary in Varanasi Sword 1 in Pata.
Contact with Louis.

Here is a look at our empire.

Spoiler :

We survived the first part of the gambit. We delayed Iron Working a few turns to pick up Masonry, so that we could attempt to built the Great Lighthouse. It is very unlikely that we will get the Great Lighthouse, but I believe if we do, then we have a way towards infinite city sprawl. If we don't get it, then we get a little bit of failgold that will help us towards Calendar and Currency.

We were worried for a bit that our neighbor Cyrus would get aggressive before we could have any units to defend ourselves. So our second reason for Masonry was to build walls just in case we need them.

Alphabet is out.

Spoiler :

We can actually pickup Alphabet and Archery both for Iron Working and Mathematics. The consequence is we lose our advantage of having Mathematics, but we open up the tech trade. I counted the trade to be worth 775 to 620 and does not seem all that bad.

There is also a barbarian city at an amazing location and we would do well to beat the Chinese to it. So next up is the race to Indo-China.

 

[aitkensam]

Epic speed. 1230 AD Domination.

Spoiler :

I don't normally play maps bigger than standard sized but couldn't resist a bit of Earth 18 Civs. Not a very well planned out game on my part but fun nonetheless. Decided not to take any vassals and to go for Domination which made it quite a slog towards the end.

1025 BC. I also went for the settle next to Persia and Warrior rush strategy. Teched worker techs then went Alpha to backfill. 1725 BC Persia, Arabia and Egypt were dead via chariot rush. Got Stonehenge but missed Oracle to the Spanish. Up to 9 cities. Plan to move capital to Thebes, tech towards Currency, and then get Horseback Riding (closely followed by Elephants) to kill Europe.

Spoiler :

55AD. Up to 17 cities. Greece is essentially dead. Just waiting for a couple of size 1 cities to grow so as not to auto-raze. Not quite ready for JC's Praetorian stack, so off to kill France (Pyramid, Great Wall) and Spain (Buddhist shrine) first and get him on the way back. The old world is 100% Buddhist! So Spanish shrine will be tasty but I'll also be getting a lot of "You declared war on our friend" diplo penalties. Not to worry, it's Monarch after all. Currency, CoL, Calendar, Lit all in. Music next for the artist. Also built MoM.

Spoiler :

520AD. 33 cities. Europe is mine. Russia is next! Plus tidy up of Scandinavia. Elephants and trebs now. Three road movement helps a lot! Also starting a slow stack up for China. Built GLib, Parthenon, Hanging Gardens (nice with 25 or so cities!), captured Great Lighthouse. Shrine +45 gold. Yum! Tech will be Cuirassiers, then Chemistry.

Spoiler :

1050AD. 69 cities. Russia dead. China and Mongolia will be gone from the mainland in a few turns. War on Mansa is about to start. Found new world. Lincoln died four turns before I could get there to kill him myself. Tech will be Communism and Astro for some fun with Monty. 26 turns of Golden Age left and going to get one more with next great person. I started Golden Ages waaaaaaaaaay too late. All of the wonders are belong to me (including Taj). Settled South Africa for the gold and gems. Shrine +71 gold.

Spoiler :

1230 AD. Domination. China and Mongolia are dead. Plus 1 city Japan for good measure. Started the Settler spam way too late as well. Very careless endgame overall. Took seven or so Monty cities before Domination saved him. Inca survived! 123 cities at the end. 56.1% land versus 51% threshold. Also 23 turns of Golden Age left... So far away from optimal, but at least it was fun!

Spoiler :

 

[sylvanllewelyn]

Thank you! Thank you so much for confirming

Spoiler :

that domination can be won without Australia or the Americas. Someone did it so I don't have to.

Do you think conquest will require fewer turns than domination? You will need astronomy later on, but you can raze cities rather than keeping them.

 

[aitkensam]

Thank you! Thank you so much for confirming

Spoiler :

that domination can be won without Australia or the Americas. Someone did it so I don't have to.

Do you think conquest will require fewer turns than domination? You will need astronomy later on, but you can raze cities rather than keeping them.

I think Conquest and vassals would be much quicker. My approach would be a quick ramp up to 10-20 cities then tech to Cuirassiers and then kill the world fast with two movers. I'm sure better players would be able to make the Dom approach much faster too.

 

[Plains-Cow]

Spoiler Update 4: Vanishing Nations; A World at War :

Pouty Isabella, who's been so isolated this entire game, gets put out of her mood by being completely wiped by the Aztecs. The Sunset Invasion continues as Montezuma seeks more and more plains-cow power in the Old World (well, the New World for him). Unfortunately for Monty, he also finds that New World diseases have made their way back home as well...

I decide that I want to get cheeky and start settling into Australia more. There's really no reason not to since I have the econ and cities that can spare time making settlers for it. Ayodhya...the REAL Poverty Point.

Not content to leave Monty to dominate all of the Americas, I decide it's time to found Indian Alaska and land a few settlers up north as well. Unfortunately, I place them all in an area where they can't walk out and need to bring a boat back to move them to the northern side of the Bering Strait. Still, there are resources abound in this cold tundra. The boys and girls bring their spiciest chili; it's a far cry from sunny Delhi. Oddly enough, with zero prompting from me, Qin decides he wants to put longbowmen on my city to defend it against the New World wildlife. Cool move, China.

The war with Arabia is all but over, and a small Indian army marches into Ethiopia-Somalia in order to finish of the cowardly Saladin. The rest of my forces will be placed around Russia for an all-out conquest of Catherine. She's recently decided that she wants a piece of Louis, and is invading westward. It's a great time to get the drop on her. The Arabs get totally wiped off the map, and I can start drafting from Arabian cities right away thanks to the culture being all mine.

For too long, the Russian aristocrats have taken advantage of the working cows of Eastern Europe. It's time for the Great Patriotic War of Russian Cow Liberation! The best that Catherine the Meh can do in her defense is muster up a few machine gunners. At this point, I have so many armies around her that multiple forces can just attack different cities. I also railroaded through her and all the way into Western Europe so that I can better position my units to strangle the European nations like a noose.

Mmmm. Feel this border gore.

Checking back in with the settlers in Alaska, they stumble upon a "barbarian" city with a, uh, fully-equipped union worker building roads and other improvements around a city that's culture-popped in the middle of the arctic. You know, just "barbarian" stuff.

Indian forces are taking out Russian cities so quickly that most of Russia's cultural borders are MIA, allowing the map to look like it did in the early turns. It's always fun to see that sort of thing lol.

A quick peek at the settings, in case any were curious.

 

[Plains-Cow]

Spoiler Update 4 continues; an Indian Victory! :

"Long live our Indian motherland, Built by the people's mighty hand.
Long live our plains-cows, united and free!
Strong in our mettle tried by fire, long may our Indian flag inspire,
Shining in glory for all cows to see!"

"....we also declared war on Frenchman Louis!"

"Beep....beep....beep...."

After getting smacked out of Scandinavia and losing his few Western cities, Louis decided to capitulate. All he has left is a few ex-English cities he's managed to snipe from Monty in a previous war and some Brazilian holdings. The poor sap doesn't even have assembly line yet. Obviously he's trying to go space-focus, but come on now. I've turned on the culture slider awhile ago (perhaps some eagle-eyed readers have already noticed?) so that I can get faster border pops for a Domination Victory.

That domination is getting closer and closer. Indians around the globe celebrate as if counting down to the New Year: India Super Power 1920.

People pour into Vijayanagara, inspired by the words and deeds of veterans of the Wars of Plains-Cows Liberation. Surely though just one population isn't going to be enough to.......

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

....and there you have it! A Domination Victory on Monarch Earth18 Civs as India! Here's a look at the final map. Alexander has vassaled himself to the strongest leader throughout the game during my inter-turns, or else I'd have crushed him long ago. He escapes Indian conquest for now.

Power chart:

Ranking:

The End! It was a lot of fun to play as India, a nation I've never tried before on any Earth map, and though Monarch allows you to get away with a lot, I had a lot of fun getting back into the swing of things and posting some fun gameplay. It's been great to see the enthusiasm from everyone that's jumped in to play along. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's updates! Now in my game, the plains cows of India can moo in peace...

Spoiler ....................? :

 

[Harv]

Nice game, Plains Cow! The picture you showed of the domination victory made me think there was a game ending giant meteor in the events. I estimate it will take me another couple of weeks to finish my game, especially as late game turns tend to take a lot of time. Are you planning to start / continue an Earth18 series?

 

[Plains-Cow]

Nice game, Plains Cow! The picture you showed of the domination victory made me think there was a game ending giant meteor in the events. I estimate it will take me another couple of weeks to finish my game, especially as late game turns tend to take a lot of time. Are you planning to start / continue an Earth18 series?

Spoiler Continue? :

Hmmmm....you'll just have to wait and see (and read the spoilers)

 

[Harv]

Spoiler Continue? :

Hmmmm....you'll just have to wait and see (and read the spoilers)

Entiendo! I figured it out!

Spoiler :

But where you are going, there are no cows to be found!

 

[Harv]

Harv Session 4 - Turn 100 - For Everything a Season and a Time

This is a short session. I fell asleep early on Friday.

Spoiler :

T90 We started with our trade deals. We started with Sally of the Arabs.
Mathematics(25) and Iron Working(20) to Sally for Alphabet(30) and Archery(6).
So it's a trade worth 45 for 36 and did not seem terrible on this level.
We also traded Writing(12) and Agriculture(6) to Mansa for Polytheism(10)
This seemed a bit more unbalanced for whatever reason, but it is Mansa.

T91 Sword 2 in Delhi. Axe 2 in Pataliputra.
Somebody built the Temple of Artemis - probably in the New World. We are guessing Monty.
We founded Calcutta - and I think the location is pretty close as well!
Contact with Izzy - She is the Buddhist Oracle in this life.
Also unusual about this game is it appears Buddhism is the only religion that exists in the Old World. Hinduism and Judaism are in the New World.

T92 Caesar built the Great Lighthouse. That seems to be not much harm and we convert our failed wonder into 91g.
Contact with Lizzy. This means we have met everybody in the Old World.

T94 Cyrus asked us nicely for Mathematics and we gave it to him. As a consolation prize we got a 10 turn peace treaty.
Sword 3 in Patal.

T95 We traded with Muse Mensa again. This time it was Masonry(8) for Priesthood(6).
I do not remember if there were WFYABWTA penalties and if this is the case, we are limiting good future trades for easy to research technology. If that is the case, then picking up Archery, Polytheism, and Priesthood was a mistake.

T96 Lighthouse in Agra, the junk city at the southern tip of India that is developing ahead of its northern neighbor that was founded earlier.
Meanwhile a hurricane hit Rome. We reloaded over a monsoon taking out a granary because I am lame. For the next game we might take out events. I have not decided.

T97 Settler 8 in Delhi. Archer 1 in Patal.
T98 Calendar. We traded Writing(12) and Priesthood(6) to Louis or Monotheism(12).
We are climbing the forbidden tree of religion and have nothing to gain out of it right now.
Maybe we do gain something. We traded with Izzy, but she wanted everything.
Iron Working(20) Writing(12) Sailing (10) and The Wheel(6) to Izzy for Monarchy(30).
I think this was her Oracle tech and she had a monopoly on it. It was a 48 to 30 trade, but we now have Monarchy.

Further east, our Sword 1 started to attack the Ghuzz Barbarians and barely made it with (I did not check) 2hp.
We promoted him to be our healer in future campaigns.
T99 Axe 1 killed another barbarian and Sword 2 finished the job and captured the city of Ghuzz.

T100 Sword in Vijay. Library in Bombay.
The Library in Mecca got a donation.

It looks like I miscounted my swords somewhere in this summary. Here is a summary of our units:
8 Cities
1 Settler
13 Workers
1 Scout
7 Warriors
1 Archer
2 Axe
4 Sword

Here is our empire:

Spoiler :

Those Barbarians sure built a nice city for us to capture! We might even start grabbing Indonesia and get a foothold on Australia. The Philippines might also be a goal.
If we had the Great Lighthouse, then we could also build silly cities on all those islands.

 

[Gwaja]

Wow some fun developments going here! Enjoying all the updates!

 

[Harv]

Oh hi! What is best here is learning from a couple of them that it is possible to take over the world from Afghanistan. There is not much to my current update. I think I got distracted by a sudden doubling of city happy cap and forgetting I am supposed to be building cities until the economy crashes. For this reason, I saw no reason in including a picture.

Harv Session 5 - Turn 113 - The Founding of Christianity

Spoiler :

T102 Sword 5 in Delhi
T103 Sword 6 Sword 6 in Pata
T104 Currency. Axe 3 in Pata.
T105 Somebody (Mensa Musa) founded Confucianism.
We founded Lahore near Ghuzz somewhere near modern Vietnam. We are at 9 cities.
T106 Monarchy (30) to Mansa for Code of Laws (35) and 35g.
Except for being 1/3 through Code of Laws, this seemed a good trade. It helps we actually acquired it from Izzy.
I wonder why Mensa Musa contacted us to acquire Monarchy instead of Izzy.
It looks like we also built a Lighthouse in Varansi.

T107 Cathy asked for some help and we sent her Mathematics. We have another 10-turn peace treaty and maybe a friend for a while. She is also a known backstabber.
We finally shifted to Hereditary Rule and Slavery.
T108 Market in Delhi. Galley in Bombay.
T109 Library in Agra
T111 Library in Vransi. Galley in Agri.
Kashi Vishi has been built.
T112 Market in Patal.

T113 Theology. Christianity founded in Vijayanagara.
Market in Bombay. Lighthouse in Ghuzz.

Our economy is at 175 science with 50g deficit - or 112g surplus - or balances at 70%.
We..... have not been building enough cities.

 

[Harv]

Harv Session 6 - Turn 128 - I Want a New Drug!

Spoiler :

T114 We got the herbalist event.

Spoiler :

This showed up pretty late in our game. No plains cows @Plains-Cow were harmed in our experiments. No animals were harmed. Many humans died. We got a bonus 20 turns worth of whip anger, so it basically costs us 2 whip cycles. But we got our new wonder drug and a permanent +2 bonus to city health.

T115 Toku wanted us to cancel Hatty, but we defied him.
We sent Iron Working to Lizzy Mediation. We messed up her original offer and probably replaced it with something better.
T116 Aesthetics
T117 Christianity spread Delhi and Patal.
T118 We did help Sally with Monotheism and gained another peace treaty.
Courthouse in Patal. Work Boat in Lahore and we claimed the Crabs.
T119 Literature
Qin built the Mausoleum.
We won a Warrior from a Tribal Village. I suppose.... he can keep a city safe somewhere. In the mean time we sent him to guard a hill in Australia.
T120 Christian Temple in Vijayanagara and it will be 34 turns for us to turn a Great Profit from it.

T121 Alexander completed the Hanging Gardens. We are getting none on the early wonders.
This was a turn full of action and drama. Caesar DoW on Fred and Izzy DoW on Caesar.
Caesar gets to use his Praetorians at an ideal time, but has a two front war. I think the war will drag on for quite a few turns, but believe Fred just has a bigger empire and will edge out a win. We decided to stay neutral in this war and declined all requests to help.
T122 Drama
Temple in Patal.
T123 Settler in Delhi. We should have done this many turns ago. We are starting to get punished for this. Persia dropped a city exactly where we were going to put our next one. We adjusted our location based on this to somewhere less ideal, yet most likely better. We also found out China beat us to Australia.
T124 Christianity spread to Calcutta. They are finally getting some culture and maybe eventually push back against Indo-China.
We finally chose this as our opportunity to convert to Christianity and Organized Religion. We will only build Missionaries when we have to, but we get a bonus to our buildings.
T125 Settler in Bombay.
T126 Qin demanded 130g and we refused. So tensions are rising between us, especially with our empires so big. It appears he is plotting and we are his most likely target.

T127 Maybe it was his spy, but it destroyed a Hamlet. If it was his spy, we are accumulating intelligence in his direction.
Confucianism spread to Agra. This is where we need our missionary. We spread Christianity the next turn.
We founded Madras on the dye on the Malay Peninsula. We are now at 10 cities. We should be at 20.

T128 We stink at diplomacy and declined to help Caesar with Theology. Besides we might still have a monopoly on it and maybe a head start on the Apostle.
Our new Great Artist, Huey Lewis Armstrong showed up, hence the title.
Messing with our plans to settle the islands and Australia, pirates showed up. We have 2 Galleys total and a defensive advantage. We can probably defeat them, but should build more navy soon.

Here is our situation in Southeast Asia:

Spoiler :

[/spoiler]

 

[aitkensam]

Thank you! Thank you so much for confirming

Spoiler :

that domination can be won without Australia or the Americas. Someone did it so I don't have to.

Do you think conquest will require fewer turns than domination? You will need astronomy later on, but you can raze cities rather than keeping them.

Played a game out to see how Conquest went... (as Louis for some variety)

Spoiler :

Rather well was the answer...

HAs was all that was needed. Chariot rushed Germany, Spain, Romans and Greece. Settled inland on Stone so English came next with a couple of axes and chariots. So up to 9 cities by a bit before 1120 BC. Built Great Wall (bad play but less thinking about barbs...) and Mids (very useful for happiness and given I ran a lot of scientists). 1 turned Oracle -> MC for cheap forges. Teched to HAs. Went Russia first (DoW in 875 BC) and then Mongols and China with that army, plus workers for uber long roads. Took a settler with them too so that I could build a couple of galleons for Toku. Got feudalism in 800 BC. Mansa peace vassaled kindly. A separate army went for Egypt, Persia, Arabia and India. A third army started stacking in west France to wait for Astro. Built a bunch of galleys to upgrade. Only one Astro bulb as I got unlucky with two spies (naughty Great Wall). Also built MoM for longer GAs once I had enough HAs. 200 BC Astro. Monty first, then Lincoln while a few galleons headed round South America. Then Monty saved me a few turns by settling so that I could pass through central america. In retrospect, I should have taken a settler to do this in case he didn't. Inca were the last to vassal for a 325AD Conquest victory. Had a giant HA stack outside his final city. Very tempting to kill him rather than vassal, but decided to be lame and take one turn earlier victory.

A few screenshots

Spoiler :

Automated all cities towards the end. Hence the random buildings being built.

 

[Harv]

I might finally have to admit to being distracted - and waiting for a posting of the next in the series.

 

[Plains-Cow]

Spoiler Bonus Update: Montezuma's Gamble :

With most of the known world under Indian control, the plains cows can rest easy in their breezy pastures. Of course, there's still threats to cowkind across distant shores, but an ever-growing coalition of cow protectors come closer together to regulate plains-cow travel and vacations. We also now have "Great General," one of the most well-known military leaders in history, on our side.

Beshbalik's cows are in danger of starvation, but the Chinese decide to give ALL of their food stores so that no calf need starve to death. What an act of kindness! Some of the excess goes to the Indian workers sailing across the Pacific to South America, helping them on their journey to the New World with a contingency of cows under the auspicious care of the Army of Sita.

Sensing his time to strike and take what's long eluded his grasp, Montezuma declares war! Tokugawa vassals himself to the feather-headed menace in hopes of getting a few Indian moocows of his own. The devils! Who knows just how far these ambitions reach?

Surrounded by the Aztec navy, the Army of Sita decides it's best to land at the capital in an attempt to cut the head off the serpent outright rather than get sunk in the middle of the salty seas. The Indian workers ration their food and help build impromptu lanes of attack for the approaching army. However, Montezuma surely hasn't declared this war on a lark. Who knows how many Aztecs he has waiting in the mountains?

The dastardly Japanese attack our Australian holdings, razing the prestigious desert-gold city in the middle of the continent! The budding center of culture is in ruins thanks to a Japanese General Custer and his cannonade! The cities to the south of it are perilously under defended, and a massive effort among the populace is made to find young men capable of garrisoning the Indian-Australian coast.

Montezuma has a massive stack heading northward, and he captures the once-barbarian city of Angle in Western Alaska. The Indian nation scrambles to amass its naval forces, though plenty are sunk in Aztec ambushes. The corporations seem to love Montezuma's decision, and they take this time to expand throughout the Americas unhindered.

Alexander, long flip-flopping from one master to another, has been surrounded for some time from all angles with multiple corps of Indian armor. They blitz across the flatland of Central Asia and Anatolia, making short work of his meager forces. The Greeks flee to their peninsula in an attempt to make a final stand. Truly blinded by their master, they refuse any notion of mercy or grace. The updates from the Greek front are rapid, as shown in the three Indian World News updates:

 

[Plains-Cow]

Spoiler Bonus Update: Ravana-Montezuma's Rage; Is All Lost? :

The Army of Sita bombards the Aztec capital, crushing the temples and buildings where countless craven Aztecs hide, and the first forces storm the gates. However, all is nearly silent in the lightly-defended city. Only a few demons screech and attempt to defend their capitol, but otherwise all been annihilated. In the silence of the graves, Indian soldiers and workers walk nervously to the capitol's buildings, when suddenly, the trap is sprung! Montezuma's heads and arms split into multiple armies, each with at least 40-50 units each, and surround the capitol from all sides! The Indian forces manage to hold out for a few turns, but eventually even the most dogged defender is slain by the Aztec monsters Ravana-zuma has summoned to his side. An utter tragedy is reported as Sita herself is captured and imprisoned. The Indian Nation is in tears!

A rather large Indian garrison takes the initiative, outraged by the capture of their plains cows, workers, and the much beloved Queen. They attack southward, expanding their reach into Northern Canada, and though their first successes are easily won, there are many issues regarding supplies of artillery pieces and shells, slowing their advance far away from reaching Central America.

Two news updates quickly arrive from the West; the Greeks finally are brought to heel. Alexander himself is brought to Delhi after the Indian blitz, laughing like a madman, claiming that Ravana-zuma is unbeatable, that out of all the Masters he's sold himself to over the centuries, he was indeed the Alpha and Omega. After all, who's going to say "no" to an Aztec with ten heads?

Scattered reports from Northern Canada make their way to Delhi. A small force of Indian soldiers are chipping away at Ravana-zuma's stacks, eating one at a time. Using both the city and cover of the forests, Indian artillery pound any Aztec demon that dares show its fangs. Thankfully, it seems as though this will be the perfect foothold for an all-out invasion of the Americas in order to rescue Sita!

....that is, until 150+ units appear! With a speed as if possessed, the Aztecs arrive in the tundra and throw themselves against the Indians holding out in the northern reaches. Wave after wave of screaming, fur-clad infantry throw themselves into the fight, eventually overwhelming Indian ability to supply artillery and munitions for soldiers so far afield.

More successes are happening to the east of China as the Japanese home islands are invaded by a rather large Indian army intent on seeing them brought to justice. One cannot expect to sign away their soul to Ravana-zuma and be pardoned from Indian justice. It isn't long before multiple cities fall under the Indian banner! Various island cities are also quick to submit as superior Indian naval vessels island hop from one to the other.

Unfortunately, for every piece of good news that arrives regarding the war against the Japanese, a request, followed by a plea, followed by information of a last stand arrives from the Americas: Ravana-zuma's forces of 150+ units begin to recapture their cities and even a few Indian ones in Alaska! While the populace's morale back home is bolstered by "hamburgers," (chicken sandwiches with smiling cows on the boxes handed out by the Indian government) the war maps show holdings in the Americas shrinking by the turn. What is to be done? Eventually, the Aztec forces will march against the last city possible to drop off soldiers in and celebrate above the dead men who died for their land and their Queen.

 

[Plains-Cow]

Spoiler Bonus Update: A Savior Arrives :

Just as hope for Sita's liberation and Indian morale couldn't be lower, an Indian prince and his allies arrive in the farthest reaches of Northeast Asia...

An impressive, continent-spanning bridge is constructed out of seemingly thin air, allowing for a rapid transfer of the latest Indian military units. Indian workers have seemingly little hand in its building; apparently mysterious allies from the northern woodlands are responsible. It doesn't take long for the first modern tanks to sprint across the icy wastes, quickly pushing back any howling Aztec that crests the cliffs. A massive battle takes place outside of Ujjain, crushing Ravana-zuma's forces that would have otherwise went up against the remaining Delhi Daredevils that refused to surrender. The Indian forces that form the attacking forces in the Americas quickly become famous worldwide as their name spreads: The Army of Rama.

In contrast to the elated Indians, Japanese spirits have never been lower. Four pieces of news arrive at the same time: the capture of the Japanese homelands, the surrender of Japanese Indochina, the conquest of Japanese Australia, and the capitulation of the Japanese colonies in South America. It isn't long afterwards that Tokugawa is dragged out from his hovel outside of Tokyo to sign a capitulation document promising that he would never look askance at a plains cow again.

Faster than a speeding arrow, the Army of Rama sweeps across Canada and into North America. It splits into three trident tips as it approaches New England, taking each city with an otherworldly ease. Each city has at least a few plains cows on display as trophies, each from the defeated Army of Sita. Indian POWs and forced laborers tell tales of Ravana-zuma's cruelty and supernatural powers, still shaken from witnessing his terrible form. Nothing seems to shake the army's leader, the Indian Prince, who proceeds with a stoic determination southward.

Huayna Capac, the fair-weather ally of Ravana-zuma, loses two cities and asks for mercy. He shows his willingness to declare war on the dark powers to his north that have harrangued his people for a millenia. The Army of Rama accepts his support, and all eyes turn to the Aztec capitol and Sita's rescue.

The Army of Rama Arrives outside of the final Aztec stronghold: the capitol city. From all sides, the forces of Hinduism converge for one final battle. Even if the mouth of the world were to open and swallow them all into void, the Indians would still fight Ravana-zuma's demons in the pits of fire. Lighning from the heavens strike, and the Indian Prince at the army's head blows through the Aztec defenses. An oddly archaic warrior named Hanuman at his side uses his war club to smash his way through the dark palace's gates in the middle of the capitol, making way for the Prince and his soldiers.

Much is to be said about that day. The fighters from all of India doing their part to help their Prince rescue his beloved. The sacrifices and ingenuity of the people of the woods helping speed the army forward across even the oceans themselves. However, the story most repeated is the instantly legendary tale of the Indian Prince and Ravana-zuma, clashing in mutual combat, splitting the skies and shattering the rocks. All fighting the capitol stops as the Aztec leader's cry of pain is heard echoing through the valleys. The Army of Rama stands triumphant; Queen Sita is saved!

From all corners of the globe, India stands victorious. Celebrations kick off across the world, some revelers not pausing for days as news of the unmolested Queen and her Lord returning back to the subcontinent reaches even the most modest home. It is a mood of utter triumph and redemption, of sacrifice and honor, of tears and blood, and even more that would go into the annals of history as both fact and lore. No matter one's outlook, one proclamation rings throughout the echoes of time, one that gives hope to any of the downtrodden or oppressed to this day: Jai shri Ram!

End.