Just 4 turns ago we got became the very seat of the re-stablished
HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, in le grand city of Orleans, where the divine power intended it!
We're fighting those who fail to submit to our authority, in this particular
instance the Burgundians. The Germans too fight these Burgundians. Even better,
we just got an army! Let the fireworks begin! Aix-la-Chapelle is in for a bruising.
Our previous great leader, Kylearan, pointed out we should probably renegotiate
peace with the English, perhaps for knowledge of Code of Laws.
(BTW, you cannot ever have any economic items on the table with the offer of a city)
Let's review tech and military situation, and see if we can come with both a
10-year plan and a path to victory.
We have 5 knights, 11 swords, two armies, 16 spears and 11 warriors. Avg to Burgundy
and weak to Germans, but we shall see about *that* assessment soon enough. We're well
over support costs and could more cities.
We're up just Feudalism on Germany. One upcoming research should be in Chivalry, but
CoL choice seem to be for price reduction only. Looking at it, no one has Early
Sigecraft and we could self-research that in about 12. Chivalry is 32 turns even at max w/o
deficit, so unfortunately that's a post-GA min sci run. Several civs (all top ones)
know CoL. We have nothing (besides untradeable Feudalism) to trade for anything, nor are
there any 2-fer opportunities. We're plus power only on Cordova and Castille really.
Cordova does have CoL. Renegotiation of peace wouldn't get much discount with English,
but it might work with the Cordovans. Byzantines have the Catphract, ouch!
The plan at present seems to be something like this...
- See if we can get CoL from Cordova in renegotiation in 2 turns
- At that point probably research Early Siegecraft at high speed, otherwise
Smithing since that's highly useful and will never be cheap.
- Hit Burgundy and hit them very hard - Aix, Dorestad, Basil, their iron, Venice.
- Consider following up with an attack on Germany - in any case we want ONE MORE RELIC
- With that in place, why waste time, build-up a terrific number of Knights and
assault Jerusalem.
[0] I need to know what those Danes are up to, so I make an embassy with them.
Hedeby has horses, no iron, 10spt, size 5 working on spear with garrison of 7.
He doesn't seem at war with anyone, why so many troops? He has 3 zerks RIGHT NEXT
to barely guarded Paris. He would sell us CoL for alliance with Celts, and 17gpt.
I wish our last leader said if they were moving right (to attack Burgundy) or left
(to attack Paris.)
Rearrange tiles to get Boulogne to 10spt, and swap him to Knight production.
The wife walks by and says "Wow, who are those tough looking red guys?"
"They're the bloodthirsty Danish vikings, sweetums."
"What's that pink city? They're going to crush it underfoot."
"Uh, honey, that's my capital. It's Paris?"
"Paris?? Ha! You'll hear them ring the bells of Notre Dame, just before they
torch the city to the ground."
"I hope you're wrong honey. If you guessed that while I just let them walk up to
my city, I'll never hear the end of this in my gaming circles!"
Now she's got me rather worried. What's the best way to get Danes on our side?
Alliance. But how? Who? Ah, they're fighting the Celts, perhaps we could
help you against these renegade rebels? Join the cause of the Holy Roman Empire
and let us fight together! They'll give us CoL for a deep discount of 17gpt,
well under half-price. Done! Er... where are the Celts anyway? I've never really
seen one. There are NO civs who can pay anything for it. I consider going after
Smithing as a sign of solidarity with our Viking friends, but it's 22 turns if
no deficit. The thematic choice, Chivalry, harkens. But full tech pace just to save
a few turns? No... work show by example our faith and love by researching Smithing.
Renegotiate peace with England and get 35g (discount was too small on CoL)
Renegotiate with Castille too, they need to pay for peace, and I don't need a
sneak attack. It's not much, but it's 12g.
IBT Danes go west, and move past Paris. Lots of archers move near our sword army.
Then we get an odd msg... "The rampaging English have destroyed the Celts!"
Oh my, no wonder we've not seen the Celts, the English have been all over them.
Hmmm... rep hit or will Danes be delighted at this turn of events?
In worse news, Burgundy archer lands next to Granada. England starts Domesday.
[1] 1011 - Danes show up with Smithing, and are as happy as a clam?! We could buy
it now for about 21gpt, which is not bad at all, especially for a monopoly.
Factories are nice, and we have the GA fuel to make them. Let's do it!
Again, incentive for them not to attack is a good thing. Chivalry is still a min-sci
item, not for now, but we can research Map Making, which can get a lot of cash,
in about 14 turns. Look at all these bldg choices! Blacksmith (+50% shields),
Monastery (+50% sci), Manor (+50% tax) and Town Hall (-corruption). They're all multiples
of 25 shields and Paris is 25spt. It starts a smith. Orleans however, at 36spt, is
such an efficient knight producer it will stay on those and get a smith later.
Many other cities to town hall, like Ghent, Bordeaux, Ampurias, Clermont, Lyons,
Rheims, Avignon, Rouen. Angers, Tours and Boulogne to Smith,
What a major turn of events. The war effort has turned into a limited-objective
extreme-build up, but one that is completely geared toward increasing our
ability to make knights, not just the immediate number of knights in the
field. The few we have plus the army plus Orleans production will suffice.
With exactly 120g in treasury, we upgrade our last horse.
Aix-la-Chapelle, hit by Germans last turn, now faces our army and swords. If the
latter can do it, the army can hit Dorestand. Elite sword starts us...
SCORE!! Louis VII! This is one of those days you can do no wrong. I should be up
in every one of my SG's today
He builds an army in Boulogne, and is mostly filled with Knights right away.
Reg sword beats sword at Aix. Archer on top. Reg knight almost loses! (silly Kyle
)
But he wins and a 'worker' is on top. Tis the king! For the glory of France,
the army must strike down this rebel against the HRE. Victory is as simple as
making French toast. We raze the city, as it has been a blight on Ghent from the
very beginning, and even the possibility of it flipping back is anathema.
Reg knight can now join the second army. (KA2) KA1 and KA2 are now both on a hill
next to Dorestad, which we hope to capture for its harbor.
IMPORTANT NOTE! I'm only putting *THREE* knights in each of the Knight armies,
otherwise they will be left behind on the boat(s) to Jerusalem!
The sword one got quad-filled, which is fine as he's a homeland defender/aggressor.
Speaking of which, he sacks Basel. Raze or keep? We could use the upkeep, as well
as the border expansion for Avignon. We'll keep. Rax is in place.
What about Granada? Not best of odds, but 1:1 or 1:2? We attack the long archer now,
win and promote. Not the best city to keep, but we'll use the upkeep while we can.
I look at the F8 screen. We lost a king?? I must have missed that in someone's turn
report. Ouch, thought not fatal. BUT... Aquitaine is ALONE in a coastal city. That's
sheer madness in a regicide game. She heads to Orleans, while Joan stays in Paris.
IBT - Several Burgundy arrives come to bel, but only half, they split their stack.
[2] 1014 - The two armies just run roughshod over Dorestad, slaying six spears and
swords in a row barely exerting themselves. Worker on top - another king!
The last will be in Venice unless he has moved. Venice and/or Rome are are next key
targets within Burgundy. The one knight upgraded last turn can attack this king,
and we defeat him, capturing the city. The harbor is intact, albeith the only thing.
It also gives us tar. There's one exposed hurt sword, so we fish him.
Sword army kills two archers, other troops advance from a defensive position to one
of offense. Time to renegotiate peace with Cordova. We allow him to live, and he pays
us 59g+1gpt. Sounds eminently fair. German seems to now have Feudalism 8-\
BUT... he lacks horses!!
[3] 1017 - Armies move next to Merc. Boy it's crowded with troop movement of all nations.
[4] 1020 - Sword army is healed up and ready to move again. Metz is captured by the
two KA's, against five spears.
[5] 1023 - Paris completes Blacksmith, now 37spt in GA, perfect for 1 knight per two!
Avignon finishes town hall and its productivity shoots WAY up, now 11spt, starts Smith.
Paris looks over the monastery. It alone produces 1/4 of the nations beakers.
It can use one eventually, but now Knights are needed while German can still make none.
Sword army arrives at Antwerp and kills top defender. Many units move under it.
Last turn a Burgy archer landed next to Ghent. Elite sword responds, and wins.
The KAs rest in Metz. IBT - Burgy stack of 7 archers runs away into the fog! They
figure the Germans are much softer targets than our quad-sword army SOD
[6] 1026 - Angers finishes smith, now at almost 25spt (GA), starts a town hall.
Next to Rouen are four small stacks of purple and blue Vikings!?! I sure hope the
bottom of each stack is a settler? Yes. Phew. Orleans pause to hit its Blacksmith now.
Antwerp is in trouble. It's hit by the sword army once, then swordsman, and two knights
the last one kills the four and last spear, and the city falls. Elite sword beats
down spear outside the city.
Half way across the world, our roaming eastern scout runs into a most unexpected
site - a Burgundy warrior-settler pair! He met them on a hill and so trailed them,
and they're now on low ground. For the glory of France he attacks! He dies, but it
is the death of a brave hero. With Map making due very soon, his heroics save us 1gpt.
IBT the purple and blue vikings move on along, good.
(continued next post)
Charis
I think Charis made the cash market for tech deals rather obsolete... we are now in the [punch] severe blunt (or sharp) trauma tech business. I'm not going after Burgundy with warriors... 
Canterbury has fallen!
It will have one next turn, but we now have one regular knight already, ah well.
)
