RBC13M -Middle Ages- Sanguinary Swedes (OPEN DG SG)

Charis

Realms Beyond
Joined
Dec 20, 2001
Messages
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Location
Midwest, USA
This is a Demigod level Open Succession Game. Anyone who feels competent
can grab it with a 'Got it!' post. Play 10 turns, give a descriptive write up (doens't have
to be overdetailed, may or may not be storylike, but should give the next player a clue as
to what is going on and what key things are coming up next)

As with other games in the RBC series, we'll be avoid all exploits listed in the
"Realms Beyond" rules. Although our reputation is a good thing to keep in tact, we
are after all, barbarians, and I expect we'll be a pretty mean and ornery bunch!
So war declarations, etc, should be honorable, but bloodthirsty. If you can, include
a screenshot, especially if our borders or cities have changed. Finally, try to "zip"
the save before posting, and avoid spaces in the name.

Scenario General Comments
- On this level the game will be won by Victory Points. Fighting will get you some or
many, but the most are for returning relics to Jerusalem
- Forests give 2 food, 2 shields! Don't chop them without great reason
- Norse Tradition, Byzantine Ingenuity, Western Church, and Arab Learning are all culture-
specific gateway techs that can be self-researched or stolen, but never traded.
- Contacts and maps are VITAL in this scenario - exploration can give us a HUGE advantage

Specific Comments for the Swedes
- We are militaristic and seafaring. We start with five cities (three size one, two size two)
Three cities are close together in Sweden, we're near Poland, there's a Dane city near us.
- We start with 6 zerks (6.2.1, 70), 3 longships (no more til Seafaring!), 2 swords and 3 workers
- We start already with Norse Tradition and ability to build berzerks. Soon, Blacksmiths
- We don't have any relics to start, but Berzerks are the means to obtain several
- The English relic in particular is choice for the taking and is the only one coastal, in
Chippenham. (Others are in captials of Paris, Regensburg and Rome)
- In fact, obtaining this ASAP seems like a good starting strategy?
- Our longboats move like the wind, and a final sail to Jerusalem seems quite doable
- Relations with our neighbors and cultural brothers will be dicey. If we go to war with
them we'll have no defense to *their* zerks.
- I think we start near Poland, which although not a playable civ, is no weakling (tnx Doc!)

I'll be playing the first 10 turns, and after that it will be free for all. If you
have any input, strategic tips, or questions, chime in!

Enjoy! :hammer:
Charis

PS. English top of the day - note, we're the Sanguinary Swedes (which means bloodthirsty,
eager for bloodshed), not the Sanguine Swedes (of healthy red color, cheerful).
 
I've come up with two diametrically opposed options for you to ponder. :yeah:

A.) Conventional wisdom for the Norse players is to be aggresive right away (that is what the other threads are doing). Unlike the other two Viking kingdoms, (ignoring the Rus for now) the Swedes have some room to expand. How about a peacful REX phase of 30 turns, THEN kick off the GA against the (relatively) hapless Poles? It would provide and interesting experiment/counterpoint to the other threads.


B) :viking: How about a quick strike against the Norwegians? You can probably kill two of their kings fairly easily and quickly. (Indeed, all 3 kings are on coastal cities). This assumes that their 'zerks will hopefully be leaving to wreck havoc with England??? What is their usual behavior?
 
Poland doesn't have any coastal cities, IIRC. Russia doesn't, either. You can sail through Denmark and smack on England and the Celts, but then you have to sail through Denmark and can't really hold anything you get.

I think you have two good options:
* Lay the immediate smack-down on Denmark. They're close, have less 'zerks, and should be easy to take over. Once Denmark is controlled, smacking down England or Norway becomes much easier.

* Ignore the smack. Settle the hell out of the Baltic, using 'zerks as strong counter-attackers. Once a massive 'zerk force is assembled, start a serious war with Poland. 'Zerks are king until strong fast units show up, so there's some time on that.
 
Well... I thought I would try something bold... and after it's done all I can say is I hope
I haven't already ruined the game?! :eek:
Herein lies the full story of the reign of Charis the Red

King Inge Charis stepped up to the throne in the auspicious year 843 AD.
He looked at the world of so-called "brothers" around him and knew that
when it came to dominant Viking powers... there could be only one. Others spoke
of invading the weak Celts, or the illustrious Brittains. Some even said that
we would be known throughout history as a nation that settled the Russian and
Baltic areas with great effectiveness, but Inge Charis only cared about one thing,
being the greatest Viking nation of all times. His plan was simple and straightforward,
although some would call it foolhardy.

Kill the Danes. Kill the Norwegians. Capture the Holy Grail. Expand throughout
all former Viking lands and the Baltic. Wipe out the Poles and Rus. Sack Jerusalem.
Any questions?? :hammer:

Why *so* bold? i) We have no 'defense' against Vikings, so unlike other nations who
only cower in fear and 'hope' they never attack us, we're going on the offense.
ii) If they send out zerks on their longships, their towns will be naked.
iii) If we hit and kill all three kings in first turn, there is no counterattack.
First turn is 10-15 and I plan 14 to 'even the years' (turn limit is 204).

Here's our start position, by the way...



[0] 843 AD - We have three longships, and three opposing kills to vanquish in each
foe's nation, plus six berzerks. Can you do the math, or is that tempting?!
Staraya to rax. Vastergarn on worker before its rax. Sigtuna a spear. Skara can't
believe it's not coastal, and starts a worker as well. We need improved land to build
zerks! Kopingsvik, low on food, starts a rax too. Olaf heads out to fogbust.
The only problem with the plan is - one zerk is off in never-never land, so one
ship will only have one zerk in it. For tech, we'll never reached horseback first,
will soon have no one to trade Norse techs with, and don't need Byzantine so-called
ingenuity. Seamanship in 40. Our ship meets the Danes. Polite niceties are exchanged.

[1] 846 - We've sent our *worker* to meet the neighbors with the brown border, and
say hi to the Kievan Rus. A so-called Viking, he has no port cities, and is not
militaristic. Inge Charis laughs in his face and says "You are no true Viking!"
Our ships meet the Poles.
[2] 849 - Our Northern ship meets the Norwegians, who are blue!? :p
[3] 852 - Tis turn 3, are the Danes ready to die? We ask them?! They say no, but
are willing to try. We declare from outside their territory!



The first attack, at Lund, goes swimmingly well, and of course... this kicks off
a Golden Age! Not a scratch on the zerk, either. He promotes, but a king remains
standing in the city. Olaf is 1.1.2. A sword is coming up to finish him off, freeing
up the zerk if things go poorly elsewhere. At Hedebsy the harbor is destroyed! A
crippling blow to them indeed (although zero chance we could keep it anyway).
We take a bombard hit first but kill the spear. Zerk beats zerk, losing 1 hp. King shows.
At Ribe we defeat a spear and sword, losing 2 hp but promoting on second attack. The
third king is now exposed. Note if this were Monarch diff w/o the extra spear defender,
the Danes would already be *eliminated*. With almost no roads, I don't think they'll be
able to reinforce in time unless ships are very nearby. Build queues all swap to
higher shield items with the GA in progress.
IBT - No counterattack, only one sword moves. Sigtuna expands to get the wheat, yay!

[4] 855 - At Ribe, we kill spear, King back on top. Zerk goes after him and... one down!
Since they have no counterattackers next to it, and since I hope the Danes are gone
very shortly, I keep the city. At Hedesby we do redline, but then win and promote.
(Six att *really* is nice!) Next attack destroys the rax. (Hmm, was hoping to
preserve that. Sword that moved in dies, then spear. King left... I can either bring
up the other zerk, or... if I let the zerk next to him enter the city I can face it
on offense, not defending. At Lund, zerk beats spear, "worker" showing. Hehe, that
means the King is the only defender. This should be good - a battle between
Erik Knutson and Olaf - I can't pass it up! Pardon this blatant risk, but... we really
just need one King and this is just a showdown of superiority of kings. Erik turns
yellow, then... promotes and wins, capturing Lund! :whipped:



IBT zerk and worker move into Hedeby, and shoot, a spear appears too.

[5] 858 - Well, we do have three zerks on hand anyway, plus the Veteran Erik.
The healthiest zerk takes the first swing, expecting and getting a bombard. He
wins and promotes to elite. Next up destroys the temple, and promotes to vet.
Finally, it's our last zerk vs their last king. We destroy the marketplace, then
win, and *UNLIKE* elimination game, in regicide when you kill the last king it
counts as being *before* the city is taken, and so it turns to rubble! Ack! Eek!
Well... ex-capital or not, for us it would just have been another corrupt city.

It's just year 5, and the Danes are gone! :hammer:

[6] 861 - healing
[7] 864 - moving
[8] 867 - more moving
[9] 870 - We declare, then move in their territory and assault. At Trondheim,
kill a spear and a zerk, still a zerk showing. At Stavenger, kill a spear.
At Borre, kill a spear. No promotions.

[10] 873 AD - Back at Trondheim our elite zerk attacks vs spear, and good news...



Erik the Victorious! The zerk is now called Charis the Sanguinary :p
Second zerk redlines but kills the zerk there, now just a worker showing (aka the
king). At Borre, we beat a zerk, spear left. At Stavenger, zerk beats spear to
become elite, sword showing. Vet zerk mauls reg sword, spear left.
With cities back home *bare*, major MP problems, and our tax goes to 20%. Oh well,
the boys are out playing, and Viking boys will be boys.

IBT - Norwegian longboat comes out of the fog at Vastern (eek!) and it...
does nothing! Phew.

[11] 876 - As mentioned above, I'm planning to take turns 14 on this first round.
If things go well, that will be about the time we finish Norway.
Trondheim - Charis the Sanguinary goes up against the king in pretty robes with
a 5 foot great axe. You can guess how that turned out :p We capture the city,
including a worker and settler in town, and get a message that we've completed
the road to bring iron to Sigtuna??? Ah! Harbor intact in Trondheim, along with
rax, and it has a road going next to iron right next door, cool! Ironically,
I was working on a few warriors for cheap MP and defenders. The city is not fully
corrupt, btw, just 50% or so. Which city to try to keep and which do we see become
ruins? Borre is closer to the capital and next to cattle, so let's hope to keep that.
We attack Stavenger first. Hmm, first things first - bring leader into city, and make
an army. That may help us fishing. For now, til we have more zerks, we'll want exactly
two in the army, to get both attacks and have good hp, but that keeps an extra zerk
around lose to maximize #attacks. When we get more zerks, fill up with a third.
Borre, we beat a spear, but zerk showing, king hidden, and we're hurt. Will need the
other zerks to sail over and reinforce. OK, back to Stavenger. Elite goes red but beats
reg spear, now king showing. Full power vet zerk takes him on... and wins. Two down,
and we capture the city. Our two extra leaders are pulling MP duty there for now until
a defender can be produced. No one has any new techs, btw.

[12] 879 - Can it be?? A turn with no attacks?! With only one 1hp zerk at Borre, yes.
Others move up. IBT - That bloody English galley just founded Hastings on OUR new
territory, near Borre. No problem, a coastal town is something we can EASILY handle.

[13] 882 - Norwegian longship off the coast of Ribe. Do we attack it? Stats are 3.2.1.
IF it's full, that's a good thing to do. Actually, it's out of range. I move our
guy blocking the chokepoint back into the city. Our capital is at 10spt now in the GA,
nice. IBT - CRUD, it was full. Zerk beats warrior, but they only had one in the ship!

[14] 885 AD - Borre's time has come! The army arrives and attacks to draw the bombardment.
It lost a whopping 6hp, so good thing, but it wins. It hits the next zerk too and
wins. Now the elite can fish the spear. Our last vet zerk goes vs the king... goes
red... but wins! The city is in ruins, and the Norwegians are GONE! (Good timing too,
14th turn as desired). I send the zerk at Stavenger over to Ribe, as the English
are looking at it funny, and Erik goes to guard that chokepoint to Germany for now.

We now have 1715 VP, vs zero for the rest of the world *combined* :=)
That's 800pts for conquest (400 per civ? lol) and 915 for unit kills. That would be
about 1pt per shield kill then?

Thoughts for next leader
- If war wasn't over, Skara would have swapped to zerker but instead should finish its
granary this, as it's a high food, good shield city on a river. With the lateness of
aqueducts, only river cities should be considered for granaries in this scenario imho.
Sigtuna is in same situation, where granary is good idea now.
- At some point, no rush, Trondheim needs a temple.
- We need the rax cities to pump vet spears asap for defense and MP very soon. We have
totally unguarded cities at this point.
- Our Russian city now has spear with its zerk, and one might afford to go scout south
- Speaking of scouting, one very good idea would be to send a longship around the whole
globe and make a gazillion contacts... SOON.
- *KEY POINT* Get ONE of our roving leaders back home and SAFE in the capital.
Trondheim king could come back over mountains easily after the spear finishes
in that city, else get Bjorn the heck out of Stavenger.
- After war with England, it's open debate who is next. Poland, Celts, or Rus.
- An alternate plan that would work REALLY well would be to heal the zerks, load them up
plus maybe one more and assault England. Specifically Chippenham - home of the Holy
Grail, before that thing moves. If doing this plan, hit Hastings as well as it hits
size 2, so we can capture it. There's a zerk and longship in Ribe, ready to move once
the spear is done.
- I've rushed *nothing* this turn, to leave cash to buy techs - but only do so after making
about a dozen contacts!
- NINE turns left in our Golden Age, use them wisely!

Our lands at the end of the reign of Charis the Sanguinary...



Two of the toughest civs on the planet eliminated on player turn one... not bad! :goodjob:
Who will Grab the game next?!

Good luck!
Charis
 
That's going to be one hard act to follow ! But followed it must be, otherwise this game would be as dead as the Danes :p.

'Got it'.
 
All right, good luck Jack Merchant! I have a thought after reading the Danes' thread, and hope it's not too late. While Paris is non-coastal, it's easy prey to a landing of enough Berzerks. With the army in particular, we may get no counterattacks!? I would most highly recommend razing Paris for a relic, then forget anything else French, loading back up and capturing the second Relic in Cheltenham. Heck, get a third from Germany and with about 8 more zerks then set sail immediately for Jerusalem!!?? :hammer:

Charis
 
I was tempted yesterday, but with "kings" and "relics", I stood down. I will follow this game though, to learn what those units mean, for a scenario.
 
Holy freaking crap. Great work, Charis!
 
Too late I fear for Paris - Chippenham must go first :(.

Sanguinary Swedish king Inge Charis took the victory celebrations seriously - so seriously, in fact, that he forgot that swinging around bloody big axes and huge tankards of beer don't mix - no-one's sure exactly what happened, but it was really messy and involved the spilling of a lot of perfectly good beer and perfectly good blood.
Next morning, the Viking with the least debilitating hangover picked up the crows, had the women sweep the floor and proclaimed himself King Jack Ingesson Merchant. Since the sanguinary Swedes asked him what kind of king called himself a merchant when they could just take what they wanted, he merely smiled and resolved to clear any doubts about his manliness. But first, he went to work.

IHT Slow growth in Skara by a turn so the granary completes first. Zerk from Staraya Ladoga will explore the Baltic coast a bit. Swap Koningsvik to zerk in 6, as we won't be able to produce all that many again between our GA ending and Smithing to come in, plus we can always use some spares.

888 AD (1) So here's the Merchant plan - we're going to gather and heal our forces in Ribe, keep one longship ready to go after Hastings, the other two will head for Chippenham, grab the Holy Grail and get the heck out of dodge. In the meantime, peaceful expansion around the Baltic and the Finnish gulf will be the order of the day.

Skara completes its granary, starts a warrior for MP.

891 AD (2) Skara finishes its warrior, grows in 3 so I'll have it build a settler now. We meet the Burgundians, who are not at all pleased to meet us. I wonder why ?

894 AD (3) Ribe spear - settler (feel free to veto - I am thinking we could plant another city in the North of Jutland for increased unit support if nothing else). Lund barracks - spear Vastergarn spear - curragh (to explore the Baltic coast and to transport its sword)

2 Longships set out for Chippenham, filled with the army and 2 Zerks. The third Longship will go after Hastings with one zerk. Our Staraya Ladoga Zerk bludgeons a Finnish warrior with his axe.

IT An English sword appears near Stavanger. Do they fancy taking a crack at our king ? No matter; the Longship from Ribe can reach it instantly.

897 AD (4) Sigtuna granary - spear. Our mighty longship navigate the North Sea into the English Channel, and meet the Franks. The Frank envoys blanch a bit after taking a look at the mighty big axes our men are swinging around. Our Zerk near Staraya cracks some more Finn heads with his axe and promotes.

900 AD (5) Kopingsvik Zerk - temple. Skara settler - spear.
Hastings grows to size 2 - you know what that means:



Promotion and a half-decent second town :D (war honourably declared). Settler sets out from Skara with a warrior for escorting duty.

903 AD (6) The English sword appears again but our Elite Zerk in Hastings does have a turns' time to heal. We meet the Celts, who have HBR. I'm thinking we can raze a couple of their towns after picking up the relic so as to gain it - no sissy pointy stick-research here, but mighty-big-axe extortion !

Staraya needs a taxman without the Zerk inside -I'll bring him back then so it can grow again.

906 AD (7) Our army and 2 Zerks kill 2 vets and a regular spear in Chippenham. Meet Alfred the Great:



only one sword in it ? :smoke:. The English sword next to Stavanger is killed by our Zerk.

IT Another English galley appears north of Ribe

909 AD (8) We kill Alfred the Great plus another spear in Chippenham. There's still a reg spear left though, so I take a chance with our remaining 2hp zerk....

which dies and promotes the spear. We sink the English galley in retaliation with our longship.

Found Stiklestad:


As you can see, it's very close to both Skara and Sigtuna, but it grabs a bunch more forests and should reach size-7 no problem. I start it on a granary and send a newly-produced spear from Sigtuna there. Sigtuna starts on a settler.

912 AD (9) Kill 3 more spears in Chippenham, only defended by a king now. Longship deposits one Zerk in Hastings for temporary MP (the other one is still in Stavanger) and holds to pick up another one.

915 AD (10) GA ends; Kopingsvik riots, of course, but I can scroll-ahead to keep Skaara happy.

Kill another 3 spears that the English moved into Chippenham. Our army is still at 7/9, but our other accompanying Zerk is at 1/5. Closest reinforcements we have are at Stavanger (2 Zerks in a longship, can pick up a third one in Hastings if so desired).
The relic, tantalizingly close but still out of reach:



Looks like I was overoptimistic in going after the English so soon, but fortune favours the bold, as the late king Inge Charis so ably demonstrated before tripping over his axe in a drunken stupour :p. We would have gotten the relic already if it hadn't been for the one Zerk failing to take out the last spear in 909 AD. Of course, given king Ingesson Merchant's relative lack of similar success, another mighty Swedish warrior might fancy a crack at the
Sanguinary Save and the English (who, btw, are already prepared to give us HBR, but of course we do want the relic !) now :).
 
Well done! Way to go Jack! Good attack, honorable, nice city founded, and good MM of the granary (I meant to mention this, good eye)

:goodjob:

Getting the relic is an absolute must - I'm sure it will fall into our hands next turn to the army. Then no reason not to take peace (raze or give away city, it's not a keeper as its indefensible) for HBR, nice pointy stick! :hammer:

I would still suggest we then gather the zerks and army and slam Paris next.

Who will be so bold and skillful as to step up?? (Remember, it's Demigod, despite our success so far :p )

Charis
 
Got it.
 
Pre-turn: look in, do a little MMing.

IBT: England moves a Warrior into Chippenham. Is that all you have left? Heh.
Germany moves a settler pair into Denmark.

918 AD (1) Army attacks Chippenham, flawlessly kills warrior. Tries again and Matilda shall waltz no more.

Move a Bezerk into Chip to pick up the Grail.

Talk to Matilda. (Must be a different Matilda.) England offers HBR, 30 gold, 4 gpt, and Nottingham for peace. Nottingham is in a sucky place, but it's right next to Chippenham.

Hm. So, do we want to be landownders, or raiders? We shall think upon this... but we'll take the city first.

921 AD (2) Sigtuna Settler->'Zerk.

Nobody will give us anything for our cities; we'd have to gift them. Hm. Well, even completely corrupt, we can assign all of their people to tax collecting, and squeeze 4 gpt out of the poor citizens. If they fall to English or Celt culture, no loss. If they don't, perhaps eventually we shall come back and take the whole of England.

924 AD (3) Ribe Settler->Spear. Skara Settler->Spear. Hastings Spear->Spear.

Move the 'zerk out of Hastings and into the LB.

Build an embassy with France- no point trying to attack Paris if I have no idea where it is! Inside are 4 Spears, 1 sword, and a king. 8 spt, sword due in 1, size 5, grow in 2, Palace, Barracks, Temple, Market.

IBT: Turks show up! Glad to meet them, I'm sure.

927 AD (4) Kopingsvik Temple->Settler.

IBT: England gets uptight about out ships in her waters. I wonder why?

930 AD (5) Stravanger Spear->Settler.

Found Grobin on an old dead Dane site. Begins a Warrior for MP.
Found Apuole. It likewise starts on a warrior.

IBT: Germany's turn to get pissy about our presence. Oh, you'll get yours, Otto.

933 AD (6) Not much.

933 AD (7): Vastergarn Curragh->Worker. (We need to mine the plains next to it.)

Dial up France. Tell them we want all their money for peace. They huddle on it, but decide again it. So we introduce them to Mr. Axe.

IBT: French respond by... running away. Why does that not surprise me?

936 AD (8): Skara Spear->Zerk.

Found Elbing to claim one of the furs to the north of us. It begins a warrior for mp.

IT: France shuffles units around, sending a sword out of Paris and a settler in. Smart.

939 AD (9) Kopingsvik Settler->Spear.

Our men lead an amazingly charmed life, as the army takes out two spears in Paris and suffers no damage.
One elite loses 3 hp, but kills another spear.
Second elite loses 2 hp, but destroys the Temple and kills spear #4.
Vet 'zerk destroys the barracks and kills spear #5.
Last 'zerk steps up to the plate and kills a sword, leaving a spear on top.

IBT: At least 3 swords move into Paris. And at least 2 move out.

942 AD (10) Lund riots. My fault.

Army takes out spear #1. Going to leader fish a bit, now.
Slightly wounded elite 'zerk redlines, but kills another spear.
Decide not to risk it, and send the army in after the sword- good thing, as the army loses 4 hp in killing it.

Now, there's a Settler on top. We know what that means- it means that Joan gets to face the results of her decision personally. Down she goes- flawlessly- and lets out a scream. :eek:. The unit promotes! The city is razed! We get 5 workers!

But no Relic.

Check the 3 swords that just moved out of Paris. One of them is red. :rant:

Okay, here's the current set-up: we have 1 exposed unit due to the unit that entered the former city of Paris. The three swords outside of Paris can attack it, and probably will. We have 2 damaged units that can move to join the exposed unit- that risks losing all 3 units if the rng is against us, but even if we lose all 3, that pins down the relic-holding sword, so I think that's the best move. But I'm not going to do it; I'll leave it to whomever picks up to do it. But whatever else happens, get the army to chase down the relic holder!

I'd suggest that, barring disaster, we stay at war with France until they research Castle Building and pass it on to us. Once that's done, we can move in one of two directions: build up our strength for an assault on Jerusalem, or kill off the English and keep their lands for ourselves.

Other notes: I've left a longboat back home so that it can pick up the 'zerks that are being built. Our workers are starting to move north to road the forests (+1 com) and get to the furs for a luxury.


Attaching the save as the server seems to be down. Once it's up, I'll post some pics as well.
 

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Well done Corrado, things are going nicely, according to the principle of "Sanguinicity!" :hammer:

By all means, yes, the army should run down and kill the red sword. Hopefully, he won't run far or will run towards the German or Burgundian relic :p If either of those civs lack iron, that would seem the one to go for.

I would go so far as recommend the following - if our plan is to get a third relic and sail to Jerusalem, nothing else at home matters but extra berzerks and a few extra Curragh. The latter are slower, but I don't expect Longships anytime soon - although if we can accelearte that we should.

Grab this sword-carried-relic and one more, then load up 3 FULL longships with the army and top notch berzerkers, including one or more holding relics. Sail for Jerusalem and never look back. Just how fast can we win??

Not a got it, I hope someone else of great valor, courage and skill can finish the blitz on France and turn to one of their relic-laden neighbors!
Charis
 
Pretty tame set of turns for this game. Not a whole lot happened.

Early -- lost the exposed zerk taking out one sword. Fortunately, the sword who beat him was the one carrying their relic, so avenging his death got us our second relic. That was the goal, so I made peace with France, getting a RoP and paying a bit of gold. Oh, and we got Castle Building, too.

Middle -- Sailing comes in, letting us build longboats. I start one. The coolest thing, though, is how brilliant our Swedish scientists are. Not only did we get Sailing, we got an SGL with it. Now, there's absolutely nothing for him to do (short of moving the palace, a unilateral move I didn't see as necessary). I'd like to steal Western Church and go HREing, but that's more gold than we've got, even to try. Meanwhile, we start smithing at min run, saving gold for rushes and stuff.

Oh, we're low on gold because I rushed a few 'zerks to fill a third longboat. They're off sailing west, sailing west, sailing south towards Rome and thence to Jerusalem. We need a third relic and since there's one practically in our way, I figured we could get that one....

Late -- sailing, sailing, sailing for Jerusalem. Even at move 7, it takes quite a while to get anywhere. We have our army of zerks and 3 extra zerks in two boats just around the southern tip of Iberia. A full longboat with 4 zerks is a ways behind but coming on fast. I figure we might want to capture Rome briefly and rush a zerk or two there to get us up to full strength.

And Chippenham flips back to the accursed English. Ah well...just one more city to take if/when we need a few more VPs.

Who's next to grab?
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads6/rbc13m-975ad.zip



Next player should get to hit Rome and the one after that Jerusalem, I hope!!

Notes:
- Finish a longboat and be ready to hit Burgundy in the north, too, when we go after Rome. Might as well smash them as much as may be. One zerk is ready and a few more are nearing completion. The boat is the problem....
- The curragh is over near France to carry some workers north to our Celtic holding.
- Be sure to load a third zerk into the army at some point -- probably when landing near Rome -- to guarantee its safety. The relic, apparently, doesn't take up a spot on the boat, as our army of 2 zerks carrying the relic had room for another zerk on board.
- No real good ideas on what to do with the SGL. Up to the next fine sanguinary swede!

Arathorn
 
After hearing the tales of glory and plunder told by his ancestors, Justus Justusson knew the longships were calling his name as well. He would lead an expedition in search of yet another of the mythical relics, this one from the Burgundians, and then set sail for the Holy City of Jerusalem.

Seeing that his predecessor had left the kingdom running smoothly, Justus gave no new orders, and proceeded with his plan. Fate favors the bold, as our expedition in the Mediterranean is helped by a speedy tailwind pushing us forward, (caused by the Cordovans ordering us out!) :lol:
IBT: Ribe-Spear>Worker, Trondheim-Temple>Longship, Nottingham-Spear>temple (don't know what to do with this city?), Stiklestra-Rax-Zerk, Apuole-Warrior>worker.

978 (1) Rush the longship at Vastman (128g), so it will be able to pick up the zerks. I will wait 2 turns, then short-rush the zerk in Skara.
IBT: Renew peace with England, I don't see any reason not to. Franks JUST got a settler in place near the ruins of Paris, as 3 other nations had settler pairs within 2 tiles!
Sigtuna-Zerk>zerk, Vastan-Longship>Longship.

981 (2) Our ships approach Sardinia, getting close...
IBT: Nothing

984 (3) Short rush the zerk in Skara w/temple (60g).
IBT: Kopinsvik-Zerk>zerk, Skara-Zerk>zerk, Meztnk-Worker>worker.

987 (4) Declare honorably on Burgundy. Elite zerk loses 1hp vs. regular spear, second elite kills second spear and:



Something's Missing! Move along citizens, no relic here. Justus goes into a fit of rage, and vows to rip Burgundy apart until he can find it!!! :mad:

Well, as long as we have the town, I land the army and load another zerk in it, to forth and kill an archer who happens to be in the neighborhood, seeing Milan.
IBT: We lose a worker who had been wandering around in Franks territory, I pushed him toward Burgundy to scout. Don't have much other use for them until we can get them home.

990 (5) Army hits Milan, killing 2 reg spears but losing 5hp. Sword is left defending.
IBT: Another sword moves into view, maybe this is THE ONE!

993 (6) No such luck, actually see several swords moving around, but none look Sanguine. Enraged, Justus orders the army to attack Milan again, and in their bezerker fury, they kill a sword and a spear without a scratch, capturing the town. They spot an archer and 2 more spears, but no relic. Meanwhile, our other troops load up in a Longship and hit Genoa, killing 2 reg spears and burning the temple (one elite loses 2hp) to take that city.
IBT: nothing.

996 (7) Our fresh longship arrives off the coast of Dorestad, and Justus orders a thorough search there as well. First zerk promotes vs. spear, second spear dies, third spear redlines our zerk, but dies, and our final zerk kills a sword, leaving Phillip as the lone defender. In the process of searching, however, the Barracks, Granary, and Temple were all destroyed. Stockholm is founded SW of Skara. At Naples, an elite zerk is redlined killing a spear.
IBT: Our land-locked cousin, Rurik, asks for a subsidy of 27g, and although it may not be very Sanguinary to give it to him, everything we have is half a continent away, while he has a zerk in range of Starya, so I give it to him.

999 (8) At Dorestad, Phillip has been reinforced! First zerk loses 3 to a spear, second (the elite) loses one to a spear, third kills a sword without loss, and once again Phillip is left standing, taunting us, as I don't want to risk a 1hp zerk. His time will come, however. In the process, the Harbor itself is destroyed (hate to see that, that was our best shot to get one on the continent). At Naples, one zerk loses 2hp vs a spear, second loses 1, third takes no loss killing hte last spear. Our longship also sinks a Curragh trying to escape from Venice, I hope our relic wasn't on board :eek: Army heals on a mountain near Milan.
IBT: Genoa is retaken by an archer. In our bezerker rage, I have no intention of trying to defend any of these towns, in fact I should just be razing them, but at least it may draw the relic carrier out into the open.

1002 (9) Phillip is still alone at Dorestad, and our elite zerk kills him, taking the city, and a barracks. Another zerk moves inland to kill an adjacent sword, but loses 3hp, so is now vulnerable, but does spot the capital, Aix-la-chapelle. In the south, I attack Marseilles, which is suprisingly well defended. 5 zerks kill 5 spears, losing a total of 4hp, and there's still a spear showing! Army loads a longship which had sailed up the Adriatic.
IBT: Burgundian sword does kill our exposed Zerk near Dorestad.

1005 (10) Marsailles has 4 more spears, as one zerk is wounded and another (elite) zerk redlines, but the city finally falls, and still no relic! At Venice, the army takes out 2 spears, just for spite. At this point, some of Justus' guards finally wrestle him down, as he continues screaming about finding his precious relic, and burning every Burgundian village to the ground.

Most zerks have already attacked, but the ships have moves left. Next leader can continue to tear up Burgundy looking for the relic, or load up and head to Jerusalem with the 2 we already have. We are over 6,000 VPs already, and I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunities for VPs in Jerusalem.... Or we could go beat on any of our previous victims for a few. Back home, there are 3 more zerks due in the next 4 turns, and enough cash to rush another longship easily. With that, we could try to push inland from Dorestad, or we could load up and get out of there as well.

At this point, anything we take on the continent will be hopelessly corrupt, and without a harbor couldn't even get us any luxuries back home. One advantage of Venice is there is a harbor there, if we don't burn it down in the process. This is especially true for the cities in Italy, most of which are still in resistance since I didn't garrision. We could hang around and try to rush another zerk or something down there, or just give them all away to someone. Just a thought, but if we gave them to the Abbasids, would they send forces from the Holy Land to garrison their new posessions?

Swedish Italy


Turks have Early Siegecraft, I don't remember if anyone else we know does, but it's obvioulsy out of our price range at the moment. I like the idea of saving for a steal of Western Church, then use our SGL (who is still in the capital, BTW) to rush HRE and grab 2 techs. IIRC, an immediate steal was 380, we have 264, but save some for rushing the longship.

The rational choice would be to load up and head to Jerusalem with what we have, and leave the continent without a trace, as we are raiders, not builders! But I doubt I'm rational right now, as I still want that Relic!! So it's a good time to hand off to someone else. ;)

Find That Relic!! (or not...)
 
Gah! Rome! :saiyan: WTH did they do with the Shroud?! Tis enough to enfuriate the most gentle Viking pillager. What on EARTH are you keeping cities for???? :lol: And you want to become the seat of the new Holy Roman Empire?! No wonder this madman was cut down by his own troops (j/k, it was an excellent turn, but that idea is funny)

Sinking the ship was pure :smoke: . It risked a longship and possibly its zerks on board (unless it was empty) and risked destroying the Shroud forever. We may never know. Only the army and six zerks down South now? Bad luck on their moving.

I wish I knew where the relic was. If close by, certainly a good idea to grab it, but from the looks of it, heading to Jerusalem would be the smart thing to do. In fact, we're really blind, have no way of seeing where he is or seeing in their cities, and we're in danger of losing a few more zerks and being incapable of taking Jerusalem. Heal up, and move out, I would think!

Nice assault on Rome, though their craftiness prevented full success.

Who will press on to Jerusalem?!

Charis
 
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