Justus Khan ascended to the throne, and beheld the devastation that he had wrought on the evil Greeks! Where once had been great cities, was now a barren wasteland. However, all this open land tended to attract the worst elements of society, as Barb camps (named after Barbslinger Khan) and, even lower, Carthaginian settlers were showing up in OUR new lands. Therefore, Justus Khan decreed that we would encourage more migrations of our own people to claim these lands, and motivate
the people in our outlying towns to build more temples so our people would feel united in culture. As he was leaving, Barbslinger also handed Justus Khan a ring of keys, saying The armies are all parked in New Karakorum, all healed up and ready to go. Takeem for a spin! A quick look verified that we indeed had 5 4-cav armies, fully healed and fortified!! (Actually, there was also a sixth army near the border with Carthage also). Oh, yeah, this is gonna be fun!
1275 (0) Consolidate borders: Whip temple in Intombe, double whip temple in Ordorhaan, switch a couple other cities who can be whipped in the next couple turns. Switch orders to settlers in Rusicade, Hadrumentum, Nalayh (at a loss of 3-4 shields). There is a Celtic rifle/settler trying to poach near our Ivory in the west, I move a couple rifles and a cav to block the roads (Déjà vu all over again). I also whip a rifle in Rusaddir, as I am concerned about the frozen stack of Carthaginians on our coast. Finally, I move our 5 armies into positions around Knossos and Megara (their current capital), and the sixth moves near Glanum. Only action is taking out a couple reg rifles in our territory. Vet cav kills the first one, losing 2, then we lose a vet cav redlining the second, and another cav finishes him off.
IBT: I see two Greek cav, one grabs a worker by himself, another kills our wounded cav, but is exposed.
Richborough Market-cav, Rusicade Settler-temple, Intombe temple-cav, Hovd cav-cav, Hadrumentum settler-settler, Rusadir Rifle-rifle, Ondorhaan temple-cav, Ulaangom wall-cav, Nalyah settler-settler. Carthage uses the peace to enter a builder phase, starting construction on Bachs, Newtons, and Magellans!
1280 (1) First, pick off some stray units near Glanum. Elite cav loses 2 killing a reg cav, vet loses 1 killing another reg cav. Western army (18/18) loses 3hp killing 2 reg rifles, vet cav loses one killing a 2/4 cav, and Glanum is ours. Since it is size 1, I keep it. At Knossos, our 19/19 army attacks, killing 2 reg rifles at a cost of 2hp, then loses 4 on a regular cav, but we are victorious, and I raze the city. My plan is to raze the 3 larger cities in their old core, and then I should be safer keeping the other smaller, originally Scandinavian or Celtic cities. At Megara, 17/17 army loses 1 to cannon, 4 to vet rifle, then no losses to another vet rifle. A second 17/17 army moves up, loses 6 to a vet rifle, then 2 to the next, and the city is no more. The army continues to take out a longbow that was outside the city, losing 1hp. Now at Tugela, a 19/19 army takes out a vet and reg rifle, losing 5hp, then an 18/18 army moves up, kills the conscript, and we raze it (it was still pretty good size). A cav and a Crusader take out the barb camp on the rails. More settlers are ordered, Veranium, Lapurdum, Gergovia switch, losing a couple shields but will be done next turn. LOTS of worker movements, as I try to organize the stacks into 6-worker or 3-worker equivalents, and get our newly captured ones on the railroad. We have a better rail net in captured lands (probably some left-over greek rails too) than we do in the core. I am concentrating on connecting the core to the front, then will worry about boosting production. Also, I have to pull some scientists off, partly due to rushes, also I want some smaller towns to grow (so they can be rushed), so I set them working food tiles. Industrialization slips to 16 turns, but at the rate we are going, I doubt we would build a factory anyway.
IBT: Reg cav attacks one of our vets and dies, our vet loses 1hp but promotes. More Carthaginian settlers, including founding Utica on the former Greek south coast. They also have a LOT of rifles moving around in no-mans land. A barb moves out of the fog, on rails, and kills 6 workers
This might be the first time Ive seen a barb using rails! (Makes sense, just never saw it before). Thermopylae riots, Kazan Cav-cav, Veranium, Lapurdum, Gergovia all produce settlers.
1285 (2) Crusader takes out the offending barb, time to look for the camps. That appears to be what Carthage is doing also. Camulodunum double-whips a cav (because I can!). Found new cities: New Almarikh, New Tabriz, New Ulaanbaatar to fill in gaps behind our front-line cities (near Rusicade-Hadrumentum). Cav dies redlining a rifle/settler, longbow finishes him off. At Copenhagan, 15/18 army kills 2 reg rifles, losing 2hp, and we take the city. Hareid has 2 reg cavs outside, so my 13/17 army takes them out with no losses, then kills a vet rifle also without loss! So now a 14/19 army proceeds to lose 7hp to the second vet rifle, but presses on to kill the cav and that city is ours. At Curovernum a 15/18 army loses 7hp taking out 2 vet rifles and a cav.
IBT: Reg cav kills our vet, losing 1. Camul. Cav-cav, Choy cav-cav, Tsetserl. Cav-cav. Hlobane double-whips a temple, Ngome switches to temple.
1290 (3) Rhodes falls to a 14/19 army, losing 5hp to kill 2 vet rifles. I am feeling more confident, so I keep the city. Outside Artinisum an elite cav kills a wounded regular, losing 1. Stockholm has 2 vet rifles, and our 13/18 army loses 7hp but takes the city. At Reykjavik I have a 13/17 army, who takes out 2 vet rifles, but loses 6hp. Time for some healing for the armies, and I move up a few cavs to garrison some cities. Eretria is tempting, though, but I dont have any armies available, I guess I will have to attack it the old-fashioned way. Vet cav take 2hp off the first vet rifle, but dies (lost one to a cannon). Second cav takes 3hp off another, but also dies. Use an elite* (Jochis Hussars? Whats a Hussar
) to finish off the 2/4 rifle. Another elite takes our a reg cav, losing 2hp, and another elite comes in to kill the last redlined rifle. The city is razed, which relieves cultural pressure on Lindum, and we capture a cannon and treb. More foundings, New Hovd, New Darhan fill in holes NE of Thermopylae. I whip a temple in Tosentsoot.
IBT: Reg cav dies attacking our army in Reykjavik. Karakorum, BatShireet, Alesia finish cavs, Entremont riots (oops) Ulundi, Eboracu, build workers, Hlobane, Ngome finish temples, and Agedicum a settler. The sound of the whip gets our people into a frenzy, as we get 3 expansions to our palace.
1295 (4) Quiet turn, as everyone needs to heal. I do move a couple armies into position for next turn, settlers are also getting into position.
IBT: Must be a healing turn for Alex too, no attacks! Cavs produced at Tatu, Ullanbaat, Tabriz, Davan, Erdenet. Delphi finishes worker, Marathon wall.
1300 (5) Check our status, we are at 50% land and 60% population, according to F8 (I like this feature, BTW). Start to really focus on our domination goal, we will need more settlers and more temples!
Found New Dalanzagad, New Mandalgovi. At Ibabanogo, 18/18 army loses 11 hp, but kills 2 vet and a regular rifle to take the town. Halicarnassos, meanwhile, is less costly, a 17/17 army kills a vet rifle, reg rifle, and a longbow losing only 1hp. At Troy, 19/19 army kills a vet rilfe, our elite* cav is killed trying to defeat the other vet rifle, and no one else can reach it this turn, so Alex lives another day. Stavanger falls quickly, as a 19/19 army kills 2 reg rifles for 3hp. I actually use another army to kill a barb camp that has appeared. Lots of worker moves again, trying to get spare captured workers to meet up with uneven stacks, etc. Triple-whip temples in Rhodes, Stockholm.
IBT: Carthage is still moving a ton of rifles around, looks like they are headed back now that I got that last barb camp. They also settle another city on the coast. Entremont finishes settler (one way to reduce the unhappiness, or at least spread it around), as does Cataractorum. Stockholm, Rhodes complete temples. We get the Iron Works message, I wonder where? It takes me a while, but apparently one of our new cities put coal in range of Hlobane (totally corrupt, of course).
1305 (6) Final assault, as our 16/19 army attacks Troy, killing 2 vet rifles (-1hp) and we get this piece of good news:
I was a little worried, as I saw a galleon sail past Lindum earlier, but Alex wasnt on board
In celebration, we crack the whip for temples in Arvayeer, Ibabanago (triple), and Atlay (double). By comparing F8 (51%) and F11 (1215 Tiles), it looks like we need about 360 more tiles. I prepare for a fishing expedition, moving a bunch of elites and cannons toward Russicade, so our next leader can pick on the Celts while waiting. I am getting stretched thin on garrisons, putting one cav per town just so I dont leave any empty. Start switching production in larger cities to rifles, as we definitely need defenders for all these cities. Also, I start a new sport, Carthage-herding, as I open our containment on their coastal stack, to try and wedge them into a better trap. Right now, we have to cover too many tiles, with just a cav each, and if they declare on us, they would get loose. Also, time for some more forced resettlement as I whip settlers in Hutag, BatShireet, Uliastay, Burdigala, Ratai, Tsetserleg, Richbourough (all single-whips). With the war over, our happiness problems evaporate, and I am able to lower luxury to 0, put our scientists back to work (producing food, mostly), science up to 50% and we are back to 15 turns for Industrialization.
IBT: We Love The Khan Day breaks out all over, and we get another palace addition (it must be the whip!). In addition to all those settlers, we get a Rifle in Kazan, Temple in Sulcis, and another settler in Gades (no whip).
1310 (7) Longbow and Cav take out another barb camp. They spring up quick! Build new Choyb, Erdenet, more worker moves.
IBT: Carthage declares war on the Celts! Their OCC is in danger, but Carthage doesnt finish them off. The troops moving from the blocked stack continue up the coast, and the cav have separated from the rifles, so now I can re-block the rifles against the coast. Karakorum, Almarikh, Tosont all complete rifles.
1315 (8) Celts have just a wounded Pike on top, so I investigate their city, and that is the only defender. Well, another city is another 9 tiles, (+ a few that link to ours), so I check that there are no deals, and declare. An army can reach and takes the city, but they are not destroyed. Look around, and I finally find a spear/settler pair in Carthaginian territory, near our border, so I send in an elite cav to finish them off, and the Celts are eliminated. Build a bunch of New cities: New Tseterling, New Baruun Urt, Ereen, Batshireet, Choyr, Ulaangom, Tsontolong. Disperse another camp with a cav. Triple whip a temple in Halicarnossos and Stavanger, single whip settler at Augustorium.
IBT: Darhan rifle, Eborium Worker.
1320 (9) Build New Atlay, concentrate cannons near former Carthage core, move a couple armies west, as cavalry and rifles finally relieve them of garrison duties.
IBT: Tatu, Hovd, Dalan, Mandal all build rifles, Bayan Cav, and Choyb, Guiness, and Richbourough all build settlers.
1325 (10) Move more settlers, seal off the Carthaginian slow troops, with an army to shadow his cav as they are close to home. The rail net backbones are mostly complete, except for south of our core, I just moved some teams down there. There are still a few uneven stacks running around, as captured workers got merged, etc. If this were going to be a longer-term game, I would take the time to balance out the stacks better, but we should be done within the next set of turns, I would think. Most stacks are either 3- or 6- worker-turn equivalents, but there are some 2-worker or 4-slave groups. We are now at 60% territory, and have hit the 66% population, while Carthage is at 21%/33%. Based on F11/F8, 24 tiles=1%, so settling a dozen more towns, plus some expansions from temples that were already whipped, ought to do it. There are I think 3 settlers available, which just moved onto the rail net.
The Feudal Mongols, 1325AD - We Can Afford A Larger Military!!
Of course, there are also the six armies available, if someone would rather get the tiles the hard way! They are spread out along the northern border towns, some of which still need garrisons. I considered drafting rifles out of our core cities, just to fill in with garrisons, but didnt, I figured I was causing enough unrest with the whip but actually, since I didnt whip core cities, they could probably handle some drafting pretty well. Either way, peacefully or forcefully, we should be Dominant within the next set of turns. Who wants to lead the Mongols to Glory!
The Home Stretch
