We're doing fine, with some raucously bad pRNG luck seeing TWO cities flip
to Sumeria in same turn. In the medium term we'll want to recapture Zabalam
and Bruck, and Akshak at a minimum, reclaiming our land and hurting the Sumerians.
We could also stand to work (gasp) a small bit on culture
We have about one *fifth*
the culture of the Germans! By score we're 4th behind Ottomans, Germans and Sumeria
but we have been growing rather steadily for most of the game. In power we're on top,
with a bite into the profile from the flips that will revert when they're captured.
I can see a four prong attack if units sufficed - rear guard, Akshak west, south
at Bad-tibira and south at Marad (razing it) In case of war, getting Germany
and Ottomans to go at it together would be delightful. Overall plan is to consolidate
our "Kingdom" literally during next 4 techs, only warring vs Sumeria (perhaps Vikings)
then go into full gear come Fascism.
We're almost the only nation at peace. We're two techs short of next era, and already
there are Ottomans (with Siphai, boo), Germany, Sumeria, Vikings, and Zulu. Only the
Arabs and Hittites are left with us. Once one of them gets ONE we'll get both with 2-fer.
Ottomans can sell Incense for about cost of lux notch. Sumeria can do nothing for us,
and has 9 turns of peace left. Ragnar is short on iron and horses which we have extra,
has no saltpeter, and no deals. We could bring him to the peace table for tech buy?
Zulu need horses too but 16 left in peace, no deals possible for hard goods.
Peeking inside Vienna is a hoot! THREE unfilled armies waiting for Hussar!
Salzburg needs a hill mined for 20spt. Krems needs to grow to hit a useful spt level,
and goes high food for now. We have eight Hussar in production, and have a fair
number of knights to upgrade (15 outside army) once we get some cash.
[0] 650 - We have three choices here as I see it - i) put/keep all key cities on Hussar
and sell saltpeter for the two techs we need for next era, followed by working on
some culture buildings, ii) keep Hussar queue and salt and spend nine FULL turns
cranking military, iii) ignore culture no further and build that. A man other than
Franz Charis may have chosen iii, and perhaps rightly so, but the man's fascination
with the Hussar was extreme and his anger at Sumeria so hot, there would for sure be
blood on his watch! Between options i and ii is simply the question, does more of the
war come now or wait til Fascism?! But if we buy a tech NOW... which one?
Checking military, wow, we're strong compared to Ottomans and Germany, and average
only against our arch-enemy the Sumerians?! Franz cannot let us fail to press our
advantage in military.
IBT - Border expands at Kafa which connects our borders to outlying Feldkirch.
Ottomans start Shakespeare.
[1] 660 - Ah, we already HAVE 9 Hussar?! Sweet! With our lesser #cities and the
swap to Monarchy, we're for the only time in game above our support limit.
One of the armies starts to get filled with Hussar.
IBT - Sumeria and Zulu gang up on Arabia. Franz gets even hotter...
Vikings start Newtons and Shakespeare, Arabs start ST too.
[2] 670 - No new techs for Arabs or Hittites, we continue to build war machine.
With two armies filled, Franz LONGS for a Golden Age.... He eyes Stavanger of
the Vikings, defended by a mere spear. Gosh, hitting Sumerians in mid-stride of
GA has a very nice appeal to it!
IBT - Hitties and Germany come to peace. Sumerian CAV runs into our land.
[3] 680 - The red hotline phones start ringing off the hook - Sumerian cav is
in our land. Franz demands, uncategorically and unmercifully that if he did
not surrender himself immediately it would be as an act of war against our
peaceful nation! It's not 'move or war' yet, so he just says "ya, ya, whatever"
We move all possible troops into position vs Sumerians. We update all vet knights,
leaving only elite.
Sumeria is seen to have rifles already, and Franz is tired of waiting for the whole
planet to have rifles before our Hussar see action. He is also starting to think that
the laggard AI may never get the needed techs, and with war coming soon, let's tie down
one potential foe. Also, if we do WELL vs Sumeria, do we want Steam/Nationalism for
peace or ToG/Magnetism? He talks to Vikings to renegotiate peace. He's actually up
to doubtful just for horses and iron. Toss in ToG and Magnetism, and what will it
cost? Hmmm, 85gpt for both. If I threw in our saltpeter, just 54gpt. That would
limit our ability to reinforce the front with more Hussar and Muskets, but it would
also let us make some cheap MP unit for defense and build some cultural buildings.
Also, Vikings could break the deal or we might buy some salt -- It's an odd way to
prepare for a big war, but... I sell our only saltpeter. This will allow us to start
research on Nationalism too. Throw in RoP and it's 51gpt. Done! We're now industrial.
Vikings/Zulu have no Industrial techs, Sumerians have Nationalism, Steam AND Medicine,
as do Germans. Ottomans have Nationalism and Steam, and extra salt.
We do leave decent forces including Mack's Knight army on western border -- I just
don't trust our 'friends' to the West. IBT - Not much, cav moves forward, not back.
[4] 690 - How many little units will we want, anyway? Making Knights now are only 30g
to upgrade to Hussar, but we can build Pikeman too, for cheap MP and defense.
Let's see we have 21 muskets, 13 low end defenders, 31 K/Hus, and 23 cities.
That means another ten or dozen cheap defenders would be useful come Fascism.
We tell the cav to leave, he gives one more yada-yada response?!
IBT Arabs like everyone else, are working on Shakespeare's theatre.
[5] 700 - Franz is fuming beyond believe now, and with unimaginable terror prepared
and ready to unleash on the Sumerians, he DEMANDS they leave or declare war.
Clearly not thinking straight due to the flips of Bruck and Zabalam, he declares
war on the most powerful yet humble nation on the planet... The Austrians!!
We start right in with it -- a Hussar ARMY vs Zabalam. The attack was VERY harsh
for us, but in the end we got a promotion and a...
GOLDEN AGE! Income from about +1 gpt to +115!
The immediate result is... an elite knight attacking the cav in question and...
dying. Oh well.. let's hit his hurt rear again...
Quasdanovich
Sweet irony!
We make ANOTHER army and put in a Hussar. (At some point, we'll DEFINITELY want
to make the Pentagon, and perhaps Mil Academy)
On to the real action, the cities. Several retreats up North, but the Army
wins a tough battle to enable Zabalam's capture, and Bruck, who truly WANTS to
come back home, falls without much defense. Ashak begs a smackdown, and gets one from
our Army, as we capture that city too. Bruck has rax, market, courthouse intact?!
Marad of Sumeria raises its hand -- HIT US, hit US!! And so we do! Worker captured
to clear the path, Army beats a musket, hussar beats another, and the city folds
like a deck of cards.
Our GA and war happiness let us drop lux from 20% to 0, raising income to +203!
That's quite a few temple rushes, or even self-research. In fact, we could
reach that in about 20 turns (or at least cut down the cost a lot when we get it)
That sounds better, getting us faster to rifles and fascism.
I MM cities - nothing on Hussar is taken off since our salt is gone for now, but
others start on various culture buildings.
IBT - Oops, almost lost Marad, as cav comes out and JUST loses to our Hussar,
promoting it. We lose our wine supply from Germany til we renew for Ivory,
Furs, WM+124g.
[6] 710 - Our rear wing Hussars run forward, TWO armies advance slowly into the jungles
around Bad-tibira, and one advances on Lagash.
IBT - Sumerians drag Zulu into war with us. Smart move for Shaka, as he can
easily dispatch our many armies near his capital. 8-\
[7] 720 -On hearing of the treachery of the Zulu, the vigilant Army of Mack's marauders
sweeps doom upon the Zulu from the east, with a surprise flank attack! We can
sustain this second war, but would be in trouble with a third from Ottomans.
Zulus are at war with Ottomans in fact. Could it hurt to ally together? Would
we let Shaka loose before 20? I think not. Zulu have three cities left to east,
which would be swallowed if Osmon went 20 turns at him. Zulus gone and no flip
chances for what we capture? I like that. But no, price is just too high, about 700g.
Outside Lagash a lot of forces have shown up, so instead of attacking, we pillage
several tiles and pull back, killing four units in the open.
At Bad-tibira our Hussar army goes on a tear, killing three rifles, longbow left 8-\
Ibabanago is reached by two Hussar, killing Pike and Impi, one longbow left.
IBT Longbow beats Hussar!
(This may be their only offensive win!?!?)
[8] 730 AD - Let's dig right in at Bad-tibira. Lesser health army runs through
rifle, cav, and conscript rifle. Another conscript on top, beaten by elite knight.
Now longbow hit by knight and we win, taking the city. It would be 'prudent' of
course to raze it, except... that city has saltpeter
We keep it for now.
250g is a nice prize for the city, which has rax, market, aqueduct and bank in place.
Doh! The salt lies within the borders of Agape, tiny hamlet nearby.
Second army can reach it and attack twice, killing two rifle. One left.
Over in East, Mack's Marauders come through, beating pike and Impi to capture
Mpondo, their iron city. Next door Ibabanago falls to 2 Hussar and knight with
one retreat. Another rax intact - I check to see where SunTzu is, and it's not
ours, but Vikings. Outside Marad, we counterattack those who came forward as
the new fresh army arrives. About 4-5 die unanswered. (Vienna is on Pentagon, btw)
Tis end of peace with Ottomans, so we look to renew. Nationalism can't be touched.
Steam Power would be 140gpt (ouch), and Medicine 120gpt. No thanks. Let's at least
get a lux discount. His Incense for peace, RoP, our spices and 7gpt. Deal.
Our last deal shelled out 50gpt so at least that's done with now.
(Germany lacks Nationalism, btw, only Sumeria and Ottomans have that)
IBT - Lots of movement around Agade and Lagash, but no attacks.
We see Arab land is shrinking, so Sumeria is foolishly going for the softer
target while their core is in peril. Resistance in Zabalam and Mpondo ends.
[9] 740 AD - Two retreats, but Agade is captured. The salt is now in NEUTRAL
territory. Around Lagash we hit open units. Elite Hussar goes after a cav and...
Melas?! Hmm, wasn't expecting a leader that time, was aiming to kill not fish,
but we'll take it. At this point saving for a rifle army may even be a good
idea. I'll save for next leader to build Hussar army, rifle army or rush Mil Acad.
IBT Scandinavia and Germany come to peace. Tons of movement both Sumerian and
Zulu around Intombe-Kufah, just two small attacks.
[10] 750 AD - Zimbabwe just has pikes for defense? Here comes Mack's Marauders!
Two down, now Impi on top and bow beneath. We kill two, then a superImpi defends
against our "Hlobane's Ours" knight and wins without taking a scratch. Another Hussar
took that guy down though. It got a lil ugly at Lagash, with a few retreats and
a Hussar lost, but we took it. The army is hurt but covered, and the newly healed
army just arrived in the area to help cover. There is stack of a dozen MDI/Impi/
Longbow SE of Lagash that you can't see at the moment.
There's an unmoved worker on saltpeter right now, you can colonize, or wait for
temples (rush?) or continue without and crank out a few pikes per turn.
Tis too late to take pics and post, though if anyone wants to they can.
We're now up to 32 cities, 101 units, 'strong' vs everyone, Industrial,
and with leader in Graz for army or move to Vienna. Germany and Vikings JUST got
Nationalism and so our turns have dropped. Instead of 9 at unreachable pace,
we can finish self-research in 4-5 turns!
Then Fascism next, at max self-
research rate.
The next leader should have a blast - swallowing Zimbabwe next turn or so, and
with 3-Hussar armies not far from Ur itself! It would inconceivable to stop for
peace before the two foe capitals are taken or razed. Leo's is in Sumer and Smiths
is in Erech. As usual, there are over a half-dozen maybe a dozen cities that are flip
risk. Rush temples, rush workers, or ignore them and leave poor defenders there, and
just retake them (the latter was my approach). Our 'core' re-taken cities have
half-Austrians half-Sumerians, so either no starve or starve totally down to 1.
Golden Age should last til middle of Bede's turn. We might indeed be ready to revolt
into Fascism after the last turn of Golden Age!?!
RBC7 Austrian Fascists Save File 750AD
Note! The save file contains the PediaIcons.txt file for the Text directory,
which you should put there if you crash on loading the save file with a problem
finding the "Hussar" entry.
Charis
Aggie <-- UP
Bede <-- ON Deck
Rubber Jello
(mitsho)
Good luck,
Charis
The archer could do no damage whatsoever to our pike in Bursa.
.
All other resistance has ended.
This cancels our silk deal with the Ottomans. The Germans land a knight north of Kisurra. Sumeria finishes Smith.
The Sumerians took Bruck and OUR iron/lux spot and the Zulu betrayed us in my previous 10 turns. Oh... we are at war with them? Good :devil2: 
Good thing those stupid and arrogant Sumerians decided to send a unit traipsing across.
