The military advisor won the heart of the leader, for five good reasons:
- Limited window where our old armies which still pack a punch
- Shimonoseki has furs!
- A GA now is truly well timed
- I hope we're not THAT behind, but infantry will show up some day
- Our name is Wang Kong... not Wimp Chimp
In an uncharacteristic move, I'm going to highlight how the reign turned out, then
you can read the details. Basically...
- Charis Kong declared on the Indians, captured TWO cities, and razed a third.
- The Mongols were brought in and those two nations have lost a combined total of >100 units
- Our glorious H'watcha started a very nice Golden Age (just now complete)
- Pyongyang is working on a coal plant as we speak (!) Some nice trades, a few fateful
steals, and a Medicinal Slingshot got us 11 techs.
- Our econ is in great shape, our military is stronger than ever, with a new cav army
- We also have Communism, to give us hope for a bright future as North Koreans!
[0] 1020 - Charis Kong's true nature is revealed, as war is declared! The city has just
a rifle and spear defending, and is easily captured!
One odd queue order is vetoed - St.P running 2 of 8 shields lacks a courthouse and is
working on marketplace - swapped to courthouse. A few other items are changed.
(Surely Wang JMB is a master of psychology!! If the four armies had not been
arrayed in that one mountain overlooking Shimonoseki, we would have stayed at peace.
Our large SOD garrisons the city and looks forward to a H'watcha counterattack!
IBT - China and Mongols come to peace (good). Mongol forces return West, to home.
[1] 1030 - Before they get too far, they're nicely right at the Indian border.
We ask about bringing them into the alliance vs India. For spices and 159g, they do!
This locks us into war for 20, but Wang Kong has no fear of this.
The rocket power displayed on a defensely purple jumbo is truly fearsome!
The smoke and arrows fill the sky, inspiring our people to a...
Income goes from +98gpt to +241. That'll help! If Russia is to be allowed to
live at our pleasure, they may as well help the tech situation. We gift them
Banking and Chemistry, showing for all to see the beneficence of the Wang!
We send an army south, and he finds workers on a mtn overlooking a lightly
defended city - what a nice little snack! (Chitagong)
IBT - 8 Mongol cav die and 4 Indian jumbos.
[2] 1040 - Chitagong has but a musket and spear, even though several rifles ran
PAST the city. It is now ours, and we have market out our future "Eastern border"
Envision our current empire, and extend it straight down. Flare right to these two
new cites of ours, flare left to make a smooth west boundary, and that is our future
boundary. It may take a while, of course.
IBT - More brutalization between Mongols and India - a glory to behold!
But... then they attack Chitagong? Our two army defenders hold off four - scary.
[3] 1050 - Defense. IBT - See mostly Indian units, not good, but Mongol counter
kills several including a settler.
[4] 1060 - One army at Chitagong heals, the other attacks. Along the way we
see an Indian *infantry* (
so soon??)
[5] 1070 - Yet another 3 rifles stomped by armies at Chitagong.
[6] 1080 - Quiet turn, less troops coming by, both directions. So our elites
enter the action in addition to the armies. First retreats vs rifles, second wins and...
Syngmann Rhee rides out of the dust. Gah, we have 19 cities, need one more.
The spot right between our two is good, except hard to defend right now, plus
there's a Russian settler next to it. We rush a settler. We get Astronomy from
China with almost 1K gold, made possible by saving up some nice GA income.
Peace treaty due up in 2, can we get Physics before that?
IBT - OMG, insanity... Russia declares war?! On the Mongols! That gets rid of
the settler problem
[7] 1090 - More infantry and guerilla showing up.
[8] 1100 - Infantry in small numbers are grist for the mill that is the H'watcha!
They truly enter thw maw of death on facing our lethal cannons! (One is now veteran?)
An army razes Sapporo, onve buried in the fog south of Chitagong. (Rifle and musket)
Chinese won't sell Physics. Hmmm, they can do nothing to us, so we just take it.
Time for peace treaty renweal, both China and Mongols. China does have the two
last required techs. It's 205gpt for those two + MilTrad, or just two for 138gpt.
MT is good but not THAT required (Steam is better right now). So we get Mag+ToG.
Was hoping for Nationalism, or Steam, but draw Medicine for free tech. Bah! Well,
what do others have? China has Steam but not Med... Mongols have Industrialization,
Electricity, Nationalism and... no Medicine?! Woo! India also lacks it, so it's a
true monopoly - Medicinal Slingshot!
(btw, India will give us no tech for peace,
but will discount one by about 45gpt when time comes.) I'm not going to feed AI
research even if we're a few behind, so 3gpt for peace, no gpt for tech deals with
Mongols. I sell Med for Steam+1522g (to be used to steal Nationalism
)
Med to China for Mil Tradition+32gpt. Careful steal works, and though Industry is
tempting, Nationalism is too expensive to buy, so we take that. Now we see Mongols
and Indians have Communism and Fascism. Hmm, what are they in? Both Fascism, woo!
Our odds have just gone up considerably! We have TWO coal, btw! 13 turns left on
alliance. At Shimenoseki and Chitagong we rush their libraries, to start rax next turn.
[9] 1110 - I look at the power graph. Mongols have gained considerably, and we have done
nicely too. Indians have been hammered pretty good. OTOH, Mongols only have Iron and
Horses by our sales, and India has infantry/Rep Parts/tech lead. We won't press further
on India, and will ride out the alliance.
IBT - As if on cue, BOTH India and Mongols each withdraw forces from the border.
[10] 1120 - Railin'
IBT - Russia and India embargo us. Mongols show up with infantry!
[11] 1130 - China and India ally against us. Oooh, I'm scared.
[12] 1140 - For someone wanted to build, the queue show a lot of rifles and cav...
We carefully steal Industrialization, a step closer to factories. On the plus
side, we would be quite happy to end war with India, reverse the alliance,
and lay down some smack on Mongols. I won't force it until alliance is over,
but with better rifle and H'watcha defenses, it seems worthwhile.
Several factories are queued up, which will time well with end of alliance.
M'anpo is founeded, making a solid border line of blue.
Now with 20 cities, leader forms an army and we fill it with cavalry
If Mongols want some... I think we'll be in a position to *RAZE Karakorum*
[13] 1150 - Consolidation.
IBT - India draws Russia into war with us, then begs for peace... how cowardly!
Before the turn even ends the Mongols have the distinct pleasure of wiping out
the Russians!
(Hey, that was our job, but... so be it, in this rumble!)
[15] 1170 - Cash is ready to try again... and Electricity is ours. No one seems to be
building any wonders, and perhaps not factories, so good chances for ToE / Hoover?
[17] 1190 - Indian galleon seems on its way to back door.
[19] 1210 - Pyongyang finishes factory, hits 51spt. Starts coal plant.
When alliance ends, we'll pass off to next player.
IBT - India signs China against us, which means +138gpt windfall for us
That galleon near our coast just dropped off a single jumbo.
[20] 1220 - At the risk of sticking out a finger to get chopped off, there
is a decent city site next to wheat that with expansion should get incense,
so I move a settler to found there.
[21] 1230 - Should be last turn of alliance and of GA. Whatever else I must do, I
must do quickly. One thing I wanted to see was for us to get Communism, too expensive
to buy. So we try a careful steal, and make it. (What a handoff it would have been
otherwise, eh?)
Our GA is ending, and should be reported over IBT. New income is +245gpt (down from
about +431), which is still excellent. Seoul's new production is 25spt, Pyongyang's
is 33 (down from 51) I rushed a few small items, leaving 625g cash.
Notes...
- Settler is in position, but if you guys think that weakens the line too much,
get him outta there.
- Alliance with Mongols is up. If you want to make peace with Indians now,
cancel this. At present Gandhi won't give us much of anything. The 'discounted price'
of Corporation is 99gpt not even monopoly - not a great 'deal') Probably best is
what cash he can give us - 315g for now, less after alliance is over.
- So much pointy stick research - with foes much 'stronger' than you, to get something
you must really crush them. Big kill ratio and three cities was worth nuthin' 8-\
- Note the new power curve, we are increasingly nicely and steadily. Mongols got tougher
quick but India has stabilized with the arrival of infantry and may even be very slowly
turning around.
- Our war with India has gone so well due to the tiny exposed front, with one full army
defending each city plus two roaming armies, plus H'watcha! Do NOT expect a wide-front
vs Mongols with cav to go nearly as well. The nice thing at least is our rail net.
It needs work but is almost done, to be followed by city-area railing.
- I would avoif Rep Parts until we have a monster stack of Hwatcha. Even if that seems
suboptimal, it very strongly fits the theme of our game and I want to see what such
a stack can do. If our next leader or two really want infanty to defend the next war
vs Mongols, then make as many as Hwatcha now rather than later.
- Don't steal unless you're not miserable at a war declaration. I didn't "want" one,
but would have been 'ok' in switching alliance sides and fighting mongols. The benefit
of getting Steam and Industrial was worth it. The benefit of Corporation and Steel just
isn't as high.
Thoughts for what's next - many options!
-A- War with Mongols very soon?!?! Do nothing on alliance, but if he looks to stop it,
let it go. Cancel the ongoing iron+horse for saltpeter deal *now* (we've since hooked
up our own salt!) Let the Mongols deplete their supply of cav for next 7 turns,
then when peace expires, break the alliance, do NOT renew, and declare war. (Get troops
ready first to bear a charge on all front lines) Immediately take peace with India,
and get an alliance with them vs Mongols (can you do that as part of peace talks??)
After absorbing their charge, shift the armies over and raze Karakorum
-B- No war anytime soon - let all factories finish, start Suffrage and/or prebuild for
ToE (no one else is building *anything*), and crank out about 80 H'watcha's (I'm serious)
When war DOES come, whoever brings it will be in a WORLD of hurts.
-C- Continue war with India - let those two knuckleheads fight with each other for the
next century or two while we do nothing but build up - factories and H'watcha.
This is like the strat above, but you use an ongoing alliance with Mongols to keep
them out of war rather than letting them pick the time the next war starts. There's
almost no danger from the Indians in doing this, unless the Mongols start to rip them to
shreds, which would disturb the balance of power.
-D- Revolt!??! We could become Communists. I hope to do this, the only question is when.
I tend to think the results would be pleasant, as our support costs right now are
108gpt and I would think we'll want another 50-100 units if we have a huge Mongol
war ahead of us. This would fit best with plan 'C' above, or a partial C - let Indian
war continue for 7 turns while we're in anarchy, then see what to do about peace
with Mongols when we reemrge as Communists (I hope we don't draw 8!
)
Here is the new map of Korea:
Charis
Speaker <-- UP
Skyfish <-- ON DECk
Meldor
JMB
RBC8 Save File 1230AD
Good luck, Speaker Kong!
Charis
. Our economy is doing substantially better with the a few banks and marketplaces coming online. Were it not for our tarnished reputation, we could probably start digging ourselves out of the tech hole we are in (another option for the next leader to consider is to renegotiate peace with the Indians for another couple of techs... But seeings as we'll be able to renegotiate peace with the Mongols in 8 turns, I think we should declare war on India instead and buy more techs off of Mongolia in 8 turns...)
