RBD Succession game 1 - Ghandi Tales

A new leader takes control of Indian destiny. Rumors abound. Who is this stranger with the soft voice and golden hair? He is popular among the citizens, for among his first acts is to arrange for additional entertainments in all towns of the empire.

The leader argues with the Indian scientists, who insist on continuing their studies into alternative means of government, when there are other matters the leader considers more pressing. Eventually the scientists convince the leader that it would be a pity to waste all the work they have put in so far.

Maybe the new leader is from a merchant family? It certainly seems that he has a trader's instincts. He bargains with the French for contact with the Aztec empire, in exchange for a small sum of gold, and orders that Delhi should construct a harbor, to open the sea trade routes.

"He's not from any merchant family, sir. I checked. None have ever produced a golden-haired son. Maybe the military?"

The road to Jaipur is completed. The new leader loses some support amongst the populace when he orders the whip used to complete temples in Jaipur, Karachi and Hyderabad.

"We are at war with Persia, and he has not sent a single soldier to the front. A military man would never be so weak!"

There is consternation among the wise men of the nations when the leader abandons long-established plans for a library in Bombay, wasting many valuable shield to produce a settler. The leader offers no explanation, but directs the settler to proceed east with all haste, meeting with a military escort along the way.

"What is he doing? This is madness!!"

"Sir, I believe I understand. We have reports that a French town was lost to the Persians and the royal stables were destroyed. If we are quick we could secure a supply of horses."

"Well, hmmmph. Horses, eh? Don't trust them myself, but I know the military would love to get their hands on them."

The golden-haired leader trades iron to the French in exchange for new knowledge. The wise men squabble over the names of the gods, while builders divine the secrets of new constructions.

"Have you heard? The French dogs have made peace with the Persians! And our leader does nothing!!"

"It's worse than that, sir. He has dispatched our envoy to the Persians with instructions to buy peace at any price."

"WHAT!!"

Peace is made with the Persians in exchange for 4 gold/turn from the Indian treasuries. The French are convinced to renew the expired Right of Passage, paying 80 gold for this useless privilege.

"He continues to trade with the French scum, when we should be wiping them from the face of the earth! He gives them our precious dyes and ivory, for a pittance of gold and contact with some pathetic foreign empires."

"Well, sir, he did also convince the French to teach us the use of currency to aid in our trading."

"Bah. We trade quite well without this 'currency' nonsense. I think it is time the golden-haired one met with some small accident."

Official records record the untimely demise in 150 AD of the then Indian leader in a freakish accident as he accidentally stabbed himself repeatedly with his quill pen while writing in his diary. His name is lost to history, however there is repeated mention of his distinctive golden hair. And one report makes mention of a tail...
 
Sacrificing France to buy us some time may have been the wisest action, once we had war on our hands. 20 gold would have been a smaller price to pay, however, to buy us that same time. We did not need France beaten down. They would have been a robust trading partner, and we could have grabbed the horses from them in the middle ages and run over them at our leisure, them with no iron.

There's no If about France's downfall. They don't have iron, haven't had that horse long enough to build many horsemen, and won't be keeping it much longer. Persia is possibly capable of completely wiping France off the map.

A larger, stronger Persia is our worst fear. We are, as they say, in a pickle now. We are committed to 20 turns of war with Persia. If we break that, our rep goes into the drink. That may have to happen, though, if Persia takes over those horses and then marches on US instead of Paris.

From that situation, I'd have gone back to spearmen in Calcutta, then whipped two or three swords in a row and also upgraded that warrior. Those ivory were something I figured we'd be going to war over eventually, but we're pretty much assured of that being a whipped town now. It's never going to amount to much more than an ivory-military outpost. And right now, the force we have in place there is insufficient.

When Persia hurts France, it will be by taking over, except perhaps at the horse, which is right on Persia's doorstep. That city might get auto-razed. This situation actually looks rather grim to me. If the option to mobilize for war were on hand, I'd be doing that. We're behind in military might, ESPECIALLY in regard to spearmen. Swords look strong now, but can't be upgraded.

Presuming possible loss of Calcutta upcoming, and without horses or any real hope at the moment of acquiring them right under the Persian noses, I'd suggest building some catapults in towns with no barracks, spearmen at Bombay (maybe get a courthouse there instead of the library), and mass a force at Calcutta strong enough to fend off as many as six immortals in one stack -- because relying on France to shield us is dicey at best, and when the Persians come, they won't be playing around.

Avignon is a total waste. It shuns the fish, which is the only resource of high value in that area. Ignore it, build in the same spots I laid out (yes, that close to Avignon) and we'll raze it later, or perhaps keep it if it defects.

Jaffa's got quite a challenge on his hands. I wish him the best of luck. Whatever happens, we'll persevere.


- Sirian
 
Amid muttering among his advisors as to some “mad monkey,” CyGhandi once again assumed power. A quick perusal of the state of the kingdom left him greatly reassured as to the glorious future of India, and with little, in fact, to do. I set my priorities as:

1) to see that Jaffa’s horse-grab did not fail.
2) to strengthen our defense with an eye towards upgrading.
3) To use the few remaining years of despotism to exploit the people
4) To blunt Joan’s aggression on our northern border.

1) In a slow motion foot race, Jaffa’s settler beat the Pernicious Persian’s settling pair to the horses by one turn, and in 210 AD Chittagong was founded and directed to build a Temple so the people could pray for deliverance from the Persian hordes sniffing at the door. An extra spearman was dispatched to aid in its defense, and a worker was detailed to complete a road to the settlement to bring the boon of horses into our kingdom.

2) I shifted military build emphasis from Swordsmen to Spearmen, as they are upgradeable all the way to Mech Infantry and I do not forsee an offensive in our near future.

3) I applied the whip in several cities to hurry production. The people do not love me, but have not gone so far as to riot.

4) I pumped out another settler and dispatched him to the tundra to build next to Avignon, along with a worker to build a road and a spearman for the defense. The spearman is already in place, the settler will arrive in a turn or two.

The Zulu have gone to war with the Aztecs.

There is a galley in Delhi.

My major concern is with Chittagong, which is entirely indefensible at the moment. We might want to found a city to hold the border near the captured town of Lyons. They would still be largely indefensible in the military sense, but we might be able to hold them culturally. Delhi is about to finish a Marketplace, and could quickly pump out a settler.

Cy
 
Skan said he's out until the 29th, so that leave you up again, Charis. Uh... good luck, noble leader. :crazyeyes: :smoke: :beer: :satan:

- Sirian
 
France may have ended up being a great trading partner, or then again, they may not have. They had no source of Iron, as Sirian said, and hadn't had their Horses for long. France just didn't appear to be that strong to me. It was surviving, but for how long? How long would it take for the AI to smell blood and march on France?

Both Persia and America were quite a deal bigger than France at the time, so I chose not to delay the inevitable. I thought that in doing so, we could settle some of France's rich lands for ourselves, while playing a rather passive role in the War by negotiating a peace treaty with Persia asap.

Anyway, as per Jaffa's last game, I would have thought that it had paid off. We now have a source of horses, and peace with the Persians (albeit at a somewhat expensive price). Persia has also made peace with France, so we haven't lost our trading partner.

We'll have to wait and see if my decision was correct or not, I guess.
 
Eh, no worries here.

I read your post and thought "cool move."

I don't know how well you know Sirian, but if he did not respect your choices as a reasonable option he would not have spent time nitting them :cool:.

A lot of the fun of a succession game (at least for me) comes from three avenues: (1) getting bizarre situations that would *never* happen in one of my games dumped in my lap to deal with, (2) the *great* writeups we have had, and (3) Monday-morning quarterbacking :cool:.

Besides all that, a healthy mix of playstyles just makes it more fun for me :cool:.

Let's face it, Charis and Sirian are old grannies with slide rules who know how to optimize build order so that not a single shield is wasted, and never hit the space bar until they have personally checked on each of their cities, and know the geneology, blood pressure, and pulse of each of their workers. I have no clue how to do that, keep at least half my workers on shift-a, and only zoom a city when it is yellow or red.

I love to turn things back to them, knowing they will tune up whatever I have let get whack through neglect, and I love taking over so I can interject some mayhem.

So my outlook is, have fun, do your best, explain what you did, and why, and consider all second guessing for the future.

But hey, it is good to be king :cool:.

When you are king, play your game, as long as you are not directly confounding the path of the rest of the team, which no one has.

It is good to be king :cool:.

--Cy
 
After solid years of happy reign :goodjob:, the people once again developed a thirst
for the pungent weed, and CharisGhandi III accended to the throne. He looked
over the annals of the last leader, and was in wholehearty agreement with his
four goals. So he set about to meet with his advisors and set the plan for the
next ... years. Thusly did he endeavor...

1. Shore up defenses at Chittagong, Calcutta, and beloved Bombay (aka the Floodgates)
2. Improve relations with the Persians, and maintain peace with France
(Visions of Immortal hordes rushing us keep CharisGandhi up at night)
3. Get us to the point of being able to make our special unit, War Elephants.
That might even trigger a golden age where we could go Republic and prosper
4. Found a city in the tundra at the lower spot of destiny, and push culture there.
5. Get roads to Chittagong and the new city
6. Meet the Zulus
7. Use the whip as needed while Despotism was with us

300 A.D. (0) - A diplomat noted that Persian was angry, and reasoned thusly. He has
excess Wines, which we can trade with Ivory. We need Monotheism for Chivalry and
Elephants, and giving him gold per turn makes it less valuable for them to declare
war on us. Thus was a double swap made. This turned his heart from Annoyed to Polite.

While the majority of close advisors cheered the actions of his successors,
there was one boisterous picker of nits (clearly an AR fellow) who pointed out:
- A Cathedral, newly available as a choice, would fit present needs better than
the marketplace. He noted that with 20 shields left to make it, he could increase
food production by shifting workers, cutting shields from 11 to 10 without loss.
* Just read Cy's comment calling me a granny with a slide rule... gasp, he's right! *
- Bombay seems unhappy despite a temple. We should whip them to making a Cathedral! :)
(But sir, aren't they unhappy DUE TO the whipping?)
- Bangalore, with its solid size, had to serve as the defensive post to the North.
We switched to Barracks to help this, and to avoid the large excess shield waste
about to occur on the spearman due next turn. (Similar situation in Bengal)
- Using the Ivory forest in Calcutta got us an extra shield, halving spearman production time.
- CharisGandhi does not fully understand the library push, but allows it to continue
for now for Sirian's sons to deal with (Hyderabad and Karachi)

310 A.D. (1) - Americans want to see us, and offer contact with the Zulu for 22 gold.
We accept. (Goal 6, met) We trade Territory Maps with them, the Aztecs, and others,
netting about another 30 gold in the process. No one has additional technology
(except Monarcy) and many seem to fear our Swordsmen (good!)

320 A.D. (2) - Micromanage and whip Bombay slightly, in the end getting Cathedral for 2 citizens
Switch Chittagong to worker... let's get irrigated while there is peace.

330 A.D. (3) - Punjab settled in the southern end of the Tundra, right next to Avignon (wee!)

340 A.D. (4) - Not much, lot of building going on...

350 A.D. (5) - While the sons of Gandhi are vacationing in Lahore, the whipped is cracked
mightily in South India. Also, a Cathedral is forced completed in Bombay!

360 A.D. (6) - Harbor rushed in Jaipur. First horseman training started.

370 A.D. (7) - Hyderabad pushed to make Barracks. The Peace is holding out well, will it last?

380 A.D. (8) - We're told everyone and his brother is racing to build Sun Tzu.

390 A.D. (9) - Quiet.
400 A.D. (10) - Fairly quiet. Ended turn with diplomacy shopping for Feudalism. Best
offer was for Territory, Monotheism and 2 gold, from Zulus. Now we're
just Chivalry away from our War Elephants :p

Note with Feudalism obtained, we can build Pikemen! Those should last quite some time.
The upgrade cost from Spearman is 20 gold.

Pundits forsee the end of the reign of the pungent one soon. The economy is not doing
well at all, and we get more science from diplomacy than research. Workers are
now in place to irrigate key spots, near Chittagong, Bombay and Bangalore. But
at least they can say of his reign... he met his goals well. They anticipate a time
of the scythe with econonmic reform ahead.

CharisGandhi III
 
First this place goes down, then N54 dies out. It's a conspiracy to slow our progress! The evil Persians have been paying bribes!

Detailed report from my turn later tonight.

- Sirian
 
In the year 400AD, an uprising in the city of Calcutta marked the beginning of the end of an age old era. A young nobleman named Ciri-Yan, fed up with the entrenched corruption of the government, led a popular uprising that threw down the King's Governor. Every man and woman with any ties whatsoever to the government, including those whose political affiliation supported the governor, were rounded up and put in chains. They were forced to construct a courthouse by Ciri-Yan, who vowed that the rule of law, not of greed, should prevail in Calcutta henceforth. Fully half the city perished in this Great Purge, but the honest citizens were spared, and once freed of the shackles of bribery, forgery, and graft, production immediately tripled in the city, and tax revenues improved fivefold.

Ciri-Yan swept on to Bombay some ten years later, where he purged the governor from power, ordered the construction of a courthouse, and strengthed his control on the southeast of all of India. As word of his deeds spread across the land, support for him swelled beyond all control of the line of corrupt and wasteful Charis-Kings. In the year 420AD, anarchy swept across the land as the last of the Indian Despots fled Delhi into the desert, and Ciri-Yan swept into power, ordering representatives from all the city-states to convene, to write a new Constitution, to place limits onto the government and create "elections" by which (get this) the people themselves would choose who would lead the nation!

The nation ground to a halt during the brief years of anarchy, but when the Senate convened for the first time, the Constitution was signed, enacted, and enshrined in the Archives of Sirian in Delhi, beside the ashes of the remains of the parchment by which Sirian himself ordered the cessasion of Pungent Weed use across the land. Ciri-Yan was then elected President of the Senate, and corruption was reduced nationwide almost immediately, for even in the most distant provinces, many remembered the Purge of Calcutta and feared the wrath of the Senate.

Farming yields were increased, mining production soared, and commerce nearly doubled across the land! Truly this revolution produced bounteous gains! Never again would the whip crack in the cities of India! No more forced labor. So swore Ciri-Yan.

Then, in 430 AD, another crisis befell the land. With the army no longer in charge of suppressing dissent, and the people now free to speak their minds in criticizing the government, the absence of martial law saw a rise in unrest. Even the army itself grew restless, and there were rumors of desertion. At least three divisions of warriors disbanded overnight! Only the Senate could deal with this. Ciri-Yan conceived a solution: PAY the army! Yes, it was monumentally expensive, but tax revenue increases were sufficient to cover it. However, this ate quite nearly all of the huge surplusses that had been projected, and so Ciri-Yan laid before the Senate an agenda to expand and improve the economy. Courthouses were to be built across the land, in every city where there was not an IMMEDIATE life-or-death priority of greater nature. In Madras, Bengal, and Delhi, the least corrupted cities, markets would be constructed to increase the flow of goods and commerce. Bangalore would produce more workers, and then start in on its courthouse.

Embassies were established with every nation on the earth, and knowledge and gold were obtained in exchange for our maps. Agreements were signed with the Germans to permit them passage through our lands and waters, while our agreement with the French was suspended because they could not afford our price. The Zulus, also, seemed eager to sign a treaty with us, but could not afford our demands, and so we have told them come back when they can make a reasonable offer.

Ciri-Yan conceived a potentially brilliant plan: to tame and train the herds of elephants around his home city of Calcutta for use in war! He set all the nation's mystics and wise men onto discovering a means of making this vision come to pass. As such, he believed the role of the horse in defending our lands would pass into insignificance, and so he redirected the training of horsemen to that of the pike. Many spearmen units were upgraded to the pike across the land, at not inconsiderable expense, but our generals were very pleased.

Word of a minor tribe as yet independent of the great powers, located at the most distant end of the earth, led Ciri-Yan to mount a Great Expedition. Our galleys were manned with a force of spearmen and ordered to sail around the earth to this location, in hopes of making contact with the minor tribe before any of the other great powers could negotiate with them. A gamble, for sure, but Ciri-Yan was nothing if not bold. This naval expedition has its orders, and need not be interfered with until it reaches its destination, whereby an assessment of how to proceed with the minor tribe must be made anew.

The French Queen sent an emissary to the Senate with a list of demands. He was laughed out of the city and not heard from again. Our generals were concerned about the French marching on us to make war over this humilation we dealt them, but nothing came of it. Apparently, unlike the Persians, the French may be prone to idle threats.

As Ciri-Yan aged, he passed into retirement, and his grandson, Seeree-Yan, was elected to preside over the Senate. Seeree-Yan ordered the rushed completion of the temple in Punjab, not with forced labor, but by opening the National Treasury and hiring additional workers to complete the project. The cost was fairly steep, and some questioned if this were akin to giving the citizens of Punjab "free pork". Thus, the "pork barrel" project was coined, and the scandal of it tarnished Seeree-Yan's first term in office. However, it also won him new supporters from Punjab, as well as Bangalore, and Punjab soon prosperred as the brightest center of culture in the frozen north, strongly overshadowing the infidel French in their village of Avignon. Seeree-Yan's wisdom was thus borne out and he was elected to another term.

Some in the Senate urged that settlers be equipped and sent out to the lands of the west, but Seeree-Yan believed that we were too far distant and too far behind the western powers in this regard, to secure such settlements. He vetoed the Western Settlement Act and ordered the continuation of courthouse and marketplace construction. Just a few years later, when our settlers would have been at sea, still distant from the lands of the west, these lands were in fact settled by German, French, and English settlers. So Seeree-Yan's wisdom was again borne out and he was elected to another term.

In the year 500AD, the courthouse in Bombay was completed, and the stronger enforcement of the rule of law saw an immediate decrease in waste and corruption. One of the last acts of his final term, Seeree-Yan ordered the training of more pikemen at Bombay. He believed that two more units would be needed in the future, that the City of Charis ought to be made highly secure, and that there should be construction of a Senate Bureau of Invesitigation (Forbidden Palace) in this city, charged solely with the duty of investigating criminal activity and reporting to the Senate, with full federal authority. The SBI was the last legislation proposed by Seeree-Yan, but it got tied up in committee and its fate will be decided by future Senate leaders.

When Seeree-Yan retired, other Yan family members continued to be elected to the Senate from Calcutta, but control of the Senate fell into the hands of the Hocus merchants from Madras. What shall befall the nation now? We have no idea. The rulership of Madras merchants has been turbulent, as every major war in Indian history has begun under their leadership, but their boldness has so far paid off for us, so perhaps it will be so again.

Watch out for Bangalore. Yan supporters there have been whispering of dissent against the Hocus merchants. The Senate will need to keep any eye on them, at least for a while. When the Zulu have enough money to make it worth our while, securing a passage treaty with them may be to our benefit. Research output has reached a sustainable level of 30%, but only after heroic efforts to straighten out the economy. Corruption is still our greatest enemy of the moment, despite the impressive results of the Great Revolution and the stark changes made in government.


- Sirian
 
Oh yeah, and if you guys can be bothered, please take a few moments to manually direct the workers. I inherited a bevy of automated FOOLS, corrupt Charis-WeedSmoking Id-Jit workers. :smoke: They were running around in circles and doing NOTHING useful, while on the government payroll. Well, needless to say, the Senate fired ALL of the local foremen, installed federal supervisors, and directed the workers to begin important projects, but even so, at least a full TURN of work was wasted here and there, as I could not get all these Id-Jit workers off automation until they had wasted one turn moving automatically. :mad: Now get this -- I kid you not! -- not a SINGLE ONE of the Id-Jits made a useful move while automated. :eek: I had to move every last one of them somewhere else, or in a couple cases have them construct a low-priority road somewhere unimportant so as not to waste yet MORE turns with them. It might not be so bad if SOME of these Id-Jits did something useful, but not one did.

Please please please don't A or Shift-A them. It's not that hard to give them orders every couple of turns, especially this early, when it actually matters what they do first, and whether or not turns are wasted just moving moving moving around instead of efficiently working on a continual basis. What do you say? You only have to put up with ten turns at a time, right? Yes?

It would make me very very happy. :love:


- Sirian
 
The economy sure has taken a nice turn for the better. Income seems to be about quadrupled since the weedy years. Alas, as Murphy would have it, expenses have quadrupled too! :p

On non-automating workers, I'll second that notion. The idea of automating them is SO foreign to me that I didn't realize until about turn 9 that in fact, some previous ruler had set them about these tasks. (So they're smoking weed, but not weed I fed them ;p)

The Punjab is interesting. I didn't know you could "push back" borders when your culture expanse. Cool :) A cultural victory over there would be neat. Although... having some *offensive units*, say elephants, staged there WAITING for war to break out, might help us turn such a souring of the peace into quick gain!

A question on the Forbidden Palace - you weren't suggesting Bombay were you? Shouldn't it be further away from the capital for best effect, say Calcutta?

Courthouses... I can't say I've ever seen so many built. Do you regularly build those, and has it worked in other games? (Not questioning the choice, just so unfamiliar with their effect in practice, I had to ask)

Marketplaces - I just noticed we have four luxuries. iirc, we would get a *TON* more smiley faces with a marketplace in a city. Also more revenue. Good stuff.

Good luck to Hocus...
Charis
 
Yes, I'm definitely recommending Bombay for the FP site, in the strongest of terms. That city is going to have a TON of shields, so that's a choice location for a no-corruption city. That location will help Bangalore, Calcutta and horsie-town greatly, all the cities in the south to some degree, and all of our future acquisitions in what is currently French territory.

There's often no sense "wasting" the FP early if it's not going to do much good. But the shape of the land dictates things. There's no use waiting another 1000 years for a Great Leader to get it going down in Calcutta. What more could be gained from that? Calcutta would do better, horsie would do better, and it would be slightly better for Lahore, but Bombay and Bangalore and Jaipur would all lose out, and so would that jungle town south of Bengal.

Bombay is the ideal site, and the sooner the better. You want to see a jump in the economy? Watch what an early FP in Bombay does for us. Maybe pump out a couple more pikes first, just to be SURE it's safe, because once it starts on the FP, it's locked in for thirtyish turns.

I'm loathe to build the FP in a city adjacent to the capital, but Bombay is 2.2 city lengths away, which is usually good. Any farther pretty much REQUIRES a leader, or takes for-ehhhh-ver, although in some cases it's worth it. You don't want to build your FP on a city on the edge of your empire (like Calcutta). You want a central location, or at least central-ISH, to spread the benefit as widely as possible. Bombay's not ideal, but it's the best we have with this land shape. Getting it built quickly may ultimately provide more benefit than a more ideal location some 1000 years later. There have been games where I've wasted my FP by NOT building it at all, or waiting too long, because I wanted a better location.


Not building courthouses????? :lol:

Seriously?

You haven't been building courthouses in EVERY city? Even the capital may benefit from one in some cases, if all other priorities have been built. Any city one length away can afford to build a few other things first, until their waste climbs to two or three shields per turn or gold lost at 5+. Every OTHER city needs one cultural improvement, and maybe a harbor if they are on sparse land, and then a courthouse must come next or they will sit at one or two shields and go nowhere, and you get nothing out of them. I've been known to pay for courthouses, if I couldn't whip them out, because you start getting immediate benefits in gold per turn no longer lost to corruption. It's an investment, so to speak, and pays off in both gold and shields (shields being worth 4 gold apiece in terms of what it costs to rushbuild). Not always worth it, some shanty towns are just tooooo far from a palace, and are so corrupt, it won't matter. But anything within two to three lengths of a palace or intended FP is worthwhile.

Scientific civs may find it important to build libraries before a courthouse because getting culture going early is so useful. Every other civ needs a temple, can't be sitting around with no culture. Militaristic civs may decide a harbor is too useful to wait on. And of course, if you don't have Code of Laws yet, you have to build other stuff... and there's always military to consider. Walls, in some badly exposed towns far from reinforcement options, may be wise if the town needs an aqueduct and will be stuck at size 6 forever. Barracks, too, may be important for healing units in a town you expect may be attacked, because it has resources. (Calcutta, for example, is almost sure to draw invaders at some point down the line. Need a strong garrison there at all times, and right now we don't have one). Courthouses bring a city "online". Not always THE only priority, but certainly has to get top consideration, depending on the situation. Any cushy interior cities not directly next to the capital ought to build one quickly.

Has anybody else here not been building courthouses? They weren't worth it in civ1, as you could rush to early democracy at or near 1AD and never need them. In Civ2, they had a benefit under democracy so I would always build them anyway, and quickly. Now they are the most urgent building in any city not extremely close to the capital. Running at 20% and 30% science, because you're too poor to afford more, is not something seen in any of my games, at least not since the first one. Heh.

Charis: if Cy ends up continuing to automate workers, you have to keep an eye on them. Any that move on their own, you can awaken by "activating" them, even though it says "unit already moved". They will return to your control next turn and you can give them meaningful orders then. Maybe you can't be spared from Brewmeister-Cy's peculiarities :beer: but you can help to spare me. :) Please. :)


- Sirian
 
Speaking of Calcutta, Madras is also vulnerable. Those dyes may at some point look tempting to the English, whose army quite significantly outmatches ours at the moment. I had it building an aqueduct, and after that it will need a marketplace, so other cities may have to supply it some more defense. Just be aware, the English can come plop down a shipload or two of troops on our shore at any point, and the AI won't bother to warn you by declaring war. They'll just attack. They are RABIDLY greedy about cities with resources they don't have. Don't get caught flat footed.


- Sirian
 
510 A.D. (1): Upgraded a Spearman in Bombay to a Pikeman.
Delhi finishes Marketplace, trains Pikeman.

520 A.D. (2): English demand Territory Map and 20 Gold in tribute. We comply, in order to avert War. I don't think that a third War under my reign would be quite so bold right now. ;)

Territory Map sold to France for their World Map.
Territory Map sold for 1gc to America.
Territory Map sold for 1gc to Persians.
Territory Map sold for 1gc to Aztecs.
Territory Map sold for 1gc to Germans.
Territory Map sold for 1gc to Zulus.

This was done since the English probably would have anyway, plus, it may have helped relations somewhat.

Calcutta finishes Pikeman and trains another.
Hyderabad finishes Worker, trains Pikeman.

530 A.D. (3): Bombay finishes Pikeman, trains another.
Bangalore riots, one Worker changed into a Tax Collector.

540 A.D. (4): Delhi finishes Pikeman, trains another.
Bangalore finishes Courthouse, builds Marketplace.

550 A.D. (5): Aztecs declare war on the Persians.

560 A.D. (6): Bombay finishes Pikeman, builds Forbidden Palace.
Bengal finishes Marketplace, trains Pikeman. Spearman at Bengal upgraded to Pikeman.

570 A.D. (7): France and Aztecs sign a military alliance against Persia.
Delhi finishes Pikeman and begins Colloseum, since it has six happy citizens and five unhappy ones.
We trade the Germans their World Map for ours and 4 Gold.

World Map sold to France for their World Map and 3 Gold.
World Map sold to America for 5 Gold.
World Map sold to Persia for 4 Gold.
World Map sold to English for their World Map and 4 Gold.
World Map sold to Aztecs for their World Map and 4 Gold.
World Map sold to Zulu for 3 Gold.

It is seen that as of yet, nobody has made it to the village that our Galley is headed for. This is good news.

580 A.D. (8): Madras finishes Aqueduct, builds Barracks, against Sirian's recommendations for a Marketplace. We *need* Pikeman and veteran units in Madras. I do not like the idea of sending units from other nearby cities when they themselves aren't overly defended. Also, should a siege from the English ever take place, the Barracks will be extremely useful.
Calcutta riots, one Worker changed to a Tax Collector.

590 A.D. (9): Nothing of interest.

600 A.D. (10) Persia demands Territory Map and 22 Gold in tribute. France and Aztecs *are* at War with them, but the tribute is paid nonetheless.

My reign ends.

During my reign I did my best to strengthen our defences and to not be too bold. *g* It looks like the English are planning something on our coast so be very weary. We need to become stronger as soon as possible. Also, it might be a good idea to improve relations with the French, who are currently annoyed. They pose no real threat to us, but if they are polite we tend to get better deals.

Nothing more to report, good luck to Jaffa.
 
A couple of comments and questions...

- Didn't realize that 'A' automated workers would happily "improve' over existing improvements. This makes 'A' a HUGE no-no in succession. (Shift-A will 'improve' without mining over your irrigations)

- I think I've only built the FP once. (Then again I've only had, what, 4 games?!) Even that was in a classic dumbell arrangement. So I don't have a good feel for its impact. Glad to hear your comments on wanting to get one going by building, not waiting for a leader. :enlighten: Bombay over Madras I now see better, but... perhaps Bangalore?

> Not building courthouses????? Seriously?
[punch]

This must be a Civ 2 throwback. Nope, never used 'em. Best part of such games is learning important tactics such as this :p
My highest diff game was pretty much a get-to-Knight-and-WHIP-whip-whip to conquest, so corruption was a total non-issue.

> Barracks, too, may be important for healing units in a town you > expect may be attacked, because it has resources. (Calcutta,
> for example, is almost sure to draw invaders at some point
> down the line. Need a strong garrison there at all times, and
> right now we don't have one).

In games so, far, this has been quite crucial. Having the defenders heal was a huge boost vs the waves they saw attack them. (Speaking of which, in my other Monarch game, I was shocked at the sheer volume of troops that did attack when the enemy went war on you. When we DO see an attacker moving on us, it will be not with 2 or 3 warriors but with a dozen immortals or Knights)

> automate workers, you have to keep an eye on them. Any that
> move on their own, you can awaken by "activating" them, even
> though it says "unit already moved". They will return to your
> control next turn and you can give them meaningful orders then

I've used that activation, but... is there no command that says "finish your current action so as to not waste turns, then snap out of your automation mode"?? If not, there SHOULD be :p
I'll make sure none remain auto, you'll not have to deal with anymore auto-jits.

Looking at the Histograph... we're doing pretty well, much better than my solo Monarch game :p But as I look at the expanded map I have to ask... what's next? What type of victory are we likely to get? French is doomed. It's a matter of time. The only way we'll have enough "land mass" to stay as strong as we are, is when the territory of france belongs to us. With that, one city pops square to my mind.

Tarsus.

Just as Bombay is the floodgate, the chokepoint, to the Indian Subcontient, so is Tarsus the Constantinople of the French Subcontinent. We will one day own in Tarsus, or the game is not ours. When is a good time for conquest? Alas, there is no great time. We are behind militarily, and in a much needed season of consolidation and improving. It would be to spread too thin to start war. And yet... if Persia does move on France, we must ally and basically kick Persia back East of Tarsus. If we 'help' in a war that leaves us with Tarsus and surrounding Paris on all sides, so much the better. As far as special units... we're about 16 turns from getting War elephants, and so about 25 turns from having an army full of them (if needed). With no upgrade available, they're a use-them-or-lose-them unit. They're the offensive answer to Immortals, just as Pikemen are the defensive 'answer'.
In such a scenario, of combined France-India, Lyons, btw, seems a great FP choice. Either Persia or America will 'win out' amongst themselves, and will be the other parnter of the greater continent.

So where WILL the victory come from? On this diff and with this map, it won't be conquest. Domination is possible, but only if we started (at the advent of the Elephants) a very major and extended campaign, dropping us back, perhaps forever back, into despotism.) If not that, Diplomacy or Space Race may end up doing it. Culturally we're doing well, second only to Persia. Absorbing the French would put us in first there. Diplomatically, we're reasonably well liked, and a leader saved for United Nations seems prudent.

Does anyone know quantitatively the effect of whipping on people? Looking at Sirian's Great Libarary, he suggests more than one or two whips cause problems in the long run. I've reported several whips, but am not convinced that I or others have mentioned every whipping. Will such effects "wear off" if we're in a non-whipping republic for ages, or are we stuck already? Some of the south india cities may be been pushed pretty hard. :eek:

Charis

PS We need a Barracks and Pikeman in Chittagong ASAP after the temple. :rolleyes:
 
"As far as special units... we're about 16 turns from getting War elephants, and so about 25 turns from having an army full of them (if needed). With no upgrade available, they're a use-them-or-lose-them unit. "
War Elephants DO UPGRADE to Calvary.

"Does anyone know quantitatively the effect of whipping on people? "
Whipping last for a limited time (I believe 20 turns.) Multiple whips in 20 turns produces severe happy problems, but if the town is small with military garrions ...
 
Ah, good to know on the elephants. In the civlopedia it left out that detail (or I'm too tired and delirious to remember)

Thanks for chiming in, and I just wanted to say it's from reading the stories and progress of your succession games that I got interested in them and this one got started, so thanks! :lol:

:goodjob:
Charis
 
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