RBD Succession game 1 - Ghandi Tales

[Charis]

The country was in turmoil. The great nation of India had been defeated in an
unexpected blitz war. The people were in an uproar, they called for new, strong
leadership. Some, perhaps too many... turned to the pungent weed!! Once again
the line of Charis ascended to the throne. He looked about the country, and
set forth the following as goals:

1. Maintain strong economy with 1000 gold to max interest.
2. Recapture Memphis and if possible, the other cities in the area.
3. Fortify our Western rubber colony.
4. Punish the Zulus.
5. Develop the awesome weapon of war known as the 'tank'.

Thus did he start by loading up cavalry, infantry and artillery to Memphis,
bring a settler in case it was autoraised. Also did he found a 'bridge' city
on the Western colony.

1800 AD (0) - Up'd the science rate to get Mass Production in 4 turns, switched
Calcutta and Delhi from wealth to placeholder for Battleship. If they want a sea battle,
CharisGandhi will give them one to send them crying for momma! Upgraded a galleon
in Madras to Transport (too bad southern coast cities don't have harbor yet!)
Had Bengal kick out a Settler (one turn, minimal shield loss)
Loaded up a Galleon with 2 Elite Cav, 1 Infantry and 1 Artillery, sent it
to Cologne at max speed.

1802 AD (1) - During their turn, naval Bombardment at Pasagarde. Aha, a target for
our not-yet-built Battleship already! The Germans seek an MPP. Hmmm... well with
them MPP to Americans and us MPP to Americans, it doesn't hurt. Promoting
in-fighting with the #2 and #3 AI's seems a good thing. Hopefully once these two
MPP's expire, we won't see any more for a while. Loaded up our Elite Cavs onto
the Transport and Galleons. This is their last chance for glorious battle (and
for trying for a GL) since soon they will be outclassed by Tanks. The transport
will land troops on the doorstep of New Ngome the very next turn

1804 AD (2) - Persians request an audience? Oh, trade territory maps? Sheesh,
can't you see I'm busy? Ya, ok, fine. Triple pollution hits. Well at least now
I know what to do with the gazillion workers I'm ordering around

The city of "Pungent Weed" is founded! Right between New Lahore and New Karachi.
It's the West colony 'bridge' city, and founded squarely in the jungle, the home
of ALL manner of pungent weeds! The people are most pleased!

1806 AD (3) - Lincoln must be broke, and can't renew RPP for cash, so we renew
for free. Zulu colonge Riflemen go on *offense* against our infantry and are
just crushed. Infantry goes against a 1hp Cav in the hills and becomes Elite.
New Ngome is crushed, and autorazed. We should get one of those spare settlers here
for a nice beachhead city. We capture Cologne, and have another rubber source
This also denies Germany (one of) their rubber without even going to war against
them. We note that New Intombe, near the Rubber colony, is defended only by
Pikemen!

1808 AD (4) - Persia and Zululand have signed an embargo against us? Evil!
Pasagarde is upset by the news and needs entertainment. we note no other
ill effect. We're going to have a "talk" with Persia about this!! For now
we have them sign a trade embargo vs Zulu, and I tell Persia to pull its butt
out of my territory!

Heading for Motorized Transport in 4 turns, and still positive
cashflow Two Battleships and one sub set to arrive within 1-2 turns.
Placeholders for tanks started in Lahore, Bengal, Kohlapur, Madras.

Memphis is scantly defended and defeated by an Elite Cav (no GL).

1810 AD (5) - Cincinnati, with an Impi defender, pulls in its workers. (How nice
of them to gather them for our capture!) Two cavs take out Cincinnati's Impi
and Horsemen. We note America had a literal blockade of the port
Shift defenders, workers, and note that an oil source has been opened up due
to a razing! We're rushing a settler over asap!

1812 AD (6) - Karachi's influence expands, no doubt due to the new local source
of Pungent weed!! New Jaipur is founded where New Ngome was located.

1814 AD (7) - New Hyderabad is founded, not far from Dariush Kabir in the South
and within a Knight's move of the Rubber. If we raze Dariush, we get the rubber

1816 AD (8) - Tanks online baby! Turn to Radio next, last required tech before
modern age. Power-cleanup of two pollutions. Moved placeholders to tanks. In some
cases, a LOT of shields there, so kept with Battleship.

1818 AD (9) - The American dye treaty for 14gold/turn expires. We renew for 13/turn.
At end of turn, Persians settle Ergili not too far from where we plan to settle oil.
Glad we got to the 'prime' spot first ;P

1820 AD (10) - Polution found and cleaned up in Delhi, Indus, and Kolhapur.
New Bengal is founded, right next to the oil. (Considered putting in on the
coast, but that would be two squares away and someone else could build closer.
There are currently no roads to oil, just a tank and cav parked on it. Up to
future leaders to decide whether to leave it unconnected or not. There's a
worker in the city ready if/when we want to do that ;p

Seven turns left on America's MPP, 14 left on the Persian embargo vs Zulu,
Ten on the German MPP and 14 on their embargo. The English continue to pay through
the nose for saltpeter and luxuries ;P The Zulus refuse our ambassadors. I
guess they need another city taken! Thus ends the reign of CharisGandhi VII.
The zulu naval bombardment continues at Pasargarde. I have enough workers on
permanent station there that any round in which they hit and destroy improvements,
we can repair them instantly. In about four rounds, our Battleship now rounding
the corner at Sardis will arrive and pound them severely. (BTW, the recent
histograph is lookin great!)

To our next leader, there's a real mix of production, and no doubt several items
you wish to change. Although we have many infantry, they are REALLY spread
around, and we're by no means secure from another offensive "push" from a foe.

Good luck,
Charis

 

[Sirian]

From the Unfinished Memoirs of Ciree-Yan the First:

1819AD: After a string of successful terms in office by the CharisGhandi family, the latest of them has once again flaunted the anti-weed laws too publicly for too long. I have been nominated to run against him in the next election. Why couldn't these guys just LAY OFF the weed? Too much of that stuff leads to bad decisions, like leaving all our artillery in mothballs while allowing the Zulu to endlessly harass our coastlines unmolested. Smoking ses a bad example for the rest of the country, too. One of my first campaign promises is to actually defend our land at home, as well as abroad, by permanently chasing off the Zulu warships. I might send Shaka a message he can understand. ... Yes, yes I think I'll plan on doing that. I'll arrange to have an emissary deliver the message to Zimbabwe at the earliest opportunity.

1820AD: Won the election, signed the order for the outgoing Mahatma to undergo extensive rehab. Shuffled a few items in the defense budget.

1821AD: Wondered why the Palace is being moved to Kolhapur. (More evidence of the Weed, I fear). Well, that's not an urgent matter, so I'll deal with it some other time.

1822AD: Invaded Zululand.

1826AD: Shaka wants to talk, does he? NOW he wants talk? Where was the talk when his army burned Ghulaman to the ground?

1832AD: The antiwar demonstrations are getting out of hand. If these peaceniks don't quiet down, I'm going to have to take some action. What do these fools expect? As long as the campaign doesn't descend into TOTAL disaster, they have nothing legitimate to complain about. That massacre of workers outside New Lahore was simply a well-executed Zulu manuever, not a sign of our imminent defeat. What's the big deal anyway? We only lost eight units of workers. The army can afford to hire more.

1834AD: The Senate asked for my resignation. So I had them all shot.

1836AD: It's good to be the King. No more polls, no more focus groups, no more news media, no more demonstrators. I should have done this years ago.

1839AD: My advisors warned me of a plot against my life. I scoffed at them, the fools. No one would dare to cross me.


King Ciree-Yan the First was assassinated in 1840AD by rivals or enemies unknown. The whole kingdom is in an uproar. What will become of our long struggle against the treacherous Zulu without Yan to lead us? Will another King be chosen? Or will our democracy be restored? Will the endless war go on and on, or will the peaceniks have their way? So many questions...

 

[Charis]

Wow, very well done. That's quite a string now of very nice campaigns. For a change I opened the save file and looked at the minimap before reading the 'epic log' and saw that literal string of purple where once was abundant yellow. Zulu is out of the game within the next turn if our next player (Jaffa iirc) sees fit. Good call on the switch to Monarchy. That worked SO well for the extended war in the Japan game, I was going to suggest that here as well.

You can tell from the city name that weed was present, but not strong weed. I was baiting the zulu ships, letting them pound without any harm at all far from the true field of battle, rather than going after a transport full of top units. I didn't want to drive them away, and saw them as dogmeat once the battleship engaged them. (Then again, yes, I didn't even consider using the artillery there, good idea for next time ;p) The 'gap' or small lead we had is now turning into a gaping hole. Seeing tanks vs archers and impi is amusing. I'm also now seeing why Panzers likely rock. That extra 1 pt movement can really make a blitz fly, I would have to think looking at recent turn of events.

It's getting almost assured that we can soon PICK our victory condition (no preference here, btw ;p)

Charis

EDIT- PS- Hey Cy, did I mention I was just HOWLING at your report! tnx!!

 

[smegged]

Well done guys. There were some times where I thought you would have to work very hard for victory, but now it's in the bag .

Still playing civ2, I have started my own game, in honour of this one, and am now in the middle of crushing the evil English off the face of the world! [plasma]

 

[Sirian]

smegged: we DID have to work hard. That war with the Persians started at an unfortunate time for us and some cities were lost in the shuffle. The campaign to fight them back spanned all six players' turns and took more than 50 game turns, and could well have gone badly if not for solid play in the early years. If that's not work, I don't know what is.

Seeing tanks vs archers and impi is amusing. I'm also now seeing why Panzers likely rock. That extra 1 pt movement can really make a blitz fly

Yes. Which is why cavalry do NOT go obsolete until mech inf are on the scene, and even then they can still be useful as flank harassment, pillagers, or garrison. Even swords and longbows are useful as extra garrison, when bodies are needed to keep more troops in a city than it has pop, to eliminate the risk of flipping until you can starve them down, so I have ceased to disband them in my games.

Three of my captures vs the Zulu were directly made by cavalry, in locations where three movement were required to be able to attack. If not for that (and securing the rails between, thereby), the Zulu would still have about ten cities, instead of only three (and I could have had Mpondo if I had conserved some cavalry I didn't need to use elsewhere on that last turn).

The REAL evidence of weed, strongest proof to date, however, was CharisGhandi sending all our "obsolete" elite cav into battle "in search of a great leader". My brother, you really ought to hit F3 now and then, and check to see if someone else has left you a great leader already. You can only have one, and sending the whole army searching the countryside for something sitting right under your nose is certainly not the kind of evidence you want turning up during an investigation into Puffing the Magic Dragon.



We've had one in mothballs for a good 80 or 90 turns by now, if not more, ostensibly saving him for rushing the UN, since prebuilding with the Palace has allowed us to secure all the wonders since Suffrage. (I don't think the team anticipated such a war push, but sometimes the AI's force it on you). Looking back, yes, we could have used that first one to build an army, and had two or three more by now, but that's the benefit of hindsight.

Unless a leader comes SO early that rushing Pyramids or SunTzu, et al, is just too tempting, or an early FP too valuable-looking, and an army just doesn't look to be of much use, then I always turn that first leader into an army, make sure to get him a victory, and build the Epic, and then use more leaders as they emerge to rush whatever looks ripe at the time. Contrary to Carbon Copy, I get plenty of leaders. Perhaps I get into more wars, though, as I don't often give in to AI threats -- unless I am genuinely scared of what they can do to me (my position overexposed).

Tanks run over anything less strong than Infantry, and can even bowl those over in sufficient numbers. Panzers are simply AMAZING, I've swept entire nations away, even ones defended by infantry, in a matter of turns. If a war lasts until Modern Armor, it's usually because the AI's were strong in tech (high difficulty) and have held out to getting their own tanks and mech inf. If they are not yet up to Infantry when you get tanks, cavalry are a main offensive unit still: the light raider style of unit, capable of inflicting terrible damage behind the lines on blitz maneuvers, after the front line city has been taken on that turn by the tanks.


- Sirian

 

[Carbon_Copy]

I'll bet you even find Tarnhelms and Gull daggers, too. I have to depend on KingOfPain for all such items, he's got so many of them that he actually throws them away!!

I somewhat make up for it, though, by finding all sorts of Heavenly Garbs and Skystrikes. Which reminds me, I'll have to log in with some of my mule accounts or Battle.net will eat them.

 

[Jaffa Tamarin]

In an unprecedented turn of events, the Monkey Cult appears at the appointed time and volunteers for political office! The wise men of India suspect an ulterior motive. Extensive background checks by the SBI establish that this is indeed the real Monkey Cult, but no reason can be found for their unusual eagerness.

The first acts of the Cult do nothing to endear them to the populace, as unnecessary entertainers in the larger Indian cities are retrained as tax collectors.

Trade deals with the English are renegotiated at higher prices.

0) 1840AD Zulu and Americans make peace.

1) 1842AD Umtata falls to our glorious Indian tanks. New Punjab founded in unclaimed space.

2) 1844AD Mpondo captured. With the war nearly over, the Monkey Cult ponders it's next move. Our Palace moves to Kolhapur. Ummmm. Ooops? We discover the secret of flight (monkeys with wings?)

3) 1846AD Our tanks take Isandhlwana from under the noses of the German cavalry, and the Zulu nation is destroyed! Start airports in most of our core cities.

4) 1848AD New Dacca is built to take oil out of German territory. Noticing that we're at peace, the Monkey Cult institutes a revolution to take us back to democracy.

5) 1850AD Start palace in Bangalore as place-holder for UN.

6) 1852AD Persians have a settler going god-knows-where past Umtata. Oil near New Madras exhausted.

7) 1854AD Build a colony on the oil near Texcoco. English found Bristol on the promontory near Bapedi.

8) 1856AD English found Leicester down the coast from Bristol. England and America sign an MPP.

9) 1858AD Not much happens.

10) 1860AD First bombers roll off the production lines and onto our waiting carrier fleet The Monkey Cult retires from political office, taking the treasury slush fund to Mad Monkey City, on the coast between Bristol and Leicester. They mutter something about this being a good site from which to watch the launch. The wise men can only scratch their heads in confusion.

We have two transports with a settler and some troops on the way to the SW island, intending to claim the oil there.

New Dacca should rush-build it's airport when it becomes affordable.

The Monkey Cult votes for going for a spaceship win

 

[Jaffa Tamarin]

:frog:

 

[Cyrene]

Got it. I've got Friendly Fire tonight (hint, hint, Charis), so it will probably be extremely late tonight.

--Cy

 

[Cyrene]

As their last act before leaving power, the Monkey party enacted a landmark legislative package. The groundbreaking law was called “An Initiative to Create a Public Works Bill to Ensure the Proper Distribution of Intelligence Per Job Required.” The press called it “Let an Idiot do an Idiot’s Job, and Free Up the Smart People for Real Work”. The Cheap Beer Party, capitalizing on this sentiment, ran under the slogan “When the Country Calls Out for an Idiot, Only a REAL Idiot Stands Forth.” So Cy_Ghandi was elected President of the overwhelming purple team.

A quick perusal of the map showed that, for a successful term, all Cy_Ghandi needed to do was hit the space bar for ten turns. He was well on his way to success, then he spilled a Cheap Beer on the keyboard. Still, he was proud to report, when not drug addled, that absolutely nothing happened in his term 8-0.

1862. Zzzzzz.

1864. In a mighty effort, the stupid Cy_Ghandi has a burst of productivity. He reviews all relations with other powers, and conducts business. His advisors being forewarned, all he is allowed to do is trade luxuries. This he does for a positive cash flow, and the people rejoiced (that he was not allowed to trade techs). In this year, his scientists discovered the fun of fission, and Cy_Ghandi observed that Blessed India was so full of Uranium (5), that the people would never need to buy night lights again. His advisors then came to Cy_Ghandi with the only vexing decision of his term—Great India had excess production to devote to the research of marvels, but they wanted to know—did we seek the secrets of the Atom in the Manhattan Project, of Diplomacy in the United Nations, or of Pure Research in the Seti Project? Unfortunately, Cy_Idiot was busy viewing his new Special Edition DVD of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and swilling cheap beer, so his learned answer was “shhuurr, build ‘em all. Soundz great.”

In this way was Bangalore committed to build the United Nations, Delhi the Manhattan Project, and, our best research city, Madras, the Seti Program.

1866-1872. Shhhh the Idiot is sleeping.

1874. The Colony of Monkey Oil is founded. And there was much rejoicing .

1876-1880. Zzzzzzz.

Notes: Seti and the UN will come in the next turn. Manhattan is dragging behind and will be done in 11 (lowest priority). We will hit rocketry in 8 turns. Current money is 2k gold, making almost 300 per turn. Military (significant units only 8-0) is 38 Infantry, 82 Mech Infantry, and 69 Tanks. I moved a few bombers to the far off colonies with resources (not that I think anyone is stupid enough to attack). I did not expand either militarily or via settlement because I smell an end game, and did not see the point. Our far-flung colonies should assure aluminum somewhere, and we can use our military to secure it. For one of my solo games, we are light in the mech infantry, but this game is not exactly crowded with civs to step up and challentge us anymore. That’s why I swapped all production over to Miss Cleo Tarot cards.

--Cy

ps—the Tarot cards being the last straw, the Cheap Beer Party is swept out of office

 

[Skandranon]

Got it.

-Skan

 

[Skandranon]

After the Cheap Beer Party leaves, no one takes over! The Hippo Party resolves to manipulate things from behind the scenes. Since no one cares, they start manipulating things from in front of the scenes. Then they start manipulating the scenes. And so on.

1882 - Two acronymically delicious wonders are completed, SETI and UN. A representative of the UN asks "Do you wish to throw away all your civilization's accomplishments up to this point on an all-or-nothing, do-or-die throw of the dice?" India politely declines.

1884-1900 - Zzzzz.

Definition of Zzzz. Renewed England's RoP for 10/t, rejected two stupid offers. Our oil colony ran dry, didn't bother connecting one of our new ones because we haven't got anything to do with Oil really until we get modern armor. So I slapped a bunch of cities on wealth, turned the science up, and whiled away the turns. We have Rocketry, and two sources of aluminum, three in five turns when some city's culture expands, and three or so more that are easy to take if we really need it. Halfhearted force shuffling and MMOW. Fiercest battles fought against pollution.

Welcome to late game tedium!



-Skan

 

[asaegyn]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The REAL evidence of weed, strongest proof to date, however, was CharisGhandi sending all our "obsolete" elite cav into battle "in search of a great leader". My brother, you really ought to hit F3 now and then, and check to see if someone else has left you a great leader already. You can only have one, and sending the whole army searching the countryside for something sitting right under your nose is certainly not the kind of evidence you want turning up during an investigation into Puffing the Magic Dragon.

------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hey, i just wanted to say that it IS possible to have more than one leader at a time, i dunno where you are basing that game, in one of my games as the Chinese, i had 3 leaders operating at one point (and i foolishly made 3 armies)...

 

[Sirian]

Do you have a screenshot, asaegyn?

I've seen multiple leaders produced on the same turn, but only after ones are used or killed. Once you form an army, you no longer have a leader: you have an army. If you use the leader to rush a project, you no longer have a leader, and can produce another.

There's only one box on the F3 screen, showing whether or not you currently have a leader. I have won dozens upon dozens of great leaders in combat, and never once seen one appear when I already had one sitting around. The only thing that might convince me I'm mistaken would be a screenshot showing two leaders (they'd have to be unstacked, or other units would hide them) on screen at the same time.


- Sirian

 

[Charis]

Life was good for the prosperous nation of India. They had luxuries and power,
and yet... they were bored. The nation slid downhill when they started to smoke
the "pungent weed", history repeated itself yet again. And so did come to power
the sons of CharisGandhi one LAST time...

1900 AD (0) - Wow! Are we rich or what?! Monkey oil gets rushed a temple, to
be followed by rush of Barracks and Airport. CG the Seventh is sad
to see that the histograph of recent history has utterly flattened out. Yet he knows
the truth is that we are strong, and in need of the pungent weed!

MAKE LOVE NOT WAR!! In a move that can only be described as rash, with one turn left
to go, CharisGandhi HALTS production of the Manhattan project, citing that he will
not be responsible for bringing nuclear terror to the planet. Instead he has visions
of a great Space mission... he immediately puts the best production workers on vacation
and supplies them with free weed! He puts Kohlapur on the Manhattan as a placeholder
for a spaceship module.

1902 AD (1) - MMOW, Pollution cleanup, and some SAM batteries in our 'core' home towns.
I don't like this pop-up dialog box for UN vote. If we accidently hit yes we could
lose instantly. "NO!"

1904 AD (2) - The economy seems to stumble as the research budget goes to 100% of GDP!
When questioned on this, CharisGandhi chants "Apol-LO!" "Apol-LO!" His closest
friends are confused, and sigh, "Weed..."

1906 AD (3) - "Gandhiji... What are you doing with our ships?" "Maginot" "Huh?"
Gandhi claims that the weed-smoking sailors are enthralled by the coral reef
patterns. The line up for miles and miles just to see them. It is hoped that
by accident no blockade or anything of that sort if formed by this harmless action.

1908 AD (4) - More preoccupation with wealth, as the country becomes less and less
productive.

1910 AD (5) - deh hol. Placeholders for spaceship parts set in the wealth cities
of Bombay and Madras. (Chitagong gets a longer term placeholder, and Bangalore,
Ganges and Calcutta request the honor of making a module.)

1912 AD (6) - In between turns the citizens of San Francisco YEARNED for the pungent
weed and overthrew their Persian aggressors! We set up shop and started sedating
the masses! With it comes a supply of coal.

Apollo!!! "Sir, won't the other nations get jealous??" "How is that possible? It
is purely a scientific mission?? Do it!" "Sir, you'll waste 476 shields!" "DO IT!"

1914 AD (7) - Delhi finished Apollo, put on Solar for placeholder. Calcutta uses Manhattan.
A new source of oil! Just outside of Bengal When things are good, things are good!

1916 AD (8) - Madras completes the first part of our ship, the docking bay
Pollution is popping up so fast, some turns we can't even keep up, despite, dozens
of workers in the fields. (Perhaps they smoke too much weed?!)

1918 AD (9) - ACK!!!! "Terrible news! The people of Pungent Weed have deposed our
governor and pledged allegiance to the traitorous Persians!!" (Two infantry there?)

Another scandal for the government of CharisGandhi the Seventh. Disgrace to their
very special home city. The people are in an outroar, there are demands for a
new government. There are demands for a UN vote. Both are told 'no'.

Pollution in Bangalore, Lahore, Chartres. Yup, we're falling behind.

1920 AD (10) - One last celebration of "We love the Mahtama Charisji" day. The
scandal is just tearing the country apart, and he chooses to step down. Before
doing so, he finishes Synthetic Fibers (allowing ) and starts looking into
Superconductors. Indepdendent auditors SHRIEK at the country's coffers, now sitting
at just over 1000 instead of 4000, to which he can only reply "Insurmountable tech
lead!". As he is ousted, the new science research is cut way back...

No pollution whatsoever this turn. It is theorized that the pollution was ACTUALLY
clouds of pungent weed affecting citizens of all cities. The weed is again
outlawed, and pollution drops drastically!

SS Cockpit will finish next turn in Bombay, SS Engine in Kohlapur in one turn also.
Delhi switched to the SS Storage, due in 2 turns. Calcutta cuts over to the SS Stasis
Chamber, due in 5 turns. Madras is on the exterior casing, due in 9 turns.

That will leave only Fuel Cells and Life Support when we get Semiconductors, and
Thrusters at Satellites, and the Pungent Weed Lounge when Lasers are mastered.
(Bangalore just started the Palace, and Ganges the Manhattan project, as holders)

America still needs Corporation and Electronics, the Persians are grappling with
Scientific Method, the English can't comprehend atomic theory and look forward to
someday learning Flight, and the Germans also don't even know what Uranium is yet.

Thus does the reign of CharisGandhi end in scandal (although some would say, in success) He will almost surely never rise to power again, but if he did... he would "liberate" the beloved city of "Pungent Weed" (come on baby, flip back!)

 

[Sirian]

General Serpent-Yan proudly cast his hat into the ring and ran for election in 1920AD. His platform: "Give me ten years, and I will conquer England! Give me twenty, and I will conquer Germany! It is time for India to take her rightful place in this world!"

Yan was defeated in the general election by a fellow calling himself "Bus Stop Bill", by a margin of 6%. Apparently, India had had enough of the Yan way of doing things.

And so pretty much not much of anything happened. Bill kept his campaign promises, to introduce the radical new concept of "public transportation", touting a vehicle called a "bus" which could carry a couple of dozen people at one time... and well, really, the rest of the details are so boring, nobody bothered to understand enough to know whether or not Bill had a clue.

And yet it has been noted that since buses went into service all over India, there HAS been a reduction in smog. Some were even so bold as to suggest that CharisGhandi was SO FOND of smoke of any kind, that it was his family's opposition to public transport that kept it from happening for decades on end, choking our skies with too much auto exhaust. The Charis line is now being sued in a class action lawsuit by 18 million Indian citizens for the sum of $132,490,222,541,000,000,000,000. They are not expected ever to recover, if found guilty, and may never come to power again.

In other developments, a mysterious cult hideout in the mountains has somehow bloomed into a major city, guarded dilligently by legions of longbowmen, and a center of international cultism and partying. It has become THE trendy spot for rich vacationers, and nobody seems to know where this came from or what the heck is going on up there. "The Banana Storage Facility" is a definite location of much merrymaking, with allegations of orgies and a whole lot of "bananas" "going into storage", whatever that means.

The leader of the Monkey Cult is being hauled before the Senate to supply an explanation.

Also, why are there now three banana processing and shipment facilities on the southern continent? Why are they constructing frigates, while whole truckloads of bananas rot on the dockside and our transport fleet sits in mothballs on the mainland? The Monkey Cult has a lot of explaining to do!


- Sirian

 

[Sirian]

:crazyeyes :crazyeyes :crazyeyes :crazyeyes :crazyeyes

 

[asaegyn]

I didn't know that once a leader forms an army they are no longer considered a leader..
in that case what you have said very well makes sense and is probably true.

 

[Jaffa Tamarin]

July 7th 1954.

Dear International Celebrity,

The Monkey Cult cordially invites you to the party of the millenium at the new Cathedral of the Golden Tamarin at their secret cult hideaway. We promise you a night of wild celebration, free food, much pungent weed and banana daiquiris, and a firework display you will never forget.

In light of the worsening international situation, firearms will not be permitted within the Cathedral grounds. Usual parking rules apply.

The Monkey Cult regrets we will not be able to attend the party ourselves. Secret cult business requires our attendance at an alternative location.

Sincerely,

The Cult

 

[Cyrene]

Outstanding!

Monday Morning quarterback time. My perceptions of the keys to this slam dunk are (in chronological order):

Sirian. Great setup and early planning.

Charis: Doing the early land grab.

Hocus and Jaffa: Fending off the Persian assaults and beating them down to where I had a neutral situation where I could grab the tactical initiative.

Skan: Continuing the initiative and cutting deep into Persia.

This was probably enough for the easy win, but Charis and Sirian get bonus points for finishing the deal with the Persians and for waxing the Zulus.

Just outstanding.

Time for Emperor diff and/or variants .

--Cy