Revenge of the Chinese - Always War Deity

[betazed]

By this time Mao’s population was growing and the citizens in the cities were getting very pesky. Luxury tax had to be raised a bit. However, this was starting to hurt research. So Mao had an idea.

There is this JS Bach guy who had been pestering Mao for a cathedral for some time now. Building the cathedral was not a problem. One of Mao’s heroic leaders could do it easily. It was rather the time and money that the soothsayers will have to spend to learn about how to codify music. According to soothsayers it would take 40 years (4 turns – all civs had it by now so I was doing it at last civ price; also by this time everyone has been building Js Bach and Sistine for some time now). However, it would make many of the citizens happy and would reduce the luxury tax to 0. Thus although it would require 40 years of slowdown presently, it would in the long run save time. Thus Music Theory was researched and JS Bach’s Cathedral was duly built. For good measure Mao built Sistine Chapel too. He doubted he will ever be able to build cathedrals but it was a nice wonder to have. Thinking about all the work that the other civs wasted, Mao smiled. He slept well that night.

 

[Zwingli]

Wow, you seem to have the continent wrapped up in the relatively early AD years. With 4 civs on the other continent, the invasion should be a spectacular clash. Of course, you might just have an extra ace in the cards with 49 culture per turn in Bejing .

 

[betazed]

Originally posted by Zwingli
you might just have an extra ace in the cards with 49 culture per turn in Bejing .

Rest assured, all aces will be required to win this one (I am still playing this as I write). I seriously underestimated just how much cavalry and rifleman just one AI civ (not to mention more than one) can throw at you in the industrial ages.

To be contd....

 

[betazed]

With his home secure (Mao was still pissed off at his generals a bit since they let Abu Bakr escape alive; he has set up a city in a small island, Mao intended to take care of him there as soon as he had the chance) Mao started to wonder how to launch the attack of the other large continent. He called a meeting of all his advisors.

Following is an excerpt from what they had to say to him: -

Hu Jin Su (the scientific advisor) – Comrade General, our scientific knowledge is progressing fast. However, we have heard that Joan is not only very beautiful – as you already know my dear comrade – but is also very knowledgeable. She is close to discovering the secrets of gravity and we do not know it yet. Should we be able to discover gravity and build this Newton chap (a man with a great grey locks stepped forward) a university, he avers that he can double the scientific output from Beijing. This is more important now than ever since Alexander has stolen that Copernicus guy from us. Also, we think we can learn the secrets of Military Tradition (a coded and secret chapter of the great work of Sun Tzu) and then we can equip our glorious riders with rifles. May you conquer the world. [ bows out ]

Hu Jin Mu (the military advisor) – Comrade General, our military is strong. We are stronger than the Celts and the Greeks. However, we have heard that Joan - may her beauty increase forever – is at least as strong as us. As my esteemed collegue Hu Jin Su has already said we need the secrets of Military tradition to have any chance of success in our overseas campaign. However, let me remind you that our riders are almost as strong as the cavalry and definitely as fast and require lesser resources to train. In my opinion, of course humble, we need to equip our foot soldiers with rifles to provide better defense for our riders. We need to learn Nationalism first to do so, and then we can dabble with Military Tradition and Sun Tzu’s secrets. [bows out]

Hu Jin Eu (the economic advisor) – Comrade General, we are having a balanced budget. I foresee no deficit this year or in the coming years. We are the richest civilization and Joan - may her fair features be a shining light to all around her – is a distant second. However, we are still not fully skilled in the arts of Economics. If our scientists could learn that, we could build a trading company. This man (a bespectacled man stepped forward and announced himself as Smith) could build the trading company and it would help us save a lot of money. I know you are a warrior at heart and do not stoop to consider matters of money and can ill afford to spend time learning such things, but let me remind you that without money we cannot afford to maintain such a large army and finance our overseas campaign. [bows out]

Hu Jin Chu (the culture advisor) – the court summoner announced that he is missing. Later it was found that he was writing a song eulogizing Mao’s love for Joan Mao, forgave him this time and asked him to write an even longer song.

Hu Jin Tu (the trade advisor) – the court summoner reminded Mao that he has been executed a long time ago for the indiscretion of suggesting that the Greeks did not have horses and may pay good money for it. Mao, grunted at the thought of that, but his acute mind drew many conclusions from it.

He ordered court dismissed and retired for the night to ponder on the situation. Tomorrow, starts a new era in Chinese history, a new epic…

 

[betazed]

After a long night's thought Mao decided on the following courses of action

(a) Science to proceed at top speed toward ToG (even if there is a budget deficit)
(b)Since there was little or no war going on in the homeland now all cities should concentrate on infrastructure alone till Nationalism is known, at which point all should concentrate on building rifles.
(c) Since there were no leaders being generated from battle anymore, the work for Newton's should start as a pre-build in Beijing. Construction engineers were told to use the blue prints
for the Pentagon. The moment ToG is known the building should change to Newton's University.
(d) The Greeks will be attacked first. We need a toehold on that continent. Get the toehold andjust defend that with all might. The Greeks were weakest and they had no horses. Also, the beachhead city has a luxury (furs). The winters in china were getting colder and colder. Those furs will keep spirits and bodies warm.
(e) The attack on the next continent will start now. Without delays. We still do not have Nationalism but the musket army that we do have should be able to provide some protection tillwe get to Nationalism.
(f) And last but not the least, Military Tradition not to be researched at all. We race to the Industrial ages, research Steam Power and then Nationalism and race to Scientific Method.


"And soon, " Mao said, " I will give you the detailed attack plan."


This was a unusual decision especially for a AW game. But here were my thoughts:-
- the only difference between riders and cavalry is the increased 2 attack hps of cavalry. Since I will not be going to be in attacking mode for a long time in the next continent I did not need MT. When a cavalry retreats after attacking a rifle, the 4 attack of a rider should be more than enough to mow it down. However, defense will be the key to holding on to the territory
ashore.
- Not researching MT will save me at least 7-8 turns making my other techs like steam power come that much quicker. Also, I needed to get to SM to build the ToE.
- Even if I researched MT I would never have all the cash to upgrade my riders. (at 80 pieces of gold/rider I would need thousands of gold in reserve; either that or slow down researching to make money every turn)



There was a lot of argument in Chinese court over Mao decision. Although no one would say so openly many believed it was stupid. They wondered inwardly whether all these years of war
mongering have finally driven Mao crazy. Would you go up against rifles and cavalries with Riders? Why don't we strengthen ourselves some more before we attack.

But only Mao realized Sun Tzu's ancient and invaluable advice -

To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself. Thus the good fighter is able to secure himself against defeat, but cannot make certain of defeating the enemy.

"Rifles ensure that we will not be defeated. Let the enemy provide the path to our victory", Mao thundered and walked out of court.

 

[betazed]

Patrol ships reported that French, Carthaginian and Greek ships heavily patrolled the white lines on the map. The yellow lines were hardly patrolled at all. Also enemy ships never approached the Polar Regions. Hence if supply and troop transports were done using the route marked by the red arrow on the map they will meet with little or no resistance.

"Launch a whole armada of galleons with empty ones in the front and loaded ones in the back. Make sure that the turn we move into enemy territory is also the turn we unload, i.e. we do not spend a turn being a sitting duck on the water, or it will be your head in the water!", Mao warned his admirals.

 

[betazed]

Meanwhile the Newton guy kept his promise and finished his university. Research progressed faster owing to this achievement.

D - Day

Mao's plan was followed to a T and the troops landed on the Greek Shore. Some galleons were lost. The most disastrous loss was that of a galleon carrying a musket army. But apart from that most of the troops made to the Greek shore. Leading and guarding them was a rider army.

Mao was surprised (pleasantly). The greeks were still guarding their cities with Hoplites. Last Mao heard of them was thousands of years ago. They surely had iron and saltpeter on their lands according to the map Mao had. Then the map must have changed since then. The most probable cause must have been that the greek sources of Saltpeter and iron were taken from him by Carthage.

{Actually, that too was not true as I found out later. The Greeks had both Saltpeter and iron in their territory. They did attack me with MDI and Knights. But they never built muskets, since their saltpeter was not connected. }

 

[cgannon64]

Wow. Your decision to use Riders seems ingenious now, since the Greeks are using Hoplites!

 

[betazed]

Originally posted by cgannon64
Wow. Your decision to use Riders seems ingenious now, since the Greeks are using Hoplites!

Although this was fortuitous, muskets would not have made any difference to the Greeks. I attacked them exclusively with my two rider armies. Even muskets cannot protect a city from that. However, taking over the Greeks seemed like the easiest part of the game. They for some reason just rolled over.

Actually, I was already concerned by this time. It meant that Carthage and France was that much bigger and powerfull for they controlled all the resources . I would rather face 4 relatively weak enemies than two immensely strong ones.

My landing zone was very good in terms of luxes because that is what I aimed for. I settled on furs, had ivory and wines in my sight. But no critical resources. All of those resources were deep in the enemy territory. In short, I braced myself for the onslaught....

 

[betazed]

The new city in the Greek lands was settled immediately and heavily fortified with muskets (soon to be rifles). This unexpected and bold move caught Joan and Brennus as much unawares as it did Alexander. Within a space of a few decades that it took them to rearrange their forces and bring it on Mao, the city obtained more reinforcements from the mainland.

Meanwhile the rider armies were wreaking havoc to the Greek cities.

Herakala and Corinth were the first to be razed. Then Mao's forces captured the Copernicus's Observatory. That too was razed to the ground. In a span of a few decades the continent was rid of Greeks and they were reduced to occupying just one off shore island.

By this time French and Carthaginian attacks on the lone Chinese city has become pretty consistent. A defending musketman generated a great leader to form another musket army. Almost every year brought fresh muskets to the Chinese town. But losses were heavy. Finally, an enormous barrage of French cavalry defeated the musket army and almost brought the town to ruins.

Mao, held on with his fingernails which were giving away. Was his decision of not going for MT wrong? Could he have come so far to fail? Should he have waited for riflemen to attack this new continent (which would surely have made the French tech lead even more)? Another attack and the town will surely fall...

 

[betazed]

It was obvious to Mao that a defeat was inevitable just defending with Muskets against cavalry. Also to use his riders he had to go on the offensive. Since railroads had come in another city was founded on a source of wines and an ivory colony was founded (this colony was entirely undefended).

Hordes of riders entered the Carthaginian territory on pillaging missions. They would move fast thru the territory and pillage everything. There was no point in attacking cities since they were defended my riflemen. Many riders were lost to cavalry counterattack. However, riders were replenished continuously using the sea supply route (the sea route by now was owned entirely by Mao now and no enemy ships were in sight).

This pillaging was so successful that the cavalry charge on the cities from Carthage ground to a halt. Carthage’s production was severely curtailed. There was still a stream of French Cavalry coming in, but their passage through Carthaginian territory brought them right in front of the riders perched on high ground.

Finally, a rider army was given the special task of going to the Carthage capital and disconnecting it by pillaging all roads around it.

On the home front things couldn’t have looked better. The addition of three more luxuries led to a huge increase of Mao’s popularity. Word came to Mao that many cities are celebrating “We love Mao day”.

 

[betazed]

In time carthage's capital Entremont was completely disconnected. The rider army stationed in Carthage territory to keep watch that it never got connected again.
{The AI never attacked the army, altough I think it could have been easily taken down with three cavalries at most. However, this has been my consistent observation. The AI never attacks armies unless it too is attacking with an army. }

Meanwhile a city was founded on the ivory too. Carthage ships blockaded and bombarded the city relentlessly destroying the barracks and harbors. But they were always rebuilt. Carthage's attack reduced to attacks by riflemen and long bows since the horses has been disconnected by the riders.

 

[Earp]

Originally posted by betazed
In time carthage's capital Entremont was completely disconnected.

I think you are fighting the Celts. They are usually this shade of Green and their capital is Entremont. I can see Mao stammering "Carthaginians, Celts, who cares? They all look the same to me beneath the hooves of my riders" as he stomps out of court.

Great story btw.

 

[betazed]

Years went by in the internecine war between the Chinese and everyone else. Not an inch of gorund was lost to any side. Every year hordes of cavalry would attack the chinese settlements. Rifles and musket armies would defend heroically and the cavalries would be cut down.

One day a stranger by the name of Sun Ting Earp came to Mao's court. "I have important news for you comrade", said he.

Mao nodded asking him to deliver the news.

"The green infidels and the evil dregs that you have been fighting thinking they are Carthaginians are really Celtic scum. I am sure you have known this earlier as your history books point out, but somewhere down the line in all the war efforts the mistake has crept in and has been perpetuated. I only say this to correct the record. Of course this does not change anything; we should still wipe them off the face of the earth. But exactness and correctness is its own reward", said Sun Ting Earp.

Mao agreed that indeed a error has taken place. He ordered all records corrected and was very pleased with Earp. For his attention to detail and wise ways he made him general of the legions in charge of the rifle army that is going deep inside the French territory to pillage the infrastructure of the capital. He also gave him a palace to live in and seven concubines for company.

 

[betazed]

 

[betazed]

Meanwhile, news came that the French people have learnt of a new knowledge called Industrialization. This allowed them to create factories and increase their production. Mao patiently waited for the completion of ToE. On completion he obtained Replaceable Parts and Sanitaion from it.

This was a suboptimal decision. But I needed infantry desperately. I could have taken Industrialization but that I could research at third civ price. OTOH No one had sanitaion yet.

Hospitals were started in all the major cities.

Meanwhile Sun Ting Earp did his job well and disconnected Paris.

The three off shore cities were now being defended by infantries. Yet almost always just barely. Every year there were so many attackers that the infantry army would be reduced to almost half its strenghth. Fortunately, all these battles gave Mao a constant supply of great leaders who created more and more armies. Thus, as each army got reduced in strength it would be replaced with a new one and whisked away to a secret location where they would recuperate.

Mao also sent another army deep into celtic territory to pillage roads around Entremont.

As industrailization was discovered a great leader created a building called Universal Suffrage. Mao, never realized the point of this effort. But he allowed it since it was a nice looking building. {I did this just for fun. This wonder was of no use to any of three civs in combat at that point. }

Another Great Leader also created Battlefield Medicine.

 

[betazed]

The war carried on without respite for centuries without any side gaining any particular advantage. Mao followed Sun Tzu’s principle and secured himself against defeat. As the years passed by Joan and Brennus fell behind in scientific research. The construction of Hoover Dam in Beijing provided a tremendous boost to production. Mao’s scientists were the first to discover Motorized Transportation and then the secrets of Flight. And this turned the tide in the war.

With airports built in most cities Mao could send about ten tanks to the off shore continent every other year. As tanks came in Mao could go on the offensive. The puny cavalry armies of France and Celts were no match for the awesome power of the tanks. Many tank battles lead to the rise of many leaders. By this time Mao had close to 15 armies half of which were infantry armies and the other half tank armies.

On seeing the opportunity of victory Mao devised a bold offensive.

All attacks on cities will be lead by tank armies as far as possible. The attack will follow a flower petal formation with the center of the flower at the heart of the continent. As more and more tanks will come in the flower will become larger with more and more petals. Thus the continent will be cleared in ever increasing concentric circles. When individual divisions of tanks will attack infantry armies will provide cover for the tanks.

 

[betazed]

History will remember the Mao offensive by many names. For generations these tactics will be taught in many war academies. Soon, enemy cities fell like dominoes. Many wonders which were useless were burned to the ground.

The borders of the enemy empires shrunk at rates faster than Mao could move ahead.

Battleships first blockaded the Celtic coasts and then bombarded their cities. Tanks finished the job.

But Mao was not ready for the last surprise that struck him like a lightning in a clear blue sky...

 

[NightThatSaysNI]

good story can't wait till next installment

 

[betazed]

Joan’s empire crumbled under the tracks of the Chinese tanks. Her civilization degraded to Anarchy. News came to Mao from the battlefield that it would take just two more assaults on her cities to wipe her out. Mao grunted in approval and asked court adjourned for that day.

And there alone at last, having rid himself of the gratuitous generals and the fawning courtiers, he wept. He wept for the demise of his love, wept since he was committed to this path of utter destruction. He knew a part of him would die along with Joan the only woman he has been condemned to love all this centuries.

So for the first time in his life, he knelt before the Gods and humbly prayed for a miracle.

And the gods – who were called the Firaxians – answered.

A freaking cultural victory. The victory I hate most. I needed just two more turns to clear the map and it was denied to me. Anyway, a win is a win. So they say. The happy lives of Mao and Joan were the only redeeming part of this.

Mao came to know that Joan was the only person who was in love with him all this time.

{Boy do the others look pissed.}

They married and lived happily ever after.