4890 BC
I have discovered the Khmer "city state". (A feature of RevolutionDCM is Dynamic Civilization Names, which changes the name of your civ depending on its conditions. This means that the Khmer capital has a population of at least 3 (or maybe it just means that they founded another city). Hattusas is only up to population 2 at this point.) They are a little ways away from the Arabs. Now that I mention it, it looks like the Vikings and Arabs are also no longer tribes, but city states as well. In the northern part of my explorations, I've further extended my knowledge of the mountain range to the north. It looks like the the northern coastline is blocked up by mountains up until tundra starts appearing. This is incredibly important, since it means that it is unlikely that I will face a good navy coming down from the north, unless there are better production sites further up that have ocean access. Also, any lands I settle west of that mountain range will be safe from fear of amphibious assault (and in this mod, many barbarian ships CARRY UNITS, which makes them much more dangerous. You must defend your coastal cities until your navy is trustworthy!)
Vadflaq, elder of Hatti, 4590BC
Our people have discovered strange metals in the jungles and forests west of us in numerous locations; we dare not venture too far into the land of the hostile tribe to the west, but we think they have easy access to about half of it. Rumors from foreign tribes say that it is worth much, but that is just their opinion. Why would a gray, shiny, metal be valuable? Fools.
Meanwhile, we have been producing tools and training men and women to work the surrounding lands. We have plans to farm the lands across Haran River that are directly west and southwest, and we hope to start excavating the hills to the north.
Also of note is that I have witnessed my people's slow change of attitude towards the mighty mountain range to the north. We have lost many men exploring them. What other mountains extend as far as they do or are as high? Surely the gods roam these mountains and prevent any mere mortals from crossing them. They have become whispered as the Vysharon Mountain Range.
Here is a good map of the explored parts of the range so far; it looks like it keeps on going further north:
There are a few passes that allow access to the ocean that actually look like good city spots, but I suspect that these mountains might block the northern civs from being too naval (UNLESS the Khmer take all of those spots!).
Vadflaq, elder of Hatti, 4365BC
Some armed men who we believe are from the lands to the west, like Yayoi, are stalking around Harrusas, making our javelineers nervous. We think our hills and previous attempts to build earthen defenses will ultimately keep the settlement safe though.
Also noteworthy is that Shangian, the barbarian city to the south, is sitting right on some ivory. It is the only one I've seen on the map, which means that I might have to contend with elephant armies later in the game if their barbarian civ later goes to war with me.
In 4440BC, Stonehenge was built by someone, and in 4335BC, Hinduism was founded.
In 4305BC, I finished researching Archery (and started Mysticism) on the same turn I finished my worker, so I upgraded my 2 javelineers in Hattusas to archers (allowing them the +50% city defense, and +25% hills defense, as well as access to city defender promotions, all of which javelineers don't have. I started production on a new archer since any of those barbarian cities settling down could be a dangerous thing for me.
My javelineer exploring in the north has discovered that the coastline is now heading west, and that the Vysharon Range has ended. It looks like the Khmer are in the middle of a very fat peninsula that juts out to the east and has some decent land. I now renounce any claims that there might not be a strong naval power up here since there is plenty of good coastline further north (the tundra was a false alarm- the PerfectWorld map script simply generates cold climates at high elevations, and apparently the Vysharaons are pretty high up in some spots).
By 4275BC there were 5 barbarian units around Hattusas. I'll have to see if they just annoyingly sit there or if they attack it and give me some experience.
4245BC:
I have discovered the Viking homeland to the west, and also discovered the second Khmer city (northwest of the first one I discovered, which I assume is their capital). It is also having to defend against barbarian archers/javelins next to it. (I'm not the only one!)
Kandresh, chief of defense, 4245BC
After a long siege, we are finally under attack! The enemy has brought javelins and bows to the fight, and they outnumber us about 2 to 1. However, our archers are brave, and will fight from the earthen fortifications they have dug on the hilltops in Hattusas.
After days of fighting, we are victorious and naught but a few javelineers remain of the enemy. I am not sure if they will be foolhardy enough to continue the assault, but they might. I must say that I am glad that we started using the bow rather than the javelin in our defense of the city, even though we weren't the first to use it, since it has proved effective in defense.
I must also point out that it is proving to be particularly annoying that Hattusas's borders still haven't moved, since I am very limited in what tiles I can work (so that worker and its improvements will be vital).
In 4230BC, Kemetism was founded. There is a barbarian city, Cherokee, east of the Khmer. I hope it engages them in warfare to prevent them from taking control of that region.
Any suggestions on how I could document this better? I've never done this before, so I'm without a lot of experience. Personally I think maybe I could pick up the pace more, since I am still in the very early parts of the game and nothing too major is happening (although these events will set the world stage later). You may have noticed that I've been explaining events without roleplaying them more, mostly because it would be much shorter to simply explain what I've found than to detail it from a Hittite's point of view. This will probably change later as politics and war become more of a focus of the game and exploration not so much. Are the size of the pictures okay? I play on a 1080p screen, so they are the easiest size pictures, and I think that they are more descriptive of what's going on anyway, even if you have to scroll to see the whole thing.
The barbarian city is founded on ivory! With elephants, whatever civ that'll be might be a strong regional power since they give some strong early units if played right. (I guess it'll also depend on where the copper and iron end up being).
Here's a map of the lands around the Khmer. There is a sea (or an arm of the ocean?) to their east. Unfortunately, my javelineer must continue his explorations on the other side of that sea since it would be too dangerous to try to make it past Cherokee and Hariharalaya and make it out alive.
4111BC:
I've finished researching Mysticism and and starting Slavery, which will hopefully allow me to switch to slavery once it's done. In RoM-AND, slavery doesn't allow
(apparently because the AI isn't good at it?), but it does mean that all farms will have +1
and all mines +1
, as well as having unlimited slave "specialists" (-1
, +3
). There are some caveats to this, such as +1
, +1
, and +50% food needed to grow in every city, but at this point in the game it is worth it (especially since I have good food resources nearby). It really is a good civic for those with plenty of food but limited production. I want to convert before I have more cities, since anarchy causes my cities to want to revolt more and I'll have enough problems with that later. My capital should remain relatively stable, even through anarchy, as long as I don't do anything like subjecting it to lots of excess unhappiness or unhealthiness.
Last turn, my worker finished the farm he was building. I am sending him to build a mine (it is covered in forest, but I can burn them down (no extra
from chopping) at any point in the game, even without Bronze Working, which lets me chop them. The +2
I'll get from it after slavery will be worth it.
The Illrian Pirates have also declared war on Khmer merchant shipping. This is a (one-time?) random event that drops a stack of war galleys outside your borders that will often blockade you. Many times they will wander into neighboring waters, and they are probably close enough that I might eventually get a visit from one or two of them, so I should be prepared!
Bradok, head of a javelineer scouting party, 4097BC
Our explorations have brought us to the lands of the barbaric Hsung-Nu. Near their settlement we spied some farmers building up their farms. They ran after seeing us, but we will move in to destroy their farms and hopefully give them a setback, as well as potentially looting useful materials. We dare not move further in towards the settlement, which is well-defended.
Bradok, head of a javelineer scouting party
After pillaging the area, Hsung-Nu sent armed men after us. We are moving away towards safer lands.
Bradok, head of a javelineer scouting party, 4013BC
We have discovered a strange shellfish outside the barbaric tribe to our west. The locals call them clams, and they say that the tribe's settlement's name is Yayoi. Should they settle down from their barbaric ways, they will truly be worthy adversaries indeed!
So that means that Yayoi has rice, clams, pigs, and two silver in his fat cross. That is a lot for a city to start with with the settings I'm using. In fact, don't be surprised if they later wipe out the Hittites. Here is a map of the surrounding area:
There is stone in several locations on the map, but none close enough for me to grab and keep, so it is unlikely that I will have any until later in the game possibly. That means many ancient wonders are beyond my grasp.
3957BC:
I spied an Illrian Raider in the sea in the far north, west of Khmer. That must mean that it's an arm of the ocean. Since they should have spawned near Khmer coastal waters.
Akuwana, Chieftain of the Hittites, 3943BC
Realizing the threat from our neighbors, especially those in Yayoi, our people have thought of a way to subjugate them: namely by capturing any of them and other enemies we find and making them do forced labor. I have decided that we should make this a policy, and the people are calling these workers slaves. Some are resisting this idea though, so it may take a while before we can begin working as much as we were before.
After my conversion to slavery, my civilization was then known as the Hittite City State. Never had it happen that way happen before- usually I reach population 3 first.
Here is the state of the world, shown with and without resources:
Notice that the Khmer are on a Penninsula with a narrow isthmus connecting it to the continent. The Arabians are between the ocean to the north and the sea to my north. Hmm...I'll have to name it soon. There are the three barb cities between me and the Vikings. I hope when then settle down they will direct their aggression toward the Vikings, but Yayoi will almost certainly direct its force toward me. The is a long thin peninsula toward the south, with an island (and other lands?) across the ocean. There is rainforest in the north and south of the continent, which makes it difficult to tell the latitude we're at, but we're probably close to the equator in any case, especially with there being some desert near the Vikings. This could be the east coast of a very large continent or it could be the majority of a small one; it is hard to tell at this point.
A barbarian stack of three units has appeared near my borders, leading me to send a couple archers to defend my mine. I'll have to see what they do. If I train any more units, it will start costing me upkeep (I essentially have free upkeep for 7), but it may be worth doing it so that I don't have to keep rebuilding pillaged improvements.
3719BC:
Pigs were discovered near Hsung-Nu, since the gems and rice nearby wasn't enough. They may develop into a regional or world power too; we'll have to see. The barbs pillaged my farm and now an extra javelineer is in their stack. I am building another archer.
Also, fires burned down another forest, which I was planning on eventually mining anyway. No matter.
My javelineer in the south now has enough experience to be promoted to woodsman II, making exploration in forests twice as fast.
3579BC:
Our borders have expanded, but alas! The shrimp are still out of reach. I can farm that rice, however, provided it can be defended from barbs. Something will have to be done about that barbarian stack. I have been working on Metal Casting to reveal copper and allow me to build my unique building, the iron forge (+15%
, and with iron +15%
and +10%
), as well as spearmen (which don't require any resources in this mod).
My javelineers have scouted out the rest of this continent, apparently. Unless we have a connection to some other landmass by water, what I see here is what I have to work with until Optics, which means any larger landmasses will probably have better technology since they have more trading partners, although TechDiffusion will begin to equalize that as we make more contacts and trade with them. To be a world power (and not just a regional power on this continent), I may have to control large parts of the continent.
Hmm...my ancient age of exploration is over and it will be very crowded in the lands west of me soon as barbarian civs settle down. Here's to the success of Hatti!
. I use the Rise of Mankind - A New Dawn mod, which is also oriented more towards realism. Expect a tale of a nation that founds an empire and maybe later collapses from rebellion, or maybe brings much of its continent under its control. There are a lot of different things that could happen, but seeing one empire conquer the entire world, or even a large continent, will be the exception rather than the norm. I don't really try for the normal victory conditions, but I just try to have fun and see how well I can do. I try to use settings in this mod that make political intrigue common, which means that I don't have to work hard to make up events that are going on behind the scenes of the game world because the ones that are happening are very interesting, and I will document them in the story. All I have to do is fill in the details. 
), but not so big that too many civs don't care about the oceans. Generates a proportion similar to earth imo.)
if I need to be doing better.
to help get pop my borders over to those shrimp and rice) in Hattusas and started a Wheelwright, which I won't finish yet, but it'll give it something to produce until I can make a fishing boat.
), and I have progressed on to Naturopathy, which will reveal 5 different fruit-like resources (which I believe is more than any other tech reveals). I probably ought to mention that most resources in this mod don't start out revealed. I was fortunate to start near rice and shrimp, which do.
He's now just behind the Vikings in score (2nd place).
. I am going to start Mathematics mainly so that I can trade it for techs known by others civs, helping me catch up in the tech race.
