All right then. Could this be a monkey's last turnset of the game? Well, if all goes right, it will be. Let's see what we have here.
Preflight 1350AD All cities on the mainland are building either cannons or cavs. This is good. Wartime mobilization is a wonderful thing. I micromanage a bit to keep some cities from starving. This costs us a bit of gold, but not much. Research is shut off for good, and income is 380gpt. As soon as railing in our core is complete, we'll be in even better shape. We have injured troops over in Incaland in defensive position. I leave them there. We have drastically injured units in Andahuaylas (which I rename Leo's House) and the flip risk there is to the moon. I move them outside the walls, just in case.
Hit enter.
IBT Inca Dude shifts some units and lands two rifles outside Vilcambaba (which I rename Lighthouse). Instead of flipping, Leo's House sheds a bunch of resisters. And starves some. Nothing else.
Turn 1 1355AD Send some cavs over to rid ourselves of the Inca rifles at Lighthouse. No cannons in the neighborhood, and the fight is on open ground, so our troops are not at the advantage that they should be, but there is no doubt as to the outcome. (2-1)
On to Namp'o. Dromons try their best, but they just don't have the stuff to hurt rifles. Not this time, anyway. 2 hits out of 17 tries. Well, I know what
will hurt a rifleman. Send in the army, which takes out two rifles, and then a vet cav to take out the last. (5-1) Burn the city to pick up four slaves, plus a Hittite slave who's probably been in chains for the last 2500 years at least. Poor guy. Move the remaining cavs onto the iron mountain outside of Pyongsong.
Clear out loose Inca rifles, a cav, and a longbow. Basically, kill everything I see wearing pink. (10-1)
Oh, and we we get one of these.
The actual leader's name was Irene. Really. Totally cool. In your face, Inca Dude.
Next in line is Cheju. And maybe Pyongsong. We shall see.
IBT Inca dude is using rifles to attack our stacks. He gets lucky, retreating a couple of our cavs and killing one. (10-2) This also has the unfortunate effect of pulling defensive troops out of his cities. Unfortunate for Inca Dude, that is.
And we finally see the first troops Korea has to throw against us. Check out this stack.
I think that must be just about everything Korea has.
Warriors??
Turn 2 1360AD Okay, enough comedy. On to Cheju. Dromons open fire and do better this time, yellowlining the three defenders that Inca Dude left holding the keys. Army takes care of the rest, including a fourth rifle outside the city by himself. (14-2) Bye bye Cheju, and what looks like Inca Dude's spice supply. Five more slaves for our side.
On to Pyongsong. Dromons do some serious damage to the defenders here (3 rifles and a longbow), and the cavs parked on the mountain do the rest. (18-2) Pyongsong is renamed Rubbletown. I move all the cavs and four new slaves into the waiting dromons offshore, denying the pink guys a retaliatory slap. That was fun.
Since cannons are never going to keep up with cavs, I load 13 of em into the dromons that are outside of what used to be Cheju. Check this out.
I can drop the cannons onto that horse hill next turn, along with an elite rifle, and then cover them with an army. The turn after that, Ulsan should be dust.
Oh, and that rockpile in the lower right corner used to be Cheju. Just thought you'd like to know.
Kill a stray rifle, just to get him out of the way. (19-2) Move freshly healed troops from Leo's house onto a hill outside of Pyongyang. Fireworks there next turn.
Use workers on our home continent to rail irrigation in the north, increasing our payload of specialists.
Our rail supply line on the other continent proceeds. Very handy for moving troops for next turn's work.
IBT Inca workers flee for the cities.
Turn 3 1365AD The results of the assault on Pyongyang are never in doubt. Armies make short work of the three rifles and longbow there. (24-2)Inside we find the pride of the nearly extinct Korean empire -- Sun Tzu's. We have 12 cities on this continent. Is is worth the cost of defending this distant outpost just for a few barracks, especially when we have rails to zip troops back behind the lines? I think not.
Pyongyang burns.
Burn the small town of Atico for three more slaves. (28-2)
Move cavs into position to take Pusan next turn. There are Silks there that we can colonize. Could get us some We Love Theodora cities next turn.
Kill some stray pink rifles. (31-2)
An army dispatches a longbow on top of a mountain outside a pink city (32-2), and we discover Inca Dude's new capital.
Yep, he set up shop in the old Korean capital. Wonder if he even had time to get his name on the mailbox.
There are two settlers in the blue stacks outside Seoul. Looks like the Koreans would like to reclaim some of their ancestral lands. There is an awful lot of open territory around here. Just to keep things interesting, I move some troops onto an iron mountain that I'm sure the Koreans would love to claim. Pillage the iron and dig in for a fight. If they take the bait and try to attack this squad, it may cost us some troops, but they'll use up the majority of their troops in the field.
Pillage roads outside of Paegam, just south of Seoul. That should slow down reinforcements. If Inca Dude has reinforcements.
Move troops into assault position, including moving some galleons to start picking up troops for a well-deserved vacation in Spain.
Next turn should be interesting.
IBT Inca Dude shoots at some of the fine Byzantine troops outside various city walls. This does not go well for him, though he does manage to retreat one cav. I was amazed to see that he actually had one cav left. Well, no longer. (34-2) The Koreans take the bait and fling their forces against our entrenched cavs. It costs them three longbows to try it, plus a rifle. It costs us nothing, just some retreated cavs. (38-2) Little blue cavemen with stone axes are seen fleeing for the interior, where they think they can tear up our roads. Sounds like leader fodder to me.
All cities that produced a unit but are now corrupt are switched to wealth. They're not going to have time to produce anything useful before this is over.
Turn 4 1370AD Ah, where to begin. Let's try Ulsan, otherwise known as Target Practice City. Cannons and dromons. What a beautiful combination. Three rifles and a longbow inside are all redlined before the army even fires a shot. It is merciful and quick. (42-2) Target Practice City is now Gravel Pit City.
On to Seoul. No bombardment here to help our fine cavalry. They just draw their sabers and charge! The army on the mountain accounts for three rifles, leaving nothing but one recently drafted conscript left, shivering and clutching his newly issued weapon. Brave lad. Brave, dead lad. (46-2) The capital of Incaland jumps again, somewhere into the blackness. We're left with more workers to colonize the neighborhood Dyes.
Veteran cavalry take Pusan next. We lose one Hero of the Motherland, but leave nothing but broken rocks and broken dreams as a monument. (49-3)
Taejon goes the same way. (51-3)
EDIT: Nuts! I had a fine picture will all the crushed Inca cities neatly labled, and I apparently didn't save it. GRRRR!!
There is one Inca city left in this part of the world. Chuquiapa is size seven and better defended than most Inca enclaves. It must go. Cavs kill four rifles inside, leaving one longbow. The only troops in reach are bloodied veterans of the siege of Atico. They wipe sweat and blood from their eyes, and spur their weary steads on. One elite troop falls, but the last succeeds. (56-4) This entire area is now nothing but open plains, lonely hills, weed-choked roads, and ruins.
Dromons bombard a lone Korean rifleman outside of Paegam, one of the few remaining Incan cities left on this continent. Vet cav kills the wounded Korean and captures a settler. (57-4) This opens up a pathway to make an attempt on Paegam itself. First, we send in some hot dromon love. When this doesn't do much except give an Incan rifle a slight headache, we send some workers to extend the rail network to get as many troops in range as possible. More importantly, this allows our cannons some frictionless travel right into the faces of the Korean invasion that stands between us and Paegam. I want to clear out any serious Korean troops before sending the boys into Paegam. Here's what it looks like before the cannons move into position and roar.
EDIT: Didn't save this one either.
Well, the cannons mostly whimper. It takes 8 cannons to put a dent in just one Korean rifle. A cav dispatches him, leaving a spearman as the best defender. (58-4) Switch tactics for a moment and send cav into the fray against Paegam directly. Two cavs retreat and one is killed before the first rifle is dispatched. I send in two yellow-lined armies, and together they take out one very determined Incan rifle. (59-4) Send a now-redlined army back against a yellow rifle and we take the rifle down. Send in yet another yellow army against what I think has to be the last defender of Paegam. He is. Paegam falls. (61-4)
Kill one more pink rifle outside of some ruins in the west. (62-4)
Reinforcements fresh off the boat ride the rails over to where the action is and clear out some blue guys. I had a tense moment there when it looked like a Korean spearman was about to take out a cavalryman, but then reason returned to the universe. (68-4)
Six cities razed. Not bad for one turn. We're going to have some slaves captured this interturn unless the Koreans feel like attacking our cavalry with spearmen. It's all good either way.
IBT A little pink rifleman comes out of nowhere, kills a cavalryman guarding a substantial stack of workers, and runs off again into the fog. Well, he can run, but he can't hide.
As expected, the blue guys both steal workers and attack our troops. A warrior actually kills a redlined cav fortified to heal up on a mountain. The rest of the attacks are unsuccessful. (71-6)
Turn 5 1375AD First order of business is loading up cannon into dromons to go take out this little island. I don't want to have to dedicate a lot of cavs for the job, so a little soften up with cannons is just the thing.
Build a colony on the dyes, and we now have 7 out of 8 lux. A minor issue, but I like a happy empire. Bloodthirsty and merciless, but happy.
Clear out some blue troops (insignificant at this point) and an offending pink rifle. (76-6)
Send a huge load of troops over to Leo's house to heal. If they pick this turn to flip back to the Inca, after they've been taken down to just three citizens, I'm really going to be cranky.
Use some workers to build observation towers in the former Inca lands. I don't think anybody is going to be sending out attackers at this point, but it doesn't hurt to be able to see what's going on.
That's about it. Move some troops south to see what's left of Incaland and Korea. I believe they have two cities apiece now. Quite possible originally Hittite. Interesting.
IBT A Korean longbow attacks a scouting cavalryman and retreats him. A pink galleon sails by, probably planning to land near Lighthouse again. That's it.
We Love Theodora Day erupts across the land! A few coastal towns are set to build frigates. May come in handy. It also occurs to me that I haven't bothered to cash rush anything, so the treasury is getting pretty full: 2948g and 367gpt. Not bad.
Turn 6 1380AD Mostly moving troops into position to take on Tarsus. Here's the field of play.
I eliminate that Korean longbow you see in the screenshot, and move the cav that did the deed to the coal mountain. (77-6) This lets him confirm that Incaland is indeed down to two cities on this continent. Too lazy to take a second screenshot.
IBT Inca skirmishers take down two noble Byzantine cavs. (77-8) They land their own cav near Lighthouse. The Koreans do nothing.
Leo's House simultaneously starves and produces a worker, taking pop down to 1. Heh.
Turn 7 1385AD We now have 4 fully healed armies in Leo's House, plus 7 fully healed cavs. Let's see what I can do with them.
Local army takes down two rifles in Tarsus. (79-8) Our noble Ancient Cavalry army takes down another. (80-8) Vet cav posted on coal mountain resolves the issue of the remaining longbow. (81-8) We have destroyed our first Korean city. Just one more left.
I send in the chain gangs to take rails all the way down to the blue border. That should put the last Korean city within one or two tiles of the end of the rail line.
Nope, those culture borders are three tiles deep there, buddy. Which means that the Hattusas (guess that the Inca got Korea's old capital and the Korean's took the Hittites's ) is only in reach of a cav army. Good thing I have some.
Well, he's got more than four rifles inside, 'cuz I throw all four healthy armies at him and he's still holding on. (85-8)
Send in cavs that I positioned in the west last turn for a full frontal assault on Man'po, the current Inca capital. (How many has he had this game, do you think?) 2 get redlined, 3 killed outright. (85-11) Do some more railing to be able to bring reinforcements from the east. Get rid of a rifle and longbow that were lingering outside after dark, and then went in again.
The bloodiest battle of this long campaign so far. (88-14) It costs us, but it costs Inca Dude far more. Far, far more.
One city left on this continent, Inca Dude. Just one.
Land troops on the northern frosty island.
IBT Some pink ships sail in and out of the two cities on the northern island. Two pink workers run for cover.
Turn 8 1390AD First things first. Hattusas must go.
And it does. Very quickly, I might add. The presence of Newton's University makes no difference.
EDIT: Lost this screenshot too.
And, as we expected, it is the end for blue. (90-14)
I don't even take a screenshot of the death of Man'po. It cost us the life of one cavalryman. It cost Inca Dude his last mainland city. (93-15)
Up north I land a couple of cavs and bombard two defenders down to the red. And our fabulous dromons sink two galleons that were trying to escape.
Not much else. Galleons and healthy troops head down to the staging area where Spain and the former Korea are only one coastal tile apart. The coast-to-coast rail system completes, so now our workers here really have nothing to do. Well, I suppose they could irrigate and such over in the eastern half where we have settlements. I suppose. Too tired to bother this turn.
IBT Two pink ships sail around. We get a message that we could build the Iron Works. Must have popped a new supply of iron. Turns out that it's over by Iconium on our far west coast. Totally corrupt area. Oh, well.
Turn 9 1395AD Up north, I bombard the two defenders of Nasca down to the red, then go in with an elite cav. Whoops, didn't see that there was a longbow inside. He dings our elite guy, and the redlined Inca rifle kills him. (93-16)
Use the rest of the cannons and dromons to make extra sure that everyone inside is red. Hmm, must have been three rifles inside. Cav kills one, our elite rifle that was along for the ride kills the other, and a redlined longbow is still lurking inside. (95-16)
We land our first troops on Spanish soil just to have a little look-see. Pretty primitive over here in Spain. Still using pikemen and knights. Either Isabella doesn't have any saltpeter on her precious little island, or she hasn't gotten as far as Gunpowder yet. In the end, it will make very little difference for her.
Discretion is the better part of valor. With deep regret, I tell the lone cavalryman that he's on his own. Should he survive the inevitable onslaught of these primitives, we will of course rescue him next turn. Nothing says I can't give the brother some help, though. Our dromons drench the nearby Spaniards with blazing oil, just to say hello.
The rest is just worker moves and shipping units. The fastest way to do this, BTW, is to move them to Tambo by rail, ship-chain them over to Beach Head, and then move them by rail again to the loading area.
IBT Isabella tries to get a golden age by attacking our lone cav with two conquistadors. Doesn't work. A longbow does our boy in, though. (97-17) The rest of her efforts are mainly running around and waving her hands in the air and screaming. Pink Boy sails some ships. Wonder if he actually has anything on board.
Turn 10 1400AD Nicely done up north, I say. Cannons put the hurt on, then our cav and rifle do the rest. (99-17) I keep Nasca long enough to use its harbor, then abandon it. Inca Dude is down to one lonely city.
The rest is just worker moves and getting ready to pay a visit to Spain.
There are enough cavs outside of Pink Boy's last city that taking it should be no problem. Sorry about leaving some cannons uncovered. I was getting sloppy towards the end. We have some troops loaded for Spain already, but I don't know if it's enough for a serious landing yet. Well, Isabella is pretty primitive. Pikes vs. cavs should be definitely to our advantage. Doubt that we'll even have to use cannons on her. I think I took this one pretty far, boys. I haven't spent any cash, so we have 4676g in the bank and we're putting out 370gpt. And we still haven't hit our unit support limit yet.
Let's see what the next better player can do.
Here's what the world looks like today.
And here's the
>>SAVE<<. Go to it, goz!