Chapter 19: So Close Yet So Far
As many Settlers as possible where useful were rushed in 290. It probably should have been done a bit earlier, but oh well, nothing can change that now.
In 292, the prayers that Carthage would move in North Africa were answered... and they did move! Woohoo. It would now be possible to fit in a couple more cities, but not as many as they wanted to. If only they'd gotten to Africa earlier...
The Scythians, surprisingly, moved a Spearmen away from Kul Oba, and another Spearmen with a Settler.
What, are they trying to lose this city? Thought the Macedonian Commander with the Cavalry outside.
They also signed a Peace Treaty with Rome. They'd probably been on and off at war since forever now, but done so little actual fighting it was hard to notice.
Getting rid of Kimmeria and Maiotia were first on the order of business in 295. Kul Oba would follow shortly after.
Kimmeria was defended by 2 units of Spearmen. They weren't very good at defense, so the Cavalry outside managed to bring them down with little effort.
Maiotia was a little tougher, defended by 2 units of Spearmen and another of Scythian Riders, but still, that was no match for the entire army of Ajax.
A stubborn Rider in the north defeated a Cavalry charge, but was killed by a second one. Some workers were also captured and added to the population of Getae.
Kul Oba should have been captured this year. There wasn't much there but a few Spearman and Archers, and 4 units of Macedonian Heavy Cavalry were outside. But it wasn't. The spearmen summoned the strength to win here, forcing two of the Cavalry units to retreat and even killing another one. Only one Scythian spearman unit fell. Kul Oba remained Scythian, and there was nothing Macedon could do to take it now.
But now there was nothing left to do except Settle, wherever it was possible to do so. First, New Pharsalos and New Knossos were built in the North, in the gap between Marathon and Solokha.
Then, New Argos, New Mycenae, New Herakleia, and New Ephesus were built in North Africa. Regretably, New Mycenae was a bit farther North than intended, because Numidian Mercenaries were occupying the intended location (Damn it)
It should be noted there were still 2 settlers left and room for one more city. It hadn't been decided yet whether to build that city or to join both settlers to a different city in North Africa.
A bit after, New Rhodes was built in Armenia...
New Eretria, New Troy, and New Marathon were built in Scythia, using all but one Settler there (the one in Ulsky hadn't been decided if it was needed or not, and couldn't add much territory anyway)...
New Halicarnassus, New Pergamon, and New Miletos were built in Anatolia...
By this point, it was realized that the last Settlers in Scythia and North Africa were needed, so they built the cities of New Artemisium...
...and New Megara.
The last Settler joined New Megara.
"Alright, what are we at now?"
"19% Land Area, 40% Population."
"Damn... I hope expansion through culture next turn will get us above 20. In the meantime, join workers to cities."
And so they did, all throughout the land. A few weren't, because they had no city to go to, but most did. The ones near Cyzicus were sadly unable to join, as the wheat outside the city had recently become polluted, and caused the city to begin starving. But most other places, they joined.
"Now what?"
"42% Population..."
So that was it. They had lost. The expansion next turn didn't even get them to 20. They spent as much money as possible on luxuries cause, why not? It was over, they might as well. Hell, they might even eke out a few extra score points.
Macedonian Cavalry killed a Scythian Spearman unit and captured the Settler it was guarding. Then in 297, Scythian Archers attacked, drove them away, and took the Settler back. Not that it mattered.
In 300, they had failed. They were still at only 19% and 42%, not nearly enough. And despite their gaining, they still weren't ahead of Carthage.
Macedon's time was up. And they had failed.
You may have not won, but you were only off by 1%!
