The First(and hopefully only) Reich

[Locker]

/unlurk

Amazing story (been following for a while).

How much of the Americas will you be settling, and in which order? Also, why do the dates seem so messed up? From what I remember from playing civ III, a few hundred years shift is about normal, but you're still in the BC's

That's it for now!

 

[Tani Coyote]

/unlurk

Amazing story (been following for a while).

How much of the Americas will you be settling, and in which order? Also, why do the dates seem so messed up? From what I remember from playing civ III, a few hundred years shift is about normal, but you're still in the BC's

That's it for now!

We've just retaken Oneida. Next turn, we'll be deploying huge numbers of troops in North America, where we will conquer and raze the Iroquois core. Once the Iroquois are dealt with, we intend to build up our base in North America. Once we're large enough(and have a wall of cities from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific, blocking expansion of other powers), we'll tackle the Aztecs for Panama. And once the Aztecs are dealt with, the Inca will be destroyed too. We'll have the land and power to take on China and India once we accomplish that.

Regarding years, Teturkhan's Map is supposed to be accurate, but I screwed it up somehow...it starts off in the hundreds, then the 10s, then moves up to 50s for a a few turns, then back down...it fluctuates rapidly. I'd have to check the map to get exact year changes.

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

Great story, so far. I'm hoping to do one myself, once I get the Final Fantasy mod finished.

 

[Tani Coyote]

=== 340 BC ===

In the in-between years, Greece asks for a peace treaty. We refuse, they retaliate by razing a road outside our Siberian town of Caruna. Um...nice trump card, Alex.

More important is Mongolia declares war on India! This might take some pressure off Persia, but it will still be bad if India expands it's empire.

--- The Return to Oneida ---

After decades of absence, Germany was poised to attack Oneida again. While for the past few years shelling had stopped - causing people to believe Germany had given up it's ambitions, thus they emptied much of the city's garrison - it quickly resumed. Only a few hundred demoralised troops defended the city after a single month of extensive bombardment. Aboard an offshore vessel were 2400 Templar Knights, all of whom deployed not on the shores outside the city - but against the city itself.

The first wave lost 100 men, killing 3 100-man units of spearmen. People were so impressed with our victory, that the Great German Reich entered a Golden Age!

German citizens were given greater zeal then ever before, and the Asian powers began to cast a weary eye towards Germany. Another 100 men were lost killing 300 more Iroquois, until the Return was complete:

--- Campaign Plans ---

Germany was ready to commence "Operation Devestation" as it is now known. Templars were deployed to attack the core cities of the Iroquois Empire - in hopes of vanquishing the giant once and for all. Once the Iroquois fell, Germany could penetrate the North American heartlands at it's leisure.

--- Barbarian Resurgence on Cuba ---

The Arawaks were joined by the Western natives of Cuba, the Ciboney tribe. They mustered a total of 6500 men to destroy our small 600 man band of musketmen. Our artillery reduced the Ciboney from 3900 to 1900 soldiers. Further bombardment of the Arawaks reduced 2600 to 1100. In total, the 6500 man invasion force had been brought down to 3000. With half their men gone, the natives were doomed.

We settled in the center of Cuba, establishing the city of Bonn. Bonn would soon construct a series of canals to allow our ships to pass right through Cuba.

 

[Tani Coyote]

=== 330 BC ===

The Greeks move throughout Siberia in the IBT. They occupy the tile southwest of Caruna, which contains a grassland. However, we have more defenders there - albeit primitive.

More interesting is Cuba. The Ciboney tribe retreats, having lost 2000 of their 3900 soldiers. More Arawaks descend from the mountains, and they muster a total of 3700 hundred troops - short of the 5200 they used to field. Shelling by a fully prepared fleet reduced them to 400 men. 100 of those were slaughtered when Bonn's garrison moved out. The Arawaks were just about extinct.

The 1900 Ciboney were targeted by the fleet south of Cuba. They were reduced to 300. The Cuban Rebellion had been crushed, and a small mop-up operation was all that would be needed.

--- War on the Iroquois ---


Around Oneida, we saw the classic scenario of being vastly outnumbered. 14,400 Iroquois soldiers - half of them archers - were around Oneida. A band of 6800 soldiers was just outside of reach, and would arrive within a decade. Germany planned to use it's superior troops and it's artillery to destroy the Iroquois barbarians.

2500 Iroquois were killed by artillery fire in the forests around Oneida. Templars advanced immediately to dispatch their forces. At the cost of 400 Templars, we killed 800 Iroquois. 200 Templars killed 1200 more Iroquois archers. We killed 500 more without casualty - producing the Great Leader, Hengest! Hengest formed a small army of 4,000 Templars. This would secure us against retaliation.

100 Templars were lost while killing 300 spearmen. Only 100 archers remained in the forests southwest of Oneida.

-- Siege of Seneca --

Seneca was the small yet strategically located capital of the Iroquois confederation. The tribal elders met here every so often to discuss governance of their mostly-stable realm. Each constituent tribe would send one representative. This meant 10 elders - which was reduced to 9 with the fall of Oneida. Seneca itself was threatened by the "Western Holy Legion" in the year 330 BC. This band of 8800 Templar Knights served under one powerful commander. It's duty was to raze the capital of the Iroquois to the ground.

200 Templars were lost while 1100 Iroquois were killed. Warrior bands had to take up the defense, as there were no spearmen left. 400 Warriors were killed without incident, and the capital of the Confederation was no more. The tens of thousands slaughtered - and the troops who died defending them - were honored by a plaque placed at the site after the war.

--

The Iroquois relocated southwards, to their largest city of Cayuga. The Cayuga tribe took this moment to swallow up political power, gaining the spot of Oneida's elder. Cayuga officials started to pack the upper levels of government, which the Confederation resented. Civil War was ready to brew.

The city of Onondoga fell several months after. It boasted a much larger population - 210,000. Each one was massacred in retribution for the losses of German cities in earlier centuries. Children were taken to be raised into the German way - as slaves or soldiers. Cayuga took over Onondoga's position as well - 3 out of 10 seats on the Elder Council.

--- Overview of the War ---

The Iroquois fielded 14,400 troops to retake Oneida. By the end of the decade, that had been reduced to not a single man. They also fielded a support group of 8000 men. This was reduced to 5000 total. In short - the Iroquois went from having a massive army of 22,400 to a mere 5,000. 3/4 of the Iroquois force had been destroyed. The Western Holy Legion alone possessed 8600 soldiers. There were thousands more waiting inside the walls of Oneida.

--- End of the Confederation ---

After several years of Cayuga favoritism and a policy that would create a lower Council based on population - thus giving Cayuga a huge advantage - Civil War broke out in the Iroquois Confederation. Germany's takeover of the center had destroyed the delicate road system that wound through the forests and kept most of the Iroquois unified. The city of Tobacco, in the middle of the Great Lakes, revolted first. Cayuga could not fight with it's demoralised and demolished armies. The Shawano, Tuscarora, and Illinois tribes in the South tried to form a new union, but they had no roads to the rest of the Confederation, much less to eachother. They established independent city-states.

That left Huron, Saul Ste. Marie(which had been founded by mixed pioneers), and Mohawk. They tried to form a confederation, which was met with success in the case of Huron and Mohawk. Saul St. Marie was multi-ethnic, and so formed an independent state - but said that it would join whoever won in the war between the Northern Iroquois(Huron and Mohawk) and the Cayuga.

Inbetween all these new entities, huge tracts of land were swallowed up by minor villages, no longer under the hegemony of a huge, powerful army. All the new Iroquois successor states merged could not compare to the size of the Confederation. Michigan and the East Coast would not be united under a single ruler until Germany conquered the regions later on.

The Iroquois realm had been plunged into pure chaos. Germany had killed several hundred thousand inhabitants, including the elders - and had razed it's capital city. With the capital went the major road link between the north, south and the city of Tobacco. Combined with Cayuga greed, this let a civil war break out. And to make things worse, word reached the ears of some Iroquois that Aztec-Inca coalition forces would soon arrive at the gates of the South.

 

[Tani Coyote]

Alright readers, I would like to let you decide the fate of Cayuga, that city a bit further to the south. Since it's within reach of Oneida and somewhat eclipses Oneida's borders(and potential), we intend to raze it. However, the massacre will cause the death toll of innocent Iroquois civilians to top 1,000,000.

Will you side with the realists, who see such an option as necessary to complete Germany's retribution and finally teach the Iroquois a lesson? Or will you side with the optimists, pacifists and idealists who believe such an action would be senseless slaughter? The fate of the Cayuga people is in your hands.

(Do keep in mind they WERE corrupt and tried to establish a dictatorship over the Confederacy, hence why the Confederacy has dissolved)

 

[kingfire87]

You could raze some other city like Tobacco that isn't the capital, then keep Cayuga....

 

[Tani Coyote]

You could raze some other city like Tobacco that isn't the capital, then keep Cayuga....

That is true, but larger cities have a habit of being cumbersome(resistance)...Tobacco is also more desirable because it is 4 spaces away from Oneida(and thus more efficient overall), versus Cayuga being only 2 squares away(and thus a lot of overlap/wasted tiles).

Glad you're still following the First Reich's rise to world domination...(actually, might be the Second Reich now, given the colonial side of things).

 

[kingfire87]

Well, I still think Cayuga could be valuable. For example, I was once playing as Greece and I took Rome (this was on a map of the real world, start locations correspond with actual civs in history) very early. It wasn't even defended. Pitiful. Anyway, at first, it produced stuff so slow that it was hardly a city. But, it gradually got bigger and is now a fine city in my empire. I think you should keep it.

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

Keep Cayuga... FWIW, I usually settle (uless the population levels are modded so that you can get above 12 citizens without getting pollution) my cities in a CxxC pattern... That way I can get reinforcements from one city to another faster, as well as pack more cities into a given area (plus, since I always play with my own no-pollution variant, none of my cities ever get above 12 citizens anyways, so having a lot of overlapped tiles doesn't really affect me).....

 

[Locker]

Well, there are ways to limit the death-toll. You could always capture the city, limit its growth, and eventually make it shrink enough for you to abandon it, or keep it small enough not to matter. In game terms, this would allow the inhabitants to make their way to other cities, and Cayuga loses all significance.

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

^ Yeah, I've done the "City Liquidation" tactic before, when I captured AI-founded cities that were in inconvenient locations... I just built workers (and MM the city for minimal or 0 growth) until it was down to 2 citizens, then set growth to zero (MM again), and wait for the settler to finish, and choose the "yes we don't want it" option when the abandon city window pops up.

 

[machiavelli069]

Sherman said it best "War is Hell!" Finish what they started. Tally Ho!

 

[Rodent]

I say capture and sell the citizens into Slavery

 

[Tani Coyote]

=== 320 BC ===

This period begins with the Aztecs and Iroquois signing a peace treaty. You can't trust ANY barbarian tribes, it seems.

German Teutons also noticed the battles of Nishapur and Herat in Persia. The Persians lost both, and word was sent to abandon Persepolis and retreat to northern Persia and the Caucusus - regions which were easier to maintain, and ones Germany intended to sieze in the future.

And finally, large hordes of Iroquois were seen moving towards Oneida - it seems they had a large reserve to fight back with.

--- Battle of Oneida, 320 BC ---

Once again, Oneida faced Iroquois aggressors. 2400 soldiers lie within reach of the city. Behind it was a force of 31,000 men. The frontal force was cut down to 600 by artillery fire. They were cut down without casualty by Templar Knights.

Oneida was secure once more, but in the coming decade another battle would occur, one that would hopefully end the constant on-and-off sieges.

-- Battle of Cayuga --

The self-righteous, corrupt Cayuga government had to be dealt with. Germany sent some of it's Templars to take the city of the same name. 800 enemy soldiers were slaughtered, while Germany lost 500 Templars. At the cost of another 500 Templars, the garrison was exterminated - and the government officials inside with it. Cayuga, the 'capital' of the Confederation, had fallen into German hands. The divide between North and South widened.

Germany was NOT happy with what occurred in Cayuga. 2 out of every 3 citizens fought against the German occupation, using guerilla tactics. The Kaiser was informed, and compromised with the more liberal sides of his empire by stating Cayuga was to be burned, but the people were to be notified and forcefully dispersed.

Cayuga was burned within a week, small villages remaining. The majority of the 700,000 people fled - and formed a military force of 51,400 soldiers. Combined with the force nearing Oneida, this was a total of 75,400. The Cayuga people were(hopefully) throwing their whole weight at Germany.

Even though they lacked a city to call home, the Cayuga realised they had to crush Germany if they ever intended to rebuild their ancestral homeland and unity.

---The New Confederation---

With the destruction and pillaging of Cayuga City and the forced dispersion of it's inhabitants, the center of power shifted northwards. Huron to the north was now by far the largest city, rivalling Cayuga in size. It was the capital of the Northern Confederation, which simply called itself the Confederation now. Sault Ste. Marie kept it's word and applied for membership, later becoming a member.

The new Confederation was radically different. Intellectuals had noticed the constant failure of the Elderly Council, and chose to form a new governmental system. The Council was stripped of all power in the new Confederation, but it was kept as an institution of heritage, but lacked any real power. A new ruler with near-absolute power - a Despot - was installed on the European model. Beneath him, a "People's Council" was created. People popularly elected these representatives. They had no real power of their own, but they kept the leader informed of what his subjects believed.

The Confederation of the Iroquois was now a Despotic state which kept the people's interests - on paper at least - at heart. As well, the Confederation was a Confederation only in name - it had a highly centralised and powerful government. If anything, it was more of a unitary state. But the "Confederation" title was kept to keep conservatives and patriots happy - and also present the image of local government.

Tobacco was torn by civil strife. Conservatives wanted to maintain the status quo, and possibly work out a peace with Germany. Radicals desired to join Germany itself, pointing at their excellent standard of living and education. A mixture of patriots and progressives/liberals wished to join the new Confederation, pointing to it's equality among it's members, and the good deal of political voice the people had. After a short civil war lasting about a year, Tobacco joined the Confederation. The Iroquois were reforming, and Germany poised itself to stop the new Confederation from becoming a real power.

--- Demise of the New Confederation ---

Germany planned to attack the Easternmost city of Mohawk. The Confederation was gaining too much power. Already it's armies had marched against the resurgent local tribes, and it had conquered Michigan. It expanded to the iron rich hills of the west, and gained small chunks of territory in the East and North. Fringe tribes were forced to pay tribute to the powerful rulers in Huron.

600 dead Templars and 800 dead Iroquois spearmen later, Germany had entered the city and occupied it. The Kaiser commissioned a new band of Templars - the Mohawk Legion. Germany also fought against 800 spearmen in the forests a bit further south - and an ENTIRE Templar unit was lost! Hundreds of Templars died in the battle. The thousand or so Templars who died were commemorated with a post-war plaque. In retribution, the Western Holy Legion only lost 100 men when it killed 800 spearmen inside the city of Huron.

A smaller band of soldiers was sent to take over Huron...and they lost only 100 to kill the remaining 400 men inside. Huron had fallen. With their second city of 700,000 captured, the Iroquois people - regardless of political unit - realised their darkest day was coming.

--

With their impressive speed and maneuverability, Templars advanced on Saul Ste. Marie. 800 spearmen died without German casualties, and the city fell just like the others. Tobacco was shocked at the speed of the conquest. The "glorious" Federation it had just joined had collapsed in less then a year. And the people there knew Germany would turn towards them for their next victim.

--

Saul Ste. Marie's fall gave large quantities of gold and iron to the German Reich in North America. In the coming decades, we would battle it out with the Southern Hordes for mastery of the continent.

 

[Tani Coyote]

=== 320 BC Part 2 ===

Germany had (over?)extended itself in North America. Two capitals had fallen, and two more cities after that. The majority of their population and infrastructure had been appropriated for German useage. But it was at home where the issues lay.

Germany had done it's best to keep up with China, India and Egypt in scientific prowess. Years of war had caused the economy to boom at the expense of research. Now up to near-maximum funding once more, Germany yearned to increase it's income. It was giving hundreds of units of gold per term to other powers for the alliances against Greece. Now that Greece had been eliminated as a threat, Germany sought to re-establish itself as an economic power. It went about ending all allegiances, especially the most expensive.

While relations with Russia soured due to the end of the agreement, Germany did not care - we intended to destroy the only local regional threat once the time was right.

-- German Africa is Founded --

With the end of our vast alliance network, our practical Holy War against the Greek "Empire", we contacted it's successor state - the Greek Congo. A large state centered on the Congo River, it had been established by Greeks during their high period. The Greek Wars had allowed it to become independent under the regional generals, and it now struggled with internal pressures such as underdevelopment. We opened the dialogue immediately, and demanded the turnover of most of their territory. They were stubborn, but they DID possess the regional advantage. We settled for Argos, their coastal settlement. We required more fueling stations in Africa.

In the end, the treaty came to control of Argos, 4 bands of slave workers - Egyptian, Arabic, Carthaginian, and even Polish - a world map, all 13 pieces of their gold, and 2 gold per term.

Argos was treated with great honor by the German Kaiser, who visited it personally. He gave out gold by the handful, and also donated to the construction of a local port. German Africa, once a dream of the later Despots, was now a reality.

-- German North Africa, Mare Nostrum, and the Tangite Spirit --

The Carthaginians HATED the Germans. Carthage had once been a great power in Europe and Africa, but Germany had stripped it of half it's lands. In the following years, defections caused the fall of Corsica into the German spear. It's last bastion in all of Europe was Palma on the Balearic Islands off Spain - a possession that would soon be snatched.

The concept of Mare Nostrum - "Our Sea", was an old one from ancient Roman writers. It held the idea that Rome would one day grow to encompass the Adriatic - and later Mediterranean - Sea. Germany picked up on this idea very fast - and marked the weak, waning and decaying Carthaginian state as a target. Control of the Gibraltar would limit Songhai, Egyptian and Arabic naval power. There was also the Tangite spirit - the idea that the citizens of Tangier were prisoners. They were all Germans in culture or birth, and yet somehow the city defected back to Carthage.

Germany had also bombarded Carthage for years with it's large paid Pirate Fleet. Harbors in every city but Casablanca had been blocked with debris and sunken ships, almost all structures had been leveled, and the roads between cities had been all but erased. The Carthaginian state was non-existent in reality - no roads, no harbors. The only thing that kept the far flung city-states together was the idea that someone large like Songhai would devour them if they did not.

But Carthage was weak and powerless...Germany had reduced all it's cities to the lower tens of thousands, and without roads, barracks and effective communications, the Empire was doomed to become German property.

--- German - Carthaginian War ---

But such ideas were false. Germany had been softening up Carthage and preparing Templars for a massive invasion for nearly a century. The time was right for Germany's first move.

It was a beautiful day in Carthage. Despite the years of bombardment, people went about their normal lives. Their government may have been a bit tight, and the Pirates fiercely defiant, but overall, Carthaginians were happy. Until the day they saw Numidians marching by the hundreds to the shores. They were fighting the most feared weapon in the world besides Warrior Monks - Templar Knights. They boldly invaded the city without landing, and killed 600 Numidians - once one of the most powerful forces in the world. The city of Carthage fell first, a sign of the Empire's long decay.

Casablanca - the last city with a functioning port and a decent amount of roadworks around it - fell next. Only 100 Templars were necessary to dispatch the city's garrison and swallow the city up. With a port in North Africa, Germany was now poised to swallow up the rest of the Western Mediterranean. Afterwards, Tangier fell in the face of the German blitzkrieg. City after city fell, until only the island fortress of Palma was secure from Germany's attacks. The defenders tried their hardest, but they were swamped by the German Templars. With the fall of Palma, the Carthaginian homeland had been eliminated, and it's fringe colonies in Siberia and Central Africa were ripe for the picking.

Despite our best efforts, every city openly resisted German rule - save for the capital city of Carthage. Now that was irony.

 

[Tani Coyote]

Above is the main part of the German Empire - Europe. A lot is excluded due to game screen limitations(Scandinavia and the Middle Eastern provinces). This shows how we swallowed up Carthage in a single turn. Carthage has 4 cities left - all but 1 is size 1. This means we can get a huge amount in our peace treaty.

And a world map. Key differences are the shift of territory along the Indian and Persian borders. The German Empire has annexed all of Carthage's homeland, and has also thrusted a huge spearhead into the northern Iroquois territories in North America.

 

[machiavelli069]

Great job! Keep up the good work. Go into Persia.

 

[T!ck]

Great updates! Whats next for the reich? Complete conquest of the Iroquoi territory? An attack on Russia? An assault on Persia and Arabia for complete control of the middle-east?

Very good game.

 

[Tani Coyote]

Great updates! Whats next for the reich? Complete conquest of the Iroquoi territory? An attack on Russia? An assault on Persia and Arabia for complete control of the middle-east?

Very good game.

Expect the war with the Iroquois to continue bearing fruits. We lost a few Templar units out of hubris, but I think with our Pirate Ships we can destroy their large army. Since they only have 4 production centers left(Tobacco is likely to fall next turn, making it 3), once their army is vanquished, they are powerless and ready to be eaten.

Germany's next move in the Old World is to secure peace with Carthage. Carthage will hand over 2 of it's African cities, hopefully. This will give us an edge in the colonial game. We also intend to send a second fleet of settlers south to take the Cape of South Africa. (Then we can monitor movement between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans)

Egypt is actually a good candidate at this moment - the Arabs have weakened them, and their empire is a huge population resource. We can't take Alexandria though(Great Library would give us Military Tradition, making Templars obsolete). We have no treaties with them, so there are no consequences. We can pour in from the East and West, and overrun their garrison at Cairo - giving us Pyramids and free granaries the continent over.

Germany will also be moving against Russia and England when our treaties expire with them. We're already using covert operations with our Pirate Fleet to trap the Russian navy in the straits between the North and Baltic seas - and then they shall be encircled and destroyed.

Overall, expect a lot of dead people in the following turns.