The Height of Level 9 - Songhai, Asia map, mod Marathon, mod difficulty

[maltz]

Spoiler :

055. The Iroquois archers disappeared in the fog of war. But here comes a barbarian archer! Annoying pest must be dispatched first.

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

056. The Iroquois army appears again, this time with Warrior. I am sure Hiawatha is planning a major invasion - the question is when. I hope it happens sooner than later, so Warsaw can help me to distract half of that greatest army in the ancient world.
And Ramky has declared war on Darius! They are not so close together, but now everyone declares war on everyone who might share a border with them in the distant future...

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

057. Here comes the Iroquois army! Soon I realize I will be overwhelmed, so I have to take a defensive approach - I pulled back the warrios inside the territory on the Hills. So I can even focus on defense and slowly weakens them with the City's defense and some occassional attacks.

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

058. More and more Iroquois army shows up. The east defense is very solid, as I can lure an Iroquois unit to stand on the plain just east to the city. This spot is subject to two attacks from Songhai Warriors, both are very well protected. I thought the west front would be safe as well, but...

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

059. Got Meritocracy! I was thinking about grabbing something else first, but want to keep things safe. (From hindsight my policies in this game are completely messed up, so please don't try this out at home.)

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

060. I thought my west front would hold easily, until I realized Hiawatha had enough army (8 in the picture, not sure how many more!) to circle to the north. Now my west wing is too exposed and will perish very quickly. So I have to pull them back as well.

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

061. Ramky came with an invite to war Gandhi! I thought you guys declared friendship! (They did, but the deal had expired.) Ramkhamhaeng, the worst friend not only a human, but also an AI can ever have.

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

062. This looks really bad, as the Iroquois army kept swarming in and my guys were low on health. And even worse, Bismark is going to buy over Brussels in the end turn and a Spearman trashed my Great Scientist in a heartbeat. (S* you, Bismark!) So I loaded my save and...

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

063. And I paid 750 gold to ally with Brussels first! I wanted to save that gold for some ass kicking knight later, but if I can't live to see Chivalry, I may as well use that gold first and figure out something else later.

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

064. Now with Brussels on my side, the west front is looking 10 times better! But more and more Iroquois army show up fom the east!

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

065. Hiawatha's west flank collapsed under Brussels, but he still has a lot of units to the east. My guys were all low on health, but I can still take care of those unfortuante souls who stepped onto the trap east of Gao.

Ramky declared war on India without Songhai's help. I am sure there is nothing I can help with even if I want to.

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

066. I know someone else is going to declare war on Songhai in this crazy world! Here comes the Great Khan, who I don't even know where he is! So I went back to the previous turn and bought him to fight Hiawatha as well. If Mongolia is in the east, then he might need to get through Hiawatha before reaching Askia. Then... they will party over there and leave Askia alone.

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

067. National College completed! I already realized that I don't have horse at home, so I need a Settler to sit on a horse. And I am looking at two tiles of horses closeby, both contain 4 units. The one on the north seems better, since it has access to another Ivory.

But that can't help until Hiawatha's invasion is over! It is not over! He seemed to realize that attacking from the east and west won't work as he has lost quite a few units there, so now the Iroquois army parks on the north side of Gao. But they can't do any serious damage there, either.

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

068. Warsaw is still surrounded. But looking at how few units Hiawatha has, I am sure Hiawatha won't be able to take it. (Probably doable on 25 HP, but not 75.)

But I am worried that my alliance with Warsaw will end soon, and Warsaw is going to make peace with Hiawatha - guess where that army will go?

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

069. More Iroquois offense! My warrios have mostly recovered. And with some more turns of help from Brussels, I know I am not going to lose this one.

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

070. Sold Gems to Japan. AIs are generally low on cash in this game. If each warrior costs only 70G, why not buy 13 of them with 910 gold?

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

071. Hiawatha's soldiers die faster than it gets replenished! On the peak of invasion I saw 10 units, now there are only 4. I lost count of how many got killed. Must be more than 6.

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

072. Hiawatha comes for peace! That's very much appreciated. Although he still overpowers Askia, he probably takes into account of the losses he suffered and the lack of progress of his invasion.

Songhai lives for the day!

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

073. Looking at the demograph I expected perfect 10s all over, but someone grabbed my title - China has both the smallest army and the lowest production with 3 cities! That's really miserable.

 

[maltz]

Spoiler :

074. Military might - Indeed Iroquois took a hit and is no longer the greatest army in the Ancient Era (actually the level-9 AIs are about to entere Medieval...). Songhai is still way down there. But at least we are as powerful as China.