So I decided to concentrate on the Vikings, who occupied a small peninsula just south of me. I pounded them in several waves, occasionally signing ceasefires to let my newly-conquered cities regroup (my military production was overall still very low--average military service of one year). My Senate was surprisingly compliant when I wanted to attack after ceasefires expired, however. To make a long story short, I destroyed the Viking civilization by 1880. Oddly enough, however, barbarian riflemen kept pestering my newly-conquered cities in that area. Finally I sent down a friendly armor into a small black area to check things out. Lo and behold, a barbarian city named Hladir. I wonder where that came from. I conquered it easily (barbarians like to keep only one unit in the cities they conquer). Meanwhile, I retook that other long-forgotten city, Cardigan, which I discovered had grown from a size of one when taken by barbarians to a size of eight, and that without any city improvements.

Meanwhile, a huge barbarian horde attacks one of my out-of-the way cities. I counted 15 cavalry and 15 riflemen in that horde. My city survived, but everything around it was plundered, and it was starving.

Needless to say, I survived. After I could produce stealth fighters, it was all over for the barbarians. Stealth fighters are the coolest things known to man. They have fourteen MP and can use them all to attack (unlike stealth bombers). I could wipe out a third of a formidable barbarian horde in one turn!

Meanwhile, I was working on the Indians, whom I had also confined to a southern peninsula from the outset. They had been at peace with me for millennia, but their emissary had been uncooperative for millennia because I was so supremely powerful in knowledge, population, etc., but had no military units. When I decided to make war on the Indians, circa 1950, I had but fortified phalanxes and old catapults sitting around in my nearby cities. That would never do.

I created armor, howitzers, stealth bombers, battleships, and all the necessary accoutrements for massive warfare. The trouble was, I could not for the life of me get Senate approval to attack, and there was no way to provoke the Indians because I couldn't demand tribute. Also, the Indians were themselves a democracy.

So I hit upon a plan. I had the Statue of Liberty, which supposedly allow you to change governments without anarchy, but actually lets you go into anarchy for part of your turn. It was easy enough to change to Communism or whatever, but I wanted to keep my production levels in case I couldn't kill off the Indians. Hence I still wanted to keep democracy. So I held a revolution. During the period of anarchy, I attacked the Indians, without any problem whatsoever. At the end of my turn, I switched back to democracy, but I was already locked into war! The Senate passed resolutions supported continued peacekeeping action, and I took over the Indians completely the very next turn. It was a beautiful ending to something with such an irritating beginning.

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Laissez vivre,  |http://www.wlu.edu/~jsorens/index.html
Jason P Sorens  |Air an WWW aig http://www.wlu.edu/~jsorens/gaidhlig.html