Blood and Empire

[Metaliturtle]

If I were to post a quick explanation on how to capture and upload those shots would you be more inclined?

[Theben]

Print Screen, goto MS Paint and ctrl-v, save as, upload to Photobucket, copy [IMG] and paste here.

You can skip the Photobucket part and do a direct upload from your comp, but I don't recall how and can't be arsed to figure it out again.

Sorry about the long delay between updates, but this next phase has a long break between saves and I'm not sure if I should play it out as close as possible to what had happened, or just tell you guys what happened and go from there.

[Blaupanzer]

Tell us and go from there sounds simpler. If it is, then go for it. We'd rather have installments to the story than worry all the time about the screens. These are useful, but we've all seen them for ourselves to some extent. I'm interested on how you'll deal with the first page nasties plus the Incas. Of course, killing one helped the cause, but while fighting off the northern Portuguese the southern Chinese are peacefully cutting you in two. Progress in the tale has my interest.

[Theben]

Tell us and go from there sounds simpler. If it is, then go for it. We'd rather have installments to the story than worry all the time about the screens.

Tell it and go it is. Just before the end of the last war with Joao I had started to pump/slave out settlers in order to keep up with everyone expanding around me and also the decreasing amount of space to expand into. Mound City was right after Evora fell, then Chaco Canyon in 25 ad (in that last pic with a settler in it, one of those Chinese swordsmen was escorting a settler also and built a city in 10 ad), Mesa Verde in 220AD (near Joao) and Snaketown the next turn (next to the Mongol ruins).

I'm gonna back up for a second here. In 125 bc Cahokia sent all it's food to the Hague in order to cement relations with the Dutch. However 6 turns later a "jilted bride" caused a rift between us. That said, we were on good terms and the same religion. Then in 250 AD, William declared war on me.

He sent a force from the Hague and Nijmegen (SE of Pov Point) to Poverty Point but they were repulsed with some effort. What hurt more was the lone axeman wandering around near Karakorum... 2 turns after I built Snaketown it waltzed into an undefended city and burned it to the ground. I later switched to Islam to curry favor with the Chinese (who had switch back and forth between Islam and Judaism) and the Portuguese, who I didn't need bothering me right then. Soon after made peace with William with nothing to show for it except a dead city and a few more casualties on his side than mine.

Another "gift of food" in 605 AD was needed for the Portuguese to stop a famine, and Karakorum had just what they needed. So I sent all my stores. Meanwhile, the Chinese are now massing a *huge* SoD in Macau (the new city north of the NA settler) and I'm building units in anticipation of another war. In addition Joao and William are massing forces and I'm wondering how I'm gonna fight off all 3 of these jerks when in 730 AD, William declares war... on the Chinese. All of those units move off to the south and the forces in the Hague head east. Joao, of course, after I sent him food and switched to his religion, DoWs me in 805, the same turn I switch back to Caste System. To make matters worse, the Chinese build the Mausoleum 2 turns before I build it in Karakorum!! I easily would have had it had I not sent food to the ***holes who just DoWed me! The moral of those food donations? No good deed goes unpunished.

Long story short he tromps thru the jungle and succeeds in destroying my banana plantation and ivory camp. My Horse Archers + Dog Soldiers kill off most of his army and the rest dies against the walls of Coimbra and Mesa Verde. Yeah I lost some units too, but it was brutal for him. In 950AD the Chinese take Nijmegen from the Dutch, and in 1000AD Joao sues for peace. Oops.

I'm interested on how you'll deal with the first page nasties plus the Incas. Of course, killing one helped the cause, but while fighting off the northern Portuguese the southern Chinese are peacefully cutting you in two. Progress in the tale has my interest.

Unfortunately, after losing Snaketown the Chinese were allowed to expand, unhindered, all the way thru the mountains up the continent. So I guess the answer to your 1st statement is "badly".



Snaketown was the ruin to the north, Beshbalik to the east. On top of that, the Chinese found "evidence of technology" in one of the ruins, or whatever it's called.

Part of the army that was in Macau:



There's about 10 more units nearby that were also part of the Macau force, so it was pretty big for the time. Also due to near constant warfare, I've fallen from 1st to 3rd in standing.

[Blaupanzer]

Score standing only really matters in 2050 AD. How are your standings in Power and Culture? Appears the Chinese may be the Apex of power and they have you divided for future conquering.

[Theben]

Been playing FFII. Where was I?

After the peace of 1000AD, things were quiet for awhile. William and Qin quit fighting and an era of peace ensued. We spent the time building up our cities, mainly forges.



As the following shows, the NA army was still small. But we were a 'quality over quantity' thing. I think. I had 2 good army producing cities... and it just struck me they were both holy cities. Maybe they had fanatical soldiers?

[Theben]

Alas, the peace couldn't last forever.





I'm not sure who bribed who, but now I had a two-front war.

[Theben]

Joao 1st came across with a small force. It didn't do anything except die against Coimbra. In addition, I was able to 'persuade' Qin to take up the fight against his old foe, William.



The situation in the south was a little different. Most of my army was in the north, as I expected Joao to attack again. The southern army was considerably smaller, and William's force larger.

[Theben]

Joao had a larger force behind that. It didn't look too bad, as I had my main force in Mesa Verde. Still, with the terrain and combined arms Joao had I couldn't safely attack out and was a little concerned due to the number of catapults.



As it turned out, I needn't have worried. One crossbow wiped out almost the entire army. Did I mention I love Drill IV crossbows?

[Theben]

The Chinese force tried an assault on Utrecht, which ultimately failed. As it cost the Chinese most of their force, it left little to slow down the Dutch advance in his and my territories.

Then one of the oddest things happened I've ever seen:









Poverty Point changed hands 4 times in 4 turns(!). I wasn't able to stop the Dutch assault, but hurt it enough that the Chinese were able to take it. I was pretty PO'ed when I saw them take it, figuring I'd have to go to war with them to get it back. Thankfully I didn't have to (yet).

My 2nd city took a beating, though. Fortunately the forge was intact, which helped the rebuilding effort.

[Blaupanzer]

Lot of collateral damage in Poverty Point, but it actually was fortunate that the Dutch pushed the Chinese back out with a force to small to withstand your counter attack.

[Theben]

I sent my northern army south, and apparently William didn't care for that. He decided to attempt to mend fences.



Of course, he had to be 'motivated'...

[Theben]

As an aside and in a completely unrelated game, I give you: the most AWESOME tile ever!!



That was originally a forested plains hill-> turned mined hill-> found tin for +2 -> then discovered silver. And it's next to a river. Can you say sweet?