OCC Bloodlust Succession Game

[East Street Trader]

Sorry about that, guys. I initially sent the file from work and seemingly the firewall stopped it going in any other form than line text. So I sent it from a different computer.

I really will have to get my modem sorted out at home.

Did I mention that the Americans have discovered Mapmaking?

[Daddy-O]

I just got it and the zip looks ok. I don't dare open the game at work.
SG, I passed the file to you as well.

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"Bonjour, you cheese-eatin' surrender-monkeys."
Grounds Keeper Willie, Greeting his substitute French class

[Scouse Gits]

I understand that EST has an outgoing mail problem - I have not got a copy myself -- mayhap EST you could give it a go at sending to me - I might just be able to extract the zip from in-line code in the worst instance...

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Scouse Git[1] -- git1@scousers.net

"Staring at your screen in horror and disbelief when you open a saved game is one of the fun things of a succession game " - Hueij
"The Great Library must be built!"
"A short cut has to be challenging,
were it not so it would be 'the way'." - Paul Craven

[Daddy-O]

I just got they resend of the 400ad save but the zip is inline text again.
I don't understand. I never had problems with zip files before. In fact I got 2 other zips since the last time that EST emailed his second attempt and they worked fine. For some reason the emails that EST have sent put the zipped file in the email as text. Very odd.

SG, did you get a copy to post? If so, could you post it pass it to me? Thanks.

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"Bonjour, you cheese-eatin' surrender-monkeys."
Grounds Keeper Willie, Greeting his substitute French class

[Daddy-O]

If anyone has it, I still need the 400ad save passed to me or posted in this thread.

Thanks,

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"Bonjour, you cheese-eatin' surrender-monkeys."

[Daddy-O]

I need the 400ad save. For some reason it was read by my email as inline text. Please resend.

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"Bonjour, you cheese-eatin' surrender-monkeys."

[East Street Trader]

Twenty turns played and save about to go to skrobism and the Gits.

Meanwhile following the success at decoding the Dead Sea Scrolls these, hitherto indecipherable, documents among the noble Livia's household records have yielded up their secrets.

"Being a slave in the same house with Livia has always had its problems. But since Augustus died its been a bit of a nightmare. Still, I am well practiced in the grey skills of the scribe, keeping to the shadows and avoiding notice, so I hope to outlive most. Also, Livia seems to value my knowledge of the rarer corners of the pharmacopoeia and I’ve begun to think I get off lighter as a result.

Anyway my mate Tacitus has asked me to keep a note or two to aid him in his scribbling so here goes. Pray the Gods keep these out of the hands of Sejanus (may his black soul rot in Hades’ blackest pit) although I doubt there is another in Rome who could decipher the Essene pseudepigrapa script.

I have been reading in Livia’s correspondence lately of strange events back home in Palestine. But I doubt that those in Rome will ever be concerned with what goes on in such an backwater and Tacitus won’t thank me for details of such obscurities.

Nearer at home, the talk is all of the meeting which took place between our Eastern troops and a strange new tribe with the outlandish name of “the French”. Our lads had to teach the benighted fellows how to add up and take away would you believe, and the “wonders” of republican government. Now if they’d had Livia with them she could have explained a thing or two about that subject. Forty two senators opposed her last proposal but that was a pathetically small opposition really and, in future, the number’s bound to be less after the outbreak of botulism. Every one of the forty two seem to have succumbed. Livia says it’s the judgement of the Gods upon them.

Anyway, the French, who apparently love to march up and down singing “the Marseillaise”, a raucous song named for their city, decided they would maintain a peace with us. Wouldn’t bet on it lasting though, they seem an icy and discontented lot.

No sooner had the news come in about the French than our lads in the West reported meeting an even more outlandish crew called after some Italian adventurer called Vespucci. They had to be shown how to barter for our good Roman commodities and had also never even had a King! They proved more friendly than the French and, upon our agreeing to aid them in some trivial dispute with a local tribe of small people with slanty eyes and green togas they allied themselves with us and sent a welcome gift of 50 gold. The parties that Livia and Sejanus (may his black soul … etc etc) give are not cheap and I was a bit surprised when so much of the gold went on completing the aqueduct which the city started work on after the last trade caravan left.

The reason for that unexpected act of public spirit, however, soon became apparent. No sooner was the aqueduct up but Livia got the Senate (thirteen dissentients – French flu later got the lot – more Godly judgment?) to set every mason in the land upon the task of erecting a colossal structure in which, so it seems, games will take place.

At least that will give some additional occupation to all these charioteers that Livia recalled to the city. At the moment it’s a real bore letting them in at the back door all the time so that they can discuss race tactics with her in her chamber. Smell of the stables, some of the, but strapping big lads.

Some said in the Senate that it is the legions that should have been recalled, not the charioteers but Livia pointed out the ancient ordinances which forbid the legions to enter Rome and, anyway, the three who spoke about this all contracted a variant of swine fever which gave them the staggers and softened the brain soon after – awful sight they were.

So the “Coliseum” got built, as it is being called, and I must say the chariot races are very exiting. The city is a happier place since it opened its doors. And the children being born, well I’ve never seen so many of the little blighters. It turned out to be a good thing that there is plenty of water in the city these days.

Not that Livia and Sejanus drink much of it. In fact they keep moaning because apparently the peasants aren’t producing the right sort of things to trade with these new neighbours of ours. To encourage them Livia has started putting some of them into the Coliseum with outlandish animals which the camel drivers brought back after delivering their gaudy beads in Marseilles. They didn’t get much of a price, 66 gold in fact, but the trade route is bringing in profits and the bulls in the forum are apparently saying that Marseilles is a good long term prospect – something to do with "the river effect" or something, but you know how incomprehensible citizen Roland and the others down there can be. All double Etruscan to me. But Lygdus the Eunuch believes it all so he’s bet his savings on something called “copper futures”. Hope it pays off cause he borrowed a denarius or two from me.

I plan to move the rest of my own stache out from under my bed soon because the talk is of a new place, let us call it a “bank”, where money can be stored and then lended out at a price. The wise men have been discussing this lately and have settled on the principles although, as usual, implementing their ideas is going to take time. In fact we can’t start on that yet because of another of their notions. Real hare brained one this. Apparently you can learn things by just craning your neck and peering through this long tube pointed into the sky. Well, that would be nothing very new, but what we have all been told to do is to organise a whole load of camels into caravans and, it is said, this will result in a new and wonderful building appearing in which this activity will be more comfortably performed – either that or a new Theatre will suddenly appear, no-one is quite sure which. Bloody silly if you ask me – well as long as its not Livia asking, of course. No one opposed this in the Senate – in fact the senators have stopped going claiming head aches and tummy upsets. Livia kindly sent out little packets of head ache powder or stomach powder to them all and explained that, if they were still too ill to ratify her decrees they could simply take the powder. They all got better after that and then unanimously agreed how clever Livia was to think of the caravan idea.

Anyway, enough for now, Livia has asked me to look into the properties of a little known plant called, Henbane. She thinks we may have rats in the palace, although she did also mutter something about Apiata, Sejanus wife.

I hope we get the Theatre, not the other thingy. I’m getting a bit fed up with the shows at the Coliseum. Even these new “Christians” who’ve been on the bill of late just sing silly songs while they’re eaten. And there aren’t so many kids about the place any more. Something new will cheer the people up a lot, I reckon."


While there is a good deal of historical accuracy in that account there are some corruptions of the true history of Rome from the time of our Lord until 400 AD so I post here the official version

AD 20 give Republic and Maths to the icy French, won't talk further.

AD 20 meet Americans in New York (top city) give trade and monarchy ally at expense of joining war with Japanese. Get 50 g. Japanese won't talk.

AD 80 rush aqueduct. Eastern caravan sees irrigation.

AD 100 Astronomy. Researching Banking. Meet French. Give astronomy for peace.

AD 120 Feudalism from hut. Beads (not demanded) to Marseilles. 66g 4 arrow route.

AD 140 Banking from hut

AD 160 researching philosophy

AD 180 rush Coloseum. Set luxuries to celebrate. Give Americans banking. 25 gold. Give banking and feudalism to French.

AD 240 2 barb horses from a polar hut.

AD 260 unshod barb horses die of frostbite.

AD 300 Size 12, re-set luxuries.

AD 320 Philosophy, take Medicine as free tech. Researching horseback riding (choice from two).

AD 340 give French Philosophy and Medicine.

AD 400 get message worshipful American allies have discovered Map Making


One or two footnotes. I've gone out on a limb or two. In the light of the very welcome AD 400 message the choice of banking to research may have paid off. We sure need some maps and the need for a harbour is not far off (especially, perhaps, were we to go for Shakes' first).

Clearly it is my hope that we can get horseback riding from a trade before it comes in but we are bringing in a tech each 11 turns and there a caravan (again not demanded tho') which will speed us up this time. Also the French and Japanese don't like us one bit and are tight lipped.

Our supported chariot to the east got baulked by a French catapult as it approached the fog of war concealing Paris and I sent a legion on a polar walk. I would have brought him back when the loom of the land turned out
deceptive but he found a hut and, in my experience one polar hut usually means another. Anyway I pressed on.

There is a copper on the way to New York which demands copper. Might help.

If the bloody Japs turn up thirsting for blood it might be curtains. But they are reasonably distant and we have a chariot and a mountain fortress to play with. If someone gets a legion home we're all right. And they may chill out some time. Well anyway if that particulat bough breaks I'll just have to imaginative in finding a way to blame someone else.

The AI seem to be doing poorly in this game - difficultish map - which may help explain their beligerance (OK, OK, it was me that declared war on them, I know - but the French usually behave similarly to the Japs and they are being bloody all by themselves).

We have one caravan awaiting rush buying use and another on the way. God knows which wonder comes first. The French were building Sun Tsu's but I think they gave up (sorry, got tired and didn't note it). Anyway they won't switch if I'm misremembering.

Had a lot of fun. Good luck skrobism and successors. An Occ succession is a good intro to succession games, I think, cause you don't have to puzzle out what your predecessors were up to, everyone according equal respect to 95% of the Paulicy.

[Carolus Rex]

Never mind this irrelevant intermission:

The Euro version is called Ultimate Civilisation II Classic Collection.

Carry on, lads!

Carolus

[Scouse Gits]

Not at all EST - the European version is I think called 'Classic', but you can pick up simple MP in Electronic boutique or Virgin Megastore for about £10 -- whichever you get - don't forget to apply Julius' 'No Limits' patch - that brings you into line with version 1.3 and allows Gigamap generation ...

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Scouse Git[1]

"Staring at your screen in horror and disbelief when you open a saved game is one of the fun things of a succession game " - Hueij
"The Great Library must be built!"
"A short cut has to be challenging,
were it not so it would be 'the way'." - Paul Craven

[East Street Trader]

Well, this reminds me from yet one more angle that I am daft not to have the MP version. In fact, I'll do a search this moment for somewhere to order one.

I looked once before (quite briefly and without success) for a copy of the European version but I wonder if it might not be simpler just to order an American copy from Chips and Bits (with the added benefit that if I use the Apolyton banner to link in Poly gets 10% I think). Also I'm struggling to bring to mind what the European one was called.

But is there some deep and deadly ITish reason why my machine will find the American version unpalatable?

[East Street Trader]

Save safely received and I'm on my way home to play.

Mmmm. Better thumb through the Paulicy as I walk, haven't Occed for a month or two. Sounds to be about late opening, early middle gameish.

Now what total disaster could I perpetrate to make my successors' life tricky.

Could I follow Julius lead and LEAVE ROME EMPTY.

Second thoughts, no time to read, I can almost hear those barbarian trumpets sounding the advance.


Come to think of it, I'LL BLOODY WELL RUN.

And the name of the save suggests I'm the God awful Livia.

WHICH misbeknighted fellow got me into this FIASCO.

Mumble, mumble, burble, grunt, puff, puff ...

[Julius Brenzaida]

Game sent to EST, copy to Scouse Gits, sorry once again.
I played with 1.02, I hope it works.

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Oh Man, when will you understand that your greatness lies in your failure - Goethe

[Julius Brenzaida]

Nothing to tell in the 1st years of my reign. We discover mathematics in 400bc. Now size 5. Our chariot continues to explore. 225 BC : we discover a none Legion in a hut. 175 BC we discover mysticism from a hut. 125 BC we discover Republic and revolt immediately, thanks Oedo. We discover a None chariot. 50 BC, we have celebrated up to size 7. We have 2 caravans heading either way. We’re about to meet a nation in the northwest and we’re researching astronomy. Good luck to the next Consul. There is no army in Rome but the diplomatic airlift should bring one back soon.

[Julius Brenzaida]

quote: Originally posted by Scouse Gits on 03-29-2001 07:50 AM Woops!!! Julius - you plyed in MGE!! this is (was) a 2.42 game!

Saperlipopette ! Toutes mes excuses.
Sorry, sorry, sorry. Yes, of course I replay it. My humble apologies. Now I understand why I've lost 639 post yesterday and came back from prince (729) to chieftain (90) !



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Oh Man, when will you understand that your greatness lies in your failure - Goethe

[Scouse Gits]

Woops!!!

Julius - you plyed in MGE!! this is (was) a 2.42 game!

How shall we recover - would you like to take your turn again Julius?

Alternatively, EST could pick up the 500BC save?

Whichever fits in most easily with current schedules - please advise ...

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Scouse Git[1]

"Staring at your screen in horror and disbelief when you open a saved game is one of the fun things of a succession game " - Hueij
"The Great Library must be built!"
"A short cut has to be challenging,
were it not so it would be 'the way'." - Paul Craven