Persia and the Dogs of War

[History Guy]

Salve, fellow citizens of the great metropolis of Apolyton, a city unmatched, the home of culture, art, science, philosophy, beauty, knowledge, and civilization in general,

While walking through a hard rain in the agora this morning (and trodding in some animal dung that some idiot had thoughtlessly left lying about), I popped into the local bookstore. Now, on leave from my regiment in Gaul, I'd been serving in the Senate for a while, donning the purple stripe, etc. I was planning on delivering a speech on why Persia should be taken out altogether, when I saw a book on the very subject I was interested in...The History and Culture of the Empire of the Persians, by the historian Narboplassar of Tassargrad. I was flipping through the papyrus when I came across an etching of the great cultural achievements of Xerxes' empire, and after the page devoted to the king's harem, I found a chapter on the pyramids, deemed by many to be a great wonder of civilization.

I thought to myself that, despite Apolyton's greatness (unmatched by all), we had nothing quite so culturally magnificent to boast of...but our own enemies, the cursed Persians have. Now, I considered to myself that, as the French have been crushed (and crushed they were, I was there...I still have fond memories of watching our General riding around with the French general's head on his pike, singing cheerfully), and the Germans have given up before our mighty forces, that Persia was our only enemy, and that we could now bring our full force to bear against them.

Now, what my point is, they have the grandest achievement of mankind in their territory, namely the Pyramids. Now, if we can take enough men down into Persian territory to scatter our foes and take the city where these monuments are built, we will not only improve our empire (the greatest by far on earth), but also our culture, making us truly the greatest of men. Now we could boast of our pyramids, and we could reap the benefits of such high civilization because of them. I suggest that we go after these pyramids and take them from our enemy, and thereafter end the war, our spoils as high as any ever could be. This, truly, would be a fitting end to this war (might I dub it 'The War of the Banana'?), the greatest ever seen. I believe that then we shall gain the highest victory that has ever been achieved, and the rewards of the conquest will be great indeed. Is this, in your humble opinions, a good idea?

Hail Apolytonia!

Gaius Publius History Guy,
Senator, Centurion, Former Historian, and General Pain-in-the-Neck

[kring]

Last I heard, you don't get culture from captured Wonders, unless something changed that I haven't heard about.

And, I am still against the war. I remember warning about potential alliances before the French war, and was told not to worry, wouldn't happen. There is no guarantee in war, and even less so in Civ 3 wars.

[Aggie]

Nope, we want get culture however we will get the benifits. I am still considering all options and listening to everybody. Kring do you support and attcak to take sidon and tyre since that is the only kinda immenient thing.
Aggie

[adaMada]

I think the attack on Sidon and Tyre are happening now... too late to change all the orders that would be required, and public opinion seems to want us to go at least that far.

After that, though, it's still up in the air -- there'll probably be another poll on it in a few days from now by the Foreign Ministry, but discussion should of course continue until then...

-- adaMada

[Shiber]

All the people who support the idea of making a grab for the Great Pyramids seem to be neglecting two facts:
1. We are playing on Emperor. The AIs get HUGE production bonuses.
2. Persia has had time to prepare. It's been a while since they declared war on us and they had enough time to create a formidable army of archers. I expect they'll start marching into view in two turns.
Even if we are be able to take out those archers without suffering any serious losses, we won't be able to get any further into Persian territory than Tyre and Sidon (unless we waste all our money on rushing attackers) because the Persians will have more time to generate more forces while we fight their existing ones.

[GodKing]

I think it might be a slow crawl, expecially considering the distances involved. But one that is well worth the investment. Immaging, our cities growing twice as fast, with no additional costs to us. Nice. I would love to have a grainery in even a couple of our cities, now we have the oppertunity to get it in all on the continent. I say go for it.

[Robber Baron]

Originally posted by Shiber
2. Persia has had time to prepare. It's been a while since they declared war on us and they had enough time to create a formidable army of archers. I expect they'll start marching into view in two turns.

If such an army does appear, we should be able to make peace on the spot, before suffering serious losses.

[Thud]

Actually, we have a fairly decent defensive situation on the Persian front. I think we will be able to have 2 vet. spearman + 1 1reg. horse\sword in any town that would come under attack, even if they have a larger than expected force.

[MrWhereItsAt]

Most of the Persian Archers you see on our E edge in the save emerged over the last turn or two. It is certain that Persia's advance guard have just about reached us. Let's not forget that Archer stacks have been used by us to great effect against Spearmen in towns larger than Napoleton and Ubergorsk before, so we must keep those Persians away from these cities as much as we possibly can, or at least have them attack one at a time so we have time to heal and reinforce.

[Shiber]

Originally posted by Robber Baron
If such an army does appear, we should be able to make peace on the spot, before suffering serious losses.

Yes, but for much lesser terms, since Persia will have more troops in our territory.
Anyway, to effectively counter such an offensive we must money-rush some troops (IMHO two units should be sufficient).