The Altera Centauri collection has been brought up to date by Darsnan. It comprises every decent scenario he's been able to find anywhere on the web, going back over 20 years.
25 themes/skins/styles are now available to members. Check the select drop-down at the bottom-left of each page.
Call To Power 2 Cradle 3+ mod in progress: https://apolyton.net/forum/other-games/call-to-power-2/ctp2-creation/9437883-making-cradle-3-fully-compatible-with-the-apolyton-edition
Originally posted by Oerdin
What early game strategies do most of you follow? I personally try to max out warriors so I can grab as many freebie huts as possible and I almost always try to kill or maim any civs which started near me. This puts me way ahead of them and I can either extort techs from them for peace or simply finish them off to gain an early boost to my city count. Then I can continue to act like the peaceful builder until I reach 20 cities
This is pretty much my early game strategy in the original game and in MedMod too; in Cradle the resistance from Barbarians and AIs and the slow healing rate of damaged units makes this strategy very difficult.
In MedMod and original I usually continue my peaceful strategy until the very end though, maybe declaring war on the nearest opponent(s) who is/are blocking my growth. I usually end up winning with the Diplomacy victory and only one major opponent defeated (hence my diplomacy strategy tips in the MedMod readme folder)...
I'm still trying to settle good strategies for Cradle, diplomacy for some reason seems much tougher and I haven't found the most effective strategy to wage war yet. Tactically I'm okay of course, but the grand scheme of things still seems very different from other mods - then again, I haven't played that much Cradle yet (unfortunately) so that may only be my perception...
Very good rush-buy tips, Oerdin You really *should* write a strategy guide... I usually only rush-buy buildings myself (and units when I'm in desperate need of them), since I need a significant portion of my gold for other purposes (diplomacy, unconventional warfare, upgrading units). But rush-buying is indeed an important concept of the game and should not be underestimated - timing is indeed critical. I don't know the exact formula used to calculate the rush-buy cost (I know that governments also affect it) but buying something when it's about 50% done is, in my experience, indeed the cheapest overall...
Hermann,
Because you'll need it - we're gonna kick your @ss if you screw up!
The highpriest was still shaking his head in disbelief as Assur approached the throne. Not only did he arrive one hour late, he also
refused to take part in the holy "/reloadslic" ceremony, deeming it "not necessary"!
5780BC
Our wise men discover agriculture which allows to train warriors
Assur orders them to research the wings of birds, so that one day, our soldiers will be able to fly and travel faster than any other man.
The wise men decide to research better roads instead.
5720BC
A unit of spearmen stumble upon a small village of mountain people who use "slings" in combat. They decide to join our spearmen.
5700BC
Our severely wounded javelin cavalry stumbles on a village of barbarians, but manages to escape!
5660BC
40 years later, and still severely wounded, he runs into another barbarian ambush.
5620BC
Surrounded by barbarians, he runs to the desert hills, where he meets a people that use a technique called "water lifts". He makes not of it, and moves on.
A group of spearmen discover ancient gravechambers and discover 313 gold after folling around with the mummies.
The city of Heliopolis is founded near the northern coast.
5520BC
After 100 years in which nothing happened, a group of spearmen discover ancient ruins and loot 200 gold.
The barbarians lurking around Memphis seem to have been pacified.
Realizing that being king is mostly a very boring job Assur decides to use this gold to finance his decadent parties.
5420BC
Our heavily wounded javelin cavalry, once again surrounded by barbarians, finds refuge in a desert village. The spearmen of the village promise to protect him.
After a century of a decadent lifestyle Assur has became so corpulent that he is unable to do anything; he hasn't left his bedroom in years!
In 5402BC, the greatest scientist of the realm proposed to build a machine that could harvest the power of steam and transport him through the empire (no horse could carry Assur!). Assur declared this idea heresy and ordered the scientist executed and his "work" - witchcraft - burned.
He died two years later.
-------------
I'm very sorry it took so long, but I needed to help a friend in evading his problems with his gf/parents.
It should not happen again.
In een hoerekotje aan den overkant emmekik mijn bloem verloren,
In een hoerekotje aan den overkant bennekik mijn bloemeke kwijt
Nice story Sounds like you got more goody huts than the rest of us combined!
Originally posted by Assur
I'm very sorry it took so long, but I needed to help a friend in evading his problems with his gf/parents.
It should not happen again.
Don't worry, you sent the game on to Hermann well in time and posted the story not too long after that, so I don't see a problem.
Anyway, any chance you could still give us some pics? Post them here, on the website or mail them to me, whatever you prefer, but it would be cool so see something...
Hey,with all these barbarians wondering around near our Javelin Cavalry unit(and the fledgling Arabian cities) it may be possible that one or more of the cities might be invaded by the barbs.In that case,some map swapping every so often or a close eye on the Arabian cities may be in order,to watch out for any easy pickings without declaring war on the Arabians to get the cities.......
Website updated with Assur's story (no pics though).
I'm surprised to hear that apparently noone has traded maps with the Arabs yet, it's always the very first thing I do when I meet an AI, even before I decided if I want to be friends with it or if I want to destroy it. There's no use in exploring territory that others have already explored...
Here follow the Chronicles of the Fifth Apolyton, known as the “Chronicles of Overkill.”
5400 BC
The wise Advisors of the Apolyton mourn the loss of the Great Pear-Shaped Assur, and then are horrified to discover that His remains are too wide to fit through the door (no wonder he hadn't left his bedroom in years!) They (unceremoniously) order the room walled up and decide that one of the prime qualifications for the next Apolyton should be a complete lack of sense of smell. Thus inspired, they embark on the search for the successor.
They look for clumsy candidates with head injuries, but none recover consciousness. They rummage hopefully under piles of rocks, but find no survivors. They scour the damp bushes, but find no marsupials. Becoming desperate, the Advisors and Priests lurk outside the temple, hoping for late-comers. Then a tiny reed boat is found among the rushes along the Nile. In it lies a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. Conducting an augury, the High Priest Her-mann declares that the Rightful Successor has been found . . . but since no babe may rule Egypt, a Holy Regency of Ra must be established. Curiously enough, the augury* shows that the High Priest should become the Regent, and the babe is “hidden away for safety.” In the slang of Memphis, pulling this sort of fast one is known as “to lombard,” and thus the name enters history.
High Priest Her-mann the Lombard, Apolyton V (Regent) follows the large example of Assur and eschews the traditional ceremony of /reloadslic. This upsets the other Priests, who call for a return to tradition. Turning from their bodies to governance, Her-mann declares that Memphis is nearly defenseless, and orders the halt of preparations for colonization in both Memphis and Heliopolis. He sends gold to Heliopolis to hurry the equipment of the first regiment of Warriors in Egyptian history, but in Memphis, a lot of people are almost ready to get out of town, so they quietly ignore the order.
Far away to the north, the Bloody Cavalry thanks the Spearmen for their promise of protection . . . and steal away in the night to put some distance between themselves and the barbarians. The Spearmen wake to find themselves abandoned in the face of the enemy, and decamp to the south.
[* Augury: noun, a process of divination involving a captive, a large auger, and subsequent reading of entrails.]
5380 BC: The Northern Spearmen promptly find more barbarians directly to the south, and the youthful spear captain finds and tortur—er, “consults”—a local wise man, whose last words are interpreted as “Go East, young man!” Other witnesses thought that the wise man directed them to another destination entirely…
The First Regiment of Warriors, escorted by Spearmen from Heliopolis, ventures forth to explore the remaining land between Heliopolis and Memphis. Back at the capital (and naively believing the land developers who claimed that the barbarians were pacified) the colonists sneak out of Memphis to found their own city, to be called TANIS, for The Apolyton (is) Not In Sight.
Her-mann is angered by this disregard of His orders. At this point, an Incautious Advisor remarks that surely the Rightful Successor must now be of age to become Apolyton in her own right. The remaining Advisors never mention this again.
5360BC: The long-suffering Javelin Cavalry is tantalized by the sight of TWO sets of ruins on the horizon just to the northwest…sandwiched between impassible mountains and implacable barbarians. So close and yet so far!
5340BC: Yet another barbarian spear-band appears out of the “impassible” mountains, forcing the cavalry to the east. Not far to the south, the Northern Spearmen hurry east, hotly pursued by a barbarian force twice their size. The colonists from Memphis head southwest, hotly pursuing rumors of fermenting grapes.
A messenger arrives in Memphis with news: “The Arabians have gone to war with the Egyptians.” Her-mann shouts, “Good! Let them kill one another. OH. Er, the Apolyton Wombat should not have laughed at Harun al Rashid’s name!”
5320BC: Another messenger arrives with news: “The Romans have gone to war with the Byzantines.” Is this a pattern where those working on Stonehenge go to war with those who are not?
5300BC: The Eastern Spearmen reach and skirt the border of the reportedly-hostile Arabians. TANIS is founded between the vineyards and the sea, and the custom of white wine with fish is born.
5280BC: A horde of “pacified” barbarians come up the Nile to Memphis, and the elders of the city open their ancient piggybanks to quickly equip a new regiment of Warriors, the 2nd. In the north, the cavalry approach ruins in the hills, but somehow they are no longer eager to explore them.
5260BC: Yet another barbarian spear-band appears, this time with the audacity to stand atop the Great Mountain, taunting the Egyptians to “come out and play.” The Southern Spearmen, following the scent of wine, track down and join the renegades in TANIS. Meanwhile the cavalry are relieved to find the ruins unoccupied, but then are dumbfounded by a box of mysterious rawhide-and-cloth toys. The toys are sent to the Apolyton for His amusement…but the Advisors recognize that these are in fact projectile weapons—to be called “swings”—and set about making enough to outfit new regiments.
As the Apolyton plays with the “swings” – and by a fateful coincidence – the Wise Men come to Him saying, “O Mighty One, we have discovered the Secret of the Wheel! Now we can make flat surfaces to roll them on! Tell us where next to search for knowledge!” Her-mann spoke unto them, “Research the wings of birds…no, wait, We want something that can be completed in Our lifetime. Research the fins of the fish, that one day our soldiers will be able to swim to foreign lands!” The wise men decide that a drier method is preferable, and begin to research Shipbuilding.
5240BC: The barbarians have dogged the heels of the Northern Spearmen for 160 years, and the Spearmen veer to the south hoping that the barbarians won’t notice. No such luck. New Warriors (the 3rd Regiment) are rushed to completion in Heliopolis. Envoys of the Apolyton offer a princely sum (200 gold; we have small princes) to Arabia in return for a ceasefire. Al-Rashid believes he can get more gold by force, and rejects the offer out of hand. The envoys are told “our trade embargo has angered them.” They protest, “It’s not an embargo; we’ve never learned how to trade!” Unfortunately those are the envoys’ last words.
5220BC: The Bloody Cavalry sights a river leading to the west, and the Eastern Spearmen reach the southwest corner of the Arabian lands, and turn west to explore toward home.
5200BC: The Peripatetic Heliopolitans (1st Warriors and Spearmen escort) reach the isthmus east of the mouth of the Nile. Their Captain exclaims, “Isthmus be the place!” A barbarian horde arrives to punish him, and the Heliopolitans flee to the east.
The cavalry enters the river valley, and are astonished to see a huge hole in the earth. Drawing nearer, they are amazed to see shackled men emerging from the hole bearing heavy loads of stone. Seven heaps of mine tailings rise on the plain above the hole- riddled valley. A great city sprawls across them, and a big sign on the walls says “Rome – Pop. 60,000.” Next to this is the fearful Sign of the Eye.
The valiant horsemen approach, and a startled by men who appear as if from thin air, men bearing chains and shackles and weighted nets. Eyeing the blood-caked javelins of the cavalry, the biggest of these men calls out, “Greetings from Constantine, leader of the Byzantine people. Though we are a humble nation, we strive for greatness.” (They appear to have been humbly trying to net Romans.) The cavalry Captain asks, “So what IS this Stonehenge you’ve been working on for so long?” The Byzantine leader replies, “We don’t know either; it’s a mysterious circle of big rocks.” The Byzantines refuse to exchange maps, but a well-placed bribe primes the pump for later.
Riding onto the plain, the cavalry are greeted by Livius of Rome. More gold changes hands (and the Apolyton wonders aloud why the cavalry didn’t send the gold to Him, singing “All the Way to Memphis”).
5180: Egypt draws water from the primed pump, as the Byzantines offer to exchange maps. These reveal a huge land west and north of Rome, stretching all the way to the polar wastes. The cavalry turns east and finds the Roman city of Cumae. It seems best to head for the border.
5160: Barbarians continue to trail the Northern Spears and the Heliopolitans. The Northerners enter more ruins and fine their hearts’ desire: more barbarians! The Eastern Spearmen are more fortunate, finding 374 gold pieces. Another Warrior (the 4th Regiment) is rushed in the capital.
5140BC: Relief for the Northern Spears! After 260 years of pursuit by twice their number of barbarians, all seemed lost when even more appeared from the ruins. The new ugly barbarians see the old ugly barbarians, and both flee in opposite directions!
5120 BC: The cavalry marvel at a gigantic Potato (“it’s as big as the Olive!”), then marvel again at the strange towers of Nara, just beyond. The Heliopolitan Captain exhorts the troops: “We’re not fleeing from the horde, we’re leading them away from Memphis. Now lead faster!” The Royal Surveyors lay out a road connecting Memphis to TANIS, to be a monument to the greatness of Her-mann the Lombard, Apolyton V (Regent). Coincidentally, the road will bring wine to the capital.
5100 BC: A bright soldier queries the Heliopolitan Captain: “Sir! You showed us that we are bravely leading the horde away from Memphis, but aren’t we leading them straight to Heliopolis?” The surviving soldiers decide that it isn’t bright to question the Captain. The Eastern Spears continue their golden career: 353 more. The Northern Spears notice a magenta line in the sand, far behind them. “Who dat?” A voice from over the horizon intones “I hail from the superior nation of Japan. Our great leader Shotoku is not one to be trifled with.” Ignoring the bad grammar, the cavalry offer 200 gold to the Yamato, who graciously accept. (What a surprise!) The Romans decline to trade maps. (What a surprise!)
5080 BC: Oh, oh! The sound of weighted nets, somewhere!
The Yamato offer to trade maps, which reveal little (these guys must be isolationists or something).
5060 BC: The valiant javelin cavalry arrive at the east coast of Japan. Entering ruins (will they never learn?), they are surprised by two bands of barbarian spearmen.
5040 BC: Her-mann reads the eulogy: “All hail the glorious memory of the first horsemen of the Empire of Egypt, forever to be known as the Bloody Cavalry. They joined the Empire in 6520, found the Arabians in 6260, and were grievously hurt in 5840 [thus their motto: ‘Wounded! And we shall never heal!”] Despite this, they discovered water lifts and “swings” for the advancement of our civilization. They discovered the Byzantines and the Romans in 5200, and the Yamato in 5100. Had they lived, We are sure they would have found the Etruscans for us, as well. From now until eternity, let their banner, the Bloody Javelin, be the symbol of all Egyptian cavalry!” Someone remarked, “It’s a pity that we don’t know how to build cavalry.” Someone’s head is now on a pike.
Meanwhile, just west of Memphis, the 4th Regiment of Warriors defeats half of a force of barbarian spearmen. The other half dances on their graves.
5020 BC: The Heliopolitans return home in “triumph,” one step ahead of the horde. The city rushes the completion of the 1st Regiment of Swingers, and the horde turns away. The Wise Men tell the Apolyton that they will soon discover the mystery of Shipbuilding.
5000 BC: Her-mann the Lombard, Apolyton V (Regent) arrives in Heliopolis to personally inspect the Swingers. As they demonstrate their weapon-prowess, the Apolyton’s thoughts drift away to daydreams of mighty Egyptian coracles bobbing across the shallows of the world. Among the Swingers there beats the vengeful heart of a former priest (the son of an Incautious Advisor) who longs for a return to the tradition of /Reloadslic. A stone hurtles toward the oblivious Her-mann. Stricken with a severe head wound, the High Priest crumples to the ground. His Advisors call out to the heavens: “Ra, King of the Gods, All-Father of Creation, raise up Her-mann as once you raised Locutus the Founder!” Unfortunately Ra is otherwise engaged…
Translator's note: the original hieroglyphs of this history were clearly defaced or altered after the original carving. Each occurence of "Apolyton xV" shows an indentation where a character was chiseled away, shown by the "x" above. The very first line is garbled, as the glyph for "Fifth" was chiseled over a previous glyph. Further excavation revealed a small tomb directly below the carving, containing the remains of a male Egyptian buried with the hammers and chisels of his trade.
One little thing though: you're Apolyton V and not IV (unless Assur shouldn't be regarded a 'true' Apolyton for the sake of the story, but I don't know if we should...)
Anyway, website updated with Hermann's story and pics.
Originally posted by Locutus
One little thing though: you're Apolyton V and not IV (unless Assur shouldn't be regarded a 'true' Apolyton for the sake of the story, but I don't know if we should...)
ooopppssss
Would you believe, another programmer counting from zero instead of one?
One little thing though: you're Apolyton V and not IV (unless Assur shouldn't be regarded a 'true' Apolyton for the sake of the story, but I don't know if we should...)
My blood is Apolyton, therefor I Apolyton, regardless of my actions as king! Even if I forgot to mention it in my story
BTW, about the pictures, I don't have a program for that (Paintshop Pro I'd guess) and cant download it because my ISP virtually shut me down to max 1-2 kbyte/sec download speed (plus, the more I download the longer they cap my speed)
In een hoerekotje aan den overkant emmekik mijn bloem verloren,
In een hoerekotje aan den overkant bennekik mijn bloemeke kwijt
Assur,
All you need is Paint: Start->Program Files->Accessories->Paint. From inside the game, hit PrintScreen; Alt-Tab to Paint; Edit->Paste; File->Save. Send the BMP files you save to me (zip them if you want to keep the upload small - doesn't matter to me but if your ISP isn't happy with large uploads it will come in handy) and I'll convert them to JPG, resize and upload them...
A little update for the non-participants following this (I know there are quite a few 'cause the website is getting a lot of hits from a lot of different people): Oerdin couldn't play his turn because of real-life issues, so he skipped his turn and I played instead. I just sent the savegame on to IW and will be posting the story later tonight.
Note to all participants: we're now in round 2, so your turn now only last 15 game turns, not 20 anymore.
I'm a little short on time so I hope I didn't make any glaring mistakes or too much typos in the summary but if so, I'll fix those later.
---
After the death of Her-mann, the advisors of the great Apolyton arrest the former priest who murdered Her-mann and stone him to death. However, they did not realize that a large portion of the population of Egypt supported the cause of the assassin, he is far from the only Egyptian who wants to return to the tradition of /Reloadslic. The assasin becomes the martyr of a large rebellion that demands the return of the old tradition and the leaders of this movement seize control of Memphis. They throw everyone who opposes them out of the city, including the high-priests of the temple of Ra. The priests and their following are forced to move to Heliopolis and continue their religious practices there. In Memphis the rebels are preparing to inaugurate their leader, Oerdin the Revolutionary, as the new Apolyton, setting up everything for the traditional /reloadslic ceremony. However, the advisors of the old Apolyotn have in the meantime selected Locutus Iuni-Set, a far descendend of Locutus the Founder, as new Apolyton and are on their way to Memphis to take control of the Egyptian capital again and to crush the rebellion.
When Locutus and his following arrive in Memphis, they interrupt the inauguration ceremony of Oerdin. Fierce fighting between both parties breaks out in the streets of Memphis and after a long battle Locutus's men are victorious; Oerdin is killed in the heat of the battle. Locutus Iuni-Set is soon declared Locutus II, Apolyton VI (once again without the /reloadslic ceremony) and the rebels elsewhere in the empire are soon arrested and put to death, as all military commanders pledge loyalty to the new Apolyton. However, in all the street fighting the temple of Ra in Memphis is severely damaged and not much more than a ruin is left of it. Locutus, born and raised in Heliopolis, decrees that the people of Memphis have betrayed the will of Ra and no longer deserve to live near the main temple of Ra. So he orders that the priests of Ra 'shall henceforth be known as the priests of Ra-Iunu' (Iunu being the name of Heliopolis in the Holy Language), meaning that the main center of Ra-worship is moved to Heliopolis. A new temple devoted to Ra is constructed on the site where Her-mann was brutally murdered. The holy site in Memphis is left in ruins, as a reminder of what disobeying the true Apolyton (and therefore the will of Ra) can lead to. A new temple complex is erected just a few hundred yards away - Memphis will from that point onwards be the main centre of Ptah-worship.
In 5000 BC, Locutus II rises to power. Seeing how his subjects are not united and how Barbarians are threatening the empire from all sides, he decides it is time for reforms. He orders his priests to stop researching their current project - a way to travel over water, called Shipbuilding - and orders them to investigate the possibility of making the process of choosing a new Apolyton more obvious, to prevent rebellions such as the one that preceded his ascension to power from occuring in the future. This new project is called Dynasty by his priests. He also reorganizes the army. The men of Heliopolis are ordered to start forming another division of Slingers (instead of Nomads). Small divisions are combined to form large armies dedicated to protecting the people of Egypt and destroying the Barbarian raiders. These armies are named after the Gods of Egypt: the army near Memphis is called the army of Ptah, the troops in Heliopolis are unified and named the army of Ra, the troops in Tanis will henceforth be known as Set and the troops exploring the southern ice fields become Amen. Diplomatic negotiations lead to non-tresspass treaties with Japan and Byzantium, while Rome receives 100 Gold bars.
4980 BC: The army of Amen report that a large ruin complex is nearby their present location, but it is surrounded by large barbarian forces. Their commander decides to try and quietly sneak away but his plan fails and the Barbarians spot him. They send an army twice the size of his own after the brave Egyptians, who are ordered to a 'tactical retreat'. The men who whisper that this means they are fleeing are put to death by the commander of the army.
Also, a new regiment of Slingers is standing by in Memphis and grassland is converted into farmland near the city of Tanis (Suan in the Holy Scripts).
4940 BC: Barbarians threaten to overrun the area around Memphis, troops are sent in to scare them away.
4900 BC: Our mighty army of Ptah is victorious over Barbarian Slingers near Memphis. The citizens of Memphis celebrate for three whole days and three whole nights!
4880 BC: The Ptah army is attacked by Barbarian Cavalry troops, but our brave men are victory again. The troops are sent back to Memphis to recover and are received as heros. The partying now lasts for 6 days and nights. The morale of the inhabitants of Memphis is now so high that many young men volunteer to join the army, from these men a new regiment of Spearmen built in Memphis, who then join the army of Ptah. Production of a new regiment of Slingers begins. In Heliopolis morale is also high and the people donate gold to finish the creation of a new regiment of Slingers earlier than planned (they are rush-bought).
A little later, in 4860 BC, the Slinger regiment is built in Heliopolis and the production of a Nomad is started. The Slingers are added to the army of Ra. 100 Gold is given to Rome.
4840 BC: The Ptah army is once again successful and defeats Barbarian Spearmen near Tanis.
4820 BC: A large (size 5) Barbarian army is sighted near Memphis, it strikes fear in the population of the city.
4800 BC: The Dynasty government is discovered by the high-priests. When they explain to the people of Egypt that from now on family members of the Apolyton will be his successor after he dies (as opposed to whoever is found suitable by the advisors of the old Apolyton), anarchy rules the empire as people realize that this means they no longer have a chance of becoming the ruler of Egypt, as most of them are not relatives of their ruler. While this anarchy overtakes Egypt, the priests start researching a way to make the plains around Heliopolis more producitive with a concept called Domestication, as these lands are unsuitable for farming. 416 Gold is found in a cave west of Japan.
4780 BC: A Slinger is built in Tanis and joins the army of Set. Tanis now starts building a Warrior. The people of Egypt rejoice when a Peacy-treaty is signed with Byzantium, for now this potential enemy from the north might become a trustworthy ally. 100 Gold given to Rome, but the people are not happy with this as even numerous gifts of the finest Egyptian gold doesn't seem to please these aggressive warriors.
4760 BC: On the southern ice fields, the still 'tactically retreating' army of Amen encounters a band of Chariots. When they hear the stories of the mighty cities of Memphis and Heliopolis, the Charioteers decide to join the empire and pledge loyalty to Locutus and the commanders of the army of Amen. But even with these reinforcements it is not deemed wise by the Amen commander to fight the Barbarians, so the retreat continues.
In 4720 BC the anarchy is finally ended and a new government is enacted: Egypt is now a Dynasty. However, Barbarian Spearmen overrun the lands near Tanis and pillage roads and farmlands. The army of Set immediately takes revenge by killing the offenders; this results in light injuries amongst the men and gives the Egyptian Spearmen enough battlefield experience to regard them veterans. After the attack the construction of a new road is begun.
4700 BC: Yet more Slingers are built in Memphis and joins Ptah. Since Locutus realizes that the only way to beat back the Barbarians (and Arabs) is by expansion, the formation of a band of Nomads is ordered in this city.
4660 BC: The brave Spearmen exploring the area near Japan are ambushed! An army of cowardly Barbarians pins them into a corner of the continent and drives the brave men into the sea. Since the men can't swim, they are forced to choose between drowning or being massacred. The brave men try to fight back the Barbarian infidels but, although they do a lot of damage, they are eventually all defeated and killed.
4640 BC: a large Barbarian force is overrunning the area between Memphis and Tanis and is pillaging the land and burning villages as they go. Locutus is outraged and, in part to revenge the brave Spearmen who were slaughtered 20 years ago, he orders and outright attack. At night, the army of Ptah attacks a regiment of Barbarian Spearman camping just outside Memphis and completely slaughters each and every man in the army, most of them are still asleep. The army hardly has any casualties itself but the combat experience makes some of the Spearmen and Slinger veterans.
4620 BC: The army of Ptah marches on other Barbarian forces, who cowardly run for their lifes as they, according to rumours, believe Ptah to be invincible.
In 4600 BC, the army of Ptah once again attacks and defeats a regiment of Barbarian Speaman, who did not flee fast enough. However, a regiment of Warriors has taken heavy casualties and it turned out to be another ambush by the Barbarians: a very large force of Barbarian troops in now within striking range of Ptah. When Locutus, now an old man (over 400 years old) hears of this despicable ambush, his heart can no longer handle it and he suffers from a heart attack. Although he doesn't die instantly, he is now so weak that death cannot be far away anymore. Just before he dies he gives a last order: the defenders of Memphis should be sent in to provide back-up for the army of Ptah. His advisors doubt if it is a wise decisions as this leaves Memphis in a vulnerable position but the great Apolyton persists and, remembering the events around Locutus's ascension to power early in his life, noone dares not to obey him and the troops are sent to Ptah.
You really *should* write a strategy guide... 
I usually only rush-buy buildings myself (and units when I'm in desperate need of them), since I need a significant portion of my gold for other purposes (diplomacy, unconventional warfare, upgrading units). But rush-buying is indeed an important concept of the game and should not be underestimated - timing is indeed critical. I don't know the exact formula used to calculate the rush-buy cost (I know that governments also affect it) but buying something when it's about 50% done is, in my experience, indeed the cheapest overall...
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