Monte chooses unwisely part I.

In 1220AD Monte declares and immediately sends a few Horse archers pillaging around Tours. They are not so easily dispatched on he keeps sending more troops with the 2 galleys patrolling the little inside sea between Tours, Rheims and Tlatelolco. The situation is getting more and more annoying, so in 1250AD, taking advantage of the fact that there is only one strong defender left in Tlatelolco, the attack is launched without catapult support (still on their way between Marseilles and Tours)

·         1st sword (CR2) vs longbow (wall) faces odds of 6.0 vs 8.7 and loses (damaging defender to 5.0).

·         2nd sword (CR3) vs wounded longbow (wall) faces odds of 6.0 vs 5.7 and wins with 0.3 left.

·         3rd sword (CR3) vs spear (wall) faces odds of 6.0 vs 4.0 and wins with 5.0 left.

·         1st spear vs horse archer faces odds of 4.4 vs 3.3, wins with 3.0 left and captures the city.

Monte realises he was not very clever and ask for peace in 1275AD, which I rightly refuse as we have troops ready to launch more attacks.

On the weakly defended Xochicalco, hidden north of Tlatelolco

·         1st sword (CR3) vs longbow faces odds of 6.0 vs 4.4 and wins with 0.9 left.

·         1st axe (CR2) vs axe faces odds of 5.0 vs 4.5 and loses (damaging defender to 2.0).

·         2nd axe (C1+Sh) vs wounded axe faces odds of 5.5 vs 2.2, wins without damage and capture the city.

On the not that strongly defended Tlacopan, founded on the island opposite Marseilles, the attack is postponed until reinforcement arrives as both units there are facing unfavourable odds. A catapult and another axe arrive soon and the assault can start.

·         1st catapult (CR) vs longbow faces odds of 5.0 vs 7.8 and loses (damaging the defender to 2.2 and doing collateral damage).

·         1st axe (CR3) vs wounded longbow faces odds of 5.0 vs 1.7 and wins with 3.8 left.

·         2nd axe (CR2) vs spear faces odds of 5.0 vs 2.4 and wins without damage.

Approaching Tenochtitlan (Monte’s capital) reveals that it is quite well defended as well as another SoD. Not wanting to risk losing what was gained during this relatively short war, I agree to sign peace with Monte (after pillaging a few squares with horses because I can).

 

Consolidation and a bit of revolutions

Immediately after ending the war with Monte, I revolt to Bureaucracy and Serfdom (still without religion) to speed up the improvements of my lands, with a comfortable leading position, relatively compact empire, decent military and no tech deficit, I can’t imagine losing now. St Augustine agrees, saying I am glorious…

Some not that existing turns follows including with the highlights being:

·         Discover Liberalism in 1400AD, 5t after Washington unfortunately, and almost immediately revolt to Free Speech and Free Religion.

·         While the world was again peaceful and quiet, the same old (and useless) vendettas start again with Monte on Washington on 1415AD, Genghis on Gandhi in 1430AD then Alex on Gandhi in 1445AD. They will stop again without cities changing hands.

·         Get a great Prophet in 1440AD who builds the Masjid al-Haram in Anasazi (giving a gigantic 2gpt immediately).

·         First to discover Economics in 1510AD, the great merchant can either discover Replaceable Parts (worth 2000lb) or be sent on commercial mission somewhere. Since I am not desperate for tech, he is sent ‘spying’ on the Indian, Greek and American side of the world (and will gain around 2500g there) after a little boat trip as both my immediate neighbours (Monte and Genghis) are not trusting my with open borders. Revolution to Free Market as well.

·         The ‘spying’ reveals that Washington is not too far behind as he has some Grenadiers defending.

·         In 1652AD Genghis declares on Gandhi again, this time, I really hope Gandhi get in trouble and ASKS for help, not like the previous wars.

·         1656AD discover Railroad (I tend to prioritize it for movement and Machine Gun) and go for Democracy (via Constitution first).

 

Troubles are going to be History, or not.

In 1670AD, my dreams are coming true as Gandhi reluctantly asks for help against Genghis, I am more than please to accept, and spend the first turns to upgrade most of my CR2 or CR3 axes and swords to Grenadier (except those which only need 1 or 2 XP to get a new level since after upgrading, they are back to 10XP).

1676AD is a big year for the French History as Democracy is discovered and another revolution (2turns this time) takes place to adopt Universal Suffrage and Emancipation.

At the time, after having slowly bombarded the defence of Old Sarai from 60% to 0%, the assault with vastly superior numbers and better technology is started:

·         1st Grenadier (CR3+C1) vs longbow faces odds of 13.2 vs 8.7 and LOSES (damaging defender to 1.7).

·         2nd Grenadier (CR3) vs longbow faces odds of 12.0 vs 8.7 and wins with 3.8 left.

·         3rd Grenadier (C1+Sh+Co) vs Axe faces odds of 13.2 vs 6.8 and wins with 10.3 left.

·         Wounded (5.7) sword (CR3) vs wounded longbow faces odds of 5.7 vs 2.3, wins without damage, (promote to 16/17xp only) and captures the city.

In 1684AD, while I am in position to capture the next town, Genghis Khan reads the Epics rules and makes peace with Gandhi, trying to force me to make peace as well...except that he doesn't want to talk... I re-read carefully the rules and realise that he has also to stop soaking, make the first step and beg for peace, in the meantime I am free to continue going after him.

The assault on Samarqand is launched after bombing to 0%:

·         1st grenadier (CR2) vs longbow faces odds of 12.0 vs 9.3 and wins with 3.8 left.

·         2nd grenadier (C1+Sh+Co) vs Spear faces odds of 13.2 vs 5.4, wins with 10.4 left and captures the city.

The assault on the slightly more defended Karakorum is launched in 1692AD after bombing the defence to 0%:

·         1st grenadier (CR3) vs longbow (CD2) faces odds of 12.0 vs 7.2 and wins with 6.6 left.

·         2nd grenadier (C1+So+Co) vs longbow (CD2) faces odds of 13.2 vs 10.2 and loses (damaging defender to 0.7).

·         1st canon (C1) vs longbow (CD1) faces odds of 13.2 vs 10.2 but retreats (doing some collateral damages).

·         2nd wounded canon (C1) vs wounded Keshik faces odds of 12.3 vs 5.2, wins with 8.0 left and does some collateral damage as well.

·         1st sword (CR3) vs wounded longbow faces odds of 6.0 vs 1.8, wins with 5.3left and can now upgrade after promotion (17/17).

·         1st knight (C1) v wounded spear (C2) faces odds of 11.0vs5.1 and wins with 8.7 left.

·         1st axe (C1) vs wounded longbow faces odds of 5.5 vs 1.4, wins without damage and captures the city.

The assault on New Sarai (Island facing Paris), is launched in 1708AD after bombing the defence to 4% only:

·         1st grenadier (CR2+C1) vs longbow (CD2) faces odds of 13.2 vs 9.2 but wins with only 0.5 left.

·         2nd grenadier (CR1+C1) vs longbow faces odds of 13.2 vs 8.0 and wins with only 1.2 left.

·         1st axe (C1+Sh+Co) vs Spear (C1) faces odds of 5.5 vs 2.9, just barely wins with 0.1 left , can now be upgraded after promotion (18/17) and captures the cities.

Unfortunately, in 1718AD Genghis realises that ending this war is as easy as saying please don’t hurt me anymore…

 

At peace again, but for how long?

As usual, the peace time is not as exciting as I am cruising slowing toward a certain victory. The main question is now how do I (want to) win:

·         Cultural, very late to thing about it, still possible as Paris and Chartres are Wonders building cities. With all the religions in my cities, I probably can get 5 ‘cathedrals’ for multipliers. While I don’t think Washington will launch before I win, It is absolutely guaranty that I would be one of the latest finish for comparaison.

·         Space, seems to be the easiest solution, probably unlikely to be amongst the fastest, but with my apocalyptic start anyway, winning is good enough…

·         Domination is very unlikely to happen before launch, as I have not a lot of control over the war I can get involved in (especially since no one should declare on me now).

·         Diplomacy is another option but I should mainly count on my own population as Washington and Gandhi had shared lots of war together and will probably vote for each other. Alex might like me a little.

The highlights of the next turns are then:

·         Just before I had to accept peace, Alex decided he has not had enough beating up to now and declares in 1710AD on Gandhi without (?) realising that Gandhi had a “Defence Pact” with Washington...

·         First to physics in 1726AD, the scientist builds an academy in Paris.

·         Get a (unlikely but welcome) great engineer in Paris in 1732AD who helped finishing (+1300hammers) the Statue of Liberty in Avignon.

·         Genghis and Monte are going after each other in 1738AD, Genghis is the one coming to ask for help immediately, of course I can’t accept that. In 1740AD Monte asks for help and I had to (immediately) reload after I realised he is not really my friend…

·         In 1750AD Monte starts razing Genghis cities instead of keeping them, so it is time to start some emergency settlers and get there before anyone else.

·         Genghis is history in 1756AD, victim of Monte.

·         Three new French cities are built soon after on Mongolian ruins (or next to): Rouen in 1758AD, Grenoble in 1760AD and Dijon in 1762AD. With very strong ancient Indian and Aztecs cities around, the last 2 have very little space to work.

·         I enter the Modern Area in 1784AD, and of course the only cities next to a river (for 3 Gorges Dam) are the 2 new cities, so lots of money are spend in Grenoble to try to spend it (granary, forge, factory, plant…) hoping to get a Great Engineer to finish the Wonder.

·         Get a Great Artist in Chartres instead (was 33% artist against 66% engineer), so decide to “culture bomb” Grenoble to get more space. The results are not what were expected… (4 squares around Dijon).

 

·         In 1796 AD Washington declares on Monte, that could mean business soon, get ready for it.

 

Next page is here.