Krakra
04-17-2004, 07:30
As a newcomer to this forum and this game, it came as a surprise, particularly to me that I should even want to write about my game experience. Yes, sure, I have enjoyed the game tremendously over the past two weeks, but A WRITEUP?? It is a different thing altogether better suited to speakers fluent in the English tongue and expert with the sword. Alas, for you my reader, I have decided to do the write-up and unleash upon you my non-native English musings. Hopefully it will be as much enjoyment for you to read as it was for me to write it.
Unfortunately my screen shots did not post from the word file. Will have to see what is up with that ...
Rules:
This game is a bit too easy to play in vanilla settings, even in GA. I have started about half a dozen games for different factions under expert and got tired of growing too quick, even under GA mode. So I thought of different rules:
1. Play on Expert/GA settings.
2. Play with MedMod 1.85, with the Muslim factions’ modification – i.e. the one that gives the Muslim factions larger size units.
3. No alliances with far-away lands; once in an alliance, it cannot be broken by me.
4. Only 1 rebel country can be bribed/conquered at a time – so that I won’t be tempted into the usual get-big-fast-then-develop-economy mode. It also felt more historic, as regions took a long time to assimilate into the ‘host’ country.
5. No aggression against the AI. I will only attack after being attacked and will only take 1 province per war.
6. No saving and replaying turns – if I get screwed by the AI, well I will just join the many other would-be kings who failed.
Choice of country to play:
I chose Byzantium on Early. Why? Cause I was born in Bulgaria, which happened to be part of Byzantium at the period the game starts. Cause it is a tough country to play in the mod (particularly with the Muslim unit-size enhancement).
Chapter 1: The Beginning
Emperor Alexius I stood on the terrace of the reliquary looking at the distant sun fall. Below him Constantinople was buzzing. He could see men busying home after a full day of hard labor. He saw others laughing merrily in the brightly lit rooms of the brothels, that have mushroomed throughout the city right in the face of church and religion. People lived their lives as if nothing was happening; as if life went on with the same rhythm that it always has, as if today and tomorrow carried the same promise of easy life and prosperity so well-known to Romans of the past. “And yet,” the emperor thought, “life today is so different.”
Gone were the glory days of Rome. In fact, gone was even Rome, passing into obscurity like an aging gladiator – once a towering strength and a whirlwind of lethal blows, now a rag-covered old man scared even of the scare-crows. What once was a humble beginning, after being born on 7 holy hills, being nurtured into puberty by a female wolf and being brought into unheard of greatness by the discipline and creativity of its people, now laid, quite un-humbly, in excessive vulgar, self-pity and demoralizing decay.
“It is hard to find good people,” said Alexius loudly, vividly remembering the incredulous involvedness this spring in finding governors for the remaining Byzantine provinces. “It seems people have lost their wits and acumen, and underwent a spine-removal operation that left them with no dread.” “And I won’t even begin to mention piety and command ability,” he thought. He had finally appointed a few governors and statesmen, but those appointments were rather sub-par. Many still remained unfilled.
“Stop thinking about the past and concentrate on the issue at hand” The nagging internal voice returned. “You have to go in front of the war council tomorrow. All generals will be there. They will expect your decision. You have to decide.”
The emperor shifted uneasily. The sun was almost gone behind the horizon and its warmth was slowly being replaced by the bristling chill of the autumn night. “We are northern people,” Alexius thought, “we don’t like 100-degrees heat; we will get scorched alive in our armor, like chickens in a peasant oven.” “Why do those fools keep pushing for a frontal war with the Turks?” “They keep talking about glory, about riding proudly on their horses to meet the enemy, about leading their men into the conquest of the holy land” “Rubbish, I think. There is no glory in being baked like bread and being slaughtered like a pig by hordes upon hordes of hatred-driven Muslims. Plus, there is little hope of success Sure we can take Nicea, but pulling a large attack army will seriously undermine our security on all other flanks.”
He lit a candle and uncurled the map:
Byzantium lay stretched along the parchment, like a horseshoe stamped out by the Turkish foot. “How do you defend a 1,000 leagues of borders?” he thought. “If there is to be any talk of conquest, the conquest has to come in the west. It is much too risky expanding east right now.” His glance stopped at Serbia. The kingdom was ruled by a small local warlord, with hardly more than 200 men of an army and a hill province that was so easily defendable. A line of infantry in the middle of a steep hill and a few archers behind it will be enough to ruin the day for an enemy even trice their numbers. And if Serbia was to fall to Byzantium, that will eliminate the need for a large garrison in Greece. PROVIDED, of course, that no enemies came from the sea. Hmmm, the sea dominance has to be resolved …
“Wait a second,” cried the emperor, his eyes lighting with excitement. “If the sea is vital to Greece, it is even doubly more vital for all our provinces in the Mediterranean.” It all seemed clear to him now, as if the thought, like a giant tsunami, has cleared all the clouds of self-doubt and pity, its energy driving a new energy in the emperor. “If we take the seas, we can not only enable a vast trade, but also secure our entire southern and northern borders. I must immediately start ship-building.”
“My lord, we can only build ships in Constantinople.”, a voice came from behind, “Where are we going to train our fighting units if the only armory is in Constantinople?” The emperor slowly turned to where the words came from. His eyes looked into the weathered face of his trusted adviser, Georgius. Only now did he realize he must have been talking aloud.
“Oh, the hell with armored units, we need ships fast. We will start building an army in Bulgaria, armor or not.” “We are going to invade Serbia and take control of the seas” The emperor was shouting with excitement.
“With what army?”, said Georgius skeptically.
“General Maniakes will lead with his infantry aided by the Greece and Bulgarian archer garrisons.”
“Just one infantry unit? And who is going to garrison those countries? My lord, this is a terrible decision. The generals will ….”
“I am the emperor,” irritably interrupted Alexius, “they will obey.” “Let’s not argue,” he said now softly, “I need you to secure an alliance with Kievans and Hungarians. Marry my daughter to one of them if necessary, but make sure we get their friendship. God knows we will need friends when that Turkish scum attacks us from the east.”
The emperor gathered the map, blew the candle and hurriedly left the room. Left in the darkness of the room, Georgius stayed motionless, his face cut in stone, bearing no expression or betraying no emotions from the emperor’s decision. Suddenly, the stone began cracking, a thin slit of space appeared horizontally across it; abruptly it was swallowed by a deep crater. Georgius was smiling. He was smiling with that open, merry smile that only comes in those rare moments of complete and utter happiness. “This emperor will make us great,” he murmured, “he will make us great.” He thought fondly of the young emperor
as he walked back to his office to make the arrangements for the military campaign. He then made arrangements for the construction of a Boyer in Bulgaria, Armourer in Greece and the recruitment of Horse Archers and a unit of Spears in those provinces. He then wrote to generals informing them of their reassignment to garrison duties in those countries, before turning his attention to taxation (Very High almost everywhere, but a couple provinces) and construction projects all over the empire (Keep in Cyprus – to build ship-building later on for the Baggalas; +20% farmlands in Rhodes and Crete; a Merchant’s Guild in Constantinople).
“We are invading Serbia,” said the emperor, much to the astonishment of the gathered generals. “And I am going to use my Expert Defense knowledge to defend the only province susceptible to the Turks – Trebizond. God be with us.”
Conquest of Serbia:
The report sent from General Maniakes was brief:
A unit of infantry and two units of archers clashed with a unit of infantry and a unit of spearmen. After a couple of archer volleys, the enemy infantry charged our archers. To meet the charge our own infantry was advanced. The enemy surprised us by stopping the charge short and turning sharply right. We charged their flank. In the meantime the enemy charged our second archer unit with their spearmen. The archer unit was ordered to run away, until they turned to face the enemy after taking the higher ground. The second unit of archers rushed to attack from behind. Our infantry prevailed and killed the general, greatly demoralizing the enemy, which starting running. We gave chase. After the battle, we began a construction of the fort and temporarily eliminated taxes to win over the local population. Two additional units were brought in to secure the area.
“Marvelous,” thought Georgius, “simply marvelous.” He then penciled in on his work parchment to send General Maniakes a Valor Medal.
Epilogue to Chapter 1:
Emperor Alexius sipped the Bulgarian honey drink, or “medovina,” as it is commonly known there. In front of him beautiful female figures graciously danced over a carpet of flaming coals. One of them was smiling at him. The open, friendly smile of a young woman; the smile of youth, of yarning, of wanting. “Ahh, it is great to be the king,” thought the emperor, hand reaching for the medovina again.
He could finally relax a bit. Peace treaties were signed with both the Hungarians and the Kievans. Even the French king sent an alliance proposal, but the emperor refused – “where did those heathens, the French, live” the emperor thought, although the thought left him as quickly as it has appeared. Who cares? What was important at that very moment was that the empire was at peace, Serbia was conquered a ships were rolling off the line and being sent to secure the Mediterranean. Though the Treasury was almost empty, there were enough gold coins to continue construction of various other projects. The Turks, in the meantime, have invade Syria and do not seem too interested to attack. The only unfortunate event was the conquest of Wallachia by the Hungarians. Oh, well, they are allies.
Prince Alexius, the emperor’s first-born child and heir, finally came out of age into the strong warrior everybody expected him to be, although his father wasn’t quite sure whether his Pride was a good trait to share with his Killer Instinct:
The emperor relaxed and happily and loudly farted. It was a great compliment for the chef, whose rosted pig had fueled the gas. That night the emperor slept like a baby…
Unfortunately my screen shots did not post from the word file. Will have to see what is up with that ...
Rules:
This game is a bit too easy to play in vanilla settings, even in GA. I have started about half a dozen games for different factions under expert and got tired of growing too quick, even under GA mode. So I thought of different rules:
1. Play on Expert/GA settings.
2. Play with MedMod 1.85, with the Muslim factions’ modification – i.e. the one that gives the Muslim factions larger size units.
3. No alliances with far-away lands; once in an alliance, it cannot be broken by me.
4. Only 1 rebel country can be bribed/conquered at a time – so that I won’t be tempted into the usual get-big-fast-then-develop-economy mode. It also felt more historic, as regions took a long time to assimilate into the ‘host’ country.
5. No aggression against the AI. I will only attack after being attacked and will only take 1 province per war.
6. No saving and replaying turns – if I get screwed by the AI, well I will just join the many other would-be kings who failed.
Choice of country to play:
I chose Byzantium on Early. Why? Cause I was born in Bulgaria, which happened to be part of Byzantium at the period the game starts. Cause it is a tough country to play in the mod (particularly with the Muslim unit-size enhancement).
Chapter 1: The Beginning
Emperor Alexius I stood on the terrace of the reliquary looking at the distant sun fall. Below him Constantinople was buzzing. He could see men busying home after a full day of hard labor. He saw others laughing merrily in the brightly lit rooms of the brothels, that have mushroomed throughout the city right in the face of church and religion. People lived their lives as if nothing was happening; as if life went on with the same rhythm that it always has, as if today and tomorrow carried the same promise of easy life and prosperity so well-known to Romans of the past. “And yet,” the emperor thought, “life today is so different.”
Gone were the glory days of Rome. In fact, gone was even Rome, passing into obscurity like an aging gladiator – once a towering strength and a whirlwind of lethal blows, now a rag-covered old man scared even of the scare-crows. What once was a humble beginning, after being born on 7 holy hills, being nurtured into puberty by a female wolf and being brought into unheard of greatness by the discipline and creativity of its people, now laid, quite un-humbly, in excessive vulgar, self-pity and demoralizing decay.
“It is hard to find good people,” said Alexius loudly, vividly remembering the incredulous involvedness this spring in finding governors for the remaining Byzantine provinces. “It seems people have lost their wits and acumen, and underwent a spine-removal operation that left them with no dread.” “And I won’t even begin to mention piety and command ability,” he thought. He had finally appointed a few governors and statesmen, but those appointments were rather sub-par. Many still remained unfilled.
“Stop thinking about the past and concentrate on the issue at hand” The nagging internal voice returned. “You have to go in front of the war council tomorrow. All generals will be there. They will expect your decision. You have to decide.”
The emperor shifted uneasily. The sun was almost gone behind the horizon and its warmth was slowly being replaced by the bristling chill of the autumn night. “We are northern people,” Alexius thought, “we don’t like 100-degrees heat; we will get scorched alive in our armor, like chickens in a peasant oven.” “Why do those fools keep pushing for a frontal war with the Turks?” “They keep talking about glory, about riding proudly on their horses to meet the enemy, about leading their men into the conquest of the holy land” “Rubbish, I think. There is no glory in being baked like bread and being slaughtered like a pig by hordes upon hordes of hatred-driven Muslims. Plus, there is little hope of success Sure we can take Nicea, but pulling a large attack army will seriously undermine our security on all other flanks.”
He lit a candle and uncurled the map:
Byzantium lay stretched along the parchment, like a horseshoe stamped out by the Turkish foot. “How do you defend a 1,000 leagues of borders?” he thought. “If there is to be any talk of conquest, the conquest has to come in the west. It is much too risky expanding east right now.” His glance stopped at Serbia. The kingdom was ruled by a small local warlord, with hardly more than 200 men of an army and a hill province that was so easily defendable. A line of infantry in the middle of a steep hill and a few archers behind it will be enough to ruin the day for an enemy even trice their numbers. And if Serbia was to fall to Byzantium, that will eliminate the need for a large garrison in Greece. PROVIDED, of course, that no enemies came from the sea. Hmmm, the sea dominance has to be resolved …
“Wait a second,” cried the emperor, his eyes lighting with excitement. “If the sea is vital to Greece, it is even doubly more vital for all our provinces in the Mediterranean.” It all seemed clear to him now, as if the thought, like a giant tsunami, has cleared all the clouds of self-doubt and pity, its energy driving a new energy in the emperor. “If we take the seas, we can not only enable a vast trade, but also secure our entire southern and northern borders. I must immediately start ship-building.”
“My lord, we can only build ships in Constantinople.”, a voice came from behind, “Where are we going to train our fighting units if the only armory is in Constantinople?” The emperor slowly turned to where the words came from. His eyes looked into the weathered face of his trusted adviser, Georgius. Only now did he realize he must have been talking aloud.
“Oh, the hell with armored units, we need ships fast. We will start building an army in Bulgaria, armor or not.” “We are going to invade Serbia and take control of the seas” The emperor was shouting with excitement.
“With what army?”, said Georgius skeptically.
“General Maniakes will lead with his infantry aided by the Greece and Bulgarian archer garrisons.”
“Just one infantry unit? And who is going to garrison those countries? My lord, this is a terrible decision. The generals will ….”
“I am the emperor,” irritably interrupted Alexius, “they will obey.” “Let’s not argue,” he said now softly, “I need you to secure an alliance with Kievans and Hungarians. Marry my daughter to one of them if necessary, but make sure we get their friendship. God knows we will need friends when that Turkish scum attacks us from the east.”
The emperor gathered the map, blew the candle and hurriedly left the room. Left in the darkness of the room, Georgius stayed motionless, his face cut in stone, bearing no expression or betraying no emotions from the emperor’s decision. Suddenly, the stone began cracking, a thin slit of space appeared horizontally across it; abruptly it was swallowed by a deep crater. Georgius was smiling. He was smiling with that open, merry smile that only comes in those rare moments of complete and utter happiness. “This emperor will make us great,” he murmured, “he will make us great.” He thought fondly of the young emperor
as he walked back to his office to make the arrangements for the military campaign. He then made arrangements for the construction of a Boyer in Bulgaria, Armourer in Greece and the recruitment of Horse Archers and a unit of Spears in those provinces. He then wrote to generals informing them of their reassignment to garrison duties in those countries, before turning his attention to taxation (Very High almost everywhere, but a couple provinces) and construction projects all over the empire (Keep in Cyprus – to build ship-building later on for the Baggalas; +20% farmlands in Rhodes and Crete; a Merchant’s Guild in Constantinople).
“We are invading Serbia,” said the emperor, much to the astonishment of the gathered generals. “And I am going to use my Expert Defense knowledge to defend the only province susceptible to the Turks – Trebizond. God be with us.”
Conquest of Serbia:
The report sent from General Maniakes was brief:
A unit of infantry and two units of archers clashed with a unit of infantry and a unit of spearmen. After a couple of archer volleys, the enemy infantry charged our archers. To meet the charge our own infantry was advanced. The enemy surprised us by stopping the charge short and turning sharply right. We charged their flank. In the meantime the enemy charged our second archer unit with their spearmen. The archer unit was ordered to run away, until they turned to face the enemy after taking the higher ground. The second unit of archers rushed to attack from behind. Our infantry prevailed and killed the general, greatly demoralizing the enemy, which starting running. We gave chase. After the battle, we began a construction of the fort and temporarily eliminated taxes to win over the local population. Two additional units were brought in to secure the area.
“Marvelous,” thought Georgius, “simply marvelous.” He then penciled in on his work parchment to send General Maniakes a Valor Medal.
Epilogue to Chapter 1:
Emperor Alexius sipped the Bulgarian honey drink, or “medovina,” as it is commonly known there. In front of him beautiful female figures graciously danced over a carpet of flaming coals. One of them was smiling at him. The open, friendly smile of a young woman; the smile of youth, of yarning, of wanting. “Ahh, it is great to be the king,” thought the emperor, hand reaching for the medovina again.
He could finally relax a bit. Peace treaties were signed with both the Hungarians and the Kievans. Even the French king sent an alliance proposal, but the emperor refused – “where did those heathens, the French, live” the emperor thought, although the thought left him as quickly as it has appeared. Who cares? What was important at that very moment was that the empire was at peace, Serbia was conquered a ships were rolling off the line and being sent to secure the Mediterranean. Though the Treasury was almost empty, there were enough gold coins to continue construction of various other projects. The Turks, in the meantime, have invade Syria and do not seem too interested to attack. The only unfortunate event was the conquest of Wallachia by the Hungarians. Oh, well, they are allies.
Prince Alexius, the emperor’s first-born child and heir, finally came out of age into the strong warrior everybody expected him to be, although his father wasn’t quite sure whether his Pride was a good trait to share with his Killer Instinct:
The emperor relaxed and happily and loudly farted. It was a great compliment for the chef, whose rosted pig had fueled the gas. That night the emperor slept like a baby…