Adventure 59 - haphazard Asoka (incomplete)

[haphazard1]

As expected, Mansa was coming for me. The angry frowny Mansa declares picture is not one I see very often.

From my noticing his WHEOOHRN state to the DOW was 6 turns. Turns Mansa is going to regret, as I am now significantly better prepared. Of course, "better" is relative -- calling my military forces cardboard cutouts would be an insult to cardboard. I am still last in power but the gap is vanishing quickly:

Also, the AI being the AI it is going about the attack stupidly. Instead of sending a stack of doom Mansa has sent groups of 2 or 3 units against 4 different cities. It is true that when Mansa sent them out those cities had an axe apiece, so probably that looked sufficient. But now they have a longbow, axe, and spear apiece with more units on the way. The great artist from Music culture-bombed Calcutta to steal back the ivory from Mansa -- no war elephants for you! Instead my first elephants are about to finish.

I am likely to suffer some pillaging damage, but I don't think Mansa will take any cities unless he brings a real stack out of the fog. Which of course is possible, but I am reinforcing rapidly. My poor cities are groaning under the but that is far better than losing them. Bombay finishing the Hanging Gardens last turn for some additional whip fodder in every city helped.

I am actually more worried about Justinian, who has accumulated a nice little stack at Nicea on my border: 3 swords, 3 HAs, 3 chariots, and 4 cats. And he is researching Machinery on his way to Guilds.... Hopefully I will have time to settle things with Mansa before the Cataphracts come galloping across my borders.

[RefSteel]

Getting really exciting! Longbows and Cats should be able to defend against anything pre-Knights (and against the AI sometimes even against those) but you still need enough of them - and doing all that while sustaining enough of an economy to be ready in case of 'phracting? That's going to take a real effort - good luck!

[haphazard1]

The war with Mali has lasted for three centuries (so far). The early years were desperate times for India, as Malinese troops threatened cities across the empire and pillaged farms and hamlets almost at will. Our people undertook a massive military mobilization and succeeded in driving back the invaders, at a terrible cost in lives. Fortunately the growing economic strength of the empire brought new technologies and military options, and after many difficult years the tides of battle began to shift in India's favor. War elephants and macemen proved superior to Malinese longbows, and with the support of our first trebuchets captured the Malinese fortress city of Kumbi Saleh after a long siege. With the center of the Malinese defenses broken, the great general Zhuge Liang arose to lead the growing Indian forces to victory after victory. Walata and Niani were taken, removing the Malinese threat from the western empire, and our forces began to advance on the core of Mali's mainland territory. Timbuktu and its many wonders of the world will soon be ours, as our new knights join the assault....

Obviously things are looking much brighter than they did at my previous update. India now has the most powerful military in the world, along with the largest GNP, population, land, etc. I have even finally taken over the score lead from Hatshepsut a couple turns ago. Mansa's mainland core will soon be mine, along with the 5 wonders in his capital: Parthenon, Artemis, Maussollos, Hagia Sophia, and Great Lighthouse. Quite a haul. And all still useful, for some time longer at least. Mansa does have 4 island cities somewhere, so I will probably have to make peace once I have the rest of his mainland holdings. Maybe I can extort his map in the peace deal? Need Paper tech to try that, but I need it soon anyway.

Justinian is still a threat. His stack sitting on my border is over 25 units now, with war elephants and a ton of cats. He is researching Guilds, so the cataphracts will soon appear. I have more total strength which might deter him, but he has local superiority if he decides to DOW. I have built castles and reinforced my border cities, but would need my entire army to actually hold them. Maybe if I can finish Mansa in time.... I assume Justinian has enough on his hands, but can't actually tell -- he has refused to talk for over 3000 years, after I broke trade deals at Isabella's request (back when there was a Buddhist block). The guy knows how to hold a grudge.

Hatty and Isabella are doing very well, having remained peaceful and focused on growth. I am confident I can out-research them if I can ever end this war with Mansa and consolidate for a while. But if I have to fight Justinian's cataphracts at the top of their era, things could get messy. Izzy also keeps trying to win by AP, and I worry that taking Mansa's Christian holy city may convert him back to Buddhism and voting for her. I could always double my share of Buddhist votes by converting myself, if truly necessary. It would be funny if I did so and grabbed the Residency away from her. I may have enough Buddhist pop, need to check.

My game has not been very impressive compared to the more skilled players here at Realms Beyond, but I am having a ton of fun.

[haphazard1]

"Word reached us today -- the peace treaty with Mali is now official. Mansa Musa and his surviving cronies have been exiled to the eastern islands, and all of Old Mali is now Indian territory.

Peace! It is a difficult thing to grasp. For twenty generations we have been at war with Mali. Even our most gifted historians have only a vague idea of what life before the War was like. Our immortal leader Asoka remembers of course, but he rarely speaks of that long gone era. The reorganization of Old Mali and its integration into the empire consumes his waking hours. Perhaps I should file a petition for him to address the issue, offer us some guidance on this new and frightening thing Peace?

Or perhaps it will not be necessary. Word has also reached us of Byzantine cataphracts massing on the border near Teoihuacan and Lahore. Fresh orders to move west have been sent to General Zhuge Liang. Many in the court are muttering that it is safer to cling to the life we know, whatever the cost in blood."

-- From the journals of court scholar A. Gupta, circa 1260 AD

The half millenium war with Mali is finally over, but fresh conflict with Justinian looms. Maybe my power rating will deter him, but maybe not. My army will be repositioned within another 5 turns or so, and I will have to decide if I should declare myself. It is tempting to keep using the veteran army I have built up, and Justinian does have much of his forces nicely grouped together as a target.

But my empire really needs some peaceful decades to consolidate and take care of infrastructure needs. I was beaten to Liberalism by Hatty due to the ongoing drain of the war. Two more turns.... Her popping a great merchant and using the trade mission cash from the Temple of Artemis city to research flat out caught me by surprise -- I thought I had it wrapped up.

But my economy is larger and I am only starting to integrate the core of Old Mali, which will provide a very nice boost. Time to actually build things like forges and universities and banks will also make a huge difference...assuming Justinian does not take the decision out of my hands. We shall see what happens next.

On a meta-game note, Mali really got shafted a bit on land didn't it? The capital and immediately east is very strong, and there is good land to the south if Mali can claim it. (I got most of it in my game.) But west is rather pitiful due to lack of food. The silk/plains cows site along the north coast doesn't have much food, and further west around the two incense has none at all. You have to go further west to the forested horses/gold/wines site for something decent, and that is likely to fall to Justinian. (Or India, in some odd games. ) A couple seafood resources along that north coast would have made Mali a lot stronger. My Mali ended up spending a lot of resources to settle into the eastern islands, taking a lot of land that probably would normally be taken by Spain.

[T-hawk]

I made Mali's land weak on purpose to compensate for having the strongest leader trait.

The AI can be deterred by power rating, although it's just a simple on/off switch, if you have more than say 110% of their power, they will not declare war. The number varies per leader.

Sounds like you're still having fun, and I'll keep reading along with any more chapters.

[RefSteel]

Yeah, it seems to me that Spain and Mali drew the short straws in this game. Asoka's expansion opportunities weren't great either (except for a human beating up on AIs) but he had an incredible capital and ... you know ... he's Asoka of India. Still, run five AIs on this map in an antfarm and Hatty probably wins. (Make it a five-player MP game with players of ~equal skill though and the equation becomes a lot more complicated.)

[haphazard1]

I made Mali's land weak on purpose to compensate for having the strongest leader trait.

Makes sense. Mansa in my game has done quite well overall despite the crummy land after cities #1 and #2. Well, up until I kicked him off the mainland, anyway.

Did you alter the land near the forested incense? Because that is a stretch of just pure ugliness.

The AI can be deterred by power rating, although it's just a simple on/off switch, if you have more than say 110% of their power, they will not declare war. The number varies per leader.

Useful to know. I always assumed that the AI was trying to build up to a "favorable" ratio of power before declaring, and if you can build up your rating quickly enough then the AI just never reaches its target and keeps putting off the DOW.

Sounds like you're still having fun, and I'll keep reading along with any more chapters.

Thanks! I am still having a lot of fun. I am trying to decide just where I want to go now that I have peace with Mali, but I will update more once I play further.

Re RefSteel's comments on an ant farm result, Hatty has done very well in my game. She did not get the dyes location I took, which I expect Egypt would in most games. But she has expanded strongly and built a ton of wonders, and is leading overall in tech after her Astro grab with Liberalism. I should catch up shortly now that I am out from under war weariness, though, especially as the old Mali core gets integrated into my holdings.

Also doing surprisingly well is Isabella -- she is only a tech or two behind Hatty, and is currently pushing Nationalism for a probable Taj Mahal grab. She just popped a GE, too, so the free golden age is probably going to be hers. It is just so unusual to see Spain not get into tons of religious wars and stunt its economy. But Spain has almost no land borders with anyone in this game, and I am no state religion, so Izzy has stayed out of trouble and is teching right along with the leaders.

Of course, part of that has been Mansa and I spreading Buddhism everywhere for the AP hammers. Izzy's shrine is pulling in about 45 gpt, doubled with market/grocer/bank. She has built Sankore and Spiral Minaret as well -- the total monk economy is working really well for Spain this game.

Justinian has struggled a bit. I took a couple very strong sites that would probably be his in most games, and Hatty grabbed some of the south that also would probably usually be his. He did manage to land the Pyramids, and that has kept him teching at a decent pace. He does have his cataphracts before anyone has reached Gunpowder. Just have to see what he decides to do with them, if anything.

All the AIs in my game have done a decent job expanding, unlike some of the reports. Justinian and Mansa (formerly) have 10 cities each, and Spain and Egypt have about 15 each. And there are still a few islands to settle, plus some polar regions now that Hatty has Astro. Definitely no passive waiting for death behavior from the AIs in my game. It would have been a lot easier if they had!

Is there a leader XML setting that affects how the leader reacts to broken deals? I cut off deals with Justinian at Isabella's request over 100 turns ago, and he still refuses to talk. Call it the "hold a grudge" factor. I have seen this before with Gandhi, who once refused to talk for over 3500 years after I cancelled deals. Most leaders get angry for a while but eventually resume communications.