[SPOILERS] JR4 tries his luck in PB 37

[shallow_thought]

Sweet!  I'll also do some write-ups that are purely fictional and relate to our empire rather than real-life stuff if you like, because that's the way I roll.

Which is why I shall be lurking in this thread.

@JR4 - good luck! It's really good to see several people giving MP a try for the first time; the timing was completely wrong for me to jump in for this one (I've just got back from several weeks away with no Internet access), but hopefully there'll be another game in a while and I can screw my courage to the sticking point.

[JR4]

@JR4 - good luck! It's really good to see several people giving MP a try for the first time; the timing was completely wrong for me to jump in for this one (I've just got back from several weeks away with no Internet access), but hopefully there'll be another game in a while and I can screw my courage to the sticking point.

Welcome on board! I hope it will be an enjoyable read.

[RefSteel]

Welcome, shallow_thought! Even if we don't get a map in the next couple of days, I'll at least post a pre-game intro story for our civ.

[RefSteel]

Since it's looking like we've got at least a week and a half before the game gets underway, I'd better split this into installments, just to keep the thread turning over.  (Or I could spam a whole giant intro at once, and then we could keep things humming with long-term strategic discussions, descriptions of a couple more Silly Micro Tricks[tm], and/or Hilariously Inaccurate Opponent Analysis.  Or we could do a combination!  Or, you know, let the thread go dormant for a couple weeks before the game starts, but then how are we going to win the post-count war?)

So, an introduction, in which we draw on the very little that has been revealed about the map thus far to set the scene:

(From Rise of the Ancient Khatunate:  A Cultural and Geographic Prehistory of the Toli Plateau, by R. F. Steel, Professor of Imaginary Anthropology, RB University Press, 2017.)

Among the rocky highlands overlooking the wind-swept steppe, dozens of tiny streams feed a lonely montane lake, cradled in the depression between three prominent hilltops, its surface shimmering.  A local legend tells that when the lake was first discovered, it shone with a perfect reflection of the sun and sky and hills - so perfect that it appeared to become its own reflected world - and that the hero Mardoc Earthshaper led his tribe into the vivid reflection itself, thereby departing the mortal realm and escaping Tengri's decree of death, becoming endless and formless as light and the gods themselves.  The sky-god Tengri, jealous of his decree, sent great winds to sweep through the highland passes, so that ripples and waves would forever fill the surface of the lake, ruining the perfect image that once it had displayed, shimmering instead with the deep blue of Tengri's sky.

This legend has been retold for centuries, with many variations, and even to this day there are cattle ranchers in the pastureland below who call the lake Deed Tusgal Nuur, meaning Upper Reflection Lake in the local dialect, though the high winds from the passes and the flow of water through it from the highlands down to the river below ensure the lake's appearance is hardly  suited to its name.  Indeed, the story is so well known that the local name for the entire region still derives from the lake and its legend:  Mardocin Toli - the Mirror of Mardoc.


Naiman Nuur National Park, Mongolia; photo credit: visitamongolia.blogspot.com

In ancient times, before the lake and surrounding land were tamed by human hands, a forest grew wild across the slopes to the southeast:  Siberian pines and larches transitioning to the more common birch and poplar in the lower elevations where large populations of sable, red fox, and tolai hare would later fuel a thriving fur trade.  The evergreen forests of the upper slopes all were felled for lumber thousands of years ago, but there were few other forests in the area that could suffer the same fate:  There is little middle ground across the entire Toli region between arid steppelands incapable of supporting proper forests and the riverbanks themselves, where few trees can take hold in the face of the annual summer floods, especially across the broad, flat, rich plateau where the river skirts the hills as it flows down from the upper lake to the Fork of Borte.  To the nomadic clans of cowherds that populated the Tusgal Lakes region in ancient times, the Siberian larches, spruce, and firs that overlooked their grazing lands were a dark and mysterious wood, best avoided by the wise, and the northern forests that stretched between the Eastern Alph and the bubbling spring of Tsuurai Bulag were little more than a distant rumor.


Khan Khenti National Park, Mongolia; photo credit: Neil Pederson, for Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

Prior to the formation of the ancient Khatunate, Mardocin Toli was only sparcely inhabited except around Deed Tusgal Nuur, with the freshwater clam beds of the lower lake as yet undiscovered and even the wild rice fields in the lowlands of the east supporting only small tribes of hunter-gatherers, largely ignored by the powerful clans of the high plateau.  The lives of these large, nomadic clans were built entirely around their herds of domesticated cattle, on whose milk, meat, hides, and even dung they relied for everything from meals to clothing, shelter, fuel, and medicine.  Their homes were temporary structures with simple lightweight frames protected from the weather by cowhide coverings and lashed with leather thongs, ready to be disassembled and loaded aboard wagons as the seasons changed and the clans set out once more in search of fresh grazing lands for their cattle.  Even in the modern day, with enormous, permanent dairy ranches taking the place of the old grazing lands, the style of these ancient dwellings is echoed in the homes of the local ranch-hands.


Mongolian Yurt, c.1913; photo credit: Albert Kahn

Interclan wars over the best grazings and waterering holes were common in ancient times, exacerbated by the spiritual import of Deed Tusgal Nuur, from which it was said that Mardoc Earthshaper and his people still watched over all the clans, ready to assist them as guides and teachers.  Chieftain after tribal chieftain conspired through shifting alliances, diplomatic marriages, and occasional pitched battles to unite a strong enough group of clans to give him control over the lake and its surroundings, but missteps, betrayals, divisions within each nascent Khanate, or a rival of greater power - often rising in a temporary capacity at the head of a volatile alliance held together only by fear or hatred of the other would-be Khan - dashed the hopes of each, often along with his life, and nearly always with the lives of many tribesmen who fought on his behalf.  It is likely that the ancient Khatunate itself originated from just such a power struggle, but as its formation predates the invention of writing by at least two millenia, the details remain a matter of legend and myth.

Next time:  The Legend of the Eternal Empress and the Rise of the Khatunate

[JR4]

I have been doing some thinking on our semi-early tech path.

Code of Laws is a very good tech. If we can get it first we will get a religion, access to caste system and courthouses. Border pops will not be a problem after we acquire this tech. We would also be closer to Civil Service and bureaucracy. However, CoL could be chosen as the free tech from the Oracle, so we can`t be certain of getting there first.

Alternatively we could go for Theology for the option of switching into theocracy + religion. This tech is expensive so I see it more as a later goal.

Obviously, we want Horseback Riding soonish because of our unique unit and building.

Another option is going for the top of the tech tree, where we would have a decent chance of landing e.g. the Great Library.

How soon do we want Currency? Open borders are at Alphabet now. That is a good tech as well.

[RefSteel]

Good thoughts, JR4! I'll offer some of my own as best I can muddle them together right now:

CoL will definitely be nice for us, even if we don't land Confucianism. I agree that Theology would be more of a later goal. HBR is interesting: We definitely want it, but when to pursue it will likely depend on when we expect (or what we think we'll need to avoid) our first war. (Naturally, we'll want the tech well in advance of the potential war itself - but not too far.)

If we do go for the top of the tech tree, there are a couple of earlier Wonders that I like even more than GLib for our civ: The RtR Statue of Zeus would make our units terrifying, and if we end up with Gold and some kind of religion (whether or not it's our own) before we tech Mono, the Shwedagon Paya is really great for Spi.

Currency unlocks our cheap Expansive Markets on top of its usual advantages, so my guess is that if we're rex'ing as hard as we should be, we should probably target it before any of the rest of this stuff unless we have a specific plan for a different direction or something weird (like none of the religions falling for ages) is happening.

Also to consider: Civics in this mod have some significant differences from the base game. The differences will mostly come into play later (starting around Feudalism, I think?) but the increased utility of several civics that were niche in BtS is part of the reason Spiritual can really shine in this game.

(On the story: I'll probably post the next installment in a couple of days. It's already written, but I want to find some good images to accompany it!)

[JR4]

Wow, SoZ now gives +3 XP to all units built in that city. It doesn`t even expire. That surely must be one of the very best wonders. The pentagon is unchanged it seems and comes into play much later on. Another of my favourite wonders, the MoM, does expire at Nationalism, so it is less of a must-have (though still nice) imo.

I think your story adds more flavour to the game. Reading with interest!

[RefSteel]

Thanks, JR4!  I'd better get the next installment up then!

The Legend of the Eternal Empress and the Rise of the Khatunate

In ancient days, there rose among the clans of Mardocin Toli a mighty leader of men:  Kabul Ach Khüü, the greatest warrior and general of his time.  His men would fight for him like vixens cornered with their young, and the other great war leaders of the clans flocked to him to learn from him and lead his doughty warriors into battle.  Clans that did not join him - and several among those that did - feared his bloodlust and his power, and all might have fallen before him one by one, flooding the grazings of Toli with their blood, had not a rival risen to unite all the clans that would stand against him, not in fear but in honor and pride:  Tului Ni Shizu, the poet-general, famed for his personal magnetism and for the clever, original, infectuous ideas that helped unite the local clans and tribes into an even larger Khanate than Kabul Ach Khüü's, under a banner of his own design.



Had that been all that Shizu did, it would not have been enough:  Kabul Ach Khüü led all the fiercest warriors and the sharpest military minds of his generation, and though outnumbered, he would not scruple to shed the blood of all his people and all of Tului Ni Shizu's combined, so long as he himself should remain standing and rule over the remnants - or the corpses - of the clansfolk when the battle was won.  But Tului Ni Shizu was no fool, and he knew his rival's mind, and he had a weapon ready against which Kabul Ach Khüü himself might prove defenseless in the end.

Among the many Shizu and his men had saved from the depradations of his great enemy's wars there was a family of travelers from a distant land:  An old mother and father taken into his service, and their daughter, a young woman of surpassing beauty, exotic in appearance, mysterious in demeanor, unstinting in her passions of the spirit, beguiling in her smiles.  It was to this daughter that Shizu resorted then:  The woman he called "Saikhan," a pet name meaning "beautiful," in part as a term of endearment, and in part - in keeping with his style - as a pun involving at least three different tongues.  He called upon her to meet with him and wheeled his rolling throne - his own invention - to the appointed place, there to meet with her alone, and said, "My Saikhan, war is upon us and a terrible slaughter shall come upon us all, for win or lose, the plains will flow red with blood.  I am prepared for this, but I would stop it if I might, that we might live in some semblance of peace, caring for our cattle, composing poetry and song and sharing them around the fire as the young and agile dance.  Now as I have preserved you, I do call upon you to preserve my dream and my people, though you must brave the camp of the terrible Kabul Ach Khüü himself.  Will you do this for me, my Saikhan?"

Bowing humbly, she answered, "I shall do all that you require of me, my Khan, so long as it be in keeping with my faith.  For I fear no mortal man, even Kabul Ach Khüü himself, while the holy spirits guide my steps."



Then Tului Ni Shizu smiled, for though he did not in the main concern himself with her tales of holy spirits, he found her answer apt.  "I think, my Saikhan, you will find your task entirely in keeping with their guidance, for what I propose is that you go openly to the camp of Kabul Ach Khüü Khan, under my banner and flag of truce, and that you offer to him an account of your faith in your own voice.  For I have known Kabul Ach Khüü to take a lively interest in all matters of different and distant faiths, though he embraces none but his own, and should this give you an opportunity of discussing your own faith at length, I think it is inevitable that by your thoughts and by your faith, by your voice and by your beauty, you will fascinate the Khan, and better than any other envoy I might send, you might get past his defenses and persuade him to make a truce with me and with my people who have sent you unto him."

So she bowed once more, and she said, "I thank you, my Khan.  This then shall I do."

She set out on the following morning, bearing gifts for Kabul Ach Khüü Khan and the banner of Tului Ni Shizu and a flag of truce, and she came to his camp and was admitted there even as Shizu had hoped, and after a certain period of waiting and of close examination by the maidservants of the khan, she was admitted to the presence of Kabul Ach Khüü himself, carried to meet her by his soldiers and surrounded by his guards.  Yet he smiled upon the envoy, for he had consulted with his generals, and they had concluded that the time was not ripe for the destruction of Tului Ni Shizu and his people, who were then awaiting an attack and ready to oppose the onslaught - but rather they should take advantage of any overture from Shizu to make a show of peace while they quietly prepared to take the enemy at unawares.  So Kabul Ach Khüü greeted the envoy with all due ceremony.



Yet for all his suspicions and all his plans, the Khan was surprised by the nature and the conversation of the envoy he received, and he found it a very pleasant surprise indeed.  Even as Shizu had predicted, she fascinated him with her tales of the holy spirits who watched over her, and with the expressive signs and gestures with which she accompanied her stories, and with the exotic beauty of her aspect and her voice.  Yet what Shizu could not have predicted was the way that Kabul Ach Khüü told stories of his own Tengrist faith in return, and the story of Deed Tusgal Nuur, as exotic to his guest as she seemed to him, and how she became as fascinated as he, and so began along a path that would shape the fate and future of the world.

(To be continued...)

Image credits:

Mongolian Flag:  Artistic rendition by Design Turnpike of fineartamerica.com
Mongolian Queen:  Painting by Oyunchimeg Yadamsuren
(Coronation) Ceremony of a Khan: Original work by Rashid al-Din in the 14th century; reproduction by Jean-Paul Roux

[JR4]

As I said in the tech thread I will probably be unavailable this weekend. That is bad timing.

We should decide on scout movement now. My first thought was to go to one of the hills S of the settler in order to reveal the most tiles asap.

[RefSteel]

The first turn typically has a ~48-hour timer, switching to ~24 hours thereafter, I believe.

I agree with scouting southish. I'd kind of like to see the actual start before moving the Scout, just to see if real-game tile bleed tells us anything (Mardoc claimed fog-gazing on his screenshot wouldn't be misleading, but that was before the kerfluffle with Krill about mirroring the area outside the five-tile starting squares). It isn't strictly necessary though, as I think we'll probably want to make the ~same first move regardless.

I actually want to suggest moving the Scout SE-SE to the Furs tile on T0. It wouldn't be on a hill for vision, but we're going to see everything from those hills as of T5 (when our borders pop) anyway, and it's not like we'd do anything differently before then based on scouting information.* If the fog is true, this also gets good vision over the lake that irrigates the rice, and the tiles it reveals (and which it will allow us to reveal next) are all around the furs and share-able rice, making it a decent possible candidate area for our second city.

* - I'm assuming here that we aren't going to discover anything that would make us want to move our starting Settler, trusting Mardoc and the lurkers on that, nor find something in the first ~three turns (while we can safely leave tech unselected) that would make it sane to open with Mining-Bronze for a ~T26 Settler at size 1(!) (after a whip...) while still lacking Fishing and Agri. I'm not sure anything would make that sane without dictating a Settler move though. (And again, I'm assuming anything that would dictate a Settler move won't actually be on the map.)