Link to post #2 with useful stuff
This game we're Saxons.
What follows is my stream of consciousness on what I feel like saying on Saxony's history; you have been warned. I am also writing all of it from my head with a bit of wiki on the side, and I am by not means an expert on anything of it, so please forgive (and correct) possible inaccuracies.
Saxony is the German state that I happen to live in (for quite some time already), although, relevantly, I hail from the other end of the country and don't quite always blend in with the true locals. This is not the Saxony where the latter half of the Anglo-Saxons come from; in short, that Saxony used to be the largest duchy within the HRR, until their most famous duke Henry the Lion got on the wrong side of the emperor Barbarossa and most other princes and the duchy was splintered. After a few centuries the title of Prince Elector of Saxony travelled east through dynastic succession, to the counts of Meißen. Meißen is just a few miles downstream from the current Saxon capital of Dresden, where I live.
The area used to be Slavic speaking in the early middle ages. That is much reflected in the names of places, including Dresden, which Wikipedia tells was originally Drježdźany, meaning swamp dweller
. To my understanding, a lot of German settlers moved in during the later middle ages, same as in regions like Bohemia or Silesia, to the point of achieving cultural predominance. As far as I am informed this process was rather peaceful though, as the local rulers actively sought for the settlers. However, the slavic language of Sorbianhas survived until this day, mostly in the eastern regions of the state, and in fact it is the only language that has an official status exlusively in Germany (German itself being official in Austria and Switzerland plus some places where it's a minority language). This is actively cultivated; in my (urban, Germanized for centuries) neighbourhood there is a Sorbian speaking nursery, and more to the east in places like Bautzen or Zittau (and the rural surroundings) the street signs are bilingual and there are Sorb tradition societies and the like. It's although taught in some schools.
The thread title and the opening picture allude to a 6 episode TV series, Saxony's Splendour and Prussia's Glory, produced in the 80's German Democratic Republic (GDR, Commie East Germany). It was one of if not the biggest Eastern German film production. I have to admit that I have not watched it (and hardly will in the near future), but apparently it's all the rage among the (older?) natives. The guy in the middle I believe is supposed to be Augustus II the Strong, who was the prince elector on the turn of the 17th to 18th century and got himself elected to king of Poland. Baroque in every sense, he is known for supporting the arts, sciences and a long list of mistresses, as well as for eating and drinking in impressive quantitities. He also broke a horseshoe with his bare hands at a party once and issued himself a diploma on the feat. Although a mechanics professor I'm acquainted with claims to have proven that he cheated. Here he is anyways, most glorious:
That is an actual gold coating fwiw, which continues to be renovated.
As for another fun(?) fact(?), the Saxons by Augustus' time had become protestant; a protestant however could not become Polish king, so of course Augustus adopted the true faith when it was necessary. But now he was a catholic king with a protestant capital. Here is the cathedral that his son built:
Apparently a catholic king is supposed to make a procession on Corpus Christi, but the local citizens were not thrilled by the idea, and it was feared that even rotten eggs might fly. So for that purpose, the balconies you see proved very practical, letting the king walk in circles, high above anybody who could be offended by the sight. Or so goes the saying. You also see a bridge connecting the church directly to the residential palace (the towered structure to the right).
Augustus war efforts brought mixed results, but who cares when you can put yourself up on a horse on a pedestal, larger than life and covered in gold. With his son however it went really bad, and Saxony was repeatedly defeated by the Prussians and ultimately occupied during the Seven Years War (which Prussia really should not have won, but they drew a lucky tsar). The Saxon prince turned king then allied with Napoleon, and in the long run that didn't go too well either. And finally another one again was on the wrong side against the Prussians in 1866, leaving him with the honourful opportunity of fighting alongside Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War and submitting to the Prussian emperor (the kingdom of Saxony was continued until 1918, with some autonomy within the empire, until facing the prospect of democratic/socialist revolution the last king went off with the immortal words of "do your crap alone then" ("macht euern Dreck alleene", in local dialect). All that time however Saxony was very much a cultural center, and later on also one of the early heartlands of industrialization happened among the German states.
Saxony then was part of the Weimar Republic, the nazi state and the GDR until finally joining the Federal Republic as a state. Compared to the other former GDR states it is notably successful economically, although by far not to the standard of the south of the country or the old FRG states in general. The big cities are somewhat thriving, while the countryside has serious problems including depopulation and in particular youth wandering off. Nowadays it is rather infamous among Germans and I fear internationally for having what appears the most entrenched and violent far right movement within the country, to the point that many seem to view it as a lost cause, and some feel it is unsafe to visit. Living here I can attest that we are having issues with racists on a near daily basis. At the same time there are many wonderful people here, including those resisting that shit, sometimes heroically. Generally people have a nice down to earth and hands on mentality, many are actually ery interested in culture, your money matters less than in other regions. My son is starting to pick up the hideous local dialect of German which is becoming a problem.
So far for our theme for the game, although I'm very happy to discuss anything Saxon related. Maybe with the indidual cities I'll write a bit more, although that plan generally never materializes after maybe the first 2 cities.
This game we're Saxons.
What follows is my stream of consciousness on what I feel like saying on Saxony's history; you have been warned. I am also writing all of it from my head with a bit of wiki on the side, and I am by not means an expert on anything of it, so please forgive (and correct) possible inaccuracies.
Saxony is the German state that I happen to live in (for quite some time already), although, relevantly, I hail from the other end of the country and don't quite always blend in with the true locals. This is not the Saxony where the latter half of the Anglo-Saxons come from; in short, that Saxony used to be the largest duchy within the HRR, until their most famous duke Henry the Lion got on the wrong side of the emperor Barbarossa and most other princes and the duchy was splintered. After a few centuries the title of Prince Elector of Saxony travelled east through dynastic succession, to the counts of Meißen. Meißen is just a few miles downstream from the current Saxon capital of Dresden, where I live.
The area used to be Slavic speaking in the early middle ages. That is much reflected in the names of places, including Dresden, which Wikipedia tells was originally Drježdźany, meaning swamp dweller
. To my understanding, a lot of German settlers moved in during the later middle ages, same as in regions like Bohemia or Silesia, to the point of achieving cultural predominance. As far as I am informed this process was rather peaceful though, as the local rulers actively sought for the settlers. However, the slavic language of Sorbianhas survived until this day, mostly in the eastern regions of the state, and in fact it is the only language that has an official status exlusively in Germany (German itself being official in Austria and Switzerland plus some places where it's a minority language). This is actively cultivated; in my (urban, Germanized for centuries) neighbourhood there is a Sorbian speaking nursery, and more to the east in places like Bautzen or Zittau (and the rural surroundings) the street signs are bilingual and there are Sorb tradition societies and the like. It's although taught in some schools. The thread title and the opening picture allude to a 6 episode TV series, Saxony's Splendour and Prussia's Glory, produced in the 80's German Democratic Republic (GDR, Commie East Germany). It was one of if not the biggest Eastern German film production. I have to admit that I have not watched it (and hardly will in the near future), but apparently it's all the rage among the (older?) natives. The guy in the middle I believe is supposed to be Augustus II the Strong, who was the prince elector on the turn of the 17th to 18th century and got himself elected to king of Poland. Baroque in every sense, he is known for supporting the arts, sciences and a long list of mistresses, as well as for eating and drinking in impressive quantitities. He also broke a horseshoe with his bare hands at a party once and issued himself a diploma on the feat. Although a mechanics professor I'm acquainted with claims to have proven that he cheated. Here he is anyways, most glorious:
That is an actual gold coating fwiw, which continues to be renovated.
As for another fun(?) fact(?), the Saxons by Augustus' time had become protestant; a protestant however could not become Polish king, so of course Augustus adopted the true faith when it was necessary. But now he was a catholic king with a protestant capital. Here is the cathedral that his son built:
Apparently a catholic king is supposed to make a procession on Corpus Christi, but the local citizens were not thrilled by the idea, and it was feared that even rotten eggs might fly. So for that purpose, the balconies you see proved very practical, letting the king walk in circles, high above anybody who could be offended by the sight. Or so goes the saying. You also see a bridge connecting the church directly to the residential palace (the towered structure to the right).
Augustus war efforts brought mixed results, but who cares when you can put yourself up on a horse on a pedestal, larger than life and covered in gold. With his son however it went really bad, and Saxony was repeatedly defeated by the Prussians and ultimately occupied during the Seven Years War (which Prussia really should not have won, but they drew a lucky tsar). The Saxon prince turned king then allied with Napoleon, and in the long run that didn't go too well either. And finally another one again was on the wrong side against the Prussians in 1866, leaving him with the honourful opportunity of fighting alongside Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War and submitting to the Prussian emperor (the kingdom of Saxony was continued until 1918, with some autonomy within the empire, until facing the prospect of democratic/socialist revolution the last king went off with the immortal words of "do your crap alone then" ("macht euern Dreck alleene", in local dialect). All that time however Saxony was very much a cultural center, and later on also one of the early heartlands of industrialization happened among the German states.
Saxony then was part of the Weimar Republic, the nazi state and the GDR until finally joining the Federal Republic as a state. Compared to the other former GDR states it is notably successful economically, although by far not to the standard of the south of the country or the old FRG states in general. The big cities are somewhat thriving, while the countryside has serious problems including depopulation and in particular youth wandering off. Nowadays it is rather infamous among Germans and I fear internationally for having what appears the most entrenched and violent far right movement within the country, to the point that many seem to view it as a lost cause, and some feel it is unsafe to visit. Living here I can attest that we are having issues with racists on a near daily basis. At the same time there are many wonderful people here, including those resisting that shit, sometimes heroically. Generally people have a nice down to earth and hands on mentality, many are actually ery interested in culture, your money matters less than in other regions. My son is starting to pick up the hideous local dialect of German which is becoming a problem.
So far for our theme for the game, although I'm very happy to discuss anything Saxon related. Maybe with the indidual cities I'll write a bit more, although that plan generally never materializes after maybe the first 2 cities.
(browser killed the window with my post due to a strange key combination, so no tier list tonight)
(in best Civforum tradition we are playing restricted leaders). I guess I should be happy? I was secretly hoping for one more push towards India, out of love for Spi, but this is probably stronger. However the catch is that they already announced that they're balancing the starts for the leaders (and they have to, otherwise it would be criminal to have our draw and whatever Celtic leader in the same game). So expect tundra, AH only resources, only seafood... there are so many options to make us miserable. I think they also don't send out starting screenshots, so we'll have to wait and see what it's like in game. But probably still a terribly lucky draw. In particular if we want to be successful here, because a bad starting area matters a lot less after you conquer a better one 
, and then in the long run Fin will rule.
.
), and of course you can build warriors for MP well into the game which saves 20h here or there (but also leaves you with less emergency forces). Huayna should really love the Colossus, otoh he does not really like Oracle. Might be better to shoot straight for MoM? Ind also has some value for failgold milking, which seems to be pretty much required in these games. Huh, that was less pick analysis and more like half a game plan, I didn't actually want to get to that yet... 
). 