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the Great Lord's Servant
 
Last Seen:
11/18/2005 7:17 AM
Posts: 1,163
Visits: 1,240
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Emperor Mursilis had come out to take a look at the recently-captured city of Wonsan.
"No harbor," he snorted. "Whose idea was that?"
An aide shrugged. "No telling what the Koreans were thinking. There is a nice natural bay here, though."
Mursilis strode down toward the beach, gazing up at the huge statue standing over the left side of the city. "Nice workmanship...a bit on the decrepit side, though." Looking to his right, he studied the ancient lighthouse tower. "Not bad, considering the time period...can't say it's much use to modern ships." Coming to the beached ship which had been preserved as a monument, he halted. "Round the world, eh? From here? What'd he do, circle the polar cap?"
"I believe the course slants around to the south," a different aide stated carefully--the Emperor had been known to treat underlings who contradicted him harshly. "At least, that is what the maps show."
"Hmph." Mursilis turned and meandered back into the city. "These are the last, then?"
"That's correct," the second aide replied. "In all the world, there are no longer any great works of wonder save the ones we possess. And as matters stand, I seriously doubt anyone will be able to surpass us. Only the Koreans are even close, and their conquest now seems assured."
A fierce grin split the Emperor's face. "I trust the dam's construction proceeds apace."
"All is well, my Emperor. And the fission research as well."
Mursilis raised a brow. Nuclear fission was a state secret. "Good," he mused, making a vague gesture to the nearest general. "Then all is well, and soon all the loose ends will be tied."
"Soon...?" the aide started. The crack of a pistol shot finished for him.
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Apparently they saw themselves more like thief-takers, or headsmen, come after King Laman of Cairhien for the crime of cutting down Avendoraldera. To the Aiel, it was not a war; it was an execution
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sweetP
Last Seen:
5/10/2009 7:42 PM
Posts: 4,829
Visits: 8,484
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Veteran Warlord
Last Seen:
1/24/2006 2:53 PM
Posts: 195
Visits: 389
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the Great Lord's Servant
Last Seen:
11/18/2005 7:17 AM
Posts: 1,163
Visits: 1,240
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Well, it will be a while before there can be any additions--this is as far as the game has gotten, and I doubt I will get the chance to play more before the weekend. If something interesting happens, such as my finally getting a conquest win, I'll probably write it up.
This has been a peculiar game. Tech advancement has gone faster than ever (I reached the middle ages circa 10 AD, industrial era about 1200 or so, modern era in 1780), but things have slowed since the end of the Middle Ages because I am far ahead and thus have no trading partners. I have been at war more or less since the beginning of the Middle Ages, too, when I attacked Germany with 3-man chariots and ancient cavalry. Bizarrely, although the espionage screen indicates the Germans have no cities, they continue to exist. I'm not sure what's going on. (A surviving settler?) I've taken out the Aztecs (one city left on an island), the Americans, and the Maya. Korea will be harder because it is not on a narrow strip of land, and has infantry to match my tanks, but it seems to be falling all the same and soon I will have modern armor.
Even though there will still be 10 civs remaining, plus the Aztec and German remnants, once I have destroyed the Koreans, they are so far behind that I suspect I can destroy them all in the time remaining--unless Korea takes longer than planned. Several are not even out of the Middle Ages. I decided to take Korea out first lest it catch up to me. I have about a fourth of the land and half of the population in the entire world, but many of my cities are unproductive due to recent conquest and distance.
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Apparently they saw themselves more like thief-takers, or headsmen, come after King Laman of Cairhien for the crime of cutting down Avendoraldera. To the Aiel, it was not a war; it was an execution
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Game slut
Last Seen:
Yesterday @ 10:45 PM
Posts: 9,131
Visits: 11,087
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the Great Lord's Servant
Last Seen:
11/18/2005 7:17 AM
Posts: 1,163
Visits: 1,240
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"Emperor Mursilis, I'm pleased to report to you that the entire Lauranatolian continent is secure." General Hattreas' normally grim face was virtually split open by a gleaming whte grin.
"Good," replied Mursilis. "It's time to implement the Zed protocol."
The jaws of the entire advisory council dropped as one. "Sir," spluttered the trade advisor, "I thought that was reserved for the most critical situations! We're not going to be defeated when the entire continent is secure. We're not even at war!"
Mursilis briefly considered making an example of the Merchant Chief, but while it might give him some limited pleasure it would likely be counterproductive. Instead, he chose to explain. "Despite the ease with which we've assimilated our most recent conquests, I fear we will not be able to hold onto the islands so easily. Once their cities have been reduced to rubble and there are no remaining loci of revolt, we can resettle them. The globe will then be utterly dominated by the Hittite Order, and peace will be permanent...everlasting."
"And we will rule the world forever," General Hattreas grinned.
"I, General. I."
****
Sometime later, after the staff had departed, Mursilis traced out the invasion plan on the map covering the conference room's left wall. The path of the first strike had been opened during the conquest of Korea, which had possessed a single city on the minor Seljanavian continent. Lauranatolia was shaped--very roughly--like a giant upside-down U with protrusions. Near the southeast of that U, Seljanavia formed an L tilted to the right and was the home of the Vikings and Ottomans. (Long ago, when the Ottomans were first discovered, Mursilis had suffered strange nightmares about a land bridge connecting Seljanavia to the Hittites' Anatolian homeland--but of course the Ottomans had never attempted to conquer the Hittite Empire. How could they?) Mongolia was a rounded island within the angle of that L. Beyond that lay the elongated island of Malaysia, home of the Spanish and Chinese, and beyond that the other side of Lauranatolia's U. While it might be desireable to invade Malaysia directly, the absence of functioning ports was going to require the invasion path to proceed west to east; India had simply been conquered too recently and was too far away to easily restore order.
The north was far less settled. East of what had been Korea lay the teardrop-shaped island Zanzibar, home of the primitive Zulu, and then a handful of tiny islands on which remnants of the continental cultures he had defeated still survived. A transport was moving into position to assault the first of these, held by the recently-conquered Inca and the last of the Aztec cities. This invasion would proceed in the opposite direction, possibly with a separate assault on Zanzibar before the end.
Mursilis planned to make a sea-based assault only once on each island, to establish a beachhead, then to use conscripted labor to open a rough airfield. The Empire's immense air capability would then drop massive numbers of armored vehicles and crew, which would be enough to obliterate the primitives' cities.
And that would be the end...and the beginning of the Global Hittite Order.
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Apparently they saw themselves more like thief-takers, or headsmen, come after King Laman of Cairhien for the crime of cutting down Avendoraldera. To the Aiel, it was not a war; it was an execution
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