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The Terracotta Army

You have been a much-traveled person these last few years, Imperial Administrator. Now, however, your appearance is requested back at Xianyang. While our emperor, Shi Huangdi, has been busy standardizing the currency and simplifying the alphabet, he has also been contemplating what the next world has in store for him. His on-going quest for the magical elixir of eternal life has not yet been rewarded. Fearing death, he knows he must be well prepared if he is to be adequately protected and comforted in the afterlife. It is for these important tasks that your humble services are required.
For the emperor's security in the next world a vast pit must be dug and then filled with a powerful army. Each member of this underground army will be a full-size terracotta likeness of an actual soldier of our armed forces. For his comfort a tomb must also be dug, and stocked with quantities of fine provisions. The tomb will then be crowned by a magnificent Grand Tumulus that will proudly rise high above the city.
While construction proceeds on these projects, a visit by the venerated Xi Wang Mu might help to speed up the building process.

City - Xianyang (your city from episode 2)
Starts Feb 212 BCE
played at Very Hard

Requirements:
  • Underground Vault must be built
  • Grand Tumulus must be built
  • 8 Menagerie Animal Types Required
  • Treasury of 150000

Everything in the city was running fine when I returned after several years of my absence. There already were 8 animals in the menagerie, and city was making a profit of almost 15000 per year. The main goals are therefore the two monuments. I decided to build them both near the completed Large palace, in the south - and immediately started digging. I also added one more farm and expanded the city to NW, where I previously reserved some room for a mixed block (5 Impressive compounds, 14 Ornate Apartments).

In just 6 months, I received a warning that Xiongnu will attack. What now? I sent a spy to sabotage their military immediately, but I supposed it was too late to have any effect. I added one more fort and built walls around the army encampment, but it didn't help much - the invaders came from the place where immigrants arrive! (Location seems to be random, when I tested something and replayed the mission, the invasion point was in the north). I reloaded my last save and prepared for them better. This time, a wall with manned towers was awaiting the invaders - but I underestimated their strength and too soon allowed my units to fight in the melee... It was an interesting battle and I replayed it several times to find out, what is the best tactics on such occasions. For me, it was staying at a distance and not engaging in hand-to-hand combat as long as possible. One important thing - be very careful what you build near entry or exit points, especially in such places like here. When invaders knocked down my gatehouse, it blocked the road to China and part of the wall was demolished (with weird graphical effects), so that the enemies had several places where they could pass through the wall. Unfortunately, they can also cross water... I think I'll never get used to it, water was always the best line of defense. Well, the losses were a bit greater than I would like, but I won the battle and continued.

In the meantime, city grew to 5000 inhabitants and was able to support 8 workcamps easily. This was my maximum, because of feng shui restrictions I couldn't build as many camps and as close to monuments as I would like to. Construction proceeded at an acceptable pace, so I decided not to disturb the harmony of my city. If you look at what the monuments require, it is at once clear that they will take long to finish... but you don't see anywhere, that you have to dig two layers deep in the Underground vault.. that means removing over 600 loads of dirt! Only then you will need the wood and clay, both at the same time, and after that some dirt to cover the vault.

Tumulus looks like a pyramid and the building process is almost the same as that of pyramids in Pharaoh: first some digging, building a burial chamber, then slowly up - one layer after another. In fact, this tumulus took more time to complete than the vault. It is partially due to the fact that I didn't know when building materials will be required, and almost forgot about burial gifts. The likeness to Pharaoh ends here... you can't just click on "dispatch", and do it when it suits you - you must stock the goods in a warehouse connected by road to the monument, and they will be brought when the game decides, and in a preset order (so while I had most of the provisions ready, nothing was delivered until the one was brought which was required in the moment). I suggest you either set up a getting warehouse right when starting the mission, or build the tumulus near production area. When goods are delivered, underground chamber is covered by dirt and then you'll need lots of wood, dirt and patience to finish the monument.

While the monuments were being constructed (both at once), I was further improving the city and called Xi Wang Mu to speed up the construction. At one time I switched the warehouse near markets to accept ceramics instead of getting (to get some other goods quickly), and forgot about it. I realized it too late, and when finally ceramics was delivered, one of the blocks was already devolving. Another devolving occurred when I badly managed my food supplies, but then I checked everything and made sure nothing of the kind will happen again - from that moment, population was stabilized at 6000 and no actions were needed to maintain steady supply of everything. I was heavily overproducing silk, pottery and lacquerware and making net profit of around 30000 cash per year, so when both monuments were finished, my treasury exceeded the required amount 3 times. Some time during the mission I sent a few animal gifts to tropical climate cities and received an Alligator in return, which was the last animal missing from the palace menagerie.

Final note... if I would have known beforehand, which monuments will be built in this mission and what they look like, I would probably situate the Great palace in second mission elsewhere (maybe near the city). The southern island would then be just emperor's burial grounds with tumulus and vault.

Result:

  • January 196 BCE
  • 457772 cash 6005 population
  • 9 animals
  • 16 Impressive and 1 Humble compound; ordinary citizens in Ornate apartments
  • perfect harmony
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