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Trouble in the Tarim

Like the Qin of ancient times, the rulers of the Sui Dynasty pushed the people too hard, too fast -- and it caused their downfall. The wise Emperor Gaozu, founder of the Tang Dynasty, was a great man and shrewd leader. Now his son, Taizong, a devoted student of calligraphy and painting, sits upon the throne in Chang-an. Being concerned about the welfare of his subjects, our sage Emperor has lowered taxes and limited burdensome public works projects. But our leader's genius is not limited to the political, as has been shown by his skill in pitting one barbarian tribe against another and thence gaining firm control of the Tarim basin.
And it is to the Tarim basin that you are being sent, as magistrate of the town of Niya. Located on the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert, Niya was once a thriving hamlet along the old Silk Road, but fell into disrepair when Chinese influence in the region waned, and was finally abandoned. Now given our renewed lordship over the area, Emperor Taizong understandably wants the fallen bricks of the old town used to rebuild a new, stronger Niya. It is your good fortune that portions of the former inhabitants' irrigation system are still intact. This should help your farmers to coax more crops from the thirsty ground. Meanwhile, hunters can also track down elusive Saiga antelope in order to put some tasty meat in your peoples' woks.
Do not be surprised if the Tibetans are upset with our growing influence in the region. Given proper homage, Sun Wu -- the mischievous 'Monkey King' and a powerful Buddhist hero -- can now be summoned to aid your city.

City - Niya
Starts Feb 635 CE
14,400 starting cash on Very Hard
(18000 starting cash on Normal)

Requirements:

  • Population of 2100
  • 15 Months of Heroes
  • 1500 people in Luxurious Apartment or better

Difficulty played at - Very Hard

I had previously played this mission on Normal. Maybe I was just lucky before, but playing on Very Hard, there was an invasion that I didn't have to deal with playing on Normal. The early invasion and reduced starting funds combined to make this mission a real challenge on Very Hard. For the first time since I started playing Emperor, I actually saw the "Defeated" message. Whoa! What a shock that was.

Knowing that an invasion was imminent, I restarted the game. The second time through was much better. This is how it went:

I built one housing block, which was to be the only one for this mission. The block contained 47 houses. I placed the housing block near the Road to China on the west side of the river. A little space was reserved southeast of the housing block for Trading Stations. The housing would eventually be evolved to Luxurious Apartments that would sustain a population of 3478. This would satisfy both the population and housing level goals, plus supply additional workers and tax income. My final population was indeed 3478.

I placed the housing and support structures and waited for immigrants to arrive. In March CE 635, I received the message that "Chang-an" becomes an ally. As soon as I had the workers available (May CE 635), I placed a Trading Station to Kashgar and set it to import the maximum amount (12) of jade. My next construction project (same month) was a Trading Station to my ally Chang-an set to import weapons. When the first weapons arrived, I placed an Administrative City and built an Infantry Fort. When workers were available, I placed the Mint.

When the jade arrived in Kashgar's Trading Station, I built three Jade Carvers and a Warehouse to store Carved Jade. Don't sell the Carved Jade to Chang-an (yet). Save it to summon a Hero to assist you during the invasion.

By June CE 636, I had 14 soldiers in the fort, a Mill and Market Square, Ancestral Shrine, two food farms, 2 hemp farms and a Warehouse set to accept the September hemp harvest. Funds were down to 2557. My housing block had room for 222 more people (housing was Plain Cottage) and I needed 5 workers. Two months later, in August, the fort was full and there were 14 Carved Jade in the Warehouse.

September CE 636: "Lhasa launches invasion!" You have 6 months to prepare. This time I was ready. I considered building City Walls and Towers. I simply didn't have the funds or workers to support this option. In October, all of my Plain Cottages were full to capacity with a population of 1026. Only 23 (7%) were unemployed. The first harvest of hemp was being delivered to the Warehouse and I had 17 Carved Jade in a Warehouse, with 7 more jade stored in the Jade Carvers' Studios.

I requested defensive aid from my ally Chang-an. I also placed a Buddhist Pagoda, waited until the Monk completed his circle of the housing block (so that Buddhism coverage would be rated excellent) and offered a medium gift of 6 Carved Jade to Sun-Wu-Kong. The Monkey King's mood went from Contented to Exhaled. In December, Mr. Kong arrived along with the forces from Chang-an. Chang-an sent 1 Horseman, 1 Crossbowmen and 2 Infantry. I added a Hemp Shop to distribute hemp to the housing and added a Music School. All houses evolved to Spacious Dwellings in February CE 637. Population was 963 with room for 945 more. Only 8 citizens (2%) were unemployed.

March CE 637: The invasion from Lhasa arrives with 3 Horsemen and 15 Infantry. I had a full fort of 16 Infantry, the troops from Chang-an and The Monkey King. It only took one month to defeat the invaders. When the battle was over, I was left with 8 Infantry, a Crossbowman from Chang-an and Sun-Wu-Kong. It is not only important that you win the battle, but you must win it "big". If your defenses get too weak, another city will probably take advantage of the situation and launch an invasion of their own.

After the invaders were defeated, I started selling Carved Jade to Chang-an. In March CE 637 I received the message that Kashgar would buy more salt. I was also notified, in July of CE 637, that there was a "Military buildup at Lhasa." What this "buildup" amounted too, I don't know. I would finish the mission less than a year and a half later, and never heard another peep from Lhasa.

From this point forward, it was straightforward city building. I added clay pits and kilns to provide ceramics. I built salt mines to export salt and assure food quality. I added more hemp farms and paper makers (for collecting taxes and exporting paper) and a Tax Collector. I also added one more farm as my population increased. I ended up with 5 Hemp Farms, 3 Food Farms (each growing a combination of the food types), 5 Paper Makers, 3 Jade Carvers, 4 Clay Pits, 8 Kilns and 5 Salt Mines. The last step was to import tea to evolve the housing to Luxurious Apartments.

Don't forget about the requirement for "15 Months of Heroes". I didn't bother to build a Daoist Temple or Confucian Academy, and after the invasion I no longer needed the Monkey King. As soon as the invasion was defeated, I started paying homage to Shen Nong and had him bless my food and hemp farms to increase production.

My final results:

Mission Completed: December CE 639
Cash: 17145
Population: 3478 with 3478 living in Luxurious Apartments
Score: 1264
Feng Shui: Perfect Harmony

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