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Turbulent Winds - Hao and Wei

Toppling the paper tiger kingdom of Shang was easy compared to the task now at hand. The far flung lands need to be united and ruled by a strong, but just, hand. Our new king, Wu Wang, the Son of Heaven, is well suited for the job. As royal administrator of the Zhou capital of Hao, the burden on the King will be eased if you perform well. There are vassals that must be controlled, and rivals usurped. As you guide the development of the city, you should keep a watchful eye on the other cities of the kingdom, particularly Shu. If a hen strays too far from the flock, she must be promptly bought back before becoming lost. Do not hesitate to use the King's army if the need arises.
As for the capital itself, ornate sculptures should be built to beautify the boulevards of the upper class, and graceful arched bridges used to span the powerful Wei river -- a river that at times can be quite unpredictable and dangerous, especially during the Spring rains.

Starts Feb 1051 BCE

$18000 on Hard

Requirements:
  • 1 Allied City
  • 40 in Humble Compounds
  • Rule 3 cities

Humble Compounds hold 15 people each and need

  • Ancestral Shrine
  • Herbalist
  • Tasty Food
  • Hemp
  • Music
  • Ceramics
  • Acrobat
  • Acupuncturist
  • Silk
  • Bronzeware

I decided to start in the center of the map, near copper ore deposits. It isn't far from the point where immigrants appear on the map and everything can be started quite soon. You get lots of money to begin with, and can make loads of it later - no need to worry about spending, no need to hurry with industry and exports. Farms are more important - both food and hemp.

In August of the first year I had produced 800 wheat and season for cabbage just started (2 wheat/cabbage farms), hemp farm was almost ready for harvest. The only industry at this point were 2 woodcutters.

One year later (Sep 1050) - population 1000; working: 3 smelters & 2 weaponsmiths, 3 kilns, 3 clay pits, 3 weavers, 2 silkworm sheds. Nothing changed on farms, no trade at all. Taxes will be collected in a few months, when there is enough free labor for Admin center.

Next year (Jul 1049) - population 2000, all in Ornate Apt.; industry change: +3 bronzeware makers, +3 weavers, +2 silkworm sheds. 1 farm added - mostly millet, some wheat. Selling bronzeware and silk, importing rice. No bridge yet, but will be built along with bronze smelters and weaponsmiths north of the river soon. First infantry fort is half full.

In the next two years palace and elite housing will appear on map, allowing more forts and bringing high taxes. I was selling wood to Anyang and I started buying jade from Qufu and selling carved jade to Anyang - mainly to lower unemployment, but also to make some production and transportation testing. If you want to finish quickly, concentrate on silk, weapons and bronzeware.

In July 1046 I sent emissary to Wu and requested alliance with success (previous gifts: 2x money /500+1000/, 2x wheat /generous/, 1x Silk /generous/; bronze demand met immediately). At that time I had 3 full infantry forts and 3 chariot forts in various degrees of completion (with 1-4 chariots). Not a single gift to any vassal given at that time, and in fact I only sent them something once - shortly before asking them to join my expedition against Shu. They didn't seem to need any gifts to love me, so why bother? The idea of getting an animal from my vassal didn't occur to me - I'm still pretty much new to the game and I don't like to beg for anything; so, I had to pay for all contacts with cities - that's OK if one has that much money, but I'll remember that trick for next time.

Following military decline at Shu I sent invasion army with Huang Di (but w/o help from vassals, because I simply forgot about them... it was my first Emperor invasion) and lost the battle. Soon Shu attacked from north, but had no chance. I started to harrass Shu military with spies sent to sabotage military and waited for an opportunity. In March 1043, I dispatched a large invasion force (5 infantry, 2 chariot, Huang Di, help from vassal), shortly thereafter I received a message that military of Shu has weakened considerably, and the city was conquered. All other goals were met long ago, so instead of "you have conquered Shu" message I was kicked right into the next episode.

Tip: be careful when mining for copper, don't build too many smelters. The deposits on mainland (NE) can support 8 miners - 3 smelters generate 9 of them. That means, while this is the only accessible ore deposit, everything is just fine. As soon as you open way to the deposits behind the river, one miner will regularly go far far away. I suppose it slows down the production of bronze in NE, but not much... just don't build too many smelters.

All inhabitants in the city - both elite and normal housing - were served by one grand market, which is so far my standard (with 2 food shops and a mill at hand it is easy, I never needed more than 1 market... this will probably change when I need to place tea shop somewhere). Final population slightly over 3000, 195 out of it in humble compounds - that makes 13 elite houses. I was making profit greater than 10K per year regularly.

General impression: Rather an easy, but interesting mission offering several choices. Nice start of a campaign :-).

  • Finished May 1043 BCE
  • 1 ally (Wu)
  • 195 in Humble Compounds
  • Pop 2950
  • $63516
  • no animals
  • Feng Shui: Perfect harmony
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