Author's
Description:
The save file was made four months after
victory had been achieved. It's set to run another twenty months. My family's name is
Tahrqa.
I liked the atmosphere of this mission; the lost expeditions, the sense of being far from
Egypt in an isolated and embattled outpost, the ruins of the past settlement (could almost
hear the desert wind sweeping along the empty, crumbling streets).
But flights of imagination soon had to be put aside for some hard-headed planning. Given
the dire warning in the mission introduction, forming an army quickly was clearly the top
priority. Copper and abundant gems made for easy, lucrative exports, but they were likely
to be demanded by Pharaoh as well, and it was important to start forging copper into
weapons for infantry as soon as could be managed. A lot to prepare for in a short period
of time.
I began by simultaneously establishing the two satellite villages, with an eye to building
up the labor pool quickly enough to be able to both export copper and some gems in the
first year, while fully supplying three weaponsmiths. A little too quickly, as it
happened; workers flooded in at a furious rate, forcing me to build faster than intended
just to keep them employed. Soon exportables (including jewelry) were starting to pour
into newly-founded storage yards, but not in time to save me from running out of money and
receiving a gift of additional funds (something I hate to do even though it doesn't result
in any penalty, according to the manual).
The fort for the first company of archers was in place three months into the mission. I
suspect hyenas were gnawing on them right on their parade field while I wasn't watching,
because they seemed to take longer than usual to reach the full complement. Finally I
caught hyenas moving toward them one at a time, and took the archers to the field to wipe
the pack out. Maybe this was a minor mistake, because it might be possible to use hyenas
to improve a company's skill level. Not sure. It would probably require too much attention
though.
Then came an early surprise attack by the Bedouin, by which time I had the company of
archers and a company and a half of infantry. The two full companies were on the other
side of the map, and it looked like I'd need to pull the half company back through the
gatehouse until the others could move up, possibly losing a section of wall. However, the
Bedouin fortunately didn't budge for quite a while, allowing me to get all my troops into
place, leading to an easy slaughter.
Then came two Canaanite attacks, back to back. It was easy to see where they'd be coming
from (the north), and there was plenty of warning, so my army was waiting for them when
they arrived. Still, there was barely time to send them back to the forts between the
attacks, and when the second Bedouin surprise attack occurred, my troops were still in the
field. I was concerned their morale was about to start falling off. The boost from the
victories must have sustained them, though. I returned the damaged infantry company to its
fort and marched the others through a narrow cleft in the mountains, using a company of
archers (which are faster than infantry, despite what the manual claims) to lure the
Bedouin back to the rest of my forces, which by then were drawn up in good formation. The
archers stopped their retreat and formed up with the others behind the infantry. The first
arrows began to fly... then Seth anticlimatically wiped out all but one enemy soldier.
Other than one last Bedouin surprise attack, easily repelled, that was it for military
action. Four forts to the north and two to the south would have been a better arrangement,
but the reverse worked alright.
I had decided at the start of the mission not to build a temple complex. Space was at a
premium, and there were better uses for the 2000 debens. I figured Ra could be kept happy
and coaxed into granting kingdom bonuses without one.
It was a bit tricky fitting my inner city housing block into the available space; I had to
juggle the service buildings a lot (on graph paper) to do it. The inner city was able to
bring in the rest of the population requirement, and so the whole city resided neatly with
the old walls, using the old road system virtually intact. I had to leave the northern
village severed from the main road system for most of the mission, to prevent gem mine
cart-pushers from flinging across the map to the jewelers, but eventually there was enough
overproduction to hook it up.
And then abruptly the mission requirements were met, after a short five years. People were
still pouring in when the victory menu popped up, so I elected to continue to govern for
two years and finish making provisions for them, as well as to complete the final company
of infantry. The brickworks was placed as a last step toward mopping up the unemployed;
admittedly, it compares unfavorably with pottery as an export, while using up clay, but no
big deal. Food is a little short at the time of the save, but that would eventually fix
itself once all the newly-evolved housing finished filling its larders.
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