HW Kusan From: snake6283@aol.com (Snake6283) Date: Wed, 09 Aug 1995 00:00:00 +0000 It seems my first post on this subject didn't get through, so I'll try it again. Kusan was the first kingdom I ever played. I have liked the kingdom ever since. In that game, I stumbled around, making sure I had everything I needed before I did anything, and it made for a boring game. In the east, I have found, one has a tendency to be isolated, especially as Kusan, because they are not generally considered a power player. There is no need to go through a boring, isolated game though. Here is my advice. Do not wait to talk to Khitai before taking the Kusan Steppes. If you ask him for it, he'll deny it. Take what you need, and peace off everyone. You should be in good shape shortly. Your court could do some damage to Khitai's, but I wouldn't advise working on them too early. Wait until you determine if Kambulja is willing to work with you. Sometimes, unbelievably, they get overconfident and don't think they need help. When the time comes, your assassins are among the best in the world, and coupled with Kambulja, also thick with assassins, you could really whittle Khitai down. Hyrkania often times wants to take out Kusan as well, simply because they are the weak sister in the region. Just peace them off and take your goals, all will be well. Your initial peace treaty with Khitai will NOT expire on the first, short peace years. That treaty is for the first set of war seasons. The next peace years though, peace them off. It is indeed worthwhile to take the Jaga Tribes. The trade route certainly helps your wealth. But it might be better to let them sit for a while. Break the alliances between Meru and all of the surrounding kingdoms. They have alliances with all of them. When you break those alliances, starting of course with Azweri and the Jagans, you will begin them fighting with each other, giving you the opportunity to take weakened provinces. Do not keep your Kusan Protectors in Kusan. You should NEVER be invaded in your home province. Peace off all of your neighbors, and take those guys out to battle. The percentages always give you at least one troop. You should be able to raise even more than that, though not many. My advice though is to not raise any mercenaries during the first set of war seasons, if at all possible, unless it is a short one. You will need all of your money, so that you can raise your maximum of your regular troops every turn. You won't take too much damage in your early battles, so you won't be losing lots of your troops, but those mercenaries will sap you dry in short order. Wait for them till later. I have the stats for Kusan's adj and cha. If you still need them, then email me and I'll get them to you. I do remember that they both suck, and I would send them adventuring on the first turn. NEVER settle for less than a superior stat for each. Your Adj has superior heroism, but in a general, I'd always go for MC over heroism. I think that heroism is overrated, personally. Definitely long life the wizard, you need to keep all of your characters alive if possible. Also, don't spy a court or kingdom military with less than excellent intrigue on your agent. Goods are really only useful for province spying and world spying. I have two different pieces of advice on your military actions. Long term view and short term view. In the short term best interest of you kingdom, absolutely declare two intents to invade, one east and one west, to get your imperial goals. That means activating your defensive army. You should only be facing two to four troops in all of the provinces near you to start with. You can take them easily, even with only a couple of troops. You can even go for open field, you should still be able to take them. Don't give Hyrkania or Khitai the opportunity to take one of your goals. In the long term interest though, if you take all of your goals right at the beginning, it is hard to keep up that progress over the intermediate term. You'll be first early, but fall to second just as quickly, and stay there. If you're looking for a win, leave yourself a victory condition to take later, but surround it first, for certain. But if you simply want a fun, fast furious game to learn in, go for everything quick, and turn your attentions where you wish. As Kusan, you should peace off everyone, and when your neighbors get borders with others, peace them off as well. You are too tiny to allow for chance. Peace everyone off. Finally, don't try and guess on troops. You need as many as possible, so always try to max your regulars out, especially on peace years. Try to raise 30 or 40 troops, and during warseasons, go for 15. You need every troop if you are to go into Khitai, or into Hyrkania, or Meru. Remember, you can pick and choose your enemies. It is an incredible advantage. Let me know how things go, and if you have any more questions. Up