Ancient Times 2/3 From: keith.langley@mdcs.com (Keith Langley) Date: Wed, 05 Jul 1995 00:00:00 +0000 Holy Writ One True Faith game #3 Vulcan replaces Lusterra - Lusterra's distraction allowed a celestial coup d'etat to take place. Vulcan is a very old god with an honorable history; He was once the appointed weapons maker for the court of Jupiter Himself. Since the fall of the old Roman pantheon, though, He has fallen on hard times, and was until recently reduced to making amusing items of leather, rubber and chains for Lusterra. When Her passions caused control of Her empire to slip from Her grasp, Vulcan was ready to assume leadership. Disgusted by His former employer's excesses, He has taught the discipline of Logic ("the Vulcan way") to His new followers. As the god of metalsmithing and logic, Vulcan gains a 20% bonus to metal production, and +20% to His artillery attack ratings. Crispin invades Tripoli - Seven shiploads of troops landed on the eastern edge of Tripoli. Crispin showed His love of modern weaponry; cannons, guns and grenades killed all of the agnostic forces before they could assemble a defense. Kashelo captures Fyn - Eight ships from Zeeland, laden with troops, attacked the agnostic island of Fyn. Archers and ballista forced the defenders' lone warship and its troops to surrender; after the invaders landed, elf falconers and other troops wiped out the native army. Kashelo takes Whales - I mean, Wales - Twisted elves, trolls and troglodytes from Midlands attacked and captured Wales. Kashelo captured enough agnostic troops to replace His losses in the battle. Vulcan's army annexes Fezzan - Troops from Rabat and Tangier spilled over the border into agnostic Fezzan, using 9 ballistae to eradicate all opposition. Florence falls to Vulcan - A Vulcan army from Rome, supported by a seaborne invasion, took the province of Florence. The defender's rockets and "wall of spears" tactics caused some casualties, but the agnostics could not prevail. Dudley gains Champagne - Using miracles and divine intervention to soften up the defending agnostics, Dudley's forces attacked from Paris and captured Champagne with no losses. Dauphine added to Mountie territory - Dudley's army from Provence easily acquired Dauphine after disabling the agnostics' only leader, then luring the confused defenders into a trap. Drehme conquers Thuringia - A powerful force of Dreamers from Bavaria moved north into Thuringia. Although Drehme lost a ballista in the fight, She captured some hobbit slingers from the agnostics to replace it. Roebuck gets Kharkov - The Seers sent two forces into Kharkov, one from the sea and one from Rostov. They could have been hurt badly, but fortunately for them the defending Goblins quarrelled, and their catapult was lost to "friendly fire". Consequently, Roebuck's forces won an easy victory over the agnostics of Kharkov. LETTERS (Vulcan) Hello, fellow Gods and Goddesses... I would like You to know that My followers are not opposed to any of You and will not be making any military moves on Your holdings. If You would like to talk about borders, those who know where My holdings are, please reply. No alliances have been formed by Myself, and non- aggression pacts or alliances are certainly open for discussion. Vulcan is advised by: Avalon Rusk (address deleted in Email version) The Pantheon One True Faith game #4 Surfeit of heroes and priests causes confusion - An unintended consequence of the higher concentration of leaders in this game was a VERY active first trurn of exploration. I have been generating and typing in province contents as the provinces are explored; usually by about turn 4 the whole world is populated. In this game, 80% of the provinces were looked at on the first turn! This meant I had to do in one turn the work I had previously stretched out over 3 or 4 months. I apologize for the delay; now that I know better I'll make sure the whole world is generated and entered before I start a game. The good news is, I only have to do this once per game, and now it's done. Agnostic activists foil deities' plans - Another change in the game is that now agnostic priests preach back! Many deities were distressed to find that their priests, even enhanced with charisma, made little or no headway against the stubborn godless infidels. Other, luckier deities found provinces with no local priests, and by concentrating their resources were able to make good progress. One province was actually taken by preaching on the first turn, a rare event. FYI, agnostic priests have miracles; they are determined randomly every time I need to know what they are, and will change from turn to turn. Agnostic priests are considered to have the Ethos of the majority of their home's inhabitants; if the population is evenly divided the priests have the Ethos of their own cultures. Up