Snakes In The Ball Pit => Yay, I get to talk about me! => Topic started by: Cheapskate on January 02, 2022, 04:33:00 pm
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on January 02, 2022, 04:33:00 pm
I’ve taken to spending my Sunday afternoons at a local coffee shop playing Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV, and I feel like trying something new with custom officers. So who’s up to jump through a time portal with me to 191 AD and act as an officer as we try to take over ancient China?
Here’s what you should give me to participate:
1. Whether you want a male or a female portrait; 2. Your stat points. You have 350 points to split between Strength, Leadership, Intellect, Politics, and Charisma, with 100 being the maximum for any stat. 3. If you were the mayor of an ancient city, what would your administration focus on? 4. If you commanded an ancient army, how would you try to win fights? 5. What are three good things about you? 6. What is one of your flaws? 7. If you’d like to be a sworn sibling or spouse of someone else in the F Plus (or someone else who lived in China in 191 AD, if you happen to know any), list them here.
Once you’re entered as an officer, I’ll update this thread with our progress. Thanks for participating!
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: GirlKisser420 on January 02, 2022, 05:05:38 pm
I'm game. I reckon I'm smarter than at least liu bei.
Male portrait.
For Stats, I'll take 100 in Politics and an even spread of 62 over the rest (round out the extra 2 into Intellect). My administration will mostly be focused on control of local rivers to maintain trade and resources. I'll also get really into taoism and trying to become immortal and following astrology. My army will rely on a tight core of heavy infantry and cavalry rather than peasant conscripts that will cause famine, and avoid direct conflict whenever possible, instead using spies and astrology to determine the best time to engage. I'm meritocratic, fairly practical and open to new ideas. My flaw is I trust all eunuchs. if you're gonna do that you must want to be my friend
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: thelizzerd on January 02, 2022, 10:41:03 pm
Sure I'll go to Ancient China! I have no idea what this is about, but I'm game.
1. Male Portrait plz. 2. Strength - 80 Leadership - 64 Intellect - 80 Politics - 63 Charisma - 63 3. Keeping the city well supplied and the citizens happy while defending our boarder. 4. I would use the triple line where formations are based on rank and there's gaps within the line between the ranks to allow farther back troops to go forward as needed. (This was a technique commonly used by the Romans) 5. Persistent, Energetic, and Practical 6. Not the most organized 7. Befriend anyone who likes lizards cause I like lizards. And maybe frogs too. Or spiders. If you enjoy weird animals I ally myself with you.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: kthorjensen on January 03, 2022, 01:07:10 pm
1. Male portrait 2. Strength 100 Leadership 70, Intellect 30, Politics 80, and Charisma 70 3. Construction of edifices 4. Overwhelming force 5. Dedication, loyalty, invulnerability 6. Hubris 7. N/A
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: moooo566 (taylor's version) on January 03, 2022, 01:39:52 pm
1. Male 2. Strength 100, Leadership 100, Intellect 0, Politics 50, Charisma 100 3. My administration is very into public works - infrastructure, monuments, anything that might require a civil engineer. We have the prettiest city. 4. Fuck load of crossbows. Also a strong focus on fortification and defensive positioning (I have other, cleverer subjects to help with this). Can't kill me if you can't touch me. 5. My best qualities are that I'm quick to recognise when I'm out of my depth and need help, I'm receptive to the needs of my subjects, and that I'm generous in providing assistance to my allies. 6. My worst quality is that I can sometimes stretch my resources too thin to cope with an unexpected emergency. 7. I'm currently single (but ready to mingle).
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Lemon on January 03, 2022, 01:40:55 pm
Count me in.
Male portrait
Charisma 100, Leadership: 100 Politics: 0. If Strength and Intellect can also be 0 that would be lovely, but otherwise just sort numbers however is easiest.
Our city needs an identity that our entire citizenry can be invested in and proud of. To that end, do you know how certain cities have specific musical genres? Like Nola Bounce or Chicago Industrial or DC Hardcore? Our city is like that, but for Ben Wa Balls. Sure, other merchants in other cities may sell some inferior Ben Wa Balls made by industrialists looking to make a quick buck, but our Ben Wall Balls. Crafted by artisans, meticulously weighted, each one forged with pride and sold with a guarantee. Our city's motto: "They Just Fit Different".
Surrender and hope for the best.
tenacious, compassionate, pretty good cook
frequently overwhelmed
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on January 03, 2022, 02:25:35 pm
yes
1. female portrait 2. Strength 8, Leadership 82, Intellect 91, Politics 100, and Charisma 69. 3. Both sides-ing every decision. 4. Convenient alliances and mercenaries. 5. Empathetic, Creative, Loves Dragons 6. Holds Grudges 7. Headmates with Frank West.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Frank West on January 03, 2022, 02:57:50 pm
1. Male 2. Charisma: 100, Intellect: 100, Politics: 100, Leadership: 0, Strength: 50 3. Walls. It starts with a few extra fortifications here and there, but gradually becomes an obsession, until eventually all possible funds are directed into making more and more layers of walls, gradually turning the entire city into a winchester mystery house 4. Mostly by going behind the walls. They can't get me if I'm behind my walls! My beautiful, beautiful walls.... 5. Likable, dependable, good beard 6. Passive 7. Headmates with Shell Game
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Sauce on January 03, 2022, 06:50:43 pm
1. Male 2. Strength 100 Leadership 90 Intellect 60 Politics 40 Charisma 60 3. Aqueducts and cmonster cocks! I want a ridiculously intricate network of waterways. Maybe that would even extend to sewers, but who knows. 4. Supply lines and aggression. 5. Good at working in a team, persistent, loud voice that can cut through the chaos of a battlefield 6. British 7. Anyone who will have me
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on January 03, 2022, 07:20:41 pm
Let’s say hello to our first eight officers!
It’s me, your penny-pinching leader. (https://i.imgur.com/hWPs3Pw.jpg)
Sorry, GirlKisser420, but the eunuchs all got massacred by the warlord Dong Zhuo about two years before we arrived in China. (https://i.imgur.com/Ne38bvZ.jpg)
I searched the whole text of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms for references to lizards: no luck, so you get green armor in their honor instead. (https://i.imgur.com/qc3p3Jx.jpg)
K. Thor is the first of many ambitious builders on our team. (https://i.imgur.com/O9T1vDG.jpg)
Note: the minimum you can have in any stat is 1. Princess Diana Memorial Ballpit Poster is seen here ready for archery. (https://i.imgur.com/xgEBv5D.jpg)
Hmm… what picture should I use for Lemon as a reminder that I absolutely shouldn’t put him into combat under any circumstances? (https://i.imgur.com/ZPA0uEf.jpg)
The Dragon Carnage technique won’t be very effective with Shell Game’s low strength, but it fits her theme. (https://i.imgur.com/t0ffgyf.jpg)
Is this a good enough beard for Frank West? (https://i.imgur.com/XYl9Eot.jpg)
Plenty of slots still open. I’ll take applications until the end of the day Friday.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: jim and the mammograms on January 04, 2022, 12:23:22 am
Sure, I'll join in, why not?
1. Male 2. 100 for CHA and STR, because I approach everything like dnd, and 50 for each of the rest. 3. If my city is anything like me, we'd get hung up on some weird stuff that we're naturally attuned to and kinda let the rest fall by the wayside. Like, hell yeah, we've got an okay hospital or something, let's focus on that and whatever else happens happens. 4. Probably try and get other people on my side to risk losing as few of my dudes as possible. Then if I don't like them, attack when they're all tired for fighting my battles for me. Suckers. 5. Great hair, good at cooking, pretty strong. 6. Impulsive to a fault. 7. Whoever'll have me.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: chai tea latte on January 04, 2022, 02:10:25 pm
1. Whether you want a male or a female portrait; Female.
3. If you were the mayor of an ancient city, what would your administration focus on? Stockpiling food, and then war.
4. If you commanded an ancient army, how would you try to win fights? Cavalry supported by archers.
5. What are three good things about you? Swordswoman, poet, good cook.
6. What is one of your flaws? Vanity.
7. If you’d like to be a sworn sibling or spouse of someone else in the F Plus (or someone else who lived in China in 191 AD, if you happen to know any), list them here.
Whatever feels appropriate.
Excited for this!!
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on January 04, 2022, 08:10:27 pm
When Sauce says “loud” and “British,” I figure I should give him the picture that looks most like Brian Blessed. (https://i.imgur.com/Ejzb4cj.jpg)
How’s this for great hair? (https://i.imgur.com/Np1lTDN.jpg)
Chai Tea Latte is about to wreck some dudes in duels. (https://i.imgur.com/c11os0B.jpg)
Still plenty of officer slots available—the game allows me to have up to 150(!) created officers.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: jim and the mammograms on January 05, 2022, 12:17:06 am
That's startlingly close to an idealized version of what my current facial hair situation looks like. Well picked.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: A Meat on January 05, 2022, 12:49:46 am
Yeah sure, I'll pitch in:
1. Male 2. 40 Strength, 80 Leadership, 100 Intellect, 40 Politics, 90 Charisma 3. I would focus on agriculture and irrigation technology and building food surpluses. 4. Seeking out terrain advantages and disrupting supply lines, possibly even diplomacy 5. Know a bunch of useless trivia, can play a musical instrument, good at teaching 6. Overthinking things to the point of inaction 7. whatever you feel like, got no objections in particular
if there's an avatar with both long hair and a long beard (besides the one you choose for Frank), that's the one for me
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on January 05, 2022, 07:53:23 pm
There’s already a general in the game called A Gui, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Agui) and because the Chinese put family names first, I figured A Meat and A Gui would be relatives.
(https://i.imgur.com/Tn0deOT.jpg)
Two more days to join up!
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Dr. Buttplug on January 06, 2022, 10:20:41 am
1. Male 2. Strength 50, Leadership 75, Intellect 75, Politics 75, and Charisma 75, 3. reproducing like rabbits 4. sheer numbers 5. Punctual, kind, and generous 6. lasciviousness 7. Sauce, Chai and A Meat are cool, whichever makes sense for your campaign
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on January 06, 2022, 08:43:54 pm
The lascivious Dr. Buttplug says “how YOU doin’?”
(https://i.imgur.com/FDQdjfn.jpg)
One more day to enter!
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on January 07, 2022, 08:13:23 pm
Our time portal dumps us into China in October, 191 AD. We’ve set up shop in the city of Wu, near modern Shanghai.
(https://i.imgur.com/C3Sg9fP.jpg)
Wu is moderately large and controls the entrance to the Yangtze river, so we’re in pretty good shape.
Here’s the situation in China.
(https://i.imgur.com/1mD80mT.jpg)
Dong Zhuo (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Dong%20Zhuo) (gray) holds the emperor hostage and recently defeated a coalition to overthrow him, but he’s very unpopular. His current chief rivals are two members of the Yuan clan: Yuan Shao (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Yuan%20Shao) (yellow) and Yuan Shu (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Yuan%20Shu) (pink).
Elsewhere, three talented warlords are gathering their armies: the heroic Liu Bei (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Liu%20Bei) (green), the villainous Cao Cao (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Cao%20Cao) (blue), and the brave Sun Jian (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Sun%20Jian) (red). Note that there are three of them and the game is called Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
To our north is Zhang Chao (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Zhang%20Chao) (purple), who has slightly more men than we do but fewer officers. A little further to the west is Liu Biao (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Liu%20Biao) (teal), who controls a hilly stretch of land near the Three Gorges. To our southwest are the Shanyue, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanyue) a collection of hill tribes who like to raid nearby cities. We can’t send them a diplomat yet, but might gain that ability later.
The white shields on the map represent cities that aren’t controlled by any generals yet.
Our campaign starts in earnest on Sunday afternoon. What should we do next?
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: GirlKisser420 on January 07, 2022, 09:04:43 pm
I think we should aggressively target the unaligned cities. A lot of attention will be going on towards the northwest corner, so we should prioritize consolidating our position where we are.
(https://i.imgur.com/Z8Qqsx0.jpg)
I'd go for the territories inside the red-line first. The further cities marked in the blue should go next as they're very likely to be targets of other kingdoms and we don't want to get forced into defending or attacking when overextended pretty far outwards.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on January 08, 2022, 01:47:13 am
Establish some variety of goodwill between us and Yuan Shao. Lend only economic and cultural promises, don't extend military help. Cozy up to him while propping him up to be the biggest threat to Dong Zhuo. Keep them at each other's throats while securing more land closer to our new friends.
i have no idea how this game is played and have no intention of learning.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: A Meat on January 08, 2022, 02:21:50 am
Try and expand our sphere of influence towards the unaffiliated ports on our side of the Yangtze, Jianye seems like a good first target, developing this key economic area might put Zhang in a less favorable political and economic position, letting us negotiate better treaties with them
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on January 09, 2022, 07:54:29 pm
Conquest is under way!
My first action is to appoint you all in various advisory roles.
(https://i.imgur.com/GReKhvs.jpg)
Frank West, as warlord, is improving the durability of our city walls. K. Thor is helping us develop fortifications, and Sauce makes our construction projects go faster. GirlKisser420’s trickery skill makes diplomacy cheaper. Dr. Buttplug recruits troops faster than usual, and Jim and the Mammograms improves the speed of our city development. Diana is training a navy, and Shell Game helps us learn faster.
Next up: appointing city governors. They can be set to improve agriculture, commerce, or barracks in their cities. Administrators with high Charisma win over the countryside faster than others do. That’s why I’ve put Lemon in charge of the strategically important Port Lou: it controls the entrance to the Yangtse, so anyone crossing the river from the north is likely to find their supply lines cut when Lemon wins over the river denizens (fishermen? mermaids?) to his side.
(https://i.imgur.com/4bv0aSR.jpg)
We also need people to be in charge of training and recruiting troops. For our capital city of Wu, that’ll be K. Thor Jensen and Diana.
(https://i.imgur.com/05Smaev.jpg)
As instructed, our three fastest generals, Chai Tea Latte, A Meat, and Dr. Buttplug are going to race to capture Jianye. (Dr. Buttplug is very quotable.)
(https://i.imgur.com/23XQG9p.jpg)
We’ll also need to recruit some more officers if we intend to hold territory. I like how this image implies that Lemon is bribing potential officers with jelly donuts.
(https://i.imgur.com/71g3glG.jpg)
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on January 09, 2022, 08:18:33 pm
A month and a half later, our forces roll into Jianye unopposed. Shell Game and one of our new recruits, Quan Rou, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Quan%20Rou) ride out to subdue the villages of the countryside.
Running an army of this size is going to be expensive, so officers who aren’t doing anything else are spending their time searching cities. While searching, they can find new officers, gold, or tomes that teach new tactics to our officers (as Chai Tea Latte is learning here). They can also get rare items that boost stats, like K. Thor’s new sword.
In the world of diplomacy, we’re trying to make friends with Yuan Shao as Shell Game suggested. We’re also receiving gifts from two of our neighbors, Zhang Chao (who’s just north of the river from us) and Sun Ce. (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Sun%20Ce) Either one would be inclined to ally with us if we so chose.
“Wait, Sun Ce? Don’t you mean Sun Jian?” About that: Sun Jian was cut down in battle with Liu Biao (immediately to our west) and his son took over, swearing vengeance.
(https://i.imgur.com/zlyz1AB.jpg)
Elsewhere in China, Yuan Shao’s men took out Liu Bei, which is rather anticlimactic because Liu Bei is the hero of the novel. Liu Bei survived and took a job in Yuan Shao’s administration.
(https://i.imgur.com/MC3vnzd.jpg)
And Dong Zhuo is no longer a factor. A scheming retainer promised his niece Diaochan (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Diao%20Chan) in marriage to both Dong Zhuo and his mightiest warrior Lu Bu (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Lu%20Bu) (of “do not pursue” fame). Lu Bu assassinated Dong Zhuo, and now Dong Zhuo’s army is split between Lu Bu and his more loyal (albeit much stupider) servant Li Jue. (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Li%20Jue)
One year after we’ve arrived in China, and we’re starting to build momentum. Wu and Jianye are becoming prosperous, and are well-defended. We’ve even recruited a general, Yan Baihu, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Yan%20Baihu) who will prevent the Shanyue from attacking any city in which he resides. Liu Biao rushed east to take Lujiang and Chaisang—neither city is well-defended, but attacking them would require a river crossing. Huiji, to the south, is still unowned, and if we take it, we’ll be able to set a formal alliance with the Shanyue.
(https://i.imgur.com/zSm4C58.jpg)
Elsewhere in China, Liu Yan (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Liu%20Yan_2) now leads in territory controlled, holding the remote, poor, and mountainous southwest. Lu Bu is facing attack from all sides.
(https://i.imgur.com/egpT0bI.jpg)
We also have the option of letting an event fire. This one would greatly reinforce Cao Cao, which we may or may not want to do.
(https://i.imgur.com/FaNXwYU.jpg)
Questions? Suggestions? What next?
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: chai tea latte on January 09, 2022, 08:45:27 pm
Liu Biao rushed east to take Lujiang and Chaisang—neither city is well-defended, but attacking them would require a river crossing. Huiji, to the south, is still unowned, and if we take it, we’ll be able to set a formal alliance with the Shanyue. Cheapskate, January 09, 2022, 08:18:33 pm
We take Huiji, to the south. From there, we fortify, ally with Shanyue, and then prepare to take Lujiang and Chaisang in a pincer movement.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: GirlKisser420 on January 09, 2022, 08:46:33 pm
Cao Cao is probably bad news considering liu bei's already cooked it, so its probably best not to reinforce him. I'd not fire off the event.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on January 10, 2022, 03:01:25 pm
with the greater threat in shambles we should sweep up some allies and sympathetic accomplices
perhaps we can extend some of our learning prowess and enforce a cultural primacy from the bottom up. educate the masses, focus on arts and whatnot.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on January 12, 2022, 08:30:13 pm
While you wait for the next update on Sunday, I invite you to visit /r/threekingdoms, which is split between people arguing over who the best warrior is, people arguing over what the best adaptation is, and a guy who’s trying to retell the novel in bad memes.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: chai tea latte on January 12, 2022, 08:44:08 pm
It's red cliff and cao cao. Duh.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on January 16, 2022, 02:21:36 pm
The second year of our campaign begins with a rush on Huiji to the south. (https://i.imgur.com/kbM1VQN.jpg)
This allows us to conduct diplomacy with the Shanyue. After a few gifts, they’re feeling friendly, and are contributing officers and troops to help our cause. (Sadly, we can’t use their officers as city governors.) (https://i.imgur.com/GP5XeXm.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/awjrFV0.jpg)
As suggested, we patch up relations with our friendliest-looking neighbors. We now have alliances with Sun Ce to the southwest and Zhang Chao to the north. (https://i.imgur.com/q2oZ62v.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/4NT4MKJ.jpg)
I’ve leveled up to become level 2 noble, which allows me to appoint another advisor. We’re doing a domestic focus for a while, so I’ve appointed Chai Tea Latte to help promote economic development in our cities. China will be awash in ben-wa balls and artwork in no time. (https://i.imgur.com/BwRr88t.jpg)
As always, we need to bring in more officers to help manage the territory we’re conquering, and I’m resorting to attempting to poach disloyal officers from other warlords. (https://i.imgur.com/CNEGMbS.jpg)
Some notable recruits include: Chen Gong, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Chen%20Gong) who’s reasonably well-rounded; Dong Xi, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Dong%20Xi) a fierce warrior who drowned IRL and whom Koei Tecmo gave the trait “Helmsman” to rub it in, I guess; Fan Neng, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Fan%20Neng) who died when Sun Ce yelled at him and he fell off his horse; He Qi, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/He%20Qi) who’s skilled in water warfare and really flashy; Pan Lin, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Pan%20Lin) a Shanyue officer whose outfit looks He-Man inspired; Xu Huang, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Xu%20Huang) considered one of the Five Elite Generals.
By the beginning of October (and yes, I’m introducing the Gregorian calendar as soon as I remember whatever weird thing it does with leap days), we’re firmly in control of eastern China south of the Yangtze. (https://i.imgur.com/b2dJxg9.jpg)
Elsewhere, there’s a mad scramble for the north central region, with Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Yuan Shu, and Lu Bu all warring with each other. (https://i.imgur.com/NjTYVMn.jpg)
Thanks to avoiding open conflict and allying with the Shanyue, we now have the largest army in China, although we lag behind Yuan Shao in money, supplies, and officers. (https://i.imgur.com/D2OHevm.jpg)
The city of Jianan sits undefended to our south. It’s in a mountainous region and would take some time to capture, potentially bringing us into conflict with Shi Xie (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Shi%20Xie) (unless we spent some time and money buttering him up).
We outnumber Liu Biao (to our west) three to one and have more officers than he does, plus he’s using a lot of men to chase down bandits in his territory, so if we’re willing to chance a river crossing, we could strike against Chaisang (south of the river) or Lujiang (north of it).
Or we could focus on economic development and build fortifications.
What do you say?
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: A Meat on January 16, 2022, 02:52:08 pm
I say we attempt to take control of Jianan, while forging some sort of mutual defense pact with our ally Sun Ce against Shi Xie, hopefully giving us time to establish a strong presence in all of south-eastern China. Ideally we'd then focus on economic development.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on January 16, 2022, 03:14:09 pm
cozy up to our richest ally
assist their endeavors in earnest now
start to become a fixture in everyone's lives
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on January 16, 2022, 03:19:41 pm
I say we attempt to take control of Jianan, while forging some sort of mutual defense pact with our ally Sun Ce against Shi Xie, hopefully giving us time to establish a strong presence in all of south-eastern China. Ideally we'd then focus on economic development. A Meat, January 16, 2022, 02:52:08 pm
Mutual defense pacts aren’t an option in this game: everyone is at war with everyone else unless they have an alliance, which functions as a non-aggression pact. So if we went to war with Shi Xie, we couldn’t guarantee assistance from Sun Ce.
That said, once we get rich enough, we can pay off the Shanyue to attack their neighbors, so we could defer dealing with Liu Biao until we can afford to buy some Shanyue assistance.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Dr. Buttplug on January 17, 2022, 10:32:21 am
I would say cross the river and hit Liu Biao with our superior numbers then consider taking Jianan. Once we've shown some strength Shi Xie might be more apt to let us have it.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: moooo566 (taylor's version) on January 17, 2022, 12:26:45 pm
I think economic development and fortifications are the way to go here. Shore up our gains, do a bit of self care, make sure our people are happy, bank up some resources to make the next steps a little more secure.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: chai tea latte on January 17, 2022, 02:02:05 pm
We strike westwards, south of the river. Chaisang is relatively hard for Li to reinforce, and their garrisons are pitiful. But let's not overextend; we take Chaisang but don't cross the river. We don't anything to do with the wars going on in Northern China just yet, possibly not until they tire themselves out.
We could take Lujiang for the same reasons, but I'd rather put a river between our westward expansion and the chaos to the north. If taking Lujiang and Chaisang in a delayed pincer movement is possible, that might produce the best ratio of acquired territory : military losses.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on January 17, 2022, 04:19:26 pm
this all sounds particularly active
passive is the way to be so don't do anything to tarnish our reputation longterm. my goal here is for the time to come when everyone will look at a choice between their best interests and ours, and opt for ours.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on January 17, 2022, 04:33:26 pm
We strike westwards, south of the river. Chaisang is relatively hard for Li to reinforce, and their garrisons are pitiful. But let's not overextend; we take Chaisang but don't cross the river. We don't anything to do with the wars going on in Northern China just yet, possibly not until they tire themselves out. chai tea latte, January 17, 2022, 02:02:05 pm
I should note that there’s a narrow tributary of the Yangtze between us and Chaisang, but it wouldn’t be as much of a challenge to cross as the Yangtze itself. We’d have to start by capturing the port they hold on our side of the tributary, but from there, it’s smooth sailing and open plains, and it would be a challenge for Liu Biao to reinforce.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on January 23, 2022, 02:22:51 pm
As a plurality of you voted in favor of domestic improvements, that’s just what we’ve done over the past year. This mainly means that we’re spending money on enhancing agriculture, commerce, and barracks. It’s starting to pay dividends: under the wise leadership of Sauce, Jianye is now a medium-size city. This is good for both commerce and military size.
(https://i.imgur.com/FTw6Os7.jpg)
We’ve also spent some time building fortifications along the river at likely landing sites. There are now a series of pit traps and arrow towers just east and south of Jianye, and a supply camp near Port Poyang, where any army from Chaisang would likely try to cross the river.
(https://i.imgur.com/bGUmOCK.jpg)
But wait! It doesn’t look like Liu Biao is in any position to defend Port Poyang, so Princess Diana Memorial Ballpit Poster slides into town with his army. This means we now have a clear supply line across the tributary leading to Chaisang.
(https://i.imgur.com/sk73DVh.jpg)
What else can you do when you’re focusing on domestics? Well, you can forge an alliance with Shi Xie, which we’ve done. He hasn’t made any moves towards Jianan yet, so we could take the city without opposition.
(https://i.imgur.com/kZhahlL.jpg)
You can also try and recruit more officers and train the existing force with new tactics. This is a good idea even if the officers are people who would never go into combat, because every time an officer learns a new tactic, the ruler gets XP, and XP can be spent to expand the advisory council.
I’ve added A Meat to the council to help with domestic advancements, and Dong Xi (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Dong%20Xi) is helping Princess Diana Memorial Ballpit Poster develop naval technology. We now have assault ships instead of regular ships, which will be helpful if someone tries to fight us on the water.
By October of 194, our cities are profitable and we have a comfortable troop advantage over everyone in the country. (https://i.imgur.com/xFJeVZm.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/WdiZ8aX.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/8hxVMEM.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/21jnwfn.jpg)
Elsewhere in China, Yuan Shao remains the guy to beat, as he now controls one Large city, two Mediums, and two Smalls. He and Yuan Shu are putting the squeeze on Cao Cao. Tao Qian (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Tao%20Qian) is also on the move with a few well-defended cities: however, he’s 63 years old and was recently wounded in battle.
Our alliances with Sun Ce and Zhang Chao are set to expire this year, though we can renew them if we don’t feel like fighting them. (Sun Ce is west of us and in red on the map, Zhang Chao is north and in purple.)
We’d face no opposition if we moved against Jianan. The city is small and the terrain around it is mountainous, so it would take some time for the city to become profitable.
It would be a long march to get to Chaisang, consuming a lot of supplies along the way, but we’d likely overpower the city once we got there. Liu Biao has 25,000 men waiting on Jiangling to the west, but it would take them some time to arrive in Chaisang and reinforce the city.
Lujiang is poorly defended, awkwardly positioned for reinforcement and just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Jianye. However, Tao Qian has 30,000 men at Shouchun to the north and we don’t have an alliance with him yet: he could see an opportunity and strike.
Any more questions? What should we do next?
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on January 24, 2022, 03:49:49 am
renew the alliance with sun ce, appeal to the vulnerable position tao qian and show support. see if you can't woo a few of zhang chao's people and if not offer joint support in tao qian conquering that li'l place. split the land, we'll take the smaller parcel. meanwhile get chummy with his officers and/or successor.
during this engagement, take Jianan
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Dr. Buttplug on January 24, 2022, 01:06:23 pm
I would say we would only take Jianan if to deny a potential worthy advisory a stronghold. If someone moves to take it and has the resources to become a thorn in our side, I'd say move to take it before they do. I don't see anyone else moving to do so or a reward worth of the cost/risk.
Also how much would we have to gain from taking Chaisang as compared to Lujiang? If Lujiang is a more profitable location, it might be worth the risk.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: chai tea latte on January 24, 2022, 01:14:55 pm
Tao Qian be damned, I think we should take Lujiang. We should renew our alliance with Sun Ce to the west; I think we're both going places, and it could hold steady, at least for this second year.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on January 24, 2022, 06:39:43 pm
Also how much would we have to gain from taking Chaisang as compared to Lujiang? If Lujiang is a more profitable location, it might be worth the risk. Dr. Buttplug, January 24, 2022, 01:06:23 pm
Lujiang Small city with minimal development. Four villages in its hinterland that will contribute to development. Two officers leading the garrison, led by Cai Xun. (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Cai%20Xun) Taking its Port Wankou would give us a secure supply line across the Yangtze.
Chaisang Also small, with a little more development (Commerce Level 2). Six hinterland villages. Three officers, with the capable Wei Yan (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Wei%20Yan) leading the defense.
In short, Chaisang has greater economic potential.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Dr. Buttplug on January 24, 2022, 06:52:08 pm
Securing more of the Yangtze may be hugely beneficial depending on the mechanics of the game. If that is the case I would defer to Chai on this. If not I would recommend taking Chaisang then Luijiang once we've gained what we cam from Chaisang.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: chai tea latte on January 24, 2022, 09:55:15 pm
A question about the Yangtze.
Could you briefly discuss how forces cross a river? Is it risky? Is controlling more of the river actually good for us, or does it simply open us up to even worse and worse, increasingly dangerous and risky, opportunities for our enemy's crossings?
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on January 24, 2022, 10:29:19 pm
A question about the Yangtze.
Could you briefly discuss how forces cross a river? Is it risky? Is controlling more of the river actually good for us, or does it simply open us up to even worse and worse, increasingly dangerous and risky, opportunities for our enemy's crossings? chai tea latte, January 24, 2022, 09:55:15 pm
We cross rivers on boats, which is slower than crossing most other kinds of terrain, and prevents us from using some combat tactics while we’re in the water. We’ve researched assault boats, which would give us an advantage in naval combat against other forces that don’t have them.
Controlling the river means controlling the supply line, which allows us to send units transporting gold, supplies, and soldiers through the area. And so long as we have leaders with high Charisma managing the ports, any part of the river that enemies move through will revert to our control fairly quickly, potentially severing their supply lines and leaving their units confused and starving.
The bottom line is that if we crossed the Yangtze to Lujiang and took the city, it would be vulnerable for a while, but it would open up another front with the potential for us to drive towards the wealthy cities of north China and confront Tao Qian or Yuan Shao. Moving west towards Chaisang would give an option to take out Liu Biao and make the Yangtze act as a natural boundary.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Dr. Buttplug on January 25, 2022, 09:36:22 am
That being the case I would side with Chai and say we take Lujiang. Thank you for the explainer, this is really neat.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: chai tea latte on January 25, 2022, 07:28:52 pm
We're doing really well right now. I think opening a new front is not only 'not a mistake', but good. Let's do it.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on January 30, 2022, 02:36:07 pm
Fire up the motivational music, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glVJtlDkDIQ) because we’re going to WAR!
We’re moving our mightiest officers to Jianye to take part in the invasion, and handing out some promotions. Promoted officers get status bonuses and can command more troops, but they expect higher salaries (which is why I haven’t promoted anyone until now). (https://i.imgur.com/Bj71nrG.jpg)
It’ll be an all-F Plus invasion team, as Sauce, Chai Tea Latte, K. Thor Jensen, and Jim and the Mammograms are going to rush across the Yangtze and grab Port Wankou to secure our supply line. Then they’ll head north to Lujiang and meet Princess Diana Memorial Ballpit Poster, who’s bringing a siege tower. (https://i.imgur.com/r9qPvGy.jpg)
Liu Biao’s not even going to try to meet us in the field, and soon enough, the city falls. (https://i.imgur.com/flVXFri.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/6lRvZyS.jpg)
Nearby, Kong Zhou, who controls Runan just to the northwest of Lujiang, drops dead and is succeeded by a fella named Xu Jing. (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Xu%20Jing) This is an opportunity for us, because some of Kong Zhou’s officers aren’t so keen to serve the new guy, and we’re able to poach some officers. Notable new hires include the bandit Chang Xi, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Chang%20Xi) the strategist Lu Su, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Lu%20Su) and the warrior Li Tong. (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Li%20Tong) (https://i.imgur.com/ZEfK15V.jpg)
Now that we’ve crossed the river, we’re getting diplomatic missions from nearby warlords that border Tao Qian, such as the aforementioned Xu Jing and the poet-warlord Kong Rong. (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Kong%20Rong) Neither has offered an alliance yet, but it’s probably just a matter of time. (https://i.imgur.com/NjrzGzJ.jpg)
Speaking of alliances, both Zhang Chao and Sun Ce brought gifts to renew the alliances, and with no instructions otherwise, we’ve renewed them. Zhang Chao was desperate enough to ally with us that he gave us territory: Port Hailing, just on the north side of the Yangtze, which means we have plenty of places to cross the river now. (https://i.imgur.com/DTv6bWN.jpg)
We’re not done with Liu Biao, though. In a daring mission, he sent Wei Yan (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Wei%20Yan) through the mountains to capture Jianan. We give chase, but can’t catch them, and three thousand starving and tattered men limp into the city. (https://i.imgur.com/GF8IyXL.jpg)
And then Wei Yan heroically flees the city, leaving his men behind to be captured by our Shanyue warriors. (https://i.imgur.com/zRaazDB.jpg)
The year ends with Liu Yan, the warlord of the southwest, dying and being succeeded by his son Liu Mao. (https://i.imgur.com/BopNDLY.jpg)
Here’s China as of October, 195. (https://i.imgur.com/dZmosL7.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/a6vsY3z.jpg)
Yuan Shao remains the man to beat: he’s captured two more cities, he’s got twice as many officers as we do, and he’s got enough gold to keep them loyal. Speaking of officers, that’s going to be a constraint on our operations for a while: we have exactly one officer who isn’t currently working as a municipal administrator. If we tried to take new territory, we’d have a hard time governing it, potentially leading to bandit outbreaks and other nasty things. We’ll probably pick up a new officer or two in January, but we may have to rely on bribery for a while.
The situation on the front: (https://i.imgur.com/x2cpUUb.jpg)
Liu Biao is facing simultaneous attacks in the west from Sun Ce and Yuan Shu, so he probably wouldn’t be able to reinforce Chaisang (south of the river) or Jiangxia (north of it). Conquering Chaisang would complete our mastery of Yang Province and give us an XP bonus (and bring us to the attention of the Emperor).
Lujiang is one of two cities in Huainan Province. The other is Shouchun, just to its north and controlled by Tao Qian. Capturing the whole province would give us an XP bonus, the favor of the Emperor, and let us use espionage at half-price. However, the further we move north, the sooner we run into Yuan Shao.
I mentioned espionage, and that’s another thing we could focus on while we recruit new officers. Espionage allows us to incite bandits, try to turn officers against their leaders (or even induce them to declare independence if they govern cities), tear down fortifications, or turn two forces against each other.
Questions? Thoughts?
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Dr. Buttplug on January 31, 2022, 11:10:37 am
Can we promote new officers internally, or do we have to hire from outside? I would definitely want to have enough loyal officers before we overextend ourselves. We don't want to leave ourselves open to attack from outside or within. As for espionage, that sounds like fun, let's do that.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: moooo566 (taylor's version) on January 31, 2022, 05:38:33 pm
Seems like espionage and building up internally is our only real option for now. Chaisang and Shouchun are going to be the priorities (barring some major diplomatic shakeups) and Liu Biao is already in shambles so I say we focus our efforts on breaking down Tao Qian for now.
That said, should we also be thinking about Yuan Shu? What's his vibe? He's not that far behind us on resources and especially after we make our next conquests and he makes his, he's going to be very close. Seems like he could have the potential to be a problem in the not too distant future.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on January 31, 2022, 06:50:39 pm
New officers appear when they come of age to serve. If they have a parent who’s an officer in someone’s army, they immediately join that army. If not, they show up unemployed in their home towns, and we have to search for them. Officers might also become unemployed if their boss gets wiped off the map, or if their boss dies and they don’t like the successor.
Because our warlord Frank West is a Super Genius, we’re guaranteed to find any unemployed officer in any of our cities. I anticipate we’ll pick up one or two new officers at the beginning of the year.
As for Yuan Shu, his vibe is “unfriendly.” He’s enemies with Cao Cao (blue), Li Jue (black), Liu Biao (teal), and Zhang Lu (light green), and has poor relations with Yuan Shao as well. He gets along with Sun Ce but has no alliances. He’s got a decent team of officers, headlined by the great strategist Guo Jia (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Guo%20Jia) and the fearsome pirate Gan Ning. (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Gan%20Ning)
EDIT: If you’re really getting into this period of Chinese history, I should note that Total War: Three Kingdoms is on sale on Steam for 50% off, and there’s a free console demo of Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires that’s just out.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on February 01, 2022, 11:03:41 am
Encourage arts and generate capital through that. Spreads our cultural values, makes us look cool, and we use the windfall to fund officer recruitment. Outgoing artisans can be spies and *ahem* asset repurposers.
Also we should start using subterfuge to stoke conflict between our rivals.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on February 06, 2022, 02:44:14 pm
Internal development and cultural supremacy it is, and with thousands of years of knowledge of the future, we’re soon winning the hearts of ancient Chinese with universally-beloved stolen media like Shakespeare plays and Popeye comics. I’m now a level 5 nobleman, which means I can appoint another advisor. In accordance with this plan, I’m appointing one that lets us build music towers. Whenever our soldiers are in range of the music, they get a morale boost, so I suspect we’re teaching our musicians something like Seven Nation Army.
Our new cities are in a pretty shoddy state, so we’re having to bring in supplies from other cities for a while to help their development.
(https://i.imgur.com/K8evwVs.jpg)
Meanwhile, recruiting continues, aided by a new crop of officers popping up in our cities in January. Top new guys include handlebar-mustache-rocking-barbarian Ke Bineng, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Kebineng) alcoholic pirate Pan Zhang, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Pan%20Zhang) and wise man Bu Zhi. (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Bu%20Zhi)
We’re trying some trickery out this year. Our spies have convinced Liu Mao that it might be a good idea to pick a fight with Liu Biao, and perhaps more importantly, our new folk song “Kyle’s Mom Liu Biao Is A Bitch” has inspired one of his city governors, Cai Mao, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Cai%20Mao) to break away and rule Wuling independently.
Tao Qian died. In real life, his territories passed to Liu Bei, but as Liu Bei is working for Yuan Shao at the moment, Tao Qian is succeeded by his most talented general, Zhuge Jin. (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Zhuge%20Jin) He wastes no time in buttering us up with gifts, although we haven’t signed an alliance with him yet.
The alliance with Sun Ce expired, but we’re still on good terms. Shi Xie and Zhang Chao both renewed their alliances with us by handing over port cities. When combined with the ports we got as gifts from Zhuge Jin and Kong Rong, we now hold the coastline from Vietnam to the Shandong Peninsula. There’s no way we could defend the more far-flung ports if they were attacked, but for now, we’ll happily collect the money that comes from them.
(https://i.imgur.com/9iaWy4e.jpg)
The big news elsewhere in China is the fall of Cao Cao. The two Yuans pressed him from the north and south, only for Zhuge Jin to sneak in from the east and capture him. Zhuge Jin wasn’t able to hold Chenlieu for long, but he did get away with most of Cao Cao’s officer corps—including Cao Cao himself. Two of Cao Cao’s cousins fled the city and now work for us: Cao Xiu (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Cao%20Xiu) and Cao Hong. (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Cao%20Hong)
(https://i.imgur.com/7DYbqty.jpg)
It’s October of 196. Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu are getting ready to go Yuan-on-Yuan for control of the north central plains, while Zhang Chao prepares a desperate strike to capture Shouchun.
We now have enough officers to staff a newly-captured city. Liu Biao looks to be the easiest target, as neither Jiangxia (north of the river) nor Chaisang (south of the river) are in much of a position to resist an attack. Chaisang would get us an XP bonus if we captured it, but Jiangxia is a larger and more prosperous city. If we feel like rolling the dice, we could also march against both cities and hope that we’d capture enough enemy officers and/or recruit enough new ones in January to maintain control of both cities.
(https://i.imgur.com/s29Lbor.jpg)
If Zhang Chao fails to take Shouchun, we could march north instead. It would ruin our good terms with Zhuge Jin, but we could team up with our allies to finish Zhuge Jin off within a few years.
The alliance with Zhang Chao expires near the end of the year. He’s not likely to be in a position to resist an attack, if we choose to come after him.
What do you think?
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: GirlKisser420 on February 06, 2022, 03:52:05 pm
Probably best to go for Jiangxia. More money is always good and its probably not worth breaking an alliance when other options are solid. Slow and steady wins the race.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: chai tea latte on February 06, 2022, 07:48:20 pm
I agree; Jiangxia alone. The double attack is foolish in a way we haven't really been so far.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on February 07, 2022, 09:30:22 am
Wait for the alliance to expire, but start a smear campaign against Zhang Chao so that we are free to take care of him not long after agreements are fulfilled and look justified in our sudden shift.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: moooo566 (taylor's version) on February 10, 2022, 03:24:17 am
I'm nothing if not foolish. Go for both!
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on February 13, 2022, 12:56:57 pm
Jiangxia it is!
As the expedition is coming from Lujiang, which we’ve conquered fairly recently, we’ll have to spend some time stocking up on enough supplies to feed and equip our army.
(https://i.imgur.com/ZkAOtkr.jpg)
And while we’re at it, Jianye is a little closer to the front and a lot richer than Wu, so I’m moving our capital there. Besides, Jianye is basically modern Nanjing, which has served as China’s capital several times. I’m bringing along my civil administration cohort of GirlKisser420, Lemon, Shell Game, and Frank West. (The Lizzard is already in the city waiting for us.)
(https://i.imgur.com/cwg6ntV.jpg)
The force to capture Jiangxia will consist of three high-mobility units and two siege engine teams. If the siege engines make it to Jiangxia, the city is toast.
(https://i.imgur.com/TandE4O.jpg)
Unfortunately, siege engines are slow, which gives Liu Biao time to send reinforcements to intercept.
(https://i.imgur.com/pVKnBBm.jpg)
Fortunately, we have CHAI TEA MOTHERFUCKIN’ LATTE, who absolutely goes off on the attacking army. First, she unleashes her Lone Horseman tactic, which she shares with the legendary Zhao Yun, throwing the enemy into a state of massive confusion.
(https://i.imgur.com/cHoT5Mb.jpg)
Then she catches up with enemy general Chen Jiu (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Chen%20Jiu) and curbstomps him in a horseback duel, causing his army to lose nearly all its morale.
In the end, we’re able to hold off the reinforcements long enough for the siege engines to overrun Jiangxia.
(https://i.imgur.com/Lfs7vnl.jpg)
For the first time, we’ve captured prisoners. They refuse to switch sides and work for us, and they’re not dangerous enough to execute, so we ransom them back to Liu Biao.
This year’s recruiting highlights include lovable administrator Cang Ci, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Cang%20Ci) dashing cavalry warrior Cao Chun,* (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Cao%20Chun) scholar Zhao Yu, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Zhao%20Yu) and genius chancellor Gu Yong. (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Gu%20Yong)
*Heroku App says Cao Chun led the “Tiger and Leopold Cavalry,” which is probably a typo, but I prefer the idea of him running around with a bunch of white-gloved monocle-wearing European nobility.
Perhaps most importantly for my purposes, we’ve recruited Xushi. (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Xu%20Shi) I’m not the kind of guy who will turn down the company of beautiful women. Now, she is “skilled at augury,” and I haven’t had good luck with women who are into tarot, but maybe this time it’ll be different.
(https://i.imgur.com/GfW6ruv.jpg)
In the diplomatic realm, we get a year-long alliance offer from Zhuge Jin (lime green), and extensions from Zhang Chao (purple), Kong Rong (magenta), Shi Xie (light red), and Xu Jing (forest green). As we’re not fighting them this year, I’m happy to take their cash and/or land for a year‘s protection.
(https://i.imgur.com/6kTVWbI.jpg)
Peace behind the lines brings prosperity. Both Wu and Jianye are now large cities. However, Jianan in the far south continues to struggle, as it’s been hit by a plague.
Liu Biao seems to think that we’re coming for Chaisang next. He’s built fortifications and traps along the river.
(https://i.imgur.com/J4rQisj.jpg)
At the end of the year, we’re number one in China for territory controlled and in army size, but we’re probably not the favorites to take over China—that would be Yuan Shao, who could easily build a much larger army if he got a few moments’ peace from his constant warfare.
The local front is chaotic. Sun Ce’s men are crossing the mountains to strike at Chaisang, Liu Biao has nearly captured Xinye from Yuan Shu (pink) in the west, and Yuan Shao is sweeping southward.
(https://i.imgur.com/sJONF4r.jpg)
Some options for this year include:
1. Strike at Chaisang. No matter who wins the Sun Ce-Liu Biao matchup, the city (a Medium one) will likely be poorly defended when our soldiers get there, although an attack would be supply-intensive as we’d either need a long march from Jianye or a river crossing from Lujiang. It would complete our conquest of Yang Province and give us a bonus.
2. Keep going west and take Xinye. This is another chance to clean up someone else’s mess, either Yuan Shu’s or Liu Biao’s. Xinye is also a Medium city. It would be more awkward to resupply Xinye than Chaisang.
3. Let the alliance with Zhuge Jin expire and move north to take Shouchun. He’s distracted fighting Yuan Shao in the north. This would complete a conquest of Huainan and give us a bonus. It’s also a Medium city.
4. Let the alliance with Zhang Chao expire and finish him off by taking Guangling. It’s a miracle he’s survived this long, really. We’d have to cross a river to get there, but a completed conquest would allow for two-front warfare in the north. Guangling is Medium-sized.
5. Make a daring strike against Liu Biao’s capital of Jiangling. We’d have to cross a river and risk counterattacks from both sides, but if the attack is successful, we’d cut his forces in half and potentially capture a lot of useful officers and/or have the chance to give Liu Biao a permanent headache cure.
6. Let the alliance with Shi Xie expire and move south through the mountains to Nanhai. Nanhai is a small and isolated city, but if we capture both of Shi Xie’s coastal cities of Nanhai and Jiaozhi, we’ll be able to use those cities as a base for lucrative trade missions with the faraway land of Tianzhu. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianzhu_(India))
7. Turtle up, rebuild supplies and cash, support Yuan Shao’s enemies, and wait for the opportunity to destroy him.
8. Comedy eighth option.
You’ve advised me well so far: what have you got in mind?
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on February 13, 2022, 01:39:05 pm
Zhang Chao's art sucks and his number is up. We take him out from the south.
It's unfortunate Liu Biao has taken the wrong message about our intentions. Start some kind of cultural exchange with him. Give him some of our nicest... whatever luxuries we may offer. He should know us as a friend. For now.
Locally, we should construct a monument to Chai and her unparalleled horsemanship. Champion of the People, Liberator of Jiangxia!
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Dr. Buttplug on February 15, 2022, 01:01:13 pm
With Yuan Shao being our greatest potential threat in the long run, I wouldn't want to attack anyone who is attacking him and consuming his attention. Let them wear each other out. We don't want to slow down however. We should look to taking more territory to the southwest to bolster our barracks and coffers. Some skullduggery might be called for to keep Yuan Shao distracted.
Also I second the proposal to erect a monument to Chai.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: moooo566 (taylor's version) on February 16, 2022, 02:45:22 pm
I think we should take Chaisang, because this is a map painting situation and not having a completed province would be Bad.
I third the proposal to erect a monument to Chai, but with an addendum that afterwould we should erect monuments to everyone else too.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on February 16, 2022, 02:56:16 pm
I caution against running our supplies too thin. We want to gain officers, not lose them. We'll be able to take the final area for the province in the future, but for now we should seek stability. And more art.
However, I will defer to the Liberator of Jiangxia on this matter, should she have an op-onion.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: chai tea latte on February 16, 2022, 04:15:21 pm
No comments really but i love the statue idea
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on February 16, 2022, 06:29:09 pm
We can certainly build monuments to whoever the hell we want in the world of flavor text, but if we want to honor someone via game mechanics, we can award them the next rare item that we find, or we can allow them to get married or have someone else swear an oath of loyalty to them.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: chai tea latte on February 16, 2022, 09:15:51 pm
We can certainly build monuments to whoever the hell we want in the world of flavor text, but if we want to honor someone via game mechanics, we can award them the next rare item that we find, or we can allow them to get married or have someone else swear an oath of loyalty to them. Cheapskate, February 16, 2022, 06:29:09 pm
oh, fuck that. I'm getting married.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on February 16, 2022, 09:53:03 pm
We can certainly build monuments to whoever the hell we want in the world of flavor text, but if we want to honor someone via game mechanics, we can award them the next rare item that we find, or we can allow them to get married or have someone else swear an oath of loyalty to them. Cheapskate, February 16, 2022, 06:29:09 pm
You’re about to get a private message with a list of marital candidates.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on February 20, 2022, 03:32:21 pm
Another year, another war.
First thing’s first: I gave Chai Tea Latte the choice of bachelors in the country, and she’s decided to marry the dashing prince Ke Bineng. (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Kebineng) Wikipedia says he was “just, honest, and charismatic.” Sounds like a romance novel in the making: 21st-century Canadian woman charms barbarian khan. Anyhow, this means that any time Chai’s armies are in close proximity with her husband’s, they’ll both get combat boosts.
(https://i.imgur.com/Ew90LyN.jpg)
And while we’re celebrating, I’m going to get married, too.
(https://i.imgur.com/165Gvg7.jpg)
It would be gauche to send Chai off to conquer another city during her honeymoon, so in accordance with our plan, I’m launching a two-pronged attack on Chaisang. Jim and the Mammograms will lead the expedition from Lujiang, with Sauce and K. Thor sweeping down from Jiangxia in the northwest.
Supplying this expedition is a challenge, especially because Jiangxia was just recently conquered. I’ve resorted to confiscating supplies from the people, which won’t make them happy.
(https://i.imgur.com/BufkVtt.jpg)
Sun Ce’s attack comes up short, and we’re able to capture Chaisang without much resistance.
This puts us in full control of Yang Province. Game-Frank West seems to think that Huainan should be next: we can finish off Huainan by capturing Shouchun. The conquest also bring us to the Emperor’s attention. He promotes me, and I pass on promotions to you.
Most of our cities are prospering and growing, especially the ones south of the river, but natural disasters are hurting growth in Jianan and Jiangxia.
Our other neighbors continue to seek alliances with us, giving us cash and special items. The cash I keep: the special items, I pass on to worthy officers.
(https://i.imgur.com/Dkgi9fC.jpg)
Speaking of cash, I’m spending a lot of it trying to get Yuan Shao’s governors to revolt against him. Eventually I’m able to get Han Meng, who’s kind of a nobody, to rise up in revolt. He’s still independent at the end of the year, but he won’t last for long. At least he’s a distraction.
I’ve tried to focus our recruiting efforts on officers of Yuan Shao. Our biggest wins this year are Yu Jin, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Yu%20Jin) who’s considered one of the Five Elite Generals; Meng Da, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Meng%20Da) who’s a crafty warrior; high-spirited fighter Hou Cheng, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Hou%20Cheng) Lu Qian, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Lu%20Qian) a decent all-rounder; and former independent warlord Zhang Xiu. (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Zhang%20Xiu)
Yuan Shao isn’t much deterred, though. He takes out Kong Rong and, more worryingly, Lu Bu. With China’s most feared warrior on his side, he’s going to be even harder to defeat.
(https://i.imgur.com/8ZONtoV.jpg)
Fortunately, we’re able to convince Lu Bu’s daughter, Lu Lingqi, to join us instead. She doesn’t exist in real life or in the novel on which this game is based, which leads me to believe the guys at Koei Tecmo just wanted another excuse to draw a good-looking lady with a cheongsam-straining set of tits.
(https://i.imgur.com/6173hwr.jpg)
It’s October 198, and here’s the situation in China and on our northern and western fronts.
Can anything stop Yuan Shao? Perhaps. After all, he has three sons who don’t really like each other, so if we can hold out until he dies…
Options include:
1. Finish off Liu Biao by going west to Xinye, or crossing the river to take Jiangling in the south and Xiangyang in the north. We’d control the Yangtze gorge and force any attackers to make multiple river crossings to get to us, and if we take two of those three cities, we’ll get a bonus for controlling Northern Jing Province (extra XP for everyone).
2. Take Shouchun from Zhuge Jin. This will complete our control of Huainan Provice and give us a big XP bonus, plus it would cut our espionage costs in half. It would also set up a natural geographic boundary with Yuan Shao, as there’s a small river running between Shouchun and his city of Xiaopei.
3. Zhang Chao’s only got 8,266 men and seven officers in Guangling. He’s easy prey.
4. We’d have to march through the mountains to take out Sun Ce in Changsha. His cities are small, so it might not be worthwhile, but complete conquest of his territory would give us the chance to hire the Sun clan as our officers. Some of them are quite talented.
5. Shi Xie controls small cities. He’s built up a sizable army (32,000 men in Nanhai), but his officer corps is weak.
6. There’s an ancient Chinese proverb: “only suckers fight fair.” (Or at least it’s an ancient Chinese proverb now that we’ve tampered with the timeline.) If we focus on shipping supplies north of the river, we can outfit our boundaries with walls, traps, arrow towers, and other nasty things that could sway battles in our favor when Yuan Shao inevitably decides to come for us.
7. Some other thing.
What’s next for us?
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: GirlKisser420 on February 20, 2022, 03:39:06 pm
Option 1 gives us a good variety of advantages. XP and more defense at the same time will always be helpful, and we can move on the easier prey with more of an advantage afterwards.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on February 21, 2022, 09:34:21 am
I demand an arts and education initiative.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Dr. Buttplug on February 21, 2022, 10:09:51 am
I would think taking Liu Biao while shipping supplies up the river then taking on Zhuge Jin. That way we'll have quite the formidable front against Yuan Shao when he comes a knocking.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: jim and the mammograms on February 22, 2022, 04:22:19 pm
As a military strategist, I support the recruitment of as many good-looking ladies with a cheongsam-straining set of tits as possible. I only really know combat from video games but I've heard it helps.
Anyway, seconding #1.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: moooo566 (taylor's version) on February 23, 2022, 04:26:05 pm
I'm going to go with option 6. We've done well, it's time to treat ourselves with some sweet new hardware.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: chai tea latte on February 23, 2022, 05:13:20 pm
I'm too busy on my honeymoon to present myself at council chambers, but I send a courier with a note.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on February 27, 2022, 02:38:23 pm
Half of you wanted to focus on internal improvements and defensive works, while half of you wanted to charge Liu Biao and finish him off, so I’ve split the difference this year.
As usual, Shell Game wants us to teach people the arts, and what better art than architecture? I’m sending supplies north of the river so we can build walls along the edges of our territory. This becomes easier when Zhuge Jin renews our alliance by ceding Liuan, which sits across a narrow neck of land between mountains and the water. If Yuan Shao wants to come south towards Lujiang, he’s going to have to march through some very unfriendly territory.
Meanwhile, we’ll cross the Yangtse again and attack Jiangling, with our newlyweds and Princess Diana Memorial Ballpit Poster leading the way.
(https://i.imgur.com/U72qUCY.jpg)
The length of the march gives Liu Biao time to send reinforcements. The battle is a close-run thing. It would’ve been even closer if Chai Tea Latte didn’t fight Wang Wei (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Wang%20Wei) and kill him, sending all his men a-scatter.
(https://i.imgur.com/Y1pVfIr.jpg)
Ke Bineng and Chai Tea Latte eventually run out of soldiers, are wounded, and have to flee. Diana takes the city and tries to hold out against panicked Liu Biao forces. We contribute to the panic by sending spies to lower their morale.
Fortunately, we get Liu Biao to run away, and we get time to reinforce the city. Even more fortunately, we win the battle at just the right time: the city has a bountiful harvest, we find a legendary bow in the city, and the great doctor Hua Tuo shows up to heal our wounded officers.
As usual, we’ve picked up a few new officers, but there are three that I’m really excited about. Sima Lang (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Sima%20Lang) joins us to handle domestic affairs, and Lemon manages to steal one of Yuan Shao’s mightiest warriors, Zhang Liao. (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Zhang%20Liao) And in accordance with Jim and the Mammograms’ request to continue the emboobening of our forces, we’ve brought in Bu Lianshi. (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Bu%20Lianshi)
(https://i.imgur.com/BcrG3AV.jpg)
Speaking of Yuan Shao, he’s starting to breathe down our necks. He’s finished off his rebellious warlord and is sending expeditions towards cities just north of us. His officers are close enough that we’re getting opportunities to sabotage them.
The situation as of October 199. (https://i.imgur.com/D6fNgLq.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/oldxb8G.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/IpOvmpz.jpg)
Options include:
1. Lujiang is well-defended, and Yuan Shao will probably make a move for it sooner rather than later. Send our best soldiers there and prepare to fight on our turf.
2. Yuan Shao has men on the march towards Shouchun (lime green, Zhuge Jin) and Guangling (purple, Zhang Chao). We can wait for him to take one of those cities, then storm it before he gets the chance to recombobulate.
3. Our alliance with Zhuge Jin runs up in three months. If he can hold out that long, we can backstab him when the alliance ends and hope that we get Shouchun before Yuan Shao. This would give us dibs on Zhuge Jin’s officer corps, which includes some real heavyweights like Dian Wei, Zhou Tai, Xiahou Dun, and Cao Cao.
4. The same, but with Zhang Chao, whose alliance with us runs up in six months.
5. Liu Biao still lives. We might be able to capture Xiangyang without leaving our other cities too exposed, but we might not be in position to do so until next summer.
6. Some other option.
Whaddya think?
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: chai tea latte on February 27, 2022, 03:34:29 pm
e: quoting since new page
Half of you wanted to focus on internal improvements and defensive works, while half of you wanted to charge Liu Biao and finish him off, so I’ve split the difference this year.
As usual, Shell Game wants us to teach people the arts, and what better art than architecture? I’m sending supplies north of the river so we can build walls along the edges of our territory. This becomes easier when Zhuge Jin renews our alliance by ceding Liuan, which sits across a narrow neck of land between mountains and the water. If Yuan Shao wants to come south towards Lujiang, he’s going to have to march through some very unfriendly territory.
Meanwhile, we’ll cross the Yangtse again and attack Jiangling, with our newlyweds and Princess Diana Memorial Ballpit Poster leading the way.
(https://i.imgur.com/U72qUCY.jpg)
The length of the march gives Liu Biao time to send reinforcements. The battle is a close-run thing. It would’ve been even closer if Chai Tea Latte didn’t fight Wang Wei (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Wang%20Wei) and kill him, sending all his men a-scatter.
(https://i.imgur.com/Y1pVfIr.jpg)
Ke Bineng and Chai Tea Latte eventually run out of soldiers, are wounded, and have to flee. Diana takes the city and tries to hold out against panicked Liu Biao forces. We contribute to the panic by sending spies to lower their morale.
Fortunately, we get Liu Biao to run away, and we get time to reinforce the city. Even more fortunately, we win the battle at just the right time: the city has a bountiful harvest, we find a legendary bow in the city, and the great doctor Hua Tuo shows up to heal our wounded officers.
As usual, we’ve picked up a few new officers, but there are three that I’m really excited about. Sima Lang (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Sima%20Lang) joins us to handle domestic affairs, and Lemon manages to steal one of Yuan Shao’s mightiest warriors, Zhang Liao. (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Zhang%20Liao) And in accordance with Jim and the Mammograms’ request to continue the emboobening of our forces, we’ve brought in Bu Lianshi. (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Bu%20Lianshi)
(https://i.imgur.com/BcrG3AV.jpg)
Speaking of Yuan Shao, he’s starting to breathe down our necks. He’s finished off his rebellious warlord and is sending expeditions towards cities just north of us. His officers are close enough that we’re getting opportunities to sabotage them.
The situation as of October 199. (https://i.imgur.com/D6fNgLq.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/oldxb8G.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/IpOvmpz.jpg)
Options include:
1. Lujiang is well-defended, and Yuan Shao will probably make a move for it sooner rather than later. Send our best soldiers there and prepare to fight on our turf.
2. Yuan Shao has men on the march towards Shouchun (lime green, Zhuge Jin) and Guangling (purple, Zhang Chao). We can wait for him to take one of those cities, then storm it before he gets the chance to recombobulate.
3. Our alliance with Zhuge Jin runs up in three months. If he can hold out that long, we can backstab him when the alliance ends and hope that we get Shouchun before Yuan Shao. This would give us dibs on Zhuge Jin’s officer corps, which includes some real heavyweights like Dian Wei, Zhou Tai, Xiahou Dun, and Cao Cao.
4. The same, but with Zhang Chao, whose alliance with us runs up in six months.
5. Liu Biao still lives. We might be able to capture Xiangyang without leaving our other cities too exposed, but we might not be in position to do so until next summer.
2. We can win a war if we have to, but 2 seems smarter than 1 to me, and more pressing than 3-5. It's time to begin engagement on the northern border, and I can't think of a better way to start than picking apart stragglers and getting a city for our trouble.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on February 27, 2022, 04:33:29 pm
Entreat our closest ally to establish a joint defense against any attackers and take this time to shore up our infrastructure. Having such concerns taken care of will make option 2 much easier I believe.
It'll make a great book.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on February 27, 2022, 07:39:46 pm
Entreat our closest ally to establish a joint defense against any attackers and take this time to shore up our infrastructure. Having such concerns taken care of will make option 2 much easier I believe.
Joint defense is sort of an option: so long as we have an alliance with someone, we can march our troops freely through their territory. So we could extend our alliances with Zhuge Jin and/or Zhang Chao and send some of our generals to support their defense.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on February 28, 2022, 02:36:21 am
I think then if we attempt to plan a more longterm offensive we should renew our alliance with Zhuge Jin.
If things are going well for us when the Zhang Chao alliance expires we should consider finally writing him out of the history books.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on March 06, 2022, 02:02:57 pm
Before we return to the cheerful world of Fake War, where everyone has fun strategizing and the only people who get hurt are digital simulations of people who died 1,800 years ago, I should note that there’s now a Three Kingdoms-themed restaurant in Scarborough, Ontario. (https://www.narcity.com/toronto/torontos-new-film-inspired-resto-serves-sizzling-hotpot-its-like-a-whole-other-world)
Now then! Our plan is to engage Yuan Shao as he takes on our minor neighbors to the north. To execute this plan, I’m sending our best fighters north of the river, and letting superstar builder Frank West build more beautiful, beautiful fortifications near Lujiang.
As long as we have alliances with Zhuge Jin and Zhang Chao, we might as well whittle down the forces sent to conquer them. For that, we’ll need expendable forces that move fast. We need barbarians. I’m sending Shanyue cavalry units to engage the attacking armies. These men are easily replaced because as long as we maintain perfect relations with the Shanyue, they’ll send us reinforcements four times a year.
These cavalry attacks are enough to fend off the first wave of Yuan Shao’s attackers. (https://i.imgur.com/iacuRF6.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/UAXTucu.jpg)
But while Zhuge Jin and Yuan Shao are fighting, Xu Jing moves east and finishes off Zhuge Jin. We’re allied with him, so this isn’t a catastrophe.
(https://i.imgur.com/Mct5mxP.jpg)
The second wave of Yuan Shao’s invaders sweep into Guangling and defeat Zhang Chao, but at quite a cost.
(https://i.imgur.com/CMIN6GM.jpg)
They’ve set themselves up to become the victim of a counterattack, and that’s just what we’ll do. Sauce, Jim and the Mammograms, GirlKisser420, and The Lizzerd will cross the Yangtse to attack from the south, while Mr. and Mrs. Chai Tea Latte are joined by Yu Jin as they take the land route from the southwest.
But this doesn’t mean Yuan Shao is on the run: far from it. He’s been campaigning in the west, where he’s captured the imperial capital of Chang’an and got himself promoted to Grand Minister.
The fall of Zhuge Jin and of Zhang Chao brings a bumper crop of unemployed officers, so many that I couldn’t list them all without boring you to tears. Our best hires are super-genius Chen Qun, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Chen%20Qun) star poet Kong Rong, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Kong%20Rong) Cao Cao’s mighty cousin Cao Ran, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Cao%20Ren) and talented all-rounder Chen Deng. (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Chen%20Deng) We also brought aboard Xun You, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Xun%20You) who was allegedly “known for keeping a very low profile and hiding his true talents and achievements behind the façade of a foolish, cowardly and weak person.” Welcome aboard, Chinese Columbo!
The peace dividend south of the Yangtse continues to pay off. Wu’s prospered so much that it’s now the first Massive city in China, and Jianan’s expanded as well.
1. Yuan Shao might be able to take Shouchun, but he might not be able to hold it for long. Lujiang and Guangling are well-positioned to surround and crush his forces. This would complete our conquest of Huainan Province and give us an XP bonus and a discount on espionage actions.
2. Move northward along the coast with an attack on Xiapi, which isn’t well-defended and would be easy for us to fortify after capture because there’s a river and a mountain range to its west. This would get us the geographic advantage for Xu Province, which improves the power of our city fortifications.
3. Focus on defense and make Yuan Shao fight on our (heavily-trapped) turf.
4. Liu Biao is down to two cities, neither of which could withstand an attack if we wanted to expand in the west.
5. Some other thing.
Here’s to another year of glorious conquest!
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on March 06, 2022, 02:59:11 pm
We should engage in propaganda demoralizing the weakest of Yuan Shao's outer territories. They need to resent him more and also read our poetry.
Otherwise make chai decide what we do military-wise
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: GirlKisser420 on March 07, 2022, 03:54:12 am
Option 1 is a very clever opportunity, I say take it
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Dr. Buttplug on March 11, 2022, 08:57:38 am
Option 1 is good, we can take Souchun and make it as costly as possible for him to take back. We can also pursue option 2 if he choses not to pursue Souchun. I do think these can be part of a strategy to pull him into our territory where our previous efforts will make things demoralizing and costly for him to pursue us.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on March 13, 2022, 03:19:07 pm
With Shouchun sure to fall to Yuan Shao’s forces, we line up invasion forces at our borders to ensure that we can take the half-defended city after its fall.
Sure enough, under the leadership of the mighty general Zhang He, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Zhang%20He) Yuan Shao’s men take the city, and we rush to besiege it before reinforcements can arrive.
This victory is a big one for us. It confirms our control of Huainan Province and wins me a promotion from the Emperor. Plus, we find the city’s jail is full of officers captured by Yuan Shao, whom we hire to work for us.
A few months later, I level up, which means I get another advisor. This one is going to give me more actions per turn—not that I’ve been running out of actions often, but it means I get a few more officers searching cities for cash, officers, and weapons every month.
My promotion to Grand General lets me hand out promotions to you all as well, and now we have enough ranks available that even Lemon gets a title!
(https://i.imgur.com/acmY1LX.jpg)
Control of Huainan Province lets us conduct espionage at half-price. This dovetails with Shell Game’s arts program: first you teach the people how to read and write, then you teach them how to forge insulting letters in Yuan Shao’s handwriting.
(https://i.imgur.com/neFG2MV.jpg)
A steady diet of false information is all it takes to start pulling in some of the best officers Yuan Shao has. The following dudes all have big parts in the novel and have great statistics.
As the year continues, Yuan Shao appears to be doing most of his campaigning in the west. He’s left his east coast cities packed full of soldiers, so we’re building fortifications to protect us from attack.
(https://i.imgur.com/Yo8aOb1.jpg)
Peaceful development continues south of the Yangtse.
(https://i.imgur.com/xlY8aWb.jpg)
Cao Cao commands Xu Jing’s remaining army, but he can’t keep Yuan Shao out for long. Runan falls just as the year ends, wiping out Xu Jing.
1. Play vulture again and drive southwest from Shouchun to take back Runan. Runan is in a mountainous area, so an advance would be slow and would have to come from Shouchun because the mountains to the city’s south are impassable. Some of Yuan Shao’s best remaining officers (including Liu Bei) were recently seen entering the city and if we’re lucky, we might capture them.
2. Xuchang is directly to the west of Shouchun and was stripped bare to support the Runan invasion. It only has 9,340 men left, and we wouldn’t have to cross a mountain range to get there.
3. Yuan Shao is making a move for Xinye, in Liu Biao’s territory. If we attack west from Jiangxia, we could capture the city first and open up a route over the mountains to Runan, letting us launch a two-front attack later. This would also give us control of Northern Jing Province, which would let everyone earn experience faster.
4. Liu Biao left Xiangyang almost completely undefended to deal with Yuan Shao. An attack from Jiangling could crush them. This route would also give us control of Northern Jing. In fact, we could probably do both this option and another option without stretching our forces.
5. Sun Ce is attacking Cai Mao in the south. This fight could give us an opening to expand our holdings south of the Yangtse.
6. Lakes and canyons north of Shouchun make it a good natural boundary. Cover the area with fortifications and wait for Yuan Shao to come to us.
7. Some other option.
And if it matters, our spies tell us that Yuan Shao hasn’t been feeling so good lately…
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: chai tea latte on March 13, 2022, 03:36:21 pm
4 and 6 imo - keep adding provinces to our fold, and preparing the battlefield for the real showdown.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on March 17, 2022, 11:51:17 am
This dovetails with Shell Game’s arts program: first you teach the people how to read and write, then you teach them how to forge insulting letters in Yuan Shao’s handwriting. Cheapskate, March 13, 2022, 03:19:07 pm
Finally, you understand.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on March 20, 2022, 03:41:10 pm
With the showdown with Yuan Shao looking inevitable, it’s time for some battlefield preparation in the north. Master builder Frank West, escorted by Chai Tea Latte, begins work on a series of defensive works north of Shouchun and Guangling. By the end of the year, nearly every northern approach to these cities will require a march past enough concealed pits, fire traps, and arrow towers to make a dead pharaoh jealous.
(https://i.imgur.com/c8ZQqi4.jpg)
Meanwhile, Diana leads a group of soldiers to Liu Biao’s capital of Xiangyang. Sadly, he’s had plenty of time to hedgehog up himself, so they’re delayed by numerous traps. A second team follows up shortly after.
Yuan Tan dies in combat relatively quickly, but his retainers try to hold on.
(https://i.imgur.com/hOPjJmI.jpg)
Is this an opportunity for us to capture Xinye during the chaos?
(https://i.imgur.com/isqxHp9.jpg)
…no. Yuan Shang sends Guan Yu, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Guan%20Yu) Zhang Fei, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Zhang%20Fei) Wen Chou, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Wen%20Chou) and Zhou Tai (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Zhou%20Tai) to defend the city. We’re screwed, and we’re forced to retreat.
(https://i.imgur.com/O95XSUf.jpg)
But what opportunities do we have? Well, we can poach officers who were happy to serve under Yuan Shao but not under Yuan Shang, and we’ve got two good ones. Really good ones.
We can also try to incite revolts by municipal governors. We’re successful in convincing two different city governors to declare independence. Shen Rong (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Shen%20Rong) is behind enemy lines and is probably not going to last long, but our old pal Lu Bu might stand a chance.
1. Lu Bu holds Runan, but he doesn’t have enough men there to resist an attack. We could move west and take the city, and if we’re lucky, get him to work for us.
2. Ally with Lu Bu and help him by charging west from Shouchun and taking Xuchang, just to his north.
3. Xinye is full of soldiers and seriously powerful generals, making it the most logical staging area for Yuan Shang to attack either Yuan Shu or Lu Bu. Wait for that attack, then make an opportunistic attack on Xinye. This would give us complete control over Northern Jing Province and win me a promotion from the Emperor.
4. We might be able to bait Yuan Shang into crashing into our defenses with a judicious application of salami tactics. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o861Ka9TtT4) Grab a few outlying villages, then run away, and if they don’t send an army to recapture them, start fortification.
5. Sun Ce’s cities of Changsha (southeast of the Yangtse gorge) and Wuling (southwest) are small and aren’t well defended, but they have favorable defensive terrain.
6. Jianan’s up to a hundred thousand soldiers, which means that a long march south to take Shi Xie’s city of Nanhai would likely be successful.
7. Holds up the letter D in one hand and a cardboard cutout of a fence in the other.
What say you?
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on March 20, 2022, 07:55:50 pm
Defense. We need to consolidate what we have within during the turmoil without. Shore up our weaker cities' fortifications and invest in internal development. With any luck, we'll be in a lovely position to snap up any weakened cities after the dust clears and in the meantime we're in a perfect position to be salvaging castoffs and defectors. Also make us look enviable. Make people beg for our lovely, literate rule.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Dr. Buttplug on March 21, 2022, 10:00:21 am
We should do what we can to capitalize on this chaos. We should ally with Lu Bu and help him expand, we can crush him easily later if need be. For now he is in an excellent position to be very useful to us.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on March 27, 2022, 03:14:29 pm
Our plan to bail out Lu Bu with an attack on Xuchang hits a snag: as soon as we march out of Shouchun, Yuan Shang sends his soldiers driving towards the now-lightly-defended city.
(https://i.imgur.com/lp0u0Q4.jpg)
We turn right around and set up our defenses behind our line of arrow towers and fire pits. Cao Cao’s great intellect lets him forge orders to convince enemy troops to run right into the fire trap.
(https://i.imgur.com/KsTTnqi.jpg)
Soon enough, we’ve got them on the run.
(https://i.imgur.com/WmJouSa.jpg)
But Lu Bu can’t hold out forever, and he knows it. He can face the penalty Yuan Shang gives to people who rebel against him… or he can beg for our lovely, literate rule. Which one of our envoys convinces him to do.
(https://i.imgur.com/VMFm09S.jpg)
We send a fast-moving relief expedition to counter the attack on his former city of Runan (which he’s now governing for us). Yuan Shang’s attack collapses when we convince the fearsome commander of his fortress city of Xinye to declare independence.
The best part of Shi Xie’s surrender is that we now control Jiao Province. We can send merchant ships to the faraway land of Tianzhu. They’ll bring back lots of money and other goodies, and any officers who go away on trade missions will get a lot of XP while they’re away.
We’re now a big enough threat that everyone who isn’t us or allied to us (so everyone except Sun Ce) join a coalition to attack us.
(https://i.imgur.com/jb0FBq4.jpg)
We’ve continued to pull in some talented officers, like the mighty Gao Lan, (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Gao%20Lan) the happy warrior Ling Tong (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Ling%20Tong) (who seems like husband material for any of you ladies who want to get married), the great administrator Jia Kui (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Jia%20Kui), and—for those of you who are encouraging the continued recruitment of stacked ladies—Zhang Chunhua.
(https://i.imgur.com/s3vVRRk.jpg)
Li Jue and Yuan Shang are both advancing on Shangyong, our westernmost city (the one that Yuan Shu used to govern, which is lightly defended). They’re also making a move on Shouchun, which I’ve marched out to defend. However, the attack on Shangyong has left Xuchang vulnerable, so Chai Tea Latte is leading a counterattack from Runan as the campaign year begins.
1. The bulk of Yuan Shang’s forces are in the eastern cities of Xiaopei and Xiapi. If we take Xuchang, we can proceed west to Wan and make it easier to link up with Shangyong in the west. This would also give us majority control of Jingzhao Province, allowing a trade route to Anxi.
2. Same, but go north to Chenliu, which would force Yuan Shang to have to cross the Yellow River twice to maintain control of his forces, and give us boundaries with the minor warlords Guo Yuan and Guan Ping, either of whom could be attacked (or convinced to surrender when the coalition disbands).
3. If Shangyong survives, we could mount a counterattack against Li Jue and take Hanzhong to its west. The city isn’t well defended and Li Jue doesn’t have many talented officers.
4. Try to bait one of Yuan Shang’s best-armed cities into attacking our prepared defenses, then try to counterattack and see if we can seize the city.
5. Fight defensively and opportunistically until the coalition dissolves, then befriend minor warlords so that the next coalition isn’t as powerful.
Whaddya say?
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Dr. Buttplug on March 28, 2022, 02:15:10 pm
Usurper, usurper! Down with the false emperor!
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on March 29, 2022, 03:30:39 am
option 5
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on April 03, 2022, 04:25:27 pm
With most of China allied against us, we’re going to have to get ready for all-out war. I start by assigning a deputy in the south. He Qi has orders to send men, gold, and supplies to our cities on the border.
(https://i.imgur.com/09riRyw.jpg)
As the year starts, Guangling is under attack. We march out to meet them, and prepare a diversionary attack against their base city of Xiaopei.
Our defenses and counterattack force a retreat, with GirlKisser420 getting his first combat experience.
(https://i.imgur.com/fps5bSl.jpg)
But the real center of campaigning this year is Xuchang, which we take near the start of the year. It gives us majority control of Yu Province, plus the Jujube Spear.
This also gets me to level up. I give the extra advisor slot to someone who knows how to set falling rock traps, which will come in handy when we proceed into the mountains.
Chai Tea Latte and K. Thor Jensen are heading up the defense, and use their skill in duels to whittle down the opposition. Even Dian Wei (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Dian%20Wei) and Zhou Tai (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Zhou%20Tai) can’t defeat them.
I’m frantically issuing orders to try to relieve the city, spending money on sabotage efforts until we’re practically broke. We have to sell a village to Sun Ce to keep the money flowing.
Xuchang is down to its last seven thousand men, with morale fading, and Yuan Shang personally leading the forces against the city. I sent out Lu Bu and Chai Tea Latte for a last-ditch effort to drive him off.
Yuan Shang is defeated, but escapes our wrath. I try to press the advantage with an attack on Wen. Sadly for us, Wen Chou (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Wen%20Chou) is there waiting for us, and defeats the attackers. But, happily, we capture him. He won’t work for us and he’s too dangerous to allow to live, so I have him executed.
With money going into defense, we have fewer resources to spend on inciting revolts this year, but we do convince Liu Yi on the Korean border to rise up against Yuan Shang.
(https://i.imgur.com/KqaOpd6.jpg)
And even with their surplus resources going to help the army in the north, cities in the south continue to grow.
1. Move west to take out Li Jue’s city of Hanzhong. It’s poorly defended and gives us a foothold in the mountains.
2. Now that both Shangyong and Xuchang are firmly under our control, attack Yuan Shang’s western city of Wan (the one with 15,060 men) from both directions. A victory here would give us the majority of Jingzhao Province and open up a second trade route with foreign lands.
3. Go straight north from Xuchang to Chenliu (the one with 10,885 men). This would require Yuan Shang to cross the Yellow River for future reinforcements and set up easy conquests of the rebel warlords Guan Ping and Guo Yuan.
4. Make a move against Xiaopei in the east (13,733 men). This could force Yuan Shang to send men from his well-defended city of Xiapi to help defend, letting us whittle them down. A victory here gives us majority control of Xu Province and causes our city walls to be more effective.
5. Our counterattack strategy took Yuan Shang from 417,893 men to 328,593 last year, with us actually gaining troops. Do that again.
What say you?
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on April 04, 2022, 09:01:21 am
Option 2. Particularly for the foreign trade. Our funds will just give out again with everyone jealous of our poetry and art, so let's get non-haters to keep us solvent no matter who turns against us in the future.
We should then probably do something else but I'm personally more interested in us writing a whole bunch of longform poetry reminding those just outside our borders how rad we are even with all of China against us.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Dr. Buttplug on April 06, 2022, 08:05:09 am
I agree with Shell and we should be focusing our energies against Yuan Shang. His Usurping the throne and raising a coalition against us was costly. We should establish allies and sew distrust for this false Emperor.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on April 10, 2022, 02:28:21 pm
We’ve decided to spend this year focusing on capturing Wan, and even though it doesn’t have many troops, its location in the mountains will make it a challenge, especially because every time we ride out from Xuchang to fight, Yuan Shang tries to take the city. We’ll have to send a group north from Xinye.
The defense of Xuchang isn’t much of a challenge, but it keeps us tied down. Fortunately, they don’t have any mountain-expert generals in Wan, which means that our Shanyue warriors can ride circles around them—literally, in this case.
(https://i.imgur.com/SjJZVcA.jpg)
We’ve cut them off from resupply, but the men inside the city put up a terrific fight. It isn’t until spring that we can capture the city.
(https://i.imgur.com/Ju1aVGA.jpg)
Now that we control 35% of China, we’d normally ask the Emperor for permission to become a Duke. But there’s no Emperor at the moment, so I crown myself, Napoleon-style.
We’ve also opened a new trade route to Anxi. This route runs overland and takes longer than the India trade, but it’ll be more profitable as we sell the Parthians our great works of literature (which probably consist of Chinese translations of airport novels).
The coalition against us disbands, but that doesn’t make us any more popular. I’m buttering up Sun Ce and also trying to establish relations with Ma Teng, who controls far northwest China and is in a good defensive position.
We encourage two more rebellions against Yuan Shang, both of which are of some interest. The first is Wei Zhen’s revolt in Chenliu, which is just north of Xuchang.
(https://i.imgur.com/jZOTiby.jpg)
It’s quickly put down, but the city walls are damaged, and I get an opportunity attack. After Wei Yan kills the enemy commander in a duel, we capture the city to begin the autumn.
The other is in Chang’an, the former capital, and is led by Gongsun Zan. This is the westernmost edge of Yuan Shang’s territory, and it’ll be a challenge for him to retake it. Gongsun Zan also brought the beloved officer Liu Bei with him. I’m going to try to establish good relations and maybe convince them to surrender to us.
(https://i.imgur.com/8YLwlxa.jpg)
The year ends with us even more firmly in command, and with a second trade route on the way, we’re going to get rich.
1. Guan Ping controls the city of Luoyang and nothing else. If we move west from Chenliu, we can probably take the city without much of a fight. This would open up a third trade route to a land even more exotic than Parthia.
2. Same, but send Guan Ping a bunch of money and convince him to surrender.
3. Xiaopei is only defended by 9,733 men, and while there’s a clear path to reinforce it, it would really exhaust Yuan Shang to do that. Move north, take the city, and bask in our new ability to build stronger forts.
4. Xiapi, just north of Guangling on the east coast, is somewhat better defended, but if it falls, the rest of the east will be easy prey.
5. Consolidate gains and focus on diplomacy. With luck, we might be able to convince a few minor warlords to surrender to us.
Also, because we’re now flush with cash, I’m ready to offer up more marriages! If you’d like me to find a spouse for you, tell me what qualities you want in a husband or wife and I’ll see what I can get you.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on April 10, 2022, 03:16:31 pm
DIPLOMACY
and sculpture
also i wanna marry someone who is very into building walls and is also frank west
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: chai tea latte on April 10, 2022, 03:21:52 pm
1 , not 2. Why buy his city when we can take it?
RE 3....I think we shouldn't attack Xiaopei - Yuan Shang will have to commit supply lines and troops to sustaining a vestigial nub, and we might even get to do some tricky and fun timing of our eventual opened front with Yuan Shang if we make him overcommit to the wrong supply lines.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on April 11, 2022, 06:09:45 pm
I'll agree to 1 if 5 is the secondary priority.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on April 12, 2022, 08:06:03 am
also i wanna marry someone who is very into building walls and is also frank west Shell Game, April 10, 2022, 03:16:31 pm
I listed the two of you as sworn siblings when we started the game, so you can’t marry Frank West. Sorry.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Dr. Buttplug on April 12, 2022, 10:24:38 am
Weren't we able to take a city that rebelled against Yuan Shang before without attacking? or am I misremembering?
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on April 12, 2022, 06:03:51 pm
Weren't we able to take a city that rebelled against Yuan Shang before without attacking? or am I misremembering? Dr. Buttplug, April 12, 2022, 10:24:38 am
Yes, Zhang Fei gave up rather than fight us.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: moooo566 (taylor's version) on April 13, 2022, 03:27:27 pm
I'm personally intrigued by option 3, but number 1 seems fine since it's got other takers.
I'd like to marry someone who is very good at intellect and politics, to make up for my flaws and become the ultimate power couple.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on April 13, 2022, 05:23:33 pm
also i wanna marry someone who is very into building walls and is also frank west Shell Game, April 10, 2022, 03:16:31 pm
I listed the two of you as sworn siblings when we started the game, so you can’t marry Frank West. Sorry. Cheapskate, April 12, 2022, 08:06:03 am
I would like to sell all your secrets to your most powerful rival.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on April 15, 2022, 01:59:31 pm
The holiday weekend means you get an early report!
While we regroup for our upcoming attack on Luoyang, we should take care of some business. Princess Diana Memorial Ballpit Poster, say hello to your new wife, Da Qiao. (https://rotk.herokuapp.com/general/Da%20Qiao) She’s quite a catch: in real life she married Sun Ce.
(https://i.imgur.com/gWsIl4D.jpg)
Now that we’re moving west, we’re going to have to deal with gates sometimes. Gates sit on mountain passes and are defended like cities, but otherwise act like villages. Attacking them is going to slow down our campaign somewhat.
(https://i.imgur.com/ZME2689.jpg)
Once we cut down the gate separating us from Gongsun Zan, he realizes he’s a goner, and gives up. This gives us access to his deputy Liu Bei, whom we send off to forge an alliance with Ma Teng in the northwest.
Our efforts to incite rebellion among Yuan Shang’s cities aren’t working so well, as everyone even slightly disloyal has left his employ, and he’s now using a strategy followed by many modern dictators: prevent rebellion by using total incompetents as your governors.
(https://i.imgur.com/x3b5E9C.jpg)
Once we’ve built up our forces, we launch the attack against Luoyang. The city doesn’t last long.
With that, we open our new trade route to the faraway land of Daqin. We’re sending over crates full of artwork and literature, and making some requests for things to get in return: I’m asking for Claudius’ treatise on the Etruscan language and for Lives of Famous Whores.
(https://i.imgur.com/nSsQFxO.jpg)
We’re getting more goodies from our existing trade routes and from our newly-captured city.
“Why buy a city when you can take it by force?” asked Chai Tea Latte. Well, because when you march off to conquer a city, Yuan Shang sees his chance to take Chenliu. He’s not fucking around: the invasion force will eventually include 86,000 of his 324,000 men. Sauce, Chai, and Cao Cao are riding out to meet them in the field while I try to rush reinforcements under Lu Bu and K. Thor.
Provided we repel Yuan Shang, we’ll have a few options.
1. Yuan Shang drained his east coast city of Xiapi down to about 20,000 men for this attack. We have 100,000 men in Guangling to the south. The odds aren’t good for him.
2. Just to the west of Xiapi is Xiaopei, reduced to 15,000 men. We have 70,000 to the south. Conquest of Xiopei would help relieve pressure on Chenliu.
3. Liu Mao isn’t at all prepared for an attack in the southwest. We could march men through the mountains to take his poorly-defended southwestern cities of Jianning and Yunnan.
4. Defend until I see an opening, then take it.
Only three more cities until I become Emperor!
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on April 16, 2022, 11:09:13 am
I would like to sell all your secrets to your most powerful rival.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Dr. Buttplug on April 18, 2022, 02:06:41 pm
It's a good idea to hit the more incompetent governors and underdefended cities. Hopefully we can scoop up more territory by spooking folks into turning tail too. Seems like we're starting to wear down the pretender to the throne.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Cheapskate on April 22, 2022, 03:57:05 pm
Yuan Shang’s plan is to throw as many bodies at us as he can and try to force a breakthrough. It’s a good plan if you’re Ulysses S. Grant.
(https://i.imgur.com/7r1ierU.jpg)
But here are some reasons why that’s not a good plan for Yuan Shang. First, he hasn’t cut off our ability to supply cities on the front from the fast-growing and prosperous cities to the south, so we can meet him with equivalent force anywhere he goes.
(https://i.imgur.com/XnPMWxM.jpg)
Second, we have the chance to attack his under-defended cities while his men are out on maneuvers, and we can resupply our attacks a lot faster than he can.
Just as I am about to take the throne… Shell Game’s knife sticks into my back.
(https://i.imgur.com/jet0g26.png)
In the game, you can keep playing until you’ve conquered everywhere if you want, but I figure this is a good place to stop. Thanks for playing, everyone!
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: moooo566 (taylor's version) on April 22, 2022, 04:34:36 pm
Congratulations Shell Game! I'm glad I could play some small part in your ascension.
Thanks for running this Cheapskate!
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: chai tea latte on April 22, 2022, 05:43:26 pm
Thank you for running this! It was a joy to be on your council.
Title: The F Plus conquers ancient China!
Post by: Shell Game on April 23, 2022, 11:49:06 am
Yay! I win!!!
First order of business, sworn siblings can now marry.