Slitherine

1000BCE Founding of Faerlon the Fine

Finding ourselves in fertile land, we establish the beginnings of the city of Faerlon in the finest of Greek traditions.
Faerlon the Fine is built within range of the various resources. [Within 3 tiles of a city = increased production.]

We also begin looking into establishing a monarchy. We can afford that luxury since we are able to cultivate the land around the cities; there should be no worry for food! Also, to the southwest, at a most sacred site, a temple is built. [Within 3 tiles of a city = improved population growth.]

The First Few Years

Through hard work and cooperation, we establish trading between our two foundling cities. Every extra coin will be essential for survival!

Early exploration reveals rich deposits but so far, no other peoples. Could we be in a tranquil paradise alone? Wise souls determine the best way to establish a monarchy in our infant society.

Monarchy brings many benefits (with a couple of drops in production). Happiness increases dramatically!

Sadly, all of this took a drain on the population, both physically and emotionally. Faerlon, our fine capital, burst into riots, and Raelgon soon followed!


Both are calmed by an expenditure of some basic resources.

By the end of our first ten years, things seem to have settled.

We've discovered two different groups of people. One, to the west, we are hoping to contain by building/conquering cities on those narrow peninsulas. That will be priority #1 for the next period of time. Can our population increase fast enough to meet the military demands we will be facing? Can we get to those peninsula sites before the Ardiaei? If they attack, will we be able to hold them off or will our soldiers crumble and flee before them? Stay tuned! Same Faerlon time! Same Faerlon channel!
We sent missives of peace to our newly-known neighbours, but sadly, they rejected our offers. Not exactly good omens!

Thoughts on Food, by Blathergut I of Faerlon

There was a time in our history, I remember as a boy, when there never seemed to be enough food. But these days, in our times of abundance, you can actually have TOO MUCH food. As a ruler, remember, grow enough so everyone is fed. Trade surplus if you can. The rest, unfortunately, will be wasted and lost. So...don't grow it! No need for cultivated fields if the land is managing to feed everybody. Have your people doing something else productive!
Food through the years:

We have discovered yet another independent city to the west, between us and the Ardiaei, on yet another peninsula! Both those cities are our goal. The first of our peltast units is being trained. Will we get there in time?

982 BCE

Preparations continue. We have two peltast units in place. Do we attack now? Or do we wait for reinforcements? The latter would be the wisest choice since not even the gods can truly predict what will happen in a battle. For now...we wait.

980 The Year of Peace!

We offered many thanks to as many gods as we could think of when the ambassador from the Dacians arrived unexpectedly, offering peace between our two peoples! (Not that they couldn't suddenly change their Dacian minds at any time, but still, it gives us some hope that the Ardiaei front can be our sole concern for now.)

I remember writing that food should be no concern. Those words are haunting my dreams.
Our problem is that both our cities are focused on training peltasts. We NEED a settler to develop a couple fields to ensure sufficient food supply. We HAD hoped by now to control those two cities and then THEY would have been producing lots of little settlers who would have grown up into big settlers capable of handling a plough!

We shall see. [I suspect the final version of the game, for release, will modify this. Currently, if I want to change production to a settler, I need to change the city production back to settler production. That costs resources and time. THEN I could build a settler; more resources and time. I suspect the release version will let you produce anything you have produced in that city. So, in this case, since I started with settler production and changed to peltast, I can produce either in the city.]

The War of the Two Cities
We pray to the gods of war that this will go well. The first city falls, burning in the process. Our soldiers quickly work to save the city.

Peace with the Ardiaei!

An envoy arrives, offering peace! We could not ask for better! The campaign can continue without fear (for the moment, anyway)!
And the final outcome:

966 BCE Passing of the Sword

Having ruled for close to 40 years, I pass the crown to my son, Blathergut II. May his reign be peaceful and prosperous!

Year 966 (Reign of Blathergut II)

My father's fears of the Ardiaei were probably unfounded. Given the peace between our two nations, and the trading that has been going on, I decided to tour their lands. Lands...such as they are. I truly fear for their continued existence. Their neighbours to the south are very aggressive. We will have to watch carefully, and if the Ardiaei start to wither, we will nab what pickings we may before they go down. Such is life in this world.

966 BCE

Our plans are twofold for now.

1. Ensure that the western cities are as well protected as possible. [City defense improvement + peltasts defense training.] And PLEASE remind me to order some name changes there!
2. Establish colonies around the resources in the east. The Dacians are dangerously close to those. While war preparations on two fronts is all but impossible financially, we will do our best. The settlers will drive a road into the region and then establish two cities.
3. We will try to ensure that all the resource mines are connected by roads to improve our ability to work these treasures.

I worry a bit about the south, but it is impossible to expand everywhere. Perhaps we could scout the region...

[A note from the modern editor translating all of this from the ancient Faerlonian]

It took me a while to finally adapt to the production system. I had it ingrained into me that population worked tiles. So, if I had a population of 2, only 2 tiles would be worked.

That's not the case. ALL tiles in a city area produce. So as the city grows, and the area expands, your kingdom naturally gains increased production. The two critical ones in this regard are food and wood. You've seen how the kingdom more or less produces enough food for the people. That in part is because the population has been kept low from producing peltasts and settlers. As it goes up, we will need to improve those grasslands with fields. We also started in a very fertile area. However, that did cause little wood to be produced. Ideally, you want your cities to produce some wood (either hill or forest will produce the same amount).
The other thing to remember is that all food production goes into one vast warehouse. So a city that does not produce much (if any) food, will still grow because the rest of your kingdom is feeding it.

[Back to the chronicles of Faerlon]

955 BCE

My concerns for my western neighbours seem unfounded. Pontus, to the south of the Ardiaei, seems no larger from reports I've heard. We will continue to hold there and strive to develop the east. The road system to the resources is almost complete and a foundling city has been established.

From there, we shall hope our abundant gold reserves keep us able to send settlers to establish cities to our north as well. That is undeveloped and unexplored lands, but I fear not devoid of people.

940 BCE

Things have been quiet.

1. The West

We have slowly managed to improve the land around the cities. Indeed, some had originally been built in forests and jungles! Such barbarians! The road system is finally connected.
2. The Capital

We made small treaties with several newly-found neighbours and when we thought about what we might trade, it seemed food was desired by many of them. So we went on a cultivation spree! Excess food can now be traded.
3. The East Develops

The road system is connected and the resource mines have better access to labour, so are producing more for us. Finally, we have some troops exploring the remaining unknown areas, although we suspect other peoples will have nabbed most of the goodies.

[Editor's Note: The following, inserted here in the narrative, is a discourse on Faerlonian diplomacy and trading, by Thalius of Laern, from the reign of the second king.]


The world that Faerlon the Fine found itself in was populated by many tribes and peoples. Not all of the known world had contacts with Faerlon beyond the most simple. The countries that did interact both diplomatically and with vigorous trading were as follows:

And that diplomacy was far reaching. I am sure that one reason the king never went to war with the Ardiaei was the fact that the army would not have supported such an endeavor. Who can say just exactly why? Many had lived for most of their lives on the border with those peoples and no doubt many wives came from there.
The attitude of the Ardiaei themselves, in particular their leadership, were very appreciative of Faerlonian contacts and comforts.

Indeed, the morale of the army was such a concern of the king that he made several tours of the border cities.
But, alas, idle hands make for idle minds. Since Faerlon was not at war with the Ardiaei, there were no options open to the king to try and boost morale.

Very nice AAR Blathergut. Interesting read.

Blathergut wrote: ↑Fri Aug 03, 2018 12:44 pmI suspect the final version of the game, for release, will modify this. Currently, if I want to change production to a settler, I need to change the city production back to settler production.

You are absolutely right. It will be included in V8 version distributed next week. viewtopic.php?f=520&t=85645&p=739953#p739859

And while speaking of morale, citizen happiness is another of those fickle things inflicted upon us by the gods.

With most of the army stationed in the western cities, happiness is bountiful everywhere in the kingdom. There are five units in total stationed in the three cities.
But when two units are ordered to the north and east...

...and a quick check of the western cities...
...shows you, my dear reader, just how effective the sword is at keeping people feeling safe, secure, and happy.