THE AZTEC WAR

Upon discovering Civil Service, I pulled a double switch to Bureaucracy and Serfdom. This would only accelerate Paris's ability to crank wonders, and it would help speed my jungle clearing activity.

Aztecs had had Civil Service around for quite some time, though, and they had a LOT of Macemen trained (or upgraded from Axemen and possibly from Jags, too?)

I had only one Longbow unit on my forward position at Ning-Hsia. I had two up in Old Sarai, and another at Beshbalik. For the moment, I stood pat, though. (Not comprehending the extent of my danger. I had mistakenly assumed that most of Monty's troops were busy attacking America!)

Monty bypassed my forward stronghold at Ning-Hsia and landed two galleys full BEHIND Old Sarai.

Not only were they a threat to the city, but they were also a threat to cut the road, which could be serious in terms of responding to his future moves.

I had to take out that stack!

I had only one Catapult in position. Thank goodness I had him, though! He made all the difference.

I promoted one Cat to Barrage I and sent it in to die.

Wow! Very nice. It did a remarkable job of weakening the Maceman who defended, something that does not always happen. Plus it smacked some of the enemy Kittens around a bit.

Ten percent off the one, twenty off the other, and redlined that Maceman!

I had an unpromoted Swordsman up there. I promoted him and sent him in to combat, but things did not go so well that time.

Now all four of the enemy units were wounded, though, so I boldly sent my Longbows in to the fight. (If they lived, and that was likely, they'd promote!)

Now I was down to my WARRIOR up there. Sending Warriors in to battle against Macemen?!? Only if the Mace are redlined. (When their numbers (Hit Points) are so few, their total effective strength as a unit is almost nullified -- which is how I think it should be! I am SO glad to be far removed from the old days of Civ when dice ruled individual unit to unit combat far more than did strategy.)

My Warriors actually picked up 4XP from that fight!

I couldn't spare another unit up from Ning-Hsia to finish off the last, almost dead Catapult. So he was left to pillage that Cottage. That was OK, though. I had never actually worked that cottage, and would instead replace it with a Farm, now that I could bring irrigation down from the lake north of that city.

I was reluctant to trade away a tech as valuable as Civil Service for something a lot cheaper and less valuable, but I found I had few alternatives. After waiting a couple of turns, looking for a better deal, I gave up and made the most of the opportunity I did have. I traded the tech to Gandhi for Optics and some cash.

I then immediately started on a Caravel out of Ghuzz (which was actually sped up by the Heroic Epic there.) My intent was to "build Magellan's Expedition" to use Civ1 terms.

Montezuma made peace with America! Now he can turn his full attention to me.

Here comes the Aztec SoD (Stack of Doom) rolling over the horizon.

Uh... I've still got only one Longbow in that city. Plus my three Swords are all City Raiders. Could... get... ugly...

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