France IA - Part 4 City-States and Kingdoms

Bonjour! Welcome back to the France IA game! Strapoll results are lower this part, but still decently high. Vercingetorix is leading with 4 votes, followed by Alaric with 3. Louis and William have 2, and Anne, Robrecht, and Alfred have 1. Everyone else got none. Sucks to be them XD

We start this portion of the completion of the burn of Tours, after France took it from the Bretons.

I definitely looks like Charles is going to attack Anne. That force looks like it could do some damage, though the archers could be composite bowmen. Those warriors are understandable as there isn't much (any?) iron in that region of France, so I couldn't put any in when I made the map.

(Edit: on the last slide of part 3 Charles declared on Anne, so yeah, that's an attack force.)

Alfred is going great in England, so he decides to build a giant temple, Angkor Wat.

Tours is still alive somehow, it may have flipped but I can't remember. If Charles gets his archers close for ranged support, St.-Hilaire will fall flat like a crêpe.

Roger Bernard of Andorra is still at war with Alaric and Vercingetorix. He decides that a warrior, a missionary, and a great prophet are enough to defend his his last city. On the southern side of the Pyrenees remain 2 Andorran scouts, which will sit there for a while and then die.

Don't worry, that lone pikeman has got this. Not.

St.-Hilaire should be falling to the force Charles sent, but AIs will be AIs and fail.

The Flemish are gathering around their border with France. They have a pretty decent force and could do some damage before Louis could transfer his army.

Gallic knights are attacking Agde by sea, as is a Visigothic trebuchet. It seems like praying the Visigoths away is working decently for now, but things don't look good for the Andorrans.

Switzerland is holding the Gauls off very well. That, or the Gauls suck at attacking. Dunno.

Charles could do much better... He should have that city by now, but he doesn't.

Things look very bad for Roger. Charles/Louen doesn't look much better though.

Alfred is doing great, and somehow Viriato is as well. Maybe the Iberians aren't napping as I thought...

Agde looks sure to fall, but to who?

Charles has managed to take the city to yellow, but his army looks rather weak now.

William, where are you taking that army?

And there it goes! Agde, Roger Bernard III's last city falls to the Visigoths!

The Andorrans had a tough start, with not much food in their capital. They founded two good cities, declared a war on the Visigoths that should have led to conquest but led to the 'donation' of Roger's second city to Alaric for peace. After that, the Andorra fell in the ranks until it was om-nomed by Alaric with some Gallic help.

Here are the Iberians, who have galleasses and interestingly high production. Do something!

France has a good looking empire with a decent military. Flanders isn't going bad, and William is sending his army to the southeast.

Here's a view of Alaric's empire, it looks pretty good. That warrior will fail to take Agde back, that missionary will do missionary things (aka, spread Catholicism until it dies), and those scouts will sit there for a while.

St.-Hilaire should have fallen... Charles has wasted his decently-sized army on this, he should hurry and build another so he doesn't appear weak to the leaders of larger empires.

Williams Norman Expeditionary Force is still moving, but very very slowly.

There you go Charles, send the remains of your force back home (in shame) to train some new guys.

Nothing going on here, but we'll take a peak anyway. The Swiss and the Gauls are still at war, but you wouldn't know it.

Iberia founds the original Laredo. I say original because Texans probably think that the one in Texas is the original one.

Vercingetorix founds Dole as a forward launching base from which to attack the Swiss. I hope.

France has started to reposition its army to deter any future Flemish attacks. Wise move Louis. Meanwhile, Alfred founds Dover.

There's a difference? Oh, yeah there is. The Kingdom of the Visigoths is now the Great Kingdom of the Visigoths. Ignore the part where it only says Goths, its lying to you. Alaric's empire looks good, he's got a good base from which to expand.

The Flemish cut off the French and the Franks from each other. That's pretty dangerous Robrecht, but if you think its a good idea I won't doubt you.

While the Visigoths become a Great Kingdom, the Gauls become a Great Kingdom. I'd rather have Alaric's centralised empire, but Vercingetorix's empire is good too. His tech is pretty impressive, so that's nice.

Maybe these cities will lead to war soon, they seem to be invading each other's territory.

Uh... Guys? Where are your armies going? L'Aigle and Blois could fall quickly to each force, that'd be an interesting trade.

Alfred founds a couple more cities, but he'll need to go to the mainland if he wants to keep expanding.

Well, that worked out well I think. Looks like France and Normandy have open borders with each other.

Finally! Normandy founds Hirel next to the MontSaint.-Michel! You'd think a natural wonder would be hotly contested, but no. William also has cannons, which lead to fun. His UU, the Chevalier, is also present.

This is a knight that has cover I and II, and can attack cities without penalties. With enough of these, William should be able to take over the neighbourhood very easily.

I think we can see who Alaric is going to attack next, as a strike force gathers around Pauillac.

Yup, there we go, Alaric and William declare war on Charles. the NEF has come from far for this, and Alarics forces look ready for some action.

This section of the map is peaceful, but maybe someday war will come. Someday...

The Bretons change their name to something more fitting of their status.

Saintes looks like it'll take damage soon, and the NEF is is dealing with the remains of Charles' army.

Look! The Iberians have another settler! Maybe they CAN into empire!

The Swiss are taking the fight to the Gauls, which should make the citizens of Dole rather scared.

Full extent of the Franks' empire. Some high-pop cities but not much going on which is disappointing.

Another look at the Great Gallic Empire, which looks good as well. the population of the cities isn't as high, but the production is better.

Saintes is starting to take damage, and the NEF is... not attacking... Great idea William!

We're back to the Gauls as Vercingetorix builds the Himeji Castle. This'll make invading his empire difficult.

The Swiss build the Chartes Cathedral and continue their attack on Dole. It's not looking that great, but its distracting the Gauls from attacking them.

You can read it for yourself, but the general gist of it is increased gold and faith because of trade routes.

Well thank goodness for that, Charles is saved! Hah, yeah right.

Or... Or not... Poor Charles. Saintes looks set to fall as soon as Alaric wants to take it, and Charles' army is looking nonexistent. Charles is following Roger's technique of praying the enemies away.

See? Alaric wants Saintes now, so he's going to take it.

Dole is taking some damage, but Vercingetorix looks like he's sending some musketmen somewhere. Maybe skiing?

Yeah, Saintes is falling. Good for Alaric, sucks for Charles.

Looks like Louis is planning on another war with Anne to control the entire Loire Valley. At least, the section that has many castles and great wine.

Alaric doesn't want Saintes. Well... Ok, your call.

Montgomery! You are also a traitor! You're supposed to be leading Alfred's forces!

The Flemish-Frankish border is undefended. That's not cool, I want war dammit!

Guderian not you too! WHY??? You should be leading our German replacements, the Franks!

Come on Dufour, Dole should be yours by now.

Iberia is waking up, as they settle Zarautz to get Mt. Kailash, which represents Gaztelugatxe, a location of a pilgrimage to Saint John.

The NEF has finally decided to attack a city now that it has expended most of its melee units. That was a great idea William, I'm sure that everyone agrees right? Guys? Where are you?

Look, its the last Andorran unit! I think that I eventually declared them bandits so that they would be killed off seeing as they can't snipe a city.

The Gauls build Petra in the best possible location for it on this map. Good job lads.

Hey look, the Anglo-Saxons have frigates. Britannia will rule the waves once more!

Charlemagne keeps to himself. He could do some damage if he decided to do something, but he doesn't so he won't.

Bye Saintes! The NEF has failed its task, and Louis looks poised threateningly over Anne.

The Gauls are expanding westward. Hopefully this leads to conflict.

We'll end this part with a look at the war between the Swiss and the Gauls. They both aren't very good at this type of thing apparently.

Here's the strawpoll: http://strawpoll.me/6057233

The Goths and the Gauls are powering ahead, the Flemish and the Anglo-Saxons are doing their best, but it doesn't look like its enough. Andorra is still alive, but they aren't contenders anymore.

The Gauls have a massive army, yet they still fail to take out the Swiss. Darn it Vercingetorix, you should be steamrolling them. Charles and Anne are the remaining civs that are still weaker than our nuclear sub.

What tangled webs we weave.

The Anglo-Saxons are populous, though the Goths and the Gauls are not far off.

Holy cow, I think we know who our top 3 contenders are, and they have the production to support them. Anne and Charles are in trouble.

France and the Franks aren't happy, but no one important is particularly happy at the moment.

The Anglo-Saxons have a lead in tech, though the spread between top and bottom isn't as damning as it could be.