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                                  PHARAOH
                     The Golden Age of the 18th Dynasty
                                Version 0.1
                              By Stefan Härtel
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WARNING: YOU NEED FANTASTIC WORLDS TO PLAY THIS SCENARIO!

                                CONTENTS
                                --------
                           -Introduction
                           -Civilizations
                           -Rules&Victory Conditions
                           -Units
                           -Techs, City Improvements&WOW's
                           -Other notes&bugs
                           -Credits
                            -Feedback


INTRODUCTION
------------

This scenario is a trip far back into the high Bronze Age, 1481 BC to be exact. It tells the story from the death of Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt (1481) to the death of Amenophis IV, better known as Akhenaton in 1358: The golden age of Egypt. The idea, BTW, dates back from August 31st...
The scenario follows the basic rules of Civ2: Explore, discover, conquer. It is still an objectives scenario, though!
There are many technologies, and a lot of units upgrades.
Please note that there is no history section here, I wrote an extra-file which you should consult before (or while?) playing this scenario, as some things might seem strange to you (especially in the later phases of the game).

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
---------------------

Queen Hatshepsut died in 1481 BC, and the official Pharaoh Thutmosis III rose to power. During Hatshepsut's reign, Egypt lost all posessions outside of the Nile valley as well as Nubia. Thutmosis began a campaign to regain the lost countries: Nubia fell quickly while it took Thutmosis 20 annual expeditions into Canaan and Syria to get a foothold on Asia. At the end of his reign, Egypt succesfully held all territories from the Euphrates in Syria to the 5th Cataract in Nubia.
After Thutmosis, two unimportant kings, Amenophis II and Thutmosis IV reigned. The next king was Amenophis III, another great king. Amenophis built great structures, sich as the Temples of Amun, Mut and Chon in Thebes, the temple in Karnak, and possibly the most famous of his works, the statues of Memnon, who once guarded his tomb.
After Amenophis, the propably most notable king of the 18th dynasty, Amenophis IV and his wife Nefertiti came to the throne. He introduced the Monotheistic religion in Egypt, the only god under him was Aton. He also called himself "Akhenaton"-"Servant of Aton". While Akhenaton was popular, he was also very weak. All posessions in Asia got lost, and the Nubians rebelled. But he was also a brilliant diplomat, his contacts reached from the Tigris to Hattussa.
Akhenaton's son is the most well-known of all Egyptian kings: Tutankhamun.


CIVILIZATIONS
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Here I go to the description of the Civilizations in order of playability. Please note that EVERY Civilization (maybe with exception of the Greeks) is recommended!

Egyptians
---------
Monarchy, later Monotheism (Communism)

Egypt's glory passed as soon as king Thutmosis I. died. He expanded the Egyptian borders as far north as the Euphrates and as far south as Napata and the 5th Nile Cataract (a cataract is something like a waterfall). After 34 years of peace, the  countries conquered by Thutmosis I rebelled, and the new king Thutmosis III went out to regain the lost territories beyond the 3d Nile Cataract and the Sinai desert...

The Egyptians are suffering a period of revolts. They are also confronted in a four fronts war with the Nubians, Canaanites and Barbarians, who are the most serious threat.
They are the protagonists. I highly reccomend them also because the events file is layed out for play with the Egyptians. They are quite advanced.

Mitanni
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Monarchy (Fundamentalism)

The Mitanni are a tribe we know little about, basically because their capital Washuganni is lost. The Mitanni where a powerful ally of the Egyptians. Their most powerful ruler was Parrattarna, who expanded the Mitanni sphere of influence far into Asia Minor and Syria. The Mitanni where conquered in a sudden storm of Hittite invasions in the 15th century BC, making them the suprerior power in Asia.

The second choice, because they are very powerful and have many possibilities at the start. The only disadvantage is that they will suffer heavy Hittite raids towards the end of the scenario.
They are as advanced as the Egyptians, but they have a 25% less science output than them.

Nubians
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Monarchy (Fundamentalism)

The Egyptians and other peoples of the Middle east used the term "Nubians" to describe all the Dark-skinned tribes of Africa. Nubia and the southern empire of Ethiopia where closely alligned to each other, and where eventually united as Cush. I don't really know when this happened. In this scenario, the Nubians stand for all southern tribes in this map.

Very threatened at the start, but I think that's what makes them one of the most fun to play civilizations. However, the continuing Barbarian raids in their territory (they never stop) will frustrate not so experienced and not so good players. Not very advanced.

Elamites
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Monarchy (Fundamentalism)

Elam was a very old kingdom, dating from the 4th century BC. The Elamites always had big influence on Babylonian and Mesopotamian history. During the times of Hammurabi I (around 1700 BC), they allied up with the powerful states of Mesopotamia, most importantly Lagash.
During exactly this time, the Iranian people wandered into the territory north of Elam, and where a serious threat. Yet, it took them 1000 years until the first important tribe, the Medes, where able to conquer them. In the time this scenario takes place, the Elamites where the most suprerior power in the territory south of the Mitanni, outdoing the Kassites and the other local tribes, preventing them from becoming ever powerful.

Very powerful, they can build the best units from the start, and they really need them. They will be confronted in at least a two-front war with the Kassites and the Iranians (Barbarians) in the north. But because they are high up in the mountains, they do not have so much ressources, but after a bit of conquest, that shouldn't matter. The most advanced tribe.

Kassites
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Monarchy (Fundamentalism)

The Kassites where a mountain tribe that wandered in from the Iranian plateau and occupied southern Mesopotamia in the 16th century BC, ending 2000 years of independent power of the Babylonians and Sumerians. The Kassite empire was weak. They suffered invasions of the dominant states of the  Mitanni and the Hittites, being occupied by the latter for a few years. The Kassites where later conquered by the Assyrians. After that, another foreign tribe, the Chaldaeans took over. Babylonia was never "truly" independent again.

The Kassites are not very advanced and marginally powerful, having to deal with the Mitanni, the Elamites and Chaldaeans and other Aramaean tribes (Barbarians) from the beginning. Not really recommended.

Canaanites
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Monarchy (Fundamentalism)

Canaan was the territory now known as Israel and Palestine. It was a very unorganized kingdom, but still a serious threat to Thutmosis III, especially because it was allied with the rich and powerful Syria. The Canaanites fell victim to the invading Israelite, Beduine and Philistine tribes shortly after this scenario ends. Canaan liberated itself from the Egyptian rule during or after the reign of Amenophis IV, Akhenaton.

Not very powerful, they must deal with the Egyptians, Mitanni and Barbarians. They still have wooden weapons and are at the begin of the Bronze Age, and this throws them very much back.

Greeks
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Monarchy (Fundamentalism)

All power in the Greek and Cretan territory was at that time guided by the Minoan civilization on Crete. Their sphere of influence reached up to Thessalia and as far as Cyprus. The Minoans had a very powerful navy, but they where a peaceful civilization of merchants and explorers.

They are too isolated to be fun (?). Their only advantage is that they have all naval techs and two good WoWs. Moderately advanced.

RULES&VICTORY CONDITIONS
------------------------

As indicated above, this game very much follows the basic rules of Civ2. That is: Discover, Expand, Explore, Conquer. It is an objectives scenario, but a decisive victory can only be achieved through intensive research. The Egyptians have a small head start, as they have got a "normal" science rate and some science wonders. 

There are 91 objectives in the scenario- The Egyptians are the Protagonist. They need:

           --->76 points for a decisive victory
           --->58 points for a marginal victory
           --->31 points for a marginal defeat
           --->12 points or less is a decisive defeat

The Egyptians control 12 objectives at the beginning of the scenario. The rest is divided between the Nubians, Canaanites, Mitanni, Kassites, Elamites and Barbarians. If you play any other tribe, you will of course win by keeping the Egyptians from scoring these points. But don't consider this your personal victory, since we all know how much the AI sucks. Score these points yourself! This won't be easy to do, the map is large and the objective cities spread wide appart. You also have only 123 turns, which really isn't much. One turn stands for one year. 

UNITS
-----

There are several types of units in this scenario, and all await at least one upgrade. Please note that the Horsemen replace the fanatics, so the Egyptians will NEVER be able to build them. This is historically accurate; until the 16th century BC, the Egyptians did not even use Bows and Chariots. Cavalry was never much of a factor in Egypt.

The Egyptians start the game with a unit called Thutmosis III. This represents their great Pharaoh (duh!). When he dies, you get the unit Amenophis II, when he dies, Thutmosis IV pops up. His sucessor is Amenophis III.
Be careful with him. You will be facing drastical changes when he dies. All I'm saying is that you should switch your government to Monotheism as soon as possible! Otherwise, you'd be facing several upsets, I am sure.

I would like to say that Archers ignore city walls. This is historically accurate, if you think about the fact that Archers could fire high up into the sky. Of course, this requires long bows, so only the advanced types of Archers ignore city walls. Combined with their defense strength, they're deadly siege weapons. Since they use expensive armor, their cost is also deadly. An armored Archer, the highest class of infantry units you'll be able to produce costs proud 100 shields.
An armored chariot also costs 100 shields. The unit is faster, a bit better on attack and defense, but no special ability. The perfect unit for field battles.
Since this is the high Bronze Age, helmets are the maximum of developement. They allow the contruction of the elite units, the legions. Horse Armor allows construction of Cataphracts. 

Keep an eye on the fauna of the Nile and the deserts. They're alive! I'm not saying much more.

Naval units do not play much of a role in this scenario. Looking away from the Greeks, all, or at least most, of your units will be moving on the middle eastern soil anyways. You can use boats to move your units faster along the Nile (beware of the fauna ;), or along the Syrian coast. If you want to conquer Greece, you'll most propably not able to do so, as it requires ships, and only Greek ships can cross the ocean without danger.

For conclusion, I would like to remind you that Chariots are simply the most important units in the game. Their strength and speed varies with the upgrades. 

TECHS&CITY IMPROVEMENT AND WOWS
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The Egyptians start off with a lot of revolts. Kepp these cities in order by putting entertainers in while you construct monuments.

Some cities have treasuries. These are very good to sale, but I would advise you to do this in emergencies ONLY (when an enemy threatens to conquer a city for example)!

Furthermore, there are several new improvements:

PRODUCTION IMPROVEMENTS
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       Weavery
Mill---Smithy
       Mine
Gold Mine--Cannot be constructed, may cause Gold miners to revolt.

HAPPYNESS IMPROVEMENTS
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Shrine
Temple
Monument

All other WoWs and City improvements should be quite clear, and for info on how they act, just consult the pedia.

The Tech tree is large and full of exciting technologies to improve and upgrade your units. You will most propably not research the whole tech tree, so I suggest that you steal a couple of techs. Being the most advanced civ is necessary!!!! Or else, you'll be fighting armored chariots with simple-armed Sickle warriors! 

OTHER NOTES&BUGS
----------------

-Whenever a unit tried to enter Thebes, it attacked it like an enemy city, or when it entered it, it took it like an enemy city. I hope this bug is gone now. If not, please tell me.


CREDITS
-------

I would like to thank all these people who have contributed greatly or not so greatly to this scenario:

-Alex the Magnificent for making several great units icons. He also gave me many suggestions and a lot of Historical info. 

-Jorrit Vermeiren who made this excellent map just for the scenario. 

-Erwan (Erwanc@club-internet.fr) for making some more outstanding units graphics.

-Paul Cullivan for giving me great tips and historical info. He also made a couple of the graphics.

-Allard Höfelt for giving me several good suggestions.

-Everybody who responded to my threads on Apolyton. This feedback helped me a lot with making this scenario, and made working on it a lot of fun. I never thought that this scenario and it's idea in particular would attract so many enthousiasts. I hope that I don't dissapoint anyone with it's final result. Thanks for all of your ideas and responses, as little and unimportant as you might think they where, they where all great.

-Other people to thank: Harlan Thompson for his graphic collections, which never seem to become empty, and never seem to become tired of showing me new graphics, as old as they may be :), Cam Hills for making some icons as well as his great scenario "Pyramid Pursuit" which more or less inspired me to make  this one, and many unknown artists. If you see your artwork here but aren't credited, please send me an eMail so I can include you here.

Also, thanks to my playtesters, whose names are: Mathias Köster, Markus Eklund and Allard Höfelt.

Sources:

-Propyläen Weltgeschichte Sonderband: Ägypten
-Margarethe Oliphant: Die Welt der Ägypter
-Barthel Hrouda: Mesopotamien
-Pierre Montet: Das Leben der Pharaonen
-Georges Posener, Serge Sauneron, Jean Yoyotte: Lexikon der Ägyptischen Kultur
-Ägyptisches Museum Berlin (Egyptian Museum of Berlin), one of the greatest  museums of all
-And the countless TV documentations in the German television

I would also like to say that the final touch to inspire me in making this scenario is one of the greatest movies of all times: "Pharaon", one of the few Polish movies that reach the prime time program here. This movie is one of the
most impressive ones I have ever seen. Also, I personally found the music great. I wish I could include it here...

FEEDBACK
--------
For questions, comments notes or anything else, you can write me an eMail
to Stefan.Haertel@t-online.de (I prefer eMails).
You can also write something to one of Apolyton's forums, preferably the SLeague forum.
Remember that I love feedback, and I also like to answer historical questions!
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Stefan Härtel, January 29th 2000