Strategy Games in Difficult

STRATEGY GAMES IN DIFFICULT
BY JACOB MALEWITZ

Computer strategy games like Civilization, Age of Empires, and Warcraft, are known to those familiar with the genres. However, there are plenty of unknowns in this field which should get more exposure.

I have a deep joy for strategy games and, in a sense, a bitter hatred for them taking so much from my early childhood. I would spend far to many hours trying to conquer the world.

RPGs like Everquest and FPS like Halo dominate the consoles, but strategy games have no success in those fields; you need a computer to enjoy them most.

While Civilization was far from the first strategy game to have worldwide success, it did play an integral part in the development of a loyal fan base. It was created by the gaming genius Sid Meier.

Games like Risk and Chess were the precursors to the strategy games of today and, even in the early years of gaming, could be played on your computer.

What was lacking in these time honored games was the fact they didn’t utilize what a computer could do. Civilization has always had one of the better Computer AIs. Their were some stark comparisons: the best strategy games, like the best board games, are infinitely replayable. Every game could be a different world with different opponents.

Civilization was a game with two options: Conquer the world or reach Alpha Centauri first. Those were the goals, but governing an entire civilization was what made it work. War. Politics. Trade. Science. You could pick from over a dozen civilizations, from the Romans to the Greeks, the Mongols to the Chinese. All these things were involved in the game. All these things made it highly addictive.

And it wasn’t just about graphics, those would be improved in later versions, and different types of games like Warcraft showed what could be done with graphics. Strategy was paramount; guide your civilization from the stone age to the modern age.
Civilization 2 could be the finest strategy game, not to mention sequel, ever made. It incorporated far superior graphics with new takes on civilization. I played Civilization 2 more than any other game in my entire life. I would rise early just to play the game more.
Soon, other games came into the background.

Colonization was another Sid Meier game that focused on the years of colonizing the Americas. You had less options for civilizations, but it was like taking a small portion of a book and making it into a short story where you could focus on one single point in time. The graphics on this game, and the first Civilization, are very outdated, but I would recommend.
Master of Orion 2 was perhaps the best of the old galactic games. From what I’ve read, the third game in the series was far inferior to the second. Master of Orion was like Civilization in space, where decisions were made, war a constant, and spreading civilization important. A recent game has come close to defeating Master of Orion. Galactic Civilizations succeeded in making an excellent turn based strategy game, as well as a good sequel. Both games are similar, and could be recommended, but there is one old game that merits a look.

Ascendancy came out over a decade ago. I bought it for a reasonable price, still hot from my addiction to Master of Orion. Ascendancy really surprised me and, though it wasn’t perfect, came close to defeating Master of Orion.

I still wanted to live in the real world. I bought Civilization 3 and was very disappointed; the graphics were better, but it just didn’t look good next to Civilization 2.

I had played Warcraft 2 some years before. Warcraft and Age of Empires are the two best real time strategy games around. While many know World of Warcraft – which I never played – there are just as many fans of the strategy game. What really made Warcraft work was the story behind it. Straight out of a world similar to Middle Earth (Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings), came a new take on Humans and Orcs. The setting was medieval, yet magic was also incorportated. I was exasperated with Warcraft 2 for a long time, and though it wasn’t as addictive as Civilization, the graphics were superb.

Warcraft 3 I wouldn’t have played nearly as much had I not become addicted to the Blizzard online gaming. This was incredible; replayability for Warcraft was doubled.
The first game I ever played online was Age of Empires. The first two games of the series weren’t necessarily superior to Warcraft, but, I liked to play in the real world more than with magic. I have yet to play Age of Empires 3 due to poor reviews, but the first two games in the series kept me at the computer for days.

Age of Empires online was addicting: The computer could not always win. I could be beaten in different ways. I could be a top player.

Age of Empires Win 2, Egypt

Jacob Malewitz

Age of Empires Win 2, Byzantium 

1, What is Izod Plains

Byzantine in Spanish in age of empires is game. Spanish hit me with conquistador the conquistador marks with arrow, conquistador uses arrow by sword Byzantines quit use cataphract, the hottest cavalry unit in the game against siege, buildings, and infantry, and a hot move to take gold maps.

The idea was to win on Byzantine My favorite civilization  in age of empires win 2 is Byzantine. I was planning to invade Spanish whom had castle to build cavalry you build stables, they kill infantry and spearmen and certain unique units in game. 

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Byzantines use cataphract, to build cavalry you build stables and to build cataphract you use castles. Idea is castle siege page for lighter and bottle, off a hardcover novel. 

Cataphracts are the hottest weapon, with blades so hot and a speed so hot you can almost beat game. Hot as Egyptians in first age of empires, who last with chariots, who last with short sword, and can conquer all of civilization but have a book and Empire with Pharaoh. Their army is best kadesh. Byzantine page says the hottest Byzantine battle is Justinian, and you should see game as win both, and that the Egyptians are about hotted by me and that Choson and Hittite wont win land and Egypt page like this.

Byzantines use cataphract, but game is Egyptian in out to jacket and win of white color for flag. I used cataphrct and arrow, and game says since you counter hot with Byzantine you should try more to win on points and chess pay.  Threee barracks were in operation, and I was building champisons. Are stables to beat Building arrow with cataphract whom had to invade. I was building Spanish four stables to beat Byzantines to invade I was building building champions with sword. 

Game was lost by arrow. Game was played by Spanish and Mayan. The Spanish quit and my ally quit said quit. I played the game as Byzantines, Byzantines won arrow by sword Byzantines played Japanese a trick, they turned.

What is Egypt?

What is Byzantine blade?

Who is the Egyptian sword? Who  is empire? What is short sword in first game? What is Cataphract in second game?

Napoleon is here. Napoleon is here. Who is operation, who is game, what is meal, weapon, and pay for Egypt? What is book and city for Byzantium, a castle to out.

Byzantines played Japanese a trick. They turned. Byzantines siad they would turn on the Japanese it was a deathmatch game. The Japanese turned on me and hit me with arrow. Byzantines hit me hard they used cataphract defense to play me a game against the Japanese. The Japanese turned on me.  I played the Byzantines a cataphract I used a scout.  I was playing as scout rider on vol, an open source system. Three play. You hit them with cataphract, horse, charge a champion a champion, Byzantines hit the Japanese hard. Scout goes with the Japanese taken over by champion Champion is taken. 

Champion is taken unit for Vikings. It beats knight. The Vikings are good but the Vikings are good but the Vikings never used them in game. This was land map.

The teuton unique unit is tuetonic arrow. The knight is heavy cavalry and it has option of arrow. The teutons use heavy siege, such as bombard cannnon, to attack heavy fortifications. I have used heavy siege siege siege as advance base I would build heavy forfifications in front, to win online game In this game I used Vikings as a play - I wanted hun - so I used the Viking as a play for ship but I did not so I wanted to use Viking for ship.  But I did not see the land mass they were using The game was coastal, th Arabia, then it turned into frozen winter I wanted to ally with hun, chin-nook, and crossbow I wanted crossbow., but the Vikings have no crossbow we used crossbow we used halberdiers, horse archer, and catapult to attack the Chinese I don’t like the Chinese -- they cheat in game like Korean.  We turned on Chn-nook aout of castle and they used horse archer to end the game. Game was over. 1300. Scout Rider won 50+ for game, 1450.

 Game was lost by arrow. Game is game master guide.

Age of Empires is a hard game, game was won hard by a fast strike for the flank Age of empires was won on this. The Spanish quit on me. Fast strike was for mayan, in a different game-- game went Viking-went halbierder Game went Viking for We used halbcerdiers and scout rider is playing against hun, tueton, and I was allied with Chinese. The Chinese have chin-nook  as unique unit Hun have horse archer. 

Game went Viking We used halberdiers and scout rider is playing against hun, tueton, and I was allied with

Chinese. The Chinese have Chin-nook as unique unit Hun have Tartar as unique unit I used cavalry, horse archer, to kill Chinese chin-nook as unique unit I turned on the Chinese and tried to ally with hun in Loki game, this was the clan on Vol I joined because they wanted me to up for powere and fun They wanted me to up ratings The Viking unique unit is horse archer Why would the Vikings have horse archer as unique unit when they have axe thrower The halberdier is another unique unit 

Game was not over Game allowed so for Vol source We won the horse archer, a recorderd game, and I was allowed to write about the game

- Viking have horse archer

-Viking have trebuchet

-Vikings use halberder to beat cavalry sometimes players too confident with them

-You need to have massed army, combined army, and city protected by army

For defence in this game I used horse archer. . .

Money in American Sport Jacket

Shirt Andrew Bolton Red

Jkwon hood hop Red Hat

2, What is Castle Siege and Robotech to Expert AOE Gaming

Egypt Deathmatch game, Sol Win

I was in Egypt in a deathmatch game, avast, playing against Babylon, a used source game This was not on vol Scout Rider played the ge on 1800, in an old game, but the game was won by sword I used chariot in the game for a strong game -- Egypt lost the game early Egypt won the game early by 3-phase you win the game by sword you win the game by chariot and you win the game by deathmatch The deathmatch game was won by me early  I played three chariots early, for a scouting party You win 3 chariots for a scouting party because you have to scout for foraging and city City is winning Scout is winning The short sword can win against shield is strong here. The sword and spear as chariot. The chariot archer is strong -- it is my favorite and can win against Babylonian chariot archer

The city was protected by army The city was strong in spear and chariot With Egypt, in age of empires, your king is pharaoh Your houses are different, and your technology is different Your technology is sword and gathering wood With Egypt, in age of empires, your king is pharaoh needed an overlord, a seer, and a bringer

Your houses are different because you need to win in game and you need to have houses for population A pharaoh would bring more houses

Your technology is different for game -- you would need to research it and invest in it

The game was won by chariot Babylon attacked and used chariot, horse archer, and catapult.

I attacked with elephant, chariot, and a fleet I had a fleet on the map game game game I attacked with elephant chariot and a fleet I had a fleet on the map The map was called overlord and lowtrdlands and marshlands Scout rider was my alias, and this was a game who liked hitting me on zone for deathmatch age of empires game.

Social media is hot. Age of empires is hot. The player I played in game was found on social media site. He had a higher ranking than me. He was 1900, Legionairre. The player, Legionnaire, called me out to another game to win his name. He wanted to play Egyptian against me--so I played Hittite. Hittite is hot map. Egypt and Ramses II fight Hittite Kadesh, and win with chariot sword. The Hittites have chariot archer, but they are weak compared to horse archer. Horse archer is hottest unit--with catapult-- for Hittite empire. 

The horse archer is weak, unless you protect it with a retreat form or a mass of infantry The mass infantry is strong for catapult Catapult protection. Hittite is strong with horse archer In game, and in history, they have money and power They are strong in catapult and can conquer city. Hittite is the conqueror of empires. Egypt is hotter because it respects other empires and can conquer easier in this sense. Egypt is undervalued early history, then is approached for millenia for how and why you run empires with ideas of different monarch standards.

Game is here. Egypt is hottest map.

The best reasons to use Hittites--

They have strong catapult

Horse archer can be used for scouting and can raid city.

In DM game they can beat Choson, early Korean empire, have strongest light sword.

Social media is hot. Social media says next game should take next name, early buy of something, and win something. It’s short story idea. Age of empires would say game is hot, but Civilization is early game it bases some moves on. Who is publisher, who is page, what is win of history book to you then a similar page like this. Do you show moves this hot? Yes, writer myth is you lose your move.

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Scout Rider is best name. Prototype on a blog might say meal, jacket, pay of game.

Scout rider is not as hot as other names. Early idea on zone is, Zacko The Great is hottest dm player then you have real map players with other hot scores. Early articles on this site helped me understand Hittite and Choson are hot on DM, but I wanted to try a hot different civilization for game, like I did Greeks and Egypt in Civilization 1 and 2.

Does this buy you AOE 2 for Byzantium game? Where is Rome? Who is general other than you’d see in Age of Empires.

Game is here. Egypt is hottest civ.

What Hittites might lack:

They have no long sword like Choson

They cant king chariot or heroes like Egypt.

The Hittites are never allowed technology--the game fast.

I hit him with horse archer fast. The horse archer is a fast unit in any map. I used it to bring Legionairres city to Egypt, in a rush, but was countered by his rush.

Horse archer hit the rear of his city.

It had:

Farm

House

Town Center

The farms were unprotected, they had villagers, and I was was able to wipe out empire. I hit his houses next--but he had a army. The army went into his TC, (town center), and pushed army away.

“Military:

The best military units of Egypt are their Chariots and CAs with +33 % hitpoints and Nobility who get all upgrades (and their Priests with all technologies). They should balance the poor infantry (nothing beyond the Short Swordsman) and siege weapons (only STs).  

The infantry is pretty awful - only Short Swordsmen and without piercing armour. But then Egypt can do without infantry from Bronze onwards - so who cares? There are good Slingers with most Iron Age upgrades, but no Siegecraft and no extra shielding. The Academy is bad too - again: Egypt doesn't need infantry so who cares?  

The archery is good with full range and all technologies including Chain Mail - Egypt only doesn't get the Horse Archer - well, it can convert them, no problem.  

Egypt doesn't get any Cavalry but it can convert those too. Poor siege weapons - there are only Stone Throwers here with extra range in Iron.  

Egypt has alhl walls and all Towers, full range and Alchemy. The navy is nothing special but they do get everything.” AOKHEAVEN, HeavenGames

http://aoe.heavengames.com/academy/civs/Egypt.shtml

The Egyptian hit me hard. He had chariot in his city. I raided him again. I added chariot. The chariot is a strong unit for Egyptian, with its ability to use both chariot archer and chariot sword. It’s not expensive unit in game, but in past the best weapon on the battlefield.  

The chariot is a strong unit for Hittite.  In ancient history, the Egyptians and Hittites did fight. What is the fght, for empire, for Arabia, for Babylon, and for Kadesh. In move, Ramses II takes Egypt to the Sinai, and wins Jordan and most of the Arabian peninsula, then his holdings in Kadesh lose. The battle is there, and a win for the Egyptian Pharaoh and his empire.

The catapult is a powerful siege weapon in Age of Empires. I used the catapult to attack his city next.

--I built a forward base.

--I used a catapult

--I used the horse archer

--I used light cavalry

I started hitting his forward base. His forward base had: siege, stable, farm, and town center.  The Eg yptt ians -- Legionairre--hit me again. He let me hit his city and I did not see his army I destroyed his city.  And I did not see his army. I destroyed his city but he was prepared I hit him with arrow I hit him with sword I hit his city with a legion of men and I hit him with a catapult.  I he Egypt in game? Why does he want my civilization? Is he copying me on a move? As a mountain biker and short story writer, you might say, odds are he wants to take moves on me on pay. In game, rushers do this; in game, a  rusher can turn into the worst or best gamer with a strategy wrong. 

3, What is Alpine 9, Is it a win of Game Stories Fiction Gaming Log

Flank. Is that better? Did Wellington copy napoleon? Did Caesar copy Augustus? Did Scipio beat Hannibal? Would you say, playing Egypt, is this Civilization the best out, the most copied, and the one you should glory more? That is the age of empires 600 philosophy.

I saw his forward base

I saw his 2nd city

My city was hit by another Egyptian.

Nubians are rich, and Egypts rich, but won’t lose to flank easy, and can take a southern front hot like Ramses II in Jordan right before Kadesh. Ramses has other wins; flanks and wins of war only? No, but he is there hottest commander, holder of a king line from Thebes saying, yes, but we create the next civilization, the next empire, and can take all of asia off you Persian Elephants.

I used light cavalry, wind riders with the idea of empire to them, by a king you can’t beat in game unless you hero Tutankahmen. I used catapult, hot players for Egypt game but not as hot as the Hittite catapult. I used light cavalry  and catapult to attack with strong army. This was my strategy in another game, Battletech. Battletech was strong in strategy--it had MechWarrior, a shooter game on plains like isle, but it had no strategy role playing game for pc like age of empires. Look, you might make me wrong. Look, you’d see other game books on it that can show pay and a cool, like Eve tech or Robotech. And in my case, strategy folder is hot.

The strategy was to hit their base. Rift says, pay is 220 for your game, on novel buy. That is the cool for the drink and your red shirt. The strategy hit me hard:  scout rider wanted to hit base Egypt, the opponent, in game, and Battletech wanted to hit base with two mech, 7 mech would retreat, then I would be able to build forward base.

Another strategy I would use in Battletech and now Eve: I would hit their base with light and assault army: I would never use medium army The medium army would be the unique unit in the game.

In another game called civilization I would retreat and attack. Then I would flank with cavalry; my hottest move napoloeon is a win here, and brits lose because they lose to navy. Cavalry flank is easy: jump right, jump left, but always take a western point or high ground. Once you do that, build army, and try to militarize your city with something. I can siege: siege would mean you, take high ground next, then take out army in advance, then you can beat army with siege.

Sunglasses, Age of Empires Original 2, Spartan is 16 Chapter for AOE

Jacket is pay

Ch. 4

The M-16 felt cold to touch, arcing upward out of the back of his cloth garment, a white overcoat concealing him from eyes and from the rain. His fingers, touching the gun, hoped for a moment of calm, shaking as they were.

M wasn’t sure: did he kill the machine? Why did it try to kill him? And how the hell did it get a job as a bartender in Wake Alpha?

He looked up at the rays of light, letting the sun cool him and heat him up in its odd celestial way. He wondered about the darkness not so far away, the other side of the planet, and he wanted to remember---for that one moment—what had really happened on Wake Dark, what had set the evil in motion. A piece of him, he felt, was over there, and he simply could not figure out why; the only thought was of father: a man of history, a drinker, a forgotten soul who wanted to be forgotten after mom died. He felt the pain gash at him, reeling him in like a net, telling him not to think anymore and just do.

But that was what his father had done: stopped thinking. It’s all that made sense anymore. He had to think; it was the choice; it made him different.

Pulling on the gun, he lost himself in the wave of walking straight out of the city. “Trapped,” he whispered to no one, making sense of nothing with it. He knew no other place, knew few other ways to live, than living and fighting here.

“Best to make the best of it,” he recalled his father telling him.

So instead of leaving the city and running away, he turned in, pushed past the suburbs, walked into a gang area, still harnessing his weapon; walked past a military outpost covered in the yellow of the elite warriors of Wake, the Spartans with direct bloodlines to the old world; walked deeper into the city, his eyes catching other’s eyes, his steps a tide pushing him onward. He went to the old world, here, the first settlement Persepolis, built much like the one of Athens, or at least the pictures of Athens. He walked right into the eye of a storm, not realizing it. He walked into the Wake Spartan dining area, looking for nothing, finding too much, he later realized, finding far too much.

“Wake Spartans,” said the recruiter, “aren’t about making choices, or thinking, or reacting, they act, they make the opponent react, they don’t think. And you want to know why, brother? You want to know why Wake Spartans kill more of the Red Monsters than anyone else? Because we have souls.”

“Souls?”

“A piece of us—“

“Why would we have souls?”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. What are you, a Christian?”

“Where have you been?”

“In school,” M looked down.

“Right, they teach you how to use this,” this warrior said, pointing to his head, “but I will teach you how to use this,” he said, pointing at his hand, “and then this.” The fingers rested on M’s heart.

# ##

M took the gun and set it on the table; the metal of the M-16 calmed him for some reason, reminding him of his calm father sitting at the table all those moments ago and telling stories, saying the right things, not speaking of the madness and how it was in his day, for in those moments it was his day.

“It’s my only weapon,” he said smiling through the lie.

“So I see.” His name was Artimus, a descendant of a great Greek philosopher who turned into a warrior poet when his family was murdered by Persian mercenaries; the best kinds of men were made out of extreme pain, as were the worst. “But do you truly know how to use it? Can you spot a man six hundred yards away with the sight, can you see a Free Machine stopping because of one single bullet?”

“In my experience, you shoot for the head, human or machine, and it works out.”

“Cute, good,” and the aging Combat Spartan pulled out a cigar, two actually, and handed one to M. “It’s a nasty habit but it’s doubtful you’ll die from it.”

“What is it? Drugs?”

“In a sense, but it doesn’t have the effects of opium or angel dust.”

“Oriental?”

“A bit west of the old Sparta, a bit west,” lighting it, holding it in his mouth as he inspected the M-16. “This is a good weapon,” and he tried to break it in half. What the hell! M screamed. “A good weapon,” Artimus answered, “is the kind that keeps working when it’s broken.”

“A blade?”

“That breaks isn’t worthy of a Combat Spartan. Tell me, where did you get this weapon?”

“Long story.”

“I have all the time in the world, M.”

“My father gave it to me, said it was special.”

“Ah, a Talisman, but there is more.”

“My mother altered it, the scope, because it was meant for the old world with old gravity. They say weight is less there, that you can’t move quite as fast. So she altered the sights to make it work better, even made bullets out of …” he slowed, a guttural laugh building in his system, “Silver so my father could kill any wolf that came into my bed when I was a baby. They spent years putting it together. In one of my father’s drunken memories, he said he did break it.”

“And?”

“And she fixed it. He says it’s never been the same. He said it’s never been the same. That the gun lost hope in him.”

“Ah, so you do know of spirits,” said Artimus, looking down the scope.

“I suppose so. But what does it matter? A Free Machine has no spirit. I only want to know how to kill them: where they are, how to end them, where the rest are, how to blow them all up.”

“Violence.”

“Violence.”

Artimus set the gun down, pulled up his boot, and laid an old Roman model blade, called a Gladius, on the table. Yet M saw differences in the design. Originally, from his history, he knew the Gladius blades come from the Iberian Peninsula in the, from Spaniard lands. This blade was different: a red handle, a star on the tip that looked quite like a diamond, and a heavier edge than a normal Gladius which made it seem much like an axe hacking downward. He held it in his hands, eyeing the tip, touching the tip and drawing blood. “Real?”

“Real.”

“Yours?”

“Yours.”

“He found hell yesterday,” Artimus continued with his own stories of who he was, what he be, where the stars set for him and his dreams.
M wanted to ask a question, like exactly what the meaning was, yesterday, but he let Artimus continue.

“Old ways stopped working. He broke our phalanx, our supreme weapon against the darkness of the night, against death herself, and all my brothers died, and both my sons died, and all that came out of the darkness was me, a blade in one hand, a handful of pain in the other. I just couldn’t stop: killing. It changes you, seeing death, and I saw her.”

“Madness!” M wanted to say, wanted to scream out. Death? There was no death: the old visceral idea that hell didn’t serve it, humanity served the goddess of the underworld. It was all wrapped up in philosophy and religion. Madness! he wanted to yell, but he bit his tongue and continued listening.

“There is more—and I see it in your eyes—to this world than the small battles we face every day. The archons have fallen from the graces of the light. A war of attrition, see, between humanity, and it will take one soul to bring us back together against the Free Machines.”

There was a moment of silence, M holding his breath the entire time, until he let some air out, finding the right words, the only word. “Who?”

“Not you.”

“Why not?”

“A girl. A hero born out of the night of Wake.”

##

Both taking puffs on their cigars—which M found made his mouth taste like gruel—they left the small Combat Spartan operation center. M had many questions. Who … what … where … and why were simply the basics. Who ruled Wake Dark? Red? That stung him: the evil darkness ruled by a man who sold out his own people to machines, ending the Wake golden age, killing so very many. He wanted Red dead. More, he wanted Red’s death to be painful. He would take him apart piece by piece until there was nothing left save some DNA evidence; he would burn the that; he would end his first life.

“I’ve never killed.”

“And you’ve never—“

“A human.”

“Right. If you want to be a Combat Spartan, you’ll need more than weapons to kill.”

He looked up at space. “Why can’t we go up instead of around?”

“What do you mean?” Artimus’s eyes lit up. “You want to hit the Free Machines in space?”

“Right.”

“No aircraft left not on full time defense duty.”

“Could we borrow one?”

“Could ‘borrow’ one if you got past a few battalions and hacked into the net.”

“The net?”

“Don’t ask me, I live outside of technology. Scares the damn out of me.”

“I have a secret,” M said, pulling out his own blade, “And it’s one I’ve never told anyone. I’ve known you one day,” he slowed. He made eye contact with Artimus, the engineer of the Combat Spartans, the last of a generation; the rest died by the bottle or smoked themselves senseless; the rest died in battle, to be remembered or forgotten. “I have my own blade, a magical blade, a powerful—“

“Spare me the poetry; don’t show it to me.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s not in the way things go. I must tell you a secret then, and you wouldn’t want to hear that. No one should hear my secrets.”

The blade in his hand, the free blade in his palm, he eyed the outskirts of Wake Alpha. It was the capital, and there was a sort of peace occurring here, a time of relief. Death was here too, death and the end, not so far from each other, not so far from Wake. They said—

And he stopped, realizing Artimus had stepped away, to a small marker on the ground.

“There was a time,” said the Combat Spartan, “When this line was the one line we had to hold. I wanted to forget it, but memories that shouldn’t be forgotten rarely are.”

“A line?”

“Sometimes you have to make a stand for something; ours was for survival.”

“Tell me everything.”

“I’ve told you much,” replied Artimus.

“And I want more.”

The story went slowly at first, the gate bringing Spartans and even a few Athenians and Egyptians across the galaxy. There had been stories of gates crossing the gaps in space before; early Greek science evolved quickly, explaining that traveling through this space the Earth rescided in, was quite impossible. But someone, from some other time, perhaps a dozen millennia before the first Dorians “civilized” Greece, knew this first. And they built a gate, with a key. And this key took a mass of Spartans and a few dozen Athenian and Egyptian carpenters and scientists and philosophers across the gap. To men with faith, it was a last chance to escape the solar system, Noah’s voyage in action. Stories of gates were as common as stories of Babel and God, yet this gate existed, this gate worked, and this gate brought Dorians to Wake.

“So it went,” said Artimus, “And they don’t tell you that in school.”

“Some of it.”

“Sure,” Artimus replied, “there was a ‘magical” gate that took us here, a place rich in goods. But we changed here on Wake, very early: we became power mongers and tech lords and opium and rum addicts; we destroyed more than we created in the first millennia.”

“Millenia! They said we’ve been here four—“

“Not four generations, not even close. It’s the believers, who are close on many things, but want us to believe we’re still connected to the lands of Earth, that the gods still exist, that God is still here with us. We can’t believe this is us, we are here, and there is nothing but darkness and light. It’s too tragic, even for a poet.”

“I don’t believe you,” said M.

“You don’t have to, my soldier, because I might be wrong. There are stories of men being here before even us, the original builders of the gate and some Chaos God, who were sick with technology when man had yet to build a city. But it’s what I believe; it’s in the Book of Lights.”

M stopped, pulling a small, tattered and leather bound copy of Book of Lights out. “The machine gave me this.”

“Yes?”

“And then tried to kill me.”

Artimus stopped. They weren’t going anywhere in particular, in a philosophical sense, but on the physical level they had left Wake Alpha a dozen miles ago, going through small hamlets and crossing bridges over dark and sick looking rivers. They called them the blood rivers; no one drank from them; no one went there unless they intended to die.

“He gave you the Book of Lights and then tried to kill you. Ha! You see the symbolism, correct?”

“No.”

“You will.”

They stopped at a bridge, where a Combat Spartan in ancient ceremonial gear, with even his spear and short sword, stood. He walked toward them, his head down and his walking slow; old, was M’s original thought, for he walked angled, like a drunk, but held his spear steady and kept his eyes downward, looking at the stones on the ground.

“Keepers of the Light,” said the Spartan.

“Bringers of the Machines,” said Artimus.

“Are the end and the beginning.”

The Combat Spartan went to the ground, laying his head on the sand. “I grow old, Artimus.”

“I have—“ but M was stopped.

“He’s just a Spartan Poet, my friend, just a Spartan who fought at the Gate so long ago.” “You fought at the gate?”

“Fraid so.”

“And?”

“And nothing.”

“How old are you? That was two centuries ago.”

“I am very old.” And he was. This veteran missed one eye, had a slight stutter to his voice, one lip pushing against the other when words came out; his motion was chaotic, for he danced with death; his body itself was huge, but slim in the gut, his arms muscled even for an old man. “Have you not known the ways of the Art?”

“Nope,” said M, sick of everything and too confused to care.

“it’s the path to immortality..”

“No one lives forever.”

“True, but some of us live longer. The keepers of the light, they live on, young man, and I am one of them.”

“I am a Combat Spartan.”

“Good,” the veteran said, uncaring.

“I killed a Free Machine.”

“And what? You want respect and power.”

M wanted to kill him, to let his rage out. He wanted to tell him how he’d lived alone for 8 years, living on the streets sometimes, taken in by friends and strangers, bums and the lowest of society. Because society didn’t help the fallen, because ..

The Spartans had forgotten him; he didn’t want their respect; he wanted answers.

“I want more than that.”

“Ah, ambition is a sin to certain of us. Not me. Certainly not me.” The Spartan pulled off his helmet, a long wave of graying hair falling down around his shoulders, then set his blade on the ground, giving M his good eye for a moment when he did so.

“I have better blades.”

“You don’t. This one speaks. Took it off a Free Machine at the gate.”

“This was made by a Free Machine,” replied M.

“What!”

Artimus let out a laugh. “The old sage is surprised.”

“Let me see this blade,” said the veteran.

“For what?”

“You want something?”

“Yes.”

“As always. I will tell you a story.”

“I want access to this gate. No stories.”

The gate stood, casting a shadow over the expanse. It held the old Dorians, it was said, or it held the keepers of hell, others said. If you saw this gate on an ordinary day—and which are those?—you might get a quick glimpse and keep walking. The doorway was made of wood, a gentle blacksmith had placed gems on the handles; an old door, this gate, and it didn’t seem to mind them staring at it. For some reason, M wanted to speak with it, like it had much to say.

“You’re saying this old beaten doorway took man to the stars?”

“Quit reading your textbooks and open your eyes.”

“To what?”

“The wood, feel the wood, an old tree, from a time of angels on this earth. An old soul, not from a man or a women, not from a dog or a cat; this beast is alive with the very beginning of the universe, created by a race before even the angels, long before the Dorians.”

“It’s a wooden doorway.”

“Is he always this questioning?” The old man asked.

They weren’t in a physical place, quite, but at a place in between times, in an arc of Wake world, the so called no mans land where light and darkness mixed and brought many beastial creatures to life, and housed most of the Keepers of the Light. There were no cities; there were no hamlets, villages with walls; all that there was wasn’t tangible. It was an odd place for a warrior to be, it was the time of the philosopher, the space of the poet.
“It’s not even straight,” he almost said, but didn’t. He believed, for in ancient Greece, so the story went, strong wood was more valuable than twice its weight in gold. It built ships, ships that colonized the world; and it built homes, homes which stopped the storms; and walls, walls that kept the darkness at bay.

He almost fell over, his blade falling out at a very odd time. It came out like it had a life of it’s own. “Come back, friend,” he whispered to it, waiting for a response. But the machine, or the AI, or the spirit, had nothing to say—it just lit up the entire area, pushing the darkness away. M smelled beasts approaching; a few called out, screaming at the light spreading.

“An old tree which could keep even the most evil techlords at bay.”

“But they didn’t have tech then,right?”

“There were aliens, there were wars, there were rifts in heaven and in time. It gets complicated.”

“So angels came through here?”

“Angels did, in fact, come through this gate. And one other, on Wake Dark. Here the Keepers kept them at bay; it wasn’t as good on the other side of the planet, where their wings took them straight into the capital city. Angry angels. Killer angels.”

“Angry. Why?”

“No one knows,” said the old keeper, his teeth showing, his lie showing.

M looked around, lost in a sense. His physical body, he learned, would transcend this shell, but that was much later in his journey. He just didn’t know where he was, but where he went, it seemed hell would follow. It always had.

He turned in time to see the flock of angels approaching, and for some reason, perhaps the right one, the blade went straight into his open right hand, it’s coolness creating goosebumps on his wrist and arms, and it was angry—he felt that too.

“I won’t even ask,” he said, turning around to see the old keeper narrowing an old fashioned crossbow, the kind created a century or two ago by an aging inventor; and he saw Artimus pulling out his Gladious blade, ready for combat and always willing to kill. The angels stopped, eyeing the gate, screaming out in an old angel language lost around the time of the gate..

“Where exactly are we?”

“In angel territory.”

“The gate is—“

“Yes.” The old keeper shot an arrow toward the angels, who quickly darted around them and cascaded into the hills, as though the three showed no threat to the gate. Or maybe it was something else.

Or maybe, M thought, they retreated.

“I am leaving.”

“Right.” There was no argument. The three approached the wilderness with a gate to another place at their back, a crossover through space and time holding them tightly. All three, one an aging Combat Spartan with an eye for blades, another an old keeper with a few centuries under his belt, and of course our renegade hero M—all three looked back to the gate with hopeful eyes. They would see it’s true purpose, the stars said, soon enough.

Sunglasses
Adidas Sunglasses - $40 - Writer Pay
Arctic Sunglasses - $70

Writer Pay

Beiereswatt - 80 - French - Coffee
Oakley $80 - $30 in gas

Rayban, hot but not as hot as oakley.

Jacket on pay. John Bentely.


Oakley Sunglasses - Black - Cleaning - $70 Gas
VS SPORT 2 Pair - 80 IN FOOD, 1,000 PERRY ELLIS, 50 FORT LOGAN


jcrew pant, jacket is basic edition, jacket is champion, jacket is kenneth cole, 200 2000 2,000,0000 green lantern


Mahle hat - 2 hats 2 standard 250 american eagle shorts anda1

Nike shorts, nike shirt

Adidas Hats - 2 Hats - 50, 70, 80
Beaners Hat -
Detroit Tigers Hat - 2 Hats - 10, 77 - Sports Watch Casio
Car
Nike hats
Max Fu Golfing Hat - 2 - 2 - 2 50
vies 10, 200
And1 Hat - 2 first world war adisas shorts 2 writing 22n
Callaway Golfing Hat 6 5 60 20 writer pay food 2 life chess

Matrix reloaded 2 20 2 20 2 apex disc player

-----
ancient empires disc, what is sunglasses,

Shirts, For Sunglasses, what is sunglasses,and what are these two robotech game books on them./

Perry Ellis, Robotech Pay. Perry Ellis, Bought by activemedia, white wolf publishing study. Sunglasses. VS SPORT, 2 notebook, age of empires, cool, with byzantine page.

Byzantines vs Spanish in Age of Empires is game Spanish hit me with conquistador The Conquistador marks me with arrow Conquistador uses arrow by sword Byzantines quit Byzantines use cataphract

game story go
3 town center 50 villy
4 siege workshops 20 cannnons 4 stables 6 barracks 80 pike
2 forward archery 1 castle city 2 castle advance reaer barracjks cataphract loss 1 quitter coadstal map ship  quit quitter Spanish quick resign quit nmayan byrantine 100 p2 japanese tried cav loss my win 1800 Aoe 2 win byzantine 1800

Egypt Win Civilization 2, Gaming
By Jacob Malewitz

How do you win at Civ 2 with the Egyptians? You can’t. They are an impossible Civ to win with. Everyone thinks you can win with any Civ, but I think that you can lose with certain Civilizations. I have won the game, but never with the Egyptians. I have won early, with Greeks, but there is always an out. There is no pay on the game, but it is highly addicting.

What is this game? What is Pay on this game?

How do I win this game? How do you win in this game?

Where is my ship? Why do you need chariot?

My first move was to create capital, call it Thebes, and be King.

My next move was to make warrior. Civilization 2 is a chariot game.

These are the obvious moves: capitol, defend capital, but then you start exploring. I wanted to win this game. I have been playing Civ 2 for years. I quit for years and lost some games. There is always some cheating in that game, and that makes it even. How can you win? You can win through conquering or going to Alpha Centauri. When you compare it to Civ 4, a newer game, you look at the graphics and the AI. Both are very intelligent. Civ 2 has a different AI. You might lose the game if you break a peace treaty.

My move was to explore.

My move was to expand my empire. I built more cities. I had 2. These cities would build more settlers. I started discovering other cities, other empires. I built more cities, such as Memphis, then I started creating making more armies to conquer other cities. You can always win early. My first move was to conquer any Civ I could early, and I did start winning there. I made no peace treaty.

I conquered many Civilizations, many cities, won an empire, and started to break the game. The game started to pay me back with small ideas. I coded a fleet, some enemies, and started losing. The Egyptians always learn to lose. In their history, they always lost late. This is how Civilization is interesting.

I won islands, I won an empire outside of my empire, one I called America, but I could not beat my enemies. I lost the game, but only resigned when I knew I could conquer no more.

How to be a PC Strategy Gamer

How to be a PC Strategy Gamer

by Jacob Malewitz

PC strategy games may not be as popular as “World of Warcraft” or other MMORPGs which have risen to the top of the online world, but the true gaming world started out with creative games like “Sim City” and even “Solitaire.” These are strategy games.

So what does it take to be a strategy gamer? You need knowledge. There is no talent needed, just a willingness to have fun. This guide lets you see yourself as a world leader or a general out for blood … you can even be a bad guy for a day. If you want to be a PC strategy gamer, read on.

Civilization 2, Europa, Celtic Empire

Civilization 2, Europa, Celtic Empire
By Jacob Malewitz

I always like playing King difficulty in Civilization 2, which is the first Civilization game in my book. The second is far superior in difficulty, strategy, depth, graphics, and board. I played Europe map, I played as the Celts and was in Brittania, a good spot, I saw a a French enemy on the map, and I knew I had to win on ship, win on island, and try to beat the French. This would be similar to the French and English wars across the 1600s and 1700s.