Part 39: 1580-1599, A Brave new world.

The Abyssinians form an alliance with the Romans! This is bad news, as we would now need to deal with both at the same time!



We are still rebuilding the army, so we have to focus on technology for now.



We continue to focus more on the land than the sea – we are not a maritime power, our strength comes from masses of soldiers.



Cameroon is now self sufficient.







As we move troops to the next colony location (we can't go south until the land is explored,) We upgrade the spitting snakes.



Elephant hunting got so much easier once the musket was invented – they are big targets.







Time passes, We now have 98,000 men under arms, but that cannot match the 101,000 men that Abyssinia and Byzantium can call upon. They also have better technology – we could beat the Abyassinians easily, but we would need to wait for the Romans to be at war before then. It becomes a waiting game.
We are improving the nation however.



Thanks to the wise rule of the frankly a little scary Ina, We match the military technology levels of the Abyssinians.







The Abbasids take decide to test this.



We engage them in battle with the bulk of our forces, Kalabi, our heir, takes the lead, and we begin to defeat them, but reinforcements are on their way.



We win, then follow up onto those 25,000 reinforcements and send them fleeing as well.



The larger Abbasid army comes in however, and one of our armies is forced to flee, leaving the other massively outnumbered.



We are forced to retreat far up the Nile, but I had sent 20,000 men to the south, so I am able to reinforce and in a bloody battle we once again defeat the enemy.



We begin a siege, and hold it until the next wave of Muslims comes in.



Their far superior troop morale allows them to win, but it is another bloody battle – both sides are now out of manpower, but they have a much larger army still.



We push forwards, hiring mercenaries to replace our losses, but they mass another huge army and defeat us once more.



Even with mercenaries, we cannot hold the line.



This is not Ghanas greatest generation.



We know how to deal with cowards.








Woroduga is self sufficient, allowing me to free up the soldiers.



We finally build up the forces to counter attack, but the war is not going well. If this offensive fails, we will be forced to give up Egypt.



It all comes down to this battle.



The results are not what we hoped.



The losses in land are not as bad as they could be, but Ghana is slowly shrinking.







NOW we get better morale.



We also improve our economy.



A new colony is founded to the south.



We get news of another major development, the Europeans have been going on about the fact that they found “a new world” for some time, but we finally learn where it is – when a country calling itself Brazil announces its existence.



We learn they are colonists of French descent, who seem to have broken away from their masters on the mainland. It will be interesting to see how they fare.



We then take steps to get the youth back on track. To do this we pump them full of drugs and send them off to meet themselves. Sound planning if you ask me.







We learn how to build proper roads.



Now Abyssinia is getting uppity. We struggle to rebuild the army. We also begin to build a lot of upgrades – when we are not paying for troops, the money really flows in!







Ina passes away, leaving the throne to Kalabi. The is a bit of a disappointment, but his son looks much better.



Kalabi's first act is to order the foundation of a trade company, which will nearly double the trade output of Tripoli. Another is built in Whydah a couple of years later.







Another century comes to an end, this one has not been as kind to Ghana as the previous ones. The rapid technological growth in Europe threatens to leave the largest of Empires behind.
Lets have a look at Europe – Portugal has completed its expansion into Ibera. The Ogoonu state there is no more.



France has expanded east, while Italy is invading Denmark.



Lancaster is now in control of the south of Britannia, great Britain is a few scattered provinces across Europe.



Denmark is expanding north, Novogrod is also expanding.



Byzantium is expanding, Croatia is shrinking.



the Abbasids have expanded eastwards as well – they must be huge, so very huge. No wonder they have endless supplies of troops. If only we knew the secret of their high morale. Our own people seem to have turned into lovers, not fighters.



Africa is far from unified.



Brazil is still a mystery in a mysterious land. From research I have discovered that it was once a colony of Portucal, which must have gone independent when Portugal absorbed the mother state.



I have a dilemma, which I shall put to you – I can choose a new idea, but I am torn – Colonization would allow us to expand into Africa, but I need to improve our troops morale, so Defensive ideas might be a good idea.

What do the People of Ghana think?