Ch.127Dangerous Competition

Year 31 of Amurtart, September.

When the weapons that Tiberius had ordered along with 20,000 muskets arrived, the knights of Amurtart were all busy trying on the new armor.

Rather than covering the entire body, the thick steel plates were strategically placed over vital areas and attached to 24 layers of fabric, allowing for much more flexible movement than before.

“I heard this can even stop bullets?”

“That’s why we bought it. Why else would we get this if it couldn’t stop bullets?”

“The Knight Commander is calling! Bring a set of armor!”

To resolve the knights’ questions, the Knight Commander summoned them and ordered a marksman to shoot at an armor hanging 100 meters away.

Bang!

Ting!

As the marksman loaded his gun with ease and fired, the armor struck by the bullet deflected it at an angle with a blue flash.

This state-of-the-art armor, made with curved surfaces, heat treatment, and alloys, could deflect bullets even at close range and protect against shell fragments.

If human-sized armor was this effective, naturally the defensive capabilities of the barding worn by war horses were far superior.

“His Majesty has kept his promise. With equipment of this caliber, we could withstand a rain of bullets without concern.”

The Knight Commander, pressing gently on the dented armor, was encouraged by the fact that they could still be effective on the battlefield.

The knights in the distance would surely be wearing the same expression.

Clop-clop! Clop-clop!

As he was thinking this, a knight approached him riding a massive horse.

“Commander, have you seen the new war horses that arrived? They’re enormous! I hear they have such fierce temperaments that the stable hands are at their wits’ end.”

“Is that so? Then tell them to wear the old armor while working. I thought it had become useless… but at least they won’t die from being trampled by hooves.”

“The old armor, I’ll relay that message.”

The old armor, which had been on the verge of being melted down, had found a new purpose.

Since the old armor was designed to absorb impacts over a large area, it would be sufficient to protect the lives of the stable hands.

Having received the answer he wanted, the knight turned his horse and disappeared.

Although the knight class had faced a major crisis with the introduction of gunpowder weapons, they ultimately succeeded in adapting to the changing battlefield.

There was no reason anywhere to retire human-sized weapons that could cut through post-industrial revolution heavy tanks, withstand machine gun fire head-on, and survive within the explosion of aerial bombs.

*

Among the many events in Polistory, there was a special type called World Events.

Unlike ordinary events such as price fluctuations of specific items or influxes of immigrants, World Events were characterized by bringing permanent changes to the world being played.

However, for a World Event to occur, certain conditions had to be met.

It meant that the world wouldn’t change if you just idly passed the time.

In fact, during the game era, there was even a challenge called “Unchanging World” where no World Events occurred for 1,000 years of in-game time.

It was too boring for me to attempt…

Anyway, to trigger the “Industrial Revolution” World Event I mentioned before, several prerequisites were necessary.

First, the total prosperity level of your region (meaning a distinct area like the North or South that can be compared to other regions) had to exceed a threshold.

Additionally, the political stability of that region also needed to exceed a certain threshold and remain above that level for at least 100 years.

Furthermore, half of the region’s population had to live in cities, and urban production had to exceed rural production by at least tenfold.

In other words, sufficiently prosperous countries needed to be politically stable with more than half their population residing in urban areas—none of which was easy to achieve.

Moreover, World Events that unlocked additional content, like the Industrial Revolution, had a hidden parameter called “momentum” that changed periodically based on player response.

If you failed to properly respond to the Industrial Revolution event, the event chain would break due to insufficient parameters, resulting in a follow-up event called “Fading Revolution,” and at least 60 years would need to pass before the event could occur again.

Conversely, if you successfully overcame the great trial of the Industrial Revolution, the event chain would continue with an event called “Intensifying Revolution,” granting enormous knowledge and science bonuses along with unlocking several buildings.

Each time this event chain continued, a value called “Conflict” would rapidly accumulate in the player’s country, representing generational conflict between the old and new generations, as well as class conflict between workers and employers.

Players had to carefully manage this Conflict value through various minor events, and if the Conflict value remained above a dangerous level for a certain period, riots would break out depending on faction approval ratings, throwing the country into chaos and breaking the Industrial Revolution event chain.

However, if you overcame all these challenges and completed the Industrial Revolution event chain, a final event called “(Region Name)’s Renaissance” would occur, concluding the Industrial Revolution.

From that point on, true total warfare would begin, because the Industrial Revolution World Event started with improvements to the spinning wheel but eventually allowed you to incorporate heavy tank battalions and strategic bombers into your military.

Naturally, many users disliked how drastically the genre changed.

You could witness community forums burning all day if you carelessly responded to questions like “I bought this game to build cute medieval cities, why am I suddenly dealing with the light and shadow of modern society and 1945-style total warfare?”

*

“Military buildup? The Allied Nations?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Countries close to us have suddenly increased their defense budgets significantly.”

I couldn’t help but smack my head at my aide’s words.

In Polistory, the Industrial Revolution wasn’t the only World Event, and I had undoubtedly satisfied the conditions for triggering another one.

“They say they don’t want war, but they need to maintain minimum deterrence against external aggression.”

“Oh no…”

If they’re using that kind of language, it’s definitely the World Event I’m thinking of.

The so-called “Dangerous Competition.”

This World Event, also known among users as “F***ing Dangerous Competition,” occurs when a small number of countries in a region possess powerful military forces.

In simple terms, it means a region-wide arms race.

The reason users call it “F***ing Dangerous Competition” is because, unlike other World Events with strict prerequisites, this one only requires military power to be concentrated among a few countries, meaning it could trigger right at the start of the game if you’re unlucky.

Right now, Amurtart is the cause, and we have plenty of money sources. But if “Dangerous Competition” appears in the early stages of another starting position, it becomes truly exhausting.

When you have neither money nor manpower, the required combat power is an absolute evaluation, meaning you must maintain a certain level of military strength. This forces you to invest precious resources and manpower in the military during the early game when you should be focusing on development.

Yet you can’t neglect military development either, because countries with below-threshold military power constantly face military provocations from neighboring countries, causing stability and support to plummet, along with poor treatment in trade and diplomacy.

Quite a few people, myself included, have experienced this event randomly triggering at the start of the game due to the military power values of other randomly generated countries.

The only consolation is that just as players’ finances dry up, so do those of other countries, meaning the event doesn’t last too long…

Let’s not forget that World Events bring “permanent” changes.

Even if you barely survive this cold war, you’d have to deal with an economy ruined by military spending, diplomatic relationships in shambles from various insults and provocations, and accumulated internal discontent from the very beginning of the game.

And that’s why the “Dangerous Competition” World Event was called “F***ing Dangerous Competition.”

So what should Amurtart do within this Dangerous Competition?

The answer was remarkably simple.

“Well… if that’s the case, there’s nothing we can do about it. Just train the soldiers diligently.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

Do nothing.

Because we were the country that triggered the event, not one caught up in it.

And as I mentioned, we have plenty of money sources.

All we needed to do was supply Amurtart steel to those who needed it to build up their armies.