Fine by me! I took the time to play the current GOTM and took my frustrations out on the AI in that game ;) I'm much happier now :D

Guys ... I'm going to have to bow out of this. It has taken way longer than it should have and things have changed for me at home. Sorry but I can't continue on with this run. I also will not be participating in any SGOTM for the forseeable future.

Sorry to hear that, marconos.

What are we going to do, KB?

Best wishes marconos. It's been fun.

This is certainly tough, as it looks like we're down to you and me now. I think we should push on...perhaps we should move to 20-turn sets. That should keep this moving at a decent pace, even if we need to take a little longer to get the sets out.

Good plan!

I was the last player to submit. I could continue with another 10 turns but I can't play until Friday. If you have time to pick it up before then please do so.

Just to recap on the game situation, I felt last turn that we were getting overrun without sufficient forces to actively defend our position. We are now back on out homeland with just afew productive cities but at least we have knights in place to defend them.

I suggest that we make sure we have a sufficviently strong mobile defense and only when we have spare troops should we venture out and attack our foes. If there is doubt as to whether we can hold our gains in future, I say we raze them rather than give them back to the AI. This might get some of them back to the negotiating table. We cannot fight this number of enemies with our limited resources at the moment.

What do you think?

Sounds like a good plan. We are aiming for a conquest victory after all, maybe we can win with the cities we have now :lol:

OK

I'm going to play another 10 turns now. I'll try and set you up for a bit of revenge ;)

>>>the save<<< (http://gotm.civfanatics.net/saves/sgotm5/Tone_SG005_AD1400_01.SAV)

IBT Mongols land pike/l'bow combo by Hov'd iron. (not on it as I have stationed a knight there) Balt:knight->knight; Hov'd:knight->knight; borders expand in two towns improving our production capacity.

1355 2 knights dispatch mongol units.

IBT Mosc:knight->knight.

1360 A French MDI has crawled towards Moscow-I attack with an elite MDI and get a GL! 3 knights are outside Iroq town to Moscow's SE.

IBT Zulu land single impi by valencia but their route is blocked by a fortified sword and horse for counter if required. Japan lands 2 cavs and a Sam by Chondote and we only have 2 knights that can get to them and Egypt has built Athribis in the heart of out road network. I wonder what's there? My money is on saltpetre in the mountains!

1365 2 knights each lose 2 hp in killing the sam and one of the cavs. Upgrade spear to pike and hope for a miracle! Take Iroq town with no problem.

IBT The miracle almost arrives but the cav wins, taking Chondote with only one hp left-it only had a barracks so it's not the end of the world. Am and Egypt agree peace.

1370 Retake Chondote-one resistor-and start rax build again. Check up on peace deal prospects but none are worth taking IMO.

IBT Spain and Arabs sign alliance against us-arabs are really stirring it! Valencia riots as a result of our new war.

1375 Take French town of Aleppo-build harbour. Only kept it for unit support.

IBT Vikings and Arabs sign trade embargo against us. So do vikings and Aztecs.

1380 zzz

IBT Moscow:knight->knight; Denver:knight->knight;

1385 knights take Newcastle-rax.

IBT Vikings dec war! :eek: Poit:rax->knight

1390 zzz

IBT Viking frigates bombard our coast and destroy improvements to the Moscow game tile. Americans land cav by Valencia but it has disappeared before my turn starts! :lol: They must have cashflow problems.

1395 Try to get some workers back towards Moscow!

IBT Vikings destroy improvement to tundra. Iroq land troops by Valencia. Aldea-d-R: knight->knight.

1400 zzz

Notes

Mongols will take peace for 40g, Eng for 60g, Aztecs for 100g, Celts for 120g. These nations are not showing any real signs of aggression but it might then make it cheaper to get a few more at the table and we have the cash to do it. I haven't done this though as I'm not sure if it is the right thing to do and it's you that would have to deal with the consequences. Maybe we are better of rushing some units in our less productive cities? Views?

On reflection I'm not so sure that these minor towns on our island are worth it as they are tying up troops in protection. How do you feel about abandoning one or more of the new gains to free up some more knights for an assault. You have some spare anyway if you want to launch a counter but we need to land a decent number of troops in an area light in defense with so many civs having cavs now. How about America?

Some of the workers are building a road in the south so that when the Egyptian town's borders expand we have a route to Poitiers. Other workers are looking to repar damage to Moscow and then plant trees on the tundra.

Watch out for the Japanese-they are the only ones that have landed decent troops in force and they have a gally close to our horses!

Need to reread the bit on GL-they are worth x shields but cannot remember how many! Didn't build an army as it would be stuck on the island. Should we keep it until we get another FP chance or should we build the FP in somewhere like Denver, assuming that it is worth at least 200 shields, and move our palace with the next leader if we get a chance?

I've got my eye on this, but I think I'll wait for tomorrow to play, as I will be back at the college then and will actually have more time on my hands :crazyeye:

Since we can disband the leader for a certain amout of shields, I would think it would be goo dif we can apply that towards a palace, or just rush the palace altogether. I'll have to experiment with it. If we can get either one of those to work, then I would agree with tossing the FP into Denver. My goal is to try and find us someone weak that we can take over and jump the palace to.

As for the various firnge towns, I think that their help with unit support is good, but I'm nt sure what they provide beyond that. I'll look into it.

As for the various firnge towns, I think that their help with unit support is good, but I'm nt sure what they provide beyond that. I'll look into it.

A third alternative is to leave them unprotected and abandon them if a landing is made. IMO we do need at least three knights around our main production centres to defend against civs with galleons though. Ageed or am I being over-cautious?

I agree, we can't be too careless, or we'll end up with our capitol sacked.

On another note, I just had a thought about our fringe cities. I was thinking we could hold onto them and perhaps use them to help get peace with a civ or two? I'm sure it would help lower the price, and they will be so dreafully corrupt for them that they won't gain much, I reckon.

I've never tried that tactic. I hope it works! Would they be worth more to the original civ?

Preturn- Wow, we're at peace with only Egypt. This is nearly always war. We need some peace.

I make peace with the Iroquois. I give them Newcastle in this deal and it cut around 400g off the price, so it certainly does help. Chondote goes to Japan for peace. 180g and Gandestaigon goes to Arabia for peace. 60g and Aleppo go to France for peace. England will take peace straight up, but give them 312 gold and we get Invention with it. Make peace with the Aztecs for a few gpt and get their TM out of it.

There are some more oppurtunities out there, but for now I want to build some gold back up.

1405

I grab the Arabic TM. Trying to plot a course for our ships will be much easier with maps.

1410

Furs and 35g go to Japan for Gunpowder. We have no saltpeter.

1415

I get the French TM.

1420

Capture Spanish town of Vitoria.

1435

I manage to get peace with the Vikes to stop their endless bombardment.

1450

I sign a much needed peace with America. With the seas relatively safe now, I will send our last best hope to Egypt, as the are the closest/weakest opponent we have. Their land will give us a launchin pad against America, and they have no saltpeter from what I can see.

1455

Our 5 galleys carrying 10 knights heads towards Egypt.

1470

We make peace with the Mongols.

1480

I make the decision to veer our invasion back to Spain, as we probably have even better chances there.

1485

12 knights land next to Santiago.

1490

We complete the FP in Denver.

We begin our attack on Santiago.

We lose only one knight and capture the city.


Summary

I played till 1500. Our fate lies in Santiago. I have shipped Peter the Great there. Once we have starved it down, we could rush a courthouse there by disbanding him. I also made peace with the Celts on my last turn, as they had on our heels with a landed cavalry. In 1400 we were at war with 13 civs. That is now down to 3.

I would like to see us take all of Spain, but lets not be hasty. We don't want another disaster. We can get back into this, slow but sure.

Well done with the peace deals-I would never have thought of using these towns we don't want in the deals. :goodjob:

How did you get the FP built so quickly without using our GL, or have I missed something in your post?-I've only just got up!

I'm more than happy with slow but sure-it's my usual game strategy! I've gained no stunning GOTM successes that way but when your back's against the wall you need to minimise the risks. At this level we can take on the civs one or two at a time-even if we are behind in tech.

We could switch our palace to Santiago with Peter. We'd have to get a few more cities otherwise we might be gaining from the FP corruption bug so maybe that's for the near future. Alternatively we could build a knight army if we have some spare. They can usually take out musket cities and I don't see us getting cavs that soon. Views?

Finally I have a busy couple of days ahead of me so this would be my first request to skip me in a succession game but as there is only us two I guess that's not an option. I definitely won't be able to play tonight and the following couple of days will be very difficult, although I might be able to squeeze in ten turns with a bit of luck but if you can't wait until Friday, play on a bit further. Just let me know if you're doing this so that I don't play the same turns as you if a bit of spare time happens to come my way.

The FP took about 17 turns to build in Denver, sot it wasn't too quick, but not too bad either.

I would ideally like to get our Palace into Santiago, but there seems to be no way we can directly speed up the build. i experimented, and the disbanded shields didn't help the FP, so they won't help the palace. Our best bet is probably to rush a courthouse there and then just conentrate on inmproving the city. This could wait too, I suppose, as if we get Barcelona it is a much better city location. If we capture all of Spain we could even try abandoing Moscow to jump it there automatically. Although, I do believe that is against the GOTM rules, or at least the spirit of them.

1500 Switch cits in capital to give food and commerce but still get knight next turn and press enter.

IBT Spanish land knight by Balt-defended by just one spear! Aztecs and Zulu sign trade embargo. Renew PT with Aztecs.

1505 MDI from Denver kills Sp knight.

1510 zzz

IBT Eng and China sign trade embargo. Sp sends a knight and two MDIs into Valencia.

1515 Lose 2 knights against the Spanish (like we can afford this to happen!)

1520 zzz

IBT Zulu land 4 mounted units outside Balt and I can only get two knights there! :eek:

1525 Try to reduce the odds but both knights lose-strike a peace deal which costs us most of our gold plus 5gpt. Santiago is now starved. I decide on using Peter to build an army and to take the battle to the Spanish. The army just manages to kill a vet pike with just one hp left! :mad: My RNG rolls are poor at the moment. Send three knights to protect it.

IBT Iroq are building Uni Suff!

1530/35 zzz

IBT Renew peace with Vikings. Egyptian borders in the tundra towns expand eating into our road network.

1540/45 zzz

1550 Army has more luck this time, losing only 2hp and promoting a unit to elite.

IBT Renew PT with Americans

1555 Army loses to vet pike-doesn't even knock 1hp off it! :mad:

I'm up to 1565 and still hacked off about losing the army. I'm trying to ship knights over to Spain but losing two for every Spanish knight that comes our way is no fun. :( They will offer techs for peace, however-the only progress I've made. Perhaps we should take them and go after someone else (Egypt is my opinion) but I'm not in the mood to make a rational decision so I'll sleep on it. Please feel free to jump in and take it further.

>>1565 save<< (http://gotm.civfanatics.net/saves/sgotm5/Tone_SG005_AD1565_01.SAV)

This one feels like we're in a hamster wheel. We run and try like hell, but we end up in the same place we start. I'm starting to wonder if this is a lost cause. I'm up in some other SGs, but will try to play some in the near future.

I think you are right! Nice analogy with the hamster wheel :) The next game is up soon and I'm moving house in two weeks time so civ time is going to be pretty limited soon. If I play some more turns like those, I might just throw the towel in. I play for enjoyment and those turns were not fun.

In the meantime any views on the peace with Spain and then war with Egypt? I also feel a rushed lib (and courthouse?) will reduce the flip prob of our spanish town but I'm not sure on the progress here. I'll probably finish my turns if you give your opinion on this as I've regained my composure now ;) Just let me know if you've picked up the save before me!

I think the rushed Library and Courthouse would be good. I think now if we're going to have a decent chance we need to 1) Secure some saltpeter 2) Get to Military Tradition 3) pray to the Vodka gods. I think Egypt would be a good target. However, if the RnG decides to crap on us once more, then I really have no idea. At that point I might go and click the "final save before conquest defeat" option on the submission form :lol:

I'll try and get some time to play this evening. If you manage to get in first, just post a got it! I think we've agreed on at least some of the following but this is my plan unless you say otherwise:

1. Peace with Spain for techs-either research Metallurgy at a decent rate or not at all!
2. Rush Lib on mainland
3. Take out Egyptian towns cutting our lines of supply and then go for the others on our island.
4. Wait for the counter on the mainland whilst building up our forces there to strike at Egypt's heart.
5. Look out for peace deals that will give us Metallurgy!

We're still at war with China but it's really a phoney war-still, at least it contributes to happiness!

That all sounds good. Now, to see if the game actually lets it happen that way :lol:

I think you know the answer already but we've got to try :sad:

1565 (cont)
Rush Lib on mainland and get peace with Sp for Edu, Chem, a couple of slaves and TM.

1570
Egypt has Rifles but hopefully not in the cities I shall target-Just need to wait for the next couple of knights.

IBT
Accept extension of PT with Mongols. Chinese galley closes on Santiago.

1575
(Can't rush courthouse yet)

1580
Chinese land one Rider-no problem! Knights in position to attack Egyptians next turn.

1585
Demand Metallurgy from Egypt. They deny this request so a DoW is issued. Reg spear defeat vet knight :mad: -it is the only defender though and the second knight takes the town. Athribis is defended by a single pike and no slip-ups here!

1595
Knights converge on the towns NW of Moscow to find rifles defending the city!

1600
Four Egyptian knights stop at the gates of Santiago-lose only one knight in dispatching them which is better than usual. :) Combat calc suggests a 1 in 3 chance of success against reg rifle so I move the other knights (including two elites-almost 1 in 2 success chance!) up and wait for next turn-over to you, KB!

I can't remember ever sending knights against rifles. It can't be too much different from horses against pikes though. If six knights is insufficient in your opinion please feel free to pull back and wait :)

We can buy metallurgy if you want-I just decided to leave this decision to you. From where are we going to get our saltpetre though? No point in getting MTrad without it!

>>1600 save<< (http://gotm.civfanatics.net/saves/sgotm5/Tone_SG005_AD1600_01.SAV)

Awesome, looks like some good progress. Knights against Rifles can be very ugly, but considering the level we should only have to deal with one rifle. And with six knights we should be able to muster a victory. If we don't, I pity any breakable objects near me :lol:

I wouldn't call it awesome but at least it's a recovery. The danger against the attack is if we get some more bad luck and the rifle is promoted. Still, who dares wins...

Best of luck but lock away your valuables just in case ;)

>>>SAVE<<< (http://gotm.civfanatics.net/saves/sgotm5/Tone_SG005_AD1700_01.SAV)


Preturn- Make sure valuble objects are out of the way. Ok, thats done. I get France's TM for our WM and 3g to see if they have any rails, and they have a small amount. Uni Suff is being contructed, so they are at least that far. Thankfully no ToE or Hoover's though.

IT- Nearly crap myself as I see a Spanish Conquistador. Then I remember we're at peace. Nonetheless, I HATE those things.

T1 1605

Well, according to the trusty combat calculator, it is about a 3-way tie for what will happen. Victory, defeat, or retreat. Let's see how that holds up.

First knight retreats with no damage done, must have forgotten his sword. Another forgot his sword, then the next one gets mowed down before he realizes he forgot his sword. Next one forgets how to uses his sword for a while, but has a nice comeback, redlining the bastard before dieing. It promotes of course. Our elite knight forgets his sword, and the last one does the same. Great. 2 knights lost, for 2hp damage :suicide:

At his point I officially am going on a crusade toget us Metallurgy, Military Tradition, saltpeter, and a ****load of Cossacks.

We get Metallurgy from the Celts for Furs, WM, 247g and 5gpt. One step taken.

IT- Egypt brings Spain back in against us.

T2 1610

I briefly think about attacking Madrid, but then come to my senses. It can wait.

IT- A Spanish longbow stumbles into out territory.

T3 1615

Kill the longbow flawlessly.

IT- Conquistador attacks and dies.

T4 1620

Holy Crap, just realized that France is being eaten alive by Arabs, Iroquois and Zulu.

I build an embassy with Arabia as part of my plan, and discover to my digust that Mecca is defended by infantry :vomit:

Since France is collapsing so quickly, I decide to take advantage of it and sign an alliance against them with Arabia. In it we get Saltpeter for 24gpt.

Furs and 5gpt go to Japan and we have Military Tradition! It please me greatly to see all our cities now producing Cossacks :) With 20g I upgrade our first knight, and we have our first Cossack.

IT- zzz

T5 1625

I upgrade another knight. Once we have 4-5 Cossies I'll take out the Egyptian crap on our isalnd.

IT- zzz

T6 1630

Upgrade 4 more knights.

IT- France is destroyed, and our saltpeter is gone. Will need to redo that deal.

T7 1635

I have a force of cossacks ready to go, GA begins next turn (I hope)

IT- zzz

T8 1640

First cossack kills a spear and we have our GA. It costs 55gpt, but we get saltpeter back from the Arabs. We have an extra source of horses now, so I use it along with 12gpt to buy Banking from the Mongols. Now hopefully we'll be able to extract Astronomy from Spain when we make peace eventually.

IT- Arabia demands our last 3g away :lol:

T9 1645

We lose one cossack but capture Hieraconpolis.

IT- We lose a knight to a stupid Conquistador.

T10 1650

In killing a Chinese rider that landed next to Santiago, Stalin rises from the ashes! He will be used to rush a harbor so our knights there can be upgraded.

IT- Conquistador dies attacking. Longbow stumbles in.

T11 1655

Our Santiago is hooked up, so I upgrade 4 cossacks. In a turn our two I fully expect Madrid to fly the Russian flag :evil:

IT- zzz

T12 1660

We have a load of Cossack ready to roll; next turn Madrid gets it.

IT-zzz

T13 1665

Here we go. We don't lose a single unit, and we even get Lenin to emerge from the battle as we capture Madrid, containing the Pyramids. There was an obscene amount of pikes there, we would have needed an even more obscene amount of knights.

The only bad thing is that there are large stacks of Egyptian rifles waiting around for us now.

IT- Egyptian rifles attack and kill a few Cossacks.

T14 1670

I kill a few rifles, but will let most of them attack, as our odds are better that way.

IT- Arabia declares war on Japan. Lots of American cavs go by. Looks like someone is going to get it. Hopefully Egypt.

T15 1675

Resposition some troops.

IT- zzz

T16 1680

I uses Lenin to rush a courthouse in Madrid.

IT- America declares war on Japan.

T17 1685

I kill one pike at Chicago.

IT- America declares war on Iroquois.

T18 1690

Kill two more pikes in Chicago.

IT- The extra defense of the cossack pays off as we kill several Egytian units on defense.

T19 1695

We capture Chicago. With Spain's core now in our hands, I decide to make peace. We get Astronomy and a World Map for peace and 9gpt.

The whole map has an...interesting look to it. Complete with several one tile islands :suicide: :lol:

I kill off a few Egyptian rifles as well.

IT- Egypt brings in England against us. The English are building ToE :vomit:

T20 1700

I trade furs, 94g and 6gpt to the Zulu for Physics.


Summary

We gained a great leap forward in military tech, 4 new towns, 5 techs, and a good load of confidence here. We now have a small core set up in former Spain. I have the palace being worked on, but it will take a long while regardless. With enough cossacks we can slowly encroach on Egpyt. Perhaps signing America in would be a good way to help. The English city of Seville can be recaptured in the future since they decided to declare on us.

We are in a deep hole, with the AI having Infantry already. Despite that, we can still win this. It will just be a tade more diificult. We probably are going to need some artillery of some sort, likely cannons, as we cannot aford large losses during our attacks. There is one wounded Rider left over from an attack earlier. I had to tpull the MP cossacks from Poitiers to repel them, so they should be returned asap.

:clap: :banana: :hatsoff: :band: :dance: :rockon: :goodjob:

did I miss any out?

:lol: I can't think of any more off hand. The celebration is deserved I suppose, this is the first solid progress we've had all game really. Now just have to see how Egypt goes.

Sorry about the delay. Downloading and playing now!

Ok. Played a few turns-just moving troops and consolidating but should have some more cossacks in position to attack soon. We are at war with Mongols again and the whole world is a sea of alliances and MPPs.

However we have another GL! See end of short turn log for question!

1700
Wow, things have changed!

IBT
Balt:cannon->cannon.

1705
Dispatch Rider and return two MP to Poit.

IBT
Jp and Sp sign MPP. Sp gives DoW to Mongolia. Mongols attack Jp town defended by reg infantry. First vet LBow kills the defended outright. Another reg inf steps up and is redlined by a vet MDI. A second LBow then kills the last defender. There's hope for us yet! :D Sp dec war on Iroq. Egypt and Arabs sign alliance vs Sp.
Ald-de-Rib: coss->coss. Poit: coss->coss. Ath:coss->coss.

1710
Just move troops to transport.

IBT
Sp and Jp ally against Celts. A couple of Am settlers start to pass by. Mosc: coss->coss. Avaris: Lib->rax.

1715
Ship activity.

IBT
Chinese drop off two Riders. Mongols sign alliance against us! :( Aztecs dec war on Am. Am and Arabs sign alliance vs Sp. China and Arabs sign alliance vs Jp.
Hiera: rax->coss. Denver: coss->coss.

1720
Send a couple of cossacks towards Mongol town on our island. I just need to watch out for those fierce longbows :D Attack Chinese riders and get GL.

Do we want to rush the palace in Madrid? Looks like we've got 450 shields to go here so it's worth disbanding Trotsky. It's clearly in our game plan but would we be taking advantage of the FP bug? I say that it won't complete the palace and with more cossacks ready to strike soon and (hopefully) expand our empire in this area, I don't think that we are cheating! Agreed?

I'll pause here and wait for your views.

I would be all for it, the only problem is that I don't think the disbanded shields will apply for the palace. I think I ran a test on it earlier and had no luck. I don't think its cheating to save and try it and see if it works. Just confirming a fact. If it doesn't work we might be better off rushing something else. The palace is going to take forever unless we disband Moscow, and I'm not really sure I want to do that. It is a huge income provider for us, and I would hate for our palace just to jump to Poitiers or Denver instead of Madrid.

Right. I'll cash rush the lib in Chicago and then build a court there.

1720(cont)
cash rush Lib in Chicago.

IBT
Japan lands troops blocking our attack on Mongols. Chicago: lib->court. Balt: cannon->cannon. Mendes:coss->coss.

1725
Rush court in Chicago.

IBT
Jp cav takes out a defending MDI. Ch and Arabia ally vs Sp. Celts ally with Egypt against us. I'd better watch this!
Moscow:coss->coss. Chicago: court->rax.

1730
First cossack takes Chontote-no resistance and rax in place. Build cossack. Decide to attack Egyptians. First cossack kills elite rifle, second wounds but withdraws, third loses and fourth wins. Fifth and sixth kill the wounded rifles but there is still a pike there.

IBT
Aztecs and Arabs vs Sp.
Poit: coss->coss. Nidaros has built Uni Suff. Zulu's get ToE in Bapedi as domino falls. More rifles in Thebes!

1735
First cossack kills rifle in Thebes. Second kills pike and take Thebes and the GLHouse. Go for Lib there.

IBT
Zulu and Sp sign peace deal. Chinese land a rider on the mainland. Iroq demands 59cash and TM-I give it! Jp and America sign peace.
One resistor quelled in Madrid. Sant: coss->coss. Starvation in Balt due to Rider landing. Denver:coss->coss. The people plants some trees outside the palace!

1740
zzz

IBT
Renew saltpetre deal with arabs for 56gpt and furs!!! Iroq and Am sign PT. End of GA and I don't catch the happiness problem in Moscow-sorry! Ald-de-Rib:coss->coss.

1745
Tanis (Egyptian town built on ruins S of Madrid) grows to size 2 so we take it!

IBT
Az and Arabs sign alliance vs Jp. Mongols dec war on Am. Balt:cannon->cannon.

1750
Send a cossack to attack Seville but the English have infantry-pause and retreat! Take Giza instead with a couple of cossacks but we're getting a bit too thinly spread.

IBT
Iroq and Sp sign PT.
Mosc: coss->coss. Avaris:rax->coss.

1752
Egypt sends a reg pike raider in over open groud-I lose with a vet cossack! Decide to take on the English infantry. The good news is I take the town without loss. The bad news is that they had an MPP with the Vikings. When was that?


I'll stop here to think as it's almost 2.30am here. If you want to play on please post a 'got it' as I've uploaded the save for you to look at or play as you wish.

My thoughts: take peace with Egypt (they will give ToG for 17gpt). China only want 60g and Eng 160g (IIRC) which should drop with other peace deals. The others won't receive our envoy but I think we should take peace before we get a repeat of the previous situation.

We could also buy Magnetism and get into the IA. Nationalism would be handy and Steam would increase mobility and production-what's the odds that we get medicine?!


>>1752 save<< (http://gotm.civfanatics.net/saves/sgotm5/Tone_SG005_AD1752_01.SAV)

Looking good, those cossacks are quite better at cutting through the mess than knights. Getting to the IA is certainly a worthwhile pursuit. Getting Nationalism would be great, as we can always hope for a backward trading friend. Not sure how the situation looks, but perhaps if we build up a bit we could consider a trip to America with plenty of cossacks.

Preturn- We look alright. I would like to tak emore of Egypt, but we have other oppurtunities. I make peace with them for for 778g and we get Magnetism and ToG. We go Industrail, and as you called get Medicine as our free tech :lol:

I make peace with England for 119g.

1758

Spain is dealt their deathblow by the Vikes. I notice Japan lacks iron, so I give it to him for Steam, 31g and 10gpt. We have no coal, Egypt and America have some so we can secure it eventually.

I get cheap peace with the Celts.

1764

I cancel our RoP with America.

1768

I have troops massed to take on America. We go next turn.

1770

Arabia has extra coal, so I get it for 274g and 29gpt. I hate to keep feeding the beast, but hopefully we'll have native supplies of salt and coal.

I tell America its payback time for all the trouble they have caused us. We declare. Take Memphis and take out 4 stray cavs.

1772

Our holdings stand against several American cavs.

I get peace with Vikes.

Take out 9 cavs for the cost of two cossacks.

1776

Mongols bring in Celts against us, Celts bring in Egypt. Damn. We'll survive.

1782

We capture New York.

1786

Get a leader.

Make peace with America for Industrialization, costing us 15gpt.


Summary

This is all the further I can play right now. We can now concentrate on Egpyt., hopefully taking their Coal. Leader can go rush a library in New York to relieve cultural pressure.

Thanks for taking over! This is tough being invilved with two SGOTM when I haven't had much time for either over the past couple of days.

Great game turns as usual. I'll try to look at the save tonight but is it worth cash rushing the lib and using the GL for a factory, or are we now broke?

Egypt is a pain with that one tile island and those chain of mountains. On my last turns Mapstat was showing so many cities in danger of flipping it's unreal and its going to take a while to knock them out.

Ah yes, we may even want to ship the leader back to the home island and put a factory in Denver or Moscow. Egypt is a pain, but hopefully we can take their last good cities and get coal. Perhaps even take the one tile island. Although at this pace, we may end up far enough in tech to build marines anyway :lol:

Press enter.

IBT
A couple of ironclads wrecks roads. :(

1788
Not enough cash to rush lib yet.

1792
Arrrggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Having just rushed the lib last turn, New York flips to Americans. :cry:

1798
Rush Factory in Moscow. Take Heliopolis.

IBT
Egyptian infantry enters Helio territory. Ironcals seem to break roads with every attack. We cannot keep our production going with this bombardment.

1800
Take Alexandria and get our own source of coal! :cool:

IBT
Chondote flips to Japan! :mad:

1802
Take Elephantine, defended by two infantry.
China is getting slautered by the Zulu so give them peace taking demo, sanitation and their pitiful treasury for Steam.

IBT
Celts offer peace for 20g-they have slaughtered our border infrastructure so I take it!

1806
Renogotiate deal for Saltpetre for furs plus only 31gpt saving 24gpt. Having taken their prime sites, we accept deal with Egypt giving them peace and 23gpt for Electricity. Now at war with no one. Set sights on America when peace deal runs out.

1810
Get Nat from China for Industry and Electricity

1816
Rush Libs on Egyptian borders.

Sorry, didn't do a lot after peace and those flips hurt-especially the American one as we lost some military units. Peace treaty with America runs out next turn. I would attack them and this is where our main army is and it will secure the area around our palace build. We do have a lot of troops on our second island and I think that we can do a lot of damage to them. I didn't want to open up another front or break the PT-possibly too cautious but that's (one of) my problem(s) sometimes.

A few civs are building Hoover's Dam now so maybe it won't be too long before we are facing MI! Still, until then onwards and upwards.

ps just remembered that I did not cancel the coal deal-sorry :blush:

1824 save (http://gotm.civfanatics.net/saves/sgotm5/Tone_SG005_AD1824_01.SAV)

Preturn- I reneg our iron deal with Japan, tossing in horses all our gold and 14gpt to the get the critical tech of Replaceable Parts. We have rubber. Dial up the Aztecs and trade RP for Scientific Method. Furs and 12g gets us Corporation from the Iroquois. I also kill the coal deal with the Arabs. I get espionage from Aztecs for Corporation.

1826

I go ahead and declare on America. Toledo falls. New York falls again. Atlanta falls as well.

1828

Americans counter and take New York, Elephantine flips back to Egypt.

1834

Land three cossacks on the American silks island.

1836

English destroy Aztecs. Americans retake Atlanta, but we take Lisht and Cincinnati.

1838

Ivan reappears.

1852

Raze San Fran

1860

Raze Washington.


Summary

This all I can play for now. I have to note that several civs have gone Modern. I'm not sure if we have a realistic shot at winning this anymore, but I'm not sure. Once our palace completes and we have a second core, things should look up. Once we have that up and running, we may want to consider getting the Iro and the Arabs to fight one another, as they are the super powers.

We are back at war with Egypt, by the way. Peace came up for renewal and I didn't feel like it. We can deal with them anytime, as they aren't a threat.

I have taken up the strategy of razing America cities, as having tem for two turns and then watchig them flip is really not my idea of progress. We can burn all of America to ground for all I care.

Sorry for the silence and non-play. I've just moved house so civ time has been limited to say the least. Realistically, I can't see me finding time to play over the next few days until I've unpacked all the boxes and assembled the new furniture. I do intend to play soon even though perhaps the game is a lost cause. Does the publication of results make carrying on a stupid idea?

I'm not sure if playing on is really worth it. We get that damned spoon no matter what we accomplish now. I'm up for burying this if you agree to it.

I'm still surrounded by boxes that need unpacking and flat-pack furniture that needs to be assembled so I'm still no nearer to playing. Also my turn for SGOTM6 will come around soon and I skipped the last turn-can't do that twice!

I agree that we should call it a day and accept the spoon with good grace. Thanks for being such a great partner in the last two games and for sticking this one out for so long. I guess neither of us likes to quit! Maybe we'll play another SG soon-I've got the taste now and I'll be visiting the SG threads for new games once I'm settled in my new place, so watch out!

Excellent, I would be honored to have you as a teammate someday again, perhaps pulling off some wacky variant. With that said, may our tired cossacks finally rest in peace.