As discussion didn't run for a full 24 hours before our last poll, I would like to run it again.

Quite simply, do we stay at war or pursue peace with Egypt? They will give us El Amarna and 17 gold for peace.

This poll will run until Friday's turnchat. There is no quorum.

Now for the not so simple part. Please read this before you cast your vote!

Following are 2 lists. The numbered list represents things we need for a thriving nation. The lettered list gives us a step-by-step method of getting there.

No more twisting in the wind. Let's pick a direction and go for it. But let's start by brokering peace with Egypt and putting the following into action. I am confident that this will work. Are you?

Needs

1. We need a healthy science rate.

2. We need 20-25 cities(we are near enough unclaimed land to house these cities if we build them quickly enough).

3. I would recommend a Monarchy to Democracy government pattern.

4. We will need a strong military to defend our perimeters, as well as to respond to any threat. I don't feel that we should have an aggressive stance this game, as we have enough unclaimed land within our grasp to bring forth a powerful nation.

5. We need an equal distribution of city growth and production. With a good part of our land being grassland and hills, this should be no problem.

6. We need good fortune, some of which just landed in our lap with our meeting of the Russians. If we play our cards right, we can net ourselves close to 400g in tomorrow's preturn.

Gameplan

I didn't intend to turn this thread into a government-sponsored campaign for peace(hey, there's a concept), but we can lay the groundwork for all these things right now. Here's how:

A. The introduction of Catherine can net us up to 380g and catch us up in techs. This would give us close to 500g in the treasury.

B. Our inflated treasury would allow us to raise the science rate. Bringing science up to 70% would get us Polytheism in 12 turns instead of 35. After this, we can get Monarchy and really use our land for all its worth.

C. Unless we want to spend our windfall on continued military units for what may result as a stand-off, I strongly suggest that we postpone our war with Egypt for now. For those who call this logic "twisting in the wind," I should remind you that we were going to get our Golden Age even if we were attacked by Egypt. That is unless we were to attack and defend our cities with Warriors and Spearmen. Egyptian troops were already approaching our cities, so the call for our Legions made sense.

D. Use our Legions to protect our perimeters, especially in the hills north of where Byblos once stood. Fight a quick defensive war if our borders are threatened but always have our eye on peace.

E. Expand west and claim all of the land defined by the Far West province.

F. Expand south of Regia Doughnutia until we meet resistance. So far it looks like this land is ours to claim as well if we do it quickly.

G. Build Libraries, Temples and Marketplaces in all of our core cities.

H. Build a harbor city north of Noshuret and send out a galley and explorer. Build a harbor here as well so that we can be ready for luxury and resource trade.

I. Plan optimum Palace/ Forbidden Palace locations to make the best use of our empire.

J. As some of our cities will grow quite large, we should do whatever it takes to get the Sistine Chapel.

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This is just for starters, and does not include minutae like making sure we start building mines just before we enter Monarchy, having at least two workers for every city, things like that.

In closing, we have all the land we need just waiting for us to claim it. There is no need this game to gain land by conquest. This is my last call for sanity if we would like to pursue a peaceful victory.

the egyptians will give us el amarna as well? then I say go for it. Normally I wouldnt want to be a "quitter" but in this case we could for exampel go with peace and then perhaps badger them a little so they become the agressor again so we can kick them some more later :)

I voted Peace as well. Let's use our GA for peaceful improvements, raising the science rate, building wonders, etc. rather than using it to build hordes of military units and attacking Egypt.

if we get peace now what did we get an early GA for to get nearly nothing from the war itself?

our GA has already come too early for us to TRUELY take advantage of it, I suggest we continue the war, but still work on some peaceful improvements inside the main corruption borders, esp. prebuilds, happiness, and science.

To qoute Shakespeare (and a Klingon I know qouting Shakespeare)

"UNLEASH THE DOGS OF WAR!!"

We must continue this war. Our legions are the dominant military force but only for now. We must ruthlessly prosecute this war until Egypt is destroyed. The best way to build our nation is through conquest. We can have peace when Cleo surrenders her last city.

Vote war!

I've said all I have said. It's Peace or loose.

Vote: Peace

one word, Kill the Infedel Egyptians

You bring up some excellent points, DZ, and I believe we can do a lot of your suggestions while we are at war. BTW, I don't believe we'll have to back track to get El-Amarna. In 8 turns, with the production we have now and the upgrades of existing Warriors, we will have 18 Legionaries (if none are lost within that timeframe). That's without starting any new units (there are also two Wariors in production that can be upgraded that will make 20 total). Send our forward units forward to take the Swords and Elephantine and then scout Memphis until some reinforcements show up. When we get a group of ten or so, wage some more war. Let some of the late arriving troops take out El-Amarna. It's not a serious threat. And get that Egyptian Warrior by Ina datto also. We can do this. Just because we have no battle plans doesn't mean we can't make some smart moves here. And just because we don't have CT's Chieftain RNG doesn't mean we can't win some battles and get some Great Leaders. Hoo-yah!

As of the turn chat, this poll closes in favor of continued war.