TURN 100
Theology finished and I set us for Education. It says 15 turns, but the NC finishes in 4 turns so that should shave some turns off. Ive been playing the game simultaneously on my own since about turn 70ish (got the idea from Gozpel). When I built the NC it took 7 turns off the late Medieval techs, but for some reason (probably because I built it earlier) the NC only winds up taking 4 turns off these techs. I may have queued up Machinery, so take a look at Grandad before you start your turns.
I noticed were making only 2 GPT now and we have a Temple and Stone Works under construction in two of our cities. Our population is 8 in the capital and 6 in our other two cities. These are full-grown Medieval Era cities for me (I dont do tall very well), so I switch some tiles around to get us some more gold and production. Our cities still have a ton of extra food, except for Si Satch, and well have to do something about that soon.
Were #2 in literacy behind Ramesses. I think my guestimation about him going science and building the NC early was correct. I think the Egypt AI has calculated were going for a science victory (based on the wonders weve built) and the Indian AI has calculated were going for a cultural victory (based on the wonders weve built). The truth is, even we dont know what were doing. Were #3 in manufactured goods and have a slight lead over everyone in soldiers.
I notice Lizs soldiers are in hot pursuit of our fleeing elephants. Hilarious.
TURN 101
One of Lizs pikes maneuver themselves right in the middle of three of our NE units. So, its managed to get itself flanked by both sides with no support. Again, hilarious. I kill it.
I upgraded both horsemen to NE (sorry Optional, I felt I needed them, and it turned out that I did). I put two more horsemen in the queue in Si Satch and Muang Saluang and moved them to the top. Again, I felt we needed them, and after you read this I hope you all agree.
TURN 102
Genoa declared war on us (allied by Liz). I have no idea where they are.
Washington conquered Cape Town.
Catherine enters Medieval Era
Liz stole another worker from Sydney, so thats 30 free influence when we get it back
TURN 103
Washington asks us to declare war on Oda. No.
Liz is actually trying to assault us around Si Satch. Sometimes it feels like the AI is trying to loose. I kill two archers.
Warsaw wants a Great Engineer.
Japan, Egypt, and an unmet player all denounce Washington for sacking Cape Town.
TURN 104
NC finished in the capital and I start the Hagia Sophia. Were at 27 production in the capital. Itll take 10 turns. We can take the Great Engineer Warsaw wants and build one of the powerful Education wonders with it.
Already time for another social policy. I take Organized Religion because Grandad was kind enough to let me go first. Well, that and its the best choice since were already in Piety. We have 21 turns until our next policy which is perfect timing for Legalism.
Our trade route to Muang Saluang is complete and were back to 17 GPT.
India made another friend.
We meet one of the friends India has been making, Suleiman. Hes already friendly and fairly rich (30 GPT - probably in on of the 8 or so golden ages that the AI gets). I swap open borders with him because were still scouting. Suleiman is also friends with Egypt and has also denounced Washington, Oda and Catherine.
TURN 105
Liz tries to launch an assault on Muang Saluang. Its a good thing I started those horse units because most of our military has been regrouped to assault Hastings.
Ramesses built the Colossus.
I kill another archer near Sydney and one near Hastings. So far thats 4 dead archers and one dead pike for Liz, no losses for us. Hastings actually had two archers and two pike units defending it, so I lead with our warrior meat shields to soften them up a bit and give us more room to build better units.
Only one lousy XP away from a Great General before the turn ends. Most of the assault on Hastings will be without one.
Weve got a good position around the western side of Hastings and Ive started a road there in case we have to make a Hastings retreat (get it?) like we did from York. I really expected more from Liz. No walls at all and the AI pulled its units behind the city for a counter-attack.
TURN 106
Cathy wants to be friends. I want to be more than friends. It just isnt gonna work out.
We get our Great General but loose one of our meat shields. The warrior I placed on the northeastern side of the river near Hastings gets mauled by the pike, which is fine. The pike only takes 3 damage, which is total BS.
Washington declares war on Oda.
Japan denounces Russia.
Gandhi builds Chichen Itza. Im going to enjoy attacking him the most.
I blow up another archer with one of our warriors near Muang Saluang and deal 15 damage on Hastings with only two elephant shots. I could have moved the elephant you see on the northern side of the city after he attacked, but I want to show you something Ive noticed about the AI. Even if the AI has two units that could cause you serious damage, or even kill one of your units, it wont do it if that unit is super powerful and will leave them severely wounded and exposed to counter attack. This is why you often see them apparently offering themselves to a line of your melee units. This isnt always true, of course, but common enough that Id rather sit there and not loose my position in the siege (the AI WILL move onto your vacated tile).
TURN 107
Sure enough, Lizs pikes dont attack. A settler is born in Hastings and why not
Its not like therell ever be a happiness penalty for settling every fourth tile on the map.
Egypt and Russia sign a research agreement. Egypt is definitely playing a science game.
Horseman finishes in Muang Saluang and accepts another English archer sacrifice.
We take Hastings
with a warrior.
Hastings has a library and its settler becomes our worker. We immediately sell the gems to Washington and Suleiman for 480 gold. They both had spare luxuries we could have traded for (sugar and fur) but Id rather take their gold.
We meet Singapore near Suleimans borders. Theyre a hostile maritime city state with whales. They have no ally and apparently no one is protecting them.
TURN 108
The most hated man in our little CiV world wants to be friends. No thanks, Washington. Were good.
Liz made peace with Ramesses, which is a good thing, because Ramesses had changed his focus to Coventry. That should have been our city.
The pikes around Hastings are running for their lives. I mow one down with a NE in the flat terrain to the north and were stalking the other one thats trying to get to the shore in the south.
I want to mention something about promotions and how I promoted our NE so far. I noticed our Scarcher is double promoted for open terrain, which is fine, but I usually promote most of my ranged units for rough terrain. I just want to share my reasoning for that. While open terrain promotions are great for melee, because thats where they get killed, rough terrain promotions are better for ranged units because units they attack in rough terrain always get a bonus and units they attack in the open always get a penalty. Im not trying to tell anyone what to do, I just wanted to share that thought. And now that I have, Im going to contradict myself and tell you that I promoted most of our NE with rough terrain promotions. I did this because of the attack on Hastings for the most part, and because mounted units dont benefit from terrain promotions. I would normally split them about half and half, but we only have one or two open terrain NE right now. When the others get promotions, we might want to balance it out.
Killed one of the last remaining units that attacked Muang Saluang with our new NE. Theres still 2 pikes and an archer near Canterbury. I have 3 more NE headed that way.
Gandhi already has Knights. He beelines Chivalry for his not-so-special castle. Our units have a 50% bonus on mounted units, so we shouldnt be worried.
The temple finishes in Muang Saluang. The foreign advisor suggests Machu Picchu. I normally ignore the advisors, but I love that wonder. Trouble is it would take 25 turns in that city, so no. I start a market. Grandad, when you open the save check the queues in these cities. I have a bad habit of using the queue and I think I saved it this way. I put a temple above the stone works in Si Satch because well be at our next policy in 15 turns and if I let the stone works finish first wed just barely make it for Legalism, or miss it by one turn. I believe theres also a temple in the queue for the capital.
TURN 109
Liz offers a weak peace deal, but its a good sign. I refuse.
Liz makes one more attempt at Muang Saluang.
I blow up three more archers near Muang Saluang but theres still three pikes and an archer nearby.
Catherine declares war on Ramesses. Egypt is dead last in soldiers, which has me a bit concerned (that Cathy will roll him quickly), but at least this cancels their research agreement.
TURN 110
I kill a pike near Muang Saluang with a NE and an archer with a warrior. I only see one more pike, but there should be two.
The last remaining pike from Hastings escapes into the drink because of a cheap insta-heal. I got one of those RNG screws on a decisive victory. It healed and moved, took 3 damage from our Scarcher, and then sailed away (probably to Coventry).
Demographics
Were 2nd now in manufactured goods. Were still #1 in soldiers, but by a wider margin now. Remember though, the game gives a very high might score to mounted units, so this isnt as great as it looks. We need to supplement our military with ranged units immediately. All we have is that Scarcher. I left all of the gold we earned during my turn in the bank. We have over 1,000 gold now. Lets consider a military city state, spamming archers or just buying a couple of archers.
Weve fallen to 5th place in literacy, but I believe thats only because we havent cleaned up all of the smaller techs. I usually always build the Education world wonder trinity and use research agreements in my games. I know its boring, but thats what I do. I dont care if we do it or not. We can take Notre Dame if everyone wants (assuming we get Hagia Sophia) but we have to be prepared to deal with the AI at equal tech all game long.
Grandad, youre in a good spot to take Coventry. There might be a pike down there and I know theres a trireme, but that shouldnt be an issue. Youll have to heal the units for a bit because theyre a little damaged. We only lost the warrior and gained 2 elephants on my turns. There should be 4 NE near Muang Saluang. Thats the best approach, because the city is on that side of the river. If you get the GG over there and supplement that force with maybe another NE (you probably dont even need that, but just in case you have to rotate one or two out) you can take that city and we wont have to worry about our backs. Liz was even nice enough to start improving the silk for us.