Round 5: to 1520 AD
As the round started, I converted to Judaism to improve relations with Huayna and Cyrus. Edo was still in revolt, but luckily, Judaism spread on its own to Osaka. I switched civics to Organized Religion and started spreading Judaism to all my cities.
I was getting worried about Edo, though. It was facing pressure from east and west thanks to two Persian cities. Persian borders quickly claimed Edo's iron mine and rice farm and I was getting worried about its gold mine. That's the pain of being up against a Creative civ, even if you're a Creative civ yourself. It's all about who's been there first and longest.
Right around this time, Lyon, my GP farm with National Epic now in place, went against the odds, took the meagre NE points towards a GA, and spat out a Great Artist. At first I was, like, "Oh, a Great Artist. So what. Maybe I'll save him for a Golden Age..."
Then I glanced at Edo again and smacked my forehead.
One great work later and the iron and rice (and several other tiles) were mine again, and the gold mine is safe. More or less...
I also noticed that the territory north of Edo had a big yawning gap in it. Rather than have the AI settle there, I rushed a Settler out and claimed it for myself.
As I cleared the jungle, I began to realize that Tours will likely be my Ironworks city, thanks to all those river tiles that can have watermills, not to mention the hills, grassland for workshops, and the horsies. I built cottages at first, but I'm going to replace them with farms, max out the city's population, and then put the production improvements in place.
And shortly after that, my bee-line came through:
I started building a few Musketeers and wondered how I'd be using them. Shortly, I'd have my answer.
Huayna came by for a visit and is feeling positively chummy now that we share a religion. He offered me an appealing tech trade:
A little in his favour, perhaps, but I was in a mood to start exploring, and this put me close to Optics and Caravels. Also, my cities were getting large enough so that the health limit was now in sight, so harbours will also help.
Shortly after this, however, I had proof that not all of my neighbours is happy with me.
Well, since I was planning on this anyway, having Isabella declare war was fine by me. I'd moved my units into Edo and had built a few Musketeers and Macemen in preparation. I switched civics to Theocracy since Judaism was now in all my cities.
Isabella went after Edo first, predictably. I managed to escape relatively unscathed, losing only a few Catapults that caused collateral damage to her meagre stacks. They were more of a pillaging threat than a city-taking one, but I managed to keep both the iron and gold mine working.
Then Huayna came by again. He and Cyrus both refused to join in the fighting, but neither seems to mind my pounding on Isabella much. Since Isabella declared war on me, I've avoided the -1 diplomatic demerit, and sharing our faith has earned me a +6 from him. So he offered me another appealing tech trade:
Normally I don't trade Paper until after I discover Liberalism, but as you can see, I pretty much had that race in the bag. And having Optics gave me more choices for the Liberalism free tech.
Meanwhile, having thwarted Isabella's feeble attacks on Edo, I sent my stack out to the most tempting target--the nearby holy city of Judaism, Seville.
Capturing it was delightful in so many ways. Not only will it be a great cash cow (probably my Wall Street city), it also showed me the units in practically ALL of my neighbours' cities!
And I'm also getting the most out of the Musketeers; you can see three of them (of course) in that shot, heading further south. They're top-notch pillagers. I've been plundering Izzy's happiness resoures and metals practically unscathed. That trio all have Combat I, and then have a mix of Guerilla I, Medic I, and Combat II. So they'll be hard to take out. I had another stack of two of them going down Isabella's west coast, but they got turfed after they pillaged a vineyard right next to Cordoba. So Hans' warning back in the Hatty game holds true: try to avoid pillaging any tile adjacent to a city. My bad.
A couple of turns later, I won the Liberalism race:
Tough choice, but since I was close to reaching the other continent with one of three Caravels, I went for Astronomy. That would allow cross-continental trading, and any GPT I can get will help. Furthermore, I wanted to build Observatories, especially in Lyon, which would let me run two more science specialists.
I made a mistake after this, got wonder-greedy (I still have that GE sitting in Paris), and went after Nationalism. When Isabella started coming at Edo and Seville with tons of pillaging Horse Archers, and my Spearmen eventually kicked the big brass bucket, I realized that I needed Pikemen. Especially since she probably isn't far away from Guilds and Conquistadors. So I abandoned Nationalism and started researching Engineering.
Shortly after I made that course correction, I found the other continent. Someone earlier guessed Hatshepsut was there, and they win a prize:
Yes, we did the mother of all tech trades. You can't see it on that screenshot, but I had her throw in her world map. Thanks to it, one of my Caravels only had to travel a few more tiles, and I won the circumnavigation bonus. Hatty and I also hammered out some trade agreements and an Open Borders treaty. She's all smiles now whenever she sees me.
I also found out where and who the other civ was. He wasn't as amenable as Hatty, mainly because I found her first and he really has it in for the poor girl. Even so, he didn't pass up on giving me a few GPT for one of my spare resources. No moss growing on that boy.
Genghis and Hatty are at war, and he's already taken Heliopolis. I was thinking of gifting her some Iron (which she doesn't have) to even things out, but though better of it. If she dies, some of the techs I gave her will likely die with her. On the other hand, I could probably use an ally
somewhere. I'm dithering. Help me out, gang.
Meanwhile, Izzy's pillagers were getting downright annoying, and I was out of nearby Spearmen. I did manage to raze one of her smaller cities, but had to rush the stack back to Seville to protect it. As much as I would have liked to take her out in one blow, I needed a breather to build reinforcements, including finishing Engineering and Pikemen. So I went to her, hat in hand, and asked for a time-out:
I finished Engineering on the next turn, and thanks to it, Chemistry was available! Grenadiers! They're a perfectly serviceable unit, especially if you get them reasonably early, which I will. And then I can grab Steel for Cannon! Goody goody gum drops.
Here, as well, is a look at the other continent.
It's much smaller than mine, so I could very likely have a domination win just by claiming my own land mass. That's what I've decided to aim for.
So now the question is how to achieve it. I could shortly resume the war against Isabella and finish what I started. However, Cyrus has inconveniently converted to Christianity, so there's some danger there, though not much, I think--Cyrus is usually more of a builder than a warmonger unless he sees a clear advantage, and he and I are almost a match in power.
But Cyrus is only going to become harder and harder to take on. I have one Hindu city now, Seville, so I could spread it and convert to make Isabella happy with me. That would tick off Huayna, though, and make him a threat. Of course, I could also switch civics to Free Religion, which would improve relations with everyone, but then I'd have to switch to Vassalage to keep some bonus XPs.
I also have not built or captured enough Workers in this game. I've been able to stay on top of things by carefully only improving tiles that can be worked, but I haven't had much of a cushion. I'm thinking of building the Hagia Sophia so my Workers can improve tiles faster. I'm reluctant to use the GE for it, but Huayna may have a head start on it.
So how should I play this out? I want a domination win and have three opponents in my way, all capable of reaching my cities and causing damage. I face not only a military challenge, but a diplomatic one. Any advice is, as usual, very much appreciated.
