Many Leaders Game 4 - The Cultured Monarch

I don't have much time for CIV right now, so this was played in a hurry. Expect a suboptimal decision or two Anyway, I continued to build temples and new cities, hoping to expand to 9 cities with three temples in each eventually. My problem was that my neighbours were VERY late to get alphabet, so my hope of backfilling didn't work out - I had to research iron working, hunting, archery and some other cheap techs myself I have only gotten GPs so far, but that's OK - I used one to found Christianity, and two for building the big temples (gives culture and money). Now my capital is on full-time GA duty.


TODO: I need a few more defenders (Tokugawa is annoyed) and workers, and I need to start building the cathedrals soon. There is a barbarian city that I would like to take, but I don't think I can spare the hammers for military right now.

Previously, on My Wang's Chronicles, I have oracle and writing in 2 turns. That means I will be able to grab Codes of Law as a free tech. So I did.


A third religion, yay! The oracle is also good in the sense that it provide GProphet points. Invaluable.

But time to think of expanding my wang .... so should I stroke it, stimulate it with Playboy or find a Pamela's video on YouTube? Neither, let's do it the CIVilized way .... settle.


Meanwhile, I build a steady troops of axes, and headed towards IW then Maths followed by Construction. IW is mainly to enable gems. Maths > Construction is ofcourse for the inevitable conquest of Japan.

However, Toku seems to sense something ... and in an act of desperation, he offered Osaka.


Hmm ... never expected that. What I do expect is for Osaka to flip. It had been in "0% Japanese, 99% Korean" for the last 3 turns.

Alright, for your display of respect, my army of axes will change their target victims. (I want Hawcha first anyway before I knock on your door). And one presented themselves.


Unfortunately, as idiotic barbs always do, the city is far from optimal. Shifting it north 1 tile would be so much better. And so I did:


There, the situation at turn 100.


In 50 turns, my wang had expanded to 4 times its original size. With the shooting-machine abt to come on line, would the Japanese's hole be filled with my wang?

Stay tuned.

Imhotep - I think you need to spam out workers and not axes: Orleans should have had those gems mined long ago. Also, this would make a much better spot for Hermitage (than Globe/NE) because it's got great commerce. If you use it as a Artist farm you won't be able to work the gems and dyes. From your report, it seems you haven't scouted the northeast of the island. Finally, low-odds Artists aren't so bad: he'll give as much culture as the shrine and some commerce, too.

Ozbenno - All going according to plan: Pyramids would have been the icing on the cake. Three Artists at this stage (including the one from Music) is impressive. With a Confu continent, you should be able to focus almost exclusively on culture

Ralph Jackson - I'm surprised you valued Calendar ahead of Music, given you could probably have traded the latter for the former. That said, if you can keep the continent Buddhist then Toku's your only diplomatic concern.

Bindamel - Oh dear! Let's hope the 2nd Japaese war goes better (and with Catapults I'm sure it will).

yena - If you're planning to beef up your military you might as well train swords and axes and go after that barb city.

r_rolo1 - I think you're running a big dogpile risk with Joao, Toku, and Roosy. Why not switch to NSR for a while and hope that some missionaries come across the borders so you can adopt Buddhism? Good news that you got the Music Artist so late.

pawelo - Bad luck with the Music Artist going so early Not sure about the Great Library: I find it to be a red herring in culture games because it's the worst polluter of the GP Pool.

General - Having Marble to the north has greatly reduced the Wonder advantage of the IND civs in this Wonder-heavy phase of the game, so it'll be interesting to see how the charts look at the end of this round.

I've never had an enemy city be donated like that , I assume the -1 "Past events have proved your bad nature to us" diplo modifier comes from this.

I started my round knowing that I'm not the top dog...
Not even close....

Finished Poly ( gone for drama ) and soon I got my GP:
Direcly for the shrine...

Soon I got a nifty event:
Nothing like a boost in diplo when we're surrouded by heathens....
We became dramaticly enhaced in cultural terms:

More cities ( the first one can be a nice GP farm , the second is a so-so)

Got maths ( for boosting chops ) and trailed to Music

Finshed Parthenon.....


Our neighbours ( somehow I find it hard to call them friends..... ) learned Alpha . Time for some deals:
Toku is being the usual jerk....

And soon the demands started.....

Caved in to both.... I simply can't have a war now.

Another wonder.....


And another city ( this one will be quite good after it flips the rice )


Finally Music , the GA and Sistine
I settled the GA because I think that my game will last a little longer and the 12 culture that a settled GA gives, multiplied by a Pavilion and a cathedral, is quite respectable ( far better than most wonders )

And it was here that I noticed that I played one turn in excess:


Some intel:

Map ( didn't changed much, don't have OBs )


And F8

Reporting from a far far far away land with very few net connections...

My plan was easy - use the Uber-research to get Music, Theo & Philo.
Well, the first scientifst could go for Philo, I would research myself Music and Theo.

At first, I revolted to Confu state religion. One happy continent

Here are some landmarks, in pictures :



Maastricht found in turn 109 - I would like to farm some GA here.

Litterature in T102, followed by the Alphabet and Meditation, and in turn 109 I was able to bulb Philo with my first GS from Amsterdam :



Urtrecht, second leg, is the holy city - great

Once Mono is researched, I start Theology and revolt to OR.

In turn 113, another research-boosting (and GA spoiling ) wonder :



Three turns later, five turns before researching it, I lose Chritianity to some Mansa/Gandhi (I know they aren't here but someone is teching crazy) like guy...

I settled Middelburg in the middle lands (like it says in the name) - on the river next to the bananas, between Joao and Rossy.

This is the one responsible for losing the Middelburg screenie :



Built in Kyoto, which will be my third leg.

Theo ( lost christianity race ) was followed by Drama and the Theatres. I started Apostolic in Amsterdam, going for the religious four - suits well the all-happy confu-continent.

My general builds were - confu missionaries for spreading and OR bonus, cheap libraries and I started to build some army for the border - Rossy gets powerful. Even though he is pleased, until friendly beware of Rossy.

Drama - Music.

Joao went wonder crazy, grabbing the Zeus and the Paya. I ignored the latter, and missed the first one because of the monuments - creative made me completely forgot to get enough of them to unlock Zeus at the right time.

I traded for Monarchy and got Sailing from a good friend Joao.

Later, I got Calendar and Construction, trading away Theo.

Anyway, back to business.

Music checked in 400 AD but the GA went to some obscure (the same one that techs like crazy) AI in 275 AD . Another drawback.

Still no GA... Anoyther GS from Amsterdam settled an Academy in the capital.

After Music, I went for Calendar, part researched and traded, then Currency.

At least, Apostolic was mine in turn 133 - I started Sistine asap, with some chops to come.

Some shrines were founded on the other side of the world - gimme another religion-tech crazy AI, Isa, Asoka ???

I settled another city, the number 9 :



Currency in, I went for the Divine Right asap. Need this third religion badly!

In turn 140, I went for NE in Kyoto, trying to promote it to GA production too. I started the first Confu Academy there - did I win the first Cath prize ? - turn 146

Sistine in T143 - this one is major in a culture game with all these confu temples here and there :



I got another GSci, even though my odds are getting in favor of the GA - academy in another commerce-wonder - Urtrecht (gems&dyes).

I got MC from trade here, and patiently waited for the Divine... No surprise :



Even though I would prefer another holy location, it's good to have three religions.

I started Feudalism for LBows, to be followed by Paper and the Lib-race

And I even founded another city, leaving the 9-rule.

Anyway, here is the world as I know it :



All in all, the land is nicely covered. I still miss another northern filler, and I think Rossy or Joao will go for it soon if I don't take it - they are pretty stuck to the south.

My defense su%#s, but I'm working on it via Feudalism and LBows.

Some stats for the 3rd leg :



Sum-up and plans :

- I sucked wonder-GP management, making me zero GA until now.
to all of you who got several of them

- I'm happy with the religion spread - confu is in nine cities, several temples are up and I have already a cath in the 3rd leg. Tao is also spreading now with first set of temples getting up. Next part will ne the islam spread.

- Financially it's going fine, and calendar ressources being everywhere, it's time to set up a great eco for further cultural expansion

- Globe to come somewhere - capital probably, followed by Oxford later on

- Moais still not online - I hesitate between Rotterdam and Delft

- Hermitage will probably go in Kyoto - Urtrech will get the GA merged as soon as I get one of those guys - no philo makes it a hard time for the SE

- I will do my best to get Rossy friendly - he has power and is Exp - no need to get him angry with a culutred neighbor.

- MoM is soon to arrive in Urtrecht - I may fire another GSci on a long GA asap

Going to lurk your games now

@r_rolo1 - Good number of cities and infrastructure not too shabby either but your diplomatic situation is precarious. Are you intending to chase Taoism?

@pawelo - Your game is still progressing nicely. 10 cities is nicely done. Great Library in the capital is an interesting choice as it means (unless you employ more artists) you'll have less than 50% chance of artists in your GP producing city.

@yena - 4 religions is great! You have an interesting diplomatic situation as well. Lack of gems and calendar resources is telling.

@Ralph - Wonderfully managed diplomatic situation and great religion spread. 2 GAs is good as well. Bummer about the Music GA but the calendar resources are too important too leave. Its funny to see you don't have Hunting at 800AD . How many cities are you going to try for?

@Immy - Well done on the Japanese cleansing. Again, the lack of gems and calendar resources is telling. Interesting you're still in with a shout at the free GA from Music whereas it has gone to the AI in others games.

@Bindy - I get the joke now . The next Japanese war needs to be decisive methinks. Catapults should see you through as Toko seems an eternity from Longbows (4 techs). Use the gems Luke!!!

@Zargon - Good diplo situation but one religion on the continent is problematic, so you're right to go for Islam. You going to found more citied or hope some Joao cities flip (at least two should by the end of the game).

@Swiss Pauli - Interesting to see how you keep a lid on Roosevelt but he is the best one to have off-side of these 3 by miles (as he is quite peaceful). Really nice peaceful expansion and development.

I agree that my diplo is suffering from the lack of OBs ( I wanted to reserve the NE corner of the continent form me and with 2 ReXers nearby I simply didn't had much of a option ) a thing that made that no budha spread in my cities so far ( that and the confu shrine ). I do expect a Dow in a near future and that will make my buildup stall for a while.That is the reason why I cave in to the demands AI made me: I just want Sistine done and a budha city to change for FR and start a to make a decent defence

Regarding Philo: Worth pursuing, but I doubt I can get it in time for Tao

I know I'm playing with fire regarding diplo.... I'll settle the iron spot and change to FR ( I've Paya for that ) ASAP. I was expecting that the confu shrine would make someone confu, but things didn't got that way ....

Based on the previous turns i was still very worried about Toku and his war mongering hordes so i decided on an immediate coversion to Taoism to try to get to pleased or friendly with Toku. although London didn't have Taoism York was switched to a taoist monastry to provide the necessary missionary.

i adopted the policy of giving Toku any resources or techs i could spare in the attempt to keep him peaceful.

200AD saw a prophet born in London, off he went to York for another shrine

in 250AD Coventry was founded with the intention of claiming the marble to the North-East.



In 680AD I was informed that i had failed in the quest for classic literature because Joao had completed it first. This is the first time i'd ever seen the AI complete a quest at the expense of a human player.

700AD Another prophet in London and off to build the church of the nativity, i'll try to MM London to build GA's now rather than prophets.

740AD First to discover music brings a GA in London.

a few shots for information







surprisingly i'm quite happy at the moment, three shrines for income is very nice and as long as i can avoid wars i'm mildly optomistic of success. hopefully i'll be able to expand a further three cities in the northeast for the magic nine.

Of course I know that those gems would've sped up my research rate quite nicely. But I was not able to settle the spot as I had to go all military AND pursue the wonders. Things will get better now as the gems will come online soon. And yes, the games are quite heterogenous in terms of AI play - whether it's city locations (aka bold Joao REXing in my game) or tech preference (aka Music GA)...

Turn 101: Toku's horses are pillaged so no more chariots rides for him.



Turn 103: Time to attack Kyoto. A lot of luck with the dice and it falls. A Japanese chariot is lurking nearby and would retake the city IBT so I agree peace with Toku in order to regroup.

Turn 110: GP pops in Mani. He constructs Kong Miao in Teo to make some more Mani.

Turn 114: The boxing in by Roosie and Joao is getting a tad irritating, but fortunately I only need a few more good cities to be ready for the cultural upheaval. It's mostly jungle anyways.

Turn 117: A blocking city, Tlatelcoco, is founded near the coast on the bananairon spot.



Turn 124: Oh how much I despise barb cities that pop up on the exact (hillside) spot where you were going to plant a city, complete with two dozen archers.

Turn 127: SoZ done in Osaka. First part of the puzzle is in place.

Turn 130: I get a food supply from Toku, giving me a whopping +3 diplomatic bonus. Still not enough to agree to OB.

Turn 142: Music be the fruit of love - play on! None of the AIs have Alphabet yet, ridiculous.



Turn 147: The AIs finally grab Alphabet and I get to wonder how technologically backwards I am. Joao is still good for some trades.

Turn 150: The barb city of Sarmatian is finally taken and I get to complete the nine cities of culture.



Roosevelt is teching way too fast for my liking, something needs to be done about that. This set was all about grabbing enough land and beelining to Music. Wonders grabbed: SoZ, GLibrary, GLighthouse (from Toku). Techs gained: Polytheism, Aesthetics, Literature, Music, Alphabet (from Joao), Monarchy (from Joao), Sailing (from Joao), Calendar (from Roosevelt).

A brief summmary:


The World


Fuller version