As long as Candhi pops the next, 200-point GS before Delhi (and the GLib) gets to 200 GPP, we're golden, right?
That's an interesting point.
So, as long as we still have the Warrior in our build queue, maybe we can make a Spearman from there?
The question becomes... when will Delhi reach 200 GPP?
Working backward from there, we can decide when we must hire 2 Scientists in Chandi in order to beat Delhi's 200 GPP mark.
Another way to look at the problem is... capturing Kyoto and then holding the chokepoint will give us leverage against Hatty... only one spot for her units to go would give us a great way to rack up Experience Points... plop in a couple of defending Spearmen and a defending Axeman and watch the Experience Points roll in.
Then, it will be at our leisure as to when we generate the 2 Great Scientists... sure, sooner is better, but unless there is competition to build The Great Library, then we can still generate those 2 Great Scientists later... we don't need Fishing if it turns out that we are trapped by the Peaks in an inland sea... the test game leaves the sea open-ended but what if, more realistically, it is closed off on both sides? Maybe we can settle a Hills square to the west of our empire to get a passage out, but maybe not.
Anyway, with no Seafood Resources, no Lakes, and likely no Seafood Resources of Toku's to worry about, getting our Great Scientists ASAP is not really a crucial thing... because we'll probably want to capture and hold Kyoto for a while, rather than pushing forward, unless for some strange reason Toku-with-Alphabet is unable to bribe Friendly Hatty against us. I'd count on that war declaration to happen, though.
Thus, we can't afford to declare early, as ZPV is also saying, since we can't really have War Chariots using Toku's Road network to snipe at us from all over... War Chariots will absolutely MURDER Axemen and Catapults.
Now, more than ever, capturing Kyoto must be a high priority aspect of our war and we really can't afford to declare war early thanks to the threat of War Chariots using Toku's Road network and appearing anywhere. Once we hold the Kyoto chokepoint (which I'm assuming is a chokepoint--do we know that for certain?), then we can always send out war parties versus Hatty that come equipped with at least 2 Spears per stack, at a future date.
ZPV said:
edit: I wonder if that GNP spike could be the effect of building two scientists in Kyoto. It would be nice if Toku would leave us an academy to play with.
Toku does love his Academies... in a normal game, where he doesn't Open Borders, it's hard for him to keep up, otherwise. Of course, a Toku that trades is a formidable opponent... imagine a map full of them!
I have no clue how we'd force Hatty to make peace with us, particularly since she'd take twice as long to talk with us due to being the one to declare war, so we really need a plan that consists of taking down Kyoto quickly, which, to me, means building a force that is sufficiently large to capture Osaka + Kyoto and then striking in one fell swoop.
Whether we get Engineering 10 to 15 turns later than the earliest possible doesn't really matter all that much, as we'll still need to build up a large enough force before venturing out past the Kyoto chokepoint, regardless of how quickly our small-at-that-time remaining army can move along a Road network.