Round 3: 1240 BC to 640 BC
To start the round, I took the advice many of you proffered and decided to abandon all hope of Stonehenge, changing the build in Djenne with no loss of hammers (or free gold, but them's the breaks).
A few turns later, I founded my 3rd city in order to claim the iron, silk, and stone... but not the pigs, as you'll see later!
1S of the pigs, as flamingzaroc121 suggested, was not possible; it was 2 tiles from the Spanish city (sight unseen at this point, but I could tell by the borders). The city's first build was, of course, a monument. I chopped the forest atop the silk to hurry it along. I also had the Worker build roads on that and the adjacent grassland tile, something I also did south of Timbuktu once the 2nd gems were hooked up. I was tired of jungle growing over tiles on me!
I had finished Pottery earlier in the round and then finished researching the next recommended tech:
I chose Alphabet as the next tech to research; I figured I'd put it off long enough, and the tech board would be helpful for determining what I needed to research next. Also, I immediately obtained open borders agreements with everyone so I could scope out their territory. Checking Kublai's nearest city was interesting:
Hmmm... not very well defended, is it? And that mere 20% cultural defense isn't too intimidating.
In 850 BC, my 4th city was founded, again as recommended, on the coast:
A couple of turns after this, I got word that the Oracle had been completed. I don't think we would have had a chance at it in this game, seeing as how we lack both marble and the industrial trait.
In 700 BC, Kumbi Saleh's borders finally popped--but it was too little too late:
Darn that Isabella and her early religions! Everyone's prediction about tussling over the pigs was correct. This is why I started building a very expensive library in the city--hoping to reclaim the piggies. By the way Obsydian, that's why I don't build libraries this early instead of monuments: they're darned expensive, 90 hammers to the monuments' 30. As you can see, a brand new city will struggle to build one until it has sufficient tile improvements
and population to work them and provide the hammers.
If Buddhism spreads to KS, which I think likely, it will add to its cultural clout. I'll be building quite a bit of culture here as I struggle to gain and hang on to the city's only decent source of food. At least this way, Isabella may save me several worker turns by building a pasture and road on the tile. Yes, I'm a glass-is-half-full kinda guy.
Oh yes, and my worker got busy getting that iron mined. Yay!
In 685 BC, I got word of another wonder being completed:
I don't know how many turns that is exactly, but I think I may have had a very slim chance to claim Stonehenge. Oh well. One benefit of the monuments is that they last and keep contributing culture after Calendar; you just can't build any more of them. And after 1000 years, their cultural output doubles, right?
Kublai continues to be annoying. He founded another city close to my borders:
Given the upcoming cultural fight over the pigs, I'm tempted to go after Isabella. However, most of her territory kinda sucks. Kublai, on the other hand, has lots of good land. And he's being much more annoying than Isabella. I think I'll likely have both religions spread to my cities in the next round, so I can likely choose whichever way I want to go.
One turn later, my next tech was available:
I haven't made any tech trades yet, but here's how everyone stands with me.
Mehmed is being difficult and refusing me anything:
Isabella is being stingy with her religious techs:
While Kublai's annoyance factor went down a notch when he offered me this trade:
He has Mathematics on me, which is troubling, if he goes after Construction next for catapults and elephants. He's offering the best trade, and no one else has anything that he can trade for... yet. So I'm thinking of taking it. What does everyone else think? And does this mean I should leave him be, keeping him as a tech trading partner? Or does it merely reinforce the idea that he should die before he gets too big for his britches?
On a lighter note, I find it amusing that he's expanded so much into the jungle and still doesn't have iron working, nor attempted to trade for it. Stupid AI!
At any rate, that's were the round ended. As you can see, I selected Mathematics to research next--is that the best choice? Kublai may loosen up and offer it in trade soon. Another option is Polytheism -> Literature to get started on the Great Library. There again, Isabella may loosen her grip on the prerequisite tech. I hate duplicating the efforts of the AI, but sometimes it's necessary.
I myself am leaning towards Polytheism and Literature. I may not get that marble from Kublai in time to help with the GL, and some other civ out there is proving adept and wonder-building. The capital would be the place for it, I think, and several chops would be needed.
Here's a look at the map:
And the domestic advisor:
The iron will be on line in 2 turns, just in time for Timbuktu to start on a Swordsman once the Chariot is complete. I have a finished Skirmisher in that city as well, and the capital and Djenne both have barracks now. I was thinking of going after the barb city, but should I just jump on Kublai ASAP and not waste any more time? Then again, Kublai has no horses, so I'm sure the barb city is looking tempting to him. And taking it would give me time to get a couple of Swordsmen and Axemen built. Hmmm...
Below is the saved game file.
You can take that city if you like, or start marshalling for war. I would found cities #3 & #4, then start cranking out chariots & skirmishers like no tomorrow, while waiting for the iron to get hooked up. Forget about building Wonders -- Kublai needs to DIE, and soon! It's possible you can even take Kublai's two closest cities with Skirmishers & Chariots alone, just overwhelm him by sheer force of numbers.
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: you could research mathematics (or better trade for it : alphabet is cool) in the meantime to get a better output if you (unlikely) get a chance to finish the chops.
