[continued from previous post]
We got two Great Persons while the war was going on. The first was a GE, finally born in Berlin after running an engineer there for ages:
This was a great development, since it meant that we could hurry part of the SoL. Given the fact that Brennus got Democracy soon after us, and that he had his own GE, that might prove to be necessary.
We also got another GG from valour in combat:
I thought for a while and decided to use him to build a Military Academy in Hamburg. The city was already producing level 3 units with a GMI. Another GMI would not make much of a difference. A Military Academy, however, would provide a production boost immediately, which we could use to sustain our war efforts and expansion rate. We can settle the next GG and maybe use him in conjunction with West Point and/or Pentagon to build higher level units.
And, as you can see, we researched Steel after Chemistry, which enables those handy cannons (we have a few CR3 catapults waiting to be upgraded) and which the AI seldom prioritises.
The city of San Fransisco fell next:
It's a bad screenshot, I know
I didn't take a good look at it before moving on. Anyway, being too near to the Celtic border, the city was razed. I just wanted to free up Boston's BFC so that it could work the surrounding improvements (such as the gem mine), and we could do with less city upkeep.
This was done while waiting for reinforcements to arrive from the Fatherland, which we needed to adequately fortify Boston while sending a well-protected stack to take the better-defended city of New York (to the SE of Boston) in the American heartland.
Anyway, the engineer in Berlin seems to be quite virile, producing another GE next:
While he was unexpected (I was thinking of another GS for lightbulbing), you don't usually complain when you get a GE, do you?
The round ended at the discovery of Steel. I haven't determined where we should head next. We can research Scientific Method (not my favourite since it obsoletes the GL), Astronomy, Economics or Replacable Parts. Choosing Replacable Parts and heading for Assembly Line for our UB seems to be the best way, but Assembly Line requires Corporation (which requires Economics).
And we have a bit of a problem. The tech screen:
I don't think we're very far behind yet. The three most advanced AIs are Brennus, HC and Washington. We have Steel on the first and Democracy in addition on the other two. However, everybody is stuck in WFYABTA mood, even our little vassal Isabella. I guess it struck after we began capturing American cities and moved up in score. The curse of success, huh? But considering the amount of tech trading we did to get where we are, I'm not altogether surprised. The issue is how to survive and keep pace in the near future, given the circumstances. Our tech rate is alright (Scientific Method in 9 turns), and we can expect more GPs to help by lightbulbing. Which techs we pursue and in what order would probably be crucial.
I'm also thinking of bribing Brennus to go to war with HC to slow both of them down. He has popped back to Taoism after a Buddhist period, and the option of converting to Taoism to befriend him is open to us. It's only a matter of timing and which tech we can use to bribe him. If only that darn Isabella would stop being so sulky. She's about to finish researching MT and Brennus doesn't have that.
The power graph:
The mass upgrade that we did does have an appreciable effect. It's certainly enough to break Washington's rising power.
In this round, we've transformed our economy to be more like an SE, farming over some cottages and employing more specialists on top of the Mercantilism ones. As such, the GNP graph is becoming more irrelevant. Let's look at the production graph instead:
As they say, after land, production is power. And we're not doing too bad. Louis has quite high production levels, but Brennus is only way up there because of a Golden Age he began in 1460AD. With our quick factories, we should be high up pretty soon.
By the way, I suspect Brennus used his GE for that Golden Age of his, but the AI loves SoL as much as we do so we must be careful. Berlin is not that productive by AI standards and every turn we delay is a risk. I'm thinking of hurrying the SoL right away and pop-rushing the last bit of the wonder. What do you think?
The map of our continent:
After New York (we've begun laying siege to it), I'm thinking of a brief foray to raze Chicago before pausing the war to recover. After that, Washington, Seattle and Philadelphia would be taken in that order. Houston and Atlanta can serve as another mini buffer state (to absorb damage in a future war with Brennus) as we vassalize Washington. What do you think of this plan?
The other continent:
By the way, we didn't win the circumnavigation race. Huayna did.
We are doing well in terms of warmongering, but keeping up with the AIs in tech might prove to be a challenge in the near future. And Panzers may be called for to break Celtic power, after which steamrolling the Incans shouldn't be too difficult.
; the number of tiles in the bfc owned by the foreign civ (but a revolt is also possible, if no tile is owned by the other civ, it would just increase the probability) - note: perhaps only the 8 directly adjacent tiles count towards this. And finally - I think - the foreign civ needs a city whose cultural boundaries could include your city's location.
been lurking, not posting, keep up the good work. please post a cultural borders screenie when you do the update. looking forward to the panzers.
I doubt it will do him much good and you can cancel in 10 turns, that's 160 gold for no effort on your part. Not sure of diplomatic consequences of trading with Brennus, Louis and his buddy Huayna Capac might take a dim view but who cares you can't be friends with everyone.
Other cities are also working forests when grassland farms are available. 
You just need to control WW problems... so jails and happiness resources are important. A long term research goal has to be Fascism for Mt Rushmore and Police State allowing unlimited warfare... but you knew that anyway 
