ALC Game 28: Ethiopia/Zara

@Benginal: Is there any chance of a save at the end of the coming turnset please? Sometimes, I find it helps when trying to offer advice...just so I can get a more complete picture.

For what they’re worth (which I’m aware may well be nothing ), my thoughts are as follows:

(i) I think the map is set up nicely at this stage for some kind of diplomation, the extent of military conflict depending in part on your yet to be found other AI.
(ii) There aren’t many happiness resources around – and in the absence of religion spread, you’ll need either (i) a non trivial garrison under HR (ii) have to build boosting buildings (eg. colosseums) or (iii) need to trade to secure boosting resources, to grow your cities.

This is obvious I know, but I think it has important implications for your tech path and choice of military target. IMHO, the lack of available resources and your possession of TGLH means there’s lots to gain from an early optics > astronomy here. Yes, astronomy obsoletes The Colossus, but my experience is that the combination of overseas trade routes and observatories dwarfs the gains that The Colossus will give you. An early compass > optics en route will also give you the ability to build:

(i) harbours to boost health, which is not exactly plentiful either (and you have seafood), and maximise the value of those GLH trade routes; and
(ii) another coastal city to nab those whales for an empire wide boost.

Of course, astro will also give you access to galleons, to transport your troops.

IMHO, completing astro would then mean it was time to focus on getting gunpowder and steel, which z0wb13 has discussed really well. If you get them early enough, you might even be able to take out Liz first, before she gets her UU – and then roll on to Pacal. (Talking of gunpowder, bear in mind that you don’t need education to get this tech, you can get it via guilds.)

Talking of Liz BTW, either her or Hammy would be my choice of espionage target – depending on how many turns it’ll take for you to see her research. The reason I say this is because (as I understand it) Liz is the most willing of the AI you’ve met to trade, so you may want to (i) avoid duplicating her research (and trade with her - or maybe Hammy - before you kill them) and (ii) learn when she’s getting closer to her UU.

That brings us to the GM. Out of curio, what did you get for the last trade mission? I ask because there are probably two choices here: (i) use him for a trade mission or (ii) research paper and see if you can trade for feudalism (perhaps while you’re researching to compass and optics), which (as I understand it) will allow your GM to bulb guilds and open up gunpowder for your oromos. What does everyone else think? Is (ii) a little too early?

Oh, one last thing. When did Shwedagon Paya go? I was just wondering if you thought of building it at some stage to get early access to free religion, to get at least some benefit from the religious civics? Likely too late now though...you probably need the hammers elsewhere, even if it's still available.

learner gamer said:

@Benginal: Is there any chance of a save at the end of the coming turnset please? Sometimes, I find it helps when trying to offer advice...just so I can get a more complete picture.

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No problem!

Benginal said:

I don't understand this. Do I put a worker at the top of the queue, and then whip it right when it's about to be completed with the overflow going into TGL (or whip it for 2-pop and 31 H or something?) It's not too late to use this tactic for the National Epic and I'd like to know how to do it.
Yes, you put a worker at the front of the queue and whip it the next turn. When you have a large food surplus but little hammers, you can generate way more hammers this way. Worst case scenario, you get slightly less hammers over 3 turns but in exchange you get a worker.

My thinking for this comes from my dependence on a bureaucracy powered commerce capital. I take it in this case my dependence is a bad thing, . Would you suggest leaving the capital where it is? Given that I've already started, is there anyway to get failure gold for the palace in Addis Adaba? Should I just finish it?
You pretty much nailed your problem
The greatest strength in Bureau capitals is from hammers in most cases. When you have a city that you can grow very large only on cottages, then yes commerce becomes just crazy using Bureau.
Remember DaveMCW's RoT: If it can grow and work 10 cottages, it's a commerce city. Anything less is just a "casual" city.


I'm building the archers because I want to take advantage of being in Monarchy and grow by cities, that and my power is terrible and archers are cheap. I was going to send both of these archers to Gondar allowing it to run a bunch of scientists. Does this make sense? How should I accomplish what I want to in this respect, if archers aren't the way to do it?
Some alternatives:
-whip unhappy into infrastructure that will make your city better
-whip settlers/workers (with GLH, your aim should be to settle cities as fast as possible as they will all be direct gains on commerce)
-trade resources (don't know feasibility here)
-trade away your copper/iron and build warriors for 10 less hammers

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Replies in bold.

Thanks Kossin! I'll try to implement all those ideas in the next round.

Some Answers

Swhedagon Paya has not yet been built. I can built it in my Capital in 14 turns, since I get it half price because I have gold.

The last GM earned 1100 gold.

Some New Information

Well I finally got BUG. I'm really liking it so far as it's already told me that Elizabeth is in pms mode (no I haven't started the next round, so those of you that opened the save probably figured this out already). She and Pacal are worst enemies, and I'm on a different continent, so I'm hoping I'm not the target.

Pacal has a Hindu missionary heading for my city. I should be able to revolt into Hinduism in about 2 turns.

I'm getting a Great Person in 12 turns - 70% scientist and 30% engineer.

Some Ideas

I'm thinking of starting Swedagon in the capital. Aksum's infrastructure is pretty set up. I still need a courthouse (do I? is it worth the espionage points?) and my empire could use more workers. But other than that there's not much else I'm inclined to build right away, and the failure gold will be nice.

I have three things I could revolt into: Beauro, OR, and Caste (out of of Slavery). I can do any two for one turn of anarchy or all three for 2 turns of anarchy. So should I stay in Paganism or Slavery? My personal thought is to stay in slavery to whip in Universities and hopefully use OR to spread Hindu everywhere and join the Hindu block.

For Tech path I'm thinking of going Paper, Education (bulb with scientist), Gunpowder (begin slow build-up of Oromos), Philosophy, Construction, Engineering (Notre Dame with engineer if I get an engineer), Philosophy, Chemistry, Liberalism, Bulb Steel, Optics, Astronomy.

Some Questions

Is it worth teching to cannon or should I just get Oromos up quickly and declare war then? Maybe I can even get Hammy and Pacal to dogpile on Elizabeth.

Should I take up Hinduism as my state religion?

I've learned in this latest Immortal Cookbook the strategy of almost finishing a tech, but not getting totally there, so that the AIs can't get research discounts on it. I am trying to take that into account in my tech path, but I'm not sure if I'm doing a good job. I want education and gunpowder finished early so that I can start Universities and Oromos. Any comments on this?

Should I get within one turn of complete Liberalism just in case it looks like an AI decides to go for it?

Cannons win wars and games - plain and simple. Sure you can go for Oromo/Treb but cannons make most wars a steamroll - especially when accompanied with able infantry such as the Oromo.

Fleme said:

Cannons win wars and games - plain and simple. Sure you can go for Oromo/Treb but cannons make most wars a steamroll - especially when accompanied with able infantry such as the Oromo.

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Absolutely, but it never hurts to churn out an army of Oromo + Trebs which you then upgrade to Oromo + Cannons.

In a pinch, you can make good use of the Trebs.

I'm thinking of starting Swedagon in the capital.

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stop thinking! unless you are doing it purely for the failure (in which case it would be better than building wealth), the useful lifespan of the shwedagon pagoda will be hopelessly short given the tech path you desribed. the only use that i can see would be to switch to theocracy for the exp bonus, but if you are going to build mostly oromos, and they have 3 exp from barracks to start out with, it's likely that they will be able to take drill 4 after their first attack (or they will be dead). it's not like you are missing out on that much.

my empire could use more workers.

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build more workers. if you think you need more, you probably do. here's a good test to check and see if you need more workers:

For Tech path I'm thinking of going Paper, Education (bulb with scientist), Gunpowder (begin slow build-up of Oromos), Philosophy, Construction, Engineering (Notre Dame with engineer if I get an engineer), Philosophy, Chemistry, Liberalism, Bulb Steel, Optics, Astronomy.

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i question the expediency of researching philosophy twice;p you might be able to trade for in, but then you might not. construction and engineering you are rather likely to be able to trade for paper plus other stuff. but i like your general plan.

i would change civics to organized religion and bureaucracy. they're builder techs, and you still need to do a bit more research. while waiting for gunpowder to come in, i would try to whip the rest of the infrastructure in all of your cities: granaries, libraries, courthouses, lighthouses, at least. you might want to make sure there are forges in any barracks cities.

adopt hinduism and spread it around for the extra happiness, plus builder bonus (OR has no effect w/o a state religion, for any n00bz;p, although you can still build missionaries). i would add hindu monasteries to any city with more than about 13 base because the cost to bonus ratio is very competitive when compared to the other science buildings.

as far as long term war plans, you don't even need much of a navy, because you have a short distance to travel and an established beachhead. probably 3 galleys will suffice, as long as you send any and all oromos produced on the mainland directly overseas. you could probably squeak by with two, and another 3 or 4 triremes for cover. also, don't overlook drafting oromos.

Round 6: 450 AD to 1190 AD (46 Turns)

My goals for this round were as follows:

1. Try to micromanage better. In the ALC spirit, I don't feel obliged to be an obsessive micromanager, but in the same spirit I want to get better. There are definitely many areas where I hope to improve, and micromanaging is one of them. The post will be very light on micromanaging, so if some of the more veteran players want to look around the save and tell me what looks wrong or if any of my city screens are "criminal" I'd appreciate it.
2. Get the required techs for a Cannon and Oromo war. I'm not sure if I got to steel as quickly as was possible, but I'm not displeased. I think I got the techs fast enough that I can take out all three of my neighbors before they get to anything that some cannon can't beat down enough for our Oromos.
3. Grow our cities. This was done in the sake of war. I want many of our cities to me pumping out cannon and Oromos every few turns and they need to be big to do this.
4. Stay out of trouble until I wanted to find it. I did this by giving into demands, switching into Hinduism, and instigating a war.

On to the round to see how well I met my goals. As always, if you think my goals were misguided or think I could have afforded to have a few more or would have been better off with a few less let me know. I'm all ears.

I began with a change of civics.



Bureaucracy would allow us to super power our capital, which I kept at Aksum as per Kossin's suggestion. OR turned out to also be very useful. I got Hinduism spread to me by Pacal as predicted, and the rest is history.

The screenshot above shows me researching Feudalism. But I decided that I could almost surely get this in a trade and decided instead to research Paper. As paper was coming in, Hinduism spread to our lands and I promptly converted.



I converted here for a few reasons. The first is diplomacy. Elizabeth doesn't really care about religion very much. I think the most hate I ever got from her was -2, for religion that is. And Hammurabi and Pacal aren't religious nuts themselves, but I was hoping to get Hammy to pleased so I'd be safe from him and Pacal to friendly for the same reason. Also, the OR benefits are really quite large. So I wanted to be able to use the hammer bonus. Finally, happiness was a problem, and I wanted some in my cities. (Yes, I am trying to say that Hinduism leads to the wearing of Santa hats).

The BUG mod is very helpful and pointed out this trading opportunity to me. More for the Ethiopians. (Yes, I am trying to say that getting drunk while wearing Santa hats is a good time).



There were more trades like this throughout the round as I got Gems later, also from Hammy. Trading resources is a very effective way to keep up . I was playing an offline Pangaea game recently and was thrilled to see how high my happy cap was all the time due to my having most of the happiness resources that exist in the game present in my cities.

But it wasn't all roses.



Elizabeth had me a little bit worried. But I wasn't worried enough to piss of Pacal, especially since I had just converted to his religion to try and get on his good side. So I turned down Elizabeth putting her at annoyed.

After paper, I started on Education and then went for Gunpowder. I was having fun all round with the slider going back and forth between 0 and 100.

This demand, on the other hand, I did give into.



Hammurabi won't declared at pleased and I was hoping that giving into this demand would get him there. It didn't work right away, but he went up to pleased a few turns later.

Best news of my life. Well not really, but I was still happy to see that Pacal had built none other than the ...



This gives me 4H in almost all of my cities. I love being a member of the AP religion. Good times.

Elizabeth was worrying me. I'd done quite a bit to piss her off lately, what with refusing demands and picking a different religion. Not only that, but BUG had told me that Pacal was no longer the worst enemy of Elizabeth. I was also worried about her tech rate. So to slow her down a little bit, I asked my new buddy Pacal for a favor.



This might not have been the wisest thing to. But at the time it seemed like a good idea. Do any of you have comments on whether or not this was wise.

I got a great engineer and I was all excited to go build Notre Dame for +2 in all my cities on the continent, but it got built as my GE was in transit. I thought about what to do with him for a couple minutes and decided, in the end, that he would be best serves as a settled GE in Addis Adaba.



I reached this conclusion for the following reasons. One, he would bulb machinery or something that would take me just a few turns to research and I always feel silly bulbing something I could tech in 3 turns, although maybe I should get over this. Two, I didn't really need a Golden age, since my cities were still small and I wasn't planning any civic changes. Three, Addis Adaba was going to be my Oxford city and I didn't have stone. So the GE's beakers would get the most bang in Addis Adaba and Addis Adaba could really use the hammers.

I was checking the tech screen every few turns and got a nasty surprise when I checked this time.



Crap. Since when was Elizabeth able to research Liberalism?! . It's almost definitely my fault as I was probably not paying enough attention. But I was really worried as I could see my Steel bulb slipping away. I started building some wealth and turned the slider up as high as it could go. I still needed to finish Chemistry and acquire Philosophy.

Needless to say, I lost Liberalism to Elizabeth. Lesson learned. Make sure to check that tech screen when in the middle of the Liberalism race. I just got a little bit too greedy. My tech rate meanwhile had been what we discussed. Just beelining Steel with some trades in the middle. I either self-researched or traded for the following: Construction, Engineering, Machinery. And then researched Chemistry and Steel to end the round.

A few turns before the end of the round I got my second Great Scientist.



The first had been used to bulb Education. So in 1110 AD I got my Academy, in Addis Adaba, of course. I think I did a good job with Universities. I got all six in relatively quickly using the whip for what will probably be the last time. Addis Adaba is now slowly building Oxford which, when completed, will be quite helpful in keeping research up.

I've not been trading techs for the past couple turns, as I want to keep the AIs as backwards as possible. And since I'm as forwards as I need to be to take all their cities. I haven't been trading. I have enough techs on each of them that I should be able to start some wars and then pick a side with some help from you guys.

Throughout this round I grew my cities, built some more workers to improve my land, and mostly built but also whipped in a lot of infrastructure. I think we're in a good place now to build a large army in a few number of turns. I have a small navy already up and running as I've been holding off building Oromos until I use my next GP to Golden Age revolt us into Vassalage and Theocracy.

Any comments, questions, or answers you wish to offer I'd love to hear. A state of the world will be posted shortly.

The State of the World, 1190 AD

Major Cities









I think this could make an excellent Heroic Epic City. I like to have my HE city on the coast and this city's excellent production should do the ticket.



You'll see the city to the left should have been placed 1E. I realized this soon after I placed it, but ah well, live and learn.

My Continent




Victims' Land







Another example of AI stupidity. Hammurabi has only 5 cities, only 2 of which are on the cost, only 1 of which can build boats in a reasonable time.

Info Screens





Miles ahead in tech. Note that we also have Chemistry and Steel on all our rivals.



Discussion Points

1. War target. I'm inclined to go after Pacal just because he's next to me. I'm kind of thinking of this as one big war against Elizabeth and Pacal at the same time. I think I'll bribe Pacal to war with Elizabeth. And then while his back is turned I'll stab him.
2. Tech Path. I'm thinking Astronomy to meet the rest of the world and Rifling to upgrade our Oromos to Rifles for world domination is in order.
3. Civic switch. I'm inclined to get Theology and then revolt in to the classic war civics of Theocracy (I am Zara after all) and Vassalage.
4. Espionage. I currently have it all on Elizabeth. I think I'll keep it there and maybe we can revolt a city or two of hers.

With only 1 good production city other than the capital, I would have gotten drama/Globe set up for a draft-oromos-and-whip-cannon war. Yeha would make a great Globe city for drafting. Nonetheless, you're miles ahead of your opponents and should have littel trouble taking them out. Just watch out for Liz getting magic rifles while you're not looking.

when I see working unimproved tiles at such point in the game I always get curious.

The lost liberalism is a bit shame, but well you are tech leader anyway.
I would spare the GE for Taj from Nationalism.

The 1st victim seems to be well thought out. The land from the looks offers mostly production and that is good, since you will need less transports for English war

A few thoughts/suggestions:

1. I always accept demands for resources, because you gain a diplo bonus and can cancel it with no consequences 10 turns later. Well played.
2. You've waited a long time to start on the HE if you're going to war soon. You have marble, so get to it, my friend.
3. Pacal has a holy city with a shrine and the University of Sankore, along with some decent land and resources, and he's closest; you even have a foothold on his land mass. Elizabeth has no wonders or shrines whatsoever. Pacal should be your war target. You may want to convert to Judaism soon and start wooing Liz. You probably should have been doing that for some time now.
4. Let me get this straight: you have marble and built the Great Library, but you lost the Liberalism race? For shame--the GL should give you a lock on Liberalism nine times out of ten. You produce Great Scientists in the GL/NE city and lightbulb Philosophy, Paper, and most of Education while researching other techs.
5. Many of your cities are unhealthy with slow growth, which could be easily rectified by trading for corn and pigs.
6. Pacal and Liz both have GPT available--you should be trading something to them to take advantage of that.
7. Addis Abbaba isn't that hard up for hammers. I would have saved the Great Engineer to either rush Oxford or the Ironworks.
8. Trade for Compass and go after Optics soon. You're about to make enemies out of your friends once you declare war; you're going to need some new trading partners.

1) Addis should build the hindu temple first imho. Whip it for a pop and you will have a 15% hammer boost on OU so you will build it even sooner.
2) Aksum should get at least 1 hindu missonary to Gondar ASAP. Hammers from AP buildings are just too good to waste. Especially if you are building a jewish monastery there. Besides that the 25% hammer boost will really speed things up.
3) Why did you want to build the Notre Dame in Addis? Gondar is the GP farm or did you do that because you do not want any GA pollution in the pool?
4) Any thoughts on Maoi statues?

Interesting game so far and you are in good shape. I agree with Sisiutil that Pacal is a very juicy victim. Looking forward to the next segment.

huerfanista said:

With only 1 good production city other than the capital, I would have gotten drama/Globe set up for a draft-oromos-and-whip-cannon war. Yeha would make a great Globe city for drafting. Nonetheless, you're miles ahead of your opponents and should have littel trouble taking them out. Just watch out for Liz getting magic rifles while you're not looking.

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I was so focused on getting to steel I forgot to research Drama. I think I will trade with Hammurabi for Drama and Theology. I like the Globe Theatre idea for a couple of reasons. The first is that Yeha isn't particularly strong on production, at least at the moment. The second is that we are creative and can get six theatres up in no time. I'll do this in the next segment.

vranasm said:

when I see working unimproved tiles at such point in the game I always get curious.

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I think the only unimproved tiles I'm working are forests. I could have replaced them with watermills, but I didn't think it was worth it. And since I know I'm heading for Rifling and will probably not ever make it to Electricity, I think waiting for Replaceable Parts and lumber mills is a good idea.

Sisiutil said:

A few thoughts/suggestions:

1. I always accept demands for resources, because you gain a diplo bonus and can cancel it with no consequences 10 turns later. Well played.
2. You've waited a long time to start on the HE if you're going to war soon. You have marble, so get to it, my friend.
3. Pacal has a holy city with a shrine and the University of Sankore, along with some decent land and resources, and he's closest; you even have a foothold on his land mass. Elizabeth has no wonders or shrines whatsoever. Pacal should be your war target. You may want to convert to Judaism soon and start wooing Liz. You probably should have been doing that for some time now.
4. Let me get this straight: you have marble and built the Great Library, but you lost the Liberalism race? For shame--the GL should give you a lock on Liberalism nine times out of ten. You produce Great Scientists in the GL/NE city and lightbulb Philosophy, Paper, and most of Education while researching other techs.
5. Many of your cities are unhealthy with slow growth, which could be easily rectified by trading for corn and pigs.
6. Pacal and Liz both have GPT available--you should be trading something to them to take advantage of that.
7. Addis Abbaba isn't that hard up for hammers. I would have saved the Great Engineer to either rush Oxford or the Ironworks.
8. Trade for Compass and go after Optics soon. You're about to make enemies out of your friends once you declare war; you're going to need some new trading partners.

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1. That was my logic as well. I forgot to cancel the Gold trade right away, but this got me up to +2 for providing resources. So I'll pretend I did it on purpose.
2. Unfortunately, I don't have a 10XP unit yet. But as soon as I get one, up goes the HE. I take it you agree with my city choice for it?
3. Glad to hear you agree with taking out Pacal. I've been hesitant to switch to Judaism, because I want to be able to bribe Pacal to war with Elizabeth. Also, I'm planning on taking down Pacal and Elizabeth in quick succession leaving Hammurabi alive. So I'm wooing him.
4. Yeah yeah, I feel pretty dumb. Unfortunately I built The Great Library in my capital which kept giving me merchants. So I only got one scientist the whole time. But it's definitely my fault, apologies.
5. Alright, I'm on it. And maybe even I'll just go take the corn and pigs, .
6. Okay, I'll do it. In general though are there any rules on how many gpt make it worth it? Like if I can give away an extra fish for 10gpt, that seems like a good deal to me. But is it worth giving my enemy the extra health for just 2gpt? And what about happiness resources. I'd rather have my opponents cities all be smaller than have an extra 3gpt. What rules of thumb do you guys use?
7. Interesting. I never thought to use a GE to build a National Wonder, since there's never a race for it. But I guess an extra 25 turns of having Oxford is quite valuable.
8. On it.

Killroyan said:

1) Addis should build the hindu temple first imho. Whip it for a pop and you will have a 15% hammer boost on OU so you will build it even sooner.
2) Aksum should get at least 1 hindu missonary to Gondar ASAP. Hammers from AP buildings are just too good to waste. Especially if you are building a jewish monastery there. Besides that the 25% hammer boost will really speed things up.
3) Why did you want to build the Notre Dame in Addis? Gondar is the GP farm or did you do that because you do not want any GA pollution in the pool?
4) Any thoughts on Maoi statues?

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1) I agree. I'll insert it at the top of the build queue at the beginning of round 7. I think it will pay for itself and give the city another .
2) Alright. I guess I just put that idea aside in my mind once I realized I wasn't going to be running Pacifism. But I'll be capturing the Kashi Vishwanath soon, so another city with Hinduism couldn't hurt.
3) I was actually heading over to build it in the capital for more GP there since that seems to be my wonder GP site. I didn't actually know where to build it since I think Gondar will be getting most of our GP for the rest of the game.
4) I'm still inclined to build it in the capital since that city just doesn't have a lot of tiles to work and I'm already working a few coast tiles. What do you guys think?

Benginal said:

Okay, I'll do it. In general though are there any rules on how many gpt make it worth it? Like if I can give away an extra fish for 10gpt, that seems like a good deal to me. But is it worth giving my enemy the extra health for just 2gpt? And what about happiness resources. I'd rather have my opponents cities all be smaller than have an extra 3gpt. What rules of thumb do you guys use?

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In my opinion, even 1 GPT is worth it. That extra gold may allow you to inch up the slider while remaining in the black, or go one extra turn of deficit research, or upgrade one more unit... you get the idea. Plus the trade deal eventually becomes a diplomatic bonus (assuming you don't have any others). And trading a health resource to the AI really doesn't do them that much good; you want to be more careful about trading them happiness resources... and, of course, strategic resources! (Even then I wouldn't rule it out--it can be fun to trade horses to an AI on a distant continent just to upset the balance of power over there.)

[nevermind, wrong thread]

Benginal said:

Throughout this round I grew my cities, built some more workers to improve my land, and mostly built but also whipped in a lot of infrastructure. I think we're in a good place now to build a large army in a few number of turns. I have a small navy already up and running as I've been holding off building Oromos until I use my next GP to Golden Age revolt us into Vassalage and Theocracy.

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I'm glad to see you playing this game, I think I can learn a lot by following along. So good job on taking on this challenge and creating this platform for discussion.

At this point I am curious as to how large an army you think to need and how you are planning on building it. All slow build or whipping and building? I know these are weak points in my own game, correctly sizing my forces and getting it put together quickly.

Well things looking good with cannons/oromos shouldn't have any problems taking out the rest of the world really. No hard counters for a long while and can't see any AI getting there quickly to stop you.

Only real problem I find with cannons/muskets now days is the time they take which is why you see alot of players use currs/cav for the speed.

Mec AntiKythera said:

At this point I am curious as to how large an army you think to need and how you are planning on building it. All slow build or whipping and building? I know these are weak points in my own game, correctly sizing my forces and getting it put together quickly.

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I'm curious too, not gonna lie. I'll need to send a few troops into Mayan territory and scout out the enemy. My tendency is, unfortunately, to build too few troops and then stall before I reach an ending point that I'm pleased with. So I'll probably be building quite a few troops for this war. That being said, I'm probably going to war until the end, so too many troops is not going to be a problem. I'll post details about the enemy's SoD and what I think I need to have in place before my decleration of war and hopefully you and me both can learn something when the better players tell me where I went wrong.

Sleepless said:

Well things looking good with cannons/oromos shouldn't have any problems taking out the rest of the world really. No hard counters for a long while and can't see any AI getting there quickly to stop you.

Only real problem I find with cannons/muskets now days is the time they take which is why you see alot of players use currs/cav for the speed.

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My thoughts too. Early cannons rock. There's nothing like collateral dammage! It's true that the mounted strategies are good, but this is an ALC and I want to try and make the most use of Ethiopia's Unique Unit.

Benginal said:

It's true that the mounted strategies are good, but this is an ALC and I want to try and make the most use of Ethiopia's Unique Unit.

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Along with the fact that you have no horses.