[BTS] A Noble Diplomatic Endeavor

[MrKlew]

OK, played a whole bunch this week. I know I made some mistakes so feel free to point them out. I finally managed to trade for iron working and had it in my BFC in Lisbon. I chopped out 10-12 units and marched on Peter. Biggest mistake here was I scouted him before I got iron working and didn't send the scout all the way through again before I declared, turns out he had iron. So the two warriors in Moscow were upgraded to axes when I arrived. Moscow was on a hill so it was a bloody battle, but I had numbers so I won. He had built the Great Lighthouse for me too. Petersburg was easier. Then I went for his last city Novogorod. It was on a hill too and filled with archers (by now had pillaged the iron). Made the mistake of attacking with only 8 units, a few didn't even hurt the defenders. Ended up having to wait eventually until I got a catapult. In the meantime he bribed Ragnar and Monty on me, but they were both far enough away it didn't matter. Eventually Cyrus and Hatty smelled blood and declared on Peter too. I let Cyrus suicide on the archers and take out his general. Then cleaned up and razed the city. It was an OK city but not great. After that Mao asked for help against Cyrus so I joined in took the 3 cities he had in Europe fairly easily losing 1 cat each. I also joined with Caesar on Toku, but that is a paper war to get the diplo points with Caesar. I refused to help Hatty with her war, too much to take on and she's already friendly. So the question is now what militarily? Cyrus has two cities he built in North Africa. He will capitulate and throw in a tech to boot. I could take the deal and turn my army to Justinian, then probably either Hatty (although it would be ashamed to lose my best friend) or perhaps Caesar. Or I could spam galleys go to Africa and wipe out Cyrus and then march on to Tokugawa.

Tech wise after I picked up iron I went Math, Currency, Calendar, HBR, Construction, Aesthetics, Lit (for great library), Feudalism, Music (for GA - bulbed drama), bulbed Philo with GS, Engineering or at least something like that. Once I got currency I traded that to Hatty for CoL. And with those two techs I backfilled a whole bunch. Masonry, nearly all the religous techs and probably a few others. Now I could see a couple ways to go. Compass and Optics would unlock my UU and help with invading Africa. Guilds>Banking>Economics would give me knights and help finance my growing empire. Engineering>Gunpowder and up the scientific ladder would give me clear military superiority.

Lastly what to build where? I think Oporto will become the great person farm. I built the Great Library in Lisbon, I had thought of Oporto, but it would have taken too long there. Put the heroic epic in Moscow, had seriously considered Guimares but it can't really use all those hills until biology. I'm thinking of moving the capital to Moscow and building Forbidden Palace someplace in the East. What about Wall Street? Maybe Persepolis or Lisbon? Where does the Globe go?

[MrKlew]

I had another thought. I had been thinking either a domination or conquest victory. But the diplomatic situation right now could also point to a diplomatic victory. If I vassal Cyrus, make peace with Toku and then bribe the rest of the Jews into wars against the infidels (Justinian, Ragnar, Monty) I could probably get enough of them to friendly to win an AP vote. I'd just need to make sure the AP was Jewish.

[Revent]

You should be researching at 100% with all that gold.
Bulbing drama was a waste.
With the great lighthouse, you should be spamming settlers for coastal cities like there is no end to it. I believe every coastal city you build with GLH gets you a net gain! Like now, at 100% you're getting 350 beakers a turn and losing 120 gold, but if I just WB in some coastal cities, it changes to gaining 480 beakers and losing 230 gold. It's quite significant. At break-even, you're making some more commerce and gaining gold as well.
Quickly kill off Justin, he's wasting your time and space with only 3 cities.
Also kill off Egypt or at the very least, grab horses from them.
Tech wise: Paper->Bulb Edu and get until 1 turn of Lib, reserch or trade nationalism and gunpowder. and then use Lib to get MT and whip out a heck of a load Cuirs and stomp the continent.

[MrKlew]

So for closure, here is the end result. A domination victory in 1930. My best score ever, although I'm sure it could be done quicker. I probably let the AIs dictate too much who I declared against, but basically after 1000 AD or so I had so much money and production noone could keep up with me. Anyway if anyone wants to show me how it could have been even better, I can still use the tips.

[WelshGandalf]

About bulbing... great scientists give you 1500 beakers plus 3 for every population point you have. Others give 1000 + 3 for every population point. This is one reason why bulbing drama was a waste, as it costs less than 500 beakers from memory.