Vercingetorix of the Celts [KMod] [Hemispheres] [Emperor]

Constantinople is Red near those ivories and the wet corn is already enveloped in dirty Byzantine culture. I'm thinking get Ottoman Green first on the forest plains hill west of stone followed by Persian Teal for my first two cities to block the Byzantines. That's if he doesn't settle there; then hopefully I'll get his religion and we'll be pals.

Seems like Persian Teal only has that wet corn tile going for it. It's a good blocking city but when are you going to get the corn if you're planning on Hindu-buddying with him (ie, not taking it by war)? Some of that buddying will have to be given back as a close border demerit, too.

I kinda like the pink copper/gold/fish city better (than Teal) as it can use the gold and copper from Bibracte's border pop, and can even work a floodplain in Bibracte's BFC for a while. Farmed, it would allow both gold and copper to be worked.

Of course, except for that capital border pop, it won't be doing much of anything except working those three tiles until some culture appears.
 
THE FOGBUST

2800 BC As my Scout moves to my second city site I see that Justinian has built his second city to the north.
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2725 BC Thucydides completes The Greatest Civilizations. If it was listed by actual greatness rather than power I'd obviously be #1.
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2575 BC Vienne founded. The mountain gives me vision into Thessalonica which will give me plenty of warning if/when he starts massing troops there (only 1 Archer now). Vienne will work the forest plains hill to build a Monument until the worker gets the Pigs pastured.
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2525 BC Animal Husbandry reveals 2 nearby Horses. I might have been able to pull off a Horse Archer rush, but with Justinian founding an early religion I would at least like to wait for him to shrine it for me.
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2450 BC Bibs does a 2 pop whip on the second Settler, generating 47:hammers: overflow that goes into a second Worker. Also by dropping down to size 4 my Warrior can leave town and maintenance costs are reduced to -1 temporarily.
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2375 BC Tolosa founded. It won't be much good for a while but once the borders pop I'll have sealed off the coast and I really don't want Justinian settling anything else in my direction.

Also, my Warrior finds an injured barb who had killed Shaka's Scout. If I can catch him on open ground it's an easy 2xp. He won't attack me if I stay in the forests.
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Well, at least the barb Warrior is spawnbusting for me while he is still alive.

2100 BC Bibs' borders pop. I've also lost tiles N of Vienne. Starting with Mysticism is actually paying off because both cities needed Monuments ASAP.
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2075 BC Stonehenge is built somewhere else.
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1975 BC Vienne gets a border pop. The plains forest N of town is still 54% Byzantine.
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1875 BC I decided on Masonry next because I've got that stone so Great Wall and Pyramids would be good either to build or for failgold and I want Duns.

Then, one of my fogbusting Warriors finds a barb Warrior in flatland. The only way I could get him to attack me is if he had decent odds, like if I was injured or on a hill, so I tell him to go be a hero.
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1825 BC Judaism founded on the other continent. Hopefully it went to a different team than the one who got Buddhism and I see some Great Generals popping up over there soon.
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1800 BC I know you were all dying of suspense to see if Vienne IV won the battle or not.
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Fogbusting complete.

1675 BC Masonry researched and the next turn GW is built somewhere else. Oh well.
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1625 BC Tolosa gets a border pop and I win the plains forest back from the Byzantines 50% to 49%. Culture from all cities extends beyond their actual borders so all three of my cities are contributing to that cultural border war right now. Also I finish a Spearman as barb Archers show up in the hills.
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1575 BC Both barbarian Archers are going for the Byzantines. He's still only got 1 Archer defending Thessalonica and his workers just finished mining his Iron (you can tell by looking at the tile yields). At the very least they should pillage it for me and maybe they'll even take his city. The dreaded Vedic Aryans event is unrelated somewhere else.
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Of course Justinian could also just kill them with his own Archers.


1550 BC Gergovia founded. While this will be a great little city I figured it could wait for Bibs' second border pop so I could pre-improve some stuff. Thought about farming the non shared FP but there is plenty of food once the borders pop and in the meantime Gergovia can just use Bibs's cottage if it needs to grow.
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1475 BC Toynbee publishes a much better list. We're #1! We're #1!
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1450 BC Justinian completes The Oracle, in Thessalonica of all places. He must have researched Priesthood right after Poly because I've had my espionage on him the whole time since then.

Also there is a nice barb city on a hill and an Ethiopian city right next to it. The AI is smart enough not to attack across the river but the barb city should hold out for a while so maybe I can snag it.
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1375 BC Stone is connected so Vienne gets to work on my first Dun. Note the +1xp for melee, which gives the charismatic Celts 4xp melee units with a barracks. Another 4 from any combination of Vassalage, Theocracy and a GG means 8xp city raider III out of the box. A tiny little buff for the Celts which brings them to the level of Spanish Siege or Mongolian Mounted.
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1325 BC An overview of the empire.
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I just finished Writing so I'll switch to 0% research till I finish a library in Bibs. Nobody is anyone's enemy so I opened borders with them all. Zara is willing to be bribed against either of them but I have nothing to bribe him with.

Any comments, ideas or screenshot requests are welcome but I have questions, questions that need answering:
What do you think I should research next?
Which city do you think I should build next?
 
Interesting choice, why did you go for this combination especially when you start with a Scout?
I turned huts off and no tech brokering on a while back, so I just use those settings in all my games. Getting a really good tech from huts is unbalancing. Events are good, bad & ugly so they're fun. : )
 
'Oooh, 3 gems start!'
-Several turns later-
"An uprising of the Vedic Aryans!"
Fuuuuuuuuuu-
And that is why Events should be off.
 
Yes, or I could just turn events off. They really don't add anything to the game except some random garbage, same as huts, and barbs. Vedic Aryans are the most stand-out example, but randomly losing tile improvements and buildings get's really goddamn annoying. None of the positive events are anything above 'Meh' except maybe Ampitheatres+SoZ.
 
One more K-Mod tip ... don't want this thread to die, K-Mod=rox ...

Whenever the build queue is available, ctrl-left-click will move an item up in the queue, shift-left-click will move it down, and alt-left-click will toggle * on units.
 
PEACEFUL BACKFILLING

So far this has been a relatively easy game. Copper and Horses, complete fogbust with only 4 units and I've sealed off space to plant 8+ cities. Justinian building the Oracle right on my border will be a pain, but I can probably just take him out with his own Elephants at my leisure. Sorry for anyone expecting to see K-Mod war AI in action looks like it'll be a cakewalk.

1275 BC I'm playing at a much slower rate than usual since I want to keep posting small sessions. One good thing about that is looking at my last pictures I noticed I could get trade routes to the Byzantines with just one road.
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1125 BC Each point of population whipped on epic speed is worth 45:hammers:. By putting a couple turns into the Granary first, and now the Library, the 54:hammers: overflow will complete the Granary next turn. The optimal time to build a Granary is when your food bin is half full (the part stored by the Granary when you grow) so I just though I'd highlight a sweet bit of micro.
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1050 BC Justinian has added some troops to Thessalonica.
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1000 BC Hrmm where'd they go?
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Well f*ck. My Axemen were guarding Vienne's forest because I didn't want him moving there and I've only got a Warrior guarding Tolosa. My civic change is also still on cooldown since I swapped out of Slavery to save 1gpt. I could upgrade Tolosa's Warrior but I'd still lose the city and I'd rather spend that cash researching Math. I move out of the city.


900 BC Justinian leaves 2 Archers in Tolosa and sends an Axe and a Sword to threaten unguarded Gergovia.
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850 BC I retake the city and Justinian counter attacks. His Axeman survives and moves east.
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825 BC Meanwhile in Constantinople...
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800 BC Help comes from unexpected places.
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Zara sends a settler my way.


Justinian's Axeman is finally on flatland and I'd moved up to block the jungle hills. I have 52% odds but there is another Axeman north of Vienne that can take Woodsman II to finish him if the first guy fails.


I lose and then kill him with my 2nd Axeman.

725 BC Ethiopia founds Confucianism and builds right next to me (but not in one of my dotmap spots), Justinian gets a GG winning fights against Shaka.
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I also finish a Settler and decide which spot to take next. Any thoughts on this would have been more helpful than debating the pros and cons of Events, just sayin. : P

This one shares a Corn with Bibs, already roaded to, blocks off the south, eventually gets Horses.


This one shares a wet Corn with Bibs, river trade route and lots of forests to Math chop.


This one needs some roads but I have two workers over there and I'd get instant Horses for Chariots. Still no Fishing tho.

675 BC I've got a Woodsman III Axe so I move him with some support into Byzantine territory to pillage a road. I don't want surprise armies showing up adjacent to Tolosa in the jungle.
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650 BC Confucianism spreads to Vienne, I convert. Y'know if Hinduism had spread we might not be in this mess... Oh hey Zara now that we're friends would you mind declaring war on the Byzantines?
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I decided on the first spot. Timed a chop to coincide with the founding.

535 BC Ethiopian culture covers the Horses. I'll get the tile as soon as Camulodunum's borders pop.
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470 BC A few border skirmishes later, Justinian is willing to talk. In K-Mod, clicking the "Lets stop this pointless fighting" button doesn't automatically make peace.
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No thanks.


Verlamion founded.

440 BC Justinian has more troops coming my way.
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425 BC They've moved onto my stone, I attack.
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CONTINUED IN PART II...
 
PART II

425 BC Killed all but one Swordsman. I could kill him too, but I'd be exposed and get counterattacked.
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410 BC A perfectly timed forest chop into a Granary with half full food stores.
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395 BC Justinian is at it again. At least he has nice cities to conquer.
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He must have Marble somewhere I haven't located yet.

335 BC Bede releases another list.
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Thessalonica's garrison.

305 BC Gergovia has grown to size 5. I consider running 2 scientists there to get an Academy for Bibs (later in the war I do). In hindsight since I still don't have Fishing I should have farmed the floodplain so I could be working it, the Wheat and either mine while running two specialists. Also K-Mod has a feature where you can hold ALT to see what a building or specialist would add to your city.
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290 BC Byzantine troops near Tolosa!
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275 BC I defend. Shaka techs Alphabet, I have Math and Construction and he doesn't need either. I switch to Aesthetics.
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Somewhere in there I think he made peace with Justinian because we're able to trade resources. Nobody needs a Dun right now so I take Furs for the Stone I'm not using.

230 BC Zara sends a Galley down the coast to where a barb Galley is hanging out. Barbarian galleys in K-Mod start with the Disorganized promotion which gives -10% strength.
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185 BC I got a Great General a while back. I waited until I'd built some Catapults because in K-Mod you get more xp from a GG if you spread it out on a stack that if you use it on a single unit. My 4 Catapults are 7/8xp.
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I was wondering when Justinian was going to build the Hindu shrine so I went back and checked. Ahhh... so he Oracle'd MC and popped a GE for Mids. Isn't there a strategy article on that move?


Another well timed Granary.

155 BC I didn't have enough troops so it took me two turns to take Thessalonica.
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110 BC My Chariot with Sentry gives me vision on Constantinople and another stack.
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95 BC I pillage a few improvements for $. The stack moves into the forests north of my Thessalonica.
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Though friendly, Zara hasn't helped much at all. He does send another settler towards me.


Justinian attacks, defense is messy. I could have moved more guys back but I didn't want to give up the forest.

80 BC My catapults move into position to bombard Constantinople's defenses. I'll need to wait a few turns to bring up troops to take the city.
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65 BC Shaka has re-declared on Justinian. I lost the furs but he is making progress.
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50 BC
I finally get Alphabet and make some no tech brokering trades.
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CONTINUED IN PART III
 
Interesting read plastique. Nice game so far. Keep it up.
 
^ Thanks. And toob I use those K-Mod que hotkeys all the time, they're great. : )

PART III

10 AD Success!
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It took me two turns attacking again to take Constantinople. I had to be careful to leave enough defenders that Shaka couldn't sweep in with his stack, which is now outside Justinian's last city. Grrr, I wanted those workers!


An overview of the empire.
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So much for peacefully backfilling eh?

Mids is great since I'm spiritual. I might take HR for now instead of Rep since I'm only running two scientists and Rep is high upkeep in K-Mod. I'll make good use of Police State when I switch into unit building mode and I'd really like to get Shwedagon Paya for the religious civics too.

Constantinople will get the Heroic Epic since it already has two settled GG and I think Thessalonica will take the wet corn and get the National Epic since it's already got Oracle and ToA. That was a rough war for a while, but the 4xp units from Duns helped a lot and I'm glad I went straight for Math/Construction.

I think I'll take a bit to get Forges and a Stable or two and then build up some troops again. Zara has a second city behind my culture in the south which has to go so at some point. I'll see about getting that barb city and if I can, launch a surpise attack against him and cut off his resources. Hopefully I can get Shaka on my side there and don't end up fighting both of them. I whipped a Spy when I got Alpha but he'll be too late to use my espionage against Justinian when Shaka kills him off, oh well.
 
Been a fun read. Keep it up!

Several points:

Whip mechanics now allow more than 1 unit to be built from a city per turn. Hence the increased difficulty of taking AI cities.

Religion spreads MUCH slower. AI's no longer automatically adopt a religion once it enters its cities.

You Has Oliphants!
 
...

Religion spreads MUCH slower. AI's no longer automatically adopt a religion once it enters its cities.

...

I don't think you emphasized "much" enough. Try this: religion spreads much Much MUCH slower :)

It's slightly counterbalanced in that random religion spread can occur even in cities that already have a religion, which itself is counterbalanced by the possibility of losing the existing religion when that happens. Temples make it extremely unlikely for religion loss to occur, I believe at the cost of somewhat less likely other religion spread.

...

I got a Great General a while back. I waited until I'd built some Catapults because in K-Mod you get more xp from a GG if you spread it out on a stack that if you use it on a single unit.

...

What's all this, then?
 
cool read! a question about how culture works in k-mod: since culture now spreads beyond a city's borders, does this make taking only a few of a civ's cities in a war even more of a pain since the original cities will now be pushing even more culture on to the taken cities as compared to regular BTS?
 
Thanks guys. : )

Spoiler :
Been a fun read. Keep it up!

Several points:

Whip mechanics now allow more than 1 unit to be built from a city per turn. Hence the increased difficulty of taking AI cities.

Religion spreads MUCH slower. AI's no longer automatically adopt a religion once it enters its cities.

You Has Oliphants!
Yeah I just got Horseback Riding in the peace treaty from the Byzantines after I took Constantinople. Just as he finished HBR on the second turn attacking Constantinople, Justinian whipped a freaking War Elephant and I lost most of the CRIII siege I had from the GG.

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I don't think you emphasized "much" enough. Try this: religion spreads much Much MUCH slower :)

It's slightly counterbalanced in that random religion spread can occur even in cities that already have a religion, which itself is counterbalanced by the possibility of losing the existing religion when that happens. Temples make it extremely unlikely for religion loss to occur, I believe at the cost of somewhat less likely other religion spread.



What's all this, then?
  • The immediate experience boost from Great Generals (when used as a 'warlord') is now increased by 10% for each affected unit, up to a maximum of +100% (ie. 40 xp shared across 11 units).
Spoiler :
cool read! a question about how culture works in k-mod: since culture now spreads beyond a city's borders, does this make taking only a few of a civ's cities in a war even more of a pain since the original cities will now be pushing even more culture on to the taken cities as compared to regular BTS?
For sure. If you try to hold a few cities from a civ but not their cultural centers you will get swamped and probably revolt back. The Leadership promotion from a GG unit has -50% chance of revolts in K-Mod, but even that isn't enough sometimes. Better to just continue the war, gift the cities back or not take them in the first place.

Thinking about culture it'll probably be easy to flip and discard the city Zara put south of me, and maybe even his eastern one if I get the barb city. If I can clear those out peacefully I'd be less inclined to attack him.

I also noticed there is still some Byzantine culture east of Constantinople so maybe Justinian has two cities left. And since Shaka is pleased I can ask about stopping the war so I can be the one to take those cities out rather than him.
 
Was reading several hours before being forced to quit...if no one mentioned:

the one road towards Justinian should not be necessary because rivers did the job. if I observed well ofc.
 
^Tachywaxon, nope, not before Sailing.

POST-WAR ECONOMIC RECOVERY

25 AD The Byzantine are no more.
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Shaka has another stack in Adrianople.


I've been trading Copper to Ethiopia for Ivory and Silk, but it won't last because Zara will have his own Copper soon. Zara has two Ivory and I control the rest. What I really don't want is for Ivory to fall into the hands of Shaka. Unless I'm willing to give up my Gold I have no way to prevent it short of stirring discontent between them.

40 AD Shaka moves Adrianople's stack back from the front lines. I'm guessing he has a barb city to deal with.
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I pillage my way up to 253:gold:.

70 AD Isca founded. This will be a nice coastal production city once it gets a border pop. Sadly the forest chop for that Monument won't come in until next turn.
Pitiful, I know. : P
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I kept most of my stack in Constantinople to ward off the Zulu hordes. It feels a bit like troops being garrisoned at Osgiliath in the shadow of Mount Doom.

Meanwhile I send two Gallic Warriors on a quest to capture Hsung-Nu, the ​exquisite coastal barb city on a hill surrounded by flood plains and Gold. The first one arrives to scout the city.


Zara also sends a stack to contest the city.

85 AD Zara grabs a wonder which is alright because I might get it some day. However Shaka converting to Confucianism is not good news.
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100 AD Zara's troops arrive at Hsung-Nu. I preemptively pillage a village because if I can't have it neither can he.
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115 AD The Barbarians have added another Archer. This might turn out alright since both my Gallics can take Guerrilla III.
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130 AD Zara attacks. I also make the switch to Representation and run a few scientists. It carries hefty upkeep costs but at least I'm limping towards Currency. A few of my cities don't even have a defender and I have more happy cap than I can use.
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Bah! 3 Archers remain.

145 AD I should've switched much earlier but I ended up losing 600:espionage: when Shaka eliminated Justinian. I've had espionage on Zara since I have high culture on the cities he planted near my borders.
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160 AD Zara's 2nd round of attacks.
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I pillage the Hamlet out of spite.

205 AD I've explored most of Shaka's territory.
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He's moved a stack back into Adrianople.


And to top it off Zara is kindly trading him Ivory now. Since they're both Confucian Zara is unwilling to declare on Shaka, but Shaka is willing to delcare on Zara... not that I have anything to bribe either with.


And finally my first Great Person is born. I send him to Bibs to make an Academy.

220 AD I set Bibs on maximum commerce and max the science slider.
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Zara has moved troops along our border.

235 AD Vienne IV, the 4xp Warrior that defeated that Barbarian Warrior mano-a-mano, has made his way up to Constantinople. I use my 2nd GG on him and my 10 other most elite troops, saving the promotions for later.
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250 AD I've researched Currency. Zara immediately came in with an offer for Code of Laws straight up (which I guess I forgot to screenshot). In K-Mod, the opening offer that an AI gives you is slightly better, so you don't always renegotiate because if you do the deal will be lost. If I don't take Code of Laws I'll probably have to add gold to get it from him. If I do take Code of Laws, Shaka will value Currency less. I decide to take it and immediately check on Shaka's price for a declaration of war.
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Not happening.


He'd give me a couple techs and his cash though.


Zara is also sending a settler to claim the Arctic.

I have a bad feeling I'll be at war with one or both of them in the near future.

I'd really like Literature for The Epics but Shaka won't trade Poly so I may just take what I can get before he demands Currency anyways. Sailing will be nice since I've already got MC I can clear the barb galleys and explore the islands. I've been growing cities while building Forges but once those are done I'll get back to units so I can at least mount a defense, hopefully it's not too late.

Opinions, what should I research next?
 
Thanks for pointing out the GGen change. I must have read through the K-Mod changelog 100 times and never noticed it.

Re the game ...

Didn't post it last round, but your granary whippage/choppage was excellent. :goodjob:

This is no tech brokering, so Zara can't trade Curr to Shaka (good call on accepting that trade, methinks, though it also means you can't trade CoL out).

I think you're about to get dogpiled (a stack near you from both Zara and Shaka), so I would recommend a military tech next. However, the only one you have open is Mach which your economy won't get you to during a war. Rep scientists are powerful, but Machinery is so expensive.

If you accept the Shaka trade, Sail will open Cal and Priest will open Mon. You don't need extra happy (and have the Pyramids), and have no Cal resources (did I see that right?) so I don't like that trade.

CS is always good but oh so expensive. You're really in a bind here (assuming dogpile, K-Mod=likely). I think you have to either focus on your economy (Sail, even though both your neighbors already have it) or your military (Mach, but the cost!).

In no tech brokering, I'm always looking for a tech I can trade out. You probably don't want to trade CS or Mach to these neighbors (Zara's usually peaceful, I know). Drama is great trading fodder, at least amongst the ones you can research. Can you get to it in a reasonable time? Assuming a dogpile? No way you can get to Phil, I suppose.

That's my call, I guess. Mach (military) or Drama (trading). Probably Drama, but if you're fighting them both you're not trading. This is tough ...

I say Drama. It's not definite that you'll be warring because shared religion, but it is definite that you have no tech brokering on so techs you can trade away are more valuable.
 
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