The State of the World, 1525 AD
I played one turn after the end of the war so that the war weariness could vanish and give us a better idea about the actual state of the empire. I also took the opportunity to delete a few obsolete units in my core inland cities to save on maintenance.
We'll start with the good news, with a look at the map and the new, expanded American empire.
First, with resources...
...and without.
So like I said, I can fit in one more city west of Cuzco to work that fish tile, some grasslands, and a couple of plains hills. Not a bad location for a half-decent city, all told. Monty's land was actually in better shape than some of you seemed to suppose, with several cottages that had grown to village status.
Now that Cuzco has a shrine, I think it may make sense to convert its farms to cottages, especially since so many of those grassland tiles are beside rivers for one extra commerce on each. Agreed?
One concern I have is the lack of an obvious candidate for a riverside Ironworks. La Jolla, with all those river tiles, is tempting, but it has three gems, so I think that dictates its fate as a commerce city--a role which Boston also needs to continue to serve. We may have to settle for a non-riverside Ironworks, which I've noticed happens sometimes on this map type, with fewer riverside tiles. Any suggestions?
Domestic Advisor:
20 cities--much better than the meagre six many of you were lamenting a while back. And I could easily add one more.
So yes, the Forbidden Palace is going in Portland, which may also become the West Point city later on. Sacramento (the former Aztec capital) has a settled Great General and Great Scientist, while Anchorage (my northernmost city, of course) has a settled Great General--one earned by Monty in the dying days of the war.
Aside from that, as you can see, I'm focusing very much on infrastructure. Once I finish Rifling, I can boost my power rating by upgrading several of my units--especially those Combat II/III & Formation Pikemen--to Riflemen. Hence the stuffed-to-the-gills treasury. That should buy me a little time to focus on infrastructure rather than military. Frankly, I can't build the same units as my contemporaries yet, so there's little point in churning out now-obsolete Knights and Musketmen.
And yes, poor New York is still suffering from AP villainy unhappiness.
Civics:
I think a big civics change is definitely in order. Representation, Free Speech, Caste System, and Organized Religion are, I think, the order of the day. Representation will boost the specialist economy, as will Caste System. Free Speech will benefit the cities with relatively mature cottages; and OR will assist with the infrastructure I'm building. Too bad it's gonna cost 4 turns of anarchy at a time when I need to focus on catching up. Ouch. Another price of acquiring a big empire.
I didn't make any changes before this because even though I had switched to building infrastructure instead of units, the war was still going on and I needed the happiness benefits of the above civics.
Foreign Advisor, Relations:
Notice that Gilgamesh and Shaka have a Defensive Pact.
Glance:
Caesar and Hatty are one another's worst enemies. Caesar asked me to stop trading with Hatty a couple of turns back; of course I turned him down. But now that Caesar has Astronomy and apparently a higher power rating than me, I'll want to watch my west coast. Norfolk, my appropriately-named military/HE city, will be generating several Frigates to position up there.
What do you think of devoting one city to generating Buddhist missionaries? As you'll see, I need to spread the SR a bit--to get the full benefit of OR, and to maybe wrest control of the AP away. I was also thinking of trying to convert Caesar to Buddhism. Then maybe Christian Zara would become the Buddhist block's mutual worst enemy.
Oh, and Gilgamesh is willing to offer me the same arrangement he has with Shaka:
Should I take it? It should keep everyone else off my back. One potential complication is the 5 diplomatic bonus points I'm getting with Gilgamesh because I'm running his favourite civic, Hereditary Rule. The potential +2 from the DP will partially compensate for that--but he may drop to pleased, and would that prompt him to cancel the DP?
Oh, Zara will also drop to cautious as a result of the proposed civics changes. He's there because I'm running
his favourite civic, Theocracy.
In contrast, relations will improve with Hatty (from running OR) and with Caesar (for running Representation).
Active trade deals:
One of the best and most immediate benefits of conquering all of Montezuma's territory was this new-found ability to get more resources and GPT from the other civs.
Resources:
Trade route income and civics:
Of course Caesar, with several lucrative intercontinental trade routes, is running Mercantilism. I'll have to look for an opportunity to trade Economics to him. And yes, my goodness, Hatty has already teched to Communism and is running State Property. Scary.
That's why you need to brace yourself for our look at the tech board.
This is the inevitable price for my war, my fury, my folly, and my victory.
The AP unhappiness is temporary and will vanish in a few turns all on its own. This, however, is going to be much tougher to rectify. Dear God, even Shaka is teching ahead of me! If any of my neighbours wanted to, they could invade me with a Rifle/Cannon army and I'd fold like fresh laundry.
Saladin is only 4 turns behind me on Rifling, so I won't be getting a tech from him for it, I don't think.
This is why I want to keep relations smooth with Caesar--he may take over Shaka's role as a tech-trading partner. Unfortunately Caesar has a relatively low WFYABTA limit, hence my thoughts above on converting him to Buddhism.
My one consolation is that some of you have said that falling behind in techs is par for the course at Immortal level. But this far behind? Yikes.
Well, there's nothing for it but to change civics, get the infrastructure built, and try to catch up. I think you may be seeing a late game Internet gambit if I go after the space race.
Religion Advisor:
As you can see, I have to spread the SR to four cities, and I have no less than sixteen of my own cities that can newly host Taoism and boost the shrine income. And, of course, I have a whole continent of Open Border buddies to whom I can spread Toaism too. Hence my thought of devoting a city to missionary generation for several turns. The thing I have to be careful about, though, is spreading so much Toaism to my Buddhist buddies they convert and become enemies.
Victory Conditions:
A long way to go to domination or conquest. I think diplomatic or space race are more likely. Maybe cultural? Haven't done it in a while, I may have left it too late--but I do have the religions to leverage for it, and Philosophical may help with generating Great Artists.
The thing is, a cultural win seems kind of weak for America with its late UU and UB. To my mind, America should triumph late in the game with a combination amphibious invasion and economic boost from malls. And remember, leveraging those things is part of the ALC credo.
Power:
Keep in mind that because of my low espionage point generation, several other civs are not on here. Hatty, Gilgamesh, and Hammy, the board leaders, are all missing, as is Shaka. I'm reluctant, however, to push up the espionage slider, seeing how I need to max out the science slider to catch up instead. So I will need to use buildings and perhaps specialists to generate espionage points.
One comforting thing, however, is that I'm superior to Zara and nearly even with Caesar in terms of power, diminishing the likelihood of an immediate intercontinental invasion. I'll have to keep an eye on the situation, though, especially with Caesar, who can be a mini-Monty sometimes, in my experience.
Maybe the Navy SEALs should conquer Rome later in the game?
Demographics:
Even with the tech disparity, I expected my "Soldiers" rating to be higher. But with Hatty, Hammy, Gilly, and Shaka all ahead of me techwise, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. Good thing, as I said before, that they're all friends. Let's hope it stays that way. If any of them change to Free Religion, there could be trouble brewing.
Top 5 Cities/ Wonders:
No wonders for me this game, sadly. That's unlikely to change. Oh well, I've always said it's good to play a game without them every now and then, especially when you move up a level.
And finally, espionage.
So the big challenge now is trying to catch up with the AI in technology. Fortunately I'm in a good position to do so, not facing any obvious military threats at the moment--another reason it was good to wipe out Monty. This is the point where the advice is very much needed--what to research next, what to aim for in Great People that will yield the most benefit, and so on. This next round, I think will be the defining one that either wins or loses the game in the long term. So put your thinking caps on, kids!
But nationhood, vassalage, and theocracy sounded good at the time. In any case, you should be able to draft 4 xp units with theocracy and a military instructor.
