[continued from the previous post]
As the war raged in the south, Huayna, plucking up a courage backed by nothing, had the nerve to make a demand:
I sent his messenger back without a head.
After we captured another Spanish city, Isabella realised her end was nigh:
Personally, I am very cautious towards the vassal system. So far, for me, it has brought nothing but trouble. And certainly, poor as she was, Isabella would not be able to give us anything. If we agreed, we would also be risking war with another civ that saw her as easy prey. Plus the fact that we would have to pay extra upkeep for nothing, it was easy for me to say 'no'.
The last of the major continental Spanish cities soon fell to us:
With no other good targets nearby, I decided to negotiate for peace and get something out of Izzy:
She agreed to give us everything except HBR (and we didn't need that right now). I accepted. So we captured 3 out of the 6 cities she had on the continent. What about the other 3? They were small and insignificant. I would rather let her improve their surroundings and grow them for us before capturing them. As it were, they would only be costing us upkeep.
I had begun to lay down plans for capturing all the remaining Inca cities on our continent next, when I noticed that HC had a defensive pact with Saladin! No wonder he was so brave. But what on earth possessed Saladin to sign that treaty? They did not share the same religion and Huayna could not have offered him anything in return. AI logic is beyond me.
Yes, this is one of the afore-mentioned discoveries that changes things for us. We have to modernise our forces before declaring war on Huayna to defend against Arab interference, and Saladin cannot now be our ally. Looks like we have no choice but to target Izzy's little cities next if we want to continue expanding.
The other discovery was the realisation that we needed Music to build cathedrals. I had forgotten (thought they were enabled by Theology). We had researched Education, Liberalism and Gunpowder, and were currently researching Chemistry. I decided to research Music next to start building cathedrals (need those to offset the removal of the monastery's effects after researching Scientific Method), before going Nationalism -> Constitution -> Democracy. It would take only 2 turns anyway.
Anyway, as I switched to war plan B (attack Izzy again instead), changing the intended position of our stack, Mehmed came looking for a trade again:
This guy is really quite an extrovert, huh? I politely declined because we don't need health resources at the moment and certainly don't need to strengthen him.
That was the last incident of this round. I stopped after researching Chemistry and Music. There are a few decisions we have to make. First, should we switch to Free Speech? We have researched Liberalism for it, but I haven't made up my mind to make the switch. We would probably get more gpt after switching. I suppose now that Thebes doesn't really need the increased hammers for anything important (building a Confucian cathedral right now), we should do so. Our new cities would benefit from the extra culture anyway.
Second, how should we employ our GG? Huamanga hasn't built a unit since we got him. It is currently building a grenadier. If we are going to settle him as another instructor in the city, now is the time to do so. Well, I suppose there is no real benefit from creating a warlord unit. Military academy, anyone?
Maybe I've been asking questions I already have answers to. Here's one that I am still thinking about: What should we research after Democracy? The point of getting Liberalism, Constitution and Democracy is to adopt Free Speech, Representation (for the beaker bonus to our regular and Mercantilism specialists) and Emancipation (to solve the mounting discontent and for cottage growth) to help us catch up. I don't know if all of you agree with this research decision, but there wasn't any opposition to the proposal and I guess we are commited to it now. The big question is what should we prioritise next? Should we improve our military and go for Rifling? Or should we go for Steam Power and then Steel and Railroads? Or should we continue focusing on the economy and pick up Corporation (en route to Assembly Line)? Do consider the units and benefits the different techs unlock. I'm inclined towards getting Rifling next, but even if I decide for it, I still don't know which of the other two options to take first.
Here's the GNP graph:
I am beginning to doubt the relevance of this information to this game. I don't know what to say about it anymore. Maybe I should just drop it from the updates?
The power graph:
This graph, at least, is clear. We really need to watch out for Saladin when we decide to declare war on HC again. Upgrading some of our macemen to grenadiers (which will be useful against HC) will probably raise our ratings.
And the map of our continent:
We have most of the continent under control already and can soon get rid of Spanish presence on it. I'm thinking of keeping the Spanish city of Pamplona. It has cows, at least. As for the others, I think we should raze them upon capture. They are worthless and are too close to the Ottoman city (blasted AI
). It looks like there's room for another Ottoman city on our continent after that, but oh well.
This is how we stand in terms of technology:
We don't have anything that either Gandhi or Mehmed doesn't, but we do have a few major techs that Saladin doesn't have. I guess we are beginning to catch up with the other continent
The diplomatic scene:
As you can see, Saladin and HC have a defensive pact. Nobody is happy with us. Mehmed might like us if we switch to Vassalage, though. Should we do that some time, especially since war with Saladin is likely in the not-too-distant future?
And is there a possibility that we can provoke a war with HC (having him declare war on us instead of the other way round) by angering him further in every possible way? We could switch to Buddhism and keep spamming him with demands he will refuse. If we succeed we would circumvent the nasty defensive pact.
Need your input, as always