(0) 444 - A bit of a change since I was last in command. We're nowhere near as on our heels as we were then. F8 shows us at almost 22000 VPs, well over 4500 ahead of our Western Roman cousins. The Sassanids have lost 5 cities, so if I can manage to off 3 more, they'll be gone and our biggest threat will be eliminated. That would be very nice.
Do a little bit of MM but very few changes are reqiured -- it's most piddly little stuff like changing a few taxmen to scientists (3/turn instead of 2/turn) or pulling off a worker who was just going to grow a city too soon and letting him be a specialist for a couple turns until a settler completes. Very little to do -- most cities are awfully corrupt and nearly all cities are pretty well optimized. At least we have some luxuries to keep the people content.
One of our big problems is 51 gpt in unit upkeep costs. Another 20 cities would help that enormously. A few settlers are under production and we have one complete and out wandering. I'll be tempted to merge in the occasional native worker, too, as they cost and their payback time is reasonably far into the future.
And, in a repeat of Arathorn I's folly, I increase science to 20%, fully expecting that action to bring down a horde upon my head...the Ostrogoths turn to make us sweat, perhaps?
(I) Sassies lose a horse vs. a garrison, an archer vs. a horse, and then retreat that horse with another archer. Does that mean they have no more horses??? That'd be sweet. Everything else is strangely quiet. Huns move forces but are no threat currently.
(1) 446 - At Singara, two spears fall to our legion army, but it still holds. Troop rearrangement to meet potential or real threats, increase our knowledge of the world, and to please the harem of the emperor are performed. Other than Singara and a couple archers nearby, which also fall easily, little action is done.
Map trading and MM ensue. There is little to be done.
(I) An exploring slave is captured by the Sassanids. *yawn* And that's it!? What a pleasant set of interturns this is turning into!
(2) 448 - Troops and workers move, settlers move. At Singara, our legion army gets into the red before killing a spear, so a two-troop HCav army finishes off the last spear and razes the city.
Army loads up and heads for Europe. Not sure what troops are there to fill it with, but that's a decision I don't need to make now. Sassies still lead in the "lost cities" race with 6. I hope to finish them off on my turns, but we'll see.
One exploring slave finds some white barbs, who will surely kill him interturn. Oh well.
Science up to 30% for Christianity in only 20 turns. Make that 18 with one taxman -> scientist change.
(I) ZoC takes a couple hps off of Hun and Sassanid troops. Sassanids manage to kill a legionary and capture a couple slaves for the loss of one horse. They'll lose more my next turn.
(3) 450 -Pults go 3-for-3 vs. Huns, so they should be relatively easy to finish off. Two die quickly...three still remain. We have three garrisons with catapult back-up in a fortress. I don't think I should be worried. Another 5 Hun troops are in view, but we seem to be fine right now. Sassies lose about 3 horses and we get our slaves back. They're rather confused but run west again. They might serve as bait but it's unintentional.
Science goes all the way up to 40% for Christianity in 14 with 2 gpt still coming in as income. Make a bit of gold selling our new world map.
(I) Ostros sail up to Constantinople but don't drop anything off. It's only one ship and they only carry like one troop anyway, so I fear it very little. Sassies pillage a square near Ceasera. Western Rome declares on the Ostrogoths.
(4) 452 - Naissus and Dyrrachium founded to give us more cash. That's four cities on my turn and I hope to get a few more. They really help our financial situation. Wealth and a scientist is worth 5 gpt, not even counting the one free unit support. It's backline so it's not even like losing it will be a problem with the 8-city rule.
Slaughter a couple more Huns and a couple spears in Ctesiphon go bye-bye as well. Oh, wait. Septum founded, too. We're growing!!!
(I) Enemy troops move..and for whatever reason the Sassanids declare on the Vizigoths. Can you say "psuedowar"? Good, I knew you could.
WTF? I can't build HCav any more, despite the fact that they're hooked up by Constantinople? Were we trading them away? Must be. Hmm... legionaries are almost as good, so I guess I'll build those instead.
(5) 454 - We're trading Horses to both the Franks and the WRomans. I guess we need to prop them up however we can. I'll see if I can connect another horse. I knew we got one pillaged by Caesera, but with so many hooked up, it didn't seem important. I guess I should know better.
Two more Huns die. Ctesiphon loses 4 more spears, but it has at least one left. We wake 'pults at Caesera and bombard the pillaging spear. I wonder if the WRoman archer will manage to do us some good and kill him off.
(I) Sassanids go way out of their way to capture a couple slaves back. No loss there. Huns move in and around and make nice targets of themselves, generally.
(6) 456 - Catapults are nearly worthless by the Huns. Caesera hits twice, though, and the Ostrogoth curragh is down one hp.
A full army of 3 HCav is now in Europe. It doesn't have any movement left, but I'm thinking its job may be to try to finish off the Ostrogoths and distract the Huns from the west. Or maybe it will just protect the twinned S cities or Sirmium and Singidunum, if/when they come under attack.
At Ctesiphon, our armies tire dramatically but kill 4 spears and raze the city, gaining 27 and a catapult I don't know what to do with. I *think* that gives us access to silks, though, which could be very handy for happiness purposes, as we're always on the brink of revolt in a bunch of cities.
Arathorn I's luck returns at Caesera, where an elite horsie dies to a 2-hp spear. *pout*
Silk does indeed allow me to put a bunch of slackers to work, whether it be worthless entertainers becoming beneficial specialists or specialists into the field, our nation's wealth and prosperity grow. Some people foolishly proclaimed the might Roman empire as waning. Not now. We are growing strong and terrible!!!
(I) Huns start bypassing the killing grounds, which means the defense will need to change a bit. Sassanids continue to go after slaves like crazy, ignoring our troops crushing their cities. Only one more to go, but our armies will need to rest before continuing on. Pillaging between Ceasera and Antioch is becoming a major concern, however. I'm going to need to rush a legion to keep order along that line. An exploring slaves bites the dust, too.
(7) 458 - HCav army in Europe does indeed start moving north towards the Ostrogoths. Every foe we can fight in their territory is one less we'll have to defend our cities from. Armies in the desert rest before the final push.
(I) Huns are coming in numbers -- at least 4 or 5 new troops/turn. They're starting to get past the fortification a bit. Not quite sure what to do, but it's not a pressing issue at this point.
The WRomans prove they do have SOME value and kill a Sassanid spear on the road between Caesera and Antioch. We thank them.
(8) 460 - Quiet turn. Kill a Hun troop, of course, but only one, as the army needs a bit of rest and the 'pults performed poorly. Approaching readiness to move again in the east.
(I) Huns get dinged by ZoC a bit. A-S declare on the Visigoths.
(9) 462 - Arbela is targetted and looking a bit wilty with 3 armies bearing down on it. HCav army approaching Ostro territory through the maze of Vizigoths in the way.
Huns lose 3 more troops and are starting to slow to a trickle again.
Science up to 50%, which is deficit research, but we can get Christianity in 3 that way. I'm starting to fear the Romans completing Justinian and hampering us.
(I) Tons of Huns appear. It's gettting dicey up there again. A couple more legions are on the way. And the armies in the south should be making their way north very soon, which should change the dynamics of the Hun war...I hope.
(10) 464 - We're at 26705 VPs. Arbela loses one, two, three spears and is captured, along with 4 workers. One of them will become a colony on horses VERY soon. For now, it's a support center for our troops. Very brief game pause before the announcement of the elimination of the Fledgling Sassanids. WOOHOO! VPs only go to 27785...just over 1000 for their elimination. They were pretty well toast already. But, more importantly, we can now focus our troops north to deal with the Hun menace.
A-S are now the leaders in cities lost, with 6. I hope WRome doesn't kill them off and get a big bonus and catch/pass us.
I break a cardinal SG rule and set up a goto that will extend past the end of my turn. It's a slave worker in ex-Sassanid territory. There are spices up there, but they're hard to see and I didn't want ANY confusion about what to do with that slave. He's on a mission to get us another luxury. It's only one guy and he's JUST a slave. When he arrives, have him build a colony and re-MM.
Kill 3 Huns, but they still have a stack of 6 troops plus an extra hanging around. I've got a line they can either try to go through (and probably succeed) or around, which would let us pick them off piecemeal. More troops are on the way.
I even get to kill a couple Ostrogoths to avenge some earlier wounds. We're in a position to raze a city as early as next turn.
We're up to 27885 VPs. That's a gain of almost 6000 on my turns. Next player probably won't see the victory but the one after will. I am certainly done.
Thanks for the fun all!!!!
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads6/rbc12j-464ad.zip
Arathorn
Do a little bit of MM but very few changes are reqiured -- it's most piddly little stuff like changing a few taxmen to scientists (3/turn instead of 2/turn) or pulling off a worker who was just going to grow a city too soon and letting him be a specialist for a couple turns until a settler completes. Very little to do -- most cities are awfully corrupt and nearly all cities are pretty well optimized. At least we have some luxuries to keep the people content.
One of our big problems is 51 gpt in unit upkeep costs. Another 20 cities would help that enormously. A few settlers are under production and we have one complete and out wandering. I'll be tempted to merge in the occasional native worker, too, as they cost and their payback time is reasonably far into the future.
And, in a repeat of Arathorn I's folly, I increase science to 20%, fully expecting that action to bring down a horde upon my head...the Ostrogoths turn to make us sweat, perhaps?
(I) Sassies lose a horse vs. a garrison, an archer vs. a horse, and then retreat that horse with another archer. Does that mean they have no more horses??? That'd be sweet. Everything else is strangely quiet. Huns move forces but are no threat currently.
(1) 446 - At Singara, two spears fall to our legion army, but it still holds. Troop rearrangement to meet potential or real threats, increase our knowledge of the world, and to please the harem of the emperor are performed. Other than Singara and a couple archers nearby, which also fall easily, little action is done.
Map trading and MM ensue. There is little to be done.
(I) An exploring slave is captured by the Sassanids. *yawn* And that's it!? What a pleasant set of interturns this is turning into!
(2) 448 - Troops and workers move, settlers move. At Singara, our legion army gets into the red before killing a spear, so a two-troop HCav army finishes off the last spear and razes the city.
Army loads up and heads for Europe. Not sure what troops are there to fill it with, but that's a decision I don't need to make now. Sassies still lead in the "lost cities" race with 6. I hope to finish them off on my turns, but we'll see.
One exploring slave finds some white barbs, who will surely kill him interturn. Oh well.
Science up to 30% for Christianity in only 20 turns. Make that 18 with one taxman -> scientist change.
(I) ZoC takes a couple hps off of Hun and Sassanid troops. Sassanids manage to kill a legionary and capture a couple slaves for the loss of one horse. They'll lose more my next turn.
(3) 450 -Pults go 3-for-3 vs. Huns, so they should be relatively easy to finish off. Two die quickly...three still remain. We have three garrisons with catapult back-up in a fortress. I don't think I should be worried. Another 5 Hun troops are in view, but we seem to be fine right now. Sassies lose about 3 horses and we get our slaves back. They're rather confused but run west again. They might serve as bait but it's unintentional.
Science goes all the way up to 40% for Christianity in 14 with 2 gpt still coming in as income. Make a bit of gold selling our new world map.
(I) Ostros sail up to Constantinople but don't drop anything off. It's only one ship and they only carry like one troop anyway, so I fear it very little. Sassies pillage a square near Ceasera. Western Rome declares on the Ostrogoths.
(4) 452 - Naissus and Dyrrachium founded to give us more cash. That's four cities on my turn and I hope to get a few more. They really help our financial situation. Wealth and a scientist is worth 5 gpt, not even counting the one free unit support. It's backline so it's not even like losing it will be a problem with the 8-city rule.
Slaughter a couple more Huns and a couple spears in Ctesiphon go bye-bye as well. Oh, wait. Septum founded, too. We're growing!!!
(I) Enemy troops move..and for whatever reason the Sassanids declare on the Vizigoths. Can you say "psuedowar"? Good, I knew you could.
WTF? I can't build HCav any more, despite the fact that they're hooked up by Constantinople? Were we trading them away? Must be. Hmm... legionaries are almost as good, so I guess I'll build those instead.
(5) 454 - We're trading Horses to both the Franks and the WRomans. I guess we need to prop them up however we can. I'll see if I can connect another horse. I knew we got one pillaged by Caesera, but with so many hooked up, it didn't seem important. I guess I should know better.
Two more Huns die. Ctesiphon loses 4 more spears, but it has at least one left. We wake 'pults at Caesera and bombard the pillaging spear. I wonder if the WRoman archer will manage to do us some good and kill him off.
(I) Sassanids go way out of their way to capture a couple slaves back. No loss there. Huns move in and around and make nice targets of themselves, generally.
(6) 456 - Catapults are nearly worthless by the Huns. Caesera hits twice, though, and the Ostrogoth curragh is down one hp.
A full army of 3 HCav is now in Europe. It doesn't have any movement left, but I'm thinking its job may be to try to finish off the Ostrogoths and distract the Huns from the west. Or maybe it will just protect the twinned S cities or Sirmium and Singidunum, if/when they come under attack.
At Ctesiphon, our armies tire dramatically but kill 4 spears and raze the city, gaining 27 and a catapult I don't know what to do with. I *think* that gives us access to silks, though, which could be very handy for happiness purposes, as we're always on the brink of revolt in a bunch of cities.
Arathorn I's luck returns at Caesera, where an elite horsie dies to a 2-hp spear. *pout*
Silk does indeed allow me to put a bunch of slackers to work, whether it be worthless entertainers becoming beneficial specialists or specialists into the field, our nation's wealth and prosperity grow. Some people foolishly proclaimed the might Roman empire as waning. Not now. We are growing strong and terrible!!!
(I) Huns start bypassing the killing grounds, which means the defense will need to change a bit. Sassanids continue to go after slaves like crazy, ignoring our troops crushing their cities. Only one more to go, but our armies will need to rest before continuing on. Pillaging between Ceasera and Antioch is becoming a major concern, however. I'm going to need to rush a legion to keep order along that line. An exploring slaves bites the dust, too.
(7) 458 - HCav army in Europe does indeed start moving north towards the Ostrogoths. Every foe we can fight in their territory is one less we'll have to defend our cities from. Armies in the desert rest before the final push.
(I) Huns are coming in numbers -- at least 4 or 5 new troops/turn. They're starting to get past the fortification a bit. Not quite sure what to do, but it's not a pressing issue at this point.
The WRomans prove they do have SOME value and kill a Sassanid spear on the road between Caesera and Antioch. We thank them.
(8) 460 - Quiet turn. Kill a Hun troop, of course, but only one, as the army needs a bit of rest and the 'pults performed poorly. Approaching readiness to move again in the east.
(I) Huns get dinged by ZoC a bit. A-S declare on the Visigoths.
(9) 462 - Arbela is targetted and looking a bit wilty with 3 armies bearing down on it. HCav army approaching Ostro territory through the maze of Vizigoths in the way.
Huns lose 3 more troops and are starting to slow to a trickle again.
Science up to 50%, which is deficit research, but we can get Christianity in 3 that way. I'm starting to fear the Romans completing Justinian and hampering us.
(I) Tons of Huns appear. It's gettting dicey up there again. A couple more legions are on the way. And the armies in the south should be making their way north very soon, which should change the dynamics of the Hun war...I hope.
(10) 464 - We're at 26705 VPs. Arbela loses one, two, three spears and is captured, along with 4 workers. One of them will become a colony on horses VERY soon. For now, it's a support center for our troops. Very brief game pause before the announcement of the elimination of the Fledgling Sassanids. WOOHOO! VPs only go to 27785...just over 1000 for their elimination. They were pretty well toast already. But, more importantly, we can now focus our troops north to deal with the Hun menace.
A-S are now the leaders in cities lost, with 6. I hope WRome doesn't kill them off and get a big bonus and catch/pass us.
I break a cardinal SG rule and set up a goto that will extend past the end of my turn. It's a slave worker in ex-Sassanid territory. There are spices up there, but they're hard to see and I didn't want ANY confusion about what to do with that slave. He's on a mission to get us another luxury. It's only one guy and he's JUST a slave. When he arrives, have him build a colony and re-MM.
Kill 3 Huns, but they still have a stack of 6 troops plus an extra hanging around. I've got a line they can either try to go through (and probably succeed) or around, which would let us pick them off piecemeal. More troops are on the way.
I even get to kill a couple Ostrogoths to avenge some earlier wounds. We're in a position to raze a city as early as next turn.
We're up to 27885 VPs. That's a gain of almost 6000 on my turns. Next player probably won't see the victory but the one after will. I am certainly done.
Thanks for the fun all!!!!
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads6/rbc12j-464ad.zip
Arathorn
against the Sassinids/Huns/RNG! I like the concept of Plan A, but with the number of Hun units probably choking the roads, I think it would turn into choice B anyway. As far as wonders, Hagia is -1 unhappy in all cities, and doubles churches (we dont have any/many yet, but our bigger cities could build one to get rid of entertainers completely, especially during the GA), St. Peters is like ToA, free temple in all cities, but most cities already have one. I would go for Hagia Sophia (also because it IS the Byzantine church), actual cost is only 400s so I think it should finish fairly soon. So we might only get the beginnings of our GA in, oh well. I can't believe it from where we were a few turns ago, but now I'm almost wishing the VP requirement was higher! We could really take it to them! (Of course, we haven't seen any warlords yet, so maybe I will just be quiet now....)
Hagia Sophia completes, and our Golden Age begins.
GPT jumps by almost 100. Mostly see a group of Ostrogoths headed for Vizi lands.
Now to Charis for the endgame 
Many thanks to Gobi Bear for the design, for joining us in our SGs to get a new perspective, and for allowing us to playtest Rome Everlasting! 
), you just cannot trade anything above Construction. Have seen the Celts built one of the Churches, and HC from pretty much everyone.
