Scientific Anarchy: A Random Tech Adventure

[tjs282]

I'm not sure how this happened; Magellan's Voyage is Commercial, Expansionist, and Seafaring, whereas we are Scientific and Industrious. Perhaps it's because we have captured Scientific and Industrious wonders, even though we did not build them? The Civilopedia states that a civilization must build wonders corresponding to both of its traits, but in practice it appears that whether existing wonders were actually built by the civ that owns them is not enforced.

Yes, you're right, and the 'Pedia is kind of misleading on this point.

It's true that the check for a Wonder-GA is only run when your Civ completes a GWonder, but at that point the game examines all the traits attached to all the Wonders which you currently control. So it doesn't matter whether those Wonders were originally built by your Civ, or captured from an opponent: if all the corresponding Wonder-trait boxes are (now) ticked for your Civ, your Wonder-GA begins.

Oof, ninja'd again...

 

[Quintillus]

It's interesting, playing Civ III for 15 years, and still learning something new. I'm somewhat surprised I'd never run into this, but then again, I tend to be a builder, and thus complete a halfway decent amount of early wonders... and a lot of civs have early unique units, too.

choxorn, all of those are actually Hittite cities that they recently captured, and for which the borders have not yet expanded. They are relatively spaced out, and on a peninsula that goes pretty far east into the ocean. Poor Mursilis never really stood a chance.

 

[choxorn]

choxorn, all of those are actually Hittite cities that they recently captured, and for which the borders have not yet expanded. They are relatively spaced out, and on a peninsula that goes pretty far east into the ocean. Poor Mursilis never really stood a chance.

I meant the cities in the South that are wrapping around the edge of the map, well away from both Persia and where the Hittites were, that has to be an island, right? Unless it's just on the other side of the Zulu.

 

[Quintillus]

I meant the cities in the South that are wrapping around the edge of the map, well away from both Persia and where the Hittites were, that has to be an island, right? Unless it's just on the other side of the Zulu.

Ah, yes, that is indeed an island. It will prove to be connected via Sea tiles to the Persians' continent.

 

[Quintillus]

Part Twenty-Three: Continental Peace and Continental War

Spoiler Two-Post Story Update; Post 1 of 2 :

With our Golden Age underway, I begin considering what our priorities should be. One of the questions that comes up is what to do with the Incan core.

Technically, we remain at war with the Inca, although it has been a cold war for several decades now. Our troops are positioned to retake any rebelling cities, but that seems less likely over time. Meanwhile, most of them are corrupt, and stagnant in growth due to a need for entertainers to counteract the "war with our mother country" effect.

But there are signs it might not have to be this way. Vilcabamba is 3/8ths non-corrupt, and Atico, farther south but with the help of a Courthouse, is only half corrupt. Even Cuzco is only five-sixths corrupt, and it has Tourist Attractions that could contribute decent revenue.



Thus I decide to make peace, and try to take advantage of the Golden Age to make this area at least somewhat productive.

We secure 69 gold and a World Map in the peace deal, and are surprised to find that the Inca had far better knowledge of the world than we did - and already know both Persia and Zululand.



The Zulu have a fabulously wealthy part of the other continent, well-developed and with wine, horses, spices, and furs.



Their only weakness is that they appear to lack Iron, surprising for the size of their empire. We contact Shaka and learn that he is trading for it and is well on his way to naming a city "Zimbabwe 2".

We also make note of Sausa, the Incan city by Zulu lands. The Inca appear to be in better shape than we expected - they are recovering island cities from America as well.



Victory-wise, Zululand is the leader in every category.



Persia has less than 60 percent of their score, although their Hittite conquests should narrow that margin.

Finally, I establish an embassy in Zimbabwe, and find a well-developed capital.



Zululand is at peace, but their form of government suggests this was not always so. But as they are trading with Persia, my best guess is that the two of them were allied against the Hittites - not good news for Mongolia if true.

Whatever the case, however, it does not matter for long - war is soon underway.



Flush with victory, Persia apparently decides this is the time to act. I wonder what their military must look like, if even mighty Zululand appears conquerable.

Thus I establish an embassy in Persepolis.



Not quite as impressive as the Zulu capital! Still, a moderate victory is possible; Zululand has one poorly-defended city.



If somehow Persia gains the upper hand, there's also an interesting terrain situation in northern Zululand.



Persia's mounted units would be forced to fight through the pass at New Tugela. Thus Zululand would have a relatively easy defence, and a great place to counterattack with their Crusaders.

I plan to remain neutral, and closer to home, Suleiman the Magnificent has been undertaking a mapping tour of Iroquois lands, showing much improved development - and a lot of troops.



There are about twenty troops outside of cities just in Suleiman's immediate area!

By the mid-1560s, I'm well underway on an irrigation project near Istanbul, designed both to grow my cities, and to increase utilization of the nearby mountains.



South of Ankara, we won't be able to irrigate until Electricity, but Edirne, Istanbul, and Kirklareli all have growth opportunities - and thanks in part to the Sistine Chapel, we have the happiness to sustain that now.

I further increase that happiness by trading with Shaka.



I'm a little hesitant to help the leading nation, but we can't beat them, so we might as well share in the wealth. I start having second thoughts almost immediately, however.



Now there's a serious risk of Zululand running over their entire continent! Before, Mongolia's troops and cities would likely have slowed down both opposing armies; now, Zululand is likely to simply steamroll the Mongols. I pray that they have Keshiks soon, but their odds are quite long.

We invent Invention in 1570, and with a bit more concern about the future of the world, ask our sagacious calculator for advice.



It decides that Gunpowder is the most appropriate next technology, a decision we are most thankful for. Bumping science back up, we'll be able to four-turn it easily.

Looking at the map, we realize that Persia is already losing to Zululand.



This is without the Zulu Knights taking part - the jungle and New Swazi block the progression of mounted troops. Perhaps this explains Shaka's new war - once New Swazi is taken, all the mounted Zulu troops will be able to join the war in the north.

Our options to influence the situation are somewhat limited, however. With the return of our over-exported Gems in 1570, our approval skyrockets to 77%, and we are able to prop up one of the two Zulu foes with a luxury, and decide Persia is the better bet.



I also consider shipping over a dozen or so Knights, but at this point it seems like a better option to keep them here, in case a war breaks out closer to home, than to use them to try to balance the forces on the other continent.

Zululand begins making quick work of the Mongols the very next turn, taking two cities, the first of what we fear will be many more. The Inca, meanwhile, have reclaimed their entire island, including the city of Denver.

The Inca are also back to being their same old selves as before the war.



No one else is building it yet, so they still have at least somewhat of a technology lead. And we're amused to see the next turn, as Tiwanaku completes a Library, that it already has a Bank - despite having been conquered a hundred years before.

In 1587, the Aztecs begin moving a large number of troops east, in what seems like almost surely bad news.



But we'll be able to fire a warning shot if need be, for in 1590 we complete Gunpowder.



Once again turning to the Calculator of Wisdom, we seek guidance, and are instructed to research Music Theory. I'm surprised to see that Bach's is neither built nor under construction - not even by the Inca - so I set Edirne to a Palace Prebuild for it, after calculating that it can finish the Cathedral quicker than any other city thanks to its existing progress on the Heroic Epic.

The Aztecs turn back towards their homeland in 1592. I don't know why they were sallying forth, but perhaps the Inca had landed some troops, and America finished them off the next turn. I'm glad the Aztecs didn't decide to betray me, regardless. The Aztecs peace out the Inca on their next turn, so I'll know to really be worried next time.

As 1600 rolls around, I check the other continent, and am pleased to see that the Zulu have not taken any more cities. Perhaps it took several turns for the main Persian army to arrive from Hittite territory, and for Mongolia to mobilize. My curiosity piqued, I send a couple boats to observe the action from offshore.

Domestically, our irrigation progress is going quite well.



The northern cities will soon be able to grow and make use of their surrounding mountains. I hadn't initially planned to develop them this much, but with a surplus of workers, the project is well within our ability.

Music Theory finishes up in 1610, leaving only three research options.



Our Number-Cruncher of Knowledge tells us that the way of the future is that of The Republic! Its ways are mysterious to us, as it deemed The Republic of little consequence for so long, but we will not argue, and are pleased with the 300+ GPT surplus while four-turning it.

Our first Musketmen are trained in 1610. By this point our army has 139 units, including 46 Pikemen, 10 Spearmen, and 40 Knights. Our Military Advisor still tells us that we are weak compared to the Iroquois, but I feel a lot more confident with 40 Knights than I did with 20.

By this time the first boat has approached the other continent to observe, and we witness the vaunted Persian Immortals approaching a Zulu city.



The following turn, we manouver our Galley more, and find that there are quite a few Persian troops nearby, and only redlined Impis.



I'm struck by how ancient the troops involved are. The Immortals are one of the greatest values in the whole game, being an early Medieval Infantry in the Ancient Times, and a cheap one in the Middle Ages. They are indeed one of the most immortal of the units. And although I would have expected Musketmen on the Zulu side, it is Impi who are fighting after all.

The theory that it simply took several turns for the Persians to arrive also makes more sense. Perhaps they thought they had time given the Mongol lands being between them and their foe. But given what I see by Jinjan, it seems plausible that perhaps Persia really will make it out of this war. They've already taken the formerly-Zulu city of Adana, evening out their own losses, if not the Mongol ones.

The next turn, I witness the capture of Jinjan, and a sizeable Persian army advancing towards the Zulu heartland.

So far, I haven't seen any Zulu counter-movements. The Power chart is unhelpful, although it does reflect both the Mongol losses and the overall losses in strength of the entire other continent.



The Mongols, perhaps sensibly, admit those losses in 1622.



Zululand has the cities they wanted to allow them to advance against Persia, and as my foreign advisor told me in 1620, Persia in fact broke a deal with Zululand, ensuring they are Zululand's public enemy #1. Mongolia's land was only a means to an end.

Istanbul builds the Heroic Epic in 1625.



After that, it switches back to troops, which many of my cities are building for lack of alternatives. Edirne, to its north, is also formally switched to Bach's, which I am informed America has also started. We are due in 12 turns, although due to the end of the Golden Age after five more, it will wind up being slightly more than that.

I spent 1627 watching large numbers of Zulu troops advance towards the front.



It seems neither side has committed all their troops yet. The Zulu certainly have a scarily high number of troops, but I cannot see the Persians as well, and they may have similar numbers.

And they must, I soon learn. Nearly all the Zulu troops stop in New Swazi, with only one Longbow attacking to the north, but the Persians soon attack the Zulu in New Swazi - and quite effectively. Two or three Persian attackers fall, but roughly three Musketmen, three Impi, and eight Knights fall defending New Swazi. It's a battle of staggering scale, and I suspect that is not yet the half of it.

(continued in the next post...)

 

[Quintillus]

(continued from the previous post)

Spoiler Part 23 Begins in the Previous Post :

Perhaps as a cosmic counterweight, America and the Inca make peace the same turn. Although I'd initially thought America would easily conquer the Inca, that did not occur, and the Inca have now earned the right to live on their island.

The Republic is invented in 1630.



Asking our scientific gods what to research, our oracles answer that it shall be Chemistry. We are quite glad for this, for as we learned in Civ4, chemistry is the difference between poverty and starvation, and the abundant life.

There's also the question of whether to revolt. And right now, I see no reason to. The Golden Age being a large factor, but we also simply don't need the commerce bonus right now. We've been 4-turning easily, and thus the only benefit would be extra cash, of which we now have over 2700. We also would not be surprised to see a war in the not-too-distant future; at the very least we have a surplus of troops with not a whole lot to do, and would be amenable to joining up with someone should a war break out on our continent.

Cuzco's borderes pop in 1630, establishing steady control over the old Incan lands, and giving us a new luxury.



This drives happiness to 84%, and We Love the Sultan day is now being celebrated in most cities. It also pushes us into 2nd place in land area, and we've also breached a GNP of a billion, and manufacturing of 450 megatons.



Still curious about what's going on at New Swazi, I move my Caravel closer, and see a stack of Persian Pikemen, Knights, and Immortals.



I am not sure if they will survive the Zulu counter-attack, but they have already inflicted more losses in shields on the Zulu than they cost themselves.

The Zulu, indeed, counter-attack, with their Elite Horse leading the way, and Longbows and Knights making appearances.



They do lose some Horsemen, but eventually destroy the entire Persian stack. What is most amazing, however, is the sheer number of Zulu troops. Knights, Horsemen, Impi, a few medieval troops. I lose count of them, but scores upon scores of troops pass by. Whereas a turn before, it appeared that Persia had the initative, now it appears to be exactly the opposite.

Once the turns are all said and done, I find that there are so many Zulu troops, that "Scroll for more choices" appears - and that's just the biggest stack.



I count at least 70 Zulu troops within sight of my ships, and there are more within New Swazi that I can't count. The 14 Persian troops nearby are utterly outnumbered.

 

[Quintillus]

Part Twenty-Four: The Persian-Zulu War

Sure enough, the Zulu advance in force in 1637, easily destroying the Persian stack of troops southeast of Jinjan, despite most of their attack being with Horsemen.





The Persians may have Immortals, but the Zulu have Innumerables. A Persian Knight may defeat three Horsemen, but there are a dozen more waiting, and against most of the Persian foes, a defeated Horseman retreats to fight another day. I can hardly estimate how many troops are in the area.

Persia does counterattack on their turn.



Yet, despite sending 10-12 troops at the Zulu, the counterattack looks weak in comparison. Several Impi retreat, and it's not enough to break the Zulu vanguard - with twenty Horsemen guarded by several Impi, even after the Persian counterattack - let alone the far larger, and more modern, stack one tile back.

At the start of my turn, I count at least 100 Zulu troops visible to my ships - not including any in New Swazi or other tiles for which I lack visibility.

At home, thankfully, we don't have to deal with that. Our army, by comparison, continues to be better-prepared, with both Knights and Musketmen being produced each turn; a current focus is on retiring our old Spearmen and Regular Pikemen, and shoring up our defences in general, both facing the sea and facing other civilizations. We also retire our last three Warriors, which we certainly hope will not be needed again.

We notice something curious in 1642 - the Zulu retreating many troops.



Have they been Bingoled? It would be a classic ploy to fool the AI, landing a few troops by some worthless city, to cause dozens of troops to retreat, providing a temporary and perhaps much-needed reprieve.

It isn't universal; Jinjan is indeed targeted.



But what should be an all-out advance to crush Persia while they are weak, is instead a moment of divided focus. And it almost proves stunningly costly, as the Persian defenders punch well above their weight in a heroic effort. Knights defeat not three, but five Horsemen; Immortals defeat one Horseman and force another to retreat before falling; even most Zulu Knights do not fare very well. The Zulu see dozens of offensive troops whittled down to just a few that are still able to advance, and the 8-10 Persian units nearly stem the tide. In the end, the Zulu are forced to send the Impi on the offensive, to finally break through the Persians' staunch defence of the city.



Even with their eventual loss, the combination of their stalwart defence and the Zulu decision to send a fair share of troops back south has cut the number of Zulu troops in the area to around 70, a considerable decrease, particularly as nearly their entire loss was offensive. This buys the Persians perhaps the most valuable commodity to give them a renewed chance - time.

But if that gives them hope, what I see during the Zulu's next turn should take that away. The Zulu are now starting to send in the Cavalry. This is another part of what makes their attack so devastating. The Horsemen and the Impi are great in number. But even if you stop them, you'll have to deal with the Knights. If you somehow pause them, then in a turn or two the Longbows and Crusaders will arrive. And now, if you can stop all that, the Cavalry will be arriving in increasing numbers. Persia needs several more outstanding performances like Jinjan.

Our Golden Century ends in 1650, after much development, a strengthening of the army - including finishing the Pentagon in Urfa in 1645 - and a quick advancement in technology. Alas, its end also leaves us just short of finishing Chemistry in four turns. We'll need one more turn at 10% to finish it.

Thus, it is completed in 1655.



Our Calculator of Wisdom still has working batteries after all this time, and selects Banking as our next technology. Our second choice of the three; it could be worse! We decide to four-turn it, albeit at a noticeable loss now that our Golden Age is over.

The Zulu reach Zohak in 1657, and this time go in with guns blazing.



Granted, with lances soon to follow.



This time, it is no contest, and the Persians fold easily. Jinjan may have been their Shanghai, 1937 - putting their best foot forward, making the world take notice, but having little left in the tank for subsequent battles.

Yet, in another glimmer of hope, look at the terrain to the north and northeast of Zohak. We've seen few Persian mounted troops, and I've noticed some Galleys dropping off Knights. The mountain range is another barrier, and the Mongols could easily make it quite difficult for the Zulu to cross - as perhaps they have been doing to the Persians. That could wind up being bad for Mongolia, again, but could also provide the Persians with a chance to catch their breath.

In 1667, Shaka informs me that he no longer wishes to give me Furs in exchange for Silks and 4 GPT. I, on the other hand, no longer wish to support his advances, and thus we part ways - amicably, somehow.

That same turn, Zululand retakes Adana. Their first Cavalry falls at the gates of Ghulaman, but two more are sighted approaching the front. The advance still appears nearly inexorable. With an army like theirs, I expect Zululand has the largest manufacturing base in the world, although the Ottoman economy is the world's finest.

Banking finishes up in 1675, opening up some new technical possibilities. Our Technology Indicator 83+ is consulted once again, and decrees Economics as our top priority. Considering that only the Inca are building Smith's Trading Company, this makes some sense to us, and to please the technology gods, we immediately begin building several Banks.

Tureng Tepe falls in 1677, the first real core Persian city to fall. Yet, Persia finally finds a favorable field of battle.



Immortals charging down the mountains against musket-armed cavalry. Not enough to stem the tide, but a moral victory at least.

Persia contacts me in 1687, and I expect them to be requesting an alliance against the Zulu, as any sensible leader would in their situation. Instead, they seek knowledge of the world.



That's a good opportunity to convert our knowledge into cold, hard cash, so we accept.

We decide to shop around, and in 1690 find that America is willing to pay roughly half of what Persia did, which we also accept, and we also collect a small sum from the Inca; everyone else is a bit brassic. I also find something that Xerxes values far more than a mere map:



The potential for alliances. And that is my hope as well - that he will draw in our continent, distracting them, and perhaps once he draws in one or two, the Zulu may be nervous about the new alliance against them. Then Shaka might pay for contact and then an alliance of insurance, and I would see my rivals weakened, perhaps against each other, while the Ottoman treasury rakes in the gold. All in the name of the balance of power, of course.

Our Alchemists learn the secrets of Economics in 1695, because of course that's what alchemists study when they tire of unsuccessful attempts to transmute other metals into gold.



We ask our Abacus of Advancement what to research next, and it declares that Democracy is the answer to all of our problems. Our King looks at the Abacus askance, but as he built his legitimacy around the idea of being appointed by the Divine Abacus, he had little choice but to abide by its mysterious ways.

With the research of Economics, we must decide whether to build Smith's Trading Company. We have two turns left on J.S. Bach's Cathedral, which we indeed wish to have on our continent. But Smith's could provide a nice economic boost. Thus, we invest a little bit in reconnoitering the city of Tamboccocha, where the Inca are hard at work trying to make the ways of the Invisible Hand apparent.



45 turns; we can finish it in 28. We note with interest the presence of the Forbidden Palace in Tamboccocha. We are not sure if it was always there, but if so, it would help explain the resurgence of the island during the earlier war.

As the 1600s come to a close, we see an overpowering Zulu force approach Ghulaman.



Well, not that exact force. The Persians are able to repulse the Warrior. But behind it, quite a few Cavalry are lining up, with increasing numbers of Longbows and Crusaders. The Zulu may have bypassed Ghulaman. But they have not forgotten it.

 

[vmxa]

Is brassic the name of the TV show or some colloquial term? I was not sure as it was not capitalized. I love the AI to come with numbers.

 

[tjs282]

Is brassic the name of the TV show or some colloquial term? I was not sure as it was not capitalized. I love the AI to come with numbers.

It means 'penniless/ broke' and TIL it's (possibly) derived from Cockney rhyming slang — at least, according to Wiktionary:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/boracic#English (Etymology 2)

 

[Quintillus]

Part 25 - You Say You Want a Revolution?

Editor's Note: You know how when the world shuts down you have all that extra time, and for a few weeks you get a lot of productive things done at home, and then you run out of energy to do much? Yeah, me too. And since creating a story requires productive editing as well as playing Civ, I can pinpoint pretty accurately how long it took to run out of energy from this thread and my unedited screenshots - about three weeks. But when I was switching images to load via HTTPS this week, I found I'd played ahead by over a century from what was posted. So let's see if this story can take off again. It's obviously a lot harder to find the right balance for story-writing than it was in 2007-2008, but after reading parts 30 and 31, I'm thinking it's worth another try.

We'll also go back to the original weekly-on-Saturdays pace, which worked well for a few months, rather than the burst-of-enthusiasm-nothing-else-to-do pace that fizzled out more quickly last time around.

With the year now being 1700, it's time for a status check. Our Demographics are as follows:



One recent point of reference is 1550, at the beginning of our Golden Age. Compared to then, our GNP is down 7.5%, and our manufacturing is down 17%. Our growth, alas, has not countered the end of the Golden Century. But, our fundamentals are better - the population is up 48%, and we have 7.5% more land, despite the lack of military expansion. Life expectancy is up by 2 years, literacy has risen from 37% to 52%, and somehow, annual income per capita is up by 28%, despite the GNP falling and the population increasing. Some of these statistics are perplexing!

(Ed. note: Our number of citizens, as defined by counting each city's 1-12 pop, is 347, give or take errors in addition. So the per-capita income does not appear to be based on that. I'd be curious if a reader knows how that is calculated, as well as the general "Productivity")

Victory-wise, we note that Zimbabwe is now over 25% of the way to a 20K victory, up from over 20% in 1550, 30 turns ago. They are racking up 38 culture per turn, which would leave them at 13,344 at the end of the game with no increase. Not a critical problem yet, but there is less wiggle room than we'd like. On the plus side, we have cut their overall cultural ratio over us from 2.12 to 1.77, meaning we should be safe from a Cultural 100K victory. Zululand retains the lead in land area and score as well, although we have the edge in population.

With the big picture evaluated, we end our turn, watch Ghulaman be captured, and rejoice in 1705 as we complete our second Wonder.



This is an important development, as the +2 content citizens will counteract the loss of military police upon switching to Republic or Democracy. It has now been 75 years since we discovered The Republic, but at the time we were in a Golden Age, and we didn't want to revolt then, or just in time to lose J.S. Bach's Cathedral. Now it seems like it's time. And which form of government might we choose? We first calculate our unit support costs, to ensure that Feudalism is not the best choice; we have 156 units.

Monarchy: 140 supported, cost 16 per turn.
Republic: 98 supported, cost 116 per turn.
Democracy: 0 supported, cost 156 per turn.
Feudalism: 87 supported, cost 177 per turn.

Feudalism is clearly not the answer! For the commerce bonus, we calculate that we have 347 tiles worked, plus city centers, which means about 383. Subtracting specialists and tiles without commerce, we probably still have at least 300. Corruption is 24.9%, which leaves 225 extra commerce, before any market/library/etc. bonuses. Thus, Republic and Democracy make sense economically, and Republic makes the most sense. If we keep building up our army, eventually Democracy would make more sense, but it is unlikely to make enough more sense to cancel out the war weariness penalty.

With the math thus checking out, and Smith's Trading Company still 26 turns away, we thus decide that we want a revolution.



We draw 7 turns of Anarchy... unfortunate, but not surprising given our size. However, with some fine-tuning, we are able to achieve a surprisingly effective economy for an Anarchy.



21 turns for Democracy may be a lot more than the 4 that we had aimed for before, but we'd also been losing well over 100 gold per turn before, compared to our current surplus. This should at least reduce the post-Anarchy research time to 2-3 turns. I wouldn't normally choose Anarchy as my preferred form of government - but at least we can make the best of it while it lasts!

In 1710, we are greeted with waves of We Love the Sultan Day celebrations. Odd, it seems, but many of our cities are happy. And perhaps reactionary.

Across the waves, Zululand continues their offensive, capturing Sidon and Hamadan in 1717, and entering the Persian core.



They also inform me, five years later, that they no longer wish to have a right of passage with us. Could this be the start of a more serious falling-out? As my foreign advisor is keen to remind me, Shaka has betrayed our friends the Persians.

Evaluating the Persian position in 1725, it is clear they do not have Gunpowder - the technology. They have rushed a Pikeman in Sardis to replenish losses, but I do not have the ability to trade them Saltpeter, though I can trade them other resources. And while Musketmen may be pricey, the fact is they need something that stands a chance against Cavalry... and preferably, Cavalry of their own. Neither one is forthcoming.

Montezuma, on the other hand - one of two rulers of a Republic, the other being that true champion of representative governance, Genghis Khan - is someone I could trade Saltpeter to. This is not very appealing right now - our relationship has cooled off to Cautious - but may prove useful should the Iroquois decide they need more land. Lincoln already has both Gunpowder and Musketmen.

The Persians appear to come to the same conclusions we have of their position, and broker peace in 1727.



This can only be to their benefit, given their clear need for technology and a chance to regroup. Sardis and Parsagadae will remain in their control, and Zululand presumably gains a large amount of gold.

Our government is restored by 1740, and we are now a Republic. After rebalancing our economy, we find our GNP has soared from 867 million, to 1.42 billion - a 64% increase that well exceeded expectations. And we can now 2-turn what's left of Democracy, while running a surplus of 122 gold; indeed, 50% science and that same surplus will be sufficient for 4-turning Physics or Metallurgy as well. Thus, we decide to 1-turn Democracy at 100%, and go full steam ahead towards the Industrial Age... or Shakespeare's Theater, whichever the Calculator of Wisdom decrees is a better choice.

As expected, Democracy wraps up in 1745.



With three choices, we ask the Calculator of Wisdom for guidance once more, and it says we should research... Free Artistry! Shakespeare's Theater is indeed considered the most important thing for us to research!

Speaking of "Free Artistry", the citizens of Atico decide that they are free... to re-join the Incan Empire.



They clearly misunderstood what type of artistry we are pursuing. Restoring the Incan Empire is not part of that plan.

Unfortunately, Pachacuti is currently giving us gold, meaning we would likely take a reputation hit by declaring war. And we might need that reputation to persuade allies to join us against the Iroquois. So far, convincing someone to join us straight-up, even with resources or gold, has been impossible, which along with our lack of Cavalry and Cannons has been the main reason for the lack of a showdown in recent centuries. But, rest assured, we do not plan to simply let the Inca keep their city. For now, we move a great many Knights and Pikemen into Cuzco - both to protect it, and because they can reach Atico in one turn from there.

Despite this insult, life proceeds peacefully, with banks and universities being constructed, until in 1756 we learn Free Artistry.



Only two choices remain! The trusted TI-83 of Technology decrees that of those, the one to research is Meutallurgy. We rejoice, for we may yet stand a chance should the Inca decide they no longer like us.

When debating where to build Shakespeare's Theater, we have several considerations. There are several cities with decent production in our core, but our core is fairly dense, and between that, the mountains, and the lack of food bonus resources, there isn't a great candidate. Thus we look farther. One candidate is Aydin, our Forbidden Palace city.



It has land and sea tiles to develop, decent food supplies, and will have great food supplies once we get the Railroad. But in the end, we decide on a less likely candidate.



Palenque may appear to be too far away to be productve, but is in fact our 5th-most-productive city by shields. It also has food resources, can convert mines or forests for more, will hopefully steal a cow from Vitcos eventually... and will get a stronger defensive bonus once it has Shakespeare's - not to mention a better chance of successful cattle rustling. Combined with our acknowledgement that we have virtually no chance of a 20K victory with our top city still under 2500 culture, it gets the nod.

We are alerted as 1758 beings that there is a new competitor in the wonder race.



Shaka is building Newton's University, although evidently still from the Middle Ages. This gives us a very good hint of where he is technologically - most likely having all required techs except Magnetism, although it's possible Banking is the exception.

What we don't expect is the notice we receive the very next turn.



Already completed! They must have rushed it with a Great Leader, as I do not recall them having started any other Wonder. Either that or they had a great Small Wonder prebuild. I did not think AIs went for wonder prebuilds, but perhaps Shaka does.

This renews Shaka's confidence, and he sends an envoy, if you can call it that, to us in 1763.



Contact with the Iroquois so you can align against us? We don't think so!



Well, there we have it! Zululand v Ottomans! A real war? A phony war? A naval war? The start of a world war? Only time will tell...

 

[tjs282]

Hooray, an update!

It's a pity that all the image-links appear to be broken, though (on my Sony Xperia, using Firefox).

 

[Lanzelot]

I an see two pictures of the science advisor, but the rest of the image links are broken for me as well?!

 

[need my speed]

It's a pity that all the image-links appear to be broken, though (on my Sony Xperia, using Firefox).

They work for me, on Chrome.

Quintillus, I don't know if I have said it before, but it is genuinely nice to see you (and some others, such as Lanzelot - I write your name on top of my head, sorry if I get it wrong) active for one and a half decade in this forum.

EDIT: Ha, look who replied just above me.

 

[Quintillus]

Hooray, an update!

It's a pity that all the image-links appear to be broken, though (on my Sony Xperia, using Firefox).

I an see two pictures of the science advisor, but the rest of the image links are broken for me as well?!

Huh, I'm not sure why they wouldn't be displaying. It's theoretically possible that I hit a bandwidth limit, as I was restoring a lot of images in Conquest of the World last night, and it has since reset. That happened a few times back around 2008.

But I tested it this morning in my usual browser (Vivaldi) as well as Firefox, IE 11, and Opera 12 on desktop, and Firefox on iOS, and they all worked. Granted, using WiFi on the iPhone rather than 4G, I have a low data cap for wireless. Maybe Ctrl+F5 to refresh with a clear cache?

It would be good to figure out, as the goal of restoring the images was to not have Photobucket watermarks everywhere, but if they only show up half the time that might not be an improvement!

They work for me, on Chrome.

Quintillus, I don't know if I have said it before, but it is genuinely nice to see you (and some others, such as Lanzelot - I write your name on top of my head, sorry if I get it wrong) active for one and a half decade in this forum.

EDIT: Ha, look who replied just above me.

CivFanatics has the distinction of being the only forum where I've consistently stuck around for that long, without multi-year disappearances. Of course the game has something to do with that, but the friendly and creative community is a lot of it too. I don't think it's a coincidence that everyone who's posted on this page joined before 2010 and has stuck around. Although I do miss the days of welcoming new members multiple times per story... if you're lurking but haven't posted yet, we have band emojis to share once you post!

 

[Toxicman007]

Great to see you've returned to this story, Quintillus!

 

[tjs282]

Ok, back on my phone again this evening, and now I can see about half the images in that post, mainly towards the end of it. Scrolling up, I can see both the Shaka diplo talks, the Wonder list, the map of Aydin, the Atico defection, the Persian peace deal, and the capture of Hamadan, but still none of the intervening shots.

Is it maybe something to do with embedding images vs hotlinking them? I crank my browser security settings to max, so it might be blocking some of them...?

 

[choxorn]

Awesome, an update!

(All the images work for me, as an aside)

 

[Quintillus]

Ok, back on my phone again this evening, and now I can see about half the images in that post, mainly towards the end of it. Scrolling up, I can see both the Shaka diplo talks, the Wonder list, the map of Aydin, the Atico defection, the Persian peace deal, and the capture of Hamadan, but still none of the intervening shots.

Is it maybe something to do with embedding images vs hotlinking them? I crank my browser security settings to max, so it might be blocking some of them...?

They're all hotlinked in the same way as in Part 24, from April 2020, and from the same site. If your browser is (trying to) block third-party embeds, that could be the issue, as they are hosted by my e-mail provider rather than CFC (IIRC, if I host them at CFC, I'm limited to 10 images per post, versus 30 if they're external). But there's nothing fundamental about where I'm hosting them that I would expect to be any different than hotlinking from Photobucket, imgur, or any other provider. Although my hope is that it might survive longer than some of the classic S&T hosts, such as ImageShack.

Do you have another browser/device to try? The only other things I can think of to debug it are to recommend opening the Developer Tools and the Network Tab to try to see what's blocking them - but that isn't possible on a phone without a computer attached to help - or possibly printing them out and mailing them to you magazine-style, but I'm out of color ink in my printer so they would be in black and white. And the delivery time would be a bit slow.

Or re-hosting, but I'd want some evidence that the problem is on the host end, or at least a good theory, before redoing that, especially as I just fixed 30 parts of Conquest of the World by moving them off of Photobucket, and if there is a problem those would have to be redone yet again, which would be time-consuming. Do all the images work in other posts in this thread, or in the posts in "Conquest of the World" parts 1-30, or in choxorn's "The Conquests", which is hosted on imgur? Earlier today I thought, "maybe Firefox is set to not load images on the Xperia", as I've done that a few times and wondered why things weren't loading. But if some are now, that isn't the case. Maximized security settings could potentially be playing a role. I use uBlockOrigin in Vivaldi/Firefox and it's fine with the images, but am just using the default settings on Firefox for iOS, Opera 12, and IE11.

Or if you want to buy me an Xperia, that would aid debugging the images... but at the current rate of images re-appearing the rest of them will be loading by the time the new Xperia arrives!

 

[jarred!]

My phone will load all the images while I'm using 4G, but less than half load on WiFi. Happened that way using 4 different browsers.

 

[tjs282]

Or if you want to buy me an Xperia, that would aid debugging the images... but at the current rate of images re-appearing the rest of them will be loading by the time the new Xperia arrives!

I'm not suggesting you should be making a special effort to fix this just for me! I'm now pretty sure the problem is at my end and that it's a phone/bandwidth issue, because when I logged in on the phone earlier today (over our home WLAN), I was again shown only about half the images -- but not the same group as before. And now on my Win8.1 desktop, also through Firefox but now with a hardwired (kinda sorta) LAN-connection, I can see all the attached images.