Ok, here come my turns
Pre-flight Tyre Kicking
90 gold, 8gpt which will increase soon; lots of scouts out (heh!); HBR in 7, and 3 AI civs to wheel and deal with; no barbarian warning from Helmut...
IBT - barbarian galley moves into view, but gone are the days when 10 horsemen pile off them, thank god...
Turn 1 - 1225 BC
Lots of scouting; check diplomacy, nothing much has changed, and the price of useful techs is still too high.
IBT - Frankfurt Warrior; Leipzig Worker; Forest harvested near Berlin, BG revealed
Turn 2 - 1200 BC
More scouting - no barbs. Impossible to MM Berlin to delay settler to coincide with city growth. Set worker tasks - irrigating ivory near Leipzig, and decide to road new BG square before mining, as the settler pump works fine and the spices need to be connected.
I now believe the French are somewhere south of England and Russia. Found no trace of them yet... Russia have 502 gold and are still up 3 techs. Cathy wants 110g, 1gpt and our map for her world map. I guess it must be drawn on sheets of inlaid gold, with diamonds representing cities...
IBT - Russia offers us Mysticism for 70g. I try to swap Mysticism with Mapmaking, hoping she won't notice. She's unimpressed, and I abort the deal... Settler produced in Berlin.
Turn 3 - 1175 BC
Heidelburg founded - going to be a tough city to improve. More exploration, some intersting discoveries... An inland sea beneath Minsk and plenty of bonus resources/trade goods. France still lack HBR, only 4 turns to go... Come on!
IBT - Barb appears out of the Black above Munich... grr!
Turn 4 - 1150 BC
It's all happening with the exploration - barbarian camp, cows galore... But best of all is the discovery of shallow seas to the northwest - surely the other continent!
The bad dude slaughters the barbarian near Munich. Russia up to 526 gold, we are up to 14gpt profit. No real change in diplomatic climate.
IBT - Barb horseman appears above Munich - definitely 25g to be had here...
Turn 5 - 1125 BC
The Dude (now capitalised) kills the horseman and discovers the camp - on mountains, of course... Warrior attacks other barb camp (also on mountains) and wins with one health left - 25g pocketed, and Coventry discovered...
More worker activity, the Empire is improving rapidly in some key areas... Berlin's cycle has been ruined by the foresting! MM as best I can, think it's sorted.
Diplomacy frustrating - no real changes, and England and Russia still want huge amounts for map making.. At least we have Writing already...
IBT - More horsemen appear in the far SE
Turn 6 - 1100 BC
Archer kills horseman. Up to 16gpt profit now, and have quite the bankroll... Still no diplomacy changes, and we get HBR next turn... Actually, there has been a change! Apparently, Lizzy has betrayed the French! Is there a war between them? I can't tell, as we have no embassies... That might explain the lack of cash and advances in France and England... It only costs 48 gold for an embassy with France, 46 for England. Tempting.
IBT - zip.
Turn 7 - 1075 BC
Sages learn HBR - set them on Literature at 40 turns. Immediately trade HBR and WM for Mysticism and French WM - could have got a few coins too, but Joan has 8g to her name. Don't want to bankrupt her. As I thought, Joan is WAY south... Not a good start location for the Frenchies... Hmm, a thought strikes me - the French have MM... How odd. Check around our neighbours. Lizzy and Cath want WM and 190 for map making - Joan only wants 190 gold. I barter down a bit, to 120g and 3gpt, then 99g and 4gpt. Take this latter, hoping to up the tech pace a touch. Leaves us with 102g, 13gpt profit and tech parity on this continent. Nice
I now have a tough call. Berlin is still off-cycle. I decide not to waste a turn's production by changing settler to temple for one turn. Berlin will grow in two, and sprogs a settler in 1 turn. Can MM Berlin to produce a military unit, whilst emphasising growth. Back on track...
Not much happens militarily, start roading second ivory.
IBT - Archer killed by horseman in SE. Bah!
Turn 8 - 1050 BC
Nuremberg founded - needs to be connected to a road asap, as it is our galley building port. Settler produced, queue in Berlin set to warrior. Settler decides to head south, to try to grab nice land near Russia. Warrior from berlin accompanies the settler.
IBT - zip
Turn 9 - 1025 BC
Not much happening - settler moves south, 3 workers move up to road towards Nuremberg, and improve that site. All work parties now have warrior escort unless they are well within our borders. Second continent discovered to be 2 squares in size!
I am still convinced that we can see distant coastal waters though...
Spices now connected - makes happiness management easier
IBT - I was right - France was at war with England, and now Russia has been dragged into it, declaring war on Lizzy at the behest of France. Ouch. Bang goes the tech pace on this continent
It will perhaps enable
us to get into a strong position, but I am sure it is not for the best overall..
Turn 10 - 1000 BC
Sir Dude destroys an encampment in the north, 25g cha-ching! Shame he can't promote any further really! Another two barb camps discovered, 50g up for grabs.
As a final move, I bought England's World Map, for our territory map and 18g. I wanted to give England a bit of cash, as she is fighting 2 enemies. I want fair play! Having said that, look what France did with the cash we gave her! Gace it all to Russia, who now has a monstrous 700g... Ah well...
State of the World
The war is not good, but overall I am happy with my turns. We have mapped virtually the entire continent, found the other continent, and achieved tech parity. Our finances look good (143g, +23gpt) and our Literature gambit and Library pre-build look well set (37 turns for Lit, 36 turns until we finish the palace...). Militarily we are doing ok - the barbarians are being controlled, and we have suffered only light casualties. The spices are connected, and our settler expansion is looking good. We have a port, building a galley, and plenty of workers. Munich is building a granary by the way. This is a long term investment, but is up for discussion in the between-turns round table chat. *Edit* P.S. Helmut is warning of barbarian tribes near Konigsberg... just FYI.
Screenies to follow.
Over and Out
Tal