T149:
T201:
Japan could become a problem, although probably not a serious one. He took Carthage a few turns ago and he has one Ottoman city (he took Istanbul, too, but somehow failed to keep it). Im running out of people to bribe him against. He actually DOWed me somewhere around turn 160, when I was still several turns from Industrialization. It was an awkward time for Crossbows, and I lost a few units, but I managed to get white peace after only a couple turns. I now have enough gold to get Gatlings and I should be pretty safe, but I dont want a protracted war. Florence is giving me a quest for a road and I just hope its units move so I can finish that before Oda turns it against me
Speaking of city states, Ive been brutally unlucky with coups I failed an 85% in Kabul, then later failed another 83% in Kabul. Its especially frustrating because success in either coup wouldve given me WLTKD in Persepolis. I at least got one successful coup in Florence, but jeez. Right now my spies are hanging out in my science cities in the hopes of catching some thieves and leveling back up. I did get great tech steal, though, so I cant complain too much. (Thanks Kamehameha!)
In the turn 201 screenshot, you may notice that I have 50 turns of golden age left. I expect to be in golden age for the rest of the game. I managed to hit my second natural golden age just a couple turns after Universal Suffrage, then immediately popped two Great Artists.
Im not actually working that many specialists yet, as I havent opened Rationalism
I would rather work 3f tiles at the moment. Im keeping pace on science for now, and I expect to get to some crazy heights once everything comes together. My dream is to top 2,000 science, which I dont think Ive ever done.
I have 30 happiness, with full Commerce and Universal Suffrage. I could sell some luxes, but I want to play it safe since I have zero tourism. Oda is the only one with another ideology, so I dont have to deal with ideological pressure just yet. My ideal plan is to get so much culture that I dont get pressured. This could be achieved by winning the Worlds Fair and popping ~4 Great Writers in that window for massive culture. I didnt propose Worlds Fair on first congress, as I like to save it for the second one, when the hammers are less of an expense and actually winning is much easier. Unfortunately my lack of city-states prevented me from proposing anything on the second congress. So buying city-states is a high priority
but I still need to upgrade Gatlings and I need to buy Public Schools in Susa and Ecbatana. I also want to eventually get Artillery to solve my Oda problem and steal Temple of Artemis. Theres a lot of things I need to spend money on. Fortunately I have 280 gpt and discounts on rush-buying.
In the first picture, you might notice that I have a Great Engineer sitting in my capital. I went for Metal Casting before Education, built an early Garden and rush-bought a Workshop in the capital in order to spawn a quick Engineer. I saved the Great Engineer to build Big Ben obviously I could guarantee Big Ben without it, since the AI hates Commerce, but it costs soooo many hammers. I wanted to get it down immediately for buying quick Factories. After Education I beelined Industrialization (~t 165), stole my way to Astronomy, and then picked up Scientific Theory (~t 182). Next was Electricity, then beeline Fertilizer, and now Im heading toward Statue of Liberty and Research Labs.
I enhanced my relgion with Swords to Plowshares and Defender of the Faith, which I dont think Ive ever chosen before. Reliquary was my first choice, but it was gone. I didnt care much about spreading my religion, so I decided to just give myself a bit of extra help in case Oda came after me.
Im exploring the other continent with a 3-move Scout with extra vision and Altitude Training. Fun times.