Round 3: 675BC - 325AD
Alright, so we have two groups with different opinions: One, the overwhelming majority, favours going for Literature and the Great Library before Construction to better leverage Philosophical's strength. There's also the advantage of letting the Spanish build a shrine for us in Madrid before we invade. The second, a small minority, favours Construction first and going to war earlier in order for us to better compete in the land game and avoid having to face longbowmen in Spain. The GL can probably still be built, but a little later.
By the number of votes alone, it is easy to go with the former. However, I agreed quite strongly with the latter. So, forced by my own instincts on one hand and the popular voice on the other, I had to consider both sides of the argument carefully.
I began by identifying what was really important to us. The GL is one, but it's not in dispute as far as I could see, just
when it would be built. Land is another, for acquiring land as early as possible means we can develop that land earlier, strengthening our empire (and hence the maxim "Land is power"). How about a shrine? Is that important? At this stage, where it would only give us several gpt per turn at most, not really. And there are ways to get it later on. It's a point to consider, but it's probably not something so vital that we should base our decision on it outright. So, now, having narrowed down our basic concerns, would it be more advantageous to us if we build the GL earlier or if we capture some cities earlier?
An earlier GL means earlier free scientists, which means earlier Great Scientists for lightbulbing and earlier free bpt (beakers per turn) to help with research. Considering the Philosophical trait, it is indeed a good way to leverage it. And we can even toss in a free shrine as a sweetener. Earlier conquests, on the other hand, means an earlier consolidation of empire, which leads to greater productivity and greater research capabilities. Also, we might not have to face longbows, which would cost us hammers in dead troops, lengthen our campaign and cause more war weariness (from the longer duration and more troops dead). So, in terms of giving us more raw research power, both are beneficial. Earlier GL would give us more research earlier, especially due to the effect of lightbulbing, but would not increase our productivity as early. It's hard to decide which is better. War weariness, however, is a tangible factor against the early GL path. And so we have to come back to the question of the shrine: Does it add weight to the early GL option? Ironically, however, the free shrine has tied up in itself the potential for greater war weariness. At 25 years per turn, 50 turns after 975BC would make it 275AD. There's a very high chance that Isabella would have longbowmen if we wait till then, even if she did not take Monarchy from the Oracle. Furthermore, striking at Madrid first is important to our war plans (it would really knock the Spanish economy out and cause the empire to crumble easily). That would leave our army isolated, and therefore it must be able to undertake the siege of Toledo largely unreinforced, something it would not be able to do if it exhausts itself assaulting a longbow-defended Madrid.
Thus, I concluded that going for Construction first is the better option, if only slightly. And while we were researching it, we began building/chopping/whipping axes and swords to prepare for war.
The round proper began with the most logical tech trade (in more ways than one, if you get my drift):
And then I noticed that HC did not have Maths. How convenient!
What happened next was not so good, though. Somebody has voiced out his concern about this earlier, and it did happen:
Toledo stole our gold mine! The unhappy population that suddenly appeared in Berlin could be whipped away for something useful, but the damage to our research efforts were annoying.
Fortunately, Munich had built a library one turn earlier. A few turns later, the borders of Munich expanded:
Yup. Stole it right back, and we're back in business.
Several turns after that, Huayna completed the ToA (what a surprise), and Brennus became willing to trade away Polytheism:
Since we got Sailing out of the deal as well, it was not bad. We could then research Literature right away next.
The Spanish, meanwhile, seemed to be flexing their annoyance-factor muscle:
Little does the AI know what it has in store
Soon after that, we got our first GS:
It went to Berlin to build an Academy, which, satisfyingly enough, shaved one turn off Literature immediately.
Then, as if she was not annoying enough, Isabella came with a demand:
No wonder Sisiutil couldn't get along with her
I sent her off disappointed. She became Cautious, but that hardly mattered when she's going to be our target, did it?
Anyway, since we would be lightbulbing Philosophy, I decided to make another deal with Washington:
Meditation is required for Philosophy (well, duh!). And this was actually a rare opportunity. How often can you trade small AI-beloved techs like Polytheism for something useful?
After Literature, we went for CoL. It seemed natural, given the Organised trait and the fact that we were about to go to war and conquer some territory. Besides, CoL leads to Civil Service, which leads to Paper, which leads to Education, which leads to Liberalism. CoL also leads to Philosophy, which we would lightbulb and is required for Liberalism. Do you see where I'm going?
Anyway, once we got Construction, we had begun building catapults almost exclusively. We churned out 6 catapults as quickly as possible (with chopping and whipping) and then marched into Spanish lands. Since we wanted to hit Madrid first, I figured we could make use of open borders to walk our forces some distance into Spanish territory before declaring war, such that our forces would be bumped out to neutral territory northwest of Madrid, which would put them as close to the city as possible at the beginning of the war:
Our forces moved another tile and then we declared war. The trick worked. And note that Isabella still did not have longbows at this point.
While our army laid siege to Madrid, the citizens of our capital engaged in a more civilized pursuit:
So we did get the GL. That removed one potential disadvantage about going Construction first. Now it remained to be seen if we could capture at least Madrid before Isabella got longbows.
Well, since we were already outside Madrid and would probably capture it soon, which would put a lot of hurt in the Spanish, I decided that it was safe to trade away Construction:
We did not have monopoly on it anymore anyway, Brennus and Washington having got it. We switched to HR immediately to preempt the effects of war weariness, especially since we were fighting our brothers and sisters in the faith.
And, finally, our assault on Madrid was successful:
We didn't lose many troops in the process either. No doubt the fact that Isabella still had no longbows contributed greatly.
So, our first objective had been achieved. Props to us. But would we enjoy similar success taking Toledo and linking up our territories? Find out when I post the second half of the update later.
[to be continued in the next post...]