A Noble Walkthrough

[pigswill]

Few more cities:

Maastricht

Remains a minor unit pump. Keeping the forests for the moment: they'll eventually get lumbermills(or turn into workshops).

Middelberg

Remains uninspiring but just about good enough to produce a few unitsto help defend against unprovoked aggression.

Karakorum:

Should be able to help the war effort (I mean help defend against unprovoked aggression) once it gets back to working mines. Need to change a farm to a workshop at some point.

 

[pigswill]

The war goes on....

1130. Amsterdam: uni>treb.
The Hague: HA>HA (cat-busters).

1140. Monte has circumnavigated the world. Monte is playing like William should be! Maybe we had a personality transplant.
Shaka gets a Great Engineer.
Amsterdam has lost its last forest, nice cottage though.
Amsterdam treb>market.
Utrecht: CH>xbow.
Not all Greek Weddings go to plan!

1150.
Shaka's GE completes Notre Dame in Ulundi.
The Hague: HA>pike.
Maastricht: HA>xbow.

1160. Shaka has renounced Monte's (dubious) protection and is Free!
Shaka and Monte are both willing to accept peace, but their paltry concessions are an insult to the Dutch people (and of course I'd get more diplo penalites for agreeing peace then declaring a new war, let alone the mandatory 10 turn wait for a peace treaty to expire).
Some cad has poisoned the water in The Hague! Good job it had built lots of farms so won't starve.
Nijmegen market>uni.
Some bounder has released a swarm of fire ants near Rotterdam (act of nature, I don't think so!). Horses, who needs 'em anyway!

1170. Utrecht: xbow>xbow (I like crossbows because unlike LBs or muskets you can upgrade them to grenadiers).
The Hague: pike>mace.
Middelberg: start forge, starve city to build it faster (work plains hil instead of coast).
A small patrol on the dutch borders takes the wrong road and 'accidentaly' crosses into friendly Viking territory. Hey, isn't that the road to Tenochtitlan? (aka Wonderland aka Target).

Printing Press> chemistry (6 turns).
GS born in Rotterdam. GS will bulb 1767 beakers towards chemistry in Rotterdam but on moving to Amsterdam will bulb 1767 beakers towards chemistry. RRRaskolnikov was right! (post 74 duly edited) I bulb chemstry anyway (down to 1 turn!)

 

[pigswill]

Doing ok at the moment:

I suspect that a factor in the game not (yet) turning into a major bloodbath is that I've managed to maintain a large enough army to deter at least some declarations. Probably won't last indefinitely, still waiting for Bod to declare on someone. The AIs are pretty much even in terms of power and generally are getting on ok among themselves despite religious differences.

Its worth noting that Monte and Shaka don't want engineering which means they already have it. As well as pikes and trebs it also means iirc that they can build castles.

The wall/castle combination makes breaking down defences with cats or trebs very tedious and time-consuming. On the other hand I'm only five turns from steel (1 turn chemistry, 4 turns liberalism) plus a couple of turns raising cash for some upgrades. Cannons ignore walls and castles, five cannon can basically reduce a city's defences in one turn.

So I'm considering postponing the invasion until I've got cannon. I can only upgrade units in my own territory so I think I'd probably save time by waiting rather than having a protracted treb bombardment.

Some good news is that Ragnar still has closed borders with Shaka and Monte, neither of whom have yet discovered astronomy. Ragnar has kindly replaced Bulaweyo with a much better located city and as a result I'm probably safe from invasion at the moment:

 

[pigswill]

The war goes on....

1170 Change Karakorum to build a forge instead of a treb.

1180. I don't know if anyone noticed but I traded theology to Napoleon aka The Little Corporal aka TLC some turns ago. I'm not unduly surprised therefore that I get a chance to vote in the Hindu Apostolic Palace (AP) elections between Napoleon (the builder) and Bod (largest Hindu population). I vote for Napoleon. He's cautious to me at the moment and I get +2 diplo bonus with whoever I vote for. I've decided that trying to curry favour with Bod is a bit of a lost cause.
I wasn't (and still ain't) too bothered about a Hindu AP because Middelberg is my only Hindu city and even if I defied an AP resolution Middelberg would be the only city affected. While I'm running theocracy no-one's going to convert any more of my cities.
Other stuff happens this round:
Monte builds the Dao Miao.
Chemistry>liberalism (4 turns).
Maastricht: xbow>harbour.

1190. The Hague: mace>mace.
The results of the AP election are posted:

Boudica doesn't make the final round of Miss Congeniality 1190 .

 

[pigswill]

Yes, no end to war in sight.

I've been starting some workshops in The Hague and Karakorum, with chemistry they're -1f+2h; when I get guilds they'll go up to -1f+3h which is equivalent to a mined hill.

Moved my western border patrol south thinking that I could start at Ulundi and just made a clockwise sweep through Aztec lands.

1200. Monte adopts theocracy.
Amsterdam market>treb.

1210. The Hague mace>xbow.
Maastricht harbour>jewish monastery (jmon).

1220. Utrecht: xbow>pike.
Liberalism comes in:

Followed by steel:

Switch research to guilds but go for 0%science/100% gold generating 305gpt.
Spent 400g upgrading 5 trebs to cannon (80g a time obviously).
Middelberg (adjust tiles so not starving) forge>cannon.
Monte has built Shwedagon Paya in (this is getting repetitive) Tenochtitlan.
Bit worried about Ragnar's friendship; if he converted to another religion I'd swop from friend to target instantly. Maybe if he adopted theocracy he'd be immune to foreign missionaries and stay confu as long as it remains his most widespread religion. On the other hand he doesn't know theology. Easy remedy:

 

[pigswill]

1230...and just like that Ragnar converts to theocracy (didn't even need a bribe).
The Hague xbow>chariot (will be 7xp, destined to become a medic and with next GG a super-medic). If I don't build a chariot now I'll lose the ability to build chariots when I discover guilds and knights come in.
Upgrade 2 lvl3 cats to cannon (170g each, ouch).
Move lvl2 cat to Amsterdam as military police (happy resource in hereditary rule (HRHR)) and delete a warrior.

1240. Alex proposes trading optics for civil service. Not keen on that (because CS is still a monopoly tech) so negotiate an alternative deal (coz philosophy ain't a monopoly):

Ragnar declares on Monte! Drat, that scuppers my plan for a methodical sweep of the west coast, better get to Tenochtitlan before Rags beats me to it!
The Hague chariot>cannon.
Maastricht Jmon>xbow.
Got a small force heading west:

And to prove that my paranoia isn't just limited to diplomacy I've been building up my eastern defence stack:

Maybe I'm being over-cautious (which is bad because it means I'm wasting resources) but I'm not good enough to be sure and I'd rather waste hammers on extra units than get caught unawares and have to weaken my cities by whipping out an army at short notice.

As you may have noticed I've stopped hoarding gold and put research back up to 70% (395bpt, improving slowly): guilds in 3.

 

[pigswill]

Another short set.

The war continues (and is warming up on the western front).

(1240)Swop Amsterdam to Conmiss (finishes in 3 turns to coincide with discovering guilds to build a grocer). Notice that a spy has been allocated in Utrecht by the AI. Select max food,max hammers, max commerce (bottom right of city screen) to reduce chances of this recurring.

1250. Invasion stack notices a small Zulu stack north of Nobamba. Good job I've left some units behind near Rotterdam. Decide to ignore it and press on.

1260. Aztecs have captured uM from Ragnar! Update world map by map-trading with Ragnar (feudalism for map+40g. Not as expensive as it appears. I've finally accumulated enough EPs against Ragnar to see what he's researching. He's only 2 turns from discovering feudalism on his own). Ragnar has obviously recaptured uM.
The zulu stack refuses to be ignored by blocking the road to Tenochtitlan. Most annoying. Cannon v xbow (77%) survives, cannon v pike (88%) survives, cannon v sword (95%) survives, maces mop up. Monte's now got an elephant blocking the road.

Pike (99%) clears the pachydermous obstruction. Healthy units press on. Damaged units stay behind with medic and a couple of protectors.

1270. Guilds>Nationalism (5 turns).
Amsterdam Conmiss>Grocer (6 turns).
Utrecht Pike>grocer (13 turns).
Maastricht xbow>library (while primarily a production city its generating 20bpt).
The Hague cannon>cannon.
Upgrade 2 cats near Rotterdamto cannon, might need some reinforcements on the western front.
Healthy units stroll through uM. Not sure how long its going to stay Viking:

uM's defended by a pike and an ele. Monte's stack contains 2 xbows, 2 eles, 4HAs, 3 trebs and a cat. I hope they go for the city and not for me. (On the other hand another advantage of cannon is that (unlike trebs) they don't take flanking damage from HAs).

Espionage screen:

Power chart is looking fairly healthy (until I start losing units):

 

[pigswill]

(1270) some tweaks: nationalism actually takes 5 turns (post above edited) so switch to 100%cash for one turn for some more upgrades. Upgrade HA to knight (140g). Hit return, off we go again...

The war goes on...

1280. AP vote: Return (Viking) Nobamba to its rightful owner (Shaka). I vote no.
Napoleon adopts bureaucracy: guess he's discovered civil service.
Middelberg cannon>cannon.
Upgrade HA to knight (140g).
Upgrade cat tocannon (170g)
Set research to 70%. Nationalism in 5.
Monte has captured uM. Lost one treb in the process. He's got 2 trebs and a xbow in the woods, in the city he's got xbow, 2 ele, 4HA and a cat. Because Monte's just captured the city its still in revolt and has no defences. Bombard city with CR cannon losing a cannon at 99.8% . Attack with various units, no further casualties. Bombard jungle xbow with newly promoted drill2 cannon (86%) which survives then polish off the xbow and trebs. Monte's left with cat and two beat up eles in uM.

1290. The AP resolution fails:

Rags keeps Nobamba at the cost of unhappiness in his Hindu cities.
Monte builds Hagia Sophia in (that's right) Tenochtitlan.
Now Monte has CS.
Karakorum: cannon>cannon.
Rotterdam: market>uni.
Maastricht: library>xbow.
Capture uM without further casualties and pile troops inside to heal up (and save on unit costs).
A Confucian missionary arrives from Amsterdam and converts uM to My True Faith.

1300. Healing up in uM.
Alex gets a GE. Bod gets a Prophet.

1310. Bod builds Kashi Vishwanish (Hindu shrine).
She no longer has enough on her hands! She's either got religion or she's failed to build a big enough army to consider invasion and called the whole thing off.
Western expeditionary force heads out of uM heading towards Tenochtitlan. Still got a few units healing up inside.

1320. Nationalism>banking (2turns). I'm actually not quite sure where to go in terms of research. Cannon will own the battlefield for a while yet, cuirassiers and grenadiers would both be nice but not essential. Probably look to improve the economy (banking and economics) first. Banking also opens up replaceable parts which opens up steam power (for dikes) as well as rifling. I went for nationalism primarily to deny Taj Mahal to the AI and a free golden age is a nice bonus. (Technically its not free, it costs 700 hammers (350 with marble); on the other hand the Taj Mahal golden age doesn't increase the gp cost of the next golden age (which will remain 2 GPs) so I'm effectively trading 350 hammers for two GPs).
The Hague: cannon>cannon.
Maastricht xbow>xbow.
Whip grocer in Ulundi (3pop).
Amsterdam grocer>cannon (I don't want to build Taj in Amsterdam because it would tie up production for too long).
Move some healed units out of uM to visit wonderland. Its got a few units left (including a CG2 xbow) as a garrison. Shaka has a few units nearby, will they go for uM or head towards the Vikings?

1330. Shaka's troops go for uM, he loses a crossbow and an axe.
Utrecht: grocer>colosseum.
Middelberg: cannon>xbow
Karakorum: cannon>Taj Mahal (16 turns).

1340.
Becoming complacent, pay the price as a zulu axe kills a lone pike heading towards uM. Crossbow kills the zulu axe.
Banking>Economics (4 turns).
At the gates of Wonderland, defended by 2LB and junk:

Shaka's still buzzing around uM:

 

[pigswill]

Few more turns. The war(s) go on...

1350. Discover there's a river between my stack and Tenochtitlan, spend the turn moving.
Amsterdam: cannon>bank (9 turns).
The Hague: cannon>cannon.
Maastricht: crossbow>crossbow.

1360. Bombard and heal. Still 38%defence left in Teno. Delay assault.
Utrecht: colosseum>bank (20 turns, may get whipped).
Trade CS to Ragnar for map and 50gold. (He was one turn away from it).
Discover that Ragnar's got a stack (ele, 2 sword, 6 cats) near Tlatalelco heading towards Tenochtitlan. Chat withRagnar: "Lets discuss something else", "why don't you attack..", "Tlatalelco".

1370. Monte's caravel attacks our clam-protecting galley near Maastricht. The galley wins!
Ragnar attacks Tlatalelco! (well, starts knocking down its defences)
Reduce Tenochtitlan's defences to 0. Lose CR2 cannon at 76%. lose CR2 cannon at 90%, no further losses and Tenochtitlan becomes a Dutch city: The Jewel In The Crown etc etc. But with 9 defenders to kill first it's only protected by a beaten up crossbow, Monte has a (beaten up) mace nearby. Looking precarious. Decide to play another turn to see what happens.

1380. Monte's mace slinks away, half my army reinforces Tenochtitlan, the other half head towards Tlatalelco where Ragnar is happily bombarding away. Ragnar's got three melee units vs four defenders so he's not going to take it in one round:

Tenochtitlan really ain't a bad acquisition:

Its also got the Mausoleum and Shwedagaon Paya. Stone as well.
[Edit: Teno really is an excellent city, as well as the stone its got iron, copper and three food sources. Once I've polished off the Aztecs its got the potential to be a good GP Farm, even though I don't get culture from the wonders I should still get the gppt, its got the production to knock out National Epic and maybe Forbidden Palace and once the buildings are done its got spare food to run specialists].
Discover economics, get free Great Merchant in Amsterdam, Rotterdam gets its next Great Scientist in three turns. Originally think about Rep Parts but then change research to Milsci. Useful to keep military up to date to minimise (my) casualties.

Its not all good news. War weariness is creeping in. Amsterdam is starving!

Interrupt bank-building to start on a colloseum.
[Edit: Amsterdam is doing a good job as a bureaucratic capital. It could do with more health and happiness, there's still some resources that will help waiting to be 'acquired'. Once I've discovered steam power and Amsterdam gets a dike it will be even more overpowered]
Decisions, decisions, decisions to be made.

 

[pigswill]

I'm not too worried at the moment about the other AIs (though AP could be a nuisance, maybe I should have built it after all). Ragnar's still my friend. Bod, TLC and Alex are cautious, no-one has enough on their hands. I've also been building up a small insurance policy:

uM's got five units though Shaka still has some troops buzzing around there. I've got a small stack on its way:

Maybe leave 2 units in uM, go for Ulundi with 4 cannon and 5 attackers.

There's also an easy short term solution:

Or two:

 

[pigswill]

Time for a brief interlude to review cities. (I've edited post#89 to review Teno and Amsterdam).

Utrecht:

Its pretty much reaching the end of its potential. A harbour and lighthouse would be useful as I've now got Great Lighthouse and Colossus. Maybe lumbermills once I've learned Replaceable Parts. Its getting 19 gold/turn from Kong Miao so there's room for improvement there once I can free up some missionary production (not my highest priority atm).

The Hague:

Its doing ok as a military pump. Been busy building farms and grassland workshops. Its not going to grow much further without biology however so the mines are a bit of a wasted build.

Rotterdam:

Still doing the business as a GS Farm. Even though Tenochtitlan's likely to supercede it, it should still have time to produce another GS first. Once Scimeth is in Great Library becomes obselete so it would revert to a standard commerce city.


Nijmegen:

One of the backroom boys. Not doing anything spectacular but 40 bpt is certainly useful. Maybe a lighthouse and harbour after the university. If I don't burn the next GS on a golden age it will get an academy.

Maastricht:

This city has certainly been a pleasant surprise. Originally I was thinking of this as a potential National Park powered GP Farm but it looks like Tenochtitlan's wonders give it the advantage as a GP Farm. However some lumbermills on the forests, Moia Statues on the water tiles (once Teno's out of revolt and I get stone) and its really quite a solid production city. A dike would definitely help.

Middelberg:

I've said it before (and I'll probably say it again) this is still a naff city. Maybe convert mines to windmills, work watertiles and turn it into a naff commerce city instead of a naff production city.

Beshbalik:

Still a minor commerce city, producing more commerce than it costs but that's about it.

Karakorum:

Decent but not spectacular, particularly if you compare it to other capital sites such as Amsterdam or Teno. Started as a military city, going to end up a hybrid.

uMgungundlova

It takes a bit of imagination (and a lot of worker turns) but this is potentially a pretty good commerce city. It also gets to add sugar to the empire for a small happy and health boost.

 

[pigswill]

It's now time for a quick gloat:

However I'm only on 29% land so victory is a distance away.

 

[pigswill]

Enough gloating and back to the game.

On reflection I really should have built a Confucian Apostolic Palace. I had theology early enough and even without stone I could have built it. It would have greatly simplified diplomacy and getting 2 extra hammers per Confucian city would have more than compensated for the hammers used to build it. Oh well, more proof that I'm not a good player (if any was required).

I'm not that keen on gaining vassals at this stage of the game. They'll contribute very little, alienate the other AIs and probably keep sending spies to sabotage my cities. If I was on the 'final push' then it would be worth doing to speed up victory but I'm not there (yet).

Shaka used a GE to build Notre Dame in Ulundi, +2happy would certainly help combat war weariness. Eliminating the Zulus would also eliminate the war weariness I've acquired through fighting them. uMgungundlovu has a sugar plantation in its BFC (+1 happy, +1 health with grocer) but its currently behind Shaka's borders and would become accessible with Shaka's annihilation. So that's my next target.

I'll probably have a go at pinching Tlatalelco from under Ragnar's nose because its always fun to do that to an AI (and so annoying when they do it to you!).

Amsterdam will build its colosseum for +1 happy and I'll probably despatch a HA from the eastern stack as a military police unit.Hopefully that'll be enough to contain Amsterdam's misery until I can eliminate the Zulus.

I have a bunch of unemployed workers so I think I'll swop back to researching Replaceable Parts (RP) so they can get busy on building lumbermills. The AIs are nowhere near gunpowder so grenadiers can wait a few more turns.

 

[cripp7]

Moving right along nicely, don't take vassels. Just kell'm all!

 

[pigswill]

The wars go on.. and on... and on....

(1380)move HA from east stack towards Amsterdam. Upgrade HA in east stack to knight.
Switch research back to RP (4 turns).

1390. The AP vote comes in. Once again Ragnar keeps Nobamba by defying the AP and earning more unhappiness in his hindu cities.
Given up on a GP powered Golden Age. Start moving GM towards Nidaros.
Rags suicides most of his stack against Tlatelolco.
Middelberg: xbow>harbour.
The Hague: knight>mace.

1400. Bod obviously needs to learn a bit more about pacifism:

"Sure thing, babe". (William accepts the extortion philosophically).

Islam is founded in Lyons.
The Hague: mace>mace.
Shaka suicides xbow and sword against uM.
Battle of Tlatelolco. Rags suicides have weakened the defenders slightly but promoted them seriously. CR2 cannon vs Geurilla2CG1 LB on a hill:56%. Survives! Other cannons have easier job. Maces and eles mop up. Capture Tlatelolco and 154gold. Keep the city:

Apart from the Taoist shrine its really quite uninspiring.

1410. Napoleon and Bod declare on Ragnar!! Hot diggetty. Didn't see that coming. It will be interesting if Rags asks me to join him. I'd probably refuse and live with the demerits (-2 failed to help in wartime, but currently +21 so its unlikely to end our friendship).
Napoleon has a stack on the Viking borders (dozen units but nothing major). No sign of Bod's stack.
GM arrives in Nidaros and completes a Trade Mission (1100 gold). Not massive but it will help the military modernisation program.
HA arrives in Amsterdam(+1happy). Amsterdam colosseum(+1 happy)>bank. Amsterdam happy again (for now).
uM:granary>CH.
GS born in Rotterdam, heads towards Nijmegen.
Move stackette (4 cannon, mace,pike, 3xbow) towards Ulundi.
Aztec stack retreats to Tenochtitlan to heal up.

1420. RP>Milsci(4turns).
Workers start building lumbermills.
GS establishes academy in Nijmegen.
The Hague: mace>mace.
Nap's stack near Birka.
Stackette sneaking towards Ulundi.
Aztec stack still healing.

 

[pigswill]

1430. Alex has built the University of Sankore.
Aztec mace attacks Tenochtitlan and kills defending CG2 Xbow! Mace kills aztec mace.
Middelberg: harbour>conmon.
The Hague: mace>cannon.
Atzec stack still healing in Tenochtitlan.
Stackette arrives at Ulundi. defended by 2LB, xbow, sword, 2 axes
Shaka still has units buzzing around uM.

1440. Napoleon builds Spiral Minaret.
Maastricht: market>CH.
Bombard Ulundi.
Aztec stack heads south.

1450. An outlandish wedding gift and generous donations etc come to a mere 80 gold for +3 diplo with Ragnar!

Ulundi's whipped a longbow but sent out a xbow and 2 axes towards uM. Now defended by 3LB, sword and axe. Another bombardment.
The Hague: cannon>cannon.
Nijmegen: uni>harbour.
Beshbalik: harbour>uni.
Tenochtitlan's no longer in revolt but its not a happy city!

Can't even whip a courthouse this round coz it costs 6pop! Oh well, let them starve.
Boudica's main stack is marching through our empire. Napoleon's main stack got shredded attacking Birka which is somehow still standing!
Aztec stack heading south.

1460. Milsci>miltrad(4 turns).
Whip CH is Tenochtitlan for 4 pop. Now stable (though very unhappy).
Amsterdam bank>forge.
Middelberg: conmon>conmiss.
Whip bank in Utrecht (3pop).
Aztec stack arrives at its next target.
Battle of Ulundi: cannon do their bit (no losses). 5 attackers against 5 defenders. Pretty close but win 5 out of 5. Ulundi falls. Zulus destroyed! Units buzzing around uM disappear. uM's borders expand to cover sugar plantation. War weariness greatly reduced. Notre Dame spreads happiness everywhere. The dutch empire is suddenly a happy place!

But the game ain't won yet...

 

[pigswill]

Some thoughts:

Fastest way to win this game is to defeat Boudica. Her main stack consists of 25 units (10 cats, 4 ele, 4HA, 2xbow and 5 misc units) which are heading towards Viking Birka.
Giving philosophy to Boudica in 1400ad has created a peace treaty which lasts another four turns (expiring in 1500ad) which may be why Rags hasn't yet asked for help (or it may be totally irrelevant).
Taj Maha is due to complete in two turns for a free golden age (extended by MoM in Tenochtitlan).
By increasing research to 80% I'm generating 623bpt at -22gpt; a pretty significant boost to my economy seems to have just appeared in the past ten turns. Don't really know why to be honest. More trade routes, colossus boosted sea commerce, maybe just general growth and cottages maturing. The academy in Nijmegen will have helped of course. Whatever the reason I can now research Miltrad in three turns.
I've got 5 elephants and 5 knights scattered around which will all upgrade to cuirassiers and I've currently got about 1700 gold in the bank.
I picked up a GG in the last turn which is just about to hop on a chariot near Karakorum and become my second supermedic.
I can combine the Ulundi stackette with the Aztec stack which will give me a respectable stack to polish off the last four aztec cities particularly once I start upgrading CR3 maces to grenadiers.
I can combine all my mounted units into one cuirassier stack and stomp on Bod's stack in Vikingland. Flanking damage from the cuirassiers should pretty much annihilate Bod's cats while they're attacking the rest of the stack.
The eastern stack with a bit of upgrading should be able to make a start on Bod's cities.
I reckon that with a golden age and 100% cash I'll have enough money for some major upgrades.

That's more or less the plan. Will it work? One way to find out is to try it.

 

[pigswill]

The war goes on.... (but an interesting development).

1470. Adjust tiles to speed up univeristy in Rotterdam at the expense of growth.
Start moving eles and knights. The road system in Aztec and Viking lands leaves a lot to be desired however. Will get some workers onto road improvements over the next few turns (they're still busy building lumbermills, primarily around Maastricht).
Teotihuacan, bombard a bit, attack a bit but going its to take a couple more turns because I'm short of attackers (mounted unit heading east, Ulundi stackette not yet arrived).
Teno: CH>LB.
Tlatalelco is starving (-8 unhappiness), whip granary (3pop) or I'd just lose them through starvation anyway.
Ulundi: bank>xbow.
The Hague: cannon>cannon.
Subutai leaps on his chariot:

He joins the rest of the cavalry.

1480. AP vote: stop the war against Boudica confused: Didn't she start it?)
Tlat: granary>LB (still unhappy and starving!).
Teno: whip LB (1pop)
Teot: still beating up defenders with cannon and killing them with CR maces. Should fall next turn.
Middelberg: conmiss>mace.
Karakorum: Taj>knight.

Oh look, a twelve turn golden age.

1490. Bod captures Birka in the nick of time:

Well, with a further ten turn peace treaty I won't be declaring on Bod as as soon as I had anticipated. On the other hand she also has an enforced ten turn peace treaty with me. Napoleon is still at war with Rags and not covered by the AP peace treaty. Cunning idea emerges. Move eastern stack north (after upgrading), declare on The Little Corporal (its ok, I am going to kill you), raze Paris (and the Apostolic Palace in the process) and replace Paris with a nice dutch city. Bod will be a bystander!
Other stuff happening:
Miltrad>Rifling. Cash 100%. Rifling 60+ turns. +711gpt.
Upgrade 4 knights and 2 eles to cuirassiers.
Upgrade eastern stack (maces get CR2 promotions before upgrading to grenadiers because maces can get CR while grenadiers can't). Keep pikes unchanged, they're decent anti-mounted troops as they are and will await rifling before getting upgraded.
The Hague: cannon>cuirassier.
Maastricht: CH>cuirassier.
Teno: LB>lib.
Tlat: whip LB(2 pop) still starving and unhappy!
Max hammers in Beshbalik to rushbuy uni next turn.
Got a couple of workers on road building, couple more are building a sugar plantation at uM. Rest are still finishing off lumbermills.
Eventually capture Teot just in time for the Ulundi stackette to waltz in after its been captured:

Time to cash in on the golden age with a quick (anarchy free) change of civics:

1500. Start upgrading the west stack (most crossbows won't get upgraded coz they're destined to become garrison troops).
Made a quick trade with Rags (we're still friends despite loss of wisely chosen civics).

Amsterdam: forge>settler (1 turn). Amsterdam is unhappy and starving due to switch away from hereditary rule. It'll build a theatre or christian temple next turn to restore happiness.
The Hague:cuir>gren.
Nijmegen: harbour>LH.
Tlat:LB>library.
Beshbalik:rushbuy uni, swop tiles for food and commerce.
Now skint (80g in bank) but get another 720g next turn.
The eastern stack is approaching France:

 

[pigswill]

Just to reassure myself: the Apostolic Place is indeed in Paris (along with Great Wall and Spiral Minaret). It would be an act of barbarism and a loss to future generations were these Wonders to be destroyed.

Moving on to less controversial topics the power chart remains fairly healthy:

There's a decent stack assembling in the west (still needs some healing and upgrading):

Forgot to mention it in the previous post but Tenochtitlan's rebelling so its not producing anything (or costing anything) but the global effects of its Wonders appear unaffected.

Not too much left of the Aztec empire. Once its gone then pining for the motherland and war weariness (and all aztec culture) should disappear with it and hopefully the former aztec cities will integrate into the dutch empire.

Texcoco is to be razed, its got a fair bit of overlap and doesn't appear to be adding anything to the empire. Tlaxcala is for keeping because it adds gold and crabs for extra health and happy. Calix adds whales so that's another one to be kept.

 

[cripp7]

the SM will bring in a lot of gold for you, although that AP thing can get annoying