The Short Story:
Lots of worker turns.
Lots of messed-up worker gangs.
No captured cities.
Lots of infrastructure builds.
Alliances ready to be cancelled.
A monopoly on Steel.
The Long Story:
1550 AD --
Take a tour of our cities before hitting Enter. As anticipated, everything's in order in our cities.
Diplomatically, we've got 8 turns of war left in the Alliance w/ England vs. China.
Technologically, we're down a couple of techs to China, but we're not what I'd call way behind. Specifically, we're down Communism, Sci Meth, Espionage, Refining & Fascism. . . . at least that we can see. We're only 1 turn out from Refining, so that's about to change.
Hit Enter
IBT:
Chinese drop off 2 cavs near Segusio. Ya just gotta love the AI's invasion tactics.
The Maya request an audience. They want the usual MPP/ROP combo. I don't think so. Asking to make a counter proposal just tells me that they have little to offer.
Refining comes in. I go with Steel. Now that the ToE is off the table, there's no reason to rush down the Sci Meth/Atomic Theory/Electronics line. If we make peace with China, maybe they'll give us something in trade.
Medina -- Cav -> temple (wait, hear me out . . . It's size 14 with 2 clowns. Let's put one of them to work without increasing the lux slider for the whole empire, eh? Besides, it's only a 30-shield investment for us.)
Baghdad -- Cav->Cav
Hangchow -- Worker->Worker
Tatung -- worker -> worker
I count a total of over 20 clowns in our empire, not including recent captures on the starvation diet. Bump lux to 20% & MM accordingly. Switch clowns and tax collectors to scientists for the moment.
Hire a CE at Gergovia. Aque in 47 becomes aque in 16.
Switch Najran to a hospital. It's size 12, 17% corrupt, has 4 available tiles and is currently at 31 fpt, with a projected 39 fpt.
Why in the world is Eboracum so unhappy? 55% war weariness, 44% too crowded. Even at 20% lux, I get 2 clowns and 3 scientists . . . & it has a temple. I slow its growth until I can get some workers there to irrigate that last grassland in its cross.
Cataractonium is also having some happiness issues, but by slowing its growth and hiring 3 cops, I get growth in 8 and 6 net spt. That will hold for now, especially if I make peace after the alliances run out.
I check with Mao. They're still up on us by Communism, SciMeth, Espionage and Fascism.
Kill the 2 cavs near Segusio.
Light up the arty near Canton. ("Boom boom! Out go the lights!" (not to mention the roads and irrigation. As I don't have enough troops to attack Canton yet, I'm going to cut into their food.)
Clearly, somebody, & maybe several somebodies, are better worker managers than I. I've never put 1 native & 1 slave together post-RP. Please forgive me if I've messed up the worker gangs.
IBT:
Joan dumps some cavs on Mao's shore. Mao promptly ignores the arty hiding under an army near Canton and sends his infantry after Joans cavs.
Babylon: Infantry->infantry
Alesia: Worker->worker (Size 8, +9fpt with growth in 1; what else am I gonna do?)
Medina: Temple (No more clowns in Medina, net 60 spt and 1 turn frigates!) -> Frigate
Iron City: Cav->Cav
Aden: Coal plant->Cav
Gladum: Infantry->Infantry
Oh, yeah, and Steel is due in 8 at 60%/-76 gpt. I hate being around the middle in science spending, but I just can't justify -231 gpt when our whole kitty is 985.
1560 AD
Units are starting to come off the production lines faster than I can transport them, so I begin stacking military units next to Mecca. They're on the rail line and can: (1) be easily located; and (2) defend any point on our continent.
Looking at trade and diplomacy, I see that France is no longer paying us the ~120 gpt that she was. She's got some cash to spare, so I'm going to rope her into another deal. Everyone else is pretty well broke.
We still have 6 turns of an alliance with England against China. I don't want to break the MA, but I don't know that we want to continue war with China once it ends. The alliance with Joan aghains Mao has already run out, but nobody has cancelled it yet. I expect to let it run until the MA with England expires.
Anyway, I sell refining & dyes to Joan. I include the dyes so that she stands to lose something if she cancels the deal.
She offers: Communism, WM, 80 gold (of 84 in her treasury) and 1 gpt. Here's the deal when I get done haggling:
Refining comes in at a cost of 3999, so 137 gpt for 20 turns covers most of that. England had zip to trade. Henry has little, but I go ahead and sell him Medicine. Here's my thinking: He's only got 4 cities, so it's not like he's going to be a threat to China. We might as well pocket what little gold he's got. Medicine comes in at 1749 cost, by the way. Here's the whole deal:
IBT:
The Maya no longer want to sell us ivory.
I'll see if I can fix this on the next turn.
Pollution strikes Babylon!
Medina: Frigate->frigate
Fustate: Frigate->courthouse
Lindum: arty->arty
Tatung: worker->worker (currently size 2)
1565 AD:
Our frigates contine to harass Chinese ships.
All roads to canton are now cut. It's still size 10 and guarded by infantry, but I expect food shortages to begin shrinkage soon.
Begin roading up to Dover. They're on our continent and I assume that we'll want to kick them off eventually.
Ok. Maybe I'm cutting things a little close on the lux slider:
Oh, wait. That's because I forgot to bargain for ivory . . . back to the trading table. SJ would have accepted just Electricity for Ivory, but I went ahead and threw in Dyes. Two reasons: (1) if I'm going to try to prop him up next to Mao, well, in for a penny, in for a pound; (2) to give him an extra reason not to DOW us in the next 20 turns (not that I'm worried about him hurting us). A little tinkering after the ivory purchase and everyone's satisfied again.
IBT:
Babylon: Inf->Inf
Medina: Frig->frig
Damascus: Galleon->cav
Aden: Cav->temple
1560
For some reason, I just now notice that the Portugese have th proverbial 1-tile island settled.
During the course of this turnset, I also notice that we've got unhoooked sources of coal, salt, and rubber in our territory. Not that we need to hook them up right now, but let's not buy any, either.
IBT:
Medina: Frigate->frigate (we will rule the waves before I'm done)
Baghdad: cav->cav
Kufah: factory->cav (43 net spt, 6 waste per cav)
Khurasan: arty->arty
Aden: cav-> university
Shiraz: worker->arty
1575 (clearly, I got off on counting turns somewhere)
Sink a chinese Frigate (1-0)
Lose a full-health frigate to a redlined Chinese one (1-1)
Sink a chinese Frigate (2-1)
Sink a chinese Frigate (3-1)
I begin railing up to Rouen's borders, as well. They're on our continent, the interlopers.
Rails are laid and I disband 4-5 obsolete units. There's just not that much that we can safely disband right now.
IBT:
Mecca: Army->Factory
Babylon: inf->inf
Medina: Frigate->frigate
Anjar: Frigate->Galleon
Cataractonium: Arty->arty
Yamama: Inf->inf
Muscat: frigate->galleon
Chinese Complete Hoover Dam
The Siege of Beijing
Beijing is currently size 19, with tons and tons of watered grass. I still haven't shipped in enough troops to mount a successful attack on Beijing, so I do the same thing I did with Canton: bombard its tiles and see if we can start starvation.
IBT:
Medina: Frigate->frigate
Kufah: Cavs->cavs
Basra: Cav->cav
Segusio:Harbor->worker
Monguntiacum: Worker->arty
1580 AD
Canton has fallen to size 9
Swap Ratae Coritanorum from a frigate (due in 51) to a temple & a CE (due in 7). There's a grassland wheat just out of reach. With one expansion, we can sell the temple and use the wheat.
Swap Agedincum to an aque with CEs. It's very corrupt, but we can't shoehorn farms in the way I normally do, so we've got to make larger farms than usual. Aque due in 12.
Chop for the temple at Ratae Coritanorum. Now due in 1.
Almost all of the tree-trimming on our continent appears complete. I begin stacking a few of the workers into cleanup gangs. Feel free to gripe if I've missed anything critical, guys.
IBT:
Steel comes in. Research set for Combustion. I'm going to hand this off before investing any beakers in it, just in case discussion is needed.
Babylon: Infantry->Infantry
Medina: Frigate->frigate
Najran: Hospital->temple (it's got lots of food & is going to start growing)
Aden: University->cavalry
Ratae Coritanorum: Temple->Arty
Yamama: Temple->Cav
Nemausus: Worker-aque
Notes for the Next BetterPlayer
What was our VC again?
Look next to Mecca. I didn't do a very good job of transporting units into the war zone, but there are several stacks there awaiting orders, including one empty army and enough cavs or infantry to fill it, at your discretion.
Please forgive my mismanagement of worker groups. Clearly, I've got a thing or two to learn about managing worker-turns.
We also need to decide on whether to make peace with Mao.
We've got a monopoly on Steel, and I set the tech to Combustion. We have 0 beakers invested, though, so now's the time to switch, if we're going to.
I believe that our alliances have run their course, but I haven't taken them off the table yet.
Lots of worker turns.
Lots of messed-up worker gangs.
No captured cities.
Lots of infrastructure builds.
Alliances ready to be cancelled.
A monopoly on Steel.
The Long Story:
1550 AD --
Take a tour of our cities before hitting Enter. As anticipated, everything's in order in our cities.
Diplomatically, we've got 8 turns of war left in the Alliance w/ England vs. China.
Technologically, we're down a couple of techs to China, but we're not what I'd call way behind. Specifically, we're down Communism, Sci Meth, Espionage, Refining & Fascism. . . . at least that we can see. We're only 1 turn out from Refining, so that's about to change.
Hit Enter
IBT:
Chinese drop off 2 cavs near Segusio. Ya just gotta love the AI's invasion tactics.
The Maya request an audience. They want the usual MPP/ROP combo. I don't think so. Asking to make a counter proposal just tells me that they have little to offer.
Refining comes in. I go with Steel. Now that the ToE is off the table, there's no reason to rush down the Sci Meth/Atomic Theory/Electronics line. If we make peace with China, maybe they'll give us something in trade.
Medina -- Cav -> temple (wait, hear me out . . . It's size 14 with 2 clowns. Let's put one of them to work without increasing the lux slider for the whole empire, eh? Besides, it's only a 30-shield investment for us.)
Baghdad -- Cav->Cav
Hangchow -- Worker->Worker
Tatung -- worker -> worker
I count a total of over 20 clowns in our empire, not including recent captures on the starvation diet. Bump lux to 20% & MM accordingly. Switch clowns and tax collectors to scientists for the moment.
Hire a CE at Gergovia. Aque in 47 becomes aque in 16.
Switch Najran to a hospital. It's size 12, 17% corrupt, has 4 available tiles and is currently at 31 fpt, with a projected 39 fpt.
Why in the world is Eboracum so unhappy? 55% war weariness, 44% too crowded. Even at 20% lux, I get 2 clowns and 3 scientists . . . & it has a temple. I slow its growth until I can get some workers there to irrigate that last grassland in its cross.
Cataractonium is also having some happiness issues, but by slowing its growth and hiring 3 cops, I get growth in 8 and 6 net spt. That will hold for now, especially if I make peace after the alliances run out.
I check with Mao. They're still up on us by Communism, SciMeth, Espionage and Fascism.
Kill the 2 cavs near Segusio.
Light up the arty near Canton. ("Boom boom! Out go the lights!" (not to mention the roads and irrigation. As I don't have enough troops to attack Canton yet, I'm going to cut into their food.)
Clearly, somebody, & maybe several somebodies, are better worker managers than I. I've never put 1 native & 1 slave together post-RP. Please forgive me if I've messed up the worker gangs.
IBT:
Joan dumps some cavs on Mao's shore. Mao promptly ignores the arty hiding under an army near Canton and sends his infantry after Joans cavs.
Babylon: Infantry->infantry
Alesia: Worker->worker (Size 8, +9fpt with growth in 1; what else am I gonna do?)
Medina: Temple (No more clowns in Medina, net 60 spt and 1 turn frigates!) -> Frigate
Iron City: Cav->Cav
Aden: Coal plant->Cav
Gladum: Infantry->Infantry
Oh, yeah, and Steel is due in 8 at 60%/-76 gpt. I hate being around the middle in science spending, but I just can't justify -231 gpt when our whole kitty is 985.
1560 AD
Units are starting to come off the production lines faster than I can transport them, so I begin stacking military units next to Mecca. They're on the rail line and can: (1) be easily located; and (2) defend any point on our continent.
Looking at trade and diplomacy, I see that France is no longer paying us the ~120 gpt that she was. She's got some cash to spare, so I'm going to rope her into another deal. Everyone else is pretty well broke.
We still have 6 turns of an alliance with England against China. I don't want to break the MA, but I don't know that we want to continue war with China once it ends. The alliance with Joan aghains Mao has already run out, but nobody has cancelled it yet. I expect to let it run until the MA with England expires.
Anyway, I sell refining & dyes to Joan. I include the dyes so that she stands to lose something if she cancels the deal.
She offers: Communism, WM, 80 gold (of 84 in her treasury) and 1 gpt. Here's the deal when I get done haggling:
Spoiler :
Refining comes in at a cost of 3999, so 137 gpt for 20 turns covers most of that. England had zip to trade. Henry has little, but I go ahead and sell him Medicine. Here's my thinking: He's only got 4 cities, so it's not like he's going to be a threat to China. We might as well pocket what little gold he's got. Medicine comes in at 1749 cost, by the way. Here's the whole deal:
Spoiler :
IBT:
The Maya no longer want to sell us ivory.
I'll see if I can fix this on the next turn.
Pollution strikes Babylon!
Medina: Frigate->frigate
Fustate: Frigate->courthouse
Lindum: arty->arty
Tatung: worker->worker (currently size 2)
1565 AD:
Our frigates contine to harass Chinese ships.
All roads to canton are now cut. It's still size 10 and guarded by infantry, but I expect food shortages to begin shrinkage soon.
Begin roading up to Dover. They're on our continent and I assume that we'll want to kick them off eventually.
Ok. Maybe I'm cutting things a little close on the lux slider:
Oh, wait. That's because I forgot to bargain for ivory . . . back to the trading table. SJ would have accepted just Electricity for Ivory, but I went ahead and threw in Dyes. Two reasons: (1) if I'm going to try to prop him up next to Mao, well, in for a penny, in for a pound; (2) to give him an extra reason not to DOW us in the next 20 turns (not that I'm worried about him hurting us). A little tinkering after the ivory purchase and everyone's satisfied again.
IBT:
Babylon: Inf->Inf
Medina: Frig->frig
Damascus: Galleon->cav
Aden: Cav->temple
1560
For some reason, I just now notice that the Portugese have th proverbial 1-tile island settled.
During the course of this turnset, I also notice that we've got unhoooked sources of coal, salt, and rubber in our territory. Not that we need to hook them up right now, but let's not buy any, either.
IBT:
Medina: Frigate->frigate (we will rule the waves before I'm done)
Baghdad: cav->cav
Kufah: factory->cav (43 net spt, 6 waste per cav)
Khurasan: arty->arty
Aden: cav-> university
Shiraz: worker->arty
1575 (clearly, I got off on counting turns somewhere)
Sink a chinese Frigate (1-0)
Lose a full-health frigate to a redlined Chinese one (1-1)
Sink a chinese Frigate (2-1)
Sink a chinese Frigate (3-1)
I begin railing up to Rouen's borders, as well. They're on our continent, the interlopers.
Rails are laid and I disband 4-5 obsolete units. There's just not that much that we can safely disband right now.
IBT:
Mecca: Army->Factory
Babylon: inf->inf
Medina: Frigate->frigate
Anjar: Frigate->Galleon
Cataractonium: Arty->arty
Yamama: Inf->inf
Muscat: frigate->galleon
Chinese Complete Hoover Dam
The Siege of Beijing
Beijing is currently size 19, with tons and tons of watered grass. I still haven't shipped in enough troops to mount a successful attack on Beijing, so I do the same thing I did with Canton: bombard its tiles and see if we can start starvation.
IBT:
Medina: Frigate->frigate
Kufah: Cavs->cavs
Basra: Cav->cav
Segusio:Harbor->worker
Monguntiacum: Worker->arty
1580 AD
Canton has fallen to size 9
Swap Ratae Coritanorum from a frigate (due in 51) to a temple & a CE (due in 7). There's a grassland wheat just out of reach. With one expansion, we can sell the temple and use the wheat.
Swap Agedincum to an aque with CEs. It's very corrupt, but we can't shoehorn farms in the way I normally do, so we've got to make larger farms than usual. Aque due in 12.
Chop for the temple at Ratae Coritanorum. Now due in 1.
Almost all of the tree-trimming on our continent appears complete. I begin stacking a few of the workers into cleanup gangs. Feel free to gripe if I've missed anything critical, guys.
IBT:
Steel comes in. Research set for Combustion. I'm going to hand this off before investing any beakers in it, just in case discussion is needed.
Babylon: Infantry->Infantry
Medina: Frigate->frigate
Najran: Hospital->temple (it's got lots of food & is going to start growing)
Aden: University->cavalry
Ratae Coritanorum: Temple->Arty
Yamama: Temple->Cav
Nemausus: Worker-aque
Notes for the Next BetterPlayer
What was our VC again?
Look next to Mecca. I didn't do a very good job of transporting units into the war zone, but there are several stacks there awaiting orders, including one empty army and enough cavs or infantry to fill it, at your discretion.
Please forgive my mismanagement of worker groups. Clearly, I've got a thing or two to learn about managing worker-turns.
We also need to decide on whether to make peace with Mao.
We've got a monopoly on Steel, and I set the tech to Combustion. We have 0 beakers invested, though, so now's the time to switch, if we're going to.
I believe that our alliances have run their course, but I haven't taken them off the table yet.
![[civ4]](/images/smilies/civ4.gif "Civ4 [civ4]")
recently which is one of the reasons why I've not been too active here.
We may have to try a 1 BC variant in a future SGFN, this will definitely be our model. It was very well-played, congrats.
![[party]](/images/smilies/partytime.gif "Party [party]")
