In most of my games now I'm primarily using Great Scientists to lightbulb technologies. Merging and Academies have become much lower priorities. I do the math, and they rarely compare to all the flasks you get from a lightbulb--not to mention the immediate and potentially strategic advantage. So some of you might think it a naff move, but I popped the GS for Compass.
That makes me cringe. While there are times where burning those scientists off are optimal, I'm not so sure this one was best. Of all things... compass? It's a cheap tech and really isn't the most useful right now.
However, if you truely believe you got your money's worth through trade potential from it, then perhaps it's not too bad. I still feel queezy about that. You are going to want an academy in your prime SE to play optimal, and the sooner the better. Also settled GS's give +6 beakers, but also that +1hammer which early in the game actually does help quite a bit.
BTW, don't get so discouraged when things don't work out the way we want them to early. Even the SMART AI is actually a stupid AI.
Good luck Sisiutil. I tried playing from that save, and it was brutal. Without any specific spoilers (I don't even know how much would stay the same, even from the same jumping off point) I couldn't see any real hope of pulling off a win. Maybe you won't have the bad luck I had, and you'll be able to do better. I look forward to seeing what happens!
"...the flood plains will be forever unworked." I guess it wasnt a forgone conclusion, but nevermind it now
I dont think you are in that bad of a position. Taking stock, your land sucks, and you are in danger of being over-run completely if someone decides you are a juicy target, but you aren't, are you, lol.
Remember that there is an entire other continent yet undiscovered with three more AI upon it. Looking at the tech rate here, do we think they are going to be ahead or behind? I'm going with behind. (Mainly because if they are ahead you are just that much more screwed, lol, hence it is unthinkable).
A handful of catapults and as many horse archers as you can manage, with longbows for defense. I think you will fail at attacking the Viking before Cossacks, and that it will not be easy even with them, and I humbly suggest the builder path until then. A fort behind Rostov when you are able might be prudent in the event that someone DOWs you...
Granaries where you can use them, libraries, courthouses, harbors, monasteries, spread Hinduism ASAP.
Go for Optics and get a caravel out hoping to back-tech via the backward continent. I agree to save the GS versus Calendar, but anything else you might do with him should be fine. An academy in your highest pop city even (Moscow?). At any rate, I am assuming you are NOT going to get first to liberalism, but maybe you will... I think if you can get to the other continent first you can end up only 2-3 techs behind the viking and mehmed and that should be just fine.
Remember: "PEople all over the world are shouting end the war!" Lets not disrupt the one good thing we have going for ourselves on a blind hope.
The below is not a spoiler per se, just what I would make my longterm plan at this point, since this post is getting kind of long...
Spoiler:
Beeline optics, discover and trade tech with backwards civs. Once you get optics, backfill some of the very short-turn techs you have missed so you will up your chances at decent trades.
Build only enough war materiel to maintain a deterrent, focusing upon pure defenders and pillagers (LBs and HAs). In the event someone DOWs you, garrison Rostov with whatever you have and send your pillagers out to wreak as much havoc as possible, understanding that a protracted war is more to your interests than theirs and that Rostov can be sacrificed if necessary.
Upon Cossacks, upgrade your pillagers and attack the Viking IMMEDIATELY (6 cossacks minimum). If Nidaros wont obviously fall, then pillage everything. In fact, pillage everything no matter what happens. Attempt to bribe others into the war. Post-pillage/Nidaros, immediately move on to the other two Hindi, again pillaging everything. Remember to destroy their worker forces as you leave one city in shambles he should send his workers back out in order to re-infra it and you can turn back and pick them off. You could theoretically have them on their knees within 50 turns without taking city one (or is that just wishful thinking?).
It's time to build a military asap, Ragnar has enough on his hands right now so he's going to attack someone. He's friendly towards the others, there's no barbarian city in sight so if he's indeed building up (sometimes the "enough" warning dissapears after a while but here Ragnar is actually building the units) Russia will be the target.
In a way it'd be a good thing if Ragnar attacks you, there'll be a day you'll have to attack him and you'll earn a negative modifier making it that much harder to get the others to friendly.
I'd build an academy with the GS, also i'd trade the techs i have for gold so i can run science at 100 % for a while. GL is probably out (you need the hammers for military anyway) so i'd switch research to COL, then lightbulb philo with the next GS.
Unfortunately you traded for techs like archery (you don't need it) and priesthood (very cheap) earlier. You need the others to get to friendly now to trade with them again. If you survive Ragnar's attack i don't see why this game wouldn't be winnable, sure the tech situation is not splendid but you've already rexed yourself to 6 cities so you're ok in that department.
If you don't succeed in getting the others to friendly, beelining Optics (compass is already nicely on this route) seems like good advice, the other continent doesn't know about your excessive trading.
Good luck Sisiutil. I tried playing from that save, and it was brutal. Without any specific spoilers (I don't even know how much would stay the same, even from the same jumping off point) I couldn't see any real hope of pulling off a win. Maybe you won't have the bad luck I had, and you'll be able to do better. I look forward to seeing what happens!
Ragnar declared war two turns into the round and took Rostov and then Moscow with--oh, the ignominy of it--a combined force of Catapults, Longbowmen, and Horse Archers.
He took two of my cities with Longbows and HAs, fer cryin' out loud!
Oh, he also built the Great Library. Just to rub my nose in it.
Well, I know when I'm beat. Starting next to the BetterAI Viking when he has 3 gem tiles and marble in his capital's BFC is just not fair. Or at least, not fun.
But I know I also mishandled the start, so poor Peter did not get his due.
So here's what I propose.
I hit the stores today looking for BtS, but it wasn't on the shelves yet. (Sheesh. For Harry Potter, they get the stock out right away and stay open until midnight!) I'll keep checking. When I finally find it in a day or so, I say I restart a game with Peter with the new expansion pack, and we'll really show the BetterAI why they call him Peter the Great.
Sounds good to me. I hear there is an issue with poison water/cause unhappiness from spies when playing epic or marathon speed though, you get +24 unhappiness or unhealthiness for 24 turns on marathon (presumably +12 for 12 on epic) when on normal speed you get +8 for 8 turns so the scale is all wrong on that, so you might want to try playing a normal speed game if you think the AI is going to do that to you, unless it was fixed in the patch.
I'll be using walkthroughs like yours to decide whether to get BtS sooner rather than later (probably wait until a couple more patches have been released and they get the HOF mod and gauntlets up with BtS though).
EDIT: And condolences re your sad loss I'm playing a Ragnar game at the moment and I've just done to Tokugowa what he did to you, except with axes and a chariot to finish the last archer off.
Awesome. The sooner we get to see a BTS ALC, the better. Also, I personally have come to hate fractal maps. Continents seem to be more naturally balanced in terms of terrain and resources. You really had lousy terrain in this game, especially bad for a SE. Will you be using any of the features like "no tech brokering" and "choose religion?" I'm strongly opposed to the latter because doing stuff like founding an Abrahamic religion with Polytheism or even Meditation is just....wrong.
That's too bad. Oh well, now we can see a BTS ALC! Sweet! And drop to Noble for the first one to get hang of all the new features without a repeat of you getting the . BtS ALC! Do it now! The peer pressure is overwhelming! You can't stop it! Give in now!
Worst stroke of bad luck. There your cities are defended by axemen/archers and Ragnar comes knocking with longbowmen and horse archers. You have got to admit, that is pretty funny. Never seen that happen to me. A lot of other bad stuff has happened to me (phalanx rushed by Alex for example without any metals but I had horses) but this is one of the worst moments I have seen in the game. I guess Blake's AI is working properly.
Now go get BtS and play a new game. I hope it will be here soon.
Not in BtS, apparantly. Workers are even worse than before when automated. They cottaged someone's pigs, then pastured them the turn after that (they had just finished AH I guess?). They didn't have a road there either.
Well, lets play the first BTS ALC.... Just don't use too many : a player managed to break the planet apart by using to many of them and give to the barbs a dom victory ( see this ... probably a rare event ( let's hope so ))
EDIT: Jon Shafer confirmed what sneaky said below: this only happens in Next War Mod ( thank God! ).
Well, lets play the first BTS ALC.... Just don't use too many : a player managed to break the planet apart by using to many of them and give to the barbs a dom victory ( see this ... probably a rare event ( let's hope so ))
Eeep. Sounds like what happened in my first Peter game. Except I wasn't quite sure what I was doing yet, Qin was my only neighbor(it was the first game I managed to kill off another Civ) and I was cruising to an easy win, when Alexander dumbed a full stack of cavalry next to my capital.
The one that had been defended by the same lone warrior since 3,000 BC or so....
I hadn't bothered to maintain the military in my rear cities(only up in Yekaterinberg. Great city it was....)
Well, nice to these things happen to even good players with Better AI. Just when I was starting to get Prince under control, it's probably back to Noble with me....
Good luck in BtS. I'll be scarce, I'll be playing it....soon.
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I'm playing a Ragnar game at the moment and I've just done to Tokugowa what he did to you, except with axes and a chariot to finish the last archer off.
features like "no tech brokering" and "choose religion?" I'm strongly opposed to the latter because doing stuff like founding an Abrahamic religion with Polytheism or even Meditation is just....wrong.
And drop to Noble for the first one to get hang of all the new features without a repeat of you getting the 
. BtS ALC! Do it now! The peer pressure is overwhelming! You can't stop it! Give in now! 
