ALC Game 17, Take 2: Russia/Peter (BtS)

[Sisiutil]

Round 5: 1050 BC to 370 AD, Part 2

Tokugawa was turning downright unfriendly. He kept showing up and demanding free techs, or that I stop trading with Gandhi. Unlikely. I know the AI in BtS is supposedly capable of launching a naval invasion, so I'll have to be prepared. In the meantime, I went into the new espionage system and gave Toku a higher weight so I could, hopefully, gather more information about him:

Mind you, I'm not generating a lot of espionage points at this stage in the game. Maybe when I really get the SE rolling I can devote more of my income to it.

Meanwhile, I finished my next tech:

Gandhi, however, still wouldn't take his skinny little fingers of of Polytheism, so I had to research it myself, which I did next. After that, it was off to Literature.

Meanwhile, however, all that finger-crossing, wood-knocking, and lucky rabbit's foot rubbing paid off in St. Petersburg:

Yahoo! I could barely contain myself. I decided to put the Pyramids in Ruska. It will be the GP farm, as I said, and I wouldn't mind the occasional GE showing up there.

Meanwhile, my explorations to the north by another Galley and Scout revealed a source of silver near another fish tile. So I put the REX plans for my island on hold temporarily in order to claim a very welcome happiness resource:

There's a city that should be maintenance neutral. Too bad there are no furs, and that it can't work both the iron and the fish, but you can't have everything.

On the next turn, the GE did his sweet funky:

I then went to see Gandhi, to see if I could get...

Yes! Monotheism, for the production bonus from Organized Religion. And Maths, which I'd passed on previously.

So a civics change was in order:

And after that, I converted to Hinduism to take advantage of the Organized Religion production bonus and to start lifting my cities' happiness cap even further (though Representation certainly did a nice job of that). I didn't have Hinduism in many of my cities, but I had it in one where it was going to do a lot of good:

Yeah, I decided to put the GL in the intended GP farm. Seems to make sense--free specialists and all.

With Literature in the bag, it was time to go after other key techs. Several of you emphasized the importance of Currency and especially Code of Laws for Caste System, so that was next:

Someone else got to CoL first and founded Confucianism, but I can live with that.

I was then able to trade Currency for Calendar:

Gandhi's a good source of techs, but he's getting a little scary, isn't he? That's the price I paid for getting the Pyramids, going after a Great Engineer by pulling my scientists out of the lab for awhile.

Back on the island of Russia, it was time to continue the great expansion:

I still need to found the horse city and the eastern clam/crab city (once I raze that barb city), as well as the fish/pig island city. So, still lots of expansion to do, and as you'll see from the map in the next post, some of it may be overseas.

On the last turn of the round, I got good news x 2 in Ruska. First of all, the wonder was completed:

Ya gotta love that. Now I can go back to running scientists in that city. You see, while building the GL, I put the scientists to work on hammer-heavy tiles and ran an engineer to accelerate the build of the wonder. Running yet another engineer paid off--I got another Great Engineer! Now I gotta decide what to do with him:

Yeah, I sent him to St. Pete with a mind to finishing the Temple of Artemis. That would add to the Great Merchant points also accumulating from the Colossus (though we could get a Great Prophet too). However, it looks as though St. Pete could finish the T of A all on its own in 13 turns. Remembering that we're on epic speed, I don't know if that's late for the Temple of Artemis--hasn't it been shifted back from Polytheism?

At any rate, I started thinking that maybe I should go after the T of A honestly and use the GE to build the Parthenon, which has not yet been built, in another city--maybe even the brand new one, Yakutsk, where it would also serve to quickly expand the new city's borders. Or should I consider the new Mausoleum of Mausallos? With Golden Ages being even better than before (only 1 GP needed for the first, and you can change civics in them without anarchy), and it looking likely that I'll have Great People coming out of my ears, it might be beneficial to have the GAs extended by 50%. Thoughts?

Next up is a state-of-the-world post. The saved game file is below. One rival dead, three wonders built, and two quests near completion (I have 5 of the 7 Triremes built, and 3 of the 7 Libraries with 2 more being built, and I have 8 cities now). Fun fun fun! The saved game file is below.

 

[LightSpectra]

I think making so many cities is a mistake. This continent isn't fantastic enough to cover its entire area, and it's going to cost valuable gold that could be used for research. We're going to fall behind.

 

[Quornix]

The Mausoleum is a fantastic wonder. One of the best, in my opinion. Not only do you get free civic changes with a Golden Age, but you also get +100% GPPs. Most likely, you will have at least two GAs, from the Taj and from burning a low-value GP. Now every city is able to take advantage of the Golden Age, GP farm, commerce city, or production center.

 

[carl corey]

Great round there! Very good great person management so far.

By the way, they moved the Parthenon to Aesthetics, Artemis is still at Polytheism. It's possible that Gandhi is trying to snatch it (explaining why he wouldn't trade Poly), in which case completing it is best if you decide you really want the wonder. But, as Quornix said, the Mausoleum seems really awesome and as you yourself said you'll get lots of great persons from all over the place, very good for starting Golden Ages. You do have a larger number of cities than "normal" at this stage, so Golden Ages will be profitable earlier than in a game with a normal expanding rate.

I'd say in the case in which you build the Mausoleum by a GE you'd better build the Parthenon somewhere, even in St Petersburg (best city). The reason is that if you get a Great Artist from it you can simply turn him into your first Golden Age. Further Great Artists can help in the same way.

Additionally, if a city is free to build anything you could consider letting it start the Temple of Artemis and turning its production into gold at a very good rate (Marble+Organized Religion) when someone else finishes it.

 

[Sisiutil]

The State of the World, 370 AD

So let's run through some of the informational screens and see what's what and how I'm doing thus far. First off, the domestic advisor:

A bit of a mix, but no military builds, which I'll have to address what with Tokugawa being so uppity. Mind you, he'll have to build a lot of Galleys to transport any troops, so I think I've got some time. And if I have enough Triremes, I may be able to counter him.

Civics:

Unchanged since I got the Pyramids. I'm still tickled about that.

Now, let's run through all these screens in the new, sort-of-improved foreign advisor. Starting off with the old, unchanged Relations screen:

Now the more detailed but strangely-named "Glance" screen.

The Relations screen only takes a glance; this one requires some thinking! Still, I like having it there, if only to have a summary about how everybody feels about everybody else. Toku and Gandhi don't like each other; even though Tokugawa likes me less, I'm hoping he'll take out his frustrations on a closer target. All the more reason for me to get my power rating up.

Active trades:

Yeah, I'll take Tokugawa's money. Why not? Let him suffer if he declares war when the supply of fish dries up!

Okay, here's my least favourite change in BtS, the very confusing Resources screen:

Yeesh, what a mess. I do like the simplified listing of my own excess resources at the top, that's an improvement, but everything else is clear as mud. It's easiest at the right, where the active trades are listed. That part I get. I also understand (though it took awhile) that the Import column indicates that Tokugawa has 1 gold per turn to trade, so maybe I should renegotiate my fish-for-GPT deal with him. And I sort of understand that Gandhi is willing to trade rice and incense to me, though why I should care what he won't trade--especially stuff he's already trading to me, like cows--is beyond me. I guess that's for corporations, later on, when you get all capitalistic and try to corner the market on a particular resource.

The Export column, however, drives me batty. So... this is what they're willing to take from me? But do I have more than one of those things to offer them? Oh, I guess I gotta look up top. And "Won't trade" is stuff I have that they won't take from me? Again, because they're already getting it from me? Whatever.

I liked being able to click on a civ in the old screen and seeing exactly what resources I had that they didn't. Simple. Call me an old-fashioned curmudgeon, but I think this screen tries to do too much. And while we're on the topic, I don't like seeing all the irrelevant resources that neither of us will trade because we both already have it in the diplomatic screen, either. I guess it's necessary for corporations, but for most of the game, it's just confusing. "What? Gandhi won't trade me gold? But we're friendly! Gandhi, you miserly weasel! Prepare the Galleys, this means... oh. I already have gold? Never mind..."

Maybe I just need to get used to it.

Alright, enough venting. Here's the very easy to understand Info screen, conveniently listing each civ's civics so I don't have to go see each of them and squint at tiny little icons:

And the improved Tech screen--a little more cluttered, but it doesn't take as much figuring out as the Resources screen, and contains some useful information:

Mao is now willing to trade, so he must be in contact with at least one of the other unknown civs (because according to the Relations and Glance screens, he hasn't met Tokugawa or Gandhi yet). I suppose I could get Monarchy from him, but why? I don't have any wine on my continent, and the Pyramids will give me access to HR if I want to run it. I guess it's a pre-req for some other techs like Feudalism, but still...

And Gandhi is threatening to run away with things. Still, I'm not too worried. Once all my cities are founded, libraries built, and specialists running (especially with some help from Caste System), I should be able to bypass him, and he should be a good trading partner for backfill techs.

Military advisor:

"Uh... Sisiutil..."

"Yes?"

"You do remember that Peter the Great has the Expansive trait, don't you?"

"Er... yes. Why do you...?"

"So where are all the FREAKIN' CHEAP WORKERS, you MORON!?!?!"

Priorities, kids. A lot of hammers had to go into wonders in this round, and Settlers, and Libraries, and Triremes, so... well, you get the picture. I'm thinking that I should just build a Worker in every city early in the next round, including several out of St. Pete. Er, once I get its next wonder built, that is...

The Power graph:

Hmm... well, Tokugawa is ahead, no surprise, but not by too much. Considering I haven't really built any military units other than Triremes, I think I'm keeping up okay. The next round will likely see Settlers, Workers, and military units becoming priorities. Once I get a Wonder or two out of the way, I'll need to shift my focus.

The new Espionage screen, with a focus on Tokugawa:

I'm really looking forward to everyone's advice on using this very new feature of BtS. I know I haven't taken full advantage of it in the two off-line games I've played thus far. I'm hoping that with the SE I'll be able to more easily divert some income towards Espionage, and maybe even generate a Great Spy or two.

And finally, a look at the maps. First off, the glorious island of Russia:

So, yes, still lots of expansion and exploration to go. And look at those useless islands to my southwest! Not one happy resource on 'em! Oh well, they are uncomfortably close to Tokugawa. Let him settle them if he wants sushi that badly.

(By the way, I've noticed now that the AI is now much smarter about canceling deals for resources it no longer needs. Something to keep in mind.)

Now for a look at India and a bit of Japan:

Oooo... should I forestall expansion on my own continent to take a slight risk over on this one? I'm thinking, first of all, of the snow-covered hill just northwest of Ruska that would claim crabs and two fur tiles. Further afield, there's the icy area to the far northwest, though it looks like it would take two cities to claim the furs and the silver, and the latter would be marginal what with no food around. Still, the nearer fur/crab city could be very viable. Maybe that should be Russia's next city?

And a look at what I've seen so far of China, which isn't much.

It's tempting to go down and try to snag that 2 win/fish site, but if Mao goes a different religious route (which seems likely if he's in contact with other civs), then that could be a very vulnerable city.

I should also mention that I came very close to circumnavigating the globe. I think if I'd come across anybody but Tokugawa I might have managed it, but he effectively cut off any further exploration to the west. For now. If he declares war, don't be surprised if I send a Trireme through his territory.

Nevertheless, this is shaping up to be a heck of a game. I'm Philosophical and I've snagged the Pyramids and the Great Library. Could life be any sweeter?

Now watch me screw it up.

 

[Sisiutil]

I think making so many cities is a mistake. This continent isn't fantastic enough to cover its entire area, and it's going to cost valuable gold that could be used for research. We're going to fall behind.

My understanding of the SE is that, because you're going to lower the science slider (which you make up for by running specialists), you can afford to expand much more than you would running a cottage economy. I got lectured about this in the Cyrus game, where I razed a city I should have kept (and ended up having to re-found--good thing I was Imperialistic) because I thought I couldn't afford it.

I don't have to found all the cities all at once, and remember that Code of Laws and $$$-saving Courthouses are 2 turns away.

 

[Sisiutil]

Great round there! Very good great person management so far.

By the way, they moved the Parthenon to Aesthetics, Artemis is still at Polytheism. It's possible that Gandhi is trying to snatch it (explaining why he wouldn't trade Poly), in which case completing it is best if you decide you really want the wonder. But, as Quornix said, the Mausoleum seems really awesome and as you yourself said you'll get lots of great persons from all over the place, very good for starting Golden Ages. You do have a larger number of cities than "normal" at this stage, so Golden Ages will be profitable earlier than in a game with a normal expanding rate.

I'd say in the case in which you build the Mausoleum by a GE you'd better build the Parthenon somewhere, even in St Petersburg (best city). The reason is that if you get a Great Artist from it you can simply turn him into your first Golden Age. Further Great Artists can help in the same way.

Additionally, if a city is free to build anything you could consider letting it start the Temple of Artemis and turning its production into gold at a very good rate (Marble+Organized Religion) when someone else finishes it.

Darn! Here I was thinking I had 2 wonders in the bag, and here there's 3 of them that I want. Story of my life...

Gandhi doesn't have Marble and I do, which would explain why it's taking him so long to build the Temple of Artemis if that's what he's doing. Still, he's had Polytheism for a good long while--he founded Hinduism, after all--so he's probably close.

It sounds like if I want all three wonders I should burn the Engineer for the T of A and then try to build the Mausoleum and the Parthenon on my own. Still, building 2 wonders at this point, with marble and OR, sounds like a lot of hammers I need for other things. I think I need to set some priorities. Help me out, gang!

 

[Validator]

... but if Mao goes a different religious route (which seems likely if he's in contact with other civs), then that could be a very vulnerable city.

Mao founded Confucianism and converted so he'll definitely be a different religion if you stick with Hinduism. You also didn't mention that the reason Toku is so upset with you and Gandhi is that he switched to Judaism (one of the 3 religions Gandhi has founded so far).

It sounds like if I want all three wonders I should burn the Engineer for the T of A and then try to build the Mausoleum and the Parthenon on my own. Still, building 2 wonders at this point, with marble and OR, sounds like a lot of hammers I need for other things. I think I need to set some priorities. Help me out, gang!

You can chop Parthenon in Rostov, unless you want Artist type GPPs in one of your cities running specialists. You've got 4 workers building sugar plantations that can be moved north to chop.

 

[Sisiutil]

Mao founded Confucianism and converted so he'll definitely be a different religion if you stick with Hinduism. You also didn't mention that the reason Toku is so upset with you and Gandhi is that he switched to Judaism (one of the 3 religions Gandhi has founded so far).



You can chop Parthenon in Rostov, unless you want Artist type GPPs in one of your cities running specialists. You've got 4 workers building sugar plantations that can be moved north to chop.

Thanks for reminding me about Mao's and Tokugawa's religions. It was a long round and I kind of lost track.

I'll consider chopping the Parthenon as you suggest.

 

[MangleMeElmo]

Sweet mercy....that mess of islands is going to make wiping out rivals a royal pain in the arse unless you have a huge navy. I don't have the expansion yet, but what I'd do is fill out the continent while spamming workers and building the navy. Just make sure you keep enough money in the treasury to upgrade all those ships.

 

[Validator]

I had a chance to look at the save and noticed a few things:

In regards to ToA it occurred to me that if you're going to use the GE to build it you can build it in any city. (St. Pete hasn't started it yet.) Wouldn't it be better to build ToA in a city that's going to have a high population to maximize trade route values? In this case either Moscow or Ruska are better options than St. Pete IMO.

You've switched to OR, but only 3 cities have Hinduism. You're about to enter a big infrastructure building phase. I would suggest building some Hindu missionaries in Novgorod ASAP.

Rostov should build a granary before library.

In case you forgot St. Pete doesn't have a library.

I think that crab/fur site on the other continent would be a good choice. Not only would the fur give you +2 happy with market, it would give you a foothold on the other continent in case you want to invade either Toku or Gandhi. It's close enough to your lands that it shouldn't be hard to transport a number of troops over to defend it.

 

[Porphyrius]

Well the Pyraramids and GL are on line, silver as well and caste system is on the way. I think the general perspective looks beyond fine.

Darn! Here I was thinking I had 2 wonders in the bag, and here there's 3 of them that I want. Story of my life...
[...]
Still, building 2 wonders at this point, with marble and OR, sounds like a lot of hammers I need for other things. I think I need to set some priorities. Help me out, gang!

I am not a big fan of getting every wonder there is, i mean hammers are limited. GE are even more limited and valuable. I mean seriously whats the payoff for the Temple of Artemis thats so tempting.
Any worked plain hill could be a representation beefed up scientist/merchant.

You could try for the Parthenon marble and all.
And afterwards for Masaulus. Though, truthfully it takes bad planing along with bad luck to get specialists you dont need and nobody guaranties Taj. A golden age or two towards the end game can make a huge difference, but early...
But for the GE (provided you want to burn him on wonder) id sugget the Apostolic Palace to wreak some diplomatic havoc.
Its not cheap, your population plans for skyrocketing, and Toku probably has Hindu somewhere or will get it soon. Of course you d have to get Theology.

You can and should generally prioritize the rest of you GP to be GS. An academy righ now would precede any wonder rush.

Your aggresive expansion plans worry me a bit as well. Courthouses are close, but unless we plan on war soon the extra cities are gona be a pain to mantain. I mean extra and units for defence, getting workers across seas etc.
But the effect is always handy and trading is kinda unreliable. Oh well sea maps in BTS.

Sweet mercy....that mess of islands is going to make wiping out rivals a royal pain in the arse unless you have a huge navy. I don't have the expansion yet, but what I'd do is fill out the continent while spamming workers and building the navy. Just make sure you keep enough money in the treasury to upgrade all those ships.

Yup, researching new naval is gona be a big priority. And the circumnavigation bonus, are you sure you cant go around Toku or something.
Bulding fron scratch is usually a better deal though, even if getting experience this time around with less frequent wars and GG is more of an issue.

 

[Ulsoro]

I'm far from a good civ player, so be prepared to laugh at my suggestions, but all those less than fantastic little islands and bits of other continents seem to scream for.... (drum-roll) colonies!

Sure, there's no great resources on the islands for your colony to pass on to you, and they'll probably never amount to much, but it would be an instant ally who thinks of you as a god, and it would deny that land to the other AI's.

If/when you've got the spare production, plunk down two cities on one of those islands (or the other continent), and set them free.

Japan might treat it as little more than a speed bump... but hey... its YOUR speed bump.

 

[Lance of Llanwy]

Definitely grab the fur. Even with all the bluster about the Better AI being too ruthless and militaristic, Gandhi is still friendly. Plus as long Gandhi and Toku don't have open borders, the city should be safe...and it's nearby, as noted. The wine is tempting, but antagonizing Mao just isn't worth it. I'd also trade for Monarchy: it's useless, so why waste precious beakers?

As for wonders, my inclination is to snag the Mausoleum with the GE and try for the others the old-fashioned way. Neither compares to the MoM, so snag the caribou and only then chase the rabbits. You need to get to military and workers anyways, the AI is less friendly, so need to make yourself more inviting than Gandhi...

 

[Chrispy]

I agree with Validator about ToA. You want it in the largest city you can get, and the capital whenever possible, to maximize its bonus. I know both Moscow and Ruskva will be GP farms and ToA contaminates them with a priest and merchant points, but putting it in a small city makes little sense. You could put it in Rostov for the future capital move, but Rostov cannot build a harbor or customs house for a total of another 100% boost in trade routes.

The Apostolic Palace makes sense for messing with the opposition, although I often find there are limited options available for voting, and those options available aren't usually ones I want.

 

[kniteowl]

Whats with you and all this talk about shiny Wonders... do you REALLY need them? Ask yourself that question, You already have the 2 Main wonder required for the SE, anything extra and just to show off you're shiny cities to the AI.

I'd personally either go for Mausoleum of Mausallos because Golden ages now give you non-anarchy Civics switches and 100% Extra GPP OUTPUT.

Or else Save him for the Forbidden Palace to cut down Maintenance on your continent or any other National Wonder you'll benefit form immediately, National Epic is a possibility.

Pathenon's benefits are marginal to a Philosophical Leader I've heard, in reality it's not really 50% it's something along the lines of 30% extra GPs, I Dunno what the real numbers are but that's just a guess.

Temple of Artemis, I have no idea how'd that fit with you're strategy but it's just something nice to have on the side, it's just a shinny wonder in my opinion, I have nothing against the wonder, it's very nice in a trade routes economy but for anything else, the benefits in my opinion are minor but it's up to you how you want to play.

Although thinking about it here's a scary thought, what if the Civ who already has the Great Lighthouse also gets the Temple of Artemis? I Guess you could build it to deny the AI from getting it.

I Personally like to save my hammers for other more beneficial things, like Building workers and a Navy.

WATCH YOUR HEALTH CAP, especially in Ruska you're already unhealthy, assuming you're assigning specialist there, you're 1 Specialist short because you've lost food from unhealthiness, try to keep your happy and health caps equal, in the SE health is just as important as happiness.

Well obviously you're next task if to expand and build up you're economy and build up a Navy to protect you're shores. You might want to consider using you're GE to light bulb Machinery to open up Optics.

the tech few techs you should research after COLS

Delay Drama you don't need it unless you're 6th City require extra Happy and plus you've got more happy resources you could easily get anywayz.

Anyways tech path should be COLs=>CS

After that I dunno Possibly Compass and Machinery and Opics to rule the seas

Or Paper => Part of Education and save a GS for to light bulb something else.

Switch Civics to Bureaucracy and Caste System once you finish CS but only once you've whipped the main infrastructure in you're cities.

Once you finish Liberalism and pick up Nationalism as you're free tech switch to Pacifism and Nationhood. Although you may want to delay switching until you finish the Taj Mahal Wonder and switch civics anarchy free during you're golden age. Maybe I'm thinking to far in head in the game already lol!

 

[facistal]

As Validator mentioned, Ghandi has founded 3 religions. I have played against Ghandi a lot since BTS came out and I will tell you that he WILL ABSOLUTLY go for a cultural victory. This means two things.

1) You or someone will eventually have to either win the game, or raze one of his 3 cities. You will need to start checking the victory screen in the industrial era to get a feel for how fast he is going, but the AI can sneak up on you with a culture vic WAY earlier than you would expect space shuttle, so be prepared.

2) He will eventually stop teching and go close to 100% Culture. Knowing Ghandi you should have an EP lead on him, and you can watch his tech counter go from a good pace to over 60 turns. It should be a little after liberalism.

Mark this Post - He will attempt the cultural vic.

 

[NaZdReG]

honestly I would suggest burning the engineer on the masoleum so that your next gp can be burned for a VERY long golden age. will sling you back into contention.

NaZ

 

[jerVL/kg]

You can burn the GE on Machinery, which will give you xbows plus MACEMEN as soon as you research CS (which should be your next target after CoL) -- it will also give your power score a much-needed boost and bring you closer to Guilds & Knights to defend against Toku's invading samurai. Keep in mind Toku can reach you by galley on your SW flank, he doesn't have to go through India to reach you.

If you must have the shiny wonders, then rush the Mausolleum somewhere. (What kind of GPs does it produce? I don't have BTS yet.)

Definitely grab the fur/crab site, 'nuff said.

Question about the quests: do the AI's have the same task, and do they know it? What I mean is, if somebody builds 7 libraries before you do, do they win the contest?

 

[Haika]

Sisutil, great game, well played so far. I have to disagree with people who are saying you are expanding too fast, I think the reason you lost the Mehmed game was because you had too few cities too late in the game. Obviously not going to be a problem this time.

I think the two fur, should be a priority. With the colossus, that city will pay for itself by size 3 or 4 just off of water tiles. The furs should be easily tradeable to Mao for another health or happy, or some gpt (he seems like he's quite far from the arctic. I think you'll find resource trading to be more flexible in BtS than in Warlords, as people will usually have a great deal of resources free, instead of tied up in trades.

I also think it's worth pursuing Mao's wines. During peacetime, it will just be a city you have to pay a little more attention to culture and garrison in. If you declare war on Mao, it will be a valuable launching point for your invasion. If Mao declares war on you, it will be a hilltop culturally fortified lightning rod to draw his troops away from your core continent. Either way, I don't think you lose out.

About running scientists in Ruska, if you do so, it will start to overshadow the GPP efforts of your other cities, and you'd end up with a classic GP farm situation. especially if you build the national epic, the chance of you getting a GPP from another city without hamstringing that city's food is going to be slim. On the other hand, if you strictly avoid running great people in Ruska for the time being, using its food surplus to pump out settlers and workers (!) instead, you can run as many specialists in each city as it can comfortably support while meeting its infrastructure/growth quotas. Once a city pops a GS, switch off specialists and cottage/mine it up. Then, after your initial wave of GPs pops throughout your empire, remove all other specialists and run full throttle on Ruska. I think this will end up get you the most Great People throughout the game.

The new golden ages are absolutely amazing, and even better when extended with the mausoleum. Imagine closing in on an important military tech (like military science). Once the tech finishes, you pop a single great person for 12 turns of golden age. You switch your research to an economic tech (printing press, etc) and let the golden age work on that. You flip your religion to whichever one is most widespread, and swap to slavery/nationhood/theology/vassalage(?) for no anarchy. Now you whip/draft a round of modern units from your commerce cities, while pumping out highly promoted siege and ships from your production cities. 10 turns later, you whip/draft another round, then swap back to all your economic civics with no anarchy. Your commerce cities will take a few turns to recover, but all of a sudden, if you had 10 cities, you'd have 40 modern infantry fairly well promoted, with matching transports and siege, ready to go colonial on Ghandi's cultural butt.

So I guess what I'm saying is, go for the mausoleum, it will be lots of fun.

PS. Rather than protecting your seafood, you might consider sending the majority of your trireme fleet down south to the island chain between you and Toku. If you see a stack of more than one ship coming through that channel, hoist the colors and send them down. His samurai are going to have trouble swimming in that armor.

PPS. Wasting a GE on a marble wonder would be ill advised, methinks. It will be a valuable commodity if settled, or saved for a national wonder (oxford, globe theatre) in a very low production city. If it takes 30 turns for your 80 base beaker super science city to eke out Oxford, you will effectively gain 2400 beakers from rushing oxford there, not to mention the hammer/time can be spent on other valuable infrastructure.