Round 2: 2825 BC to 825 BC
As I started the round I realized I had a lot of different strategic options open to me but I had to decide on which ones to follow and quickly.
First off, I decided to forgo the Chariot rush against Joao, which I'm sure will disappoint many of you. My thinking was that there were only two sources of copper available, both very close to Augustus, and no guarantee of iron. If I spent all my time focused on Chariot-rushing Portugal I could well find myself facing Rome with no metals. Scary.
Second, I also decided to forgo the Great Wall, which I'm sure will also disappoint many of you. In this regard my thinking was similar to what many of you have pointed out: limited barb activity in this game due to the map. Furthermore, as you'll see, the strategy I followed meant I quickly became the tech leader, making the benefits of a Great Spy not dubious, perhaps, but diminished. Neither Augustus nor Joao, in my experience, are tech monsters. Now, if I had been next door to Mansa Musa, well, I would have made a very different decision.
So what
did I do?
To start off, I changed the build in Madrid from the Great Wall to a Barracks.
I wasn't going to let the Barracks finish right away, however. It's a good building in which I could deposit hammers while the city grew. Meanwhile my lone Worker first brought the gold online, which greatly accelerated research, and then the horses while waiting for my research of the Wheel to finish.
And of course, my Warriors kept exploring:
So no seafood near the eastern copper. That meant that a city founded on top of the sugar would be the best option, I decided.
My southern Warrior discovered that the spur of land at the southeast tip of the continent was barely a spur at all, so he doubled back to finish exploring the environs around Lisbon. While there, he had the opportunity to nab a Worker:
However, this is one of the few times I passed on such an opportunity. Why? My opponent if I did declare war: Joao. Someone posted above (sorry, couldn't find it when I reviewed just now) that Joao is a difficult to make peace with, and that reminded me that this has, indeed, been my experiences with him the few times I've encountered him in off-line BtS games. He won't settle for peace, he wants a city, or gold, or a tech--a pound of flesh, in other words. Keep in mind I don't know if he has a strategic resource and all I have for defense (and will have for some time) are Warriors and Chariots. Not good for a protracted war, which is what this would turn into. So I passed on the Worker this time.
The Warrior then headed northeast to become the first protector of my second city. I interrupted the build of the Barracks in Madrid to rush out a Settler in order to claim that southeastern marble/clams location. This would, in turn, support a run on the Oracle.
I know cabledawg suggested founding the city 2W of this location, but I didn't like the idea for several reasons. First of all, it meant the clams would be kind of wasted. A mediocre fishing village 1S of the flood plains would be required to work them (and that single flood plains tile, along with a whole lot of desert, peaks, and water). It also would waste a flood plain tile by settling on it, which I don't like to do. And finally, I was aiming for Metal Casting from the Oracle since it's on the path to Spain's unique building. That meant I had a crack at the Colossus, especially if I manage to nab one of the copper sites, so having coastal cities claiming all available seafood tiles was attractive.
As you can see I had already researched Polytheism and was on my way to Monotheism. I started building a Work Boat in this city and passed on a Monument as unnecessary, because...
...it became the Jewish holy city, which meant its borders popped very quickly, and also meant that the marble tile became available for quarrying much faster than if I'd bothered with a monument. Thus, founding Judaism allowed me to get a lock on the Oracle. The Oracle, in turn, would help generate a Great Prophet to build the Jewish shrine.
Thanks to Madrid's size (Judaism spread there, raising its happiness cap), working several good production tiles, having marble, and chopping one forest, I had the Oracle done in less than 10 turns.
I know a lot of you talked about some ambitious slingshots like Machinery, but come on, this is Emperor level and I wasn't taking any chances. While I was tempted by Theology, I already have a religion and I did that in the last game. Ditto for Code of Laws. Besides, I want Judaism to spread to both my nieghbours to keep them happy with me while I beat on the other.
Remember, the main point of this second game with Isabella is to highlight her UU and UB. Getting Metal Casting from the Oracle puts us that much closer to Engineering and Citadels.
Turns out that I wasn't the only one pursuing wonders:
Heh. Isn't that hilarious? Only 3 wonders built thus far and they're all on my continent. This also makes taking out both Joao and Augustus much more attractive. Now if I'd chariot-rushed Joao, he'd never have gotten an opportunity to finish Stonehenge, would he? And if I take Rome I could get those Great Spy points you were all talking about.
The Great Wall reminds me of barbs. Several did show up, scampering down towards Madrid from the north. My Chariots have handled them ably so far. I have one Chariot at 6 XPs with Combat 1 and Medic 1, awaiting my first Great General to become my M*A*S*H unit; another just earned Flanking II. At this rate I should have a handful of units worthy of upgrades to Conquistadors later in the game.
Speaking of the Portuguese leader, he came around after I finished Writing as expected:
I turned him down. The last thing I need is a Portugese Settler sneaking through my land while I'm preoccupied with other things and stealing city sites I've already mapped out for myself. I also refused OB with Augustus; I was planning on blocking him off too.
As you can see, however, this city may have some problems with food. Looks like Augustus has founded a city 2E of the corn tile. I'll have to load it up with culture in order to feed it. But at least I will soon have a source of copper.
With Pottery and Writing finished, I then researched Alphabet:
Surprisingly, neither Joao nor Augustus were willing to trade anything to me. Both had Iron Working and Hunting on me. Hunting isn't really a big deal, but I really wanted to find out where the Iron is, and since both my neighbours have it, I'm loathe to waste flasks researching it myself. So I opened my borders to both of them, hoping to improve relations so they'd tech trade. I also hoped that this would help Judaism spread to Augustus, which it hasn't yet.
Despite that, the Roman did, eventually, loosen up:
As I've pointed out in other recent games, I'm much less reluctant to trade Alphabet than I used to be. I've noticed that the AI
is reluctant to trade it, so if I trade it to one civ and it's the sole tech he has on my other neighbour(s)--as it was in this case--it was very unlikely that he'd get much benefit from it. Mind you, Augustus will get a Great Spy soon and now can build little spies, so I may live to eat those words.
I was reluctant to trade Metal Casting just yet, especially as I had a cheaper tech to offer for the ones Rome had on hand. As I mentioned, I think the Colossus is a distinct possibility, so why give Augustus--who's
Industrious--the chance to beat me to it?
At any rate, the important thing is that I found out where the iron is. It did
not show up in that empty tile north of Madrid. It did
not show up in that big empty area in the NE land blob. No, it showed up south of Barcelona:
So it appears that as with the capital, my instinct on founding Barcelona where I did proved correct. Though I guess that, with the quick 3rd border pop, a 2W Barcelona would have claimed the iron tile anyway, but this way it's right in the fat cross where it belongs.
Here's a look at the entire map:
Yeah, so it's just the three of us, and not with a lot of land to spare. You can see why I wanted to prioritize blocking off Augustus--he'll run out of room in his own eastern land-blob before too long and then he'll want all those choice city sites to my northeast.
As several of you pointed out, I'm definitely running the risk of having both my neighbours gang up on me because I'm blocking their territorial ambitions. This was another reason why I pursued Judaism, especially since neither Joao nor Augustus founded the 2 ultra-early religions. I'm hoping that a shared faith will keep the peace with AC while I mop the floor with Joao.
Now the land mass continues to the NW and the NE, but is blocked by peaks. There may be nothing but tiny spurs of land connected to either one, or there could be massive land blobs there. I won't know until I get a ship out. I'm thinking I should focus on Triremes for further exploration, since I can build them and they're more likely to survive than Work Boats or Galleys.
One last thing: right on the last turn of the round, a quest appeared.
I've gotten this quest before. As I recall, you get a choice between getting a certain number of free Horse Archers (7 on a standard size map like this, I think), a free promotion for all Horse Archers, and +1 food from all stables. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Well, I was thinking of REXing in the next round, so 7 cities shouldn't be too difficult--in fact, that would precisely fill up the remaining space. And Isabella's UU is a mounted unit, so Stables would indeed be a good idea. However, I'd have to sidetrack research to Horseback Riding. I need it for the UU, but Military Tradition is a long way off and I hope to have my land mass completely Spanish by then, frankly. Thoughts?
Anyway, that was the round. The next priority is to get that iron hooked up so I can build better units than Chariots and ensure that neither Joao nor Augustus get any funny ideas for a while. Then I have two options: either REX to fill up the space in the NE, or if I can successfully seal off that area from Augustus, build up my military and take out Portugal with an Axe/Sword rush.
In terms of research, as you can see, I'm researching Mathematics next. I could then pursue Construction. Another thought is Aesthetics and Literature to go after the Great Library--still my favourite wonder. Come on, I have marble! Heck, I'll have stone soon too, if everything goes according to plan. Maybe we should give some thought to the University of Sankore and the Spiral Minaret. And dare we dream of building the Apostolic Palace yet again, thereby hyper-powering all our religious buildings (including the cheap temples) with +2 flasks, +2 gold, and +2 hammers? Wow.
Then again, I say we have a land mass to conquer, so you know where that means those hammers need to go. Long term, if the continent is pacified before the UB and UU are available, that means overseas invasions. Hence my thoughts on the Great Library, to lightbulb the Liberalism path towards Astronomy.
So... whaddya think?
to Augustus once Joao is dead, youi can steal techs from him at your leisure, which would be instructive to watch, as you have not prioritized espionage in any of your BtS games yet.
. Nice work settling your second city. When played a shadow, Jao beat me by one turn because I made a stupid mistake and wasted a move through the woods.
All hail Izzy, Judaic Warrior-Queen! 
