Round 3: 1200 BC to 155 BC (51 turns)
Before I begin, a brief response to Lord Chambers: I thought I made it clear in the previous round that Archers saved my sorry butt from barbs. Well, in case I didn't, they did. If I'd waited until I had horses hooked up (which you called unnecessary--just how was I supposed to defend myself?), I'd be rolling a restart right now. Bhruic's right, researching Archery at the start of the last round was the way to go, so full credit and a tip o' the ALC hat to those who recommended it.
As I started the round, my Warriors were out exploring. One of them came across this very tempting situation:
SOOOO tempting, so very tempting... I could have snagged at least one Worker, perhaps even two. But I want to lull Huayna into a false sense of security. I had a close look at his iron resource, and it's in the centre of his territory and will be very, very difficult to reach and pillage. Of course, this is Aggressive AI, so he might build units like crazy anyway, but I decided to leave the Workers alone for now. I can build my own cheaply enough.
My next tech came along, and none too soon. You can see that I'm in the red even at 40% research.
And my wandering Warriors also met up with the seventh and final civ on this inland sea map:
And interesting mix: 3 vanilla leaders, 1 from Warlords (2 counting myself), and 2 from BtS. And the only Aggressive Aggressive AI is Hammurabi.
Back home, I was starting to take advantage of the whip to generate units and contribute overflow hammers into granaries, which would in turn help me whip again that much sooner. I often find, in fact, once I have granaries that I grow the population back sooner than the unhappiness goes away--though that does depend, of course, on the food level of the tiles and how I work them.
In most games, by this point, I've already researched Alphabet. It was taking some getting used to the current situation, where other civs have it before me. But that just meant they came to me offering tech trades.
I accepted this one as it would allow me to build libraries and run scientists. That would help with research while I wait for the cottages to mature. I also traded Mysticism to George for Fishing--I won't need that tech for some time, but what the heck, it wasn't like he wanted Iron Working for it.
I finished researching my next technology, to get that stone quarried south of Bulawaya.
The downside of Alphabet: some civs are willing to trade techs, others demand them.
I caved. I'm focusing on attacking Huayna soon, so I'd rather not have the distraction of a war with someone else.
Meanwhile, I'd sent an Impi westwards to watch that copper tile, to see if Huayna claimed it. It turns out George beat him to it.
I pulled the Impi back to rest right next to Huayna's horse tile. So the above means that Huayna has only the one source of metal. I think my first action in the war should not be to take a city, but to pillage that tile, and position some units next to it to keep Incan Workers away.
Islam was becoming the dominant religion, so when Peter showed up nudging me along, I agreed.
Three of my cities had Islam at this point, the only exception being Nabamba. So it made sense, and earned me a +1 diplomatic point with the Russian. You never know when that might come in handy. BTW, Washington went Muslim shortly after this too, leaving Huayna as the lone Confucian, and meaning very little diplomatic repercussions for DOW on him.
However, the Apostolic Palace could become a problem later on; if everyone stays Muslim and I'm attacking one of their number, then I could face those annoying AP votes to stop the war. I'll just have to ensure that the Zulu empire grows large enough to dominate the voting.
And I finished researching my third and final tech of the round:
I know several of you were urging me to go after the Oracle, but Huayna built it about 1/2 way through the round, so I don't think I ever really had a chance--only if I'd abandoned the pursuit of Impis completely, which doesn't make sense for this leader. Like I said, I only pursue the Oracle these days if I have some sort of an inside track on getting it--I start with Mysticism, or I have marble, or I'm Industrious, or better yet, some combination of those things. Otherwise, at Emperor level, it's too great a detour/cost of both flasks and hammers.
I ended the round on the very next turn, because I need help with an important decision. Also because 50-odd turns is about as long as I want a round to go before posting it.
First, then, here's a look at the map of Zululand.
I've explored all the way around the coastline of the inland sea, and my 2 Warriors (they are a hardier breed than Scouts, albeit slower) are now busy exploring that last big chunk of hidden land to my northeast.
My earlier decision to not steal Workers from Huayna appears to be paying off:
His other cities appear to be just as weakly defended, but my Impis will snoop around a bit during the early part of the next round to double-check.
Now, I have an important decision to make regarding a tech trade. Here's a look at the tech board.
So going after HBR looks like a good idea. All the other civs researched Alphabet instead, with the sole exception of Huayna, and I'm just going to kill him anyway.
Wang Kon is willing to offer me either of these tech trades.
So the question is, which one to take? (Remember that the No Tech Brokering option is on, so I can't trade away whichever tech I obtain from Wang Kon.)
My own inclination is to trade HBR for Mathematics. That will put me one tech closer to Construction for Catapults and War Elephants, not to mention saving me 19 or so turns of research. As I mentioned, everyone but Huayna has Alphabet, so I can already trade techs with all the other civs. Also, I'm wary of trading away a tech (Pottery) that will allow its recipient to fully leverage his traits. (This is another bone-headed maneuver on the part of the AI, isn't it? Financial Wang Kon has not researched
Pottery yet?!?)
However, no Alphabet means I have no spies. And I'll have to obtain it sometime. Also, forgoing Alphabet for even longer means I'll likely be letting someone else build the Great Library. But as I pointed out regarding the Oracle, I'm not Industrious, nor do I have marble (yet). I'll just have to play like Shaka and take my wonders from the cold, dead hands of my victims. Bwa hah hah...
Also, should I trade HBR to either Peter or George for Sailing? Is there really a point, on this map? Then again, it would be nice to get everything I can for researching that expensive tech on my own. And remember that they wouldn't be able to trade it away.
The other decision point is how to prosecute the war against the Incas. I have a stack assembling in Nobamba, and I can now build Horse Archers--though I'd like to build Stables first. Should I wait for Construction for Cats and Hephalumps, or should I just bloody GET ON WITH IT?!? If so, how? Remember Huayna's capital is a holy city, so its cultural defenses will be quite high; taking it may have to wait until I have Catapults. Will it mostly be a pillaging war until then?