Sisiutil
All Leader Challenger
The State of the World, 380 BC
Let's start with a look at the map now that, thanks to my Woodsman III Warrior and my work boat, I've explored the entire continent. The first, south-eastern half of the map shows Arabia and France:
Like I said, that's the only source of iron within my reach. In addition, you can see that Lyons, built by Louis to claim the horses, has made the silver-fish-crab city a non-starter. Its Creative-powered culture has already claimed those two ice tiles west of the silver--so even though those tiles are far enough away from Lyons to found a city, I now can't. I suspect Louis will found a city down there before too long. I'll just have to take it from him later on.
But the good news is most of my other city sites are still available. I think that site NE of Rheims that OTAKU spotted is too close to the French city I just mentioned. But the sheep city midway between Sakae and the capital is still available, as is the southern copper-sheep-fish-silk city, not to mention the two cities in the northeast that we'd planned--no one's going to get to those, not with Arabian culture now soaking the area.
Here's a close look at the northwest portion of the continent, which is mostly Ottoman, but with some barb thrown in.
Some additional calendar resources there--more incense, sugar, and dye; and, of course, Sully's gems on top of that. As you can see, both Louis and Suleiman have sources of iron. And there's one copper tile up for grabs in between their territory.
The continent is also relatively small. Furthermore, my work boat ran out of tiles it could reach out west, so it's heading back east, but I'm becoming convinced that me and my 2 Confucian buddies are isolated.
Given the size of the land mass and the resources available, I think we need to plan to take over the entire land mass. That means teching towards Construction for Catapults so I can attack Louis. After that, I carry right on and take down Suleiman with Medieval units, including the UU. I need to do this before either of them can get to their UU--both of which are based on Musketmen! Just my luck. By claiming all that territory, I'll have several extra resources I can trade with the other continent once Astronomy comes along. In addition, the earlier I get that done, the sooner I'll be able to recover.
On to other things. The Domestic Advisor:
Once Damascus finishes its Granary, I think it should start on a Madrassa. I want to transfer responsibility for running specialists to this city from Mecca so the capital's citizens can work cottages and/or work mines instead of plugging away in the lab. I also want to take advantage of Spiritual's cheap temples in Sakae to fend off French cultural pressure. I'm not sure about a Madrassa, though--if I'm planning on taking on Louis soon, it may not be worth it. A barracks and units may be better.
Foreign advisor, techs:
I'm researching Monarchy. What I'm hoping is that Louis--who, thanks to espionage, I can see is researching Monarchy as well--will be willing to trade a "cheapened" Monarchy to me for Alphabet. I think I'm safe from Suleiman trading Alphabet to Louis thanks to the tech exclusivity rule. (Sully won't trade Mathematics (with Alphabet) to Louis because as far as Sully can tell, he's the only one who knows it; ditto for Louis trading Metal Casting--obviously his Oracle tech--for that Maths/Alpha combo, since he's the only one he knows of who has MC.)
After I get Monarchy, I think I'll need to self-research Mathematics and then Construction to get going after Louis. Once that's done, I think I'll need Currency and Code of Laws in order to deal with the economic fallout from the wars. Mind you, some of these are the AI's favourite techs, so I may be teching myself out of tech trading options. Thoughts?
Religion Advisor:
So two cities with Confucianism, two with Islam. I'm hoping Louis will be a pal and send Missionaries to Mecca and Damascus for me. And that he'll generate a Great Prophet and build a shrine I can take from him. That seems likely; he also built the Temple of Artemis, and if it's in the same city as the Oracle (which seems likely), he'll have a GP before too long. Yes, Louis is playing as we expected him too, wonder-monger that he is. All the more reason to kill him and take those prizes from his cold, dead fingers, IMHO.
Resources:
Another reason to move the SW city to claim that copper tile: I then have an extra resource I can trade to Suleiman for gems. Unless he snags that unclaimed copper tile...
Power:
Troubling. Good thing I converted to everyone's favourite religion. But this is all the more reason to go after Construction and build an army. As Iggy Pop sez, eat or be eaten.
And that's it! I think I've got a plan for the next round, but of course I want to use everyone here as a sounding board and make adjustments as needed.
Let's start with a look at the map now that, thanks to my Woodsman III Warrior and my work boat, I've explored the entire continent. The first, south-eastern half of the map shows Arabia and France:
Like I said, that's the only source of iron within my reach. In addition, you can see that Lyons, built by Louis to claim the horses, has made the silver-fish-crab city a non-starter. Its Creative-powered culture has already claimed those two ice tiles west of the silver--so even though those tiles are far enough away from Lyons to found a city, I now can't. I suspect Louis will found a city down there before too long. I'll just have to take it from him later on.
But the good news is most of my other city sites are still available. I think that site NE of Rheims that OTAKU spotted is too close to the French city I just mentioned. But the sheep city midway between Sakae and the capital is still available, as is the southern copper-sheep-fish-silk city, not to mention the two cities in the northeast that we'd planned--no one's going to get to those, not with Arabian culture now soaking the area.
Here's a close look at the northwest portion of the continent, which is mostly Ottoman, but with some barb thrown in.
Some additional calendar resources there--more incense, sugar, and dye; and, of course, Sully's gems on top of that. As you can see, both Louis and Suleiman have sources of iron. And there's one copper tile up for grabs in between their territory.
The continent is also relatively small. Furthermore, my work boat ran out of tiles it could reach out west, so it's heading back east, but I'm becoming convinced that me and my 2 Confucian buddies are isolated.
Given the size of the land mass and the resources available, I think we need to plan to take over the entire land mass. That means teching towards Construction for Catapults so I can attack Louis. After that, I carry right on and take down Suleiman with Medieval units, including the UU. I need to do this before either of them can get to their UU--both of which are based on Musketmen! Just my luck. By claiming all that territory, I'll have several extra resources I can trade with the other continent once Astronomy comes along. In addition, the earlier I get that done, the sooner I'll be able to recover.
On to other things. The Domestic Advisor:
Once Damascus finishes its Granary, I think it should start on a Madrassa. I want to transfer responsibility for running specialists to this city from Mecca so the capital's citizens can work cottages and/or work mines instead of plugging away in the lab. I also want to take advantage of Spiritual's cheap temples in Sakae to fend off French cultural pressure. I'm not sure about a Madrassa, though--if I'm planning on taking on Louis soon, it may not be worth it. A barracks and units may be better.
Foreign advisor, techs:
I'm researching Monarchy. What I'm hoping is that Louis--who, thanks to espionage, I can see is researching Monarchy as well--will be willing to trade a "cheapened" Monarchy to me for Alphabet. I think I'm safe from Suleiman trading Alphabet to Louis thanks to the tech exclusivity rule. (Sully won't trade Mathematics (with Alphabet) to Louis because as far as Sully can tell, he's the only one who knows it; ditto for Louis trading Metal Casting--obviously his Oracle tech--for that Maths/Alpha combo, since he's the only one he knows of who has MC.)
After I get Monarchy, I think I'll need to self-research Mathematics and then Construction to get going after Louis. Once that's done, I think I'll need Currency and Code of Laws in order to deal with the economic fallout from the wars. Mind you, some of these are the AI's favourite techs, so I may be teching myself out of tech trading options. Thoughts?
Religion Advisor:
So two cities with Confucianism, two with Islam. I'm hoping Louis will be a pal and send Missionaries to Mecca and Damascus for me. And that he'll generate a Great Prophet and build a shrine I can take from him. That seems likely; he also built the Temple of Artemis, and if it's in the same city as the Oracle (which seems likely), he'll have a GP before too long. Yes, Louis is playing as we expected him too, wonder-monger that he is. All the more reason to kill him and take those prizes from his cold, dead fingers, IMHO.
Resources:
Another reason to move the SW city to claim that copper tile: I then have an extra resource I can trade to Suleiman for gems. Unless he snags that unclaimed copper tile...
Power:
Troubling. Good thing I converted to everyone's favourite religion. But this is all the more reason to go after Construction and build an army. As Iggy Pop sez, eat or be eaten.
And that's it! I think I've got a plan for the next round, but of course I want to use everyone here as a sounding board and make adjustments as needed.
).
