Round 5: 320 BC to 155 BC (11 turns)
Another short round, still looking for close guidance on how to get the economy to recover.
I began by cancelling my Open Borders agreement with Darius.
I wasn't really getting anything from it, and as has been pointed out, when Saladin comes by and asks me to cancel it I'll earn diplomatic demerits with somebody. Best to beat them to the punch.
I also made that trade deal with Saladin that several of you suggested:
I also changed some of the tile assignments in Babylon (although that had some unintended consequences, as you'll see) and swapped the Work Boat out of the queue in favour of a Christian Temple.
On the next turn, I captured the barb city, Minoan:
That went well, I only lost a Warrior to a barb Archer who'd gone out for a walk.
On the other coast, there's a complication for that gold/fish/pig city we'd like to set up:
Yeah, and on a hill, to boot! That could be challenging. In the time it takes me to get a stack over there to raze that city, Saladin may come in there and settle in a less-than-ideal location and claim some of those resources I'd like.
As often happens with a city when I don't intentionally stagnate its growth when it's near its happy cap, Babylon grew one beyond it. I then had to whip away the whiner along with one of his faultless compatriots.
Which I guess wasn't a bad solution, but that's why I'll stagnate a city when I see the need. I'm human and I forget to check each city every single turn.
I finally finished my next tech, the key one that I was going to try to use to dig myself out of my hole:
So first off, I went to see Saladin about Alphabet.
So far, so good--he was willing to make that trade right away. Contrary to what some of you thought, I didn't have to put any research into Alphabet.
I checked in with Darius, but I couldn't trade Alphabet to him yet and other than that all I had to offer him was Meditation which wasn't going to get me anywhere. So I went to see Justinian instead and made the trade some of you suggested I'd be making:
Besides all the good things Mathematics has to offer, acquiring it and Alphabet now meant that the Great Scientist who had appeared a few turns earlier in Babylon would now lightbulb Philosophy.
Which is exactly what I had him do.
Unfortunately, this meant that a religion got founded in that new barb city rather than having Islam spread there.
So much for that idea.
On the next turn, I continued tech trading. First I went to see Darius now that I could offer Alphabet to him.
Turns out I do have a source of iron that is, as the saying goes, so near and yet so far.
That may justify founding a city where Saladin's Chariot is sitting, which can work both the iron and the sheep after a border pop.
I then went to see Justinian to do this catch-up trade:
Nice. I'm still lacking a few techs, but I suspect I'll be able to use Philosophy with other leaders as well. I'm hoping Justinian will start building Angkor Wat and therefore refuse to trade it to anyone.
And that's as far as I went. Here's a look at the map, of which I've explored a little more, especially Arab territory.
I found Justinian, who's off to the northwest, but I still haven't located Ragnar.
Domestic Advisor:
I haven't started on any Settlers yet, but I think I may have to do so soon to claim some of those resources that I'm going to need.
I also haven't changed civics yet:
The reason for my momentary hesitation is the availability of Pacifism. Using it, however, would require me to become the continent's heretic. So should I forgo it for now and just change to Hereditary Rule and Caste System?
Foreign Advisor, Glance:
Heh. My highest rating is with Ragnar, who won't trade techs, but the others will. Ironic.
Current trade deals:
Yeah, getting spices from Justinian was a nice bonus. With the gold/fish/pig city now looking a little more difficult, I'm thinking it might be a good idea to found that fur/silver city down on the coast as several of you suggested. It's a shame there's no food around, but that's often the situation on a tectonics map, I've noticed.
Technologies:
So there are still a few techs I don't have, but I'm hoping I'll eventually be able to pick them up. In the meantime I've chosen to pursue Aesthetics since it's usually good trade bait, but let me know if I should be researching something else. I still have several research points invested in Horseback Riding, for example.
Speaking of which, the power rating:
I am starting to slide here thanks to my focus on civilian builds, so shifting back to a bit of a military stance may be in order.
The save is below; let me know what you think.