A mellow, relaxing turnset. War seemed like a bad idea, and Hannibal and Cyrus were both Friendly anyway. So I just kicked back, deleted our most ancient units, and built buildings and missionaries while micromanaging excessively. I think I'll try listing all the builds at the end of the narrative this time.
1160 AD (turn 0):
* we're one turn from a great person in Moscow. I fire all the scientists and hire two priests, just in case we can pop a prophet. Worst case we'll get two great prophets. If we don't get a prophet I'll fire the priests and rehire all the scientists.
* I adjust the managers to favor growth a little more. The idea is to grow all cities to their happy cap now and then hire specialists when we have Representation. I leave the priests in Delhi, and a couple scientists in places where maximum growth isn't the right thing.
* Renegotiate Sugar to Cyrus from 5GPT up to 9GPT.
1166 (turn 1):
I put Pasteur to sleep. Maybe he can do something with those cows we have next door. I fire the priests in Moscow and hire 2 scientists, the maximum number possible such that Delhi will still pop the next great person. Fortunately, because of Bureaucracy the coast tiles are competitive with scientists.
1172 (turn 2)
* Ragnar adopts Mercantilism and we lose a little trade route income.
* Sell cow to HC for 11 GPT.
* Sell another cow to Ragnar for 4 GPT.
1178 (turn 3)
* Nogvorod is at its happy cap. I put it on max production.
* Bombay is at its happy cap. I hire a bunch of scientists.
1184 (turn 4)
Hannibal has learned Gunpowder.
1190 (turn 5)
* HC completes Sankore.
* Moscow is at its happy cap and has
too much food, at least while we're micromanaging Delhi to pop the next great person. So I give Moscow's cows to Yekaterinburg.
* It's not really important, but I check out Karachi with a Caravel. At the momet it has an Archer, a Longbow, and a Galley.
1226 (turn 11)
* Learning Nationalism reveals that HC has Military Tradition. Interesting.
* HC declines to give us his 330. I am tempted to ask for Cyrus's 240 and Hannibal's 250 but we didn't beg that long ago and I don't know if there's a penalty for asking. Does anyone know? HC also encouraged us to stop trading with his bitter enemy - Asoka! He must have been referring to an earlier tech trade.
* I realize that - duh - it's Constitution rather than Nationalism that enables Representation, and so I fiddle around with the city managers, hiring more scientists and such so that Constitution is 15 turns away instead of 20. The cities that have spare happy are still growing, just not as fast.
1232 (turn 12)
1244 (turn 14)
Large shot of the farm in 1250 (turn 15):
Deletions, all in the first few turns: 3 Warriors, 2 Chariots, 1 3XP Swordsman, and our 1 Axe (7XP), saving 14 GPT.
Builds:
* Moscow: Observatory, Taoist Monastery, Bank (6 left)
* Yekaterinburg: Courthouse, finished Galleon, Library (2 left...)
* Yaroslavl: Lighthouse, Harbor, University (16)
* St Petersburg: Courthouse, Observatory (17)
* Novgorod: Courthouse, Stable, Theater, Hindu Temple, Market (10)
* Bombay: Observatory (5)
* Bangalore: Hindu Missionary, Courthouse, Forbidden Palace (11)
* Delhi: Courthouse, University, Bank (17)
* Rostov: Harbor, Lighthouse, 4 Hindu Missionaries, Hindu Missionary (1)
I put Courthouses in front of the zero-hammer Market builds because in the short term Courthouses would have the same effect, and were a little cheaper, and they enabled the Forbidden Palace.
I added the Harbors because Cyrus doesn't even have Guilds yet, and so even though I think we'll be in Mercantilism hell for a while, we're still getting some good trade routes from him. Plus we're Expansive, so they're cheap.
Novgorod I didn't really think through. After the Stable I was ready to start on Knights, and indeed Novgorod should build mainly units. However, especially since we're in Pacifism, I thought maybe it should first build some happy buildings so that it can grow and work as many tiles as possible, so that it can build yet more units. The question was, when would we fight next and when must we start the buildup. I took a guess and worked on the happy buildings. The Market is primarily for the happy (+1 Fur, +1 Silk, +1 Ivory if we trade for HC's.)
I put a University in Delhi because even though it will probably be running Merchants, it still will be a good science city, and we needed one more University for Oxford. I moved Niels Bohr to Delhi and was very tempted to build an Academy in Delhi for the same reasons, but since Printing Press and Scientific Method are on the way to Biology, I left him alone.
Most of the missionaries succeeded. I started by passing on Hippo in order to leave it weak and culturally beleagured, and because we already have visibility into it. Instead I did Thapsus, in Hannibal's core. Then I felt we were reasonably safe from Hannibal or Cyrus flipping religions, so I finished our own cities, especially to prepare for Organized Religion later if we wish. The last missionary I sent to Persia - might as well finish the continent as well as get some additional visibility into Persia.
Notes and stuff
Keep an eye on Moscow and Delhi, they're micromanaged for a prophet (hopefully) from Delhi.
Our caravels are out exploring the nooks and crannies. There's not much to see and they're not doing anything important.
National Wonders:
* I'm open to cancelling FP in Bangalore. I just figured it was better to get it built, but we could build it elsewhere, or wait.
* Novgorod, I don't know if we'll get around to West Point but it seems like we should leave the slot open.
* I'd vote for Ironworks in Bangalore rather than Novgorod so that we can keep up a stream of units.
* We're ready for Oxford. Delhi is possible but I guess Moscow is best, especially if we give it back its cows and bananas and farm its forests. Yaroslavl can make do without the bananas now. (Sniff... our little Marble city is all grown up.)
* Should we build the Globe Theater in Delhi? No need to worry about it for a little while, I suppose...
When can switch to Representation I suggest also switching to Mercantilism and OR. We could do Vassalage (or Theocracy) if we wanted a military buildup, but Bureaucracy would complement Oxford in Moscow. Switching out of Pacifism seems like it would complement diminishing returns from GPP and also enable a military buildup.
After Constituation it seems like we want either Democracy, Biology, or Gunpowder+MT. If HC doesn't already have Democracy, we might be able to get a head start on the Statue of Liberty, and we do have Copper. The thing about Biology is that at the moment we don't have the happy for a lot more pop. We could get more happy from some combination of buildings, the slider, Free Religion, and Nationalism. But we'd still be behind in Demographics. So it seems to me that we should do the military thing, building up Knights for upgrading to Cossacks, along with Trebs for support. Then we could for example take Carthage/Utica/Thapsus and vassalize the rest of Carthage, and then wipe out Asoka while defending against Cyrus. Just the gold (from Asoka) and the silver (from Hannibal) would give us 4 free happy. We could get sheep too, and maybe pigs. I don't feel strongly about it, but in broad strokes preparing to take more land with Cossacks seems like a good idea.
By the way, Nationalism to Hannibal for Gunpowder+misc might not be a bad idea. Elizabeth lacks it, but Hannibal and she are mutually annoyed and don't seem to have trade relations. At the moment she doesn't have any techs Hannibal would want anyway. And Hannibal is way ahead of Cyrus, for some reason.
We want trade partners and friendly partners are reliable ones with whom you can trade beyond the WFYABTA. Maybe even space techs though I'm not sure about that. Really I don't think going after Hannibal is wise
Probably upped his research rate. he is lagging after all. Spread Judaism to Moscow.
Death warrant signed I'd say.
