Bugs 2.1 The Gauntlet Revisited

[grahamiam]

Preflight check: Things look very good compared to how I handed it off last time. Move 3 Sipahi down to Denizli, load into the caravel, and drop off in Bingol. Ok, will improve Istanbul then Bursa so we can really start churning out stuff.
No trades available.
We still have 3 archers and I believe their time has come to retire. Do so for 2 and will do the other next turn after it’s city’s build is complete. Spears should be next but I’ll want to draft infantry to replace them so I’ll wait.

IBT: Carthage sends 2 workers near Cankiri.

T1: 1330AD Korea has a frigate and a transport trolling off our Beijing coast. Disband the last archer.

IBT: see a 2nd Korean transport protected by destroyers. See a Portugese Cruiser E of Kaifeng.

T2: 1335AD Move a total of 7 Sipahi south to greet the Koreans. Found Iskenderun. Time for Sci Method drops to 6T and I see that Portugal and the Byzantines have it

Notes: ToE = 600 shields for us, and we are doing 40spt with GA, 29 or 30 without which will be 60/43spt with the factory. This will give us ToE in 13T without the coal plant.
Coal plant costs 160s and will take 3T to complete with the factory + GA and will boost output to 58spt after the GA. @ this shield rate, we can complete the ToE in 11T for a total of 14T, 1T slower than without the coal plant.

I increase research up to 60% to get Sci Method in 3T (times with factory build) @ -209gpt.

IBT: Korea and China sign a trade embargo against us. Byz building ToE,

T3: 1340AD Look and see that the Byz are building the ToE in Nicaea which is probably doing 9spt base and 18spt with a factory and coal plant. The DG discount price for ToE is 420shields (70% of our cost IIRC) which means they can complete it in 23 turns, worst case. I decide to keep the research rate up just to make sure. Once thing I did notice was that when I right-clicked on the Byz tile, it showed me the RR bonus even though it shows the tiles as roaded.

IBT: Portugal want to renew RoP with us giving 2gpt but I renew for WM and 2g instead. Korea drops off their SoD and begin building ToE. Portugese begin building ToE as well.

T4: 1345AD Adjust sci slider to not lose so much and still get ToE in 1T (-152gpt, 281 in the bank)
Korean SoD is 1 infantry, 2 AC’s, 1 archer, 3 cav, 2 longbows, and 1 spearman. Enough to be a pain.
Attack on SoD: Sipahi dies to infantry (3/4); Sipahi kills infantry (3/4); Sipahi kills cav flawlessly; Sipahi (elite by misclick) kills cav (1/5); Sipahi kills cav and promotes to elite (4/5); Sipahi kills AC flawlessly; Sipahi kills AC flawlessly; Sipahi kills 3/3 spear (3/4); Sipahi kills the archer on top flawlessly; 2 longbows remain but I don’t have enough Sipahi to take them out. Will finish next turn.

Found Tunceli. Just noticed that Cankiri and Karburak (Portugese pinch cities) are building temples. These should be libraries since we can get them 20T faster. Change Cankiri to a library after selling the shields. Move another settler into position for next turn.

Check on the Korean and Port ToE cities. Korean city (Seoul) can do 17spt base which is 34spt with a factory and coal plant. Can finish @ worst case in 13T. Portuguese city (Braga) can do 16spt base and 32spt with a factory and coal plant. Can finish @ worst case in 14T. This is going to be close so I will need to save some money to investigate each city.

IBT: Korean Longbows kill a spear and a Sipahi in Shanghai; Sci Method -> Corporation but I turn off research for 1T to get a blast of 201g.
Set Istanbul to ToE (gonna take a shot here).

T5: 1350AD Wiping out the Korean SoD: Sipahi kills longbow; 4/5 Sipahi kills a 2/3 longbow and we get MGL Murad I . Move the MGL back to Canton and form an Army. Load elite* Sipahi for now.
Found Sivas.
Sell WMs around to scrum up enough money to investigate Braga. It is doing 21spt after corruption and will complete ToE in 19T!
Can sign peace with Korea for a tech + tons of gold but I hold off for a couple of turns. I want to see how bad her WW gets.

T6: 1355AD Found Yozgat. I decide to keep research off so we can build up gold to do a steal or buy a tech.

T7: 1360AD RR some tiles. Trying to get Mugla up to 20spt again as Istanbul has stolen a BG to go up to 66spt.

IBT: Carthage is building ToE.

T8: 1365AD More RR.

IBT: Byz and Korea sign Embargo against us. Resign peace with Byz (damn, forgot to renegociate for a tech)

T9: 1370AD

IBT: End of GA.

T10: 1375AD RR and try to clean pollution.
ToE due in 7T in Istanbul. Peace with Korea possible and we can get RP for 113gpt. We should also investigate Seoul to see if we have a shot at the ToE.

 

[microbe]

Things look very good. ToE in 7 turns? I'm pretty sure we'll get it then. That's amazing. It's VERY lucky that NONE of the AI chose to research Sci Method. When I started going for ToE I thought the chance was like less than 10%.

Trade Atomic Theory asap, since AI is likely researching it. Then we can hold Electronics for a while so we can get Hoover? But catching up in tech is more important than getting Hoover..

We probably have the biggest empire. If we can catch up in tech we'll be in a very good position.

One thing about the coal plant: could we have rushed it? It would then make Hoover come much faster.

Also could we sell Sci Method?

 

[grahamiam]

Things look very good. ToE in 7 turns? I'm pretty sure we'll get it then. That's amazing. It's VERY lucky that NONE of the AI chose to research Sci Method. When I started going for ToE I thought the chance was like less than 10%.

Me too, but i'm worried about Korea. imho, we should sign peace with them and establish an embassy in Seoul to determine how many turns they have till ToE. Seoul is size 17 so it can do a lot of spt. Luckily, Portugal and Byz used coastal cities for the ToE build and Carthage started too late. i highly recommend that we check now in case we need to build it a turn faster (we still can but will starve the city).

edit: sci method was sold all around during the middle of my turns. I think Portugal got it 1st and made a boatload of money with it.

 

[Justus II]

Things are really looking up! The Golden Age was just the boost we needed, and if we can get ToE (and I think we can, but do investigate Seoul), we'll be right back in the thick of it. I would definitely try to buy Rep. Parts in the peace deal with Korea, the improved worker speed will be a big help for getting rails done, not to mention knowing where (or if) we have rubber is critical. I'd also hold off on drafting any more rifles if we can, until we do get RP, then we can draft some Infantry, and probably disband any remaining Ancient Age units.

 

[grahamiam]

ok, here's the roster update:

Justus II
grahamiam <=Just Played
microbe
gozpel <= UP
Bede <=on deck

Bede should take it if he has time as gozpel will be awol till the middle/end of this week due to RL. btw, this reminds me, i posted in my 2nd-to-last set that I was going away last week but i see now that it was missed. i'll make sure next time to post it seperately so it's clear. apologies to all.

 

[Justus II]

It's funny, because I thought I remember you saying something about being out of town, but then I couldn't find the post, so thought I was remembering someone else!

 

[Bede]

Won't be tonight unless something drastic happens.

Will pick up and play tomorrow (Tuesday).

 

[gozpel]

Bede can take it and I jump in on thursday if that's ok?

 

[Bede]

Got it.................

 

[Bede]

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads8/Ottomans1425AD.zip

0-1375

Wow. Last time I was here the fist was closing, now it's wide open again. I guess we finally took the gloves off!

First order of business is make peace with Korea and buy Replaceable Parts, then investigate Seoul. Do the deal as writ, Peace and RP for 113gpt. We have two sources of rubber, one near Riza, the other near Karabuk. It cost 107g to open an embassy in Seoul. ToE is due in 6. They are doing 36spt, 124gpt, 41fpt (growth in 6), 30% science, 7 infantry in garrison, pop18, one clown, one scientist, have built the Intelligence Agency.. 5 luxes, tradeable furs, 6 resources, none tradeable (rubber, oil, coal, iron, saltpeter, horses)

Portugese start Hoover.

1-1380
Mine some deserts and run some rails and best I can get ToE to is 5 turns, which is on a par with Korea.

Theo comes demanding maps and gold.Tell her to take a hike and the witch declares war. Check in with her neighbors and discover Henry is wearing a courduroy suit and is bald, and won't play. Wang Kon wants a king's ransom to fight her, but I pay him and hope she stays home (930g+50gpt) and the Korean ToE build gets delayed just one turn. There are deals expiring soon that should put the treasury back in the black. Shift some troops to the island as there is a Byzantine flotilla inbound and start some artillery on the mainland. Draft some infantry to beef up coastal defenses and fill up a Sipahi army.Hire cops to prevent civil disorder and our income swings from -33gpt to +16gpt

2-1385
Spread defenses across the island to prevent a landing on high ground.

Byzantines drop off four units at Bingol, an archer, two cavalry and a rifle.

3-1390
Lose two Sipahis and promote a third whittling the Byzantine landing down to size and finish it off with Orhan's

Byzantine fleet sails home.

4-1395
Railing and setting up coastal defense and loading troops for the island.
Erdrine riots.
Reup the spices deal with Henry for another 3gpt

5-1400AD
Time to see if I can squeeze Atomic Theory out of Henry. That won't work but we can get The Corporation for 90gpt, or Espionage for 55gpt. Take Corporation and look for a brokerage opportunity.


ToE due on interturn. Hoping a little skirmish with the Byzantine slowed down the Koreans. It did.

Take Atomic Theory and Electronics. Then go shopping.

Catch the Portugese trying to plant a spy.

6-1405AD
Take Refining 66g and 18gpt from Hannibal for Atomic Theory and we have oil by Uskudar.
Korea gets Atomic Theory in exchange for Steel 20g and 15gpt.
Spend some gpld to investigate Emerita to see if Hoover is worth the chase. Henry will get Hoover in ten and the best we can do is 18. He is rocketing through the Modern Era as he has Aluminum showing in his resource list.

SInce that is the case switch Istanbul to Hydro plant and peddle Electronics to Korea for Espionage, Sanitation 53g and 55gpt. Hannibal can wait as our Peace Treaty expires in 2 and I want to squeeze him a little harder.

7-1410
Railing and disbanding obsoletes.

8-1415
Time to put the squeeze on Hannibal again. Renegotiate the peace treaty for 1g, Combustion and Communism. We give Electronics and 90gpt. Renegotiate the Peace Treaty with China for his 5g, World Map and an embargo against the Byzantines

Carthage and the Byzantines sign an embargo against us. Looks like Hannibal will never get his rubber.

9-1420
Trimming out the jungles.

10-1425
Not much to report. After her one abortive landing Theo has not shown her face in our territory. So very quiet, generally. Hired a lot of cops and civil engineers to get libraries, courthouses, markets, banks, etc built. Tried to maximize gpt as much as possible.

We are making progress. Getting richer and smarter all the time. Income went up about 200 and we gained 9 techs. Of course most of the gain went right out again in the tech buys. In about 20 turns we can buy flight from somebody, build some airplanes and finish off the Carthaginians. Hannibal has no infantry (no rubber) and won't be building any for a while.

Theo will talk peace and we are close to a deal for flight, for the whole treasury. So wait 10 or so for the alliance with Korea to expire and go get flight from the witch.

 

[Justus II]

Great moves, Bede, especially MMing to get us ToE! That was huge, getting us back in the tech race after walking the last couple laps! I think I have read that the player's wonder production is always processed first, so even if it's timed to complete on the same turn as the AI, the human will get the wonder.

I hope this isn't premature, but any thoughts on how we want to win this one? If Henry is already that modern, a Space Race might not be a good bet, unless we're willing to go after his capital. Especially with no pre-building of parts, I don't think we have much chance of beating him to a launch. Domination would also require a healthy chunk of the other continent, so I think we'll end up facing Henry either way. Diplo would be the other option, but again without a prebuild the UN would be a pretty big gamble, and we've had a war with just about everyone at one point or another. Any other thoughts?

 

[microbe]

Portugal already entered MA? During my turns it didn't even have Sci Method.

Good job on getting us ToE but we didn't get far enough. Still a few techs to get to MA. What's the tech situation?

A little criticism: why did we get Communism and pay 90gpt? We don't really need all these optional tech.

I think our best chance is (capture) UN? If not, I guess we should go for domination. Dogpile someone and grab some land.

 

[Bede]

Communism came with Combustion and if we go to war we are going to need cop shops. We are going to want Espionage to steal rather than buy techs.

As long as we don't find ourselves on a galleon with three conscript infantry and a settler in 2050AD I'll count this one as a victory.

Getting Henry to fight a war with anyone but us will be expensive but might be worth it. When the set started he had over 11K in his treasury, it's now down to less than 5, so he's been doing some serious spending on something.

We could also get lucky and find out we have the only source of some critical modern resource. IIRC Henry's resource box didn't show any uranium.

 

[grahamiam]

nice turns bede imho, the only feasible win situation is domination right now. not sure, but we may even be able to do it without attacking Portugal. if Portugal builds the UN, can they win the vote?

btw, @bede, you can steal tech's as long as you have an embassy, you don't need espionage. does the intelligence agency help us steal better?

 

[microbe]

Communism came with Combustion

But we paid 90gpt + Electronics for Communism + Combustion. I would guess we wouldn't have paid the gpt if we just took Combustion?

and if we go to war we are going to need cop shops. We are going to want Espionage to steal rather than buy techs.

I agree on Espionage, and we didn't pay gpt for it.

 

[Bede]

btw, @bede, you can steal tech's as long as you have an embassy, you don't need espionage. does the intelligence agency help us steal better?

I've always thought so. Also, planting a spy is a cheap way to get a declaration of war out of the other nation, about 10% of the cost of a tech steal.

 

[grahamiam]

Roster Update
Justus II <=on deck
grahamiam
microbe
gozpel <= UP
Bede <=Just Played

I will be out of town Friday and Saturday. I can swap with Microbe again if my turn comes up during this time.

 

[gozpel]

Ok, I got it.

 

[Justus II]

I see I am on deck, and should be able to play when this turn comes up, but I will be leaving next Tuesday (8/3) for military training, and will be out of town until the 21st. (Actually, believe it or not, I'm running a big computer simulation/wargame for our unit, and they pay me! ) So after this turn, I will be out of the loop for a couple weeks, sorry. I hope to have some internet access, but it will be limited, and no time for Civ, so I'll be relegated to a kibbitzer until I get back. Hopefully, we will have already paraded down the streets of Lisbon by then!

 

[microbe]

gozpel, what's the status?