Inherit turn, and things look interesting! Baghdad's only got two archers in it now - the rest of the units must have gone after barbarians also. I agree that we should deal with the barbarian threat before going after Saladin, though. And, as mentioned by the other players, Ainu has walls, which means that we could likely take it, but with massive casualties. So, I guess I'll leave the units sitting on the hill until we can get a catapult there. They are costing us maintainance sitting out there doing nothing, but by the time I move them back into our borders our cat should be ready, so there's not much point. Strange to see a monastery being built so early, but I see that it's for cultural pressure. And Sina is sure right about the fact that we need more workers! Things should take a real upswing once we get construction - we should definitely use our catapult and elephant capability to its full capability. I hope we can get all the barbs and Saladin with them.
Turn 1 - No movement from either the barbs or saladin between turns. Our settler completes in St. Petersburg and the lighthouse resumes, and I'll probably let it build for a grand total of one turn before I build a catapult next turn. The workers are focusing on the road network a bit now - I want to make sure we can reinforce our saladin-border cities as well as speed up the movement of our catapults to the barb cities. I am going to chop the trees on red dot though - it will delay the founding of that city by a turn our two but the chop will help us get the catapult out quicker.
Turn 2 - Construction comes in and I start research on metal casting. Our research rate is pretty good, and it will only take us 7 turns to research it, and forges will help us get this military thing done. Another very tempting choice is a run for the Great Library (via alphabet). Could've gone either way. Contrary to what I just said, I'm going to keep working on the lighthouse in St. Petersburg and switch to the catapult when the chop comes in. I start another worker in Moscow after the confucian missionary completes.
On second thought, I switch research to Alphabet. I want to get an idea of where the AI is at tech wise - the great library would actually be a nice addition to our empire if we can grab it... Alphabet due in 5 turns. We'll have to rely on Moscow for most of our military - once the worker is done I'll probably switch it to a higher shield-output configuration.
Turn 3 - Again, no signs of life from Saladin or the barbs. However, someone somewhere shows signs of life by founding Taoism. We might be a bit farther behind in tech than I thought!
Taoism discovered. Hopefully we aren't TOO far behind...
Turn 4 - Confucianism spread in Yaroslavl, and the chop comes in, hitting a catapult in St. Petersburg. It only gives 20 shields, though, so still two turns to go on that. Yekterinberg founded on the red dot and immediately starts working the pasturized cows and starts production on an obelisk. Should have the ivory there connected within a couple turns (two workers in the area). This new city wreaks havoc with our economy, dropping us 20%. Depending on the tech situation, Currency needs to come real soon. In fact, I probably should have done it before alphabet. Sigh!
Yakterinberg founded, pulling in Ivory!...
Turn 5 - An archer suicides out of Ainu again, promoting one of our swords to city raider 2! The borders of Rostov expand, but it isn't enough to push back baghdad. The worker in Moscow completes and I start a catapult, due in two turns.
Turn 6 - Catapult #1 complete in St. Petersburg, moving toward Ainu.
Turn 7 - Catapult #2 finished in Moscow, start on #3. Alphabet comes in, and lookee, we've already researched currency. Hehe. Now, to scout up Saladin and see what there is to see on the tech front. And here is what there is to see:
Things look good from this vantage, no?
Saladin is up Horseback Riding, Calendar, and Theology, and we have CoL, Alphabet, and Currency, and Construction (and, of course, Civil Service!). Not too shabby! Of course, he's unwillling to trade. I'm going to go for Lit. Even if a Great Library run seems out of order, a National Epic sooner rather than later makes a lot of sense to me.
Turn 8 - Confucianism spreads to Yekterinberg of its own accord - good news for us! The confucian monastery finishes in Novograd, and I believe the plan was to whip a Library there next? I wonder, is this cultural push so important? With Jumbos and Cats, we can take Baghdad soon. Real soon. However, Novograd has so much food and will soon be able to run so many specialists that I think it's worth it in any case. I start - will evaluate whipping potential after the first turn finishes. St Petersburg finishes a light house and I stick another Scientist in it. I move an axeman to the trees north of Ainu to protect the catpult that will bombard the walls from across the river, leaving the attacking units in place, as shown in the diagram. This will allow bombardment to commence one turn sooner.
Hannibal himself couldn't match this plan for its sheer intricacy...
Turn 9 - St. Petersburg starts our first War Elephant! I also take off one of our prophets in Moscow to get four more shields... I know we wanted superspecialist prophets, so this may be a controversial move, but there it is. Feel free to change it back! I whip the library in Novograd.
Turn 10 - The bombardment of Ainu begins! Literature also comes in, but I'll leave it up to the
next player to decide if we go for the library or not. I start research on music (maybe we can get the artist?) but that is vetoable too. There are a couple catapults on the Arabian border now - they can be moved towards the next barbarian city or, if bold, they can go after saladin along with some Jumbos and Axemen. As far as I can tell, Saladin only has archers and spearmen defending. We could make short work of him. The one caveat is that we are near the expansion limit. Too much more and we'll start hitting pretty severe financial difficulties. Good luck!
Finally, the bombardment of Ainu begins!...
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