Notes:
Gunpowder due in 14 at -3gpt. War with Mongols and Arabs. 2 Mongol boats near Muscat guarded by 1 redlined MDI. Empty Mecca, all resisting. High flip risk. Settler due in 5 in Birka. 4 Arab cities left on landmass, 1 with lux.
Arabs will give up cities for peace and/or Theology.
What to do about Mecca? It contains Temple of Artemis - free temples. We have a number built, but this automatically is building culture in our conquests. On other hand, Mecca will flip. Guaranteed. But it will be guarded with spears. If we raze, lose out on culture, but we can move 1 west and then settle in between pulling in extra iron.
Ottomans: Hopelessly behind.
England: Up at least Theology and Gunpowder. We have no embassy with Liz.
Spain: Up at least Theology and Gunpowder.
Russia: Up at least Theology and Gunpowder. Lack horses.
China: Even in tech!
Arabs: War, lack iron, horses
[0] 740AD
Okay. We'll hold on to Mecca, taking the free culture for now. If/when we have to take back, we'll raze. But if it survives 4 more turns, Stavenger will expand to connect extra iron, which Mongols lack.
IBT
Oslo produces our first Beserk, starts on a pike.
Our people love us, we get some windows AND a cool roof for our palace.
Mongols drop spear next to Muscat. All we have is redlined spear guarding Muscat.
[1] 760AD
Najran:
'pult does a bit of damage. vet MDI vs vet Pike - win. vet MDI vs reg pike - win. 3/4 MDI vs 3/4 pike - wins! 4/5 MDI vs vet spear - ah! good old civ - loss, of course. 3/4 MDI vs 3/4 spear - yup, another loss and promote spear. We'll stop and rest for next turn.
We have workers next to that Mongol spear. Send a sword close by. Pike from Aarhus defends.
4/5 MDI takes on reg pike near Birka and horses. My early luck, long gone, strikes again, and we lose. Vet sword attacks and loses as well. sigh. Our Beserker builds are fine, but I need some other troops to fend off strays and random Mongol landings.
Spear moved to guard horses.
Settler rushed for 76 gold.
Trondheim will riot, so up lux rate to 10%. Gunpowder in 14. 0 gold per turn. Why are we researching again since there isn't anything to gain from it? If I turn research off we are at 74gpt. 58gpt and change gets us gunpowder from Spain. We then have income and will use pointy stick to get more. Researching isn't getting us much since we have Invention already . Heck 14 turns at 74gpt - not much of a cost difference anyhow. Hopefully China will make it up a bit too.
So we arm our scholars with spears and such and make this ridiculous deal: 58gpt plus 5 gold to Spain for Gunpowder. Oh, naturally we have no saltpeter.
Closest one in Medina - a Chinese city right in our new conquests. No one knows Chemistry.
Of course. China has no money. Well, since the Mongols are our next target, let's have some fun. Gunpowder to China for spices, 1 gold, and alliance vs Mongols. If I don't deal, they'll likely demand it.
Lux rate back at 0%, bringing in 29gpt to spend as we need...
Switch Stockholm (beserk in 8 to mdi in 3). I need some troops quickly.
IBT
Mongol vet spear attacks Muscat and our redlined MDI. And loses. Give that man a raise! Mongol galleys move elsewhere.
Arabs are interested in Peace. Apparently not interested enough.
Chinese troops do the funky border dance. For a while.
Mecca still doesn't flip.
[2] 770AD
Chemistry is now known.
Move troops around. Hold attack on Najran another turn waiting for another reinforcement.
Can't swing deal for Chemistry.
IBT
2 Mongol galleys approach our shores... Arab archers come from China land... It would be nice to have some fast troops to use.
Kufah Rax -> MDI
Mongols start Smiths.
[3] 780AD
We bombard a couple of Mongol galleys.
Najran: bombard takes hp off elite spear. 3/4 MDI vs vet spear - win. Elite MDI vs 4/5 spear - aargh. Another loss. 4/5 sword vs 3/5 spear - wins! and Najran is ours.
Promote another sword for 30.
Stavenger and Mecca culture expands in 1.
Hey! Look at that. We still don't have our Forbidden Palace and its 780AD. That's pretty bad. Birka would be a nice spot for that. Start forest chopping and switch MDI build there for courthouse.
IBT
Spanish galley off our coast.
Russia demands 13gold! The hussy! I'll cave. This time.
Mongol galleys move around. Damaged ones move away.
Arab archers move onto mountain next to our horses.
Trondheim beserk-> beserk
Rey beserk->beserk
Stockholm MDI->MDI
Culture expands. Extra iron is ours. Pushing out borders.
[4] 790AD
I'm going to move zerks and some galleys to Kufah for attack at Arab southern cities.
Resting troops.
IBT
Mongol galleys do their dance again. English and Ottoman galleys now in our waters as well. Everyone wants to watch the show. Or circle like wolves...
My moves force arabs to move their 2 archer stack onto grasslands. Yum.
[5] 800AD
2 vet MDI attacks on Arab archers - both win, 1 promotes to elite.
I'm thinking we could use another coastal city between Najran and Birka.
Also, whoever takes on Basra, raze and settle just to north on coast to pull in lux to avoid dealing with China. Plus it'll be more culture pressure on heavily patrolled Medina.
IBT
Um. Osman is threatening for Lit? Is he kidding? He backs down and has nothing to buy it with.
Oslo pike->beserk.
English finish Leonardos
[6] 810AD
Nothing much. No upgrades this round although I have been upgrading vet swords to MDI's when necessary.
Working toward attack force for Basra.
Also, one galley loaded with a couple beserks is Mongol chasing down the west coast. How about a golden age to help build up our beserker force?
IBT
Mongol boat continues down coast. Arab galley unloads one MDI outside Mecca.
Bergen, Copenhagen, Aarhus beserk->beserk
Russians complete Smiths in Yaroslavl'
[7] 820AD
Vet MDI from Najran goes to greet Arab MDI. The Arab MDI didn't appreciate the company.
IBT
Ottomans declare war on Mongols!
[8] 830AD
To help Ottoman cause against Mongols, I float them Chivalry.
IBT
Mongols would like to talk. They'll settle even up. Sure, likely because of our alliance... Goodbye Temujin.
Trondheim beserk -> beserk
Mecca worker-> worker
Stavenger rax->settler
Arab pike is on the move again toward our horses.
[9] 840AD
Upgrade pult in Stavenger. It will join MDI stack to take on Basra/Anjar
IBT
Okay, that was a bad move. I didn't cover the horses and now the Arab pike is on it. I don't have much to attack with around there. This could be trouble.
Rey Beserk->beserk
Muscat Harbor->Marketplace
[10] 850AD
Okay, I don't need that pike messing up our horses deal. Treb from Stavenger redirected. And does squat. Vet MDI vs dies, but gives 2 damage. Only other troop is vet sword -> aah, the sword does the job.
Okay, since I had to redirect Treb, I decide to move stack without toward Basra. It has 6 MDI's, a pike and a settler to take spot to north of Basra and grab lux.
What the heck, I demand Spain remove her galley. Think she would turn her nose at 58gpt? Though not.
Thoughts:
We really should rid any Arab threat before starting beserk attacks on Mongols. Once we land, we'll really be hit hard. Basra and Anjar should fall next set. Raze Basra and settle 1 north (still coastal) but it grabs luxury without angering China much. 5 turns afterwards, the culture will put extra pressure on Medina (although with all those troops, I doubt there's much flip risk there.
Holding on to Mecca has worked great. It still hasn't flipped yet. Should probably starve it. But the extra culture has been great. TofA is only good until Education, but we are nowhere near that yet. We are waaaay behind in Tech and not researching. We're pulling 26gpt and have 8 beserks now.
Oh. We really need to get our forbidden palace started. Leader fishing has turned up real dry. I like Birka as a spot. After the courthouse is built that is. It will be a strong city. Also, I think a city on hills and coast between Birka and Najran would be beneficial. More gold from coast is always good. The hill just south of the delta with the mine would be perfect.
I decided to go colorless though.
