Diety Germany Photojournal (Patch 11-9, Marathon, Continents+)

[amateurgamer88]

Greece is going to snowball soon and let's hope that your prediction doesn't come true and Egypt bogs you down. You will an interesting mid game where you have to act quickly. Greece will make your CS alliance very shaky since you have to compete with him a lot. As for Askia, he's not as dangerous if he didn't snowball early game. I had way too many games where he just eats all his neighbors by Medieval Age and it's so hard to catch up to him.

For Medieval Era, the important techs and Wonders are heavily dependent on your victory condition or goal. Theology is a must if you are pursuing a religious game and want to dominate with your religion. Chivalry, Steel, Physics and Machinery for wars on the land. Guilds and Compass for naval wars (and Hanse which you want asap). Meanwhile, you have techs for your policy tree where Education for Tradition, Civil Service for Progress and Chivalry for Authority. I personally like this age because it's when you can time a war with really strong units. Of course, it's also an era where, if your opponent hits it first, your wars are going to be a nightmare.

For you, it's annoying because you need a military to fight Egypt so that delays you from getting Civil Service. I wasn't paying attention to what civ went what policy but I think Forbidden Palace is going to help you a lot by saving you a lot of gold in the long run.

 

[YukiN]

I like machu pichu for wide empires. The gold bonus is modest but scales well through the eras, it helps make a weaker city surrounded by mountains more on par with the rest of your empire, and it is not that contended from the AI (and you can see exactly who has the potential to build it if they do go for it). Frankfurt would be an excellent choice.

You should be considering researching techs that award you more trade routes as well, then beeline banking for Hanse. Ideally you’ll have all your trade routes sent to CS’s by that point, so you get the max immediate production bonus in the cities you build it in. That modifier is Germany’s bread and butter...

Machu Pichu went to Essen. I think I missed the screenshot but that city was pretty much settled for the wonder, though it is quite strong by itself. You can see the location on the turn 212 screenshot, on the coastal location. Machu Pichu is one of the reasons I rushed Physics.

Greece is going to snowball soon and let's hope that your prediction doesn't come true and Egypt bogs you down. You will an interesting mid game where you have to act quickly. Greece will make your CS alliance very shaky since you have to compete with him a lot. As for Askia, he's not as dangerous if he didn't snowball early game. I had way too many games where he just eats all his neighbors by Medieval Age and it's so hard to catch up to him.

For Medieval Era, the important techs and Wonders are heavily dependent on your victory condition or goal. Theology is a must if you are pursuing a religious game and want to dominate with your religion. Chivalry, Steel, Physics and Machinery for wars on the land. Guilds and Compass for naval wars (and Hanse which you want asap). Meanwhile, you have techs for your policy tree where Education for Tradition, Civil Service for Progress and Chivalry for Authority. I personally like this age because it's when you can time a war with really strong units. Of course, it's also an era where, if your opponent hits it first, your wars are going to be a nightmare.

For you, it's annoying because you need a military to fight Egypt so that delays you from getting Civil Service. I wasn't paying attention to what civ went what policy but I think Forbidden Palace is going to help you a lot by saving you a lot of gold in the long run.

I agree. There's a lot of things to do and I feel that the decision I ultimately made was okay but maybe not the best. Stay tuned for that.

I have a decent tech advantage over Egypt from Oracle and am pressing the advantage.

With regards to policy, the AI went an even split of Authority and Progress. I have yet to meet a Tradition civ, but that's to be expected given the map. I do feel, however, that the AI may be too greedy with respect to the land they consider "theirs" when they decide on their initial tree.

Greece in particular went Progress and not Authority, which is another reason I consider him my biggest threat given his very powerful start.

 

[amateurgamer88]

I agree. There's a lot of things to do and I feel that the decision I ultimately made was okay but maybe not the best. Stay tuned for that.

I have a decent tech advantage over Egypt from Oracle and am pressing the advantage.

With regards to policy, the AI went an even split of Authority and Progress. I have yet to meet a Tradition civ, but that's to be expected given the map. I do feel, however, that the AI may be too greedy with respect to the land they consider "theirs" when they decide on their initial tree.

Greece in particular went Progress and not Authority, which is another reason I consider him my biggest threat given his very powerful start.

It's not an easy choice for sure because there are so many things you need and only a couple you can prioritize. With Egypt, I guess it's a matter of how many cities you can take before WW hits you hard. These are hard wars because you want to take cities but you also don't want supply deficit that will essentially slow you down while Greece is still cruising forward.

As for some AIs going for Progress, what are your thoughts on your chances of Forbidden Palace? Civil Service is a bit out of the way but I feel like the reduction in gold purchasing can really pay off in the long run. As for Greece, that's a huge threat and, if you're focusing on him, I fear that some other AI might snowball in the meantime. Let's hope the continent Askia is on doesn't has an AI that grows very powerful while you're busy fighting Greece.

 

[SpankmyMetroid]

I beat greece as germany in one of my recent games, even becoming friends with him at the end of the game. The key was to pass sphere of influences that offended as few people as possible, which is actually much easier than it sounds. For some reason people won’t get upset at the proposals (they’ll actually LIKE them) if they like you more than the ally you’re taking the CS from. Also whether or not they cared seemed to depend on how close to the civ the CS was. Either way it’s kind of busted and lets you slowly siphon city states for yourself, snowballing votes and allowing you to funnel your diplomats to fewer city states.

Passing scholars in residence early is also a huge boon to chase tech leaders and even maintain your lead. You can get up to a 50% research bonus just from alliances, not including any bonuses from other people researching the tech already. So if you’re winning diplomatically you’ll also be able to compete in research very easily.

 

[YukiN]

As for some AIs going for Progress, what are your thoughts on your chances of Forbidden Palace? Civil Service is a bit out of the way but I feel like the reduction in gold purchasing can really pay off in the long run. As for Greece, that's a huge threat and, if you're focusing on him, I fear that some other AI might snowball in the meantime. Let's hope the continent Askia is on doesn't has an AI that grows very powerful while you're busy fighting Greece.

There is at least one other problem civ for sure, but that's in the next update.

The Forbidden Palace is very strong. It is a wonder that scales with excess gold rather than base gold, and I have a lot of that. I'm getting about 200 a turn right now, so 15% of that is 30 gold, which is already quite nice, and my income is only going to grow. My chances are also decent since I got the Oracle bump; I don't quite understand those who think the Oracle is a bad wonder, though the era scaling thing might not be the best design. The problem with the Forbidden Palace is that it comes at the same time as two strong faith wonders in Theology, Machu Pichu and Notre Dame. The Notre Dame, in particular, gives a huge amount of yields.

 

[YukiN]

Spoiler Turn 422: The Front :

It's quite a long front against Egypt. I didn't have knights so I had to take this war very very slowly, drawing out his units and being careful. In retrospect, Chivalry would have been much better than Steel here. The 25 CS is a huge buff from Vanilla. We live and we learn.

Avaris to the West doesn't have walls yet. I send a Pikeman to scout, but there are Swordsmen there. I steal a worker, but that's more of a joke at this point. All of Egypt's cities are not easy to attack with the units I have.

Techwise, I am taking Theology then beelining Civil Service for the Forbidden Palace. I'm not letting Alexander get it. The price of this is that I am passing on Notre Dame, which is really painful. I used to not value GAs very much, but some quick math tells me that its yield efficiency can be even stronger than the Oracle. I would have gone for it if I had mosques.

Spoiler Turn 423: First Great Writer :

I get my first GW, which naturally becomes a Great Work. Speaking of Great Works, Egypt's UB should be coming online now. The synergy with his UA for culture and science is quite incredible, another reason I am starting my war now. I should be able to nab a few before Egypt gets to full enjoy them.

Spoiler Turn 426: Great Scientist & Machu Pichu in Essen :

I get my first GS. I plant him on the rainforest for the instant chop. A Great Merchant came a few dozen turns ago and you can see the Town between Berlin and Stuttgart, but it didn't seem particularly noteworthy.

As is standard, I quickly start on my Grand Temple. It's a really powerful building and should be prioritized. Of the two Theology wonders, I decided to skip on Hagia Sophia despite its obvious power, because it only requires 7 policies and I expect Greece to already be building it. Borobodur is less useful for me, but it is more within reach, being locked behind 8 policies. I don't need missionaries, but I don't want any of the AI, especially Alexander to get it. The design of having two wonders on the same tech requiring different policy counts is quite interesting here.

A shot of the city of Essen, which started on Machu Pichu a few turns ago. I fully expect to get the wonder due to my early tech and the AI usually not prioritizing it.

Spoiler Turn 427: Great General :

I get my first GG, Eugene of Savoy. I had never heard of him prior to this, which is a real shame. He had an extremely illustrious career and helped preserve the HRE until it gets crushed in the Napoleonic wars.

Spoiler Turn 428: Greece goes Statecraft :

Greece gets policy parity almost immediately. I frankly have no idea where he's getting all that culture from. Hoepfully it's from popping a Great Writer, but I doubt that.

Spoiler Turn 429: Greece declares war on Spain :

As I have mentioned before, this was visible from a mile away. I'll actually be quite happy if Spain folds quickly if this means Sweden can get stronger. A strong Sweden would help contain Greece for a bit.

I start on Borobodur.

Spoiler Turn 436: Rome takes a capital :

Rome is going to be another superpower. I notice that particular civ typically doesn't do too well early on but just starts snowballing massively around this period. I don't expect his immediate neighbours to be able to contest him later on.

 

[YukiN]

Spoiler Turn 437: Hurricane Event :

The events system is not all sunshine and roses, and this is a big negative one unless you have the resources to bribe it to go away. A civ usually doesn't have that much gold floating or construction projects big enough to convert hammers at this stage of the game, so it's just a roll of the dice. A hit kills a big chunk of your population and levels quite a few buildings. I get lucky.

Spoiler Turn 438: Berlin demands Amber :

Berlin wants Amber. I would normally have passed as the cheapest source is 1k gold, but since I picked synagogues, I take the price. 10gpt is well worth 10 science right now.

Spoiler Turn 439: Someone's capital (not) getting ruined :

The capital that Rome took is changing hands. Normally, that place would be in shambles. However, with Rome's UA, it might actually be in a pretty decent state.

Spoiler Turn 441: Religion update :

Despite only having bought one missionary, my religion is spreading nicely without competitors. I am still behind in number of cities converted, but with my high conversion rate in my own cities and my relatively high population, I can almost reform.

Spain has probably fully converted all of Sweden. Instead of Spain falling from attacks from two sides, I wonder if a united war against Greece is possible.

Spoiler Turn 442: Spain enhances Buddhism :

Spain takes Veneration and Universalism. Spain gets more out of faith than almost every other civ, and yet she takes Veneration second. As I have mentioned in the Follower Beliefs thread, I feel this belief needs adjustment.

Spoiler Turn 442: Greece abandons me for Egypt, builds Hagia Sophia :

My DoF with Greece lapses and he refuses to renew, instead going with Egypt. Might have something to do with me selling my excess iron and horses to him at exorbitant lump sums earlier. More realistically though, this is probably because he sees me as a rival now and wants to put me down.

He completes Hagia Sophia on the same turn, confirming my earlier read.

I try to set up seige on Avaris using the choke, but that it is eventually broken as my pikeman cannot take the punishment and the terrain does not favour me rotating that unit.

Spoiler Turn 443: Greece tries to steal my land :

Greece tries to sneak a city to steal my olives. My trieme spots it and I buy the tile.

Spoiler Turn 449: Egypt has Knights :

The first Egyptian knight shows up before being baited fast the two tiles of forest and focus fired. That's a big win given how expensive they are, but I wonder if my tech advantage can hold.

 

[YukiN]

Spoiler Turn 450: Greece gets third Statecraft policy :

Greece is racing ahead now with his culture. The city state quest for culture visible on the bottom right shows him at about 1.7x my culture per turn. No one else has reached 8 policies.

Spoiler Turn 453: Greece declares war, enhances religion :

I can't say this is unexpected. Some quick hovering shows that it's a brokered war and the number of candidates for that is really not large.

Greece enhances on the same turn, taking Syncretism and Diligence. His science will be very strong. With no buildings, I wonder what he is going to spend all that faith on.

Spoiler Turn 454: Plundering again :

My scout that was plundering from the Portuguese is back at it again, this time with the Greeks. I fully intend to get my fair share from this brokered war.

Spoiler Turn 456: Spy in Berlin :

There is only one civ with spies at the moment given that I have yet to meet England. A shame that I can't call the AI out on this.

Spoiler Turn 457: Numbers for Culture :

Some numbers to put the cultural advantage of Greece into perspective. Once he wins this particular race, that particular city-state is going to be with Greece. I might be able to flip it by finishing Machu Pichu and sending some diplo-units though.

Spoiler Turn 457: An overview of German lands :

I should have included this in my last macro update, either when I got my religion or when I hit Medieval, but here it is.

On a side note, KL's naval units have been helping a decent amount with defending Dresden. Unfortunately, I can't build an embassy for that city-state. Not a great loss there though given the number of city-states in the game.

 

[amateurgamer88]

Those mountains aren't making your life easy for sure. Taking cities from Egypt is going to be tough, especially when he has Knights. I find Chivalry critical to offensive wars while Steel is great for defensive wars as you normally want a strong line to hold the enemy at bay for your ranged units to whittle down. At this point, Egypt might bog you down a lot, especially with this being on Deity and the AI gets lot of resources to keep funding its army.

Of course, I do find it ironic that you intend to take a few cities but I only see two trebuchet and they're far away from one another. If it was up to me, I'd target only Elephantine to create a big opening. However, I hope the war hasn't gone on long enough that WW is already taking place.

 

[YukiN]

Those mountains aren't making your life easy for sure. Taking cities from Egypt is going to be tough, especially when he has Knights. I find Chivalry critical to offensive wars while Steel is great for defensive wars as you normally want a strong line to hold the enemy at bay for your ranged units to whittle down. At this point, Egypt might bog you down a lot, especially with this being on Deity and the AI gets lot of resources to keep funding its army.

Of course, I do find it ironic that you intend to take a few cities but I only see two trebuchet and they're far away from one another. If it was up to me, I'd target only Elephantine to create a big opening. However, I hope the war hasn't gone on long enough that WW is already taking place.

I took Elephantine not long after this, but that was with my Heavy Skirmisher one shotting the city's health due to the buildings bug. I'll load up an earlier save and try again after the current patch stabilizes but I don't expect the result to be different since he had basically no units to defend it.

The way I approached the war is quit different than the usual blitzkreig smash and grab. I am working with a relatively small but advanced army and being careful not to lose units, playing very defensively while slowly bleeding Egypt. I would estimate that I've killed at least ten Egyptian units by the end of the last update while only losing one. My war-weariness is definitely better than Egypt's and I intend to punish him with the mechanism; I have seen his empire go to slight unhappy a couple of times and he is definitely over the supply cap, while I am not and have been developing nicely behind my army. Notice I haven't really been building units. Egypt has offered peace for about 1500 gold a few times and I've refused him each time. Once again, I am abusing the fact that I have no other neighbours to punish my long war to make Egypt miserable.

 

[amateurgamer88]

I took Elephantine not long after this, but that was with my Heavy Skirmisher one shotting the city's health due to the buildings bug. I'll load up an earlier save and try again after the current patch stabilizes but I don't expect the result to be different since he had basically no units to defend it.

The way I approached the war is quit different than the usual blitzkreig smash and grab. I am working with a relatively small but advanced army and being careful not to lose units, playing very defensively while slowly bleeding Egypt. I would estimate that I've killed at least ten Egyptian units by the end of the last update while only losing one. My war-weariness is definitely better than Egypt's and I intend to punish him with the mechanism; I have seen his empire go to slight unhappy a couple of times and he is definitely over the supply cap, while I am not and have been developing nicely behind my army. Notice I haven't really been building units. Egypt has offered peace for about 1500 gold a few times and I've refused him each time. Once again, I am abusing the fact that I have no other neighbours to punish my long war to make Egypt miserable.

I don't do blitzkreig smash and grab until much later with the right composition and techs. Otherwise, I also bleed the AI because they have so many units. Of course, that can change if I have an obvious advantage like having Knights while my opponent isn't close to Medieval Era yet. As for prolonged warfare, you do have to be careful with how long it is. If I'm fighting the leading civ, I don't mind one bit. However, you must remember that, the longer you war with Egypt, the less time you have to stop the snowballing civ, Greece in this case. Continent maps are interesting in that they make it so that, while you're fighting your wars, another civ is snowballing and there will come a stage when they get completely out of control. You're playing on Deity so I can only imagine how quickly an AI can snowball.

 

[YukiN]

Spoiler Turn 458: Borobodur completed :

I finish Borobodur without incident. It's not amazing for me, but it'll deny the religious superpowers a useful tool and give me an edge in converting city-states. I begin on my Reformation building.

Spoiler Turn 459: Songhai reforms Islam :

Askia picks crusader spirit. Despite his UU becoming outdated, he seems to be doing decently in his war and have picked an appropriately war-like Reformation belief.

Spoiler Turn 462: An opening :

After literally centuries of war, the Egyptian units have finally thinned out. I use my horseman to pillage the cotton tile, breaking Egypt's monopoly, and destroy the caravan afterward. This also covers the retreat of my Longswordsman. Said horseman then dies in glorious combat (horribly). My supply cap is getting lower and I build some walls to compensate. When I go over, I'll start deleting some of my legacy units.

Spoiler Turn 464: DenouncingVenice 2.0 :

I finish my Reformation building. In the meantime, the archer in the center of the screen will be my first sacrifice to the war-weariness gods.

There are some really good Reformation beliefs available here. Which would you pick?

 

[amateurgamer88]

If you feel confident of being and remaining the host of WC, I'd go with Global Commandments. Otherwise, I think Jesuit Education is quite nice. You want a boost of science which's rarely a bad thing. The faith you get from expending Great People will come in handy when you faith buy Great People starting Industrial Age. To the Glory of God isn't that bad since you'll easily get 20 cities following your religion. I guess it depends on your faith production by the time you hit Industrial Era. The others ones don't seem to well suited for you (and Holy Land is bugged so don't take it).

 

[YukiN]

The real contenders for me are Global Commandments and To the Glory of God. I expect to be able to sanction Greece in the first conference, which should slow him a bit. His warmongering also means the AI probably won't vote for him as host. On the other hand, Glory of God is pretty insane. I probably won't be going for Rationalism, so being able to buy Great Scientists will be very powerful. From that perspective, seems like Authority into Imperialism builds benefits the most from Glory of God. The extra yields seem negligible if they don't scale with era, but that's really not the point of the belief.

 

[YukiN]

I ended up taking Global Commandments. The yields were just too good to pass up. Given that they scale with era, the yields start at 30 rather than the 10 that is advertised. With Civil Service already researched and Guilds half-way done, I expect to be able to become the first host if I can find the final 2 civs in time.

Spoiler Turn 465: Alexander pillages a trade route :

Alexander sneaks in a dromon and gets a cargo ship. I killed one of his unguarded settlers the previous turn, but Alex comes out ahead in this trade. I found it a little amusing that he sent a dromon rather than a trireme. Dusseldorf finishes its walls this turn and starts on the Forbidden City.

Spoiler Turn 466: 2nd Great General :

I get a second Great General, Charles Martel. Sending out an archer in the early game to help clear camps on islands for city states has really given me an advantage over Egypt. Egypt should have a Great General by now too, but I haven't seen him. Probably hiding in the capital.

Spoiler Turn 468: Elephantine falls, peace with Alexander :

I take Elephantine, which I puppet. I don't have the happiness to annex the city and I plan to just hand all its good tiles to Avaris later anyway. Avaris itself is under seige again and will soon fall.

The last of Egypt's military can be seen. His heavy war-weariness means that he has been unable to get knights out to contest me since his first one. Upgrading his UUs to Skirmishers is really inefficient, but it's the best he could do.

The dying swordsman at the top of the screen is retired to appease the war-weariness gods for this turn. He had only one promotion (not including the base shock) and no Morale bonus.

I make peace with Alexander. I am unable to deal with that dromon right now and white peace will do.

Spoiler Turn 469: Machu Pichu completed :

I finish Machu Pichu in Essen. With a wide empire and 8 mountain tiles near the city, it represents a huge amount of yields. Completing the wonder also gets me some faith and influence from Budapest.

Spoiler Turn 469: Seiging Abydos :

This city doesn't even have walls yet despite how long the war has gone on. I take the city basically for free a turn later. The city is useless while also having a large population. I puppet it. I am in the red now for unit supply, but I can handle it for now. Avaris is a big prize.

Spoiler Turn 471: Avaris falls :

Avaris falls and I annex the city. As expected, Egypt has very graciously built my religious buildingss for me. I kill a couple more of Egypt's units and make peace with a warscore of 80.

The settlement is considerable and I get a full city out of it. Heliopolis is a good city, and even comes with an artifact. The AI has wisely moved the Burial Tomb artifacts from the other cities before they fell. I puppet Heliopolis for a turn before annexing to manage my happiness. Because Heliopolis wasn't taken by force, it doesn't get resistance turns.

Spoiler Turn 472: Mass promotions! :

Heliopolis is also the city KL wants me to take, and I get a considerable amount of influence as well as xp for all my units. Despite stating 40xp, I get 120 after adjusting for game speed. The tooltip should probably be fixed. The xp gives me my first 4 promotion unit. The longswordsman that took Avaris now has March. All my other units are bumped to 3 promotions, close to 4 for a fair number. Getting promoted units through combat is really hard on Marathon.

My empire is slightly unhappy from my new acquisitions, but nothing serious.

Spoiler Turn 474: New borders :

The war has concluded and my empire has recovered its happiness as resistance and war-weariness fade. I have managed to take 4 cities, of which Heliopolis and Avaris are the big prizes. I now have direct access to Thebes from Abydos. Pi-Ramesses and Alexandria are weak cities, to be puppetted and plundered for tiles at a future date.

It has been a good war.

 

[amateurgamer88]

It has indeed been a good war. However, how are you doing in tech and policies? When will you deal with Greece? After you take care of Egypt or will you wait until a later age like when you unlock Frigates and Corvettes? At this point, I'm surprised you haven't found all the civs. I guess you'll want a Caravel soon.

 

[YukiN]

It has indeed been a good war. However, how are you doing in tech and policies? When will you deal with Greece? After you take care of Egypt or will you wait until a later age like when you unlock Frigates and Corvettes? At this point, I'm surprised you haven't found all the civs. I guess you'll want a Caravel soon.

I'm only a few turns past the end of the of the previous post but I've found all the civs. I plan to consolidate for a bit to get my Hanses and Artist Guilds then sort out Egypt.

I am tied for tech with Greece, but behind by one policy. I'm certain that he is or was having a Golden Age due to his cultural output as well as some other clues. The next civ is 3 techs behind us and one policy behind me. I am fairly confident I can outscale him at least during Renaissance, so wars with him can wait a little. I also plan to immediately sanction him, which I am fairly certain will pass.

 

[YukiN]

Spoiler Turn 475: Found Seattle :

Now that the wars have concluded, I send my scouts off to explore once again. I want to say I found America, but there really isn't an America left. There is only one city to Washington's name now and he's 13 techs behind.

I met India on turn 470 and he's the only Tradition civ in this game. He's doing quite well, if not amazing.

Spoiler Turn 475: Religious Spread :

My religion is spreading well despite the lack of missionary purchases. I have both of my religious buildings up in most of my cities, getting them while they are still cheap. I place quite a high priority on Temples. 5 faith and 2 culture with possibly further buffs from baths is very strong.

Spoiler Turn 476: Alexander has 4th Statecraft policy :

Alexander's culture game is strong here. I am currently a full policy behind. He has declared war on Maria again, who is probably losing her capital this time. Taking a capital is significantly more warmonger penalty than most other cities, and should make sanctioning him easy.

I finish guilds and immediately start on Printing Press. The two of us are tied in tech but Alexander got his 29th tech slightly earlier.

Spoiler Turn 479: Pocatelo's Sutuation :

Pocatelo, who had been doing well previously, is now losing his war against the Songhai quite badly. I don't expect him to recover simply given how much production the Songhai have. He declared on Portugal to try to get a piece of the pie, but it doesn't really matter to either party.

I am mass building Hanses now. It's a strong building to start with and has an incredible scaler.

Spoiler Turn 484: Boudicca declares war on Pocatello :

I expect this to be the final nail in the coffin for that particular civ. I don't expect him to be able to survive this. Greece is dragged in by the defensive pact but it doesn't matter.

Spoiler Turn 485: Golden Age :

I find a natural wonder in Indian lands, which gets me a heap of Golden Age points and influence. It is timely as I am racing for WC host.

Spoiler Turn 485: American Lands :

I land on Roman shores and all I see are conquered American cities. Pocatello is losing more cities.

Spoiler Turn 486: Shoshone capital falls :

Askia takes the Shoshone capital and the three wonders within. The score gap between 3rd and 4th place is quite large at this point. He makes peace with the Shoshone a turn later, having gotten what he wanted.

Spoiler Turn 488: Roman and American spawns :

The Romans and Americans actually had a lot of space to divide between themselves, but their capitals were so close to each other that war was going to be both inevitable and brutal.

Spoiler Turn 488: Cotton Monopoly :

I gain the Cotton monopoly with my new lands. It's really not that much at this point in the game, but 18 yield tiles are a very nice feeling.

 

[YukiN]

Spoiler Turn 489: Greece gets 30th Tech :

Greece gets another tech, and I am actually somewhat relieved. This means that I will get to be WC host.

Spoiler Turn 492: Greece steals a Tech :

And yet, he still steals a tech from me, probably guilds. This tells me he went by the bottom part of the tech tree. Whatever tech it is though, it's expensive at this point of the game. No point in maintaining relations now. I denounce him for it.

 

[YukiN]

Spoiler Turn 495: Renaissance, Macro Indicators :

I finish Printing Press and hit Renaissance. I am the first civ there. The increase in faith costs is always a little annoying, but I'll be getting 150 yields per turn of various kinds from being host, boosted by whatever multipliers I have in the capital. The yields from finishing a building are also increased. The era advance also reduces my wonder costs to something a little more reasonable (from 105% to 60% extra). I resume construction of the Forbidden City after putting it briefly on hold.

I am second in score and either the leader or relatively close to the leader in all areas. The difference between the top 3 civs is not large though. I feel strong and Germany is famous for its late-game power. However, this is my first Diety VP game and the AI may surprise me with their scaling.

Greece's empire stretches from coast to coast. The tooltip still shows 30 techs. I'm not sure why this is the case. Does the spying notification come a little later than the actual theft? Greece is also very close behind me in gold.

I have managed to catch up to the Greeks in terms of tech and policies; I took Shadow Networks the previous turn. Of my wonders, Oracle and ToA are no longer really useful.

Askia got a large score bump from the Shoshone capital and now has the most wonders. India has also lost at least one city to him. He is however slightly behind in technology and policies. The other AI that are still relevant are in a similar position.

Spoiler Turn 495: Universities Event :

And now for something a little lighter. I get a nice yield boost to all my universities. The options are 2 science, 1 culture or 1 faith. One of them is 2 yields, so that's what I go with.

Spoiler Turn 497: Tech Tree update :

After Printing Press, I tech towards Machinery to get crossbows for my next war with Egypt. Notre Dame is still available and I might actually even get it if I try for it, but I am in a golden age with another soon to follow. Another wonder would probably be better.

Spoiler Turn 497: World Congress Proposals :

Spain and I have a fair number of votes for the first World Congress, and have both made proposals to punish Greece. Greece proposes World Religion since he has the most votes right now.

Spoiler Turn 498: Gold Influx :

Two city states want me to connect Salt. India and the Songhai had about the same price of 1.5k while the Egyptian copy is 3.5k. I buy from India and make a nice profit. Most of this gold will be waiting for the Forbidden City, which I invest in. Alexander can't have it, and getting it a few turns earlier is really nice.

Greece hits Renaissance a turn later by finishing all Medieval techs. This puts him one tech above me again.

Spoiler Turn 501: Forbidden City completed :

I manage to spend all my saved up gold investing in buildings immediately after finishing the Forbidden City. I thought I had a lot but that was clearly not the case. 15% of that is a nice 1k. I am very happy that I managed to get this wonder.