I start by carefully checking the Diplomacy screen. I don't want to mess and fire some "You traded with our worst enemies!" problem. We can't trade with Brennus, it gives the risk of making Zara unhappy (and we don't want that, do we?). And so, I thought of trading for Engineering, but I found that we are 2 turns away from that, so no.
I think now about what to do at the end of the GA... decisions, decisions... Well, the choice is straightforward. We don't have state religion, and I decide to simply adopt Free Religion for the moment. +10% to science is almost nothing (something like free Monastery in every city), but it doesn't hurt either...
Slavery -> Caste System? No, not that either, I think. We will benefit from whip much, especially with a Globe Theatre city.
So, only a trivial change... From Paganism -> Free Religion, and uh wow, we got actually about 100 beakers out of it. A pity it's all about Golden Age, but still.
I cruise through our cities and see that we have no Academies in them! I like to have at least 2 Academies, each for one of the science cities. So, I decided to dial some scientists in Edoras... or I was up too. In fact, we have only a bit less than 1/4 chance to get a Great Engineer! However, we can also get something such disgustingly ambiguous as Great Artist, which, on isolated continent, simply doesn't work at all. Therefore, I think nobody will hang me up if I speed up the production of a Great People and give us a better chance that it will be a really good choice! Two scientists in Edoras dialed up, siree!
http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/6950/civ4screenshot0033lh0.jpg
And see that Angkor Wat isn't built. Well, this is a wonder that I would like to fire in our capital. Why? Well, some wonderspam games shown that some of juicily pumped prophets give a good deal of production, we don't need Ironworks that way!
I still didn't decide what to do with Great Spies. I am reluctant to mess too much with them. I could settle them for extra SIX beakers and nice +12 espionage points to boot! If I delay, we will get the benefits faster. But since the first one is still "on deck", I'm not going to do anything with the second one. You certainly have a plan.
Ahh... and I'd really *love* to get Buddhism to our lands. We don't have the biggest relationship modifier in the game - religion! And spreading religion is important, especially after Theocracy (who needs Vassalage? :]), and Organized Religion (which certainly helps). Pacifism in peace times would help Edoras...
OK, enough of that grumbling. I'm sitting at the first turn for 15 minutes now, 10 minutes spending on writing.
Next turn, and...
HOLY HOLY CRAP!
ZARA YAQOB DECLARES WAR ON US!!!
Well, I suppose THAT flushes alliance with Zara down the toilet! And WE HAVE NO IRON! How am I able to win without Longbowmen, even?!
And Qin built Angkor Wat, scratch that also (we didn't waste any hammers on it, because I dialed it AFTER observatory that Edoras didn't finish yet). On the final turn of Golden Age, I decided to get Gunpowder for protection, and uh wow, we can get needed 1800 beakers in one turn! I must stop underestimating Golden Age, I think.
Ah, and Zara has released some of his cities to a colony state. We have a new competitor - it turned out to be Mansa Musa. Financial civ running a colony, probably surrounded with water - oh, why in my second turnset all those bad things must happen? I will buy some lottery ticket tommorrow, that's for sure. Malinese territory is below.
EP provided us with an info that Qin is three turns from Printing Press. I made this minor deal:
Why? We don't have these outdated techs, Qin is close to get Printing Press anyway, and some spare gold can't hurt.
Oh God, I think I know now what means "beware of those genuinely hand-crafted maps!" No Iron on any island, nor even Copper.
And the fact that we're in the middle of the power graph is quite surprising, given the fact that one of our strongest units is the Explorer down that island...
I bought a World Map from Hannibal for 105 gold, revealing the main continent. Qin Shi Huang is pushed in his territory, he simply sucked at expansion, probably going for wonders, I suppose he asked for a protector. Since Beijing is the only juicy city with it's resources, I think that Chinese are not going to be any big player in this game.
I'm delaying the journey of our three Immortals to the island, because we are pressed to defend our hopelessly defended cities.
And that makes me fear EVEN MORE:
Folks, this is going to be a wild ride. And Qin Shi Huang broke away from Hannibal. Wow, it's only two turns, and so much happens!
I ordered Military tradition. Cuirassiers will improve our glory - the mounted armies! And we need military badly. I would switch to Democracy, but Zara's betrayal (at Pleased...) forced me to, and Brennus is twitching...
As predicted, we've got a Great Scientist. Quick rush through our cities - and Dunharrow is the winner. His head explodes for our cause.
We have Military Tradition. Weaker cities still spam Musketmans, those really weak work at what they worked, and in strong, I dial Cuirassiers... umm... wait, we don't have Iron.
Weed to the boot! "A man in weed is in weed indeed!"
Ectabana gets a workshop, in my mind, after Chemistry it will give +1 to production, we will want to squeeze production from that city.
Important note:
I emphasize spying on Zara. We will want to know what's going on here, he's quiet, even though he declared that war...
We get Christianity in Methedras. Nice, but we don't need that.
And... whew! Brennus declares war on... Zara Yaqob! How convenient for us.
And shortly thereafter, Pacal II does TOO! Do you think you have time to mess with an intercontinental civ now, you ". .. .. .. .. .. ."?
And we have now nice diplo bonuses with Pacal and Brennus for war-sharing.
And now for something completely different:
Gave it to him.
Save is below... With special thanks to pholkhero - now a better player can fight out of this mess!
). I will keep you informed.
