Round 8: 460 AD to 1090 AD (51 Turns) - You Have Discovered Steel! - Part 1
No, the game didn't end in 1090 AD. I'm just doing part of the update right now.
Anyway, this round focuses on the post-Liberalism age and the pre-Steel age. Did that make any sense?
Here's what happend....
I began to do a genuine transition from a specialist economy (yes, I am aware of the Crazy Economy vs. Silly Economy thread...) to a cottage economy by bulldozing over farms near a few cities. I tried to leave as many farms intact in my capital because the city's function was in part to generate Great People. I know some of you have advocated cottaging the capital but it is my firm belief that farming the capital was the right move because 1) Gandhi is not financial, he is philosophical and 2) The capital has plenty of production but it would have less with a cottaged capital because of the less food available for working production tiles. Another city I left farmed was Agra since it was to be the Globe Theatre city for drafting muskets.
As I was playing along, I took advantage of this bug I have seen countless times.
Yes, assass1n, you were correct.
Saladin (Spiritual/Protective) is in this game and I know he views Wang as his worst enemy even though I haven't met him. (Strangely enough, he would become PLEASED with Wang later.) I took advantage of this knowledge by not wasting my time building a caravel. I would wait for the other AI's to come to me.
It didn't take long for me to wait. A turn after I did a bunch of trades with Ram/WK/Cy (sorry, no screenshots available), I met ...
Shaka (Aggressive/Expansive)! I was worried as soon as I met him because he was really advanced, with Guilds, Engineering, Optics and Gunpowder to boot. Of course, as usual, he was lacking basic techs like Paper and Philosophy.
But wait! Upon further examination of his diplomacy screen, I figured out who the last AI was, and the cause of that lone Great General born on the other continent.
Addis Ababa is a city on his list, but that is an Ethiopian name! Therefore,
Zara Yaqob (Organized/Creative) is also in the game. Just like that, I know all 3 AI's on the other continent. This was also good news to me because Zara is traditionally a strong and balanced AI. It looks like Shaka certainly took him down a notch.
I used a Great Scientist I obtained last round to lightbulb a portion of Printing Press for me. While that tech isn't quite useful for an empire without cottages, it would be needed eventually and would also help unlock Rifles.
I used a trick where I could gift Shaka 10 gold pieces and he would become pleased (but only for one turn). I obtained a world map from the Zulu leader.
Now, as I mentioned before, I was quite worried about the other continent as soon as I saw it because it looked like (at first) that Shaka had took over 3/4ths of it. But, of course, there was Saladin, who has the most land and population.
Some of you were concerned about my abysmal teching rate. While I agree that I should try and increase my beakers-per-turn rate, I found ways to keep my slider at 100% from trading world maps.
This is a strategy useful on all high level games. When you're the first on your continent to get a world map from a civilization on the other continent, you can sell your maps for a hefty sum of gold. I think I made over 1,000 gold pieces from selling world maps (I sold maps to every AI). The AI values maps by the amount of land tiles revealed.
With the Great Scientist's help, Printing Press didn't take long to complete.
Of course, it didn't exactly have a great impact on my economy. I am still floundering at 300 beakers at 100% science. That's still pretty good for most games (at 550 AD), though. Oh, and I was also first to Printing Press.
Shaka is making my continent-mates seem like backward nations....
After Printing Press was completed, I researched a turn into Engineering in order to make this trade with Cyrus. Researching into technologies makes them cheaper in the eyes of the AI.
By that point, I had decided that Ramesses II would be my target, for the following reasons:
1. He doesn't build that many units
2. His land is great
3. He has wonders
4. His culture is annoying me
5. WK/Cyrus are enemies so won't go after me if I declare war on Ram
6. Trades can be done with overseas AI who don't have as much WFYABTA counter
7. The alternative is Cyrus, but he builds a
lot of units.
If a city has the Temple of Artemis, that will greatly affect the yield from a trade mission as well.
I won't be able to check the other continent.
Maybe tonight, or tomorrow.
