First off, the save:
View attachment Osman_550_AD.SAV
This isn't really what I meant by "tomorrow", but I was really stuck on this one, and from the fact that I wasn't skipped, I think everyone else was, too. Either that or everyone was just busy. I finally played my set just now; as to whether I really accomplished anything, only time will tell:
Preflight:
get Sumerian world map for our WM+5 gold+6gpt
disband 3 warriors; move 2 swords each toward Antalya and Suez, will disband warriors when they arrive
1 sword from Istanbul to Uskudar for MP
change some city builds--no more units right now; high-commerce cities build markets, corrupt cities build courthouses, harbor in Iznik, lib in Denizli, wealth in Bursa and Mugla
drop lux to 30, raise sci to 20, change all but 3 taxmen to geeks
IBT: nothing
1: dinky and galley continue sailing; dinky headed for China (now visible thanks to Sumerian WM)
IBT: Istanbul market->wealth; Denizli lib->harbor (20); Sumeria building Magellan's
2:
gpt now +5, so change 2 more taxmen to geeks, rep in 16, +1 gpt; 1 geek becomes citizen in Uskudar whan sword arrives
IBT: Iznik harbor->courthouse
3: swords arrive at Antalya, so disband warriors; make 1 more geek; rep in 14, breaking even
IBT: Edrine market->wealth
4:
swords reach Suez, disband warriors
raise sci to 30, rep in 11, +1 gpt
IBT: nothing
5: China will give 1 gold for territory map--forget it
IBT: nada
6: zip
IBT: Uskudar harbor->market (17)
7: zilch
IBT: gpt drops to -1; caused by forest chop in Istanbul (which is producing wealth)?
8: change geek to taxman, rep in 5, +1 gpt
IBT: Sumeria demands TM and 5 gold; we cave--attitude now cautious (was annoyed); Sumeria and China are in the IA now--this is not good; Kafa riots, so make a geek (after slapping self in head for not checking CAII at end of last turn)
9: zero
IBT: bupkus (I think that's how you spell it)
10: change all specialists to geeks, drop sci to 20, rep in 3, +8 gpt
So basically I did some building and some research, but I don't know if it did any good. IMHO we should revolt to republic ASAP, but unit support costs will be a big problem when we do. A few ideas on how to reduce costs overall:
1. Sell all barracks in all but our 5 or 6 highest-shield cities. If we decide to build up our forces later, the other cities can build bombardment units.
2. After the revolt (or maybe before), see how much luxes will cost. If we can get one for </= 13 gpt, we should. In fact, it might be good to buy as many luxes as possible as long as we still have substantal gpt coming in afterward, enough to buy a tech or two every so often. It'll also let us drop the slider and get some folks back to work.
3. Alternatively (or maybe additionally), we should give some thought to building some temples. Given our total lack of luxes, they might actually be useful.
Those things can help us get stronger, but I still don't know how to win this. The suicide galley fleet idea (to capture the GLib) might work--there's a relatively safe passage through Chinese waters, though we'll need an embassy and a RoP for that. Of course, once we land, we'll be facing riflemen (or possibly worse by then), and it might require a RoP rape if we don't want the fleet to get destroyed--I don't know how everyone feels about that. I think we should avoid it if we can.