IT 30AD: We have fallen behind technologically, the Egyptians being ahead Theology and Feudalism, and several civs being ahead Feudalism. This is probably largely from lack of trading by previous leaders. Note that trading frequently is very important on Emperor.
Since Theology has been discovered by Egypt, I cut research to 10%. We will save up some cash and broker our way to the top when the time is right. Plugging a little science into Theology will give us a discount on it later.
I note that Stavanger was acquired with a courthouse. This could make it the perfect city to build our forbidden palace in. Hmm...should we build it there, or should we just build it closer to home at a much faster rate? Stavenger still does have substantial chance of flipping, so I decide reluctantly to go for the FP in nearby Odessa instead. Due in 32 turns. We really should have started on the FP earlier.
We need some workers in the north. Oslo is switched to one, and workers in Trondheim and Bergen are rushed. Stavenger is set to build a library.
We really need a worker factory, and St Petersburg can fill that role. Market -> Granary. Birka spear -> library.
Our only possible trade partner is Scandanavia, and although it would be nice to trade with them, I figure that we may want to attack them again once our peace treaty expires, and so I decline to.
1 50AD: Bergen worker -> library. Trondheim worker -> library. Oslo worker -> worker. Trade around maps for chump change.
2 70AD: St Petersburg: granary -> worker; Yakutsk spear -> library.
3 90AD: Moscow marketplace -> temple.
I build an Embassy in Beijing. They have a palace and a library in there, and it's guarded by three regular spearmen, and a regular archer. They have NO strategic resources hooked up, and are building the Hanging Gardens, due in 22 turns. They have 9 production per turn, and they are not growing. What say we wait for them to complete the wonder, and then take the city? We easily have enough swordsmen to do it.
4 110AD: England demands territory map + 23 gold. We tell her to get lost. Apparently we're not even worth the effort it would take to destroy us. Worker merged into Odessa to speed the FP.
5 130AD: Now Egypt and England have Engineering. Even the Vikings and Chinese have Feudalism. Not many opportunities for a good deal though. We bide our time.
6 150AD: Tblisi library -> marketplace. Egypt completes the Hanging Gardens, and the Chinese and others cascade to Sun Tzu's. Hmm...it'll take a while for them to complete that, so it might end up better to go to war with them sooner.
Time to cut a deal, though it's going to be expensive. 215 gold + 15gpt to England for Theology. Theology + 2gpt to the Celts for Engineering. Theology to China for 28 gold + Feudalism. Theology to Ragnar for Monarchy + 15 gold. And, the behind civs are also the poor civs so we can't get any more back than that.
Several civs have Chivalry, but other than that we are at parity, albeit saddled with 18gpt payments. I set research to printing press, with a scientist in Oslo, going for 40 turn research.
We can now trade with China, but....they don't have anything to sell us.
7 170AD: Moscow temple -> horseman. Let's get those mobile attackers going. One day they will be cossacks!
Bergen switched from library to barracks. We're going to want to upgrade to MDIs to finish Scandinavia off.
8 190AD: Minsk harbor -> aqueduct; Yakutsk library -> aqueduct.
The harbor opens up trade routes with the English, Egyptians, and Celts. We sell Greece Engineering for 30 gold. We sells gems to the English for 7gpt + 15 gold. There is also an export market to either Egypt or England for Dyes or Spices, but we only have one of each hooked up. We do have more spices in our territory though, so I send workers to hook them up. We do not seem to be able to buy luxuries at worthwhile prices currently.
9 210AD: Kiev marketplace -> horseman. We build a colony on furs, hooking them up. Luxuries cut to 10%, giving us a surplus of 64gpt.
I establish an embassy in London. We want to get these embassies going. They have four pikemen and a catapult defending the city, and are building another. They have a barracks, temple, library, cathedral, colosseum, and the great library.
10 230AD: Birka library -> worker. Move workers onto spices ready to road them up.
Oops...I fat-fingered it, and accidentally pressed space, before I saved. Odense (a small former Viking city) goes into disorder, and the next player will have to take it from the beginning of the turn. Sorry about this.
Our forbidden palace is now 11 turns away from completion. There are 6 turns remaining on our peace treaty with the Vikings. I suggest that we rush the barracks in Bergen just before the peace treaty expires, upgrade our swordsmen to MDIs, then declare war, and run them over as quickly as possible. (We may want to come round from the south, since that's the quickest path to Reykjavik, before declaring war).
I suggest NOT upgrading elite swordsmen. Any great leader should probably be used to rush Sun Tzu's.
I suggest building a road up from between Sevastapol and spice addicts to Aarhus. Once we take Aarhus and eliminate the Vikings, we can march straight down the road to Sevastapol and Odessa, and be ready to attack the Chinese.
Be sure to make sure St Petersburg always produces a worker every 2 turns. This will take some annoying management with the silly govenor.
Also make sure we always have a scientist going for Printing Press. We may decide to start our own full strength research (likely on something other than PP) sometime soon. Chivalry is NOT a technology high on our priority list at this stage. Getting Education, and then going straight for Military Tradition and our mighty Cossacks is probably a good plan fairly soon.
Good luck to the next player!
-Sirp.
The Game
Another 3/3 Archer attacks and kills another 2/4 Swordsmen
