Pre-turn ruminations: Diplomatic check reveals tech parity with Japan and that they havent hooked their iron up yet. They also have no cash to rush pikes/samurai with yet. Elizabeth has Chivalry, but no one else does. Everyone except Joanie is at tech parity, with her needing Engin and Feudalism, but having nothing to trade us for them- given spears against knights, shes probably going to perish soon. Japan has 2 iron sources within practical reach, one needing a road to a mountain, and the other needing a colony as it is not within even the size 2 city radius of two cities in between them, so it will take them a while to catch up. They have a decent tech rate, and a nice swath of land to pick off if we can make it productive- the future palace move possibly a bit west of what we thought. Keeping China out of it will be tricky, but thats for the next leader. Im going to think that war is the best option for now, and rush Leos instead of Sistine. Real preparations for battle will happen after cleanup of the Mongol nation is complete. That, and getting rid of the massive stacks of Japanese units in our territory
if we could somehow get rid of them ahead of time
that would take away all their offensive power.
750 AD (0) Inherited turn. Sariwhon swapped to pike, due in 12, from library as it has no defense. It would be ridiculous to lose a city to a lone warrior invading from a galley because it wasnt defended. Lahore I leave alone, as it would take an absurdly long time to build a pike and it needs workers to clear out the jungle. We need a road to Haeju to upgrade its spear to a pike. I recommend we build another pike in another city, maybe Pyongsong, and send it there for defense as our outer cities will take the most in the counterattack. Suwon and Choju swapped to Pikes from walls (this can probably be changed by the next leader on their first turn if there turns out to be a reason.)
Sun Tzu status: I buy an updated WM from Japan for 5 gold, revealing no serious challengers for Seouls production due in 8 turns. The WM also reveals that Shimonoseki, the city with iron on its radius, also lacks a connection to the city net as well as the iron.
760 AD (1) We discover Invention and start research at Gunpowder at 6 turns and +15gpt for muskets/saltpeter. WLTK in Pusan. Inchon builds marketplace and starts courthouse. Ulsan builds marketplace and Onjo rushes Leos.
Cats do 1 damage at Hovd and it is captured with wounds but no losses. It is too corrupt to build anything, so I set it to a worker factory and send the wandering pike near Kazan to it.
770 AD (2) Nampo keeps building pikes. Ulsan starts Sistine, to grab it or get a prebuild for another wonder. With the FP there, itll keep its high production rate even if we move the palace, and is already the second-highest productive city after Seoul.
Spearman rushed in Suwon as upgrading it will be cheaper, and it frees up the horse there. Diplo check: No one has Invention, and no one has anything worthwhile to trade for it.
780 AD (3) Pusan builds Aqueduct; starts Courthouse. Suwon starts Walls. China starts Sistine in Tientsin, a tiny size 4 city that hasnt expanded its boundaries recently. Our cat is 0/1 in bombing Choybalsan, but we capture it before the opportunistic Japanese single archer landing (galley) takes it.
790 AD (4) Hyangsan keeps building MI. Palace expansion! A forest, the rest of the middle portion of the palace, and the left wing are erected to the glory of the Korean empire. Catapults are 0/3 at Baruun-Urt, the last city of the Mongols, and I summon a MI from Hoyd.
800 AD (5) Japans SOD heads for their borders, away from former Mongol territory.
Bombay completes its marketplace, and starts building pikes. Japan starts Sistine in Kyoto, which might be a major challenger if it grows fast enough. Baruun-Urt falls, with no losses, and the Mongol hordes breathe their last.
810 AD (6) Delhi builds marketplace, starts pike. It will have a barracks by the time it builds (Sun Tzu in 2). Taejon builds temple, starts pike.
820 AD (7) We discover Gunpowder; start Chemistry at 6 turns for -8 gpt. Lahore keeps building workers. We have three sources of saltpepper in the north, with one already hooked up to the trade network (Chonju) and two waiting for roads (Sariwon, Delhi).
830 AD (8) Chivalry pops from the Great Library. Seoul builds Sun Tzu; starts Courthouse. WLTK day in . Pyongsong builds marketplace, starts courthouse. Japan, China, Persia, and England switch Sun Tzu builds to Sistine. Everyone except Joanie has Chivalry, including Japan, but no one else has Gunpowder yet. All the healthy MI are moving to our border near Japan in preparation for a strike there, though the Japan SOD is taking its time moving out of our territory. Mass upgrade of Spears to Muskets for 440 gold. Mass upgrade of Pikes to Muskets for 450 gold. This should encourage Japan to move its SOD away from our borders long enough for our MI to get up there. Well make the money back fairly quickly if necessary, but were better prepared for a counterattack now, and there will be one. The Japanese have saltpeter, but not hooked up, near Karachi- that city should be next after Shimonoseki.
840 AD (9) Karakorum builds marketplace, starts musket. Hyangsan keeps building MI. Paegam builds temple and starts marketplace.
850 AD (10) Nampo builds courthouse, starts Palace prebuild for the next wonder we get. Ulanbataar builds temple, starts marketplace. The musket in Kazan moves south to cover our flanks and discourage AI single warrior landings.
France is in serious trouble and I think our peace with them is an additional reason why the rest of the world is annoyed/furious with us. That, and us being the power/tech leader. We have the tech lead, and no one has Education yet. With the speed Chivalry was passed around, we have to assume that the AI will sell it for near-nothing as none of the other AIs besides England really had anything at the time. Chemistry is due in 3 turns at 3 gpt. Our military advisor now says that we have a strong military as compared to Japan and an average military as compared to China. We may have to buy Mao off to avoid him ganging up on us, or else heavily reinforce along his border. Sariwan and Lahore should be the next priority cities for muskets, as we need to have a garrison in each city for tactical and preventative reasons. Also, we should send a musket/MI pair to the iron source on the western side of Japanese territory to fortify/deny it there.
850 AD
He attacks the one who provided him with Iron 
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. Leaving Cultural link on as well may not be out of the question. It sure looks like it was on :mutant:. Very few games have it on these day - Lets just consider it another variant 
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Still, no iron for Toku. Chinese riders have taken the field, though.
![[party]](/images/smilies/partytime.gif "Party [party]")
