you are also free to nit pick in these areas
Nit pick, moi?

...and there I was giving out all this advice to help (i) you with your game, (ii) others to learn and (iii) indeed, do so myself.
Returning to a more serious note and back to your game Shafi:
Firstly, well done capturing Shakas peripheral cities.

Had you been a little more lucky with the spies, Ulundi could also easily be in your hands right now. In addition, your economys in good shape - youre number one or two in the categories that matter, so, even though things may look a little tough at the mo, youve done very well.
As a general theme, given that your economys in good shape (and continuing to build infrastructure in your new cities will only help), Id definitely advocate continuing to build military ahead of another war with Shaka. Moreover, the rate at which Ive seen Shaka and Nappy spam troops in the past when DoWd means I think that this decision has already been made for you. (BTW, when it comes to infrastructure, is there any reason for building a temple in Nongoma rather than a library for the +25% research or a Buddhist monastery to build a missionary for and enable another monastery in Moscow?)
That said, the upcoming turns covered by the peace treaty are very important for two reasons:
(a) you currently have no means of reinforcing Nobamba except through French territory since, unfortunately, the gem tile 1N, 1NE of Nobamba is still in Shakas hands, preventing you from reinforcing the city via the fort. Whilst you could redeploy two of the workers around Nongoma to connect you to French roads S of the city to speed up this route (leaving other workers to be re-deployed to cottage Nodwengu and / or as I mention later), its probably better to simply move any and all troops you build for war to your fort so they can hit the front ASAP once war starts.
(b) I agree with JammerUno, the biggest obstacle you face re: capturing multiple cities in war with Shaka at this point is not your lack of troops, but more your lack of siege. Looking at the troops you have around Nobamba for example, I count fifteen city attackers (maces and elephants) but only eight siege, four of which are catas. Moreover, you currently have four cities producing maces. As Ive moved up the levels, one of the best rules of thumb Ive found is to have at least as many (and very often, significantly more) siege in a stack as I have attacking troops. That way, I can either (a) severely bombard defences on turn one and then / or (b) inflict significant collateral damage to a fortified enemy stack, before sending my ground troops in, effectively just to clean up. Assuming youre looking to re-declare at a time when you dont have a significant technological advantage (eg. rifles vs longbows), Id humbly submit that siege and spy production is hugely important right now. With that in mind, Id humbly suggest getting Novgorod, Lakamha and even Moscow to build / whip trebs during the peace treaty once their maces are complete. Extra troops can wait until the trebs are built IMHO.
As a result of (a) and (b) above, I think the objective of the next war you fight has to be to take not only Ulundi, but also Bulawayo, crippling Shaka - and giving you access to Nobamba via the fort. To this end, I think the timing of the war will depend entirely on how long it takes you to build another stack to take out Bulawayo (bearing in mind Shaka will shortly be able to produce maces). Once youve done this, Id then suggest:
(a) keeping the X-bow, elephant and maybe the axe to defend Nobamba. Everything else takes on Ulundi.
(b) using the maces currently in production, the trebs and other units you whip in, and units currently at the fort to hit Bulawayo.
You have an interesting choice re: what to build in Mutal next. A forge would give you long term benefits but trebs would boost an immediate DoW after the peace treaty expires. On balance, Id whip a forge at a sweet spot and then build a treb for war.
Starvation and zero food in the granary in Nobamba means you lose a pop next turn. To avoid this, whip in a spy immediately and then recommence the library. Further spy production should be undertaken by Rostov or St Petes (after its sacrificial treb has finished) since neither has a barracks. To speed this up, whip the temple in Rostov immediately and build a spy or two to send to Ulundi. Together with the spy from Nobamba, you could have 2 or 3 sitting in Ulundi when you re-declare.
Re: your tech path. I presume liberalism is next, but why the preference for astronomy (and teching off compass and optics)? For the benefit of me and others who want to learn, is it because youre gunning for the circumnavigation bonus, or for the observatories (or indeed both) from astro? One of the reasons I ask is because, if the former, is it worthwhile, as JammerUno mentioned, leveraging optics (which I note that Nappy also has) to build two caravels ASAP in Uxmal and send them off in different directions? If the observatories, how quickly do you think youll be able to build them in your commerce cities given that you seem to want to war? Another reason I ask is that with astronomy obsoleting Stonehenge (which you built), youll lose the free monument in each city and have one less culture point each turn in any newly captured city to fend off Shaka...all at a time when the absence of drama means you cant yet build culture to pop borders. In other words, I guess I'm really asking how does astronomy fit into your plan to occupy your continent ASAP, which presumably you still want to do, to keep open the possibility of conquest or domination victories?
With all that in mind, if youre talking of war, is it worthwhile considering nationalism as the free tech? After all, you need it for cuirassiers, which could (i) give you an earlier tech advantage (ii) give you a natural counter to Nappys UU, the musketeer (with its 2MP) and (iii) they are a natural upgrade for your many chariots. (Although Alkaloids is right to acknowledge that Nappy has guilds, Nappy may actually be closing in on gunpowder to spam musketeers.)
I notice you popped a GG during this war.

Is there any reason however why hes in Nodwengu? I only ask because, IMHO, hed be better off attached to a more mobile chariot as a MASH unit. If you do this BTW, it also increases the value of literature as a post war tech, since you would then be able to build the HE in Novgorod (as well as the NE in Mutal.)
On another topic, I notice youre not generating many GP points at this time. With that in mind, how about temporarily re-assigning two of the coastal tiles in St Petes to create both a priest and an engineer specialist (which are currently the only two GPs this city will generate)? If you then pop a prophet 19 turns later, you could burn him / her for a golden age. Popping a GE meanwhile gives you some interesting choices (i) a shiny wonder (ii) steel if you stay away from printing press or (iii) thinking longer term, Mining Inc. Talking of great people, Id be very inclined to run two merchants rather than a spy in Mutal (ie. give up one corn for one turn and re-assign the spy specialist) to (i) provide some gold and (ii) improve the chances of generating a GM for a trade mission (eg. to get gold to upgrade those chariots to cuirassiers). If you whip a forge in Mutal, you could also add a GE specialist to the city.
When it comes to micro and worker management, Id look at the following: Novgorods currently working a 3H 1C mine which should instead work the elephants. In St Petes, Id cottage the watermill, the workshop and unimproved tile to maximise commerce since the city has an academy (thanks Cathy

). Even after working these tiles, the city will still have a food surplus which can be used to run science specialists after it generates a prophet or engineer for you. In Chichen Itza, Id work the 4H mine rather than a coastal tile to take 5 turns off building the Moai whipping coastal tiles to finish it will only undo the Statues benefit. Lastly, Id be inclined to cottage Moscows watermill if you plan on staying in bureaucracy.
Lastly, shyuhe makes a great point re: Nappy vassalising Shaka which, IMHO, reinforces two points: (i) now that phase one of the war with Shaka is over, there is value in moving around a few troops in your central cities to your borders (as well as the fort) even though they will admittedly provide only token resistance at the mo (ii) IMHO, it adds to the case for re-declaring on Shaka sooner rather than later.
Talking of shyuhe, thanks for your post re: the granary, its good to learn! As it happens, your link and RRRashkolnikovs findings motivated me to take a look at the workings of the granary in much more detail, given that the article I posted earlier this thread made it clear that the best time to whip a granary is when the food bin is half full (and which I advocated doing, doh!) With the research now done, Ill write up my findings in an article on the strategy articles forum (so as not to disrupt the flow of Shafis thread), in about two weeks time (in the meantime, RL is a little hectic!), which will hopefully resolve the confusion surrounding the issue. Thanks again for the heads up!
As always Shafi, I look forward to reading the next round.
