Sorry if this is a bit detailed but I hope to encourage questions and criticism (even if my game goes down in flames
).
725BC: GLH is BIAFAL.
700BC: Meet Mansa Musa.
550BC: My econ has improved a little so I found Old Sarai on the flood plains spot in the south. I will not be cottaging it, at least for a long time. In fact, I am considering making it my HE city. For now it will alternate scientists and prod.
525BC: Just as I feared...
Hannibal is about to build a city in a dumb spot, on my part of what now appears to be a continent divided by a mountain range.
450BC: How adorable, the barbs are cottaging!
Those will be fun to pillage with Keshiks. Gotta love abusing the barbs.
This is something I am sure the experts are already fully aware of but it was not until fairly recently that I stopped watching the barbs as closely. By keeping a distance, the barbs are allowed to improve their cities, making it a far better capture later on, even if just for the workers they build. The only worry is if AIs are nearby they can snatch the spots, of course.
425BC: HBR is in and I will spare you all the screenshots but over the next few turns I traded it for: IW, sailing, pottery, poly, archery, maths (on parity!), PH, Med, and about 1/2 of alpha. Boo ya, HBR doubters!
A GE is also born this turn and I settle him in the capital. Sometimes the mids pay off in ways other than early Rep.
350BC:
I realize that a barb city is blocking my trade routes to Izzy and the other continent! Like an idiot I was completely oblivious to this eventuality and it is yet another thing I could have dealt with earlier if I had done a better job of scouting with WBs (by far my primary mistake so far). Oh well, no sense
now. The barbs were cute when they were cottaging but now they will have to die.
200BC: I realize that Victoria has the GLH. I wonder if I should aim to shut her out of trade with my continent by closing borders with her. That should keep her from getting Hannibal's trade routes as well, right? GLH won't be near as good without intercontinental trade. (Btw, a little later my culture expanded to reach Fred's so the barbs blocking my trade routes was not a big issue afterward.) For now I need OBs for scouting, though.
100BC: Then this...
I did not see that coming. Annoyingly, he lands two swordsmen next to my warrior-defended capital with a galley and I had to whip an axe with no hammers in it, right after I had whipped for something else. The overflow was only enough to build a scout and I barely escaped with my whip-battered capital intact. If that weren't enough, Hannibal had been my only trade route partner because of the barb city! The war resulted in me killing one swordsman and wounding the other which ran away to mama Hannibal, terrified of my scout defenses. A while later I got the peace event and ended the war.
100AD: Victoria DoW's Gilgamesh. There seems to be a lot of religious conflict with a Buddhist faction (Izzy, Gilgy) and a Hindu faction (MM, Vicky, Fred). Hannibal is Confucian and I still have no religion.
150AD: I cannot understand why Izzy is in WFYABTA. She is burying me!
200AD: HG is in.
This project got delayed a bit due to the war with Hannibal but with stone I couldn't resist. The extra GE points in the cap are welcome, as is the extra pop everywhere. I have been whipping pretty brutally.
I am still behind in tech with everyone except Gilgy who all the Hindus hate. The HG has made happiness problematic, however, and I need monarchy to improve those wine tiles so I trade currency to Gilgy. I suffer -1 with Vicky and Fred but I will just have to deal.
I also get peace with Hannibal this turn and I gift him alpha which puts us back at pleased (everyone else had it). I will probably fight him first but not for awhile and I want to get OB's again. (he says "come back in a few turns").
275AD: CoL is in and I trade for Calendar, Construction, Mono.
375AD: GS is born in Beshbalik - academy.
400AD: My Keshiks (and my econ, since I will be keeping the cities) are ready to wail on some barbs!
With combat2 (almost all were built after Ger and Barracks) they get 79.7% odds against the barb archers, far superior to the typical 61.7% of CR1 axes.
475AD: Christianity spreads to my land, the first religion to reach me. Unfortunately it is useless except maybe for a monastery or two until FR since no one is running it.
I make a couple resource trades with my wine and silk which gives me a comfortable happy cap.
Civ Service is in and I revolt to bureaucracy and Caste System.
500AD: Save.
Demographics:
Tech situation:
Izzy is getting grabby.
I considered it for a while but eventually decided to refuse. I need that money for deficit teching and I figure Izzy has bigger fish to fry on her own continent.
Where to go from here:
My pop is a little low due to some frantic whipping right before the civic swap so I have a little growing to do before CS is in full effect. The good news is my core cities are well improved and I have the happiness to grow. My beaker count should rise pretty quickly.
On the agenda is finishing off the barbs and expanding westward with two cities. I whipped the settlers before the civic swap, along with pretty much all the important infrastructure. The workers captured from the barbs will help with improvements, though I am sure to wreck my econ again. As long as I can keep those scientists working it should be no prob though.
I will be managing my scientists to try to maximize GS pops. A few cities should all be able to pop if managed a bit. In should probably try to trade for aesthetics/Lit and marble to build the NE in the capital.
As always, questions, comments and critiques are welcome.
If only I was spiritual for some switching between CS and slavery...
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