IHT - Continue railroading in the North, rearrange a few units that were standing around doing nothing useful, and hurry a settler out of Ciudad Mercador for 68 gold.
1655 AD (1) Sanitation comes in; unfortunately, everyone already has it. One cav dies and one retreats but the town of Tosontsengel is ours - or it would have been, if I hadn't razed it
. Vitoria replaces it, and the three slaves are disbanded in Elche to help speed up another settler. A stack of several rifles and about 20 cannon move in on Choybalsan.
IT I sent 2 wounded horses to Madrid, but the automove misdirected them onto some hills to the North - a rifle was dispatched to cover them (they ended up on a roadless hill
) but a Mongol cav kills the rifle.
1660 AD (2) The cannon aren't that effective, but effective enough to take off 2 hp from the lone (!) rifleman protecting Choybalsan and Cop's. An elite moves in and:
The Observatory is, of course, burned to the ground. I decide to refound a city there 1 tile NE so we can trash Hovd too before we have to make peace. Bayanhongor on the small peninsula gets it too with no losses; our Conquistador opens a hut but it's empty
.
The same wounded Mongol cav that killed our rifle last turn now survives 2 vet cav attacks
An elite cav finally kills it but yet again, no leader.
IT No AI counterattack whatsoever ! The Mongols are as gassed as can be, and the other continent is still engaged in bloody war.
1665 AD (3) Found Santander, advance on Hovd. Send a new settler from Seriously Chingado to form a city in the jungle to the west of Lugo. Workers do their thing. We have finally amassed enough money to attempt a careful steal. I say a little prayer and:
I chose electricity both because it leads to Rep Parts and because the Koreans and Celts don't have it yet, so that will make the peace negotiations easier. The Indians do have Rep Parts already.
IT Korea and India sign peace.
1670 AD (4) All 40-shield cities begin cannon construction - I suspect we have enough cavs by now. Dumbledore's and Pamplona start galleons which we will need eventually. The cannon stack takes off 3hp in all from the 2 rifles defending Hovd, the city is then put to the torch. We won't be able to reach any other cities with cannon support, but I will go for Tabriz with cavs next turn. Rush a settler out of Merida with aid of disbanded citizens of Hovd.
IT One Mongol cav attacks Santander but is retreated
1675 (5) Fortune shines once more on the Spanish nation as this happens when an elite knight polishes off the retreated cav:
The great leader Zumalacarregui (say what ?) makes his way to Madrid where he awaits the discovery of Electronics.
Our cavalry now charges over the plains to Tabriz and though the battle is bloody (4 of them die), Mongol resistance is to no avail:
I hold it for just long enough to refound, as with one border expansion it will give us instant access to Karakorum and Ta-Tu come artillery. I disband 2 cannon in it and rush the remainder of the temple for 40 gold. Also hurry a settler in Madicante so we can reclaim Hovd's tiles.
In the final act of the reign of Isabella the Terrible, the luxury rate is set to 100% and we revolt !
1680 AD (6) We emerge a democracy and with 100% luxes, our cities survive the happiness calculation round just fine. Re-arrange tiles for democracy everywhere and set the lux tax to 0%; we now make 483 gpt at 100% unhappiness.
Now for the peace deals:
- Peace with the Celts: Electricity buys The Corporation.
- Peace with the Koreans: Electricity buys Steel.
- Peace with the Mongols: 85gpt buys Refining.
- Peace with the Ottomans - they graciously give us Sci Meth and 300 gold for Refining.
Refining & Sci Meth buy Communism from the Koreans - Police stations might come in handy in the next war.
- Peace is signed straight up with the Indians, who have a monopoly on Combustion and Replaceable Parts.
We sell the Mongols Iron, Coal and Ivory for 73gpt in all.
We sell the Ottomans Ivory, Spices and 3gpt for furs.
We sell the Celts Sci Meth for silks +60 gold.
We sell the Koreans Ivory for 2gpt.
5 luxes turns out to be enough to keep our cities content - I don't sell anything to the Indians as Communism appears to me to be a good government for the game's monsters. I set science to Atomic Theory at 60% for +29gpt - this will get it in 19 turns, but since we will have a number of libraries and universities coming online in the next 5-10 turns, I'm counting on being able to get it earlier than that. We'll save the leader for Hoover in that case as no spot jumps out to me as being a better location for the palace.
1685 AD (7) Toledo's new library already shaves a turn off AT... Rush the courthouse in Zamora which will get most of the worker attention now.
1690 AD (8) Zamora courthouse - Iron Works, libraries come in in Las Navas (?) and Madrid to shave off yet another turn off of AT.
1695 AD (9)
Koreans want to trade world maps.
IT Celts and Ottomans sign peace (they were at war ?). India and Mongols sign peace, good thing the Mongols have no luxes whatsoever to trade to the Indians.
1700 AD (10) After mining the iron mountain near Zamora, workers there move to support the team that's turning Toledo into some semblance of a productive city.
3 universities and a library will come online next turn to speed AT up even further (it's now due in 13 at +35gpt) and more are on their way. No-one else has Atomic Theory, and my experience is that the AIs often ignore it until Flight even. We need more workers still - peel them off the top cities as projects complete. I propose we don't go and build hospitals as we likely won't be able to keep metropolises happy during wartime.
We currently have only 16 cavalry but won't be needing all that many more, maybe a couple. Cannon are the name of the game now for future upgrades. We will also need to decide where on the AI continent we are going to land and start gathering ships once we're done building infra. The leader is in Madrid - unless anyone knows a good spot for a palace, I say we just save him for Hoover if only to make sure India doesn't get it.
I hope to be able to write a story too but it may not be today as I have a very bad cold and the turns took quite a bit out of me already. But while our empire has been led by an unusually lightheaded general, we are in fine shape indeed now.
oh, and the save
FWIW: this is my favorite SG because we have a group of fine team players of which you are a good example. 
who likes to be clear in his statements.
CF 
Now let's discuss how to win this thing :soldier: 
(deep voice)Excuse me Mrs. Crabapple. I there has been a terrible accident at home and I need Sid Meyers to come with me.
.
Excellent job Jakobus 
