Sorry to see you go Madbax. Hopefully, I will see you again when things get better at work.
Preturn: I need to reaquaint myself with the game. It has been a while. I upgrade the the horsemen left for me to upgrade. I go through the towns and make a few changes and trade around squares to build some of the knights a tad faster. This is more to re-familiarize myself with the game, than any real need to do so.
IBT: Lone Mayan Cav lands next to the Aztec city.
960 AD: 3 rifles in the Aztec town. Move troops. Nearly ready to attack (I am upgrading some Garrisons on the Greek lines)
IBT: Mayan Cav does not kill a rifle, but is red-lined.
Constantanople: Cathedral->Pike
Varna: Pike->Pike
Ancyra: Trebuchet->Library
Brusa: Trebuchet->Aquaduct
970 AD: Well I think I have enough for taking out a single Aztec city. I make sure we have no deals with the Aztecs, and no lux deals with America who might get cut off. I check the discount we would get with declaring war by allying with the Mayans, but it is less than a 100 gold, so definitely no alliance
Declare war. Move units next to the city and bombard the city (damaging a boat) with the Dromon.
IBT: Greeks offer to trade maps... ok
Adrianople: Knight->Knight
Smyrna: Temple->Trebuchet
Dyrrachium: Courthouse->Caravel
980 AD: Dromon and Trebuchets bombard the town. Rifles have 2 or 3 hp.
MDI vs 3 hp rifle wins!
MDI vs 3 hp rifle lowers the hp to 1.
MDI vs 2 hp rifle wins!
MDI vs 1 hp rifle loses 1hp rifle now has 2 hp.
MDI vs 2 hp rifle wins and we take the city.
with MDI to spare (since we were on the lucky side)
I will keep the city. The distance factor should mitigate the huge culture difference. The main reason is that the Greek city would claim the land. I would rather limit greek shields.
Move some of the new units to the S - 2 more turns for Greek deals to run out.
Decide to go for Tech. 60 gpt + 325 gold for Physics to America. 130 gpt + 665 gold for TOG and Magnetism to America. I actually expect America to live, I just don't want to give money to the Mayans and Aztec and Greece are out.
Unfortunately, we get medicine for our free tech

We had a 1 in 3 chance of getting Nationalism which America doesn't have so we would have gotten a bonus tech via trade if we had gotten it. Medicine is my least favorite. I do start Min Sci on Sanitation which noone has yet.
IBT: No movement
Caesarea: Knight->Knight
Varna: Pike->Pike
Naissus: Barracks->Pike
990 AD: Working on lining up units for Greek attack. MM several cities to 14 shields.
IBT: No movement
Constantanople: Pike->Knight.
Nicaea: Barracks->Pike
1000 AD: Some MM.
IBT: Greece lux deal expires - I was hoping to keep this until we were ready for war, but no luck (or we have 20 turn renegotiate set - I forgot to check that). Caesarea riots, but the other cities are fixed.
Varna

ike-Pike
Septum: Courthouse->Market
Teayo is finally starting to starve.
1010 AD: Whoops! We are going to be fighting infantry. Greece has them. We need Cannon. Trade 24 gpt and 420 gold for Saltpeter. Some cities switched to Bank.
IBT: All quiet
1020 AD: Upgrade some Trebuchet
IBT:
Smyrna: Barracks->Knight
Ancyra: Library->Bank
Adrianople: Knight->Knight
1030 AD: Upgrade a few Trebuchet
IBT:
1040 AD: Save money (2 more trebuchet).
IBT:
Constantanople: Knight->Knight
Varna: Musket->Musket
Sardica: Courthouse->Market
1050 AD: Make peace with the Aztecs straight up.
Notes:
We have a few opportunities. With Aztec peace we can trade for Wines from them or furs from Greeks or both. We need lux badly. One idea would be to trade lux with Aztecs and then try to buy Mil Trad to attack Greece. Or we could decide we can't attack Greece soon so go for both Lux and try to buy something like Steam.
The Americans looked ok when I traded, but they are fading. I hope I didn't make a mistake. Do we really lose rep if America is destroyed? I wasn't sure.
Teayo will starve to size 1 next turn.
I am curious how many Knights (or Cavs) it would take to kill 2-3 Infantry fortified in size 7+ cities and have a good chance of winning. I continued to build Military, but I wasn't sure if that was the best idea. Maybe more cannon?
The save