JB3 - Iroquois Mayhem (C3C Deity)

[JustBen]

1250 BC (Inherited Turn)
I like the look of things. I switch Salamanca (empty box, 7spt) to an Archer. I'd like it to grow an extra point or 2 so we can earn more money -- Incense is about to get hooked up anyway. Wow. We're behind a few techs.

1225 BC (1)
Niagara Falls Settler > Temple (Mayan culture is encroaching and creating an easily thwarted flip risk)
The spot south of the volcano is obviously closest to our new settler, but the dot on the marshy hill is most likely to disappear soon, so that's where he heads. Spear from Salamanca meets him en route.

1200 BC (2)
Salamanca grows. It costs us a gpt to make it happy; good deal.

1175 BC (3)
Salamanca Archer > Archer
Salamanca is at an annoying 9spt. I switch it to 7spt to get an extra commerce out of it. After it grows to 5, we should be able to get reasonable MM cycles going on.

1150 BC (4)
Mauch Chunk Worker > Worker
Bust a barbarian warrior who was keeping our workers from uniting the northern & southern cities.

IT: Byzantines start Hanging Gardens

1125 BC (5)
Grand River Settler > Granary (2-3 forestchops will be put into this)
St. Regis Worker > Palace (will be switched to Worker once a forest chop is sent to Grand River)

1100 BC (6)
Allegheny Walls > Worker
Salamanca Archer > Settler
The forest shields safely delivered to Granary production, St. Regis set to Worker. Entertainment up to 10%. A barbarian horseman is spawned in that camp on the eastern shores. With 2 workers threatened by it, I guard it with an archer and a warrior.

1075 BC (7)
Centralia founded on a hill over the marshes. Another horse has spawned; I'm really glad I build that extra archer. With 2 horses to contend with -- both on mountains -- I just fortify our second archer in a forest and hope for a better position next turn. Switch Mauch Chunk from Worker to Warrior to get a token garrison -- I send its Spear with a Settler southwards.

1050 BC (8)
The barbarians keep me dancing. They were pretty frustrating, but it makes an uninteresting story.

1025 BC (9)
Road completed; we now have 2 luxuries. Our barbarian "dance" now resembles a closed game of chess.

IT: Mayan, Arabs start Sun Tzu's

1000 BC (10)
Salamanca Settler > Settler?
Tonawanda Warrior > Worker
Akwesasne founded > Temple. This is because I see 2 whales available to it. Definitely veto-able, but at 1fpt I don't know what else is worthwhile.

Well, I'm still unhappy with what happened with Salamanca's MMing. I've left 3 archers active so the next player can decide how he wants to deal with the barbarians and the situation in the south. Note that the Horsemen on the mountain south of Salamanca haven't moved for 2 turns. Cattaraugus will Settler-disband next turn.

Landgrabbing

 

[T_McC]

Not sure who's next. (Ted?)

Took a look at the save, and all looks well in hand. Next leader probably should think about turning science on full-tilt (or starting to buy), we don't need a large treasury in Despotism. Also may want to look for another place to build a settler. The one in Cattaraugas is to disband the city and move it one North, and there is one waiting in Salamanca with one queued. We have three new city sites we want to claim, so we need one more settler.

Also, don't be shy about giving any Mayan pairs the run-around near Niagara. This side of the choke is ours, not for them. After we get our sites, we can settle back for barb-fighting and city-improving.

 

[JustBen]

Roster:
Ben
Improviser (skipped)
TedJackson (up next!)
Bede (on deck)
T_McC
(Open)

I collected cash for the purchasing of Mathematics so we can get on to Currency ASAP (it's a little cheaper than buying on credit). We should be able to purchase Math straight-up next turn. By the time we have Markets, we should have all our cities settled.

 

[JustBen]

Ted's back in town, but he seems tied up even trying to do JB2 (I can empathize). Bede, if you want this one then grab it and we'll call it a swap. Otherwise I'm sure Ted will get us rolling again.

 

[TedJackson]

Got it


Ted

 

[TedJackson]

JB3-1000BC

Pre-flight checks... OK
Settler NW, N, NW
Archer (SSW Salamanca) fort
Archer (NE Grand River) S
Archer (Akwesasne) SW
Buy HBR from China for 138gp
IW is still too expensive

Press button...
Barb warrior SE
Another barb Horse appears 3SE of Salamanca
Allegheny Worker - Barracks
Cattaraugus abandoned

1 - 975BC
Archer scouts SW
Settler NW
Settler N
Archer fort (protect workers)
Worker road (W Allegheny)
Worker (Allegheny) S (chop forest)

IBT
Byzantines demand 21gp - I cave
Barb Warrior arrives WSW Salamanca
Barb Horse arrives S Salamanca (mountain)
Barb Horse appears South of our Northern Settler

2 - 950BC
Southern Archer scouts West
Northern Settler founds on hill - if I move N then a Horse from the barb camp may snuff him so this is the only reasonable alternative
Tyendenaga founded - Warrior
Kahnawake founded (NW Gems) - Temple (grab Fish)

IBT
Tyendenaga ransacked for 4gp
Atlanta (America) completes Mausoleum
Arabia starts Sun Tzu

3 - 925BC
Scouting Archer S
Workers road

IBT
Barb Horse appears from Northern barb camp
Salamanca Settler - Archer
Mauch Chunk Warrior - Warrior
Maya start Sun Tzu

4 - 900BC
There's no safe route for the Settler so I leave him in Salamanca
Buy Iron Working from Maya for 86gp +5gpt - need to do something about the barbs
We have Iron 3SE of Salamanca but we need to road it
Settler 2NW with Spear Escort leaving Salamanca defended by lone Warrior - perhaps that will tempt the barb Horses to attack

IBT
Barb Horse moves to threaten Kahnawake
Another barb Horse appears on top of our Iron
St Regis Worker - Archer
Arabia starts Hanging Gardens

5 - 875BC
Scouting Archer SE
Settler & escort W
Workers road

IBT
The 3 Barb Horse S of Salamanca join barb Warrior WSW Salamanca
Barb Horse on Iron moves to S Salamanca
America starts Knights Templar

6 - 850BC
Scouting Archer SE
Settler & escort W - barb camp to the NW (3 Horse, 1 Warrior) where I was going to found
Workers road

IBT
Our Spear kills 1 Horse but succumbs to the next leaving our Settler to be slaughtered by the barbs
Salamanca Archer - Spear
Tyendenaga Warrior - Warrior
Centralia Worker - Warrior

7 - 825BC
Scouting Archer SE
Reg Archer kills barb Horse
Workers road

IBT
Constantinople (Byzantine) completes Great Lighthouse

8 - 800BC
Scouting Archer S
Workers road

IBT
More barb Horses from the barb camp on the NW coast
Mauch Chunk Warrior - Warrior
America starts Sun Tzu
America starts Knights Templar

9 - 775BC
Scouting Archer S
Workers road

IBT
Barb Horses converge on Salamanca
Salamanca Spear - Spear
Tonawanda Worker - Worker

10 - 750BC
Scouting Archer S
Reg Archer dies to conscript Horse (plains, unfortified)
Workers road

Empire


Notes
We have both Furs hooked up now so some trades are available.

I didn't have much luck with my choices this time around. We have 5 Workers in Grand River and another NE of Mauch Chunk if the next player wants to try hooking up the Iron or the Horses.

The barbs are a real nuisance as, in the main, they've stayed to the mountains and hills making them impossible to deal with.

There is a Mayan Settler/Spear pair heading NW through our territory. Nothing I could do apart from declare war and we're already in enough trouble

All in all, a very frustrating set of turns.

The save is > here <


Ted

 

[Bede]

Will play tonight All commentary, suggestions, orders gratefully accepted and carefully considered

 

[T_McC]

Ugh.

Well, we have to push to settle that iron, as it is not in the 21 of any of our cities. I fear the Mayans are going to poach it.

I'd probably consider switching someone in the south to a settler, to claim the last spot on the SW coast. (W-W-S from St. Regis)

 

[TedJackson]

I'm not convinced that the Mayans are after the Iron. Their last move was West (onto the Volcano, may it explode beneath them) rather than the SW I would expect if the Iron were their target.


Ted

 

[JustBen]

They'll grab the iron eventually; we should secure it. We won't really even want it till the middle ages and won't really need it until industrialization, but it'd be nice to not have to go to war for it. Leave it unconnected until we actually have a use for it, too. I'd hate to see it deplete on us just because we wanted to build 4 pikes.

Seeing the iron is good because we know someone will try to poach it eventually. I still want us to push for currency, though. Marketplaces are really nice, and you don't start dragging yourself out of the hole till you get those running.

Let's build some Mounted Warriors to clean out these awful barbarians once and for all!

Roster:
Ben
Improviser
TedJackson
Bede (up next!)
T_McC (on deck)

 

[Bede]

Bede the gambling horse trader scents a trading opportunity

Mao and SmokeJag must be really cold and smelly as they put a high value on our furs amd frankinsence Will trade techs or cash for either

Abe will sell Math and Col in a package for 100g and 20gpt

Our cities are small and we have three luxes online, a surplus in furs and and a pending surplus in incense An increase in lux tax to 20% will cost only 4gpt

So, here's the idea:
Buy the two techs from Abe. Then, we can trade all the furs and incense to China and Maya for at least one tech apiece and some cash That still leaves spices in our larder and we are that much closer to Currency and Marketplaces

Let me know what you think

 

[JustBen]

I like the idea of rocketing to Currency. Do we have anywhere to build the Markets, though? Getting us closer to Republic is very good in and of itself, so that alone will probably make this worthwhile.

It may also be worthwhile to set a couple cities to build a MW before you trade off the horses, just so we can have a little better anti-barbarian patrolling. Even regulars attacking at 3 would be pretty good anywhere except mountains.

 

[Bede]

Trading:
Abe sells Col and Maths for 100g +19gpt
SmokeJag buys Furs for Phil for 19g and Philiosophy
Mao buys Incense for 80g
Mao buys Furs for 43g
Treasury now stands at 166g +4gpt
Minor change in citizen contentment WIll have to watch Salamnca closely

Use the cash to open embassies
China: Beijing is pop4, two clowns, 3spt, 8fpt, 15gpt, 80% science, four spears in garrison, building sword, has library and Pyramids, no growth, 1 each horse and iron, furs(ours), dyes, incense (ours) and silks Beijing is at corner of empire with border on Mayan lands
Maya: Chichen Itza is pop8, one clown, 8spt, 20fpt, 17gpt, 70% scinece, three spears and settler in garrison, building HG due in 4, has GreatLib, 1 iron, 2 horse, furs(ours), 1 dyes, 1 gems
Arabia: Mecca is pop8, one clown, 13spt, 18fpt, 14gpt, 40% science, three spears in garrison, building SunT, has ToA and temple, no strategic resources, 2 incense

The cash hoard is now down to 22g +6gpt with science at 0

There are eight barbarians hanging around our core, horsemen and warriors

T1 730BC

Apache horseman pillages mined grassland at Salamanca

Mayan settler/pike pair move off volcan to north

Archer in south starts trek to homeland

Workers at GR and Mauch Chunk move south out of danger zone

Workers at Allegheny move toward horses

T2 710BC

Barb horseman attacks Salamanca and dies and another moves toward Mauch Chunk

There is a wounded horseman fortified infornt of archer at Allegheny

GR finishes granary and starts spearman

Allegheny finishes barracks and starts temple (getting a culture push from Arab city on other side of neck

Garrisons complete in northern cities Tyendenaga starts archer and Kahnawake worker

Archer kills wounded horseman

Citzenry remain content but Salamanca requires watching

T3 690BC

Salamanca finishes spear starts settler

Barb horsemen reposition on mountain above Grand River

T4 670BC
Maya finish HG
Americans start KnightsT and Sistine
Bysantines start Sistine
Raise lux tax to 10% to pacify restive Salamancans

T5 650BC

Niagra Falls finishes temple starts barracks Border expansion might bring in horses to east!

Mauch Chunk completes garrison warrior starts Curragh, due in 8 (placeholder)

Archer moves on barb camp in NW Kills warrior reveals horseman

Workers in south move in to Akwesane Woods to road and chop

Archer moves back north to participate in barb killing

T6 630BC

China and Byzantium have signed a Peace Treaty

Barb horseman attacks work party west of Salamanca and impales on spear

St Regis builds archer and starts barracks

Maya start Sistine

Mayan warriors take out barb camp south of Akwesane

St Regis archer joins barb killing archer above barb camp

Archer takes out camp opening up NW settlement site

American cavalry are moving north

Wounded spear moves to St Regis to heal and spear from StR moves out to cover working party on roading horses

Warrior attempt from Niagra Falls to kill wounded barb horse fails

T7 610BC

Three barb horsemen attack working party and destroy the spear, the warrior and the workers One horseman died in the attack

Chinese start SunT

Maya start KnightsT

Byzantines start KnightsT

Shift citizens around at Salamnca and Kahnawake to get Salamanca's growth and settler same turn

T8 590BC

Barb horseman pillages mine outside Salamanca

Barb horseman NE of Niagra Falls heals and gallops off to harass the Maya

Salamanca grows and produces settler starts spear

GR finishes spear starts settler

Tonawanda finishes warrior starts temple

Archer moves onto mountain W of Salamanca

Volcano erupts again but fails to take out Maya spear/settler pair moving North Eruption cuts off road from Salamanca to Niagra Falls just as border expansion grabs Mayan horses Eruption also cuts off Eastern trade routes and the Chinese and MAyans are furious and annoyed respectively

Archer takes out Inuit warrior in forest

Archer dies trying to take out Apache horse at gates of Salamanca

T9 570BC

Archer kills wounded barb horse in grassland and promotes

Settler is hanging around in Salamanca waiting for escort There is one barb horseman still perched in the Salamanca mountains If archer and warior can take out barb camp SE of Salamanca will head that way to tie down iron mountain

Workers are beavering away in southlands

T10 550BC

Barbs rebuild camp in NW and warrior emerges from the fog

Salamanca finishes spear and starts worker

Warrior dies at barb camp SE of Salamanca Follow up archer fails to finish off wounded barb warrior

Settler and spear light pipes and settle down for a smoke in Salamanca

Grand River is set to grow and produce settler in four
Mauch Chunk is building a curragh due in two (placeholder) Should be changed to archer methinks
The barbs are frustrating our settlement plans and the war of attrition is going slowly
Treasury is rebuilding, slowly
That volcano has cost us our trading rep, unfortunately, and cut all our trade routes and access to spices
The citizens are content, wrapped in furs and burning joss sticks, even though their food is bland
Slowly

 

[JustBen]

I never even would have thought the volcano could wreck a trade route. We'll just use extortion and cash-up-front deals I suppose. Who exactly did we break the deal with -- just the Mayans? We may be able to use credit while we're at war with them.

This increases the urgency of markets. The good news is we're commercial.

We have lots of land. Everything else will follow; don't sweat it.

Roster:
Ben (on deck)
Improviser
TedJackson
Bede
T_McC (up next!)

 

[Bede]

Deal was broke with Mao

Luckily he's not on our borders

Hordes of freezing Chinese are frightening

 

[T_McC]

JB03 - We Come in Peace

550 BC (0)
Turn sounded worse than it was, we still have 8 workers and there are only two barbs in sight. Start a spear and a warrior to block the Mayans from what I believe is the only legal spot for settling on our W. Coast. Can't figure why the settler can't move with them, but what are you gonna do? Set a course for Republic in 50 turns. Switch Salamanca to settler, we will settle all of our lands. Nix the Curragh in Mauch Chunk, all that can do is get is in trouble as the coast lines are completely covered by foreign civs. It goes to spear.

530 BC (1)
Barb horse moves to the one square he could have to prevent me from advancing the spear ahead of the settler. Vet Archer kills barb warrior. Mayans head North.

510 BC (2)
Ty.. builds an archer, who promptly kills a barb horse that had just spawned.

490 BC (3)
Barb horse threatens settler pair, but we have more than one unit covering so all is good.

470 BC (4)
First MW, two tribute demands, paid. Frag the western barb camp. Pop settler out of Grand River, moves with a two spear escort for the iron. Will pop barb camp on founding.

Even better news, our gpt rep is broken too. So it's self-research (or cash in the face of un-relenting tribute demands) until wars break out! With that in mind, research turned up so we get Republic in 39 at -1 gpt. Currency would be 23, but with 4 lux (and little hope of trading them) we can support a Republic w/o markets. [We broke deals with the Mayans and the Chinese, both hard goods for per-turn goods. We really got screwed by the volcano, it's erupted twice in 3000 yrs when (I believe) the normal period is 5000 yrs/eruption.]

450 BC (5)
Salamanca: Settler --> Barracks. Damn Barb horse wouldn't take the bait to come into range of our MW. Mayans complete Knights Templar, many cascade to Leo's.

430 BC (6)
Caughnawaga founded, trading a reg spear for a barb horse in the process. Settler from Salamanca starts to move, as barb horse chased the other direction. Stack assembled to found near Iron.

410 BC (7)
Oka founded, barb camp dispersed.

390 BC (8)
Jacked up by Apu. Barb warrior does the polite thing and impales on spear on a hill. Only one horse remains. Once again the game puts a barb camp on the square where I intended to found a city. So more cover needed for the settler.

370 BC (9)
Grand River builds a spear, starts a Temple. I figure this will be our FP site. Mounted Warrior offs remaining Barb horse. Arabs build Sun Tzu's.

350 BC (10)
Settler stack moves adjacent to where we should found the last city on our territory. Vet archer is there to sack the camp first, then we can move and found.

Apparently a gpt deal ran out, science slider can go to 90% for Republic in 10. So Ben will have the honor of initiating a revolution. We are becoming a nation of workers, we have a dozen but more are in the queue and are needed. It is finally safe to re-improve our core, and I have been migrating our workers back to Salamanca so we can start there and work our way out to the second ring.

Just watch for the freakin' barb camp to spawn a couple of horses on the IT, it's bound to happen. Also recall we are Agricultural, so irrigating desert makes it fairly useful. I haven't started that, but something to keep in mind.

When we get up and running, we can probably use gpt by dragging the Byz to the Peace table. I think they are the only ones behind us. The rest of the world is probably using muskets, and we're still trying to trade rice and shiny stones for things.

Picture and save follows.

 

[T_McC]

Our Glorious Lands!



The settler should found where the barb camp stands. There is a barb warrior who will pillage a roaded incense next turn, but then you can hit him with the MW (which is in Grand River). Then I think we need a lot of defense in Niagara and Allegheny, maybe start with 4 vet spears and 3 cats. We're going to get attacked by someone, the land is just about gone.

Save for Buildin' Ben

 

[JustBen]

Got it. Will plunge right in.

 

[JustBen]

I wish we had credit, but I've played games without it before. Won 'em, too.

350 BC (Inherited turn)
Why get Republic in 10 at -2 when you can get in 9 at -4? We have 51 in the bank and are a turn away from a camp. Some MMing goes down. I think we can still sneak 1 or 2 villages in to the south. Grand River, Mauch Chunk, Kahanawake, and St. Regis's Temples gets cancelled for Barracks. I understand I just undermined a culture push, but I don't care. These were all non-border cities, and I'd rather have functional buildings than idle culture. If we get into an accidental war (Pangea Deity, right?), you'll thank me.

IT: Barbarian pillages our Incense. No surprise; we have another. The Mayans start... Copernicus's Observatory?!

330 BC (1)
Niagara Falls Walls > Worker (growth to max of 6 in 10)
Frag the Apache camp as planned; Archer is elite.

IT: America starts Observatory.

310 BC (2)
Salamanca Barracks > Settler
Tyendenaga Worker > Temple
Chondote founded > Temple (Arab influence stretches across the water into our "21")
I whip the temple in Tonawanda. It's hideously corrupt. Akwesasne gets it too. The latter wasted 2 shields, but the better to start on a Courthouse.

IT: Mayan Tikal finishes The Workshop.

290 BC (3)
Tonawanda Temple > Courthouse
Akwesasnse Temple > Courthouse
Zap a barb with our regular MW but to no avail.

270 BC (4)
Worker > Barracks (strongly consider swapping to Courthouse)
Working & waiting.

IT: Byzantines start the Observatory

250 BC (5)
Salamanca Settler > Spear
Grand River Barracks > Worker
Allegheny Temple > Courthouse
Caughnawaga Worker > Worker
Not a lot. Mostly watching for whips since Republic is due in 3.

IT: China declareds on America.

230 BC (6)
Oka Worker > Worker
Expansions from the Temple-whips happen. Not a lot more; shuffle workers. Centralia gets a partial-whip for the full 20 shields, then back to Temple.

IT: Philadelphia complete Sistine Chapel, America grabs the town I was hoping for.

210 BC (7)
Um... lost a turn in here somehow. There was a lot of building & working going on.

190 BC (8)
Grand River Worker > Spear
Adjust science to get a 9 gold bonus with Republic. I make the questionable play of squeezing one last partial rush out of Tyendenaga. Remains set on Temple due to the proximity of the Mayan city to its north.

IT: Mayans build Observatory in Bonampak, near Niagara Falls.

170 BC (9)
Yes, let the revolt begin! 4-turn anarchy.

150 BC (10)
A few trival worker actions.

There's a small stack, including a settler, in Centralia to the south. There's room for another town there, but it's definitely an "aggressive settlement" with respect to America. Pop out of anarchy in a few turns. Not much more to say. Go team.

Roster:
Ben
Improviser (up next!)
TedJackson (on deck)
Bede
T_McC

ANARCHY!

 

[T_McC]

Took a look at the save and did a little "diplomatic espionage":

China has horses, but no iron, and we have a lot more cities than them.

Arabia has no horses or iron, but has more cities than us.

Byzantines have iron, but no horses, and we have many more cities than them. [They will trade goods per-turn with us (wines for horses, we don't need wines)]

America has horses, but no iron, and has a couple more cities than us.

Mayans have horses and iron, and have the same number of cities as we do.

So ... the Mayans are the biggest threat. They alone (besides us) can build knights, and they have the Knights Templar. Arabia is big, but would have to pull a Longbow-rush before Replacable Parts. With some cats/trebs and MW's, we are fairly immune to their attacks, particularly because they only have one target. America will be a threat once Cavalry come into play, but before then they are limited to Longbow/Horsemen attacks. (They do have the Statue of Zeus). China and the Byz will end up taking our gpt and liking it at the Peace table fairly soon.

If there are only 6 horses in the world, we are the only sellers. The Arabs will never get their UU if we don't trade them Horses. I would seriously consider telling them to stuff it if they come demanding horses now that we have extra hooked up. A better plan might be to pillage one of the horse roads, or trading the Horses to the Byz for gpt, if available.

Note to Improviser: We need to hook up the Gems. That's going to save us some serious money when we get to Republic.

Switching Grand River to Barracks basically means we won't be building our FP there. No point to the Barracks unless it spends the next millenium cranking troops. So maybe Centralia for the FP?

Any idea where the Mayan troops are going? Expect to see a bunch of Chinese and American troops marching around.

Kahnawake may not want a Barracks, it may be a little shield-poor for military. Just a thought, once we get a bunch of irrigation that way it can work the Mountains/Forest comfortably, but might be better with a Temple to grab the fish and help support a larger size to later build military.

Tonawanda will grow and riot on the next turn. Just so you can get a jump on it and keep everybody eating.