King of the World #14: Earth18

[Coffee Mug]

I'd make the Japanese cities on the mainland your first priority. If time runs out, AI-Neal will be much better at going after the barbarians than at prosecuting a limited war against Japan.

And maybe found a rice-fueled production center in the eastern foothills of the Himalayas.

 

[LuCiver]

Those Japanese cities are vulnurable now- Korea doesn't even have cultural defense. I think you could take them down super-quick with swords+flanking chariots (or see how many turns it is to HBr and flanking horsemen).

At this point, China is on schedule to become a beast with or without your help. Might as well just feed him for fun!

 

[Verto1]

Nahh, it's important that Neal plays all of the Civ's like they were going be his civ for the rest of the game, including China. Turning him into even more of a beast now will just make the late game all the more interesting.

 

[capnvonbaron]

My vote: let sound the Horns Of War.

You have three cities for the taking including that [amazingly well placed] barb city. One or two settlers beyond that, and Qin will be beastly. Leave GK to be, I say. You don't need to bother him, nor do I think you really have the time between shoving Japan off the mainland and putting a couple of cities out. I think this is going to be an interesting turnset

 

[Ormur]

Yeah, take Osaka, Tokyo (don't know if you should keep that one) and the Barbarian city and then send a settler to Indochina if you have time.

 

[sophie]

I have an interesting proposition: since part of this little experiment of ours is to see if the AI's can be dragged from the bowels of mediocrity, and then to see if our little kick in the butt sustains them. Under this idea, assuming you don't peek, I think it would be interesting if you could periodically report on how your past lives are maintaining themselves. You could write it up as some sort of visions Neal has or something like that. I think it would be really neat to see, but you can go ahead and ignore me if you want.

Thank you for your time. Back to lurking

 

[IAM]

Take the mainland japan cities and the barb city. Found two more cities in SE Asia. THEN move your army North and one turn before you switch declare on Khan, or move army West and declare on india.

 

[SHS`]

Do as you please with expansion, but beeline for the UU and wage war (last turn) on Rome. The Might Qin shall not be snubbed by backward Romans, who's women love the fine translucent silks, but their men find it indecent!

 

[Neal]

Okay, I did a littl bit of looking into the China save...

First off, we have a Settler group poised to found somewhere in Malaysia. Where to go? I was thinking maybe here:

To block off Asoka/Neal. Not the greatest site, but there's plenty of Irrigated Grasslands for Cottages or Farms. Maybe 2N of there? A better long-term spot, but it does put it into more direct pressure from Dhaka.

Secondly, routing Tokugawa from the mainland is less than a joke. I was thinking we may be able to, over the course of the Round, kill Japan off completely, or at least take the Home Islands. Do you all want to see this, or would you rather let Japan have its time in the Rising Sun? It'll definitely make China a bigger long-term threat without our leading Samurai to dig at its side...

Finally, I want to end up with Chokos this round (maybe for the assault on Kyoto), but a straight beeline, with our massive number of cities (more if you count Tokyo, Osaka, and the occasional Barbarian conquest), it'll likely result in a massive economic crash. We have the Pyramids, and we're in Representation, so it's not so bad. But it might still be worth a detour into Currency and/or Code of Laws. And I think Calendar is probably worth finishing at this point. Or should we count on nabbing those Techs in trade from Mansa Musa or Egypt?

Expect a round sometime this weekend.

 

[Coffee Mug]

I'd settle 2N. Like you said, it's the stronger spot, and Dhaka will offer no competition for the rice tile which will otherwise go to waste.

If you have a chance, go for the kill against Japan. Playing each leader to the fullest is one of the neat things about this series. And the more civs you kill off, the longer you'll have to pull Roosevelt out of his feudal obeisance and into a winning position.

 

[Capellan]

Personally, I think you should play each Civ like you would if you were going to be in charge of it for the rest of the game.

If you were going to be China forever, what would you do? Do that.

Personally, in the 'if-I-were-China-forever' sweepstakes, I'd be crushing Toku like a bug and prioritizing currency and/or CoL to help drive my empire onward in the future. Then I'd get Chokos and slaughter that stoner, Asoka, while trying to sweet talk Mongolia into being my long-term attack dog.

 

[Silu]

IMO economy first - no real reason to rush into CKNs other than the fact that they're cool.

I'd say to not go over the top in trying to make China a superpower. This happens so often on this map that he doesn't need all the help he can get. Maybe try something a bit different - try to set him up for being a Repr tech monster? The AI would probably mess that up massively though.

 

[UWHabs]

I'd play it as if you were playing China, so I think you want one of CoL or currency. I'd finish off Calendar, since it is quite useful for China.

As for finishing off Japan, I'd say go as far as you can. Remember 40 turns isn't a lot, especially to build a couple galleys. You've only got 1 coastal city at the moment. Would be kind of sweet to build the galleys, load them up, and then pop out of the round, and see if Japan is around when you get to them.

 

[IAM]

Personally, in the 'if-I-were-China-forever' sweepstakes, I'd be crushing Toku like a bug and prioritizing currency and/or CoL to help drive my empire onward in the future. Then I'd get Chokos and slaughter that stoner, Asoka, while trying to sweet talk Mongolia into being my long-term attack dog.

I second that.

 

[LuCiver]

I vote 2N for the settler. Asoka won't be livin long enough to be a culture problem.

 

[UWHabs]

Where is this Dhaka? I don't see any city near there in the screenshot

 

[madscientist]

Settle 2N.

Regarding Japan, deal with them as you would if playing China throughout. If you would destroy him in 40 turns normally, then go for it. Don't start holding back to give civs their day in teh sun (or rising sun).

 

[Continental Op]

Settle 2N.

Regarding Japan, deal with them as you would if playing China throughout. If you would destroy him in 40 turns normally, then go for it. Don't start holding back to give civs their day in teh sun (or rising sun).

I agree, and apparently Ziggy does too when you look at the percentages. Play each civ like it was you trying to win the game. That will give you a real challenge in the end, I think.

 

[Shoot the Moon]

I too agree that you should play the civ like you would if you were playing them for the rest of the game.

In regards to the economy crashing, see above. If you would crash the economy in this situation (and I think it would be the best move to do so) then by all means do it. It would also be interesting to see how the AI can recover from an economic crash. Would they run the 20% espionage slider before restarting research?

 

[Jehoshua]

It appears that you've finally got me out of lurking

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Anyway you said previously that you were going to play like you were going to be that civ for the long haul.

Therefore I think that going Code of Laws (particularly if Religion is still available) and currency is the best option as China. Conquering Japans mainland "possesions" and the barb city is a given. I think though that the home islands should be left alone (considering the 40 turns and the long term view)

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I like your style of writing Neal, Very engaging.