LK161, Australia, CCM 2.5, 180K goal

[Greebley]

Preturn: There is a lot of gpt (over 200) for older tech. I do these deals.
Trade Juriprudence, 1050 gold, and gold(resource) for Mercantilism (Magreb).
Nubia gets Mercantilism for 9545 gold
We also sell to lowlands for around 5k gold
We can buy Fossil Energy for 13750 gold from Arabia (who is rich).
We sell to Nubia for 8935 gold
We sell to Lowlands for 4385 gold
We sell to Magreb for 1200 gold and 143 gpt
USA will give us 1740 gold and 87 gpt for it
And because the deals are really good:
We buy Medicine from Arabia for 15925
We sell to Nubia for 80 gpt and 8915 gold
We sell to Lowlands for 1670 gold and 25 gpt

All in all we gained 3 tech and went from:
17356=>28507 gold
604=>1310 gpt
Nubia might have gpt left, but otherwise we have drained all but Arabia of possible gold
Arabia had 92k gold.

I do rush some buildings.
I also switch to science since we have tech parity and might get to something first. Clockwork in 13 but maybe I can make that less?

IBT:
Our exploring 20 bucks (caravan) is taken by some civ. It has no nationality so is unfortunately completely vulnerable (Actually, I was wrong we still own it but the AI moved on top of it. We can move it away again)

180K built a rushed Hospital and starts the Coffee plantation for more culture.

510 AD:
Attack Pretoria:
Killing a Crossbow gains us a Worker.
War Elephant Dumbo gets us a Leader.
Take the city losing a Knight of the Realm.

Elephant kills one Worker and captures another

Our first Balloon does a recon mission. They can move 5 squares.
Also moved on toward the next South African city which I can't read at the moment because 4 Big Fat Elephants are standing/trampling on the city name.


520 AD:
Enslaver loses to a Catapult.
Capture South African town without loss. It turns out to be Windhoek

Move on other forces toward Capetown.

530 AD:
Capture Capetown losing a Knight. We gain 2 Workers.

We pick up about 250 gpt total in exchange for tech from several civs

540 AD: Take Johannesburg

550 AD: Start moving toward Korea

560 AD: Economics and Physics are in play now.
Can buy Economics for 600 gpt and 7270 gold from Arabia of course. This leaves us with about 800 gpt at full science.
USA will trade physics for Economics.
We can get back 169 gpt from Nubia
Decide this is a good time to try to plant a spy with Arabia as they might declare if we miss.
They do catch us and do declare war.
Also try to plant a spy with Korea which succeeds. However Spy options do not seem possible. I was thinking of trying spy tech steals with Arabia as some future time.
Rushed some observatories.

570 AD:
180K completes an Observatory. It starts Newton due in 7 turns. We may not make it if there is a cascade, however it seems worth an attempt.

Declare war on Korea. Move a square towards Wonsan

IBT: We get to see Korea's reaction due to our Balloon.

580 AD: Capture Wonsan losing 2 Knights against 3 Spearmen.
Trade around Economics We are up to +2196 gpt.

Magellaen and East India both complete. Not sure if Newtons will be gone next turn.

IBT: Korean units are showing up. Speed 1 units including Spear on defense.

590 AD: Clear stacks of Korean near Wonsan. We get a Monk.

IBT: Newtons does get completed. Missed by 4 turns. Switch to Bank for a loss of 14 shields.

600 AD: Still on unit cleanup. We gain a second Monk. Enslaver lost and more Knights than I would like given that the enemy are mostly defense 2.

Notes:
When I ended, it occurred to me to become curious about our unique wonder. We can build it if the capital builds australian flag after the clock completes. Sydney Cove requires the flag.

We weren't quite able to kill all the Korean units, so I rushed some more Knights (also to replace those lost). However, the number of Korean units seems less so I think we can advance fairly soon. Also brought over 2 Elephants.

We got clockwork so can build clocks in most cities. We might not want to trade it right away, because we could research Printing Press and get the holy book wonder in our 180K. PP is 8 turns but that is because several recent towns are too big so they are running all scientists to shrink to a more managable size. 10 -11 is a more reasonable estimate.

Might want to make peace with the Arabs so we can trade tech with them.

I was also considering Steam Engine.

Civinator: Steam engine tech still says it shows coal which got moved to fossil Energy

 

[Greebley]

Oh I think our next opponent should be France as we can take the whole Peninsula and shorten the front line.

 

[Greebley]

Ya, it looks like we can build spies but can't use them. We have one with Korea but it is all greyed out.

 

[Civinator]

Also moved on toward the next South African city which I can't read at the moment because 4 Big Fat Elephants are standing/trampling on the city name.

Also try to plant a spy with Korea which succeeds. However Spy options do not seem possible. I was thinking of trying spy tech steals with Arabia as some future time.

Greebley, thank you very much for reporting this error. I have downloaded your save file and had a look into it. The error isn´t that at present you cannot perform any spying missions. Therefore you need the Great Palace, coming with tech Absolutism, that you haven´t researched yet.

The error is, that the mission 'Plant a spy' in the current biq is enabled for diplomats. So your diplomats can plant a spy, but you cannot use him yet. In the next update of the biq, the mission 'Plant a spy' is disabled for diplomats.

Steam engine tech still says it shows coal which got moved to fossil Energy.

Greebly, again thank you very much for reporting that error. The civilopedia in the upcoming small patch will be corrected here.

Edit: And as I have downloaded your current save file, here is a screenshot about the current victory status of this game:

 

[Greebley]

One comment (mostly for lurkers):
The reason we were able to do so well trading during my turn is due to early contacts. When we sold the tech Nubia (and others) didn't have contact with Arabia, so we got full price for an exclusive tech, then less from Lowlands because they had contact with Nubia.

This is the reason we send out ships early in the game and attempt to cross to the other continent early. Tech trading is very lucrative in this position. (It is also why I got medicine right away despite the granaries - it is unknown when they will contact one another).

It is especially important on these larger maps where you have many trading partners and longer distances between continents.

 

[Civinator]

 

[Civinator]

My post was one more time doubled at CFC (one klick - two posts).

 

[LKendter]

After Canberra builds an Australian flag, it can build Sydney Cove. That will trip our golden age. Mercantilism is very much worth it for us.

When I ended, it occurred to me to become curious about our unique wonder. We can build it if the capital builds Australian flag after the clock completes. Sydney Cove requires the flag.

Read my previous post above. I thought I already made it clear. Tusker please get our GA started.

 

[LKendter]

WOW, South Africa turned out to be wimp. That was a great conquest turn.

With SA dead let's stop starving the SA cities. The flip danger is gone.

180K should squeeze in a courthouse. Not much corruption there. The court is still another culture point.



ROSTER:
LKendter (on deck)
Jersey Joe
Greebley
Elephantium (up) and starting our GA. Canberra should build Australian flag, Sydney Cove, and Jolly Roger. We can enjoy those free exploring ships.

Cultural win progress:

600 AD: 1,290 / 180,000

 

[LKendter]

Oh I think our next opponent should be France as we can take the whole Peninsula and shorten the front line.

The are also backwards. That makes them a more appealing target.

Looking at the game there are new borders on the other land mass just visible. I hope we can contact another civ soon.

 

[Jersey Joe]

Very nice round of trading.

It appears we only have 2 Hospitals built (180K and Melbourne). We need 3 Hospitals to build Battlefield Medicine. We should rush the third Hospital in Hobart. Then 180K can use Battlefield Medicine as a prebuild for Wonders.

There is a source of Coal in our boundaries northwest of Elephantium. We need to road 2 tiles to get it. It might be quicker to get Coal by capturing Seoul.

The closest source of Rubber I can see is south-southwest of Adelade in the Tundra forest. Our next city site?

 

[Greebley]

Sorry for missing the Sydney Cove post. I think I was concentrating too much on the overdue 'I got it'.

Fine Artistry has multiple great wonders. I wonder if we can stay ahead in tech to get first shot.at it. I do like the idea of using Battfield Med as a prebuild.

Note that I prioritized science buildings so at the moment self research is more profitable than gold even if we have to later buy the tech. If an AI gets PP or FA we should buy it right away and start the next one. Unfortunately we are at war with the tech leader so it may be hard to know.

 

[LKendter]

ROSTER:
LKendter (on deck)
Jersey Joe
Greebley
Elephantium (up) and starting our GA. Canberra should build Australian flag, Sydney Cove, and Jolly Roger. We can enjoy those free exploring ships.

 

[Elephantium]

... belated "got it"

 

[Elephantium]

Pre-turn:

Put the citizens in Old SA to work.
Short-rush Hospital in Hobart

IBT:

Zimbabwe ... riots? But happy faces are balanced...wtf

T1:

Knight and Knight of the Realm ride down two Spears near Wonsan
Priest converts redlined Xbow
British Bombard narrowly kills a Spear
Knight kills redlined bombard
Knight of the Realm rides down Xbow

Have we met Turkey before? I just encountered their ship with a naval explorer. They're really backwards.

IBT:

Privateer sinks one of our naval explorers near Spain.
Medieval Infantry BRUTALIZES a poor elephant N of Wonsan :'(

Moment of silence for my fallen comrade...

...and a Horsearcher murders the Knight that killed the bombard.

T2:

WE crushes the Horsearcher. We leave the enemy MDI...for now...

IBT:

MDI suicides on our Firelancer
XBow forces a WE to retreat
Aztecs complete Christianization

T3:

Our Lawyer presents a contract. XBow commits seppuku rather than sign.

Arabia now has Ballistics and Steam Power.

@Civinator: Hopefully you've seen this already, but Fossil Energy and Steam Power both have a note in the civilopedia that Coal appears on the map.

We find an Indochina city past Turkey. They're very backwards (lack Engineering, Alchemy, Navigation).

IBT:

XBow suicides on our Firelancer.
Korea wants peace. They're actually willing to give up a city! That's rare. Still, we have more to gain by fighting.
Wonsan deposes us. We lost a Knight and an Enslaver
Mongols complete Buddhist art.

T4:

Retaking Wonsan:
Knight of the Realm retreats
Two Bombards fell the two Spears defending; the city is ours once again.

No other action...

IBT:

XBow forces our WE to retreat
Furs deal with Poland ends

T5:

Bombard kills MDI near Wonsan
Bombard kills Spear near Wonsan
Priest converts XBow near Seoul

I re-up our Furs deal.

Handoff notes:

We have an attack stack next to Seoul. It's a little light (<12 units), but it's all fast movers -- if need be, a retreat can be covered by the Knight of the Realm next to Wonsan.

We desperately need more Firelancers at the front. I'm torn between building a bunch of them near-ish the front vs. building infrastructure during our GA -- probably a mix of both.

We can trade with USA for Ballistics (about 6800 gold) or Steam Engine (about 9000 gold). Looks like they value Clockworks at about 5000 gold, but that loses our advantage on Wonder builds when Printing Press comes in.

Thoughts? We have plenty of gold. Sydney Cove completes in 2 -- might be nice to have Steam Engines to build during our GA.

For Ballistics, 180k is building 1-turn Knights. Hobart is building 2-turn Knights. They won't work as well for building Cuirassiers (cost 60, 5/2/2) OTOH, the Musketeer (cost 40, 4/5/1) is nice.

 

[Civinator]

Civinator: Hopefully you've seen this already, but Fossil Energy and Steam Power both have a note in the civilopedia that Coal appears on the map.

Yes, it was reported by Greebley and is already fixed for the patch.

 

[LKendter]

ROSTER:
LKendter (up)
Jersey Joe (on deck)
Greebley
Elephantium

Cultural win progress:

650 AD: 1,406 / 180,000

 

[Jersey Joe]

I agree with Elephantium, if we need Firelancers we should build them in the cities we have close to the front so they get to where they are need quicker. Actually we have over 27k in gold we should rush them in cities close to the front for 2 or 3 turns.

If we rush a Town Clock in 180K this turn next turn we could start building Battlefield Medicine (prebuild for Holy Book Printed) which would be due in 8 turns (if we hire Engineers) maybe dropping to 7 when our Golden Age kicks in. Free Artistry costs about twice as much as Printing Press so it is going to take more than 10 turns to learn unless our Golden Age helps much more than I expect. We will have time to set up a prebuild for the Great Playhouse.

Zimbabwe might have been hit by propaganda (unless than is a spy mission).

 

[LKendter]

Late set teaser

 

[Jersey Joe]

Our Golden Age really helped 180K. Looks like we have a good shot at building the Great Playhouse.