LK60 - Slow moving civ

[hotrod0823]

LK60

350 BC (0): Ah Um were broke and losing -23 gpt. That can't be good. Well hire a couple taxmen and now we are at -17gpt. Another way to do it is to let cities riot then next turn fix them but we only have 1 turn left so lets see what happens.

330 BC (1): We are a fine Republic and it takes some doing but we can get happy and gain some cash. Okay not a whole lot considering we have no reasearch and 30% lux to keep our capital happy but we are making +3 gpt and we have a whooping 23 gpt to china for the next 14 turns . we may need to go to war soon and pray for a miracle. Change Bad-tiberia to a temple.

310 BC (2): Our economy sux our tech hole is bigger than before and we have no money. Not much can be done.

290 BC (3): Ur builds a sword, starts another. WHERE is our gold going??? Lagash builds a temple starts a market. Manage to MM our way out of not losing units and buildings.

270 BC (4): Kish builds a market and starts a sword. We have 2 gold and +8 gpt.

250 BC (5): London builds Mausoleum and starts on Knights Templar Okay our "Big Stack" consists of 5 swordsman. Is it enough to take the Hittie capital and push a tech for peace deal. I don't see any other options but won't push it yet. From the looks of things the Ottomans are fighting with China.

230 BC (6): More of the same.

210 BC (7): Our income jumps to +20 gpt. Still nothing to do but its an improvement.

190 BC (8): Continue to improve the economy but we are way way behind in tech with no help in sight.

170 BC (9): The Hittites build Leo's . That about sums it up. We can't even afford bottom basement prices on techs.

150 BC (10): Great Ottomans extort 1/3 of our hard worked for gold. Pay the 22 and they are gone. Nothing more to report. We need a miracle and I am not sure how to get it. Maybe move or stack on the Hittites and pray we get something in return. Only 9 turns remain on MM we have 46 gold in the bank and with research on are "breaking even" Some Markets started but we really need more Luxuries.

Here is the save:

http://civfanantics.net/uploads6/LK60_150BC.zip

 

[T-hawk]

I see it and can play tomorrow night.

C'mon, deep holes make the game more fun. On Emperor difficulty, we'd be strolling over some ex-Hittite land already and on the way to domination before tanks.

What will it take to knock over the Hittite capital? If they get to muskets, probably about 12-15 MDIs. That's not going to happen immediately, but is certainly not out of our eventual reach...

 

[Aggie]

I think that the hole is so deep because the AI is researching like crazy. Maybe we aren't doing that bad at all. At least we are a Republic now and are building marketplaces. Now that is going the right way

 

[LKendter]

The correct link is:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads6/LK60_150BC.zip


C'mon, deep holes make the game more fun.
Well after LK57/58 I really wanted some easier games. Those two games almost burned me out on civ..

 

[Aggie]

Well, LK59 is quite a bit easier, isn't it Lee?

 

[T-hawk]

A hole, you say? Bah! I'll show you a hole...

Anyways, inherited turn:

MM Ur off the cattle tile; it will grow to size 12 and now doesn't need it. Kish gets it and will keep it for some time.

Why are we quasi-trying to research Map Making? We're set at 10% science plus one scientist. I kill the 10% and leave the Einstein (in Sumer; putting him to work does not speed the FP.)

Why aren't we building our cheap agricultural aqueducts? Getting cities to size 7 is important in Republic in C3C. The size increase gives 2 more free units; +4 gold worth of unit support. Believe it or not, aqueducts actually give us a much better cash-per-shield return than marketplaces!

The answer to "why aren't we building aqueducts" is that we don't have Construction yet. Well, there's no sense in waiting on it - there will be no brokerages in the ancient age.

And the answer to "Where is our gold going?" is Enkidu Warriors. We have 11 of them, and we need maybe 5 to cover empty cities and make sure we can trigger the Golden Age when we want. I disband several, mostly regulars.

Now we have 23/turn income to go spend. I go to England and pay 19/turn for Construction. Umma, Agade, Lagash, and Bad-tibira swap to aqueducts.

The other thing we need is a harbor, to start selling our silks and importing luxes, but that'll have to wait.

====================

Hittites demand 21 gold, paid. The English complete Knights Templar.

50 BC: We have a Forbidden Palace, and national corruption losses drop from 37 to 28. We also get a gold/turn payment back from China this turn, leaving us with 32 income. I pay a total of 27 gpt for Map Making, Horseback Riding, and Polytheism. Our free tech (please be Feudalism, please be Feudalism) is Engineering. Everybody else has it, unsurprisingly.

10 AD: Kish has built a harbor. The only civ this opens up a trade route with is China; this route is pretty safe as China has a harbor in a city right next to their capital. To China, I trade our only Horses (we aren't using it ) plus Silks, to get Ivory + 47g + 30 gold/turn.

Um, nobody built the Statue of Zeus yet! China is building it in Beijing, though. If this wasn't the Slow Moving Civ game, I'd set Ur to try for it.

A "Most Advanced Civs" list shows them in this order: China, English, Ottomans, Hittites, Mongols, and us. This could be important: do not buy techs from the Mongols; we hope they go slow enough for us to catch up and make them a brokering partner. (They aren't building Sistine.)

50 AD:

We have 144 gold, +39 income, several cities growing this turn to get more, and 15 swordsmen. Feudalism costs about 55 gpt; we can lower lux tax to get it, and I'd suggest doing that very soon. As soon as we can afford to upgrade a bunch to MDIs, we'll be marching on the Hittite capital -- and can hopefully get a Golden Age with an Enkidu.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads6/lk60-50ad.zip

Edit: I didn't think of this when playing, but I'd suggest establishing embassy with the Hittites right now. If they don't have muskets, and if they have 5 or less pikemen in the city, I think we can march right now (within 2 turns) with our 15 swordsmen...

 

[LKendter]

LKendter (on deck)
Rubberjello
Hotrod0823
T-hawk
Aggie (currently playing)

Remember 10 turns per round - STRICT 24 hours got it, total 48 to complete.

 

[hotrod0823]

Let there be gold.

Insert Homer voice here. Should've realized that the "mps" were unnecessary once we were a republic.

 

[Aggie]

T-Hawk: great turn! I again learned a thing or two

I got it. I'm up in three games, so I take the day of tomorrow (actually this might be for another reason...).

 

[Rubberjello]

Great turn, T-Hawk! We can at least see the daylight at the top of the hole now.

 

[Aggie]

Looking at the save now...

Are we really able to attack the Hattusas right away? Do we have a save traderoute to China over sea? It appears that the Hittites block one tile at least when at war.

I'll play within 12 hours or so.

 

[T-hawk]

Hmm, good question, I didn't think of that actually. Our route to China is only over coastal water tiles, and the Hittites do control at least one tile on the route. I *think* that the route only actually breaks if the Hittites block it with a boat, though I'm not completely sure. Someone could just test it by loading the save and declaring war on the Hittites. In the spirit of scientific inquiry, I'll try it if LKendter doesn't object...?

 

[Aggie]

I am almost certain that we can't declare war on the Hittites, because it would break the trade route I am afraid that we have to wait.

I wait for a discussion before I continue. I wouldn't want to make the wrong decision here.

 

[Rubberjello]

I think it will break the trade route also. I know I wouldn't want to be the one to ruin our rep in an LK game! :suicide:

 

[Aggie]

I am convinced. I will play now and only start a war when things are save. This might not happen in my ten turns though

 

[Aggie]

IHT: This may slow our progress down, but I decide to wait for MDI's before I attack. I do think that we need both Hattusas and the coastal city to the west in order to keep the trade route with China. On 2nd tought: when we declare war, our trade route to China will be gone and our reputation shot. We can't go to war just yet

IT: England demands 26 gold and I agree. The Ottomans start Zeus.

Turn 1 (70 AD) Tarsus is the town west of Hattusas. It is defended by pikes.

I buy Feudalism from England for 54 gpt and 50 gold. They all have Invention over us. I upgrade 3 swords to MDI's. An Enkidu moves north.

Turn 2 (90 AD)

Turn 3 (110 AD) Ur: MDI->MDI.

Turn 4 (130 AD) Kish: temple->MDI. Bad-tibira: Aquaduct->marketplace. Sword upgraded to MDI.

IT: The Hittites start Sistine in Hattusas.

Turn 5 (150 AD)

IT: England declares war on China. Our trade route is really fragile. Ur: MDI->MDI.

Turn 6 (170 AD)

Turn 7 (190 AD) Sword upgraded to MDI. Our military is average compared to the Hittites.

IT: Kish MDI->pike. China finishes Zeus.

Turn 8 (210 AD)

IT: The Hittites and Chinese sign a MA vs England. Ur: MDI->MDI. Lagash, Kish, Erech: market->MDI, MDI, pike.

Turn 9 (230 AD) Sword upgraded to MDI. We make 19 gpt and the Hittites still have pikes.

IT: Isin: worker->enkidu.

Turn 10 (250 AD) I didn't go to war We have the military, we have the will, we have the bold curiosity ... but we haven't got the opportunity Within 9 turns the deal with China is over. Let's hope for pikes in Hittite land by then...

We now make 36 gpt and Hittite will be ours one fine day!!

250 AD save

 

[LKendter]

250 AD (pre-turn)
(I) The English are building Copernicus. We are still severely in the hole.

260 AD
We build the missing embassy with the Hittites. There capital is only defended by 3 pike men! The embassy confirms they are at war with England. I hope this last awhile as that will burn up a lot of there offensive troops.

270 AD
I start upgrading our swords to medieval.

300 AD
Some of our cash frees up, so I buy Monotheism from China for $30/turn. With our lack of luxuries some Cathedrals would really help.

What I want to know is how did barbs get next to Tarsus without the Hittites attacking them?

320 AD
An Edkidu warrior upgrades to a pikemen?
(I) This is good news for us. The Ottoman declares war on the Hittites.
The Mongols complete the Great Lighthouse. This seems awful late for that wonder to complete.


330 AD
The silks deal with China ends. I don't renew as multiple Hittite tiles interfere with the route. This is a big financial ouch as we are now at $25 making -3/turn.


Summary:
RJ is setup for a war with the Hittites. The English payment ends and we should have enough money to upgrade the last couple of swords in a turn or two. At that point -


LKendter
Rubberjello (currently playing)
Hotrod0823 (on deck)
T-hawk
Aggie

Remember 10 turns per round - STRICT 24 hours got it, total 48 to complete.


http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads6/LK60-350AD.zip

 

[Aggie]

I would attack now and not wait until the last MDI's are ready. Our forces are strong as it is (compared to the Hittites) and we shouldn't gamble longer. The Hittites may be able to upgrade to muskets otherwise.

 

[T-hawk]

Only 3 pikes? Yeah, attack now! Man, I wish I'd had the foresight (and the cash) to establish embassy on my turns; we could've taken it with our 10 swords 20 turns ago...

Do keep the Hittite capital; it's got Leonardo's which will certainly help us upgrade to artillery and guerillas later. Starve it, and if it does flip we can retake it. (Btw, Leo's was either a SGL rush or they were cascading for one heck of a long time....)

 

[Rubberjello]

Got it. Some Hittite in the very immediate future.