Nothing "bad" happened, but it was not a very encouraging turnset. We need to be careful in the next 20 turns or so to keep our good position.
(0) 1550 AD: 3 turns left in a GA, 330 gold, +41 @ 50% sci.
I'm guessing Own's reason for switching to Caste and Pacifism is New York, running an Engineer and 2 Scientists. Although we don't get the benefits of Pacifism because we have no state religion (even if Hinduism were there), it is the cheapest religious civic we could be running, so it works out. We'll get a GP in 11-13 turns.
Production good. Science mediocre (pretty low beaker output), but we're still in relatively good shape.
Saladin: down Education, up Nat'lism & Gunpowder
Mansa: down Constitution, Education, Chemistry
Hatty: down Education, up Nat'lism & Banking
Cathy: up Nat'lism, Paper, Gunpowder
Toku: up Divine Right, Nat'lism, Paper
Izzy: up Nat'lism
Mansa is a concern. He is the clear tech leader and has surged into first in power as well. HE AND SALADIN ARE AT WAR WITH CATHY. If they are successful in carving her up, we can't stop them right now.
As far as our prospects of taking on Mansa if he continues to run away, neither of our other allies can/will help us if we go to war (Izzy is 2nd to last in power and far away, Hatty likes Mansa as much as us). Meanwhile, we are dead last in power, with not a single Knight in our army.
(1) 1555 AD: A Barb Warrior uses a Russian road and kills a Worker near Atlanta. We have lots of infra builds coming in this turn and the next few--I will turn almost all new builds to Knights.
Hatty will not trade Education for Nat'lism (even beakers). She insists Banking or all our gold. That does not bode well.
(2) 1560 AD: More builds finish, more Knights ordered. Barb Warrior is Axed.
(3) 1565 AD: Nothing.
(4) 1570 AD: Izzy wants us to give her Nat'lism. I say no. Yekaterinburg has a Russian revolt.
(5) 1575 AD: More Knights. THE ARABS CAPTURE ST. PETERSBURG. I'd been building two stacks, but with St. Pete gone and Yek revolting, all spare units are on their way to Yek. Saladin is now annoyed with us and will cancel Open Borders soon. I'm trying to get a force together to take a shot at Moscow as quickly as possible, before Sal or Mansa take it.
Cathy has moved a small stack next to Yek.
(6) 1580 AD: Sal cancels OB. Mansa asks for help with the Russians, and I accept. Cathy's stack is taken out with the loss of a Cat, but we are immediately hit with crippling War Weariness that sends several cities into starvation.
There is not a culture slider solution that does not come at significant cost to science or economy, so I leave it for the moment. The next player should definitely play with them as long as we are at war with Cathy.
(7) 1585 AD: Cathy throws 3 Cats and 1 LB at Yek. We lose only a Knight, but take some significant collateral damage. The remnants of that stack are killed without a loss, and we can now see to Moscow.
(8) 1590 AD: No attack in IT. Healing.
(9) 1595 AD: Mil Trad>Chemistry. We have a monopoly on this right now. We are making a miserable 113 beakers per turn thanks to WW though. No change in Moscow's units, so I heal again.
(10) 1600 AD: Mansa offers Education and 390 gold for Mil Trad. I decline, because I don't want to help him, but Universities would be really nice and it would take 20 turns to get to Ed ourselves atm.
Cathy makes peace with Saladin.
There is now a Knight in Moscow. But she still does not have Gunpowder.
Notes: WW is a killer. We are -8 gold at 50% and our science has more or less slowed to a halt. I kept Culture at 10%, but next player should definitely give some thought as to how to allocate the sliders.
We have 2 Knights (with money to upgrade to Cavs, if desired), 2 Maces, 3 Pikes, and 6 Cats in or near Yek. Given our astronomical WW and worsening tech trade situation (Izzy has nothing to offer us, we have nothing to offer to Mansa, and Hatty won't trade fair), this may be the last war we can afford for a while. I leave it up to the next player to decide if he wants to push to Moscow, but our window for expansion is closing and Moscow would be a very nice addition. Getting self-sufficient in science is probably going to be the biggest priority for a while.
War with Mansa may be inevitable if he continues at this pace. He's not a runaway, but he's getting close. I don't know how we're going to work that out yet.
Lots of units still have movement points, so an expedition to Moscow could start immediately.
