MRG's Random Game of Randomness

[MrRandomGuy]

It's not that we still want to war Korea. It's that we can't sue for peace because they want a city in exchange. Every other nation we are at war with is the same. Peace for 1 city.

While culture flips is indeed on, I would be hesitant to give them one of our cities. There's no guarantee that the city would flip back at all. And if it doesn't flip back it would be a significant thorn in our side if the AI decided to war us again.

 

[Spoonwood]

It's not that we still want to war Korea. It's that we can't sue for peace because they want a city in exchange. Every other nation we are at war with is the same. Peace for 1 city.

For the most recent save I can assure you that another option exists. I think the previous comment about needing to use a city was when the treasury wasn't as big, and there was no checking of how much gpt one would need if the tax slider got lowered or it was assumed that the tax slider wouldn't get changed (gpt to AIs can be tricky sometimes... it either can disappear or can be difficult to track, if they have positive gpt though, it's simple to track). 16 of the AIs gold is valued at 1 of your gpt, which suggests that your trading reputation is intact (strangely, the rate of gold for gpt appears to vary with the aggression level of the AIs, it's 18 gold for 1 gpt at minimum aggression if one's trading reputation is fully intact).

Giving them a city would indeed be a high cost to pay. Even a corrupt one. But, if you retook it after 20 turns, they would get a war weariness hit. I'd have to check on what the AI builds after gifting them a city. I can use your save actually ...

Ah, they don't get any free units when they get a city. So, it's some type of military unit, which almost surely defaults to a defender. So them building any infrastructure for you probably would take too long.

So, yeah, giving them a city to pay wouldn't be cost effective.

But now I see that Korea is still a Republic. There does exist value in pushing an AI from Republic into Monarchy. I don't know how to estimate that value compared to the cost of gifting them a city or two and then recapturing quickly (can be done immediately without a reputation hit in some situations) so that they have go through anarchy and have to change governments.

For sure though I wouldn't do that in this sort of situation.

 

[Lanzelot]

No one said that we want to stay at war with Korea forever. But at the moment, I don't see any reason for peace yet. Long-term we want the Artemis Temple (on this map it is invaluable for getting a domination victory), so if we can get 2-3 cities closer to it, while we have nothing else to do, why not try for it? In the "food variant" game posted earlier, where I was able to attack with our archers around 10 turns earlier than in this game, I was able to take 2 towns quickly, and could probably take a few more, if continuing that game. The same should also be possible in this game, now that we have a stack of almost 30 archers. So why pay for peace, if we can make them pay for peace after making a big dent into their empire...

Also I think that we are soon approaching the point, where we can out-produce them. This is only Demigod, not Sid! We have several cities that can produce 2-turn archers. They are producing mainly LBs, which cost them 28 shields. I don't think they have any city yet, that produces 14spt, except for the capital (which is mostly building wonders...). So they need 3 or even 4 turns for their units. Add to this the better military skills of the human player (I had a kill ratio of 17-3 during my turnset!), our military will soon get the upper hand. As long as they only have spears as defenders, there is no need to make peace.

 

[Spoonwood]

Long-term we want the Artemis Temple (on this map it is invaluable for getting a domination victory), so if we can get 2-3 cities closer to it, while we have nothing else to do, why not try for it?

From my perspective, you have a lack of resource and luxury issue. I mean, you have none. Peace could be a method to help better that resource and luxury deficit issue. You also have a commerce issue most clearly illustrated by the tech deficit. Overall, I do agree that war probably comes as the better method.

All current paths run through Korea. The issue goes away with you learning Navigation or Magnetism, but then the Temple of Artemis has expired. It's easier to war probably for anyone if they have a rail network up, and if you're marching longbows and trebuchets or cannons to the front, a rail network would be preferable.

As soon as you capture a city, why make peace with an AI? Finish them off, and those cities no longer will flip, and the resistance can get quelled in a single turn if you have one unit per resistor. Alright, exceptions exist, but still.

The ToA might help for a bit. But, I think more relevantly, what would the host of this succession game prefer, or what would you think better for whomever struggles with warfare most... to avoid learning Education for the culture pops of the temples from the Temple of Artemis, or the security and ease of someday having a rail network? I mean, trebuchets, catapults, and cannons aren't slow with a solid rail network. They just lack range. It's only a few turn march for anything to get to the front with a solid rail network, and the AIs don't have worker logic to prioritize it. If you have longbows needing to march 10 turns or more to get to the front, and artillery type units that need re-positioned, it's not having a rail network easier? Is it fun to avoid getting a rail network up someday?

Korea is scientific and commercial. They have the majority of the gold, and thus recently finished researching something and possibly sold it. Smith's is commercial. Newton's is scientific (Cope's is expansionist). Who knows about their later production. That's probably more reason to try to do them in soon (and cash can get acquired via captures).

Oh, also the top part of the tech tree is often better for trading than the lower branch. Not learning Education means that someone miss out on developing trading skills for future games. Though, yea, there's definitely something to refusing to learn Education for the potential speed of getting a faster domination limit victory. But, this isn't a COTM fast finish game right? Putting settlers out in corrupt cities via a cash rush or waiting is a lot easier and simpler than managing military positioning isn't it? It's a team game, so what do other players on the team think? And which sounds more fun... refusing to learn Education, or learning it for potential ease with other things later trade routes and getting rails up?

 

[Spoonwood]

The Byzantines beat us to Philosophy by 1 turn.

Found an old comment. I seem to remember now in some games seeing them researching Philosophy at Sid level. But, it's hard to track this, since I think I've gotten Philosophy first when playing games with all scientific opponents on Deity. I seem to remember the Byzantines getting The Republic slingshot once, and I think Russia researched Code of Laws. Though my memory is very hazy on that.

 

[Lanzelot]

From my perspective, you have a lack of resource and luxury issue. I mean, you have none. Peace could be a method to help better that resource and luxury deficit issue. You also have a commerce issue most clearly illustrated by the tech deficit. Overall, I do agree that war probably comes as the better method.

Yep, no horses, no iron, no luxuries -- this game is definitely a challenge... Peace and then trying to trade for it, would be one option, but as I already said, the current global situation appears to be too unstable for that, and also we would have to pay an arm and a leg for any resource. (We don't have any techs we could sell!)
The war with Korea, if it goes really well, could also help with that: Korea has two luxes. Capturing those will not be easy, but perhaps easier than trying to trade for them?!

You mentioned the rail network. Sure, having something like that would be nice, but this is still so far ahead that we can only dream about it. For now, we have to make short-term plans that can realistically be achieved, and then carry on from there, step by step. Rails is definitely nothing we have to think about at the current point of time... But capturing a couple of Korean towns, getting lots of cash in the process and perhaps even a tech in the peace deal, is something that can realistically be achieved in the next 20 turns. And if we are really lucky, we may even be able to get one of their luxes (or both, or even Artemis...), but I'm not sure, whether we are already strong enough to achieve that at this point of time. But we can find out, only if we try...

 

[Spoonwood]

But capturing a couple of Korean towns, getting lots of cash in the process and perhaps even a tech in the peace deal, is something that can realistically be achieved in the next 20 turns.

They have Invention. They look like the tech leader. I mean, they have the most gold, and the top AIs in the gold are the tech leader or close to the tech leader I think. Even if not, they can acquire tech quickly via trading with the help of that gold and whatever gpt they may have or get. Though, I can't tell anything about Portugal. I'll look at one of the older saves. Portugal had only 7 gold in 150 BC, so I'm not seeing evidence of them having a leading tech position back then. Korea had the most gold then too.

Korea, America, and the Byzantines are all working on Leo's Workshop. So, they all have Invention. Thus, each of them could be researching Gunpowder now or already have it. Korea might not have muskets for a bit still or not have too many I suppose. But, artillery support isn't just about having a better kill/defeat ratio which admittedly might be a small change. Artillery support also makes it more probable that elite units to wound less, so that they need less time to heal before attacking again for more leader chances. Also, artillery support needs to move to the front, and ideally would move along the attackers and some defensive cover (though much more attackers than defenders). No horses in sight, so artillery support really can pay off.

Only two catapults now.

Consider purchasing Engineering now and changing all builds to trebuchets. Alright, all builds to trebuchets seems strange, but trebuchets or catapults need some time to travel to the front. More trebuchets than archers for a while maybe.

Keep in mind, artillery support is only slow compared to horses (in this context). They are just as fast as longbows or archers or spears etc.

Wait... the Sumerians don't know much. They lack knowledge of Literature and The Republic. Gift them Polytheism and Currency. Then see what they have. If it's Engineering, try to trade them The Republic for Engineering (this does often work in other situations). If not The Republic and Literature for Engineering. And then The Republic, Literature, and cash/gpt for Engineering. If they get something else, get Engineering from someone else and trade for whatever else they got. Oh...

Sumeria lacks Monarchy. Spain has it, but lacks The Republic. So, if The Republic and Literature aren't enough to get whatever Sumeria gets as their free tech, trade The Republic to Spain + a lump sum if possible for Monarchy. Then get Sumeria's free tech with Monarchy, The Republic, and Literature. Then come back to Spain and trade them that free tech for their lump sum.

And then acquire Engineering via Sumeria having it or trading their tech for Engineering.

Or tjs has already played those turns...

Edit: Sumeria had some gold, so it wasn't pure gifting.

 

[Lanzelot]

Wait a moment, Sumeria is scientific?!? I guess, I completely missed that...
@tjs282: can you check whether a trade as mentioned by Spoonwood is possible? Any tech we might get that way would help in our current situation.

 

[Spoonwood]

Wait a moment, Sumeria is scientific?!? I guess, I completely missed that...

I'm guessing you saw that before, but forgot. Their scientific trait would be hard for me to forget, I think.

The scientific tribes from top to bottom according to what techs they start with:

1. Persia.

2. The Ottomans (their UU is later than Persia's).

3. Greece.

4. Byzantines.

5. Korea.

6. Sumeria.

7. Russia.

8. Germany.

9. Babylon.

Masonry {1, 2}, Alphabet {3, 4, 5}, Pottery {6, 7}, Warrior Code {8}, Ceremonial Burial {9}. Unless I forgot a tech. I do seem to remember having to leave out one scientific tribe when playing a standard map as Sumeria with maximum scientific civs on it. I have found it fun to gift them all up at age changes and trade for all of their techs.

 

[tjs282]

Wait a moment, Sumeria is scientific?!? I guess, I completely missed that...
@tjs282: can you check whether a trade as mentioned by Spoonwood is possible? Any tech we might get that way would help in our current situation.

There was so much discussion yesterday that I didn't actually start playing. And today we're up in Schleswig, so I'll be starting my turns tomorrow. I'll take a look at what's possible, would be great if we could get Eng for Rep/Mon but I make no promises. It's likely that someone else will have contacted Gil by now, so we probably shouldn't count on getting good prices for our techs ...

 

[Spoonwood]

But at the moment, I don't see any reason for peace yet.

Read comment of I. Larkin's about a France COTM game where he loaned out gold for gpt yesterday. It lead me to rethink all of this. I had seen that Korea had what appeared to be (couldn't tell about Portugal) the largest treasury in the world. I. Larkin says that he used that money for maximum research, and though you all probably are best served by the luxury slider having no luxuries, you could still have no taxes with loans from Korea's treasury for a bit. The exchange rate for your game is 1 gold per turn for 16 gold (so long as your reputation stays in tact).

MRG, what level of aggression for the AIs do you have it set at if you would start a new game? Though maybe we're not supposed to be able to know that since this was supposed to be a random settings game. This isn't a minimum level aggression game. That's all I know.

For this map, selling tech for gpt to other AIs might not yield any profit before banking. However, the loan scheme still has power if the deal gets canceled one way or another. I mean, you're not responsible for paying money to an AI who didn't fulfill some promise to you like supplying a luxury or resource no matter what you or anyone else did, or who declared war on you.

It happened before that someone signed Wang into war against you. What has happened before, can happen in the future. So, if you were at peace with Wang, and Wang was loaning his gold to you, and you were at war with someone else, someone else might sign Wang into that war. And then you would bear no burden to pay that gold back.

Also, with less gold in their treasury, the AIs would have more trouble trading around technology, eventually at least when they don't have as much gold per turn.

Additionally, Wang wouldn't be able to upgrade his units as much, having less gold in his treasury.

 

[tjs282]

Quick update: I have played 8 turns, but have still not managed to take Chongfu. It's been really frustrating: I started sending units forwards twice so far, but every time the way seemed clear, yet another Korean stack would appear on Chongfu's SW Hill (and/or on tiles SE of my stack, heading for Tsets).

I did finally get onto that Hill on Turn 6(?) or so, but the defending eSpear was killed on that interturn, and 2 Spears + 8 LBMs were seen arriving in range of my stack/ Chongfu immediately afterwards (is there an incoming road?).

Since I 'only' had ~12 assorted v+eArchers in that stack (the others were stationed to deal with stray incoming units near Tstets, or healing), that was not enough to be confident of both killing the entire LBM-stack and then taking Chongfu (or vice versa), so I felt forced to retreat all the way back to the Hills near Tsets, to draw them onto the Desert. While the subsequent rout was quite satisfying (9 units killed, one rSpear redlined, 1 vArcher lost), I now have 4 more incoming units visible (including Chongfu's eSpear, which may or may not be a good sign...), and I'm still/again several tiles away from the target (I've just sent a Worker forwards to that Hill, to get it roaded for faster movement).

But there is also now another possibility: a few turns back, Wang helpfully/foolishly founded Taegwon on the coast to the south of Chonju, in between all the food-bonuses. It's a good location (I 'helped' him to make that decision by blocking his Settler-pair!), it just grew to Pop2, and (I think) it still has only 1 rSpear defender. I have 5 vArchers plus a vSpear poised to attack it next turn (the first of those Archers just killed another LBM on its way in, so I think the town's wad is shot for now).

If successful, I'm inclined to try and get Chongfu and/or some gold for peace (Wang will already accept straight peace, but he still won't pay anything for it), because despite my ~3:1 kill:death ratio, WW is starting to bite (most towns are now showing 30–40% "Give Peace a Chance"), which I think can only be from Korea, since I haven't had any other significant engagements. For example, I was expecting Darhan to grow to Pop6 over the last interturn and had just moved LUX% to 40% to keep it — and everyone else — happy, setting it up nicely to pump Workers at Pop6-7. And then an apparent bump in WW caused the new citizen to riot

Even if we can't get Chongfu for peace, I think we should plant some more fortress-towns towards the Korean borders, so that when Round 2 begins, we can encourage them to split their forces — and also reach their borders quicker: I'm looking particularly at the coastal Hills NNW of Tsets (SSW of Chongfu), and the rivered Hills NNE of Tstets (SSW of Chonju).

In other news, we've also now seen our first(?) pitiful amphibious-landing by the Byzzies: an rDromon sailed all the way round to Tabriz to drop off... 1 rLBM!

He didn't survive long enough to do any damage, but that felt like blind luck at the time. With hindsight, I think Dora was always going to go for an attack on KK, but for the preceding 4 turns I had been rather scared that something might be landed outside Erdenet (then Daland, then UlaanB) instead, all of which were minimally- or un-garrisoned when the Dromon-pair first appeared. Because due to our lack of bridges, I had been sending all our newest vArchers along the river-free routes to Mandal, so I had no units in positions to reach any of those towns, before a dropped-off unit could have taken them.

There is now a vArcher "fire brigade" strung along the western Hills, and individual Workers also roading the western Mountains, to keep them occupied (and for quicker unit-redeployment!), so the next player should have a bit more flexibility/ less reason to fear...

Edited for brainfart: couldn't even get "Chonju" consistently wrong...

 

[Lanzelot]

Yes, our attack came precisely these 10 turns too late...

What about Sumeria's free tech, did you get it? (Before they get Rep, Lit and Monarchy from someone else.)

 

[tjs282]

What about Sumeria's free tech, did you get it? (Before they get Rep, Lit and Monarchy from someone else.)

I did: Gil got Monotheism, which he traded to us for Monarchy, which I got from Bella (for Rep + 150g). I wish I'd paid her 9gpt instead of lump-sum though, because Henry bought her in against us a couple of turns later

So our Scout is now running for his life through the Spanish Mountains...

 

[Spoonwood]

I was wrong about a fixed exchange rate for the game existing. I did some checking in Debug mode and gifting of gold and my worker. When gifting improves AI attitude can decrease the minimum cost of worker or increase the minimum amount of gold for one gpt.

 

[tjs282]

Spoiler TLDR -- seriously, I mean it :

T 130, 50 AD
Per @Spoonwood's suggestion, I 'gift' Poly + Currency to Gil (for all 12 of his gold); unfortunately, he gets Monotheism rather than Eng, and will exchange it for Rep but not Lit
We're at war with almost everyone who knows Engineering, and Abe wants nearly everything we have (min. = 300 g + 44 gpt, or similar); since he already knows all 3 of the tier-1 Medieval techs, this doesn't seem like a great deal, because we might not be able to get it back before he's squandered it
Hopefully, I'll be able to extort it from Wang at some point...
Bella wants Rep + 150g (or 9 gpt) for Monarchy. I let her have the lump-sum, and Gil now happily trades Mono (which we want) for Monarchy (which we don't care about him having)
We are now up Rep + Lit + Mono over Gil, and up Mono over Bella
Per Lanzelot's suggestion, I switch Tabriz to a Barracks; at +3fpt it will grow in 1T, and should pick up the Hills (+3s) for completion ("Emphasise production" switched on, fingers crossed...)
Erdenet switched to Worker (6T, Pop6 in 4T)
Barun-Urt MM'd to finish Cat in 1T
IBT
Tabriz: Rax --> Archer (MM'd for 10spt, +1fpt; it can grow by Worker-joins)
Hovd, Darhan, Tsets, Choyr --> Workers
Baruun: Cat --> Barracks
Americans build GLight in Chicago!

T 131, 70 AD
Cats bomb LBM+Warrior stack, 2 hits
vArcher kills rLBM (1, 0 -- on my set)
Archers + Cat NE to the front
Southern Workers shuffled to tiles needing roads, generally heading north towards the core
New Worker heads SE to road Desert near Mandal/Erde
Atlay founded NE of Darhan --> Worker, because it's no good for anything else...
eArchers kill rAxe + 2/3 LBM, rArcher dies redlining 2/3 LBM (3, 1)
Now we've lost our Geek in Tsets, SCI% to 20% (temporarily) for Feud in 26T
IBT
Korean Spears + LBM appear near Hill-stack
r+vDromons appear near Erdenet!
TT: --> Archer
Mandal: Temple --> FP (34T)
Ereen grows -- and riots!
Korea begins Sistine
Spain, Portugal begin GLib

T 132, 90 AD
Cats bomb rLBM-pair, 2 hits
rArcher dies to 2/3 LBM, vArcher dies to 2/4 LBM, eArchers kill 1/3 + 1/4 LBM (5, 3)
Korean units now visible: rArcher on Hill SW of Chongfu, 2 rSpears + rLBM on Desert SSE of Chongfu, rAxe on Desert (blocked by our vSpears + vArchers to the SW)
e+vSpears, 5 green eArchers, 8 vArchers now move north (covering injured eArcher), healing units remain fortified on Hill under 1 vSpear. Let's see what Wang does now...
Newly unhappy citizens geeked in Choy (we have WW) and Ereen, SCI% zero'd again
Curraghs moved to block Dromons (which stopped with 1 mp remaining, to stay just out of range of them: clever girl, Dora!)
Switch Kaz to Spear, just in case Dora drops off a tourist near Erde
IBT
LBM kills eSpear (5, 4)
Korean rSpear + 4 rLBMs appear on Hills SW of Chongfu!
Another Spear+Settler appears 3S of Chonju, right next to our guards! That's ambitious, Wang!
Dromons head for BGrass 2SW of Alma
KK: Lib --> Barracks
Kaz: Spear --> Archer
Tab: --> Archer
Darhan, Choy: --> Workers

T 133, 110 AD
vSpear + v/eArcher-stack retreat to Hill, to draw the Koreans onto the Desert
vArchers spread out to block Settler-pair; with any luck, Wang will found in place, and maybe we can capture that town when it hits Pop2 (Fish, Oasis, Sugar, Floodplain... shouldn't take too long...)
vGalley sunk attacking vDromon! (0, 1 -- on my set)
Curraghs back to Erdenet for (long overdue) upgrades
"Fire-brigade" (3 vArchers) sent towards Alma; but if the Byzzies drop off on the Mountain near Daland, no units are close enough to protect it!
rArcher moved out of Erdenet in the hope that makes it a more tempting target...
Workers begin improving new Grass tiles NE of Darhan
Uliastay founded on Hills 3S of Batshi --> Worker
vArcher kills rAxe NE of Tsets (6, 4)
GAME SAVED
Cats bomb nearby rSpear, 2 hits
IBT
American Galley shows up near Chinje: Settler aboard?
Henry signs an MA with Bella against us!
Korean Settler founds Taegwon
3/4 Dromon stays put, does nothing, rDromon sails past Dalan
Alma: --> Archer
Dal: Court --> Galley
Ulangom: --> Worker

T 134, 130 AD
Curraghs upgraded (90g)
Cats scrape 2HP off incoming rSpear, exposing Archer+LBM-stack
vArchers kill rArcher + 3 rLBMs with one loss, eArchers finish off redlined Spear + LBM (11, 5)
vSpear plus 10 assorted v+eArchers advance north toward Chonju, leaving the injured to heal
2 additional vArchers sent towards Taegwon in preparation
Worker sent to join Tabriz
Crap! MM-ing Choybalsan messed up Ta-Tu's Archer-build, and it now has 18 shields in the box: build switched to Settler for short-rush + switch to Lib next turn (Pop8 in 1T)
IBT
3/4 vDromon retreats?!? rDromon heads further south
American Galley will soon have lots of Barb-boats to contend with...
KK: Barracks --> Archer
Darhan, Choy: --> Workers
Ereen: Harbour --> Settler

T 135, 150 AD
Tatu Settler rushed (4g), switched to Lib (5T at 10 spt)
vArcher dies, eArcher kills rLBM on Hill SW of Chongfu (12, 6)
Stack arrives, Cats + 3/4 Archers to follow
Suspecting that the Dromon has units bound for KK, wall of Workers + Archers assembled on highlands around Tabriz
rSpear near Taegwon moves to Hills to protect approaching vArchers from incoming LBM
IBT
Byzzies land lone LBM near Tabriz!
Korean LBM kills vSpear near Chongfu, LBM promotes rSpear near Taegwon (13, 7)
More Korean units incoming!
Erde: --> Worker
Egyptians begin Leos!

T 136, 170 AD
Scout now on the run from Spanish Swords...
2/4 vSpear fortified to heal on Hill near Taegwon, vArchers join him there
Cats bomb rSpear near Chongfu, 3/4 Archer kills now-exposed rLBM
Cat bombs 2/3 rSpear near Tsets, vArcher promoted vs 1/3 Spear (15, 7)
Unprotected Archer-stack retreats from Chong, to meet Spears + Archers coming north
rArcher kills Byzzie LBM (1, 1)
Workers near Tabriz begin roading Hills + Mountains
Since the Dromon-threat now seems past, Dal's Galley-build switched (back) to Lib
WW-plus-pop-growth forces me to raise LUX% to 40%
IBT
Dromons sail away
Spanish Galley sinks our exploring Curragh
Another 10-unit Korean stack aapears near Chongfu!
KK, Kazan: --> Archers
Hovd riots! (And then so do the rest of those craptowns!)
Darhan now at Pop6 and ready to pump (with more LUX%!) --> Worker

T 137, 190 AD
Geeks assigned in rioting towns (WW =33-40%)
LUX% = 40%, SCI% to zero (income = +32 gpt), Feud in 43T again...
I didn't miscount! There are 2 rSpears and 8 rLBMs incoming!
Just out of curiosity, I contact Wang: he would give us straight peace, but won't pay anything yet -- so I guess we'll keep killing his units...
...starting with the LBM which just left Taegwon (cash-rushed?) (16, 7)
Archer-stack retreated south to Hills again
IBT
Alma, Tabriz --> Archers
Choy + Darhan riot! Really worth running LUX%=50% just for these two...?

T 138, 210 AD
Taegwon now Pop2 grown, so Archers move forward for the capture
Cats bomb incoming Spear + LBM stack for a measly 1 HP-loss. But I can't wait for the LBMs to attack, so...
vArcher kills rSpear, vArcher redlines rSpear (17, 8);
vArchers kill 3 LBMs (20, 8);
4/5 eArchers kill 3 LBMs (23, 8):
eArchers kill 2 LBMs (25, 8)
2 rLBMs and Chongfu's eSpear still incoming, 1/3 Spear left exposed
GAME SAVED
LUX% to 50% (SCI% = 0%, income = +11 gpt) to get Darhan back in order, and all but one Geek back to work
rGalleys at Erde attack passing rDromon: one sunk, one promoted (2, 2)
Do some MM to give KK more food, while keeping 10spt at Tabriz (0fpt, but it can grow with Worker-joins), and finishing Ulanb's Lib quicker
IBT
rLBM kills vSpear at Taegwon (25, 9)
4 more LBMs come out of Chonju! Is Korea in a GA or what?!?
KK, Kaz: --> Archers
Palace expansion!

T 139, 230 AD
Near Tsets:
Cats bomb rLBM-pair, but score only 2 hits
eArcher kills 2/3 LBM (26, 9)
At Taegwon:
vArcher dies promoting rSpear
vArcher dies to rSpear
vArcher kills rSpear
vArcher kills 2/4 Spear
1/4 vArcher dies and promotes 2/3 LBM (dammit) (28, 12)
vArchers at Tsets diverted to reinforce remaining Taegwon 'stack'
Workers finish clearing polluted BGrass near KK, and irrigate it, prompting yet more MM... (yay...)
IBT
Korean LBMs head for Taegwon, but they will be too late...
TT: Lib --> Archer
Tabriz: --> Archer
Darhan --> Worker
Portugal begins Leos!

Last turn's log, with handover suggestions:

T 140, 250 AD
Workers move north to/from Kaz, for further work to the north/east
Scout ends up on a Spanish Hill-road which he couldn't see from the previous tile... Uh-oh...
Surprise surprise, Taegwon suddenly has an rSpear-defender again
Second wave of vArchers assembled on the Hill WSW
All fully green v+eArchers, 3 Spears, 3 Cats moved to challenge LBM-quad, or attack Chongfu (depending on what Wang does -- and what @choxorn wants to do!)
GAME SAVED

Since a pic is worth 1000 (of my) words, here's the current situation:

Ovals mark suggested fort-towns with founding-order, if/when we can make peace...

We are running 50% LUX% and zero SCI to stave off WW-unhappiness in the outer towns which don't yet have Courts. We are up Rep + Lit on Gil, but behind everyone else. Leos (Invention) is now being built by several Civs, but not Cops yet (so no-one has got to Astro).

Offscreen...

Ulanbataar has a Duct queued after the Lib is finished this turn. I would let it do that, so it can reach Pop7+ and use all its water-tiles

Dalandzagad is building the Lib for Culture-popping (so it can use the water, and Alma the land) + beakers, but could also be switched to a Settler to finish this turn (1s wasted), if wished

Darhan can now easily build 2T Workers at Pop6-7, but must be MM'd after every build completes. I noticed that the governator reassign citizens to both the Forests on growth to Pop7, so possibly it could build in 2T at Pop5-6 at 9 spt instead, with the Forests making up the difference on growth? This might also save us some cash on LUX%

Choy is now building a Settler because (1) we ought to Settle the southern Tundra, (2) it's unhappy, and yeah, OK, (3) the Worker-build got messed up by a riot Feel free to switch to e.g. a Cat, Harbour or Duct if preferred

I have not yet rushed the Lib-build in Batsh, admittedly mostly because it slipped my mind -- but I just checked, and we only just (this turn) reached the 200g prescribed by @Lanzelot to finish the job. We can easily afford it now, so it's probably worth doing before ending the turn.

Everything else should be self-explanatory. If not, feel free to shout at me.

Save is below, I'm off to watch an episode of Castle with wifey now...

 

[choxorn]

(depending on what Wang does -- and what @choxorn wants to do!)

It's MRG next, not me.

 

[Spoonwood]

We are up Rep + Lit on Gil, but behind everyone else. Leos (Invention) is now being built by several Civs, but not Cops yet (so no-one has got to Astro).

They don't necessarily start immediately on a wonder. I'm pretty sure I've seen them learn a tech and delay starting a wonder on some high level. But, if they know Cope's, they haven't known it for very long.

 

[MrRandomGuy]

Got the save. I'll post preflight shortly.

 

[MrRandomGuy]

Preflight/Assessment

City Builds:

The cities currently building military units will make catapults after finishing said unit. Then a mix of archer/spearmen/catapults. All cities currently producing workers will produce more workers.

Ulaanbataar has a duct building after the library. Will keep as is.

Darhan: worker pump. Must be MM after each worker is complete.

Dalandzgad: Finish library

Mandaglovi: Finish FP

Choybalsan: Finish settler

Erdenet is set to build a catapult, but has only one shield to work with! 16 turns for a catapult is too slow. Going to send a few workers to road/mine the mountains and desert.

Tsetserleg is building a worker. I think building another and working on the hills so it could pop out faster military units is necessary here.

Barun-urt is building barracks, but I think switching to catapult would be more beneficial. No shields will be lost with the switch and with a little bit of worker help we can have it make a few more cats.

Ereen set to build settler, but in 26 turns! It's too corrupt right now to do anything short of workers.

Batshireet - continue building library.

War Plan

Whatever happens with the LBM stack in the interturn, I'm going to push for taking Fu and ignore any surviving units. They will be unable to go into Fu in time for us to attack it since it's all single move units. Then we'll push to take Ju. The smaller stack of troops will attempt to take Taegwon. If successful, units will need to eventually be stationed on any X I've marked in a fortified position as eyesight/bait until Ju is taken. If it is unsuccessful, I'll reassess the situation and come back.

There is a city near where I marked "Scout" in the dark area of our map. If successful in taking Ju, I'll send a few units to find the city. We can then assess the situation depending on specific location/population/terrain/etc.