Next turn - 1550 AD

[funxus]

1420 AD: Change tax rate to t7,s1,l2.
Change builds in some cities.
Unload dip next to Thessalonica. They request a talk, we say no, they say "Prepare for war...". We steal chivalry.

1440 AD: Aztecs overthrow: Republic.
We chose Metallurgy on the list.
Berlin cancels cels.
BP builds beads caravan. (caravan)
FJ starts celebrating.
PB, Nae cancels cels.
LC starts celebrating.
Neu builds food van.
RF builds engineers.

Load caravans into Neu and RF.
RB wonders.RF: Totally 400s á 4g/s=1600g

Only 7g left to spend, no RBs this turn.

Found Mount Leo on northern tip. One engineer completes a road to it. No defense this turn, next a galleon will arrive for provisoric defense.


1460 AD: Zulus want to speak: They want peace, but no techs. I ask to share maps, they say no. I ask them to declare war on Greeks, they have no contact with them.
Aztecs develop astronomy.

Neu builds Bach's. (sewer)
RF builds Magellan's. (sewer, chinese abandon it)

Found city of Argos(4), quite isolated but closest city is Athens.
Found Sparta(4).

RB stuff we didn't have money for last turn.
Change tax rate to t5,s1,l4.

RB musketeer in ML and Sug.

1480 AD: French acquire Astro from Aztecs.Aztecs get Med. Peace treaty.
Celebrations in all cities.
BF builds CH. (sewer)
BP builds spice van. (aque)
FJ builds aque. (caravan)
PB builds engineer. (sewer)
Dou builds caravan. (another, grows to 24)

Population: 10 million

RB sewer in RF and LP. (Need to save a lot of cash to RB sewers in soon to be 12 cities next turn)
RB aqueduct in BS.

FJ beads arrives in Dou: 95g/b, 6t/turn.

End of peninsula is empty, maybe plan some good sites for future cities.

Change queue in Igl from CH to sewer.

7 cities are in need of a sewer that didn't get one RBd this turn, each costing ~200g. We therefore can only afford 4 next turn. LC, Neu and EF are first in line, then VM(but it needs a lot of engineering to grow past 15). Ifl, Nae and Ipec will have to wait.

Engineer clearing jungle between Nae and FW gets orders cancelled, it shall rehome in Nae and head back to VM to work some squares.

1500 AD: BS builds aque.(sewer)
LP builds sewer. (engineer)
RF sewer. (engineers)

Population: 13 million

Engineers improve land around PB so that PB can give its GLS to LC for further cels.

Thermopylae found (6).

RB sewers in LC, Neu and EF. 590g.
RB caravan in FJ.

1510 AD: Chinese develop Uni. Greeks the Wheel.
FJ builds salt van. (sewer)
EF, LC, Neu builds sewer. (barracks, bank, bank)
Population: 14 millions.

Happiness problems: El(eng next turn), Sup(rearrange workers, will need CH or MP soon)

BP gets aque RBd. RB sewer in VM, Nae and Igl.

1520 AD: Zulus switch government and attacks our coal mine engineer near Sup.
Aztecs and French exchange Chiv and Eco, and mono and BB.
Greeks and Chinese exchange IW and Nav.

El builds engineer. (CH, needs it to continue growth)
BP builds aque. (sewer)
Igl builds sewer. (CH)
VM builds sewer. (SE, out of food - move gold mine to forest)
Beads van in Dou. (van)
We get Metallurgy. (Leadership)
Nae builds sewer. (engineer)

Population: 16 millions

Deliver BP beads to Dou: 127g/b, 6t/turn.

Sup crusader moves out to attack Zulu elephant.

Aztecs have landed alarmingly close to El with an elephant+something else. Talk to them: Switch maps.

RB sewers in FJ, BF, Ipec and FW.

1530 AD: Zulu changed to Monarchy.
Other aztec unit that landed close to El was a settler. They probably plan to found a city somewhere.
El's celebrations are cancelled.
BF builds sewer. (Bank)
FJ builds sewer. (CH)
FW builds sewer. (bank)
Ipec builds sewer. (bank)

Population: 18 millions

Delivery from BP: 131g/b, 6t/turn.

BS and PB gets their sewers.

We now have 400g over, and no sewer until BP needs one in 2 turns.

Sup gets a MP.


EF musketeer is rehomed in LP for a turn to save 14s later.

1540 AD: French and Greeks exchange navigation and BB.
Indians want a talk. They want GP, we say no. Exchange maps.
Archer steps out of Berlin.

Super builds MP.(barracks, I now see I've missed that point of this city)
BS builds sewer. (Engineers, could change it to caravan if we want to)
PB builds sewer. (CH)
EF builds barracks. (CrusaderS)
RF builds engineer. (bank)

Population: 20 millions.

FJ salt delivered to Dou: 109g/b, 7t/turn.

Bribe barb archer for 61g.
RB CH in El.

1550 AD: Cels cancelled in Sup.
Tro builds engineer. (harbor, goes down o size 2 but it wasn't able tocelebrate anyway)
El builds CH. (dip)
Dou caravan.
Nae engineers. (bank)

Population: 22 millions

 

[funxus]

Things to consider:
Shall we stop celebrating soon? Happiness isn't the problem, but food. Maybe we should prioritize science until we have refrigeration and have built up SM and farmland before we continue celebrations?

Our first bribed barb.

 

[TheViking]

Great job . The empire has grown more than I expected it would do.

We have 22 cities, 18 of size 3+. Of these 12 can continue growing but hardly for long. If we continue celebrating we shouldn't do it for more than a turn or two.

Once we stop celebrating we need 20% luxuries to prevent riots. Then 50% science (2 turns) and 30% tax (497/77) looks like a nice rate (however, the Domestic Ministers admits to getting big $$ signs in his eyes when looking at 80% tax: 1313/77 !!).

In addition, getting caravan delivery bonuses would be nice but Doughnutia commodity caravans are rare. Maybe we should deliver caravans from other cities to foreign cities, especially commodities that are likely to give a big bonus ?

We should now RB 3-4 engineers in BBF to found cities there. The big question is if we should capture Berlin since we finally acquired a NONE unit there.

FJ should also quickly churn out a few engineers to finish colonizing Jayneland before the Indians or even Zulus do it.

Electrical, Superstorms, EF, Naer etc. should build military units for peacekeeping in Hell, first cannons and diplomats but cavalry and 1-2 alpine troops once we discover tactics.

We should probably build libraries soon in cities like Neu, RF, VM etc. (maybe in all size 8+ cities).

Doughnutia was built on a hill. Since we now have engineers, transforming that hill to plains is possible. It takes a lot of time but is probably worth doing.

On the diplomatic front, the Zulus are hopelessly primitive and we could easily wipe them out.

And last but not least: By founding a city in Jayneland the Indians have all but declared war on the MoDA by interfering in a rude way with its plans to colonize Jayneland.

 

[funxus]

A few things I didn't have time to write down:
There is a beads caravan on the galleon NE of FJ on its way to Tlaxcala.

I would like to know where to place all the cities we want. And it would also be good to get directions on what squares we should prioritize when improving in coresux.

I agreee we could celebrate for a few more turns, but I then think we should raise the science rate above 50%.

There are two food vans already in Neu for any future wonder, and Dou is churning out one every 3 turns.

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

Initial thoughts from the Science Ministry...

I see engineers transforming plains in Doughnutia. It would be more valuable for them to first cut down the existing non-special forests. Every square in the SSC should produce trade arrows. This will give us additional trade squares taking advantage of the colossus (and eventually superhighways). More base trade from such squares also can increase the value of ALL of our trade routes. CUT DOWN THOSE TREES!!!!

Similarly, the Engineer in Viking mine should cut down some trees (maybe start with the one that already has a road) for more trade before worrying about transforming the terrain. It would be nice to work that Gold Mountain.

A tax rate of 60% will probably get us about 2 techs every 3 turns. We can rush through our next priorities in a few turns. With 20% tax and 20% luxuries, that still gives about 250g/turn for the MoDA to play with.

Libraries would be worth the investment in many of our high trade cities. At 60% science, RF(38), LP(44), Neu(37), LC(39), Nae (38), EF (35), VM (38), Igl (49!), and FJ(37) all make at least 35 beakers. Many other cities are in the 30s. Many of these cities should switch production to libraries right away.

If we want to go on the offensive, we should first develop an overwhelming technological advantage (i.e., get Tactics before anyone else gets gunpowder). It might also be nice to be able to lay down some RR tracks once we get to where we're going with our units for better mobility between targets. The longer we dawdle around researchig these techs, the smaller our window of opportunity before GP gets out of the bag.

 

[TheViking]

Assuming we keep the current tax/sci/lux rate for 1-2 more turns an interesting possibility would be to then set set tax=0% (I may be committing treason by suggesting such a thing on behalf of the MoDA ) and sci=80% for 3-6 turns (we would have enough $$ to to run a tax deficit for a few turns). By doing so we would discover everything of importance very quickly. This would be followed by at least 1-2 turns of 70-80% taxes.

 

[funxus]

Igl (49!)

Igloria sure is the city that has surprised me most. Its trade routes generates most in the whole empire with 11t/route. It still has 4 more pops to grow, and I think we should let it be prioritized when chosing squares, i.e. we should give it FW's plains when it needs it. I also think that it should build something else than a CH, either a bank or a library.

Taking care of forests first make a lot of sense. The engineers near VM and Dou haven't done their job this turn, we could easily redirect them to forests. We could also make sure that Nae engineer is transferred to VM, the only need of it at the moment near Nae is the jungle between Nae and FW, and the jungle NE of Igl.

 

[TheViking]

This discussion of forest squares, transforming terrain and the discovery of refrigeration within the next several turns and probably railroads within 10 turns suggests that we need a far greater number of engineers than we currently have.

Maybe we should rush buy engineers in most of the Coresux cities once we have discovered refrigeration (possibly earlier in some cities). This would increase the number of engineers in Coresux by roughly 10. Some cities might temporarily have a negative food balance but farmland+supermarkets would quickly fix that problem.

BTW, paradoxically, the more I think about it the more I like the idea of 80% science (discoveries every turn) for a few turns. That would mean we can start making farmland earlier which speeds our growth. Being short of $$ in that case is not a problem because supermarkets are of no use until we actually have some farmland - we wouldn't buy any supermarkets immediately after we discover refrigeration.

We can afford the tax deficit if we do not rush buy much for the next 5 turns or so. Also we will soon be delivering a caravan from Dou somewhere.

Of course this all is on the condition that taxes would temporarily be raised to 70-80% once the important discoveries (refrigeration, tactics etc.) have been made.

I plan to post a new terrain improvement and expansion plan later today or tomorrow.

 

[funxus]

We'd lose about 80g per turn with 0% taxes, meaning we could theoretically have this rate for about 18 turns. If we only have this rate for a hald the time, we'll still have a whole bunch of money(about 700g) to spend if we need to, +the delivery. If we continue to celebrate for 1 or 2 more turns with the same rates, we'll have even more money to spend.

We probably will spend money on libraries, engineers and imrpovements for smaller cities we want to be ready for celebrations next round.

 

[funxus]

When should I play next? I think we need to discuss the Zuluplan a bit more, especially since it might involve revolutions.

 

[TheViking]

I think it would be a good idea to play a few turns now (4-6) to make things clearer. This is sufficient to be well on the way towards discovering everything in the current science plan (we need tactics anyway), celebrations will be finished and some of the libraries and engineers the domestic plans call for will have been built.

Then we would discuss the Zulu plans but there would be only minor modifications to the MODA plans.

 

[RedBull]

Maybe I should sit down with the game, calculate how much the war's going to cost, and be sure to stock up that much more (a couple extra turns at a hiked tax rate). We could then keep that money free until the science rush is full speed ahead or even winding down, and *then* take it to the Zulus with modern units. Maybe we should try the peace talks with the Greeks first, so that we don't need to worry about someone coming in the back door while we're busy to the north.

 

[TheViking]

Yes, a war plan is a very good idea. It affects the build queues etc. For example how many cavalries must be built ? And we might need reserve cash for rush buying stuff in Africa, for example I usually rush buy barracks in the first city I capture so my army can immeditely recover.

That said, I still think it would be a good idea to play a few turns now since the war plan has only minimal effects on what we do in the next 2-4 turns, except in Doughnutia which could immediately start churning out crusaders/dragoons/cavalry. A very important factor is that we have about $1500 now and will make a lot of $$ in the next 1-2 turns because science will not be maximized until 1-2 turns from now and we are about to deliver a caravan to the Aztecs.

Playing a few turns now simplifies any planning.

I strongly recommend against peace talks with the Greeks. We are very strong and if they attack us the consequences will be serious - not for us but for them. Our economic superiority makes it easy to deal with them, we can buy lots and lots of military stuff in a turn or two by simply maximizing taxes (we would of course change the tax/science plans if they attack). Also the MODA is turning its greedy eyes on the city of Athens which has some wonders :devil2:

 

[funxus]

It's probably a bit late, but I'm leaving this Friday afternoon (maybe Saturday morning) and will be gone for maybe a week. I'm probably home before next weekend (there's a festival in town then ).

So if I play a few turns tomorrow or maybe on Thursday you should have plenty of time to plan the war, especially since we don't have an official vice president who could take over. Of course, if anyone else feel they could play once next week I'm sure no one would have a problem with it.

 

[TheViking]

According to the constitution there is a chain of command so if both the president and vice president are absent someone else can play (I don't remember who but it is in there somewhere).

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

Article 1: The Chain of Command defines rank and precedence for Playing Rights, Naming Rights and Jurisdiction Conflicts.

Article 2: COC
President
Vice President
Domestic Advisor
Military Advisor
Foreign Advisor
Science Advisor

 

[funxus]

OK Viking, if you feel like it, and if you feel ready to bring down the Zulus, next week, go ahead.

 

[TheViking]

Zimbabwe delenda est !

 

[RedBull]

Wonders, eh?...Greeks, eh?...Maybe we shouldn't talk to 'em then. Let 'em sit and stew while we're handling the Zulus...when they start something, send em all to Hades. But that's a later issue. Let's just worry about building up that cash and getting the science going. I'll keep the Greek thing in mind though.

 

[funxus]

All right, I'll play a few turns now.