Où sont mes vins?

[patagonia]

Louis has successfully negotiated another glorious period of his reign. As his military advisors suggested, the insult of finding the rosbifs in Gaul was too much for the crown to bear, and they were driven summarily from the city with no French casualties sustained, such is the glory of the French armies.

A wise man named Mahavira came to see Louis at his palace and said something about the son of god. Louis assumed he was referring to himself and was very pleased. His subjects in Lyons were also struck by these teachings and adopted the new faith with great enthusiasm.

An Egyptian envoy then came to visit, bringing an offering of wine. Louis was thrilled to finally be able to enjoy his favourite tipple, but has such a taste for the vintage that he will ultimately want to take over control of production to ensure the highest standards are maintained.

Le savegame.

 

[patagonia]

I played 14 turns to even us up again on the count.

We've finally located un peu du vin, in trade if not on the map. I decided Louis would prefer to accept the Egyptian offer than go without any longer.

I've made a fair few other trades too and as a result we're ahead of everyone in tech quite comfortably. Vicky is the only one to have anything on us (construction), but we're up metal casting and literature on her (I didn't trade anyone alphabet, but we've lost our monopoly on that now anyway). We're ten turns from music and need to follow that up with DR (although we might need to research drama ourselves first so that we can put the artist to good use).

In terms of builds, I've started the heroic epic in Aubagne and we're building the colossus in Lyons (the added culture will help on our border there and the extra commerce won't hurt either). Paris is working on the great library because the only other thing we really needed was workers and I wanted to grow it. It should probably start on Notre Dame once music's in and hooking up the stone to the south will help greatly with that.

Savant, you're up.

 

[stuge]

Wow, Sommelier, that was quick. And I see quite a productive turnset. Well done.

So, Louis finally got his wine. Imported, of course, but le Légion should be able to change that...

I think that paper+map trades is the best way to find those valleys where the blasted Egyptians are hiding the grapes. So, after music and drama bulb DR and finish it, then go CS and paper.

 

[Big Pig]

If we set a citizen in Orleans to work as a scientist we will pop a GP there in 20 turns - with a 87% chance of being a GE. Alternatively a GE will pop there (100% chance) in 40 turns. I'm thinking at present Lyons would make a nice site for Louis to have his summer palace (aka Versailles)

We should hook up the stone to the south of Paris in readiness for building Notre Dame

 

[Eshnunna]

Magnifique tours everyone, nice to see our fine empire is nicely taking off. Good job about finding (/being found by) our soon-to-be victim.

Agree about Calais, I'll rename it (Gaul sounds silly for a french town). Hadn't seen the connection since at that time about 1/3 of modern France was occupied by the rosbeefs sure makes a lot of towns. But Calais is especially famous.

I've got the save, I'll try to play this afternoon.

As we'll have a lead on DR, I'd advise not to contaminate our GP pool in Orleans, since It probabnly will be our only cheance not to build Versailles by hand. I leave that open for discussion for another 8-10 hours or so.

I strongly think we should rename Lyons afterwards, for it is such an unsuitable name for the home of the most magnificent palace of the Universe.

 

[stuge]

"Are you feeling lucky, punk?"

I'm not, so I vote for aquiring the GE by the slow but sure way. Building Louis' extravagant summer palace will be a real b*tch if we pop a GS by accident, what with Lyons having next-to-nothing production.

 

[patagonia]

"Are you feeling lucky, punk?"

I'm not, so I vote for aquiring the GE by the slow but sure way. Building Louis' extravagant summer palace will be a real b*tch if we pop a GS by accident, what with Lyons having next-to-nothing production.

We've got to be sure that Paris doesn't pop another GP in under 40 turns and we'll be fine.

The Greal Library will probably be done in about 12-14 turns (there's a chop on the way from the mine being built) and that'll add 8GPP to the pool in Paris, raising its total to 10. We've still got a monopoly on Literature, so we may need to delay it slightly by slipping another build into the queue ahead of it if necessary. My head's a bit too fuzzy this morning to work out the numbers I'm afraid.

 

[stuge]

Aw, crap, forgot about the GL.

Regardless, Savant, just finish the GL and then crunch some numbers. Add an scientist to Orleans if necessary.

We're relying on your judgement. (Don't panic.)

 

[Eshnunna]

My judgement you put me under such pressure

I should be able to handle the maths , I'll check if delaying the Glib a bit is required.

Had forgotten a RL appointement, therefore couldn't play the game yesterday. Will do that tonight, sorry.

 

[Eshnunna]

On the very first turn of our turnset, Louis almost falls from his throne seeing that :

IT WAS ALEX THE GODDAMN BASTID WHO OWNED THOSE WINES !!!
We wantssss it, as soon as our economy is in better shape. The poor exploring warrior gets riped by an axe a few turns later.

The mine & chop in Paris are complete. After exhausting calculations, I decide to slow down a little GLib (8 -> 10 turns) and hire a scientist for a few turns.
We meet Caesar, he's backwards

But he has a settler

Mao asks for Litterature, I send back what is left of his emissary after drying a couple of weeks in the palace's attics.
And yet another coup d'éclat of our mighty kingdom : behold the Colossus of Lyons

Some cities are set to work coast instead of forrests.
Our idle sword force evicts the squatters for 101 gold (couldn't afford to keep the city ATM), with no losses

A courthouse is whipped in orleans, city was about to become unhappy. I on the other hand dare not whip Lyons, for it is not a food rich site. I'll let the next player decide.
Music kicks in, and some prime playwriter starts enlightening the Court of the one true King. He won't teach Louis how to become a real divinely-approved Monarch until he has some suitable theater to play his works in, though

And finally, after some MM (other AI all discovered Litt at the same time, so Glib was sped up, and a scientist hired for 2 turns to compensate), another fine jewel of our kingdom is completed

I started courthouses all over the place, and began to work on Notre Dame. No shields invested tho, and since I chose to improve gems town over hooking up the stone, another build can be done in Paris while the 2 workers nearby go build a carry down south.

Our economy is a bit better than before, thanks to the colossus and courthouses. Since heroic epic is complete in Aubagne, we can take advantage of HR and build lots of military police, in order to work more water tiles in the coastal cities. Lyons will need a lightwouse very soon, before it becomes our summer Palace (wich will improve our economy a great deal BTW as distance maintenance is killing us ATM).


La sauvegarde :
http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/63350/Ou_sont_mes_vins_AD-0500.Civ4SavedGame

If someone could tell me how to upload > 500 ko files I'd be glad

 

[pigswill]

Go to the top of the page. Find the button that says upload (under the address bar). Click on it.

 

[Eshnunna]

Thx, it was quite late and I never noticed the button

 

[stuge]

on the turns. I hope it wasn't too late to do the math correctly...

I should be able to play on wednesday.

On expansion:

Should we settle cities anymore? It seems that Paris' borders now encompass those dyes, so we can hook them up without a new city. Are there any truly worthwhile sites left or should we just gear up against Alex? If we're quick enough, Athens might make a nice site for Versailles, too.

 

[patagonia]

On expansion:

Should we settle cities anymore? It seems that Paris' borders now encompass those dyes, so we can hook them up without a new city. Are there any truly worthwhile sites left or should we just gear up against Alex? If we're quick enough, Athens might make a nice site for Versailles, too.

This is where the variant clashes with my inner builder. We've got some great spots (and loads of land) for peaceful expansion, but if getting our own wines ASAP is priority number 1 then that's what we have to do. Don't forget that Egypt has them as well so we'll need to found a colony out there to secure our monopoly as well.

We can get construction off Egypt for theology (she's the only one without it now) and elephants of Persia (in exchange for horses) for Aubagne to start building cats and elephants. I think war might be best saved until we have maces though, because feudalism's already been discovered by a couple of civs and they'll be our best city attackers in the forseeable future. Maybe get Aubagne to build lots of cats (once it grows it'll produce 31 hammers/turn which is a catapult every 2) while we tech to machinery via civil service? With those techs in, Paris and Aubagne would be able to spit out units at a tremendous rate and single-handedly focus on the war effort while the rest of the empire works on improving our economy.

 

[Eshnunna]

Yeah, we should kickk Alexe's butt, we can't afford new cities if we build up an army, though Versailles will vastly improve things.

Hey loulou, what did you do to your poor lil furry avatar ?? Kick in the nose?

And no, unless I'm much mistaken the GE (final prob of GS < 4&#37 will pop 2 or 3 turns before the Gwhatever in Paris

 

[stuge]

Hey loulou, what did you do to your poor lil furry avatar ?? Kick in the nose?

It's a christmasticed version. Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer ring any bells?

 

[stuge]

Okay, I've played but the report will have to wait until tomorrow.

 

[Big Pig]

Okay, I've played but the report will have to wait until tomorrow.

You big tease, you

 

[Eshnunna]

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer ring any bells?

Nah, never heard of it If it's some kid's cartoon character it never came to France.

 

[stuge]

Nah, never heard of it If it's some kid's cartoon character it never came to France.

Oh, you heathen, educate yourself!

Ahem, ok, on to the report.

Foreign affairs:

The set kicked off with this deal:

Yeah, it probably went quite a lot in her favor but as mentioned earlier she was the only one still lacking theology.
The rest of foreign dealing consisted of refusing demands. Silly foreiginers. They should understand that one doesn't demand anything from His Majesty. One must request.
Louis decided to humor Curys, though, when he demanded ceasing trading with the greeks, seeing as le Légion is going to throw the kitchen sink at them anyway.

Military affairs:

These years were full of skirmishes with the savages, and this piece of art now hanging in Louis' private gallery really says it all:

Unfortunately, we lost a scouting horse archer when the dastardly primitives
ambushed them in the woods. Their feet won't touch the ground...

A couple of encampments were also spotted:

North of Paris

East of Rheims

The northern settlement was dealt with swiftly and harshly:

In Aubagne the first catapult batteries were trained. Soon they will rain screaming death upon greek peasants. (Insert diabolical laughter here.)

Domestic affairs:

Many courthouses were completed, thusly law and order, and great savings were brought to the land. Louis was pleased.
Workers toiled all day long, but somehow it wasn't enough...

Techno-oh-so-logical affairs:

Homer was pleased with our scholars for making him a theatre to play in, so
he gave us a shrewd idea of how to boost Louis' ego even further.
Our scholars are still fine-tuning his idea, however.

Pondering

- I almost cried when I realised on the pre-turn that our economy wouldn't break even until 40%, and I cried when, after bulbing DR, it would still take 24 turns to research it.
Now there's 8 turns left and we can run 60% at -1, so things are starting to look up. Versailles should allow us to go up to 70%.

- The GE will appear in ~ 9 turns, so let's build the Versailles in Lyons, as per the original suggestion. The FB can go in Athens. On that note, the war against Alex should probably be a swords-cats affair, as getting maces will probably take the better part of 50 turns. Phants are of no use against phalanxes.

- The Notre Dame will finish in 9 turns. After that, we would benefit from building a couple of workers in Paris and working the lake/cottages there instead of forests.

- There's a rather good trade to make with Curys. Ivory+4 gpt for horses. Take it if you will.

Cochon is up and Sommelier on deck.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/90346/Ou_sont_mes_vins_AD-0725.Civ4SavedGame