OFW2 "The Roman capitol killing atheists"

[TedJackson]

Pre-flight checks... OK

Pre-turn
Check Enemy status
Japan: 6 cities, up Maths, CoL & Map Making, no Iron
India: 8 cities, up Maths, CoL, Lit & Map Making, no Iron
Egypt: 10 cities, up Maths, CoL & Map Making, no Horses
in comparison we have 7 cities, Iron and Horses
Our military is average vs Japan & Egypt, strong vs India

A quick recap of the rules:
1. We are Militaristic, We will conquer the world, our goal is conquest. (We believe that there is nothing greater anywhere than our people and our Roman Empire!!)

2. We are not religious and therefore we do not build Temples, Cathederals or any other Religious Icon or any religious great wonders.
Also, We do not tolerate religious civs!! If we meet a religious civ we are to declare war on them immediately(NO TRADING WITH THEM) and stay at war with them until they are gone.
we can form alliances against them with non religious civs.

The Religious civs are as follow. Arabs, Aztecs, Babylon, Celts, Egyptians, India, Iroquois, Japanese and Spain. these civs are to be declared upon immediately if we meet them.

3. We are the Capitol killers! This means (and probably the most difficult part of this game) that when we go to war with a civ, we can only attack there capitol city until we destroy it. We must only attack capitol cities and raze them(we will keep no cities, only build our own) after the 1st capitol city is gone find where it moved and attack that.

4. You only have to stay at war with religious civs, you can deal with the non religious civs in any way you like, but all wars must stay as Capitol Killers.

The most important item there is that we can form Alliances. I'll try to sign up Greece vs Japan, Carthage vs India and once I figure where Egypt is sign up her neighbour
Rome switches to Settler (need more cities)
Cumae switches to Barracks (no more regulars)
Lux 10%
We need to get those Silks & Spices to boost our happiness
MM would cost us 8gpt + WM (Korea, China & Carthage)
I leave it till next turn
Hawk WM for 4gp (we can't afford to buy anyone's WM)

Press button
Legion kills attacking barb Horse
Pisae Worker - Barracks
India starts Great Library (should finish just in time for us to capture it )

1 - 730BC
Worker (Pisae) road to Veii
Worker Gang (2 NW of Rome) move to SSW Rome (road to Dyes)
Legion (E Cumae) 1E and fort (can support Cumae or Pompeii from here)
Settler & escort SE (better spot & clears jungle)
Legions (near Antium) form Task Force SW Antium
As we have no option for peace with any of the religious AI I suggest we concentrate our efforts on one at a time. I would choose Japan as our first Target as they seem to be weakest. In the meantime it won't hurt to give India some pain.
Rome grows so I switch research to lone Scientist (Rome)
Lux stays at 10%
Looks as if the going rate for MM is WM, 14gp + 7gpt - I wait
Can't afford any alliances
Hawk WM for 4gp

IBT
Pompeii Worker - Barracks
2 Japanes Archers appear to the North of Neapolis' borders (1 elite, 1 reg)

2 - 710BC
Worker (Pompeii) NE
Worker Gang (SSW Rome) road
TFI (Task Force India, 3 Legions) S
Ravenna founded - Barracks (revealing 2 Egytian reg Warriors to the SW and a stack of 3 Carthagian reg Warriors SSE)
Spear & Warrior fort Ravenna
There's a vet Warrior in Veii but I only have 36gp. I've turned off "Cancel Orders for Enemy Combat Unit" as the Worker mining the Horses only has 2 turns left to completion.
Hawk WM for 3gp (Carthage won't play ball and we need that extra 1gp to upgrade the vet Warrior in Veii)
Buy 17gp from Carthage for 1gpt
Veii upgrades vet Warrior (40gp)
Vet Spear (Rome) moves to SSW Veii
2 Reg Warrior (Veii) N & fort

IBT
Alexander demands 16gp - I give it to him as we can't afford any more enemies
Rome Settler - Legion (takes back to pop 5 in 4 turns)
we get the Forbidden Palace message
Egytian Warriors both move N to SW & W Ravenna
Carthagian stack moves W
Carthagian Warrior NE Ravenna
Japanese Archers move S

3 - 690BC
Settler (Rome) to NW Veii
Worker (NE Pompeii) irrigate
Legion (Veii) to SW NEapolis
TFI SW
Spear (SSW Veii) to N Veii
Worker (NE Veii) retreats to Veii
Japanese Archers now face a vet Spear and 2 reg Warriors (both fortified). There is no chance of them taking the position and there's a vet Legion SW of Veii to take out the remains next turn
The downside is that the elite Archer might win & generate a GL but we would be on a hiding to nothing if we tried to attack.

Lux 20% (Veii)
Research 10%

IBT
Veii Legion - Settler
Neapolis Barracks - Legion
We kill both Japanese Archers without loss promoting Warrior
Reg Indian Spear appears on hill SW of TFI
Egyptian Warriors join on hill NW of Ravenna
Elite Egyptian Warrior appears 2SW of Ravenna
Carthagian Warrior N

4 - 670BC
Worker (Neapolis) NE
Worker (N Neapolis) SE
Vet Warrior & Spear (N Neapolis) S
Reg Warriors (N & E Neapolis) to NE Neapolis
Legion (SW Neapolis) to Veii
Settler (NW Veii) to 2 SE Veii
Legion Veii 2SW, W
Archer SW
Workers (NW Antium) road - NW (Dyes)
TFI vs Indian Spear - victory & GA - spot Indian Settler/Spear SW
Lux 0% (+29gpt)
We can't get Lit any sooner
Hawk WM for 4gp

IBT
Egypt starts Great Library
Korea starts Colossus
Jaipur founded by the Settler SW of TFI so I can't attack
2 Indian Warriors on mountain NW of Jaipur, in range of TFI
Egyptian Warriors head N ignoring Ravenna

5 - 650BC
TFI vs reg Warrior on mountain - victory (2/4)
TFI vs reg Warrior on mountain - victory (2/4) - spot Indian reg Archer SW
Workers 2 NW of Antium road
Worker Gang (SSW Rome) road - SW (joining other Workers)
Legion (2NE Antium) to NW Antium (joins Workers next turn)
Legion fort Veii
Settler (2SE Veii) SE
Archer SW (E Pisae)
Worker (NE Neapolis) road
Worker (NE Neapolis) mine
Warriors (NE Neapolis) fort
Hawk WM for 4gp
Alliances are too expensive at the moment

IBT
Vet Spear (Ravenna) kills attacking elite Warrior (Egypt)
Indian reg Archer moves to Jaipur
Antium Legion - Legion
The people love me - I add some steps to the Palace
Bejing (China) completes the Great Wall

6 - 630BC
Legion (NW Antium) NW to Workers
Settler (W Pisae) to E Pisae
Legion (Antium) to SW Rome (preparation for taking out the 2 Egyptian Warriors who are surely heading for our Iron SE of Cumae. I'll use the Legion 2NW of Rome as part of the plan, letting the Warriors arrive on the Iron then wipiing them out)
TFI regroups NW Jaipur
Hawk WM for 3gp (Carthage won't pay)
Buy MM from Carthage for 15gp + 7gpt
Upgrade vet Warrior (Neapolis)

IBT
Egyptian reg Warriors are now S of Cumae
Indian Archer (Jaipur) moves North
Rome Legion - Settler
Greece starts Great Library

7 - 610BC
Dyes are hooked up
TFI vs reg Archer (India, N Jaipur) - victory & promotion to elite (3/5)
Worker (NE Pompeii) irrigate - road
Legion (Neapolis) to NW Veii (allow onward chain to follow Settler)
Settler (E Pisae) E
Archer (E Pisae) E
Legion (Rome) 2NW & fort (Rapid Response Force)
Legion (2NW Rome) to Cumae & fort (want to make sure Egyptian Warriors move to Iron hill)
Legion (SW Rome) to E Cumae
Worker Gang (3, 2NW Antium) road - road to 2SW (linking Ravenna) with Legion as escort
Hawk WM for 4gp
Buy Code of Laws from China (annoyed) for 2gp + 6gpt
Buy Maths from Korea (polite) for 17gp + 4gpt
Japan & Egypt dont have Currency yet so it's still too expensive to buy. I don't want our income to fall below +10gpt.

IBT
Legion kills attacking Egyptian Warrior (Cumae)
Discover Literature - Republic
Veii Settler - Legion
Reports of a massive barb uprising near Pisae
Indian Horse appears SW of Jaipur

8 - 590BC
Settler & Legion (Veii) E, NE
Legion (NW Veii) to Veii & fort
Settler & Archer (2E Pisae) E
Worker (NE Neapolis) road - mine
Legion (E Cumae) W, attack reg Warrior (Egypt) - victory (1/4)
TFI NW
Hawk WM for 3gp (Korea doesn't want it)
Legion (Cumae) S to cover injured Legion

IBT
2 Japaness Spears appear (2N & 2N1NE Neapolis)

9 - 570BC
Legions (S Cumae) N
TFI fort (to heal)
Settler/Legion NE
Hispalis founded (3E of Pisae) to claim Spices - Warrior (barb camp 2 N)
Archer (Hispalis) N
Worker Gang (3, ENE Ravenna) road - SW
Workers (2, ENE Ravenna) to E Antium (road to Hispalis)
Worker (WNW Pisae) to E Pisae (road to Hispalis)
Hawk WM for 3gp (China abstains)
Can't quite afford Currency yet

IBT
Japan wants Peace - "I want your Capital" I reply. He slinks off, muttering.
China demands TM + 22gp - "Have it" I say, "Why not take my blanket and pillows too"
Indian Settler/Spear spotted 2W of Cumae
Indian vet Archer appears on mountain NW of Jaipur
2 barb Horse pop up ENE of Hispalis
Rome Settler - Legion
Neapolis Legion - Legion
Pompeii Barracks - Legion

10 - 550BC
Worker (NE Pompeii) road - W
Settler (Rome) to NW Antium
Workers (2, E Antium) to SW Veii
Legion (1/4, Cumae) fort to heal
Vet Legion (Neapolis) vs reg Spear - victory & promotion
Workers (2, NE Neapolis) mine - 3SW
Reg Warriors (2, NE Neapolis) NW (join Legion) & fort
Settler/Legion NE - spot barb Horse E & Japanese vet Archer NNW
Worker (E Pisae) road to Hispalis
Looks as if the upcoming action will be in the East so:
Legion (Cumae) 2 E & fort (RRF)
Legion (2NW Rome) to SE Rome
Legion (Veii) to W Pisae
Legion (E Ravenna) SW (to join TFI)
I leave the Archer move to the next player (see notes below).

Our Empire


Our Surroundings


1600*1200 (103K)

Continued...

 

[TedJackson]

Notes
We're progressing quite well overall.
We need Currency desperately to: build Markets to support our troops; build Libraries to increase our Research pace and to allow us to switch to Republic when researched. The current price is WM, 77gp + 8gpt from Korea, China or Carthage. Greece want WM, 67gp + 9gpt. It would be a mistake to start building Libraries before Markets as it would bottom out our economy.
The Settler (NW Antium) has no escort but Antium will provide a Legion next turn. I suggest he carries on SE to the coast as the only way we're going to improve our WM is through coastal exploration.
On a similar note Pisae could use a Harbour soon to maximise the Fish resource.

Hispalis Under Threat

I see two choices: we can attack the barb camp and let the barb Horse pillage (or destroy) Hispalis or we can send the Archer back to Hispalis to try and defend it against 2 barb Horse. There's a vet Spear & elite Warrior in Pisae but they would take 3 turns to get there. If the next player decides to let the barbs have Hispalis then be sure to spend the money in the treasury first.

TFI (Task Force India)

Currently healing NNW of Jaipur. I've sent another Legion to join them in their crusade against India.
We have 2 elite Legions, one in TFI and another N of Neapolis.
I killed 10 enemy units without loss

Remember, only fight the battles you can win.

The save is > here <


Ted

 

[OneFastWarrior]

Nice turns Ted

Yes, we do need alliances, you said they are too expensive, that is better than they were during my turns, I could'nt even get them to put anything on the table.

You stated that India started the Great library and it should be finished in time for us to capture it, only 1 problem with that, we have top raze every city and only build our own. So, hopefully we can keep close in techs by trading while at war with the religious ones.

good luck generilissimo.

 

[TedJackson]

Originally posted by OneFastWarrior
You stated that India started the Great library and it should be finished in time for us to capture it, only 1 problem with that, we have top raze every city and only build our own. So, hopefully we can keep close in techs by trading while at war with the religious ones.

I was still in 'Vanilla' Civ mode at that point


Ted

 

[Puppeteer]

Good turns, TedJackson.

A couple of notes: The Legionaires fortified/healing in the jungle are in danger of dying of disease. I lost quite a few Legionaires building a Maginot Line in a jungle before I figured that out. I'm paranoid enough that I'd move them out of the jungle to refortify and heal if it were my turn, or possibly just unfortify them and pass their moves each turn--do they still heal that way?

Can barbs destory a city? I know they can destroy the shield box and take money. The horses can't attack next IT, though, because jungle movement penalty is too high. The archer could retreat to Hispalis, attack one horse next turn and hope to win and then defend against one horse. But there's still the option of taking out the camp and letting them pillage our small jungle town, but then I'd be afraid the barb would detour and go after our worker.

For the next city, it would still be nice to expand towards Japan's captiol. We're fairly close to Delhi, but Kyoto is a long march away through enemy territory. We can assure one or two turns' shorter march if we plop a city between Neapolis and the nearest Japanese city and extend our road. We *might* even poach the incense after getting a library, but I wouldn't count on it.

These thoughts are all off the top of my head and thrown out for consideration. There may well be better alternatives.

 

[TedJackson]

I wasn't aware of units dying in jungle. Perhaps it's just never happened to me.

Units have to be fortified in friendly/neutral territory to heal. Later, if we build Battlefield Medicine, they can also heal in enemy territory but still must be fortified.

I ssem to remember having barbs destroy a town before though. It's up to Generalissimo as to what to do there.

I forgot to mention that there's a Settler/Legion 3N of Pisae who should probably setttle on spot.


Ted

 

[Puppeteer]

Originally posted by TedJackson
I wasn't aware of units dying in jungle. Perhaps it's just never happened to me.

It was many months ago when I was first trying Civ3 with a borrowed copy of Civ3/PTW--I don't recall what patch level. But the manual and/or civilopedia mention the disease dangers of cities on floodplains, units fortified in jungles, workers working in jungles and I think even citizens working FP or jungle are in danger. I don't recall losing a unit to jungle since that 4-wide, 2-4 unit per square fortified line, but I remember it felt like they were dropping like flies--then again I don't think I've ever fortified a unit in jungle since then.

Originally posted by TedJackson
Units have to be fortified in friendly/neutral territory to heal. Later, if we build Battlefield Medicine, they can also heal in enemy territory but still must be fortified.

Okay, I wasn't sure about if fortifiying was absolutely necessary of if passing would work. It's almost always easier to fortify, anyway. (I actually tried to look this up a couple of days ago and couldn't find healing in the manual or Civilopedia.)

EDIT: To clarify, after deciding I liked Civ3 I bought it properly and played vanilla until very recently when I bought PTW.

 

[Puppeteer]

I peeked at the save but will resist embedding more pics. (But I'll link to them )

Good News: Our military & worker force is looking really strong (65k).

Bad News: Our people are admirers of the Greek cultural achievments (19k culture histograph, quote is from trade advisor but mercifully no screenshot).

I'm very paranoid about the Greek culture. And my interpretation of the rules is that we can't take our towns back (whether culture-flipped or conquered) unless it happens to be an enemy captiol. (EDIT 2: Rather, we can't take it back, but we can only raze it and resettle when it becomes the enemy captiol.) I'm no culture-flip expert, but I fear that Pompeii is in immediate danger.

Edit: Am I overreacting, or should we start an offensive on Athens soon?

 

[TedJackson]

There are two problems with declaring on Greece.

1) We are already at war with three other Civs

2) The Greek UU is the Hoplite (3 defense) so as soon as we lose a battle with a Hoplite we trigger their GA

It might well be that they are in their Golden Age already which would explain their sudden rise.


Ted

 

[Matt_G]

<lurk mode off>
I see you guys were extorted twice in the last set of turns. That means you are weak in thier eyes. The fact that you won't be razing any cities soon due to your capital rule will only enforce that in thier eyes. You had better get those guys on your side soon, regardless of cost, or you will be looking at the 'mother of all dogpiles'.

Just my 2 cents worth.
Matt

<lurk mode on>

 

[OneFastWarrior]

I would also not worry about greece, instead we need to make them a friend. We really don't need to goto war with anyone else ATM, and we really do need some friends, I would say to pay the price soon or we may pay the ultimate price later.

just my thoughts.

 

[TedJackson]

That's the fun of Civ. There are always too many things to be done and not enough resources to do them

I started my turns intending to sign Alliances & attack Japan. But I couldn't buy Alliances initially and our Troops were in the South so I bought techs and attacked India instead. Once I started down that road it would have been counter-productive to switch.

I've come to the conclusion that buying Currency ASAP is the right thing to do (and wished I'd done it during my turns) as we're almost at the point where our empire will really start to take off.

Our GA has come a little early but it will help us get to the Middle Ages sooner and allow us to start building culture once we have Markets.


Ted

 

[OneFastWarrior]

Okay, It has been more than 24 hours. So, I Pm'ed Generalissimo, and noticed that he has not posted since the 23rd and it is closing in on 48 hours. So I let him know in a PM that if he has not responded by 8AM (ET) then the next person is up in the game and Generalissimo can jump back in at his turn.

So, Puppeteer, If there is no response by 8am ET tomorrow, then go ahead and post a gotit!

Tahnks, OFW!

 

[Puppeteer]

I won't play before Sunday night, so I'll wait until then to pick it up if Generalissimo doesn't get it.

 

[Puppeteer]

In case the forum has problems, I'll say this now: Consider my "got it" effective 11pm Eastern time (4am UTC) if Generalissimo doesn't post a "got it" before then. I already have the save.

I'm open to suggestions. My tendency would be to focus on libraries and defense, but I'm working on becoming more aggressive with expansion and offense.

I know we have troops in India. If plausible I'll go for a capitol raze; if not then I'll just wreak some havoc and stunt their growth.

Since I'm so paranoid about Greek culture I'm likely to try to put a Library in Pompeii soon. I'd like more workers, Legionaires and cash. Should I continue to settle new cities in our second ring as long as the space is available?

I don't think we can get the Great Library without a leader as everyone's already building it. But if I get a leader the GL will be top priority.

Should we start building the FP? Delhi's or Kyoto's site might be a good place for it if we manage to raze a capitol, settle and have a leader (after the GL), but otherwise I'm thinking Neapolis would set up a decent ring and then in the future we can move the palace to the ruins of Japan or India.

 

[OneFastWarrior]

I would like to add, that we do not have embassy's in Carthage or China, and we may want them so we have the option to form alliances with them.

I was also thinking we may want to get the FP started. not sure where though.

 

[Puppeteer]

EDIT: Note that this screenshot is from 450BC, not the 350BC save, so I'm not sure if the all leaderheads represent the correct age the civ is in.

 

[Puppeteer]

Objectives: As discussed above. Make nice with Greece. Greece is our buddy, our pal. Will largely play reactively this round I think.

Pre-turn check: Wow, the military and workforce is lookin' good! And two settlers! Cool! Mil: Avg to Japan and Egypt, strong to India. Turn off "Always Renegotiate Deals", again. Isn't that bad to leave it on? Deals: (17) 4gpt to Korea; (17) 6gpt to China; (12/16) 1/7gpt to Carthage. Embassies in Korea and Greece. 2 horses, 1 iron, 1 wine and 1 dye. Hispalis not connected, and no trade routes to other civs. Sci 10%, lux 0. Researching Republic in 38 turns. We have contact with all other civs. Locate settlers and double check turn log to see where the S settler is heading; think about it and agree that SE coast is probably best bet for this guy. (Thought about settling NE of Neapolis, but that city wouldn't do much except be a roadway until the industrial ages.) Turn back on "Cancel Orders for Enemy Combat Unit". Looks like we're about 6 turns into a GA.
Okay, the GA may help us get a leg-up on building maketplaces & libraries; barracks are already in almost all cities or about to complete. I don't have a force big enough to head for Delhi yet, but there's an Indian settler pair to the West I'll try to capture, plus it's a good excuse to get those Legionaries out of the jungle--you know I'm paranoid they'll get diseased.

Turn 0: 550BC: Wake 3 hurt (4/5, 3/4, 3/4) Legionaries in the jungle and move them west to intercept settler pair. Buy currency from Greece (our buddies) for 67g, 9gpt; they're still cautious; maybe I shoulda paid some extra. Change Rome to Marketplace (13); also Veii (15) and Pompeii. Queue market for Antium. MM Pompeii for growth in 4 since they're pop 1. Move archer back to Hispalis for barb horse battle. Wake Veii spear and move him on road between Neapolis & Veii, just in case. (Have Japanese troops near Neapolis and Veii is happy w/no MP.) Change Hispalis to scientist and move Sci to 0, save 5gpt & still have Republic in 38. End turn...

IT: Japan fights invsible enemies (barbs I presume) & gets an elite 3/5 archer. Carth horse (originally thought it was Egypt-whew) from blackness kills barb horse just E of our east settler. Egypt reg sword and reg warrior pop up next to our India task force. India settler pair moves North--probably can't catch them. Antium Legion-Market. Cumae Barracks-Market.

1: 530 BC: I'm not sure why the 2 workers are in the forrest near Neapolis; check TJ's turn log, no info, but I suppose they're there to road for commerce bonus. 2 workers start road. 5/5 Legionary attacks Japan reg spear; wins losing 1hp. Settle Viroconium, start Forbidden Palace; fortify vet Legionary as garrison. Um, where'd the barb horses by Hispalis go? I missed them in the IT, but they're gone now. Archer N towards camp. Legion/settler SE towards coast. Decide to risk combat w/wounded Legionaries for possible leader: 3/4 L attacks reg sword--bad idea, loses and sword promotes to 3/4. Other two wounded rendevouz with a 4/4 Legion 1 tile to N. Pompeii worker-irrigate FP.

IT: Indians ask for peace. Heh. Ravenna Barracks-Market. Chinese start Colossus. Greece reg warrior enters our territory on hill NW of Ravenna . Heh, Egypt only advanced the reg warrior and not the 3/4 sword .

2: 510 BC: Everything we have won't buy an alliance w/Greece vs. Japan. 4/5 Legionary attacks Egypt reg warrior in forrest: WOOOHOOOO! [dance] Great Library, HERE WE COME! Great Leader Trajan makes it as far as Antium, will rush GL in Rome next turn. (3 workers built road this turn to allow 1-turn move between Antium & Ravenna--had no idea it would come in handy this soon.) Rest of TFI moves to cover 3/5* "da MAN". Settler pair S, finds reg India archer. 2 workers start road on BG towards Viroconium. Reg archer attacks barb conscript warrior in camp in jungle: loses, barb has 1hp . Rome changed to Legionary in 1. Shuffle other Legions a bit. Hmmm, Greece is annoyed with us--Ack! They're up Republic, Construction and Polytheism. Oh yeah, no prob in 2 turns. Gift them 13g, but they're still annoyed. Hmmm. Move elite warrior from Pisae towards Hispalis for garrison. (BTW, I decided to build the GL in Rome because I figure it's the city least likely to be lost even though I don't plan on losing any.)

IT: Hee hee hee, Egypt offers us peace for the wonderful deal of 23g plus 20 easy payments of just 5gpt! Rudely dismissed. 4/4 Egypt sword attacks our 4/4 Legion in forrest--or at least I think they did, because they died, but our guy wasn't so much as scratched. Greece warrior moves NE, now in hill tile N of Ravenna. 4 barb horses appear 2 tiles E of Hispalis! Rome Legionary->hmmm, let's see...Great Library? Pisae Barracks-Legionary (a bit corrupt for Market right now).

3: 490 BC: Looks like we, Egypt and Japan are the only ones still in the ancient age. Vet Legion of settler pair attacks India reg archer on plains: you're kidding, right? Legion dies leaving archer at 2/3; that's okay, RNG, give me that and a leader anytime. Settler retreats N. Legion is close enough to cover Settler in case India has a horse nearby (um, duh, I know they didn't because I could/can see 2 tiles around the settler). Trajan hurries Great Library in Rome. 3-worker team starts mine on BG between Ravenna & Antium. TFI fortifies in forrest to heal two members. Fire the scientist in Hispalis--shoulda done that last turn, but it's just 1 food pt gained.

IT: India and China form military alliance against us . Rome Great Library [dance] - market. India cascades and completes Colossus in Bangalore. Other Wonder initiations. 4 barb horses threaten Hispalis. Encroaching Greece warrior continues NE along hills. 2 Carthage warriors move into forrest just W of worker irrigiating FP by Pompeii. Pompeii grows to size 2. Antium and Veii grow to 4.

4: 470 BC: We're militarily average compared to China. Alliance w/Greece against Japan is prohibitively expensive, everything we have against China and impossible against India (?). Carthage is cautious and we have a strong military compared to them; I think they're just barb hunting. MM Pompeii for shields now to finish out GA. Heh, just realized the Chinese broke our 6gpt (to them) deal about 13 turns early. Suckers. Without haggling, sell WM to Carthage, Greece and Korea for 1g each. Doesn't change attitudes, but notice that Korea is polite. I could get them to fight China for 57g and 13gpt (before haggling). I'm worried about Greece, though. 2 workers complete road, move N to complete road to Viroconium. The RNG has been feast or famine lately, but vet Legion of settler pair attacks India vet archer in forrest: feast this time as we win losing 1hp. Move another legion to cover settler who stays put due to archer threatening victorious legion's position. 2 workers complete road in forest, split to road grasslands for Neapolis and Veii towards Viroconium for. Having trouble deciding whether to leave Hispalis to the barbs or throw our elite warrior in there...what the heck, throw him to the barbs, maybe they'll retreat again. Build embassy w/Carthage for 48g. They have 2 iron, 1 horse and 5 furs hooked up. Colosseum, Oracle, building Library in 8, +2fpt, 9spt, 11 commerce pt, 4 numidian mercenary as garrison. Split up TFI for southern defense since I seem to be in infra mode right now. MM Cumae and Antium for shields, hopefully making the most of our GA.

IT: CRUD! Korea and China sign MA against us. 4 barb horses PHEAR our unfortified elite warrior in Hispalis and wander north (crazy barbs). Greece warrior continues NE. Carthage warriors divert N and stay out of our territory. GL teaches us: Polytheism, Construction, Monotheism, Engineering, ... uh, where's Republic? I thought two of them had it; guess I was wrong. Neapolis: Legion-Legion. Wonder initiations. Rome grows to size 5.

5: 450 BC: Um, okay, we have Republic...I missed the popup IT. I'm not going to revolt during my turns since I'm playing during a Golden Age. And I don't want to lose the bonus shields & commerce, limited as they are by despotism. (Not to mention 5 nations are at war with us.) I'm trying to get Carthage to pay us gpt for alliance and/or tech but 1gpt for Republic and Mono would "never accept", so I guess they're running at 0gpt. Greece is at tech parity so I only have money to get him on our side. Carthage lacks Mono and Republic but only has 27g and won't pay us gpt. Hmm, I'll move the units first then play diplomacy. Workers everywhere begin roading. Vet archer of new settler pair attacs India reg archer on plains: wins losing 2hp, settler follows to SE. Barb-scaring elite warrior fortifies in Hispalis. Fortify 3/4 legion in forrest as reg archer threatens well-defended Antium. Okay, ally with Carthage against India, Japan and Egypt for his WM and 27g and we kick in Republic and Monotheism. Thought about RoP, but decided against it so he wouldn't clog up our roads attacking Japan, and we don't need to tromp through his lands anytime soon. Hannibal is gracious now, and our WM is almost 100% complete except for the jungles east of us. Alexander sure likes them Indians, but I can get him to fight Japan or Egypt. I can't decide whether to sic him on the nearby Japan or send him on a long trek against Egypt; they cost the same. I think we can handle Japan for now, and I don't want Alexander to get any more land, so I'm sic'ing him on far-by-land but close-by-sea Egypt. After all my main goal is to prevent him from attacking us. Ally with Greece against Egypt for 54g and 18gpt, the lowest gpt I can affort. I worry about that amount after the GA ends, but hopefully the markets will bail us out. Besides, I'd worry a lot more if Greece dogpiled on top of us. Oh yeah, we'll also gain goal from tech sales, especially after we make peace w/China and Korea, so I think we'll be okay. Greece is now polite! Yay! My goodness, F4 is a mess of red and dotted orange lines!

IT: India archers retreat towards home! But one fortifies. 4 barb horses move SE away from everything I know they could attack (?); judging by my recent WM there may be a galley that way that could have dropped someone off for them to attack. Carth units move towards southern hemisphere; they'll probably tromp through our territory. Palace expansion--how 'bout a second floor?

6: 430 BC: Freshly healed vet legion attacks India reg archer fortified on plains: win, but ow! 1hp left. Settler/legion pair stay put so legion can heal, another legion approaches to take over escort duty. Minor shuffling.

IT: 4 barb horses continue SE...somebody must've landed down there; I'm guessing Egypt or maybe China.

7: 410 BC: Virconium connected to roadnet; 2 workers start irrigating BG (yeah, I know) to work towards irrigating Viroconium & its wheat. Other workers start irrigating plain and mining BG by Ravenna. Advance settler and 3/4 legion S since the coast looks clear (bad pun not intended). Notice that I probably should've peeled a worker off of Rome before restarting market, but too late now. Change Pisae to worker in 1. China & Korea don't want to talk yet.

IT: All 4 barb horses die very, very quickly attacking whoever landed in the jungle to our east. (Hoplites?) Carth settler pair heading for where our settler wants to settle. Pisae worker-legion.

8: 390 BC: Settle Lugdunum; not necessarily my first choice of placement, but it's on the coast and I think Carthage may have settled first if I moved again. (They were on forrest tile between game and Lugdunum. Set prod to warrior. Fortify 1/4 legion in Antium to heal. Worker finishes irrigating FP, starts irrigating horse. New worker moves to continue road to Hispalis through jungle (and hook up spices); thought he'd have a work buddy but the buddy will lag a turn as he just finished his road this turn. Other unremarkable moves. China & Korea still not talking.

IT: Notice a second Carth settler pair moving north briefly through our sight from our far western territory. Neapolis legion-market. Hispalis warrior-warrior. Rome grows to 6.

9: 370 BC: Workers start roads here and there. Irrigation by Ravenna finished, swap some tiles in Ravenna & Antium. Rome's not happy; I almost forgot to check. It hurts 6gpt, but I bump lux to 10% so as not to slow down Rome's production. Enemies nuveau still not talkin'.

IT: Wonder initiations. India sending settler pair at Lugdunum!

10: 350 BC: China & Korea still won't talk. Second worker starts roading spices, finish in 4. I'm leaving a worker pair move for the next player. Only moved 3 or 4 units on my last turn. Everyone else was busy or fortified.

 

[Puppeteer]

I'm thrilled to have gotten the GL. I hate that we got dogpiled a bit, but luckily Greece didn't jump on before I mortgaged our empire with him, and Carthage is our puppy dog for now.

I'm not sure about the rest of my turns...I turtled a bit and only added one worker, no settlers, and not much military. Then again I'm building markets (with our GA bonus shields) to support our future libraries and military (and, as it turns out, my bank-breaking deal with Greece), so hopefully I did the right thing. Also it took forever to settle the second city because of bad RNG luck, but I'm not going to complain because I got a leader. The RNG was almost all-or-nothing in my turns. Japan was a non-issue this turn as they seemed to be busy chasing barbs. I did kill a spear of theirs, though. India tried an offensive but chickened out after Carthage--their neighbor--declared on them. We killed two Egyptian troops, one of them giving us Trajan. Until my last turn I didn't see any Chinese or Korean troops, but there is a Chinese warrior on the mounain by Jaipur, India.

Important troop notes: There is an Indian spear/settler pair that foolishly approaches Lugdunum which now has two legions. Several Carthage troops are in our lands; we don't have RoP but are allied, so I'm not worried about it. All but the settler pairs are heading south. A vet Japanese archer just appeared east of Viroconium this last IT, and I moved a quick-response legion into Viroconium in anticipation. Japan has an elite archer somewhere out there, but not threatening us as far as I know. We have a legion at the far east of our territory in the jungle. There is somebody to the east near the coast, and whoever they are they tore through those barb horses like a hot knife through butter. I was going to see who it is. Our troops are scattered about defensively, most of them can get to two or three towns in one turn. Some towns have 2 garrison, and Antium has 3 because a legion was healing.

There are now 2 Korean and one Indian towns at our Western border. I haven't seen troops from them yet.

We have about 4 turns left in our GA. We are paying a ton of GPT to Greece (and some more to Carthage), so think carefully before revolting to Republic or spending money elsewhere and keep in mind the GA will end in about 4 turns. Hopefully we can get some new tech out of the GL and broker our way into peace (with China and Korea only) and more gold to keep paying Greece.

Outstanding deals: Carthage: (2) 1gpt and (6) 7gpt/ (15) Alliance against all 3 religious civs. Greece: (10) 9gpt; (10) 9gpt; (15) 18gpt to them for alliance against Egyptians. I mainly wanted them to not attack us, but Japan is one civ that hasn't scared me yet, and I'd rather not have Greece taking over Japan or they may become unstoppable.

Man, Greece has some nice lands! We'll have dyes over him, but he has everything else that we have or can get soon. Greece is the monster civ and our long-term problem beyond the religious civs.

I think I uncovered a few tiles with that east legion, so our WM might be worth a tiny bit of gold, but we only have 2 civs to sell to for now.

I'm tired. That's all I can think of for now.

Oh yeah, the FP is started in Viriconium, but it's building slow enough it can be vetoed with no waste. But I think it may be a good place to build it and then later move our palace to Japan or India when the time is right.

Also, I don't recall if I mentioned it, but even if I didn't you probably noticed I only formed alliances against the religious civs which we won't make peace with anway.

LOL, I was about to hit submit and realized I haven't linked to the save. Man I'm tired.

OFW2_350BC.SAV

 

[conehead234]

Good turns that was good luck to get the great library. Who is next? I think we should try to KO India then turn our attention to Japan. When we attack we should bring some settlers along to replace the razed cities.