I will collect the votes.
Report ...
Round Objectives:
- Survive!
- Apollo Program
- Wall Street
- Computers
- Workers amend tiles to make the most of Civic choices.
Pre-Turn:
Clearly with America escalating on the Power Chart the choice was going to boil down to ‘get along’ and try to win with a good old fashioned space race, or consider a myriad of ‘Plan Bs’ … b-line to The Manhattan Project and bomb America out of existence, b-line to The Internet and spend 80% of our efforts on military capacity and spies while Mansa and Gandhi played catch-up for us tech-wise, etc.
The group’s pre-round talk recommended “Wipe out Persia, no more war!” … who was I to disagree?
I reviewed the cities and rearranged some tiles, generally to emphasise food, and on occasions I changed the build queues with a view to accommodating more happiness through Temples.
Opening Turns
I wiped out Persia, but not without a dash of “Cam’s luck” … I lost a 96.1%-er.
The clouds parted, and a booming voice from above spoke to me …
“Roosevelt is prepared to enter a Defensive Pact with you!”
Joy! Joy! Joy!
We are left with arguably the four tribes that I would say are least likely to start an unprovoked war (others may disagree), and the spookiest one of them all is now our ally. Former fears of American SoDs of Navy Seals, Artillery, and Tanks smashing our meek and meagre defences are all but allayed.
[Edit] I do feel awkward on this point ... in the pre-round dialogue I felt it was important to stack units in cities close to the southern border - the defensive pact with Roosevelt completely changed this plan for me, allowing far more developmental options. My empire has now become the weakling, but I'm banking on this pact lasting throughout. Looking at the other games some have indeed built semi-respectable city defenses possibly at the cost of more growth-oriented options, and I hope that people don't feel that I've misled them.
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The first of the trades with the ‘lesser tribes’ in 1665;
<Image Removed - Mansa offers Bio for Dem + Map>
OK … at this point I feel as though maybe some observers might think that I’ve been a touch hypocritical in that for much of the game Cabert and I have been in some gamers’ philosophical blood-match over whether to trade or not to trade freely, with ‘yours truly’ advocating a position of conservatism on trade opportunities,
but now tech’s begin flying ‘left, right, and centre’.
Essentially I see only one realistic competitor … America. If I can continue to trade technologies that either Roosevelt already has, or tech’s that are unrelated to completing the space ship, I should be fine. Later on however I’ll take a punt in trading a technology that should be highly sought after in Computers for another expensive and highly sought after technology in Plastics – this one I needed to get me to Robotics, which is surprisingly not as high a priority for most AI tribes as I believe it warrants.
I hear another booming voice …
“Mansa Musa is prepared to enter a Defensive Pact with you!”
Joy! Joy! Joy!
With Democracy secured, the civics go;
Universal Suffrage / Free Speech / Emancipation / State Property / Free Religion
1675 - 1700:
I build The Kremlin. The Space Elevator is ‘buyable’ – so this will come in handy for that, however nice for finishing off buildings in our commerce sites too. This one was hard to pass up in 1700;
<Image Removed - Mansa offers Phy + Combust + Map + 40
for Communism + Assembly Line>
1700 – 1800:
I’m heading both towards Computers and Rocketry along the technology paths.
I pick up Electricity in 1730, and have the option of Artillery or Flight as prerequisites to Rocketry. Flight is a couple of turns longer to research, however neither Mali or India have it yet, so I figured it was up for trade, plus I would also get access to Airports with their +1
. In 1760;
<Image Removed - Mansa offers Artillery + Map + 150
for Flight>
Disappointingly, Mansa cancels our Defensive Pact in 1770. He’s still pleased with
Montezuma the Feathered One however. Rocketry and then Radio are the next targets. I secure the former around 1775.
Almost by accident I pick up Broadway, however with Fur, Ivory, and Whales each becoming obsolete, a happiness resource was not unwelcome. Unfortunately I miss the Statue of Liberty to America, but collect a handy 894 gold for my efforts.
1800 – 1820:
I research Radio in 1800. Gandhi provides a useful trading opportunity in 1802 – arguably a little one-sided his way, but Industrialism is a desired technology;
<Image Removed - Gandhi offers Ind + Map + 190
for Rocketry + Radio>
Computers is now in my sights, and I self-research it in 1810. Ironwheat in the meantime has been assiduously working away at Apollo, and it comes in at 1812. I am still mindful of The Space Elevator, when Gandhi offers a real ‘win-win’ in 1814;
<Image Removed - Gandhi offers Plastics + Map + 20
for Computers>
Roosevelt has been working away at his space ship, however he’s not as close to getting The Space Elevator, and has been distracted by Satellites and SS Thrusters.
Looking back:
I felt it was a fairly successful Round – many National Wonders were built, Computers and the Apollo Program were each secured, and not only did America not invade – but a Defensive Pact was signed. Furthermore, all inter-empire relations are more than amicable. Getting Flight (and Airports), and building Broadway were both ‘icing on the cake’.
[Edit] I've looked at the saves - some great work by all. A few different strategies adopted which also makes things interesting - isolationism vs. global citizen, The Internet vs. The Space Elevator, etc.
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