sunrise089
Not that good
- Joined
- May 24, 2006
- Messages
- 798
Lurker's comment: Why not found one tile north of the above red dot? You would keep corn, silk, and cows, while gaining copper to work, and also loosing the tile of overlap.
RB25 - The Golden Five
- Thread starter Sullla
- Start date
T-hawk
Transcend
Got it, but I've only got time right now for a brief preflight check. Will probably play Monday night.
Great job with the wars, everybody.
Looks like I get sloppy seconds (or fifths) on picking my city spot, though. 
I don't like green or yellow dots. Unforested tundra is junk, and forested tundra is still weak. Green dot has only seven non-tundra tiles to work (plus two tundra resources), and both yellow dots have eight. Blue dot has seven, plus the deer.
Red dot is probably the best choice, though I like the idea of moving it one south as well. The move south loses four tundra (junk anyway) and one grassland in favor of the iron (very powerful tile) and a plains. Both locations have three non-tundra hills. The south location will still pick up both the deer and copper at the 500 culture level. Both locations have 11 non-tundra non-shared tiles available, which isn't great but is the best we can do.
Regarding Great People, I agree that researching Theology to open up lightbulbing Civil Service is silly. That's why I phrased my earlier suggestion as lightbulbing Civil Service only if a good trade for Theology became available. We've spent our one Prophet now, so now I'll save all the GPs for GAs. Yes, we'll be Hindu for the duration, and now we should look to spread the religion too.
What's our next research target after Music? Mansa has Code of Laws and will trade it to us. He won't accept Metal Casting for it, but should accept Music, plus he can give us cash or another tech to even the deal. I'd suggest making that trade and researching Civil Service next. Any opinions? Calendar is also out there, and I think it's worth expiring Stonehenge to get the Sugar and Silks online.
How long ago did Literature get around -- would we have a shot at the Great Library (16 turns) in Cornelia if we started it right now? The GL has great synergy with a GP city, and will finally give a sizable weight to something other than Prophets.
If we want to go for the GL right now, that will delay the 5th settler, so I'd be okay with mucco playing now (since I can't get to it for a day or two). We can also conquer Susa in that time and see if any spot down there looks better than either of the tundra areas.
Great job with the wars, everybody.
Looks like I get sloppy seconds (or fifths) on picking my city spot, though. I don't like green or yellow dots. Unforested tundra is junk, and forested tundra is still weak. Green dot has only seven non-tundra tiles to work (plus two tundra resources), and both yellow dots have eight. Blue dot has seven, plus the deer.
Red dot is probably the best choice, though I like the idea of moving it one south as well. The move south loses four tundra (junk anyway) and one grassland in favor of the iron (very powerful tile) and a plains. Both locations have three non-tundra hills. The south location will still pick up both the deer and copper at the 500 culture level. Both locations have 11 non-tundra non-shared tiles available, which isn't great but is the best we can do.
Regarding Great People, I agree that researching Theology to open up lightbulbing Civil Service is silly. That's why I phrased my earlier suggestion as lightbulbing Civil Service only if a good trade for Theology became available. We've spent our one Prophet now, so now I'll save all the GPs for GAs. Yes, we'll be Hindu for the duration, and now we should look to spread the religion too.
What's our next research target after Music? Mansa has Code of Laws and will trade it to us. He won't accept Metal Casting for it, but should accept Music, plus he can give us cash or another tech to even the deal. I'd suggest making that trade and researching Civil Service next. Any opinions? Calendar is also out there, and I think it's worth expiring Stonehenge to get the Sugar and Silks online.
How long ago did Literature get around -- would we have a shot at the Great Library (16 turns) in Cornelia if we started it right now? The GL has great synergy with a GP city, and will finally give a sizable weight to something other than Prophets.
If we want to go for the GL right now, that will delay the 5th settler, so I'd be okay with mucco playing now (since I can't get to it for a day or two). We can also conquer Susa in that time and see if any spot down there looks better than either of the tundra areas.
mucco
Warlord
I'd hold on music for a while, so we can get an davantage on notre dame, hopefully. The GL is better, however, at least until scientific method. Chances for the library are good, I think, especially if we start the GA.
Exploring: how could we ever know Spanish territory? Since our relations with Izzy are broken anyways, could a small "exploring war" be viable
?
Exploring: how could we ever know Spanish territory? Since our relations with Izzy are broken anyways, could a small "exploring war" be viable
?In terms of GPP production, the Great Library is your second best bet this game, with its whopping 8 GPPs/turn. You should make sure you get it. The über-wonder for this game (as in most games) is of course the Statue of Liberty, which will net you 17 (!) GPPs/turn (or 14, if you found your last city off-continent, but that hardly seems an option anymore). I'm aware of no other wonder that yields more than 2 GPPs/turn, so any other wonder (including Notre Dame) is unimportant by comparison. BTW, mercantilism will net you another 15 GPPs/turn as well.
Can you tell I'm really loving this game? Lots of tough choices to be made. Your first great engineer could spawn some interesting discussions as well
Can you tell I'm really loving this game? Lots of tough choices to be made. Your first great engineer could spawn some interesting discussions as well
Sullla
Patrician Roman Dictator
No one on our continent has Alphabet yet. Barring some other civ out in the fog, we should be pretty safe of landing Great Library in Cornelia. And while Great Lighthouse is a bit of a tossup, we're looking pretty certain to land Colossus in Venice if we go there ASAP. Down the road, Notre Dame would be a good build at Cornelia too! 
I agree; Civil Service and Calendar are the two techs we most need right now. We can evaluate where to go next after that.
Thanks! That's sort of what I was going for when I set up this game. Fun game with interesting decisions to be made. It's nice to read that kind of feedback from the lurkers, instead of "this game is too easy, what's the point?"
T-Hawk said:
I agree; Civil Service and Calendar are the two techs we most need right now. We can evaluate where to go next after that.
zakalwe said:
Thanks! That's sort of what I was going for when I set up this game. Fun game with interesting decisions to be made. It's nice to read that kind of feedback from the lurkers, instead of "this game is too easy, what's the point?"
Gusto
Prince
"Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and howlet's wing,--
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble."
How about farming the floodplains and permanently hiring an engineer in Cornelia. +2
speeds production of GL and ND (don't know by how much); and +3 
will speed GP creation. Were having great luck with low odds in the game (come on GE).
How about sending a worker to the vast wilderness N of Cornelia to chop a forest or two to hurry wonders.
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and howlet's wing,--
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble."
How about farming the floodplains and permanently hiring an engineer in Cornelia. +2
speeds production of GL and ND (don't know by how much); and +3 will speed GP creation. Were having great luck with low odds in the game (come on GE). How about sending a worker to the vast wilderness N of Cornelia to chop a forest or two to hurry wonders.
T-hawk
Transcend
If the consensus is to go for the Great Library right now, then that will delay city five, so let's put the roster back in order with mucco up now and me on deck. I've had something come up for tonight and won't get to play until tomorrow anyway.
And good point, mucco, on firing our first Golden Age right now to make sure we get the GL (and speed research to Bureaucracy as well.) I'm in favor of that, even if it means that my city-to-be misses out on it.
mucco <-- UP NOW
T-hawk <-- On Deck
And good point, mucco, on firing our first Golden Age right now to make sure we get the GL (and speed research to Bureaucracy as well.) I'm in favor of that, even if it means that my city-to-be misses out on it.
mucco <-- UP NOW
T-hawk <-- On Deck
mucco
Warlord
Well, then... Got It! 
Where does this come from?
I'll try my best to secure us the GL and find some sweet spot for the fifth city!
- what about a new variant rule: all of our cities must appear in the "best 5 cities" screen.
Where does this come from?
I'll try my best to secure us the GL and find some sweet spot for the fifth city!
- what about a new variant rule: all of our cities must appear in the "best 5 cities" screen
.Gusto
Prince
The Witch's Song from MacBeth.
Actually hiring an engineer adds +3 to Cornelia (+25% forge and +25% civic). It'll increase production to 25 and reduce GL build to 14 turns. GA adds +6 (includes % bonus) for 28 and reduce GL build to 12-13 turns. Both increases production to 31 and reduce GL build to 11-12 turns.
Actually hiring an engineer adds +3
to Cornelia (+25% forge and +25% civic). It'll increase production to 25 and reduce GL build to 14 turns. GA adds +6 (includes % bonus) for 28 and reduce GL build to 12-13 turns. Both increases production to 31 and reduce GL build to 11-12 turns.Gusto
Prince
Since the capital is founded on flatlands than irrigation will chain through it so if the grasslands S of floodplains is farmed (and not floodplains) than the irrigation will spread to the corn with Civil Service yielding +2 
instead of +1 . An engineer can be hired and Cornelia can still grow at +2 .
instead of +1 . An engineer can be hired and Cornelia can still grow at +2 .
Sullla
Patrician Roman Dictator
I think we'd be safe to go settler -> Great Library in Cornelia, but if the team consensus is to do things the other way around, so be it!
mucco
Warlord
I knew I had read that somewhere; it's just that I didn't recognize it, as I read MacBeth in Italian.Gusto said:
Here's my glorious turn:
(0) Change Cornelia to the GL, and let the governor adjust it so that it finishes in 13 turns. It also puts up the engineer, making the next GP due in 5 turns. It will most probably be a prophet.
(1) Nothing, besides moving swords towards Susa.
(2) Music completed first, we get the artist and start the GA!
And research into calendar. I've had some doubts because reading T-hawk's adventure 11 report I thought we could get an early philosophy via drama, so maybe I could research drama (which is a good tech for us anyway), and then pop Philosophy with the artist... but as far as I can understand the XML (which is not much), monarchy has a bigger "culture flavor" score. The prophet would probably pop CoL, so that wasn't an option really.
The Golden Age shaves 3 turns off the GL, and I don't know how many off the GLighthouse. I think it's very appropriate that Cornelia will take 8 turns to finish the wonder (the whole GA), it's how we honour our first city!
As the other cities see the honours tributed to Cornelia, they seem to become upset and envious: red faces everywhere! Straussburg has 4
at size 5... 3 alone from motherland bs. I whip the forge there, the size goes down 1 as well as the unhappiness. The forge would have taken 9 turns to complete, so it was mandatory.(3) I start a forge in Tuscania, and an archer in Straussburg. Our defensive army consists of two warriors, I think it's a little bit light. The whack-an-arch continues, as I clear another archer patrolling the jungle ivory outside Susa.
Somebody founds Taoism...
(4)... And Mansa Musa converts. I missed the picture by a matter of tenths of second. Hindu temple in Straussburg, and all that stuff.
(5) I have to slow research to 70%, but I'm about to take Susa. More money to fund our crazy research!
(6) The Great Lighthouse:
Wonder complete, I order a forge and balance growth with production adding a scientist.
The battle of Susa:
Forces: four swordsmen (2@CR3, 2@CR2) against three unpromoted archers inside the city walls. (the screens didn't take, sorry)
Our mighty swordsmen advance and attack with 85% odds, and win easily; the second expert division attacks and wins with no more problems; the third wave is decisive: at 66%, we win again and take the city.
532ed, of course (devil removed to stay in the image cap... sigh) Cyrus has gone, leaving us at the very last place in score. The good news is, we gain Ivory! I can see a future of Construction towards us...
(7) Mansa demands Alphabet.
It's not a critical tech, quick to research, we're getting the GL in a few turns, so why not? I cave in.
(8) Calendar completes, the workers are (almost...) in place to start connecting those resources. Straussburg is a happy city now, I put it on almost max growth. The bad news is, Izzy got one of the Ivory, although we got 2. If we want to wreak some havoc, spears will be needed together with jumbos and cats.
(9) Mansa offers rice for ivory
I decline politely. He doesn't trade any techs for our humble literature (360g), and Izzy has none to trade to us.(10) TA-DA!
The First Golden Age in German History (hmm too many capital letters here), dedicated to our Capital City Cornelia, culminates with the building of the Great Library in our legendary city
.Well, nothing else to do than to party
because we know there will be other such joyful times in the future. For now, the GA has ended and we're back in the race, as we're above Izzy in score.This is the end of the reign of mucco II. He leaves his successor a big angry stack of swords parked in Tuscania, ready to attack Spain at will. He also recommends to build some infra in Cornelia and Venice since the wonder galore has brought them away from the "right way". Health is becoming a factor, but Mansa has something to trade. The settler is re-ordered, but fell free to change the city setting. I didn't really know what to prioritize there...
Research: I chose CoL, because it opens up two most important techs for us, Civil Service and Philosophy. Both will need 20-30 turns to research, though. At least until those sweet cottages in Straussburg develop. That city is on max food except for one tile, to keep some infra building pace.
I'm not posting another world view - we're in the NE of the map, BTW - because almost nothing has changed. with the disappearance (spelling right?) of Persia the culture battle proceeds in our favour, as Tuscany seems to slowly gain ground in the two tiles of its BFC it still misses. Fighting a Spanish city culturally is always a tough task, however, so maybe the
could be the best option.I think I've said more than I was allowed to
, and I've probably made so many mistakes that my English teacher would cry if she saw them, so I stop here and wish you all a good time in the Second Era of the German Empire .
Strauss
King
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2006
- Messages
- 938
Great turns mucco. Onward to the Second Golden Age of The German Empire!
As for war with Spain, I don't really like the sound of it. I'm a warmonger, but I would like to see a game in which we show we can win without beating up everyone (yes, we did this in RB20, but it's a different situation when the first border touch is in 1500 AD). On the other hand, if we don't declare war, Isabella will. So I'm okay with a pre-emptive strike into Spain to remove that cultural pressure from Tuscany and take down some of her military might.
As for war with Spain, I don't really like the sound of it. I'm a warmonger, but I would like to see a game in which we show we can win without beating up everyone (yes, we did this in RB20, but it's a different situation when the first border touch is in 1500 AD). On the other hand, if we don't declare war, Isabella will. So I'm okay with a pre-emptive strike into Spain to remove that cultural pressure from Tuscany and take down some of her military might.
T-hawk
Transcend
Well done. Golden, even. The GL is by far the biggest Great Person prize at this stage of the game. The one question I have is why would we research Calendar and CoL when both were/are out there to trade for? And I thought we all agreed that Bureaucracy was the top research priority -- Calendar could either wait or be traded for.
I see it and should be able to play tomorrow night. Plans:
Do we really want to attack Spain? They haven't done us any wrong, and I'm not sure if that really fits with the game spirit. Although, there might be some better land down there for a 5th city than our current selection of tundra half-locations...
Re research -- Philosophy and Pacifism can wait until we grow the cities up to size to run a large number of specialists. The Org Rel building bonus will hit the growth curve faster in the short term. (Forges are just huge, giving +2 happy and the shield bonus.) Civil Service I think is highest priority right now -- go go Bureaucracy for even more wonders.
The GL is by far the biggest Great Person prize at this stage of the game. The one question I have is why would we research Calendar and CoL when both were/are out there to trade for? And I thought we all agreed that Bureaucracy was the top research priority -- Calendar could either wait or be traded for.I see it and should be able to play tomorrow night. Plans:
Do we really want to attack Spain? They haven't done us any wrong, and I'm not sure if that really fits with the game spirit. Although, there might be some better land down there for a 5th city than our current selection of tundra half-locations...
Re research -- Philosophy and Pacifism can wait until we grow the cities up to size to run a large number of specialists. The Org Rel building bonus will hit the growth curve faster in the short term. (Forges are just huge, giving +2 happy and the shield bonus.) Civil Service I think is highest priority right now -- go go Bureaucracy for even more wonders.
mucco
Warlord
T-hawk said:Well done. Golden, even.
I see it and should be able to play tomorrow night. Plans:
Do we really want to attack Spain? They haven't done us any wrong, and I'm not sure if that really fits with the game spirit. Although, there might be some better land down there for a 5th city than our current selection of tundra half-locations...
Re research -- Philosophy and Pacifism can wait until we grow the cities up to size to run a large number of specialists. The Org Rel building bonus will hit the growth curve faster in the short term. (Forges are just huge, giving +2 happy and the shield bonus.) Civil Service I think is highest priority right now -- go go Bureaucracy for even more wonders.
Well, neither calendar nor CoL were available to trade, since Izzy didn't have them and Mansa wanted more than I could ever offer him. Music will surely get us some techs, but Mansa still lacks Literature, which is useless to trade.
When I picked calendar, I was really worried about the happiness situation, but I surely didn't consider the unhappiness drop after slaughtering Cyrus, so it was a
move.The main purpose for attacking Spain is settling the 5th city, IMO. All that jungle down there means lots of commerce, and bananas are yum yum. You both are right - not very fitting in the game spirit to roll over the other civs, but we're not doing that much harm with 4 specialist-wonder oriented cities!
Forges are more than huge ATM, and since we already have a fair production in all cities, with forge + OR infra goes up real quick. I agree the religion civic is doing us much good, consider that Mansa has come to philosophy before us and maybe has already started Angkor Wat, one very important wonder.
Also the Globe would be really handy; we need to decide where to put it and the two epics. I'd go for Venice for the Globe/NE, not because I'm biased towards it
, but it's the city with most food, at this point; HE is good for Cornelia, but definitely not a priority.Gusto
Prince
in completing the Great Library and Great Lighthouse with a GA. That's the way. NE should go to Cornelia. It's our wonder city thus our major source of GP. Lets keep on popping them! HE serves better in another city: Tuscany or 5th. We should prevent building units in Cornelia going forward. Give the task to another city. OxU or Ironworks in Cornelia; and Globe and Wall Street in Venice.mucco said:
We can use health so how about going for the Hanging Gardens in Cornelia? Whip the aqueducts and chop-rush the wonder, and than go for ND.
50_dollar_bag
Imitation Louis Vuitton
Gusto said:
NE should go to Cornelia. It's our wonder city thus our major source of GP. Lets keep on popping them! HE serves better in another city: Tuscany or 5th. We should prevent building units in Cornelia going forward. Give the task to another city. OxU or Ironworks in Cornelia; and Globe and Wall Street in Venice.
We can use health so how about going for the Hanging Gardens in Cornelia? Whip the aqueducts and chop-rush the wonder, and than go for ND.
lurker's comment:
Don't most of those national wonders require 6 prerequisite buildings e.g. 6 theatres for Globe, 6 forges for Ironworks, 6 Unis for Oxford and 6 banks for wall street?
T-hawk
Transcend
That scales with map size. Need only 5 of each on a small map, which is why this is one.
T-hawk
Transcend
So here we go.
Thanks to that Great Library, Cornelia is now producing a whopping 42 GPP, and that's before National Epic or Pacifism!
Checking diplo, Mansa is up four techs on us (Monarchy, CoL, Currency, Horseback) while we've only got Literature and Music on him. I sell Literature to him for 360 gold (he has 420 so this is full value). We've got the wonder so no particular need to monopolize the tech. And selling it for that gold is actually _more_ than the beaker cost for the tech, and the gold is more valuable to us than actual tech because it will fund deficit research towards whatever we want, plus doesn't count towards WFYABTA.
I change Cornelia to aqueduct, so that it can get started on the Hanging Gardens. Also, once it has the aqueduct, the city will be 3 under both the health and happy caps, so it needs to grow rather than build a settler, especially if Bureaucracy is coming soon.
Tuscany actually needs some of its grassland irrigated rather than cottaged. It has only +4 food surplus right now (2 clams + 2 city center), and it's actually out of 2-food tiles to work once it grows to size 5. Venice reassigns its scientists to cottages. Its forge will complete in two turns and raise the happy cap, so the city is ready to grow.
Question One is whether to attack Spain? Well, consider this. Isabella is never going to be our friend -- she places a high weight on religion, and we'll never share one, with us Hindu for the duration and her Buddhist. Her fave civic is Police State which is a blank here. I think war with her is inevitable, so we may as well get it started now. We have eight swordsmen in Tuscany, most very well promoted, which are just going to sit around scratching their butts if we don't use them.
I know this isn't a game of Stomp the AIs. But I'm going to do it. The clincher is this -- I need a city location to call my own and I'm simply not happy with any of the tundra options. So it's my call.
==========
620 AD (1): All the swordsmen except one in Tuscany are healed, so I move them up to the Spanish border ready to declare war.
640 AD (2): We declare war on Isabella, advancing the seven swords right up next to Seville. And I make this deal with Mansa:
That price is dirt cheap. Ultimately we pay about 400 beakers for the war declaration. Isabella's attention divided will save us much more than 400 beakers in the long run. I suppose this might cost us Notre Dame, but Mansa's not likely to go for that while he's at war.
Between turns, Venice completes a forge and grows to size 9 and starts a settler for us to found city #5. CoL finishes and Civil Service is ordered up. Also, Isabella founds a new city on Susa's old spot -- and manages to found Christianity in it on the same turn.
660 AD (3): Seville is guarded by a CG archer, C1 spear, and C1 chariot.
We raze it with no losses (and in fact no unit damaged below 5/6 health). I'm not ready to commit to keeping it as my city.
680 AD (4): Whack an Arch. And a Worker. The swordsmen heal.
Straussburg Library -> Axeman. It won't be veteran, but I do this because I'm worried about barbarians.
700 AD (5): Continue advancing into Spanish lands. There's a pretty big cultural border that must be Madrid's.
Cornelia aqueduct -> Hanging Gardens.
720 AD (6): Continue advancing towards Madrid. Also I train an archer in Tuscany (assisted by a chop), to free up the one sword still here, who will join up with that axeman and head to Murcia.
740 AD (7): Madrid in sight. It has four archers and an axeman; I think and hope our stack of 7 elite swords can take that.
Cornelia aqueduct -> Hanging Gardens. Venice settler -> aqueduct. Straussburg starts a galley since once we get rid of Izzy's borders, we can explore farther afield. Tuscany starts a lighthouse as it's desperately hurting for two-food squares.
760 AD (8): Advance next to Madrid, and see that it just built a Chariot.
BT, an archer (but not the axeman!) attacks out of Madrid against our sword stack.
780 AD (9): It's showtime!
CR3 C1 sword fails to beat the axeman at 25%, but reduces it to 1.5 strength.
CR3 C1 swords beats a CG archer.
CR3 sword beats a CG archer at 66%.
CR3 sword loses to a C1 archer at 65%.
CR2 sword loses to a C1 archer at 65%.
CR2 sword beats a chariot at 99%.
C1 Medic sword beats another chariot at 99%.
Madrid holds for now, with two damaged archers and the axeman.
800 AD (10): We have four surviving swords at Madrid, all heavily damaged, but fortunately three of them can gain new promotions now. They mop up the axeman and an archer, but one sword loses at 60% and there's still one archer hanging on to the city. We've got one more shot next turn, so I think this warrants going overtime. Also I need one more turn to raze Murcia, and that happens.
810 AD (11): Whuh?
THAT WAS NOT THE PLAN! MANSA BEAT US TO MADRID!!
If we still want a fifth city here, it's going to have to come by whacking the next Spanish city there to the east. It will take several turns to heal the remaining units and get over there. Opinions from the team -- should I go further overtime to make that happen, or pass off now? Or just go ahead and replace Seville with my city? The location is OK, with bananas (we don't have that anywhere else yet), a cow, and commerce terrain, and it's coastal to leverage the Great Lighthouse.
Thanks to that Great Library, Cornelia is now producing a whopping 42 GPP, and that's before National Epic or Pacifism!
Checking diplo, Mansa is up four techs on us (Monarchy, CoL, Currency, Horseback) while we've only got Literature and Music on him. I sell Literature to him for 360 gold (he has 420 so this is full value). We've got the wonder so no particular need to monopolize the tech. And selling it for that gold is actually _more_ than the beaker cost for the tech, and the gold is more valuable to us than actual tech because it will fund deficit research towards whatever we want, plus doesn't count towards WFYABTA.
I change Cornelia to aqueduct, so that it can get started on the Hanging Gardens. Also, once it has the aqueduct, the city will be 3 under both the health and happy caps, so it needs to grow rather than build a settler, especially if Bureaucracy is coming soon.
Tuscany actually needs some of its grassland irrigated rather than cottaged. It has only +4 food surplus right now (2 clams + 2 city center), and it's actually out of 2-food tiles to work once it grows to size 5. Venice reassigns its scientists to cottages. Its forge will complete in two turns and raise the happy cap, so the city is ready to grow.
Question One is whether to attack Spain? Well, consider this. Isabella is never going to be our friend -- she places a high weight on religion, and we'll never share one, with us Hindu for the duration and her Buddhist. Her fave civic is Police State which is a blank here. I think war with her is inevitable, so we may as well get it started now. We have eight swordsmen in Tuscany, most very well promoted, which are just going to sit around scratching their butts if we don't use them.
I know this isn't a game of Stomp the AIs. But I'm going to do it. The clincher is this -- I need a city location to call my own and I'm simply not happy with any of the tundra options. So it's my call.
==========
620 AD (1): All the swordsmen except one in Tuscany are healed, so I move them up to the Spanish border ready to declare war.
640 AD (2): We declare war on Isabella, advancing the seven swords right up next to Seville. And I make this deal with Mansa:
That price is dirt cheap. Ultimately we pay about 400 beakers for the war declaration. Isabella's attention divided will save us much more than 400 beakers in the long run. I suppose this might cost us Notre Dame, but Mansa's not likely to go for that while he's at war.
Between turns, Venice completes a forge and grows to size 9 and starts a settler for us to found city #5. CoL finishes and Civil Service is ordered up. Also, Isabella founds a new city on Susa's old spot -- and manages to found Christianity in it on the same turn.
660 AD (3): Seville is guarded by a CG archer, C1 spear, and C1 chariot.
We raze it with no losses (and in fact no unit damaged below 5/6 health). I'm not ready to commit to keeping it as my city.
680 AD (4): Whack an Arch. And a Worker. The swordsmen heal.
Straussburg Library -> Axeman. It won't be veteran, but I do this because I'm worried about barbarians.
700 AD (5): Continue advancing into Spanish lands. There's a pretty big cultural border that must be Madrid's.
Cornelia aqueduct -> Hanging Gardens.
720 AD (6): Continue advancing towards Madrid. Also I train an archer in Tuscany (assisted by a chop), to free up the one sword still here, who will join up with that axeman and head to Murcia.
740 AD (7): Madrid in sight. It has four archers and an axeman; I think and hope our stack of 7 elite swords can take that.
Cornelia aqueduct -> Hanging Gardens. Venice settler -> aqueduct. Straussburg starts a galley since once we get rid of Izzy's borders, we can explore farther afield. Tuscany starts a lighthouse as it's desperately hurting for two-food squares.
760 AD (8): Advance next to Madrid, and see that it just built a Chariot.
BT, an archer (but not the axeman!) attacks out of Madrid against our sword stack.
780 AD (9): It's showtime!
CR3 C1 sword fails to beat the axeman at 25%, but reduces it to 1.5 strength.
CR3 C1 swords beats a CG archer.
CR3 sword beats a CG archer at 66%.
CR3 sword loses to a C1 archer at 65%.
CR2 sword loses to a C1 archer at 65%.
CR2 sword beats a chariot at 99%.
C1 Medic sword beats another chariot at 99%.
Madrid holds for now, with two damaged archers and the axeman.
800 AD (10): We have four surviving swords at Madrid, all heavily damaged, but fortunately three of them can gain new promotions now. They mop up the axeman and an archer, but one sword loses at 60% and there's still one archer hanging on to the city. We've got one more shot next turn, so I think this warrants going overtime. Also I need one more turn to raze Murcia, and that happens.
810 AD (11): Whuh?
THAT WAS NOT THE PLAN! MANSA BEAT US TO MADRID!!
If we still want a fifth city here, it's going to have to come by whacking the next Spanish city there to the east. It will take several turns to heal the remaining units and get over there. Opinions from the team -- should I go further overtime to make that happen, or pass off now? Or just go ahead and replace Seville with my city? The location is OK, with bananas (we don't have that anywhere else yet), a cow, and commerce terrain, and it's coastal to leverage the Great Lighthouse.
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