RB6 - Island Hopping

[Sirian]

1520AD: Our missionary has made his Way all the Way to Kumbi Suh-lay.

Us: "We would like you to Weigh the Way of the Way."

Them: "Way cool."


1525AD: China has had ENOUGH of the way of "the Way" jokes, and closes its doors to our missionaries.

(They adopted Theocracy with our missionary on the doorstep of their capital!)

I had no choice but to abandon that pursuit and send the missionary on up toward Mali.


India beat us to the Ivory.

So I took the last remaining site on that island, unloading by the Rice and Clams.


With Japan actually having obtained our religion, and none of their own, we might be pals after all.

So I sold them two techs on the ultra cheap.
Not enough to get them to Open their Borders yet, but keep an eye on it.
If we can get open borders, and spread The Way all over their land.
Maybe they will even vote for us, one day.

They have capitalized on their early Astronomy monopoly, and grabbed the Sugar.

We must hurry to get a settler party or two up there!
The Dyes would be spiffy, but got to get a piece of that real estate somewhere.

 

[Sirian]

We have up to three Taoist missionaries at a time.
One is cranking at Polynesian, for West Isle coverage.
One is almost to Mali.
One is waiting on the corner of the homeland, about to be picked up for Mali trip.

Keep them missionaries constantly cranking, from here on out.


We are on our way to a Free Merchant from Economics.
When we get him, send him via Caravel to Malinese capital for TRADE MISSION.
Send all Great Merchants we get on long distance trade missions to high population targets.
We'll store up the cash, use it for upgrades and/or Universal Suffrage duty at colonies.


Everybody PLEASE conduct a most thorough study of AI-AI relations.

We can't afford to piling up multiple "you traded with our worst enemy" penalties.
We need allies, strong allies. This means we can't be pals with everybody.

Currently in our doghouse are Incans and China, both disliked by most of our friends.
China closed its doors to our religion, and Incans have their own.

Keep an eye on our resource trading, too, vis-a-vis our goal of Diplomatic Victory.

Arhiss is up next. Good luck!


- Sirian

 

[Arhiss]

I won't be able to play till this evening or tomorrow, depending on how today goes. I'll grab the save then.

 

[weakciv]

looks like Mali and Inda hope to be good future solid votes. Hopefully we can get Japan. But we need to hopefully keep China and Inca from voting for America. (of course this is assuming they will be our opponant)

 

[Arhiss]

Done playing; will post in the morning.

 

[Arhiss]

Ok, sorry about the delay folks. Here goes!

First off, a review, and goal-setting.
We are doing very well economically, and we're looking to consolidate, expand some more, and spread the Way of Taoism far and wide.

Immediate Goals:

Keep a sharp eye for trades, and keep at Toku for open borders to try to convince him to weigh in on the side of the Way.
Settle on "Central island" -- preferably on the Dyes.
Keep some military production going, but am going to try to start with a round of infrastructure after this round of military. The goal is to have deterrence, not to have an invasion force.

1530 AD (1):
Orleans completes longbow -> University.
Drop science to 60% -- Economics still done in 5 turns, however we're now gaining 29 gold / turn, which will pay for upgrades to Galleons for a couple of our Galleys.

See Asoka JUST about to take the rice, I quickly settle next to it. Christen our new city Ris-volee & start on a Library to start the culture moving.

1535 AD (2):
Grenoble constructs forge -> Maceman
Polynesian Completes Taoist missionary, Starts settler.
Caravel destroys Barb galley for free xp.

1540 AD (3):
Chartres Buddist Monastery -> Barracks (don't like having cities not have those!)
Settler in Polynesian -> Queue Taoist Temple.
Upgrade Galley @ Polynesian to Galleon.
The image says it all:

1545 AD (4):

Huayna Capac comes knocking. He's upset that we're trading with the Americans and tells us to tell them to shove off. We're already in the doghouse with him, and seem to be doing somewhat well with the Americans, so of course, I decline... the French do not let down their friends!

Bescanon completes forge, starts courthouse (-7 gold maintenance!)

Mo Tzu the Great Prophet born in Rosette. He can teach us Divine Right. Two other AI's have Divine Right, and they're both holding onto it; which means they both want the Wonder(s). This essentially buys us third place, we already have the Pre-req for Nationalism from Philosophy. I think it would be a bad use of the ability to use it for this purpose. However if we're to bypass it, we have to eventually trade for Divine right, or research it ourselves. I put him to sleep in Rosette , perhaps he will be useful later. Conversely the next player can wake him up and merge him into a city if we want, or we could perhaps trigger a golden age.

1550 AD (5):

Munsa gets a golden age...

Paris completes Knight -> University
Marseilles Knight -> Knight
Workers starting to run out of things to do on West Isle (Forbidden Palace Island) -- however they'll have a lot of lumbermills and railroading to do in the future. We're even running out of New Deal Style roads to work on.

Trade paper and Banking to the Chinese for Engineering (took about a 400 beaker bath on it, but overall not bad, 1300 for 780+910)

 

[Arhiss]

1555 (6):
China turns around and demands we cancel with the Malinese! China is up to pleased with us now; but I'd rather Mali be happy with us. I decline -- China no longer pleased :shakehead
Discover Economics - Start on Printing Press (want to get access to lumber mills down the road)
Switch to Free Market... Anarchy for 1 turn.

1560 (7):
Free Market nets us up to +24 gold/turn up from +8.
Chartres -> Knight
Great merchant gets on Caravel bound for Malinese

1565 (8):
Avignon completes Barracks -> Longbowman.
Grenoble Forge -> Galleon
Upgrade galley @ Ris-volee to Galleon (was faster this way than running all the way back home the long way, likely. Besides we need Galleons anyhow.


1570 (9):
A very busy turn as you will see!

National Epic completes in Rheims (gogo GPP machine!) -> Taoist Pagoda -- gives us 2 more Priests in town, plus has some other very nifty bonuses.

Kholapur suddenly realizes that we have all the cute women and culture and nifty neato toys in France, so decides to join us

While scouting we discover that the Barbarians have a city just north of Dyes city.

Spread Taoism in Gao; earlier we spread Taoism in Mali's capital as well but the screenshot didn't take.

Found Cherbourg on the last spot that isn't within 2 tiles of Toku's city on the Dye island. Can eventually get both dyes, and has a fish. Could get very viable comercially. Will be weak on production.

1575 (10):
Polynesian completes Taoist Temple -> Taoist missionary (feel free to veto, but we need to replenish missionaries we've used up going to Mali.)
Rest is unit moves which I leave up to next player.

 

[Arhiss]

And finally, my wrap up....

First, a shot of our lands:

We have toeholds both on north Isle, and on Dye Isle. However, I expect an uphill battle to keep hold of both locations. It's up to the next player to make good on the toeholds and transform them to solid footholds.

I didn't take screenies, but we're still #1 in almost all areas of production. Our merchant is headed off north to get us a large cash transaction

We need to explore the barbarian lands north of Cherbourg, with an eye to invading those lands and flat-out taking over .

And here's the save:

 

[Sirian]

Sounds good. Any word on Toku Open Border willingness?

Weakciv is up now!


- Sirian

 

[Arhiss]

Upon contemplation while driving into work today, I note one fairly decision made by myself, though it may be salvageable.
I did not send a military escort along with the settler to Cherbourg. It is sitting near a xenophobic civ!

I did start a longbowman there, and there is the possibility that Toku can't see Cherbourg yet; I'd still suggest that the next player grab the nearest available transport (one is under construction at Grenoble, if you want to hurry it, or if you think that is fastest even leaving as is).

 

[Arhiss]

Sounds good. Any word on Toku Open Border willingness?

Toku wouldn't give me the time of day throughout my turns.

 

[weakciv]

Im at work. heading home in a couple hours. will download and play tonight.

 

[Sirian]

Eagerly looking forward to the next incoming report.


- Sirian

 

[weakciv]

Ha Ha!
Sorry, had a power outage last night so I was unable to complete my report.
I will be posting as soon as I get home from work. I am leaving in 15 min.

Sorry about the delay all. I will haze myself later.

 

[weakciv]

And without further adoo ...

Inherited turn:
Ok lets hope I can continue to understand our goals.
1) Focus on spreading the Way, but to whom? Western Isle needs the Way and we appear to be pushing the way to Mali. I hope to get open borders with Toku and spread the Way to him even more.

2) Try to expand our foothold on our 2 other islands. Yes, they are ours. The current occupants just dont know it yet.

3) Maintain military produciton

Side Note:
We have alot of forced specialists going. I rarely force this many. I keep them where they are. But I do ask for a clarification as to why we have so many? Is it solely to push GP Production?

Back to the game

We get a look at Illinois

I move one of the workers at Marseilles towards the galley by tours. I hope to get that worker up to Jungle city (Ris-volee)


IBT:
Washington asks us to declare war on the Incans. I decline. We take a -1
hit for that.



Turn 1 (1580)
Forge completes in Rouen I start it on a Tao Temple
Worker makes it to Galley and begins moving north toward Jungle City.



Turn 2 (1585)
Knight complete in Chartres I start it on a harbor. I fortify the knight in
Chartres.
Taoism spreads on its own to Besancon.
Kolhapur does not convert after its riot but I will put the pressure on

More xp maybe?

IBT: Barb galley attacks our Caravel and XP.

 

[weakciv]

Turn 3 (1590)
Printing Press completes. Hmm. Replaceable Parts for hammers or Gunpowder for Musketteers. Military or Production.

I choose Production. Starts on Replaceable Parts. Should be done before my turn is up.

Knight complete in Marseilles I start it on harbor

Memorize this line:
Missionary completes in Poly, starts on another Missionary

I move the missionary to Chartres and spread the Way there
Longbow complete in avignon starts on maceman
longbow from avignon moves towards galleon to go to Dye City (Cherbourg)

Galleon complete in Grenoble starts on courthouse

Kolhapur has joined our empire. we know own Western Isle!
we get a longbowmen with the flip i fortify it there.
no buildings come with the flip so I start it on a lighthouse

I upgrade the galley with the worker to a galleon

Side Note:
We should review the tiles shared between Besancon and Kolhapur. For now they look ok but when they both grow ...


Turn 4 (1595)
knock knock Toku we are here!

st john Great Prophet is born in Rheims. I make him a super specialist there.

Not much, boats move.


Turn 5 (1600)
University complete in paris starts on maceman
university complete in rosette starts on Tao pagoda. The happy will let it grow far into the specialist zone.

After shopping around the other high population Mali cities Our Great Merchant completes trade mission to Timbuktu for 1900. I keep research at 60% (+31gpt) for now. I would have to jump to 80% (-66gpt) just to cut 1 turn off of research.


Turn 6 (1605)
University complete in Orleans starts on market

I told you to remember this right?
Missionary completes in Poly, starts on another Missionary

Missionary spreads the Way to Grenoble
chartres completes harbor starts on Tao Temple
longbowmen land in Cherbourg. we now have defense here.
Missionary lands in Mali.
Worker lands at Jungle City


Turn 7 (1610)
boats move
our Mali missionary spreads the way to Djenne

Turn 8 (1615)
maceman complete in paris starts on 1 turn missionary
Pagoda complete in Rheims starts on university
forge complete in Amiens starts on courthouse. -8 maint, ouch


Turn 9 (1620)
Asoka asks for us to cancel deals with Japan. Ouch. we have been trying to
cultivate that relationship. But Asoka is a better friend right now. So I cancel
deals?!?!

DOH! Just after I clicked on the Cancel Deals I was thinking we could handle the hit to keep building our relationship with Toku. Oh well. Tell me, what would have been the non choice?

discover replaceable parts starts on Gunpowder
Tao Missionary complete in Paris starts on Grocer
harbor complete in Marseilles starts on university

oh look what I found ...
Missionary completes in Poly, starts on another Missionary

I send missionary towards Kolhapur
Maceman complete in Avignon starts on library
Now that we have replaceable parts I start all of our available workers on
Lumbermills
the paris missionary boards a caravel.


Turn 10 (1625)
Chartres completes Tao Temple starts on university
Granery complete in Dijon starts on forge
Missionary spreads the Way to Kolhapur

 

[weakciv]

After Turn
Several builds have less than 2 turns put into them so they could be changed if needed.
There are several boats either sleeping or waiting to be moved
I tried to maintain building Missionaries and add some Military build up. I kept most millitary builds in the city that built them. some movement could happen to ballance out defence and get an offence ready when needed.

Western Isle

Mainland

These graphs show the last 50 turns

Gold

Production

Food

And here is the save.

 

[Arhiss]

st john Great Prophet is born in Rheims. I make him a super specialist there

We also have a second prophet sleeping at Rosette (IIRC). At the time he was born I debated making him into a super specialist somewhere, or holding him for golden age or discovering a tech (not Divine Right though, imo).

We should plan out a use for him, I think.

 

[Sirian]

Golden Ages. We've got a huge civ! The larger, the more valuable a golden age.

The specialists are for GP production. We've got Parthenon and are running Pacifism. That may dry up at some point, but for now it's a good way to pop a bunch of leaders when they can do us the most good: sooner rather than later.

Joining the specialists we are working hard to produce to cities in 1600AD is a bit of though. We aren't going to get to that third or even second golden age if we do much more of that! (The price per specialist will start to rise, and the Parthenon will go obsolete, and the leaders will dry up.)


As for refusing to attack Incans... That may have been a mistake. We'll never get the Incans' vote anyway, so boosting relations with them at the cost of relations with one of our friends? Fine in a normal game, setback when aiming for diplomatic victory. (America may be leading in score, but they are boxed in. Unless they get more cities they WON'T be our UN Opponent, and therefore we need their vote!)

Got to break some eggs to make an omelette. Going to have to make some real enemies here in order to get close enough to our friends to win. ... And no, we will NOT be attacking and taking over islands. Please start focusing on the notion that it's a diplomatic win for us... or bust!

We're certainly in a commanding position, economically. Which looks good. We're not aiming for an easy victory type here, though, so don't let the economic lead go to our heads. That won't help us if we can't get enough support.


Garath is up.


- Sirian

 

[weakciv]

OK specialist push understood. I still havent got a hold on the specialist/great person use other than just specialists helping the cities.

Good point about the Incans. I'll remember that. I hadn't thought of it that way.


So in a situation where we have all these +GP pieces running it is a good idea to save GP for golden ages. right?