SAM-01 Smoke and Mirrors

[Norvin_Green]

Whosit - I think you can change the player name in the 'Your Details' menu when you hit ESC.

Oops, forgot to answer that. Sorry.

We might only need another axe or two to raze Jute as we have the cover promo.

 

[Norvin_Green]

Thanks Glare. It's been bugging me all day!

 

[Whosit]

Yay for Covered Bridges . . . er, Axes! Ohhh . . . Covered Bridges~

Anyway, next up is Xanthus! Who, now that I think about it, we haven't heard from in awhile. What was the rule, you have 24 hours to call "got it?" If you're still out there, we'd love to hear from you. So, yeah, the whole "3 parts axes, 2 parts settler, 1 part worker" plan sounds good (change ratio to taste). The nice thing about the silver is that we can access it with a mine, and we can double its happy effect with forges (which we build twice as fast from the Industrious trait, unless I am mistaken). Hooking it up will be a pain, though, what with all the tundra. I would suggest sending two workers down there, but we're not exactly drowning in excess man-power . . . .

Oh, and I guess in case anyone wants this as a reference? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Russia

 

[Xanthus_]

Got it. Will play tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Xanthus_]

Sorry for holding up things a bit.

Here's the situation:

- Only two workers for three cities with one completely unimproved and more to come.
- Barbs hold our best two expansion spots.
- Commerce must be strictly watched on this map.

The plan should be to get the worker out first. Getting that silver connected is the biggest priority and is worth both a courthouse in commerce (Moskva) and a temple in happiness (Stalingrad).

With that in mind:

Turn 123

Spoiler :

Stalingrad builds a worker.

So I guess my taste of the formula is 1 part worker, then 3 parts axe and 2 parts settler.


The second objective is to take out those barbs and settle our chosen spots. We don't yet know how many axemen we'll need but it'll certainly be more than three, so:

Spoiler :

Moskva starts on another axeman.

The closest Axeman moves to scout Jute from across the inlet while the others group together.

Spoiler :

The Moskva worker connects the pasture with a road.

<ENTER>

Oops, tech's at alpha? Why alpha next? Hmm, for tech trading / peaking? Sure, ok. Seems too late to change our minds now.

Scouting Axe gets sight of both the town of Jute's barbaric guard of three unpromoted archers, but also a strange blue mist in the air to the west.

It seems Nappy has expanded just above our western site. Hopefully the barbs keep him busy enough for us to sneak underneath? Maybe we need to war Nappy earlier then expected?

Spoiler :

My thoughts:
It looks like Nappy's settled on a very nice city spot, and it's still a 3x3 unexpanded cross.

Too bad we'll be hitting up against his borders all game from the pink city. One more reason to take out Nappy early and keep his new city?

It might also be worth hitting the western barb city first to make sure we get the spot before Nappy does.

Finishing Nappy early would give us enough land to outcompete HC's vast holdings. I'd bet he'll be the biggest opponent out there. I think we befrend HC to take out Nappy after the barbs, and then build towards a later showdown with HC.


Either way, this looks like a good place to take a four hour or so break. My beloved Canucks are about to mush the St. Louis Blues into tiny little pieces in about 20 minutes, and I need myself a pre-game meal.

I'll post again with more turns when it's over, but this seems like a natural time for discussion...
Do we go after the Western barb city first to block Nap's culture? Do we go north first, as was the initial plan?
Do we prepare for immediate war with Nappy? If so, do we tech iron right away?

 

[Norvin_Green]

I'd say take out Jute and then plant our commerce city up there where we planned it. Bring the settler with you if possible. After that build a few more axes (assume we'll lose some) and take out the western barb city. Try and spread Confucianism to Nappy to get him working his way to becoming friendly with us. He will attack at pleased.

 

[Dave Hartwick]

I support war with the French. We'll need catapults.

 

[sturick]

Lurker here:

Whosit, did you just quote strong sad?
I heard something about covered bridges...

 

[Whosit]

Lurker here:

Whosit, did you just quote strong sad?
I heard something about covered bridges...

Why yes, yes I did. Was wondering if someone would catch it.

Hmm, as for the plan . . . . I must be inconsistent, because I think I was warhawking earlier, but now . . . . Napoleon's quick expansion is troublesome, indeed, and I agree that we should prepare for an imminent war. However, I agree with Norvin to get our north commerce city settled first. I think we'll definitely want to be able to finance any wars we prosecute. It looks like Moscow is kind of a mixed bag when it comes to that.

As an idle thought, should we remain consistent to our own dot map plans (that is, burn French towns that aren't quite where we want them) or capture Napoleon's towns just for convenience? I wouldn't be opposed to razing them. I know it'll hurt us diplomatically, but I get the feeling that our relations won't really recover from a war in the first place. Or, rather, since land is at a premium, we might be better served over the long run to spend the resources placing cities to maximize the land rather than take what the AI hands us.

 

[Xanthus_]

Looks like everyone agrees with warring sooner rather than later.
I think that we should keep at least Nappy's new city because it's in a good spot to properly exploit nearby resources. The only downside is that it shares three tiles including two floodplains with the purple dot.

 

[Glare Seethe]

I'm not entirely convinced a war with Napoleon is the way to go. We still have a lot of city sites available that we don't need to attack him. His city doesn't conflict with any of our spots (purple dot is from an early dotmap and we can choose to settle it 2E-1S from where it is now, where it doesn't conflict with either Nappy's city or the barb city).

A war with the French is inevitable but I would prepare for a defensive war while expanding, not an offensive one. Ideally we should keep him around until Optics at least so that Huayna doesn't regard all of his techs as monopoly techs and doesn't trade with us (that said, we do plan to convert Huayna to Confu so getting him to Friendly might not be a big issue).

If Napoleon really doesn't have any more land north of Paris then blocking him in effectively prevents him from ever being a factor in this game just by virtue of his small amount of land. The only thing he can do is declare on us - and we can prepare for that in advance. We can then take him out at our leisure.

If we convert him to Confu we'll also save hammers on missionaries as he'll spread it around himself.

I don't see the urgency in killing him off now (edit: or warring with him at all); I'd rather keep expanding with settlers. However, if we do decide to war now then yeah, change tech to Iron Working (mostly to know if he has it, really) and tech towards Construction.

 

[Norvin_Green]

I agree with what Glare is saying. Eventually Nappy will come after us but we KNOW that already. I'd suggest we take out Jute and plant a commerce city there then look to continue expanding as our economy dictates. Take advantage of the early CH and get some espionage going against our opponents, steal some techs, spread Confucianism, get to Theo (maybe run a priest specialist in capital to speed that up), build AP (if Nappy wars we can use it to stop war if want), get Monarchy somehow (for HR) and Feudalism (for LB's). I might even say to let Nap take the western barb city for now (a city which should be razed, one off coast for NO reason) if he decides too. When we get to HR HC will be pleased with us in no time plus having a shared religion will only help. He has some decent land up there once the jungle is gone plus so I would try to steal techs from him.
So that's 2 and a half "No War" now votes. (Not sure where Whosit really stands )
Plus our economy won't handle any of Nappy's cities now.

 

[Xanthus_]

Ok, here's the rest of the turns. I just played for a short-term peaceful buildup.

Turn 124 continued:
Move the worker from Stalingrad area down to silver mine.

Turn 126:

Spoiler :

Bad random event.

Turn 127:
Nappy's new city is named Rheims, and is on the square speculated on in the last post.

Two Axes reach Jute, and it has only two unpromoted archers defending, each at 85.3% odds.

Turn 128:
Attack with both axes. First wins, and second looses (damn rng!)

Micro Moskva a bit to have the axe finish on the same turn as growth with the idea of building a settler next.

Turn 129:
Move another axe into Jute, it wins. Jute's destroyed.

Spoiler :

Turn 130:
Worker done in Stalingrad. Start on the 1/2 built temple which will be done shortly.

Turn 131:
Realised that two turns earlier I had forgotten to start a settler in Moskva and it was continuing with its courthouse.
Therefore, I decide to start an axe in Moskva and a settler in the better production city of Stalingrad in a couple of turns when the temple is done. By the time I realised my mistake, Stalingrad had become the faster option.

Turn 132:
Explorer found a new town HC town to the east:

Spoiler :

Ok, I'm going to leave it at ten turns.

What's next:

- Build a settler ASAP (sorry about the delay here)
- Keep military growing
- Maybe settle another city south of 2nd barb town?

Save at the end of the attachments.

I'll be more on the ball next time my name comes up. Hit during the wrong couple of days.

Roster:
Whosit (up)
Dave Hartwick (on deck)
Glare Seethe
radiofreestl
Norvin Green
Xanthus

 

[Glare Seethe]

Napoleon's converted. I guess shrines can spread religion even to cities that aren't connected by trade routes. Didn't know that.

I think we should whip the axeman and the settler as soon as we can, settle blue dot, line up more axemen and a settler and settle the western dot ASAP (2E-1S of current purple dot is my preference). We can whip the citizens working the cottages. I hate whipping away cottages but we need to hurry, and our economy's fine.

After these two cities I feel we should settle a good production city that can pump out military to free up Stalingrad for workers / wonders (with a priest specialist the next GP will be out in ~30 turns, so the AP's not too far off) and Moscow to start maturing its cottages.

 

[Whosit]

So that's 2 and a half "No War" now votes. (Not sure where Whosit really stands )

Sorry, I was being a bit wishy-washy. I think I'm in the "don't declare, but do prepare" camp. Grabbing as much land as quickly as we can will certainly help us out more than going to war in the near future, but we certainly have to keep our military strong in case Napoleon attacks. My main reservation was that I'd feel sad if war came at a point when our free Cover bonus is obsolete, but I guess it's still good until gunpowder. I'm gonna take a look at the save and then make a few comments/muse on my actions for my turn. I should be able to play later today.

Edit: Ok, so a couple observations which may or may not be useful. It looks like Napoleon does not have any cities other than the ones visible (checked in the diplomacy screen). Even if there is some land north, it looks to be heavily jungled which means it'll take some time for him to chop it all and make it productive. As far as Huayna Capac goes, his land lacks rivers which should minimize the impact of his financial trait, to our benefit. Coast and lake tiles still automatically benefit, and any cottages he plants will have to grow to benefit. Long term probably won't matter, but at least in the short term . . . .

As far as putting down a production town to ease the burden on Stalingrad, I completely agree. We should have some discussion about where this should be. We should also make a new dotmap? I'm going back to earlier posts to look at what we've been thinking about, and we've got several different versions and I'm not sure if we ever fully agreed on what goes out west. Tho' one of Norvin's puts a town just west of the wheat to the southwest of Moscow. It gets three grassland hills and a silver on a tundra hill. It won't really take off until Civil Service, I think, but there's enough food to work all the hills. (Oh, it gets a plains hill, too.)

I'm a little confused about where we're planning to plant a city to the west of Moscow. I see the recent plan for "purple" dot, and there was a suggestion to move it now that there's a French town nearby. I still like the idea of my spot on the riverbend that gets the hills not used by the Wheat city and can eventually make use of watermills for added production, but I will bow to our collective will on the matter.

 

[Glare Seethe]

I agree we need a new, definitive dotmap. It doesn't help that I stupidly left my old one in my save when I posted it and it's been showing up in screenshots ever since... I'm going to load up the save and make one as a starting point so we can discuss. Will edit this post with it in a little while.

EDIT:

Okay, let's decide that all dotmap discussions use the following dots / colors as a starting point, just so we're all on the same page... I gave each city its own color except the eastern cities are all White cause they are not as important right now, and I also noted in some cases what I feel each city is more suitable for (e.g. commerce, production, etc.).

Blue and Magenta are my suggestions for our next two settlements (so I numbered them "1. Blue" and "2. Magenta"). Magenta is the one we are specifically debating at the moment.

The southwest with the two suggested spots for Yellow. I personally don't mind either one. Yellow 1 is more of a production city and Yellow 2 is more of a general filler city, I think. Yellow 2 leaves room for another filler city to pick up some grasslands near the peaks.

East. Green 1 would be my choice for next city after 1 and 2, it's got good early production. White 4 looks to me like a good Moai city, but we need to decide whether we want to include the cows at the expense of the fish. I think we don't.

The northeast with the other three Whites. Not really as important as the west at the moment. White 3 is a good blocker city.

 

[Whosit]

Ok, I got the save. I'm planning to play at least a few turns of my set. I'm settling Blue Dot (Commerce 1) first, since I don't think there's been any dispute over that. After settler 2 is built I'll check to see if there's been any more comments on our Magenta Dot. That may be stopping point for me, depending on what's up. Thanks for the new dot-map plan, Glare, I'll throw in my two cents while I'm here.

Obviously, I'd like to put Magenta on its currently displayed position. I see it as a production site, though, albeit a later-game production city. 3 plains hills for production via mining, and I would use the river tiles to build watermills once we get Machinery. I think we can squeeze in 9 watermills. The rest of the tiles could be farms or workshops as needed. Of course, this works best if we plan to run State Property.

Likewise, I'd prefer Yellow 1 simply because I don't think we have a ton of great production locations, although if Magenta is geared towards production, we can probably afford to settle Yellow 2 and squeeze in a filler later, although I'm not convinced that a filler would really contribute to our empire. I guess it could work the 4 grasslands for cottages (if we place it 2 south of current Magenta)?

I do like White 3 in the northeast. Seems to make the best use of the tiles up there, gives us a presence to the east, and could be a decent coastal city. I'd also certainly place White 4 to get the fish.

 

[Norvin_Green]

I think we'd be better of with just one city to our west, 2E of the silk (I think radiofreestl suggested this placement). There isn't enough food for both and the other placement is just too much coastal/ocean tiles.

 

[Glare Seethe]

2E of the silk would be an amazing city, but it would be fighting culture wars with Rheims. We'd suffer diplo penalties and maybe an early DOW. We'd also have to raze the barb city first. Might be worth it, though, it definitely is a great site.

I do think two seperate cities could also work. They'd never be great cities, just decent commerce sites, the kind that slow-build a market in 40 turns while working nothing but cottages. Cyan could grow slowly on the sea tiles and floodplains. Magenta could also be production as Whosit suggested, in which case it will be more helpful in the short term than Cyan. It'd be nice to have a production city close to the French border, too, just in case.

I'm okay with either choice.

 

[Whosit]

Smoke and Mirrors - 01: The Russians

Pre-turn

I gaze upon our growing empire. I am pleased, but there is much yet that must be done. I see that our axemen have successfully concluded negotions with the barbarians to the north. Excellent.

There are some barbarian archers north of Moscow, however. After some hesitation, I move the nearby axemen into the forest. I'd rather attack across a river than attack into a forest. I look at the warriors we have on the copper near Moscow. I don't think we need them there anymore, we'd probably be better off with a unit fog-busting to the south west. I move them out.

I'm not sure what to do with the chariot near Huayna Capac's empire. While on the one hand we might want to keep an eye on him, he might be better off fog-busting near our territory. The warrior in the area can continue scouting, however. It's almost tempting to attack Ollantaytambo, I think we'd win. But of course, I don't.

Since I don't use BUG, I'll keep a close eye on Stalingrad so that I can whip the settler as soon as it will cost 2 population. I'll probably throw in an axeman or two to let it grow again, and then build either a worker or a settler, depending on how things shake out. Moscow is working on an axeman and has a courthouse in the building queue (finally found the right spelling! It's been bugging me for awhile), so I might change that.

Granary building in Novosibirsk. So slowwwww. Once the deer camp is done (in 7 turns) it'll help. Hmm, there's a worker on the deer and one on the silver (and the third is building a road to the town) so all our workers are tied up with Novosibirsk. I probably would have had both workers work on the deer to get it done faster (silver won't do us much good until we have a road there, anyway). Mmm, after some thought, I interrupt the worker on the silver mine, planning to have him help finish the deer camp, then maybe help with road building. That seems to be it for now, so I move to the next turn.

Turn 134, 650 BC

North barb moves east, I think I'll pursue. Axe has Combat I and Cover, so I don't think I need to waste a promotion. Should handle the archer fine. Another barb archer popped to the southwest. Hopefully it'll go for our fortified Woodsman I warrior on a forested hill.

Ugh, I move the chariot back home and it lands next to a barb archer (so many!). It should have a decent chance to survive.

Nothin' much else, so hit enter. Oh, wait. I notice that moving that last warrior out of our territory hit us with a maintenance fee. But I think we need the fog busting, so I swallow it for now.


Turn 135, 625 BC

Exciting interrum. None of the barb archers attack, but we see our first barb Axemen out west. Those warriors on the hill will be in some trouble . . . . Move stuff.

Turn 136, 600 BC

More barb chasing. The archers to the north may be going for our horse pasture. Urg.
Can't whip the settler just yet.

Turn 137, 575 BC

Well, the Combat I/Cover Warrior I moved into a forest got wasted by the wandering barb archer. I send the chariot out of Novo to intercept it, lest it molest our workers. If I'm very luck, no barbs will pop to attack the city in the next couple of turns. The only good news is that we're now saving 2 gold from unit maintence and supply, now.

Huayna did us a favor and took out the archer near our territory with his Cover archer. Thanks! Deer camp finishes for Novosibirsk, so I send the one active worker to finish the silver mine. I tell our fog-busting warriors to retreat because they're about to get owned by the barb axeman.

Turn 138, 550 BC

Wounded barbarian archer retreats. I'd like to pursue it, but not at the expense of leaving Novo undefended. I pull the chariot back.

Moscow finishes its Axeman. I'll keep him near our western border to catch barbarians. Moscow has grown to 6 and is at its happy cap. I consider whipping the courthouse, but that'll be 3 population. I can rush a chariot for 2. Hopefully it's not , but I rush the chariot. We can use another one to hunt down axemen.

I forgot to look at Stalingrad last turn (sorry!) but I now see that I can rush the settler there. I do so, giving it to us next turn instead of in 5. The area around blue dot is thoroughly fog-busted, so I don't think the settler will need an escort.

Turn 139, 525 BC

Stalingrad: Settler > Axeman (5)
Our hearty settlers are ready to strike out into new lands for the glory of Mother Russia and the Mighty Stalin!

I consider letting Moscow put a few more hammers into its courthouse, but we really need a larger workforce, so I have it work on a 6-turn worker.

Still can't trade techs, so it seems neither of our rivals have the Alphabet yet.

Turn 140. 500 BC

Those barb axes show up again to harrass our warriors, but our new chariot is heading out to teach 'em some manners. Do more worker stuff near Novo. I finally have the wherewithal to swith the tiles and work the silver hill. The extra commerce shaves a turn off of Alphabet.

Turn 141, 485 BC

(15 year increments!)

Barb axes are kind enough to move onto plains rather than a hill. Chariot still has to cross water to get to them, though. I give it Combat I and it changes the odds from 88% to 90%. Hmm. I'll have the warriors run again, and maybe the axes will attack the chariot. I don't want to risk my luck with only 90% odds on the offense.

Unit maintenance is rising. I can't remember if you get more leeway with more cities (I imagine that you must) but either way, we'll take a commerce plunge next turn with the blue-dot city.

Turn 142, 470 BC

Barbarian axes did exactly what I wanted and attack the chariot across the river, giving us the best possible odds. Chariot is wounded (2.1/4), so I pull it back into our territory to heal.

We found . . . Karachev (a.k.a Blue Dot [saving St. Petersburg for you-know-where])! Maintenance isn't too bad, only costing us 2 extra gold for now (-7). Doesn't do anything for unit support, though. I pull back research to 80% because we can still get Alphabet in 5 at only -4 gpt. Ok, -5 gpt when I send another unit out to fogbust (that's gonna start killing us until our commerce gets off the ground). Silver mine finishes! That really helps. But not enough to bump research back to 80% .

Everything else looks to be in order, new Axeman in 2 and new worker in 3. Ages to go on the granaries in the two neweste cities, though. But the West-East land seal is complete.

Turn 143, 455 BC

Confucianism spreads to Rheims, netting us another gold. Yay. Otherwise, little to report. I do end up bumping up research to save a turn on Alphabet.

Turn 144, 440 BC

Stalingrad grows to size 5: Axeman > Settler (10). Really 5, with whip! I think we have a good rhythm here: Axeman - Settler at just the right speed.

Um, I send the new troops to Moscow to give them a head-start on the settler. Hm. Should probably think about getting enough axes to burn down that barb town soon, too.

Turn 145, 425 BC

Moscow completes worker, I send him north to pasture Karachev's cows. Arg, costs jump up to 8 gpt and we only have seven in the bank. Alphabet is due in 1 at 90%, but if I move it down it's in 2. I'm gonna see if I can juggle any tiles to help us out. Not really. I dial back because I don't think the consequences of going broke is good. Dial it to 70%; still in 2 turns, and we won't go broke quite yet.

Oh, right, and I switch Moscow off that courthouse and onto a 7-turn Axeman. I just cut the courthouse out of the queue because it's become annoying.

Turn 146, 410 BC

Sweet! Confucianism spreads to both Novosibirsk and Karachev, adding 2 gpt to our shrine and speeding up Karachev's cultural expansion.

I send our warriors to scout out the barbarian town to the west. The savages call it "Bactrian" and have 2 archers guarding it. 3 or 4 axes shold be more than sufficient to burn it down.

I rush the granary in Novo because I'd rather not wait 16 more turns. It's for their own good. Really.

Turn 147, 395 BC

At long last, our drunken (I mean, "well-humored") scribes have devised a systematic set of symbols with which to write. It's a lot more convenient than trying to decipher their doodles.

OK, this means that I get to choose the tech path. Wait, lemme see if we had something planned . . . . I think we voted for Iron Working, but first I'll see what trades we can make.

Novosibirsk also finishes its Granary, so I start it on a courthouse, not a barracks. It's barely making any hammers as it is.

Ok, our Foreign Advisor says that both Napoleon and Huayna Capac have Sailing, Archery, and Iron Working Available for trade. H.C. has writing, but Nappy does not. Nappy has Meditation, but H.C. does not. They both want Priesthood and Monotheism. I see no reason not to trade either since we have all the benefits already.

*Sigh* Smart tech-trading is not my strong suit, but I'll give it a shot and then you guys can congratulate or criticize me as appropriate.

So, Napoleon will give us Archery and Sailing (356) for Priesthood and Monotheism (401). I could substitute writing for Monotheism, but they're the same cost. It's about as fair as you could make it.

H.C. will give us Iron Working (448) for Meditation, Priesthood, and Monotheism (579). It's weighted in his favor. We could get it straight for alphabet, but that's even more in his favor.

I make the trade with Napoleon. The coastal trading routes from Sailing really help our economy.

I see if I can get I.W. from H.C. for just Mono and Meditation. Not so much.

So I go ahead and give him the 3 techs because it saves us 15 turns (and Napoleon will have them all, anyway).

We're still up by Alphabet, though. These deals seemed about as fair as could be considering the techs available.

Ok, so no iron plunks, but good news! Karachev will have iron in its BFC! Napoleon has iron in Lyon's home squares, and Huayna Capac will have access to iron in Ollantaytambo's BFC. So Napoleon has metal. Eh, we'll manage, I suppose.

Our chariot has healed, so I send it out south to fog-bust.

Oh, as for tech. For me, it was a toss-up between Horseback Riding and Mathematics, but I choose Math because it a) will give us an eventual discount on Currency and b) we all expect war with the French, so it also leads to siege weaponry with Construction! That's my reasoning, anyway. 20 turns, by the way, breaking even at 70% research.

Turn 148, 380 BC

Napoleon adopts Organized Religion. Copy Cat.

Start pasturing Karachev's cows. Ok, Moscow CAN whip the settler at 6-turns-to-go, so I do so. Hopefully it won't upset the Axe->Settler plan, but I guess it could always put a turn into something else if it needs an extra turn to grow to 5.

Turn 149, 365 BC

Moscow: Settler > Axeman.

Our distant warrior has finished mapping out the Northeasternmost end of our continent.

Workers have connected the silver and the quarry has been completed on the marble, but roads must still be laid to connect it. No, wait, we don't need a road: It has a river connection. Should we go for the Temple of Artemis in Stalingrad? Bonus to trade and a free priest.

Turn 150, 350 BC

Nevermind that! The Temple of Artemis has been built in a faraway land, our mystics say. Hrmph.

Well, with the silver and marble both hooked up, I'm not sure if it's worth spending any more worker turns on Novosibirsk. The most we could do is farm the tundra, I think. Man, ice-marble is harsh. It'll stagnate at 3 population in 12 more turns, working the deer, the silver, and the marble, brining in 5 hammers and 9 commerce total. I think the 3 workers should head north to build roads to Karachev and generally build cottages/hook up the iron when the borders expand (in 2 turns).

Rheims' borders have expanded. The axeman we have up there is fog-busting, but I think between us and the French we have enough of a cultural presence to make barb spawns unlikely, so I start to move him south to link up with the other 2 free axemen we have in order to protect our soon-to-be western city and "negotiate" with the barbarians in Bactrian.

Umm, I think everything else is running smoothly.

Turn 151, 335 BC

Pliny must have made a mistake, because he's telling us that France is stronger than Grand Russia. At least we're not dead last, like the Inca.

That barbarian archer that killed our warrior way back when is poking around again. I decide to take him out with our chariot because one more kill will earn him another promotion. We win flawlessly, for great justice!

Ok, as much as I want to keep going, I think I've done enough. As far as I'm concerned, I've just about completed my goals for my set (namely: plant 2 cities and improve our workforce). Well, our newest settler is close to our western border, so it should not be an issue to direct him to whichever spot we eventually decide on (Magenta is still being debated in committee and I don't want to risk the flak for making an "executive decision"). I only built 1 new worker, but with all the relevant jobs finished down south, it's almost like we got 3 new workers. Didn't get to burn the barb town, but it's probably just as well for the time being.

Moscow grew, so I switch the new citizen from the farm to the third grassland cottage to add a few turns to its growth. The most heavily worked hamlet will grow into a village next turn. The axeman there will also finish training next turn, so maybe another worker? Stalingrad grows next turn. The 3 workers from down south are bunched into one go-to group, but I did NOT leave them or any unit on an auto-path. Once up to Karachev, I'd use at least two for iron-mining duty, and the other for cottages/roads. Actually, I just separated them because we probably will want one of them to start a road out west to help reinforce our new town.

Um, math in 13 turns with a positive cash flow of +2 gpt, so that's nice. I'll just post some pictures of our growing empire.

Northern Russia:

Spoiler :

Central Russia:

Spoiler :

Southern Russia:

Spoiler :

The Northeast Territories:

Spoiler :

And the World as We Know it:

Spoiler :

And the save!

Roster:
Whosit (just played: for the Glory of Russia)
Dave Hartwick (up)
Glare Seethe (on deck)
radiofreestl
Norvin Green
Xanthus