SGOTM 03 - Memphis Blues

[BSouder]

My turns are done without many real surprises. We got unlucky with our great person in St. Pete, but I love the iron of Saint Peter being born in St. Petersburg. We did get some nice news elsewhere though.

0 - 1262 - Do some MM changes in Sparta and Yekaterinburg and start Athens building culture to expand. Trade copper for Mao's ivory and gold and get open borders back with him. I also trade an extra cow to Cyrus for 2gpt, which is the best price I could get from anyone and we need to get him to like us more. Also start moving some troops back toward the mainland.

1 - 1268 - Start a workboat in Novgorod and head a worker to Sparta.

2 - 1274 - Fred asks us to declare war on HC, I decline. Our GP in St. Pete is a phrophet. I park him there for a bit in case we want to keep him for a golden age, but my first inclination is to make him a super specialist in St. Pete.

3 - 1280 - Athens expands but doesn't get back nearly as much land as I had hoped. We do get 2 of the 3 clams though so I whip the in-process longbow and schedule a theatre to be built. I can whip the National Epic in St. Pete now but it would take 6 population. I am not sure about that, that's a lot of growth to make back up. I am going to wait at least until we finish the Liberalism gambit since I don't want to lose all the beakers we are getting from the pop in St. Pete before then.

4 - 1286 - Not a lot.

5 - 1292 - Scientific Method Learned, we still aren't in any danger of losing Liberalism but I really doubt we could wait the 22 turns to learn Physics, so I follow the plan. We'll have Liberalism and Physics next turn. We also have oil under a farm between Yekinsburg and Yarsolov (however you spell them), which gives us a free hammer.

6 - 1298 - We discover Liberalism and get Physics for free. I park the great scientist we get instead of lightbulbing so we can do some math and decide if we would rather have a golden age. We can always lightbulb in a few turns without losing anything. Some really good news is we have Uranium in an unimproved plains square shared by St. Pete and Moscow. That's some potential hammers for St. Pete finally!!

I cancel a 3gpt for clams deal with Hatty to then trade her the clam back for Dye. I try to work a deal to get Nationalism from Gandhi, but he won't be even remotely reasonable. He wants both Scientific Method and Education for it.

I also whipped the National Epic in St. Pete.

7 - 1304 - Nothing major.

8 - 1310 - Spread Hinduism to Sparta to take advantage of Organized Religion.

9 - 1316 - Hatty and Khan both offer me all their money for Astonomy, I don't see any reason why not so I accept. Our coffers were running low anyway. Since most have it now anyway, I sell Astonomy to every Hindu nation that doesn't have it, except Alex since he's broke. I give Alex Drama as a gift though since he looks so pitiful and it can't hurt anything.

I found out why Gandhi wouldn't be reasonable with an education trade. He has Education now so he must have been almost done researching it.

10 - 1322 - Nothing much.

Spoiler :

Here is your Session Turn Log from 1262 AD to 1322 AD:

Turn 267, 1262 AD: You have made peace with Mao Zedong!
Turn 267, 1262 AD: Mao Zedong adopts Bureaucracy!
Turn 267, 1262 AD: Mao Zedong adopts Organized Religion!

Turn 268, 1268 AD: St. Peter has been born in St. Petersburg!

Turn 269, 1274 AD: You have trained a Work Boat in Novgorod. Work has now begun on a Harbor.
Turn 269, 1274 AD: The borders of Athens have expanded!
Turn 269, 1274 AD: Saladin adopts Serfdom!

Turn 270, 1280 AD: You have trained a Longbowman in Athens. Work has now begun on a Theatre.

Turn 271, 1286 AD: You have discovered Scientific Method!
Turn 271, 1286 AD: You have constructed a Harbor in Moscow. Work has now begun on Hindu Missionary.

Turn 272, 1292 AD: Memphis Blues is the first to discover Liberalism!
Turn 272, 1292 AD: You have discovered Liberalism!
Turn 272, 1292 AD: Isabella adopts Vassalage!
Turn 272, 1292 AD: Isabella adopts Theocracy!

Turn 273, 1298 AD: Great Scientist has been born in Moscow!
Turn 273, 1298 AD: You have discovered Physics!
Turn 273, 1298 AD: You have constructed National Epic in St. Petersburg. Work has now begun on a Observatory.
Turn 273, 1298 AD: You have constructed a Granary in Sparta. Work has now begun on a Theatre.
Turn 273, 1298 AD: Cyrus adopts Serfdom!
Turn 273, 1298 AD: St. Paul has been born in Beijing!

Turn 274, 1304 AD: Great Scientist has been born in Heliopolis!

Turn 275, 1310 AD: Hinduism has spread in Sparta.
Turn 275, 1310 AD: Valmiki has been born in Paris!
Turn 275, 1310 AD: Mao Zedong has completed The Dai Miao!

Turn 276, 1316 AD: Cai Lun has been born in Beshbalik!
Turn 276, 1316 AD: Tokugawa has made peace with Julius Caesar!

Note, based on civic switches it looks like Izzy is ramping up to make trouble for someone.

 

[Mad Professor]

Nice turnset. Good to have SciMeth, getting physics free and be already on the way to electricity. Very nice. Good to see that oil and uranium there too. Uranium mines yield good gold to go with the hammers as well - not as many as gold mines, but nevertheless much better than apoke in the eye with a sharp stick...

My first reaction is that we were unlucky to get a prohpet in St. Pete. Anything but a prophet could have been used much better. On the other hand it does give the option of a golden age. We'd have to do some calculations though to work out which is better. The golden age will give us hammers as well as gold of course. Using the prophet to lightbulb something like divine right is basically useless, so that doesn't really count. It's the scientist's beakers to electricity we need to take into account. The golden age wouldn't give us so many, but then there'd be the hammers. I rarely use golden age slike this when I play, but the AI does it all the time. Beats me why. Maybe I'm missing something?

I trust Izzy not even as far as I could throw her. She's definitely cranking up for war again with those civic changes and we're definitely on her "most hated" list.

That Gandhi just got Education proves that we wouldn't have made the 22 turns to physics before taking liberalism to try get electricity free. Physics was the right one to take.

Good to do those cash deals for astronomy - did they throw their maps in too? We need to keep bringing the cash in if we're to keep our research up at 100%.

Here's the playing schedule:

ShannonCT (gone missing?)
BSouder (just played)
KingdomBrunel (up next)
Frederiksberg
Mad Professor
Radiopill

Let's have a bit of discussion about use of the great people before the next turnset is played. I'll also see who else is possibly on Izzy's hate list...

 

[BSouder]

No, no one would throw in their maps but I was just happy to get the money. We've got 1 courthouse almost done in Novgorod, but I think it's time to try to build some more. Our overhead is starting to get substantial.

My inclination with the great people would be to use the prophet somewhere as a super specialist and lightbulb part of electricity with the scientist. The one good thing about the golden age that might tip the balance would be the fact that the extra hammers would get us universities and stuff earlier. The math to determine which is truly better is a bit beyond what I normally like to do for fun though.

 

[Frederiksberg]

Nice turns. I did some of the math regarding the use of our GP's. As far as I can see we will get abou 50 gpt extra for 8 turns for a total of 400g. In most cities we have a beaker multiplication of 25%-100% so lets say on average 75%. This mean that a golden age will give 700 beakers extra. Extra hammers will be about 30 extra times 8 turns for a total of 240 hammers. Add 50% for forge + OR and we get 360 hammers extra. That can pay for two universities. In an average city we have around 32 base commerce and each University will give +25% or 8 beakers per turn (bpt). Alternatively we can use the scientist for research of Electricity where he will help with around 2500 beakers and we could make the prophet a Super Specialist in Moscow where he will provide 5gpt and with the 50% Bureaucracy bonus and 125% extra beakers (When Observatory finalizes) he will give at least 15 bpt depending on rounding. In summary:


Golden age: 700 beakers + 16 bpt
LB Electricity + Super Priest in Moscow: 2500 beakers + 15 bpt

The conclusion is that the second option is clearly better. Note, that its clearly better to put the Super Priest in Moscow due to Bureaucracy.

All the above calculations assume that we can keep research at 100%. In order to accomplish that I think we need to trade outside the Hindu block. Looking at the Leader relations matrix it seems that Louis, Toku and Fred are not the worst enemies of any Hindu civ so I suggest we start trading with them. Louis will give us 310g for our map, Toku will pay 6gpt for clam and give 320g for Philo and Fred will give 130g for Horseback Riding.

Maybe we should switch to Caste System now. That would allow us to max out the number (5) of scientists in St. Pete and we could also start hiring some artists in Athens in order to counter the cultural pressure of Shanghai and to give us some artists that can be used to LB Mass Media. Before switching we should be done with whipping essential stuff so maybe we should whip Theatre and Library in Athens and the Observatory in St. Pete.

 

[Mad Professor]

In summary:


Golden age: 700 beakers + 16 bpt
LB Electricity + Super Priest in Moscow: 2500 beakers + 15 bpt

The conclusion is that the second option is clearly better. Note, that its clearly better to put the Super Priest in Moscow due to Bureaucracy.

Thanks for doing the maths. My gut feeling was that this is the way it would be. It's nice to see some numbers to confim it. Then I htink we should definitely not take the golden age, but rather get beakers towards electricity, and put a super priest in Moscow.

All the above calculations assume that we can keep research at 100%. In order to accomplish that I think we need to trade outside the Hindu block. Looking at the Leader relations matrix it seems that Louis, Toku and Fred are not the worst enemies of any Hindu civ so I suggest we start trading with them. Louis will give us 310g for our map, Toku will pay 6gpt for clam and give 320g for Philo and Fred will give 130g for Horseback Riding.

So you get a diplo minus only for trading with that civ's WORST enemy? Not for trading with civs at which that civ is annoyed or worse? I've never taken much notice! It makes it easier if it's only the worst enemy. The gold you mention will be handy, and in addition, these civs will view us better for good trade deals, which is something important to consider. If we can achieve those good things wihtout getting us negatives with our friends, then it's certainly a good idea.

Maybe we should switch to Caste System now. That would allow us to max out the number (5) of scientists in St. Pete and we could also start hiring some artists in Athens in order to counter the cultural pressure of Shanghai and to give us some artists that can be used to LB Mass Media. Before switching we should be done with whipping essential stuff so maybe we should whip Theatre and Library in Athens and the Observatory in St. Pete.

We certainly need to go to Caste System sometime in the not-too-distant future. Getting an artist would be a good idea if we can manage it. Both Radio and Mas Media can be helped along by artists. If we got two artists even we could use them both easily, and more. I agree with Frederiksberg here - let's whip what we need as soon as we can do so, then switch to caste system.

 

[Frederiksberg]

So you get a diplo minus only for trading with that civ's WORST enemy? Not for trading with civs at which that civ is annoyed or worse? I've never taken much notice! It makes it easier if it's only the worst enemy. The gold you mention will be handy, and in addition, these civs will view us better for good trade deals, which is something important to consider. If we can achieve those good things wihtout getting us negatives with our friends, then it's certainly a good idea.

This is unfortunately unclear. There are no articles in the "War Academy" that describes exactly what "trading with worst enemy" means in terms of diplomatic plusses and minusses. It requires more than just trading with a civ that some other civ is annoyed with. An example from our own game is Toku who's annoyed with Hatty. We recently traded with Hatty and didn't get any diplo minus from Toku. I think that we should take the small risk involved and do the deals proposed. On the other hand we should clearly avoid trading with Capac, Monty and Izzy since they are all very much hated among many civs - particularly the Hindu civs. Mansa is also hated by many but primarily non-Hindu civs (Except Alex). Saladin is a bit dubious because he seems to be the one that Mao likes the least - and we really want to improve relations to Mao. We could consider sending a missionary to Saladin to get him to join the Hindu block. BSouder originally proposed this and I don't know if he did any preparations for it during his turn set.

Another thing. We should probably be careful with trading away Liberalism because it gives the option of free religion that will remove the strong religious plusses.

 

[KingdomBrunel]

OK, I'll play tonight. I need to read what's gone on first, so I'll definately be checking back before I play.

 

[Frederiksberg]

My suggestions for the turn set in summary:

1. Great people: Use GSci to provide beakers for Electricity and use the GPro as a super priest in Moscow.
2. Trade: Start trading outside Hindu block with selected civs. Louis will give us 310g for our map, Toku will pay 6gpt for clam and give 320g for Philo and Fred will give 130g for Horseback Riding. There is still a small risk of getting diplo minus and I'm ready to run this risk. We should stay away from Capac, Monty and Izzy though.
3. Buildings: Use the whip in St. Pete and Athens. Mainly build tech buildings.
4. Maybe sneak a missionary to Saladin. Could he have Theocracy? It seems absurd without religion but I think it is his favorite civic.

Good luck!

 

[BSouder]

4. Maybe sneak a missionary to Saladin. Could he have Theocracy? It seems absurd without religion but I think it is his favorite civic.

All the religious civics are absurd without religion, but the bad news is that Saladin IS running Theocracy. Our only shot at spreading Hinduism to him would be to get a missionary to his territory and gift it to him, but I don't think that works.

 

[KingdomBrunel]

My suggestions for the turn set in summary:

1. Great people: Use GSci to provide beakers for Electricity and use the GPro as a super priest in Moscow.
2. Trade: Start trading outside Hindu block with selected civs. Louis will give us 310g for our map, Toku will pay 6gpt for clam and give 320g for Philo and Fred will give 130g for Horseback Riding. There is still a small risk of getting diplo minus and I'm ready to run this risk. We should stay away from Capac, Monty and Izzy though.
3. Buildings: Use the whip in St. Pete and Athens. Mainly build tech buildings.
4. Maybe sneak a missionary to Saladin. Could he have Theocracy? It seems absurd without religion but I think it is his favorite civic.

Good luck!

That sounds fair enough. Hoping for 10 incident free turns. I'll write back later

 

[KingdomBrunel]

Turn 0: 1322AD: Prophet joins Moscow.
Turn 1: 1328AD: Deals done with Toku & Louis. Theatre whipped in Athens.
Turn 2: 1334AD: Nothing.
Turn 3: 1340AD: Nothing.
Turn 4: 1346AD: No deals to be made.
Turn 5: 1352AD: Nothing.
Turn 6: 1358AD: Nothing.
Turn 7: 1364AD: Switch to build research in Moscow.
Turn 8: 1370AD: Hathesput wants us to join her in a war against the HC. I'm torn - I don't want to say no, but I don't really want a war too. I choose yes; hopefully some others will join in too.
Turn 9: 1376AD: Nothing - turn not finished.

I've stopped here. The reason why is I've noticed our next GP is due in just three turns, and it'll be a scientist. As far as I see it, that gives us a couple of options:
1) Stop researching electricity, and plow the beakers into economics to get the great merchant, which will keep our research rate at 100% for longer.
2) Do the same, but for gunpowder. At some point we'll be off to war.
3) Keep researching electricity, and use the GS to set up an academy.

I think I favour the second, and we should probably try and balance the books when we do it. In my mind, it's certainly not clear cut, so I've come back for more discussion.

Sorry about the war; I was caught between a rock and a hard place. As Egypt & Inca border each other I'd hope we don't see anything from HC and can get peace in a few turns.

 

[KingdomBrunel]

And the turnlog:

Turn 277, 1322 AD: Great Scientist has been born in Mecca!
Turn 277, 1322 AD: Zhang Heng has been born in Washington!

Turn 279, 1334 AD: Tokugawa adopts Theocracy!

Turn 280, 1340 AD: Great Scientist has been born in Persepolis!

Turn 281, 1346 AD: Frederick adopts Vassalage!
Turn 281, 1346 AD: Frederick adopts Serfdom!

Turn 282, 1352 AD: Kublai Khan has completed The Spiral Minaret!

Turn 283, 1358 AD: Isabella has 200 gold available for trade

Turn 284, 1364 AD: Mansa Musa has 180 gold available for trade
Turn 284, 1364 AD: Gandhi has 260 gold available for trade
Turn 284, 1364 AD: Louis XIV has 230 gold available for trade
Turn 284, 1364 AD: Huayna Capac has 200 gold available for trade
Turn 284, 1364 AD: Kublai Khan has 50 gold available for trade
Turn 284, 1364 AD: Mao Zedong has 240 gold available for trade
Turn 284, 1364 AD: Yaroslavl' will grow to size 13 on the next turn
Turn 284, 1364 AD: Yaroslavl' will become unhealthy on the next turn
Turn 284, 1364 AD: Yekaterinburg will grow to size 6 on the next turn
Turn 284, 1364 AD: Hatshepsut has declared war on Huayna Capac!
Turn 284, 1364 AD: Machu Picchu has been captured by the Egyptian Empire!!!
Turn 284, 1364 AD: Hatshepsut adopts Vassalage!

Turn 285, 1370 AD: You have declared war on Huayna Capac!
Turn 285, 1370 AD: Hatshepsut has 260 gold available for trade
Turn 285, 1370 AD: Julius Caesar has 120 gold available for trade
Turn 285, 1370 AD: Yaroslavl' has grown to size 13
Turn 285, 1370 AD: Yaroslavl' has become unhealthy
Turn 285, 1370 AD: Yekaterinburg has grown to size 6
Turn 285, 1370 AD: Isabella has declared war on Kublai Khan!
Turn 285, 1370 AD: New Tech(s) to trade: Huayna Capac

 

[Mad Professor]

Looks like cruising (except for that curve ball with the war). The request for war was earlier than we wanted - a bit later and we'd be begging for a war to get diplomatic bonuses in time for UN elections. Hopefully we can get some bonuses out of it.

Here's the playing schedule:

ShannonCT (gone missing?)
BSouder
KingdomBrunel (just played)
Frederiksberg (up next)
Mad Professor
Radiopill

I'll have a look at the file and comment later.

 

[Mad Professor]

We have about 1700 beakers to go on Electricity, so the GSci would give us all that if we stopped studying electricity now in order to use the GSci for that. We'd waste a few beakers of course as normally a GSci would give us about 2500 I think.

If we wait until we get Electricity, I think that opens up Fission as a possible study option which means the GSci would offer us beakers towards that once we have electricity. A shame, because that would be pretty much useless unless we have to win the game by space race, which I certainly hope we don't.

Another option is using the GSci as a super scientist in the city we have the most science multipliers in. I think that gets us 9 beakers per turn times the multipiers. I think we'd be struggling to get 1700 beakers use out of the GSci that way if we are going to finish the game when we hope to, though we might go close.

A related thought: What about caste system? When should we swap to that? Soon would be good so we can hire some more artists in Athens as the population grows there and see if we can get ourselves a great artist...?

We do want gunpowder if we're going to have another war - which we need at least in order to increase our population and get ourselves some diplomatic plusses at the time of the UN elections. After gunpowder we either need to get chemistry or military tradition for grenadiers or cossacks. I rather like the latter my experience with cossacks is that they are totally unstoppable by anything less than riflemen, and you don't even need cats, because the cossacks are so strong - they just walk right over the top of longbows and maces. Only pikes cause them some concern and they do alright against them most of the time too. If we're going to give the UN away we HAVE to have the biggest population in the world, and that means war and invasion, taking several cities (at least). That makes the option of stoppping electricity now and letting the coming GSci finish it more tempting because it means we could start on gunpowder right now.

 

[BSouder]

Gandhi will now do a straight up trade of Scientific Method for Nationalism. I think it's time to do that trade and research gunpowder and Military Tradition to start preparing for our final war. We need to start that war in time to have our UN city captured, out of revolt and prepared to build the UN for us within a turn or so of researching Mass Media.

At this point I think Cossacks are a clear choice over Grenadiers. It would seem silly to ignore one of the major strengths of our civ. What we will need to be careful of is the military buildup for our final war without tanking our economy too bad. Once we finish Mass Media we could drop research to 0, but our war needs to be raging while we are researching MM which means our military buildup needs to be happening while researching Radio.

 

[Frederiksberg]

Nice turns and good call to stop for the GS/tech discussion. In hindsight it would have been better to decline the war (we got -1 from Kublai and Mao for "attacking friend") but it was not easy to predict.

I'm in favor of Mad Professor's idea of using the GS for Electricity since Academy or super scientist gives fewer beakers in total during the next 80 turns or so. We can trade SciMeth with Gandhi for Nationalism, map and all his gold (around 200). I like this deal since it opens up for research of MilTrad. We also need Gunpowder to produce cossack's. It would be nice to be able to trade for one or both of these techs, but we shouldn't get them too late since we need some turns for building a cossack army (say 20) and some turns for the war that's going to boost our population (maybe also 20). Radio + MM takes a little less than 60 turns so we could in principle do up to 20 turns of research on Radio before we decide to research the two military techs. We could hope that Gunpowder and MilTrad becomes available for trade within these 20 turns. We should also monitor how close our possible victims are to getting Rifling since we would want to attack an enemy without rifles to speed up things.


I would like to switch civics to Caste System during my turn set and see if we can get some artists that can help with Radio and MM.

I plan to play wednesday evening so there is still more than 24 hours to give input.

EDIT: x-posted with BSouder and it seems we agree

 

[Mad Professor]

At this point I think Cossacks are a clear choice over Grenadiers. It would seem silly to ignore one of the major strengths of our civ. What we will need to be careful of is the military buildup for our final war without tanking our economy too bad. Once we finish Mass Media we could drop research to 0, but our war needs to be raging while we are researching MM which means our military buildup needs to be happening while researching Radio.

This makes good sense. As you can tell I like cossacks and am quite happy with this idea. It fits quite well in timing too I think. If we use the GSci to get the rest of electricity, we can start on Gunpowder straight away and get Nationalism in trade to Gandhi. Then it's only about 6 turns I think to Gunpowder then start on Military Tradition so that we can start cranking out Cossacks while working on Radio and Mass Media. I think getting a great artist somewhere along the line is important, as this will help with Radio and Mass Media.

While on great people - if we're lucky enough to get an engineer at some stage (and we'll have to be lucky because the percentages are not high) we should save him for building the UN. That allows us to choose a particularly crappy city to build it in and give it away and still get it done in one turn instead of waiting forever for a crappy city to build it.

 

[Mad Professor]

We can trade SciMeth with Gandhi for Nationalism, map and all his gold (around 200). I like this deal since it opens up for research of MilTrad. We also need Gunpowder to produce cossack's. It would be nice to be able to trade for one or both of these techs, but we shouldn't get them too late since we need some turns for building a cossack army (say 20) and some turns for the war that's going to boost our population (maybe also 20). Radio + MM takes a little less than 60 turns so we could in principle do up to 20 turns of research on Radio before we decide to research the two military techs. We could hope that Gunpowder and MilTrad becomes available for trade within these 20 turns.

It would nice, though we'd have to pay dearly for gunpowder because it's highly valued by the AI and Gandhi would be our best bet for trading for Military tradition and even with him we'd have to pay dearly (another highly valued tech by the AI) and we don't want him buiding the UN on us or something silly because we've given him too much of the road to Mass Media. I guess that would only happen if we're taking a long time to ubild the UN in a poor city.

We should also monitor how close our possible victims are to getting Rifling since we would want to attack an enemy without rifles to speed up things.

Absolutely. Rifles make all the difference. If the enemy doesn't have many rifles, you can still roll ove him without cats or cannons but wou'll take a few losses in the process. I've done this with cossacks before. It's OK as long as you have a lot of cossacks. If not, it needs to be before rifles, or with cats or cannons to help. By far the best is attacking an enemy without rifles with fast moving coassacks - you can roll over them real fast without needing to bombard, and your army is moving between target at double speed.

I would like to switch civics to Caste System during my turn set and see if we can get some artists that can help with Radio and MM.

I agree. Was there anything else we wanted to whip now? I can't remember and I don't have the file in front of me. Apart from that, I think caste system ASAP is good.

 

[Frederiksberg]

So I'll play this evening. My plans are:

Tech: Trade SciMeth for Nationalism, map and some gold with Gandhi. Switch to MilTrad and do a few turns of research on it. When our GS is born we use him for finalizing Electricity and I switch research to Radio to do a few turns of research here as well. The idea is to wait a while with researching MilTrad and Gunpowder in the hope that they will become available for trade. After my turn set we discuss again how long we can afford to postpone the military techs.

Civics: I plan to whip one more time in St. Pete and Athens and after that I would like to switch to caste system and try to get a great artist in Athens at some point.

War: Move our fleet to Athens in case Capac should choose to send a boat or two our way.

 

[Frederiksberg]

I have played. My turns were quite uneventful as expected. We got Nationalism and are on our way to Radio after spending a few turns on MilTrad.

Turn log:

Pre-turn: I do SciMeth for Nationalism, map and 290g deal with Gandhi. I gift one of our many clam to Alex in case we need his vote in the end. Switch research to MilTrad.

1382 AD: Whip granary in Athens and forge in St. Pete. The granary was obviously needed and the forge will come in handy in our attempt to get a great engineer (We have Nat. Epic in St. Pete).

1388 AD:
1395 AD:

1400 AD: We get our GS and lightbulb Electricity. Switch tech to Radio. More and more civs get Paper so I decide to pimp it around top Mao, Hatty and Louis who all pay around 250g.

1406AD:

1412 AD: Mao wants Education. I decide to give it to him - we really don't want a war and he's still much more powerful than us. He's currently at +10 and might move to "Friendly" soon.

1418 AD:

1424 AD: Caravel sinks Incan galley. Only sign of the war - Capac is in trouble and has lost Tiwanaku to Hatty.

1430 AD: Heroic Epic is built in Moscow. This will come in handy when we start building cossacks.

1436 AD:

The save:

1436 AD

There isn't much to say. Main issue right now is when to go back to researching MilTrad. I have a hunch that it's more likely that we can trade for Gunpowder so my suggestion is to maybe do a few more turns on Radio and if MilTrad is still not available for trade then we research it ourselves and hope that Gunpowder can be traded for when we finish.