I still can't play.
The problem is that i am looking at the save through Remote Desktop connection to my home PC and it is like to look at a picture gallery. And ofcource i'm at work too.
edit: we are in police state and we can't even rush. IMO that means defeat very soon. I can't understand why we didn't build SY and spies - that is a very clear anti space race strategy when you are not much behind. IMO this is the final mistake from which we will loose the game. Very possible that it is already lost.
Like Homer Simpson says: D'OH!
I agree, how did we not think to set up spies?
If I understand AlanH right, we have until noon GMT on 11/2 to finish, so we can discuss our final options.
I think we might push population (farm over workshops and cottages) to see if we can get a diplo after taking out Qin. How to stop Cyrus' ship is the issue.
We can make SY in 11 turns in either Seville or Barcelona ... I prefer Barc because it is not right on our border so not at risk of capture if a war. Then we can make spies every turn to our limit of four. We are 14 turns to composites (modern armour), but do we need that? Go 0 sci for 11 turns so the spies have money to spend.
We have an airport in Madrid (if spies can be airlifted) and in Turfan ... to speed troops to the China front.
Alternative is to reaseach fission (8 turns), make manhattan (10 turns), then we have 4-5 turns per nuke in our best cites (Turfan, Barc, Seville) ... and does Cyrus have SDI by now? Looks like not since manhattan is not made yet.
Spies in action in 12 turns, vs nukes in action in 23 turns ... Cyrus has the space elevator, so I think we won't see 23 turns.
Only chance as I see it is to push pop, go for spies, take over China and maybe we can intercept his engine at the last minute if we have to, and sneak in a diplo.
edit: if we revolt to USuff (2 turns), we could cash rush SY ... at 0 SCI, 1142 gpt ... 6700 rush will get smaller each turn after end of anarchy ... maybe 2T anarchy, 2-3 turns of hammers invested and cash stored and we can rush it ... first spy in 6 turns perhaps? This looks like our Obi-wan Kenobi (i.e. our only hope).
dV
So who wants to play this out to the end today? I can, but I have played so much lately, someone else should if they can. Who is good with spies (I am not)?