SGOTM 11 - Smurkz

[ControlFreak]

Roster:

• CommandoBob - just played EDIT: Two Turns Left!
• zyxy - UP!
• McLMan - On Deck!
• Niklas - Warming up
• ControlFreak
• dojoboy - retired

 

[zyxy]

Uhhm, CB still has 2 turns I think...

As for the gems and wines deals: The Indian peace treaty did not involve per turn items, so is it really renegotiated? I don't think so, but I am not sure.

Getting the wines does not break our rep anyway, only selling per turn could.

 

[ControlFreak]

Oh yeah. I confused the game date with the turns played "10".

CB are you continuing for your last two turns tonight?

About the wines coming from Korea, that makes sense. We can declare on Korea and not lose our rep as long as we don't own them anything. I have had (occationally) peace treaties renegotiate when they paid me 1g with the peace. At least that's what I recall, so I'm cautious about it.

 

[CommandoBob]

CB are you continuing for your last two turns tonight?

Yes, I will continue.

To answer Niklas' question, the trade prices were final.

Also, GalleyToFrance is not in position this turn to 'invade' French waters. The galley has not moved yet, but will need at least this turn, and maybe one more, to violate the French border. (I cannot recall it's exact location and checking the earlier movement map did not help.) I wasn't planning to make any deals until the galley was in place.

On making an Army, when I looked at our MGL in Gateway, it looked like he could build an army there. The 'Load' icon was in place.

But if we want an Army of Maces he does need to stay put.

 

[Niklas]

Just turn off Always Renegotiate Deals in your Ctrl-p, then India won't bother to renew it (unless we have a perturn deal for peace, do we?)

 

[CommandoBob]

08, Part Two 10 AD

Science at 0%, drop luxury slider to 0%; now +51 gpt.
In Pearl Harbor, hire a geek from gem mountain, vSword still completes in 2.

Trading time.
Buy Monotheism from India for Engineering and 144 of 570 gold.
Sell gems to Japan for 2 gpt and 48 of 48 Japanese gold.
Sell gems to China for 56 of 56 Chinese gold.
Buy Feudalism from Germany for Monotheism and 25 gpt.
Sell Monotheism to America for Republic and 1 of 1 American gold.
Sell Republic to India for 119 of 144 Indian gold. Could have gotten less gold if we wanted Monarchy. Need gold for embassy and upgrades; we can get Monarchy later. We don't need it.

Establish an embassy with Korea in Seoul for 64 gold.

Seoul 10 AD

Seoul is size 8, nets 13 spt, is building Sun Tzu's Art of War, due in 10 turns.
It has a garrison of 4 spears.

Sell Republic and Engineering to Korea for 2 workers, wines, 9 of 9 Korean gold and a Military Alliance against the Arabs.

Korea declares war on the Arabs.

Go meet with Joan. Declare war.

Save game.

Check MapStat. The only tech we don't know is Monarchy.

Invention is 34 turns away at 0% science. At 80% science we learn Invention in 15 turns and -24 gpt. Once Germany declares war, we will stop paying 25 gpt and be at +1 gpt. Raising the smart slider higher gets us Invention in 14, not 15, turns.

Upgrade 3 vWarriors to Maces, 270 gold total.

GalleyToFrance moves W and NW, into German waters.

Hit the wrong key when renaming a slave, set it to build a trade network. Clicked on unit to kill that action.

Mpande moves to SHAW to build the First Mace Army. Will add units next turn.

Slave03 (Korea) heads to South Smurkz to improve some hills.

Blocking Crosspoint (rCurragh) attacks an Egyptian rGalley, Curagh wins but is redlined, moves south (16 of 20).
​

[IBT]
China wants our Impi to leave. We agree.

Arabs want to talk. We don't want to talk to them. Say No.

Egytian AC attacks TOG and kills a Sword, redlining itself (16 of 21).

Barbarian Curragh sinks Blocking Crosspoint (16 of 22).

SmurkzBabwe settler -> vPike, 6 turns.
Karachi rWarrior -> rWarrior, 10 turns.


09 30 AD

Slave04 (Korea) is caught and moved onto a road.
SettlerToChina (Babwe) heads towards China.
Worker03 and 07 mine.
Worker04 begins a chop.
Worker06 begins the road to connect Bangalore to Babwe.
Worker02 moves SE, to build road.
Found Surf Side Smurkz between the two BGs SE of South Smurkz, grows in 10, harbor in 30.

Load 2 vMace into First Mace Army (FMA); third mace will join next turn.
FMA moves towards TOG.
Scout01, still in Japan, move 2SW, towards Edo. Only two tiles of fog remain in Japan.
Impi in China moves 2S.
Catapults arrive in Hyangsan.
Promptly pound the Arab rSpear 1NW of the city, one hits, one misses.
Could attack that spear with an eSword or vHorse. But since the spear is on a hill, Swords and Horses are both at risk from two adjacent Egyptian rSwords when they win. Spear can go away but not heal on that hill. Hold off attacking from Hyangsan.

vHorse (from TOG) vs. rAncient Cavalry 1/4, Horse takes 1HP and wins, returns to TOG and fortifies (17 of 23).

GalleyToFrance, now in German waters, crosses the French border 1N of Besancon and then moves back into German waters.
​

[IBT]
Arab units move away from Zulu lands.
Egyptian units move close to Hyangsan.

Americans are building Sun Tzu's Art of War.

10 50 AD

Germany did not declare war on us! Maybe GalleyToFrance needed to be in French waters over the IBT.

Catapults in Hyangsan cause 1HP on an Egyptian rSword.
eSword vs. Egyptian rSword 2/3, Sword wins with 2HP, moves onto hill NW of Hyangsan (18 of 24).
rHorse vs. Egyptain rSword, Sword wins but is redlined (18 of 25).
eSword vs. Egyptian rSword 1/3, Smurkz Sword wins flawlessly, moves onto hill E of Hyangsan (19 of 26).

Scout01 exposes the last of the Japanese fog and moves towards Lahore.
Workers02, 09 and 13 start and finish a road.

Last vMace joins the FMA.
FMA arrives in Passage to India.
vHorse from Pearl Harbor moves to attack Barb Horse on the unroaded mountain gem tile.
vHorse vs. Barb cHorse, Smurkz Horse wins and promotes (20 of 27).
Slave03 begins a mine.
Impi in China moves 2S.
GalleyToFrance moves back into French waters and stays in French waters for the IBT.

SettlerToIndia arrives in Alan H Smurkz.

Karachi connected. Move Worker12 and Slave01 1E, to build a shorter road to Bangalore.

Drop science down to 40% and +10 gpt, but Invention is now 22 turns away.

Eaztbay vHorse -> vPike, 1 turn, for front line defense.
​

[IBT]

And the save is >>HERE<<.

 

[CommandoBob]

Trading
I followed zyxy's trading plan. It worked well, much better than I would have done on my own. We did not get all our gold back from India and we did not get Monarchy. Everyone except us knows Monarchy, so we could buy it cheaply if we really needed it.

War with Germany
We are at war with France but not Germany. In 30 AD GalleyToFrance entered French waters and then moved back into German waters. This was not enough to force Germany into war. In 50 AD GalleyToFrance moved back into French waters and still remains in them. I expect that the Locked Alliance will kick in this IBT.

Settlers
We have three settlers: South Smurkz II, SettlerToIndia and SettlerToChina. South Smurkz II is in place, ready to build, in South West Smurkz, on a coastal grassland. SettlerToIndia is in Alan H Smurkz; SettlerToChina is on the land bridge.

MiddleCrew
We have only been attacked by Arab and Eygptian forces. Arab forces are heading back home. Egyptian foot forces are heading towards Hyangsan. Egyptian ACs move towards TOG to attack it. We have killed 3 ACs so far.

Army
The First Mace Army (FMA) is on the land bridge, heading towards TOG. It contains 3 vMaces, al upgraded from vWarriors.

The Other Gate
The garrison in TOG has two catapults, 1 archer, 1 swords and 4 or 5 horses. Good attack force, not that good on the defensive.

Roster:

• CommandoBob - just played
• zyxy - UP!
• McLMan - On Deck!
• Niklas - Warming up
• ControlFreak
• dojoboy - retired
  

 

[zyxy]

Well done wth the trades. I'm glad it all worked!

You guessed right the second time: our galley has to be in French waters. We are at war with France, and so we need to commit a hostile act against France to get Germany in.

Got it, btw. I intend to play tomorrow evening.

Initial thoughts for the next set:
- Germany will DoW next turn. Good!
- Korea should quickly get to Arabia and this will start general mayhem . Better!
- FP will finish in 5. Better still!
- We have an army. Best!

Goals for the next set:
- dent Arabia and Egypt. Targets at least Najran and Alexandria, perhaps also Kufah and beyond.
- march army to the front, upgrade some warriors to MDI
- MM looks very good. I'll whip the treb in Bangalore, switch Eaztbay to MDI (we don't need pikes, really), redirect the chop at 'banago to the new town, switch Babwe to horse or so (after that, a few settlers), increase shield output at Pinky, increase growth in Blue.
If we think we'll be at war with Egypt c.s. for another 18 turns, I'll switch Lahore to pike, otherwise stay with archer.
If we stay with a whipping government, it might be an idea to let some of our towns in former India grow to size 2 and whip 20 shields towards a treb or MDI. This trades 20 food for 20 shields. The 20 food represent 10 growth turns, that is, 30 beakers (if we hire a scientist instead of growing the town). I am not sure that 20 shields for 30 beakers is a good deal.
Unfortunately the chop at Madras will partially go to waste because the catapult changed to a treb. I don't see what could be done about it .

Questions:
- do we want to research full speed or just scientists?
- do we want to trade Feudalism to India for gold + Monarchy?
- do we want to revolt? If so, to which government?

 

[Niklas]

I can only agree, well done indeed!

In fact I think you are improving your level of play at a breakneck pace. I would say you are definitely a (much) better than average MMer by now, and your confidence in making military decisions is growing by the minu... eh, turn. And with this turnset you got some heavy diplomatic experience too. You are definitely no longer the newbie you once were.

Without having looked at the save yet,

I am not sure that 20 shields for 30 beakers is a good deal.

I think not. If we only wanted to win we could live with it, but for winning fast we need to get to Cavalry fast. I'd take the 30 beakers.

- do we want to research full speed or just scientists?

My vote is definitely full speed, with MT as the ultimate goal. EDIT: On a different note, we might want to consider never learning Education, to get the full effect of the ToA. Galleys can cross safely to the other continent, it will take a few more of them but maybe we can make do without Astronomy. We should discuss it in any case.

- do we want to trade Feudalism to India for gold + Monarchy?

I don't see why not. They couldn't do anything with it, not even trade it away to someone we're trying to keep it from. I'd even have given it to them for only the gold, getting Monarchy as well is just a bonus even if we have no use for it.

- do we want to revolt? If so, to which government?

I still say yes, and Feudalism. In particular I say this because of our food bonuses - getting rid of the despotism penalty would allow us to run Babwe as a 4-turn factory, and Gateway as a 5- or 6-turner. And Monarchy is too expensive on the unit upkeep side. Not getting cash rushing will hurt, but on the other hand whip rushing can be very effective in corrupt areas near the front, in particular if combined with a captured Sun Tzu.

Roster posted by CF above. Go zyxy!

 

[zyxy]

Without having looked at the save yet, I think not. If we only wanted to win we could live with it, but for winning fast we need to get to Cavalry fast. I'd take the 30 beakers.

Perhaps. I would have hoped we could get somewhere with swords or MDI, but it is going much slower than anticipated. Still, we'll need some more catapults and stuff, so I suggest a compromise: any town that has some food invested should grow at some point (possibly after a govt switch, if that helps the food situation). Other towns perhaps if they can get high enough growth rates.

My vote is definitely full speed, with MT as the ultimate goal. EDIT: On a different note, we might want to consider never learning Education, to get the full effect of the ToA. Galleys can cross safely to the other continent, it will take a few more of them but maybe we can make do without Astronomy. We should discuss it in any case.

I really think we should spend some gold to feed the war machine. Spare vet warriors need to upgrade and head for the front lines.

I agree on not researching Edu, it is useless until we get to the IA. Besides, China has built the GLib for us, so we can get these techs anyway.

I don't see why not. They couldn't do anything with it, not even trade it away to someone we're trying to keep it from. I'd even have given it to them for only the gold, getting Monarchy as well is just a bonus even if we have no use for it.

The only reason is we might get a better tech in the future. Not likely though, so will make the trade.

I still say yes, and Feudalism. In particular I say this because of our food bonuses - getting rid of the despotism penalty would allow us to run Babwe as a 4-turn factory, and Gateway as a 5- or 6-turner. And Monarchy is too expensive on the unit upkeep side. Not getting cash rushing will hurt, but on the other hand whip rushing can be very effective in corrupt areas near the front, in particular if combined with a captured Sun Tzu.

I would think getting rid of the despotism penalty is the only real benefit here, and WW is a drawback. Monarchy is worse than despotism in many ways, and cashrushing not very useful if you want to run a high research game.
Getting the settler factories up to steam is a mayor help though (especially if we can manage to actually run them correctly ), so I'll revolt to Feudalism right away, or at least very soon - depending a bit on how many builds would finish the next 1-2 turns.

ST might very well end up in the Korean capital, they are 8 turns away. Unfortunately that would be far from the intended fronts for a while.

--------------
Long term plans

- get to domination asap.
- keep the world at war amongst themselves as much as possible.
- research up to cav at fairly high speed. Do not research techs on other branches, in particular do not obtain Chivalry or Edu in any way.
- train horses for upgrading to cav.

Mid term plans
- Bite a chunck out of Egypt & Arabia.
- Settle like crazy
- Take ToA from Japan, and possibly ST from wherever it appears

This term plans
- Start biting a chunck out of Egypt & Arabia. Targets: Najran, Alex, possibly Kufah and more. I will assume this war lasts another 10-15 turns. Our peace with the Indian block lasts another 8.
- Turn "reneg deals" off if needed
- revolt to Feudalism
- try to avoid GA until feudalism and FP are established.
- upgrade some warriors to MDI, as treasury allows. Keep some good troops near core against France etc.
- sell Feudalism to India
- stick to earlier dotmaps
- MM as posted before
- if at all possible, try to instigate war on the other continent. I may need to get an embassy for that, we'll see.

 

[CommandoBob]

Somewhere in the log I mentioned that Japan had dropped off a settler pair near the barb camp north of Pearl Harbor. Last I saw of this pair, the last IBT, they still had not made a city and appeared to be heading towards Pearl Harbor. On the last turn I moved the horse in Pearl onto the roaded plain but did not see the pair.

I think a city on a hill NE of TOG would be good. It gets us over that line of hills and will let us attack units on the flat lands. One place is next to a mountain that the Egyptian ACs like but the swords avoid. TOG never suffered a sword attack, only ACs. The Egyptian swords headed to Hyangsan.

Egypt had the better units, AC and swords. The Arabs had spears and horses.

But if we take Najran first the placement of this city is less important since it won't be attacked as much.

EDIT after cross posting with zyxy:
Renogiate is turned OFF. I took a screen shot last night but it got late and so I didn't post that image.

If GalleyToFrance survives, don't forget about the Vikings. We haven't met them yet.

 

[McLMan]

I've got a question. I'm not sure of the reasoning behind avoiding Education and Chivalry? I think no Education because of the future capture of the GLib. Is avoiding Chivalry an upgrade issue?

 

[CommandoBob]

I've got a question. I'm not sure of the reasoning behind avoiding Education and Chivalry? I think no Education because of the future capture of the GLib. Is avoiding Chivalry an upgrade issue?

Learning Education kills two wonders: The Great Library and the Temple of Artemis. ToA puts a temple in each our cities on the same continent as the wonder. Which would mean happier citizens and some cultural expansion. And since we plan to 'liberate' the ToA, we don't have to pay the cost to build it.

I'm not sure about Chivalry.

 

[Niklas]

As for Education, I really meant never. As in not at all in this game. But maybe that's a foolish hope, to be able to handle both continents before the IA. My main reason for not learning Education is to keep ToA alive as CB noted. If we stay away from the GLib for a while, it would of course also allow us to ride a tech elevator at some later point.

Regarding Chivalry, the reason for avoiding it would be that Knights cost 70 shields to build, Horsemen only 30, so we can build a lot more of the latter in anticipation of MT, to upgrade to Cavalry. I'm not so sure it's a wise move though, without Leo's each horse->cav upgrade would cost 150 gp so we couldn't hope to upgrade many.

Another aspect is that we can build ~2 horses in the time it takes to build 1 knight, and against lesser defenders like spears (and swords, MDI, archers) 2 horses will be more useful that 1 knight. But against pikes, and also when we really want to keep advancing without stopping to heal, knights will be superior even in half the numbers.

@zyxy: Plan looks good, go get'em!

 

[ControlFreak]

Conquest newbie question:
Do the free temples from TofA generate culture like the Labs do from the Internet?

If so...
Keeping away from Education is very important if it destroys all the temples built by the TofA. This is a domination game. 75% of land and coastal tiles are required. The TofA, being free, gains us a temple in every city on the original land. If we can keep it active for ten turns, then every city we own on the mainland will have a border expansion that won't go away. That saves us 60s per 12 tiles either by the need to build a temple to claim the land or by the two settlers we would need to build to claim the land. The other advantage will be it's much easier to prevent flips if all those cities are generating culture from the moment we own them.

This means of course that we're either going to need to capture the Great library before it gives us Education, or we're going to need to wait to capture it until we've gotten the required temple advantage from the other towns (especially coastal towns are very difficult to get sheilds into for the temple/border expansion needed for coastal tiles). I think the GL is inland so we can save it until last and then flood the area with settlers to finish the territory grab.

Avoiding Chivalry would be my preference. For now, we need to fight on multiple fronts and are really only fighting weak units. As we get closer to the cores of the civs with iron, we will need stronger units, but I think we can use the MDI's as our offense at that point which have the same attack strength as Knights. Maybe Leos can be guided to our continent by selling Invention to our civs the turn that Sun Tsu's is built? Then we can capture it to reduce the cost of upgrades. Once our research goals are met, shutting off research and making scientists into taxmen should get us a really decent gpt rate.

 

[Niklas]

Do the free temples from TofA generate culture like the Labs do from the Internet?

Yes, this is exactly the point. And the temples go away when ToA goes obsolete, just like walls go away when you give Metallurgy to the owner of the Great Wall. You have the facts and numbers down more clearly than me though.

 

[CommandoBob]

And the temples go away when ToA goes obsolete

I think I know the answer, but let me ask to be sure.

When ToA goes obsolete, do our borders/culture stays the same? That is, we don't lose any cultural expansion that we gained through ToA, do we?

My first thought is that our borders stay the same; but this is the only border expanding wonder I am aware of (first time to use it, too), so this is just a guess.

 

[zyxy]

ToA gives a free temple in every city, a bit like pyramids give a free granary. You don't pay upkeep, but the temple works as usual: culture + happiness. When you learn Edu the temple disappears, but the culture stays (the same as when you would build a temple and later sell it.)

Perhaps I should have been more clear with my remarks on Chivalry and Edu. Originally my idea was to conquer the world with MDI or even swords. It is sooo stylish to win with only AA techs and units . But it seems we cannot make it on time (i.e., before rifles), even with MDI. Next best thing is cavalry, especially because of the combination of speed and attack power. After cavalry, there are no better attackers really until tanks, and if we need those we will not end anywhere near the top three teams. So I would halt research completely after cavalry. We should be making quite a bit of money by then, with our specialist towns, and in the Feudalism government we cannot cashrush. So the best thing is to build horses and use our money to upgrade to cavalry.
Fortunately this can be done, because we can always disconnect/reconnect our saltpeter source(s). The only requirement is that we should not have Chivalry. (If we have Chivalry, then of course we could build knights and upgrade to cavs, but the shield difference is very small and I think we'll be stuck with too much gold.)
Btw, with a bit of luck Leo's is built on our continent - we capture it and the upgrades will be quite cheap.

The temples from ToA are one reason to never obtain Edu. Another is that we can use the GLib as our security. If we halt research, then there is a small chance that the AI's will run away techwise (really a very small chance only, because we'll get stronger and stronger in war, and they will get weaker and weaker.) But anyway, if some AI runs away with techs and gets to infantry or so, we can still conquer the GLib and get all the techs we are missing for free.

Somewhere in the log I mentioned that Japan had dropped off a settler pair near the barb camp north of Pearl Harbor.

Ok, I'll look out for them.

I think a city on a hill NE of TOG would be good...

I plan to attack Najran on turn 2 or 3, so this is probably not needed. But good thinking anyway .

If GalleyToFrance survives, don't forget about the Vikings. We haven't met them yet.

Good point, didn't realize that! Ok, will add "look for Vikings" to the todo list.

 

[ControlFreak]

I still think we're a bit shy on workers. We're going to need to make roads past Najran since the AI hasn't done that for us. That's really rough territory and the cat's can't go there until roads. (Can cats travel through marsh without a road?)

I really want to get the TOA as soon as possible. Will you have a strike force in place outside Kyoto (or wherever TofA is built) by turn 8?

It will of course need a ROP with Japan. We CAN NOT ROP or any other per turn deal with India. They are our only trigger civ for the LA. We are giving China gems, Japan gems and soon to be ROP, and Korea the MA against the Arabs. That means to break all those deals, we need to declare on India. Don't make per turn deals with India!

 

[zyxy]

Turn 0, 50AD: whip treb in Bangalore, switch babwe to settler, Eazt to MDI. Upgrade some MDI. Trade Feudalism to India for Monarchy + 16. There is not much point with waiting to revolt, so we do. We draw 7 turns . Well at least I don't need to MM a lot. Go through our cities and hire scientists and a few clowns needed. Switch Pearl to settler 'cause it's too big. Invention in 22 turns, -23 gpt (because of the German deal).

IT: China boots our impi. Bangalore treb -> treb. Pearl settl -> MDI. And the party begins:

Spoiler :

I want my money back!

Turn 1, 70AD: Chinese SOD is heading for Najran, but they'll be too late. Japan has founded Nara N of Pearl. Japan and Egypt have Theology. We suddenly have more unhappiness. Looks like someone broke our trade route to Korea, a French galley it seems, and we lost our wines. Sorry, guys:

Spoiler :

Unfortunately I cannot avoid starvation (1 pop) at Eazt. MDI army, 3 cats, 1 archer 2 horses and 3 swords move to Najran hill. Revolting Smurkz founded. Vikings are now in the diplo screen, so no need to find them. Our galley turns back to defend the crossing. I would like to get an embassy with America, but it is apparently not possible in anarchy. We kill an Arab spear [1/0].

IT: two Arab archers from Najran attack Chinese troops. Two Ottoman horses attack our elite sword and die [3/0]. More of their forces appear at Najran. And more fun:

Spoiler :

Don't know why this guy looks so upset. He's not working for Korea, is he?

Turn 2, 90AD: Battle for Najran: our cats hit 2 spears for 1 hp each, MDI army and elite sword each kill a spear, next elite sword kills archer and we take Najran (1 resisting citizen.) MDI army kills Ottoman warrior outside Najran, horse kills Egypt MDI outside Najran (bit lucky there), and promotes to elite [8/0]. It looks like our trade rep got broken too on the previous turn, as we can suddenly trade gems to Japan, but not for lump sum. Well, we'll just make the best of it, so I resell Gems to Japan for 5 gpt, to China for 7 gpt, and Spices to Japan for 5 gpt. Let's see how long it lasts...

IT: We get to see a nice archer-horse-warrior fight between Otto's and China (Otto's lose), and our domestic person has some helpful advice in the middle of an anarchy:

Spoiler :

Resistance in Najran ends

Turn 3, 110AD: Mapstat shows a lot more unhappiness, but the game does not. What is this? Apparently France killed our trade route again, but somehow it has been reestablished. Bombard and kill AC [9/0]. MDI army and company move on Alexandria. Anarchist Smurkz founded. Re-sell gems to China (same price).

Turn 4, 130AD: Change my mind about our galley - it would be good to scout a bit. It is renamed the SS Globetrotter (SS = Smurkz Ship) and continues exploring the German coastline. Our MDI army avoids an AC and keeps heading for Alex. We bomb and kill a Russian warrior just because we can [10/0]. Start moving workers to Najran to build a road to Kufah.

IT: our glorious MDI army scores 2 hits on ZOC . In other news:

Spoiler :

Turn 5, 150AD: bombard AC and MDI down to red, then kill AC. Kill Egypt spear, but our sword is now somewhat exposed to Ottoman horse. Mace army kills pike in Alex but takes heavy losses, very unlucky there - for a moment I thought the army would lose. Other troops join up to cover. Horse kills redlined MDI, elite* sword covers [14/0].

IT: Japanese MDI's moving north, apparently they are also in the war now . China asks for our troops to leave from the Tsientsin area. We get to watch China whack another Ottoman, the Ottoman horse does not attack us, and our sword defeats an Egypt MDI on defense! Lucky there! [15/0]. 'banago treb -> treb (chop).

Turn 6, 170AD:Chivalry is around (might have been for some turns, I missed it).
A glorious year for Smurkzdom! Our elite sword barely kills an Egyptian pike, our vet sword kills an Egyptian spear, and:

Spoiler :

It comes preloaded with 4 workers, and 4 resisters. Kill an MDI outside Alex, and chase of an Otto horse near Kufah. Also bomb and kill an Otto spear at Najran [18/0]. The workers in Alex run back to make a road. Our troops advance on Kufah to strike. Defenses at Alex are thin, so keep fingers x-ed.

IT: Arabs move MDI into Kufah and defenders away from Kufah. They must have iron hooked up now. No Egypt reaction.
An ordeal has come to an end:

Spoiler :

Turn 7, 190AD: Keep moving on Kufah. MM a lot. Spend 104 gold to get a nice shot of Washington (embassy):

Spoiler :

An alliance vs Germany would cost about 35 gpt. I think I'll pull a ControlFreak here and find some English territory first... . Science 100%, Invention in 7.

IT: kill Arab MDI on defense [19/0]. SHAW MDI -> worker. Madras Treb -> treb.

Turn 8, 210AD: settle Rockz Of All Kindz.

Battle for Kufah: MDI kills pike, elite sword kills spear and we install a new guv. Lose an MDI against a spear (hey, it was bound to happen sometime) and kill the spear with a horse [22/1].

Egypt forces are advancing on Alex and we are low on troops there. We need to road some jungle and marsh before our troops can move around in this area, and getting to Memphis is a bit too much for now. I would have liked to get those AC's, but I think it is better to make peace now and come back another time . We do not have any alliances going, so we can simply make peace with Arabia who have the best offer IMO - a worker and some cash. Please discuss, and I'll finish up tomorrow.