SGOTM 18 - BadCiv

[Tall German Joe]

Ok, so my initial goal should be settling Groovier and getting a granary and some farms up?
Once Aesthetics finishes I'll see what our trade opportunities are and check back here before committing to anything...

sure

also, you should check when mansa completes alphabet, which should be in 3 turns. check every turn though, for all we know gandhi could get it first

 

[johns5]

The score comparisons on the progress page are pretty awesome.. Phoenix Rising has played a few thousand years ahead of us and their score has zoomed to the top. You can break it down by type though, and it shows their culture is the same as ours but they have a much higher power. Maybe they're going for early conquest?

anyway ive booted up the save. weird thing I've noticed:
In Diplo with the AIs there's an option to ask them to make peace with Goldmember, it is possible with Joao and Musa, but Khan and Gandhi have this weird message proscribing it: "We'd love to, but you'll have to contact them."

 

[johns5]

we can't contact goldmember or see him on the diplo screen BUT the espionage screen reveals that he's Ragnar.

 

[johns5]

T51:
Settled at site 'Groovier.' Celebrated with some graffiti on the desert landscape.
The city is somehow connected to our trade network already so the worker begins on a farm and the city on a granary.

Spoiler :

TG2:
Great Engineer born in Portugal, Great Prophet born in a distant land (Mongolia perhaps?)
A worker northwest of Groove York has connected our roads to the nearest river. I am not sure if it was meant to have him slowly road towards Portugal but I thought it made more sense to pull him back and prechop around Groove York..

Spoiler :

T53:
Another prophet pops IADL, Khan founds a new city. Scouting reports mountains cover the whole north side of Evil's lair..

Spoiler :

And Khan's newest city just east of the mysterious railroad hill.

Mansa finishes Alphabet. We have nothing to trade to him now & can't even ask for a tech politely but here's what he's got:

Spoiler :

T54:
Aesthetics finishes.
I can get the following deals from Mansa:
Aesthetics for Iron Working, Mysticism, Hunting or
Aesthetics for Mysticism, Sailing, Hunting.

Not willing to trade alphabet yet... also he's dropped down to Annoyed.

 

[johns5]

Having not much else to build I got a Chariot in Washington for scouting & a worker from Groove York, and both Groove York and Washington are gonna complete a Warrior for happiness garrison, but not sure what to build next-- More chariots for some initial power, or start settlers for the next 1-2 sites?

 

[johns5]

T55:
lmao screw you musa

Spoiler :

Put a turn's worth of research into Alphabet but he's still not willing to trade. Tentatively starting a settler in Washington and a chariot in Groove York but gonna pause here a bit.

 

[Tall German Joe]

a chariot is a waste of time - we need more settlers, imo, because soon we'll be building 2-3 big ass wonders.

switch research to alphabet and check EVERY TURN to see if mansa is willing to trade for it. as soon as you get it, check back...

 

[Tall German Joe]

T55:
lmao screw you musa

Spoiler :

Put a turn's worth of research into Alphabet but he's still not willing to trade. Tentatively starting a settler in Washington and a chariot in Groove York but gonna pause here a bit.

oh man, in any other circumstance id say give it to him but this is literally our only bargaining chip atm. i hope he doesnt get too ornery cause of this.

btw, if any other leader demands anything please give it to them...

 

[johns5]

yeah I said no, we got +1 that turn from open borders anyway so it canceled out.

Do you think at a certain point it'd make sense to just take Musa up on the crummier tech deal? Like if we've put 8 turns into Alphabet and he still doesn't want to give it up, just pick up those techs that will reveal iron & let us start Paya, get Alphabet ourselves, and then head to Math or Literature

 

[johns5]

e: our treasury's dwindling so our research is gonna conk out soon. I think starting on Wonders and letting our cities grow would work better than spending on more units or possible bankrupting ourselves with another city..

 

[Tall German Joe]

well, hmm. if we put 8 turns into alphabet (which should nearly complete it afaik) and he still sez no, then that means he's researching aesthetics himself. which would really suck. however, this is really unlikely. if we can get alphabet otoh, we can get EVERY tech by trading with the other AIs. which will be SICK

 

[Tall German Joe]

e: our treasury's dwindling so our research is gonna conk out soon. I think starting on Wonders and letting our cities grow would work better than spending on more units or possible bankrupting ourselves with another city..

we can't start on wonders until we get the tech, and once we start on wonders we wont be able to expand much! don't worry, 4 cities won't break the bank especially once some more cottages come online.

 

[johns5]

Espionage reports he's working on Math at the moment, but is only 3 turns away from completing it. If I see he's starting on Aesthetics I'll go for whatever he'll trade me but I'll stick with building on Alphabet for now. I'll also switch to working on settlers, even if we can't afford new cities right away we can keep the settlers in the wings..

 

[Tall German Joe]

another thing we could use is some more workers... ahhhh, we need so much stuff!

 

[johns5]

Hmm, Khan just rolled up and asked us to cancel deals with Mansa (his worst enemy). I know we don't want to piss anyone off but.. I'm thinking no?

 

[Tall German Joe]

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo arrghhh lmao

damn, can you post a screenshot of that? does he say "we are gonna attack you if you dont do this" or is it a "request" it could be very bad to piss him off but then again we are in bad shape if we dont get alphabet soon...

 

[johns5]

I think it's a request. I can't actually recall having an AI declare war on me for refusing an embargo... though on the other hand we're already at -3 with him..

If we go along with it we can slow research our way to Alphabet in.. 8? 10? turns I guess? (says 8 but treasury can't support it)

 

[johns5]

if he declares war-- we get Hunting, Iron Working, Mysticism from Musa, if there's iron nearby we mine it, otherwise rush to settle the bronze hill and get some spears & axes set up in the pass. I guess. this would be a pretty awful mess though...

 

[Tall German Joe]

id say reject it. mansa is too valuable a trading parter to lose right now.

i think, we really need to get that copper hooked up one way or another; if we can get an axe and a spear fortified at the choke, we'll basically be safe from almost everything.

 

[johns5]

WHEW. khan angry but no war. Musa popped up immediately after to propose Alphabet for Aesthetics. Here's the world tech situation:

Spoiler :

Gonna mess around and see what trade possibilities I can get. Also thinking of gifting Fishing to Mongolia, it's useless to them but might earn us diplo points?