Nice work.
Well, there really are other, sort of, hidden penalties such as research as it is directly modified by our population size, so slow growth means less research over time.A key current consideration is happiness. We will hit the happiness cap (0 happy) in ~ 4 turns, due to new citizens in MBR and TK. We will go into unhappiness a couple of turns later when SS also gains a citizen. So... what to do? First point is that when unhappiness is -1 to -9, growth is greatly reduced (cities producing a food surplus lose 75% of it), but there are no other penalties. Therefore, while it greatly constrains further growth, slipping slightly negative, in of itself, is not the worst thing in the world. If it gets to -10 (or worse), then you can no longer build settlers (or settle new cities with existing settlers), cities get -50% production penalty, and units fight as a -33% penalty. On the basis of all of this, going -ve unhappiness will essentially halt growth in TK and SS, while MBR will grow slowly. We therefore have 3 more citizens that we can add. It is pretty much into micro-management territory, but we can choose where we will get the most benefit from these three - adding extra food is of little benefit, so we should consider where we get the most commerce and/or production.
Perhaps we should switch gears and think about taking on Alex while he is at war with Cathy. We *could* backstab him for a change.I am actually a bit concerned about Alex. He is pummelling Cathy, and has already captured Novgorod (securing iron), and now has quite an empire. His war is slow and painful (we have a sword up there keeping an eye on things, and it is largely a stale-mate around moscow - but it is archers and warriors for cathy vs phalanxs and catapults for Alex. Once that war is over, he may consolidate or look our way. We probably have time to mobilise on Nappy now, and in a few turns will be strong enough to do it (will take some time to move our units that way - we should start now). But we may want to finish that war quickly, such that we can go and peg back alex a bit.
Have not looked at the save but we probably need to try and find other civs? Do we need to build another Trireme for exploration?I was hoping to build a National College. This requires a library in TK, which will take a while (11 turns), as we can't afford to buy it. I looked at options to sell resources to others to raise the cash, but no go. I should have thought about this earlier, and cancelled the catapult building there, and changed to a library. We actually need a couple of decent production tiles in that city - perhaps should buy a hill tile.
Yeah, had to skip.I think leif decided on a skip. If so, it's Space up next! Welcome back, Space