Another turn where I feel like I'm being a bit too heavy-handed. Short version- we have peace with the Celts, and built the FP in Teoti-whatever. I thought about holding for comment, especially about the FP, but this was the time I had available to play, and I wanted to take advantage of it.
(0) 750 AD - I opened the save fully expecting to remain at war with the Celts. But, I hadn't quite realized how many losses we'd taken in the south. In that area, our entire offensive force consisted of 3 knights, 2 longbows, and 1 horse. Some of those were wounded, and all were spread out. Many cities have only one defender, such as a knight or even a horseman. I'm thinking we should quit while we're ahead. We have a few units up north that could move down, but we can move them during peacetime anyway, since it will take 6-8 turns for them to arrive.
Making peace would eliminate our chances for a great leader for the FP. But, to pop a leader we'd need elite victories, and that doesn't look promising at the moment.
But, it's late. We need a FP. Teoti-whatever can build it in 10 turns. I chose that over Tlaxcala because it's a little more centrally located, so it can benefit us if we move towards Greece or Mongolia. If we do get a leader, we can use it for a palace. I hope that choice is OK with you all.
So, I sign peace with the Celts for Gergovia and 2 gold.
I rush a temple in Agedincum, and a pike in Gergovia. I also start moving the northern units down.
I do some MM back home, mostly trying to gain shields in size 12 cities. I swap to granaries in newly-growing cities, and decide to build units instead of banks at our core (we do need banks, but I figure we should be building units somewhere, and I swapped some cities off units for granaries)
Fear the heavy hand of Gris!
(1) 760 AD - Move our exposed units into southern cities for flip suppression. We no longer have a good city for our lone scientist, and all the AI have printing press, except China and maybe the Celts. I note that China will pay less for education than for chemistry. So, I trade ed to China for printing press, 2 gpt, and some change.
BT - The Greeks now want 29 gpt for incense. I decide to let the deal expire, since we need gold more than happiness. BTW, our rep is most definitely shot, which could make catching up on tech interesting.
(2) 770 AD - Rush temple in Gergovia
BT - Greece declares war on Babylon. Calix granary - musket. Gergovia temple - harbor. Greeks complete Magellan's, Mongols to Smith's.
(3) 780 AD - Misc. movement southwards
BT - Texcoco musket. Tlacopan harbor - knight.
(4) 790 AD
BT - Babs demand wines. I consider refusing, since they're having enough trouble with the Greeks, but we're still *very* short in the south, so I cave. It's not like anyone has enough gpt right now to pay us for them.
Tenoch musket. Tzin aqueduct - granary.
(5) 800 AD - We now have just over 1000 gold. We could buy astronomy for 980, but, with bad credit, we wouldn't be able to make a possible two-fer for physics and something else happen. I decide to hold off on trades and build up cash for our next leader.
Trading our way up will be hard, and normally pointy-stick research would be a no-brainer from this position. But, all we have to look forward to in the near future is knights vs. rifles. Still, going for metallurgy and then mil tradition might be a good bet.
I realize I forgot starvation diets in our newly captured cities. Since they're all corrupt with no hope for a FP, I figure we have time to do it right now. So, starvation diets ordered.
BT - Tlaxcala granary - knight
(6) 810 AD - The roads are horribly clogged, and the Greeks are being pesky about wanting a lot of gold for a ROP. I'm glad I wasn't counting on these reinforcements arriving, because they're caught in traffic.
(7) 820 AD
BT - Atz aqueduct - granary. Tex musket. Palace expands.
(8) 830 AD
BT - Babs have cavs. Tlatel bank - knight. Xo aqueduct - granary.
(9) 840 AD - Units start to arrive in south.
BT - China asks us to move. I agree, in hopes of getting some gold for RoP next turn. Tenoch musket - knight (we like cavs, right?). Teoti FP completes! Palace expands again.
(10) Sign ROP with China, but we can't get any gold from them.
Mother, did it need to be so high?