[C3C] Strategy Suggestion to get Saltpeter

[noni]

Hi there,
i need a quick help. Playing Civ3 C 1.22, Emperor, Ottomans 1210 AD, Currently on Magnetism

just 2-3 turns before i managed to get to know all the other civs which were not on my continent and trade Word Maps etc.

My problem is that i need Saltpeter to build Rifleman/Musketman and Sipahi and start cleaning my continent. But no one hast 1 extra Saltpeter to trade except Greece but they dont even know Engineering yet. The Resource is covered with their culture. What can i do to get Saltpeter?

Trade/gift them them the 3 Techs and hope they connect them quickly with roads and trage them with me?

Well i attached the SAV i would be thankfull for any suggestions

Noni

 

[tjs282]

Trade/gift them them the 3 Techs and hope they connect them quickly with roads and trage them with me?

Given that you apparently deliberately set up this map to be underpopulated (8 Civs on Large), resulting in the resource-scarcity you're now seeing, that might be one option, yes. Might even be your only practical option...

But before you do that, I'd suggest sending a team of Workers over to the Greek island to hook up the Salt near Pharsalos yourself (you'll need an RoP). Send enough Workers to do it in one turn (Ottos are IND, so 2 Workers -- they'll easily fit in 1 of your 3 Caravels, maybe add a Pike to guard them), land them, build the road next turn, then immediately make the deal. Don't give the Greeks the opportunity to sell that Salt to anyone else (CivAssist says they have 2 sources, but I can only see one of them -- do you know where the other is?).

The alternative, would be to take advantage of the Greeks' backwardness and send a large-ish stack of Knights to capture Corinth (hopefully you'd get to keep its Harbor, otherwise rush-build a new one), then move from there to Pharsalos, hook up the Salt and ship it home yourself. If necessary, carry on shipping Knights over until you've knocked out the Greeks completely (if you capture/build a Barracks in Greece, you can upgrade them to Sipahi, then ship them back over to conquer the mainland). Of course, you'll need a lot(!) more Knights -- and Galleons -- to do that effectively...

Oh, and since you apparently have 7 Luxes hooked (or traded), you could almost certainly sell off all your Temples (for the Ottos, Libs are cheaper Culture; and Markets give many more [Lux-]Happyfaces per town than a Temple, for the same maintenance-cost)...

Where were you hoping to get the cash to upgrade your Horses, anyway? All those Banks you've got building? Banks only help if your TAX%-slider setting is decently high (which, OK, it currently is): but that means your SCI%-slider setting will be that much lower (which is not so OK).

Oh, wait, you're running a Monarchy. Oh dear...

 

[justanick]

Oh, and since you apparently have 7 Luxes hooked (or traded), you could almost certainly sell off all your Temples (for the Ottos, Libs are cheaper Culture; and Markets give many more [Lux-]Happyfaces per town than a Temple, for the same maintenance-cost)...

Not building temples in the first place is usually wise, but selling existing ones off seems a bit extreme. The culture by them can be of some value.