500ad, turn 135
We are in representation, barbarism, caste, decentralization, and organized religion. Shannon suggests revolting to bureaucracy and pacifism. I will probably do so after taking a brief tour of our empire.
We are about halfway done with education, 8 turns remaining at 10% research. I guess most of our beakers are coming from specialists. Shannon suggests using our next great scientist (5 turns from persepolis, 95% chance of scientist) to finish off education while knocking out the pre-reqs for astro so that we can claim that as our free tech if we get to liberalism first.
London is size 12 and at both its caps. It's building a worker (2 turns). I fire the engineer there and hire a scientist. I notice that a grass/river tile that should have been farmed has been cottaged. We really want it to be farmed so that irrigation spreads to the two corn tiles south of it. I'll get a worker on it when one becomes available.
York is stagnant, +2 health and -1 happy. It's building a courthouse (10 turns). It's only paying 5.6 maintenance per turn, so the courthouse would save us 2.8 gpt, if i understand how it works. The temple would bring us back to happy and put another worker on a cottage tile. That's +4gpt and a better return than the courthouse. I insert a buddhist temple before the courthouse, 14 turns. All three specs are scientists there in York, and i leave them as they are.
Nottingham is at +3 health and +1 happy, but it is stagnant because it doesn't have much food. It's working on a forge, 4 turns. That's fine, because it does have a few hammers. Options for increasing the food for Nottingham include windmilling a grass hill, chopping a grass forest and farming it, and farming over a grass cottage. (The other grass cottage is farmable, too, now that we have civil.) I'll start in on the first two of those, at least, if I have a free worker. Hooking up the iron outside of Nottingham's bfc is also a priority. This town needs some worker attention.
Hastings is at -1 health, -1 food, and +2 happy. I fire its scientist and work another tasty coastal tile--2f/1h/3c. It's growing again, 5 turns, which is also when its aqueduct finishes.
Persepolis is at +1 health and at +0 happy, growing in 5 turns. It has oodles of potential food and is running 5 scientists plus the two free scientists from the Great Library. I fire 2 of the scientists and reconfigure the worked tiles to be more hammer heavy (going from 2 raw hammers per turn to 12), and stagnate the growth. This city has several core buildings to churn out and it needs the hammers for the builds. Also, it doesn't have an academy, so the scientist specs aren't as valuable there. I follow Shannon's suggestion and turn the three remaining scientists into merchants. The courthouse drops to 1 turn. Next will be a happy building, and we'll let the city grow once then.
Canterbury is at +7 health and +2 happy, with a +7 food surplus. It has put 1 turn of production into a lighthouse, 9 turns remaining. It'll need the extra happy room well before it needs the extra food, so I insert a 14 turn temple before the lighthouse. We'll need more happiness than that, too, so I'll be slowing its growth by the end of this turnset.--Two more growths to the cap (working more hammer tiles with each growth), and then merchants galore. Note that a courthouse is also high on the list, as maintenance there is 6.5gpt. The courthouse would save us about 3gpt.
Coventry is well below both caps and building a granary. Nice little town there.
Cimmerian is at +4 health and +6 happy. It has put one turn into a library. Buddhism has spread to Cimmerian already, so we'll get the cultural growth well before the library finishes in 88 turns. I kill the library and put in a 60 turn granary. Health should also improve as we chop the jungle away from this city, but we'll get more food from the sugar with calendar.
Warwick doesn't have buddhism yet, but it could use it. I leave it on its 59 turn granary, and I'll try to get a missionary there somehow. (Probably London can turn one out.)
Ok. If we're leaving Education to the GS, Calendar seems to be the call for the extra happy and for the food for Cimmerian. I switch research to that.
I follow Shannon's advice and revolt to bureau and pacifism, and we slip into anarchy for one turn.
520ad, turn 136
Musa will trade feudalism. I don't approach him with an offer for that, but I do trade him our pig for his crab.
We're back out of anarchy. I realize that I should probably change the merchants in Persep. back into scientists until we get our next great person there, which is still in 5 turns. The GP pool wasn't polluted, though, because we were in anarchy last turn.
540ad, turn 137
Persep: courthouse > bud temple
I fire a scientist in York to work an ugly three hammer desert/hill/mine and cut 5 turns off the temple it's building, down to 10 turns.
560ad, turn 138
Musa is sendiing a great merchant our way.
London: worker > bud miss
coventry: granary > forge
Hastings will grow into unhealthiness next turn. But it has a +2 food surplus currently and the new citizen can work a 2-food ocean tile, so i'll let it grow. Aqueduct is 4 turns away to return to healthiness.
Our science slider can be raised a notch, to 20%, so I do so. Calendar remains at 2 turns, however.
580ad, turn 139
BUG informs me that Canterbury will become unhappy on its next turn. It's at "7 > 6" happiness now. Shouldn't it just grow to neutral happiness, at its cap? I'm confused, but I move off its pigs to slow its growth to 2 turns and to hustle that buddhist temple along (8 turns left).
London: b missionary (heads to warwick) > sooo many tempting choices here...I go for Sankore, 8 stone-aided turns, because it's GP points are towards scientists. But I'll probably go for Angkor Wat next.
600ad, turn 140
Compass next, 4 turns. GS (95%) from Persep next turn. Workers start plantating sugar and silk.
London was stagnated 1 turn before growth because it's at/near caps. It got a +8 food event (caribou). I wonder if that'll force it to grow. I cannot, apparently, decline the food.
York has become happy--whipping happiness finally subsided I guess.
Malinese researchers are rumored to have suffered a major setback. That's good, I guess.
620ad, turn 141
Andrei Sakharov is born in Persepolis. Next great scientist is London, 6 turns, 60% engineer. Ok. I see lots of wonders I'd like to own. (Parthenon?)
Our missionary spreads buddhism to warwick.
We get sugar hooked.
Nottingham: forge > bud temple (i'm hoping to make those bud temples rock with sankore and wat)
Hastings is healthy again: aqueduct > bud temple (colossus attempt soon after copper, currently being hooked up, comes online) This town will be limited by health, (+1 now), rather than by happy (+2 now, with more to come).
640ad, turn 142
Musa will trade music. And he gets a great artist.
Hagia Sophia is built elsewhere.
660ad, turn 143
Canterbury: bud temple > idling lighthouse. Happy cap is +3 now, so it's ok to grow again. I get back on the pigs. We should really build more happy here and we don't need the lighthouse, but I don't want to waste the hammers that were put into it already, so i'll let it go.
680ad, turn 144
Optics next, 5 turns.
Persep: bud temple > aqueduct. Both caps are +2 now, and we can grow a little more. I fire a scientist to work a farm, and I swap two other scientists for merchants.
We can research at 30% now. Optics is still 5 turns.
It's in a pretty nice spot--no overlap with other cities, plus iron, grass/pigs, and 5 other grass tiles. I say we let it grow to size two and keep it.
700ad, turn 145
peaceful turn
720ad, turn 146
Musa will trade currency.
A worker near London finishes farming over the cottage, and now our corn is irrigated (going from 5 food to 6 food per tile).
Nottingham: bud temple > angkor wat (14 turns) This town has had some farms and a windmill built, and it can grow again. It's at +2 health and +5 happy. Like many of our towns, it looks like it'll hit its health cap before its happy cap.
Hastings: bud temple > harbor Yeah, I wanted colossus, but the town is at +1 health, +4 happy, growing in 4 turns, and we can get the harbor in 5. Colossus next, maybe.
740ad, turn 147
Our bud temples are now worth 2 beakers.
Against all odds, we get a lousy great spy in London. London was only running 1 spec, a scientist, so the pollution must have come from buildings or wonders. Great. Next GP is due from Persepolis in 6 turns. 73% chance of scientist from there, despite running three merchants.
London: sankore > parthenon, 10 turns, but no turns invested yet.
I'll hand it off to Shannon here and let him put on a clinic for maximizing the return from our great spy. Will we use him for ep against Musa and steal some techs? I can't wait to see what happens.
I have workers on there way to warwick's corn. I've put up some signs for getting irrigation to that corn, eventually, but let's get a farm on the corn first.
I also have some workers roading their way to the iron west of Nottingham. We need to get that hooked up.
Cats and chariots are on their way to the barb city, but we should wait for it to grow before taking it.
Optics is in 2.
All cities have at least +1 food.
London and Warwick are at health caps, so maybe you should do some management there.
Every town has at least +1 happy cap.
Really, I think I'd have preferred to build some city defenders. We're still eking our way along with chariots and warriors, for godssake. But I didn't get copper hooked until near the end of my set, and iron isn't hooked yet, although a crew has been dispatched for that purpose.
Shannon, if we're going to steal tech from Musa, what is the chance that he'll catch us and get angry? How would that affect a possible diplo win? And how likely is it that he'd come out swinging?
