Inherited turn
Open up trade window with Russia, they have 14 cities, 1 gold, 0gpt and are up Monarchy. They lack Currency and Construction.
Once they hit the Middle Ages, the barb fest will start.
We are researching Literature, at 3.5.2, -2gpt, due in 1. As amirsan spotted, we can reduce that to 5.5.0, +14gpt.
There are a number of fortifed fully healed swords near Minsk, so I wake them, and move them towards the front.
We have 7 4/4 vets and 5 5/5 elites near Minsk.
Unfortunately, we don't have knowledge of Russia's land, so I don't know where to direct our attack. Based on what we know of our continent, and what little I can see of Russia, I'd guess that they have a large chunk of land heading off to the east.
I move a few swords around in the north, mainly pushing the fog back a little.
I pop rush two temples from size 2 cities that were at 19 shields left. Neither city was going to grow any further with their worked tiles, and it pushes the fog back.
Hit enter.
IBT -
3/3 sword attacks 5/5 sword and dies, 1/5
Two more 3/3 swords move next to our stack of doom.
Russian galley starts moving up our eastern coast, probably to drop troops in our rear.
Barbarian horseman appears on the border of the fog.
1. 420AD
We learn the secret of Literature. I start on Feudalism, as that leads towards Chivalry where we get our UU.
Karakorum builds Courthouse, starts Library, due in 5.
Ta-Tu completes Temple, starts worker, due in 2. Sitting at size 6, neads Aqueduct, but we need workers. I'll build an Aqueduct after this worker completes.
Najran builds Temple, starts worker, due in 10.
Erdenet completes Temple, starts Barracks, due in 20.
5/5 sword kills 3/3 sword, 5/5
4/4 sword kills 3/3 sword, promotes, 4/5
IBT -
Barb horse dies on 4/4 sword, 4/4
Russian galley heads back into the darkness.
Vikings build the Hanging Gardens
2. 430AD
Kazan builds Granary, starts Library, due in 10.
Raise the lux slider to 10% so that Karakorum doesn't riot.
We're at 638 gold, 3.6.1, -4gpt, Feudalism in 15. We could run more of a deficit, but it'd only gain us a few turns, and we'd be close to running out of gold.
5/5 sword dies to 3/3 spear, 2/3
4/4 sword kills 3/3 spear, 4/4
5/5 sword dies to 2/3 spear, promotes, 2/4
We have 9 swords in position to attack Minsk next turn. That one damn spear killed a pair of our elites, otherwise we would've had it this turn.
IBT -
Russian galley comes back to visit.
Russian spear/settler moves through Minsk, and is sitting next to it. Free workers for us
3. 440AD
Ta-Tu completes worker, starts Aqueduct.
Dalandzadgad completes sword, starts Courthouse, due in 27.
Choybalsan completes Walls, starts spear, due in 20.
Rush Temple in Damascus, size 6, 20 shields left, 1 pop killed.
4/4 sword kills barb warrior, disperses camp, 4/4
5/5 sword kills 4/4 spear, 2/5
We capture Minsk
1/2 pop is resisting. The remaining citizen is unhappy, so I turn him into a taxman.
Minsk starts on spear, due in 20.
5/5 sword kills 3/3 spear, captures two slaves, 3/5
Sword moves onto mountain southeast of Minsk, and spots a Russian iron tile that is roaded up. I'll try and pillage it to deny Russia iron.
IBT -
3 Russian swords appear out of the fog.
4. 450AD
Damascus completes Temple, starts Courthouse, due in 80. We'll need to partially rush this, as it needs a Courthouse badly, but at 1spt, it'll be working on this forever.
Rush Temple in Mecca, size 5->4.
Rush Barracks in Minsk. We need a place to heal our troops, and with only 1 pop and no built up Russian culture, this town shouldn't flip.
Move troops towards both fronts.
IBT -
Russian galley keeps moving up to our coast and then leaving again. Perhaps the AI has it on bombard duties, and it can't?
5. 460AD
Mecca builds Temple, start Courthouse, due in 80, a forest chop will help, and then we can rush this as well.
Minsk produces Barracks, starts on spearman.
5/5 sword kills 3/3 sword, 3/5
Move 7 swords in position to assault the next Russian city next turn. Horses spotted in it's radius.
IBT -
Russian archer joins the party.
6. 470AD
Karakorum completes Library, starts sword, due in 2 (16spt, we only waste 2 shields per sword).
Ulaanbaatar completes Aqueduct, starts Library, due in 10.
5/5 sword kills 3/3 archer, 4/5
5/5 sword kills 3/3 spear, 3/5
4/4 sword kills 3/3 spear, 4/4
We capture St. Petersburg
2/3 pop resisting.
Set to spear, due in 20.
We captured an iron hill here as well as horses, so hopefully Russia only has the two sources visible.
IBT -
5 swords show up near St. Petersburg.
7. 480AD
St. Petersburg finishes resisting, and automatically riots. I turn all the workers into taxmen.
Whip Temple in Mandalgovi
4/4 sword dies to 3/3 sword, 1/3
4/4 sword kills 3/3 sword, 3/4
4/4 sword kills 3/3 sword, 1/4
4/4 sword dies to 3/3 sword, 3/3
IBT -
3/4 sword kills 3/3 sword, promotes, 3/5
3/5 sword kills 3/3 archer, 2/5
2/5 sword kills 1/3 sword, 1/5
This was one lucky sword.
8. 490AD
Karakorum finishes sword, starts sword.
Medina finishes Granary, starts worker.
Damascus riots? I checked it last turn, and it looked fine.
Baghdad builds Temple, starts Courthouse.
Mandalgovi builds Temple, starts spear.
4/4 sword kills 3/3 spear, 4/4
4/5 sword kills 3/3 archer, 2/5
IBT -
nothing.
9. 500AD
Almarikh completes Aqueduct, starts Library.
Hovd completes Courthouse, starts sword
Vladivostik riots (my fault here, didn't notice it was size 3).
4/4 sword kills 3/3 spear, 2/4
4/4 sword kills 3/3 spear, 3/4
4/4 sword kills 3/3 spear, 4/4
We capture Smolensk
1/5 pop is resisting. The other 4 are unhappy, and are set to taxmen.
Production set to Harbor in order to link up our newly conquered towns with our core, and provide horses back home.
Even after capturing an additional 3 towns, and killing a dozen troops, Russia still won't give us Monarchy for peace. They'll give us a size two town, but we will take it in a few turns anyways, so it's pointless to make peace. We might as well just wipe them off the map, we have the troops, and they are pretty weak so far. We'll need more swords soon, but taking it slow should keep them alive long enough to capture Moscow, which I still haven't found.
IBT -
Russian galley actually heads up the coast, so perhaps this time they are dropping troops.
10. 510AD
Karakorum finished sword, starts sword
Rush harbor in Smolensk
4/4 sword dies to 3/3 spear, 1/3
4/4 sword dies to 3/3 spear, 1/3
4/4 sword kills 1/3 spear, 4/4
I find Moscow, it's size 7, and has two wheat, at least 4 bg and iron in it's radius. Superb place for the FP.
5/5 galley kills 3/3 galley, 4/5
We're at 626 gold, 4.5.1, +1gpt, Feudalism in 5 (those libraries helped a lot!).
Russia is still up Monarchy, down Lit, Currency and Construction.
11 gold, 0gpt, 11 cities.
We can only see 6 cities, so almost half their land we don't even know about.
Once we learn Feudalism, we should move all the vet swords back to Minsk to upgrade to MI.
We have 7 swords near Moscow, it'll be two turns before they are all in place. We have two swords next to Riga, which is guarded by a lone spear. We have 2 swords and a warrior next to Sevastpol, which should have a single spear.
4 swords are currently healing in towns.
It might be advisable to hold off on taking anymore towns until we can upgrade our swords, as we are running a little low, and this early, that extra attack is amazing.
Starting next turn, we'll have horses in our main core, so we can switch the current sword builds to horsemen. Building a lot of 30 shield horse and upgrading them to keshiks is cheaper than building 60 shield keshiks.
There are a number of rushes that can be done by the next player if he wants to. Just be careful that you don't rush too much from one town, as you'll hit a rushing threshold, over which your city is unhappy for a long time.
Pictures:
Our core
Known Russian lands
Our score
Demographics
The Top 5 cities shows that France is becoming a cultural presence, and might make life difficult for us if we take over French cities. Of course, we have to find them first
The save
Objectives is what you need to do!
and I was spending most of my time with them and trying to finish my Folk Tale for Reading and the project, I had no time...
