Alright, so I continue where I left off.
I get Open Borders with Hannible, but no such luck with good old Charlie, seeing as how we are his worst enemy. Oh well.
I get Willem's map for 35 gold, and I think it's just enough to give us Circumnavigation! Also, as Nocho supposed, I can see the other Civ. It's the Ottomans, as the capital is Istanbul. I'll sail over and say my hellos and see if they'll trade with us.
I also realize that losing 65 gold a turn at 80% science is not going to work over the long term. I know we need to start building ships soon, but I think I'll add marketplaces to our richest cities so that we won't go broke. There aren't a lot of good options, though . . . .
Enter.
Turn 237 (920 AD)
Well, in between turns, old Willem comes crawling to us, asking for Literature. Normally, I wouldn't give in to these demands, but he's so far behind anyway, I figure we might as well cultivate a friendly trading partner, for now. I give him literature. He bumps up to Pleased due to a huge +4 Fair Trade and a +1 Gave Help bonus.
Gunpowder jumps from 7 turns to 5.
We get Al-Razi, the great scientists, and we've proven that the world is round, so our boats go faster. Yay! As Nocho thought, he'll put 2610 beakers into Printing Press. That would leave about 1100 beakers for us to research, so maybe 3-4 turns, maybe a bit more if they decay. We have an academy in the capital, and I don't know if settling him will do us much good, especially once we move out of Bureaucracy. I go ahead and bulb it.
Caravels do their thing. Put Qohaito's new worker on the mine, stagnating, but cutting 6 turns off the Moai Statues. I run a quick town check.
Poor, poor, Matara. I can save 10 turns on its library if I whip it for 1 pop. We're at 37 turns of unhappiness, but we're way below the happy cap, so . . .
And I throw in a market for afterwards. Everything else seems OK for the moment.
Hit enter.
Turn 238 (930 AD)
Send the Caravel that met Willem west to start exploring that black space. Runs into a barbarian galley. Hopefully it'll survive the coming attack.
We meet Suleiman! Man, his eyes always creep me out . . . . Sign open borders. He has cows. Hm. Give him corn. And then dial up Willem and give him an extra sheep for bananas. I'm just doing this 'cuz at least one town has hit health problems and we want to make sure growth speeds along. Besides, we're making "friends."
Everything else still seems to be running, so enter time.
Turn 239 (940 AD)
Our Caravel sinks the barb galley, but it's hurt. I keep it moving for now, though, plan to end in ocean for safety. Not much else. Slowly gaining some money, but still bleeding a ton of it.
Enter.
Turn 240 (950 AD)
Hawulti's borders expand. Yipi.
Wounded Caravel 3 finds a little island with incense, but it's rather far. Settler arrives at "limited whipping" sign. I shudder to think what'll happen to our maintenence fees.
We're 2 turns from gunpowder, and Asoka is 4 turns from Engineering. I decide I might as well scoop up our bulbed Printing Press in between, which the game estimates will take 3 turns at current research levels.
Whip an 118 turn harbor in Massaw for 3 pop. Start a library.
Enter.
Turn 241 (960 AD)
Suleiman wants to trade maps. I don't. The AP elections come up. I vote for us.
Willem gets Moses, a Great Prophet.
Wandering Caravel notices that Suleiman is trying to expand into his norther ice box. Another boat scouts Charlie's heathen territory.
Settle Zeila, start a Granary. Workers build a windmill instead of a mine. Costs us 8 gold.
Start my turnly town check.
16 turns to get the Taj. Whip a barracks in Debre Berhan and prep a Hindu Temple. Whip a Granary in Adwa.
Enter.
Turn 242 (970 AD)
Hannibal wants to trade techs. But I'm on a strict "No Hannibal Trades" diet, so I decline.
Gunpowder is in! 2 Turns to Printing Press. I decide to hold off on the revolt because I kind of want the Taj and Bureau really boosts the Capital's hammer production. Hopefully this isn't a long-shot on my part,
but if we do build it, we get the free golden age and anarchy free civic changes! If we lose it, we get cash. Seems like a win/win to me.
Lalibela builds a harbor, I start a University.
We win the AP elections because we can out-vote Asoka.
Great Spy born in a far away land.
Start shipping a worker from Hawulti to Fasil, the fishing village, to work the hill in the radius as the Western island can probably be handled by one worker for now.
Found a barb town out east sitting on some stone. Great person due in capital in 8 turns. Most likely another scientist.
I go ahead and whip an 11 turn Harbor in Yeha, even though it says "grow me" because it only costs 1 population and we need the extra income . . . . I have it prep a market.
Smack a library into Massawa for 2 population points. I set up a courthouse because it should save us about 4 gold. We need it. That's about all for now. Once Gondar finishes its temple in 6 turns, I'll probably set it to some troops. Printing Press is at 3 now, probably 'cuz I killed too many people . . . .
Enter.
Turn 243 (980 AD)
Matara's borders expand.
Wounded Caravel spies
2 barb galleys, but our boat is safely in the ocean.
Do some worker stuff, making farms and clearing jungle on the south east island. Asoka gets Engineering next turn, and I'll try to bum that AND his 840 gold, because we need the money . . . .
Whip the temple in "whip me often" Debre Berhan. Prep a University.
Also whip a temple in Hawulti. Also ready a University. Actually, I slip in a workboat first for the new fishing town nearby.
Whip lighthouse in Adwa. Starts on its readied courthouse.
Enter.
Turn 244 (990 AD)
Suleiman wants Monotheism and 305 gold for horseback riding. No, thanks.
Some more exploring.
I offer Asoka Liberalism in exchange for Engineering and all his money. He doesn't take. He wants Optics, too, but we probably don't want to let him have it just yet. I decide to wait until we have Printing Press, too. I don't want to give him optics unless we can build Privateers to sink 'em. I mean, the deal was in his favor ANYWAY! ARG! I look forward to when we wipe 'im out. He's friendly. You'd think he wouldn't rip us off so much. We just need that cash badly, otherwise I'd straight up trade the techs.
Enter.
Turn 245 (1000 AD)
Printing Press is in. Doesn't really affect our commerce, ha!
Our spies tell us that Asoka is working on Optics, he'll have it in for turns, so I guess I'll trade . . . . Maybe our incoming Scientist can help us get Chemistry out the door and we can whip some Privateers to go Caravel hunting.
So I offer Liberalism and Optics for Engineering and 890 gold. He won't take it! Grrrr.
Ok, Liberalism and PRINTING PRESS?! Well, I get all his tech, his map, and 880 gold (the B****** won't give me the other 10 coins). Meh. He'll be dead soon anyway.
With all that, Chemistry done in 8 while we lose 71 gold per turn.
I don't have a lot of time now, so I'll just highlight everything important in the next few turns until the GS appears.
Turn 246: Whip Courhouse in Massawa. Should save 4-5 gold. Prep Univ.
Turn 248: finally smart enough to go gold hunting. Get 5 gold from Hammurabi for sheep. Give an extra silver to Suleiman for 4 gold. Wish there was more to get. Note the trades so they can be cancelled, if you want.
Whip Market in Matara, prep Univ.
Turn 249: Sending Galley from Capital to pick up workers at fishing village.
Taj is due in 8, but Aksum grows in 4, and I think we can actually whip it then . . . . I que an Oromo just in case.
Turn 250: We get our GS. I do some ship moving. Ending here. No time for pictures at the moment. I'll load 'em later, but I'll put up the save now. Sorry I didn't get much military built, but I felt that we needed a LOT of infrastructure. Costs are killing us and I'm not clever enough to dig us out without dropping research below 50%. But I think our mainland cities can do troops now/soon.
Getting Delhi would be great. So I'll take nat from him in trade, self-research gunpowder and then on to steel. Maybe some trade opportunities come up with other AIs, though avoiding trade with Hannibal seems like a logical idea (like it was with Vicky in TH1).
