SAVE
Continuing from previous long, still turn 7 left to move units around. IBT. Pantheon in Roma complete. We lost timber and furs from Kolchis. Not that we need both.
[8] Ravenna falls together with 2 settlers and 2 workers in it. We have many slaves indeed. Neapolis also falls, but Rome is not eliminated. They should have a wondering settler somewhere on land or in a boat. Actually, we have our own timber between Neapolis and Antium, just need to claim the tile.
There are few expansion possibilities. We can advance on Mycenae and probably will be able to capture all their cities except Tiryns which is the only one not coastal. Also, we can build a road to cross alps and found a city in Switzerland south-east of Gallia. From there, we should be able to push north and NE-NW towards Alesia, Lutetia, and Saxones. Third, we can advance towards Aquitania Since Iberia and Gallia are at war. Fourth, Minoan cities are all coastal and we can certainly hammer on them and probably capture all cities. We need may be 10-15 turns to prepare for these campaigns and Im starting the preparations by building merchant ships and peltasts by part-rushing when needed. There are also a few productive tiles to claim in southern Italy and we can rush a few settlers after the Golden Age ends. And of course, hunting for Roman settler is a top priority. As well as claiming timber and settling a few city sites.
OK, after extensive search, Roman settler has been located hiding underneath a warrior and enslaved by our heroic war chariot. Rome is then eliminated.
In terms of culture, we will be more or less safe from flipping while capturing cities from Phoenicia, Minoans, and probably Troy as well as Germanic tribes. And we can only hope to hold for one turn the cities from cultural monsters including Babylon and Lydia. Mycenae, Gallia, Dacia, and Macedon will certainly have a few flips but we can advance there as well.
[9] Buildup continues. Traded WM around for another 500g or so in gpt as well as timber even though we will have our own soon. All Assyrian gold ended up in Huns pockets somehow. Must be a really expensive tech trading there. Im loading a few peltats into merchant ships to take over Mycenae. The obvious targets are Athenae, Mycenae, Denrda, Pylos, and Thebai. We cannot hope to hold the cities for long though but we can always try. Also they have Menelaion very far to the north and Tiryns is not coastal.
[10] More units finished. There are 3 merchant ships (one with army and two other with 4 peltasts each) ready to attack Mycenan cities of Pylos and Athenae and may be Mycenae itself if RNG permits. There is also ship due next turn in Arpinum, just need to be loaded with peltasts and can attack Orchomenos as well. Workers/slaves north of Populonia are building road through Alps to bring settler on the other side. There is also settler on the hill east of Neapolis to build a city there.
Indeed, a few cities can be moved but lets wait until our Golden Age is over. Also, we will probably get Architecture once we capture the Great Library and can then rush aqueducts which will be actually cheaper than moving cities. We have almost 11K gold in the bank and can rush/part-rush what we want and wherever we want for a rather long time. If we need local culture, we can always sac one or to slaves instead of building temples.
There are a few Minoan units inside our borders going somewhere. I was just asking them out politely from time to time and they withdraw.
All battle plans are summarized below. There is also a curragh sailing towards Picts and another is coming home for upgrading.