The People's Republic - A Communist Succession Game

Of course, if you envision these cities growing very large, then switching to granaries might be preferable.

I see no reason to stop growing until size 12 for the Specialist cities that can do that. We have been discussing building Bach's. From this I assumed some cities would grow beyond the 6-8 you mentioned. Otherwise, we don't need to build it.

Right now, under Communism, cities can easily grow to 11-12 [(Mike = 3) + (3 units = 6) + (Temple = 2) = size 11]. That's if all are working tiles rather than being Specialist.

This begs the question whether we need Theology/Bach's. Using it, making its construction worthwhile, will mean spending gold/time to build Sewer-Colosseum. Maybe we don't need to do that, at least not soon.

But, yes, I forsee many cities going beyond 6-8. And that will require 3 units in that city, otherwise, it will go into disorder when it outgrows its martial law. (Even without blackheads.:))

Monk
 
My purpose for luxuries was to use them in the small space of time between railroad and the establishment of the communist government; using Darwin's Voyage it shouldn't take that long. Once we have a communist goverment established, the first citizen of each city will be content and we will only have to deal with red faces, not black. Our happiness issues will not be much of a problem.

At the moment, Mike's chapel makes 3 citizens content. Look at Chengdu. There is 1 black hat because the specialist covers the other one. Mikes uses 2 content citizens to make the black hat content and then 1 more to make another citizen content. Chengdu requires the happy citizen from HG to keep it in order. A warrior could be built, but when we hit communism the cathedral will lose effectiveness and the city will still fall into disorder. 2 luxuries in Chengdu solves this problem. Nanking is in a similar situation. The 2 luxuries make 1 black citizen happy, Mike's then works on other citizens, making 2 of them content instead of turning one black hat blue.

This solution is not perfect, and a few cities might need to use warriors anyway. I suggest it because it will only be for a short time and it will save losses associated with changing production to deal with a problem that I don't think can last more than 6 turns if there is adequate planning (get railroad, build Darwin's Voyage next turn get Communism, wait at most 4 turns for an OEDO year). If I am wrong about being able to get Communism so soon (not improbable), the problem will be more permanent and the luxury solution becomes much less appealing. Alternate solutions to warriors include hiring extra specialists to cover black hats.

I have little concern about building warriors where they can be supported for free (the outliing cities with high corruption); I do have concerns about changing expensive production orders to produce units that will only be needed for a short period of time (cities where luxuries will actually work). Using luxuries would prevent the need to do so. In any case, if Darwin's is to be built in Beijing, we won't need science production for one of the turns in question anyway.

You can, of course, do what you like. You have 5-6 turns to prepare for Railroad.
 
Sorry, didn't realize you made another post on the next page...

Right now, under Communism, cities can easily grow to 11-12 [(Mike = 3) + (3 units = 6) + (Temple = 2) = size 11]. That's if all are working tiles rather than being Specialist.

This isn't entirely correct. With Communism discovered, and without theology, Mike's only works on 2 citizens. On the other hand, Communism stops the riot factor, leaving the first citizen of every city content.

[(Base content citizen=1) + (Mike's=2) + (3 units=6)+(temple=2)] = 11. However, 1 specialist will cover up the base content citizen, making max size still 11. We would need 2 specialists to make a size 12 city content.

Theology and Bach's will be nice, but are not needed immediately. Theology to improve the effectiveness of our cathedrals, and Bachs for the contentment, especially since we missed Adam Smith's and have to pay support for temples. Also, it reduces the need for martial law, saving some support for traveling units (though, of course, I recognize we can get an awful lot of support for the 400 shields Bach's will cost to build, and that is a consideration). I was certainly expecting some cities to grow large, just not all of them, and not immediately. With supermarkets and farmland cities could grow at a decent pace, I think.
 
Professor (very apt handle, btw):

Thank you so much for your very patient, thorough reply. With your brilliant exposition I think I now understand why you made those points.

It was never my intention to indiscriminately build warriors; just to make sure the cities that I thought would grow had cheap units while they were available.

Research

So, I think we two are leaning away from Theology as the next goal. Whether we go for ToG or Explosives may end up being a function of AI research choices. My intention is to give them techs they are currently researching hoping that they choose something helpful that we can trade for later (most likely is GP). I will trade for Chem now to limit what I have to give away later. If we only need one trade, I want them to ask for RR rather than Comm, or Indu.

The problem with that is the next missing list after getting Comm will be from column 1--GP and ToG are 1's.:( So I'll probably have to select something that the AI already has. Right now, the better choice might be Dem because we can give that to the Babs, hoping for another 'tickle'.

May have to wait another day to play (family stuff) so if the others want to chime in, there's still time. I think I lean more to getting Engineers even though that will end the first line sooner. I plan on making a development push for Naples3* to prep for Newton, but doubt I can finish it all this turnset.

Looking forward to Comm ending all this corruption and waste. Which reminds me. I think I will switch the Bank in Stray to Courthouse. That will actually be useful at least until Comm makes it unnecessary.

Monk
 
Goals

1- Set up the Core for Growth & Development (Gran, Lib, Muster Settlers for spadework, Explosives, and then Rails
2- Set up Naples for Ike's
3- Send out Boats/Dips to establish Embassies w/ AI after MPE falls
4- Make Warriors and Boats, also rehome older Boats to new cities to spread support


Log

0 980 Visit the AI, give techs to complete their current research hoping they will then pick something more useful to us;
and get new maps all around. Change buildorders in some cities, especially focusing on Libraries and Granaries.

1 1000 complete 2 Lib & 2 Gran + CH in Stray. Explorer in Genoa. English start the Tower. The tech tickle dance pays off well. AIs now researching GP and Mag, + another doing Democracy.
(The Courthouse ended the waste and brought back two arrows from corruption, causing an increase in beakers from 48 to 52.)

2 1020 100g (Hut)

3 1040 Lib Naples

4 1060 Complete research: RR --> Indu; 100g (H), Barbs on Ice; Shift sliders & Specialists to tax for Darwin

5 1080 Tech trade w/ Ger, RR for Democracy (to tickle the AI) --> Babs & Eng for maps + 100g Tribute from English.
Complete Darwin: Indu --> Comm --> ToG (will get GP from Indian research)...Revolution!! (The timing was perfect!!)

6 1100 Comrade Bloody Monk in the house; Univ of Naples, Granary in Shanghai; Babs start SoL. Nomad (H)

7 1120 Embassy with English; Indians finish GP, Germans finish Magnetism

8 1140 Tech trade w/ Ger for Mag for better boats; Granary in Naples. Cashed out the Stray CH. Nomad (H)

9 1160 Lib in Shanghai; Gran in Tatu. Harbor in Wuhan.

10 1180 Embassy with Aztecas. Crook (H). Milam2* founded; Harbor in Paoting. Got new maps from everyone but the Germans. I think they have everything but Comm and I don't want them to have that yet.


Notes on Goals

1) Core

a- I've built 6 Granaries...Wow, Pyramids sure would have been a bargain!! But they do make growth of the best cities much faster.

b- We have 11 Setts working in the Central Core, setting up for growth, and uncovering hidden specials at (1, 119) & (7, 49) as well as at (25, 43) near Macao. It's slow now but when we get Explosives the spadework can be quickly finished and a Railroad put in place.
Right now most of the Setts are supported locally to allow the outer cities to build more. The 2-food cost under Comm needs to be
watched closely. Once the work is done, they can be built into the Specialist cities or used to link the entire island with Rail. Then they
can be sent to other islands to repeat the process.

c- I've started the prep for Tatu to be the next Specialist city. I have slated it (and Shanghai later) for Harbors to speed the food
contribution, growth rate. It's your choice whether to continue or build something else, a Settler or Library for example. At this
point, we have enough Camels for Ike and Bach. Except for SETI, down the road, I wouldn't build any other WOW until we get to the Apollo decision.

d- We need to make a decision about how to allocate gold for rushbuying. I think we need to build a few Harbors but we also can
think about building Universities. The thing is, until the Specialist cities get larger the impact of University is pretty small...an additional
50% of the base beaker count (a city with 13 now will only get 3-4 more).

2) Naples

a- Everything is ready for size 8 and Ike's with the final Camel waiting to board the boat near Nanking. I chose to wait to build out to size 8 and, instead, use those Setts to further improve the tiles. I doubt that they can all be held onto until Explosives because you'll have to watch their home cities for support problems as new Setts get built. They can either be used for more irrigation/rr or for building into Naples to increase the food/beaker contribution. Your Choice.

b- Once we get Explosives, something to keep in mind is that the Naples Swamp and two Swamps at Shantung will irrigate to shield-grass.

c- At some point Tibet will benefit from a Harbor.

3) Embassy Boats

a- The Boat at (47, 51) is heading to the Babs (has a Crook onboard)
b- The Boat at (29, 75) is heading to the German and Indian AI with two Dips
c- The Boat at (102, 54) is heading to the Romans (has a Nomad on board)

4)Warriors, Boats, etc

a- Warriors... I built a some and have a few more on order. I also delayed getting GunPowder from the Indians to keep the build line open as long as possible. Just remember to make a trade with them before you finish Th of G. This will make Explosives available for our next research. While it is technically true that some of the cities have more martial law than they need right now, in short order the cost of martial units will go from 10 to 40 shields. So, it is an investment. But it also gives us some flexibility. In contested areas we can have a unit on hand when we build a new city. But also, we can load a transport with eight units and ship it to, say Salamis, giving us a credibility if we want to demand tribute from the Aztecs/Babs.

b- Boats... I built three more Boats while they were still 40 shields. My vision for them is as dedicated ferries between our islands, exploration to find places to expand, and hut chasing. After they finish their current tasks, establishing Embassies, one will be empty and will come home. But, one has picked up a four-footer and another, a Nomad. Find him a nice place for a new city. The one out of Turin is opening up the black zone above that area.

c- Other Hidden Specials (apart from the 3 mentioned in the Core area)

1- Bergin (33, 11)
2- Genoa (41, 17)
3- Milan2* (59, 11)
Possible new city sites
4- (51, 29) city, special at (52, 26)
5- (62, 30) city, special at (64, 28)

d- Diplomacy...I got new maps from most AI (didn't want to give Comm to Ger). I don't recommend visiting them unless we need to make a trade or they fall in attitude. Remember that you do not have to give them the tech they demand on first contact. You can offer to make a gift of tech and hopefully the second choice you are offered will be okay. Decided against demanding Tribute again from the English...too many bad things can happen and we are not ready to deal with a War.

e- Research...Assuming you want Explosives next, get GP from the Indians (we know thanks to our Alliance) before ToG finishes. Explosives will then be offered. After that we can go Feudal --> Theology or try to kill the Great Wall & Great Library by going for Metal, Electric1. Eventually we will need to trade for Eco so we can get Corp.

f- Buildorders...After arguing against loading the build list with too many white goods at the same time, I now have eight on the list and think a ninth, Shanghai Harbor, should be added soon. All this before any new Universities!!?? Well, in most cases, I think the choice was necessary for their growth but think that the, mostly Harbors, should build out w/o rushing like we did w/ Ningpo. This is for the non-Specialist cities. The problem is there is not much on the build list that we need now. There is little point to building Camels, most cities are maxed out on Settlers, and most cities won't benefit
much with a Lib. One good plan is to build Horse while that option is available. They will grow up to be Cavalry.

Monk
 

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Research...Assuming you want Explosives next, get GP from the Indians (we know thanks to our Alliance) before ToG finishes. Explosives will then be offered. After that we can go Feudal --> Theology or try to kill the Great Wall & Great Library by going for Metal, Electric1. Eventually we will need to trade for Eco so we can get Corp.

I recommend going for Metallurgy, Electricity and then Refrigeration. Farmland and supermarkets will help some of our cities grow much more quickly.

I've started the prep for Tatu to be the next Specialist city. I have slated it (and Shanghai later) for Harbors to speed the food
contribution, growth rate. It's your choice whether to continue or build something else, a Settler or Library for example. At this
point, we have enough Camels for Ike and Bach. Except for SETI, down the road, I wouldn't build any other WOW until we get to the Apollo decision.

What about Hoover Dam? Even if we had plans to build only a few power/hydro plants, Hoover Dam would be a good value. Especially because we can transfer shields between cities via caravan for wonders, but not for city improvements.

I think Tatu should be made a tax city. We need more gold production to cover expenses; currently we have a 12 gold surplus.

Tribute:
At the moment, we can only demand tribute from the English. I think we should do this from time to time; we don't need their cooperation too much, given that they seem to be slow researchers. We should be very careful, however, about establishing a presence elsewhere and demanding tribute. It might damage relations with good researchers, and make it difficult to trade with them and influence their research by tech-gifting.
 
I recommend going for Metallurgy, Electricity and then Refrigeration. Farmland and supermarkets will help some of our cities grow much more quickly.

That sounds good to me.


What about Hoover Dam? Even if we had plans to build only a few power/hydro plants, Hoover Dam would be a good value. Especially because we can transfer shields between cities via caravan for wonders, but not for city improvements.

Based on your previous post, I assumed we wouldn't be building many Factories. It takes 16-18 shields to get the first shield based triangle. It will be hard to get that many shields w/o Factory so I figured no need for the Dam.


I think Tatu should be made a tax city. We need more gold production to cover expenses; currently we have a 12 gold surplus.

The surplus is higher if we employ Taxmen instead of Scientists but then we wouldn't be at 6 turns. But your point about Tax cities is a good one. Would that require a Market instead of Library?? Still, Harbor sounds like a good beginning to get the population up.

Tribute:
At the moment, we can only demand tribute from the English. I think we should do this from time to time; we don't need their cooperation too much, given that they seem to be slow researchers. We should be very careful, however, about establishing a presence elsewhere and demanding tribute. It might damage relations with good researchers, and make it difficult to trade with them and influence their research by tech-gifting.

Excellent points. I would recommend we at least make a few Horses (Muskets when we get them)and put them in Forts at chokepoints in case the English get frakked off again and come looking for our blood. While they are slow research-wise, they are very aggressive.

Monk
 
Nice played Bloody Monk....allready communism....a lot faster then I expected.

We should indeed try to discover Refrigeration. We need fast growing for more techresearch. About Hoover Dam we should wait and see how things develop. If there is enough shieldproduction we can always decide to build it.

Taxcities sounds also good to me and as Bloody Monk mentions we can now build cheap units which will upgrade with leo's. They can be used to help with fast building without spending gold.
 
bloody monk said:
uncovering hidden specials at (1, 119) & (7, 49) as well as at (25, 43) near Macao

There isn't a 1,119, where do you mean?

I should be able to play over the weekend. It's looking good now.
 
There isn't a 1,119, where do you mean?

I should be able to play over the weekend. It's looking good now.

Too funny!! I should learn to read my scratchings more accurately... the 119 should have been 49. The 4 looked like two 1's...sorry for the confusion. It is the tile just below Xinjian with a Settler just arrived.

Have fun this with the game this weekend.

Monk
 
Too funny!! I should learn to read my scratchings more accurately... the 119 should have been 49. The 4 looked like two 1's...sorry for the confusion. It is the tile just below Xinjian with a Settler just arrived.

Have fun this with the game this weekend.

Monk

Thanks. I was hoping you'd reply before I started playing! I remembered there was a special there from before. I'm slowly getting the hang of seeing the patterns

I keep looking at the eastern rivers near Genoa, I think cities at 40,20 & 43,23 & 44,18 would be good, there's the special at 41,17 and fur and fish means they each get a special each, plus the rivers should give a boost to trade if we colonise it quickly. There's little point building many caravans as the wonders are drying up. I might ship some settlers over and get it moving. There's room for a few cities near crete/tibet as well.
 
I think cities at 40,20 & 43,23 & 44,18 would be good

I agree that the river is prime development area. But here's a small tweak to your plan. (44, 18), (39, 21) grass/coast over plains, & (44, 24) non-shield city site, leaving the shield open for a worker.

Longer term (after Engineers), I think a fort on the hill at (54, 40) will be necessary.

Monk
 
Building Cities:
Don't build cities on other continents that are occupied by the English. Doing so might compromise our ability to demand tribute from them. (Unless someone knows for sure how it would work) Also regarding tribute, after 1750, the computers will be very unlikely to pay.

Based on your previous post, I assumed we wouldn't be building many Factories. It takes 16-18 shields to get the first shield based triangle. It will be hard to get that many shields w/o Factory so I figured no need for the Dam.

It doesn't take very many factories to make Hoover Dam a good investment. 4 power plants cost more to build than Hoover Dam, cost maintenance, and pollute a lot. We will need heavy production in at least a few cities, either to build the expensive spaceship parts or to build military units. Large industrial cities are also nice for Capitalization if we need some quick cash.

There seems to be a fair amount of suitable sites for industrial cities on continent 2.
 
I agree that the river is prime development area. But here's a small tweak to your plan. (44, 18), (39, 21) grass/coast over plains, & (44, 24) non-shield city site, leaving the shield open for a worker.

Longer term (after Engineers), I think a fort on the hill at (54, 40) will be necessary.

Monk

Too late :) I've built one, but I'll hold off others.

Building Cities:
Don't build cities on other continents that are occupied by the English.

Too late again :)

Doing so might compromise our ability to demand tribute from them. (Unless someone knows for sure how it would work) Also regarding tribute, after 1750, the computers will be very unlikely to pay.

I don't know how tribute works, Ive never really used it. I've always found it to be the easiest way of getting someone to declare war on you, unless you're a lot more powerful than them. It's worth a try, but I'll leave it to another player.

It doesn't take very many factories to make Hoover Dam a good investment. 4 power plants cost more to build than Hoover Dam, cost maintenance, and pollute a lot. We will need heavy production in at least a few cities, either to build the expensive spaceship parts or to build military units. Large industrial cities are also nice for Capitalization if we need some quick cash.

There seems to be a fair amount of suitable sites for industrial cities on continent 2.

I've always found hoovers useful for helping to control the pollution factor, but as has been said already we won't have that many cities producing large amounts of shields. But, it's already getting hard to find build orders for some cities, so building more vans might well be a good idea, and there is some benefit from the wonder. I'm probably just a yes for hoover.
 
pre turn: get rid of 1 of straybows scientists and rearrange, only loses 4 beakers but creates 2 food.

Build orders are awkward, we don't need many more camels or settlers in the larger cities, Univs are a waste at the moment, scientists are much cheaper, maybe harbours and granaries are the way to go. I would like to build a few more cities up to size 8, but the terrain isn't ready yet in a lot of cities.

1200 start a library in tibet

1220 Babs get Magnet from Aztecs, Aztecs get demo from Babs, straybow starts bank, build naples to size5, start a few harbours, dip land near babs, swap maps Embassy established, German embasy established, they have sanitation.

1240 Rome recaptured from Barbs by Romans, Hut = 100g, naples size 6, hut = Non crusaders, Ghent founded 40,20, Pisa founded, Dublin founded on special site nearish dover/norwich.

1260 Toronto founded, naples size 7, Indian Embassy, apprioach indians swap Indust for Gun Powd (romans get through GL), indians demand steam engine to keep Alliance, give them it.

1280 English Monotheism, Babs develop gunpowder, babs start statue, Capua start library, TOG -> Explosives, naples size 8, finish off aqua for 90g Melbourne founded

1300 naples3 aquaduct, tatu stats library, tibet built to size 4, Roman Embassy, Give indians Magnetism & Chemistry, techs still 6 turns.

1320 Germans Feudalism, Naples3 Sir Isaacs built, tech down to 5 turns, start marketplace, sydney founded,

1340 Barbs appear near dublin (not sure if english popped hut or not), Little Beijing Founded, North Shanghai founded, build capua to size 3

1360 Dublin survives barb horseman, Gaoxing harbour, Tibet built to size 5, OtherCanton founded, New Nanking Founded, hut=nomads (north pole)

1380 English ships north of Dublin, Indians get demo from aztecs, get Indust back, peace signed, Explosives -> Sanitation (we can get it off a few others) Tatu built to size 5, Tsingtwo founded, Capua size 4



All civs still enthusiastic, I haven't swapped for sanitation yet, Naples 3 could build harbour instead of marketplace? there's 80g in the pot, I've not spent much apart from rushing the aquaduct for Naples.

We need about 1500 beakers per tech now, I think the easiest and maybe only way of improving this is many more cities, the odd unviersity won't really reduce this figure. Continent 2 can cram another 15 or so cities on. Continent 27 , 31 & 40 (to south west of main island) are probably good sites for founding new cities too. I think we're unlikely to get science to more than 1 tech per 4 turns. I think we'll have to let the AI grow with us, by feeding them techs, which should make the later battles harder (and more fun!)

One thing I noticed when we got gunpowder was, the cities building warriors did not have their orders changed, i.e. they could carry on building 10 shield warriors which then get converted to Musks when another tech is discovered. This must be because we haven't got Feudalism yet. I have changed the production order on those that remained, as it seemed to be using a flaw, however it's worth remembering this for any other game that may be played.

Sorry about Dublin being built on english soil, they don't seem happy about it, I suppose now is a good a time as any to ask for tribute.
 

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Newly elected Chairman of the Chinese People’s Party, Profucious Garfield, paused to reflect on his appointment before beginning to look through the reports on his desk.

The former Chairman, a man who now was only referred to as Chairman C. C., had announced his retirement on the second day of the Party Conference of 1395. It had been a rather large surprise, despite the fact that he was rather old, because he had not given an unofficial announcement of the retirement beforehand. All regular Party business was forgotten as nominations for the Chairmanship were accepted and discussed at length. Strangely, on the day scheduled for the election of the Chairman, the outhouses were almost as popular as the Party Chamber, where the election would take place. Even more curiously, the sudden bout of illness did not affect even one man who supported Profucious Garfield for Chairman.

Chairman Garfield suddenly felt nauseous as a gust of wind blew the stench from the outhouses into his office. He immediately shut the window, poured some vinegar on a cloth and breathed through said cloth for a short period of time. The Chairman wondered for a moment if it had been a mistake to replace the mushrooms that were used for cooking on the night previous to the Election; he concluded it was not, but that “lethal” was perhaps a more appropriate characteristic than “laxative” for this kind of thing. The Chairman then remembered that travellers had reported that some foreigners had methods of disposing of human waste that eliminated the stench; some scientists were working on this problem now, but the Chairman immediately resolved to trade some Chinese secrets for the knowledge.

The chairman began looking over the city and regional reports. If they were to be trusted (and he would soon send his own men to determine if that was the case), the country was, generally, being managed properly. He sent out a few directives for changes, but was generally content.


(0) 1380: Rearrange some production, sell of courthouse in Straybow Canal and put scientists to work in the fields to up food production. Trade Explosives to the Germans (which they were researching) for Sanitation; switch production in Straybow to Sewer system. Change Turin production to Granary. Change TatuCanal prod to marketplace.

(1) 1400: Aztecs develop Communism, Germans get it via GL. Begin Metallurgy. Turin Granary, begin harbour. English: Demand tribute, they withdraw troops, give no money, and their attitude drops to Cordial. Build Xin on the Jian. Give Babylonians industrialization, which they are researching. Indians: demand we go to war with Romans. No. Demand explosives. Yes, I came to give that knowledge to anyway, because you are researching it. Give Romans seafaring before they cut talks off.

Chairman Garfield sat on the side of the road nursing a few bruises and small cuts. His carriage had run over a large hole, the wheel in question had broken, and the carriage had fallen over. Fortunately, he didn’t have the candles lit, so nothing caught fire. He immediately decided that there had to be a railroad connecting the important cities in the Chinese Nation, so that accidents like this wouldn’t happen to important people like him.

(2) 1420: English build Eiffel Tower. Germans: War with Romans? No. Tientsin Library, begin Diplomat. Hut: South Chengdu. Give Romans Industrialization and Navigation before they cut talks short. Give Babylonians Bridge Building, which they are researching, and Steam Engine. Give Indians Communism (after refusing to go to war with Romans), which they are researching.

(3) 1440: Give Romans Masonry and Banking. Give Babylonians Explosives, which they are researching. Hut: 100g.

(4) 1460: Metallurgy, begin Electricity. Shanghai harbour, begin Aqueduct. Give Germans metallurgy, which they are researching, and trade maps. Give Indians metallurgy (after refusing to go to war with the Romans), and get maps. Give Romans astronomy and university. Build Hang Canal. Hut (north pole): Barbs.

(5) 1480: Taibei builds engineers, now supporting 3, no food, must make change (re-home 2 engineers). Beijing Harbor; sell it due to no immediate use and no other urgent things to build, and start it again. Hut: Hong Kong. Give Romans Wheel and Physics.

Chairman Garfield was sitting in his favourite office when the door burst open and the Director of German Intelligence ran in. “Well, hello Chan Han,” the Chairman greeted. “May I ask why have you left Germany, and what is so important that you felt the need to run here? It’s not like running will get anything solved any faster when you will have to sail thousands of miles back to Germany to implement anything.”

“Mr. Chairman, it is about German research.”

“Ah, have you followed my directions and had the Ambassador share our knowledge with the Germans in an effort to get them to discover something that we might find useful?”

“Yes, Mr. Chairman, and the Germans have developed Theology. They have also started to build the Cathedral designed by J.S. Bach many centuries ago, having used their new knowledge of Theology to unlock the mysteries surrounding the Cathedral. If they build the Cathedral first, a replica will have no effect on our people; we have to build it first. The Germans, however, know this and refuse to trade knowledge with us.”

“You idiot!” the Chairman replied, full of anger and a little fear that the Germans might be the ones to benefit from the work of J.S. Bach. “How on Earth could you let this happen?”

“I was following your instructions!” the director replied defensively. “I don’t see how you can blame me for this; you specifically said to give them all knowledge that we have once we discover that they are studying along those lines, until they start to research something we don’t know about.”

“That’s a pathetic excuse!” the Chairman retorted. “I was at least 3000 miles away, and would never go to Germany. If you had done differently than I had instructed, I never would have been the wiser! You are supposed to be smart enough to know when I’m wrong, and not do as I instruct in those cases! It’s not like I kill people who don’t do as I say.”

“No, you don’t kill people as such, but I’m also here for my wedding and I certainly don’t want to spend that night in an outhouse, as I recall happened to the Governor of Naples.”

“It’s not like I knew that Governor personally, as I know you. You knew me for years before I became Chairman, so enough of the 'Mr. Chairman' stuff as well. In any case, we have to solve this problem, so we’re going to steal the secrets of Theology as soon as possible, if you can’t convince them to trade with us.”

“It takes a lot of time and effort to organize a theft such as that, and a lot can go wrong. Most importantly, the thief may not know which secret to steal; the Germans have knowledge of several concepts that we don’t, so we might get the wrong one. There is also a little matter of the fact that stealing secrets is frowned upon by civilized nations, but I assume you have thought of that and accept the price.”

“Well, we’ll cut down the chances of mishap by trading for the other techs the Germans have. You can get them from the Babylonians and Aztecs, can you not?”

“Yes, Profucious, but no one else knows Feudalism, so we can’t inform the thief of how to tell the difference.”

“Well, there is only so much we can do. Oh, you are getting married tomorrow, and are leaving for Germany two days after that. We don’t have all that much time, you see.”


(6) 1500: Germans develop Theology, change from SoL to Bach’s. Start WS in Prague in the hopes of “decoying” the Germans into building it. Naples3* Marketplace, begin Temple. TatuCanal Marketplace, begin caravan. Rush diplomat in Hong Kong to steal theology if necessary. Give Romans Democracy. Change Beijing production to SoL, also in the hopes of baiting Germans to switch wonders (also will be where I want Bach’s to be built.

(7) 1510: Babylonians Nearly complete SoL. Germans do not switch. Straybow Canal SewerSystem. Disband Crusaders in Hong Kong, rush 2nd diplomat. Hut: 200g. Babylonians: Trade Republic for Monotheism. Aztecs: Trade Sanitation for Economics. Do this to limit techs that we can steal from Germans. Build Upper Tibet. English: Demand tribute, get 150g, English withdraw troops. Give Romans republic and bridge building. I realize barbarians never attacked the explorer on the north pole…

(8) 1520: Babylonians complete SoL, English abandon. Babylonians report they are at war with the English. Germans nearly complete JS Bach Cathedral. Aztecs nearly complete WS. Hong Kong Diplomat. Nanking Harbor. Demand tribute from Germans, they ignore threats, attitude drop. Steal Theology (fortunately not Feudalism). Germans declare war. Reputation drops to honourable. Put 8 caravans into Beijing. Build Fort North.

(9) 1530: Babylonians develop Communism. Aztecs build Women’s Suffrage, Indians switch to UN. Electricity, begin Feudalism (Refrigeration not available due to tech theft/trades.). Hire taxman in Tatu Canal. Beijing builds JS Bach’s, Germans abandon. Build Tapei. Give Aztecs Bridge building and Steam engine.

(10) 1540: Indians develop Conscription. Naples3* builds temple. Steal Feudalism from Germans. Make peace with Germans. Build People’s Rome. Hut: 100g. Build Chinan Lake.

Profucious Garfield reflected on his term as Chairman while riding in a train on the way to Beijing to announce his retirement. On his orders, cities were built in parts of the world that he would never see and a system of railroads connected most of the cities on the Home Island (his personal favourite accomplishment). He did other things, as well, like permanently damage relations with Germany and, to some extent, with all the other nations as well. He laid the foundations for a religion that taught people to work for the government, on the grounds of making everyone equal, instead of just telling them to tolerate their condition in the hopes of a better afterlife. He expected that the next chairman would oversee an agricultural revolution, when the vague concept of “refrigeration” was studied more carefully.

Notes:

I went to the extremes to get Bach’s because it will allow cities to get larger before needing coliseums, and will prevent the need for luxuries in all but the very largest cities (19-20).

When we get refrigeration, I would change some building production to supermarkets, and start double-irrigating the land in question. Cities can grow amazingly fast with supermarkets and farmland. I would usually build granaries before supermarkets, however, because they are cheaper and use less maintenance.

You may want to switch Turin production to a Factory (the harbour will be completed next turn). With Railroads, the city at size 6 will produce 17 shields. On the other hand, a harbour would let the city grow larger and have extra trade, which is always useful.

I wouldn’t recommend spending gold in any large quantities, except for emergencies. We currently run a surplus, but the maintenance on a few improvements will eat this away rather quickly. I don’t think raising taxes is a particularly desirable action, so we should keep enough gold to run a deficit.

I’ve started building cities in the South, which can spawn more cites. These should all be defended, in my opinion. My actions against the Germans will likely incite sneak attacks from the AI, especially the Germans.

Beyond researching Refrigeration as the next tech, I don’t have any recommendations on the science end of things. The Indians have conscription, whenever you want to get it.

I’ve been giving the Romans techs to try to make them more advanced (and hopefully switch to democracy and do research). If the next player wants to continue this path, they should contact the Romans every turn, because the most I’ve been able to give them is 2 techs per turn (1 from their demands, and one as a gift). Babylonians are at war with the English, so avoid contacting them.

South Chengdu and Hong Kong both have marketplaces because they are advanced tribes. I recommend that they be pampered and turned into tax cities once they are adequately defended and can no longer easily produce engineers for new cities.
 

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Outstanding!! A thing of beauty. Nicely played, lads.

The conception and execution of "The German Tech Caper" was sweet. I actually pumped my fist reading the result.

At this point I think we might want to clarify the Factory/Hoover discussion. We can bump the tax slider if we get into Maintenance difficulty so support shouldn't be a deal breaker. The two together double the base shields. Enough cities will benefit, even at the margin, that I've come around. (In any case, I'd rather see a Factory than another Improvement be built to be disbanded.)

You fellows are better 'Sleazers' than me. I would have done more tile improvement before dropping some of those cities. It's an interesting thing to see for this old Perfectionist. I know that we get a boost from each new city, but I thought that another Scientist would do more. And I would make Horse rather than Muskets for city duty. Cheaper now and better later.

Monk
 
The conception and execution of "The German Tech Caper" was sweet. I actually pumped my fist reading the result.

It turned out to be quite a chance. If I had picked up feudalism, I would not have been able to reach another city that turn, and we would have lost Bach's. The immediate switching of a partially completed wonder made things quite urgent and I felt it while playing the rounds in question. If I had had a couple more turns, the results would have been much more certain, because I would have been able to reach 2 cities with diplomats.

And I would make Horse rather than Muskets for city duty. Cheaper now and better later.

Generally, I've been building musketeers where I actually want some defence, as opposed to martial law. We'll probably have a few hostile visits during the life of the cities in the south. This doesn't mean that there isn't the odd city (or a fair few of them) that would do better to build horsemen.
 
If nothing can be build anymore (becauce we don't need them) we can also build something to get extra money. Just build something and then sell it on the next turn. This way we will have less trouble getting enough money. So building factories and Hoover Dam can help our finances in the near future.

I try to finish today....don't know if I have enough time..
 
It turned out to be quite a chance. If I had picked up feudalism, I would not have been able to reach another city that turn, and we would have lost Bach's. The immediate switching of a partially completed wonder made things quite urgent and I felt it while playing the rounds in question. If I had had a couple more turns, the results would have been much more certain, because I would have been able to reach 2 cities with diplomats.

But it did work and such a thrill it must have been!! That aspect of Civ2 is one of the things that I love so much about this game. So many parts and pieces in the right sequence all brought to bear at the right time and place. Good job, mate!!

I've been looking at some of your new cities and am trying to understand the what and why of their location. Two of them in particular are very puzzling to me. Could you please help me understand the allure of Chinian Lake and Fort North. They will be a very long time in growing and seem to be very limited in their prospects. What am I missing?? Thanks.

Monk
 
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