Rushed some trebs in the north and markets and courts in the south then dialed up Alex to make a deal for Theology.
Spend 124gpt to get Theology from Greece then use it to buy Invention+4g from Korea.
Turns out Greece has Gunpowder as a monopoly.
Buy furs from Catherine of Russia for cash (464g) instead of tech.
There are no compensatory offers out there for Invention or Theology and we have lots of cash and even more soon.
Time to turn down the entertainment tax and go to work on military, the plan is to rush build maces, horses and NuMercs and push on into Japan with NuMercs, maces horses, and trebs, using the worker force to build roads across the jungles and mountains waiting for somebody to learn Chivalry so we can buy it and upgrade to knights for the killing move on Japan.
Korea comes calling wanting to sell us Literature for peanuts. Refuse.
Spanish finish off the Germans.
In 460 Russia declares with a two warrior sneak attack and a galley wandering the south coast.
Between 460 and 480 retreat a couple of AC's in the north, no victories for the NuMercs, though. Run trebs, horsemen and maces into Japan at Edo. Kill a few more Japanese spears and archers.
In 480 Greeks finish Sun Tzu's Art of War. Russian cascades to the Great Library. Chivalry just got a whole lot cheaper but the state of the Japanese defence is such we don't need it.
In 490 miscount the defenders at Edo and raze the town without getting a NuMerc victory.
In 500AD kill a Japanese archer with a NuMerc and we go gold.
Chivalry can be had from William of Netherlands for Theology and 2gpt if we are interested. Since the Japanese have no iron or horses knights aren't really worth it right now.
The war is proceeding a treat. We can resettle on the spot at Edo with a waiting settler which will give us a route into the Japanese homeland for trebs, Numercs, horses and maces. Their strongest defender is going to be spears and the AC so with treb support I'm not even sure the maces are needed.
There are more settlers at Carthage Novo or on the way north.
There is a single Russian archer cruising for a bruising out of Smolensk.
In 510 kill the Russian and move on Yokohama.
In 520 raze Yokohama and build Incense Harbor at the site of Edo.
By 550 we are at the gates of Matsuyama and have taken Smolensk from the Russians who are now willing to talk. They will include Gunpowder in the peace treaty for 35-37gpt.
The deal for Chivalry is still out there with Willie but it is still one of those not needed at the moment kind of things.
Continue the drive up the Japanese core, razing and re-settling. Use settlers rushed out of northern towns. Every new town built is worth 5gpt to the treasury so just cram them in along the coast, start a harbor and make the lonely citizen a tax collector for an extra gpt. Don't keep any Japanese towns. Their base culture is about 5X ours. They started it so don't let them up now that we've got them by the throat, or will have once we burn Osaka.
WE need to make a deal with the Russians for furs Lux tax is costing way too much.
Everybody else is broke.
We could take a run at Leo's or the Sistine Chapel at Leptis Magna if we wished, though everybody in the world started those or Knights Templar after the SunT to GreatLib cascade.
Build some more acqueducts in the south so we can get more towns to pop7+ for the unit support benefits.
The Front