What to do next?

[j0b]

Settings:

Prince
Hannibal (FIN / CHA)
No tech trading
Continents
Large Map
Normal Speed

It is about AD1300. I am just about to take the last Persian City (have been at war for a while, and I have a huge army). I easily have the largest land area in the world (+50% on anybody else) and the points lead.

My problem is that I am a little backwards as far as military tech (not hugely, just a little) and I am running out of money - I am tempted to take on the Aztecs next (who hate me anyway) which would leave me with only the Byzantines (my best friends) on the larger of the two continents.

My current amries consist of Maces, Trebs and Cats with CR, Knights with some Numidian Cav (Flanking 2 and Com3), Pikes, XBows and LBows. I dont think anybody else is up to Gunpowder yet but I know Liberalism has just been discovered.

I have been unable to found any religions in this game (I find I miss by a turn or two on every one at Prince level, where I can get 5 or 6 at Noble ... grrrr), and not having a shrine is hurting my economy. I have also been unable to get more than a couple of wonders.

So now I am running about 30% science, and whilst things are not taking too long to research I cannot pull ahead at that rate. I am running Caste System, H Rule, Theocracy, Mercantilism and Vassalage.

So I see my options as:

1. Put my superstack back together (currently in two stacks) and go get the Aztecs. This will take a while though - they have a smaller army but there is a bottleneck city to take first, which will be tough nut to crack. This would likely be a long war and possibly hurt my struggling economy even more.

2. Stop building units, cottage my farms on rivers, windmill my mines, and resurrect my economy into a better CE. (I may even get rid of some older and less promoted units to free up some cash - any views on that?)

3. Same as 2 but Go into full SE mode (not much synergy with FIN though) and resurrect my economy that way.

I would really like to get the Byzantines Land if possible - they have a small empire but around 3 or 4 shrines and are running Free Religion, but if I go thru the Aztecs to get there it will take until 1800 or so and I will be using Medieval units vs Gunpowder for my nexct war (bad move).

Personally I am leaning towards option 2 - any comments ?

Thanks

[snoopy369]

I'd say pull back, unless your alraedy functional army (without building more) can easily beat the Aztecs. (Also, the Aztecs tend to not store up $$ much, so they probably don't have a lot of treasury to loot). I'd go cottage and/or SE (depending on your land - if you have a lot of food, SE; if you have little food, then cottage).

I generally don't delete units, though I certainly have in certain cases. You could always suicide them towards the Aztecs and try to get some pillaging cash before they die

Option 2 is, without seeing anything of the scenario, my suggestion, unless you have such population/food that you can easily just pop up a bunch of scientists. Cottages do take (a lot of) time to develop, so if you can easily swing 2-3 scientists per city, and more for large cities, then I'd do that (at least for now).

It might be enough, even not using some of your more production-oriented cities, to keep you in line, and then go in after the Aztecs anyway...

[Theben]

Build a sizable navy, go around the Aztecs and take those shrines.

[j0b]

Thanks!!!

Well, that has worked pretty well

I pulled back and went with option number 2. The cottage/windmill economy has put me in very good shape - I am almost up to biggest GDP, and am number 1 in virtually everything else. Looking at a fairly straightforward domination victory from here

After a couple of hundred years of good finanical buildup, and upgrading my troops, the foolish aztecs decided to invade - I have now taken their capital and second largest city and removed them as a threat - 3 moderate sized cities left only. The great thing is with their two cities I now have a direct border with the Byzantines, and am a few turns away from Infantry. I will then upgrade all of those Rifles to Infantry and walk through Byzantium .... it helps that they have stopped science and are going for cultural victory, so they will be soft as with Infantry, their best unit is the cataphract ...

So, after thinking I was borderline as to whether I could win, I am looking good, so thanks for the guidance.

Cheers