AU302: One City - Strategy, Spoilers and Comments

[DaveMcW]

The harbor gave extra food to help my food-shield balancing act. The courthouse gave +2 trade and +1 shield through reduced corruption.

There were no barbs after we all became OCCs, apparently average cities per civ is a factor in barb spawning.

And yes, I had too many workers and nothing to do with them. Rome managed to build a harbor so those colonies did contribute to my economy.

I wasted some time, but I spent 15+ hours playing.

[badams52]

Dave,

I am truly amazed! But why did it take so long?

[cumi]

Very Interesting

I started a new game, built my first warriors to check the tribal villages on the island and guess what did I found there:

1 village gave me Pottery,

3 villages gave me a settler (each)

Not bad! But playing OCC, the 3 settlers joined to my one and only city....

Ever seen something like this?

cumi

[badams52]

Re: Very Interesting

Originally posted by cumi
I started a new game, built my first warriors to check the tribal villages on the island and guess what did I found there:

1 village gave me Pottery,

3 villages gave me a settler (each)

Not bad! But playing OCC, the 3 settlers joined to my one and only city....

Ever seen something like this?

cumi

don't mean to laugh, but you can't get settlers from huts when you (1) have a settler and (2) something to do with # of cities compared to your opponents. Since this is OCC #1 and #2 are usually not available, so I presume settlers will be popped more often than in a regular game.

[CorpusScorpius]

Re: Very Interesting

Originally posted by cumi
I started a new game, built my first warriors to check the tribal villages on the island and guess what did I found there:

1 village gave me Pottery,

3 villages gave me a settler (each)

Not bad! But playing OCC, the 3 settlers joined to my one and only city....

Ever seen something like this?

cumi

I have gotten 2 settlers out of the goodie huts.......I would of rather gotten certain techs instead

[cumi]

FINALLY

Hi,

I finally won the game (on the second level of difficulty). I made a culturall victory.

I read some very usefull tipps here, like:

- how to trade
- whom to sell the tech first
- how to help the weakest civ
- which are the most important wonders
etc.

And yes! The AI (England, who had about 4 techs more than me) gave me EVERYTHING (c.a.200gpt, aluminiun, horses, 3 techs adn about 2000 gold) for a single new tech (Ecology) - unbeliveble. Why did the AI needed this tech so badly? He could research it in 4 turns!

How does actually the cultural victory works? I saw this now for first time ...

I experienced, that, I couldn't get a lot for my techs, resources or luxuries at the beginning, but later a made always a better deal? Does it has to something with my reputation?

I also gave a "present" to AI , if I was afraid of its army....

Can't wait for the next AU game...

Have a nice weekend,

cumi

[Vlad Antlerkov]

Cultural victory, Babylon, Chieftain, 1.29f, 1900 AD. Took around 45 minutes of game time. Final score of 212, Hammurabi the Worthless.

Detailed report forthcoming. I've convinced myself that I can handle OCC now.

[nbarclay]

I finally found the time () to finish this game.

Difficulty level: Regular PtW (1.14f), Monarch level. This is my first "real" OCC game (the first one where I wasn't playing on a map I completely rigged),

Civ choice: I picked the Greeks for three reasons. (1) Their scientific nature would provide cheap buildings and free techs. A free modern tech would be especially valuable. (2) Their commercial trait would start me as close as possible to the Great Library. (3) I knew I'd have a small military in the early game, and hoplites might come in handy if an AI got aggressive. If I were replaying, I'd lvery possibly pick Babylon; I hadn't thought about how good science would be in a small-map OCC, so I overestimated the value of starting a tech closer to Literature.

City Location: I opened the game by moving my worker onto the mountain north of the starting location. What I saw to the east was good enough that I decided to settle there without exploring farther. (1) It was a coastal location, letting me build the Colossus. (2) There were only two coastal tiles without food bonuses to undercut my production. (3) There were plenty of rivers for extra gold, grasslands with shield, and ivory. (4) There was a city site along both a river and the coast. I decided to move east without using the settler for further scouting.

Rooky Mistake: I didn't focus nearly as much on research as I should have early. I ended up wasting a number of turns going after Literature on a 40-turn basis before switching research to Maximum and, in the process, trapped myself into a situation where I had a period with nothing useful to build. On a small map, a single, large city working high-wealth tiles can provide solid research all by itself.

Wonders:

- 1990 BC: Colossus
- 590 BC: Great Library
- 130 BC: Pyramids
- 580 AD: Sistine Chapel
- 780 AD: Hanging Gardens
- 980 AD: Copernicus's Observatory
- 1230 AD: Shakespeare's Theater
- 1570 AD: Theory of Evolution
- 1630 AD: Hoover Dam
- 1784 AD: United Nations
- 1810 AD: SETI Program

The Library Gambit: Once the Great Library was completed, I dropped research to zero and counted on the Great Library for all my tech. I figured I'd need the gold later.

The Medieval Tech Race: Shortly before the Great Library expired, I started research on Printing Press. I won the race for that, but for most of the rest of the medieval era (and occasionally in the industrial), I always seemed to get the techs I was researching a turn after England and Korea.

Industrial Miscues: When I entered the industrial era, I got distracted and forgot to switch my research from Communism to Medicine. That slowed down my plan to target Sanitation by quite a few turns, which in turn undercut other aspects of my competitiveness. Worse, I didn't take AI extortion adequately into consideration and tried to hold onto Communism for a while in the hope of trading it for a tech an AI would research. Instead, I ended up having it extorted from me! That's the thing I hate the most about OCC: normally, the sheer size of my civs deters AIs from that sort of extortion, and I'm a lot stronger to stand up to extortion attempts. Still, I managed to get the Theory of Evolution and Hoover Dam.

The United Nations and Beyond: I ended up buying Fission from Korea for a little over 15,000 gold to make sure the United Nations stayed out of AI hands. Not long after, I stole a tech from Korea, succeeding on my first try. But my next four attempts at theft failed, and the last one caused Korea to declare war. The Korean air force ripped my infrastructure to shreds, and that plus troops in my territory starved some of my people and forced me to build workers with others. But my city held, and the war ended eventually. At one point during the war, I got worried enough about how far behind I was falling in the tech race to let a U.N. vote occur, but Korea and I each got two votes while England got one - a draw.

End game: With the U.N. unlikely to produce a clear victory (and inherently risky to use), it all came down to whether Korea would launch a space ship sooner or I would achieve a cultural victory sooner. My culture achieved victory for me in 1900 AD. By the way, as the game wore down, I got to see a fairly large ICBM attack by Korea against someone. I'm very, very glad they weren't still at war with me at that point!

By the way, Dominae, I see nothing at all wrong or undesirable about winning by building a city-state that's cultural magnificence is the envy of the world. Yes, it's easier than a space race victory and thus less a display of skill (not to mention the role luck plays in OCC games). But it's very much a worthwhile achievement nonetheless.

Nathan

[Dominae]

Originally posted by nbarclay
But my next four attempts at theft failed, and the last one caused Korea to declare war. The Korean air force ripped my infrastructure to shreds, and that plus troops in my territory starved some of my people and forced me to build workers with others. But my city held, and the war ended eventually. At one point during the war, I got worried enough about how far behind I was falling in the tech race to let a U.N. vote occur, but Korea and I each got two votes while England got one - a draw.

Wow, that's cutting it a bit closer than I'm comfortable with! Nice job surviving an attack, then pulling out the win.

By the way, Dominae, I see nothing at all wrong or undesirable about winning by building a city-state that's cultural magnificence is the envy of the world. Yes, it's easier than a space race victory and thus less a display of skill (not to mention the role luck plays in OCC games). But it's very much a worthwhile achievement nonetheless.

To my knowledge, I have never expressed anything to the contrary in any of my posts here. Especially for first-time OCC attempts, any victory is an achievement indeed.


Dominae

[cumi]

The main bonus (I hope!) of my city location is that if there is any coal around I will get it and build Ironworks (please!)

Hehh, I lost the coal resorce a few turns later. So I had to buy it. And rubber, too. And oil, too. When needed...

[Mountain Sage]

Originally posted by Dominae


If I understand your (semi) AAR correctly, in your game the Romans ousted the Celts from the main continent to your continent, and then the Celts attacked you with one turn left for your Space Ship win?! That's quite a story!

Try again, if you got that far the first time surely you can beat it the second time.


Dominae

Sorry for my late reply, but I was out of town.

Yep, I lost my city in 1 turn when it got razed by 30+ tanks and modern armor, + 3 armies. My 10 defenders, well, just died. All this 1 turn before completion of my spaceship.

Sorry again, no time for a second try. I don't want to miss the next AU + an old game to finish.

[Cort Haus]

Ancient Era - Introduction

Settings: Babylonians, Regent, PTW 1.14.

I stopped playing at the end of Ancient Era to turn my notes into something postable and it took ages. Later eras might not get as much detail documented- we'll see.


The first post offers an narrative account of the ancient era, with detail on key events and decisions, and a focus on strategic issues rather than dates and unit movements. Subsequent posts, formatted as timeline logs will cover :

build order
tech
exploration and barbarians
worker actions
diplomacy


Originally it was all one huge timeline, but it was very very long and probably hard to extract info from. In splitting it up like this, the detail is there if you want it, but not in the way if you don't. The narrative account starts in the past tense, but later the present tense is used because re-writing it all is just toooo much.

[Cort Haus]

Ancient Era Narrative Part 1 of 2

Settings: Babylonians, Regent, PTW 1.14.
AU302: Narrative Account of Ancient Era. Part 1 of 2


First Moves
On the first turn I moved the worker onto the mountain for a look - Ivory apears to the east. I want coast for the Colossus, a river for growth & trade, and a nearby luxury. The settler moved east where it can get all these, and more Ivory appeared. Next turn, the warrior stepped onto the wheat, Babylon was build with the settler, and science set to 100% - for Alphabet in 25 turns.

The first warrior explored eastwards, the second to the north, then a garisoning Spearman preceeded a temple. The cow and furs to the SW would make a good second city site ... er..oh. The first two huts contained Pottery and Mysticism, and Writing was started once Alphabet was discovered.To keep a good rate for writing, we ran a -1gpt defecit after the temple; there was just enough gold in reserve. Post-granary the science slider had to drop for maintenance costs, but by then it didn't slow Writing up too much.

First Panic
One turn into the Colossus, a barb to the north prompted a switch to a 3rd warrior - lucky I got the alarm call so soon into the building or the new pillage-tastic barbs could have made a mess. After starting a second spearman, exploration of the continent was complete and warriors returning, so I switched back to the Colossus.

First Mistake
On getting Writing, a turn was wasted on Map Making before switching to Literature (25 turns). It's no good discovering everyone and not building the Great Lib in time. Get the lib first.

First Insult
According to Thucydides in 1990BC, my Civ is Pathetic, and the English rock.

First Wonder
When Babylon hit size 7 I was using the mountain gold tile for a while to keep the research rate up. At a push, I could raise research and trim production to get Literature before the Colossus was finished and switch to the Great Library. After Literature it was Map Making, with the Great Library only 17 turns away. A bit later I spent the 25g from a camp it on bringing maps down from 9 to 8 turns - probably not worth it but at the margin every turn counts and you don't get much more marginal than a 1 city civ, and I lost a turn picking the wrong tech earlier. After The Library a library followed, which completed the same turn as Map Making. Now came a big decision:

First Calculation
Do I want to wait till I know 2 civs with Republic and hoard cash, or do I research Rebublic. At this rate it's Philosphy 8 turns, Code of Laws 12 turns + Republic (I'd guess 20-25 turns) = 45 turns. Max cash is 16. Multiply by no_of_turns = 720g - the rough opportunity cost of researching republic. That's a university at least, and I can build a galley next turn and start making contact. I choose to switch off research, then suddenly notice a blue city on the tip of the other continent. I also notice that Babylon is size 9 and needs another notch on the luxury slider. Perhaps it's time (or beyond time) to put a colony on the furs. Built a worker for the colony,then a galley to seek contact, followed by the Colossus (14 turns). My boat goes clockwise round the continent. On building the furs colony, I realise I'll have to get a unit over there to guard it.

First Contact
875BC - Good Morning North Korea! Galley reaches Wonsan. They are polite, know the Indians (so are on a 2-civ continent), and have at least the wheel, warrior code and iron working, but not my mystcism and literature. I don't need their techs but I want the contact. Maybe I can wait and see if Korea gets India to pay, not me (ah, PTW), as they want Literature and 25g. Or I'll find India myself. They have some cash (90g) but I won't sell any tech to them yet as they'll flog it to India.

Establish embassy in Seoul (size 1). The gold from the GL is useful already, I'm glad I'm not researching. They have 1 wines, no buildings, just two spears in there and have started a temple. I have 100 pts to their 146, they are about five times as powerful, and are building the colossus (oooer) in Pusan, wherever that is. At least I have five times their culture, though as Stalin might have said "how many hit points does your temple have?". I expect they'll be moving in to my continent soon. Galley starts going clockwise towards their borders - might have to buy a very pricey ROP or risk their displeasure.

First Map Trade
850BC - Forgot to trade maps - doh! No harm done, though. My territory is only worth 2g, so get their t-map for mine + 12g. They have 7 cities and India appears to be to their SW. Normally I'll trade t-maps with everone first then get w-maps, but with a t-map worth nada and a reluctance to sell my w-map I might as well just buy w-maps. In fact, selling the w-map to Korea would allow them to sell it to India so they definitely can't have it yet. India can't afford the contact cost either, so they probably are not ahead of Korea in tech and cash. Pusan does not look strong so no worries there - though it is their largest city (size 2). What does worry me, though, is that Wonsan's terrain is very well developed, which means they can't have founded it a few turns ago like I thought, which means that its been there for ages and I didn't notice it {shame}. I'd thought of (but didn't document the thought!) putting a warr there to lookout, but the priority was to keep the unit count as close to 4 as possible. An outpost? If I wouldn't spend the pop on a fur colony earlier I wasn't going to spend it on a lookout.

First Friend
A ROP with Korea is 45 gold so I buy that to reach India in 5 turns and they're gracious. I'd noticed that they like it when you pay good coin for this treaty. Soon I decide to buy the Korean's worldmap for 40g for the reasons above (no point in waiting to meet India) - and there's India to their SouthWest. They have 6 cities, a dye-cluster and one wine. Korea just have the one wine.

First Harvest
On meeting India we got the Wheel, Warrior Code, and Iron Working from the Great Library. (Time for a celebratory vodka!). One iron within city radius, another is 4 squares away. No horses. India & Korea both have Masonry, so I'll get that next turn. India is short of Lit & Myst too, but neither has enough cash to warrant a sale. These guys are not going to be researching republic for me any time soon. Embassy in Delhi - they're doing Pyramids@76 turns, have 2 spears, and just the wine hooked up. Bought their w-map for 5g. Scores: Korea 160, India 148, Bab 103.

Lesson: What we can see so far is that 1 large river city can out-tech a pair of REXing civs on Regent in the ancient era.

First Tech Sale
I've left Korean coastal-space, but have 14 turns left on the ROP. Do I use that to send the boat back nw to try another direction, or do I get a ROP with India as part of a tech sale and explore via their territory? I can't see any sea-lanes east of Korea, but there appears to be one west of India. The only other sea-lane is south of Babylon. Colossus is done next turn, maybe it's time for the lighthouse... or maybe another galley first? Or did I commit myself to a harbour? I notice that both Korea and India have low-food coastal cities so they'll build habours one day. Shame the AI doesn't prioritise trade links!

Eventually traded mysticism to India for a ROP and all their 92g. They go gracious too. Korea offers 40g for Mystcism and I accept, rather than raising the bar a bit as I usually would. Galley continues clockwise round Indian coast.

First Forseeable Surprise
Masonary arrives from GLib the same turn as the Colossus is completed. Oh dear, a despotic Golden Age. I suppose that's what happens to Babylonians who built the Great Library and the Colossus. Korea and India switch ex-Colossus wonder-builds to Pyramids, while Delhi switches from pyramids to Oracle. I guess that's because Calcutta (ex-Colossus) could do the Pyramids quicker than Delhi, which had just started it. Delhi gets the cheaper wonder. Somehow I fear for them they might end up with nothing. At least I'm not in the game for the Pyramids.

I'd hoped to do before-and-after shots of Babylon to show the effect of the Colossus, but now there's Golden Age gold there too, so instead we'll make do with before-and-after a Bab Colossus under Golden Age. (see graphic) There's only 2 extra production, but 11 more gold and 1 extra happy. Most tiles have 1 extra Gold but the city-square & ivory have 2 extra. Income = 24gpt, borders expand in 23 turns.

Forest-cutting is due in 5 turns, but the harbour only takes 5 turns - build a spearman then sharpen the spears on some barb skulls. Or how about a bowman? No, bowman is good for the short-term but won't upgrade to anything useful. Queue Spearman then harbor. Babylon is size 10 but doesn't need more lux on the slider because of increased local commerce (GA/Colossus).

First Loss
Soon after Koreans land their first Settler/spearman on the south tip of continent, I remembered too late I was supposed to be guarding the colony, and saw it zapped by barbs in 550BC. Could build worker to get lux back but the borders expand in 14 turns so wait. Koreans now have horseback riding too. The second galley is launched, and the Lighthouse started. By 450BC Babylon is at size 11 with the lux slider is at 20%, and it hits 12 in 310BC, a turn before the GA ends, according to our analysts. Meanwhile, GLib reaps Maths, then Philosophy & Horseback Riding.

[Cort Haus]

AU302: Narrative Account of Ancient Era. Part 2 of 2

AU302: Narrative Account of Ancient Era. Part 2 of 2


First Sea Voyage
In 210BC the Great Lighthouse completes the three required ancient wonders. I'd forgotten how satisfying that extra movement point from the lighthouse can be, and I used to play 'pelago games based around that wonder. Doubts about needing the replacement galley (lost one to barbs) but there's nothing else to build except pyramids and I've already got a granary. Then what? Pyramids as a prebuild for somthing? Or barracks / units? More galleys? Queue 2 Bowmen, despite earlier reservations.

First Pirate City
In 150BC the Koreans build a city my my furs. I still have the roaded one but when only until they build their library. I'll lose the iron to the nw too when they build there. At least they can't steal my ivory. Looking at it, city placement's an issue here (not that I'd seen the furs when building the city), as one square sw would have prevented this - but at the price of a city stuck at size 6 - until beyond now (don't have construction yet). I expect lux will be cheap to buy later.
Livy's "Most Advanced Nations" : 1 - English, 2- Celts, 3 - Koreans, 4 - Romans, 5 - Babs, 6 - Indians

First Sea Crossing
In 130BC my veteran galley follows the southern sea lane - and sees land. Next turn it accidently bumps into Hun ship but emerges unscathed, and sees a Roman warrior within the Celtic border.

Cautious Rome has Code of Laws but not Literacy. They know the English (contact : 320g) and the Celts (contact : 270g) and have 90G. This reminds me that I forgot to check the price and maybe buy two Korean workers a few turns ago. However, I do remember not to trade my t-map with the Romans until I can trade it with them all in 1 turn.

I will sell my world map to the Koreans now, while it's still worth anything for 'my' continent and they pay 30g. I want them to buy that before I get the new civs maps and my map becomes too expensive for them. Those amazing Indians paid silks, 20g and their world map for my world map. I presume they'd not bought Korea's map. Rome sell me their t-map for 30g. They have 10 cities and this warrior's a long way from home. I'm glad he's here

First Swingin' Merchant Trick
110BC - I wonder how long before someone threatens me for literature?. They'll get it, I suppose, and sell it on that turn. Quick, embassy in Rome! They'll have Pyramids in 20 turns, have 3 spears, 1 gems and horses and are now polite. (It's funny how a polite Caesar looks all smiley on the F4 then you open him up and he looks like he's about to thump you)

Scores : Korea : 224, Rome : 203, India : 194, Babylon : 118

So should I sell Literature before I get mugged for it? Caesar will pay all his 120g for literature, and I know it's worth more, but how much more? I decide to get a ball-park estimate how he values it by putting Contact with the Celts (C) against Literature(L) and balancing with cash. Result is

C=L+115

t/f L=C-115 where C=270 (value of contact with celts determined above)

t/f L=270-115=155

Of course this is only the approximate value to Rome, not to England who may discover it next turn and value it much lower.

155g is only about 125% of 120g, so his offered price is in the right order of magnitude, and I'd take it were it not for the fact that he'll sell to the English and Celts who I've yet to meet. Korea is strong but I've had Lit for ages and they haven't evil-eyed it, but Rome's the kind of civ that'll point a legion or two at you and demand stuff on a first date.

I decide that making friends and influencing people is not a bad approach when you've only got six units, so I gift Rome 1gpt and wait to see what the Celts have to say next turn.

Korea would pay Code of Laws plus 40g for Lit, and they'd charge me 115 for Code of Laws, so they value literature at

115 + 40 = 155

That number again! This ballpark calculator ain't bad. I'd guess that neither of them are researching it, and that England and Celtia don't have it either, as that would lower the cost to Rome and they'd have bought it.

Using these evaluations you can get a feel for what techs civs are researching or not. Check the value of one of your techs to them each turn. If they offer all their gold, it's worth more. If they start offering less, then either someone else they know has it, or they're researching it. If it goes down each turn then they're researching it. Sometimes with a tech lead you can work out what everyone's researching and even guess when they'll complete it - which is pretty cool in my view .

The big stack of cash (~900g atm) is the measuring device here to asses the value of things, and there's the Great Library to thank for that.

90 BC - Got Code of Laws from Great Lib.
Meanwhile, the poor Roman warrior perished at the hands of a Hun warrior during his turn. If I'd arrived 1 turn later I'd have missed him - which might have made things a bit different.

I meet the Celts, and the English have been introduced by the Romans. All are polite All now have Construction and Liz has Polytheism too. Liz also has 493g. She's the current tech broker and has just sold Construction (Rome is now skint, and was only able to buy construction by throwing in her new asset: Contact with the Babylonians) so I see what she'll pay for Literature....150? - Yes. 160? not quite. How about 155 then? Yes, that'll do nicely?

Scores : England : 246, Korea : 227, Celts : 217, Rome : 205, India : 196, Bab : 110 (see graphic)
Embassy in London : Oracle, spice, 2 furs, iron, 2 spears and pyramids in 32 turns
Embassy in Entremont : Spice, iron, horses, 2 spears amd pyramids in 10 turns

Having sold Lit to one, I must sell it to all in that contact group. The value will have gone down for this group now that England has it too. Celts will give me all their 28g and their t-map (worth another 28) = 56. It might be worth more, Their construction is valued at 210, and also equals Lit + 140g, so Lit=70g. Rome has no money, but they have construction, which I'll get from the GLib next turn, and a world map worth 130G. I offer them Lit + 60g for their valuable world map and they'll take it. Normally I trade t-maps for t-maps all round before buying world maps but my t-map is only worth 10, so I throw in my t-map and trade that, Lit and 50g for Rome's world map which shows their whole continent. (see graphic)

I'd expect the value of Literature to the Celts to have dropped to around 30 by now so I accept all the Celt's 28G + up-to-date t-map..

Meanwhile, the Koreans have discovered currency, and they offer all their 83G for literature, which is not enough.

Babylon is a gatekeeper between the 2 research blocks. One has currency, the other has construction and poytheism If I let them meet, they could trade and we'd all be in the Middle Ages with uprisings everywhere. It could happen anyway if England or Rome got currency soon. If I knock out the barbs to the north of babylon I should be OK while Taejon, the Korean pirate city on my furs is three squares from a barb camp and ... heheheh ... Also, if I get tech from one side I can sell it to the other at full price rather than them trading amongst themselves. The Lighthouse is brilliant off pangea, which is why I posted [this strat] showing its power. However, I don't really want the tech race to fly while I'm raking it in each turn. At 15gpt and maybe 40 turns I could get another 600G before Education.

Learned Construction from GL

70BC - Start Colosseum.

Sell world map to English for 90g + w-map. Nearly 1100 gold and education looks some way off. Income has capped until republic though, and I'm supporting more units until uprisings over. I'm also paying for two boats which might pay for themselves in map sales over time. A formula would be good for how many sea squares a boat needs to uncover to pay for itself, assuming sufficent solvent civs to buy the map. The Koreans don't have nearly enough money to buy my worldmap yet, but as the proud Keeper of the Lighthouse, only I can cross the sea until astronomy, so without contact with England, they can't get the map.

Of course, now I've sold England the map I need to check Rome & Celtia every turn to see if they've got the money and hope the English don't get there first to the sale.


70AD - complete Colosseum, start Gt Wall (11). Lux slider off, Income: +18g
India have settled Karachi, w of Taejon on my continent. Tempted to sell construction to Korea for currency, and 100g, then consider getting a ROP in the deal (cost:40) for good relations, and do this. Korea goes gracious. This Great Wall I'm building might go ping in a minute when the Celts build the pyramids so the marketplace will do nicely


90AD - Value of currency to English = Polytheism(value=135) + 240 = 375. They have 322. That's half the guesstimate extra income to the end of the GL. Very tempting - but is Rome or Celtia about to discover it? Rome offers all 52 and a w-map for it. Rome charges 45 for a ROP, and will add all 52 of its gold to a ROP for currency, so Rome's value on this tech is >~ 100, and they're not about to complete research on it. Celts only offer 20g of their 27, and a worldmap, but add a 45g ROP and they don't want to know. In fact they'll only pay 5g over their ROP = 50g for currency, They are researching it and will get there soon, England will give them Polytheism and ~240g for Currency, Babylon gets Polytheism via GL, all three go into the Middle Ages and the uprisings commence. If I sell to the English now, the Celts can't buy Polythesim with only their 27g, the English alone go through, I get the English treasury not the Celts, and go through later when someone else gets Polytheism. I might even get time to prepare my meagre miltary for the uprisings. So if I've got this right, selling Currency to the English in some way slows the overall tech race by delaying trade in Polytheism, at the same time as hastening it with the spread of Currency. It not only makes Babylon much richer, but strengthens the English against the Celts - a good thing as it helps to balance the Celtic UU. "Liz, I think we have a deal".

The shafted Brunnus offers 9g for currency but I insist he take it, and 11g as a gift. He becomes gracious

Rome can pay all of its 52g plus a ROP worth 45 which might not be a bad price (if 375 is not too far below the cost of unresearched Polytheism.) I take it for a hoped-for diplomacy boost, then give Caesar and Lizzi 10g each. Caesar becomes gracious. I can't resist going for a Gracious Flush and shell out the 45 for a ROP with the English. Lizzie gets dizzy, er, gracious.

So, one step from the middle ages : Exemplary relations with everyone, the 3 required ancient wonders bagged, where we want to be on tech, income, size, production and anticipating a positive start to the middle ages. There's just one thing that's bothering me.

I hadn't checked on Wang Kon. He's got Polytheism too, and oooh loook! there's a big stack of horsies next to Taejon...
Well, I got one thing wrong there, the uprisings had already started, and the next go slings me into the Middle Ages and a monotheistic tech lead.

Polytheism - from Great Library
Celts build Pyramids
Rome build Great Wall
Babylon switched to Marketplace (4 turns)

MIDDLE AGES

[Cort Haus]

Ancient Era : Build Order Log

Start date for each build is given. * - indicates it will later be switched to something else, either as planned pre-build or sudden change of plan.

3950BC - Build Babylon, Warrior

3700 - Warrior

3500 - Spearman.

3200 - Temple.

2900 - Granary

2510 - Colossus* (25 turns)

2470 - switch to Warrior

2430 - spearman*

2390 - switch to Colossus*

1600 - Switch to Great Lib (17 turns).

1200 - Library.

1150 - Worker.

1125 - Galley.

1025 - Start Colossus (14 turns).

690 - Spearman

650 - Harbor.

550 - Galley.

510 - Lighthouse (20 turns)

210 - Galley.

170 - Bowman.

110 - Bowman

70BC - Colosseum.

70AD - Gt Wall* (11 turns)

90AD - switched to Marketplace (4 turns)