[Spoilers] This Perfect Place

[Mr. Cairo]

Current Plan
Before Golden Age
1) Build infrastructure instead of units. It'll be mostly Grocers, a few final libraries, some Stock Exchanges in high-commerce cities.
2) Spread 3 more religions into my capital. This one is new, and it's part of a plan to get a Great Prophet during my GA, so that I can build the Jewish Shrine. I currently can spread Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity into my cap (to join Judaism), and build the temples I'll need to get the priest specialists. That is why I'm doing this in my cap, btw, cause no other city can build the temples in time.
3) Research Philosophy and Nationhood. This is so I can run pacifism during my GA (that I'm switching out of OR during my GA is the reason I'm building infrastructure now, while I have the OR building bonus), and Nationhood is for end-of-GA civics.

Golden Age Civic Changes:
Vassalage: Since my cap is going to be running so many specialists, Bureaucracy has less usage, and the unit cost savings will help offset the expense from Pacifism, and the XP will come in handy.
Caste System: For a third GA later down the line.
Pacifism: For the GPP.

During Golden Age
1) Build units. With Vassalage and no OR, this is the time to focus on military, it'll be pikes, knights, and cats for the most part, maybe with a few maces thrown in for good measure.
2) Get money. I'll run 0% science slider during the entirety of my GA, since I have way more gold modifiers in my cities than science ones, so I'll use the GA to build up a big bank for teching afterwards.

End-of-Golden Age Civic changes:
Bureaucracy
Emancipation
Mercantilism
Stay in Pacifism
The reason I want to stay in Pacifism is to try and ensure that I get to a third GA before I get to Redcoats, so that I can use that GA to swap into Nationhood and Theocracy for drafting purposes. It'll be expensive, but more than made up for in lessened Civic upkeep costs, and the benefits from Emancipation and Mercantilism.

After Golden Age
1) Finish off Adrien.
2) Get 3 more GP for another GA (very important)
3) Tech to Redcoats and stop there. My plan once I get Redcoats is to launch some kind of make-or-break attack. Gawdzak would be the preferred target for obvious reasons. I plan to get the requisite Redcoats not only through drafting, but also upgrading, so for that reason I'll stop teching once I get to Rifling and spend my money on upgrades.
4) Build units like cats/trebs and knights
5) Prepare cities for drafting
6) Go out with a bang

[Mr. Cairo]

First things first:


1 Tile from getting circumnavigation bonus, 1 tile. I thought about declaring on Gawdzak to get there, but it's a few turns at least from my borders, and I only have 2 ships on that side, and I know that Gawdzak has more. Ichabod is going to get to Caravels soon and probably get there first. Oh well.
In other exploration news I finally met Molach. I learned that he and AT are at peace, I can only assume that he put up more of a fight than AT was expecting. I got OB and a luxury trade from him.

Builds are continuing apace, and my next GP, a Merchant, is due in 8 turns. I'll have to occasionally go into wealth/research builds in order to get to Nationalism in those 8 turns. I'm pretty sure that Gawdzak is doing the same, since he's about to 1-turn Liberalism, although I would imagine that is also thanks to some bulbs? No sign that I'm anyone's target, but I know of the dangers of complacency, so I'll keep my eye out for anything that might indicate otherwise.

[Mr. Cairo]

It took some doing, but I'm going to be able to 1-turn Philosophy.
It took putting every single city on to research, and then switching some no-commerce tiles to coasts.

With 6 turns until my next GA, that'll give me 5 turns to get Nationalism. Next turn, some of my cities will go back to what they were building before, others will swap over to wealth builds, I'll build up a bank for 2 turns, then I should be able to get Nationalism in 2-3 turns.

So, all told, everything is going according to plan. I'll get my GA on time, use it to build up cash, and build units, while at the same time setting up GA #3 and get a prohpet for my shrine. Those last two may not be possible however, I'll have to run the numbers to see if I can get that third GA fast enough to matter while also getting the prophet. It may well turn out that I'll need the prophet for the GA, since I'm valuing the third GA more than the shrine.

[Mr. Cairo]

BGN keeps sending me trades asking for some resource or another, this time stone. Before, when it was wheat or iron I though he just wanted a gift of some sort, for practical purposes. But why would he want stone? Maybe for walls?
Or is he in fact sending me messages? I really have no idea, and I kinda wish he'd stop to be honest. If they're messages, well, I have no idea what they mean, and if they're not messages, then I feel bad denying him his requests, down on his luck as he is. But still, I see no reason to even risk antagonizing Gawdzak in the slightest by giving BGN a resource gift.

[Mr. Cairo]

I have some more details re: my plans for Great Person generation during the upcoming GA.

1) I've only recently remembered that I'm going to be in Mercantilism, giving me access to an extra two specialists. Which is good, obviously.

2) I've decided to get the Great Prophet after I get the three for the next GA. Thank's to Mercaniltism, I wont need to cripple my cap to run 4 priests, and I'll keep them on after the GA, while also running Pacifism, unless something comes up. So it's more of a long term plan, as opposed to something I want/need to get ASAP. (Reminder: I chose my cap for the priests because none of my other cities would be able to build the temples in time. In retrospect, not ideal, but I"m just going to have to deal.)

3) I've found my third GP farm. I looked around for a while to find a city with the necessary food, and I did find one, but it happens to be one of my best hammer cities: my second city, Anywhere Is. I resolved to just bite the bullet anyway, and switch it over to GPP generation, when I discovered I had a different city much more suited to the job: Tea-House Moon, the Jewish holy city and one of my captures from Adrien. It has lots of food, and is not nearly as productive as Anywhere Is, having mostly been contributing lately through the whip, and I'll be going off of slavery permanently in 4 turns.

4) So, without any more delay, here they are, in the GP generation configuration (the citizens are hired for demonstrative purposes only):
The River Sings

My only currently running farm, and is going to produce a Great Merchant (or Spy) in 4 turns, combining with my already out Great Scientist for the upcoming GA. This one will be running Merchants while in Caste, since it can still run more when I'm out of Caste, and therefore will be making the third of the three GP.

May It Be

Another capture from Adrien, now that I think about it. This city made the Great Scientist I currently have, and will make another one. This city will make the second of the GP, a scientist, hopefully I wont need to run any merchants after I get out of Caste, but I may need to take that risk. Right now its already got two scientists, and I'm using the avoid growth button to fill up it's food box, so I can starve the city running extra specialists for longer during the GA.

Tea-House Moon

The newest GP farm, this one will be running artists (the rice will be farmed), and make the first of the GPs, hopefully during the GA itself, since it has limited specialist capability outside of Caste. As with May It Be, it is currently running one specialist in the form of a engineer, and is filling up its food box for the same starving purposes as in May It Be.


Here is my capital, making its final temple:

Next turn I go max research, including switching most of my cities over to build research, in order to get Nationalism in time, however, if I can, I'll keep my capital building during those three turns, and 1-turn three monasteries (including the Christian one which gets the hammers from Gawdzak's AP).

[Mr. Cairo]

Gawdzak has been drafting maces, and he just got Astronomy. I noticed him draft them in an island city I can see, and I am hoping that his drafting and going for Astronomy is a response to Icahabod getting Astronomy a few turns ago, as opposed to preparing for an attack on me. I still think it unlikely that he'd risk letting Ichabod take off with the game by getting involved in a bloody war with me. He'd have a lot more luck, and less risk, going for Nyles, or maybe taking Dreylin's stuff on our continent that he took from Brick. Of course, what would be ideal for me would be if Gawdzak and Ichabod go after eachother directly. One thing is for certain, I am going to beef up the defenses in my coastal cities during the GA, get walls and castles since I should be able to 1-turn them both, as well as a few Longbows. The walls and castles are a short term solution of course, we're rapidly approaching rifles and cavs, but they're still effective against the knights and maces that I imagine make up most of Gawdzak's military, and they're very cheap for me (200% with PRO and stone). Speaking of Stone, BGN sent me a trade deal asking for my spare stone for 3g/t; at first I thought it was some kind of message he was trying to send me so I rejected it and tried to figure out what he could be saying. Then I realised that there's no way BGN could be in a position to be able to inform me of much, and he probably actually wanted the stone. Oh well.

[Mr. Cairo]

Saw this in ex-Brick lands:


Also, Gawdzak is going for Divine Right, after building the AP and University of Sankore, so I'm assuming he's planning to complete the trifecta with The Spiral Minaret.
Next turn, I finish Nationalism and fire off a GA.

[Mr. Cairo]

First things first:


1 Tile from getting circumnavigation bonus, 1 tile. I thought about declaring on Gawdzak to get there, but it's a few turns at least from my borders, and I only have 2 ships on that side, and I know that Gawdzak has more. Ichabod is going to get to Caravels soon and probably get there first. Oh well.

I am an idiot. Optics gives +1 sight across water. I probably would have been able to squeeze Optics in and still get to Nationalism on time, and even if I couldn't have got it before Nationalism, I will easily be able to get it on the first turn of my GA. If I had just left that galley there until I had Optics, the circumnavigation bonus would have been mine.

Now it's going to go to Ichabod, who just made peace with Gawdzak.

[Mr. Cairo]

Golden Age popped, civics swapped (Vassalage, Caste, Merc, Pacifism), and cities set up (most of my free specialists are Merchants since most of my cities have a market and a grocer). I'll have more info later, but for now, here's how I'm getting my next GA:

First GP

A Great Artist (or Spy or Engineer at v. low odds, either of which is ok) in 6 turns.
Second GP

A Great Scientist in 7 turns. I hope, since I swap out of caste on the 8th turn, I need to have the Scientist by then, or at least be close enough that I can get it in at most 2 turns running 2 scientists (+ a spy if my first isn't one). I'll do some more math when I play the next turn.
Third GP

A Great Merchant some turns after my GA ends. On the second last turn of the GA (turn before I end Caste) I'll run as many merchants as I can without starving down a pop, then run 4 merchants (+ spy if first or second isn't one) afterwards.

*Note I will be staying in Pacifism after my GA. I am currently running 4 priests in my capital, and I do want that shrine; Judaism is one of the larger religions in the game.

[Mr. Cairo]

That which I had been dreading for a while, seeing my score decrease on civstats while another's increases, has finally happened. And it was Adrien of all people who attacked. He took back his old capital, softening them up with 7 cats and then mopping up, losing only 1 WE and 1 Axe to take the city, which unfortunately has enough of his culture in it to immediately go back to his old borders and get the defensive bonus, including the walls.

I had thought it was a possibility for a while, but had been so expectant of an attack from Gawdzak, that I had forgotten all about the possibility for the last few turns, so kudos to Adrien.

I was at first terrified that he went after the Jewish Holy City, where I'm getting a very Important Great Artist in 3 turns, and he still might. However, from what I could see, he has no cats left, and I have plenty of cash to upgrade the units there, and a decent sized army already there, with a number of cats. Unfortunately, with Blanquette's culture, I don't have much mobility, so I may very well lose Tea-House Moon soon before I can ship over enough knights to turn the tide.

It's annoying, but I can't say I blame him.