[SPOILER] Shaka of Inca - gingereagle1969 & Sandover

[gingereagle1969]

finally got the turn ... umm ... well ... I played it ... nuff said

[gingereagle1969]

this in from Nakor/Gaspar

Goeiedag Ambassador GingerEagle,

We're still working on a road connection between our two empires. All those forests just make it all the more work.
Trade routes would really help our economy, though.... balancing expansion and economy is tricky on this map...

Is there any news from your side of the world?

Kind regards,
Co-trainers Gaspar and Nakor, Totaal Voetbal

and reply

Sanibona Gaspar & Nakor

Excellent, we will get onto that from our border cities very soon, yes we have settled our seventh city near the Deer as planned. We were helped economically by now having trade-routes with Kyan's cities. Maybe you will be connected to him through our lands ... does it work that way?

Sobanana

Amb. GingerEagle

ooh, turn's in .. think I better play now


... played

[gingereagle1969]

where's the turn?

anyway, this just in from Nakor & Gaspar:

Goeiedag Ambassador GingerEagle,

Good to hear that you have trade routes. That should help our income a bit as well.
Don't know if us connecting to you connects us to him as well, but we have a nice border with him to our west.

We can see that you are still in an arms race. Can we guess who you are going to aim for?

Kind regards,
Co-trainers Gaspar and Nakor, Totaal Voetba

think I can see where they're angling [Whosit?] ... not going to be specific though

Sanibona Nakor & Gaspar

Yes, being a net exporter [as the demographics indicate] is a boon!! And we are building Market-places to help this trade.

An arms race? We're merely trying to keep ahead of the close competition, we had planned on a two-power strategy. If they stop building then so shall we! Besides our units are for defensive purposes at the moment; with the extra 3 cities we recently built needing garrisons to fend off all eventualities. After that we will need a small 'strike-force' to deal with any future barbarian incursions; although things have been quiet on that front as of late and our lone patrolling Axe [Tupac ... ummm ... 3? .. we have so many it's hard to keep track] is getting bored.

Hopefully our heroic scouting Warrior [2Pac] is now far enough away from your cultural border for us to set him back as auto-explore. If he wanders back, do let us know.

Sobanana

Amb. GingerEagle

[gingereagle1969]

yay!! Turn finally in!!

Kyan has gifted us a Missionary, who I'm sending across to CazadorDeAmor for the culture fight with Whosit ... plus I've started cottaging there as well ... will have to do a couple of religious techs to get most benefit ... other than that, I'll let it spread naturally

Not much else to report except I can finish Construction next turn if I switch to 100% for 1 turn [a tad ahead of schedule] but it will wipe out the gold ... *sobs*

[gingereagle1969]

turn played - T79 [must get into the habit of this]

OK ... first off we gained control of the Fish tile @ CazadorDeAmor ... now we need to raise the 100G Whovus wants for a Work-Boat [*grumbles*] which is going to take a while as we completed Construction this turn [1 turn ahead of schedule, at a cost of 68G ... we temporarily went 5th in GNP ... basically I couldn't wait any longer ] ... will have to switch back to 0% or all the banked gold will disappear ... now which tech next?

As I'm experiencing unrest in a couple of cities [although when the Markets complete in 2 turns, this will improve immensely] I could stamp on this by heading for Hereditary Rule [turns given @ 100% tech - will require 6 turns @ 0% per turn @ 100%]:

Meditation[1] -> Priesthood[1] -> Monarchy[2]

Organised Religion would also help [I'm still deciding which city to send Kyan's Buddhist Missionary to] so:

Polytheism[1] -> Monotheism[1]

Plus Courthouses:

Code of Laws[2]

Ooh, and Forges:

Metal Casting[2]

Not to forget Horse Archers:

Horse-Back Riding[2?]

Decisions, decisions, decisions ... got at least 6 turns to think about it though ... which is also the length of time to raise the 100g for a Work-Boat!!

[gingereagle1969]

t80 played

I'm really confused ... we've managed to drag ourselves off the bottom on a couple of key scores [GNP & Crop] but it's not Whovus who's below us - who then?

Also we're ahead of Whovus in Power, so why are we 2nd in Soldier points?

We don't have anyone else's graphs as we're spending points to keep an eye on Whovus.


Here's the demos during t80:



And after saving:



The eagle-eyed will notice a couple of things:

a) we completed Meditation in 1 turn!! I tweaked a couple of cities to have scientists instead of working unimproved tiles [will do Priesthood (forgot to check how many turns) next as that Missionary is closing in on WakaWakaShaka - we will be joining the Buddhist camp shortly! ]

b) gold/turn went up from 20g/turn to 26g/turn [I could go 100% tech on Priesthood next turn after all ]. I think this is mainly down to the Market completing in WakaWakaShaka and the end of unrest in that city, SheWolf will complete it's Market next turn and then both will be churning out Workers for a while, I don't want them growing until Monarchy is completed [est. t90] but I will have to build at least a Monastery, if not Temple, in each at some stage. Actually, that will keep a lid on unrest too ... hmmm

In addition, we landed a Great Scientist in SheWolf at end of turn ... it offers Alphabet, or should we build an Academy instead? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

[Sandover]

Alphabet isn't far from being completely useless.

[gingereagle1969]

Alphabet isn't far from being completely useless.

So .. that's 'build an Academy' then?

[Sandover]

Yeah, pretty much.

[gingereagle1969]

turn just in [ish]

took the opportunity to see how Tredje is doing:

Sanibona Tredje

It's been a long while since we last spoke, how goes it in the Byzantium Empire? How close are you to building those fine Cataphracts that your civilization is so famed for? I trust they are not set to move in my direction, although I'm sure my garrisons can withstand anything that's thrown at them! Therefore, if not me, who are you likely to gun for? I could be interested in assisting you with 'diversionary tactics'. In fact, just the mere declaration of war by me is likely to have at least half an army running my way, which would mean you'd have little resistance.

On another note, let's talk religion. Although HIM is a demi-god and does not recognize 'lesser faiths' such as Buddhism & Hinduism, He has been persuaded to accept a Missionary from Kyan. I wonder if you would want to make The Shakirites a multi-faith empire by sending one of yours our way at some stage? We have 2 cities bordering the Totaal Voetbal Empire, and plans to spread south from there [I do hope you're not coveting the lush virgin forests within our lake boundary points] so they should be simple to find.

Sobanana

Amb. GingerEagle

Thought I'd be straightforward about religion as we are due to join what looks like a Buddhist 'camp' with Kyan & Malakai ... he could take that the wrong way

The military action suggestion is directed towards Whovus, hopefully Tredje'll see him as the next soft target [after me] and we'd be set to gain immensely from the war this time if we have Cataphracts rolling Whovus over from the West

oh ... better go play now .. got an Academy to place ...

turn played, Great Scientist moving to WakaWakaShaka to found an Academy .. tweaked a couple of tile to get 2 more scientists, we complete Priesthood in 1 turn @ 0% tech!!! Now Monarchy will take 7 turns @ 0% [already queued it] but will have to up the rate to make the most of the Academy bonus.

In other news, a possible flash point:



3 Crazy Workers with an as-yet-unpromoted Axe standing on a hill ... had to move my CombatII/Shock-promoted Tupac07 [I think that's his number] to protect my Shaggy08 [think that's right]. Guess I'm daring him to invade [actually they are Tupac01 & Shaggy01 . weird how that happened]