[Spoilers] Beyond the Sword and Back - Ilios relearns some old tricks

[darrelljs]

Your capital kind of sucks for an Academy, but that is still what I would do.

Darrell

[Commodore]

If you are willing to cottage grass hills, no capital sucks for an academy.

[Ilios]

Yeah, I went for Academy in the end.

Saved some gold, and got me this:

Since I lack a religion for Org Religion, I wanted Forges all around before my cities start building more infrastructure.

I will be whipping those Forges in most of my cities as soon as they can.

Got me some extra population with this:

I would probably have been able to grab a couple more cities for even more extra population, since I figured that Whosit wouldn't invest in another wonder after grabbing the Piramids, and being so far behind. My only real competition would have been Yuris, and he still hasn't improved his Stone resource. I grabbed it now to turn that extra population into Forges.

End turn, get lots of points, and here are a couple of extra screenshots.

Overview:

Cities:

I've been growing Auster into unhappiness in anticipation of the Forge whip, and Roth has gotten back to back whips to grow the overflow hammers. I am getting Gems up next turn, so I will only have two sad faces really.

Peek form:

Roth got its third border pop a couple of turns ago, finally getting that peak in border, which will allow me to observe the entire southwestern front. No surprise attacks from this side.

Dhalphir:

In the South Dhalphir grabbed a site I was hoping to get, and I've been mulling over a quick strike with two-movers, which could hit the city unseen, if I road the the forest to the Corn's south, and insta road the Horse tile. We'll see how fast he can pop those borders...

The north:

This is the only really strong site left for me to grab, and will be my next city. If I could just get some Workers to road towards the site and improve the Horse before I found the city... I'm up to 14 Workers, and I still don't seem to have enough.
That said, I am working just a couple of unimproved tiles, mostly in my newer cities, which will be whipped away soon, and over at Tartt, where I'm trying to preserve those forests for another wonder.

And finally, the demographics screen:

My economy is straining to keep up with expansion right now, but once I finish those Forges I'll be able to start building those Markets and Courthouses, allowing my empire to pay for some more extra cities. All those hammers can still be turned into gold with a few wealth builds.

More things to note:

Yuris got circumnavigation.
Yuris, Dhalphir and even Gazglum are at 8 cities. Whosit still at 5.
I wish there was more food on this map to go with all the happiness. Forges will double my Gems/Gold, I still have Fur and Silver up north, Whale near Martin, Wines near Franzen, and four Calendar resources.

Ooh, and lurker thread attention...

[darrelljs]

Markets and Courthouses? What about ?

Darrell

[mackoti]

Well darel everithing on right time.

[Ilios]

Markets and Courthouses? What about ?

Darrell

"Great Power ascendancy over the long term correlates strongly to available resources and economic durability; military overstretch and a concomitant relative decline are the consistent threat facing powers whose ambitions and security requirements are greater than their resource base can provide for."

Well darel everithing on right time.

QFT

[Ilios]

I open the T74 save, and am greeted by the following diplo screen:



I'm going to assume he's trying to tell me something, but what? Maybe he wants me to attack someone? Oh well, I can't be bothered to figure it out, so I'll just accept Gazglum's next diplo message, which is another map trade.

Then, another diplo message, this time from Dhalphir:



Well, this is interesting. A couple of turns back, Gazglum offered 5 gpt for my Stone resource, which I declined, because I wanted to build Great Wall first. I was going to start the wonder this turn, and offer the trade once it finished, but Dhalphir is making me an offer I can't refuse. It takes care of between a fifth and a fourth of my expenses, and basically means I don't have to rush Courthouses right now. I did have a look at all the wonders requiring Stone, and I don't think there are any new techs he can grab in such a short timeframe that unlock good stone wonders. He can have the Great Wall if he wants to. I'm going to assume he wants it for Moai? Seems like a steep price to me, but hey, I'll take it!

I end the turn, and here is a little overview of the units/buildings in the Incan empire:



Most of my mature cities have their Forges already, every city that doesn't have one yet is building one.

Tartt:



Sixteen shields per turn already, can be easily cranked up to 24 in a couple of turns. I just need Marble for Heroic Epic, and this city will be one turning Horse Archers until,... Well, I guess till I conquer someone?

And I will need to conquer someone. Even if I still have a comfortable lead in all categories, I only have room for about 5-6 cities more, and not many in prime locations.

On top of that, it would seem that the island region is bigger than I thought:



So at some point I will fall behind, as my opponents keep expanding in the new world, and their traits start having a bigger impact, while my traits lose their worth.

It's funny my civ has Russia's color, because I think a quote from Catherine the Great is pretty appropriate here:

"I have no way to defend my borders, except to extend them."

But before that, I need to fill all the available lands, grow vertically and start building an army worthy of... Catherine.

The south:



Dhalphir obviously gets a pass, and I won't be taking his coastal city from him while our trade is active (I could, but it wouldn't seem right). Auster will put another turn into a Market, grow to size 11 and build a Settler for the coastal site left. My own little Crimea, the only temperate coastal zone to my disposal.

The cold north:



Chabon whips the Forge next turn, already has a few turns into a Settler, so will finish it asap when it gets a chop. By the time the Settler reached the site by the Horses, they will have been improved. I'd like to set up this city pretty fast, so I can get a city on the Silver island for some intercontinental trade routes (seems pretty gamey, who'd want to trade with that ice speck?). As you can see the northern seas are blocked by ice. I'll grab another city by the Iron/Deer/Whale to block off Whosit, and probably another fishing city by the Furs.

Ice, Furs, Deer, landlocked, enemies on all sides... I really should change my civ to Russia...

[darrelljs]

Its been nine days, are you at war yet or not?

Darrell

[NobleHelium]

Of course Russia is at war, haven't you read the news?

[darrelljs]

Ilios is the only guy that can play Russia and never declare war.

Darrell