CHRONICLES

RBCiv Epic Nine

Note that Tyre (above Tokyo) flipped to Egypt, and that Tatung is now green. Persia has started taking Chinese cities, and um, they aren't showing any indications of being satisfied with that.

Because China and Persia were at war, and I had the Chinese settlers blockaded at Edo, Egypt was the one to grab almost all of the north. (Was this again part of my doing? I will be interested to see other reports and see who first claims all that land up there in other games).

The very fact that it was peaceful, wonder-building Egypt who claimed so much of the north while Persia did NOTHING but build endless troops and completely conquer China (yep) would turn out to be pivotal in my game. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. More on that in a bit.

Look up at that shot above one more time and notice how much of the jungle I have cleared already, still in the BC era. I trained settlers and spears out of Kyoto, and workers galore out of all the rest of my cities. I went totally nuts training workers, looking for a longer term payoff. Osaka built its temple, then four workers (no granary), then started on a library. Those four workers could clear a jungle tile in just six turns. I HAD TO keep it culturally dominant, in that sad position the AI's forced me to with all their aggressive close settling. Persia and China were both locked in mortal combat and their cultures were LAGGING, being actually worse than mine! Egypt on the other hand... they were dominant culturally, and I could not afford ANY pressure from their city on Osaka. It was a race to stay ahead of Byblos, but I did have some head start.

I also had the cultural lead in the other contested areas of my border, and in fact I would maintain all these leads for the duration, but only because I worked so dilligently to do so. I actually whipped Kago twice to finish its courthouse, too, after training a couple of workers out of there.

Contact with the Germans was made shortly after AD time. I bought in through Persia, and then actually found Germany wholly isolated and broke. They had some techs I didn't, though, like Republic, and I had some they didn't. We traded and it was a great boost to me. Instead of waiting another thirty turns or so for Republic, I got it much sooner, and being religious, I could actually afford even with all my gpt debts to survive ONE turn of anarchy. Um... if I could save just a few tiny bits of cash first. Heh. (I was dead broke).

While I waited on that, Persia stopped with the endless flow of immortals and started with the endless flow of knights. What follows is what I call a "Deity RoP":

See all those Persian knights heading north to attack Chinese colonies? And the workers moving back and forth along my southern border? Those units have a Deity Right of Passage. It's a one-way deal: a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. They don't ask for permission to come through, and I don't tell them they aren't allowed to pass. They pass whenever the Hell they want. That's what I call a Deity RoP. :) If you play on Deity much, you understand. :)

Two gold in the bank? 5gpt income? And I need HOW much to survive one turn of anarchy without losing units or buildings? Hmm. Well, not too bad. Selling maps here or there helps a little. I finally get to this point:

Ah the advantages of being a religious civ! That's one more Deity issue: the AI's, ALL of them, have a max two turns of anarchy, so it's virtually as if they are all religious in this regard. You can get stuck with a whopping 8-turn governmental down time, losing food, all commerce, etc, while they can all -- ALL -- flop around governments whenever they please, at minimal cost. Bah. If they didn't NEED such advantages, though, I might begrudge them more. As it is, they are still too unsophisiticated to compete with a human player without that kind of help, big time.

Here's a look at the new Republic of Japan. Note that Izumo has finally been founded, south of Kago, after the settler wandered around forever in search of a home and never found one. A half city beats no city, though. I could borrow some lands from Kago and have two size 12 to size 15 cities with lots of water tiles. Not the worst situation. Still, I've only got four really strong locations: Kyoto, Osaka, Tokyo, Edo. Yep, my first four cities. Satsuma had way too much water to be a production powerhouse, likewise Kago, Nara, Izumo. Nagoya was too squeezed. All in all, though, I've had less on Deity and still won. Just have to bide my time and close the gap on the AI's while they war on one another.

Oh, and one more thing in that picture: check the minimap. China has lost EVERY CITY they owned on the mainland, except their capital. They even built the Lighthouse, and now Persia owns that. China's got their capital, three towns on islands off my west coast, and one tundra village on the northeast tip of the continent. Yet Persia has spent so much into war, they are actually lacking in infrastructure! All their captured cities and even some of their own outer ring cities with unexpanded borders. They've been in Always War mode for a couple of millenia now, both of them. What's the most amazing thing is Persia sent all their workers to the jungle and NEVER BOTHERED to fully improve the tiles at their core cities! Amazing stuff. Almost a newbie mistake there. Even so, they had so much military now, they could beat up on anybody they chose to attack. I did my best to look friendly: I bought their spices, and I never blocked their way through my lands. That one Chinese settler pair that got through, but so late they grabbed one of the last locations, may also have contributed to my eventual success. Persia got tied up for centuries trying to send troops across my land. That bought a lot of time for me to grow my cities. You can see an almost endless train of Persian knights with their Deity RoP. One bad thing for the AI's, though, in trampling across the player's land like this, is that without a true RoP, their progress is considerably slowed. Their own stinginess works against them in not ever being willing to sign RoP without demanding payment, when they have more territory than you.

LOOK at all that territory Cleo claimed in the north. And yet... Persia's moving tons of units up there, and left them at their couple of cities up there after they finally called off the dogs against Mao. So consider: Persia with DOZENS of knights wandering around the north, looking for something to do, while Egypt has sent nothing up there but a few spears and whatever those very corrupt sites can build and train on their own. Hmm. You foresee anything out of THAT combination? I did. I wish I could say I planned it that way, though I did not. A lot of this appears to be a direct result of the particulars of my blockade: first I got them fighting over the dyes, then kept China and Persia from moving north while Egypt was the first to slip through. For once I can SEE the impact of my own actions on the AI's. It's a fascinating thing to watch, and not wholly within my own control here. I didn't foresee all these side effects. One thing's for sure: sometimes it's best of all to be both lucky AND good! :)

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