t75 - 1AD!
Constantinople: Warrior - <placeholder>
Adrianople: Settler - Forge
Right, so I got my first Great Prophet at the end of last turn. Obvious usage would be to build the The Mahabodhi and reap the 7+gpt from well-spread Buddhism. (7gpt ~ 10% research) However from reading my chat with Yaz, you will have guessed that I had another use in store for Ananda ... a Theo bulb followed by a grab for the Apostolic Palace.
No I had been operating on the assumption that Krill would be my main competition since his second Prophet is due ~t83 (without Specialist acceleration), and an 8t head-start on him would have been plenty. Now I'm facing down a ~4t head start - actually if Yaz was right that Darrell has 4t left on the tech, it's actually 5t but I'll go with 4t as he's probably able to accelerate if needed. So is 4t going to be enough for me to ride out his IND bonus and complete the AP first?
Here's Constantinople in production configuration:
![[Image: RBPBEM2_image031.jpg]](http://www.dreylin.net/civ4/RBPBEM/RBPBEM2_image031.jpg)
The Monastery is substituting for an un-accelerated AP (I always wrongly think it is Stone-driven). So 27h for 1t, then a base production of 20h with a target of 268h - 13t (needing an extra hammer). OK, so Darrell would have ~9t to beat me ... with a 50% IND bonus and probably a 25% Forge bonus ... so I'll assume 100%. 9t would need ~30hpt after multipliers, so 15hpt base - approximately the same as mine. Judging from the other Capitals I have seen, I'm on the top end, but it should be possible for him to make that.
I also have 2 forests primed and ready for 20h (base) each - which knocks 2t from the build time - but if he has any, then his multipliers do the same. So it would seem that we're tied again.
There's one Ace in the hole left ... Bureaucracy. Darrell has guaranteed me CS ASAP after discovery, and that's due when he gets his Great Merchant in a couple of turns. So let's assume I can revolt around the same time he can start the AP - t79; I'd have 87h invested, and my production will increase to 35hpt ... 6t. The chops would still knock off a turn each, so ~t83 I could complete the build and Darrell would need to do it in ~4t ... and revolting to Bureau would cost him one of those turns and give a lower payback.
OK, I think I've convinced myself, and the fact that this way I found Christianity in 1AD had nothing to do with it!
I have entered the Medieval era. Thessalonica is the Holy City (nice!), and the Missionary heads to Constantinople. Build switched to AP.
Buddhism into Adrianople.
Whip Granary into Antioch and queue up the Moai Statues to grab the overflow. I'll also finish the Mine on the plains hill South of the city to push that chop into the Moai overflow.
Calendar-Compass trade requested from SL, and Monarchy requested from Darrell. Drama dialed up to 11 - due in 3t.
I smell something weird going on with SL's cities; a few turns ago he had 6 same as me, but now he's down to 4. One I can explain easily - I'd spotted a newly-founded oddity at the Horse/Iron site between Ruff's two cities, and now that is showing up in Ruff's city listing ... fair enough.
The other missing city appears to be Headingly, which I believe to be his Ivory site. Knowing that Yaz declared on him for trading Ivory to Darrell, I suspect that he's gifted the city away to enable that trade. It doesn't show up on Darrell's city list, so my bet is that he's passed it across to Krill - who is the only other one with OB through Yaz to enable him to receive the Ivory and then trade it on to Darrell.
I call Cheesy Shenenegans!
Now I know that I have "friendship" deals with both Darrell & SL, but I can't say that I'm comfortable with this if it is going on ... particularly if they are taking advantage of trait-based building acceleration to put a Forge into SL's city on the cheap. Frankly, it's also not in my interests for Yaz to be defeated anytime soon as it opens up lots of space in the middle which I can't take advantage of.
I don't think I have enough evidence to make a public accusation, but I do have enough that I'm prepared to float my idea to Yaz and let him check things out. If it's proven correct then he can cut off the supply and I can hide in the shadows as the source of the intel....
![[Image: RBPBEM2_image030.jpg]](http://www.dreylin.net/civ4/RBPBEM/RBPBEM2_image030.jpg)
