Zhonghua Wenming Jinian - The Annals of the Chinese Civilization

[thestick]

Bureaucracy came in. Everything's going as planned.






I am a harsh ruler. Gold/Beaker skew is 1:1.27, which is why I hired Merchants.

Bureaucracy didn't actually do much to my research rate because Kuanghai pawned its river tiles to the Incubators. Current goal is to grow and steal them back.

Change of plans, I'll settle the Fish city as seen in this old shot.


(Relatively) unpillageable Fish!




Holy cow, I've been on RB for two years! Now I just need to wait for June 2nd to mark the second year of RB quotes.

[Old Harry]

[thestick]

I was rethinking where to put the Epics. I was reconsidering the Heroic Epic in Yanzhuang, but I decided that its remaining Forests compensate for it being low size. I'm not quite sure I want to build the National Epic in Meiyuan - the main problem is that Meiyuan is still woefully behind on its essential infrastructure, not even having a Forge. Maybe relocate it to Huangkou?

It boggles the mind that Jowy hasn't built the Parthenon with his Marbled Industrious civ. Yet I'm probably too chicken to attempt to steal it out from under him. I need Iron Working by T95 - let's see if we can't build Wealth everywhere and squeeze out Music before then.

I wonder if I'm overbuilding Forges? When you can't articulate exactly why you want them, that's a good sign you don't need them. I'm not quite sure how to get the economy running again, with Courthouses producing 3 GPT, Markets producing 2 GPT, and Libraries producing 1 BPT. Build Libraries anyway and grow onto Scientists?

Anyway, Kuanghai, the cause of, and the solution to my economic problems:


Bad news, my Bureaucap isn't working the shared riverside villages.

I finally have food to spare in Ximen:


Probably going to farm over most of those grasslands.

I wonder if that 0/1/6 desert Incense is a good tile to work. Is swapping 3 GPPs for 1 hammer still worthwhile?

[thestick]

Kouxiaqie (transliteration of Kostchtchie) was settled:


Costs me 8 GPT.

I might be able to squeeze out Music EOT 93 - it depends how much maintanence the new city requires and how many Merchants I can starve out.

[thestick]

Yinlin was settled:


I shouldn't have scheduled the chops at the same time; I would've run into the overflow cap.

Jowy still hasn't picked up the Music Great Artist. You now what that means: time to cheese GNP and hire Merchants everywhere.



Mmm, cheese.

[thestick]

The results of all that cheesing:



Time to take stock of the situation. Quick speed cost of relevant wonders:
Forbidden Palace/Heroic Epic: 134
National Epic: 167
ToA: 234
Parthenon: 268
Sistine: 402

Unsure of whether I want to trick myself into believing Jowy will keep putting off the Parthenon and I'll be able to snatch it from him. I'll probably skip the Parthenon and just head for Sistine.

5-turn plan is simple, whip Libraries and other infrastructure in the 5-turn Slavery window before the GA and backfill on Iron Working, Meditation (Monastaries) and Construction (bridges). Economy is 20% without the Merchants, so time to settle more cities.

Mid-term plan is to pick up all the per city bonuses in Monk Economy and Mercantilism, and polish off Sian with Maces/Crossbows. Tentatively Paper->Machinery->Theology->Guilds.

Long term... even though it'd probably be quickest to go Cuirassiers and eat Jowy, I'm more of a builder at heart. I'd rather go Astronomy/Communism and settle the other continent.

[Old Harry]

Very nice. Which opponent(s) do you think can stop you now?

[thestick]

Bob is the current second place and the short-term threat. He has the second-most cities (11?), second-biggest empire due to Creative, and although some of this is cheap Creative culture, he's had the (second?) highest GNP for a while. Plus, you know, he actually borders me and I'm ridiculously paranoid, despite him being 4th in Power. (See: the 6 Spears I have on the border)

I think Mardoc's going to be the long-term threat, though. Mardoc's currenly juuust behind Bob, 10 cities, 3rd Crop Yield. Bob's stopped reporting, while Mardoc hasn't. Judging by the Espionage graph, Mardoc has ~6 Ziggurats compared to my 4 Courthouses and everyone else's 0. Bob's Creative/Industrious is starting to run out of steam, especially with everyone (except Sian) having easy access to Stone/Marble, while Mardoc's Organized trait should still be on the tail end of usefulness.

Though I could just be overvaluing Mardoc's enthusiasm...

Anyway, whipped down the empire, which isn't very interesting to read about. Finally built the Market in the cap - probably should've built more Markets and fewer Courthouses... Trying to figure out where to build the Forbidden Palace - I'm thinking Huishan. Hammer-rich and towards the west, where most of the expansion will take place.



(Yes, going to pawn off the riverside town/village as soon as its convenient.)

[thestick]

Last turn, a Sianic Work Boat came wandering out of the fog:



A couple of turns ago, Iron Working came in, and it turns out I have Iron at Yuedao!


This will be a great wonder whore.

During the next Golden Age, I'm hoping to starve out a Scientist/Artist from Ximen to pair up with the Merchant:


And an Engineer/Prophet from Yanggang:



The Heroic Epic completed:



Meiyuan, the brave little whipping boy, was whipped down again:



Random shot of Qinglong:





I take back what I said about Mardoc. City counts:
thestick: 15
Bob: 14
Jowy: 11
Mardoc: 10
Sian: 2

Mardoc's been stuck at 10 cities for the past forever.

Note to self: Build more Triremes.

[thestick]

Tongsi was settled:


Cost 8 GPT. Looks like I'm over the conqueror's plateau. Time to churn out more Workers, Settlers, and Missionaries in my hammer-rich cities.

In military news, I got visibility on Sian:


Nothing too threatening.

Tentative dotmap:


It always annoyed me that most of Kuanghai's cottages couldn't be shared...

Bob built the Parthenon.

Notes to self:
Yanggang: Size 9, 13/25 Food +5, 58/201 GPP +1 (Moai Statues)
Ximen: Size 12, 18/29 Food +9 31/201 GPP +2 (MoM)