Turn 60
Open the save and well, there’s war afoot. It’s not us, though:
Australia/Russia are at war against Norway/Phoenicia. What’s puzzling is that based on turn order it appears that Russia/Australia are the aggressors despite their lower milpower.
If Norway/Phoenicia had declared we would have found out about it on Roland’s turn. The gossip section of the deal screen confirms this – Norway’s gossip shows that they were declared upon.
This bodes well for us as it should allow us to expand peacefully while Norway/Phoenicia deal with war. However, we need to keep an eye on our defenses as once it’s over they’ll have a well-oiled war machine with no targets. All the more reason for me to settle Big Island inland from the coast except for one or two coastal ports.
Craftsmanship is complete, start Recorded History. It’s got 9 turns to go but that will drop by 2-3 turns once the age rolls next turn. Shipbuilding is actually 1 turn from completion once I take the era penalty off it so I start Masonry. I’ll put one turn into that, finish Shipbuilding after next turn and then go Masonry → Celestial Navigation → Archery. I think Al is going to produce some slingers instead of warriors. I can get either type of unit out in two turns but want two slingers on Big Island for archer support & defense. Make a policy change, Conscription is out, Agoge is in. That doesn’t change the build time at OC.
Roland, we have a bit of a decision point with regards to Brussels:
We don’t know what is on land to the north of the city and it doesn’t appear to have good growth prospects. What it does have is four bonus sea resources which means that Kampung would be strong here. Appeal is good as the city center, the tile to the NW and the woods across the channel are all breathtaking. It’s exposed and the first build would need to be walls. The city’s role would likely be one of just population (because
and housing will be plentiful) and commerce (Harbor) but it might be hard to defend. Thoughts? I could start an attack the turn after next and take the city in three turns.
The galley at Delicate Arch rounds the point and sees land to the south. I may go check that out for a turn or two to see if there’s anything down there.
The war declaration doesn’t make any sense. It gives a stronger faction a hard-to-get inspiration (Defensive Tactics) and completely nerfs one of their own civ abilities (Australia’s bonus
) in the process. Definitely puzzling.
Elsewhere, Kaiser has a settler out. Right now it looks like Archduke will have a dark age, MptF will have a normal age and everyone else is golden.
If you’ve been reading my reports for several games now you know how my next turn report is going to start…