AUSG101 - Diplomatic Solo Path - DAR2

[Cort Haus]

TURNS 41-50

2150
Complete Settler, start Spear in Mecca. Settler/warr head for Spices to S

2110
It seems the Americans were not too impressed by 2gpt after all. Their warriors are converging for attack - unless there are barbs by my spices.
F3 says barbs near Damascus
Medina builds walls, start warrior.
Spice cluster finally found near americans. My exploration has been neglected, but they can't have found another Civ.

2070
Americans turn round

2030
Toggie the Foul is annoyed.

1990
Barbs appear nearr Medina. Not much around to deal with it. Maybe the Americans can help...
Raise the lux bar and send Spear from Mecca
Found Najran on Spice, build Warr (5turns)
Accompanying warrior continues to explore southern jungle.

1950
Barb buggers off. Damascus works forest to speed granary before size 3.


1910
Medina builds Warrior, starts Temple.
Settler/Spear to rivered grassland Mecca-666
Wow, there's a whole loada land to the south. All jungle, so far - but maybe there's something, or someone else.
Renew tribute (only 1gpt for 5 turns left on each, so 10G + 1gpt each). Both go Polite. They'd love me if I had an embassy. Pah! Religion.

1870
Japan cautious, America still polite.

1830
Baghdad completes worker, starts Barracks. (Use forest, so 20 turn)
Worker to build road to Medina.
Americans start Oracle.

1790
Mecca completes Spear. Start Worker
Najran completes warrior, starts spear (10 turns)
Kufah founded. Starts Warrior.
Enemies both have Iron working and will sell for 130G (and Horseriding for 100G)
Pay Japan 5gpt + 30g for it. That should help keep the peace, too. They go from Annoyed to Cautious
Americans Cautious. On their turn they threaten for 27G. Given. Polite.

[Cort Haus]

1750
There is Iron right out between Damascus and Boston, and some more right in Kyoto's front garden. It falls into their territory in 10 turns.
I could build a settler in medina in 11 turns and I can maybe nick it off them. This is bound to mean war.
Meanwhile, my Scouts hover by Japanese & American borders, about to risk a little trespass.
I'll move a Wr over there
Contact! It's Carthage down South. They've only got 3 cities.
I trade CB, Pottery, 1gpt and 15g for Alphabet. They go Polite, but have no more tech.

1725
Scouts start operating inside enemy territory, ignoring the bluster. Japan Annoyed.

1700
Sold Alphabet to Japan & America for about 150g total (didn't note exact amount)
Score & Powergraphs OK (pic: score_1700bc, power_1700bc). Japan is very small but they can still be a problem.
I can't decide whether to try and settle on their Iron or not. If I don't they will be more dangerous, but if I do they are bound to choose war.
I'd rather have embassies in if they do so. I have 9 turns to decide - settler or temple in Medina. (pic: Medina Iron Decision).
However, I need to think about getting military up there before then if I am to settle there.

1675
Scouting shows that America has its own fur and spice in addition to the northern spice cluster that it must realistically claim. I can't reach there while I'm trying to sqeeze Japan. Looking at the map, there's something to be said for Japan growing eastward, towards the americans and the spices, if it brought them into border contact with America. However much I want a weak Japan, there's a contradiction between that and wanting them at war with America. Would a crushed Japan and a huge America be better than than a Samauri-toting but containable Japan? Carthage, usually a good neighbour, will most likely only have a main border with me, so are not such direct players, but with them behind in the tech race they could feasibly be bought into an ancient-era conflict

The luxury distribution on this continent is not great for Arabia, and seems to favour a military approach to achieving a monopoly.
Getting a road to Japan and trading or gifting them spices would be good.

1650
Mecca completes Settler. Starts Spearman.
S/S pair head for eastern Iron. A city there with access to both inland seas offers interesting strategic possibilities.
Damascus completes Granary. Starts Warrior
Kufah completes warrior, who goes east towards the Iron area. Starts Warrior.
America wr near Najran - wants to get thru andn meet Carthage. Spear changed to warrior. Lose two shields but need a blocker.

1625
Narjan completes wr, who wil try and block the americans. startrs wr.
America warrior turns away but their scout appears on the west coast.
Wr from Kufah turns back into town, while the spearman defends a worker connecting the town from the sky-blue warrior.


1600
Am. Wr returns toward Najran, so some unit-shuffling to help block the chokey.

1575
Mecca completes Spear. Starts Spear.
Japanese settler emerges from Kyoto, heading south-east

1550
Japanese settler continues SE towards cows.
Basra founded on eastern Iron. Starts Temple.
Gift Abe 10g + 1gpt. He goes Polite. Like, yeah.
Japan is Cautious. How did that happen?
I haven't flipped 'em anything since last time I checked and they were Annoyed.

1525
Polytheism researched. Start Writing : considered @18 turns, running -2 deficit against treasury of 363.
Decided to go @ 10 turns running -11 defecit

Damascus builds warrior, which goes North. Starts worker.
Kufah builds warrior, which goes east (the last one tried that). Starts Spearman.
One of Najran's warriors goes North. There are barbs round Medina, a naked worker & valuable road.
Spices connected! (Cracks open beer)
Kufah connected too. Thats the 5 core cities online with spice and horse. Don't want to connect Basra yet as it sits on Iron.
Medina will be connected in 7 turns, barbs permitting, then on to Japan.
Consider sending worker north to help with roads but deicide to mine Kufah's s/grass
The Najran chokepoint is now sealed with a warrior. I bet there be coal in that there junge. If Carthage jumps in there I'll assume so, if not then less likely.
We now have a stronger military than each rival, according to our advisor, Mr Effthree
I'm checking each turn to see if their available payment exceeds the value of my tech, when I would consider selling. I don't want to sell Polythesim yet anyway, but Cathage are behind Mysticism and Iron Working.

[Cort Haus]

Arabia, 1550

[Cort Haus]

Might try and ease off on the log as the Civ grows...

1500
Mecca completes Spear. Starts Temple.
Najran completes Warrior. Starts Worker
Japanese are building the Oracle. Bravo! That'll keep em quiet. And small.
If they ever got it it might mean cultural issues for my wannabe iron protectorate but they won't.
A spear joins the 2 warriors heading north (the Medina Division?)

1475
Medina completes settler, starts Temple. Ready to go for the Japanese Iron. S/S pair head NW.
Oops, scout moves within striking distance of Barb horse, So long...
Now Carthage has the hump (Cautious). Embassies in 7 turns.

1450
Damascus builds worker, which starts on the flood plain. Starts Settler
Scout was killed by Barb horse which can now hit Medina in 2 turns. Spear with settler moves back in (reinforcements arrive in 3 turns) but settler continues - there is warrior protection around.

1425
Barb horse heads instead for Satsuma.
Mecca builds temple, starts settler.
For Japan, Polytheism is down to HorseBR + 90g, so they're researching it. Abe'll still pay HBR + 170, so he's not.
Carthage has Writing! Now we're talking, er, writing. I trade it for Myst + 8g, he goes Polite.
I offer Writing to Abe, and he only offers 9g, so he's onto Writing next turn. I sell for 10g.
Start Monarchy@40 turns, +10gpt. It doesn't look like the others are going to charge through the middle to Republic in a hurry.
Establish embassies, totalling about 90g. Americans do Oracle in 27. Japan in, er, about 60-something ISTR.
Americans have 10 science in Washington. Both have furs hooked up. All go Polite. I can relax a bit now.
I can get a RoP with Carthage for 55g (which I take), Japan for only 10g, and America for 15g.


1400
Barb horseman comes back to pester Medina. Theres a worker to defend too, so Spear has to stay.
Settler meets up with a warrior. Another is at the city site.
Considering RoP with USA

1375
Narjan completes worker. Start Temple to get the nice fisheses.
Mecca hits size 6.

1350
Mecca completes Settler - start Spear but considering barracks (5 turns)
Barb horse lands on mnt adj to Baghdad. Warrior moves in to add to Spear defender. Barb will probably head for a road-pillagen now.
Settler arrives at hill SW of Japanese Iron.
Medina Spear belatedly moves towards Iron city site.

1325
Kufah completes Spear. Starts Barracks (10 turns) using forest
Pesky barb horse-on-forest now threatens Medina and its road.
Attack with warrior from Baghdad, who dies reducing barb to 1hp. Wr guarding worker finishes off.
Worker to furs.
Barb horse and wr also approach Basra in the SE.
Need more warriors up North. Maybe USA will despatch camp for us.
Build Khurusan on Japanese iron, and starts temple. Here goes...


1300
Basra survives barb attack. Another barb horse appears nr Medina. Spear has to return again to guard worker. Please Mr Barbarian. Hit Satsuma this time (pic : barbs1300bc)

1275
Baghdad builds barracks. Starts Warrior. Americans start Colossus.
Barb approaches Medina (boo!)
Rush temple in Basra.
Japan still Polite.
Treasury: 347g +17gpt

[Cort Haus]

1250
Basra completes Temple, starts Walls
Spearman kills barb in SE, gets promo

Anjar founded N of Mecca on river in centre of continent. Starts Temple
barb horse moves to threaten Baghdad
barb camp in SE is on mnt.
Japan's HBR now worth less than my Polytheism (+30g). Their HBR is worth 90 so Polytheism is worth 60g.
Intend to sell (to USA) just before Japan discovers it.

1225
Mecca completes Barracks, starts Spear
Japanese Warrior comes out to say hello to barb horse, which lurks near Medina
Damn! Japan and USA have Polytheism, and Japan has 200+g. How did that happen?
Japan can't turn 60g worth of research in a turn, on Monarch bonuses, surely? {fume}
Never mind, maybe Japan's dollars'll come in handy if they're still there when I get 'em hooked up to my spices.
Cathage got Myticism out of nowhere too. They'd pay over 70g last turn, I swear. Is this a feature of the AU mod? {fume again}

1200
Damascus builds it first Settler, starts Spearman
Japanese Warrior dispatches barb horseman.
Worker arrives near Baghdad to start developing it
Take SE barb camp on mnt, redlining Warrior.
Carthage, it appears, has a lot of room. They'll be a player later, no doubt.
USA warrior/settler is coming west, pasing up the spice cluster for the prime river / grassland site SE of Japan
Decision : Settle
(a) the nearby space near Washington
(b) one of 2 sites in the SE - either blocking America or good coastal game site nr Kufah
(c) core site on coast SW of capital
(d) west coast territory to fill in land including horses
(e) river site between Anjar in north and spice cluster
(f) dash for the spice cluster
Decide to head due north with S/S pair towards spice via the high ground and see what happens.

1175
American settler pair turns north
Japan are out and about big time, including a worker on my iron.
Gift them 1gpt + 10g. Same to Abe.

1150
Baghdad completes Warrior, starts Warrior.
Furs connected! (Another quick visit to the beer fridge)

1125
Mecca hits size 7, completes Spear, starts Settler


1100
Kufah builds Barracks, starts Chariot
USA founds San Fransisco on Japan's side of the spices. Odd.
Maybe there were barbs, I saw half a combat involving an a warrior and an invisible barb.
(pix, sf_1100, continent1100)

1075
Damascus completes Spearman, starts Settler
Baghdad switches to Spear (5 turns) after irrigation
Rush Temple in Khurasan

1050
Mecca completes Settler, starts Worker.
Settler/Spear head for west coast horse territory (d) above
Khurusan completes Temple, starts Walls, Spearman finally reaches Khurusan

I have the pleasure of meeting the ancient Minoans, briefly, in Carthage's back yard.
I've been to Knossos, and I'd put it at higher than 25g. Never mind.

1025
I think the Japanese warriors milling around me are just exploring, bless them. I hope they behave.
Poor little things, living in the darkness. I don't blame them for venturing, blinking into the sunlight.
Mecca builds worker, starts Spearman.
Japanes warrior finishes road on my Iron.
Settler arrives at Spice cluster

(sorry, couldn't include all the pics I mentioned in the text - too much fiddling around for now)

[Cort Haus]

Score

[Cort Haus]

Power:

[Cort Haus]

Save at 1025BC, end of DAR2

[Cort Haus]

Block 2 build roster:

Mecca :Spear, Settler (missed in log - about 2070), Spear, Worker, Settler, Spear, Temple, Settler, Barracks, Spear, Settler, Worker, Spearman
Medina : Warrior, Settler, Temple
Damascus : Warrior, Worker, Settler, Spearman, Settler
Baghdad : Barracks, Warrior, Spearman
Narjan : Warrior, Warrior, Warrior, Worker, Temple
Kufah : Warrior, Warrior, Spear, Barracks, Chariot
Basra: Temple, Walls,
Anjar : Temple
Khurasan : Temple

[Cort Haus]

1025BC - Civ Summary

Cities : 9 + 2 settlers
Total Pop points : 21
11 techs. Monarchy in 24 turns.
Units : 12 Spears, 10 Warriors, 1 Scout, 6 Workers, 2 Settlers
F11 : 1st in GNP, Land, Productivity, Approval, 2nd in pop, Mfg,

[Cort Haus]

Block features:

Finally met Carthage, after not believing there was any land down there earlier, got Alphabet and researched Writing for embassies and stress-relief.

Withholding contact of Carthage, Rexing nicely, Military OK and about to found on the Great Northern Spice Cluster.

Failed to sell Polytheism, after Japan seemed to quantum-jump the remainder or their research on it and then sold it to USA.

Squeezing Japan up North, founding on their Iron.

[Cort Haus]

Critique and counterpunch:

Shouldn't build Spearmen. Sod Off. Arrian answered that on another thread and I'd add that it's a natural inter-settler build on the pump. Also, 7 shields should be a spear, not a warrior build.

No Archers - didn't consider the bombard benefit and potential against Barbs. I still want my Spears, though, and Japan & USA are dealing with the barbs for me. They're also getting the money from them.

Might lose coal site in Jungle to Carthage - as priority is sqeezing Japan and maybe USA.

Slow to find Carthage, but could be forgiven. Scouts shouldn't do jungles and it looked like there was nothing down there.

No v-quick temples in core. This is argued on the DAR1 thread summary - they were sacrificed for growth & mil. Spice and lux bar kept 'em happy if needed.

[Mountain Sage]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
Shouldn't build Spearmen.

Yes, you should. 1 per city (later on only in border and coastal cities). Upgrades all the way to Mech Inf.