*spoiler* Jack vs Aggie

[jack merchant]

to be updated when the game starts

[jack merchant]

I met the Ottomans already - they're *very* close to me. There's wheat to the SW of my capital - I'll have to skip the initial granary once more to get there ahead of them.

Pictures later :)

[jack merchant]

I have three cities by turn 38 - 2 useful ones and another one far away in the jungle from a hut. The third city has dyes but it will take several millenia to get those online.

I'm building up archers to go after the Ottomans.

[ERIKK]

Risky business, early war with only 2 cities producing units! I would love to see th4e minimap!

[jack merchant]

You ask, we provide :)

My empire:

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/jack merchant/200341621145_jmvsag2.jpg
154.38KB

As you can see, there is probably room for only one more city to the North of Moscow, after that I'll have to grab terrain by force. The Ottomans have stolen the high food sites near my capital, and if I don't do anything about it, I'm screwed.
Moscow is building a granary now so it can grow to faster produce archers - in hindsight I should of course have built a barracks first.

[ERIKK]

yeah, that sucks!

Not a nice location for a PBEM!!!!

[anarres]

Have you thought of getting a city to the NE of Kiev, one to the S of Kiev, and another to the SW of Moscow?

ICS stlye placement works very well when you are hemmed in. The cost of maintaining an army can be extortionate, and with only 2 productive cities you are in deep shit...

[jack merchant]

I have now built another city to the Norht of Moscow, and spent the rest of the time building up an archer army. I have just declared war on the Ottomans and moved my stack next to Edrine (on the picture above). Unfortunately, it grew to size 7 the turn before I went in - let's hope the Otto's whip a defender there.
If I can take it though, I'll have iron too.

[jack merchant]

Well, I bit the bullet and declared war on the Otto's anyway. I captured Edrine (which came with a granary, yay ! ) and Uskudar (to the NW). I wanted Iznik too, but I botched it and didn't bring enough troops. In the subsequent peace treaty, I bought writing, mysticism, mathematics and horseback riding for 8gpt and 190 gold.
I'll found one more city to the north of Edrine and will spend the next 20 turns building up for a final war against the Ottomans.
In other news, I'm now at war with the Vikings too. I don't remember a tribute demand, so it's possible the Ottos bought them in.
The latest map at turn 80:

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/jack merchant/2003428232554_JMvsAGmap.jpg
136.65KB

[jack merchant]

I spent the last twenty turns building up for another war with the Otto's - this time with swords. Somewhere along the way, the Germans declared war on me too - I don't know how. The Ottomans got Feudalism as their free tech, but they didn't have pikes yet when I went in once more. I have razed Istanbul now and captured Antalya and Iznik, netting me 9 slaves total. Right now, I intend to capture Bursa and its ivory and Ankara (newly founded to the South of Iznik). Resistance was light, fortunately. Í'm not all that strong myself. Strong enough though, hopefully, to extort several techs from the Otto's for peace.
The new map:


http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/jack merchant/20035304723_JMvsAG_newwar.jpg
86.1KB

[jack merchant]

I just took Bursa and Ankara as planned, plus a settler pair for a total haul from the war of 12 slaves, 5 cities, an extra lux and horses . I then made peace, and got literature, philosophy, mapmaking, polytheism, currency, construction and the world map in the peace treaty for 2 gpt and 150 gold !
This catapulted me into the Middle Ages and I got Engineering as my free tech. Engineering and 7 gpt was enough to buy the Republic from the Mongols, and I also sold it to the Chinese for some straightup gold and 27 gpt. I immediately revolted and drew 6 turns of anarchy, ouch !
I made peace with the Germans for literature and some gold as they're rather big but I'm still at war with the Vikings, as they don't scare me much and it will take forever for them to get to me. I lost a city to them early on (the far-off city from a hut) so peace is far too expensive now.
Things are definitely looking up in the Russian empire.

[jack merchant]

And my empire :

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/jack merchant/200353122059_JMvsAG-medieval.jpg
65.81KB

[DrAlimentado]

hmmm, going nicely there Jack :D

so now you have given the turks a good [hammer] what are your plans?

[jack merchant]

Hehe - I got somewhat lucky in that the Ottomans didn't get around to hooking up their other iron for some reason, so it was my swords versus their archers and some regular horses. Also, they were building Sun Tzu in Istanbul when I attacked, so I got my 4 sword/5 archer SOD safely next to their city, south of the river, without being counterattacked too heavily - 3 moves through enemy territory. Caught them with their pants down, so to speak :)

From here on, I'll probably build the FP in Edrine (and hopefully move the palace later) and go after the Otto's again in another 20 turns to take the silks they have (which will give me 3 native luxes) plus some other spare lux supplies. I need markets everywhere, some aqueducts, more workers and I'll build some horses for later upgrade.

The Germans look the most threatening atm - I need to slow them down somehow. The Vikings have lousy terrain, the Mongols took some hurt from Aggie I think and the Ottomans have been rendered impotent. Plus Aggie told me his rep is shot, so he'll have a real job digging himself out of the tech hole he's in. I'd go for heavy warmongering if I were him. But all that leaves the Germans as the strongest civ, and that means trouble sooner or later.

[Aggie]

Jack, I'm very sorry to spoil your great game, but I have to give up. [cry]. One stupid mistake was enough to blow all my chances. Congrats [party].