I inch forward, and take Nara SW of Frankfurt. The city won't amount to much, but I need to keep moving the front forward. This was the easiest spot to grab. I suspect this city will be an economic waste the whole game.
I get another great scientist. With my research pace starting to die, I simply light bulb printing press. I need that extra money from PP. Frankfurt is coming on-line as a commerce city. One of the real headaches with food-poor map is lack of good economy cities. Despite markets and courts my economy is horrid for this late in the game. Trying to support such a large army isn't helping. Lack of useful trade routes is also painful.
What is frustrating is I get a popup that Tokugawa is still the largest civ. This is despite me taking Nara.
I pull the liberalism slingshot. Printing press is still on the list, as I need a couple of turns to top of the work of the scientist.
I finally get to hurt Japan some. Nara has been a disaster with troop losses, so it took far to long to get back on the offensive. The city was razed to the ground, so that I could build a city on the hill. I need every possible defensive advantage. The troop types are just to even. I didn't want to repeat the Nara mistake. Nara 1 tile north on the hill would have saved me multiple units.
I get yet another scientist. I am going to hold for a bit, and research compass (4 turns) to see if he gives a useful choice afterwards. His next choice is also useless with optics (5 turns). At that point I make an academy in Frankfurt, my 4th best income city. I expect that to go up third best city soon, as the hamlets upgrade.
I pull of a key wonder. The first German GA begins. I think this is the first in the game. I am glad now that I found the marble source. It was just out of visible range until Lahore expanded its borders.
When Gandhi adopts free market, I know I am still behind on some parts of the tech tree. This is probably from pushing toward liberalism / nationhood to snag a GA.
This town is such a piece of junk that I simply raze it. My economy isn't up to supporting more junk cities at this time. I won't argue with the free workers.
It is probably one of the latest times to build it, but add the Hagia Sophia to the wonder list.
With this being AW, I actually revolt into mercantilism. I normally prefer free market, but I feel the free specialist is just as valuable without foreign trade.
This is the time when I suffer one of the worst rounds of troop losses. Lack of map intelligence is a killer, and I found Tokyo with to small of a stack. I lost almost all of my city attackers, along with other units. Macemen build up will be needed before I can attack again.
Despite being noble, Indian is announced as the tech leader.
I slam dunk Norte Dame thanks to my recent GE. However, it turns out I should have rushed the Spiral Minaret. India beat me to the better wonder. I feel the economy boast is better this game.
This time Tokyo is razed to the ground. Now that should put a dent in Japanese strength. This has the added bonus of bringing the gold into the borders of Essen. A happiness buffer is really appreciated.
I am slowly breaking out. I get to hurt India again. I really hope this slows his tech pace down. I will replace the city with yellow dot, as I can't afford to waste the two good food squares noted with black dots.
Another GE is used to get a big jump on Versailles. I don't know if the city building it will be strong enough to finish. If nothing else I will get a large block of cash for deficit research.
With the AI blockading all sea tiles, I simply abandon the city. I wonder if I will earn an honorable mention for the only player to destroy a city via a flip?
The city will be squeezed for a while culturally, but I keep it. My next target is Kufah. I hope I can take the Indian capital as the third target once cavalry make it to the front. That garrison was so large that I turned around the second I saw it.
