There was a day break between the previous part and this one so I had some time to think about the game. I also got some very helpful advice on r/civ4 from u/BluEyz.
When we had left off in Part Four, an extremely expensive war, far too expensive for what I got, was concluded. Still, a win is a win and while we’ve fallen behind hard in the technology race, the rebuilding of Aachen and Vienna should hopefully start to put us in a better situation.
The war was not all swords and shields, however. Not reported in the previous parts but important to mention is that Amsterdam and Utrecht both have libraries. Amsterdam also built a library and is finishing up the Moai statues for the extra production on the water tiles. Utrecht is currently building an aqueduct for the health while the new city of Rotterdam begins construction on its own library.
Aachen is nearly finished making a worker to begin our economic recovery as the Apostolic Palace is built by the Buddhist bloc, either by Persia or Sumeria. (My guess from the voting results would be Persia who easily swept the leadership election.)
Alphabet is finished and I move immediately onto Currency to continue the recovery. All is not lost yet, though my far-flung hopes of getting Liberalism first are probably just a pipe dream. Amsterdam finishes the Moai heads and so my attention is turned to building a forge which I will try to rush through since Amsterdam is both unhappy and unhealthy.
Utrecht finishes its aqueduct but already has a forge, leaving me with not many options for buildings. Actually there’s only one building available: A Hindu temple. Despite how widespread Buddhism is, Hinduism is the only religion in Utrecht. This does serve me, however, because I can get the bonus culture and happiness from the temples and bonus science too. Collecting religions like Pokemon cards seems a good strategy for making up the difference.
Aachen finishes its worker a turn later and construction begins on the library. The workers are ordered to start building cottages on the flood plains.
Meanwhile, Cyrus comes asking if I’m willing to trade technology. I guess the deficit already isn’t that bad if they want to trade! The deal is Metal Working for Calendar. Obviously this benefits Cyrus more than it benefits me, but I need to make up the tech deficit and beggars can’t be choosers. Besides, Cyrus is pleased with me, and I want to keep it that way.
Frankfurt, on the frontier of my new borders, seems as though it might be reclaiming its culture, however the pressed borders against it have made it fall back down to being 1 population.’
I decide to begin researching Theocracy into Paper. My chances of actually building the University of Sankore are slim, but it is still in play. With Currency completed, both Amsterdam and Utrecht begin making markets. Rather scarily, Cyrus’ lead in the game grows larger, but I’m still in the front of the pack by culture.
Aha! A great scientist! His academy will be of great use to us. Just ignore the glowing stink-lines coming off of Amsterdam. Apparently we haven’t invented showers yet.
Taoism has now begun to spread within our lands, once again somehow making the jump past all my cities on the border with Frederick where Taoism seems to be native to and straight to Utrecht. I guess it’s just a real melting pot down there, huh?
Paper finishes and Amsterdam begins work on Sankore. Maybe, just maybe if we’re lucky...
This time it’s Victoria that comes knocking to trade techs. She wants Paper and she’s willing to give me Machinery and a handful of cash. Needing both, I accept, even though I was already working on Machinery.
I begin to also intentionally spread religion within my lands. A Taoist missionary is sent from Utrecht to Amsterdam and so is a Buddhist missionary on his heels. Coincidentally, Islam is founded a turn later and now all the religions are here. I call up Cyrus and ask him how much for his world map. Victoria had just given me 80 gold so Cyrus’ 90 asking price seemed fair enough since I found it likely he’d have the whole continent mapped.
Sure enough, Cyrus did have the place figured out.
There are a few conclusions to be drawn from this map.
Conclusion 1: I got a really, really, really bad starting location.
Conclusion 2: Germany and Sumeria are much weaker than I thought.
Conclusion 3: Persia is much, much bigger than I thought.
If I end up going to war again, it may be to consolidate the territory east of me that is Germany. I don’t want to get stuck in another long war, we’re only just recovering now. The recovery does seem to be going extremely well though and the Dutch renaissance is truly here.
Philosophy finishes in five turns. Perhaps Liberalism is still on the table after all.
Luck of luck! Gold is spontaneously discovered right outside Amsterdam! The economy of Amsterdam is really moving now and research can be put all the way up to 80% with a small profit. This really is our renaissance!
Wait… does that say Amsterclam? How long has it said that?