Aiming For Victory

Time to look ahead for my endgame strategy.  I can easily see that Domination would be the way to get the most score, as each city is more opportunities for Soldier and Priest points, but this Large map is already bogging down my system, and I have RL commitments (a conference coming up) that will limit my playing time.  So, continuous warfare is probably not feasible, Space is probably going to be the quickest way to victory (diplo is out, hardly anyone likes me).  I do decide to take out Saladin and at least claim my whole continent to boost my score, as well as continue pushing missionaries out as much as I can. 

 Over the next few turns, I complete several projects, including Forbidden Palace (1510, in Yekaterinburg), Spiral Minaret (1515), and the Hanging Gardens (overlooked by everyone, 1535).  This time, the GPP points work out, and I get my Prophet, so the Dai Miao is built in Rostov in 1525.  I did miss out on Notre Dame.  I also got a good lesson in improved AI, as Hattie cancels my horses deal, the very turn I get Gunpowder to enable my Cossacks (I had already researched MilTrad).  She was still willing to trade, but the price went up significantly, it now cost me Bananas, Dye, and 19gpt!  I was impressed!  

War with Saladin

 I used the cash from Notre Dame to upgrade 5 Knights to Cossacks, and headed toward Saladin at Kufah. 

He also impressed me, as a counterattack came out of the tundra further north toward Orenburg, one of my tundra cities, causing some quick shifting of reinforcements:

 But the Cossacks really rock!

Due to the Cossacks, and the fact I was significantly outproducing him, it was a steady advance after that. 

The only other problem was his caravels, he started sailing two pair of them around the southern coast, and I didn’t have anything to stop them!  My caravels were busy spreading missionaries in India, I had one galley (that lost the first battle) and ended up losing several fishing boats.  Finally, Asoka offered Astronomy for Mil Trad, and I took it, so I could build a navy. 

GP luck was going better.  I got an engineer in time to rush Versailles, and then another prophet to build the Islam shrine in 1635.  I also completed the Taj Mahal for another GA, which carried me through to the war’s conclusion.  I took Sal’s last mainland city in 1700, letting him and Izzy share the Isle of Exile.