Greek Science

Horseback riding comes in the next turn. Bah. Then a mini-rush of CoL + Math + Map Making.

One. More. Time. 5 swords vs Washington. 3hp spear as best defense. Spear dies no losses. Spear dies 1hp loss. Spear kills my vet sword, no hp lost. Spear kills my vet sword, no hp lost. Spear finally dies to my elite named sword unit. Jeezus. Next turn, 3 hp spear dies to my elite sword with 3 hp lost, and...

And of course I, in my idiocy, move the captured workers from the settler in Washington right into range of a roving Impi. Speaking of which, State of the Empire, 210 BC:

Serious problems at the moment: Securing the borders, and getting to the point where I can knock out American hopefully. Abe's looking weak now, but I have this sinking feeling Shaka's right behind him. If I could deal with Rome, I'd be happier, too. We can but hope.

And I know the RNG is out to get me. I just know. Regular archer vs elite hoplite, fortified in a town across a river. Archer wins without a scratch. What. The. Hell.

<Civ's RNG is guillotined>

And then the next turn he does it again to an elite sword. Gah.

And lo, 130 BC Beijing completes the Oracle. China's going to suck later, I have a feeling.

50 BC - When Impis attack... One sword in Washington is responsible for the deaths of 5-6 attacking units. If it can hold out one more turn, I'm set. If not... Ick. Unfortunately for me, the regular archer unit rears its ugly head, attacking ACROSS A RIVER AND KILLING MY FORTIFIED ELITE SWORD. ARGH!

Of course Abe is weak enough that Washington is recaptured next turn. Of course there are tons of Impis sitting around waiting... Which means Washington falls to the evil Zulu in 30 AD.

On the other hand, enough hoplites have been diverted to form this finally:

About the time my Hoplite Wall went in, the Romans started moving HORDES of guys up through those northern mountains. 10 odd horses and archers in two stacks started moving in on Thermopylae, which had already been the scene of some SERIOUS warfare already. The 300 Spartans have absolutely nothing on my defenders there.

Also in 130 AD, the first Roman Legion makes an appearance being unthreatening down south. Ick. Things are going to get ugly really fast. And I'm barely keeping up with 4 cities. But that's why we have sword mini-SODs, right?

190 AD, following titanic battles at Thermopylae, I net Polytheism/Construction from the GL. Woot! That means fortresses and maybe the Great Wall if I feel up to it. And we're on our way to better government as I start Monarchy research at min science.

AD 300 I FINALLY pick up a leader again after I don't know how many turns of trying. Ajax goes to form an army in Sparta, which of course I can't fill yet for lack of troops.

You can see the conditions around Thermopylae pretty well in that shot. There's at least 5 or 6 attacks on the city per turn, and the defense is two measly hoplites. I'm not losing ground, but I'm sure not gaining any, either.