[Civ VI] Long Live the Queen – The Great Buddhist Empire (Turns 171 – 180)

This is post is part of the Blog Community Play Along that is being hosted by Naithin of Time to Loot. You can find more details about it as well as a list of other participants and their posts on this link.

The image at the top was also made by him.

Previously on Long Live the Queen…

We made peace with Brazil. Then some decades went by and Brazil declared war on us. Again. Only for soon to ask for peace, which we graciously accepted. But really, Pedro, buddy, you need to stop declaring war at us willy-nilly. There are consequences to that, you know?

We were also able to found the last religion of the game, Buddhism and started spreading its holy words through out the empire.

This is how our current knowledge of the world looks like:

The areas in red are our territory. Green is Brazil, orange is Sumeria, dark turquoise is Egypt, navy blue is America, blue is France and the black ones are the City-States.

I am not sure at which age we are now… Late Medieval age? Maybe Renaissance already? It is somewhere about there.

As always the first thing I do is check how things are in our empire and the first thing I notice is that we are very low on gold. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing except we have a lot of military units to upgrade. We also still have a few cities to convert to Buddhism which should be easier than dealing with our economy.

Turn 171

Birmingham finished the construction of a Holy Site and I decided to order it to build a trader. Currently we can have up to 5 trade routes but only two of those are being used. Science is good but we really need the money too. Plus our costs will eventually rise and I’d rather not find ourselves in a position where we are losing gold each turn.

Another thing I don’t like much are those Sumerian catapults near our borders. I am pretty sure Gilgamesh is planning to declare a surprise war at us at any time. Because of that I decide to move some our troops to Birmingham. I doubt Pedro II can declare a war at us any time soon too.

Turn 172

London finishes building the Mahabodhi Temple world wonder which gives the city +4 faith per turn and two free Apostles. Those Apostles already come with one promotion so I do that and sent them over to Stoke-Upon-Trent as it hasn’t been converted to Buddhism yet.

I order London to make a Builder next as there are some iron nearby that we could exploit.

The Naval Tradition civic finished research on this turn too and I put Feudalism to be researched next since that was the only option and it was already boosted too.

Then there is the matter of choosing an envoy to send to one of the City States. My preference would be to send it to Valletta since it is pretty much between two of our cities. But Cleopatra is already a Suzerain of it and it could sour our relationship with her.

So I choose Carthage instead as it is between us and Brazil. We are already a Suzerain of that city-state but only at 4. I’d like it to be at 6 so we can get the production bonus for each Encampment we have. That and I think it is only at 6 that if anyone declares war at us (like say, Brazil. :p) they will automatically declare war at the city-state too. With the envoy I sent it will be at 5. I doubt I will be able to bring it to 6 during my reign but maybe one of my successors may be able to do it, if they share my thoughts on the matter.

Turn 173

Before this turn begins I notice there are barbarians running by Stoke-Upon-Trent borders that I missed the previous turn. They didn’t attack us and instead seemed to be going after Gilgamesh’s lands. Because of that I decided to let them live at least another turn. I am just hoping they will go harass the Sumerians and give them some trouble. If not I will kill them.

We finish researching Banking. I ponder about researching Shipbuilding since it is something we should have researched a long time ago. However with the possibility of a war with Gilgamesh I think having some cannons would be better so I choose Metal Casting instead.

Turn 174

This turn starts with Cleopatra congratulating us for the productivity of our people. Guess we’ll remain friends for a little while longer.

Just as I was hoping the barbarians marched straight into Ur. I’d grab some popcorn to see what happens next but unfortunately they disappeared of my sight.

Bristol finishes making a Builder which will be very welcome as there are natural resources there we aren’t exploited yet. I order it to build a Commercial Hub next. Again, we need money and it is the only district, besides the Industrial Zone, that would get a bonus from its borders right now.

A Missionary unit one of my predecessors sent to Bradford finally reached its destination. It then spread the good word of Buddhism and disappeared. Probably retired to become a crab fisher or something. Fortunately, there was also an Apostle there and he easily evangelizes it, converting the city to our religion.

Turn 175

London finishes the Builder so it was time to return to our path to glorious Science. Meaning that I order it to build an University next. The Builder in the mean time is sent to go get those iron in our borders

Meanwhile Bradford finishes building a granary. Considering how it is in the middle of nowhere, with snow all around I think the citizens are glad to have somewhere to stock their food. With keeping the difficulties of the region in mind I order them to build a lighthouse next so it can generate more food, money, housing and other bonuses.

Turn 176

Cleopatra asks if we would be interested in a declaration of friendship to let the world know that we are BFFs. Since I have no reason to refuse, I accept. Hopefully this will make any would-be warlord think twice before declaring another war against us.

One of our Apostles reaches Stoke-Upon-Trent and somehow I get the option to evangelize a new Belief for Buddhism, even though they just stopped at a Campus. I always thought it could only be done at a Holy Site.

Anyway, I end up choosing Stewardship, an option in where Commercial Hubs and Campuses in cities of ours following Buddhism can get +1 gold or +1 Science respectively. Both would help immensely with our long-term goals.

I get the option to do the same with the next Apostle and choose Defender of the Faith which gives +5 Combat Strength while in the border of friendly cities that follow our religion. I am hoping this counts our cities in that.

The bad side is that now I need to make some Missionaries to convert Stoke-at-Trent. I decide to instead try to save some faith for another Apostle as I think it might be better for spreading Buddhism and can be saved to fight rivals that try to spread their religion to our cities.

Turn 177

The Feudalism civic finishes and I choose Mercenaries to be researched next as it already has a boost going on.

With the little money we have I upgrade an Archer in Leeds to a Crossbowman. There are still too many units that need upgrades, unfortunately I won’t be able to do it during my reign due to a lack of gold. I am hoping my successors may fare better in this area.

Birmingham finishes building a Trader which I order to go all the way to Toronto to make us some money. Next I order the city to build some Walls. Just in case a war breaks out with Gilgamesh.

Turn 178

Not much to tell, just some work done by our Builders.

Turn 179

Pedro II denounces us because he is a sore loser. Also, Metal Casting finishes. I decide to research Shipbuilding next as it is getting ridiculous how far behind we are with this.

Speaking of naval matters, two Barbarian Quadriremes appear by Bristol borders. They are already half-dead too and the city-defenses just sinks one easily.

All the troops I sent to Birmingham finally reached their destination. If Gilgamesh decides to declare war at us we should have some units there to protect the city.

Turn 180

Bristol destroys the other Barbarian Quadrireme. While Birmingham finishes building its Walls.

I decide to order it to build a Market. Our Science per Turn is 10 points ahead of our closest Science rival, Gilgamesh. We also have 4 more technologies researched than him. I think we can spare 7 turns to build a Market, specially since we need all the money we can get to upgrade all those units. If another war breaks out and we still have outdated units, it would be really bad for us.

For now this is all I can do. Next up to sit on the throne is Paeroka. The save file can be found here.