GOTM 42 Spoiler 2: Entering the Industrial Age

To qualify for this spoiler, you must have reached the industrial age. You must have a full-world map, and contact with all remaining civilizations.

The emperor difficulty level and the food-poor starting location will have meant that you had slow growth. Many saw an opportunity to improve their empire through conquest of the neighbouring Egyptians, although you may have found the Cathaginians and Greeks crowding the Egyptian borders.

Were you able to bring yourself to a position of being able to dominate the starting continent? As more of the map was revealed, did your strategy change?

20K definitely looks out of the question now. Only got Sun Tzu's and Leo's, and that's only 4 CPT more. Current projected 20k date is like 2150 AD, and Greece is way ahead already.

So, it's time to start shaping my Diplo win. I blocked off Greece with a bunch of obsolete units on their border, then signed them into an alliance against what was left of Egypt - Great attitude boost which helped me keep up in tech, but without the risk of them taking any cities. I started skirmishing with Carthage as well. Meanwhile, the Celts were busy conquering all on the other continent, and I figured I'd let them have it. I had a pretty solid plan in place: Get the UN(Thebes has HUGE production potential, I could probably get it in 9-10 turns) and then sign Greece in against the Celts, who look unstoppable on the other continent. Carthage was still in the way, but that's a story for the Industrial spoiler. I started building cannons for upgrades to Artillery, and Cavalry for the conquest of Carthage(with Greece's help).

By the end of the Middle Ages, 20k was definitely out of the question unless I got a lot of leaders out of Carthage and could capture just about every Industrial Age wonder, and then I'd still have to take over Athens, and then on top of that slow the tech pace to the point where no one could get a space race victory before 2020ish and also get the UN. Diplo is looking MUCH easier.

[ptw] Open

I aimed for domination at first, but when the IA age came, I changed to Diplomatic. At start, I went war with Egypt(w/ alliance with Greece). Took all of their cities except for two(Greece got the 2). When the war ended, made war to Carthage, after some turns, got most of their cities(w/ wonders in them). Got conrol of Sun Tzu, Oracle, Great Wall, Leo's, Great Lighthouse. I finished them off but they still have a city on an island.
When the war ended, I was really behind in tech. By the time I got Chivalry, Greece has already, Military Tradition. What I did was make Knights so that I can upgrade them to cavalries. By the time IA ended, I was the second most advanced civ and Greece being the first. I noticed that all the wonders that was built was on our continent. Greece and Carthage were the only ones that have wonders. Since, I kicked Carthage off the continent, I now control their wonders. ;)

PTW Open.

AA spoiler (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=2713880&postcount=17)

10BC - get Republic but Greeks beat us to it by 1 turn or so, so we can't trade it for remaining AA techs and have to research Currency ourselves.

170AD - galley reaches Vikings, we finish Currency and enter MA.
190AD - trade contacts and WMs around, get Feudalism.
330Ad - terrible news: Byblos (our only horse town) deposes to Carthage. :(

530AD: FP completes in Thebes. Chivalry learned: it's time to dow on Carthage. But how? No Horses, and they have GW and Numidians...
I'm trying to collect MI on their border when I realize that I'm doing really bad and that the game is slipping.
Research in 15-20 turns, not enough cities, Greeks and Vikings are so much more powerful than us...

I deside to take on Egypt and get their last 2 continental towns, leaving them 1 city on an island. Get a GL!
We rushed J.Bach with it in 700AD (Leo was taken, Sistine was useless as we didn't plan on having cathedrals but we really needed to move Lux slider down). But before that we had to finish Education and it took us so long that we freaked out and bought Music Theory from Vikings for a huge price.

Luckily right after we were done with it Carthage dow on Greece, and we join in, hoping to prey on the weakened titan. We figure that Hoplites without GW would be easier to beat than Numidians with GW, and we leave Byblos alone and aim for the Greek horse town, Farsalos.
Turn our MIs around to face Greece, but when they reach Greek border they are met by Muskets instead of Hoplites...

After a long war we didn't manage to take any of the Greek continental cities but got some Techs and money in the peace deal plus conquered a city on a close island next to the last Egypt city.

My research is getting better with FP and libraries but is still bad, about 10-15 turns per tech.
Try Banking as nobody knows it yet and finally succeed in getting monopoly tech. Trade it around, get more Techs (GunPowder and Navigation - finaly could trade overseas and get some luxuries).

Try for Economics next and again we are the 1st to get it, prebuilding for Smith's before that. Trade it around, get Chem and Metallurgy, aim for Physics to change for ToG or something. Finish Smith's first.

Things are starting to look brighter but our hopes for quick Domination should be abandoned. We will aim for Diplo now - whenever that would be.

Get Horses from Aztecs for some outdated Techs - Aztecs were supplying Horses for the rest of the game from that time on.
And Carthage hardly have Musketmen in place.
And then it hits me: we've already got Metallurgy, it means - no more GW for Carthage! But I managed to enter silly 6gpt for Lux trade with them recently, had to wait 12 turns for it to expire.

Spent the time wiping out the last Egyptian island city - former Greek island city came in handy.

990AD. We research the last MA tech (Physics, I think) and enter IA.

Sell Physics to Greece and they get Nationalism, gift Russia to IA and they get Steam Power but won't trade it to me but trade it to Greece immediately.
Greece are the leaders of the world now and they also have MT. I'm afraid of them and deside to spend time researching MT myself rather than valuable IA techs because nobody would trade MT to me. :(

1040AD. We get MT and finally get ourselves some Cavalry with Aztecs' Horses.

After that we researched Medicine in 9 turns and got SP from Russia and Nationalism from Vikings who managed to self-research it by that time, and trade Nationalism to the rest of the world, finally getting other Civs to sponsor our research.

The rest will wait till next spoiler.
All I can say now is that IA was very eventful.

Attached are: my empire at 1000AD at the beginning of IA, the Fateful Flip of Byblos and my Puny Army in war with Greece.

open, 20K

with the completion of the great library, i entered the MA.
a war started with Egypt and that triggered my golden age at 150 AD
culture city veii making 25 per turn, 3 corrupted

450 AD, greece sneak attacked me... allied Carthage against him...

600AD, abandon Rome and palace jump to Thebes
and the same year, finally after losing about 6 galleys i found the viking!!! i almost broke into tears... my palace prebuild in Veii has been waiting for a long long time and i've tried every tricks to prevent it from running over..
but after get all the contact, i almost cried again-- no one has any MA techs that i don't have yet!

610AD, traded everything i had to Greece for chivary, banking, music theory. giving him about 200gpt and 1500 gold. of course i cannot let greece get that strong and so i declare war on him and my reputation was forever gone...

and Greece was such a world power in my game. (and it is so for most spoiler i read. Egypt should be a counter force if not for its neighbor Rome). the entire MA they were about 3 or more techs ahead from all other AI and Rome. there's really no way for me to trade with him due to the high price of monopoly tech. so trading with Greece using gpt and declare is the only way i can keep myself in pace with those wonder-enabling techs... i was at war throughout the entire game with Greece afterwards, just to be able to trade with him... how sad... :( my war weariness was unbearable and lux slide is always at 40%..

at the end of the MA, the war against Greece was so intense that even Veii started to produce knights/cavalry... i figure i didn't have much chance to hand build any wonders and the only way is to get great leaders anyway...

i forgot when i entered IA but it doesn't matter too much.
building sequence:
1990 BC Temple
1250 BC Colossus
410 BC Great Library
290 BC Library
170 BC Colosseum
210 AD Forbidden Palace
270 AD Cathedral
610 AD Bach's Cathedral
640 AD Heroic Epic
680 AD University
990 AD Shakespeare's Theatre
1070 AD Newton's University

Athen was really a competitor, grabbing almost all the other high cpt wonders that Veii failed to get... at one point after i lost the sistine chapel, i almost gave up my 20K goal.. (actually i didn't even have theology when Greece finished it. i only have a prebuild that eventually became the Bach's cathedral).

i have never tried a 20K on empiror and it's really hard for me. i had a terrible time playing the game and didn't even keep notes about my great leader dates... i had a few but really couldn't recall which wonders were rushed.. smart readers may figure it out from the date...

20K definitely looks out of the question now. Only got Sun Tzu's and Leo's, and that's only 4 CPT more. Current projected 20k date is like 2150 AD, and Greece is way ahead already.
well, at the beginning of MA, my projected 20k date is later than 2500AD..
did you count in the shakespear's theater and the university? they two make a big difference.. (why did you choose Sun Tzu and Leo over sistine and Bach's cathedral? that'll be 12cpt)

Availability. I got Sun Tzu's after Sistine's was grabbed by Athens and Leo's was the only thing left after I got my first of 3 total leaders in the game. I might've waited until Smith's but Thebes built that by hand in the early IA(I needed the cash for upgrades) and no one even researched Democracy until after Infantry were about. This would've meant a ~1650ish build for Shakespeare's, way way way too late to help.

I might've waited until Smith's but Thebes built that by hand in the early IA

it's refreshing to see that Thebes survived this long... with an extrememely fertile land, Thebes is doomed in most spoilers. good thing is that you're trying for diplo.

Hey Thebes is still around in my game... of course as the centerpiece of my Empire. Open 20K attempt.

The RNG gods that gave me an early leader turned around and decided to sink every single galley I sent out. Attempts to the west of the Northern Greek islands? Sank. Attempts via barb island across the ocean to the west? Sank, and killed by barb galleys. An attempt to the east from the SE point sank within sight of land. I finally made contact in 450 AD.

Such a late contact coupled with the 2000 year war between Greece and Carthage (egypt had been relegated to fighting barbs for all time on Barbarian Island) meant a slower than Christmas research pace. I waited and waited for contact to give me some free techs, but to no avail so I decided to start my golden age and research mono and the rest asap. I declared on Greece and began leader farming on medieval infantry. I couldnt really make any headway on greece without pumping legions out of Thebes, so I had to be content to whack the enemies that strolled down into my "funnel of doom" north of thebes. Got two leaders, one for an army and one for Sistines.

Research was slow. I had to do all of it myself; the other continent was at war quite a bit. I crammed as many cities in the south and around as I could, and eventually also settled barb island.

My builds:

90 AD Colosseum
380 Cathedral
500 Heroic Epic
510 Sistines
590 Uni
820 Bachs
970 Copes
1140 Shakes
1270 Newtons

I was beaten to Smith's by 3 turns.

Open 1.29 [civ3mac] Still Struggling for 20K

First post is here. (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&postid= 2725729#post 2725729) Ancient Age 4000BC - 210BC

Egyptian War
The MA we started at war with Egypt, being in Golden Age anarchy. Roman republic was established 170BC. As reported, Egypt had an alliance with Greece against Carthage and did not put up a good fight. We took their cities in fertile lands, but fought slowly against the troops trickling from the 2 jungle towns NNW of Rome, fishing for Leaders. Trajan builds an army 90BC, Hadrian and Maximus hurry Wonders.

Contacts
Cumae on the eastern coast built galleys. The 2nd spotted orange(?) borders before sinking 70AD. It took until 410AD and galley 6 until we meet Vikings and Aztec ship; regrettably our galley was still in unsafe waters and sank. The other continent was mostly backward (apart from Russia knowing engineering). I immediately instigated wars among the civs to prevent as much as possible their progress and Wonder building.

Carthaginian War
We declare war on Carthage in 600AD to get the horses NW of Memphis. The war was fought with cavs vs. muskets and lasted well into the Industrial Ages. In an alliance with Greece, we let them do most of the fighting but move in for the kill (capturing of cities). This was successful with all but the 3 towns on the northern coast which were finally conquered by the Greeks. We then blocked the isthmus near memphis trapping the Greek units in the north. Greece soon afterwards finished Carthage by conquering their final barb island capitol.

Research
The Great Library gave us techs up to invention. I traded for education from Greece 540AD to move towards the MA high cpt Wonders and started research trading techs with Alex and making some gpt also. Towards the end of the MA, I was well ahead, but not enough to ensure getting the Wonders I desired. :( Industrial Times start 1060AD with full research on steam.

20k Veii
The city developed nicely and reached pop 12 in 190AD, being second only Thebes in raw power.

Cultural builds:
150BC Great Wall
90BC colosseum
110AD Heroic Epic
300AD Forbidden Palace
350AD cathedral
460AD Sistine (Leader)
520AD Sun Tzu's (Leader)
540AD university
720AD Copernicus's
890AD Shakespeare's
1120AD Newton's

We lost Hanging Gardens and Leo's to Keltoi, Bach's to Golden Age Moscow - I didn't think of this when embassy establishment told me Veii would win the race. :( Cumae is working on Smith's to secure it for us should Veii fail to get it from another Leader.

Big Picture
On capturing Thebes, it looked like an extremely good spot for a Palace move. However, I had to complete the Forbidden Palace in Veii first, and since I had no Leaders to spare, Thebes had to get up to pop 12 (as Veii) plus a lot of troops had to pile in the city. Rome was abandoned (and rebuilt) 450AD and we had a second core and started to amass power for the unavoidable struggle for dominance with Greece in the Industrial Ages. Most of the time our military was weak compared to them (sometimes average) and notorious Alexander commited a couple of extortion crimes.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/tao_gotm42_1060AD.jpg

The minimap shows our empire on entering the Industrial Ages before the final turns of the Carthaginian war. The relatively small number of cities helped a lot top keep corruption at less than 15% and all cities were at least reasonably productive. I tried to flip the Greek city (with saltpeter) south of Rome, but Greek's overall cultural lead prevented that from happening.

The other continent civs I kept busy in fighting among them. Aztecs was backward, Vikings relatively weak, Russia and Keltoi the strong powers (but weaker than Greece).

After loosing my 6th galley, I did not build any more naval units. But from the large number of Greek and Carthage vessels moving to the SW island, I concluded that this was an area of "regionally intense barbarian activity".

PTW, Open. Domination/Conquest victory

Sounds like the Greeks have really been giving people trouble in this game. Almost makes me feel better about what I did to them.

Small backup: Around 290 bc, after making peace with the Egyptians, I realized that I could get Monarchy in about 16 turns for a net loss of -8. Alexander had a monopoly on the Republic yet lacked Currency and Polytheism. Carthage was at war with the Greek but in the MA. If I got a monopoly on Monarchy, I could probably get the Republic out of Greece a turn ahead of schedule, revolt once I researched it, and trade it to Carthage thereafter for a discount on some MA tech.

110 bc: Monarchy now due in 4 turns.
90 bc: Carthage takes Monarchy before I can :(. Now due in two turns, but it'll be useless for trading.
30 bc: 4 turns left for peace with Egypt before I take the remainder of their continental cities. Carthage clearly has the upper hand on Greece in the open field. They've pushed the confrentations back to Egypt's side of the map. For the record, Carthage has also been at war with Egypt, and has mopped up two Egyptian cities for me on the Carthage side of the map.
10 ad: Greece demands I pay them some homage. The bots really have a warped sense of military strength. I refuse the demand, Greece declares. Sign an MA against them with Carthage so I don't have to keep my flank defended.
30 ad: Peace with Egypt expires, and I push forward into their lands, capturing the spices rich Elephantine the next turn.
190 ad: I take the last Egyptian city (extra ivory) and it auto-razes. Arrived just before the Carthagians could take it.
210 ad: For some reason I've researched Feudalism before Republic. Greece is still up me Engineering and Republic (both of which are monopolies).
320 ad: Many regular Greek troops and one leveled island town later, I'm able to make peace with Alexander for Republic (still a monopoly, but I get it in 3 turns). Not certain but I think I got a 4 turn anarchy. FP will build in Thebes in 2 turns. In the IBT, one of Greece's nearby size 11 cities takes The Great Library.

While I really want that Great Library city, I'm too afraid of it flipping to the Greek. And because of those city walls, I still need to build up my forces quite a bit before I could efficiently assault them. Also, Greek culture is way ahead of my own and Carthage's. If I take Carthage's cities, I don't have to resettle them, and could just kill them off to destroy flipping possibilities. For Greece I'd need several galley's to reach all their offshore cities. What to do?? :(

490 ad: Most of the Greek cities still lack aquaducts and all of them have city walls. Since Greece has the Great Wall, I'm going to have to attack Carthage, just as soon as my spices deal ends next turn. As a side note, they've been stupid about not expanding their boarders to connect their iron, though it would hardly help them at this point.
500 ad: Declare on Carthage. Sign an MA against them with Greece.
540 ad: Using the Legionaries as Pike substitutes, I'm able to form an effective blockade that forces the majority of the Numadian/longbowmen to go around the hills/mountains.
610 ad: The war on Carthage has gone well. I'm making the 3 tile march towards Carthage herself and have just now produced my first Great Leader. Most of their army is smashed, and I'm conquering cities defended by two Numadians and a rushed Longbowman.
620 ad: GL rushes Sun Tzu's in Hilaspolis. The Celt's complete Sistine on the same turn 0_0 !!
700 ad: Cancel MA against Carthage and sign a peace for invention (their only tech I don't have). I leave them one city to keep Greece from turning all those troops in my territory against me, as I am planning to give Alexander the ole' boot order and slaughter them once Chivalry comes in. (See this link (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/2000warrior-gottm42-700ad.jpg)).
740 ad: Chivalry comes in, mass upgrade most of the horsemen I've been stockpiling.
750 ad: Give Alexander the boot order, he declares. I slaughter his entire offensive force right there :) He is currently up me both Theology and Gunpowder. My army will split and crawl up both sides of Greece in an attempt to cut off wherever their gunpowder is.
900 ad: Ugh... those Muskets have run me low on Knights and MI's. Greece still has Athens, two other continental cities, and several island cities. Athens built Da Vinci's shortly after I nabbed Tzu's, and I really want that Da Vinci's. Peace cannot get me education, though since I've switched to researching, I can get it in 4 turns. I make peace for one of their crappy island cities.

Greece lacks Chemistry, which I have due in 6, and will trade for Education. And then it will it will finally be time to start teching up and blow by wherever the other bots are at in their research. The latest wonder to be built was Bach's by the Greek, so I'm not too concerned with the bots being beyond my own tech level.

1120 ad: One of my suicide Caravel's spots a brown boarder.
1130 ad: The caravel survives for some reason and I make first contact with the outer world. Later this turn, I take the last Egyptian town. Carthage was killed off some short while back.

Mini-Map of the world (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/2000warrior-gottm42-1130admini.jpg)

Not too bad, the Russians are up Theory of Gravity. Vikings are down Physics, Celts are even with me. The Aztecs are WAY behind. They're still missing all the first teir MA techs. I don't think I've ever seen a bot on Emperor fall that far behind on a continent. Of these nations, the Vikings are at war with the Celts and Russians. Russia only at war with the Vikings. The Aztecs are at war with no one. Greece has yet to be able to establish any contacts with the next continent, but I won't be letting them give new techs to Montezuma. 7 more turns of peace with Greece. As soon as Military Tradition comes in, Greece will be killed off, and Da Vinci's will finally be mine with no chance of flippage.

However, what to do about the other continent? If I charge into the industrial age and build several Galleons with combined arms troops, I shouldn't have much difficulty establishing a beachead and advancing into Russia with lots of combat settlers. But the combined arms approach is getting too old for me, and I hate having to resettle large cities if I can help it. With the low food startout, I was at least hoping to get into the modern age before the game is over.

Looking at the date, I assume I'm way too late to get any kind of good score in comparison to the rest of the gotm players. Therefore, I descided to try something different for a change. I'll try to hamper the bot's progression of science by exploiting the current wars and building massive amounts of naval bombing equipment once I get the technologies. Then I can wreak havok on the bot's scientific progression and knock most of their cities back to pop 1.

For that I'll need lots of ironclad/destroyers to hit all those costal cities. And then a large fleet of cruisers to really reduce the world's population. Since I have Da Vinci's, I can build quite a lot of tanks once I get the right tech, and mass upgrade them to modern armor for a 1 turn conquest of the entire other continent. With that plan, I made a late entrance into the industrial age in 1230ad.

Stats at a time:
490ad (Before attack on Carthage):
-32 Legionaries
-18 Medieval Infantry
-42 Workers (not counting slaves)
-20 Cities

750ad (Before attack on Greece):
-16 Knights
-27 Legionaries
-21 Medieval Infantry
-5 Pikemen
-6 Horsemen
-6 Catapults
-47 Workers
-12 Settlers
-31 Cities

1230ad
-49 Knights
-22 Legionaries
-13 Medieval Infantry
-8 Galleons
-106 Workers
-55 Cities

Mistakes and Miracles:
- Made a huge by researching Monarchy-Feudalism-Republic. Going Republic in the mid-300ad's really slowed down the speed of conquest.
- Made a pretty big n00b error by not getting a courthouse into Thebes before starting the FP. Went back and checked some older saves and found out it could have built somewhere around 10 turns faster.
- Not sure if waiting for Caravels to find the other continent was a mistake or not. I really did NOT want to be put in a position where Greece started getting tons of $$ from outside nations and ran away in the tech lead. On the other hand, had the Vikings and Russians not been deadlocked in centuries of warfare, they most likely would have already been industrial by the time I found them.
- Was a pretty amazing miracle that my Great Leader emerged just barely in time to take Tzu's. Had it been one turn later, the Celts may have nabbed it.
- Not only was the first direction I chose to test out for the other continent the right direction, but my Caravel did not sink on the very first try. I really don't think that's ever happened before.

700ad Horseman roadblock (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/2000warrior-gottm42-700ad.jpg)
1130ad Mini-map (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/2000warrior-gottm42-1130admini.jpg)
World @ 1230ad (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/2000warrior-gottm42-1230ad.jpg)

[ptw] Open class. Quickest victory I can get (maybe Diplo).

Egypt had been reduced to a Tundra Island city in the North during the 2nd Egypt war. This left me in the middle with Carthage and Greece being powerful AIs on my continent. I had an initial war with Greece and was able to get one of the old Egypt cities before I got peace. Greece and Carthage were at constant war for a long time mostly fighting near Thebes. This was a good war in that most of Greece's and Carthage's units were being consumed.

I spent the Middle ages researching towards Military Tradition and trading for much GPT with the other continent. Eventually Greece got Navigation and got contacts with everyone. This limited my trading opportunities as I had wrecked my reputation thinking that it would be tought to kill off all my neighbors before they got to the other continent.

While researching to Cavalry I built a 4 cities that with libraries were able to push my borders just outside of Carthage and a few other cities. I was massively behind in tech and all AIs were up Education and most of the upper tree. Only Greece and I had Mil Trad. Carthage had the Great Library (and also Sun Tzu's), so they were my target to be my elevator to the Industrial Age. This GL Elavator actually almost got me to the Industrial Age. I still had Magnets and ToG to research.

A few turns before I was ready for war I gave an ROP to Greece to soften up Carthage for me. The move order was Me - Carthage - Greece so this worked really well. During the entire Carthage war Greece only captured 2 cities from Carthage, but there were a few close calls where I only had to fight redlined units on my turn. I got a great leader during the war and used him to move my Palace a second time to reduce flip risk. Carthage still flipped once during the war and was immediately recaptured and at about that time I eliminated Carthage.

In my game the Vikings are the run-away civ over on the other continent. While I was taking out Carthage they were about to eliminate the Russians but I eventually gave them a city to save them for a Diplo vote.

Future plans:
Instigate a war with Greece and get at least the Vikings to participate. Reduce Greece to a single city.

Eliminate what's left of Egypt, who now have 2 cities. The second of which is located on the Southern Barb Island and was responsible for the removal of about 30 Barb horses once their spear defender was destroyed.

Actually, Thebes WAS part of my empire then - they only had 2 cities left after the second war, neither of which was on very good land. I just needed to get Smith's as fast as possible, and with no leaders available, Greece bearing down on 20k MUCH faster than I was, and me being in a serious cash deficiency trying to upgrade my pikes/muskets(even with Leo's) to Industrial Age units made a serious need to get that fast. I didn't go into too much detail because that's beyond the scope of the spoiler.

Just to recap, though I essentially wrapped up my game with my AA spoiler:

I crawled into the Middle Ages by extorting some tech from Egypt, but Thebes still stood, protected by the Great Wall and the Uber-Spearmen-From-Hell (it had withstood one small Archer rush by being size 7, another 10-Archer rush by beating the slightly unfavourable RNG Gods, and a 7-Legion hit by having Muskets...).

I finally got Thebes with combined Catapults and Med Inf, and finally got Horses, too, but by the time my first Knights rolled off the line, I'd witnessed plenty of Greek Cavalry heading for Carthage.

I blocked off the Greeks with a line of troops, but they declared on me eventually and swept me aside like the little men made of sticks that my "military" was.

My empire finally succumbed in 1190AD.

OPEN, going for conquest

After I became a republic, I upgraded a few warriors to legion and triggered my GA when I destroyed the Egypts.
The next 500 years or so went uneventful.
Greece was very aggressive in the AA, they declared war twice without real reason, so I kept the border with Greece armed with legions. Carthago never showed any sort of agression, they left me alone and I did not bother them.

The real fun during this time was dealing with the barb infested island in the South.

I was strenghtening my empire, about 30 workers were clearing the jungle to make these cities productive. Around 350 AD I started to build horsemen for a mass upgrade as soon as I get MT.
in 400 AD MT was researched and net turn my SODs were ready for a war with Greece:

http://civfanatics.net/uploads9/Ronald_gotm42_6.JPG

The hoplites put up a better fight than expected (some real bad battle luck), but they were finally no match against my cavalaries.
Carthago had in the meanwhile the great lighthouse completed. Ready for my to take it. (it was not really essential, it only saved 1 turn sailing to the other continent.
In time when the war with Carthago was finished, my research of navigation was completed, so I sailed to the other continent.

The Vikings have been the powerhouse early on, but then all the other civs engaged in war with them (ahm I initiated these wars of course).
When I arrived, all civs were rather weak in military, so it was almost a walkthrough untill the last Russian city fell in 850 AD.

http://civfanatics.net/uploads9/Ronald_gotm42_5.JPG

It was a nice game, I did not play particularly well. I am sure my conquest time can be beaten by at least 200 years.
I liked the starting continent where Egypt was the logical choice as an early war because the two other civs have excellent AA defensive units.
The barbarian island in the South was a nice extra feature.

Predator http://gotm.civfanatics.net/common/swordsman_small.gif PtW

Entered the MA in 250BC. We were at war with Carthage at that time, but our next target really was Egypt.
So in 210BC we DoWed Egypt, made peace with Carthage and allied them.
We also took Thebes and started our golden age with one of our 3 legions (never built more).
Egypt was reduced to one city by 10AD and finally destroyed by Carthage 90AD.

The next few 100 years were quite peaceful. I had a little skirmish with Carthage, but mainly I was settling towns and building up forces for the war with Greece.
In 190AD the palace jumped into Abydos located at the Greek border.

War with Greece started in 420AD with Athens taken in 450AD. But Athens was a major problem.
It 4 times flipped back. Because it had Sun Tsu's it got a veteran hoplite every time. These cost me several units.
In 760AD Greece was down to 2 cities on the southern barb island and given peace.
I had settled several cities claiming luxes on the other continent by then, but I still had to clean the home continent.
Carthage was out by 850AD. The last two Greek cities also were taken around this time.
The rest was shipping over cavs and taking out Aztecs then Celts then Vikings (Russia was destroyed by the Vikings long before).
Conquest victory in 990 AD.

PTW Open. Goal is survival.

I staretd the MA behind in tech, and my main aim was to reduce that gap and finish egypt off. I had bad luck when Pi-Ramesses flipped back to egpyt, which pissed me off so I declared war on them immediately to take it back. I also moved a stack of 12 legion to thebes ready to take it the following turn. However I obviously failed to moev enough troops to defend pi ramesses and immediately lost it IBT to Egypts counter attack. My stack by thebes had good RNG luck and I only lost 3 legion, whereas egypt lost 12 units attacking the stack. However this luck did not last the following turn when the remaining men attacked thebes, and a red lined spear held out while my stack died. I then bought an alliance against egypt with Greece to simply stop them doing me more damage. in 870ad i retook pi ramesses, as egypt was getting destroyed by an already industrial age Greece. I moved some MI to take thebes, but Greece destroyed thebes with infantry and cavlary, which at least enabled me to settle the lands formally occupied by greece. Clearly I would have to remain friendly with greece, which i did by joining them in wars against carthage - although i didn't do any fighting. As I was about to enter the Industrial age this happened

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/invasion.JPG

I have 3 muskets.....still this is the furthest i've ever got in an emperor game,

PTW open

Entered the MA in 90BC.
I finally decided upon the disered victory condition: Moooo. Egypt was reduced to one town in southeast, which they extended by another two towns on the southern coast. Going for the cow means I have to increase population. I let the new Rome launch settlers every four turns for eternity. Of course I have to get rid of the Greek and the Carthagians. Especially the Greek worry me: they're racing through the tech tree, have plenty Wonders and most of all an enormous culture:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=87819&stc=1

In 170AD Pi-ramesses joins Greece and in 330 Hippo Regius joins Carthage. In 600 we got cavalry and it's high time to slow down the Greeks. I dow them and raze Knossos.
Next turn we raze Ephesus but loose Plebos Nexia. We raze all Greek cities which don't have important wonders, because of the Greek culture and because we want to perform an efficient city-planning for the cow.

In 630 the Egyptians enter our lands and somehow it seems I can't boot them :confused: . So I dow Egypt too but keep focussed on Greece because the Egyptians are no threat anymore. We recapture Plebos Nexia and raze Herakleia, Pharsalos and Cyrene. We capture Corinth because it has Sun Tzu. Finally in 710 the second Greek war ends for contact with the Russians and 28 gold. The other continent is divided between the Vikings and the Russians, the Celts and Aztecs long since have vanished. I dow the Vikings and ally the Russians, to keep them both occupied.

I now reduce Egypt to 1 city, Byblos, and make peace with them in 750 for 3 workers, world map and 5 gold. It also brings me my first MGL, which I save for a new capitol in the Greek lands. In 800 we make peace with the Vikings ( I don't give a ... for my rep in this game ;) ), the Russians fight on of course.

810AD Corinth (Sun Tzu) :( joins Greece.

In 910 I've regained strength and the open spaces are settled, so it's time for the third Greek war. I dow them and loose Tyrus. 920 recapture Tyrus and capture Athens (Pyramids, Great Wall and Leonardo's). 930 Athens joins Greece. 940 recapture Athens. In 950 we found Mediolanum, hurry the palace in it and rename to Rome. Thebes gets it's name back and has finished a FP prebuild.

After the razing of Qitaiodea, Delphi and Mycenea and the capture of Sparta (Hanging Gardens, Colossus) the Greek are banned from the continent and we enter the Industrial Ages. It's 1000AD.

Hereby the Greek culture in the Middle Ages.

I'm totally new. Just wondering if I can still enter this month's "game of the month contest? If so, when will we have to submit them by.
Also, I have conquests, but I saw someone mention that you can find the appropriate executable file within conquests to start regular civ 3. If this is true, can somebody explain where to find it, or point me in the right direction?

@GucciOvaries,
Welcome to CFC. [party]

Since you are posting in the Second Spoiler thread I will assume that you have read this. As such you have now spoiled your ability to play the game without fore knowledge and would have an unfair advantage. You are of course welcome to play any of the games, but you would not be allowed to honorably submit GOTM42.

Goto http://gotm.civfanatics.net/ to get info and/or download starting saves.

As for conquests and regular civ3. You should have a ptw.exe or civilization3.exe program somewhere if you have installed. This will allow you to play in the classic GOTM in the future.

Going for Spaceship victory.

Rome became a Republic and entered MA around 500BC. At this point I had 9 cities and 11 warrior.

WARS & GLs
In 330BC Egypt didn't want to leave my territory and declared war on us. My Legionaries triggered GA in the same year. The war was slow but easy, Egypt was terminated in 230AD.
In 30BC I got my first GL, he built Copernicus in Rome.

In the meanwhile I tried to find the other continent but I lost 2 galleys to barbs.

Around 400AD I attacked Greece. I got the 2nd GL in 440AD who built FP in Thermopylae (the former Greek capitol) in 490AD. The 3rd GL appeared in 690AD and built Newton University in Rome. In 730AD Greeks were banned from the main continent.

In 790AD Rome attacked Carthage. in 800AD we got the 4th GL who built JSB to increase population happiness. This was my first "defensive" GL since ages. In 860AD Carthage was terminated.

Around 1000AD I terminated Grece and got the 5th GL who built ToE.

I met the other continent civs in 770AD. They were behind in tech. Only Russia has enough money to buy techs from Rome.

In 1180AD I attacked Aztecs just to connect Incense and to produce GL (the 6th arrived few turns later), I conquered two cities and sign a good peace treaty.

After the short Aztec war nothing special happened. I built both SETI and Internet.

I was surprised when, 4 turns before my spaceship launch, Russia attacked my 2 "aztec" cities. I was so surprised that I lost the city with incense. One turn before the end I got a second "defensive" GL.

Quick Survey: How many of you have ever got 2 defensive GL in a game?

TECHNOLOGY
I did not manage to keep a 4 turns pace for technology. During IA Rome needed an average of 5 turns (maybe more). Only after the Internet I managed to keep a 4 turns pace.

I launched my spaceship in 1610AD ... not a great date but this is my first spaceship attempt since 2 years ... I can only improve my performance.

Quick Survey: How many of you have ever got 2 defensive GL in a game?

i only did that once with an elite pikeman. the generated lead was killed immediately in that turn before i got a chance to move it. :mad: it isn't in gotm though and so not too bad.

Predator. Goal: Domination

Arrrr, I thought I was off to a roaring start. 30AD I’m a new monarchy, in the middle ages, my GA has started, and I have contact with the other continent. DOW on Vikings, Celts, ally the Aztecs and Russians for currency. All I have to do is wipe out the Carthaginians and Greeks and I’m home free, right?
It didn’t work out quite that way. Maybe I spent too much of my GA building libraries instead of legionaries. I start the war with Carthage in 170, using cats to bring down those NI’s a little. In 250 I had occupied Carthage and captured the Great Library, gaining Republic and Monotheism. To repel the Carthage’s GA counterattack I moved a number of units into Carthage to defend it, and sure enough it flipped that very turn. I lost 6 or 7 units, but it was bad enough to qualify as a disaster. I couldn’t fight anymore just now, so in 290 it’s peace for a town, Chivalry in 10, Greece with its cities on the hills is next. I didn’t fight Carthage again for a looooong time. I MUST learn to keep my units out of foreign towns!!!!
It didn’t have to be that bad. But it got worse. Greece had the Great Wall, so I made sure to build a very healthy stack of cats while I waited and saved for knights. In 470 I felt I was ready. Except for that PTW bug where bombarding towns with walls supplied by the Great Wall causes the game to crash. Forgot all about that. So all those cats that could have been horsemen or whatever (18 or so) turn out to be absolutely useless. Damn. Once I realized this, I went ahead with the headlong charge against Knossos, hoplites fortified on hill with double strength walls, sheesh! 6 dead and many red knights later I give up, and wait to build and overwhelming knight force. My game quit being competitive somewhere around this point…..
I was ready again in 620. This time I won. 650 I cut Greece off from the horses, 700 Greece starts having muskets. Great. Finally got my first leader in 680, settled for my second choice of FP locations in 710. In 850 I captured Sparta and the Great Wall. Finally. I’d played ‘this land is my land’ with Greece as much as I’d fought them, settling their land as often as I took it by force. Thank goodness I had chosen to be a monarchy, or war weariness and unit support would have eaten me alive!
Anyway, getting the great wall was the turning point. I’d spent the game fomenting on the other continent, giving up everything, including contact, just to keep them fighting. Eventually I got a city for peace from the Aztecs without ever setting foot on that continent. First time I ever did that, thanks to Aeson for the idea. I made peace with everyone, bought settlers over there, gained furs, cut off saltpeter, and prepared to invade while I cleaned up the other continent and worked on Barb Island.
Once I got MT, the other continent was easy to defeat. Even with my disasters, this game could have been faster with better planning of my navy and faster research. An earlier GL would have been nice. The first was in 680, leaders 2-8 appeared after 930. Twice in the 1200’s I got 2 leaders in one turn. Weird luck this game.

Domination in 1345. 8185 Jason points. Could’ve been worse. I’ll have to check, I think this is my first domination submission! I will do better next time.
Hey, thanks staff for the recent run of great maps! Keep it up!

@Jove
I think you probably should have have gone for MT in the first place: a Greek or Cathagian fortified defender is tough for a knight

BTW
Shouldn't you change your avatar to something like COTM9 rocketman?

@Redbad
I should have done a lot of things this game. I wanted to edit into my report that when I recaptured the Great Library in 940, I got Astronomy, Banking, Printing Press, Economics, and Navigation. I really thought on emporer the AI would have had at least Chemistry by now, maybe even Metallurgy, but I guess I did too good a job fomenting. As a monarchy, I didn't have the gold to do really fast research, and my original strategy went out the window, so I kind of had to improvise. But thanks Redbad, any advice is always welcome. I think you're right.
Regarding the avatar, well, you're joking, but I'm considering changing it to the face of the SoZ wonder splash. My concern is appearing, um, something other than humble. What do you think?

I agree it's most uncommon for the AI to research that deep on the upper region of the MA techtree, while having so little researched on the bottom tree. And then as you said, you're in trouble being in Monarchy and having to research yourself to MT.
I didn't realise it, as in my game and in some other posts the AI (and especially the Greek) had little trouble researching towards MT.
But then again it is one of nice things of the Civ-games: even with the same starting situation they can turn out very differently. This also without the interference of the human player. A nice example of that is the different situation that evolves on the other continent, when you read the posts.

btw.
The SoZ does seem a little over the edge... but the SoP(oseidon) would be in order ;)

(With my little joke, I see now I should have referred to the signature and not the avatar.)

Edit
Arrr you really got me this time Jove. I only realise now that Jove is Jupiter :blush: So Zeus is your Greek name

I agree it's most uncommon for the AI to research that deep on the upper region of the MA techtree, while having so little researched on the bottom tree.

I hadn't really looked at it as uncommon, just a big pain. But I think you're right. It looks like I killed and/or redirected the AI research without killing the AI. (Assuming my actions were the determining factor). It would be handier if I could do that strictly at will.

the SoP(oseidon) would be in order ;)

Well, Poseidon does have a fantastic beard, and it floats all over the place, which renders really well into stone.... Sounds good! Why don't you upload the graphic for me?

Open, [ptw]

Gah! RedBad is giving me problems with my victory condition. I had sort of decided on the MOO TOO but it's so boring that I feel it's cruel if either of us has to miss the award. (Best thing would be if only one fanatic went for it.)

It would probably be close. Obviously the hairy one had a better start, but I was faster subduing the Greeks and Carthaginians and had all but destroyed the Aztecs when the Middle Ages ended (1060 AD.) One thing that favours Redbad is that I usually keep my citizens one hair's breadth from rioting in the early stages of the game. And I haven't purposely increased my population by building more cities within my borders.

Sorry, can't make up my mind now.

Here's a detailed but not exhaustive timeline:
70 AD - Republic learned.

90 AD - Thebes retaken, Alexandria taken. Peace with Egypt for all their techs.

Enter middle ages. We meet Celts. Researching feudalism at 100%.

110 AD - We know Russia! Trades:
Republic to Carthage for 137 gold, WM, equi-worker.
World Map and 470 gold to Russia for Feudalism.
Feudalism to Greece for Monotheism, 18 gold, ivory and WM.
Monotheism to Celts for Monarchy, contact with Vikings & Aztecs, WM
Monotheism to Russia for 280 gold.
Monarchy, WM, 16 gold per turn to Greece for Theology.
Theology to Russia for WM, 14 gpt, 210 gold.

We still have 1537 gold.

Revolt. 6 turn anarchy. I don't know which government to pursue, but maybe Republic because I have quite a few slaves (I make it 13), In that case we must pursue Military Tradition first to hopefully expand our territory after that in order to support more cavalry (if, IF we have salpeter). But I'll start by researching Education. Engineering is pointless.

130 AD - Noted that the anarchy worker penalty doesn't affect foreign workers.

150 AD - Starving Rome.

210 AD - Republic. Education 9 turns, -13 gpt, not bad with no libraries.

230 AD - Greece has Education. Embassy with Celts. War on Scandinavia. Sold Theology to Celts for alliance, 8 gpt, 80 g, WM. Bought alliance with Russia for Right of passage, 145 gold.

250 - Russia has Chivalry.

280 - Hurried settler in Rome, moved almost all my military into Thebes. I wish I'd joined some workers too to be sure. But surely Thebes has more neighbouring towns than Cumae. Added some luxury because of the temporary wine-loss.

290 - Flip to Thebes worked. Education went from 5 to 3 turns.

300 - First legionary disbanded.

310 - Education researched. Traded it to Celts for all their gold and gpt and Chivalry. Traded chivalry to Greece for all their gold and gpt.

340 - Bought 2 workers from Carthage for Theology - thanks, Civ Assist. The barbs are taking some Greek settlements apart on the big Barb Island. My knight on Barb island dies, attacking a barb horseman. That's a pity, 'cause I want to threaten Greece by moving the knight next to their empty town and demanding Astronomy.

360 - Surprisingly, our army is average compared to Greece. Could it be that their losses on barb island has caused a catastrophic disbanding period? But should I really attack my no. 1 trading partner Greece? It would require us to disconnect iron. Engineering finished. Researching invention.

370 - We demand Astronomy but are rejected.

380 - Our demand is rejected again.

390 - Traded Music Theory from Greece for Engineering.

400 - Disconnected iron.

460 - Traded astronomy from Russia for Invention.

470 - Gunpowder in the bag and I'm tech leader.

640 - Military tradition researched. Physics, Banking traded. Research off.

650 - Greece destroys Egypt. Salpeter connected. 39 mounted units, 4-5 more horsemen coming.

740 - 36 cavalrists and time for war on Greece.

750 - Leader builds army. Researching Magnetism slowly.

850 - Magellan's Voyage hurried.

860 - Greece destroyed, taking a taste of the industrial age to its grave. Now Greek resistance will be killed.

910 - War on Carthage.

970 - Carthage destroyed, their fate veiled in mystery to all. Now sailing to the Aztecs after first quenching all resistance.

1030 - Hurried Smith's in Teotihuacan.

1060 - Dragged myself into the INDUSTRIAL AGE. Aztecs is doomed next turn and I will be able to hurry Newton's in Thebes before that so as to get a chance for another leader. Another army will be vital before the attack on Russia and the subsequent acquisition of silks from Celts.

Gah! RedBad is giving me problems with my victory condition. I had sort of decided on the MOO TOO but it's so boring that I feel it's cruel if either of us has to miss the award. (Best thing would be if only one fanatic went for it.)
Please do compete, Megalou.

I wasn't that happy with my result, but if there isn't any competition I'll never know if it was indeed a mediocre result. I would be a little surprised if you won't outscore me: getting rid of the Greek and Carthagians earlier is a good advantage and I find your COTM10 firaxis quite worrying, especially considering that it's a milking that went wrong.

And above all: someday I want to tell my grandchildren that their grandpa fought the mighty Megalou.

Correction: The Mightier-Than-He-Thinks Megalou. In his darkest dreams he has visions of a beard ablaze, consuming all it touches. And there is also the time factor and a new COTM to consider. I haven't played another turn since I saw your tantalizing post, and I'm gonna tantalize you back by not revealing my decision. :p

http://gotm.civfanatics.net/common/swordsman_small.gif [ptw] 1.27

Going for domination.

Link to Ancient Age Spoiler (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=2751667&postcount=51)

I entered the Middle Ages in my Golden Age and at war with Egypt. I had just captured the Great Library in Thebes.

Egyptian War: 610 BC (continued from previous spoiler) – 30 BC
Progress was rapid against the Egyptians. I captured their “last” town on the continent in 310 BC, but they had a settler in a boat. No problem, I figured. I would just let them found their town on an island and then go kill it. Unfortunately, I encountered a significant problem with this plan. Egypt founded a new town on the small western island in 210 BC, and I sent a couple of legions over to take them out in 130 BC. What is wrong with this picture?

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/ShigellaGOTM42c.jpg

This is 5 or 6 turns since the Egyptians founded their town, and they already have a worker who has completed a road and a mine. The AI never sends workers in boats, and the island doesn’t have a 2-food square. In other words, Egypt’s new capital had been founded as a re-spawn, rather than a simply a town guarded by a single spear. Has anyone else ever documented this occurs when a civ re-founds a capital with a settler in a boat??? :crazyeye:

I tried to take their capital in 50 BC with 4 legions, but couldn’t kill all their troops (I counted at least 4 spears and 2 archers that I eventually killed). I was distracted elsewhere at the time, so I decided to give them peace in 30 BC.

Regionally Intense Barbarian Activity:
Meanwhile, I was sending some settlers down to the southern island. I landed my first settler pair down there in 110 BC (after sailing along the coast for 3 turns before I found an open tile). My legion escort survived the first turn and I founded a town on the island in 90 BC. I immediately lost the legion and was ransacked by the 15 barb horses in the greeting party.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/ShigellaGOTM42d.jpg

I had a foothold on the island, but barbs would be “poofing” themselves into my town for the next several centuries. In retrospect, my approach here might have been a mistake. I made certain that I spent as much gold as possible at the end of each turn, so I was able to minimize the amount of gold the barbs carried away. It took a long time to fully occupy this island, and I dispersed at least 8 camps in the process of doing so.

Government:
The Great Library taught us Monarchy at the end of the 110 BC turn, and I immediately revolted. After a 5-turn anarchy, I was a Monarch in 10 BC. I don’t know if this was the right decision, as I was low on gold for most of the game. However, I did a LOT of war-mongering and didn’t have to pay very much luxury tax or unit support for the rest of the game.

Second Greek War: 50 AD – 130 AD
Alex had demanded tribute again at the end of the 150 BC turn, and I told him to piss off again. This time he backed down. I took the warfare to him in 50 AD by using ROP abuse to capture 4 of their core cities, including Athens. I lost 17 legionaries in the initial assault, while killing 11 hoplites. I was already dreadfully behind in culture, so all of the Greek cities were burned to the ground and I filled space with several settlers.

This initial assault also left me a bit thin on attackers, so I fought a holding action until the Greeks would talk. Alex would finally chat in 130 AD, but I still hadn’t generated a great leader to rush my FP. I decided to attack the lone Greek troop within range of one of my elites before giving peace, and generated my first leader!

I immediately gave a peace treaty to the Greeks (charging Alex an island town and all his gold), and rushed my FP on the same turn in a town I had founded in old Greek territory.

Contacting the Other Continent:
I finally sent out some more suicide galleys in 190 AD and met Russia in 230 AD. I traded for contacts and maps, but did not sell my contacts to the other civs. I had already broken a ROP deal, and was planning several more dastardly acts in the near future. I didn’t foment any wars on the other continent, as they were doing a decent job of that without my help (Aztecs v Russia; Vikings v Celts). I did sell some tech to the other civs when they could pay decent GPT, so that helped my economy a bit. Unfortunately, that also sped them along to Gunpowder.

Second Egyptian War: 340 AD – 380 AD
I finally landed some more troops on the Egyptian island in 340 AD. By this time, my formerly Greek town on their island had flipped to Egypt. I captured Egyptian capital and eliminated them in 380 AD.

Carthaginian War: 350 AD – 620 AD
This war was fought with MIs and a few legions. I used ROP abuse (I had signed a ROP agreement with Carthage right before abusing it against the Greeks) and captured (and quickly burned) four cities including their capital. After the initial backstab, I made slow but steady progress against them. I gave them a phony peace for a town on barb island in 600 AD. I re-declared in 610 AD and captured their last town in 620 AD. I burned most Carthaginian towns due to the very high flip probabilities, but did keep a few including their town containing the Great Lighthouse.

Third Greek War: 420 AD – 610 AD
I used MIs and legions in this conflict as well. Progress was painfully slow, but I eventually eliminated the Greeks in 610 AD. I burned most of their towns, but did manage to keep a few at the end.

Continued in next post.

The net effect of all my war-mongering on the home continent was that I had eliminated Egypt, Greece and Carthage before they could meet the other continent. So, despite all my back-stabbing, my rep on the other continent was as pure as the driven snow. Of course, it wouldn’t take me long to tarnish my reputation with the other civs either.

Before delving into more warfare, here are some other developments during the Middle Ages:
350 BC – Golden Age over
210 BC – Carthage completed the Great Lighthouse
580 AD – Russia completed Leo’s in Moscow.
600 AD – I FINALLY generated my second (and last) great leader on my 48th elite victory. It was too late for Leo’s, so I used it to create an empty army (later to be a knight army) to use as a nut-cracker on the other continent.
700 AD – I finally completed a temple, only the third culture-generating building in my empire!

Free Techs, Some Trades and Just a Little Bit of Research:
I relied on the Great Library to provide tech for a long time, learning Monarchy in 110 BC, Feudalism and Engineering in 90 AD, Theology in 250 AD and Education in 400 AD. I traded for Gunpowder and Chivalry after the library expired.

I finally started research on Astronomy in 480 AD, but it was learned on the other continent in 490 AD. I traded for Astronomy in 500 AD and started research on Navigation. Being a bloody monarch with no science buildings (I never built a library the whole game), I didn’t learn Navigation until the end of the 590 AD turn.

In 800 AD, I purchased Chemistry, Banking, Music Theory, their WM and 158 gold for 124 GPT. I then traded Chemistry to the Celts for Printing Press and some GPT. I declared war Russia the same turn, so I never paid for their techs and gold.

Aztec War: 500 AD – 760 AD
In 500 AD, I had signed a military alliance with the Russians against the Aztecs (to cheapen the cost of Astronomy when I traded for it). Of course, this was a phony war until I learned Navigation (in 590 AD). After my Greek campaign ended in 610 AD, I immediately started assembling those troops to send them toward Aztec territory. The fleet landed 22 MIs and 2 legions in Aztec territory in 680 AD, and the carnage on the other continent began in earnest. The Aztecs were defending with spears and a few pikes, and most of their troops were at the Russian front. The biggest problems I had were the logistics of getting slow-moving troops through their territory and dealing with a few flips in captured towns (I didn’t raze any Aztec towns). The Aztecs were eliminated in 760 AD.

Russian War: 800 AD – 890 AD
Russia had muskets everywhere, and my attack force was comprised of MIs, a few knights and a 3-knight army. I used ROP abuse to capture Moscow (which contained Leo’s) and four other Russian towns in 800 AD. I immediately upgraded a pile of horsemen to knights back home, and then ship-chained them into the fray during the next few turns. Moscow was burned the next turn, as it was bound to flip back to Russia. Holding Leo’s for 2 turns saved me about 1200 gold in upgrades, so it had served its purpose. I had a few headaches with remote Russian cities, but managed to eliminate them in 890 AD.

Final Touches:
I was shipping settlers over to the other continent during my Russian campaign and used them to fill in spaces around captured Russian towns. Finally, I had to start poaching some land from the Celts by founding towns right against their cultural borders. I was a little late rushing some temples back in the homeland, so I didn’t trigger domination until I got several cultural expansions and poached some more Celt territory in 910 AD.

Bottom Line:
Domination victory in 920 AD. Firaxis score 7468. Jason 9905.

I don’t think Jason scores are going to be anywhere near the levels reached in GOTM41, so I wasn’t too disappointed to just miss 10K.

Finally, some mini-maps.
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/ShigellaGOTM42e.jpg

This is 5 or 6 turns since the Egyptians founded their town, and they already have a worker who has completed a road and a mine. The AI never sends workers in boats, and the island doesn’t have a 2-food square. In other words, Egypt’s new capital had been founded as a re-spawn, rather than a simply a town guarded by a single spear. Has anyone else ever documented this occurs when a civ re-founds a capital with a settler in a boat??? :crazyeye:

When a civ founds it's first city it gets the difficulty level dependent bonus units.
This happens in the beginning, but also if a settler founds a new first city, after all cities are gone. So on emperor they get 4 defenders, 2 attackers and a worker.
It's not a respawn, then they would get even more units (iirc 7 defenders, 3 attackers, 2 workers and a settler on emperor).

First spoiler: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=2752724#post2752724

Egypt still lives, but not for long. I plant a city close to Thebes so I can get to attack in 1 turn, build my forces and am ready for claiming the site for its rightful owner, and future summer home for great Caeser.

DoW, take Thebes and raze it (I can tell I will be doing a lot of this - I am not doing well culturally against anyone.) and replace with my own settler, founding Thebopolis. FP immediately started. I signed Greece and Carth in on this one, and I sit back for the most part building and filling in cities while they deal with Egypt.
After Egypt is destroyed, I command the area in between the 2 northern occupiers of Roman lands. They apparantly don't like each other, and commence hostilities. I immediately sign RoP with both, and watch the battles in my northern lands, weakening both sides.
I notice Greece starts getting the upper hand, so I slow his advance by forcing him through unroaded mountain tiles. I see my chance.
I am the only one with salt hooked up (site north of Thebopolis), but then disaster! My salt city flips to Greece. That seals it. I move out of their territory and attack. I sign with Carthage, and we start running through Greek lands. I end up taking all cities south of Athens (Athens border touches Roman red) and Carth gets 2 northern sites on the peninsula to the east of Athens. I make peace since WW is starting to bother me (Republic).

In the meanwhile, I am first to find the new continent, and I trade to be at tech par with everyone except Russia. Russia only has about 10 cities, but they look like they will be monsters eventually. They are tech leader, and all cities are maxed at 12.

Vikings are points leader, then Greece (but not for long) then Russia.
I am last among living civs. That will not last for long either. Carthage is starting to annoy me, because I don't like their num. mercs running around.

By the time I hit the next age, everyone is furious with me (probably from all the razing). I still have no idea how I will win. Culturally I am in last, but Russia and the Celts are close together, so I don't think I will have to worry about it, unless one is wiped out.

Overall, I am pretty pleased that I am doing this well on a level I have never played before, with a hemmed in start.

My score is rising quickly, so I should be near the top rather quickly.

I'll make it! I've just entered the industrial age, and at a glance i should be at 50 tiles short of domination, or even less.

The game is really top quality. :wow: It's been great to play it, so much that, in the late turns, i preferred enjoying the game rather than winning in the fastest way possible. A furious rush for conquest has gradually turned into a slow, majestic march to world domination.

Time is enough to post a detailed report and then to play the remaining few turns into the industrial age. I'm writing it right now.

FIRST PUNIC WAR

I've entered middle ages in 70BC, still in despotism. In the first turns i do nothing but amass troops and research Monarchy at a fastest rate available. A good bunch of warriors is ready to be upgraded into legions. In the meantime, i amass the max troops available for an expansion into Carthaginians territory. Archers and spears are becoming obsolete, so they are quite expendable. If a lot of them falls it's not a tragedy, and the survivors can be useful as an el-cheapo MP force.

In 30AD i declare on Carthage. A city is razed and refounded, and in the battle a leader is generated. The Forbidden Palace may be rushed in Thebes and the planned 2nd core of the empire becomes fully functional. Too bad the carthaginians offer a fiery resistance. Lots of harassers come around and i lose some precious troops to keep them away from the ex-egyptian cities.

In 150AD Monarchy is learned. I hold a revolution immediately and get 3 turns of anarchy. Next turn, a 2nd carthaginian city is razed and refounded but the attack is almost repealed and i leave 9 archers dead on the battlefield. The troops left spare for skirmishes perform even worse. 3 archers dead and not a single enemy swordsman killed. Peace must be signed immediately.

In the negotiations, i carve out Monotheism tossing in the deal 310 quids.


THE GREEK WAR

The first turn in monarchy are used to rebuild the military and amass forces. War with Greece is declared in 310AD and goes on for centuries almost uninterrupted, until Greece is completely eliminated.

The greek have been quite a problem. They were the runaway AS in culture from the very beginning. With a culture ratio near 9:1, the mere idea of keeping any captured city is simply insane. Scorched earth was the only option. I torch a few greek cities, resettle the open space at a good distance from greek boundaries and rush immediately a temple to avoid dirty tricks from cultural expansion. This strategy goes on flawless until 490AD. In this year i move a big stack just outside the major city of Thermopylae, with the intent of razing it as usual. In the interturn, Thermopylae completes the Sistine Chapel.

At this point i decide to keep Thermopylae. The idea is to have some cities near the core to grow big while mantaining the WLKTD. With Sistine owned, a marketplace, a cathedral and a few luxury spending are enough to remove unhappiness. Thermopilae is taken and some insurance troops are kept outside the city to retake it.

Two turns lated, my troops are just outside Athens, ready to take it next turn. And the interturn, Athens completes Sun Tzu. Since it already had the Pyramids, it is too good to be razed. Another city is captured and more insurance must be parked outside a city rather than used in battle. Obviously, i've left them open for recapture whenever possible, but even so they managed to flip back a few times. Athens 3, Thermopylae 2.

For two times i signed peace with Alex and extorted cities only to have war redeclared next turn. It was a just a way to speed up assimilation. Some distant cities were too distant worthless to spend the necessary turns for capture, but extorting them was fine.

In 670AD, a third city is captured rather than razed. It's Sparta and contains the Great Lighthouse. The remaining greek territory is quickly assimilated. In 730AD, Greece is reduced to a single colony on the Barb Island. In 800AD it becomes history.


THIRD EGYPTIAN WAR

The Egyptian have played 2CC since my last campaign against them. They were culturally insignificant, and with all my forces engaging Greece it was a waste to capture those last 2 cities. Right after clearing the mainland from the Greek presence, the remnants of Egypt are assimilated. It takes only 2 turns to get rid of them.

CONTACTS

I've been quite unsuccessful with suicide galleys. After a few failed attempts, in 730AD a boat sailing from the NW frozen island reaches the Aztec shorelines. All the other continent civs are met in the next turns. I get a full world map and some money for selling mine. The Aztecs are quite backward, but the other 3 civs are advanced and strong.


SECOND PUNIC WAR

In 860AD the assimilation of the Carthaginian nation begins. After amassing a sheer number of legions and persian mercs, a RoP is signed despite my broken rep (i toss in spices and money). 3 cities are captured immediately, then the big stack moves toward Carthage. The 2nd leader of the whole game is created, and i use it to rush Leo's workshop somewhere after buying Invention from the vikings.


THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD

Carthage is captured in 940AD. In the interturn, the captured Great Library grants me a sheer load of medieval techs: Theology, Chivalry, Music Theory, Education, Gunpowder, Banking, Astronomy, Chemistry and Navigation.

With Navigation known i can trade with anyone. Incense and furs are secured. With 6 luxuries owned, happiness rises substantially everywhere, and for the 1st time i note that the score is rising a lot. I tried to keep up happiness in order to obtain WLKTD almost everywhere (and so boost production and money), and a side effect of this strategy is the score going up.


REPUTATION DISASTER

In 1030AD the last carthaginian city is captured, but they aren't out of the game yet. Here's something that i really don't like, and after this game i like it even less. A boat with a settler embarked is floating around. Some caravels that were already amassing to invade the Aztecs must be sent around to eliminate the boat ASAP. I kill 2 galleys (losing 2 caravels) with no success. Then the disaster happens. The vikings build a settlement on a tiny open space on the Barb Island. Next turn a Carthaginian galley passes by... the rest is easy to understand. Rep thrashed everywhere and bye bye with the idea of buying the remaining techs with gpt.

Two turns later, a damaged caravel is intercepted and sunk, and the carthaginians are gone for good. Too late.

Uh, didn't i mention that i was researching Metallurgy at max, only to see Russians, Vikings and Keltoi to apparently complete it the very same turn as mine? :mad:


AZTEC WAR

The Aztecs were quite backward. Cities defended by spears and a few pikes. No match against longbows, knights and mercs. War is declared in 1150AD. Incense is owned from the very beginning. In 1200AD i sign peace and extort Physics, then i exchange Printing Press for Navigation. War is redeclared immediately and in 1265AD, the aztec nation is completely assimilated into the Roman Empire.


WORLD WAR

In the late middle ages the AS go war-crazy. In 1200AD the vikings demand ivory. I refuse and they declare. They were collecting from me 3 luxuries and 52 gpt in return of furs. Go figure. I immediately draw Russia in an alliance against them.

I've put my personal contribution in this by declaring on the Keltoi in 1250. Controlling dyes was my goal, but even expansion and some possible pointy-stick research was considered. I've razed 3 keltoi cities and founded 5 of mine in the open space. Peace is signed in 1355 and Magnetism is extorted.

Meanwhile, the war with the Vikings continued uninterrupted, with the Russians also beating hard on them. I've razed a few vikings cities and substituted them with Roman settlements. Got control of furs and almost on the domination limit. But the war (and the game) isn't finished in this era. Just for the fun of it, in 1380AD i buy Theory of Gravity from the Keltoi and finally come out from an endless Middle Age.

Here's the score progression at the end of Middle Ages:

Predator -

Just got this one submitted with 2 hours to spare (again!) Went for a very simple, Despotic Domination victory.

Starting location was pretty bad; finally settled in 3700 BC on River Grassland to East of Wine space. Already had an idea about how much Desert and Jungle were around me, so a Palace Jump was definitely in the works.

Contacted Egypt, then Carthage, fairly quickly, and Greece somewhat later. Egypt was the target. I thought I would revolt later, so I used only Archers against Egypt. Built 2 more cities, Barracks in all 3, and a 10 high stack of Archers with more coming did the trick; captured Thebes and another city, destroyed 2, and got 3 more in Peace negotiatons; disbanded Rome shortly after to place my Capital in Thebes; this is roughly mid-600's BC. I also get my first GL in the last combat; I'll hold this for my FP.

By this time, I'm running out of time. So I abandon thoughts of higher forms of Government; I'll stay in Despotism, building Vet Warriors in my core cities for now, and plan to pop-rush Galleys in my border, coastal towns. Meanwhile I'll do minimal on Republic with one Scientist, and save money for Legion upgrades.

Greece makes one demand too many in 300'ish BC, no way, and he declares. I've got about 15 Vet Warriors in my closest border town, so it's time to connect Iron and start upgrades. My Despotic GA starts shortly after. Now Athens has the Pyramids (good) AND the Great Wall (not good). After demolishing Alex's attack forces, my legions sally forth, capturing his closest Border town (Knossus, which is on the Horse resource, so I can now build Horsemen - yay). A stack of Legions escorts a Settler forward to found a city right in the middle of Greece, and my GL builds the FP here; this will be my 2nd core. A huge stack of Legions attacks Athens some time later, and I don't quite take it :mad: but I do get 2 GL's who form Armies. A 2nd wave with the army takes Athens the following turn, and it is the (very slow) beginning of the end. Greece's 3 defense Hoplites are tough for the Legions, especially all the times Athens decides to flip back and have to be retaken.

Meanwhile, a suicide galley makes contact with the 2nd continent in 70 AD. Four turns later in 150 AD my minimal on Republic finishes and I'm able to trade for all other AA techs, entering the Middle Ages. After taking all but 3 Greek cities in the North corner of the continent and 2 on the Ice island, I sign peace getting Feudalism and Monotheism from Alex, sometime around 300 AD.

I've been building up a Horsemen army in the meantime, and research Chivalry fairly quickly, but Carthage is already heading up the lower tech path. I got a big stack of Knights going against Carthage, but I get bogged down, and once the Muskets show up, I have to sign peace, managing to get up to Gunpowder myself, right around 700 AD.

I resign myself to researching to Military Tradition; Knights are marginal against Hoplites and NumMercs, and not strong enough against Muskets. 10 turns for Chemistry, Metallurgy and MilTrad finally researched in 1020 AD. I'm also able to trade Metallurgy for the AI Techs, all the way up to Navigation so the crossing is not a problem and I've kept MilTrad for myself. In the meantime I've been pop-rushing Galleys and Horsemen (one of my later GL's rushed Sun-Tzu's, so all my towns make Vet units) and have about 60 Ships and over 100 horse units by this time. It goes quickly after this, Greece, then Carthage, and on to the 2nd continent which is down to just Vikings and Celts due to some mischief I'd caused to happen. Domination in 1280AD.

Starting location definitely slowed things down; requires establishing a new core which takes some time.

3 Defense units are tough, especially before Knights, and really tough when Greece has the Great Wall!

It's amazing how big a force can be pop-rushed in Despotism when you have Pyramids and Sun-Tzu's; however the research really lagged - 10 turn research at the end of the MidAges.