COTM 12: Spoiler 2

To qualify for this spoiler, you must have the full world-map. You must have all contacts, and must be researching an industrial-age tech.


The middle-ages are when your unique unit is most valuable. What sort of position were you in when the Ansar Warrior became available - did you have the resquired resources? Did you use it to trigger your golden age, and if so, did you use it to its fullest potential?

Was this the phase that you worked to expand to the maximum potential, or did you follow a more peaceful path?

Open, going for 20K

ancient age (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=2748006&postcount=10)

We entered the Middle Ages in 130BC. After the completion of the Great Library, cathedral and colosseum, we started on building the Sistine Chapel. Because the wonder-techs are coming in fast and they are quite large to build, it gets time to start the GA. It is also time for some MGL’s.

In 260AD we dow Russia and our GA starts. Using the GA lets us quickly finish the Sistine Chapel and build the university and Copernicus. By rearranging the worked tiles in Medina I can bring production up to 28 shields, which becomes 40 in Golden Age.

I have chosen Russia as enemy because they don’t have iron and haven’t their horses connected. I send two pikemen to the horse to prevent it from being connected. Later on the pikemen are killed by longbows. A few Russian cities are captured including Moscou with the Pyramids. The war is not about knocking out the Russians: just to harvest MGL’s and of course the Pyramids. The war ends in 690AD, having brought us 3 MGL’s.

In 890AD we reach the Industrial Ages. The 20K builds until that point:

2350 temple
1600 palace
1000 Oracle
875 library
710 Mausoleum of Mausollos
430 Hanging Gardens
130 --------------------------------- Middle Ages
110 Great Library
-30 cathedral
110 colosseum
260 --------------------------------- start Russian war, start Golden Age
360 Sistine Chapel
370 university
460 --------------------------------- end Golden Age
480 Copernicus’ Observatory
490 Heroic Epic (MGL)
660 Shakespeare’s Theater
690 ---------------------------------end Russian war (3 MGL’s aquired)
770 Newton’s University
890 --------------------------------- Industrial Ages

Predator http://gotm.civfanatics.net/common/swordsman_small.gif
Ancient Age (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=2747933&postcount=7)

I entered MA in 690BC. The gifting and trading round with the sci civs gave monotheism and feudalism.
Research was set to chivalry (what else ?) .
Small problem was that it would still take some time to steal some iron.
So I opted for a small horsie campaign against resourceless France first.
This lasted to 390BC leaving France with two towns, but we had now the pyramids in Paris.
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/klarius_c12_2.jpg

Next target was Russia. Now we had the first Ansars. War and golden age started in 250BC.
In 210BC the Ottomans declared when I booted them out. So now we have a nice 2-front war ;) .
The russians are destroyed in 10AD and also there isn't much left of the Ottomans. They last until 50AD.
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/klarius_c12_3.jpg

I still didn't know the other continent and had decided to wait for astronomy now (had lost the Lighthouse to the Portugese), while working on the Koreans.
Korea didn't put up much of a fight. The main problem was getting through their jungle and mountain land.
In 270AD they are gone. France also got mopped up somewhere along the road.
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/klarius_c12_4.jpg

And I had now met a Portugese galley near Korea.
In the same year Leonardo's completed and I upgraded a bunch of horsies I had saved for this occassion.
With Astronomy in 280AD shipments to Portugal started.

RoP rape in 360AD leads to the demise of Portugal in 390AD.
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/klarius_c12_5.jpg

I had already researched to navigation, to get maps, then stopped research.
A small force had also reached England by this time via the western route.

The rest is just moving troops through difficult territory and then capturing english and byzantine cities.
Last byzantine town falls in 500AD for conquest victory in 510AD.

Two turns before the end Byzantines got gunpowder and I made a very short peace to trade for it, just to look where the saltpeter would have been. :)

Never mind, sorry.

Open

I entered the MA in 975BC prepairing for war.
First i attacked ottomans with horsemen (they had iron), then on their way back my armies destroyed France. Then i started war with Russia and just before destroying them i researched chivalry (got monotheism and feudalism by trading with sci civs) and got my GA. Then i stopped research and used gold to upgrade horses and to rush galleys. I destroyed Korea and transported my army to the other continent using suicidal galleys and destroyed everybody there. My result was conquest in 680AD with 10295 jason score.

That's not bad for the first time, i think, but it'll not get me high in the ranking, because the map is very easy - most AI's don't have resources.

My mistakes were (not sure about some of them, the experienced players may correct me):

1. In the early phase of the game i could have organised my expansion more efficently.
2. I only built a small core around my capital. Maybe i should have claimed more land - that's a scoring issue. My base score would've been higher, but i would have lost some time for building useless corrupt cities. Anyway i should have claimed iron.
3. Having iron i could have chosen whom to attack first and that should have been Russia - they were the closest ones and i could use their cities for production.
4. Propably i should have stayed on despotism - anyway i only researched chivalry on monarchy and i had many horsemen anyway, so getting chivalry earlier was more important then having higher production.
5. I should have transported my armies at both ends of the other continent, near Byzantines and near Portuguise - i had enough ansars and galleys not to waste my time running from one side of the continent to the other.

Predator. To make a long story short, I achieved a domination victory in 1030AD. I had four armies at the end, three cav, one ansar.

I used ROP rape to land my forces in portugal and wipe them out. Its the fastest domination I ever had, but I can see where I could have played better and won earlier. I got my iron from the island to the east and shipped it to the main land. Horses were no problem.

I entered MA in 800BC, connected Iron in 490BC and learned Chivalry in 470BC.
In 210BC I decided I had enough military power to start the conquer of the world. Arabs attacked Otto and triggered GA.

By 10AD I had conquered 90% of Otto cities and used my first GL to build FP in the middle of Otto territory.

In 90AD Arabs attacked France. In 110AD I finally met English and, few turns later, all the other continent's civs.

In 150AD Ottomans were terminated. In 190AD I learned Military Tradition and my GA ended.

In 280AD France was terminated. In 360AD I learned Astronomy and stopped reasearch, in the same year I attacked Korea (terminated in 460AD) and Russia (terminated in 440AD).

In 480AD my troops landed in the other continent and attacked Portugal conquering the city with the Great Lighthouse.
In 530BC I decided to research Navigation to be able to connect two luxuries found in the other continent.

Arabs attacked English in 550AD and Byzantines in 590.

Portugal was terminated in 590AD, English in 600AD and Byzantines in 690AD for a Conquest victory in 700AD.

My first COTM, I played it as a GOTM. Guess I'll take some games to understand all the differences between the two versions.

I entered the Middle Ages in 750 BC looking for war. I did not gift anyone in with me because I had no desire to face pikemen (and I didn’t pay enough attention to the lack of iron). In 690 BC, Russia came demanding literature. I refused and they obligingly declared. I signed an alliance against Russia with the Ottomans – I didn’t need their help (and in fact they were useless), but I did not want Russia signing an alliance with them against me. The French and Koreans were no threat whatsoever so I left them out. Although I had a superior military, the war went slowly because I was trying to avoid taking cities that would autoraze, and Russia was still in despotism so they could pop rush. I also was avoiding Moscow because the Pyramids had been started there a while ago, and I was hoping they would be finished for me instead of wasting those shields. Unfortunately, Seoul completed the Pyramids before Moscow so I signed peace with Russia in 90 BC. I picked up 5 cities during the war and another 3 in the peace treaty.

I inexplicably had over 200 years of peace following that war. The Ottomans tried to extort horses, but unfortunately they were bluffing. In 170 AD, the French were kind enough to send a warrior into my territory and declare when I told him to leave. I had ansar warriors by now and kicked off my Golden Age with the beginning of the war. By 400 AD, the French were merely a footnote in history.

In declared on Russia again in 280 AD. Moscow had completed the Temple of Artemis for me. I eliminated Russia by 430 AD.

Refusing to be at peace again, I declared on the Ottomans in the same year. I took their last city in 550 AD. I thought they had a settler in a galley somewhere, but it turned out he was wandering in Korean territory. He formed a new city for me in 630, and I captured it in 650.

The Koreans’ number came up in 530 - I declared on them. They were eliminated in 650.

I reached military tradition around 510. I researched Theology around 550, but decided not to complete Education to keep the Temple of Artemis in effect. If I had been thinking earlier, I would not have researched Theology either so I could keep the Oracle (thanks to the Ottomans) in effect too, but I thought of that too late. In any case, with science off from 550 on, I cranked up the luxury slider, and I don’t think I had any unhappy citizens the rest of the game.

I had minimal early contact with the other continent. I had met Portugal in 570 BC but between having suicide galleys sink and the ones that did make it across getting killed by barbs, I did not meet the English until 550 AD and the Byzantines until 590 AD. I can’t say I really tried that hard – I knew they were backwards and didn’t see much advantage in wasting shields on ships early.

Portugal completed the Great Lighthouse in Lagos in 590, so I signed an RoP with them. I sent 7 suicide galleys loaded with cavalry and ansar warriors across the strait to Portugal – only 2 survived. Nonetheless, the 4 surviving ansars walked through Portugal to Lagos and then I declared in 740. I conquered Lagos (defended by a regular pike and a veteran pike) and owned the Great Lighthouse. I signed alliances with both England and the Byzantines just so Portugal could not devote all their efforts to recapturing Lagos – in fact, there was almost no counterattack. With the Great Lighthouse firmly under control, I could safely ship cavalry over and it was just a matter of time until domination was reached in 960 with a Jason score of just over 10K.

[c3c] Predator, barbs fixed, going for 20k

Ancient Age (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=2749044&postcount=21)

I entered the MA in 610 BC at which point I handed out techs like candy to catch the other scientific civs up. Otto gets Monotheism, Korea gets Feudalism, Russia gets Feudalism. I still haven't met the other continent at this point so only 3 civs to deal with. I use Republic to get Feudalism and Republic and Feudalism to get Monotheism and start Theology to give me Sistine as a fallback in case I miss the Great Library. At this point I'm thinking Great Library, Cathedral, University and then Copernicus to start GA. I completely forgot about using an Ansar to start my GA (and in fact am quite surprised when I start my GA with one a little later :rolleyes: ).

Russia and Otto pick up Literature in 450BC and I'm worried about someone finishing TOA before I get the GL and someone cascading into the GL. Fortunately I end up finishing the GL in 310BC. At this point I turn science down to 20% to start building cash. I'm working on Education, but don't want that too fast anyway as I'd like to get a couple techs out of GL if I can, notably Chivalry, but Engineering would be very nice as well.

First War
I've been readying for a war on France who is pathetically behind (probably barb troubles). They have a nice fur city that I want and is pretty far from their core (if you can call it a core). I take the fur city in 250BC. Cathedral built in 230BC. Otto builds TOA in 210BC and Byzantines cascade to Great Wall, finishing it. Chivalry is known in 190BC by Russia and Otto, which means I'll have it from the GL next turn. I then upgrade 3 horses and destroy French city to my SW to start Golden Age (completely by accident as mentioned above). Now I want to speed up science and wonder building.

Golden Age
I switch Medina to Hanging Gardens (Monarchy was learned from GL right after I got it), and bump science up to 50% to speed up Education. I switch citizens in Medina to use more shields at a cost of 1fpt so Medina is losing food out of its bin, but it had a full (or nearly full) bin at size 12 so this lets me maximize my GA shields. When I get down to the last food I will irrigate one of the grass tiles to make it 0fpt. I'm building Ansars in my core cities to allow for more wars in coming years. I take Paris in 70BC and they aren't even resisting (I'm still settling new cities as much as I can and using temples to expand my area and build my culture).

During my GA I learn Education, Printing Press, Banking, Democracy, and Free Artistry (right after GA ends), and pick up Engineering in a trade. I bumped science up from 60% to 80% on the last turn of GA to make sure I got Free Artistry the next turn. I finished Hanging Gardens, University and started Sistine's. As the GA ended and I switched this to Shakespeare's. I finish my war on France, taking a city for peace, and leaving them with one tundra city. I also make contact with Portugal and trade for the other contacts.
GA ends

Science
From here I learn Astronomy, Music Theory, get Gunpowder from Portugal after doing one turn of reasearch on it, Chemistry, Physics, Theory of Gravity, Magnetism, and again, get Metallurgy from Portugal after one turn of research, entering Industrial Ages in 550AD.

20k Culture builds
310BC Great LIbrary
230BC Cathedral
30BC Hanging Gardens
70AD University
310AD Shakespeare's
510AD Bach's

More War
A gpt deal ended with Otto in 350AD at which point I declare on them. I take out 2 spear/settler stacks, a warrior/settler stack and 5 cities (one with gems) in the first turn. I take the last Ottoman city on southern end of my continent in 420AD, and make peace for 2 more in Koreas southern end, leaving them with just the capital on the iron island east of our continent. Want them around for the IA (and maybe Modern Age too).

In 450AD I notice Russia has a Saltpeter source and decide I need to take them out ASAP. Pilage the SP in 460AD starting a war that lasts until 540AD, leaving them with one tundra city to the far NW, and generating my first leader.

Just before the end of Russian war I declared on Korea. I had built an army of Ansars with the leader and after winning a battle with it switch Medina to Heroic Epic.

End of Middle Ages
As I'm entering the Industrial age in 550AD, Medina is building the Heroic Epic and I'm still working on Korea. I also discover a barb camp that just popped up in old Russia with 32 odd horses in it. Wasn't expecting that. :p At this point Medina has 2878 culture, and is making 57cpt.

I'm planning on finishing up the conquest of my continent and then filling in and increasing science output to speed through IA as fast as possible. There's not much in the way of wonders in IA so I really want to get to Modern Age as fast as I can. I used worker joins to get Medina up to size 20 after building Shakespeare so the first priority in the IA will be to get Steam Power, find and connect coal and rail Medina. I've been bringing as many workers towards Medina as I can in the last few turns in anticipation of getting Steam from the sci civs and hopefully already having coal.

Finished game last night – going for spaceship but went over domination limit 8 turns before launch (confessions of carelessness next spoiler)

Entered Middle Ages 330BC in Republic with 8 cities researching towards Chivalry
As this is my first Civ3 game doing a science based victory target I didn’t understand the trick of gifting up scientific civs and trading / buying their free techs.
Fustat founded on iron island 230BC
Built GL in Mecca 170BC, learn Monarchy
10BC Research Monotheism
210AD Research Feudalism
260AD join alliance against Russians (my first ferrous-less target) with Ottomans
320AD Research Chivalry -> upgrade horsies after rushing harbours
340AD Sole spearman in iron city redlined by Russian archer!
350AD Commence GA
420AD contact Portugal – I remain tech leader (didn’t record when contacted Eng & Byz – it was soon after ‘though)
450AD Capture Pyramids in Moscow
460AD Research Engineering
500AD Research Invention
560AD Build Sun Tzu’s
580AD Russians destroyed (Ottomans captured only 1 Russian city)
670AD DOW Ottomans – capture TofA in Edrine, disconnect their iron supply
Oops – I lost my iron because their influence covers coast off my iron island.
710AD Capture Oracle in Istanbul
720AD Research Chemistry, Theology (GL)
780AD Research Metallurgy
800AD Built Knights Templar
830AD Peace Ottomans –they have one city on small northern island
840AD Research Mil Trad
860AD DOW France – capture Hanging Gardens
920AD Research Astronomy. Peace with France – all cities captured, left with 2 galleys (don’t build city until 1560)
930AD DOW Korea
960AD Research Physics
98AD Build Sistine Chapel (had been building Leo’s but Constantinople beat me to it in 810AD)
990AD 1st & 2nd GMLs -> cav army and Heroic Epic
1000AD Research Magnetism
1030AD 3rd GML -> 2nd cav army
1040AD Research Banking – trade Music Theory
1080AD Industrial Age. Peace with Korea – also one city on northern island

Conquering my continent went fairly smoothly with first Ansars then cavs.
Science should have been much faster if used science civs.
Knights Templar was useless - pathetic crusaders struggling after Ansars and cavs never able to get to the action. Sistine Chapel was poor consellation for missing Leo's built in Constantinople in 810AD. I never built any cathedrals.
All those shields would have been far better value spent on Ansars and cavs.
Planned invasion other continent ASAP. Goal of taking over Portuguese cities and key luxes in England. Unfortunately not all plans come to fruition.

Open, barbs fixed, 20K

Well, the middle ages did not go better than the ancient ages. I expect I can still win this game, but it is going to be ugly and low scoring.

Culture:
Colosseum in 250 BC.
Cathedral in 380 AD. I have a nice Leo's prebuild for the Sistine Chapel, but screw up my research. I delay finishing Leo's until I learn theology, but lose out 6 turns from theology and end up with this lovely cathedral for my nearly 600 shield investment. Upon reflection, I wonder if chivalry might have been enough cheaper that I could get to it in time to switch to Knights Templar instead.
Knights Templar in 540 AD
University in 600 AD
Bach's Cathedral in 880 AD
I enter the Industrial Age in 1110. I'm rebuilding the palace in Damascus to make a prebuild available in Medina. As my empire is so small, building it by hand isn't taking all that long. Hopefully I'll get enough cities to make this investment worthwhile. I'll need a good prebuild to get the wonders I need, as I don't have a tech lead. I'm not really behind, though, so I think I can hang on until TOE.

Contacts and Wars:
I meet England and Portugal in 260 AD and the Byzantines in 520 AD. They are all backwards people. In 660 the Portuguese demand theology; I refuse and they declare on me. Since they can't get to me, I'm not worried, but I ally the English and Byzantines to keep their continent occupied.

The French are pretty weak - nearly as weak as I am - so I make plans to invade them. I declare in 920 and take 2 cities quickly. I get a great leader and make an army of crusaders. I have much better luck with crusaders than I usually do; they survive attacks by longbowmen fairly regularly. Two turns into the industrial ages I make peace for free artistry, a city in the far north, and 3 workers.

I'm not much farther along, but so far the industrial ages have been the worst yet.

Solenoozerec 2nd and final spoiler. Class: Open. Barbs fixed.

General comments. I do not remember such weak AI in any previous games, I kind of regretted playing open, I had to build most cities myself. I think open class was more suited for conquest than for domination.
This game was a relaxation after COTM11 struggle.
I do understand now why Ainwood's favorite unit is Ansar Warrior. Same here now.

Research After we entered MA, my primary goal was chivalry.
750 France - Pyramids :)
700 Feudalism. Portugal - Colossus
470 Monotheism
410 Ottomans - Oracle
390 Korea - Great Wall :( (I wished it would be on a different continent)
310 Chivalry and stop research

Problems I think that my major problem in this game was late FP:
230 FP

Warfare and history
130 War on Ottomans. FP is ready, we have a few Ansar warriors and it is definitely time to trigger GA. Besides Ottomans and Russians made some kind of scientific breakthrough and jumped into MA getting Feudalism and Monotheism.
France is an ally (why not, they pay gpt)

110 Russian built ToA (perfect! :D)

10BC France - The Hanging Gardens :) Peace with Ottomans (I do not know where their capital is
anyway.

30AD war on France.

50AD 1st GL

130 AD Last French city was captured, but France escaped with two settlers, we captured one, but another went on a galley.
Also started war against Russia, time to take care of our culture :evil:

150 England - Great Library (good, it is better to have it far away).

190 ToA captured.

210 ROP with Koreans, I want to destroy Great Wall in Seul first, I need ROP for that. War on
Ottomans.

230 Ottomans finished their existence.

260 GA ended :(. ToA gave expansion of our territory.

270 Peace with Russia, they gave three cities, it will be easier this way.

280 Evaporation of France

300 war on Russia and Korea (these people never met each other and probably never will). Destroyed
Seul.

370 Portugal - Great Lighthouse. At the same turn suicidal galley found Portugal. Now if we will
manage to bring a few guys to Lisbon we can capture lighthouse and make it easy. ROP with Portugal (it will help).
Started producing galleys.

380 second GL. Unfortunately it was created in such a place that it will take 8 turns to bring this
army to the place where I want it.

390 Russia and Korea are destroyed. Now the main goal is Lighthouse.

450 Attack on Lisbon. 3rd GL. The Great Lighthouse is ours.

490 4th GL. Contact with England.

520 War on England

530 England - Statue of Zeus. Contact with Byzantium.

540 End of Portugal

570 5th GL

580 domination

Progress:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/SolCotM12_progress.jpg

Answers to Ainwood’s questions: : all - yes

Edit: After reading other spoilers, I think that another major mistake was not gifting AI to MA. There was no danger of them having pikes because they did not have iron. But having chivalry faster would help me a lot.
BTW I haven't seen pikes in this game.

Open.

Domination win in 990AD (my first pre-1000AD win, but still not hit the 10K Jason mark - this was ~9600).

After taking an eternity (over 30 turns) to dispose of the Ottomans with Horses (as usual, the junk tundra towns provided by far the fiercest resistance), I discovered I still had 8 turns left on a Lux deal with France.

Instead of steaming right in, I mean, not like I'm going for any kind of diplomatic wins or really intend on doing any more gpt deals, signing RoPs, alliances, etc, I wait out those 8 turns. Sure I got Chivalry, upgraded a few Horses, and revolted from Monarchy to Republic, but France (in common with the others) had no Iron connected up (and their Horses had been splatted by a volcano!) so fell over easily.

France was the first key to this game - they had both the Great Library and the Temple of Artemis. The GL enabled me to shut off research for a good period of time, the ToA provided immediate culture to gain territory.

Russia followed, then Korea. I could easily have opened up Korea about halfway through dealing with Russia but didn't. Korea had the Great Lighthouse, which I used to transport my troops across the Byzantines. Gunpowder was prevalent by then, so I'd researched Mil Trad, and needed it; I had 3 Cav Armies at the end, and the turn I destroyed the Byzantines (980AD), was also the last of the game.

At some point I destroyed the Great Library to prevent myself from learning Education.

I could easily have shaved 15-20 turns off my win date by just going for France right away, and going after Korea earlier.

Overall though I'm happy to have won before 1000AD, and started working out some more logistics (like rushing Galleys in Korean towns before I finished them off, or knowing when I had enough troops in Russia to finish the job and sending all new ones towards Korea) in advance.

As I'm entering the Industrial age in 550AD ... At this point Medina has 2878 culture, and is making 57cpt.

Ugh, I don't give a penny for my chanches at the 20K award. Though I too am making 57cpt in 550AD my Medina has 150 culture less. And with your 340 years earlier IA you can rail Medina much sooner. Along with the much earlier doubling of your Shake's, it will surely draw the curtain for me.

A lesson I learn from your game is not to be afraid of gifting the science civs in the next age. I kept them in the dark and am now paying for it by having to research all science myself. A fact that will haunt me in the IA.

Hope you'll be saved the horrible fate of MiniMe who had in the previous game suddenly been overtaken by a red knight.

@Klarius

I have a rather odd question:
The first time I saw your post the maps from the different ages where one and they changed from one year to the next. Now you have seperate maps.
Have you changed it or was there something funny with the computer or yours truly?

Have you changed it or was there something funny with the computer or yours truly?
Everything is fine with you ;) . I just changed it.
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/klarius_c12_a.gif

For some reason the animated GIF doesn't want to work on my browser when coming from the server (works fine locally).

Predator

Summary
The Middle Ages started in 570 BC. Luck was on my side as the three scientific civs got all first layer techs between them as I gifted them into the Middle Ages. I traded away Republic, which I was going to gift anyway to disable AI pop-rushing. Chivalry was then researched in 7 turns and 12 horsemen were upgraded on the interturn in 450 BC since I had money left from the slow Construction research.

I took a few turns to position troops which in retrospect seems like a waste of time, but in 390 BC war broke out with the Ottomans and in 250 they were down to 2 towns as I got their size-1 towns in a peace deal. I had captured the Oracle in Istanbul and quit research.

At the same date, 390 BC, I declared on Korea and pretty much took control of their northern area before signing peace in 210 BC for two pretty strategic towns south of Seoul. Capturing Seoul was out of the question in this war. During the following centuries I gifted my available luxuries to Korea to speed up their production of ToA. (As I investigated Seoul after this first war it had an entertainer and would save one turn with better happiness.) For one of the luxuries they offered Right of Passage.

In 210 BC I started a short war with France. They were too slow hooking up gems and I wanted it. They were left with their two strongest towns, naively building wonders. They were very weak from the beginning or from when I bought two workers from them.

In 110 BC it was time to declare on Russia. I had not built any new ansar warriors but disconnected iron, built horsemen, and split the income between some temples and upgrades in 110 BC. The temples probably contributed to the fact that I didn't suffer a single flip throughout the game.

In 70 BC Moscow finished the Pyramids at the same time that it got within reach of my ansars, and was captured. In 10 AD I gave Russia peace for their last towns, but I had already spotted two russian settlers in the far north. I had settlers moving to that inhospitable area too, but I wanted to wait for a Russian palace expansion to avoid some auto-razing.

In 30 AD Temple of Artemis was finished and captured. The Koreans struggled well but were eliminated in 150 AD. They never had a good position since Seoul was building a wonder and the only other towns capable of building settlers had been captured by us in the first Korean War.

In 170 AD the Great Lighthouse was completed one turn before France who cascaded to Hanging Gardens and were eliminated. I had prepared two crossover points: N of Korea and SE of Korea. I met Portugal and the fair Theodora independently in 210 AD. In 190 AD I had founded my first town on the other continent.

In 250 AD Ottomans were eliminated and in 270 Russia. The ansars involved were set to heal and then rallied to southern and eastern Korea to be transported.

In 290 AD I declared on Portugal. In 330 AD I met England. In 340 I declared on Byzantium. These were some exciting wars with limited resources. In 350 Lisbon was captured but in 360 I had to make peace with Portugal. They gave us ROP. In 380 I had positioned some troops and declared again, capturing 3 towns. I also razed a Byzantine town to convince them that they should give me two towns for peace.

Domination was triggered in 390 AD, 7 tiles over the limit.

Milking was no option
We never learned a second tier tech, although we were only about 3 turns from Invention at the end. As I tried to extort Invention from the Ottomans I got the funniest reply yet:
"Is this some sort of game to you?! I like games very much! Would you like to play one of my favorites? I call it: Abu-Bakr-head soccer ball!"

Expansion tactics
Mecca didn't cease to be a settler factory until well after chivalry when it got a marketplace and an aquaduct. Many other towns built settlers too although not as early in the game as Mark Cutt. I settled all the islands that I knew of. There is always the fear of having island towns attacked, so I hurried temples quickly so that at least they would not be razed. Perhaps I could have planned the temple rushes better so that more towns would reach influence 3. But I think that's mainly just guesswork. The largest island to the north of us laboriously built their own settlers to keep galleys from taking a long detour.

Last turn
In 380 I was 28 tiles from domination with only one town scheduled to expand. Two other towns (newly conquered) had 6 culture points. I could afford to hurry cathedral in one of them after selling all my barracks. On the interturn I could hurry the other cathedral thanks to new money. Selling improvements was a new option to me; I generally disregard it as it gives so little money.

ToA
The date of completion for ToA is important. I would rate 30 AD as a good but obviously not optimal date - in Xevious game it was built in 210 BC.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/megalou390ad.jpg

Open, Barbs fixed.

Well, I never entered the IA or had the full world map, but it looks like others are in the same boat, so here goes.

In my ancient age thread I blamed somewhat slow research on having gone Monarchy. I want to correct that- now I blame it on just growing too slow at the start. I believe Monarchy was the right choice. Entered the MA in 590 BC. The plan was all-out research to Chivalry, no fighting until Ansars make the scene. Once I had Chivalry I didn't spend a single beaker on research. At one point I got paranoid that Russia was going to attack, and lost 3 turns of research to upgrade 3 swords. I shouldn't be so jumpy next time, those 3 turns just got tacked onto my win date.

Wonders-
It's never been this good. The Ottomans built the Oracle and the Great Library (which only was used once, for invention) in their capitol. France built the Hanging Gardens. Russia built the Pyramids and the Temple of Artemis. England did me a favor and built the Great Wall. So, a free temple with double effect and a granary in every city, plus an extra happy face in every city. Not bad!

War-
I learned Chivalry in 30BC. Attacked the Ottomans in 10AD to start my Golden Age. In retrospect, I could have done some pre-Chivalry fighting to improve my date and score as the AI was so very weak, but I played it safe instead.
I traded Chivalry to Russia for 36 gpt and 129g rather than trade it and 16gpt for Republic. A tough choice- I wanted the Pyramids, but I needed gold to build my forces. In retrospect, I believe I made the right choice.

50- Meet Portuguese galley. They were good for some gold and the Republic. DOW on Portugal in 150, hoping to get a free city on the other continent in a peace deal, but that never happened. Just more gold.
90- Take Istanbul.
110- Unhook the iron, building Golden Age horsemen. Yes, I started out building Ansars by hand until I had upgraded the horses I already had. I wanted to get fighting right away, thought this would get the ball rolling.
130- Moscow builds ToA. Paris builds Hanging Gardens. Nice timing! :)
150- Istanbul culture flips. This has been my bane in previous games, gobbling up stacks of my units. This time, I lose none at all. Who says I'm not learning?
250- Otto reduced to a wandering settler. Declare war on France. By the way, the Ottomans were destroyed with the loss of only a single Ansar. Elite, of course.
260- Mercilessly slaughter Otto settler.
270- Capture Paris, Hanging Gardens.
290- Forbidden Palace near Russian lands. Better late than never. Really helped my post-GA economy.
1 turn left on my deal with Russia. I'm not a nice guy this game, attack Russia.
310- France reduced to wandering settlers. Eventually banished to a galley which I never managed to sink- too busy!
320- Capture ToA and Pyramids from Russia.
330- Golden Age ends. Revolt to Republic.
340- Uthman appears, my first great leader. I sure could have used him sooner. Forms army, marches off to Korea.
350- Emerge as a Republic. My unit support starts at 4, never gets above 10. I really should have waited until the ToA expanded all my cities before revolting- there's no culture gained during Anarchy. A small point, but it cost me some Jason score.
390- ToA borders expand.
400- Peace w/Russia for 3 cities. I'm a lying, backstabbing jerk. But so is Russia...
420- Peace w/Korea for 3 cities. Again, I'm a lying, backstabbing jerk.
430- Trying very hard to get to the other continent via Portugal. My galleys are sinking like crazy. My biggest mistake of this game, repeated from previous games, is not building my navy sooner. I spent a few turns just sitting around because of transportation problems.
470- Koreans destroyed. Russia's last galley destroyed. I control the whole continent, having lost only 13 (!) Ansars. I never fought a pikeman, and wierdly, never captured a barracks.
540- Finally ready to attack Portugal with 8 Ansars.
550- Meet England.
580- Capture Lisbon and the Great Lighthouse, Colossus. 2nd leader appears. Forms army.
590- Lord McCauley oddly declares the Portuguese 'most advanced'. They only got to enjoy it for the remaining 5 turns of their existence.
600- 1st and only instance of war weariness. Make peace w/Portugal for 2 cities. My Ansars are all injured and scattered anyway- rest and regroup. Should've bought a barracks.
610- Meet Byzantium.
630- Attack Portugal. My land percentage goes from 62 to an agonizing 65. Arrrr! Attack the Byzanties, fight my first Pikemen.
650- Domination victory.
What a fun game. This is my second fastest date ever, and 10645 Jason points is my second best performance. Finishing in 28 hours is also an achievment for me, lots of time left for jogging and hanging out in bars. Let's party!!!! :p

Wow, am I behind on posting. I haven't even written spoiler #1 and along comes #2.

So just a quick synopsis to be followed be a more literate narrative later.

Exiled Russia
Killed off France
Exiled Korea
Exiled Ottomans

Just researched refining
Have all pre-IA wonders except Lighthouse, Mausoleum & Colossus. Just finished Universal Suffrage. Also have Heroic Epic, Forbidden Palace, Military Academy & Pentagon

Have 4 4-Crusader Armies sitting in Istanbul waiting for something to do
Current year 1350 AD

Since I really have no desire to build a significant navy to invade the other island (no domination or conquest) and didn't push culture (no 20K or 100K) and have way too much corruption to want to go for space and not enough patience for histograph, diplomatic can probably be reached before 1550 AD (maybe even pre-1500 AD with proper pre-builds), that's my goal.

Open, domination at 540 AD.

I played this one as quickly as possible. After entering the MA around 900 BC, I researched to Chivalry and cut off research; no shock there. I did not gift the scientifics to the Middle Ages and left them with their pathetic little spears. I think in hindsight I was overestimating the Monarch AI ability to build and deploy defenders. Chivalry was researched before the ADs, and coincided with an archer-horse attack on the Ottomans to get an iron.

The Ottos were quickly dispatched, and a dual war was then fought with the French (troops supplied by my capital and eastern cities) and the Russians (troops courtesy of the FP in double game cow town and the other western holdings). The wars took a bit of a while due to the terrain, and a ton of barbs north of Russia forced me to keep a few troops up there. Korea was next and a buildup of troops there took a while since I had no roads going up there over those mountains.

We didnt find the other continent until 290 AD when we found the English off the coast of former Russia. An ROP with them and a few troops later we had them on the run, and began moving in troops from former Korea across. A war with the Byzantines, some settlers, and some cultural buildings gave enough land for domination. The war on the other continent was marred by some bad RNG and poor logistics on my part.

It would have been prudent to have gifted the scientifics (which I considered briefly but decided against it) and taken out Korea sooner to get to the other continent more quickly. The only pike I saw was in Byzantium at the end. The western end of the other continent was unsettled, and getting several settlers over there would have been smart. Edit: Oh and founding my capital somewhere other than the desert would have been helpful. Final map:

@Jove - when I was playing this game, I thought that Koreans are particularly slow (like they :smoke: something). However, while my Koreans were very slow in BC, yours were exceptional in AD: Since 30BC (at which point they looked healthier than mine) they built just two cities :eek:

@Solenoozerec: That is interesting. What do you think made the difference? (No, I didn't discover a ganja resource to trade them...). But if you're trying to make me feel better for beating me this time, well, I don't think we can blame Korea.

@Megalou: Great game, informative post. Nice job!

@Redbad: Arrrr, I've watched you on your 20k quest for a few months now. Too bad you didn't make it this time. I feel for ya. Maybe if I went 20k it would be enough for you to win by 1 turn?

Dear me, there are some scarily fast domination dates around for this game!! Just goes to show, you put in what you think is a good performance, and the top players just prove it to be average!

That is interesting. What do you think made the difference?

I would like to know it myself. Korean city placement is almost precisely the same in our games, just dates are different, my Koreans were slower at the beginning and yours were slower at the end.

My Koreans did not know anyone, at some point they new France (after French settler escaped on a galley he established a city near Korean borders).
But I doubt that this kind of knowledge could effect settler production.

But if you're trying to make me feel better for beating me this time, well, I don't think we can blame Korea.

O no, Koreans had nothing to do with it. I think they were so slow in both of our games, that we would have the same results if there were no Koreans.
I guess you would beat me in this game if your starting location were in either of se or sw game spots.
Also I thought that my FP was late, but yours was even later.

Actually, I am very much surprised how alike our games are. We were destroying AI in exactly the same order: Ottomans-France-Russia-Korea-Portugal. Than I started to fight with England and you with Byzantium, but this is an exception.


Even some ridiculous details are the same:
Ottomans built Oracle, ToA in Moscow, Hanging Gardens in Paris,
France escaped on a galley (but it seems that in your case this galley went towards Russia)

The main difference is that you started much later, but you were expanding at much faster speed. I wish we could combine my start with your ending. Maybe we would have a chance to compete with Megalou :mischief: .

After being brutily defeated, Osman declares 'Suicide Day' and 'checks-out' permanently :crazyeye:

@Megalou:
I'm in awe: not only would I not be surprised if your fast finish brings you an award, but I'm also impressed by your devious timing of attacks. Well done :goodjob:

@Jove:
Getting beaten in the 20K-quest gives me an opportunity to learn. In the previous game I thought that in conquest-games I didn't need wars to get a good 20K date. Minime and Dynamic showed me otherwise. In this game I learned that the thing I posted earlier. And besides: the best wins are when you outperform strong competitors.

And with regard to competing with you on the 20K-business: it will be your turn to win. Iirc the last time we reached for the same victory you were outsmarted by me (100K) :p .
Come to think of it: the mad-bax-gotm looks nearly perfect for a straight-forward 20K. ;)

Open, Barbs fixed.

AA spoiler (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=2749680&postcount=28)

450 BC - reach MA, gift Russia and Korea to MA but not Otto as he has the Iron. Korea sells me Mono for a huge sum but Russia won't trade Feudalism for anything. Have to research Feud/Chiv myself, and in Monarchy it takes a long time. :(.

110BC - built GW in Medina which is done with her Settler Factory duties and builds military Wonders till rest of the game. Founded a town on Iron on the close island.
90BC - contact Portugal and sink. Get Republic and gold for my Monarchy.

300AD. Finally connected Iron near Koreans, before the Island town builds a harbour. Have Chivalry, 7 turns till Templar, money to upgrade 3 AW.
320AD - contact England.
330AD - Ottomans manage to enter MA, get Engineering. We trade it for Mono.
340AD - meet Byzantians.
350AD - dow Ottomans. enter GA.
370AD - Medina builds Templar. Crusaders were used as MPs (we are in Monarchy) in the neighbouring cities for teh rest of the game.
440AD - get a GL, build an Army.
460AD - destroyed the last Ottoman town, but they escaped on a galley. Make peace. next target - Russia.
500AD - luxury deal with France ends (and why did we care?), so we dow . Also dow on Russia.
550AD - FP built in Khurasan close to the capital.
590AD - peace with Russia for 2 cities, after we take Moscow with Pyramids and Leo and lots of other cities.
Same turn take Paris and take peace from France for Besanson. France is left with 4 cities, Russia - with 5. Korea is next.

630AD - build Sun Tsu in Medina.
670AdD - dow on Korea. They have Lighthouse and it means we can safely go to another continent without Navigation. Research to MT trying to slow down others.
690AD - capture GLH in Wanton.
700AD capture Seoul and Temple of Artemis.
710AD - dow on France.
740AD - France destroyed.
750AD - dow on Russia.
760AD - major territory expansion from ToA :) Korea is off the continent.
770AD - Korea has a city on the unknown island which she is willing to give for peace, along with 2 more. We accept, she is left with 2 cities on a close Northern island.
800AD - we ship 8 AAW to the island with 2 last Korean cities and destroy Korea. Accidently the last Ottoman city is on this island as well. Their turn will be next.
820AD - Russia destroyed. Dow Otto.
830AD - Otto destroyed. Lots of Galleys are build and AWs are shipped overseas.
850AD - Portugal must have a death wish (but they also have Zeus). They dow on us from their single city on our continent. They capture Seoul, we take it back the same turn. We bring England and Byzantium into alliance with us, to thin out their Ancient Cavalry. Portugal territory seems to be teeming with ACs and Knights...

910AD - destroyed 4 cities of Portuguese from galleys. Otherwise our losses would be huge. "Brave Sir Robin" squad on 6 Galleys would take a city with no stacks of AC/Knights nearby, then run away into Galleys and swim into the Sea (no one knows Astronomy yet).

It seemed a bit slow to conquer Portugal in such a way, meanwhile we move troops from our Northern crossing point to Portugal via Byzantia. We have a lot of AW in Byzantia, and they witness Byzantian forces dutifully issuing South out of the country to fight our common enemy.

950AD. We did a bad thing. We ROP-raped Byzantia while her forces were out fighting Portugal, and even Muskets in her cities didn't slow us down.

980AD - took their capital. It had Great Library in it and as I'm avoiding Education I had to destroy the city.
1000AD - peace with Byz for 2 cities. They have 2 cities left which I take as soon as I move more troops into position. Peace with Portugal and dow England.
1030AD - Byzantia gone. Got a GL, finally got an Army on another continent (my 1st Army was stack at home as couldn't fit into a Galley). But it didn't have a chance to see action.
1070AD - England left with 2 cities. I plan to wipe them out next turn, but ... Domination victory!
Firaxis: 5977, Jason: 9244

Mistakes:

- I should have trekked out of the desert in the beginning. I had only 6 towns at 1000BC when AI was too behind in research to help, and I was too slow to research Construction/Currency myself. Also because Otto grabbed the Iron I didn't gift him to MA and lost a trade for Feudalism with Russia, thus got Chivalry only around 300AD.

- Korea build ToA in 50AD and GLH in 250AD. Why did I wait for so long (till 670AD) to attack them, wasting time on French etc.? And it was so easy to defeat Korea - they were pathetic. If I started with Korea and got GLH early my conquest of another continent would be much quicker.

About C3C: maybe it was the level, or the game was easy, but I found C3C to be easier to play than Vanilla.
AI seems much dumber, not exploring, not concentrating forces for attacks, not building Armies etc. Ok, AI would build Wonders as it's being destroyed in Vanilla too, but I never saw a Vanilla AI to build a SETTLER in a sieged city and then let out warrior/settler pair right into my Ansar army, and not one, but two pairs (2nd probably from another town, just waiting for the opportune moment, ha!) It happened when I was besieging French city.
Also the lack of contact trading and map making seems to harm AI more then us. Plus all fantastic new Wonders like ToA or Zeus or Shakespear...

Well, C3C is the whole new world and it was fun exploring it, and the game was very enjoyable. Thank you.

Attached: the winning minimap.

@Solenoozerec: Now that I've thought about it some more, maybe it was the wonder builds that affected Korea's growth. Your Koreans were busy building the Great Wall and succeeded, whereas in my game the GW was completed by England. Perhaps my Korea aborted a prebuild into a settler, which cascaded into a few extra towns. Also, your France had the Pyramids, whereas my Russians built that. Maybe prebuilds were affected in that case too. As you point out, yours were slower at the beginning, when all these wonders were being built. How we can turn this to our advantage is a whole other question.
And yes, it is odd that our games were so similar. I even imitated your reporting format because of the similarities. But to compete with Megalou, I think we would have needed different tactics altogether. Combining our games would just make a franken-civ. Reading over the posts, it looks like -maybe- Republic was better after all. Then again, he got luckier with his AI tech gifting and was apparently able to trade for Monotheism and Feudalism with Repbublic, getting to Chivalry way way faster than I. Arrrr! I can't make up my mind which gov't is better!

@Megalou: Your post seems to imply that you traded Republic for Feudalism and Monotheism. Was gold involved? Treachery? What were your trades exactly? Maybe Republic is worth more on the open market...

@Redbad: My ancient-deity ego is still stinging from the nasty 100k defeat you dealt me a few months ago. Rats. But I'm going to pass on 20k in GOTM43- 20k is the last victory condition for me to experiment with, and I don't think I want to start on Deity with it. So looks like this time it'll be all yours!

Open, barbs fix
Goal: Diplomacy
Middle Ages update: 0825BC-0340AD

DATE
MET CIV (remaining)
0410BC, meet Portugal
0250BC, meet Byzantines
0170AD, meet England

Middle Ages Techs
Engineering, 0825BC, trade Russia
Monotheism, 0610BC, research
Feudalism, 0610BC, trade Ottomans
Theology, 0450BC, research
Education, 0310BC, research
Invention, 0270BC, trade Russia
Astronomy, 0170BC, research
Gunpowder, 0070BC, research
Chemistry, 0030AD, research
Banking, 0110AD, research
Metallurgy, 0190AD, research
Physics, 0260AD, research
Theory of Gravity, 0300AD, research
Magnetism, 0340AD, research

Forgot to write down trades for non-required techs. At end of era the only one so far available was Chivalry, which I have. At the transfer and gift I’m able to get both Medicine and Steam Power without losing anything in the combination of trades, though I was a little nervous when I had to give the Byzantines 1K gold for Steam Power, but they gave it back for Medicine. I really made out trading these. :)

I generally traded everything to everyone. I held off on Astronomy so I could get Cop’s Obs, but that was really a mistake. :sad: Russia eventually found Astronomy way after me and then Banking very soon after me. If I had traded they may have gotten Banking first, saving me four turns of research.

Due to trades, I was able to increase science to 100%, though it did take some time. On a few occasions in the MA I actually switched 1-10+ citizens to scientists to speed up tech research. :cool: The later in the era the more I was willing to use.

I end up with 4 luxuries in my territory :D and trade France for Gems every 20 turns. A right of passage was required for my one fur as I split the fur with the Ottomans on the wrong side of each other. :crazyeye:

My core cities (try to) get libraries, universities, marketplaces, temples. They focus on big builds. External cities go for just temples and focus on workers and settlers and acting as scientists. Since I only built a few granaries the external cities actually supply some of the core cities with citizenry. I start the Forbidden Palace to the North East.

Again, no civilizations go to war with each other or me during the entire Middle Ages.


At end of MA (0340AD)
24 Cities, 129 Population
1 Settlers, 24 Workers, 2 Explorers, 8 Warriors, 1 Musketmen, 5 Ansar Warriors, 1 Galley (left)

The best part is I'm 25 turns ahead of where I was in the last COTM when I tried to do diplomacy. :cooool: Of course its a different game, but I think it was easier last time since we were scientific ourselves, but who knows. I just didn't play it very well. I've really changed my approach. Thanks to all others for your posts in previous COTMs.

Open fixed barbs.

Don't think i did very well here. Entered the MA in 50 BC and left it in 1350ad - so that gives you an idea of how badly i did.

I started the MA by finishing Russia off and thus controlling the north of the continent - save for a French and ottoman city that got through.

I then declared war on France and got the ottomans in an alliance against the French. I took Marseilles, which then proceeded to flip to the Ottomans a couple of turns later, which pissed me off immensely. This meant the Ottomans were able to block my path to the front lines, and I was left with horseman in French Territory, which I used to just raze Paris and take Rouen, generating a leader and army in the process. However the ottomans simply fought better and had taken control of the gems and finished France off as a serious player. The ottomans were now my rivals. As soon as our alliance ended I used the ansars to attack the Ottomans. Initially my attack was successful as I took all of his isolated cities and made progress further south. However the sheer weight of his counter attack (in terms of numbers) meant I had to abandon many cities I had taken – the Ansars just can’t defend. I settled for peace soon after, having achieved my secondary objective of gaining saltpetter and confining him to the south of the continent. This massively hurt my rep as I had an alliance with Korea at the time against the ottomans, but I felt I had little choice as I was losing the war. By now contacts had been established with all the other powers, and the other continent was far ahead in tech. This meant the tech pace increased as Korea and the Ottomans could trade their way up the ladder. Unfortunately I couldn’t get decent prices for techs as my rep was very bad at this point. I also made some foolish GPT deals during my golden age, which crippled me once the golden age ended. I decided I was going to have to self-research my way up, and so concentrated on infrastructure. However I also tried the pointy stick research approach against the ottomans, taking their furs before settling for peace and some techs when the Portuguese made a halfhearted effort at fighting me. I entered the IA in 1350, disappointed I hadn’t conquered the continent yet, but once the ottomans are out of the way I can take Korea easily enough due to their lack of resources.

@al_thor: awesome pic!

This is my first game with the Ansars and I think the best thing was having 20 shield cities build one every 3 turns.

What's strange is that the Korea game (C11) seemed like Monarch and a half and I struggled with tech in the AA. This game felt more like warlord. I thought France had a terrible starting location. Half of the AI's I faced didn't resources to begin with(France,Korea,England), and those who did had to face Ansars. I guess horses make all the difference.

I had my best luck ever in this game getting 6 MGLs for armies. 3 of them were stuck on the home continent waiting for Galleons :shakehead . Some more luck was that ToA and Pyramids were built on my continent and soon captured.

I could've done a lot better if England had learned to build roads, but still my best game.

Conquest in 840ad. 10468 jason.

thank you Gotm staff.

@Megalou: Your post seems to imply that you traded Republic for Feudalism and Monotheism. Was gold involved? Treachery? What were your trades exactly? Maybe Republic is worth more on the open market...

About the value of republic, it should be remembered that the difficulty level is only monarch, so the value is higher. I'm guessing that the number beakers the AI need to complete a tech determines its value outright. On sid the value of your techs always seems to be crappy.

These were the trades:
570 BC - Russia knows Construction.
Traded Construction +56 gold from Russia for Code of Laws. (I only had one turn left on Construction, hence the cheapness.)
Sold Code of Laws to France for 74 gold.
Gave Philsophy, Code of Laws, Map Making to Russia. Russia gets Engineering.
Gave Philsophy, Code of Laws, Map Making, Construction to Korea. Korea gets Feudalism.
Traded Engineering from Russia for Republic, Right of Passage, 30 gold.
Traded Feudalism from Korea for Engineering, Republic.
Sold Construction to Ottomans for 48 gold. Ottomans get Monotheism.
Traded Monotheism from Ottomans for Feudalism.

I estimated that the value of Right of Passage was about one "notch", ie from "We're getting close" to "This deal will probably :rolleyes: be acceptable" or from "I doubt they will accept..." to "We're getting close."

I found the last of these trades surprisingly cheap. I didn't even have to give republic to get Monotheism.

@A'AbarachAmadan, brilliant date for Industrial Ages!

Russia gets Engineering.
Gave Philsophy, Code of Laws, Map Making, Construction to Korea. Korea gets Feudalism.
Traded Engineering from Russia for Republic, Right of Passage, 30 gold.
Traded Feudalism from Korea for Engineering, Republic.
Sold Construction to Ottomans for 48 gold. Ottomans get Monotheism.
Traded Monotheism from Ottomans for Feudalism.

Well, you were quite lucky. Korea did not know Russia. Otherwise they wouldn't trade Feudalism.
Feudalism, as government tech in C3C, is valued extremely high by the AI. They will not sell it, if they have the monopoly, for Engineering and Republic known by 2 civs.

I had another good constellation. Two got feudalism, so no monopoly, and one monotheism. Didn't get engineering, but who needs this on this map, when you soon will have Ansars :cool: .

@MeteorPunch - thanks. It was certainly a first for me (an AI Civ being taken out of the game by a volcano). Kinda funny "The rampaging Ottoman forces have destroyed the Ottoman's"

I'm doing terrible this game. Being at Monarch, I should be finished. It's my age-old problem: Focus, focus, focus.

The Ansar is a very good unit. The movement of a cavalry during Chivalry is a great advantage. The Russians and the French certainly felt the wrath of the Arabian Empire (the Ottoman's were mostly gone already).

Anyway, I'm going to finish this game, probably end up with about 6K Jason, if I can even manage that. Then I will pick up the Diety Japan GOTM (tomorrow) and brace for an a**-kicking from the AI.

After being brutily defeated, Osman declares 'Suicide Day' and 'checks-out' permanently :crazyeye:
That has got to be one of the funniest pictures I have seen from the game. :rotfl:

---------------------------------------------

Middle Ages:
I make contact with the other continent in 370 AD. The first civ I found was Portugal. I finally found backwards England in 530 AD. The Byzantines are found in 550 AD.

The first war began in 230 BC with the Ottomans. The have the precious iron that I need. I gained 9 workers, 4 new cities, and iron. It ended in 50 BC with minor losses. I felt I already crippled them, and they will die before Sipahi arrive.

The second war began in 360 AD vs. the French. I want the nearby furs at a minimum. I gained my golden age, 31 workers, 14 new cities, gems, furs, Pyramids and Hanging Gardens. Paris does turn into a flip happy city as I feared and it stalls the offensive. They have an annoying city on the opposite side of Russia that will last a long time. They are effectively out of the game by 700 AD.

The third war began in 730 AD vs. the Ottomans with the goal to banish them to almost nothing. I gained 22 workers, and 4 new cities. I was shocked how many settler pairs the Ottomans had floating around. I think they had more settler pairs then cities. I finally got my first leader that built an army. The Ottomans are now a 1CCC and no longer a threat. I won't have to face any Sipahi. I signed peace around 840 AD.

The fourth war began in 770 AD when I refuse to give Portugal Metallurgy. I use this as an excuse to stir up trouble on the other continent and ally with the Byzantines.

The fifth war began in 1010 AD against Russia. I still don't feel I have the needed troop level for there size, but there are getting to close to military tradition. I definitely need to at least hurt them before rifles. I ally with Korea to hope that the keep those stray cities near their borders busy. I ally with the Ottomans just as a distraction. As I expected, the Russians killed them a few turns later. I gained 28 workers, 6 new cities and I now am number #1 in territory at the end of the MA. I finally get leader #2 that builds another army. Leader #3 is another army. I quickly get leader #4 that will rush the Pentagon.

My worker force is so absurdly large at this point that I am simply dropping roads into every tile hoping that all the future resources connected the second I am aware of them. I have already irrigated the south to the max to create some specialist cities. Of course, I am hoping the game is over before I ever locate the modern age resources.

I leave the Middle Ages in 1210 AD and begin to research Steam Power.

Well, you were quite lucky. Korea did not know Russia. Otherwise they wouldn't trade Feudalism.
Feudalism, as government tech in C3C, is valued extremely high by the AI. They will not sell it, if they have the monopoly, for Engineering and Republic known by 2 civs. Lots of luck but not just luck. I settled Baghdad on the choke point with one of my first settlers. Thx for the explanation though.

These were the trades:
570 BC - Russia knows Construction.
Traded Construction +56 gold from Russia for Code of Laws. (I only had one turn left on Construction, hence the cheapness.)
Sold Code of Laws to France for 74 gold.
Gave Philsophy, Code of Laws, Map Making to Russia. Russia gets Engineering.
Gave Philsophy, Code of Laws, Map Making, Construction to Korea. Korea gets Feudalism.
Traded Engineering from Russia for Republic, Right of Passage, 30 gold.
Traded Feudalism from Korea for Engineering, Republic.
Sold Construction to Ottomans for 48 gold. Ottomans get Monotheism.
Traded Monotheism from Ottomans for Feudalism.

I made similar trades in 170 BC (still a lot to learn), when I got Currency trough trade from the Portuguese. Did all of the above Civilizations already have Currency? I had to gift it to all of them.

By the way I also settled the choke-point with my first self-made Settler. The trades for Monotheism and Feudalism were the following: get Monotheism from the Koreans for The Republic, get Feudalism from the Russians for Monotheism. I didn't even have to give Russia her missing Government. But then that was just after she lost the war to me.

Thanks for your answer, Megalou. I guess my problem was partly bad luck. Russia got Feudalism, the other two got Engineering. I couldn't trade for either. So I researched Monotheism myself, but even having that monopoly wasn't sufficient to make a trade for Feudalism. I wound up researching everything myself.
The non-luck difference is I didn't have embassies, so ROP wasn't an option. That might have helped- I'll have to remember that no embassies isn't always a bargain. Lesson learned!

@Jove - I almost sure that your hypothesis about wonders is correct.

Dear me, there are some scarily fast domination dates around for this game!! Just goes to show, you put in what you think is a good performance, and the top players just prove it to be average!
:lol: My feeling exactly.
I got a conquest victory in 960 AD with around 9700 Jason and was very happy with that, and then I see only 10K+ results posted in the spoiler :crazyeye: :lol:
In my defense: I didn't hit anything with the scout so I settled 1 SE of the start and it took a while to get the settler factory up and running. Also, I seem to be terribly unlucky with GH popping in exp games. I'm just glad there aren't any settlers in GHs anymore :cool:

I made similar trades in 170 BC (still a lot to learn), when I got Currency trough trade from the Portuguese. Did all of the above Civilizations already have Currency? I had to gift it to all of them.
None did. Occasionally AI will choose to research Currency over Construction, but pretty seldom IMHO. It could have something to do with traits. I have a feeling commercial France chooses Currency which would make sense. Yet in my game their research abilities might have included bum scratching but definitely stopped short of stick poking and banana peeling.

None did. Occasionally AI will choose to research Currency over Construction, but pretty seldom IMHO. It could have something to do with traits. I have a feeling commercial France chooses Currency which would make sense. Yet in my game their research abilities might have included bum scratching but definitely stopped short of stick poking and banana peeling.
This may be spammy, but :rotfl:

in my game their research abilities might have included bum scratching but definitely stopped short of stick poking and banana peeling.

My France was the same. So you simply forgot mentioning that you gifted all Currency as well.

Class: Open

Goal: To practice fast domination, preferably never entering the
industrial age

Previous spoiler: Ancient Age (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=2754860&postcount=59)

In the Ancient Age I filled my alloted empty space on the map, started
grabbing some of our neighbours' and researched towards Chivalry. I
entered the Middle Ages in 170 BC. This spoiler describes how I
achieved domination by 1110 AD, scoring about 6'500 Firaxis and just
below 10'000 Jason, still in the Middle Ages. I hope to do better next
time and have tried to analyse some of the mistakes I made.


France 70 BC -- 150 AD

Not yet having Chivalry couldn't stop me from taking on weak
France. With Horsemen and Swordsmen I capture the more interesting
Cities. The rest can wait. There's no Great Wonder to be had.


Portugal 10 AD -- 350 AD

I meet the Byzantines and ally them against Portugal, just to keep
them busy. A few turns later England, still unmet, declares war on the
Byzantines.


The Ottomans 300 AD -- 370 AD

The Ottomans have constructed The Temple of Artemis in 210 AD. Our
previous encounter has bereft them of Iron. So, what am I waiting for?
Ansar Warriors.

The very first attack, using an elite Horseman, creates my first
Military Great Leader, who promptly creates an Army. I carefully join
only two Ansar Warriors to the Army in order to be able to transport
it to the other continent using a Caravel. The attack on Istanbul the
following turn starts out less bountifully. Two catapults, two veteran
and one regular Medieval Infantry and one elite Horseman leave a
regular Swordsman alone to defend the city. Then, without losing a
single Health Bar, the Swordsman red-lines two veteran Ansar Warriors!
The third, and last available, Ansar Warrior duly kills him, gains
elite status and ushers in the Golden Age. Istanbul contains The
Hanging Gardens and the Oracle.

The war ends when I capture the last Ottoman City on the continent. I
have then captured the desired Temple of Artemis and created a second
Army using a Military Great Leader. This Army I fill with three Ansar
Warriors, which will later render it useless.


France 390 AD -- 430 AD

During the Golden Age, troops on their way from former Ottoman
territory to Russia exterminate France just as the peace deal ends.


Russia 490 AD -- 590 AD

The Russian campaign features left-over slow troops with Trebuchets
and Medieval Infantry going straight towards Moscow while Ansar
Warriors, five of them in two Armies, go around it, captured the rest
and join the attack on Moscow from the other direction just as the
slow troops arrive. The prize are the Pyramids in Moscow.


Korea 620 AD -- 740 AD

A few turns into the Korean campaign I leave my small Army alone and
red-lined in a just captured Korean City. A Korean Horseman kills it
and re-takes the City for one turn.

When I reach Seoul I'm surprised to see a Musketman in it. He is,
however, quite alone and not very long lived, dying at the spear of an
elite Horseman.

In the last year of this war I complete Leonardo's Workshop in
Damascus (located in the SE food and shields spot). It shall help me
upgrade my Ansar Warriors to Cavalry. An elite Horseman win finally
produces my third Military Great Leader, who creates an Army. It is to
be filled only after having travelled to the other continent.


Portugal 850 AD -- 1110 AD

The Byzantines have The Great Wall and, from 750 AD, Sun Tzu's Art of
War. Both could come in handy in the conquest of the other continent.
As my preparations, including rush-building a Barracks on the former
Korean east coast for massive upgrading and shipping, are almost done,
the Portuguese declare war on me.

The war is fought with Cavalry against Pikemen and some Muskemen. As
in previous wars, there are almost no counter-attacks at all. A few
Armies are created and put to good use. The English join in on our
side but can't bring their troops fast enough to the front line.

Towards the very end of the war, the Byzantines declare war on me and
capture a city I have founded an the open space they have left in
their land. Before I get the pleasure of paying back in kind, the
umpire registers my domination and we all go down to the beach and
have a barbeque.


Mistakes

1. Settling in place. The QSC result speaks for itself.

2. Not researching faster towards the Middle Ages

3. Not gifting France a Government Technology before I attacked her so
as to keep her Cities from shrinking to size 1 and being
automatically razed.

4. Not settling the conflict between keeping the Temple of Artemis
alive and getting hold of Caravels through Astronomy. The Temple
was made useless through research while I could still have use for
it, and I had to rush-build many Temples in former Korea. Good job
that they were cheap!

5. Not going for the Pyramids in Moscow earlier. They were created in
775 BC; I captured them in 570 AD, 83 turns later.

6. Not starting the next fight before the first one was over. This
might require a better feeling than I have at the moment for just
how many troops are needed to do the job. But moving even Ansar
Warriors from Russia to Korea took a lot of time.

7. Keeping the scientific Civilizations alive as OCC's was not mistake
as much as design: I was going through the motions in order to be
able to use this technique in a later game with a longer scientific
reach.

8. Not managing to choose my opponent in the final conflict. It should
have been possible to ally Portugal against the Byzantines before
it declared war on us and before we were ready to attack. Portugal
was more advanced and had Horses.

9. Not putting more defense in the annoying city we founded on a hill
in the back yard of the Byzantines. With Walls and a Cannon or two
it could have held out indefinitely agaist the small stacks of
Medieval Infantry thrown at it.

My France was the same. So you simply forgot mentioning that you gifted all Currency as well.Yes, I think I wrote Map Making instead of Currency. That text were pasted from my log, written in a hurry.
That's quite a mistake list you have. Don't worry, with that kind of awareness you will improve your scores quickly.

4. Not settling the conflict between keeping the Temple of Artemis
alive and getting hold of Caravels through Astronomy. The Temple
was made useless through research while I could still have use for
it, and I had to rush-build many Temples in former Korea. Good job
that they were cheap!

I razed the Great Library (in Paris) on purpose the turn two AIs got Education, just to keep the ToA alive.

In the beginning of the MA nothing much happened, I researched to chivalry as fast as i could and as efficient as i could.
Switched of the Great Library (pre)build I started to get Leo's. As suggested in the "Hunting tips" and started to prepare them horses for the "ultimate war".
The Ottomans finish the Pyramids in 230BC in Istanbul. As we explore around using Galeys we see on the land Korea beeing hammered by 15 or so barb Horseman, Pillaging improvements & killing units&workers.
This I do not believe Iznik, a city of 1 deposes me in 130bc while having a library (just finished the turn before by whiping using $$$) A change less than 1% accoording to CivAssist, Offcourse this is "the" iron town and we need it. So we break the peace deal which had 10 turns left with the ottomans.
but whip a library in Aydin to pull the iron into our borders
In 90BC we spot borders across the canal from Korea, muster up some guts and send 2 galeys across in 30 bc. One of the 2 is lost (the 3/3 one offcourse not the 2/3) but in 10 bc we finaly meet the Portugues and we trade Monarchy for 52g.
In 70ad we capture Istanbul including the Pyramids. I get a Leader of a defencive Horseman which was struck down from 5/5 to 1/5 by a 4/4 spear. We turn our second leader into an army.
In 170ad the french finish ToA in Parisand the Hanging Gardens in Chartes new targets :)
The ottomans are kind to us, they finish TMoM as well in Uskudar. Hmz, The Koreans get the wall.... I guess they will survive for a bit :(
The Portuguese built SoZ :( not good. Finaly in 280AD we DoW on France, attack one Warrior/settler combo to start the golden age & start the annihilation of france.
Now we are at war with 2 enemy's... But both are between a rock and a hard place, our first turn at war delivers 4 slaves and 2 towns. In 360ad we capture Paris with both ToA & The Oracle :) We get a free temple that is two content faces :)
The french have a small victory by flipping back lyons in 370, In that year we recapture it and capure the Hanging Gardens in Chartres. More Happyness :) and Capture tMoM in Uskudar, yet more Happyness :) and destroying the Ottomans.
Another victory for them darn french the next turn. Orleans flips back 0.8% Change! Finaly the french are down to a "Boated" civ :( Hunt down a galey with a settler. They finaly settle Amiens on the North tip of our continent and get killed in 450AD.
So after the french now the Russians (and their Great light house) are to be next! Subsequently in 480AD the russians have been send to the history books.
The great wall was founded in Seoul, to nullify that a bit we sign a RoP with korea so we can ROP Rape them, capturing seoul first before we have to climb all them walls.
In 500AD just before we start to kill Korea, Portugal finishes Tzu's.
In 510AD the portugues cross over the channel.
And so it was the great wall falls into our hands in 580AD. What was build over the course of time was taken in 2 turns. Korea has been removed from the map in 610AD.
The war on Portugal delivers us Tzu's in 680AD when we capture Lisbon. This will be nice and fast healing ...
SoZ is captured in 700AD in Oporto. The English are finaly met in 740AD as half the Portugeuse nation crumbles allready at our feet.
We temporarly sign peace with Portugal & Byzantines, with which we receive some city's as well. Now we turn our aim to England in 870AD. As they are an easier target and are "in the way"
After nearly taking out England we get a Domination victory in 930AD, which is a first for me I think to ever have had a domination victory in the MA. And also before 1000 ad.
I dont feel to bad about my first GOTM for some reason, atleast I got a win :) and at a level I never played before (I am a regent player normaly)

I did take a long time 20+ hours.

Oops, I guess I'm supposed to post here. I managed to get a Conquest victory in 12 hours. Details later. ;)

I'm getting the impression scoring on this game is going to be very similar to COTM3. I'm a little curious if Jason bests for this date are based on settling in place, as that would inflate scores since most peope moved.

ancient age (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=2751987&postcount=35)

I was the first civ to enter the medieval age on my continent, so I researched Monotheism first. Once the tech was done, Ottomans had Engineering and Russia had Feudalism. Russia still had a monopoly on their tech, so they refused to trade. I traded Monotheism with a few gpt to Ottomans for Engineering, and both were still not enough for Russia to part with Feudalism. So I contacted Korea and gifted them Currency. My luck ran true and they got Feudalism, reducing its cost and allowing my to buy it. Next research was set to Chivalry, but slowed because my first target I owed gpt and didn't want to trash my rep. After Chivalry I upgraded horses and went on the war-path.

Ottoman war 340AD-530AD
The first turn of the war I started my golden age and captured furs and silks. The Ottomans had built Hanging Gardens, Oracle, and Great Lighthouse for me. I left them with 2 cities, one of which was built on the other continent south of Portugal.

French war 530AD-590AD
As you can see, I declared on France the same turn I made peace with Ottomans, capturing gems on the first turn. The French war lasted only 7 turns as they had no iron and only 1 town above size 6. I captured the Pyramids in Paris and Mausoleum in another town. The French were destroyed in 590AD.

During this war I remembered I controlled the Great Lighthouse, so I sent galleys to search the waters for the other continent. I tried to follow the likely path the Ottomans would have taken, and eventually found Portugal in 590AD. I later contacted England in 630AD and Byzantines in 660AD.

Russian war 640AD-790AD
The Russians were by far the most difficult target yet. I probably should have gone after them first. They had no iron, but by this point they had muskets. Fortunately, they had only gotten gunpowder a few turns sooner, so there weren't many muskets. Furthur complicating matters were the Temple of Artemis, The Great Wall and Leo's had all been built in Moscow, making them even more formiddable. I traded for gunpowder and located their 1 saltpeter source in the desert north of Moscow. My war plan called for a strike through the center of their territory, first to Moscow, then to take their saltpeter source. The plan worked, and the rest of the war was just mopping up. The russians were destroyed in 790AD.

I turned off research for most of my warmongering to rush temples and ansars. But eventually I had enough gold, ansars, and Artemis that I started researching again. This would hurt me later.

Korean war 860AD-980AD
The Koreans had helped me earlier in the Medieval age, and by this point I didn't feel threatened by them either. I thought I might let them stay and be good trading partners. (I also felt like being nice to them after playing as them last month) But, alas, the 30 anar warriors I had at their doorstep were getting restless and needed something to do, so war was declared. The Koreans had muskets, too, but like Russia didn't possess too many to deter my progress. They also completed Knight's Templar in Seoul, but I captured that 3 turns later. Nothing went right for the Koreans, and those 30 original ansars only needed a handful of replacements to finish conquering my continent.

950AD was a productive year for my civilization. First, the Forbidden palace was finished in former Ottoman lands. I had to hand build it as I had no great leaders, yet... And during the tail end of the Korean war I finally got my first great leader. He immediately forms an army which is used on the next town so I could build the Heroic Epic. Then, in the same turn, another great leader appears, who builds an empty army which will wait for calvary. I can't believe it took me that long to get a leader after all the warring I had done, but I guess 2 in one turn made up for it. If the Forbidden palace had taken just 1 more turn, I could have swapped the sheilds for a wonder and rushed the FP in Seoul for example.

After the Korean war I own the entire continent except for 1 Ottoman town near ex-Korea that isn't even worth the trouble of taking. I enter builder mode, researching toward the Industrial age and building up the lands I have taken. I have only built 1 wonder, JS Bach's, complete in 1140AD, which cascaded Lisbon to complete Sun Tzu's on the other continent. At the time of this spoiler no other Medieval age wonders have been built. I enter the Industrial age in 1220AD.

This is the situation in 1220AD (nobody has navigation yet)
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/gskyes_COTM12_1220AD.JPG

This is still as far as I have played. I just can't decide what to do next. My slow research and warmongering early in this age slowed a space or diplo win, and my building phase slowed a domination or conquest win. I own 50% of the land, from which every victory is possible (except 20K), but I haven't decided which next. This method of play is fine for a normal game, but doesn't get me any high scores with the Jason method. I will finish this one, but since I was indecisive, I started a Babylonian culture game one night which has just been too fun to put down. I should have enough time to finish this game when I'm done with that one. I would hate to get this far and not submit a finished game.

That's quite a mistake list you have.

That's what happens when you read spoilers.

Don't worry, with that kind of awareness you will improve your scores quickly.

Thanks.

@all:

Regarding settling in place I'm wondering if the conventional wisdom has now changed, at least for XOTM's, from "settling in place if you can't see something awesome" to "the grass is always greener on the other side of that hill". Especially the Dutch COTM would appear to have been trend-setting in this respect.

Is it nowadays really a part of the COTM competition to firstly go find the real or intended settling location?

I got a conquest victory in 960 AD with around 9700 Jason and was very happy with that, and then I see only 10K+ results posted in the spoiler

So what, today is Syttende Mai and 100 years of freedom from the Swedish King! Have a good one!

Well - I never reach the IA playing my preferred 100K with TOA, but as I have finished ..

Victory in 1400AD jason score 9805 and my highest!

Settled for just my continent, (plus a few islands gained through peace settlements)

I had always favoured scientific civs for 100k, and because of that had missed just how good the Arabs are!

The Ansar is a real fun unit, and compensated for my key weakness (everything in the wrong place). Also the cheeper cathedrals are not a bad compensation for cheaper libraries.

I even managed to remember to keep building military so I didn't get significantly attacked in the late game. (portugal sneaked attacked me but I could cope with one boatful at a time!)

Open

I eventually finished with domination in 560ad, sneaking under 13 hours playtime. I think I could have dropped a couple of hours off that if I had played the start half well.

Ansars really are the best, and the key to the game was getting them ASAP.

I had one leader, in 550AD: very useful.

Enter MA in 875BC. I trade for Monotheism and Feudalism and start Chivalry slowly to be able to save up some money. I am still undecided on victory condition.

I have 4 ansars and more waiting to be upgraded when I declare on Ottomans in 410BC. Most of their cities are building wonders since long so how much forces can they have?? I find out they dont have many...

I have a bad surprise in 330BC when my iron source is exhausted. I am not ready to connect the next source next to Korea.

Istanbul builds Pyramids in 290BC, for me to take it the same turn.

I attack France in 170BC and get my first ML. I guess that is a nice compensation for wrecking my reputation. I had an ongoing lux deal with them. I use the leader to rush Forbidden Palace in Orleans who has access to 4 Gems. I think I just made the choice to go for Space. This map has so much potential for research so why not use it?

Astronomy in 110BC. From there on 4 turn research on necessary MA techs except engineering that I can trade for in 30BC.

I take one by one the civs on home continent. Get two more MLs in 90BC and 90AD. I create ansar armies but only put two in each so I can transport them over to the other continent.

Declare on Portugese around 230AD. Get 4th ML in 290AD in the war against the Portugese. Build another army.

Enter IA in 390AD. I grant the entire age to the sci civs and I can eventually trade with Byzantines for Steam Power. Good thing they still accept gpt deal, guess they dont have contact with the others yet who will surely tell them soon about my treachery. Steampower allows me to get Medicine from the Ottomans. I trade Medicine back to Theodora who gives back all I gave her for Steam in the first place. Russia will predictably not part with Nationalism for any price.

On entering IA I have 44% of world area. I have valsed over most of the other civs with a small number of ansars (not more than 20 at any time). The focus was and is to keep 4 turn research and to continue with it during IA so I have built universities, courthouses etc. Did not have time to build much military nor cash to rush many temples.

Minimap from 390AD:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/cotm12_390AD_minime.JPG

Good play, MiniMe. Looking at your MiniMap I wouldn't be too worried about rep unless you squandered your ability to pay gpt. It's a MiniMatter.

Seeing how small the Russians, Koreans and Ottomans are, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't meet the other continent at all.

@Megalou
For sure not possible to pay gpt with civs on starting continent. I hope you are right that they will never meet up with Theodora, who saved the day for me when entering IA. But they all have ocean travel now. Well, should have thought about that when I made beef bourgignon of the French.

Maybe I should grant Korea, Russia and Ottomans an inland city each and then take their coastal cities to landlock them. Hmmm that could be a good idea :D

MiniMe, great game. How did you achieve such fast research so early on?

@Offa
You saw A'AbarachAmadan's post, right. He entered IA 5 turns before me ...

But I am quite pleased with my Middle Ages in the sense that I managed to balance some war with very decent research. I have for the first time made extensive use of specialists. All those small towns on the outer spheres of my empire are at least home to a scientist (thanks to gotm players for all hints!). And this helps to shorten down research when you have several of these small towns.

The downside is of course that in order to get all these small towns, you need to kill your neighbours. Which means you wont have many trading partners to play with. I guess on lower levels (including monarchy I hope) this doesnt matter much since your neighbours are just in the way and are not able to research their way out of a paper bag. But from emperor I *assume* total research is quicker if you let the AI do some for you. If anyone has some opinions on this last point I would like to know.

The downside is of course that in order to get all these small towns, you need to kill your neighbours. Which means you wont have many trading partners to play with. I guess on lower levels (including monarchy I hope) this doesnt matter much since your neighbours are just in the way and are not able to research their way out of a paper bag. But from emperor I *assume* total research is quicker if you let the AI do some for you. If anyone has some opinions on this last point I would like to know.

In this game the difference is I didn't do ANY combat with another civ through the MA. Still, the AI only gave me 1 researched tech in the MA, Invention (+2 1st level ones they found due to being scientific). Had I researched differently I may have gotten one more, but that is a maybe. My problem was having enough to reach 4-turn research, which it appears you didn't have that problem with your significantly expanded area, but traded research off to get Chivalry and do combat.

Yes, some of the older game posts show getting faster than 4-turn research at higher levels by allowing certain Civs to remain. At the higher levels I think the balance is ensuring you have 'just enough' to meet your 4-turn research goal while allowing them to be large enough to also research for you. Certainly was worthless in this one for me.

But I am quite pleased with my Middle Ages in the sense that I managed to balance some war with very decent research. I have for the first time made extensive use of specialists. All those small towns on the outer spheres of my empire are at least home to a scientist (thanks to gotm players for all hints!). And this helps to shorten down research when you have several of these small towns.

I did the same with my external towns. The other thing I did is only build 3 granaries, yet with no combat I did not capture the Pyramids even though it was sitting right at Moscow. Hence, I used my external towns to also build workers to more quickly increase my non-granary core cities to size 12.

The higher difficulty levels are kind of easier: the AI will build cities for you, and the AI will do research for you. All you need to do is take those cities and trade for the techs.

In my recent deity game i never attacked anyone, just defended my cities, never researched anything faster then in 7 turns cause i had too little land and launched the spaceship in 12xx. It is surely better to live some trading partners on Demigod and Deity, not sure about Emperor. If think that if the goal is fast diplo or space then the best tactics is take the land from those civs that fall behind and leave others for trading (maybe taking cities that are away from AI capital, cause AI doesn't use scientists).

I suffered a humiliating diplomatic loss.

From the MA onwards I was at war, enjoying small periods of peace between wars. I finished the ottomons off in the mid 17th century, after about 1000 years of on/off wars. I was miles behind in tech compared to the other continent, and culture was non -existant. By the time i was about to control the entire continent, i had just discovered tanks, and the byzantines won the UN vote. The problem was my Rep was crap all game, and couldn't trade for techs.

Predator

This game looks like COTM10 for me. Both civs are expansionist and started in the not good environment. At the start I sent my scout N,NW and saw the game on the river. Very nice but I decided not move my settler and found the second city near the game. I thought about fast exploring and I didn’t know what I could see in other directions. As I understood later it was wrong decision: near the game there are second game and the cattle! But, as the consolation, I got the capital between three food regions so corruption was not very high. And, of course, I live in the desert as “native Arabs”. :crazyeye:

So, I settled on the place, my scout went N then E, worker started mine and road on the oasis.
I stopped science for a while in hope to find AI fast. I expect to meet Russia, Ottomans and Korea, but also met France instead Byzantines – very big surprise. I can trade first techs and started writing in 3050BC (later then I want). My capital built second scout first (move S, then W) then settler. My first scout found goody huts at NE and got worker. Second huts also contain worker, so I repeat the COTM10 situation. I join my native worker for accelerate settler and found Medina in the 3050BC near the cattle.

I not built the granary in the capital because I want to build only 3 settlers there, and then switch more productive cities to do it. I built the granaries in 2-d and 3-d cities. I traded with France for workers 2 or 3 times and joined it to the capital. Once Mecca with size 2 had both French citizens! :eek:

I discovered Writing in 2030BC, Code of Laws in 1550BC and Philosophy with Republic in 1400BC. After that I stopped science and wait for AI. I must note I never discover Literature in this game.

As in COTM10 Russia declared on me but this time I couldn’t get anything from her and have to real fight against Russia. This slightly delayed my expansion but horse is placed very close so I rushed barracks and produced horsemen. I even got the GL form this war (Army) in 1075BC. With this force I captured Moscow in 800BC and took 2 cities for peace.

On the other side of the world my brave curragh met the Portugal and with hard damage went to Byzantines and sunk in the sea was escaping from barbs. I met England only in several turns before the game end.

I entered in MA in 850BC via cross trade and gift Korea, Ottomans and Russia (I not met Byzantines yet) all necessary techs. Korea got Mono and other got Engineering so I researched Feudalism and Chivalry myself. But AI discovered Feudalism too late and I saw only one pikemen during the game.

In 1000BC I had 12 towns with 30 pops.

After producing 3 settlers my capital was free for something great. And I decided to build ToA. I saw the AI are very slow in this game so if I want to reach Domination I must to build cities myself and expand my borders. I choose ToA because AI could reach Pyramids faster then ToA and I hoped to capture it. I built ToA in 390BC and Korea built Pyramids in 270BC – big thanks. I discovered Chivalry in 390BC and stopped science.

I started war against Ottomans with horsemen then continued with Ansars. The second pack of Ansars captured Seoul then I declared on France… So I fought with all neighbors (but not with all at the same time) continuously and first removed civ was Korea, then Russia, Ottomans and France in 10BC. But I have other problem – barbs. :mad: Russia not killed barbs on their side because was in war with me, so I must use 2 armies for destroying its. I even not covered northern part with my borders at the end of game.

Damascus built Great Lighthouse in 270BC so I can safely reach other continent. On the second continent AI even not met each other! So I signed RoP and abuse it against Portugal and later Byzantines. I use ship chaining for fast Ansars movement. Simultaneously I settled on 2 islands near my continent and got Domination in 230AD.

Great job Dynamic! Setting the standard once again!

Over four thousand years of peace passed quietly as the Arab Republic steadily grew to be the largest on the continent. With the discovery of Feudalism and Chivalry, the training of Ansar Warriors had begun. While other nations were completing Great Wonders, Abu Bakr had been busy assembling a military to take them away from the other leaders. In 150 AD, Russia made what would prove to be a fatal mistake in demanding chivalry. When Abu politely declined, Catherine went Crazy Ivan and declared war. Abu made a couple of minor trades to enlist the balance of the continent against Russia (and preclude a two front war) and then the battles began. Catherine’s arrogance soon cost her seven cities and with the Arab nation now in a Ansar Warrior induced Golden Age, her remaining cities were lining up like dominoes. With the fall of Moscow, with it’s Temple of Artemis, Abu was on the way to securing the northern portion of the continent. In the battle to take Vladivostok, the first Great leader of the Arab nation was born. He was quickly dispatched to form a Crusader Army and he returned to lead the Ansars north taking additional Russian cities until 500 AD when Catherine was forced to flee by galley to her final city on a small island to the north. Peace would soon be signed and Catherine was now exiled. Throughout the Russian campaigns, the Arab scientists continued adding new knowledge to Abu’s repertoire and Arab builders added the Knight’s Templar, the Heroic Epic and the Forbidden Palace. Another important milestone occurred in 460 AD, when a Portuguese galley was spotted and contact was established with the other continent.

In 760 AD, it became time for Abu to turn his attention to France. Having gained a monopoly on saltpeter, his Ansar’s and Crusaders had to face only pikes and longbows. The French defenders were no match for the oncoming attackers and soon Paris with the Hanging Gardens and the Pyramids fell to the Arab forces. Another pair of great leaders were born early in the campaign and their newly minted Crusader Armies moved quickly to the point of the offensive as France was slowly assimilated into the Arab Nation until 870 AD with the final French city fell and Joan of Arc was gone. The newly acquired Great Library of Lyons produced a single technology, education and then became obsolete. At this point the western and northern lands were all under the flag of the Arab Republic. With the completion of Copernicus’s Observatory in Mecca, the Arabs technology lead was now a confirmed fact.

Two hundred years of peace was enough for Abu and in 1070 AD, he declared war on Korea and began expanding to the east. After Seoul with the Great Wall fell, the remaining Korean cities had only pikes to defend against the Arab cavalry and the mismatch provided very few upsets until 1160 AD when Wan Kong was exiled to Catherine’s island. That left only the south and the Ottoman Empire in the way of an island of only Arab cities. During the Korean Campaign, Magnetism was discovered and the Arabs led the way to the Industrial Age.

With Arab Cavalry, Crusader Armies and elite Ansar Warriors assembling on the Ottoman border, the future holds one final war. Then Abu will turn his attention to research and good will. Someday the remnants of Korea & Russia will have to be dealt with, but that will be minor hurdle. For now it’s research to Fission and plan for a UN pre-build and make nice with the other nations.

Middle Ages – Predator
The middle ages was a series of conquests. I entered the middle ages at war with the Ottomans. The war ended soon after with one Ottoman city left, which I spared in order to get Monotheism and to let them build the hanging gardens. I then declared war on the French as soon as I had several ansar warriors. The French had no iron and lost their horses in the first turn of war, so they got steamrollered even more quickly than the Ottomans, leaving me in control of the Pyramids of Paris. During this war, I bought in the Russians for the purpose of double-crossing them. During the war, the Russians sent a large number of horses and archers through my territory in a futile attempt to reach the French. Once the last French city fell in 480 AD, I used my ansar warriors to corral the withdrawing French units. An actual declaration of war was delayed a few turns until I could maneuver them into a good position. When I declared the war in 550 I was able to massacre most of Russia’s attacking force in the first turn and then proceeded to burn north through Russian territory. After killing the Russians and getting two armies during the war, I moved my forces to Korea. Unfortunaltely I had a deal with Korea which delayed the invasion for a few years. By the time I was ready to invade, I had reached the industrial age.

Ansars
Having secured iron from the Ottomans in the ancient age, I connected it and went directly for chivalry. The mountainous terrain in this map attenuated the usefulness of the Ansar warrior somewhat, but even with the presence of hills, an ansar can charge up a hill and still have a movement point left. The two most useful properties of the Ansar are the ability to run rings around longbowmen and their speed in getting to the front, both of which were devastating to the Russians. My golden age occurred during the French war and allowed me to quickly build up enough ansars to carry me through the whole MA.

Portugal
I discovered the other continent in 260 AD. Of the three civs there, Portugal was the only one advanced enough to trade with. Once I discovered them, tech trading kept the money flowing in.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/210AD.jpg

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/800AD.jpg

Predator, fixed barbs

Seems I went another way than almost everyone else. Almost everybody went for conquest/domination, I went for 100K

My stats:
100K win in 1310AD
barely over 10K Jason
44+ hours of playing time

The Kingdom Years:

in -250 Damascus builds the Great Library. We also
make peace with Russia, giving them Literature to
go away. Also in this year we switch to monarchy.
At this time we turn off research and spend it on
military.

Several new towns are founded at this time--Anjar,
Fustat, and Aden. Aden is important in that it
filched silk from the Turks.

The Turks:

In -70, the heathen turks build a great temple to
their false deity Artemis. Later, in +90 they try
to extort horses, but back down. No horses, ain't
that a shame. Now we just needed to get some iron,
and the backward Koreans have some near the border.

Days of Iron:

After picking up Feud in 190, next turn we build
Mansura next to the iron on the border mountains,
stealing it from Korea. I send a work crew over,
but it takes them decades to get there. Meantime,
a Korean horse camps on it. In 260 they try to
extort engineering. I tell them to bring it and
they withdraw. The iron is hooked up in 310.

Scholarly works:

In 350, we are beat to the Gardens and Sun Tzu.
Korea tries to send a settler pair south of Mansura,
so I set up a line to block. I am ahead of everyone
in tech at this point, so I can afford to be generous
and gift them up to the Middle Ages. After all,
they're doing our research.

At sea:

In 380 we build a galley in the fishing village of
Muscat. Our first effort is sunk by infidels in
410, a century later we build another that rounds
the Korean cape, contacting a Portugese ancient that
had landed on the continent. They are of comparable
tech level. We open an embassy in 530, they are across
a sea that would've been safe with the Lighthouse, but
alas. I also see something rare--Portugal is actually
in Feudalism!

Meanwhile, in 430 we pick up invention, and in 460 the
Russians extort incense. We are weak compared to them
so I give in. We build Bukhara and Shiraz on the south
shores of the lake to grab the furs, surrounding Rouen.

The Golden Age:

In 540 we build Merw on the isthmus north of Kufah.
Next decade, we declare on France, taking Rouen in 560.
Russians take exception to Merw, burning it in 590.
We get Korea and Turkey involved for Chivalry (they
can't build knights, so we're safe) and money.

The Golden Age begins when an Ansar takes Rheims in 600.
There is much fighting in the mountains north of Kufah.
In 620 Damascus builds the Knights Templar. In 700 we
take Orleans, so now we have gems.

In 730 we suffer a terrible blow as the evil Russians
take Damascus. We then make peace with France, getting
gold. France is crippled, they are not a threat. The
Russian victory is short-lived, as the loyal citizens of
Damascus overthrow them in 750. Using hit-and-run
tactics, the Anjar whittle down the Russian troops.
We have leet troops, but no leader.

In 780 I take the fight to Russia as I send a stack
outside Yaroslavl. Next decade, a galley finally makes
it across the strait to Portugal. In 800 the Golden
Age ends.

Farewell to the French:

In 830 the Great Library closes after discovering ed.
In that year, England contacts us, and we open an embassy.
They are a backward nation. Korea has Printing, we buy
it for fur and incense. We also make peace with Russia
at this time.

In 840, we contact the Byzantines and open an embassy
with them. That is all the nations of the world. In
880 France inexplicably declares war on Russia. France
is weak compared to us, and Russia is strong compared to
us. The Turks, still at war with Russia, make peace in
920. Also in that year, Medina builds the FP, and we
buy Chem from Russia for ed, gems, incense and 5/turn.

We redeclare war on France in 930, steamrolling them and
wiping them out in 1180. During this time, we learn
Econ in 1080, trading it around for metal, astro, and nav.
In 1110 I trade backward England invention for their
world map.

The Korean war:

In 1180, as the French war is almost finished, the
Russians ask for RoP and alliance vs. Korea. We do so.
The Russians turn around and make peace with Korea.
The gits could've at least waited until they brought the
troops back home before making peace. Next decade we
pick up Military, while Medina builds Copernicus. We
stop research, as we intend to stomp Korea with military.

Unfortunately, our troops on the other side of the
continent are slow in arriving and we lose Mansura in
1230. Trade Ottomans military and gems for Music, art,
and 2 slaves. Ottomans still have no horses, and I'm
keeping it that way.

The first army:

In 1270, we get our first leader. I rush him back to
Fustat and have him build an army, whereupon in the next
skirmish I get ANOTHER leader. I run him back to Mecca
to rush the academy in 1290. Meanwhile, we take Mansura
back and start researching again.

In 1305 we get Physics, can't decide between grav or
magnets, they take the same time to research. Meanwhile,
Byzants declare war on Ports. In 1310 Damascus builds
Shakes. I see a cossack in Russian lands. Russia has
no horses of their own, so someone must be supplying them.

Russia doesn't like us, so I put up a wall of muskets
along the border, which is mostly mountainous, though
Russian conduct was exemplary when going home after the
French War.

The Arab Republic:

Research is going too slow, so we revolt after learning
magnets in 1335. After establishing the republic, we are
immediately hit with WW, so we end the war after taking
Pyongyang. At long last we enter the medieval age in 1360,
behind the Byzants, Ports, Russia and Turks. They are up
national and steam, therefore we start meds. We are the
leader in score at this point w/1285, Russia is 2nd w/1229,
Portugal 3rd w/1209.