COTM13: First Spoiler

In order to read this thread, you must have reached the middle ages, and must have contact with all surviving opponents. You must also have the map of the majority of the starting continent, including at least the location of the capital city of each civilization.

This thead is for the discussion of happenings up until the the discovery of your first middle-ages tech ONLY. There is no restriction on the posting of screenshots or minimaps as captured within that time frame, except that they may not reveal details of the interior of landmasses other than the starting one. (In other words, if you can't see it from a curragh or galley, don't post it in this thread.)

This map was designed deliberately to be harder than recent C/GOTM deity games, particularly in the low-food start, but it should also have had its compensations. Were you able to take advantage of the ultra-high commerce to keep up in tech? What were your priorities in terms of expansion? Food, resources, luxes, something else? When did you get contact with civs other than the two nearest, and by what means? And finally, any trouble with the neighbors, or did the huge amount of room to expand into keep them docile?

Once you have posted your spoiler, be sure to head on over to the Hunting Tips thread and offer your wisdom to the conquest-class players.

I do hope you're enjoying yourselves. :)

Renata

[c3c] Open

Welp I'm brand new to conquests. I don't even really know what the difference between C3C deity and PTW deity is, if there is one. Is it harder or easier? Hard to tell with this map since the start location was a rather tough one, as Renata says. No food bonus for the capital on deity is very difficult.

Anyway I started out by settling on the gold hill and was very disappointed to find no food bonus in the newly uncovered tiles. My worker went to road and mine the bg's. I made 4 different warriors before building my first settler. This is because the settler would have been ready 1 turn before size 3 if I didn't build the 4th warrior. My first warrior went east then north. My 2nd warrior went kind of nw. My third warrior went south then west. My fourth warrior stayed home for mp when he was needed (my capital was at size 1 quite often) and explored a bit to the east when he wasn't.

My research was set to Math at maximum since we started with Masonry and Alphabet. I really did not think I could accomplish any slingshot at all, even if I went straight for philosophy, nevermind a republic slingshot. I'll be extremely impressed if someone pulled that off in this game.

I was fairly happy with the food bonuses, gold hills, rivers and luxes that were all about. I also noted a great deal of land in the south to settle into if I got a chance to. So the position wasn't too cramped. The food bonuses were not that close though and prompted for a wider than normal initial city placement. I built my first settler 1 turn after Paris turned size 3. I sent that settler north to the plains wheat. My other option would have been east to the cow. The reason I opted for the lower food bonus is due to all the forests around the wheat, which could be chopped to rush a granary build.

So Orleans was founded in 2750BC by the wheat, building a granary right away. Orleans would be my primary settler factory but I would build settlers in other cities as well. Paris built a granary next, completed in 2270BC, followed by another settler.

I met the Arabs in 3100BC and the Portuguese in 2470BC. I traded Masonry to the Arabs for Pottery and 20g. I didn't have anything the Portuguese wanted.

In 2190 I finished researching Math, 1 turn after the Arabs got it, which they promptly traded to Portugal. This made it a completely worthless tech and I was quite despaired by that. I couldn't believe the AI went for Math before Writing even. I now only had two techs I could research that the AI's didn't have yet. One of those was Currency and the other Writing. I knew for sure I wouldn't get Writing before the AI and I thought I'd have no trouble getting Currency. The problem is if I researched Currency when I don't have half the first tier techs yet then I'll get very little value out of it. So I decided I would research Ceremonial Burial and Bronze Working before researching Currency. So I researched Ceremonial Burial in 1990BC and Bronze Working in 1675BC, before switching to Currency.

In 1990 Orleans finishes its granary and starts on a settler. I founded my third city (Lyons) in 1870BC by the cow. Lyons built a worker first. Paris built a barracks after the 2nd settler as it was not growing enough to put out constant settlers. Paris would then build spearmen between settlers. Orleans built nothing but settlers for the rest of the expansion phase. Lyons also built settlers after the first worker, but did not build a granary until much later (past 1000BC when my notes stop recording buildings). My third city (Rheims) was founded by the furs to the NW in 1575BC. My goal for city placement was to settle the northern area first, while prioritizing the cities closest to Paris. I wanted roughly 12 tiles per city of course.

The devious strip of land. Early on when my first warrior went south and west I had a hunch there would be something over there for some reason. Probably just because there was so much land available. Unfortunately the way he was exploring I was trying to uncover all the land around Paris so he kind of looped north a little bit as he went west, causing him to run into ocean. This made me abandon my theory that there was something down there. Thankfully, though, when Paris dropped in size again and didn't need its military police I sent that warrior to finish uncovering the tiles in the southern area. Sure enough that warrior discovered that there was a long strip of land leading west. While he was traveling that way I took a more general view of the map, noticing the almost straight line of mountains cutting right through Paris. Sure I had noticed it before but not how perfectly straight it was. I bonked myself on the head, because that's a sure sign that there had to be something down there.

Anyway I finally met a Roman warrior/settler pair in 1375BC. I was up Math on him but he didn't value it very highly at all. I ended up having to pay him Math +12gpt for Writing. I then turned around and traded Writing to the Arabs for Mysticism. The Romans don't value Mysticism very high either, making me pay Mysticism +1gpt +3g for Warrior Code. Sure enough on the same turn my exploring warrior spots green borders. I cursed myself for not waiting a couple turns before making those trades. So in 1325BC I meet the Aztecs, but can't make any trades with them, since I'm sure the Romans already gave them Math. I didn't meet Egypt until 925BC, Byzantines until 410BC and I didn't meet the Incans until beyond this spoiler thread.

Wars: The Arabs and Portuguese had a small war between each other. I know they were at war in 1000BC and not sure when it started. They made peace in 650BC. I'm sure this helped slow down their expansion so I could get a couple more cities down.

Back to the tech front. My Currency research payed off. I was the first civ to Currency in 775BC. Here's the excerpt from my timeline:

I learn Currency. Monopoly tech yay. I trade Currency to Portugal for Philosophy, Code of Laws, Iron Working, The Wheel, and 101g. I trade Currency to Rome for Construction, Polytheism, and 17g. I trade Currency to Egypt for 413g. I trade Currency to Aztecs for Map Making and 38g. I now have 599g. The Portuguese have Republic on me and I have Construction on them. I can't get Republic out of them even if I give 599g, 45gpt, and Construction. I'm ahead of the Arabs by Polytheism and Currency. I'm at tech parity with all other civs. We're now in the Middle Ages also. Wow, Renata didn't even give us any nearby iron either. Sheesh. There is one source far to the south that is unclaimed but I'll have to hurry if I want to get it as all the civs are filling in behind me now. At least she gave us horses.

I did just beat the Egyptians to that iron source.

So next I researched Republic. While researching Republic I met a nasty string of demands. First Portugal demanded Construction, then Rome demanded 43g, Aztecs demanded 40g and the Arabs demanded Currency. I gave in to them all grudgingly. I learned Republic in 490BC, becoming a Republic in 370BC (6 turns).

As for the QSC in particular, here is a screenshot at 1000BC:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/COTM13_1000BC_Shillen.JPG

9 cities, 22 pop
5 workers, 5 warriors, 3 spearmen
2 barracks, 2 granaries
Bronze Working, Masonry, Alphabet, Pottery, Warrior Code, Ceremonial Burial, Mathematics, Writing and Mysticism.
23 gold, Currency in 13 turns making 4gpt on 5.4.1
Score: 356

I left this spoiler in 230BC, learning my first MA tech. At this point I had 16 cities, pop 47.

Here's my cool animated minimaps courtesy of CivAssist2.
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/COTM13_Spoiler1minimaps_Shillen.gif

Well it did not go well. I settled on the start hill. By 1000 I had
5 cities
151 gold
15 people and 1 settler
All first level techs except the wheel; I had writing, and in two turns code of laws.
The Arabs kept pissing me off demnanding tribute (I paid) and sending settlers across my property so I asked them to get off my land in 975. Well they declared war. By 550 BC I was down to Paris and in 90 BC I succombed. In the years from 1000 to 90 I did meet the Romans, Aztecs and Egyptians in addition to Arabia and Portugal. :(

conquest class. 1st COTM
Settled immediatly on the hill, went for republic slingshot. ended up missing out, and also ending up at least 4 techs behind.

entered middle ages about 250 AD knowing everyone, but 5-7 techs behind. so far everyone but me has warred. im not planning a win, im planning survival. ;)

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

I settled on the spot. Second city was by the cow to the east. I also settled by the two closest deer fairly quickly and didn't worry that much about the luxuries and the iron. It worked out and we still had two iron in our territory at the end of the age (730 BC). I met Aztecs through cultural expansion when they finished Temple of Artemis in 1225 AD :wow:.

Technology
I beelined for Philosophy not knowing what I would get as a free tech (if I got one.) When Arabia popped Polytheism I saw that Monarchy was feasable. When I learned Philosophy in 1650 I traded it for Polytheism and Warrior Code and got free Monarchy (6 turn anarchy). Republic would have been preferable, but our expansion picked up as a monarchy. I then turned to Mathematics and Currency. Mathematics gave a monopoly. Currency did not but it was enough to trade us into the Middle Ages.

QSC Stats
9 towns
3 settlers
7 workers
9 warriors
1 granary
1 barracks
3 contacts, no embassies
horses, incense connected
Missing Currency, Construction, Map Making, HB, Literature, Republic

730 BC
16 towns
8 workers
10 warriors
4 chariots
1 barracks, 1 granary, 1 temple
still 3 contacts, no embassies
furs connected

Plans
Must crank out more workers. The cow town and the deer towns will have to take care of that.

Portugal built both Pyramids, Colossus and Great Lighthouse. Arabia got Hanging Gardens. I will try to time a wonder of my own to be finished once I've captured a couple of those. But with this pace it could be tricky to build any wonder at all.

@azzaman
I'm impressed with how many cities you were able to build. New Paris?? What strategies did you use to be able to pull that off?

@Megalou
Shows how much of a crapshoot getting monopoly techs is. You did writing and philosophy before doing math and still got math before the AI. I went straight for Math and the AI beat me to it anyway. But I did get a monopoly on currency while you didn't so I'm not complaining. The currency monopoly was enough to fill my coffers and get me to the middle ages since the Arabs and Portuguese had not met any of the other civs. This meant it was pretty much a double monopoly tech. I traded it to the Portuguese but then the Egyptians still considered it a monopoly tech since they didn't know Portugal. I also think you were lucky that polytheism had been researched already when you got philosophy. I don't think it's normal for the AI to get poly that quickly.

I'm curious how you got the iron in your borders through normal expansion. The two iron sources were very far away from Paris. You had the same number of cities as me. So why would you have cities out in the third ring already? Or did you use a very wide city spacing? A screenshot would be nice. :)

@ Shillen -- Conquest players started with two settlers. I'm sure that helped. :)

Renata

As others, settled on the spot to get the gold for extra research beakers. Started writing at max.
In 2900BC met Portugal and Arabia at the same turn and was able to aquire BW, pottery and CB with our starting techs.
Since the AI's seemed to come from north, in 2670BC founded Orleans to claim the northern wheat, since the and expand north.
In 2270BC the research on writing research actually paid off and we could trade as monopoly to get mysticism, WC and the wheel from Portugal
I then started to try a philosophy run with max research.
Since writing brought me to tech parity, I didn't trade anything with Arabs. In 2070BC we were able to trade writing with Arabia to get IW.
Spotted the iron in Arab land and way south. Settled Lyon in 1600BC to claim horses east of Paris.
The philo slingshot paid off as we got it in 1500BC, pressed F4 to trade maths for philo and get currency as free tech. Proceeded to trade currency for MM with Portugese and get HBR and polytheism from Arabs. this put me into a nice tech position even without the GL.
With so few cities I did not even bother to try that. I also switched off research completely after that, trying to gain cash to trade.
In 1275BC founded Rheims to expand west towards the iron, in 1025BC Tours to get sea access in the west. 670BC Marseilles to claim eastern cow and
590BC Chartres to get incense hooked up.

In the meantime I found out that our Island streches a lot to the west, which I did not expect at all. met more Civs (Egypt, Byz and Aztecs and later Rome)
Byzantines had settled 2 towns on our continent and I declared war to gain those towns in 550BC. Settled further south to get closer to the iron, which I aquired with founding Bescancon in 350BC. Expanded one more town, then declared on Portugese and allied Arabs to keep the Portugese off our land (Arabs nicely acting as a buffer).
Captured 2 Portugese towns in the east in 210BC and 150BC
In between I got construction and literature from the other Civ's through trading.

Entered the MA in 110BC when I gained 2 MA techs (more in the next spoiler)
110BC stats:
Score: 578
Culture 540
Cities: 14

I just spolied myself out of this game, although I more or less resigned a few days ago.

One very annoying thing happend to me that started the game off on the wrong foot. Instead of making sure I secured the luxury to the NW, I settled my second city on the river to the NE with the intention of settling the luxury next. Instead, I lost the core location to the arabs, who swooped in before I could claim it. I know the AI knows where everything is, and usually it doesnt bother me but this was annoying considering how much land was avaialble.

I eventually took the town. I fought no less than three AA wars with the Arabs, I won two of them. The third war did me in because I neglected to garrison my horse supply. I lost the resource and the core town that housed it to a single spearman. I didnt have enough local troops to retake it.

It's a shame because I think I was doing well and my best days were ahead. The chips just didnt fall quite right on this one.

Instead of making sure I secured the luxury to the NW, I settled my second city on the river to the NE <snip> I lost the core location to the arabs, who swooped in before I could claim it.
Don't worry, happend to me exactly the other way around.
So, that wasn't a bad decision in general, just bad luck.

Conquest players started with two settlers. I'm sure that helped.

Ah yeah, I had forgot about that. He still got a lot of cities even with 2 settlers. I forgot to mention in my spoiler that I played open class.

Don't worry, happend to me exactly the other way around.
So, that wasn't a bad decision in general, just bad luck.

I think luck is a major factor in hard deity games. Luck with tech monopolies, luck with settling location, luck with wars, luck with wonders, etc. That said, Megalou's game from GOTM43 (if you're able to read that spoiler thread) should prove that even a large amount of bad luck can be overcome. I know I'll be less likely to give up the next time I find myself in a poor situation.

@ shillen
i think the other continent had many early wars distracting them from taking my area. i wasn't quick expanding, just they were slow. my early city placment chocies weren't very good. Brest is one of the last cities i built, unfortunately. i couldve used that deer well. and ive gone for an ultra defensive strategy which involves avoid war at all cost. (i have about 2 spears per town for my entire military.)

Here's my cool animated minimaps courtesy of CivAssist2.
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/COTM13_Spoiler1minimaps_Shillen.gif

How can one make such cool animation using CivAssist2 ? I just downloaded & installed it and cant seem to find out how can i watch my early progress like that ? It just shows the current minimap from the save i loaded, but theres no option to "play" it like that Shillens attachment does :confused:

Sorry if this question is not exactly GOTM related, but i dont really read any other forums :blush:

Seeing as I have never won a deity level game, I would love feedback from the higher level players. I do pretty well on Monarch games so I am playing this one in the Open class. If I posted some saves for review/criticism, should I post them on this thread, or would it be better suited in the Hunting Tips thread?

I will post my spoiler later.

the hunting tips thread is for Conquest Class players. I suggest you post your spoiler here with some supplementary questions on how you are doing. Please don't post any save that provides visibility of the map beyond the spoiler rules.

Azzaman please remove the map of the other continent.. I almost saw it but quickly watched away. Can't remeber it and think I never will, but I grabbed a couple of beers to be sure.

There's only one minor thing wrong with azzaman's map according to the parameters I posted up above, and I think I'll let it pass.

C3C is harder to set spoiler parameters for than PTW/vanilla is, due to the delayed contact and map trading. I required contact with all 7 civs for this spoiler, figuring that the vast majority of people would go about getting those contacts by active exploration, and would therefore know most of the world's shorelines anyway by the time they qualified for this thread. I didn't see any point in requiring people to edit their minimaps for the sake of the relatively few people who'd be sitting back and waiting for the AIs to come to them, not on a map like this where the correct direction to explore overseas was deliberately made pretty obvious. Maybe I misjudged?

Renata

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

I settled in place.
A lot of civs with pottery around, so I decided to gamble on being able to buy it, even though I want to have an early granary.
I have 16 turns to meet somebody, before I have to decide between granary and barracks.
So science to writing @ max for a quick shot at philosophy.
Build 2 warriors then granary prebuild.
First warrior goes straight north, second straight west (no time to scout immediate surrounding).

contacts
3300 Arabs; I trade right away. They don't value alphabet much, so better now a little than later nothing.
2750 Portugese
1300 Egypt; my warrior was parked in the extreme west in view of the Aztec border, but an egypt galley was first.
1225 Aztecs; finally

That's it in the AA. Didn't find the Byzantines and by that had bad luck with my first MA research.
No war and only one demand for a few gp.
I always ran 100% research as long as the neighbours could give me a loan.
But with no barbs there is no fresh money coming in, so I had to reduce the science spending sometimes.

science

3300 traded for pottery and CB
2270 writing researched; traded for BW, TW, WC and mysticism.
1750 philosophy researched; traded for math and IW via TBP, then got free construction; traded for MM
1375 literature researched; traded for HBR and polytheism
1275 traded CoL
975 currency researched; trade for monarchy and republic (could broker on both continents)

Enter MA and revolt for 4-turn anarchy

cities
4000BC Paris
2590BC Orleans; second gold hill
2390BC Lyons; third gold hill
2030BC Rheims; cow
1675BC Tours; incense
1475BC Marseilles; coastal to the west and deer
1425BC Chartres; deer and horses
1325BC Avignon
1125BC Besancon
1050BC Rouen; southern fur and iron. Grenoble; coastal east
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/klarius_c13_0.jpg
11 towns, 21 pop
2 granaries, 1 barracks, 1 library
1 settler, 7 workers
8 warriors, 2 archers, 1 galley
4 contacts, 3 embassies

975BC Dijon


http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/klarius_c13_m1.gif

It doesn't look good for a quick golden age. Portugal has the commercial wonders. Arabia and Inca (pyramids :cry: ) the industrious.
I cannot fight Arabia and Portugal at the same time and Inca ... :confused:

An anyways late golden age and the commerce rich homeland points towards a (more or less) peaceful science game.

And BTW, before somebody asks, I'm already in industrial age having full world map in my game, so I qualify for the spoiler even though it doesn't show in the above post.

I can't see any justification for moving the settler.

I met the following civs: Arabia in 2750 BC, Portugal in 2670 BC, the Inca in 1100 BC, Rome in 730 BC, and the Aztecs in 690 BC. The overseas civs were meet because they landed on my landmass. I have already played to the IA and found the other civs to meet the requirements to post in this thread.

I hold up well in the AA for techs thanks to monopoly techs in Mathematics, Writing, and Philosophy. I got good trade value from Construction as Portugal sees it as a monopoly tech and gives me several techs. The other continent is clearly ahead as I don't get a bonus tech from Philosophy.

I leave the AA in 630 BC. I am pretty caught up to date in tech, so I can't complain for this being a "deity" game. So far it has seemed too easy. I am still waiting to see what the sadistic twist is to the game.

QSC Stats:
7 cities, 8 workers, 7 warriors, 10 spearmen (all vets), all first and second tier techs along with Philosophy. My score is a pretty weak 2,483. I can tell I started early, as I am just the second player to submit a QSC game.

This is the empire as of the end of the QSC period. As you can see I already secured incense, furs, horses and iron.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/LAK-846.jpg

I'm curious how you got the iron in your borders through normal expansion. The two iron sources were very far away from Paris. You had the same number of cities as me. So why would you have cities out in the third ring already? Or did you use a very wide city spacing? A screenshot would be nice. :) In C3C, rings are not an issue. We can just go for the best tiles. The rings was an unfortunate bug allowing less corruption, fixed in C3C.

Here's my territory map of 730 BC. As you can see from the lack of roads, the iron towns are quite new. I'm a bit surprised that the AI hadn't settled more towns near my territory. I suppose there is just a lot of room on this map. But I agree that they should perhaps have captured the iron by then. There are a bunch of Arabian settlers running around Cherbourg (top left.) The "2 tile rule" (AI won't settle within 2 tiles, including diagonally, from another town) served me nicely there to the west.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/tm730bc.jpg

PS You did a better job than me with the contacts. When I realized most civs would be reachable by coast, I should have settled a coastal town quicker. But I didn't get Map Making until the end of AA anyway.

About that iron on the mountain near the arabs; I used the old trick of settling 2 tiles away and then making a colony. It saved me the trouble of building a road.

In C3C, rings are not an issue. We can just go for the best tiles. The rings was an unfortunate bug allowing less corruption, fixed in C3C.


I didn't really mean rings in that sense. There still is a distance factor to corruption so your closest cities will have the lowest corruption. So ideally you want to settle close cities first, no?

But I think I misunderstood what you were saying. By getting iron through normal expansion I had thought you meant you didn't have to specifically go for the iron, but just settled the best land. The two iron sources were next to desert/tundra respectively so if I hadn't known the iron was there then I wouldn't have settled those towns until very very late. That was the problem with my game. Since I didn't get any monopoly techs until 775BCish I wasn't able to get iron working until then. So I did have to rush out of my way to make sure I secured the iron and just barely managed to do so before the Egyptians took it.

play open, go for survival (again)

I´m no deity-player, but I survived GOTM 43, where I suffered a solid space loss. So this time I´d like to improve a bit and maybe shot for a diplo.

Of course I, too, settled on spot. Wanted to focus on aggressive expansion and hopefully do some cute tech-brokering by using self-researched stuff.
It didn´t work as well as I had hoped, but I´m not completely lost yet!

QSC-stats:
10 cities, 21 pop, 383 fireaxis
2 barracks, 2 grainaries
9 workers, 7 warriors, 1 archer, 1 spearman
minimum culture and 3 to 4 techs behind

contacts:
Arabs 2900bc, Portuguese (2350bc), Aztecs (1425bc), Rome and Inca (around 500bc)

technologies:
pottery (3400bc)
WC (2900bc from Arabs for Masonry)
Wheel (2550bc, Arabs got it 2 turns before!!)
Maths (1600bc)
HBR (1600bc, from Ports for Maths)
BW and CB (1600bc, from Arabs for Maths)
Writing (1300bc)
IW (1300bc, from Arabs for Writing, Ports got Writing IBT!!)
Philo (1100bc)
Myst (1100bc, from Arabs for Philo)
Currency (750bc)
MapMaking (750bc, from Aztecs for Currency)
Polytheism (750bc, from Arabs for Currency)
Literature (550bc)
CoL (550bc, from Portuguese for Lit and gpt)
Republic (around 300bc, entered new gov in 190bc)
Construction (50bc, entering MA)

Major setback occured in 1350bc, when Abu demanded 18g and I gave in. Just then I realized this was all of my money and I was making -gpt! So there went my granary in Orleans :mad:
Oh well, a war on that point of time would have taken me out of the game, so what...

Apart from the occasional money-demands, I´m quite well with my neighbors, and they didn´t really seem to bother attacking me, although I´m definitly weak in comparison.

In 150bc I attacked the Aztecs and took their iron city in the south the following turn - the start of my first war in this game.
This will be of good use, because I plan my first real campaign to come when I get knights. I just have to do something about the statistics - I´m last one in every important category.

My animated map, thanks CivAssistII: [edited to get map going]

Major setback occured in 1350bc, when Abu demanded 18g and I gave in. Just then I realized this was all of my money and I was making -gpt! So there went my granary in Orleans :mad:

A small tip for future reference :) .
You can click on your advisor next to the demand pop-up. This lets you access your advisor screens to adjust your gpt.

COTM 13
Conquest version

4000bc Scout E & W. Worker S. Settle in place. Bonus Settler E. Research Writing at max.
3700bc Orleans founded near cow. Build worker.
3550bc Paris has built 2 warriors. Building granary.
3500bc Pinkish border.
3450bc Say hello to the Arabs. Trade Masonry for Ceremonial Burial + 10g
3150bc Portugal. Trade Masonry + 10g for Bronze Working.

Save Game.

3000bc Inca, Romans, Byzantines, Aztecs, Egyptions. Wealthest nation: France. Couple of Commercial civs starting with Alphabet.
2630bc Lyon founded.
2470bc Writing completed. Researching Code of Laws. Can trade Writing for lots of techs. Will they get Writing from me and beat me to Philosophy? Agony to choose.

Save Game. Decide later.

OK. I think I'll need to trade Writing. Then, it can't be extorted later. I'll get some value while I can. And, when I get Code of Laws or Philosophy, maybe other techs will be available for trade. And, I want to see where there be horses.

2310bc Rheims founded.
2030bc Tours founded.
1650bc Marseilles founded. Philosophy is 10 turns away. I can trade for lots of tech again. Trade now while its worth something? Hmmm. I have already been extorted. I can see it happening again.

Save Game.
Portugal isn't offering as much as Arabia. Maybe they are already researching CoL. I think I will trade CoL away. I'll get iron, which will be nice to see.

1500bc Philosophy in 1 turn. A city will be built near iron next turn.
1475bc No slingshot. Bummer. Both Portugal and Arabia have Philosophy. They must have got it after trading CoL away. What to research next? Min 50-turn research to Republic will make lots of money. Or about 25 turns to get to Currency or 19 to Polytheism. Polytheism, I guess. Maybe I can get there first. Need to get off the continent.
1475bc Chartres founded.
1425bc Avignon founded.
1325bc Meet the Aztecs. On the western shore. I'll want to keep this secret from Arabia and Portugal. Nice trading.
1275bc Besancon founded. I need to think about embassies.
1200bc Rouen founded.
1175bc Forbidden Palace offered.

1000bc

11 Cities
3 Settlers
6 Workers
4 Warriors
10 Spearmen
4 Horsemen

Save Game.

900bc Researching Republic. In the Middle Ages, but no new gov.
875bc Dijon founded. Amien founded. Built an embassy in Arabia. They are at war with Portugal. Good.
730bc Contact Egypt. Also on the western shore. Nothing to trade.
710bc Toulouse founded.

470bc 7 turn anarchy.
330bc Republic of France.

Open

Well I don't think I did a great job of getting to the MA, but I am pleased that I made it there. I tried to go for the Republic slingshot, but Arabia barely beat me to CoL and then someone beat me to Philosophy so no luck there. Every time I built settlers, I had to adjust my research lower and so it would slow me down a few turns. I then tried to get a monopoly on Lit, but came up short again.

A small tip for future reference :) .
You can click on your advisor next to the demand pop-up. This lets you access your advisor screens to adjust your gpt.

I wish I had known this because someone demanded all my gold too and I lost my barracks in Paris right before I went to war with the Arabs.

in 950BC: I know first tier techs plus IW, Writ, CofL, Phil, and Myst.
I know the Portugese and Arabs.
I have 7 cities, 17 pop, 176 culture, horses, and incense.

in 430BC: I don't know Math, Curr, Rep, Mon, Poly, MM, or Const.
I know the Portugese, Arabs, and Byzantines (met their galley).
I have 9 cities, 33 pop, 280 culture, horses, iron, and incense.

in 10BC: I entered the MA, but still don't know Rep or Mon.
I know all civs, have 13 cities, 49 pop, 532 culture, horses, iron, incense and soon furs.

I was doing min research (one scientist) on Republic because the AI usually ask a lot of money for it. I bought the other techs from the AIs and several times got them to declare war on me (get out or declare war) so I could get it cheaper (war happiness was much needed too). I have been to war with everyone except Portugal and Aztecs. I think the tech pace has been fast for the AI because they have not declared war on each other yet. During my skirmishes, I obtained Syracuse from Rome; Basra, Muscat, Shiraz, and several settlers from Arabs; and Fez from the Byzantines (I think).

I am posting these 3 saves and I am welcoming any advice. Believe me there is no spoiler information in my maps as my world maps are extremely small (World Maps are very expensive on deity!!!).

Opening Plays

Bleh, 3 civs with Alphabet. Republic slingshot will not be possible, but I should still be first to Philosophy.
Build order is 4 warriors, a settler, then a granary. If I can trade for Pottery early I will move the granary up.

3750BC: Warrior
3550BC: Warrior
3450BC: Find Arab borders

An early granary will be possible, switch Paris to a barracks prebuild

3350BC: Contact Arabs, we are up Masonry and Alphabet. No need to trade right away.
3300BC: Arabs have more gold, they must have contacted someone.
3300BC: Trade Masonry to Arabs for Pottery + 20g
3300BC: Start building granary
3100BC: Contact Portugal
3100BC: Trade Masonry + 10g to Portugal for Bronze Working
3050BC: Assign citizen to gold mountain for 1 turn to delay growth
3000BC: Granary
2750BC: Settler
2630BC: Build first city on furs. (I didn't find the cow until later.)

Worker Moves: S, road, mine, NW, mine, road, SE, N, E, clear forest (no BG :(), N, road, W, road, NW, road, N, clear forest, road, irrigate, NW, clear forest, irrgate, road

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/davemcw_cotm13_bc2230.jpg


Research, Contacts, and Diplomacy

2310BC: Writing

Trade Writing + 11g to Portugal for Iron Working
Trade Writing + 1gpt to Arabia for Warrior Code + Ceremonial Bural + 10g
Trade Iron Working to Arabia for Mysticism

2190BC: Portugese complete the Colossus, triggering their GA :eek:

1790BC: Park my warrior on the gems & iron hill, scaring the Arab settler away. :lol:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/davemcw_cotm13_bc1790.jpg

1675BC: See Aztec borders
1650BC: Philosophy, but no free tech :(

Trade Philosophy + 2gpt to Arabia for Map Making + 5g
The second continent is probably far ahead of us, so it doesn't make sense to research anymore. I need to send a galley for contacts as soon as possible.

1500BC: Build a city on the west coast and start a galley.
1175BC: Contact Egyptian galley
1125BC: French galley built
1025BC: Contact Aztec galley

Trade 400g + 3gpt to Arabia for Polytheism
Trade Polytheism to Portugal for Mathematics + 31g + ROP
Trade 44gpt to Aztecs for Construction + 3g
Trade Construction to Portugal for The Wheel + Code of Laws
Trade Construction to Arabia for 491g + ROP

1000BC: 10 cities, 5 granaries, 1 barracks

825BC: Trade 22gpt + 200g to Aztecs for Currency
Trade Currency + 209g to Portugal for The Republic
Trade Currency to Arabia for Horseback Riding + 1g

The poor Arabs lost 2 wars with the Portugese so far, and have not bothered me at all. Their culture is almost as bad as mine.

My middle age screenshot is below. Just before ending the turn, I declared war on the Aztecs to cancel my 66gpt debt. :mischief:

Just before ending the turn, I declared war on the Aztecs to cancel my 66gpt debt.
well, you shot your rep then, good luck for trading from here on.

anyway, I see you guys are all much better than me, I wonder how you guys can get to the MA so much faster :confused:

OPEN: Barbs fix (not that it matters this time)
Goal: Conquest (I think)
Ancient Era update: 4000BC-0750BC

INITIAL GENERAL MOVES (to 1000BC)
War1 – North: 3350BC, Arabia; 2850BC, Portugal; 2510BC, incense way north;
War2 – East: 3350BC, coast & fur; 2070BC – see green territory (across water?); 1350BC – sees more iron that is easier to claim
War3 – fortify to increase science; 2350BC – explore South, discover close incense; 1550BC – finally see the cow to the East
War4 – fortify to increase science; 2230BC – go to Lyons
War5 – go to Orleans; 1870BC – explore East; 1750BC – see iron, now I’m really surprised!!; 1650BC – see Gems in Arabian territory; 1600BC – see Fustat has Gemsx2 & Iron (it must be mine; mine I say!)
War6 – fortify; 1910BC – explore East; 1870BC – sees horses, goes into shock
War7 – go to Orleans; end unhappiness
War8 – fortify; moves for happiness
WarX – moves for happiness
Galley – go toward Aztecs

CITY FOUNDING & CONSTRUCTION (to 1000BC)
FOUNDED - NAME - PRODUCTION DETAILS
4000BC – PARIS (in place) – Warrior (3750BC), Warrior (3550BC), Granary (3050BC), Settler (2750BC), Warrior (2670BC), Warrior (2590BC), Settler (2350BC), Warrior (2270BC), Warrior (2190BC), Settler (1950BC), Warrior (1870BC), Warrior (1790BC), Settler (1625BC), Warrior (1575BC), Warrior (1525BC), Settler (1375BC), Barracks (1225BC), Settler (1075BC), prebuilding Horseman
2670BC – Orleans (2N/1NW) – Granary (1990BC), Settler (1700BC), Barracks (1475BC), Worker (1400BC), Worker (1325BC), prebuilding Horseman
2230BC – Lyons (3SW/1S) – Granary (1300BC), Worker (1175BC), Worker (1050BC), building Barracks
1830BC – Rheims (3W) – Worker (1550BC), Worker (1300BC), Worker (1050BC), building Worker
1625BC – Tours (1N/6NW) – Galley (1125BC), building Galley
1600BC – Marseilles (1E/2NE) – Granary (1225BC), building Barracks
1275BC – Chartres (4E/1NE) – Worker (1050BC), building Worker
1050BC – Avignon (4SE/1E) – building Barracks
1000BC – Besancon (3S/2SE) – building Barracks

DATE
MET CIV
3350BC Arabia (I was building War/War/Bar/Set; but was able to switch from Bar to Gra)
2850BC Portugal (they have all my tech)
1000BC Aztec (in 1125BC notice a town of theirs on ‘my’ continent; should have left a warrior over there)
0900BC Egypt
0750BC Byzantines
0670BC Rome (date shown since it was a pre-req)
0670BC Inca (date shown since it was a pre-req)

TRADES
DATE – CIVILIZATION - DETAILS
3350BC Arabia: Mas for Pot+20g
1870BC Portugal: Wr for Math+TW+8g; Arabia: Wr+8g for BW+CB (decide to do this as I’m now only 3 turns from Philosophy, so they can’t beat me; I have 0g)
1750BC Arabia: Ph for IW+WC+8g; Portugal: Ph for Mys+3g; Arabia: Cur for Poly; Portugal: Cur+Poly for HR
1400BC Portugal: CoL for MM+25g
1375BC Arabia: HR for 20g
1275BC Arabia: CoL because they say so
1000BC Aztec: Cur for 147g (they have Construction, but won’t trade!)
0750BC Byzantines: Cur+70g+11g/t for Con; Portugal: Con for Mon+20g; Arabia: Con for Workers+Gems; Egypt: Mon for Lit+154g;


Resources
Now here I was surprised to see horses and iron in range. I thought Renata would have been mean and not given us anything until saltpeter.
2230BC connect furs
0975BC connect incense
0975BC connect horses
Arabia gets the two irons to the NE. I’ll have to connect the southern one for now.

TECHNOLOGY - DATE/HOW
I was surprised to see 3 civ’s with Alphabet, thought Renata would be nice and give us zero. Beeline to Philosophy at max. I generally stayed at max (or as high as I could) in the AA. Probably should have traded first after getting philosophy and gotten Monarchy, but I didn’t.
Alphabet, 4000BC start
Masonry, 4000BC, start
Pottery, 3350BC, trade Arabia
Writing, 2270BC, research
Mathematics, 1870BC, trade Portugal
The Wheel, 1870BC, trade Portugal
Bronze Working, 1870BC, trade Arabia
Ceremonial Burial, 1870BC, trade Arabia
Philosophy, 1750BC, research
Currency, 1750BC, free tech (dumb move; should have done below trades first)
Warrior Code, 1750BC, trade Arabia
Iron Working, 1750BC, trade Arabia
Mysticism, 1750BC, trade Portugal
Polytheism, 1750BC, trade Arabia
Horseback Riding, 1750BC, trade Portugal
Code of Laws, 1400BC, research
Map Making, 1400BC, trade Portugal
Construction, 0750BC, trade Byzantines
Monarchy, 0750BC, trade Portugal
Literature, 0750BC, trade Egypt
One turn from Republic. Byzantines have Monotheism.

WARS & MAJOR EVENTS
1075BC Temple of Artimis (Arabia) and Great Lighthouse (Portugal) built on my continent; yea! No others of value during the AA built on my continent.

Arabia will most likely be my first attack; I’ll be building horseman after 0975BC for my upgrade to Knights (and hopefully Knights Templar). Key will be to capture the two irons on first wave so they are relatively defenseless. Maybe Portugal will join me and lose some troops so I can secure an entire front before my major turn the other direction, though I fear Gunpowder being discovered before I can get moving too fast.


1000BC, QSC status
9 Cities, 19 Population, 0 Settler, 9 Workers
10 Warriors, 1 Galley
4 Granaries; 2 Barracks
Missing AA Technologies (Construction, Republic, Monarchy, Literature)

@DaveMcW: Excellent job stealing the gems and iron from the Arabs before they could get a city there. That was huge! Also, very nice job trading, as always. I must figure out how you do it... Anyway, I notice in your screenshot that none of your cities have more than 4 citizens. Do you not let your cities get to size 6 for production benefits or settler factories?

Since this was a low-food start, I focused every city on settler production. That pretty much forced me to keep cities small.

1. I only connected 1 luxury, so a size 5 city would require entertainment spending.
2. I didn't have enough workers to improve 5 tiles per city.
3. Every citizen above size 2 means a 5-turn delay in settling my next town. (10-turn if no granary, but I built granaries everywhere.)

I actually kept all cities at size 1-2 (exception: capital at 2-3), until my high-food cities got granaries and grew too fast.

@Megalou
Shows how much of a crapshoot getting monopoly techs is. You did writing and philosophy before doing math and still got math before the AI. I went straight for Math and the AI beat me to it anyway. But I did get a monopoly on currency while you didn't so I'm not complaining.Don't forget, they got Polytheism in my game. After that it was a high priority for them to go after Monarchy. So I may have gotten a monopoly on Math, but lost the Monarchy monopoly before I could do anything with it. So while there is some chance in it, a bit of logic is thrown in. BTW, it took a while until I understood what you meant by "crapshoot." :crazyeye: I associated it with a certain overused expression of frustration.

@DaveMcW

Briliant against Arabs. In my game they have the most cities and land (also have a culture over 5x mine), always seem to be the first AI to research something (or get it at the same time) and will clearly be hard to get through as a first major target.

Great on the city building also. I let mine do size 2-4 so I could pump out a little military and see that as a major difference from your blitzkreig expansion.

Excellent work.

C3C 1.22, open

Strategy and goal:
I decide to try peaceful builder game with minimal military. Maybe my strategy would look strange, but it is my first deity game and I wanted to try completely peaceful game for this difficulty to check if it is even possible. I was afraid of early AI attacks, because I usually kept my cities without a defence, however no attacks appeared, just several tribute demands. Of course, I always gave what was demanded. I have also never tried 100k cultural victory, so I will try it now.

Start:
Paris built 2 warriors for exploration, Granary, a lot of settlers. For each new founded city I started with settlers, occasionally also Granary and some warriors for MP.
I have got Pottery from Arabs quite early, but afterwards strange thing happened. My warrior walked onto the Volcano, which erupted and warrior died – I have never noticed that happening :confused: .
I wanted to try The Republic slingshot, but was not successful. When I researched Writing, I wanted to not trade it immediately to be closer to Philosophy than Arabs and Portuguese, but unfortunately, Arabs demanded Writing as a tribute and I gave it away :sad: .
I tried to let the Arabs have enough space for them, so they are happy and tried to enlarge France to the south.

Major achievements till 1000BC:

Techs:
3400BC Pottery (Arabia)
3400BC Ceremonial Burial (Arabia)
2150BC Writing (self researched)
1475BC Code of Laws (self research)
1475BC Mysticism (Arabia)
1475BC Bronze Working (Arabia)
1475BC Mathematics (Arabia)
1475BC Iron Working (Portugal)
1275BC Philosophy (self research)
1275BC Warrior Code (Arabia)
1275BC The Wheel (Portugal)

Cities:
4000BC Paris
2630BC Orleans
2350BC Lyons
1990BC Rheims
1950BC Tours
1650BC Marseilles
1650BC Toures
1400BC Avignon
1400BC Besancon
1350BC Rouen
1325BC Grenoble
1125BC Dijon founded
1125BC Amiens founded
1050BC Cherburg founded

Contacts:
3400BC Arabia
2390BC Portugal

QSC statistics:
14 towns
23 citizens
2 Granaries
5 workers
11 warriors
1 curragh
2 settlers
The Republic to be discovered in 14 turns
2 contacts, 1 embassy
27 gold
QSC score 3532

I have got The Republic in 670BC, but waited with revolution a little bit. The reason was that the production would stop and I needed at least 2 other settlers to acquire the land on southwest corner. Egyptians and Byzantines were approaching there. The revolution started at 610BC and lasted 7 turns. As I was the only one to have The Republic researched I could sell it to all civs right away (I had all contacts by that time). But I waited a little bit again, so that they can revolt later than me, but in the meantime Romans and Byzantines got it also :sad: . So my trades were not so effective.
After researching Literature at 100% I stopped the research and tried to get as much money as possible.

Deleted references to Middle Ages progress

Questions:
By your experience, do you think I can beat AI in culture?
What is the probability that AI will abuse ROP and attack my undefended cities?
Do you have some experience with totally peaceful games in such difficulty level?
Is it better to concentrate on money or on research? What is more effective?
Thanks for any advice ;) .

PoorAxl

110AD screenshot: deleted as it shows Middle Ages status

C3C 1.22, open
Questions:
By your experience, do you think I can beat AI in culture?
What is the probability that AI will abuse ROP and attack my undefended cities?

Not a chance to win a peaceful 100k game, if you don't concentrate on getting more cities everywhere you can.
You need a lot more cities than the the AIs to outpace them in culture and then there is still the problem that they just may launch a spaceship.
If there should develop a runaway civ on the other continent, you may have no chance at all for any peaceful win, except diplomacy.

You will very likely be attacked by some civs during this game. Better make sure that they don't get your important cities. It's pretty safe (not 100%), as long as their troops attack somebody else, but returning troops, tempted by empty cities, are very dangerous.

Thanks Klarius,
it seems then, that a cultural win is not a peaceful one.
I must think carefully about my plans. If I stay peaceful, I can have a chance for Diplomatic win, but possibly not 100K. If I start some wars to "collect" more cities, I will probably lose the chance for Diplomatic win and as I am not so familiar with wars, it can be quite risky.
Hard to decide.

Beautiful beautiful game....
So many shields, so many resources...
I am not going to score high in this game, i am just milking it for the love of the game :)
Certainly plays easier than regular diety, but lots of fun to play.

Thanks Renata for providing such an interesting map!

OK. I'm at the beginning of the IA. I need some strategy advice. How soon will there be Hunting Tips for that stage?

Probably in about twelve hours -- I think I'll be out tomorrow night, so I wouldn't be able to do it then.

@dmanakho: I wasn't quite as brave as Cracker was with GOTM14. The first version of the map killed two of the three staff members who attempted it, one of them in the ancient age. And the third only had time to play into the early middle ages, so that was still up in the air. So I figured that was probably too rough. This version has been toned down rather a lot, maybe a smidge more even than I really wanted it to be (I was making changes almost up to the last minute, and I'd take back one of them in particular if I had it to do over again), but I'm glad you're still finding it entertaining.

Renata

Renata: When this is all over, be sure to tell us which change you'd take back. And, some of the thoughts behind it.

Can a open class player ask for help in the Hunting Tips ? The way the rules are worded, Conquest-class only ? Deity is beyond my skills and I'm really in need of advice beginning the IA.

Thanks for putting the map together. I know you toned it down a bit too much since I'm still alive starting the IA. Not in a great position to win, but not having my arse handed to me like GOTM43 either.

:p

cas

@ cas -- PM ainwood for that question. I know he intended for the Hunting Tips thread to be Conquest only.

Renata

Even if Ainwood agrees to Open players asking for help in the Hunting thread, please note that the only one that's open currently is the Ancient era one, so you'd have to wait for the second thread to open before posting for IA advice.

France was my favorite civ back in the vanilla days, so I was looking forward to this one.

My strategy was to employ the lethal 10-turn settler factory strategy (the diety AI's won't know what hit them). The nearby forests helped out, providing shields for the three granaries I built. I built my cities on the gold hills and with all these rivers + commercial bonus and decent trading, have been able to stay not too far behind in tech.

Does anyone think culture 100k is very doable? I was thinking that if I could secure the home continent (somehow) that would give a huge city base for attempting this.

I'm still surviving last months diety game, hoping to get it done soon so I can continue playing.

1000 BC stats
6 towns
14 population
4 settlers
5 workers
5 warriors
3 granaries
2 libraries
1 temple
1 wall

MA in 450 BC
13 towns
43 population
8 workers
5 warriors
1 spearman
4 libraries
3 granaries
2 barracks
1 temple
1 wall

450 BC. Almost every AI Civ has a city on the home continent.
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/MP_cotm13_03.gif

Open class.

I have to learn to take better notes and use civassist2 for those cool minimap progessions.

I made some early mistakes and it hurt me...more and more as the game progresses. Amazing how you can see the domino effect of mistakes throughout a Deity game.

Mistake#1...not sending a warrior straight north. My first warrior went east...then north and met Arabia (2630) and Portugal (2400ish). That coupled with my initial research choice of writing meant Paris did not have a granary when the first Settler was produced and my initial tech trades were weak. Also did not see the northern fur until Arabia had a settler there. Mistake#2...second warrior went straight west and then I brought him back rather than sit and wait for other contacts. Mistake#3 trying for Republic slingshot and missing badly sometime around 1300bc. Mistake#4 should have expanded more west and let Arabia have a couple of towns to my south. My general research choices and tech trading need major improvement to play at this level.

Entered MA approx 300bc and my opponents are up to at least Invention/Theology. Rome is starting to outpace everyone on tech...badly. Great Library is not on the starting continent, so it will be hard to catch up.

1000bc stats
7 cities, 21 pop
5 workers, 17 warriors, 2 curragh
0 barracks, 4 granaries
Masonry, Alphabet, Pottery, Wheel, Warrior Code, Ceremonial Burial, Mathematics, Writing, Mysticism, Polytheism
69 gold, Bronze working in 1 turn
contacts: Arabia, Portugal, Egypt, Aztec
Score: 341

Not good at all, but I've improved from GOTM43 and should be able to reach my goal of one muskateer...if there is saltpeter anywhere nearby.

:p

cas

Like just about everyone I settled on the gold and used the extra commerce to make a run at Philosophy. I started out with 3 warriors followed by a settler and a granary. I targeted the north wheat and east cow and game first as they were easier to road to then all that tasty land to the west. These 4 towns were dedicated to settlers after getting their granary and a worker. Any other town that was about to hit pop 3 also built a settler. In this way I managed to stay at 0-10% on the lux, optimizing my research ability. I managed to spread out nicely, with 9 towns at the 1000bc mark - that seems to be a typical mark, so I'm happy.

Arabia and Portugal were very aggressive in their settling and I had to play some fancy maneuvering to stall their settlers long enough for me to claim the land I wanted. I got the north iron, but it's under some culture pressure so I also laid claim to the south iron as a backup. I missed out on the gems, but managed to get all of the incense and all but one of the furs.

The science pace was incredible and, luckily for me, the Arabs and Portugese both remained unaware of the westerners and consistantly researched different techs than the others. Here is my lightning fast tech dates. :)

2850bc - Pottery, Bronze Working from Portugal for Masonry
2850bc - Ceremonial Burial from Arabia for Masonry
2270bc - Writing
1650bc - Philosophy
1650bc - Mysticism, Iron Working, Warrior Code from Arabia for Writing and 3gpt
1650bc - gift Writing to Portugal - they had techs but wouldn't take Writing, I figured correctly that Philosophy would be more appetizing to them
1650bc - The Wheel from Portugal for Philosophy
1650bc - Mathematics from Arabia for the Wheel, Philosophy
1650bc - Map Making for free - bleh MM isn't enough to get Currency or Polytheism - no big surprise really
1625bc - Polytheism from Arabia for Map Making, 10gpt - Orleans had grown a pop giving me that extra oomph to make a deal
1625bc - Horseback Riding from Portugal for Polytheism, Map Making
1100bc - Code of Laws from Rome for 10gpt
1100bc - Currency from Arabia for Code of Laws
1075bc - Construction (plus 15gpt) from Egypt for Currency (I had already researched about half that tech making it cheaper)

Three turns before 1000bc I enter the Middle Ages. :eek: Easily my fastest pace through the AA ever. With as much commerce available and the smoking fast tech of the AI, I might make a run at space with diplo as a backup. That said, I don't think I'll be doing much warmongering. I might gang up on Arabia with Portugal to gain some of the land the Arabians have poached, but I don't know that I'll need much more land than what I have now.

Side note: It took me until 390bc to qualify for this spoiler as the Incas were reluctant to sail my way. I finally got a galley out that way - all my other contacts came from camping a warrior across from the Aztecs.

Does anyone think culture 100k is very doable? I was thinking that if I could secure the home continent (somehow) that would give a huge city base for attempting this.

I doubt it is doable. I have got a little bit more cities than you have, but the AI is so fast in research and building that I am still behind in culture. To get some more cities from AI would cost a lot of investment into military, which I would rather spend on culture.

Nevertheless, I may try it. What about very condense city placement?

I doubt it is doable.No, and why would you try it? In my book it sounds much worse to be a non-vegetarian. Is anyone of us likely to become a warmongerer in RL?

1075bc - Construction (plus 15gpt) from Egypt for Currency (I had already researched about half that tech making it cheaper)



Do techs really become cheaper to buy as you research more of it? I was unaware of this and if it is true, it would probably change my strategy. If true, is the reduced price calculated by how many beakers are invested or how many turns before you learn it?

It's true. I'm pretty sure it must be based on beakers. I'm so stubborn that I wont buy a tech I am researching if the AI offers to sell it cheap. I feel like I am wasting all the beakers I already put in.

Also, I am pretty sure the reverse is true for the AI as well. Thats why they sometimes wont give you any money if you offer to sell them a tech - they are currently researching it themselves and are just a few turns away.

Do techs really become cheaper to buy as you research more of it? I was unaware of this and if it is true, it would probably change my strategy. If true, is the reduced price calculated by how many beakers are invested or how many turns before you learn it?

As far as I know it's how many beakers you've researched. It works the other way too. If a civ has almost researched a tech you'll be hard pressed to get them to give up anything of value for it.

It's true. I'm pretty sure it must be based on beakers. I'm so stubborn that I wont buy a tech I am researching if the AI offers to sell it cheap. I feel like I am wasting all the beakers I already put in.


I feel that way sometimes, but I figure if I can get that tech quicker I can get on to trying for another monopoly. Just consider those beakers as saved gold.

Well, I'm nowhere near a Diety-class player, so I decided to play this one Conquest class. Here we go!

4000 BC -- Scout #1 goes northwest, then west, revealing more hills. Scout #2 goes south 2 squares, also discovering more hills. I don't see anything spectacular, so I found Paris in place and start building a granary. I also start minimal research on Writing. My worker and my settler head southwest.

3950 -- Scout #1 goes noth, finding furs. I decide I'll send my settler to claim them. Scout #2 heads south, revealing more BGs. The worker starts a mine.

3900 -- More exploration reveals the incense and the shore.

3800 -- Scout #2 has now found another source of furs.

3750 -- I meet the Arabs and sell them Masonry in exchange for Ceremonial Burial and 10 gold.

3700 -- I found Orleans and start on a warrior.

3050 -- An Arabian Stack of Doom is heading toward Orleans. I switch my production of an Orleans worker to an Orleans Warrior, meaning it will be defended by 2 warriors when they DOW. I trade Alphabet for Bronze Working, so at least they won't have anything to extort from me.

3000 -- Now there are 5 Arabian warriors across the river from Orleans (i.e. they can attack next turn) and 3 more one square away. My 2 warriors will be fortified and will have the across-the-river bonus, but I'm not optimistic. Sure enough, IBT, the Arabs attack. I manage to kill one of their warriors, but lose Orleans.

2800 -- With the warrior SOD converging on aris, I meet Portugal and get Warrior Code + 10 gold in exchange for Ceremonial Burial.

2750 -- My spearman kills one warrior but falls to another. I finish another Spearman the same turn, so Paris remains defended by a warrior and a spearman. I start on another spearman.

2670 -- The RNG is on my side for once -- my Spearman holds off 2 warriors AND becomes a veteran.

2590 -- I finish another spearman and start another one.

2430 -- I lose a scout when he wanders into a fog and ends his turn next to an Arabian warrior. I finsih a spearman and start working on an archer.

2070 -- Time to strike back! My army -- 3 archers and a veteran spearman -- head to Orleans, leaving Paris defended by an Elite spear, a regular spear, and a warrior.

1950 -- My three archers manage to kill one spearman between the three of them, leaving two archers dead and the third one red-lined. To hell with you, RNG.

1870 -- I buy Irown Working from Portugal for 286 gold. My gamble doesn't pay off, as there's no iron near Paris. In other news, my newly minted archer attacks a fortified warrior and loses without scratchign the jerk. Seriously -- did I do something to anger the RNG?

1750 -- I get Writing and promptly trade it to Portugal for the Wheel.

1125 -- I forgot to make a note of the fact that I founded Lyons near the horses in an effor tot pump up my war machine, but it's a moot point now; the Arabs just captured it. Let's see if I can take it back.

1075 -- Hurrah! Lyons is mine again! I take the opportunity to cut my losses, since losing Lyons means the Arabs will actually talk peace on terms that don't cripple me (well, not any more than I'm already crippled. I think everyone else is about 3 techs from the Middle Ages and I'm still messing around with Horseback Riding and Code of Laws. But I digress.) Anyway, they pay me 55 gold for peace and I take it.

1000 -- Well, here it is at 1000 BC. Let's assess. I have:
1 city
1 town
124 gold
4 happy citizens
3 unhappy citizens
1 warrior
1 scout
4 archers
3 spearmen
1 embassy (with Portugal)
All first tier techs, plus writing and iron working.

I suppose I could be doing worse, right? Right?

440 AD -- I launch myself into the Middle Ages by trading my extra incense to the Aztecs in exchange for Map Making, Ivory, and 40 gold. I'm the last to make it to the Middle Ages and 3 of my opponents are already in the Industrial Age. Man, this stinks!

I finally found some time to play COTM13, and here is my first spoiler:

Opening and exploration
I settled at the spot, since i didn't know pottery and didn't want to research it, i built 5 warriors then a settler (the same turn as growth to size 3, sped up by forest chop). I leaved one of the warriors as MP, and sent others to explore. They quickly spotted the food bonuses around Paris (Cow to the East, 2X Wheat to the North, dear to the SE and deer to the W), which made nice city locations. Later the warriors found Arabs and the Portuguese and spotted Aztec borders (on the other continent), that could be seen from our continent. I've fortified one of the warriors there, waiting for the Aztec culture to grow, so that i can make a contact. They didn't build any culture, but they landed a settler pair in 1550BC, which allowed me to make the contact. (I've met all others too, but onlu in the MA).

Expansion
I wanted to grab all the food bonuses nearby with my productive cities, but they were quite far, so i used ridiculously loose spacing (to decrease rank corruption, which is the more important one, in high-food cities): the distance between my core cities was actually larger then in OCP! (But i could fill the gap later, when food would not be so important). I wanted to build a granary in all high-food cities and pumped out settlers and workers untill i grabbed all productive areas, all the food bonuses, luxuries and resources nearby, after that i wanted switched to barracks and military. Since i advanced to MA quite soon, i only had 4 cities at that time, i grabbed the cow with my first city, and wheat with the next 2 cities. And i had one settler ready to settle near the Eastern deer next turn.

Research and tech trading
I checked F10 and found out that many civs start with pottery and i didn't research it. I also found out that many start with Alphabet, so the republic slingshot was propably not possible, and i decided to go straight for philosophy. I traded Masonry for Pottery when i met the Arabs for granaries. I also hoped that the Piramids would be built somewhere close to me ;) (later built in Lisbon). I researched Writing at max, and traded it for Math, BW and the Wheel with Portuguese and Arabs. I was still confident that i'll get Philosophy first, cause i know that AIs go for MM first. Then i researched Philosophy at max and took Currency as a free tech. (I was a bit lucky with that - i got philo first in 1625, while DaveMcW got it in 1650 and didn't get anything from it - strange, but i like it ;)) I traded Philosophy to Arabs and Portuguese, but kept Currency, cause nobody knew Construction and Polytheism yet and Currency has a low priority to the AI. In 1550BC i met the Aztecs, who new Construction, and the Portuguese learned Polytheism by that time, so after some trading i advanced to the MA.

EDIT: i forgot to mention, that i play predator.

COTM13 is my first xOTM in over a year -- in fact one of my few games in that time as well -- but despite the rust and even if this is my first diety level game ever, I decided to give open a shot. I felt confident.

Now I feel humbled.

In my initial expansion I opted to move south and west primarily -- and possibly lost good wheat because of it. But I picked up all the grassland in those areas and even far enough to pick up the second horses in the far southwest. Even if I didn't pick up the first fur north of the starting spot, I made up for it picking up incense and furs in the south.

I tried for the republic slingshot, and I forgot a much-needed trick that would have let me succeed. I had forgotten that it was possible to research philosophy, switch to the F4 screen, and trade techs. As is, when I started CoL research nobody yet had writing, and yet Portugal managed to beat me to CoL by one turn and Arabia beat me to Philo by 8 turns. After that I committed one of my biggest gaffes in the game, and that was to Republic on a 50turn research pace. 50 turns of gold-hoarding isn't a terrible idea, but to do it in despotism... :rolleyes:

Finally at 150BC I bought Construction and entered the Middle Ages. But I could have been in a lot earlier had I played my opening better.

The AIs did not war and this hurt me as well. The Aztecs fought with Rome for a while, but only took a few cities. I know that my course lies north through Arabia, and have been building up my horsemen and catapults for the eventual push.

QSC Results @ 1000BC

8 Cities
20 Citizens, 8 happy
1 Settler
6 Workers
11 Warriors
2 Chariots
2 Curraghs
8 gold
93 land tiles
Techs: BW, Mas, Alph, Pot, Wheel, WC, CB, Myst, Writ, Math, CoL, Philo

My lands at 150BC:

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/CotM13_150BC_entering_MA.jpg

Open. Going for whatever comes out, most likely highest scoring loss.
GOTM43 took a lot of my time and still I had to retire. So in this game, to save time, I decided to play fast without extensive micromanaging and without QSC log (just brief notes).

Here are the major events:

4000 Found Paris
produced 5 warriors

3000 Contact with Arabia traded Masonry for Pottery

2900 Orleans founded. Contact with Prortugal.

2380 Writing

2190 Portugal – The Colossus

1910 Inca - Pyramids

1650 Portugal - Oracle

1625 Arabia demanded writing. This is deity :(. And of course they sold it to Portugal.

1475 CoL. Sold it for CB, WC, The Wheel and IW.

1250 I did research Philosophy before Arabia and Portugal. But apparently someone got it first :(

Sold it for Horseback Riding and Mysticism.

1200 Inca - The Mausoleum of Mausollos. Byzantine - Great Lighthouse.

Map at 1K BC

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/SolCotM13_1000BC.jpg

950 Aztecs - Statue of Zeus

850 Arabs - ToA, Portugal - Great Wall.

800 Contact with Aztecs

630 Republic and revolt with anarchy for 6 turns. Although Egypt and Aztecs knew Republic, others did not, so I traded it for Poly, Map Making, Mathematics, Curency and Construction and entered MA

Here is the map at 630 BC:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/SolCotM13_630BC.jpg

Plans to build many horsemen and to capture ToA from Arabs as soon as possible.

I'm confused!

If you settle on a resource, don't you lose those bonuses in favor of the default city center scheme?

The only bonus you lose is food. You keep gold and shields.

You also can't mine the tile, but you get +1 shield at size 7 and +2 shields at size 13.

Open (eh, why not?)

I decided I needed to play a couple practice (randomly generated) games as I have never done Deity before, and I struggle mightily with Emperor. In my first trial game, I pretty much got pwned. I decided to start a 2nd, but this time dropping down to Emperor. Here I did better - grew to about 12 cities by 0 AD, but couldn't keep pace and quit on the verge of elimination around 1300 AD.

After this defeat, I realized that I might do better if I log by turns QSC style, forcing me to think about each move I make. I think it takes some of the fun out of the game doing such a tedious, administrative task, but the result was as anticipated - away we go! (full log will be found in QSC)

4000 BC: Paris founded, Worker mines BG to S. 2 Warriors.
3450 BC: Find the wheat to the north, Furs to NW.
3400 BC: Pottery, Researching Writing for minimum. Paris switches from Barracks to Granary.
3250 BC: Contact with Arabia.
3150 BC: Receive CB + 14g for Masonry from Arabia.
3000 BC: Granary complete, Settler started.
2630 BC: Orleans founded S of wheat.
2470 BC: 5th Warrior, Orleans starts Granary. Contact with Portugal.
2110 BC: See Gems along E coast, kinda far N. Nobody's trading anything...
1950 BC: Lyons stupidly founded ON wheat N of Orleans. Portugal makes Colossus, Inca finish Pyramids.
1750 BC: Most of Arabia mapped, but where is everyone else?
1700 BC: Tours founded SW of cows.
1675 BC: Finally found Portugal borders.
1625 BC: Arabia just built a city SW of Paris...
1450 BC: Marseilles founded 2W, 1NW from Orleans on coast. Learned Writing. Trades: Writing to Arabia for Myst., Math and 43g. Writing and 266g to Portugal for BW, WC and Wheel.
1350 BC: Chartres founded SW of Horses. Portugal makes me pay 29g.
1325 BC: Embassies with Portugal and Arabia. Mecca 11 turns from ToA, Lisbon loaded and already has Colossus and Oracle.
1200 BC: Inca thankfully beats Arabia to ToA. Paris building Temple.
1150 BC: Avignon founded near Incense S of Paris.
1125 BC: Philo. researched. Trade Philo. + 51g to Portugal for HBR and IW. Arabia gives me 39g for it. :(
1100 BC: Besancon founded 2 S, 3 SW of Paris on hill. Arabia now has 3 cities SW of Paris and keep funnelling spears and settlers through my territory to get there.
1000 BC: QSC report: 2675 score. I'm not unhappy about this at all.
875 BC: Rouen founded on E coast on river directly W of fish.
850 BC: Grenoble founded 1N of Iron on S coast.
825 BC: Marseilles produces a Curragh that finds everyone by 0 AD, mostly by running into their ships as opposed to their cities.
775 BC: Dijon and Amiens founded to the east.
650 BC: Lots of connected happiness: Horses, Furs, Incense and soon Iron.
510 BC: Poiters founded. Portugal has foothold in SE part of continent.
410 BC: Toulouse founded on S coast.
290 BC: Inca builds Nasca W of gold on SE part of continent. Bayonne founded SE of Incense line. Aztecs creeping up SW part of the continent.
250 BC: Portugal and Arabia go to war!

I missed the exact date where I moved to MA, but I purchased Construction after researching Currency. Definitely in the AD's. I've been 3-5 techs behind most of the last millenium or so, but I'm in no immediate danger, have 15 cities, and I'm keeping pace in the power rankings with all but Portugal and Inca (By 420 AD I have 16 Swords, 8 MI). Creeping up on Byzantine for 6th in points. With Portugal blasting Arabia from behind, I can hopefully mop up whatever remains of Arabia; namely the 5 cities to the SW of Paris and 2 to the NE. Being so far separated from Mecca should make this easy regardless.

Regardless, I've already surpassed any expectations I had coming into this COTM, and I'll happily report my defeat if/when it happens.

Map from 150 BC, slightly before reaching MA.

http://webpages.charter.net/genghis/pictures/150BC_COTM13.JPG

This has been perhaps the most frustrating game of Civilization I've ever played. But that's for the MA spoiler.

The ancient age was very uneventful in my game. My expansion was absolutely awful. At 1000 BC I had:

7 cities
11 pop
1 settler
4 workers :eek:
11 warriors
1 archer

I went for philosophy but did not get it first. Next I went for literature, which I think I did get first. After that I went for CoL and then Republic. I drew 6 turns anarchy and then had the last 4 or so ancient age techs to research, each of which I finished in about 4-6 turns. I entered the MA sometime around 100 AD. I capped out at about 12 cities, with most of the western peninsula being taken by people from the other continent. After expansion I intensified worker builds, and I irrigated lots of land once in Republic. Needing to catch up on population, I shot for +4 or +5 food in all cities. I was behind but I had some hope, as all the other civs were in constant war. The plan for the MA was to go through the upper half of the tech tree and get a monopoly over 1 or 2 lagging civs so that I could make up some of the lower half with trades.

Open

This is my first COTM submission although I have played a few GOTMs and COTMs including the last 2 without submitting as I usually run out of time. Reading the COTM12 spoilers I see that retirement is possible so I'll try that if I run into the same difficulty.

Like almost everyone I settled in place on the gold mountain. I wanted to build a granary using chops and as there were 5 Civs starting with Pottery I went for an exploration gambit and started to research writing at max hoping for a slingshot. We met the Arabs in 350BC, traded for pottery and after MMing a citizen to the gold mountain to delay growth Paris built it's granary in 2900BC.

Lyons was founded to secure the wheat in 2330BC and immediately started a granary after that it churned out settlers almost continuously. There followed a rapid as possible expansion to secure furs, 2 games and horses.

After we traded for Iron Working in 710BC we found two available sources. The nearer northern one was grabbed with a town but was under culture pressure and so garrisoned heavily. Both the iron and iron town are still to be connected but a worker is on the job. I hope to secure the far away southern iron resource one as insurance but reporting that will have to wait until the next thread.
In 590BC we researched Literature only to meet the Egyptians and find we did not have a monopoly so we traded it around immediately for some good catching up.

Contacts Embassies Means

We met the civs from the other continent slowly even though we built a Curragh because it sailed clockwise. My second warrior started out going west but around 300BC swung east to explore the land immediately S of Paris. I should have let an new build do that. As a result I did not explore the far west of our continent until chariots were built and missed the Aztecs and Romans landing and didn't meet anyone else until they came to our continent.

3350 Arabs 1125
2550 Portugal 390
1000 Aztecs 430 (chariot visits Chalco founded near SW cow)
710 Rome 590 (chariot visits Byzantium in far SW)
690 Incas 590 (Incas land behind our exploring chariots in about 775BC but we don't have any warriors around and don't find out until Arequipa founded in 710BC).
590 Egypt 530 (settler met on south coast between Byzantium and Chalco)
430 Byzantines 350 (dromons met on East Coast)

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/Joan_d::Arc_of_the_French_history_minimap1.gif

Technology
3350 Pottery + 20g from Arabia for Masonry
2370 Writing (research)
2190 Mathematics and Ceremonial Burial from Portugal for Writing
2190 Ceremonial Burial (trade)
2190 Mysticism from Arabia for Writing
1425 CoL (research)
1425 The Wheel + 35g from Arabia for CoL
1200 Philosophy (research)
1200 Bronze Working and Warrior Code from Arabia for Philosophy 7gpt + 1g
1200 Warrior Code (trade)
1000 Horseback riding from Portugal for 5gpt + 40g
710 Iron Working from Rome for Mathematics 1gpt +19g
590 Literature (research) recoup 150g from Aztecs after other trades
590 Currency from Portugal for Literature, 3gpt + 7g
590 Construction + 7g from Arabia for Currency and Literature
590 Mapmaking, Polytheism and 29g from Rome for Construction, Currency and Literature
590 Polytheism (trade)
590 Enter Middle Ages

Troubles

Very little trouble, the Arabs extorted 21g in 1400BC and the Portuguese 22g in 775 BC. There were a few wars on the other continent.

We are mustering a force of horsemen and catapults to capture Brundisium now it has grown to size 2, Our agreement with Rome is about to expire and they are at war with the Aztecs.

Mistakes

Researching CoL instead of Philosophy and gambling on having a Philosophy monopoly and/or a free tech and optimally picking up CoL through F4 trade leading to free Republic. AFAIR AI tends to go for CoL before Philosophy, should have remembered that.

I wasted a lot of warriors and later horsie moves keeping AI sellers out of good land within 2 tiles of existing cities.

Not sure if a mistake but I missed out on a 2 wheat + FP site 6 tiles N of the start that went Arabic. Maybe I should have built first settler before the granary to get this as its definitely the best food site on whole continent. Only problem is that it's at a corruption distance of 9 which reduces shields available to it as a settler farm folks. I'm not sure by how much though.

On getting pottery in trade, changing settler production into granary and losing out on most of the bonus food site N of Paris to the Arabs. Maybe I should have built the first settler before granary.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/COTM13_perugia_350BC.jpg

Prospects

We are still in despotism and slowly researching feudalism. The AI have both Monarchy and Republic but we can't yet trade for them even. I hope we can exploit AI wars on the other continent to catch up in techs for cash and Military Alliances.

For a detailed timelline up to 1000BC see my Quickstart submission.

Like most people I settled in place on top of the gold hill. My first builds were warrior (x2) than a granary since I luckily managed to meet Arabia in 3400BC. I cannot imagine how bad a start I would have had if I had not gone north with the first warrior. By meeting Arabia that early I was able to trade for Pottery before my barrack completed, so I was able to switch to a granary. I met Portugal in 2800BC. By running research at max and trading I was able to almost stay up with them. I spied the Aztecs border in 1950BC but do not make contact with them until their border expands in 1250BC. I met Egypt in 1075BC.

Here is a look at my tech pace:
Alpha - 4000BC started
Masonry - 4000BC started
Pottery - 3400BC trade ARB
Bronze Working - 3400BC trade ARB
CB - 2800BC trade PORT
Writing - 2230BC researched
Wheel - 2230BC trade PORT
WC - 2230BC trade PORT
IW - 2230BC trade ARB
MYST - 2230 trade ARB
PHIL - 1600BC researched – use Big Picture
HBR - 1600BC trade PORT
could not make a trade for POLY with ARB so I select COL
COL - 1600BC free :dance: – due to PHIL
POLY - 1600BC trade ARB - had to include COL to get POLY
MapM - 1600BC trade PORT
Math - 1250BC trade AZT
Literature - 1150BC researched
Construction - 1075BC trade EGY
Republic - 1050BC trade PORT - drew 5 turn revolt period
Currency - 670BC researched

So I ended the QSC period short only Currency and with 2 turns remaining on my revolt to a Republic form of government. I have 10 cities, total pop of only 15, but my military consist of 9 workers, 10 warriors and 1 spear. I have also built 3 granaries. I have also secured horses and iron.

I hit the Middle Ages in 670BC, with full world contact, 12 cities, 29 pop, 1 settler, 10 workers, 10 warriors, 1 spear, 1 cat, and 1 galley. I have a lot of libraries under construction since the map is almost full.

Picture from 1000BC
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/Gator_C13_01.jpg

Got back from a RL imposed break from all civ recently, so I'm going to rush through this by next week, and start playing COTM regularly. GOTM too if I ever find my PTW disc.

I founded Paris on the spot, build order was 3 warriors, granary, settler. Research was full speed for philosophy. First warrior went north, second went east, 3rd was MP. First contacted the arabs in 3450BC, I couldn't resist the stack of 3 workers he had at the edge of his territory in 3150BC, and so I declared and took them after trading. The 3 slaves immediately moved E into the mountains to avoid recapture, the warrior was immediately attacked heavily, managing to kill off 4 Arab warriors, being promoted to elite, but the 5th warrior on the first turn of war finished him off. 1 slave continued exploring north, the others came home. No more attacks during the war, which was over by 2850BC. Not much else exciting, except for using one of the slaves to colonise the iron NE of paris, and having the Arabs steal it by founding a city there 5 turns later. :mad: Arabs also extorted Philosophy off me. Both were filed for things to avenge later, but that's the next spoiler. Tech rate was very quick, hitting the MA at 1025 BC. This was helped both by republic & monarchy being ignored by me and the 3 others I knew, and portugal building the colossus in 1950 BC, triggering their GA.

Contacts made:

Arabs: 3450 BC
Portugal: 2710 BC
Aztecs: 1050 BC That's it in the AA. Rest of contacts to qualify for spoiler:

Inca: 900 BC
Egypt: 875 BC
Rome: 875 BC
Byzantines: 630 BC

Cities:

4000 BC Paris
2550 BC Orleans by cow to the E
2150 BC Lyons by furs to the N
1675 BC Rheims
1425 BC Tours on coast NW of Paris
1400 BC Marseilles on coast NE of Paris
1350 BC Chartres
1175 BC Avignon
1100 BC Besancon
1050 BC Rouen

Techs:

3450 BC: Meet Arabs, trade for Pottery & C. Burial
2710 BC: Meet Portugal, trade for Warrior Code
2270 BC: Research Writing, trade for Bronze, Wheel & Mysticism, and discover horses by Orleans. :D
1700 BC: Research Philosophy, nobody has Polytheism yet, so no Monarchy. trade for Maths via big picture, Currency is free tech. Trade for Iron Working & Map Making, start on Literature
1200 BC: Research Literature, start on Polytheism
1050BC: Contact Aztecs, trade for Polytheism, Horseback and Code of Laws
1025 BC: Trade for Construction, enter MA.

1000 BC stats: I have all compulsory AA techs + Literature, 3 contacts have all compulsory AA techs but no optional ones
10 cities, 18 population, 121 territory. contacts have 13, 14 & 15 cities
1 settler, 2 slaves, 5 workers
8 warriors, 3 spears, 1 galley

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/sanacotm13.jpg

I'm going to rush through this by next week, and start playing COTM regularly. GOTM too if I ever find my PTW disc.If you have a normal Conquests disc, PTW should be included on the same disc.

You may have to reinstall PTW from the Conquests disk to make it work.

Open

First Deity game - i hope I don't get squashed too soon. :)

My aim for the early game would be to grab Philosophy first, so I could get a decent freebie to trade around and keep me in the running. I managed this in 1600BC and grabbed Code of Laws. However my landgrab attempt did not go completely to plan, due to the lack of contact with the Arabs until 2800BC. I was counting on meeting them sooner with the 3 warrior guys I'd sent out, and so had a granary prebuild setup in Paris, which I had to switch to rax in the end. Eventually I was underway and managed to grab all the decent land as well as the northern source of iron which I figured would deny Arabia their knights.

I decided I would run at 0% research for the rest of the Ancient Ages and act as the middle man for at least the early part of the MA. If I was lucky I might be able to get Arabs or Portugal to build the Library and I could hitch a free ride into the late MA.

In order to try and stifle my neighbours, I declared on Portugal in 1275BC and got the Arabs to fight them. I managed to get away without fighting a single Portuguese unit. I meet Cleo and trade for Maths in 1075BC, just as an Aztec warrior razes the town she places on our continent.


QSC Stats
---------
9 cities, 18 pop
3 granaries, 1 barracks,
1 settler, 5 workers, 7 warriors, 4 archers, 1 spear
4 contacts, 1 embassy
AA techs bar Cons,Curr,Maps,Lit,Rep,Monarchy


I continue to use my wealth to buy the remaining techs in the AA, from Rome and Arabia mainly and sell them around. I'm a little wary of making the Arabs too fat, but it can't be helped now. I enter the Middle Ages in 650BC, just as Arabia builds the Library in Baghdad. Slowly and surely, I draw my plans against them... :D

Open

First Deity game - i hope I don't get squashed too soon. :)
I hope you didn't too. Better late than never :mischief:

I know :blush: I was planning on getting my spoilers written up before the beginning of the weekend, but I'm just too lazy! :D