Turn 69 (640 BC)
Karakorum finishes: Settler
Turfan grows: 5
Turfan finishes: Archer
Ning-hsia grows: 2

Turn 70 (600 BC)
Karakorum begins: Archer
Turfan begins: Archer
Ning-hsia begins: Axeman
Turfan begins: Axeman
Turfan begins: Keshik
Turfan begins: Axeman
Ning-hsia finishes: Granary
Confucianism founded in a distant land

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~mikelem/civ4/earlybird/eb01.jpg

Hatty finishes the Oracle and rushes Code of Laws. Since we currently have no wonders (or buildings) that gain a bonus from marble, I concentrate on hooking Hing to the capital and the gold instead.

Also, Saladin's settled further south, cutting off that defendable pass *Satis pointed out until we declare war. I've marked the location of his new town.

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~mikelem/civ4/earlybird/eb02.jpg

Turn 71 (560 BC)
Axeman defeats (2.90/5): Barbarian Archer
Karakorum finishes: Archer

Turn 72 (520 BC)
Karakorum begins: Keshik
Karakorum grows: 7
Karakorum's borders expand
Turfan grows: 6
Turfan finishes: Axeman

Turn 73 (480 BC)
Turfan begins: Worker
Old Sarai founded
Old Sarai begins: Granary
Merit Ptah (Great Scientist) born in Karakorum
Beshbalik finishes: Lighthouse
Ning-hsia grows: 2

Notice we got a Great Scientist. The tech rushes available weren't awe-inspiring and we could have other uses for him (like a Golden Age), so I put him to sleep. Next player, remember that we have a Great Scientist in our capital.

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~mikelem/civ4/earlybird/eb03.jpg

Turn 74 (440 BC)
Beshbalik begins: Worker
Tech learned: Mathematics
Scout loses to: Barbarian Archer (2.10/3)

I lose Scout 2, who I sent north to make sure Hatty isn't expanding without us knowing, to a barb Archer.

Turn 75 (400 BC)
Research begun: Construction
Karakorum finishes: Keshik
Turfan finishes: Worker

I begin churning out an even mix of Keshiks, Swordsmen and Axemen, while cranking out Workers in the capital and Beshbalik.

Turn 76 (360 BC)
Karakorum begins: Worker
Turfan begins: Swordsman
Archer promoted: Drill I
Archer loses to: Barbarian Archer (0.84/3)
Beshbalik's borders expand
Ning-hsia grows: 3
Scout loses to: Barbarian Archer (1.20/3)

This archer is the luckiest barbarian I've ever seen. He massacred my traveling archer (while injured; 72% odds of winning), my Scout (?? odds), the Worker the Scout was guarding (I would've moved them back, but they had already worked for the turn), and Ning's archer when I tried to take him out before he pillaged the gold mine (93% odds of winning). If it wasn't for the Keshiks heading down there, that lone Archer would have razed our fourth town.

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~mikelem/civ4/earlybird/eb04.jpg

Turn 77 (320 BC)
Archer loses to: Barbarian Archer (0.72/3)
Archer promoted: City Garrison I
Beshbalik finishes: Worker
Turfan finishes: Swordsman
Old Sarai's borders expand

Turn 78 (280 BC)
Beshbalik begins: Worker
Turfan begins: Axeman
Keshik promoted: Combat I
Keshik defeats (2.94/6): Barbarian Archer
Karakorum finishes: Worker
Turfan's borders expand

Turn 79 (240 BC)
Karakorum begins: Keshik
Karakorum begins: Archer

Tech research: Construction -> Currency

Most of the workers should go to the southern lands. First priority is hooking up that gold. Second priority is hooking up Old Sarai's resources.

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~mikelem/civ4/earlybird/eb05.jpg

And thus, the reign of Mike Lemmer the VIII ends when a freak arrow impales itself in his eye. Who's next?

First of all, we need the save... unless I missed it.

Other than that, here's what I can tell from the grabs and the text:

Merit Ptah
If we want a religion, this is the fellow who's going to get it for us. Alternatively, do we want an Academy anywhere? Or do we wait for a Golden age? We have to decide, it'd be wasteful to keep him in reserve for a few centuries.

Workers
How many do we have/want/need?

Mobilization
What Civics are available? Can we combine Civics with Barracks to get an extra promotion while we build up our army?

What's our grand strategy to be? Do we attack from the south, taking Baghdad (likely to be lightly defended) and Damascus first and thus avoiding a counterattack against Ning-Hsia? Do we attack from Karakorum and Turfan, best for quick reinforcement? Do we drive straight to Mecca or take his satellite cities first?

We also need to decide how many units to build, of what types, and what promotions they should get.

Finally, we need to set up an exit strategy. If Saladin's generals have been taking lessons from that barb archer, what do we do? I'd hope to grab Baghdad and offer it back to him as a peace settlement once we've survived long enough to get him to talk.

By the way, IIRC Saladin's first four cities are Mecca, Medina, Damascus and Baghdad. Medina being the northern uncharted city, and Baghdad being the newest one.

As everybody else seems to have bailed, I'll take the next DP (unless Blkbird is desperate) and make a post in the main forum inviting others to join in. If no-one disagrees I'll set up an Early Bird IX thread once I've got me grubby mittens on the save.

I forgot the save. It will be up by tonight.

We have no civics besides Slavery. Most of the starting civics are in the religion tree, including Theocracy and Vassalage. I don't know if Hatty & Saladin have opened up those trades to us, but if we want units starting with 6+ XP, we'll need to start researching in that. At this rate, our negligance of the religious tree is going to hurt soon.

We have 3 workers in the south with 2 more popping in the north. I'd be content with 6, perhaps 8.

I'd suggest a 2-pronged attack; primary force from the north, secondary force from the south, with pairs of Keshiks to pillage all of Saladin's resources.

I'm still lurking, folks ;)

I'd use the scientist for a great academy! The rest seems fine to me! Good work, Mike!

Here's the save:

I find the autolog alone utterly insufficient, as it doesn't tell how the player has moved his units, or what he has tasked them with. The turns cannot be reconstructed with that log alone.

So, Mike, could you please fill in some informations? I am specially interested in the desasterous masacre by the Babarian Archer.

To whoever wants to use the autologger in the future: The autologger only logs *events*, but no *actions*. The actions you perform as a player has to be logged by yourself manually, preferrably with commentary about why you do what you do.