I don't know if this ought to be in SG games as I'm playing alone! Please feel free to ask questions, answer questions or post comments and tips. The initial save is here (http://www.savefile.com/projects/434466).

http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/262/1initialsite9lg.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Initial thoughts: We’re aggressive and spiritual, so we get combat one on melee units, cheaper barracks and temples. Cheaper temples means that a religious based economy is viable. This basically means that I should try for the Spiral Minaret for +1 commerce from every religious building. It also means that I should try and spread some religions within my own society to build lots of temples and go for health resources, not happiness ones. My Unique Unit is the Jaguar, a replacement to Swordsmen, so there’s no need for Iron (although Axes are great if there’s copper or iron about).

We start with Mysticism and Hunting. We have pigs and rice nearby, which are absolutely superb starting resources. Unfortunately we’re presented with a choice – go for an early religion (Meditation is possible, but Polytheism is safer with monotheism behind it, and more useful), or go for a longer chop-rush with bronze working, or head straight for a worker and either animal husbandry or agriculture to hook up the food. There is no right choice, as long as you choose one path and realise the strengths and play to those.

I’ll go for an early religion, then agriculture (the pigs are on the river for +1 commerce and no need for roads, the rice isn’t). After that I’ll probably head for writing and hence tech trading to pick up the other bits. I may stop off for Monotheism and Judaism if I miss Polytheism (unlikely) or anyway (although I plan to head for Divine Right, so that can be my second religion for temple building purposes.

4000 b.c.: My scout moves onto the hut to the NW for 100 gold and reveals Dyes. I could move NW one and still settle this turn, but that would remove two normal hills for two jungle hills and run the risk of losing floodplains on the river to the South. It would usually be worth moving for a guaranteed third resource, but Dyes are useless until Calendar and I don’t plan to head down that route.

Hogton is settled and, woot! Two elephants. This city is going to be a powerhouse (and thank God I didn’t move NW! I wonder how many people tired to be clever like that and then cheated… :)). Settling the city pops out another scout from the tile to the South.

If I’d have gone straight for Animal Husbandry (to hook up the pigs) I’d have gone for a worker right from the start, but because I currently have nothing to develop I put some turns into a (cheap) Barracks. I’ll switch to a worker so that he pops out shortly after I complete Animal Husbandry, so that I don’t miss out on any turns.

Turns 2-7: My scouts discover wheat and tundra to the South (I must be at the Southern edge, so Northern expansion is a good idea and my other scout should look for another city site up there. More importantly he pops a hut and discovers The Wheel! Not the most useful (Agriculture or Mining would have altered my builds), but very helpful nonetheless. Next turn this plan is scuppered as I meet Gandhi who is ensconced in the North. I do however spot a great spot to the NE of Hogton which will serve both as a powerhouse of a city and to cut Gandhi’s expansion off.

http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/7695/23240overview5wo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turns 8-11: Very little happens. Someone founds Buddhism (I’d have missed out on it mercifully!), probably someone like Spain with some good local commerce tiles. Hogton expands and grows to size two. On turn 11 I meet Fred and switch Hogton from a Rax to a Worker. There are still 7 turns left on the Rax, but I’ll finish it off soon, before they decay away; more importantly, a worker will take 12 turns and with one turn left to research Polytheism and 11 on Animal Husbandry, my worker should pop out just as he can start work. The reason food is so important in the early game is that unless a city grow it can’t work it’s tiles and cannot therefore pay for itself in commerce. It’s important to get early cities up to size so that you can continue to expand quickly without dropping science.

Turns 12-16: Polytheism comes in nicely and I start work on Animal Husbandry to hook up the pigs with him. After that I’ll decide whether to go for Agriculture (rice) or Monotheism (Judaism). There’s no need for the additional happy face from the religion, so I don’t convert yet (I’m spiritual, so there’s no penalty anyway). I’ll convert before Bronze Working so that I can switch to slavery without having to wait a few turns for the revolution latency period to end. On turn 14 I pop a hut for Mining! This should prove very helpful and I could now head for Bonze Working without any real problems. Choices, choices… I could chop for an early wonder, perhaps Stonehenge (if I got an early Great Prophet I could use him for income from Buddhism and the second to found Theology…). I’d probably need another early worker though… Maybe I’ll chop for that, then hit Stonehenge without chopping.

Turns 17-20: I discover Fred’s lands in the East. He’s pretty close, but the mountains cut off a lot of the land. There’s a great site with Pigs and Corn right by him, but I will never be able to beat him to it (and then hold it). I should be able to block him off via the mountains, and Ghandi up North and then back-fill to the SW. Sounds like a plan… :) One scout kills off a Lion and then I meet the French (somewhere). Tragically the next turn my other scouts is killed by a lion (I rename the remaining one ‘survivor’). He came out of the blue and the odds were against it. C’est la vie! I do meet Egypt in the NE though. He’s unlikely to be a great problem at the moment and may even help me block off Ghandi.

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/3333/2secondcity5ul.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Site 1 is the priority – it’s a superb site with 2 sugar, Dyes and more importantly healthy, food-giving bananas. I need to get there fast as it’s right in between Ghandi, Fred and Hasput and will be in prime contention. It’s moved slightly from the above shot because the coast is close and it bring it another sugar. More importantly I may seal off the coast with this one site (although this is unlikely) but it allows me to put in site 2 before sealing off Ghandi with another city to the North of site 1.

Site 2 is a good site that will both block of Fred’s Eastern expansion and bring in two floodplain sites (for fast food). Because it’s on the river I won’t need to connect it up with roads for resources. If there’s a better site slightly to the North of here I may change this and stick another.

Turns 21-27: I manage to sneak a hut from under Hasput’s nose! A free warrior will let me expand that little bit faster. I set him to walk toward the new town site to the NE of Hogton.

http://img334.imageshack.us/img334/4205/4sneakyscout2pc.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

On turn 22 my surviving scout is hit by a panther. Mercifully, although horribly damaged he survives and goes to 2/2 experience. The important thing to note here is that upgrading heals units by half. You shouldn’t generally promote units unless you have a good reason to do so (it keeps their options open). Here I promote to a woodsman to speed healing and have my scout heal up.

A turn later, Animal Husbandry comes in. I now have four main choices – Monotheism for a risky shot at Judaism; Archery for defence; and Pottery for granaries. Well, I don’t need Judaism and am not guaranteed it anyway; Archery would be useful, but I don’t need to worry about defence for a few turns yet; Pottery would be great, but I’m growing like a rocket anyway. I go with Agriculture which allows me to bring my farm online. The main reason for this is that I want growth over production or commerce at the moment.

Nothing happens for three turns, then my scout heals and the pig camp finishes in the same turn. I could move the worker to either elephant in one turn, or to the rice in two. Elephants + Camp give 1F/3S/2C, Rice gives 4F/0S/0C. I’ll want to go whipping soon, so I go for food over shields. I have four resources and I want them all in when I whip to speed recover. Four resources, whip to four pop. I could go as far as two pop and go heavy on the food, whipping again at four and three if I want to, but I think it’s better to leave all four major tiles in play.

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/6906/5hogton2960bc2sa.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Note above that I will build a road to the East of the rice before going to the rice – otherwise I’ll get to the rice before I have the tech to farm. This way I can later connect the farm to the river and get the +1 health (way in the future though).

Turns 28-31: Nothing happens for a turn, then the next turn my warrior encounters a bear. These are the hardest animal units and I get hit due to my own stupidity (I set the warrior to go south, rather than walk him there myself). I manage to survive and gain an experience! Worse still my scout ends up by a wolf (bad luck) who dies attacking my brave scout with no health loss! The road completes, Agriculture comes in and I start to farm the rice. My warrior heals up on a forest hill one tile South of the Bear attack. My scout ends the turn next to a barbarian! What’s up with my barb luck on these few turns!?!

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/4687/6barbwoes7fv.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turns 32-40: My scout dies… :mad: Hogton however is growing like mad and has maxed out happiness at 5=5. I declare my religion as Buddhism and go 6>5. It will grow in three, build a Rax in two and will then work on settlers and troops.

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/6313/7happyhogton7ll.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Two turns later my Rax finishes up and I put one turn into Stonehenge so that I’ll grow one size (you don’t grow when building settlers/workers and I grow in 1 turn). The next turn I start a settler and my worker finishes his rice paddy. He goes straight to the elephants – I don’t need the health bonus yet and I could use the camp bonus on the ‘phants. Bugger all then happens for five turns (I build one camp and start another).

Turns 40-45: So little happened in the last few turns that I’m playing a few more tonight. On turn 42 Writing comes in. I open borders with Hasput and Napoleon (not Fred or Ghandi as I don’t want them stealing my sites). I head toward alphabet (27 turns!) immediately. This will allow me to trade for the more basic techs. I was tempted to get Bronze working instead, but it’s pretty expensive at 11 turns and I can trade for it when others research it in the next 27 turns – it should be pretty cheap by then. Note that I’ll badly need some military very soon as barb attacks will be coming and the AI grace period is pretty much up. I hope I’ll be able to train a few Warriors next session to keep me going until I get Alphabet, then I’ll trade for Archery and Bronze working and start whipping and defending.

http://img428.imageshack.us/img428/3884/8easterncity6lv.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The furthest East potential city looks like it will be a powerhouse, but I’ll need Monarchy or Calendar to make it work from the off, so there’s no rush. On turn 44 my first settler finishes and I’m left with a dilemma – the site I’d originally picked would be great, but needs Calendar to work, so will drain money to start with. I don’t have iron working to chop down jungle so this city will only work with Calendar (I’ll still take it early on though). I could settle West in one of the great sites, or immediately South with corn and gold. I could settle SE with floodplains and the chance to cut off Fred to my East but there are two warriors hanging around there and I have no escort (or defender in Hogton!). However, I spy this site… Can I get there?

http://img334.imageshack.us/img334/6612/9newton7fz.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

File save at turn 45 is here. :( (http://www.savefile.com/projects/845138)

I say in the above picture that there are three floodplains, well actually if you look closely at the borders in black you can see far more. There’s a button above the minimap called ‘bare map’ – if you click this it will remove the fog (but not unexplored) and you’ll see just how good this city could be… You can make out five floodplains and a pig site, all reachable from one city site. Can I get there?

Turn 46: I throw caution to the wind and throw my settler into the path of Ghandi’s warrior without an escort! Now this is a very risky thing to do – my grace period with the AI is pretty much up (it’s usually around 2000BC on Prince I think, could be wrong on this). However, I think I’ve still got some time, Ghandi still has land to expand into and I really, really want that city!

http://img318.imageshack.us/img318/5590/10cautionwind0hk.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

In other news I changed my capital from building Stonehenge to a warrior (actually I did this on turn 45). I’m getting very worried about my lack of military, but I don’t really want to waste time building crap units. I’m not fussed about getting Stonehenge as if I miss I can use the cash anyway. My worker builds a road from Hogton to the site to the NE to speed my second settler (when I build it).

Turns 47-51: My settler runs toward the floodplains and the warrior follows him… Come on little man, drop your pack if it’ll make you quicker! Turn 48 and looky, looky:

http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/3632/11glutton2dd.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
This city is going to be a monster! 5 floodplains (five food each when irrigated), 1 pig/hill (six food with a pen!) and two incense. Obviously this city will be a prime centre for specialists. This means that I’ll want to stick the Globe theatre here (for unlimited happy) and trade for as much health as possible. I’ll build lots of health resources and get the city as large as I can, then I’ll hit representation and start using the specialists to churn out great people. Some wonders would help here as well. In the late game all the tiles will be farmed, at the moment I’ll mix farms and cottages, probably turning all the floodplains to cottages later.

Note that I get -2 health from all that floodplain, although there are four forests to give me +2 right back. Always note the number of forests as you need a pair to get +1 health. If you have five you might as well chop one unless doing so will make the land worse. I’d like two extra forests to grow into the marked squares, which would allow me to chop both the grass/forest and the hill/forest later. Glutton starts a library in the full expectation of whipping it (and a granary) later. (Nothing then happens for three turns).

http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/3518/12wealthy8ts.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Turns 52-56: I get a nice pop-up telling me that I’m the wealthiest person on the planet! I’ve got 92 gold @ -2/turn 100% science. More importantly this tells me that there is one good civ in 4th place. This civ will be a major problem if it’s got a large island to itself. The chap in last place will be some island hobo. My warrior in Hogton finishes and I start another settler to go to the NE (instead of Stonehenge, hard call – I could use the prophets). I’m getting pretty nervous about my poor military. I don’t expect that anyone has decent units yet (archers and chariots) but a couple of archers could wipe my civ off the face of the planet. Fortunately there is room to expand, my culture is poor (army size and culture are the two main factors in whether you’re attacked) and I’m on speaking terms with everyone, so I don’t expect a fight.
http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/1097/13nervoushog2es.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

On the next turn my worker (who’s building a road to the NE) spies a barbarian and runs from the hill to the rice. My spare, recently built warrior heads on over to sit on the hill and take him out. The worker can road the rice until it’s safe.

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/9383/14damnindia7tq.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Now you’ll notice from what I said earlier about looking under the black borders that there’s a purple border on this picture by the sugar. This mean that there’s a city three or four spots above me. Turning on ‘bare map’ tells me that it’s four squares away, so we’d fight for three squares if I settle here. This will be a risk because that city has already expanded out and must be kicking out culture. A change of plan then?

http://img328.imageshack.us/img328/1680/15changeofplan5vo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The left purple spot nets me two sugar, banana and dyes. I could use the health from the dyes and it would leave the right-hand purple spot. Now that’s another great city, but I won’t get there before Fred without bankrupting myself and/or leaving myself even more open to attack. The middle ground would be the orange dot. This is less contentious, but fills the gap nicely and would be a great city with no need for Iron Working to clear the jungle. Either way I’ll need Calendar (obsoletes Stonehenge) for the resources soonish. I wanted Stonehenge because the AI hardly ever builds it and I’d like the initial cultural expansion and the Great Prophets it’ll give me. If I can hold off Calendar until all my cities expand their borders, then purple will probably be best.

Turns 57-62: I meet Mansa – he’ll be the fourth wealthiest, so that’s a relief. I also connect the rice up (getting the unneeded health bonus) and start to road the hill he had run from. Two turns later I open borders with Mansa (I should have done this when I met him…) and my settler completes in Hogton. He heads off to the original 2nd site. I start work on a worker – despite my poor military I’ll soon have writing and I can trade for archery and bronze working for some decent defenders. On turn 60 my settler reaches the hill, the road isn’t finished: now this is an important tip, the worker is due to finish on this turn, if I order him to wait I’ll finish the road and the settler can get in position this turn instead of losing a turn.

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/6857/16road3mr.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
On turn 61 (1600BC) I found my third city, Border Town. It’s a little close to Ghandi, but I envisage crushing him before too very long. It also takes me to -7 gold/turn. If I want to continue to expand I’ll have to drop my science and head to economy research, but I’ve got a nine turn buffer for now at 100% science. I mine the hill with my worker as I don’t have Iron Working yet to clear that jungle. Note that I’d usually have cut down the forest that the city settles on as I lose the shields from it now, but I don’t have Bronze Working yet…

On turn 62 I spot a barb city in the East of my Empire:
http://img425.imageshack.us/img425/8562/17barbcity0ew.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
This is in a great location and will save me building a settler down the road. I’ll need units to take the city, but I’ll shortly have Axes (if I get copper), Swords (no need for Iron as they’re my UU) and cats (close to alphabet). Hogton finishes it’s worker so he goes to build a road down South in an odd location (see later!)

Turns 63-64 Alphabet comes in! I refuse initial requests from Hatty and Ghandi to trade as I want to look at my possible tech trades.
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/5747/18techtrade0ov.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Now I actually played this very badly. What you should do in this situation is look at the F4 screen above and work out the best way to get techs. If you click on the portrait of each person it’ll show you what they have and you don’t and visa versa (an example of that is bottom right post trading). I traded Priesthood, Archery and Meditation for Polytheism and Writing [Hatty – a good trade]. Now that writing and Polytheism were out there I might as well trade both with everyone. I trade Bronze Working for Writing [Fred – a mistake]; Pottery for Polytheism [Mansa] and Fishing for Agriculture [Ghandi]. I switch to slavery and find that I have Copper by Hogton (what a city!).

Now I saw that I screwed up here, why? I should have looked at what my most backward techs were and traded those first – Agriculture would have got me some similarly backward things. By Trading Polytheism and writing away first I may have given them to people where I could have traded something crap instead. In the end, I traded my unique tech, Writing for Bronze Working to Fred when I could have traded Mysticism with Napoleon for it. As a result, Fred has my one tech for a decent one – I could have tried for Iron Working instead (next turn, not this one) as I knew that he was a tech leader. Still, not a massive ball drop – quite a small one, but they add up.

On turn 64 Ghandi demands Polytheism. Now this is an empty threat – he’s more backward than me, probably has the same number of troops and I now have the tech to build decent units. However, I don’t want to make enemies yet and so I give it him – it’s gone to everyone else anyway! He goes to pleased so I demand Masonry right back from him and he gives it to me. Fool! I’d have traded for that and I have no army! Still, he’ll be a friend and I should send my religion up there.

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/1904/19oddroad8kf.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
This road is going in here because I want to build a city on the purple dot, then I’ll want the wheat up and running, then I’ll want to chop some forest (outlined in purple) and eventually I’ll want to take out the barbs. I should chop that forest before settling there.

Turns 65-70: The mine by Border Town completes and I send the worker to Hogton’s forest (if I don’t finish Stonehenge soon it’ll be obsolete before it’s finished!). Next turn my newly finished worker starts mining the copper, Hogton switches back to Stonehenge, then I’ll crank some troops, another settler and then a wonder. On turn 69 Judaism is discovered (I could have plucked this centauries ago, but I wasn’t to know…). Two turns later Fred adopts it. Now this could be a problem – it’s the only other religion on the continent and it’s next door. I don’t want Fred to spread this to everyone and hate me (mercifully he’s not a religious mad leader like Spain who hates anyone with another religion). War beckons… I switch Hogton away from food and onto production. Soon I will be chopping furiously and creating an army…

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/3879/20dotmap4fp.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/3779/21demographics1200bc0tl.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

File save at turn 45 is here. ;) (http://www.savefile.com/projects/845138)

This shouldn't be in SG, but stories and tales which IS for solo SGs

Aims for this session
Sort out my defence. Some defence – ANY defence!
Settle a production base if possible.
Specialise one city as a religious production unit.
Improve terrain and whip some infrastructure and an army!

Turns 71-77: A lot to do – I’m running last in a lot of the demographics, my production sucks and I’m a sitting duck for any AI who wants to eat me. My economy is beginning to suffer (I’m at -3 @ 90% with no reserves). Fred is a real risk – he’s Jewish now, will spread that and won’t like me. More over, I’m right on his doorstep and has taken the spot I wanted East of Border Town. :( That was going to be my production site and I was hoping that Ghandi would get there first so that I could crush him. As it is, I’ll have to befriend Ghandi, open my borders and then hope someone will help me take on Fred. For the moment though I start to chop everything I can.

On turn 73 I meet Saladin – he’s the fourth place man (not Mansa) and he’s annoyed with me for trading with his friend. Still – it’s nice to know that we’re all on one continent. My worker finishes in Glutton so I queue up a granary and set the worker to farm. Stonehenge finishes (finally! I’m going to delay Calendar a little to get some cultural use out of it) and I start an Axeman, who finishes in one turn thanks to a timely chop.

The reason I say timely is that there has been a Barb warrior sneaking toward my capitol (in between my other two cities) and I want to head the chappy off. He crosses over the river and prepares to gain some experience! I haven’t bothered to upgrade him as he’ll win so easily (and I want to keep the unit flexible). Ghandi asks me to cancel my deals with the French – I comply as he’s close, I have a small army and the French are a long way away. I start a worker on a road to the South for another settler and my Axe finishes in Hogton.

http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/8018/22cheekybarb6jy.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

As you can see, the Axe had no problems chomping on the poor warrior. He then marched down South to fortify on my new settlement. Another Axe builds in Hogton and he defends the city. I start work on a settler there – after that I’ll have a pop at the Oracle. Generally you’d have expected it to have been built by now, which suggests to me that no one is interested in doing so at the moment. A couple of chops and it should be mine! On turn 77 I trade Sailing for Writing with Mansa – there are no other trades on the table and I might as well, despite not having any ports! I continue chopping everything in site.

http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/7664/23riverbonus7cm.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turns 78-82: At the start of the turn a barbarian warrior attacks Glutton over the river. I’m only defending with a warrior so I’ll be getting some defence in there before too long, I’m feeling more comfortable now though as I’ve got a few decent troops and good relations with my neighbours. Thank God you can chop armies in this game. I highly doubt that there will be a sneak attack any time soon, but I am still gambling with poor defence still and I’ll need to fix that… Mathematics completes and I head off to Currency. Ordinarily I’d have gone for Calendar with so many related resources, but I want the trade bonus from Currency, the help of markets to get my cities growing larger and I want some more culture from Stonehenge.

On turn 79 my third settler finishes and I start to march him down to my site in the South. The site has moved from the dotmap because I lost my production site up North to Fred – all hail my new production site, two floodplains, a cow and plenty of hills more than make up for the corn (which would have help the city become another commerce specialist). I start the Oracle in Hogton – it’s still worth a shot; some more chopping I think.

Hatty asks for Alphabet and I refuse – I’ve still got the monopoly on that and I want to use it to get Iron Working and another tech at least. Border Town finishes up a Barracks and start on a Granary (I had meant to get this going earlier, but I wanted another Barracks in case I needed to turn this cities two forests into troops). Hogton uses a chop to build a temple in two turns and then gets back to the Oracle and chopping. Here’s the city as it stands on turn 82 (875 BC):
http://img270.imageshack.us/img270/3606/24hogton875bc7mw.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I found Hammertime in 875 BC and start it on a Granary. Bordertown gets a chop to help the delayed Granary and I start to put in cottages (also a touch late, but you can’t do everything!)

Turns 83-85: My temple finishes up and I switch back to the Oracle. I’m tempted to churn out some more troops and hit the Barbs, but I’ve put some effort into this wonder and it will net me Theocracy (Civil Service is the other logical choice, but the AI will go for that and it’s better to get unique techs that you can trade for several old ones). In between turns a Barbarian attacks my shiny new city:
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/2066/25hammertonhammer1dr.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/8553/26glutton775bc2bc.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Glutton is desperately growing – I’m improving the land around it by farming and putting in cottages (although you can’t see them yet). I’ll need to whip out some improvements and chop the surrounding forest into something useful.

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/777/27bordertown775bc4bh.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Border Town is similarly underdeveloped. This is most because I’ve been saving those two forests in case I was attacked and I delayed the Granary (early granaries are a must usually). I’ll chop those forests now that I’m in a better military position and churn out some troops soon. Once I get Calendar and Iron Working this city will really change.

Turns 86-90: I trade Maths for Monotheism with Mansa. I’ve been wanting to do this for some time, but I didn’t want to have to trade away Alphabet for Monotheism however much I wanted to switch civics. I immediately change to Organized religion (+25% shields for civic improvements in towns with the national religion). Once I start popping out some more troops I’ll switch again to get the extra experience. God bless free civic switching.

In between turns I’m forced to club some pigs (I have to upgrade him to melee):
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/5149/28pigclubbing0zq.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

It’s odd that I’m still getting warriors (although there are archers around now). Anyway, I chop my way to finishing the Oracle the next turn and scoop up Theology and Christianity. I start Hogton building a long overdue library (although the Oracle made up for the loss) and use the free missionary in Border Town (the holy city) to infect Hogton with Jesus-love. Two religious wonders should guarantee me some Great Prophets soon and I would dearly love some shrine income. I make a mental note to start kicking out some Hindu Missionaries soon.

I start more cottages over my Empire (still too few!) and whip a granary in Border Town for one pop. It’s usually a bad idea to whip in cities where there isn’t much food, but granaries are the exception (as are lighthouses). More chopping near Glutton – I think that I posted the warrior in that town out in the fog to ward off Barbs from the worker. The next turn I whip a library in Glutton and start building a worker. Thanks to a chop-overflow and plenty of food he completes the next turn.

Turns 91-100: My new worker starts to improve Glutton whilst another chops around. I start an Aquaduct in Glutton, which I intend to whip and chop. I don’t actually need the health, but it will allow me to chop for the Hanging Gardens and the useful +1 pop and +1 health in all cities. I finally get a trade for Iron Working (to Hatty for Maths) and I send some workers up to Border Town to get that up and running. Calendar calls I think. Border Town starts a library (finishing a worker) and I use an Axe to attack another Barb over water and on a hill (I don’t bother to promote him this time). Turn 100, the year 475 BC rolls on in. I seem to be doing OK, but I’ve still got a lot to do if I’m going to win this properly.

Cultural Map:
http://img436.imageshack.us/img436/6204/29culturalmap525bc3js.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/5261/30cheekychop8eu.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

File save at turn 100 is here… (http://www.savefile.com/projects/845138)

You’ll notice in the above picture that are two forest tiles begging to be chopped that have yet to be claimed by any civ. Moreover, I can get to them without having to open any borders. Before starting my first turn of the session I cancel my free Ivory to Hatty (I forgot to mention this in the above section, but I couldn’t trade it and I wanted Hatty on side for some tech trades). I also whipped an Aqueduct in Glutton for three pop. You’ll see a lot of whipping going on in this city in future years – I’ve got very few shields here but loads of food and I’m basically going to let it work it’s cottages and whip it’s citizens into production.

Turns 101-106: Nothing of any real note happens, Currency comes in and I start researching Construction for the tasty catapults. Glutton’s Aqueduct is finished in double-time and it starts on the Hanging Gardens. I’m not that fussed about it per se, the health will be useful as will the +1 pop (if times well with new cities and whipping). The remaining turns are spent chopping wood for the Gardens, building plantations and knocking out a few more troops. I’ll send a couple of Swords down to that barb city shortly – as soon as I get Calendar and can use those fabulous resources there. You’ll also notice that my cheeky chopping excursion appears to be working!
http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/7383/31cheekychoprevisited3dn.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turns 107-111: My first Great Prophet comes in! I use him to create the Hindu hold shrine in Hogton and reap a few coins in return - In some ways I wish I’d created the Christian one as it’s bigger than Hinduism, but I don’t want to change religions and I’m hoping that I’ll get Confucianism or Islam in Hogton (possible but a little unlikely) and thus reap further returns with a later second shrine. In 225 (turn 110) I see a possibility for some tech trading and the opportunity to pull in some cash (which the AI has started to hoard for some reason). I trade Ghandi Theology for Calendar, 70 gold and his converting to Hinduism; Mansa gives me Code of Laws, Horseback Riding and 60 gold for Theology and Alphabet (now old hat); Hatty gets Theology for 230 gold; Fred Alphabet for 180 gold (!); and the French take Monotheism off my hands for 90 gold. Not a bad horde really, although I’d have liked to be able to get Monarchy (which Hatty won’t trade). This flush of cash allows me to put my research up from 70% @ +2 to 100% for a -14 loss (with enough cash not to worry about it for now).
http://img437.imageshack.us/img437/1787/32newcity6ga.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turns 112-114: Construction comes in and I start on Philosophy (possible now I’ve got Code of Laws) in the hope of getting Confucianism. Just to keep you in the loop, Hogton has just finished a Hindu Mandir (10% science boost and allowing me to spread Hinduism to Border Town, which still hasn’t got it), it’s been cycling between some improvements, troops and now it will kick out a few Missionaries; Border Town itself is building various infrastructure, Glutton is slowly building up population for a whipping spree and reaping the shields from legion forests that are falling to it’s SE and Hammerton is finishing up a Granary and Barracks. I switch Glutton to a Courthouse and on the next turn I whip it for three pop (always put in one turn’s worth of shields or you suffer a production bonus) before carrying on with the Hanging Gardens. I carry on building plantations and chopping wood.


Turns 115-116: Ghandi discovers Monarchy so I abuse my good relations with him and ask him to help his old chum out – he caves in! Now I can bring my wine online. I have a four tech lead on everyone at the moment (although I expect this to drop down a little soon). I stick one turn of production into a market in Glutton and whip it next turn before resuming the Gardens. A few Jags head on down toward the Barbarian city to see what’s defending it. The Barbarians are actually getting upperty: There’s an archer wandering over toward my Hamlets near Hogton (which is currently sporting two Axes) and the main chap in the shot who insists on attacking my Axe who’s carefully fortified on a forest hill (loopy odds in my favour):
http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/259/33deathtobarbs3cy.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Fred gets shirty with the French and demands that I stop trading with them – I agree on the grounds that they’re very weak and Fred’s right on my doorstep. I churn out more troops - some Jaguars (Swords) and whip a Courthouse in Hammerton. I’m sitting at -9 gold @ 100% science.

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/9541/34deatharrives4tm.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Turns 117-119: I attack the Barbarian city (defended by a poultry two warriors) without bothering to upgrade my Jags. I take the city without any trouble and net two workers into the bargain. It’s going to sit in revolt for a few turns, but the road I built earlier (and the river connected to it) means that it’s already on my trade network and bringing in some cash.
http://img322.imageshack.us/img322/1328/36onesided9cj.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Hammerton starts an Axe (which will finish up next turn thanks to a chop) to defend the Barbarian city and Glutton sticks one turn of production into a Hindu Mandir. I also have Hinduism spread to Kufah up by Hatty – only good things can come of the fact that Saladin and Hatty are in such close proximity (they’re the two highest other scorers and thus I want them at each other’s throats).
http://img479.imageshack.us/img479/5830/35hindukufah5jl.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

On turn 118, 25BC, Hammerton’s Axe finishes up and I start building a Catapult. Glutton whips out the Mandir and resumes the Gardens. With the death of the baby Jesus in 1AD Napoleon declares war on the Germans! This can only be good news – it’ll sap Fred because although he’s far more advanced than the French he has neither copper nor iron (I checked the trade screen earlier to see what I’d be facing if I took him on). I’ll wade on in there at some point in the near future (perhaps if asked). Tragically Confucianism is founded by Hatty (grrr, I was still six turns away, but she’s had Monarchy for ages) and I immediately switch to Divine Right (for Islam). Hatty getting her own religion is a bad thing – she’s not so keen on me now and I wanted her as a friend whilst I annexed Germany and India… I think I’ll leave Ghandi alone for now and take out Fred first. I also spy a nice new Barb city, right by some more iron. This could be a useful city to take.
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/192/37anotherbarbcity2jm.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

So, a brief 17 turns where I basically built up my infrastructure and teched. I’ll head on over to Music after Islam is founded (I want the Globe and the free Great Artist) and then to Liberalism if it looks like I’ll get there first. I’ll use the free tech to get Replaceable Parts (lumber mills will help me massively) and then head toward Deomcracy for the Statue of Liberty, hopefully crushing Fred somewhere along the way… ;)

Here’s Hogton in 1AD. It’s not as developed as it should be because I’ve been chopping everything in sight! I’m playing with the idea of whipping a little there whilst the new improvements are put in, but we’ll see.
http://img280.imageshack.us/img280/5533/38hogton1ad5rc.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


File save at turn 117 is here. :) (http://www.savefile.com/projects/845138)

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/2497/39foreignadvisor1ad1xu.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
So, 1AD and how am I stacking up? My score is dropping relative to Hatty (mostly as a result of lots of whipping in the last turn) but I expect to fix that soon and I’m not worried. There are three main diplomatic blocks – Saladin, Napoleon and everyone else! Everyone is either angry or furious with the two. I’m on reasonable terms with everyone else. I’d like to be on better terms with Hatty, but she doesn’t like my religion and as I’m starting to spread it nicely I don’t see why I should switch to appease her. I bribed Ghandi over to Hinduism recently and I hope to keep him that way. I’m less bothered about Fred as he will fall to my mighty armies before too very long. I have a tech lead of between 2-8 techs, with an average of 4. Hatty has literature and Philosophy and is refusing to give them up (I expect she’s building the Great library and perhaps Angkor Wat (which I’d like). The Great Library would have been good, but I can’t get everything!

Turns 119-126: My new ex-barbarian city of Hun starts to build a library. I’d usually start with a granary to speed early growth, but I want to get the culture started there so that I can bring the gold and incense in and work toward those horseys. Besides, wood makes great paper, choppy-chop. On turn 121 Ghandi asks for Currency in exchange for Literature, I refuse that but negotiate the same deal for the more dated Code of Laws. I also see an exchange of pigs for silk – where there’s muck there’s brass (would work better if I’d traded for copper!). This reveals that Music has been taken, so I’ll skip straight to Liberalism. Tragically he then switches to Christianity. Oh well, I’ve got several missionaries heading toward his cities, perhaps I’ll be able to persuade him back into the flock. Glutton quickly whips out a temple. We’re now looking at 42 turns of -1 unhappiness due to whipping in Glutton, but it won’t matter – the temple renders that irrelevant, giving me +1 happy and culture and if I get the Minaret, +1 commerce. Moreover I’ll build the Globe Theatre in this City (along with the National Epic) so that I can crank out the specialists later. There’s still a bit of wood around to help with those Gardens; I’m leaving the two at the top in case they grow onto the Tundra, the warrior is going back to my lands to upgrade then will return to protect the worker and another who’s gone to help with the wood:
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/5190/40forestchop7gc.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Little happens in my remaining turns. I start building the Parthenon in Hammertime because I’m not yet ready to go to a full on military build and I’ve got some more wood down there to burn (note that I’ll not be taking out any forests from within this city’s fat cross because I’m beelining for Replaceable Parts for Democracy and they’ll be better with Lumbermills on them). On turn 124 Hatty gets Ivory for 3/turn because I want her happier with me (she’s currently cautious due to her religion and I’ll get the fair trade relation bonus and possibly the resource bonus this way. I can’t remember if the resource bonus only applies when you give them something for free, or if it refers to a critical resource like copper). Saladin asks me to cancel my deals with Hatty, but as I’m 7 techs ahead of him and he hates everyone I tell him politely, but firmly, to go away. I do get attacked by some Barbs near their city, a quick victory! I won’t attack it until it reaches size two because otherwise I’ll be destroyed and it might be a decent site.
http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/6353/41ironbarb9ss.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turns 127-131: I found Aporto on Ghandi’s borders. Now I make a mistake here by not thinking about things properly – but I’ll leave that until I actually noticed it. The city should pay for itself almost immediately with those fabulous Dye resources, so creating it won’t damage my economy (which is still at 100% but I’m going to have to sell off some old techs soon).
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/1046/42aporto8hz.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Border Town whips a Courthouse and then gets back to the Hanging Gardens. On turn 130 I trade Currency to Mansa for 230 gold (it’s no longer unique and I need the gold) and give Fred horseback riding for 70 gold. I’ve no idea if he’s got horses, but I’ve got elephants and I plan to bring a couple along on my excursions into his lands… Hammertime starts a worker quickly because I still haven’t mined it’s two hills and I don’t care if I miss the Pathenon – I’ll happily settle for some cash instead (I’m at -22/100% with a 532 reserve post tech-selling) when someone else gets it because Chemistry isn’t that far off. Border Town’s borders expanded sometime during this turn, making my error with Aporto all the more irritating but allowing me to grab that other sugar and chop that forest on the hill. This city is really beginning to come into it’s own now:
http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/3518/43bortertowncomesgood7on.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turns 132-137: At the start of the turn I find that Glutton is now able to whip the Hanging Gardens at a cost of 5 pop for 18 turns! I’ll mean that I lose workers on two grassland and the upper wine (both for one turn, but I’ll grow next turn). I’m working the cottages above the other tiles because I want them to grow. I may later turn them into farms, but not yet. The hill and one of the grassland tiles are currently being worker on, I’m hoping that the Tundra will grow a forest. I’m also kicking myself that I didn’t put the city one square to the NE because I’d have likely that stone. :(
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/3715/44gluttonwhip4zr.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The Gardens are built in 350 AD (turn 133) and I start work on the National Epic (+100% Great Person Points/GPPs). I’ll build the Globe there when I can as the Epic will still benefit from the woods I’m chopping to the South.
http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/2738/45hanginggardens0ha.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

On turn 135 I discover Divine Right and Islam is founded in Aporto. The missionary chappy heads on down to Hammertime, which could do with some more happy soon. I start heading toward Liberalism by finishing off Philosophy (3) which I abandonded earlier.

Turns 136-137: I notice two things on this turn, the barb city has finally grown to size two - the shot is interesting because you can see that the city has not only Iron, but fur and fish – It’s going to be a good city! http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/5348/46furrybarb9wo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The second thing I note is that there appears to be a couple of units trotting through my lands. Now I’ve no idea why they’re heading down, but the only site I see that’s worthwhile is near the wheat to the East of Hun. Accordingly I switch Hun from it’s library and over to a settler, who I’ll whip and send off to found the city first. I hope that these invaders aren’t going to found a city on my horses – they’re still not part of my land, but it’s only that square that isn’t. On the next turn I whip that settler for three pop (a bit of a shame, but that city does have two irrigated floodplains) and start an Axe in Hammerton to defend it. Perhaps I should have stuck with the Parthenon, but as I said, it doesn’t really matter that much. Some barbs also have the cheek to attack my iron deposits instead of an Axe fortified in a forest, so he trots out and takes him on:
http://img490.imageshack.us/img490/4900/47leavemyiron2lo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turns 138-139: Fred wants me to join in his little war with France – dear God his lack of Iron and Copper must have hurt him. I refuse, because I intend to join in on the French side! I discover philosophy and head for paper. Napoleon and Fred appear to have Metal Working and I want forges, but they’ll have to wait for now. Hatty is willing to trade Music, but I don’t need it and I don’t have anything I want to give her. I give Ghandi Dyes for 3 gold/turn – I was actually looking to see if I could bring him back over to Hinduism, but I find that he’s changed anyway! When did that happen?!? I trade Saladin wine for 3 gold/turn. These are crap deals, but I’m running a sinking economy still and I want to keep up the 100% research if I can. Once I grab economics post liberalism I’ll be OK and I plan to have expanded into Fred’s lands by then, so I’ll have some turns of less than 100% soon I expect.

My other Jag has managed to wander over to the size two barb city. Note that there are three furs, a fish and an iron in this icy city. The fish makes it viable, indeed good. Because it’s defended by archers on a hill the odds are poor, so I promote my Jags to ‘cover’ and ‘city attack I’ alongside their automatic ‘combat I’ and shift the odds in my favour:
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/3446/48phoenician3kg.jpg (http://imageshack.us)http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/8201/49phoenicianfalls7aa.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/2841/50prettygood5iv.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I start the new city on a work boat. I’ll actually need to get some culture out first, but I’ll wait for a religion to spread here for that and explore with the boat until then. On turn 139 Crappton is also founded. It will work as a city because of the wheat (which will bring in +2 health to all of my cities with Granaries aswell!) and deer. It start on a library for culture to bring those two resources in – as I said earlier, forests make great paper! If I had a missionary around I’d have converted the city and built a temple instead, but I haven’t got one ready (Hindusim will probably spread quickly to the city anyway).
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/346/51crappton6rr.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turns 140-144: Things start to go a little pear-shaped. Mansa demands Divine Right (refused) and the following turn the Parthenon is built. I could have finished his a while ago and whilst the money is useful, I would have liked another great prophet before I start pumping some Great Scientists in Glutton (the plan). The Great Library is also completed – I’d have liked it, but I didn’t have a chance to build it – those free scientists would have been great in Glutton. Oh well. Paper comes in and I start on Education. I whip the National Epic in Glutton (40 turns!) and then spot a tragedy: Aporto is in major cultural trouble! It’s at 9% culture and falling and there’s no way to get any culture in there at short notice. I fire up a Hindu missionary in Hogton in the hope of salvage the city. Now, I didn’t spot that this city was in such trouble and it’s hardly that obvious, but it is a minor annoyance. I thought at it would be fine - it was an after thought city, ticking away using those two Dye squares and costing me nothing from the start and, as I developed the terrain I had hoped it would blossom into something quite reasonable. Now I’m going to lose it and the two Dyes with it:
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/9286/52aportoinastorm6jn.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Here are the revised demographics: you can see that I’m in great shape and it’ll only get better if I can keep Aporto (tragically unlikely) and subsume Fred. Hopefully I’ll reach economics before too long because I’ll be hurting economically by then.
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/2892/53stats600ad6yy.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

File save at turn 144 is here. :) (http://www.savefile.com/projects/845138)

The save Aporto appeal begins! My main aims for this turn are to prepare for an expansion and to pray that my stupid mistake with Aporto can be corrected. I switch to F4 and see that I can now obtain three techs for Divine Right, a tech which will soon go obsolete (and which is a dead tech unless you get it first). I trade Music and a map with Hatty and Feudalism and Drama with Ghandi (who is pleased with me – probably because he’s going to take my city from me!). Behold my Empire:
http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/5306/54theworld600ad3iv.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turns 145-149: I currently have 11 Axes, 2 Jags and 4 Cats. I’ll need far more Jags to make any attack work and maybe a couple of elephants for anti-horse work (not that I’m expecting any). The reason I’ll be taking Jags is that I expect Fred to have mostly archers (hopefully not longbows, but this is more than likely) and Axes are anti-melee, not anti-archer. I expect most of my troops to become combat-I/Cover/CityRaider-I when I go to war. I switch civics to a military build: Vassalage and Theocracy for an extra +4 experience (the above combination right out of the gate) and Serfdom, because I can. I’ve gone from -25/turn (None, None, High) to -31/turn (High, Low, Med). It’s always worth looking at the increased civic costs – don’t switch just because it’s a better civic! To warm up my military muscles I take on a barb Axe, promoting to melee (but saving one promotion):
http://img489.imageshack.us/img489/1064/55ironattack20vz.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

My Hindu missionary reaches Aporto in 640 AD, I start to crank out some Jags and switch to 90% science (@ -15/turn). As Aporto converts to Hinduism in 660 AD (turn 147) it’s at 4% Hogist. Bad, bad news. I’m going to lose my two fabulous Dyes and the Islamic holy city – Ghandi may then switch to Islam, which would be even worse. Thankfully the conversion is successful (the more religions the less chance of success), but I move my Axe out of the city in case it turns again. If it revolts again, the strong likelihood is that I’ll lose it – seat of your pants stuff! One of those settlers Hatty has sent down South appears to be on a frolic:
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/5945/56icycity5ob.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turns 150-153: Aporto slowly recovers – it’s at 12% me now! Perhaps it’s not totally lost; the Indian city must be kicking out +1/turn culture so I hope it stays that way! I appear to have a rival in the ice down South and more barb trouble up by Crappton:
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/9387/57barbsandhatty5qh.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Border Town is also coming under some cultural pressure – see that above world map – so I start it on a temple. At some point in the future I’ll stick in some more culture up there and then have it produce pure missionaries for a while.
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/9570/58bordertown720ad5ml.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I think I changed the science rate to 70% this turn, bringing me to more-or-less break-even costs. I want the cash in case I have the opportunity to get Machinery after Iron Working and can upgrade to some Macemen for Freddy. He likes them… Hatty wants to trade for paper, but I don’t want anyone to have it yet. Aporto edges up to 14% and I put the Axe back in – a massive gamble still, but I don’t want to tempt Ghandi to take the city (he may be my friend but he’s not ‘friendly’ and may still stab me in the back).

On turn 153 Mansa comes looking to trade maps. I refuse that (mine’s worth more I think and I don’t need a map anyway). I negotiate Metal Working, 20 gold and his map for Divine Right. I consider forcing him into a more expensive civic as I can do so without it costing me any more – I won’t at the moment but it’s worth considering to keep the AI back by bankrupting them with an expensive civic they’re not going to benefit from. I trade Saladin Calendar for 100 gold. He’s big and powerful but technologically backward. Fred starts to look shifty as my map belies my future intentions (thanks Mansa for a corrupt map!):
http://img499.imageshack.us/img499/9315/59corruptmap7ca.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turns 154-160: I start a spree of forges: Hogton, Border Town and Glutton all start thinking production (Hammertime will get one once Angkor is up and running, but I want that wonder for Glutton’s sake). My work boat finishes up and I start a temple. I should have done this the other way around because I can’t explore with the fishing boat – it’s all ice down South! Still, another few turns and he can start fishing and this city might actually start to work - especially with a lighthouse and harbour! I trade Philosophy and 190 gold for Civil Service with Ghandi. It’s expensive despite his being on good terms (not least because Aporto is still tragic at 17%!) but the ability to spread irrigation will help Crappton’s wheat and Hogton’s rice, both of which are farmed with no irrigation (i.e. it’ll add another food!). On turn 155 I’m told that I’m fat:
http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/5237/60largest4os.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Fred also comes knocking asking for incense for spices. I refuse, demanding 2 gold/turn and spices for free! Sucker! Tragically I note that he has now got longbows – I’d hoped that he’d be stuck with archers when I attacked. He must only just have got them. In 860 AD the Renaissance begins:
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/9503/61renaissance4fb.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Very little then happens, luckily for Aporto which slowly grows out of danger! On turn 159 the little fighter becomes even more important as it pops silver in it’s mine. However, at 50% Hogian and with a Temple due shortly it may just survive now. Turn 160 rolls on in and I move my troops toward the German border, poised for war!
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/9035/62happyport3pi.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


File save at turn 160 is here. (http://www.savefile.com/projects/845138)

http://img328.imageshack.us/img328/3305/63demographics920ad1wc.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turns 161-164: Ghandi comes offering Machinery for Paper and 340 gold. I’m first in almost every demographic but there are techs out there that I don’t yet have: Mansa and Hatty both have Civil Service and Machinery and Fred has Machinery. I can only trade Paper at the moment although I’ve got Education and Liberalism is due in six turns. I’m sitting at -17@80% with a 415 reserve. Have such a lead toward Liberalism means that I’m always going to make it and can throttle back and upgrade some troops when Macemen appear. WAR IS DECLARED! (About bloody time!)

I’d promoted most of my troops to cover so that I’m OK if Fred attacks inbetween turns. I’ve got a nice mix of Jags, Cats and Axes both up by Munich and heading toward Berlin.
http://img459.imageshack.us/img459/5232/64munich5dr.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I’m not attacked in between turns although I soil myself when I see an ‘enemies spotted near Glutton’ warning! Glutton is almost undefended! Fortunately it’s just a Longbowman (who I’d spotted and thought would attack my stack in the wood near Berlin) and an Axe/Settler. The latter is wouldn’t be a risk even if it passed a city defended with one Warrior – the AI is coded not to attack.
http://img495.imageshack.us/img495/6493/65enemywarning7dr.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I start two forges because I can see that I should have enough troops to take Munch and Berlin, but not enough to quickly take the other two main cities. Cappton finishes it’s library and starts a granary, workers move in to sort out the wheat and deer (and then they’ll hit those last few forests down South). The bombardment of Berlin begins! Here are the opposing forces with Berlin down to 33%:
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/9527/66berlin6rv.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

On turn 164 I manage to survive without being attacked again. I bombard Berlin down to 6% - next turn I’ll make my push! Munich still needs a bit of attention: it’s at 28% still and although there are only two defenders and five attackers the odds are against me and I don’t want to lose any units so that I can consider pushing on into the other two main cities. I pull up some trades, Hatty gets Paper for Compass (useless to me, but I’ll go get the +1 water bonus), her map and 10 gold; Ghandi gives up machinery for Paper, my map and 320 gold. Now here’s an interesting thing, I checked out the trades first to see what was the best option and Ghandi offered the same for 320 gold. I guess that tech costs go up the further ahead you are – worth remembering because I’m sure if I’m traded with Ghandi first I’d have saved 50 gold. It’s always worth shopping around and seeing what you get, even looking to out the AI in bad civics if there’s a cost defecit, but I hadn’t realised that the order made a difference (except where you want to trade one tech to four people with different techs). Glutton builds a university, as do a couple of other cities (I think) in the hope of churning out the tech more quickly and in Glutton’s case, allowing me to create more Great Scientists later.

Turn 165 – War!: The Battle for Berlin begins: My Cats are all at 4/2 experience, which is a shame – if they’d have been 8/2 like most of my offensive units I’d have been able to promote them to bombardment. I don’t usually like suiciding Cats unless there are a lot of units or I’m against it. In this case I think it’s worth it because Longbows are a tech ahead of my attacking units. The first cat bombards the city to 0%, the second goes in to it’s doom:
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/449/67suicidecat6mz.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

And Escapes! Thanks for the promotion sucker! The third Cat is less fortunate. Now for the assault. I pick the Jag with the least experience because most of my attacking units are at 8 or more experience and there’s no point in wasting a unit with the same number of promotions and more experience if he can survive and possibly promote. Jag 1 promotes to Cover/City Raider I/(Combat I) and attacks:
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/1070/68jags123on.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

As predicted he dies but manages to knock the damaged Longbow down to 1.6 health. Jag 2 promotes and wades into the fray with a 50% chance. His death is not in vain, knocking the second defender down to 4.4 health. In go the Axes! Axe 1 promotes and takes on a Longbow with 54% odds:
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/4549/69axelongbow9pn.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Success! He’s left with 1.9/5 health but jumps from 8 to 11xp. Axe 2, an anti-melee specialist charges over the fallen bodies of the enemy and hacks down another longbow, gaining experience (9 to 11xp) and feeling moderately healthy with 2.6/5 left. Jaguar 3 storms in behind and stomps all over a defending spear:
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/3375/70jagspear4hp.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Lastly, my elephant charges the gates of the city with fantastic odds (8.8vs3 – 99.2% odds) to take the Berlin and some extra experience. He’ll be a medic unit because I want to heal quickly and I find that cavalry or specialist defenders make the best medics. Anyway, Berlin is mine!

The Cat outside Munich bombards the city to 22%. It’s a huge risk, but spurned on by the cheers emanating from the ashes of Berlin my first Axe charges a Longbow against the odds. He has the least xp of the attackers and so goes first if he’s likely to die. Which he does, unsurprisingly. Tragically his death is a pointless waste as he only takes the defender down to 5.0/6.
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/6194/71munichattack1vo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Undeterred (or blind) my 1st Jag promotes and heads on in, also against long odds:
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/2673/72longodds0gl.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Get in! He actually gets four xp for this victory, going to 12xp. My 2nd Jag is quick on his heals and dives in through an obvious gap and wipes out a Longbow before he realises the danger. Now I’m not sure what’s going on with the odds in the above picture – the defender with more health and a 5% fortify bonus has worse odds than the more damaged unit – but I don’t care: Munich is mine! My proper production base is finally mine! I don’t even need the last Jag and he saunters in a little abashed for his cowardly behaviour, collecting the 147 gold his friend plundered. I now have four holy cities.

I consider trading Civil Service for Education, but I hold off for the moment because I want more than the one tech for it. I switch Civics from Vassalage to Barbarianism (High to Low) and Theocracy to Organised Religion (Medium to High) and remain at -25 @ 80% science (with a 325 reserve). Hogton has a late run at Notre Dame and reconfigures for GPPs. Now I don’t really intend Hogton to be a GPP specialist city, but it’s currently sitting at 182/200 @ 6GPP/turn. Glutton on the other hand is racing ahead at 32GPP/turn. Every GP produced raises the number of point you require: 100-200-300 etc., and if I start Glutton as a GPP specialist now, Hogton may never catch up and will waste all of those points. Glutton reorganizes for production whilst it marks time on that front.

Turns 166-167: In between turns a German Horse Archer tries to retake Berlin, attacking the guarding elephant. Unfortunately for him, elephants are anti-cavalry units and he dies. Those units that can promote after the last turn do so. Generally I try to leave units unpromoted unless there’s a good reason to do so – this applies even to units approaching enemy cities for an attack even if you know that they’re going to be City Raiders. Promoting heals a unit by half the balance of health points remaining, so if your City Raider III wanders up to a city and is attacked en route he won’t receive any bonus (not having been attacked by a city!) and will arrive near death. If you left him unpromoted you could have healed: 1.0/4 > 2.5/4 > 3.25/4. Here I want my units to be healthy for a counter-attack (unexpected) or to push on if I can.

On turn 167 Liberalism comes in. I take Printing Press as my free tech – not just because it’s the most expensive, but because it will give me +1 gold in my now several towns. It also helps toward Democracy, which is where I want to head. I made sure that I had Machinery/(Paper) before Liberalism came in so that I could make this jump. Hammertime starts Angkor Wat – I don’t think I’ve got the units to take Freds last two cities yet. Ghandi will now trade me Civil Service and Optics; Hatty won’t trade Optics but will trade Civil Service and Mansa has Civil Service (and doesn’t have paper yet, the other two have).

I trade a map, 10 gold and Civil Service for Education with Hatty, I also spot in F4 that she’s got 1 gold/turn spare, so stop ivory for 2 gold/turn and renegotiate it for 3/turn, adding Incense for Sheep into the bargain. Ghandi gets Education in return for Optics, 10 gold and his map, I then trade him Sugar for 5/turn. I also renegotiate Saladin’s wine from 3 to 4/turn. I switch science to 10% (not 0% or my libraries are useless) and upgrade some troops to Macemen with the +130/turn.

Turns 168-174: A chariot attacks Munich and dies, Hatty demands Printing Press, but it’s very expensive so she goes away empty handed. A Great Prophet is born in Hogton and wanders off to found the Christian Shrine. Hogton reconfigures for Hammers to try and get Notre Dame and Glutton goes all out GPP. Hammertime, oddly finishes Angkor Wat (great for Glutton) and will finish it’s forge in 3 turns. It says it’s got overflow shields from the previous build. Now, for some reason the Parthanon didn’t disappear when it was built, so I suspect that’s the culprit. Perhaps you need to be working on it when it’s been finished for it to turn into cash? Phoenicia starts a theatre for its culture war and I note that it’s not under Hinduism.
http://img314.imageshack.us/img314/4919/73hogton1040ad1bl.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

On turn 169 my Maceman attacks a Longbow in a forest. He had good odds, so I left him Combat-I/Cover and didn’t promote him again twice! I lose despite the odds and feel stupid for not upgrading (I wanted him as a city Raider II). I march Gluttons only defender over to finish the job:
http://img480.imageshack.us/img480/82/74macemanmerorial6xv.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The Church of the Nativity finishes and I’m at -6 @ 80% science. The loss of the maceman irritates me enough to declare a ceasefire. This stops the beginnings of war weariness which had rendered Border Town’s production useless. Hogton goes into ‘we love the Despot’ mode (no civic upkeep for one turn – random chance for cities above 7 pop with no health or unhappiness issues). On turn 172 I get a Great Person in Glutton! Woot! What? Another ****ing Great Prophet? That’s against the odds! I save him for a golden age later. Hammertime starts the Spiral Minaret on turn 174, and I expect I’ll get it, which will be useful when I increase my Empire (one gold for each Hindu building isn’t better than religious income because it doesn’t all come into one place, but it’ll help a lot). The following turn Mansa asks me to trade Engineering and 10 gold for Guilds (which I’m researching on my way to Economics and the free Great Merchant before I go to Democracy). I decline until I can see what’s on offer.

http://img494.imageshack.us/img494/962/75globe1140ad0zg.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Turns 177-181: Mansa completes Notra Dame – damn! I was 2 turns away (although the 592 gold in lieu will help me keep my research up). The following turn he has the cheek to ask me to stop trading with Arabia. I may hate Saladin, but he’s paying for my wine and Mansa has just nicked my wonder. Bugger off! I increase my cash by trading Guilds to Ghandi for Engineering and 240 gold (far better than Mansa’s offer). Hatty picks up the old-hat Liberalism for 440 gold and her map. I start defecit research at -66@100% with a whopping 1375 reserve and a free Great Merchant soon to follow. I also alter my civics from Barbarism to free speech (+2 gold for towns, +100% culture) and Decentralization for Mercantilism (internal trade routes, but a free specialist per city). I consider Free religion for the lower cost and research bonus, but don’t because I want some infrastructure (I’ve started to stick up Unis in several cities). -66 becomes -68, expensive, but I’ve got loads of cash! I’m winning the cultural battle at Phoenicia and notice another fur is mine. I feel so good that I demand 10 gold from Fred for his recent cheek in not rolling over. I’ll finish him off soon. Very little then happens for a few turns, Berlin and Munich are building theatres to expand their spheres of influence and Aporto is out of danger, at 77% Hogian with a recently completed theatre, +100% culture from the civic and a the potential of a lighthouse to look forward to. I renegotiate Saladins wine from 4 to 5/turn, Sugar to Hatty for 5 becomes Spices for 6 (I have more spices than sugar) and Napoleon gets Fur for 3/turn.

Glutton is really starting to churn out the GPP points and I’m hoping for some nice research academies soon.
http://img497.imageshack.us/img497/8058/76gluttongpp1170ad6em.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img497.imageshack.us/img497/4112/77demographics1170ad7zs.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/1907/78cities1170ad0by.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turn 181 download here :) (http://www.savefile.com/projects.php?pid=845138)

I’d like to wipe out the Germans before too very long, before setting my sights on other prey. With economics due in two turns and the chance for a Golden Age I should be able to churn out some production!

Turns 181-185: Nothing really happens for two turns, then Economics comes in. I start researching Nationalism so that I can head on over to Democracy later, I’d also like to get the Taj Mahal as soon as I can. At the same time I get a Great Engineer in Glutton and the free Great Merchant in Hogton. The last thing I want is a Golden Age and a Great Prophet, so I send the Great Engineer over to Berlin. I change to Free Market and go from -67 to -66 (which should improve as my Empire grows). The Spiral Minaret also completes and gets me down to -56.

On turn 184 I drop my research rate to 80% (+16) so that I can upgrade my troops with my spare cash. I start to build troops in every city that can. Why didn’t I switch to Vassalage and Theocracy? Well I’m Spiritual, so I’ll use it! Glutton stops building at Cat (1) and starts a knight. The Great Engineer also reaches Berlin and helps me shave my distance maintenance down:

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/3673/79berlinspeed0lc.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turns 186-194: Aporto, the little town that could is actually winning squares from India now! It’s a great little city and I’m glad that I managed to keep it, or I’d have had to seek revenge against India... Glutton, puts plan Spiritual into effect again: I’ll build units until they’re one turn away from completion and then switch to another unit. When I’ve got enough I’ll switch into military civics, let them build out and then switch back. Glutton stalls it’s Cat (1) with a Crossbow. The following turn Nationalism comes in and I start work on military tradition. I need to stall my knight builds until that and Gunpowder finish and then I’ll let them build out as Cavalry using the overflow from previous builds. Border Town, Hogton, Hammertime and Glutton all start building Pikes to stall; On turn 192 Hammertime is forced to stall with an elephant (I’ll pay for an upgrade later) and Hogtime with a Hindu missionary.

In 1200 AD (turn 193) Hatty declares war on Napoleon. I don’t really like that as she’s a lot more advanced and I don’t want her to get any more land, still can’t be helped. Border Town, Hammertime and Glutton continue to switch builds to stall, this time to Pikes. Crappton and Hammertime follow in their heels the next turn. I start building a few missionaries in with the troops to help spread Hinduism whilst I’ve got the chance. I also manage to circumnavigate the globe with my entire navy:

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/4236/80thelittleboatthatcould9nh.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I don’t expect that I’ll be using the +1 water movement, but I thought that I might as well do it! The following turn the French ask me to break off relations with Hatty, I refuse. Military Tradition comes in and I turn to Gunpowder, which will finish in three turns (I could trade if needs be). Crappton stalls with a Cat and Hogton is forced to stall with a Christian missionary. I actually have the Christian shrine up and running, so I’ll start to spread this a bit more. My stalling cities have up to five units ready to pop out in one turn each now! The time is close at hand…

Turns 195-200: Hatty spreads her religion to Border Town and then immediately demands that I convert to Taoism! I tell her where she can put her ying! I do take the opportunity of contact to renegotiate my spice trade from 6 to 7/turn and then trade Mansa spices for 3/turn – every little helps! Hammertime gets the Jesus lovin’ and uses it to stall with a Christian missionary. The French renew their demand that I ignore Hatty (they’re insistent!) and I refuse again – I’m now at -4 relations with them. Religion spread throughout my empire.

In 1330, turn 197 Gunpowder comes in and I research Replaceable Parts (I have a lot of forest around still. I switch to Vassalage and Theocracy (leaving me +10 @ 80%) and upgrade my lone elephant to a Cavalry unit. The following turn Versailles finishes and I launch a Golden Age (I deliberately waited until I got Cavalry). Here’s my city output during the Golden Age:
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/313/81goldenage13508av.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

On turn 199 a Great Scientist is produced and 91 Beakers becomes 119 with an Academy. Replaceable Parts is due in three turns so I start to move my workers away from the German front and back to the forests of the old country. I’ve now got 4 Cavalry, 9 Macemen, 5 Pikes, 5 Cats and 2 Crossbows. The troops pour forth…


Turn 200 download here :) (http://www.savefile.com/projects.php?pid=845138)

Turns 201-204: War! My troops pour toward Fred’s lands, a few late built Cavs will head on down toward the three little German cities in the South. The following turn Replaceable Parts arrives and my army of workers starts putting up lumber mills everywhere. I start research toward constitution, aiming for Democracy. Normally I’d have skipped Replaceable parts until after Democracy, but I’ve got so many forests that it makes sense to get a start on the lumber mills now. The bombardment of Cologne begins, here’s what I’m facing:
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/1650/83cologne4nj.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I bombard Cologne down to 28%. Hamburg received a major bombardment from all three Cats (to36%), The following turn I bombard Hamburg down to 12% and Cologne down to 16%:
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/1482/84hamburg8al.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Before 205 an Elephant and a Horsearcher sally forth from Cologne and attack my stack. Both units have a go at the one defending Cavalry. The lose. I warm up for the assault by taking out a counter-attacking elephant that has it's eyes on my pigs:
http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/4134/85cavtakesapasting8py.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

This is great play from the AI – they don’t get a defensive bonus and so there’s no benefit in remaining in the city. They both lose and I prep for the assault.

Turn 205: I’m informed that I’m the most advanced nation on Earth. In celebration I switch back to Free Speech and this time, to Free Religion (for the science boost). The Demographics suggest that also have the largest military with 11 Cavalry, 3 Crossbows, 2 Axes, 9 Macemen, 6 Pike and 5 Cats. Hambury’s defences are knocked down to 4% and my stack of troops cross the river (to avoid the 25% defence bonus, two Cavalry stay to guard the Cats). Cologne’s defences are down to 4%.

Turn 206: Constitution comes in and I start research into Democracy. As my Golden Age ends the first wave of troops goes in to Cologne:
http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/3737/86firstintocologne0js.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

With 95% odds with my first attacker the battle goes quickly and retains 6.8 of 8 health points. The remaining units, spurred on by the easy victory, charge into the breach to collect their additional experience. Another Mace attacks a Longbow with 95% odds and kills him unharmed, a Crossbow attacks a chariot and retains 4.1/6 health. A Mace sidesteps a clumsy thrust from a Spear and beats him down without health loss – unsurprising with 99.9% odds. Lastly a Cavalry picks off a Catapult, which puts up a surprisingly determined defence, knock the rider down to 13.2/15. The city falls with no losses:
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/9008/87fallofcologne0em.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Hamburg
Encouraged, I have a Maceman charge the chief defender of Hamburg. A mistake – with odds of 66% I should have let my Cavalry take out this City-II defender and let my other units get their experience elsewhere. He loses, but manages to hurt the defender:
http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/348/88macemash6zg.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

My second Combat-I/Cover/City-Raider-II Maceman considers the 73.2% odds more carefully and lets the new tech take the honour: http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/5305/89betterodds7wu.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

He gains a pleasant 2 xp and will promote next turn if he wants. Another Cavalry (the ex-elephant Combat-I/Medic-II) charges the Mace and goes to 12/17xp with 12.5/15 health. The cowardly Mace then takes his shot at the damaged Longbow and takes him out, leaving him 4.4/8 with 12/17xp and taking the city!
http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/82/90bahhamburg7dd.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I clear up a Longbow guarding Fred’s herd of elephants using another Combat-I/City-Raider-II/Cover Maceman:
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/2780/91elephantlove4ku.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Frankfurt
My Cavalry close on Frankfurt and find it guarded by 2 Longbows and 1 spear. I only have two Cavalry to hand (one with no turns left) so I tackle the first defender. Note that the other Cavalry isn’t bothered about sitting on the hill because he won’t get the bonuses if attacked.
http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/9198/92frankfurt7bd.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turn 207-210: The attack at Frankfurt is pressed home with no losses. The defenders put up a fight and one of my Cavalry is nearly destroyed by a Longbow, dropping to 0.6 health in a freak roll of the dice. The Cavalry that attacked last turn heals a little by promoting into an anti-cavalry Cavalry and takes out the final Spear defender with 87.8% odds. Mansa comes asking to trade Clams for Sugar and why not, health is always useful but I’m pretty resources rich now! Tragically as Frankfurt falls I’m greeted with the message that the Taj Mahal is completed by Hatty. Damn it, the mistake I made was in not pushing for Civil Service before Liberalism came in. If I’d have done that I could have scooped Nationalism instead of Printing Press and made an early start on this useful wonder. This was a stupid mistake and one that I haven’t actually made before, still, you live and learn.

Dortmund
My troops close in on Dortmund and my first Cavalry takes out a Longbow with 95.7% odds, leaving him 10/15 and 10/10xp. His comrade decides to attack over a river instead of waiting until next turn and fails to appreciate the amount this can assist outdated defenders. He loses the battle, knocking the Mace down to 2.7 health (and gaining one xp) and is lucky enough to retreat with 2.3/15 health. Poor luck!

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/862/93dortmund9th.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Essen
Essen falls without any major issues, having been defended by one Longbow (93.8% odds) and one Spear:
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/6765/94essen6ic.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

On turn 208 Ghandi demands that I stop trading with the French and I oblige him, stopping my trade of Furs for 3 gold/turn. I finish off Dortmund but can’t see why the Germans aren’t destroyed:
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/3033/95jobdone3eo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Buying Hatty’s map for 20 gold reveals that the sneaky Germans have founded a city behind the protection of Saladin’s land. Fortunately I’m on better terms with him these days and I open borders and send four Cavalry over to investigate. I’m told that it will take six turns so I declare a cease-fire:
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/6494/96stuttgart5zc.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Stupidly, the six-turns seem to relate to a catapult that has wandered up to Stuttgart and my Cavalry arrive on turn 210, two of them (I must have selected the wrong unit!). I send the Cat back and size up the city. I get decent odds, so my first Cav charges a Maceman only to be driven back, retreating with a mere 0.8% health and leaving the Mace with 1.6/8. The other Cav has more success with 93.7% odds against a Longbow (it’s a Combat-III unit) and wins the battle with 12.3/15 health left. The Germans are soon to be no more. Who’ll be next...?
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/5000/97icycity0ud.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


Turn 210 download here :) (http://www.savefile.com/projects.php?pid=845138)

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/8684/98trouble5fu.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turns 211-215: As you can see, my recent conquest of Germany, although not complete, is suffering from a slight cultural crush. On the downside the cities are starving, have the wrong religion and few squares to work with. On the plus side I’m about to have Democracy and in the age old fashion of the West I’ll be able to buy my way to safety! Go Blair! Go Bush! (Sorry, sarcasm doesn’t work well in writing and I got carried away…)

Things will improve a little when I destroy Germany and that German influence on the City becomes Hogian. Although slightly damaged, the defending Spear is no match for a Combat-III Cavalry unit. His death is no more than it should be! I also notice an intrusive Barbarian appear near Dortmund. That’s not on, so I take an Axe to his head:
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/2539/99barbaxed1vq.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The following turn I finish off the last remaining German, a Maceman, with my brave but slightly injured Cav. I take the city (and my 100th screen shot!), ransacking it for a little gold and capture it’s two workers before finally ending Frederick’s reign of terror:
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/8338/100germanlaststand3bo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

With the hated German nation gone and the many past slights avenged I look to see if I can consolidate my new gains. Cologne stands at 26% Hogian and Hamburg a somewhat dicey 9%. They come out of revolt and I start a theatre in Cologne (which has only Christianity) and a Temple in Hamburg. Remember that with the Spiral Minaret that temple will be giving me 1 gold per turn for the rest of the game! Democracy rolls in the following turn and I switch to Universal Sufferage/Free Speech/Emancipation, with a slight gain at 80% research. I buy the newly started theatre and temple and start a granary and theatre respectively, I’m slowly working my way to safety on the culture front – with new cities it’s often worse than it looks, particularly if you can crush the whole nation (and at this stage of the game there’s no excuse not to).

On turn 214 I trade world maps with Hatty and notice that she has Corporation. I could do with the extra trade route that would give me! That damn golden age she stole from me with the Taj Mahal is really beginning to bite there. Conscious of Hatty’s potential I ante up to put on a show of military force against a new foe – those cheese chomping bastards the French. Conscious that CivIV does not replicate real life and the French are likely to put up a fight I marshal my troops into two main armies with a few reserves still healing from previous battles. One line forms on the cultural borders by Lyons, another by Orleans.
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/5725/101orleansstack1mg.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turn 16: The war horns sound – death to Napoleon! Five Cavs move toward Orleans and a much larger force, comprising Maces, Cats and Cavs spreads out around Lyons. I move one unit in first (rather than the army as a stack) as an advanced scout to check for surprises and I note that there are Cats in both cities. My stacks move in, spread out over the available tiles to avoid the danger posed by the Cats suiciding themselves. Lyons is poorly defended and will fall next turn:
http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/8650/102lyons9hq.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I captured three workers on the way in, which is why there’s a Cav to the North, and the lone Horse to the South is going to take out that Iron so that if the struggle for the Capitol takes time, they’ll be limited to archery units. Orleans is far better protected and without Cats it’s going to be a struggle with so few units despite my technological superiority. My reserve forces head on over to Orleans and will arrive in a few turns.

Turn 217: The Battle of Lyons
The city is immediately bombarded down to 0% defence with my legion Cats. My 1st Cav sizes up a Longbow with 87.1% odds and attacks, losing some health (12.6/15) but going from 9-11xp. A more experienced Cav charges in after him with the same odds and suffers a worse health loss (5.4) and feels somewhat ashamed for not bothering to promote to Combat-III first. I should point out here that I’m leaving some of these units with one promotion left so that they’ll heal a lot quicker – it’s a bit of a risk, but I want to take the city quickly so that I can help out in Orleans, which will be tougher to take. My most experienced Mace charges in with 94.8% odds (high odds, look at who will gain the most useful xp; low odds, risk less experienced unit or send in cannon fodder). Despite his almost certain odds he takes a pasting and narrowly wins the fight against the Longbow (he must have fallen foul of a first strike). Finally, a second Mace who want to promote to 10/10 steps in with 100% odds against a lowly Spear and crushes him (5.6/8) to take the city and 186 gold!
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/109/103battleoflyons1sx.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turns 217-219: The campaign of Orleans
Before the turn began several of the city’s defenders attacked one of my Horseys (which were spread out into three stack against the Cats). He bravely fought off a Crossbow, a Horse Archer, a Longbow and finally succumbed to a Cat (I think), which then retreated inside. This helpfully diminished the city’s garrison, but it was still well defended. My 1st Cav, already promoted to Combat-III in case of counter-attack when I saw the size of the garrison, charges the city walls with 85% odds. He dies but critically injures the defending Longbow (1.9/6). A second C-III Cav has slightly better odds at 87.6% and walks over the defending Longbow with 7.8/15 health left:
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/6904/104battleofoldorleans8uu.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

My anti-cavalry Cavalry then steps in and takes on a Longbow with 85.5% odds, winning the fight, but getting severely injured with a mere 0.6 health left. My last Cav takes out a defending Spear to go (11/10xp) and as the most healthy (12.6), uses his second turn to move over his injured brothers and protect them from the remaining four defenders. I’ve had some very bad luck, but I probably deserve it for taking on a city without taking down it’s defences! I buy a theatre in Hamburg and the granary in Cologne and Dortmund and spread some Hindu loving to those cities.

In between turns a Longbow attacks my stack of Cavalry – I’m glad I was able to defend them because they’re pretty experienced units now, but two are critically injured and wouldn’t stand up to even the paltry [sic!] remaining city garrison. My one good Cav attacks yet another Longbow (both this turn being reinforcements) and wins easily (12.6>11.6). The other (7.8/15) takes a risk and attacks a sword with 45% odds and dies. The remaining two units sit tight and wait while a reinforcement Cav arrives and moves toward the city (with two more due the turn after). In other news, I pillage the Iron near Lyons to prevent too many nasty units and move my damaged units in to heal (ironically one the most damaged is the medic-II). The borders of Frankfurt expand and reveal what I should have noticed – the crabs already have a net on them. I’m not really fussed about the lost turns as it’s a pretty worthless city:
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/7685/105frankfurtfishing3jn.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Before turn 218 my stack is attacked by another Longbow and a Cat – Napoleon must really want this city! My reinforcement Cavalry attacks and wins, leaving four defenders! Boy does Napoleon want to keep this city. The AI in this game is so much better than the previous versions!
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/7373/106fourleft6hc.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I obtain rifling and upgrade all of my six Maces healing in Lyons. I buy a Hindu temple in Cologne and a granary in Hamburg. Those two cities are now more-or-less safe, sitting at 47% and 31% mine respectively (a 7.88% chance of revolt and diminishing).

On turn 219 I upgrade a Cavalry to Blitz, a very useful promotion that allows them to attack on both turns. He takes down a Horse Archer and a Cat. A second Cav upgrades to Blitz, healing from 2.3 to 8.6 in the process. He takes out a Cat and walks into the city for 183 gold.
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/3487/107orleansfalls6bt.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

My remaining Cavalry, and that which has healed or reinforced, heads down toward the Southern cities of Marseilles and Rheims. My stack of Rifles and Cats head on over to begin the bombardment of Paris. A Great Artist is produced (again, against the odds) and heads over to Hamburg. A harbour finishes up in Phonenia and I start the Colossus! It won’t finish before it’s obsolete, but the city doesn’t really need anything else for the moment and I might as well have it for the points and culture. Here’s the City Advisor in 1530:
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/4205/108cities15303qs.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turns 220-221: I culture bomb Hamburg to relieve the cultural pressure even more. Hamburg goes from 35% to 56% mine and I get some useful squares (but tragically not the gems). Matters will improve further when the cities culture grows more.
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/4650/109boom6pc.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The following turn Saladin asks me to stops trading with Hatty. He hates me and is backward and she still thinks I’m OK (although, with my military, not to be messed with!), so I decline. Rhiems falls for 122 gold and Marseilles for 118 when it’s capturer with a Cavalry unit sneaking over from the old country via Frankfurt.
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/6461/110southerncampaign8bh.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I also clear up the final Crossbow defending Napoleons other Iron mine (I would have pillaged it earlier if I’d have known that Paris’ culture would be such that it wasn’t cut off with the capture of Orleans). My Rifles and Cats reach Paris and spread out along the banks of the Seine. A justified move as two Cats attack my Northernmost stack.

Turns 222-223: I bombard the City down to 9% the following turn and trade Gems for Ivory with Hatty. A Hindu Monastery completes in Munich and that city will now produce nothing but Hinduism (I should have done this earlier, but I was expanding so quickly I didn’t have a chance!). To save time I alt-click on the missionary to create them indefinitely. Each newly converted city will be worth 1 gold base in my capitol, multiplied by the various modifiers. Back outside Paris my Rifles see an opening and, despite attacking over a river, they pile in!
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/5677/111parisisrifled4mf.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The first man in is a City-Raider-II/Cover/Combat-I Rifle (in fact all the attacker are) and mashes up a Mace with 91% odds, leaving 11.8/14 health. The second, damaged Rifle attacks a Longbow with 93.2% odds, falling from 13.3 health to 7. Another attacks with 98.5% health and wins easily and a fourth goes in with 71.8% odds (he was 7.8/14). This last attacker is mercilessly destroyed, continuing my general run of bad luck with 70+% odds. The loss stuns his comrades into inaction for the rest of the turn (well, OK I run out of attackers until the Cavalry arrives!). I clear up a Crossbow who was headed South to counter-attack Rheims using a slightly damaged Combat-III Cav. He goes from 10.8 to 1.8 health despite 90% odds.

In 1550 I bombard Paris to 0% and launch my final assault on the despised despot Napoleon. A recently healed Blitz Cavalry enters the fray with 89.6% odds and crushes a Pikeman, retaining 7.3/15 health. A damaged 8.1/14 Rifle takes on a Longbow to go 1.8/15 after a close victory. A final Rifle (11.8 health) attacks a crossbow with 98.6% odds and steals his bolts. Finally, to add insult to injury I use a Cat (which could use the free experience at 4/5) to roll over the final French defender, a puny 0.1 health Catapult to take 194 gold and Napoleon’s head!
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/9357/112parisblitzed4xn.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

After the triumphant celebrations I wander over to the now neighbouring ‘Mighty’ Mansa and politely request that he gives me all of his puny hoard of 130 gold. He has the grace to accede to my “unreasonable demands”. The cheek! You will pay for that sarcasm dearly, my little friend…



Turn 223 download here :) (http://www.savefile.com/projects.php?pid=845138)

A quick review of how things are going. I’ve just annexed Germany and France. Here’s an overview of the Far Eastern fringes of my Empire and Mansa’s holdings. I’m at 90% science, -73 per turn, so I drop down to 80% @ +4. Glutton appears to have finished growing, but it could support more people, so I reconfigure it to grow again. Border Town seems to have been the hardest hit by the recent war, with +7 unhappy people: “War! Huh? What is it good for? Stealing loads of money!”.
http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/839/113mansa9wk.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Hammertime will complete the Statue of Liberty in eight turns more (unaided by a Great Person) – it’s been about ten so far I think. I’m sitting at top of the scoring tree and am No.1 in all of the Demographics with a decent margin.
http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/9407/114score6fb.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/1484/115topoftheworld5be.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turns 224 – 225: When I reloaded an reviewed my Empire I got a little nervous about the lack of security on my borders. I’m not expecting to be attacked – I’m so much more powerful than anyone else, but I would feel safer with some more troops in those border cities, especially next to Hatty. I upgraded my defender in Dormund to a Rifle on the grounds that the city had already seen some Barb action and I didn’t want to lose it to something so silly. My fear proved justified when this little chappy turned up on the very first turn!
http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/6558/116luckyupgrade5dr.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

My Rifles filed out to the captured cities to act as defenders and free up the Cavs healing there. It makes more sense for them to all heal together in a city with a medic unit. Hence my horsey units all head on over and regroup in Paris. The following turn I rush a university in Hun. I really should have got six done much earlier so that I could get Oxford University up and built. The same goes for Banks – with religious income coming into Hogton, it’s a prime choice for Wall St. and I really should get Corporation soon to build it and multiply that shrine income. I rush theatre in Lyons to help expand it’s culture and start a theatre in Orleans. I’ll rush it next turn for 99 gold instead of paying 180 gold this turn – always put one turn into a build before rushing it!

Turns 225 – 230: Orleans rushes it’s theatre and Hatty comes begging for my tech (Astronomy for Corporation and 140 gold). I don’t bite because it’s such a bad deal and I can’t trade it on. I rush a harbour in Aporto (because it’s nearly done) and start on Operation Backdoor™. Glutton rushes its observatory for 276 gold (I’m starting to run low!) and starts on Oxford (9 turns) not before time! I demand Corporation from Mansa, but the stubborn, foolish git refuses… I also sort out a few irrigation chains to key resources – rice normally gives you 4 food when farmed, with an irrigation chain (post Civil Service), or a river next to it that’s five. It’s usually worth checking to see if you can pull these off. The following turn the Industrial era comes in:
http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/7851/117industrial2ui.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Mansa asks for Military Tradition in trade for Corporation (haha). I bite the bullet and trade Astronomy to Hatty for a map, 150 gold and the tech. It’s worth the loss to get Wall St. done. I drop the science rate to 70% to help out the old cash. I fire up Wall St. the next turn in Hogton (leaving two turns on West Point, which is being built there because the city keeps building units). I also discover that I only have two sources of oil – Aporto and Dortmund. Everyone else seems to have loads of the stuff. Man am I glad that Aporto didn’t revolt! That city has been worth it’s weight in gold. (Or oil!)

Nothing happens on turn 229 – I’ve spent most of this session sorting out the last few tile improvement that I didn’t like. Now my workers head on back and sit on mines and lumbermills around Hammerton and Hogton. Railroad, when it comes in, will gives these two types of tiles +1 production when they get upgraded and I want to get that bonus asap when I can. On turn 230 Hatty demands Scientific Method, and I decline. Hatty, if you keep doing this you will have to be punished. I upgrade my border troops to Rifles just in case she gets any ideas. I’ll have to add a few more troops up there as well soon. The Colossus also comes in! Wa-hey! It’s only been obsolete for ten turns, but I feel better having had a one fish, fishing village build it in such a short space of time. It may even help me wrestle that last fur from Hatty, or help troops sit one turn away from her city…

http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/7105/118liberty2nm.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Turns 231 – 237: The Statue of Liberty comes in! One free specialist in every, that’s ‘every’ city on my continent. That’s all of them! This is a crazily powerful wonder on maps like this and should always be aimed for. It will also allow me to play some neat tricks in the future (see later, I hope). Hatty demands that I stop speaking to the Arabs and I do. She’s getting pretty demanding! Ghandi demands Astronomy and I refuse him. Smug little git!

Nothing then happens for two turns and then Physics rolls on in, Chemistry is due in three. This seems to be the only way I can guarantee a Great Scientist. He heads over to Berlin, which has the highest science output (apart from Glutton, which already has an Academy). Science goes back up to 80% in celebration! In 1610 Oxford university completes (not before time) and I start churning out a few rifles. The following turn Chemistry comes home and I start on biology.
http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/8836/119techchoices8gg.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

My Great Scientist arrives in Berlin and is told to bugger off because they already have an academy. Damn – I should have checked. He heads off to Border Town, which doesn’t. The following turn an academy is founded in Border Town and its science leaps from 102-134/turn. I send a worker to bring my only usable source of uranium online and switch to Theocracy to get some more experience in the several troops I’m building for my borders. Note that the cost of this over Free Religion is minimal thanks to my having built the Spiral Minaret (which doesn’t work if you don’t have a state religion).
Turns 238 – 245: Very little happens for a couple of turns, except for more prep for Operation Backdoor™. In 1640 Biology completes and I head off toward factories and eventually tanks. Wall St. completes and two turns later I also finish off West Point. I up the science to 90% +1 thanks to my new banking system. The turn plays out with final preparation for Operation Backdoor™ coming to a close. What’s all of this about? Who knows. I’ll leave you with a shot of what my cities were up to a few turns ago:
http://img104.imageshack.us/img104/6407/120cityscreen1na.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

As ever, the saved game at turn 145 is here. :) (http://www.savefile.com/projects/845138)

Turn 245 revisited: I have not spent my time in the last few turns in idle contemplation of my winning position. My Cavalry scouts report weakness in Mansa’s front line cities, which prompts me to consider some more aggressive action:
http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/7789/122mainfront1sp.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/3356/123gao1fo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

There is a massive and quite clever reserve in his capital. You can’t actually see just how many units he’s got, but there are 13 units that could cause me some grief actually in shot, not including that little stack to the East of the City. This essentially allows the AI to distribute reserves wherever he wants them – by sea or using his road network before I can get my troops to his cities:
http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/3146/121nutcracking5ji.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Open borders are cancelled and my troops are sent back to the homeland and practice their rape-and-pillage techniques. Ah, it feels good to get back to war! My Cavalry units swing into action and advance in three stacks on Djenne. I decide that I’ll send them all that way and sweep over all three cities, rather than splitting my force because some of those troops from Timbuktu could be sent to support the defenders in one city and spoil my plans of a quick campaign.

Operation Backdoor™ swings into action: two galleons filled with riflemen produced in my core cities and shipped out from Aporto eight and five turns ago respectively converge on Mansa’s capital. They bail out and take up defensive positions on those two hills in two groups of three (because of the Cats). They promote to hill defenders and one promotes to a medic to help his brothers heal up (medic II will allow neighbouring units to heal as well).
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/134/121operationbackdoor3hk.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

They’ll have an extended hill bonus, a river bonus from direct attacks and their bonus from being fortified. Hehe! Meanwhile I advance my entire stack of cavalry toward Djenne, taking out a foolishly placed knight on the way!
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/9743/122marchtodjenne8qm.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turn 246: Before I begin my first turn Mansa sends the boys out to try and remove my encamped armies. Three Cats hit my Cavalry and Cat stack approaching Djenne and cause nasty collateral damage.
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/2725/123catdamage6zm.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Mansa then sends out his most able attacking troops to have a pop at my brave mountain defenders. A rifleman attacks the first hill defender and manages to take him out despite staggering odds to the contrary! Gah, my military luck in this game has been abhorrent! Four knights and a Longbow get less lucky and merely manage to knock my chaps down in health a bit. Fortunately, the rest of his troops stay in the city. I was rather hoping to take out more this turn, but the AI is playing things well. My troops speed toward Djenne.

I decide that it’s time to convert Tours to the Hindo way – not only will I get another gold/turn at base in Hogton, but converting this city will make it significantly more likely to flip over to me (the odds aren’t great yet, but I’d like to make the South of the map green…).
http://img317.imageshack.us/img317/3822/124tours2zd.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turn 247: Ah, now this is more like it! In between turns my riflemen get attacked by three macemen, two pikes and six longbows: reducing the defenders to more manageable proportions. Ignoring that rather unfortunate first Rifle-Rifle bad roll to start with I’ve yet to lose a unit and I’ve fought off sixteen attacks! A Caravel has a pop at my Galleon and also wins against the odds. I’m sure that the AI doesn’t like my units in this game… :(
http://img317.imageshack.us/img317/9421/125defendersintimbuktu5bo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

An AI stack is also going for a cheeky counter-attack against Paris and their Cat bombards the city. One of the defending rifles refuses to put up with that sort of chat and saunters out with 99.4% odds to lay the smack-down on a Crossbow.
http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/8523/129counterattack5ac.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turn 248: Between turns a Rifle attacks one of my Cavalry on a hill near Djenne (it doesn’t get a defence bonus). Magically I lose (against the odds again I think, he was +25% against Mounted Units, so maybe not). In revenge I send another unit to finish him off and then bombard Djenne’s defences down to 3% and send in the lads. I don’t get massive odds on any unit and in the end I risk using my Blitz Cavalry (the other one is by Gao checking on life down there). He knows that the defending unit has been especially trained to defeat mounted units and he’s well dug in, but in the end he just doesn’t have the metal to stand up to my elite forces:
http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/6107/130firstintodjenne2bh.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I then use a healthy, 4/5xp retreating specialist (useful if you need to knock defenders down against the odds) to crush a damaged Longbow (94% odds, 15 health to 8.3 remaining) and then use a 16/17xp Combat-II/Medic to finish off his last defender, a Catapult. The city falls on my mercy and I let it’s citizens remain in return for a mere 106 gold and some defiling of women. The remainder of my troops march to the South whilst the attacking units heal up. My remaining Galleon heads on down toward Djenne so that she can pick up my Cats when they’ve finished (instead of having them plot over to Timbuktu). Thank god flight is nearly here – it can make warfare so slow when you have to use Cats.

Turns 249-251: A Longbow attacks one of my fortified Rifles. It’s pointless gesture that merely serves to gift him some free experience. I had moved all of my rifles onto the same square (two were damaged and I wanted to protect them) and several are now sporting some seriously hardcore-promotions. Orleans then revolts to Egypt! ****! It was 48% mine and rising – my luck in this particular game has been shocking (although, yes I got lucky with Aporto). Border Town appears to have one unhappy face and I grow tired of it’s constant bickering, so I order up the globe theatre – I had planned to build it in Glutton, but I’ve got so much happiness that I really don’t need it there (27 in fact, and I’ve only got 26 health). BT seems to get affected by war weariness pretty quickly for some reason.

In 1690 the concept of the Assembly Line arrives, bringing with it Infantry and the promise of factories and tanks! I start to research Communism because my Empire it large enough that it’s the obvious choice of civic. I start the revolting Orleans on a Hindu Temple and start the Pentagon in Hogton, which appears to have a few turns of little to do. It won’t finish before Industrialisation and I should have started it on a factory first – ooops. Kumbi Saleh is bombarded down from 60% to 27% - it’s only defended by a Rifle, Knight, Crossbow, Pike and a Cat and shouldn’t present a problem if the Rifle doesn’t play nasty.

Turn 252: Kumbi Saleh is bombed down to 0% and the war drums sound! A Combat-II/Medic seems to have some of the best odds when he upgrades to anti-gunpowder (and naturally, crosses the river to attack). It’s not a great idea at 26.8% but he’s the most expendable and I’ve got to knock the defenders down somehow. He charges in – surely my military luck will change soon? No such luck and he’s slain, leaving the defender with 3.9/14 health.
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/5825/131longishodds5ef.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

There appears to be another Rifle at full health in the city now (the Pike upgraded) and I attack him with a Combat-II Cav sporting 25% odds. No luck – I don’t even scratch the defending unit. :mad: He does manage to withdraw, sporting a useful 1.8 health though – a small mercy. I may put him to death for his insolence in losing the battle. Enraged another Cav crosses the river and sizes up the completely health Rifle. As a Combat-III unit he gets slightly better odds (29.4%) but then he has more to lose for that extra 4.5%. He attacks, he loses, he withdraws with 2.4 health.
http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/7853/132kumbiwoes5yb.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Mercifully, both defending Rifles are now down to 3.9/14 health and my experienced Blitz Cav steps into the Fray and dispatches the Crossbow (99% odds). Although he’s damaged down to 11.1 he steps up a second time and takes out one of the remaining Rifles (95.7% odds) and my anti-cavalry unit polishes off the last rifle without getting hurt (15/15 somehow, now why do I get luck with things that don’t matter? I did get 99.5% odds though). Finally I use a Medic-II unit (13/17xp, would like to get him up) to take out the last defender, crushing the Cat and taking the city and 181 gold. The wounded move in to lament my poor luck.

I dial up factories in most of my cities, switching Hotgon away from the Pentagon (a quickly corrected mistake then!). I purchase the temple I started last turn in Orleans to try and stave off another revolt (unlikely unless I’ve very unlucky again – 0.56% before the temple completes) and my Cats that I shipped over from bombarding Djenne anchor off Timbuktu, bombarding it from 80% to 48%.
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/3066/133orleans16952ec.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turns 253-255: 1700 rolls in and I celebrate by bombarding Timbuktu down to 16%. I’d actually have reasonable odds with those Rifles now if there weren’t so many defenders (never attack until you know you’ll take a city in a couple of turns) or if I’d got some spare upgrades for City attacks (they’re at 25% with their innate Combat-I). The Cavalry arrive after finishing off Mansa’s other cities soon anyway.
The following turn Lord McCauley tells me that I’m the richest dictator on the planet! Hurrah! Communism comes in (ironically) and I switch over, improving my economy from -35 to +56@90%. Electricity is up next on the way to a more industrialised society.
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/5100/134inthemoney3wl.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

IBT: I fight off a rifle by Tikbuktu (19 units killed without loss there and counting). I’ve also lost Orleans. What… The… ****…? My rain of terrible luck continues – the odds were less than 0.5%. That’s less than one in two hundred, or as my luck would have it – one in three. As some sort of revenge I bombard Timbuktu to 0% (although with nine units left fortified there I don’t have the troops to finish off all of the remaining defenders by a long way). I’ll suicide the cats there when I can ship in some Cavs – the reign of Cats is nearly over anyway (artillery is here soon, but it’s useless compared to flight). Gao is bombed from 40 to 18% and Isaac Newton is born in Hogton and creates an Academy there.
http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/4207/135ninetogo4pa.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/1041/136cities17154oh.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Turns 256-257: War weariness is beginning to kick in: Border Town has two unhappy people, Hogton and Berlin both have one. Hogton’s science goes from 112-144 as the Academy kicked in by the way. Gao is knocked down to 0% and the troops are gathered. The Cats will head back to the coast to get transported to Timbuktu. The following turn I get the worrying message that Hatty no longer wants Open Borders, she also cancels our sheep/gems-ivory/incense trades. I trade Physics for Steel and 160 gold with Ghandi; it’s not the best of deals, but then he’s not as rich as the Mighty Hog. Hammertime switches immediately to the Ironworks (Hogton, the other high production site is building the Pentagon). It’s time to finish this war before weariness kicks in too badly and/or Hatty decides to take me on. Note that war weariness is race specific, so if Hatty invades before I kill off Mansa, my weariness will drop back down to t=zero.

With long term considerations out of my mind I settle down to the more mundane task of removing the grimace from Mansa’s face. Removing his fact in fact. I sacrifice a Cat, promoting him to collateral damage and attacking over the river (0% odds either way, so why waste the turn – collateral damage will be the same anyway I think).
http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/3093/137anedge3av.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The slight edge this gives me is really important: even the smallest difference in HP and ratios makes a big difference in combat terms – HP more so than the relative strengths. Without the 0.8 health I knocked off the lead Rifle he’d be far harder to remove than the 0.8 suggests. That and the loss of the cities cultural defence makes artillery a massive help when you’re facing units of the same tech era. When I get tanks everything will change, as will life after the invention of the bomber, but for now I can still use my ridiculously dated Cats to cause some damage! My Combat-III/Blitz Cav gets odds of 49%, my anti-cav/Combat-II Cav gets 31.9%; the honour eventually goes to a Combat-III Cav with less experience to lose. He charges into battle with a wry grin on his face, disregarding my historic terrible luck on the battlefield:
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/2650/138edgeless3pt.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/2578/139whattheduck6id.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

With typical fortune he falls on the enemy guns and is forced to retreat. Those of you with eagle-eyes will notice that he’s attacking over the river. I foolishly trusted the pathing, which in the above shot said I’d be attacking around the river bend. Stupid horsey went the wrong way! Fortunately he withdrew and will live to regret his stupidity on another front. It’s time I started to name these units… I only get odds of 52.5% with my Blitz Cav and I don’t want to lose him, so I sacrifice a Combat-I/Medic-II with 30.1% odds (you’d think it had a decent chance!). Obviously 30%=0% so the unit dies horribly.
http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/4609/140tragicloss9xi.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Fortunately the defences are reduced sufficiently that my Blitz unit polishes off both defenders with odds of 83.7% (no health loss! This is not where I need my luck!) and then 92.8%. He struts into town to claim 102 gold and the title of ‘Hero of the Hogian Empire’ and the ‘Not actually a complete ****wit’ medal. Hurrah!

Turns 258-261: Electricity comes in and I head off toward Industrialism. My brave troops encamp on a hill near Timbuktu whilst my more cowardly Cavs are healing up for the next war. As a last act of defiance, Mansa attacks my Galleon (with two Cats in it) in a clever attempt to diminish the forces stacked against him. It fails and in 1735 I start the battle with a naval invasion, followed up by a 11.1% longshot to soften the lead defender.
http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/6572/141firststrike6ua.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


This is why retreat is a useful promotion – he lives to fight another day having done a great job of knocking the defending Rifle down a bit in health (remember that every little helps!). The Cats obviously die (no retreats I think) but the Cav is left with 1.2 health (all the health he had before the last round). A Cav Combat-III charges in and beats down a Rifle despite exceedingly long odds (72.1% is long odds seemingly!) and then my newly promoted Blitz/Combat-III/anit-gunpowder Cav eats up a Grenadier with 96.5% odds, shortly followed by his 25/26xp Blitz friend who gets 91.4% odds against a damaged Rifle. I then start to pick off the poor defending units with my hill team:
http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/276/142riflerevenge6jo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Firstly a Grenadier is picked off by an anti-gunpowder Rifle (96.7%), then another Rifle picks off a knight (97.7%), and another (98.7%) and another (99.9%) and finally a Hill-II/Medic-I picks off a pike (99.9%). I finally run out of units for the turn with 7.0/10 knight and a 4.0/5 Cat defending the remnants of Mansa’s nations (and his navy of five useless ships).

Turn 261, 1740 finally arrives, bringing with it the long-sought end to the Eastern campaign. In between turns Mansa has managed to kick out another Rifle and my level six 31/37xp Cav looks longingly at the city. In the end I decide to sacrifice another soon-to-be obsolete Cat to knock him down a bit first. My anti-rifle Rifle (12.9 health, 18/26xp) attacks with 88.5% odds and suffers to a mere 8.1/14 health. A 19/26 Combat-III/anti-gunpowder Cav attacks the remaining knight with 91.8% odds for the free experience point(s). He luckily gets two points (the longer the odds, the better the xp usually). I attack the remaining Cat with my damaged Combat-I/Retreat Cav (1.2 health but still decent odds against a 4.0/5 Cat!). I can’t remember if I meant to do this or not, but I end up losing the unit (he was 7/10xp so I may have been making the gamble for more experience). Fittingly I finish of Mansa’s foolish reign with my valiant level six Cav (hey – I’d like him to get to level 7!) and reap 201 gold for my troubles. Victory is definitely on the cards in this game…

http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/1010/143mansaashes8bf.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/3307/144victoryconditions4jx.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turn 261 is here. (http://www.savefile.com/projects/845138)

Turn 261 Revisited: Plenty to do, plenty to do. How do I want to win? I should really have gone for the win ages ago (rather than pootling to victory) but I rather fancy a bit of conquest… I start by buying a factory in Paris so that I can start the Forbidden Palace (I’d usually have this up far earlier, but I wanted to put something in the East and I got Versailles some time ago). I reorganize some of my troops, pushing my Cav and City Raider Rifles into Lyons and redistributing a couple of units and sending my good old hill defenders to watch over my new acquisitions.

Because Hatty has been getting jumpy I sign a defensive pact with Ghandi, who is currently friendly with me at +18-9=9. I trade Sheep/Gems/2g for Ivory/Dye with an annoyed Hatty (+7-16=-9). I also restart Saladin on the Dyes for 7g. He also hates me at +6-13=-7 on the diplomacy front. Let’s see if I can piss some more people off this turn!

Turns 262-265: Tours revolts! Wahey! Whilst it’s in anarchy you can see the amount of cultural pressure on the city. Now you can see why I converted it to my religion recently – I expect it will flip over to me soon.
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/7583/145toursisrevolting0bt.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Orleans, which flipped away from me despite the alleged 0.05% of this happening is still at 55% Egyptian and growing. Phoenicia has also expanded enough that I’ve finally stolen that last fur from Hatty. I guess building the Colossus wasn’t a complete waste of time (There was still no real reason to do it though!). In the below screen-shot you can see how a city like this, in what would often seem like an awful spot, is saved totally by the presence of a fish resource. It’s actually become a really decent city and more than pays for itself, notwithstanding the research beakers and potential unit production:
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/9470/146fishingvillage5eo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I stick science back down to 80% @ +199 (100% is obviously better, but at least this way my markets and grocers do more than exaggerate my various resources!). The following turn I start a couple of workers from the newly captured Timbuktu on chopping a couple of untouched forests! (What? Untouched? What’s the AI up to?). Bugger all happens in 1755 and then on turn 265 Industrialisation comes in. I can’t actually build tanks yet as I don’t have any oil (via combustion) and there isn’t too much to trade for it. Hatty cancels her agreements with me (made only a few turns ago). I swap Railroads/Map/70g for Biology/Communism with Ghandi, a crap swap, but I wanted to speed the arrival of tanks and besides, getting Railroads has allowed me to start doing this:
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/2069/147railways4nu.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

All of those chaps are churning out railroads. A similar site is happening around Glutton and Hammertime. In CivIV railroads increase the shield production of all lumbermills and mines, so they’re pretty damn useful (as well as their ability to speed movement to 1/10 normal cost).


Turns 266-268: Tour revolts and is now mine! Not a great shock and it’s not a great city, but at this stage, it can only net me a profit and it’s one fewer city to crush beneath the tracks of my mighty tanks! It start to build a granary (which I’ll buy soon) and queues up a theatre (in case I forget). My railroads complete, so a couple of workers head off to railroad forests and mines, and the rest automatically start to rail every tile (shortcut ‘N’). The effect this makes is quite dramatic: Glutton goes from 36 to 43 hammers; Hogton from 61 to 72 (pentagon soon to complete. It also has the Heroic Epic: Fast builds military units – Hammertime would actually waste the shield if it had this!); and Hammertime from 66 to 78 (with the Ironworks nearly complete). In 1770 I re-trade Gems for Dye with Hatty and then spot this:
http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/5792/148indianswannastealmyoil8ur.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I can only assume that Ghandi wants to steal my oil, marble and deer. That’s really not on. Unfortunately I’ll be struggling to spot him if he lands his ship to the North. If he lands to the South I can start the build this turn and rush it next turn and still put a city there first. Next turn and I’m right, he is after my damn oil. Were I bush and were this Iraq I’d have invaded his puny nation by now, as it is I purchase a settler of my own in the sure knowledge that his own troops will have to walk slowly home. I also stop two workers from chopping forests that will fall with the new city’s radius (tundra/forest > tundra) and start them on railroads instead. In 1775 Ghandi lands: he chose… poorly…
http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/7188/149thethiefs9ks.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

My own settler races off to the site. The Iron works also completes in Hammertime. 200 shields. Two-****ing-hundred. Per turn. (Up from 66 sans railroads and 78 with them). Saladin demands that I stop trading with Hatty. I decline on the grounds that at least she’ll still talk to me!

Turns 269-273: Ghandi is close, but my settler is in position. The following turn I stop the little Indian’s cunning plan:
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/8852/150thecure3bs.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Almost nothing happens until 1800 (turn 273) When Flight comes in and I enter the modern era! Tank warfare, it is a comin’!
http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/7950/151tanksisacommin2ml.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turns 274-282: Combustion arrived and allows me to start on oil wells. In 1806 the Pentagon is finished in Hogton:
http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/1488/152americanwarbase5bt.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

This means, with civic change I’ll be producing 10/2 experience tanks right out of the door. I can immediately get CityRaider-III if I so desire (still better to leave them free for the healing benefit and the flexibility). Hammertime starts to produce tanks (at one a turn!) The following turn the Kremlin comes in (build to kill times more than anything). In 1810 Rocketry arrives and my faithful Cavs are upgraded to Apache Gunships! A Great Prophet is born and heads off to Kumbi Saleh (home of Confucianism, 16% of the world religion). I’m unlikely to get another two different Great people at this stage of the game and so this seems the best idea. Rocketry allows me to start the Apollo project in Hammertime.

Nothing happens in 1812 and in 1814 a couple of builds start, so I switch from Free Speech to Vassalage. Fortunately, the lost revenue is offset by the arrival of my Great Prophet in Kumbi, and the immediate creation of the Kong Miao which takes my income from the much reduced -18 to +43/turn. The following turn Ghandi demands that I stop trading with his enemy the nasty Arabs. I agree and be goes to +21-9 equalling a comfortable +10. I might be able to get him to join in my warring perhaps… Not that I’ll be needing him. Fission arrives in 1818 and I start on Radio (for bombers – I meant to go there earlier, but never mind!).

Turns 283-290: So, a bit of war time banter… I currently have five tanks and have started Crappton (which really isn’t!) building spies. Two turns later I have 8 tanks. Three turns later I’ve started building a couple of bombers and have 14 bombers. In 1832 Hatty cancels her deals again. Stupid woman must be pre-menstrual. I drop taxes to 60% (+406g) just in case she gets uppity. By turn 290 I’m on an all war footing… I can’t take too much land though… 3 to go!

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/3396/153victoryisnigh8ik.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Turn 290 is here. (http://www.savefile.com/projects/845138)