WOTM 04 - First Spoiler

Reading Requirements:

Have reached at least 0 AD.
Know the general layout of the starting continent.


Posting Restrictions

Please do not discuss events past 500 AD.


Have your Roman legions been able to set up an empire in this world?

Hmm Ok seems im first to post here

My first Marathon game and boy does it make emporer easier, i beelined straight away to iron working creating a stack of axes on the way which i used to cripple brennus who ended up settling near me.

He was down to two cities when i sued for peace as an opportunity to move my roman legions into place. 15 or so turns later i moved in and destroyed brennus-keeping most of his lands.

By this time i had a huge stack of praets lying about so i sent a few off in exploration (by this time i had knowledge of where everyone was or at least contact) and found mansa, i decided it would be best to cripple him and i did so fairlyeasily, his skirmishers being wiped under the heals of my praets, i only kept 2 cities because by this time my economy was becoming an issue. I was often having to micromanage all the cities to stay in the black but i did so and pre chopped for the great library (cant remember the date).

By this time i was upto about 4th in score but 1st in military and mfg but still sucking quite badly in gnp.

Not entirely sure about dates so ill stop there for a time :)

Playing on Adventurer gave me a huge advantage although it'll be my last (just found out I finished in the top half for the last WOTM :D ). I sent my archer out to explore and make contact with everyone which proved to be invalauble later on.

Bremmus obviosuly got the chop but I waited until I had Praets coming out of my ears. Didn't take very long and snaffled a few barb cities to boot. However, that was when the wheels fell off. I felt I was too far away away from Mansa to have a pop (although in retrospect I probably should have) and the health and happiness caps at Emperor meant that my ecomony ground to a halt and my units went on strike! In the end I had to demand cash from Huayna to keep myself going long enough to get to Code of Laws.

After that, however, things started to look up. I managed to trade for Calendar and also by now had managed to open up some trade routes. With a fair bit of land under my belt I had a nice spread of resources I could start trading. Finally my cities began to grow and I could slowly drag my grotty ecomony out of the gutter. However, I was now a long way off the pace and wasn't going to be catching up any time soon but there was one last bonus before the clock switched to AD: I built the Pryamids. Coupled with the forum I figured I could just lightbulb my way to techy goodness.

Well, my first emperor game has gone surprisingly smoothly, helped out no doubt by a plum starting location and a powerful UU to go along with it. Like many others, I would imagine, my strat involved an early beeline to IW (I believe my research path was fishing > BW > IW); I was gunning for an early worker steal from my nearest neighbor (Brennus as it turned out, of course) but both of my early exploratory warriors got et by lions while crossing the defenseless area to the immediate west. Nevertheless I had 3 cities up and running by the time I actually hit IW (Rome, a city on the far eastern tip with fish and goldx2, and one in range of the copper to the N). Once I found out that pity was taken on us regarding the iron location, I realized that third city was a mistake, but no matter. I chopped a sizable army wiped Brennus off the map very quickly (I only lost two praets, both losing as 95% favorites (:wallbash::aargh:), absorbing most of his cities into my economy (which knocked my research rate down to 20%), and then moving on to Mansa Musa.

I believe that at 500AD I was busy razing double-M's cities, which by then were numerous and surprisingly advanced. I finally kept two of them, his capital, which had the Buddhist shrine (Buddhism was the dominant religion on the continent by far, and right from the start that shrine was worth over 20gpt), and a city just to the south which was a production powerhouse.

Being somewhat intimidated by the difficulty level, I have overcompensated by having only one plan for the game: raw aggression. Up to 500AD it worked out remarkably well. Beyond that - wait for the next spoiler!

Well, I wasn't going to play this game but got some sparetime. I decided to go against the flow and try a relatively peaceful victory and avoid pushing units around the map.

For the early game; I founded in place, built two cities for the gold/fish and copper/cow/clams, and quickly destroyed Brennus. Nemesis number 1 gone, Gaul is a Roman province in 1135BC. I keep Bibracte with its many food resources as my science city/gp farm and Vienne (corn,fish,wine) as a commerce city.

I explore the world but Mansa Masa is too far away for my praetorians to march. Mansa founded Buddhism and I select it as my state religion in 690BC after it spreads to my land. Mansa and Washington are Buddhist and we become good tech trading buddies. H.C. is Hindu, Asoka Jewish, and Hannibal Confucian (he beat me to the Oracle by a couple of turns and grabbed Code of Laws). H.C. and Hannibal won't open borders but Asoka is willing to trade.

Early cities:
2905BC Antium 2xFish, 2xGold
2455BC Cumae Copper, Cow, Clams
1525BC Vienne (captured) Corn, Wine, Fish
1390BC Bibracte 3xClam, Cow, Rice
890BC Neapolis Pigs, Copper, Silver, Wine - Maintenance is a killer but I really need the silver mine for happiness
350BC Pisae (Pigs, Marble, Whale) - Hook up Marble to build Parthenon
330BC Ravenna (on Stone, Cow, Gold) - try to build Pyramids


Early Techs

3400 Bronze Working
3100 Agriculture
2680 Animal Husbandry
2485 Wheel
1915 Iron Working
1660 Writing
1495 Pottery
960 Alphabet
950-680BC Mysticism, Sailing, Masonry, Polytheism, Hunting, Archery, Priesthood, Monotheism, Meditation (trades)
550 Code of Laws
540 Mathematics (trade)
200BC Metal Casting
190BC Monarchy, Calendar, Literature (trade)
10AD Currency (trade)
170AD Civil Service
180AD Horseback Riding, Compass, Construction (trade)
300AD Machinery
400AD Optics - I explored most of the coast with a couple of work boats and now send a caravel to finish mapping H.C. and Hannibal's coasts
410AD Theology(trade)
470AD Paper
480AD Drama, Feudalism, Music (trade)


Civics - Civil Service presented an odd decision in this game. Normally, I would immediately switch to Bureaucracy but the capital had almost no commerce. I wasn't building military, just chasing Wonders in the capital. I'm planning either space race or diplomatic and Rome is my military production facility. I need more research not more production. I eventually moved the palace to Neapolis and built the Forbidden Palace in Cumae. This limited maintenance but I then realized that the pigs were the only food tile in Neapolis and it wouldn't grow big enough to be worth the revolution. So, no Bureaucracy this game. Also, no vassalage or theocracy. Very unusual for me.

2800BC - Slavery
690BC - Buddhism
190BC - Hereditary Rule, Organized Religion

Wonders:
160BC - Great Lighthouse
110BC - Hanging Gardens (missed the Pyramids and Great Wall so not many engineer points)
180AD - Colossus
490AD - Parthenon (I'm suprised it went so late but the extra gpp are a big bonus)

I'm now pseudo-Philosophical with the Parthenon and Forums in GP generating cities. Its looking like a quick tech race game until the many Punic wars which will occupy the next spoiler.

Mainly I'm a Prince player; even on Adventurer I suspect I'm in over my head. :mischief: Pulled off my first convincing pre-1900 win today and I figured I'd give the Warlords GotM a try and see how it went. So far, not so good.

Either Marathon or Emperor mode is getting to me in a big way - I'm having a rotten game by comparison to my usual. Like everyone who's posted so far, I've taken care of Brennus; it took me forever, though. I rushed my second town in northeast of Bibracte on the wine/pigs/corn/some plantation resource spot (my third and fourth are in all likelihood identical to RoberttheBruce's second and third). Not to say that was a bad idea, but in researching a bunch of improvement technologies I took FAR too long to get to Iron Working and Brennus had gotten halfway to Mansa by about the year zero when I finally finished him off. I only had the cash to keep Bibracte and Vienne, which is on the double wine / copper spot to his capitol's Northwest.

Right now (at 500 AD) I'm languishing in last place, though I'm slowly gaining on Hannibal and my economy is finally running well. War with Mansa appears inevitable if I want to make a comeback of some sort, since all I've got wonder-wise is the Lighthouse and Colossus (should have gone for bronze working much earlier; not sure what I was thinking). All the religions were founded in Washington or further west, and Hinduism reached me shortly after I finished Brennus, so I've had massive happiness / size issues throughout the game. I imagine I'm going to end up meat for Huayna once he has a navy, but I'll go down fighting.

I have, at least, managed to circumnavigate the globe, which was probably totally unnecessary but made me feel better. A map detail not everyone may be aware of is below:

There seems to be an island SW of the main continent, but the Inca are there already since it's two turns away from them, so I despair of getting Astronomy in time to make any use of that knowledge.

This is all from memory so I may need to come back and edit it later.

I settled in place and worked a plains hill to quickly build a work boat then after it was built I built another one but let the city grow this time. I built a few warriors for fog busting then a settler. Antium was founded east of the gold so that it could work the two food resources. The next city was built 2 tiles south of the copper with the cow and sea resource in the fat cross.

My tech order was something like BW->Wheel->Agriculture->AH->IW->Pottery->Writing->Alphabet

I took out Brennus quickly by capturing the two nearest cities and razing the rest. I also razed several barbarian cities for the much needed cash. The only way I could keep research at 60-70% was to always have a negative income.

I was able to trade for some technology but most of the AIs were either refusing to trade or reluctant to trade except for some very lop-sided deals.

I used my first Great Scientist to light bulb Philosophy. I also chopped out the Oracle for Code of Laws and founded Confucianism. Next, I built my courthouses. Started building Forums after Currency and have started building the Heroic epic in Rome.

I also built the The Great Lighthouse and The Great Library. One of the AIs beat me to the Pyramids and Parthenon. They will likely be a target for my next conquest.

By around 250 AD I had explored most of the land and coast except for one area where open borders wasn't an option.

Having generally struggled with Warlords since the AI upgrade (mainly due to a lack of time to play), I really faced this game with trepidation and fear, especially considering the fearsome WOTM the month before. Having also never played a marathon speed game, I had no idea of tech speeds or build times.

However I can see why many reacted the way they did during the pre-game discussion. With Iron in easy reach, by 500ad Brennus & Mansa Musa has been destroyed with Washington totally crippled to one city. HC has been taken down to four cities before he learnt Feudalism and therefore halted my war effort against him. Hannibal has nearly been killed by HC so this has left me facing a strong Asoka (who is perilously close to Maces which would cause a major headache).

Kept my city numbers to six (three founded and three taken from Brennus early doors). Everything else has been razed to date. Tech-wise, I have now been running at 0% since around 500bc and just used pillage and raze money to keep my army moving.

Intriguingly, HC circumnavigated by around 2500bc, which was a shock as have never seen such an early date by an AI before. Also as we I leave my write up, the Pyramids, the Parthenon, Great Library, Colossus all remain untaken with the Oracle only just gone. I suppose the amount of war that has gone on has had a major contribution to this fact.

I would envisage some really early finishes and very high scores if the better players get to all of the civs pre-feudalism.

I chose the adventurer game, which seems to be a main reason for a strong start. I settled in place and sent my warrior and archer to explore. As I mapped the surrounding terrain and realized being located in a peninsula, I fortified archer nearby to stop barbarians and sent warriot to the further west. He was brave (and lucky!) and managed to made his way far enough to gain contact with everybody and learn their approximate locations.

Rome built three workboats and warrior while growing to size 4, then worker, another warrior to fogbust (just to be sure, again!) and finally two settlers. Then barracks, Oracle, and finally lots of praetorians.

Antium (2725BC) was built to wrong location, next to the copper in tundra as I forgot being creative. :( Cumae (2425 BC) was founded on perfect spot with 2 gold and 2 fish. As I knew my research rate would be very high while working both mines, I beelined first to IW and then to Priesthood for Oracle. Oracle was finished in 1675BC and I picked Code of laws. If I had forgotten BW/IW, I maybe could have even done CS slingshot. Anyone tried that?

After wonders I built strong army, declared war to Brennus in 1225 BC and Celts were history in 840BC. I razed lots of barbarian cities for money while chopping and poprushing courthouses to recover my economy. I kept most cities, tax rate was at 0%, but my scientists were working toward construction. I built GL in 530BC in Rome, hoping to get Great scientist to lightbulb philosophy. But my first GP was prophet, so I chose Theology (400 BC) instead.

Mansa Musa was my next victim, the war started in 230 BC. He was crushed in 140 AD, just before the imminent end MM chose to be a vassal for Asoka, so Indians joined the war. I didn't see many of their units before peace treaty was signed. Again I had to stop to recover and build my infrastructure, ad I kept almost all cities and even filled empty spots.

420 AD I went for Roosevelt and took half of his cities before 500AD. My goal is to vassalage him to create a buffer between me and the evil Carthagians.

(Like Murky, I'm working from memory so dates are very approximate)

Well. Romans. Marathon. Praetorians.What more can I add, other than bang!, bang!, crash!, crash!, 'Augustus, please have mercy on us. Spare our citizens' 'Tough! Sorry, bye bye innocent women and children! Say your prayers to the glory of Rome'...

Well, I can add quite a bit actually.

I did something very unusual for me, and changed my chosen victory condition based on the pre-game screenshot. Was intending spacerace but changed to domination because, ummmm, it's a marathon game and I'd like to complete it before WOTM27 starts...

Gyathaar....?

Oh what map. Evil Viking Gyathaar, where are you...?Last WOTM you'd ran into trouble partly because of no good city sites near the capital. This game you have what looks like a perfect warmongering start, and it even turns out there's iron and gold nearby. Then, set on your warmongering path, you start exploring and discover how faaaaaaaaaar awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay everyone (except Brennus) is and what lovely distance costs domination is going to cost you.

Cat and Cottages. No hang on that's wrong, I mean....

I'm not (yet) confident enough to set my research to zero and rely on scientists/city looting to fund my empire, so I prioritized pottery and tried to quickly grow a few commerce cities to back up my military effort. Brennus got absorbed into the greater Roman empire very quickly. But I hesitated to conquer Mansa Musa because of distance costs. For a long time I judged I didn't have enough units to take on his core cities, so for ages I played a game of cat and mouse, where he'd found a new city, and then a few turns later my evil bloodsucking praetorians would be along to flatten it for him. I was so concerned about distance costs that I moved the capital to (I think) Vienne, in ex-Brennus lands just as soon as I could.

American Horse-archer Stampede

Sometime in the early AD years, my noble advisors in the senate drew my attention to the problem of other civs getting too advanced while I was battling Brennus. The obvious solution was to send praetorians out to pillage them to dust until such time as I was able to conquer them. So, still fighting Mansa, I declared on America. In a demonstration of the power of sheer cockiness in the face of rational planning, I sent just two 'invincible' praetorians there to pillage, and then split them up to pillage faster. Of course one of them immediately got crushed to death by two horse archers. At that point, normal brain function finally reasserted itself and the surviving praetorian beat a hasty retreat, just in time to assist in the razing of Timbuktu.

The Circumnavigation Mystery

Other news. Sometime in the BC years someone circumnavigated the globe. That stunned the magnificent Augustus 'dynamic spirit' Caesar, leader of the Roman Empire, who was observed on many occasions travelling from the Palace to the eastern shores by Rome, to stare out at the sea in the hope of seeing some pixel indicating land, that might give a clue as to how whoever it was managed it, and in the fear that some enemy invasion force might be lying in wait, able to travel to Rome by some unforeseen sea-route, but none was ever spotted. As at 500AD I'm still baffled by it. (But there remain isolated hidden corners of the starting continent that have yet to be touched by the feet of Roman explorers, so the explanation may lie there somewhere).

Oh Wonder-ful Rome

The wonder-situation surprised me. As my forces advanced westwards, my earliest cities started to find themselves so far from the battlefront that building units in them seemed pointless. With few useful buildings available, I ended up starting wonders, purely in order to get the gold when the AI beat me to them. Trouble was, it became apparent that the AI wasn't playing along with my plan. Sometime around 0AD - it may have even been after 0AD, I realized that I was going to complete the pyramids. I was even more surprised to realize - again I think after 0AD - that the great lighthouse was still available (I was late teching to sailing so hadn't noticed before). It was a wierd feeling, starting the great lighthouse after I had a well established empire. Then I built the great library in the same city. I still wonder if I would've built the parthenon too, if I'd tried. I don't know if this is a quirk of marathon speed or the AI in warlords is less wonder-inclined or just coincidence, but it was odd. In a supposedly warmongering game too!

Longbows.... Eeek!

OTOH it wasn't long after 0AD that longbowmen started turning up. Ooops! Damned fast-teching AI. Even Mansa got them fairly soon afterwards, despite having been on 1-2 cities for ages. How??????? Luckily after some experimentation, I found that praetorians, backed by some suicide cats, can still cope with longbows.

The Mystery Deepens

Well, at 500AD I've all but destroyed Mansa and am starting to turn my attention to the Americans...


Will the praetorians succeed in dominating the world before someone researches artillary and I have to rethink my brilliant plan?
Will there be a truce over xmas while so my catapults can play football with some enemy longbows?
And if so, what will the score be?


You'll have to wait to the next spoiler to find out. Ummm, heck, what am saying? I'll have to wait till then to find out too. I haven't played that far yet.

playing adventurer. Just reached 1AD. Game is going well. Number 1 in score, number 1 in tech, number 1 in culture. Only Inca's are keeping up but don't trade.

Founded Rome in place, build 3 WB's, warrior, settler, worker, WB, settler, worker, WB, settler, Oracle.

Founded 3 religions, Hindu, Confu & Chris.

Build 3 cities, then, when having 10 preats (600BC), took 4 cities of Brennus, razed 2.

Was able to keep tech level above 70%, only had problems with happiness.

As I'm learning, I found out that although capturing a winery, that without monarchy, you do not get the wine happiness, not logic to me!

Also Brennus not wanting to settle for peace at all, being down to his last unit...unlogic as well. Now he's gone, his choice.

Missed GLighthouse by 5 turns, build GLib, heroic & national epic and Kashi V (G Prophet), and almost finished with FP.

With finishing Brennus in 340 BC got a Great General.

Next steps is probably taking out MM, and going for diplo or Space. Want to learn more about the civics, let's see how it goes......

Intriguingly, HC circumnavigated by around 2500bc, which was a shock as have never seen such an early date by an AI before.


You could circle the globe on dry land (main continent) on this map. My starting warrior moved west and kept going...2170BC I circumvented the globe. I founded my third city on the NE point (east of the gold) which helped 2-3 tiles but you also might be able to do it with just the capital border expansion if you could get far enough west into AI lands with OB.

I found that quite amusing too.

cas

edit: removed detail that might be considered spoilerish.

War, war, war. Then some more war. I like it. :lol:

Settled in place, built workboats, warriors, workers and settlers. I chopped a barracks as well. Founded second city on the eastern tip (2xGold + 2xFish) and the third to the NW (copper, fish etc). Researched Bronze Working, The Wheel and Iron Working. I decide to press on towards alphabet (Pottery, Writing, Alphabet) while building Preatorians (13 in a row - I really, really loved them!).

My scouting warrior misses Brennus and meets Mansa Musa. I steal his worker but both are quickly killed by his Malinese Skirmisher (I forgot he had that UU). At this time I realise that the map is not as good as I first thought. The distance to the other AI is a problem, and the happiness resources are located too far away (fur and silver).

There are two events that further baffles me. First, Asoka circumnavigates the globe at 2450 BC. This means one thing: the island spans the complete globe. The second event is the most impressive act of the AI that I have ever experienced: 920 BC - Oracle is built. On the same turn, the AI researched Code of Law and selects Philosophy as the Free Tech :eek: Was this pure chance? I could not have managed that better myself. These two events scares me.

My first Preatorian comes online 1855 BC. I declare on the Celtic Empire 1675 BC, raze all his cities and eliminates him 1195 BC.

I discover the Alphabet 1030 BC, and trade for:
Tech learned: Mysticism
Tech learned: Agriculture
Tech learned: Hunting
Tech learned: Animal Husbandry
Tech learned: Masonry
Tech learned: Polytheism
Tech learned: Sailing
Tech learned: Archery
Tech learned: Priesthood
Tech learned: Monotheism

I send my army of preatorians to the west and meet Mansa Musa again. I declare on him 920 BC, keeps three of his cities and razes the rest. Mali empire eliminated 420 BC. I should have razed one more, since the gain was not worth the cost. So, when barbarians advance, I evacuate the Walata (city close to marble, iron and sheep). The city is size 2, so I know it will be there later to recapture.

My first general (Charlemagne) is born in 780 BC. I assign him as an inspector in Rome, providing 2 XP for all the subsequent troops. That proved to be very useful. I also finishes Heroic Epic in Rome, which enables me to build a unit every second turn. For the rest of the game :D :D :D

310 BC - Time to relieve Washington from his duty. I raze a couple of his cities and keep Washington. I spend most commerce on unit upkeep and city maintenance but I manage to research Code of Laws, so I decide to keep a couple of cites. 260 AD - Zhuge Liang (Great General) born in Washington. This is an indication of the intensity of the battles. 360 AD - American Empire eliminated

470 AD - War declared: Incan Empire. He is far ahead in tech, and I want to break his tech trade with Hannibal (by taking his cities of course!).

I now have a general plan for the rest of the game, but I am afraid that is outside the scope of this spoiler ;) (I will post more about research, builds, wonders and great people in the next spoiler.)

A strange choice, probably, for my first WOTM. Emperor level, and I’m really only comfortable down at Noble or Prince. Marathon level, too, which I’m unfamilar with. As you can imagine, I decided to play Adventurer class.
I’m aware of (some of) my shortcomings as a player at Emperor level. Many of them can be explained by my just not thinking about things before doing them, so I decided my motto was going to be “Slow and thoughtful”. I have made notes to the kind of level that I see the teams talking things through in the SGOTMs, but I’ll spare everyone this horrendous depth and just give the high-level version.

First Assembly

The start position looked lovely, so Rome was settled in place. The military went out exploring, quickly revealing that we lived at the southern tip of a peninsula (Now called Peninsula Romanii). The spur of land containing gold at the top attracted their interest, and the cattle. An obvious spot for another city.
About this time we bumped into Brennus, or his scout at least. Shortly afterwards it was Mansa Musa (M&M). Then Washington. It was interesting to note that everyone seemed to dislike Brennus. Since I had found out he was our only near neighbour, I began to formulate a plan that ran “Get some axemen, kill Brennus, rescue his lands and, probably, wait in the Winchester with a few cold beers until this blows over”
What became apparent was how far away everyone else was. A long empty east-west corridor runs from the top of our peninsula to M&M’s lands. Where everyone else is, I don’t know.

Technology

In the meantime, we have been researching Bronze Working, which we got in 3340 BC.
We then stopped off to get Agriculture, before bee-lining for Iron Working.

Geography

While out exploring I had found a place rich in resources which I dubbed “Lush Valley”. It was quite a distance away, but had access to copper, gold, pig, silver and stone, so this made it look important as a strategic objective. If I didn’t get it, I didn’t want anyone else there either.

I also looked carefully at the lie of the land, and decided I wanted to block Brennus off, and grab as much of the land as possible for myself, before attacking.
As a result, our second city – Antium – was founded by the copper, in a position which stopped Brennus walking in and looking at the Gold spur.

About 2800 BC our third city – Cumae – was placed by the gold.

During this spell, we also met representatives of Asoka and Hannibal’s nations. They must all be hiding beyond M&M, a long way away.

Metalwork

At around 2600BC a couple of significant things happened. First we noticed that Brennus walked up and planted a city – Vienne – right outside Antium. The other thing was that we managed to hook up the copper and could begin our axe army.

Stunning Sailing Aside

In 2515 BC, Mansa Musa circumnavigated the globe.
Our people sat in silent contemplation for some minutes.
I don’t think we would be more shocked if we heard that his people had just built a nuclear-powered time chariot. Just what shape is this world?

Metalwork (continued)

The copper was used to good effect and a small but efficient axeman army was constructed. We stood them outside Vienne.
In the meantime, we discovered Iron Working (in 2215 BC) and began to construct some even more significant metal-wielders.

It took a while to prepare, but in 1795BC the fun started. Vienne became the first Axe Victim. Bibracte was next, but it was tougher and we were glad for the new Praetorians to finish the job. These we kept.
Brennus had planted 2 other cities, Tolosa and Gergovia, so we turned to them next and wiped them and the Celts from the face of the earth in 1375 BC.

Home Economics

At this point, we had eliminated our nearest rival, and expanded into the vacant territory. We were in a bit of economic trauma even before we expanded, but the desire to stake our claim in Lush Valley definitely clouded our minds, because it got a lot worse after that.

We completed Stonehenge in Rome, and were proud to be named the world’s most cultured.

Around 880 BC we founded our 2 new cities around Lush Valley. This was where the economy really went belly up.

We spent many diverting moments playing with the local barbarians, who mainly acted as training material for our Preatorians (apart from one embarrassing incident where we ran a Prae unit off the road, losing a turn and allowing a barb warrior to ruin a pasture)

We found a useful source of income in crushing barb cities. Several popped up in the north and south, and were despatched by Praetorians. One annoyance was when the barb city of Jute was nicked from under our noses by M&M’s men, who waited for us to weaken the defences before they nipped in!

A Plan

Around 500BC we hatched a plan to excape from financial ruin. It involved moving the capital to Vienne, researching Code of Laws and putting in courthouses. There were some minor points of citizen-management, and Hereditary Rule, but that was the gist.

The palace move looked like it might just be complete before 2050AD, but was helped by the appearance of Shankara, Great Prophet, who joined as a super-specialist, and evidently a dab hand at building palaces.

Games

Out of the blue, in 380 BC, M&M wants to play games. A declaration of war, and he drops chariots by Bibracte!
(In retrospect, he had made an insolent demand a few hundred years before)
Chasing the runaway chariots was fun, but mainly the war consisted of splatting some skirmishers who wandered over towards Pisae and Neapolis.
Much less fun was realising that, having no navy, you cannot do a thing about enemy galleys who decide to pillage all of your fishing boats.
It was all over by 240 BC. He was happy to give us peace.

History

In 30AD we finally completed the move of the capital to Vienne, and we learned CoL – enabling us to get going on those courthouses.
It may all be too late. We are now a long way adrift in technology. Everyone else has long lists of tech, and we have nothing to trade back to them. We are also way down the power chart. Scarcely worth mentioning the money situation! The only good thing is our culture.
A new millennium has dawned. Will the Romans be around to see its conclusion?

Intriguingly, HC circumnavigated by around 2500bc, which was a shock as have never seen such an early date by an AI before.

In my game Mansa Musa made it at 3040 BC. :crazyeye:

Who's earlier? :lol:

I really wish I could remember what I did. All I know is I captured too many cities and my economy is TANKING! Or was rather. I'm beginning to get it back on its feet, although my military is a bit weaker than what I'd like. I found Brennus pretty quick, and took him out with axes. That was really early. Then I met Mansa Musa. He had the Hindu holy city, of which I had already adopted as state religion and spread throughout every single city...9 I think (I know too many). Anyways, I capture the holy city and get a small boost from the shrine (whatever it's called). I'm pretty far back in techs atm though, and have declared on and off on Hannibal, Mansa Musa, and Asoka targeting smaller cities and using the gold captured to fund my research. Wish I had more detail.

Never played at emporer before, so I knew I was gonna be hard pressed for a win. However, I knew enough to beeline IW and utterly destroy Brennus early with about 6 praets total. However, once I captured his last city, I had to go to 10% research (and even 0% for about 5 turns!) for awhile, and after working on some gold farm cities, I am now (at 0 AD) finally back up to in the black at 30%, and eyeing Mali. They, America, and India are fairly big, so it's about time I took some off of their score :) . I think I kept too many of Brennus' cities, but I was afraid Mansa would then have too much room to expand.

That said, I have a feeling I'm gonna be submitting a loss. Skirmishers are tougher than archers :(

I've only played on Emporer level in previous GOTMs and they've been disasters but chose the Contender game anyway. Learned a lesson the hard way on this game!

Decided to settle in place and made contact with Brennus on only the 7th turn. Research BW and started exploring with warrior. Made contact with Mansa and Washington soon, before my warrior got eaten by a bear.

Built workboats first to speed up growth and worker production. My second city I built on the coast to the NW to get the cows, bronze and even more clams. The third city I built right on the tip of the eastern peninsula, to get the golds and fish. This was a good commerce city but not good for production.

I was put off going for IW next after BW as it was going to be 67 turns, so I went for some cheaper techs (Hunting, archery, Wheel, pottery).. Around this time, I was surprised to see Washington had circumnavigated the globe in 1900BC, only 142 turns played!!

I researched IW and when I found out where the iron was I wished I’d done it sooner.

Obviously, Brennus had to go because he had me cornered with only 3 cities. I quickly built a bunch of Praetorians and in 770BC I declared war on him.
Very rapidly, I captured each of his cities, healed my units and moved on. Archers are no match for praets. By 540 BC I captured his last city Gergovia.

I now had 8 cites but found my economy was in ruins!!! As I usually play on lower levels I didn’t realise how crippling it would be to hold on to that number of cities.

For a while I wasn’t sure I could recover. I had units on strike and praetorians, axemen and workers getting disbanded.

Although I also made contact with India at this time, I couldn’t trade techs with anyone as they were already more advanced than me – I had nothing to offer. I had to alternate between turning off research and emphasising commerce in all my cities to get a bit of cash, then switching back to research to get CoL. It took ages. By 500 AD I was only halfway through and getting seriously left behind by the others…:sad:

I went with the adventure version as the only civ game I play anymore is the SGOTM game. I settled in place and headed straight for BW. My first builds were WB, WB, warrior and I forget what was after that.

At first the only two contacts I made were Brennus (almost out of the gate) and Washington. Soon after meeting Washington my exploring warrior got stomped on my barbs. As I recall, he was flanked by wolves and bears. Though I managed to fend off the canines I quickly fell under the claws of grizzlies.

Just as BW was getting close to completion I put a settler in the queue in hopes of copper being close by. By that time I had built another warrior so sent him up to guard the copper until my settler was complete. My second city took the copper, cows, and the whales.

My third city came soon after the second and went to the peninsula to the north. It grabbed both of the gold (or was it gems) and the fish.

Since I had copper, but didn’t have any sort of explorer I set research to Sailing. As soon as it was complete I built a couple tiramins and sent them out exploring the coasts. Unlike everyone else, I managed to be the first to circumnavigate the globe.

After Sailing I put off IW and instead headed for Writing for the libraries and OB. I wanted the research boost and to be able to keep my ships moving along the coast. Once that was accomplished I went back to IW for the prats.

At this time I have three cities and Brennus is beginning to hem me in. I’ve built a few axmen standing post at the narrow section just west of the copper, but Brennus has just dropped a city close by there. Once IW is complete I start hammering out prats as fast as possible. Being the considerate neighbor I am, I make sure to build roads up to Brennus’s cities prior to our upcoming engagement. A couple turns before I declared Brennus dropped another city in between my capitol and copper city. Oh well, easy money.

When I started the war I only had six prats ready to enter Brennus’s lands. I had another prat sitting outside the just built city, plus two more prats that were on the way to Brennus’s lands. I had planned on waiting until they got there but Brennus sent a couple of his archers out of the city I was getting ready to attack. I couldn’t let this pass me by so went a head and dow’ed. Prats versus archers is rather easy and Brennus fell just as easy. The worst part about this battle is I kept every city except one. Big mistake.

My economy tanked due to all my cities, the money gained from the war was the only thing keeping me afloat. I ended up running 0% research for a while and have slowly built up to 20%. Amazingly, I’ve been able to research techs, or lightbulb them, that the AI hasn’t and have been able to trade so I don’t fall to far behind.

Currently my economy is slowly making a comeback, though I’ve still got a ways to go. The other AI are so far away, and advanced, it’s not worth going for war. If I manage to complete this one I’ll probably go for either Diplo or Space.

I believe my biggest problem is I’m not used to Emperor level and haven’t taken that into consideration.

So far it looks like, although we all should know better by now, almost all of us kept too many cities :lol: I've played emperor before, but it's been awhile. Oh well, I think we've all learned a mighty lesson.

First game ever on marathon
First GotM I intend to submit
And I'm not really comfortable at emperor...

SO I'm quite happy with my game.
At 245AD, I have finally currency and CoL, construction + a huge pile of gold from selling techs.
My army isn't impressive enough to totally overwhelm Mansa Musa, although I captured timbuktu and razed a few minor cities.
Brennus RIP, and I have 9 or 10 cities, nicely courthoused and cottaged up.
I built the great lighthouse and am currently building the great Library and HE with marble (10 th city just for this, building at marathon speed is slow!)
I'm not techleading at all, but I still can research some new techs and stay in the race.

@Mauer
Very true. It looks like, with a few significant exceptions, we are all telling the same story.
What makes it harder to take is when you saw it coming, only kept half of Brennus' cities, and still ended up in the same mess. I wish I had the foresight, and patience, to calculate these things before they happen.

What makes it harder to take is when you saw it coming, only kept half of Brennus' cities, and still ended up in the same mess. I wish I had the foresight, and patience, to calculate these things before they happen.

True, but look at it this way. When you started you anticipated a problem and took some precautions. Now you have learned that the precautions you took were not enough. Tell me, the next time you play a game at this level are you not going to remember this, and try a different tactic? I know I will.

Thanks to the GOTM Staff, as this map has been an excellent lesson for this difficulty level. :clap:

@Mauer
Very true. It looks like, with a few significant exceptions, we are all telling the same story.
What makes it harder to take is when you saw it coming, only kept half of Brennus' cities, and still ended up in the same mess. I wish I had the foresight, and patience, to calculate these things before they happen.

I kept about the right number of Brennus cities for the economy to stay healthy, but when you eliminate/raze 2-3 AI on pangea and don't fill the void...the AI will. Over time and left unchecked, the remaining AI get very powerful and become a real pain. Not so much of a problem for conquest/dom, but a very tough balancing act for the other VC's.

cas

@Methos
You're absolutely right. It's very much a learning exercise for many of us at this difficulty level. Well done to Gyathaar! Without going beyond the scope of this thread, I'm still enjoying the experience later on - despite fighting a long catch-up battle.

@cas
Very true. It's a fine line we have to tread between keeping our empire small enough to be manageable, but not allowing the AI too much headway.
I'm more used to this balancing act at Prince level, which is obviously so much more forgiving. You can get away with inaccuracies. At Emperor, there's no such forgiveness. Still alive and kicking, though.

I decided to play as safe as I possible could early on this game to make sure i wouldnt die or ruin my start. So i went hunting -> archery.

My first city i calculated that it would be better to go 3 hammer tile and workboat, instead of growing imediatly, this skimmed off 3 turns on my growing to size 2, when i started to build a setler. Here was my first mistake as my 2nd workboat had 30 hammers left and after the settler was done I think i had like 16 hammers left (lost some hammers due to too long in que AUCH.)

Anyways I went for the sexy gold and fish location to boost some reserach for bw and iron working. Second mistake done, i didnt get road tech early, so I had to switch in the middle of iron working to it. auch :(

Fast forward a bit (Apart from the shock that the americans circumvented the globe very very early - I didnt think of it much until i read this tread and realized what that ment for the shape of the land.)

Anyways I take on brennus and make sure ive secured alphabet before i start taking over all the cities so even if my economy goes to hell i can research - and get libaries for great scientists.

The plan works, i get two trading partners (india and mali) that keeps me ahead in gold and i conquer the whole of brennus land. Its now 40 ad and im torn between moving my palace to the total left side of the land and conquer mali or play peacefull. If i conquer mali i will only have one more trading partner (india) and we are not the same religion so that aint gonna last for long either....

Before i go ahead and play more turns ive been thinking (during a shower actually lol) that since i get cheap libaries I should build wealth instead of research, since building wealth/research is not affected by libary bonuses etc, only construction bonus building affect it.

Im also wondering to set up a granery in a food strong city and making it grow to size 6, mass scientist so it has 1 food left, then mass scientist of everyone in the city so it drops to 5 and then let it grow back to 6 and repeat - to maxmise my great person production.

Anyways lots of options and stuff to do! I think i need to start playing carefull again as i have much fewer millitary (on purpose as im in pasifism) but you never know if someone will turn on me and kill me.. I am also torn between doing a domination victory/conquest or space victory :)

I went for a fast domination win. The last few G/WOTM I went heavy research to get to Bio in order to get a high score with pop. This time, I thought it would be better to use the Prats to attack early prior to Feud, especially on Marathon. Test games showed that you can kill quite a bit with them. Of course, if you don't hook up iron, pretty much game over, lucky us. In test games was to get as far as I could prior to Feud and even then with Cats, they still attack a lot like Maces which is what I conquer with most of the time.

I did the same thing in terms of keeping cities as what was described above. I kept about half of Bren and then half of Mansa. Made sure I kept a road network (to the south) that would be clear from barbs. I didn't clear the barbs to the north. I think I had nine cities total 3 built - 3 captured from each. That way I could whip + chop to get Courthouse + FP in a Mansa city that I expected was near the middle of the map. Also, I didn't have a problem with AI filling in because I didn't do any open borders and 2 of the Mansa cities cut off things. Of course, I was attacking everyone in site, so I'm not sure how much problem "fill in" would really be even with open borders. Definitely, it made it a challenge to balance conquest and research.

I think my research was BW - Wheel - Ag - AH - Writing (whipped libraries) - IW - Alpha. Then I went to 0 research while I traded up to Priest. Then went for CoL. Was able to fund most of CoL off of conquests.

After CoL, I went to 0 research again for quite a while until my cities were pretty built up and generating good $. Since I don't care about getting to Bio, the only techs I figure I need after CoL are Calendar (+happy), Const (Cats), Monarch would be nice for (+happy), Currency would be nice for extra trade route and Forums, but really Calendar and Const are only necessary techs for my plan.

FYI - I almost always stop attacking when a civ has one city left to get best techs I can get. It's pretty rare to get techs a second time, so just kill them the second time around.

Oi. This is my first GOTM...and this Monarch treader is hanging on. Barely.

I did play challenger as useal.

Even I allmost never use starting warrior to steal worker, still, no warrior mean o exploration and no hats.
On this speed no warrior meaning no warrior for a looonnng time.
Actially it was my first ever game on Maraphon and I really hated it. Everything sooo slow.
Back to the game, I do not remember details, but settle in place and went work boat-work boat-warrior-worker I think. Work forested plain hill on start for max shields.

Idea was to grow ASAP, but I discover that on this speed city take agess to grow.
Research wize I really forgot, I think I went mining-bronse working and adopt slavery 2830 BS.
Build warrior went and found gold and cooper.

Where to settle? Settle near crabs and cooper, forgot I am creative for a sec and was thinking need to research mysticism for border pop.
Just to show I do not remember new leaders tr aits yet.

But border pop befor I actially started to research it.

Lots of scout found me even befor I build first warrior, so I had no idea where anyone is, untill my warrior found Brenus.

Antium founded 2650 BC and
thurd city on penecial with 2 sea resources and gold in 2065 BC.

Well, I do not think I even beelined to iron working.
I had bronse, I was happy.

Build stack of axes and declare on Brenys why researching alphavit for some extorcion.
Declared 1135BC.
Captured Viviene 1120BC and capita in 1000 BC.
I wander why Brenus near as? So we can beat him up after WotM3? It was a fun game.
870 captured thurd city and made peace.
I think I got iron working form peace deal.

Build some Praetorians.
In a mean time all my exploration attempt did not work because my scouts/warriord dying of barbarian and Cartagen never open borders.
320 BC declare second war.
Darn Brenus build a lot of cities in a mean time.
captured 2 more of them 300 and 240 bc and made second peace.

Got GG 240BC.

Join him to an expirience axe, thinkign about a free upgrade to Praetoruians --- oppss. One can not upgrade to UU, darn.
He survived the whole game, retreating one time.
100+ exp.
I give him City riders/ retreat+ expirience promotions.
I think at the end he was a Green with city rider3, retreat, expirience,
combat4+march promotions. Brave general.

Research wize I went after Dramma, as I wanted to grow cities ASAP and leverage creative trait.

After dramma I research litherature and build GL in Rome 110BC.

I pair in with NE, as capital was food rich, had forest to chop and I allredy know shape of land. It would take for ever for units run form capital.

I deducated ex Brenus capital as GT city, whipping HA and trow overflow into GT. It seems on this speed HA is a first unit that take 2 pop to whipe.
40BC got GS and used it to Philosofy.
I actialy adopt and used Hinduism all game, as it's spread to me.

Masta+washinton were hindi, Asoka buddist.
Adopt Pacifism.
100AD got next GS, used it for Compas and as trade bite.
110AD declared on Brenus again and was thinkign I took/aise all his remaining cities, but he was still alive! He sneak 1 more city on ice far north.

210AD made peace again.
320AD declared and kill him finally 330AD.
so 500AD I have 10 cities I think and teaching to Feodalism-burocracy.

Join him to an expirience axe, thinkign about a free upgrade to Praetoruians --- oppss. One can not upgrade to UU, darn.


Point of info: I'm not aware of any no-upgrade-to-UU rule. I think the issue is that axemen upgrade to macemen, not to swordsmen.

Over time and left unchecked, the remaining AI get very powerful and become a real pain. Not so much of a problem for conquest/dom, but a very tough balancing act for the other VC's.
cas

Yeah, Mansa's eating me alive like that since so far I seem to have been the slowest to take out Brennus. This has been rough, but it's helping.

Point of info: I'm not aware of any no-upgrade-to-UU rule. I think the issue is that axemen upgrade to macemen, not to swordsmen.

DOH! *slaps forehead* I guess that's why my stack of axes used to take out Brennus wouldn't upgrade :crazyeye: Makes sense now that you point it out :)

CONTENDER

It is 1AD and our Praetorians are before the gates of Djenne and Timbuktu.

That is so far away that the news from back home has not reached them yet: the treasury is empty, and we have no income at 0% science. Paper has just been discovered and that will be it, it seems. Rome will advance no further, it will collapse under its own weight. There are forges coming online everywhere where a wiser ruler would have ordered courthouses. Is this the end? :p

Ah, in the good old days we had just three towns: Rome, where life began, Antium on the northeast cape and Cumae on the northern shore. We were hemmed in by the barbaric Celts, but within our borders living was good. In 2095bc our exploring Warrior proved that the world is a cilinder.
The Romans founded two religions: Buddhism, the state religion, and Confucianism. The Great Lighthouse tripled foreign trade and in 890bc the completion of the Oracle gave the empire the best administrative tool ever invented: bureaucracy.

Then iron was connected and some idiot let loose the mighty Praetorians. They made short work of the neighbouring Celts, ignoring the fact that they had converted to our state religion. Several inferior towns were burned to the ground, but others were kept.
West of the Celts the Praetorians set their eyes on the kingdom of Mali, with better defenders called Skirmishers. It just had to go. New Praetorians boarded fast galleys to hurry to the frontline, where some were sacrificed to weaken the defenders so the more experienced units could finish off without risk. As the holy Judaist town of Djenne is besieged, an order for three dozen catapults to support the war effort has just reached Rome. If they arrive late, there are always more barbarian tribes...


Technology
4000 Fishing, Mining
3670 Mysticism
3295 Meditation
2890 Sailing
2650 Wheel
2395 Priesthood
2125 Writing
1570 Alphabet; Pottery, Hunting, Masonry, Polytheism, Agriculture, Bronze Working (trade)
1555 Monotheism, Archery, Animal Husbandry (trade)
1240 Mathematics
1150 Iron Working (trade)
900 Code of Laws
890 Civil Service (Oracle)
660 Currency; Monarchy (trade)
640 Calendar (trade)
570 Literature
430 Metal Casting
230 Machinery
1 Paper

Towns
4000 Rome
2725 Antium
1750 Cumae
620 Tolosa (Celts)
590 Vienne (Celts)
520 Bibracte (Celts)
480 Alemanni (Barbarians)
420 Gao (Mali)
380 Neapolis
330 Niani (Mali)
190 Chehalis (Barbarian)
130 Walata (Mali)
30 Ardaghost (Mali)

Rome
4000 Founded
3880 2-radius
3820 Work Boat
3565 =2
3490 Work Boat
3325 =3
3295 Buddhism
3100 3-radius
3085 =4
3070 Warrior
2800 Settler
2635 Worker
2545 Work Boat
2395 Lighthouse
2290 =5
2170 Warrior
2155 =6
1975 Library
1810 Settler
1705 Worker
1585 Worker
1480 Worker
1235 =7 B Temple
990 GREAT LIGHTHOUSE
890 ORACLE
880 Confucianism (m)
820 Barracks
810 Praetorian
800 Praetorian
770 Praetorian
740 Praetorian
710 Praetorian
680 Praetorian
640 Praetorian
600 =8
580 C Temple
540 Academy (GS)
530 Granary
430 Great General, Instructor (GG)
340 Forge
300 Forum
280 =10
210 HEROIC EPIC
200 Praetorian
190 Spearman
180 Praetorian
170 Spearman
160 Archer
150 Praetorian
140 Archer
130 Praetorian
120 Archer
110 Praetorian
100 Archer
20 COLOSSUS
10 Catapult
1 =11 Catapult

The combination of marathon and emperor was new to me, so I generated a test map and played a bit to see what happened. I found that it was very easy to overexpand since the pretorians were so very strong, and the cost of building units was relatively cheap. Code of Laws is essential before capturing cities (razing is ok). CivSetä suggested a nice tactic in the pre-game discussion thread that I tried out in my test game, where I managed to get CoL from the Oracle somewhere around 1500 BC.


Ok, time to load up the real thing.

The early expansion

Settled in place, met both Brennus and Mansa very early. Is it a crowded map after all? Didn't find out since my exploring warrior stopped when he reached Brennus and sat down waiting for a worker to steal. Sure enough, an unescorted worker appears in 3310 BC. Stolen and escorted home. Peace with Brennus after 11 turns. :)

Rome built, in order:
Work Boat x2
Warrior x2
Settler - founded Antium 2905 BC on NE tip, getting 2 gold and two fish. I risked missing the copper but this seemed unlikely as Brennus was set back by my worker steal.
Work boat x2 (both for Antium)
Worker
Settler - founded Cumae 2305 BC, finally getting the copper
Oracle - finished in 1825 BC thanks to a couple of forest chops
Next, all three cities shift to building barracks and troops: axes and prets.


Early research:
Bronze working 3385- nice, bronze is close. I can now beeline to Priesthood/writing for a CoL slingshot without having to worry about defense
Wheel 3055
Mysticism 2785
Meditation 2500
Priesthood 2290 - Rome starts on the Oracle immediately
Writing 1945 - ahead of my research schedule for the CoL slingshot. The 2 gold mines at Antium really helped a lot
Code of Laws 1810 - from the Oracle, Confucianism founded in Antium and I convert at once, _and_ adopt Caste system
Iron Working 1525
Alphabet 1015 - I now trade for the missing early techs, but still manage to keep a monopoly on Alphabet

War with the Celts (1000 BC - 780 BC)
Declare on Brennus with an initial army of 4 prets and 2 axes. With a few reinforcements it is enough to capture four cities and raze a fifth, eliminating the Celtic Empire in 780 BC. Bibcrate and Vienne (on coast NE of Bibcrate) become science cities with a lot of scientists in each, while Tolosa (NW of Bib, w/pigs, wine and copper) and Gergovia (due N of Bib) are used for production.
Brennus had a couple of Axemen but not nearly enough to make a difference.


Another builder phase
Spent some time building courthouses and connecting cities and resources. Maybe too much time. Running Caste system was nice for research, but much slower than Slavery when trying to get things built...
Captured a barbarian city on top of the fur on the N coast, with 2 fish and a horse as well. Costly, but it gave a happiness resource (and a second one once borders expanded to include the silver)

Rome finishes Great Lighthouse in 430 BC. Excellent, gives +2 trade routes in all coastal cities. And all my cities save one are coastal! :)
Kong Miao in Antium 220 BC from Great Prophet! Even more money! :)

Send out two triremes to explore, meet all other civs eventually and map out almost the whole continent.

Research
Monarchy 710 BC - on the way to Feudalism to be able to Vassalize
Mathematics 520 BC - trade with Indians
Feudalism 80 BC

War with Mali (170 BC - 20 BC, 80 AD - 270 AD)
With Feudalism soon finished I decide it is time to conquer Mansa Musa. In the first half of the war I capture three cities and raze one. Make peace since I don't have catapults yet and there are both walls and culture to overcome. Mansas core cities are quite well defended too.
Redeclare as the first catapults are arriving at the frontline, capture first Djenne and then Timbuktu. Mansa now capitulates and I have my first vassal! :)

I passed by several of Mansas cities on my way to Timbuktu. I calculated on an earlier capitulation if I captured his capital, and that was probably a wise decision.

Research
Monotheism 10 BC - from peace treaty with Mansa
Construction 30 AD
Calendar 50 AD - trade
Philosophy 110 AD - from scientist, Taoism founded in Antium. A double holy city!
Literature 110 AD
Currency, Horseback Riding 210 AD - trades
Metal Casting 290 AD



All in all, a very cautious approach to avoid overexpanding too early. As I mentioned above, the tradeoff between caste system and slavery is very frustrating. Oh, how I like Spiritual leaders! Especially on marathon, where the anarchy seems to last forever.

By the way, I don't think anyone has commented on it yet, so...


I really enjoyed discovering that not only did we get to play as the Romans with the Celts as our closest neighbours, we also started on the tip of the Italian "boot". If you haven't noticed, check the map... :) :) :)

Didnt want to spend the whole week pushing units around again, so thought I go against the main stream and try a culture win, which I never tried before. Will see how that goes...
So I found Buddhism, later Taoism and Christianity. Could have easily done Hindu and Islam as well, as nobody seemed to want it forever. But how was I to know !?

Same goes for the wonders, as others had said, most of them just were sitting there forever. Guess the AI was all sitting in the jungle, they were all sooo slow for Emperor game.

I build the usual 3 cities, get Metal Casting from the Oracle, end have the alphabet monopol and trade a lot. Build the Great Lighthouse and the Colossus. I trade with my Buddhist buddy Brennus, but the AI keeps asking me about every 2-3 turns to stop trading. I refuse, so everyone is getting pissed at me. This sucks. I give up my pacifist ideas and brab Vienne, Gergovia, Bibracte (Pyramids and Parthenon built within just a few turns in this city that has almost NO production, but now it's mine :cool: ), and a few more. Economy no problem thanks to the Buddhist shrine and GLH.

In the early AD I get the Artist from Music, build the GL, and the Christian Shrine, which is a waste as it doesnt spread at all and I have no patience building missionaries that end up failing to spread anyway. This puts a huge dent in my cultural victory plans. I also just realize Legendary means 150,000 cutlure points, Oh boy, no quick game I guess.

Rome gets his Academy, and at this point I'm debating switching VC but I'm torn - dont want to march through this long continent, but dont want the AI to do that and then launch a space ship before I can get the culture points.
Space Ship for me is out of the question as I lack production.

Rome rocks, and 2 more halfway OK cities, that's not going to win a space race. Well we shall see - so far it is super easy for Emperor, but who knows, the Incan fleet might just be setting sails towards Rome :confused:

No post since December 26th?!? I'm always a week behind everyone else!

Woe that such days have fallen upon beloved Rome!
Where the warriors of yesteryear?
Legions trod the vain Celts beneath glorious sandals!
These whelps now calling themselves warriors
Are not fit to wash the feet of Praetorians
That vanquished Vercingetorix!
Rome yearns for a hero,
a Caesar fit to rule and conquer!

All Hail Augustus!

***
Back to current reality. :)

My test game led me to expect a large continent with barbarian generating open spaces, and one opponent close by. The starting location is hammer oriented, and I planned initial development to use the seafood and hills. Also, money is going to be a heck of a problem, so I prayed :crazyeye: for a money location close by, and included cottages in my plan.

The initial track:
Rome founded
Rome begins: Work Boat
Rome begins: Work Boat
Rome begins: Warrior
Romle begins: Worker
Research begun: Bronze Working
Research begun: Hunting
Research begun: Archery

The Celts find me on turn seven! Fear us, Brennus!

Gyathaar hears my prayer, providing a money city to the north. Also, Cu is available Northwest of that. This sets my initial three city locations. I settle too close to the Cu, perhaps trying to avoid pressure from Brennus.

Turn 74 (2890 BC)
Contact made: Incan Empire
Turn 76 (2860 BC)
User comment: Huayna Capac is 1st to circumnavigate the globe. Apparently, ships are unneeded. Why does not his scout not pick up an exrtra movement point? It seems so unfair!

Turn 121 (2185 BC)
War declared: Celtic Empire
Archer defeats (3.00/3): Celtic Worker
I was going to wait until Iron Working came in, and I saw where Fe was, but the worker was just too juicy!

Turn 165 (1525 BC)
User comment: What is this, Linear World? Looks like RingWorld, aka Larry Niven.

Turn 173 (1405 BC)
War declared: Celtic Empire
Praetorians are ready.

Turn 190 (1150 BC)
Captured Tolosa (Brennus)
Celtic Empire eliminated
The Celtic empire evaporates like gelato in the sun, leaving a sticky financial mess behind.

Rome keeps three Celtic cities, only one of which is really good, the capital Bibracte.

My economy doesn't tank as badly as some posting here. Rome has six cities, a least one too many. I don't take any cities in the Barbarian Gap (The Teutorburgerwald?) until I absolutely must have one to remedy happiness troubles. Even then, I raze them and resettle to grab the resources properly.

I don't go on to annihilate Mansa, because I haven't yet figured out that you've got to raze nearly all cities you capture on this map. Or maybe on Emperor.

At this point in the game, I speculate that Conquest would be doable, or Space Ship if I could only research!

Turn 212 (880 BC)
User comment: Where the Heck is everybody??
Turn 218 (820 BC)
User comment: The Brave scout continues on, exploring to the end of the world, which now appears imminent, with the discovery of Washington!

Washington is a looooooooong way from Mansa, as Mansa was from Brennus. The evil nature of the low water map is becoming very clear.

Turn 225 (750 BC)
Tech learned: Alphabet
User comment: Got Alpha, it appears I am close to the AI's except in the religious track, where they are far ahead.
User comment: Went ahead and traded Alpha, which I would never do in a lower difficulty game, or maybe not in a faster game.

I figured I needed to trade it, as I had little else, and I believe one AI had discovered it.

Turn 252 (480 BC)
Johannes Kepler (Great Scientist) born in Rome
Turn 253 (470 BC)
User comment: Dilemma - If put GP towards tech, moves me forward, but no long term benefit, like I usually get from Academy. But there is no obvious Research town where can get 20+ beakers / turn currently.
Tech learned: Compass

Turn 271 (290 BC)
Tech learned: Metal Casting

Finally, now Forges for happiness.

Turn 312 (120 AD)
Bibracte finishes: The Colossus

Turn 316 (160 AD)
Rome finishes: The Great Library

These two Wonders keep Rome in the game, and:

Turn 315 (150 AD)
Tech learned: Code of Laws


And this will allow Rome to sack Mansa -- but after this spoiler is over!

Turn 354 (532 AD)
Rome finishes: Heroic Epic

A bit after the spoiler, but worth inclusion. Rome is/will become the military production center of the empire.

***
In summary, while I utilized the excellent starting position to defeat Brennus easily, I did not know how to carry this victory forward. My thanks to Erkon, JimBeam345, Doc TK and others, showing that razing cities while eliminating civs can be the path to victory. Seem heartless, though. :cry:

Well, I'm finially getting around to part 1 of this. Submitted my game already. Maybe I'll do part 2 later today and maybe not. ;)

So I'm a tad fuzzy on what happened before 2875BC as I forgot to turn my autolog on until then, but I'll try to guess. First, I started this game with the intention of going space race. I founded in place and I believe I started by building a work boat and researching Bronze Working, then I built a second work boat while my city was growing and then a worker and then a settler. I may have gotten a 2nd worker in there, but I'm not sure. I know I ended up dropping my 2nd city NW of Rome so that it got the cows and the copper and my 3rd on the NE peninsula to get the gold and the fish. After that, I was blocked in from building any more good cities by the Celts. I tried to build a 4th city on the other side of him on the river with 2 flood plains, but a barbarian archer happened to be next to it immediately when it was founded and killed it and the warrior inside in only 2 turns in 2095BC.

In 2875BC, Asoka circumnavigated the world. This is what made me think to check my autolog and get it turned on. ;)

After Bronze Working, I went Road Building, Pottery, Writing, Alphabet. I had considered going for Iron Working in here, but since I had copper I wasn't too concerned about it and you can usually trade Alphabet for Iron Working anyway.

I got Alphabet in 1555BC, the same turn I built my first Axeman. I ended up trading for Mysticism, Agriculture and Hunting and saving Alphabet for the moment. I believe I was able to only get one of Math or Iron Working and was saving it to trade for both. At any rate, I went for Polytheism and Literature at this point so I could build the Great Library, with Rome pumping out Axemen this whole time.

I finished Literature in 1090BC and had Antium start building The Great Library. I also traded for all the rest of the Ancient Age techs around this point, including Iron Working. Another thing is I noticed that I was going to have an awful lot of coastal cities, so I decided having The Great Lighthouse would be a good idea and started building a lighthouse in Rome in 990BC and the Great Lighhouse in 950BC.

Of course building two wonders when I only have three cities makes it hard for me to start building Praetorians, but... not a problem, I already have plenty of Axemen! I declared war on the Celts in 970BC. In 960BC, I captured Vienne and in 940BC I captured Tolosa. I shortly decided that I could probably use some Praetorians (after I got the iron hooked up) and stopped building the Great Lighthouse to build some. After pumping out a few, I went back to working on the wonder. In 780 BC, I captured Bibactre and in 660BC I razed Gergovia to finish off the Celts.

At this point I had 6 cities. I finished the Great Library in 730BC and the Great Lighthouse in 660BC. So far, all 6 of my cities were coastal and benefitted from the Great Lighthouse. I noticed at this point that the Oracle still hadn't been built and that I could build it in a fairly short amount of time via chopping, so I decided to give it a shot. It didn't end up working out though, as the Incans built it shortly after I started (but before I finished my chopping so I wasted little), and took Civil Service! with it.

After Literature, I went Metal Casting, Code of Laws, Civil Service, Paper. I got my first Academy in 350BC. I love Academies and generally work towards getting Scientists at the exclusion of all other GPs. It was around 100 BC that I decided my economy was going well enough to expand some more and I build a few more settlers. I founded city #7 Pisae (flood plains) in 40BC and Ravenna (silver, pig and lots of hills) in 50AD. Ravenna became my first and only dedicated production city. It was also in 50AD that I finished Civil Service and changed civics. At this point I had forges, granaries and libraries in most of my (older) cities and was starting to work on a few forums. With 8 cities, I was still ready to expand some more, but I was going to need some military to do it, with one barbarian city to capture north of Ravenna (with furs) and Mansa Musa to the west of that, with other random barbarian cities around to be taken care of. Rome was able to pump out Praetorians every 2-3 turns and did. After that, it pumped out a few settlers then some more Praetorians. I founded my 9th city on the furs in 280AD. In 350 AD, I founded Philosophy and Taoism, and I'm continuing to mass a bunch of Praetorians, and that is where I will end this post. :)

Gack! I just submitted GOTM13 earlier this week, and thought I'd try this 'marathon' speed game. Not for me! Too slow; I'll never have a chance to finish it with my computer. On to France and GOTM14. :)