Here is a demonstration of my strategy explained first time in here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=208394). In general my strategy is to rush nearest opponent early, recover, and beeline to Liberalism. Later the victory is guaranteed in any preferred way, domination or space race are propably the two most optimal victories for this strategy.


Settings for this demogame are:
continents - temperate - high sea level - standard size - emperor level - marathon speed


I wanted to give a try to some leader I never play, so I chose Alex. (philosophical and aggressive, starts with hunting and fishing) He does not have mining, so my traditional strategy of getting BW first had to change. His traits support my strategy, aggressive helps on early rush and philosophical helps generating great scientists.

Here we go. Not too good starting size, but will do. Start work boat, as we have seafood and we need time to research mining and BW to chop. Settling on plains hill is a nice bonus. A hut in city radius gives us a map. Looks like we are south of the equator.
My building order was workboat - warrior (who was used to carefully scout northern jungle) - worker - settler - settler - warrior - worker - warrior - barracks - axes. (Production until rush in two other cities: Sparta: warrior - monument (chopped) - barracks - axes. Corinth: barracks - axes.)

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0000.jpg

Second hut gave us some gold. Nice!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0001.jpg

First neighbour appears to be Mansa. He is annoying, because he can tech really fast and he is hard to beat in space race. Usually he is in other continent, which makes killing him hard, but this time it is different. I really hate him, so killing him eventually will make my day!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0002.jpg

Second opponent I met was Catherine! I hate her too. She will play nice until an unexpected backstab. She has a very strong early game, imperialistic trait mines fast settlers and creative helps expansion. I'm afraid I'll lose some nice city spots to her.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0003.jpg

My scout gets more gold! Some early techs could have been nice, but gold is ok. It allows many turns of deficit spending.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0004.jpg

In the same turn my scout was eaten by a bear I met Brennus. I don't know him very well, he is usually an early vassal of stronger neighbour. Why not killing him first if he is near enough? Mansa has skirmishers, Cathy is creative so he is propably the easiest one.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0005.jpg

Here is what my scout revealed before dying. Bronze is really close to the capital of Mansa. I'll still build my second city near it if I could. An I did! My initial research order was mining - bw - archery - mysticism (to pop borders of second city to catch copper) - wheel - agr - ah - pottery - writing - alphabet. It always works fine.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0006.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0007.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0008.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0009.jpg

I was planning to build build my third city in the river bank next to a ivory resource. But Brennus was a little bit faster, so I had to found Corinth on the shore. It has some cows though, so it is a good library city. Sparta is going to be my military city, altough it does not have as many hills I wanted.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0010.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0011.jpg

After border pop I started to build axes. I chopped some forest to fasten the process.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0012.jpg

Some gems were founded near Athens. What a nice surprice, it allows my cities grow one pop bigger. As you can see I don't have too many luxury resources, so this is a really huge bonus. It helps my science also.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0013.jpg

My initial plan was to attack Cathy; she has nice city sites and she is propably most dangerous opponent in a long run. I want to take care of here before I face cossacks.

Next post - early rush

Soon I realized that Timbuktu was going to grab my copper! I was planning to attack Catherine first, but because I only had 10 axes ready to roll and horses not connected, I had to change my plans. I decided to attack Mansa instead. I didn't want to risk by waiting any longer.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0014.jpg

Unfortunately he had skirmishers, and he had already built walls in the capital! I had to make a long journey because river surrounded Timbuktu in north, east and south, so he had enough time to build fourth defender, which of course had city defender promotion.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0015.jpg

My odds are not high, so this fight is going to be fierce! Future of my empire will depend on this battle.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0016.jpg

My first six attackers died, but last four fighted bravely and Timbuktu fell to my hands! I was able to build axes again, which I did immediately, because I needed reinforcements.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0017.jpg

Brennus suggested open borders, and I said yes. I don't mind if he founds some cities to southern tundra.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0018.jpg

In Djenne my changes were much better. Many men had to die, though, before the city was burned down. It was too far away from my capital and in wrong location, one tile from coast.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0019.jpg

Gao has a too big garrison. I'll go somewhere else.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0020.jpg

So I captured Kumbi Saleh instead (screenshot missing) and returned with hardened veterans. It's going to be easy. I had to sign peace because I couldn't kill his stack (lost some axes) which threathtened Timbuktu. I didn't want to gamble losing Timbuktu, which has a good production and commerce potential thanks to many forest and river tiles.

I kept Kumbi Saleh also, as it is located on river. It is going to get some cottages soon to fund my research. It always had silk, which I need one day.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0021.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0022.jpg

I could not kill him, but at least he is no threat anymore.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0023.jpg

Here is my empire after war. I rushed libraries in my three original cities and hired some scientists. First scientist is going to born in Corinth, next in Sparta and third in Athens. In my last game I had problems generating great scientist soon enough, so this time I don't take any changes!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0024.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0026.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0027.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0028.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0029.jpg

Continued in next post

continued from the last post

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0030.jpg

Resource locations and cultural influence:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0031.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0032.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0033.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0034.jpg

I reached Alphabet around 500BC. Because my start was kind a slow, everyone already had writing. I had to decide wether trade it away or not. I would like to wait a to trade IW also, but I don't know. I was hoping that Mansa would trade me also, but it looks like I razed too many of his cities.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0035.jpg

I decided to start trading, because I wanted to chop Great Library. I needed mathematics to make it efficient.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0036.jpg

Brennus gave me lots of tech. I was no afraid about WFYABTA, because I am propably going to kill him anyway. Or at least I believe Cathy is going to...

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0037.jpg

After trades:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0038.jpg

Fist GS was born in 500BC. He built academy in my capital.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0039.jpg

My economy was ok, as you can see I am running on green and slider is set in 30%.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0041.jpg

Here are all the cities again. When corinth accomplished GS it started to grow again. You don't need to rush every city as big as it could grow, sometimes other needs have higher priority.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0042.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0043.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0044.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0045.jpg

No new techs to trade.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0046.jpg

When I reached Literature there was still 7 turns to generate GS in Athens. I decided to keep scientist working, I believe I have enough time to chop GL. And I want GS from Athens, Sparta can support scientists a little bit longer as I don't have anything nice military units to build. I could start Heroic Epic, but I think there is still enough time before Construction.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0047.jpg

Cathy traded some spices to me. Nice, my cities can grow one pop bigger now. It helps much!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0048.jpg

Aah, Mansa is online again. You stupid friend of mine! I'll take all your goodies and later kick your ass again! :)

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0049.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0050.jpg

GS was born. Time to work hills.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0051.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0052.jpg

Corinth hired scientist again. I don't expext any GS born there again, I just want to speed up my research. I have to get CoL asap, I have scientist ready to pop Philosophy. And taoism is not founded yet

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0053.jpg

I decided to try building Parthenon in Timbuktu. I have lot of forests to chop, and with it I could get even more Great Scientists!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0055.jpg

Brennus ask my help. Why not harrash that annoyning Mansa again!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0056.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0057.jpg

Few turns later Cathy declared war to Brennus. This is nice, I'm safe for a while. I haven't build more troops since the first war, so I was an easy target. Thanks Cathy, you made a right choice!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0059.jpg

Men, what is it with people these days. You start with cows, rice and sea food as a philosophical civ. Enough mines to make your capital a production power house and you call it a "not a good starting site". You guys are all spoiled I say ;) Now I hope with the gems popping up you won't complain any more :p

Nice game so far and I foresee a lot of problems for your neighbours with 2 high production cities. This is going to hurt a lot.

Ok Killroyan, it was a least a decent start... :)

Here are graphs from 150BC. Catherine is solid leader, we are at the same level with Brennus.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0060.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0061.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0062.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0063.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0064.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0065.jpg

And top 5 cities:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0066.jpg

Brennus is suffering...

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0067.jpg

...but my empire is not strong enough for war. I have to say no to Catherine.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0068.jpg

She does not like that, look at her face!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0069.jpg

110BC GL is built. Good job, my choppers! :)

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0070.jpg

And I lose Parthenon by one turn. I don't mind, actually I started to wonder wether I should complete it at all. I already have a decent flow of GSs and I need gold more. Well, I didn't had to choose! I got more than 1200 gold from it, which allows researching CoL and CS fast.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0071.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0072.jpg

I made a nice deal with Brennus. I wanted Monarchy for happiness, because I had two wines. Another can be traded for money later.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0075.jpg

CoL arrives:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0076.jpg

And my waiting GS pops Philosophy:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0077.jpg

I was first, so Taoism is founded in Kumbi Saleh. Nice!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0078.jpg

Brennus has more problems:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0079.jpg

My third GS is born in Sparta. HE is finally started, I need more troops soon! I think I'll have constrution while HE is ready, then I'll start building stack of 15-20 cats.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0080.jpg

Not much to trade.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0081.jpg

I spread taoism to Moscow. Afterwards I think I made a mistake, I should have sent my missionary to Athens instead and run pacifism - taoism haven't yet spread to my capital! Because our continent did not have any other religion it had spreat fast anyway.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0083.jpg

I finally made this trade. I wanted to know where the iron is.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0084.jpg

I teached Mansa a lesson and made peace. He gave me nothing.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0086.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0087.jpg

Cathy needs my help and again I have to refuse. I am not ready for war, as I concentrate on research. Maybe after few hundred years!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0088.jpg

Here is the continent around 250AD. No one has settled cities in southern tundra. Maybe I have to do it? Catherine has most of the land, and she is gaining more from Brennus.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0091.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0089.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0090.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0092.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0093.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0094.jpg

Cathy gave me some badly needed money, I was running heavily on deficit.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0095.jpg

I finally reached CS.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0096.jpg

I switched to Bureaucracy immediately. I delayed revolution for a while, to make all changes at the same time. It saved me some turns in anarchy.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0098.jpg

I needed more money to run deficit research, so I had to made this deal.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0097.jpg

I have two scientist ready to lightbulb education. It looks like I have a good change to win the Liberalism race!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0099.jpg

Brennus ask me to stop trading with Mansa (I had open borders, I wish he would trade with me again one day) and I couldn't say no. I want to keep him friendly, it guarantees that he keeps trading with me.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0100.jpg

Cathy is first to get music. Looks like our continent is going better than another one.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0101.jpg

Nothing to trade. Catherine has a strong lead.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0102.jpg

I decided to rush Hanging Gardens. I could have taken the money, but I think extra health is very useful on emperor. One day I'm glad I built it!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0103.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0104.jpg

Brennus won't give me construction, even I asked him nicely. What a surprise!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0105.jpg

I am not going to be generous either!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0106.jpg

Look that face of her!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0107.jpg

War time again. I am not going to fight myself, naturally.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0108.jpg

My settlers are ready on tundra. I built only the iron city, because I couldn't afford the upkeep of others yet.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0109.jpg

Time to lightbulb again.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0110.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0111.jpg

First on education! Looks good, I have a solid lead on Liberalism. I only need more money to fund research.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0112.jpg

Here is my empire when I reached Education. Athens is starting NE, but I think I changed it to courthouse later.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0113.jpg

Sparta is building some archers to free my veteran axes from tundra. And I still can't build cats. It will delay my next war, that's sure.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0115.jpg

In other cities I'm building courthouses to reduce maintenance. I am going to use whip also to speed up the process.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0116.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0117.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0118.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0119.jpg

Finally some decent trades.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0120.jpg

Not a bargain but I have to do it. I need cats and elephants soon.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0123.jpg

I want to keep her away from me for a little bit longer. I wish that brennus gives her some headache.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0125.jpg

It is nice to trade with them. Brennus is still friendly, so he gives me Theology and badly needed money...

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0126.jpg

Cathy gives me Ivory. I don't mind trading away marble, hopefully I can capture some nice wonders later! And I want go give her something to build, that theology trade was a nice one indeed!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0128.jpg

And I want go give her something to build, that theology trade was a nice one indeed!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0129.jpg

I still refuse to help her in wartime.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0130.jpg

I end my war because I finally get some money.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0131.jpg

I found Brennus wondering on my tundra! Go away, this coast is mine!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0132.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0133.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0134.jpg

Mansa needs some protection. He's going to be a nice vassal for Catherine. No more fake wars against him.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0135.jpg

Tech table:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0136.jpg

Catherine gives me some money to finish Liberalism faster. Great!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0137.jpg

Brennus traded me music:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0147.jpg

So here we are, one turn before Liberalism. We haven't heard about other continent, so we can safely assume that we are most advanced. We can safely reseach another tech before liberalism if we want to.

My capital is building University to fasten research even more.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0138.jpg

Sparta has just finished forge and is building elephant every 4th turn. Nothing special, I think I have to build cats also in other cities to speed up mobilization.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0139.jpg

Corinth is starting to develop cottages. I think I'll whip the forge. I have built too few cottages, I have to concentrate on cottagespam after war or I'm in bankrupt.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0140.jpg

Some whip is propably used also here. Perhaps I have to turn this city a military powerhouse also, as it has a decent production capacity.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0141.jpg

Kumbi Saleh is allowed to grow peacefully, I don't expect any production. Main focus is on cottages.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0142.jpg

My coastal cities do what they can. Thebes is building courthouse, as there is no seafood around to grow.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0143.jpg

These two cities have some resources to work. They'll paying themselves one day.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0144.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0145.jpg

Here is the continent and graphs. Cathy is way too powerful, I have to kill her soon.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0150.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0151.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0152.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0153.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0154.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0155.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0156.jpg

And demographics:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0157.jpg

Five greatest cities:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0158.jpg

Here are my casualities:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0159.jpg

And Mansa lost some units also:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0160.jpg



So here was the first half of the game. Later I'll go propably for space race victory, or maybe domination if changes are good, I am not going to fight Shaka who has vassallized whole continent. But at this moment we have no idea about other continent, so time will tell what to do.

What should I do now? Maybe I can delay researching Liberalism a little bit and research something manually to get more expensive tech free? But should I go for cavalry or grenadiers? (I think I'll start warring with just elephants and cats, they can do their job even against musketeers.)

I think I made some mistakes on my game. Perhaps I should have moves my capital to Timbuktu to reduce maintenance. There was forests to chop, it would have not taken that long. Another mistake was not connecting horses soon enough, I was surprised when Mansas borders took my copper, and I could not build anything offensive. I was lucky with my axes, some chariots would have made it more safe. I could have lost, but this time I was lucky. I could also get my second GS from Sparta, which would have made it possible to build HE sooner. I had enough GSs. It took some 30 turns to complete forge while I already had construction. It means 10-15 less cats...

Savegame one turn before Liberalism is attached. Any suggestions and comments are appreciated.

Nice game. :goodjob: Just keep playing it. I'm just a Monarch player trying to learn something. ;)

Good write up. Keep it going. About suggestions, build up an army now. You are almost deadlast in that section. Maintenance is killing you so are courthouses up (they are still cheap with Roosie right?)? What about the gazillion furs you are having? Are there any trade possibilities to get some extra cash?

Can't see the diplomatic screen but my guess is building up an army and taking some cities from Brennus otherwise Catherine is going to be too strong. She will outtech and outproduce you without problems. The two size 8 cities from Brennus look tasty and will cost little in maintenance. If you take on Mansa and Brennus then it is definitely a good idea to move the palace to Timbuktu or at least build the forbidden empire somewhere over there.

How serious do you have take my advice? Not too much since I am a Monarch player and can only win 30-40% of my games there. But keep it going.

It's weekend again and time to continue my game. Thanks for advice, I think some serious warring and courthouses is needed.

Propably I'll try to wipe the whole continent away. I'm going to beat that nasty Catherine first, shouldn't be easy but I wish that wars against Brennus has weakened her at least a bit. And I have advantage as I am going to get either grenadiers or cavalry soon. (Haven't decided yet which one to pursue.) I'm planning to save Brennus last, because he is friendly and hence keeps trading with me. I'm not waiting any spectacular trades from him, just something nice. I expect meeting fellow civs from other continent(s) soon, I wish I can do some lucrative trades with them to help my economy.

you put too many screens. It's impossible to watch this thread in my browser :(

edit: IE

you put too many screens. It's impossible to watch this thread in my browser :(

edit: IE

Are you ok with other threads, I think some of them have as much images?


edit: I checked my photobucket account, it's almost 20 MBs of images in this thread. I can see it is a pain to read this article if you have a slow connection, sorry about that. Didn't have any problems on my fast connection.

I resized rest of the screenshots to a 1024x768 size to make it more easier to read page 2. I play in 1600x1200 resolution, so texts in them appears to be small. Hope you can still see them.

I have to do, the latest post is on the top. Two many objects in one page, but I'll figure it out.

And the story goes on!

Last time I was ready go grab Liberalism. I decided to delay it a little bit, as nobody had even education yet. I'll have plenty of time to research Nationalism and therefore take Military Tradition for free. I wish that I can trade for Gunpowder at that point also.

So I am preparing to destroy Russia, which is the most powerful enemy on my continent. After Catherine everything else should be easy. Her power lead is huge, hence I am afraid to attack her without superior troops. Some cavalry should handle whatever she might have. If possible I want to cause one more war between her and Brennus to weaken her.

But first I'll have to recover my economy. As you can see it is not in a good shape, but some courthouses, grocers and markets should do the trick.

Couple of years later I met first guy from another continent, Napoleon. I started to trade with him ASAP, because he is valuable war ally. And if our relations are bad, he does not hesitate to attack me from his far away island even he is not as strong as I am. Most important reason was still new techs I could have. Here's the trade:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0025.jpg

And of course, open borders:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0054.jpg

I couldn't sell my furs to anyone, because they didn't have the money. Finally Brennus had some extra:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0058.jpg

And Napoleon traded me more nice things:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0074.jpg

Catherine wanted Education, I said no, of course.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0082.jpg

I built Colossus to boost water tiles, it was cheap (<15 turns) to build and results were nice. It spoiled my GP pool, but I don't mind, I already had all great scientists I wanted.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0085.jpg

Forbidden Palace was finally completed in Kumbi Saleh. I had problems finishing the last courthouse needed to built it, I had neither production or population in my coastal cities. FP had a positive effect to my economy, the location is not optimal thinking my next war, but will be very nice indeed when I conquer rest of the continent. Catherine has Divine right, in best case she has Versailles waiting for me soon.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0114.jpg

Next guy from other continent was Wang Kong. He was already annoyed with me, because I had traded with his worst enemy, Napoleon. I knew there were many wars on the other continent as I saw announcement about great generals born. I wish that Wang Kong will trade with me later, when I choose free religion.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0121.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0122.jpg

Diplomatic relations in a glance. I think I'm doing well.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0124.jpg

I reached Nationalism first and decided to build Taj Mahal in Timbuktu. It has a good production potential, and I think I have plenty of time to build it before others reach needed tech. I'll let city grow one size, until I shut down growth and concentrate on production. I want that wonder appear when I need production and trade during war against Russia.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0161.jpg

And next was Liberalism:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0162.jpg

And then Military tradition for free:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0163.jpg

Here is technological situation. I don't want to start trading those techs away yet, I'll check with short intervals if anyone is reseaching those, and then trade away to everyone at the same turn. Nobody has Gunpowder, so I have to research it by myself.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0164.jpg

I had one GS waiting (I was planning to lightbulb chemistry after getting Gunpowder) and another one was born. I decided to use both for Printing Press, it was a good move as my economy strenghtened notably.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0165.jpg

I had to gave some furs to Catherine, my forces were not ready yet.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0166.jpg

I realized that Napoleon was too close getting Education, I decided to trade it away for the best I could have.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0167.jpg

Mansa gave me Guilds, Drama and some badly needed currency:
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0168.jpg

Brennus gave me engineering and money:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0169.jpg

I traded Education just for money to Cathy and Napoleon. Didn't trade it to Wang Kong, because I wanted to keep Napoleon happy.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0170.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0171.jpg

I still had a strong lead:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0172.jpg

I kept on trading, Guilds to Brennus:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0173.jpg

Catherine suggested Defensive Pact. Not just what I planned for...

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0174.jpg

...instead I canceled all deals with her. I was not afraid of war - I had only two turns away from Gunpowder and cavalry.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0175.jpg

I got Gunpowder and traded it away to Napoleon for Banking. I plan to switch to Mercantilism soon. I don't mind if he'll trade it to Cathy, Cavalry is not afraid of poor musketmen...

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0177.jpg

Then I met last guy, Saladin. Surprise, he didn't like me either. Napoleon had made a good job on his continent.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0179.jpg

And then Taj Mahal. Nice boost, I needed money to upgrade all of my War Elephants to Cavalry. My preparations were almost ready, on the next post it is a war time!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0180.jpg

I made a mistake, I should have not cancel all deals because I was no more able to check her territory. I had no idea how big stack she had, so I had to be sure. Finally I had done all the needed upgrades and I was ready to roll. I had enough catapults to soften city defences in one turn, I didn't want waste any time. I didn't have any extra cats, because cavalry can handle anything she might have.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0181.jpg

St. Petersburg was easy.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0182.jpg

And Great General was born! I built Military Academy on Sparta.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0184.jpg

Brennus was ready to help me. (I couldn't make him declare war before I did, though.)

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0185.jpg

Krasnoyarsk was not any harder. I met her stack just outside of the city borders, it was easily destroyed. Just some minor casualties.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0186.jpg

I decided to keep Vienne and not return it to Brennus.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0187.jpg

I kept on rolling. Moscow, then Yaroslav:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0188.jpg

Capture of Novgorod. I started to use my maces and axes in easier battles to gain some CR promotions. I want them all to have CRIII promotion before upgrading them to Grenadiers.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0189.jpg

After by Golden Age has ended I switched to Free Speech, Mercantilism and Free religion. I made all changes at once when I had needed techs. I wanted to have revolution during the war, because I had a huge War Weariness problem. I decided to split my troops to end war faster, hopefully before anarchy ends.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0191.jpg

Lost some cavalries though when attacking last cities in the tundra, had no time to keep catapults with main force. I had to finish war fast, otherwise my economy would crash because of huge happiness problem. I managed to capture rest russian cities during the five turns of anarchy and finally controlled northern and eastern part of the continent.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0192.jpg

I don't know much about the world. I have no boats exploring and Napoleon won't trade me his world map.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0194.jpg

Diplomatic relations are nice. Napoleon gets friendlier and friendlier, Arabs and Koreans hate me but they can't do much about it. Napoleon keeps them busy regularly, so I don't have to be afraid about them attacking me. Napoleon can surprise me, though.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0197.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0195.jpg

Nothing to trade.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0196.jpg

I got even more great scientists, just in time to lightbulb towards Chemistry. In general I teched also towards Democracy, to new civics and to build SoL. SoL is one of my favourite late game wonders, it helps a lot on large continents.

Mansa and Brennus were fighting again. That's good, they'll weaken themselves and make it easier to me to conquer both.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0199.jpg

My main stack was ready to march to Bibcrate.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0200.jpg

My southern stack was ready to capture those two annoying cities inside my borders.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0202.jpg

Yep, war time:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0203.jpg

It was as easy as last time. No words are needed:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0204.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0205.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0206.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0206.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0208.jpg

This was not nice to notice. I have my hands on are war, and suddenly Napoleon had something in his hands also. Was he coming to me? It would be a typical move to him, a surprise attack when I least expect it. I was quite sure he had worse enemies in his own continent, and we had quite good relations, but it still gave me bad feelings. I hope he'll go for Korea or Arabia.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0209.jpg

I was a little bit ahead of him in power, could this mean that he thinks it is time to kill me?

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0210.jpg

I had to move on and secure continent before Napoleon gets me. It was time to kill Mansa.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0211.jpg

Not much resistance. Niani fell, no more Mali.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0212.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0214.jpg

I founded Mycene just to keep other continent away from here.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0213.jpg

And finally the whole continent was mine:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0215.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0216.jpg

Napoleon had Astronomy so he could reach me and I could not defend myself in the ocean. And of course he won't trade astronomy to me!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0217.jpg

Phew! I was save, he declared war to Korea instead.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0218.jpg

I had to cancel all deal with Koreans.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0221.jpg

Nothing to trade but some gold.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0222.jpg

Here are my main cities. I was still teching towards Democracy, and I has Space Victory on my mind. I thought that I had not enough land to domination, how wrong I was. I forgot that captured tiles are not counted instantly, so I was fooled to think that my continent was smaller than it actually was. I should have gone right to the Astronomy instead, it would have been much faster win!

But here are my cities. Athens is nice allrounder, those cottages are not yet fully developed so science is quite low:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0223.jpg

Sparta is building some luxury building to stay happy during the war. I'm gonna pump some units soon, though.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0224.jpg

Timbuktu has some wonders, some trade and good production potential with those hills.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0225.jpg

St. Petersbug has nice cottages. I sottagespammed all former russian land.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0226.jpg

Krasnoyarsk has nice cottages, and growth potential also.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0227.jpg

So do Moscow:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0228.jpg

I traded democracy for replaceable parts. I was a little bit confused, I thought that rifling allow infantry instead of rifleman, so I thought that I needed RP also to upgrade my grenadiers. (I really should concentrate only to a one game at a time, I was playing Gran Turismo 4 B-spec 24H Nurburgring race at the same time, which apparently affected my gameplay negatively...)

Well, after I got both RP I realized my stupidity. I teched Astronomy as fast as I could and went for some easy war. Koreans had a nice island just waiting for conquest, so it was my first target:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0231.jpg

It was easy, again.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0232.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0233.jpg

Napoleon decided to join my war:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0234.jpg

Another city in the island was not any harder:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0235.jpg

And their capital was easy too. I'm gonna win soon!

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0237.jpg

Some more cities and here it is:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0239.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0240.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0241.jpg

Final score is 114033: :king:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w161/civseta/Civ4ScreenShot0250.jpg

Well, the game was succesfull. I made some stupid mistakes, but hey, I don't do those mistakes again! It could have been much faster, but I wanted to play safe - could have been embarrassing to lose a public game... :cool:

I wish that this game gave some ideas to somebody. Please feel free to comment my gameplay, if you think you would have done something different way.