I have come up with a very interesting idea for an epic style conquest game. I got the idea from GOTM 18 played by Zwingli. It was a 2CC conquest game, with the second city on the coast, so that invasion of other landmasses was possible. The posts are given below:

Ancient Age (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=900578&postcount=60) - Middle Age #1 (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=907388&postcount=15) - Middle Age #2 (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=907391&postcount=16) - Industrial Age (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=935088&postcount=60) - Modern Age #1 (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=938068&postcount=68) - Modern Age #2 (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=946048&postcount=83)

My idea is similar, except that I want to try a Huge Deity Continents map. Therefore, I am going to propose a 2CC+1 idea. I get my capitol city, a coastal city, and 1 other costal city that must be on another land mass (so that I can ship resources home).

After looking at the results of Zwingli's game again, I have decided that I want to try an Standard Emperor Continents game first, before moving to higher difficulties and larger maps. The only question that remains is: Should I play PTW or C3C? I think I will go for PTW. It will make MGL much more useful for me. It will also allow for earlier contact and maps. Thoughts?

This sounds interesting. I would say PTW is better, because you won't have enough cities for an army.

Are you going to want just 2 continents, so you have cities on both?

If you do, since it will be hard to randomly get a map with those parameters, I suggest getting someone (or yourself) to make a map in the Editor w/only 2 continents and no islands.

Yeah, I was thinking about editing a map, but then I would be tempted to make myself a VERY good starting position. As you said, I could have someone else make the map, or I could edit it just to remove the islands.

On the other hand, I don't have to have that 3rd city on the other continent. I really wanted it there so that I could import other luxuries. That will not be needed when I have cities only at size 12, but once I get Sanitation, having luxuries from both continents will be a good thing.

I am looking for a good start right now with the Chinese, so I am going to take that route for now. However, I will probably have someone else make the map when I try again on a higher difficulty level.

I could make a map for you if you wanted. Just give me some things you'd like to have for an average start.

Also, how far away do you want landmass no. 2 to be?
Last, would you like a no corruption map, as with corruption, city 3 will be useless.

So, I started a game, and I found a good start. The cow will be nice once my borders expand, and eventually I will be able to have a ton of trade and production with the mountains, hills, and gems.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/4000BC.jpg

I played up until 2270BC. My island has two civs that I know of on it. I have traded for BW, CB, and Pottery (started with WC and Masonry). I did research on minimum for The Wheel, and I will have it in a few turns. Both Carthage and Arabia have IW and Carthage has Alphabet. When I get The Wheel, I should be able to trade for both. My coffers currently have about 150g. The situation looks like this. I stopped because I need to decide where to send my settler.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/situation2270bc.jpg

However, a few interesting things happened to get to this point. First, I sent a warrior north and met Carthage. Then a certain opportunity arose:

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/take_workers.jpg

So I took it, and sent the slaves south to Beijing. The warrior survived the initial retaliation. I finished my barracks and started an archer. However, I could not finish because a lone warrior from Carthage was closer than I though. So I had to waste 5 shields and switch to a warrior. The enemy warrior decided not to attack...

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/take_workers5.jpg

I waited it out, and even finished another worker first. Then I built an archer with help from the forest chop. The archer won easily and promoted, so I kept him going towards Utica. Utica built a NM just in time! No surprise there from the AI.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/take_workers8.jpg

However, I decided to attack the warriors instead. And guess what? A MGL!

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/leader.jpg

I bought peace from Carthage with Pottery and then rushed The Pyramids. Then I built a settler in Beijing on the transition from size 6 to size 7. That is where things stand.

So, now I must decide where to put my 2nd city. I have reduced it down to 5 possible locations:

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/loc1.jpg
http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/loc2.jpg

Cities at those locations would have access to these tiles:

red -10 Plains, 4 Grass, 1 FP, 1 Hill, 4 Coast, 2 Cow

orange - 9 Plains, 2 Grass, 1 Hill, 8 Coast, 2 Cow

green - 7 Plains, 2 Grass, 1 Hill, 2 Mount, 8 Coast, 1 Cow

blue - 8 Plains, 2 FP, 6 Desert, 4 Coast, 1 Wheat

purple - 9 Plains, 4 FP, 4 Desert, 3 Coast, 1 Wheat

Thoughts on best location? I am leaning towards red, since it has 2 cows and only 4 coastal tiles.

My first thought was orange, but you're right, red is better. The spot where "My Archer" is in the zoomed-out screenshot also caught my eye with Wheat and hills, but I can't see the whole picture there. And it might be a bit too coastal for you.

Blue and Purple don't seem to offer that great of opportunity for early shields IMO. Green sacrifices a cow, and when you've only got two cities, every cow is a holy cow.

Wait. You rushed the pyramids? :gripe:

WHY?

You only get two cities on this continent, so a free granary is not nearly worth a great wonder, even if rushed. You could've had something useful, like the GLib or something.

Oh, and I'd suggest Red, just looking at the summaries.

I agree-Red is much better.

Red is your best bet.

Red, and I agree that the Pyramids aren't going to be too useful unless you decide to go for a 20k, which would be easier in your coastal town anyway... I would've saved the leader for either the GLib, or Colossus if you planned to do some more warmongering till Lit.

I think it is clear that red is the best. As for the wheat area, there would be far less total trade there because of no river (though there would be a little bit less distance corruption), but I dropped that idea.

As for using the MGL on the Pyramids, I guess there is a strong argument for Colossus in my 2nd city. It would definately be a big advantage in the long run, but nothing until I get out of Despotism. However, the GLib is not really that good of an idea. It will be a long time until I get Literature. Plus, it only gets me techs during a period that I can quite easily trade and research techs. If there was a Great Library that lasted the length of the game, then I would definately wait with the MGL.

With the Pyramids now, I can get workers out easily to upgrade my terrain REALLY FAST for both cities. Growth will instantly be twice as fast for both cities, no extra upkeep, and I can save 120 shields very early on. Twice as fast is better for 100 cities then for 2, but it is still a big deal. That will mean faster research, higher production, and more gold faster. Fully improved terrain for 2 size 12 cities should happen asap.

I will try to play more tonight. As for the Colossus, should I attempt to go for it anyway, handbuilt? If I don't have a source of iron nearby, then I would probably want to avoid war for a little while, and Colossus would fill that very well.

Well, the argument for orange is pretty solid too, you know. Red is obviously better for the long term, but when you haven't expanded your borders (pre-temple/lib), orange is much better, having both cows instead of only one.

But it's your choice. If you can rush a wonder there immediately though, such as the Colossus, then red is without a doubt the winner.

If you want to build the Colossus, green might be better as it has a lot more coastal squares to use.

So, I sent my settler to the red square. For a long time I used Beijing to pump workers. I also explored around Arab lands. In 2150BC I finished research on The Wheel, and traded it around for Alphabet and Iron Working. It also cost me 77g to Carthage, since they had both techs. It turns out Utica had iron and horses, and there was also iron and horses by me too. I ran at 80% science to get Math as fast as possible.

2070BC I founded Shanghai and I started on the Colossus. The plan was to improve and join workers to get it up to size 7 as soon as possible. In 1650BC, I made an iron colony near Utica and Shanghai. I changed Beijing from a worker factory to making swordsmen. In 1625BC, I joined 3 workers to Shanghai. I had to bump luxury tax to 30%.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/shanghai7.jpg

In 1575BC, I got Math, and traded it to Arabia for Mysticism. I started on Currency on minimum. In 1550BC, Carthage got Writing, and I had to trade Math, Myst, and 7 gpt to get it. I also joined a worker to Beijing to get up to 10 shields per turn, for 3 turn swordsmen. In 1450BC, I joined 3 workers to Beijing to get 2 turn swords. In the interturn Arabs demanded, I rejected the demand, and they decalred war.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/beijing11.jpg

With my swordsmen, I lurked around Carthage, and eventually I saw an easy target. It was a settler guarded by a warrior. It settled before I could stomp, so I ended up attacking and destroying Hippo in 1325BC, and Utica in 1275BC.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/war1325bc.jpg
http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/war1300bc.jpg

Hippo had just the one warrior, and Utica had 2 NM and a warrior. I captured a settler in Utica. Then I rested my troops to have full strength at Carthage. I finished The Colossus in Shanghai in 1200BC, and I changed production over to workers. Then I moved 8 swordsmen to Carthage, taking out an archer and a warrior on the way.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/war1075bc.jpg

Carthage fell in 1075BC, guarded by 3 NM. I moved north to Theveste, and crushed it capturing a worker.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/war975bc.jpg

Carthage had 1 city remaining, so I made peace and got 2 more slaves. Eventually Beijing grew to size 12.

It had been a while since Carthage had researched anything, so I wanted to keep them around. They will not bother my borders for a while, so I'm not sure how long I should keep them around. However, I don't want them to get contact with the other civs. I'll figure it out later. I will be making Shanghai size 12 soon. With most of Carthage out of the way, I should be able to hook up dyes and silks with colonies. I will also keep roading to the luxuries and to Arabia. With China, I can build a road in 1 turn with 1 worker and 1 slave on flat land. The other thing to decide between is swords or horsemen. I don't have HBR yet, so I have a while to decide.

All right, I'll be watching this closely.

By 825BC, I had both cities at size 12, and I could produce swords every 2 turns in each city. The Arabs had researched Construction, and Carthage had researched Map Making. I made a colony for silks, which allowed me to reduce luxury tax. When I got Currency in 610BC, I was able to trade it to Arabia, along with peace, for Construction and gold. Then I traded those two to Carthage for Map Making. I also traded World Maps. Shanghai changed to 2 turn Galleys. I then set research back to 80% for Polytheism.

I quickly redeclared on the Arabs (550BC), because I had a long line of swords heading in that direction on my new road west and south. This war on Arabia lasted a long time, and I faced tons of archers. I crushed the following towns:

550BC - Fustat (2 spears)
http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/fustat.jpg
390BC - Damascus (2 spears) capture 2 workers
http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/damascus.jpg
290BC - Mecca (3 spears), capture worker and catapult
http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/mecca.jpg
250BC - Najran (3 spears), capture worker
capture Arab settler
210BC - Aden (2 spears)
170BC - Medina, capture worker
110BC - Khurasan
70BC - Anjar
70AD - Kufah (1 spear), catpure settler
Basra (1 spear)
capture Arab settler
90AD - capture Arab settler

After this, I had to make peace, since I would otherwise lose my MGL which ran into a random Arab spear during a GOTO move.

During this time I also found another opportunity to capture a settler from Carthage only guarded by a warrior. In fact, it was on the same spot as Hippo once was.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/samespot.jpg

Then I crushed Leptis Magna, reducing Carthage to 1 city. I moved quickly to Leptis Minor and razed it in 110BC. Unfortunately, Carthage was not eliminated. The next turn they settled, and got all starting units again, so I made peace.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/new_carthage.jpg

Strangely enough, Carthage moved all their troops away from Sabratha. So I redeclared, captured another worker, and actually eliminated Carthage in 10AD. It was about time!!!!

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/sabratha.jpg

In 470BC, I produced a MGL against an Arab archer. I planned to used this for the Great Library since Korea finished the GLH in 450BC. I learned Polytheism in 390BC, then I started on Literature for GLib. However, it ended up that I met France on the other continent one turn before finishing research in Literature. So, in 230BC, I was able to trade one by one to get contacts from all other civs on the other continent. I had already met the Vikings on their own tundra island. I used that contact to get a chain reaction of contacts from France, which I met across the water. France introduced me to America, then America introduced me to Babylon, then Babylon introduced me to Korea. From them, I traded around to get Philosophy, CoL, and Literature along with world maps. Korea was the clear tech leader with Monarchy, Republic, and Monotheism. Two other civs had Republic and Engineering. So, I turned research off. I knew that I would get the rest of those technologies from the GLib, which I rushed that turn.

In 70AD I got a MGL when I defeated the last spear in Basra. I will use it on wonder from the Middle Ages, but I don't know which.

So, I have eliminated Carthage, and I have troops in place to finish off the Arabs. I can probably leave the Vikings to themselves for now. They are not going anywhere for a while, though I should keep them off my continent if they settle there.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/map10ad.jpg

Therefore, I need to go for the other continent. It will take a while to get to Astronomy and Navigation, so I will at least attempt to capture the GLH from the Koreans. That means that I need to figure out a good set of suicide galley routes. Otherwise, I have to go all the way around the world to land my troops.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/routes_sm.jpg

My first plan is to uses the red route before I have the GLH, but I can use either yellow route afterwards. The GLH town, Hyangsang, is circled in red. The Koreans do have iron and pikemen, so it will not be easy.

Very nice work against Arabia. What ever happened of that second MGL that caused you to make peace after it ran into a Spear on a go-to move?

Very nice work against Arabia. What ever happened of that second MGL that caused you to make peace after it ran into a Spear on a go-to move?

That was the MGL I got in 70AD.

In 70AD I got a MGL when I defeated the last spear in Basra. I will use it on wonder from the Middle Ages, but I don't know which.

For now, I am just going to save it. All Ancient Age Wonders have been built for a while now. Sun Tsu's is the only one available to me. I have research at 0%, since I have the GLib, and I am expecting Monotheism next turn. I stopped there. I am thinking about using the MGL for either the Sistine Chapel or Copernicus' Observatory.

On the technology side of things, I am torn between waiting it out with the GLib, but I am leaning towards building Libraries in both cities and researching Theo->Edu->Astro->Nav in case I don't capture the GLH. Even with research to Education, I would still probably get Chivalry and possibly even Invention and Gunpowder before the GLib expires. The other option would be to wait for Education from the AI civs. Then research to Navigation on my own.

The AI research rate is high right now. Korea has Mono, Feud, Eng, and Invention. Waiting may be a good idea to get more gold. However, I could lose a lot of time getting to Astro and Nav. If I can capture the GLH, waiting for those technologies is not as big a deal.

Well, it has been a while, but the extra time allowed me to decide a few things. First I decided to do NO RESEARCH while the GLib is in effect. The research pace on the other continent is quite fast at the moment. Second, I decided that trying to capture the GLH from Korea is not the best idea. They are the most powerful and the most advanced civ out there. They already have pikes everywhere, and will also likely have more (Kinghts, Muskets, ...) by the time I get successful galleys across. Therefore, I am just going to continue south and go after the Vikings on my way to the other continent. Besides, I want to go for one of the weaker civs (Vikings, America, France) well before I go after Korea. On top of that, I will try to get Leo's Workshop with my MGL. It will be very useful throughout the game, and I will be using lots of Elite Swords against the Vikings. Here goes:

After getting Monotheism from the GLib, I quickly declared war again against the Arabs so I could capture 3 workers. As it turns out, no other civs ever met them. Then a few turns later the Arabs were gone.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/arabs.jpg

Back home I rushed Cathedrals in Beijing and Shanghai. This allowed for a higher tax rate. I also got Chivalry from the GLib in 210AD. At the same time I continued roads in arab lands south towards the Vikings. In 250AD I crushed Oslo, but the Vikings resettled. So I crushed Aarhus in 270AD. Since I was on another continent, I took Copenhagen in a peace deal. Copenhagen had furs, but I would not be able to ship that luxury home without Astronomy. In any case, it helped things along since Copenhagen had such a large cultural boundary. It also helped with unit support.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/vik1.jpg

Back home, I got Invention in 250AD from the GLib, and I rushed Leo's Workshop in Shanghai. That started my Golden Age. With the boost in production, Riders could be produced every 3 turns in both cities. In 290AD I got Gunpowder from the GLib. Korea was still tech leader with Gunpowder and at least Theology. They also had a few cities in the tundra north of Shanghai.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/korea_tundra.jpg

Back on the Viking island, I restarted the war and decided to push forward quickly. I was still using mostly Swords and MI, but a few Riders were also getting to the front line. Movement points at 3 really makes things must faster. Vikings cities fell as follows:

320AD - Stockholm
330AD - Reykjavik
340AD - Trondheim
370AD - Bergen
390AD - Birka

In taking Stockholm and Reykjavik I managed around 8-10 Elite victories from swords with no leader. Then, in trying to take Trondheim, spears beat 3 Elites in 2 turns while a warrior took a 4th one out in the ruins of Reykjavik . I was really mad, but I managed to crush Trondheim with a Rider. Then, with another Elite win, this time against the warrior that had beat my Elite MI, I got a MGL!!! The MGL relived my anger. I sent it home for some other wonder rush later. With Birka razed, the Vikings were gone. In all, I only got 6 workers from the Vikings.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/vik2.jpg

Also, something weird happed in the conquest of Bergen. I won a battle against the last spear, but the Rider did not take the city. Instead, a galley protected Bergen. During the interturn, the galley left the city unguarded. It really did not slow me down, it was just strange.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/boat_guard.jpg

I got Theology in 360AD from the GLib, and that is where things stand. I will start sending troops across the water to French land asap. I hope that I can get a few more techs from the GLib, but that is yet to be seen. The Koreans have Education, but not Chemistry. I am thinking about using the MGL to rush the Sistine Chapel, but not sure if I want to keep it. I don't know how my troops will do on the other continent. The other civs likely have quite a few Muskets at this point.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/postVIKmap.jpg

Eventually I will abandon Copenhagen for a much better city on the other big continent. It will be a while before I can do this, but I wanted to think about it in advance anyway. I have narrowed it down to 2 general areas. The city must be coastal.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/city3n.jpg
http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/city3s.jpg

The Korean location is closer to my first 2 cities, which means less corruption. It would also get to have spices in the cultural bounds. The French location is only a little bit farther away, but it will have more total trade because of the river. It will also be less work to improve the terrain. I would imagine that both would have similar production potential.

I'm 99% sure that the galley had a settler pair on it.

I'd hazard my guess on the Galley having at least one defensive troop, but not necessarily a Settler. If it has at least one defensive troop, the city won't be captured because there are still defenders - even if they are on the Galley. But if there were a Settler, then the Vikings would have survived after the Galley left port until you sunk it.

Of course if you did sink it a Settler pair is quite possible - but if it "poofed" there wasn't a Settler.

Of the city locations, I prefer either Namp'o or Pyongsong. Namp'o is more developed now and won't suffer from having to clear jungles, but Pyongsong probably will have more shields once it is developed. Marseilles lacks hilly/mountainous terrain, which limits shield production.

As always an excellent update. The troops' comments in the photos are great! :goodjob:

I did not sink the galley before taking Birka, so it probably did not have a settler on it. I wonder if I had another attacker, would I still have to fight again that turn to capture the city?

As for the city location on the other continent, it does not have to be a city location already. For instance, I could settle a city north of Paris. I am leaning towards Pyongsong as a better location, since it is closer. However there are quite a few things to consider.

Pyongsong would be better because it is closer to home for troop transport, it is more central on the other continent, and it will have less distance corruption. Also, I could use the current city, and any city improvements already built. Settling a new city near Paris would have more distance corruption, and I would have to build the city from scratch. I could always join workers from eliminated civilizations, which would reduce or eliminate flip risk. Also, I am more likely to conquer France before Korea. The timing of the city is more important than most of the other factors. If I can crush Paris before moving up the coastline towards Korea, the southern location would be best.

As always an excellent update. The troops' comments in the photos are great! :goodjob:

Yeah, I am glad that my troops are more witty and have a sense of humor. My narratives can be dry sometimes. :lol:

Wait, so did you get the pop-up that told you that you wiped the Vikings out? If so, I take my last statement back.

With 3 of 7 AI civs gone, there were no easy targets remaining. I still could not send boats safely into sea or ocean tiles. Because of where my troops were (in old Viking territory), the French were the next logical target. I rushed the Sistine Chapel in Beijing (390AD, same turn I crushed the Vikings), as it would allow for 100% tax or science. Thanks to a demand on that interturn, I was at war with the Americans. The war happiness was overkill, but good none the less. I sent two galleys into sea waters, but only one sunk. Using a single ship chain, I landed two Riders in French lands in 400AD. The French demanded that I withdraw, so I did. The Riders ended up near Granoble. In 410AD, I checked Granoble with one Rider and found that there were only pikes. I attacked and won. Under the pike was a spear. I sent the other Rider, and it won too. I crushed Granoble and got a worker. Then I ship chained another Rider and a MI next to Lyons. There was no counter attack. I moved the 3rd Rider to disconnect iron, and the MI went East to join the first two healing Riders. Then I landed a Sword and a Rider next to Lyons again (420AD), and I pillaged the road to Besancon. I also paid 76+103+193+266=638g for embassies and alliances against France from Babylon and Korea.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/france420.jpg

During the interturn a longbow defeated my MI, and I got Education from the GLib. I was hoping to get Chemistry too, but that did not work out. I set science to max on Astro, and I started Libraries and Universities in Beijing and Shanghai. I pillaged the iron (430AD), and I hoped that the Koreans or Babylonians would be able to take Rouen so that the French would not have saltpeter. In the end, they took no French cities, but they did keep the French troops busy. I moved my troops East away from Lyons. I crushed Besancon (440AD) which only had 2 spears and got a worker. In 450AD, I captured a French settler guarded by a warrior, and moved towards the Americans and saw a Knight in Dallas.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/france450.jpg

In 460AD my GA ended, making Astro take even longer. Over the course of the next few turns I captured 2 French settlers and an American one. I also crushed Dallas which had a Knight, Pike, Warrior. Korea ended up with Navigation so I could trade with them. I got Wines, Spices, and Ivory for Gems. The French founded Cherbourg near old Granoble. Also, Dijon was guarded by a musket, so I did not attack at first, but once I started getting attacks from longbows, I had to act. So in 490AD I got so sick of playing it safe I attacked Dijon. Of course the musket defeated 2 of my Riders and the longbow took a third, but I crushed Dijon despite the losses. To make me feel better, as was the case in Vikings lands, I got a MGL against Dijon. I sent the MGL back home, which ended up taking close to 10 turns. After that I decided that I have to crush Paris no matter what the losses are, so I headed back West. In 510AD I crushed Cherbourg, and rested my troops to go after Lyons. At this point I had lost a lot of galleys, so I waited for Astro to land more. Also, Copenhagen finished a settler thanks to some forest chops. The war zone looked like this:

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/france510.jpg

My allies were a waste. They took no French cities, and France still had saltpeter. In 530AD, both Korea and Babylon made peace with France. So I made peace with France too. I got Banking and Music Theory for peace. I then traded that to Babylon for Chemsitry. Not too bad for a peace deal. In 550AD I got Astro a turn after France and Babylon. I turned research off. I made peace with America in 570AD after capturing another settler. With Astro, I loaded up all my boats with my remaining troops in Viking lands and headed to Lyons. I declared on France again, and set up for a 580AD attack on Lyons. With 5 Riders and 4 Swords in place, I knew I would take it.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/france570.jpg

The French counter attack only targeted my troops at their border. I did lose the MI, but not the Rider. The attack on Lyons was actually quite easy. I guess my allies did their job of draining the French army. I did lose a Sword against a Musket, but another Sword and a Rider took care of the redlined Musket and the Spear in Lyons. I abandoned Copenhagen and kept Lyons. I also pillaged the French iron again. In 590AD I moved all my troops but one on towards Paris and then abandoned Lyons. The flip risk was too high anyway. Since the Riders were in position first, I attacked and killed a Musket and 2 Spears in Paris in 600AD losing 2 Riders in the process. I also damaged another Musket, but it healed in Paris during the interturn. In addition, there was at least one more healthy Spear. So I waited two more turns until the 2 MI and 3 Swords could get to Paris.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/france600.jpg

With the 3 Riders, 2 MI, and 3 Swords in the mountains next to Paris, I attacked in 620AD. The first MI redlined a musket, while a Sword defeated a Spear. Then the second MI defeated the musket and crushed Paris!!!! So I landed my settler from a boat into place along with a few more troops, and I moved all the Riders on top of the settler as well. The workers stayed on the boats. I also moved the last two Swords towards the settler. However, on the interturn, I lost both to longbows. I also had tons of slave workers on their way to my 3rd city location protected by the sword I left behind.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/last_settler.jpg

In 630AD I founded Canton, and joined 4 non-French workers. Canton started on a Temple to be rushed the next turn. In 640AD I lost another Sword, but the Riders in Canton had mostly healed, so I attacked Marseilles and crushed it. Marseilles only had a regular Musket and a regular Spear. I also rushed the Temple in Canton. Using MapStat, I saw that the flip risk for Canton was around 1% in 640AD, and 0.05% in 650AD after the Temple rush, so I did not have much to worry about that. In 660AD, I rushed a barracks in Canton, made peace with France for Economics, and I used the MGL, which had finally made it back home, to rush Smith's Trading Company in Shanghai. In 680AD, I rushed a Harbor in Canton, and in 700AD I rushed a Cathedral. In 710AD, I discovered that Korea was in the industrial age, and in 720AD, Babylon and France got Metallurgy. I rushed an aquaduct in Canton, and in 730AD, I traded 613g and 2 workers to Babylon for Navigation. I then used Navigation, 157g, and 9 workers to get Metallurgy from France. At this point Babylon had finally captured a French city, but only Rheims. Korea continued to build unwanted cities on my continent. On both sides of the ocean, the world looked like this:

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/my_cont.jpg
http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/other_cont.jpg

My new plan goes something like this. I have my galleys on their way back to Shanghai. There they will upgrade to Caravels. I will grow Canton using workers to size 12, and try to get it productive with a courthouse. Beijing and Shanghai have been building up troops, so I will set them up outside the Korean cities on my continent. I will declare and hopefully destroy all of their small cities. I will attempt to get peace as quickly as possible after that, so that the Koreans cannot target Canton. I will research Physics as fast as possible during this war and hope that I can get ToG and/or Magnetism from Korea in peace negotiations. Then I will ship most of my troops over to Canton to finish off France. Once in the industrial age, I should be able to pump out troops to conquer the world!

Nice job taking on France. You'll need Marines to finish off Korea, though. They've got a one-tile island.

Btw, did you make peace with America?

Btw, did you make peace with America?

Yeah, I finally made peace with America the turn before I attacked Lyons. It was a combination of things. I did not need the war happiness anymore, I was not heading in their direction with my troops anymore, and as you can see in the picture above, an American Knight was moving in from behind. I didn't want to have to deal with America while going towards Paris.

Once I had Navigation and Metallurgy, I started 100% science research towards Physics. My plan was to go to war with Korea, and then make peace so that I could get technologies. Korea was still the clear tech leader. In addition to a tech or two from Korea, I knew I might be able to trade with Babylon after peace for at least another tech. I had to play it right. So I declared that turn, and found that I had destroyed all the Korean cities well before I was done with Physics. On the other continent, Korea had sent Knights against Canton, but with bombardment and Riders in defense, there was no real threat, except maybe pillaging. Bombardment kept the Knights from staying too long around Canton. I also built fortresses in the hills and mountains around Canton. As it turned out, Babylon captured all but one French city.

http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/korea_clear.jpg
http://www.nd.edu/~mcrocker/access/civstory/emp1/korea_other.jpg

I made peace with Korea (800AD) for Physics, and I traded it around some workers and GPT. Then, I started on MT because no one else had it yet. I was so happy with how the peace process went with Korea, that I declared again, knowning that I could handle Knights in Canton. Plus, I was now chaining troops to Canton with Navigation. I kept the war up, destroying a few more Korea cities on my continent, and fighting Muskets and Knights at Canton. However, in 940AD, I discovered MT, and Korea started sending Rifles to Canton. I made peace, with Korea with MT for Magnetism. Then traded Magnetism and MT to Babylon for ToG. Babylon got Medicine for its free tech, and Korea already had Medicine, Nationalism, and Steam Power. I stated research on Steam Power. At some point around 1000AD, Babylon decalred on America, and America was losing cities quickly. Korea also settled some more cities on my continent. In 1150AD I learned Steam Power, and traded it to Babylon for Medicine. Immediately I started railroads. Also, I started on Sanitation. This will help in two ways. First, it will definately be a monopoly tech, and it will allow for size 20 cities. I stopped around 1200AD. Babylon had been researching Nationalism, which will make it easier to trade for.

Wow. You are doing really well for a 2CC+1 deity game.

Wow. You are doing really well for a 2CC+1 deity game.

Thanks, but this is actually an Emperor game. I decided to try one level lower first. I will try Deity next. In any case, you are right that I am doing well. I had tried a few practice runs on Deity before this, and they were WAY worse than this game. It was nice to only have 2 Civs on my starting continent. The hard part is about to start, since I need to get Riflemen soon, or I will be overrun by Cavalry. There is no way that I will be able to keep up with technology, so I have to hope for good military advances against Babylon and Korea before they get to the Modern Age.