ChienFou Prince Series No.6

So, we'd got the hang of Warlords at Prince level and moved on to BtS. A couple of early successes in off-line games but I've hit a brick wall. With careful micromanagement I can keep up in the tech race by trading techs, running scientists, building an academy and planting one or two GS's in my capital. In the ALCs Sisi seems to catch up on teching and I seem eventually to fall behind. I've tried REXing, cottages; farms and the same thing seems to happen, I destroy one neighbour, get my economy back into shape (CH, Granary, Market, library in most cities). But when I'm just beginning to think about rifles (typically a LB/musket and mace in each coastal or border city) the whole world DoWs me and I get nailed. I'm doing something fundamentally wrong, perhaps I should be more co-operative?.

Here's a random start; standard, epic, fractal, BtS with the normal patches and the RNG Gods rolled me Suryavarman II of the Khmer. We get Hunting and Mining, a scout for starters; an uber-heffalump and a Baray (Aquaduct). We're expansive (Worker and granary quicker; higher health cap) and creative (quick library, Theatre and colosseum) - which means we get border pops without monuments. So, we can REX and with larger cites maybe look at space race since we can out-tech the AI, or maybe just beat the bejazus out of them. Culture and religion doesn't seem to be the way forward.

4000BC

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13001.JPG

I had a good look at the North to try to picture the coastline; looks like it cuts West then North.

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13002.JPG

Well, it seems a no-brainer to move the Scout 1SW and we find stone. Maybe the 'mids/GW have come in to play.

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13003.JPG

Settle in place gives us a grassland hill and 1 sea food; moving 1SE gives us a plains hill (2H tile) with 2 fishies at the cost of more water in the BFC. Either gives us venison (quick fried over pine is my favourite) So if we're REXing we could go this route as the cost of moving SE won't appear till later. In either event I'd fancy starting a worker and fishing, build a work-boat as soon as fishing comes, timing growth to 2, then finishing the worker (he's got plenty to do already) while teching towards libraries as I don't need monuments. Then having another think.

Settle in place means I could settle City 2 4S and feed it with the 2nd sea-food while getting stone in quickly; settle 1SE means I'll have to work the stone from inland.

As usual; decisions, decisions and I've only moved one bit.

Gamefile start (http://www.asimere.com/BtS/AutoSave_Initial_BC-4000.CivBeyondSwordSave)

TIA guys, I hope this is a sensible use of your time; as ever, I appreciate it. CF

SE seems a reasonable starting point except that its possible (tho not guaranteed) that the plains hill could be a metal resource.

Hey there, I'm not new to the forums (I've been hanging around a lot), but I guess I'll be here to keep you company on this game. I play on around the same difficulty as you (still stuck on Monarch!), so it'll be interesting to see where our strategies deviate.

So I've downloaded the save file, play some turns, explore, etc. And we'll see how this game plays out!

Okay, so I played a couple of turns. And here's what I have thus far:
Oh, some parts of it are enclosed in spoilers so if you haven't played there, then don't see/read it.

Founded in spot and... Woah! Lookie Lookie.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/Civ4ScreenShot0000.jpg
Looks like a lot of food. Not only that, but expansive trait gives us +2 health, fresh water +2, all the resources +4, and build a harbor gives another +2 (I think). Regardless, this city is gonna be BIG, so I'm thinking of assigning it as a GP farm. +10 from clams and crabs (with lighthouse), +4 from sheep, +3 from deer (+4 after the forest is removed). +18 food working 4 tiles, and the fresh water lake gives +3 w/ lighthouse. I"m liking the start!
On another note, the excellent start might mean an isolated start. Fractal does some weird things.
Set the research to fishing to obviously get a crab.
Start building a worker since we have hunting already to connect the deer.

So after a little exploring on turn 4, I come across a special tribal village. And why? They have me The wheel! Lucky Lucky! Also, found the stone that you saw, and explored a bit further.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/Civ4ScreenShot0001.jpg
Might have found the southern part of the continent too. Quite a few flood plains. Probably good for some cottages.

By turn 12, I finished fishing, and my worker was a few turns from completing. Set research to animal husbandry, and Buddhism was founded at this time too. Sounds about right, probably a spiritual civ out there.

Soon finished the worker, started on a work boat, and kept on exploring. It seemed like it was at least an island start, maybe an isolated one. Turn 16, Hinduism was founded.

Nothing exciting, but by turn 31, I finished scouting out most of the continent, and it turns out that it is an isolated start, but still better grab the land aggressively (good training for monarch). In the about middle of the map, there is a long river. On that river are quite a few flood plains, good for cottaging. While I would consider that as another GP farm, the capital will have the pyramids (hopefully) and most of the wonders as there aren't any good production sites around the continent. The only viable contender is the section of hills to the west of the flood plains but they're all desert hills!
There is only ONE happiness resource on this island (gold), but we do have both stone and marble, though marble is on the other side of the continent!
One thing, notice how I'm researching pottery? That was a bad idea, should have done bronze working so I could chop those forests near the capital and use it for slave labor. Didn't notice that until it was too late :(.
Anyway, in other news, I finished one work boat, and started on another so I could get that settler out quicker. Well, here's a shot of the continent as I know it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/Civ4ScreenShot0005.jpg

So my scout was turning around, going back to get the black area he missed in the last screenshot, when I noticed this.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/Civ4ScreenShot0006.jpg
Guess we're on the north side of the world. Possible fishing site here too. Also notice how I'm getting masonry. I don't know what I was thinking. Why not bronze working!!! :mad:

Couple turns pass, and on 51...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/Civ4ScreenShot0007.jpg
Uh oh. Didn't get that settler out fast enough. Stupid me, not getting bronze working so I could chop the settler out and whip the warrior! :crazyeye:

So now, I finally come to my senses and on turn 51, start bronze working. That probably really compromised my growth, so I have to make up for that. I started another warrior to escort the settler, and then I started building a granary to wait until the capital grew a pop point, then start a settler.

Oh yeah, and by now, I started using the sign function (alt+s) to put little signs all over the place to remind me of stuff, marking possible city locations, etc.
After the settler was built, I started to build another worker (for chopping!), which more or less coincided with bronze working. Although on another note, the lack of chops made me build roads to the second city and then the stone, so I can get the pyramids sooner and I can chop/whip out a settler and warrior while I'm building that.

Turn 65, I get my second city up (kind of late) and naturally, I start losing money :(. Now I have to wait 8 turns for the borders to expand before getting the stone. I also revolted to slavery (finally!), and start researching writing so I can get the cheap libraries up and running, and to math after (need that extra production!) And here's a pic of my two cities, and a possible third location (probably not where my next city will go though).

And that's pretty much my progress at this point. I checked the demographics, pretty good. Check it out:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/Civ4ScreenShot0011.jpg
First in GNP by a bit. First in production (though not by much). First in food (no real surprise). The real kicker is in population. How does an AI civ have 150k at this point? That's more or less triple the average! Just wait until representation ;).

Any comments thus far on the game would be well appreciated, (besides my stupidity on bronze working).

4000BC-2875BC

After some thought I decided to settle in place to give me the option to let the Southern crabs feed the stone city. There's too much water in the capital's BFC if I moved SE. It turned out to be a good choice. (I made this decision before I'd read the thread. I'd prefer not to have a blow by blow in the thread as I really don't play on btw - but don't stop posting guys.)

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13004.JPG

The goody hut popped for 49 gold and I started a worker and started fishing (9 turns). 2 scout moves later I popped another hut for 64. Fishing came in and I immediately swapped to a work boat, maximising hammers. Research will go quicker working 4F2G than 1F3H, even if the worker build is no quicker. Since the worker had a hill to improve and the deer to work, I decided to research BW immediately as I'd get a good take on the dot map that way and the worker had plenty to do.

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13005.JPG

When I'm exploring I tend to do circuits and a bit later a 3rd goody hut gave me a further 32 gold. That's 145 Gold for deficit researching. This is looking good. Turn 29 and I had BW and I started AH. We have copper not too far away. The work boat completed and I ran it round to the crabs and put three turns into a barracks to get Size 2 before I carried on with the worker, swapping tiles worked to get the research bonus. The worker completed and I stupidly developed the plains hill instead of the deer. Ah well! Another work boat started. The scout had done well [Woodsman I (3/5), it survived a bear as well], exploring our island completely, finding a 4th goody hut which popped for experience and we have 9/10 Woodsman II Scout. We're isolated and no heffalumps.

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13006.JPG

You can see the explored area with the isthmus in the SW. We've got Ag, Cu and stone. There's marble at the end of the isthmus too, but it doesn't show. I read somewhere there's a bug that does this. There's a couple of rivers, some wheat and geegees in the middle and a fair amount of sea food. We've researched Fishing, BW and AH has just finished. It's Turn 45.

Well, what to do? I think we should get sailing and take a trip round the island to see if we can island hop. We also need libraries and we need to get all the resources on stream; but research is going to be a problem. Writing, Wheel, Sailing perhaps? A couple of warriors, grow to 3 (put a bit more into the barracks if necessary); another worker, and a settler?

Save File (http://www.asimere.com/BtS/ChienFou XIII BC-2875.CivBeyondSwordSave)

That's a lot of floodplains for such an island! Resources are not exactly abundant though. Are you planning on founding a religion for some happiness?
An early galley sounds like a good idea, you might find some nice land around and/or meet some civs, which might be important for religious matters at this stage.

Research wise, I think you should make sure you have pottery ready by the time you settle your second city, to cottage some floodplains (the stone site?).

Just my thoughts...

I decided against an early galley since I screwed up with my settler build. The problem here is the lack of happiness resources. Religion is going to be tough to get unless we find a trading partner ASAP. If not, then I doubt I can get a religion easily. I think the easiest religion to get would be Confucianism. The Oracle would have helped, but the chances of getting it without having marble or being industrious seems to be low. My other hope is getting a great prophet and bulbing a religion. Only problem is that I'll need to get all the early religious techs first (aaargh). Hopefully I can nab Confucianism, I'll see.

You should be able to chop out the Oracle pretty easily at Prince, even without Marble or IND trait, but you kind of have to commit to it earlier.

To be honest, I often take MC with the Oracle, and STILL out-tech the AIs to CoL at Prince, but that also means you have to sort of plan it, and push through Myst-Poly-Priest-Writing pretty quickly and early.

If nothing else, you can always run Scientists and pop a GS to bulb Philo before any AI gets it. You do have Gold, which is worth 2 happy early, +1 for the gold, +1 with a Forge. Sury isnt too hard to play in Isolation though. You have so many FPs that you will soon be pumping out nice commerce from those cottages, or even running a pile of specialists if you want to go with a pure SE with the Mids. A farmed FP support 1 whole specialist by itself.

Oh, and for you CF:
Either gives us venison (quick fried over pine is my favourite)
Mmm, nothing like outdoor cooked venison, but have you ever eaten it when the deer have been FEEDING on the pine? They like to strip the bark at the base of young trees, and eat the newer budding pine-cones before they end up too crunchy, but it REALLY makes a huge difference in the meat.

So I initially intended to play until 1 AD, but then I just said, one more turn, one more turn, until I came up at 340 AD! Whoops! Oh well :p.

So I played those turns and I don't really remember what I did haha. Well a few key highlights of these turns:
I abused slavery as many times as I could. Once every 15 turns, tried to get two population or less on each run.
I got a Great Engineer from the Pyramids and was able to nab metal casting (for forges) and then started to plan out more cities.
More or less planned out where the rest of my cities would be.
Finished the Pyramids and revolted to representation for the happiness and beakers.
Founded two more cities (I'll show you in pics soon).
Rushed to Code of Laws and founded Confucianism. Forgot to research Priesthood, so went back and got that. Also got Judaism for Organized Religion, revolted to that. Grabbed Literature for the Great Library (Wonder still pending).
Managed to grab both the Hanging Gardens and the Colossus in my Capital.
Got Civil Service, I have not revolted to Bureaucracy at the moment (dubious on the success of the Great Library, you'll understand in a sec).

Okay so now for some pictures and etc. (I'll write down notes next time if you want me to)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/Civ4ScreenShot0016.jpg
These are the new demographics. 1 in GNP, fun. And increased my production by quite a bit (I was 2 or 3 earlier). Food is lower since I'm running specialists. Soldiers, meh, I'll worry about that later (hope that isn't a mistake). Land area and population are expected.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/Civ4ScreenShot0018.jpg
Religion demographics. Since I'm 1 in population by a fair margin, and Confucianism is 18% of the world, I'm guessing that there are at most two other continents out there with civs on them.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/Civ4ScreenShot0019.jpg
My civics, self explanatory.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/Civ4ScreenShot0020.jpg
This is actually subject to change. As you can see, city maintenance is the killer, along with civic upkeep. I haven't had the chance to whip courthouses yet, but I expect to be able to do so soon. Also, the fact that I'm changing around specialists every so often means that the research and gold stats are likely to change around soon.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/Civ4ScreenShot0021.jpg
View of my empire. Designated city sites and purposes. The capital sure has a lot of resources around it. I've connected all of my cities. Not sure why I'm building a courthouse in the capital... Oh well. The minor commerce city is building another settler for the spot near the whales so I can get that happiness once optics finishes. Go in for a closer view...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/Civ4ScreenShot0022.jpg
Angkor Wat, hoping to get the wonder of the same name here too. This is going to be building the Great Library on the hopes that I can run many specialists here. The Baray is going to be whipped soon so that +2 food can run another specialist. This city location is probably the best suited for commerce, as it contains all the flood plains located on the central river. I don't like how it catches so many hills though, but it desperately needed production and I couldn't wait for another city to get the gold.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/Civ4ScreenShot0023.jpg
Here is the capital. I don't know what I'm thinking with the capital, as it should be running the fresh water tile and another specialist than those mines. Very impressive city I think.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/Civ4ScreenShot0024.jpg
This city has a dubious future for me. I'm planning to cottage the riverside grassland forest, then see what the city's food needs are. Quite a few unworkable tiles though.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/Civ4ScreenShot0025.jpg
And my final city. The game actually recommended the farthest workable desert tile here, but it would pick up too many further unworkable desert tiles to the east, so I decided to sacrifice a flood plains for a costal city. This one might get the maoi statues, considering the number of coastal tiles, but I'll see.

Interesting game for me thus far. Much easier than those monarch games I've been trying to go for (good lord the AI feels crazy hard on those!) I think I'm doing pretty good. Once I find the other civs (and circumnavigate the globe), I can see how I am compared to the rest of the world. Comments? I would love to hear some.

2870BC-100AD

Realising I was going to have a happiness cap problem I decided to go for the 'mids. I also wanted to keep my research rate up. So I researched writing then wheel, and built a worker and chopped a settler. I founded City 2 on the flood plains in reach of the stone, planning to run a road to the city and develop the stone when the border popped. Turn 66. I had time to fit masonry in to do this after wheel.

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13007.JPG

I mistimed switching to slavery (I like to do it between the settler build and city foundation switching on Turn 69 not turn 65). Too bad. Turn 77 saw Pottery for flood plain development and Turn 84 was Masonry. The library and Granary were in place in City 1; so I whipped out another settler and switched to 'mids with 1 scientist running and slow growth through the happiness cap, timed for the 15 turns of unhappiness, then ran a second scientist. Turn 90 (1750 BC) saw me found City 3 on the Cu, sheep, wheat site.

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13008.JPG

Turn 118 after a couple of chops. (1050BC) Goal!

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13009.JPG

I went straight into representation of course. In the meantime, since I was going to have to REX the island and also keep my research going I meeded courthouses so I beelined CoL via Currency, completely ignoring the religious techs and got to CoL on Turn 143. 455BC.

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13010.JPG

I was slightly surprised with

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13011.JPG

but decided to take the extra happiness for the time being, put the missionary in City 1 and converted, expecting the other cities to catch religion in due course. Now that I could build courthouses I banged out 2 more quick cities on Turn 145 (425 BC), the first is quite controversial in that I founded a fishing village on the South Coast; (My father was responsible for checking the beaches for the launch of the D-day invasions - really, he was!) viewing it would be a launch point for invasions later on and hoping that border pops would reveal something. The other city was the Au, GeeGee City

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13012.JPG
http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13013.JPG

About now I figured I had to get off the island at some stage and just pressed the "astronomy" button. I'd had a look round the island with a galley but you don't see anything more than the scout does. Turn 148 I got the "you can risk poisoning your pop for health benefits" quest, and think the RNG Gods spat at me as I had horrendous happiness cap problems. Too bad, I think it's worth the risk. I figured the GLitehse was worthwhile shooting for and that came in on Turn 177, 55AD.

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13014.JPG

You can see the effects of the CoL and Astonomy beelines in this shot of the research chart. Crazy! although I did take time out to research the 3 early religious techs for temples and Monastery production.

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13015.JPG

So there we go; Turn 180, 100AD, 5 cities, 70% research (114 per turn) and getting close to Machinery. I planted 2 GS's for Academies. Here's a general map and a city production screen.

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13016.JPG
http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13017.JPG

Where do we go from here? A couple more cities, picking up the marble and some sea food. Try for circumnavigation bonus? Perhaps I should beeline Optics first then press the Astronomy button? Anything else. How's the shadow game going?

Save File (http://www.asimere.com/BtS/ChienFou XIII AD-0100.CivBeyondSwordSave)

Very good, you can see my progress in the post above. I have a lower research rate than you, and have one city less, but I'm shooting for the Great Library, which should get my research rate up. I'm also going to be pumping out GPs faster than you it seems.
A few things I'm noticing:
You seem to be more really focused on science. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but you could get courthouses and other stuff out a lot faster with more hammers.
Your cities are also growing a little slow for my taste. In my opinion, more population means more people working stuff which means more stuff.
I would also like to hear your thoughts on city placement. I pick my city spots based on terrain and specializations rather than trying to get as many city spots out.
I think that if you built the Great Lighthouse, you're going to need economics and anything else (except for corporation) that increases your trade routes quickly. You also should start getting harbors out in your coastal cities along with the customs house (can't remember what technology activates them). That way, you can get the trade route bonus with other civilizations quickly.
I think that considering the map, circumnavigation is a good idea. I'm certainly going for it. I might double post to report my next few developments.

Yeah, I think we're about similar in playing skill, though we have different styles. It'll be interesting to play this on, in parallel a bit longer, because i think we'll learn some from each other.

My city sizes suffered a bit when the herbal thingy killed off my happiness, I've only just recovered from 30 turns of 2 red citizens. I'm trying to keep research up since I've got no trading partners. I'd hate to get Astronomy and find rifles.

I know I sux0r at City specialisation and your notes on various squares are a l337 idea. I think I don't plan carefully enough which wonders to build where. Some feedback from you would be good on this point.

As for your game I'm surprised you're not developing the sheep copper wheat site. You've got more religion than I have as well. Not a criticism, just an observation.

I'll play on to Optics and see how we're doing. cheers CF

My city sizes suffered a bit when the herbal thingy killed off my happiness, I've only just recovered from 30 turns of 2 red citizens. I'm trying to keep research up since I've got no trading partners. I'd hate to get Astronomy and find rifles.

Eww... Bad random events. I don't think you have much to fear from the AI research. Check the demographics to see how you're doing with the rest of the world. If you're number one, I don't think you have to worry.

I know I sux0r at City specialisation and your notes on various squares are a l337 idea. I think I don't plan carefully enough which wonders to build where. Some feedback from you would be good on this point.

You should definitely read some articles on city specialization here on civfanatics. Take a look at the hybrid economy article too. Really interesting and helpful stuff. I base my economy off of these articles and also just my playing style.

As for your game I'm surprised you're not developing the sheep copper wheat site. You've got more religion than I have as well. Not a criticism, just an observation.
I actually haven't yet because I thought that Great Person Points generation needed to start early. So that's my next city site actually. The religion is due to organized religion. I have a lot of hammers in my cities, plus I got bureaucracy in my capital so I can really pump out missionaries for the building bonus. Spreading religion is also helpful for getting the happiness through, and if I send a missionary with a settler, it'll border expand in 5 turns instead of 8.

I'll play on to Optics and see how we're doing. cheers CF
Already got there, here's my status.

So from 340 AD, which is where I last left off, played until 1030 AD.

So in 385 AD, discovered Compass, started on machinery to go towards on Optics.
These years were nothing interesting except for micromanagement and rearrangements of specialists. Don't want to get into the minutiae.
Then in 430 AD, The Church of Nativity was built! Thankfully, a look at the religion demographics showed that Christianity is only 5% of the world.
445 AD-Founded my fifth city at exactly where you put it CF. Of course it would grow rapidly, then specialize it towards production once I hooked up resources and set up lumbermills.
505 AD-Got a missionary out and spread Confucianism there, the ETA for the granary shrank by a little.
520 AD-I realized that barbarism was not the right government I liked so I revolted to bureaucracy, though the now high upkeep cancels out the more gold earned by the capital. Boooo!
550 AD-Machinery! Finally I could start on optics. On the other hand, I started to build a couple of macemen, since I already had civil service.
565 AD-Adam Smith was born in the capital! Behold, Supply and Demand was born!
625 AD-Moved Adam Smith to Angkor Wat and settled him there (part of the hybrid economy build)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0026.jpg
Suddenly, my commerce jumped to +3 gold :)
655 AD-Founded my sixth city, and also spread confucianism there too with the missionary I sent with him.
685 AD-Discovered optics! I also finished a work boat in my capital to hook up the whale and start a caravel!
700 AD-Discovered meditation to head towards Philosophy. Needed to get Pacifism.
775 AD-The Hindu Shrine was built! Hinduism is 19% of the world. Good or bad, dunno. Depends on city number.
805 AD-Found another civ with my caravel! Meet Pericles who does some weird magic with his hands. He's a different religion, so kind of mad at me, but still nice enough to open borders (not that it does any good, caravels don't need open borders and no trade routes over oceans yet). Maybe he can be an ally on the continent!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0027.jpg
820 AD-Oh yeah! What now punk! Great Library finished in my commerce city! It will dilute the Great Merchant population a little, but I don't it will affect the overall GP production. Besides, I need one more Great Scientist. Once I finished that, I revolted to Caste System. Unlimited Great Merchants for the win!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0028.jpg
Also, behold! My Great Merchant pumping city so I can run 100% science.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0029.jpg
860 AD-Discovered Philosophy! Also somehow founded Taoism. Thinking of revolting to Pacifism, but I wanted to keep the hammer bonus for some wonders first.
900 AD-Because I'm idiot enough to not take pictures of each civ I find, I'll group them all together here.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0030.jpg
Saladin REALLY hates me because I'm a different religion (he's the founder)
Stalin and Brennus automatically hates me becuase 1)They're aggresive. 2)They're of different religions. Unsurprisingly, they're friendly to each other. Sigh.
930 AD-Ha! Circumnavigated the globe. Rushed to get that first before exploration. I will now have 3 caravels scouting out the new continent(s) and maybe islands. Same date, discovered music and got the free Great Artist. Set research to Drama so I can lightbulb theology.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0031.jpg
940 AD-Wow I'm hitting the wonders good! The Parthenon+pacifism will mean a lotta Great People soon enough.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0032.jpg
Not only that, but I found Hatty and De Gaulle of France. Apparently De Gaulle is very aggressive. Breaking even and already annoyed at me. Hatty of course is very easy to manipulate. Different religion, but able to open borders with her and make this trade.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0033.jpg
Wow! I thought that was pretty good. Almost even in beakers. Also traded Pericles Optics and Literature for Alphabet and Calender. Fairly even. Good stuff. Planning to shoot for, not Liberalism, but BANKING! I want to run Mercantilism ASAP and get banks up in my commerce cities. Planning to get liberalism, and take Nationalism with it, build the Taj Mahal, and run for Corporation. Build Wall Street in Angkor Wat, run 100% Science. Run for Rep. Parts, get lumbermills up where needed, run for democracy, prebuild cottages during the downtime and get ready to convert to a CE. That's my research plan!
Same Turn, declared on Saladin because Stalin asked me to for the relations boost with a couple of civs. (Saladin has NO friends). Can't reach me anyway.
960 AD-Find Drama, used the Great Artist from Music to get Theology. Then a random event where Attila the Hun apparently turned around from Rome and ran his hun archers across the ocean to me. Luckily, had a couple of macemen built as a guard for any more settlers.
980 AD-Another Great Merchant born in Angkor Wat, settled him there. Income jumped again, could increase science to 80%
1010 AD-Completed the Statue of Zeus! Didn't expect to get that ha! Cool beans! Does it affect war weariness by other civs as well? Oh well.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0039.jpg
1020 AD-Discovered Feudalism! Set research to Guilds and then banking.
1030 AD-Lalala...

My city screen:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0040.jpg
Once again, some stats are liable to change depending on the specialist.

View of the Civs:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0042.jpg
Hatty is pretty well liked. Pericles was already at war with Saladin I think.

I don't think you need to worry about technology. Look how far advanced I am compared to these schmucks!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0043.jpg

Demographics, pretty good. I like it!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0043.jpg

My Civ:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0046.jpg

The World!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0047.jpg

Comments? Help? I think I'm doing pretty good. I think I'll go for either Conquest (Yeah, not domination, beat domination too many times) or the space race. Dunno if I should grab astronomy sooner rather than later, but it kills off the colossus. I guess I'll see. Any comments on that would be nice.

I've got to turn 222. caravel about 1/2 way round world. Found everyone. Made a few trades, built the whale city same place you did. Put the Moai in the Southern city directly after Courthouse. Cities about size 10.

I bulbed philo for taoism, but think i'd have done better to build a 3rd academy. Been running at 70% reserarch, but i think your setup looks nicer than mine. I like your great merchant pump.

Will post a few screen shots in the next 24 hours.

100AD-730AD

We got to Optics on Turn 206, 490AD and by turn 210 (550AD) we'd found a couple of leaders, Saladin, stroppy bugger doesn't want to trade and Pericles who will.

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13018.JPG

Of the two I might as well be friendly with pericles and annoy Saladin. Hatshe turned up on turn 216, she'll trade. I messed around for a bit deciding what to trade and basically swapped Currency and Compass for just about everything I didn't have plus some gold. Turn 220 I bulbed philosophy and got Taoism. and by turn 222 (730AD) had met everyone.

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13019.JPG

Info demographics and a map follow.

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13020.JPG
http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13021.JPG

I'm getting close (13 turns) to Astronomy, but maybe this is wrong; I should be getting some military techs first. I'll have a think, play a few more turns and report back.

Save File (http://www.asimere.com/BtS/ChienFou XIII AD-0730.CivBeyondSwordSave)

730AD-1450 AD (88 turns)

860AD and we got the circumnavigation bonus. I've still only got one caravel, but it's doing well. I've built another settler and will take the fish square on the SW peninsular as it'll make it possible to get my galley over to the nearby island. I built AnKor Wat in Harahilaya and specialised it on Priests. I made my capital into a Merchant pump (though I've only got 4 merchants at the moment). Ankor Thom has an Academy and I'm running 3 scientists there.

870AD and we got CS, so I can do some irrigation and build maces if needed.

I built a few more cities, including one on the island to the SW.

970AD and I finished Angkor Wat in Hariharalaya, priest specialisations there

990AD Astronomy

1120AD swapped Mono and Drama from pericles (my cautious friend) for metal casting and 20GP. A backfilling exercise.

1230AD Shwedagon Paya in Hariharalaya, More priestliness. I need two GPs to get shrines.

1285AD won the Lib race and took Nationalism, just for the hammer cost.

1450AD, Turn 310. Sci method.

Here are some screen shots:
http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13022.JPG

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13023.JPG

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13024.JPG

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13025.JPG

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13026.JPG

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13027.JPG

http://www.asimere.com/BtS/CFP13028.JPG

the capital has 2 settled merchants and 5 assigned merchant specialists
Hariharaliya has 4 priests running
Angkor Thom 4 scientists and an Academy
I'm running deficit research but it's ok at 70%

Is it time to go onto a war footing? maces and cats. Saladin, mainly because I don't like him, also he's nearby and pericles might like me for it.

Save File (http://www.asimere.com/BtS/ChienFou XIII AD-1450.CivBeyondSwordSave)

Before I get on with my report up to 1460 (overplayed by 2 turns haha), a few points I notice.
You really rushed forward in tech. You're into the modern age, I think, too quickly. You appear to have skipped guilds and banking entirely! You have skipped over two techs that will save your economy big time. You then also have neglected economics, corporation, and replaceable parts. In my opinion, those are key techs. Especially since I see that you have decided to make a Great Merchant pump, you will need to get a grocer and a bank up in that city which is a missed 75% modifier to that city. You then need to have the time to build the 6 banks necessary for Wall Street.

I think that your research choices are so-so. I'm not sure why you would beeline for scientific method. You basically only gained the ability to see oil and to build a forest preserve. On the other hand, you lost the +10% beakers multiplier from monasteries, and you also lost the Great Library and Parthenon (well, I have both of those so I would wait for quite a while before finally getting Scientific method). But when I get scientific method, I will lose my 50% GP multiplier, and I will lose 12 free beakers/turn before multipliers. Maybe your situation is different, but I don't really see your rationale, unless you're planning modern warfare (which you need to go back for banking anyway).

Here's my report and a little comparison of our games after.

1080 AD-Popped a Great Engineer in the capitol, perfect because I could quickly land shwegadon paya and then the university of sankore.

1110 AD-I land paper, and you can tell that I'm going for liberalism yeah!
1150 AD-I do a round of map trading to see what the continents are like, and I get quite a bit of gold and also archery. Not sure why I got that, but whatever!
1190/1200 AD-University of Sankore and Shwegadon Paya are built! (Other way around)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0062.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0063.jpg
1210 AD-I found another fishing city in the northern tundra.
1230 AD-I realize that I have a Great Artist stored, so I use him on a golden age.
1240 AD-I trade Pericles Music for Theology and gold. Just for the relations boost really. Same year, I get a Great Scientist for an academy at the capitol.
1250 AD-Education! Now I start to move towards getting universities out in my commerce cities.
1285 AD-Find Liberalism, get Nationalism as my free tech, immediately start the Taj Mahal. Same year, Pericles finishes the Apostolic Palace, but it doesn't really do anything.
1300 AD-Discover Guilds, on my way to banking for mercantilism and banks.
1315 AD-Discover Banking, revolt to mercantilism and start building banks in my commerce cities.
1340 AD-Haha... My favorite year. Check this out:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0064.jpg
Basically the entire world declared war on Du Galle. So I jumped on the bandwagon and DoW on him too. Got insta relations boost.

1355 AD-Economics! Got the Great Merchant, settled him in Angkor Wat. Going for Astronomy next for Galleons and the observatories which I hope will make up for lost commerce in my coastal cities.

1390 AD-Grabbed another Great Merchant, think you can tell where that one went.

1410 AD-Astronomy discovered! Observatories ordered up where needed.
1415 AD-Finished Taj Mahal, Golden Age! Rushing for Replaceable parts now!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0065.jpg
1445 AD-Discovered Printing Press! Not too big of an impact though. Same year, I somehow finish Angkor Wat! Such an old wonder!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0066.jpg

And then up to 1460 AD-where I am now. 2 turns of golden age left, and 4 turns left in rep parts at 80% science. More pictures in the order that you presented yours.

My tech plan: going for Rep parts, then to chemistry, then to rifling. Hopefully, I can rifle rush Brennus before he gets deadly.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0067.jpg

Domestic Screen:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0069.jpg
A few comparisons: your cities are not at their maximum potential. My base cities have pretty much grown to their maximum potential. If my cities can reach such a level by this time, so can yours. With bigger cities comes better output. Slavery is generally an early game civic IMO.

I don't put too much stock in score because it isn't really a good indication about how you're doing.

Demographics:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0068.jpg
Ouch! Who's the AI with 643 GNP! Look at the AI best in my game! How did that happen!
Woah... Production. You're going to need more production to even THINK of war! You have a lot of ground to make up soldier wise too!
I already made a point about food earlier :P.
Population is pretty much linked with food.

My City placement:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0070.jpg
If you could provide a better picture for your empire so I could see your city placement, that would be nice.

My World
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/MystLord/CF%20SS/Civ4ScreenShot0071.jpg
Woah look at Saladin in your game. In my game, it's pretty much clear which empire is which. Your game looks a little random. Your Pericles is also bigger than mine. Strange stuff.

My Merchant pump has: 4 Settled Great merchants, 5 merchant specialists, and 2 free scientists from the great library. The dilution for me hasn't been bad yet since I still need those scientists :). I'll research scientific method when I don't want that dilution anymore.

It is at this time that I'm starting the switch to a cottage economy btw. Just need to get democracy soon for emancipation.

I don't know if war is a good idea for you. Until you get rifles/cannons/cavalry, don't bother with war. You especially need production to get those units out, although if your happiness can take the hit for drafting, that works too. If you were to declare war, I would take out Brennus first and then work my way towards the big civs. For me, Du Galle is generally hated and his only friend is Brennus, of which I don't want a defensive pact floating up sometime soon. For you, the situation might be different. But consider that you might get the border tensions with Pericles if you DoW on Saladin.

Winding down to the end of the game!

Played on a bit further, I'd built on the island to the SW and De Gaulle DoWed me, lost a city which I'd just nicked off the Barbarian, but cavalry got it back in 2 turns. Decided to invade the main Island while DG was being stroppy; Cavalry, rifles and cannon make mincemeat of knights, cats and muskets. Think with my tech lead and greater number of cities I should go for space race. Domination's a possibilty; clean out DG then decide on a victim and SoD him. Repeat; My navy can sustain the shipping costs.

Historically in my games it's about now I can fall behind, so I'll be watching that.

I've found this comparison game really interesting; I think I have a better idea of city specialisation as a result, and realise I need to work harder on which wonders go where. I probably build too many wonders. Thanks for your much appreciated input. CF

bummer. was cruising along towards a domination win, about 45% of the land mass and growing fast. SoD about a mile high when hatshe won a cultural victory in 1933. Serves me right for not attacking her I guess.