Wow, I don't think I've had as much luck in RI as in the game I'm playing now (large world map, Monarch, English). I'm playing as the English since it eliminates the barb/rush or land grab wars most other civs have too contend with.
The only other major civ to start in that environment is the Japanese, but since there's a barb fort to the north, they only get 2 city locations at the outset. England gets 3 cities easy (4 if you settle Iceland). Also, Anti Clerical is a lot easier to neutralize then that horrid isolationist curse. Plus if the cards fall right as Britain one can possibly colonize east Africa which gives you Elephant, Rice, Banana, Gold, and Deer nearly doubling your early game resources. That's a ton of resources for a not so huge of a maintenance hit.
Well, I knew from my last game settling east Africa needs to be done before Mansa (Timbuktu) gets too big, or someone else beats you to the punch (my last try the Arabs had 2 cities there), I kicked them out, but it wasn't easy. Bottom line at the outset, is it's important too improve relations with the French and Spanish to get open borders with them as soon as possible or you can't get a settler down there in time to avoid an lengthy war.
In this game as luck would have it,, France and Spain attacked the Romans and asked me join. My 2 most dangerous opponents neutralized for the cost of me going to war with an opponent not even within striking distance. Um,, OK, why not?. I then got the boost I needed in relations for an open border agreement with both just about the time my first galley was built, and when I got down to east Africa, Timbuktu was under siege by the Berbers. Freakin awsome. They took it the next turn and all of manse's culture with it. Couldn't be better. A culture war with the Berbers. A functionally illiterate civ that will be chucking rocks at my elephants. The Berbers are so lame I'll have the whole coast to myself before the classical Era closes.
Then as I'm getting another settler and some chariots ready to send south to carve out the rest of east Africa according to plan, I find that France has been destroyed. Well that happened fast. Every game I've played so far had France dominating Europe. The Romans and Spanish not only beat down France, they raised the 2 best cities instead of keeping them!! How the hell did the Romans not want Paris?
This left the entire french countryside wide open. No culture from the Netherlands to Spain. The one city the Romans kept was 3 clicks southwest of Berlin. A true AI brain fart of Epic proportions. Lets burn a large developed capital with 4 or five buildings to the ground, but keep the undeveloped satellite city 3 clicks from another culture spewing Capitol. WTF?
OK,, heh, minor change of plans to accommodate my allies ineptitude. I plant my would be second Africa colonizing settler down in Burgundy, claiming the hemp, wheat and Wine and since London is already flourishing (I built Pyramids and Stonehenge) I've already got culture throughout north eastern France, making burgundy the new Paris.
The only scary part is that most of my military was dispatched to east Africa to make sure my colony was safe. So I had an Axe-man and 2 chariots defending a size one Burgundy 20 turns away from walls. I could get an archer there every three turns so I'll need 20 turns to have around 10 units and walls and feel pretty safe. I'm thinking my luck will run out though. With France gone a hungry Roman Army must be on the horizon.
I then see a stack of 12 Spanish units move south of Burgundy's radius. I'm wondering how hell they even got there. WTH? How could Spain have a navy big enough to transport an army this size this early? So I open up the world builder to see what's going on, and one of the Tribal forts (the one on the Mediterranean side) is freakin gone. Somehow during the Spanish, French, Roman War, one of them must have taken out the fort, which I thought was impossible with Classical era units?
So Now I'm thinking, well, there goes my "foothold on the European continent" experiment. The usually bottled up Spanish (rightfully so because they start with 3 excellent cities), now have free range to march armies into France. Then with a spy I see an even bigger Roman army to the east which was now in the no longer french city (tours) that one they didn't raise (around the Netherlands).
I'm thinking they're certain to dog pile me. That's what any AI civs would do in vanilla. In regular civ it always seemed like me against a dog pile. But in this game the Spanish actually did what a human player would have. It appears to have noticed that Romans main bulk of forces were like ten turns away up north and their second city Antium (on the Mediterranean) with only 3 defenders was the best target. It was the gate way for Spain, Rome and France. The most strategically important bottle neck in the world at this point I imagine.
The Spanish actually moved east on Antium stabbing the Romans in the back instead of me. By the time the bulk of Roman forces got south to contend with this new turn of events, the Spanish raised Antium and moved on Rome. They almost sacked Rome too but ran out of gas as the bulk of Romans northern forces arrived and they duked it out reducing both armies to negligible 4 or 5 unit stacks.
My one complaint is the AI raising cities. Rome should not have raised Paris. If it was because of maintenance then why keep a further away less resourceful Tours. In no way should Spain have raised Antium. It was the gateway to Spain without that tribal fort, plus it's battered army could've dug in, healed up, and probably defeated Romes Army which was still several turns away. Heck, had the Spanish not sacked Antium, Rome would've been an easy take I bet.
Anyways, By the time the ashes settled Burgundy was greater in population then Rome or Madrid with a bigger army then both combined. I had a city on the Mediterranean (cool now I have Marble), and no foreign culture to impede either cities growth. By the time Spain recovered I had walls and armies defending my
cities controlling all of France and a size 5 city in east Africa. I've opened the door to around 6 new resources (9 when I remove the Berbers from Timbuktu)
Not bad considering I did it without a single shot fired by me. The Romans, who were in first place at the outset, will never recover. They have Rome and a city in the Netherlands being culture squeezed by Berlin and Burgundy. And since there is no longer a Tribal fort between me and the Iberian peninsular, I just may pay Spain a visit in the coming centuries. I love this freaking mod.
I don't care I'm playing this thing out
