The Ancient Age
I settled 1E, looking for a 6 turn combo factory, but getting a classical 4 turn factory. I didn't defend the capital at all, and a German spear showed up early on, but Otto gave me no trouble; we traded a couple of times but he never made any significant demands or dows. After Pots for the granary, I researched Writing, and Otto managed to mess up the Beta continent research plan by also doing it, and getting there first. I followed up with Philosophy and Laws, looking to get into Republic as soon as possible, except for a detour for Ironwork, which Otto had missed.
It was only with the discovery of (and switch to) Republic in 650bc that I could trade for Mapping and start sending galleys out to look for Alpha. While my ships were sinking out at sea, I began the first war against Germany, using swords to pick off the western half of their empire. I found Alpha in 350bc and was able to use Republic and Currency to buy all contacts, maps and missing techs. Polytheism was still unknown to the world, so I set my research sights on it, and went medieval in 250bc.
Trade and Happiness
Korea finishes Polytheism the same turn as me, and I bring Greece and Germany forwards too. They get two Monotheisms and an Engineering. Buying Monotheism from Otto is no trouble as I have Literature as a monopoly to him, as well as Alpha's maps and cash. My rep is clean too, so I could use gpt, but it isn't necessary. With Monotheism in hand, I take Engineering from Alex, and trade that to the French and Chinese, who both have gpt. I want people working on the bottom branch of the tech tree. They have to get Feudalism first of course, but they have a high chance to be working on it already.
There is still a barb camp on Beta, which is now home to about fifty horses, but that's no problem, as I have a decent use for my cash now. I buy embassies with 5 of the 6 Alpha civs, and find that England is currently at war with Korea and Rome. Great news! In 230bc I renegotiate peace with Liz, agreeing to join both her wars. The very next turn she gives Rome peace, and I get my first war happiness.
Incidentally, the megastack of barb horses reaches my nearest town in 190bc, and I get pillaged for a whole 1gp.
The Golden Age
In 110bc, my west coast core town, Zaragoza, finishes Colossus; the build was started very late as I normally assume that it is unattainable, so tend to forget about it. In this game, however, all but two of the AI (China and Korea) have inland capitals, which makes it much less likely that Colossus is done early. So about the time that I picked up Mapping, I realised I had the chance to build either Lighthouse or Colossus, and as I was playing a research game, Colossus was the obvious choice. For Spain, Colossus starts the golden age. This is perfectly timed for me, speeding the path to universities and Copernicus, and maybe giving me the chance to make up the gap to Alpha continent on Chamnix's game.
The golden age also has the effect of boosting my lux spending; I can shift down from 20% to 10%. The scarcity of luxury resources on Beta is a bit of a problem when trying to max out research, so I rely quite heavily on my wars with Alpha. In 50bc, I switch the Roman war around to an alliance agianst England, and do the same with the Koreans in 50ad, getting the recently-researched Feudalism in the process. So once those guys agree peace, I should have three batches of war happiness coming in. It is addictive stuff!
Locking Up the Germans
In 10ad, I found a town called Germania Minor on a hill in the middle of the small desert near the German core. Then in 150ad I dow Otto, forgetting to give him the town first.
So my first couple of turns in this war I do nothing except add an extra citizen to Germania Minor and defend all my
other border towns. In 210ad, he arrives with an archer and captures Germania Minor. I respond by taking his other two towns and giving him peace again in 270ad. I have towns all around Germania Minor with cheap rushed temples, so Otto will be spending the rest of the game with a 4-tile empire, making +0fpt, 2spt, 3gpt. And still my rep with him is clean, so I anticipate no problems gettign hold of his SCI free techs.
By now, I have researched as far as Banking, while the AI has not had Feudalism long enough to make any progress on Invention. So I have to start on the bottom branch myself.
Jumping the Palace
Just like everyone else, I draw my plans up for a jump to Leipzig. Throughout my golden age, I build settlers out of Madrid, as fast as I can. Also a couple of workers join Leipzig, but of course it will need more than just population to beat Zaragoza, which is maxed out in pop to make best use of Colossus. So I have a couple of core towns which finished their contemporary improvements build a stream of archers, whose sole purpose is to march up to Leipzig and garrison there. After Madrid disbands in 290ad and Leipzig takes up the reins, these archers move to nearby towns and disband themselves to help with library building.
I have 8 towns at RCP5 from Leipzig, and another 7 within RCP5 from my FP at Toledo, including Zaragoza, which in 360ad adds Copernicus to the Colossus.
AI Researches Four More Techs
Only kidding
. The AI is a total waste of space after Feudalism. I reach Chemistry in 350ad, and sell or gift Mao, Alex, Joan and Wang (who never did break our alliance against England) up in the hope one of them will have a go at Metallurgy while I busy myself with the Physics techs. In 390ad I get Physics, and also gift that to Joan, Wang and Alex, so that if they didn't go for Metallurgy but were still slogging through Education, then maybe thay can try for Magnetism instead. Of course the chance that they can do Magnetism in the same time it takes me to do Gravity is pretty remote. So after Gravity, I am left with the choice of Metallurgy or Magnetism, not sure which the AI is most likely to come up with. I choose to do Metallurgy myself, and still the AI has nothing.
An Unorthodox Decision
I need just Magnetism to enter the industrial, but I still dream that one of my AI 'helpers' can do it for me. Also, as we were discussing Democracy over in another thread, and Spain is religious, I thought this might be a good time to try it out. I haven't yet finished Newton, and there are some pretty mature AI wonder builds outstanding, which could easily drop from 400ish shields to snatch it in a cascade, if I have gifted the AI into the next era. I want some leverage with which to get people's industrial free techs as soon as we go through. And finally, I am running on empty cash-wise, and will need to drop my research rate sooner or later. That is four reasons all pointing towards Printing as my next tech, so I set my research to an optional! Crazy stuff.
A Disappointing Outcome
Of course, the AI does not get Magnetism in time, but Alex does get Banking at the same time I get Printing. I didn't gift it around because it has a relatively low weight, but it seems I should have done. He must have been doing Education when I gifted that to him, and chosen Banking instead of Astronomy. Mind you, at that research rate, he probably would not have reached Magnetism before I did Printing and Magnetism anyway.
The cascade turns out not to have been a threat either; Leonardo goes to China the same turn I get Newton, and Sun Tzu falls to Korea 9 turns later - possibly they had enough shields to get Newton if I didn't already have it, but I'm not sure whether the AI would choose Newton over Sun Tzu anyway. I wonder if anyone has investigated this kind of stuff?
I hit the industrial era with the self research of Magnetism in
550ad.
Techs
Medieval - 250bc
Monotheism - AI free tech, traded
Engineering - AI free tech, traded
Theology - 90bc (8 turns)
Education - 10ad (5 turns in GA)
Feudalism - AI research, traded
Astronomy - 90ad? (4 turns in GA)
Banking - 170ad (4 turns in GA)
Invention - 260ad (5 turns in GA)
Guns - 310ad (5 turns)
Chemistry - 350ad (4 turns)
Physics - 390ad (4 turns)
Gravity - 430ad (4 turns)
Metallurgy - 470ad (4 turns)
Printing - 510ad (4 turns)
Magnetism - 550ad (4 turns)
Details from the experts would be very helpful to the less experienced players - this is a tough situation, but definitely playable.
