1.27
Link to Ancient Age spoiler
Exploration
I traded for Map Making in 1575BC, switched some builds to galleys, and started my first suicide runs (one each from the east and west coasts) in 1325BC. The first two suicide galleys were lost without meeting anyone. But the next two survived and started making contacts.
I made contact with Zululand in 1175BC, Carthage in 1150BC, Germany in 1050BC, Greece also in 1050BC, and the Aztecs in 750BC. At that date my world map looked like this:
Becoming a Republic and Fomenting War
I became a Republic in 610BC, the turn after I entered the Middle Ages. I bought embassies with my remote rivals (embassies can't be built while in Anarchy.) My galleys had explored a bit more and the world map looked like this:
I decided to foment some war between the remote Civs to weaken them and to force most of them into their Golden Ages.
Zululand and Germany were the strongest of the remote Civs. From the minimap I thought that Germany was either on an island or was connected to Carthage, and that Greece was probably connected to the Aztecs. It was certain that Zulu and Carthage were connected and seemed likely that both were connected to Greece. (Hah! Little did I know at that time.)
So I declared war on Carthage and Aztecs, leaving the stronger Civs available to me as trading partners. I allied Greece against the Aztecs, Zululand and Germany against Carthage. Later I learned about the strips of water isolating the German, Greek, and Aztec lands. So their involvement in these wars was probably minimal.
My status at 610BC: I needed a 10% luxury setting to keep all citizens productive. Unit support cost in Republic was 14gpt to support my 26 units. Net income with no research was 86gpt. With research at 90% I'd be able to learn Monotheism in 10 turns while losing 23gpt.
Research
Although military considerations remain strong, the 100K culture goal changes my research priorities. So I'll describe my research for the entire era here, separate from the descriptions of military campaigns.
I'd traded with the Zulu and Iroquois to reach the Middle Ages in 630BC. The other Civs were further behind in tech. I decided to hurry research a bit. In 610BC I gifted the two scientific Civs, Germany and Greece, into the Middle Ages. Unfortunately they both got Engineering as their free tech so I was only able to trade for one advance from this maneuver. Still, it was a nice beginning.
I started research of Monotheism because I could count on Germany and Greece to both research Feudalism next. I planned to get to Chivalry as soon as possible by trading for Feudalism.
When I learned Monotheism in 430BC (9 turns) neither Germany nor Greece had learned Feudalism yet. In a military game (going for conquest or domination) I'd have waited at this point, doing no research and using income to improve my military until Feudalism became available.
With the 100K culture goal I want Theology to build Cathedrals in core cities and as a prerequisite for Education. I want Education to build Universities in core cities. So I started research of Theology.
In 350BC both Germany and Greece knew Feudalism and I traded for it. It was a good bet they'd both research Invention next.
In 290BC I learned Theology (7 turns) and started Chivalry.
I learned Chivalry in 190BC (5 turns.) Then I turned off research for a while, using all available income to upgrade Horsemen.
In 150BC Germany learned Invention. It was a good bet she'd research Gunpowder next.
In 110BC I finished upgrading Horsemen and started research again. In a military game I'd want to pursue the bottom research path exclusively. I didn't need anything on the top tech path. The Iroquois had built Great Lighthouse. I could capture it and then safely cross the oceans. But for 100K culture I did want Education. And I didn't want to wait until the AIs got around to researching it. I'd want to build Universities in my core cities eventually. Given that, the sooner the better - I might as well start gaining their research benefit to have extra funds available for other purposes. So I began research of Education.
Learned Education in 10BC, 5 turns. I traded it for Invention. Next, should I research Gunpowder, something on the top path, or nothing? I didn't see any point in the top path - didn't need Banking, Astronomy, or anything else up there, and the AIs would learn them for me eventually. I didn't know how long Germany would take to learn Gunpowder. And I didn't want to wait - Gunpowder would probably (given saltpeter) allow me to trigger a Golden Age with a Musketeer. So I researched Gunpowder.
Learned Gunpowder in 90AD, 5 turns. I sold it to Germany so she'd start research on the upper tech tree.
After that my priority was to get Cavalry. I learned Chemistry in 190AD (5 turns), Metallurgy in 260AD (4 turns) and Military Tradition in 300AD (4 turns.)
After that I ran at zero science again for a while. I had more important uses for income than further research. In a military game I wouldn't have done any further research at all. But going for 100K, I expect the game to last longer and think that the benefit of railroads is likely to pay back their research cost. That research cost is lower than it would be in a military game because I'd have many libraries and universities by the time I started research again.
In 480AD I got a leader when I had no urgent use for one. I only needed 40% science to research Music Theory in four turns, so I did that and rushed JS Bach's in 520AD.
The timing of that was nice - in 520AD Germany and Greece both learned Navigation and Banking. (I'd traded for Astronomy earlier.) I traded for these techs and decided it was time to go for railroads.
I learned Physics in 560AD, Theory of Gravity in 600AD, and Magnetism in 640AD, four turns each.
In 640AD I started research of Steam Power and that's my cutoff for this spoiler.
War on England
At the end of Ancient Times in 630BC I'd just started my war on England.
In 590BC I'd taken four English cities and was down to 10 Horsemen. I changed my mind about finishing this war with Horsemen. I was losing too many, didn't want to focus on military production, and there wasn't much to be gained by finishing this war quickly. I decided to stay at war with England but to just pick off units she sent at me. This way I could focus on infrastructure and research, and could also do a bit of leader farming.
I got a leader in 430BC when attacking an incoming English archer. At first I held the leader, thinking of rushing a wonder and hoping for another leader a bit later for my Forbidden Palace. After a while later I changed my mind. I founded a new town in the northern region and rushed Forbidden Palace there in 330BC. It wasn't an ideal location for the FP but I felt that having it sooner made up for this vs. waiting to get a better location. Here's the FP about to complete in Bordeaux at 330BC as I continue a holding action against English invaders:
When I learned Chivalry in 190BC I had 21 horsemen. I upgraded them over a few turns, as funds became available. I resumed my attack against England and took her last city on the continent in 110BC. England had settled three towns on the island at the north tip of the homeland. I gave her peace for one of those towns.
War on Iroquois
After driving England off the homeland I had 16 Knights and 2 elite Horsemen. I repositioned them and declared war on Iroquois in 50BC.
My culture was still less than the Iroquois but it wasn't far behind and was catching up - I'd be able to capture and hold cities without much risk of them culture flipping.
My progress through the Iroquois was rapid. I encountered just a few Mounted Warriors in my advance. In 10BC I took Salamanca with The Oracle, Colossus, and Great Lighthouse. By 70AD the Iroquois were down to two cities on the homeland and I slowed my assault - I was close to learning Gunpowder and wanted to trigger a Golden Age with a Musketeer. In 150AD I had a win with a Musketeer and triggered my Golden Age.
In 170AD I drove the Iroquois off the homeland. They'd settled a few towns elsewhere, on the north island and across the sea on the Aztec island. My culture was roughly even with Iroquois at this date. I had slight war weariness which was a nuisance. I decided to delay giving the Iroquois peace until I'd starved all captured towns down to one Iroquois citizen. At that point culture flips would be unlikely given the remote Iroquois capital (on the Aztec island) and my rapidly increasing culture.
In 270AD I gave Iroquois peace for one town on the northern island and my world looked like this:
War on Carthage
I wanted more land! I decided my next target would be Carthage because:
o Carthage had The Pyramids. Growth in the captured lands would be rapid.
o Now that I had the Great Lighthouse it was easy to reach the Zulu/Carthage land.
o The land shared by Zululand and Carthage was the largest remote island. After taking Carthage I could attack Zululand without another boat trip.
o Carthage was weak. Over the years, whenever peace had broken out between them I'd renewed my alliance with Zululand against Carthage. Carthage had gotten the worst of this long war.
I had 15 Knights and 2 elite Horsemen after the war on Iroquois. I didn't want to attack even small numbers of Numidian Mercenaries with Knights. I'd rather send Cavalry and minimize losses. So I waited until I learned Military Tradition in 300AD, then began upgrading troops and sending them to Carthage.
On the very turn when my troops landed beside a Carthage town, the Zulu captured it. That complicated matters. I had to go through Zulu territory and they once booted my troops out in an awkward direction. Still, In 360AD I captured Carthage and its Pyramdids.
In 380AD I captured a second city from Carthage and that was it. Carthage was down to one town on the Aztec island. The Zulu had taken the rest of Carthage by this date.
I stayed at war with Carthage because it didn't cost me anything (I had no war weariness from them) and there was no reason to give peace (they couldn't give me anything.) But the war with Carthage was in effect over at this date. I eventually gave her peace in 740AD.
War on Zululand
At 380AD I didn't have a large military because I'd continued devoting a fair bit of production to cultural improvements. I only put enough effort into my military to continue taking land. I had 20 Cavalry, 5 elite Knights, and 2 elite Horsemen at this date, most of these on the Zulu island. This force was considered average compared with the Zulu military. That's probably because of the long Zulu/Carthage war. If they'd been at peace I expect both of them would have been stronger.
I declared war on the Zulu in 390AD but didn't attack. I positioned my Cavalry on mountains which blocked access to the cities I'd taken from Carthage.
Sure enough, the Zulu attacked my Cavalry. I lost one Cavalry but the Zulu lost five units. And my second leader appeared in this defense! I used this leader to rush Sun Tzu's.
I made steady progress against the Zulu. I lost more Cavalry than I was building - Zululand had a surprising number of Knights. But I knew that as long as my losses were less than hers I would prevail - eventually she'd be down to just weak defenders and my Cavalry would clean up.
In 460AD I began to get war weariness. Bumped the luxury slider and kept going.
In 480AD I got a third leader. I didn't have any urgent use for this one so I researched Music Theory and then rushed JS Bach's with him.
In 520AD, the same turn as I rushed JS Bach's, I got a fourth leader. I decided to hold this leader until I was ready to move my Forbidden Palace.
In 530AD I'd driven the Zulu off their home island. I gave them peace to end my people's war weariness and my map looked like this:
I had 19 Cavalry and 1 elite Knight at this date.
Going for Culture
My focus through these wars remained on culture. Although the wars were important for gaining score through territory and luxuries, they were critical for gaining land to be filled with towns which could gain culture.
My Forbidden Palace region in the northern homeland didn't contribute to the wars. The productive cities there worked on cultural improvements. I wanted them to build as many of these as quickly as they could so that I could then shift my Forbidden Palace to another region and repeat the process there.
After taking over the Carthage/Zulu island I had about 50% of the world's land. I'd want more in the long run and Germany looked like a good candidate. But for the moment improving the land I had was more important.
While researching toward Steam Power I've prepared a new Forbidden Palace location in the ex-Zulu lands. When this new area has grown a bit more, and my original FP region has completed a few more cultural improvements, I'll abandon the original Forbidden Palace and use my saved leader to rush the new one. During this period I've also been rushing settlers to fill in corrupt territory and rushing libraries as I can afford it.
My culture at 640AD is 10859. It increased by 363 in the current turn - my priority now is to keep that number rising. My culture graph at this date:
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![[ptw]](/images/smilies/ptw.gif "PTW Icon [ptw]")
1.27f
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. Luckily when my Galley got there the tile was free again and I got to finish off the Iroquois!
Good game, Dianthus, and a formidable write-up.
![[civ3mac]](/images/smilies/macciv3.gif "Mac Civ3 Icon [civ3mac]")
1.29
