Classic GOTM 36 Spoiler 2: Entering Industrial Ages

To qualify for this spoiler, you must have be in the industrial ages. You must have the majority of the full world map (have full maps of all settled islands), and have contact with all 7 civilizations or their remains.

So: how did you progress the middle ages? Did you have a victory condition in mind that you were aiming for? If so, what problems / aids did you have in working your way to achieve it?

Please ensure that any screenshots posted don't show the locations of any industrial-age or later resources.

The very short version: I scored a Domination victory in 890 AD, scoring 8116 Firaxis points (new PB) and 9879 Jason points (dang, was hoping for 10000!).

The short version: We settled London on the forest S, SE from the start, and built a tight RCP3-ring around it. London opened a Warrior+Settler factory.



When the Iron was hooked up in 800 BC, the Warriors were upgraded to Swordsmen. With the core cities producing Horsemen, we went to war with Germany in 590 BC, with a mix of Swordsmen and Horsemen. In 510 BC, Berlin falled. In 390 BC we made peace, leaving the Germans with just two towns and no resources.



We left the Swordsmen in Germany as defence, and went on to attack China with Horsemen only. This war started in 250 BC and ended in 50 AD, after we had captured all of the Chinese mainland, leaving them in exile on a different island.



Our research through the Ancient Times went the path of Writing (minimum rate), Map Making, Code of Laws, Philosophy, The Republic (minimum rate, Republic established in 70AD). Researching Map Making early ment we had contact with everyone by 710 BC. In the Middle Ages, our research went the path of Monotheism, Theology, Chivalry (after trading for Feudalism), then a short pause to get gold for upgrades, then we had to do all of the reaserch ourselves all the way to Military Tradition, before shutting it off for good. Chivalry was discovered in 340 AD, Military Tradition in 650 AD.

In 30 AD Barbarians stole 720 Gold (!!!) after an unstopable uprising. In 50 AD, we got our first Great Leader, who went on to hurry a Forbidden Palace in the middle of the Chinese mainland, giving us a second core. In 190 AD we got our second Great Leader, who went on to hurry Leonardo's Workshop in 500 AD. In 620 AD we got a third Great Leader, but never used him.

We attacked America in 190 AD, using plenty of Horsemen. This was our first mistake: America were far stronger than China, and even though we managed to take New York, San Fransisco and Miami, it was clear that our Horsemen were not strong enough to take and hold all of America. New York flipping back to America in 260 AD also didn't help one bit...



After an attempt to take Washington failed completely in 300 AD, our Horsemen went back to China, where they were upgraded to Knights. They came back to America in 370 AD, and finally captured Washington in 440 AD. The rest of the war was quick and dirty, and by 530 AD they were chased off their main island for good.



While some Knights were shipped out to take more American land on other islands (they were finally destroyed in 650 AD), the main part was shipped to Spain. They landed in 560 AD, and took Seville in 580 AD and Madrid in 590 AD before running out of steam in the face of hoards of ancient Spanish units (Spain never had access to Iron). Seville and Madrid were razed, and the Knights went back to former America, to be upgraded.

In the meantime, we mopped up the Germans, declaring war in 570 AD. They were chased off their island by 620 AD, but had a Settler in a Galley (we finally took their last town in 850 AD). In the late 500's, India were running over France. We joined in at the last moment, and managed to take two French towns before they were destroyed in 620 AD.



In 690 AD the newly-upgraded Cavalry returned to Spain, and by 770 AD, Spain was chased off their main island. They were finally destroyed in 830 AD.

During the late-600's, we were sending our Cavalry through India (with an ROP) south to Russia. We declared war on Russia in 670 AD, reached their mainland in 710 AD, and by 770 AD we had razed all of their cities on their main island (they were finally destroyed in 870 AD).



During the late 700's and all of the 800's, we founded towns in former Russia and Spain, and whereever there was a gap, trying to reach Domination as early as possible. Naturally, we were also rushing Temples everywhere.

We finally ROP-raped India in 880 AD, captured six Indian towns in one turn (they had Musketmen and The Great Wall, but we had around 30 Cavalry ready outside their towns in former France), and ended up 22 tiles over the Domination limit, for a Domination victory in 890 AD.



-- Roland

The not so short version:

*** Ancient Times ***

*** Middle Ages ***

10 AD - We capture Tatung and Hangchow. 24 Barbarian Horsemen park outside Norwich.

30 AD - The Barbarians carry away 720 Gold from Norwich - Ugh! We capture Tsientsin.

50 AD - We capture Tsingtao, the last Chinese town on their main island, leaving them with ne useless town north of America. We make peace with them. During the battle for Tsingtao, we got our first Great Leader, Edward. We'll have him hurry a Forbidden Palace on the Chinese island, setting up a second core. Another nice thing was that the Harbor of Tsingtao was left intact after the take-over, hooking up the Chinese Spices in the trade network.

70 AD - We are a Republic. We are researching Monotheism (10 turns). We cash-rush a Harbor in Leipzig, to finally hook up the Gems. South of former China, we're loading Horsemen into Galleys, en-route for America.

130 AD - Manchester founded in the middle of the Chinese island. Edward is there, and hurries a Forbidden Palace. Settlers are coming in to fill in the land of our new "second core".

170 AD - The French settle a pathetic town on OUR China-island! We declare war on America, and drop off some Horsemen outside New York. However, America are looking pretty strong, and we don't have that many Horsemen left, so we're not very confident that this war will go the way we hope it will...

190 AD - We attack New York, and kill two Spearmen and a Swordsman without losing any of our Horsemen, and take control of the town and it's Ivory - and the Harbor is intact! America land a Settler and a Spearman on the China island. We kill the Spearman with a nearby elite Horseman, and get our second Great Leader, woohoo! We'll save him for Leonardo's Workshop. We found Bristol NW of Manchester.

210 AD - We discover Monotheism, start Theology (10 turns), waiting for the others to research Feudalism for us. We unload eight Horsemen outside San Francisco. It's on a hill, but it also holds the only American Iron, so if we can take it, the rest of the war will be much easier (especially considering the advent of Feudalism).

230 AD - We lose three Horsemen, but take control of San Francisco.

250 AD - The Americans send two Swordsmen and an Archer to San Francisco. Our wounded Horsemen are likely to suffer heavy losses... Meanwhile, we unload four elite Horsemen outside Miami. Leicester and Carlisle founded on the Chinese island.

260 AD - Crap, New York flips back to the Americans, along with four healthy Horsemen. The chance of flipping was 1%, according to map-stat. Not nice. And the Horsemen in San Francisco can't hold the Americans at bay either. And a friggin Warrior stops our Horsemen in Miami. We abandon San Francisco.

270 AD - We finally capture Miami.

280 AD - Miami is heavily attacked by Swordsmen, but stands, for now.

290 AD - We unload eight Horsemen outside Washington. With the American Swordsmen busy trying to take back Miami, we might just have a chance. Meanwhile, Kolhapur (India) completes The Great Wall. Theology completed, the others still havn't finished Feudalism, so we're going for Engineering (6 turns).

300 AD - The attack on Washington went absolutely nowhere. We send the remaining six Horsemen (mostly redlined) back to China, to be upgraded to Knights before returning to America for another go. We make peace with America, who have just got Feudalism. We pay some Gold, and they give it to us. Research switched to Chivalry (4 turns). We are now in need of cash for upgrades, so we decide to sell Theology for whatever we can get. From Spain, Russia, America and France, we get, in total, 419 Gold and 58 GPT, Monarchy, Incense and everyone's World Map.

340 AD - Chivalry discovered, Engineering started at minimum rate for now, running a surplus of 254 GPT for upgrades (enough to upgrade three Horsemen to Knights each turn). Eight Horsemen are upgraded to Knights in Manchester.

350 AD - Madras (Indian) completes Hanging Gardens. Four more Knights upgraded to Horsemen. The 12 Knights we have now will form our first attack wave on America. Two of them will go to Miami for defence, two will head for the Iron to pillage. Eight will attack and capture Atlanta. Then all surviving Knights will join in and attack Washington.

370 AD - Our first Knights land in America...

390 AD - The Americans are hurling Swordsmen and Med. Infantry at us, and Atlanta just barey survive our attack. We have to abandon Miami, to at least save a redlined Knight.

400 AD - We capture Atlanta, and land two Knights on top of the American Iron. All but two Horsemen are upgraded now, so we're turning research back on, for Engineering in 3 turns.

430 AD - We discover Engineering and start Invention (5 turns).

440 AD - We FINALLY capture Washington, with The Great Lighthouse and The Colossus!

450 AD - We capture New York - again...

460 AD - Oops, a wandering American Warrior stumbles upon undefended Stuttgart, oh well... We take Houston and Memphis.

480 AD - We discover Invention and start Gunpowder (5 turns).

490 AD - We capture Chicago and Philadelphia. Our leader hurries Leonardo's Workshop in London.

500 AD - As London build Leonardo's Workshop, we enter our Golden Age, but I don't really understand why.

510 AD - We capture Seattle.

520 AD - We discover Gunpowder and start Chemistry (5 turns). We have Salpeter on the Chinese mainland, and also outside Buffalo, which our Knights capture this turn. We will pillage both sources, and only road them again when we want to upgrade Knights to Cavalry. We are now sending our newly-produced Knights to Germany, to mop them up. We are also sending Knights to Detroit, on an island south of the American mainland. And we are sending Knights to the island north of America, where two American towns and the final Chinese town is located. And we are preparing to take on Spain.

530 AD - We capture St. Louis. Ipswich founded on the American island.

540 AD - Detroit captured.

550 AD - Denver is ours. India are running over France, so we'll send some Knights to France to grab some land before it is too late (India are looking strong). We make peace with the Americans for Baltimore, New Orleans, Stuttgart and some Gold. Of course, we have no intention to honor this treaty.

560 AD - 14 Knights have landed in Spain, we hope that this will be enough to clean up their main island.

570 AD - Our scientists discover Chemistry and start Metallurgy (4 turns). We declare war on Germany, and storm into Bonn.

580 AD - We lose two Knights in taking Seville - 12 Knights left. We then re-declare on America, taking Dallas. On the German front, we capture Heidelburg.

590 AD - Philadelphia flips back to America. We capture Madrid, without losing a single Knight! We also declare war on France (what's left of it), and capture Besancon. In Germany, we take Bremen.

600 AD - The Spanish are sending an incredible number of outdated units towards Seville. We decide to Abandon the town, and send our Knights to a hilltop. Also, the chance of Madrid to flip is too great (3.6%), so our Knights leave the town, and we abandon it too. We take back Philadelphia, but an attack on Los Angeles fails. We attack and destroy the French town of Chartres on the Chinese island. More importantly, we steal Rheims just in front of the storming Indian War Elephants.

610 AD - We take Brandenburg and Dortmund from Germany. Our scientists discover Metallurgy, start Military Tradition (4 turns).

620 AD - The Indians have destroyed the French. We destroy Salzburg - the Germans have no cities left, but they are not destroyed just yet. In the battle, we spawn our third Great Leader - Nelson. However, we are not sure what to do with him! Our worthless Knights up north are still unable to take Los Angeles! And we have to abandon undefended Denver because the Americans have reached it. In Spain, our Knights are carving their way back through the hoards of Ancient units - they will be shipped to Chicago to be upgraded to Cavalry before returning. Our newly produced Knights are now sent to the Barracks in Besancon, waiting to be upgraded to Cavalry before being shipped to Russia. We are hoping to be able to reach Domination without having to deal with India.

630 AD - We take Cincinnati.

640 AD - Portsmouth founded where Chartres used to be.

650 AD - Military Tradition discovered. We turn off research and sell our Libraries, to get cash for upgrading Knights to Cavalry and rushing Temples. We are running a surplus of 446 GPT. We also finally take Los Angeles - the Americans are destroyed!

660 AD - Russia and Spain have discovered Gunpowder. We need to hurry up before they get Musketmen. Russia has an unconnected source of Salpeter near Tblisi on a small island west of former France. Tblisi also holds Russia's only source of Iron. Spain do not have Salpeter. We sign a ROP agreement with India, for transportation of Cavalry through former France toward the Russian mainland.

670 AD - We declare war on Russia and destroy Yakutsk and Vladivostok, both on the German island. We also land six Knights outside Tblisi.

680 AD - We capture Sverdlovsk (on the German island) and Tblisi. Then we declare war on China, and destroy Chinan.

690 AD - 12 veteran Cavalry land in Spain. 30-odd more are on their way to Russia. Our core cities are now building Settlers, to fill in the land after destroying Russia (we already have some Settlers ready to for the Spainish island). We're cash-rushing Temples everywhere we can afford.

700 AD - Our Golden Age has ended. Our gold surplus is down to 220 GPT - only one Temple...

710 AD - Our first load of 12 Cavalry land in Russia.

720 AD - Our troops raze Moscow and Kiev! And in Spain, they raze Barcelona and Salamanca.

730 AD - We capture Shantung and raze Kaifeng - China have been destroyed. In Russia, our Cavalry raze Smolensk.

740 AD - The Spanish raze undefended New Orleans. We also abandon Baltimore, which is also undefended. We'll get back to that island and settle it again soon. In Spain, our Cavalry raze Santiago.

750 AD - We capture Casa del Bamrápido on the Spanish mainland and Aldea de Ribannah on the island north of former America. In Russia, we raze St. Petersburg.

760 AD - We raze Toledo, Minsk and Novogrod. Two towns founded on the German island.

770 AD - We capture Murcia and Sevastopol and make peace with Spain and Russia for Zaragoza and Krasnoyarsk. Two towns founded on the Spanish island and one on the German island. Our Cavalry in Spain will be sent to the second Spanish island in the SW. The Cavalry in Russia will be sent to India, for a final ROP-rape if that turns out to be needed.

780 AD - The Germans raze Krasnoyarsk. A town founded on the Spanish island.

790 AD - Another town founded in Spain, and one on the island north of America.

800 AD - A new town founded in Russia.

810 AD - We once again declare war on Spain, and capture Ciudad de la Luna. Two more towns founded in Russia, one on the island north of America, one in America, and one in Germany.

820 AD - New towns founded where New Orleans and Baltimore used to be. Another new town founded in Germany, one in Russia, one in Spain and one north of America.

830 AD - Pamplona and Valencia captured - the Spanish are destroyed.

850 AD - Hamburg captured - Germany destroyed. Six new towns founded around the world.

870 AD - Novogrod captured - Russia has been destroyed.

880 AD - We are 95 tiles away from Domination. At this point we decide to attack India, ROP-raping them. They have The Great Wall and Musketmen, but we still manage to capture and secure six of their towns, giving us 50 tiles or so.

890 AD - Some boarder-expansions, and it's enough: WE WIN A DOMINATION VICTORY!

Firaxis score: 8116 (new PB)

Jason score: 9879

Play time: 29 hours, 13 minutes

-- Roland

Sounds like a great game, Roland.

So India and France went to war early in your game, too? They did in mine, but it was almost a stalemate; one razed Indian town IIRC. I'm glad France was spared -- despite getting hammered by the barb uprising in their town on the German continent, they turned out to be the second-best researchers in the middle ages for me.

Renata

@renata: The best researchers weren't by any chance "The Commonwealth"?
@Roland: Good work, I told you you would break 1000 AD.

Predator 20K goal
Ancient times

The World

Once I got my first contact across the water in 580BC, I quickly gained them all. It was plain to see that America had benefited a lot from building the Great Lighthouse. They had trading possibilities with most civs, (some took longer to build a harbour) besides having clearly the most luxuries on their land, three different ones. They had even taken over a Chinese town.

Germany was getting decimated pretty fast. I didn’t raze any towns because of the weak German culture, and their land looked like a decent area for an eventual second core.

The value of early leaders is very high in a 20K game, too high to use on a palace. The tech pace is less important, because you often can’t build the new available wonders at the rate with which they drop in anyway. The logic of this was that I wanted to flip the palace over to Berlin and so started to build only settlers and workers in London. Meanwhile I filled up Berlin to size 12 and eventually had 25 military units in there. But when I checked the “likely new site” for palace it still answered York. So I couldn’t flip the palace and I have to agree with Bamspeedy on this issue, that culture does have something to do with the palace flips, not just population, neighbouring cities and garrison.

I also took out China with knights. They were easy prey because they had vrtually no hills or mountains to hide in. The campaign started with the founding of a city across the strait, from which I could take three towns in one turn. China was removed entirely from the game.

I also had a phony war with Spain ever since I first met them, allying as many nations as possible against them to slow down the tech pace. Russia and France were fighting among themselves and so I didn’t worry about them. The main thing was that everyone should be involved in a war. This warmongering may have helped me get as far as chemistry in the Great Library harvest, seeing how nations at war would worry little about culture and science.

When cavalries become available, I also attack America, just before the advent of the Industrial age.

My golden age was started with a Man'o'War who simultaneously eliminated Germany. Saving the Germans for free techs was a possibility, but they could have gotten nationalism then, which would have been bad.

York

After The Pyramids and The Great Library in the ancient age, Hanging Gardens was completed in 150 AD. I then got my first leader against Germany. Sun Tzu’s and Leonardo’s were available. Sistine Chapel was a bit down the line since no one had researched Monotheism for me. The invasion of Germany was little more than halfway and so there would be immiditate chances of new leaders.

After a bit of brooding, I chose to hurry Leonardo’s workshop (if Edward can get back to York in time to do it. The reasons were:
(1) It’s a very useful wonder in the upcoming upgrade phase. If I can produce, say, 10 knights more, that will probably gave me a better shot at those crucial Middle Age leaders than the Heroic Epic would.
(2) No one knows monotheism; there is a chance that someone will finish Sun Tzu before Sistine Chapel is available. But if Leo’s Workshop remains available this chance will be a lot slimmer.
(3) If I were to put an army together, it would soon be obsolete.
(4) I soon need to build FP and cathedral in York, so there is hardly time for Heroic Epic.
(5) Fortifying the leader waiting for Theology would lead to too many missed new leader opportunities.

Unfortunately no new leaders appeared until 710 AD and I had to scramble to get Copernicus Observatory. Both the religious wonders - Sistine Chapel and Bach’s Cathedral - were lost. The second leader formed an army, appearing 9 turns too late for the religious wonders.

Wonder count (in York) after the Middle Ages

Pyramids
Great Library
Hanging Gardens
Leonardo’s Workshop
Copernicus Observatory
Shakespeare’s Theatre
A fair chance at Newton’s University and Smith’s Company (well, I got them)

It’s not a huge list and there have been mistakes, but also a rather unfriendly game for 20K.

Timeline

320 BC
Finally switched to republic, 3 turn anarchy only.

150 AD
Hanging Gardens completed.

170 AD
First Leader created, Edward!

4 luxuries (2 from America). Luxury oscillates between 20%-30%. This will be a problem between education and astronomy. Building horsemen, marketplaces, settlers. Trying to settle on the Chinese mainland without causing war.

My tech delay seems to be working. Every civ is involved in a war. When I first declared on Germany, Spain allied against me and so now I have most civs allied against Spain (except the dwindling Germans) with the help of tech gifts from the Great Library. I find it better to ally against an enemy that you are not fighting, because the risk of having to break the alliance is much smaller.

190
Monotheism and Gunpowder is now available. But I will stick to my plan for Edward. Because everyone is at war, there’s a good chance they will research Chivalry next.

210
Galley with settler sunk. Chinese affair may be very delayed. At least the Chinese are behind in tech.
Deforestation reveals a bonus grassland which will allow York to go up to 25 shields per turn.

230
Cathedral hurried in York for 544g. Luxury down to 10%. The margin for going down to 10% is only 1 commerce in York!

260
Happiness was short. Deal with America is over.

330
Forbidden palace is completed. Theology is available. I need a leader!

350
Stocked up with 16 knights to claim Chinese hoses before they get chivalry. Starting to research Metallurgy slowly.

370
Education next turn.

400
Peace with Germany, which is left with 1 town.
York hurries university.

550
Copernicus completed. I never thought I would make it; the AI have been building Sun Tzu since before I was in the Middle Ages. This same turn Moscow completes Sun Tzu.
Still only 40cpt…

560
America revolts to Democracy.

600
New war on Germany. All cities destroyed

610
Bach’s Cathedral lost to India. China destroyed.

620
Sistine Chapel lost to America.

660
Germans destroyed with Man o’ War. Golden age starts. Luxury at 10% to save one turn on Shakespeare’s Theatre.

690
Luxury back to 0%. Without WLTKD, Shakespeare’s Theatre will be completed in exactly the right no. of shields. I will take San Francisco who is the only one to have started Newton’s University. Right of Passage with everybody but Spain. War on America, ROP-abuse. I will deprive America of Salpeter in the initial attack. Now, did all this work?

700
Yes, so far. Now building Newton’s

710
Leader no. 2 forms army.

720
I’ve decided to switch from Newton’s to Heroic Epic if I can get an army win next turn. The limit for the 1000 year culture doubling is fast approaching, and Newton’s would not be finished until 1790. The only problem is that I may lose Smith’s if I don’t get another leader.

I will hopefully be able to capture the American core and then also take out the main Indian towns. France is not building a wonder and Kiev can at best get Magellan, which York cannot build anyway.

Screenshots

I'd like to show the position of York (one thing I'm satisfied with) but can't get a good shot without reloading. So I'm taking the starting screenshot and showing it to you. It took some nerve to place it on a Bonus grassland, but it was important to get the deer within the radius.

Marvelous so far, Megalou!

Megalou said:

@renata: The best researchers weren't by any chance "The Commonwealth"?

Click to expand...

Who, me? Actually, no. That would be America, probably thanks mostly to the insane amount of gpt I've shipped them over the years for their three luxes. France kept up nicely enough that I only had to buy a monopoly tech once, I think. The only tech I researched myself in the middle ages was Magnetism, fittingly enough. (I could have had Metallurgy, too, if I had realized that all of the AIs were going to go up the Democracy tree first. But I didn't.) I traded for everything else. I can't complain, though -- the AIs got me through the middle ages in about 80 turns if I'm counting right, or less than 4 turns per tech if you count the useless ones like Free Artistry. I could never have done that with self-research if I'd slowed down the tech pace instead of done everything I could to speed it up.

There have been sacrifices, though. My military is still very small*, so my takeover of the Chinese mainland had to be very slow and deliberate. I may not be able to get to the next civ on the take-out list before riflemen, which will slow things down even further. I have no wonders at all -- the cascades are still too vicious to judge, and I need the shields for other things, anyway. (No leaders in the Chinese war, either, *sigh*.) On top of that, I've been rush-building almost nothing, preferring to keep as much cash on hand as possible to avoid excessive gpt requirements in tech buying. So improvements have been slow-to-acquire in several high-commerce-low-production towns. We'll see how it goes. So far it's been a blast, though. I haven't played in this style in ages, even disregarding my civ-layoff, and never above Monarch before.

*About 25 knights, ten or so assorted defensive units, and a half-dozen catapults at the end of the Chinese war, which was five or ten turns before the end of the era. Enough to make me militarily strong compared to everyone else on the map, but not exactly mind-blowing. And I started the China war with 20 knights, so you can see how little of my resources I've been devoting to military builds.

Good luck with your 20K quest!

Renata

Renata said:

...less than 4 turns per tech if you count the useless ones like Free Artistry...

Click to expand...

That is truly impressive. Your game goes to show that sharing is more daring.

Link to my AA post

The Middle Ages was a mixed period of conquest and knowledge. One of the mistakes I made in this game was waiting too long to get my horses hooked up (90BC). But I had built a decent size stack of swords to start my campaign on German soil and quickly supplemented this with horses. I short pause in the middle of the German campaign was needed to reduce War Weariness, to heal some troops and bring in a few additional units. After the short break I restart the war and quickly eliminate Germany, thus securing their large island for myself. Towards the end of the German campaign I start acquiring a few Chinese cities. I had to pause my war with China due to a low number of troops and after triggering China’s golden age. I felt I did not have the military strength needed to continue my push. Tech-wise I was staying right with the research pace of the AIs, so it was about this point that I decide to try for a Diplo or Space victory. All of my recent GOTM have been either conquest or domination so I felt like trying something different.

Here is a more detailed look at the Middle Ages:

90BC horses are hooked up - switch military builds to horses
70BC issue DOW on GER in the IBT with troops in their land (no ROP) / autoraze Nuremberg (GER)
50BC capture Leipzig (GER) / found Carlisle
30BC pillage GER only iron source / capture Cologne (GER)
10AD capture Konigsberg (GER) with gems
50AD capture Stuttgart (GER)
90AD capture Berlin (GER) & Frankfurt (GER)
110AD WW (0 - 33%) starting / capture Munich (GER) / sue for peace gaining THEO, Salzburg & Bonn - leaving GER with 4 cities

Here is a shot of my captured cities and my very small military.



130AD learned FEUD
270AD learned ENGIN set to CHIV in 10
330AD trade for EDUC
360AD learn CHIV (after 4 civs got it first) - set to INVEN
380AD reissue DOW on GER
390AD capture Hannover (GER) / issue DOW on CHN / capture Tientsin (CHN)
400AD capture Heidelburg (GER) & Nanking (CHN)
410AD capture Hamburg (GER)
420AD lost Salzburg on the IBT to GER / capture Shanghai (CHN)
430AD learned INVEN set to GUNP / I'm low on troops so I sue CHN for peace gaining MUSIC THEORY (back to tech parity)

Here is a shot of inroads I made in China and again the count of my very short military



450AD capture Bremen (GER)
480AD learn GUNP (after 4 civs got it) - set to ASTRON / recapture Salzburg (GER) and eliminate them

480AD still not sure which Victory condition to go for - I'm matching (short 1 to 2 turns) the AI's techwise & have only been at war w/ CHN so Diplo is still possible - I've been going a lot of DOM/CONQ recently so something different appeals to me - I am the largest in the game and should be able to eliminate CHN when I get Cavs

520AD learned ASTRON (after other civs got it) set to CHEM (going to try for Newton’s - ignore Smiths)
530AD built Copernicus' (wasted shields - lost out on Bachs)
570AD learned CHEM (after others) set to PHYSICs
630AD learned PHYICS set to TOG / trade for BANK & PRINTING PRESS

650AD forced to buy either ECON or NAV in an effort to not waste my prebuild for TOG - trade IND Wmap, 126 gold & 22gpt for ECON / switch prebuild to Smiths and start Hastings on Newton’s prebuild
660AD - bought the wrong one - AMR builds Smiths - I'm forced to buy Navigation from IND for Wmap, 44gold & 27gpt

700AD learned TOG set to MAGN / complete Magellans as pay back for having to buy 2 techs (AI should have nothing to cascade to) / start our GA / switch Hastings prebuild to Newtons in 13
740AD learned MAGN set to METAL / sell MAGN around the horn

760AD SPN lands a spear & archer a turn after I trade them saltpeter / sell TOG around the horn starting with IND
IND gives METAL, DEM, Wmap & 62gpt
AMR gives Wmap & 37gpt
SPN gives Wmap, 430gold & 26gpt
CHN gives Wmap & 6gpt
FRA gives Wmap & 5 gpt

760AD I enter the IA - gift RUS to IA also (they get Nationalism & won't trade it even for DEM, ECON & NAV 661 gold & 89gpt)


Overall, I feel I played a very efficient game during the MA, in other words I accomplished a lot (eliminating GER and gaining a foothold on CHN) with a very little (only a few troops).

As Elizabeth settled in her garden chair for a tea and biscuit break, one of her aides approached, there was a strangely clothed messenger to see her. “Send them in and have cabinet meeting called for one hour from now” she ordered.

“Theodora, I am Bede, Monastic messenger from Mursilis. He has sent me here with a progress report for you”. Bede “We are quite pleased with your expansion and settlement pattern. The early major projects you have built, particularly the Great Library is quite impressive. Also we are quite pleased with the proliferation of libraries and temples throughout your domain. Our socialists are quite interested as to the effect of these coliseums you’ve been adding. They were not something we’ve had a chance to study in the past. We’ve noticed you’ve taken to increasing your treasury and reducing your research and depending upon the Great Library for your new technologies. I should warn you this path you have chosen will soon end.

“Please call me Elizabeth, as my people prefer that name. You’ve probably noticed couple of major projects, The Hanging Gardens and the Forbidden Palace; these will be completing soon and should improve both the attitude and commerce of the country. Once Theology has been donated to the Great Library, I’ll begin research on a movable type printing press. My plan is to use the wealth that can be accumulated from trading in these technologies to hurry along many of the cultural developments in the north. I am targeting Copernicus’ Observatory & Smith’s Trading Post to facilitate this plan. I intend to use these two wonders in tandem to motivate the scientific, economic and production centers of the empire to perform beyond prior levels, thus gaining a significant technology lead on the world. Those technologies will then be parceled off as time goes by to finance future improvements and research.”

“Excellent plan Elizabeth, I look forward to monitoring your progress. I have to leave now, but will return with new information when the time is right” Bede said before disappearing in a flash of a brilliant white light.

“That was quite an exit,” Elizabeth thought to herself as she headed to the conference room to make her plans known to the staff.

For the next one thousand years, the plan was carried out with little variations. The giant observatory and trading post completed on schedule and the people responded as Elizabeth had predicted. Several trades for now arcane technologies had brought England to the beginning of the Industrial Age well before any other nation.

At the Newton’s University dedication ceremony, Brother Bede once again visited Elizabeth with a message from Mursilis. “It seems that we have underestimated a neighbor of yours. Gandhi’s nation is becoming too powerful and the Indian culture will prevent your experiment from concluding as planned. We suggest that soon you’ll need to plan military operations against him to reduce his cultural impact on this world.”

Elizabeth sat at an empty table pondering this message. Nearly five thousand years had passed and with the exception of a few warriors battling barbarians, her country had seen no blood spilled. Her only commitment to military was the recent training of her coastal spearmen to use pikes for city defense. We’ve got plenty of projects going currently with all the universities, cathedrals and banks being built. Let’s wait a while before veering to the path of warfare.

PtW Predator

After entering the MA in 290BC, first order of business was gifting the scientific civs. This gave engineering and monotheismus.
Because I had the Great Library, I just waited then for Feudalism, before I started the bee-line to Military tradition.

We had war with China since 300BC and where steadily progressing.
In 150 BC the palace was jumped into Bristol, a new city in the midth of former China.
China was finally removed in 250AD, but even before there was a lot of settling going on to fill in the new land.

At 260AD the world looked like this:


We were researching chemistry and I decided to wait till MT for the next major war. I sold my iron to Spain and produced horses.

In 410AD Leonardo's completes in Nottingham. Upgrading starts and cavs get shipped into Germany.

War with Germany starts in 480AD.
While I was still working on Germany in 520 AD, France landed two units on our homeland. The next turn they attacked abusing our RoP and captured a city. Naturally the city was recaptured the next turn and France was next on the list.

In 570AD Germany is gone, the french settlements on the german island are english and we started a little skirmishing with America for silks. The majority of troops is shipping into France.
The map:


580AD saw the completion of Magellan's in York and our Golden Age starts. We still had no leader generated at this time and now all wonders I was really interested in were already built.

In 590AD we added Russia to the list of enemies to clean out their settlements in former Germany.

The French were eliminated in 650AD and the map looked like this:


War with India started in 690AD at the same time we were progressing in America and Russia.

In 770AD America is driven from it's main island and the map looks like:

We are now close to domination limit and have to watch what to keep for our conquest goal.

In 780AD we finally land also in Spain. We were at war with them already since a long time, enjoying the war happiness (I think America bought them in).

By 830AD Russia and America have left the scene:


In 840AD Spain followed and it's only Ghandi and us.

It took till 900AD to throw him off every island and we score a conquest victory in 910AD

GOTM 36, PtW (Latest Patch), Open Class.

Goal: To win some way.

10 BC: Got Polytheism & Monotheism from the Great Lib.
Enter the MA thanks to the Great Library.

Science is set to 0%.

I’m the most powerful but last in culture.

Germany has no Iron so I will declare war on them. I demand 75gp of Germany’s 104gp to my surprise they pay. Declare was on Germany. This is not a little war, I will not end it until Germany is gone or I’m dead! Kill 1 archer escorting a settler, kill 1 archer on a hill, and take 2 workers.

10 AD: Learn Feudalism. Took Frankfurt, took Konigsberg, took Heidelburg.
30 AD: Start attack on Berlin.
50 AD: France builds great wall. Berlin falls.
130 AD: Hamburg fell with 4 slaves.
170 AD: Bremen falls with 1 slave.
210 AD: Got Engineering. Nuremberg falls, Germany has been destroyed.

280AD: Got Theology and Chivalry. Demanded 3gp and world map from china they pay, declare war on china.
290 AD: Anyang on German island fell.
300 AD: We got the hanging gardens. Macao fell.
320 AD: India declares war on France. Got Inv. Trade Inv. to Russia for world map and 84gp. Shanghai falls with 4 slaves.
380 AD: China gives worker, 28gp & 3gpt for peace.

400 AD: Got Gunpower.
410 AD: Demand 23gp and world map from France, They pay. Sell every one my map.
430 AD: Got education. Now I’ll have to do my own studying so I set science as high as I can afford.

440 AD: Declare war on France. Grenoble falls.
450 AD: Poitiers falls. Cherbourg falls.
470 AD: Avignon falls. Bristol founded.
490 AD: Shanghai Deposed to China. That is were my saltpeter is located. Rheims falls with 2 slaves.
510 AD: Avignon deposed. I really need more culture. Raised Orlines. Leicester founded.
540 AD: Carlisle founded.

580 AD: War with China. Shanghai fell. I will try to hold it.
600 AD: Beijing fell with 1 slave.
610 AD: Ipswich founded.
630 AD: Beijing deposited. Portsmouth founded. Trade for several techs.
640 AD: Raised Beijing.
660 AD: Berwick founded.
670 AD: Bath founded.
680 AD: The Mumbles founded on Beijing runes.
700 AD: Nottingham founded. Tientsin fell.
710 AD: Got First leaded.
730 AD: Got FP in The Mumbles. Canton falls with 4 slaves.
750 AD: Got Milt tread. Hangchow fell. China gives Shantung for peace. This is an island city in the north now I won’t need to send troops to get it. They have 1 city left. At this point I know I will now set any records for this game, but at lest I should win.

770 AD: War on France. We give India fur for war with France. Baayonne falls. Take 2 France workers. War with China there goes my rep.
780 AD: Lyons falls.
790 AD: The French Take back Lyons. Raise size 1 French city. Take back Lyons.
820 AD: Lyons deposed. China’s last city falls. Raised Lyons. Well that city won’t go back again. Raised Paris.
840 AD: Destroyed size 1 France city.
850 AD: Took Tours. Destroyed a size 1 city.
890 AD: Peace with France they have 1 small island city. It’s way in the north.

910 AD: war on Russia they have alliance with Spain. Oh I didn’t see that coming! Get America and India in to the Spain war but not the Russian half I want that for my self.
Took 1 Russian city on their home island. Get France into Spain war. Spain is off the coast of old Germany they will land their troops in 2 turns. I have very few troops in Germany so this is not good! I rush 1 Man-O-War. I only have this one chance to stop Spain at sea. No other cities are in the correct place to intercept them.

920 AD: Man-O-War wins battle start of Golden Age! I stopped the Spanish for now!
Maybe with the GA I can still pull this out before 1500 ad. Took Russian city.
930 AD: Took Russian city and 1 slave.
940 AD: Entered IA.

This is not my best game ever. The RNG has not been kind. Plus the mistakes with troop placement and almost no culture. I had to retake a lot of cities. I also had to raise a lot of cities because I felt they would depose. But I know I will win about 500+ years after I first planned. I am still enjoying the game though, it has been sometime since I’ve played at this level.

PTW, Open Class.

My primary plan for the middle ages was to push tech as hard as I could, which would probably mean little to no self-research. I reached the middle ages in 490 BC in anarchy, with only two luxes so far (furs, and incense from Spain -- I finally got hold of America's 3 luxes when they built a harbor in 330 BC). I had a decent cash flow, but nothing spectacular. I had piles and piles of infrastructure to build: harbors, marketplaces, libraries, aqueducts and soon universities. I had zip for military units, just a pile of reg warriors and a couple of upgraded swordsmen. It would have to be trade trade trade all the way.

Secondary plan, provided the first worked all right, was to go out and conquer somebody. I figured this would probably be China. They weren't very strong, and if I could attack them with knights before they had their own Riders, I'd be in business. It was debateable whether I could manage this, though, given what the tech pace was likely to be. The alternate target was Germany. They had a large and potentially productive territory -- if I didn't attack them first, I'd absolutely have to cripple them before panzers. To help with this goal, starting at the beginning of the middle ages I started to leave both of these civs out of the tech brokering/gifting merry-go-round. Shortly thereafter I added Russia to my out-of-favor list. The more optional techs I had to offer each of the two scientific civs at the end of the middle ages, the less I'd have to pay in cash for their free techs.

Besides the towns and cities on my own island, I had three elsewhere. One at the northern tip of the Chinese island, which I hoped to use as a base for invasion eventually. One on the small island west of France, which had claimed a second source of iron as insurance against the loss of the primary one in the northwest; I wouldn't have access to it until after Astronomy, though. And finally, one in northwest Germany by the gems. That last one didn't last long, though.

In 410 BC, England became a Republic.
In 350 BC, Germany threatened my town on the edge of their territory, sending two horsemen and a warrior up to and through my borders. Oops. No way to defend, so one cash-rushed harbor down the drain. I abandoned the town and moved my warrior to the mountain. Germany then perversely did *not* declare war.
In 330 BC, America finally built a harbor, and their three luxes became available to me. My biggest cities, which had been pushing the limits of their growth with just two luxes, were suddenly happy as clams. Whew! And America used my gpt to make themselves into the tech leader.
In 170 BC, my worker on the Chinese continent finally got us a trade route via the harbor in Norwich, and I could trade for spices. I planned not to renew the deal, though. Also the same turn, the tech drought finally broke. Nothing but monarchy had been researched since Germany and Russia had both gotten Engineering back in 430 BC, but monotheism and feudalism showed up in consecutive turns, and the tech race was off and running. A few of my most productive cities had finished their basic infrastructure, and had started to build horses.

The state of the Empire: 130 BC. There are 8 horses in Newcastle. Notice the sneaky Germany galley rounding the peninsula -- they'd be back later.



Round about in here somewhere I did something silly. I had a galley with a settler down by the gems in the southeastern peninsula of the German continent, which had been overrun with barbs since the era change. The barbs had been feasting on a French town that had been settled nearby at the end of the ancient era. I planned to put a town right on one of the gems tiles next to the camp, which would destroy it and leave me just a few units to face.



I kept dithering around waiting for the horsemen to clear out a little, though, and a French galley snuck up and dropped off a settler right under my nose. Oops again. Brain-dead. So no gems.

In 210 AD, the sneaky German galley came back and dropped off a single swordsman near Coventry. I asked him politely to leave, and the twit declared war. Unwise twit at that -- by then I was up to 18 horsemen. The war was mostly phony. I bought in Russia with an obsolete tech to divide Bismarck's attention, and the only other German units I saw the whole 20 turns were two MI. Dropped off by what was probably the same sneaky galley, at that. The knights I had running zone defense along my west coast made short work of them.

Chivalry showed up on the trading table in 250 AD, and I traded for it the next turn along with Gunpowder and Education. The horses were all upgraded, and ten knights, plus a settler and a pike, set sail down China's east coast towards the iron at Tsingtao -- hoping to cut off the riders before they could be built. A further eight knights were stationed in Norwich at the north end of the Chinese island.



After that it was just a matter of waiting for astronomy to show up on the trading table -- the last thing I wanted to do was to break my trade routes. This happened in 330 AD, with banking following in 350 AD, making the trade cost-effective. By then my galleys were in position on a little bit of unclaimed coast tile north of Tsingtao. So I traded, declared war, moved the galleys south and took the first Chinese town up north.

More silliness at this point. I was so nervous that I had overlooked something with the trade routes that I wound up pressing enter before I remembered to actually unload the galleys. And on the next interturn I about had a heart attack when I got the message that I had lost three of my luxes! But it was just the American deal coming up for renewal again. Phew! I took a break to recover, and realized that with China's horses already cut off in the north, it was less vital to claim the iron as well. Taking out their saltpeter -- fewer muskets to deal with -- would probably be more useful in the long run. So the galleys reversed course back to Shanghai and landed the invasion force there.



It took 20 turns to complete the conquest of China's mainland, from 360 to 540 AD. As I said before, I couldn't afford to take any chances in the war, and attacked only with overwhelming force. With education just learned, most of my major cities were back on infrastructure for much of the war, so there was little in the way of reinforcements. I ended the war with just about the same number of knights I'd had when it started -- 23. I got a couple of island cities for peace, with Navigation thrown in on the side.



In 540 AD I also turned on research briefly for the first time since Republic, researching Magnetism in 4 turns at -160gpt -- I was able to trade it to America for all of the gpt I'd just given them for their luxes, then to other civs for Metallurgy and Democracy. That left England just two techs short of the industrial age.

After the AI had frustrated me a bit by all going simultaneously up the Democracy/Free Artistry branch while I could have (but didn't) self-research Metallurgy at neutral cash-flow, they came through for me with the last two middle ages techs. 600 AD brought military tradition and 610 AD theory of gravity. And into the industrial age we went, with ships of various types still heading west towards Germany, and most of my military still trapped down in China. It remains to be seen whether we can take out Germany before they get Nationalism (neither they nor Russia got it as their free IA tech, which was a bit of a relief), but it should be fun finding out.

I re-counted: it was actually 70 turns in the middle ages. So 3.2 turns per tech. Yikes. Onward and upward.

Renata

Oh yeah, I forgot: Could anyone tell my how come I got into a Golden Age after building Leonardo's Workshop in 500AD?

I *captured* The Great Lighthouse a few turns earlier, can this have anything to do wíth it?

-- Roland

Yeah. If I remember right, captured wonders that would normally trigger your GA if you'd built it will still do so, but not until you build your next wonder yourself. Every time you build a wonder, the game checks to see whether or not you've met the requirements to have a golden age. So when you built Leo's, the computer checked, saw you had the a wonder with the right civ traits, and triggered the GA. Kinda strange, but that's how it works.

Renata

I have been a very bad boy.

While planning out by invasion of France/India, I just realized that I placed my cities on the original continent as if I moved the settler S instead of SE, so all my rings a messed up.

Plan B (why to plan B's normally suck): I must get a 2 great leaders while acquiring France & India and use one of the GLs to jump my palace from London to Paris or Delhi depending on how far my metal monsters get before hitting the wall. The other GL will be needed to form my first army to enable the Heroic Epic & Military Academy.

Thank you Renata, that's some very important information indeed! I'm still a n00b.

-- Roland

PTW 1.27
Open
Goal is 20K

I entered the middle ages in 90 BC. In 30 AD I learned the Republic and revolted, drawing a 3 turn anarchy. Around 240 AD the Chinese declared war, taking my newly planted city on their continent and losing theirs on mine. This was pretty brief, because I wasn't ready for it and got out as soon as possible. I'm pretty sure that the Germans declared on me during the middle ages, too, but nothing came of it but a city that I built in German territory. I didn't really write down any wars, because they didn't amount to much, so there might have been something else. I got a great leader at some point, though, so that was nice.

Mostly I wrote down my cultural builds. I finished the hanging gardens in 310 AD, the Sistine Chapel in 670 AD, a university in 720 AD, Bach's Cathedral in 950 AD, Copernicus' Observatory in 960 AD (rushed with the leader), the Forbidden Palace in 1040 AD, Shakespeare's Theater in 1190 AD, and nothing else until the industrial ages. Overall, I was happy with this. I panicked about ST for a while, worried that building the FP had cost me ST. Spain(?) started it quite a while before I learned democracy, but they were building it someplace with no shields. After ST I messed up a prebuild and lost some shields, but the new one ended up timed just right going into the industrial age.

My plan entering the industrial ages was to build quickly in York, hope nobody researched too quickly, and try to expand into Germany or China. So far, only the building quickly part has worked out, but I still have hope. I've just entered the modern ages and I have a projected 20K date around 1925; I may end up switching to another victory condition, assuming I can.

[PTW] 1.27f - Open Class

Goal: - Win on emperor any way I can

Ancient Age 4000BC - 30AD

Middle Ages 50AD - 910AD

After I got the Great Library in 330BC the only AA tech I researched was Polytheism at minimum. I got the others via the GL. I got Monarchy in 230AD and switched following a 6 turn anarchy. (I had republic since 10BC, but as I planned for constant wars up to the Dom limit and a large military I choose to wait for Monarchy). In the MA, I researched Feudalism and Chivalry and got the others up to education from the GL (Engineering, Theology, Monotheism, Invention, Gunpowder, Education). After that I finished researching to MT and traded for the top tier technologies as they became available. I used resources, luxuries, and lots of gold, but waited to the leading civs (America, Spain, China) all had each tech first. Often, I would recoup some gold, gpt or lux from the trailing civs (France, Russia).

I started the MA at war with Germany (310BC - 150AD) and Spain (10AD - 750AD). Germany was the real war where I had invaded. Spain was the phony war that got me a free place jump but otherwise was uneventful. (I had my FP in Berlin using a leader.) After finishing the Germans in 150AD, I had a series of overlapping phony wars with Russia (250AD - 460AD), America (350AD - 530AD), and the French (560AD - 750AD). During these wars, I would generally ally with China and/or one of the others. The results were relatively slow research throughout the MA.


The only exception was another of my patented failed invasions against American. I landed 10 Horsemen and captured 3 northern cities. Between flips and casualties taking them or trying to take them back, I was whittled down to nothing. I was trying to get re-enforcement there but the distance and the delay upgrading to knights made it a bridge too far. The worst thing was that I lost a leader there. A couple more turns and the knights would have been there. I decided not to proceed with my knights as their numbers were only 8 or 10 and I didn’t what to repeat my previous mistake. I did take their island city south of Germany’s island.


I had another mostly phony war with America (690AD - 780AD) Where I auto-razed a city or two, they had set up on the German continent. After a long delay to build up and get to MT (830AD), I invaded the Chinese island in 840AD. I made slow but steady progress kicking them off the island. I also captured their city on the tip of the French/Indian island. America & Spain, my allies combined to take care of China’s other colonies with America taking the last one in 1060AD.


I traded my way into the IA with Magnetism in 910AD in order to get Man-o-War’s so I could trigger a golden age at some point. I took me a while to build one and get a golden age. NOTE: While technically this thread is for MA, I only researched one IA tech and traded for 2-3 others that I never used, so I am going to finish my report here.

Industrial Age 910AD - 1365AD

After kicking the Chinese off their starting island, I redirected some of my victorious cavalry to join the forces on the French/Indian island. I had outfitted that effort with all the re-enforcements once the China force was no long in need of steady re-enforcements. I picked France because they were small and backward. The French war was 1020AD to 1080AD.


Originally, I was planning to go after the Russian’s next as the next closest/weakest but switched to India as I had some profitable trades going that I wanted to continue for a while. India had the second biggest empire and Nationalism. It took from 1130AD until 1290AD to finish the Indians. Again with the help of America and Spain. I think I took their last colony this time. I think I got my GA during this period which gave me the production I needed to overcome the casualties.


As India was winding up, I positioned some Galleons to invade Russia. They took from 1285AD until 1320AD. Spain owned one city on their island left over from a previous war. Throughout the game, I used my treasury to cash rush Temples in my new cities as that became possible. I was also building a steady stream of settlers in my original settler factories and some size 6 cities without fresh water or aqueducts. I used them to fill in as I advanced. I don’t think I built a single temple normally the whole game.


In 1360AD I was 10 tiles short of the Domination limit with a couple cities due to expand the next turn. As insurance, I grabbed the Spanish city on the Russia island. I won a Domination victory in 1365AD with 5 tiles over the limit. (It only saved one turn but it was a nice cherry on top of my first emperor win.)


Software Version: PtW 1.27f for Windows
Entry class: open
Game status: Domination Victory for England
Game date: 1365 AD
Firaxis score: 6576
Jason score: 8285
Time played: 27:22:42

My chief mistakes were my detour against American beyond support range and a distraction into builder mode in the middle of the MA when I built libraries, marketplaces, etc. in my core cities. Eventually, I switched away from building universities to a couple banks and back to units before I completely ruined things. The extra infrastructure was part of the reason the American expedition wasn’t supported properly. I probably would have scored better if I had invested in some more aqueducts or built more settlers to do a proper ICS. I am not sure what that would have done to my date, though.

Dang, you guys are good. Seeing all that orange on your maps just pains me.

---

Goal: Survive a while, learn something in the process.

Synopsis: Took too long to get the island settled, waited too long to get the Forbidden Palace started, overreacted to a Barbarian uprising, waited too long to go after a neighboring Civ, waited too long to try 0% research and, in general, was just too tentative. Changed governments twice, at inopportune times. Generally, demonstrated why I am not ready for emporer. Fast approaching the modern age, still stuck on the original island with one measly captured city over in Germany.

Assessment: In terms of meeting my goal, not bad. There are at least two other Civs that stink worse than I do, and although going on offense is pretty much out of the question at this point, I could hold out for a while if attacked. And I'm learning a ton. History will remember me as Michael4000 the Great Big Loser, but wait 'til next empire....