COTM 15 Second Spoiler - Middle Ages, World Map

Welcome to what is likely to be the last spoiler for all but the most hard-core pacifists of you...

In order to read and post in this thread, you need to:

- Have completed the Middle Ages (i.e., be researching an IA tech),
- Have full knowledge of the world map (a few blots here and there won't be considered).

Middle Ages = Chivalry = Elephants... what use did you make of the beasts?

Once again, the first spoiler goes to the Ai incarnation of Gandhi.

<curse> Quite unfortunately, the notes I had taken have gone erased from a network drive...
...I still remember how it went more or less, so I wrote down a very nice story here.
But then our network crashed and I lost it.

Second attempt.

So. We had left Gandhi with 6 cities at the dawn of the Middle Ages.
The world was at peace, but that was not to last long...

A border dispute between Arabia and the south indian nation of Vijayanagar caused war to be declared.
Skirmishes were fought, with Ansars entering deeper and deeper into Vijayanagar territory, but still not managing a decisive win.

India saw a chance to put its Elephants to a test then, and joined the battles against Abu Bakr, moving the front line back to the Arab border.

Things stalled for several decades, until Persian, Chinese and Sumerian cavalries were bought to the Vijayanagar side.

The fight was soon over, with the last Arabian city conquered by Persia. It was in fact the persians and the sumerians who took the largest share of the arabian peninsula.

India had fought on the winning side of this alliance, but did not manage to gain anything from the war.

Sumer and Persia were growing to be the largest world powers, while Japan was quietly occupying its lands. In fact, a small city was founded in northern Japan by Lan Xang, and that very settlement would prove crucial in deciding India's destiny a few centuries later.

After the Arabian conflict, more wars followed. Inconclusive skirmishes were fought at the Persia-Sumer border, but the main event was a new world alliance against China, which was quickly overrun by Xerxes' armies.

India had initially taken a neutral position, but towards the end of this war Gandhi made his first political blunder, joining the doomed chinese side.
Within two or three turns, all his cities were lost to Persian and Sumerian forces, and he barely managed to save his capital in a humiliating peace deal.

India would maintain its single city for many more centuries, but Gandhi's game was over.

(I know -this should belong to the next spoiler; but you want to know the epilogue, don't you...)

In spite of Persia's large gain from the chinese war, Sumer still managed to rival Xerxes' power well to the end of the Industrial Age.

Persia were however the first to build Modern Armors, and that meant the sudden end of both Sumer and the Vijayanagar.

Gandhi, having learned his lesson, stood quiet and well-behaved in his capital.

An uneasy peace followed, with Persia busy working on their new project -a Spaceship- but always threatening.

Vijayanagar experienced Xerxes' wrath when he attacked Persia to regain control of their former capital, only to be banished to a couple of cities on the Maldive islands (now, *I* wouldn't mind that... ).

In the meantime, that little Lan Xang city on japanese land had changed owner several times, and had already been the cause of many a war between Japan and Lan Xang.

It now was one of the many Persian possession, but Tokugawa could clearly not sleep until that city returned to what he considered its legitimate owner (that is, himself). And he attacked.

Persian counterattack was slow and reluctant this time, and two attempts at invading Japan were repelled, even if at a high cost to Tokugawa.
The dispute might have ended there, but Lan Xang saw an opportunity to revive their long-standing rivalry with Japan, and allied with Persia.

Tokugawa, in return, proposed an alliance to Gandhi.
Gandhi accepted.
It was 1810 AD; two years later, persian troops took Delhi, putting an end to Indian history (conquest loss, 381 points).

The fight went on, but took an unexpected turn when Persia declared war on its former allies and conquered the ancient Laotian republic, achieving domination in the late '800.

---

EDIT: as I said in the other spoiler, if there is interest in looking at what the AI does in a CotM map, I'll keep this up (and maybe even try to take a few screenshots...).
Or maybe some chronicle-prone civver may volunteer to do that after or instead of submitting their game...

Early in the industrial era, three civs have been destroyed. Vijay, China and Arabia.

Vijay war :- During a pointless war between Persia and India, Vijay sided with Persia. Very soon after, Persia couldnt be bothered fighting India anymore. This led to the slow end of Vijay. India's elephants were flowing into Vijay's lands, but kept being serious crippled when they attacked the capital. After approx. 15 turns of attacking Vijay's capital, it fell. This left the other 2 remaining cities on the original continent in a very vulerable state, falling soon after. But India still had to destroy the two cities that had been built on other islands. While India destroyed Vijay, Persia was crippling the Sumerians. Vijay fell when he lost the city on the spice island, which was about the time that Persia signed peace with the 3 city empire of Sumeria.

Arabian War :- After feeling good about themselves from beating Vijay, India saw Arabia producing wads of culture. So Ghandi attacked. India quickly allied Persia to its cause, and blasted through Arabia in about as much time as it took to kill Vijay. Vijay had 5 cities, Arabs had approx. 10. I picked up 8 of them.

Chinese War :- India had rebuilt its elephants, and was preparing to attack another enemy. But who? The chinese or Lan Whatshisname. When Persia was attacked by china, we knew who had to die. We signed an alliance with Persia against China, so we could have some of the fun. Once again, India took more cities than Persia. IIRC, it was 5-3 in favour of India.

Late MA - Start IA :- India wants to attack Lan Whateverhisnameis but feels like he must avoid war with him at all cost. Why? Because he is paying for India's research. Just as Persia, India and Lan Imnotevengonnatrytorememberhisname reach the IA, Japan thinks it's a great idea to attack India. Fortunately, it doesn't look like much is going to happen.

Future plans :- Sign peace with Japan, kill Lan XXXXX and Sumeria, and take as much japanese territory for domination.

Before the Vijay and Chinese Wars


After the Vijay and Chinese Wars

Well I played on and here is how is looks.


110 BC Get Monotheism from GL.
50 AD See first fighting in Indias history as an arab spearman is thrashed by a MI on the plains S of Madras.
Note: Somewhere inbetween 50 AD and 260 AD I get Chivalry from GL.
260 AD Theology and Engineering from GL.
320 AD Education from GL.
Set Reasearch to Music Theory at 60%(8turns).
390 AD Discover Music theory -> Research set to Gun Powder.
Trade: Get Mao's Invention + Silks + Furs + Horses For Education.
Get Ivory for Gems + 200g.
420 AD Complete J.S Bach's in Delhi.
530 AD Discover Chemistry -> Research set to Metallurgy at 70%(7 Turns)
Trade: Get Fa Ngum's Astronomy + Banking + 16gpt + 40g for Chemistry.
590 AD Trade: Get Mao's Furs + Silks + Navigation for Chemistry.
600 AD Discover Metallurgy -> Research set to Econimics at 70%(6 Turns).
620 AD Trade: Abu's Printing Press + Territory Map for Navigation and Territory Map.
630 AD Persia Declare cause I refuse to give World Map and 85g.
Trade: Get Alliance from Mao vs. Persians for 500g.
Get Alliance from Abu vs. Persia + 2g + World Map for Chemistry.
720 AD Discover Physics -> Research ToG at 70%(7 Turns)
740 AD Trade: Get Fa Ngum's Horses + Democracy + World Map + 28gpt + 50G for Physics.

790 AD Trade: Get Vijay's Military Tradition + Saltpeter for Democracy + 200g.
Get Mao's Silks + Furs + World Map + 7gpt + 7g for Military Tradition.
800 AD Discover ToG -> Resaerch Magnetism at 90%(6 Turns).
830 AD Complete Smith's Trading Company in Delhi -> Enter Golden Age.
Trade: Get Xerxes' Magnetism + 979g + World Map + Territory Map for Peace Treaty + ToG.
Enter Industrial Age.

IA Stats:
5 Cities.
60 Population.
Units:
15 Workers;
5 Musketman,
5 Cavalry
5 Medieval Infantry
9 Slave Workers
Total culture: 7305(pr. turn 113)
Score(According to CivAssist1): 633

At Peace with all AI's. Sumeria was ousted by Abu. China is down to 5 or 6 cities. Biggest is Abu and Xerxes. Vijay third...And I've killed ONE unit so far, a spearman so he wouldn't pillage my land. I think I'll have a problem with either one of them soon, and I'll will prolly find it hard maintaining the techlead as one of these AI's will prolly grow pretty big! But lets see... Maybe I should have kept more peace around the AI ti keep them alive to trade... well.

Open Class, going for 20K

Ancient Age

Upon entering the Middle Ages in 490 BC, I immediately gift Sumeria and Persia up with me – they both get Monotheism which was ideal. I gained Monotheism the next turn from the Great Library and could build a cathedral and immediately start on Theology.

My first war started in 370 BC when I declared on the Lan Xang. I was out of room to expand peacefully, and I needed more towns so I could finish researching Theology before my palace prebuild was exhausted. I picked the Lan Xang because my people coveted the nearby gems, and they were the only ones we were average compared to (against everyone else we were weak). My swordsman had minimal problems against their spearmen, but the war only lasted until 250 BC before my attack lost momentum. I had gained 3 towns (enough to extend the palace prebuild) and the gems so I accepted peace.

I caught another break with the Statue of Zeus. The Japanese didn’t start building it until 130BC, and in 50BC, they were able and willing to trade me ivory for an outdated tech, so I could build the Statue of Zeus in my 20K town. By the time I finished it, the time of the ancient cavalry had passed, and I never did build a barracks in Bombay, but it’s all about the culture.

I redeclared on the Lan Xang in 310AD to start my (somewhat late) Golden Age. From this point forward, I spent most of the game at war to continually expand and try to maintain 4 turn research. The second Lan Xang war lasted until 460 AD when I removed them from the main land mass.

After some troop maneuvering, I declared on the Vijayanagar in 550 AD and proceeded to throw them off the Pangaea. I entered the Industrial Ages in 680 AD with Bombay at 5092 culture plus 88cpt.

Culture in Bombay through end of Middle Ages:

-2710 Temple
-1525 Oracle
-1050 Pyramids
-1025 Library
-670 Great Library
-630 Colosseum
-470 Forbidden Palace
-430 Cathedral
10 Sistine Chapel
30 University
170 Statue of Zeus
360 Shakespeare’s Theater
440 Copernicus’ Observatory
590 JS Bach’s Cathedral
660 Heroic Epic

Open, 20K

Culture:
I entered the middle ages in 800 BC, working on the great library. It finished in 750. I rushed a colosseum in 730 and then started on the hanging gardens. I missed them by 1 turn, and converted them into a forbidden palace, losing 100 shields but helping the rest of the empire. I rush a cathedral in 450 and build the Sistine Chapel in 10 AD. Knights Templar comes along in 230 AD. I don't have quite enough cash to rush a university immediately after, but I get it built in 270 AD. I lose Copernicus' Observatory in the Leo cascade, but Bach's follows in 430 and Shakespeare's in 610. I leave the middle ages in 630 AD. Overall, I'm happy. It could have gone better, but it could have been worse, too.

War:
Life is peaceful until 150 AD, when Persia declares war and kills a warrior. I ally most of the world against them, save only the Lan Xang. I'd really like to have them declare on me, so that I can justify wiping them out. Eventually they do, and I pay 40 g to Persia for peace and then start in on the LX. The war goes well, but slowly, and I don't make peace until 810 AD, when they are relegated to a single island city. I get a single great leader and Sun Tzu's out of the war. The leader goes to a war elephant army so I can build some small wonders, but none of them are done during the middle ages.

Open, NoAIPatrol=0

I think I'll outshine the AI Gandhi (enjoyed him a lot) but it doesn't feel like there will be a prize, even though I got my highest jason score yet. I missed a BC domination but I think I played well by my own standards. The biggest single problem was that Persia quickly grew too strong and I never attacked their towns or cities. I could perhaps have earned a flip, because some Persian towns had up to 15% flip chance. But it would not have helped very much. It will be interesting to see the results of those who could attack all civs indiscriminately.

The reason I could not attack Persia was that they had very high military production, spurred by an endless war against Arabia. They also learned Chivalry quite early, so there were "knights all over our perimeter."

When I say that I never attacked a Persian town, it doesn't mean I wasn't at war with them. I shamelessly traded Feudalism for Alliance vs Arabia, Monotheism, The Republic, Literature, 71 gpt and then declared war instantly. I was lucky with the AI free techs and could start Chivalry after just one turn of MA research.

The long-winded war between Persia and Arabia was not all bad. It kept the Persians occupied until the end when Arabia only had two size 1 towns left.



As you can see from the picture, my towns have had cultural expansion. The actutal reason I went for domination was the early build of Temple of Artmeis, 590 BC. My first elephants barely had time to reach Ur before *Vijayanagar* snatched ToA and made Ur switch to Great Library. Of course the ToA this early is a huge bonus financially (no need to hurry temples) and I could use the spare cash for 20% luxury and to hurry things like galleys for the attack of the naïve Japanese, who often had just 1 defender. Conquered citizens often built warriors or, if they had iron, archers, to quell resistance, and a few times I needed to rush elephants in corrupt towns.

A slight downside to Vijayanagar's unexpected feat was that I had to divide my tribes between them and Sumeria earlier than planned. I had some trouble rolling over Sumeria. But on the other hand, this lead to an earlier discovery of Japan.

QSC:

13 towns, 1 city
29 citizens
14 workers
5 warriors
2 horsemen
Feudalism, Monotheism, all AA techs except monarchy.
3 embassies
17 gold
All contacts but Japan.
1 library
2 granaries
3 barracks
1 temple

At about this time I stopped building settlers in Dehli which contributed a few horsemen, but I kept the settler pump a bit longer in Bombay. I think it's important to decide when to stop a settler factory. For a possible conquest victory, 10-20 more horsemen or chariots when Chivalry came in would have been truly valuable, unless you play predator.

Open, going for 20K

Times Ancient

Middle Ages started in 775BC. I trade for Monotheism from one of Persia or Sumeria - I forget which.

War & Culture in the Indian Republic during the Middle Ages (775BC-750AD)

War: Lan Xang, and Lan Xang only. I built up a "critical mass" (read: 4!) Elephants, and invaded, taking out all but one city (their capital, on the Japanese island) for peace. So I got hold of Karasu's little hideaway, as the Lan Xang had built the Great Lighthouse and Colossus. Unfortunately, no leaders were generated, so no early Heroic Epic. I'd get it eventually, but a little too late for my liking.

Culture:
In Delhi, I build:
730BC Great Library
710BC Colosseum
490BC Hanging Gardens
470BC Cathedral
110BC Temple of Artemis (BONUS! )
270AD Sistine Chapel
330AD University
450AD Copernicus' University
620AD Shakespeare's Theatre

5720 culture, 80cpt:

In my previous post about the AA, I had entered the MA right behind Sumeria and Persia. There were no wars, as I was waiting for chivalry to begin.

When we got Chivalry, we attacked Lan's city on the coast with the gems and took it. The rest of the war went badly, even though we won. The RNG gods really had a good laugh at me on this one.

The two most powerful cities were taken by Vijay after I broke all my elephants on them. Both times, I ran out of troops with 1 red-lined defender left. Both times I took out the musketmen(?? they got them right before I attacked I guess) easily and then got worked over by spearmen. In all, 12 elephants could not take 4 spearmen. They could only take 2 (1 in each city) and leave the other 2 redlined (1 in each city) for Vijay to take the next turn. Therefore he got the Pyramids and the Oracle (pretty sure it was Oracle), and I did not. The Arabs took 2 of Lan's southern cities and the Chinese two of the Northern. This was not my plan. I had started the war with what I thought was plenty of firepower, but only ended up with 4 of Lan's cities, and I lost A LOT of my forces in the process. I was very unhappy with the outcome, especially because Vijay and the Arabs ended up with very large standing armies and nothing to do with them, though they seemed to be great friends of mine.

So...I picked up the pieces of my decimated army and had to play it safe for a while. I decided that unless things changed I was going to go the safe route and head for a diplo victory.

To top it all off, at the end of the MA, The MPP's were so convoluted that I had no idea what would happen if a war actually started. I need a strategy article on how this works or something.

By the end of the MA the Persians decimated the Chinese, with the help of the Arabs, Sumerians, and Vijay. The Indians sat out of this war, which may have been a mistake. The Persians are the bullies on the block now, owning the entire northern territories. India has taken the tech lead and tries as hard as possible to bankrupt the Persians whenever possible by selling monopoly techs to them and then making sure they can't make a profit on it.

India is still surrounded on all sides, though the eastern front is a mishmash of civ's after the war with Lan.

I've made several mistakes in this game, all because I tend to play conservatively in GOTM's or COTM's. Playing not to lose often results in losing, though I doubt I will lose this game. I just won't win it with any kind of respectable score.

I should be able to make the TOE to Hoovers jump as I have the tech lead going into the IA, but I never intended to still be surrounded by civ's at this point in the game. I only have 16 cities, which isn't very impressive given that only Lan (with 1) and Sumeria have less land. Japan and Vijay have empires about the same size as I do, though I definately have a bigger populatian than anyone but Persia.

Once I have tanks I should be able to take the Persians, but I may just wait until I have the UN and put it to a vote. I have no doubt I would win unless something changes between now and then. It's less work than a long and drawn out war, and I'm feeling like I just want to get it over.

~Ghostwind

Open, NoAI=0, Domination in 90 BC

The plan was conquest, sending elephants east to Sumeria and Arabia, archers east to Lan Xang's land w/ a little elephant help, on to china with the next round of WEs, to meet up with the eastern task force at Persia while the core cities produced elephants to take out Vijanagar. Japan hadnt formally been met but would be dealt with as soon as possible since I could see their borders.

The Persians and Sumerians received Feudalism and Monotheism when i gifted them to the MA, the luckiest break in the game, and not something that had happened in any test game I played. As such, I was able to get to Chivalry at 900 BC; it could have been a turn earlier but my elephant prebuilds were not timed correctly. Some archers had been built to send against Lan Xang while waiting for Chivalry (hadnt connected horses yet), and built one too many in the Twin Cities. Research was shut off after Chivalry and gold was used to rush elephants in far flung cities.

Anyways this delayed attacking Lagash until 775 BC, and the first elephant retreated (hmm what a beginning) but the other was victorious and started my golden age. The Arabs fell quickly with rushed elephants in captured cities, but Ur was not taken until 550. Peace had been signed with Lan Xang, and my troops were at the door of China.

While establishing an embassy to judge enemy strength, the Commander of the Indian Armed Forces noticed that the Temple of Artemis was due in 19 turns in Beijing. Beijing had room to grow, so that time would probably be cut down. Based on this, the troops who had trudged all the way up there to China were sent west to Persia, and the victory condition was changed to domination. History would later show that the ToA was built by the Vijanagar well before the Chinese could finish their great project.

The 400s BC would see the rest of Sumeria falling, and a redeclaration on Lan Xang with more powerful forces. Persia and Persepolis were added to the empire in 350 BC and their empire just crumbled despite having Pikes and Immortals. The Vijanagar capitol and the ToA was captured in 290 BC. Persia was finished in 210 BC. War on China happened in 170 BC with 3 cities falling on that turn. Major settling efforts had been underway for several hundred years. The final result was domination in 90 BC, and really should have been 110 BC (I was 5 tiles under after cultural expansions at 130 BC):



Beijing left with one redlined spear, and territory that could have been settled south of Beijing! I had a damaged elephant I could have moved into position the turn before but did not, confident my troops could take the city. I had thought that a city in the south China no mans land would be easily picked off by a fast unit when I eventually declared on them but I really should have rushed a settler there.



Isin was just indestructible. I rushed elephant after elephant but could not take the city. Sumeria had planted there in Arabian territory with their last settler, declaring war on the Arabs in the process. I had watched that settler make his way down there, and had an opportunity to destroy it but did not.

Keeping my two main cities at a higher size in the beginning and timing the prebuilds better, combined with declaring on China earlier could have shaved some turns off the date. Why cant we always play pangaea maps with deadly UUs? I doubt I'll get a medal, but it was certainly my best GOTM so far.

Karasu said:

Once again, the first spoiler goes to the Ai incarnation of Gandhi.

Click to expand...

wonderful story! please keep it up when you host the game~!

Open - NoAIPatrol=0

Research 1250BC - 710BC
Goal is cultural 100k with Feudalism government. Chivalry is learnt in 710BC. Further research is unnecessary. Later I gain Theology, Invention and Gunpowder in peace treaties. Musket is a nice 60 shield unit in whipping process. Since I have free granaries (the Pyramids) other options aren't available on that shield cost.

Conquest 1000BC - 400AD
Conquest went smoothly. First victim Lan Xang is reduced to 2CC in 800BC. Vijayanagar is banished in 510BC. In that war I gained control of ToA and begun GA in 610BC. Other important moments were when I captured the Pyramids from the Sumerian in 390BC. Hanging Gardens, Sistine Chapel and 8th
luxury ivory from the Japanese in 310AD. Pangaea is in my control in 130AD, the Japanese island in 400AD.

The Pyramids and population boom 390BC - 260AD
Right after I captured the Pyramids military production slowed down. 30 Elephants were enough for rest wars. All core cities begun building Marketplaces, Aqueducts and cultural buildings. I even built the Great Lighthouse it connected two extra luxuries. In corrupt cities, 1-2 food surplus towns built workers. Fast growing towns got cash rushed settler when town grew to size 4. Up to 250AD 200 towns were founded I was ready to switch on Feudalism.

Feudal lord 270AD - 850AD
Feudalism is wonderful. Feudalism is all what is needed for 100k. With that cultural whipping can begin hundreds years earlier. In only 30 turns I did whip >200 Cathedrals, >200 Libraries and >100 Colosseum's!!! Thus I was a slacker in that, I ordered governors and used F1 screen. On F1 screen sort along population and go to size 5 cities to rush Library/Cathedral and size 7 cities to rush Colosseum. I wonder how good the date can be with extreme MM. to
tIntentionally I didn't rush all possible Colosseum's due deficit problems may be lost 1-2 turns from win date.

I know you guys ask Jason score. It was above 13k

You think you see standards being set that will be around for a while... wow, 100K in 850AD?! Awesome.

Ahh yes. The 2 city challenge continues. The goal for this age is to seriously damage the Maya (or whatever they are called.)
Ghandi is upbeat about this Age although he has asked me how its possible that he (and I) have been alive for thousands of years?

230 BC: Ask Xan Lan to leave or declare. They declare war, which is good

170 BC: Jackpot! First Great leader. 2nd Maya City falls.

150 BC: Great library yields Both engineering and monotheism. Hurrah. Oh joy, apparently you need 4 cities to form an army. I will modifiy my restrictions so I can get at least 1 army. Embassy with Japan.

70 BC: Extreme bad luck on attacking Maya capitol. Lost 6 units and didn't kill a thing. Traded currency to Celts for furs, 1 gp per turn + 19 gold

30 AD: More bad luck. Lost another dozen infantry attacking the capitol. I thougth Medievil Infantry easily killed spearman and javelin throwers? My guess now is im waay dead later on. Peaceful Ghandi can't handle anymore attacks so asks politely for peace and gets 5 workers, 64 gold per turn and 19 gold. Not too shabby Ghandi thinks to himself.

50 AD: Just realised I can build statue of zeus now I have ivory from Japan, Start in capitol. Hope Japan dont get it before me!

70 AD: A Nice year. Learned Invention and Chivalry courtesy of the great library (Pity it is soon to be obsolete. Time to build a massive army of oliphaunts. Building Knights templar in 2nd City first though.

170AD: Arabia Demands Engineering. I yeild.

190AD: Statue of Zeus Completes.
290 AD: Can't be bothered waiting for the last 5 turns of peace so declare on Maya Again.
300 AD: How many Elephants does it take to kill a pikeman? 1? 2? Nope it takes 3!
Ally China Against Maya for an absurd amount (I screwed my rep breaking my last military alliance) of 2000 gold, gems and 27 gold per turn

310 AD: Knights Tempar Created in 2nd City. Japan Demands Invention, refused (since he is overseas) war is declared. Learned Gunpowder from Great Library.

320 AD: Get Maya capitol down to 1 1hp pikeman. arrrrrggggg.

370 AD: Trade gems and dyes to china for, silks, 9 gold per turn and 71 gold.
390 AD: FINALLY take maya capitol. Only took about 8 war elephants and 20 medievil Infantry in total to take it. I'm not too good with math but losing 6 Elephants in a row to Pikemen (without even half killing them) shouldn't happen should it? This finally lets me form my army and disband the evil 3rd city. (Only took 360 years.) Having to give up the pyramids and the maulsaleum by abandoning their capitol is hard indeed.

400 AD: Right after abandoning the capitol Japan decides it is the perfect time to send a settler there. Unfortunately the single spearman escort walks right past a crusader.

410 AD: Learn Theology. Oracle becomes obsolete. (And only 1 more tech until the great library stops working its magic.) China takes a Maya City knocking them down to 1 city and capitol

430 AD: Learn Chemistry. Knock out 2 Japanese Cities and the 2nd to last Maya City. The plan now is to finish off the celts and hope the chinese take out the maya.

440 AD: Another Japanese City destroyed. Peace with Japan for 2 cities and 20 gold. 1 City is abandoned, the other a warrior is rushed for exploring the japanese island. (Disband other city next turn.) Gems to japan for ivory.

450 AD: Japanese city abandoned.
480 AD: Education learned and the great library is history. I predict things to get a lot harder from here on in. Chemistry to Japan for printing press. Plan to get shakespears theatre, newtons university and copernicus observatory and go flat out to tanks.

490 AD: Persia demands more gold, happy to obliged China destroys Maya. 1 Down 7 to go. Declare war on Celts.

530 AD: Celtic Capitol destroyed. The Celts are down to 1 City now and with 3 large civs against them I expect them to be wiped out very shortly. Time to focus on research. Chemistry to Sumeria for 34 gold per turn and 44 gold.

550 AD: Persia Destroys the Celts. 5 To go.
610 AD: Researched Mettalurgy. Trade to Sumeria for Astronomy and 16 gold. Hope I can get copernicus observatory. Research Military tradition at full speed.

680 AD: Banking from arabia for Chemistry.

700 AD: Military Tradition. Of course all the AI just happen to get it the same turn. Sigh.
710 AD: Success! Completed Copernicus Observatory. Just Shakespears theatre and newtons university to go.

750 AD: Persia Declares on china, Good news .

870 AD: Arabia Demands Mettallurgy, Declares War. Ally Sumeria with a very hefty bribe.

900 AD: An absolute prick of a year. A Wonder cascade. First Sistine chapel, then shakespears theatre, then newtons university. I see almost no way to win from here on in.

Enter Industrial ages in 940AD.

Ghandi is far less upbeat about the next age. Other advisors and I have tried to persuade him that the only way is it build more cities. But he is insistant that he doesn't need any more than 2. I think Ghandi is losing it......

@ Kuningas Holy feudalistic tyrant batman! I’m guessing like me, many people just dismissed Feudalism as too corrupt to be of any real use and although good for supporting large armies with lots of small cities, in the end not really as good as Republic. Seems like I was very wrong though, the implications of your game will be far reaching me suspects. Good stuff!

Oh and here’s the list of my cultural buildings in IPA till the end of the MA

3950BC Palace
3650BC Temple
1700BC The Oracle
1150BC The Pyramids
1075BC Library
710BC The Great Library
690BC Colosseum
470BC The Great Wall
430BC Cathedral
10AD Sistine Chapel
280AD Copernicus’s Observatory
300AD University (So I used it as a prebuild for Cops, okay?)
380AD The Statue of Zeus (Yeah I know!)
520AD Shakespeare’s Theatre
600AD Newton’s University
720AD JS Bach’s Cathedral (I got quite lucky with this one)

Things are going well and I’m on target for a personal best finish, although I doubt I’ll be in contention for the medal, I have a habit of doing silly things, like say mobilising for example

Open, Domination.

Elephant stomp!

Beaten the Vinathings and the Lanpeeps in the ancient age. Rolled on into china capturing the GLib. Kept China and the Vinathings as 1cc's - just to keep the tech pace nice and slow. Put them both out of their misery later in the game.

Next was Persia, which was a bit of a bear - knights, immortals and indestructible spearmen. The RPG turned against me for quite a while - flattened 15-20 elephants on 1 size 7 flat land city. They had a lot of wonders: ToA, Great Wall, Lighthouse, Sun Tzu IIRC. Finally manage to get a leader + army on about the 40th elite win. Reduced them to a OCC island challenge.

Rolled through Sumeria in about 5 turns. Captured both their islands with aqua elephant assaults.

Then into the Arabs, they had a few knights but didn't put up much of a fight. 5 or 6 turns and my elephant horde had stampted them into the ground. Just enough to tip me into a domination win!

470 AD. Which is pretty good for me.

In terms of tech, the arabs discovered education - no one else had, so kept my wonders working right to the end. Invention was the high point on the lower tech tree.

Was the first game where I've had the ToA before it was obsolete. Wow that thing is good for a fighting game. Coupled with pyramids, great wall and Sun Tzu it was awesome - everything each captured city needed. Ended up blowing my sizable gpt short rushing elephants near the front - 2-3 per turn, which sped up warfare noticably.

Only wonder I built was the SoZ, which paid for itself several of times over in ACs. Kept a good relationship with Japan so I could keep getting ivory.

Open - Domination

Getting Gandhi to abandon the tradition of peaceful protest for a more unleash hell approach took some time!
Not much happened in the early MA as we were left to research Feud ourselves before trading for Eng and Chiv.

Eventually started the campaign of conquest in 10AD against Lan and removed them from the mainland. After some skirmishes with Persia our major campaign against them started in 500AD just after the start of our GA. Narrowly miised out on Leo's but ended up with JSB which sparked the GA.

Persia allied Japan against us so we brought in the Chinese on our side. Persia brought in Vijay and Lan to which China responded by bringing in Sumeria so now everyone was at it.

We had a good war! - Effectively took out Persia and Vijay which included Leos to upgrade the elephants to Cav.

Entered the IA in 860AD with plans to take out Sumeria and Arabia before taking enough of China to achieve domination.

This is certainly not going to feature in the list of quick dominations but Gandhi is happy that we are spreading good Karma amonst our neighbours!

Open - domination

My second submission was a morale boosting 800 AD domination win. A big improvement on my 1987 AD domination on the Babylon game!

I tried to Micro the quick start challenge as efficiently as possible but it clearly wasn't good enough as I got my Republic in a fairly tardy 1475BC and reached middle ages at 1000BC. I think that my main micro error was simply using too many warriors (the other build on my 6 turn settler factories) as explorers when I should have used more as military police so I could have kept my science at maximum the whole time.

I hooked up the iron in the early middle ages and took out the renamed Maya with Swords and a couple of Med infs. I then moved my main force to defeat the Chinese before their UU came. I also built a couple of Galleys to ship units over to Japan.

My main force stormed right through the Chinese but my Med infs struggled against the Japanese. My main error was having too few Pikes to defend and I lost quite a few med Infs to the Japanese Archers and Ancient Cavalry. However the arrival of elephants turned the tide and the Japanese were beaten although I paid a high price in wasted turns units and war weariness.

Persia dowed as I was finishing Japan. I lost a city in the initial attacks. Luckily, during the Mayan war I had switched to Feudalism to curb the paralysing maintenance costs and to allow me to pop rush in my corrupt cities. Being able to pop rush allowed me to whip out enough units from the former Chinese cities to stall the Persians (I also brought in the Sumerians who no doubt also helped).

Once the main force arrived back from Japan the Persians were quickly put to the sword. I gained the TOA from the Persians but annoyingly the same city also had the GL - so the TOA was made obsolete before I could get the cultural expansions the free temples would have given me.

The Sumerians were rewarded for their assitance in the Persian war with a ROP rape. During the Persian war the Indians had researched Military tradition and I had built up a huge cash surplus during Feudalism so my force of Elephants were upgraded to cavalry - the assult was deadly. After losing all their resources and half their cities in turn one their back was broken and the bulk of their remaining empire was fairly quickly mopped up before peace was offered.

At this point I was rushed temples and settlers like crazy to get over the domination limit but was held up quite a while filling in all the gaps. The renamed Celts had taken out the Arabs and I was busy taking the weakly defended former Arab cities when I crept over the limit in 800AD.

The result was over 10,000 Jason points which I was fairly over the moon with until I read this spoiler and realised that 10,000 is going to be quite an ordinary score in this game.

Wardancer said:

The result was over 10,000 Jason points which I was fairly over the moon with until I read this spoiler and realised that 10,000 is going to be quite an ordinary score in this game.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't say that. 10,000 Jason is always quite an impressive achievement -even if this turns out to be a high-scoring game in average. And never mind those crazy scores you see from some people here...