COTM 17 Second Spoiler - Middle Ages, World Map

Genghis069 said:

Hmm... I suppose they were quite corrupt until the FP went into Rome. There weren't many unused spaces and everything was properly irrigated when I got there. Are you saying to squeeze in the max number of cities possible? I would think that would increase overall corruption to a point where it hurts the rest of the empire, but then again, this may be why I'm still struggling to beat emperor.

Thanks for any and all advice.

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Yes max number of cities. It is called ICS. It doesn't hurt the rest of your empire as long as you do it only in areas that are further from your capital than your furthest productive city.

Fewer and larger cities will allow slightly less scientists, and it will be much more difficult to keep those cities happy. If you make ICS cities, you do not need any improvement in them at all. First produce settlers and workers in the cities as many as you need to fully irrigate (and railroad in IA) all tiles and get the maximum number of cities, then put them on wealth.

Thanks Wacken. Used ICS for culture games, but never applied it in that sense. Learn something new every day.

I retired. Persia was assaulting us, and our infantry were infants compared to Xerxes Monster Modern Armor. I could have stayed for a lot longer if i took all my infantry into Entremont i could have had 3 infantry armies and about 20 other units. But Brennus, coward that he is had throw up his hands and surrender. Persia was in the Modern times while we were researching Combustion at about 1450 A.D. I retired in 1680. I need to practice more on emperor because i am a monarch player, especially with the demigod, deity, and possibly even Sid COTMs coming up. So Zeepsel, you won.

If i were you i would've kept going to the end. but i'm crazy, so i might not have if i were you, because i wouldntve been crazy. But seriously, if you lose till the end, you could still pick up an award (even if its an ambulance)

Azzaman33- Maybe i should go to the end. Is it cheating if i go to the save of the turn before i retired and start from there? I don't see how it would be cheating. I could definitely survive in Entremont forever if i evacuated all other cities. But maybe i should leave the units where they are and hope Xerxes makes peace. So far i have lost about half of the Roman continent and maybe 1 or 2 cities on the southern tip of our continent. I doubt i would get the ambulance award, i'm probably not the worst player. Thank you so much!!!


GOTM-AI- We haven't seen your AA spoiler yet!! On the 13th you told 7losses you would post it in a few days but now it's the 20th and it's still not posted. Are you scared of posting your COMPLETE DISASTER of a game?? Or have you benn scanning your AA for your very scarce high points?

Open
Ancient Age

Entering the MA in 590BC. I was at war with Zulu and in GA.
I slowly researched monotheism after having acquired engineering from the local sci civs, still hoping to meet Sumeria soon.

570BC Great Lighthouse completed and galleys going out to find the rest of the world. Also war with Rome started. Caesar built a city on my island just in front of my settler.

510BC made peace with Zulus for now for a city on the other side of their island.

470BC contact with Maya and Inca. Started a phony war against Inca right away. The sole surviving galley started circling their continent the wrong way, so contact with Sumeria got delayed a long time (could have been within 1 or 2 turns)

410BC Persia declares after an extortion attempt.

370BC peace with Romans for regrouping

310BC start war again

290BC added Greece to list of enemies. They also settled on my island.

130BC Romans are out. Make peace with Persians.

90BC Finally meet Sumeria.

50BC make peace with Inca and can get a town on the other continent. Also make peace with Greece and ship all troops into Zululand for a nice RoP rape.

30AD Buy feudalism and start building horses for upgrade. Should have enough swords for backwards Zulu.

50AD war with Zulu.

190AD Zulu destroyed. Reach also navigation this turn so we can peacefully trade with everyone and are a very happy nation. Rest of wars are planned with cavs.

300AD can buy chivalry cheap. Decide to start on Greece soon with a few knights.

330AD war with Greece

350AD military tradition researched. Stop research.

450AD Greeks are out.

470AD War with Persia.

550AD war with Maya

560AD Xerxes is retired.

600AD take also a few Sumerian cities for domination victory in 610AD

Open, fixed barbs

I enjoyed this game, although it took a long time for me. The goal was domination, and I pushed my armies to fight as much as possible while maintaining military production and setting up an economy with specialists in foreign cities. After 1000 BC, the game consisted of a series of continuous wars against rivals close to home and abroad. I describe them in more detail below, but the biggest challenge was managing food and taxmen in distant cities in the face of awful war weariness.

Persian War (690BC - 330BC)

Persia was defeated with Gallic Swordmen. The fighting was interrupted by peace once in 410 BC. I gifted them into the middle ages, but they did not receive a helpful tech. I broke the peace in 330 BC by taking the last 4 cities.

Zulu War (70BC - 170AD)

The Zulu War was fought while I made the transition from GS to knights. GS from Persia was sent to Zululand and broke the RoP by capturing 3 northeastern Zulu cities. In the meantime, some horsemen were built and upgraded with the discovery of Chivary. These formed an invasion force from the western part of the continent. They captured the last Zulu city, Zimbabwe, in 170 AD. Since they weren't destroyed, I made peace and signed an alliance against Rome. A few decades later, I heard that the Zulu were destroyed by rampaging Roman forces.

Greek War (280AD - 470AD)

Forces from Zululand were sent directly to Greece, with whom we still had a RoP treaty. One turn remained in the treaty in 280 when we declared war and immediately captured 4 Greek cities. By this time, I had a good number of knights. In 330, Athens was assaulted with high casualties. In 340, it was captured in a final battle between a 1 HP knight and a 1 HP hoplite. Greece made peace by surrendering their island city but were too weak to avoid destruction, which came in 470 AD.

Roman Wars (310BC - 600AD)

War with Rome lingered for a long time. Rome held a large reserve of Legions, and I did not devote many troops to their continent.

In the ancient age, I dropped a settler there to found Nemausus, which even rushed a temple. Roman legions moved toward it in 390 BC, and I gifted the city to the Zulu to avoid the attack. In 430 BC, a city on my continent, Eboracum, culture-flipped to Rome and was not recaptured until Rome declared war in 310 BC. Peace was reestablished in 190 BC.

During the Zulu war, I recaptured Nemausus and held minimal troops there until Roman Legions marched toward it in 210 AD. Rome attacked but were narrowly beaten back. Walls were raised in Nemausus in 260, which turned the tide in the war on Rome.

Peace and RoP was signed in 350, which allowed me to investigate their cities before capturing Antium in 370. At the time, Rome was defended by 6 Legions and 2 Spears.

The last peace treaty was signed in 500 before Cumae was captured in 600 AD, ending the Romans.

Conquering the New World (570AD - 740AD)

A suicide galley made contact with Inca in 30 BC and the Maya in 50 AD, and I found that neither had horse or iron. (It turned out that Inca had an unused iron source across a marsh) The three civilizations were comparable in power, with the Sumerians being the smallest but with iron. This situation presented a good mismatch with knights, so the plan was to push this advantage by conquering the new continent as soon as possible.

Many galleys were built while Greece was conquered. The short suicide chain was set up between the Zulu continent and the western Mayan coast. Two armies with 1 Knight each, from leaders forged in Greece and Rome, were first sent to explore the new continent.

Knights arrived just in time as the Incans were just discovering Gunpowder. I broke the RoP with Inca in 570 AD and soon cut off their only saltpeter source. In 620, the Maya discovered Gunpowder and forced me to break my RoP with them, cutting off their only Saltpeter source at the Incan border. The capture of Chichen Itza (with the Temple of Artemis) in 680 was helpful with territorial expansion. Armies were useful against some Musketmen, but my knights faced mostly spears. Despite resistance and culture flips, the domination limit was reached in 740 AD.

C3C, 20K.

AA spoiler

We've entered MA in 270BC, getting Currency from GLib.
Persia is up Mono, Feud & Monarchy. Gift Greece, they get Feud and we get it from Glib. We need to contact oversea guys soon as they also have Monarchy.
Start Sun Tsu as a prebuild for something better.

Meanwhile we finally start building warriors for upgrades, and a worker is connecting Iron. The next turn after he is done:

190BC - What-a-mess! (In Teletubbies voice).
Romans dow! Ouch! They land in galleys and aim for unprotected cities.
170BC - First ever GS starts GA. After that can't build any more of them! (in fact I got 2 more: two cities started their builds. So I had total 3 GS for entire game).

Romans took 2 cities and aim for the 3rd - this time with 2 Legions! What to do??

150BC - build Colosseum, flipping from Sun Tsu prebuild. Entremont will have to build military now, or we won't survive.

130BC - The GS takes back Alesia which Romans captured with 1 warrior. We ally Zulu with us for Literature.
Horse city taken by Romans is defended with a Spear and a Warrior. We'll have 2 MDI in 2 turns to try and take it back. But what to do with Legions heading for the 3rd city? Let them take it! We try to get it back with MDI.
Meanwhile Roman archers approach our 4th uprotected city in the North. It seems our empire is crumbling.

30BC - Romans take our 4th Northern city and it flips back the next turn!
30AD - All our cities are back. To make it happen Entremont switched to full military mode, spitting out 2-turn MDIs. What a way to spend GA for a 20K city!
260AD - our Isle is cleared of Roman filth, but 2 Zulu cities still remain (later Romans, still at war with Zulu, will take one of those cities). We take peace with Romans for 2 cities on their isle.

340AD - Galley finally meets Maya and sees Pink border. Finally can get Mono via GLib as Maya knows it!
370AD - Cathedral. Building Sistine Chapel after some prebuilds.
630AD - Research Astronomy, trade for PP&GunPowder from Persia and then for all contacts from Maya.
I'm the only one who knows everybody, heh, as only me and Persia have PP.
Persia has Banking but won't trade. Build Embassies with Maya, Inca and Shumer. I see that Shumer will build Sistene in 4 turns, just like us. So switch to Copernicus.
A question: does it mean they would build it 1st if we have the same number of turns to go? Or would the oldest city build it first? Maybe I was wrong to switch? (I lost about 80 shields).

640AD - Copernicus.
680AD - University, partially cash-rushed. Learned Music Theory by this time, start Bach as Shake's prebuild and get Banking for Music Theory. Persia has Democracy but won't trade, but we can get it in 6 turns.

700AD-800AD - small Zulu war. We kick them off our Isle (take 2 cities) and disconnect their Saltpeter.

870AD - Shakespear in Entremont, start Bach.
880AD - FP in Lugdunum.

Meanwhile, half of AIs learned Free Artistry so I lost a trade. They also learned Economics and Navigation. I went for Chemistry.
After that I got Physics and Trade it for Metallurgy.

960AD. ToG, trade it for Magnetism and Mil. Trad. Enter IA, which will be very eventful. Switch Bach to Newton - due in 5.

Attached: Roman Invasion or something hits the fan.
Also our minimap at the end od MA.

Nata said:

I see that Shumer will build Sistene in 4 turns, just like us. So switch to Copernicus.
A question: does it mean they would build it 1st if we have the same number of turns to go? Or would the oldest city build it first? Maybe I was wrong to switch? (I lost about 80 shields).

Click to expand...

That was wrong - the human always comes first in the turn order, so you would have got it first for sure. Another way of looking at it is: when you have only 1 turn left until the wonder is complete, you know it is yours.

Just before the ADs, a Gallic Swordsman slaughters a roman warrior. Thus begins our glorious Golden Age.


We also discover Feudalism and trade it to Persia for Engineering.
We are a powerful nation, leaders of the world

In 10 AD our score is 708, and we are leaders before Maya (668) and Persia and Inca (665). We are the strongest, feeble human.


We begin Sun Tzu in Alesia
In 70 AD We complete the Great Library, and begin Leonardo's Workshop.
All our cities build libraries and cathedrals. We will soon become the cultural light of this world.

Our peaceful growth continues throughout the Middle Ages.


It is 280 AD when Sumer and Maya start fighting again.
We are still at war with Rome, and attempt to conquer Neapolis by landing two horsemen next to it. They are killed by Legionaries.
Feeble human, we know all secrets of naval warfare... or not...

In 330 AD We are attacked by the treacherous Greek in our northern city. Foolhardy Greeks...


We now know Invention, Gunpowder and Chivalry.
We start Knights Templar in Verulamium
We are also attacked by Persia. The entire world envies our leadership...


430 AD: Persia completes Knights Templar. We switch to Sistine Chapel.
480 AD: Persia: Sun Tzu (they are in GA), we switch to Sist and temple


In 500 AD we are still world leaders with 1012 points, Inca second at 984, Maya 914, Persia 884.
We will now build universities and become ever more wise and learned.


510 AD. We are now at war with Zulu -we had founded Cataractonium in their island many centuries ago, in foresight of this moment.
Now their Impis are no match for our Longbowmen, and we easily capture Hlobane. Our domination gets ever closer...


550 AD Our heroic defenders of Hlobane must succumb to a massive attack of Swordsmen, Horsemen and Impi. We land one more Spearman, but he is overwhelmed.
A couple of Knights are also landed next to Ishandlwana.


The Maya loose Yaxchilan to Sumer, in spite of their Ancient Cavalries and an apparent military superiority.

The Incas complete Leonardo and the Maya Sistine. We build Copernicus in Entremont.
We now know Navigation, we will finally be able to conquer the other continent

560 AD Cataractonium is under siege by the Zulu forces.
Inferior units in large numbers only deserve our contempt.

In the meantime, Sumer takes another Maya city.

620 AD We take the northern Zulu city of Mpondo, but the savages finally conquer Cataractonium and raze it. They shall pay for this.

We also complete Magellan's Voyage. Great is the might of the celtic nation.

630 AD We loose Mpondo

We now know the secrets of Physics, alone in the world.

680 AD Sumer takes anoter Maya city.

720 AD We are sneak attacked by Persia.

Sumer conquer a first core Maya city.

750 We launch a Caravel to discover the new world

870 AD We find the human player, hidden in his liar... Karasu is his name -as pathetic as ever...

920 AD Having underestimated the Zulus, we now loose Lapurdum in the northernmost island.
We are also at war with the Inca. Hard is the road for those who want to rule the world.

For centuries now, we have attacked in vain the persian homeland.
This should not have happened: our plan was simply perfect, to move one or two galleys at a time towards persian shores and unload a maximum of three or four units to wear out their defences.
A cautious plan, apparently, but all know how dangerous and fearsome are the dreary depths of the vast seas: it is indeed an endeavour that only the most determined can only dare to conceive, let alone attempt.
We braved the unknown waters, yet victory eluded us...

...is it possible...

...that we have made a mistake



980 AD. We revolt and become a Democracy.

The Persians have reached the Industrial Age.

It is 1000 AD: our score is 1262, second only to the Inca who have 1388.

Some foolish map designer has given them a clearly unfair advantage.
But our self-confidence is shaken...

Good to see you back playing, GOTM-AI. I was worried that your poor showing in the zulu game had scared you away.

GOTM-AI said:

870 AD We find the human player, hidden in his liar... Karasu is his name -as pathetic as ever...

...

Some foolish map designer has given them a clearly unfair advantage.

Click to expand...

Now, GOTM-AI, nothing personal there I believe?

Open with 20k as a goal.


Bit late here but got the itch for some Civ3 prior to the new release, I didn't put anything in the ancient age as a 20k is pretty boring. But to sum it up for those interested:
I decided to try a second city 20k game which I haven't ever really attempted, so I had some difficulty dealing with corruption but got thru the AA pretty well my build order Temple, Colossus, Oracle, Library, Colloseum then the Great Library. The other island turned out a strong Inca Civ for me, so I missed the others.

I went with Republic slingslot figuring with a religious civ the boosted tech rate would work out better than straight to Lit, plus the great library is a large undertaking I generally wait till last. Onward to the MA I miscalculated a few times and over estimated the Civs, while they kept pace well in the AA the other continent dropped out of the race so I was too cautious picking my MA builds and I think I could have gotten more of them. Also I rushed the tech pace too much and gave the AI too many options to switch. But even then I couldn't rush to the Theater quick enough for it to matter in the MA, but I did secure my tech advance into the end game getting Copers and Newtons. IIRC I gave away Bach's as well, but Rome, Greece and Persia were very strong in my game, despite being weak in the AA and warring so much.

I haven't aggressively expanded much, other than some slaving trips onto the Zulu and Persian lands (Gallic Swordman works great for this sorta hit and run stuff.) Otherwise its mostly a waiting game now and into the IA, one thing of excitment was that some Iron spawned in the culture cities radius, which added a welcome +1s to my total. Also some wistful dreams of having Coal there too, boy would that be a great culture city! Hah. Thats all for this thread.

Enterred MA 450BC in Republic having just destroyed Romans in 470BC (38-7)

Research
ICS of corrupt areas provided much of my research with mass irrigation and hiring of scientists. (I built 8 libs, no unis in core and FP city)
330BC Engineering
190BC Feudalism
10BC Invention
110AD Gunpowder
230AD Chemistry
300AD Metallurgy
340AD Mil. Trad.
- had planned on stopping science here but 5 galleys in row sank trying to get across ocean (despite GLH) so set sail for magnetism
Trade for Mono, Theol too expensive (Maya wants Engineering, 75gpt + 107g)
380AD Theol
- turn down science as Leo's just built -> horse - cav upgrade
440AD Education
480AD Astronomy
520AD Physics
560AD Magnetism (went for Physics / Mag instead of just Nav so I could upgrade to galleons to transport my armies)
- turn off science for good, sell all libs and switch scientists to taxmen

Wonder Builds
10AD Leader rush FP in Rome
370AD Build Leo's in Entremont
430AD Build Sun Tzu's in Richborough (switched from FP 4 turns before completion when got first MGL)
660AD Build Heroic Epic in Tyre

Diplomacy (or lack thereof )

Persia war 270BC - 70BC
450BC Glanum settled on spare tile on western tip Persia
270BC ROP abuse - all major towns in 3 turns, sev more turns to get the eastern island. Used exclusively GS's most vets from Roman campaign.
Kill / loss ratio v Persia 33-10 incl only 3 immortals - no losses to immortals. On attack against final Persian unit I get my first MGL and change plans from Richborough FP to Rome giving 2nd productive area.

Zulu war 110AD - 430AD
Zulu's had contact with Persia so knew of my dishonesty. I did, however, have an ROP in effect from turn before dowing Persia .
Took some time to logistically transfer nearly 30 GS's to Zulu soil.
Zulu just learnt feudalism and have some pikes and MI. I plan to remove their iron in first turn.
110AD ROP abuse Zulu, ally Greece for lit + 4gpt. Learn gunpowder on prev IT so realise I need Zulu land.
2nd MGL in 110AD -> GS army
After capturing 3 cities on first 2 turns, attack stalls as I am building infrastructure and mainly horse units (cannot build any more GS's). Zulu have many units and occasional loss to Impi is costly to me
3rd MGL in 230AD -> 2nd GS army
250AD false peace for a city (WW starting) and again in 340AD (no city just money this time)
I had lost a third of my GS's and MI reinforcements lost more than they killed. A flip of city adjacent salt in SE was costly.
Abandonned a number of towns as not enough units to defend.
400AD cavalry arrive on scene and re dow
430AD last Zulu taken (kill / loss v Zulu 87-21, was 61-17 before cavalry arrived)

Greek war 480AD - 600AD
After allying with them for Zulu war (first part), I was able to renew my ROP before breaking this alliance. This surprised me. They never knew the Persians but presumably were told of my behaviour by the Zulus, but it seems they were prepared to forget the advice from Zulus whilst allied against them .
dow 480AD again abusing ROP
Greece had a lot of units - mostly hoplites - even with cavalry war seemed to go slowly. Not too many losses but had to keep waiting for units to heal. Most cities were razed because of their superior culture.
War started well with 4th MGL in 490AD taking the lone Greek city on my island. Shipped across to form cav army.
560AD MGL no. 6 -> 2nd cav army
Main island cleared 570AD leaving NE island taken in 600AD.
Final count was 93 -12 including 4 elite cavs lost when galleon going to northeastern island was sunk by galley .

Other continent
270BC suicide galley (3rd I think) survives
270BC contact Sumeria - very backward
250BC contact Mayans - just behind me
210BC contact Incans - largest of 3

None get to meet the other civs on my side of the world

Attempts to get some GSs over there with ship chaining fail as 5 empty galleys all sink on venturing into ocean - I give this up and change tactics to research all the way to Magnetism.

Should have sponsored wars on this continent but didnt as worried Incans might get too strong.

490AD Inca demands Invention, I decline and promptly enjoy the reverse WW as he declares. Ally both Mayans and Sumarians.

As Greek war draws to close (and having just learned magnetism in 560AD) send forces to southeastern Incan land and eastern Sumaria.
670AD simultaneously take Incan city and stab our Sumerian allies in back by abusing their ROP.
Sumeria falls quickly in 700AD with cavs v a few pikes, but mainly Enkindo warriors (kill/loss 54-11). MGL no. 7 & 8 form cavc armies

Incans are much stronger with knights and pikes and SE attack stalls at just 1 city. Meanwhile my cav armys are transported east from Greece to attack from the north. After initial success I over extend and have to seek peace in 690AD to prevent being routed on the counter attack. I lost 1 cav army and most of my supporting 8 cavs. (kill/loss 23-12 at this stage).

Forces have build up in the south and war is declared on Mayans 710AD allying Incans .
Maya last all of 2 turns destroyed 730AD despite being the only opposition with muskets. I suspect the long war with Inca drained them of units. Only 26 units to kill for 3 losses.
Rushed a whole lot of settlers and temples to get near domination limit.
760AD 9 tiles from limit so final dow on Incans throwing everything at them - get MGL no. 9 with 6 cities captured improving kill/loss ratio v Incans to 60-26 and reaching 71% world area. Should have thrown them at Inca a turn or 2 earlier
770AD Domination
Jason score just over 11000 for first time

Fun game - really enjoyed but I counted 5 crashes where I had to reload - I hope this isnt a problem.

open class, domination, no notes

The Romans were conquered in the Ancient Ages. The Persians followed quickly. Then I went for the Zulu and failed outside Zimbabwe on a single red-lined Impi. My Gallic Swordsmen were few and injured. Peace for some cities.

On the second attempt with a few knights I finished off the Zulu. Having researched Navigation I found the second continent as the Zulu war came to an end. Inca and Sumer had decimated the Maya severely. I shipped over my Knights and managed to grab Chichen Itza before the approaching Sumerians. Shipped over my Armies as well and filled them up. Using my Napoleonic "central" position I took the Sumerians first and the Inca later. Both were militarily strong but Pikemen are no match for Cavalry Armies.

Domination in 860 AD, just over 11'000 Jason.

open, 100k goal

The Middle Ages 250BC - 1455AD

The Middle Ages began with Celts at war with the Persians. We were lucky and got a leader, formed an army, and the Persians destroyed it. Continued to pick off units and cities, but we didn’t manage to capture Persepolis. Big bummer. But, we completed the Heroic Epic in 170BC, and more importantly, met the Sumerians of the New World at 150BC.

This changed everything. We knew the Mayans had the ToA and the Pyramids, and finally we’d found their continent. All plans changed to prioritize attacking the Maya. Boy am I glad I built the Lighthouse, or this would never have worked! The first of our Gallic Swordsmen was suicide galley chained to Mayan territory in 30AD. By 90AD the Mayans were starting to build Pikes. But we had to build up more. In 230AD our RoP with Maya expired, and it was now or never. Our forces were well positioned in their lands, the ToA was ours. We allied the Incans and Sumerians, thinking we’d bleed them down. Turns out they were both rather powerful and started collecting their own set of Mayan cities. Whatever. Through trades and development we were raking in 200gpt, we had invention, we thought it was in the bag.

Fact is, as in the Persian war, we never had enough oomph to get things done well. The whole game. The Mayans were destroyed in 430AD, but now we were thin on a continent with 2 tough neighbors. OTOH, we had ToA and the Pyramids and could grow population and culture like crazy!

To make a long story short, the gist of the game was that we wore out the Celts religious trait switching between governments to either rush culture or to preserve happiness in order to persue our wars. Revolutions in the Celt’s history:
1375BC- to Republic
550AD- to Feudalism
590AD- to Monarchy
770AD- to Feudalism
840AD- to Republic
990AD- to Feudalism
1020AD- to Monarchy
1230AD- to Feudalism

Needless to say, the mm was driving me nutz. This one might have worked better shooting straight for Communism, but once I committed myself to a no-education game for the free ToA culture, I kind of had to stick with it. If I’d been a dominant conquerer, things would have gone better, but that’s not how it happened. So I kept jumping to Feudalism, whipping what culture I could (usually 100-200 per round), and then switching back before the economy crashed and/or every city in the empire revolted.

Wars-
Vs. Sumeria- 490 was an interesting year. The Romans DoW’ed us out of nowhere, killing our lux deal. Zulu’s were trading their spices to Greece, so the plan was, ally Zulu vs. Rome, ally Greece vs. Rome. Then, DoW on Greece, and ally the Zulus against them in exchange for Monotheism. Zulu spices are freed up, we trade for them with Theology, and, well, all these wars were completely beside the point. All our forces were in the new world. DoW Sumeria this very year. It was an exercise in plate spinning to be sure, keeping the Greeks and Romans off our land with just a skeleton crew while suicide galley chaining every unit I could past unfriendly Roman galleys. Whew!
So we allied the Incans vs. the Sumerians, and the world was at war. We just didn’t have the forces though, we were all tricks. Their army started out as quite formidable, and it got trimmed down to squat. But our army was also mostly eliminated, and in 680AD we were forced into peace with the badly trimmed Sumerians. They still had their capitol, the Oracle, and the SoZ. Arrrr!

Meanwhile, the Persian half-empire had completed Leo’s in Persepolis. Captured that in 580, and went on to take all but one of Persia’s cities, also gaining the Knight’s Templar in this war.

So, I’ve got a wimpy army, the Incans are very tough. The Greeks and the Romans came around to peace without much happening between us. The only guys I felt we could take on were the Zulus. We desperately needed more land if we were going to reach 100k anytime soon. So… it wasn’t until 930 that we leaned MT. The Zulu had the saltpeter anyway. And the Greeks DoW’ed us again in 950. So what, we RoP abuse Shaka starting in 980, start upgrading Cavs, and experience the only really smooth military operation of the game. By 1090 Shaka was kicked off his home island, but our people were devastatingly sad, and the Greeks sure were landing a lot of knights on our island. It was actually pretty hairy- this whole game would have fallen apart had the Incans attacked us.

So anyway, Sumeria DoW’ed us in 1000AD. This time we were able to wipe them out completely by 1150. We shipped a leader back home and RoP abused Alexander one more time to capture Sparta and the Sistine Chapel. It was awesome for happiness, only Alexander had literally hundreds of units. If I’d been more careful I could have hung on to what we’d gained in Greece, but frankly this was taking so long I was losing focus. So, we lost something like 25 cavs and 2 armies and were kicked off the Greek isle for good. Did I mention they’d developed Riflemen right around this time? We still didn’t have education! However embarrassing it was for us, Alexander lost a giant chunk of his forces, was driven to Anarchy, and spent the rest of the game as a Fascist. We didn’t get what we wanted, but struck them a mighty enough blow that they were never again a problem.

So, from 1230 onward, the world was at a shaky peace, and we cranked culture, finally achieving 100k in 1455.
Here’s some culture milestones:
100cpt 170AD
150cpt 340AD
200cpt 470AD
400cpt 760AD
500cpt 810AD
600cpt 840AD
800cpt 1100AD
1000cpt 1250AD

From here it increased quickly, we ended just under 1500cpt. We were under the dom limit by more that 120 tiles, and so didn’t have the max number of cities for this map, but as we had faced such strong resistance the whole game, I was ready to let it go.

@Redbad: Looks like I win, but only by 5 turns. Not exactly a spanking, to be honest. Well done, this one was wayyy tougher than I expected! I wonder how Pindicator's game is going... Well, as the X-Man said in our victory screen, “It was an honor to face so worthy an opponent.” Cheers!