COTM42 - First Spoiler

COTM 42 First Spoiler - the Ancient Age!

Reading Requirements

1. You must have contact with all remaining civs on your starting continent.
2. You must be able to research a Middle Age technology.

Posting Restrictions

• No discussions of the middle ages (or later)
• No screenshots of any middle-age (or later) resources.
• Absolutely NO discussion of any other currently active 'X'OTM!

How is your game going? There is a bonus food space nearby - did you settle in place or nearby, or did you move a few spaces? Any problems with the AI, or the tech pace? And have you had much chance to use Portugal's sea faring abilities?

Predator, VC not decided at this point (though I have now submitted).

Started with scout N-N and found the wheat, so I moved the settler 1NE and founded on the forest there. My worker walked up to the lake and irrigated down to the wheat before doing anything else, so I had 5fpt 4fpt by (the end of) 3450 BC. With the south looking (and later proving) to be only water, my initial build order was curragh (3500) -> scout (3300) -> granary (2670) -> settler (2550) -> warrior -> 2 settlers. Oporto was settled on the hill by the lake, Guimarães N of the tobacco, Lagos S-SW-SW of Lisbon on the peninsula, and then Leiria 2SE of Oporto by the silks.

I met America in 3850 BC, and with 5/7 opponents starting with Alphabet I was really glad to be able to trade it away, for Masonry that none of the others would have. Then I met the Iroquois in 3400 BC and traded Masonry for Pottery, so I could get my granary. Then my curragh met Carthage in 3200 BC, and some tech brokering saw me with WC, BW and CB. In 3150 BC my scout grabbed a hut in the far east, that gave me TW.

My own research was on Writing, in hindsight I should have gone for it with a min run but I thought shaving 10 turns towards a slingshot would be worth it. Well, it might have been, but I only managed to shave 3 turns, got it in 1830 BC. I traded it for IW and Myst, and after some internal debate started on Philo, hoping for the AI who had just gotten Writing from me to head for CoL. So I took a chance, research Philo in 13 turns up to 1450 BC, then with one turn left shut off research completely. I started to despair when the Iro and America both got MM, and Carthage Polytheism. But in 1100 BC the Iroquois came up with CoL, I switched on research again, got Philo and contacted the AIs via big picture for some trading. In the end I had to give up 11 gpt for CoL, but I got Math, CoL, MM and Poly, and of course Republic. 6 turns of Anarchy saw us as a Republic in 975 BC. Researched Currency in 670 BC, which got me Construction and Monarchy, but had to do HBR in 4 turns to enter the MA in 590 BC, a bit later than I'm used to. In hindsight I should have gone for CoL before Philo on my own, but I didn't dare.

After getting TW and IW, it was obvious that we had no resources close by, but there were some up in the western bay. So after my initial 5 towns I settled a string of three towns up to grab those. Just as I entered the MA though, Carthage got HBR too, and a barbarian uprising happened in the west that managed to disconnect my iron, and it took a while until I had it reconnected. No big deal though, I wanted to build horses at that time anyway.

QSC stats:
8 towns, 17 pop
1 granary, 4 barracks
5 workers, 6 warriors, 4 archers
horses and iron, but not connected to capitol (would take a few more turns)
All AA techs except Curr, Con, Monarchy, Lit and HBR
3 contacts

As I entered the MA I shut off research for a while. I won't say more past that point, but one turn into the MA I had 7 horses, 6 swords and 4 archers ready for a two-pronged attack on America. Finally!

I got off to a right dismal start, one of the worst ones I've ever had with a decent amount of resources. Not playing many games other than my story game has been showing, both in the latest COTM and here.

I finally founded Oporto in 2190 BC (waaay late), and Guimaraes in 1525, securing the silks. By 850 I had a city by the iron, but in all I only got 8 cities in by the end of expansion - not very good even for Emperor. America even stole the tobacco plains location from me.

I knew from the start Emperor meant war, so I'd built lots of barracks during my pitiful expansion phase, and once I finished with settlers I built many archers and later swordsmen. My base for invasion of America was N-N-N-NE of the tobacco, in the desert, and in 330 AD I invaded and captured their city of San Francisco. Their counterattack was brutal, with great numbers of Swordsmen and Medieval Infantry, but more than half my San Francisco force survived, and the iron connection held (though during the war I couldn't get it to my main seven cities). The peace deal gave me Philosophy as well as horses and gems. I had tried a Great Library effort, but the English beat me to it by three turns.

I kept right on with the military after the 380 AD peace, and in 580 demanded America withdraw troops in my borders. They declared war, as expected, and I sent 24 swords and archers toward Atlanta, by the furs in the north. It took two turns to get there, and my stack faced many attacks, but my luck in defense kept up, and they lost a high majority of both swordsmen, medieval infantry, and longbows that attacked. The city, size 12 and defended with pikes, fell without excessive casualties. The iron connection was lost this time, but the iron city was not, and in 630 AD America signed peace.


I kept right on with the military effort, eventually running a defecit at 0% science, even with the generous troop support of Despotism (yes, my technology has been really slow). In 840 AD I traded Silks for Map Making with the Iroquois, entering the Middle Ages.


A few turns before, the Iroquois had DoW'd America, and America had many troops crossing Atlanta by the furs. As soon as I entered the Middle Ages, I demanded they leave.


Excellent!

I plan to take St. Louis next, and pillage the road leading from America to my Iron to slow down any efforts to deny me of that. A Barricade by Leiria has served well in both wars and likely will again in wearing down the Americans. Atlanta still has more than enough troops for defense. Despite my pitiful technological condition (Magellan's has already been built), I'm cautiously optimistic about my chances.

Open class here, no VC chosen yet.

Sent scout N-N and settled in starting location. built another scout and curragh. irrigated wheat, bringing water from that small lake. got 6 turns' settlers from Lisbon with some MM every 3 turns. claimed horses, iron, silks and diamonds.
by the end of expansion i had at least 15towns occupying whole peninsula + one on the hill near the iron.
first curragh survived two turns of storms at the ocean so made contact with rest of company. that turned out to be great cause of different techs chosen by another continent. did a lot of trading (just writing and rep researched by myself using lone scientist) while amassing gold for mass upgrade of axes. finally when free upkeep reached the limit, connected iron and upgraded ~30 warriors.
quickly took 6 american towns (at Quintillus marked as : Chicago, St. Louis, Atlanta, Buffalo, Houston, Detroit). now i'm heading to take Washington and rest of them, later Iroqouis.
it's about beginning of our age.

huts : got two techs - mysticism and BW, and.... got new settlement SE of Allegheny on Q's map, not really good location, but it produced 3 settlers before disbanding.

Hittities are leader, rest of them almost the same, some in MA, some close to it.

Brutal game (Predator), but I think I'm getting past the turning point here.

I settled in place and focused heavily on expansion for awhile. I traded when I could. I had unfortunate luck on many techs, missing Philosophy by 2 turns, and Code of Laws by a similar amount.

Carthage took a few of my cities in a small war, but I captured all of them back, and we made peace. This delayed my warfare.

I eventually traded into a Republic, as my neighbor Lincoln built the Great Library. I made barracks and started massing horsemen.

I was a little hasty with my attack. I lost a lot of horsemen against the Musketmen, and the longbowmen didn't help. Then, they got Knights and Pikemen, and the war became a lot harder. I kept flooding units, and signed the Iroquois in against America. It was a nasty war for about 10 to 15 turns, by which time the American attacks slowed, and I was able to capture Washington. I held Washington for a turn to reap the benefits of the Great Library, and that put me at least on par with everyone else. I abandoned Washington the next turn, then made a lot of money contact trading. I quickly made peace with America so I could build up my army again and restructure. So that's where I am: making horsemen and earning gold...waiting to connect iron and achieve a mass upgrade.

My main concern are the Hittites: I haven't found their land mass yet, and they are one of the two tech leaders. They also own Sun Tzu's and the Pyramids, which turns out to be a nasty combination. The other 'powerful' civ is the Iroquois, but I think once I get my Knights going on America, I will be able to turn on the Iroquois, maybe with Cavalry. If I can control the Iroquois, then I will be well on my way. That's really my plan: America -> Iroquois -> Hittites, then mop up the rest of the world. I'm only down Astronomy, and making over 100 gpt, so I'm hoping neither will run away with the game before I can make a move. I sold them contact with each other at a slight risk...the problem was that they'd meet soon anyway, and I got lots of money for the contact.

One advantage I had in this game was an amazing curragh run across 8 tiles of ocean. This allowed me to trade with all the civs much earlier than normal. I didn't think the barbarians were much of a factor in this game. The AI expanded fast enough and had enough units that I barely saw any of them. Other than that, my traits have been useless in this game. I disbanded the scouts for shields very quickly; there was no need for them.

By the way, Quintilius, you have the minimap in your screenshots. You might want to get rid of that.

Didn't even realize that. Removed the links rather than editing the photos - might edit them back later. Thanks.

Niklas said:

I moved the settler 1NE and founded on the forest there. [...] I had 5fpt by (the end of) 3450 BC.

Click to expand...

Five food per turn!? Surely, the Wheat gave 4 fpt in your game, too?

I settled 2N and had all the food and shields available for a four-turn Settler Factory, had I irrigated and worked a Flood Plain tile, but it would have required an Aqueduct (or, using the Kuningas trick, a four-turn Warrior factory next doors for industrial scale sacrifice) for the two extra shields on growth to size seven. So I had nominally six-turn Settler production, and from your QSC results it would appear you had, too.

Niklas said:

Writing, in hindsight I should have gone for it with a min run [...] In hindsight I should have gone for CoL before Philo

Click to expand...

Well, perhaps you mean you should have focussed: either a min run and Philosophy first, or a max run and Code of Laws first? But as it turned out, you did get the Slingshot at a reasonable date. The min run would only have saved you "a few" bucks. Using the later scheme and a higher priority on research, e.g. roading the way up to the lake before irrigating back down, I won The Republic only in 1225 BC.

Niklas said:

QSC stats: [...] 3 contacts

Click to expand...

I'm sad to hear that your very early Curragh was then lost at sea.

Elear said:

My main concern are the Hittites: I haven't found their land mass yet

Click to expand...

Since you appear to know them, why don't you establish an Embassy with them? That's how I found out where they are.

Più Freddo;6133178 said:

Five food per turn!? Surely, the Wheat gave 4 fpt in your game, too?

Click to expand...

Indeed, a typo.

Well, perhaps you mean you should have focussed: either a min run and Philosophy first, or a max run and Code of Laws first? But as it turned out, you did get the Slingshot at a reasonable date. The min run would only have saved you "a few" bucks. Using the later scheme and a higher priority on research, e.g. roading the way up to the lake before irrigating back down, I won The Republic only in 1225 BC.

Click to expand...

Well, no. I should have done a min run since I could only barely beat 50 turns. That's something I should have realized from the start. As for CoL vs Philo, there's no way I could have known how long it would take for the AI, so I wouldn't have dared go for CoL first regardless. I only meant that seeing how long it took, I would have made it. That's not to say I should have done it, the risk was too great for that.

I'm sad to hear that your very early Curragh was then lost at sea.

Click to expand...

Indeed it was, after circling all of Carthage it headed due west and sunk on the first turn.

No spoiler info from you? I wanna see how badly I compare, but so far only Quintillus posted any dates.

Predator, going for Conquest

Early Expansion of Portugal

Henry the Navigator sent out his first Scout, Gil Eannes, due north,
where he made the great discovery of what was later to be known as the
Weaten Fields of Lisbon. Henry then ordered his people to follow Gil
and found their capital on the holy location where this discovery had
been made a hundred years earlier. It was decided that a group of
labourers should take a more eastern route and build roads through
the Wheat all the way up to the great lake in the north-east in order
to bring back fresh water from there and irrigate the Wheaten fields,
which was accomplished in 3200 BC just as the city had reached a
population of three myriads. An optional plan which had the labourers cut
a Forest on the way in order to quickly launch a Curragh in Lisbon was
rejected.

In 3500 BC, Henry sent out a second Scout known as Bartolomeu Dias and
in 3200 BC explorers in a Curragh led by Vasco da Gama. In 3000 BC, a
first small army of Warriors brought law and order to Lisbon, and in
2850 BC Henry decided to send some of the city population out to work
the land, since the threat of overpopulation was looming over Lisbon.

Cutting down the forests in the south helped construct the Granary of
Lisbon in 2430 BC and the first Settler three turns later. Thrice
Lisbon then would follow the pattern four-turn Settler, two-turn
Warrior, before Henry saw that Silks from the east would soon be
brought among the people, that they would be happy and able to grow in
numbers during the construction of the city Barracks. Twice, then, the
now greater Lisbon would follow the pattern three-turn Settler,
three-turn Archer before the advent of Republican rule, when Settlers
were to be sent out every four turns. For then, a multitude of cities
would be asked for by Henry's generals. They worried much about the cost of
the royal army and about the access to vital martial resources such as
Horses.



Early Explorations and Discoveries of Portugal

Gil Eannes took an eastern route and made many discoveries and mapped
the land. He made contact with the Americans and the Iroquios.
Bartolomeu Dias went north and west and was less fortunate. Vasco da
Gama sailed south and rounded the Carthaginian continent before
meeting many strange tribes in a distant land across the mighty
Ocean. The unthankful republican senate would eventually cancel the
pay of all these brave men and they were never heard of in Portugal
again.


Henry's sages brooded four turns over the art of Pottery before it
could be learned from the Americans, then turned all of their
attention to the art of Writing, an assignment which took them 39 turns to
complete. But then they all sharpedened their pencils and could figure
out how to write a Code of Laws in 18, the art of Philosophy in 8
turns and the Government of Republic at the same time. They then
turned their attention to the art of Literature.

Henry was at first not very eager to trade for lesser arts -- "it's
all just old mothers' tales!" -- but as Gil Eannes reported his latest
discovery of a minor tribe in the far east of the continent, Henry
found it safer to collect the available small art before ordering Gil
to make contact with the savages in his name. He was revarded for his
wisdom with the knowledge of Mysticism.


After the discovery of Literature, Henry saw that other tribes were
using something they called Currency and would soon also be able to
construct mighty buildings, so Henry's advisors told him. He therefore
decided to have all his PhD's at this time found high-tech spin-offs
which would make IPO's and a lot of money. What we need to know, we
can learn from others, said Henry. And so it happened, that Portugal
entered the Middle Ages in 800 BC.

As all the ancient lore was known in Portugal, Literature still
remained its own secret, and The Republic was known to but one other
tribe. But still, the Babylonian king would not part from this
advanced knowledge of Engineering in what seemed to Henry to be a fair
trade offer.


How Henry Fared with His Neighbours in Early Times

An ultimatum from the Americans in 1500 BC, which was duly rejected,
had made Henry crankier than ever. In 1300 BC, he declared war on the
Americans. After all, he said, we have now as many as seven Warriors
and even three Archers. His generals shook their heads. The Warriors,
they said, were mainly acting as Military Police or guarding against
Barbarian settlements, and the Archers were all inexperienced, regular
troops, and they had a long border to cover. Henry then promptly declared war
on the Babylonians and the Hittites as well!

Luckily, Henry's advisor, a certain Più Freddo, had made sure to
establish Embassies with all other tribes as a precaution to Henry's
fits of bravado. Alliances tied to Peace Treaties were signed with the
Iroquios against America, with Spain against the Hittites and with
England against the Hittites and the Babylonians.


Portugal's Contribution to the Quick Start Challenge
Competition

Hittites are the powerful in my game, but they will have to wait a little, now after finishing America it is time to end with Iroqouis.
It's about 500AD and i took Iroqouis' capital and other 4/5 westernmost towns. I had to stop the war cause... WW got to really high level - i've missed one archer next to my town ... anyway i'll have few turns of peace to position my troops and take the rest of the continent.
btw : MWs were really annoying, fortunately for me, most of them were regulars.

The Long March
After the scout's first move, I saw the wheat, so I laid out my spreadsheets and decided that settling 1NE was marginally better than settling in place. So the settler moved, and the scout got a chance to look for even better land before I had to comit to founding Lisbon. And of course, thes cout found masses of flood plains. Bingo - a four turn factory was available. I settled on the bg west of the hill, allowing use of one flood plain, the wheat, one bg and one oasis. I started a minimum run on Writing, and had my workers ignore roads until after all the mines and irrigations were done.

The Wrong March
Meanwhile, the scout wandered off to meet the Americans. I traded Alphabet for Masonry, gambling that I could buy Pots in time to convert my granary prebuild. After meeting Abe, the scout headed off westwards, end eventually found that he was exploring a dead end. He got Burial from the hut, but I would have been able to trade for that later anyway. My builds in Lisbon were worker, curragh, axe; the axe stayed home for military police, and the curragh sailed east; it should have crossed south of course, given that I already had a land-bound explorer who could travel east.

Second Contact
Having reached the westwern end of the continent, the scout turned around and headed back past America. At the same time, the curragh was seeing purple borders inland, but was unable to make any contacts. The granary was due in 2510>2470bc, but I had to delay it by a turn, as Abe's "monopoly" price for Pots was unacceptable. The next turn, the scout finally met Watha, who hadn't even learned Masonry from his neighbour, so I got Pots, and the 4-turned swung into action. The first settler rolled out in 2310>2270bc, and headed north to claim the gems.

Third Contact: The Savages
After my second settler was built and headed west to the rivermouth, I got interrupted by some barbs spawning east of Lisbon. My first axe hadn't yet returned from escorting the first settler, so I let Lisbon build another. This brave soul killed both encroaching barbs, promoting himself, but the settler factory was out of order. I let it recover in a rather inefficient fashion, by building several workers and an axe. Normal service was resumed with a settler in 1700bc.

The Safer Bet
My minimum run on Writing almost worked out, but the AI got there 4 turns ahead of me. Well, at least I had a couple of hundred gp to show for my efforts. Also, when I met Hanni in 1525bc, he was down Writing, and I used it to catch up on the first-tier techs. As I felt I was running late on tech, and was undersized thanks to my worker-pumping spree, I decided to go straight for Philosophy, rather than try for Republic. It turned out to be the right choice; I got it in 1425bc, and started interturn trading. The price Abe was offering me suggested that he was researching it himself, so if I had gone for Laws I would have missed the slingshot. Anyway, by the end of the interturn, I had acquired Maths, Mysticism and Ironwork, and got Construction free.

On to the Medieval
The rest of the ancient age was occupied with resarching Currency, and settling into the southeast peninsula. I missed getting the iron source in the northwest, but squeezed a town between two Americans to grab the horses. I am sure the iron will come to me soon enough. In the meantime, my curragh circumnavigated the Beta continent, but I haven't tried looking for Alpha yet. Currency research was completed in 975>1000bc. On the interturn I traded for Laws, and Abe got Polytheism on his interturn - I bought it for Currency and 347g, to enter the medieval in 1000bc. And still I didn't beat Piu in the QSC.

QSC Stats
9 towns with 27 citizens and 105 tiles.
54 food in the bin, 116 shields in the box, 292g in the treasury.
1 granary, 1 harbour, 1 barracks.
1 settler, 7 workers, 4 axes (1 vet, 3 reg), 1 galley (vet), 1 curragh (reg).
All non-optional ancient techs.
3 contacts, 1 embassy.

PaperBeetle said:

And still I didn't beat Piu in the QSC.

Click to expand...

I suppose that has to do with the contacts, because except for the litte detail of Republican Government, you are ahead in all fields.

I'm starting to think the Americans had early problems with Barbarians in my game, because they expanded very slowly and researched even more so. No one was even close to threatening my sling-shot.

Well it was quite close; I got 4360. Republic + Literature is actually slightly more beakers than Construction + Currency, so I guess our tech scores will be virtually identical. As well as more contacts than me, you also have a better military, including more barracks. I wonder if this will be significant... I was also thinking of going conquest.

Più Freddo;6133178 said:

I settled 2N and had all the food and shields available for a four-turn Settler Factory, had I irrigated and worked a Flood Plain tile, but it would have required an Aqueduct (or, using the Kuningas trick, a four-turn Warrior factory next doors for industrial scale sacrifice) for the two extra shields on growth to size seven.

Click to expand...

I'm surprised that you missed the four-turner.
I also settled 2N and had +5fpt. The four turner was run from sizes 4.5 to 6.5 with the wheat, fp and 3 mined BGs and a forest on growth:
(5+2) + 7 + (7+2) + 8 = 31. I even could give the eastern BG to the neighbour town 2 turns of the cycle.

But I admit I spent quite some time staring at the screen...
I built warrior - worker - granary - settler - warrior - worker - settlers.
First settler spit out in 2470 BC (chop assisted), four turner went on duty in 2310 BC.

my QSC stats:
10 towns, 29 pop.
2 settlers, 8 workers, scout, spear, chariot, curragh.
5 contacts, 5 embassies. All AT techs but Curr, Cons and monarchy.
2 granaries, 2 barracks.
QSC score somewhere in the 4.000s. I had deleted the mail.

Slingshot in 1350 BC, Republic invented (5 turns anarchy) in 1250 BC.
Entered the IA Middle Ages in 850 BC.

Paul#42 said:

I'm surprised that you missed the four-turner.

Click to expand...

Apparently, I didn't look for it.

Paul#42 said:

Slingshot in 1350 BC, Republic invented (5 turns anarchy) in 1250 BC.
Entered the IA in 850 BC.

Click to expand...

A very good start, Paul, but the Industrial Age at this time?

Più Freddo;6158511 said:

A very good start, Paul, but the Industrial Age at this time?

Click to expand...

Okay, you are right, IA belongs to the spoiler #2



(gnagnagna. Okay, Middle Ages, I admit.)

Predator class – headed to space.

After scouting to the north, I moved the settler NE and settled on the forest by the wheat. Research was Pottery at maximum, then on to the Republic slingshot at maximum followed by Literature and Currency. All other Ancient Age techs were traded for or popped.

Huts provided Ceremonial Burial, 25 gold (x2), and Warrior Code before my scouts died at the hands of barbarians.

The capital built 2 scouts, a settler, granary, then settlers + regular warriors. Once I reached Republic so the wheat gave +5 fpt, Lisbon produced nothing but 4-turn settlers to ICS the continent eventually and 2-turn workers as needed until the Modern Age when I finally let it grow.

Instead of wasting worker turns irrigating grassland to bring water to the wheat, I opted to wait until I settled Oporto on the tile due north of the wheat on the lake and irrigated through the city. Oporto built a curragh first, then a mix of workers and curraghs. The third city was founded by the northern flood plains and produced workers.

I gave in to most demands until the Iroquois demanded Code of Laws. I wouldn’t mind having them declare on me (I would buy the Americans into an alliance), but the Iroquois backed down, apparently scared of my military of 8 or so warriors.

I completed the Republic slingshot in 1150 BC and revolted immediately for 4 turns of anarchy. At that point, I traded Code of Laws and Philosophy around to pick up many techs and enough gold to establish embassies everywhere.

Based on their capital screenshot, their power curve, and the number of cities they had, I decided to try to make the Hittites a superpower so they could research more techs for me. They became a superpower well enough, but their research was still not what I hoped for (more on that in future spoilers).

In 1050 BC, I decided it was time for the Hittites to expand. I declared war on England and signed a military alliance with Spain against them. I gave England a couple turns to move their units to the south (and hopefully lose some) before I signed a military alliance with the Hittites against England so my Hittites could take over some English land.

Meanwhile, on my continent, I declared on the Iroquois and signed an alliance with America tied with a peace treaty. The Ancient Age ended in 750 BC when I discovered Currency and swapped it for Construction, and the Americans were still fighting a losing war against the Iroquois, but they prevented any Iroquois troops from reaching me.

QSC:

8 cities
27 citizens
1 settler
10 workers
1 curragh



(The Great Lighthouse build turned into the Forbidden Palace).

As I'm a bit short of time, I'll just repeat my QSC description and beef it up with a few more details and the events after 1000BC:

Settled in place and moved the worker N to road&mine, then moved on to the wheat.

Build order in Lisbon:
3800 Scout
3450 Curagh
3000 Settler
2300 Granary
2070 Settler
1775 Settler
1675 Curagh
1425 Settler
from then on Archers every three turns. (Had been sneak attacked by the Americans.) Some of the Settler dates may be slightly incorrect, as I forgot to take down some of them. I tried to calculate them afterwards by the build date of the corresponding towns and the time it had taken the Settler to get there...
Basically, when Lisbon was up to size 4 or higher, I managed to use it as a 6-turner by using the 4-food field (wheat) for two turns and then switching it to a mined BG for one turn. The two food where enough to fill the food bin, and the two extra shields helped to get the Settler done in 6 turns.

Research order: I tried to go for the Republic slingshot, so started with Writing.

2150 Writing
~1350 Code of Laws (forgot to write down the date... ~20 turns)
1125 Philosophy

But didn't get a free tech :-( All three civs I knew at that time didn't even know Writing (untill I sold it to them 8 turns before I finished Philosophy), so it must have been one of the unknown ones who beat me to Philosophy!

It looks like this COTM will be the one where I learned all about the slingshot... I thought going for CoL was pretty save, as none of the civs I knew at that time even had Writing. But even though my times were quite similar to Più Freddo's (finished Philo in 1125 instead of 1225), one of the AIs had beaten me to it!
I guess on Emperor going for Philosophy immediately and hoping to trade for CoL is the safer bet?!

In 1300 I did a "general tech trading" with the three civs I knew at that time (America, Carthago, Iroquois). First traded Writing + 3gpt for Mathematics from America and then sold Writing and Math to the other two and got Iron Works, Ceremonial Burial, Warrior Code, Wheel, Horse Riding and 210 gold.
The very next turn America sneak attacked me, even though they were getting gpt from me and were supposed to be friendly towards me?!?!
So for the rest of the QSC all towns switched to warriors, spears and archers. No exiting events in that war. Just kept fending off the attackers as they kept coming. I made a military alliance against America with the Iroquois, and I think that has helped me to survive, because I was quite behind in units at that time.

My scouts found 1 hut but only popped maps... My Curaghs were more "successful": saw about three huts, which I could not reach, but didn't dicover any overseas civs, yet (except for Carthago, which is close by).
How come I never manage to pop something useful...

My last Curagh finally managed to cross over to Alpha sometime around 950BC and in the following turns I made contact to the Babylonians, Hittites, English and Spanish in that order.

The further tech advance was:
975 Learned Map Making and Polytheism
690 Learned Construction
370 Learned Currency and finally entered the MA
310 Dicovered Republic and after a 5 turn Anarchy I finally turned a Republic in 210BC!

I'm not completely sure, but I think this is the first time I managed to get out of Despotism before AD! So something to celebrate, even though I was roughly one millenium slower than the masters of the game...

The plan for the next phase looks as follows: I set research to 0% for the moment and am using the money to establish market places and in all cities and courthouses where needed. The cities which have finished doing that, then start building barracks and afterwards warriors. The iron source to the north west is currently connected to an American town, but I planted a town rigth next to it, which has started on a temple. Once I have like 30 warriors, I'll buy the temple, which should "connect" the iron to my empire the next turn... By that time I will have enough money to buy Feudalism and do a mass-upgrade to Medieval Infantry, and then I'll go visit my American friends...
I should mention here, that

1. in the first war (which was purely defensive) I managed to destroy Miami and replace it with a town of my own. After building a temple there, I can now move my units right next to Washington on the same turn I declare war...
2. Washington has completed the Pyramids, which is the only great wonder on Beta
3. probably because of their earlier war against me and the Iroquois their research was quite slowed down. They are still trailing behind in the AA, so it will be Medieval Inf against Spears...

If it works out as planned, this war should put me at the top of the ranking. (Currently the Hittites are number one.)

There's one amusing (though for me quite annoying) mishap, which I should mention here: at one point I had put a settler on a galley in order to claim the ivory source to the north of Gamma. (The Carthagians hadn't claimed it yet.) The galley needed two turns to cross over, and because I was afraid of barbs attaicking it, I fortified it at the end of the first turn. At the end of that turn I saved the game, and when I resumed play a couple of days later I had completely forgotten about that settler in his boat... It was only after about 7 turns into the game that I finally remembered it! I guess he had been living of fish to survive almost 2 centuries at sea...
In the end I only lost around 210 gold by this mishap (could have moved the luxury slider to 0% 7 turns early, which would have given me an extra 30gpt). But it could as well have turned out quite badly for me, because Carthago already had been quite close to that ivory source! (Actually I don't understand what they have been thinking: they moved a Settler passed that resource and settled 1N - 1NW of it! So I was able to settle on top of it and still secure it for me. I can even use a Carthagian harbour to ship it to Lisbon, as they have already built a road up there...)

Ok, more next time,
Lanzelot