The first moves towards the goal of taking over the Commercial come in 1570, when 30 troops, mostly Pikemen, Medieval Infantry, and Cannons but also including a Swordsman, beginning to move south from Phoenix and Thunderfall. There's still jungle in most of the border areas in the north, and an occupied Barricade in the one tile where there isn't, so the whole of the north won't be occupied immediately if something bad does happen.
Not an ideal location for Shakespeare's Theatre, really, but it'll get them culture.
It's now 1582. Looks like the Urban will be in Monarchy for awhile.
Five years later. Though small and weak on land, the Seafaring are still powerful on water, and this spells the end of Urban oceangoing hopes.
My plans hit a bit of a snag in 1590, when I notice this along my southern frontier:
Industrial Age cities! They still lack Military Tradition, and, thankfully, Nationalism. I decide to accelerate my plans a bit - I already have 22 Horsemen, so I'll have enough to upgrade to make a good attack. Currently Military Tradition is due in 4 turns at a 421 GPT surplus, with 2215 in the bank. I accelerate it to finish in 1600, two turns from now, at a 45 GPT defecit. That should still give my foot troops just enough time to reach the front.
I trade for the Urban territory map in 1590 as well, and at last have a clear picture of the front in their war with the Utopians.
So much pollution! They make the skies in most Industrial Age civilizations look clean! But even with all their pillaged roads and filthy lands, they've still got the population to make conquest very hard for the Utopians.
Back at home, my Settler who was thwarted earlier has reached the new location in which he will settle, in the middle of the Big Jungle. Although tempted to call the new settlement No Man's Land after what it will likely be someday, a different, less ominous, and more mystical name is settled upon instead:
Oddly, the Talented borders retreat after the founding of the city father than would seem necessary.
If I expanded aggressively I could probably force my way all the way to the unclaimed fish. But I'm not sure how much farther into the Big Jungle I really want to expand now that the Talented thwarted my original plans to control most of it themselves.
The Urban come back to the negotiation table in 1592, apparently pleased with the results of our first trade. They seek to trade World Maps. They value theirs at about 1300 gold, and we are able to strike this deal:
I'm quite impressed by what I learn. There's a lot of land on the mystery continent. And more Talented land up north than I had realized. Makes me look tiny by comparison.
The Virtuous are the largest civilization on the mystery continent, and it turns out the Industrial were on the other side of the continent from their conquerers the Defenders. The middle of the continent is a patchwork of cities, and there is an inland lake of good size in the eastern part of the Aerial territory. There also is a Talented town right smack in the middle of the jungle on that continent - by Dyes, of course. No one else yet has Adventurers, so no one else could settle it, so the Talented took up the opportunity.
The turn of the century sees the completion of Military Tradition as planned. Magnetism will take a bit longer than planned as I need even more gold than I have to upgrade 28 Horsemen. Half are upgraded this turn; the rest will be over the following few turns.
The centennial statistics report shows that we're still improving in most areas, but noticeably more slowly in many. We're certainly approaching the limits given our current size and technological state. Technology will come of its own, but perhaps not quickly enough to guarantee our survival without gaining some additional land as well. Victory in the coming war will be essential.
By 1615, I've upgraded 25 of my 28 Horsemen, and am getting some Cavalry produced, so I'm ready to begin the invasion. The Commercial still lack Riflemen or Cavalry, so the timing couldn't be better.
First, however, seeing that my luxury-exporting deals have ended, I decide to shop around and see if I can't get some luxuries to increase happiness before the eventual war-weariness decline. And happily enough, I'm able to do just that thanks to a deal with the Hippophiliacs.
Then, with eighteen Cavalry ready in Theryman's Plains, and seven plus a bunch of foot troops ready in Reallocation, I launch my attack.
The town of Loan will be the first to see what Intelligent Cavalry can do.
Not very much! Hopefully the next brigade will do a better job of making sure they pay.
Better! It ends up taking five Cavalry to defeat three Musketmen, but none die. Loan is razed, four-fifths of the Cavalry are able to retreat to Theryman's Plains, and another attack is launched, this one on Exporting.
One Cavalry dies this time, but they still generally do a good job of knowing when to retreat. Exporting is razed as well, and again the injured Cavalry retreat. Down to seven fresh Cavalry in Theryman's Plains and having more ground between the city and Commercial territory than they can cross in one turn and still get back to safety, I decide to play it safe and leave the city of Promissory Note alive for now.
On the western front, my ground troops move forward towards Anchor and dig in, while my Cavalry stay behind to reinforce if need be, or to strike another city if not needed at Anchor. A Spearman from Bills, rather than being retired, captures to the northeast of the main forces.
And after a very successful, if somewhat conservative, first strike, I let the Commercial do what they will.
But diplomacy comes first, with the Utopians demanding an extra 9 GPT to keep exporting Gems. Not wanting to lose them and having the money, I accede. Immediately afterwards, the Urban inform me they require an extra 4 GPT to continue exporting Furs. Slightly annoyed by now, I agree again. Looks like this'll probably be happening again in 1717 AD.
My troops do not come under attack, however. A Knight rushes to reinforce Anchor, but otherwise the Commercial do little. Happiness skyrockets to 85% in 1620 thanks to the Hippophiliac silks and war happiness, and things are looking bright.
At the time of my next attack, against Anchor, more than 90% of my Cannons are outside the city, and 80% of those hit - one of the best artillery performances I've had in a long time. Makes the 330 gold upgrade cost from Trebuchets worth it. After their success, my Medieval Infantry charge home.
The photographed one dies, but the redlined Musketmen and the Longbow can't do anything to the rest and Anchor falls easily. I capture this city rather than razing it, as that gives me control of one of their two sources of Horse. Later I may relocate it, but for now that's very important, because I happen to be able to take out their other source of Horse as well.
Yee-haw! Now if they want Cavalry they're going to have to pay an arm and a leg for it! The Cavalry that pillaged those Horses is doomed, but his sacrifice shall not be in vain.
My Medieval Infantry continue to clean up the area around Anchor, and I then send my Cavalry at Reallocation at the city of Pound, whose area I had planned to resettle a millenium ago, only to lose the location to the Commercial.
My Cavalry struggle, with two dying, but the city is eventually razed. Once again my injured Cavalry are able to retreat, so the overall losses will still be fairly low.
The Commercial troops finally start arriving at the front in 1622, first attacking my most advanced Medeival Infantry.
They win there, kill another Medieval Infantry in the area, and kill the Cavalry that pillaged their last Horses. They then send a Knight right into Anchor.
My Musketman is redlined, but wins. But it looks like they want to make Anchor the primary battleground.
And really, they should. It has Horses and Incense, both of which they are used to having, and they really need Horses.
1625 begins with the founding of two new cities on the western front, the optimistically named Sweet Victory and Tuba Town. I then send my Cavalry forwards to take Promissory Note.
My Cavalry take some more losses, but once again overcome the defenders and capture the fifth city of the war. A Frigate is sunk in the harbor, and the city razed. Already the Commercial have taken a good hit, and I hope to make that sting more by taking Gunwale this turn as well.
The amount of Regular Musketmen they have is killing them; about half of their Musketmen are regulars, perhaps even a bit more. With three Musketmen per city thus far, they just aren't strong enough garrisons to keep my Cavalry at bay.
Gunwale is captured and, like most towns, razed. By this point I'm short of Settlers. But one of the two I do have starts towards Gunwale to rebuild it. The other heads towards the former location of Pound; I'd like to build a couple squares northeast of it but the Talented city of Stern has sufficiently high culture that that is, unfortunately, impossible.
At Anchor, I hurry walls, move my Cannons inside the city and bombard, and send my Medieval Infantry to kill the troops closest the city. I manage to force all the troops at the gates back from the city.
By the newly founded Tuba Town, Cavalry attack a Musketman-Longbow pair caught off roads.
One Cavalry dies, but the pair are killed. Ten turns into the war, things are going as good as anyone could have hoped.
Good luck destroying the talented!
even though I've been playing Civ since Civ 3 came out.
![[party]](/images/smilies/partytime.gif "Party [party]")
You're the first person to make their first post in this thread - there were a bunch in Conquest of the World. Nice username, too! 
That wasn't what I was expecting!
), and it, in turn, generates an Army every 32 turns, so the AI gets access to Armies at the same rate the human players do. I had to tweak the Army and other unit settings because I also have "Army" units that are actually regular units that are set up to ACT like armies, and are also auto-produced by small wonders... In one of the earlier play tests I ran, one of the AI civs loaded THREE of these UBER units into an army and proceeded to steamroll two other factions! 
I've been reading it for a while. Do you know all the civs at this point or are there any that you don't know.
