TSG1 Game in Progress

Exploration: I've just found Japan.

Barbarian Control: None so far except control the ones that zero on my cities. I did this hoping they could create some trouble on the AI.

Social Policies: Went with cheap settlers for reasons best explained in Expansion and Future plans. Then took the cities only need 50% food to reach pop2. I can't remember if I reached the 3rd policy (most probably not).

Teching (from memory): Pottery, Mining, Writing (ruin popped), Sailing, Philosophy, Animal Husbandry, Trapping, Calendar? (for wines and silk), Civil Service (Great Library Slingshot), Bronze Working. Currently working on revealing Iron.

Expansion: Antium founded around Turn 50 6 hexes away from Berlin. I want to thank Bismark for sending the Settler with which he planned to settle the spot I took unescorted. My warrior/settler combo had a laugh seeing his Settler captured. Third and fourth (if 2 irons available) city/ies will go on the spots where Iron pops.

Future Plans: When I hook Iron I'll churn out Legions and attack the Germans (undecided on annexing or puppeting for now). With Legions on I'll concentrate on teching to Ballistas whilst getting more Iron (either by allying to City states or by plain settling cities to get deposits) and getting ports for sea trade routes and saving on road manteinance. From there on: Total War. Let's see if this plan survives first contact

Cities:

Rome is at pop 6 and has a Granary, The Great Library and the Henge (to expand city radius). It's got to fishboats on Pearls and is working Horses, Wine, Silk, Pearls, Pearls and a mined plains hill. Only rushbuy were the two fishboats and the worker on Rome.

Antium will be a decent production size when it grows. As for now I only planted it there to prevent Bismark from expanding south.

Civs Met

Old Otto, of xure. Relations are decaying fast now that he sees my second city at his doors. Doesn't seem to have made much use of the Furor Teutonicus.

Oda: Some pleasanteries exchanged. He's warming to me due to the fact that I'm selling the surplus wine to him. Bushido will make it hard to get him to the ground so we have to make it sure we have enough Ballistas when going after him.

Monty: He scares me. I have taken a negationist approach when it comes to meeting him from IV. He can be in my games, but I will never consider him as trade partner because he always was the NutsAI in there. He may or not have changed in V, but I'll find it in another save. +2HP healed after kill can only be used if he wins. Steer away from Jungle and attack on the open.

Unknowns: Sure there are some more civs to meet, but we'll face one at a time and try to not get too distracted by wonderbuilding.

With Iron revealed on T70 I quickly sent a settler from Rome to get a city to claim the northern one. I began old fashioned research to get to Ballistas (with a detour to get harbors) whilst building 2 lonely Legions as soon as I had Iron hooked.

However, a little scouting on Otto due to Open Borders from selling him our lone silk on T48 gave us the intel we needed. Otto had a warrior, four workers and a Settler.

On T80 I finally had my three Pikes and 3 warriors next to his borders. We took Hamburg and puppeted it and then went for Berlin. A Legion arrived just in time to give the final blow.

Then I had to slowly caravan my army to the peninsula where the other AIs where. It was a boring 40+ turns that was also used to get the ports and roads going to get useful trade routes to improve the economy.

By the time I got to the Peninsula Darius had waged war against China and took Shanghai (which was near Pasagarde). Oda was waging war against a Cutured City State because Edinburgh demanded it.

With an unexperienced 2Legions/3Pikes/3warrior/1Ballista army I decided to prey on the weak until more siege was ferried East by sea. China's 6 Iron in Beijing definitely was too tasty to ignore. Wu was quite afraid from Darius and her remaining army (3 spears) was stationed 3 tiles south from Beijing's border.

Beijing fell quickly to a two fronts strike:

West: Ballista protected by two pikes from behind the river.
East: 2 Legions supported by 3 warriors and the Great General from Honor.

A Puppet government was installed, some deals with Darius and Oda brokered and I used the money on upgrading warriors to Legions. 2 more Ballistas and another GG arrived to the front seabound through Japan.

Wu not having any army at all meant my army was not much more experienced, so I sent them after Monty, who was 4th in score with an army consisting of 6 Jags, 4 Spears and 3 Archers.

Unfortunately for him, he was also in awe of Darius/about to start a war against him and most of his army was in the Southermost part of the peninsula.

Roman army blitzed through Aztec territory. In six turns he lost 3 of his 6 cities (including the Capitol) and had his army slaughtered. He meekly offered 2 of his cities, gold and every strategic/luxury/monetary resource he had left to prevent me from wiping him out.

From the 5 conquered Aztec cities we razed all but the Capitol and we turned on Darius (5 cities and a Puppet) with a much more experienced army. By then we had teched a bit up and Longswords and Trebs were available, though I only had money to upgrade a Legion and a Ballista.

First we attacked his Iron city and the one he had to buffer his lands from the Aztecs and even diverted a Pike and a Legion to send help to a maritime CS besieged by Darius with 4 Immortals and a Sword. We upgraded another Legion and another Ballista and went for Pasagarde leaving a charred countryside behind us and a new ally.

The Capital fell and became puppeted, another Persian city was razed and we even had to take Shanghai back from Darius hands before he became willing to sign peace.

Judicious use of two Great Sciencists whilst warring saw Muskets and Cannons unlocked, so I assumed Beijing's government whilst the siege of Pasagarde was taking place and started building/rushbuying a second army to avoid Oda going all out for Beijing and Monty's former capitol and preventing Domination.

My army is healing before the Romano Japanese conflict is unleashed: 4Longswords, 2 Pikes and 3 cannons from the south. 2 Longswords, 1Musket and a Crossbow from Beijing. Oda has 7 Cities and an annexed City State IIRC.

Settled in place and sent my Warrior up north to scout while building a Scout. He popped a goodie hut and they turned him into a Spearman, which was a nice surprise for me, but not for the barb encampment right next to him. Spearman went on a barb-killing spree around the pennisula with help from the GG from the Honor policy. This made Budapest and Venice my friends because they'd asked for help against them and Budapest gave me another Spearman.

Germany made an OB request and I sent my Scout through just in time to have Venice ask me to find Japan, but there were about 18,000 barbs on the other side of Germany and they ate him. Germany had closed borders by this time, so I sent a tireme to look, but he got turned back by an ice blockade and I had to send him back home. As a side note, I love the city/tireme bombardment against barb ships - it's fun.

I built a Settler and the AI said to settle him way up north beside Venice. I thought that was oddly far away, but I don't know how city placement really works in this version, so I decided to comply and built Antium there. Turns out it was a good idea, because there was some Iron beside it, so I'm guessing that the fix for Civ IV that didn't let the AI know about hidden resources hasn't made it's way into V yet. I started my Workers building a road up to Antium and hooked up the Iron and built the Colossus in Rome while I was waiting. When that happened, I upgraded the garrison Warrior from that city into a Legion and had him continue the road up to Germany's borders while the Workers hooked up more resources and I built another Legion in Rome.

I got the tech for the Ballista, but it said I needed Iron, so I guess I can only have two units from my Iron tile. Budapest has at least one, but he's blase towards me now and isn't trading. I think after I kill Germany, I'll take that city too and build a couple more to fill up the pennisula and then keep Venice as a happy ally for the food bonus.

I moved my two Legions and Spearpersons to the German border, but then my stupid wife told me that the stupid train was leaving soon and I had to get in my stupid car to go to the stupid station and go into my stupid work. Non-civ parts of life are stupid.

OK... playing as the Romans. I can do that, I hope. I'm a boom-and-turtle type player, but the Romans have 2 unique combat units. I'll just not build many of those, and I can save on upkeep.

The building bonus is pretty nice. My strategy will be to build a settler in Rome as fast as I can, then devote Rome to buildings and Wonders. My second city will be my settler-pump. Hopefully the 20% bonuses will make up for a slow territory grab.



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OK, first turn, built Rome right where the Settler started. Looks like an awesome location. Hopefully the AI doesn't have such nice spots. Forgot I couldn't build a settler at size 1, so popping a scout first. Gotta find a good spot for City 2.

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3840: Met Budapest, a militaristic city-state to the west. I scouted with my warrior skirting the southern tundra, but right now my area isn't looking that big. Researching my way to Calender to take advantage of my resources, then Sailing. Then the rest of the beginning techs so I can develop my land.

Internal debate... conquer Budapest or befriend? The free military units could be nice. It's possible the scenario is set up as a combat frenzy, which is why I was given a fairly militaristic civ.

Peace for now.

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3680: discovered a barbarian camp and some ruins to the north. Still unclear how large this landmass is. My scout will explore elsewhere while the warrior deals with the barbs. Settler on the way, researching Calender.

The ruins held a map. Not hugely useful, but it revealed a large portion of the map to the north. It is a decent-sized area, and I can see Venice.

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3400: Barbs are gone, had to waste the promotion healing my warrior since the camp spawned a new barb at the last second.
Just met the Germans to the north. I haven't expanded much, but luckily neither have they. Yet.

Looks like I can cut off the Germans if I send my first settler far away up next to them, and build next to those whales. Hm.... is it worth the 5 turns or so without a second city? I'm thinking yes.


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2920: OK, Antium is helping block off the Germans, and I have a nice swath of land between it and Rome to settle more or less at my leisure. Rome is working on a monument, and Antium is popping my first worker. Then settlers.

Found the Great Barrier Reef.

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2440: The Germans made a settler, and rather than let him get that sweet spot on the very northern tip, I declared war and captured it with my warrior. Now I have a free worker, but I'm at war.

I've explored all I can without passing by the Germans. Maybe the continent continues past Berlin?

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2160: Germans requested peace, I accepted. I purchased a Settler in Antium because it was taking him forever just to finish his worker. I'm going to run up and found the new city before Germany can make a settler of its own.

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2000: just in time! My settler arrived just as Germany's new settler was nearing his border. I built the city and bought a couple tiles to keep him penned in. Germany is contained.

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1960: Rome has completed Stonehenge. Monument is done already. I have several techs, but no new buildings (other than granary, which I don't want). So now time to go for the Great Lighthouse.

Germany chastised me for settling so close! HAHA. Next they'll be asking for open borders, watch...

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1280: Got Great Lighthouse. Barbarians are increasingly annoying. The penalty I suppose for having so much empty space between Rome and the northern cities.

Going down the Liberty policy track. Just too many bonuses there to ignore... +1 production everywhere is huge.

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1040: Built 4th city. Happiness is becoming an issue.

Ironic that my first source of horses is way up north next to Berlin, as opposed to those excellent fields near Rome.

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475: damn barbs killed my scout. Finished Great Library. Got enough luxuries to cure unhappiness... for now. Gotta get that iron to upgrade my warrior. Built an archer up north to snipe any uppity germans, but so far it's not a problem.

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50: Sniped on the Oracle with exactly 1 turn remaining. All that time lost! Oh well, time for Rome to crank out a few new buildings so the rest of my empire can have permission to build them.

I was expecting the other civs to be a lot closer, so instead of rexing and building a vast army, I tried an early rush with legions and balistas. Germany fell easy, but by the time I even FOUND the others they had much larger armies and the legions were obsolete. Also, the way the iron was spread out, it was impossible to get enough. I'm currently at where I should have been 200 turns earlier.
This would have been an easy victory had I not been expecting all my opponents to be right near me, as they usually would be in a small pangea map. All that room to grow. Sheesh.

that everyone else was bunched up all the way to the east.

It's more like a pangea with an ocean in the middle.

Turn 1:

Starting area looks quite nice, beelining to Calendar to get the bonuses from my Wine, and Silk when city borders expand. Making a Scout so I can get a decent view of the world asap, and maybe nab a few more ruins

Turn 3:

Meet Budapest, first City-State. Get some gold for the trouble

Turn 12:

Meet Venice. I'm not the first civ to have done so though, so there must be another civ neraby!

Turn 13:



Hello Bismarck!

Turn 19:



Find my first natural wonder, +1 happiness

The game crashed between turns 20 and 30 (first time this has happened to me, and I've completed several games before with no issue) so I had to reload from the turn 20 autosave, but did nothing differently. I hadn't even discovered where any enemy civs were by this point.

Turn 28:



After some exploring, it seems that Berlin is basically cutting me off from exploring any more of the world. Will probably try to sign Open Borders when Writing is finished.

Turn 33:



Bismarck offers me a Pact of Cooperation. Sure, why not, I'll pretend to be your friend before mowing you down

Turn 36:



Open Borders for Open Borders? I'll take that. Start building the Great Library in Rome, I've got a plan for that in mind.

Turn 45:

Meet Singapore, again I'm not the first civ to do so. Maybe I'm close to another civ again?

Turn 49:



How about no?

Turn 50:

Meet Helsinki, not the first.



Also meet Wu Zetian, on the same turn.

Turn 51:



Great Library is completed, and my master plan goes underway: free tech Iron Working, then go to build a city by it using the Settler I bought the previous turn! (getting tons of gold from Rome, not to mention looting barbarian encampments)

Also meet Warsaw. Bloody hell there are a lot of City-States. Germany declares that it is protecting Warsaw.

Turn 52:

Meet Monaco.

Turn 53:



Another Pact of Cooperation offered, another signed while I cross my fingers behind my back

I settled in place like most everybody else. Technologically, I went straight for Iron Working to try to take advantage of the Legions. Social Policywise, I decided to go down the Honor Tree because of the military benefits.

Found Budapest fairly early. They gave a quest to destroy a nearby Barbarian Camp which I did causing Budapest to ally with me. Several turns later they gave me a spearman. Nice! I'm thinking that it may be advantageous to sometimes leave a Barbarian Camp that is near a City State in hopes that eventually they will want it disposed of and will be willing to reward you for it. Something to test out in the future.

Once I got to Iron Working, only saw two sources of Iron. The one to the north in the choke point and the one to the south in the Tundra. Decided to build Antium by the northern source of Iron. Now I didn't realize at the time that with strategic resources, you only get a limited amount to use towards units. With the two Iron here I was only able to make two Legions. First lesson learned.

Around turn 70 I decided to declare war on Germany. I think I kind of jumped the gun on that one because my units were spread out and I didn't have any siege units. I managed to take out a few of their units, but they took out some of my Warriors and crippled my two Legions, and I hadn't even taken Hamberg to three-quarters of the way to being conquered. I decided to pull the few units I had back to regroup. No sooner had I done that when Bismarck made a peace offer. He offered gold and opened his borders in exchange for peace. Sweet! I was already about to run away with my tail between my legs and he offers to pay me and give me time to reevaluate my plan. I'll take it.

During that first attempt to raid Germany, I got the free Great General from the Warrior Code policy. Unfortunately, en route to the front lines, he was killed by Barbarians. Note to self, have Great People escorted by military units. Lesson number two.

I used the peace time to get a couple of Triremes in position to Bombard Berlin and to get my other troops arranged better. Soon after the Peace Treaty ended, Otto asked why I had so many troops around his cities. I told him it was because I was about to crush him, and declared war for the second time. This time I had a much easier time taking out Berlin followed by Hamberg. I annexed both cities, Berlin because I wanted to control what they produced there and Hamberg because it had access to the sea that my Triremes did not, being that they were blocked in by the ice. I may have happiness issues down the road, but that will be a lesson to learn later.

As it stands now, I am at turn 102 with Germany taken out. I haven't contacted any other Civs yet, and have much of the land to the east of Berlin to explore. Not really sure which way I should go Techwise, but I will figure that out as I go.

-Germans to the North but an interesting bottleneck with hills which should allow me to move up there and close them off. I haven't explored the South or West but I would guess there isn't much to my South considering the amount of tundra.
-Beautiful river that will really come in handy, especially mid-game when you unlock some of the bonuses that boost the food output for hexs along the river.
-Tradition being the first policy seems like a no brainer considering how much you would want to grow Rome early.

3360 BC -- Our beginning warriors, named The Founders, were ordered to navigate north and they met the Germans above the northern bottleneck. Once they met the German scout, they were directed back down south, leaning west where they made contact with the people of Budapest, a militaristic society that posed no immediate threat. Soon after our meeting, Bismarck contacted up about a Pact of Cooperation and we agreed. For now...

3320 BC -- Recognizing the amount of fish waiting for them on the coast of Rome, we put the study of sailing into high gear and in 3320 began constructing our first work boat. The Romans were hungry and soon, would be fed.

3200 BC -- We took up the policy of tradition and Rome rejoiced at the influx of food. Rome began to see themselves thriving and expanding. It would soon become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

3080 BC -- Rome's first fishing boats embarked and Caesar knew they had to begin plans for Antium. If they didn't, he knew they would become overpopulated and defeat themselves. Bismarck has already ended our Pact of Cooperation. Awfully peculiar...

2720 BC -- The Antium settlers were directed north to settle near the west coast but they retreated when they discovered a barbarian settlement north of and called for The Founders. The Antium plans were on hold until their future land were cleared.

2320 BC -- Antium has been established for a few years now, on the remains of the barbarian tribe that caused them hell years before. It sat on the west coast at the foot of the protective hills they had been graced with. Rome was now studying The Wheel in the hopes of connecting their two great cities.

2200 BC -- With Rome's second fishing boat out in full force, the Capital had to begin work on a granary in hopes to not lose all their extra food. With the knowledge that all the barbarians of the south had been defeated, The Founders went sent north to check on what the Germans were up to.

1960 BC -- Wine was now flowing in Rome and The Founders had just cleared another barbarian encampment, just south of Germany. A captive worker from an unknown civilization were the spoils from the battle. They were dispatched to Antium to begin work on connecting the city to their capitol.

1600 BC -- The first, great Roman Golden Age began as Rome has begin work on The Pyramids. Rumors began spreading of Caesar's intentions to build up his military.

1520 BC -- The Founders makes contact with the city-state of Venice, a hostile people with their eyes on the sea. Nobody to be concerned with as long as you're not German.

1360 BC -- Stonehenge now rests in Rome for the rest of time and Caesar has begun building his army for a unknown war. The world stands in waiting...