Prince Peter - A New Challenge

Hello Everybody,

So I picked up CIV 4 ("Gold Edition": Vanilla and Warlords) about three months ago. I got hooked immediately. Played on Warlord at the beginning, but soon I started to find that a bit too easy. Tried Noble, but I could never get all that far, until I started reading these forums and really learning the intricacies of the game. I can now usually win those ones, although not always (usually I can blame those on my own sloppiness and learn from the mistakes). So I figured it's time to give the next level a shot.

Now I've started a few Prince games before, gotten sloppy, and just given up. So I've decided to post the whole game up here. Beginning to end; win or lose.

I will be playing as Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia. He's been one of my favorites to play in the lower levels. Although I didn't go for a full-fledged "specialist economy" I like having multiple GP-farms and Peter makes these way more effective. And hey, cheap Granaries are great.

So here we go.

Civilization: Russia
Leader: Peter
Map: Continents
Size: Standard
Speed: Epic
Everything Else: Default

The ancient Rus were nomadic hunters who lived in the western forests. In the 40th century BC, a tribe of Rus migrated east and came upon the fertile Moskva valley.



According to legend, the elders of the tribe, upon seeing the richness of the land, decided that they should build permanent shelters on the west bank of the Moskva river were they were camped, before the winter set in. But their chief, the legendary Peter the First, overruled their decision. He is said to have anticipated the spring flood, and ordered his people to settle instead on the east bank of the river, on top of Borovitskiy Hill. This settlement would become the capital of the Russian Empire, the great city of Moscow.

Oh ... my ... gawd...

That is an INSANE starting location. Be careful about the sickness of course (however Im sure you know that...)

How big could that city become (After biology etc.). I count 14 floodplains in your fat cross, a sheep, a corn (which is probably, from memory, 4 and 6 food respectively), and 3 mines for production (-1 food each). Having each floodplain contributing 3 food (+2 which is used for the harvesting of the food), and each hill -1 food, I count ... 42 extra food, which means you can get to... 42 population (21 + 21) ... 21 specalists... 63 GPPs a turn at the maximum level (not including civics or wonders...)

I am probably wrong in my maths, but I have to say I LOVE that starting location, if you start with agriculture... What an amazing GP farm.

Imagine if metal or horses appear!

Could you post I save, I would love to play this start.