COTM 08 Spoiler 2: Entering the Industrial Age

AlanH

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COTM 08 Spoiler 2: Entering the Industrial Age.

To qualify for this spoiler, you must have:

  1. Researched or traded for all the mandatory Middle Ages techs or finished the game.
  2. Have contact with all the other civs.
  3. Have a map of the majority of the world.

Please do NOT post information or maps disclosing the availability or positions of Industrial or Modern resources.

Please Note Also: Once you have started the save, PLEASE DO NOT POST IN THE PRE-GAME DISCUSSION or GAME RELEASE THREADS, or discuss this game in any thread other than the official spoilers, until the game is closed.

This intermediate spoiler is opened by popular demand as many of you do not expect to finish during the Middle Ages, and there will be a third and final spoiler for game completion/Industrial Age reporting. So tell us ... how did your Middle Ages develop?
 
Predator
Ancient Age

Entered MA in 670 BC.
After the not so pretty AA with the early barb uprise, I hoped for a little time to explore more and develop my cities.
Well, Hammurabi didn't think so.
We researched the republic in 530BC and revolted for an 8-turn anarchy :( .
Babylon immediately sneak attacked and razed my newest city. :mad:
So now no production for 7-turns to go, except some chopped archers.
I allied Theodora for republic and this was enough distraction that I had no big problems and lost no further cities.
Nevertheless the Golden Age started still in Anarchy in 450BC.
One galley had sneaked out before and was slowly exploring the other continent.
It made contact with all civs over the next few centuries.

After we got to republic, production now had to go into the army. I produced archers and trebuchets for the counterattack on Babylon.
The war ended in 50BC after we had captured Babylon city complete with pyramids.
I did get invention in the peace treaty. So the war against Byzantines would be fought with longbows and trebuchets.

It took till 130AD to get all these slow units to the Byzantine border.
I could acquire iron and incense, but failed on the capital (with Sun Tsu's) by two redlined spears and Theo was still able to bring reinforcements.
So we had to make peace in 470AD.
I was still fighting with MDI, longbows and trebuchets by that time, but horses would come online soon and cavs will make short work of resourceless Byzantines then.

In the meantime I had a small war with egypt. I captured the city she had sneaked in my backyard and had also allied China so the two biggest forces had a little war.
Mao broke the alliance after only 5 turns, so there wasn't really much happening.

I also had a small war with the backwards mongols. They had settled 2 cities on my continent and I wanted them.
The peace treaty gave a first foothold on the other continent.

I concentrated science on the lower branch. I was beaten to gunpowder, but got chemistry, metallurgy and MT first.
I had MT in 490AD, but still no horses. I traded for the upper tree techs and self researched Magnetism to enter the IA in 590AD.
Shortly before I restarted war on Babylon to get a safe path to the north, where I now finally had some horses under control.

Only after I started this war, I really thought about how close the IA was and that I should be at peace with the sci civs.
I had already decided that I didn't want some late domination or conquest and rather do a high research game.
Still the "big picture" IA trading went quite well.
I could trade medicine from Persia for an arm and a leg and steam from Byzantines for medicine and the other arm.
Then got sanitation as free tech.
My military advisor screen at the beginning of IA:


Never had such a collection of garbage before.
The army is filled with med. Inf. I still have no cavs.
I have horses and gunpowder, but currently only war with Babs. That can be handled easily by the outdated units.
I will continue to build infrastructure, research like crazy and get to a more or less :devil: peaceful finish.
 
I am going for space.

War
I would have liked some score to go with my space victory by conquering part of the world. The lack of resources and the fact that all neighbours were scientific were a problem though(I don't want to kill scientific civ's in a space race since they can help me)

Therefore, i did not at all focus on military. I built only a few units in the middle ages. 20 longbows, part of which were upgraded from archers and another part was shortrushed with gold i got from gpt deals. About 15 enkidu warriors were to protect the longbows.

Afterwards however, i regret not building more millitary. To my big suprise, my army was actually strong compared to most AI. Had i build a little more and some galleys, i could have conquered quite some things. Espescially because not only i, but also the AI were without the needed resources. For warmongerers, i do think it should be very easy to conquer the own continent, possibly BC.

I did conquer part of babylon. I made those 20 archers with the plan to have just enough to reach babylon city where the pyramids were built. I was able to conquer almost all of babylon with them however since the babylonians didn't have any more advanced units either. Most importantly, their units were also slow moving so it was easy to make sure i attacked their units instead of them attacking mine. The few attacks that i did need to take, i used enkidus for cannon fodder. Losing 10 shield units didn't matter much, but it did prevent the loss of much more important longbows. I conquered babylon up to the northern bottleneck, giving me 20% of the world map. In the peaca talks, they gave me a city with Iron they had in the southwestern part of the continent (byzantine area)

My war was not fast however, i did fight carefully, using tactics and terrain to minimize longbow losses. Also did i spend a lot of time waiting for my units to heal. The babylonian war was between 250BC and 130AD.

I initially planned to raze and replace because i don't want to risk culture flips after making peace. Since this game, for the first time in life however i had decent culture, mapstat told me flip chances were less than 0.1%. So i kept most of the conquered cities and placed my remaining units there to reduce the flip chance to 0.

city improvements
I started with libraries everywhere immeadiately after the expansion phase. Markets i did not build until i got to astronomy. Before astronomy, i did not have enough luxes to benefit from it, and never during the whole game did i need to use any tax income. Universities were build right after the libraries. Of course a few harbors and granaries. I also built a few courthouses. These i regret, i could have invested those shields better in millitary. Courthouses really are rather useless. Happiness buildings i built none.

science
During my war against Babylon i had to use a 30% lux slider due to warweariness. After the war it became a little better. The real solution to happiness came when i reached astronomy alowing me to trade luxes over seas. My lux slider now went down to 10%. I sold techs for gpt to the AI, so
the remaining 90 were all for science.

Of course i would have liked to build both copernicus and Newtons, but the AI beat me to copernicus when Sistines was completed by an AI and others cascaded to copernicus.

My golden age was started shortly upon initiating the war. (~200BC) This i think was a mistake. I regret not saving it for modern age where it would be much more beneficial for the space race. I got my golden age just as i was getting ahead of the AI in tech pace. With the golden age, i managed to do 4 turn researches at the end of MA, but the AI simply couln't keep up with me at all, so i had to research some dead ends myself. Had i saved my golden age for later, maybe the AI would have still been of help here and the golden age could benefit me at times when the AI would certainly not be helpfull anymore.

MA started 975 BC
after gifting only 1 of them to MA in 975, it took me another turn to realise all 3 of the then known civs were scientific. so 950 i gifted and traded to get all of the first techs in MA.

I know the AI is very eager to research Invention and Gunpowder, so i started researching the top path. This worked out correctly, i traded for invention and gunpowder in 190BC. Astronomy is also pretty popular by the AI, so i decided to go for chemistry myself. I traded for astronomy although a few turns later than i hoped. Physics and magnetism were researched after that. Banking and Metalurgy were traded for, but not optimally, i had started research on them before they were available (thus my regrets about the GA). This brought me into the industrial age in 280AD.

I do feel the tech speed is pretty ok and i might be in competition for a fast date, but i do think i made some mistakes.
-could have concentrated a bit more on conquest.
-should have delayed GA.
-possibly took too much gpt from AI's slowing down their research. I am not sure if this was a mistake. the gpt helped me tremendously, never needing any tax, and being able to rush some things now and then as well. I lack the builder experience to know how the AI would have done in research (espescially during industrial) had i not taken the gpt from them.

This is pretty short, if you are missing any information, ask and i will answer.
 
I enter MA in 510BC. I am going for domination but have practically no army, only a dozen enkidu. So needless to say victory comes very late and score is abyssmal. I finish in IA, but havent done any research so I include everything in this spoiler.

I spend the first part of MA to expand some more and build improvements like barracks and temple / libraries. I also build two more wonders, Knights Templar (210AD) and JS Bach (560AD). For once I am the cultural leader, and that was a good thing when conquering cities. I did not worry about flips and only had one. Only china was briefly comparable to me in culture.

The great library is steadily bringing techs as they come available. I get gunpowder and education before it is obsolete in 350AD.

I declare on babylon in 30AD with a SOD of longbow, enkidu and trebuchets. I trigger my GA in 90AD. War is going ok but very slowly. I give peace to the battered babylonians in 350AD and I gain some northern cities, one that has horses close by. I need to connect it as soon as possible.

I see the Chinese are growing ever powerful peacefully on their continent. I declare on them in 410AD and bring in the japanese and the persians to help cool this overheated continent.

I declare on the byzantines in 420AD and move in my SOD to start taking down their cities. I get my very first Leader in 470AD. I hesitate if I should build the FP or a crusader army. I finally decide for crusaders as the war against byzanthium is not going to well. I luckily get a second Leader in 490AD and I send him towards babylon to create the FP next turn.

I give byzantines peace in 490AD as my SOD is exhausted and my crusader army is still not on the field. I have taken their capital but they are still strong. So I have a problem. A very capable army stuck without people to fight. I cannot transport it because I was stupid enough to put 3 crusaders in, and I cannot risk redeclare on the byzantine because they now have MI all over my roads since they are at war against some nitwit up north. Most of my other forces are gathering for a forthcoming invasion of egypt.

In 420AD I trade for chemistry with byzantine. I discover metallurgy in 550AD and I trade it around with my buddies for two lux and 1000g + music theory. This is also the year when I connect horses. I am finally resource rich.

In 600AD I grab my first city from egypt (they declared) city on their home continent and I fortify in it waiting for the onslaught.

The Persian swine ... uhh I mean my nice neighbours discover Military Tradition one turn before me in 610AD. I trade for it giving my territory map. I turn off research. I need to get cav production going since I have no horses to upgrade.

In 670AD I see my plan to cool down china has worked way too well so I give them peace. They have lost several cities but only to the persians. And persia just took a chinese city with horses next door. This cannot go on, they cannot get cavs. I decide to kiss my rep goodbye and I declare on persia in 670AD taking their capital. I loose 50gpt that I had from them. I also sign up the japs against them and the egyptians. This is turning mighty political. The foreign advisor screen is a complete mess with red and dotted lines all over. And world tech pace has more or less grinded to a halt by now.

In 700AD I see Persia has been able to road the horses because cavs are appearing. My cav forces are not very strong yet, but I had managed to take 3 cities and raze a 4th at minimal cost. I pay throught the nose (100gpt) to get china in on the war. I also make peace with egypt and get an alliance with them against the persians. All the nations are now against them except the babs.

It is 750AD and the alliance against persia is bearing fruit. Japs have taken their salt city so no more cavs and I see pikemen appearing. I think their end is closing. In 860AD mighty persia has been reduced to some island cities and I give them peace. I have secured two more lux from their area. I am beginning to feel that I am somewhat in control of this.

Egypt is next on the list. Japan is growing strong and they have plenty of cav. They are at war with egypt and I think I must declare on Egypt in 860AD in order to secure some of their cities before japan cleans table. In 910AD I meet the first rifles. Egypt is taking its last breaths and in their death struggle they somehow got hold of rifles. It seems most others civs are in IA. Egypt are gone in 940AD.

I declare on the chinese in 970AD. I have two cav armies ready to take them on (from mil academy) and a dozen single cavs. I take Beijing in 1020AD and get my third leader who builds another army.

I research Magnetism and enter IA in 980AD just to see where the other civs are. I am lucky enough to get steam so I start railroading to connect my wast empire. I did not research any other techs. Quite a few turns later I traded for nationalism.

After taking all chinese cities on the mainland, I plan to take on the Japanese. They have cavs running around all over the place. I know from experience that they will attack sooner or later, when I am weak. So even though the byzantines should be an easier target I prepare for the jap attack. I attack japan in 1100AD. I give them peace in the final sense in 1220AD. They are lost to all but the history books. All armies to byzantine, where the war is already raging.

I declare on the byzantine in 1180AD. Its high time this story finishes. I finally manage to take enough byzantine cities to get to domination in 1260AD.
 
great game minime!, it just shows how politics in civ 3 can slow down the tech advantage the other civs have making it easier for human victory
 
@juballs2001
Late in my case, but yes victory :) With my incredibly rubbish forces it was imperative that I make the AI fight between themselves instead of research. I am sure there will be someone to really show us how it should be done!
 
ya for sure minime, i bet someone will have a domination in 600AD or so, prolly dynamic or sirpleb
 
Predator

Ancient Ages

150BC: Despite a long prebuild, Persia grabbed the great Library :eek: ; GA, I suppose. I already mortgaged my Economy to buy Mono, but I needed to kill it entirely for Chivalry – I hardly played a game where Knights Templar was as important as here. Got that one in 50BC, so at least the shields for the GLib were used for something even better.
Now, my only chance was stockpiling Crusaders and Trebs to assault Persepolis with the Great Library.
In 560AD, I handbuilt the FP in a city next to the Oasis on the N coast – and in this turn, China showed up with Rifles!!!
Now something insanely lucky succeeded: I researched PP with a single scientist in 50 turns, and despite several Civs getting industrial, I was first. Got me lots of cash, 2 Luxes, Gunpowder and Metallurgy.
Another lucky break: China razed the Persian Iron city (Mongol at that time), and I had some Settlers at hand for the invasion of Persia :D.

Egypt had a city 3 tiles away from Persepolis, so my Galleys shuttled lots of Crusaders, Longbows, Trebs and some Muskets there with a RoP.
In 720AD, exactly the turn when I wanted to strike, that particular Egypt city flipped to Persia :mad:.
But, you learn something new every day: Immediately declared on Xerxes, easily captured that city, and my reputation was clean – no RoP rape. :dance:
In 770AD, I captur the Great Library, and learn Edu, Banking, Astro, Demo, Eco, Nav, Physics, ToG, Mag. Enter TBP. Only China knows Nationalism, Byz and Babs have Medicine, all three know Steam Power. Can buy Mad and SP, and get Industrialization for free…trade around Ind for a total of 6050gp and 235gpt, plus 3 Luxes.
 
OPEN

Ancient Age

Middle Ages 270 AD - 950 AD

I was very late realizing how wide open the northern part of the continent was. This if anything will be my downfall.



Self research most of the required techs. I was able to trade for tech with the two other slow civs (Japan & Mongols) when I researched a tech they didn't have. Sometimes.

330 AD Feudalism
400 AD Engineering
470 AD Invention
510 AD The Republic (another 8 turns anarchy)
620 AD Gunpowder
670 AD Chemistry
680 AD Theology
730 AD Metallurgy
740 AD Chivalry; Printing Press; Education
790 AD Military Tradition
800 AD Banking; Astronomy
850 AD Physics
860 AD Music Theory; Economics; Navigation
910 AD Theory of Gravity
950 AD Magnetism; Steam Power
970 AD Democracy; Free Artistry

Have saltpeter so Musketmen & Longbow with a few as yet unused Enkidu. You might be thinking that my peaceful existance can't continue. You would be right. ;)

Currently, I am mid-way through the IA. I don't think it is worth finishing at this point so I will continue here. (without spoilers. :) )

I survived an attack by the babs, by allying the world against them. I trashed my rep during that period as I lose control of my strategic resources I had traded. In the end, I totally destroy it by making peace with the babs before the agreements had expired. I only lost two cities and a defending Enkidu triggered my GA. After that the Babs and the Persian continued to fight over the same two cities for some time. When the Persians finally made peace they were obviously in the Modern era. I stop play last night when they attack me. I have RP, so I probably can hold my core until peace but...

On to GOTM39.
 
OPEN

Going for domination

After the expansion in the AA it was time for some war planning. My exploring Enkidu has successfully located some sources of horses and iron in the very North of our continent.
After us and China progressing into the MA, there will be heavy barbarian activity, so sending up galleys won't help.

I decided to research as fast as possible to invention, build barracks and some archers in the meantime. Send two galleys into the direction of the horses and hope that one will make it.
In the meantime I will fight with a combination of longbowmen, trebuchets and enkidu warriors.

I started my war at around 10 AD and immediately got a victory of one of my Enkidus which gave me my GA. I have never fought with longbowmen before. In the combination with some attilery and protection they were quite effective, but slow.

On the other continent China built the great library and became a powerhouse. I did not want that to happen and started a war everybody against china. After China was almost extinguished, it was everybody against the Mongols. Egypt and Persia had a war between them going on as well. This all slowed the research down considerably.

One of my galleys reached the horses, I settled on them and rushed a harbor (about the same time I researched MT) salpeter luckily was part of my empire but in a risky place, close to a vulcano. I head to clear pollution first.

At this time my GA ended and I had to make another important decision: Stop research after MT or continue. I did not think I could go on with cavalry only. I was afraid that nationalism slows my speed and that replacable parts will be traded soon afterwards. So I decided to progress into the Industrial Age.



This was one of the most interesting MA I ever had. Let's see how my cavalry will do in my final spoiler
 
Just finished and submitted it yesterday with Domination victory at 1230AD, not a good date, but I was expecting worse. It was going so slowly that I was afraid that I will have no time to finish. As a result I overplayed, but finished it earlier than expected. I feel extremely tired and I am going to skip GOTM39 and have a vocation from civilization until COTM9. In a meantime I will prepare a spoiler and will do some research on a bug that I encountered during this game (see this thread thread, later in the game there were other similar problems with trading and Byzantium, they had iron on their territory connected to a capital, however they were able to buy more :hmm: Investigation is needed).

Right now I just want to comment on this:

A'AbarachAmadan said:
On maps where most could win in the MA or soon after, agree. For this one, I'd be beyond impressed if anyone could win in the MA. So an MA spoiler seems appropriate.
WackenOpenAir said:
10 bucks Sir Pleb wins in MA ? :D

I do not know how Sirpleb will do his game. I would not bet on this, who knows what he would. May be he will produce modern armor before 1000AD and kill everyone momentarily :D. I hope we will see how he will achieve his conquest in this or next spoiler.
But winning this game before reaching IA – easy. Cavalry is such a thing which remains the main attacking power till very late in the game. It attacks like infantry, but faster than infantry. Therefore, if I did not win at 1230AD I would not research to AI for a few more hundred years. I do expect there will be more MA wins in addition to mine and of MiniMe.

And I am very interested to read about further Ronald progress to see whether entering IA helped him with his challenge.
 
Moderator Action: Post goes beyond the limits of the first spoiler. Moved to the second spoiler.

@StrictlyRockers: Welcome to GOTM. I'm pleased you enjoyed the game, but please read and follow the spoiler limitations specified in the first post. The first spoiler is limited to information about your Ancient Age progress and the civs on your home continent.
Strictly speaking your post goes beyond the limits of this spoiler as well, but as you haven't divulged any details from the Industrial Age I've left it intact.


Finished my first COTM. Domination Victory in 1490. I am proud of it as this was my first COTM. I have a lot to learn, though, and I am sure to find out a lot here by reading the forums. I really enjoyed this scenario. I can't wait for the next one.

Here is my log:

4000 BC – Founded Ur and started on Granary. Worker SW and build road. Research Warrior Code then Ceremonial Burial
3800 BC – Worker S to mine, then road.
3300 BC – Worker NW to mine, then road
3200 BC – Granary built in Ur
3050 BC – First Enk out, explores SW
3000 BC – Warrior Code Completed. Start researching Ceremonial Burial
2850 BC – First Settler out
2750 BC – Second enk out; Worker moves S, builds mine then road.
3710 BC –Sumer founded on forest along river 4 tiles S and 1 W of Ur. Produces Granary first.
2670 BC – Border or red civ spotted NW of Ur. (Wow they are close!)
2550 BC – Warrior Code competed. Mysticism next.
2430 BC – Second Enk out
2430 BC – Third Enk out, sent N; Lagash founded 2 SW, 2 W of Ur. Produces Granary first.
2310 BC – Contact w/Babylon, they have Masonry, Alph, Iron Working and Wheel and 4 cities. I have 3. No trades.
2070 BC – Mysticism completed. Polytheism next.
1910 BC – Seven Enks deployed, six are garrison in towns. One is scouting Babylonian lands.
1870 BC – Kish founded 1 N, 3 SE of Ur. (4 cities)
1650 BC - Umma founded on hill 4 tiles SE, 1 S of Ur.
1600 BC – Bad-Tibia founded on plains by river, 2 NW, 2W of Ur. This city is within two tiles of three volcanoes.
1000 BC – Ten cities founded. The Babylonians snuck one settler by me in the NE. He has 14 cities (yikes!) and is working on The Great Pyramids and The Great Lighthouse. I can’t wait to capture them. I am cranking out one Veteran Archer per turn in Lagash. He has three silks. I am first in Population and MfgGoods, but seventh in land area and 6th in GNP.

900 BC- Babylon demands Polytheism in tribute. I decline. Babylon declares war.
875BC - Persia completes The Great Pyramid.
775 BC – Babylon completes The Great Library.
730 BC – Persia establishes embassy. They are NE across water, close.
650 BC – I capture Ellipi with a pop of 2.
630 BC – Contact with Byzantines. They would give 4 techs for Monarchy.
I am considering it, but I think trading techs makes all techs cheaper for everyone.
570 BC – I take Nineveh, Pop. 2.
410 BC – Capture Babylon and The Great Library. Population 1. Research has been turned off for a while in anticipation. It gives all techs in Ancient Age plus Feudalism and Engineering. I am cooking now.
350 BC – Capture Ashur. Pop. 2.
330 BC – Capture Eubar. Pop. 2.; Made peace with Babylon. They threw in four cities, Uruk, Zariqum, Sippar and Mari. I start building Trebuchet and anticipate getting Invention. There is iron by Mari, far to the north. Babylon still has 8 cities.
290 BC – Invention and Monotheism from Persians and Byzantines via Great Library.
150 BC – Declared war on Babylon.
130 BC – Chivalry granted via TGL.
110 BC – Capture Samarra. Pop. 3. Babylonians destroy Mari, Pop. 1.
50 BC – Things bogging down a bit. Waiting for Longbowmen to reach the front. Babylon has an army.
10 BC – Capture Nippur. Pop. 1.
10 AD – Peace with Babylon. He gave Larsa and Izibia as part of deal.
30 AD – Got Theology and Chemistry from Chinese and Persians via Great Library.
90 AD – Captured Eridu and Trebuchet unit. Pop. 2.
110 AD – Got Education from Great Library. Now obsolete.; Captured Shurrupak.
Pop. 2.
150 AD - Captured Carchemish. Pop. 2. I think he only has one city left. Got GML and sent to Akkad to make The Forbidden Palace.
170 AD- Captured Shurupak. Pop. 1. Babs still alive.
190 AD – DOW on Byzantines.
210 AD – Eulbar captured by Byzantines.
270 AD – Eulbar retaken.; Naissus captured. Pop. 3. 2nd GML. Made army with two Elite Longbowmen and one Veteran Musketman.
290 AD – I see Byzantine Saltpeter, Iron and Incense. Made an embassy with Babylon to find his last city. It is 6 north and 2 NE of Larsa. Population 2. His only city.
310 AD – Naissus defects back to Byz. Captured Adrianople. Pop. 6. Captured Sardica, Pop. 3.
320 AD – Naissus retaken. Pop. 2.
360 AD – I have taken his saltpeter. He can only build Pikemen now.
370 AD – Captured Smyrna, Pop. 5. Finished researching Mellalurgy. Upgrading 12 Trebuchet in Adrianople.
400 AD – Smyrna defected back to Byz. Took Nimrad, Babylon’s last city. Finally! Babylon must fall!
410 AD – Took Nicaea, Pop 9.
420 AD – Recaptured Smyrna, Pop. 3.
430 AD – Nicaea defected back to Byz. Septum captured. Pop. 6. Chalcedon captured, Pop. 5.
460 AD – Nicaea recaptured. Pop. 4. Caesaraea captured, Pop. 5.
490 AD – Dyrachium captured, Pop. 4. Varna captured, Pop 3. Brusa captured, Pop. 2 Made peace with Byz. He gave one city, Ohrid, Pop. 1, and two techs, Printing Press and Banking. Have switched to all infrastructure builds in anticipation of getting Democracy and making switch. Byzantines are on their last legs with 5 cities.
520 AD – DOW on Byz.
530 AD – Varna defects back to Byz.
540 AD – Heraclea captured. Pop. 3.
650 AD – Byzantines defeated. Two down. It got messy at the end. He retook two cities, and I lost an army attacking, but I finally hunted him down. I have 29% of world area and 33% of world population. Sounds like I should go for a domination victory. With that in mind I will switch to Democracy while I build cav and find my next victim. I will have horses hooked up in ten turns and Democracy researched in 5.
700 AD – Switched to Anarchy for 6 turns.
740 AD – Declared war on Persia. I hope to take all of his cities on my continent before war weariness sets in.
760 AD – Declared war on Egypt because his city borders expanded and cut off my horse resource. Japan allies with Persia in DOW on me. China jumped in and DOW on Persia. We have a real world war on our hands.
760 AD – I took Byblos from Egypt. Pop 1. Took Sardis from Persia, Pop. 4. Changed to Democracy. I am way behind on tech to Persia and China. Persia captures Ohrid, Pop. 2.
790 AD – Zohak captured from Persia, Pop. 2. The Mongols declared war on me. China declared war on Egypt. Everyone is at war with someone. The general alignment is me and China against everybody else. I am at war with four.
820 AD – Peace with Persia.
830 AD – Peace with Egypt. Got world map finally.
840 AD – Mongols and Chinese ally vs. Persians. Took Samaria from Persia, Pop. 1.
870 AD – Chinese sign Mutual Protection Pact with Japanese. China DOW on Mongols. I make peace with Persia and ally with them against China. Japan had mutual protection pact and DOW on me. Persia and I ally against Japan. I am now at war with China and Mongols and Japan.
890 AD – Kaifeng destroyed, Chinese.
910 AD – Persia and Egypt ally vs Mongols. China takes Zohak, Pop. 1. Persia and I ally vs Japanese.
1000 AD – Peace with Mongols. At war with only Persia.
1140 AD – Took three Persian and one Egyptian city on big island. Made peace with Persia. Egypt at war with four powers and probably weak. I may have a chance for a foothold on the other continent and will invade Egypt.
1170 AD – China and Mongolia sign mutual protection pact. Mongols declare war on Persia. The Persia - Egypt alliance is hard pressed, everyone is at war with them.
1220 AD – Took Heliopolis from Egypt, Pop. 7.
1250 AD – Took Giza, Pop. 11.
1265 AD – Alexandria captured. Pop. 8.
1270 AD – Thebes captured. Pop 9.
1275 AD –Egypt is left with one Pop. 2 city on an island in the south. Made peace with Egypt. China and I split Egypt’s cities. Time to join in on the war with Persia. Persia is at war with everyone now. (Except Egypt.) The plan is to attack Persia and then Mongolia until I have enough for a Domination Victory.
1290 AD – Persia has Infantry. DOW on Persia. I will wait to upgrade cannon to artillery, then attack.
1295 AD – Took Egypt’s last city. Paoting, Pop. 1. Persia now at war with all powers.
1305 AD – Captured Ohrid from Persia, Pop. 3. This is one of three Persian towns on south island. Persians capture Yangchow on north island. Pop. 1.
1320 AD – Bactra captured, Pop. 9.
1325 AD – Captured Istakhr on south island, Pop. 1.
1330 AD – Retook Yangchow on north island, Pop. 1. Took Persepolis, Pop. 9. He had about 10 Inf defending this city. Bactra defected.
1340 AD – Captured Hamadan, last town on southern island. Pop. 2. Captured Arbela, Pop. 6. Bactra recaptured.
1345 AD – Persians capture Dariush Kabir, Pop. 2.
1355 AD – Made peace with Persia. Mongols DOW on me.
1375 AD – Darhan captured, Pop. 2. Tabriz captured, Pop. 5. Captured Dariush Kabir, Pop. 1, last Persian city.
1400 AD – Karakorum falls, Pop. 7.
1440 AD – Capture last Mongol city.
1460 AD – DOW on Japan.
1490 AD – Domination Victory


One of if not the most fun games of Civ I have every played. Whoever designed this scenario made a masterpiece in my humble opinion. It was great, great fun to play!

StrictlyRockers reporting for duty. My first COTM. I used to play Civ 3 at Demigod and win. It’s was hard to win, but I could do it. I always played Persia and I allowed myself only one cheat. I would allow myself to start with either a cow or a wheat, but that was it. I am very happy to have found the GOTM challenge. I have mostly played on the Multiplayer C3C ladder for the past year. COTM7 looked ok, I didn’t really want to play a custom civ, but COTM8 is right up my ally! Sumeria is always my first choice on the Ladder, with Maya a close second. Thanks for the great competition!

SR


World Pop (66%) Land Area (66%)
650 AD 29% 33%
760 AD 30% 34%
830 AD 30% 35%
1160AD 45% 39%
1190 AD 47% 40%
1220 AD 49% 40%
1250 AD 50% 40%
1275 AD 53% 42%
1285 AD 54% 45%
1300 AD 53% 45%
1320 AD 55% 46%
1395 AD 59% 53%
1400 AD 60% 55%
1420 AD 59% 56%
1445 AD 61% 60%
1450 AD 61% 61%
1465 AD 63% 63%
1470 AD 64% 64%
 
(predator)

Going for conquest. Not that this seemed like a smart goal as the map unfolded :lol:

Link to Ancient Age spoiler

Entering the Middle Ages

At 610BC I'd met Egypt, Persia, and China on the other continent. My world looked like this:



At this date Persia entered the Middle Ages so I traded to do so too. My free tech was Monotheism. Persia's was Engineering. I gifted Babylon forward and she also got Engineering. I'd intended to gift Babylon and Byzantines forward but at this point stopped and reconsidered. There seemed no point hurrying another Civ forward. Babylon and Byzantines would be researching Feudalism. I had no need of it - didn't have iron, didn't have horses, Feudalism wouldn't help me nor would Chivalry. So why hurry the tech pace? I traded for Engineering and left it at that.

I continued research of Literature, getting it in 530BC. Then I flipped some prebuilds and also used cash to rush libraries. I did this because I expected I'd be doing more research and I also wanted to gain culture, both for holding towns in the long term and for squeezing Babylon and Egypt in the short term. This seemed a good way to leverage Sumeria's scientific advantage.

The Resource Problem

The resource problem was very much on my mind. I wanted iron and wanted horses but didn't know how best to get them. I didn't want to defer the problem until Cavalry because that might just trade my iron problem for a saltpeter problem.

I decided to pursue three options at once:

1) I'd discovered iron near the coast north of Babylon and some horses a bit inland from there. Claiming them was chancy - if I sent units too soon they could die at the hands of barbarians. After a while Babylon and Byzantines would probably subdue most barbarians but if I waited too long then they'd also claim the resources. I decided to send boats with a couple of settlers and some Enkidus a few turns after entering the Middle Ages. With luck my rivals would have dealt with the barbarians by the time I arrived and I'd still be soon enough to claim the resources. Worth trying but a gamble, not a sure thing.

2) After Literature I'd research toward Astronomy so that I could trade with the other continent. My rivals would almost certainly be researching on the Feudalism -> Invention -> Gunpowder path so this approach would also give me something useful to trade.

3) After libraries I'd start building some military. Barracks and then Archers to later become Longbowmen. If I got iron and Feudalism then I'd also build Medieval Infantry. Either way I'd begin building a force which could if necessary push through Babylon to reach the resources.

In 430BC my units landed beside the iron and I was able to settle there. There were enough barbarians in the area that I didn't dare send my second settler inland for the horses yet. He stayed in the coastal iron town along with his two Enkidu defenders. In 350BC Babylon settled beside the horses. I hoped to still get them via a culture squeeze. In 250BC I finally decided to risk the journey and sent my settler out from the iron town. In 150BC he settled, the next turn I rushed a library, and in 110BC I had horses within my borders:



Of course it would be some time before I had those horses connected. But I was just two turns from connecting (roading) the iron at this point.

In the meantime I'd learned Theology, traded for Feudalism, and was two turns from learning Education.

I'd also built Barracks in most of my core cities. I'd only just begun archer production.

I'd also completed my Forbidden Palace, in a city inside the mountain/volcano ring east of the capital. And had met Mongols and Japan, completing my contacts with other Civs.

War with Babylon

In 30BC, two turns after I connected iron, Babylon surprise attacked me. She triggered my Golden Age and didn't capture anything.

This was sooner than I wanted war. I'd hoped to build up a force of Knights and then attack Babylon. I had just 2 archers and 1 MI at this point.

The attack cut off my supply of iron since Babylon had a number of coastal towns between my core and my iron town. So I'd have to revert to plan 3 (Longbowmen - by this time I'd traded for Invention) for my initial fighting.

I immediately bought an alliance against Babylon from the Byzantines and started rushing military production.

I held back while building up forces. Byzantines kept the Babylonians engaged so that they didn't have time to invade me. In 50AD I started advancing with 6 MIs (from production started before I lost my iron connection) and 6 Longbows. I took the first coastal town in 90AD. Because I had Astronomy by then this resulted in connecting my iron and horses (had finished a road to horses) to the core. I immediately switched military production to Knights. Soon after this I lost my iron and horse connection again due to another Babylon city expanding its borders to the ocean. But I did have some Knights already in production.

Despite being at war on two fronts Babylon was a strong opponent. I presume she also had a Golden Age.

Research on the other continent had been proceeding quickly. In 50AD I traded for Gunpowder and saw that I had saltpeter available. At that point I decided to try for an edge in technology and to storm my rivals with Cavalry. I continued invading Babylon at a conservative pace while researching as quickly as I could toward Military Tradition.

The war with Babylon see-sawed a bit. I reconnected my resources, lost them again when Babylon recaptured a city, then took the city again. Overall I made progress. I captured her capital in 230AD and with it the Pyramids, an especially nice prize. Byzantines dropped out of the war in 250AD. I got two leaders during the war and set them both aside as empty armies to be filled later with Cavalry.

I learned Chemistry in 150AD, Metallurgy in 250AD, and Military Tradition in 300AD.

In 320AD I gave Babylon peace for 5 of her remaining 8 towns and my world looked like this:



War weariness had gotten quite bad; it was nice to be able to drop my luxury rate from 50% to 20% after making peace.

During this war the Egyptian town on the northeast coast of my home region had flipped to me.

Military status: At the end of the Babylon war I had 31 Cavalry, 6 of them in two armies. Also 3 remaining elite Knights and 2 surviving Longbows.

Slowing the Pace

I wanted the Civs on the second continent to be constantly at war. I.e. every Civ there to be actively at war with at least one neighbor at any given time. That would slow their research (giving me a better chance to attack them with Cavalry at an advantage), would use up some of their Golden Ages, and would keep them a bit weaker.

I didn't have to meddle much to make that happen. The remote Civs were already fighting a fair bit when I first met them. During the Babylon war I only got involved once. Japan was at peace with everyone so I declared on her and allied Egypt. Soon after China was also at war with Japan without me having to bribe her.

I sold my tech lead slowly, squeezing out good deals. Persia was the strongest remote Civ and I was able to siphon off a good bit of her income. E.g. in 270AD I got 143gpt from her for Chemistry.

War on Byzantines

In 340AD I declared on Byzantines and attacked.

I sent my two armies deep into her territory to find and take her city with the Great Wall. They found it immediately and took it in 350AD.

I also sent in a settler at the start, founding a new town just inside Byzantine territory and rushing barracks there. Despite all my libraries Byzantines had a small culture lead. I didn't want to risk healing troops in captured towns. My new town near the border provided a place for troops to retreat and heal quickly.

It was tough slugging even with Cavalry on my side and with them presumably weakened by their previous fighting with Babylon. They had a lot of units, including many Pikemen and Musketmen defenders.

I lost quite a few units and one of my armies. But my forces were stronger and prevailed. In 450AD I took their last town and eliminated Byzantines:



I'd done no research during this war. Almost all funds had gone toward rushing military units. At the end of the war I had 40 Cavalry and 2 remaining elite Knights.

I got a third leader early in this war. He built an army which I loaded with just 2 Cavalry. I used it only for easy kills, saving it to sail to the other continent later on. (Vs. filling it with 3 Cavalry - if I did that it wouldn't be able to travel in a Caravel.)

During the Byzantine war I gave Japan peace in exchange for an island town.

War on Persia

Persia seemed like the easiest starting point for invading the other continent.

Invading Persia would cut off trade routes with the other Civs. And luxuries were very important - I was fighting a lot in Republic and using the luxury slider. Every time I notched it up that meant less funds available for rushing military units. Between this factor and my desire to have everyone's maps I decided to learn Navigation while repositioning my troops to invade Persia.

In 490AD I learned Navigation, traded for everyone's maps, then declared on Persia. China was already at war with her. I bought alliances from Mongols and Japan.

I waited two turns for Persia's military to engage with Mongols and Japan, then landed my troops in 510AD at two points on Persia's coast. Each invasion group included a settler to establish a safe town for healing. In 520AD each group settled its beachhead, rushed a barracks, and captured some nearby towns. A nice first turn which included gaining ivory:



By this time I was well ahead of all remaining Civs in culture. Still I expected an occasional flip and wasn't going to risk losing much. Troops returned to my coastal towns to heal. After the first turn of taking a town I would leave just one fortified Cavalry - in the town to avoid leaving a cheap target if it was close to the border, nearby but outside the town if not near a border.

After my initial onslaught progress slowed. Persia managed to field a good number of units (Immortals of course) despite being at war on three fronts.

I ferried new troops from home and rushed new troops locally with gold.

In 590AD I took her last town and eliminated Persia. At this point I had 60 Cavalry and one remaining elite Knight. Had five owned luxuries and two imported.

Swatting Babylon and Egypt

My peace with Babylon had expired and during the invasion of Persia I decided to finish her off. She had four towns on the home continent and one on the north central island.

I declared in 560AD and got my 4th leader on the home continent while attacking Babylon. He formed an army and made the long trip to Persia where he'd be useful.

In 610AD I eliminated Babylon.

Egypt was another minor power. Her long wars with many other Civs had reduced her to four towns - one east of Persia and three in my northern region. In 600AD I declared on her. In 620AD I had all four of those towns and she was out of the game.

Islands

After learning Navigation and trading for maps I saw six occupied islands in the world. And I discovered a seventh shortly after. These islands presented an extra challenge to a fast conquest.

I had a presence on 3 islands: The small southwest one due to taking it from Byzantines. The large north central one due to a town received from Babylon for peace. The small northeast island due to a town received from Japan for peace.

I rushed harbors, barracks, and military units on the two northern islands.

On the north central island I took a city each from Babylon and Persia during my wars on them. My rivals had reduced China to a single town which was on this island. In 630AD I declared on China, took that town, and that was it for China. She was out of the game.

I sent a settler and some Cavalry to the small southeast island which I'd discovered. I was able to claim that island without fighting for it.

That left three other islands to deal with. A largish south central one where Japan had a feeble foothold, a small north central one shared by Japan and Mongols, and a large one just off Japan's coast containing four Japanese towns and a lot of jungle. I dispatched Caravels with settlers and Cavalry to each of these islands in the mid 500s. This and ongoing rushing of units on two of the other islands put a considerable dent in my funds in this game. I'd have liked to use those funds in my primary invasions but didn't dare leave the islands till the end - if I left them, or didn't have sufficient strength at any one point, my conquest date would be delayed while most of my military was idle and a bit of it went traveling to root out some final outpost. So I spread my forces out somewhat wastefully to take everything at once, this seemed the lesser of evils.

The Final War - Mongols and Japan

Most rivals sure were strong in this game. They'd built up like deity AIs. Despite my technology lead and keeping them at war each rival required careful handling.

An interesting example in 600AD: The Mongols were my next target. They had one largish stack returning home from their war on the now defunct Persians which was traveling through mountains. I'd incur significant losses if I attacked it directly in the next few turns. I was repositioning and healing units and had some to spare this turn. So they surrounded the Mongol stack leaving just one exit onto a floodplain tile east:



In 620AD the Mongol stack had moved to the floodplains. I declared on Mongols and attacked, including immediately wiping out that now vulnerable stack.

I allied Japan against the Mongols, paying for it up front since I did not plan to stay at peace with Japan for 20 turns.

In 670AD the Mongols were down to 7 cities and I declared on Japan.

There was nothing special during these final wars, just a lot of fighting. I got 3 more leaders. They all formed armies. Armies were invaluable in leading attacks deep into enemy lands and assaulting fortified positions. I lost one army in these wars - got too aggressive when I should have let it heal completely before fighting again.

Japan seemed to have great RNG luck attacking and defending. Her Samurai's good defense didn't help me of course. Nor did her Sun Tzu's and Knights Templar wonders.

In 730AD I eliminated Mongols:



Japan had 11 towns left. Three of those towns were on the large island. I had the other six islands in the world under control.

At this date I had 73 Cavalry but many of them were at defensive points (particularly all the islands) or in transit (mostly to the large island at this date.)

I was 43 tiles from domination. I hadn't been rushing toward domination but had been keeping almost everything I captured and had been filling in land when convenient. From this date on I had to be careful to avoid accidental domination.

In 750AD I took the last of Japan's cities on the island. She was down to 5 northern towns. I might have finished a turn faster if I'd sent boats along the north coast instead of my troops having to slug through the tundra.

In 780AD I took the last of them getting a 790AD conquest victory.

Re finishing in the Middle Ages: At the end of the game no one had even learned Physics! :)
 
SirPleb said:
Re finishing in the Middle Ages: At the end of the game no one had even learned Physics! :)

Good, i wouldn't like knowing i could have lost 10 bucks there :D

I did expect you to win a few centuries earlier though :)
 
Predator

In this game I was very impressed by two AI civs, Byzantium and China, I fight them through almost entire game allying everyone against them. Yet they both survived to the end. Moreover Byzantium was very actively aggressive despite all the suffering.
If AI could have a spirit, those two certainly did.

I did not explore much and thought that there is no horses on the continent and iron belongs to Byzantium. Therefore I decided to start a war, but wait for longbowmen.

In 170BC my own cities started to flip to Babylon :( It was a time to begin a war, we had very bad culture and delays were dangerous, but I still was not able to build longbowmen.

In 110BC I declare and bought alliances with Byzantines and Mongols and entered GA.

At that time I realized that China is already a superpower (an absolute leader in pop and territory) and in 70BC we declared. Soon, Persia, Egypt and Mongolia and a little bit later Japan joined us in that war.

Around this time I discovered a bug which is described in this thread .

In 290AD Babylon was finished and I also found horses north of them. This meant that I could use cavalry against Byzantium (who was a clear scientific leader and I needed to stop them from researching too far).
Next turn we also signed a peace with China, who surprisingly gave us a city despite we did not have a single battle.

The war on Byzantium was very difficult, I had to stop it to recover from war weariness and when I started a second war Byzantium was already in IA. Second war started in 720AD. By a mistake I lost a city to them on the first turn. So I had to suffer WW again.
China declared a war on us in 770AD. I allied other nations against them.

In 780AD we signed a peace with Byzantium after eliminating them from the initial location. They remained on islands. And soon after their cities started to flip back :(. They also started to put their cities on empty spots dumn :mad:

At 920AD we noticed first Byzantium rifleman :( At this point we had 41% territory and 65% pop
Next turn Byzantium suddenly declared a war on us. I allied all others against them.

In 1020AD we have seen Chinese rifleman :(
Chinese war was very hard, WW was very high, our military became weak, we signed a peace with China. Everybody was furious with us because of broken alliances. Despite of that Egypt and Persia agreed to sign ROP. We started to prepare for the war with those weaker nations.
The war on Egypt was planed perfectly. It happen within one turn and peace loving Sumerian people did not notice this war. Egypt vanished in 1150AD.

Our people did notice a war on Persia. We choked on their last city which appeared to be deep inside our territory. Persia looked like Lichtenstein:



The problem was that spearman. I did not expect to see two pikes under this spearman and although it was no problem to kill them all, I did not bring enough units. So Persia survived for two more turns as Lichtenstein until 1200AD

Yet Persia was not enough for domination.
I had a lot of cavalry, so the next civ I planed to invade was China again. They seemed to be very exhausted by wars. And what a surprise, despite I just successfully abused ROP twice, China agreed to have a ROP and even pay 2gpt for that :wow:
Just before I decided to declare, gaps were filled and domination victory has arrived in 1230AD. Otherwise China would be destroyed most likely within a single turn.

This is the progress of the game:



What were my mistakes?
1. The war with Byzantium was absolutely necessary. They were clear leaders in research. I had to stop them from researching further. But maybe I should start it even earlier and perform it more carefully.
2. I think that a real war with China was unnecessary. China was occupied fighting other nations and there was some kind of a balance. Persia and Egypt looked as a better targets for earlier wars because they were much weaker and also more close.

SirPleb said:
War weariness had gotten quite bad; it was nice to be able to drop my luxury rate from 50% to 20% after making peace.

I had the worst WW ever. At some moment with lux at 100%, I had to use up to 4-5 entertainers in some cities.

SirPleb said:
At the end of the game no one had even learned Physics! :)

@Stuff: I had a dream: There will be XOTM in which SirPleb will have a chance to kill a rifleman.

Just a dream...
 
I've opened a final spoiler thread for this game, for those of you whose games extend to the Industrial/Modern Ages, and for any round-up discussions you may want.
 
AlanH said:
I've opened a final spoiler thread for this game, for those of you whose games extend to the Industrial/Modern Ages, and for any round-up discussions you may want.

Did you post here because nobody is posting in a final spoiler? :hmm:

In fact I think it is a little odd that no one wrote anything there. There were many who was claiming going for space...
 
I posted here because people often miss new threads opening, and as there were specific requests for three spoilers for this game I figured it might be wanted. We'll see!
 
I just qualified for this spoiler and will post detailed story later.
Good IA date WackenOpenAir!
I enter in IA in 260AD without serious war. I'm only preparing. ;)
 
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