COTM14 Third Spoiler - World Map, end of Middle Ages

Ok, then. Back to the standard spoiler format

This one is to discuss events that took place during the Middle Ages, so make sure that you:
- are researching an Industrial Age tech, and
- possess the entire world map (give or take a few blots in irrelevant areas of the world)

before you start reading and posting in this thread.

So, how did it all go? Peace and war, trade and exploration, this period should be quite dense of events...

Open

Middle Ages summed up in short:
- Mostly peace, with the odd skirmish with the Spanish - nothing serious and no big gains bar a single Spanish city just to the west of the main island.
- Researched Gunpowder only to discover a lack of the stuff, except on a small island south-west of Spain, and one in the middle of Barb-infested waters currently claimed by Babylon. Grr. If I'd decided to build military and invade, I might've had a chance; now, no chance. (LB/Trebs/Spears vs Muskets - not pretty.)
- Spain was a great research partner, the rest so-so.
- Finally got ships north of the Barbarian Gap, made all contacts, etc.
- Finally connected up Iron after the barbarians ran out of steam!
- Signed increasingly lucrative gpt deals with the rest of the world.
- Industrial Age in ~650AD.

Class: Open. Goal: Domination. 2nd and final spoiler: 660BC-840AD

Iron
I connected iron at 470BC. Actually I was very happy with location of iron in this map, as it was easily accessible by a human player, but AI have problems with that.

Barbs
They were not a big problem at the beginning and at the end, however they troubled me in the middle of the game. I was not able to get through small islands at the center of the map and thus, for a long time, I had no information about Babylon, Vikings and Dutch.
Also barbs looked disturbing on CivAssist:



Talking about CivAssist: when it appeared, I was so impressed that I did not find any words to describe my impression. It has been a while since I started to use it, but I still keep discovering new features in it and I still do not have words.

Great Leaders
Could anyone give me an advice about how to use armies on such maps?
I was loading just a single units in armies, because otherwise they do not fit on galleys. During caravel time I was able to load two units and only when I started to fight with Sumeria on their main land I started to use full loaded armies.

ship chaining
I used ship chaining a lot, but I stink at ship chaining, so I was experiencing a lack of ships lots of time. As a result my fleet exceeded amount of my knights. Yet I managed to form such dense chains of ships that I did not need to think about proper distances between my ships. My knights that were produced on the homeland continent were engaging in fights with Sumeria in the same turn.
Here is an example:


Golden Age and The Great Lighthouse
I did not have Golden Age. I really regret that I missed The Great Lighthouse. It wasn't the only my mistake, but it certainly was the biggest one. I am sure that I would achieve victory much faster. With the Lighthouse it was possible to use smaller fleet and GA never harms.

minimap


Unusual maps is what I like, and this one was unusual. Carasu.

Well, I didn't hook up Iron and Saltpeter until the very end of the era. I really slowed down with expansion, and decided to go with a peaceful finish since I had lost the attacking edge.

I finally caught up to tech parity near the end of the era, around Physics/Metallurgy, and was able to build Adam Smith, breaking the wonder cascade (Magellons was finished already), giving me a very nicely time GA, and lots of money.

I was able to keep France behind in techs, so traded them techs for luxuries every few turns.

The vikings were getting torn up by the Sumerians, and I couldn't really do much about it. Towards the end I gifted them defensive techs, but was too late to stop the tide.

Really my MA was pretty uneventful; the AI had a few wars and I just worked to get my infrastructure up to gain science.

The Middle Ages saw the end of the Dutch and the Vikings, leaving Sumeria to start crusing toward a 100k or Spaceship victory. Couldnt remove the Germans from starting island, so i knew i had no hope. Sumeria is about 1/4 of an age ahead of me. France is worse than me. Babylon looks like it will draw out the game due to its culture. I just want to lose quickly now

Predator

Well, it's already a long time since I finished this game , so let's see what I remember.
I never managed to get iron, but lost time, settlers and galleys trying it.
When I finally decided to skip knights (quite some time after I researched chivalry), I had to notice that saltpeter is also a problem.
Because of the predator handycap, I hadn't investigated France, where there would have been an easy to conquer source of salt.
So I went for Spain.
Again the predator is biting. Without RoP rape an attack with only weak defence units could get quite ugly. So I did a strange thing - I built Knight's Templar.

The campaign started in 50AD.
In 70AD captured Madrid with the Lighthouse and Great Library. We get a leader there and form a horse army
In 210AD we have the saltpeter and 230AD Spain is eliminated.
We had military tradition since 150AD, now saving money to upgrade horses.

France is the obvious next target and with the first cavs getting online it's no problem.
Starting 250AD France is eliminated by 320AD.
In the meantime I had increased science for some turns to get astronomy. The capital switched from military academy to (totally useless) Copernikus. Completed in 300AD and we get a golden age due to Lighthouse.
I then built up some forces and caravels for the assault to the north. I again turned up science for navigation to shorten the travel, so I didn't need a large number of ships.

The troops in France went to Sumeria. From the home land I shipped into Netherlands.
The wars started in 370AD.
The dutch campaign went smoothly eliminating them in 490AD. In Sumeria I had problems with culture flips and ended up razing some nice wonders. I threw them off their homeland and left their island cities for last.
From 490AD I was at war with everybody left, except a few false peace treaties. Viking Berserks did give me some trouble with remote undefended cities. So I started to raze cities and never really got near the domination limit.
Another small complication was Babylon sneaking out a boat settler.

Conquest victory in 660AD. The not available RoP did for sure cost quite a bit in this game. Also that I stubbornly tried to get iron instead of just taking on Spain and France right away with horses and resourceless units.

Open NoAiPatrol=0

My goals for the middle ages were:
1. Research to Communism as fast as possible
2. Build as many cities as possible


Exploration

A couple spoilers ago I build 4 curraghs. The barbarians got one, but the other 3 survived until 1175BC when I finished the Great Lighthouse. Then I could hide on sea tiles and the barbarians wouldn't touch me.

I got my last contact in 1175BC and finished mapping the coastline in 590BC.


Resources

The barbarians made coastal trade risky, but with the Lighthouse I was able to trade everywhere using sea tiles.

900BC: Buy Ivory and Wine from Sumeria
875BC: Buy Dyes from France
850BC: Suicide settler/galley survives 1 turn at sea, reaching the Dutch iron ahead of the Dutch.



825BC: Build the Statue of Zeus
775BC: Germany (Silks) defeated
750BC: Gems connected
410BC: Buy Spices from Dutch
350BC: Buy Chivalry and start building Knights
230BC: Capture Cadiz (Incense), I now have all 8 luxuries
170AD: Enter industrial age

With so many luxuries it was easy to reasearch at 100%. I haven't build a marketplace yet, only a couple cathedrals.

The Spanish declared war on me at the end of the QSC, and I stayed at war all through the middle ages for the reverse WW. I got 2 great leaders fighting the Spainsh, which I used for Knight armies on their main continent. I had Galleons to transport the armies by the time the continent was conquered.

When I had spare cash I rushed settlers instead of culture. So I only have 2400 culture (almost half of it in London). I expect that to increase quickly when my 70 cities go Communist.

Normally I dread archipelago maps. You have to be active and thorough when handling the boats that float around everywhere and it's harder to keep a sense of direction. But this was one of the most interesting maps I've ever played, so I put up with the endless staring and clicking on the minimap.

Some key dates

1000 BC - I was unusually happy with my QSC. I had built 15 towns, although one had flipped to Germany as I tried to steal Berlin's cow.

750 BC - I built the Great Lighthouse, starting golden Age, and had 8 luxuries for most of the rest of the game.

650 BC - Settled the gem island.

390 BC - Declared on Germany, using horsemen.

30 BC - Settled a town near the salpeter in the middle of the barbarian area.



I then proceeded to send horsemen to this area, meaning to upgrade them there on their way to Sumeria. Almost all my troops were to become upgraded horsemen. In the core I built marketplaces. Research would be stopped short of Theology in order to keep the effect of The Oracle.

30 AD - Germany eliminated.

300 AD - Declared on France (with cavalries).

340 AD - Declared on Sumeria. I landed 17 cavalries and 1 musketman in their area.

350 AD - Captured Kish with Knights Templar.

400 AD - France eliminated.

430 - Declared on Spain.

440 - Sumeria eliminated.

510 - Declared on Scandinavia.

540 - Spain eliminated.

550 - Captured Temple of Artemis (Trondheim)

630 - Peace with Vikings.

660 - Domination victory.



Personal evaluation

Expansion stage 9/10 - Better QSC than usual but I should have been able to rush a temple in Hastings before it flipped to Germany.

Warfare and logistics 9/10 - I really made an effort not to keep the galleys idle at any time.

Technology 4/10 - Bee-lined for MT but a few techs took 8-9 turns. The flip of Hastings and the late conquest of Germany harmed technology. Also, I could have built a few more libraries and done it before the Golden Age.

Infrastructure 5/10 - The lack of libraries stunk. Also I could have saved a turn on the victory date if I had spent my cash on the right cultural improvements. In 650 AD I was 4 tiles from the limit and Pamplona had 99 cp, which would have been easy to calculate.

Total 8/10 - I got the same victory date as Klarius, which is nice, but it seems to me that not building the Lighthouse was a handicap for him.

Map 10/10 - The most exiting archipelago map I've played below deity level.

@DaveMcW - Stunning game so far! It will be interesting to see if you gift the scientific civs into the industrial age to face riflemen.

Open

Whilst cruising toward Economics for Adam Smiths, I realised the RNG was against me in this game. Whilst I was convinced I could get rid of Spain, France and Germany in a decent enough time, by the time I got to the northerners with my knights they would most likely have muskets. So, I switched my goal to Diplo. I had already wasted precious research turns running at 0% to gather enough gold for knight upgrades - so my win date wouldn't be spectacular - but assuming I could get my GA sooner rather than later, I may be able to maintain a 4/5 turn research rate throughout the rest of the game.

So thats pretty much what I set about doing. I let the others research some of the bottom half of the tree, whilst I finished off Germany and raced toward Economics. Eventually, in 320AD, London builds Smith's and I enter the GA. I hoped the Germans would build me a decent wonder in Berlin like Leos or ST, so I kept it around, even though it was culturally pressurising my other cities. It had been building ST since 550BC when I gifted them Feudalism and it was now 500AD. I was getting frustrated and had already had one city flip to them. I wanted to see why it was taking them so long to gather 600 shields - so I investigated Berlin and found they were running at 4spt, they could easily have been running at least 12spt from what I could see.

So to punish their stupidity I redeclared on them immediately and wiped them off the face of the map. Eventually entered the IA in 540AD.

I made two stupid mistakes in the late MA. In an attempt to get the northern civs researching for me, I was gifting them techs just to keep up. I realised that this was risky considering I needed to build Adam Smiths, Copernicus, and Newtons in a short space of time. After building Smiths I set London building a university as a sort of pre-build for Copernicus but forgot to switch it when I learned Astronomy. As a result, the Dutch built me to Copernicus by one turn , so I just had to switch to Newtons. This will probably cost me a few turns of research in the IA.

Also, I made luxury deals with the northern civs before researching Astronomy. And of course mid-deal, the trade route was broken somehow - probably by barb ships in the strait. So I think I have a shattered rep, I'm not sure how this will affect me in the UN vote. We'll see.....

The Middle Ages 430BC - 310AD Part 2
The Middle Ages - Part 1

Not much happened. Built two high culture wonders. Primary objective is to reach rails and factory asap.

Culture buildings in London

53 cpt 50BC Shakespeare's Theater
65 cpt 310AD Sistine Chapel

Culture gathered: 2957
Estimated win date:

Techs

350BC Printing Press (4t)
230BC Banking (6t)
110BC Democracy (6t)
50BC Trade for Invention (0t)
30BC Free Artistry (4t)
30AD Trade for Chivalry (0t)
50AD Astronomy (4t)
50AD Trade for Gunpowder(0t)
130AD Chemistry (4t)
210AD Physics (4t)
270AD Magnetism (4t)
310AD Theory of Gravity (4t)
310AD Trade for Metallurgy (0t)

Ok, then i'll post my spoiler now.

I wanted to go for an OCC 20k culture victory.

After 47 minutes of game time, the germans decided it had been long enough. They attacked and killed my only spearman.

I used Cavalry to kill the Dutch and the Vikings in this era with Cavalry while they already had Muskets. Babylon was defeated by the Dutch shortly before I managed to land in the area. The AI’s would not research Astronomy for quite some time, so I had to transport the troops a long way through the Barbarian Center Shallow Waters. Eventually I traded for the entire upper branch up to Navigation.

I took over the initiative and begun research towards Magnetism although I knew that would not be essential for my victory. By the end of the Middle ages I started my Golden Era and begun attacking the Sumerians who defended with Muskets and counter-attacked with Cavalry. However the game did not end into this era.

sorry. wrong spoiler. getting used to 3-piece spoilers.

@ionimplant: This isn't the final spoiler!

Middle Ages (975BC - 90AD)

On entering MA I grant all civs access to the new era. I am able to trade for Monotheism and Engineering (free techs from the 3 sci civs).

Wonders
I want Copernicus' and Newton's in my capital to speed up research. I get the first without any problems and almost get into problems with the the last. I use other wonders for prebuild and the LAST remaining wonder was constructed one turn before discovering Theory of Gravity. Just in time to automatically switch over. Luck? I would like not to think so

Wars
None. I think I was pretty close to one against Netherlands. I built a city on the gem island and it was undefended when they dropped down two AC just next to it. I read the drawing very clearly, abandoned the city and disbanded my worker, leaving the island. Of course it could be they were just dropping in for the imperial tea and biscuits, but somehow I dont think so. They were paying me 40gpt at the time and I want RESEARCH not war.

Except against Germany of course. But I am still in the process of hooking up iron so it will have to wait. I have a feeling I didnt prioritize the German onslaught enough. Think I should have taken them with horses a while back.

Research
Theology: 750BC (9 turns)
Feudalism: 670BC (traded)
Education: 630BC (7 turns)
Astronomy: 510BC (6 turns)
Banking: 370BC (7 turns)
Invention: 390BC (trade)
Gunpowder: 330BC (trade after 2 turn research)
Chemistry: 210BC (6 turns)
Physics: 110BC (5 turns)
Theory of Gravity: 10BC (5 turns)
Magnetism: 90AD (5 turns)
Metallurgy: 90AD (trade) ---> ENTER INDUSTRIAL AGE
(pretty sure year is ok, turn count not necessarily accurate)

Resources
Stole iron island just next to dutch and quickly set out some warriors on remaining few tiles to block any entry on the island (for anyone but Vikings of course ...)
I have not dared set foot on any other barb island after the uprisings. I hope coal is close to home, but just cannot get myself to believe that

"Fixed" Barbs

Sorry to hear the Germans were more aggressive in your game, Wacken; so far the main trade I've kept going is Furs for Dyes, in fact Otto has never asked to end it so it's been going for 100 turns or so.

I entered the MidAges in 510 BC; I'd managed to get Mono and Eng by trading Lit and the Government Techs to the Scientific AI, so I started out on Theology knowing that the AI would go for Feudalism first. There was only 1 GW left, the Great Wall. I decided to go for it first before a Cathedral; I figured at Emperor Wonders would be harder to get so I shouldn't pass up an opportunity, and if I could finish it before someone learned Feudalism I could tumble all those partial pre-builds making them start from scratch.

Didn't work; got the note that some of the civs had started on Sun-Tzu's. But I did complete Great Wall in 310 BC, and by first disbanding one of my 2 Warriors, cash rushed a Cathedral in 290 BC. Decided to build a Marketplace at this time, taking 4 turns, a Worker (maxed out at size 12 of course), and then on to Sistine Chapel as Theology was completed.

I still had Great Library working, and a lot of turns to complete Sistine Chapel, so I timed Education to finish the turn after Sistine Chapel completed, and saved some Gold for the rush. I figured I still had a bit of a production lead on the top AI cities, so I should finish SC safely, and I did in 260 AD, with a University cash-rushed in 270 AD (after short-rushing an 80 Gold Warrior). The Great Lib had given me Feudalism, Chivalry, Invention and Gunpowder in the meanting; Education shut it off, and I forgot to trade it at that time so the AI learned it on the same turn.

At this point in time my entire unit force consisted of 1 Warrior/1 Worker fortified in London and 1 Curragh off dodging Barbs. (Eventually they caught it and sank it.) On the bright side, I had no gold being spent on unit costs!

It would be good to start increasing my defenses, but I had to take a shot at Copernicus' Observatory first. 12 turns to research Astronomy, and 16 turns to complete the Observatory. Sun Tzu's had already been completed, so just Leonardo's was left. I received word of the AI starting on JS Bach's, so I knew there was no chance to try for that wonder. After about 8 turns, the research cost of Astronomy suddenly dropped to 1! The leading AI (Vikings and Sumerians) had learned Banking and Astronomy and traded it. I was able to buy Astronomy for 10 Gold from the Vikings, so I didn't need to worry about my pre-build, but I still needed 8 more turns and I had to hope a Leonardo's cascade didn't take out the Observatory. Well, it didn't, and I completed CO in 430 AD.

Now I started adding a few more units to my forces, a couple of LongBows, a Horsemen, etc. Meanwhile, I tried for Chemistry, and got beaten to it by the AI. Next, off to Physics, and that one I learned as a Monopoly! I picked up 6 Techs, including Democracy, and I was off to learn Free Artistry which no one knew. All the pre-builds had been completed by this time, and the AI were just a few turns into Magellan's and Smith's. I used Bank for a pre-build, and was beaten by a few turns to Free Artistry, so the switch went well. The AI beat me to both TofG and Mag, so I had reduced research costs. I completed Shakespeare's Theater and entered the IA on the same turn in 720 AD.

The AI have already built Smith's and Magellan's, and they've had enough turns on Newton's that I don't believe I have a shot at it. I tried something early on in the Middle Ages to stir things up - I declared on Sumeria and used Theology to get the Vikings, Dutch and Babylon allied. I tried to get Germany allied, but Otto had contact with nobody! Not even the French! (Spain is already gone in my game.) Well, all this alliances and trading of Luxuries failed badly; my trade lines were cut either by the Sumerians or by the Barbs. So not only do I have a really, really pissed Gilgamesh, I've also been getting some Annoyed looks from the Dutch and the Vikings, and I've had a difficult time trading since a number of 20 turn deals were broken by the trade lines being cut.

Here's my culture chart up to 720 AD:

4000 BC 1 cpt Palace
2750 BC 4 cpt Temple (2 Forest chops)
1650 BC 9 cpt Colossus
1350 BC 13 cpt Oracle
975 BC 15 cpt Museum of Masollos
925 BC 18 cpt Library (partial cash rush)
570 BC 27 cpt Great Library
550 BC 29 cpt Coliseum (short cash rush to Warrior; then cash rush to complete)
310 BC 35 cpt Great Wall (1138 Culture)
290 BC 38 cpt Cathedral (disband Warrior; cash rush with 1 Gold to spare)
260 AD 49 cpt Sistine Chapel
270 AD 53 cpt University (short rush Worker, then cash rush) (2358 Culture in London)
430 AD 63 cpt Copernicus' Observatory (3222 Culture in London)
720 AD 78 cpt Shakespeare's Theater (5134 Culture in London)

Elizabeth was pleased. While the Argo & the Hudson were busy populating the southern hemisphere’s islands, the results of the Drake’s voyage kept increasing. First contact with the Dutch and then with Babylon, then the deal with William that sent the knowledge of currency to Amsterdam in exchange for monthly deliveries of spices and gold. A similar deal added dyes from France to the markets of London and smiling faces were now seen everywhere in the city. Word came that the Drake had met the Viking and Sumerian peoples completing contact with all of the nations of the planet. News also reached Elizabeth of new wonders being completed and again poor Germany was being shut out, as the Sumerians built the Hanging Gardens, Statue of Zeus and the Great Library, with the Mausoleum in Amsterdam and the Temple of Artemis in Trondheim, Otto completed none of his attempts at greatness.

In 250 BC England received a wake up call, as Isabella requested furs from England and offered nothing in return. Having only a couple of defensive units and what few offensive troops that existed stationed on the German frontier, Elizabeth was forced to comply, though she detested the idea of being blackmailed. “We’ve become lax in protecting our republic. We need to secure our island and protect our colonies from barbarians and threats from abroad. See to it immediately” she ordered her military leaders.

Meanwhile a world away, Sir Bugsy was casting off the Viking coastline. With memories of the Dutch and Viking galleys that had been so kind as to serve as distractions for the over a dozen pirates that had been following him when he reached Sumeria, he was finally heading home alone. He had talked with his crew and convinced them that it would be safer to remain in port as he was taking the Drake to dangerous waters and did not want to risk their lives. With a heavy heart they wished him well. They were deeply saddened to reach England and learn that the Drake had never returned home.

With the acquisitions of Feudalism, Monarchy, Chivalry (traded for) and Theology (researched), England had reached the end of peaceful times. Already the Vikings and Sumer had begun battling, with Sumer having the upper hand. Now it was time for Otto to be exiled and in 270 AD England declared war on Germany. Leipzig and Berlin fell quickly and Otto was forced to fight the English Pikes and Knights with archers & spearmen. Konigsberg, Hamburg & Heidelberg fell to the English army before peace was signed with England in complete control of the home island and with Germany returning Bristol to England. During the war Sumerian wines and ivory were obtained and England had a full set of luxuries to appease the peasants.

With the discovery of Education, Astronomy and Banking and the acquisition of Invention and Gunpowder, England stood atop the world in science and commerce and with the completion of the Knights Templar in London, her military was beginning to be respected, though a small gold tribute was required to placate Gilgamesh in 450 AD. As the galley Hudson passed by France on a return from dropping off settlers he witnessed a French city falling to Spain. This news alarmed Elizabeth as she had intended to balance Spain & France for her own commercial gain. Now it looked like she’s need to act to claim a piece of France while there was still some left.

Elizabeth sat in her favorite chair reading the reports, Sun Tzu’s in Madrid, Sistine Chapel in Rotterdam, Leonardo’s Workshop in Rotterdam, Copernicus’ Observatory in Sumer, JS Bach’s Cathedral in Orleans and Magellan’s Voyage in Amsterdam. Her nation led in science, commerce and industry, yet these wondrous structures were appearing around the world but not in her nation. At her normal staff meeting the next morning, following the announcement of the discovery of physics, her advisors had surprise for her. Across the courtyard, in what she had be told was a storage warehouse, they had been secretly working on Adam Smith’s Trading Post and in 690 AD the Golden Age of England began with the completion of this Wonder. After the discovery of Magnetism and a trade with the Dutch for Metallurgy, Man-o-War’s began sailing from England’s harbors. In 750 AD war was again declared in Germany and the spears defending Munich & Frankfurt stood no chance against the English troops, leaving Otto exiled to a single city on one of Spain’s islands. In 760 AD with the discovery of the Theory of Gravity, England was the first to enter the Industrial Age.

Elizabeth stood on her balcony sipping sherry as she watched the sun setting in the west wondering where her remaining time on the planet would take her. The German issue was settled, now it seemed time to move on to France and Spain, while concentrating on research and infrastructure. With her rapidly expanding navy, she would soon control the oceans and with them have the world’s commerce in her hands.

Resources:
At the end of the last spoiler I was setting sail to colonize the iron and saltpeter islands, barbs or no barbs. I landed a settler on the iron island at the northern tip, planning to found before the barbs reached me and then just weather the storm until they ran out. Strangely, the barbs failed to notice the new town and just sat there peacefully. I took advantage and started building a road to the iron. Ultimately, the barbs would be killed by Sumeria, who finally settled the southeast half of the island centuries later. Having Iron, I could have started building knights, but my plans changed in the meantime when I realized that I could buy saltpeter from Sumeria in exchange for a tech. Construction of knights for upgrading into cavalry commenced immediately With saltpeter finally in hand, I also built two musketeers and shipped them to the saltpeter island where they were promptly massacred by barbs. Adding insult to injury, the Vikings sipped in, killed the remaining barbs, and settled the saltpeter. Sumeria would remain my source of saltpeter for the time being.


War!
Once I had about 5 or so cavalry completed I declared war on Germany. This was a bit of a gamble, but I wanted to get them under control as fast as possible. With my fortified city of New York blocking advance into England, I killed off waves of German longbows and horsemen trying to beeline for London, while building more cavalry and preparing to assault Berlin. Though there was no saltpeter on the continent, Germany signed a trade deal with someone at the start of the war, making actual conquest much more difficult. My gut tells me that Sumeria was behind it, happily selling weapons to both sides. Finally my big break came when I got a leader and created a cav army, which proceeded to rampage through Germany. Since the Germans had founded a couple cities on the southeast peninsula, I managed to kick their capital to the opposite end of the island, easing the flip risk in the newly conquered cities. I also took advantage of the war to sink a German galley with a Man-o-War, triggering a very well-timed golden age. Around 750 AD, with war still raging, I entered the industrial age.

Industrial Age Plans:
Conquer Germany and colonize the whole island
Steal the saltpeter island from the Vikings
Build railroads
Finally develop the colony islands to the point where they turn a significant profit
Pull ahead in tech and get the Theory of Evolution
Set up the diplomatic game to prepare for the UN
And of course start a UN prebuild

Next up – The Coal Dilemma…

Playing predator.

Tech pace is still slow, AA was painfully slow, AI was at least some help through the MA, but still not much. Last spoiler ended at about 510BC, as I met the final AI civ, and traded/gifted Babylon, Sumeria and the Dutch into the MA, and didn't have much luck with techs.

470BC: Get literature from the vikings via trade

450BC: Get the almost fully researched Engineering from Babylon by trading literature.

390BC: Germany won't give up Munich in a peace treaty, as it has horses. Unfortunately it's at the northern tip of the island east of our mainland, so eliminating them will take a bit more effort. I take their final mainland city in 390, reducing them to an OCC, and make peace. Gift them to the MA, and finally get a bit of luck. They get Feudalism, which I've partly researched. I trade for it, and then Feudalism & Engineering get me Monotheism from Sumeria.

270BC: Redeclare on Germany, take Munich, and they're dead.

210BC: Research Invention

170BC: Spanish war starts, sign in France.

70BC: Research Gunpowder, trade with Sumeria for Theology. Nearest gunpowder is just off the spanish coast, and was either mine already, or would be soon. That city flipped back to spain once, but only for a couple of turns.

50AD: Research Chemistry

70AD: Trade with sumeria for Education

90AD: Trade with Vikings for Chivalry
Peace with spain

210AD: Research Metallurgy

290AD: Research Military Tradition
Trade with Vikings for Astronomy & Printing Press

350AD: Cavalry upgrades are complete, back to war with Spain

360AD: research physics

410: Research navigation

440: London builds Magellan's, triggering GA

460: Research Magnetism

500: Research Theory of Gravity. Forget to change colosseum prebuild in london to newton's

510: London builds colosseum!
London starts Newton's, completes in 11 at 37spt.

540: Research Banking, enter IA

550: Finish off Spain, and get music theory via trade.

Summary: Tech pace is still slow, I only got 5 compulsory techs via trades, and had to research 2 optional ones myself. Despite having astronomy for at least 25 turns, nobody researched banking for me. Sumer has been giving me money to run high research though, which has helped at least slightly. Babylon has been reduced to an OCC, mostly by the Dutch. I have killed off 2 entire AIs, and am yet to see an MGL.

Future plans: Get even more frustrated with AI research in the IA, fun with coal, and more wars, including finally getting an MGL. That'll be the next spoiler though. Tempted to try and milk, but Sumer will get a 100k victory somewhere in the 1900s at current pace. So I'll have to kill them too.

My Ancient Age was about consolidating my island and kicking the Germans and Spanish off; my Middle Ages were about building up my infrastructure and acquiring resources. I had settled gem island at the end of the Ancient Age; in the Middle Ages, I grabbed the iron island to the north of gem island, as well as an iron and saltpeter in the equatorial areas. Grabbed the territory, anyway -- while I was able to found my city right on the saltpeter, it took a number of years to clear out the barbs so my workers could hook up the first iron source, and I still haven't been able to hook up the second iron source.

Sciencewise, I had limped into the Middle Ages with relatively low Beakers per turn; I started the Middle Ages by shutting down all research and building the Great Library in London. By the time it was built, I had contacts with everyone but the Vikings (hadn't met them yet, but when I did, I would find them researching first-tier MA techs) and the Germans (Isabella had kindly asked Otto to leave the game), so I was instantly catapulted into a leadership position -- I got through gunpowder on the bottom of the tree and through education on the top. Unfortunately, I missed out on Copernicus but managed to grab Newton's. By the end of the Middle Ages, I was slightly behind the Dutch, the Sumerians, the French, and the Spanish, all of whom had Medicine and Nationalism. Some savvy trades, proper infrastructure management, and the Theory of Evolution should put things right, particularly if I have coal. Wait -- let me guess -- the only source of coal is on a 1-tile island filled with 473 barbarians.

Anyway, I hit the Middle Ages in 930. I think I'm going to go for a spaceship victory (wait -- let me guess -- the only source of uranium is on a 1-tile mountain island filled with 932 barbarians).