Team Tim: TimBentley, joethreeblah, SesnOfWthr, pindicator, & mr. Y
Team Tim has accomplished its first goal: survival (and more on that later). Our goals were to research as quickly as possible to Republic, via slingshot, eventually taking over our continent in quick, decisive wars so we could quicken our research pace to helos. Along the way we plan to grab any overseas towns however possible, whether by cultural means or through war tribute.
Of the Dawn of the Americas
Washington was settled SE of its starting hill. Our intention was to suppliment the food-rich flood-plains with the shields of the forests and not to waste the hill. Our cities, we decided, should aim for CxxxC spacing since they would be around well past hospitals. And so New York was founded in 2630BC followed by Boston in 2310BC.
Of Our Northern Neighbors
China and Greece were discovered to be at war very early. China had already had a city wiped and were left as an OCC and seeming very weak. It was inferred that we may have to contend with a very strong Greek empire at some point, but this had its advantages, as it opened the path for us to grab land all the way up to China's border. The jungle Dyes and the horses southwest of Beijing were eyed greedily and settlers were channeled north to claim the jungle.
Philadelphia was settled on the other side of the mountains in 1625BC. It was our gateway to the north, and we diverted workers to quickly road over the mountains with plans to move on into the jungle. Our next settler was given a more bold mission: to claim as far northward as it could, after which we would fill in behind, claiming the most territory. In the south, Atlanta was formed in 1325BC with an eye fixed on the Gems. In 1225BC Chicago claimed the northern-most dyes and aspired to be the outpost to ward off southbound Chinese settlers.
During this time Washington was steadily being improved, first from a 6-turn factory to a 5-turn factory and eventually it was discovered that if we could find a BG underneath one of those forest tiles, we could have a 4-turn settler factory. Using the forest chops to speed along a few settlers at 4-turns a piece helped immensely. A BG was eventually uncovered and DC turned into a 4-turn settler factory, but it was to be short-lived.
Of Barbarians
Barbarians were a constant nuisance during these early years. Several scouts were lost to running into barbarian camps in the jungle or the mountains far to the north of Greece. In our earlier years, Barbarians played a part in stunting the tile development around Boston and DC as our workers spent more time running or hiding from the barbs than doing actual work. Eventually more warriors were trained to repell the barbarian looting and pillaging of our lands, but not without cost. In the south, our Gem colony had to deal with constant Barbarian incursion; however the road tiles that were not in our cultural boundaries were left alone. The greatest of the barbarian incursions had yet to be felt.
Of the Dragon's Return
Stunted by an early Greek war, China was pressed to stay alive much less expand. Yet by 2150BC they had a second city and the threat of extermination no longer hung over them. There is evidence supporting the extent of the Sino-Greek war lasting until past 1750BC. Some time around that date, however, peace was declared and China began the long, arduous task of rebuilding. Or rather, re-conquering.
New cities went up overnight. Between 1500BC - 1250BC China doubled in size going from 2 to 4 cities. Chinese troops had been spotted heading south as early as 1375BC, yet these were dismissed as barbarian hunters. Surely China, little, pathetic China, would not even dare fight a long war against America when ample land was available to settle.
But in 1200BC they did attack. Philadelphia, lightly defended, fell quickly to the Chinese archers and Chinese settlers continued to stream in from their motherland. By 1000BC China was up to 6 known cities; in 750BC it was 8 and the Chinese had passed the Greeks in both size and power.
America reeled. Not only was Philadelphia taken and Chicago razed (1025BC), but a settler heading north into the jungle was also taken resulting in the relative loss of three cities. More Chinese archers were seen heading south and America quickly switched to a war effort. DC was promoted to 10 shields a turn and built a barracks. American forces were pushed back from their defensive mountain holdings to the gates of New York, but there the Chinese war engine sputtered and did not press on.
Of the QSC
One of the most dismal QSC statistics I will (hopefully) ever recite. China's attack came perfectly timed right before the QSC so our score was probably near (if not the) lowest of all the teams.
5 Cities, 19 citizens
1 Granary, 3 Barracks
4 workers, 8 warriors, 1 archer, 2 spearmen
Techs known: BW, Mas, Alph, Pot, TW, WC, CB, IW, Writ, Myst, Phil, CoL, MM, 11 turns to research Math
Contacts with Greece and China
Of Revenge
The war effort built steadily in America. With mathematics would come catapults, but archers and occasionally spearmen were trained en masse to take revenge upon the Chinese. In 690BC the counter-attack loomed: 9 archers and 2 spearmen crossed the mountains and burned the town of Philadelphia for harboring the Chinese. San Francisco was built upon its ruins in 670BC and turned into a military outpost.
The American troops pressed forward, looking to gather momentum and push the Chinese back out of the jungle, perhaps farther. And then the Greeks declared war. The same Greeks that had been tantalized with propositions to kill the Chinese and had refused for centuries turned and stabbed us in the back.
The Greeks slowed down the American task force as hoplites had to be dealt with. However, Greece was not the power it was in the earliest stages of the game and had sent only a few troops to attack with. Once these were taken care of the American archers pressed northward again, this time reinforced with catapults and workers steadily building roads northward.
When Xinjan fell in 270BC the Greeks sensed a hasty exit and peace was signed; then the Americans could turn straight for the Chinese core. Rather than taking the disconnected jungle towns, they were on track to the road for Beijing and the Chinese horses and Shanghai and Nanking. They fell in 10BC and 50AD respectively. Beijing fell in 130AD and Tsengtao in 250AD. China dropped a horseman in our borders that we could not eliminate at the time, so we took peace. Regretfully they did not give any of their overseas territories, but we did extort the technology needed to advance into the Middle Ages.
Of Governments
With the war on China building momentum, the people of America became a republic in 30BC. The hoped for slingshot had been missed (as everything else had gone wrong earlier) and the majority of the supported troops were pressing northward into China. In the south, barbarians amassed in unheard-of numbers and were defeated time and time again outside Atlanta. However, their numbers were too much and eventually they overran the city's defenses, killing many and leaving the core cities' defenses in shambles.
Technology came in faster at this point, even with troop costs, but especially from trade. The Vikings came to our coast first in 430BC and the other civs were discovered shortly, each sending a galley. With the peace accords with China we were able to take their world map and get a full view of the world.
This is awarded a dancing banana 
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to my fellow spooners, this is what a spoiler thread misses too often: irrelevance 
we decided to move the settler 1-tile south and found Washington there. With The Captain at the helm (but with no ship?), The Wheel was our first research objective at max as Washington started a Scout. Our Scout went 2-tiles west to the mountain and then 2-tiles north to the flood plains, looking for some wheat. We discovered 2 early GHs and got a Warrior and 25 Gold. Once we got that Warrior, we changed the build in Washington to Warrior for MP and Barb Security. We built an early worker to help get Washington up and running as a 4-turn factory, then Granary.
