Some trouble late game in noble

I've been playing this game on noble, standard map, low water levels, earth 2. throughout the whole game I have been fighting for 2nd place in the scores. I colonised South America, and have a vassal on north america too, not to mention quite a few islands around the americas. But I am having big problems now. The leader is ahead in tech, he has vassalised my neighbour, and I am desperately short of space in my main land with no where to exand but north.
The tech leader has nukes and has just used some on bismark, who previously was on a similar score to me, i fear if he is vasselised it is the end for me. I have no nukes, the win settings are diplomacy, conquest and domination only.
I have just reached year 2003, and developed mech infantry.

Should I give up this game, or can one of you guys out there win this? I attach a save incase anyone wants to give it a try.

I think I should add that most of my cities were switched to wealth as I wanted to upgrade troops, but this strategy probably wasn't too good, any tips would be great though.

I have not opened your save file, but have a question. Did you build the UN? I don't see a conquest victory coming unless you ban nukes. Even still, that is a huge map to conquest wiht not much time. As far as conquest, you could try to get it via vassels. However, N & S America is much smaller then Europe and Asia. I would try like heck to invade europe or Asia and try like heck for a domination. Otherwise build the UN and hope for a diplomatic victory, but I think this is very hard also.

Hmm. Well time is not an issue since that victory condition is turned off, and yes the UN is around so it would be possible for nukes to be banned, could I get elected. I have tried vassals, but I have not the force to attack and take over another country + they are hard to reach.

Would you think this game is therefore lost? I tried a few times from here and can't win at all. BUt then again I'm not a very good player!

well your army isn't big enough, you needed about 3x as much. should have rolled through the N-NW during the middle ages to grab more land. try beeling techs and then backfill trade as the game goes along

Thing is with the nuclear situation and the sheer size of the main opponent I worry that its too late. Maybe its time for a new game?

The end, cough cough, is nigh.

First of all, there is no difficulty or speed where games should last until 2000 AD + prior to winning. Although, sometimes things do get rough...at least on noble you haven't lost yet .

Second, late game problems are never actually the problem (unless you brain fart diplomacy or have never attempted a space win or something). The issue is almost always in the early game.

Third, I'm downloading the save, so I'll see if I can do anything. I'm only @ immortal at the moment, so there ARE better players on the forum (and a number of them at that), but hopefully it's a decent gauge on whether or not your position is winnable. Give me a bit.

okay thanks, again the only victories are diplo, conquest, and domination. I think these are pretty tough ones to get! Let me know how it goes if you can turn this around. Whatever level you play at its a great deal higher than me!

Yeah...I'm not playing this out either. I'll try to keep criticism kind :

First of all, the issues in this game definitely stem not from late game, but the play that brings us to this point:

Diplomacy: Other than vassals, the entire world hates you. Long before now, pick sides. Try not to go anger the biggest empire unless the reason you're angering it is a direct attack. Whatever you do, 70% of the world should not be at a disposition where they can declare on you!!! You're toast no matter how good you are if you do that at higher levels.

City specialization: Your core cities had absolutely every building you can build in them, and improvements indicated this too. Use cities for commerce, hammers, or specialists. Do not attempt to use any city for all three ever, with the sole exception of your capitol during the bureaucracy era. You will be a lot more effective this way. Note: improvements surrounding cities should indicate this specialization.

Tech: I'm not exactly known for teching (people like Unconquered Sun will tell you that just your capitol should be near 200 beakers by 1 AD), but this is a tad ridiculous . You should probably be a couple future techs in now by minimum. This is probably a function of city specialization, but nonetheless I'd look to shore it up. The AIs tech potential on noble is miserable, so if you practice a little you can blow them out.

War strategy: Pacal already has nukes. He launched 10 on me in my quick play attempt (He declared on me after a while). He controls the UN. You're not going to get control of it without war. If people are pushing for nukes, you HAVE to have laser/SDI, the UN banning it before hand, or AT LEAST your own nukes! Your tech priority definitely shows you ignored this aspect. No matter how large a stack is, it loses to nukes (and to a lesser extent siege).

All in all, I'd say your learning would be best served in a new game, where you emphasize maximizing your potential from the very start of the game. This situation is not realistic at all once you're experienced...you'll have won or lost long before now...