OK, so from humble beginnings our noble band of adventurers must set out to dominate the world! The world is our oyster, let the good times roll.
Here's our starting position, for those unfamiliar with the RFC mod:
Turn 0: We make contact with France on their turn before our actual game start. Gifting them 10g they become pleased and I sign an Open Borders agreement so that our galleys will be able to traverse the English Channel without declaring war on France. French culture dominates the seas to our south, for the moment anyway.
Turn 1: After many games with England, I very much prefer Southampton (on the Cows to the SW of the starting tile) over London because it allows for Newcastle instead of a city in Cornwall and also will eventually control the Dye across the Channel if enough wonders are built in Southampton. So I move one settler one tile SW and found Southampton as our capital. Switch civics to Hereditary Rule, Vassalage, Slavery and Organised Religion (2 turns of anarchy) and direct research towards Compass. (Due to the extended anarchy in the first few turns, I will play a couple of extra turns on this set as a one-off exception to the 10-turns rule.) One settler heads for the Newcastle tile (N of the Deer) and our remaining two settlers are loaded onto one of our Galleys. All four Longbows are loaded into the remaining two Galleys and set sail to the SW, intended destination Alexandria where rumour has it the Great Lighthouse and Great Library can be found. Anarchy, no production this turn.
Turn 2: Notre Dame is built in a foreign land. Checking the F9 screen reveals that Notre Dame and the Hagia Sophia are now in the same city, which must be Constantinople. Anarchy, not much else to report, other than the French have founded Rennes which shaves a little off the distance required to sail the SW.
Turn 3: Inverness flips to us with one Archer and Christianity. I adopt Christianity as our State Religion (more anarchy). Our Galley with 2 settlers onboard arrives off the coast of Ireland and one settler disembarks onto the goody hut. We get 48g. Meet Spain with our 2x Galleys full of Longbows who after we gift 10g becomes Pleased and we get Open Borders.
Turn 4: Meet Vikings with one of our work boats which is sailing N through the North Sea towards Inverness. Vikings are Cautious but I gift them Monotheism and they become Pleased and Open Borders. Found Dublin and start work on a monument.
Turn 5: Ask for, and receive, 1gpt from Spain who still likes us quite a bit apparently. Use the whip to finish a work boat in Inverness and a monument in Dublin (next turn). We attack and destroy a Barbarian Trireme off the coast of Spain with one of our Longbow-filled Galleys.
Turn 6: On defense just before our turn, our Galley kills another Barbarian Trireme and I choose Flanking I and Navigation I as promotions for this unit. Should help with colonising efforts later in the game. 2x work boats turn into fishing nets outside of Inverness. Trade Horseback Riding to Vikings to get them to switch civics to Slavery and Organised Religion, and also to given them a little instability. They don't actually have a state religion currently of course. Trade one of our new (surplus) fish resources to France for 1gpt.
Turn 7: Masjid al-Haram built in in a foreign land, assume Mecca. Otherwise an uneventful turn.
Turn 8: Borders of Southampton finally expand and our initial work boat which has been waiting on the Crab for some time finally turns into fishing nets. Our Galleys and Longbows towards Tripolis and rip up some Byzantine fishing nets for 3g along the way.
Turn 9: On defense again, we destroy yet another Barbarian Trireme, this time with our Galley that has a Settler onboard. This settler is headed for South Africa, probably to settle Durban on the Gold. I usually find that the early Gold is important for the extra happiness that it brings in to the empire. We meet Germany who after a gift of 10g become pleased and Open Borders. Whip production on the remainder of a Library in Southampton.
Turn 10: Library comes online in Southampton, otherwise an uneventful turn. Our 4x Longbows are unloaded outside of Alexandria, on the Dye. Arabia has unfortunately already conquered the city from the Byzantines, not such a good result for us. The city is defended by a Camel Archer with Strength II and a basic Spearman.
Turn 11: Meet Netherlands and Open Borders. Lose contact with Vikings. Our four Longbows didn't sail all this way to look at the pretty Dye resource that they are currently camped on, so we attack into Alexandria. First Longbow dies, only slightly damaging the Camel Archer. Second Longbow also dies, severely damaging the Camel Archer though in the process. Third Longbow kills the Camel Archer at 80% odds. Fourth Longbow kills the Spearman at 74% odds. We're in!
Turn 12: 2x Galleys begin to sail back towards England and our other Galley rounds the West African coast. Our Navigation I Galley luckily kills a Byzantine Trireme on defense, and promotes to Navigation II. Whip a Granary in Inverness and a work boat in Dublin, to be completed next turn.
Turn 13: Work boat from Dublin sets up fishing nets to the SE, although Newcastle actually is utilising this tile. Whip a Warrior in Alexandria, which has come out of revolt but is about to starve down from 2 pop to 1 pop otherwise. The extra Warrior will hopefully help to prevent city revolts from Arabian cultural influence which is coming pretty strongly out of nearby Cairo. Upgrade our fish deal with France from 1gpt to 2gpt. Start trading Fish to Spain for 1gpt also.
Compass will come in on our next turn.
Suggested to do list:
1. Pick a location to settle our remaining Settler. Suggest Durban on the Gold, but depends on Natives and how active they appear to be.
2. Continue to develop our homeland tiles. I have built two additional workers to date and five should be enough, but we will need to ferry into Ireland to improve tiles there also.
Jusos2108, you're up next I believe.
Southampton is much better capital than London, I always found it too, and saves us the trouble called Plymouth. Also taking Alexandria was quite nice, although I believe I need more troops to take Cairo, so I might have to whip couple catapults.
We get the Classic Literature Quest and so it happens that we do control the Great Library. We must finish it before Renaissance! A Great scientist is born in Alexandria, I use to build an Academy for culture and science (the Great Library isn't obsolete until Scientific Method; fell free to disagree.
How come the Byzantines are all of a sudden pumping out wonders? I thought that shouldn't happen anymore.
We found Durban on the gold, it starts to build axeman and another axeman goes in line.
