1.22f - Open Class
I was still in my GA at the end of the
Ancient Age in 370BC.
Middle Ages
I continued to build up horsemen and a few swordsmen during my GA. On the last turn of my GA in 290BC, I declared war on the Aztecs again.
At that point, I had 14 Horse, 9 Swords, and 3 JT. (I really didn't get many slaves with the JT.) I used roughly 2/3 of my units to attack. Keeping the rest on my northern border with America. In my first elite battle of the war, I got my first MGL. I created an army and saved it for later. In 70BC, I auto-razed the last Aztec city. I was able to capture the other 3. Of course, they respawn further south in the tundra below the furs. I went ahead and made peace. I was able to get a settler next to the northern-most furs, getting my 3rd lux. I moved most of my horse north and began to fill in the southern area. Most of cities along the mountain chain and just south of it were pretty productive (only about 50% corrupt) the whole game.
Researching Chivalry was my priority. Somewhere along the way I messed up with the F6. Two turns from completing Feudalism, I clicked instead Shift-Clicked on Chivalry. At time, I didn't even notice. Needless to say I was a little disappointed when I finished Monotheism to find myself researching Feudalism again. I wasted about 8 turns on that.
In 130AD, I got tired of chasing off, blocking and otherwise doing everything I could to keep the other civs from walking through my territory to settle in the south. With Chivalry one turn away, I kicked off my war with American. I quick snapped up a stack with 4 settlers that was try to move through my core and got another one protected by a horsemen on the border.
I had 21 horse and 11 Med Inf, but I started upgrade the horse to knights as quickly as I could afford. I cut research from 50-60% to 10% for about five turns to fund the upgrades. I was way ahead of the local civs, so self research was the only way.
After Chivalry, I decided to research Theology to get Sistine before working the bottom of the research toward MT. This was my first diversion from the Conquest/Dom track.
The war with American fairly brief. I decided to entice Spain and Iroquois into the war in the hopes of diminishing their forces for later. The Iroquois got a couple cities in the northwest while I got the rest. In 310AD, I captured the last American city and they respawned in the tundra down south. I made peace. By this time, I had 33 Knights and still had 10 Med Inf.
After a 4 turn consolidation, I was ready to move against the Iroquois. The had a bunch of Mounted Warriors so I want to knock them out quickly. During the break I decided to use my up-to-now empty army. I added 3 veteran knights. I got a second MGL in 380AD and formed a second knight army.
In 430AD, I parked a wounded army in St. Regis. I was using Dianthus's MapStat. I checked the flip chance. St. Regis was at about 0.7% chance of flip. I had captured the city a few turns earlier and it never flipped with a knight there. As soon as I parked the army it flips. I swear the program must looks for armies.
Anyway, in 500AD, I captured the last couple of Iroquois cities including the capitol and got my 3rd MGL which I used to replace the one I lost. They didn't respawn nor were they eliminated. They had had a couple galleys off my west coast that I had been trying to destroy. The last one was red-lined. The following turn I sunk it and ended the Iroquois. By this time, with the Aztecs and Americans respawned there and 3 Spanish colonies there was no more room in the southern tundra. No respawn.
After another short pause to reposition, I started the final push to clear the continent. I started by DoW on the Aztecs and Americans in 570AD. I eliminated the Aztecs in 610AD and started my invasion of Spanish territory in the north. In 620AD, I got my 4th MG which formed another army. The Americans were eliminated in 650AD. I got my 5th MGL in 690AD. I used him to build the Pentagon. I captured the last Spanish city in 720AD. Once again they weren't eliminated! It took my until 750AD to find and destroy their galley.
Research:
Sometime after 470AD, when I finished gunpowder and was working on Chemistry, I realized that they was no Saltpeter! Time for a little re-thinking of my research priorities. Once I completed Chemistry, I would go for astronomy asap. Once again I had diverged from the pure conquest/Dom path by researching Ed, Astronomy, Music Theory, Banking, Navigation, Economics. I wanted the wonders and the commerce bonuses. I would go back and get Metallurgy and MT before finishing the MA techs with Physics, Magnetism and finally ToG . I would get the rest through trades or pointy stick diplomacy.
Exploration:
I lost more than a dozen suicide galleys trying to find the other Civs. In 710AD, a Caravel found the Mongols and Byzantines. I started to explore the coast and trade for contacts. I Researched Navigation in 780AD and got around to trading for map around 800AD. I had contact with everyone expect the Hittites who only had 3 cities on the inner sea. I got contact them after I got the maps. I never gave them mine. They were barely into the MA.
End of the MA:
I spent the remainder of the MA researching and building infrastructure. I found the Saltpeter island and colonized it and built harbors to connect the saltpeter. At then end of the MA I have converted half my Knights to Cavalry and was building Galleons in preparation for the invasion of the other continent. I discovered ToG in 1020AD.
Wonders:
1600BC Colossus (Hittites)
1400BC Oracle (America)
900BC Pyramids (Aztecs)
590BC Temple of Artemis (Sumerians)
570BC Great Lighthouse (Germans)
310BC Great Library (Maya)
150BC Mausoleum of Mausolous (Germans)
50BC Great Wall (Maya)
50BC Statue of Zeus (Sumerians)
90AD Hanging Gardens (Mongols)
410AD Sun Tzu (Maya)
440AD Knights Templar (Maya)
520AD Sistine Chapel (Maya)
650AD Leo's Workshop (Maya)
770AD Copernicus' Observatory (Maya)
870AD JS Bach's Cathedral (Maya)
950AD Magellans Voyage (Maya)
3 turns to go on Smith's Trading Company and 12 turn on military academy in 1020AD. (Forbidden Palace, Heroic Epic, and Pentagon already built.)
Firaxis score 2395 - 34% land - 58% pop - Culture 11413 vs., Sumerian @ 10271.
By the end of the MA, I had pretty much decided to go for the Histograph victory. Trying to improve upon the bungled GOTM34 attempt. Of course, I now see that Kuningas is going for Histograph as well. It is a good thing I don't have high expectations, isn't it?