Status at +1618 (125 turns)
Population: 36.47M; Cities: 46; Trade routes: 33D29F; Government: Democracy
Finance. Treasury: 291; Cost per turn: 571; Income: 1253; Tax rate: 40%
Science: Total advances: 84+13Future; Advance every 3 turns; Science rate: 20%
Production: 928MT; 1 polluted tiles
Wonders: Colossus, Marco, Copernicus, Adam Smith, Newton, Hoover, SETI, Apollo.
Units: 2 None settlers, 32 Engineers, 4 Archer, 8 Musketeer, 1 Fanatic, 1 Alpine, 4 Riflemen, 1 Horseman, 1 None Crusader, 1 Knight, 1 Dragoon, 1 Cavalry, 1 Armor, 1 Artillery, 1 Caravel, 1 Destroyer, 1 AEGIS, 3 Transport, 2 Diplomat, 2 Spy, 21 Freight.
Russian: No embassy; Sun Tzu, Lighthouse, Darwin, Statue of Liberty; War with Indians, Ottomans, and me.
Zulu: No embassy;
Spanish: No embassy; Michelangelo, Eiffel, Cure for Cancer; War with Ottomans and me.
Chinese: 17 cities, 83 tech, 1382g; Great Wall, Shakespeare, Leo;
Ottoman: 26 cities, 74 tech, 2871g; Pyramids, Hanging Gardens, Great Library, King Richard, Bach, Suffrage, UN; Allied with Zulu, War with everyone else except Chinese.
Indian: 12 cities, 71 tech, 2119g; Magellan; Allied with me, war with Russians and Ottomans.
I built the Apollo in 1614. I had half a dozen cities precharged building various space ship parts and about 10 food caravans. The very next turn Chinese discovered Space flight and built 3 structurals at the same time! This really scared me. I was going to go for a full space ship, but I decided that is too risky. I opted for a space ship with full components (8 pairs) and only 2 (out of 4 possible) set of modules. (I picked 2 instead of 1 because 5 of the 6 needed modules were pretty close to being done.)
Chinese discovered Plastics in two turns, sooner than I expected, but built no new space ship parts meanwhile. This surprised me. What are they up to?
Another 2 turns and they discovered Superconductor as well. They had long ago stolen Fusion Power from me. Now they had all the techs needed for a space ship. But still no new parts. Why? They were not at war with anyone and they have plenty of large cities and cash. Meanwhile I was directing every last bit of effort towards the space ship, rush buying when possible.
Two turns after that a Chinese transport shows up on my west coast and deposits some Mechanical infantry and Alpine troops. We are still at peace, though no longer allies, and these are more defensive than offensive units. What is going on?
By 1622 I have a 32S,7.5C, 2M space ship that will arrive in 9 years. In 4 more turns I can make a full space ship. I am afraid the Chinese are waiting for me to launch and then quickly put together a faster ship. In that case I better wait for a full space ship and meanwhile get a carrier full of aircraft and a transport full of offensive units ready for a possible take over of their capital.
Meanwhile I better take some precautionary measures. I contacted the Chinese. Recycling -> Chinese (4) -> Cordial. Next on their list was Espionage and Stealth. I stopped gifting at this point. Unfortunately this was not enough to convince them to exchange maps or form an alliance. Space flight -> Indian (1) -> map exchange. Met with Russians. Rocketry, Combustion, Radio, Mobile Warfare, Machine tools -> Russian (3) -> peace. Hopefully they will use these to attack some Chinese cities to keep them occupied.
The anticipated sneak attack by Chinese finally comes in 1624! Their Bomber kills my Mech infantry defending Midway island. But they do not attack in America despite having at least a tank, an alpine, and a mech infantry there. Chinese transport parks next to Tlaxcala. Indians declare war on Chinese in my support. Chinese Armor in Baja California pruchased for 792g; it kills Chinese Alpine and becomes vet. Contacted Russians. They want both Superconductor and Nuclear Fission to attack Chinese. I gave it to them. Next contacted Ottomans and gave them Superconductor for cease fire. They want 7450g to declare war on the Chinese. Even if I had that much money I would not accept. They want me to declare war on my Indian allies for peace with them; I rejected. Superconductor -> Spanish (2) -> Cease fire. Stealth Bomber destroys Chinese transport.
During the next two turns both Ottomans and Indians join the space race by building a few structurals. In 1626 I finally launch my full space ship due to arrive in 1637.
Eventually, everyone joined the space race but nobody launched. Chinese resumed work on their space ship in 1630. War with the Chinese went on till near the end. But they never managed to capture any city of mine nor did they ever launch an all out assault. I did some military build up but stopped when realized that more is not necessary.
This game was extremely challenging, taxing, and exciting. It was only during the last 5 turns that I was sure I have won the game. Turns in 1600s were taking nearly 1 hour of real time.
Detailed log is attached.