ericball
Warlord
Occasionally I'll remember to save the game before I do anything else so I can go back and re-play the same game. I first tried playing using my usual peaceful expansion playstyle, but I ended up losing in the end. I then tried again to win with just one city and lost again, but then tried a second time and won - although only by the skin of my teeth.
My starting position was near ideal - one move to build Athens on top of a hill with lots of grassland, forest and sea squares inside the big X. From previous games I knew the English were north of me and the Japanese to the south. The other two AIs were the Germans and the Aztecs, but they wouldn't meet me until late in the game. I didn't bother exploring, but focused entirely on research.
My first objective was Masonry to get a free wall (100 hammers and essential for defense). Then I went for Currency for a free marketplace and so I'd get Banking when I got 250 gold. Then I spent a little time building a veteran Hoplite army. Then it was back to research for Navigation (to build a Harbor). Then I flipped over to Gold to start towards my objective.
If I were to play this again, I would continue my research toward Industrialization, Corporation and Mass Production. As it was, I got myself occupied with in a war with the English and my backlevel tech started to be an issue. So I had to get back on the tech treadmill, but now I wasn't picking up those first bonuses.
As it was, the endgame was a close thing. I started building the Military Industrial Complex to stockpile hammers for the World Bank, then flipped over to all gold production when I was around 7 turns from finishing it. Then the Japanese discovered Space Flight and started building their space ship. The Germans had 15/20 of the requirements for culture and were also high in gold.
The Japanese launched their space ship in 2066 with an ETA of 2080 - only 7 turns! Fortunately, I was within 5 turns of getting 20K in gold and I had over 500 hammers stockpiled (the Germans discovered the MI Complex, but I didn't chose anything to build so I held on to the stockpile). The Germans also amassed 20K in gold in 2076, but I built the World Bank the next turn.
Update: I brought my victory down to 2052 by not flipping to gold until after I had Industrialization, Corporation and Mass Production. I could have gotten the victory in 2042ish if I had been stockpiling hammers while amassing my fortune.
My starting position was near ideal - one move to build Athens on top of a hill with lots of grassland, forest and sea squares inside the big X. From previous games I knew the English were north of me and the Japanese to the south. The other two AIs were the Germans and the Aztecs, but they wouldn't meet me until late in the game. I didn't bother exploring, but focused entirely on research.
My first objective was Masonry to get a free wall (100 hammers and essential for defense). Then I went for Currency for a free marketplace and so I'd get Banking when I got 250 gold. Then I spent a little time building a veteran Hoplite army. Then it was back to research for Navigation (to build a Harbor). Then I flipped over to Gold to start towards my objective.
If I were to play this again, I would continue my research toward Industrialization, Corporation and Mass Production. As it was, I got myself occupied with in a war with the English and my backlevel tech started to be an issue. So I had to get back on the tech treadmill, but now I wasn't picking up those first bonuses.
As it was, the endgame was a close thing. I started building the Military Industrial Complex to stockpile hammers for the World Bank, then flipped over to all gold production when I was around 7 turns from finishing it. Then the Japanese discovered Space Flight and started building their space ship. The Germans had 15/20 of the requirements for culture and were also high in gold.
The Japanese launched their space ship in 2066 with an ETA of 2080 - only 7 turns! Fortunately, I was within 5 turns of getting 20K in gold and I had over 500 hammers stockpiled (the Germans discovered the MI Complex, but I didn't chose anything to build so I held on to the stockpile). The Germans also amassed 20K in gold in 2076, but I built the World Bank the next turn.
Update: I brought my victory down to 2052 by not flipping to gold until after I had Industrialization, Corporation and Mass Production. I could have gotten the victory in 2042ish if I had been stockpiling hammers while amassing my fortune.
