Let's analyze with logs:
- AH first (for pigs) then straight mining/BW (got copper, so barb defense good right there). After BW he immediately teched writing (4th tech overall), then math (5th tech).
- City #2 founded 2360 BC
- City #3 founded 1880 BC
- 1280 BC he grabbed his first great scientist. As the final save has no academy in Istanbul and no tech immediately discovered, presumably he held onto it.
- 900 BC he grabs metal casting. From 1560 BC until this point he received no other techs, meaning MC was probably his next research target (doubt he traded math for MC, maybe part of it but prob not). Still on 3 cities.
- 775 BC: 2nd great scientist, probably storing this guy too.
- 700 BC: Bursa, city #4, placed.
- 600 BC: Aesthetics, probably self-researched
- From 575-525 BC (across 3 turns) mass trades for: Alphabet, IW, masonry, hunting, mysticism, archery, and meditation. He also got machinery 575 BC, almost definitely bulbed with 1 of 2 great scientists.
The machinery bulb here is not possible unless you don't have fishing yet! If you DO have it, you'll instead bulb the following first: sailing, calendar, iron working, compass. My suspicion is that by blocking out teching fishing he was able to use a subsequent bulb on engineering shortly thereafter. I'll continue in the logs to confirm!
- 425 BC: construction, possibly teched or traded.
- 375 BC: fishing, priesthood, and Engineering (definitely bulb #2). He bulbed engineering before trading for fishing, or it would have been impossible to do it. Suspicions above confirmed here
. He now has access to trebs + xbow at 375 BC, but has to produce them. Still, before knights these will utterly trounce typical defenders and before castles they should cover ground quickly
- 350 BC monarchy + sailing in, probably traded. I'm thinking he self-teched construction before? That's my guess.
- 250 BC: DoW on Bismark. What could have been produced in so few turns? My guess is that prior to 375 BC xbows whipped, then a few rounds of treb whip. This is a backstab + dogpile too which helps.
- 200 BC: Troops busy, great general for him. Bismark/shaka make peace this turn. Bribed? Don't know.
- 175 BC: Munich captured
- 100 BC: 2nd GG (gogo imperialistic) and then 75 BC he takes Hamburg...a mere 4 turns after the previous city. Not a bad pace for 1 move units by any stretch.
- 50 AD: Berlin falls, stroke of luck here as germans capture hittite and then OP snatches it instantly afterward on 75 AD. OP also gets feudalism (probably traded) 75 AD.
- 100 --> swap HR and vassalage
- 150 Cologne captured, Bismark capitulated. poly/calendar/HBR in the deal. Cologne given back to the germans, presumably to buffer cheese the mali because...
- 200 DoW mali.
- 225 Niani captured, 2 turns later kubi saleh captured, 300 AD MM caps and OP grabs mono + literature. OP returns both cities captured 300 AD.
- 325 Civil Service. Now access to maces as well as xbow/pike/treb
- 400 Currency in (probably from trade?), DoW de gaulle and MASS war bribe against him too (got sury + liz to dogpile)
- 425 One turn later he manages to pick up guilds and capture grenoble. Next turn he trades for CoL and theo.
- The following turns are not too eventful. He revolts hindu/theo and captures avignon 560 AD.
- 620 A bit more nice luck! Tours gets captured by the germans and retaken by french. OP will take it next turn.
- 660 Compass
- 740 Paris/Orleans captured, De Gaulle caps. Tours, Lyons, Avignon, and Paris are all given back!
- 760 Gunpowder
I'll stop here. Jans/treb/knights were his final forces, and it's rinse/repeat (capture a few cities, take cap, return them, do it again) until he wins. As far as I can tell, the only cities kept were original German cities and grenoble. Interestingly, at the end of the game due to returning AI cities several of his vassals can potentially break free, though I rarely see that in practice.
Keys to the game, by my estimation:
1. PHI and starting w/o fishing, which allowed for a fast bulbing of both machinery and engineering
2. Dogpile early war that progressed quickly, giving the necessary production base to milk military units out fast enough to allow medieval to be fruitful
3. Chain vassaling with a knowledge of how the mechanics work evident.
Really this just came down to the bulb strategy and not getting mowed down right away. Even though games don't always shake this nicely (easy dogpile target right near you), it's something skillful players can read and do and the win itself is very impressive
.
Philo leader I assume some GS abuse the way AZ demonstrated with avoiding fishing?
Got (unsurprisingly due to post length + analysis) ninja'd...but this is confirmed
.
