Arkaeyn
King
Completed my 0.93 game tonight, with China in a cultural victory on Monarch in 2005 (off by one!)
My plan was simple. Playing China consistently has given me a good feel for where to build and what to research. My plan goes -
1. Move Beijing to the coast
2. build warriors to explore
3. research Fishing, build a work boat
4. when that is completed, Beijing should be size 3. I built a city at Macau first
5. followed by a worker
6. research meditation, build Stonehenge to get culture and Great Prophets
7. moderate expansion (Hangzhou was next) combined with tech research to pick up as many resources as possible.
This shows my mainland China. I would later expand to Dairen between Korea and China, and Tianjin near where Hanoi would be. Those six cities would form the base of my empire until 1300 or so (I did start a colony in New Guinea, but razed Seoul). I also focused on my economy far more than my religion, and didn't found any religions - all of them were founded in the Middle East except for the two Indian religions. I did get Buddhism fairly early, which is good, because China has big problems with happiness before Calender.
When Greece appeared, they expanded quickly into the Middle East, razing Hattusas and Ninevah and capturing Babel. This didn't seem to stop the Persians when they appeared, and the two quickly balanced halfway into Asia Minor.
Rome got nowhere. Barbarians, which were so anemic in northern China, captured and razed Milan. Then again. A third time. A fourth time. And one, final, fifth time. The Romans declared war on Greece around 50AD, but otherwise were completely pointless, almost certainly because of the barbie focus. (I have also noticed that their city in Sicily is a near-complete waste of time). Barbarians also swept into Persia regularly, razing their northern cities, and getting to Shush and Arbela and burning them.
Meanwhile, I picked up the Oracle and was doing well in tech and money, which is the big problem with China. The Great Prophets I was churning out gave me money, and I usually sent them to Hangzhou, which is very low on production.
Except for a brief Arabia-Persia war in which the Arabs captured the Holy Land, there were no major wars until the 1300's, when I attacked Japan. I razed their Manchurian cities, picked up Ulsan (possibly a mistake) and invaded southern Japan. I captured two cities, including Kyoto, and sued for peace. In 1545, I went to war with the Mongols, captured Karakorum, razed another city or two, and sued for peace.
Meanwhile, in Europe, France and Germany were deadlocked in a bloody war where they traded Chartres back and forth. Germany finally broke through after capturing "Grenoble" (Copenhagen) and by 1600, had captured Paris, leaving France with just one city in Europe.
Colonially, Isabella had circumnavigated the globe in 1405, and would build colonies in the southwest US, including San Francisco, Havana, and the Philippines. The French, meanwhile, focused their efforts on Brazil. England got into Canada and Australia, while Japan had colonies in Indonesia and Singapore. Cyrus had snuck a Persian colony into Tasmania, and I built a city near Seattle.
Around this time, Congresses started ocurring. I lost Tianjin to India, which was particularly annoying, as it had my Forbidden Palace. I lost my Australian colony, and my American colony. In fact, every time a city of mine was called in a Congress, I lost it, as I was the leader for most of the game.
South Africa was surprisingly up for grabs, so I got two decent cities there. I didn't have a strategic plan, but I figured it would be fun to invade Egypt from the south. Never got around to it, but I did get a good city with the Ironworks there. Chinese South Africa - my dragon ships rock!
1640 ushered in the only really violent phase of the game, which lasted until the early 19th century. Germany turned against Russia, and Arabia attacked Persia, followed quickly by Russia and Persia turning on one another. Russia took a city on the Baltic, and had the better of Persia, razing a few cities and taking Central Asia. Persia slowly drove Arabia back, and when India joined in, the Arabs fell.
In 1749, the second phase of the violent era began, when I declared war on Japan to finish the job, and Monty declared war on the fledgeling United States. Monty swept through the US, causing a collapse which finished in, ironically, 1781 when the British took the barbarian city of Baltimore. I conquered mainland Japan, Singapore, and a city in Manchuria, leaving the Japanese with a few islands and a colony in Siberia. While I was mopping up the Japanese, the Mongols declared war on me, so I mopped them up, too.
I now posessed China, Japan, Mongolia, Manchuria, Singapore, New Guinea, southern Siberia, bits of Central Asia (Kazakhstan?) and South Africa. This was to last me to the end of the game.
In 1916, Russia and Germany went back at it for several turns, which ended when the Germans broke into Novgorod. Russia and Persia had sparred in Central Asia, but there were no major breakthroughs.
When I finished the Mongols, I took a look at what I had, and the best way to win. While I was the leader in the Domination categories, I felt like it would have been a pain to take on Russia, the only real option (unless I turned on India). However, I had the top three cities in the culture standings, with Beijing (Oracle, Stonehenge, and Angkor Wat), Hangzhou (Parthenon, National Epic), and Macau (Great Lighthouse, Colossus). I focused on building culture with them - Buddhist Stupas and the Jewish equivalent, and slowly, then increasingly, turned my culture slider up. Beijing hit Legendary in the 70's. The AI didn't really do anything against me, though Monty declared war on me in 2001, and landed cavalry in Japan. No joke! In 2005, both Macau and Hangzhou hit legendary, and I got to see a movie.
The top five were:
1. China (about 2500)
2. England (about 2350) - England and I had been 1-2 for the entire game ever since the Middle Ages.
3. Russia (about 2000)
4. Aztec (a little less than 2000)
5. Mali (virtually tied)
I received a modified score of 2425, and Dan Quayle-level leadership. Ouch.
My plan was simple. Playing China consistently has given me a good feel for where to build and what to research. My plan goes -
1. Move Beijing to the coast
2. build warriors to explore
3. research Fishing, build a work boat
4. when that is completed, Beijing should be size 3. I built a city at Macau first
5. followed by a worker
6. research meditation, build Stonehenge to get culture and Great Prophets
7. moderate expansion (Hangzhou was next) combined with tech research to pick up as many resources as possible.
This shows my mainland China. I would later expand to Dairen between Korea and China, and Tianjin near where Hanoi would be. Those six cities would form the base of my empire until 1300 or so (I did start a colony in New Guinea, but razed Seoul). I also focused on my economy far more than my religion, and didn't found any religions - all of them were founded in the Middle East except for the two Indian religions. I did get Buddhism fairly early, which is good, because China has big problems with happiness before Calender.
When Greece appeared, they expanded quickly into the Middle East, razing Hattusas and Ninevah and capturing Babel. This didn't seem to stop the Persians when they appeared, and the two quickly balanced halfway into Asia Minor.
Rome got nowhere. Barbarians, which were so anemic in northern China, captured and razed Milan. Then again. A third time. A fourth time. And one, final, fifth time. The Romans declared war on Greece around 50AD, but otherwise were completely pointless, almost certainly because of the barbie focus. (I have also noticed that their city in Sicily is a near-complete waste of time). Barbarians also swept into Persia regularly, razing their northern cities, and getting to Shush and Arbela and burning them.
Meanwhile, I picked up the Oracle and was doing well in tech and money, which is the big problem with China. The Great Prophets I was churning out gave me money, and I usually sent them to Hangzhou, which is very low on production.
Except for a brief Arabia-Persia war in which the Arabs captured the Holy Land, there were no major wars until the 1300's, when I attacked Japan. I razed their Manchurian cities, picked up Ulsan (possibly a mistake) and invaded southern Japan. I captured two cities, including Kyoto, and sued for peace. In 1545, I went to war with the Mongols, captured Karakorum, razed another city or two, and sued for peace.
Meanwhile, in Europe, France and Germany were deadlocked in a bloody war where they traded Chartres back and forth. Germany finally broke through after capturing "Grenoble" (Copenhagen) and by 1600, had captured Paris, leaving France with just one city in Europe.
Colonially, Isabella had circumnavigated the globe in 1405, and would build colonies in the southwest US, including San Francisco, Havana, and the Philippines. The French, meanwhile, focused their efforts on Brazil. England got into Canada and Australia, while Japan had colonies in Indonesia and Singapore. Cyrus had snuck a Persian colony into Tasmania, and I built a city near Seattle.
Around this time, Congresses started ocurring. I lost Tianjin to India, which was particularly annoying, as it had my Forbidden Palace. I lost my Australian colony, and my American colony. In fact, every time a city of mine was called in a Congress, I lost it, as I was the leader for most of the game.
South Africa was surprisingly up for grabs, so I got two decent cities there. I didn't have a strategic plan, but I figured it would be fun to invade Egypt from the south. Never got around to it, but I did get a good city with the Ironworks there. Chinese South Africa - my dragon ships rock!
1640 ushered in the only really violent phase of the game, which lasted until the early 19th century. Germany turned against Russia, and Arabia attacked Persia, followed quickly by Russia and Persia turning on one another. Russia took a city on the Baltic, and had the better of Persia, razing a few cities and taking Central Asia. Persia slowly drove Arabia back, and when India joined in, the Arabs fell.
In 1749, the second phase of the violent era began, when I declared war on Japan to finish the job, and Monty declared war on the fledgeling United States. Monty swept through the US, causing a collapse which finished in, ironically, 1781 when the British took the barbarian city of Baltimore. I conquered mainland Japan, Singapore, and a city in Manchuria, leaving the Japanese with a few islands and a colony in Siberia. While I was mopping up the Japanese, the Mongols declared war on me, so I mopped them up, too.
I now posessed China, Japan, Mongolia, Manchuria, Singapore, New Guinea, southern Siberia, bits of Central Asia (Kazakhstan?) and South Africa. This was to last me to the end of the game.
In 1916, Russia and Germany went back at it for several turns, which ended when the Germans broke into Novgorod. Russia and Persia had sparred in Central Asia, but there were no major breakthroughs.
When I finished the Mongols, I took a look at what I had, and the best way to win. While I was the leader in the Domination categories, I felt like it would have been a pain to take on Russia, the only real option (unless I turned on India). However, I had the top three cities in the culture standings, with Beijing (Oracle, Stonehenge, and Angkor Wat), Hangzhou (Parthenon, National Epic), and Macau (Great Lighthouse, Colossus). I focused on building culture with them - Buddhist Stupas and the Jewish equivalent, and slowly, then increasingly, turned my culture slider up. Beijing hit Legendary in the 70's. The AI didn't really do anything against me, though Monty declared war on me in 2001, and landed cavalry in Japan. No joke! In 2005, both Macau and Hangzhou hit legendary, and I got to see a movie.
The top five were:
1. China (about 2500)
2. England (about 2350) - England and I had been 1-2 for the entire game ever since the Middle Ages.
3. Russia (about 2000)
4. Aztec (a little less than 2000)
5. Mali (virtually tied)
I received a modified score of 2425, and Dan Quayle-level leadership. Ouch.
I'll try China out next.
maybe 6 times a save before the Congress for not loosing New Orleans to Japan 
. Needless to say Japanese culture in this city was 0%. Btw some mechanism could be implemented that culture is not lost immediately - when I re-conquer a city my culture should remain there - lost proportionally to time the city was not mine. (My dream 
)
and no cultural buildings.
![[offtopic]](/images/smilies/offtopic.gif "Offtopic [offtopic]")
, but I notice that Sicily is always so USELESS for Rome; they have low production, and once they have a Lighthouse and maybe Granary it gets better, but it's frustrating to pay for such a crappy city from early on. Just a gripe, and the more I think about it, the more it seems ok. Still, does anyone else have any thoughts on this?
