It is approximately 600 AD, and I am surrounded by Chinese forces. Timbouctou has been taken over, and a dozen units are marching towards my capital. Egypt, France, and Germany have joined the war. Nearly all others, who 10 turns ago were my friends, have denounced me. Not that it matters- Nearly any civ could have wiped me out singlehandedly. The city-states that I poured all of my money into are half the world away, and thus no help. Game over. Where did I go wrong?
I was playing as Askia on my first prince game (yeah, I suck at civ), and was aiming for a cultural victory. It seemed like a good choice- the money bonus and Mud Pyramid Mosque clear the way for tons of social policies. However, I was sticking so close to my goal that I actually spelled out my doom. I only had 3 cities, less than anyone else, and they were far apart. My army consisted of one unit only existing to explore and take over encampments. But around 500 AD, things were still looking pretty good. I was in the middle range for score, but I led in the number of social policies. I had 5 or so cultural CS's that I was friends or allies with. I was just out of a war with Napoleon. By war, I mean that he declared war on me, but no one even got close to each others borders and he eventually offered a peace treaty after my allied CSs killed a few of his units. He was now (mysteriously) friendly with me, and only Bismarck was hostile. Go away, Bismarck. No one ever likes you.
Right around now, I should have gotten worried. With an army of ten dudes on a boat, and myself in an unprotected corner of the world, I was prone to attack. Whats more, I was touching borders with China. So, basically China led an attack and everyone followed. As I said, game over. Right? Wrong. My thought was, what if I went back to the original autosave- back before it was anybodys game, and not on the hands of France and Russia- and show everybody what Ive got? Except that this time Im not playing for culture-Im playing to kill.
