In the 4000 B.C. there arose a stunningly beautiful queen by the name of Theodora. Her beauty and intellect quickly became known throughout the lands and she gathered together a select group of all-male Techno geek advisers. Theodora had become restless and was unsatisfied with her nomadic life, she had visions of greatness and gathered her advisers together to develop a plan to rule world. Now Theodora knew that she had competitors in the quest for world domination but she knew also that the minds that governed these competitors are nothing more than printed circuit's on a piece of silicon. They were no match for her magnificent brain and she had grown bored dealing with their foolishness, she wanted a challenge and sought the counsel of her advisers. We could play a Sid level game suggested her domestic adviser. Is there any level higher? No, at least without modding. Good said Theodora, it's a start but not sufficient. Seeking to gain her favor the military adviser chimed in we could play always war. Excellent, said Theodora we have no use for the lesser foolish tribes of the world and the military adviser swelled with pride nearly splitting the seams of his leather armor. But still she wanted more. How about a one city challenge suggested the cultural adviser, one glorious city to rule the world. The idea appealed to Theodora as she did not care for micromanagement and corruption and all the other pains associated with an expansive empire. Excellent, now what world shall we select? Sensing the general trend in her thinking the shy and unassuming science advisor sweating profusely in the presence of Theodora's great beauty and secretly longing for her sexual favors chimed in that we might start in desert on a pangea. This fool is my science advisor? Away with him, I would like to last more than 20 turns--that would be tougher than this game even played straight up. No Theodora had decided we will begin on a small archipelago map, dry, cold, mountainous, 80% water, maximum aggression, no barbs. A typical setting for crazy variants that probably reduces difficulty by at least 1-2 level. Not only that we will be isolated and Theodora absolutely requires ivory to facilitate the building of statues and an extremely luxurious start for herself. After many rolls and false starts the perfect site for her glorious city is found. She also chooses her foes to be the weakest and most foolish opponents, they are the Americans, the Zulus, the Arabs, the Mongols, and the Chinese. This gives us a starting monopoly on both alphabet, which will last a while, and bronze working which will last all of four or five turns.
Now what to build. The military adviser predictably wants to drown Theodora in warriors. That will not do. Well how will we win this game? I don't think conquest is an option much as Theodora would love to crush her foes under her supple foot. The only other option is 20 K. culture. Theodora likes this option as it is very little work and will bring great glory to her beloved city. So we have two goals to start with. First, Theodora simply must have this marvelous statue known as the colossus. It will bring great commercial value and a nice chunk of culture. However, an even more pressing issue is to hit the high seas and find all of our opponents so as to let them know what we think of them. Hopefully, their fear of Theodora's aggressive nature will cause them to drown themselves in little electronic warriors, that combined with their hopefully crappy starting terrain will choke off their absurdly rapid research capacity. So it is decided that we will build one curgah and then make a run at the colossus. Also we start minimal research on writing of course. I do something a little strange, I mine both cows without roading and then merged the worker back into the city for maximum shield potential. The end result is ... the colossus is ours. In the meantime we find the Zulus and the Mongols who share a continent. The Mongols clearly got the short end of the stick and are living in the frozen tundra. The Zulus have freshwater and a little bit of nice land but mostly desert. Still they will be a force to contend with as they can trade Tech with the Mongols and will probably ultimately overrun them and take the whole island. We hold off trading as I want to trade alphabet only with an isolated civ. Could tell the Zulus were probably not isolated by the number of techs they had when we first met. Also meet the Chinese who do not appear to be isolated by the number of techs they have but turned out to be so. Things are looking good, we have the colossus and have met 3 civs.
Now what to build. The military adviser predictably wants to drown Theodora in warriors. That will not do. Well how will we win this game? I don't think conquest is an option much as Theodora would love to crush her foes under her supple foot. The only other option is 20 K. culture. Theodora likes this option as it is very little work and will bring great glory to her beloved city. So we have two goals to start with. First, Theodora simply must have this marvelous statue known as the colossus. It will bring great commercial value and a nice chunk of culture. However, an even more pressing issue is to hit the high seas and find all of our opponents so as to let them know what we think of them. Hopefully, their fear of Theodora's aggressive nature will cause them to drown themselves in little electronic warriors, that combined with their hopefully crappy starting terrain will choke off their absurdly rapid research capacity. So it is decided that we will build one curgah and then make a run at the colossus. Also we start minimal research on writing of course. I do something a little strange, I mine both cows without roading and then merged the worker back into the city for maximum shield potential. The end result is ... the colossus is ours. In the meantime we find the Zulus and the Mongols who share a continent. The Mongols clearly got the short end of the stick and are living in the frozen tundra. The Zulus have freshwater and a little bit of nice land but mostly desert. Still they will be a force to contend with as they can trade Tech with the Mongols and will probably ultimately overrun them and take the whole island. We hold off trading as I want to trade alphabet only with an isolated civ. Could tell the Zulus were probably not isolated by the number of techs they had when we first met. Also meet the Chinese who do not appear to be isolated by the number of techs they have but turned out to be so. Things are looking good, we have the colossus and have met 3 civs.
