I pressed the retire Button after I had the GW, the Mids and 5 Cities. I accidentally used the Germantranslation of CIV and simply was confused. Would have probably won a good Espionage victory.
Playing the Deity save, it was obvious by the AD that there was no way for me to win this game, so I decided that my goal was simply to survive to the end of it. Having only five cities and never going to war did allow for relatively fast game play.
Charlemagne declared war on MM in 175 and Hatty responded by declaring on Charley. Maybe, I thought, they might tear Charley apart, and then I could join the alliance and pick up a border city? But, no, Hatty used an AP vote to end her part of the war in 540, then the other two made peace in 760. MM had only captured one border city during the war. I signed defense pacts with Hatty and Hammy, hoping their power would prevent the other AI from seeing what an easy target I made.
After that, with votes for diplomatic victories in the AP and UN falling short, it settled down to a space race (one I never even got close to joining). Hammurabi had an early lead in building his ship, even completing the Space Elevator in 1808, but Sitting Bull launched his ship first, in 1846. With the countdown to his victory started, Hammy and Charley declared war on Pacal in 1852. But with that ship still in deep space, MM won a cultural victory in 1860!
Had a crap start and only built 1 additional city with the flood plains and stone to the NE. Hammurabi grabbed a spot near the copper to the NW much faster than I expected.
I was able to build pyramids and then great library. Some smart tech trading and a surprise tech gift from Egypt (they gave a few more throughout the game) allowed me to get pretty close to tech parity at this point. I was mulling what to do when I got a GE from the pyramids and realized the Sistine Chapel had not yet been built. So I rushed that and decided to make a stab at a culture win (otherwise I was mulling option of trying to go after someone with muskets and trebs).
I built a fairly crap third city to the SE of capitol that was able to snag some fish/rice for fast growth and slave rushed needed temples there to built cathedrals in two core cities as I teched to liberalism.
As cultural borders grew I was able to build a few more cities in borders and also flipped a few cities from neighbors (ended up with 9 total cities). I botched picking my 3rd cultural city though. I went with one I built on my border and had to build it up rather than waiting a few more turns to snag the great city to the NW of the capitol near the copper when it eventually flipped. Weirdly when it flipped the Globe was still present in it which would have been a pretty significant culture boost. But by that time I had already built cathedrals in the other city so it was too late.
I flipped between Representation (for tech) and Universal Suffrage (for buying buildings) a few times which was fairly effective in maintaining my science rate and building culture stuff. I managed to keep excellent relations with all civs and avoided any wars which would have killed me off fast.
I ended up with a culture loss to Egypt in 1836 when I was about 10 turns behind getting there myself. I probably could have won if I had been smarter about getting GAs in some of my tertiary cities, I was close to squeezing a few out of several at the end and if I had done better management earlier that could have pushed me over the top. Converting my capital from a cottage city to a GA farm (I got over the legendary threshold super early) might have also helped. Granted, I also needed those cottages to make $ to buy improvements elsewhere so maybe not. Despite having the GL I was lucky with generating GA's. Other than the one GE, I had 4 scientists. Three were fairly early which I settled and used for an academy and the last one was good for a golden age in the later portion of the game (was a nice production boost as I had a lot of Universal suffrage cottages by then). As to GA's I think I had 7.
A final interesting part of the game was the relevance of corporations. Creative Construction was founded 1st in 1410, sadly it was not spread to my cities until late in the game as it would have helped a lot. All of the other corporations (except the food ones) were also founded by the end of the game. I benefited from Mining inc in a few cities, but got hurt by standard ethanol which ended up being a money suck.
Playing the deity save.
I got that wheat+copper spot just 1 turn before Hammurabi's settler. I got no world wonder and 6 cities including 1 barbarian city. Hammurabi DOW on me at BC 525. Babylon army lost 20+ soldiers in front of the wheat-copper city settled on plainshill. After getting construction and horseback riding(I traded copper for ivory with Sitting Bull), I started to retaliate and took 2 cities from Hammurabi. At AD200, I had 6 elephants 14 catapults 2 swords 11 axes 3 spears 1 great scientist and enough cash to finish feudalism in 2 turns. Then Hammurabi became a vassal of Mansa and Mali with 10 cities DOW on me. Actually at this time I could still win the game. My soldier value is 320000+ vs the strongest opponent being 560000+(probably SB). finishing off Mali's 1st attack wave with my elephants and catapults and calling for a peace talk is not hard for me. Not to mention it would take a few more turns for Mali's troops to rally and travel to the front line. But I forgot to save the game and the game crashed. Just call it GG.
Thx for the game.
Got 6 cities in the early game, including two barb cities (lucky). Then boxed in. Managed to get into the trading game, and remember I used Compass to get some backfill. Double-bulbed Edu and took a stab at Lib. It really looked good, and I could have taken it for many a turn. But I was greedy, and it felt like such a waste to pick Chemistry, which I could bulb anyway if only some bugger would trade me Printing Press. Lib practically done, and things line up and we are just a turn away.
Not the biggest loss in the world, but it hurts when you are so close. Think I then completed Lib next turn anyway, and traded something, before spending 12-15 turn on Steel. Those ~15 turns could have been useful.
Launched a Golden Age to produce a GM, and produced some trebs for upgrade. Wouldn't have been ready to go to war super-soon anyway, as we still needed some barracks and the like. Went Police State - Slavery - Free Market - Theocracy at the end of the GAge, after trading for Economics that very turn. Time to whip trebs and later cannons, and also some cleanup troops, mainly maces and muskets.
Funny move from the intended war target the very same turn I'm going to DOW.
Spoiler:
If you knew how to make one, I'd tell you to shove a steel girder up your behind. Seeing as you don't...
This wasn't my first intended target, though. But a few turns back, maybe he saw the painting on the wall, Hammurabi peace vassaled to Mansa Musa. The crummy thing is that it was probably my fault too. Because a while back I bribed him into Buddhism, which enabled him to get Friendly with Mansa, many turns later
To make matters worse, both Mansa and Charlie refuse pathetically small begs for 10 and a Fish (there was 0g), despite the fact I haven't asked them anything for the first 150 turns. That made me very upset, and it's the kind of thing that can lose you the game (at least it can for me). After declaring it was thankfully possible to bribe Mansa+Hammi into the war
Spoiler:
Didn't like to give away Military Tradition, that I had recently gotten from Friendly Sitting Bull (we had a Defensive Pact, broken upon DOW), but I had nothing else.
After Steel I went Military Science and upgraded some CR2 Maces to Grenadiers. Rifling felt too far away. Also upgraded some elephants to Cuirs. A few of them stupidly just before getting Rifling, so I basically upgraded a handful of Elephants -> Cuirs -> Cavalry one turn after the other. Oh well... more money down the drain.
Eventually Hatty capitulated, and I was able to trade Scientific Method, Astronomy and Divine Right. Latter was meant as trade chip, which didn't work out all that well, and Mansa's whopping 920 suddenly disappeared as well. Not cool.
After Hatty, it was a tough decision to decide what to do. Sitting Bull was just north of us, but it's Sitting freakin' Bull. He has City Guardian 8 (roughly) Longbows (err, Rifles) and doesn't bow down until he has about 2 cities with a warrior in them left. On the other hand, Charlie has had a rough war with Pacal that ended without cities changing hands, and is more backwards. But he's 6-7 turns away (without healing). That's a long wait at this level.
I also discover that it may be possible to get a different way out.
Spoiler:
That is a lot of votes, all his cities are gigantic. If I manage to cap him, he should vote for me, but it could take quite a while. Especially now when he has Rifles.
Had to wait a few turns to get a couple of important trades done. There was also another thought, because Mansa had a rather big stack in the area, since we were both at war with Hatty. It is ultimately a little outdated, so I could have taken it out (I think). But it's waaaaay too risky, really, and most likely they'd both roll over me. We have a long border after all, and warriors and archers probably don't hold up too well against Cuirs and Rifles.
Spoiler:
Some trade before we start warring again.
Spoiler:
Do the whips I had planned. Go Caste-State Property, declare on Sitting Bull, and...
Manage to take a city on turn 1 with only one rifle in it (without fortification). Later, odds aren't great. We get 0.76% with CR2 cannons against his mammoth City Guardian 3 Drill 1 Rifles. We lose 7 cannons to get through his 5-6 rifles + assorted others, but take his capital Cohokia after two turns of attacks.
Mansa is taking on Sitting Bull on his western front, with surprisingly few cannons. Is this lucky or what???
Spoiler:
I take the city, but doubt it can be held. Looks like SB goes before Mansa, which I think means the city won't be reinforced by Mansa's units in time. I send some Cavs into harm's way close to our eastern front, to threaten a city there, hoping that means whatever Cuirs and Cavs he has in various cities, won't steal Snaketown back, so Mansa ends up controlling it.
It succeeds, at the loss of a Cavalry. Mansa moves units into the city. Some heal, and others move on directly. Not very careful stack management there, Mr Mansa
The war is going well, but the teching is not. Don't like the look of this.
Spoiler:
"Everybody" can get Infantry soon-ish, and our tech rate is at a stand still. I still hope to get Steam Power somehow. Here I have just given Charlie two techs, hoping we would be genuine Friendly. We do get Friendly, but it doesn't help because he's Pleased with Hatty. No techs for you Was worth a shot, I suppose.
We move on Poverty Point, with 6 more rifles. Only one is truly horrendous, but the others aren't exactly weak either.
Spoiler:
After taking the city, we move to Spiro and take that too. Then march a small-ish stack up the hills towards Mesa Verde. I'm also shadowing a pack of Malinese Cavalry on the other flank, hoping to steal another city. Mansa attack into 80% culture defense rifles, which goes about as well as you can imagine. I manage to dislodge one half-dead rifle at 76% odds, but the others get under 50%, so I chicken out.
After those two western captures, Sitting Bull is still "Doing fine on our own". I'm not sure what tipped the scales. Maybe it was the advancement on Mesa Verde, with those units then being two tiles away from the city, or maybe it was that one rifle kill near Mansa's RIP-ed cavalry. Whatever it was, Sitting Bull is FINALLY ready to capitulate, and the war is finally at an end.
Soon after this happens.
Spoiler:
The way things were going with the techs, I'm really not sure it would have been possible to win another way. Once you fall behind, it's very difficult to catch up this deep into the game. And Mansa was going totally bonkers, with Free Speech, Environmentalism and Towns and Windmills galore. Hammurabi already had Artillery, and Mansa would probably have an Air Force and nukes in the near future. I could take on Charlie and Pacal, but they were no slouches either at this point.
Power graph and stats.
Spoiler:
Didn't know Sitting Bull was this fast actually. Neck and neck with Mansa. And that is quite a power loss for Charlie in the Pacal war.
Don't understand what's up with the score, though. The game reported 194,000 in the victory screens, but the submission email noted 166,000? What's up with that?
Thanks for the game! Almost can't believe I won at Deity. So easy for something to go wrong. Very slow AP win of course, but just happy to win (and so close to the deadline).
Would you be willing to tell us more about how it went?
Had wanted to go for a military win, but fell off the tech pace during the wars, and am not sure I would have been able to get back into it in time to catch the others. Probably not tbh. Even if I could get out those nice German UU tanks. How did you pull it off?
Sure, similar to your game i think
Looking thru some older saves for screenies.
Spoiler:
Stuck on 4 cities, just finished Pyras & Rep revolted..thinking about library micro
Spoiler:
Was thinking about Elepult with SB's Ivory, but they all loved each other (peaceweight). Preferred the longer teching game with Rep and Caste.
Pacal was the hate magnet but out of reach
Picked up everything with the music line, gold certainly not an issue with 4 cities.
Spoiler:
With Lib i made a serious mistake, took machinery before bulbing which ofc doesn't work anymore at PP unlocked..oh well more time for HAs.
Spoiler:
Some serious players at this point with vassals, Mansa especially scary.
Taking down Hatty first while Hammy distracted SB (more so than Mansa who never sends much despite 14 cities ). Lib mistake gave me so much unwanted time that i built some longbows for captured cities too, surely makes defending them easier.
Spoiler:
Took all her cities, no vassal.
Peace with SB, his longbows are just too annoying with limited army size still..and i wanted to break up Mansa & Hammy.
Spoiler:
They had MS and Grens now, but as Sulla would say i went full facism..destroyed Mansa's stack in the open and Hammy broke free, made peace with Mansa and vassalled Hammy myself. Some of those Cuirs saw a lot of battles by now
Spoiler:
SB was isolated now and i happily took his big cities while making progress towards Rifling. Hammy researches Steel, Cannons will be needed too to avoid smashing endless Cavs into Rifles. We all did party outside heavily defended Mound City, funny enuf nobody took this city (did i mention Mansa sends small forces?).
Spoiler:
SB finally capitulated, i upgraded only Veteran Cuirs yet..some gold needed for turns into Steel to pick up for Rifling from Hammy.
This will be the new target, Mansa had surprisingly few cottages but was doing okay with techs (early Rifling).
Spoiler:
Mansa had huge stacks from his fake wars against SB, but Cannons can and some Cavs went on their own into his backlands with GG Cannons for bombarding. I used all my generals for them after 1 super medic, they are awesome for removing cultural defenses in quick fashion.
Spoiler:
This war was bloody, 20 Cavs already lost their lives but the game was won at this point.
Thank you, @Fippy. Very impressive game. Essentially beating a Deity map with Cuirs and Cavs. And looks like the bulk of the wars were waged against longbows, looking at the amount of longbow kills. That's the advantage with well-fought Cuirs-Cavs wars.
I like those bombard cannons too. In this game I got them with barracks+theo. Even 80% culture defense is gone in a whiff.
Only got 2 GGs in my game, actually. Once cannons have done their thing (and they only get 1XP for 'won' battle, no matter the odds), most of the others get 99% odds, which probably explains the low number of GGs.
Mansa was a beast for me, however. Taking on that power graph would have been quite something. Perhaps if I had wiped his stack things could have been possible, but I didn't dare. Front was too long and weakly defended.
Seems like we had different practices of city guardians too.
Spoiler:
Despite losing 10-15 Cuirs here and there, it barely registers in his nutty graph.
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and Mali with 10 cities DOW on me. Actually at this time I could still win the game. My soldier value is 320000+ vs the strongest opponent being 560000+(probably SB). finishing off Mali's 1st attack wave with my elephants and catapults and calling for a peace talk is not hard for me. Not to mention it would take a few more turns for Mali's troops to rally and travel to the front line. But I forgot to save the game and the game crashed. Just call it GG.
and a Fish (there was 0g), despite the fact I haven't asked them anything for the first 150 turns. That made me very upset, and it's the kind of thing that can lose you the game (at least it can for me). After declaring it was thankfully possible to bribe Mansa+Hammi into the war
What's up with that?
). Lib mistake gave me so much unwanted time that i built some longbows for captured cities too, surely makes defending them easier. 
