A hard long slow game)
And everything started so well... Settled in place. Started with warrior and BW. After growing to 2, slaved first worker and built several more warriors and sent them to explore. Having discovered that there was only Louis on the continent besides me, after a short reflection, I decided to immediately take him out of the game. And attacked with 3 warriors from NE, SE and SW. There were 2 archer and a couple of work boats in Paris. I attacked just in time. The worker was around gems and I captured him. Then plundered gems, exchanged one warrior on archer in forest in defense and fortified with 2 warriors on a forest hill 1N from Paris, thereby blocking any expansion from France. Later I brought archer to this hill, and when the 1st catapult tried attack my archer (without damage) send one more archer and axe.
In London, after 2 settlers, I built Stonehenge and that was the end of my success. Realizing that science would be slow, I forced a library and GS in the 2nd city (corn, fish) for academy. In the 3rd city (pig, copper, clam) I started to chop the Great Lighthouse, but they beat me by 4 turns. And then I suddenly settled too much. When there was 1 turn left to the currency on 100% (75 AD), I ran out of money. And at 0% for science, my income was... +1 ) As a result, it took me 10 turns of careful playing to finish learning the currency. But that didn't stop me from expanding further. I didn't rest until I populated the entire continent, except Paris and 1 barbarian city.
All religions were founded and all wonders were built on another continent. I adopted bureaucracy in 1050 AD, monarchy a little earlier. Louis learned the alphabet, construction, and horseback riding. So in 1200 A.D. I learned the alphabet and made 3 spies (1st died) for stealing 2 other techs. In 1250 I learned machinery and started saving money for compass optics, but in 1260 Saladin's caravel sailed to me from the west. In 1300 I captured the barbarian city with maces, Pakal sailed to me, and I turned on science. In 1330, when Saladin had a maximum of 2 moves left before circumnavigating the world, and I had just learned optics, Wilhelm sailed to me from the east and sold the map for only 110 coins. That's how I first got around the world. I thought it would come in handy ) Wilhelm already had astronomy, In 1350 Pakal learned astronomy, and I ended Louis torment by capturing Paris.
Thanks to espionage, I saw who was learning what. I was lucky - Saladin learn anything but astronomy, so having saved up money, I learned astro in 1480, paper in 1490 and bought education from Saladin in 1500 for astronomy + some money. for comparison, in 1490 Pakal was the first to learn communism, and in 1505 Wilhelm was the first to learn physics. in 1570 I built Oxford, by this time I had 3k of money, I was 17 technologies behind Saladin, and 25 behind Pakal and Wilhelm.
Due to the fact that Saladin did not have some technologies, and I was the first to learn military science and electricity, I significantly reduced the scientific gap. After the electricity exchange, Pakal stopped trading technologies with me. I was the first to learn radio and mass media, but I didn't change them to build wonders. Nevertheless, I lost Rock and Roll, the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Christ and Hollywood 1-2 turns before the construction. Moreover, Christ was built by Saladin in 4 or 5 turns after I exchanged the radio for him much later. But UN became the 2nd wonder in the game that I built.
I didn't want to fight. In principle, the map is very suitable for space and I was sure that I could win by late space. And I honestly don't know how the UN works ) But once built, why not try? For the first time, I put up a resolution on the international currency for a vote and received 100% support, and only for the second time I put up a diplomatic victory. Pakal voted for himself, Saladin abstained, but Wilhelm voted for me and it turned out that this was enough. It would be very disappointing if someone overtakes me with a diplomatic victory by less than 6 turns )
