I read this post and it inspired me to go back to a saved game that I had lost to a Spaceship win by the Persians.
I had started on a small continent in an awful position. Most of my territory was crappy hills and desert and stuff. I shared the continent with the Indians and there were 3 other larger and better continents with 2 civs each, for a total of seven opponents. It was a tough spot, but I soldiered on against the odds. Then the Chinese invaded me with Tanks and all I had were Musketmen. I quit.
So I restarted the game from an early save and went more aggressive earlier on, sacrificing development for aggression. It took me a whole series of extended campaigns with Swordsmen and Horsemen vs. Spearmen, then Pikemen, then Musketmen to get the rest of the continent but by then I was VERY far behind and the three other civs had completely taken over their respective continents, leaving me in fourth place out of four, with each of the others having bigger and better continents and about a dozen techs in the lead. So I worked hard and got industrialized and went after the Chinese with a huge stack of Infantry, Artillery and Cavalry, finishing up the war with some brand new Tanks and massive war weariness (60% Happiness and all cities still starving to death). In no shape to continue fighting, I had to make peace and focus on development. I still hadn't finished rebuilding the former Indian territory and was way behind on tech. The Chinses were way ahead of me in culture, so I had had to burn down most of their cities and had a bunch of crappy villages holding down their former territory. Still, I was hopeful that since I now had a 50% lead on territory over the two remaining civs, I would be able to build up and catch them. No such luck. I got the Intelligence Agency and my spies discovered that both the Greeks and the Persians were already building their spaceships and I was about 20 techs behind. In despair, I quit again.
A few months later, I resurrected the old game and went flat out for the Spaceship Victory. There was no way I could even consider a war right then with no navy, 20 techs behind, and massive war weariness from my last campaign. I failed as the Persians launched their spaceship when I only had the first three components built. Ashamed, I crept away from the game and sobbed failed-at-civ-again tears.
But hope springs eternal! After reading this thread, I decided that this was just the game to resurrect, about 18 months after my last attempt, nearly 2 years after I started it. This time I reloaded right at the point where I was poised to take the last few Chinese cities. I killed off all but one city, saved my last Great Leader to rush build a Spaceship component, accepted their peace offering of four technologies, then surprise attacked them and wiped them out. THEN I went nuts on development. I disbanded most of my non-elite units and artillery to rush-build improvements, keeping only enough to wipe out any surprise amphibious assaults. I built a bunch of new cities and maxed out my science budget, micromanaging it every turn. The Persians launched a massive invasion just as my Space ship was nearing completion (they ALWAYS do that)! I had barely enough military strength remaining to repel the attack and my hoarded Great Leader rush-built the last component of the Space ship 2 turns before the Persians finished theirs.
The End.
ZZim
but this is one of the best i've read... i would have been killed by the iriqous.
I really need to learn how to play this game lol.
