There are still a few details--mostly about characters--I have to work out in my head before I start part IX, but I'd like to get most of this done before I go back to work the week after next. (And by "most of this" I mean the whole thing, which includes part X.)
This phase of the game is the most detailed, probably the next two parts combined will barely be as long as this one. There was a lot to setup and the setup for the game was crucial.
Like I said at the beginning, playing the kind of game I like from this isolated start is very, very tricky. Maintaining tech parity demands that you expand carefully, and of course, my lust for wonders is not easily sated. The early phase of this game exceeded my expectations, though. Snagging the Parthenon--which was completely off my wishlist--was quite the coup. I was fortunate that none of the other civs came looking for me; I didn't want to meet them until Alphabet. Once I got there, I started expanding, except I didn't lay down the 4th city until the settlers were in place for almost all 8. One thing that won't be dramatized in the story--but maybe mentioned--is that the other civs started moving in settlers on my island just as I was beginning my settlement drive. I was very close to having to deal with a foreign settlement on our territory, but I beat them to the location of Jenn, in the southeast, so instead of having to invade or try to culture flip another city, I had a Chinese settler and archer wandering around inside the Nation for the entire game!
The next part of the story will have a different format--we'll stay with individual characters for longer. Oh, and I definitely want to stop talking about myself in the third person, so the action will be removed from the center of power. And if you noticed, the calender for the Nation begins with the assimilation of Atticus (formerly Thracian) into the Philosopher Kings. From here on out, then, I'll follow the game years.
It's been fun so far and thank you for all the encouragement. If you have any questions (or tips, I suppose) about the game from 4000BC to 500AD, please feel free.
