Conquest class
So in 580 AD I am in the industrial age and find myself in quite a similar situation as I was in the only other GOTM I've completed; GOTM 31, my first.
GOTM 31 final spoiler
I have no coal, a very small territory, no military to speak of... I've decided after my unsuccessful war with India that I will attempt a diplomatic victory just like in GOTM31. That game really helped me learn good trading. Cash flow will be the most important factor in my game so the most important improvements will be banks and stock exchanges. One thing that's really funny is that I notice a couple Russian horsemen on India's 2 tile island. Russia dropped them there when they were at war back in the early middle ages!
Immediately following Byzantine's entry into the industrial age the wonder cascade begins. Bach's in Istanbul, Smith's in Madras, Newton's in Persepolis, leaving us Magellan's in Adrianople- completed in 610AD. We begin trying desperately to get coal. There are two sources in Russian lands but they aren't hooked up so we can't trade for it. My other goal is to try and get India to feel a little better about us. Ghandi, it turns out, will remain furious with us for all but about 20 turns. We trade all around for as many luxuries as we can get, gift techs to the Dutch and the Vikings, and gift small amounts of gpt to anyone annoyed with us to try and get them polite. This works phenomenally with Carthage. Hannibal will be gracious to us basically the remainder of the game.
About that coal on the little island: I used a worker to plant a colony on it. I knew it wouldn't let me use it that way. I was hoping for one of those "the source of (resource) has been exhausted" messages because it seems the resource always respawns not too far away. Was a longshot, I knew, but I had to try something.
We make it to industrialization first in 710AD! I was surprised, actually. We use it to get caught up in most techs and acquire over 1000 gold plus about 112 gpt. We GIFT industrialization to Ghandi and he's still furious. Cash rush factories in Adrianople and Constantinople. In 780AD we complete the Forbidden Palace in Lahore. There's no way the cities down here are going to flip now! At least that's my hope.
Research Corporation in 780AD! Another 113gpt +700 or so coins and our research gets pumped way up. Entertainment slider stays at 0% for almost all the industrial age because of all the luxuries we are able to trade for. Somewhere around this time I get frustrated waiting for Russia to hook up the coal, so I find a creative way to get some. One of the coal deposits is on an island Russia shares with the Ottomans, and the coal is right on the edge of Russian culture. I hurriedly get 2 workers, a settler, and a knight over there via galleon.
The Russian workers were kind enough to road it and clear the jungle for me! Something that surprised me was that I was able to build coal plants and start railroading without putting a harbor in the new city.
Steel in 900AD. Able to get electricity, nationalism, sanitation, 40gpt and some change. Russia has replaceable parts. We gift a bunch of techs to the Netherlands and Vikings, and India destroys the Vikings in 930AD. India asks for an MPP +ROP with us in 960AD. Ghandi is still furious. I feel like I need to do something or else Ghandi is just going to squish me like a bug. We agree to the MPP and give some gpt. I don't want his troops all over my land. Delhi completes Universal Suffrage the next turn. Our build in Adrianople switches to Palace.
In 980AD Russia starts getting uppity. They demand 29 gold +map. Sure Cathy, here ya go. And take this 5gpt gift too. She is polite now. She gets Scientific Method 1 turn before us. We go ahead and finish our research on it and in 1000AD switch Adrianople to Theory of Evolution in 6 turns. I think about selling it around because it's doubtful anyone can finish it faster than 6 turns. But I don't. Ottomans demand it IBT and we give. Then I decide to sell since I already gave it away and I accidentally gift it to Persia! Doh! ToE is complete in 1040AD and we jump ahead to Atomic Theory and Electronics. Adrianople will complete the Hoover dam in 15 turns. Atomic Theory nets us Replaceable Parts, Refining, Communism, Gems, Rubber, 110gpt and some change. Ottomans are now gracious too.
Now if I continue like this my post will be waaaay long so I'll try to sum up more. The AI aggression is crazy in this game. I renew my MPP with India after it expires and that sends me to war later. There are wars breaking out all over the place constantly. 2 civs will be allied against a third for a while, then the 2 allies will go to war against each other... madness! In the end though I hope this will help my UN chances. We complete the Hoover Dam, Wall Street, Intelligence Agency. We fall behind on tech eventually with India becoming the leader. Russia goes and researches ironclads with only 3 techs left in the IA!
In 1270 my MPP with India bites me. India and Carthage ally against the Ottomans. We are forced to declare, losing wines and rubber. The Ottomans capture Smolensk on our littel coal island. I have cash rushed infantry over there but not nearly enough of them. Our little outpost is taken quickly, along with our coal. Luckily I have already railroaded everything in our territory. Then Persia joins the alliance against us which means we lose dyes and incense too. ALL our cities riot. Ghandi soon after dclares on the Dutch, too! Complete chaos! The only good thing that comes out of all this is that Ghandi is now only annoyed with us. Yeah! As soon as our MPP is over we do not renew. Ghandi goes back to furious.
I'm careful not to attack any other civs we are at war with. I want peace as soon as possible and get back to trading and preparing them for the UN vote. I build some ships and some infantry as defenders but no REAL military force. The world ends up having a couple turns of peace and then my worst fear is realized: Ghandi declares on us! He even gets Cathy to join him. I start drafting riflemen (no rubber for infantry!) and building artillery (no oil for tanks!). I immediately regret not building Caesarea on the hill on the land bridge so I send workers to build a fortress on it and then barricade it. Ghandi's invasion force moves in... infantry and guerillas? Flak guns? Crusaders?!?! Holy cow! Ghandi doesn't have oil either! I use artillery to bambard his units and cavalry to swoop in and finish them off. We lose 1 infantry total and they lose 2 Flak guns (I don't even have flight yet!) and about a half dozen infantry and guerillas. The only real damage done is Chalcedon gets bombed repeatedly and I have to rebuild the temple, library, etc there. They do some pillaging though which is annoying because I can't rebuild the railroads. Ghandi realizes his attack isn't going to accomplish much and calls for peace. What a relief.
Eventually we all enter the modern age. I use the "big picture method" but no one will trade their techs. No one gets fission. We get ecology. Russia gets computers. Persia ecology. India quickly researches rocketry. Our military plans get stolen a couple times and this makes me real nervous. We trade for some oil and rubber and roll out tanks. India again starts moving forces into our land, a goofy mix of infantry, guerillas, marines and longbows. As I close in on fission I start running into money problems. All those gpt deals from the late IA start expiring. I end up having to disband units, join workers to cities, switch cities to wealth, etc to maintain the tech pace.
Wars are still breaking out all over the place. India and Carthage ally against Persia, which makes the Indian forces leave our land. I breathe a little easier. India tries to drag me into it. No way, man! We're sooo close to fission and the UN. Russia goes to war with India! I forgot about the Russian horsemen by Chittagong! So 2 ancient age units attack a modern age city. They are redlined and retreat, then suicide onto the city the next turn.
With 1 turn left on fission, we get word that India is building the UN. I panic for a sec but then check F7 and start to laugh! India is building the UN in Chittagong! It's a freakin' 2 tile island, and the one open tile hasn't even been roaded because the Russian horsemen have been sitting on it for 2000 years! Too much! We get fission and switch to UN in Constantinople. Was originally going to build in Adrianople but by switching some citizens around and altering some terrain Constantinople can finish a couple turns faster. Research goes to 0% and the gifts start flowing from the Byzantine empire. My military plans are stolen again. Makes me nervous. I haven't put spies anywhere because I didn't want to piss anyone off.
Russia asks for an MPP. They are at war with the Ottomans, Carthage, and India. No thank you, Cathy. We are trying to stop all this madness. We agree to ROP instead. Then I notice that Cathy only has 3 cities left! I want Cathy around for the UN vote. I've been buttering her up since about 400BC. After a bit of thought, I surround Sardica with infantry and ships and then gift it to her.
Carthage very quickly moves ships over and lands tanks in our land but can't reach it. They promptly bomb it from size 10 down to size 1. I highly doubt Carthage will attack me to get to it. They've been gracious towards us since the end of the MA. We shower gifts on everyone.
The UN is complete in 1550 and we hold the election. The interesting thing is there are only 2 candidates: Osman and myself!
Just for kicks I investigate Chittagong... 177 turns left
My territory at end game:
Was a fun game. I almost didn't continue after the Middle Ages because I thought it might be boring just sitting there trying to get the UN win, but it turned out to be fairly exciting with all the wars going on. I also thought about quitting because I really didn't think I could keep up with the tech pace, but it turned out to really not be a problem even for my small country.
One thing interesting I noticed was that everyone except me and the Netherlands were in Fascism the whole time, even at the end. I think this helped me a lot. I had the most cash flow probably and when they offered big gpt deals for tech I'm sure that slowed their research a bit. The Dutch were in Republic but really weren't doing much. I basically gave them every tech from the MA onward.