bradleyfeanor
King
Open
Hmmm. Well now. I don't know what to say. I did none of these things. That can’t be a good thing
Initial moves
My warrior took the initial step west and spotted the cottony tail of a deer peeking out of the fog SW, SW. You can see it (somewhat) in the lower right corner of the blowup box below:
I decided to head inland and settle W, W, NW. I would found my first city on the river, within range of both the cow and the game. The deciding factor was actually palace location: hopefully the move would give me a more central location and prevent a palace move later. I would lose the coast though, which will certainly hurt a bit on foreign contacts and research.
When I spotted the ivory, I wanted to go for a 20k, but I chickened out. I have found it difficult to secure the Colossus in many of my games at diety level, and since I had already moved my settler away from the coast, it would be very unlikely that I would get it in this one. It should be most interesting to follow DaveMcW’s 20k posts.
My build order was warrior, warrior, granary (2750bc), settler, worker, barracks, spear (because of a forest chop), settler, warrior, and then warrior/settler until 1373bc. I then did a few 2-turn warrior/worker cycles, and went back to warrior/settler.
Exploration and Expansion
I initially thought that Constantinople would be a settler factory, but when I chopped the game and noted the shield given by the tile
(I didn't even know that was possible! Was this an Ainwood modification?), I realized it could make a 4-turn 5/7 warrior/settler factory (warrior built first turn, then a settler in 3 turns). The pic below shows the city on the third turn of the cycle, and the only turn that required micromanagement. The citizen working the forest tile had to be moved to the irrigated ivory, as shown by my beautifully artistic arrow. This would maintain growth on every second turn.
A southern warrior met Ghandi (no trades available) in 3100bc, and the warrior then fortified at a choke location to keep Ghandi from coming into my territory. I didn't build my first curragh until 2110. Contact with the other civs was relatively late due to moving inland for my first city:
Russians, 1700bc
Ottomans, 1550
Dutch, 1475
Carthage, 1375
Vikings, 1025
Persia, 1000
Barbs were not much of an issue. Due to the vet warrior/settler factory, I had the warriors to crush huts, and the settlers to colonize the northern peninsula quickly.
Research and Trading
Initial research was pottery at max, then writing at minimum. Pottery was a mistake, as Ghandi got it the turn before me. This turned out to not be a big deal though. I thought that playing on Open level (my first time) would slow down the tech pace from Predator, but boy was I wrong!
I made my first trade in 1550bc. Osman had IW, but didn’t have Alphabet.
Alphabet, 3gpt and 18g to Osman for IW.
IW, 2gpt and 17g to Ghandi for CB and Masonry. Ghandi is up Math on everyone.
1475bc: The Dutch have writing and it is still seven turns before I get it. I decide that getting Philosophy first might still be a possibility if I trade so:
Masonry, 135g and 2gpt to Dutch for writing
Writing to India for Myst, Math and 139g
Writing to Osman for Poly and WC
Math to Dutch for TW and 235g
Writing to Russia for HR and 39g
Poly to Ghandi for 88g
That left everyone broke except me and the Russians: I had 685g and they had 193. I switched research to Philosophy at 90%. It was due in 10 turns, and I was losing 9gpt. I suspected that race for Philosophy was going to be very, very close given the frantic tech pace already.
1375bc: I met Carthage, and they already had Philosophy
245g to Carthage for Phil
HR to Dutch for 55g
Phil to Russia for 184g
A few civs had MM, but Phil alone wouldn’t get it for me and I didn’t feel it was necessary to pay for it. I expected to meet a few more civs soon to bring the price down, because Carthage was doing too well technologically: they had to have a trading partner. I set research on Lit at 90% due in 15 turns, losing 9gpt.
1250bc
Phil and 192g to India for MM and 2 workers.
Over the next several turns, I watched Carthage get CoL and Construction. I had three curraghs desperately searching for their trading partner(s), but I couldn’t find them. I was the first to get Lit in 1050, but Carthage’s monopoly prices on CoL and Construction were too high. Then the next turn I found the Vikings, and the turn after (1000bc), the Persians. All three had CoL and Const, and the Vikings also had Currency.
1000bc
Myst and Phil to Dutch for CoL and 15g.
Poly to Dutch for 39g.
CoL to Ghandi for 184g (all).
CoL to Ottomans for 64g (all)
Literature, 5gpt and 107g to Persians for Const
Lit to Carthage for 178g
Lit to the Vikings for 118g
Currency at the monopoly price was 770g. It would have been nice to be in the Middle Ages at 1000bc, but that was too expensive.
My stats at the end of the QSC:
8 cities
25 pop
1 settler
9 workers
17 warriors (nearly all veterans)
1 spear
3 curragh
943g
16gpt
All techs except Currency and the two governments
Republic due in 50 at 10% science
3 barracks
2 granaries
Score: Last place with 300. The Indians are at 702.
And then we come to the turn 975bc: a turn that included an endless stream of profanity and a monitor very nearly cast out of the window. It took me about 45 minutes to play the turn. The short version is that I had Feudalism, Monotheism, Engineering and over 1250g in my treasury.
Then the COMPUTER CRASHED.
And guess what? When I reloaded, I did the exact same thing. Did everything happen the same thanks to the RNG? Oh no, of course not. None of us got the same techs, and the end result was not nearly as good. And it took me another 30 minutes to play the turn.
Eventually I recovered my wits. The second version (aka: the crappy version) of the turn’s trading went like this:
The Russians and Ottomans have monarchy. I establish an embassy with Russia. I trade Russia Construction and Lit for Monarchy, an RoP and 25g. I establish an Embassy with the Vikings. Monarchy enables me to get Currency from the Vikings, plus 3g (all) and an RoP. I get Engineering for my free tech. I establish an Embassy with Persia. I give Persia Currency for 116g and an RoP. They get Feudalism and will not trade. I give the Ottomans Currency and Construction. They get Engineering also. Crap. I gift Currency to the Russians. They get Feudalism. I trade Persia Engineering for Feudalism. I trade Carthage Monarchy for 135g. Start Invention at 10%.
Plans
Thanks mostly to my 4-turn warrior/settler factory, I had 14 vet warriors, 2 vet spears and 1 cat ready for upgrade, so I needed to attack India and get in my GA asap. In addition, given the rapid tech pace, I decided to try for a spaceship victory. That meant at some point I needed to be in a Republic, but that was the only AA tech that was not available. Therefore, I decided to try something new (for me): Feudalism. I would have to go through a second revolution at some point, but I felt it would be interesting to try something new.
In order to have a good finish date, I will need to take most of India’s cities quickly, but I am not sure that will be possible. They are quite large and strong. If I can start my GA quickly, then I will alternate my cities between building military and markets/libraries throughout the conflict. I should have started the SoZ early (like Ainwood said), as it would be a big help right about now.
ainwood said:A few tips on archipelago maps:
Explore! The more contacts you have, the more options you have for tech trading. Buy and sell, sell and buy! Its easier to keep-up in the tech race than you think, especially if you research the techs that the AI doesn't often go for, and can sell them.
Defence: Without giving too much away about the actual game, as a suggested strategy, look at active defence. For example: How can you stop the AI landing on your shores? If he can't get to you, he can't attack you! The Dromon is a very useful unit, as it has lethal sea bombard. Hunting in packs, you should be able to sink AI galleys fairly easily, and you can even hide in-port to stop the AI galleys getting to you first.
On defence: Use the terrain defensively, and this includes your cultural borders. A little trick that is quite useful is to have a city on the border with a cultural boundary of two, and road to the boundary. Stationing mobile troops in this city (especially horsemen) gives you a free-attack at anything wandering in to your territory - as mentioned above, try and beat the AI to build the statue of zeus: One free ancient cav every five turns is an excellent unit!
Hmmm. Well now. I don't know what to say. I did none of these things. That can’t be a good thing

Initial moves
My warrior took the initial step west and spotted the cottony tail of a deer peeking out of the fog SW, SW. You can see it (somewhat) in the lower right corner of the blowup box below:

I decided to head inland and settle W, W, NW. I would found my first city on the river, within range of both the cow and the game. The deciding factor was actually palace location: hopefully the move would give me a more central location and prevent a palace move later. I would lose the coast though, which will certainly hurt a bit on foreign contacts and research.
When I spotted the ivory, I wanted to go for a 20k, but I chickened out. I have found it difficult to secure the Colossus in many of my games at diety level, and since I had already moved my settler away from the coast, it would be very unlikely that I would get it in this one. It should be most interesting to follow DaveMcW’s 20k posts.
My build order was warrior, warrior, granary (2750bc), settler, worker, barracks, spear (because of a forest chop), settler, warrior, and then warrior/settler until 1373bc. I then did a few 2-turn warrior/worker cycles, and went back to warrior/settler.
Exploration and Expansion
I initially thought that Constantinople would be a settler factory, but when I chopped the game and noted the shield given by the tile


A southern warrior met Ghandi (no trades available) in 3100bc, and the warrior then fortified at a choke location to keep Ghandi from coming into my territory. I didn't build my first curragh until 2110. Contact with the other civs was relatively late due to moving inland for my first city:
Russians, 1700bc
Ottomans, 1550
Dutch, 1475
Carthage, 1375
Vikings, 1025
Persia, 1000
Barbs were not much of an issue. Due to the vet warrior/settler factory, I had the warriors to crush huts, and the settlers to colonize the northern peninsula quickly.
Research and Trading
Initial research was pottery at max, then writing at minimum. Pottery was a mistake, as Ghandi got it the turn before me. This turned out to not be a big deal though. I thought that playing on Open level (my first time) would slow down the tech pace from Predator, but boy was I wrong!
I made my first trade in 1550bc. Osman had IW, but didn’t have Alphabet.
Alphabet, 3gpt and 18g to Osman for IW.
IW, 2gpt and 17g to Ghandi for CB and Masonry. Ghandi is up Math on everyone.
1475bc: The Dutch have writing and it is still seven turns before I get it. I decide that getting Philosophy first might still be a possibility if I trade so:
Masonry, 135g and 2gpt to Dutch for writing
Writing to India for Myst, Math and 139g
Writing to Osman for Poly and WC
Math to Dutch for TW and 235g
Writing to Russia for HR and 39g
Poly to Ghandi for 88g
That left everyone broke except me and the Russians: I had 685g and they had 193. I switched research to Philosophy at 90%. It was due in 10 turns, and I was losing 9gpt. I suspected that race for Philosophy was going to be very, very close given the frantic tech pace already.
1375bc: I met Carthage, and they already had Philosophy

245g to Carthage for Phil
HR to Dutch for 55g
Phil to Russia for 184g
A few civs had MM, but Phil alone wouldn’t get it for me and I didn’t feel it was necessary to pay for it. I expected to meet a few more civs soon to bring the price down, because Carthage was doing too well technologically: they had to have a trading partner. I set research on Lit at 90% due in 15 turns, losing 9gpt.
1250bc
Phil and 192g to India for MM and 2 workers.
Over the next several turns, I watched Carthage get CoL and Construction. I had three curraghs desperately searching for their trading partner(s), but I couldn’t find them. I was the first to get Lit in 1050, but Carthage’s monopoly prices on CoL and Construction were too high. Then the next turn I found the Vikings, and the turn after (1000bc), the Persians. All three had CoL and Const, and the Vikings also had Currency.
1000bc
Myst and Phil to Dutch for CoL and 15g.
Poly to Dutch for 39g.
CoL to Ghandi for 184g (all).
CoL to Ottomans for 64g (all)
Literature, 5gpt and 107g to Persians for Const
Lit to Carthage for 178g
Lit to the Vikings for 118g
Currency at the monopoly price was 770g. It would have been nice to be in the Middle Ages at 1000bc, but that was too expensive.
My stats at the end of the QSC:
8 cities
25 pop
1 settler
9 workers
17 warriors (nearly all veterans)
1 spear
3 curragh
943g
16gpt
All techs except Currency and the two governments
Republic due in 50 at 10% science
3 barracks
2 granaries
Score: Last place with 300. The Indians are at 702.

And then we come to the turn 975bc: a turn that included an endless stream of profanity and a monitor very nearly cast out of the window. It took me about 45 minutes to play the turn. The short version is that I had Feudalism, Monotheism, Engineering and over 1250g in my treasury.
Then the COMPUTER CRASHED.

And guess what? When I reloaded, I did the exact same thing. Did everything happen the same thanks to the RNG? Oh no, of course not. None of us got the same techs, and the end result was not nearly as good. And it took me another 30 minutes to play the turn.

Eventually I recovered my wits. The second version (aka: the crappy version) of the turn’s trading went like this:
The Russians and Ottomans have monarchy. I establish an embassy with Russia. I trade Russia Construction and Lit for Monarchy, an RoP and 25g. I establish an Embassy with the Vikings. Monarchy enables me to get Currency from the Vikings, plus 3g (all) and an RoP. I get Engineering for my free tech. I establish an Embassy with Persia. I give Persia Currency for 116g and an RoP. They get Feudalism and will not trade. I give the Ottomans Currency and Construction. They get Engineering also. Crap. I gift Currency to the Russians. They get Feudalism. I trade Persia Engineering for Feudalism. I trade Carthage Monarchy for 135g. Start Invention at 10%.
Plans
Thanks mostly to my 4-turn warrior/settler factory, I had 14 vet warriors, 2 vet spears and 1 cat ready for upgrade, so I needed to attack India and get in my GA asap. In addition, given the rapid tech pace, I decided to try for a spaceship victory. That meant at some point I needed to be in a Republic, but that was the only AA tech that was not available. Therefore, I decided to try something new (for me): Feudalism. I would have to go through a second revolution at some point, but I felt it would be interesting to try something new.
In order to have a good finish date, I will need to take most of India’s cities quickly, but I am not sure that will be possible. They are quite large and strong. If I can start my GA quickly, then I will alternate my cities between building military and markets/libraries throughout the conflict. I should have started the SoZ early (like Ainwood said), as it would be a big help right about now.