(predator)
Going for diplomatic victory.
Link to Ancient Age spoiler
Link to Middle Ages spoiler
When I entered the Industrial Age in 610AD my forces consisted of 12 workers. Period. No military units, no ships. I'd been peaceful to this point, dedicating all efforts to increasing my research capacity as much as I could.
That was about to change. I could now safely reach the other Civs. I wanted their resources and luxuries. And I wanted to trigger a Golden Age to boost my research speed in the Industrial Age.
I started building berserks and ships. I chose Zululand as my first target - she had iron, saltpeter, and two luxuries.
Babylon's free tech on entering the Industrial Age was Steam Power. So I researched Medicine. I also gifted Hittites forward hoping they'd help a bit with Industrial Age research.
I learned Medicine in 680AD (7 turns.) I traded for Steam Power and iron and was able to being railroading.
In 740AD I had 8 Berserks positioned ready to invade Zululand. Hardly an overwhelming force but Zululand was quite weak so I began the attack. The amphibious assault was powerful on this map - lots of coastal cities to choose from and Berserks were strong vs. the defenders which existed at this date. I moved slowly because I had a small force and it had to heal after each step but progress was steady - I eliminated Zululand in 930AD.
After that I continued northward to gain more land, luxuries, and citizens to help with research. In 1070AD I eliminated America and in 1150 eliminated Celts. And that was it for warfare in my game. My world looked like this in 1150AD:
My primary focus was on science. I couldn't get to a four turn research pace. I used every trick I could think of to boost the pace toward my diplomatic goal.
I decided to follow a path which could get one more tech from the AIs, i.e. Replaceable Parts. They'd study Nationalism first of course. If I gave them Electricity before they learned Nationalism, their next research would very likely be Replaceable Parts.
With just one scientific Civ in the game I decided not to gamble on getting Fission as a free tech on entering Modern Times. Instead I would time Theory Of Evolution to complete when I had just one Industrial tech left to learn and would take Fission as my second free tech.
The plan worked well. I learned Industrialization in 7 turns, Electricity in 6, The Corporation in 4, Refining in 6, Steel in 6, Combustion in 7, Scientific Method in 4, Flight in 7, and Atomic Theory in 7 turns at 1210AD. Babylon had learned Replaceable Parts three turns before that so I was able to get it in trade. I then learned Mass Production in 5 turns and Motorized Transportation in 5 at 1285AD. My Theory Of Evolution build completed at the same date. I took Electronics and Fission as my free techs, flipped my prebuild to UN, and called the election.
Diplomatic victory in 1285AD.
That isn't a great date for a Diplomatic win and I didn't get a great Jason score but I'm happy with it - this was a very tough map for fast science
