Predator, barbs fixed (for what it matters with sedentary barbs)
Going for a Conquest Victory
The Ancient Age, 4000bc330bc
I decided to wait and post this AA spoiler in the second thread because of the inability to discuss horses or talk about unique features of the map in the first thread. Both were big factors in my strategy and decisions (as I imagine they were for most people), and it would have been a poor summary if I did not mention horses, coastal routes, or the Vikings nominally pagaea island.
The summary is as I wrote it at the end of the Ancient Age for the most part (I had already written it when I read the spoiler rules about horses and such, and I didn't feel like rewriting it), but I went back at the end of my game to add a few comments and dates.
Initial Thoughts and Plans
Given this was a Regent level game and nearly all the AIs had early middle age UUs (F10), I thought it would be great to do most/all of my conquering in the Ancient Age with horsemen. So, along with expansion, acquiring horses was an early priority.
I expected to have a large military, and perhaps a large worker force too. That, along with the Predator handicap of decreased unit support, made Republic seem a poor choice of governments. Therefore I hoped to use the Philosophy free tech to get Monarchy.
I didnt expect to ever see the Hwacha in the game, so I planned to trigger a GA with wonders. Ideally, I wanted to capture one wonder and then build one to kick it off.
First Moves
Moving SE looked like a fine place to found the capitol, but a second city seemed even better for that location. It could generate 10spt even with a loss of 1 shield to corruption. It could also be a second-city 4-turn warrior/settler factory if fresh water could be located. I decided to move the settler north to get a more central palace location and hopefully find some fresh waterwhich he did, of course. I settled north of the game and the worker immediately began clearing and irrigating it. He then irrigated his way to the cow for what would be my second city. The second city would be founded SE of the start to allow irrigation to be brought quickly to the cow.
I worked out a couple of start options at this point, and decided that immediately building a settler to go claim the cow (and share the soon-to-be-irrigated game) was the best option. After that I built worker, curragh, granary. My second city built a granary right off the bat, then settler, a couple of warriors for happiness, and a few additional workers to develop the city into a 4-turn warrior/settler factory.
I decided to enter Micro-Management Hades by irrigating both the wheat and the cow. This meant I had to constantly switch the game back and forth between my first two cities, but there is no denying that it was worth it for the extra food.
Exploration
I focused heavily on growth at the beginning and was slow to build curraghs or exploring warriors. My first curragh was out in 2590bc and my second in 2110bc. They met the AIs on the following dates:
Contacts
2900bc Carthage (they found me)
2430bc Vikings
1910bc Indians
1790bc Netherlands
1375bc Mongols (who own strange, hairy beasts, but ride them not!)
1350bc Celts
1075bc Japan
My curraghs also revealed the general topography of the nominal pangaea. There were good coastal routes to most locations on the map, so I planned to build lots of galleys to transport my troops around.
Lack of horses was a really big problem, and I knew it was going to make the game pace plod along. There was still a lot of territory to explore, but I didnt expect to find any. It was quite conspicuous that none of the civs had them except the Mongols: the furthest civilization from us on the map.
I established an embassy with the Dutch in 1375bc and discovered that, taking into account city growth, they would build the pyramids in about 25 turns (750bc). I also established embassies in India and Carthage in 1275 but they were quite far away from building any wonders. In 1050bc I had a bit of spare cash, so I decided to build an embassy with the Vikings: I was now worried about them getting the pyramids, because I was sure they were on an odd nominally pangaea island. If they got the pyramids that would basically ruin the value of the wonder for me. The investigation did not bring happy results: they would finish the pyramids before the Dutch (775bc). This led me to pick up the pace of building my military. I had wanted to go for the Mongol horses as my first military target, but I didnt want the Vikings to get the pyramids so they moved to the top of my hit list.
Empire Expansion
As mentioned earlier, my second city was to be a 4-turn warrior/settler factory. It went online around 2070bc, although it produced a settler, worker and a couple of warriors in the meantime (it also took a break around 1850bc to build a barracks). Seoul did not complete its granary until 1950bc (built a few curraghs and workers first). My next few cities also got granaries. There was a lot of land to colonize and develop, so I knew I would need lots of settlers and workers.
Carthage was able to slip one settler into my land before I cut them off at the ivory. I had one settler in the northern area that could beat Carthage to any location. Unfortunately, there were two I wanted: the incense and the iron. I decided to take the incense because the iron would take a bit longer to get hooked up anyway. Therefore Carthage claimed the iron.
Early on my cities concentrated entirely on building settlers and workers, but around 1200bc they began assembling a small military due to the impending conflict with the Vikings. Also, Seoul began constructing the SoZ around this time (ToA as prebuild).
1000bc Stats
32 citizens
12 towns
1 city
1 settler
11 workers
1 slave
6 warriors (2 vets)
5 archers (all vets)
1 catapult
3 galleys
3 curraghs
3 barracks
4 granaries
All techs except Cur, Const, Republic, Lit
72g in treasury, making 16gpt, research is off, Lux rate at 40%.
In 5th place with 169. Dutch are #1 with 241.
A few of the galleys and archers were short rushed with cash.
Research and Government
My initial research path was pottery, writing, both at max. I hoped to trade for CB and Myst, then research Poly and Phil, getting Monarchy for my free tech. I had hoped that this game would be an AAC (Ancient Age Challenge), but the lack of horses and the
insane research rate of the AIs put an end to that pipe dream. To my great surprise and dismay, the ignorant regent AIs learned writing before mein 2030bc!
I still had about 5 turns to go, so I traded for it. I would love to know how they researched so quickly. (I later learned that most of them had great starting locations on long, commerce-rich rivers, but I suspect they had oodles of goody huts as well.)
The AIs already had a ton of tech when I traded for writing, so I despaired of making any sort of slingshot to a government tech. I decided to start immediately on philosophy at max. In 1575bc, when I was a few turns away from discovery, I changed my mind and turned research way down.
There was little to be gained by going ahead and getting philosophy: it would give me a free tech, but the governments were not available. Researching a government would take me 40 turns, because I knew I would need money for upgrading troops. In the worst case, the AI would get Phil before me, but then I would just trade for it (and the freebie) by using the cash I had on hand to broker techs amongst the AIs (many of them did not know each other).
There was plenty to be gained by delaying discovery of Philosophy, however. It was quite likely that one of the AIs would research CoL or Poly before they researched Phil., and that would enable me to get my free government tech. The plan worked, but it took a bit longer than I expected for the AIs to research one of the techs. The Dutch learned CoL in 1350bc. I was excited, but it turned out to be irrelevant, as my curragh met the Celts on this same turn, and they had Polytheism. I turned up research, and on the in-between-turn, I discovered Philosophy, traded it to the Celts for Polytheism, and got Monarchy for my free tech. I immediately revolted and drew a 2-turn anarchy (I only had 5 cities at that point, but 4 more would be founded in the next 2 turns). I also traded around techs (stingily) to all the other civs, learning everything except Const, Cur, Lit and Republic. I didnt give anyone Monarchy, however, because I wanted them to stay dumb for as long as possible.
I turned off research at this point for many, many years. I decided to raise money for war while the AIs finished the Ancient Age for me. They got Construction in 900bc and Republic in 670bc, but it took them forever and a day to get Currency, not learning it until 330bc. We traded at that date and entered the Middle Ages, getting Feudalism for our free tech.
Warfare and Wonders
I had one hot war and several cold wars in the Ancient Age. The Celtic Cold Wars lasted from 1325bc to 975bc and from 530bc to 90ad (ended after the Ancient Age). This slowed down their research and development as well as that of the Dutch and Carthage, whom I put at war with them. The Mongolian Cold Wars lasted from 1275bc to 975bc and from 570bc to 250bc, and slowed the pace of both them and India.
India made peace with Mongolia briefly in 1050bc and I decided not to pay them to re-declare, because I needed a bit of cash to rush troops. They started ToA on the following turn. That was a screw up on my part, although I didnt realize it at the time. I should have paid whatever was necessary to keep them at war. If I had, I dont think they would have started that wonder. It would have been much better for me if any of the other civs had gotten the ToA, because India was the furthest out of my way.
In 975bc the Dutch signed peace with the Celts, and, like the Indians, both these AIs started the ToAbut two turns too late for my purposes. I decided to give the Mongols and Celts peace on this turn as well, because they would both surrender cities. I get one from the Mongols and two from the Celts.
The free cities were not to be mine for long, as I had pretty much expected (I only took them to pad my score for a few turns and hopefully incite a war declaration that would bring me war happiness). The Mongols destroyed the Japanese in 925bc, and in 570bc they decided to attack me when I refused to give them literature. I gave their free city to the Indians a turn before they could take it from me to avoid any war weariness. I redeclared on the Celts myself in 530bc in order to sign the Dutch back into the conflict. As in the Mongolian Cold War, I gifted each of the free Celtic cities to the Dutch when Celtic troops arrived.
The Scandinavian War, 800bc510bc, 410bc270bc (3 turns after entering the MAs)
As I mentioned earlier, I began planning this war in 1050bc because I did not want the pyramids constructed on an island. It would delay my plans to acquire the Mongol horses, but at the time I felt it was worth it. I signed an RoP with the Vikings in 1025bc in order to ensure I could reach their capitol before the wonder would complete in 775bc. The Vikings didnt have contact with anyone, and I hoped to keep it that way so no one would ever know of my treachery. Around 900bc I spotted a Viking galley that disappeared into the city of Bergen. I dedicated one of mine to blocking that cities water access so the galley couldnt get out. A couple of others took up locations north and west of the Viking island, just in case they decided to make a mad dash for foreign contacts before I killed them.
I spent the next 8 turns short-rushing a few archers, catapults and galleys and moving my troops into position to take the capitol. In 800bc I gifted the Vikings Monarchy to cause them to enter anarchy and prevent pop-rushing, and then I attacked their capitol with 5 archers, 3 warriors and 3 cats, and the city of Bergen with 4 archers. I lost three of my archers in the attacks, but captured their capitol (destroying their Pyramid build) and autorazed Bergen, destroying their now-dangerous galley.
After that the war proceeded slowly but surely. It got a bit easier after 730bc because I completed the Statue of Zeus in my capitol. I used a slave to build a colony on the iron outside Trondheim in 710bc, and rushed a harbor in a coastal city in 570bc to connect iron and wine to the rest of my empire. I would have done it sooner, but money was tight. Swordmen started joining the war after that. I gave the Vikings peace in 510bc for 2 citiesjust to hurry their destruction along a bit. I redeclared on them in 410bc, and in 270bc they were gone.
A pic of the Eastern (Old) Empire
And the new Western Holdings
Summary and Plans
I currently have 1 city, 27 towns, 2 settlers, 18 workers, 13 slaves, 12 Swordsmen, 9 catapults, 1 Medieval Infantry, 3 Ancient Cavs, and a few warriors and archers. Research is off except for a few scientists here and there, and it will probably stay that way for a while. I am making about 40gpt, and I will use that money to continue rushing and upgrading troops. I will try to time the discovery of Invention for right around the time my capitol will have enough shields to build Leonardos Workshop.
Cities that can use a border expansion are building libraries, but everyone else is concentrating on settlers, medieval infantry, catapults and galleys. I dont intend to build any courts, temples or markets in this game. I will build aqueducts and harbors where needed, but I probably will not be able to divert cities to building them until around the time I attack the Dutch (when I will no longer need to keep cranking out military).
Carthage should complete the Great Lighthouse at any moment, so they will be my target after the Vikings. I will give them peace as soon as I can. Then I will use my extra galley movement to get my military over to the Mongols and take their horses. Simultaneously, I will attempt to wage a war against the Dutch for their Pyramids. I hate waging two (or more!) wars simultaneously, but I really dont want to face Swiss Mercenaries if I can help it.
I currently have the Colossus in my capitol (built after SoZ), and it is now working on a prebuild for Leonardos Workshop. The Dutch are building the Mausoleum in their capitol to go along with the pyramids. Hopefully, I will take the Dutch capitols wonders and connect the Mongol horses before I complete Leos. That will start my GA. I will use the science boost to reach Chivalry quickly. Meanwhile, nearly all my cities will be building horsemen for a massive upgrade to knights and a worldwide push for Conquest.
The Middle Ages summary will follow shortly
Don't say that twice... 
, only you call pull that off: terrific 
Will I get another chance? Time will tell...
)
