Open, going for domination or conquest
Reached the middle ages in 800 BC, gifting the Ottomans which got Feudalism, I got Engineering. Traded Engineering + Republic + gold for feud. Started on Invention, focusing on the southern tech-branch.
Here comes the pain
The barbs, anoying in the ancient age and a huge pain at the start of the medieval ages because of the uprising. As I had about 350 gold remaining I decided to fight them (mostly with horseman after hooking up horses in 725BC). A time-consuming undertaking! Around 250BC I was in control over the barbs, by then Arabia and Spain had declared war against me giving me some nice war hapiness. Spain had settled some cities on my island so I decided to take those with my stack of Horseman (about 15 by that time).
I discovered Gunpowder in 190BC and the hurting starts all over again; no saltpeter on my island. After some looking around I saw that the nearest gunpowder was on the island of the english. So the English would be my first real target!! My golden age also started in 190BC when Spain was trying to take a dromon of mine.
Run away tech leader
Thanks to the golden age I became the run-away tech leader, I decided to get as many gold per turn as possible for my techs so I could be able to keep funding 100% science AND upgrade my horseman to knights and later to cavalry. My main trading partner was India which gave me around 200-300 gold per turn + some luxuries!!!
I discovered militairy tradition in 190AD, at that time the AI only had discovered Monotheism, Theology and Chivalry. As it was a little while ago that the AI discoverd the last tech and my GA was also about to end so I decided to go for a little 0% science run to be able to upgrade my last horseman and knights to cavalry.
Here come the wars
I finally could start the first real war in 170 AD, landing 12 knights near Leeds (the english city closest to the saltpeter. I took that city in 150AD, I conquered a couple of more cities with knights and in 270AD I was able to upgrade en mass. By that time I had 30 cavs, 6 knights and 15 dromons. Enough to destroy the english which I did in 350AD.
Next target: Spain, which didnt have iron or saltpeter!
The Spanish war started in 400AD, landing 15 cavs and went pretty good (at least in the beginning....)
The industrial age
I reached the industrial age in 460AD, getting steam power as my free tech. By then I remained the tech leader but not by far because I traded a lot for gold and luxuries. I started on industrialization (7 turns) and decided not the gift the Ottomans immediately (they were down theory of gravity and magnetism) because I didnt want them to get Nationalism!
I discovered Industrialization in 530AD (I love factorys!), Electricity in 590AD and Replecable Parts (gotta love those speedy workers) in 650AD. After that I went straight 4 Motorized Transportation as Rifleman vs Cavalry is crappy but duable if you have the # advantage, Infantry vs Cavalry is almost impossible.
By now I had no barb troubles anymore and I almost completely settled the home island. There were in total 8 foreign cities on the island; 3 in the far north (by the tundra and dyes) 1 in the north, 3 in the north-west and 1 in the south-south east.
On with the wars
I swept the Spanish of their island in 520AD and conquered their final city only to discover there was a settler floating around somewhere. So I made alliances against Spain with everyone hoping someone would sink that boat! Almost 200 year later and some cultural flipping the Spanish were finally swept of the map.
The Indians were my trading-buddies right up to 500AD but they declared war out of nowhere in 530AD which was crappy as I got over 400 GPT, furs and ivory from them. But they would pay dearly for this mistake!!!
I immediately made alliances with Arabia, Ottoman and France against India and landed my first troups in 570AD (19 cavs), facing spearman in the first 2 cities!!
There were musketman waiting 4 me in the next city and India discovered Nationalism a couple of turns into the war, so the easy conquering didnt last long. The war went pretty well (apart from a lot of cultural flips) and ended in 750AD.
In 770 AD Arabia was next on the menu. I had 2 turns remaining on steel and was still the only one whom had discoverd Replaceable Parts and was wondering if Tanks were even necessairy.....
The Arabs did not have Nationalism yet so hopefully this would be a musketman vs cavalry war. But again no such luck as the Arabs had acces to rifleman only 20 years later! But it didnt matter that much as I conquered their last city in 890AD (with some help of the French, my new trading partner), the Arabs also had a floating settler which I never found.
I also started the war against the Ottomans in 890AD (138 tiles away from the domination limit) which went pretty quick, finishing them in 920AD.
Game status: Domination Victory for Byzantines
Game date: 930 AD
Firaxis score: 9997
Jason score: 9656
Time played: 53:26:03
In hindsight:
- I had a big early advantage because of I moved my settler south and correct fog-gazing.
- I should have stopped research a lot quicker, I got probably have finished this game around 800 AD if I used all my gold on connect-disconnecting and upgrading horseman to cavalry.
- Loved the game, nice challenge!!
- Hated the barbs, very anoying!
Obviously culture assimilation for the AI starts already at 0% native citizens!
