COTM84 - Spoiler #2

[civ_steve]

COTM 84 - second spoiler, India, The Middle Ages

Reading Requirements:

1. Must have contact with All remaining Civs.
2. Must be able to research an Industrial Age Technology.

Posting restrictions

1. No maps showing Industrial or Modern resources.
2. No discussion of Industrial Age (or later).
3. Absolutely NO Discussion of any other active 'X'OTM contest!

Souhds like some are having some difficulties in this game. Did the Middle Ages go better for you? Did your non-resources-needed War Elephants help you tip the tide? Status leaving the Middle Ages - game in hand, or more to do?

 

[Più Freddo]

I entered the Industrial Ages in 770 AD. I control the home continent and some islands including the one off the Sumerian shore. Am at war with the other super-power (militarily stronger than me) Sumeria and will land in its core on the next turn, hopefully protected by my two full armies. The plan is to raze and replace. Many fine Wonders of the World will be lost if I succeed.

Scandinavia is a one-city country on a one-tile island, Hittites has its own peninsula and a bit of France and is allied against Sumeria, but militarily weak. All others have been integrated in the two super-powers.

I thought research would stop after Military Tradition as I could trade for Navigation. But twelve turns ago I started to research the last three Technologies. The AI have Nationalism. I will go for Steam Power and perhaps Replaceable Parts.

I need about 20% more of world territory for Domination. Have three days to play. We'll see.

 

[PaperBeetle]

The Ancient Age
Settle in place and min research Writing. A curragh meets the local civs soon enough, and there are plenty of barbs around to keep me busy. I found Bombay amongst the food bonuses in the northwest in 2590bc, and start planning for a 20k game. I don't get first to Philosophy, and start to feel the 20k isn't practical when all the ancient wonders fall in a series of cascades late in the 2nd millenium bc. All except Glib, that is; as usual, the AI aren't too interested in Literature, so I get it as a local monopoly in 775bc, and complete Glib in 570bc. It brings me into the medieval in 290bc, when a suicide galley heading west from India meets the medieval civs on the other continent.

India for the Indians
Due to the heavy barbarian presence southeast of Delhi, and the retardation to expansion caused by focusing on 20k, I haven't been able to settle very far towards the natural India-Scandinavia boundary at the narrowest point of the isthmus. Ragnar has two towns on my side of the chokepoint, claiming the horses and furs. This needs to be addressed. I dow in 210bc and raze their resource town, replacing it with a [better positioned] town of my own. After this, the Viking units arrive, so I spend a while just defending, supported by a modest trebuchet stack. Once Ragnar is winded, I march out again, to capture the second Viking town in 30ad. To cement my claim on the peninsula, I found a canal town in 70ad.

A Pinch of Salt
The Vikings still look vulnerable, so I push on, taking Reykjavik in 90ad. Meanwhile, Leonardo and Michelangelo both go to the other continent, so my 20k chances are still not looking great. I do get a monopoly on Printing in 130ad, allowing a tech catch-up; I trade in Astronomy, Guns and Navigation. It turns out there's no saltpeter in India, and I was certainly anxious to get hold of some, to power up my artillery & defensive -style military. There is a source only one town away from Reykjavik, however. I throw everyone forward to take Bergen in 170ad. With too few troops to keep fighting, I then have to give Ragnar peace. I'll need to build culture in Bergen to grab the salt, but temples are only 30s right? Bergen flips back in 280ad.

Exit Medieval
In 320ad, Bombay finally gets its second wonder, Copernicus, and I finally get a predicted 20k date eralier than 2050ad. My research towards Artistry is progressing well, and in 370ad, I hit Democracy, trading it for Metallurgy, Physics, Gravity, Magnetism and Economics, to enter the Industrial era. The civs doing most of the research seem to be the French and the local superpower, the Iroquois. Watha completes Bach in 440ad and beats me to Newton by one turn in 460ad. Lots of important 20k wonders passing me by, but Artistry is due in 480ad, timed to match my Shakespeare prebuild. That's the most important wonder in the 20k game, so if I can get that, my challenge is still on.

20k Progress
2590bc: Bombay founded
1575bc: temple
0570bc: Great Library
0330bc: Forbidden Palace
0190bc: cathedral
0130bc: library
0070bc: colosseum
0030ad: university
0320ad: Copernicus