My reign has been recorded in great detail to encourage constructive tips.
540AD (turn 0) - TLS at 4/6/0, 7 cities celebrating. 6 settlers, producing 2. 27 triremes. 27 caravans, 27 more in production. 2542 gold.
Wounded Knee barracks sold. Production changed to settler in Cadix, Malaga, Vigo, Burgos, Toledo, Seville, Salamanca, Pamplona, Bilbao, Wounded Knee. If we're going to make more cities, we're going to be serious about it. Celebrations will instantly regrow most of those.
Rush spending: 61+91+47+86+41+61+122+91+88+66+91+91+122=1058.
Americans develop Medicine. Capua caravan coal. Cannae caravan coal. Naples caravan dye. Cartahena caravan silk. Calatrava silk. Leon silk. Avila settler, didn't notice there would be a shortage, will send it to Rodrigo on the return trireme. Leptis Parva silver. Invention -> Navigation. Malaga settler. Valladolid coal. Cordoba coal. Wounded knee settler. Toledo settler.
560AD (turn 1) - Panormus bought for 339, instant rebate 64 plus a legion, a phalanx, and Warrior Code. Legion disbanded to fund caravan, barracks sold +40g. 8 caravans build Leo's. Madrid hides to Washington 136, unblocked silk. Barcelona silk Washington(d) 426. Barcelona hides Boston(d) 220. Madrid copper Washington 116. Shipping Salamanca salt, Bilbao silver. Calatrava copper gets mixed up in the ship chain and ends up in America. Valladolid spends a chariot and 90g on a harbor. Pamplona somehow has an unhappy Einstein. Nomads!
Rush 111+86+119+119+113+91+119+61+119+79+119=1136
Carthage offers peace, accepted, senate makes it permanent until further notice. Turin silk. Rodrigo beads. Santander celebrates. Oviedo gems, celebrates. Burgos settler, will make more here. Avila celebrates. Vigo settler. Pamplona settler, celebrates. Grenada silk. Bilbao settler, celebrates. Cadix wool. Valladolid harbor, grows in 2-3 turns. Barcelona hides. Valencia copper, celebrates. Cordoba completes Leo's, elephants upgrade to crusaders. Madrid silk. Population exceeds 4,000,000.
580AD (turn 2) - Advanced tribe Genoa (81,51) on the Russian continent. I'm missing 2 triremes from the ship chain, I don't know how; one at Valladolid, one between Rodrigo and Calatrava. I can rush more but that will cause happiness issues. Better to have unhappiness than a freight strike, Valladolid and Burgos buy triremes. No deliveries; salt is going to Philadelphie(d) and Calatrava copper is worth little, so it will guard the loading dock at Washington for a while. Tech cost 1230, around 75% done with Navigation.
Rush legion+crusader+75+118+110+50+61+79+75+116+63+22=769, deficit spending has us down to 417g.
Cremona silk. Cunaxa settler. Calatrava, Leon harbor. Celebration in Rodrigo. Santander silk. Malaga coal. Panormus silver. Sargossa diplomat. Valencia food.
600AD (turn 3) - Valladolid coal Washington(d) 235. Salamanca salt Phil(d) 180. Advanced tribe Crete (100,12). Land sighted near the suspected homeland of the French. TLS 262, I want to be sure to complete Navigation this turn, Magnetism next, so the ship happiness issue goes away and capacity at least doubles. Valladolid has a black hat. 50g gift from Americans. Hut legion near Genoa. Diplomat meets Russians, gives Construction, Philosophy, Mathematics, shares maps, establishes embassy. Russia is huge, with 1113 gold, 13 cities (2 of which are building the Great Library), still in despotism and war with the Japanese.
Rush 88+83+116+116+88+119+25+118+63=816, 109 gold in reserve.
Americans have nearly finished Pyramids. Leo's upgrades all triremes to caravels. Navigation->Gunpowder (Magnetism not available. Democracy passed up so we can get it on an Oedo year later. I could have got Medicine from the Americans this turn, but didn't want to risk not getting Navigation). Cannae settlers. Oviedo, Grenada harbor. Celebration in Leon, Avila, Malaga, Valencia, Cordoba. Bilbao coal. Barcelona hides. Seville silk. Madrid silver.
620AD (turn 4) - Madrid begins Magellan(250). Americans want Invention for Medicine, refuse University but give us 100g. Cordoba coal Washington(d) 355. Salamanca silk Washington(d) 420. Seville dye Boston(d) 248. Ship chain in functional chaos, to be expected in a novice's transition period. Verona founded (103,71). Misclick ends the turn before I meant to, lost a ship from Saragossa and hadn't rushed builds yet.
New York builds Pyramids. Pamplona beads. Cordoba beads. Celebration in Panormus, Valladolid. 5 million citizens.
640AD (turn 5) - Saragossa dye Washington (152), unblocks Toledo coal Washington(d) 305. 1809g and spending it early in the turn from now on, right after trading in the caravans I landed last turn. Somehow I messed up the shipchain again and won't be able to start caravans moving next turn. Salamis founded (116,110).
Rush 83+56+119+106+119+86+86+104+81+108+81+108+113+75+75+113+54+113=1680, 117 left.
Leo's upgrades warriors, legions, phalanx to musketeers. Gunpowder->Physics. Turin dye. Cartagena salt. Avila hides. Vigo gold. Malaga copper. Grenada coal. Bilbao silk. Valladolid silk. Salamanca beads. Valencia food. Wounded Knee beads. Toledo food. Celebration in Santander, Valencia.
660AD (turn 6) - Lisbon founded (123,83). Elephant and archer gathering at Panormus, musketeer not impressed. Hamburg founded (95,75). Prague founded (127,51). Diplomat meets the icy French. Gave republic, peace, philosophy, construction, university, shared maps, established embassy. They have 5 decent size cities all on one small island. Hut unleashes barbarians near Genoa, diplomat flees onto caravel.
Capua coal. Cremona copper. Rodrigo spice. Burgos silk. Saragossa silk. Barcelona coal. Seville beads.
680AD (turn 7) - Madrid silk Washington(d) 468. Cartagena silk Washington(d) 282. Bilbao silver Chicago(d) 180. TLS 460. Settler roading near Washington, copper caravan clearing movement path for it. Expecting a Carthage sneak attack on Panormus any time now. Nomads!
Rush 75+115+119+123+131+123+75=761
Return caravans in Rodrigo ready to go.
Carthage develops the Wheel! Russia switches to Monarchy. Lisbon silk. Salamis coal. Naples silk. Oviedo salt. Avila hides. Vigo cloth. Valencia dye. Madrid completes Magellan. 6 million citizens.
700AD (turn 8) - Oviedo beads Grenada(d) 98 (first experiment with domestic intercontinental trade, trade route +1). Grenada silk Washington(d) 450. Salzburg founded (100,52). More ship chain adjustments, I'm sure I'm not using them all optimally. Hut 50g. Hut barbarians near defenseless Crete, 41g buys horseman. Advanced tribe Bergen(74,40). Venice founded (79,69). Milan founded (140,24). TLS 262.
Rush 119+123+91+116+66+75=590, 537 left in the bank.
Brave diplomat dies to barbarians at Crete. Physics->Democracy (Magnetism not available). Capua silk. Issus harbor, celebrates. Naples settler. Calatrava wine. Leptis Parva has 2 black hats before happiness modifiers. Cordoba silk. Wounded Knee wine.
720AD (turn 9) - Burgos silk Washington(d) 336. Bilbao coal Washington(d) 425. Barcelona hides Boston(d) 244, dye no longer locked but no longer demanded, dye caravan moved toward Philly. Barcelona hides Boston(d) 244 #2. Ghent founded (134,42). Pisa founded (135,101). Dublin founded (13,77). Toronto founded (6,62). Carthage has a warrior on our continent. Wounded Knee irrigates grass and will finally be able to grow.
Rush 116+123+88+88+98+106+123+75+66+69+75+75+69+75+112+86=1444, 411 left over.
Crete's barbarian horseman dies, the horde encroaches. Verona silk. Cartagena silver. Rodrigo salt. Santander copper. Oviedo cloth. Leon beads. Bilbao copper. Saragossa beads. Valladolid copper. Barcelona dye. Valencia food. Madrid coal. Vigo settler, ship waiting to relocate it. Democracy->Magnetism. Next Oedo year is 780, no revolution. Toledo's low on food, I should have sent a different settler to America.
740AD (turn 10) - Leon dye Philly(d) 172. Valladolid silk Washington(d) 366. Wounded Knee coal Washington(d) 320. TLS 460. Naples dye Toledo(d) 70. Melbourne founded (129,103) to needle the Sioux. Hut 50g. Japanese sighted between French and Russians.
Rushes left to the next player.
17 harbors are the only maintenance cost we pay. 202 income per turn, 3 science, 510 turns per discovery. I did not tech bomb the Sioux and had no aggressive maneuvers with anyone, though settling so close has moved the Sioux to uncooperative. Russians are researching Feudalism, Americans would trade Medicine, nothing else we're interested in available. Deliveries next turn should get us Magnetism and galleons full of happiness. Sorry about making the Lighthouse obsolete so soon, it was fun while it lasted.
1441g in the treasury. 49 cities if I'm counting right, I added 13 on purpose and 3 advanced tribes. The Russian continent is huge and green, ripe for colonization. I've taken the extra ships from the chain toward Seville so we can send commodities the Americans don't want that direction. I maybe should have completed the chain around the backside of Washington instead. It seems to not yet be time for domestic trade, payouts are half what I'd consider acceptable. The settler and caravan in Pisa were being shipped toward (123,111) to create Big Bighorn on the site of the former Sioux capital.
I had a few shipping errors and a misclick that slowed down our growth. Presiding over two major shipping changes during my first ever ship chain was enlightening. I'll do better next time.
View attachment PH_A740.SAV