GOTM-03: Second Spoiler

[Stemil]

My first GotM, and my first time playing monarch (had only played noble before). Finished the game in two days Didn't focus too much and played for the fun of it.

Some main points:

Stupid mistakes in the beginning with barbs. Lost my first worker + all my scouting units. The military units weren't mistakes though, I just had _incredibly_ bad luck. So I couldn't be arsed to scout the land further than monty and hatty. (as you will see from the pictures)

As I have major trust issues with monty, I chose sides very early on. I decided to expand south and make friends with hatty. Adopted her religion (buddhism). I really don't enjoy war that much, but in this game I knew I'd have to kick someone's arse. Early on I noticed I didn't have what it takes for domination or conquest, so I thought I'd go for diplomatic.

Anywhos, I was planning on kicking monty's butt once I got samurais, but he declared war on me too early. I had some dificulties, but luckily he only sent horse archers, so it was fairly easy and cheap to defend using spearmen. Suffered major pillaging though After a while I managed to get the samurai and then went on to destroy the Aztec. Being the novice that I am, I got entirely cauhgt up in the fighting and forgot everything else. So once Monty was gone, I was bankrupt and behind in tech.

Catching up occupied me for pretty much the remainder of the game. A few very succesful tech trades eventually got me up to speed. Built the United Nations as quickly as I could, only to notice that people didn't like me enough... even though I had two friendlies and two pleased (Saladin was also dead by now - killed by victoria and me). At that point I paniced a bit. But there was nothing to it but to try and beat the others to alpha centauri. Most other civs had already started their ships when I entered the race. But with a little foul play (making Victoria attack Asoka who was going to win) I managed to be the first one with a full ship in 1885AD.. for a combined score of 21398 points.

I really need to learn domination..

Some pictures:

300BC

850AD

1325AD

1885AD (Victory)

 

[shadow2k]

The score was 169,831 but the submission page said that the score was 169,829. Not that these 3 points matter.

Oddly enough, my score from the submission page subtracted 3pts as well. And like you, I didn't really care.

 

[Cromwell]

A short writeup:
Adventurer
1st Monarch game.
Built three cities; 1st 2 north for Marble, 2nd west for copper and gold, 3rd south for Ivory, Corn and Dye.
3rd city saved from Barbarians by slavery.
Converted to the Egyptian religion. Egypt, Persia and I were buddhists, Victoria, Gandhi were Hindu.
Formulate plan: stay friends with Egypt and Persia, conquer clockwise, build UN.
Captured 2 Barbarian cities on my borders. Built 2 more cities.
Built 1st Samurai. Declared on Aztecs.
Kept going with a wave of samurais, lumberjacks and eventually cavalry until I reached India.
India had a defensive pact with England, and rifleman.
Cavalry and Samurai both have problems with rifleman.
Egypt, my only real friend, was in 2nd place. Also infantry.
Persia had founded it's own late religion, fought with Egypt, and didn't like me.
Was at 30% research and well behind in techs.
Converted to communism, universal sufferage, free religion.
Built UN. Only Gandhi voted for me.
So, spaceship.
Kept one city churning out city garrisons to discourage opportunism.
Built West Point, which was a complete waste.
Researched robotics before rocketry.
Finished Space elevator 2 turns after Apollo program. Had all my power plants and laboratories ready.
This may or may not have been sensible. Was hoping to trade for rocketry, but Only Gandhi was friendly, and he fell behind in techs.
Built all the spaceship parts simulataneously.
Shaved a few turns off by converting the trailing city to one big workshop.
Space Victory, 1850, ~43,000 points.
Victoria had all but 2 parts done.
Only had 4 great people all game. Need to work on that.
My only golden age ended the same turn as the game.

So, a question:
Do defensive alliances matter? Would Victoria have taken my invading India seriously?

 

[Boppo]

(Contender Class)
Second Age of the Japanese Empire:

The closing of the first age of the Japanese Empire found the Empire with 6 cities, a weaker neighbor in the Aztecs to the East and a stronger neighbor in the Egyptians to the South. The Egyptians had spread their religion to the Arabs, Incans, Aztecs and the Empire. The Aztecs had re-settled the city destroyed in the war with the Empire and had settled another city between three of the Empire’s cities. The military was still researching towards Samurai and was preparing to once again invade the Aztecs.

Phase Two Expansion:
In 570AD the Japanese Empire once again invaded the lands of the Aztecs. Axemen and Swordsmen made short work of two Aztec cities. Both were razed as they were too close to Japanese cities to be useful. The city of Atzcapotzalco was captured and razed 30 years later. In 620AD Civil Service was discovered thus allowing the Empire to field new elite units of Samurai warriors. In 760AD the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan was captured. In 830AD the city of Tlaxcala was captured and razed. 900AD found the Empire capturing the cities of Tzintzuntzen and Teotihuacan. Tzintzuntzen found to not be worthy of being part of the Empire and was razed. In 920AD Xochicalco was captured and razed. Being the last city within striking distance of Imperial troops(the Aztecs had founded a city on the eastern side of the world between the Incan and Indian Empires), a peace treaty was signed with the Aztecs.

570AD:You have declared war on Montezuma!
You have captured Calixtlahuaca!!!You have captured Tlacopan!!!
600AD:You have captured Atzcapotzalco!!!
760AD:You have captured Tenochtitlan!!!
830AD:You have captured Tlaxcala!!!
900AD:You have captured Tzintzuntzen!!!You have captured Teotihuacan!!!
920AD:You have captured Xochicalco!!!

Research during this expansion:
620AD:You have discovered Civil Service!
770AD:You have discovered Machinery!
940AD:You have discovered Engineering!
1000AD:You have discovered Theology!
1020AD:You have discovered Drama!

Other notable events:
580AD:Hatshepsut has completed The Great Library!
670AD:Saladin has completed The Dai Miao!
860AD:
Chichen Itza has been built in a far away land!
The Kong Miao has been built in a far away land!
Hatshepsut has completed Notre Dame!
930AD:Islam has been founded in Sarmatian!
970AD:Satsuma has been founded.
980AD:Hatshepsut has completed The Sistine Chapel!
1035AD:Kagoshima has been founded.

This expansion brought the Japanese Empire’s border up against the border of the Incan Empire in the East. The Empire had to settle back and absorb the newly acquired territory, but they also started looking to their next target. At first the Incans seemed to be destined to feel the might of the Empire, but it was noted that the Holy City of the Empire’s religion was just to the South in Egyptian hands. Although the Egyptians had been good friends until now, it was only right that the Empire’s Holy City should be controlled by the Empire. So the battle hardened troops from the Eastern Empire began the journey to the Southern border.

The First war with Egypt:
The Empire invaded in 1045AD, immediately heading for the nearest city of Giza. In this time a new Barbarian City was settled to the far North of the capital. This city was captured from the Barbarians in 1070AD. The first Egyptian city fell to the Samurai in 1075AD, with the city of El-Amarna following in 1085AD. 1130 found the city of Alexandria coming under the control of the Empire with the coastal city of Pi-Ramsesses falling in 1150AD. Pi-Ramesses was recaptured by the Egyptians in 1170 only to be retaken by the Empire in 1175, the same year the Holy City and capital of Egypt, Thebes, fell to the Japanese Empire. This showed that the people of the Empire were obviously the chosen people. In 1190AD, a peace treaty was signed between the Empire and the Egyptians to once again allow the Empire to absorb the newly acquired cities.

1045AD:You have declared war on Hatshepsut!
1070AD:You have captured Scythian!!!
1075AD:You have captured Giza!!!
1085AD:You have captured El-Amarna!!!
1130AD:You have captured Alexandria!!!
1150AD:You have captured Pi-Ramesses!!!
1170ADi-Ramesses has been captured by the Egyptian Empire!!!
1175AD:You have captured Pi-Ramesses!!!You have captured Thebes!!!

Research during this time:
1050AD:You have discovered Paper!
1110AD:You have discovered Guilds!
1210AD:You have discovered Divine Right!
1230AD:You have discovered Gunpowder!

Other Notable Events:
1100AD:Victoria has completed The Hagia Sophia!
1115AD:Hatshepsut has completed Angkor Wat!

The Second Egyptian War:
After adding five cities, including the Holy City of Thebes, from the Egyptian Empire into the Japanese Empire, the Empire once again debated where to turn the Samurai loose next. After much discussion, it was decided that it would be too time consuming to move the armies back to the North to invade the Incans, so in 1245AD they were once again unleashed on the Egyptians. Four of the five remaining Egyptian cities fell in fairly quick succession to the Imperial Army, and in 1320AD a second peace treaty was signed. The last remaining Egyptian city, like the Aztecs, had been founded on the Eastern side of the world, with the whole of the Arabian Empire in between.

During this time, to keep the Incans friendly and occupied, the Empire bribed them to attack the Indian Empire which was getting too far ahead technologically. This would happen on a few different occasions throughout history.

1245AD:You have declared war on Hatshepsut!
1265AD:You have captured Elephantine!!!
1275AD:You have captured Memphis!!!
1305AD:You have captured Heliopolis!!!
1315AD:You have captured Byblos!!!

Other Notable Events:
1270AD:Victoria has completed The Kashi Vishwanath!
1350AD:Tokugawa has completed Versailles!

Research:
Research was purely for Military technology at this point.
1300AD:You have discovered Nationalism!
1370AD:You have discovered Military Tradition!

The Arabian War:
After overrunning the Egyptian Empire, the new border of the Empire in the south was shared with the Arabian Empire. After acquiring the technologies for the building of Cavalry, war was a certainty. In 1385AD, the Japanese Imperial Army marched into Arabia. Najran was the first city to fall to the Empire in 1395AD. Soon after this, the Incan city of Andahuaylas decided they would rather be ruled by the glorious Japanese Empire and revolted against the Incans. In 1425AD, the Arabians attacked the Japanese city of Byblos and captured it. It was quickly retaken by the Empire in 1430AD, as was the Capital city of Damascus. The city of Khursan fell next in 1465AD, but during the siege of Khursan the Arabians sent an army to Damascus and managed to retake it in 1470AD. The Imperial Army continued to march eastwards taking Arabian city after Arabian city until the city of Basra fell in 1585AD, signaling the end of the Arabian Empire.

1385AD:You have declared war on Saladin!
1395AD:You have captured Najran!!!
1420AD:Andahuaylas has revolted and joined the Japanese Empire!
1425AD:Byblos has been captured by the Arabian Empire!!!
1430AD:You have captured Byblos!!!You have captured Damascus!!!
1465AD:You have captured Khurasan!!!
1470ADamascus has been captured by the Arabian Empire!!!
1475AD:You have captured Damascus!!!
1480AD:You have captured Medina!!!
1505AD:You have captured Anjar!!!
1535AD:You have captured Mecca!!!You have captured Baghdad!!!
1565AD:You have captured Kufah!!!
1570AD:You have captured Hun!!!
1585AD:You have captured Basra!!!
The Arabian Civilization has been destroyed!!!

Technological Research:
1390AD:You have discovered Printing Press!
1435AD:You have discovered Replaceable Parts!
1490AD:You have discovered Rifling!
1535AD:You have discovered Steel!
1560AD:You have discovered Constitution!

Other Notable Events:
1440AD:Karachi has been captured by the Incan Empire!!!
1450AD:Victoria has completed The Temple of Solomon!
1495AD:Victoria has completed The Spiral Minaret!
1500AD: Tokugawa has completed The Taj Mahal!


The Third Egyptian War:
During the war with the Arabians, the Empire had acquired the technology for Rifles, Canons, and Grenadiers. With the acquisition of the Arabian lands, the Empire now found itself bordering the English and once again the Egyptians. This was the last Egyptian city, and its’ existence was causing some unrest in the conquered Egyptian cities. So, in 1595AD, the Empire attack Egypt for the third and final time. The battle was short and the Egyptians were conquered in 1605AD.

1595AD:You have declared war on Hatshepsut!
1605AD:You have captured Sarmatian!!!
The Egyptian Civilization has been destroyed!!!


1605AD:You have discovered Corporation!

The English Wars and Domination:
The Japanese Empire was now a war machine. The Imperial Army was poised on the English border, and the English culture was choking some of the newly acquired cities, including isolating the city of Sarmatian. Thus, in order to save the city from the heathen English in 1625AD the Imperial Army crossed into English territory. Newcastle and Warwick fell quickly to the large Japanese Imperial Army. Feeling confident, the Japanese General split his forces sending one army along the coast to capture Hastings and Coventry and then move on York in the Northeast of the English Empire, while a second army moved on then Libyan in the South. It was at Libyan that the Imperial Army fist tasted defeat. The English Redcoats had put up a brave fight in every city, but in Libyan they could not be defeated. The Second Army did not have the strength to take the city. At the same time, the First Army had run into trouble at the City of York. There the Redcoats also were putting up a brave fight. The Emperor therefore decided to allow the General in Charge of the Imperial Army to take his own life, and a Cease fire was signed with the English in 1678AD. The Army was allowed to heal, reinforcements were brought up and production began on the newly discovered Infantry units. In 1692, the newly consolidated Imperial Army once again marched on Libyan. This time the massed Canons and Cavalry easily overran the Redcoats defending the city. It fell in 1698AD. The army turned North taking Canterbury in 1708AD, then East to London which fell in 1718AD. At this point the writing was on the wall. The English would fight to the end, but York and then Nottingham both fell to the superior numbers and experience of the Imperial Army. In 1736AD the English were destroyed.

1625AD:You have declared war on Victoria!
1645AD:You have captured Newcastle!!!
1650AD:You have captured Warwick!!!
1662AD:You have captured Hastings!!!
1670AD:You have captured Coventry!!!
1676AD:Coventry has been captured by the English Empire!!!
1678AD:You have captured Coventry!!!

1692AD:You have declared war on Victoria!
1698AD:You have captured Libyan!!!
1708AD:You have captured Canterbury!!!
1718AD:You have captured London!!!
1726AD:You have captured York!!!
1736AD:You have captured Nottingham!!!
The English Civilization has been destroyed!!!

Technological Research:
1645AD:You have discovered Steam Power!
1678AD:You have discovered Assembly Line!
1683AD:You have discovered Democracy!

Other Notable Events:
1664AD:Nara has been founded.
1716AD:Huayna Capac has completed The Statue of Liberty!

In 1744, when London came out of unrest, the Japanese Empire encompassed 64.23% of the world’s land and encompassed 65.19% of the world’s population.

Domination Victory

 

[kingjoshi]

Why on earth would you do that, or am I reading too much into poor wording?

Nah, I'm just stupid.. But I thought the extra hammer and commerce per turn for the rest of the game (due to the center city tile) would be worth it. In retrospect, probably not..

 

[Jastrow]

I am probably missing a completly nooby point, but please fill me in. Why is it a bad idea to found the city on the gold resource? If you get the Hammer and commerce from the tile as implied by Kingjoshi, then what is wrong with the idea?

 

[Sparts]

You do get the extra hammer as it is a plains hill, but the extra commerce is lost.
...

....

euhm, right?

Or is that a civ3 assumption?

Edit: tried it to see what happened. As a matter of fact you do get one extra commerce in your citycenter, which by itself is pretty good. However, when mined, that same gold resource, though not in your citycenter would provide three hammers and eight commerce. Which makes that one extra commerce not-so-good.

 

[Mauer]

*wonders where all the veterans are*

I've noticed quite a few questions that have gone unanswered. I would be more than happy to toss in my two cents, but it seems that I'm also one of the ones asking the questions.

 

[Enthar]

Despite my initial intention of winning by Domination, that was not to be.

I managed to conquer the Aztecs using primarily axemen, then War Elephants. After pausing to consolidate and evaluate targets, I decided that Egypt, who was friendly enough to trade techs with me, and also large and powerful, would live, and the Incans, who were also friendly, but not as friendly or powerful as the Egyptians, should die.

The Incan war however was a protracted one. Repeated cease fires needed to be called to rebuild armies, garrison cities, and in general proceed forward. This brought me clear through Calvary (who proved to be quite vulnerable to the Incans sudden introduction of Riflemen) and all the way to Infantry. Getting Infantry earlier than the Incans finally won the war, but by then the four remaining civilizations were ahead of me in tech, had huge numbers of Infantry and other advanced troops, and a neutral to friendly stance towards me.

I decided that it was highly unlikely for me to be able to conquer the Indians and English before the Egyptians or someone else built a space craft. Thus, I had two goals- build a space craft and/or get voted into a diplomatic victory, and prevent same from the others.

I accomplished this by inciting Egypt to attack the Arabs repeatedly. While this did give Egypt greater technology, it decisively distracted her from building space parts, and made her hated by most of the world.

Then, I rush built three gorges damn and the space elevator (sacrificing about 10 turns of tech research to do so). For the first time ever I had the space elevator before completing even one casing (not being able to rush the apollo program). Even with these huge production advantages, my overwhelming population advantage, i was barely able to catch up with tech and beat Asoka and Victoria to a space race victory. Liberal and expensive use of spies to sabotage Asokas only Aluminum mine was critical, as was a extremely expensive and risky sabotage of his Space Engine production. In the end, Asoka was 9 turns from a Space Race victory, Victoria was 5 turns from a Space Race Vicotry when I finished my Engine and won.

Final score: 5554 (in game) 24,834 (victory)
-15% for adventurer left me with ~20,000.

After action review:
I am still not quite up to Monarch play- I am not an innately aggressive player, and I have yet to win an extremely early domination victory, let alone one that I could 'milk' for scores in the 6 digits.

Instead of building as many city improvements, I should have concentrated on sustained and continuous military production. I also should have attacked Egypt much earlier, perhaps simultaneous with the Incans. I should also have not been so hesitant to fight against Infantry with my own Infantry, as India only ended up with about 6 cities, which would have been well within my grasp, despite enourmous stacks in each. Inviting the computer to attack stacked defensive units on excellent terrain to reduce their numbers works very well, even if it is hard on those units .

In all, I enjoyed this game, and look forward to future monarch and higher games with Adventurer class to improve my play.

 

[Memphus]

....Also, I think that some stronger player with a proper planning can easily get to domination on this map and difficulty level around 700AD, may be 800AD. Just get samurai earlier and then they would have to face mostly archers. Also, build more workers to chop the forests faster..... I hope the next one would be at least on Emperor level.

Well I agree with you here, I am nto quite as fast as you predicted ...but that is because I not one of the strongest players ....yet

In any case I second a game at emporer next month as well would like to know the condition for predator...I mean challenger ahead of time is possible

I will get to a full write up one of these days but for now

Game date: 930 AD
Base score: 3584
Final score: 246283

haha and as for you guys losing 3 points... I only lost 2 hmmm I wonder why...but then again it doesn't matter

Anyways for a couple quick notes on my game:
1.I didn't start a real war (worker steals don't count had 3 of them) until I had samurias (40 BC i think off the top of my head)
2. With the exception of about 3 turns I was at war with someone the rest of the game
3. I never built a single siege unit
4. I would have won sooner ~10 turns = 100 years if they last two people I was at war with didn't get longbows (that slowed me down considerably)

A complete will foolow soon

 

[Memphus]

I am probably missing a completly nooby point, but please fill me in. Why is it a bad idea to found the city on the gold resource? If you get the Hammer and commerce from the tile as implied by Kingjoshi, then what is wrong with the idea?

I'll take a stab, but am much to tired to actually test

Your capital already produces 8 commerce for being a capital cool.

Anywhere you build a city you get
2 food 1 hammer 1 commerce

which gives you a total of 9 commerce

if you found on a plains hill you get +1 hammer

if you found on gold you get + 1 commerce

so assume you settle on plains hill with gold
+1 commerce, + 1 hammer
= 2 food, 2 hammer, 2 commerce
the draw back is simple 15 turns into the game that would net you and extra 15 commerce
at this point I could have a worker out, and in 7 more turns (1 to move 6 to mine)
that hill with gold is now worth 3 hammers + 7-9 commerce depending if it is on a river or not and if you are financial or not....
so it will very easily be made up

AHHH i had to know and just checked, you get no extra commerce for settling on the gold, so in essence you waste 7-9 commerce by settling on it
However you do get the added advatage of not having to build a mine and instance access to a luxury, but IMO i would not do it.

 

[Memphus]

*wonders where all the veterans are*

Well I am certainly not one, but having just jumped into this thread about 30 min ago, I would assume they are still playing

That is why they are vertrans and post the best scores, because they play practice games, micromange and have a better understanding of the finer points of the game since they don't rush.

Come the last week of the month they will be here

Come the last 10 to 2 weeks (so any day now) of the month they will be posting in the first spoiler and some already have (in the first one include:
Shillen, Dynamic, Solenoozerec, Shadow2k, GatoLoco, Rain, akots, Ribannah...sorry if I missed anyone, and for spelling names were off the top of my head picking out familiar avatars as I was just reading that thread as well )

 

[kingjoshi]

I settled Osaka on plain hills with gold and my city produced 2/2/2 on the center tile. Yes, I got extra commerce as I was expecting.

My reasoning was:

Throughout the game, I'll probably be trying to grow the city so I wouldn't have a citizen to spare on a tile with no food resource. Having the extra hammer is really big in the early part of the game and is helpful throughout. Also, if I settle elsewhere (the plain tile to include the rice), that center tile only produces one hammer and using the other citizen on the gold would produce a total of 4 (or 5 if I used him on the copper). However, by building the city on the gold, I get 6 (by using the citizen on the copper) and I get two extra food which I wouldn't have gotten.

Having that extra commerce is very big for research in the early part of the game and saving a turn here and there is BIG. Momentum and power is huge (as long as we don't screw it up ).

Also, by settling there, I don't have to worry about someone pillaging the gold tile AND I get bonus when protecting the city.

In retrospect, it might not be worth it. If I farmed the rice, I would have a 4 food tile, which will grant an extra citizen to work on gold (or elsewhere). And once a gold is mined, the commerce can be made up REAL quickly. And while I would lose out on the defense, I did well enough in the game that enemyt combatants never got close to threaten.

However, I guess it depends upon the situation still. But I'd like to see more analysis of this by others.

 

[Memphus]

I settled Osaka on plain hills with gold and my city produced 2/2/2 on the center tile. Yes, I got extra commerce as I was expecting.
QUOTE]

ahhhh It took me a while but I figured it out , the reason you got two commerce was not because it was gold in a plains hill
it was because it was gold on a plains hill with a RIVER

So you are right you do get the extra commerce, but that bonus commerce would be there if you were to mine it as well
meaning 1 for the gold, 1 for the river, 6 for the mine on the gold = 8 commerce

Now I do see the point of your argument and it is a valid one
except it took 2 extra turns to get on that hill and settle from most starting spots (3 from the begging)

Let's assume 2 turns

that is 16 commerce gone alone from the palace, not inclduing lost production and food

For me I usually stick with settle in place, or in the 'numpad help region (still settling first turn)
or settle second turn if I can hit a plains hill
otherwise you get too far behind

but then again that is why civ is so fun, so many different ways to do the same thing

 

[kingjoshi]

Actually, I settled on the plains/forrest/hills as everyone else. But my first build was a settler which I put on the plains/gold/hills. And both by a river. I don't know if I'd ever do that again (having the first build be a settler, especially on monarch) but it paid off. I quickly had two productive cities with access to copper and iron (considering there was enough hammer near by for both cities to produce axemen and swordsmen).

 

[Qpdaj]

I chose the middle class because Monarch is my "challenge" level (meaning I can generally win, but it's not easy). This game was tough; I gave up the cow to settle close to the river which resulted in not a single early resource for my capital to work, meaning my early growth was *slow*. I went for Bronze Working first in hopes of finding some bronze close by for my second city and building Axes fairly early to stave off the barbarian hordes. This almost worked, as I did settle my second city next to the bronze to the west, and got things hooked up, but Monty ended up plopping a city between my two cities, which instantly put him at the top of my "must die" list. I was able to get another city (and road system) north of that city, plus found a few other cities, and cranked out Axes to the point that when he finally did declare war on me, I was one turn from declaring on him anyway. With my piles of Axes, Monty was easy prey, allowing me to expand to a comfortable size, while making nice with Hatty.

Ah, Hatty. She expanded early right towards me while I was hopelessly mired with my one slow-growing city, and then she cranked out culture to the point where I was feeling nearly suffocated. However, she was the only AI that ever liked me, so I suffered with her close proximity, plus I had Monty to beat up on.

By about 1500 I was up against the Incan borders, with Monty down to one (or two) cities on that peninsula. My war had gone pretty well up until HC joined Monty and captured one of the cities I'd just taken (back behind where my army had just taken another city). It was bad, but I thought I could take it back ... but then Hatty, who'd been helping me, happened to have a few knights in the area and she captured the city the same turn HC had taken it. This resulted in one Egyptian city smack dab in the middle of my empire, cranking out culture and making my life difficult. Sigh.

So, it was 1500, and the next obvious target was HC, but he had better tech than I did, as did everyone else. The only AI willing to trade was Hatty (her relations with me were all positives, while everyone else's were about half and half). I'm not real good with domination, so I decided to try for culture (with a half-try at diplomatic).

There were five religions within my borders (six by the end), though none were started by me. I picked my three culture cities and went about building four cathedrals, etc., in each (one ended up with six, I believe). I also got the Kremlin (to rush buy), Broadway, Hollywood, [The Hit Singles one], and the Eiffel Tower, while trying to pop as many great artists as possible. I had not managed to get any early wonders, so my best city capped out at about 860 culture per turn (in other games I've cracked 1100). I totally stopped researching after Hospitals, and watched and prayed as the other civs raced towards better and better military techs (the best I ever got was Machine Guns; others had modern armor and stealth bombers, yikes).

I built the UN pretty early, hoping that at least Hatty would vote for me, as by this time I'd conned her into signing a defensive pact. But (of course) she ended up being the other candidate. This actually ended up making even the election of the UN leader difficult, as no one liked either of us (and so we had about a dozen rounds of votes before she finally became leader, barely).

Anyway, the good news was my three cities achieved legendary culture in (about, not sure on this first one) 1890, 1895, and 1899.

The bad news: the English launched their spaceship in 1895. Ah well. All in all, not one of my better played (or lucky) games.

 

[joyodongo]

I'm starting to play at MONARCH. Before, my wins at PRINCE were always SPACE RACE. My problem when I try to DOMINATE is to handle the cost of so many cities. How can you do it? When I fought Egypt and had 11 cities I was at 0% research for some turns until I recovered to 70%. Then I was down in tech to fight Monty and Saladin, so... I'm stuck

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[duezeone]

courthouses, forbidden palace, managing your civics, and also managing the growth and commerce of your cities land.

 

[Bezhukov]

I actually settled my capital down by the wheat and flood plains. I went out initially in search of a river with forests and took the best place I could find. Helped me grab the great corn/dye site which I used to flip three of Hatty's cities. I haven't reported yet because I find conquering vast swathes of land with obsolete units boring, and I haven't finished my launch yet.

 

[Memphus]

I'm starting to play at MONARCH. Before, my wins at PRINCE were always SPACE RACE. My problem when I try to DOMINATE is to handle the cost of so many cities. How can you do it? When I fought Egypt and had 11 cities I was at 0% research for some turns until I recovered to 70%. Then I was down in tech to fight Monty and Saladin, so... I'm stuck

Thanks in advance for your help

Timing:
Like I said once I start war that is usually it the war machine is going until I hit the domination limit, so at this point tech because sort of useless

If you take cities fast enough
i.e. 1-2 a turn they generate 100~200 gp a turn

from my experience the average is around 100gpt per city

Which can more than cover the cost of the new conquered cities

Along of course with everything that duezeone said.

Finally if worse comes to worse I always have Caste system in play when at war, so just flip on enough merchants in your useless (i.e. they won't produce much)

Other than my core cities and the captials of other nations

all my new cities get the following from chopping
courthouse
granary
theater
then they usually go onto wealth, or the rare time produce a military unit