The MA went as planned. Took down America, then Spain (Pyramids), then England, then Zimbabwe. France and China were left untouched, as one of the two had to be my good buddy for winning the UN vote.
I also completed the Colossus brick by brick, without any real competition, in the early MA.
Got 3 leaders overall. The first one emerged during the English campaign, and was used to rush the Great Library in 170 AD and start my golden age. The second one was used for Sun Tzu. With the 3rd, and final one, i moved my capital in the middle of Zimbabwean lands, building a RCP 6, and this led to a sudden and dramatic power-up. I also left what remained of Zimbabwe to live a little bit longer, because when i got the 3rd leader i wasn't ready to move the capital yet, and i wanted to fish another leader with all-elite attacks against the two surviving Zimbabwean cities. However, the 4th leader never came.
With the fall of Zimbabwe in 470 AD the military operations were over, and all it was left was to optimize the empire and keep good relations with the two surviving AS. France always remained friendly, but China tried to sneak-attack two times regardless of the big amount of luxuries i was donating them.
A notable part of my game was research. I actually learned something about it, or, to be more precise, had a a confirmation of what i was already suspecting. In short, Invention and Gunpowder are almost sure picks for the AS, but Engineering isn't exactly at the top of their priorities when it's time to select a new tech to research. Moreover, the AS doesn't plan ahead at all: they merely choose the next tech among the ones available with an internal weighting algorithm.
What follows is that, if you're going for fast research, in the right conditions it may be worth to go for Invention and Gunpowder because the AS are busy researching the
upper branch instead of the usual lower one. However, as soon as the AS gains knowledge of the prerequisite tech and has to select the next one, it will immediately returns into the beaten path.
My game had the right conditions: with Monotheism known and Engineering unknown, the AS went for Theology, Education and Astronomy. However i didn't take full advantage of this situation, because i didn't realize it in full until later and my top priority wasn't fast research, but fast optimization. Therefore, i went for Feudalism (maces), Chivalry (knights), Engineering (obvious), then dropped the research rate while going for Music Theory, Banking and two more optional techs while the AS researched Invention and Gunpowder as well. From there on, i raised the bar again and kept a 4-turns pace until the Modern Ages.
In the IA i got a very useful Steam Power as a free pick. From there, i researched Medicine, Sanitation, Electricity, Rep Parts, Scientific Method and then up to Combustion, while the AS were busy researching Democracy, Nationalism and Military Tradition. From there on, i donated the AS to parity and proceeded for Atomic Theory, Electronics and Radio. The gamble paid off as France was so nice to research Mass Production for me
This opens up a possible alternative route in IA research, but only if the AS have at least a decent research potential.
Also worth exploring is the idea of NOT giving Electricity to the AS, as it doesn't seem too high in their priority list, in an attempt to have them research Industrialization and Corporation, but i'll leave it to a possible future game.
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Back to the game, the more interesting part was the very end. In short, i put myself at high risk of screwing up the game completely. As i was about to complete the UN, China had a substantial lead over France, and this was exactly what i wanted to achieve as France had been a good friend for the entire game, while relations with China had been troublesome at least.
I singed up RoP with France, then went to declare on China... but i couldnt! The reason why were renewed peace deals, that i signed up in order to not be harassed again by China. Alas, to the end of the IA i forgot to *not* renew it again, and by that time i couldn't use the standard strategy of declaring on the rival and signing up the buddy to secure the UN vote!
As France was in MPP with China, the vote was at high risk of be in favour of China, so i had to call off the election. At the 2nd call, there was still
one turn before expiration, so i still couldn't declare, and once again i had to call off.
As the peace deal finally expire, i sign MPP with France and prepare. But the very next turn China tries to sneak-attack again and war begins. France promptly join in. It seems over, at least.
Unless, it wasn't. The RoP still in place with France played against me. France showed up to be clearly superior and soon enough French cavalry and tanks appeared on the front. China was badly beaten, and the rapid growing war weariness combined with the sudden lack of luxuries caused their population to drop turn after turn. Sensing what was going on, i cancelled the RoP with France as soon as possible, but it was too late: by the 3rd call, Chinese population had just dropped below France, and the vote was between me and France, with China abstaining. Result: vote inconclusive, no majority found.
Now i had to completely turn the table: France as enemy, China as buddy. Which i did. But it takes a while to restore the attitude of an AS after a war. Too much for the 4th call, that i had once again to call off.
By the 5th call, finally, i had all in place: France at war and in a clear lead, China as ally and with a good attitude. As expected, China votes for me and i manage to win the most difficult Diplomatic game of my gaming history.
The end result is a Diplomatic win in 1465 AD, with 6654 Firaxis and 11650 Jasons. The poor end date was compensated by the great optimizing work on my empire, and so the final score didn't suffer much.
my empire was practically "perfect" at that time, so i simply clicked through those turns. i was very frustrated, just like you, and for sure would have given in if another indecisive vote would have taken place. but maybe China would have changed the mind in your favour as well... it is so strange that we had practically the same game!
