It's 570 BC, i just came out of the AA and gifted/sold Greece and Persia to let them fish their bonus techs. They got Feudalism and Monotheism. The expansion phase is over. Greece has snatched two towns in my sphere of influence but they are to become
my towns, in due time.
At this point, i'm facing a dilemma: Athens is 2 turns away from completing the Great Library. and if i capture it, i'll get knowledge of both Mono and Feud
before connecting iron, thus missing out legions completely! Therefore, i'll either wait for those pukes to connect iron themselves or attack immediately and capture Athens before the Great Library is complete. The 2nd option is more palatable, but there's a problem: it will be archers vs hoplites in a size 7 city, and i'm not sure that my forces will be enough to overcome the 2 defenders in town. If the RNG turns against me, it will be a big setback.
At the end, i decided to attack immediately. Declare war, move in, next turn they trade as expected and my archers attack. The 1st hoplite falls in 2 attacks, but the 2nd one proves itself to be tougher: it climbs the rank up to elite and takes down several archers before succumbing. Anyway, the plan succeeds. In a few turns i connect the iron source, and upgrade some warriors to legions. In 450 BC i get Mono and Feud from Persia, in return for all the contact oversea and the world map. Next turn, a legionary wins against an enemy hoplite and the Golden Age is started. Some legions get a further upgrade to maces and the campaign becomes easier.
By 330 BC Greece has been reduced to OCC and i move immediately against Egypt. With spears as their best defenders they don't put up much of a fight, and by 90 AD they're gone. The first leader came, and it was used to rush the Great Lighthouse, still useful for the movement bonus.
Now, there's another problem: four of the former Egyptian towns are actually on the Persian sphere of influence, in what should have been the Persian east coast. These towns are bound to remain corrupted for the whole game, would need some cultural improvements to resist Persian pressure and would also be problematic to defend in case of a Persian sneak-attack. Not willing to waste money and units to keep these towns, i decided to donate all of them to Persia right away.
On the research front, i went for Engineering, Chivalry and then the upper path. I could buy Monarchy and Invention from the AS. By 250 AD Navigation was known. Actually, i could have had it as early as 150 AD, but for that time i wasn't ready yet for an oversea invasion, so i choosed to slow down research and use the extra money for some improvements plus fleet and military buildup.
By 280 AD my first units land on japanese coast. Nineteen turns later, Japan is history. Alas, in spite of at least 30 elite victories, no leader came. I move immediately against the Iroquois and by 490 AD, finally, the much awaited leader pops out. Next turn, the palace is rushed in Tokyo and i can finally enjoy the benefits of a 2nd core.
In 520 AD i'm in the Industrials, with Persia fishing Medicine and Greece getting Nationalism. While i'm researching Steam here comes the 1st Persian sneak-attack, but i'm prepared to fend them off. However i couldn't trade for Medicine immediately as i was hoping for. In 620 AD i'm finally able to sign peace with Persia and getting Medicine from them. Next turn the Iroquois are gone. Now i can finally enjoy my whole set of luxuries, but there's still some work to be done by my military: Carthage needs to be disposed quickly before they lay their hands on Nationalism and start to draft riflemen. Fortunately, Englans has researched Military Tradition and i can use cavalries. Even so, Carthage was a tough nut to crack: i had to keep spending on military and slow down my usual optimization work. By 780 AD, my last foe was gone and i could finally concentrate on optimizing my empire.
In spite of their promising potential, the only mandatory IA tech i could get from the AS was Replaceable Parts. That was probably due to their research on Democracy. They all got the tech, revolted, and spent several turns on Anarchy. Probably it wasn't worth it at all, because they lost the unit support of Republic. I performed a pair of espionage actions on both England and Persia and saw they were researching at no more than 40%. Bah, stupid AS.
In the late industrials, here comes the 2nd Persian sneak attack, but once again i'm prepared to fend it off. As i make in into the Modern Ages, i'm able for the 1st time to sign peace, and i do it immediately, in order to prop Persia and Greece to tech parity. They fish Fission and Computers, and i manage to buy them both after completing Ecology. I was well ready with prebuilds to get United Nations, SETI and Internet before any AS could have time to build them. A nice surprise on the MA was Persia researching both Rocketry and Synthetic Fibers, therefore my launch date was earlier than expected.
I finally made it to the stars in 1360 AD. The Jason score was barely above the 10k mark, and honestly i expected something better. But hey, it was fun
Here's my final logs:
Research from the Middle Ages on:
_450bc: Monotheism, Feudalism (trade, Persia);
_370bc: Engineering (research);
_250bc: Chivalry (research);
_130bc: Theology (research); Monarchy (trade, Carthage);
__30bc: Education (research);
__10ad: Invention (trade, England);
__70ad: Astronomy (research);
_230ad: Navigation (research);
_280ad: Gunpowder (trade, England);
_330ad: Chemistry (research);
_380ad: Physics (research);
_420ad: Banking (trade, Carthage);
_440ad: Theory of Gravity (research);
_500ad: Magnetism (research); Music Theory, Printing Press (trade, Persia);
_520ad: Metallurgy (trade, Carthage);
_580ad: Steam Power (research);
_620ad: Medicine (peace treaty, Persia);
_640ad: Electricity (research);
_660ad: Military Tradition (trade, England);
_680ad: Sanitation (research); Nationalism, Democracy (trade, Greece);
_720ad: Scientific Method (research);
_760ad: Industrialization (research);
_780ad: Economics (trade, Persia);
_800ad: Corporation (research);
_840ad: Steel (research);
_880ad: Refining (research); Combustion, Atomic Theory (ToE);
_920ad: Electronics (research);
_940ad: Replaceable Parts, Communism (trade, Persia);
_980ad: Radio (research);
1020ad: Mass Production (research); Free Artistry (trade, Persia);
1060ad: Motorized Transportation (research);
1100ad: Flight (research); Espionage (trade, England);
1150ad: Ecology (research); Fission (trade, Greece); Computers (trade, Persia);
1210ad: Miniaturization (research);
1255ad: Nuclear Power (research); Rocketry, Amphibious War (trade, Persia);
1280ad: Space Flight (research);
1300ad: Satellites (research);
1320ad: Superconductor (research);
1325ad: Synthetic Fibers (trade, Persia);
1340ad: Laser (research);
1360ad: Robotics (research); launch;
Kill log:
_330bc: Greece is OCC
__90ad: Egypt
_470ad: Japan
_630ad: Iroquois
_780ad: Carthage
1250ad: Greece destroyed by Persia
