Done!
Game date: 1415 AD
Firaxis score: 4023
Jason score: 8731
Time played: 35:54:43
The only problem is: my CIV-3 hangs on me sometimes during victory screens so that I have to kill the program, and it's happened this time. So I had to reload from 1410AD autosave to try to go to the turn after victory, and this time it worked. Hope it's OK.
It was such an easy game in the end, was cruising through most IA and Modern Age, with 4-turn research starting from GA in Middle Ages. Since Middle Ages and until the launch I lost total 4 turns not managing 4-turn research. But stupid Greeks and Persians kept drawing same Tech: they both got Mono, then Steam Power (at least that one was useful), and Ecology.
And no help at all came from AIs since AA, except I saved one turn on Engineering. So I just got a couple of optional MA techs from them, and the rest was up to me.
Wars:
- Persia at the start of MA. Started GA to keep MA research fast and to build infrastructure. Left Persia with one city in the northern flood plains until could relocate them to an island.
- Rome: obliged by building Pyramids, so they were the next target. Destroyed them in MA, got 2 leaders, built FP in Rome still in BCs. Second leader, after much deliberation, was spent on Hanging Gardens. There were no other good Wonders to build, and Hanging Gardens really helped with keeping that luxury slider down during MA.
- Greece. I thought I will beat them off the continent before IA, and then make peace to negotiate for a tech. But Hoplites were tough little monkeys, so I had to leave Greece with half their empire still on the continent, stop the war and bring them to IA. But Greece obliged by building a town on an island all by itself, yay for them. For Persia I had to build the town to gift them.
- In IA: clean up Persia and Greece off the continent, and also Arabs who managed to plop one town there. Then go to France and India to build towns with harbours next to their countries so that I could trade for luxuries. Stupid AIs haven't built a single harbour of their own!
The rest was just improving the land and growing the population. I was saving money to buy Modern Age techs of Greece and Persia (I broke cash deal with Greece before), forgetting that it's not Diplo, and for Space I can just research my own tech to trade with them, i.e. no pressure to buy at once. I should've used that money on Aqueducts/Markets to grow population, and also on finishing all the Labs/Unis close to the core... Then I might not have wasted 3 turns in Modern Age, to get Computers in 5 and Mini in 6. After Internet it was all 4-turn till the end.
Both Greece and Persia got Ecology, refused to trade for my 6000$ anyway, and a good thing too. I traded it later for Computers, and used money to improve and grow my people.
In the next 2 turns Persia and Greece were killed off their islands. Therefore no fighter jets and other nuisance to deal with from other Civs. They were still just starting IA when I launched.
It was a nice game to ease oneself back in.