GOTM 200 Spoiler

[Jokemaster]

If you fail the gambit completely and finish LH, I would have recommended building first on the forest island. Pheasant and whale are good for early shield production, and waiting 5 turns for irrigation isn`t that big of a drawback. (Also 1 more trade arrow.) But it would still knock whoever got unlucky off tempo. It`s so important, in these "obstacle course"-type GOTM maps, since there`s usually a breaking point after which a snowball comes out-of-control.

Side note: Had you considered using the mine-on-city trick before building Beijing? Or did you consider getting the 2nd city and its resources more important? I did not think of doing that myself.

 

[Jokemaster]

40 AD: Chengdu built, using mine-on-city trick. Red hat!

60 AD: SHANGHAI LH. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

120 AD Hut: SETTLERS. Why couldn`t it be you the first time around??

180 AD: HBR > Writing.

220 AD: Hangzhou built.

240 AD: Civil disorder in 2 cities.

260 AD: Tientsin built. Hut: Elephants. Tatung built.

300 AD: Van in Canton for MPE.

320 AD: CANTON MPE. Power is Strong: my own key civ! Trade with French for Literacy and Writing.

380 AD: French are first to Philosophy. Trade for it regardless. Get Poly from Spanish as well.

400 AD: >Republic. Mono not available. Trade to French for Republic.

420 AD: >Monotheism.

460 AD: Monotheism `> Medicine.

480 AD: Macao built. Trireme up to Grassland island, will go up to two farthest islands.

500 AD: Van in Tsingtao for Mikes.


STATUS AT 500AD: (End of 126th turn)

Population: 400.000 Cities: 11 Government: Monarchy Total advances: 17 (researching Medicine)
Gold: 16 T3L0S7 Income/Cost per turn: 11 income, 0 cost. Production: 47MT 0 polluted tiles
Wonders: Pyramids in Beijing, LH in Shanghai, Marco`s in Canton. HG in French Orléans, GW in Roman Véies. Colossus in Zulu ZIMBABWE.



GOALS: Get close to reaching big continent. Build Mikes. Send some settlers on Marshes/Jungles islands and build a few there, send to farther-islands first. Further develop Hills island. Slow, but can`t go faster.

 

[Major Advantage]

Jokemaster, how far did you get t oexpand? In 500AD, I had 1 city on grassland and 1 trireme with settler+explorer a few turns away from the big continent.

(Paris builds Marco Polo...this is a Major Disadvantage. )
100 Trade->Writing;
140 LH built! Finally! Two ships sail north from Tundra (2 settler; settler/explorer), explorer will head for the main continent
(English HG! Now there are no useful wonders for us to build)
160 Huts on forest island: HBR+poly; Chengdu founded on coal on Hill Island
180 Hangchow founded on Forest Island...Hmmm, riot factor...
240 Ellie on Forest Island...not much use for it now
340 Romans discover Philo
360 Writing->Literacy;
380 Tientsin founded on Grassland
420 Literacy from hut on Swamp
440 Researching Myst.; Nomads on Swamp! Sweet, but I would have preferred cash for RBs in Tientsin

Stats at 500AD:
pop.: 300k; Cities: 9; techs: 14; gold: 32; Gov.: Mon; wonders: LH; TR: 0D/0F
units: 8 settler, 11 warrior, 1 phalanx, 1 elli, 4 boat, 1 van, 3 explorer
Goals: Explore+settle main continent (6 more turns until 1st boat arrives), find rivals, build Michelangelo

So I am a little behind in cities and techs and way behind in wonders. Missing out on Marco's was a huge disadvantage since I had to discover evererything for the key wonders myself until I had met the rivals.

 

[Jokemaster]

At this point in time? I was in the process of thoroughly settling the forest island using the settlers from the tundra islands, and had sent a single boat with two settlers on it. (My Hill island was on permanent WoW duty.)
My 480 AD turn specified "up to Grassland islands." Did not bother settling there, as it would have slowed down things way too much on the mainland expansion: instead I relied on the settlers from the tundra, and eventually forest, lands to colonize the Plains and Prairies islands. (Similar to how Peaster does EC.) Marsh and Jungle came later, starting a few turns before 1500 AD, thanks to some helpful nomads: but it was not a higher priority since I hadn`t thought of fishing for them with just a warrior, on the cheap.

I really do wonder the worth of earlier landing, versus later landing and Pyramids. Your explorer (I assume a 2-move unit) could really tip the scales towards the earlier landing if you get some ATs (and compensate for the lack of Granaries). We`ll find out soon, I guess!
Although I'm probably way behind grigor regardless...

EDIT: Wait. I just read LH: 140 AD. That`s later than my own LH... how on earth did I arrive later?
EDIT2: Sadly don`t have any saves between 40 AD and 1000 AD. But I assume that`s because I prioritized settling the forest island first, for my own domestic production base (and because I didn`t like the thought of having settlers eating food for so long when I didn`t have very many cities at that point in time. Actually that was probably my train of thought back then). Second order was the big landmass. I must have departed around 300 AD then, somehow.

 

[Major Advantage]

I really do wonder the worth of earlier landing, versus later landing and Pyramids. Your explorer (I assume a 2-move unit) could really tip the scales towards the earlier landing if you get some ATs (and compensate for the lack of Granaries). We`ll find out soon, I guess!

Actually, it was a real explorer (the one youneed seafaring for). I had two boats standing by just north of Tundra islands and they immediately set sails fully loaded when LH was built. I only founded 1 city on the 4-special-site on forest island, that took over support for some units (not sure which exactly) so that the tundra-cities had more free resources to produce the next wave.

EDIT: Wait. I just read LH: 140 AD. That`s later than my own LH... how on earth did I arrive later?
EDIT2: Sadly don`t have any saves between 40 AD and 1000 AD. But I assume that`s because I prioritized settling the forest island first, for my own domestic production base (and because I didn`t like the thought of having settlers eating food for so long when I didn`t have very many cities at that point in time. Actually that was probably my train of thought back then). Second order was the big landmass. I must have departed around 300 AD then, somehow.

I had expansion north first on my priority list, filling in the gaps on the other islands later. Then it was wonder building on the southern islands and expansion for grassland island and north of it.
Eventually, it will be a landing game for me, but anything but early. I went for a huge empire, using most of the big continent inevitably this has turned into a nightmare of logistics with tons of vans being moved around each turn...

 

[haleewud]

I started a couple of weeks ago. This was a strange game. I don't think I have ever gone so far into the game in despotism. I am still not sure if getting to monarchy earlier would have been better. I tried to play with the science rate to get the one turn revolution to monarchy, but I just couldn't make it work. After I finish, I may go back and see what would have happened if I had chosen Code of Laws instead of Map Making.

Expansion was slow. I had the second settler digging the oil well while waiting for the trireme. I figured that the mine would be useful later in the game.

BTW: I have seen several mentions of mining the BEIJING square before founding. Please note that mining glacier allows the glacier to produce 1 shield. Putting a city on glacier gives a bonus of 1 shield similar to building on non-shield grass. The mine will not give an extra shield. If the square was a hill or mountain, then the mine in the city square would have been helpful.

-4000 Beijing founded, Move second settler along river and mine
-3950 start Alphabet, move settler to Oil and continue mining
-3800 warrior
-3750 Alpha -> Map Making
-3700 First Hut, Hut Choices are 50g, weeds, Code of Law, Horse, Map Making, Hut -> Map Making, RB 4sh
-3650 start Pottery (going for seafaring and harbor before monarchy)
-3200 Trireme built, warrior and settler board
-3000 Land on Island 21 (tundra island)
-2950 Shanghai founded at 54,232,21
-2900 Pottery -> Seafaring
-2850 Hut -> Elephant
-2700 RB Shanghai 5sh
-2650 Hut (79,229,18) -> Nomads
-2550 Canton founded at 0,230,18 (hill island)
-2300 Seafaring -> Code of Laws (60), RB Beijing 21sh
-2250 Beijing Harbor, Shanghai disbands warrior
-1950 Shanghai Settler
-1800 Nanking founded at 62,228,21
-1700 CoL -> Bronze Working (72), Shanghai disbands Ele
-1400 Shanghai Settler
-1150 BW -> Ceremonial Burial (84)
-975 Tsingtao founded at 80,232,18 (Tsingtao and Canton are on opposite sides of the date line and can both work the river mines)
-950 Beijing Settlers
-775 CB -> Monarchy (104), Xinjian founded at 29,228,19 (mountain island)
-750 disorder in Nanking
-725 order restored in Nanking, T/L/S = 6/0/4
-700 T/L/S = 4/0/6
-575 T/L/S = 6/0/4
-475 T/L/S = 4/0/6
-450 Monarchy -> Currency (117), REVOLUTION
-425 Monarchy established
-325 Paris builds Pyramids
-250 Currency -> Trade (140)
-175 Rome builds HG,
-150 Shanghai builds LH
-100 Nanking Settler
-50 Trade -> Writing (154), Beijing Settlers
-25 Canton Settlers
+1 Chengdu founded at 55,215,17 (forest island)

 

[Jokemaster]

10 turns away from landing, and holy moly these turns are taking excruciatingly long...

 

[Jokemaster]

4 turns away from landing. Getting there. Will be done by the end of the week.

560 AD: Techrate 14 turns…

600 AD: Zulus almost done with KRC. They build it.

620 AD; French build GL. Romans build Cope`s.

660 AD: Shantung built.

680 AD: That was one too many. 3 cities with black hats. SO LET`S BUILD CHINAN!! (Mine-on-city trick, near wine square.)

700 AD; Beijing in state of perma-unrest. 101s left for Mikes. KaifengEMain built on one of northeasternmost islands, before the big landmass. I plan on using those islands as a safe place to shuttle settlers to the big continent to and fro. Not risking popping the hut. No thanks. Hut: Legion (with the other settler). Now up to Mighty…

740 AD: Medicine > Banking.

760 AD: Ningpo built. Paoting built.

780 AD: ALERT, ALERT. ENGLISH BREAKOUT. They have a LOT of cities on the mainland. Traded Banking and Astronomy with them. Techrate 20 turns. Also built Naples on NW island, near big landmass, at some point.

800 AD: >Mathematics. ROMANS ARE ALSO OUT.

820 ad: `> Construction. MIKES IN TSINGTAO. Trade for Construction and Seafaring.

840 AD: > Navigation. Hut: AT of Issos! First city on big landmass. Now we see whether going Pyramids-first is worth the delays.

900 AD: Hut: FSIFJSJFA. Barbs. Of Course. T7L0S3. Will have to pay ransom. Cunaxa built.

1000 AD: 5 techs behind English… If I have to choose between Mag`s and Leo`s I will take Mag`s.



STATUS AT 1000AD: (End of 151st turn)

Population: 740.000 Cities: 22 Government: Monarchy Total advances: 23 (researching Navigation)
Gold: 23 T7L0S3 Income/Cost per turn: 39 income, 0 cost. Production: 82MT Trade: 39 arrows
Wonders: Pyramids in Beijing, LH in Shanghai, Marco`s in Canton, Mikes in Tsingtao. HG in French Orléans, GW in Roman Véies. Colossus in Zulu ZIMBABWE. GL in English Canterbury, KRC in Zulu Zimbabwe, Cope’s in Roman Véies.

GOALS: Start getting a foothold on big continent. Build Mag`s. After Mag`s, gun for Theology and go for JS Bach. When you get that, swap to Republic. Still in assault phase. Delaying Republic in hopes that cheaper food costs for settlers will be worth it. (I do have Pyramids…) Will eventually build Harbours and celebrate, but…


ANALYSIS: Really late at getting to the beachhead. I was worried about not being able to get the medieval/Renaissance WoWs, so decided to not send boats first thing in the morning and delayed 1 shuttle for a bit in favour of 2 cities on the forest island. I was able to settle the Plains/Prairies islands in an OK fashion, however the Forest cities grew quite nicely. The extra tax revenue created then did help for a bit, although not by a significant factor.

 

[Major Advantage]

10 turns away from landing, and holy moly these turns are taking excruciatingly long...

Same here. The duration of turns, not the landing, that will take a little longer. I was not going for earliness, my main goal was to reach a population of 320 Million, so it was just any city with nothing better to build was doing spaceship sparts.
And I think I will have to replay my last turn, somehow I have crushed my science output! Not sure why, at the beginning of the turn the box was almost full, then I cashed in a lot of vans, during next turn's city processing cycle there was no discovery, at the end of it it was still empty, after cashing in more vans it was still. Not really sure what had happened, I save the game multiple times during each turn (in case the game crashes or I need a break during the turn), and keep the save at the end of the turn before pressing enter.

So, next part:
540 Tatung founded on Swamp
560 Elephant on island 11, supported...hm, we will settle there and explorer and ellie will go hut-hunting
580 Masonry from jungle hut ; Macao founded on island 11; oops, now Chengdu is in trouble, no choice but to shrink down to size 1
600 50g on Jungle
620 Land on main continent
640 Myst.->Philo; Adv. tribe on Main;
660 Legion+Math from huts, was hoping for something towards Mono
700 2*25g;
720 Adv. Tribe+50g
780 25g + Adv. tribe; Kaifeng founded on forest island
800 Ok, we cannot handle any more cities! Barb horses from hut! Ouch! Philo from hut! Yeah!
820 Research Republic (Mono is blocked, args!)
860 Republic from hut
880 Research Mono; 50g+Legion
900 Another AT, ... Oh, the hut @38,48 is gone, somebody must have been here
920 We see a french elephant
940 Approach French ellie, give some techs, peace, cannot exchange techs, we are strong and our own key-civ
960 Run into english Liverpool, sign peace, they offer construction, not now; 8 barb horses...
980 Just short of Mono, 8 vans are standing by
1000 Mono->University; Paoting founded

Stats at 1000AD:
pop.: 610k; Cities: 17; techs: 20; gold: 35; Gov.: Mon; wonders: LH; TR: 0D/0F
units: 9 settler, 18 warrior, 2 phalanx, 2 legion, 2 elli, 6 boat, 3 van, 3 explorer
Goals: Colonize main continent, find rivals, build Michelangelo (next turn)

By then, I had 4 cities on the main continent (one of them was destroyed soon after by barbs). I didn't know anything about the rivals, haven't met them and they had built Marco's.

 

[Jokemaster]

@Major: From the look of things, it`s pretty likely that your beaker count overflew. The amount of beakers is stored by the game using a 2^16 integer, going from -32768 to 32768. (The cause being Civ2 coded as a 16-bit game. 15 bits for the beaker count, one as a debugging failsafe.) Usually, you never go in the negatives: you research a tech and get brought back to zero. However, if you deliver enough vans to get over 32768 beakers, there will be a literal overflow, in programming terms, and your beaker count will reset towards -32768s. You will need to research/deliver another 32768 beakers to reset the amount back to zero.
It almost happened to me as well: was negligent, delivered a capped delivery, and saw 32763 beakers when I checked F6. Close as hell!

On my end, I had so much money that I straight-up RBd my entire spaceship in about 4/5 turns.

Wonder where the others are now.

 

[Major Advantage]

Thanks a lot for the detailed explanation! I already thought it was some kind of overshoot due to, how to say, economical programming.

... and saw 32763 beakers when I checked F6. Close as hell!

How can you tell exactly how many beakers you have?

 

[Jokemaster]

I used FoxAhead`s Civ2 launcher.

It provides various QoL improvements such as, AI patch, removing the CD check, launching properly in Windows 10 (if MGE), being able to scroll down on the unit select screen (for stacks larger than eight units), seeing the amount of precharged turns stored into Settlers and Engineers, and - of course - seeing the precise amount of beakers accumulated into the Science box.

Authorized by Ali here.

 

[Jokemaster]

1040 AD: Romans start Shakes. Cannae built. Capoue built. Cities are now starting to be built in the mainland.

1060 AD: Have not bothered bringing taxes back down. Want vans in place for Mag`s and faster continent growth.

1080 AD: Hut:… University.

1100 AD: T3L0S7.

1120 AD: Turin built.

1140 AD: Romans develop Navigation. Cannot get it from them. English: WAR. Trade to Zulus for Pottery. Hut; AT of Gênes.

1160 AD: T7L0S3. Get Navigation from Romans after trading for Pottery, which I got from Zulus. Hut: Legion.

1180 AD: >Warrior Code. English really do not want to talk… ROMANS RESEARCHING PHYSICS. If they discover Magnetism… I have Caravels, but still. Trade to Spanish for Warrior Code. Hut: Economy.

1200 AD: >IW. Did not get Feudalism still.. Trade for IW to Spanish. Hut: 100g. Actually very welcomed. Crète built. Vérone built. Van in Tsingtao: Mag`s done next turn. Will help.

Interturn: English build Shakes.

1220 AD: TSINGTAO BUILDS MAG`s. Hut: FEUDALISM. That`s excellent. And bittersweet. T3L0S7.

Interturn: Romans acquire Physics.

1240 AD: >The Wheel. Still no clear stab to Theology… Trade to Zulus for Wheel. Hut: Engineering. Hut: BARBS. Hut: 100g. Salamis built.

1260 AD: >Theology. Roughly 5 turns until research.

1280 AD: Hut: THEOLOGY. Here`s hoping I don`t get Invention anytime soon… T7L0S3.

1300 AD >Bridge building. Trade to Mongols for BB. Hut: 200g. Very nice! Trade to Romans for Physics. Lisbonne built.

1320 AD `>Chemistry. T3L0S7, 20turns. I`ve actually caught up to English for techs… Hut: 100g. I`d like cities now, I have gold. 249s left for Bach`s.

Interturn: lose pop in Gênes to Barb hut leftovers.

1340 AD: Give tech and 50g to English for peace. We are tied for techs. ROMANS DEVELOPING MAGNETISM. Hambourg built. Prague built. Hut: 100g. Not. What. We. Need…

1360 AD: Hut: Sanitation. Salzbourg built. Romans start JS Bach. Whoops…

1380 aD: Hut: SETTLERS. On Jungle island. Hut: Chemistry. Hut: BARBS.

1400 AD: Chivalry or Magnetism… I choose Magnetism. I am 6 techs away from Genetic Engineering. Power is now Supreme, at last. Just caught up on techs completely as well. BEIJING SIZE 2. WHAT AN ACCOMPLISHMENT. T7L0S3. Venise built.

1420 AD: Milan built. Hut: 50g. Hut: SETTLERS, on Marsh island. Hut: BARBS.

Interturn: English start Adam Smith`s. Not super important, but annoying to lose. Especially with how big my empire will be.

1440 AD: Hut: Theory of Gravity. Ghent built.

1460 AD: Van in Tsingtao: Mikes next turn.Kill wandering Barb unit near Bergen. Hut: Crusaders.

1480 AD: TSINGTAO JSB. Adam Smith`s started. Hut: BARBS. Hut: CHIVALRY.. Worst. Case. Scenario…. Curses. Now that JSB is built I can swap to Republic.

1500 AD: Oedo year 1540AD. Kill wandering Barb horseman. If only I could get a Magnetism pop…



STATUS AT 1500AD: (End of 176st turn)

Population: 1.770.000 Cities: 37 Government: Monarchy Total advances: 39 (researching Magnetism)
Gold: 34 T7L0S3 Income/Cost per turn: 57 income, 6 cost. Production: 140MT Trade: 93 arrows
Wonders: Pyramids, LH, Marco`s, Mikes, JSB, Mag`s. Other civs have HG, GW, Colossus, GL, KRC, Cope`s, Shakes.



GOALS: Switch to Republic, research to Genetic Engineering as fast as possible. Detour for Democracy in the meanwhile. Get Adam Smith`s and Leo`s (will I have to make a choice?) Further expand on the big continent. Focus should be on science for next period.

 

[Major Advantage]

In my next 500 years, expansion went pretty well, hut luck was exceptional, we had a lot of advanced tribes, sometimes already developed cities. I also found myself in a situation where monarchy was not getting me anywhere and we were not ready for republic either. But then, out of nowhere another option showed up and I took it.

(Chinan destroyed by barbs)
1020 Michealangelo built; Legion from hut; Yangchow, Neapel founded
1040 Adv. Tribe (size 4 already!)
1060 Legion from hut
1080 Cunaxa founded
1100 Adv. tribe (size 2 with Temple+Library, sold); gamble on tech exchange with England and get Bridge-building (other choices Constr., IW, WC), get english map; Cannae founded
(Explorer killed by barbs)
1120 Domestic delivery for 80
(Legion killed by barbs)
1140 Turin founded, adv. tribe again! Sweet, but I was actually hoping for some useful techs
(Barbs capture Shatung)
1160 Delivery for 84
(Barbs kill phalanx in Cremona)
1180 Uni->Banking
(Barbs capture Cremona, French start Leonardo! That was on my priority list!)
1200 Another adv. tribe on the coast
1220 And another one??? Kidding???; Hail England for tech-trade, nothing new, we pick IW, hail icy French, give Uni to pacify, trade Mono for (Banking,Chiv,constr.,Demo,Eng,Feud.,Inv,WC,Wheel), hm, tough choice...Inv for Leo? Or rather Feud for Theo+Bach? Or Demo for SoL and Fundy or Commy? We pick Demo! Maybe fundy and some war with a huge Crusader-army?
1240 Bribe back Shantung for 52, get a horse with it
(Mongols KRC, Romans switch to SoL)
1260 Salamis founded, 6 more turns until SoL
1280 Another Adv. tribe... So obviously no more techs if anyone has discovered Inv?! Hamburg founded
1300 Another hut, we get 100g, what a surprise!
1320 Prag founded, Legion from hut
(Legion in Lissabon defends against Barb horse)
1340 Salzburg founded, Medicine from hut, so there are still hut-techs... REVOLUTION
1360 SoL built, Fundy established; Crusader from hut, Bergen founded
1380 Barb horses from hut! Was about time...; Bribe back Cremona for 52; Adv. tribe; Mailand founded on Plain Island
(Legion lost to Barbs; Romans start Copernicus)
1400 100g
1420 More cities founded
1440 100g; Meet Zulus, peace, no tech exchange because Sun Tzu, demand tribute since 20 crusaders are online, get 200g, sweet! Open embassy
1460 WC+50g from huts
1480 Meet Roman dip, sign peace, no tech exchange because of Copernicus, demand tribute, they ignore
(Barb horse kills 1 crusader)
1500 Musc from hut; more cities founded

Stats at 1500AD:
pop.: 2.07M; Cities: 42 (22 on main continent); techs: 26; gold: 442; Gov.: Fund; wonders: LH, Michelangelo, SoL; TR: 4D/0F
units: 5 settler, 19 warrior, 9 phalanx, 2 legion, 1 musc, 2 horse, 1 elli, 27 crusader, 7 boat, 3 dip, 9 van, 2 explorer
Goals: Expand and conquer, Leonardo+Bach, explosives

 

[Jokemaster]

Holy moly that hut luck. Seven ATs versus zero for mine! Although I`m curious as to how you will do tech-wise in the future, can`t be that good with Fundamentalism. Although you did have significantly more Barb trouble.

 

[Ali Ardavan]

Because of work and travelling it took me a while to get started. Played till building Marco in the early AD years this past weekend.

Like grigor I spent a lot of time analyzing the situation before getting started. I had a similar hut plan to his: use both starting settlers before tipping the hut hoping for a nomad and like him I did get a nomad out of that hut (mine on the 4th try). My plan was different in that I used my second settler for a city on the tundra island before tipping the hut.

Where I erred was the tech plan. My hat is off to grigor in awe and respect for his brilliant plan to get to Monarchy quickly. Mindlessly I started with alphabet and Mapmaking and then had to take another off path tech and like everyone else chose pottery. At that point, however, I did a detailed tech plan and unlike everyone else chose early republic instead of Monarchy.

Reading the logs I am surprised by how quickly everyone jumped on the hill island. I did so only after fully colonizing the tundra island with 4 cities.

My hut luck in this game has been phenomenal. Part of it due to detailed planning (building cities with none settlers before popping and thus allowing for nomads) and of course part of it just pure luck. I usually get more scrolls from huts than everything else; so much so that at points I kept data to make sure I am not imagining it and I was not (in some games up to 50% of my huts were scrolls). This game however, gave me everything but scrolls in the early game.

 

[Ali Ardavan]

Planning and Strategy

There will be no growth in the capital till Monarchy or when a harbor is built. Second settler has little useful work to do and shall be used for making a second city. The big initial decision is where to put the second city.

If we put that city on home island it will come around much sooner but that one will not have growth either and hence no further settlers can be built till Monarchy or when a harbor is built. If the second city is on another island, we will get growth but have to wait for mapmaking and a boat. Given that for further expansion beyond home island a boat is necessary and that Monarchy and Seafaring require 4 advances vs. 2 for mapmaking, the offshore alternative for the second city is more sound.

Another initial decision is when to tip the hut. Given the special rule, it is tempting to wait till both settlers have built a city and hope to get a nomad. Given that advanced tribe is out of the question, the other alternatives offer little advantage at the outset.

Date Notes

-4000 Beijing founded. Settler will mine oil.
-3950 -> Alphabet.
-3750 Alphabet -> Mapmaking.
-3250 Mapmaking -> Pottery. Mine is ready.
-3200 Trireme built. Warrior started.
-3000 Warrior built. Capital switches to building a wonder.

Status at -3000
Population: 0.01M; Cities: 1; Techs: 2; Government: Despotism
Gold: 38; Cost: 0; Trade routes: 0D0F;
Wonders:
Units: 1 None settler, 1 warrior
Goals: Expansion in southern most 4 islands, Monarchy/Republic, Trade, Marco
Footprint: 1 city on glacier
Roman: no contact
Zulu: no contact
French: no contact
Spanish: no contact
English: no contact
Mongol: no contact

-2950 Shanghai founded on tundra.
-2900 Hut yields 3x50g, nomad. No need for the fifth try. Nomad founds Canton.
-2650 Pottery -> Code of Laws.
-2550 50g from hut on tundra.
-2250 Shanghai builds settler. Horseman from hut on hills.
-2150 Nanking founded on Tundra.
-2100 Opted to go for Republic instead of Monarchy. Both are 3 techs away. I am not going to have many units so support is not a big issue. Republic reduces corruption even further than Monarchy and speeds up tech so I can reach Trade faster. Code of Laws -> writing.
-2050 Horse disbanded in Shanghai to speed up settler production.

Status at -2000
Population: 0.04M; Cities: 4; Techs: 4; Government: Despotism
Gold: 103; Cost: 0; Trade routes: 0D0F;
Wonders: 59 accumulated shields
Units: 1 warrior, 2 Triremes
Goals: Expansion in tundra, hill, mountain islands; Republic, Trade, Marco
Footprint: 2 cities on glacier, 2 on tundra
Roman: no contact
Zulu: no contact
French: no contact
Spanish: no contact
English: no contact
Mongol: no contact

-1700 Tsingtao founded on tundra. First red head appears.
-1500 Writing -> Literacy.
-1200 Xinjian founded on tundra.
-1000 French start Pyramids.

Status at -1000
Population: 0.08M; Cities: 6; Techs: 5; Government: Despotism
Gold: 18; Cost: 0; Trade routes: 0D0F;
Wonders: 119 and 6 accumulated shields in 2 cities
Units: 2 settlers, 2 warrior, 3 Triremes
Goals: Expansion in hill, mountain islands; Republic, Trade, Marco
Footprint: 2 cities on glacier, 4 on tundra
Roman: no contact
Zulu: no contact
French: no contact
Spanish: no contact
English: no contact
Mongol: no contact

-0975 Chengdu founded on hill.
-0925 Romans start Pyramids as well. Literacy -> Republic.
-0675 Hangchow founded on hill. Not only it starts red, but also caused 2 more red heads to appear. The one in Beijing is particularly hard to deal with. Fortunately, republic is around the corner.
-0625 Republic -> Bronze Working. Republic established. T2L0S8. All warriors disbanded.
-0500 Bronze Working -> Currency.

Status at -500
Population: 0.12M; Cities: 8; Techs: 8; Government: Republic
Gold: 10; Cost: 0; Trade routes: 0D0F;
Wonders: 173 and 70 accumulated shields in 2 cities
Units: 4 settlers, 3 Triremes
Goals: Expansion in hill, mountain islands, Trade, Marco, Hanging Gardens, Lighthouse
Footprint: 2 cities on glacier, 4 on tundra, 2 on hill
Roman: no contact
Zulu: no contact
French: no contact
Spanish: no contact
English: no contact
Mongol: no contact

-0400 English join the race for Pyramids as well. Tientsin founded on hill.
I am at a decision point. A 200 wonder will be ready in 5 turns. What should I build?
Marco
Trade takes at least 6 more turns to develop and there is no way to speed that up.
I could slow down the wonder by switching from whale to fish
Hanging Gardens
The Gardens will help growth in city sizes and expansion but the wonder is in the capital which will be very slow to grow and thus not optimal for Hanging Gardens.
Lighthouse
I have built all the cities I need on glacier, tundra, and hill islands.
I could build 1-3 cities on mountain island. All other city sites require Lighthouse.

Clearly, the order should be Lighthouse, Marco, and then Hanging Gardens.

-0375 Currency -> Trade.
-0300 French build Pyramids. Romans and English switch to Hanging Gardens.
-0275 Lighthouse built in Beijing.
-0250 T8L0S2
-0225 Trade -> Seafaring. Nomad from forest hut! Since I already have 9 cities and thus eligible for 2 none settlers, I will keep this one for improvements.
-0200 50g from forest hut. Tatung founded on forest.
-0150 Zulu start Colossus. Macao founded on forest.
-0125 Nomad from forest hut!
-0100 Romans build Hanging Gardens! The English switch to Copernicus! Anyang founded on forest.
-0025 French start Marco! This is odd. Mine is 8 turns away. Devised a plan to build and disband a warrior to speed it up by 2 turns.

Status at +1
Population: 0.16M; Cities: 12; Techs: 10; Government: Republic
Gold: 4; Cost: 0; Trade routes: 0D0F;
Wonders: Lighthouse and 180 accumulated shields
Units: 4 settlers (2 None), 3 Warriors, 3 Triremes, 2 vans
Goals: Expansion in remaining southern islands, Marco, Michelangelo
Footprint: 2 cities on glacier, 4 on tundra, 3 on hill, 3 on forest
Roman: no contact; Hanging Gardens
Zulu: no contact
French: no contact; Pyramids
Spanish: no contact
English: no contact
Mongol: no contact

 

[Ali Ardavan]

BTW: I have seen several mentions of mining the BEIJING square before founding. Please note that mining glacier allows the glacier to produce 1 shield. Putting a city on glacier gives a bonus of 1 shield similar to building on non-shield grass. The mine will not give an extra shield. If the square was a hill or mountain, then the mine in the city square would have been helpful.

Good point. I wondered about that when I read it too. I just tried it and indeed you are correct.

 

[Ali Ardavan]

Reported statuses (so far) at -1000

name | cities | techs | unit cost | wonders
Major Advantage | 2 | 5 | 140 | none
Jokemaster | 5 | 5 | ? | none
grigor | 6 | 8 | 250 | Lighthouse
haleewud | 4 | 6 | 120 | none
Ali Ardavan | 6 | 5 | 220 | none

Obviously grigor is leading

 

[Ali Ardavan]

Reported statuses (so far) at +1

name | cities | techs | unit cost | wonders
Major Advantage | 6 | 9 | 180 | none
Jokemaster | 6 | 10 | ? | Pyramids
grigor |13 |15 |890 | Lighthouse, Gardens, Colossus
haleewud | 7 | 10 | 440 | Lighthouse
Ali Ardavan | 12 | 10 | 410 | Lighthouse

Obviously, once again, grigor is way ahead.