Open 1.29b2
This one is going to test my ability to recover from a bad start! I've made bad starts before in GOTM attempts, and not pressed on, but this one has made me very cross, and I'm ready to try to see it through.
4000 BCI pondered the start position for a long while, trying to see the mythical wheat under the fog and failing. Eventually I moved my worker north for a better look. As someone said, that gave the largest number of new tiles to examine. All he saw was more plains (good) some mountains and a coast. Not promising. Further cogitation brought no new enlightenment, so I mentally tossed a coin and moved the settler NW to get nearer the plains. I figured there might be somewhere better for settler production, so I'd build up pop as fast as possible, and rush a settler to build another city.
I researched Wheel at max, built a warrior, and irrigated and roaded as fast as possible around Thebes. When Thebes expanded in 3500BC I saw the wheat and that had to be my next city location. The warrior wandered off west then south, finding
3150 BC - Thebes reached pop 4 and I whipped a settler. That reduced my pop to 3, and then the first plague struck and I was down to pop 2 and my settler was not going to arrive! I switched my 30 shields to a barracks, licked my wounds, and moved right along, as the inevitable second plague hit next turn and I was down to pop 1. Right back where we started, folks, and now with added unhappiness
2800 BC - We finished Wheel and, as we'd met no one I thought I'd better learn about Pottery. The first bit of good news was that we had horses on one of the hills west of Thebes. There were also some on the east coast. In 2750 BC Thebes completed its barracks and started on a warrior.
2470 BC - Thebes back to pop 4 and our second warrior. Was there ever a slower start to a gotm? I was beginning to think about pretending I'd been planning an OCC all along
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2430 BC - Hold off on whipping a settler - let's wait, and then we meet our first contacts - Greece and Zululand. Just as well we stayed our whip hand - the third and fourth plagues hit. I should have fixed that baby Moses when he was found in the flood plain bullrush beds!
Both new "friends" have Bronze, Alphabet, Pottery, Warrior Code and Mysticism. We trade Masonry for Warrior Code and Bronze Working. We have Pottery in 2 turns at a 1 gpt deficit and can't afford the others. We find Wool on the northern cape. 2350 BC and we're down to pop 2 again. We learn Pottery and start Iron Working at minimum.
2270 BC - Both AI contacts now have Iron Working as well as Mysticism and Alphabet and who-knows-what-else.
2230 BC - Our big cheese, Cleo (Liz Taylor in drag) meets and falls in love with Anthony of Rome (played by Richard Burton). He knows Iron and Alphabet, but not Mysticism, so Cleo uses all her feminine wiles (tart!) to trade for a 2-fer. Buy Mysticism from Greece for 4 gpt and sell it to Rome for Alphabet and 2 gpt. Switch research to Polythesm at minimum.
2030 BC - A warrior scout has wandered into Zulu territory and we see a Blue unit in the south west, but we are so busy micromanaging our fragile economy and saying "Yes Sir" when Shaka complains that our warrior is auto-ejected and forgets to say hello
After giving our warrior a very severe talking to and turning him around, we finally get to meet Babylon two turns later in 1950 BC. Meanwhile the Babylonian had razed the Zulu city. Babylon has Iron, Writing and HBR.
1870 BC - We meet Russian troops visiting Rome. By this time our fragile gold reserve has drained down to 2 gold and we're running at -1gpt.
1830 BC -
Our first Settler
She builds Memphis near the wheat and starts a Granary.
1725 BC - The fifth and sixth plagues arrive in Thebes. Frogs from the sky, and it feels like the end of the world. Well, Moses is off to find the "Promised Land" tomorrow, so perhaps that'll buy us some rest from these incessant attacks of disease. By 1675BC we are down to pop 2. We'd be at pop 1 but for a last minute pop increase to counter one death. All our contacts are at least four techs up. So we have two cities with a total population of 3, two warriors, one worker, and we are behind in techs by half an era. Never mind, let's see how long we can last.
1350 BC - This time Cleo has a fling with Caesar. Anthony is a bit cut up about it, but we cut a neat deal to buy Maths from Rome and sell it to Greece for Iron Working. We have a local supply of Iron. The following turn we do more trading, buying Polytheism from Greece to sell to Babylon for HBR and to Zulus for Writing. All this leaves us with a 4gpt deficit budget. We set course for Monarchy at minimum.
1250 BC Memphis produces a Granary and starts on a Settler. Could we, at long last, be about to e-x-p-a-n-d ? In 1200BC Rome makes a ransom demand - 22gold for services rendered. Cleo pays up with an enigmatic smile on her lips and an asp clasped to her bosom.
1125 BC - We have two Settlers, in Thebes and Memphis [dance] By 1075 BC we have four cities, with Heliopolis on the west coast and Elephantine near the sheep and the Zulu border town of Mpondo, and that was the state of the Egyptian nation at
1000 BC. A very small and struggling group of four cities, with a shaky economy and pathetic technology. Not a great QSC result!
370 BC - We had expanded to a much more respectable nine cities, and by whipping temples we had quite a reasonable cultural strength against all except Greece - the local 800 lb gorilla. With astute trading deals, we had managed to obtain all the mandatory Ancient Age techs except Map Making. We completed Monarchy in that year, revolted, traded it plus money to the Zulus for Map Making and Literature, and reached the Middle Ages and the end of this Spoiler.
So far the objective had been survival in the face of serious death adnd destruction from the flood plains. Now we could start to look forward ...