After spending most of the Ancient Times trying to build an empire (previous spoiler
Part I,
Part II), I spent the better part of the Middle Ages building horses.
I started a smaller war with the Zulu in 150BC to get their luxuries. I didn't get that but I did get two leaders.
I researched Military Tradition in 300AD, at which point I had more than 70 horsemen. I gradually upgraded them and started eliminating the AI civs. I didn't have the guts to invade the far continent with suicide galleys so I also researched Astronomy and eventually Navigation. I could have reached the domination limit in 570AD but decided to go for conquest so from then on I razed most of the cities I captured.
I eliminated all other civs in 610AD and achieved conquest victory in 620AD.
Minimap summary
Turn log
490BC I think I have the barbarians under control so I revolt. 5 turns anarchy.Incidentally the first galley is ready just in time. It starts exploring towards the South of the Greek-Arabian island.
390BC We are now a happy republic. Feudalism in 6 turns. I start a palace pre-build in the FP city as a perparation for Leonardo's. It will take 50 turns to finish. I hope to be able to time it so that it will be ready by the time I research Military Tradition and then do a mass upgrade.
Originally I didn't plan to have any wars until I have sipahis, but the lack of luxuries is crippling. The Zulu have 2 luxuries I don't, so I start to move my troops to their border.
370BC I give away Republic to all four neighbors. I get 1 worker from the Arabs in exchange, and some gold from the others, but this is basically a gift to make sure that they change to Republic and a.) generate more gold for me to get and b.) decrease their ability to wage war. As expected all four of them immediately go to anarchy. I could have gotten Monotheism from the Greeks for Republic and Engineering but I don't want to give away any tech that's on the way to Military Tradition.
350BC I meet an English galley, and it turns out that they sold my contacts to the Vikings already. The English are surprisingly well developed, the only tech I could give them is Engineering. The Vikings are lame. I give them Republic for World Map and contact with French. The French are even more lame. The English though have not only all the techs, but also a bunch of gold. I don't want to give them Engineering, but amazingly, they give me all their money (276 gold + 2 gpt) for my World Map and contact with Carthage.
150BC I amassed about 10 horsemen and a couple of other units on the Zulu border by now so I decide to attack them. The very first attack generates a great leader. I don't think I've seen anything like this before. This is my first war, so far I was fighting only barbarians. Anyway, I use the leader to rush Sun-Tzu's in the Zulu city I just captured. I go through all the cities and sell all my barracks, except one where the city is going to finish a horseman next turn. I will sell that barracks next turn.
My only galley finds new, unsettled land. Looks like only a small island though.
Quick unit count: 10 workers, 2 settlers, 8 warriors, 4 archers, 1 spearman, 20 horseman, 1 galley. Number of warriors is way too high. I am going to move them to the low production cities and disband them. The spearman is an elite and is near the Zulu border so I keep him. Three of the archers are also neer the front, the fourth will be disbanded.
50BC Another leader appears. I don't really know what to do with him, eventually I decide to use him to rush Leonardo's and I switch production in the FP city to Colosseum. 84 shields wasted...
I sell Engineering to the Greeks for 20 gpt and 93 gold. Nobody else is willing to pay anything remotely reasonable. I gift Republic to the French.
90AD I capture a Zulu city surrounded by 3 swordsmen and an archer and I have no way to move in more troops than the injured horsemen that captured the city, so I am forced to make peace. The only problem with this is that I didn't caputre any luxuries. The good news is that I am pretty close, so once the road reachs the border (the Zulus didn't build any infrastructure), I can attack again and hook up wines quickly. Spices are still far away, would have to go through 2 cities and one of them is the Zulu capital. That's probably not going to happen until the sipahis arrive, ie. about 15 turns from now.
110AD I give Invention to the Greeks and Arabs for Monotheism, about 50 gpt and 150 gold total.
300AD Military Tradition is researched. I set science to 0% and make all the specialists tax collectors; I am making 241 now. Greece, Arabia and England now have Theology; I sell Monotheism to France and Scandinavia for 10 and 8 gold respectively so that they might aquire Theology and thus make it cheaper for me. I also need the gold to make sure I have at least 280 gold next turn and can upgrade 4 sipahis. To this effect I also sell Invention for 27 gold to the Carthaginians. I now have 54 gold.
Greece is willing to pay 35 gpt, 90 gold, and Theology for Gunpowder (Arabia and England would also pay smaller amounts) but musketmen would slow my upcoming conquest so I resist the temptation.
310AD The Greeks are not willing to give me all their money for Gunpowder any more. I seem to remember that this is an indication that they are about to research it. I also make an interesting discovery: the Greeks don't have any saltpeter and the Arabs have only one (even that is unconnected). So in the worst case the knowledge of Gunpowder will result in a few Arabian musketmen. The English and the French don't have any saltpeter, although there is one unclaimed source between their territories. It is however clear that by the time I get to them, they will have to knowledge of Gunpowder, one way or the other.
So I sell Gunpowder for 45 gpt, 130 gold, and Theology to Greece, 8 gpt and 30 gold to Arabia, and 10 gpt and 35 gold to England. I am now making 314 gpt and I was able to upgrade 7 horsemen to sipahi. I still have 67 horsemen; it would take over 15 turns to upgrade all of them at this rate so I hope the Golden Age will increase my income significantly.
I move a few citizens around to make sure I am making maximum money; now I am up to 320gpt. To be honest unit costs (118gpt) are killing me. I have 16 workers, I should join most of those into cities when the Zulu luxuries come online. I also have 2 archers, those will be disbanded as soon as the Zulu military is trimmed back sufficiently. Apart from that, there is not much I can do. Oh, capturing cities will also help with unit support.
320AD I attack the Zulu. Wines are online, max population is now 8 with Marketplace and 6 without. I start moving former specialists to work in size 6 cities and joining workers to cities with Marketplace. Now I am making 485 gpt. I will be able to upgrade 7 sipahis next turn; I have 10 on the front, three elites -- perfect match.
I lost 2 horsemen while attacking the Zulu as I didn't want to use sipahis for "easy" targets. This was probably a mistake. From now on I will attack only with sipahis.
330AD I capture the Zulu capital. The previous two cities didn't have any resisting citizens, this one has 4. Hopefully not for long. A culture flip would be ridiculous, nevertheless I park a few sipahis outside of the city.
I am now making 522 gpt. I want at least 15 sipahis before I attack Carthage, that's 2 turns.
350AD Spices are online. Pop limit is 11 with Marketplace and 7 without. I think unhappiness ceased to be the bottleneck for population growth. The two cities with granaries will finish marketplaces in 2 and 3 turns respecitvely. They will start cranking out workers then, which I will join to other cities.
360AD The campaign against the Zulu is progressing so well that I order back the reinforcements that I thought would be needed due to the original loss of horsemen. As a matter of fact they are willing to talk peace and give me their remote city on that island. I pass on this offer for now as I built a galley anyway just for this purpose. At the very least I want to capture all their cities except their capital before I negotiate.
I attack Carthage. I now own the Pyramids, this makes my previous remark about "cities with granaries" meaningless. The strategy from now on is to produce workers in size 6 cities that can't grow further due to lack of aqueduct.
England, Arabia, and Greece are getting quite rich. In two turns, when a previous gpt contract runs out, I will sell them Chemistry.
370AD I make peace with the Zulu to get their island city, and then I capture their last city in the same turn. The Zulu are gone.
380AD I attack the Arabs. All their cities on my continent are gone. I also land 10 sipahis on their island. Carthage is down to 1 city, will be gone next round.
I sell Chemistry to Greece and England. I am making 728 gpt now. I upgrade 12 more horsemen. Troop count: 13 workers, 11 horsemen, 6 galleys, 64 sipahis.
390AD One of the former Carthaginian cities deposed so Hannibal will live for another turn. I capture two cities on the Arab island. I do lose a few sipahis.
400AD I am making 500 gpt while researching Education at maximum speed. Looks like I will have Astronomy in 8 turns, and then the invasion of France can begin. I am not even sure if I can cut trhough the Arabs and Greeks so fast. I might need to tone down research. In any case, I order 5 galleys to move to the nearest point to France. In the meantime, I spend all my money on rushing libraries.
450AD My worries of not being able to cut through the Arabs and Greeks fast enough were unfounded. A stack of sipahi is waiting at the nearest point to France for the galleys to arrive. The galleys will be upgraded to caravels; for this reason I will have to rush a harbor in that Greek city.
470AD The Greeks are willing to pay 23 gpt and 105 gold for peace. I am tempted but I am afraid that their cities will flip back if I dont eliminate them. They seem to have learned from the Zulu history because they are not willing to give me their remote city.
480AD A Greek city flips, I recapture it. Greece is now down to 1 city, which is on an island far away. I make peace; they are still able to pay 35 gpt.
490AD 9 sipahis are sailing towards Avignon. I have 80 total, plus 6 horsemen. Most of them on the Greek island. I have 5 caravels near Avignon and one round takes 6 turns. Way too much. I am researching Navigation in the hopes that a Leader appears and I can build Magellan's. Not sure how this would happen though as I am at peace with everyone. I am thinking that a RoP rape would be the fastest way to get rid of France. I build an embassy. Maybe I should rush a few more caravels there instead of counting on a leader...
510AD 125 tiles to domination limit. I started to move slave workers to the (former) Greek costal cities so that I can disband them and rush a caravel for relatively cheap every turn. I think I will be able to move my entire army to France in about 8 turns.
570AD I am 79 tiles from domination and I am ready to attack the French. I will take at least 7 cities in the first wave but possibly 9. Another city will also expand in culture next turn. I need to decide whether I want to go for domination or conquest victory. Conquest will take at least another 5 turns as it will take that long to get to the last Greek city.
I decide to go for conquest in the hope for a higher Jason-score. I sign a RoP agreement with the English and the Vikings and break the same with the French. I capture all but 1 of their cities and raze many of them. A leader appears and helps to build Magellan's in Avignon.
600AD The two caravels reach the last Greek city. I sign a RoP agreement with the Greeks and unload 6 sipahi. On the English/Viking continent, I move approximately 80 sipahis into position. The placement is less than optimal but I think I should be able to take all English and Viking cities next turn.
610AD The Vikings declare war on us! At first I was impressed by this "artificially intelligent" move, but the truth is that they declare war on me in order to be able to capture a lame undefended city that I captured from the French and was too lazy to abandon. I don't think they attacked any of my units sitting in their territory, even though I saw several berserks earlier so they could have done some demage easily. Nevertheless, this unexpected event still almost messed up my plan, as now I had one more city to capture, but eventually I succeeded. A leader appears amidst the fight but he won't be needed.
I razed all cities except 2 for strategical purposes and 1 by accident. 11 tiles below domination limit. One city's borders will expand next turn but it will increase my territory by only 3-4 tiles. Shift+Enter...
620AD Conquest victory after 25 hours, Firaxis score 7281 points, Jason score 10950.