In the year of our lord 5 A.D. Arabia had just 4 cities - 3 on the mainland and Baghdad on the nearest island. More expansion was needed! Najran was established as a second fishing village halfway down the island. Cyrus asked us to join the anti-Greek effort and, wanting to stay in Persia's good books, Saladin agreed. A few turns later Cyrus and Alex agreed peace and few turns after that Alex came knocking
Najran didn't stand a chance, though the lone archer managed to take out one swordman before succumbing. A retaliatory force of elephants, catapults and axeman was hastily prepared and set off through the jungle. Najran was liberated shortly therefter and Alex's forces were last seen fleeing home pursued by Saladin's 3-star galley
Peace was agreed shortly thereafter.
With Cyrus having grabbed the next island spot Arabia started to grow up instead of out. In addition to the Great Lighthouse Mecca built the Hanging Gardens, The Colossus, The Taj Mahal (great engineer), Kashi Vishwanath, Spiral Minaret, Statue of Liberty, Broadway and United Nations
Anyone manage more than 9 wonders in one city? Of course this produced a plethora of great people points. Until this game I was philosophical about the Philosophical trait, greatly preferring Financial, Industrial and, yes, even Aggressive
Now I've seen how good Philosophy can be. I ran Pacifism to increase this advantage and the result: 30 great people in one game!!
Still, five cities would not win the game. With the advent of Astronomy an expeditionary force of galleons and cavalry left for the new world. A couple of barbarian cities were quickly assimilated, their longbows being no match for Saladin's finest. Then began then seige of Illinois, a size 13 Barbarian city and jewel of the Americas. Twice Saladin forces assailed the walls and twice they were beaten back, the barbarians having by now discovered the secret of chemistry and rifling
The battered survivors withdraw to heal their wounds while a third force was prepared. This time we prevailed, through the assault was made easier when the barbarians double-city defence grenadier attacked out of the city and lost
William Shakespeare wrote his masterpieces in Illinois and the culture blossomed. A culture bomb in an undeveloped area has a huge effect! By contrast I tried to push Asdoka's mainland borders back in the late game with another culture bomb and didn't gain a single square.
Went for a diplomatic victory. Cyrus, Kublai and Saladin voted together, but Gandhi and Asoka were tight and Izzy and Alex were staying out. Interesting thought - would the two Indian civilizations always vote for each other!? Cyrus declared on Alex and this time managed to make some inroads, Alex having fallen behind technologically. Cyrus captured Athens and Alex was sent into exile. This had a major bearing on the diplomacy race. Cyrus now had the second largest population (after Arabia
) and my ally was now a rival. Worse, the Indians liked him better than me
With them voting for him Cyrus only needed Izzy's support for the win. Luckily she was as intractible as ever
New plan - spaceship win. Asoka was up and running so this was not looking too promising. Still, nothing else to do - my military was 6th largest and after the New World conquests was back to garrison duty. I found science was the bottleneck - could build the pieces OK but took time getting the requisite techs. Luckily Asoka was having the same problem and NO, we are not going to trade Fusion with you
A nail-biting finish, with Cyrus continually trying to vote himself in (and Izzy blocking him) while Asoka and I had one piece each left to build. My spy was keeping an eye on Asoka's progress, Medina invented Internet, Illinois built Space Elevator and
Space victory in 1961
Thanks AlanH, this was a great map! I liked the way it unfolded (mainland, archipelago, new world). Three personal firsts: victory on Emperor, Legendary city status (Mecca, of course), and first capture of a rival city by culture.
Records claimed:
Most great people - 30
Largest city - Mecca size 27
Most wonders in one city - Mecca 9
Most peaceful game - Only 64 enemy units destroyed, 33 Arabian units lost during entire 5961 years. All seven nations present at game end (albeit Alex down to one city of size 2
)
Narrowest victory - beating Asoka by 1/2 a spaceship engine, and Cyrus being one ally short of diplomacy win.
I ended the game when I had Alex left.
