GOTM 45 First Spoiler - entering the middle ages.

[ainwood]

GOTM 45 First Spoiler - entering the middle ages

To qualify for this spoiler you must have:

• Reached the middle ages (have the ability to research a middle-age technology).
• Have contacts with all 11 civs (or their remains).
• Know the location of all capitals of the other civs. Ideally this means you have traded for world-maps.
• Know the locations of at least one source of iron and one source of horses.

Please do not discuss the locations of middle-age or later resources, nor anything that happened in the middle or later ages.

For purposes of discussion, where did you settle and why? How did you balance exploration vs growth and growth vs research, military might and infrastructure. What are your plans for the middle ages? Who are your greatest threats, and why?

 

[klarius]

Open PtW

I moved all three units south on the first turn.
After the second scout move, the settler moves south once more (instead of sw) to stay a bit away from the coast.
Settled there.
Build order scout-scout-warrior-granary-settler. Science to CB, hoping for better things from huts.
Settled a range 3 ring.

Cities
3900BC Moscow
2350BC St. Petersburg
1910BC Kiev
1650BC Minsk
1400BC Smolensk; second ring towards the east
1175BC Odessa
1125BC Sevastopol; planned for horses, but barbs stopped settler short so it got ivory


QSC:
7 towns , 17 pop
2 granaries, 2 barracks, 1 library
4 workers, 4 slaves, 1 scout, 4 warriors, 2 archers
all contacts, 4 embassies
all techs except CoL (3 turns), currency, construction and the governments

850BC Tblisi
690BC Sverdlovsk
670BC Yakutsk

settlers underway to secure iron and horses (now in the south near china).

Research
4000 BW, pottery
3650 WC traded
3150 CB
3050 Masonry traded
2390 TW traded
2310 alphabet
2270 mysticism (hut)
1990 IW traded
1650 writing
1625 HBR traded
1325 literature researched, MM traded
1250 math traded
1125 philosophy (was nearly researched) and polytheism traded
925 CoL traded (again nearly researched)
610 republic, trade for currency and construction, middle ages
Revolt for 7 then 5 turns of anarchy.

Foreign Affairs
3450 Persia
3050 America and Scandinavia
2630 Chinese
2030 Romans
1675 Vikings demand myst, rebuffed and they declare
1650 buy contact with Zulu, Iroquois and Celts
1625 America demands a contact and declares, buy rest of contacts, make embassy with China and Japan and ally them against Vikings.
1600 Ally Japan against America
1325 Map trading
1125 peace with Vikings
1075 Romans declare after extortion attempt; this war will last very long and give us war happiness. Ally Babylon and Persia.
1025 peace with America
No further actions in AA. All wars so far were phony.
I stay buddy (and allied where feasible) with my neighbours until I'm ready.

This is a real monster map (land area more like huge than standard).
I will just conquest it.
I'm pretty sure later victory conditions can score better, but I'm not going to manage several hundred cities to milk it for a good score.

 

[Più Freddo]

Class: Open

Goal: Domination

I keep this spoiler similar in format to Klarius's for easier comparison.

Start

4000 BC. Scout1 S, then Worker1 SE towards the BG, which seemed to
probably be the first assignment, and Settler S.

3950 BC. Scout1 went S, S in search for a suitable capital location on
the river. Worker1 SE. Settler S.

3900 BC. Scout1 E, S, finds plains to the south. Still no food
bonus. Worker1 S on BG. Settler SE along river.

3850 BC. Scout1 SW, W, finds Spices in Forest on Plains. I run CRP
Rings and decide to move the Settler one step more in order not to
have ring 3 right on those mountains. Also, a fur city close to the
starting position would then be in ring 6 and on the river. Worker1
roads. Settler SE.

3800 BC. Found Moscow. Build order Scout -- Scout -- Warrior --
Granary -- Settler. Then another Settler every tenth turn with first
two Warriors, later a Spearman in between. Wealth wastes five surplus
shields, later share with neighbouring cities. Research Iron Working
at minimum. Pretty much a waste, since I later bought it in trade.


Cities

4000 BC Moscow
2350 BC St. Petersburgh
1950 BC Kiev
1790 BC Minsk. Popped from hut between Rome and Zululand.
1625 BC Smolensk
1400 BC Odessa
1075 BC Sevastopol
1025 BC Tblisi​

Research

4000 BC Bronze Working <- bonus
4000 BC Pottery <- bonus
3050 BC The Wheel <- Japan
3050 BC Masonry <- America
3050 BC Ceremonial Burial <- Japan
3050 BC Warrior Code <- America
2550 BC Alphabet <- Rome
2390 BC Mysticism <- Scandinavia
2390 BC Iron Working <- Rome (nearly researched)
2310 BC Horseback Riding <- Scandinavia
1725 BC Writing <- Rome
1625 BC Mathematics <- research
1325 BC Map Making <- America
1325 BC Polytheism <- America
1275 BC Literature <- research
1100 BC Philosophy <- research
1000 BC Code of Laws <- America​

Foreign Affairs

3050 BC Japan <- Scout
3050 BC America <- Scout. We declare war breaking gpt deal.
3000 BC Persia <- Scout
2550 BC Rome <- Scout
2390 BC Scandinavia <- Scout
1750 BC Peace with America after a phony war. Step into Zulu lands, where Hlobane is undefended!
1725 BC China <- Scout
1725 BC Zulu <- Scout
1725 BC Babylon <- China
1725 BC Iroquios <- America
1725 BC Aztecs <- Iroquios
1725 BC Celts <- Zulu
1625 BC Embassies with Rome, Scandinavia, America and the Zulu. Gift
Mathematics to these countries.
1575 BC First Barbarian spotted close to Kiev
1325 BC World Maps. Trade around Mathematics.
1075 BC Embassies with the Celts and the Iroquois​

Quick Start Challenge Result

8 Cities
19 Citizens
2 Granaries
1 Barracks
17 Technologies (./. Construction, Currency, Monarchy, The Republic/24 t.)
11 Contacts
6 Embassies
132 Culture
156 Points
3 Workers
4 Slaves
6 Warriors
1 Scout
3 Archers
4 Spearmen
1 Catapult​

Cities

825 BC Sverdlovsk
825 BC Yakutsk
690 BC Vladivostok
630 BC Novgorod. Last city of ring 6 on the other side of the Ural mts.​

Research

550 BC The Republic <- research
550 BC Construction <- trade
550 BC Currency <- trade
550 BC Engineering <- bonus
550 BC Feudalism <- Persia​

Foreign Affairs

850 BC Rome discovers Construction
825 BC The Celts discover Currency
750 BC Rome declares war on us failing extortion
610 BC Scandinavia declares war on us in alliance with Rome. Ally
America against Scandinavia.
550 BC Enter the Middle Ages. Gift Persia and Babylon into them as
well. Little to no action in the wars.​

 

[MeteorPunch]

This is a big map - kinda like Russia. Good luck to anyone going after a domination win here.

I have always been a big fan of libraries, but I don't think I'm building any this game. It's on Monarch and there is lots of civs for trading opportunities. It's been pretty easy to stay on top this way, however, they might be some use in beelining to Cossacks.

I built 4 granaries with wood chops in hopes this will help this foodless land we were given. It would be pretty huge if Persia manage to build the Pyramids in someone's game (And that someone took it for themselves).

Speaking of Persia...my biggest mistake in the game so far was letting them steal my Iron one turn before me. Now they have 3 sources...



Entered the Middle Age in 610 bc.

 

[azzaman333]

PtW, Conquest class

Whoa! How much land do we have!!! Not sure how to win, probably space or diplo. Moscow same as klarius, St. Petersburg in the furs. Year 170 bc and im still not in the MA . Got the iron over the other side of the Mountains, and ivory. I have 3rd most cities (12) but Rome (13), Zulu (13), Celts (12) and Persia (10) have a lot of room to grow. dont know what to do, and i get bored MMing a large empire.

My Empire at 170 BC

 

[Chamnix]

Open class, going for conquest.

Opening moves

The settler and the scout went south, and the worker went west. The worker’s sighting of the sea made my decision – Moscow would be founded SW of the settler’s current location (S-SW of start). Initial builds were 2 more scouts, then a granary – since there was no food anywhere to be found, there was no hurry to push out a settler before the granary.

Although I almost always use RCP 3, I went with RCP 4 this game due to the local geography. St. Petersburg was founded in 2350 BC 4 tiles SW of Moscow by all the bonus grasslands and built another granary first. All other (non-corrupt) towns built barracks as their first builds and military and workers thereafter.

Barbarian Problems

I had my first contact with barbarians in 2030 BC when a warrior appeared outside Moscow’s town limits. I changed Moscow’s build to an archer to deal with him. The next turn I was stunned as my veteran archer died attacking the barb on grass (not across a river). The barbarian proceeded to ransack Moscow killing a citizen which was particularly painful in this low food start.

I chose to leave 2 barb camps in existence in “my” territory. I parked 2 archers outside of each – whenever a second barb spawned, I would attack hoping for a promotion. Not only did I not get a single elite this way, I was also caught by surprise by the massive uprising. I figured that as long as the AI did not have Construction, I was safe because the AI never researches Currency first, right? It turns out that America and China learned Construction and Currency in the same turn and traded so I did not get another chance to clear the camps before the uprising. I lost 3-4 units before I managed to direct the barbs to empty towns and just lost gold.

On the positive side, I think other civs had barbs harassing their workers because I had lots of opportunities to purchase slaves. I had 5 slaves by 1000 BC without doing any fighting.

AI Aggression

I had many demands from the AI this game despite my military being strong compared to theirs most of the game. Persia demanded Iron Working in 1700 BC, and I would cave for the only time this game – I just wasn’t prepared for war with a neighbor yet.

Rome was an ancient age powerhouse having 5 towns before anyone else had 3. In 975 BC, they demanded tribute. Even though they were strong compared to me, I refused since they were so far away. When they declared, it gave me an opportunity to try to take them down a notch by hiring Japan, China, and the Zulu to fight them while I enjoyed the war happiness. I did not see a single Roman unit in the ancient age.

In 690 BC, the Vikings demanded literature despite being weaker than me. They were bluffing. However, the Persians were not bluffing in 630 BC when they demanded literature. I chopped their only iron source immediately and only faced 2 immortals during the war. I autorazed one town in the ancient age, but most of the war was during the Middle Ages (details next spoiler).

In 550 BC, Babylon demanded tribute and despite being weak, they declared. I hired the Aztecs to fight them. In 510 BC, the weak Iroquois tried a bluff. In all, 6 demands came from generally weaker civs in the ancient age.

Research

I went straight to Republic and traded for other branches. By the time I reached Republic, I decided I could not handle the unit costs (no food plus war mode => few small towns and lots of units) so I went to Monarchy. Fortunately, I was the first to Republic which I managed to trade for Monarchy, Construction and Currency to enter the Middle Ages in 390BC.

Summary

QSC stats:

6 towns
12 citizens
5 workers
5 slaves
1 scout (the other 2 had been gobbled by barbarians)
4 warriors
4 archers

Research:

-2630 Alphabet
-2470 Ceremonial Burial (trade)
-2110 Masonry, Mysticism, Wheel, Iron Working (trade)
-1600 Writing
-1500 Horseback Riding (trade)
-1350 Mathematics (trade)
-1250 Philosophy
-950 Polytheism (goody hut)
-925 Code of Laws
-710 Literature (goody hut)
-390 Republic (self-research), Monarchy, Construction, Currency (trade)

Contacts:

-3200 Persia
-2750 Japan
-2470 China
-2350 Scandinavia
-2110 Rome
-1990 Zulu
-1600(?) Iroquois
-1500 Babylon and Celts
-1425 America
-1400 Aztecs

 

[Miklus]

This is my first GOTM, it has been very interesting so far. I think I did ok, but I am very exited to see how other people play the game and how they think in terms of strategy. I’m playing “open class”. Here follows a resume of my game so far:

Where to build the capital?
The starting location is too food poor, the settler must move to a better location. I will move south because we start very far north on the map and the capital should be near the centre of the empire. I move the scout SW to get a better view from the mountain. I see grassland to the south and a coastline far to the west. I move the worker SE to see more of the map, there is more grasslands further south. I move the settler south. On the second turn, the scout moves SW and sees more grasslands. Should I settle in place or move again? This location is still too poor in the long run, too many mountains and tundra. I must move again, but to the SW or just S? I am pulling out my hair at this point! I move S in the hope of finding a food bonus. On turn three, the scout moves S - S and takes a look from a small hill. There are plains further south, but no food bonuses in sight. I can’t bear to move the settler anymore, I settle on the non-bonus grasslands near the river. There is a couple of BG, a river and hills. Not a bad place and there is still a small chance of a food bonus to the SE. (I later realize there is none).

Exploration
I build a second scout right away. The first goes west to the coastline and follows it southwards, the second follow the coastline northwards. They find and pop three huts for an extra worker, Masonry and 25 gold. By the year 3000BC they have explored the entire Russian peninsula and the mountains to the east. They travel far and wide, making contact with many civilizations but barbarians kill both before the ancient age is out.

Expansion
I turn the capital into a ten-turn settler pump. I build a scout, two warriors and a granary before the first settler. I contemplate skipping the granary, but no better site for a settler pump reveals itself. I place the second town five tiles SE along the river and turn it into another settler pump. Two ten-turn settler pumps must be as good a one five-turn settler pump, right??? The third town is placed to the SW on the coastline near the spices. It too must produce settlers to make up for lost time, the expansion feels painfully slow in this map. At least the ten-turn cycle give time to build a spearman with every settler (4 turns for spearman, 6 for settler).

By the time I build the third settler, I have invented Iron Working and can see the two iron resources to the SE. One of them lies right outside the Persian capital! I hatch a mad plan: I’m going to run down there with a settler and clam the iron before the Persians! This will stop them from making those scary immortals. There is ivory in the area too, yummy. There is road some of the way, it will take nine turns to do it. When I am just two tiles from my goal, I spot a Persian warrior-settler pair on the very hill where the iron lies! I move closer, just NE of the top elephant, the Persians move NW and is right between the iron and the two elephants. I’m 99% sure they will make a town there if I try to move the last tile! I panic and build a town where I stand. The iron is just out of reach, but that will change when the cultural border expands. The Persian settler wont settle so close to my town and moves elsewhere. Neither of us has iron! The Japanese claim the other iron near the coast.

By the year 1275BC I have just 5 towns. Normally I would have as many as 8 by this time. I have 12 by the end of the Ancient Age (510BC), but this comes at the expense of much culture and with a very defence orientated military. Because of those pesky barbarians, all towns and settlers have been guarded by spearmen at all times and none have been lost. I can’t say the same for the scouts and a poor worker, see later.

Research and Trading
I start researching Iron Working straight away because I like to see where the iron is BEFORE I place my towns. I is also a “level 2” tech and makes a good bargaining chip. I then research Alphabet, Math and Construction. I trade this for all the other techs. Some major events:

2750BC – Meet the Persians! Xerxes won’t trade his Warrior Code for my Pottery, that old cheapskate. I need his Immortals like I need a hole in the head. No way I’m trading Iron Working to the Persians! Talk about digging your own grave.

1200BC – Russia invents Math. It is time for a round of trading. I call up everybody and trade or sell Math. Now nobody has a tech I don’t except the Vikings, who have Mapmaking and refuses to trade it to me. I have communications with 10 of the 11 AI’s. The last one must be on an island somewhere…?

1050BC – The Persians blackmail me for 24 gold! I pay up and look as happy as I can…Vengeance is a dish best served cold.

950BC – Some of the other civs are building the Great Library, they must have Literature. I don’t! I could really use that to build those cheap libraries the Russians get. I realize to my horror that I’m FIVE techs behind EVERYBODY!!! How did THAT happen??? I lack Philosophy, Code of Laws, Literature, Mapmaking and Polytheism and have almost no money. Bummer! This is going to take some mighty slinky trading…I call up everybody and trade my world map for their territory map and some gold, thus building up my map and my purse. I then trade my nearly complete world map and my newfound gold to the Chinese (they where broke) for Literature. Now I have communications with everybody and an almost complete world map. I’m still four techs behind, but I have the all-important Literature, the others have no practical value for me at this time. I change all my temples-in-progress to libraries. They are cheaper, give more culture and boost science 50%. I badly need the latter, apparently.

825BC – The Americans blackmail me for my territory map and 22 gold. I already sold them all my maps, those fools. I pay up. Note to self: Nuke them!

670BC –Russia invents Construction. Time for another trade round, trading or selling Construction to all who will and can pay. I was broke at the start of this turn, but now I have 209 gold and all techs except Currency, Republic and Monarchy. Unfortunately, the gold is not enough to buy Currency. I only need Currency to go to the middle age. If the barbarians hadn’t plundered Sverdlovsk just before (see later), I would probably have had enough gold to do it. Now I will have to research it myself. When I get the free tech for entering a new age, I will trade that for Republic and Monarchy. I lack both those techs, but they are not necessary to progress to the middle ages.

510BC – Russia invents Currency and enters the Middle Ages!

Those pesky barbarians
According to my notes, barbarians attacked me no less than 41 times, mostly with horsemen. I sadly lost a worker to a horseman who came from an unexpected direction and attacked from outside the range of sight. In 690BC there where “rumours of a massive barbarian uprising near Sverdlovsk”. No kidding! Poor Sverdlovsk, a size 1 town with only a regular spearman for defence, was attack by 24 horsemen the very next turn! The spearman made a truly heroic last stand, killing 8-10 of the horsemen and getting promoted all the way to elite in the process. It was eventually overrun and Sverdlovsk was ransacked more than a dozen times in rapid succession. I lost nearly all my gold, but the town survived. It’s not like the old-school barbarians from civ 1, who would take over the city and start producing their own units!

Plans for the future
Get Republic as soon as possible and change the government.
Get the iron and the ivory hooked up.
Secure a source of horses, maybe by trade?
Build many knights.
Conquer the Japanese city near the other iron.
Destroy the Persians!
Build the Forbidden Palace in former Persian territory.
Win by Spaceship or maybe diplomacy for a change?

 

[bio_hazard]

Civ Vanilla 1.29 Mac
Conquest
Goal: Diplo
Reality: I suck (even playing Conquest)

I was pretty excited to try out this Monarch game, since I usually do pretty well on Monarch in non-GOTM games. It wasn't to be this time however, although I may get my first award (red ambulance).

I settled S-S of the start like most people seem to have.
My build order was:
Scout-Scout-Warrior-Granary-Settler
The settler never finished, as the Persians declared on me and with a single regular Warrior wiped my civ off the face of the earth.

I was doing pretty well tech wise, but apparently neglecting my military too much.

Trade and Techs:
3900 BC Start researching Alphabet
3750 pop Masonry from goodie hut (I only had 1 other hut in this game, which was deserted).
3300 meet Japanese warrior trade pottery, bronzeworking and masonry for ceremonial burial, the wheel, and 5g
3200 meet Persian warrior- trade pottery, and the wheel for warrior code and 10g. Japan only has 5g, so i don't sell them WC
3100 meet Vikings, trade wheel, warrior code for alphabet and 10g
2710 just notice that apparently I exited the prior trade before finalizing it. Vikings willing to make a straight-up trade: wheel for alphabet.
2670 meet Iroqouis- they have no new techs- but I decide to trade masonry for 10g
2630 meet America- they have nothing worth trading. at this point I have >100g and a 1-2 tech lead on everyone.
2470 meet China- they have nothing. Go back and chat with America- they have somehow gotten Mysticism- trade wheel and alphabet for mysticism.

<shortly after this I suffer my humiliating defeat>

I assume there will be a Hunting Tips for this GOTM, so I'll post my save and what I think went wrong in that thread if anyone has some tips.

 

[seven21]

Open - PTW - Initial Goal Domination

Settled 2 South
Build order - Scout/Warrior/Warrior/Settler/Granary/Settler
Research set to IW on the basis of heavy competition for resources
Only popped two huts and one of those was deserted! The other was another warrior!

Cities
3900 Moscow
2670 St Petersburg
1575 Minsk
1425 Smolensk - to secure the iron
1025 Odessa - to snatch the last Ivory
1025 Sevastopol

QSC
7 cities
11 citizens
1 archer
4 spears
7 warriors
4 workers
1 granary
1 barracks
11 Techs
8 contacts

Entered MA 510 BC
Still with 7 cities after building up military for a strike on Persia with the aim of unhooking their Iron and Horses and capturing the GL. The plan is then to eliminate Japan before they get Samurai and finish off Persia which should give a strong Northern Empire .
Rome looks to be a significant threat with a good startiing position and early dominance.
No-one apart from the local barbs has given me any grief yet!

 

[klarius]

Well, bio_hazard, it doesn't sound like you did anything wrong.
These early attacks just happen, but are very rare on low difficulty levels.
I and probably most others didn't have more than 1 warrior at this time.

 

[Toiletman]

Hi guys... first GotM (and post) for me so bear with me...

playing open class
PTW 1.29

I've just started recording my actions and descisions in docs, but unfortunately not for this game... so I'm just showing the map from when I just got Feudalism... around 330BC

[EDIT]Resizing image[/EDIT] [Done!]

Recalling from memory I've started this game out aiming for a cultural victory, but since I wasn't able to snag any of the wonders I'll have to find myself a new goal. I don't recall the actual build order for the first few turns, I think I've made a scout and a warrior... not sure what came after .

Anyway, my scouts got pretty lucky, I've found two techs and a warrior from several huts...

After improving a few tiles around moscow my worker started working on the big transhimalayan roadway, which allowed me to build a few cities on the other side of the mountains... I ended up getting quite a swathe of land by doing this. I've barracks-rushed temples of most of my cities to encourage flipping enemy's borders.

I've been declared on a few times, nothing lifethreatening... I think the Americans started it. We made peace without ever seeing any of his units in my territory. Later on I think Babylon has been at war with me as well as Japan (They have only 3 cities the fools!). Anyway, all if peaceful again now, except for the barbs, who have ransacked a lot of gold from my towns (I hauled the warriors/spears away beforehand luckily).

Anyway, from now on I'll document this game a lot better, so next spoiler will be better structured. Main aim now is to start building a decent military and secure a source of horses for knights and ofcourse cossacks.

 

[bio_hazard]

Thanks Klarius, that makes me feel better!

Since my first start was so short, I actually tried again over the weekend (not for submission). I made it past the one city bottleneck, and was doing pretty well until the raging hordes appeared. Apparently I had neglected several barb encampments near my territory. They ransacked every city except for my capital. The only cool thing was that my scouts had front-row seats to see big stacks of barb horsemen rampage through some AI cities too...

I may give it a third try one of these days.... I have a feeling that GOTM 46 will be Emperor or Diety so it might be a good time to dust this one off again and give it a go...

 

[Markus5]

Is it OK to publish animated minimaps of the lands discovered?

 

[budweiser]

I'm out. After I saw how much land there was, I just didnt feel like it. Summer is too busy. I am playing 1cc and 5ccs now to save time.

 

[Megalou]

Open

I went open because I enjoy feeling superior to the barbs.

I also settled S,S. Build orders were scout, scout, settler, granary.

Entered Middle Ages in 490 BC after a bee-line for republic. I usually disband my warriors/swordsmen when I get republic, if I have horses available, but this time I sent them on an "expedition" to Kyoto - more of that in spoiler 2. The first attempt to capture Kyoto had been made by 5 warriors around 850 BC but failed with a margin of just 1 hit point. I got Osaka and Tokyo , but Tokyo was too far off so America walked into it.

QSC stats

9 towns, 13 citizens
7 native workers, 3 foreign workers
1 scout
3 warriors
1 archer
All contacts
4 embassies
All AA techs except Polytheism, Currency, Monarchy, Literature
1 granary (2 turns to 2nd)


The ancient times were pretty exciting. I lost a settler to the barbs and was at war with Japan, America, China and Rome at different times, fishing for leaders but getting none. Warfare was childplay with all the other civs starting so far away from us. And of course the hunt for huts is always fun.

World of 490 BC:

 

[ainwood]

Is it OK to publish animated minimaps of the lands discovered?

No problem at all.

 

[Markus5]

GOTM 45 Open

4000bc Scout SE. Nice Green valley. Worker SW. Near the Ocean. Settler S.
3950bc Settler SE. Worker heading SE toward Bgrass. Scout SE.
3900bc Settle on hill by river with bgrass nearby. Moscow is building a scout. Research at minimum toward Iron Working. Hope to pop techs from goody huts.
3700bc Scout complete. Heading S. Build warrior.
3650bc Goody hut gives warrior.
3500bc Warrior complete. Heads N to explore tundra. Build Granary. Then settler.
3400bc Blue border.
3300bc Meet Persia. Trade Pottery + 1gpt + 36g for Warrior Code.
3000bc Meet Japan. Trade Pottery +3g for Ceremonial Burial. Goody hut gives Mysticism. Trade Japan Mysticism + Bronze Working + 5g for The Wheel.

Happiest nations
Zulu
Babylon
China
America
Japan
Russia
Aztec
Rome

2800bc Granary complete. Build Settler.
2710bc Contact America. Trade Masonry for The Wheel.
2550bc Contact Scandinavia. No trading.
2510bc Settler complete. Where to settle? RCP3 give 6 cities tight. Maybe RCP4. RCP 3.5? Build warrior then settler then warrior, etc.
2350bc St Petersburg founded at RCP4 SE by the ocean and spices. Building a warrior. Then worker. Contact Babylon. No trades.
2270bc Goody hut gives Horseback Riding. Just realized, there are no horses close.
2190bc Another settler. Contact Rome. Trade Pottery + The Wheel + 1gpt + 55g for Alphabet. No other civ we know has it. Trade around to make a profit? Eh, not really. Gave other civs some good deals. Iron isn't close either.
2110bc Kiev founded. On the river with a bgrass nearby. Build warrior then worker.
2070bc Interesting. Barbs on the isthmus. Can't pass with a scout.
1830bc Contact Celts.

Save game. Enough for now.
Love the map. Exploring is always great fun. No neighbors crowding and barbs are few.

Goals. Expand. Need an iron city.

1700bc Barb kills scout. I'll probably need to build another for exploring. I think there is more to be discovered. Minsk founded. 3 cities at RCP4. Next ring is RCP7, I think. Spices connected.
1650bc Goody hut gives maps.
1575bc Trade around contacts. Researching Literature at break-even rate. Complete in 21 turns. Plan to build GrLib.
1525bc Barb horse shows up from the south.
1450bc Barb horse pillages Minsk. One warrior wasn't enough defense.
1050bc Persians demand Literature. Get bent. They declare. I have 3 bows in their area. I think I'm OK. Ha! Rome does exactly the same.
950bc Autorazed a Persian city.
925bc Babylon, Vikings and China are building the GrLib, too. Mine is 36 turns away.
875bc A single Persian warrior took out two archers. One more closing in. Learned Code of Laws. Researching Republic at minimum. +23gpt. Try to trade Code of Laws around. Made peace with Persia. Got Mathematics and Map Making for maps + 90g. Trade Map Making for Polytheism from Iroquois.
850bc Traded maps around the civs. Got a pretty good idea of the land now, and a nice bit of gold.
550bc Forbidden Palace offered. Last scout ambushed by barbs.
450bc Missed the GrLib by 7 turns. Wonder cascade. Celts demand map and gold. No. They declare war.
430bc Now Persia has joined Rome in war. Japan is on my side vs both Rome and Persia.

Save game.

Goals. Hold off the barb horses. Fight war with Rome and Persia. Sign up more allies.

370bc Can buy more allies for lots of money. So far, I haven't needed them. The barbs haven't really massed like they could. They've been running towards Persia. Good.
30bc Begin 4 turn revolt to Republic.
50ad Republic is doing well. Still at war with Rome, Celts, and Persia.
70ad Destroyed a Persian city. Now they will talk peace with favorable terms. Tech + g + gpt. New age. Got Monotheism. Traded it for Engineering + Feudalism + 44g. Again, for 20g + 11gpt. Again, for 20g + 2gpt. Again for 20g + 12gpt.
90ad Made peace with Rome. Not the best deal, but sufficient. Same for the Celts. The Middle Ages are 1 turn old.

 

[stagnate]

I started by moving scout SW, worker SE, and then settler south. I wanted to found quickly, but should probably have gone for the river.

Build order: warrior, settler, granary (probably not the best order)

I planned my cities for spaces that fit in an RCP ring around the palace and also an RCP ring around the hills to the south, which I plan for my final palace or FP location.

I had several demands, but other than America (with only 5 troops I wasn't ready to fight got away with it. Towards the end of the era Babylon demanded and then declared. I allied with Aztecs against them - 50 turns later I realized Celts were the next door AI I also brought the Chinese in, but they got eaten alive :-/ I was able to snag the horses and the iron, plus the ivory and the dyes in the woods, and have several workers making a beeline for the horses and iron.

No real AA wars, waiting for knights to start moving. America started strong with techs, but I was able to catch up with good research choices and nice trading. Republic slowed me down so I was a bit behind coming into the MA, but nothing terrible.

I was worried about Persia (missed grabbing their iron but traded pretty nicely with them and they stayed well on my good side. I'm probably going too slow for a good conquest time, but will probably do it anyway for a change of pace, since I'm normally a builder.

Cities
3950BC Moscow
2850BC St. Petersburg
1950BC Kiev
1910BC Minsk
1150BC Smolensk
1050BC Sevastapolo

Three settlers in place to build cities 950BC.

Research
3300BC Ceremonial Burial
2710BC Masonry (Hut), Warrior Code, The Wheel (Trade)
2070BC Alphabet
1725BC Iron Working (trade), Mysticism (trade)
1400BC Mathematics (research), HBR (trade), Writing (trade)
1075BC Philosophy (research), Poly (trade), MM (trade)

Foreign Affairs
3100BC Persia (WC, Masonry to my CB and Pottery)
2800BC Japan (WC, BW to my CB and Pottery)
2710BC America (up Masonry)
2150BC Scandanavia (even up), Zulu (Alphabet and IW to my The Wheel)
1725BC Alphabet, 16g, 1g/t to Persia for IW then Alphabet to Japan for Mysticism
1600BC America demands 12g, given
1400BC Math traded around for all remaining contacts, 176g. Founded 4 embassies so no one could demand gold
1075BC Philo traded around for Poly and MM, WM which I traded around for 200g.



QSC:
7 cities
10 pop points
3 settlers
3 workers
3 warriors
4 archers
11 contacts
15 techs (don't have Construction, Currency, CoL, Republic, Lit, Monarchy)

 

[Nata]

PTW Open. Goal - to win. Go Russia!

4000BC. Settler South (as going there anyway). Better land, as expected. Scout SE (to jump off the mountains). Worker SW (to reveal more land). See the shore!
3950BC. Scout explores E. Settler S, on the river. Worker towards river BG.
3900BC. Moscow founded, 2S from the origin.
Research: IW on min. Initial build order: scout, granary, warrior,settler.
3700BC - CB from a mountain hut.
3650BC - 2nd scout explores South. 1st scout crosses the mountains and sees Ivory.
3600BC - 2nd scout sees Spices.
3350BC - 1st scout contacts Persia. They can trade Masonry for CB, Pottery, all our cash (33g) and 2gpt (out of 4). Should we? let's wait another turn. Maybe we should, to keep them from aggression...
3250BC - contact Japanese warrior. Nice neighbours... They can give us Wheel for BW, Pottery, 38g and 1gpt. Make the deal. Then trade Wheel to Persia for WC and 12g. No Horses in sight...

Important decision
Our core sucks. Persian/Japanese lands are sweet. I will expand their direction, and in order to do so I'll switch granary to barracks. Moscow will become an instant V.Warrior factory. It will build settlers when it can, and I'll build granary in my 2nd city.
If I do that, I'll get plenty of warriors before we learn IW, and let's pray the Iron is close. As for upgrade money - well, let's trust in our scouts.

3150BC - 1st scout sees Gems. I might need a 3rd scout, it seems like a lot of land...
2470BC - St.Petersburg founded 3SE on a river. Will go for RCP3. Build: scout->worker->granary.
2350BC - America contacts us. Can trade Masonry for 80g. Lets wait.

2030BC -researched IW. Moment of Truth. There's Iron just beyound the mountains, but Japan has almost settled there. Hurry! Trade IW to Japan for Myst. Research Alpha.

1830BC - 1st scout crosses some serious jungle and meets Zulu. They can trade Alpha for 160g. Our 3 neighbours lack Alpha but have only 110g combined and Masonry. Let's wait.
1810BC. 3rd Scout succumbs to Barbs on the Southern peninsula.
1750BC - Kiev founded in RCP 6, towards Iron.
Meet Romans. they can trade Alpha for 60g. That's more like it.
Alpha from Romans for 60g.
Trade Alpha+5g to Persia for Masonry. The other 2 guys learned it already.
Sell Masonry to Zulu for 60g, to Romans for 65g.
1675BC - Scout sees a hut, so trade HBR from Persia for 90g, but can only sell it for combined 55g to Zulu and Rome. Hut yields maps of the region.
1600BC. Scout1 succumbs to Barbs south from Roman empire.
1500BC - Vikings contact us, offer Writing and 2 contacts for our 2 contacts +20g. Looks like they've already met America.
1475BC. Contacts/writing trading around. We end up with all the cash and 10 contacts. Only Celts are unknown.
1250BC - Minsk founded finally claiming Iron. In about 10 turns it should be connected.
1050BC - Learn Math. Being contacted by Kelts who offer Philosophy.
Trade Phil+15g from Babs for Math.
Buy MM from Romans for WM+80g. Trade maps around, end up with almost all the world map and +150g. That's some world!
Research Lit. hoping for it to be a monopoly.

1000BC. QSC.
6 towns, 8 pop. 1 barracks, 1 granary. 1 settler, 5 workers, 1 scout, 1 v.Archer, 13 v.Warriors, to become 10 v.Swordsmen + 3 v.Warriors next turn, when Iron gets connected. Have 413g cash.
All contacts and almost all WM. Missing Curr, Constr., CoL and Poly (which can buy now but won't as need cash for upgrades).

950BC - 11 swordsmen are moving towards Persia, with workers paving the road. Persians have just connected Iron near Ivories. And looks like the whole world knows Lit, and I still have 7 turns to go. Should have done Currency instead.
Trade Poly from Japan for MM and Phil.
Trade Lit from China for Poly, just to end the waste of research. Start on Currency.

Persia - the sweet revenge (after GOTM43)

850BC - we are ready to strike Persia. Road is built to their Iron/Ivory town and 8 sworsdsmen can reach its walls this turn. Persepolis is building Pyramids, due in 21 turn - too long. Nothing will stop us now.
Drive them furious and dow.

825BC - Antioch (Iron town) is gone, it yields 4 slaves.
750BC - 6 swords and an archer are at the gates of Persepolis. Immortal steps out and attacks our lagging swordsman, and kills him! So they did manage to build an Immortal... or should I say: THE Immortal.
We take Persepolis, killing 2 spears, the outside Immortal and a stray warrior, not loosing anybody and 1 of our sword is promoted to elite.
730BC - Tarsus autorazed. Spices connected.
710BC - Pasagardae autorazed.
690BC - Persia is building GrLib. Priceless! I wonder where - they have 3 cities left.
590BC - took Arbela, autoraze something else. Persia has 1 city left - Gordium at a Northern Horse. Peace - till MA and till they connect the Horse for us. They give CoL, WM, a worker and 24g.

1st objective is accomplished - no more Immortals in the game.
Next objective: no Samurai.

570BC - Sverdlovsk resettled in place of Antioch. 2nd Iron and Ivory connected.

Dawn of MA.
450BC - 1 turn to Currency. Scout sees a hut. Celts already have it! Trade Currency for WM and 24g.
Trade Construction from Vikings for Currency, WM and 60g.
Enter MA, draw Mono.
Trade Monarchy from Romans for Mono.
Sell Monarchy to Celts for WM+170g, to Viking for 90g+WM and a worker, and to everybody who has money.
Trade/gift Babylon, they get Eng. but want too much for it.
Scout steps on a hut, and finds it deserted. But can it get MA tech from a hut anyway? I know it can't get Republic, and that was the only AA tech still unknown.

Start MA with dow'ing Japan which doesn't stand a chance, frankly.

I wish I went to bed after this, but I played deep into MA and into the night and made some stupid blunders. My MA was in no way as shiny as the Ancient Age, but that will wait till next spoiler.

Dawn of MA, sunset of Japan:

 

[k-a-bob]

Move settler south and found Moscow on hill in 3950.
Set production on scout>warrior>settler>warrior>granary.
Science to alphabet.

Cities
3950: Moscow
2670: St Petersburg 3se 1s of Moscow
1625: Kiev
1475: Minsk
1150: Smolensk
1000: Odessa
3 more cities before end of AA (no notes on that)

Contacts
3200: Persia
2750: Japan
2630: America
2390: China
2070: Rome
1950: Vikings
1750: Babylon
1575: Kelts
1475: 5 embassies established all other contacts via trading
1000: All countries have embassies, collect all gold and all world maps from everyone in trade deals

Research
3500: Ceremonial Burial (hut)
2750: Warrior Code, masonry (trade)
2510: Alphabet (research)
2430: Wheel (trade)
2070: Iron Working, Mysticism (trades)
1525: Writing (research)
1100: Map Making (hut)
730: Philosophy (self) use this monopoly to trade for Construction, Currency, Code of Laws, Polytheism) - into Middle Ages, draw Monotheism - no one has govt techs, so start on Republic

Bads: I missed getting anywhere near horses, and I missed out on Iron in SE part of Russia (hopefully, we'll annex that from Japan).

Goods: Phony war w/ Babylon (they demanded money), I drew China in for some protection as I work on my core area and buildup to take Russia's Iron.

Rome looks like a monster - and Persia I am sure will give me fits, since they are my nemesis, but they have my horses, so I will have to face them before getting through the next age.

The "war" with Babylon continues into the MA, as I have no reason to stop it, and once I get into Republic, I can get some War Happiness. (I have yet to see a Bab unit.)