GOTM 45 Free-For-All (final spoiler)
- Thread starter ainwood
- Start date
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1.27Apologies for the relatively late spoiler, but Ive finally recovered to the point that I feel like describing this monster of a game. Like several others, I ran out of time and ended up pressing end turn 74 times before triggering my victory. Submitted in the last hour before the deadline.
I decided early on to go for a partially-milked 20K victory. I blew a lot of time getting set up for the milk run, but probably needed about 8-10 more hours to really get things right. I cost myself quite a bit of score (perhaps as much as 1,000 Jason) by aborting the milking phase.
Ancient Age Start, Barb Control and Research:
Settled Moscow 2 south of the start position and built scout, warrior x 2, settler at the start. I founded St. Petersburg (my 20K city) 4 tiles SE of Moscow in 2800 BC.
Making up the tech gap was not a problem. Studied Alphabet flat out, completed it at the end of the 2550 BC turn, and then brokered it for seven techs and most of the worlds gold during the interturn. I was saving a hut for about 6 turns before the big trading round, and then popped Iron Working from the hut in 2510 BC.
My other AA research investments:
1725 BC Writing learned
1375 BC Literature purchased with 5 turns of research remaining
800 BC Construction learned
390 BC Republic learned, trade for Currency and enter Middle Ages, free tech is Engineering, revolt to Republic (4 turn anarchy)
The raging barbs were a non-issue. I just let the other civs (primarily China, as I had Persia and Japan pre-occupied with each other) handle the barb patrol. I think the barbs had a lot of fun with war-crippled Persia, though.
Remaining Tech Progress:
I traded for Feudalism in 310 BC and then studied the top branch of the tech tree (including optionals) for the high-culture buildings.
Entered the Industrial Age in 1070 AD, primarily by trading my upper branch techs for lower branch techs studied by the Americans. Medicine was my free tech.
At this point, research by the other civs got bogged down. I had been stirring up a lot of conflict through most of the game, so the AI civs were really underdeveloped. After studying Steam Power, I actually had to backtrack to pick up Military Tradition (amazed the AI had not studied it yet). I felt compelled to study it myself because I really wanted to trigger my golden age. My GA started in 1220 AD with a Cossack victory.
I essentially studied the rest of the techs myself, only picking up Navigation, Nationalism and Communism by trade.
Completed Radio at the end of 1525 AD to enter the Modern Era, and learned Computers as my free tech. I had a palace pre-build timed for this, so I was able to complete Seti the same interturn.
I then gifted 12 techs to Babylon to bring them into the modern era, but they also drew Computers as their free tech. I kept the tech pace high until I could build every cultural building except for missile defense. I also eschewed the Internet, as I was intending on milking this out for a higher score and didnt want to have to worry about the culture from all of those free research labs screwing up my game.Warfare and other notable events:
1675 BC Persia declared after I refused tribute. Allied Japan against them. Never saw a Persian unit until 530 BC, and they were all archers and spears (never saw an immortal because they couldnt get iron hooked up). I auto-razed one of their towns and took another for peace in 70 BC. Japan stayed at war with Persia continuously until 450 AD, so neither were ever a factor.
1050 BC I DOW on Vikings and allied China against them. Phony war peace in 590 BC
950 BC Babylon demands tech and declares when I refuse. Allied Celts against them in 730 BC. Phony war - peace in 310 BC.
800 BC Zulu DOW on me after I refuse tribute. They showed up in force in 390 BC, so I sued for peace.
230 BC Babylon demands tech again and declares when I refuse. Allied Celts and China against them. Another phony war finally signed peace in 320 AD.
30 BC Zulu demand tribute again, I refuse, and they declare. They had troops near my borders (doing barb patrol for me), so they captured 3 workers and temporarily held one of my corrupt towns. I signed up the Vikings and Iroquois to alliances against Shaka, took care of their local troops, and then let the others do the fighting. I signed a peace treaty with them in 480 AD, by which time Rome had joined the fun.
340 AD China demanded territory map and 33 gold. They had MIs and swords crawling all over my frontier at the time (barb hunting), so I caved for the only time in the game.
380 AD I decide Persia has lived long enough, so I DOW on them. I got my first great leader on my first elite victory in 460 AD.
Persia was eliminated in 480 AD.560 AD The Celts bought me back into the Babylonian conflict by giving me Invention and some gold to sign a military alliance. I get a free tech and war happiness for fighting another phony war. I signed peace in 780 AD
590 AD Horses hooked up (finally).
680 AD Zulu (now OCCing) and Babylon sign a military alliance against me. Oops! Rome eliminated the Zulu the same interturn!
890 AD Enough phony wars or minor skirmishes. I DOW on China and allied America and Iroquois against them. Progress was slow until Cossacks became available, but then went very quickly. Gave China peace in 1255 AD for 2 of their 3 remaining cities (all in far-flung locations at the rather balmy south pole).
1260 AD I DOW on pathetic Japan. Captured the only two towns they had in their original core, but it took me a while to get to Edo, which was in the jungle north of Rome. Curiously, Edo auto-razed when I captured it. I didnt think that towns with culture auto-razed.
Oh well Japan dead in 1300 AD. 1280 AD I DOW on America and allied Vikings, Iroquois and Aztecs against them. I captured all of their core, and the Aztecs captured a few other scattered settlements. Signed peace in 1395 AD when war weariness finally showed up. By this time, America was reduced to two-city gem traders in the southern mountains. The Aztecs put them out of their misery in 1420 AD.
1310 AD Finally got a hospital in St. Petersburg, joined in 8 workers, and it was producing 145 shields per turn (144 uncorrupted) for the latter stages of my golden age. It settled back to 103 SPT when the GA was over.
1310 AD Tempted by all of the undefended cities in former China, Rome sneak attacked me. They only captured one city, which I recaptured the next turn. I allied Vikings and Iroquois against them. I captured all of the Roman core (Vikings and Iroquois captured a few former Zulu towns) and eliminated them in 1410 AD.
1470 AD The Vikings also want my undefended towns, and they sneak attack (capturing 2 undefended towns). I recaptured those 2 towns plus 14 Viking towns the next turn. Had to sign up the Iroquois and Aztecs to an MA against the Vikings, as I didnt want them bought in on their side (literally every city I had was undefended at the end of the 1475 AD turn). Captured the last 6 Viking cities in their core during the next 2 turns and finally captured their last city (at the south pole) in 1530 AD.
1530 AD I gifted Babylon into the Modern Era, only to have them learn the same free tech as myself. I didnt want to give them a chance to upgrade their current defenders (rifles) to Mechanized Infantry, or even give them a chance to trade any techs to the Iroquois or Aztecs. I DOW on Babylon and, with the help of 300 workers and slaves building rails and a ROP deal with the Celts, captured all 19 Babylonian cities in the same turn!
1540 AD Called up the Aztecs and told them to get their troops out of my territory or declare, and they obligingly declared war. I gave Steam Power (note that I am studying Fission at this point!) to the Iroquois and Celts to ally against the Aztecs. I captured all of the Aztec cities myself, and they were dead in 1560 AD.
1540 AD Oh yeah, I left China in OCC status earlier. They are blocking my path to an Aztec city, so I DOW on China and eliminate them.
1560 AD Finally passed 10,000 culture in St. Petersburg. Ugh! This is going to be a relatively late 20K victory date.
Im also only about 30 tiles below the domination limit at this point.
1570 AD Declared on the Iroquois. Quickly captured or razed 20 cities and eliminated the Iroquois in 1585 AD.
1585 AD I founded a nice exile town in the northern tundra and gifted it to the Celts in 1570 AD. I DOW on the Celts in 1585 AD and captured or razed their core (only 6 cities) the same turn. The Celts asked for peace in 1600 AD, and they stayed quiet in their gulag for the rest of the game.
Damn, that was a lot of fighting!
Leaders:
460 AD Saved to rush Bachs in 650 AD.
1280 AD Cossack army
1320 AD Rushed Universal Suffrage immediately
1360 AD Saved to rush Hoover Dam in 1380 AD.
1380 AD Fresh out of cultural buildings available, I built another Cossack army.
1475 AD Immediately rushed the last 3 turns of Battlefield Medicine.
1550 AD Rushed United Nations in 1570 AD
1570 AD Nothing to build or rush, so I built yet another Cossack army.
1590 AD Saved to rush Cure for Cancer in 1625 AD
All told, I generated nine great leaders in only 91 qualifying elite victories. For once, I had good leader luck. Unfortunately, they all came too late to make much of a difference.
Cultural Builds in St. Petersburg:
1910 BC Temple
510 BC Pyramids
450 BC Library
10 BC Hanging Gardens
230 AD Forbidden Palace
290 AD Cathedral
320 AD Colosseum
640 AD Sistine Chapel
650 AD Bachs Cathedral (leader)
660 AD University
880 AD Copernicus Observatory
1100 AD Shakespeares Theater
1255 AD Newtons University
1300 AD Smiths Trading Post
1315 AD Heroic Epic
1320 AD Universal Suffrage (leader)
1350 AD Theory of Evolution
1375 AD Military Academy
1380 AD Hoover Dam (leader)
1440 AD Wall Street
1460 AD Pentagon
1475 AD Battlefield Medicine (last 3 turns by leader)
1525 AD Seti Program
1565 AD Manhattan Project
1570 AD United Nations (leader)
1620 AD Longevity
1625 AD Cure for Cancer (leader)
1670 AD Apollo Program
1695 AD Intelligence Agency
1705 AD Research Lab (Stupid mistake could have built it in 1530 AD, but just plain forgot. This cost me only one turn at the end.)
1758 AD Palace
I finally achieved the 20K victory in 1834 AD. That seems like a really slow date, but this map just wasnt conducive to a fast 20K victory in my opinion. Late access to horses and a lot of space between ourselves and the other civs really hindered the ability to generate early leaders. All my warmongering also ensured that all the other civs got relatively early golden ages, and that didnt help either. The net result was that I only claimed 2 ancient age wonders.
St. Petersburg was producing 132 culture per turn at the end. Not bad, but it took a long time to get there. Here is a pic from 1700 AD (same date as the pic posted by Niklas for comparison).
BTW condolences to Niklas. I was concerned that better results could be achieved by going for 20K in the capital, as he did. Ultimately, I think I benefited from using my second city for 20K, as I was able to use the palace pre-build quite extensively while researching techs.
I also would not be surprised if someone has beaten this relatively late date. Then again, I would be a bit surprised if anyone accomplished a 20K victory before 1800 AD.
I ran out of time and gave up milking for additional score in 1590 AD. I was glad I had to shut off the milk run in retrospect, as 275 cities and 374 workers (183 natives and 191 slaves) were just sucking the life out of me.
Heres a mini-map of my territory at the end.
No worries, I wasn't expecting anything.Shigella said:
I did miss that palace pre-build, but not as much as I had thought. During the middle ages I was continously working on some cultural building, and that's where the big gains where made. I lost because I didn't fight any wars early on, and thus didn't get any leaders, and also because I had a small landmass and didn't research so fast. I think I got so close to you simply because I was using the capitol, since I see I got more AA wonders than you did. And since I missed the Great Library by 2 turns and had to bail out to the Wall, things could have been different... so you're probably right that you shouldn't feel safe yet.
Edit: I realize I never posted my buildings, so here they are:
AA:
3850 BC Palace 736
2150 BC Temple 1296
1125 BC The Oracle 2260
510 BC The Great Wall 998
450 BC Library 1470
50 BC The Hanging Gardens 1720
MA:
420 AD Sistine Chapel 2022
430 AD University 1336
610 AD Copernicus's Observatory 1120
620 AD Cathedral 831
630 AD Colosseum 548
890 AD JS Bach's Cathedral 1080
1110 AD Newton's University 948
1190 AD Shakespeare's Theater 1200
IA:
1265 AD Universal Suffrage 564
1295 AD Theory of Evolution 405
1340 AD Hoover Dam 252
1405 AD Intelligence Agency 113
1430 AD Wall Street 216
1460 AD Battlefield Medicine 102
MA:
1645 AD SETI program 195
1650 AD Research Lab 128
1700 AD The United Nations 216
1750 AD The Internet 176
1776 AD Cure for Cancer 93
1802 AD Longevity 54
1824 AD The Manhattan Project 14
The numbers afterwards are the total culture points generated by that building until the end, courtesy of CivAssist II and it's nice "export" function.
As you see I started out a lot better than you, and the Oracle was a big yielder. Imagine what a GLib instead of GWall would have done, that's an extra 2k...
Zelda's Man
A Link to Something
Things I didn't like:
Too much aluminum. I had to go to war every time the AI started on their spaceship to make sure they didn't win. There were about 11 aluminum resources I think.
AI put cities on the edge of the map. I couldn't even see what unit was guarding the city.
I went for my first histographic win. It took forever. My computer took 30 sec to a minute b/n turns by the end. One of my highest Firaxis scores became one of my lowest Jason scores. Plus, I was dumb and built the Internet and so I had to destroy a couple of major cities with wonders to keep from winning by 100K. Final culture was >99000 with the AI <50% my culture.
Probably would have been a lot more fun had I just gone for my standard domination win and quit messing around.
Too much aluminum. I had to go to war every time the AI started on their spaceship to make sure they didn't win. There were about 11 aluminum resources I think.
AI put cities on the edge of the map. I couldn't even see what unit was guarding the city.
I went for my first histographic win. It took forever. My computer took 30 sec to a minute b/n turns by the end. One of my highest Firaxis scores became one of my lowest Jason scores. Plus, I was dumb and built the Internet and so I had to destroy a couple of major cities with wonders to keep from winning by 100K. Final culture was >99000 with the AI <50% my culture.
Probably would have been a lot more fun had I just gone for my standard domination win and quit messing around.
As you see in my post, there were alternatives, e.g.:
- keep Babylon alive at more than 50% of your culture
- abandon The Internet after it served its purpose ridding all research centers from your cities
- do not build temples and cathedrals
- control uranium, which is needed for the SS fuel cells
- slow down tech speed of the AIs
- sabotage production
denyd
Emperor
As Tao said, let Babylon build the internet and gift him a bunch of cities to keep him more than 50% of your culture. I finished with 178K of culture to Babylon's 92K.
A monopoly of any of aluminum, uranium or rubber (what I controlled) prevents spaceship completion. The advantage with rubber is no infantry or wheeled/tracked vehicles. The AI does have planes however.
A monopoly of any of aluminum, uranium or rubber (what I controlled) prevents spaceship completion. The advantage with rubber is no infantry or wheeled/tracked vehicles. The AI does have planes however.
Not exactly.denyd said:
I built The Internet with a Great Leader in a small town especially founded for this purpose. And after 25 turns, when my research was done, I abandoned the town (and all libraries and universities afterwards).
denyd
Emperor
I found it easier to build the Internet in a tundra city using a leader then gift that city plus 10 other poor terrain packed in cities to Hammurabi, thereby keeping him close to me in culture and then when the game was almost over, I captured the Internet city and razed ( or nuked 
) the rest to end the game with all of the Major & Minor Wonders. I know it's not worth any additional points, but it's just fun like stomping Genghis Kahn or Xerxes. 
) the rest to end the game with all of the Major & Minor Wonders. I know it's not worth any additional points, but it's just fun like stomping Genghis Kahn or Xerxes. 
Sorry for the veryveryvery late spoiler. Holidays and CotM16 in the way... as well as my innate laziness... 
Open, Vanilla
Game Plan
Having decided to go for domination (as in my last three or four submissions), I wanted to:
- settle and develop the first core (hopefully some 10 cities) in the QSC period
- head straight to republic and Military Tradition; with Russia and so many AI it would be difficult to speed up MA research with a wonder-induced GA, so I didn't even try that. The GA was good to get a lot of Cossacks ready in a short time, anyway, so it sped up the conquest phase. I also skipped Chivalry altogether, and avoided to get it in peace negotiations.
- Keep a small army at the beginning, possibly a few warriors-swordsmen and only start building horsemen after developing the second core and only a few techs away from MT.
Expansion
I settled where most did, and opted for a first ring at distance 3. Settling the second ring took a bit longer because I diverted a few settlers to the Iron source and to founding one or two cities on the hills (to make crossing the mountains a bit easier).
With no food bonus in the start position, I built granaries in the first four cities, but the initial expansion was a bit slower than I had hoped.
At 1000 BC I had:
8 cities, 17 pop
2 Settlers, 7 Workers
3 Warriors
4 Granaries, 2 Libraries
All AA techs but Construction. Researching Republic (due in 15)
Other significant dates in the initial expansion phase:
950 BC - Found Russia's 10th city. America discovers Constructions. I could trade and enter the MA, but I still have some fog close to my borders and need a few more turns for my patrolling warriors to clear it.
775 BC - Iron city founded next to the SE source, with a Japanese settler two or three turns away and clearly heading for it.
Japan is already controlling the other source, so I need not worry about Persia.
310 BC - Forbidden Palace complete (3S of Moscow). The plan is to move the Palace halfway between Persepolis and the Iron city, having a first ring at distance 4.
The cow (which was the main reason to pick that area for the palace jump) will end next to a first ring city south of the new capital: I had thought of jumping the palace right there, but I would have to move several japanese and Persian cities.
In fact, Persia Japan and China were starting to fill that area, so I could just squeeze the new capital and three or four cities in the planned spot. The rest would be conquered or founded after clearing the AI settlements.
I can't remember when I eventually jumped the Palace to Novgorod, but it must have been the early ADs.
230 AD - First war fought, with Japan: I needed room to complete my first ring. Edo flipped to us a few turns earlier; I captured two cities and got two more in the peace deal (founded in our peninsula).
The following 15 turns were entirely devoted to completing the development of the new core cities, and reach MT as quickly as possible.
Horsemen production had been started in the meantime and kept on founding cities to expand territory and keep unit costs down (I was not controlling any horses source yet, but I managed to trade for them a few turns earlier).
Research
With a Pangaea map, many AI, and expansionist civs, I decided to start the game with zero research and rely on huts and trading.
Tech progress was:
2510 BC - First tier complete, plus Mysticism from Zulu. Start Polytheism at minimum funding.
1650 BC - Second tier complete, plust Philosophy from a hut. I keep Philo for trading and sell or gift all the other techs around.
1175 BC - Start on Republic. Only Construction and Currency missing to reach the MA (I traded for Currency later on).
825 BC - No for around my borders, trade for Construction and enter the MA. Gift all AA techs to everyone.
670 BC - Republic, 3 turns Anarchy.
Playing vanilla hurt a bit here, as all scientific civs got Monotheism.
I went for Feudalism (Med Inf) and had to wait for five turns before I could trade for Engineering and start Invention in 290 BC. With PtW and a little luck, it would be possible to save some 10-15 turns at the passing of age.
70 BC - Invention. Gunpowder due in 10.
400 AD - Military Tradition (got some speed in research as in the final turns America was finally able to pay gpt for techs). Stop research.
Wars
The first one was with Japan in 230 AD, to complete the first core.
I only used my 10-15 Med Inf, but they were more than enough against a slow trickle of japanese warriors and spearmen.
The fighting also gave a nice great leader, which was used to rush Leonardo's Workshop; I would have preferred the Pyramids, but Rome had completed them just a few turns earlier.
A second limited war was started against Persia in 400 AD.
Breaking 4400 years of peaceful and happy relations, as well as a RoP agreement, Russia took 5 of Persia's core cities in one turn.
Once again, I mainly used Med Inf for this attack, and two or three Cossacks to trigger the GA and reach their horses city (they had just connected it to Persepolis). The first TWO Cossacks were killed by the usual invincible spearman, but the third did his job.
The war with Persia kept on going for a very long time with occasional peace spells from time to time (that we would break at our leisure). I only used those Med Inf with the support of very few Cossacks against resourceless Xerxes: the idea was to let them settle the northwestern plains and forests while I was conquering the rest of the world.
The bulk of our Cossacks were heading towards Japan and China in the meantime.
430-440 AD Attack and wipe out Japan -actually, he had a settler in a galley fortified in the Arctic ocean, and it took me a while to find it out and sink it.
470 AD Attack China. Mao is left with two cities left in the antarctic desert, that I never conquered.
At this point I was sending all Cossacks towards former China, whence they would split for an attack on America (which were growing a bit too fast) and on Vikings.
I also started cash-rushing libraries in chosen occupied cities; this process was intensified later on, when I stopped building Cossacks and actually disbanded many of them to speed up border expansion.
550-560 AD - America, left with two cities in the tundra north of Aztec territory. These were taken in 680 AD.
550-590 AD - Scandinavia. Left with a single city in the mountains east of the Celts. Now, I know this is a seafaring people, but you should build roads anyway!
The American troops proceeded at this point towards Aztec lands, while the Scandinavians were split: a part was sent towards the Iroquois, where they would be joined by the American-Aztec expedition; a part was sent towards Babylon, where I was sending fresh troops from the core.
600-610 AD - Babylon. Left Hammurabi with four cities in the jungle (took all but the last two, failing by 1 hp a desperate attack in 710 AD).
620-650 AD - Aztecs.
630-690 AD - Iroquois. It took a while to reach their unconnected tundra cities.
At this point I guessed that it would not be necessary to attack Rome to reach the domination limit, and sent all my forces towards the Celts and the Zulus.
I had also stopped building military a few turns earlier and I was sending settlers all over the world to fill the gaps.
670 AD - Zulus. Left one city on an island (but I had no galleys in the area) and one in the jungle north or Rome, that I failed to take with two Cossacks against three Impis.
680-710 AD - Kelts. Two cities left in 710 AD.
I tried all I could to reach the limit in the 710 AD turn, but my forces were too dispersed at this point. So I hit enter, and achieved a Domination victory in 720 AD; 6884 Firaxis points.
Other
- Great Leaders. I got quite a few, but most had really nothing to do: one was used for Bach, one for an army, two to rush libraries in far-away cities. The Army was later disbanded for a Library, again.
The real bonus was the first one, as Leonardo was really useful. Still, I think that getting the Pyramids would have made a bigger difference in the end.
- Filling the gaps was a nightmare. Lots of settlers and rushed libraries, units travelling across the whole world... it did give me quite a headache.
I think I chose the right time to stop building Cossacks and start focusing on libraries and settlers; some turns too early or too late would have created more than a problem in finishing the game. I had more than 100 Cossacks at the peak, and ended the game with considerably fewer due to casualties and disbanding.
Open, Vanilla
Game Plan
Having decided to go for domination (as in my last three or four submissions), I wanted to:
- settle and develop the first core (hopefully some 10 cities) in the QSC period
- head straight to republic and Military Tradition; with Russia and so many AI it would be difficult to speed up MA research with a wonder-induced GA, so I didn't even try that. The GA was good to get a lot of Cossacks ready in a short time, anyway, so it sped up the conquest phase. I also skipped Chivalry altogether, and avoided to get it in peace negotiations.
- Keep a small army at the beginning, possibly a few warriors-swordsmen and only start building horsemen after developing the second core and only a few techs away from MT.
Expansion
I settled where most did, and opted for a first ring at distance 3. Settling the second ring took a bit longer because I diverted a few settlers to the Iron source and to founding one or two cities on the hills (to make crossing the mountains a bit easier).
With no food bonus in the start position, I built granaries in the first four cities, but the initial expansion was a bit slower than I had hoped.
At 1000 BC I had:
8 cities, 17 pop
2 Settlers, 7 Workers
3 Warriors
4 Granaries, 2 Libraries
All AA techs but Construction. Researching Republic (due in 15)
Other significant dates in the initial expansion phase:
950 BC - Found Russia's 10th city. America discovers Constructions. I could trade and enter the MA, but I still have some fog close to my borders and need a few more turns for my patrolling warriors to clear it.
775 BC - Iron city founded next to the SE source, with a Japanese settler two or three turns away and clearly heading for it.
Japan is already controlling the other source, so I need not worry about Persia.
310 BC - Forbidden Palace complete (3S of Moscow). The plan is to move the Palace halfway between Persepolis and the Iron city, having a first ring at distance 4.
The cow (which was the main reason to pick that area for the palace jump) will end next to a first ring city south of the new capital: I had thought of jumping the palace right there, but I would have to move several japanese and Persian cities.
In fact, Persia Japan and China were starting to fill that area, so I could just squeeze the new capital and three or four cities in the planned spot. The rest would be conquered or founded after clearing the AI settlements.
I can't remember when I eventually jumped the Palace to Novgorod, but it must have been the early ADs.
230 AD - First war fought, with Japan: I needed room to complete my first ring. Edo flipped to us a few turns earlier; I captured two cities and got two more in the peace deal (founded in our peninsula).
The following 15 turns were entirely devoted to completing the development of the new core cities, and reach MT as quickly as possible.
Horsemen production had been started in the meantime and kept on founding cities to expand territory and keep unit costs down (I was not controlling any horses source yet, but I managed to trade for them a few turns earlier).
Research
With a Pangaea map, many AI, and expansionist civs, I decided to start the game with zero research and rely on huts and trading.
Tech progress was:
2510 BC - First tier complete, plus Mysticism from Zulu. Start Polytheism at minimum funding.
1650 BC - Second tier complete, plust Philosophy from a hut. I keep Philo for trading and sell or gift all the other techs around.
1175 BC - Start on Republic. Only Construction and Currency missing to reach the MA (I traded for Currency later on).
825 BC - No for around my borders, trade for Construction and enter the MA. Gift all AA techs to everyone.
670 BC - Republic, 3 turns Anarchy.
Playing vanilla hurt a bit here, as all scientific civs got Monotheism.
I went for Feudalism (Med Inf) and had to wait for five turns before I could trade for Engineering and start Invention in 290 BC. With PtW and a little luck, it would be possible to save some 10-15 turns at the passing of age.
70 BC - Invention. Gunpowder due in 10.
400 AD - Military Tradition (got some speed in research as in the final turns America was finally able to pay gpt for techs). Stop research.
Wars
The first one was with Japan in 230 AD, to complete the first core.
I only used my 10-15 Med Inf, but they were more than enough against a slow trickle of japanese warriors and spearmen.
The fighting also gave a nice great leader, which was used to rush Leonardo's Workshop; I would have preferred the Pyramids, but Rome had completed them just a few turns earlier.
A second limited war was started against Persia in 400 AD.
Breaking 4400 years of peaceful and happy relations, as well as a RoP agreement, Russia took 5 of Persia's core cities in one turn.
Once again, I mainly used Med Inf for this attack, and two or three Cossacks to trigger the GA and reach their horses city (they had just connected it to Persepolis). The first TWO Cossacks were killed by the usual invincible spearman, but the third did his job.
The war with Persia kept on going for a very long time with occasional peace spells from time to time (that we would break at our leisure). I only used those Med Inf with the support of very few Cossacks against resourceless Xerxes: the idea was to let them settle the northwestern plains and forests while I was conquering the rest of the world.
The bulk of our Cossacks were heading towards Japan and China in the meantime.
430-440 AD Attack and wipe out Japan -actually, he had a settler in a galley fortified in the Arctic ocean, and it took me a while to find it out and sink it.
470 AD Attack China. Mao is left with two cities left in the antarctic desert, that I never conquered.
At this point I was sending all Cossacks towards former China, whence they would split for an attack on America (which were growing a bit too fast) and on Vikings.
I also started cash-rushing libraries in chosen occupied cities; this process was intensified later on, when I stopped building Cossacks and actually disbanded many of them to speed up border expansion.
550-560 AD - America, left with two cities in the tundra north of Aztec territory. These were taken in 680 AD.
550-590 AD - Scandinavia. Left with a single city in the mountains east of the Celts. Now, I know this is a seafaring people, but you should build roads anyway!
The American troops proceeded at this point towards Aztec lands, while the Scandinavians were split: a part was sent towards the Iroquois, where they would be joined by the American-Aztec expedition; a part was sent towards Babylon, where I was sending fresh troops from the core.
600-610 AD - Babylon. Left Hammurabi with four cities in the jungle (took all but the last two, failing by 1 hp a desperate attack in 710 AD).
620-650 AD - Aztecs.
630-690 AD - Iroquois. It took a while to reach their unconnected tundra cities.
At this point I guessed that it would not be necessary to attack Rome to reach the domination limit, and sent all my forces towards the Celts and the Zulus.
I had also stopped building military a few turns earlier and I was sending settlers all over the world to fill the gaps.
670 AD - Zulus. Left one city on an island (but I had no galleys in the area) and one in the jungle north or Rome, that I failed to take with two Cossacks against three Impis.
680-710 AD - Kelts. Two cities left in 710 AD.
I tried all I could to reach the limit in the 710 AD turn, but my forces were too dispersed at this point. So I hit enter, and achieved a Domination victory in 720 AD; 6884 Firaxis points.
Other
- Great Leaders. I got quite a few, but most had really nothing to do: one was used for Bach, one for an army, two to rush libraries in far-away cities. The Army was later disbanded for a Library, again.
The real bonus was the first one, as Leonardo was really useful. Still, I think that getting the Pyramids would have made a bigger difference in the end.
- Filling the gaps was a nightmare. Lots of settlers and rushed libraries, units travelling across the whole world... it did give me quite a headache.
I think I chose the right time to stop building Cossacks and start focusing on libraries and settlers; some turns too early or too late would have created more than a problem in finishing the game. I had more than 100 Cossacks at the peak, and ended the game with considerably fewer due to casualties and disbanding.
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