GOTM 48 first spoiler

[al_thor]

I'm very interested to hear how the GOTM-AI got on with this start. I can't imagine that it would have done all that well.[/QOUTE]

HA! Yeah......right! GOTM-AI was probably swarmed by Immortals if it even lasted that long.

I can just hear it now, it's monotone computer voice, normally lacking emotion but in this case you can almost hear the confusion and desperation: "Order the worker to irrigate!" The game replies: "You have no source of water." GOTM-AI: "Build settlers!" Game: "You must wait until your city is at size 3 before completing a settler." GOTM-AI: "Build swordsmen and horsemen!!" Game: "You have no iron and no horse."
It's at this point that the circuits start to fry and GOTM-AI's thought process (for lack of a better term) goes into a loop, forcing the staff to perform an emergency shut-down & reboot.

 

[al_thor]

@denyd:
Hmmm....maybe I should have been more bold with my military - when he first declared, I just pretty much defended and I had my hands full protecting the 2 border cities and, more importantly, the Horse. Not being militaristic, those damned barracks seemed to take FOREVER to build. I killed 1 or 2 Immortals and then sparked his GA by losing to one of his Immortals. I figured it was a good time to make peace and maybe he would crank out a wonder - didn't happen. I'm not sure what he built instead, but I'm glad it wasn't Immortals as would have been the case if he was at war during his GA.
I guess that I bungled in letting him get that far, but I'm not very good when it comes to such a crappy start.

 

[denyd]

I'll have to admit that I had a minor advantage. When I was posting in the pre-game thread before I started another player mentioned how tough the start was. Being this was Regent, I concluded from that a nasty AI nearby, so I commited to eliminating that AI ASAP. After my 2nd warrior was finished I began a barracks as a granary pre-build (I was researching pottery). Once I met Persia I let the barracks finish. I also decided once I met him that the odds of him having a local iron were too great to allow him the chance to put immortals on the board. That's why my warriors hung around his border waiting for his first settler to leave. I got lucky in that it was escorted by a warrior instead of a spearman. By taking out his newly built settler and capturing his initial worker, I handicapped him from the start. I also concentrated in getting favorable terrain for my attacks as in most cases prior to the assaualt on Persepolis with archers, I was battle with even up odds.

I'm also curious to see how those players who did not take on Persia early managed to fare in this one.

 

[azzaman333]

I can tell you how i fared! I was kicked off the island shortly after learning map making. Fortunately, i had migrated to the island to the east of the starting position.

 

[Sabre]

Open, PTW

In the Beginning

I haven't had a lot of time the last few months, so I thought I'd try something quick in an attempt to actually finish a game. I've done a number of 5CC games - netting 20k, Diplomatic and Conquest victories. All that's left is Space and what better chance will I get then a crowded Regent archipelego?

One of the keys to 5CC is city placement. You've only got so many tiles to work, so you need to make the most of them! The starting area wasn't bad, but it was very off center. I like to have my capital in the middle of my other 4 towns keeping as close to an rcp as I can get. With a Regent game I felt confident a long trek wouldn't put me too far behind - the worry was the crowded start. Would moving place me right next to an AI and provoke an early attack? Well you all know the answer to that question.

My settler wandered south across jungle and mountain, finally reaching a beautiful start south of the wheat and in reach of one of the cows. Only one small problem. Founding the city revealed a blue border to the south. Not really surprising - wonder who we get? Greece? Carthage? Naw - wrong color. Germany? Ugh. Only way it could be worse was if it was ...

The Persians

Good lord in heaven! It's Xerxes! Three turns later a Persian warrior stops by to see who was stupid enough to settle there. We put out the good china and treated them like long lost brothers. A trade of Alphabet for Masonry and change drops Xerxes from annoyed to cautious and the warrior continues on his way. Meanwhile we are researching Warrior Code as fast as possible.

Seoul

Seoul immediately builds 2 warriors for mp duty and offering some small protection should Xerxes get ornery. I can see the writing on the wall (can't understand it yet, though - it's all Greek to me ) so after the warriors it's a barracks and lots of archers (15 to be exact.) My worker has been busy mining and roading until I'm able to crank out the archers in 2 turns, then they begin roading back to the north, keeping them out of harm's way.

Xerxes Gets Ornery

I made it to 1990bc before Xerxes makes his inevitable demands - 21g. I've got about 5-6 archers at this point, so I go ahead and tell him to stuff it. Yep, it's war. The reverse war weariness helps me maintain a fairly large Seoul. I wait a bit to make my move as I'd like to have about 3 archers per expected spear to attack a hillside Persepolis. That's probably 3 (pretty close) so I want at least 9 archers for the initial strike.

Xerxes begins the conflict by sending his stack of doom (3 warriors) to Seoul. My archers make quick work of them and by the time they get back into town and heal I'm up to 11 archers. As expected there were 3 spears in Persepolis along with Persia's first (and only!) immortal. Things go as expected until we hit that third spearman, who was oddly dressed in blue tights with a red cape. What came to be known as Superspear defeats 4 straight archers while taking just 2 points of damage and promoting to elite. My last archer managed to take him down and Persepolis fell. Much angst and gnashing of teeth there.

With Persepolis captured, Xerxes was broken. Pasargadae fell quickly and I called for peace in exchange for Iron Working, Ceremonial Burial, the Wheel and two of their remaining three towns. Since noone was around to witness any atrocities, I declared war a few turns later and Xerxes was gone in 1425bc.

Back to the Plan

With the continent under control and 5 towns built or captured, it was time to get my empire into it's proper configuration. I quickly built four settlers out of Seoul and Persepolis and placed my towns where I really wanted them, razing captured Persian towns to keep under the 5 limit. Science was set to max, heading for Map Making (710bc), Literature (490bc) and Republic (390ad - 3 turn anarchy) in that order. Boats were sent out, libraries and temples were built and the land was developed asap. I have to say, I managed to find 5 pretty nice sites on this continent and with some early emphasis on culture I was able to keep any foreigners away. We hit the middle ages in 530ad, getting a few techs from some peoples across the seas.

Along the way, I managed to pick up the Great Library. I'm not a huge fan of Wonder building, but I had plenty of shields to burn. Seoul finished it in 190ad for the culture and to deny it's benefits to any other civ. I didn't rely on it though and kept my research at max pretty much the whole game.

My Little Empire

Here's a screenshot of Korea a bit before reaching the Middle Ages:

What's Ahead?

Well Persia was luckily just a little bump in the road. With Regent AI's and a nice homeland I think I can keep the science pace for quite a while. The only conceivable problems will be when it actually comes time to build that spaceship while limited to the land on my continent. We have iron and horses - I have to wonder just how far the map builder's generosity extends. But that's a ways ahead and something to worry about when the time comes.

 

[Nata]

PTW Open.

I was very pleased with my opening performance, below are my chirpy records of that period:

Settle 2S, research Writing, built warrior-warrior and when 1st warrior met Persians switched settler to barracks and held on to Alphabet in hopes of Xerxes researching WC (thanks for the tip on the pregame thread. ).

1 turn before barracks are built X. has WC and trades it + 10g to me for Alpha. Perfect! My worker mines 3 plain so that Seoul can get an Archer every 3 turn, and then proceeds roading South.

2030BC - I research Writing and trade for Pottery & Wheel from Persia. Great, I can start MM now! And I see Horse.

1870BC. Persia demands 15g. We refuse and they dow.
Ha-ha! We have 7 Archers next to Persepolis.
1830BC. Persepolis is ours and we've got 3 Elites with only one Archer dead. Seoul will build Settler, Archer, Settler and disband. Time to plan development around our new shiny Palace.

It was starting out so great. But then I see that Persia can give me peace for their city and techs, and I agree: they only have 1 city left.
The techs which I've got are IW and Masonry.

And then I see what's under Persepolis and curse AI's stupidity. Waste 2-3 shpt - I can't stand it, I'll need to resettle Persepolis.

So I do careful research, deside to resettle SE and plan perfect RCP4 around this place. Seoul builds 2 settlers which go to RCP 7 and RCP4 from the new place, I join a worker to Persepolis (I got few slaves in a war), disband Seoul, and capital jumps to Persepolis.
All was OK except one small thing: I forgot to RESETTLE Persepolis FIRST!!

Ok, I spawn settler from Persepolis and resettle in the planned spot. Time to jump capital again. But I need to disband a perfectly fine RCP7 city for that! And the last drop: I see that RCP4 city which I've settled is in RCP4 from OLD Persepolis, not the new one!

At this point I just gave up in disgust. So much for great planning.

But then I desided - what the heck. The game looks fun, I jumped the 1st and biggest hoop and I haven't seen even all of my island yet - I can still play it like new, I just won't submit it.

So I reloaded at the capture of Persepolis and proceeded with no more reloading, having fast conquest in mind. But after reload I got a GL from Elite Archer in the last battle, and that desided it: I would do a 20K in the New Persepolis!

And it was the most enjoyable and strong game I ever played, with my best 20K date ever.

I didn't keep a log, but in brief that's what happened:

- I used GL for Pyramids and New Persepolis worked as a 4-turner (thanks to Xerxes who prepared the land for this) while I finished MM at leisure and then CB . It settled 7 cities at RCP4 and 3 at RCP 7 and then built Temple.

- After CB I went for Lit, built Library in about 590BC and started on GLib while researching towards Rep. At this time Cow city was building GLH.

- I needed only about 20 turns to get to Republic, and revolted after GLH was built but there were a few turns to Glib. I became Republic in about 30BC, and soon my GA was started as Glib was finished in 90AD.

GA allowed me to finish Construction fast, and I built Colosseum in 130AD and then built GW in 6 turns and HG in 9.

(I briefly tell the rest not giving out any spoilers, as I'll forget it soon without the log).

I entered MA somewhere during GA, drawing Engineering. 2 other Sci Civs got Engineering too, but one drew Mono, thankfully. So I built Cathedral and started on Sistine, somewhere in 350AD.

I built only Sistine, Copernicus and University during MA, hurrying towards Industry and skipping optional Techs.

AIs were so weak and backwards in this game, if I didn't kill non-Sci ones off and didn't gift Sci ones, they would still be Ancient when I were Modern, I believe. Fighting them was like taking candy from a baby. I did learn one optional tech: Chivalry, and Knights were more then enough till the end.

When I was closing on Industry I finally got messages that 2 Sci Civs were starting Sun Tsu.

I was industrial in about 950AD, got Steam and other Sci AI got Medicine - lucky. New Persepolis was maxed out with Factory, Coal Plant and a Hospital in 1170AD, and then I really got started.
I built all MA Wonders, also snatching Sun Tsu and Leo from AIs, then all IA big and some small wonders and still had time to spare till Modern Age which came in 1515AD. I built all Modern Wonders, then researched optional techs for small wonders, and finally built Mass transit and Recycling Center to give New Persepolis a break: its people deserved it. Then it was just pressing enter till the victory at:

1786AD.

I got 3 more GLs in the game: 1st one built an Army and I could built HE at a very convenient time: while I was researching Factories and didn't want to start anything big. HE fitted that period to a turn. Two others hurried biggest available wonders.

Only one other Civ - Babylonians, survived with me to the end. I didn't mind keeping Germans around as 1CC but they were stupid enough to sneak-attack.:
And the funniest offer I got was for MPP from Babylon: when there were only 2 of us.

Oh, what a game. I wish I could perform like that when really doing GotM, but then - it was regent. Thanks for the fun!

Here's non-spoiler shot of RCP-4 around new Persepolis (couldn't remember its Korean name): we are revolting to Republic .

 

[Krexent]

I've played a few GOTMs and read these forums for a while, but this is the first I did decent enough in, so I've decided to submit my score finally. I used two techniques that I learned about on here: the archer rush and the palace jump. First time I ever did both really, and it was the perfect time for both.

I built my city on the starting location. Built warrior, warrior, barracks, settler, and then a ton of archers. I met Persia while building the barracks, quickly decided I didn't want my capital to be the settler factory, but Persepolis looked like it would make a great one. After determining we were alone on the island I traded alphabet for warrior code. I founded my second city on the spice in 2710 BC. This city also built a barracks and began pumping out archers. I did 100% science from the start, researching writing.

My two warriors noticed that Persia's second city was defended with only a warrior so i figured, what the heck, why not. Persia demanded they leave, I refused, and the war was on. They immediately built a spearman and I called off the attack. Expecting retaliation I moved both warriors over to the mountain beside Persepolis. After being attacked by several warriors/archers one of my warriors was dead and the other was a 5/5 elite warrior. Lucky! He then razed the mined cattle, and moved back to the mountain to wait for backup.

In 2390 BC Persia built its third city (while my warriors were being attacked), Susa. It was defended with a warrior only and I razed it with 2 archers in 2210 BC. I built up four archers on the mountainside with the elite warrior. At this time something terrible happened: A Persian immortal attacked my warrior, killing him, but reduced to only 1 hitpoint. Not wanting him to recover, I decided to attack with the 3 archers who were ready for attack. I took out two spearmen, lost an archer, and Persepolis was held by the injured Immortal. The next turn the immortal was easily taken out by my 4th archer.
Persepolis was captured in 1650 BC. Next I took masonry, iron working, and some other tech (pottery?) from the Persians. I immediately redeclared war and captured their final city Pasagardae in 1475 BC. In 1250 BC (once I was sure I was doing it the right way) I abandoned Seoul and Persepolis became my capital city. I turned it into a 4 turn settler factory and began building a ring of cities at 5 spaces around it. In 1000 BC I only had 4 cities. By 210 BC I had 12 cities.

I had researched Code of laws and then philosophy hoping for the slingshot. I later realized this only works in Conquests... oops. Anyway I then learned map making and built my first city offshore in 250 BC. By 10 BC I had researched Republic and immediately switched to it with a 3-4 turn anarchy. I settled the nearby immediate land masses and reached the MA in around 400 AD, at which point I had a fairly complete world map and had met the majority of the civilizations.

My plan at this point was to research Chivalry and go for a domination victory.

If I could do it again I would have done the palace jump more quickly, researched map making directly, and begun attacking the AI during the AA instead of waiting for Chivalry.

Krexent

 

[xxaaaxx]

Open, PTW

First attempt at a GOTM, and for almost the whole AA i was wondering if I would even survive; very different from the regent games I've tried lately. In hindsight my mistakes in the ancient age were twofold: one, I should have settled where i stood. I dont think the two moves south wound up being to my advantage in the end and I am not yet strong enough a player to be throwing away two early turns like that; had I settled where I was, put a secnd city up there, I might have been able to get control of my island alot sooner. Sent a few scouting units south; when I saw the culture border I panicked, when I realized it was persia, i almost choked on my dinner. Knew immediately an archer rush was the only way to take them out before they brought enough immortals online. Second mistake, was too slow on the attack! Built up waaaaaaay longer than i should have, by the time I destroyed Susa in 1475 they already had Iron working, after destroying Gordium in 1325 theyre first immortals started churning out. I had 10 archers, but I waited so long, so did they. First reg. archer they sent out 4-0'ed my archers spearman escort fortified on a mountain, and the rest of their archers tore into mine, I held out, and had just enough archers to take out the immortals already around, but my offensive was shot, had to sue for peace. Got 2 cities out of the deal, and kept the peace just long enough to make sure they were defended, then redeclared, but the offensive stalled again, was just taking too damn long and they were getting too many immortals out of the gates. Long story short I didnt take Persepolis until 280 AD and by the time I kicked them off my island in 550 AD, they had already settled a city across the water and made contacts, bye-bye reputation. If I had it to do over again, obviously I wouldnt have waited so long to assault Persepolis, but as they say, live and learn...

 

[Celebithil]

I started this game horribly. And due to the fact that I wanted to sent in the game for a QSC I have it fully documented.

My biggest mistake was not to research Warrior Code until 1175 BC. After walking around the entire continent with my first warrior and settling Seoul in place with Pyongyang providing the necessary luxuries I had started iron working after pottery, but with the only iron under Persepolis this was a waste of time. After IW for hopes of being able to trade WC with the persians I went for mathematics (I loved the catapults in resourceless situations and they could be upgraded to H'wacha's). In 1950 BC Persia declares and our best offensive units are still warriors (and spears for defence againg immortals is not very comforting either). To save myself all production is turned to spearman, until WC is finally discovered. Persia once managed to get an elite immortal located next to Pyongyang but after killing a spear it has to move out to heal giving me just enough time to build another spear, so I manage to survive a little longer.

With the archers we manage to conquer Susa located next to the horses, which provides us finally with horseman, who at the third attempt conquer Persepolis. Conquering Persepolis was extremely though as those immortals just kept coming (I tried pillaging all roads out of Persepolis to cut the iron supply, but any units going south of Persepolis were always killed before they could pillage). After the fall of Persepolis, the rest of the continent easily fell to my hordes of horsemen and the newly trained swordsmen. The rest is beyond this spoiler.

After this horrible start I actually tried two more starts. One involved a tactic using map knowledge which falls outside this spoiler, but the results of that one were mixed (getting kicked out of the main continent while being settled on many small islands). Unfortunately I gained so much map knowledge that I disqualified myself for sending in the original game. The other option was to do the great march south with the settler, but that one ended very quickly to an aggresive Xerxes.

 

[denyd]

Wang Kon was delighted to be selected as the leader of the colonization mission. He felt is training in science and economics would be a perfect fit for a peaceful return to the stars. His initial landing site, while not perfect seemed better than anything he could determine was available and Seoul began training a warrior to scout his local area while he began contemplating how to preserve food in sealed containers.

Thor, the first warrior of Korea set off to the south and immediately was able to report a large quantity of native spices available to the south of the capital and a large mountain range beyond that. After several arduous turns of navigating the mountains, Thor arrived on a hill overlooking a large grassy area with available wheat. The next hill however would change the course of the game as he spotted the edge of a blue border and met a warrior from Persia. While the initial meeting with Xerxes allowed for a Masonry for Alphabet trade, Wang was sure that his future would be much brighter if Xerxes wasn’t in it and after the discover of pottery turned to mathematics in hopes of gaining an edge if siege of the Persian capital became necessary.

Meanwhile back at Seoul a second warrior had left the city and a barracks had begun. Originally targeted as a granary pre-build, it would now be allow to be finished. After trading Pottery to Persia for Warrior Code and completing the barracks, Seoul began building an archer.

In the south Odin had arrived to join Thor in waiting for Persia to make a move to expand, something Wang could not allow. When the warrior & settler left the Persian capital, the die was cast, war was upon us. Thor and Odin waited until they could use the local terrain to their advantage and when the Persian duo moved to the plains Thor struck killing the warrior and capturing a pair of Persian slaves. As luck would have it the sole Persian worker was in reach of Odin and a third slave was sent north to the Korean homeland.

For a time Odin and Thor bounced in and out of Persian space pillaging and attacking vulnerable Persian archers until both had been promoted to veteran status and a pair of archers from Seoul had arrived. Just after the Seoul’s first settler had founded Pyongyang and another Persian archer had died, the Korean forces attacked Persepolis in 2270 BC and though an archer died and another was severely wounded, the one and only Persian city was captured. Staring down at the bodies of the dead citizens Wang swore to never send troops on an offensive mission again.

At the end of his third millennia on the planet Wang was the proud manager of 5 towns and 1,000 thousand people (10 faces). The research on mathematics and writing had been completed and literature was in progress. A minimal force of veteran defenders had been produced from Pyongyang (the barracks in Seoul had been sold). The next thousand years passed with Korea remaining in solitude as one by one the technologies of the Ancient Age were discovered. Korea had moved to the progressive government of a Republic and the capital had completed the Great Library (intend to be half of the Golden Age pair).

In 290 AD a series of events occurred that would mark Koreans first major step to the stars as a settler met a Babylonian worker and began a stepladder of trades that would add contact with Egypt, six more ancient age technologies, plus a map of the world and most of known worlds gold. In 330 AD the knowledge of Construction was researched and Korea led the way to the Middle Ages (netting Feudalism). Soon after Babylon would destroy Egypt as Korea had done to Persia earlier.

 

[ControlFreak]

PTW Open, fast research effort

After being shamed by Megalou last GOTM, I'm trying to improve my research strategies. I'm not sure I was successful.

The Setup
After moving the worker to the south, I figured there was no chance of finding any good land anytime soon and settled in place. Either we were alone on a rock or we were with a fiesty neighbor who owned all the good land. Either way, I wanted to get started toward MM and possibly an archer rush.

I founded on the spot and started Pottery. I built warrior, warrior and started a prebuild for granary which was pop-rushed in 3000bc. Pop rushing hurt my happiness, I made no effort to connect the spices, nor keep an MP home so Science dropped to min for Writing in 40turns.

Pruning the neighbor
The warriors exploring met Persia in 3350BC. Something would have to be done, but I wasn't sure what. They gave me Masonry for Alphabet for now.

In 3100BC one of my warriors finds himself next to Persia's worker. We that would be one way to cripple them. I DOW and take the slave who head for home. He would join our native worker in making a road over the mountains to Persia's grassy meadow. The war consists of one warrior chasing a warrior/settler pair and the other warrior pillaging the cow mine and then dying at the hands of a warrior counterattack. When we finally catch the pair, they have made a town. Our warrior wins and the new city becomes rubble. I get Warrior Code and 3g for my efforts and Persia is at least stunted.

My two towns
After the granary Seoul built another warrior and the two settlers. P'yongyang is founded (1700BC) north of the two cows, and Woosan (1525BC) 3 tiles East on the coast. (I noticed a lot of people settled the hill to the NE of the cows but I wanted both cows in my first radius for faster expansion without culture, not to mention the later sheilds from the hill in the middle of the grasslands.)

P'yongyang and Seoul were given the mission of supplying the archers for the war. With Seoul making settlers anytime it's pop got above 3 (1fpt).

P'yongyang built a worker and then built barrack>archer,archer,archer...

Round two
I had moved any available unit towards persepolis, trying to block any Persian units from advancing towards our half of the continent. This was mostly just warrior/archers. They preferred to settle to the west which was fine with me. After writing was learned, I setup a ROP with them and advanced what had now become a wall of units towards Persepolis. In the end I had a string of units from P'yongyang all the way down to the southern shore. Then it was a matter of building enough units to take out Persepolis with a ROP rape.

I too have a tendency to wait too long to attack, but 1150BC, my ROP expired and I had to attack or persia would have evicted my wall. I end up taking the city with one dead archer and two archer victories. I wanted Persepolis 1 tile SW for RCP4 purposes so I razed it and founded Pusan the next turn.

My archers grab a settler and slave and move on Susa, surviving the single-archer counterattack. It takes all of my units to take the two spears in Susa but it's autorazed.

My offense is all but gassed. On the brightside, my unit support is down and I can turn up Science to shave 3 turns from MM. I settle for Peace in 1000BC gaining their two remaining cities and the Wheel. They have learned Iron Working but won't include that if I take their cities. Their remaining capitol is not at risk for owning iron. I surrounded their border with archers, bought IW with gpt and then crushed them in 825BC.

Wonder Building
My goals were Lighthouse, Copernicus, Newtons and Smiths, figuring to trigger my GA with Newtons. I didn't actively pursue any others unless it was easily attainable.

Woosan was given the soul mission of building the Great Lighthouse. After improvements were made to those BGs and hills, workers joined Woosan to bring it to size 6. Our wonder finished in 470BC thankfully, despite hearing that Egypt built the Colosus in 1475BC, and France built the Pyramids in 610BC, causing Egypt to cascade to the Oracle in 590BC. The next wonder (GLib by Babylon) wouldn't be built until 70AD. I think this was because the tech pace was so slow. The Great Wall didn't finish until 880AD (Aztec).

Palace Jump
Having built the granary in Seoul, I was reluctant to abandon it too quickly. I waited until 1000BC when I had made a few more settlers and Persia's land was mine before jumping the palace to P'yongyang. Namp'o was founded 2 N of Pyongyang and turned into a four-turn settler factory, sharing the cow with P'yongyang. The continent was filled with RCP 4 and 6 cities. My plan was to abandon Pyongyang as well to jump my palace to the NW island. I figured with all it's commerce tiles, it would make a good researching core. As a result, Pyongyang did not build it's library until well into the middle ages (after it was razed and rebuilt).

With the Great Lighthouse, there was so much land to peacefully claim that I went into total Farmer/Builder Gambit. Aside from a few warriors on far away islands, I built nothing but buildings, settlers and workers.

The Red Dots are my FP (SE) and my predicted Palace Jump To site (NW). The Green Dot is the current Palace in P'yongyang. Note the beginings of RCP 4 and 6 around the NW Red Dot.

Techs
The other civs were met, some with the help of the Lighthouse and I was the ruler in tech and gold. They provided very little help with research.
Persia "donated" Masonry, Warrior Code, Wheel and IW.
I researched Pottery, Writing (min), MM, Literature, Philosophy, Code and Republic by 50BC.
I revolted through the big picture getting 6 turns. Revolting again at the popup box resulted in a somewhat better 4 turns.
Other Civs contributed CB, Myst, Polytheism and Math.
I researched Currency and Construction in 4 turns each to get to the Middle ages in 170AD gaining Engineering for free.

Gifting ensued and Germany got Engineering as well.
Babylon got Feudalism and Russia got Monotheism.

Things are going about as well as planned. I'm still struggling to get help in research from the AI. I've so far kept the continents in 3 separate groups because I plan to be "naughty" once more and don't want the others to know about it. That may be contributing to the slow research.

Fun game so far!

 

[DBear]

Koreans--crowded archipelago--80% water--regent.

A Spicy Start
I had played CotM11 with the Koreans, also on regent. Unfortunately this is PTW, so no lethal hwachas. Also a poor starting location on a point. Also, I am slightly north of the equator, so south will probably lead to jungle, but that's the only way to go. F10 reveals a motley crew of civs, including nasties like the Germans and Zulus, but the French are also in. I send the worker s to see if there is some fresh water to irrigate the grain. There is none, and I am already running into jungle as I feared. I move the settler sse as the original location is shield-poor. Worker starts roading the wheat. Seoul starts a warrior. I research pottery at 90%, balanced budget at 16 turns. The warrior completes in -3650 and starts exploring. Warrior climbs the mountain range s and sees good land. Worker moves to road spice on the other side of Seoul.

The X Factor
In -3450 I meet a Persian Warrior. I trade them alpha for mason + 7. Seoul finishes a second worker and starts a second warrior as I discover the Persian border. I learn pottery in -3250 and start warcode for the archer rush. In -3150 Seoul finishes 2nd warrior and starts a grainary. Workers begin wackin' jungle. Far to the se I see ivory. Our first warrior continues to explore around Persepolis while our second holes up in the mountains s of Seoul.
A historian pops up in -2950 to tell us Korea is the richest nation in the world, with 17 gold! I trade the 7 I got from Persia earlier, along with Pottery, to get warcode quicker. I then switch to IW. In -2900 Persia founds Pasargadae to the west, so I gotta hurry and get some settlers out.

Please Don't Squeeze the Wang Kon
The warrior cuts thru the settled lands between Persepolis and Pasargadae to return home. Workers finish clearing jungle, start mining the wheat as there's no way to irrigate it until electricity. I crack the whip on Seoul for the grainary in -2470. Next turn they start an archer. After the archer completes 7 turns later, Seoul starts a settler. Workers start roading thru the mountains. The Persians start sending an escorted settler to the e, this will not do. I send my mighty military of 2 warriors and an archer s. Seoul finishes its settler in -1950 and starts a rax. Persians found Arbela. This means war! My troops smash Arbela next turn. Persians send an archer, but we kill it in -1790. I then pointy-stick X into giving us Susa, writing, and 9 gold. Pyongyang is founded next turn and whip a spear in Susa.

Another Round
I learn IW in -1675 and get the news that Persepolis is sitting on the stuff. Clearly the designer of this world is an evil god. I shall prevail tho, because it is only regent level. The Persians don't learn their lesson, as they try to crowd me again by building Tarsus on the e. I build Wonsan in -1375 and wait for the treaty to expire a century later. Pusan is built in -1150 and war is declared 2 turns later, razing Tarsus on the following turn. My military advisor tells me I am strong compared to Persia! This takes me to -1000.

QSC Stats
Score: QSC 1432
Land: 5 towns, 68 squares. CivAssist II tells me I am on the largest island.
People: 3 happy, 6 content.
Units: 3 workers, 3 warriors, 3 archers, 2 spears.
Experience: 3 regulars, 5 vets.
Production: 47 food, 43 shields, 11 gold.
Buildings: 3 rax, grainary.
Techs: BW, IW, mason, alpha, writing, pottery, warcode. We have 216 beakers toward mapping.

And They Shall Beat Their Plowshares into Swords
In -925 I destroy Gordium, since that damn fool X wouldn't give it up. After this act, X is more forthcoming, giving up Antioch+WM. There is land to the west. Antioch is whipped for a spear in -875. The following turn I learn mapping and start CB, 4 turn minimum. A century later I start lit. Seoul finishes a galley in -710 and it starts exploring. Next turn Nampo is built on the ruins of Gordium. We see land to the e, across the international date line. Sailing on, I later spot iron! Nampo is roaded up in -650, and ivory is connected the following turn. I take a risk by having my workers cross the border so they can bring irrigation to my lands. X sends an archer to investigate, but the workers are finished and leave. Cheju is built in -490, and I can build the FP if I want. Next turn I build Hyangsan on the iron, starting a harbor. Ulsan is founded in -410 and a century later, Seoul starts the lighthouse--too late, as time would prove. In -290 I trade Persia lit for wheel+38. Hooray, we have horses! Persia starts the GL in -250.

Third Time's NOT the Charm
In -230 their first immortal is spotted. Next turn, I hear a rumor that the Aztecs have been exterminated. I gather archers into position and declare in -50. Next turn my archers kill an immortal, but take heavy losses. Clearly they are not enough. Meanwhile the Zulu have founded a city to the n and I trade them Lit for HB+35+WM. At the turn of the calendar I learn poly and start map. A century later we trade the Zulus poly for law+26+WM. My puny archers are no match for their immortals. I give Antioch back to end the war. But soon Korea will have their own swords and exact vengeance!

Around the World in a Daze
The English beat me to the Lighthouse in 130. Next turn I trade Persia spice, mystic (don't know when I got that), and contact w/Zulu for philo+158+WM. I make my first contact in 190, trading lit+law for math+124+WM+another contact. I trade that one contact w/Zulu+philo for construct+16. I start monarchy and open embassies. Persia is 8 from the GL. There's no way to beat them, so Seoul switches to the (bleh) Great Wall. In 230 I hear that India is destroyed. The Great Wall is finished in 270. I make more contacts in 310, getting WM and Poly and contacts with everyone for a net result of 82 gold. Hyangsan is also whipped for a harbor, we need that iron!

Immortal Kombat
In 410 I learn monarchy and revolt, getting 2 turn anarchy. X uses that time to try to extort spices, declaring war when I righteously refuse. I'm ready for ya this time! The Zulus try to take advantage in 490 by sending a couple archers near Hyangsan, but defenders take them out with losses. I get even by razing their town. In 540 I learn currency and FINALLY enter the MA, picking up feud as a bonus. I start mono so I can get chiv for the knights. I also start bringing our maces online.

To Middle Ages spoiler

 

[jesusin]

Vanilla, Open, goal Domination.

Researching Wri at minimun, worker S to take a look, settle on initial site, moving two turns is too much. Worker mined both Wheat, roaded 2 tiles and went S with first settler.

Production in Capital: War-War-Set and then Arc-Arc-War-Set- Arc-Arc-War-Set before abandoning and resettling it.
2nd city founded next to both cows, 3rd near wheat, sharing cow.
Spe+2war+3arc took Persepolis in 1990BC. Arbela given in peace treaty.
Cap abandoned and resettled S-SE in 1500BC, capital moved to Persepolis.
Pseudo-rings at distances 4 and 5. In subsequent wars lost Arbela, took Susa and Parsegade.
Granary in Persepolis (4 turn settler factory), barracks in 2nd and 3rd cities.
Persia destroyed in 1075BC.

Reseach: Wri at minimun, Pott at max (I had hoped to trade for it), MapM at max (I thought there would be no iron or horses in the island), WC and IW and Wheel traded, Lite at max.

Lots of micromanagement of hapiness.

QSC stats: 10 cities, 25 faces, 6 workers, 1 slave, 4Cha, 2Swo, 2Spe, 3Arc, 3War (6 vet, rest reg). 1 Granary, 2 Barracks. Box: 17g, 73s, 53f. Iron, Horses, 2Ivory, no Spices yet. All first tier techs+IW+Wir+MapM+Lite(-1turn). 120 culture. 11500 territory. 1 civ destroyed, 0 known. 124 points, 2561 QSC.

Important decisions:
1.- No granary in capital as I was to use the FPJ exploit.
2.- FPJ inmediately to Persepolis, instead of building the FP there and saving the FPJ for another continent later on.

The second decision and the placement for the tenth city where influenced by the fact that I won`t be able to end the game in due time, so I wanted to improve QSC scoring.

 

[k-a-bob]

Opened by sending worker south, didn't see much better placement anywhere, so settled in place. Since I was going for space, I wanted to get to literature ASAP, so started on that path.

My warrior went south past that crappy mountain range and saw good ol Xerxes with some nice prime location. I was sure they would have iron somewhere nice so I couldn't let them get to iron working. By the time I explored the island, I had decided on a warrior rush with my then 2 cities (one plopped on a jungle spice) punching out 3 warriors every 4 turns.

I've never done a warrior rush before, so I didn't know how many I would really need. It turns out, you need a LOT!

I noticed what a nice setup Xerxes had - probably a 4 turn settler factory for its capital (I finally spotted one!) and I noticed it was on a hill. Great. That was going to be my first target. Plans scrapped. Xerxes has 3 cities already and a settler heading out, so before that can settle I declare and capture slaves. Then I pillage on my way to the ivory town to the west, and before I can attack, Xerxes decides I will overrun him and he gives me his gold, his techs and his southern town

Peace lasts for all of one turn, when I take out the ivory town (burns). All they have left is Perse on a hill. I got WC from Xerxes, and 1 turn before I can get him down, I attack Perse with my 11 warriors, hoping I can take out 2 spears (3 others are heading for my workers/empty cities). Well, it almost worked. I knocked out one spear (both spears were promoted to elite) and the other spear had 1 point left.
2 turns later, my archer (with some backup warriors) takes out the last throngs of the Persian empire and the hill city is mine. I probably lost a total of 20 warriors in my fight with Xerxes.

I palace jump to Perse with incredible timing, the turn that the palace jumps, Perse builds a settler and drops to size 1. (yes, I actually planned that)

I spend the rest of the AA building up my infrastructure, settling other places, and trading around with others I have found to get to the MA. I reach the MA sometime after BC as a Republic and get Mono as free tech. I plan to gift an OCC scientific nation into the MA to see if I can get another tech.

Somewhere along the line, I saw the Aztecs were destroyed - but they were the only ones (besides Persia of course.) I also later found after some trades that indeed the iron on my island was under the Persian capital.

Lessons learned: A warrior rush is very painful. Get archers instead.

EDIT: Another note: after upgrading the tiles in the north for production, I roaded down to Persian territory to increase the speed of my reinforcements to the battlefield.

 

[Randy]

I've never done a warrior rush before, so I didn't know how many I would really need. It turns out, you need a LOT!

Lessons learned: A warrior rush is very painful. Get archers instead.

Most times an early warrior rush will work. But in this game you had to attack fortified spearmen in a town on a hill. So it was best to use archors. You can use your warriors to kill the archors that Persia sent out and to play cat & mouse until your real offince arives.

 

[Niklas]

open, learning the way of the sword.

So I finally made it to the MA. Gee, two thirds of the play time up already, this could turn out to be a no-show for me.
Lucky I'm not going for the cow at least...

My early scouts met Persia in 3400 BC and I traded for Masonry.
Like so many others, I realized I had to take out Persia fast to be able to survive at all in this game. I did an early sneak attack with one of my scouting warriors against his newly founded Pasagardae, guarded by a warrior only, and razed it in 2800 BC. Peace some time later for WC and all his gold.
I tried to repeat the strategy in 1990 BC when he tried to resettle the town, but this time my raider died flawlessly. The good thing about this second war though was that I managed to kill practically all of Xerxes offensive force (3 archers) with no losses on my own.
I spent all my time building archers in two towns up north, and in 1575 BC I attack and capture Persepolis. In 1450 BC I auto-raze Susa and Xerxes is gone. The turn before that I managed to pull a GL from attacking an archer outside Susa, and could thus get an early Pyramids in 1450 BC to celebrate Xerxes passing from this realm.

Palace jumped to Persepolis in 1300 BC, and I started building settlers for RCP 4. QSC stats were not overwhelming:
--------------------------------------------
5 towns, one more next turn.
13 pop.

Pyramids
1 barracks

1 settler
2 workers
1 slave
5 warriors
6 archers
1 galley

BW, Mas, Pot, Alpha, Wri, MM, 11 turns to Lit
45 gp, -1gpt
--------------------------------------------

Most of the rest is outside the scope of this spoiler. I sent out lots of galleys in different directions and at the advent of the MA I know everyone else. Building the Lighthouse in 230 BC helped. I've managed to trade for quite a few techs, but I've also had to hand-research quite a lot. Republic was researched in 210 BC, revolt for 6/4 turns. Construction in 50 AD to enter the MA, draw Engineering as my free tech.

At the advent of the new era, I'm building three things in my towns - swordsmen, galleys and settlers. The aim is fast domination, but it might turn into conquest if that seems easier. Time is not on my side after all. Persia has been gone since the QSC, and offshore AI one might be lucky enough to survive the year 50 AD... but I doubt it.

 

[tR1cKy]

Still competing, eh Niklas? You beat me in the 20k race (as lots of others ), let's see how you fare in the warmonger arena

Oh, btw, no one choosing the Predator way?!?

 

[Niklas]

Still competing, eh Niklas? You beat me in the 20k race (as lots of others ), let's see how you fare in the warmonger arena

Sure I'm still competing.
And since I've managed all the builder awards now it's time to go warmongering.
I don't have much experience with this gaming style, so this game is definitely a look-and-learn for me.

Oh, btw, no one choosing the Predator way?!?

I didn't dare!

 

[tao]

And since I've managed all the builder awards now it's time to go warmongering.

Welcome to the club. I feel similar.

 

[Niklas]

Welcome to the club. I feel similar.

Thanks!

Although I'm not quite in your club yet, you have one award more than me since you've managed the Cow as well. I suppose you would rank that as a builder award, especially since few players choose to go for it each game (something that is symptomatic of the other builder awards as well). I think I could do great in a Cow game, if I could find the time to finish it...