First of all, my sincere apologies to Megalou.
I issued the challenge, but could not live up to it myself. I've actually known for the past week or so that I would not have the time to go all the way to 2050 AD. With less than one week to go, still in the MA, and RL work stacking up... well, it just wasn't doable.
I was going on and off about whether or not to tell you earlier. On the one hand it would mean you could put down less time MMing the end of the game, knowing there was no real competition. On the other hand it would not give you the same satisfaction of knowing that you did your best. Hope I made the right choice
. With the way my game turned out I'm not so sure I would have beaten you in the end, despite my better start - sadly we will never know.
Ok, enough of the sad parts. When I realized I couldn't go all the way, I had to do what I could with what I had. Conquest seemed all to far away, so it had to be domination. After all I had been playing the game as if I was going for domination anyway (in the spirit of Dynamic's masterful milking silver medal COTM game). There were few adjustments to make really, mostly to start playing a bit sloppier since I no longer needed care for the remainder.
After the AA I swiftly went to war. Horses vs Aztecs to secure iron. Had iron hooked up on the same turn I got Chivalry, in 110 BC. Upgraded around 30 horses to Ansars and went to war on Iroquis in 90 AD, starting the GA. I used the GA to beeline for Military Tradition, which I got in 400 AD. Meanwhile my Ansars had made short work of the whole western area - Iroquois, Ottomans and Russia (though the two first lived on as OCCs). During those wars I got two Great Leaders who were used to rush Leo's and Sun Tzu (Pyramids and Gardens were already in London and Carthage
).
The second wave, containing newly built Cavalry and upgraded Ansars went to work on the north. Germany got hit in 460 AD, four turns later they were reduced to a boat settler. Zulu sneak attacked us, diverting my attention for a while, so it was not until 550 AD that I continued on India in earnest. In 620 AD (the late date due to the mountain wall) they shared the fate of Germany. I got a third leader during this war, who got to rush Copernicus (I had no real use for him,
The war on the Zulu was fought in the jungles, so there were little progress either way, and most my forces were occupied elsewhere. After taking four or five of their towns, Bapedi among them, I let them have peace and turned my eyes towards the north-east instead.
England had Great Wall far up towards the Korean border. No way I could fight my way through all that honestly
. RoP rape on England in 600 AD after selling them Metallurgy. In 640 AD England had joined Germany and India on the seas. Continue (using RoP) on Korea in 680 AD, in 720 AD they had only a single town on the Carthaginian peninsula. In 710 AD I brought it to Ronald and Persia, who was busy fighting the Zulu. Took most of his towns on the first turn, more on the second. During this time I also finally took out Iroquois and Aztecs.
I had perhaps half the border expansions set to happen on the IBT 720-730 AD, then more on the two turns to follow. I also rushed settlers whereever possible, disbanding cavalry to get them out of resisting towns. Turns out I didn't need most of them, domination hit me unexpectedly already in 730 AD.
Entry class: Predator
Game status: Domination Victory for Arabia
Game date: 730 AD
Firaxis score: 7818
Jason score: 9981
Time played: 66:08:15
The (for me) short time played was a surprise, but I used every second of it. Just shows how little time I had to play this period.
Though I'm not all that dissatisfied with the result...
Hey tR1cKy, maybe I'll even win that challenge of yours!
:suicide: 
