Ancient and Medieval
The ancient age was mostly concerned with the wasting of my golden age in despotism, an extremely sluggish expansion, and finally, the suicide galley which met the Alpha continent in 750bc. From there, it was just a case of research and tech trading, until the medieval arrived in 110ad.
In the early medieval, I used a suicide chain to get my first town on Alpha, snagging some spare horses, but of course I couldn't ship these home. I needed ocean travel, so after taking the bottom branch of the tech tree as far as Guns, and trading for top branch techs, I set my sights on Navigation. My science capacity was not great, but I got Navigation in 860ad, and built Magellan.
With ocean-going ships, it was time to get a real foothold on Alpha. I had been at war with America for centuries, so I started with their western island, and then hopped to the mainland. They were very weak, and without iron, as I had had France fighting them most of the time. Unfortunately, the result of enlisting French help in this war was that they got most of the spoils. America was destroyed in 1030ad, but I had only four towns on the mainland.
Enter the Industrial
In 1240ad I research the last medieval tech, Magnetism. During the interturn, I dow on Monty and give Joan Magnetism to join my war. At this point, my only strategic resource is horses, but I have plenty of horsemen waiting for the upgrade to cavalry. I use some of the horses to take the first Aztec towns, and take the saltpetre in the centre of Alpha. The Aztecs are still in the medieval era, and my new cavalry make fairly good progress against their muskets. The main threat is flips, but by 1425, the Aztecs are down to two towns. I get a big hit of war weariness, so I give Monty peace for his spare town. France finishes off the Aztecs in 1450ad, but overall, I have managed to monopolize most of Azteca, unlike America, which is still predominantly French.
Consolidation and Rivalry
It is only recently that I overtook the French in the scoring, and they still have a stronger military than me. Their science is also good; they have several industrial techs, while I have been doing minimum research; my first industrial tech is Steam, which comes in 1475ad. It is time to take the tech lead, and bulk up my Aztec holdings, ready for war with France. I step up research, and get Electricity, Parts and Medicine in short order, burning my cash reserves. In 1615ad, I reach Scientific, and my Darwin prebuild finishes the same turn; I take the usual Atomic/Electronic combo, and start another minimum run on Radio. The cash will be used to upgrade my military to infantrymen and artillery. War is coming...
France is Cautious
For a long while, the French military is stronger than the Spanish, but France doesn't have rubber, so the balance of power in the arms race inevitably shifts my way. By the end of the 17th century I am ready to start the final war. I would like France to dow on me for the war happiness, so I hatch a plan to make it happen: they have plenty of ironclads cruising around Spain, so I build privateers and leave them in my ports, or stacked with frigates, expecting to be bombarded. It doesn't happen! I thought this was guaranteed behaviour from the AI, but no, as soon as my privateers go to ground, the French ironclads stop crawling towards them and head for home. Very frustrating. Trying to steal a tech is too expensive, so in 1695ad I just give France rubber for their meagre treasury and dow.
The Final War
I have built two walls of forts, separating the three countries on Alpha, which means that France could not reinforce her Aztec or American holdings by land. These provinces are thus easy pickings for my cavalries. Meanwhile, the infantries manning the forts fight off France's relatively weak counterattack, and then head out into the France proper. They still have plenty of rifles in their core towns, so my eastward progress is slow, making full use of bombardment before attacking the towns. The Aztec conquest took me pretty close to the dom limit, so I am razing most towns in this war, including Leonardo in Marseilles, and Paris (destroyed 1756ad).
The Final Peace
By 1776ad, the only remaining French town is Cadiz. Sounds Spanish? I built it inland on the American island, surrounded by four other towns, and gifted it to France immediately before the war started. It shall be their prison. I give Joan peace + 2725g for Nationalism, and then give her Radio for the cash and Espionage. Cadiz spends the rest of the game building guerrillas, and is unable to get above size 2, as it has only unimproved hills and mountains to work (they never build a worker). Joan's opinion of me never improves beyond furious, which is a shame. I would have liked to sell her some luxuries; I guess I shouldn't have done the rubber trade before I dowed on France.
Research, Resettle, Rebuild
The rest of the game is quite predictable. I pick up Sanitation in 1782ad, then do a minimum run for Steel, while I buy hospitals and other improvements. My final city layouts get some careful planning; I keep all of Spain of course, and much of America proper, but not their southern hill/desert land. Similarly, the Aztec west coast is retained (I jumped the capital to Tenochtitlan with my only leader) but the mountainous east coast is dropped. That doesn't leave quite as much territory for France as I would like, but I set up three towns with no culture. Most of the time, I am 8 tiles from domination, dropping to 5 towards the end, when I feel a bit surer about my culture situation.
Spain
America
Azteca
The Modern Era
After Steel, I pick up research again, reaching the modern era in 1896ad. The immediate priority is Mass Transit so I start on the top branch of the modern tech tree, and then go down the bottom for Cancer Cure. Pollution is an annoyance, but not too bad on this small map - I have only a couple of factories, in towns which I use to build wonders. By the end of the game, I have researched up to Future 3, and my population has reached a stable(ish) 830 citizens.
The End Of Time
Histographic victory is declared in 2050ad. I scored 4505 Firaxis points, which multiplies up to 8366 Jasons. I feel I should have done better - the key drag factor was the late conquest of the French.
I actually quite enjoyed the milking process (this is my first histo win), but I can see why it would get really soul-destroying if the map were larger, with less sea, and I had a longer milking period. Nevertheless, I do hope to get the time to try it again soon :suicide:.
![[ptw]](/images/smilies/ptw.gif "PTW Icon [ptw]")
hold them off with some extra help from American ships.
so it will be mine!! 12 turns to go!
And I was sooo tiny compared to them. 
