The Ancient Age
I had a strong QSC, reaching Mapping in 1250bc, but everything got a bit mixed up at that point. Instead of nailing Republic as soon as possible, I stayed in despotism, doing full steam research. It wasn't until I hit the medieval in
510bc that I stopped off to research the government tech. The new republic was established in 10ad, and I was finally ready to attack Rome - I wanted to use gallics, but didn't want to trigger a despotic golden age.
The Medieval - Rome
I attacked the Romans, easily grabbing their towns north of Rome. The capital fell in 150ad, and I took three more towns for peace. A couple of turns later my gallics had healed, and I restarted the war. The Romans were gone in 290ad, and I took the opportunity to sell my tech lead to the other civs for over 100gpt. I didn't get a leader against the Romans, so I abandoned Entremont to jump the palace to Rome. The FP had already been built in a town at RCP2 fom Entremont.
The Medieval - Egypt
From Rome, my armies sailed east to attack Egypt. This war started in 400ad, and again I used gallics to mop up their paper-thin spearman defenses. Thebes was the last mainland town to fall, in 530ad, and I got my only leader in that battle. If only I had hand-built the FP in Rome, I could have jumped the palace over to Thebes
... well there's no point crying over spilt milk. Instead, I built an army which sailed south to kill the last Egyptians, who cowered on the tundra island. They were gone in 630ad, and again I sold some of my tech lead off, netting over 400gpt.
The Industrial
Research continues at a steady pace, bringing me into the industrial in 780ad. As in the medieval, I don't gift Ham forward. This is for cash-flow reasons; he is paying me huge gpt, and I hope to be able to catch him at the end of the 20 turns, but before he realigns his economy to do his own research, and sell him more late medieval techs. Of course, it is a bit of a vain hope; in 1030ad, I sell him Physics for 18gpt, but that is all he can afford. I then gift him into the industrial, hoping he will get Medicine for me, but he gets Steam, which I already researched.
Research to Max
There really isn't much to say about the rest of the industrial. I just research all the required techs as fast as I can. Mostly this is 4 turns per tech, as I have both Copernicus and Newton in Rome. Rome is one of only two towns which I plan to run with a hospital. The other is first-ringer Rutupiae, which can build Ironworks; very handy. Of course, I don't really want to take time out to research Sanitation, but the AI doesn't seem to be helping much, so I do it after Steel - the other techs I have available are too expensive for me to do in 4 turns, but after Sanitation, and with Rome and Rutupiae suddenly up to size 20, 4 turn research is back on the agenda again.
Modern Age
So I research my way through to reach the Modern Age in 1410ad. I have set up a couple of prebuilds for this moment; the first thing I do on the interturn is gift Ham up alongside me. He gets Ecology for free. Then I switch a prebuild over to Darwin, and earn myself Computers. Ham gives up Ecology in exchange for Computers and Sanitation, so I am free to take Miniaturization as my second Evolutionary tech. Research then goes to Rocketry, which I can do in 4 turns! Rutupiae's Internet prebuild comes through in 1425ad, and Rome finishes SETI in 1445ad to complete its science-wonder set.
A Minor Distraction
Ham and Watha have continued to provide some meagre support for my research, but Ragnar has had no spare cash for centuries. Well, if he isn't contributing, we don't need him on the team... I dow on the Vikings in 1500ad. My military is made up of gallics and conscript mechs. I must say that militaristic conscripts are great fun - a guaranteed promotion on their first win! Anyway, I have already co-opted much of Ragnar's land with my temple building and town cramming, so the Vikings are wide open for conquest. 9 towns fall on the first turn, 6 more on the second.
By the late medieval, the AI think they have the Alpha continent settled...
You don't need to go to war to grab land! Where are the AI's culture buildings?!?!
Finishing Up
By 1520, the Vikings are gone, and I take the opportunity to bankrupt the other two civs with tech deals... on a higher level, I would expect them to dow on me to prevent their empires from disintegrating, but these guys just sit there and take the pain. Anyway, the cash is irrelevant, as I already have the infrastructure to finish the game at 4 turns per tech. The spaceship is built by just three cities; capital Rome, Ironworks town Rutupiae, and Forbidden City Lugdunum. The launch date is of course the same turn that I get Robotics,
1615ad. A Firaxis score of 3835 makes for 7908 Jason points.
Research was steady from the medieval onwards, but the AI was no help at all
As usual, I end the game teetering on the domination limit. I got a shock in 1510ad; I hadn't really been checking CivAssistII very assiduously, and suddenly it popped up a warning - I was 2 tiles away from dom!