Fairly busy again this month, and rushed to finish, so apologies for another sketchy log (and some of this is from memory). In 4000BC, I mainly wanted a boat ASAP, to expand with. With the starting gold, I used the size 1 trick, and thoroughly irrigated my isle. Not much early effort at defense, unless you count triremes and a randomly placed warrior or two. I intended a super-trade game, for fast tech and a launch in approx 1AD.
4000-3000BC (50 turns); Working to build boats and settlers and outposts. Got map-making in 3660, Veii(2) founded in 3580BC, monarchy in 3220BC. Hut = horse. Spanish lose their Armada in a stupid attack (trireme vs trireme IIRC), no contact.
3000BC: 7 cities, monarchy: 1adv/5t, have 2S/1w/1ph/1ho/3tri. Techs = alp/maps/cb/cl/moy/bw/cu, next=trade.
3000-2500BC: Built LH in 2740BC. A warrior steps onto an island and finds the Spanish there, makes contact, and they declare war. I finally notice that my rep is horrible. Build MPE in approx 2600BC, and find the AI are quite advanced in science (good!). I get poly + astro from Japan, and "war" from Persia - but peace soon after. Persia builds Colossus (dang!) which hurts my plans for a great STC. I have 14 cities.
2500BC-2000BC: Spain lands a legion near Pisae. Luckily it is defended by a warrior, and is about to build an elephant. The legion defeats the warrior, as expected, but then the Spanish sneak another unit into the empty city from a boat! So, I lose the ellie, and a supported boat and van. Soon, they also razed the city of "W-4" (I named most Roman cities using a rough coordinate system). I am probably lucky they didn't do even more damage, but considered quitting. I bribed back Pisae in a few turns for about 50g. Built the Pyr's in 2200BC, and the J's built HG in 2080. I defeated another loaded Spanish boat at sea. The LH has a secondary benefit of making vet boats, which has a big effect on early trireme vs trireme battles (I admit those are not too common). Rome becomes a Republic in 2020BC.
I'm working on trade, not war, and am getting about 200-300g per van, which will rise to approx 500g after 10-20 turns of Republic growth. In general, I ONLY deliver overseas, demanded goods, and only with good distances.
2000BC: 35 cities, pop 1.5mil, Mfg121, republic: we have 5S/13tri/15vans, 20advs, 3WoWs.
2000-1500BC: I'm spending a lot of time planning tech trades with the AI, and optimal van deliveries, not realizing yet that this is overkill. Built Cope's 1860BC, Mike's 1760BC, INC 1660BC, ST 1540BC. The J's built GL, which I didn't want, but it was surprisingly annoying, since I couldn't keep certain techs away from them. Also, I didn't think HG was needed at warlord level, but it might have helped with celebrations in this period. Persia builds GWall - a problem in EC games, but not here - it will be obsolete soon enough. And AFAIK it doesn't help against attacks by boats.
1500BC: 62 cities, pop 7m, Mfg258, republic: we have 20S/42tri/55vans, 7WoW. 31advs. Rome is size 15.
1500-1000BC: Still toiling away at trade and science, with pencilled charts about supply and demand, etc. A Roman city name like "W2-3" indicated it was in my SouthWest, so if France (to the NorthEast) demands its goods, that's where they went, via 2-3 standing ship chains. Built KRC approx 1440BC (why??? Can't remember a good reason - I have always argued that it is usually a waste of shields, and it was). The AI's start on Magnetism, and I realize my fleet of 42 triremes could instantly sink when LH becomes obsolete. So, I am more-or-less forced to research Inv+Nav quickly, and build Leo's to upgrade the fleet. Also, I tech-bombed the J's to slow their research a bit. Built Leo's in 1320BC and Mag's in 1280BC. These, plus Corp (vans --> freights), partially offset the damage to trade bonuses from Inv+Nav. Built JSB 1260BC, AS 1180BC, CfC 1100BC, WS in 1040BC. J's built SunTzu in 1160BC; P's built SoL in 1040BC. I'm spending my profits on harbors and aqueducts, but eventually I notice my cities aren't growing, due to some kind of bug. After reloading Civ2, they start growing again. My science progress has been modest, while getting to Corp, and building up my SSC, etc. Now I'm ready to get 1adv per turn. Only to realize it is not even important in this GOTM. I am mostly ignoring the AI's, except as trade targets, and we are all happy and at peace. They each have their original 7 cities, none over size 8, plus the J's have a tiny polar city.
1000BC: 88 cities, pop 65m, Mfg449, democracy (IIRC), 5000g, 57adv: I've built 66 aqueducts and 32 sewer systems (most islands have a major Roman city by now). 14 Roman WoWs + 7AI WoWs (to be mine later).
1000-500BC: I'm delivering about 5 freights per turn, for about 400g each, and am getting one advance per turn that way, with science usually at zero (even though I've built lots of libraries, etc). I want the AI islands, so I devoted 620BC-580BC to surprise raids under a Fundy govt (mostly by Battleships, spies, and a few Cavalry - from Leo upgrades) which reduced the AI to one pet city on the pole. I had NO restarts, which was a small surprise, but I'd already occupied all the islands - maybe this factor deterred them ? My reputation wasn't hurt too bad, since my first sneak attack caused the three other AI's to declare war on me. I got the 7 AI WoW's. Also, built UN and HD.
I'd been trying to keep my gold under 32,000. I thought someone posted that a Civ2 bug brings your gold down to zero if you go past that number (a myth? my error ?). Well, I accidentally got up to 35,000 or so with no problem.
500BC: About 130 cities ? I didn't count those, but the trade screen showed approx 125 aqueducts. Democracy. Have started on Future techs. Approx 60-70 idle vans. No purpose.
I'd been spending something like an hour per turn until the conquest. After that, about 600BC, I had to play about 35 turns in 1-2 days, so basically I put the Roman Empire to sleep, and hit the spacebar a lot. We entered the Dark Ages... just a few skirmishes with sea barbs... no more deliveries; I relied on Roman scientists (and still got almost 1adv/t). I built more standard city improvements, and more freights (150-200), to help with parts later. I built a dozen or so new cities on the poles. My notes are very skimpy for this period.
I launched in 20AD with the fastest ship, which landed in 25AD. I had about 20 Future techs, and a few peace points (even though I was still at war with Japan IIRC). I had planned out most Roman cities to reach their maximum natural size (approx 23 on islands, approx 10-15 on poles), but I didn't bother with Supermarkets + Farmland, and didn't terraform (much). I allowed a few polar cities to starve near the end, because I felt so rushed and tired. Also, I built the last WoW a turn too late, as usual; I never seem to time that quite right.
Well, this GOTM presented new challenges, at least in the beginning. I am impressed by the players who found clever methods for dealing with them (especially Uruwashi's idea of splitting a larger civ to create a new purple one). I still feel uneasy about GOTM's with advanced AI neighbors; it seems to me that the best strategy [if you are playing for a medal] is to gamble, by leaving your cities mostly undefended. Also, IMO the warlord/spacerace combo removes some of the challenge, since you can't launch until 1AD.
Think panzers, spies, and stealth fighters against musketeers/rifleman, dips, and dragoons/cav.
