GOTM63 - First Spoiler

[civ_steve]

GOTM 63 - first spoiler

Spoiler 1 for GOTM63 - Zululand, is now open! (Sorry for the delay - the weekend was rather busy! ) Unlike the last GOTM, this one has lots of space - not all good space, but lots of it! How are your Zulu doing? On this map have the raging Barbarians made much of a difference? Are you the most raging'est barbarian, or are your Zulu more cultured? And if you're playing Conquest or Predator, how has the civ trait modifications affected your game?


Reading Requirements:

1. Must be able to research a Middle Ages Technology.

Posting restrictions

1. No maps showing resources from middle-ages (or later).
2. No discussion of middle-ages (or later).
3. Please be discreet with any map images; I suspect there will be varying amounts and types of contacts. Feel free to mention any contacts or negotiations that you performed.

 

[ionimplant]

open
going for domination.

this map is really big...

settled in place. built two more scouts before a warrior and a granary. they soon found out that there's a choke point between use and Iraqouis. however with this much land, no one probably wants to settle in those eastern jungles. i left a scout there anyway to block AI's. soon got all the contact. research wheel- only to find that there was no horse near by. then as spotted by one of the scouts, there's horse to the north, but separated from us by sea... so research is devoted to map making.

with such a big map, i guess both knights and calvary will come into play and so research was never stopped. and libraries were built in the core cities.

nothing exciting really happened during the ancient age. i did not build any wonder. everyone's busy grabbing land and there is no war at all that i know. i revolted to Monarch with 5 turn anarchy, expecting much war to follow. this turned out to be a mistake as republic would be better...and soon we're in the middle age...

there is no barb problem at all, not until someone reached the middle age. then there were about 20 horsemen which my archers finished relatively easily.

 

[denyd]

libraries were built in the core cities

Libraries, we don't need no stinkin' libraries.

First 2 cities build granaries (1 for settlers & 1 for workers)

Everyone else builds barracks then swords. Attack Iroquois with a SOD (28 Swords & 4 Impi). He never counterattacks, so no Golden Age yey. Soon we take the Pyramids from the Iroquois (thank you very much) as the Ancient Age comes to an end.

I will have to decide soon between domination & conquest. Ionimplant is right, there is a lot of land in this one.

 

[dbarandiaran]

this will be my first GOTM attempt. i thought it would be a good one, since i can play at emperor but prefer to play monarch for the extra happy person...i have also been wanting to play with the zulu before, so here goes...
i started out building several scouts, and was glad of that, since the landmass is pretty big, as the others have indicated. i also built early barracks and archers to get things going in preparation for the barbarians. i usually play no barbs, but found that at least in my instance, the barbs weren't a real problem, no uprisings, although i saw one happen on the other side of the narrow sea to the east. lots of horses, poor AI... i quickly sent impi to cover the chokepoint (mountain!?! talk about an awesome choke!)
as for science i did pretty minimal research, instead making deals. i met a lot of people early on, and was able to play science middleman pretty effectively, buying and trading almost all of the techs and still ending up with about 700 gold in the treasury when i entered the middle ages in 490BC. at that time i still had not connected the iron, opting to build warriors for later upgrade. at this time i had probably about 26 of them, with a rapidly increasing number of catapults as well. no direct confrontations yet, although i have fostered a lot of war, i think at this point i am at war with everyone except two, and those two are in alliances with me against all their neighbors. i entered the middle ages about in the middle of the pack, i think that three AI got there before me.
i am sure that there will be some dazzlingly fast victories for some on this map, knights will be relatively easy to obtain, but i want to play this one at a stately pace. i haven't the patience for intensive MM, which is another reason i prefer monarch. i am not interested in scoring a high score, i will just be happy finishing a game. i rarely play a game all the way through, i get a little impatient sometimes...anyway, the long term plan is to extend my territory off of my peninsula and well into the continent, probably taking out several opponents in the process, then focus on research and go for the spaceship. i like the opponent selection, a lot of strong opponents with the resources they need. it should be a good game...

 

[ionimplant]

Soon we take the Pyramids from the Iroquois (thank you very much) as the Ancient Age comes to an end.

i got a feeling that this game is largely determined by who built the pyramid. in my game, Iroquois went for the useless Oracle... and the great library. the pyramid was built by Ottomas. it wasn't unitl the late stage of the game that i got the pyramid.

i did not try to urge Iroquois to build pyramid though. this is probably a mistake. their capitol is definitely one of the best sites and can get whatever wonder it firsted started.

 

[klarius]

Predator - going for conquest
Scout goes 2E and sees the wheat.
Settler goes 2SE to get a 4-turner and to be more central (though RCP is still pretty messy).
Builds 2 warriors - granary. Research pottery - alphabet (bought halfway through from India) - writing.
Our scout goes all the way across the continent and is disbanded much later in Korea.
By 1725BC we have all contacts (mostly traded). We also have all techs around and distributed writing widely so the AI can research MM for us.

Phony wars start in 1450BC with Greece, Germany and India. 1375 Ottomans are added.
As usual the main goal is to get alliances coupled with peace renegotiations, so we get the chance for war happiness later.
We get success in 1025BC, both Romans and Koreans break their alliances and we have 2 sources of happiness.
And the peace treaty with Germany that follows even gets us Hamburg, though this village (badly pop-rushed) isn't very useful for a long time.

Our holdings in 1000BC (not showing Hamburg):

We have 12 towns, 33 pop.
10 workers, 8 slaves, 1 settler (on galley to go grab horses).
11 warriors, 1 archer, 4 swords, 1 Impi, 1 galley.
5 barracks, 1 granary, 1 harbor, 1 library.
All AA techs except currency, construction, polytheism and the governments.

900BC we end 2 more phony wars and get 2 more villages. Delphi from Greece and Antalya from Ottomans.

In 775BC we finish republic research and revolt for 4 turns of anarchy.

First real war action is in 650BC, when we capture Delhi. India is down to 1 city as others have razed the rest.

I had stopped research after republic to upgrade warriors. Bought the last AA techs to enter MA in 590BC. We just started the hot war against Iroquois, but no acquisitions up to now.

 

[Più Freddo]

Predator, Conquest

Our lone Scout goes N, NW, Worker E and we decide to settle in place.
Zimbabwe builds two Warriors, the Granary and four Settlers for the
anticipated four high-production RCP4 city locations. Although the
Factory is of the six-turn combo type, we can build the four Settlers
in sequence in 3 x 4 + 5 turns thanks to population surplus built up
during Granary construction. A Barracks follows and we are set for
three-turn Archer + Worker operation of our factory.

4000 BC Found Zimbabwe
2670 BC Found Ulundi
2470 BC Found Bapedi
2310 BC Found Hlobane
2150 BC Found Isandhlwana​

Research was initially set to Pottery followed by The Wheel. No
Horses. Our Scout on turn 2 immediately turned southwards, followed
the coastline and eventually made it over to the Iroquois, India and
Rome before he happened to fall into the hands of Barbarians who
grilled him whole and ate him for lunch. But before that he had
bravely -- as predators we are not expansionist, note to player --
popped a hut and learned Ceremonial Burial!

4000 BC Discover Warrior Code
3400 BC Discover Pottery
3100 BC Meet Iroquios
2950 BC Pop Hut Scout: Technology
2950 BC Learn Ceremonial Burial
2670 BC Meet India
2670 BC Learn Bronze Working
2670 BC Learn Alphabet
2670 BC Discover The Wheel
2630 BC Learn Mysticism
2390 BC Meet Rome
2350 BC Learn Iron Working​

Later we produce the one or other Settler in Zimbabwe, always on the
basis of 10 shields every turn, but before that some extra Settlers
came out of ring towns.

1650 BC Connect Wines
1275 BC Found Intombe
1250 BC Found Ngome reaching OCN
1250 BC Found Mpondo
1225 BC Found Swazi​

With the discovery of Writing we expand our network of international
contacts as well as our technological knowledge through extensive
trading. We are now researching towards The Republic and learning the
rest from our friends and allies.

1950 BC Discover Writing
1950 BC Meet Ottomans
1950 BC Meet Korea
1950 BC Meet Germany
1950 BC Meet Celts
1950 BC Meet Arabia
1950 BC Learn Masonry
1725 BC Rebuff Iroquios They demand 23 gold
1625 BC Meet Greece
1625 BC Learn Horseback Riding
1625 BC Discover Philosophy
1350 BC Discover Code of Laws
1325 BC Learn Mathematics
1025 BC Learn Map Making Complete World Map
1025 BC Learn Literature
0800 BC Learn Polytheism
0775 BC Learn Currency
0775 BC Discover The Republic​

Our Quick Start Challenge statistics:

9 cities
25 citizens
1 luxury + war happiness
9 granaries, free of charge
The Pyramids
5 barracks
5 contacts
10 workers
11 slaves
10 warriors
15 archers
2 impi
all AA techs except currency, construction, polytheism and the governments​

The three first Workers from the Worker factory in the capital had
formed a chain-gang building the trans-KwaZulu road going southwards
to Iroquois lands. Later Workers improved the core lands.

The war against Iroquois was started before the road was completed
using veteran Archers from the capital Factory as well as from core
towns. Captured slaves starting at the other end joined in and when
the road was complete founded two colonies on it: Iron and Dyes. But
before that, the first win with the first elite Archer luckily had
generated our first Military Great Leader, Mpande, who had hurried
back to a core city in need of cultural expansion and rushed The
Pyramids! This of course helped our native expansion greatly. Spices
and Horses were connected using new settlements in formerly Iroquois
land. In the mean time we also revolted and established Republic as
Government. After the discovery of The Republic no further research
was made.

1425 BC War Iroquios They declare after trespassing
1225 BC Emerge Military Great Leader Mpande
1025 BC Build The Pyramids
0975 BC Connect Iron
0975 BC Connect Dyes
0850 BC Capture Salamanca with The Oracle
0800 BC Peace Iroquios
0800 BC Capture Cattaraugus
0775 BC Establish Anarchy
0750 BC Found Tugela
0750 BC Connect Spices
0730 BC Found Umtata
0710 BC Establish Republic
0630 BC Found Umfolozi
0630 BC Found Ibabanago​

Since the Iroquois were enjoying OCC life up in Celt lands, our next
target was India. India learned Construction and we could enter the
Middle Ages through a peace deal.

0590 BC Capture Lahore through extortion
0590 BC Capture Karachi through extortion
0590 BC War India
0570 BC Capture Madras
0550 BC Found Isipezi Massive uprisings
0510 BC Peace India
0510 BC Capture Jaipur
0510 BC Capture Calcutta
0510 BC Learn Construction
0510 BC Enter Middle Ages​

The second Indian war is coming up and then the Arabs are on line. Our
upgraded Military Police Warriors have made the long trek on the
trans-KwaZulu and reached the front, Horsemen overtaking them in
masses. More in the next spoiler.

 

[denyd]

Well that made the decision easier, with Klarius & Piu Freddo going for Conquest, domination it is.

I've yet to build a single culture building (Wonders notwithstanding) and I'm not sure that I will. For domination, it's likely to be necessary to get to railroads. It's a very long way to walk for settlers all the way to Korea or Greece.

 

[klarius]

For domination, it's likely to be necessary to get to railroads. It's a very long way to walk for settlers all the way to Korea or Greece.

No, Denyd. Settlers can be rushed in corrupt cities instead of wasting all that gold on never used techs (all the upper branch, railroads and even the lower branch to MT is doubtful on monarch). And going that far in tech w/o libraries is totally ineffective.

 

[Chamnix]

Predator Conquest Challenge (you know you want to join in, denyd ).

I settled in place and spit out 2 warriors and a granary before the first settler.

Research went at maximum for Pottery, The Wheel, and Iron Working, and then I did no research the rest of the Ancient Age except for minimum runs. All other techs I traded for/beat out of rivals. My gold went to upgrading swords while I disconnected/reconnected iron because I didn’t find the horses quickly enough.

I built enough settlers to settle all locations at RCP 4 and 6 and 1 more settler for the dyes. I didn’t build any more settlers the rest of the game.

I pretty much ignored the barbarians in the south. I occasionally killed one with a unit on its way to a war, but I basically just kept a couple archers on hills to keep them away from my towns and made sure I cleared the camps as the Middle Ages approached.

3000 BC – Meet both Arabia and the Iroquois.

2670 BC – Meet the Celts.

1200 BC – Iron is connected. At this point I was strong to everyone with 16 warriors and 3 archers. There was very little doubt how wars would go after upgrading most of those warriors to swords. The AI really put up no resistance - it was purely a contest to see how quickly I could reach them. Workers start building the road to the enemy (and to connect the dyes).

QSC:

9 towns
26 citizens
1 settler
10 workers
3 slaves
3 warriors
4 archers
18 swordsmen



900 BC – The first war starts with the Iroquois

775 BC - Iroquois complete Pyramids in Salamanca .

710 BC – Start a bunch of wars and couple alliances with peace treaties a la klarius.



670 BC - Capture Salamanca and the Pyramids.

550 BC - My first Great Leader used to rush the Forbidden Palace in my core . The AI towns were so far apart it seemed more productive to put the Forbidden Palace in my core and the Palace elsewhere, but of course I didn’t jump my palace – I waited for another leader, and it was a long time coming…

390 BC - The Koreans were destroyed – I never even met them.

350 BC - I eliminate the Iroquois.

230 BC - Finally connect horses.

10 BC - Start my GA using an Impi

30 AD - Enter the Middle Ages still in Despotism.

 

[denyd]

A bit ahead of the spoiler, but I'm about 5 turns from MT at 500 AD - I've been trading with Greece & Germany to get all of the upper track and should be able to trade Metallurgy for Physics & MT for Mag & ToG. I saved my GA until I finished Gunpowder to give me a research boost. Having only 12gpt for maintenance (a couple markets & harbors) and having support for over 100 units (have about 85), means I can run 100% research. Even without libraries, I'm getting 6-7 turn research cycles. I do plan on cash rushing settlers in the corrupt cities. Right now my main problem is flips. Adding only 4cpt (Palace & Sun Tzu) makes it tough to compete with the AI. What I really need is a 2nd MGL to allow for an FP in Salamanca.

 

[ionimplant]

Having only 12gpt for maintenance (a couple markets & harbors) and having support for over 100 units (have about 85), means I can run 100% research. Even without libraries, I'm getting 6-7 turn research cycles.

then with libraries, you probably will get even faster research. 8 libraries in your core cities will only cost 8 more gpt but may help you dominate a few turns earlier. factoring in the cost of the libraries, you will probably get 70+ units and this shouldn't make too big a difference to your armies.

 

[ignas]

Open, going for conquest
settled in place, built few scouts and granary.Capital was runing as warrior settler factory. Built 5 cities around the capital at distance of 4. Then just filled the gaps. Researched republic in 800BC and revolted immediately, researched no techs after that.Switching to republic was a mistake, should have used Monarchy. Almost all the time in Republic i had to pay more than 100gpt for unit support and constant wars caused war weariness problems
in 1000BC
9 towns
26pop
20warriors for upgrade
12 workers, 1settler
2 granaries and 6 barracks
In 775BC upgraded 20 warriors to swords and started destroying Iroqouis. in around 500Bc entered MA, Iroqouis destroyed, split forces, start marching towards Celts an India

 

[brennan]

Going for a more warlike game than usual, with closer city-spacing than usual.

Built scout, worker, warrior, granary, settlers. Zimbabwe did nothing else till i'd filled the land this side of the choke-point. New cities built a worker then warrior, then IIRC most of them churned out a couple more workers (anticipating having to hack through a lot of jungle). The rest went for barracks then archers, changing quickly to Impi/swords.

Having found the choke point I sealed it off with my first archer, had to fight a couple barb huts with the others. My scouts gained me absolutely nothing bar contacts (and I love all the free techs and stuff when I play English ), and I was far too lazy wrt diplomacy, which came back to bite me later. Shortly after I traded for Iron Working, I upgraded all my warriors to a sword stack, which was heading for the Iroquois when I got an uprising at the Southern end of my patch. 22 barbarian horsemen managed to kill one lousy archer between them, my stack butchered the rest and went on to capture Niagara falls, then I split up into two and went after the Iroquois' southern cities with most of the stack, waited for reinforcements for the others to go North.

End of the Ancient Age I had most of the Iroquois cities under my belt.

 

[adrianj]

Similarly to a lot of people here, I'm going the war route, probably looking for a domination victory. I haven't kept any notes aside from the QSC, so don't know exactly when things happened.

I researched my way into Monarchy, thinking I'd be spending most of my time at war. I was lucky enough to have the Iroqoius build the pyramids for me, which I took off them some time in the AA with swords. I even got a great leader out of that war and rushed the forbidden palace in Salamanca.

And then, shock horror! Salamanca flipped! I couldn't pop-rush the population of Salamanca down since I was in Monarchy, and I wasn't paying attention to starving them. Boo treacherous Iroqouis. My total culture was fairly equivalent to them too

 

[PaperBeetle]

The Resource I Don't Have
I settle in place, and run up a spreadsheet for a six-turn sword combo factory. It starts with an axe, then a worker, and I calculate that I have enough commerce to do Wheel before Pots, although this plan fails to take into account that I can't prebuild granary for more than 30 shields. It is a good thing then that the first civ my scout finds is the expansionist Quois. When Wheel comes through in 3050bc, I see I have no horses, but I can trade for Burial and Pots and switch Zimbabwe from settler to granary.

and the Resource That I Do
The granary is ready in 2850bc, after which I do barracks, then an impi/axe set, and my first settler is ready in 2470bc. In the meantime, Abu and Brennus are met, and I trade in Bronze. I discover Alpha in 2230bc and start Writing. Trading for Ironwork in 2030bc shows that I have a couple of sources on the Zulu peninsula, so Zimbabwe can start sword/settler comboing presently, but until then I stick with impi/axe/settlers. The impi are heading out into the unsettled southlands to fog-bust Civ4 style.

Beaten in the Tech Race
My research on Writing never comes to term - my scout hasn't yet found anybody else, but in 1750bc I find I have been introduced to the Greeks, who have the tech. The Greeks in turn know the Indians and Romans. I pay Watha 10g to finish my research and start on Philosophy; I plan to research Republic early, and I think Philosophy is best done before Laws as it has a better chance of being tradeable.

Phoney War
My first war comes about in 1575bc when Abu demands 22g from me. I'd rather have some free happiness than -22g, so I tell him where to get off. He is far enough away that I don't expect to see any action, and even if he does march past the Quois, I have blocked the choke with an impi. Whether I would let him attack, and risk an early GA, is a question I will answer when the time comes. In 1525bc I discover Philosophy and use it to trade to parity and buy contact with Julius and Gandhi. I send them both to war against Arabia.

Foiled Again
I am expecting the AI to get Laws soon enough, so after Philosophy I go for Maths, but unusually I am beaten to it. In 1275bc I give Alex 10g to finish my research, and decide my next useful-but-probably-a-monopoly tech should be Literature. But again I surprised to find an AI (Brennus) gets it first! What are these guys playing at? I don't have many beakers invested in Lit, as I am saving up cash to upgrade my axes, so in 1175bc I switch to researching Currency.

Peace Settlement
I finally hook the nearer iron source in 1125bc, and upgrade 8 of my 9 veteran axes to swords. These guys start heading towards the choke to attack the Quois, although they are going slowly, as I don't have a southband highway yet. My other war is ending, with the Zulus apparently declared victorious; my contribution was killing the Arabian scout, while Abu caught one of my regular axes trying to pillage his horses. Somehow this translates to Abu giving me two of his first-ring towns for peace.

QSC Stats
11 towns with 24 citizens and 121 tiles.
75 food in the bin, 105 shields in the box, 5g in the treasury.
3 granaries, 2 barracks.
1 settler, 10 workers, 1 slave, 2 axes (1 reg, 1 vet), 10 swords (vet), 1 galley (reg), 8 impi (7 vet, 1 elite).
All ancienct techs except Construction, Currency (111 beakers gathered), Laws, Polytheism and the three optionals.
6 contacts, 5 embassies.

War Beyond the Choke
My Currency research continues until 775bc, and it allows me to buy in Laws and Literature, as well as contact with the backward Ottomans. Their borders had been visible on the w map for some time, but I don't have any units out exploring any more, my scout having been caught by a barb horse. As I have techs to spend, I take the opportunity to dow the Quois, and buy in the Romans, Indians, Celts and Arabs. 9 zulu swords head east from the choke into Iroquois territory.

AI Trigger Uprisings
The AI come up with Polytheism in 730bc, and Construction a couple of turns later. They get swapped in 570bc, which triggers the barbarian uprisings. I normally seem to find myself lucky with barb camps, but not this time. Even though I have all but a couple of tiles under surveillance in the southern jungles, I get a barb camp down there spewing dozens of horses, so I empty my local towns and try to burn off my treasury by buying Poly for cash and gpt.

Medieval in Anarchy
In 490bc I again find the AI beating me to the tech I am researching . In this case it is Republic, and rather than buy it, I let my research finish - it is only one turn short. So in 470bc I go to 7 (rerolled from 6) turns of anarchy, and trade for Construction, to enter the medieval era. Alex is already medieval, and I bring up Osman. The other two scientific civs remain unmet. I assume they are on a seperate island.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

I went an entirely different route. having never actually played a PTW game to completion, nor ever finished a GOTM/COTM, I decided to take Shake out for 20K contest. Attributes suck, but generating leaders would be fun.

Map isnt' really set up for early war, of course.

Settled in place, went CB/Mysticism, then to lit, then republic. I ended up trading for Mysticism and Alphabet, plus everything besides Philo and CoL.

Revolted in 350BC? and traded for all the rest of the AA techs - only Arabia is in the middle ages.

I think it's time to foment wars to slow down the AI tech pace.

Barbs have been no problem whatsoever, and I managed not to play this *too* much like a CSC 20K

Built temple/Oracle/Pyramids and am about to finish Glib

Dont' remember my QSC stats - either 2 or 3 cities, 1 barracks, 1 temple, 1 granary, 6 workers, 3 warriors 1 scout, 2 or 3 impi. I built 2 scouts, but 1 died, as did a worker I popped a long way from home. I think i popped a total of 3 huts. Expansionist civs get a raw deal in the GOTM, don't they? I guess they have to, to cut down on the randomness...

 

[PrinceMyshkin]

This is my first time playing gotm and PTW.
4000BC Sent scout north to mountain, worker to cow, and settled in place; research set to wheel on max science, queue-up 2 scouts, worker, granary(w/chop), then settlers.
2950BC Discover the wheel, no horses on peninsula, discover chokepoint, research on 10% set to bronze, looking for contacts.
2900BC Contact Iroquois, no trade for now, research off, note spices in Iroquois territory.
2390BC Contact Arabia and Celts, trade pottery for CB+34gold to Celts, look for more contacts for monopoly wheel trade.
2150BC No contacts, barbs spotted. Sell Celts the wheel for bronze+1gold; buy alphabet from Arabs for 86 gold, set research to writing at max science.
2070BC Sell alphabet to Celts for iron, two sources on peninsula. Most cities have been buiding warrior then worker-barracks impi.
2030BC Contact India, sell them iron-working+wheel for worker+4gold(I think I remember only one worker bought per civ, so will not buy more than one)
1950BC Sell Iroquois iron-working for masonry+4gold
1790BC Contact Romans, no trade
1700BC Contact Ottomans, sell them iron-working for 60gold
1625BC Contact Greeks, sell them pottery for 15gold; discover writing at monopoly, research set to mapmaking at max science
1450BC Romans get writing; Sell Ottomans writing for math+contact w/Germany+30gold; trade Germany contact w/Romans for contact w/Koreans; sell Koreans pottery for 42gold; trade Iroquois writing for hbr; sell Romans math for 70gold; sell writing+3 contacts for 268gold+1 worker; sell Ottomans hbr for 56 gold. Use gold to establish embassies with all, notice Salamanca will win race to Pyramids. Sign ROP w/India for free, w/Celts+math for mysticism+1worker+3gold
1425BC Trade Romans contact w/India+hbr for worker
1400BC Sell Germany hbr for 25gold and celts hbr for 26gold; popped a hut and got philosophy!
1375BC ROP+hbr to Greeks for 25gold
1300BC Refuse demand from Arabs and they declare war. Sign MA w/ Iroquois, Indians, and Romans for contacts to get Arabs negihbors in phony war.
1225BC Mapmaking discovered as monopoly; trade math to Romans for 30gold+world map; two scouts killed by barbs; I'm making money disbanding barb camps
1175BC Trade hbr+myst+math to Korea for 1worker+world map
1000BC 10 cities, 13 citizens, 1 settler, 9 workers + 5 slaves, 1 scout, 7 warriors, 5 Veteran Impi, 3 barracks, 1 granaray with 2 settlers and three workers in production, wines and iron hooked-up, and settler expansion moveing to chokepoint to claim second iron and dyes, also making two galleys to move settlers across water to claim furs and land from Iroquois and Celts
950BC Code of Laws discovered as monopoly; trade Romans CoL for Literature+25gold+world map; trade Ottomans CoL+137gold for construction, research set to poly at amax science aiming for monarchy.
925BC Trade CoL to Greece for 1 worker+world map.
750BC Alliances are done not renewed, Arabs give me two cities for peace, I abandon them later on culture-flip risk when Mecca built the Great Library; Salamanca builds the Pyramids, my road is progressing to the chokepoint, dyes are hooked up.
590BC Discover Polytheism as monopoly, hold to trade for currency
510BC AI discover currency and polytheism at same time and trade IBT, nobody sells currency. I lose 1 Impi, but four are elites, putting down the barbarian uprising. Disband more barb camps moving to chokepoint where a city is built on the iron, city claiming fur across channel is founded building harbor
390BC Monarchy is discovered as a monopoly; trade monarchy to Iroquois for currency+134gold+world map and Zulu enter the Middle Ages. I plan to revolt to Monarchy continue expansion and troop build up, looking to capture the Pyramids. I'll steadily expand to the domination limit and see where I go from here.