Turn 100 – 1500 BC.
I will be whipping Washington a fair bit, so I switch to Slavery.
Estimate it will take about 20 turns to get Horses online. Faster than chopping a monument for copper. Copper enters our borders in 40 turns regardless of whether we settle a city to claim it, and we have the Great Wall.
Don't like having two workers and a size 4 capital. 2 pop whip a Worker out.
Turn 105 – 1375 BC
Barb Axe has been delaying the settlement of Boston, but he finally gives up and goes back East.
Turn 106 – 1350 BC
Boston founded.
Pottery in.
Check Ragnar. Sign OB.
Decide to research IW before Writing. Science cities will not reach size 4/5 in a hurry and need to work gold. I see no need for OB with any other civs at this stage.
I don't like our immediate tech alternatives (other than Writing).
IW now 48 turns, 7BPT at 60% on slider. It looks really ugly, but our teching is ugly right now anyway.
Turn 108 – 1300 BC
Looks like there is an island behind Ragnar, or else a windy part of the continent.
Turn 109 – 1275 BC
Oracle built in an unknown land.
Find Uppsala. Ragnar has gems and he is about to get them online. He may actually tech ok in this game. He has a third city which I have not sighted yet.
Turn 111 – 1225 BC
Greece builds the Great Lighthouse.
Turn 113 – 1175 BC
Sign OB with Alex to allow my WB to continue past Thebes.
Turn 114 – 1150 BC
Alex becomes a Hindu.
Turn 117 – 1075 BC
Gold mine finishes. Now researching at 19 BPT. 14 turns to IW.
Turn 120 – 1000 BC
No AI has alphabet yet.
I generate a GE. What to do, what to do?
Given the potential to generate another GE for Glib, tech trade, speed up 2nd GP and get a few extra Hammers, I decide to bulb Metal Casting.
Next best alternative IMO was holding for Glib.
Turn 121 – 975 BC
Wang drops in, asks us to close borders with Ragnar. Decide that I am more scared of Ragnar, refuse him.
Turn 122 – 950 BC
Mansa wants OB. He is worst enemy of Alex and Ragnar, so I refuse.
Turn 123 – 925 BC
Horse connected to trade network.
Turn 124 – 900 BC
My exploring workboat has covered off Alex's corner. Seems to have reached a southern tip and is heading West.
Turn 125 – 875 BC
Philadelphia founded.
Turn 126 – 850 BC
ToA built in a far away land.
Ratchet slider down to 50% - 9 BPT. IW due in 13 turns.
Turn 129 – 775 BC
Mansa adopts OR. Judiasm founded 1575 BC, may be Mansa but he is Buddhist founder. Still can't trade techs with any AI leaders.
Workboat reaches Mansa's borders to the south of the continent. As he is worst enemy of Alex and Ragnar still I don't want to OB him.
Turn 130 – 750 BC
Colossus built in a far away land. Crap. Someone else has Metal Casting. Check tech screen, still can't trade any AI's.
Great Prophet born in Mali.
Alex converts from Hindu to Buddhism. Still has Mansa Musa as his worst enemy.
Turn 131 – 725 BC
Mansa asks me to cancel OB with Vikings. Refuse as he is still Ragnar's worst enemy and I have no defense.
Mali builds Mahabodi.
Turn 132 – 700 BC
Sadly, this is when I realise a monument in Philadelphia was almost pointless, as the border pop will also claim the rice/gold resources. I hope someone else utilises this fact in their game.
Turn 133 – 675 BC
Wang becomes a Buddhist. Mansa with an early shrine and a guard dog and tech partner (Alex, Wang) may mean a fast tech game.
Boston starts working Gold. Slider up to 60% - 17 BPT. IW due in 3 turns.
Ragnar and Alex are both scouting my lands, but neither have full hands. I think this does mean trouble though.
Turn 136 – 600 BC
IW in. Iron in Washington/Philadelphia BFC, on a grassland river tile. 2/4/1 tile, looks great.
Next tech is Writing. I need to start thinking about Libraries in Boston and Philadelphia. 9 turns to research.
Alex has full hands. Our power rating is about 1/3 of Alex. Alex's worst enemy is Mansa Musa despite the shared religion. Mansa has a higher power rating than Alex does.
Have Chariot poking around in grassland area near site B, cant see a SoD yet. Might be able to avert a potental war as I am about to start pumping units and he has only recently filled his hands.
Turn 137 – 575 BC
Revolt to Rep (running Eng specialist in Washington now)
Turn 139 – 525 BC
Washington's borders pop again.
Iron hooked up. Funny how I waited all that time to pop the border for copper, then I hook up Iron in the same turn.
Turn 142 – 470 BC
A look at Alex's lands shows he has been boxed in badly by Mansa Musa. Perhaps he will try to fight his way out? I am over the other side of the continent and we still have OB. I wonder.
Turn 144 – 440 BC
Mansa offers OB again. He is still worst enemy of Alex/Ragnar but I need to OB as my WB is now stuck behind his borders.
Bad news – Mansa has 9 cities and is in the central grasslands location on the continent. Hopefully he gets taken down a peg, ideally by hemmed-in Alex and his Hindu worst enemy, Ragnar.
Temple of Solomon built in a faraway land.
Atlanta founded.
Slider taking hits now, down to 40% - 15 BPT. Writing due next turn.
Turn 145 – 425 BC
Writing in.
I meet Gilgamesh. He is Buddhist also. Sigh. He also built Oracle / Colossus. Guess he took Metal Casting from Oracle?
No civs can trade with me yet, but I would not want Gilga to trade Metal Casting to everyone and eradicate my tech advantage.
Switch research to Alphabet. If another civ apart from Gilga reaches it first, it might not be so bad as we can trade MC for it. We could still pop a Great Spy – Alphabet would allow us to thieve from Mansa Musa. 26 turns until next GP, 39 turns for Alpha.
Ragnar is boxed in horribly, he has three cities.
Mansa is huge right now and may run away in tech but I feel if we get Ragnar down fast we will have enough land to compete. At least Mansa is close enough to war against.
I start weighting EP's against Mansa in anticipation of him being our biggest threat during the mid game phase.
Turn 149 – 365 BC
Hinduism spreads to Washington. Decide not to switch.
Turn 150 – 350 BC
Alex still has full hands. Still hates Mansa.
Check tech screen and 3 AI's have MC, Wang/Gilga/Mansa. Can trade with all AI's. Lucky I decided to check.
Complete two trades before our bulbed tech becomes useless.
Mansa: MC for Alpha + Hunting
Alex: MC for Maths + Sailing
Check Tech screen again, Gilga and Wang have Construction. Wang wants MC. Decide to put a turn in Construction and see if he will trade me. He hates Ragnar so I might be able to build good diplo with him and use him as a long term trading partner.
Turn 151 – 335 BC
Wang won't trade Construction. Decide we need to keep researching it as I prioritise wiping out Ragnar fast and getting started on Mansa Musa. Would be great if we could get two Holy Cities, especially Mansa's.
Turn 154 – 290 BC
Mansa Musa has claimed jungle area south of Boston.
Turn 155 – 275 BC
Wang Kon declares war on Ragnar. Wang has about 3x his power. I might not get a crack at Ragnar. This could be good in a way, as I could then try to take a bite from Mansa Musa first.
Turn 157 – 245 BC
WB dies. Damn. Looks like a nice island behind Ragnar (forgot screenie).
An alternative may exist – we could try to peacefully expand to the island and shoot for Diplo with Korea and Mali as friends. However, I don't like that option so much as we might lose to a space race.
Mansa asks again for me to cancel deals with Ragnar. I agree.
Turn 158 – 230 BC
Wang asks me to war against Ragnar. I decide that I don't have enough of an army to pillage tiles and I don't want to start building up WW and incurring extra maintenance. Decline his offer.
Turn 159 – 215 BC
Amazing sequence of events.
Mansa has a buddhist missionary in my territory. Good.
Wang captures Nidaros!!! Wish I had declared a phony war now.
Alex declares war on Mansa Musa.
Mansa and Wang, much to my shock, have more power than the warmongers Alex and Ragnar. Alex and Ragnar have both taken big hits to their power rating. Ragnar is history, down to two cities.
I really don't like the idea of building peacefully: We have two fast techers (Mansa/Wang) sharing a religion.
Mansa is right next door and is occupied right now, might be a great chance to attack him once we get some Catapults up and running.
Turn 161 – 185 BC
THG built by Wang.
Turn 162 – 170 BC
Chicago founded.
Slider at 50% for 27 BPT. Construction in 11 turns.
Turn 163 – 155 BC
Mansa spreads Buddhism to me. I convert – all except Ragnar and the mystery civ are Buddhist.
Turn 164 – 140 BC
Ragnar asks for help against Korea. No dice.
Turn 166 – 110 BC
Chariot checks out Nidaros. Wang has a 4 unit garrison there.
Damn, that is a fine city spot!
Turn 168 – 80 BC
Confucianism FIADL.
Alex asks for help against Mali. Decline.
Turn 169 – 65 BC
Alex and Mansa take peace. No cities traded hands.
Turn 170 – 50 BC
Wang and Ragnar take peace.
+2 GPT at 40%, 25BPT. 5 turns on Construction.
Turn 172 – 20 BC
Great Prophet born in faraway land.
SoZ built by mystery civ.
I generate another GE. GE will bulb all but about 150 beakers of Machinery (6 turns left at current research rate) As this is only 3 turns from the end I think it is prudent to put him to sleep in the capital.
Turn 173 – 5 BC
Christianity FIADL.
Mystery civ has founded 3 religions and has quite a few wonders.
Turn 175 – 25 AD
Tech, Power and Empire screenies.
Washington is awesome for war buildup, base production is 28H. Needs to build a few farms to grow a bit larger though.
It actually started on the 17th (well, 18th if you consider the day after the voting closed).
