Ok, after that stupid GW emperor game, back to monarch/epic for now. Im going to give emperor another go soon enough, but Im still not sure Im quite ready to move up, so I dont mind another go at monarch.
So, on the start I see nice seafood, cows, and move my scout on the hill NW to check out what else I can see. Some nice floodplains north thats good I actually decide based on that to settle 1 NW. I know its one off the coast, which is usually not recommended, but it looks like the river ends, so it might be desert north of the flood plains, and I can easily get both crabs with a city to the east or south anyway. Its a bonus when I get rice in the BFC, so this city will be food rich and cottage rich. It may be a little short on hammers, but the commerce should be outstanding. Settle and start on my worker.
I debate for about 2 seconds going for a religion, and then decide against it better to take someone elses religion. Assuming I settle properly, I should have plenty of commerce, so religion isnt a necessity for that, and I expect to be warring a fair amount with Boudica anyway. I decide to tech towards pottery. Still should have time to tech AH, and if I dont get horses, can tech archery in time for barbs anyway. I want a strong cottage start. The first hut pops a map, and the second hut ensures barb defense:
Having a scout sometimes sure is nice. First meeting:
What an ideal neighbor. Let him build me a few wonders, then Ill take them by force. Second meeting:
Of course a religious zealot. Hope he spreads Buddhism to me and not Ramesses. Then Gilgamesh Im already sick of him from the Washington game. Looks like we may be a bit crowded here. Gilgy is very close he might have to go. Normally wouldnt want to rush a creative civ, but agg/cha can still do it, if I have enough production. Hut luck:
Some of you are going to start questioning my luck I got two techs in the Asoka game. Having a scout really is an early game advantage sometime! Now off to tech mining/bw. Hinduism didnt go until turn 39
to Ramesses. I guess it depends on who spreads to Gilgy
the other will probably be a good early target. Theres some really good land nearby, but also some really mediocre land in spots too. Ive picked out some great backfill sites, but think I need to block some decent land first. I realize after my scout finishes up on the east that theres a giant peninsula I can block off for myself with gems, dye, banana, cows and seafood, so my first settler is going there to block. I count a minimum of three good city sites there, maybe 4. All I need to do is get the first one down and get the rest later. Tech AH, and find horses, right near a spot I marked as a good block site, so thatll be city #3. In 2025 BC, I see Gilgy expanding towards me stupid creative trait. Ill be forced to expand east and west, not north until I want to take him out.
Im figuring I need to get several cities down, and then use them to overpower the other civs. My production power city:
Gilgy must have used the oracle/COL slingshot, because he sends a Confucian missionary to me in 1425 BC. Im not converting yet with charismatic, I dont need the happiness, and everyone is a different religion nearby, so no need to choose sides yet. Tech IW, and Bibracte has iron thats what Ive been waiting for. Gilgy is aggressively settling near me hes already annoying me. Here I started to play lazy. Instead of getting settlers out to crash my economy early, I start building units in most every city its just a question now of who I take out first they all have a religion, and all are different religions. Problem is, I needed more cities, and could have handled them with that cottage start. By building units too early, I think I made this tough on myself.
Justinian and I are pleased at this point, and he doesnt like Gilgy, so that settles it. Couple that with Gilgy intruding on my land, and it seems as if hell need to be my first target. Finally, I get around to settling my peninsula. Now I crash the economy this will pay off once I rebuild. Its 220 AD, and I havent adopted a religion, because each neighbor is a different religion, and adopting one means a sure holy war that Im not quite ready to fight yet.
Finally, Gilgy makes my religion decision for me:
fine Ill do it. I feel like Ive just played horribly in this game for some reason. Im teching ok, but have been doing everything lazy it seems. I think I lost focus after playing the GW game for a few hours - I might be a bit civved out tonight. Of course, 2 turns later, I see this:
Thanks a lot for playing nice in the sandbox after asking me to convert. Luckily I had all my units close enough to Bibracte that I started moving them there. Funny - this actually starts to get me fired up about the game, and suddenly I really started to play pretty well, I thought. From this point forward, I really felt like I picked my game up. He suicides his units, and like 3 turns later, he happily will trade for peace:
Fine, Ill be getting you soon enough. I crash my economy until code of laws, start getting my courthouses out, and Ramesses asks me to join him in a war with Gilgy. Fine, I agree to it
in fact, Ill even convert to Hinduism for Ramesses, so he and I can buddy up for awhile, just because Gilgy backstabbed me. So even though Ive played really badly up to now, time to start knocking some heads I seriously needed to do this a lot earlier. My first city taken:
I take 1 more city, and accept peace long enough for me to get macemen.
This is where I cut off for this post. Played really poorly, but its starting to go well once I take over more of Gilgys cities, Ill be fine. Ramesses and I are friendly at this point, and Justinian DOWs him. I actually start trading all my military techs to Ramesses for lots and lots of gold - he's making gold hand over fist. So basically he and I will be a team for the time being. I figure I'll get Gilgy to say uncle, then turn everything toward Justinian, and continually expand the empire until unleashing the fury on my BFF Ramesses.
Now all I have to do is squeeze in 3 rounds of playing (1 for each game I have going) between dinner and a movie with my wife 
) Did the ol' peace with him for 10 turns when he had 2 cities left to get 3 techs from him.
from towns, villages, and for replaceable parts/rifling... Traded phil, edu, lib around our continent for everything Justy and Ramses had, then met Zara who has sailed over. Traded those + PP for a lot of techs Justy and Ramses didn't have, so things are looking pretty rosy on the tech front. Teching Astronomy now (bulped most of that). Figure I can get guilds and gunpowder off ZY and then domination of my continent is almost as good as done.
