Monarch Student X - Charlemagne

[TheMeInTeam]

Did someone say "Chain declared on"? Oh boy do I resemble that statmement. I got slaughtered. Poor Charle. Every time I play him I get stuck bwetween the worst war mongers.

I actually beat back 3 different AIs. The 4th wasn't bribed, and declared on me even though he had a bordering heathen that declared on him sooner. Good times. Just running a same religion would have halved it, and I'd have won.

 

[Sleepless]

@TMIT

Spoiler :

I played this one at immortal and I think it would be a complete waste of hammers to spread a religion. Especially early on when there is more important things to build. Let the other AI spread religion to you and after they build their shrine take it for yourself. I stayed in NSR even though I oracle'd CoL and with the gold S Paya didn't take long so early free religion was the order of the day. No getting nagged to adopt a religion. Didn't stop me having a few wars along the way though.

 

[Gumbolt]

Spoiler :

On my first go I actually just got way out teched after I grabbed liberalism. The French and Shaka did attack me but I fought both of them off. Although i did vassel the French after taking Paris.

The problem was the Celts and Suliemen. As Bud religion had spread so well he was running away with it tech wise. I also forgot I had no religion and was running pacifism. Wasnt thinking there. I failed completely to spread my own religion too. Although i did get mids.

In terms of relations everyone was DOW the English. Although I dont think they lost many cities near their main cities.

In terms of HRG and religions. He just lacks any worker techs to make the early religion work great. I found myself teching agriculture and masonry to get to Oracle. AH also was teched pretty early too.

It just makes you wonder if the rush to BW would of been a better start. Perhaps Agriculture then Ah mining BW.

Mining would be useful for imperialist trait.

The art is to balance all of this and manage your defences.

In terms of changes to the starting map.

Spoiler :

It would be interesting to know which was the additional AI added to the starting save.

 

[Ai Shizuka]

Gumbolt:

Spoiler :

I hand-picked all the rival AIs from Custom Game. The eight AI is usually locked on standard maps.

Probably the map generator "forced" the extra AI in the SW corner. It's pretty crowded down there.

 

[Tempesta13]

part 4 to 1775 AD

Spoiler :

Picked up this game again after a couple days off. Went back to thinking i had a chance to win, but ended at a point where i'm not sure again. Very up and down game still.

Had everyone at friendly, or vassals of friendlies, except Hannibal who was my target. My goal was to pass Sully in population and win with the UN. If i could get Shaka, Hannibal, or Kublai to build it this would be easy - just need to get to #1 in pop but Sully having 2 vassals makes that hard. If i take all of Hannibals land i think i can do it though.

I switch to nationalism and free religion - this is really dumb since i went down to pleased with nappy and brennus. Completely forgot about religion. I didn't have theology teched - didn't realize that i needed it for both religion and drafting. I fixed the mistake later and all 3 were friendly again, but missed out on a lot of promotions for draftees...

How did the war go? It was going VERY well. I took 2 decent sized cities from Hannibal, knocked out most of his army - Sully had been gearing up for war with him and declared so now Hannibal was distracted by Sully's vassals to the east. Also, Kublai broke free of Sully - so becoming #1 in pop was going to be easier than i thought. I just had to finish off taking Hannibal's cities until i passed Sully in pop. My army was much bigger and my production was great so it would be easy. I was ready to go and take his capital when this happened...

He capitulated to Sully. Now Sully is up to 37% pop now - compared to my 20% (maybe more - do newly captured cities in revolt count towards pop?) Either way, Hannibal was easily 16% of the world's pop. That means he's giving Sully 8% instead of giving me 16% (after conquering his cities) I had nothing to bribe Sully out of the war, so nothing i could do really to stop that.

Brennus went to free religion so he's down to pleased. That makes me a little worried. Now i have to figure out what to do. I'm still behind in tech, and are very low on cottages but my production is very good, so i think war is a better option than space. I could go conquer Kublai, then conquer Nappy. Good chance i can get Hannibal to build the UN if i can get the techs first - he might end up first there anyway cause he was the tech leader. Sully will still be friendly even with -1 from declaring on nappy. Don't think he's pleased with Kublai so that won't matter. Only question is will i be #1 in pop now even if i take out Kublai and Nappy? Not sure.

Maybe the safer route would be attack Kublai first, getting some extra land, and hope that Hannibal breaks free of Sully - then i can attack him. I could even gift him back the city i took next to his cap if i have to - it will be covered in culture and revolting anyway. That's 1 more city i have to take later though. If it get's Hannibal free of Sully so i can have a 1 on 1 war with him with no risk of him capitulating again it would be worth it though.

EDIT: After thinking a bit on it - do vassals even have to vote with the master?? Or just FOR the master if they can't vote for themselves? I've been assuming i'd get all of Sully's vassals votes if he votes for me, but just realized this is probably not the case. Anyone know? I think with this game i'm going to conquer Nappy - then finish off Hannibal if he ever breaks free of Sully. If i can do that, and get Kublai or Shaka to build the UN i can win this. If not, I think i'll abandon the game. It's possible i could win domination, but that would involve a lot of late game war that would take hours. I really wish i had of played a little better earlier so i'd be in a better position. This was a tough map for emperor, but i made it even tougher with some mistakes. I know i thought of a lot of things i should have done differently while playing - can't think of too many now. I remember 1 though! I put off switching to bureaucracy for 2 turns to finish a wonder, then forgot to make the switch... I don't think it was too many turns, maybe 8 or 10. But when my capital was doing most of my research, that didn't help me out at all. That, and being in paganism instead of theocracy during my military buildup/drafting turns (along with free religion for a bit) wasn't great either...

Or better yet, i can post the save and someone else can finish it for me! Just to prove i was in a winning position here... then give me the save 1 turn before victory and i'll finish it up! Games like these are great for the challenge, but tough to keep playing. Kinda getting to the point where i wish i would just win or lose already...

 

[TheMeInTeam]

@TMIT

Spoiler :

I played this one at immortal and I think it would be a complete waste of hammers to spread a religion. Especially early on when there is more important things to build. Let the other AI spread religion to you and after they build their shrine take it for yourself. I stayed in NSR even though I oracle'd CoL and with the gold S Paya didn't take long so early free religion was the order of the day. No getting nagged to adopt a religion. Didn't stop me having a few wars along the way though.

I probably just got unlucky then. I could have handled 3 enemies, as I said. The 4th surprise dowing me over his worst enemy with another 15 unit stack was too much. Of course, winning from that position may have been possible, but I have no interest.

 

[Phil725]

@ Tempesta13

Spoiler :

I don't see any reason that you couldn't win diplo if your only necessity is to get to #1 in pop. I'm sure you have a better idea on how to get more pop through war, but your missing out on the best way to get more pop, Sushi. In my experience, that nets you ~4 pop per city at least. If you found SS and found as many cities as possible (coastal are the best, get a lighthouse and they can grow a lot even with no other workable tiles,) you should be able to pass Sully in pop. Coincidentally, this is actually one of Charley's strengths, since rathauses everywhere means its nearly impossible for corps to lose money.

I'm not sure on all of the details of your game, I'm assuming Sully will vote for you, so if anyone besides you or him builds the UN, you win. Just war with whoever is the easiest target, found SS and squeeze in a city everywhere possible and grow.

 

[Ai Shizuka]

Emperor, epic, 10 AD - 1000 AD:

Spoiler :

I said I was in good shape at the end of the first part, but my tech rate was terrible. And still is terrible.

At the start of this round Shaka was in wheoohrn mode. Friendly with Hannibal (friendly at +6 ), pleased with Khan and cautious with me. Guess who's the target. But he never declared. Don't ask me why, but he's still stuck in wheoohrn mode at 1000 AD. I admit I'd have restarted if he declared when I was at war vs Nap (yes, Nap did declare war).
To the events:

115 - Nap and Suleiman sign peace.

145 - My THIRD slave revolt in Aachen is compensated by my first good event:

190 - Barb city captured with a CR sword. Shaka had a couple archers there and Hannibal an elephant on the way.

295 - GP builds the Confu shrine. Big mistake. The shrine is generating 10 gpt at the end of the round and I really can't spare the hammers for those missionaries. Should have used him to bulb theology and trade it around. Christianity still not founded, so I had the monopoly on it.

310 - A mine pops gold in Aachen. Small boost, but every bit helps at this point:

325 - Hannibal is planning something. He's always been pleased with me, so no worries:

370 - Completed in Aachen:

Churchill and Nap sign peace in this turn.

445 - FInally Khan spreads Judaism in one of my cities and I convert. The whole eastern block (Hann, Shaka and Kub) is jewish.

565 - Nap asks me to adopt Buddhism. I accept, but switch back in 5 turns. A lot of anarchy, but I'm not ready if Nap gets some fancy idea at this point.

580 - Mass CS trade, including 500 gold from Churchill (he isn't Nap's worst enemy anymore) to fuel my research.
And Hannibal turns back home. Looks like he was after Churchill, who became Suleiman's vassal.

685 - Convert to Judaism again.

775 - GS builds academy.

790 - Dodged war so far, but finally Nap makes his move. Not impressive:

805 - Nap is slow and I can move my stack in Nuremberg.

860 - Khan has a few Keshiks roaming around and is almost friendly. So let's make him my new BFF with mutual military struggle:

870 - And I get the fourth slave revolt in Aachen. No more random events in the next games. Do they compensate? I think not. 4 revolts (2 in the BCs and 1 in the early ADs), gold mine collapse (BC) and jumbo camp destroyed (BC). The good events? 1 turn breakthrough on the Wheel and +1 diplo with everyone.

890 - I can't afford more cities at this point and of course Hannibal has to fill the gaps:

960 - Finally one of my elephants unlocks the HE and I give Nap paper for peace.

1000 - And Nap signs peace with Khan as well.

Empire:

Tech board is terrible, but Education is almost done. I hope I'll be the first to trade it around:

Diplo. Han and Khan are safe now (Khan friendly from religion, fav civic and military struggle). Shaka is tricky. He's still in wheoohrn mode, friendly with Hannibal and pleased with Khan. The buddhist block obviously doesn't like me, but Suleiman somehow is pleased, so I'm safe with him as well. Maybe he built the Shwedagon Paya and adopted FR.

Overall, I'm not happy with this game. I think I'll restart anyway, without oracle. Free CoL is nice, but wasting turns on useless techs and hammers on the oracle itself is not. Early HE is a priority on this map and it should be unlocked vs barbs asap, not in 960 AD.
That far eastern city to block Hannibal completely killed my economy and didn't block anything.

 

[Tempesta13]

Emperor, epic, 10 AD - 1000 AD:

Spoiler :

I said I was in good shape at the end of the first part, but my tech rate was terrible. And still is terrible.

At the start of this round Shaka was in wheoohrn mode. Friendly with Hannibal (friendly at +6 ), pleased with Khan and cautious with me. Guess who's the target. But he never declared. Don't ask me why, but he's still stuck in wheoohrn mode at 1000 AD. I admit I'd have restarted if he declared when I was at war vs Nap (yes, Nap did declare war).
To the events:

115 - Nap and Suleiman sign peace.

145 - My THIRD slave revolt in Aachen is compensated by my first good event:

190 - Barb city captured with a CR sword. Shaka had a couple archers there and Hannibal an elephant on the way.

295 - GP builds the Confu shrine. Big mistake. The shrine is generating 10 gpt at the end of the round and I really can't spare the hammers for those missionaries. Should have used him to bulb theology and trade it around. Christianity still not founded, so I had the monopoly on it.

310 - A mine pops gold in Aachen. Small boost, but every bit helps at this point:

325 - Hannibal is planning something. He's always been pleased with me, so no worries:

370 - Completed in Aachen:

Churchill and Nap sign peace in this turn.

445 - FInally Khan spreads Judaism in one of my cities and I convert. The whole eastern block (Hann, Shaka and Kub) is jewish.

565 - Nap asks me to adopt Buddhism. I accept, but switch back in 5 turns. A lot of anarchy, but I'm not ready if Nap gets some fancy idea at this point.

580 - Mass CS trade, including 500 gold from Churchill (he isn't Nap's worst enemy anymore) to fuel my research.
And Hannibal turns back home. Looks like he was after Churchill, who became Suleiman's vassal.

685 - Convert to Judaism again.

775 - GS builds academy.

790 - Dodged war so far, but finally Nap makes his move. Not impressive:

805 - Nap is slow and I can move my stack in Nuremberg.

860 - Khan has a few Keshiks roaming around and is almost friendly. So let's make him my new BFF with mutual military struggle:

870 - And I get the fourth slave revolt in Aachen. No more random events in the next games. Do they compensate? I think not. 4 revolts (2 in the BCs and 1 in the early ADs), gold mine collapse (BC) and jumbo camp destroyed (BC). The good events? 1 turn breakthrough on the Wheel and +1 diplo with everyone.

890 - I can't afford more cities at this point and of course Hannibal has to fill the gaps:

960 - Finally one of my elephants unlocks the HE and I give Nap paper for peace.

1000 - And Nap signs peace with Khan as well.

Empire:

Tech board is terrible, but Education is almost done. I hope I'll be the first to trade it around:

Diplo. Han and Khan are safe now (Khan friendly from religion, fav civic and military struggle). Shaka is tricky. He's still in wheoohrn mode, friendly with Hannibal and pleased with Khan. The buddhist block obviously doesn't like me, but Suleiman somehow is pleased, so I'm safe with him as well. Maybe he built the Shwedagon Paya and adopted FR.

Overall, I'm not happy with this game. I think I'll restart anyway, without oracle. Free CoL is nice, but wasting turns on useless techs and hammers on the oracle itself is not. Early HE is a priority on this map and it should be unlocked vs barbs asap, not in 960 AD.
That far eastern city to block Hannibal completely killed my economy and didn't block anything.

Spoiler :

Build that city in the NW and it will make for a nice moai spot. Just put a few culture buildings to the east and hannibals city between yours won't really matter too much. You might be able to catch up in tech soon - you'll have to trade education for philosophy though to start on lib. If you trade it first to someone you think is going for nationalism or guilds, then they won't start on lib until they finish it probably. That will still give you a head start on getting it. After a couple turns trade away edu to everyone else. That should give catch you up a bit, and if you get lib and then nationalism free you will be in better shape.

Looks like if you finish of nappy you will have the most land by far. Then you can attack brennus since you should be able to out produce him - and he doesn't like you anyway. You probably can get rifling before Brennus - especially if you get your 6 universities up fast then oxford.

@phil725

Spoiler :

I won't be able to get sushi - i'm no where near medicine, or a great merchant. A couple AI's have biology on me already. I have to beeline mass media to have any chance of getting there first. If i could just build infrastructure and some more cottages i'd get my tech rate up fast, but i will have to focus on military. Only way i can get #1 in pop is to attack nappy soon, hope Hannibal breaks free of Sully, and then attack him. That means i need to build up troops again fast to be ready to do it fast - and still hope to somehow tech mass media first in the process. There's also a chance i could be #1 in pop without attacking hannibal again - as long as he still breaks free and i take over nappy's cities. That should put Sully down to 28% or so, and i'm at 20%, plus nappy's cities, and also i drafted away 2 or 3 pop from a few cities and they haven't recovered yet.

 

[Lansky]

I found going religion first to be a huge boon on this map. Managed to pick up 6 of the 7 religions and used OR for a few quick missionaries sent over to the more zealotish AI's. They spread my religion for me and made me a fortune while making diplomacy fairly simple. Slowly spread the 2nd religion founded in my WS city and took off. Not the only way to do it, but I found it to work incredibly well. Granted I also focused on the full complement of wonders to complement lots of religious buildings. Ultimately was just a race to writing so my missionaries got to the heathen cities first, which is a very easy race to win even after going up the religious route for a handful of turns.

 

[nanomage]

Well, i got killed by barbs in my first try. I threw 2 cities too far away to block Nap, and found it takes forever with that maintenance to tech to slavery or anything. Spearman+archer came and i lost my cap. How do you do this "agressive city placement"? Every time i try it, maintenance (through barbs) kills me.
The second try was much better - to 1812, UN victory.
Too bad most of my screenshots have dissipated somewhere, and i played to fast to have any early saves. But anyway, here is the report.

Spoiler :

I started by building Aachen on wine for +1 commerce. Settler first + hindu shot.
It would be a nice fancy start if it succeeded, but nope - brennus founded it first, i switched to buddhism and lost it too.
Well, at leadt i had early second city to protect from barbs and pay maintenance for.
Tech path was something like
Poly(unfinished) -> Medi(unfinished)-> Agri -> Archery -> BW.
I had mining from hut, and wheel too (yeah, RNG is a fair gui)
I concentrated on blocking Nap here, while dropping cities along his border i teched
Masonry, Poly, Priesthood, Writing.
Successfully performed Oracle -> CoL. Confucianism went to some crappy city at Naps border.
I expanded a bit more, but found Nanny is pretty close, so i only managed to build 7 cities of my own.
In this game, Suly, Brennus*, Nap and Winston were Hindusts, KK*, Shaka and Hannibal - buddhists. I had both religions, and when time to decide came, i aligned with hindus.
Look, They are all to some extent zealots, and with brennus this extent is huge. On the other side, KK, Shaka and Hanni don't put much sence in religion - the worst you can expect is -3 or -4. So, i aligned with "mighty and true hindu block"
Soon hindu nappy declared on hindu churchill, and every other civ (except brennus) joined the dogpile. Huge diplo bonus with all the world, but i understood that "mighty and true hindu block" was a joke. KK, Shaka and Hanni marched some big stacks through my territory, and soon the english civilization was destroyed.
This is view of my land, techs and relations 160AD.



As you can see, Silly man has a former barb city south of prague. It was severelly culturally pressured by Parthenon and such, and Suly DoWed me. Btw, i was in HR and his religion - i did not check the screen, but i can't believe he was lower than pleased. It must be Church who bribed him.
Soon nap got some "fancy ideas" and declared on me too. (bribed by suly, i think). To protect myself against my hindu-friends, i bribed KK and Hanni against them. This was getting more and more ridiculous. Fought back Nap/Suly with phants, and then attacked nap with trebs/landsknechts/phants.

Took capitulation, as the AP vote was coming to stop the war, an because everyone loved Nappy.
The buddhists took war against Silly Man close to heart, they bribed Shaka to join in and kept fighting even when i quitted the party. Silly man bribed Brennus to fight on his side and then signed peace, so brenny was left alone against 3 stacks. He lost 3 cities to Hanni and capitulated.
I was quite backwards by the point, but you know those techer AI's - they always ignore stuff like rifling. I got rifles first and attacked Silly man (the last remaining hindu-brother). War was long and painful, with WW and all such, but finally Silly man was killed.

Techs, cities and relations 1664.



I was now first in pop and land, but AI's were taking off, especially Hannibal. I just built infra, developed land and trained a few units not to feel undefended. KK was friendly and hanni is a sissy, but with shaka you are never safe. DP with KK helped, too. Finally, AP victory Vote came up. I was ready to open a beer and celebrate, but oops:

Well, that changed nothing in my plans - i just need to wait for UN. But suddenly, 1756 brennus has broken free from hanni, and i couldn't miss the opportunity to conquer him. With tanks, it was fast. Finally, KK builds UN, and caboom:

I was quite behind in tech, but computers beeline and internet were ready to fix that. I also was the only civ with Fission, and Manhattan was on the way. They were wise to vote for me

 

[assass1n]

This has been one hell of an awesome game I never got random events and I don't know how even after I had it on and some of the other AI's got those faux pas and bride/groom events

 

[Gumbolt]

This has been one hell of an awesome game I never got random events and I don't know how even after I had it on and some of the other AI's got those faux pas and bride/groom events

You never had a random event before??? Which game have you been playing??

weddings are always fun events to have on here.

 

[Lansky]

How do you do this "agressive city placement"? Every time i try it, maintenance (through barbs) kills me.

Personally, I spread my religion aggressively and got CoL directly after writing. Once the UB went up in the distant blocking cities tech just breezed by. Also did not tech Bronze Working for a LONG time. Used protective archers and just "ate" the pillaging when unavoidable. Oddly enough this "bad" leader's traits and unique building worked perfectly for a very aggressive blocking scheme.

 

[Ai Shizuka]

Tempesta:

Spoiler :

Yes, that was pretty much the plan. Shaka actually declared war and I managed to hold quite well vs him and Nap again, but the tech board was getting worse and worse. I gave up when Kublai won Liberalism, killing my chance to trade to tech parity.

So back from the start again. Emp/epic, no events, to 10 AD:

Spoiler :

MUCH better this time. Didn't waste time/hammers on the Oracle, didn't settle the far eastern city to block Hannibal and went for a less aggressive block vs Nap.

Now I'm really dubious about the Oracle.
In my first try I got CoL from the Oracle. At 10 AD I was researching Literature, generating 30 bpt. No currency and still to start CS.
This time I have CoL anyway, manually researched through the Currency path. Literature is done, CS just started and I'm generating 70 bpt. Of course, I don't have to pay manteinance of that far city to the E and I've settled Prague to work some extra early cottages. But still, is the Oracle really worth the effort on this map?
Researching Meditation, Priesthood and Masonry to hook the marble seems such a waste of early turns.

Oh, on a side note, this time the HE is already unlocked and Aachen has its academy.
Main problem (a very dangerous one), Nap is going to claim the southern elephants, so I need to find a way to get the UU asap.

Empire. I'm building the Shwedagon Paya to adopt FR and prevent religious requests:

Techs:

Diplo. Suleiman and Hannibal are safe, Brennus almost there. Somehow I'm still missing Kub. Let's hope Shaka doesn't like him and keeps his borders closed. Sadly, it seems impossible in this game to stir any trouble between Shaka and Hannibal:

Probably Churchill is happy with his Pro trait in this game:

I'm worried about Nap claiming elephants, but overall this game seems much stronger than my first try.

 

[Tempesta13]

Tempesta:

Spoiler :

Yes, that was pretty much the plan. Shaka actually declared war and I managed to hold quite well vs him and Nap again, but the tech board was getting worse and worse. I gave up when Kublai won Liberalism, killing my chance to trade to tech parity.

So back from the start again. Emp/epic, no events, to 10 AD:

Spoiler :

MUCH better this time. Didn't waste time/hammers on the Oracle, didn't settle the far eastern city to block Hannibal and went for a less aggressive block vs Nap.

Now I'm really dubious about the Oracle.
In my first try I got CoL from the Oracle. At 10 AD I was researching Literature, generating 30 bpt. No currency and still to start CS.
This time I have CoL anyway, manually researched through the Currency path. Literature is done, CS just started and I'm generating 70 bpt. Of course, I don't have to pay manteinance of that far city to the E and I've settled Prague to work some extra early cottages. But still, is the Oracle really worth the effort on this map?
Researching Meditation, Priesthood and Masonry to hook the marble seems such a waste of early turns.

Oh, on a side note, this time the HE is already unlocked and Aachen has its academy.
Main problem (a very dangerous one), Nap is going to claim the southern elephants, so I need to find a way to get the UU asap.

Empire. I'm building the Shwedagon Paya to adopt FR and prevent religious requests:

Techs:

Diplo. Suleiman and Hannibal are safe, Brennus almost there. Somehow I'm still missing Kub. Let's hope Shaka doesn't like him and keeps his borders closed. Sadly, it seems impossible in this game to stir any trouble between Shaka and Hannibal:

Probably Churchill is happy with his Pro trait in this game:

I'm worried about Nap claiming elephants, but overall this game seems much stronger than my first try.

Spoiler :

You're 2nd try looks really good. I think blocking Nappy and waiting to settle the east is the way to go. I didn't block east - as was glad i didn't. However i didn't block nappy good enough but you should be fine. As far as Nappy and his elephants - since you said you're safe with Hannibal you only have to guard one front. With protective, and with nappy probably only getting a few cities you should be able to deal with any DOWs. Eventually you should be able to declare on him with a much stronger military than he has.

I gave up on my game finally (around 1820) Vassals got me again... Declared on Nappy, took 3 cities then he capitulated to Brennus. So now i was at war with him as well, and both of them had infantry on me. The other 3 AI's were vassals of Suly, so i didn't see a way to win. With vassals off i win that game easily. Oh well - i always play with them on, and it's just something i need to deal with. Usually they help me, but sometimes it goes the other way. Both times they screwed me (Hannibal, then Nappy) i'm sure i could have capitulated them if i'd of checked. Maybe it's time to get the new version of BUG that tells you when this option is open. (i think)

 

[Ai Shizuka]

Emperor/epic, 10 - 1000 AD:

Spoiler :

Nobody ever signed peace with Churchill and he got wiped. Poor Winston.
I've delayed the Lib path to research a couple turns on machinery (then traded) and engineering, to unlock castles and the UU. 5 turns to go on Lib but Brennus, Nap and Suleiman can research it.

130 - I finally meet KK, friendly with Shaka and pleased with Hannibal. No way to bribe some war over there.

145 - Switch to FR:

280 - Great Library lost by a couple turns. Oh well, I'd rather take the immunity vs religious requests in this game.

535 - Augsburg settled on a hill. I know Shaka will declare at some point and this city should be his first target:

655 - Shaka joins the party vs Churchill.

745 - And Churchill is dead. Over 700 years vs 4-5 enemies on multiple fronts. I wonder how he managed to survive so far.

775 - Mainz. 1 more city to settle at the stone/sheep spot:

880 - My second (and last) GS of this game bulbs Edu.

970 - Now something weird. Shaka shows up with this fleet, so I think he's after Napoleon and that island city:

980 - Shaka declares on me and lands a grand total of 2 catapults. I'm puzzled. I was pretty sure the AI would NEVER attack from the sea in a scenario like this. If they have a land route they should attack with a land stack. He's likely to have additional stacks coming soon, but this is still weird.

Empire. Still 3 cities to settle. Sheep/stone to the E, clam/pig on the W coast and Moai city on the NW tip. Nap didn't claim those elephants after all:

Hindu block is running away on the tech board:

Diplo is painful. No negative scores, despite two strong religious blocks. Any DoW may lead to a chain of war bribes vs me. Brennus, Hannibal and Suleiman are safe. Kub almost there from fav civic bonus (Bureau):

War front. 2 catapults and triremes running around:

 

[Ai Shizuka]

1000 - 1600. Seems hopeless, input appreciated:

Spoiler :

1010 - Way to start a round. Brennus wins lib, beating me by 3 turns.

1040 - I kill Shaka's uber stack (1 HA and 2 catapults) and give him some gold for peace.

1200 - Shaka enters wheoohrn again.

1255 - Someone researched Military Tradition and traded it to everyone and his grandma. Time for some def pacts:

1280 - Shaka acts as his usual idiotic self and declares war. Kub and Suleiman declare vs him via defensive pact.

3125 - I give Shaka 30 gold for peace. I've seen a grand total of 2 trebs from him.

1345 - Suleiman actually takes seriously our defensive pact:

1375 - Brennus joins the dogpile vs Shaka.

1380 - GM starts a golden age.

1440 - Suleiman captures the zulu capital (second zulu city captured by Sulei) and Shaka becomes his vassal.

1485 - Han dropped to cautious, from war vs friend (I declared again vs Shaka), defensive pacts with rivals (usual diplo bs, he's FRIENDLY with the people I have a def pact with) and border tension.

Same turn, Nap becomes Brennus' vassal, screwing my plans. I was assembling my stack to wipe Nap. Looks like Hannibal is the best option now, but he has a def pact with Kub.

1585 - And Nap breaks free.


Empire at 1600 AD:

I'm really lost at this point. Diplo:

Never seen anything like this. Everyone loves everyone else. Shaka is now Sulei's vassal, so doesn't matter anymore. Seriously, some of the biggest jerks of the game and it turned into a hippie convention.
Massive lovefest obviously means massive trade whoring:

I simply can't find anything to trade. Beelined Steel and only 2 AIs didn't have it. Now I'm researching physics and hopefully I'll get something from Sulei.
A few defensive pacts as well:

Now one thing is pretty obvious. My land isn't enough to compete in the space race and someone (probably Sulei) is going to get a UN win.
So I need to expand. My options are Nap or Hannibal.

Nap is small and should be easy (if he doesn't becomes Brennus vassal again, that is), but I'm 100% sure Hannibal would backstab me.
Hannibal isn't so strong (power ratio is 0.8), but he has a def pact with Kub. I don't know if Kub can reach me. Shaka doesn't like him anymore and I don't think they have open borders.

Third option is trading Physics to Sulei for Economics and adopt FR, wich is Hannibal's fav civic and push him to pleased again. But I'd have to wait for a while.

My main stack is at Hannibal's border now. Moved it there when Nap became Brennus' vassal (and isn't anymore):

Seriously. I wasn't expecting anything like this game. Almost no wars, peace&love diplo. It's like replacing Nap and Kub with Gandhi and Mansa.

About the war, I'm pretty much forced to go mass cannons. Everyone has rifles at this point. I'm trying a beeline to artillery, but probably someone is researching it already.

 

[Lansky]

Ai

Spoiler :

I'd say you really need to act now. If you think you can take out even half of Hannibal, I'd do it. Napoleon would be the better target in terms of land and power, but as you say there is no way Hannibal would sit back and not plow into your eastern border cities.

Also if you cannot catch up in tech why not drop research down and start massing gold/espionage? After a successful war and the assimilation of new cities obviously this would not be a good idea, but in the mean time I'd drop my research and just amass espionage on whoever I choose to attack. Send over a handful of spies. A few to key cities to revolt to save a few turns on barraging and let the other ones steal techs. Granted I normally do this gambit in either a medieval or very early renaissance war, but I do not see why it would not work in a more modern one. You don't seem to be able to keep up in tech so perhaps upgrade some unites and steal a few techs? It's risky, but I do not see a low risk way to try and win your game. No AI looks like they are going to help you break up world peace.

 

[assass1n]

Go Mounted + Spies on key cities while secondary stack rounds up the other cities and fortify borders with Pro Rifles/Longbows and Castles the AI can do . .. .. .. .