GOTM Notes
4000 BC- Move the scout around, see a coast nearby, move worker and see some Wheats, decide to move the Settler 1SE onto a nearby hill to avoid being one tile off a coastline. Wow, 3 Wheat, 2 Wine, and some BG’s!
3950 BC- Found Mecca on the hill and start researching Alphabet
3700 BC- First Warrior built and sent exploring. From what my scout has found looks like I’m on the edge of a peninsula or an island, and there’s lots of hills and mountains nearby.
3200 BC- I pop Warrior Code from a hut, and gold from another hut, which was good because I was running low on money
3000 BC- The history of the world tells me I’m somewhat backwards, and that my AI opponents are Greece, England, France, Egypt, the Dutch, Persia, and Korea.
2800 BC- Found Medina on the coast to the south near a bunch of BG’s
2670 BC- My explorers finally see an AI border. It’s Greece. They’re up Bronze Working and Alphabet on me, have 10 gold and only 1 city. I could trade Pottery for Alphabet but I’m 2 turns from researching it anyway so I don’t.
2590 BC- Research Alphabet -> Writing
2550 BC- For some mysterious reason Greece’s Settler looked like it wanted to go settle but then ran back to Athens. Is there some barbs around here I haven’t seen yet, or something?
2510 BC- I finish a road to the Wines near Mecca, a couple turns later than I would have if I hadn’t misclicked on an attempted move
2230 BC- My exploring scout makes contact with Egypt, they’re up BW and Masonry but down Alphabet and WC and have 3 cities, I trade them Alphabet and WC for BW, Masonry, and 10 gold, then trade Greece Masonry and 28 gold for the Wheel. Nearest Horses is a bit of distance from me but I think I can get there before Greece does, especially if they keep mysteriously not building cities.
2190 BC- My scout pops a city, Damascus from a hut, way over by Egypt, and also near a barb camp. That’ll be tough to deal with. Strangely the barbs I see two tiles away from my new city don’t come to it. I double-check that I have NoAIPatrol=0, and yes, I do. Strange.
2070 BC- I finally see Greece build a city in view of one of my exploring Warriors, and also disperses a barb camp in the process.
1990 BC- Found Baghdad
1870 BC- I pop Mysticism from a hut
1830 BC- I pop HBR from a hut, then trade it and Mysticism to Egypt for IW. There’s 2 sources of Iron pretty close to me, so that’s good
1700 BC- Research Writing -> CoL
1675 BC- My Scout finds itself unable to get away from some surrounding barbarians and is killed. Unfortunate.
1625 BC- Found Najran
1475 BC- I have the continent I’m on more or less scouted out. I’m alone with Egypt and Greece, I’m far away from them and there’s a 4-tile chokepoint I can occupy with Warriors to block Greece out, at least for a while. In the meantime I’ve got a 4-turn Settler Factory set up in Mecca thanks to all the Wheat, though the lack of any fresh water anywhere near me is very disappointing, and I can't say I'm thrilled about the giant mountain cluster that's making for some inconvenient city placements and totally robbing me of some second-ring city locations.
1250 BC- Research CoL->Philo and found Kufah
1200 BC- Found Basra
1075 BC- Found Khurasan
1050 BC- Research Philo, get Republic as the free tech, start MM. I hold off on switching governments for now because my unit support costs would be too high and my towns are tiny and have no way to grow into cities without Aqueducts.
1025 BC- Trade Egypt Writing for Math and 122 gold
1000 BC- Found Anjar
975 BC- Found Fustat
850 BC- I’ve been sending out suicide Curraghs and it looks like there’s some land not too far to my Northwest, but it’s been just out of reach so far. Maybe if they become Galleys it will be easier…
825 BC- The Dutch complete the Colossus in Amsterdam. I’d just started trying to build it myself in Medina, so I’ll try shifting to a different wonder, maybe Pyramids or ToA, or maybe it just turns into a really expensive Aqueduct prebuild…
730 BC- Found Aden
710 BC- Research Map Making ->Polytheism
690 BC- Trade Egypt CoL for Construction and 36 gold
670 BC- Found Yamama
610 BC- Found Muscat
550 BC- Egypt finishes the Pyramids in Thebes. Guess my wonder city is becoming a ToA, then, or maybe an early MA wonder. I found Mansura.
530 BC- Greeks complete the Oracle in Athens
390 BC- Found Bukhara
370 BC- Found Fez
310 BC- Research Currency and reach the MA! Yay! And France completes the ToA in Paris. Not Yay! Switch my wonder build to Great Lighthouse, seems like the best option now.
290 BC- Found Shiraz, appropriately near some Wines. One of my Galleys finally made it to the landmass I saw a bit NW of my core, and found it disappointingly to be a 2-tile island. But I circle the island and there’s some Orange borders in sight!
250 BC- Make contact with Orange, it’s England, they’re up Literature and Monarchy and down Currency and Republic. There’s some teal borders just up ahead so I hold off on trading for now.
230 BC- Thebes completes MoM. I contact Persia, who’s down Currency, Republic, and Construction. England suddenly has Monotheism and Currency, so I guess there’s someone else they’re trading with. I trade them Republic for Monotheism and 11 gold.
210 BC- Elephantine completes SoZ
190 BC- Found Merw
170 BC- Research Literature
150 BC- I find Korea and the Dutch, like everyone on the other continent they have Monarchy but are otherwise at parity with me. I found Balkh
130 BC- London completes Great Lib, I found Mosul
110 BC- Found Aydab. I find France, who like me has Monarchy and no other techs up on me
90 BC- I’m 1 turn from the Lighthouse, but I could also build the Walls or HG (they all have the same shield cost). I decide the Gardens are narrowly the most useful of the 3, so I trade Republic to France for Monarchy and 5 gold and switch Medina to the Hanging Gardens.
70 BC- Complete the Gardens. With the wonder finished, my cities growing, a healthy number of them, and almost all the land settled, I decide now is as good of a time as any to finally switch into Republic.
30 BC- I become a Republic and the Dutch complete the Lighthouse. Being a Republic is definitely costing me money in the short term but hopefully I’ll be able to make it work soon.
30 AD- Found Bayt Ras
90 AD- Found Suhar
170 AD- Found Taif
230 AD- Research Feudalism
250 AD- Athens completes the Great Wall. Well that puts a damper on my plan of Ansar-rushing Greece. Why’d it have to be them, of all civs? I’m probably still going to do it anyway for some cities and a Golden Age, but now I’ll just need some more Ansars….
My empire so far:
Along with my outlying cities, both on an island and from having popped a city near Egypt: