WOW, good job t_x. I knew this long delay could have costed me the gold and i tried to compensate as much as i could with optimization, but it just wasn't enough.
Since i'm here i'll take the opportunity to reply to a pair of questions that i forgot to address earlier.
1) why i don't want to fish Mono (asked by t_x)
Because it gives no immediate benefits. No pukes/maces, no beeline to Chivalry (Feud), no river crossing, no putting the AS on the right track for Invention (Eng).
However, knowing Mono and
not knowing Eng opens up an interesting alternative path to research, because the AS seem to shun Eng and go for Theology, Education and Astronomy instead. So it's not that bad after all
2) why i researched Chivalry and other apparently useless optional techs (asked by PF)
This needs to be explained in its proper context. My usual strategy is to prioritize expansion up to near the Dom limit and optimize in the meantime. This usually leaves only a limited amount of income to be spent on research. Only after expansion is over i turn to fast research and keep optimizing with any surplus available.
This is my tech log in the MA, up to Gunpowder:
_750bc: Monotheism (scientific bonus);
_430bc: Feudalism (research - 16 turns);
_210bc: Chivalry (research - 11 turns);
_190bc: Monarchy, Theology (trade, France);
__70ad: Engineering (research - 14 turns);
_110ad: Education (trade, France);
_250ad: Music Theory (research - 9 turns);
_310ad: Banking (research - 6 turns);
_320ad: Astronomy (trade, France);
_380ad: Invention (trade, China);
_400ad: Navigation (research - 9 turns);
_470ad: Economics (research - 7 turns); Gunpowder (trade, France);
I went for Chivalry because i wanted knights ASAP. Then, Engineering to cross rivers without penalties and put the AS in the "right" track.
Now, when France had completed Education, they still didn't know Engineering so i could expect them to stay on the upper branch. Therefore i decided to not rise research and keep spending the most on military and improvements. Meanwhile i'd go for Music Theory (Bachs) and Banking (well... banks).
Once France had completed Astronomy, i'd expect them to go for Invention, but also i'd expect China to get to it first, because they had received Engineering
and Education together in 110 AD. Once again, i kept research low, spend the most on military and improvements and went for two optional techs.
I got lucky with the timing because i completed my work on Economics in the very same turn France completed its work on Gunpowder. At that point the military expansion was over and my empire was so well developed that i could switch to 4-turns research and keep that pace up to Fission, and with a nice surplus budget that could be spent on further optimization.
It wasn't exactly fast, but i expected China to complete Invention earlier. It took them a lot (22 turns) compared to France's 9 turns for Gunpowder. In retrospective, i think i could have done a better job by just going for Invention myself and trading it with France, then going for Banking and Music Theory while they were busy on Gunpowder. I would have ended with a less optimized empire, but still powerful enough for 4-turns research up to the end.
templar_x: 970 AD Diplomatic Victory, 11,804 points.
tR1cKy: 1465 AD Diplomatic Victory, 11,650 points.
Neo666: 920 AD Diplomatic Victory, 11,271 points.
aobaki: 1650 AD Diplomatic Victory, 6,309 points.
