More Log (Spoiler info):
580AD: Greeks down! USA sneaks.
620AD: Mosocw falls. Defenses vs barbs are OK.
780AD: Russia down! City walls at Washington down. But it's still a big Republican city with 6 defenders, so I "siege it" and it loses 1-2 defenders.
800AD: Vik cf expires and they attack, but not successfully. Since Tronhiem is on a river, and pretty far from home, I'm planning a quiet build-up there.
820AD: The Zulu's (at peace) demand that I withdraw from Zim. I have said yes several times before, but then some bug in Civ2 withdraws my armies from OTHER cities too, such as Washington/etc and endangers all my campaigns. So, I said No, and lost "Spotless" status. Zimbabwe falls that turn (with Colossus, but it never helped me).
840AD: The only techs left to me are bad ones (Feud, Nav, Inv) so I chose Nav and set science to zero for the rest of the game.
The USA is researching Feudalism. Magic has faced this, but I haven't. I step up my plans vs the USA. I can't tech bomb them since we are at war, but when they demanded Sanitation, I gladly said Yes, and then refused a cease fire.
880AD: The Zulu's build a new capital at Umfaloozi(sp?), which is not even on my map. Aaargh!! Also, the game is starting to crash about once per turn, losing me an hour of work each time, so I switched from 2.42 to MGE - this helps , but I dunno why.
900AD Viks build Copes. Also, they have a cat in Tronheim, which is taking out one Egyptian warrior fom my fort, every turn or so. I just refill the fort until I have more resources.
920AD: I was also in a stalemate with the Sioux, but now they attacked, and left units exposed, so I won some battles there. Instead of 9 defenders in LBH, they have 6. But I still can't conquer that city and get the LH - not yet.
940AD: 32 warriors attack Washington (3.5 defenders) and win (18 losses).
I'll try to buy up the "small" US cities (eg size 6) and sabotage the large ones, to delay Feudalism, and build up some major cash or a new army, for the size 12 cities.
960AD: My notes are sketchy, but IIRC, the Viks took one of my outposts near Tronheim, and I bribed it back. I buy Phil before it can build a new US capital. The US dmeands the Wheel and I say "Sure"!
980AD: Trade is good, and I can buy New York (and Pyr) for 800g. The US still has 5 cities.
1020AD: I give the Sioux a cf for 200g, and buy Boston (and Ora) for 600g.
I have invested in lots of Hides vans, but demand changed and I plan to trade with the Sioux as soon as I can get boats in place. Still missing LH!
1060AD: I demand tribute and the Sioux declare war.
They are too weak to cause much trouble, and I can still trade with their exposed coastal Hides cities.
1080AD: Found second Zulu cap, and moved about 10 warriors there (it's only size 2) and defeat it. The Zulu's have a few cities left, but are going down.
1120AD: LBH is down to 3 defenders, mainly from silly attacks, and I have 22 warriors there, so I attack and win. Sioux cap down! LH! I finally feel that I will win this game (if US science remains stalled at Feudalism). I've found and bought all but 2 US cities. No progress vs Vikings, but am poised to bribe some outlying cities and/or units, and LH will give me faster access to them. Also, I have more outposts near Tronheim now, though they are not giving me a big army there.
1140AD: cf with Sioux for 450g. I attack Bapedi with 13 warriors (to save bribe money). They empty the city, but can't step in. Fortunately there is an Egyptian explorer nearby. I buy a few other cities and get some vans in, total is 2700g.
1160BC: Chicago (size 11) riots, so I buy it for only 300g. Then Atlanta for 660g. US down! No feudalism!
1200AD: Gold exceeds 5000 (from trade with Sioux). Buy Hlobane, and Zulu's down! Tronheim finally lost one of its attackers to a warrior in a fort. Two defenders are supported from nearby Aarhus, which I bribe for 1200g (ouch), so the capital now has only an archer, a phalanx and a wounded catapult (on a river). I've been sabotaging and investigating pretty regularly.
1220AD: I attack Tron with 22 warriors, but the catapult still barely clings to life. I bring in 4-5 more warriors from the nearby outposts and finally defeat it. Though not entirely planned, I have enough dips and boats to buy the last 4 Vik cities and two Sioux cities. THE END.
Stats: 170 cities, approx 300 warriors (F2 lost count) 111 triremes, 30 dips, 39 vans. I lost 185 warriors and 14 other units. Have 37 barracks. 34 advances (frozen at Nav for many years). 3500g. pop14.2, largest city = NY = size 11. Score 834+240.
This was a very memorable game, and I didn't know if I'd win it until near the end. Bad things tend to happen when you can't conquer by 1000AD, and I feel a little lucky that no civ got Feudalism (or Gunpowder/etc). I probably should have played more carefully in the beginning against the Greeks, and should not have let the LH get away from me, but that was partly bad luck, I think.
I don't know if I want to play Primitive Conquest anymore - this took A LOT of time and effort. But it was really a lot of fun to learn how to do it, and to see how far we could push things.
Best of luck to you, Magic Gorter, in your game, though you seem to be in control. Also, thanks to Banach, for suggesting these comparison games in the first place.
I'll try to start this weekend. Let's see if we can win this game.
