(IT) 875BC: Veto library in Athens for settler. We'll build a library. Luxuries cut to 10%. Delphi switched to a much cheaper library (2 turns) instead of a temple (12 turns) to get the whales and fish in range.
We do need *some* defense, so Thermopylae is switched to a horseman. It has a barracks, so it can build military for us.
Cattle just outside of Sparta's borders is *mined* - irrigating it would improve our food surplus from 5 to 6, and that wouldn't give any benefit at all.
(1) 850BC: Athens builds settler, set to build a library. We need to start pushing up past the choke. There's a heap of fertile land up there!
We discover Code of Laws, and start towards The Republic, of course!
Ok, we deal with Rome: Map Making (monopoly), World Map, 60 gold, for Literature, HBR, and Code of Laws (Monopoly), and our World Map. Expensive, yeah, but that's what buying a monopoly tech can cost you.
We then sell Code of Laws to Montezuma for 50 gold and his World Map.
We then sell our World Map to Hammurabi for his World Map and 50 gold. He *still* doesn't have communications with anyone else remember. Let's see how long this'll last for
Guess what? That land up past the choke point wraps round, and Babylon has access to it through another choke point on the northern end of the continent. Looks like the race is on, us vs Babylon to see who can colonize more of it!
(2) 825BC: Our warrior in the south beats a couple of Roman warriors to a barbarian encampment by one turn and gets 25 gold. I whip out the library in Knossos.
(3) 800BC: Pharsalos builds Library. Changed to Worker.
(4) 775BC: Sparta builds a settler and now has the second cattle in range. This means it can grow every 2 turns. This is the first time in our game that growth rates have outstripped shield production for getting settlers. However at the moment Sparta is building a galley, which will be followed by workers. It'll actually get to size 7, but we really want one galley, and it grows so fast that that's not going to matter much.
(5) 750BC: Thermopylae builds our first offensive military unit: a horseman. Set to build a library. Delphi's borders expand, instantly transforming it from a backwater to a powerful fishing town. Hmm...I decide to switch it from worker to galley, and Sparta from galley to worker.
Ok, our settler/hoplite pair is in position to found an aggressive city near the Romans, cutting them off from iron. We'll likely surrender the southern wedge of fertile land to them and the Aztecs, but we do want to contain any expansion toward us.
(6) 730BC: Athens builds library. It's set to building a settler, and Sparta builds a worker - it's set to building another. Ephesus is founded in the south, near Rome.
The Babylonians have *finally* researched a great invention...pottery! They still don't have contact with anyone else.
I start irrigating grassland now, as we have 12 turns to Republic, and it's going to be real useful real soon.
(7) 710BC: Barbarian warrior attacks our hoplite/settler pair. Our hoplite wins, after losing one, and now a barbarian horseman is in view. Oh boy, there are going to be lots of barbarians up in that area, we're going to be very thankful that we have hoplites I think.
Corinth builds a worker -> hoplite. It has a barracks, and we'd love to have a couple of veteran hoplites roaming around.
Pharsalos builds a worker -> temple; it's time to start rolling out the happiness improvements.
We start on the tedious business of starting to build a road up toward Knossos.
(8) 690BC: Uhh...some Aztec troops are at our borders. Are they wanting to attack us now? They have a jag outside Mycenae, and a jag and archer on the border with Argos. I move our horseman in position to counter any attack. Workers are moved back.
This reminds me, hooking up that iron at some point would be good. That way, we could upgrade warriors -> swordsmen for instant military power.
(9) 670BC: The jag near Mycenae heads north. Going for some barbarians maybe? I trade WM with him, since he'll know where the barbarian encampments are. But there don't seem to be any up there. Going to contact Babylon?
The jag near Argos withdraws, but the archer skirts along the border.
With the bonus from forest-cutting, Sparta is switched to building a barracks. It'll have to grow to size 7, but it can handle that. We do need cities which can produce troops fast if needed.
Thermopylae has grown to size 6 and would go into disorder, so I move our horseman back there, for MP.
(10) 650BC: I'm really not sure what the Aztecs are playing at exactly. Their jag continues to skirt our borders in the north. A barbarian approaches Corinth, which has a worker right next to it. I have to move Corinth's defense out onto the worker to defend him, while I move Pharsalos' defense into Corinth, leaving Pharsalos undefended, something which I'm not willing to do with a jag so near the border, so I move the horse from Thermopylae to Pharsalos, and have to set an entertainer in Thermopylae.
Warrior up north disperses a barbarian encampment, getting $25.
Sparta has happiness problems, but I adjust bonus grassland -> fresh water, to get it more luxuries and that keeps people happy.
----
We have 11 cities.
Rome has 8 cities, and is -philosophy, which we have a monopoly on.
Azteca has 9 cities, and is -philosophy, -map making.
Babylon has 6 cities, and is -philosophy, -literature, -map making, -horseback riding
Babylon *still* doesn't have contact with Azteca or Rome. We can't get a great deal out of selling contact either, so I say let it last as long as it lasts!
The hoplite/settler pair in the north is intended for the wines right next to the barb encampment. This way the encampment can be popped and we guarantee ourselves a source of wines.
We're really a little short on defense here guys. we now have 11 workers, which is starting to get to a reasonable number (we'll want 30+ eventually though).
We'll almost certainly want to revolt to Republic as soon as we can. Especially with the Aztecs looking like they might want war with us: we want our golden age to be in Republic, not despotism! Also, if Monty does attack, try to deny him any victories with a jag. This will deny him his Golden Age.
Oh yes, just a note: I noticed that some of you have been checking diplomacy with each of our rivals every single turn. While this isn't a bad move, it's not something I do to be honest. Why not? Well, it's tedious, especially at this stage in the game, where turns otherwise go fairly fast, and in most cases it doesn't gain alot. If you have a technology, and you want to trade it at the first opportunity before anyone else does, then yes it's a good idea. Otherwise, if they discover a technology, you'll learn about it soon enough, you don't have to check every single turn.
The other main reason to check every turn is to buy workers. This used to be incredibly effective as it'd only cost 40 gold for a worker, and if you did it early on, it'd give you a huge advantage, and cripple your opponent. I considered this so effective it was borderline exploitive, and though I'd often buy workers if I saw them available, I wouldn't go into diplomacy every turn to see if there were some available. These days, workers are more reasonably priced, so these concerns are lessened.
I'm not saying there's anything bad about checking out each rival each turn, but I am saying that it's not something you have to do to be a high level player if you don't want to do it. I like concentrating on aspects of the game that involve strategy and skill, rather than aspects (like this, imho), that involve little or no skill, but are simply mechanical.
I mention this mainly because when I was a fairly bad player, I would read articles, tips, and strategies of others, and concluded that to be a good player, you had to primarily concern yourself with perfecting a mechanical playing style, that I knew would drain (for me at least) all fun out of the game. It wasn't until later that I realized it was possible to win on Emperor/Deity and still have lots of fun. (although before one of the patches, Deity did have limited fun value. It was fun the one time I beat it back then, but I'm not sure if I would have liked to repeat that gruelling experience too many times. Kudos to Firaxis for making Deity both fun and very challenging, even if it took several patches to do so).
Renata, you're up! Matt_g is on deck.
Good luck!
-Sirp.
The Game
), and plan to play late tonight or early tomorrow.
Our hoplite at Thessalonica attacks barb warrior and wins w/o damage - with luck the empty town willl also draw that stray barb horse back away from Knossos - that warrior is just too vulnerable. 
Library can be rushed in Ephesus next turn. I've switched Corinth to horseman so as not to waste any shields - next player can still switch back and waste only two, though, if unit needed faster. Iron hook-up due in 8. We don't really have much in the way of warriors to upgrade (7, and 3 of those are regular), but I guess you can't have everything. We have a spare hoplite on the iron as well right now and our horseman is south of Argos spying on the Aztecs. One Aztec archer in view near Ephesus. City count: us 13, Aztecs 9, Romans 9, Babylon 7. Currency due in 4, now at -17 gpt; we still have 245 gold left. We're up Philo and Lit on the babs, just philo on the other two. Rome will offer WM plus all his gold (118) for philo; the other two are broke.
some of the incense near Athens when you made this decision? 
