Spoiler: Ancient and Classical Rome.

[Aussie_Lurker]

Edit bit by Ainwood: No real need for another thread - this one will suffice.

Civ4 GOTM Spoiler 1: The first tentative steps.

OK - we're not really sure about cut-off periods for spoiler threads, because unlike Civ3, in Civ4 you can beeline through the ages and miss-out quite a lot of techs etc on the way. As such, we'll try game-play cut-offs. This is open for further discussion, and will probably evolve as the months go by.

Firstly - a point about why we structure the spoilers at all: Splitting the spoilers into phases (say early & late game) allows people who want to play at a leisurely pace throughout the month and write-up their spoilers to do so as-they-play. They can post them, and contribute to the apoiler threads without worry that their late game will be ruined by them receiving information about possible future events (other civs, locations of resources etc). As I have said previously, its not just about cheating - people wanting to cheat may seek-out foreknowledge of the map; however there may be those that just want to participate in the spoilers without having their game spoiled for them.

To qualify for this spoiler, you must:

1. Have full-view of the starting continent.
2. Have played the game to the point where you have met at least one civ from another continent.

To avoid spoiling the game for others, please do not discuss anything past the point where you first me an off-continent civ. This includes who these other civs are, relative strengths or technological advancement, maps showing anything off-continent (including the minimaps).

Thanks.

/Edit bit by Ainwood



-----------------------------------------------------
Ahhh, where to start I wonder? First of all, this game marks a HUGE change-for the better IMO-in the Civ4 franchise, and I look forward to further games of the month throughout the new year.
Now, I don't know if this was done manually or as a random map, but if the former, then I must tip my hat to the map maker, as it is a BEAUTIFUL start-point for my burgeoning Roman State.
At present, I have neither the time-nor the saved games-here right now to wax lyrical about my turn-by-turn exploits, but will be sure to do so as soon as I get home tonight (with accompanying screenies). Also, assuming that Ainwood is prepared to say that it is OK for me to continue in this endeavour?

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[ainwood]

Also, assuming that Ainwood is prepared to say that it is OK for me to continue in this endeavour?

Well, you're a bit early.... We prefer to wait about 5-7 days so that people have started the game, rather than just read this to find-out what's happening. Secondly, need some definition on what can and cannot be discussed (eg contacts, areas explored, resources uncovered etc).

Suggest we define these before people get too carried away?

 

[MerakSpielman]

I wish I'd kept better track during the game... I can't remember what I was thinking during much of it. Is there a way to review a replay in more detail? Little things like where I explored and what resources I found first are impossible to figure out from the standard replay. Maybe next time I should take notes or something...

 

[azzaman333]

I think that first spoiler in this case should need to have met everyone on the starting continent. Other criteria im not sure about though.

 

[LeSphinx]

Yes I agree with azzaman33...
-> I think that first spoiler in this case should need to have met everyone on the starting continent. Other criteria im not sure about though.

More generaly I think we can not discuss about everythin concerning civ in the starting continent!

But there is a big difference with previous civ: technology.
I think we should put either :
- a date deadline: when you have passed it, you can not discuss about thing of this era
- one or some technologies

LeSphinx

 

[ainwood]

Thanks for the input, people.

I'll close this now, and we'll re-open it in a day or two.

 

[ainwood]

Spoiler now opened. Please read the guidelines in the first post.

 

[Amao]

Wow, finally...

I didn't go straight to war when I figured out the Greek was the only neighbour. I wanted them built some cities for me and also get my soldiers trained.

However, the war was going as well as planned. It lasted to about 700AD due to a battle seiging a hilled city. My army was heavied damaged and I have to waited for a long time to rebuilt it and big cities suffered the war awareness.

I left Greek down to one city to get 2 techs and waited another 10 turns to eliminate them. Now, I'm alone and optics is still a little far away...

(I'll get my details story when I'm home.)

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

Excellent, I meet ALL the criteria then-expect to see something from me in the next 8-10 hours!
All I will say for now is that, up until the end of the classical age, I have NOT been in a single war ! Possibly because of the fact that there is only a single civ on this continent, and we have plenty of resources and land to go around (what a difference the absence of ICS makes!) It might also help that both of our societies are Jewish ! Going great so far, though, as I have founded both Christianity AND Judaism, and have successfully built both of their shrines ('I'm in the money, I'm in the money....' !) In spite of this, our scores and tech advancement have remained almost neck and neck throughout! Anyway, more info later !

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[Stormreaver]

Ok, my first actions went like this, with reasoning. My first GOTM ever, and I'm at best a mediocre player, and any and all tips are welcome.

Anyway, I decided to go for an early war with Praetorians and get whomever unlucky enough to end up on my continent. Techwise that meant Agriculture, BW, IW, and screw religion. Hopefully some neighbour would have a holy city I could seize.

I settled 1E of the hill, and went warrior until size 2, then a worker, then a warrior and a halfbuilt barracks before I went for the settler at size 5. This was a bit late, I intended to go for the settler at size 4, but forgot it until Rome was already halfway to 5. Lesson learnt, I'm looking for an easy mod just to add "<city> grew to size X" to the log. I hope that's not a GOTM violation.

I founded Antium at 2200BC 5 squares straight W of Rome, along the river. I had by now found the iron in the desert to the right, and I founded Cumae along the coast 5 squares E of Rome so I wouldn't have to wait for Rome to get to 500 culture and allow me to mine the resource.

At 1040BC I had my first 2 Paretorians built and sitting pretty outside the Greeks northern city and declared war. I conquered Sparta at 975BC, lost it again temporarily but with Rome churning out a new Praetorian every second or third turn and Greeks defending mostly with Archers I had the Greek down to Athens only and also Corinth under my control at 175BC. I took a 10-turn peace break (War weariness and getting my praets healed and positioned ready for final push) before I eliminated the greeks at 225AD.

Now alone the praets could concentrate on barb duty and I could expand to cover the whole continent, and start researching for optics and astronomy.

 

[MerakSpielman]

I build Rome one space away from the initial starting point, I forget why. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

For a fleeting handful of turns I thought I was alone on the contenent, since I explored north first. Then I encountered Alexander. Crap, an aggressive neighbor. That made me research Horseback Riding and send settlers to the horses as quickly as I could. I'd need a standing army.

I was utterly paranoid about losing Rome, and made certain not to neglect my military in the face of barbarian assaults. I got Archery quickly, and didn't send any settlers out without at least one military unit as an escort. I spread east-west quickly, cutting off the north end of the contenent. Denying Alexander Right of Passage, I knew I could colonize it at my leisure. There was something of a land grab going on in the SW corner, and I wanted to concentrate on getting as much territory down there as I could. I succeed spendidly, with Alexander wasting time razing the only barbarian city there, I moved in with settlers and grabbed most of the land. Alexander managed to get one city, but it was surrounded on all sides by mine. It culture flipped quickly.

All across the world people I can't see are developing religions. Always one step ahead of me. My contenent was totally relgion free, so with no other options, I made a beeline for Islam. It's not so much that I want my own religion, I just want A religion, so my people will be happier. I manage to grab Islam, and switch to a beeline for Optics. With the mystery civs developing all the religions, and also building wonders, I can tell that they - or one of them at least - are ahead of me in techs. I need to make contact with them as soon as possible.

I have a standing army of 10 Horse Archers and 3 Catepults and am contemplating an attack on Alexander. It will be a while before my fledgling city to the SW expands to allow me access to copper. Before I can solidify my plans, Alexander attacks ME. With all of my beelining, I still don't even have ironworking... but he's in for a surprise. My cities seem lightly defended, but my horse archers swoop in and kill all the invaders. My army is, however, left in tatters. I manage to get one of Alexander's cities before declaring peace.

Optics is halfway researched when the Mao makes contact with me. His caravel has arrived on my northern shore. Crap.

edit: I went for horse archers first instead of Praetorians because I wanted a quick-response team to deal with invaders. It paid off, too. I tried to send a couple in to pillage Alexander's copper, but they kept getting jumped by spearmen and I gave up on that.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

Ahhh, I guess that is where you and I differ Stormreaver. I like to be a peaceful builder, so I was DEFINITELY going the religion route-and just try and make everybody LOVE me . Unfortunately, it appears I may have been the victim of my own success, as Christianity and Judaism are currently 'struggling for dominance' within the Greek Nation-wheras I am happy to remain a Jewish state. So I will have to pump out lots of Rabbis to go out and spread the faith a bit harder in Greece-especially in Athens!

So, I will give a quick, dry rundown of my early game. The presence of Corn definitely drove my decision to get agriculture right off the bat. Then I ruthlessly pursued a 'direct' path to theology-
Mysticism---->Masonry---->Polytheism---->Priesthood---->Monotheism---->Theology.
To be fair, though, I did stop along the way to pick up bronze working, animal husbandry (in spite of no herd animals in my general vicinity) and, later on, iron working-but ultimately I was determined to get my hands on Judaism and Christianity and 'spread the Good Word'. Early building of Stonehenge and the Oracle in Rome ensured that I was popping out Great Prophets on a pretty regular basis-which I used to build the Jewish and Christian shrines-whilst the Oracle also ensured that I got Monarchy much earlier than normal. In spite of having all that silk nearby, I really did delay getting calendar as long as possible, so I could retain the benefits of the obelisks and Stonehenge.
Met Alexander very early in the piece, and some judicious trades in tech and resources ensured that we remained friends for MANY centuries to come. Almost all the tribal villages I came across gave me Scouts-possibly because I am an expansive civ (I have noticed that expansive civs seem more likely to pop workers, settlers and scouts) except the first one-which gave me gold tribute ! Imagine my annoyance, though, when I discovered that the one source of both iron AND copper that was close to me lay outside of the borders of my two cities-so I had to send settlers to found two new cities almost for the sole purpose of claiming those resources!
So, after ushering in a VERY early Middle Ages (400BC) I have an empire of 4 cities, each one with a burgeoning population and culture-little did I realise at this point, however, that the latter would cause relations with Greece to turn HORRIBLY SOUR (but thats for the NEXT spoiler) !

EDIT: BTW, what would a spoiler be without Screenshots eh? Anyway, here are some of what I consider to be KEY screenshots for my game:

What better place to start than at the beginning-what a BEAUTIFUL starting point, eh guys?

First priority-have to farm that corn-so agriculture is a MUST!!!

I have agriculture, now all I need is WORKERS!!

Ahhh, the joys of landmark terrain.

The Ancient Roman Empire-circa 3000BC.

Ahhh, the Eternal City-birthplace of the Jewish faith.

The State of Play-Rome at the dawn of the Middle Ages.

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[eotinb]

Don't recall the exact timeline, but I too decided to go for an early war to make use of those lovely Praetorians. It went slower than I planned (due mainly to my impatience) but this worked out because Alex kept founding more cities in good spots so I was saved the bother of building Settlers. I didn't go for an early religion, but made a hard push for Theology after building my war-making capacity through the appropriate techs. I didn't find barba much more than a minor nuisance, although this was probably in part due to the fact that I had lots of troops left over from the Greek war and I stationed them around the continent to hold off the fog. Decided to go for a space/diplomacy victory once the continent was secured.

 

[jeremiahrounds]

I left the greeks alone.

The first thing i did was settle right where they plopped me. The reason is the hill. The hills are so much harder to take in civ4. (this and the iron city were on hills and this came into play later when my 3 praetorians and warriors had to fend off the greeks intial thrust right towards those two cities)

I didnt have the idea of forest rushing in my head at this game. Im just realizing its power so i did none of that. I had very late workers also.

I took some risk in the sense that i knew these two things about novice:
1) barbarians arnt a threat to much. warriors and very late archers
2) the AI is slow to attack if you dont give them an excuse.

First tech was choosen to get buddism and i got it. Buddism spread very early to my greek neighbors and that and the fact that i didnt cramp them helped pacify them.

I got to city pop 3 then pumped out settlers.

The first 2 went diagonal to the SW. First was on the middle part of the river to the sw. The reason was food source and river commerce squares. The second was down by the bronze. The reason was the bronze.

The third settler went to the iron to the east and that was my eastern most city for the entire game. The reason was the food source and iron.

The next city was on the shore to the sw. I wanted to close out some darkness down there and there was a nice costal square. The reason i was developing like this was I was hemming off the northern part of the continent. Essentially staking out half of it in a way that didnt pressure the greeks but really didnt give them an opportunity to pressure me.

BTW i was never certain where the greeks were for a long time. I just knew they werent in the SW and the SW + NORTH was plenty of city turf for little old me. The desert formed a natural sucky city barrier.


I eventually settled the jungle north of me with a couple cities. One was settler one was a barbarian city that i took with my first praetorian. Then I placed another city on the shore and called it a day.

The greeks developed towards me but were never that close. Down in the SW was where our border tension was. He had a city just southeast of where the copper was along the shore and i had a city just a bit north of it to get the wine.

I never really pressured the greeks because I was confident I could win on novice with a good chunk of land. That continent was huge for 2 civs. So I just carved out an empire and let the greeks be.

I had a commanding tech lead and eventually got a great artist. I went down to that city closest to him in the SW and did the +4000. That converted his city on the southern shore and forever crimped him in.

The greeks made their move sending a stack at me. I guess since everyone else is talking about their war with the greeks ill include it.

He sent 6 horse archers towards rome+ swordsmen right behind. I had 3 praetorians in the area + some warriors. The 3 praetorians were trying to hold rome and my iron city to its west. + 2 praetorians in nearby cities. (Lightly defended). The 3 praetorians held out and the warriors distracted the horse archers. The 2 other praetorians arrived and that was the end of his initiative.

Then instead of blowing my light sized army against his defenders. I just pillaged away. I almost pillaged every single square of his country. He had no effective answer to attack the praetorians with. The pillaging coins resulted in a 100% research rate for the entire time. And since i had only the medicore army that wasnt dieing to much the war wasnt that taxing.

After i pillaged every single square of his empire I sued for peace and every tech he had. (horsemanship archery and one more i forget). My idea was i didnt have to take him out i had plenty of space. And more valuable then taking one or two of his cities was crippling his ability to keep up so bad he would never be a threat.

Interesting to note that after I pillaged literally every square of his empire and sued for peace he didnt have a grudge -diplo. I thought that was amusing.

BTW SUGGESTION: Is it possible to list the spoiler thread break down at the very start of the game. Like decide before hand what the spoiler thread breaks will be. Then post that before we play. That way we can all make a mental note at that point. Or is that to much work or just plain hard to predict?

 

[whb]

I normally settle where I start, but the pre-game discussion tempted me into settling 1 square east, which I regret since the coast turned out to be so close, making later city placements harder.

I popped an early scout which popped a second scout a couple of huts later. And so the continent was scoured for the most huts I've ever got, but alas almost all maps and gold. (ISTR one tech, but I'm not sure)

After finding Greece, I bee-lined for the resource-revealing techs (copper, horses, and iron). Forest chopping helped me produce my first two settlers which went in a rough line SW to the copper and clams by the coast. The plan was to cut the continent so I'd get much more than half of it, and then go deal with the Greeks when I'd filled up my turf. A barb city nicely founded itself within easy reach of my axemen to the north of my 4th city, so that saved me a settler.

But my plan failed! By the time I'd settled the north fully, I was past the age of praetorians. And since I'd been buttering up Alex with tributes and donating spare happiness and health resources to stave off a war before I was ready for it, he was actually starting to become a bit of a pal despite his pesky Buddhism. I've probably been too slow a-warring to think of a conquest or domination (and I've never played for one yet), so maybe I'll just leave him be. Of course he may turn out to have some vital resource that I'll regret not bludgeoning him for, but oh well At least most of the deserts are culturally mine, so I'm hoping I'll have oil.

I missed Judaism by a couple of turns, annoying because I normally get that one easily. But I got Christianity and Islam, so all is not lost. But not having temples for a while (and neglecting Stonehenge and the Oracle) meant no religious GP points and hence no shrine income for later into the game than usual. Boy did that hurt the budget more than I expected.

I also took a while to realise that just a city having your state religion can give 1 culture per turn (not sure what the other reqs are), so I wasted time building to expand the borders of my later northern jungle cities when a missionary could have done it and given some of them access to better working tiles sooner.

And I've decided I really like the line of sight into foreign cities with your religion if you have the holy city - there are a friendly bunch of Christians lurking in most of Alex's cities keeping an eye on his military for me so I can be confident he's not getting too uppity

 

[Aeson]

Lesson learnt, I'm looking for an easy mod just to add "<city> grew to size X" to the log. I hope that's not a GOTM violation.

Try this. It plays a sound when a city grows and lists it in the log. Plus it makes a text log of a lot of the important things that happen in a game. Very nifty.

 

[eotinb]

Aeson, thanks for suggesting autolog but there are two problems:
1. I took the city growth notification out of the new version (1.1) because I took all of the event log stuff out and it turned into entirely a text log program.
2. I'm not sure it would work with GOTM anyway, given the restriction on modifications. I tried very hard to prevent giving any spoilers with that mod, but it would be incredibly easy to do so, so I think it makes sense to prevent the use of mods that modify CvEventManager.py (maybe more, that's just the Python file I'm most familiar with).

The good news is that I plan to release another mod with a series of notifications, of which the city growth will absolutely be one. Until that time, might I suggest using my reminder mod (link in sig) to give yourself a reminder of when a city grows.

 

[Shillen]

I began this GOTM with a fast diplomatic victory in mind. In a test game with the Romans I was able to get diplomatic victory in 1715AD and I’m hoping to do even better this time around.

My goals for this game in general order:
1. Research all the required worker techs first based on the starting area.
2. Research Iron Working and sweep over the entire initial continent with praetorians and use that as my empire for the rest of the game.
3. Bypass the early religions but make sure to pick up one of the later ones: Confucianism or Christianity preferably.
4. Research Optics as early as possible to make contacts with the other AI’s and gauge how to best secure my diplomatic victory.
5. Research straight to Mass Media for the UN, only picking up techs that will allow me to research Mass Media at the earliest possible date.
6. Spread my religion to the other AI’s overseas to improve my relations with them so they will vote for me.

Based on the starting position I determined that Rome would be my major science city throughout the game. My options for settling were to settle on the spot, move east 1 tile, or move northeast 1 tile. Northeast would net me the most commerce due to all the grasslands but would be extremely limited on production with no hill tiles to use (unless they were revealed in the fog which seemed unlikely since it was jungle to the north). East one would net the most production but would lose out on grassland tiles for commerce. I found settling on the spot would give me just enough production to build all the infrastructure I needed but still have a lot of commerce. So that’s what I did.

I started with researching Bronze Working since there were all the silk tiles that I could chop without having to worry about losing the health bonus or the lost production. I would need them chopped to put plantations on them later anyway so I might as well chop them for settler production. I decided not to make my worker until size 2, though. In hindsight I think that was a poor decision. By waiting until size 2 I only pick up one more hammer/food towards production of the worker (from the 3 food/hammers you have at size 1). So it only shaved off a few turns. I did gain 1 extra commerce per turn as well, though, by working the grass forest/silks. In the meantime while Rome grew to size 2 I had it build another warrior for exploration purposes.

I sent my first warrior exploring to the west until he hit the coast and then he swung north. I purposefully avoided the two tribal villages near Rome to let my second warrior pick them up. My first warrior did encounter a couple more tribal villages in his travels, though. The first one netted me 105 gold, which is by far the most I’ve ever gotten from a tribal village. My second one, though, netted me a free scout, the turn before my second warrior was about to pop the village near Rome. I cancelled that order and sent my scout on a tribal village popping mission. That scout ended up discovering Iron Working with the first village it popped, in 3360BC. I later popped a scout, maps, another scout and 43 gold.

It took me a long while to meet Greece since I explored west and north first. I was starting to think I was on my own continent until a Greek scout showed up next to Rome in 3320BC. When I figured out Alexander was my only neighbor I decided to let him build a bunch of cities before conquering him. That way I wouldn’t have to neglect early infrastructure and I wouldn’t have to waste as much time colonizing the continent if I let Alexander do it for me. I knew I would have no trouble whatsoever wiping him out with my overpowered praetorians.

Here is Rome’s initial build order:

3600BC – Warrior, start Worker
3120BC – Worker, start Barracks
2840BC – Rome is size 3, switch to Settler
2520BC – Settler, start Warrior
2280BC – Warrior, start Worker
2120BC – Worker, start Settler
1880BC – Settler, starts Library
1000BC – Library, starts Settler
750BC – Settler

My first settler was sent to the SW along the river that runs through Rome. I founded Antium there to be my military production center. Antium built a barracks (1520BC) then a granary (1160BC) and then praetorians non-stop. I put the granary in there because the iron was not connected yet. But early granaries with expansionist leaders are great, IMO. My second settler was sent to the east to settle directly on top of the desert iron tile. Not only to hook it up faster but a desert tile isn’t that useful anyway, even if it has iron on it. I turned this city into an early production factory (although not as good as Antium) but it was also my coastal city that would build my caravels when I get them. The third settler was sent to the west coast by the dyes to be another commerce city.

Here’s a shot of Rome in 1000BC after building its library:

Here is a rundown of my tech progress early on:

3480BC – Bronze Working (to chop forests, particularly silk forests)
3360BC – Iron Working (from the hut)
3200BC – Agriculture (to hook up corn)
2880BC – The Wheel (roads of course)
2680BC – Pottery (cottages around Rome for more commerce, granaries also)
2520BC – Mysticism (needed for religious techs, obelisks for expansion)
2320BC – Meditation (heading for the Oracle)
2200BC – Priesthood (Oracle, leads to Code of Laws as well)
2000BC – Writing (libraries)

My goal with the religious techs was to build the Oracle and snag either Code of Laws of Theology for a religion. But when I got to the point where I was ready to build the Oracle in Rome it would have taken me as many turns to build it as it would to research the tech and I had very few forests left that could be chopped. So I ended up just researching Code of Laws straight up. I learned it in 1320BC, discovering Confucianism in Antium. It was good that it wound up in my high production city. In 1280BC it spread to Rome without needing a missionary.

Here is a shot of my empire in 675BC after the founding of my fourth city:

So there ends phase 1. Phase 2 is war with Greece.

 

[Shillen]

I continue building praetorians in Antium but since it&#8217;s my only good production city and Rome is building infrastructure my military builds up very slowly. I do get some nice city raider 2 promotions on my praetorians from killing barbarians that keep streaming towards Antium, though. Cumae contributes some to troop production but not much. Meanwhile Alexander is expanding at a rapid pace. He also built the Oracle in 550BC. In 450BC Confucianism spread to one of his cities and he immediately converted. That was a good and bad thing. It meant the possibility of additional war weariness when I fought him but it also meant I wouldn&#8217;t have to spread the religion there myself after I capture those cities. By 175BC Alexander had 6 cities to my 4.

My continued tech progress:

850BC &#8211; Metal Casting (forges for production +1 happiness with gems)
775BC &#8211; Sailing (needed for Calendar)
625BC &#8211; Mathematics (opens up new techs, aqueducts)
425BC &#8211; Calendar (hook up silks, sugar, dyes)
400BC &#8211; Masonry (needed for Construction)
200BC &#8211; Construction (catapults)

In 75BC Confucianism spreads in Athens itself and I find he only has 2 archers and a phalanx in the city, leading me to believe that researching Construction for catapults was a waste of time.

Antium&#8217;s production capability in 200BC:

I was not used to my cities growing so large so early in the game so I didn&#8217;t have enough workers to keep up with terrain improvements.

In 375BC Alexander actually sent 2 axemen up straight into my territory, swung them around north of my cities, and then went back down the west coast near my lightly defended cities. I had no idea what he was doing. At first I thought there was a barbarian town up north but it turned out there wasn&#8217;t. I know he had already scouted out the land up there early in the game with his scout, but I guess he wanted an updated map. It was very frustrating for me though since I was ready to go to war with him and I ended up having to send 3 praetorians up north to deal with his axes when I did so.

I finally declare war in 25AD with 12 praetorians, 3 warriors and 2 catapults as my entire military (including city defense). Alexander kills one of my praetorians in the jungle with one of his axemen on the first turn. On the next turn I kill both of his axes without casualties, breathing a sigh of relief. Meanwhile on the same turn Alex finishes walls in Sparta that I was just about to attack, which is already on a hill. I end up just bombarding on the first turn and wait until 75AD to attack the city. In 75AD I capture both Sparta in the east and Pharsalos in the west. In 250AD I capture Delphi. In 275AD I capture Athens after bombarding it down, no casualties. In 400AD I capture Corinth and in 425AD I capture Thermopylae and the Greek civilization is destroyed.

Here is a picture of my attack:

The yellow dots are where my units started. The razed city is where my units had to double back because Alex founded a city right after I declared war. Sparta was my healing grounds with a medic in it and I used those healed troops to go after Thermopylae.

That ends phase 2. Phase 3 is to finish settling my island and meet the world.

In 375AD I received a Great Prophet due to my hired priest in Rome. I use him to rush the Confucian shrine for extra income. After the war is over I start building courthouses all over to improve my economy. I also build several more settlers from ex-Greek cities to fill in the gaps on my continent. Antium switches to missionaries non-stop to get religion in all my cities.

My continued tech progress:

125AD &#8211; Machinery (watermills, leads to Optics)
275AD &#8211; Compass (harbors, leads to Optics)
475AD &#8211; Optics (caravels baby)
500AD &#8211; Animal Husbandry!? (hey I didn&#8217;t need it before, I had even forgotten it reveals horses now)
520AD &#8211; Hunting!? (same story)
680AD &#8211; Civil Service (bureaucracy, irrigation spread)

As soon as I learned Optics I started building caravels in both Cumae and Athens. I met my first other leader in 680AD and that&#8217;s where this spoiler ends.

And here&#8217;s my continent at 660AD.

 

[suspendinlight]

First game of the month here! Well it's all a bit hazy since I finished this game a few days ago and have already moved on to another, but here's my attempt to remember the ancient ages...

Well my first thought is that since I start on Noble w/Rome, I am intially looking at a possible domination victory so war is definately in the cards.

I settle 1E, can't recall why now but it seemed a good idea at the time. For one thing, it gave me more access to hills which means lots of production.

Prehistoric Rome:
First, I built a worker since they could immediately mine the gems and sent my warrior off exploring. Since I was planning for war, I grabbed bronze working first to find a source of copper, but was disappointed to see that I had no copper nearby...Since the corn was right there, I went for agriculture next. After ag, I went for iron working to find my beloved iron. While researching, I started building a settler who could settle where the first iron was found. At some point here, I came into contact with one of Alex's scouts. Of course, this meant early war was now a certainty since Alex is known for backstabbing. I had to eliminate him quickly.


2360 BC
Upon seeing the iron appear in the desert to the east of Rome, I sent the settler to found Antium 1E of the Iron even though the terrain was not too great. Immediately start barracks in both my cities so my Prats could begin to be pumped out.

1640 BC
Basically been building some barracks and then prats. I notice a barb city is founded in the jungles to the northwest of Rome around 1760 BC. I have another settler in Rome and I send him west to settle along the river and be a 3rd prat factory. He founds Cumae in 1640. My tech path after Iron working has been:
Sailing (to connect Antium and iron w/o building roads)
The Wheel (obvious)
Pottery (cottages)
Writing (need for CoL)
Mysticism (need for CoL)

1240 BC
I sent a couple of prats up to the barb city and they easily capture it. I research Priesthood and Meditation on my way to CoL. 5 prats begin the journey to Alexander's lands in no particular marching order.

900 BC
Confucianism is founded in Antium and quickly spreads to Rome!
I have scouted 3 Greek cities, Thermopylae to the north of Athens by the coast and Sparta NW of Athens. I also notice an Axeman, which means they have copper! I decide that cutting off their copper is a priority since Axes are the only thing that can do much damage to my Prats. Rushing by the weakly defended Greek outposts, I quickly find the source of copper west of Athens and send 3 prats to pounce on it. A turn later I send 2 other prats to destroy the freshly built Iron mine to the east of Athens. Now the Greeks can only build archers!

550 BC
Now that the Greeks are resourceless, I allow a couple Prats from the second wave to capture and raze Sparta. A few years later (475 BC) I capture Thermopylae.
I also build the Oracle, grab Philosophy and found Taoism in that barbarian city in the jungle in 475 BC.

250 BC
Lying in wait and building up forces, I finally capture the prize Athens and in 150 BC, I easily capture Corinth which was founded to the east during the war. The Greeks have been destroyed.
Now I convert to Confucianism since I have no more enemies to dispatch on this large continent.

I send the Prats not needed for defense of the newly captured cities to the SW part of the continent to eliminate any barbarian threat. They find and capture a couple of barbarian cities in 25 BC and 150 AD.

Conclusion
At this point, the continent is still largely empty of civilization but I am working on building some new cities. My empire is largely Confucian although some of the cities on the far western part of the continent are Taoist and I feel like I am ahead in the tech race judging from the messages I am getting about wonders being built in far away lands. At this point, I am building infrastructure like roads to connect all of my cities in case of a military threat and also attempting to clear the barbarians, who still pop up from time to time, from the continent. I also have built Chichen Itza and the Hanging Gardens and both shrines for my religions. I have my eye set on optics, then astronomy and being the first to circumnavigate so I can get my +1 movement bonus. A domination victory is looking less likely unless there is a large continent very nearby, as I'm not one for long distance amphibious assaults. Anyway, I'm feeling pretty good about my position at this point. Oh, I guess I should mention that I did meet one other civ (it seems to me from the rules, that I can't say who, but I'm sure most can guess who it was) when their caravel entered my waters.