Spoiler: Ancient and Classical Rome.

[opticaljim]

I think we've all been through it.

The stregnths of defenders are based on a lot of variables like terrain, fortifications like walls, anti-unit promotions etc.

Even after that it just calculates the odds and so luck does play a part in it.

I even had a maceman kick the heck out my tank once. He was just bangin' away at it and it exploded. I was mortified.

 

[Monthar]

One thing I've decided I don't like about Civ4 is that it's too hard to capture a city before catapults are available.

 

[akots]

One thing I've decided I don't like about Civ4 is that it's too hard to capture a city before catapults are available.

Now, this is the same two-word abbreviation you have used in the title.

Actually, it is easier to capture cities with catapults but it takes longer. This is a double-edged sword imho if you can advance especially with fast units. By waiting for cats to come and by building more of them of course, you play a sure game. But consider this. You usually have to suicide a few cats to get preferable chance of defeating the enemy. If you attack with swordsmen (and especially Praetorians), you can suicide the same 40 hammers and usually do more damage but often times provided that you have enough units, you can win battles even with slightly unfavorable chances like attack 6.6 (unpromoted swordsman) against defense 7.2 (one city defense promotion, about 20-40% city defense, with archer). As a result of this, you advance onto the opponent rapidly not allowing the AI to build up the troops, your melee units have more promotions and overall the war is more swift which means less or shorter war weariness.

Build more units imho, there is no corruption, so what is the problem this time?

Farming units for promotions is also quite possible and is a good tactics. Pick weak wondering units with your main attack force, select appropriate promotions against archers or axemen or city raider, or combat level increase and then actually mount an assault on a city with substantial force. Of course, you are doomed to loose some attackers in the process. But if playing carefully and not taking chances by letting the promoted enemy units to survive, there is little that can be done against swift advance. Also, medic promotions are extremely important to shorten the healing time.

In most of games I actually find cats rather redundant and not required to take cities with swordsmen and macemen until you are starting to face longbowmen. Then, losses might be overwhelming, so better stockpile on these cats.

 

[jesusin]

Second Civ IV game ever, in the first one Deity wiped me off easily. Goal: winning asap.

I made a very very very detailed log, it will be useful for comparison purposes in future games, but I won’t bore you with it.

It has taken me too many hours to reach this point, I should really learn to play faster.

Early decisions:
Settled on the spot, which was perfect. Capital would be my science city. Research Agr first to farm the Corn. Build 2 Warriors for exploration and escort before Worker.

Surprising fact: in 3960BC I had 10 beakers in the box, but my city had 9 commerce and 100% research. When I started BW, it was 14 instead of 11. The increase kept around 25% for a long time. No wonders, no buildings, it was there from the first turn! Do you know where this additional research came from? Is it related to the number of Civs that don’t know the tech yet?

Production: warrior-warrior-worker-start settler (no pottery yet)-granary-start barracks(no size 4 yet)-end settler-end barracks-settler.

Lots and lots of MM. Only built 2 settlers and 1 worker before 1000 B.C. (4 and 2 in the whole game, as I don’t plan to build more), Greeks made up for the rest ;-) Lots of new forests in the game. Goodies gave always gold. Explored in circles around capital first, by fear of Deity Barbs, then SW, then SE. Almost no chopping. No religion in this continent (lost Conf for 4 turns but it wasn’t a priority for me). Research always 100%, helped by goodies and cities taken, but 2 short periods of 0% (have you realized that, when you are completing a library next turn, it is better to have 0% research this turn and 100% research next turn than having 50% research both turns?).

Worker actions:
Farmed Corn, mined Gems, mined hill, cottaged, cottaged, chopped, went to iron.

Techs. Emphasis on:
Agr. Roads. Granary. IW. Alph. Math. Calendar. Currency. Civil Service. Education. Music. Astronomy. By the end of the spoiler I did not have Archery or Hunting or Animal H., what for?

Cities:
1st settled in place, 4000BC
2nd city took the iron, 4E of capital, 1960BC
3rd city in the SW, taking copper and Stone, 1200BC
The last city I settled (thanks Greece! thanks Barbs!) was by the wheat and horses… in 1390AD! It was the 11th and last city in my continent.
Capital was science city, Athens was GPP city (it had a lot of merchant specialists, keeping my tech rate at 100%).

GP:
1 Sci used for Academy in Capital.
1 Eng used for NotreDame in GPP city (bad idea?).
1 Artist from Music saved for later. It did a culture bomb in other continent later, with disappointing results.
1 Merc used for money (would have been better off if added to Athens as a super-specialist).

War:
I dowed on Greece in 900BC, taking a Settler+Archer in the open. I rushed forward with my incredible army consisting on…2 Prats! Won initially but had to rest. I cut their minerals. Resting at the doors of Athens wasn’t wise, they retaliated and killed my troops. By 250AD I attacked again, with enough Prats and Cats this time. I was in such a hurry that I killed Athens’ last defender with my last Cat, so the next turn they retook it easily! And the walls (+40% defense) were there again! Short peace for 3 old techs and gold, Greece disappears in 840AD, they would not give anything even when they were reduced to 1 city and without any hope.

Wonders:
I made Hanging Gardens just for the GPP.
Great Library and Oxford University in Capital.
National Epic.
Heroic Epic.
Failed to Great Lighthouse for 1 turn. The money was welcomed.

Government:
500AD Revolution to get Burocracy and Caste System.

Stats:
- 1000BC: 3cities, 10 pop, 1 worker, 3 Prae, 2 War. Iron, 1 Lux, 1health. 2fpt, 23hpt, 24bpt,-2gpt, 4 cpt. Box: 32f, 59h, 217b, 107g, 158c. 1 Barr, 2 Gran, 1 Libr. 9Techs: 4 1st tier,1 2nd, 1 3rd, 2 4th, 1 5th.
- 1AD: 5cities, 27pop, 4worker, 6 Prae, 2 War, 1Cat, 1Gal. Iron, Copper, Stone, 3 Lux, 3 health. 9fpt, 40hpt, 70bpt,-11gpt, 16cpt, 8GPPpt. Box: 90f, 105h, 478b, 148g, 450c, 68GPP. Hang Gard, 3 Barr, 3 Gran, 1 aque, 1 lighth, 3 Libr. 14Techs: 4 1st tier,3 2nd, 1 3rd, 2 4th, 2 5th, 2 6th. 1 turn to curr.
- 1000AD: 10cities, 69pop, 8worker, 12Prae, 2War, 3Cat, 1Gal. Iron, Copper, Stone, Marmol, almost Hor, 4 Lux, almost 7 health. 27fpt, 93hpt, 199bpt,-62gpt, 34cpt, 8GPPpt. Box: 177f, 623h, 142b, 1156g, 1622c, 281GPP. Hang Gard, 1GP, almost 2 uni. 23Techs: 6 1st tier,5 2nd, 1 3rd, 2 4th, 2 5th, 3 6th, 1 7th, 1 8th, 1 9th, 1 10th (Edu).

In 1340AD I qualified for this thread as I found XXX. I have had very bad luck choosing the direction for my ships. Very bad luck indeed: 2 turns later I had circumnavigated the globe. I was far ahead of them in research.

Now I have to choose how to win. Diplo or Spaceship would be easy, but I want to try a military victory. I’ll go for domination.


Mistakes:
- I delayed growth in order to grow having a granary, not at the same time. Useless in Civ IV.
- I believed that 2 Prats would be enough to conquer all of Greece ;-)
- Being hasty: I would attack as units arrived in order not to waste a unit’s turn instead of coordinating an attack with several units.
- Maybe I should have gone for a Space victory, having 1 continent, a good economy and tech advantage. But after my bad management of war, I wanted more practice.
- I should have shut down research after having 15-strength units, victory was near enough.
- Killed Greek settlers, maybe I should have taken the cities they would found.
- After Calendar, and up to Caste system, Library as a first source of culture for new cities was a little awkward.
- GPP wasted points in the 2nd city, which never got to finish one.


Unanswered questions:
1.- Would an animal attack a Barb?
2.- Why did I obtain more research than expected, from turn 1?
3.- How can I play faster, without being less efficient?

 

[ZippyRiver]

One thing I've decided I don't like about Civ4 is that it's too hard to capture a city before catapults are available.

You should give chariots a chance. With the two flanking promotions, they hold a 50% chance at withdrawal as opposed to 30% for horse archers with the same promos. I have a level 6 chariot in my game right now, and just will not upgrade it. It is at 27/36 in experience and losing 17 point to upgrade it not worth it. Of course now it's not good for a whole lot as it is too weak to initiate battle. BUT, it's great for moping up damaged units. I just don't want to lose it. Chariots are great early. Then once you have cats you can suicide all you want.

 

[DaviddesJ]

Surprising fact: in 3960BC I had 10 beakers in the box, but my city had 9 commerce and 100% research. When I started BW, it was 14 instead of 11. The increase kept around 25% for a long time. No wonders, no buildings, it was there from the first turn! Do you know where this additional research came from? Is it related to the number of Civs that don’t know the tech yet?

There are two kinds of bonuses: bonuses for other civs that have the tech, and bonuses for how many of the required prerequisites you have. You always get at least 1.2x for the latter, except for the basic techs with no prerequisites. (Yes, that's weird.) See all of the details here:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=146163

As for the slow play/MM, I can only say that I think there's plenty to think about, too. I have to find a way to stop rechecking and fine-tuning every city every turn. It does give a benefit, but not enough for the time it takes. But, hey, paying attention to all of the details for the first few games is the way we learn what's important and what's not.

 

[Thormodr]

Just bad luck I think with the random number generator. I laid a dirty sweaty beating on Alexander with my Prats in the GOTM. ^^
I once lost a full strength Infantry to a longbow. I believe the combat odds were 20 to 6.

 

[Psyringe]

My preatorians can't take one of Alexander's cities from a lowly warrior, yet his swordsman can take my cities from the axeman guarding it every F'n time. Doesn't matter what the defense rating of the city in question is either.

Strange. In my game, the praetorians have no difficulties to take cities even from archer garrisons.

Are you sure that your units weren't wounded?

 

[Zhahz]

I haven't played the GOTM yet but I've played as rome several times and usually have no problems early on. City raider II-III praetorians are pretty solid against early cities.

As is often the case with these types of posts, most of the details are left out. No word on unit health, promotions, terrain, or level of fortification by the defender, all of which usually highly alter the odds in city battles.

And like others, I've had situations where I lose when I think I should win...sometimes a few times in a row. But then sometimes I win battles I should probably lose.

 

[Dimy]

*** GOTM ANCIENT AGE SPOILER *** *** DONT READ IF YOU STILL NEED TO PLAY THE GAME ***

Spoiler :

Hey try this opening strategy in the GOTM... (just for fun, you can't submit it again of course) with this I slaughtered Alexander by 75BC...and he never had any Iron units:

At the start move your warrior to where you know now Athens is... (I was lucky to do this in my first attempt )... anyway... move your warrior to the south west of his culture border... there's a deer resource there... Alexander will send a worker there pretty quickly to build a camp, attack him and capture the worker, you can use the worker yourself in rome if he survives the trip and this will slow down Alex considerably. Pillage any improvements already made by his worker if you have the chance, you might loose the warrior, but it's well worth it.
Meanwhile beeline to Iron Working, you already know now where the Iron pops up, but in my game I did not... As soon as you can, build your 2nd city on top of the Iron Resource and have your workers connect it to Rome. Now start popping out Praetorians (make sure you already build Barracks in Rome), give them City Raider I promotions and stack up 3 or 4 of them then attack (you might wanna make peace with Alex by the way after the first early war as soon as he wants to talk and declare war for the 2nd and final time when you have the Praetorians ready). From then on it should be really easy... Alex should only have Archers in his cities and maybe a limited amount of stronger units, but they're no big deal...just keep pumping out these Praetorians during the war and send them into Alex lands. In my game Alex only build 3 cities and was destroyed in 75 BC. Once you have the continent for yourself it's a highway to victory-lane from there on. I posted this in this spoiler thread but is possibly burried in there now

Moderator Action: Merged with the other spoiler. Please don't post spoilers outside the designated threads.

 

[Gato Loco]

I haven't played the GOTM yet but I've played as rome several times and usually have no problems early on. City raider II-III praetorians are pretty solid against early cities.

As is often the case with these types of posts, most of the details are left out. No word on unit health, promotions, terrain, or level of fortification by the defender, all of which usually highly alter the odds in city battles.

And like others, I've had situations where I lose when I think I should win...sometimes a few times in a row. But then sometimes I win battles I should probably lose.

Yes, luck plays a big role. I've seen horse archers win where city raider II praets lose. The big problem is when you try to invade with less than overwhelming force as if this were CivII without city walls. Two praetorians are nothing. What if the city has 3 defenders? What if one Praet rolls a bad combat result?

Health - My Praets rested in each city as they conquered it so this wasn't an issue. Alex never put up much of a fight in the field.

Promotions - There's really only one promotion for Praets when facing ancient era units. City raider. I guess you could give then Combat I + Shock to face axemen, but that's probably a waste against the AI on this level since it's so easy to gain field superiority and chase Alex back into his cities.

Terrain - Sparta was on a hill. AARGH! This city gave me the most trouble of all. I lost 2 praets here because I wouldn't wait for catapults.

Fortifications - My rule of thumb is to go against 20% fortifications but not higher. 20% from city defense plus 25% from fortification gives as much bonus as City Raider II so we're still even. Above that it becomes a bloodbath unless the city is defended by only a couple units. Anyway, most ancient non-capital cities have only 20%.

 

[DaviddesJ]

Terrain - Sparta was on a hill. AARGH! This city gave me the most trouble of all. I lost 2 praets here because I wouldn't wait for catapults.

So what? Once Greece is dead, you aren't going to have much use for those units for quite some time. Might as well use them up.

Fortifications - My rule of thumb is to go against 20% fortifications but not higher. 20% from city defense plus 25% from fortification gives as much bonus as City Raider II so we're still even. Above that it becomes a bloodbath unless the city is defended by only a couple units. Anyway, most ancient non-capital cities have only 20%.

I think you can easily attack at a moderate disadvantage, without too much pain, as long as you have numerical superiority. Your first attack may lose, but the target is likely to be badly wounded and your next attack will finish it off at almost no cost. So you trade one of your units for one of theirs.

I've also noticed that the AI tends to attack out of the city with his axemen, instead of fortifying them and hunkering down.

 

[AlanH]

I haven't played the GOTM yet

NOTE: If you were planning to play and submit then you shouldn't have read or posted in this thread.

 

[Grogs]

I've also noticed that the AI tends to attack out of the city with his axemen, instead of fortifying them and hunkering down.

I thought that was a smart move actually. On the attack, his combat 2 axemen were at an advantage over my praetorians (who mostly had City Raider 1&2 promotions.) Defending, the city raider 2 promotion would have cancelled out the axemen's +50% vs. melee and put the odds in the praetorian's favor.

 

[Civgeek]

I thought that was a smart move actually. On the attack, his combat 2 axemen were at an advantage over my praetorians (who mostly had City Raider 1&2 promotions.) Defending, the city raider 2 promotion would have cancelled out the axemen's +50% vs. melee and put the odds in the praetorian's favor.

I've noticed this a lot as well. It would be interesting to know if the AI routine is sophisticated enough to compare odds attacking out vs. waiting and defending in the city and how it evaluated succes in those circumstances (survival? maximum damage to besiger?). Might add value to the strategy of delaying promotions until just before attacking if that influences the AI behaviour of its city defenders.

 

[DaviddesJ]

I thought that was a smart move actually. On the attack, his combat 2 axemen were at an advantage over my praetorians (who mostly had City Raider 1&2 promotions.) Defending, the city raider 2 promotion would have cancelled out the axemen's +50% vs. melee and put the odds in the praetorian's favor.

It doesn't do much good if "most" of your Praetorians have City Raider promotions, because the combat algorithm is supposed to pick your best defender, which is going to be the one that doesn't, and which would rather defend than attack.

I understand why it does this, but, I think it often isn't to the defender's advantage, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't have a very sophisticated algorithm built in---it likely has some concept of "defensive units" and "offensive units" and tends to use them in that way. It also needs to have some bias toward offense to prevent you from just pillaging all of his improvements while he sits in the cities. (Obviously, you wouldn't want to do that to Greece, because you want to capture his improvements intact, but that's beyond the AI's abillity to know.)

In my case, I attacked Greece with overwhelming strength, so it was pretty much irrelevant either way. His "best defense" would have been to pillage his own improvements and starve his population so I'd end up capturing less.

I did close on his capital with two stacks of Praetorians, not just one, figuring that that would make him more likely to attack me, rather than hunker down. And it seems to have worked (although, as I say, it didn't make much difference---he only had one axeman in his capital, anyway, plus a few weaker units, and I had 6 or 7 praetorians).

 

[SamE]

I had the worst of it all. Alexander all but demolished me. We were at war so long that I was able to kill 60 of his Horse Archers, who just ran around pillaging everything I had. Spearmen are very useful...

Plus, he got my only source of iron so I only built like 10 Praetorians. Yet I somehow managed to win in the end...

Moderator Action: Posts merged.

 

[Methos]

QSC Stats:
Score: 298
#Cities: 3
Population: 11
Barracks: 1
Obelisk: 1
#Units: 8
Workers: 2
Scout: 1
Warrior: 2
Archers: 3

Spoiler QSC :

Turn 0 (4000 BC)
Methos: Warrior 1 SW onto hill.
Methos: Settler S and settles.
Rome founded
Rome begins: Warrior
Research begun: Agriculture

Turn 1 (3960 BC)
Tribal village results: lots of gold
Methos: Warrior 1 SE to goody hut.

Turn 2 (3920 BC)
Methos: Warrior 1 SW.

Turn 3 (3880 BC)
Methos: Warrior 1 SW.

Turn 4 (3840 BC)
Methos: Warrior 1 SW
Rome's borders expand
Contact made: Greek Empire

Turn 5 (3800 BC)
Methos: Contact with Alexander
Methos: Warrior 1 SE

Turn 6 (3760 BC)
Methos: Warrior 1 SE

Turn 7 (3720 BC)
Methos: Warrior 1 E
Rome grows: 2

Turn 8 (3680 BC)
Methos: Warrior 1 E
Tech learned: Agriculture

Turn 9 (3640 BC)
Research begun: The Wheel
Methos: Warrior 1 SE

Turn 10 (3600 BC)
Methos: Warrior 1 SE
Hinduism founded in a distant land

Turn 11 (3560 BC)
Methos: Warrior 1 NE
Rome finishes: Warrior

Turn 12 (3520 BC)
Rome begins: Worker
Methos: Warrior 2 (just built) E
Methos: Warrior 1 SE

Turn 13 (3480 BC)
Methos: Warrior 2 SE
Methos: Warrior 1 NE

Turn 14 (3440 BC)
Methos: Warrior 2 NE (spots coast)
Methos: Warrior 1 NE
Methos: Panthers spotted in the far NW of our city

Turn 15 (3400 BC)
Methos: Warrior 2 NE
Methos: Warrior 1 NE
Methos: Panthers move out of view
Tech learned: The Wheel

Turn 16 (3360 BC)
Research begun: Hunting
Methos: Warrior 1 S. Wolves come into view so move closer to gain some experience.
Methos: Warrior 2 NW
Warrior defeats (1.56/2): Barbarian Wolf

Turn 17 (3320 BC)
Methos: Warrior 1 rests to heal
Methos: Warrior 2 NW

Turn 18 (3280 BC)
Methos: Warrior 2 NW

Turn 19 (3240 BC)
Methos: Warrior 2 NW
Methos: A pack of bears moves into view of Warrior 1 (2 tiles SW)

Turn 20 (3200 BC)
Methos: Warrior 1 fully healed, moves S
Methos: Warrior 2 SW
Tech learned: Hunting

Turn 21 (3160 BC)
Research begun: Animal Husbandry
Methos: Warrior 2 W
Methos: Warrior 1 S
Buddhism founded in a distant land

Turn 22 (3120 BC)
Methos: Warrior 2 SW
Methos: Warrior 1 S

Turn 23 (3080 BC)
Methos: Warrior 1 S
Methos: Warrior 2 W
Rome finishes: Worker

Turn 24 (3040 BC)
Rome begins: Scout
Methos: Worker 1 E and begins farm
Methos: Warrior 2 SE
Methos: Warrior 1 S

Turn 25 (3000 BC)
Methos: Warrior 1 S
Methos: Warrior 2 SE

Turn 26 (2960 BC)
Methos: Warrior 2 SE
Methos: Warrior 1 SW (arrives at southern coast)

Turn 27 (2920 BC)
Methos: Warrior 2 E (arrives back in Rome)
Methos: Warrior 1 W
Rome grows: 3

Turn 28 (2880 BC)
Methos: Warrior 2 fortifies in Rome
Methos: Warrior 1 NW
Methos: Set Rome to emphasize food.
Methos: Worker 1 finishes farming wheat

Turn 29 (2840 BC)
Methos: Worker 1 begins road
Methos: Warrior 1 SW
Tech learned: Animal Husbandry
Rome finishes: Scout

Turn 30 (2800 BC)
Research begun: Archery
Rome begins: Scout
Methos: Scout 1 NE, NW
Methos: Warrior 1 NW
Methos: Worker 1 finishes road, connecting the wheat

Turn 31 (2760 BC)
Methos: Whoops. Reminder to self, go back and change all the wheat to corn. Apparently I don't know my crops.
Methos: Worker 1 NE (to gems) and begins mine.
Methos: Scout 1 W, NW
Methos: Warrior 1 NW
Judaism founded in a distant land

Turn 32 (2720 BC)
Methos: Scout 1 SW, W and comes right up to a pack of lions. Crap!
Methos: Warrior 1 NW
Rome grows: 4
Scout defeats (0.49/1): Barbarian Lion

Turn 33 (2680 BC)
Methos: Wow! Scout 1 survived! Now he rests to heal.
Methos: Warrior 1 SW

Turn 34 (2640 BC)
Methos: Warrior 1 NW
Rome finishes: Scout

Turn 35 (2600 BC)
Rome begins: Barracks
Methos: Worker 1 finishes mine last turn, connecting the gems. Moves W, W.
Methos: Scout 2 E, NE, E.
Warrior defeats (1.36/2): Barbarian Lion
Methos: Warrior 1 NE to engage the lions.
Tech learned: Archery

Turn 36 (2560 BC)
Research begun: Bronze Working
Methos: Worker 1 begins mine.
Methos: Warrior 1 rests.
Methos: Scout 2 NE, SE

Turn 37 (2520 BC)
Methos: Scout 2 E, SE

Turn 38 (2480 BC)
Methos: Scout 2 SE, SW
Rome grows: 5

Turn 39 (2440 BC)
Methos: Scout 2 S, SE
Methos: Scout 1 is fully healed, moves SW, W.
Rome begins: Settler
Methos: Worker 1 finishes mine.
Methos: Turn emphasize food off and switch Rome to a settler.

Turn 40 (2400 BC)
Methos: Warrio1 is fully healed, moves SW.
Methos: Scout 1 NW
Methos: Worker 1 NW and begins farm.
Methos: Scout 2 SE

Turn 41 (2360 BC)
Methos: Warrior 1 NW
Methos: Scout 1 N, NE
Methos: Scout 2 E, NE (spots goody hut S, SE)

Turn 42 (2320 BC)
Methos: Greek scout pops the goody hut, so Scout 2 SE, SE.
Methos: Warrior 1 NW
Methos: Scout 1 NE

Turn 43 (2280 BC)
Methos: Scout 1 NE, NE
Methos: Scout 2 SW, SE
Methos: Warrior 1 W and runs into southwestern tip of our landmass.
Tech learned: Bronze Working

Turn 44 (2240 BC)
Research begun: Iron Working
Methos: Warrior 1 NE
Methos: Scout 2 E (checking to make sure its coast).
Methos: Scout 1 NE (has found northern tip of our landmass).

Turn 45 (2200 BC)
Methos: Worker 1 finished farm last turn, begins road.
Methos: Warrior 1 N
Methos: Scout 1 SW
Methos: Scout 2 E, W

Turn 46 (2160 BC)
Methos: Scout 2 SW
Methos: Scout 1 SW, SE
Methos: Warrior 1 NE

Turn 47 (2120 BC)
Methos: Worker 1 finishes road, moves S.
Methos: Scout 1 SE
Methos: Scout 2 W, NW
Methos: Warrior 1 NW

Turn 48 (2080 BC)
Methos: Warrior 1 N
Methos: Worker 1 S
Methos: Scout 1 fortifies
Methos: Scout 2 fortifies
Rome finishes: Settler

Turn 49 (2040 BC)
Methos: Worker 1 begins road.
Methos: Settler W
Rome's borders expand

Turn 50 (2000 BC)
Methos: Warrior 1 NE
Methos: Settler W, W

Turn 51 (1960 BC)
Methos: The Romans are considered 5th in the most cultured civilization.
Methos: Worker 1 finishes road, moves W, SW (to wheat).
Methos: Settler W
Methos: Warrior 1 NE

Turn 52 (1920 BC)
Methos: Worker 1 begins farming the wheat.
Antium founded
Antium begins: Worker
Methos: Antium is founded, begins worker.
Methos: Warrior 1 E into Antium.

Turn 53 (1880 BC)
Methos: Warrior 1 fortifies in Antium.
Rome finishes: Barracks

Turn 54 (1840 BC)
Rome begins: Archer

Turn 55 (1800 BC)
Tech learned: Iron Working
Rome grows: 6

Turn 56 (1760 BC)
Research begun: Mysticism
Methos: Turn emphasize food back on.
Methos: Worker 1 finishes farming wheat.
Rome finishes: Archer

Turn 57 (1720 BC)
Rome begins: Archer
Archer 1 fortifies in Rom (Archer) promoted: City Garrison I
Methos: Worker 1 begins road.
Tech learned: Mysticism

Turn 58 (1680 BC)
Research begun: Pottery
Methos: Worker 1 finishes road.

Turn 59 (1640 BC)
Methos: Worker 1 NE and begins road.

Turn 60 (1600 BC)
Rome finishes: Archer
Scout loses to: Barbarian Warrior (1.60/2)

Turn 61 (1560 BC)
Rome begins: Archer
Archer promoted: City Garrison I
Methos: Archer 2 W, W, SW
Methos: Scratch that: Archer 2 W, W.
Methos: Worker 1 finishes road, moves E, E, E, NE.
Tech learned: Pottery

Turn 62 (1520 BC)
Research begun: Writing
Methos: Worker 1 begins road.
Methos: Archer 2 SW, NW into Antium.
Antium finishes: Worker

Turn 63 (1480 BC)
Antium begins: Obelisk
Methos: Worker 2 begins farm after moving.
Methos: Archer 2 fortifies in Antium.
Rome grows: 7
Rome finishes: Archer

Turn 64 (1440 BC)
Rome begins: Settler
Archer promoted: City Garrison I
Methos: Turn emphasize food on in Antium.
Methos: Turn emphasize food off in Rome.
Methos: Archer 3 E, NE
Methos: Worker 1 finishes road, moves SE.

Turn 65 (1400 BC)
Methos: Worker 1 begins road.
Methos: Archer 3 SE
Tech learned: Writing

Turn 66 (1360 BC)
Research begun: Horseback Riding
Methos: Archer 3 E to future site of next city.
Methos: Worker 1 finishes road.

Turn 67 (1320 BC)
Methos: Worker 1 begins mine.
Methos: Archer 3 fortifies.
Antium grows: 2

Turn 68 (1280 BC)
Methos: Worker 2 finishes farm, moves W and begins farm.

Turn 69 (1240 BC)

Turn 70 (1200 BC)
Methos: Worker 1 finishes mine.

Turn 71 (1160 BC)
Methos: Worker 1 moves E, NE onto the Iron.
Methos: Rome asks for Open Borders, but I decline.
Rome finishes: Settler

Turn 72 (1120 BC)
Rome begins: Library
Methos: Settler E, NE, SE, E
Methos: Worker 1 begins road.
Antium grows: 3
Antium finishes: Obelisk

Turn 73 (1080 BC)
Antium begins: Granary
Methos: Worker 2 finishes farm, moves W and begins cottage.
Cumae founded
Cumae begins: Barracks
Methos: Cumae founded, begins barracks. Emphasize food.

Turn 74 (1040 BC)

Turn 75 (1000 BC)
Methos: Worker 1 finishes road, begins mine.

Started off okay, as I continued to switch my focus. At first I went with exploring our continent in the hopes of corralling any other civs in. After meeting the Greeks I attempted just that but realized too late I was wasting precious turns as it wasn’t going to happen.

Eventually I quit my attempted corralling and switched to military. Always hesitant on warmongering I waited too late for that as well. I can’t remember exactly when I started my war with Greece but I know I didn’t finish it until around 1400 AD.

Greek war: My plan was to send two invasion forces into Greece with the plan of meeting up near Athens. My two forces were both comprised of cats and praetorians. Not wanting to slow my invasion down the first two cities I hit, Knossos and Pharsalos, I razed. Moving on I decided the remaining cities I would keep.

By the time I took Sparta and Delphi war weariness was hitting me pretty bad. I switched my tech advancement so Hereditary Rule would be available. Once it was I revolted and that managed to curb the ww a little. After Athens had fell and my forces were heading towards Corinth ww was showing its ugly head again. I started mm’ing my cities like crazy as I didn’t want to end the war until the Greeks were destroyed. Taking a side tour towards Drama allowed me to adjust culture a little to help with ww.

As my troops moved into position on Thermopylae, their last city, I noticed a Greek galley drop a settler southeast of Argos. Though it didn’t stop the destruction of Greece it did cause the war to last a few more turns than I wanted. I believe the Greeks were destroyed in 1360 AD.

Here were my battle plans:

In 1400 AD a ship came into view causing us to make our first contact outside of our continent, and the final requirement of this thread.

Now to read twelve pages of everyone elses spoilers.

Edit: Removed the civ I met due to being spoilerish.

 

[Grogs]

It doesn't do much good if "most" of your Praetorians have City Raider promotions, because the combat algorithm is supposed to pick your best defender, which is going to be the one that doesn't, and which would rather defend than attack.

Well, most was actually a euphemism for all. That's what happens when you're not very experienced as a Civ4 warmonger. I just relied too much on the 8 strength of the praets and pretty much assumed I was invincible. And since there was no terrain around Athens to provide defensive bonuses, his axes chopped my stack down pretty quickly. My lack of scouting contributed to the problem. When I chopped his iron, he built axes and phalanxes with his copper, rather than swords that the praets would have mowed down. I did manage to regroup nicely and come in with overwhelming strength for the final assault though. Lots of lessons learned during this GOTM.

 

[Kuranes]

Simple fact: Praetorians rule. 1.5x more powerful than other units at the same time. And cheap. I wiped out the Greeks pretty quickly, then set to work building up all the towns I could stuff into the continent to cover it all before anyone else got Astronomy and could settle the empty land. The Greeks were wiped out by 225 BC, the continent was mine.