<Awaiting a PM Reply from cracker concerning the images, but I'll edit it when he approves/disapproves>>
Vanilla 1.29f Open
Opening moves:
Just as planned in the pre-game discussion, I moved the scout south then west. This reveraled the gold and goats to the SW, the floodplains nearby, and the desert on the other side of the mountains. Moved the worker north onto the goats(I won't get an immediate bonus from them, but I got a good view), showing me more goats to the Northeast. Finally, I decided to move the settler SE anyway, to the "nook" in the river, to give it the floodplain after one expansion. This was an excellent move, because of the wool on the other side of the river.
!!INSERT IMAGE #1 HERE!!
3950 BC: I settled on the "nook" of the river, and the single citizen worked the wool. Worker is going to build a road from the goats to the wool, giving four tiles next to the river with roads on them. I'll probably irrigate one and mine one of the plains, but I'm not going to be able to get anything extra by improving the wool just yet, so the next move will probably be to road & irrigate the floodplain. Started four-turn build of warrior in the capital. Set up tech research as follows:
1. Bronze Working
2. The Wheel
3. Warrior Code
4. Horseback Riding
5. Iron Working
6. Alphabet
7. Writing
Not sure what to go after once those get finished, but I'll decide after I meet some other civs. Upped research to max, BW will finish in 16 turns.
Scout moved one more tile West onto the hill, revealed olives over the mountains. My guess that the mountains were either thin or on the coast was wrong, apparently. But I'm two for three on my pre-game guesses so far.
3900 BC - Moved scout two more tiles West, revealing three wool on hills. Potential second city location?
3850 BC - Moved scout north one, west one, revealing more desert, more hills, and *gasp* a grassland!
3800 BC - Moved one more tile west, saw more grassland and what I thought were the russians(right clicking i found it was neoCarthage, the color fooled me).
Nothing I have is worth enough to get either Masonry or Alphabet, so I back off bronze working to 17 turns(was at 13) to start gaining gold and have some trade leverage.
3750 BC - Warrior done, start another. Goes south one tile. Scout goes west then northwest, not showing too much else, except that carthage has built one road connected to their capital. First settler will have to get out there fast to secure wool, and to get a potential monopoly.
3700 BC - Warrior south one more, revealing a lot more floodplains. Scout moves NW onto mountain, revealing large section of jungle.
3650 BC - Warrior south again, revealing desert and olives to west. Scout moves N one, revealing a mountain two turns north. Gonna go for it to get another view.
3600 BC - Warrior south, scout north. FRESH WATER!!!!! YAHOO!!!! And..umm...more olives to the east, another mountain near the scout.
3550 BC - Second warrior built, this one heads north. Other warrior south, scout north onto mountains, and a goody hut is revealed, as well as coastal grassland!
!!INSERT IMAGE #2 HERE!!
Trying diplomacy with Carthage again, masonry would be both techs, all 15 gold, plus 1 gpt, so basically a 35 gold equivalant. BW is 12 turns at current rate(80%), 9 at max, and 23 at 30%. I drop it to 15 turns again(at 60%) and start gaining 2 gpt.
3500 BC - Southern warrior moves SE onto hill, revealing large patch of desert. Northern warrior moves north again onto plains, revealing nothing. Scout heads for hut, water looks like another small lake.
3450 BC - Culture expands, doesn't reveal much else. Northern warrior grabs mountain at head of range, more olives in desert to west, and goats to east.
VILLAGE IS DESERTED!!! AARGH!
Southern warrior doesn't show much.
With culture expansion, I now have two tiles that are 2/2/2 in the borders(wool and goats). 2 turn warriors are now possible, with 5spt. Going to wait for pop 3 to start building settler, and continue warrior proliferation. In ten turns, I should have 7 warriors, bronze working complete, and 49 gold.
Scout continues moving along coast of lake/harbor(still can't tell which)
3400 BC - Fortify warrior in capital, otherwise unhappiness would probably ensue. Northern warrior moves again, one more olives revealed. Scout sees persian scout in the north, contact is made. No trades are possible, but I try carthage again and suddenly masonry is a lot cheaper. Alphabet is still a lot though, taking both techs and all my gold. Decide to wait until BW is finished. Scout moves again to show that water body is probably a lake. Southern warrior continues going SE, revealing lots of plains, mountains, and desert.
3350 BC - Yep, just a lake. Northern warrior goes due north, southern goes due south, showing a river. Going to follow it and see if I can find some floodplains.
3300 BC - Another warrior comes out, this one goes east. Northern warrior north, scout NE onto mountain, showing more hills. Southern warrior heads for river and sees spices, plains, and grassland along the river.
3250 BC - France, using a different color(i thought it was babylon at first, meaning rome would have been in the game, but not so.) I decide not to trade pottery for BW and 10 gold, as BW is only 2 turns away.
Masonry, however, is nicely affordable at both techs and 10 gold, but I still decide not to buy, considering it's a "less-important" tech to me - although the pyramids would be nice, I'm not going to try for it, considering I've got a nice settler factory showing up in the capital. Research at 100% results in a 2 gold loss but BW in one turn.
Scout goes N again, showing up more of the all-important grassland. Northern warrior north, more water showing up. Eastern warrior east onto mountains, spices and plains on other side. Southern warrior SW onto another mountain, showing *sigh* just more desert.
Looking at the histograph at this point, here's the scores:
France: 65
Persia: 61
Carthage: 61
Arabs: 55
Now why is France ahead? There's only one possibility: They've got a lux in their capital's radius. Seeing that their line on the score table is straight, they must have had it from turn one - meaning that there's a luxury under Paris. Worker is on the wool now, so my score should start to climb once I have a happy citizen. I'm thinking about changing to a settler as soon as the next warrior finishes - This would be at 5 turns to size 3 and 5 turns to build the settler.
3250 BC: Bronze Working finishes, use menu to switch over to spearman before warrior can complete, and bump down science. Best gaining strategy is 27 turns, so i set it all the way down to 10% and start building a treasury, getting 4 gpt.
Eastern warrior east, more olives and goats. Northern warrior heads NE towards water, see river delta on the other side, it's only a 3-tile lake. Scout north, see grassland, goats, silks, and a light-blue border to the left.
Southern warrior moves south, revealing a nice open area of plains, and the river looks like it's coming to an end.
Do another round of Diplo talks, France apparently got BW on the same turn. Masonry is still both techs + 10 gold, but i have 25 gold + 4 gpt so I take it. I also trade carthage both CB and Pottery for Alphabet. Going back to persia, I sap all their gold away(36 of it) for alphabet. Now at tech parity, and gold stands as follows:
Persia: 0
France: 20
Carthage: 10
Me: 51 + 4gpt
So I stand at tech parity with more gold than all the other known nations combined.
3150 BC - Eastern warrior east again, not much new.
Northern warrior heads NE towards the mini-lake, it is indeed the end of a river, which seems to flow through a jungle that has grassland beneath.
Scout moves W, revealing a large swath of desert occupied by a light blue civ. Spain shows up on the diplo screen. They have 9 gold and the same techs I have.
Southern warrior heads E towards the river.
3100 BC: Capital produces spearman, switch to settler. I fortify spear in capital and send warrior out to explore the black area to the west of the capital, to aid in second city positioning.
Eastern warrior moves north, showing grassland and water. I may place city at OCP distance that's NE, E, E, E from capital, giving immediate use of olives and spices, and grassland and goats within the one culture expansion radius.
Northern warrior and scout both move north. Southern warrior moves East again, revealing that the river(which is only 3 tiles long) empties into a 1-tile lake. Worker finishes wool connection, will start building road to spices next turn, which will be next to new city location.
Checking the F11 screen I see Thebes, Rome, and Delhi. This leaves two civs that are unsure. I'm second in land area, which means someone has a second city(and not one of the civs I know)
I have #1 economy @ 2 per capita, second best productivity with 14, but 8th in disease at 9%, which is wierd because I'm not working any disease-prone tiles. I agree in the notions that there should be a joint study on how F11 screen stats are calculated. I also see that Madrid is size 3 already, meaning they've had at least one 7-turn growth.
3050 BC - Western warrior goes NW then W, eastern warrior goes N revealing 3x1 lake that could perhaps be larger, although I doubt it. Northern warrior N again, revealing an off-grey border(maybe persia, not quite sure)
Scout N again, not much new, Southern warrior heads for mountain goats that are S, SE, shows desert goats in first move.
Worker starts road to spices, should have one road in place by the time the settler comes out, although because of the river he'll have to cross it first. I start making gains in the histograph because of new happy face(lead of other civs drops by one point.)
3000 BC - Western warrior west, nothing new.
Eastern warrior NE, lake curves around and appears to only be 4 or 5 tiles.
Northern warrior N again, it is indeed Persia's capital, which is settled along a 1-tile lake. Scout N again, open terrain ahead. Southern warrior moves onto mountain goats, more desert and plains revealed
(End of detailed unit movements)
Here's a pic of my entire viewable area at 3000 BC
!!INSERT IMAGE #3 HERE!!
Persia has Mysticism now, but refuses to trade it for anything. No one's gold has changed, and no one else has any new techs.
Ranked 6th in "Largest nation of the world" study.
2800 BC - Settler finished, begin 10 turn build of Temple. Will take 3 turns to get to destination.
2750 BC - Find southern coast, and France's land in the north.
2710 BC - Find northern coast near Perseopolis. France took histograph jump in 2800 BC, apparently 2nd city settled. I've still got 2 more turns until I can settle my second city.
2630 BC - Settle Second City! Work on 10-turn spearman, worker will road to Spices then to olives.
Looks like I'll need several cities to get wool monopoly.
2470 BC - Contact Zulu. Give my masonry for warrior code and all 35 of his Gold, putting me at 141 gold with +8 per turn. Everyone else already had WC apparently, but Persia is the clear tech leader, with Mysticism and The Wheel. I trade 2 gpt + 141 gold for the wheel. I take 20g from France, 10 from Carthage, and 9 from Spain, putting me down 102 gold + 2pt, overall 142. I STILL HAVEN'T SEEN A SINGLE BARB VILLAGE OR HUT, except for the deserted one I found with my scout early on.
2430 BC - Capital finishes Temple, start spearman, 2nd city changes to temple(10 turns to go).
2390 BC - I stand corrected on that Barb comment. Pictish warrior shows up about 17 turns from capital square. I move warrior into position to be on offensive when it comes in range.
2350 BC - Warrior wins with 2/3 HP left, no promotion. Northernmost warrior finds goody hut 2 turns from current position. Scout finds dyes and horses on NW coast.
2310 BC - I see Egypt's border. Also see barb village that spawned pictish warrior.
2270 BC - Pictish warrior shows up one tile from my worker. Start moving spearman from capital, but probably won't get there in time due to river. Warrior kills barb camp & gets 25 gold with 2/3 hp left(still no promotion). Other warrior pops hut and gets Mysticism! Would sell, but everyone's broke except Persians, who already have it, and Zulu are now 3 techs behind me with no gold.
2230 BC - Spearman takes out pictish threat near 2nd city, moves onto spices, worker goes back and gets ready to start roading again, spearman will fortify over worker until road is done, then in city.
2190 BC - Make contact with Egypt. They're 4 techs behind, but I get 10 gold for pottery. Despite tech disparity, they're top on histograph.
UPDATED HISTOGRAPH RANKINGS:
Egypt 111
France 105
Zulu 101
Arabs 92
Spain 89
Persia 88
Carth.. 85
Expecting another nice score boost once road gets finished on spices, having two happy citizens in each city, for 4 total, as opposed to 1 happy & 3 content right now.
Culture advisor tells us that all other civs are "impressed with" our culture. I started behind due to moving the initial settler, but right now have 70 culture, 56 from palace and 14 from temple in capital.
2110 BC - Temple finished in Madinah. Start 14-turn barracks build, this will be my main military city.
2070 BC - Capital builds second settler, also starts 14-turn barracks build. Order movement to SE, S, S, S position.
1950 BC - Ranked as wealthiest nation in the world. Make contact with india. Ranked 10th in land area now, but that will change over the next two turns, as both cities expand.
1830 BC - Disband a barb camp and get 25 gold. Have settled 3rd city, both capital and 2nd city have expanded to 3rd and 2nd culture levels, respectively. My area in the histograph nearly doubles, over the next few turns I expect to push into the top two or three in score(currently 5th).
1675 BC - Moved up two places in score already, only 7 points off the lead, and this is with a 17 point gain over 3 turns.
<<Continued in next post>>
![[ptw]](/images/smilies/ptw.gif "PTW Icon [ptw]")
1.21
Total number of huts found: 1, containing a conscript warrior who could, er, search for more huts. This was not really a surprise on the predator level
No cities lost and looking forward to Ansar Warrior - will they be the answer to my cries of frustration?
the wise things said about Islam on the announcement page.
). It's also my first QSC, which I think helped me since I paid a lot more attention to my opening moves, as I ended up with one of the best starts for a Monarch game I've ever had (I usually play on Regent).
I've now learned two things so far in this GOTM.
Their starting location is a yummy delicious landmass and would be a great prize. This is shaping up to be the road not taken in my game and I'll be interested in seeing how it turns out. Much stronger than mine, I'll wager 
