*Spoiler2* - Gotm21-Melee - End of Medieval Age

[MadScot]

Originally posted by Melifluous
Turn 106 ( 410BC) - <snip> Check the three civs and they have no more tech? They were all scientific and they all entered the Middle Ages so WTH is this?

I never saw anyone else pick up on this; if it's been answered already, apologies...

I think it was discussed in the pre-game thread, and I think it's in the game setup info too. In order to level the playing field between 1.29f (where the new era techs are pretty much always the same) and PTW (where they are truly random) cracker de-sciencised the AI scientific civs. Otherwise a lucky PTW player could get all the first level techs very quickly by trade, if the Ais all got different techs.

Originally posted by Cracker
Also help us to understand how and where you decided to place your Palace and/or Forbidden Palace to support the ending moves of your game.

I had previously planned on a hand-built FP in Sparta and a jumped Palace. When taking the last-but-one Minoan city I got a leader, and a dilemma. At the time Leonardo's was not built, but I had a city within 3 turns of it, and I didn't think I'd get another leader ( and I didn't; I only had a couple more elites available anyway) so I used Pyrrhus to jump the Palace to Knossos. I debated trying to 'improve' the city locations in the Minoan lands, but decided it was too much effort for what would be limited gains. The Minoan geography really constrained any attempts at RCPing their lands anyway. I'll try to get the Minoan lands up to speed, then maybe move the palace again if the opportunity presents itself.

The RCP about the FP seems to have worked pretty well - the old core lost almost no production after the jump.

Originally posted by Cracker
What were your impressions of the behavior of the other Civilizations during this phase of the game? Try to touch on all the surviving civs and what you thought they were doing.

The Atlanteans have gone on a wild city building spree - they're on the third series of city names already.
The AIs have all been very peaceful too. There was a phoney war between Spain and Persia (lasted 1000 years, but I never saw any fighting) but otherwise the world has been peaceful.

Originally posted by Cracker
What was or has been your impression of the Peltast unit as it has played in this game so far.

Peltasts were bloody annoying. While 2 defence looks puny, that free defensive shot from other units in the stack hurt me quite a few times. On their own they're denied that, so going after them on their own is worth the effort.
Now they are the Atlantean's problem!

Summary 1.21f Open
My first spoiler thread finished in 210BC, with us barely in the MAs with 5 other civs.

Since then, the highlights have been:
130BC Greek Republic starts
10BC/AD Ancient Wonder cascade comes to an end with Hanging Gardens. We have no ancient wonders, I didn't like the risk of wasting shields.
250AD Two cities on the Ottoman peninsula (giving us wines). At about this point we had Monotheism (our freebie), Theology, Education and Engineering, and were starting Astronomy. No AI had other than a first level tech (Monotheism, Feudalism and/or Engineering). I decided to be niggardly trading upper row techs to try to force the AI into the lower path and to protect the upper row wonders.
300AD Having decided to attack the Minoans soon, I traded my only iron to the Spanish. That allowed Sparta to build warriors every turn, so it was like a resource disconnection really.
350AD Astronomy, start Copernicus. (I mistakenly thought this was a scientific wonder Since we got a Hoplite-triggered GA this didn't matter in the end.)
430AD Banking, start Navigation, to get Magellan. Seemed like it would be useful on this map.
450AD Complete the Sistine Chapel. Unfortunately the Germans discovered Invention the previous turn and shared it around, so the AIs all swapped to Leonardo. At this point almost every AI that can is building both Sun Tzu and Leonardo.
500AD Our iron deal expires, and we get ready to liberate the Minoans. We also learn Navigation and start to research Economics.
510AD With two Minoan settlers wandering our territory, there's no time like the present.
as an aside, the Minoans built a ridiculous number of settlers. At one point there were 4 or 5 trudging through me towards the German lands. They never settled anywhere.
Our attack force was about 30 Medieval Infantry, 4 Knights, and some Hoplites.
520AD Minoan counter attack triggers GA against Hoplite.
550AD Learn Economics, start Gunpowder (I don't want democracy)
590AD Knossos falls. Learn Gunpowder, start Chemistry. In stage one of war weariness, we've lost a few maces to the peltasts, and a knight or two too.
630AD Chemistry, start Physics. The Minoans are now down to 3 cities on the mainland, plus two on the south continet.
670AD Physics, start Gravity.
About this time I realised that the AI still didn't have either Sun Tzu or Leo's, and perhaps I should have gone for those myself.
680AD Athens builds Magellan's Voyage
700AD Adam Smith's is completed.
710AD Learn Theory of Gravity, start on Magnetism.
Our prebuild for Newton's is actually going to waste shields, so we decide to try for Leo's (which it will finish in 3 or 4 turns) and swap our Copericus city to Newton's, which will take about 10 turns at the current rate.
The Hittites build Sun Tzu's, but there's no cascade yet.
720AD Attacking the last but one city we get Pyrrhus. After a lot of debate I decide that a Palace is worth more than Leo's is. So he moves back towards Knossos.
Our GA ends, which adds a turn to Leo's build, but rearranging the citizens speeds Newton's to 7 turns.
740AD We take the last Minoan mainland town, demand their last city for peace. Then Pyrrhus rushes the Palace in Knossos.
Carthage builds JS Bach, which cascades Germany to Leo's. The Germans now have the Pyramids and Leonardo's, a tempting target.
760AD Magnetism discovered, we start Metallurgy. Even though out of the GA we can still research in 4 turns. We now sell Physics to various civs for as much as we can get - about 150gpt total.
800AD We learn Metallurgy and enter the Industrial Age with Nationalism . Not the tech I wanted. The ex-Leo's build is now 9 turns from the Palace, so I slow it down to give me time to get Steam Power (5 turns) and then Industrialisation.

No AI has Gravity, Magnetism or Metallurgy, nor do any have Democracy (which I dont have either).

My plan is to let the AIs pick up the optional techs in the Middle Ages while I go for Industrial.

While the Minoan war was slow, due to our largely foot army, it had the very positive effect of triggering our GA at a crucial time. I was able to research 5 techs and claim a few wonders while at war, and I'm hoping to hang onto the lead now. We ended up in the second war weariness stage, but managed to stay out of disorder without resorting to the governors.

edited - several times - for various typos

The Greek Republic at the start of 810AD

 

[Killer_Klein]

As I always do in GOTM I started off slowly, but for the first time in GOTM I managed to build a wonder before the late Middle or Industrial. I got the Collossus in Athens.

All through the first two era I have been trading like crazy, got 6 insence and 3 iron and that has been a huge advantage. I was involved in a couple of wars, I attacked Germany and grabbed a couple of cities and then we made peace. When Russia attacked Germany I jumped on the bandwagon and brought in the Minoans as well. But in my excitement to have allies take the hits for me, I forgot I was trading with Germany and that hurt my rep after I finished the war, but I gained a bunch of cities and hurt Germany. Then Russia demanded Saltpeter off me after then refused to trade anything for it and I refused so they attacked me and this time I brought Germany against Russia. Manipulating them to do my bidding hehe.

But after that slow start I have managed be top on the Scoreboard and I one of a couple civs with the Tech lead.

<snip> KK, ket us not discuss any industrial age resources and related issues in this spoiler thread since they cannot possibly meet the tests for what is allowed. - cracker

 

[Yndy]

Predator Class

I'm going for the spaceship like many of you, so I focused on building universities and attacked Germany with the thought of getting the Palace moved in the German Forests. But I failed when my Med Infs were ambushed by German Med Infs and I lost half my army. Since my girst leader also emerged then I made peace with Germany and settled with the SW of their empire. I built the Place there with the Leader and struggeled to build rings and improvements.

I went straight for Cavalry to teach those germans a lesson, upgraded 22 of them and took Germany in four turns around 400AD.

Entered the industrial age in circa 500AD and I research techs at 5 or 6 turns with 100% on science. The AI researched for me Engineering, Feudalism, Astronomy and Banking.

I built JS Bach, Copernicus, Newton and Smiths with leaders and captured Sun Tzu and Pyramids from Berlin. Currently I'm in skirmishes with the Ottomans and the Minoans that I really don't want to beat but they keep declaring war.

 

[Moonsinger]

Open Class 1.21

At the beginning, I was wasting too much time on counting distance for RCP. Around 450 AD, I started a little war against the Minoans and used hoplite to trigger the Golden Age. It was the best Golden Age ever because it happened just exactly as plan - a late golden age while in Republic with RCP around the palace (which I relocated near Berlin) and the forbidden palace near Sparta. I built mostly horseman during my Golden Age. Toward the end of my golden age, I upgraded about 135 horsemans to cavalries. Since the Ottomans, the Celts, and French were just at the beginning of the Middle Age at the time, their mostly spearmans and few pikemans were at the mercy of my cavalries. A snapshot of my map at the end of the Middle Age (at 1000 AD to be exact). Btw, with a lot of hills and mountains in this map, those spearmans were quite dangerous.

 

[Ambiorix]

About Cracker's question in spoiler1 : I'm not sure if my ideas fit in the context of spoiler1, so I'm put them here.

I'm thinking the 'melee' description has to do with the fact that we have a large number of opponents, who seem to be very well balanced. There's only the Romans who seem to be knocked into a coma early on in most games, and the Minoan neighbours who carry a large sign saying 'historical neighbour - please invade'.
In earlier games the player ended up fighting one or a couple of superpowers, here it's more 'one against all'.
Another aspect is the lack of (not-claimable) ocean. A lot of cultural borders touch over sea, so to sail from A to B you have to cross territorial waters. If you're at war against a far-off civ, you'll need permission from everyone in between to get there, either by land or by sea. The whole map gives me the idea of being cramped in a room that's too small with conversations like "Sir... Sir ! ... could you please move a little bit to the left so that I can draw my sword ? ... Thanks... now, you sir, yes you, may I just reach over your shoulder so that I can stab that gentleman in front of you ? Oh sorry ma'am, was that your toes ? ....", and so on.

Just my thoughts. I didn't make any analysis of the civ's traits - maybe part of the answer is there. Anyone has a better guess ?


Edit : it's probably not a coincidence that Rome is so weak in this game : they're not supposed to be there in the Greek era. They would only come later. So instead of mimicking an ancient power in gotm19, they're now mimicking a younger civ. The ancient civ is here played by Atlantis.

 

[ltccone]

I spent most of the middle ages building up my infstructure, and filling in all the space I could with cities. I sent a suicide galley with a spearman and settler to the island NW of Atlantis with the volcanoes (There were also swarms of barbs there). It made it and I built a city there. I built another city there after astronomy.

I changed to republic, and stayed there the rest of the game. I never got into any wars, and I spent most turns trading, trading, trading. Russia, Persia, and Carthage became the great powers. I was never able to catch them in tech.

 

[Yeti]

First GoTM. Open, PTW 1.21f

Please help me out here guys. I did something at one point that trashed my rep with most of the other civs.

I was doing so so - had a slow start, but was making a killing off of tech trading. Everyone had been gifted things at some point and folks were polite for the most part, with even a gracious or two thrown in.

I always refuse to be extorted, so I ended up with a couple wars with civs across the war that never resulted in even a single unit showing up.

I got to the point where I had techs to trade, and instead of totally giving them away, I figured what the heck, let's try playing puppet master (something I haven't done before). So I traded techs in exchange for military alliances against the civs that had declared war on me from afar.

Everything was going great. I had almost every civ in the game at war with the current leader and another high scoring Civ (Persia and Spain).

Then suddenly everyone was furious with me. I THINK this was because Spain offered peace and I accepted.

Is that true? If you sign a military alliance against another civ, and then make peace with them before the 20 turns are up, do you take a huge rep hit?

Thanks for your help!

 

[rabies]

Yeti - Yes. That is considered a broken agreement. Your rep is trashed and the civs you formerlly had alliances with will certainly not look favorably upon you. If you want a sterling reputation, you must stay at war for the full 20 turns you sign an alliance for.

 

[Mack]

I had some rather surprising rep development too.. but i cant post it here, it belongs in the final spoiler.

Anyway, my ancient ages had been a nice peaceful buildup/settler expansion, so i was set for war once i discovered chivalry.

This was in the middle of the middle ages, after the discovery of astronomy, banking and invention. I chose germany as my target, and invaded with my army of knights. Conquered them in about 15 turns or so and when most of my knights was located in hamburg, close to the russian border, i discovered military tradition. I had built leonardos workshop, so things couldnt have been more perfect I upgraded all my knights, and charged into russia.

I reached the industrial age during my fast progressing invasion into russia, so my story has to end here. I had plenty more planned though :soldier:

 

[Rowain deWolf]

Ptw 1.21 Predator

Ancient Age

I started into the Middle Ages in 570BC with Engineering as the free tech;

In 350BC Celts and Germany sign an Alliance vs France which is joined the next turn by the Hittiti and then Carthago join the Anti-France-coalition too indicating that Joan won’t be long in the Game;

250BC Buy a Worker from France for 100 gold;

230BC engineering to Minoans for Republic;

110BC The Greek Republic is formed; Engineering sold to Egypt for Monarchy;

70BC + 50BC Contact with Atlantis, Spain and Rome; Sell Monarchy for WM and some Cash;

50AD Germany eliminates France;

90AD Monotheism to Spain for Feud + WM;

290AD The first Setback on my way to Diplo-Victory; Babylon demands Invention which I decline (I cave to gold demands but not if they want my techs); Incense + 6 gpt to Carthage for an Alliance vs Babylon;

340AD Invention to Spain for Cotton, Chivalry and 7 gold; Chivalry to Atlantis for Ivory and 8 gold;

390AD Incense 5 gpt to Russia for Spices; Education + 130 gold to Egypt for Gunpowder;

490AD Incense + 31 gpt to Persia for Chemistry which is then sold to Atlantis for Astronomy;

500AD Chemistry to Spain for Music Theory (just in case someone completes Sistine );

520AD Sistine complete in Athen; Till 550AD the Cascade eats SunTzu, Bach and Leo; With the Cascade ended I have a clear shot a Smith and Newton which will give me a GA right at the start of the Industrial Age; Astronomy buys me Wool and Gems from Celts;

570AD FP completed in Pharsalos; And very important: Ottomans declare War vs Russia; That’s the two biggest AI a the Moment

610 AD Peace with Babylon without any fight between us; Economy + Incense + 270 gold + 10gpt to (?)Carthage for Physics; Physics + Iron to Spain for Metallurgy + Democracy + Cotton; Demo to Hannibal for Mil Tradition ;

640AD – 670AD Atlantis, Rome and Minoans sign Alliances vs Ottomans

As you can see Thermopylae prebuilds for Newton;

670 AD ToG learned; Persia, Carthage and Egypt are already industrial;

730 AD Industrial Age entered; Steam for free;
more later

 

[Moonsinger]

Ambiorix,

Thanks for reminding me about Cracker's question.

Originally posted by cracker
In Gotm's 18,19, and 20 the emphasis was on food and expansion.

In this game these features are still important but the real focus is on three other dominant elements of game play that can make the game fun even if the terrain is rough. Games do not have to be tragic just because they do not start on grass by a river.

Has anybody figured out why this game is a melee?

I think it's a melee because every Civ has a mortal expansionist enemy near by. Greeks verus Minoans, Germans verus Russians, Spains verus Atlantis, Atlantis verus Romans, Ottomans verus Celts, etc. However, I think Cracker was wrong about that because Greece actually verus everyone in my game.

 

[Txurce]

Open 1.29

MEDIEVAL STRATEGY

Greece was heading for space. I switched from despotism to republic in 250 BC. Monarchy wasn’t available, and my feeling was that there was no upside to going through anarchy twice. Once in republic, I intended to stay there, and not switch again for democracy’s benefits. Entering republic early with only one luxury kept me from reaping all its benefits for a while, but even from the start, it was an improvement over despotism.

My plan since 975 BC had been to first conquer fertile Germany and move my palace to Berlin, home of the Pyramids. This would give me two strong cores. Afterward, I would take the Minoans, which would max out my first core. All of my wars were to be fought while pushing research as much as possible.

THE DANGERS OF JUST-ENOUGH UNITS IN WAR

Greece declared war on Germany in 450 BC, attacking with 14 swordsmen. This seemed like enough to take the Germans, since their iron was unconnected, and was ours after the first turn. Only distance could seemingly slow us down: there were no nearby barracks in which to quickly heal, and a long haul if reinforcements were needed.

By 170 BC, facing only bows and spears, we were on the verge of taking Berlin… and then the Ottomans declared war. A mixed collection of offensive units moved south toward our newly conquered German lands. Why? There were no Greek units in sight, and virtually the entire Greek homeland was undefended. We immediately allied with the Kelts to split the Ottomans’ focus, and diverted several swords to stop their advance. Cologne fell in 150 BC, and Berlin in 90 BC.
The main Ottoman force was defeated outside Cologne in 10 BC, but lesser units kept coming. My approach with them was to never defend, letting them take corrupt former German cities, then taking them back. This slowed the conquest of eastern Germany. The Ottomans sued for peace after two newly-researched Medieval Infantry landed near their wines off our western shore and took resource-rich Konya in 300 AD. Germany finally succumbed in 360 AD.

Greece had 10 swords and 3 MI’s, about what it began the war with back in 450 BC. This approach shows the risks of just-enough warfare. I generally prefer it because it allows me to build infrastructure more quickly. However, something unexpected like the Ottomans declaring war was all it took to slow me down considerably… whereas if I had built an overwhelming force, the Ottomans wouldn’t have made much difference. In this game, at least, I would have been better off building a few less libraries, and a lot more warriors.

RESEARCH: WHERE DID EVERYBODY GO?

I entered the Middle Ages with the monotheism bonus in 270 BC, even with the leaders, and in an infrastructure-starved republic. I researched theology in 10 turns and started on education (14), but the AI were still at the medieval starting line. In the meantime, war with two civs and only one incense pushed my luxury rate to 40%, until I built a cotton colony on the Minoan border. I was broke, and considering an undesirably early peace.

Then in 170 AD, I traded the Kelts for engineering, and sold mono to the Russians and French for a combined 117gpt and 74g. My money problems were through for the moment – and, as it turned out – for the rest of the game. In the next turn I traded the Zulus mono for feudalism, then started researching banking (9 turns). More gold poured in with further trades of mono, and in 290 I started on astronomy. The FP was completed in Qitaiodeia in 300 AD, expanding my core further to the east. With the war ending in 360, the luxury rate dropped to zero, and astronomy was researched in 370. Greece was now a respectable institute of higher learning.

Amazingly enough, I had hit the upper-branch required research wall, and none of the AI had yet to acquire a single second-tier tech. Part of the problem was that I had taken all their gold, and I couldn’t complain about the results. I had made some tech gifts, but concluded that my own pace was too fast to have it help much, so didn’t gift the AI all the way to parity. With no wars except for my own with Germany and the Ottomans, however, and every civ in republic, the slowdown still seemed problematic.

The question now was, research the optional economics in 5 turns and go for Smith’s, or the required invention, which one of the ******** AI civs must have been on the verge of researching? I chose economics, and researched it just in time to trade Babylon education for gunpowder. After that, it was goodbye joint research – I knew I’d get only optional techs from the AI. I researched the next three techs at 5 turns each, then with the building of Copernicus, Smith’s, and new universities – plus a palace jump - improved to 4 turns for the last three medieval techs. This pace took me into the industrial era in 680, where I started researching steam power at a 5-turn rate.

RCP IN THE SECOND CORE

Berlin had been earmarked for a palace jump since 975 BC, and I saved my only Leader from the German war to rush this project. When Germany entered history, the first order of business was to hurry my waiting settlers to their targeted sites, while using my units to block the hordes of French and russian settlers. This went well – the French took one decent site – and over the next century I filled in the rich German countryside. Interestingly, the Germans already had three cities 5.5 tiles from Berlin, and two others at 8.0. These distances were perfect for the late Middle Ages, since they would soon be able to grow past size 12. Consequently, I built my new cities in two rings at these distances, then filled in the areas beyond as efficiently as possible. I waited to jump the palace until 510 AD, when Berlin and the other cities had grown enough to make it worthwhile. I reduced corruption by 18 gold, which meant the timing was slightly late.

THE OTHER CIVS

The civs in my game seemingly haven’t fought since I met them. They have all remained the same size, with the exception of Rome, which grew slightly, and significantly in number. Rome has come on the strongest, probably using they monopoly on dyes to soak in the gold. Atlantis, on the other hand, has steadily faded since its early (temple-based?) cultural surge.

Spain and Carthage came on (along with Rome) as the civs with the most gold on hand. This is the only measuring stick I have, since they’re all hoplessly behind in tech.

At this point, the Peltast just looks good.

STRATEGY FOR THE INDUSTRIAL ERA

My pursuit of space led me to ignore a switch to democracy, and to avoid researching either chivalry or military tradition. This meant I was preparing to conquer the Minoans with only medieval infantry, until the AI finally researched chivalry. Lack of military technology didn’t delay me, however. I wasn’t able to turn on the Minoans immediately after the Germans (360 AD) because my units served as blockers against foreign settlers for about a century, and then has a long way to walk. The Minoans were my target primarily because they were close enough to partly fall under the shadow of my FP, and their capital had built the Chapel. I hoped to use my lone hoplite to spur a quick GA, and ride that for both a 4-turn research pace and victory against the Minoans.

 

[hotrod0823]

I made it through the Ancient times without entering war but that would change for the most part during the enire Middle ages.

I started the Middle ages with Engineering and used that to get Republic. I was very unlucky with a few things during this time. It all started with a lux deal that went bad. Late in the Ancient times I traded incence to the Celts for Lit. About 10 turns in I noticed the trade had ended. I didn't do anything but a road from his harbor town was pillaged. Technically I broke the deal have had problems every since. No one will trade techs for gpt or luxuries. Luckily ROP, alliances and lux for gpt deals are still an option. I went the entire Middle age without being able to pay gpt.

Soon after entering the Middle ages I traded my Free tech for Monarchy and anticipating a war with my close neighbor the Germans I revolted and become a Monarchy (6 turns later ). Eventually Germany came calling for demaning gold and I refused. Upgraded 19 Warriors to Swords and eventually to MDI. The war started my golden age.

I got 2 leaders during the German Wars and I used them to rush SunZu and Leo's. In retrospect I should've used it for the FP. I didn't get too far against Germany. Ran out of gas only taking 3 cities and eventually made peace for Theology.

About the same time the war with Germny ended I allied with Rome for dyes and went after Spain. Managed to send 2 galleys of MDI to take 2 remote island cities. It was a long war but short on battles. She eventually payed up with Education but it was a struggle to get her to the table.

Damands have been heavy as well this game. Mid way through the Middle ages the Ottomans demanded incense and I refused, he declared. I had just gotten Chivalry and started sending nights to the Wine city. I took 3 cities before failing to take the capital. Signed the Celts and Russia on for the war but that backfired. When the 20 turns were up my force of 12 knight was badly beaten up outside of Sogut. I remembered to cancel the alliance with the Celts but forgot Cathy. The War brought me 4 new cities for peace. Soon after Spain was willing to give up Education for Peace.

I found that I was always 1 turn shy of the AI in almost all my tech choices up until this point. I lost out on Printing Press, Banking, Lit, and Math until finally I got lucky twice in a row. I bought Banking for cash from the Minoans. Was able to trade for Chemistry and started research on Economics. Had already rushed a few universities so it was 8 turn at 100%. My cash flow was helped by the iron trades made to Russia for 92gpt and Atlantis for 32gpt, wool and ivory. It turns out that everyone will pay be gpt for incence and wines as well. Cash is not a problem, its just too bad my credit still stinks.

Econmics came in and I got in trade, Astronomy, Metallurgy, and Physics along with some cash. I had to trade Econ and 400+ cash for Physics but was able to get some gold back. At this point Carthage was the tech leader, followed by Rome. I went with Theory of Gravity at 100% next and I was due in 8 turns.

Not 3 turns later Carthage had Magnetism, then Navigation and Democracy. I keep holding my breath until ToG comes in.

In 700 AD it does. I trade it to Rome for all 3 techs I am behind. To Carthage for 600 gold. Then I get Military Tradition for cash.

My Free Tech is Steam and rather than hold it I make what maybe a move. I trade to Carthage for his remaining gold ~600 and 204gpt. The rest of the AI are behind. But not for long. I risk losing 2 wonders, Smiths and Newtons but decide to risk a revolution. I can't keep up as a Monarchy. I only draw 4 turns and in 740 I am a Democracy.

Hotrod

 

[Zwingli]

Predator (Civ3 1.29b)
Ancient Age

Continuing with my previous restrictions (no offensive warfare, alliances, slaves, not giving in to tribute, etc.) the Middle Ages were spent building up commerial infrastructure and trading with the more powerful civs. Apart from the lands near Athens which were obtained in the initial expansion, I was able to squeeze in a city South of the Minoan core, one city North of the German core, and 4 cities on the desert peninsula South of the Ottomans. I lost a few galleys (including loaded ones) to squid, but I got 2 additional cites on the small barbarian infested island South of the Ottomans. These colonies would contribute a small but significant amount of gold to scientific research once courthouses were built in them.

3 further cities were obtained during the Middle Ages from Germany and Minoa by cultural conversion.

A short war with the Ottomans began in 250 BC when they demanded tribute, resulting only in a few pillaged roads and the Greek golden age. Once again, ROPs deterred neigbors from joining the Ottomans, and peace was signed on neutral terms with them in 70 BC. Babylon sneak attacked the tiny southern island in 400 AD, and this war continued for some time with little consequence.

At the beginning of the age, the other civs were able to research a few techs before me, but starting with Astronomy I was the first to every new technology. The profits from the tech sales to Persia, Spain, and Russia (the top AI civs) were enormous, reaching a total of around 1000 gpt by the beginning of the Industrial Age (~ 630 AD). Gold became nearly worthless due to its abundance, and I used the treasury to rush courthouses, libraries, harbors, aquaducts, and universities in low production colonies.
Map at the beginning of the Industrial Age

 

[Puzzlinon]

Research: Where did everybody go?

Looking at the map, it wouldn't take much early war to break trade routes all over the place. We usually only notice that when it hits us, but it's gotta have hit the AI in at least some of these games.

The AI doesn't forgive, so once it has trade-distrust for another civ, there is no more credit extended to that civ, ever. So I think this map has put a big obstacle up to AI tech trade - lots of pairs of civs can't use GPT or resources for inter-ai tech trading.

 

[Dianthus]

Open 1.21f (Euro)

Spoiler 1 (4000BC-110AD)

Spoiler 2 (110AD-830AD)
I had pretty much finished expanding by the end of Spoiler 1. During this Spoiler 2 period I continued a peaceful building/trading/researching phase. I researched along the top to get Democracy and Economics, hoping to trade for the lower techs. AI research was still very slow, so I only managed to trade for a small number of them.

I managed to build a number of wonders :
350 AD : Sun Tzu's Art of War
500 AD : Leonardo's Workshop
770 AD : Smith's Trading Company

590 AD I completed my 1st Palace Jump (thanks to DaveMcW's War Academy info ). I waited until I completed Leonardo's Workshop as I had to knock the population down quite a bit before the jump. Virtually my whole empire was within an 8 tile radius of my central cities (Corinth/Pharsalos), so I rushed a few settlers to knock the population down and used these to re-settle the abandoned capital and grow it.

Empire at 600AD (Forbidden Palace in Sparta)

I started the change to Democracy that turn, completing the change by 630AD.

800 AD, Spain declared war on the Romans. This is the 1st war I have seen this game! Part of the reason for this may have been that I only did half a job of building the embassies during Spoiler 1. I built about half of them, then it completely slipped my mind .

830 AD I completed Metallurgy to move to the Industrial Ages and traded it to France/Spain/Carthage for Free Artistry and lots of gold. Hopefully France/Spain/Carthage will help research the early Industrial Age techs while one of the remaining AI's research Military Tradition for me before I bring the rest of them into the Industrial Ages.

I'm currently researching 100% and am still making quite a profit :

I'm a little nervous of my lack of territory, thinking maybe I should have taken out the Minoans or Germans. I may need more land to keep up a fast tech pace, and I'm worried I might not get some of the important resources that are soon to be revealed. My military advisor tells me I'm strong compared to these guys, so I could still go ahead and wipe them out, I'm just thinking that maybe I should have done this earlier rather than later!

Here's the current map at 840AD :

Here are the scores at 840AD :

 

[Yeti]

Open, PTW 1.21f

Thanks for the reply on my diplomacy snafu guys! That's a mistake I certainly won't be making again. UGH. I'm confident it has cost me hundreds in GPT deals in later tech trading (and therefore thousands and thousands of total gold).

My story (lamely presented with no time line or screenshots ), which started out so poorly (slow start using ICS, several ALMOST built wonders, me at the bottom in civ rankings on the F8-o-meter), has started to get better. As I fought tooth and nail through the middle ages to pull ahead of other civs, as the industrial age loomed on the horizon, I had managed to take a very thin tech lead, had the Minoans almost defeated, and my sights firmly on the Germans to the NE. There are now four civs below me on the F8 screen (only the Romans are dead so far, and that was long long ago - before I had made contace with either them or the Atlanteans). However, on the F11 screen things look much better for me. Despite having an only slightly above middle of the pack land area, my population and production values are up there at #2 last I looked. My cavalry will soon be making a mess of the Germans, and from there I have my eyes on a couple key enemy cities with some nice wonders in them...

 

[Dianthus]

Originally posted by Yeti
Thanks for the reply on my diplomacy snafu guys!

Yeti, have you read any of the articles in the War Academy? It's misnamed in that there are a lot of articles not related to war. There are some interesting facts RE diplomacy/AI attitudes in The Road to Diplomatic Victory and AI Attitude Exposed, and the other articles are worth a look too!

 

[scubagtr]

Yeah, the AI has a funny way of looking at things. I'm playing a game now and had trade agreements with the other continent which had three other civs on it. All three were giving me lots of GPT for my resources and then a few turns later I notice my gpt was in the negative after being near 150+ gpt and they were all furious with me. I check those 3 civs and it says I need a trade route them. What the heck, I was just trading with them !!! Then I look at their continent and they all disbanded everyone of their harbors in every city !!!! Those bastards !!!!!! But not to worry, soon my bezerkers will be doing their beach landings straight into their cities.

I guess the other civs didin't like me destoying and warmonging on my continent.

 

[Smirk]

My guess as to what this is melee, is that some of the civs were prevented from building sea going vessels or reduced the priority of these any things like harbors. I have seen no more than two or three galleys, and most are from the same few civs. I haven't for instance seen any Celt, Russian, German, Ottoman or French galleys.