*Spoiler2* Gotm22-Vikings - End of Medieval Age + Full World Map

[Wanderer]

@Megalou :

I see your middle age was from 390bc to 1080 ad.
Mine was 410bc to 1230ad - thats 16 turns longer. Since I want to go for 20K, slow tech is good, gives me more chance to build wonders, and less worry for spacerace AI.

Other players ? How long / short were your Middle Ages ?

 

[Lord Beverage]

1.21f Open

30 AD - Greece invasion sets out early, 15 swordsman strong. Will take a foothold, rush barracks and upgrade right in time.
150 AD - New Scandinavian Republic established.
170 AD - Thermopylae falls.
210 AD - Russia declares war on the Greeks. England declared war on the Celts.
250 AD - Medieval Infantry ready to go.
280 AD -> 340 AD - Knossos, Athens, Delphi falls. Thermopylae rebels/retaken.
340 AD - Education is obtained via GL. The English shall suffer for this travesty.
350 AD - Great. War weariness. Just what I needed. Oh well, it's already 40 turns to for tech here, might as well turn the luxuries up more... Should have gone with Monarchy...
370 AD -> 420 AD - Sparta, Pharsalos falls. Inwaaer emerges at the 233rd battle of Sparta.
430 AD - Sparta rebels, Sparta is retaken. Moscow rebels, Moscow is not retaken. Corinth falls. Peace is granted to the Greeks in exchange for Invention. War is obviously declared upon Russia. Massive rep hit as I had Right of Passage at the time. Inwaaer arrives at Bjoergvin. My spies tell me England will get the Sistine Chapel first, so production is converted to Cathedral, SC will then be rushed. 132 shields wasted and I need a new leader...
440 AD - Moscow falls, again.
480 AD - Tblisi falls, giving me a much much needed Golden Age. Sevastopol also falls.
490 AD - Bjoergvin hits 1,000 culture. At this rate I will reach 20,000 in 562 turns. Prebuild begun for JS Bach's.
510 AD -> 630 AD - Smolensk, Yakutsk falls. France sneak attacks. Will be destroyed. Paris falls. Leo's complete.
630 AD - Hubba emerges at the battle of Avignon. Bjoergvin's prebuild switches to University.
640 AD - JS Bach's is rushed in Bjoergvin. 1st stage war weariness in effect. Time to end the wars. Lyons falls. Music Theory is traded around for a total of 71 gpt and 500 gold. No tech unfortunately.
660 AD -> 690 AD - Delphi rebels, war declared on Greece. Orleans, Avignon falls.
690 AD - Golden Age ends. Two French archers defeat two pikeman behind a city wall. Firaxis's idea of a nine to one advantage in favor of the human I see.
700 AD -> 740 AD - Delphi and Yakutsk retaken. Tours, Rheims falls.
750 AD - Banking researched, traded 'round for Chivalry, Gunpowder, Astronomy, and Navigation. Not a bad deal if you ask me. Economics is next. Bjoergvin switches from prebuild to Magellan's to be switched to Adam Smith's in ten turns. Only behind by Chemistry to the other major powers. (China and America at this point.)
780 AD - Marseilles falls. Bescannon destroyed.
820 AD - Einer emmerges. Sweet. Bjoergvin finally knocks off London as the No. 1 city in the world.
830 AD - Novgorod falls. Vladivostok falls. Chartres falls. France and Russia are eliminated. Given the lack of any wonders currently being constructed, and the progress on my pre build for Adam Smith's, Einer will rush the Forbidden Palace in Lyons.
850 AD - Economics nets me only a mere 85 gpt and Chemistry. Researching Printing Press next, 6 turns to go.
860 AD - Forbidden Palace complete. Perhaps this half of the continent will be useful now.
900 AD - Printing Press nets me Dyes and Spices, only one luxury from the set. Democracy is next. I'm behind the others by Physics and ToG. Democracy in 9 turns.
910 AD - Argos falls, Bempolonica surrendered as part of peace treaty. Entire continent is under my control now. Greece reduced to tiny island just north of western half of the continent.
920 AD - Invasion of England begun. Five caravels containing 12 berserks and 3 musketmen sack York, taking Sun Tzu's Art of War and the Great Wall. England MUST be destroyed before they get Man O Wars. First order of business, obviously, would be to rush a wall.
930 AD - Nottingham falls.
960 AD - Joe Capp(?!) emmerges at the 43rd battle of Nottingham. Off to Bjoergvin you go.
990 AD - London falls. Mohacs falls. English incense is mine for a complete luxury set. China and America are now in the Industrial Age. Democracy traded away for Physics, Metallurgy and approx 100 gpt. ToG and Magnetism short of the leaders.
1000 AD - Celts brought in to clear out England's northern settlements.
1020 AD - Warwick falls. Four more to go.
1030 AD - Free Artistry complete, Military Tradition next. Existing production towards Adam Smith's Trading Company switched to Shakespeare's Theatre. Newton's University will be rushed next turn via Joe. 32 gpt and ToG obtained for Free Artistry. Suckers.
1040 AD - London rebels. London retaken. Hastings falls, three more to go.
1050 AD - Newton's complete. Back to Smith's. ~150 turns to go at this rate.
1060 AD - Coventry falls. Two left.
1080 AD - Mil Trad. traded to Mao for Magnetism and 30 gpt. Lincoln is a cheap bastard and will only give me 9gpt. Better to me than to Mao...

With that, I'm in the Industrial age, at technological partiy, with economic and militaristic hegemony and still have a shot at Adam Smith's. Yet far short of 20k.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

Conquest 1.29f

The Ancient Age and Middle Ages went quite well for Bugsy the Red and his band of red-headed Vikings

We ended up with The Colossus and the Great Library in the AA and Sistine (400 AD), Shakespeare's (1000 AD) in the MA. Our culture city was due to get 20K by 1999 AD according to Sir Pleb's calculator. Great tool by the way.

I made contact with the new world with my second suicide galley in 690BC and kept the contacts to myself for a while. I made some serious money trading techs from the GL back and forth across the ocean.

The GL was essential to the Vikings staying close in techs. By being able to keep research at zero, we were able to build our infrastructure. With a decent amount of $$$'s coming in, we were able to continue buying techs after the GL was obsolute. That lasted at least till the end of this spoiler.

The GL got us to the Middle Ages in 590 BC. The earliest ever for me. No one was researching Republic, and Liz had a monopoly on it for quite a while. In 370 BC, I got impatient and traded Liz the Republic for contact with the other civs. then traded around the contact and WMs , made everyone but Liz broke. We revolted immediately and got 4 turns of anarchy.

As far as I know the world was at peace until about 200 AD or so when Monty started picking fights. The world continued at war for the next 1000 years or so. Abe kicked Mao around and China was reduced to the small Greenland shaped island to the north. Monty and Abe went back and forth a bit.

In 850 AD, Monty demanded my TM & 38G. Since I had about 20 knights by then I told him where he could place that demand and he declared war on me. Then in 960 AD he lands a galley on Norse shores and delivers an archer and a knight. Two of my trusty galloglasses accompanied by their little red-haired squires, quickly despatched the invaders and kicked off a Golden Age.

More infrastructure and military building in preparation for invading Russia. Entered the Industrial Age in 1020 AD just about ready to go to war claim the western landmass.


England continued to be the tech leader and was snagging their share of the wonders, despite only having 11 or so cities. Their tech pace continued to accelerate throughout history.

Russia, Greeca, and France maintained constant war among themselves throughout the middle ages, but few cities changed hands. The Kelts fought a lot but didn't get very far. They owned the majority of the Kelt/English landmass, but were behind in tech.

Abe and Monty balanced each other with Abe kicking Mao off his land mass and Monty grabbing all but a small portion of South America.

In hindsight, I should have tried to build wonders in cities other than just my 20K city. I find that I am also very hesistant to start anything with the Semi-deity level AIs. This will probably do me in by the end of the game (not yet though!) but my learning curve is still very steep.

 

[Megalou]

Well Wanderer,

While admiring those who can finish very quickly, the games I enjoy most are hard ones that I win at all. This is a game where I might have taken more chances during the Middle Ages (in order to gain territory and points) but I was a bit afraid to mess with the wrong guy(s) so I aimed at good infrastructure and relations.

I can see why you are not so worried about tech pace as long as you get some good wonders.

I don't really see why I should be afraid to lose via space race even with a slow tech pace. I'm counting on a win on the first UN vote. If I don't manage it, there will still be an awful lot of turns left before anyone can launch. Whopping Russia, not make war for profit (perhaps paying the price of owning little land) and keeping up in tech are the only keys. Remember that the AI may earn points when they wage war and claim land, but are likely to lose tech pace.

Wander in peace

 

[Naboo]

Originally posted by RocknOats
PTW 1.27

I carefully had kept track of the fact that england had no native Saltpeter(none attached yet anyway) and would then be an easy target for my newly upgraded Cavs. I marched up to Coventry and lo and behold! Riflemen!! I had also been sure to take all of Elizabeth's spare gold she had lying around just in case, but, sure enough she had somehow produced Riflemen! Now, I knew she had progressed, but how in god's name had she built them! Also, she didn't have a couple, she had HUNDREDS!!!(This is an exaggeration. There were stacks of them tho) What in the wide, wide, world a' sports was a' goin on!?

Rock on!

Oats - check Civilopedia. As odd as it sounds you don't need Saltpeter for Riflemen.

 

[Wanderer]

I have wander-ed to the end , and seen a cultural WANDERland :grin

You're right, of course. UN will come along for you before spacerace, whereas for us 20Ker's, I suspect it is a bigger potential problem.

Good Luck, Peaceful One

 

[SirPleb]

1.21

Link to spoiler1

My Middle Ages had two stages: 1) a buildup from 570BC to 150BC, 2) leader farming and expansion from 150BC to 650AD.

At the beginning of the Middle Ages I kept research at zero, waiting for the Great Library to give techs. I built up infrastructure and a force of archers, horsemen, a few pikemen, and some galleys. I sent some suicide galleys to the east. The first one sank but the second and third (travelling together) both survived, gaining contact with America, Aztecs, and China in 430BC. These Civs were far behind in tech. America and China seemed strong, Aztecs were quite weak, presumably due to being at the losing end of a war.

During this phase Oslo (my 20K city) built the Hanging Gardens, rushed a Colosseum, and rushed a Cathedral.

In 150BC I switched gears to begin expanding and farming leaders. I had Invention and had upgraded 9 Berserks (didn't have Chivalry yet.) Russia would be my first target because she was weak, her culture was low, she had some towns directly west of our capital region (a short galley trip), she had wines I wanted, and she didn't have iron. My Berserks initially attacked from galleys, capturing a beachhead and triggering a Golden Age.

My Berserks slowly expanded into Russia, promoting to elites and gaining wines (the real reason they made the trip ) In 30BC Greece declared war on me and started sending in attackers. This was actually helpful - more opportunities for my Berserks, 15 strong at that point.

Finally in 30AD I got my first leader. I used this leader to create an army. It was too soon to rush a new Palace in captured territory, and Oslo was near finishing Sistine Chapel the hard way. So this was an ideal time to use a leader for an army, to create the potential for Heroic Epic.

In 90AD I got my second leader. From that time through the rest of the Middle Ages I played a see-saw kind of war to maximize leaders. Each time I got a leader I'd pull my forces back and wait for the enemy to come to me. My veteran troops picked off any incoming enemies to try for upgrades to elite. As soon as the leader arrived home and rushed something my elite troops would return to the offensive, capturing new territory until another leader appeared. Then I'd repeat the cycle.

My second leader went home and waited till Oslo finished Sistine Chapel in 170AD (the last wonder Oslo built the hard way.) The AIs beat me to Sun Tzu's and Leonardo's around that time. Leader two rushed Heroic Epic - not bad for culture and very useful for increasing leader chances.

In 130AD I got Chivalry from the GL and began upgrading my 43 stockpiled Horsemen, adding Knights to my forces. Many of the Horsemen had already travelled to the western sub-continent in anticipation of this event.

In 210AD I declared war on France because Russian and Greek troops weren't arriving quickly enough anymore, and I also wanted to expand into French territory.

In 230AD I captured Lyons and used my third leader to rush a new Palace there. It was good timing for this since there was no wonder available to rush at the time.

During the rest of the Middle Ages I farmed six more leaders, using them to complete the remaining Middle Ages wonders in Oslo. Shakespeare's was the last to be completed in 620AD. In 650AD I learned Magnetism and entered the Industrial Age.

The see-saw war worked well for generating leaders but was a slow way to expand. Each time I went for a new leader I'd expand my holdings, the amount of expansion depending on how long it took to get a leader. Overall the timing worked out well: I finished off Russia in 470AD, France in 560AD, and in 620AD I took the remaining two Greek towns on the home continent, leaving Greece with one island town and getting a 10th leader. Finishing the home continent at that date worked well with the coming lull in available wonders - it would be a good time to upgrade Knights to veteran Cavalry and to then start a new war off-continent to get some of the Cavalry promoted to elites.

Research: After getting Education from the Great Library in 320AD I began researching again. England's research pace has been surprisingly quick and I've been trading with her to keep things moving. The other AIs all seem to be in a stupor. I've gifted America and China a fair bit in the hope that they'll start contributing (research and funds) but so far they remain sluggish.

Berserks: I like these guys. I've only used them to attack from boats once so far, but that once certainly was useful. Their attack strength is very powerful for early Middle Ages. They're nice for attacking fortified Hoplites/Pikemen. I'm glad I didn't build huge numbers of them though. These guys are strong and useful but in the long run I'd rather have more Knights. Berserks are expensive and slow so I want just a handful of them for where they're most effective.

Here's a graphic display of my progress through the western sub-continent.

30AD. The early wedge with culture already rushed to expand it a bit:

230AD. The sub-continent has been divided. I've just captured Lyons (north edge of central holdings) and rushed Palace there:

400AD. Expansion slowly continues north and south, with a third front coming up through the land bridge:

500AD. I'm weakening the enemies just a bit faster than I'd like - sometimes the attack phases capture a fair bit of land when I go for another leader:

600AD. Nearly done. I'll be lucky to get another leader out of what's left of Greece. But I don't need another for the Middle Ages so the timing has worked out nicely:

 

[RocknOats]

Naboo, your right, I never realized it but Riflemen have NO requirements. I don't like that rule.... I felt soooo in the driver's seat! Eh, live and learn! At least I know I had Zwingli out there punishin' for me!!

Rock on!

 

[pman67]

Originally posted by SirPleb

In 90AD I got my second leader. From that time through the rest of the Middle Ages I played a see-saw kind of war to maximize leaders. Each time I got a leader I'd pull my forces back and wait for the enemy to come to me. My veteran troops picked off any incoming enemies to try for upgrades to elite. As soon as the leader arrived home and rushed something my elite troops would return to the offensive, capturing new territory until another leader appeared. Then I'd repeat the cycle.

SirPleb-

It sounds like you are confirming what I always suspected:

If you have an unused leader floating around, the game won't give you another till it is gone.

Is that what you are meaning? I have thought this for a while now, but it is nice to hear some confirmation.

 

[SirPleb]

Originally posted by pman67
If you have an unused leader floating around, the game won't give you another till it is gone.

Yes pman67, that is correct. You can only ever have one unused leader, you can't get the next one until that one has been used.

Some other things you might want to know about producing leaders:

You can produce more than one leader in the same turn. All that matters is using up each one before trying for the next. Sometimes you can use the leader right away (e.g. to create an army) and start trying for the next one.

Each time an elite unit wins a battle there's a 1/16 chance that a leader will appear.

If you've built Heroic Epic that chance improves to 1/12.

In both cases that's a low enough number that there is a great deal of variance. You can expect to sometimes get a leader very quickly and at other times to need more than 30 elite wins until one appears. You have to just keep plugging away.

Especially important: When an elite unit wins and produces a leader, its name changes to include an "*". This indicates that the unit will not produce another leader no matter how many more fights it wins. Each elite unit can only ever produce one leader, after that it is "used up".

When you upgrade units, the "*" disappears and the new unit is a veteran. It can then once again progress to become elite and to produce another leader. When you're farming leaders this really matters. At the end of the Middle Ages I had a number of"elite*" Knights hanging around idle (sharing wines with the elite* Berserks ), waiting until they could become veteran Cavalry later on.

 

[kb2tvl]

Spoiler 1: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?postid=1156309#post1156309

OPEN ptw
My first post ends at 10BC with 5 turns to monotheism and a 5 turns left to build a courthouse in Nidaros. At that time, I had visibility of both continents and contact with all civs. I had had this since about the time I had researched map making.

Middle ages:
The middle ages were a time of building culture in Nidaros. Various buildings were rushed and the Vikings entered the republic and a time of both constant wars and building.

The begining of the middle ages began with the discovery of Monothiesm and then Theology. Nidaros had built a temple to the gods then a cathedral to THE god. Other cultural improvements consisted of a library and colosseum. The previously built great wall and Hanging gardens made the world stand in awe however this was not good enough. Nidaros set forth building the art of war but at the spur of the moment decided to redecorate it into a beautiful Sistine Chapel. All the world stood in envy and in line to attack us!

The war front went well. With trading for engineering, the English had the nerve to attack us and invite friends. This ok! Our newly upgraded bezerks kicked off a building frenzy. The frenzy included Copernicus, Bachs, Newtons, Heroic epic and the military academy.

Various civs took turns going to war with us and we fended them off well. With a constant revenue of selling world maps, we finance our way to tech parity by the end of the middle ages. Expansion did not occur during the middle ages but a plan was in the works to raze Athens, the second most culturally advanced city(ours being the first now).

This pic shows my city as ranked number one in 1050AD(I am in the in industrial era, researching steam engine with no industrial techs learned.)

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads5/kbgotm22ma1.GIF

This is a pic of the current cultural rating.
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads5/kbgotm22ma2.GIF

Below is a pic of my sod. Guess what I am going to do with it, hehe.
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads5/kbgotm22ma3.GIF

 

[smackster]

1.21f Open

Ancient Age Post

150BC Left off the ancient age with a trade from China for Construction, could have got it earlier but didn't like the price. Still fighting the French having just taken Lyon. Russia is the Vikings ally, not that they seem to be doing much.
By 170 AD the vikings had taken, Tours, Marsaille, Grenoble and Bescanon, Avignon and Rouen. Vikings also got Monothism first and traded for Feudalism, Republic, WM, 81GP and 21 GPT (celts). France are effectively out of the game, left with a Settler, declare peace.

During the peace the people work hard to build the forbidden palace in Stockholm and grumble that building it next to the palace is really strange, but what do the people know of palace jumps.

In 270AD Forbidden Palace built, now no.1 ahead of England with 867 points, start switch to Republic and build settlers for palace jump to Lyon

360AD First to Discover Theolgy get trades for Engingeering, 41GPT, 120Gp (england), for Invention with 100 gp from us (russia), 6 GPT+30 (greece and celts)

Sometime around this date the Vikings in the capital were given order to dismantle the palace for a move to Lyon, only to find a strange mismatch of features between CivIII and PTW. Having just upgraded to PTW I found out while trying to fill Lyon with Settlers that you can't add to a city if it is starving (I didn't know this at the time, just found I couldn't do it), so it subsequently took until 600AD before the palace jump took place (having to starve cities and create settlers to make Lyon biggest), losing valuable time.

Around this time in the the vikings history, the Viking scholars unearthed an ancient prophecy entitled the "The Oxford concise history of Britain" and from that tome is a prophecy related to the vikings conquering Britain. For your pleasure I have converted this to Civ speak,

------------------------------------------------------------
793AD Vikings pillage improvements around city of Lindisfarm (first time that Vikings raided the church at Lindisfarm, AI ROP rape)
835AD Vikings pillage improvements around city of Kent (yes I know its not really a city)
865AD Viking army lands in England
867AD City of Northumbria captured by Vikings
870AD City of East Anglia captured by Vikings
871AD English get great leader Alfred (Alfred becomes King, he was certainly a great leader)
874AD City of Merica captured by Vikings
878AD After many battle where Alfred's army is forced to retreat Alfred the great's army defeats Vikings outside city of Edington
899AD Alfred's army defeated
910-20AD English recapture most Viking cities (but they are still filled with lots of vikings citizens)
919AD Vikings hold up in city of York
937AD English defeat the now allied Celtic and Viking armies at Brunanbuh (scots and welsh)
991AD Vikings defeat english army at Maldon, English sign peace with Normandy Vikings (its not clear that they ever fought)
1002AD English start to starve out Viking citizens in English cities
1003-1013AD Viking invasions
1014AD Remaining danelaw cities culture flip to vikings (Cnut named their King)
1016AD Vikings defeat English outside city of Ashingdom, English surrender all cities to Vikings (Cnut becomes King of England)
1035AD Viking goes into Anarchy, all English cities flip back to England
1066AD England goes into Anarchy, English defeat Viking army at Stamford Bridge, Norman Vikings defeat English army at Hastings
1070AD Last English city is captured by Norman Vikings, English eliminated from the game.
------------------------------------------------------

What happened around 1014 is most bizare, and although we don't like Civ culture flips the reality appears to be stranger. Basically Cnut is named King of viking cities in England and then when the English king dies after some battles Cnut is named King of all England. When Cnut dies the whole country goes back to an English king. I called these events culture flips above, clearly it never really happens like this
in Civ, throughout this period of time particularly the wars of monarchy succession had a huge influence on history but Civ doesn't really
have this. Finally although we think of the English as a race they were effectively eliminated from the game in 1070AD, I might have to write a letter to the queen to inform her that she is really a Viking.

Anyway, enough segway, back to reality.

The Vikings had always intended to reproduce the propechy in this GOTM, but when it came to it and Berserkers became available first of all we couldn't locate Lindisfarm to kick it all off, secondly with the massive culture of England we knew it would be too risky
and thirdly all French cities were so intwined with Russia around our new capital that they were a much more tempting target.

Around 640 AD the Berserkers were ready, with an Armada of Galleys waiting to launch against Russia. English complete Sistine Chapel damn them, we were no where near it. The battle is lauched at both land and sea and the Vikings enter the Golden Age of the Berserker.

Turned out that Russia have many Muskets even though we cut their SP in the initial assault, so even though St. Petersburg is taken, and Kiev from the sea many lives are lost. In the midst of the battle get defensive GL Heldene and use for JS Bach.
Later the vikings capture Odesa, Minsk with Glibrary, and Hanging Gardens

After peace to rest wait for GA to finish then back to war, a bit of a ROP rape but now we are looking big enough not to care. Vikings are now starting to get massive trades with England.

860AD GA over, back to war with Russia, they haven't finished road to their SP yet. By 1090AD effectively knock out Russia, they do have one city on the other Continent. No rest on to Greece send Cavalry marching up to Greece and about to enter IA.

The vikings thought that the Americans ,Chinese and Aztecs were far off Civs that don't like them and wont trade. China is strong the other two very weak, I know why now having finished the game but thats for later.

 

[ltcoljt]

PTW Predator

Hmm. okay. No post on the ancient times so I'll recap as I go. No culture for me. Playing a rolling invasion game. Built on the start and granary was my first build. Pumped settlers and workers. Scout got a few warriors and a settler. Other than the granary and a lot of barracks I was avoiding building infrastructure. Got the ball rolling by sending swords and horsemen along the long land bridge into Russia. Got great leaders for Sun Tzu, Leo's, a forbidden palace, an army and after a win, the Heroic Epic. After that I sat on a leader until I got Military Tradition. I then blew the leader on the military academy just to get rid of it. I have lots of elites and expect to get more leaders later.

Built a handful of temples only. Kept pushing as I bought my way up the tech tree and started playing with the viking unit. Nice for raiding coastal cities. Razed York and with it Coperincus. Razed about 4 or 5 size 12 coastal cities belonging to the Celts and Lizzie.

Cleared the continent and landed a large complement of cavs and other assorted units in England by the time I reached this spoiler around 770 ad.

Had a problem with respawning (from a galley) civs and culture flips on my continent. Although France and Russia are gone for good Greece has a couple of small towns off shore and their former cities kept flippin, including Athens which has the Gardens and the Pyramids. Thats a pain in the kazoo.

Should not take long to run through the English and Celts now. Over on the other side of the pond the Chinese are mammoth. Looking forward to choping suey on the way to a domination win.

Couple other notes: the barbs were a real pain early, and I have yet to build a library as is seems not in keeping with my perspective of the norsemen.


jt

 

[Puzzlinon]

My medieval period was largely peaceful and went fast.

I'd had a slow start, while England had taken a huge culture lead, so I needed to do a lot more culture-building in Bjeorgvin and in total; there didn't seem to be good opportunities for conquest nearby (i.e, I would have gotten my butt kicked off the map) so I stayed peaceful.

My only ancient wonders had been the Great Wall in Nidaros (a cascade thing) and the Library in Bjeorgvin, my "monster culture" city, sorta kinda.

The first thing we did on entering the Medieval Age was declare a 5-turn party during which no work was done. Then we formed a Republic and got back to work mining more mountains around Bjeorgvin and Nidaros.

I got exactly four techs (Feudalism, Monotheism, Theology, and Education) out of the Library... those nasty AI's beelined for Education. The tech business got hairy after that; the Greeks and British were spitting out techs every couple of turns.

I ran bursty research, occasionally going hell-for-leather for unpopular techs. The first big score was Printing Press in 350 AD; that got me Engineering, Invention, Chivalry, and lots of cash. I extracted cash from leaders England and Greece, and traded for the techs from France, Russia, and the Celts, to start slowing the tech pace.

The wonder races were fierce.

England completed the Sistine in 500AD, 2 turns ahead of Bjeorgvin.

I also had a build of Copernicus well along in Nidaros. After the screaming, I switched Bjeorgvin to Copernicus, and Nidaros to Leo's.

In 510 I completed Copernicus in Bjeorgvin, and triggered a peaceful Golden Age, just in time for late-medieval wonder racing. It was helpful

England cascaded to Sun Tzu's and completed it in 520. I held my breath, terrified, waiting for the rest of the cascade, during that between-turn, but the others didn't complete.

In 530, I completed Leo's in Nidaros.

In 690, after tearing my hair out finding a way to cross-trade
for Free Artistry as my next palace prebuild neared completion,
I built Shakespeare's Theatre in Bjeorgvin. [dance]

That cheered me up. I'd mucked up the ancient build order,
so Bjeorgvin is only barely plausible as a 20k city. I needed the Bard.

Later, I had two prebuilds going, one in super-productive Nidaros, aimed at Smith's (but running Bach's until Economics showed up) and a palace in Bjeorgvin aimed at either Bach's or Magellan.

In 770, after Nidaros was on the edge of finishing Bach's and clowned up to slow it down, I gave up waiting for Economics and built J.S. Bach's Cathedral there before someone else snatched it.

In 780, the Greeks developed Economics.
OK, fine, I wriggle and wrangle and trade for economics, and switch Bjeorgvin to Smith's. Hey, a wonder is a wonder.

In 800 the Celts complete Smith's. Oh well; at least it wasn't the British. Very painfully mortgage the Republic for Navigation (thanking the Gods my trade reputation stands), and switch Bjeorgvin to Magellan's for completion in 2.

In 810 the English complete Magellan's.

At least Greece and Russia got aced out.

In 910, I reached Theory of Gravity before anyone else except Greece. That led me into the Industrial age after I traded for Magnetism and Military Tradition, and produced enough cash to buy Steam Power from Alexander.

The AI's were squabbling in the medieval period, and Russia had begun to eviscerate France, but mostly the wars were short and inconclusive; we weren't involved in any. There weren't any dramatic resource issues that affected the Vikings.

I ended the age with no money, a comical military, very friendly relations, a good standing in technology, and a workable but sluggish culture city in Bjeorgvin, running at 38 CPT and 2700 total.

It's going to be difficult to keep all the other civs held back for the whole game, to give Bjeorgvin time to reach 20k. England has a good shot at 100k before then, because of their lightning start, and there are several looming monsters (the British, Russians, and Americans, and of course the tech-leading but smallish Greeks) who could make an interesting space race, if we let them.

So the have their work cut out for them...

(Edit... at some point in the mid-period I finished the Forbidden Palace down in Uppsala, which is the city south of Nidaros. It made a surprisingly healthy boost to the economy, 25 GPT or so. That's why the Smith's / Magellan's wonder race was so painful; I'd already used up the FP. I suppose I could have finished the Palace in Bjeorgvin, but I wasn't sure what effect that would have had, and I had a pretty healthy core without perturbing things, so I ate the shields.)

 

[Taolie]

Ragnar the Deskbound scanned the reports from the governor of Bjoergvin concerning the recent wave of riots. Ragnar was not pleased with the governor's handling of the city in recent years, although, to be fair, it was as much Ragnar's fault as his governor's. Ragnar had been so distracted by the war with Russia, which was, thank Odin, over for now, and with the completion of his Art of War Academy (which came just in time for peace!), that he had neglected many of his city reports. If he spent just a little more of his day micromanaging the cities in his Kingdom, he should be able to avoid these sort of incidents. And with all the new marketplaces going up, the Kingdom has had plenty of money to devote to providing his people with a more luxurious lifestyle. Ragnar had found that devoting as little as ten percent of the nation's tax income to luxuries for the people seemed to have a marked effect on their satisfaction with their King.

The people were so satisfied, in fact, that Ragnar's palace was now a stately three-story affair, with beautifully manicured lawns, and some sort of pointy statue things leading up to the steps to the throne room. No doubt another of Grignr's ideas. The more obscure and unecessary, the better, much like the names of most of the cities in the Kingdom. Ragnar sighed. He had a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new bank in some city whose name started with a "Q". Beyond that, he was lost. He hated it when he was addressing the citizens at a ceremony, and he had trouble with the name of their city. "My dear citizens of beautiful Junking . . . I mean, Jonpoking (damn), sorry . . . Jon-ko-ping." Ragnar was sure it would be decades before he lived that one down.

Not everything had gone that well recently, though. One of Ragnar's top science advisor's, an Italian inventor named Leonardo something, DiCaprio, DaVerde, ViniVidiVici, or some such (Ragnar was not very fluent in Italian, in spite of his love for pizza and calzones), had come up with an idea for a secret Workshop that would significantly reduce the cost of retraining his soldiers in all the new technology the other scientists kept coming up with. The facility was almost finished when Leo met some Aztec bimbo named Lisa and ran off to the west, taking all his plans with him. Ragnar wound up turning the facility into the Kingdom's most expensive cathedral ever built. What a waste! And that Lisa girl wasn't even that pretty! And she had the creepiest smile . . .

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ragnar of the Ferengi Alliance cackled gleefully to himself. He had just put the finishing touches on a new version of Ragnar's Map of the World (TM). Nothing had really changed - a stretch of road or two, some forest had been cleared. Most significant was the new color scheme, and a new, fancier star to represent the capitol, Nidaros. Hah, Ragnar thought to himself. I can't believe they fall for it every time. Make a few insignificant changes to my map, and those ambassadors scramble to buy new copies from me. Okay, they aren't exactly funding my new palace, but if they think they are getting a good deal, it keeps them in a better mood, and I can use that to my advantage . . . someday.

"Bert!" Ragnar yelled for his aide. "Bert DeCampe!!"

Bert hobbled in from the front office with his foot wrapped in plaster, leaning heavily on an ornate cane, evidently a relic from his grandfather. Bert was suffering from the consequences of a night out with the court clerks and secretaries two weeks ago, which included copious amounts of mead, some sort of contest involving a foot race through the West Market, two rather surprised cows, a "borrowed" pig, and some rather heavy rocks, one of which seemed to have taken offense to its use in the contest, and expressed its displeasure by forcefully returning itself to the ground from which it had been dug, unmindful of the fact that's Bert's foot happened to be occupying the recently vacated hole in the ground. Two hours and three bottles of mead later, Bert's foot was encased in plaster and he had dug up his grandfather's cane to use. Well, not literally dug up - his grandfather was alive and well in living in a rent-controlled hut near the river. Due to a daily swim in the river, and the medical attention of a nurse a third of his age, named Kimmie, Bert's grandfather hadn't needed the use of his cane for years.

"Bert, take this map. Have copies made and sent to each of the ambassador's offices." Ragnar instructed the limping aide. "Let them make an offer, then report back to me."

"Very good, sir." replied Bert. " I shall see to it personally."

"No, Bert, get someone else to do it. You need to take it easy with that foot." Ragnar said, with a look of sympathy at the lump of plaster at the end of Bert's leg. "Get some of the royal pages to do it. We've got to give them something to do besides delivering cigars and making bets on the vowel to consonant ratio of the name of the next city Granger comes up with!"

"Grignr, sir."

"Whatever. The point is, you need to rest that foot for a while. Why don't I give you a project to manage. You should be able to do it from your desk." Ragnar thought for a moment, while Bert shifted painfully from foot to foot. "I've noticed that both we and our neighbors across the sea have done quite a bit of development in the last few years, and I'm sure that there should be some good opportunities for trade that we've neglected to utilize. Compile a list of luxury items and resources that we have a surplus of, and and try to find out what the other nations that we have trade routes with have for sale. I may be able to do a bit of negotiating after this latest round of map-selling.

"And Bert, make use of the pages. I don't want to see you on your feet for at least another week. Maybe if you let the pages sober up once in a while, they'd be a little more useful to us. It's a little embarassing when they hiccup right in the middle of a royal decree."

"Very good, sir. I shall endeavor to not disappoint." replied Bert. He shuffled slowly from the room. Ragnar watched him leave with an avaricious gleam in his eye. Between the World Map scam and the exorbitant prices he could charge for certain commodities - the Greeks had a special weakness for furs, for instance, and would pay through the nose for them - he was going to be able to increase his country's wealth beyond his wildest dreams. Of course, that would also make him a target. He should probably start beefing up his army. Some of his cities were still being patrolled solely by Spearmen, for Odin's sake! And if you could believe those scientists, they were on the verge of a breakthrough weapon that could propel a small stone or chunk of metal so fast it could kill you before you heard the explosion that propelled it! Crazy idea, but think of the strength of defense. Why, you could kill an invading force even before you could see the whites of their eyes!! For some reason, that didn't sound quite right to Ragnar. He decide he'd worry about that later. For now, he had to plan what he was going to wear when he went to sell his new map to Joan . . .

 

[LKendter]

v1.21f

270 BC is the year we contact the Aztecs. This time the suicide galley works.
We gain contact with America and China. The Aztecs pretty much wiped America off the map.

210 BC has the strangest result I have ever had in the ancient ages. My 40-turn research to Republic completes, and the only other civ to know it is China. I haven't sold contacts on my continent, so they see a Republic monopoly. In my 50+ civ games, this is the first time this has ever happened to me. I give it to France and get Currency, Construction, Polytheism, wm and $3. I join the middle ages.
430 AD - The Vikings build there first wonder - Sun Tzu.

490 AD to 600 AD -
The France war begins as our people go totally berserk. The golden ages of the Vikings has begun. The war is effectively over in 580 AD as all France has left is one island city. The Greeks kill the remaining island city, and France is dead.

610 AD to 750 AD -
The Berserk rage continues, and war with Russia begins. We finally have a spare iron source. Two complete civs killed, and we still haven't gotten our first leader.

730 AD - The Vikings build there second wonder - Leo's Workshop.

790 AD to 980 AD -
War with England begins. While the Greeks would be easier to attack, the English are the clear tech leaders. In addition, they own almost ever wonder. I must weaken the monster, if not kill it. Operation great library steal completes in 850 AD netting us just 3 techs. Based on the wonders and what I can see England was 6 techs ahead of the rest of the world. To bad the English core cities are getting destroyed.

During this war we finally get our first leader, and create a grossly overdue forbidden palace. I didn't think I would have this severe of a leader drought. We continue to see signs of the English monster as cavalry appear when no other civ (including myself) knows metallurgy. Severe war weariness together with the Greek War forces an end to the first round of fighting. I do feel I crippled England badly destroying every first ring city around the ruins of London.

970 AD to 1250 AD -
I knew a war with Greece was bound to happen. It started a bit sooner then I expected, but I had already been building up troops in anticipation. Greece is totally destroyed, and I have passed the 1/2 way point toward domination.

1280 AD -
We enter the industrial age.

 

[MrWhite]

Open version 1.29f

Very short description of the second phase (roughly 350BC – 1050AD).

The game went quite nicely. At least i didn’t get any AI players coming out much stronger than me. At the end of this age i even am one of the best in the histograph thanks to some conquered cities.
At the start of the middle ages i was at war with everyone but the French and the then unknown civs. There was not much fighting and eventually we got to peace. I was more busy getting a good infrastructure for my cities to be able to grow. I decided to be a Republic (6 turns anarchy). At a point i decided i should not decline my military too much, so i started to build galloglasses, galleys, pikeman and later knights. With those i took some key cities for future expansion and was able to get the AI to peace while i could not afford to completely take them out (yet). I took Coventry and Knossos at opposite sides of the water. Also i took 2 russian cities but was forced to make peace before i could get to the wines. Just at the end of this spoiler i declared war again and took the wines with much difficulty.
I was 1 or 2 turns behind the AI tech leaders when going into industrial age. There advantage was military tradition which i did not have. My plans are to conquer Russian, French and Greek territory. I will try to get as much wonders as i can in Bjoergvin, to try to get to the 20K as quickly as possible. For this i’ll try to get ahead in science, which can also help me in trade. If this fails by the end of the industrial age I’ll have to try to do something about it the hard way…

Cracker questions:

The Galloglass is a cool unit. The AI does not anticipate an amphibious attack but i only had an advantage on this once. But the AI sometimes does more strange things like leaving a capitol defended with just 1 spearman when cavalry is amassing while at war.
I did not get great successes out of the Galloglass.

For my culture city i made sure to get all culture improvements ASAP. This resulted in by the end of this spoiler thread I know I can make 20K before 2050AD, but it will be very difficult as i fear the AI will launch a spaceship or get a diplomatic victory before that date. Also much wonders were difficult to get, but I got 5 much thanks to some leaders. It did not work to get the AI to war much. For some reason they like eachother more then they like me. :-s
It will be a target for me to try to get techs early and use them to get the AI at war.

My further impressions on the surviving civs are:
Russians: don’t do much. A bit backward. Too tough for me to slice through at the moment though. I’m just unlucky in the battles i guess.
French: too small to be able to do anything, backward.
Greeks: haven’t heard much from them either. A bit backward.
England: has 3 wonders in London, is in my opinion my best competitor. Is ahead in tech of me and has i think the greatest fleet of us all (which after magnetism will only grow).
Keltoi: too small to be able to do anything, backward.
Aztecs: have the most land. Even got a city on my lands which i recently captured after they declared war on me. They are a bit backward, but not much.
Americans: Half the land of the Aztecs but tech leaders. Seem to be very good traders.
Chinese: Are a huge power, not to be underestimated. Couldn’t win a war from the Aztecs but are now at peace again. Tech leaders with Americans and English.
While others report lots of wars between them, I have seen only few of those. Most were against me.

I contacted the other civs by sending a galley out at around 350AD. Still was the first but i should have done this earlier. They were a bit behind on tech then. Didn’t take long. As i was at war with almost everyone at that time in my ‘homeland’ i couldn’t trade the contacts.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

@Sir Pleb

It sounds like you have a very effective leader farming technique. Have you considered writing an article for the war academy on it? I think a lot of us would be very interested in it. While I'm still alive in my game. I've had zero success on generating leaders even though I thought I had a good plan and exercised it as frequently as possible.

 

[tao]

Open Class 1.29

First post is here. Ancient Age 4000BC - 310BC

Middle Ages 310BC - 1000AD

I continued (slowly) towards my first ever 20k victory:

250BC Oslo hurries library
150BC Oslo hurries colosseum
460AD Oslo builds Sun Tzu's (Great Leader) starting our Golden Age
530AD Oslo builds Bach's (Great Leader)
900AD Oslo builds Shakespeare's

We lost 5 galleys until finally in 190AD the sixth one met the Aztecs and the other new world civs. China is the world leader in power, then England and the Vikings; everybody else about the same. England is by far the culture world leader. Aztecs and America are still in the AA. We trade maps and contacts and get all maps, chivalry and theology.

In 190AD we also declare war on France, signing up Russia. France expires about 450AD.
In 490AD we declare war on Russia; we build our Forbidden Palace in Moscow (Great Leader) in 630AD. Russia's last city (south of America) is captured after 20 turns peace in 1000AD.
In 910AD we declare war on Aztecs to capture Tzin Tzun Tzen w dyes.
In 940AD we declare war on Greece

Our Industrial Age starts in 1000AD. Throughout the Middle Ages, England was the power house grabbing Sistine's, Leonardo's, Smith's, and Copernicus'. England and Keltoi are on par in technology; everybody else is backward.

We will go for steam and continue wars to get more Great Leaders for the upcoming wonders.

Edit/add: Because of our strength and the nearly constant waring. I did not build any wonders in other than the 20k city of Oslo. Either a Great Leader would pop-up, or we will conquer the citiy with the wonder.

 

[Xarin]

Well, I left off in 70 BC. It seems I entered the Middle Ages later than most, but I also ended up leaving them earlier than most, so it balances out some.

In 70 BC, I was 2nd in tech, and 1st in ranking from the Civs I saw at the time.(797 to England's 674) I don't have Republic, and my government is currently Monarchy. Currently at war with Greece. Earlier, I was forced to break a peace treaty due to an untimely culture flip, and so I've got a bad rep that I can't shake. :-\ Also, the English have every Ancient wonder except for the Colossus, which is held by the Celts. I'd conquered the French earlier.

By 190 AD, Greece was destroyed. I had researched Engineering and traded it to the English for Feudalism so I could get Invention, which I was 3 turns from with a pre-build on Leonardo's building. (To be my first wonder) My next target is the English.

By 330 AD, almost nothing had changed, except I was 2 turns from complete Leonardo's, and saving gold for the upgrades. At this point, I'm planning to skip Chivalry and ramp my tech straight up to get Cavalry.

By 490 AD, I had started my assault on England and taken three of their coastal towns, triggering my Golden Age. The Celts easily agreed to an Alliance and are attacking the northern English towns. The Russians decided this was a good time to declare war on me, so now I'm fighting a two and a half front war. (the connection between our "islands" is the half) I'm 5 turns from Metallurgy this point, and am at tech parity with the English, although we have different techs. Russia and the Celts both had Gunpowder, but neither had Monotheism. On of the cities I captured had the Great Library, but only one Civ had techs I didn't have.

Map of the world in 490 AD (Cities in red are currently under assaut by my armies):

This attack didn't go as well as planned, and I failed to capture London and one of the Russian cities.

In 530 AD, the Americans completed Sun Tzu's

In 590 AD, the English completed the Sistine Chapel. Woohoo, ripe for the taking.

By 610 AD, I had captured London and Moscow. I'd also finished Military Tradition and started producing Cavalry, and gotten Monotheism from the Great Library. My research was off at this point since England had both of the things I could research already.

By 680 AD, the English had been expelled from their original continent to the frozen island up north, where their cities were defended with spearmen. I send a few cavalry up to finish them off, and concentrate on the Russians. Also, after capturing the Great Lighthouse from the English, I'm able to send a ship over and find the other Civs. The English also completed the Sistine Chapel in the middle of our war, which is now mine.

Map of the world in 680 AD (Cities in red under assaut. Blue is my Forbidden Palace):

Notice the Aztecs only have one city. Not only that, but all of the cities surrounding them have American names. Looking at the histograph, I don't think they ever built a second city. :-\ The Americans and the Chinese are currently at war. Also, it seems the English had found these new Civs while we were at war, so no secrets here.

After finding the new civs, I got Chivalry and Theology from the Great Library. The English have Education, but I'm not quite ready to make peace with them, so I have my research set at zero. The Americans have Theology, but don't have Chivalry or Invention, and the Chinese don't even have Theology. The Russians and Celts both have aquired Chivalry and Theology, and I sold Chemistry to the Celts for 70 GPT + their treasury.

I now own every wonder except for the Colossus and Sun Tzu's, and I'm grooming the city just NE of my FP to build Industrial Age wonders. (with 2 plains sheep, 5 hills and a bunch of plains)

By 750 AD, the English were left with one city on the island south of the Americans, and the Russian had 3 tundra/mountain cities that would fall soon. I got Education from the GL, and am 3 turns from Astonomy. I'm 2 techs ahead of the Celts, who are my next target anyway, and 4 ahead of the Americans, who are the 2nd most powerful civ.

In 770 AD, I discovered Astronomy, and rushed Copernicus with a Leader I'd been saving.

By 890 AD, I've discovered Physics and am 3 turns from Theory of Gravity. I aquired Music Theory from the Celts and am using my Palace to prebuild Women's Suffrage in one city and using JS Bach's to prebuild Newton's in another. I'm now at war with the Celts, and hoping to aquire a Leader to rush JS Bach's with.

I got my leader, and rushed Bach's, building it in 940 AD. In 990 AD, I aquired Magnetism and signed a peace treaty with the Celts in exchange for 25 GPT, their 250ish treasury and Banking, putting me into the Industrial Age.

Status going into the Industrial Age:

Score:
Scandanavia 2513
America: 1596
China: 1180
Russia: 873
Celts: 796
England: 777
Greece: 287
Aztecs: 150
France: 142

I'm currently the tech leader. The Celts are 4 behind, America is 6 behind, and China is 10 behind. I skipped everything unessential in the Middle Ages in order to get to railroads faster. Hopefully the Americans will research Navigation and Economics for me.

I've got one city with about 400 shields on palace, prebuilding either Adam Smith's or Universal Suffrage, and another that's 4 turns from Newton's.

Map of the world in 990 AD: