*Spoiler2* Gotm23-Arabs - End of Middle Ages or Submit

[deadloss]

1.21f - Open Class

I am VERY embarrassed - honestly, my face has turned red just reading your responses.

I have again rushed in with my tale of how 'unlucky' I was. I've seen the thread 'End of Middle Ages or submit' and assumed, without thinking or reading the contents of Cracker's initial note, that I was OK to post - as I'd submitted my final save. Doh!

I did it without thinking.

Thanks Dojoboy for trying to save me the roasting from Cracker.
But I deserve it, anyhow.

Cracker - sorry but I don't believe I swore. I'm unable to re-read what I've posted, so I can't see what I've done to offend. But if you want to e-mail me...?

I did try to make sure I didn't mess up this month. I finished the game over a week ago and purposely held off posting so it would curb my excitement at finishing the game and lessening the possibility of posting details that went outside the boundaries of the thread. A week later and I've still done exactly that.

I'm not trying to justify it. You have my unreserved apology. I was hasty and stupid.

 

[dojoboy]

Originally posted by deadloss


Thanks Dojoboy for trying to save me the roasting from Cracker.
But I deserve it, anyhow.

Don't mention it. I too made the same error this month, check out *spoiler 1*. My excitement also got the better of me. Fortunately, Cracker prefers this to this [punch]. Although, he would probably prefer the latter at times.

 

[Offa]

Originally posted by Txurce
SLOWING DOWN THE TECH RATE


A mediocre start to hostilities (510BC), palace switch (170AD) and discovery of chivalry (270AD) all slowed me down, but encountering almost nothing but spearmen made up for it.

Great game Txurce! Very quick. I think you did very well persuading the AI to be at war with one another and only build spearmen instead of pike. I met loads of pikemen and they took a very heavy toll. Even ansars fell in huge numbers; I don't think I have ever had as many elite defeats.

Your start date to hostilities was >200years before mine so seems pretty good to me. I agree that in this game the AI folded fairly quickly so it was beneficial to attack ASAP.

You manage your troops very well, attacking with what must have been quite small numbers. I had to build a much larger army to subdue the infidels, but in retrospect much of this army was scattered all over the place.

This is a pic of my army at the the start of my golden age (280ad)and at the end (620ad). I seem to have built a lot of pointless defensive units at the end; not sure why.

 

[Txurce]

Thanks, Offa. Before joining the GOTM, I developed my own ingrown style, which favored small invasion forces. My rationale was the same as yours - it was much less wasteful. I also favored rotating wars, rarely finishing off an opponent all at once. However, I have since seen the value of striking with overwhelming force - domination and conquest wins come faster! And eliminating an opponent makes more sense in GOTMs, where there tend to be plenty left to trade with, and flips are diminished.

What I have started to do pretty effectively is a combination of these two strategies. If my overall thrust will be in one direction, then I try to send the smallest possible number in the other direction, and let that number take their time completing their assignment. Often, this force is composed of swords and their upgrades. This lowers my Firaxis score, as some towns take much longer to fall, but speeds my finish date, because most of my units reach the main front much faster, and it allows me to fight on two or three fronts at once. (At one late point, I was actively fighting four civs in GOTM23.)

As you noted, I don't use that many units. I have concluded that attacking towns defended by spears with 3 or 4 knights works most of the time (and I add a knight or two with pikes). I would rather attack more towns with these numbers, and suffer the occasional setback, than wait to gather 8 knights for a sure thing. Trust me, if I had better infrastructure, I'd gladly take more units - but at my level of play, this works better.

(Your pikemen were probably built in newly captured towns, right? Sometimes I think that's a better idea, especially with barbs around. A few more offensive units aren't going to matter at that point, anyway.)

 

[AlanH]

Ancient Age report

Here we are, then. My Industrial age has arrived and I'm not dead yet.

I had started the Medieval era with a "cute little civilization". Six cities, a miniscule army, two or three workers and a few guests.

Major events:

I bought Currency and entered the Medieval age in 950 BC, with a healthy bank balance and a barb camp to the south of Damascus. I spent my cash on Monarchy, revolted, and upgraded some warriors. The barb uprising duly arrived in the form of ten horses in two waves. My archers killed the first wave of two, and left Damascus unattended with only a couple of turns-worth of work done on a temple and a bank balance of zero. Ottoman archers dispatched four of the remaining barb horses, leaving the rest to pillage Damascus to almost zero effect.

I pre-built in Madinah, hoping to get Sun Tzu or Leonardo's, but I eventually cascaded onto the Hanging Gardens.

Makkah finally started pumping settlers at a respectable rate, and I founded a bunch of cities to fill the space around my borders, but I lost the race with Egypt to populate my southern shoreline. By 350 AD I had expanded as far as I could and it was time to look beyond my borders. I was also starting to trail by three or four techs, and there was a Great Library just up the road in Persia that would do very nicely, thank you. The Ottomans and the French were currently at war with Persia, and it looked like they had already drawn a lot of Persia's firepower.

So in 360 AD I sold an MA to the Ottomans for incense and some cash, and my beautiful Cataphracts proceeeded north at a brisk rate. The Ottomans welched on our deal immediately, and made peace with Xerxes and sold my incense somewhere else! I was left with my three prime cities in disorder, having wound my entertainment budget down.

Never mind, that left me clear to destroy the Persians without worrying about the 20-turn deal, and he could go off and soften up the Egyptians for me. So I mopped up the Persian lands, culminating in the capture of the Great Library in Persepolis in 430 AD, together with a side order of Sistine Chapel that was completed on the turn I arrived at its gates. All done and dusted in 7 turns thanks to the majestic Cataphract and the fact that the Persians were defending with spearmen. Losses were minimal.

The capture of the GL gave me Education, Chemistry, Astronomy and Metallurgy. I would have like to have held off until a few more techs were in the bag, but the French were also at war with Persia, and they did take one city just before I could get to it. I would have found the French a much more difficult nut to crack.

The first turn of the war triggered my Golden Age, of course, giving a welcome boost to the Arabian economy and productivity.

While I had been consigning the Persians to history The Ottomans had been rather ineffectually attacking Egypt. In spite of my previous experience of Suleyman's perfidy, I figured I might as well get a deal out of declaring war on Egypt, and I signed up an MA with him in 460 AD for cash and incense, after I had shifted some Cataphracts south. This time the MA held, and 20 turns of incense are about to expire. I took over the Egyptian cities on my south coast and started to make inroads on the main Egyptian territory.

My only Great Leader so far built Magellan's voyage in one of my new south coast resorts.

My Cataphracts served me well until defenders started throwing lead, but now they've mostly upgraded to Cavalry. However, the Egyptian muskets have been troublesome, and they have also counter-attacked with some cavalry. My losses have been significant, and I plan to cease fire to regroup now that my deal with Suleyman is ending. I could use a few cannon to soften up the larger cities.

Since my Golden Age finished my budget has been tight. I'm paying a fair bit in gpt for techs, and this has left little for upgrades and rush jobs. When I sue Egypt for peace I'll probably flip to Democracy to get an economic boost (I hope), and try to rebuild a significant cavalry attack force quickly to push forward before the world starts deploying Infantry.

Right now, the Arabs have moved off the bottom of the leader board, and are now in second place to France. We have 30 cities, one less rival (Persia), and 59 units plus 30 guest workers.

Here's my 660 AD minimap:

France are the 800 lb gorilla, technically and culturally. They are the only civ rated stronger than the Arabs currently.

India and Rome looked threatening early on, but Rome have only recently hooked up their iron and seem to be sitting at home doing nothing much. Worrying!

The Zulus have been beaten up first by Rome in the Ancient age, then by Egypt, and are way behind in techs and territory.
Carthage are likely to be a problem. I've already lost Sirplebidah to them in a culture flip (sorry SirPleb ).

I shall probably take the pointy sticks to the Ottomans next. They have been weakened by their constant warring, and are still running around with bows and arrows. Right now he's behind in techs and broke, and he doesn't have Military tradition yet. I need to get to him before he builds too many Sipahi/Dragoons.

 

[ssharlow]

PTW 1.29 - Open

I left the ancient age pretty happy, the random numbers were definately falling my way - that pretty much ended in the middle ages.

I started the middle ages maybe third with all adversaries still around. Very competitive in tech and number one in points.

I started my golden age by attacking Carthage - they were next door and pretty weak. I had a nice stack of Ansars and they basically died when pitted against the Numidians. We eventually wiped them out and had a nice golden age - but it hurt. The original plan was to take out the Ottomans - they had the great library but since I was close to education myselft - that didn't matter much. Rome had beaten them up nicely near the end of the ancient age.

Near the end of my golden age and just as I was seeing foreing cavalry appear - I attacked Spain. I lost my "free" city but they gave me a few techs before the Zulu and Egypt wiped them out - my peace treaty to get techs hurt my rep with my allies but I needed the techs.

Now it is about 1400 AD and I'm down between 3-5 techs from most everyone. I still have muskets and I'm seeing infrantry wander around. My trade is doing well and I'm currently planning a couple of things.

1. Take out the rest of the ottomans to get incense - for my people and to trade.
2. Prebuild to get Evolution - Egypt just started it so if the AI prebuilds - I probalby won't get it.

Failling in the above - I'm gonna have to build a ton of cavalry and hit rome or Egypt - maybe the Zulu to force them to give me tech. That will be a couple of very messy wars.

No one else has gone to war except Rome against me in the ancient age (I never saw a roman soldier as the ottomans allied with me and got hurt for their efforts). Since then, the only fighting has been initiated by me. Very annoying.

I'm still number one in points (with 150% more points than Rome, France or Egypt and almost twice as much as the rest) but I'm not sure how long that will last. I really need to slow down and replan a little bit - I slipped into a reactive mode and I need to get out of it. Still loving this thing though.

Here is a nice screenshot, showing I've got points and territory just no science.

 

[laotseu]

v1.27f Conquest

As I said previously, this is my first GOTM and my first Monarch game. I’m having loads of fun but as you will see, I’m not fairing that well. I guess that leaves much space for improvement and will prevent Cracker from slapping my fingers if I still play Contest level for a few more months .

My first post

The first war

The situation in 450 BC is like this:

There is also a screen shot that you can see here: [http]http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads5/GOTM-23-450BC.jpg[/http]

I’ve just declared war to the Romans (the no 1 civ in my game). They have settle cities near and even in my territory. Those cities are still isolated by the Ottomans’ cities so I figure I will get rid of them now and it will give me some more space to grow and slow them down. That was the plan anyway…

Raging barbs are also a first for me. I was not expecting that many angry horsemen coming at me. And they did come, and come again, and again… Horses were connected a few turns back but I stupidly forgot to change my build queues and kept building swordsmen for a while . That left me with not mush of an army and fast falling behind in tech.

From that experience I learn that it is a good investment to put warriors in the middle of empty deserts when you are playing Raging Barbs.

I was able to get the nearest Roman city but it got auto-razed since it had only 1 pop. As I slowly moved my swordsmen to take of the roman city north-west, Carthage decided to put a city pretty mush at the same place the Romans used to be.

This is the situation at 30 AD (and I’m still to dumb to realise that I should build horsemen):

Trade with the other CIV is still not going well. I have to set the science back to 40% in order to get Chivalry. (I still haven’t got Monotheism). Meanwhile everybody else is having a tech orgy and compete building Wonders. I don’t even try, I’m too far behind.

Before I can think of getting rid of Hanibal’s city in my land, Cleo declares war on me. And I taste the fury of her wheels. Even though I have Azap Infantry guarding my city, she sends chariots after chariots on me. I can’t make any headway towards her as I lose my units when then venture outside my city. I suddenly wise up and begin building horsemen. There you have it, nearly a millennia after having domesticated the horse, the goofy Arab peoples realised that they can be used for other things than pleasure strolls around the dunes .

I make peace with Cleo but she sends an archer on my land the following turn. I have the arrogance to tell her to bug off and she declares war to me again. 5 other turns of chariots onslaughts.

I’m quite behind in tech now. I feel quite exposed in the center of everybody. I finally get the chivalry and decide not to trade it. I would like to have an edge for once. Doesn’t work. Some other CIV discover it to and everyone has it a few turns after me.

The second War

I start building Ansar Warriors and make myself a nifty little pile. Since I’m about to use them for war, I set my tech goal for the cavalry. Hopefully, my golden age will help me catch-up a bit.

While I’m stockpiling the Ansar near the Romans, they declare war to me. I get the Ottoman to enter my side of the fray and while I’m hanging tight and destroying the piles of units that Ceasar sends to me, the Ottaman start annoying him big time. After loosing only one or two units to the Romans, I enter their territory and start making some headway. It doesn’t last very long. Superior tech means superior units and I don’t have any artillery. Osman didn’t fair well either; he will never be the same.

I decide to make peace with Ceasar and go after Hanibal. Somehow, Cleo takes my side and all the other civ are suddenly busy fighting one another. I take four or five of Hanibal’s city including Theveste that has Sun Tzu’s Art of War!!! That’s nice because I will now be able to heal my units when capturing cities. It has a good shield production and I decide to stop warring for now and build the FP there.

Here’s the situation at 850 AD:

When I get the cannons, I make a bit of headway versus Ceasar but it’s mostly Osman that gets to suffer my frustration. I take a few Roman’s cities only to be force to a halt by Ceasar’s riflemen. I’m still behind in tech. I make peace and start trying to build some bigger army while catching-up in tech. The last city I took from Ceasar flips back to him .

I hang tight and again crawl in the next age.
1355 AD:

I have now 20 cities and my builder instincts have taken hold of me without me noticing. The score: Arabia 1259, Rome 1023, Egypt 1016, France 930, Spain 792, Persia 763, India 736, Carthage 619, Zululand 537 and Ottomans 433. My culture is over 16 802 but Cleo kept building wonders and has probably more than me. Not a bad game (for me) except for my lack of Conquest/Domination. I need to learn the Art of CIV War .

EDIT: Link to spoiler 3

 

[Yurian]

Predator1.21

I don't like play to conquest or domination.
However it was necessary to make it - rules are those.
Results:
2 leaders.
290 AD Domination victory, 8047 Firaxis Score.

 

[Zwingli]

Ancient Era Post
After running in always war mode until 10 AD, my civ was on the brink of destruction. With 49 enemy units in range of the 4 Arab cities, I signed peace with all of the other civs, gaining the remaining Ancient Era required techs at a cost of nearly all of my gold and income. At the beginning of the Middle Ages, I was making -4gpt with 14g in the treasury and did not posses a single item of peaceful infrastructure.

The Arab civ at 10 AD

The only way to avoid bankrupcy was to disband military units, and use the spare parts to help build marketplaces. As the workers repaired damage to the tile improvements around the outer cities, income improved and the cities began to grow again. Unfortunately, there was no longer any room available to found a fifth city (this is a 5CC), and a war would be necessary to clear out a decent area. Far behind in technology and with a diminished military, it was not difficult to get Persia to declare war by asking them to remove tresspassing troops in 250 AD. The war declaration voided gpt payments to Persia and allowed me to purchase Theology from India and rush the Sistene Chapel in Makkah with a leader saved from the always war timeframe.

Persia hadn't managed to fully rebuild their military from our previous war, and I managed to kill off the handful of archers they sent and raze a city to open up a fifth site before the immortals showed up. Persia (who had other wars to deal with) gave up Republic and Engineering for peace, which were in turn traded to backwards Rome (who was down to 4 cities like me) for additional technology. In 340 AD Arabia finally became a Republic, and had the income to buy horses and enable a Golden Age.

When Spanish troops began to march into Arabian territory, I paid gold per turn for Gunpowder and Chivalry and got the money back when Spain declared war. It took both Gunpowder and Chivalry to buy the world map (of which I was almost entirely ignorant) from Rome. An upgraded Cataphract wiped out a Spanish archer to start a Golden Age which allowed me to catch up with the tech leaders.

It only took a handful of Cataphracts and swordsmen to take out a nearby Spanish city, and Spain was ready for peace before their large supply of knights were in position to attack. Consequently, most of the Golden Age was spend building banks, aquaducts, courthouses, cathedrals, and libraries. Cheap religious Cathedrals combined with Sistene Chapel allowed me to sell the two native luxuries for extra gold while maintaining 0% luxury tax. By buying and reselling new technologies, I was able to keep up to date while still building up a substantial treasury. In 830 AD, several other civs entered the Industrial age, and I was able to join them the same turn by purchasing Magnetism from India, selling it to the Ottomans for Theory of Gravity, and trading both techs to Zululand in exchange for Democracy.

 

[Txurce]

Zwingli, you're right on schedule. Your best moves, apart from getting full value out of your Leader, aeem to be the wars that garnered you lots of free tech. How much of a gamble was it to declare war on first Persia and then Spain, from the perspective of having others ally against you?

And now that you are even, are you aiming for space or a diplomatic victory? Does everybody hate you, given your small size and past belligerence?

 

[Zwingli]

Persia was one of the smaller civs and had suffered the most losses against me earlier on, so I was not expecting them to be able to afford alliances. Spain was one of the leading civs, but I was confident that I could hold off any additional civs they might bring in using the Golden Age production to crank out defenders/Cataphracts.

As for victory conditions, Space does seem most likely as all of the other civs remain annoyed or furious from the previous wars as well as the razed cities during the Middle Ages. Gathering the late game resources to pull off a launch before the other civs could be quite a challenge.

 

[gozpel]

Zwingli, excellent work, digging yourself out of that hole I suppose you're trying for Space? Or are your diplo chances still intact, I didn't see if or how you broke any treaties?

 

[Ricardo]

Your games consistantly amaze me Zwingli. Doing the 5CC like you are doing is so beyond my skill level right now that it just seems impossible. I am really looking forward to seeing how your game turns out.

Txurce, way to go on your win as well. It made me really realize one of my huge errors in my game. At the time I was able to build the Cataphract I clearly had a military advantage over every other civ in the game. I should have taken better advantage of it to really wipe out some of my neighboring civs.

I am now almost done with my game. Unfortunately I think the french will beat me in the end since they in the modern age have too big of a tech lead... but as soon as I am done I will post details in the next spoiler section

 

[kryszcztov]

1.27f - Open class
Playing with the Epics spirit, ignoring RCP ("shoot yourself in the leg" playing-style).

Because I don't go through the spoilers during my games, I'll post everything here, though I'll emphasize on the Middle Ages (and almost all the Ancient Era can be found in my QSC log).


ANCIENT TIMES :

Here are my notes at the end of my QSC (1000BC) :
"I'm the most powerful empire in the world. The only category I don't lead at all is military : I only have warriors ! But barracks will soon produce spearmen, and horsemen later...
"I also now lead the World Ranking (F8) : 271 points, just ahead of Rome.
"I have never researched anything, I will wait for Muhammad to pop up, so as to start researching great Medieval technologies (once I'll get my Ansar warriors, I guess).
"I lack : Construction, Currency, The Republic, Literature, Polytheism and Monarchy. I have 1220 gold in my treasury (+34 gpt). My units : 2 settlers, 8 workers and 16 warriors.
I'm still at war with Rome ; I can make peace with Caesar, but I never saw a single unit, so I'll stay at war for a while... In the meantime, Osman and Caesar are having some fights far from my lands...
"At this point, and unless something very strange happens, I feel this game is on its way to victory. Now I want to finish it as soon as possible (domination), and that means a huge Jihad with Ansar warriors..."

I have 11 cities in 1000BC.
The oddest thing that occured in this period was :
"27- 2670BC : Persepolis is an Ottoman city !!! Pasargadae is the new capital. This happened a few turns ago already, according to the power graph..."
Persians were crippled to death from then on.

MIDDLE AGES :

In 750BC, a massive uprising is on the way... In 730BC, I enter the Middle Ages (still settling at this point : Sirplebidah founded this year). Barb horsies are soon everywhere, never seen so many of them !
Here is a quote of my notes :
"IT (630BC) : As soon as horsies are almost done in my territory, a bunch of others appear from the fog. I guess they can appear all the time until the end of the game, since there is a lot of unsettled land. This feature is a non-sense. At least if barbs could act as a civ like in Civ 1 & 2... Now the fun has gone, I have a crippled empire, unable to stop some barbs, just because we all learnt some sensible techs !!!"
In the meantime, my treasury (1000+ gold) was gone, so I had to rebuild it from scratch almost. Now I think barbs should be rethought in Civ4...

In 590BC, Makkah builds a temple, and so stops being a settler factory. In 410BC, I sign peace with Caesar. In 250BC, Spanish declare war. In 150BC, the Republic is proclamed.

In 90BC, I declare war on the Persians. In 70BC, I eventually meet Gandhi (backwards, due to Persia's decline !). In 10AD, I start building horsemen. In 50AD, Caesar and Osman sign peace ; Ottomans are crippled. In 130AD, Theveste (Carthaginian) flips to me ! In 190AD, I sign peace with Isa. In 300AD, Persians are gone. In 340AD, Indians declare war ! In 390AD, they bring on Ottomans against me (goodie goodie). I took some cities here and there with swordsmen and horsemen during that period.

In 410AD, I buy Chivalry, and immediately upgrade 34 horsemen to Ansar warriors. This is the Arab awakening. In 420AD, the Jihad starts ! 1st targets : Ottomans and Romans ! In 430AD, I get my 1st Ansar victory, triggering a Golden Age at a perfect time ! I also declare war on Caesar during that turn.

In 500AD, the Ansar blitz has shown its effectiveness, and both Romans and Ottomans are gone. In 520AD, I declare war on Cleo. Then blitz through Indian and Egyptian lands. I build my FP (leader) in former Roman territory in 630AD only ; it wasn't such an important issue in this game IMHO. On that turn, I also sign peace with Cleo, and let her do some OCC stuff on the northern island. By 640AD, the Golden Age has ended. I declare war on Hannibal on that turn. By 660AD, Indians are gone. In 710AD, I declare war on Isabella, signing peace with her in 770AD, leaving her with 1 city only. 790AD sees the end of the Punic civilization (best defense overall, their numidian mercenaries on hills were tough to beat). I immediately declare war on Shaka, and see the 1st musketmen.

By 810AD, this is over !

DOMINATION VICTORY :
810AD
6945 Firaxis points
29h 39m 30s
I didn't go past Theology, Education and Gunpowder.
Culture : 8980 points
My Jihad army was between 40 and 60 Ansar warriors.
Never built any single : library, aqueduct, cathedral. Never researched anything.


Well, this is one of my best games, I think. I first thought I wouldn't reach tanks, then expected to finish the AI with cavalries. But Ansar warriors just rock, they're so awesome ! Maybe the best UU in the game, under certain settings, like in this game. I think I made a good profit of the horsemen to Ansar warrior upgrade, it was the winning move of course, but I might have done it a bit sooner if I were a better player. Maybe I should have built less cities and done some research here and there. Barbs killing my treasury shows that I should have researched something in the Ancient times.

I expect to get a good rank this month, but not that good, knowing that GOTMers love early conquest and domination victories, so it will be tough for the Medal ranking, unlike the culture goal... I especially have to applaude the best players, who managed to finish the game around 250-300AD. And I encourage every player to continue improving their skills, even if they think they are far behind. To those players : didn't you have at least as much fun as the best players ? Ansar blitz is such a fun...
Finally, I want to thank cracker and his staff for this great game. Very nice map. And I particularly appreciate the Medal goal, which really makes me feel this is a competition, where I'll have to do my best to get to that goal as fast as I can.

 

[Herse]

1.27 Open

After some poor expansion in the Ancient age I have managed to do rather well technologically and financially; but I would trade it all for more cities.

Link to Ancient Age

Middle Ages

210 BC Settled Riyadh near the southern horses, but it will take some time to connect this city to the capital.
90 BC Settled Jeddah between my core and Riyadh.
50 BC Carthage is pushing up against the east side of the mountains surrounding my core. Desperate for more territory I decide to attack Carthage. The Ottomans are weaker, but it seems that Carthage is becoming more threatening and has better lands to expand into. I have a decent number of swordsmen, at least for some initial conquest, but the Carthaginian Numidian Mercenary is daunting. They are not the best civ to attack first, especially when they have some time to build units.

The First Carthiginian War

I manage to capture the Carthiginian cities immediately to my east attacking with a modest force of swordsmen, since I have only recently acquired horses. The Numidian Mercenaries inflict significant losses. Additionally, somewhere to the south there has been a barbarian uprising and they are spreading through our lands. Though the barbarians aren’t much of a threat, they are diverting resources from the war effort. The war is progressing slowly.
280 AD A sizeable Roman force spearheaded by 8 warriors and 3 archers enters our lands to the south. It is not possible to get enough forces to the south for defense should the Romans attack. I manage to secure a GPT deal with Rome, just in case their sights are set on Arab lands.

300 AD The Romans are passing through our lands, having entered war with the Carthaginians, which is good news for us.
320 AD This is one of my favorite moments of the game. The force of Romans heading east through my lands have since been joined by horseman and are attacking the Carthaginian city of Cadiz, which is by right Arab land . We have just taken some cities to the northwest and were preparing to invade Cadiz, but our forces are not ready yet. A single elite swordsman has been preparing the way for invasion and now sits on a mountain just outside Cadiz. The Romans attack the city, which was defended by Numidian Mercenaries. All 8 of the Roman warriors fall, inflicting damage to the defenders, but also promoting them. I watch the battle from the mountaintops as the Roman forces reduce the city defense to a single elite Numidian Mercenary with 3 hit points remaining. Rome has reinforcements that have moved into position to take the city on the next turn, but of course, my lone swordsman snatches victory from under the nose of the Romans by taking the city. A great moment for Arabia, but a snubbing the Romans will not forget.

340 AD The war has grown too protracted and costly. We negotiate a rather harsh (and what we know to be temporary) peace with Carthage. We begin new preparations. Our treasury holds 893 gold. I had hoped to try for Sun Tzu as this would be a very helpful wonder for Domination on a Pangaea, but other civs have been working on it for some time and we are just in no position to get it now.
360 AD It seems that the Romans too have tired of war with Carthage and begin to head back towards Rome through our lands.
400 AD The Romans turn their forces around and sneak attack Jeddah, capturing the city, and severing our connection to Riyadh (which has the horse resource). Rome does not hold this city for long.
410 AD The Romans are also at war with the Ottomans, who are closer to their empire and take the brunt of the Roman assault. We see no Legions but the Romans enter their Golden Age.
440 AD Rome builds Sun Tzu’s.
490 AD Our Ansar Warriors are victorious taking some of the outlying Roman provinces and the Arabs enter a Golden Age.

The Second Carthaginian War
In 590 AD Makkah completes Leonardo’s Workshop. Our units are upgraded and in 600 AD war resumes with Carthage, this time to much better effect. Forces in the west take all of Rome’s outlying lands (including 11 Roman workers). Our diplomats negotiate peace with the Romans and our forces head east for Carthage.
720 AD The Carthaginians are completely conquered and their lands now under Arab dominion.
Here is a minimap at 780 AD.

790 AD Complete JS Bach’s.
880 AD We have amassed 2302 gold. We cut the roads to our sources of iron (except one source we were trading) and quickly build a large force of horsemen. Our eyes are on the Ottoman empire. Trading has been strong with France and Spain in particular. We have been trading iron to the Egyptians for some time. Technologically we are doing well through trade and have secured a tech lead.
980 AD Our iron sources have been reconnected and we have upgraded horsemen to a large force of cavalry (38 strong). We invade the Ottomans.
1020 AD Despite several wars and elite battles, we FINALLY generate our first leader. I choose to build an army and construct the Heroic Epic.
1050 AD Ottomans destroyed.
1090 AD Another favorite moment. The resource deprived Egyptians are going for a newly available source of saltpeter in the old Ottoman territory. A settler has been dispatched but Egypt has begun construction of a colony. An Egyptian settler has been spotted heading to the site and will beat our settler if he advances unchecked. Our cavalry impede the progress of the settler and his knight escort and we manage to build Snagha, (saved by Snaga . Thanks!) absorb the Egyptian colony, and secure the saltpeter. Egypt had access to the resource for a couple turns and later on we will encounter the three Cavalry they managed to build.

The Roman Campaign
1090 AD Our forces set out towards Rome, conquering the lands taken from the Ottomans by Rome.
1110 AD We have been pushing the technological pace for some time, particularly with our best allies, France and Spain. We now enter the Industrial Ages at tech parity with France, a one tech lead on Spain, and several techs ahead of the remaining civs. The Indians are well behind in techs.

On to the Industrial Age

Link to Industrial Age

Herse

 

[LKendter]

v1.21f

My target direction has been decided as the Zulu build the Pyramids. I will not get the great library this game as the French built it. By the time I could make it there, the value will be all but gone.

110 BC to 230 AD -
The Carthage war begins. With 3 settler pairs available to attack, this is the turn to begin. We gain 14 workers, 3 cities, 3 new city sites (from auto-razed cities), and the large wool patch. I continue to love the religious trait. Despite being at war, I can afford to revolt due to the 1 turn maximum. Near the end of the war I get my first leader - who get the job is to rush Sun Tzu. Dyes will be our third natural luxury shortly.

270 AD -
The early temples pay off as the Roman city of Lutetia flips to us.

280 AD to 570 AD -
The Zulu have a death wish and demand spices. A war with the Zulu begins. They do nail a small worker stack the first round. I get Spain to join the party for a mere $3/turn.

During this war my second leader arrives, who rushes Sistine Chapel. I prove the RnG can be crazy sometimes, and get leader number 3 the next turn. Hind will build an army. Leader #4 arrives with nothing to rush at the moment. I decide on Heroic Epic hoping for another leader. Of course, I need to get a few new elites.
Our second Ansar Warrior has a clue, and our GA begins.

We gain 18 workers (more the offsetting the small stack lost), 11 cities, the Pyramids Hanging gardens, furs, and an absurd amount of leaders that stopped with the building of Heroic Epic.

This is a good start as I have 2 dead civs, and gunpowder hasn't arrived.


550 AD - The culture gods love us the game as Aldea de Ribannah flips to us.


560 AD to 830 AD -
The phony Roman war begins when they declare. They are not worth attacking hard right now. I simply dial up the Ottomans and sign an alliance. I hope I get two future enemies to weaken themselves. However, I do get a leader for attacking the one Roman city worth going after. We are able to rush Leo's just in time for the mass pikeman to musketman upgrade. As an added bonus that city had two settlers in it - I won't argue with 4 more workers.


610 AD to 680 AD -
The Egyptian war begins when Rome and Egypt ally against us. Fate is weird sometimes, as I was already building up troops along the Egyptian borders. The first turn of the war results in the capture on Egypt's only source of iron.
We gain 22 workers, 10 cities, silks and gems from the war. We get another leader during this war - he gets to wait around for a wonder to rush. Looks like time to promote more vets. We gain the collection of worthless wonders in Thebes - the expired Oracle, Colossus in a 100% corrupt city, and the great lighthouse on a Pangaea map.


750 AD -
We finally get a use for the leader and Bach's is rushed.


760 AD to 870 AD -
The Ottoman war begins. I want them dead before Sipahi arrive. We quickly get a leader that will wait for Smith's to be available. With the leader luck this game I should have went the 20K route. The biggest delay fighting them was Roman troops in the way. We gain 10 workers, 1 city site (auto-raze), the Great Wall (just about obsolete), incense for luxury number 7 and 9 cities.


840 AD to 970 AD -
The Roman war becomes real as the Roman cities become just as close as the Ottoman cities. We gain 13 workers, 12 cities and the final luxury of wines.

Would you believe this is still with pure Ansar attacks? Having the only 3 movement point unit is huge, and I have wanted to keep that advantage as long as possible.

1060 AD - The culture gods truly love me this game, as I get my 3rd city from a flip - Pamplona.

1070 AD to 1110AD -
The Persian war begins. This one got delayed due to me incorrectly looking at the game situation. Persia was so pathetic, and I should not have waited to get cavalry. We gain 6 workers and 12 cities. They are banished to the little island. The war still continues on paper, but it is meaningless at this point.

1140 AD to 1160 AD -
I won't quite get the needed tiles with border expansion, so I am forced into the final war. The final target is India. I capture 6 cities, and it is game over.

1150 AD to 1160 AD -
We get an annoying war declaration from Spain. It means nothing as the game ends during the same inter-turn.

A new personal best with domination at 1160AD with a Civ score of 6,135. This is the fastest solo time for me to hit domination.

 

[Yurian]

Predator1.21

The plan of game:
First stage: settler-warrior-chariot-gold
Second stage: war with the help swordsmen and horsemen. Horsmen-Horsmen-Gold.
Third stage: Mass Upgrade to Ansap.Golden Age.Victory.

Realization:

First stage:

4000BC-710BC: Passive Phase.No wars.
1175: Using Temple culture expantion in 0005 horse became accessible.

975BC: Pomans build Pyramids.
825BC: Persians build Gr.Library. (First aim)

Second stage:

690BC: 1 Warrior,2 Archer, 6 Spearman, 17 Swordsman, 18 Charriot, 3 Catapult.
690BC-410BC: first persian war ( initial forces to pers.war: Vet.Char(3),Reg.Char(2),Vet.Sw.(2),Reg.Sw.(7) )
410BC: 2 Warr, 2 Arch, 3 Char, 32 Horseman, 7 Pikeman, 3 Catap, 14 Ansap Inf.
410BC-250BC: first Ottoman war.
250BC-210BC: second persian war
210BC-130BC: Passive Phase.

Third stage:

130BC: Chivalry
70BC: Cartagian war, Spain war, Ottoman war.
Forces: 2 Archer, 7 Pikeman, 3 Catapult, 29 Horseman, 27 Ansap Warrior, 21 Ansap Infantry.

50BC: First Great Leader ( Build Leonardo Workshop in Iznik )

50AD: 0 Settler, 1 Warrior, 1 Archer, 7 Pikeman, 5 Catapult, 11 Horseman, 56 Ansap Warrior, 19 Ansap Infantry.

110AD: 0 Settler, 1 Warrior, 1 Archer, 6 Pikeman, 5 Catapult, 4 Horseman, 70 Ansap Warrior, 19 Ansap Infantry.

150AD: 2 Settler, 1 Warrior, 1 Archer, 6 Pikeman, 5 Catapult, 2 Horseman, 79 Ansap Warrior, 18 Ansap Infantry.

210AD: 1 Settler, 1 Warrior, 1 Archer, 7 Pikeman, 5 Catapult, 5 Horseman, 86 Ansap Warrior, 18 Ansap Infantry. Second Great Leader (Build ForbiddenPalace in Delhi)

250AD: 10 Settler, 1 Warrior, 1 Archer, 5 Pikeman, 5 Catapult, 48 Ansap Warrior, 9 Ansap Infantry.

290AD: 11 Settler, 1 Warrior, 1 Archer, 3 Pikeman, 5 Catapult, 48 Ansap Warrior, 9 Ansap Infantry.

290AD: DOMINATION VICTORY

 

[Txurce]

Yurian, you're giving Qitai something to work for!

Your graphics show that you took your time getting going, but when you did, you swept right through everyone.

It looks like you saved time by attacking out in all directions, more or less at once. Were you at war with almost everyone from 70BC on?

 

[Yurian]

Txurce

You are right - armies have been divided into some groups.
Each of them was engaged in own direction.
After performance of military missions of an army have been disbanded in the peace purposes.
I did not declare war only to the French. War with Zulu began in 230 AD.

 

[samildanach]

There are a couple of interesting things about Yurians game aside from the stellar time. The first is he managed to pull off the chariot upgrade - I thought that players who managed to execute this would be onto a winner. The second thing is that Yurian didn't discover chivalry until 130 BC - which is slow for a predator game. It would have been a simple matter for predator players to get to chivalry prior to 500 BC - I'm curious to know if Yurian thinks if he had gotten chivalry earlier that it would have speeded up his conquests or if it might have slowed him?