lAfter a rocky start, the Industrial ages flew by for me. I began still at war with Germany, and in the middle of the pack tech-wise, but with about 3000 gold I was planning on buying my way back into the lead. Of course none of the AI would sell me Nationalism, but as part of a peace deal, I could get it from Germany for about 2500. However, I also still had 8 turns left in an alliance with America, India and Greece, so I didnt want to make peace just yet. My hope was to actually buy steam power first from someone, then sell it around and still get Nationalism in the peace deal.
In 930AD I finished Newtons, and traded Theory of Gravity, and 400g, to Babylon for Democracy. I thought this would also help bring down the cost of Nationalism, since they would get it for free, but it didnt seem to help. By now I had Germany down to 4-5 small cities, and I had rushed temples or biblios in most of the captured cities, so I figured I could afford the risk and revolted in 950AD. This way, the anarchy would end about the same time I finished the alliances and could make peace, and start down the research path. (BTW, I think this game is the longest I have ever played in Monarchy, I usually either go strait to republic, or switch to Demo in the Middle Ages). I also had started rotating troops from the Barb Reef, sending fresh new musketmen over and bringing those elite knights and legions back, to throw them at the remaining German cities and hope for leaders.
Good news and bad news followed. In 950AD Berlin flipped back to the Germans (those ingrates, after the new temple and biblio I bought for them). I was able to retake it the next turn, but being in anarchy I couldnt rush any improvements this time. The good news is that in 990AD, in my assault on Heidelburg, one of my legions generated
Octavian, who would lead us into this new Democracy. I decided to save him for ToE, which I planned to head for as a way of getting the tech lead. After all this time, no one had discovered Steam Power yet, I was getting very frustrated. I went into the peace negotiations with Germany, and they would only give me Nationalism if I paid them about 1800g. However, in negotiating, I found out that they would take 100gpt for it! No one had accepted any gpt offers from me since the early middle ages, so I was surprised (Maybe taking all but 2 of his cities improved my credit rating??). Anyway, even though it was a little higher, I took it. Even though I was in anarchy, I had about 200 gpt coming in from sales of techs and luxuries to the other continent, especially Greece. I now turned around to sell Nationalism to those who didnt have it yet, and got 42gpt from the Iroquois and 20gpt from France, making back over half what I paid for it. I was also able to trade with England finally, and even though they werent in the Industrial Age yet, they did have Suffimentum, which I traded them TOG and Magnetism for. Another bad news, I had Munich flip back to Germany about 5 turns after the peace, but it wasn't worth going to war again over. Funny thing is, the Greeks landed and took it, and it flipped back to Germany again!.
1010AD The Roman Democracy dawns, and my income jumps to +850gpt (291 of that from other civs). However, all that money does me no good, when no one has Steam Power to sell! It has been at least 15 turns since I entered the industrial age, and I know Greece and India got there before me, and they havent researched Steam Power!! (Of course, this was last week, before I read Axelmans article about how the AI chooses techs to research. L). I finally decide to research it myself, and use all that money to rush biblios and universitys to crank up my science (I had concentrated on forums/Argentariums when I was running 100% cash).
1100AD I hit Steam Power, and somehow the Greeks and Aztecs researched it the same turn I did. Anyway, I am still able to sell it to the other civs (Iroqouis, India and French were the only other ones with real money, England, Russia and Babylon were scraping by, and America, Germany,and Japan were down to 2-3 cities each). My people want to build the Iron Works. Cool, where at? I hit the F2 key to see where there is coal connected, and it is in Boston. Great, a corrupted city up north. But when I look around the map, it turns out there are at least 4 sites that would qualify!! Unfortunately, none of my other cities are positioned right to take advantage of it, but 3 are one tile off: Kagoshima in the SW, Ferrum W of Rome, and Pisae NW of Rome. After some careful deliberation, I decide I am going to disband Ferrum and rebuild one tile N. All three cities were similar, size 6-7 with forums, argentariums, and biblios, but Ferrum is closest to Rome so will have the least corruption, and surrounded by a good mix of hills and some grassland. After several turns of cranking out workers, I built a settler and disbanded, refounding Ferrum II around 1200AD. I paid cash to rush most of the improvments back in, starting with a granarium to rebuild the pop faster. The Iron Works was completed in 1385AD, and by now (1455AD) production is over 100 shields/turn, so it was worth the trouble.
Meanwhile, I pushed my research along the bottom half of the tech tree, finishing Scientific Method in 1230AD, with no help from the AI. I sell it around the world, getting Communism and over 250gpt, then use Octavian to rush the
Theory of Evolution in Rome. I use it to pick up Replacable Parts and Atomic Theory, figuring I have enough time to research Electronics on my own, and the added worker productivity will help me finish all my railroading projects. Also during this time, I realized that in my earlier exploration of the Barb Reef, I had stopped when I hit tundra up north. After sending a unit up there to chase down a barb camp, I saw a fur that I had overlooked for probably the last 600 years. DOH!!
In 1270 I founded Nicomedia to hook it up, and finally had the last luxury. All those wasted years
. Also, I never built any cities their other than the three for luxuries, they were corrupt enough already, and I wasn't sure it would be worth it. I know the pop and territory would add to my score, probably should have, but it seemed like it was more trouble than it would be worth.
After what had been a peaceful time, Greece declared war on me in 1310AD. No idea why, they had finished up a war against Germany, when they couldnt take his last 2 cities, and must have been looking to pick a fight with those troops on my continent. I bought in some allies to take on their homeland (I had no desire to establish myself on their continent, I was content with mine and going for a space victory). After killing off their few knights, swords, and one rifleman, and facing their massive fleet of 6-8 galleons and frigates, it was a boring war, they never returned, but because I had allies I stayed in it for the 20 turns. No War Weariness, probably because they declared and I had no troops out of my territory. 1335 I finished
Hoover Dam in Rome, most of my bigger cities already had factories, so production went through the roof. Unfortunately, in 1365 India beat me to Universal Suffering by one turn, I didnt have anything else to switch to, so I bought Espionage and switched to Intelligence Agency, wasting 300+ sheilds.
The rest of the age was pretty uneventful, I was focused on building infrastructure, courthouses and police stations in some of the former American cities to make them productive, and getting techs every 4 turns. I tried to sell techs to the AI about 2 behind where I was, and I didnt sell Atomic Theory until Greece had it. The current situation, I just finished Radio, hit Modern Age, and most of the top AI just bought Combustion from me. India is the closest in Tech, with Electronics and Combustion, although Iroquois is leading in score. Greece must have suffered from the war. The spaceship is just a matter of time, as soon as I get the techs, which is good, I need to wrap this up and submit probably tomorrow, since I will be out of town this weekend.
World Map in 1455AD:
and Moonsinger
, that was a game to see 
You already cleared out Japan and most of America by 10 AD. That was over 300 years ahead comparing to mine. How many settler factory did you build in this game?
