Apologies for reviving such an old thread, but I figured some people might be interested in knowing that it is indeed possible to win this particular game. 'Twas a Domination Victory for me. I did play this using Conquests, so the replay is a bit odd.
I highly doubt that I would have been quite so successful with this one had it not been for the fact that, for some reason, Literature seems to be anathema to the AI. That said, I did the math and found out that it was possible (with skillful use of prebuilds) to build both the Great Lighthouse and the Great Library. This alone was the game-breaker for me, as I simply cannot see myself winning this game without those Wonders.
In fact, I challenge anyone to actually win this without them.
Anyway, on to a summary of the game...
I realized ICS would be absolutely necessary with such a godforsaken piece of real estate as that desert island. I founded two cities nearby and made sure they had their prebuilds in place. In the meantime I settled the rest of the island using Settlers from my capital. I finished researching Bronze Working (this tech actually helped a good deal, as it provided an extra prebuild option), went for Masonry, Alphabet, Writing, and Lit. I finished Mapmaking only a turn or so before building the Lighthouse. I ended up building both Wonders just a couple turns apart from each other.
After that, I sent out some galleys and settled The Rock to the east with 3 cities. Meanwhile, I met the Celts to the south, who were just about as backward as myself. I traded some techs with them (inc. Iron Working), then started building Catapults, Spearmen, Swordsmen, Horsemen and Galleys like mad in preparation for war. Once I felt I had enough, I launched the assault on the Celtic Iron/Horses city and took it with ease. I encountered very little resistance from Gallic Swordsmen, of whom I had been deathly afraid, and conquered the entire island in 10 turns. I used my one Leader to build the FP in Entremont, and founded a few more cities on the Celtic homeland.
I decided to wait for the other civs to come to me, my rationale being that this would ensure more techs upon contact. Thus I waited several turns, raking in the cash and remaining in the late Ancient Age. Eventually the Ottomans sailed on by, and soon afterwards I met the Russians and Zulu. My great fortune was that these were the most advanced civilizations on the face of the planet.
In one turn I went from late Ancient Age to the late Middle Ages -- 20 techs in one turn! I even was able to trade techs among the three superpowers until the end of the Middle Ages, at which time the Scientific Ottomans and Russians left me in the dust.
The main continent contained Russians, Zulus, Aztecs, Spanish, and Ottomans. The Babylonians were stuck on a small island in the east and were left stagnating in the Ancient Age. I found that the Spanish had been nearly conquered by the Ottomans but still had four cities left, two of which had luxuries. I immediately set out to conquer them and did so with ease, leaving Isabella with one nearly useless city in the middle of Ottoman territory. Meanwhile, I had been searching for the other civs and soon found the relatively backward Iroquois, Greeks, and Persians. I set up lucrative trades with the former two and set my sights on the weak Persians, who just happened to have a great deal of Ivory which I could seize, granting me a virtual monopoly for trade. I formed an alliance with the Greeks, who were all too eager to vanquish their old foe. I considered myself lucky to take any cities at all, much less the Ivory-rich ones, since the Greeks had been faster and more successful than I had anticipated.
Once Persia had been dealt with, I decided to send my newly upgraded Cavalry, Cannons, MDI, and Riflemen off to give the backward Babylonians a visit. During the long ocean journey I switched to Communism (I had been in Despotism all this time! Feudalism might have worked, though I'm not sure about the WW aspect... As this game was for PTW, Feudalism wasn't an option anyway) Having Veteran spies did help, since my research was at 0% ever since the Ancient Age and I was forced to steal techs. Communal corruption also worked wonders, considering how far-flung my Empire was by this time. But I digress...
My conquest of Babylon actually turned out to be more difficult that I had anticipated, and the Ottomans and Russians (I shared an MPP with both) came close to taking the entire northern half of the island -- the Ottomans actually did capture the northernmost city. During the conquest of Babylon, the Russians, Ottomans, and Aztecs also took it upon themselves to vanquish the hapless Zulu, which occurred with surprising ease, considering the fact that the Zulu had been one of the Triumvirate of superpowers, though they had fallen behind somewhat in techs. Oh well... one less powerful civ for me to deal with.
Something rather bizarre also occurred at this time: the Spanish declared war on the Russians! Why on earth would a civilization reduced to one rather useless city, mired in the early Middle Ages, declare war on one of the world's mid-Industrial superpowers? Was Isabella feeling suicidal? Needless to say, the AI dogpiled on the Spanish and they were dispatched in one turn.
Incidentally, I find it ironic that, for being a Communist dictatorship, most of my cities were focused on building Stock Exchanges at this time -- Bolshevik stockbrokers!
On to the Greeks... I actually thought I'd take them out before they got Nationalism, but no such luck. Regardless, I used my main force from the Babylonian campaign and finished them off with ease. At this time, the Ottomans declared war on the Iroquois for some reason or another. I had been planning on taking out the Iroquois once I had Tanks, as they had gotten to Infantry, and a WWI-style trench war wasn't my idea of a good time. But alas... the silly Iroquois attacked the Ottoman city up in Babylon and my MPP went into effect.
I took most of their empire without a hitch, but got stuck in the siege of Salamanca. Meanwhile, the Russians declared war on the Ottomans. Apparently, the war started because the Russians had sailed straight into an Ottoman submarine. This sort of thing has always annoyed me... Exacerbating my usual annoyance was the fact that I felt I was not at all prepared at that time for a war with the Russians. But back to the Iroquois... I had eventually taken Salamanca after killing their Infantry one-by-one and severing their connections to Rubber -- Explorers are useful for something, after all. The rest of the empire fell with ease.
I had stolen Motorized Transportation by that time, and was sending my Tanks over to my Spanish colony in order to face Russia. During that time, the Russians actually had the nerve to send one Infantry and one Marine to take out my lightly defended cities on The Rock. Of course, I retook the cities eventually with one Tank -- slow business, with all the mountains. The cities would never regain their former usefulness, as, unfortunately, my proletarian stockbrokers had been liquidated by the oppressive Russian Democracy during the occupation.
I made sure to take out Russia's luxury cities first, so that I wouldn't be forced to trade with the Aztecs or Ottomans, whom I anticipated I would eventually have to fight. The war with Russia was over surprisingly quickly, Moscow being pounded from a size 26 to a size 3 city by Ottoman Bombers in a matter of turns...
One thing of note... during the siege of Moscow, I noticed the Ottomans using about 7 Artillery pieces offensively, guarded by a few Infantry. I was overjoyed, as I hadn't yet seen the AI use any kind of artillery in an effective manner until that point, and artillery usage has always been one thing I disliked about Civ 3, as it seemed to give the human player an unfair advantage. At least the Ottomans of this particular game proved me wrong.
I was making such obscene amounts of money by this time that I could theoretically steal techs (carefully) every turn without losing any capital. Thus I caught up with the Ottomans by the Modern Age and had no trouble keeping pace. I thought to prevent the Ottomans from taking a Diplomatic Victory by building the UN myself and destroying the Aztecs. Waged on three fronts, my war with the Aztecs was over in a few turns -- in fact, before I had even finished the UN. The construction of the UN finally triggered my Golden Age.
By this time I had enough territory and population for a Domination Victory, so a nuclear war with the Ottomans was averted.
Though I am tempted to go back and see if I can conquer them as well...
After a start like that, this is how winning felt to me...
I'll post maps/histograph later if anyone wants them.
This is the save from just before the win:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads7/Temujin_of_the_Mongols,_1964_AD.SAV
I do think it's funny that I won this game with a 9% literacy rate... I don't think I've finished a game yet with one that low.
Talk about a longwinded post, huh?
