480 AD - We discover Feudalism and decline to switch governments. Now that we're at peace Republic is serving us quite well.
Meanwhile we trade Horses to Arabia for Silks and 1 gold (they're kind of poor). It's a mutually beneficial deal - we need silks to keep our people happy, and they need Ansar Warriors, to deter the Maya if nothing else. Thanks to the deal, Abu Bakr becomes Polite unto me, though he claims to be gracious unto me.
540 AD - I create an embassy in Mecca and am surprised to discover that, while their city is very well-developed, they lack Iron. So I didn't even give them Ansar Warriors - just Horsemen! Poor Arabia. I really hope the Maya don't invade them - the Arabs wouldn't stand a chance. But in the meantime I sign a right of passage with Arabia to make exploration efforts easier.
560 AD - The Ottomans complete the Sistine Chapel in Istanbul. I knew I didn't stand a chance at it, so I hadn't even tried.
580 AD - Research on Education is completed, and checking the tables, I see not a single other civilization that I've met has it, not even the advanced Dutch. At this point I've got three very tempting research options - printing press for lucrative contact trading, music theory for J.S. Bach's, or Banking for banks. Banking is the first out the window, as I don't have enough markets yet for it to be worth it. Printing press is almost worth it, but there's no guarantee I'll get it first, and even if I do, Bach's is a better long-term return. So I go for Music Theory.
605 AD - The Aztecs offer me Chivalry for Education. Hah! I wouldn't sell it for Chivalry and Engineering! If Knights show up on my border, well, I'll hurry a few Pikemen. Who needs military technology anyways?
620 AD - I establish an embassy in Salamanca. Salamanca is not particularly well developed, and its garrison is weak Spearmen, but they've got Iron and Horses. On the other hand, the have no luxuries. Overall not a huge threat.
650 AD - Music Theory research is completed, and Printing Press started. P'yongyang is chosen as the future site of J.S. Bach's Cathedral, and workers are sent there to build mines.
655 AD - Temujin sends me a message:
Oh,
respect you're talking about? Well, I think you're doing just a miraculously good job of showing the Koreans respect, Temujin. Take your empty threats elsewhere.
Thought so. It appears even fewer individuals surprise Wang Kon than surprise Temujin.
Actually it's equal as far as I know - Hannibal surprised us with the First Punic War. But that's at least as many surprises for him as for us.
700 AD - The southern town of Taejon finishes the first university in the world. We move into first in literacy, the Aztecs likely being the leapfrogged civilizaton.
710 AD -
Another optional but potentially very profitable technology! Let's hope the Dutch don't have it.
But alas! They already have it - and they have no contacts to offer! They must be on our continent after all! Looks like my exporer-warriors will be missing out on their annual bonus this year. They have education as well, which, as it turns out, many civilizations have at this point. But no one has Music Theory yet, so we're secure in our lead on J.S. Bach's.
So I decide to forgo Banking a bit longer and head for Navigation. If I have to sail for contacts, I'll do it!
780 AD - We achieve 50% literacy, the first civilization to do so. Our GNP is still in second place.
790 AD - Astronomy is completed, and Copernicus's Observatory begun in Seoul. Navigation is our next technology. Paegam and Leptis Magna, on opposite sides of the empire, begin Caravels.
805 AD - Montezuma complains about our troops being in his lands, and we sign a right of passage. I make a note to make some Explorers. It's rare that I actually have a use for them.
820 AD - I discover land to the northwest of Paegam ever before Navigation is finished, but alas, it's merely an English settlement.
835 AD - England offers me Chivalry for Music Theory. Conscious of my head start on Bach's and the loss of value in Music Theory after I complete it, I entertain the offer. Haggling a bit, I find England is willing to pay far more than just Chivalry. In the end we agree to this offer:
Chivalry
and Engineering for Music Theory? You bet! I'm a hesitant tech-trader but a deal like that is too good to pass up.
840 AD - Our western Caravel finds Amsterdam, capital of the Dutch and most glorious city in the world.
I'm not surprised to see the Muskets - I figured I beat everyone to Education despite their intial advantage because of a focus on the lower part of the tech tree. But this wouldn't have concerned me even without the trade with England.
Meanwhile our eastern Caravel finds that Carthage's lands are divided by a channel, hence named the Channel of Theveste. That leaves a mere four cities on the mainland of Carthage.
850 AD - England has begun Music Theory Proliferation, and, as a non-proliferation treaty is not feasible, we decide to proliferate it more. To that end, we send Music Theory, Furs, and 100 gold to the Iroquois for Invention.
By Amsterdam, we notice Swiss Mercenaries are now the foremost guard. It hardly makes sense that Musketmen are even an option for the Dutch, costing twice as much for one more attack point. At least the Rifleman upgrades cost less.
860 AD - Musical proliferation continues, with both the Aztecs and Dutch having acquired it now, so I sell it to France along with Music Theory and 20 gold per turn for Gunpowder.
Checking around, it seems I was the last on the Gunpowder bandwagon (though considering I didn't even have Engineering three turns ago that's not too bad), and that the advanced civilizations already have Chemistry. Clearly the AI put a high value on military technology this game - perhaps another consequence of More Aggressive AI (which, strangely, has not resulted in a single war that I'm aware of to date, other than Hannibal's attack on my undefended city).
I also manage to make a small profit from contact trading.
Thought everyone knew each other...guess not! All the better for me.
870 AD - Navigation is completed, and Banking started on. Even though the Hwach'a is my unique unit, I'm putting the economy first for the sake of the Space Race. Magellan's Voyage is begun in the lakeside border town of Hyangsan.
880 AD - An explorer, technically trespassing on English lands, verifies that no land connection exists between England and the Netherlands. Rather, a short sea connection is suspected, not unlike in real life.
910 AD - My caravels spot land! Or elephants as the case may be!
We don't know who occupies those lands yet, other than the elephants, but we will next turn, and then the trade wealth will start flowing in - or shortly thereafter if we deem seperation to be more beneficial to us.
920 AD - The new civilizations are the Egyptians and Sumerians. Neither is advanced relative to us, particularly Egypt, who lacks even Engineering, but the really big surprise is that they don't know each other. The first thing I want from both of them is a World Map. Curiously the first thing Egypt requests for theirs is contact with the Sumerians - and, looking more closely at their items to trade, it appears they are isolated. But I don't want to give them anything right now except gold. So I buy their map outright for 150 gold.
Interesting. They are isolated. Now I go to Sumeria, who
does have communications to offer - with the Vikings, Babylonians, and Ottomans. That totals 15 civilizations, leaving one mystery civilization out in the middle of nowhere. I don't have enough gold to buy their map outright, but get it for 60 gold and 12 gold per turn.
Very interesting. The Babylonians have prevented them from scouting their entire landmass. Offering gold per turn for contacts, I find the Ottomans to be by far the most expensive, followed by Babylon, then the Vikings. I take the latter first, for a mere 7 gold per turn.
Ragnar Lodbrock is very backwards, lacking even Theology. I take advantage of this opportunity, giving it to him for contact with Babylon and the Ottomans, a World Map, and 27 gold.
That has to be one of the worst 10 starts I've ever seen. An island that's 90% mountains and plains with no water, with one decent but quite small island to one end (which they haven't even settled), and jungles mixed with mountains on the other end. At least they've got both Iron and Horses, and some Dyes to export. But that's putting a positive spin on a thoroughly negative situation. I mean, they've even got a volcano by their capital!
Babylon has contact with the mystery civilization - Spain. I buy the Babylonian map for 10 GPT and the Ottoman one for 8 GPT. What I find is that these four civilizations have much more land than the ones on my continent, myself included, and that Spain has a curiously large presence near the Ottoman capital despite starting on an offshore island.
They also fare quite well in score - the Ottomans are second (behind me), and Sumeria fourth. Scandinavia is, not surprisingly, in a distant last, well behind France.
For now these civilizations are not particularly well developed, but once they are developed, they'll be a force to be reckoned with. And if one even conquers another, they'll be a superpower. But for now, they seem to be peaceful.
While deciding whether to trade now or later, I discover the Dutch have beat me to Banking. Such a situation must be rectified, so I trade them everything I've just learned and 2 GPT for Banking and Chemisty. Thereafter I learn they already have Metallurgy as well - if they aren't advanced I don't know who is! And they aren't even a Scientific civilization.
I then trade all my new knowledge and 8 GPT to the Aztecs for Metallurgy, along with Furs and Wine. We're now making zero gold per turn, and have no luxuries to trade. But, minus Monarchy, we've reached tech parity with everyone, even being more advanced by Astronomy and Navigation! We aren't quite out of the forest yet, as we're still quite weak militarily (Spears, Swords, Warriors, an Archer, and a Chariot), but we've reached tech equality surprisingly quickly.
930 AD - I realize my tech research is set to Monarchy. Oh well. We could use 120 GPT profits for awhile.
But then I decide to trade most of my contacts here on my continent to the Ottomans for Monarchy, contact with Spain, and a bit of gold. And thus research is set to Economics.
I then trade Contact with the Iroquois to Spain in exchange for their World Map, which unveils their moderate-sized island.
The picture is much clearer to us now than just a hundred years ago. The other island has powerful wonders, but it is the Dutch, whom we have now equaled technologically, who will likely rival us in the space race. Yet should the other civilizations ever get expansionistic, we could have a very interesting struggle.