I really enjoyed this game, much more than I was expecting. Thanks very much!
I am not familiar with Ice Age map, so I knew that would be interesting for me. From the name, I was going to be happy with mediocre land. But I was not tempted to settle on Snow just to pick up a few Crab!
I gambled on the Great Library, which worked out, so built NC after that before my three expos. I went Liberty (Collective Rule before Citizenship) to get going fast after Great Library, but Tradition might have been better, as I only wanted three expos, and I missed Pyramids by a wide margin.
Initial BO was: Monument, Scout, Shrine, Scout, GLib, NC, Archer, Settler, Archer, Settler, Archer.
T048 Nebuchadnezzar had an unescorted Settler near me, so that was too tempting to pass. Later I would steer another settler to a barb camp. There were a couple other “rescues” from barb camps. I don't think I built any workers, even with missing Pyramids.
T060 I finally got a pantheon. Dance of the Auroras was long gone, so I took Goddess of Festivals. If I had thought a bit longer, I would have taken OWN. But that mistake turned out all for the better. (1) I did eventually found (T132); and (2) OWN would have tempted me to settle far-away expos. There were a couple or three good ones that went unclaimed most of the game. I used Liberty GE for Hagia Sophia (T156) , another World Wonder that I never see in my Deity games!
T125 Alexander is on my borders and I have very few units, just the three Archers and starting Warrior. They were all trained up from barb hunting though. I could not bribe Alex away. I was worried, as he had his UU, but only a few of them. Mostly I was annoyed since I had planned to play all peaceful like. I gave him OB so he would DOW closer to Moscow, rather than starting on my weakest expo. That worked. He DOW’d me on T134 and took Rostov the next turn. Really it was barbs that saved Moscow, since Alex tried to come up from the south. It was a grind, but eventually I take Rostov back on T152.
Athens is hard to get at, so I decide to clear out the expos first. Only one is in a decent location. My assault on Sparta started T160; captured and razed T164. It had no building anyway. Argos fell T170. Genoa, who I allied along the way, captured and razed Corinth on T186, a turn before I could get there. It was the only expo spot I liked. I start on a couple more Settlers, so Liberty was good choice after all. I capture Athens, killing off Alex T192. Hardly got any grief, as only a few of the AI had met him. I used my spare GG to capture the Sugar N of Moscow, and settle in for the long game.
Some other milestones:
T199 Close out Patronage.
T201 Maria builds Forbidden Palace by 16 turns. I though that would really hurt, but not at all really. I still founded and lead the WC.
T216 I am gifted a Merchant of Venice which I use to buy out Milan. They were my ally, but picking up Mt. Kailash was sweet.
T233 I meet the last AI, then propose and win WF (T274).
T275 Close out Rationalism for Radio. I have not yet build Oxford.
T323 Propose and easily win IG (T336).
T344 Start bulbing GS and building Oxford.
T363 First WL vote in a turn, I have Globalism and three or four Diplomats. I buy out the few CS that are not my allies, and have plenty of gold left over.
T364 Dido flips one of my CS, but it is fine.
T365 Win Diplo VC.
All game I was looking for AI civs to get eliminated. Their vote at the end can be more valuable than diplomats! No luck! There were wars, but no runaways. Even Venice held all game. I did have a LOL moment ~330 (or so), trying to figure out why there were only 11 civs and not the promised 12…
Not at all! It was quite disappointing not to have Horses. If I had resource multiples in the later game, I did not notice. I never build the UU. The UB is sweet, and the border expansion quite noticeable. I was happy to be playing Russia on this map. I would like to see an Ice Age Deity Diplomacy game, but with Sweden.
Did you use spying to your advantage?
No one to steal techs from, but my spy did level up via counter-espionage. One of the Militaristic CS was under contention, so that helped.
Did the map type help or hinder victory and how?
I thought the size was going to make things harder, but I won at the first WL vote, so I guess not. I think the larger size made my missing Forbidden Palace irrelevant, so that was a huge perk, as was the late WC start generally. Raging Barbs is always great too.
How did the difficulty level affect your game decisions?
I went for early game Wonders that I never usually bother with. It also caused me to underestimate my neighbor. That worked out really well though, as I needed Alex’s Furs for trade much more than my own Crabs.
What Social Policies did you choose and in what order? Which Ideology did you choose?
Three policies in Liberty, then started working on Patronage, to get the +20 CS resting point ASAP. Then I finished off Liberty and the rest of Patronage. That delayed my opening of Rationalism, but it worked out really well. I was first to Ideologies (by a wide margin) and opened Freedom. I was able to use the 3rd tier policy to lock all but two or three CS.
What techs did you prioritize?
After the first early four, I took Writing and then the one policy I needed to unlock Philosophy from Great Library. Then Construction and Iron Working, since I was at war with Alex. Electricity was the mid game early priority (as usual), then I started working on the first and top rows of the Tech Tree so I could bulb straight from Penicillin to Globalization.
What did you think of the map and settings?
Can’t say I would pick Ice Age often! It was not as bad as I was expecting. I miss ruins. Raging Barbarian is always a treat in my view. Lack of horses near the start was disappointing.
