billindenver
King
In my current game as Greece, emperor level, I started with a very nice start location. Grass everywhere, several rivers, 6 furs, a couple horses, even an iron. I expanded as fast as possible, and explored most of my island, til my warriors got killed off. I found only one neighbor, the Zulus. So I'm happily expanding through my whole territory, as are the Zulus. Suddenly I contact the Zulus, and they have contacts with every other civ, well before mapmaking. I can't get through their civ with unit now, so I can't meet the civs on my own. The Zulu won't sell me a single contact for anything less than my firstborn child. Zulus (and the rest of the world) is in Middle Ages, while I have about 10 techs left in Ancient, including needing writing, mapmaking, construction, currency, polytheism, math, code of laws, etc. Sistine and Sun Tzu were built while I was still in Ancient Ages, and naturally, I missed Great Library by a mile. I set research to minimum, and slowly research and buy off the Zulus, til I get mapmaking. Then I build one lowly galley, and he explores the entire world, which turns out to be one snaking continent.
I truly thought I'd never catch up on tech. Luckily, I did have a monopoly on furs. Of course, no civ ever gives you squat for anything, but every little bit was helping. I was by far the lowest histograph, being doubled or more by several civs.
I wish I knew exactly how I caught up. I think it was because I managed to buy a tech that one or two civs didn't have and got several techs in return. When I escaped the Middle Ages, I was still 4-5 techs behind, but the free Nationalism helped, because the Zulus declared war on me about that time, my first war of the game. I was able to upgrade my army fairly quickly to mostly rifles, a few cannons, and a few cavalry, but that was all I needed to defend against the Zulu. Just enough war to get an several elites, and a single Great Leader when a rifleman finished off the last hp of a cavalry.
During the war, I discovered steam power, industrialization, and electricity, and that's when France started Hoover. I was really catching up in tech, as France was the only one with electronics. I ended the war after I got the GL and raced towards electronics. I investigated the French city building Hoover, and saw I couldn't get there in time without some work. Most of my cities had factories and most other improvements, and were all set to build wealth so my science could be raised even higher. I traded maps every turn for a few extra gold. I micromanaged every city to give me maximum gold production. I joined most of my workers into cities to grow them and get more gold and science.
Finally, I got Electronics. I investigated Grenoble, and saw it had one turn remaining on Hoover. Thinking that I might have missed out on Hoover, I decide to plant a spy and try to disrupt production. Of course, my plant attempt is seen, and France declares war. Figuring my last hope is to get Grenoble to riot, I bribe every other civ with electronics to start a military alliance against France.
I get Hoover. (I found out later that the human player plays first, so I needn't have planted the spy or given Electronics away, argh).
And that's where I left the game this morning. I'm still way behind in the histograph, but I'm only, at most, 1-2 techs behind the leaders. I haven't won, but I'm building infantry and artillery, so they won't be killing me off easily either, and tanks are just around the corner. I've got 11-12 really nice cities, all of which will have military upgraded from Hoplites and Horsemen to Infantry and Cavalry in the next couple turns. Those Hoplites probably saved me by detering the Zulus from attacking me the entire game.
I almost gave up on this game, but the land was just too good to quit. I figured they'd be rolling tanks over my Hoplites or Muskets at one point, but here I am, all caught up. I guess commercial and scientific make for a good catch-up combination!
So what's your greatest comeback?
Oh, on edit: I just remembered. Another big boost for me was the Zulus attacking me during the Industrial Age. One of my Hoplites beat a Cavalry, so I was using the Golden Age to build factories!
I truly thought I'd never catch up on tech. Luckily, I did have a monopoly on furs. Of course, no civ ever gives you squat for anything, but every little bit was helping. I was by far the lowest histograph, being doubled or more by several civs.
I wish I knew exactly how I caught up. I think it was because I managed to buy a tech that one or two civs didn't have and got several techs in return. When I escaped the Middle Ages, I was still 4-5 techs behind, but the free Nationalism helped, because the Zulus declared war on me about that time, my first war of the game. I was able to upgrade my army fairly quickly to mostly rifles, a few cannons, and a few cavalry, but that was all I needed to defend against the Zulu. Just enough war to get an several elites, and a single Great Leader when a rifleman finished off the last hp of a cavalry.
During the war, I discovered steam power, industrialization, and electricity, and that's when France started Hoover. I was really catching up in tech, as France was the only one with electronics. I ended the war after I got the GL and raced towards electronics. I investigated the French city building Hoover, and saw I couldn't get there in time without some work. Most of my cities had factories and most other improvements, and were all set to build wealth so my science could be raised even higher. I traded maps every turn for a few extra gold. I micromanaged every city to give me maximum gold production. I joined most of my workers into cities to grow them and get more gold and science.
Finally, I got Electronics. I investigated Grenoble, and saw it had one turn remaining on Hoover. Thinking that I might have missed out on Hoover, I decide to plant a spy and try to disrupt production. Of course, my plant attempt is seen, and France declares war. Figuring my last hope is to get Grenoble to riot, I bribe every other civ with electronics to start a military alliance against France.
I get Hoover. (I found out later that the human player plays first, so I needn't have planted the spy or given Electronics away, argh).
And that's where I left the game this morning. I'm still way behind in the histograph, but I'm only, at most, 1-2 techs behind the leaders. I haven't won, but I'm building infantry and artillery, so they won't be killing me off easily either, and tanks are just around the corner. I've got 11-12 really nice cities, all of which will have military upgraded from Hoplites and Horsemen to Infantry and Cavalry in the next couple turns. Those Hoplites probably saved me by detering the Zulus from attacking me the entire game.
I almost gave up on this game, but the land was just too good to quit. I figured they'd be rolling tanks over my Hoplites or Muskets at one point, but here I am, all caught up. I guess commercial and scientific make for a good catch-up combination!
So what's your greatest comeback?
Oh, on edit: I just remembered. Another big boost for me was the Zulus attacking me during the Industrial Age. One of my Hoplites beat a Cavalry, so I was using the Golden Age to build factories!
- was due to me peacefully building a SS when the great powers were tearing one another apart in a huge Modern Armour war. If the leader's at war, it can work.
