We left off in 500 AD (first post in the first spoiler tread) by having build a
monster in the capital, and considering a push for a (reasonably) early space launch. I had started spawning cities on the north half of the continent (including taking sugar-city from the barbs), and was still trading with a friendly MM.
In 620 AD, I popped a GP, and used him to found the Kong Miao. This helped my economy further, as I was spreading Confu actively both to my cities, and also to MM. In 720 AD, I revolted to serfdom since I decided that it was time to grow all cities to their pop limit, so I would not be whipping for a while, and because I wanted my army of workers to clear the jungle and get the lands cottaged asap. I adopted Mercantilism at the same time, since it was the best available economy civic, and I could do it in the same turn of anarchy.
I set of researching railroads to get the extra production from lumbermills and mines, and with that in hand, began researching my way to Liberalism (through education obviously) with the simple plan of getting 6 libraries up ASAP (I believe I had 7 or 8 cities at this stage), and building oxford in my science monster capital. Things were mostly uneventful during this time, except for a barb boat showing up and pillaging my two fishing nets. I quickly produced a ship to dispatch of it, and had to rebuilt two workboats, which was a mild setback, but not crucial since my capital was busy working cottages in any event.
After I got close to liberalism, I decided to check on MM, and saw that he still did not have education, so I had a few turns to spare at least (While I had not met the other continent yet, I decided that there was absolutely no why they where anywhere close to the teching that MM and I had been putting up, so that the race to liberalism was purely between the two of us.) Now, at noble level, I often like to wait on liberalism and try to take physics with it, and use the GS for a lightbulb (usually bio), but needless to say, that was NOT happening with MM around, so I had to decide what I could reasonably get. Since I was now focusing on launching off to space, nationalism did not really appeal, so I decided that Economy and the free GM were the best bet. I therefore started teching all the prerequisites for Econ, while keeping an eagle eye on MM to make sure that he does not get Liberalism before me.
In 1100, with all the prelims in place, Liberalism came in, and I took Economy with it. Having gotten the free great person, I decided that it now made sense to immediately trade econ to MM, and I got Compass, Construction, Drama, 170 gc, and an updated WM in return. I did not revolt to anything new at this time since Beurocracy was still better then the 2g town bonus, and with only one religion in each city, free religion was not better than OR (especially with all those libraries and universities to be build).
A couple of turns later, I decided that MM could also have Liberalism, and for that, I received Optics, Theo. Horseback and 50 gc, so as you can see, MM was nicely helping my backfilling of techs.
In my own research, I was heading for Democracy for the bonus production to all my towns. I got that in 1360, and revolted. At this time, I trade Constitution for Gunpowder, music, and 180 gc, and democracy for chemistry, divine rights, and 30 gc.
I decided that it was finally time to pick up Astronomy. I had not really avoided it thus far, but simply it had never been a top priority (I was confident that there was no trading to be done with the other continent since they surely had not been able to match the pace that MM and I were setting. During this time, I also began work on the Tahja Hall for the golden age. Honestly, I was not really expecting to get it given my late start, but I had nothing pressing to build, so I decided to give it a shot.
I was pleasantly surprised when I got it in 1410, the same year I finished Astronomy. I also met Liz and Cyrus that year (they visited with boats), and a couple of years later met Stalin (also his visit). In 1490, I started getting unhappiness penalties from people demanding freedom, and since my workers had finished the majority of their improvements, I revolted to Emancipation. That turn, I also traded Astro to MM for corporation and a few coins. I then researched steal, which I traded for Sci. Method, and proceeded to rocketry, which I learned in 1670 and started on the Apollo program. By this time, I had already finished oxford and the statue of liberty as well.
So, my empire for the space race was essentially set: In 1675m I had 10 cities, producing a total of 990 beakers per turn, 500 of which were coming from my capital. Of these cities, two were turning into very good producers (see pictures below). My capitol, which was currently building the Apollo project, and Edirne, which was at present producing the Iron works. In addition, I had 4 cities which had 25-35 hammer potential.
The plan for the spaceship was simple. Tech towards Aluminum first and hope we have some or can acquire some, tech to the space elevator, tech to all the parts, and build them! The space elevator and all the big parts would be assembled in Edirne and Istanbul. The second tier cities would build the castings and thrusters.
With this plan in place, I continued my persistent teching towards the ship. Not much eventful happened. I was able to trade for combustion, but had to research all other remaining techs myself. I did sell off dozens of techs to the other continent, basically given them one anytime they had 100 gc or so to offer. They were hopelessly behind, and this trickle of gold allowed me to keep my research at 100% almost the entire time.
I saved a few great people during this time, including one GE. I finished Apollo in 1770, and commenced work on the space elevator in 1836. I invested the GE into that, which greatly sped it up, and the same turn, triggered a golden age. Beyond that, just routine research and routine production. My last two parts where, as one might expect, were the engine (being built in Edirne) and the stasis chamber (in Istanbul). I timed these finish one turn apart (tried for the same turn, but missed), and finished each of them by using my army of workers to chop all the remaining forests in each city radius (knocking about 4 years of the completion date). This allowed me to launch for the stars while still in the 19th century (barely). The ship took of in 1898. I don’t remember the score.
And this game was with 1 reload, which is not acceptable.
