AU 100-A DAR 1: 4000 BC - 1520 BC

[DeepO]

CH, it's interesting to compare our starts: even if the tech rate is different between Prince and Monarch, production is not.

We both took the same tile to start on, with you focusing more on production first, while I went for commerce. I'm thinking your path is better here, but it might depend on difficulty.

We discover writing in the same turn (2320 BC), and also start the lib around the same time.

You complete the lib in 2000 BC, I do in 1680 BC... as a result, I can't turn 2 scientists to use, as it would mean my Oracle will be too late. Only having 1 scientist is also going to hurt my tech situation...

The problem I'm seeing, is that you have 2 workers, while I only had one. That was fine, though, I never needed a second one. But by working the wheat near Washington a lot earlier, compensating the extra food with desert mines it seems you can reach a better tech rate. I'm still a bit in front with my extra commerce: I'll reach CoL in 10, you 'only' in 13 turns. But you'll probably build the Oracle sooner, and have an academy sooner.

The only real advantage I can see to not going worker first (which you need if you want to have two of them before 1500 BC), is the religion: a gamble, which in my case paid off.

Oh, and I did need to compensate by building a warrior, a 3-turn delay you didn't encounter. But still, your start would have been faster

DeepO

[DeepO]

Originally posted by Aeson
A few reasons.

Barbs. Animals are everywhere very early, and there's no bonus against them. Sending a Settler out of cultural borders, even with a Warrior escort, is a big risk. Being able to settle the turn you move out of cultural borders means no risk from animals.

Now this one is true on any level, I gather... I had to run from bears as well

Interesting... I never considered that if you settle the turn you leave your borders, you're not going to have any problems, period. I know it too, of course, but haven't decided on which sites to go for based on this. I'll try to watch for this one...

Barb Warriors show up rather quickly, invade pretty early, and so cities need to be able to help each other defend. This game seems a bit off, as the Barbs took a long time to start with Archers. Normally Deity Barbs would have been to Longbows by the same time. (And possibly built a Wonder. ) Guess it has to do with the scenario.

Yeah, so far (up to literature atm) I've only seen one barb city, and a couple of warriors. No free archers yet. Uncharacteristic for me as well, although I am patrolling heavily.

Health/Happiness limitations. Cities aren't getting very big early on. So to use all the good tiles, need to space closer together.

This has always been true, but I found so far that CIV is different from Civ3 here. Waiting on good tiles seems to be less important as the ability to grow later on. Gone are the days of close spacing, all cities getting exactly 12 tiles to work.

Was this feeling difficulty dependent, and the higher you get, the closer you need to space? Health/happy is obviously going to be harder, but staying close also nets you less resources. Do you foresee a stage of (military) resource hunting later on in every game? Trade isn't going to cut it here, 2 wines and a wheat to trade away.

Maintenance. Need every last drop of commerce just to stay in the tech race, especially early on when 2-3 gpt can mean the difference between being hopelessly backwards or keeping up (ie. getting monopoly techs to trade around). Closer spacing means less distance maintenance. Every little bit helps early on. Later on when/if I have more cities, the number of cities maintenance factors in more, but by that time I can have developed my economy to be strong enough to offset it. Especially true for ORG/FIN.

Hmmm... true that. I have yet to start playing towards my traits. Or at least I can improve. Good thing you're telling me this before I get to far

Pushing into AI's borders ticks them off, so I like to delay border tensions as long as possible. In most cases it's better to have a couple less cities and not be at war until a viable military can be built up.

Well, yes, but isn't this map different here? I mean, you chose to go for the cows before going for the wines. You eventually settle both sites (as I'll do, hopefully), isn't it better to settle closer to the border first, after which you leave enough room for the AIs to expand into? Or, by the time you settled near the wines, did you consider your military viable yet?

It's hard to even have half the military the AI does and still stay in the tech race. So everything you have has to be defended by a military that can't hope to compete numerically. That means keeping cities closer together so their garrisons can support each other when necessary, and so that your main force can cover them all.

Basically it comes down to sacrificing some long range potential just to have a chance to survive.

Hum. Must think on this a bit more. I know I'm experiencing some problems on Emperor, where the chance of success seems to deminish early on. The risks are indeed higher, they'll be a lot worse on deity.

DeepO

[Aeson]

Originally posted by DeepO

Now this one is true on any level, I gather... I had to run from bears as well

Yah, but on Deity you have the worst odds, and the most barbs, and they show up the earliest. It can be ugly. For instance, at one point I had a Warrior on a Forest Hill with 6 barb animals in view, and that was with 2 tiles blocked from line of site. 3 Bears, 2 Lions, and a Panther...

This has always been true, but I found so far that CIV is different from Civ3 here. Waiting on good tiles seems to be less important as the ability to grow later on. Gone are the days of close spacing, all cities getting exactly 12 tiles to work.

Not really. 12 workable tiles can still be pushing the health limitations even at the end of the game. That's because food is much more abundant in CIV than it was in Civ III, and Specialists are much more useful. So a size 20 city can be working 12 tiles, and have 8 specialists, and be pushing the limits of health.

Was this feeling difficulty dependent, and the higher you get, the closer you need to space? Health/happy is obviously going to be harder, but staying close also nets you less resources. Do you foresee a stage of (military) resource hunting later on in every game? Trade isn't going to cut it here, 2 wines and a wheat to trade away.

Certainly is difficulty dependant.

Trade is much more likely to work than unsafe expansion.

Well, yes, but isn't this map different here? I mean, you chose to go for the cows before going for the wines. You eventually settle both sites (as I'll do, hopefully), isn't it better to settle closer to the border first, after which you leave enough room for the AIs to expand into? Or, by the time you settled near the wines, did you consider your military viable yet?

The Horse/Cattle site was the best production site for the Oracle, and I needed Chariots since I didn't have Archery. I never settled near the Wines, Genghis got it. (And Saladin would have captured my city if it was there anyways.)

[DeepO]

Originally posted by Aeson
Not really. 12 workable tiles can still be pushing the health limitations even at the end of the game. That's because food is much more abundant in CIV than it was in Civ III, and Specialists are much more useful. So a size 20 city can be working 12 tiles, and have 8 specialists, and be pushing the limits of health.

True, but then it depends on specialists. I set out to build up Washington with only few specialists and big production, however I played until construction now, and after my 2nd prophet (and a GS), I'm still running specialists there. It comes too natural... wonders and specialists mix well.

I'm at size 12 now, and am using mostly the tiles to the North of the city. I intend to grow though. You seem to have put more focus on GPP in Washnigton.

Trade is much more likely to work than unsafe expansion.

Hmmm... but with limited expansion you won't have anything to trade away.

Unsafe expansion never works, it's only much more apparant in your case. I didn't go for the sites near the mountain ridge either, and have fared well so far. Vel extended, and seemed to have angered the AI too much.

But you take it to the extreme: by moving away from the wines, you give the AI as much space as you can. That will buy some time, yes, but it's interesting to see it work too.

The Horse/Cattle site was the best production site for the Oracle, and I needed Chariots since I didn't have Archery.

That's something I'm going to need to get used to: horses hiding until AH. You were lucky in getting the tech for free, but probably not going for one of the revealing techs (AH, BW, IW) would be suicide on deity. On Monarch and Emperor you can nearly always stay with warriors until after you research CS, even if a couple of axes or archers could help.

I didn't see the horse until much later. The cow city was also settled much later, not much point to it with only one resource in range when there are better sites to settle. I certainly didn't see it complete the Oracle in time

DeepO

[Aeson]

Yah, Mining, BW, and IW were going to be the next techs I researched after Pottery. Probably with AH after finding either Copper or Iron (or neither). I wasn't planning on trying Oracle->Civil Service until getting AH and Mysticism from huts made it look much more likely to work out.

[clarkcd]

Noble Difficulty

My DAR will just hit the highlights of my first 2500 years as leader of the great American peoples. Boring huts, battles against barbarians/animals and normal builds/researches have been omitted. If anyone wants to know I can let you know since I'm pretty much playing my standard game.

4000 BC - Built Washington

I usually build on the opening square unless I find a resource with my warrior/scout within one move.

3320 BC - Founded Hinduism in Washington

I generally try and beeline for as many religions as I can get. Playing mostly on Noble or lower it isn't hard to do

2960 BC - Hut gave Animal Husbandry

Fortunate for me! Probably saved me 4-6 turns of research which gets me that much closer to nicer techs.

2440 BC - Built New York

I saw those wine fields and just had to plant a city up on those hills to snag em all. The horses sealed the deal since I don't know at this point whether I have any copper or iron to build troops with. If the horses hadn't been there I probably still would have built there to try and cut off the western portion of that continent from other civs expansion.

2360 BC - Founded Judiasm in New York

As part of my religion beelining I try and snag Judiasm at the least. It's a great fallback for those times when I went for Hinduism but failed.

2120 BC - Met Genghis Khan

Could be worse...

2080 BC - Met Saladin

Not a bad neighbor to have actually.

----------

Breakdown of my techs:

L1 Techs: Fishing, The Wheel, Agriculture, Hunting, Mysticism, Mining
L2 Techs: Pottery, Animal Husbandry, Archery, Polytheism, Masonry
L3 Techs: Monotheism
Currently Researching: Bronze Working 2/9 turns

[Bobtoad]

Noble Difficulty

Outlook...
Playing as Washington and the Americans, my initial goals for research are to get Pottery (to take advantage of his financial trait) and Code of Laws (related to his organized trait). Ideally I'll found Confucianism with CoL and get some religious happiness benefits - the fast growing floodplains will require it. And the culture bonus would be excellent for George's lack of creativity. As far as my build order, I'm always a bit slow to expand but am trying to quicken the process. After warriors/workers/settlers, libraries are my number one priority this time around. If I don't found Confucianism then I'll be relying on them to provide the culture to expand my borders. Also, with the financial direction, I seek to take advantage of commerce and science as much as possible.

Chronology...
4000 BC - Explored hut for 38 gold. Washington founded.
3800 BC - Borders expand. So far just surveying immediate surroundings.
3600 BC - Buddhism founded elsewhere.
3400 BC - Warrior killed by barbarians while exploring to the SW of Washington. First worker finally trained.
3160 BC - Hinduism founded elsewhere.
3040 BC - First contact with AI. Isabella found me.
2680 BC - Learned Writing (through The Wheel/Pottery) for libraries. Now grabbing a few worker techs before going after Code of Laws.
2640 BC - Growth halted in Washington. Happiness and health soon to be problems otherwise.
2040 BC - Saladin seeks open borders (have been meeting a few more AI). I agree to his terms. Also, New York is founded due West.
1960 BC - Greatest Civilizations ranked (largest). I'm in second place.
1760 BC - Going for Code of Laws now (through Mysticism/Meditation/Priesthood path).
1600 BC - Boston founded to the north.

Information Rankings at 1520 BC...
Gold - 1st
Prod - 3rd
Food - 4th
Soldiers - 6th
Land - 2nd
Population - 1st

Technology - Fishing, The Wheel, Agriculture, Hunting, Mysticism, Mining, Pottery, Animal Husbandry, Meditation, Priesthood, Writing.

Links (New to forum, had trouble posting the pictures):
Tacitus ranks The Largest Civilizations in 1960 BC
My Empire in 1520 BC

Thoughts: My treasury and my point totals are both solid. My military is very weak though. After CoL is researched and the libraries are built I desperately need to get more than the 1 warrior per city (and the scout). I can definitely foresee barbarians being a major pain.

As far as city location, I chose New York's location because of the river access (easy trade route) and proximity to Washington. For Boston, it gave me horses and expanded my borders North. The only worries South and West at the moment are the barbarians, so I wanted to get some borders established towards the AI. East didn't look as appetizing when it will only take one road (through corn) to connect Boston to my trade network.

Upon reviewing other strategies posted here I realize that Slavery could've been very valuable with the starting placement of Washington. Instead of shifting focus in Washington between food/commerce/production tiles to prevent over population I guess I could've just raised the people and then, well razed the people. I've never even attempted Slavery (just hasn't appealed to me yet I guess), but this game might have been an excellent chance to experiment with it. Oh well. I'll definitely have to see how well it works for those that implement it.

Strategy...
And in case you're wondering what my overall strategy is for the game is I'll explain it now. Since this game is broken up into stages to evaluate it I think I'll break my strategy up into stages also. Here are my overall goals...

Ancient Era - Make use of Washington's traits through research and establish empire.
Classical Era - Balance out my empire by giving attention to things that were neglected.
Medieval Era - Further exploit my advantages (i.e. science) to gain some leverage.
Renaissance Era - Evaluate my empire and compare it to the rest of the world. Based on this, decide which victory path I should devote efforts to.
Industrial Era - Execute towards chosen victory path.
Modern Era - Hopefully achieve victory.

I also don't plan on building many wonders at all - at least until late in the game if I do. In previous Civ versions wonder building was all I really wanted to do. And once I was able through the editors I would cancel all the expiration dates on them so I could build them and bask in their glory forever! With CIV I'm trying to actually become a better player (though all the options presented upon starting a game make the challenging road hard to accept) and so less reliance on chance seems like a good strategy to explore. So through the first few stages, if I have the option of building a wonder or another building I want in the city, I'll be choosing against building the wonder.

The Saga (DAR Links)
4000 BC - 1520 BC
1480 BC - Start of Classical Era
The Classical Era
The Medieval Era
The Renaissance Era

[Rhothaerill]

Rhoth's DAR 1, Part 1 - Prince Difficulty

First off, I'm still fairly new to Civ4, having only just bought it about a week and a half ago instead of when it came out. That said, I haven't yet completed a game past around the Renaissance era as I've been interested in testing out the beginning of the game and all it's quirks and leader types, etc.

Second, my internet was down yesterday when I started this game, so I wasn't sure what the cutoff points were. Hence I don't have screenshots at the end of the various DARs (the first few at least), only some interesting shots. As I type this I’m actually in the 12th century AD, but I’ve made notes etc.

Third, this is my first go-around with the organized trait. I’m not really sure yet how good it is, though I’m sure I’m missing something. The cheap lighthouses are nice since I have a lot of coastal cities, but I’m not sure how useful the -50% civic upkeep has been. I’m not the type to go into deep analysis of how a trait works. I prefer just to play and have fun.

And awaaaaay we go...

4000bc - Upon loading up the game I discover a flood plains start. I haven't read much of the thread about the design of this game so far, but I have to wonder if the flood plains start was deliberate because of Washington's financial trait. Cottages are perfect on flood plains. Yes you can build a farm for that extra food, but why? The farm only gives an extra food, while the cottage immediately gives one extra commerce, plus one more because of the financial trait...and it grows to a town eventually. The immediate tradeoff for a flood plain is either 4 food and 1 commerce or 3 food and 3 commerce, eventually growing to 6 with a town (even more with later modifiers for certain techs). I'll take that cottage any day.

So the short of it is I settle in my starting spot after using my warrior to take a look on that hill he was near to see if there was anything better. There wasn't so I settled. Flood plains to the N and NW, plus corn and silk, and a nice river running through. My capitol won't be a production powerhouse, but it will certainly be a commerce powerhouse. The wheel is my first tech to get to pottery and those nice little cottages.

I've read a few threads in the strat forum, one of those being Vel's thread (sidenote: Vel's Civ 3 strat thread are what made me register at 'Poly, so thanks Vel ). I hadn't yet tried his settler first strat so I decided what the heck. This course is as much for learning as anything. It almost backfired though, as you'll see later.

[Rhothaerill]

Rhoth's DAR 1, Part 2 - Prince Difficulty


3960bc – Pop the hut for 28 gold. So far in the games gold has been by far the most common item I’ve received from huts.

3640bc – Finish research of The Wheel. Start pottery. Yummy cottages, flood plains and financial trait :drool:

3400bc – I meet my first opponent: Genghis Khan. Lovely. I haven’t met him too much in my games yet, but he was the most warlike AI leader in Civ3 and I don’t expect too much change.

3280bc – Finish pottery and start research on mining. Most of the games I’ve played so far have been with a spiritual based leader (Isabella, Saladin, etc.) where I would deliberately go for the religions first. Only one game before this had I started without a spiritual based leader so I’m still getting used to not having a religion at this point. The first two early religions have already been discovered by others so at this point my intent is to find out whether I have copper and iron. My next techs will be bronze working and iron working after this. Even though I don’t have any workers yet, I don’t have any big special tiles (such as cattle) that require more than farms at the moment so I have plenty of time to get those other techs later.

3200bc – My lone scouting warrior at this point gets attacked by a lion and a wolf in succession and almost wins both, but not quite. I now have one size 1 city and no units. If there were any warrior barbs around instead of animals then I’d probably be toast by now.

2920bc – My settler had finally been built a few turns ago and I sent him toward more floor plains to the NW. Even though I’m planning on putting cottages down on the flood plains, they are still among the best non-improved tiles for building settlers and workers since they give 3 points toward building those units, as well as the commerce.

And here is where following Vel’s settler first strat got dicey. There had been several animal barbs floating around, but since my warrior was killed I hadn’t been able to clear any out. It all seemed okay until my settler got to the desired location and I discovered three animal barbs surrounding him, with one of them able to kill him. Sheesh. I really don’t know why the barb didn’t attack. Instead it moved elsewhere and I was able to settle my city with a big sigh of relief. I’m not sure if that settler first strategy would work on higher levels of difficulty. It barely worked on this one because of all the animal barbs. If I had lost that settler I would have really been in the hole.

Anyway, both Washington and New York were now set to producing workers. I wanted to get a move on with tile improvement, and I hadn’t seen any warrior barbs yet. At least the animal barbs wouldn’t be able to attack my workers since they would stay safely in my cultural borders for now. And a sidenote…because my first warrior died, I didn’t see the gold resource that was just out of New York’s fat cross until after I had settled the city. If I had seen it, I probably would have settled one tile north of the current location just to get that gold resource. It would be a long time before I actually hooked it up.

[Rhothaerill]

Rhoth's DAR 1, Part 3 - Prince Difficulty

That scare gone I proceeded with my research plans. I met Isabella in 2680bc and she was the one who founded Buddhism.

2560bc – Research completes on bronze working. NO copper anywhere my eyes can see. There goes a chance at building axemen. Research begins on iron working. Hopefully I’d at least have that.

1880bc – Research completes on iron working and I have a source in my capitol city already. Yay! Plus it also will help with the production in Washington since the city has so far been more of a growth and commerce city. I’ve produced a couple of warriors for defense, but that’s been it other than settler and worker builds.

My next project is to go after a religion and get some culture in my cities. I start research on mysticism, then masonry, then polytheism. That completes in 1400bc, and Judaism still hasn’t been discovered so I’m hopeful that I can get it as I only have 5 turns to finish research on monotheism.

Yes I’ve gone on a little farther than the 1520bc, but as I had said I didn’t know the DAR breakdowns until just a little while ago.

At 1400bc I had two cities built, several warriors out exploring, and workers creating cottages on flood plains for excellent use with the financial trait. A settler would pop out in Washington next turn and I already had a site picked out to the SW on the forest tile next to the ocean and lake. Not only would I get the fresh water bonus, but that city has pigs, iron, and can share Washington’s corn.

Which brings me to another point…supposedly Civ4 was set up so you don’t have to micromanage as much as in Civ3. I haven’t really found that to be the case yet. I’m still switching tiles around, raising and lowering sliders, etc. to maximize my nation as much as I can. I don’t go in for zealously checking every city every turn (unless I’m in a PBEM or democracy game ) but basic micromanagement on the same level as I did in Civ3 has been the order of the day so far in my Civ4 games. I don’t always get it, as I hadn’t even noticed until writing this that Washington was only a turn away from growth when I started work on a settler, but hey I’m not Aeson.

[DeepO]

Originally posted by Rhothaerill
(sidenote: Vel's Civ 3 strat thread are what made me register at 'Poly, so thanks Vel ).

Yeah, Vel popped my cherry as well with this thread

DeepO

[Dubhghlas]

Slight hijack:

How do you get screenies without the screen shot naming box to show up? Do you not use the in game function for that?

[DeepO]

Originally posted by Dubhghlas
Slight hijack:

How do you get screenies without the screen shot naming box to show up? Do you not use the in game function for that?

I just hit PrintScreen. Shift-PrintScreen will let you name a screenshot, but the others get generic names (0001...). They end up in the Screenshots map which you can access through "My Games" (a folder in "My Documents")

Sadly, they don't always work, so in case you absolutely need to have a screenshot you've got to make sure you have it. Diplo things are never screenhotted, while stuff like wonder movies, city views, and advisory screens sometimes work, sometimes don't. It has to to with having proper focus and pop-ups, but I haven't found the precise cause of problems yet.

These are great, though. I take screenshots of everything that happens. A warrior finds a hut? Hit PrintScreen. Next turn, it discovers gold? Another one. Etc. It's easy to take notes, and it can give excellent replays when later browsing in the screenshot folder.

DeepO

[Thrar]

Emperor difficulty

This is another beeline game, although quite different from the CoL ones I've read in this DAR: I'm going for Alphabet! A detour to Hunting->Archery may be needed, we'll see.
Warning: this is long.

As you will see, I also picked the city location east of the starting tile, and I'm very curious to compare my start with the CoL beeline (also going for tech, with a different approach), maybe at the end of DAR3.


4000BC: Starting location: may lack a bit in production, but will have big time food. Send warrior to the hut, and get maps!



Looks like one tile eastwards will give a better production, while keeping the corn in range. This will still have 3 floodplains, and will be a production powerhouse.
Move settler as planned, and settle Washington.
Since this is Emperor, Washington will be able to get to size 3 before getting unhealthy, and size 4 is the current happiness limit. A worker might be useful for the extra research from a cottage on a floodplain (but that requires tech), or the food from a farm, but first growth is what's needed, and then a second settler will do more good. So for now, 2nd warrior.
Tech: Wheel, then Pottery.
I used a very similar start in my only other Emperor game so far (writing as 3rd tech), had only 4 cities for a long time then, but kept up in tech til the end, lost to spaceship though. Let's see if I can do better!

3800BC: borders expand. Moving the settler didn't lose any visible resources...good.

3720BC: more maps from a hut! Ok, tech would probably be better, but this is useful!


3680BC: The Wheel comes in.

3560BC: On consecutive turns, the scouting warrior gets attacked by a wolf and a lion. Survives, Woodsman I. Found the west coast.

3440BC: Thanks to some micro the second warrior is trained exactly when Washington grows to size 3, with no food stored and 1 hammer overflow. Call me perfectionistic if you want. Settler in 17 though. Second warrior goes scouting too, that leaves Washington at the limit for both health and happiness.

3320BC: Pottery. Next is Writing, mostly for open borders in case I meet someone. Death seems to be spelled for the first warrior, he ends the turn next to a lion, on open ground.

3280BC: He survived. The next lion he just met will kill him though. Lotsa lions around the place!


3200BC: Died as expected. However, I just got a scout from a hut. Nice.

3080BC: more maps from a hut, that reveal mongol borders to the north! Another lion attacked my now only warrior, he survives fortunately. No more taking chances now, he'll guard the settler when it's done instead of doing further scouting.

3000BC: Bismarck says hello. I greet him back. Also, the scout reaches the mongolian borders, for some more conversation.

2840BC: 2 lions, 1 wolf and 1 bear within 4 tiles of Washington. Animal kingdom or what?!? And I have to get a settler thru this in 2 turns...

2800BC: Bismarck adopts slavery.
Scouting so far:


2760BC: before I even get the tech message, both Genghis and Bismarck ask me for open borders. Writing finished, on the same turn, the settler is done.
Question is, what tech is next? Alphabet will be a gamble, since I wouldn't get ANY defenses soon. The other option would be Hunting and Archery.
Take a deep breath, and go with the gamble. Alphabet in 33.
Another benefit of that is that it leads to drama, which enables culture spending, for more happiness. And I need that badly!
Next thing to build is another warrior. There's definitely too much stuff running around here. Then a worker I guess.

2680BC: after careful moving forward (first join with the warrior 2 tiles away, then move 1 tile, then another and settle), the settler reaches the determined spot for NY. Second city in 2680, probably fastest in this game?
Problem is the health, already at the limit with size 1. Worker in 15, leaves Washington to do something else after the warrior (in 2).

2640BC: meet Isabella, establish open borders.

2600BC: Warrior done, next will be another settler (in 17, like the first). Did anybody say there is no REX in Civ4? Btw, Madrid is in a craptastic location:


They founded Buddhism anyway.

2480BC: Some stat-checking: I'm still the only one with a second city (5 turns already), Bismarck has larger pop (20%, I'm at 16% with 4 total).
2nd in land area, my guess is there's a creative leader out there. Or I'm even with someone else who has 2 cities (if that counts as 2nd then). Only 4th in pop - yes, I know, thanks, I would like to grow too! Production sucks (5th), but hey, I'm building a settler and a worker (with food mostly)! 2nd in food, 1st in GNP (yay! That's what I want for teching!).

2400BC: Meet Saladin, open borders. He has a second city! The others still don't. Good that I have the scout, these turns would be quite boring otherwise. There seems to be a zoo somewhere around Washington.

2280BC: Isabella founded a second city, 20 point leap in score. She's on top now. My scout walks thru Bismarck's territory, he's going crazy with farms it seems.

2160BC: Meet Hatty, who's BIG in score. She has a second city, and is #1 in land area. Ah yes, she's that creative one I supposed before. My stats are going down, no expansion going on at the moment (worker in 2). 2nd in GNP and land area, middle of the road in the rest.
Bismarck has founded Hinduism. Very late.

2080BC: Worker done in NY! Now for barracks, the worker hooks up the corn to finally allow some growth!

2000BC: Saladin also goes to Slavery. Some mad writer claims we are not wealthy! Maybe because we're at 0g...

1920BC: Barbs! Is it time to pay now? Washington just finished the settler, builds warrior now. NY switched to warrior.

1880BC: We got corn!!! Growing-time! (NY in 1, Washington in 4)

1840BC: goodbye...you've been incredibly useful!


1760BC: Finally! After 2 turns waiting, there are no barbs next to the site for our 3rd city. Boston founded, I'm the only one with 3 cities. If the barbs don't mind...

1720BC: first obvious tactical mistake: Washington grows to 4, but has no garrison for happiness. Will be rectified in 2 turns.

1640BC: Alphabet comes in! 1 turn faster than in my other game... ^^
ahm...one question: what do I do with DAR2? I entered classical before finishing DAR1!
Tech situation: Nobody has Sailing, I'm up writing (except to Saladin!) and at least 1 other tech to everyone. All other tech in my reach are known, although not all by everyone.
First-day trades:
Genghis: Fishing+Pottery -> Animal Husbandry
Isabella: wheel -> Mysticism
Nice, there are horses near NY.
Next tech to research will indeed be Drama, for some fun (culture spending). Washington does what it's best at: another settler!

1600BC: next tech trading round.
Isabella: Animal Husbandry -> Masonry. That was basically a freebie that came with the Genghis trade last turn. Too bad she wouldn't go for Hunting+Mining (dunno why, would still be a good deal.)
Isabella: Pottery -> Mining. She considers that driving a hard bargain!
Saladin: Pottery -> Hunting. Bad deal, that.
Isabella doesn't want to teach me to meditate, and Poly is too expensive - would require writing in trade. So far I held on to that, for more expensive trades next turn.

1560BC: 3rd tech trading round.
Bismarck: Pottery -> Archery.
Hatshepsut: Writing(!) -> Polytheism. Can't get it for Pottery+Mining, which she also lacks.

1520BC: 4th and so far last trading round.
Saladin: Polytheism+Archery -> Bronze Working.
Unless someone has Iron Working and wants to share it, the trading is done here. Isabella and Saladin (apparently) know Writing, and it may be possible that Saladin even knows Alphabet - it's not on the trade screen. Isabella is up Meditation and Priesthood, but doesn't want to give them away. Once she does, I still got Writing waiting for her. Hatty is down Pottery and Mining, but has Writing, the others lack Writing but have the rest.



I think I may say at this point: The Alphabet gamble has paid off BIG TIME!
2nd in score, 3 cities (competition has 2 or 3), comfortable tech advantage to most. Middle of the road in stats, and lacking in terrain improvements in comparison - does the AI get a free worker on Emperor?
I have to say, I'm a bit surprised by this result. This looks damn good for the future, and there's still lots of land to settle.

Here's the next in DAR3.
DAR4.
DAR5
DAR6
DAR7

[Dubhghlas]

Thanks, DeepO!

I love Boston in the last post. Boston, land of the REALLY baked bean (from sitting out in the desert sun!!).