AU 100-A DAR 3: The Classical Era

[nbarclay]

This DAR covers events in AU 100-A as players play through the Classical Era, ending when players enter the medieval era. As examples of things that could be interesting to include, consider the following questions. What research and technology trading strategies have you been following? How much have you decided to expand, and do you plan to expand farther? What wonders have you built, or tried to build but been beaten to by another civ? How are your relationships with other civilizations going, and have you fought any wars yet? (And if you have, what happened in them?) Did anything else interesting happen? And did you learn anything of significance, or have anything happen that reinforced a lesson you'd already learned?

[nbarclay]

Prince Difficulty, 450 AD

After having traded for Pottery, America shifted some of its attention from expansion to building cottages for gold – especially in Philadelphia, a flood plains city northwest of Washington. On flood plains, even a cottage was enough for America’s Financial bonus to kick in. Later, the city of Washington traded its irrigation for cottages as well.

After researching Alphabet, Lord Nathan’s researchers went on to research Drama, mostly for trading potential but also for the potential to use the culture slider. Next, they went back to pick up Metal Casting in order to build Forges. Boston built the Great Lighthouse, providing additional trade routes for coastal cities and making a large empire a bit more practical than it would have been otherwise (especially as long as the extra cities are coastal). With Metal Casting completed, America turned its efforts to Philosophy and the discovery of Taoism, which was completed in 450 AD. With that discovery, America entered the medieval era. Tech trades have resulted in acquiring Calendar, Mathematics, Iron Working, and Priesthood. America has a slight overall lead in tech values, but some of the AIs have techs that America doesn’t (and are not currently willing to trade them).

Expansion of the American nation continued through the Classical Era, but more sporadically and at a slower pace than before. In the year 450 AD, America settled its thirteenth city. The empire’s size makes it extremely expensive to operate, running at –1 gold per turn at 60% science. But with a GNP almost three times that of the average AI, and with hair over twice as many cities as the nearest known rival, America can afford it, and getting the extra cities started now will make them more valuable later on.

The biggest drawback to my strategy thus far is that I’ve been leaving myself pretty wide open militarily. I have warriors in all my cities to keep them from being unhappy over not having any protection, but the most I’ve ever had in more modern units was two swordsmen and an archer, and one of the swordsmen has since been killed by an axe-wielding barbarian. If one of the AIs decides to get aggressive before I get around to reinforcing my borders, I could find myself in very big trouble.

In regard to my relations with the AIs, the one thing I truly hate about Civ IV is how demanding the AIs are. It’s just plain insane that I spend huge amounts of gold researching state-of-the-art technologies, and then AIs get irritated with me if I’m not willing to hand over the fruits of my enormous investment for free. It’s also highly irritating to be bombarded with demands from AIs to cancel deals with other AIs. I don’t expect to be able to be everyone’s best friend at once, but neither do I like being penalized for trying to remain neutral in regard to the AIs’ mutual dislikes of each other – especially when the AIs aren’t actually at war with each other.

Right now my relations are at a net +1 with the Mongols and Germans, -1 with Egypt, -3 with Spain, and –4 with the Arabs. I have open borders with the first three, but not with the last two.

I’ve had a couple interesting adventures thus far. One came just before I finished researching Drama when a barbarian snuck up from the South and pillaged my only fur camp before I could get any units into position to do anything about it. That caused some anger in at least two of my cities (including the capital) until I finished researching Drama and used the culture slider to quell it. (Getting a new camp built took a bit longer.)

The other adventure came when the Mongols snuck in a city directly adjacent to one of my cities to claim some ivory that was supposed to be mine. For the time being, I managed to snatch away one of the ivories by using chops to help build a quick library and theater in my city and intrude culturally into the Mongol city’s first ring, but I don’t know how long the situation will last.

I’ve also noticed that the resource situation in this game is a bit better than I realized when I set it up. I knew about some of it from deliberately looking in the World Builder to make sure there was at least one early-game happiness resource within a reasonable distance, but I hadn’t realized quite how many resources the human player has within reach – at least insofar as the resources revealed thus far are concerned. Now that I have Calendar and am about to research Monarchy (both of which give me access to previously unusable resources), I should be in pretty good shape to let my cities grow a bit larger.

Egypt is in the lead in the wonder race with four wonders, while Spain, the Mongols, and I each have one. Thus far, I’ve been too busy doing other things to spend much time on wonders, but that’s likely to change in the near future.

I’m not sure what I’ll research next after I get Monarchy. I think I’ll wait and see if anything happens in the next couple turns to help me make up my mind.

[teriakiburger]

Monarch Difficulty 1280BC

With confucianism now founded as state religon after 1 turn of anarchy, my free missonary heads to Washington to spread the faith there.

I would usually pursue more rapid growth, but then again I usually play with 18 civs no matter what the map, so I got plenty of time still to expand.

In 1280 BC my stone quarry is done which will help with the pyramid gamble.

I am refusing the requests for open borders, no sense in now getting them, I am not ready to explore further out yet.

In 1200BC the rednecks rejoice as hunting is researched, but decide to get the wheel, as I see the stone is not being used by New York without a road


Also founded 3rd city of Boston in 1200BC with the wheat, cows, and ivory on the river to the east of Washington and start work on a worker.

With a warrior for exploring completed, Washington turns inwards and a decision to constuct a library is made.

With Washington size 6 at the max happiness, an egghead is taken out of the fields to help research as the Chaste System is adopted

With -4 gold with just 3 cities at 100% reseach, the thought of more cities makes the grand bean counter head explode.

In 1000 BC, the pointy arrow research is continued at redneck request.

975 BC warrior out on patrol in a forest barely defends against a barbarian warrior, a true tool.

900BC we now have archery, fear the bowmen :cough: cough:
Playing with clay (Pottery) is next, as Boston completes a worker, our first archer is ordered to be trained for defense.

In 850 BC joy of joys, Isabella settles Cordoba just to the NW of Boston, I guess she just loves super close borders.

Finally in 825BC road to the stone quarry is complete, and in 800 BC pottery is completed.

Decide to go for Alphabet to gage how my rivals are doing (normally plan with tech trading off, but let's see if I can tech whore)

First archer is completed in Boston by selective lumbering and a settler started.

Gods have blessed us in 775BC with a Merit Ptah, who prompty founds his academy in the capital.

In 725BC the capital is under barbarian assault, with a farm pillaged.

In 675BC the barbarians learn the hard way of 60% cultural boni, crashing harmlessly on the gates. An archer is stationed in the capital to harass any further attempts from the west.

A settler is sent out to settle the 4th city to block the mongolians to the north for strategic purposes, like Boston did for Isabella.

It seems the barbarians have set up a city just to the north of my capital, I must give my regards to them soon.

In 525BC, the library is completed in the capital, so to bolster our poor defenses an archer is ordered up.

Philadelphia, our 4th city is founded in 525BC bringing expenses to -8 turn, which will run out our gold reserves in 7 turns, so research is reduced to 90% at -3 turn.

And the gamble pays off as in 500BC I got the pyramids in New York, these American dunderheads did a good job

A worker is ordered next for New York, and I connect the capital to the ivory in Boston.

Of course, revolution is in order for the power of representation.

In 450BC our pinheads finish the study of alphabet. But no one wants a reasonable trade, and already I am the worst enemy of both Isabella and Hatschepsut without doing anything


---to be continued---

[Fireb]

Emperor - 625 to 125 BC (theology)

Goal recap Diplo victory, spam judaism, cottages and cities.



625 BC - Horses appear next to New York. With 3 wineries nearby, a cow to the north, and floodplains to the south, the city stands to become a drunken cesspool of pox-ridden cowboys.

An egyptian stack of 2 axmen and a spearman appears next to philadelphia! They're peaceful, but for how long? Where are those missionaries, I need to convert her to the only true and acceptable faith - fast!

550 BC Washington is attacked again. Barb archer appears close to washington. My archer is promoted to city garison 1. Genghis discovers (and converts to) confucianism! My worst fears have come true, now he'll hate me and probably attack me. Argh!

500 BC Genghis demands I cancel all deals (open borders and wheet for fish) with hatty. I refuse. Diplomacy now stands at -1 with Genghis.

475 BC Both Genghis and Isabella cancel open border agreements with me! Trouble is brewing, I can feel it. Barracks are started across the empire.

400 BC Another barb city is found, this time in the west. Just what I need, barbs to the south and west, an irritated isabella to the east, and an irritated genghis to the north...The situation is becoming dire.

375 BC Hatty converts to Judaism. Celebrations are held throughout the empire. In the long term, this is good, in the short term, it doesn't help against the barbs, or the mongols, or the spanish...I decide to trade alphabet for ironworking with saladin, as I'll want to take down those barb cities as soon as the barracks are completed. 2 iron tiles are within working range of my cities. Another relief.

250 BC The previous turn finishes. The next turn loads. The messages appear. Wow! Chistianity is founded, but not by me

And then...all hell breaks loose, the sound of war is made! My worst fears have materialised! Who has attacked me, Isabella or Genghis?

I read the message. I read it again. I can't believe it. Genghis has declared war on isabella!!! Wow! What an amazing piece of luck, particularly as I still have nothing but warriors and archers, and last in millitary power.

Current scores are:
584: Hatty
463: Me
452: Genghis
405: Saladin
343: Isabella

275 BC
Genghis asks me to declare war on isabella. Maybe I should have accepted, as I'm protected by genghis. However, I refuse. I don't want war weariness at this stage.

225 and 200 BC
Washington attacked by barb warriors in both turns. My victorious archer is promoted to city garison 2. 5 barbs killed defending my capital! This is unprecedented. 2 barracks are completed in 200 bc, and swordsmen started, I need to eliminate those barbs, fast!

175 BC
Hatty's axmen burn down the barb city in the east. Thanks hatty, that really helps.

125 BC
Theology is researched. All I can trade it for is sailing. I don't bother. Saladin has converted to confucianism. That's not good, he'll be able to go through genghis' lands to attack me, while I still don't know where he is. Meanwhile, a barb axman appears close to washington! Now things are really heating up. My archer should hold out, but it bodes ill for the future.

Overall I'm first in land area and GNP, but 7th in pop! The extra unhealthiness/unhappiness for this difficulty level really shows. I need more settlers and cottages, just as soon as I can eliminate those barbs. I also need a great prohpet, fast, and I still have no wonders or specialists.

[teriakiburger]

Monarch Difficulty

So far things are going well, Stonehenge, Pyramids, Oracle, and Confucianism founded, an academy in the captial are done, however negative points are the slower expansion with 4 cities in 425BC, and a poor military.

The lazy workers are ordered to be prompter to hook up the resources to our cities, and archers are being trained.

Polytheism we complete in 375BC, and our worker brings the bacon into town, and another chaffs the corn.

We decide to research sailing next, maybe we can get the Great Lighthouse, even though we just have 1 coastal town.

The hounarable venerable Bede ranks us #1 in size, with Hashepsut at #2, Genghis at #3, Saladin at #4 at Isabella at #5 and then the 2 loser unknowns.

Another archer is ordered for New York so we don't look so weak militarily, and another archer for Boston.

In 325BC we decide cottage cheese hamlets are needed for our growing population, and it is so.

300BC our archer in Boston defends against the barbarian invader, and the yacht club is founded with sailing.

Next the court poet secretly orders for literature to be researched to the chagrin of all.

The archer that Washington made is sent to our northmost city Philadelphia, next to our Mongol friends.

In 275BC, a lighthouse is started in New York, and we decide to trade with Saladin for iron working giving him alphabet, maybe not so wise, but it was done in a fever. Luckily the iron is closer at hand to us.

In 225BC, bad news as the Parthenon is built far far away in Thebes.

In 200BC we launch the bid to get the Great Lighthouse in New York, and Boston begins work on a settler.

In 150BC we get the book worm with literature, and decide to go for metal casting next, and we start the Great Library in the capital.

A worker has been trained in Philadelphia, so an order is made for a settler.

Curses foiled at the great lighthouse is completed by Saladin



And we drop research down to 80% as we are broke, but get 46 gold next turn from the failed parts of the lighthouse. Instead, New York starts to crank out swordsman to take the barbarian city.

Taking stock at 1AD, we are #3 in gold, #4 in Mfg goods, #2 in crop yield, #7 in military, #1 in land area, and #3 in population.

A settler is on the way to settle our 5th city, and forces are being drawn up to take the barbarian city of Hsung-Nu.

I decide to give iron for free to Genghis Khan, keep him happy while I finish expanding.

Good news as Confucianism spreads the first time to Baghdad, and Saladin adopts Confucianism.

We reject Isabella demanding next in 75AD for alphabet, and start on a barracks for Boston, it seems to be a good military base, plus close to those annoying Spainiards.

100AD and the capital is 20 turns from the Great Library, cracks the whip.

In 150AD we decide to research horseback riding now that the forges can be made.

In 225 AD Bismark declares war on the Khan, good news indeed. That nasty Khan, who knows what he is thinking founds New Seari just south of Boston! I see he snuck through a mountain pass I missed..

In 250AD the barbarian city is captured, but I decide to burn it, as I place Chicago just to the SW of the ruins for a better location.

Taking stock at 250AD, I am now #1 in population, and moved up to #3 in mfg goods, gold has dropped to #5 though, not good at all, and military is still last

We trade Bismark Alphabet for Mathematics, he gets a better deal but that is the way it goes.

Isabella also declares war on the Khan, good good, I dont need a war now, a few more cities to fill up first.

Since horseback riding completes in 300AD we go for currency next for more trade route action.

In 400AD, we decide to stop giving Genghis Khan Iron as everyone hates him and cancel all deals with him at Hatshepsut request.

Meanwhile, our crack swordsman and axeman force prepare to raid the 2nd barbarian city of Ligurian by the clams already size 6

We start the collosus in 425 AD , just 10 turns away since we have copper too hooked up.

Our settler for our 7th city is ready in Boston, so next up is a forge to help military productions.

Ligurian falls to our forces, but a swordsman is lost to a defending warrior.

Imhotep is born in 450AD in New York, I will keep him on ice for now. Christanity is founded somewhere else.

The census at 500AD, shows I have 7 cities now, military has moved up to #6 and mfg goods moved up to #2, still leading in score.

We decide to pursue music next for the great artist, and notre dame wonder.

In 560AD at last the Great Library is established in our capital.

In 600AD made a trade with Bismark of Currency for Construction.

640 AD sees the Colossus completed in New York.

680 AD I enter the Medieval era! with Music. Giving me a great artist Ling Lun, and my capital chruns out another Great Scientist Nabu-rinmai

Taking the census at 680 AD, I now have 8 cities, am #1 in GNP, Mfg Goods, Crop Yield and Land Area. #6 still in military strength and have dropped to #2 in population.

As for Wonders: Stonehenge, Oracle, Pyramids, Great Library and Collosus. And leading in score at 1010 points.

Luckily have avoided any wars so far, and I plan to place 4 more cities around the empire to better use the land.

I still havent got a great prophet yet though which is hurting religion spread.

[Aeson]

Deity Level

I entered the Classical Era on a (mostly) beeline to Code of Laws in 1440BC. I researched Mining real quick after CoL, needing to mine the Gold for Happiness, then went with Alphabet. In 1080BC I finished the Oracle and took Civil Service, which was 35 turns of research at the time. Technically that was the end of the Classical Era... but all the rest of what has happened so far has been Classical Era stuff.

Waited a while to get some Chariots and Settlers out before switching to Caste System and Bureaucracy. Still didn't switch to Confucianism because I didn't want to take the attitude hits with those who had religions yet.

After Alphabet I started in on Drama and trading techs around. First trade was Meditation and Priesthood to Saladin for Sailing. Then Writing and Pottery to Isabella for Polytheism and Hunting. A turn later, Polytheism and Meditation to Genghis for Archery and Masonry. Pottery and Meditation to Bismark for Bronze Working. This left me with monopolies on Alphabet and Code of Laws, with the only techs I didn't have that an AI did being Iron Working and Mathematics.

Sent a couple Missionaries to the Mongols, and got them to switch from Polytheism to Confucianism. Confucianism also spread passively to Hatshepsut, who adopted it as her state religion. She still won't talk to me though! I think there must be some sort of bug... it's been 30+ turns and she still won't talk.

I was escorting the Missionaries with Chariots, and was going to keep sending them out, but on their way back the Chariots spotted a stack of Arabian troops heading towards me through Mongol territory. There was a Spear, 3 Chariots, 2 Swords, and 2 Axes in the lead group. All I had at the time were Chariots and Warriors. I had Horses, could build Archers if it came to that, but had no Copper, so traded Code of Laws to Isabella for Iron Working. I had 2 sources of Iron, and another I could have grabbed if necessary, but one was way out of the way and the easy one to hook up was the right in the way of the invasion. I tasked all my Workers to mine and road it, while building a few more Warriors and turning research down to 0%. I traded Code of Laws to Genghis for Mathematics, and then convinced Bismark (who I also saw sending some units my way) to attack Saladin for Code of Laws. I also finally switched my state religion to Confucianism so I could send most of my Warrior garrisons to the front.

I threw the first Axe in the way of their stack, on a Forest tile. It killed one Axe, injured the other, and a Chariot on the Forest held the. 3 of Saladins units (Sword, Spear, Chariot) went on instead of attacking the Chariot, while 1 stayed back with the injured, and 2 more caught up. The next turn Saladin sent an Axe and Chariot right at my Iron. I attacked with 3 Chariots, withdrawing from the first fight vs the Axe, winning the second fight vs the Axe, and losing to the Chariot. That left the Chariot at .2str, which I finished off with a Warrior. The Warrior was then killed the next turn by an Axe.

By this point, Saladin turned his units around. I had seen a few other units coming through the Mongol cities I had converted, and they turned around too. I killed another Axe, Spear, and Chariot as they were withdrawing. Then I switched back to research, finishing Drama, then going for Currency.

All the while I could see Genghis was building up units. He likes me though I guess, cause he attacked Isabella with them. I'm doing ok economically, but the war with Saladin really set me back. Still only have 4 cities, and just now starting to address the happiness concerns so my cities can grow. Drama really helps. Still have monopoly on the continent with Alphabet and Civil Service. A couple AI don't have Code of Laws yet, and Hatshepsut is positively backwards, 5 techs behind and still not willing to talk in 300BC.

I'm second in GNP, a bit above average in MFG, average in everything else except soldiers, where I'm 7th. Middle of the pack score wise.

[Cort Haus]

Prince Level

DAR 1 - Opening
DAR 2 - Rest of Ancient Era
DAR 4 - Medieval Era
DAR 5 - Renaissance Era
DAR 6 - Industrial Era
DAR 7 - Modern Era



Although Civil Service is a Medieval era tech, I'll wait until discovering another one before considering my game post-Classical, especially when the first thing I do is research Masonry.

With the Oracle done, and stone only a few turns away, the prospect of Stonehenge and/or Pyramids beckons. The Henge will only take 7 turns, even before stone, but Pyramids will really hit my expansion, and with so much good land around I'd rather take the cities than the civics. Especially as I suck royally at using civics and never get round to changing like I should, or knowing what would work best for my situation, or even remembering to use them properly once I've switched and am paying extra upkeep.

I can use Bureacracy though, because all I have to do is press 'Revolt' and it works Thanks to that Civic I'm up to 2nd in GNP & Mfg. Just that 7th in miltary and 5th in pop to work on next.

Sometimes after the CS beeline I do alphabet to backfill by trade, but I don't want to wait at least ten turns to find out they won't trade me Archery anyway, or that it will cost me Code of Laws, so after Masonry I pick up Hunting & Archery in a couple of turns each before starting on Alphabet. Need archers NOW! Sooner than now, in fact, as a marauding barb has pillaged a mine. Luckily the Henge is done in two turns, and doesn't need it. I get a warrior on the adjacent mine to the barb, and he manages to defend in one piece. Stonehenge completes (that'll double the speed of the Great Prophet while helping newbie cities in my Secular Confucian state, and I don't want to build a temple and draft a Priest in to speed it up).

That reminds me, I didn't switch to Conficianism. My initial thought on seeing Isabella close by was to wait and maybe convert to her religion - the only way to get on with her, it seems (unless you are Bismark in this game - I think they've got a thing going between them, despite religious and border disagreements). Until I've got at least an average military, with the barracks/hammer capacity to quickly raise more units, I want to keep the diplometer in the green.

I mentioned a pillaged mine - before a worker could get there to repair it, a forest grew on the spot! Woot!! Thank-you, that barbarian, sir! A sweet reward for my non-deforestation policy.



I'm leaving the grassland undeveloped as long as possible to maximise the chances of forests growing there in the meantime.

In this era, from 900 BC onwards Washington was recieving constant barb warrior visits from all sides. The Archers now being pumped out of New York started taking up positions around the besieged capital, fortifying on hills and pushing back the FoW while waiting for settlers from the capital, which are spitting out every 5-6 turns.

On discovering Alphabet in 600 BC it takes a few turns for things to shake out on the tech deals. Some civs apparantly are not missing anything that I have until the following turn, when they're 4 techs behind. I know it sometimes takes a turn for next level techs to be revealed, but sometimes stuff gets hidden when it shouldn't, I suspect. Whatever - I manage to get Pottery and Monotheism for something worth about 150% of their value, but with no diplo plusses on the 'fair deals' ledger. Some have Iron Working to trade, and for that I'll research Mathematics, which IIRC is cheaper than Code-of Laws. I also eventually manage to get Sailing from tech trade. No-one has alphabet of Code of Laws, and some didn't even have Myticism. I gave a few early religious techs away, but no-one gave me any diplo credit for it. Ungrateful scum! Hattie and Bismark are both pleased with me, though. The others are cautious.

As I usually find, the moment I start having anything resembling a minimally-respectable military (capable of little more than a modest defence against barbarian warriors), support costs start to bite and drive down research. If anyone can point me to the part of the documentation that explains support costs (however much I look at the mouseover on the F2 screen, it makes no sense at all) I would appreciate it. Meanwhile, I just have to groan at my ignorance every time I delete a weaker unit to try and reduce costs, and the mysterious 'Handicap Cost' changes and I make no saving. Other times I build a unit, and support costs appear to go up by two. I almost find myself cheering the loss of an archer to a barb warrior because it'll speed up my research!

Meanwhile, after founding Boston in 625BC (on the Ivory site indicated in 3800 BC), Spain's borders are close enough to mine for my Confucian Missionary-Explorer to hop over the border and take a look round. The Gemans are the other side, and although they've already converted to Hindiusm (joining Hattie & Saladin), there may be some religion-free cities on a river to plant my Mish - which I eventually do in Berlin.

My religious policy is almost non-existant atm, except the slow +4 GPP from the Oracle & Henge working up to a Prophet and Shrine. Meanwhile my small civ is totally focused on defence & expansion, so can't start spreading the Word which is not even a state religion at home.

In 425 BC Philadephia (city #4) is planted, and the next turn Mathematics is completed, and Literature ordered. Hattie completes the Parthenon.



I'm up to 5th in military, just below the average number, but still 7th in pop, 6th in food but I trade Maths for Iron Working in 400BC and I'm now first in score. There's plenty of Iron about, which makes up for the lack of Bronze. I also get Sailing from a trade, and start researching Compass. Harbors won't give me any sea-food health but if I'm planning some coastal commerce.

In 350 BC a report puts me 5th in Power, but importantly ahead of Genghis & Izzie. My pals Egypt and Germany are in the top three. Genghis builds the Pyramids and sets up a Police State. It certainly cost him a lot if land - he's choked on all sides by Egypt, Arabia, Spain & Germany. Spain's not faring much better though, in all that jungle. Maybe those two are not so scary in the medium term. Next turn Genghis converts to Buddism - so there's Buddhist block of Spain & Mongolia, and a Hindu Block of Egypt, Germany & Arabia, with a Secular Confucian America on good terms with 2 of the Hindu block. Maybe I don't want to convert to Izzie's creed after all.

Atlanta is the 5th city - this one is on the Wines/Horses site north of the capital, and research is at 80%. Unit support seems more of an issue than maintenance at this point.



Compass is researched, and Monarchy chosen, and synchronistically, someone builds the Great Lighthouse in 50BC,
Military at this point is 4 Workers, 8 Archers, 1 Axeman, 7 Warriors and a Galley.

Chicago was founded in 25AD between the floodplains and the gold NW of the capital. Wiser folk than me have probably been poprushing from here all game, but I intend to set up a Great Person city here and finally use my Caste System which has been sitting around gathering dust (except for artist-driven border expansions) and draining income while my cap pushes settlers out. The foul Mongols have planted a city between Boston and Atlanta, though, so the artists come in handy again to put the squeeze on the evil city. Boston completes a harbor and starts on a temple to help the culture war, but to my disappointment the harbor does nothing. Not even a single gold. It was 2g before, and 2g after. Hmm, maybe after some growth upwards from its size 4.

Monarchy comes in 125AD, and Currency is started. Size 5 Boston finally manages to get another gold from its harbored-up trade route

350 Ad and it's Courthouse time across the empire as the increasing number of cities nudges up the maintenance. At this Organised price, Courthouses would have been better built before Harbours, as they have more impact. In other games, though, harbours have rocketed commerce in the cities that built them. Finally, that other income-generator the Great Prophet emerges blinking into the sunshine, and takes his Sacred Journey to New York to build the shrine. My main unit-pump is also my Holy City, but that can't be helped in a strat like this. Other cities can soon help with units, as the shrine city will want a marketplace.

Next tech is Literature for the Great Library. Meanwhile, the barbs have a city in the tundra - not quite where I wanted to build, but not a bad site, and I start diverting the Axemen from Mongol-watch down to take the barb city - which I foolishly though was full of warriors but when I arrive it's full of archers. No matter - City Raider gives the required odds (phew, no culture) and I get that city, losing one axeman. It also means I can disband some of the warriors I had picketed down their - costing double in support as they were 'away from home' whilst on-guard.

Music's siren call tempts me with the prospect of a Great Work down there in the tundra. Otherwise the AI will fill every last useless nook & cranny and generally be a nuisance. Astonishingly though, it seems that the English - wherever they are - have already got it, as no-one round here has Music and there was not Great Artist for me. With the second Medieval tech discovered, I set the controls for Metal Casting, and declare the Classical Era over.

8 Cities, 2 more on their way.

1st in GNP
1st in Mfg
2nd in Food
4th in Mil
1st in Land
3rd in Pop

1st in points - 1045 against Hattie's 832. The other four are in the 600's.

[chriseay]

warlord difficulty

DAR 1: 4000 BC - 1520 BC
DAR 2: 1480 BC - Beginning of Classical Era
DAR 3: Classical Era
DAR 4: Medieval Era
DAR 5: Renaissance Era
DAR 6: Industrial Era
DAR 7: Modern Era

Everything looks ok. I feel like I am playing on too easy of a level, and I now wish I would have started this game at noble. I had reservations, but the mechanics of reporting on the game in this manner have made me think much more about each move, so I am doing much better than I have in other games. I will move up levels in the next game that I play.

425 BC: New York finishes the Oracle, and I take Mathematics as my free tech. I'll need it to get Construction and Calendar. Plus, I want to stop taking techs so far in the tree with the Oracle, because when I move up in levels, getting the Oracle will be that much harder.

400 BC: I finish Monarchy and start on Calendar.

350 BC: I finish the Pyramids in New York. I will now switch to representation.

175 BC: Finish Calendar, start Metal Casting. Forges will help with production, as I have been emphasizing growth everywhere.

50 BC: I found Seattle far to the north, bordering on both the Mongols and the Egyptians. I hope that I can solidify the area in between it and the rest of my empire, otherwise it will become isolated and ripe for conquest.

25 AD: I build San Francisco between the river and the mountain range on the northern frontier

75 AD: I start work on Compass, for harbors, and will start forges in most cities now that I have them. I also am building up militarily a little, as I have two barbarian cities to take care of, and I do not want to spread myself too thin through the somewhat rapid expansion I am doing.

100 AD: New York finishes the Great Lighthouse. The extra trade routes will help my expansion, since most of my new cities will be coastal.

200 AD: Build Los Angeles on the north coast by clams and corn. This will hem in a Mongol settlement, as they have taken one of the barbarian cities. I hope this will not start a war, but yet another reason to continue to build up my military.

250 AD: I start Houston on the southwestern coast, near the whales after destroying the barbarian city. I plan on one or two more cities at the least in this area, with many good resources available.

300 AD: I finish Code of Laws, but do not found Confucianism. I start research on Literature, because I'd like to get the Great Library.

350 AD: I get Imhotep in Washington, and use him to build the Great Library there. This will add to the Great Person potential of Washington, as well as my scientific progress.

450 AD: I start the Colossus in New York, which will take only 6 turns. I just hooked up copper, and finished a forge. I am looking for the boost to my commerce.

500 AD: I finish Music, and move into the medieval era. I am the first to research this tech, so I also receive a free great artist. I will use it to push my borders on the Mongols and the Egyptians at Seattle, where I am in desperate need of a border boost. I start research on Currency. I'll play the next three turns for this DAR to use my great artist in Seattle.

560 AD: The culture bomb in Seattle works wonders, giving me control of the whole city radius, plus completely enclosing a Mongol city in my borders.

I am first in every F9 category except for trade, and far ahead in pop, prod, food and gnp. If people are bored with how well I am doing, I am willing to sit out the rest of this game and start the next a level up. As I've noted before, I am amazed how effective pop rushing can be in a game with enough happiness resources and food. It can really make up for a lack of shields.

[Taian]

DAR 3: Classical Age - Monarch Difficulty

Monarch Difficulty

This DAR is actually my second DAR, but since I entered the classical age within the constraints of the time period covered by the first DAR, I'm sort of skipping the DAR2 category and heading straight into the DAR3 period.

DAR3: Classical Age (1520BC - 50AD)

During this period, the American empire began to spread its wings and blossom into the most technologically advanced civilization on their continent.


1480BC - Animal Husbandry. I decided to go for Currency after AH to get the +1 trade route bonus and also to give my cities the chance to build markets. Coupled with the rapidly growing cottages/hamlets/etc they should produce a relatively robust economy early to help fuel further expansion.

1200BC - Saladin converts to Buddhism

950BC - Currency. Now it's time to go after Calendar and get those luxuries hooked up.

875BC - Sailing. Next stop Calendar. Isabella adopts slavery.

850BC - Hatty adopts slavery and Stonehenge is constructed somewhere.

800BC - The Oracle is constructed somewhere.

600BC - Calendar. Time to re-route those workers into linking up the spices and silk.

500BC - Pyramids built somewhere.

475BC - Genghis adopts Police State. Guess I know who built those Pyramids now...

450BC - Code of Laws. Confucianism founded in New York. This was the turn where the early gamble to go
for growth and forego the early religions had it's final hole closed; I managed to found one of the religions. Revolution is started to adopt Confucianism as the state religion. I want to get the happiness bonus moving in the cities asap even though I know this could (will) spark tensions with the rest of the civs on the continent.

425BC - Confuciansim adopted as state religion.

400BC - Capture Gepid from the barbarians. The placement was good enough that I decided to keep it rather than razing. It helps provide a bit of a guard against further Spanish expansion and also, once it has
expanded, will hopefully net me one of those ivory resources. I also used the missionary from Confucianism to spread it into Washington on this turn, giving it the happiness benefit.

325BC - Capture Bulgar from the Barbarians. Again, the placement wasn't too bad so I kept this one as well. It should have access to 4 fur resources and the sheep as well once the borders expand.

300BC - Alphabet. This is where the fun starts. Time to start trading to backfill the techs that I bypassed on the way up. First off, sent Currency over to Bismarck in exchange for Mysticism, Masonry, Iron Working, Hunting and 60 gold.

275BC - Second round of trading takes place and I send Iron Working over to Egypt in exchange for Meditation, Archery and 60 gold.

There were a few other trades in the ensuing turns, but nothing too big. I forgot to keep track of them so
they're not listed but I was able to backfill virtually everything I had previously bypassed....worked out quite nicely I think.
Also in 275BC, both Genghis and Bismarck adopted Buddhism as their religions. This isn't shaping up too
nice. There are now 3 different state religions on the continent: Isabella has hinduism, I have confucianism and everyone else has buddhism; I can already sense the upcoming conflicts...

225BC - Confucianism spreads to Atlanta. Egypt adopts Hereditary Rule.

175BC - Drama.

75BC - Confucianism spreads to Seattle.

1AD - Hinduism spreads into Gepid. I was expecting this to happen sooner or later given its proximity to
Spanish cities...

50AD - Philosophy. Taoism founded in Boston. Thus ends the Classical age...

I'm currently researching at an 80% rate and losing about 3 gold per turn. Not too worried though since I
have 234 in the treasury. I'm 9 turns away from Civil Service and at the moment, I'm thinking my next line
of techs will go something like:

Civil Service
Music
Paper
Education
Gunpowder
Nationhood
Horseback Riding (if not traded for already)
Liberalism (and take Military Tradition as the free tech)

I haven't thought it out all that far though so that's subject to change. If I do pursue it though, the idea would be to get to Cavalry and start...umm...converting/pacifying...the continent


Polytheism (All others), Horseback Riding (Bismarck) and Monarchy (Hatty) are the only techs that the AI
has and I don't as far as I know. I have Meditation, Priesthood (Germans have neither), Code of Laws,
Alphabet, Mathematics, Currency and all the techs above those as monopolies over the civs I have contact with. Things are going well on the research front...


Significant Events:
525BC - Americans reach the 500,000 population mark
300BC - Alphabet completed, now allowing tech trading.
50AD - Classical age ends. Americans reach the 1,000,000 population mark

Demographics:
1st in Crop Yield, Land Area, Population, GNP and Production
5th in Soldiers
3rd in Approval Rating
7th in Life Expectancy
6th in Imports/Exports

Cities:
Washington
New York
Boston
Philadelphia - 1480BC
Atlanta - 1120BC
Chicago - 850BC
Gepid - Captured from barbarians in 400BC
Bulgar - Captured from barbarians in 325BC
Seattle - 100BC

Infrastructure:
5 Libraries - Washington, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Gepid
2 Markets - Washington, New York
2 Courthouses - New York, Boston
1 Lighthouse - Boston

At one point, I was (and I guess still am) building libraries to push the cultural borders since most of my
cities weren't generating any culture. That's the reason that Gepid has a library already. I'm hoping to push out the borders and snag an ivory with it.

Units:
5 Workers
1 Taoist Missionary
11 Warriors
1 Archer
6 Chariots


Technologies:
Hunting
Sailing
Animal Husbandry
Archery
Mysticism
Meditation
Masonry
Priesthood
Iron Working
Alphabet
Calendar
Drama
Currency
Code of Laws
Philosopy
Currently 9 turns away from Civil Service

And, from last DAR:
Mining
Fishing
The Wheel
Agriculture
Pottery
Bronze Working
Writing
Mathematics

[Bobtoad]

Noble Difficulty

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

Summary...
The Classical Era was a time I sought to bring balance to my empire. The two big areas I felt it lacked in were military and number of cities. So my technological path through this time was directed at these. In further exploration though, I found myself more boxed in than I had expected. Spain is immediately East of Washington (hence why it's still black on my map and hardly anyone else's). The Mongols are very near north. At least West and South are safe for expansion though, right? Hah. I soon found barbarian cities in both locations. But this is okay. I'm going for military anyway this era, so instead of building new cities I'll capture the two barbarian ones.

Since I'm looking to capture a couple cities instead of building settlers, this led my technological path to include things that would stabilize my existing cities (whether it's units, buildings, or research, they need to have something to build). Mathematics (after Masonry) gave me some needed health with Aqueducts. Monarchy was put to good use in two cities and added happiness (and civics, but I'll get to that). Metal Casting helped my food/commerce rich locations to get a little more productivity with the forges - making the health of aqueducts and granaries that much more important to offset the forges. And Alphabet allowed me to explore trading options though the AI was most cheap.

Making use of George's Organized trait I implemented a few civic changes noted in the chronology. I also only conducted one trade after researching Alphabet, which is also listed below. With Hatshepsut being my chief rival in points, the Aggressive Genghis Khan my close neighbor, and their lack of interest in each other, I had to make a choice. I think I feel safer with the Mongols at my side. If, and deep inside I still find it a large if, but if I can keep the Mongols as a friend their military prowess could come in handy against the point racking Egyptians.

Chronology...
850 BC - Barbarian warriors ascend upon Washington
775 BC - Isabella cancels open borders. This is when I realized I should have explored and expanded East sooner.
750 BC - Iron is found near Washington!
400 BC - Adopted Hereditary Rule and Caste System. We're Organized, so why not?
350 BC - Gibbon ranks The Most Advanced Civilizations. I rate 1st.
175 BC - Mongols declare war on Arabia. Better them than me!
50 AD - I reach 1/2 a million souls in the American Empire.
200 AD - First Great Scientist is born. He constructs an academy in Washington. Christianity is founded elsewhere.
375 AD - I trade Metal Casting for Calendar and 70 gold from the Mongols. Maybe not the best deal, but I didn't find it to be the worst either. I was just surprised Genghis didn't demand the technology without offering anything haha. I also discovered Civil Service and entered the Medieval Period.
425 AD - Took the time to adopt Bureaucracy. Also captured Cherokee from the barbarians. Should join my empire soon.

Information Rankings at 425 AD...
Gold - 1st
Prod - 2nd
Food - 2nd
Soldiers - 7th
Land - 1st
Population - 2nd
Imports/Exports - 3rd

Points at 425 AD...
683 - Me
680 - Hatshepsut
528 - Genghis
and it goes down from there...

Cool Link: Gibbon ranks The Most Advanced Civilizations in 350 BC

Thoughts: I might not have captured Cherokee until the end of the age and am still in the process of assaulting Bulgar, but I don't feel too bad about my pursuit of expansion. My boundaries have blocked off the land, and a quick city or two will fill in things nicely. What time I didn't spend building swordsmen/archers I spent improving my cities. Each of the core cities contains a number of improvements. And even though the rankings still list me last in soldiers, I feel my goal of improving the military was succesful as I built enough advanced units (for the time) to feel safe(er). Hatshepsut led me in points throughout the era. It wasn't until the last turn or two of the Classical Age that I [barely] moved back into first. Improved world rankings and a feeling of satisfaction for balancing my empire lead me to believe that my strategy worked for this stage. Perhaps the next era will teach me otherwise though.

As you can see I'm researching Paper. All this time we've been writing, but on what? From there I'm aiming to go for Education and Liberalism to promote my science advantage.

And I'd also like to note that I still haven't discovered Monotheism. This prohibits me from utilizing the Organized Religion civic. I didn't think much of it before, but looking back now I could've really used the extra production. I mean I even went a bit out of my way for forges, which is a more expensive technology and requires the buildings. And with Washington being Organized, aren't high priced civics supposed to be his thing? Oops. And as I noted in my first DAR, though I realized it after this era, Slavery could have been extremely useful with all the food in my empire. Of course the time and money I didn't use towards these were placed elsewhere, in retrospect though I wonder how much I could've benefitted from them in this game.

[DeepO]

Monarch difficulty, game 32

DAR 1
DAR 2

Last time, we left the DAR in 1120 BC, with 2 cities and the Oracle about to complete in 3 turns.

CS beeline ending

This same turn, I spot a settler party from Isabella. I hesitated... if that would have been an archer instead of a warrior scouting, I would have attacked. Now, the risk was simply too big. I wasn't expecting Isabella to have build up a lot of units, so I'd probably be able to go for archery immediately, starting units in both my cities. I'd be relatively safe.

But if my initial attack would fail, I'd be of a lot worse. Isabella would still found an ivory city, and I would have one less unit to fight with (and no worker either).

The decision was made to postpone my attack on Isa, we would get to war anyway, so let her build up that site for me. Before elephants arrive, though, I need to make sure I steel that ivory back!

Next turn,Seville was founded on the grass, in reach of both ivory sources. Which mean that my third city needed to go near the stone... do I smell a great artist use? I still haven't decided what the next tech will bring (after the wheel, I've got 3 immediate concerns: alphabet, IW and monarchy. I think I'll go for alphabet first, which opens up the Music beeline. Music=free GA, at a moment where you most need him)

Tensions between me and Isabella are only going to grow. I need to prepare for war asap.

1040 BC: confucianism spreads to Washington, as my missionary auto-converts.
I'm loving these new queued actions on units, and am still fully exploring how to use them properly. In this case, upon building the missionary, I shift-right clicked to Wash, and while holding shift clicked the 'convert' button. Once that has been done, you don't need to bother with your missionary again.

The same for workers: when I take the time to plan some of my improvements, I typically give 3-5 queued orders to my workers. Move there - build mine - road - move somewhere else - irricate - road. This alleviates tedium a lot, while focusing you on the important decisions. The only problem is that sometimes you speed along in turns so fast you're forgetting to pay attention to your cities

1000 BC: Wash builds the Oracle. I discover CS. This DAR is officially over Anyway, I'm continuing until 50 AD.

Expansion again

With the Oracle built, I can finally switch to confucianism. NY grew this turn, and gave me an unhappy citizen. I'm also planning on switching civics next turn, so that's 2 consecutive turns of anarchy. But at least the warrior completed before hitting anarchy, and I can use him.

Barbs appear near Washington(which starts on a settler). While I gain some promotions, I also lose a farm on floodplains. Oh well. I don't need it that badly anymore, and I intend to build cottages there asap.

The wheel completes in 925 BC, and I start on Alphabet. So far, I've met 5 others, meaning that normally there is one more AI out there. This being continents, I wouldn't be surprised if he got a large island to himself, but is locked in until optics. I haven't done much scouting, though: I'm spending all I got on patrolling the badlands, avoiding barbs to spawn rather than deal with them. As a result, I can't see any other AI territory yet, even if I have OBs with most.

After the wheel, my worker starts immediately on roading the wheat, returning to completing the farm on the tile next to one turn later. It is meant to do another desert hill, hopefully followed by cottages on fp.

750 BC: 2nd settler created in Wash. He goes off to the elephants, where an escort is already waiting for him. Another defender will be sent asap, but hopefully that will be an archer.


in 725 BC, the scientist completes. I use it to build an academy in Washington. My max bpt goes to 42 bpt, over double of what a non-CS beeline would get at this point in the game.

I'm going to turn off the scientists, though. My next GP should be a prophet, and I don't want to risk it becoming a scientist instead. Only... I don't have a temple yet.

So, I shift things around, put my specialists to work the hills until both settler and temple complete, and will use Wash as a prophet generator for now. I've got 2 shrines to build, and still some easy religions to pick up: Theology looks like a possibility with my need for monarchy (wines), and I already have everything ready for Philo. Judaism has been discovered a while ago, so I need to hurry. The AI know how to use prophets too.

Somewhere around 650 BC, Boston is settled near to the elphants, next to the stone. I want it to try for the great lighthouse, however I can't make a priority of that now. It will have to build a worker at this own.

It will get a GA later, but in the mean time it needs culture to reach the wheat... Obelisk first, than worker, lighthouse, GL. If I'll lose the race, so be it, I can probably use the gold around that time.

625: 3rd settler completed. It moves to the river plains near Washington, with piglets in sight. I've got plans for putting a floodplains city North of him, or I would have shifted towards the lake. Might have a made a little mistake there, I'm not sure.

DeepO

[DeepO]

part 2

600 BC: Alphabet

As Alphabets is discovered, I take a look in the trading screen. I've got plenty of tech to trade away. Nobody has reached alphabet or CoL, the rest are discovered here and there.

however, one thing immediately strikes me as a setback: none of the AIs are willing to trade pottery yet

I trade away my techs for basically all I miss: never trading away alphabet (never, ever trade away alphabet!), only once CoL. Also keep in mind the prereqs: you need BW and hunting in the first round, if you want to get to IW and archery in round 2.

Very smooth trading, in general, especially Bismarck was nice to deal with. I got him flat up to (but not including) Alphabet and CoL, but gained 5 techs from him doing so.

I'm starting Monarchy in my city, and change some worker plans around: iron within my capital's reach! The horses near to NY are also nice, and it looks like a good spot was opened up by horses to the South as well. My pig city site has iron within reach too... nice

in 450 BC, Philadelphia is founded, and starts on a worker. It needs a border expansion before becoming productive, and is supposed to become a barracks city as well. Hopefully a religion will spread there soon, as it would be best to have it produce a monastry in the short term. I don't have a good spot to build missionaries from, yet, and as Monotheism is not available for trade yet, I can't go org religion.

325 BC: Monarchy
After Monarchy completes, I find that I can't trade for Polytheism. I need to research that myself before going for literature. I'm not changing civics yet, as hereditary rule won't give me any more growth in my cities. They are happy, plus will be getting wines very shortly. Once I get Monotheism, I'll change both hereditary rule and org religion at the same time.

I am ORG, though, and should be focused on using the expensive civics. Normally, I try to avoid things like org religion unless I'm in need for the tech: it can cost you 20% of your total mainentance budget. With ORG, that is halved, meaning that working your strategies around those high-cost civics pays off.


275BC, and a Woodsman II warrior finds the outskirts of a barb town. It's more or less where I want it to be: my archer to the north is at another city site. This barb town is going to get all attention immediately: I don't want them to reach axes, I need swords to crush them asap. Well... after it expands to size 2, of course

On a global scale, Isabella is converting 2 of the others to Hinduism. That's not good, I am going to war with Isa pretty soon, already the tension has been rising.

225 BC: Discovery of Polytheism. I start on literature. Meanwhile, I try to trade for maths, so that I can get to Music asap (I succeed too, for CoL, but I'm not sure when exactly. Sadly, the diplo screenshots still don't work, and I'm using screenshots exclusively to document my games)

I also settle next to the horse/cow. Another barracks city, it seems, with a harbor and a commerce function later on. Production isn't too bad here, once I get the pastures up.

in 175 BC, the pyramids complete somewhere. This is late: I could easily have gotten it in about any city. I wouldn't be able to complete both pyramids and Oracle though, while still having some form of expansion. So I'm not too bothered, I'll try to conquer the pyramids later

In 125 BC, Taoism gets founded. Now this is something else: This was my fault. I traded CoL away for maths, in theory a couple of turns too early. But I didn't realise that another AI-wave of prophets was about to start: You will see in about all games that prophets ome in waves at first. The AI will more or less follow the same build path, meaning that as soon as it can it will assign a priest in a city to get a prophet. As all AIs start out the same, and all put about the same emphasis on priests and temples, typically you will see 4-5 prophets getting born in the spen of 5 turns.

I didn't see this wave yet in this game. I should have waited with CoL until it passed... 3 prophet were born last turn, and one of them took Philo. Damn. I like that tech as well, and have a prophet en route

Oh well, perhaps I can get to Theology then.



A damn shame these strategic line things aren't saved, plenty of screenshots are taken here by reloading. But this is an original: you can see the spots for the next 4 settlers, plus the barb town I want to conquer. First up is the sheep city: placed so that it can take up as much territory asap, thus stopping my barb worries down there (they just killed my warrior in the region, but another one is en route)

25 BC: Literature

In 25 BC, Literature is discovered. I start on the GLib in Washington immediately, but still keep 2 priests running there. I haven't come around to making cottages out of my fp yet, as I have only recently acquired pottery (very, very late for a FIN leader! Maybe I should have gone for the tech myself), and am still improving the tiles next to Boston (the great lightohuse city).

In general, I'm severaly lacking in workers, but about every new towns is starting one first. It gets protection from the units NY has been spewing out, but recently all effort went to swords to attack the barb town with (will take a couple more turns to get enough units, in the mean time they camp outside the city hoping for an attack by an archer. No luck so far.

in 50 AD, I build chicago near the sheep. I have 7 cities now, a relatively good military (not up to par with the AIs yet, but adequate), and have researched everything up to CS, Education, and Monarchy. My biggest priorities techwise are music for the GA, optics for harbors, MC, and currency (which I'll likely get through trade). I'd fancy construction as well, but decide on Music first anyway. My prophet is about to complete, and can take Theology to discover Christianity.

My score shows the same picture: this is looking good Even without all my territory settled (I might still lose a spot to AIs, BTW) I'm first in score. I'm going to attack, or be attacked by Isa soon, but once the barb town has been dealt with I'll have plenty of troops, at 5 XP or above, to take care of that. This era has been nice to me in easy expansion, next era will be about a bit more difficult expansion, I think. I'm not quite ready for the consolidation step: my cities are only starting on CHs, but I've got enough financial power to expand my empire by a factor 2 without stopping research all together.


DeepO

[Swissy]

Noble Level:

Tech: Monarchy, Mathematics, Alphabet, Literature, Music (Med tech and a great artist to make a masterpiece in Kassite), Code of Law (in 5)

425BC Kassite(Barbarian Kingdom) fall to my pair of chariots.
350BC Open Borders with Egypt, next turn Hinduism spreads to Memphis!
300 BC Egypt converts to Hinduism
275 BC Mongols convert to Confuscism and cancel open borders.
150 BC Buddhism spreads to Kassite, next turn Isabella asks me to covert, I say No
75 BC Saladin asks me to turn our backs on Egypt, we say No
1 AD Complete Pyramids in NY and Mahavira is born in Washington, he promptly directs the building of the Kashi Vishwanath!
I also switch goverments to Representaion, Slavery and Organized Religion
250 AD Egypt converts to Confucism
300 AD Washington completes the Hanging Gardens
325 AD I enter the Ren era by finishing up my research of Music and Homer is born in Washington. Mongols start the first war attacking Egypt.

I'll close the Classical age here as I specifically went straight to music to get my culture bomb and esentially give myself a cushion so I will be able to backfill a few more cities in and comcentrate on expanding my tech lead. I am disapointed that I was not able to get any of my religions out yet, and the Mongols have spread theirs to three other civs.

Washington size 15
New York size 10
Boston size 8
Philladelphia size 6
Kassite size 4

F9: GNP 1, Mfg 1, Crops 1, Soldiers 2, Land 1, Pop 1, Approval 7, Life 7, Imp/Exp 6

25 % of world pop, 15% of the land

Northern Empire


Southern Empire

[lockstep]

Re: warlord difficulty

Originally posted by chriseay
Everything looks ok. I feel like I am playing on too easy of a level, and I now wish I would have started this game at noble. I had reservations, but the mechanics of reporting on the game in this manner have made me think much more about each move, so I am doing much better than I have in other games. I will move up levels in the next game that I play.

Same here. I started at noble, but played more deliberate and found myself in a good position very soon (although I still made some stupid mistakes). Next game will be prince level.

[lockstep]

Noble difficulty

Having founded my first religion (Confucianism) in 550 BC, I pick up some military techs (hunting - archery), then go for alphabet - literature to enable tech trading and possibly build the Great Library.

In 375 BC I capture Assyrian. In 325 BC, New York finishes the Great Lighthouse, and I finally switch to organized religion and caste system. Isabella is the first AI civ to cancel open border deals (I'm a heathen now), and Saladin follows suit. Soon, both of them want me to cancel my open border deal with Genghis Khan, but I refuse. OTOH, Hatshepsut offers me open borders - thanks, I'll take it.

In 125 BC I get alphabet and sell it to the Khan for iron working. A rather bad deal, but I need those swordsmen, and pleasing Genghis Khan is a nice side-effect. Yay, iron within Washington's city radius! Also, Moses is born in New York and creates the Kong Miao in Boston. Last but not least: my population hits 500,000.

75 BC, and my treasury from early huts (207 gold) is finally used up. I have to lower the research rate to 70% for a few turns, then settle it at 80%. Genghis Khan demands monotheism - I give in because it's a rather cheap tech and also throw in code of laws in exchange for mathematics and corn for dye. My relation to Genghis goes up all the way - is this the beginning of a long friendship?

Chicago is founded in 1 AD to the northwest of Washington, with gold in the city radius. 25 AD: Isabella demands iron working, and I tell her to shove off. I found Seattle to the east of New York in 125 AD to deny Isabella a potential city.

Around 350 AD my population has grown to 1 million. I capture a second barbarian city (Anasazi) that had developed in the far southwest. The city has no sea access, but sheep and lots of fur within its radius so I decide to keep it for short-time profit. A barbarian axeman (the first and last one) nearly retakes the city before he's killed by my horse archer. (Note to self: always check what's hidden in the last three tiles under fog-of-war.)

Speaking of soldiers: I have been building lots of archers from scratch to enlarge my city garrisons (I don't want to be no. 7 in this particular regard) and saved a few bucks to upgrade my level 2-chariots (about 7 experience points) to horse archers. Still unsure about the advisability of upgrading, but at least no AI civ has decided so far I'm an easy target.

Between 375 AD and 520 AD I succeed in building several wonders, namely the Hanging Gardens, the Great Library and Chichen Itza. I've got a healthy lead score-wise, and much earlier than in any game I've played so far! (At this point, I'm pondering about the next difficulty level, though AI bonuses still give me the creeps.)

Some bad news: The mongols manage to sneak in a city (Old Sarai) between Atlanta and Isabella's Seville, on a site that I definitely should have claimed for myself because it's only six tiles awy from my capital. So much for easy defensible borders ... but then I realize that no one has researched music so far and I have the option to do so. Can you say culture bomb? In 540 AD, I get music, enter the Middle Ages, and Homer is born .