AU 100-A DAR 4: The Medieval Era

[nbarclay]

This DAR covers events in AU 100-A as players play through the Medieval Era, ending when players enter the Renaissance 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 have you been balancing the use of Civ IV's new features against more traditional strategies? What civics have you been using? 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 Level, 1170 AD

After entering the medieval era, the American Empire decided to focus its research in the direction of Code of Laws and Civil Service with an eye toward increasing production in some coastal cities with a lot of plains around them. Once those were completed, the next step was to research Compass, Machinery, and Optics in order to send out caravels to explore. As optics approached, America built a fourteenth city, positioned to take advantage of some whales.

Once Optics was completed, America started researching Guilds, but the nation changed tacks in the middle when an opportunity to trade for Theology came up: Lord Nathan wanted to take a shot at establishing Islam, and building Versailles with a the recently created great engineer Archimedes could be very useful to such a large empire. The Colossus became America’s second great wonder in 960 AD, and the Hanging Gardens its third in 1010.

(I should note that Archimedes is actually my first great person of the whole game! I’ve generally been in a strong enough position regarding growth that I haven’t wanted to divert much attention to specialists, and my lack of early wonders means I wasn’t getting great person points from that source either.)

Lord Nathan’s bid for Islam failed, with Egypt winning the race by two turns. The first two American caravels set out on their explorations in the year 1040, one from the east and one from the west. They met in the year 1150, completing the circumnavigation of the planet and enabling both to move more quickly. Unfortunately, the circumnavigation project failed to locate the mysterious seventh civilization. In the meantime, Angkor Wat became America’s fourth wonder in 1100.

America entered the Classical Era in the year 1170 with the discovery of Education. Egypt’s knowledge of Engineering is the only knowledge that any known rival has that America does not, and America is far ahead of everyone else. (Egypt has been by far the most willing trading partner, and has been suitably rewarded for it.) The American Empire now has enough markets and grocers, and large enough cities, to research at 70% at a small surplus even with a lot of the coastal cities working irrigated plains instead of coast. The nation has still been focusing essentially entirely on its economy, with no time to build up additional military.

---

Versailles seems to have an unstated prerequisite that prevented me from starting to build it right away. My great engineer can’t do the whole job, so I’m going to work on it enough to get to a point where Archimedes can finish it before I use him for that purpose. (That way if I get beat to the wonder, I still have Archimedes.)

Looking at the F9 statistics, I’m currently at almost three times the GNP of my average rival, almost three and a half times the Mfg. Goods, a bit over three times the crop yield, a little over twice the land area, and over five times the “population.” From F8, I have about two and a third times the population of Egypt and just over twice the land area of the Mongols. (I have just over 35% of the world's total population and just under 25% of its land area.) Thus far, the rules of Civ IV (coupled with the Prince-level AI bonuses) have allowed Egypt to run about even with me, or maybe just a tiny bit ahead, in technology in spite of the enormous difference in our raw economic power. But from past experience (albeit on Noble level), I’ve about reached the point where I’ll be pulling away.

Looking at my diplomatic relations with the AIs, I’m at +1 with the Mongols and Germans, even with Egypt, -3 with Spain, and –5 with the Arabs. As I said, my military stinks right now, although oddly, F9 is showing me just under average in soldiers which means that the statistic has to be looking only at the raw number of units and not at actual combat power.

Regarding my future plans, I’m going back to get Banking and, if I have time, Printing Press before I get Liberalism for a free tech. I’m going to have to watch Egypt carefully, though, and probably store up enough gold that I can switch to Liberalism at 100% if Egypt threatens to give me a race. (The trick is to get the most valuable tech I can as a free tech without a significant risk of having someone else beat me to Liberalism.)

I also really need to switch to more modern Civics; Organized Religion is the only even remotely advanced one I’m currently using because I’ve been reluctant to spend a turn in Anarchy to make additional switches. (I have enough workers that Serfdom isn't particularly important; I haven't built any military units in eons; and I'm not using enough specialists for Caste System to be particularly useful.) I’ll probably do some switching once I get Liberalism and Economics, and then my last switching whenever I get around to Democracy.

[teriakiburger]

Monarch Difficulty

Entering the medieval era in 680AD with music, in 700AD Imhotep is in the captial to complete the Notre Dame, we need the happiness to grow past size 11.

In 720AD Isabella has had enough of me and declares war.

As Monarchy is researched, I start on Feudalism for the longbowmen.

Isabella swordsman and catapult is destroyed on the outskirts of Boston, but I lose a war elephant, and they pillage some cows.

I get feudalism finished and have a revolution to use vassalage.
I go for machinery next for the crossbowman, and then civil service after that.

We capture Cordoba in 900AD after a lengthy siege losing a catapult, and Isabella pays us 110 gold in indimities for peace.

Now that the war is over, wrap up on making units, and time to put up some courthouses, and convert my cities to Confucianism. Hatshepsut is busing changing my cities to Judaism while I was fighting.

I had no idea religion was slow to spread without the holy shrine, never not had a prophet before.

After machinery, I went for Theology to get Divine Right, civil service may wait.

In 1020 we launch a war against the Khan, burning the useless city of New Serai which encroached on our territory to the ground.

Next we will march on Turfan...

In 1060 the troops are in position, Turfan is just guarded by 2 archers, as the Khan is worn out of fighting everyone except for Saladin. Turfan is sacked and kept as it is by the dyes, though the computer got lucky on the rolls again

I decide to try for the Hanging Gardens in New York since no one has bothered yet.


We get another great sceintist in 1070AD, still no prophets oh well.

Los Angeles is founded in 1070AD, making our 12th city.

In 1100 I found Islam, last of the religions, meaning I only founded 2. We decide to go for Engineering next, for the extra movement.

The siege of Karakorum continues in 1130, as troops are in place. No idea how a half strenght catapult defeats my full strenght horse archer

Both Bismark and Hatshepsut have made peace with the Khan, just me and Isabella left. I cant blame them with a garrison of 7 city defenders he has in the capital, but I have brought in 5 catapults, and defenses are down to 0 by 1140.

In 1150 we complete the Hanging Gardens in New York, and the Karakorum defenders are slaughtered, at the cost of 3 catapults.

The Mongols are the first to be eliminated in 1150AD, they bit off more than they could chew.

Unfortunately, costs are out of control at 50% science, The Spiral Minaret is started in New York.

In 1180 we continue on to Civil Service, and in 1210 have a revolution for the power of bureacracy, and go for compass next. We trade Bismark Music for Calender and some gold, finally get calender putting it off for a while with the stonehenge.

In 1230 I meet the last one Elizabeth it seems, she has caravels, but doesnt want to trade for Optics.

1n 1250 AD after Drama, we start on Paper, and in 1270AD Edumication. Able to trade Drama and Music for Optics, with Elizabeth, now the only tech that someone has I dont is Fredrick with Philosophy.

1320 Elizabeth is the first to navigate the globe, I havent even made a caravel yet, lol.

In 1330 I hit the Renaissanace era with Education.

Religion wise things are a real mess, with 6 out of 13 cities my state religion of Confucianism, and I still don't have my holy shrine.

Number 1 in all catagories, except for Miltary which I am last again Who will be foolish enough to attack me next?

The sneak attack of Isabella was really pathetic last time.

[Fireb]

Emperor: 100BC - 760AD

Recap

Most of the AI's are now hostile. America was saved in extremis when Genghis declared war on Isabella. Both were likely to attack America at that point. Judaism hasn't managed to spread much outside of America, unfortunately. A serious setback for my plan of a diplo victory. All is not lost however, as America is on the way to becoming an economic powerhouse, second only to Hatty.

100 BC Bad news, Genghis makes peace with Isabella. That was a quick war. To quick, for my liking. Even worse, hatty converts to christianity, my second missionary failing to convert a city of theirs to Judaism that same turn. Grr. Now, america is surrounded by heathens on all sides, and barbarians everywhere else. The future looks dim.

50 BC Genghis demands alphabet. I tell him that my warriors laugh at his puny veteran keshiks and axmen.

1 AD Trade monotheism for maths & sailing (Saladin). Our vet (city garison 2) archer in washington defeats a barbarian axman. That's 6 barbs killed by him defending our capital. They only need to be lucky once for disaster to strike.

50 AD Saladin asks me to cancel deals with Hatty, I refuse, I already have enough potential enemies. Bismarck turns up the same turn, preaching confucianism (mongol convert).

100 AD Hereditary rule adopted. I forget about going for islam now, that all my rivals are already heathens, and go for currency instead.

150 AD Genghis asks for alphabet (again!). This time I accept. Relation goes from -3 to -1. That should keep war with him away for a bit.

175 AD Isabel demands animal husbandry. She's still in the stone age! I laugh, and accept.

200 AD My swords start closing in on the last barb city, eager for action, and revenge. My first spear is built to counter the growing mongol threat. Science is now at 50% due to upkeep. Where's that great prophet! I'll need courthouses soon.

275 AD Hatty is colonising my lands! Why the arrogant scheming little witch! I'll teach her to mind her manners. Monastries are started, with her culture bonus I can't allow her to get a foothold and take my resources.

My swordsmen knock on the gates of the barb city. It now has walls, unfortunately. Strangely though, it only has one archer and one warrior for defence, against my two swords, one with city raider 2. With a bit of luck, I'll be able to win.

And then...as the turn elapses the defending barb archer sallies out and attacks my swordsmen! He is replaced by a warrior. Obviously something is wrong here...Still, I can't complain. My city raider 2 swordsman is on 4/6 health, so I attack with the other one first, and win. Then I attack the final warrior, and win again! The city is mine, though my warrior has 0.5/6 health left. A close call. The city is in a beatiful location with 4 furs, stone and sheep all in the working radius, and has sea access, so I keep it, and the 100 gold plunder, which helps my research.

300 AD Swap monarchy for horseriding (saladin). I'm at 50% science, losing 12gold per turn. This needs to be rectified soon, and I need to build more cities straight away to preempt the egyptians...

475 AD Trade theology for the calender & 50gold with bismarck. I'm getting behind in techs now. Most civs won't trade or are too advanced.

520 AD Phily shows it's worth by stealing some gems from Hatty. Those monastries and libraries are starting to pay off.

540 AD Saladin wants me to cancel deal with Hatty - again! I refuse - again. Genghis declares war on isabella - again! Hooray. Interesting how on this level the AI won't take no for an answer and keeps asking - and the relationships keep deteriorating if I refuse.

600 AD Genghis asks me to declare war on Isabella - again! This game reeks of deja vue. This time though, I accept, I have nothing to lose, even though I can't attack Isabella because of my closed borders with Genghis. My acceptance improves the relationship, and he accepts open borders. I also trade iron in exchange for silk, dye and 2gold per turn. A good deal for both of us.

640 AD Saladin declares war on Hatty! No wonder he wanted me to cancel deals so badly earlier. This is good news, as Hatty is leading the pack in development, wonders and techs. Thanks Saladin.

680 AD Hatty wants me to cancel deals with Saladin. Saladin wants me to declare war on Hatty. I refuse. So much for making friends and getting a diplo victory...

700 AD Saladin cancels all deals (resources & open borders). No surprise, as I refused him three times.

760 AD Drama is researched. All the AI's are converting to theocrassy. So much for spreading judaism now! Genghis' Keshiks are wrecking havoc on Isabellas lands, and to a lesser extent Saladins horse archers are doing the same to Hatty. Good work Saladin. I can only hope that Hatty is paying him back in kind. Everyone now has feudalism, except for stone age Isabella and me. Hatty also has music, so it seems like a good place to stop.

Current scores are:
1021: Hatty - hopefully going down
948: Me
863: Bismark - runaway victory candidate?
744: Genghis - he'll be getting stronger with Isabellas territory and 2 AI civs converted to his religion.
743: Saladin
410: Isabella = pretty much a dead girl walking.

Stats:
GNP 2nd (down one)
Manufactured goods 1st (up 3-4!)
Crops 1st (no surprise with all the flood plains and health bonuses)
Army 5th (up 1)
Land 1st
Pop 4th (up 2)
4 turns to hanging gardens - my first wonder - if I get it. It will make a big difference, on this level.

Goals for the future So, my initial strategy is in chaos. I'm surrounded by hostiles or at best not very friendly heathens. I've finally defeated the barbs, but now will have to face AI's who are getting increasingly develloped millitarily, and I have neither longbows nor the forge (unlike them). My economy is in tatters, still at 50% science, though I'm now building courthouses across the empire and a great prophet will appear in 10 turns, giving me an extra 10-15 gold/turn. If I want to have any chance of a diplo victory, I'll need to become good friends with either genghis or hatty. Genghis is a safer bet, as his pop is limited, so maybe I'll be able to ally with him against hatty, who is annoying me with her invasive cities built on my land.

[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 Medieval Era was another short phase. I didn't realize it would come so quickly. For research I finished up Paper and then went for Education. The completion of Education started the Renaissance Era. One and a half techs? Heh.

It doesn't show in my screenshot but I did manage to capture Bulgar to the SW in this era. I'm working on getting two more settlers to help fill in my lands.

The AI is being difficult to deal with. I'm still siding with Mongols but they seem like their word could fall through at any time. Everyone else hates that I'm friendly with the Mongols, but they're either a lot farther away or a lot weaker than Genghis. This leaves my diplomacy rather narrow. The Mongols and I are trading techs, but my relationships even with them are just average.

I still haven't even attempted to build a wonder yet. And I'm only using one specialist (a scientist in Washington).

After getting Philosophy my previous goal of Liberalism will be next.

Chronology...
520 AD - Decent technology trading with the Mongols. A two for two special.
700 AD - Arabia and Spain want me to cancel my deals with the Mongols. Discover Education and enter the Renaissance Era. Also Bulgar is captured.

Information Rankings...
Gold - 1
Prod - 1
Food - 2
Soldiers - 6
Land - 1
Population - 2
Imports/Exports - 4

Thoughts...
I'm losing a lot of gold per turn but am running at 100% science still so not worried at all. I'm also improving the recent additions to the empire and they should all start costing less soon. Even with the high priced civics I'm running, it's only costing me 3 gold per turn.

Now that most cities have enough improved land to use I should get some kind of highway system going. My cities are connected for trade, but it takes a thousand years to move around the empire.

[Fluffybunnyfeet]

Prince difficulty, 1160AD

Progress

Having some of the leading technologies has been quite valuable. While i'm missing huge chunks of technology, just reaching techs before other civs really matters. Sometimes there are bonuses for being first, but you can trade one tech for two others of lesser value most of the time (when trading it with two other civs). Drama is currently 1 turn to research... really old technology becomes extremely easy to catch up with if you must research it rather than trade for it.

Had some fun with a barbarian city (size 5). Milked it for experience until a competing civ sent someone to capture it. Great value, and I got a unit up to level 4 (despite having no experience bonuses from civics) and started work immediately on the Heroic Epic. That and other military wonders will be built by my Barrack Town currently on 22 hammers a turn, even without a Forge. Hmm, short term goal : get Forges! Have kept my civics in tune with Washington, the leader (quick build speed, no need to build an army up for conquest).

I had a lot of problems with getting my neighbours to trade anything. Eventually I realised that they envied me, and i'd have to butter them up first. I sold or just plain gave away technologies and resources at a wild pace until my neighbours had a better impression of me. After that I was able to trade technologies and resources properly.

As an experiment in Health, i've chopped down no trees so far. All of my cities are getting some benefit from this Another attempt at a wonder fails at half way mark - on the whole i'm keeping to the strengths of being Organised - much buildings! Hanging Gardens takes just 10 turns at my Barrack Town. After constructing this, I must resist the urge to make more wonders here, this is my only soldier producing city after all.

Outlook

Am more inclined towards wonders, but in the next era I will militarise. Need at least three times the troops that I have. As the war-mongering cultures run out of spaces to colonise, they will be looking to my land. Long term goal is to stay at the forefront of science.

[Cort Haus]

Prince Level - Medieval Era

DAR 1 - Opening
DAR 2 - Rest of Ancient Era
DAR 3 - Classical Era
DAR 5 - Renaissance Era
DAR 6 - Industrial Era
DAR 7 - Modern Era


After the ill-fated Musical venture, Metal Casting finally had its turn, but Aquas are needed first before Forges can go in, as growth has been exceeding new health resources. I have happy-happy trades with both Bismark and Saladin, and a longstanding health trade with Hattie, though once I get my pigs hooked up I won't need that one. I forgot to mention in the previous DAR that I switched to Heretidary rule after getting Monarchy - so the wines can be brought online now too, and happiness is fine.

In 760 AD I trade Compass to Saladin for Construction + 80g, which is a surprisingly even trade (the second from Saladin, who is the most open to tech trading) and choose to research Machinery for Maces & Crossbows over Feudalism for Longbows. I'd rather build some new units than upgrade right now. Machinery also opens Optics for the overseas civ.

Construction was a good trade, with Hanging Gardens in 7 turns for +1 health & pop. Handy. The Forge can wait for a quick Wonder.

Egypt & Spain have both settled in the tundra - Spain sneaking the fish, and a Bananas for Wine trade with Isabella has been established.

1000 AD Mongols declare war!

I'm not exactly prepared, as my military is diluted into new cities, and I've been building health, growth, culture, science, wonders, forges (none finished yet) and just about everything except units. And workers. The shame of it, I only have about 5 - which were fine until very recently when I only had four cities, but with ten things are all getting stretched - troops dispersed and insufficient roads.

Fortunately they only cross the border with 2 axes and a Keshik. At least I know to have Spears around the border when the Mongols are the other side. Fortunately they only have four cities including the one poking into my land. Fortunately I researched Machinery and upgraded a few border units to Macemen & Crossbowmen just in time.

I dial up Hattie and Bismo, and Egypt joins the cause for Music. Germany must wait a turn as I gift Literature first to open up Music. I push 2 Mace a Spear and a Crossbow to the hill adjacent to their Expeditionary force.

Spain (Kahn's co-religionists) cancels Open Borders. In the Battle of Atlanta the Keshik dies attacking my stack, one Axe moves towards the wines and the other retreats into Mongolian territory.

The axe returns with another Keshik and the next engagement goes badly. My Spear lost despite goods odds against the Keshik and my Mace lost to their Axe despite good odds again. My list of units grows thinner, but I had a Spear and Horse available to defeat their Keshik and Axe.

The Battle of Atlanta continues, and I lose a Shock-promoted Spear defending on a hill to an Axeman, but defeat the Axeman with the Horse. More Maces are coming from the now-complete Forges, but they'll be a while.

Next the Mongols bring an Elephant and a Catapult. Atlanta is on Spears. The Maces arrive, and they take up positions on forests to channel the enemy onto a flat tile. They oblige, but it takes 2 spears to kill the Elephant (even odds), and the Horse Archer finishes off again.

Next the Mongols bring some more Keshiks, but not before I positioned my Maces ready to march on their Evil City (TM) in my midst. So, I've got nothing to defend against the Keshik that's arrives to pillage one of my horses. I do have an Axeman on a boat though, who'll be dropped off for some pillaging.

After Optics, Feudalism is discovered for Longbows and Vasselage, then Engineering, followed eventually by Guilds, Banking, Drama, Paper and Astronomy.

I mentioned before about not being great at managing my Civics, and here's an example. After a looong time with Caste System and not fully using it I finally get the GP city ready to Rock & Roll with 3-4 merchants. Trouble is, now is the time to switch to Slavery/Vasselage, but it gets put off as I always need just one more Spear in Atlanta and don't want the Anarchy.

Always one more spear because the Uber-Keshiks kept beating my Spears, despite having odds in my favour.

At least I took their Evil City. All the luck reversed for my suicide Catapult, which actually killed an archer, despite low odds. I wanted to raze it, but another AI would probably have moved into the 1-tile almost immediately.



1100AD - Isabella declares war!

It gets worse - Bismark converts to Izzie's Buddism. Will he join the Axis-of-Evil? Bismark did a decent trade, though. He offers Theology + 330g for my Feudalism, which is a even deal AFAICS.

After waiting to pillage a couple more of Kahn's tiles he pays 230g for a 10 turn cease-fire. A Spanish Axeman loose in the tundra pillaged my other horses tile, but a reception commitee was able to meet him. This commitee (macemen, horsemen, elephant, cat) then continued to the Spanish City (Santiago) on the tundra, while the northern Maces from the Mongol Campaign cross into Spain and start pillaging. Santiago upgraded its archers just in time - and one Horseman dies assulting them (so much for level 2 retreat) but another Horseman other kills the LB outright, with Maces finishing off.

Meanwhile I'm finally building some Confucian Missionaries - to finish off my own cities let alone the ones abroad. Many cities on this continent already have 2 religions, so it could be expensive - and there might not be access as Theology is all the rage at the moment. A Caravel also gets prepared to take a Missionary overseas. I still don't know whether to adopt a religion - and there's a broad selection now to choose from. My secular policy didn't spare me the wrath of those two a$$holes, but they've suffered for it, and happiness is not a problem at this point. Missing out on Org Rel is the biggest loss, I expect.

Despite adopting Vasselage/Slavery, and rushing a couple of units, I'm not really set up for poprushing. The high food cities either have no barracks, and / or no granary, or are on Missionary duty, and I don't want to blow my pop from the Hanging Gardens when my production is now very strong and I'm #1 in military. Nothing like a war or two to turn a vunerable builder-civ into a heavily armed one. The faster workers of Serfdom, or the GP potential of Caste System (for which I set up a city) might be better. In a sense this justifies my hesitation about switching to Slavery. I do pop-rush a Library though, in the tundra next to Egypts rapidly-expanding blob.

Somewhere along the line Saladin started liking me, and in 1220, with most of her resources pillaged and more besides, Izzie pays 300g for a cease-fire.

Back to Mongolia

With Spain damaged by choke-warfare, it's time to sledgehammer the Mongols. My 20-unit SoD containing Maces, Knights, Cats, Pikes, Elephants and a Crossbow captures 2 of the 3 Mongol cities, using Cats to soften up in the usual manner.



Turfan was strangled by Spanish & Arabian culture, so I gave it to Egypt, and Karakorum was destroyed, Pyramids and all.

They've got one city left which I'm advancing on, but I'm running low on Cats. The main beneficiary, apart from the personal pleasure of crushing a PITA civ, will be Arabia and maybe Germany, who are in a position to take the liberated land.



Back home it's bulder time again with Banks, Grocers, Theatres, and now Observatories all available. I've also been putting down cottages, building Monasteries & Missionaries, and converting the English to Confucianism. I might even switch to it myself one day, but for now I want to keep good relations with my allies.

When Astronomy is discovered in 1450 I have 12 cities, and am #1 in everything that matters except military, where I've just slipped to #2 to Egypt.

[Derelict]

Noble Difficulty -- Medieval Era

INDEX

Early Ancient
Late Ancient -- Brief!!
Classical
Medieval: Parts 1 & 2
Medieval: Part 3
Renaissance: Part 1
Renaissance: Part 2
Industrial
Modern

Part One

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540 A.D. and some units have just arrived in Egypt to have a look around, maybe cause a little havoc. Hatty doesn't seem to be much of a threat, distant as she is and with Genghis already gnawing on her. Having said that, she is the most powerful military force in the world. I'll let this go on but only for so much longer--I think I've gotten a decent bump out of diplomacy with Genghis and if I can pillage Hatty even just a little, that'd be enough to get beyond just token participation.

As well, 540 is turning out to be eventful on the tech side of things. I've discovered Monarchy which was becoming sorely needed. Washington is now a size 10 city and Boston, to the north, is size 7 even if growing a little bit slowly now. New York, even with the gardens, is lingering at size 6 and won't grow much faster without some further development there. That isn't so bad since it is already a strong producer with a forge on the way and, for that matter, isn't situated well enough to grow into a gigantic city. I've also started researching horseback riding even though I have two sources tantalizing me to the north and south, yet both outside my current borders. I shouldn't need horses all that much for my coming plans against Isabella, however. I notice that an iron resource sits close to her 2nd nearest city and, further, I'm willing to bet she is researching iron working at this very moment. My window is short even if I have a strong advantage on her.

Her only friend, really, is Bismarck and they are on good terms. I'm not too worried about that for the time since he has no particular advantage in terms of tech that might seriously turn the tables on me vs. Isabella (so she can't catch up to me that way) while he is also fairly distant from me and on pretty good terms as well (pleased). Maybe, in the mix of all this, I can sour his relationship with Isabella a little as well--that remains to be seen but I'll look for an opportunity, should one exist.

600 A.D. Gah--Genghis made peace with Hatshepsut which is unfortunate since I was hoping to do so before him. Sometimes, failing to do so will keep the civ, especially if more powerful, interested in staying at war with you! I'll wait a turn or two to see if Hatty will have peace with me. Fortuantely Genghis has cut off a direct approach for her to me, as undoubtedly they do not have open borders, so at the best she'll have a limited means to come for me anyhow.

660 A.D. Apparently there is a gap in Genghis' border that will let Hatty through. I see a chariot and a spearman at least, possibly another small group, already headed my direction. It'll take them some time to get there so I have no worries on that and can reasonably build up some extra troops in preparation. In the meantime, I'm going to see if Bismark will work a deal on construction, so I can get war elephants and catapults, without having to give up metal casting. I won't do that because I'm sure Bismark would trade it, or give it up to a demanding Isabella, and that's the last thing I want her to have just yet.

680 A.D. Hatty agrees to end our fighting even though we had only the smallest of skirmishes--I suspect that my tech lead on her is at least party to her decision. Excellent! That means I can now turn full focus on Isabella who is still visibly lacking, though starting to shore up her closer cities with defenders.

I really need to move soon if I'm to capitalize on all this!

As a final 680 A.D. note, Bismarck won't trade construction with me (not ready to give up this technology, he says). I don't trade him anything even though I have Monarchy and Alphabet available to trade, and he has a handful of other more minor techs he'd be willing to hear offers about.

700 A.D. Hatty wants open borders, but I deny her--no reason to let her poke her nose around my territory just yet, considering the poor terms we are on now. I suspect she is interested in expanding via settlers more than anything, however. I notice Isabella has moved some axemen to the far west in an attempt, so far failed, to capture a barbarian city. I change my tech research from calendar to construction, with 7 turns to go.

740 A.D. Isabella is moving a couple archers and a settler to my west--fine by me as it just may end up a casualty of war to my favor. I'm just letting her do the grunt work for me. I also move some units of mine in to inspect her closest cities and see workers diligently starting to mine her iron square. I'm not completely ready for this but I feel that now, or within the next handful of turns, is time to get this war started with her.

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780 A.D. Bismarck shows up and offers me a trade I don't want or need--monotheism and 170 gold for alphabet. I counter with calender (his) for alphabet, and I don't really have enough to finish the deal money wise (probably 100 gold or so would've done it). He offers to take alphabet and monarchy in trade for it, but I'm not really interested in doing this deal either, not just yet anyhow. I'll hold off and see what I might get shortly.

800 A.D. Isabella must smell a rat. She started to move an axeman into my territory to scout it, so I shut down our open borders agreement. I also noticed that her archers to the north had stopped moving--perhaps she is hesitating for whatever reason about setting up a new city around there just yet...with me moving some troops close to her borders.

I also had moved some more feeble troops--the ones I had attack Hatty--toward a nothern edge of her border. They had just arrived this turn with an opportune moment to capture a worker and likely start pillaging deeper into her territory. I simply couldn't resist with war so close anyhow.

Part Two: WAR!!!

Double checking things on the diplomatic front, now that I've gone to war with Isabella, I notice that Genghis doesn't have iron. It's a little risky, given my newly started war, but I decide to give him my second source in the hopes of improving relations and making sure he remains decently strong against Hatty, if nothing else. I was also hoping to perhaps drag him into the war with Isabella, to put some additional pressure on her, but he replied that he had "too much on his hands right now". I'm not sure what that means considering that he isn't at war with anyone, except to suppose that his military force might be quite weak right now. Giving him some iron may have been pretty smart, actually.

820 A.D. So we get the occasional survey that describes who is most powerful, most cultured etc. and 820 A.D. provides one for me. Top of the list for this one, the most advanced in the world, is Bismarck. Curiously he calls me up straight away and asks if I'll gift him alphabet! The most advanced guy in the world asking me to do him a tech favor! You slimeball! You should be giving me something given that your Mister Advanced! Slimeball I tell ya'!!

So, this may surprise you, but I give it too him. I'm hoping that he'll consider me a closer friend than Isabella and, maybe just maybe, I can drag him into things somehow. It's doubtful but this won't hurt me in the long run I figure. He's obviously a snake for opportunity and I hope I can figure something out to wet his appetite down the line.

My ambush to the north paid off--Isabella's iron miners never got to complete their mine. I know she still has copper around, but there won't be any swordsmen coming for me at the least. Hopefully I can work this to capture that city, and take her iron.



In the meantime, Isabella moves her nearby and formerly intended axeman scout into my territory to...well...do something I suppose. He was doomed from almost the get-go, with two crossbowmen nearby and a stack of invaders enroute beside.



840 A.D. My first force arrives and captures Santigo after only a pathetic resistance. My kidnapped spanish worker, moving through Genghis' territory and notices Keshiks for the first time. I toast myself in the hopes that Genghis is gearing up, ideally with some iron on loan in additon and now apparently with his UU, to make a move on someone soon--my bet is that it won't be Bismark since they have open borders and decent terms. Just who...we'll hafta see.

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860 A.D. Construction is complete--Isabellas world just grew dimmer. I can now build elephants and catapults, both of which will be on high priority. My forces draw ever closer to her second city...

880 A.D. Suddenly on the far right appear "hostile archer" notices, which I thought for certain were some of Isabellas archers growing bold. No, rather it was three units of barbarian archers moving on a rather poorly defended Atlanta! Cripes! It'll take two turns for any support to arrive, and it is quite possible that Atlanta could be overrun by then!



900 A.D. My archers in Atlanta held their ground and a unit of spearmen arrived to shore up the defenses. A third swordsman is only a turn away, so the city is safe, at least, though I worry that the barbarians will move to pillage with additional units that may yet lurk in the darkness not far off. I'll have to capture that city too, diverting units away from the Spanish front. Unfortunate but I think I can still complete my objective against Isabella regardless.

Overall things are looking up and I rank # 1 in nearly everything but approval rating and health. I can live with that. Suspiciously I notice Genghis prancing around my northern border...could he possibly, possibly be thinking of invading? Really? Somehow I doubt it but I'm highly suspicious of a leader like Genghis. That's why you keep them close to your chest, eh?

Otherwise, I have a notable force arrayed around a second spanish city, Toledo, Isabella's "iron" city.

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920 A.D. I capture Toledo but I'm afraid it won't be enough. Madrid, the capitol of Spain and seat of Isabella, maintains a very strong cultural influence that may not be quite enough to get a hold on the iron from Toledo alone. I'm left to either press my advantage on Madrid specifically--which will have a strong defense thanks to culture if nothing else--or try to culture bomb my way to her iron.

I'm skeptical about the latter as it deviates from my original plans and therefore doesn't interest me as much. For the former, a direct attack, I'll need to get catapults to the front and hope she hasn't amassed too many units in its defense. I may just raze the city, which I know is the location of at least one shrine and founded religion for her (I had a scout near her city very early on and noticed one of the shrines built there). At the same time it would be nice to capture a religion but I'm not entirely sure I'll have the time along the way to really make it pay off. It could just be more trouble than its worth to me. So, for the time it looks like a direct assault, extending this war a little longer than I hoped for, is in order.

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940 A.D. Hmm, not good--Genghis has accepted Judaism as his state religion, the same religion Isabella is! Well, that hasn't impacted our relationship because he was not on good terms with her as it was and, for that matter, the war was already underway. Still, that means I need to really press my advantage on her now, before they end up becoming to chummy.

With that in mind, catapults and war elephants are on the way to the front lines of Spain!

New York also produces Ptolemy, a great scientist. In this case, at least, I move him to Washington to establish an academy. That should give me a quite nice bump in research as Washington is already producing 23 bpt without being specifically setup for science. I'll be working on that before long, however...

1020 A.D. Madrid is a lot less well defended than I thought it might be, though as expected the culture provides it a +60% defense--definitely a job for seige weapons!



1060 A.D. I've just about got everthing in place for an assault on Madrid. Code of Laws has been discovered and, given that everything else seems under control for the time, I get Boston started on building Chichen Itza. I didn't plan on that but it seems a nice addition to my strategy, creating less of an incentive for anyone to attack me until later in the game. By then, I hope to be so powerful they wouldn't consider it anyhow!

Saladin gave me a buzz asking me to kill all me deals with Genghis--yeah right! Last time that happened Genghis went to war with them a turn later, hmm?

1070 A.D. Guess what? That's right, Genghis declared war on Saladin. That's fine, hopefully he'll pick up some ground in this war. Saladin and he are neck and neck with one another and Saladin is at a tech disadvantage and, further, without his camel archer in a war that they would certainly prove useful in.

All my troops are in place for an attack on Madrid--hopefully I can end this quickly and get back to business as usual. Undoubtedly Genghis will be asking me to join him against Saladin, which, unfortunately I'll have to pass on this time around. I don't think that'll ruin our relationship all that much all the same.

1080 A.D. So it turns out that Isabella now has metal casting. Guess who she had to have gotten it from? My buddy Genghis probably. I was worried about that and considering they are both the same religion now, go figure, Ghengis must've been friendly enough (or perhaps someone has it and I just didn't notice...maybe Bismarck actually?).

The assault on Madrid is underway and will take three turns to get the culture defenses down--I can deal with that. As I suspected, the culture from Madrid was just too much to overtake the iron so Isabella had this one coming.

[Derelict]

INDEX

Early Ancient
Late Ancient -- Brief!!
Classical
Medieval: Parts 1 & 2
Medieval: Part 3
Renaissance: Part 1
Renaissance: Part 2
Industrial
Modern

Part Three: The Fall of Madrid

1100 A.D. The Fall of Madrid...although I'm typically hesitant to leave any part of an attacking force across a river, I felt confident going into the battle that these units would only face extremely weakened forces since a decent portion of my attacking force was already surrounding the city on the other side. The direct catapult attacks were devestating to the beseigned units and the city fell without much more of a struggle. With Madrid captured, I now controlled Hinduism and, thanks to the fine efforts of Isabella, had a shrine established in it. Soon I'd be at work converting Genghis and my own countrymen to shore up relations and generate welcome revenue.

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I sue for peace with Isabella, my objective complete for the moment, and received Meditation out of the deal to boot. This warmonger thing ain't so bad, wouldn'tcha say? It was now time to get the country back in order. There was also that little barbarian problem in the west I had to think about, but if Madrid fell to my hand, these barbarians weren't going to be much to lose sleep over.

1110 A.D. Just to further improve relations with Genghis and make sure he was keeping up alright, I offered him Literature for free, as a generous gift from the civilized American people. I had nothing in particular to lose out of it since I had already built the Great Library.

1130 A.D. I had long since moved a unit of swordsmen to a forest just outisde the barb city. With a woodsman I promotion, alongside a Combat I in addition, it had managed to easily fend off any barb archers that tried to leave the city--keeping that well under control. Once I'm capable of getting troops to the location, that city too should be mine without much of a problem.



1140 A.D. Feudalism has been discovered and I switched too serfdom immediately.

1210 A.D. Bureaucracy has been discovered and, once I've had a look at things financially, it seems like a decent enough option for the time. and I switch. My far flung troops are nearing the barbarian city but it'll be several more turns before it is captured. I also noticed Hatty snooping around with a galley--on board were an archer and a settler. Unless I'm mistaken she hasn't quite found a spot to settle yet, we shall see.

1220 A.D. For some odd reason Genghis killed off deals we had for many years now in which I was giving him free resources, such as Iron. I'm not sure why he would cancel the deal unless, maybe, he got a source of his own? Should my suspicions arise once more? I'm without a doubt more powerful but certainly not invulnerable, particularly to a pillage styled attack that I imagine he might have designs on carrying out. Diplomatically we are on fairly strong terms, +8 in total if my math is right. Maybe I missed something here, not sure...As near as I can tell, his war with Saladin isn't going well, but it's not going badly either. Only time will tell thus far.

1240 A.D. Genghis has now asked me to join the war against Saladin. I suspect he intends to make peace and wants to tie me up in the affair. Saladin is quite separated from me and notably weaker in military terms. We have an open border agreement though he is a bit perturbed at my friendliness with Genghis. Do I improve my relation with Genghis even further by declaring war? I'm not in much of a position to carry on any war at this point, not beyond what I've already completed with Isabella and, chances are, I'll have to make a death blow to her at some point in the future. No, I'll have to turn him down this time around. We'll see where that gets us in diplomatic terms and hopefully I don't get too much of a hit from it with Genghis. Too placate him I provide an extra source of wine.

Finally, my main force arrived at the barbarian city. I gave them only enough time for a single catapult assault to lower the defenses and then proceeded to hammer the city with everything I had. I lost a couple units in the process, the city was on a hill defended by archers, naturally, but I took it without too much of a fuss.

Very soon I need to revamp my military with the more cutting edge medieval era units to make sure I don't fall behind in that respect. With Genghis as a nice cushion between me and most everyone else, I feel pretty comfortable and am in no particular rush, however. Isabella is my only real worry and I think I can handle her pretty good at this point, if needed.

1260 A.D. Chichen Itza was completed in Boston--further disincentive for invading forces to do anything but pillage, at most.

1290 A.D. Genghis and Saladin have made peace with one another. Genghis has moved a couple settlers out to the western edge of my civilization's borders, which I won't worry on too much at this point. He is operating in the middle of the lion's den, the man in the middle, the cat in the cradle--naturally his issues are good part due to his own hostility, but since he is my cushion an extra city or two for him should help keep that situation in place. Another engineer, Heron, was born in New York. For the time I'm going to sit him aside until I determine just where he might best suit my needs.

1310 A.D. Saladin cancels our open borders agreement. Fine, I say. Isabella calls me up to demand that I provide her Feudalism. Imagine the nerve? Of course I reject her flatly. Her reply? "Well dang." That's a new one for me, insofar as I recall

1420 A.D. An English Caravel arrives in my western most borders. I quickly check and she is annoyed with Genghis and Saladin for reasons I can only guess, and on cautious terms with Hatshepsut. I'll just leave things open with her for the time and don't make any moves diplomatically.

1430 A.D. I hadn't thought on it much earlier but I could now construct the Hagia Sophia--being that I have an engineer handy it could be done in a single turn and, I'm fairly certain that only Bismarck has engineering as well. If he's building it, which he very well may be, then I'll probably have to use the engineer to complete it in time. For the moment I decide to pass on that effort. That engineer will be more useful a bit later on I suspect as Bismarck moves into the industrial and will give me a run for my money on any wonder that might hold interest. New York has also been a primary military city, given it's central location and its strong productivity. It very well may be passed by upcoming cities on the latter, but all things considered it seems a good spot for the Heroic Epic and the +100% military unit build rate.

1470 A.D. Unplanned as it may be, I have Atlanta, which itself is turning into a very nice production city, start construction on the Ankgor Wat. If it doesn't complete it, just as well and I'll pocket the extra cash. If it does, well, its benefits are fairly obvious. In all other respects it is a fairly well developed city and there isn't much I need from it, so a wonder makes a nice project, particularly since the build time is fairly short for it.

1490 A.D. Copernicus is born in Washington. With the engineer I could go for the simple "golden age", but right now just doesn't feel like the right time for that. He could also research optics, but that should come along fairly fast on its own before long. I'll save him too, for the moment.

1545 A.D. Mostly have gone into builder mode, updating most cities with courthouses, some culture to ensure firmer borders and the like. A couple of cities, as ever, are spitting out various military units to replace aging ones or simply add to the force as a whole. I've also done a few cash upgrades on experienced units I want to keep around. My current research is focused on Nationalism, which should slip me into the Renaissance era before much longer.

1555 A.D. I begin building Versailes in Boston though I suspect I'll be beat to the punch, most likely by Bismark. Again, if so I'll take the extra cash and if I get it, I'll have firmed up the borders there culture wise that much more and, to boot, reduced maintenance costs for surrounding cities.

Madrid is in real trouble of revolting before long due to Isabella's strong culture. I may just let it slip away since I have never really focused on expanding Hinduism through it and, for that matter, would take a notable diplomacy hit with both Bismarck and Genghis, which I'm a bit averse to do over a single city...at this point. Furthermore, I'm fast reaching the point that her UU will be of little concern, with both musketeers and riflemen not too distant. I'm not sure her culture will over take the iron spot again, not at this point anyhow and not without some work on her part. Even more to the point is that, if she attacked me at some point nearterm, it would give me the opportunity to finish her off without any concerns for diplomacy--perhaps even getting Genghis in on the act.

1580 A.D. ushers in the Renaissance via the Nationalism tech. I do switch from it to ensure happiness (which has been a mild issue in Washington and Atlanta, at least) as well as to have a twitch capability if someone gets cranky and decides to invade. I am strong in a military sense, but Nationalism will let me cut short any designs to even pillage, or at least help to stave off such things.

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See you in the next era!

[DeepO]

Monarch difficulty, game 32

DAR 1
DAR 2
DAR 3

Last time, we left DAR 3 at the discovery of education, in 25BC. As said, the 6th city was just founded (correction from last DAR, when I counted again I only had 6 cities at this point ) There's a force of swords gathering outside a barb town, while Isabella is starting to get seriously pissed.



This is the main cause of problems: Boston built an obelisk, and is currently underway for both the great lighthouse and a GA. (there is a city defend I archer, and a promoted warrior in there, BTW. I messed with my settings, and some of the displays were a bit off.) Boston is getting as much worker attention as possible, with the worker just finishing the mine going straight to help the other workers with farming.

If you are in a tight spot (like this city: it needs to have production asap as it is going for a wonder), stacking workers is nearly always the most efficient: the mine got available first with the trading of IW: it got the first worker. When the second one arrived, the mine finished, so the wheat (now available because of a border expansion) was the best spot: both workers go there asap. Next, the quarry. After all improvements, the workers go about establishing roads on the 3 tiles, and towards my capital. Boston becomes a highly productive city very quickly.

A GA in Boston will give me both elephants, and Santiago. And it will most certainly lead to war.


In 200 AD, Christianity gets founded, most likely by Prophet again. Ouch. This is less than ideal: my GP will complete in 2 turns There's always a holy shrine to build, though

As you can see, the barb town hasn't grown yet. I still need 2 swords before I want to attack, one of them has nearly reached the city. In hindsight, there is something I could have improved here: I had 5 units within the barb border. 2 would have done the same thing, with another 1 as backup closeby. That's 2 units that could have stayed within my borders, and avoid an extra upkeep cost.

OTOH, the swords gathering take different paths through the FoW. Thusly, I'm pretty sure I won't encounter any barbs in my less protected core cities.

in 250 AD, Zoroaster is born, and moved to NY.

The mongols decide to settle a city for me, right on the spot I drew out, North of barb town. Cool, they were already on my to do: list, but most certainly are now



DeepO

[DeepO]

part 2

275 AD: War!
Isabella demands pottery. Hum. A bit too early, but I decline. The result was foreseeable: she declares war. Pottery was just the 'excuse' she needed

I wonder how they sniff the danger, as this is yet another example of the AI attacking me about 5-10 turns before I was ready to attack them. I could have bought myself those 10 turns by giving them pottery, but I decided to risk it.

Now this is going to be interesting: Boston, which will be the main focus of her attacks, currently only has 2 units inside, one of which a warrior. I immediately switch off all research to get upgrade money (the barb city should help there too). NY, has 2 units too, is close to the border, and was building a settler (only 5 turns). It starts an axe (might have been one turn later, dunno). The settler will complete later on

in 275 BC, Zoraster creates the Confucianism holy shrine, netting me only 4 gpt (I haven't built a monastry yet, and so also no missionaries)



Now this is the good part: my last sword arrived last turn near barb town, which had grown to size 2. However, it also completed another archer... I waited a turn and it moved out of the city (most barbs will do this: extra units above the garrison will leave to go pillage, or attack). Now, everything is ready.

I easily take the city, and while my units are heavily wounded, none has died. I don't attack the archer, but both city and stack are well defended by fs-archers.

300 AD arrives, and my swords and axe are on their way to the front (except one, there might still be barbs around), glowing but unuseable because of their lack of health. The idea is that they can heal in any city, including those near to the front. They won't attack before regaining full health, but by saving their promotion, they carry an extra medikit with them.

This is also issurance: if I would get troubled by Isabella on my own land, they can take thir promotion in an emergency and attack. Otherwise, all these units will take their promotions right before attacking a city: they will be city attack ones, and don't do any good when used beforehand. Recovering from cat damage might be more important if timed right.

in 375 AD, an axe makes it past my (small) defenses, and threatens my only wine source. I attack with a newly built axe, and win. Near Boston, though, things aren't rosy at all: Isa has pillaged my iron, and is now threatening my quarry. I have just upgraded another warrior, with the first axe dying while attacking. Boston is in ruins... if I can't repair the damage quickly, I won't get the GLighthouse



As NY was under no threat anymore with 2 axes on forest (one Woodsman II, one combat 1 with shock), and Boston should be able to handle the current threat (and none in sight) NY continued on the settler. In a couple of turns, the barb hunters arrive, and will start their approach to both Toledo and Sevilla. I guess the GA is not so important anymore, I'll get the elephants in another way

Those are my targets for this war: I don't have enough forces to go for the kill, so instead of prolonging the battle I'm going to focus on these 2 cities, and demand peace. 10 turns of reinforcements, and possibly 2 more cities fall in the next wave.

I'm also going to get a GA soon, but instead of spending him in Boston, I'll direct him to Toledo: pressuring the Mongol cities is going to be important in a short while. They will get annoyed, but are supposed to be next in line anyway, and having extended borders will certainly speed up my initial few moves in the war against them.
Plus, it might give me a resource or two


So the war progressed nicely: no further attacks in Boston (my Axe was roaming the forest), I was healing and moving towards Toledo, and have gone back to research after enough money to upgrade another promoted warrior to axe. Then this happens:



That barb spawned in about the only fogged tile where it could possibly be a problem, and it did. There is a Woodsman II warrior patrolling the forests in the upper right corner, but it must have spawned right after it left.

Damn. Chicago is going to fall. What's worse, it will lose the CH build, and the worker was order to chop (I wanted to take him off the order, but forgot. 4 turns later I get a few hammers in a city somewhere.). I divert a sword to here, but it won't reach the city in time. I also move the warrior, but that's a woodsman II, I'm not going to throw it against a barb warrior in a city, it will certainly lose.

520 AD: Great Library completes. Wash starts on a worker IIRC.

560 AD: I lose Chicago to a barb warrior .

620 AD: Music discovered. Homer heads for Toledo (which hasn't been conquered yet, but that won't take long). I'm starting Construction, as I need cats and war elephants in my next war.

Toledo falls.

I lose an axe in the counter attack (2 axe just had withdrawn from the city, probably heading for Boston.), but it was mine. Next up: Sevilla. Again, the units which gained a promotion heal up without using it. I can afford the little delay as I'm not experiencing any ww yet, and Isa only has a couple of cities. They won't churn out that much units to attack me with.

Around this time, I build my first unit from the horse/cow city below. Now I've got 2 fully operational barracks cities, both at, or near max pop. Other cities still don't build units

660 AD: city #8 gets founded near some beavers, spice, and fish. Most of the tundra is now permanantly defogged... no more barbs, phew!

680 AD: Homer builds his great work. I gain a cow, but more importantly a good border into Mongol territory. I see cats and plenty of axes, though, these won't be too easy to conquer. My score rises in leaps, I'm well ahead of the pack now.

The Mongols have built a second city next to former barb town, but in a spot which is probably going to be razed (will check my maintenance first to see if I can have a fishermans village or not)



I retake Chicago, only to notice a spanish border where there was none before. These guys... you can't turn your back for 5 seconds or they sneak in a settler party and start in the most annoying places. You can even see their galley fleeing the scene

720 AD: I discover construction, set towards Compass (harbors!), and start the first cats.

It takes to 760 AD before I can heal my sword, and have a upgraded axe ready to attack the Spanish colony. It nets me 10 gold

Meanwhile, my forces around Sevilla are having their hands full with all the reinforcements Isa is building. I don't lose a lot, though, and am getting closer to the amount of units I need to take the city.

in 780 AD, I realize that while I better didn't switch the moment I traded for Monotheism, now would be a good time to go Hereditray rule + Org religion. Anarachy hits the empire, 3rd turn so far this game. The extra happiness is not really needed but is always useful, but apart from 2 cities all of my empire is building some building. Not all have Confucianism, though. Wash is building the Notre Dame, partly helped by chops outside the city's border (I love these: normal forest I tend to keep around, but forests in spots which aren't going to be used by any of my cities are perfect to clear)

800 AD: Sistine Chapel gets built (which is fast after Christianity, possibly because of a GE), and I get my 2nd prophet. It creates the Buddhism holy shrine, which nets me as little as my state religion holy shrine As soon as the war is over, I need to have some missionary builds: with Org religion I don't need monastries anymore.

820 AD: I take Sevilla. Objectives complete. I don't ask for peace yet, though, as there is still some mopping up to do: a cat in the open, stuff like that.

840 AD: after a few more hits, I demand for peace. Isa gladly accepts, one turn before her axes could have taken Boston

10 turns of quietness... ahhh...

This war has given me 2 cities (and the barb city in the first turn as well), costed me some 6-8 units, I gained elephants too. I needed to divert my slider to cash for 2 turns for upgrades.

There was one more victim, though. in 820 AD, the great lighthouse completed... elsewhere. I should have beaten that in Boston, if it wasn't for all those nice improvements that got pillaged or occupied. I got cash, but who needs cash when one of the most powerful wonders is so close by? :sad:

In hindsight, I should have chopped instead of reimproved Boston. Very risky as it would have been near to Isa's border, but it would have given the GLighthouse.

[DeepO]

Part 3

Consolidation
As my 10 turns are ticking by, I realise that my empire can use some building up before going to war. I am very clearly first in territory and pop (score too), my tech lead is excellent. However, I'm running at 50-60% slider. I am finishing the last of the CHs (those farthest away, thus having the largest impact), I'm about to get harbors, and I want forges too: Metal Casting isn't available for trade yet as only Saladin has it.

I decide to take a turn: I'm not going to attack Isa right away, but will be going for forges first. Then, probably Machinery, possibly Feudalism. I'll try to create a happy/health buffer in most cities, which can later switch en masse to unit building (as they won't be bothered by health/happy problems for a while). This will probably mean aqua's, granaries (smaller cities don't have these yet), and theatres. For once, I'm not going to forget to research Drama soon

I need missionaries to do something about my gold situation: I'm only gaining 9 gpt from 2 holy shrines, while I can easily generate 20 in total. Further, I'm running Org Rel now, but not all my cities have state religion yet. Not all would profit from the 25% bonus (3 hpt or less), but still... I need some focus there.

Beelining?
As to research: I'm still comfortably in front of everyone, but Saladin looks like he is going to become a problem: he always has all the techs one of the other AIs have, it seems. And he won't trade with me either.

The problem with beelining, is that it can get you too advanced. Yep, you read that right.

Whenever you are too far ahead, the popups on the non-tradeable techs become "we fear you're becoming too advanced", instead of "we don't like you enough", or "we don't want to trade this tech yet". When this happens, you need to hit the brakes, and go for lower techs (or halt research alltogether). Beelines work best when you're not too advanced, but just in front of the pack: by having monopoly techs, you can trade for all the other ones.

In this game, going for Education straigthaway would probably have lead to that. I want to avoid that. I'm still safe: I'm not trading CS, and even if Alphabet was discovered a couple of turns ago by the AIs, they won't get CS easily. It closes off the education beeline, with Liberalism I'd like to get to first. I'm already dreaming of 20 turns of unhampered cavs...

So, for the moment, I'm going to do some lower techs. Compass now. MC next. Machinery and Drama soon. And possibly Philosophy too (although I decide to wait. I like Angkor Wat, but not enough to delay my forges ).

In the mean time, I'll keep an eye out for CS. The moment one of the AIs gets it, I'm rushing forward to Education. There, I build another waiting point: I'll probably do 1 or 2 turns of research, after going to something else. The moment somone reaches Edu, I go for Liberalism.

That's the best spot, at least in my experience, right in front of the AIs. Easier to deal with, and the moment you need to you push everything forward for a beeline. I intend to do that with either Cannons or Cavs (Cannons preferred, but I'll probably pass by cavs first)

This path also means I'm going to need to build all-new units in 50-100 turns. Maybe in the mean time there is a window to use what I'm building now. Some limited war with war elephants and cats could give me some of Isabella's cities... we'll see.




History continued

920 AD: I discover Compass. I set my goals to Metal Casting. I decide to forget about Optics: I would like the +1 move bonus, but can't afford the detour. As I like marine attacks (so Seals will probably work too, haven't used them before), this will hamper my progress later on somewhat, but right now it's not worth the diversion in resources.

1000 AD: Notre Dame completes. I start on missionaries (after a granary, I need the health, not the growth). Angkor Wat has been built somewhere! Too bad, I like that wonder. Now Philo is definately going to need to wait. Perhaps I can use a prophet for that.

1030 AD: Metal Casting. Forges start in many cities. I go for Machinery. I still need Currency, but my trade routes from harborless cities aren't doing well. In a couple of turns, though, Currency is going to be huge... now it would be a moderate bonus.

1060 AD: my second missionary attempt in Sevilla fails again. The city is Jewish, but is so close to Isa's Hinduist holy city (I assume, haven't spotted it yet), I fear Hinduism will spread. When I go to war, it will already be hit by unhappiness as it is partly Egyptian. I don't want to starve the city to death by also having the wrong religion. I prefer to have both Confucianism as Buddhism in the city.

Besides, it's fastly becoming one of my best cities in both production and commerce. Only food is severly lacking.

1090 AD With all cities having received an extra archer, and a buddhist monk completed Atlanta (the horse/cow city) starts on a forge. I'm also getting my first seafood resource, which means that harbors are now generating +1 health too. I'll need to wait a bit before the second comes online, but that won't take too long...



Last bit of news: I decided to build Heroic Epic in NY. That was a hard choice: It's about to turn into a commerce heavy city. It already has the most important shrine, has 3 wines in reach, and plenty of grass that screams 'cottage here!' Of everything I own, it also has the best possible production so far. Atlanta can't get much better than it already is, and neither can Chicago or Boston (2 other good producers). Toledo looks promising, but is not developed enough: I need units soon, not by the modern era.

I never build the HE in my capital, and I'll certainly won't do it here. Wash is a good site for IW, though: iron in sight, and always running a couple of specialists. Make those engineers (3 from IW!) and they have a decent chance of generating a GE. The IW is not only important for the production bonus it supplies... and I'm going to have to switch of bureaucracy at some point.

1100 AD: Currency becomes available by trade. I give compass, and can immediately put my slider 10% higher. Big effect! This means that my total commerce has risen by over 20%. My harbors are working nicely

1120 AD: Machinery. With nearly all my goals completed, I set my research to Paper. Nobody has reached CS yet. I'm not going to help either, I'm pretty sure that I beat all AIs in research power. Saladin has a couple of techs I don't, including Feudalism, engineering and Philo. He's either going for Islam, or CS.



The popup closes, and the first message I see is that Islam has been founded. I don't need to look at F6 to know by who (although Hatshepsut could have been possible to). CS is going to fall in 10 turns or less.


Washington builds a GA... what the...? It only had a 5% chance of getting that, and I wanted either a prophet or a GS. can't use a great works either. But... .Drama! For once, I'm not getting this one too late

1180 AD: Paper. I go for Education. My empire is starting to get up to speed, with CHs and harbors. Forges are generally starting to finish. I decide to take a quick jab at Hanging Gardens (only 6 turns, and I'm incredibly surprised it hasn't fallen yet), and have started the Colossus previously as well. I don't expect to get either, but both would be welcome wonders.

In hindsight, I should have forgotten my learned behaviour of never getting HG. I could have easily done it (instead, or before Notre Dame). As it is now, one turn later the adventure is over: it gets build. The Colossus finished even this turn, right after selecting the HG

So much for the wonders so far. I'll be hitting a period of relative calmness, wonderwise.



in 1280 AD, I discover Education and enter Renaissance. I still hold the paper advantage over everyone, but need to go for Philo first (Saladin has it, nobody else. No trade soon). I'm hoping Hatshepsut trades for Engineering soon. That's a tech I'll offer edu for: it leads to cannons. It would be great if I was able to get there using Liberalism, otherwise I'll likely pick the mil trade path.

This is the turn Hatshepsut goes to Bureaucracy, and she has traded CS to Saladin for Optics. I've been pretty good at estimating the tech race so far, let's hope this continues.

I'm hoping Bismark is going to acquire some techs before CS: he still is a good trading partner, even if he currently doesn't show anything up. I've sold him literature a while back for a small amount of money (200g), which has still left him favourable to me. I try to keep him happy, even if right now he's not doing me much good. Hatshepsut likes me, Genghis ignores me, Saladin seems friendly but isn't giving me any tech, and no resources either.


Washington is still doing well...


The whole of my empire is starting to run very smoothly. 80% research (70% would be at a surplus, I might shift to that soon to get some reserve treasury).

Confucianism spread out, Buddhism about half. I'm building monks... I can't enter any of the borders next to me, in case you're wondering why I don't know more of the map.

CHs built except in SF, NY and Wash. 2 more harbors to complete, first theatres getting up, forges where they are needed. Some cities are even already on units... now let's hope the Mongols don't decide to attack me in the next 5 turns, so I can first build up to take out Isa...

BTW, I gave Isa CoL for 90 gold a couple of turns back... I figured that is she's building my future CHs, she wasn't going to build her military to keep me from winning them

As for score: I'm now at nearly 1500, compared to Saladin's 1136. Genghis comes in at 1061, the rest below 1000. It's been a while since I had such lead while not totally crashing my economy at this stage of the game, maybe I should play Monarch more often

I'm generally #1, except soldiers (#4). I've got 21% of both pop and land (Genghis coming in around 15%). This looks like a domination win, but I'll need 3 times the territory I'm holding now. Saladin, like always, is a serious candidate for SS, while Hatshepsut can be a minor player in a SS too. UN is possible too: not so much more pop is needed.

DeepO

[chriseay]

warlord

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

640 AD: Portland founded in the southern tundra coast. Coastal cities with financial are excellent.

680 AD: I found Taoism in Portland. I start on Civil Service to get Bureaucracy. I have some other civic changes I'd like to make, so when I get this the one I will go for the one turn of anarchy.

700 AD: I found St. Louis to the northwest of Washington. This will be my last city in the north, with only some backfilling to the south left unless I find some unoccupied land by boat. Also, the Mongols are very unhappy with me, just canceling open borders. We are at a -4, and I think they might attack me soon. I am building up defense with archers and spearmen to hopefully fend them off should they come.

760 AD: I finish Chichen Itza in Boston, research on Civil Service, and switch to Bureaucracy. I am still building up for a possible attack from the Mongols, pumping out archers and spearmen from two cities now to reinforce the long borders I have with them.

800 AD: Ning-hsia flips to me from the Mongols, I had completely surrounded it with my culture bomb of Seattle earlier. I don't really want the city, but taking a city from a rival is never bad. I only hope it will not anger Genghis too much, because I am not well defended enough yet.

860 AD: Discover Machinery and start on Optics to harvest the whales in the southwest. I also start on a galley to begin exploration of the coast. I will continue with a caravel when research allows in 2 turns.

900 AD: New York spawns my first Great Prophet, which I desperately need for money. I'll use it for the Hindu shrine, my state religion and the one that has spread the most to my rivals.

1000 AD: I finish Vassalage and start on Guilds solely for the purpose of the grocer improvement. I can grow much more in Washington, but I am to my health limit at a size 16.

1050 AD: I start on Gunpowder, meaning this DAR will soon be over. I am still far behind on some techs that I don't need, like construction, but I will just wait until an AI will trade.

I end the medieval era in 1080 AD with the invention of gunpowder. I am very far ahead in this game, first in every F9 category and ahead by almost 1000 points to my closet competitor. I will go for the space race win, hopefully being able to get it very quickly.

[Caligula 37 AD]

Re: warlord

Originally posted by chriseay
I am very far ahead in this game, first in every F9 category and ahead by almost 1000 points to my closet competitor. I will go for the space race win, hopefully being able to get it very quickly.

Good play and rewiev!

As we discussed in the previous DAR thread, this is a level easily outgrown with a minimum of careful thinking.

I am also pleased to see that you have found the greatness of coastal cities with this traits.
Your New York and Philadelphia have three or four trade routes each I guess, with +15-20 commerse for each city?
That is if you have the Great Light which is essential for the real boost.

Real life is catching me for a couple of days now. I will probably not be posting my last DARs before you are on your way to Alpha.
See you there!

- C

[chriseay]

Re: Re: warlord

Originally posted by Caligula 37 AD

Good play and rewiev!

As we discussed in the previous DAR thread, this is a level easily outgrown with a minimum of careful thinking.

I am also pleased to see that you have found the greatness of coastal cities with this traits.
Your New York and Philadelphia have three or four trade routes each I guess, with +15-20 commerse for each city?
That is if you have the Great Light which is essential for the real boost.

Real life is catching me for a couple of days now. I will probably not be posting my last DARs before you are on your way to Alpha.
See you there!

- C

Right on on that, I finished the game last night. I didn't get a chance to post the last few DAR's, but I will say I did exceedingly well in this game, and definitely need to move up to restore the fun. Finishing was a chore because there was no challenge whatsoever.

On the coastal and financial.....yes! It is an excellent thing to have. It with the Great Lighthouse and the Colossus makes for some behemoths of coastal cities, even with small populations and little to no infrastructure.

The financial trait in general is great, and I didn't even play to it as much as I might have in the beginning of the game. I shunned cottages for farms and pop rushing, especially in Washington, which got me ahead, but I probably could have done even better by using the trait to my advantage. I also think that the organized trait adds a lot by the end game. I'll go into that more in my DAR's that I should be posting tonight.