No Tech-Trading Challenge

[Catt]

Originally posted by Aqualung71
I'm glad you asked - not as good as I had hoped. In fact, this seems to be my enduring civ "achilles heel" - not being able to research fast enough. I'm spacing my cities closer and growing them to size 12 as soon as possible, building Libraries and Universities and trying to maximise coastal spaces, but never seem to get to that magical 4 turn pace that so many other players report. I'm almost there by the end of the middle ages, then the industrial age hits and I'm back to 7-9 turn pace because of the higher research costs.

There's a big jump from middle to industrial ages -- I wouldn't worry too much about a fall-off from the most expensive tech in the middle ges to the least expensive tech in the industrial age.

In this game, by 1150AD I was pulling 161 beakers per turn at breakeven, which was 50% science (though still in Monarchy, FP not yet finished and a bunch of former Mongolian cities with no courthouses).

The FP, even if built right next to the palace, helps a lot with commerce, especially in C3C. The government choice is also very important. At 1150 AD I was a Republic (meaining I was generating 1 extra gold on each tile that already poiduced one, meaning one extra gold per pop point for the most part). I was generating 176 towards science at 40% science, with a surplus of 56 gpt (one turn on a tech - I probably turned down the slider to generate the surplus on that turn).

By 1310AD when I had changed to Democracy (but still no FP), my beakers at breakeven of 60% science were running at 369.

In 1310 AD, I could produce 269 towards science at 60% at a -7 gpt rate - well less than you. An early FP is key. I'd generally like my FP built in the BC years, even if right next to my palace.

By 1450, beakers at breakeven (60% science) were 495, but since I was in the Industrial age my research pace was still at around 7 turns.[

By 1460 AD I was producing 357 commerce to science at +15 gpt (415 at -37 gpt). My rate throughout the Industrial was 7-10 turns and would never really improve from there on out.

Do you have any feel for how these numbers stack up against what you would consider an acceptable beaker count with a decent chunk of land?

No. But the key to a fast game is setting up an FP-palace grouping at a nice distance as early as possible. You need to have the new core up and running with improvements like libs and unis (and corresponding tax rate improvements) as soon as posible to allow the empire to really flourish. Delaying the two core set-up really impedes the overall empire development. I'll usually build the FP ASAP since I control it's timing -- the FP comes when the city number is reached -- and count on a leader for a palace move. Doing it the other way involves gambling on a leader for an FP build and losing out on the power of an early FP build as soon as possible (OCN increase; small distance corruption decrease). I'd speculate that the lack of an early FP and the lackof two early cores slowed you a bit early but left you in a better position to capitalize on the available terrain later.

Catt

[Aqualung71]

1812AD: As soon as we entered the Modern Age we triggered our GA by sending a Transport loaded with Cossacks (all but one upgraded from Horsies, since Russia boycotted the age of Chivalry) to destroy the Mongol capital off our shores.

We then used the GA to research Computers and Miniaturization in short order, then built SETI and the Internet.

Meanwhile, since we weren't willing to continue paying England 300gpt+ for oil, we had taken possession of an Aztec oil supply on their southern continent by razing their nearby city with our Tank Armies and founding a Russian town on the oil. This was the site of some glorious heroism by our defending forces for some years to come, until we were able to rush first a Harbour, then culture expand to create a sea route to bring the oil to our capital, and then finish it off with an Airport after Flight was researched. We may have been able to do without it, but the threat of Modern Age wars without oil is not very appealing. Besides, it gave our generals something to do for a while and necessitated the creation of a small navy of 2 Battleships and 3 Transports.

We then realised we had no Aluminium either, which would have made a SS victory a little difficult. As luck would have it, there was a source on the same Aztec island only a few tiles away, so we took it with a couple of Tank Armies. The Aztecs then gave in, and gave us the rest of the island bar one town as a trophy of war. But it was looking a little tricky for a while, since Montezuma was more than willing to throw his TOW against our fortified Tank Armies, a strategy that certainly would have paid off eventually if he had had enough of them.

After that we coasted to victory, building the SS in 1900AD. For some reason I didn't do any saves after 1812AD, so I can't attach the victory screenie.

Anyway, back to the research issue - even with a pretty streamlined empire, 30% of world area, Libraries, Universities, SETI, Internet created Research Labs everywhere and a bunch of Commerical Docks, it still took me 6 turns to research the SS techs like Satellites and Superconductor. I can't work out how to get it down to 4. My income by that stage was over 2300 per turn, and corruption was under 20%. Any suggestions?

[Aqualung71]

Yes, that is definitely part of my play style that I need to look at. I have never re-located my Palace, preferring to leave it where it is and go for an optimal FP placement. This usually leads me to delay my FP build because I invariably want to build it in a neighbour's territory, which I can't do until I've conducted a war with them. I'm slowly getting the hang of earlier warfare, but even in this game it took me until around 1100AD to clear the Mongols and Vikings out. RNG luck plays a part too, because even with all that fighting I don't recall generating an MGL apart from the first, which I used to create an Army. This meant I had to build the FP from scratch, which took until 1385AD.

Also, since I've moved more towards earlier warring I tend to switch to Monarchy as soon as possible. Since I don't want to have 3 government switches, I then have to wait some time until Democracy is available, which of course delays the commerce bonus and keeps corruption well above ideal levels for some time.

I used to play predominantly as a Republic, but the hit to unit support costs (particularly in the AU Mod) scared me away from it. But I may start to go back to that instead of Monarchy.

Thanks for the comparison stats and comments Catt - very useful.

[Aqualung71]

By the way, did anyone notice the faunal (is that a word?) shapes of the islands? Ours was either a short-necked giraffe or a long-necked donkey, while I could swear the north-western English island was a pterodactyl swooping on an unsuspecting Byzantine tyrannosaurus rex with it's back legs shorn off!

[Aqualung71]

I've been comparing some of the numbers from UnO's Feudalism game and my Democracy - in terms of population and size our empires were quite similar (duh!....we both owned our home island), though I had left some gaps and there were a few foreign towns on the unproductive land and UnO had the small northern island whereas I didn't, so UnO's land area was higher than mine. But our pop counts were almost identical, which is more important.

So, here are some stats from UnO's Feudal empire at 1300AD compared to my Democracy at 1310AD (with an adjustment for corruption in mine since my FP wasn't actually completed for another 75 years).

....................Feudalism......Democracy

Total cities...........13...............16
Total towns..........32...............22
Total...................45...............38

Income...............510............839
Science (50%)....(224).........(323)
Maintenance.......(140)........(150)
Corruption..........(145)........(210)
Support.................0............(86)

Adjusted net...........1..............70

Improvements:
Mark/Bank.............20............19
Lib/Uni..................41............38
Courthouses..........13.............13
Others..................50............64
Total Imp.............124..........134

Total pop count....223...........221

Average Corr..........28.4%.......25.0%
Income per pop........2.29..........3.80


There are some other differences that would have an effect, but nothing too significant - for example, UnO had built Copernicus so got a research boost from that. The distribution of the various improvements will also have an effect, but again I wouldn't think it would be so skewed as to make any significant difference.

The reason I wanted to do this analysis was because the way you set up your empire for Feudalism compared to Democracy is quite different, due to the unit support cost structure. Simple taking one person's game and comparing the stats by switching governments will not give you a realistic comparison IMO. UnO quite clearly set up a bunch of small towns specifically to deal with the support cost issue. On the other hand, I maintained a relatively small military of 86 units (compared to 172). Had my military been double the size though, the surplus net income of 70 would almost have covered the additional support costs anyway.

You can also see that the two empires are reasonably comparable because they have similar pop counts and number of commerce/science related improvements, even down to the number of courthouses.

So, what conclusions can we draw from this?

The most obvious difference is the commerce bonus lost under Feudalism, and the fact that this necessarily results in a research sacrifice. I was surprised though at how little corruption difference there was. Although admittedly that would have something to do with the respective placement of our FP's, I would have thought the difference would be greater since the main benefit of the FP is to increase your rank corruption denominator.

Uno was clearly better set up for war than I was at that point, and had ground out an additional 86 units while I had a handful of extra improvements. By the way, the improvement figures don't include Walls, which have zero maintenance cost - UnO built a bunch to defend his towns whereas I didn't build any.

One question would be - if you shape your empire for Feudalism as UnO did, how much time would it take to reshape it into Democracy later (if that's what you wanted to do). I suspect it wouldn't be too difficult. Certainly though, you would not want to move from Feudalism into Republic!

As UnO said in the other thread, his empire at this stage is begging for a switch to another government. Certainly based on the above analysis it seems Democracy would be better at this stage, however this is a static analysis and does not attempt to suggest what would have been the right government up to this point - and Feudalism may well have been a better choice than Monarchy based on the empire setup and military objectives. Also, depending on ongoing objectives it may be better to move into Communism. However, that government is not yet available at this point, so it's a question of what is the opportunity cost of waiting the extra turns and then switching into Communism.

Anyway, I don't have any particular axe to grind here - I was just interested in this comparison as the empires appeared similar, as indeed they are. So what do you all make of this?

[Aeson]

Apolyton wasn't allowing my uploads yesterday. Here is my 10BC save.

[UnOrthOdOx]

I wouldn't ever argue that Feudalism be anywhere aproaching Democracy in terms of better gov't. I'm surprised the difference isn't bigger, actually.

My whole point was that it would be better/equal to a similarly set up Monarchy. It was more just an experiment. Communism will be researched for police stations, and I will most likely switch there, but Fascism has a certain romance since I've never used it before...

[Aeson]

Polytheism had finished in 50BC, and then I finally started in on the Republic. Cash flow would only allow 15 turns at 60% to start. By 10AD I had collected 225g into my coffers through various peace treaty renegotiations, and bumped research up to 80% (9 turns, -14gpt), dropping the overall research time a few turns.

My injured troops healed up, while the rest headed North through the Jungles towards the Mongol city of Darhan. I also created an Army with Ivan the Terrible. Into the Army I put 2 AC, planning on being able to transport it later by Caravel. I planned on taking the upper research path in the Middle Ages, as the Economic wonders would be more important in this game. I had ruled out Conquest or Domination at this point, though taking a few key resources and luxuries were in the plans. So a bigger Army wasn't really necessary as war was going to be very limited for the rest of the game.

The Army was used mainly to protect my offensive stack, and allow my Elite units to try and generate Leaders 'safely'.

Back home the major cities were all building Aquaducts and most of the Plains had now been Irrigated. Timing was looking good as there would be a pop boom when entering the Republic, and the home continent would be 'clear' about the same time.

Darhan was easily captured in 50BC, my stack of 9 Swords, some Spears, and an AC taking no losses while killing 2 Reg Spears. The full health units continued along their way towards Ta-Tu, built by the lake bottleneck. My AC Army caught up to the main stack at this time. I was also able to start production on the Forbidden Palace in St. Petersburg. Switching from an Aquaduct, it was going to take me about 15 more turns. Would have prefered it been up before switching to a Republic, but still pretty good timing.

Ta-Tu was taken with only one loss in 90BC. Outside a small tundra city, the Mongols were now kicked out of the southern portion of the continent and I had a source of Horses. Some re-arrangement of tiles cut another 2 turns off my FP build.

110AD saw my Army drive into Mongol territory. A road was pillaged, and then the only route to Hovd blockaded, while my Swords and a Mongol Catapult followed up behind. Since Hovd was on a Hill, I used my Army to kill both Spears after bombardment, and it didn't even take a single HP damage in either fight. This was 150AD.

The Republic was finished in 170AD, and I made the decision not to switch right off, but to let the FP build finish first. Currency was started at 80%, taking 7 turns. Spain had just finished Currency and made it into the Middle Ages, meaning I had fallen behind in the tech race for the first time. It was more a pride thing I guess, to get my free tech and take the lead again before going to Anarchy.

My forces continued to decimate the Mongols, taking Almarikh in 190AD. My Army and spare AC headed towards Karakorum while the majority of my forces dealt with resistance, and in 230AD I captured the Mongol Capitol. After dealing with resistance, my Swords continued North along the coast towards Dalandzadgad.

I took Dalandzadgad in 230AD and made peace with the Mongols for 3 of their cities. Erdenet and Baruun-Urt on the North Tundra isle, and Tsetserleg to the far SW. I also realized the stupidity of trying to make the Middle Ages before switching to Republic, and that I could probably finish Currency during Anarchy anyways with all the Scientists I was now utilizing, so went to Anarchy. 7 turns till Republic, and 6 turns till Currency.

My Army and spare AC moved back S, joining up with some of the Swordsmen stragglers. I was planning on wiping out the Scandinavian remains before going into a Republic.

[Aqualung71]

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
I wouldn't ever argue that Feudalism be anywhere aproaching Democracy in terms of better gov't. I'm surprised the difference isn't bigger, actually.

No, I'm sure you wouldn't....and I wasn't trying to suggest that. I was just struck by the similarities between our stats, so wanted to compare. Perhaps a more telling comparision would be to look at the situation in Monarchy instead of Democracy.

[Aeson]

I declared war on Scandinavia in 280AD. Just moved some forces into place next to Birka, which was on the West coast just South of the Jungles. The next turn I moved the rest of my forces into attacking position near Birka and Reykjavik, the new Scandinavian capitol.

My Army took Reykjavik in 300AD, while Birka was destroyed. Currency finished a turn earlier than expected due to more Scientists, and I got Monotheism as my free tech. Started on Theology at 0%, 37 turns.

In 310AD I lost the city of Aarhus to the Scandinavians before my troops could get there. I made it into a Republic, and upped research to 40%, which was all I could afford at the time. Theology was going to take 14 more turns. Education, the FP, and all those Aquaducts were needed badly.

I retook Aarhus in 320AD, but Tsetserleg (far SW) was razed by a Scandanavian Spearman. The Vikings were down to their last city though, Stockholm, next to the furs which I had completely forgot about this whole time. They could have really been useful!

350AD saw me raze Stockholm, and use captured Workers to build fur colonies. The FP was completed as well. Combined with the Furs, I was able to increase research to 50%, cutting 3 more turns off of Theology. I started to set Bergen up as a Worker factory around this time (would still take a while), needed the pop badly now that my Aquaducts were getting completed. This should have been a priority from day one. Way too late to start building up massive numbers of Workers.

Scandinavia respawned, which wasn't a bad thing. Made peace with them for 100g.

In 360AD I made my first luxury trade with Carthage, who had the Lighthouse (and finally a Harbor I guess). I traded Furs, Incense, and Ivory for Silks. This allowed me to drop below 20% luxuries, upping research to 60% while running a +6 gpt surplus, and cutting another turn off of Theology, which now stood at 5 more turns.

In 370AD I decided I didn't need any of the 292g I had built up, and so bumped research to 80% (-22 gpt), cutting another turn off off Theology (3 turns). My Army made it back up North, preparing to wipe the Mongols off the continent once peace ran out.

390AD reminded me that the second civ to make it to the Middle Ages triggers the barb uprising. An unescorted settler, trying to settle the Tundra bottleneck saw an encampment and 20 Barb Horsemen, and I was glad I didn't send an escort to die as well. The Byzantines landed a Settler/Horseman duo the next turn, almost in the same spot, and I decided to let them deal with the Barbarians. My other Settler headed that way broke off and instead went down the East Tundra penninsula. Also in 400AD Theology finished, and I started in on an 8 turn Education at 70%. I started on Sistine Chapel in Moscow, 29 turns. It wasn't one of the Wonders I had targetted (I wanted everything but Shakespeare's after Sistene, Sun Tzu, and Leo), but it was a good prebuild for Copernicus.

In 430AD research was bumped to 80%, 4 more turns.

440AD saw the return to hostilities between the Russians and Mongols. I captured a Settler pair that had just landed S of the Jungle, landed 2 Elite Swords next to Choybalsan on the Horse island, and moved my Army and 2 Elite AC next to the new Mongol capitol of Kazan. The rest of my Swords (4) and one remaining Archer (all Elite, had disbanded most of the Regular Swords) headed to Ulaanbaatar.

I was able to take Choybalsan the next turn, but my attack on Kazan didn't take it. I killed 2 Spears in the city, and one outside it, but an Archer remained in the city. A Mongol Spearman was headed for Karakorum, and so I retreated my Army (down to half HP's) instead of taking the final kill to make sure I didn't lose a city and to cover my injured Elite AC's. Ulaanbaatar (2 Reg Spears) was taken with the loss of one Swordsman.

In 460AD I was able to finish the Granary in Bergen (probably should have cash rushed it), and started on 2 turn Workers. Finished off the Archer in Kazan with a 4/6 Elite AC.

Education finished in 470AD, and I started on Astronomy at 90% (236g, -31 gpt, 7 turns). The Mongols only had one city left, Mandalgo, on the NW tip of the continent. Yekaterinburg (size 8, 2 turns), Vladivostok (size 6, 2 turns) and St. Petersburg (size 9, 5 turns) had prebuilds for Universities in place. Moscow (size 11) finished their University outright, wasting a few shields, but 50% bonus now was better than to keep going towards Copernicus for the same bonus. Started back on a Copernicus prebuild. Cut another turn off of Astronomy in 490AD with the finished Universities. Made peace with the Mongols that turn as well. I had troops in place to take it, not really sure what I was thinking. My culture was good enough in comparison (~3x) that I didn't have to worry much about flips I guess, but it would have been better to just finish them off.

Smolensk (size 7) went into disorder in 520AD. The first time in the game where a non-corrupt city had gone into disorder outside of Anarchy. My remaining AC gathered down near the furs (which for some reason I hadn't settled yet) to kill the 'Middle Age' Barbs which were still down there. Spain had built a city of their own in the SE Tundra.

Astronomy finished in 530AD, and I started on an 8 turn Banking at 50% (105g, +44gpt). I think this was at the end of a very long playsession and I definitely didn't seem to be making very good decisions at this point. I may have been thinking that I should build up a treasury for Wall Street (which doesn't come until after Stock Exchanges) thinking it would be available with Economics. May have just not realized that having made a trade for Dyes with the English (for Furs, Incense, Ivory) had freed up more commerce. Moscow switched it's prebuild to Copernicus, which was going to take 14 more turns.

After taking a break from the game, I upped research to 60% in 540AD (144g, +22gpt, 6 turns) to drop another turn off of Banking. Rushed a Settler near the Furs and Settled them in 550AD. The Aztecs made a landing further South near the Horses and Iron, and my AC headed towards the last Scandinavian city, built on one of the 3 Furs in the SW Tundra. I traded Furs and Incense to the Aztecs for Wines. In 560AD I traded my Iron to the Spanish for Gems and 24gpt too.

Forgot to mention. At one point I had given Varna (Byzantine city) to Spain, because while at war with Carthage they had dropped a unit off next to it. Later I got Leptis Minor from the Byzantines. It had grown to size 5 by 580AD, so that's a while back. Just my save opened up showing it, had forgotten about that.

Banking finished in 590AD and I started on Feudalism at 40% (361g, +159gpt, 4 turns). Captured Stavanger from the Scandanavians, wiping them out and taking control of 3 more Furs. Peter the Great showed up in the fighting, and I sent him off to build another Army. I thought about moving my Palace with him, but with Moscow being my best city, homing in on a 4 turn tech pace, and no other areas really developed that well, I figured it wasn't going to help that much. That Army would sit around doing nothing until the Modern Era, eventually being filled with Modern Armor.

[Aeson]

Feudalism finished in 630AD, and as I had hoped, my diversion from the top path to give me 4 more turns to build up population and improvements had gotten me up to a 4 turn Economics (it had been 5 IIRC). I started on Economics at 90% (1213g, -2gpt, 4 turns).

I also started building towards an invasion of the Carthaginians. 4 Silks were just too much temptation, and I didn't have the Luxuries to trade for all the others once my population started getting high in comparison to the other AI's.

In 650AD I dropped an Explorer off in Byzantine territory to map it out. The Caravel and it's remaining AC passenger continued on towards the Carthaginian homeland. Another Caravel left Moscow with my AC Army on board.

In 670AD Moscow completed Copernicus. Economics was researched, and I started on Music Theory at 50% (1141g, +147gpt, 4 turns). I figured JS Bach's was worth the 4 turn delay. I had a decent tech lead at this point, Banking, Astronomy, and Economics to offset Engineering and the unnecessary Chivalry and Monarchy that the leading AI's had. St. Petersburg switched their Bank build over to Smith's Trading Company, which would take 29 more turns to finish.

In 700AD I declared war on the Mongols for what I thought would be the final time. 3 Elite Swords, a Catapult, and an Elite AC were sent to capture the size 1 Mandalgovi.

710AD was when Music Theory finished, and I started on Navigation at 80% (1511g, +41gpt, 4 turns). Some more 'wasted' turns of research, but I figured it could be important for trading (maps, and over ocean tiles if necessary), and wanted Magellan's. Novgorod switched it's Bank build over to JS Bach's (36 turns).

In 720AD I found out that the Mongols had sent off another Settler, because capturing Mandalgovi didn't exterminate them. Population growth and new terrain improvements to use dropped JS Bach's build down to 30 turns. My Army and AC were dropped off in Leptis Minor, preparring for an assault on Hippo to the South.

In 750AD Navigation was completed, and I started in on Engineering (1748g, +262gpt, 4 turns). My Army attacked Hippo and Leptis Minor rushed a Barracks. Moscow started a Wonder build. Novgorod and Moscow kept switching back and forth between JS Bach's and Magellans based on which one was more likely to finish first and beat the AI if they started JS Bach's. Yekaterinburg (size 12) was working on a wonder prebuild themselves, using the Heroic Epic.

In 760AD I captured Hippo.

I landed my Army next to Leptis Magna in 790AD. Engineering completed, and I started on Invention at 40% (2765g, +244gpt, 4 turns). I just fortified the Army there, waiting for the other AC to be brought across to add to it. NM's aren't as simple to kill as Spears, at least the Carthaginians didn't have any size 7+ cities. I started rushing Spearmen out of Leptis Minor at this point.

A 3 AC Army proved to be pretty effective at killing NM's, and in 820AD I killed 2 in Leptis Magna, capturing it and 2 sources of Silks. For the rest of the game I pretty much kept 7 of the 8 Luxuries through trading. The Byzantines never had Spices free though, and so I never got all 8. I wanted to keep to fighting as few wars as possible, and didn't need the 8th Luxury, so Carthage was my last target till the Modern Era, other than finishing off the Mongols.

Invention was finished in 830AD, and Gunpowder was started at 40% (2593g, +254 gpt, 4 turns).

For the next few turns my Army would attack Carthage, kill a NM or two, then retreat back to the city and heal, to do it all over again. In 870AD one of the AI started JS Bachs, and was going to beat either Novgorod or Moscow to it. So I switched my Smith's build in St. Petersburg (9 turns), and Moscow took Smith's (12 turns). That left Magellan's for Novgorod (4 turns). Gunpowder finished, and I started on Chemistry at 70% (3622g, +97gpt).

Magellan's finished in 900AD. Chemistry in 910AD. I started on Physics at 70% (3592g, +107gpt, 4 turns). At this point I was up Chemistry (not going to worry about optional techs from here on out) on the leading AI's.

In 920AD I captured Carthage claiming the other two Silks. For peace I received Cirta, a small city that had just been founded on the Horse island. The Heroic Epic finished in Katerinburg.

Physics finished in 950AD, and I started on Theory of Gravity at 70% (1844g +140gpt, 4 turns). I had been cash rushing quite a bit of stuff lately, but was trying to keep enough gold so I could run a heavy deficit in the Industrial Era until my research capacity got up to speed.

St. Petersburg finished JS Bach's finished in 960AD.

Moscow finished Smith's in 990AD and started on Newton's (20 turns). Newton's was going to trigger my GA, and should come right when my research (and/or treasury) would be needing it to keep up the tech pace. Same year ToG finished, and I started on Magnetism at 70% (1509g, +145gpt, 4 turns).

[Aeson]

Magnetism finished in 1030AD. Metallurgy at 60% (1568g, +224gpt, 4 turns)

1060AD St. Petersburg starts a Palace build (59 turns) as a pre-build for something... Probably not ToE as it will be a while before any AI can build it. Want to save those free techs for expensive Modern Era ones.

1070AD Metallrugy completes. My free tech is Nationalism (yuck! all this does is help the AI research it faster). Start on Steam Power at 100% (1897g, -51gpt, 4 turns). Looks like my treasury will be able to hold out until my GA starts, 12 turns left on Newton's. Not sure if I can keep the 4 turn tech rate though, as it's just barely getting to 4 turns with Steam. I start Granaries in several cities with bonus food sources. Their maxed out on pop, but will be able to spit out Workers like no tomorrow, to finish the railroading up fast. My Workers (46 native, 27 captured) start repositioning to quickly rail up the core.

Steam Power finishes in 1110AD. As I feared, Electricity is going to take 5 turns to research (100%, 1244g, -60gpt). I could have gotten Medicine in 4, but didn't want to research it and speed up the AI's to Scientific Method until absolutely possible. Plus I wanted to get to Replaceable parts ASAP, as getting those Rails down is going to help more than anything. The final factor was that Vladivostock, Yekaterinburg, Bryansk, Samara, and Arkhangle'sk, were going to be spitting out Workers, and thus my research capacity was going to drop. I may not have been able to hold a 4 turn research for Medicine anyways.

1160AD see's Electricty finished. Replaceable Parts are started at 100% (753g, -120gpt, 5 turns). Newton's is 3 turns away and I really need it now.

Newton's completes in 1190AD, and my GA starts. It isn't enough to shave a turn off of Replaceable Parts at this point (2 turns left), but lets me drop down to 70% (417g, +154gpt). My Worker spamming has gotten me up to 82 native Workers, and half the important part of the continent is railed.

Replaceable Parts completes in 1210AD, effectively doubling the number of Workers (97 at this point) I have. The rest of the continent will rail very quickly. Industrialization will take 4 turns to research at 80% (280g, +6gpt). That's with several of my main cities down in pop waiting for their Workers to be re-added. Looking good. (At some point in the recent past I took Batshireet from the Mongols and ended their civilization)

In 1250AD I top out at 103 Workers. Going to be building my cities back up now as most of the important stuff is railed. Industrialization completes, and I start on The Corporation at 70% (554g, 102gpt, 4 turns).

[Mountain Sage]

A very interesting game, indeed, but to research everything, what a pain!
Anyway, some highlights from my jumbled notes…

4000BC:
I founded my capital by the sea and the forest (to be chopped later on for speeding up the Granary). I researched WC at 28 turns. Why? Because I thought I would need some Archers pretty soon and hoped to get the Alphabet via a hut. Of course, we stared with Pottery and BW.

3000BC:
We already had contacts with Scandinavia and the Mongols (both +Alphabet and WC, -BC).

2710:
We got Alphabet from the hut far south. Writing at top speed. Our second city was founded near the bones of an extinct Oliphant.

1950BC:
A friendly Hun Settler joined Catherine’s Despotism. We didn’t turn him away, but he has a long trek north to complete, to show his worth. Writing in 7 turns. 36gold +1gpt. Our ‘military’ consists in 2 Warriors, 2 Spears, 4 Workers and 1 Settler.

1350BC:
We finished Philosophy and got Literature for free and lo!, we got TWO SGL for our pain!. We have now 5 cities, 36 gold (+9 gpt now).

[Mountain Sage]

710BC:
We researched Masonry and Mathematics (sacrificed one GL for the Statue of Zeus) and will have Mysticism in 6 turns. We met Spain (+ the Wheel, IW and Mysticism, - Writing) and the Byzantines (at war with).

570BC:
IW in 11 turns. Some stupid adviser told me we are a backward people… wondering why...
Our military build-up is beginning.

[Mountain Sage]

450BC:
our war against Scandinavia is going well… and we found a source of iron! Polytheism in 14 turns.

230BC:
Decided (a bit late, maybe) to acquire the Temple of Artemis with our second SGL. MM in 8 turns. He war with the Vikings ended with the gain of 2 towns for us.

350AD:
We entered the Medieval Times with Feudalism and are at war with the Mongols. Our FP will be ready in 3 turns, then our next (first!) GL will build the new Palace for us. 456 gold –9 gpt. Scandinavia is down to 1 city on the continent. Are researching the Republic in 15 turns (still under Despotism).

Scandinavia - Literature and Feudalism.
Spain - Feudalism.
England - CoL and Literature.
Byzantines + the Republic, Monarchy and Engineering.
Mongols – at war with
2 unmet civs.