AU501 - DAR4: Steam Power

[lockstep]

AAR, part 4. This time without trades, embassies and finished city improvement unless they are of special importance.

210 AD: Sardica founded
230 AD: Peace with Russia for peace, 20g; Sumeria has Eng; Feu to Sumeria for Eng, 55g; Osaka rushes Habor (-> ivory connected)
260 AD: Constantinople finishes cathedral
310 AD: Ivory, 3gpt to Russia for dyes; ivory, 3gpt to Dutch for spices
320 AD: Theology

I was eager to get Engineering ASAP so that I could plant some forests near Constantinople and get it to 27 shields pt. The ivory deals were actually somewhat careless because Constantinople was still 8 turns away from finishing the Statue of Zeus, and the Dutch had started the Great Wall (the other missing ancient wonder) in Amsterdam. Both Russia and the Dutch started the SoZ the next turn, but weren't successful in the end.

330 AD: Japan invades near Osaka with 8 spearman / archer
340 AD: I demand withdrawal, Japan declares war; 7 japanase units killed by Med infantry
380 AD: Chivalry; Military Great Leader near Osaka (-> army); Constantinople finishes Statue of Zeus
400 AD: Peace with Japan for peace, 5g

This is a temporary peace until the SoZ would have spawned enough AC's. Japan's fate had been sealed before, but now it was bloody personal.

420 AD: Amsterdam (Dutch) finishes Great Wall
430 AD: Sumeria has Inv
450 AD: Mono to Sumeria for Inv, 27gpt, 40g; Mono to Dutch for 27gpt, 40g; declare war on Hittites; dromon kills Hittite galley (-> Golden Age)

This was the first of many profitable tech-for-gpt deals. Also, Invention would turn out to be one of the last techs that the AI got first - my GA led to a lasting tech lead. The actual attack on the Hittites was carried out because of two reasons: a) While I absolutely wanted to get Sistine Chapel (which Constantinople was building at the time), Leonardo's Workshop also seemed valuable - not because of its culture pt, but because of its actual effect (cheaper upgrades) - therefore the GA, b) I suspected that the Hittite galley was about to drop a settler on the western island that I had neglected to settle so far.

480 AD: Russia demands Feu, I decline, they declare war
490 AD: Naissus founded
500 AD: Gunpowder; no saltpeter
520 AD: Dyrrachium founded
530 AD: Septum founded
550 AD: Education
560 AD: Nicomedia founded; Constantinople finishes Sistine Chapel
570 AD: Constantinople rushes university

By now I had settled all of the western island save one city that Sumeria had managed to sneak in. I decided that Erech would be mine eventually. As for the university rush: I disbanded a pikeman and spent 372 gold - the next turn Constantinople would start Leo's. The rest was preparing for the death of Japan.

590 AD: Music Theory
610 AD: Peace with Rusia for peace, 7g; Amorium founded (on far western island)
630 AD: Printing Press; 5-tech-lead compared to Sumeria, Dutch
650 AD: Declare war on Japan; attack Kyoto, lots of Japanese spearmen killed; 3 AC army wins; end of GA
660 AD: 3-AC army (9/13 hp) killed when attacking elite Japanese spearman
670 AD: Military Great Leader near Kyoto (-> army); Kyoto captured (-> Hanging Gardens)
680 AD: Banking
700 AD: Edo captured
710 AD: Ancyra founded; contact with Japan, 8gpt, 40g to Dutch for spices
730 AD: Satsuma captured (using 3-knight army)
740 AD: Chemistry
750 AD: Amsterdam (Dutch) finishes Knight's Templar
760 AD: Constantinople finishes Leonardo's Workshop
770 AD: Hattusas (Hittites) finishes Sun Tzu's Art of War
780 AD: Tokyo captured (-> Japan destroyed)

Anyway, Tokugawa had breen granted the favour to contact overseas civs before the Byzantine southwest island was handed back to its rightful owner. The death of the 3-AC army on its 2nd attack was rather embarrassing, but at least I would be able to build the Military Academy. Sun Tzu's actually was the last wonder in the ongoing cascade - from now on, the AI would only get wonders that I wasn't interested in (or so I thought). Ancyra, the 2nd city on the recently explored far western island, was originally planned to the NE of Amorium, but the Hittites dropped a settler there and I was forced to evade to the N. That city site would prove rather useful later.

790 AD: Astronomy
840 AD: Physics
890 AD: Magnetism
940 AD: AI civs have contact (except to Egypt, Russia); Russia demands contact with Dutch, I decline, they declare war; Democracy
980 AD: Sumeria, Dutch have Nav; ivory to Dutch for world map, 105g; Constantinople finishes JS Bach's Cathedral

By now it was time to claim the rest of the western island.

1000 AD: Declare war on Sumeria; Theory of Gravity; Hittites agree upon alliance with Sumeria, declare war
1010 AD: Erech captured (using 3-knight army)
1050 AD: Metallurgy (-> Industrial Age); Medicine (free tech)
1070 AD: Isin captured; Ur (Sumeria) finishes Copernicus' Observatory

I would have liked to build that wonder myself, but had been aware that the chance of success was quite low. So Constantinople switched to Newton's University.

1080 AD: Sumeria invades (former) Japanese island (-> is defeated)
1110 AD: Zabalam captured; peace with Sumeria for peace, 8gpt; Hittites invade western island (using 1 longbowman)
1120 AD: Peace with Hittites for peace, Adana, 1gpt, 18g
1130 AD: Peace with Russia for peace, 8g; Constantinople finishes Newton's University
1140 AD: Steam Power; coal revealed (on 2nd western island)

The single Hittite longbowman actually landed near a spearman-defended city (I had been lazy with the defence of the western island), but the Hittites nevertheless agreed upon a peace treaty that yielded me their own city on the far western island. At this point, both western islands were completely mine.

Plans for the future:
a) Connect coal,
b) Railroad city radius of Constantinople,
c) Build Smith's Trading Company and / or Shakespeare's Theater in Constantinople,
d) Railroad homeland and (former) Japanese island,
e) Build Forbidden Palace in Kyoto,
f) Make some profitable tech-for-gpt deals, but preserve a substantial tech lead,
g) Let Constantinople build every Industrial Age wonder (save Hoover Dam, which must be built near a river).

[Cort Haus]

Emp, Standard Rules

I'll try and keep it brief, and won't post my notes, just the storyline:

I beelined for Education to take advantage of cheap Uni's, trading for the other techs. I lost out on a wonder after my Tzu prebuild was dashed by the Sumerians completing it 4 turns from Theology, so took a 236 shield hit and grabbed the Heroic Epic only to build Sistine with an SLG from Banking.

Meanwhile, I finished off Japan in 320AD, after peace had expired and went builder, adding the Knights Templar to the SoZ. That pair took care of military while getting in Unis & Cathedrals on the homeland, Courthouses in Japan, and Workers elsewhere.

When Gunpowder came round in 500AD I didn't see the Saltpeter in Hittitia, and the Dutch had Chemistry. Made plans to DW on Hittites and get Sumerians in, take island Hittite holdings with AC and let Sumerian army go against large Hittite TMC forces. Sumerian Knights should eventually win, so as they reach south I hit Sumaria's core, with Crusaders and Knights taking their wonders.

Part of the plan was fine - I took the exterior Hittite holdings on the SE island and the far NW island. Settlers were required to hold the latter - though shared with 2 Sumarian cities.

Meanwhile the Dutch were enjoying a GA from their war with the English and marching ahead in tech. The Rampaging Mayans destroyed the French. I started a Smiths prebuild in Const and an FP in Kyoto.

The other part of the plan was flawed. Sumeria didn't have horses, just slow-movers, and the Hittite TWC couldn't cross the swamp at the Isthmus. Summeria failed to get Leo's, and became less of a target, so I decided to take the core Hittite cities instead.

Sumeria did mop up plenty of Hittite slow-movers, but when I landed my first force on the Hittite mainland (4 Knights, 2 crusaders) the Hittites unleashed a ton of 3 man-chariots on my BEF, losing a bunch but eventually destroying all 6 of my units. At this time I got a lump of War-Weariness.

Three turns later I landed a second force :
4 knights, 3 crusaders, 3 AC and 2 elite swords

I should have brought some Pikes. The knights get hammered again and one dies. 6 Dromons pound the city and get a couple of hits and I attack with everything except the knights. On the way I get an MGL from a Swordie! My second. Hatusha taken.

Then Sumeria and the Hittites made peace. Managed to take Tarsus then made peace, getting Aleppo too. This left four Hittite cities. It was now I realised I had some Saltpeter on the ex-Hittite lands.

I hit the Industrial Era in 880AD, getting Medicine as the freebie and headed for Steam, despite the impending loss of the Knghts Templar.

In 890 I traded for Military Tradition, upgraded some Knights and prepared to attack the remaining Hittite cities on expiry of the 20-turn peace. Smiths and the FP completed on the next turn. Nice, as they started on the same turn. Before these builds Corruption was 183, Maintenance 124, and after Corruption fell to 150 and Maint to 96.

Steam Power discovered in 950, started on Electricity, with prebuilds for ToE and Hoover in place.

The next turn, peace expired with the Hittites, who got hit and subsequently destroyed 4 turns later with :

1 x 3 Cav Army, 1 x 3 Sword Army, 5 crusaders, 2 MI, 3 AC, 1 Elite Sword, 5 Dromons and 5 cav.

[Cort Haus]

Coal

The English, The Mayans, the Dutch, and the Russians were given some. The Japanes, the Hittites, the Sumerians and the Byzantines weren't.

Luckily, the NW jungle island sees some in a Byzantine city radius. One that came from the peace with Japan. Maybe that flip was worth it.

I don't blame Dom for this resource shortage. It's a C3C bug/feature that needs fixing.

[Aqualung71]

DAR4 Play

The 4th period of play opened for me by quickly re-taking Nagova from the brain-damaged Mursilis. His 3-man chariots were no match for my mighty armoured men of the cross, and seemingly his horses were not able to retreat with a chariot in tow, so the strangely unarmed men were slaughtered in their 3’s where they stood (umm…3 men, 1 spear? I told you he was a few shillings short!). I then took their other city on the island and launched a small expeditionary force onto their homeland which quickly came unstuck, leaving only one red-lined Horseman who made it back onto the troop ship to report what he had seen. Begrudgingly I agreed to peace after Mursilis landed 6 chariots next to my lightly defended town. But a Byzantine Empress never forgets! He will pay dearly….but Theodora has begun the renaissance and war will have to wait for now while some growth and consolidation takes place and infrastructure is improved.

In 790AD with one turn to go on Copernicus in my capital, I couldn’t decide whether to complete it or switch to JS Bach, which I really wanted for the happiness bonus as I knew I would be in some long wars eventually (though only useful for my homeland). Besides, my science rate was holding up reasonably well anyway. In the end no decision was necessary, as the Maya beat me to it that very turn, so I switch to JSB which I completed fairly easily in 880AD. Then I traded and researched my way to the end of the middle ages in pretty good shape.

I was in the fortunate position of being just in the tech lead by the time I hit the Industrial age, so I was wary of trading anything to Sumeria at that point. I didn’t want them to hit the Industrial age and get a free tech, which would devalue my free tech if it was the same one (any thoughts on this folks?). I got Nationalism and traded it to the Dutch and the Maya, then only later to Sumeria, for some optional techs and lots of gpt’s since the AI loves Nationalism so much. This gave me such a boost that I could immediately turn science to 100% and still generate cash, despite the high cost of my Republican army that I was only now starting to reduce through finishing aquaducts and pop growth to cities (pause to grumble about modding the city support down from 3 to 2).

I reached Steampower by 980AD and then surprise, surprise……Dominae (or the RNG) gave us no coal!!! In fact, it was fairly scarce all round. Luckily I spotted some on the far western island that was only partly colonized by the Dutch, Sumerians and Hittites, but the coal was still in no-man’s-land. I quickly dispatched a settler accompanied by 2 Riflemen and a Crusader, followed closely by 3 of my scarce workers. RR’s are now within sight!

Prebuilds for ToE and Hoovers are not yet in place since I will build factories and coal plants first….leaving the AI very little chance (ie, SGL generation or wonder cascades on Shakespeare, Smiths or US) of getting these wonders.

Random Ramblings

By this time I had moved up to 5th position overall, power still lagging behind the Dutch and culture continuing to build. Ominously, Constantinople had entered the top 5 cities with its recent concentration on wonder building. I am hoping this will continue.

Interestingly, Russia is still on top in overall score. By now they had fallen some 16 techs behind the leaders, with only the Dutch and Sumerians managing to keep pace with the learned men of Byzantium, and the Mayans 2 techs behind…and only then at a crippling cost to them (and hopefully to the detriment of their own research rates). Oh well, I guess size does matter after all, though Russia seems to have shrunk somewhat at the hands of the Egyptians. Although now in Republic, they were in Feudalism for some time….probably because Catherine declared war on me in about 1000BC and I’ve refused to talk to her ever since. Ok so I’m being *****y, but you know how us women are! And in all that time she hasn’t yet dared to send one unit within sight of my lands. 2,000 years of war with not one act of aggression on either side! No WW for me either, which I found strange since I often get it eventually even when I don’t declare. Maybe it’s because we haven’t had units in each other’s territory?

One thing I haven’t been able to fathom is how the heck Sumeria has stayed in the tech race, given that they have only 6 cities on their home island and 5 scattered around far away! Could this possibly be partly due to the overzealous tech-trading of the Byzantines? One certainly hopes not. Theodora would not be pleased!

I’ve also realized rather belatedly after following other people’s games, that I just space my cities too far apart. Some players have 12 cities on the home island, while I’ve got only 8. This must seriously affect my commerce, so I’m going to plug in some gaps….better late than never I guess!

I should have mentioned this in the previous DAR, but I was most annoyed to discover that once I researched Astronomy, I could no longer build my fire ships. So a 2/1/3 Dromon with 2 bombard upgrades to a 1/2/4 Caravel with no bombard but slightly larger capacity? What gives? This doesn’t make sense to me, especially when I don’t have Saltpeter to build the frigging frigates that supposedly made up for it a couple of techs later.

And no, I didn’t bother trying to secure Saltpeter. There just didn’t seem to be enough credible military opposition (or aggressive threats) to need Musketmen, and with the reduced attack strength of Cavalry, I think Knights and Crusaders are good enough. Although having said that, I’ll be in trouble if I encounter even a smattering of Riflemen. So much for the wisdom of trading around Nationalism, particularly to Sumeria!

Strangely, despite being 3 techs into the Industrial age, no one has yet researched Free Artistry. It’s tempting at 4 turns to get a jump on Shakespeare. On the other hand, it’s a big shield investment given that hospitals are just around the corner anyway. Still, the 8 culture points would be nice….hmmm!

Interestingly, I haven’t yet completed a single Courthouse and corruption is still running at only 13%. Small number of cities around 2 main cores I guess. Well, that will change.

Objectives for DAR5

Having read many other posts, I have come to the realization that my play style of planning well-spaced settlements to develop high production mega-cities in the Industrial age has become outdated with the more war-mongering slant of C3C (if it ever was a decent strategy to begin with!), and more particularly with this map. For me, this is more easily said than done as I find this is a completely different way of thinking.

So, my objectives for the Industrial age are fairly straightforward:
• Build a few more settlers to fill in some gaps – probably 2 more towns for each of my main island and the former Japanese island. While probably too late to be of much use since I’m not far away from growing my cities to metropolis size, I will nevertheless undertake this responsibility. But I can see from other people’s play (notably nbarclay and Rhothaerill) that this has restricted my early Industrial age research to 6 or 7 turns compared to potentially 4 or 5 turns with more cities.
• Complete factories and coal plants (after securing and connecting my coal source) in several core cities, then push on towards the accepted though much maligned strategy of building ToE and Hoovers;

• Build a bunch more workers and initially RR my top 3 or 4 cities;

• Get the Heroic Epic and Military Academy built somewhere to improve my army generation and potency;

• Continue to build my military and invade the Hittite/Sumerian continent and the smaller island to the south, accepting no less than total removal of these barbarous tribes. Though I would dearly love to hit Sumeria first for Magellan and Leo’s, the Hittites are a more practical target since that will give me Saltpeter for the Cavalry I may need for Sumeria, plus without Iron the best they will have is 3-Man Chariots. I’ve realized in hindsight that this should have been done long ago when I had clear military superiority over both tribes;

• Maintain and stretch my tech lead;

• Reach Motorized Transportation and invade either the Maya or the Dutch. At this stage probably the Maya – less powerful and 2 local luxuries compared to 1. This strategy is highly fluid depending on availability of Rubber and Oil (glares at Dominae yet again!)

Put simply, I merely need to build settlers, military, buildings and wonders all at the same time and still manage to grow pop and production, then take over nearly half of the world within a few hundred years. Easy huh? Hmmm, I’m getting worried about Theodora – she seems to be becoming delusional!

[alexman]

Theodora's smile: part 5

It was not long ago that Theodora had finally met the leaders of all the major civilizations on the planet. They all loved her except for Tokugawa. First he acted all annoyed with her for no reason, and then he got jealous when she started hanging out with Gilgamesh and Mursilis. As a last resort he asked her to “study together”, to show him how to do Math, and when she refused, he declared war.

So Theodora was forced to defend herself. She used the Byzantine Golden Age to build an army, countless supporting bombardment units, and an enormous navy. She upgraded her army in her friend Leo’s Workshop, and she set sail for Japan. The invasion force, which landed next to Osaka in 30 AD, consisted of 24 Medieval Infantry, 12 Pikemen, 23 Trebuchets, and 34 Dromons. Tokugawa was caught off guard, and didn’t attack immediately after the landing. Theodora actually thought the Japanese invasion would be a cakewalk at this point, so she began to choose her outfit for the victory parade.

It was not to be so easy, however. Fierce bombardment by Dromons and Trebuchets badly damaged all Osaka defenders, but subsequent attacks by Medieval Infantry were not enough to conquer the city. 15 Japanese defending units were killed at Osaka, but there were still more left inside the city! After fierce counterattacks by Tokugawa’s units and after Theodora’s troops killed 15 more defending units inside the city, Osaka finally fell in 70 AD. Still, the battle of Osaka had not been won. Swarms of Japanese units encircled the city, ready for another counterattack!

[alexman]

Theodora's smile: part 6

The Byzantines fought bravely to retain control of Osaka, but they nearly failed. Pikeman losses were mounting, and morale was low. But just when things looked bad, the Great Leader Justinian emerged to rally the troops. This was the turning point of the war. With Justinian leading a Medieval Infantry Army, and with Trebuchet and Dromon bombardment support, Tokugawa had no chance. Slowly but surely, the Japanese island was conquered in 290 AD.

After the demise of evil dictator Tokugawa, Theodora wanted to form an administrative center in former Japan, to keep the locals under control. A military leader would have been ideally suited to be put in charge of the new Japanese province, but despite numerous victories of Elite units, even after the Heroic Epic was completed, no other leaders had emerged. The Forbidden Palace construction in Kyoto had to be supervised by Theodora, so it was painfully slow, as she had other duties.

Despite Kyoto being the 16th farthest city from Constantinople, and an ancient prophecy that spoke of the great curse of the corruption gods when any city that exceeded the OCN (which was 12 for Deity on this map), Theodora managed to make Kyoto productive. She rush-built a courthouse and her smile brought happiness to the people of Kyoto, who held an annual ‘we love the Empress’ day. Those two things combined brought the OCN in Kyoto up to 22, which enabled completion of the Forbidden Palace in just 20 turns.

[alexman]

Theodora's smile: part 7

With Japan secured, Theodora provided her friend Gilgamesh with some of her spoils of war: Ivory. Gilgamesh immediately used the ivory to start construction of an enormus Statue of Zeus to thank and impress her. Little did he know that Theodora was on the verge of discovering Metallurgy, which she would eventually share with him to make the statue seem much less impressive.

Thanks to bombardment from Dromons and Trebuchets, Theodora suffered minimal losses in Japan. She killed about 100 Japanese units and lost fewer than 10. But with such a large, high-maintenance army remaining, Theodora’s generals were pressing for another war. Gilgamesh’s empire was spread into three islands, so it would be an easy target later. He was still a useful trading partner, not to mention all his efforts to impress her. That meant that the next unfortunate victim was Mursilis. Theodora hoped that Mursilis had been weakened by continuous fighting against Gilgamesh. He had a source of gems but he didn’t give her any, he had no money, and he had no knowledge. He served his purpose with some early trades, but Theodora was no longer interested in him as a partner, trading or otherwise.

Even though Theodora expected the Hittite army to be weakened from previous fighting the Sumerians, the war was surprisingly similar to the Japanese war. A city was conquered, only to have her troops suffer from vicious counterattacks by 3-man Chariots.

[alexman]

Theodora's smile: part 8

And similarly to the Japanese war, a Great Leader emerged to seal victory for the Byzantines. Actually, this time there were three of them: Belisarius, Constantine, and Theodosius were assigned to lead Medieval Infantry, Knight, and Musketman Armies, respectively.

Speaking of Knights, mounted units were a rare sight in the Byzantine Empire. The three units in Constantine’s Army were assembled especially for that purpose, and there were no others to be found. With an archipelago as the battlefield, Theodora knew that it was far more efficient to invest in cheaper slow-movers and lots of Dromons to carry them. Her military analyst informed her that a Medieval Infantry unit and a Dromon ship cost the same as one Knight, but they move faster, and they get bombardment support. Also, back in college (Apolyton University) Theodora once learned that in this game numbers are king, and against numerically superior foes it’s best to have lots of cheap units rather than a few good ones.

Musketmen were finally part of the Byzantine army towards the end of the Hittite war because as a bonus for her conquest, Theodora finally gained access to saltpeter. She also upgraded her Trebuchets to Cannons, so it was no surprise that by 500 AD, the Hittite Empire was declared a Byzantine province.

At this point Theodora could sense the coming of a new age, and she wanted to prepare her worker force to face the unknown challenges of the Industrial revolution that was rumored to be ahead. Remember, she had ordered most of her 30+ worker units to become city slickers during the Byzantine Golden Age, after they had improved their home island. Post-war Hittite labor was cheap, so she ordered all Hittite towns to produce workers after they had built their required library. The workers started irrigating all land in sight, because Hittite citizens were very bad as miners. They were so corrupt that they would take the ore home with them and sell it in the black market. Hittite farmers were not that corrupt, for some reason.

By now, the Byzantine people had access to most of the luxuries in the World. Incense, Ivory, and Gems were brought in from Byzantine provinces. Dyes were imported from Egypt, Wines from the Maya, Furs from England, and Spices from the Netherlands. Theodora could not convince Smoke-Jaguar to give her Silks, and he was too strong for her to take them by force. That left the Sumerians and the Russians as possible next targets. Catherine was more backwards than Gilgamesh, plus she had Dyes. She had a large empire, which meant that she could become a potential threat in the future. Gilgamesh was advanced, he had no luxuries that weren’t already produced by Byzantium, and was giving Theodora a significant amount of gold per turn for advances. It was a no-brainer: Catherine was going to be next.

While still fighting the Hittites, Theodora had manufactured a war between the Catherine and Cleo, so that she could face a weaker opposition when she eventually arrived to rescue Egypt. In 570 AD, with Theodora just having entered the Industrial Age, her invasion force landed near Novgorod.

The Heroic Epic along with the high offensive unit survivability offered by Dromon and Cannon bombardment was obviously paying off because the Great Leader Irene emerged in 590 AD. Theodora sent her back from the front to oversee the construction of the Pentagon. Irene chose to build the Pentagon in Harran, the site of heroic defense against Hittite 3-man Chariots at the start of the Hittite war.

In 640 AD, while the Russian war was still ongoing, Byzantine scientists harnessed the power of steam. And what joy to discover that the only source of coal in the entire Byzantine Empire was in the newly conquered territory of Russia, near Rostov. Theodora’s great railroading project was able to start on time.

[Mountain Sage]

370BC – The Year of the Three Cities
“And then here were…, ah, shoot, already recorded!” Theodora dixit.
[Naissus, Dyrrachium and Septum were completed on the SW island]

270BC – The Year of the Tainted Gold
“Our Golden Age has ended? MS, if you had stopped giving all those golden rings away…” Theodora dixit.
[Our GA has ended, really]

70AD – The Year of the Populace
“Supreme Ruler is too much for them? Let’s call me something different.” Theodora dixit.
[We switched to Republic]

110AD – The Year of the Big Bucks
“We lead, they pay.” Theodora dixit.
[We traded Engineering with Russia for Dyes, 76 gold +6/turn, Spices, Monarchy, 48 gold + 9/turn with the Dutch, Monarchy for 65 gold with the Mayan, Currency for 289 gold with Sumeria, Currency for 12 hold with the Hittites, offered Monarchy to the French and traded Philosophy for Furs, 22 gold +4/turn with England]

190AD – The Year of a Great Discovery
“We discovered the way to discover? When I think that I’m paying you…” Theodora dixit.
[We discovered, well, Invention]

270AD – The Year of Tears
“Let them come, let them come…” Theodora dixit.
[The Hittites declared war on us. The Sumerians joined our alliance]

380AD – The Year of the Heavy Warriors
“As long as they are not gold-plated” Theodora dixit.
[We completed Knight Templar]

480AD – The Year of the Useful Sages
“They better deliver, or it’s jungle clearing” Theodora dixit.
[We discovered Chemistry and Metallurgy and are researching MT]

520 AD – The Year of the Golden Rain
“Plenty of gold, plenty of conquests” Theodora dixit.
[We traded Theology with Egypt for 36 gold and 4/turn, Chemistry with the Mayan for Silk, Wines, Education, 70 gold, 6/turn, Education with the Dutch for 438 gold and 63/turn, Monotheism with France for 27 gold and 6/turn]

530AD – The Year of the Busybodies
“Excellent, excellent, build cheaper and strike harder” Theodora dixit.
[We completed Leo’s Workshop]

570AD – The Year of Investments
“Let’s invest all this gold” Theodora dixit.
[After MT, we are researching Banking]

660AD – The Year of Revenge
“Yessss, my precioussss” Theodora dixit.
[The Hittites capital fell at last]

700AD – The Year of Victory
“Peace, but for how long?”
[We signed peace with the Hittites and got Saltpeter, and got 4 cities]

710AD – The Year of Speedy Gonzales
“Go, Speedy, go!” Theodora dixit.
[Our chief scientist, Speedy, lets us research at 100% in 5 turns and +305 gold/turn]

830AD – The Years of the Long Silence
“What, routine, routine…” Theodora dixit
[We are researching at 5/6 turns, upgraded everything, have 7’000 gold and are no. 1, just routine]

840AD – The Year of the Yellow Plague
“The gall, oh, the gall!” Theodora dixit
[Japan declared war on us]

900AD – The Year of the New Age
“H and coke and LSD and May for free. Welcome the Age of Byzantium” Theodora dixit.
[We entered the Industrial Ages]

1000AD – The Year of the Lucky Settler
“Ah, that was close, I think” Theodora dixit.
[The town of Prilep was built on the only free coal mine]

1040AD – The Year of the Jackpot
“Some of our scientist are worth their weight in gold, but don’t tell them.” Theodora dixit.
[Sumeria paid 2’300 gold for Medicine]

1090AD – The Inconclusive War
“Elephants are better than pigs.” Theodora dixit.
[The war with Japan ended, we conquered 1 city and 2 ivory]

1100AD – The Year of the Adult Toys
“Chuff, chuff, whoo, whoo!” Theodora dxit.
[At last, we got railroad]

[Mountain Sage]

1100AD: our economy. Soon we will just buy all the factories

[Mountain Sage]

1100AD: our military is almost the same size as Alexman's; (the difference in count comprises MusketsRiflememen and other assorted defensive units)

[Cort Haus]

Superb report, Alexman. An impressive use of bombard and slow-movers against very unfavourable odds.

What I don't understand, is how 5 Japanese cities can support 100-odd units. Deity support bonuses must be crazy.

A pattern has seemingly emerged - the later Japan was hit the tougher the task. I think a couple of us attacked early on - circa 500bc perhaps with only about 15 units and found the going relatively smoother, though I had a nasty flip. One of my reasons, ironically, for hitting Japan early was because their culture was growing and mine wasn't.

Knowing now about how these lumpy islands allow concentration of the AI's units, and how they'll accumulate if at war, I'm sure many of us would approach it differently.

[Cort Haus]

MS, your troop screenie has lost the left-column - we can't see how many rifles & cav you've got there.

Your mil. may have a similar no_of_units overall as Alexman's, but it has a substantially different shape and character. You have mostly defenders and fastmovers, he has mostly bombard and slow-mover.

Another observation, MS -

Education with the Dutch for 438 gold and 63/turn

This looks like quite a turning point for your empire. 63gpt is good coin for that phase of the game, and clearly spurred your research on. It also relects the power of the Dutch on this map, who have been strong, it seems, in everyone's case. Were they in a GA at the time? I'd have been a little nervous about that sum, unless I gauged that they were creaming several civs for modest gpt themselves to fund it. Nothing like an ended GA or an opportunist civ declaring war to remove a big gpt abligation.

[Mountain Sage]

Cort,

You are correct, the number are 39 rifles and 22 cavs.
I lost too many times distant cities playing archipelago because I was invaded and could not send reinforcements fast enough by ship. Now all other cities have at least 2/3 units + 2/3 cavs as mobile force. The homeland has none.
It costs a lot for 'unnecessary' units, but especially in this game, I had coal, rubber, aluminium and uranium un far-flung places. A successful enemy invasion would have been catastrophic. Besides, some cavs are 'leftover' from the Hittite war. As soon as I get RR, I usually ship home the cav mobile force in the island and pre-position it near 'hot spots'.

As for the Dutch, they were probably in their GA, since they fought quite a few war and their UU would have appeared at that time. And don't forget, as Seafaring civ, the Dutch had plenty of harbors and gold.

However, the real killer (and aggressive) AI would be the Mayans. They just ahd more land and more cities.

[Aeson]

Well, one of my researching ploys finally payed off. Was beaten to Republic by one turn earlier, which I forgot to mention. Also was beaten to Map Making by one turn. Oh well... time for some payback!

I was able to research Metallurgy before the French got it. They went for Democracy. So I traded Metallurgy for Banking. Then I set my taxes at 90% and started trading gpt for Techs. Some of the AI's had just made it into the Industrial Era within the last few turns, and so I figured I had a very good chance of trading my free tech around to cover any expenses getting there... along with making a bit of profit. I had roughly 400 gpt to work with.

First I bought Astronomy from the someone (think it was the French) for ~80gpt (only trade I didn't mark down). After buying Astronomy, bought Physics from the French for 318g and 93 gpt. Then I bought Theory of Gravity from the Dutch for 133 gpt. Sold that back to the French for 314g and 65 gpt. Bought Magnetism from the English for 297g and 199 gpt. Sold Magnetism to the French for Navigation and 19 gpt.

My free tech was Nationalism. Was hoping for Steam Power or Medicine, as I figured the Mayans would have already researched Nationalism. I was right, but none of the other AI had it yet. Time to get that gold back.

Sold Nationalism to the Dutch for 288 gpt. Sold it to the English for Democracy, 290g, and 113 gpt. Finally sold it to the French for Economics, 31g, and 11 gpt. Then sold Economics to Sumeria for 83g and 8 gpt.

This let me research Steam Power at 90%, while staying very close to 0 gpt. The Mayans researched Communism, and so I beat them to Steam Power. Sold them Steam Power for 2913g and 190 gpt. One of the other AI's had researched Fascism, and the French researched Free Artistry, and so those and Communism are the only techs I don't have that any of the AI do. Trying to resist the urge to trade for them from the other AI. I always like to have every tech, already basically gave away techs in trades for Economics and Navigation (both wonders had been finished)... but I need a little edge right now to keep up with the Mayans. I'll get them later.

Had been flooding with Workers for the 10 turns before finishing Steam Power. Had added most of mine back to cities after finishing all the terrain improvements in uncorrupted areas, and needed to get a good sized group together to build Rails. Found out I had already roaded the Coal on the West island, and so was good to go. Should be all railroaded up within another 10 turns. Also found a small island to the Southwest, and have a Settler headed there. Another settler built a city 11 of Osaka, to help expand the borders and help prevent flips.

Half of the W island is chopped and Irrigated, but it will take some time to get any use out of the island other than Coal and Workers.