Smoke-Jaguar versus Sid.

[vmxa1]

Ok I played out to 300AD, the Dutch are history. I though I was about to go out when Japand send more than 2 dozen calvs next to my capitol, but they are after Spain.
I am now in Monarchy, but I think after seeing those units and I have circumnavigated the globe, it is just a matter of time.

I have very little money, and Japan is not even the #1 civ in the game. They also have tons of ancient calvs to throw away and they may even have crusaders. I forgot who got that wonder.

I avoided the tempation to built lots of cities or to make a layout to match what Aeson tried, but I cannot see any trick to beat the corruption. The human needs to be able to have a lot of cities at this level to try and get research and units to stay viable. I made as many spears and JT's as I could afford and that is the only reason the AI did not take me out already. It is not enough to do much to them, unless you get one with a few towns near you. One that has it empire some place far away. Spain was that, but I was cut off from reaching them.
I had Japand and the Mongols around me and they were too strong.

In short I need more experience at this level to have any idea of how to best approach it and at least the corruption bug corrected some.

[Aeson]

I built about 20 Warriors, all of which I ended up upgrading eventually. Only got in 2 chariot builds before Horseback Riding.

Started out with my capitol building a Warrior, then Granary. Probably should have sent out a couple more Warriors, but I think I ended up making contact with the Mongols as fast as possible, and they already had Masonry. I didn't open either of the two huts I saw for fear of barbs.

After that it was 4 turn Settlers. All other non-corrupt cities built a Barracks and then Warriors. The second city built a Granary after a couple Warriors, and then 2 turn Workers. Corrupt cities just built Workers.

By the time I got Iron Working, I had 2 10 shield per turn cities, and my capitol got to 15 shields a bit after the Japanese declared war. Attached a comparison of my military before attacking the Mongols the first time (1150BC), and what it is now (370BC).

Lost almost all my Horsemen counter-attacking the Ancient Cavalry, mostly just giving them promotions. I've had about 20 Horsemen overall, but they keep dying faster than I can produce them. I've been a bit more careful with the Swordsmen, and produced a lot more of them.

[DrSpike]

So you slowed research after Iron Working to get money for the all new pricey upgrades?

[vmxa1]

Originally posted by Catt
I haven't seen the "one turn to go -- psych!" bug before, but I'll keep an eye out for it.

Could it have been enemy units occupying enough commerce tiles to materially reduce commerce and thus science? Even so, I can't see how such a minor disturbance could extend through 2 turns. I'l watch and post a save if I come across it.

Catt

The first time I saw this, that what I suspected. I looked around, but could not see anything in quick glance that should have done it.

I have seen it at demigod and sid so far.

[Snotty]

Were you milking the lux slider for gold when it took 3 turns? Putting in the minimum amount of commerce needed to get the one turn result would make the margins for error quite thin. You may only need to lose one commerce for it to be pushed back a turn.

When in the turn cycle do beakers get taken from commerce?

[Aeson]

Upgrading is still pretty cheap.

Given my research path, there really wasn't anything else to do except upgrade. Didn't have Alphabet or Ceremonial Burial. Alphabet and Writing would have taken me longer to research than they did to extort with Swords and Horses.

[DrSpike]

Indeed Warrior + 60 gold is still quite reasonable, but the 50% rise does make a difference. Also, though I haven't really played enough games to say for sure yet, the AI seemed really stingy on the demigod/deity starts where I decided to take the extorting path.