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FOREWORD
I'm still playing with version 1.21 on my Mac, which means I've migrated to the more Mac-popular CFC site. I have played enough deity games where I won with an early rush and a late charge for the ToE that I wanted to try something different. Inspired by some of Charis' games and Aeson's expansionist method, I decided to try a game where I would avoid war altogether. So as to mirror Aeson's early strategy, I chose Russia, which also has the handy scientific trait.
ANCIENT ERA
My first three builds in Moscow were scouts, followed by a settler. I set research at zero, technically on the alphabet. The scouts netted me two techs, and early contact with the four other European civs on the continent. This gave me the tech lead until about midway through the ancient era, when the AI suddenly moved ahead. I was able to buy one tech and trade it for two, then research polytheism and trade it for the three techs that launched me into the Middle Ages in 1625BC - the research leader thanks to the bonus tech, monotheism. However, I had only three cities, two with granaries, and the third building one. Two were size one, the third size three with a settler on the way. They were hooked up to ivory and iron resources, and a settler was heading north to found a coastal city near two more ivory resources. The territory was mediocre, although four of my first five cities didn't need aqueducts. I had four workers, three of them bought. And the military consisted of two spears, one sword, and one warrior - all regulars.
THE MIDDLE AGES
The Middle Ages were similar to the ancient era. I may have averted a Roman invasion by offering currency, and paid tribute throughout the game to all of the continental powers. I expanded where possible in my corner of the continent - seven cities - and built two cities in the opposite northeast end, which became the de facto global colonization area. Because this area bordered England and France - it was big enough to merit another civ - these two nations became dominant. After building temples and a couple of markets, I switched to republic. There was gunpowder near my core cities, and my two colonial cities provided horses and a second iron - but I was never able to trade this, and continued to operate with only the majority of ivory as a tradeable resource. Contact was established with Japan and China, who were on a small continent, and India, which had its own island. I was able to trade them techs, and worked my way through the medieval era with next to no military, and zero research except for theology, and the printing press (which came too late). This research was accomplished with a scientist. The combination of theology, trade and gold - and constant diplomacy to miss no opportunities - took me into the industrial era in first place in research with the French, thanks to the nationalism bonus. The date was 90BC: early enough that of my seven original cities two were building banks, the others markets (with the two colonial cities basically corrupt).
THE INDUSTRIAL ERA
My original borders barely encompassed a coal resource. (This was to be the last resource that would appear within my borders. And my borders shrunk when Sevastopol flipped to the English.) I bought electricity, traded for medicine, then bought scientific method from the French, which put me in excellent position to snare the ToE. I started a prebuild, then watched with horror as someone built US, leading the French to switch (and build) the ToE in 490AD, a few turns after researching it. I had missed the classic space-race turning point, but felt I still had a chance. I banked on the fact that no AI civ ever maintains a big tech lead over its brethren, and if I could continue to insert myself into the tech market, I would catch up along with the AI. This proved to be the case. I built Wall Street, gambled by building a third colonial city on the English border to steal one of their oil resources. (The oil would go almost unused.) I obtained rubber from the backward Japs for tech, but never used it for centuries. In this era, I researched nothing, because there were plenty of opportunities to buy a tech and trade it for another. I entered the modern era in 710AD with ten cities, only one a size 12, my core cities defended by one rifleman each (the colonials shared a single swordsman).
THE MODERN AGE
The French researched rocketry before I switched eras, but I traded it twice, then focused on ecology. This allowed me to buy and trade for space flight and the first-tier techs... which revealed I lacked both aluminum and uranium. The French charged me an exorbitant amount for aluminum, which I paid just to build the Apollo program. Things seemed bleak, as the French were the biggest civ, and their first two modern techs were rocketry and space flight.
Then war finally came. The French attacked China, then drew every continental civ into a war against England. This helped a lot, although not enough. The French switched to communism, and their alliance slowly ground the British into extinction. (The war was decided in the northeast corner, where the British military leaders were abominable, walking their infantry in circles while the French and Germans hit them from two sides.)
My cities had upgraded to infantry, built several tanks, and about 20 artillery for a modicum of defense. Once I had Apollo, I built every possible ss part. I bought satellites, and discovered that the AI had researched everything except synthetic fibers. Employing my standard buy and trade 2-for-1 approach, I found myself caught up except for the laser, fibers, and uranium. In the meantime, I built one new city to my east on former English territory, and another city far to the east with a rubber resource. This gave me 12 cities, a strained budget, and the sick feeling that France could launch at any time.
But the French declared war on Germany instead. I bought the laser and uranium from India, and tried to trade that tech to Germany for synthetic fibers. But the Germans wanted more than I had, so I had to wait, turn after turn, as my gold reserves built up. Disaster struck when my aluminum deal with France expired, preventing me from building any more ss parts.
The game was over, unless I stretched my no-war rule limitation the slightest bit. The end of the French deal gave me enough gold to acquire fibers from the Germans. I had already prebuilt all three parts I needed. Now I took a settler and marched him to a French aluminum resource, two squares from its city, on the Roman border. The French were mining it. I waited until they finished, then built a city on it. This activated my last prebuild - the lounge - and my ss was finished. The French declared war, took both this resource city and my three eastern cities... but the game was over. I launched in 1320.
SUMMARY
This is by far my earliest launch, and the earliest I have seen in my games, even by the AI on deity. France could have launched around 1250. I can only explain this by saying that there were a lot of research-minded civs in the game, world peace until the modern era, and that I sped research along by trading.
My advantages in this game were the Russian traits, which meant scouts and three bonus techs; one luxury resource; and iron, coal and (unused) gunpowder in my general starting location. It also helped that all the civs were alive and trading going into the modern era.
I played with a significant number of limitations. My territory had a river, but was otherwise pretty arid. No war ended up meaning no GA, no great wonders (including the ToE), and a worthless FP (built just south of Moscow after missing the ToE). I also had only one luxury resource, and no aluminum and uranium (or rubber until near the end).
This only serves to confirm that it is possible to be technologically competitive throughout the game, without any bonuses to speak of, if you don't let the tech race get out of hand. It required nothing more than the occasional researching of the unpopular tech, and the buying of one tech to trade for another, which effectively cut the price in half. To do this, I needed to contact the other civs every single turn, and then calculate how to make the best deal. This took patience, but not much else. I consider the result to be very encouraging for the builder who feels he can't play above monarch or emperor.
The map is the turn the French built the ToE in 490AD.
I'm still playing with version 1.21 on my Mac, which means I've migrated to the more Mac-popular CFC site. I have played enough deity games where I won with an early rush and a late charge for the ToE that I wanted to try something different. Inspired by some of Charis' games and Aeson's expansionist method, I decided to try a game where I would avoid war altogether. So as to mirror Aeson's early strategy, I chose Russia, which also has the handy scientific trait.
ANCIENT ERA
My first three builds in Moscow were scouts, followed by a settler. I set research at zero, technically on the alphabet. The scouts netted me two techs, and early contact with the four other European civs on the continent. This gave me the tech lead until about midway through the ancient era, when the AI suddenly moved ahead. I was able to buy one tech and trade it for two, then research polytheism and trade it for the three techs that launched me into the Middle Ages in 1625BC - the research leader thanks to the bonus tech, monotheism. However, I had only three cities, two with granaries, and the third building one. Two were size one, the third size three with a settler on the way. They were hooked up to ivory and iron resources, and a settler was heading north to found a coastal city near two more ivory resources. The territory was mediocre, although four of my first five cities didn't need aqueducts. I had four workers, three of them bought. And the military consisted of two spears, one sword, and one warrior - all regulars.
THE MIDDLE AGES
The Middle Ages were similar to the ancient era. I may have averted a Roman invasion by offering currency, and paid tribute throughout the game to all of the continental powers. I expanded where possible in my corner of the continent - seven cities - and built two cities in the opposite northeast end, which became the de facto global colonization area. Because this area bordered England and France - it was big enough to merit another civ - these two nations became dominant. After building temples and a couple of markets, I switched to republic. There was gunpowder near my core cities, and my two colonial cities provided horses and a second iron - but I was never able to trade this, and continued to operate with only the majority of ivory as a tradeable resource. Contact was established with Japan and China, who were on a small continent, and India, which had its own island. I was able to trade them techs, and worked my way through the medieval era with next to no military, and zero research except for theology, and the printing press (which came too late). This research was accomplished with a scientist. The combination of theology, trade and gold - and constant diplomacy to miss no opportunities - took me into the industrial era in first place in research with the French, thanks to the nationalism bonus. The date was 90BC: early enough that of my seven original cities two were building banks, the others markets (with the two colonial cities basically corrupt).
THE INDUSTRIAL ERA
My original borders barely encompassed a coal resource. (This was to be the last resource that would appear within my borders. And my borders shrunk when Sevastopol flipped to the English.) I bought electricity, traded for medicine, then bought scientific method from the French, which put me in excellent position to snare the ToE. I started a prebuild, then watched with horror as someone built US, leading the French to switch (and build) the ToE in 490AD, a few turns after researching it. I had missed the classic space-race turning point, but felt I still had a chance. I banked on the fact that no AI civ ever maintains a big tech lead over its brethren, and if I could continue to insert myself into the tech market, I would catch up along with the AI. This proved to be the case. I built Wall Street, gambled by building a third colonial city on the English border to steal one of their oil resources. (The oil would go almost unused.) I obtained rubber from the backward Japs for tech, but never used it for centuries. In this era, I researched nothing, because there were plenty of opportunities to buy a tech and trade it for another. I entered the modern era in 710AD with ten cities, only one a size 12, my core cities defended by one rifleman each (the colonials shared a single swordsman).
THE MODERN AGE
The French researched rocketry before I switched eras, but I traded it twice, then focused on ecology. This allowed me to buy and trade for space flight and the first-tier techs... which revealed I lacked both aluminum and uranium. The French charged me an exorbitant amount for aluminum, which I paid just to build the Apollo program. Things seemed bleak, as the French were the biggest civ, and their first two modern techs were rocketry and space flight.
Then war finally came. The French attacked China, then drew every continental civ into a war against England. This helped a lot, although not enough. The French switched to communism, and their alliance slowly ground the British into extinction. (The war was decided in the northeast corner, where the British military leaders were abominable, walking their infantry in circles while the French and Germans hit them from two sides.)
My cities had upgraded to infantry, built several tanks, and about 20 artillery for a modicum of defense. Once I had Apollo, I built every possible ss part. I bought satellites, and discovered that the AI had researched everything except synthetic fibers. Employing my standard buy and trade 2-for-1 approach, I found myself caught up except for the laser, fibers, and uranium. In the meantime, I built one new city to my east on former English territory, and another city far to the east with a rubber resource. This gave me 12 cities, a strained budget, and the sick feeling that France could launch at any time.
But the French declared war on Germany instead. I bought the laser and uranium from India, and tried to trade that tech to Germany for synthetic fibers. But the Germans wanted more than I had, so I had to wait, turn after turn, as my gold reserves built up. Disaster struck when my aluminum deal with France expired, preventing me from building any more ss parts.
The game was over, unless I stretched my no-war rule limitation the slightest bit. The end of the French deal gave me enough gold to acquire fibers from the Germans. I had already prebuilt all three parts I needed. Now I took a settler and marched him to a French aluminum resource, two squares from its city, on the Roman border. The French were mining it. I waited until they finished, then built a city on it. This activated my last prebuild - the lounge - and my ss was finished. The French declared war, took both this resource city and my three eastern cities... but the game was over. I launched in 1320.
SUMMARY
This is by far my earliest launch, and the earliest I have seen in my games, even by the AI on deity. France could have launched around 1250. I can only explain this by saying that there were a lot of research-minded civs in the game, world peace until the modern era, and that I sped research along by trading.
My advantages in this game were the Russian traits, which meant scouts and three bonus techs; one luxury resource; and iron, coal and (unused) gunpowder in my general starting location. It also helped that all the civs were alive and trading going into the modern era.
I played with a significant number of limitations. My territory had a river, but was otherwise pretty arid. No war ended up meaning no GA, no great wonders (including the ToE), and a worthless FP (built just south of Moscow after missing the ToE). I also had only one luxury resource, and no aluminum and uranium (or rubber until near the end).
This only serves to confirm that it is possible to be technologically competitive throughout the game, without any bonuses to speak of, if you don't let the tech race get out of hand. It required nothing more than the occasional researching of the unpopular tech, and the buying of one tech to trade for another, which effectively cut the price in half. To do this, I needed to contact the other civs every single turn, and then calculate how to make the best deal. This took patience, but not much else. I consider the result to be very encouraging for the builder who feels he can't play above monarch or emperor.
The map is the turn the French built the ToE in 490AD.
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