Okay, I was a decent intermediate player at Civ 3, able to beat emperor level sometimes, but not dedicated enough to go higher. I loved reading other people's epic reports though, so I decided to give this a shot. So here we go.
BC 4000: My warrior moved NE to scout. I see we're near the ocean. I decide to settle 2 squares NE of the original square for silk. When I move I am delighted to see the wheat tile!
3960: Paris is founded. I start building a worker first and researching animal husbandry. I want for food before starting serious growth, so I need to get the wheat and cow hooked up as soon as possible.
Being creative, Stonehenge isn't worth that much to me because I get free culture in every city anyway. The key techs seem like they're going to be Drama for the cheap theatres, and Metal Casting for forges. My plan is to go for Stonehenge anyway for the great person bonus. Being industrious with stone adjacent is too good to pass up.
Hmm, tech is due in 18 turns. A worker is due in 18. If I didn't go for the worker, I wouldn't grow until 17 turns. It looks like my warrior scout is going to be my only entertainment for a long long time!
3800: Borders expand and I meet up with a scout from Genghis. He seems like an honourable enough guy.
3560: Very few resources to the NE. I see Rice and Bananas to the E.
3480: Buddhism is founded in a distant land. I know religion will eventually come to me. I don't plan on being a religious leader.
There is dye. That will be very nice for my cheap theatres if I can get it.
3440: I see a panther but move next to it. If it wants to attack me in the jungle I like my chances.
3400: Sure enough I defend against the panther in the jungle.
3240: Worker is out, and I learned Husbandry. I go for Mysticism next, toward Masonry for the stone and a quick Stonehenge build. I build a warrior and pasture the cow.
3160: I see rice and another cow to the SW.
3040: Wow SW is looking great. Rice, banana, 3 dye, cows. I really hope I get that site.
3000: Finely we're eating beef. I move to build a road and then I'm going to work the wheat for roast beef sandwiches. And bacon isn't too far away.
2960: Warrior -> Another warrior.
2800: Mysticism -> Masonry
I see horses on the coast to the W.
2760: Warrior -> Barracks
2680: One scout warrior taken down by a panther. Got maps of the NE from a hut.
2520: Meet Monezuma. The site to the east with Gold and rivers looks good but fairly far away.
2320: Meet Alexander to the E.
2240: Masonry due next turn. I move to hook up Stone.
2200: Start on Mining to work toward Bronze.
2160: Barracks done. Paris is 4 turns away from size 4.
2080: I see that Genghis has his capital just to the east of me. I must have just missed a glimpse at the border when scouting there before. That's a mistake that I doubt good players make.
2040: Send new warrior toward my hopeful second city site, by the dye clump. Get in one turn on Stonehenge before Paris grows to size 4, then I'll build a settler.
2000: Settler due in 12 turns.
1975: I'm second on greatest civs list behind an unknown.
1925: Gave a warrior jungle defense when I saw a wolf. It beat the wolf off and now I can get Woodsman 2, doubling movement in forest and jungle and giving him +30% more defense! Man, I'm now a panther ownage machine. This warrior is the closest thing to a Tarzan unit in any game I've ever played.
1875: Got mining -> Bronze Working. I want to see where the copper is.
1850: A panther attacked my Woodsman 2 warrior in the jungle. That's not a smart cat.
1725: My first settler is out. Now I have a decision. I'm very tempted to try and settle SE to cut off the other civs. I think there is nobody to the south or west of me on the continent to compete with me for that land. However, if I were to lose that 3 dye + rice + banana + horse site I'd freak out so I'm going to get that first.
[After reading a few reports, I notice that most players cut off the peninsula first. This is where better scouting information would have been good. Still... in retrospect I think I like my decision to settle the best city site to the W first anyway.]
Stonehenge due in 6. I'm going for it which slows down my next settler.
1575 Stonehenge done. Work on second settler
Here's my second city, Orleans:
![[Image: hivebee_ep1bc1575firstcity.jpg]](http://www.realmsbeyond.net/userfiles/files/hivebee_ep1bc1575firstcity.jpg)
1450: I meet Ghandi. Orleans borders expand.
1325: Bronze Working done -> Fishing. Second settler built. I'm going to add a couple more warriors. Pyramids is a very real possibility eventually with my stone hooked up now. It would take 25 turns now. Representation would be awfully nice. I'll probably put down a city or two more and grow Paris a bit more before attempting this if I do.
I don't see slavery mentioned in the rules. I'm not going to switch because it doesn't seem very honourable to me.
1300: I spot a Barbarian archer in the vicinity of Orleans. I'm a little scared but I have two warriors down there.
1200: I build Lyons. With the copper it could be a decent production center so I start with barracks.
![[Image: hivebee_ep1bc1200secondcity.jpg]](http://www.realmsbeyond.net/userfiles/files/hivebee_ep1bc1200secondcity.jpg)
1125: Fishing -> Pottery. I probably could have waited on fishing. The idea was to be able to work the lake tiles by the capital.
1075: Horses now hooked up.
880: Pottery -> Iron Working. I really want some of the resources under jungles. I really want writing too though. Judaism was founded a couple turns ago so I'm way behind on the spiritual tree.
840: Copper hooked up. I want to upgrade a couple warriors but first I want Iron Working.
800: Settler -> Pyramids due in 19. I'm going to mine a hill to try and speed this up.
720: Rheims founded to the east on the hill by the gold, with access to cows and floodplains. Wow, city maintenance is 9 now? I feel like I may have overextended myself a bit since my tech is advancing at a very slow pace. I have no power commerce cities yet. Well, pyramids should make things interesting.
500: Gold hooked up. I'm still an atheist civ so happiness really helps.
440: Pyramids in. Revolt to representation for the happiness. Hmm, now I need specialists worth having, for the extra science rate. Right now I'm going to make a few axemen just so the AIs don't get any ideas.
240: Iron Working -> Writing brings in the Classical era. Time to work on some of those jungle pigs and rice. There's plenty of iron around but none in a city radius.
220: Montezuma demands cows. I refuse. I have my principles, but if he wants to eat axe I'm willing to feed it to him.
200: Moses is born in my atheist capital. Sorry man, given available information, I can't reasonably conclude, based on your story alone, that a burning bush produced speech. And I can't understand what your tablets say because writing isn't due for another 10 turns. Why don't you become a super-specialist instead? Wait, writing is due in 7 turns now after upping science to 90%, sweet. It's a bit like a mini-golden age.
60: Writing -> Sailing, to work sea tiles in Paris to up commerce eventually. Hinduism spreads to Lyons, causing my first theistic citizens. Hey guys, you can still find meaning in a secular existence, didn't you know?
AD 1: Genghis wants open borders. I refuse because I don't want him settling past me.
80: It took him 79 years to act on his threat, but Genghis declares on me! Also, Alex declares on Gandhi. Genghis poaches a worker.
Drop science to 0 to upgrade warriors asap.
Beat a warrior with axe. Beat archer with axe.
120: Beat archer with axe.
140: Sailing -> Math. Beat archer with axe.
210: I'm in last place in the Most Advanced charts! And first place in score. I'm preparing a subtle combat strategy: Mass a bunch of axemen on a hill and attack. Genghis has a pathetic size 2 city with no culture defense bonus. I'm going to chop away until it's mine.
240:
![[Image: hivebee_ep1240beforefight.jpg]](http://www.realmsbeyond.net/userfiles/files/hivebee_ep1240beforefight.jpg)
Five axes versus 2 archers in a city with no culture. Axe with cover dies taking archer down to 0.4/3. Axe with cover kills archer. Promote virgin axe to city raider 1 and take the city. 72 gold oh yeah. I take a peek at his capital, it has three archers and 60% culture bonus. I don't think that's an economical nut to crack without catapults so I make peace. I turn science back on. I have 4 warriors and 11 axes now. I'm paying 3 in unit upkeep. I delete 3 warriors to save income. I promote the remaing one. Ning-hsia is not a great city, but it's mine for better or worse.
260: Create 2 scientists in Paris. These are pretty nice with representation. I'm enjoying the variety of options this game is giving me in situations like this. Work on settler to start filling in my area of the world. There's a barbarian city in the NW that I've been ignoring. I plan on taking it now.
280: Montezuma declares on me! The AIs are getting feisty. My axes en route (French term, see??) to the barb city reverse tracks.
310: Library goes up in Orleans and I create two more scientists.
350: Math -> Construction. Take out a jaguar warrior. Lose an axe to a jaguar. Odds were with me attacking on grassland.
360: Greece wants open borders. I let them have it. They also have open borders with Monte so some of Alex's units get a spectator view of some fighting. I destroy a jaguar.
400:
![[Image: hivebee_ep1400beforefight.jpg]](http://www.realmsbeyond.net/userfiles/files/hivebee_ep1400beforefight.jpg)
5 axemen vs axeman and archer in Teotihuacan with +20% city bonus. City raider 2 axe dies against archer, despite favourable odds. Axe loses to axe. Axe beats axe. Axe beats axe, takes city with 3/5 axes left. I make peace for some breathing room and to get catapults ready eventually. I also need to reconnect some resources.
Oops, I just noticed that Rheims was in the red for food, which isn't allowed. This was because a jaguar pillaged my cow pasture, and I must have manually overrode the tiles before the and AI didn't adjust. I hope this doesn't tragically disqualify me because I didn't notice and it was an effect of war!
440: Settler built. I'm going to try for hanging gardens, so I start anb aqueduct in Paris.
470: Found Tours in the NW of Paris, on the coast rice, pig, fish. This should be a much needed commerce city.
480: A great prophet is born. I've been ignoring religion so there's nothing for him to build. And I could really use those extra super-specialist bonuses so I send him to my new city.
490: Construction -> Alphabet. I don't have either Meditation or Polytheism yet, and I bet I can get them cheap in trades.
510: Start Hanging Gardens, due in 9 turns.
590: Alphabet -> Drama. I'm not getting happiness through religion, so how will cheap theatres work? I'm up Iron, Construction, Alphabet on the field, and there's no way I'm giving any of those up.
600: Done Hanging Gardens.
660: Ghengis demands rice. I cave because I don't want a pointless war right now.
680: Drama -> Calendar. I need those luxury resources badly. Alex declares on Ghandi which is sweet.
710: Finally I take the barbarian city with 2 catapults and 2 axemen. I lost a couple swords and a couple of axes in some unlucky battles there many turns ago.
Here's a shot of my empire right now:
![[Image: hivebee_ep1710empire.jpg]](http://www.realmsbeyond.net/userfiles/files/hivebee_ep1710empire.jpg)
750: Calendar -> Currency. Finally time to build plantations.
770: Monty demands pigs and I let him have it, recognizing the symbolism.
840: Currency -> Code of Laws. Monty declares on me! This time I have catapults.
940: I've been massing troops and fighting for the last few turns. Laws->Metal Casting.
1000: Capture Monty's capital with a stack of about 7 catapult, 7 axe/sword.
1020: Take second city from Monty. Metal Casting -> Civil Service
1055: Take another city.
1070: Take Montezuma's third last city. Found Marseilles by iron, fish, cow to keep filling in the continent. I made peace with Montezuma for Hunting, Polytheism, Meditation, 90 gold. He has two very divided cities left. I think he has learned the error of his ways. Now I want to focus on getting my economy running and filling out the final spots for cities and coastal villages. I have Hinduism in 5 cities, and I finally set a state religion long after I should have.
Here's the state of France:
![[Image: hivebee_ep11070empire.jpg]](http://www.realmsbeyond.net/userfiles/files/hivebee_ep11070empire.jpg)
1095: Civil Service -> Priesthood. I'm getting this extremely late. It's time for some tech tree fill-in.
1100: Priesthood -> Monotheism
1110: Monotheism -> Monarchy. Begin on the path to banking. Revolt to Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy, Organized religion. Oh yeah we're not very judgemental people you know?
1115: Settle Chartres at the SW tip by Sugar, Rice, Fish.
1135: Aristotle is born, and goes to build academy in Paris. Hey you're about a thousand years and some late aren't you buddy?
1185: Monarchy->Feudalism
1190: Finish the Colossus. If the AIs are going to let me have this, why not? I'm no coastal powerhouse but it helps my commerce.
1245: Use Great Merchant to discover paper.
1255: Feudalism -> Archery. Revolt to serfdom.
1260: Archery -> Machinery.
1285: Trade 3 luxury resources from Washington for three health resources. I have no idea why I didn't do this a whole lot sooner! Now I turn off "avoid growth" in a few cities.
1295: Forbidden Palace built in Rheims.
1300: Chicken Itch up in Paris. Gems pop out by Orleans! Woohoo.
1305: Machinery -> Guilds. I think macemen now take care of any possible threat the nearby AIs could throw at me right now.
1340: I finish the Globe Theatre in a flood plain paradise city that I took from Montezuma. This is my experiment city!! It has as much food as I'm going to ever see in one city radius, maybe! I intend this to be a specialist haven. I turn on emphasize growth and I am looking forward to seeing how big this gets after I irrigate everything and build health improvements.
![[Image: hivebee_ep11340globe.jpg]](http://www.realmsbeyond.net/userfiles/files/hivebee_ep11340globe.jpg)
[Unfortunately, the plan for this city didn't quite work out like ieverything n my hopes and dreams. I didn't understand just how sharp a barrier health was to growth. This city got to size 25 eventually, but I don't think it ever got bigger than that, and while it did support some specialists, it wasn't extremely valuable.]
1345: Found Avignon on the south coast as a fishing and commerce site. I am working on one more inland fill-in site with iron for my next city.
1350: Guilds -> Banking. Found Besancon inland.
1380: Genghis offers Compass for Metal Casting + 60 gold. I'll take it. Also I sell him Drama for his 560 gold. Sell Alex Drama for his 410 gold. With Ghandi, traded Civil Service and Machinery for Literature, Music, and Theology. All the other civs are backwards except Washington, and the only tech I am up on him is paper.
1390: Banking -> Education. Revolt to Mercantilism. Finally I should be getting some good cash flow, especially once banks are up.
1445: Education -> Economics. Finished Notre Dame. An aztec city flips to me!
1480: Econ -> Philosophy. Save Great Merchant for a Golden Age.
1495: Philo -> Printing Press.
1500: Trade Civil Service to Alex for Optics + 110 gold.
1525: Printing Press -> Liberalism
1540: Great prophet is born. I start a Golden Age!
1550: Liberalism -> Replaceable Parts free -> Gunpowder
1565: Gunpowder -> Nationalism
1575: Oxford built in Paris.
1590: Nationalism -> Engineering. My Golden age is over.
1600: Engineering -> Astronomy.
1630: Astronomy -> Chemistry.
1650: Chemistry -> Constitution
1652: Ghandi was destroyed, I think by Washington.
1654: Taj Mahal went up for a second Golden Age
1662: Constitution -> Coorporation
1668: Corporation -> Steam Power. Washington is finally friendly enough to trade me the world map. I've been a bad boy and haven't scouted much of anything in the big picture.
![[Image: hivebee_ep11668map.jpg]](http://www.realmsbeyond.net/userfiles/files/hivebee_ep11668map.jpg)
1676: Steam -> Assembly Line. I'm taking a little risk that I don't get hit hard with cavalry in the next short while, because I know Washington has Military Tradition and Rifling, and I lack both.
1690: Assembly -> Rifling.
1694: I founded Dijon but there's no mustard nearby?! If I were writing this game, founding the city Dijon as the French would automatically pop a mustard resource.
1700: Rifling -> Sci Method. With Infantry available there's no military to fear unless Washington somehow manages to get tanks.
1708: Sci Method -> Biology for farm improvement.
1710: Washington wants me to cancel all deals with the Mongols and I do it. I just want a peaceful space race, okay?
1720: Biology -> Democracy. Washington already has Democracy, but I'm going to try for the Statue of Liberty.
1730: Democracy -> Steel. Immediate revolt to Emancipation as per my honourable nature.
1740: Washington demands gold and I refuse. He's up a few techs on me and I'm up Steam Power on him. If he wants to attack me, let's get it on.
1742: Steel -> Railroad.
1750: Finished Pentagon. I don't want to go to war but if I'm forced to defend I want it on my side.
1752: Railroad -> Physics. It's time to wake up some workers who will fool me with all pig iron. The Statue of Liberty is due in two turns.
1754: Washington declares war! I guess the Americans are upset that France is going to beat them to the Statue of Liberty? I've never been in a war in Civ 4 beyond the Bronze/Construction techs, so it will be interesting to see what he can throw at me. I don't even know if he's going to come from the east or by boat from the west. I turn science to zero to start working on modernizing my whole army. I set all mature cities to produce infantry or cannons. Washington picked a good time to declare because it would have been much easier for me with a military rail net already up.
Genghis will ally with me against the Americans for Philosophy. I accept.
1766: Take an American city with about 7 infantry plus 3 cannon versus a couple riflemen and grenadiers. Washington doesn't seem to have infantry in the field so this should be a slaughterfest.
![[Image: hivebee_ep11766invasion.jpg]](http://www.realmsbeyond.net/userfiles/files/hivebee_ep11766invasion.jpg)
1772: Los Angeles, an American iceball city, is defeated and auto-razed at size 1. (Sorry, guys I couldn't save you.)
1778: Take New York, a main American city. By now, I've switched science back on and stopped producing military since I have as much as I need. I'm going to take Washington and then decide if I want to finish the Americans off for good. Physics came in a while ago, and I'm working on Combustion.
1782: Combustion -> Flight. Take Chicago.
1784: Take Washington from Washington.
1792: Take San Francisco, to hurt Washington's pride.
1794: Flight -> Electricity. While I've been fighting America with Infantry against Grenadiers and Rifleman, Greece, who has open borders with me, has razed Montezuma's main region contained mostly between my cities, with Knights, Catapults, and a couple Muskets. It's been entertaining to watch! Karma came to get you, buddy.
1798: Take Boston and Scythian. There are 3 American cities left.
1802: Electricity -> Radio
1806: Take Atlanta
1808: Delphi taken. One city remains.
1810: Radio -> Industrialism
1812: Take the last mainland American city. But Washington is still alive. Since I'm done with him I offer a peace deal for world map and 40 gold. It turns out he has one city left, an absolutely brutal iceball town. Take a look. Once Washington's empire was the dominant power in the East, and he still leads me in technology, but now he is reduced to this. He's still up Military Tradition, Communism, Artillery, Medicine, Divine Right. I'm up Electricity and Steam Power.
![[Image: hivebee_ep11812american.jpg]](http://www.realmsbeyond.net/userfiles/files/hivebee_ep11812american.jpg)
He also had a city on the south tip of the world, but I didn't notice at the time.
1820: Industrialism -> Computers. Founded a city at my southern border and used a Great Artist to try and culture bomb my way toward domination.
1830: Consume 3 great people for a third Golden Age.
1832: Computers -> Rocketry.
1838: Eiffel Tower up in Paris. What else is new? Also got Rock and Roll a turn ago.
1842: Rocketry -> Plastics
1850: Plastics -> Robotics
1855: Robotics -> Fission
1860: Fission -> Fiber Optics
1862: Apollo built.
1863: I now control 65.65% of the land, which is 0.35% from a domination victory! I started on the spaceship parts. Will I get a space victory or a domination victory first?
1865: Borders expand, and I win a domination victory! I'm actually disappointed because I was planning on the Space Race all along. Game score was 5794, final score 29828. Time spent was 27 hours, 14 minutes.
![[Image: hivebee_ep11865victory.jpg]](http://www.realmsbeyond.net/userfiles/files/hivebee_ep11865victory.jpg)
I had a whole lot of fun with this game, and I learned a lot! Thanks very much to Sirian and the team for setting this experience up.
BC 4000: My warrior moved NE to scout. I see we're near the ocean. I decide to settle 2 squares NE of the original square for silk. When I move I am delighted to see the wheat tile!
3960: Paris is founded. I start building a worker first and researching animal husbandry. I want for food before starting serious growth, so I need to get the wheat and cow hooked up as soon as possible.
Being creative, Stonehenge isn't worth that much to me because I get free culture in every city anyway. The key techs seem like they're going to be Drama for the cheap theatres, and Metal Casting for forges. My plan is to go for Stonehenge anyway for the great person bonus. Being industrious with stone adjacent is too good to pass up.
Hmm, tech is due in 18 turns. A worker is due in 18. If I didn't go for the worker, I wouldn't grow until 17 turns. It looks like my warrior scout is going to be my only entertainment for a long long time!
3800: Borders expand and I meet up with a scout from Genghis. He seems like an honourable enough guy.
3560: Very few resources to the NE. I see Rice and Bananas to the E.
3480: Buddhism is founded in a distant land. I know religion will eventually come to me. I don't plan on being a religious leader.
There is dye. That will be very nice for my cheap theatres if I can get it.
3440: I see a panther but move next to it. If it wants to attack me in the jungle I like my chances.
3400: Sure enough I defend against the panther in the jungle.
3240: Worker is out, and I learned Husbandry. I go for Mysticism next, toward Masonry for the stone and a quick Stonehenge build. I build a warrior and pasture the cow.
3160: I see rice and another cow to the SW.
3040: Wow SW is looking great. Rice, banana, 3 dye, cows. I really hope I get that site.
3000: Finely we're eating beef. I move to build a road and then I'm going to work the wheat for roast beef sandwiches. And bacon isn't too far away.
2960: Warrior -> Another warrior.
2800: Mysticism -> Masonry
I see horses on the coast to the W.
2760: Warrior -> Barracks
2680: One scout warrior taken down by a panther. Got maps of the NE from a hut.
2520: Meet Monezuma. The site to the east with Gold and rivers looks good but fairly far away.
2320: Meet Alexander to the E.
2240: Masonry due next turn. I move to hook up Stone.
2200: Start on Mining to work toward Bronze.
2160: Barracks done. Paris is 4 turns away from size 4.
2080: I see that Genghis has his capital just to the east of me. I must have just missed a glimpse at the border when scouting there before. That's a mistake that I doubt good players make.
2040: Send new warrior toward my hopeful second city site, by the dye clump. Get in one turn on Stonehenge before Paris grows to size 4, then I'll build a settler.
2000: Settler due in 12 turns.
1975: I'm second on greatest civs list behind an unknown.
1925: Gave a warrior jungle defense when I saw a wolf. It beat the wolf off and now I can get Woodsman 2, doubling movement in forest and jungle and giving him +30% more defense! Man, I'm now a panther ownage machine. This warrior is the closest thing to a Tarzan unit in any game I've ever played.
1875: Got mining -> Bronze Working. I want to see where the copper is.
1850: A panther attacked my Woodsman 2 warrior in the jungle. That's not a smart cat.
1725: My first settler is out. Now I have a decision. I'm very tempted to try and settle SE to cut off the other civs. I think there is nobody to the south or west of me on the continent to compete with me for that land. However, if I were to lose that 3 dye + rice + banana + horse site I'd freak out so I'm going to get that first.
[After reading a few reports, I notice that most players cut off the peninsula first. This is where better scouting information would have been good. Still... in retrospect I think I like my decision to settle the best city site to the W first anyway.]
Stonehenge due in 6. I'm going for it which slows down my next settler.
1575 Stonehenge done. Work on second settler
Here's my second city, Orleans:
1450: I meet Ghandi. Orleans borders expand.
1325: Bronze Working done -> Fishing. Second settler built. I'm going to add a couple more warriors. Pyramids is a very real possibility eventually with my stone hooked up now. It would take 25 turns now. Representation would be awfully nice. I'll probably put down a city or two more and grow Paris a bit more before attempting this if I do.
I don't see slavery mentioned in the rules. I'm not going to switch because it doesn't seem very honourable to me.
1300: I spot a Barbarian archer in the vicinity of Orleans. I'm a little scared but I have two warriors down there.
1200: I build Lyons. With the copper it could be a decent production center so I start with barracks.
1125: Fishing -> Pottery. I probably could have waited on fishing. The idea was to be able to work the lake tiles by the capital.
1075: Horses now hooked up.
880: Pottery -> Iron Working. I really want some of the resources under jungles. I really want writing too though. Judaism was founded a couple turns ago so I'm way behind on the spiritual tree.
840: Copper hooked up. I want to upgrade a couple warriors but first I want Iron Working.
800: Settler -> Pyramids due in 19. I'm going to mine a hill to try and speed this up.
720: Rheims founded to the east on the hill by the gold, with access to cows and floodplains. Wow, city maintenance is 9 now? I feel like I may have overextended myself a bit since my tech is advancing at a very slow pace. I have no power commerce cities yet. Well, pyramids should make things interesting.
500: Gold hooked up. I'm still an atheist civ so happiness really helps.
440: Pyramids in. Revolt to representation for the happiness. Hmm, now I need specialists worth having, for the extra science rate. Right now I'm going to make a few axemen just so the AIs don't get any ideas.
240: Iron Working -> Writing brings in the Classical era. Time to work on some of those jungle pigs and rice. There's plenty of iron around but none in a city radius.
220: Montezuma demands cows. I refuse. I have my principles, but if he wants to eat axe I'm willing to feed it to him.
200: Moses is born in my atheist capital. Sorry man, given available information, I can't reasonably conclude, based on your story alone, that a burning bush produced speech. And I can't understand what your tablets say because writing isn't due for another 10 turns. Why don't you become a super-specialist instead? Wait, writing is due in 7 turns now after upping science to 90%, sweet. It's a bit like a mini-golden age.
60: Writing -> Sailing, to work sea tiles in Paris to up commerce eventually. Hinduism spreads to Lyons, causing my first theistic citizens. Hey guys, you can still find meaning in a secular existence, didn't you know?
AD 1: Genghis wants open borders. I refuse because I don't want him settling past me.
80: It took him 79 years to act on his threat, but Genghis declares on me! Also, Alex declares on Gandhi. Genghis poaches a worker.
Drop science to 0 to upgrade warriors asap.
Beat a warrior with axe. Beat archer with axe.
120: Beat archer with axe.
140: Sailing -> Math. Beat archer with axe.
210: I'm in last place in the Most Advanced charts! And first place in score. I'm preparing a subtle combat strategy: Mass a bunch of axemen on a hill and attack. Genghis has a pathetic size 2 city with no culture defense bonus. I'm going to chop away until it's mine.
240:
Five axes versus 2 archers in a city with no culture. Axe with cover dies taking archer down to 0.4/3. Axe with cover kills archer. Promote virgin axe to city raider 1 and take the city. 72 gold oh yeah. I take a peek at his capital, it has three archers and 60% culture bonus. I don't think that's an economical nut to crack without catapults so I make peace. I turn science back on. I have 4 warriors and 11 axes now. I'm paying 3 in unit upkeep. I delete 3 warriors to save income. I promote the remaing one. Ning-hsia is not a great city, but it's mine for better or worse.
260: Create 2 scientists in Paris. These are pretty nice with representation. I'm enjoying the variety of options this game is giving me in situations like this. Work on settler to start filling in my area of the world. There's a barbarian city in the NW that I've been ignoring. I plan on taking it now.
280: Montezuma declares on me! The AIs are getting feisty. My axes en route (French term, see??) to the barb city reverse tracks.
310: Library goes up in Orleans and I create two more scientists.
350: Math -> Construction. Take out a jaguar warrior. Lose an axe to a jaguar. Odds were with me attacking on grassland.
360: Greece wants open borders. I let them have it. They also have open borders with Monte so some of Alex's units get a spectator view of some fighting. I destroy a jaguar.
400:
5 axemen vs axeman and archer in Teotihuacan with +20% city bonus. City raider 2 axe dies against archer, despite favourable odds. Axe loses to axe. Axe beats axe. Axe beats axe, takes city with 3/5 axes left. I make peace for some breathing room and to get catapults ready eventually. I also need to reconnect some resources.
Oops, I just noticed that Rheims was in the red for food, which isn't allowed. This was because a jaguar pillaged my cow pasture, and I must have manually overrode the tiles before the and AI didn't adjust. I hope this doesn't tragically disqualify me because I didn't notice and it was an effect of war!
440: Settler built. I'm going to try for hanging gardens, so I start anb aqueduct in Paris.
470: Found Tours in the NW of Paris, on the coast rice, pig, fish. This should be a much needed commerce city.
480: A great prophet is born. I've been ignoring religion so there's nothing for him to build. And I could really use those extra super-specialist bonuses so I send him to my new city.
490: Construction -> Alphabet. I don't have either Meditation or Polytheism yet, and I bet I can get them cheap in trades.
510: Start Hanging Gardens, due in 9 turns.
590: Alphabet -> Drama. I'm not getting happiness through religion, so how will cheap theatres work? I'm up Iron, Construction, Alphabet on the field, and there's no way I'm giving any of those up.
600: Done Hanging Gardens.
660: Ghengis demands rice. I cave because I don't want a pointless war right now.
680: Drama -> Calendar. I need those luxury resources badly. Alex declares on Ghandi which is sweet.
710: Finally I take the barbarian city with 2 catapults and 2 axemen. I lost a couple swords and a couple of axes in some unlucky battles there many turns ago.
Here's a shot of my empire right now:
750: Calendar -> Currency. Finally time to build plantations.
770: Monty demands pigs and I let him have it, recognizing the symbolism.
840: Currency -> Code of Laws. Monty declares on me! This time I have catapults.
940: I've been massing troops and fighting for the last few turns. Laws->Metal Casting.
1000: Capture Monty's capital with a stack of about 7 catapult, 7 axe/sword.
1020: Take second city from Monty. Metal Casting -> Civil Service
1055: Take another city.
1070: Take Montezuma's third last city. Found Marseilles by iron, fish, cow to keep filling in the continent. I made peace with Montezuma for Hunting, Polytheism, Meditation, 90 gold. He has two very divided cities left. I think he has learned the error of his ways. Now I want to focus on getting my economy running and filling out the final spots for cities and coastal villages. I have Hinduism in 5 cities, and I finally set a state religion long after I should have.
Here's the state of France:
1095: Civil Service -> Priesthood. I'm getting this extremely late. It's time for some tech tree fill-in.
1100: Priesthood -> Monotheism
1110: Monotheism -> Monarchy. Begin on the path to banking. Revolt to Representation, Caste System, Bureaucracy, Organized religion. Oh yeah we're not very judgemental people you know?
1115: Settle Chartres at the SW tip by Sugar, Rice, Fish.
1135: Aristotle is born, and goes to build academy in Paris. Hey you're about a thousand years and some late aren't you buddy?
1185: Monarchy->Feudalism
1190: Finish the Colossus. If the AIs are going to let me have this, why not? I'm no coastal powerhouse but it helps my commerce.
1245: Use Great Merchant to discover paper.
1255: Feudalism -> Archery. Revolt to serfdom.
1260: Archery -> Machinery.
1285: Trade 3 luxury resources from Washington for three health resources. I have no idea why I didn't do this a whole lot sooner! Now I turn off "avoid growth" in a few cities.
1295: Forbidden Palace built in Rheims.
1300: Chicken Itch up in Paris. Gems pop out by Orleans! Woohoo.
1305: Machinery -> Guilds. I think macemen now take care of any possible threat the nearby AIs could throw at me right now.
1340: I finish the Globe Theatre in a flood plain paradise city that I took from Montezuma. This is my experiment city!! It has as much food as I'm going to ever see in one city radius, maybe! I intend this to be a specialist haven. I turn on emphasize growth and I am looking forward to seeing how big this gets after I irrigate everything and build health improvements.
[Unfortunately, the plan for this city didn't quite work out like ieverything n my hopes and dreams. I didn't understand just how sharp a barrier health was to growth. This city got to size 25 eventually, but I don't think it ever got bigger than that, and while it did support some specialists, it wasn't extremely valuable.]
1345: Found Avignon on the south coast as a fishing and commerce site. I am working on one more inland fill-in site with iron for my next city.
1350: Guilds -> Banking. Found Besancon inland.
1380: Genghis offers Compass for Metal Casting + 60 gold. I'll take it. Also I sell him Drama for his 560 gold. Sell Alex Drama for his 410 gold. With Ghandi, traded Civil Service and Machinery for Literature, Music, and Theology. All the other civs are backwards except Washington, and the only tech I am up on him is paper.
1390: Banking -> Education. Revolt to Mercantilism. Finally I should be getting some good cash flow, especially once banks are up.
1445: Education -> Economics. Finished Notre Dame. An aztec city flips to me!
1480: Econ -> Philosophy. Save Great Merchant for a Golden Age.
1495: Philo -> Printing Press.
1500: Trade Civil Service to Alex for Optics + 110 gold.
1525: Printing Press -> Liberalism
1540: Great prophet is born. I start a Golden Age!
1550: Liberalism -> Replaceable Parts free -> Gunpowder
1565: Gunpowder -> Nationalism
1575: Oxford built in Paris.
1590: Nationalism -> Engineering. My Golden age is over.
1600: Engineering -> Astronomy.
1630: Astronomy -> Chemistry.
1650: Chemistry -> Constitution
1652: Ghandi was destroyed, I think by Washington.
1654: Taj Mahal went up for a second Golden Age
1662: Constitution -> Coorporation
1668: Corporation -> Steam Power. Washington is finally friendly enough to trade me the world map. I've been a bad boy and haven't scouted much of anything in the big picture.
1676: Steam -> Assembly Line. I'm taking a little risk that I don't get hit hard with cavalry in the next short while, because I know Washington has Military Tradition and Rifling, and I lack both.
1690: Assembly -> Rifling.
1694: I founded Dijon but there's no mustard nearby?! If I were writing this game, founding the city Dijon as the French would automatically pop a mustard resource.
1700: Rifling -> Sci Method. With Infantry available there's no military to fear unless Washington somehow manages to get tanks.
1708: Sci Method -> Biology for farm improvement.
1710: Washington wants me to cancel all deals with the Mongols and I do it. I just want a peaceful space race, okay?
1720: Biology -> Democracy. Washington already has Democracy, but I'm going to try for the Statue of Liberty.
1730: Democracy -> Steel. Immediate revolt to Emancipation as per my honourable nature.
1740: Washington demands gold and I refuse. He's up a few techs on me and I'm up Steam Power on him. If he wants to attack me, let's get it on.
1742: Steel -> Railroad.
1750: Finished Pentagon. I don't want to go to war but if I'm forced to defend I want it on my side.
1752: Railroad -> Physics. It's time to wake up some workers who will fool me with all pig iron. The Statue of Liberty is due in two turns.
1754: Washington declares war! I guess the Americans are upset that France is going to beat them to the Statue of Liberty? I've never been in a war in Civ 4 beyond the Bronze/Construction techs, so it will be interesting to see what he can throw at me. I don't even know if he's going to come from the east or by boat from the west. I turn science to zero to start working on modernizing my whole army. I set all mature cities to produce infantry or cannons. Washington picked a good time to declare because it would have been much easier for me with a military rail net already up.
Genghis will ally with me against the Americans for Philosophy. I accept.
1766: Take an American city with about 7 infantry plus 3 cannon versus a couple riflemen and grenadiers. Washington doesn't seem to have infantry in the field so this should be a slaughterfest.
1772: Los Angeles, an American iceball city, is defeated and auto-razed at size 1. (Sorry, guys I couldn't save you.)
1778: Take New York, a main American city. By now, I've switched science back on and stopped producing military since I have as much as I need. I'm going to take Washington and then decide if I want to finish the Americans off for good. Physics came in a while ago, and I'm working on Combustion.
1782: Combustion -> Flight. Take Chicago.
1784: Take Washington from Washington.
1792: Take San Francisco, to hurt Washington's pride.
1794: Flight -> Electricity. While I've been fighting America with Infantry against Grenadiers and Rifleman, Greece, who has open borders with me, has razed Montezuma's main region contained mostly between my cities, with Knights, Catapults, and a couple Muskets. It's been entertaining to watch! Karma came to get you, buddy.
1798: Take Boston and Scythian. There are 3 American cities left.
1802: Electricity -> Radio
1806: Take Atlanta
1808: Delphi taken. One city remains.
1810: Radio -> Industrialism
1812: Take the last mainland American city. But Washington is still alive. Since I'm done with him I offer a peace deal for world map and 40 gold. It turns out he has one city left, an absolutely brutal iceball town. Take a look. Once Washington's empire was the dominant power in the East, and he still leads me in technology, but now he is reduced to this. He's still up Military Tradition, Communism, Artillery, Medicine, Divine Right. I'm up Electricity and Steam Power.
He also had a city on the south tip of the world, but I didn't notice at the time.
1820: Industrialism -> Computers. Founded a city at my southern border and used a Great Artist to try and culture bomb my way toward domination.
1830: Consume 3 great people for a third Golden Age.
1832: Computers -> Rocketry.
1838: Eiffel Tower up in Paris. What else is new? Also got Rock and Roll a turn ago.
1842: Rocketry -> Plastics
1850: Plastics -> Robotics
1855: Robotics -> Fission
1860: Fission -> Fiber Optics
1862: Apollo built.
1863: I now control 65.65% of the land, which is 0.35% from a domination victory! I started on the spaceship parts. Will I get a space victory or a domination victory first?
1865: Borders expand, and I win a domination victory! I'm actually disappointed because I was planning on the Space Race all along. Game score was 5794, final score 29828. Time spent was 27 hours, 14 minutes.
I had a whole lot of fun with this game, and I learned a lot! Thanks very much to Sirian and the team for setting this experience up.
I had hoped for someone trying this. Well done!
