I should be available in a couple more hours, so perhaps another game then.
Now then, a quick review of the match. It was me, TwinkleToes89, Cull, and Dantski. Tiny Lakes. Random civ/leader. Considering the pre-game "trash talk" that was occurring, I am very pleased to report my victory.
Had to restart from the first game, in which I humorously drew Rome. Actual game, got Holy Rome, leader: Mansa Munsa. There was no world wrap, which probably helped me immensely. I was on the far east, then going west, TT, Dantski(?), Cull(??).
My start wasn't that great, actually, except for one thing: Triple Ivory. I knew that if I could survive to construction, I'd have an advantage. However, it turned out that no other strategic resource was within immediate grasp, while my arch-enemy, TT, had Bronze and Iron within his capital's borders, and Horses not too far away.
Since I started with a scout, I built a Warrior first and researched Meditation to get Buddhism for the culture and happy boost. Being spiritual was a factor in my decision. I had to settle to the north for Horses. The town didn't have any food resources, and the only other thing it had going for it was a hill gold. So kinda sucky, but I needed something better than Warriors and Archers. There was Copper west of that, but effectively out of reach.
I did tech Iron Working, and found Iron to my southwest. A bit of stretch, but I could put the city in a sheltered location. Peak to the immediate north, river west, south. That turned out to be very helpful 'cuz I was farting around with infrastructure at that point. TT was busy putting his metal to use and came at me with a mix of spears and Axemen. I had just got Iron hooked up and had researched HBR, and managed to whip an Axe, but I still had, like, 2 Archers and an Axe vs. 8 troops, even attack across the river. However, my quick fingers helped me get 2 more Archers and a Horse Archer into the city before TT attacked, which saved it. I think my losses were minimal, if anything. Didn't have time to look at the combat results with the timer going.
With that push thwarted, I built a few more Horse Archers to act as scouts (with the sentry promotion) and, secure in my belief that I'd have a respite from TT, set about teching and building cottages and whatnot. Settled a decent commerce site south of the Capital. Had no food, but floodplains aplenty and a gold resource (iron town had gold, too). I got lucky there, I guess. Commerce town never got a border pop, though. I never found the time to send a missionary down.
Anyway, as much as I wanted to raze TT's capital, for reasons that he
should not explain, I decided to sit back, tech, build up some Catapults (remembered how important Construction was) as well as some Elephants, and get a tech lead. No one else was financial, and my GNP was pretty darn high (I have some screens, I'll put up in a bit).
TT did make a pretty decent move in getting Civil Service from the Oracle, but I teched it myself in 7 turns, so I don't know how much of an advantage that gave him. Shortly thereafter, he attacked again. For some reason, he neglected to bring siege, despite it being so late into the game. He attacked my northern city, but I had been stockpiling catapults and some War Elephants for just such an occasion, and brought up reinforcements from the south. Total slaughter. A small push to the south was likewise defeated. He ended up deleting his forces to deny me the XP.
About that time, Dantski got some units coming in. Impi. Poor bastard. Oh, I was the major score leader by this point, I think nearly double the score of #2. I landed the Hanging Gardens earlier, which probably helped a bit. I didn't need it, but I just felt like building it.
Anyway, Impis were likewise destroyed. If they were working together, TT should probably have delayed his attack so they could move in at once. So, about then, I started building Macemen. Macemen, Elephants, and Catapults (Engineering was a few turns away) should have been enough to destroy TT's capital, but we called the game at that point. However, I did end up getting a moral victory of sorts.
So, I can't really comment on anyone's game except mine, and sorta TT's. One lesson I learned was the importance of getting a high score through population and land. My capital had two corn resources (one irrigated) and a Banana (never got calendar), was on a plains hill, and had 3 grassland hills (one probably held coal or something). And rivered grasslands. Yay for Financial. Ivory helped as an early happy, and Buddhism gave me another happy when I converted. Gold helped, and I got some Forges late in the game and built a couple of temples to raise my Happy Cap. Ummm . . . I did get a
little lucky thwarting the first attack at Glass Bottle (iron town), so I may have gone a bit light on defense at first, but I made sure to make up for it afterwards.
Holy City capital gave me good vision out towards TT, and Glass Bottle was kinda close to TT's Capital, so I think I had greater control of the Battlefield. Once I got Sentries out, I could see things coming.
TT's rush was a good idea. Not sure if he should have crossed the river or not. Guess he couldn't really, with the peak in the way. I don't know how much domestic development he did. He should have had Catapults later in the game, and maybe, maybe, he should have expanded towards me. It would have been risky, but would have put pressure on me to attack. I've also learned, in MP, that defenders have a huge advantage.
So, that's basically my summary. First MP victory, I think.
