I don't have a full report for this one, but here's a summary. And, for variety, it's a loss. 
I started out by maximizing food production in all cities and researching mining at 100%. I dropped the slider once the cash ran out and kept going, running 30% science at breakeven, getting bronze working next. Qin wants open borders in 150, I turn him away. Hatty wants me to cancel my Arabian deals in 200, and I say no, seeing as he's bigger. My first worker completes in 250 (Salamanca), as BW completes. Start IW, and in my first retrospective error, start food improvements at Salamanca (yes, I've read some of the other reports before doing mine, so I already have a sense of where I goofed
)
Other workers complete over the next several turns, and once again, I improve food resources first. At Cordoba, at least, I started getting cottages up and running, but only around 560 AD and after hooking up corn and pigs (basically, the first worker chopped the second and farmed corn, the 2nd worker chopped worker #3 and pasturized the pigs, then all three went cottage crazy). Another goof? Probably.
That's the start...this continues for some time, and I neglect to cottage spam, instead trying to turn Barcelona into a production center and Madrid into a mixed city. Why? I got too focused on where I was power-wise -- didn't want to build commerce if I was going to get my butt kicked because I was weak! Eh. ("Game Over" probably occurred as a result of these decisions right here) During this time, I switch to Judaism and align myself with Arabia -- they're big, they're bad, and, well, Egypt was a pain in the rear.
I got alphabet in 1120, and now have several cities building research. A GS from Cordoba lightbulubs Mathematics in 1200. Did I trade techs? Nope -- too far behind at this point. Arabia and Egypt go to war in 1170 AD, and after taking a look around Egyptian territory and begging HBR off Saladin, I started building swords and horse archers as best I could, along with some catapults when I finally research construction....in 1270 AD.
Heliopolis falls to Spain in 1270, Elephantine in 1350, then start pillaging the countryside. In 1565, I grab Memphis, and Hatty finally agrees to straight-up peace. Of course, by this point, I've got few options as I'm now at least an era behind in tech. Civil Service arrives in 1600, and at this point in time, a win is looking improbable -- I'll get steamrollered militarily, and have no other options available. I'm too far behind in space race, and too small for diplomatic win (and don't have many allies). Cultural? I have never attempted a cultural win, and it's a bit late to try. I decide to carry on, half-hoping for some miracle....
Memphis revolts in 1610, comes out in 1640. I start piling in longbows (!), and in 1665, despite my tech-poor situation and facing musketmen against my horse archers, axes, and swords, I dial up Hatty, demand and get Philosophy, then declare war. I focus on Byblos and Phoenician - I take Phoenician in 1675 and drop a GA culture bomb to gain full control of the gems in 1685. Byblos is taken and razed in 1705 to relieve cultural pressure on Phoenician. Peace is declared again, and I have fallen further behind, as at this point conquistadors are my strongest unit.
1705, and I'm way behind in tech. The upside -- techs are dirt cheap to research. 8) The downside? Too many to list. I pop another Artist in Cordoba in 1720 (that makes 2) -- despite running 2 scientists in Cordoba, the National Epic was popping artists.
I get Engineering in 1765, Astronomy in 1790, and despite the presence of riflemen in Egyptian cities, I take another crack at Egypt in 1800. I attempt to use my stack against the 4 rifles in Thebes -- I've got 11 conquistadors and three cats, the city is at 8% defense and defended by four rifles and a grenadier. 10 dead conquistadors later and one dead rifle to show for it, well, there goes the neighborhood. In 1820, my forming second wave stack gets wiped out by an attack out of Thebes, and I'm in really big trouble now. I retire in 1824, knowing full well if I continue I'll get wiped out.
Just for comparison, my last researched tech was Liberalism in 1808 -- I saw my first chinese destroyer in 1816!
My main mistake(s) here was getting too concerned with my relative power and not concerned enough with commerce teching up (yes, I didn't learn my lesson of Tech Uber Alles from Adventure 8...). The fear of getting attacked overrode any sense of hoping diplomacy would save the day until I got up and running. I'm also still a relative beginner at Civ IV (only got about 30 games or so under my belt, half at Warlord and half at Noble) [that's also my excuse and I'm stickin' to it! ), so there are several "basic" game mechanics that I'm still wrapping my head around (like, oh, say, tech trading, the use of GP's, the finer points of diplomacy, and a couple of other ones).
At some point, I'll probably take another crack at this game, just to see if I can do any better. I'll also, at some point, get a full report up for this one, just to be "complete" in my reporting.
notopt
I started out by maximizing food production in all cities and researching mining at 100%. I dropped the slider once the cash ran out and kept going, running 30% science at breakeven, getting bronze working next. Qin wants open borders in 150, I turn him away. Hatty wants me to cancel my Arabian deals in 200, and I say no, seeing as he's bigger. My first worker completes in 250 (Salamanca), as BW completes. Start IW, and in my first retrospective error, start food improvements at Salamanca (yes, I've read some of the other reports before doing mine, so I already have a sense of where I goofed
)Other workers complete over the next several turns, and once again, I improve food resources first. At Cordoba, at least, I started getting cottages up and running, but only around 560 AD and after hooking up corn and pigs (basically, the first worker chopped the second and farmed corn, the 2nd worker chopped worker #3 and pasturized the pigs, then all three went cottage crazy). Another goof? Probably.
That's the start...this continues for some time, and I neglect to cottage spam, instead trying to turn Barcelona into a production center and Madrid into a mixed city. Why? I got too focused on where I was power-wise -- didn't want to build commerce if I was going to get my butt kicked because I was weak! Eh. ("Game Over" probably occurred as a result of these decisions right here) During this time, I switch to Judaism and align myself with Arabia -- they're big, they're bad, and, well, Egypt was a pain in the rear.
I got alphabet in 1120, and now have several cities building research. A GS from Cordoba lightbulubs Mathematics in 1200. Did I trade techs? Nope -- too far behind at this point. Arabia and Egypt go to war in 1170 AD, and after taking a look around Egyptian territory and begging HBR off Saladin, I started building swords and horse archers as best I could, along with some catapults when I finally research construction....in 1270 AD.
Heliopolis falls to Spain in 1270, Elephantine in 1350, then start pillaging the countryside. In 1565, I grab Memphis, and Hatty finally agrees to straight-up peace. Of course, by this point, I've got few options as I'm now at least an era behind in tech. Civil Service arrives in 1600, and at this point in time, a win is looking improbable -- I'll get steamrollered militarily, and have no other options available. I'm too far behind in space race, and too small for diplomatic win (and don't have many allies). Cultural? I have never attempted a cultural win, and it's a bit late to try. I decide to carry on, half-hoping for some miracle....
Memphis revolts in 1610, comes out in 1640. I start piling in longbows (!), and in 1665, despite my tech-poor situation and facing musketmen against my horse archers, axes, and swords, I dial up Hatty, demand and get Philosophy, then declare war. I focus on Byblos and Phoenician - I take Phoenician in 1675 and drop a GA culture bomb to gain full control of the gems in 1685. Byblos is taken and razed in 1705 to relieve cultural pressure on Phoenician. Peace is declared again, and I have fallen further behind, as at this point conquistadors are my strongest unit.
1705, and I'm way behind in tech. The upside -- techs are dirt cheap to research. 8) The downside? Too many to list. I pop another Artist in Cordoba in 1720 (that makes 2) -- despite running 2 scientists in Cordoba, the National Epic was popping artists.
I get Engineering in 1765, Astronomy in 1790, and despite the presence of riflemen in Egyptian cities, I take another crack at Egypt in 1800. I attempt to use my stack against the 4 rifles in Thebes -- I've got 11 conquistadors and three cats, the city is at 8% defense and defended by four rifles and a grenadier. 10 dead conquistadors later and one dead rifle to show for it, well, there goes the neighborhood. In 1820, my forming second wave stack gets wiped out by an attack out of Thebes, and I'm in really big trouble now. I retire in 1824, knowing full well if I continue I'll get wiped out.
Just for comparison, my last researched tech was Liberalism in 1808 -- I saw my first chinese destroyer in 1816!
My main mistake(s) here was getting too concerned with my relative power and not concerned enough with commerce teching up (yes, I didn't learn my lesson of Tech Uber Alles from Adventure 8...). The fear of getting attacked overrode any sense of hoping diplomacy would save the day until I got up and running. I'm also still a relative beginner at Civ IV (only got about 30 games or so under my belt, half at Warlord and half at Noble) [that's also my excuse and I'm stickin' to it!
), so there are several "basic" game mechanics that I'm still wrapping my head around (like, oh, say, tech trading, the use of GP's, the finer points of diplomacy, and a couple of other ones). At some point, I'll probably take another crack at this game, just to see if I can do any better. I'll also, at some point, get a full report up for this one, just to be "complete" in my reporting.
notopt
