Space Victory 1973- Only Hatty did not see the Finish. In game score of 4929, Abe Lincoln rating and score of 13840.


Adventure 9 Stagnation- Save the Spanish Empire from Financial Ruin.

So I change research to Alphabet (it was either that or head from BW), but I figure if I don't already have bronze then I can't afford to settle for it anyway and the best thing to do is to try and get some trading going so I can at least stay caught up tech wise till I can get some cities up to size six to get some workers out. I reconfigure all cities for max pop. growth and set a priest specialist in Madrid (the one city with a temple).

275-Lizzy asks for me to convert to Judaism I agree.

300-Hatty asks me to cancel my deals with Saladin I also agree. Saladin is a difficult to appease and work with, Lizyy and Hatty are much better for allies. Workers are now being built in 3 cities. Yeah!!!

660- The Great Cottaging and lighthousing is well under way 20% reseach Yeah!!!. Cordoba (with the Pig and Corn) is now gonna churn out all of my workers.

760- St. Peter born in Madrid offers Monotheism, but I will trade for that and then burn him on something better.

920AD-My first tech-Alphabet comes in. I trade it to Qin for Math and 40gold. And then to Lizzy for Monotheism, Mining and 24 gold. Research is now set to Bronze Working. I burn St. Peter on Theology.

940- Hatty gets Theology for BW and CoL.

960- I parlay Theology around some more for Iron Working, Horseback riding, Currency (+8gpt), and Metal Casting. I am currently researching Drama (the AIs ignore it a good bit). There is plenty of Iron and Copper too. Gonna be whipping some courthouses here shortly too.

1000-I finally meet Mansa.

1280-Score the HG for me.


1470-I miss Liberalism by 2 turns!!!!!!

1565- I demand Hatty give 200 in tribute, she does, now I declare war on her. This will be the first war of the whole game. The long border with Hatty will make this a bit difficult, but that can be managed, I really like that dye city, I think it should be mine. The first wave is Conquistadors, cats, and musketmen. I am tech away to Rifling.





1730-I now control Thebes(Buddhist shrine city) and now we have A war declaration, of course on me, by JC.

1795- Starting Session 2. The war againist Egypt is going slowly, but is almost finished, then I will sue for peace with JC and develope the new lands. I really want to win this by Space since the scenario sort of makes that the most difficult vic. type.

1800- I make peace with Hatty, she is now relagated to that island directly south of the Pangea land mass. I will fix that soon as I get some Galleon out, the war put me behind in tech, but that will be fixed to.

1802-Peace with JC

1864- Finally I have Rocketry, lets see if I can get this Spaceship built, next I am gonna head right to Robotics for the Space elevator.


I don't have any notes, just this pic.
1908- Saladin offers a defensive pact. I accept, why not?

1923-Saladin completes an SS Casing-the first message of the space race. My Apollo completes in 2 turns!

1942- Seville starts the Space Elevator due in 12, it is my ironworks city. I have all the casings built, but Saladin is still up a few thrusters on me.

1944-I burn a great engineer on the elevator for 900 shields, now due in 5 turns.

1946 Satellites come in.

1949 Seville finishs the Space Elevator. Good thing that I got it as everybody is finishing spaceship parts now. I currently have the most land and pop. Saladin and I both have all the Casings, but Saladin has the three thrusters too, mine are currenly in the works.

1956- I am now up the docking bay and dead even on everything else.

1959- The golden age begins!! This year there was a UN vote, Saladin and I are the candidates, I don't think either of us can win the vote.

1960- Saladin is Sec. Gen, with 365 of 330 required. He got Qin and JC, I got Lizzy with MM abstaining.

1965 The internet completes in Seville. Netting Fascism, Communism, Flight, Mass Media, Ecology.


1966- Internet gets me composites this turn and Genetics research finishs, last part should be due in 7-10 turns.

1967 Diplo Victory comes up, gonna be real disappointing if Saladin wins.

1973- I win








All in all a pretty regular game, I normally end up tanking my economy in a war or something very much the way the game started so I had some experince in recovering from it. In fact right when I eventually got the tech lead I tanked my economy again when I assimiliated the Egyptian lands.

As we've had a discussion about the uses of GPs recently, this one might be interesting.

http://uberfish.atspace.com/adv9.html

Adventure 9, through the industrial era


I was debating between this and Epic5. After a few minutes of Epic5, I decided to go with this one. All the calendar resources nearby just felt to painful.

I feel sorry for anyone who doesn't review the cities. An emphasis on shields with these variant rules is really, really painful. Having Spain that founded no religions is quite odd.

That Arab city on the opposite side of my lands is paying off, as the AI is building roads through my lands to connect it. I will gladly take some free worker actions.


I can tell how bad the initial economy was when Arabia founds Islam as I am up to currency research. I finally enter the medieval era in 1400 AD. With a decent 60% science rate, I am at least moving forward. However, I am still way behind the other AIs and only getting an occasional tech trade to speed things up.


My first decent tech break is researching paper, as I get to pick up a few techs in trade. I entered the renaissance era in 1535 AD via education.


Since I managed to spread all 3 religions inside my borders to every city, I gladly revolt to free religion. I can really use the 10% science boast. Building longbows when the AI is building rifles doesn't make me feel comfortable. The good news is I am catching up on AI with my GNP rate, and I am finally not 7th in soldiers. The biggest danger zone has passed.

I entered the industrial era in 1750 AD.

I entered the modern era in 1870 AD.

Hi,

my report can be found, as usual, on my website. I had lots of fun with this game!

-Kylearan

Adventure 9 - Stagnation

This adventure was prince level, panagea map as Isabella. We begin the game at 1AD, with the lands seen in the epic description page. We cannot build workers until we reach size 6.

As you can read, things are not promising. We are making 0 GPT at 0% research because of our absence of tile improvements. The first thing I did was to delete warriors until we were under the free militia limit. Then I changed all of the builds to granaries, and set all cities to max growth. I set research on mining.

The largest 4 cities all started workers at size 6. Seville built another worker when it finished its first, and Toledo also built a worker once it had reached 6 too. Thus I had 6 new workers, but also more unit maintenence. My military went on strike for the first time I've been playing. I had to MM each city to work as much commerce plots as possible. I had never before worked so many 2-0-1 grasslands! My workers were told to improve all of the food resources and build some cottages. Finally in 275 AD I had researched my first tech, mining.

Saladin's workers were happily connecting my eastern cities for me:



Unable to build workers or military, all I could build were temples, monasteries and missionaries to improve the hapiness cap in my cities. I had 3 religions in my land - confucianism, judaism and buddhism. I was hanging around the barb town in the east, hoping to sneakily capture it once hatty had weakened the defenses, but it was not to be and Hatty captured it.

The dark ages then ensued, where I didn't research another tech until 1010 AD! I chose Code of Laws. Not for the courthouses, but because of its trading value (some AIs mysteriously avoid this tech). I traded it for Bronze Working and Monotheism. This tech-whoring would become a repeating feature in this game, as I expect it would have to be in everyone elses if they hoped to acheive tech-parity one day. In the meantime, I had remained paganist. Saladin and Hatty were my nearest neighbours, and they hated each other for their different religions. I decided that they could stay each others' worth enemies, and stayed neutral throughout except for 10 turns when Saladin asked me to convert.

Having spread 3 religions and temples around my empire in the absence of anything else to build (courthouses were fairly irrelevant because all cities were close to my capital), I considered a cultural victory. My next tech target was Theology. Mainly because not everyone else had it, but also because I wanted a shot at the Sistine Chapel. It was discovered in 1130AD, and I was able to trade it for Iron Working, Mathematics and Currency. I would get beaten to the Sistine Chapel however.

Tech situation in 1220 AD:



Civil Service was next, and that was whored away for Metal Casting, Alphabet and Literature. By this time I had fully spread all 3 religions and built temples in all 7 cities. It was time to research Music and build some cathedrals. With my 7 cities and 3 religions, I could build 2 cathedrals per holy city. The holy cities I chose were Madrid, Seville and Cordoba, because they were the most food-rich.

I got paper in 1310AD, and through a whole bunch of trades was able to get Horseback Riding, Construction, Calendar, Drama, Compas and Machinery in the same year. While the holy cities were concentrating on cathedrals and theatres, the other cities were set to build macemen.

Tech situation in 1450 AD:



I got beaten to liberalism in 1480 by Qin, probably due to some very sneaky uses of great people. Nevermind, I would just have to trade education for: Gunpowder, Guilds, Optics, Feudalism, Philosophy (which I was currently researching) and Engineering. That was my favourite set of trades, and made me the tech co-leader. I finished Liberalism, traded it for Divine Right and revolted to Free Speech and Free Religion and Caste System.

Tech situation looks much better in 1515 AD:



National epic went to Seville, with it's fish and cows. I revolted to Caste System and generated 3 artist quite quickly in this city all of which were merged into my chosen 3 cities. My first artist came in 1590 AD, with the nice name of Wang Zixhi.

Now was the time to try for my first wonders! I managed to get Angkor Wat in Madrid, but missed out on Taj Mahal and Spiral Minaret. Globe Theatre went in Cordoba, and Oxford was installed in Madrid. I researched Banking (for mercantilism) and Nationalism (built Hermitage in Seville for the artist points) and printing press, then went up the top level of the tree towards Democracy. This was probably , because I had the Statue of Liberty and Eiffel Tower mixed up. I built the Statue from an unlucky great engineer and looked around all my cities for the free broadcast towers . Oh well, I guess a free artist or a suped-up prophet in each city will do!

In the early 18th century emancipation weariness was starting to hit, but there was no way I was getting out of caste system so I went to hereditary rule to combat it. I researched replacable parts and rifling, traded for corporation, steam power and scientific method and then got biology in 1785. There are many theories as to when to turn off research in a culture game. I'm by no means an expert, but I like to do it after biology and rifling. Doing it before rifling seems too risky, and biology gives you a huge boost to your great artist generation. I revolted to representation for a while, and even at 0% research was able to get assembly line in 19 turns. This was traded for steel, railroad and military tradition so I was able to build infantry, machine gunners and cannons to protect myself.

One thing that interested me was the ex-barb city of Sarmation. In 1852 it was almost surrounded by my culture, garissoned by just 2 units:



In 20 more years, the SE forest flipped to me too. My culture had completely surrounded the city for the rest of the game but it never flipped, despite never having more than 2 garrison units at any time.

I could probably have sped this whole thing up by chosing a religion and going to pacifism, but I decided to take the easier and longer win by staying with no state religion. I was confident of repelling an attack by Saladin or Qin, but I could not really be bothered to fight the war. In addition to the 3 merged artists, Seville and Cordoba managed to generate 7 others, and a series of culture bombs made my cities legendary in 1933 AD.



Final states of my 3 cities:



In summary, this game was all about the tech-whoring, and tech whoring is always fun. I also enjoyed inheriting an empire mid-way through a game. I complained in a few earlier events that I wish I had taken a more aggressive route to victory, but I liked the peaceful approach this time. I give this event sooooo's official "I enjoyed this game" award. I'm eager to see if and how people attempted domination victories however.

First action, all 5 pop cities got emphasize food. Seville is the best performer and will grow in 3 turns

On the diplomatic field, we don't use a state religion yet and we better stay this way

On the tech side, there is a joke. The former governor didn't research mining. Start on that already

The land is somewhat scarce of calendar resources. The only one I am seeing is a sugar. I take global view and see gold in the north. Great, zoom out and discover it is arabian. Grrrrrr. Seems like Sally had fun with barbs. Sakae is not an arabian city AFAIK

I also open city screen, scroll through them all and order granaries nrealy everywhere

We have horses, nice to build some conquistadors. And food, mucho food. There is an opportunity to make good production powerhouses

I pick three units and send them on exploring duty. Our maps are quite outdated and some tiles are still foggy

Check complete. Press enter

The worker prototype is ordered in Seville and Barcelona starts its worker next. There is great commotion in the empire. Our people have all heard rumors of inventions created in the neighbouring countries such as farms, pasture and mines.


On the religious field, the first noticeable event is Hatty who got an ally by converting Qin to Buddhism. Chritsianity falls to Saladin and he converts to theocraty. I am not feeling confident with such a nuts neighbour

JC comes asking for this.




Liz managed to get 3 cities and got hemmed in. So I obliged. JC is far but no need to make him an enemy for now

I meet the last civ, Mansa Musa and he is already complaining about us trading with his worst enemy : seems like Sally is the culprit

And now here is our first improvement : a cottage on the flood plain. a bit classic ? bah




Saladin is lending us a hand for building roads . Seems like he wants to connect his northern city. At least something positive about this gold robbery




Sally also manages to take yet another barb city. What is he doing far from his lands ?




I just got mining. I am loosing money at 0% science but I have a worker near the gold mine. This should get me to green land




I sure need to hire some scientists. I was hesitating to research alphabet or go bronzeworking first to get some serious defense waiting for other civs to research alphabet. But I thought that I would have nothing to deal with the advanced civs anyway so better try for alphabet and see if some backward civ has something to offer for it

Sally came asking me to convert to judaism. Of course, buddy. He was cautious and I already have some border tensions. If he decides to attack now, I am toast.




I thought that a workboat can help with the exploring. He had a very short life ...




Madrid and Cordoba have so many forests that I find myself cursing them for the first time. Madrid even managed to get a new forest grown. I need to build mines and some cottages along the river

I got back to no state religion once I could. With the buddhist Hatty and Qin around, I'd better stay neutral. Hatty was pleased and I asked her gently for Bronze Working and she gave me. Too bad I didn't ask on first chance. She is the only one with alphabet yet some turns later alphabet was spread all around. This is the tech screen one turn before I discover alphabet myself




Only 2 civs still lack it (JC and Qin). Phhhbt. If I can get maths and IW with this, I would call myself lucky. Well, in 820 AD I discover alphabet and I traded for maths and metal casting which is better than I hoped. JC didn't have monarchy which helped a lot

Next turn, I used metal casting to grab very useful techs








That was a very favourable situation for tech trading. With the new trade routes, economy is even at 50%. I am also expecting a great scientist on the next turn, gimme taoism

And now, some of the times when CIV can take you down from a very favourable situation into deep trouble. First thing, I hear news a of a guy named Plato born IAFAL. I pressed enter crossing my finger and hoping that this plato would go to a civ who don't know Code Of Laws

No way, I sure hear the damn sound : Taoism found by Liz and missed by 1 turn
Now you would say hold yourself, this is not the end of the world (euh game). But I hear another sound, this one is more creepy : H.O.R.N. B.L.O.W

Holy eager beavers, batman! Quarter after midnight and I'm...eighth to report?! Well, my fight to profitability is here . Now, it's time to do some reading of other reports....

My second reported Adventure was a little different from the warmongering adventure 8. At least warmongering from the beginning would be ruled out. Isabella had used all the proceeds in the Spanish national treasury, probably on something vain, and not even bothered to found a religion.

On the other hand the Spanish empire is pretty big with seven cities and there is no state religion adopted. Jewism has spread into the empire, but I’m not going to adopt it as a state religion, as I don’t want to have my neighbours angry with me. Spain is pretty well guarded at the moment, but I suspect that before I have got the economy up and running and thus back to decent research rates, the Spanish archers will be quite obsolete.

I’m planning to try to go for the space race victory, as I see that our unimproved land looks quite promising with all the grassland and rivers and not to forget the gold tile close to Santiago.

So on we go. First of all I micromanaged all the cities to max growth and once they hit size six, I immediately started to produce a worker. After training the first in Seville it started cottage spamming the neighbourhood and the second went to Santiago to improve the gold hill. Altogether I trained ten workers right in the beginning and none after that in the whole game.

So Spain was getting on its feet and I was at good relations with all the other civs. And all of a sudden Saladin the rat decided to declare war on me in 1625 AD. I suspected it though, because he had asked me to convert to be his state religion and I denied and after that I had seen several camel archer units being sent to his northern city of Sakae. And this was four turns after I had converted to free religion.

I immediately looked for help from the other AI’s and JC was actually willing to help me out, although it required some bribing. It was kind of surprising, as he was much weaker than Saladin, but I suppose his mentality just screams for a reason to go to war. The good thing about JC was that he was at the other end of Saladin’s empire and that led to a two front war for Saladin. As a result I assume I was faced with a lot less enemy units and I was able to fight down his initial city raider stacks and after that he just was out to pillage. My newly trained pikemen were just too much for his camel archers. I also used axemen to finish of his retreated units and promoted them with CR.

When I finally got to chemistry I was able to upgrade my axes to grenadiers and formed my own conquest stack with two pikemen, four CR2 grenadiers and four catapults. I first went for Sakae in the north, which fell pretty easy and then took a second city in the west, Damascus, and thought that I would proceed to take even the next city, but then I saw Saladin’s counter attack force and signed for piece in 1816 AD. I had to pay him 10 gold, though. I also had razed the former barbarian city of Sarmatian in the east that Saladin had captured earlier.

JC lost a couple of cities at first, but was able to take one of them back before signing for peace.

After the war it was again just to rebuild my infrastructure and the captured city of Sakae also had a gold mine, which was nice. I also made quite a few tech trades just to be able to be in the space race. They were not the best possible trades, but I felt that I had to do everything possible to stay in the race. Especially Elizabeth seems to be a hard bargainer, as she really emptied my pockets a couple of times. The positive side effect was that I was gaining a lot of diplomatic points as I had been making lots of “fair deals”.

Due to the size of my empire and the fact that I had pretty big cities I was second in score at this point, but behind in tech. I only whipped my cities once and that was at the initial phase of the war, when I just had to get a decent defence up and running. The rationale behind not whipping was to have citizens working all the cottages I had built. Remember, money was the biggest problem in the game and whipping would have been disastrous for the economy.

In 1930 AD I had build the Apollo program and four casings, but Hatty was in lead with all the casings build and also two thrusters. . I was also building spies and hoped to be able to interfere with Hatty’s goal to win the space race, when she build the UN. She was first in score and as I was second, I was automatically chosen as her opponent. I was really surprised when I got elected to Sec. Gen.. Then I thought I would have a chance to make a diplomatic win and looked at everybody’s relations. Making another “fair deal” with Qin got me up to a pleased level with and I already was at the same level with Elizabeth, Mansa Musa and JC. Saladin was annoyed at me…surprise, surprise. And a also had an defensive pact with Hatty and she was friendly with me. Now Hatty had exactly the same situation, although Saladin was furious at her, but she had one or two positive points less than I, so everybody voted on me and Saladin abstained. I earned a diplomatic win in 1936!!!

As a final remark I also was number one in GNP. Quite nice, as GNP was the main problem in this adventure.

Brackard is out of town, but here is his report.

Griselda's Adventure 9 - ¿Cuál es su plan?

I feel like that constant comment from my units is the main theme of my game. ¿Cuál es su plan? Damned if I know. Still, I had a very enjoyable game that was exciting down to the last turn. Hopefully, you'll enjoy reading about it.

¿Cuál es su plan?

First of all, I want to say that I just finished the single most difficult year of my career so far, and as a resuslt I haven't had much time to get to know the game. I've been involved in the community, but I don't know the game inside and out, and I know very little about the end game.

I'm also somebody who realizes that in some cases, innocence is bliss. If I can enjoy the game on a surface level, without trying to get every hammer from a whip or every possible beaker of science overflow, then I am going to have more fun. So, when you look at how things went with my Civ, remember that this was done without any effort to min/max various things. What you see is what you get.

¿Cuál es su plan?

Actually, I didn't hear that so much at the start, since I didn't have any workers! I pretty much let the starting units be, and focused on the economy.

At the start, 2/3 of our income was going to city maintenance! We need courthouses, and badly! Unfortunately, our maintenance budget is eating our research budget, making code of laws a very expensive research project. But, I don't think it can wait, even to clean up some cheaper techs now (even that would take close to forever in this situation, so everything else can wait). Set research to code of laws at 100%, and will gradually lower the slider as I get closer to 0 gold.

I need a lot of workers, and a lot of infrastructure. I decide to take the highest-food city, Seville, and delay its infra by making it a worker factory, thus allowing other cities to build some improvements. I will build one worker out of each city as it grows to 6, but Seville will keep building workers instead of infra until I feel like I have enough. I set Seville to grow in 3, and start a library while I'm waiting. Most other cities go to high growth/granary. Population is power!

On the diplomatic front, I see that I'm pretty neutral with everyone. In fact, the whole game seems to only have religion and close borders as diplomacy issues. It looks like it's not just my civ that's been asleep for the past few millenia!

We are spiritual, and can change religions plenty if we want. For now, we adopt Judaism and get a small happy bonus plus we get on Saladin's good side. This makes Hatty a bit miffed, and she is close by, but we can trade her clams for cows for no net loss in health, and hopefully some good vibes.

In 75AD, Seville grew to size 6 and we started on a worker, due in 6. Most cities are building granary (partial) - worker - granary - library, except for Seville. In Santiago, I build a lighthouse after granary.

It's amazing how little the barbs concern me, considering that I have no improvements! You don't frighten us, barbarian pig-dogs! Go and boil your bottoms, son of a silly person!

Although long-term, I need population to help me out of this slump, by 200 AD I am getting close to a potential strike and have to MM for commerce in a few places to keep us in the black. I do get through the entire game without a strike.

My first worker is built in 225 AD. My first focus was primarily on getting some roads built and cities connected, but in retrospect this was probably not very smart, as most of my cities were already connected due to the abundant waterways. Saladin comes in and helps build some roads, because he's trying to build a road to his city to the north. He connects his city to Seville by 275 AD. Realizing that this is what he's doing, I let him build a road on my rice while I build the farm there.

The Egyptians capture that barb city in the East.

By 600 AD, Barcelona has grown to 8 and needs happy help. We're a few turns from having our second rice online, so I trade our current rice to Hatty for spices.

¿Cuál es su plan?

I knew even then that I would have to choose between Hatty and Saladin as friends, but at the time I was determined to keep both on my good side. I trade with Hatty and keep Saladin's religion. Am I shooting myself in the foot by trying to maintain good relations with everyone? There's no Switzerland in CIV!

In 620 AD, I can do my first tech trade! I trade meditation and monarchy to Liz for mining, math, and 90 gold. I use the gold to fund some deficit research, and in 860 AD, we have researched or first tech [dance]. Code of Laws is in, and I need bronze working badly.

Around this time, I complete my 10th worker, and stop building workers to save on maintenance. Plus, Seville wants to be a real city someday.

When Bronze comes in (960 AD), I decide that we need currency before iron working, even with all that jungle. I adopt Slavery, and whip courthouses in Cordoba and Salmanca, and later Seville after it has some hammers of its own.

Since I have cows of my own and want to make friends and money, I cancel the cow-for-clams deal with Hatty, and trade clams to Liz and Pigs to Mansa for gold.

In 1090 AD, Currency is in, and I start markets everywhere! Some forest chops help to speed the process.

I feel like I'm finally getting things back together, but my workers keep reminding me of something:

¿Cuál es su plan?

I really don't know a thing about the endgame, which is creeping ever closer. It seems like this is a situation where we can't have guns and butter, and it's butter that the developing civ still needs. So, a military option just doesn't seem realistic. I would have needed to focus on culture much earlier to win that way, especially with Hatty in the game. Space seemed unrealistic at the time, with me so far behind in tech.

So- Diplomacy? "True" diplomacy has always tantalized me. I've never won that way. Very few players try for it. Could I win this by "true" diplomacy? I wanted to try.

¿Cuál es su plan? I hedged my bets. At this point, Hatty and Saladin were pretty much neck and neck. Hatty edged Saladin in population, but I had the feeling that the difference wasn't very great. I didn't want to risk alienating Hatty as hers might be that critical second-largest AI vote that I needed. I had to be friends with both of them, even though they hated each other. Or so I thought.

I build my only city of the game, Murcia, in 1280 AD, and around that time I started my FP in Cordoba.


Here's a shot of Murcia in 1290 AD. You can see that I have an uphill battle as far as culture here. The three adjacent Arabian tiles are 99, 99, and 98% Arabian.



Here's a wider shot of my empire. You can see that I'm pretty intentionally using religion and cheap temples to spread the happy. In this shot, I don't even have monotheism yet, so I've built monasteries to get things started. I also figured that if I had as many religions as possible in as many of my cities as possible, I would be free to switch for diplomatic reasons without worrying about my civ.

I'm also closing in on some of the tech trailers to where I think I could broker a few things. I noticed that Liz and Caesar don't have Civil Service, which is why I chose that for my research path.

It works! I get it before them, and Julius will trade me monotheism, alphabet, horseback riding, and 40 gold for it! After that, Liz didn't have anything that she wanted to trade me for it, but at least I know I can get something for my techs now. I decide to keep the gambit going by heading for paper.

1340 AD saw the game's first war, but I stayed out of it. Caesar (2nd to last in score) declared on Liz (last).

This depth-research is working. Only Hatty and Saladin get to Paper before me.

I trade Paper to Mansa for Theology.
Paper to Qin for Literature, Drama, and 20 gold.

Wait a turn, then...

Literature, Paper, and Theology to Caesar for Metal Casting, Compass, Construction, and 40 gold.
Paper and Theology to Liz for Music and 20 gold.

One more turn for more teching

Music to Mansa for map and 120 gold (all the gold funds deficit research, of course).

By 1515 I'm second to Printing Press behind Saladin.

Printing Press to Mansa for Divine Right, Map, and 160 gold.
Music and Printing Press to Caesar for Engineering, Optics, and 180 gold.
Printing Press to Liz for guilds and 20 gold
Printing Press to Hatty for Philosophy, Map, and 180 gold.

Now, I'm 3 techs up on Caesar! Liz is only showing Banking ahead of me. I've caught the stragglers!

I decide to try for Nationalism (only Hatty has it so far). I also built the Hanging Gardens in Madrid in 1520, which was nice.

But it's tech that's the name if the game.

Divine Right to Liz for Banking
Nationalism to Saladin for Education, 10 gold, and Map.
In a few turns (when she agrees), Nationalism for Gunpowder.

It just keeps going. I wonder how long it can last. In 1600, I can trade Military Tradition to Mansa for Constitution, map and 620 gold. I was going to trade it for Economics from Hatty, but she now fears that I am becoming too advanced. Even though I'm way behind her, I think she's right. I got a lot of free techs over the last few turns.

The funny thing is, in 1615, Hatty contacts me and offers Economics and gold for Military Tradition. OK, Hatty, twist my arm.

In 1650, I get my first great person, an Engineer. I haven't been able to run many specialists yet. I want the Statue of Liberty, and the tech is due in 10 at 70% science (a deficit that I can't sustain for 10 turns). I just miss, though. Hatty completes it, one turn after I get democracy. I forgot to poprush the forge in Murcia while I was waiting for the tech, so I guess that's my

There's a lot of weed in my gameplay, and although I'm catching up, it's things like these that make me doubt my ability to pull off a win. I get frustrated. Then, I click on a unit, and hear, "¿Cuál es su plan?" ¡Callense! ¡Yo tengo un plan, claro! ¡No me molesten!

There are some good thigns happening, though. Demographics say that I'm #1 in production, population, and imports/exports, and #2 in food. I'm also #2 in land area (Saladin has the most land, Hatty the most people behind me). GNP is still 5th, but I think it's artificially low because of my "trade deficit" (I'm importing a ton of stuff right now, which should allow me to grow and be a net gain in a while).

I enter the Industrial age in 1725. That same turn, Saladin declares on Mansa. I'm still thinking Diplo, so I decide to join if he asks me, although I rather like Mansa. That doesn't happen until 1824, just a few turns before they make peace. It's a totally phony war on my part, but I didn't want to risk the negative, and it could have been a bigger positive if the war got ugly. I am still thinking Hatty and me on the ballot, with Saladin as the big guy I need to woo.

Of course, I don't (yet) want to align my civics with Saladin. I adopt free religion (have a ton of religions per city).

My first Golden Age comes in 1808. I could have triggered it a few turns earlier, but I waited until assembly line was in so that I'd have factories to build everywhere. My second GA comes in 1862.

I declare on Ceasar at England's request. Not much happens (I don't have any desire to invade him), but he does lose some units due to sending a single grenadier up next to a stack of cavs, and assorted weedy moves like that.

Mansa robs Broadway from me, 1 turn before. Doesn't he know that I'm the trader around here? Those hit musicals should be mine! I pop an artist, who I use towards Mass Media, and start the Eiffel Tower (in Barcelona, which has Iron Works), and Rock N' Roll (in Madrid).

I also am in a hurry to get to the UN, for some reason, although I haven't formed allegiances with the AI to the degree that I'd like to do it. ¿Cuál es su plan? Mostly, I'm just wanting to get to the UN so that I can see how things look. I worry that I'm sacrificing space by beelining to the UN, but oh well.

So, I rushed the UN in 1882 in Cordoba. Then, I change my civics. I didn't (at first) realize that I only needed theocracy (with Judaism, of course) to woo Saladin, but you can bet that I won't forget that again! So, I left Environmentalism to swap to Free Market, which of course leads to a health disaster! I was expecting the health disaster, of course, but only because I thought that it would be worth it to improve relations with Saladin. I do end up at +11 net with Saladin, which isn't bad considering that I have -4 with nearly everybody for trading with their enemy. I did switch back to Environmentalism when I reread a diplo article and realized my mistake.

In 1886, there is a vote for Secretary General. I was right- it was me and Hatty. I have 161 votes to cast out of 288 needed. Let's hope Saladin has a bunch.

I miscalculated. Saladin may be strong, but not in population. So, here I am going for a diplo victory, I spent an engineer on the UN, and I can't even get elected Secretary General! This is going to get ugly.

Hatty got three HUNDRED seventy-four votes for SG. Uh oh.

I really hadn't figured on Qin and Mansa for contenders in votes. But, when I look at the list,

Mansa has 60 votes,
Qin has 113,
Liz has 39,
Hatty has 162,
I have 161,
Saladin has (only!) 116, and
Caesar has 72.

Everyone but me, Saladin, and Caesar votes for Hatty JC abstains).

No tengo un plan. I saved the game and came back later with fresh eyes. Could I still pull this off?

Clearly, Qin will be the key. He is running Organized Religion and has Hatty's religion, but he's also the AI who likes Saladin the best (+1, Saladin's a popular guy . I will build some Jewish missionaries and send them his way.

Had I known what I was doing, I could have built the Jewish Bloc many, many turns ago, but since he's still in Organized, I figure there's still a chance. Just don't ask us to vote on Free Religion, OK, Hatty? Please?

The first vote is for- Universal Suffrage. Whew! The second is for Single Currency.

In the mean time, I've completed Rock N' Roll, Eiffel Tower, and Hollywood, and convert 1 Chinese city. He actually has several Jewish cities already.

I get two more missionaries into China. He has two more cities to convert on the mainland, and one on that magical island of iron, fur, crabs and whales (I missed settling that one, but did try). But then, QIN CANCELS OPEN BORDERS. :mad: I didn't want to do this, but I guess I'll need Police State to get in. But to do that, I will need Fascism.

Meanwhile, Saladin wants me to cancel a deal with my good buddy Mansa, which I have to do. I can deal those resources to Qin, though.

In 1910, Hatty calls for a Diplo vote. I end up the leading candidate with 291 votes, but needed 463 to win. Mansa and Hatty vote for Hatty, and me and Saldin vote for me. Everyone else abstains. Saladin is up a few votes compared to the others this time around, but that's not going to do it. According to the numbers, I will need Saladin, Qin, *and* and one other little civ, or else one of us needs to absorb somebody's population.

Also this turn, Saladin finished Apollo. He's a strong contender for space, and I can't do anything to stop him, because I need his vote. I really need to get him into a war. Hatty completes Apollo in 1914. :eeK:

Instead of even going close to space, I adopt Police State and get Open Borders back with Qin. I also lose the second SG election!

I convert the last two Chinese cities on the mainland, and then...

The Free Religion resolution succeeds.

¿Cuál es su plan? The damn units just won't shut up.

By 1929, Hatty has completed her SS cockpit. My only hope is the Space Elevator, but I'm still (lamely) holding onto diplo. I was everybody's friend! They should love me, damnit! So, I sign a defensive pact with Saladin.

At some point, although I can't believe I didn't write down when, I get the Chinese to declare on Hatty. They take this very seriously, and raze Giza. Then, Egypt razes Nanjing. Maybe I should build a couple more tanks.

I do now have enough to get elected SG. Me, Qin, Liz, and Saladin vote for me, for 463 votes out of 772 (the rest for Hatty, nobody abstains). They don't all like me enough for a
diplo vote, though.

In 1938, I get Caesar to declare on Hatty. Qin asks me to join in. I hold my breath and say OK, even though she has Mech Inf and I'm not even close.

I move my troops to the border and start arty in research cities. Meanwhile, Saladin's looking to run away with space, and I don't know that I can stop him. I check obsessively to see if he will declare on Hatty. They've never been friends, but he won't go to war.

My lands are getting bombarded by Hatty's air force (I dont' have flight, hehe), but she doesn't seem to have a lot of units about. I take out a couple of her mech inf in the open with good use of artillery, and think maybe I could crack Heliopolis.

I also drag Mansa into this war. The more, the merrier!

In 1948, I capture Heliopolis. Robotics is in. I can start building the space elevator and mech inf. I rush the Space Elevetor with 1 engineer, which puts it at 9 turns. I need 9 turns for rocketry anyway, but who knows if another AI is working on it?

In 1951, I capture Sarmatian.

But, of course Hatty isn't second in population now. Saladin is my opponent for Diplo!

That vote looks like Qin for Saladin, Liz for me, Saladin and me for ourselves, and everybody else abstains. I don't think that I can ever get Mansa, Hatty, or Caesar, so this is a permanent stalemate.

In 1957, I captured Memphis, and declared peace. I ordered some wine from Mansa (a lot of deals fell through with the heavy air pillaging), and try to fix my economy.

¿Cuál es su plan? Well, I have a plan now. Will it be too late?

In 1966, I complete the Apollo program.

In 1989, I'm 5 turns from spaceship completion. I am thinking that maybe I can do this after all. F8 lists Saladin as the closest rival. He only needs the stasis chamber, which is due in 8. According to F8, I'm going to win, right? Right?

I can see that Hatty has a stasis chamber due in 3, but since F8 lists Saladin as closer, I assume she has one more part after that.

I do wonder if maybe the screen is wrong. I have cash and spies to sabotage. I consider doing it anyway, but I'm worried that if I fail and she declares war, something that could happen that could disrupt my production, and I'm just 3 turns ahead of Saladin as it stands. I can't afford to risk it without knowing that she's ahead.

So, in the end, it's sort of an anti-climax. In 1992, with my spaceship due in 2 turns, Hatty wins. I displayed the leadership of Warren G. Harding. Harding? Come on! I was two turns from winning! I guess "close" doesn't count when you're dealing with matters of geopolitics.

All in all, though, I think that it was a great experience. The game was thrilling all the way through, and I certainly learned a ton.

I also think that it was winnable by diplomacy or by space, with very few changes. Clearly, if I would have not trusted F8 and had sabotaged Hatty's production, I could have beaten her. Once I'd established that the others weren't a threat, I no longer needed spies there, so I could have sent them all to Egypt. I had plenty of cash, and only needed two turns.

I really think that this is a display error. The game shouldn't mislead players that way. With things like game score, you know that the game might put more emphasis on things that don't matter as much for a particular scenario. With something cut and dried like building a space ship, the AI who is "ahead" should be the correct one, especially when there's only one part left and very little left to interpretation.

I did take three Egyptian cities during the war, which knocked her out of contention for diplomacy. I guess I assumed that she was more "beaten" by being at war with so many civs for so long. Kudos to the CIV AI for not letting war destroy your chances of getting to space. If I'd pushed deeper into Egypt's core, even just for pillaging, it's possible that there would have been a different outcome. Of course, that's assuming that the war wouldn't have lasted any longer, because clearly I would have destroyed my own chances for space by pressing on with the war (heck, maybe just ending it at two captured Egyptian cities instead of three would have given me enough of an economic boost to have pulled off the win. But, Hatty still wanted Heliopolis for peace after two cities, and I was not going to give that up. After three cities, she was more than happy to pay me.)

I think that true Diplomacy would have been doable, too, but I would have needed to be more decisive, and much earlier. I guess I really knew that Hatty would be my opponent from a pretty early stage. I should have trusted this and worked on wooing Saladin much sooner.

It is also important to not neglect a middle of the road civ to push you over the diplo threshhold. With Qin in Organized religion for so long, I could have converted him to Judaism much, much earlier. From there, as long as I made sure to be friends with their friends, and enemies with their enemies, it wouldn't have been too much trouble. It helps that both civs favorite civics are in different columns, too.


Here's a shot of Murcia at the end. You can see that I had no trouble winning the culture war there. Now, down on Egypt's border it was another story.


Here's the game score at the end. You can see that Egypt took quite a hit during the war, but just not quite enough of a hit.


Here's a picture of the GNP situation in 1290, right when I feel like I'd started to turn the corner financially- markets were coming online, I completed my FP, etc. I was just about to start brokering some serious tech, which wouldn't really show up here, but was critical in me coming as close as I came in the end.

So, not a glorious or victorious game, but maybe this counts as one that was much more exciting that those that wrap up sooner? I hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed playing it.

edit- fixed a screenshot and a smiley