First of all, I check all the settings. It's a small terra map. I haven't played many civ4 games yet, and only played standard so far, so it's a whole new world to me. I've won prince, so warlord should be fine, but I only won one domination game so far.

We have wheat and pig, but we need 2 techs to work both of them. I set to Agriculture for the wheat, and then Animal Husbandry. Fortunately we have a free worker, so it starts roading on the pigs.

I decide to work on the water tile to get Agriculture in 5 turns instead of 7. It might slow growth a bit but worker could improve the wheat 2 turns sooner.



Our warrior pops some gold.

The next turn our warrior meets Isabella, this is fast!

And oops, another border across the water.. this is indeed a small world!



So much for getting the clam..

In 3800BC our border expands, we research Agriculture, and meet Peter the Great, since his border across the water expands too.

I guess I still don't get how the beakers are calculated: 4 commerce == 12 beakers, and 1 commerce == 9 beakers? And working on the pigs only delays Animal Husbandry by 1 turn, so I switch it away.

Our warrior scouts around our capital and finds wines in the north.

3680BC Buddhism is founded by Isabella - she will be my first target.

Our capital grows and I set governor to emphasize growth. Wheat is farmed and brings 5 food, terrific!

3250BC we build our first warrior and start another.

3440BC we meet Frederick and research AH. It reveals horses in the north. It will be our first priority.

Our scouting warrior gets another free worker from a hut!



Research set to Bronze Working - we need to find those metals!

3360BC our two free workers complete the pasture on pigs:



I set it to barrack - will wait for it to grow a bit more before building a settler. Two turns later it grows to size 4 and I start settler in 8 turns.

After Bronze Working I start on Iron Working.

In 2920BC we found York.

The third city will claim the copper and sheep.

We also meet Asoka.

I decide to delay Iron Working, and start on Pottery. I need to built cottage and our cheap granary.

In 2480BC we research Masonry and Asoka founds Hinduism.

2400BC we found Nottingham.



I start Stonehenge in 10 turns. It's a cheap wonder and I get it in 2000BC.

In 1960BC Judaism is founded. I research Writing and sign Open Borders with Isabella, so that I could see how many units she has in her capital. Our scouting warrior sees 2 warriors guarding a settler too.

Set research to Medication to beeline for CoL.

Madrid is only defended by an archer!

Not before very long I found Hastings and our worker starts mining the copper.



I have to manually MM to halt the growth of our capital.

In 1080BC we get to CoL the first (had to reload to capture screenshots):



Set research to Iron Working. Oracle in 3 turns so we could get Philosophy.

In 1040BC we declare on Spain. A stack of one axeman and 6 chariots are already at the border.



In 975BC we complete Oracle and get Philosophy for free.



Battle at Madrid: I lose an axman, two chariots, retreat one chariot but kill two archers and capture the size-7 Buddism holy city!



We need happiness from state religion so I convert to Confusianism.

In 825BC I research Iron Working and there is iron just inside London's city radius. Some swordmen would be good for city raiding!

625BC I lose one chariot, retreat another but kill two archers in Barcelona and raze the city. It was founded one tile from water thus not good.



But Spain hasn't died yet - must have a settler somewhere..

We pop a Great Prophet in our capital. Since there is no urgent need to get a tech I send it off to York for a shrine.

This is the situation at 650BC.



Found the last Spanish city. It has an archer and two warriors. IBT the archer attacks our chariot and dies.



In 500BC I get Alphabet. Although I could kill off Spain easily, I sign peace and get Archery and Polytheism. That city is too far away and I'd rather let Spain live a bit longer instead of letting other AIs settle over there.

400BC, Akosa comes and demands Iron Working and I say no. We also complete Great Lighthouse.

Later Frederick converts to our religion.

I also convert civics after getting Monarchy.

In 125AD I build Colossus - it only took 6 turns and greatly enhanced our financial situation.

I did another convert - two civics for war mode. Also get another Great Prophet.



300AD: We demand Peter to give us Mathematics and he agrees to it. Smart, but we'll declare anyway.



We directly land swordmen and longbowmen next to its capital.



In 660AD we raze Rostov as it's founded again one tile from water. Can't the AI do it better?

At St. Petersburg I have bad luck. I lose 1 axeman and 2 swordmen, and again another swordman retreat. Peter has injured axeman and archer inside. I send in 2 more horse archers next turn and capture it.

In 720AD we get Guild, which means knights!

I use the GP for Divine Right and get it in one turn, which founds Islim.

I send in one Horse Archer and autoraze Yaroslavl' which is south to our capital.

At Novgrod we lose one sword but capture it. Russia is OCC.

In 840AD we destroy Russia.

Then we found Warwick to claim the furs.



In 940AD we got a Great Merchant. It's sent to Munich for cash.

1120AD I declare on Asoka.



Get another GP and save for later use. This is the military situation a Madras: our stack is attacking from German territory!



After bombarding Madras to 0 defense, I start the attack. A catapult dies but does significant collateral damage. 3-level swordman actually has the odds.

Sword kills longbowman.
Maceman kills spearman.
Knight kills catapult.
Swordman kills longbowman.
The city is ours.

We've got a Great Artist out of London. Perfect for expanding the newly captured city.

I don't hesitate to ask for help from our friend.



The cultural bomb doesn't do much.. until we raze a few more cities, that is.



Delhi is relatively well defended. It's a big wonder city, with Pyramids, Parthanon and Chichen Itza. We must get it!

1190AD attack on Bangalore starts.

Cat dies.
Knight dies to longbow.
2-level city raider Maceman dies to longbow!
Promote a musketman to combat I and bonus against archery units and kill the longbow.
Longbow dies to longbow.
Pikeman kills spearman.
Cat kills cat.
The last musketman kills longbow and we capture the city.

Heavy losses. I should have used better tactics.



This is our ultimate tech. London also finished Heroic Epic and becomes a 3-turn cavalry factory.

1240AD the attack on Delhi begins.
Send in one suicide cat, and two. The second cat actually kills a longbow. The rest units are then cleaned up easily. We now control 3 more wonders!



Banking in, I convert again our civics.

I originally wanted to avoid research calendar so our stonehenge could keep functioning, but it seem to be able to dominate 68% we need Astronomy to colonize overseas:



I think it's the biggest mistake I've made in this game: I didn't really realize the existence of another big continent, although there is enough hint in the game description. I might have lost some valuable time.

1410AD we raze Bambay. 1420AD we autoraze the last Indian city and it's gone forever.

In 1460AD we get a Great Scientist, and with the previous Great Prophet we could start a Golden Age:



In 1490AD I declare on Frederick.

Cologne is only defended lightly so it's easily razed.

In the mean time, our galleon finds a new land.



Wow, barbarian workers are roading!



My cavalry just rolls over longbow/pikemen. I don't even use catapults - with 60% city defense the odds are still in my favor. So I just charge.

1545AD I raze Hamburg.

Now only Spain and I are left. Spain has two shabby cities.

I do another civic swap to emphasize great people. Some culture expansion would be good.

In 1560AD I declare on Spain again and soon capture its capital. I leave her one city left so that I don't get a conquest victory, but I now control the entire old world.



I get a Great Engineer and rush Taj Mahal to start another GA.

The "new world" is being colonized, and blood sometimes has to be brought.



And in 1620AD we win a domination victory.



Some more screenshots:






　

Just joined although a long time reader of this site and this is my 1st post.
After years of game designing and testing by a group of bright,dedicated gamesters along comes a mere slip of a girl and drives a coach and horses hey diddle diddle,staight up the middle.
I refer,of course,to that remarkable woman,Moonsinger.Her 17 point road map guarentees a win on deity.Basically it's chops + praetorians+capture pyramids+perpetual anarchy.Also choose peacefull AI's.I know that anarchy is an exploit but all the parameters have to be used together for it to work.
Of course the designers can't be expected to cover all the bases and would have expected some smart arse to discover a wrinkle or two.I doubt that they expected it to happen so quickly and so comprehensibly.
Moonsinger is not good,she's exceptional.One could say that she only managed it by exploiting game weaknesses but her vision is still a tour de force.
Moonsinger has also posted,fully explained,the highest ever score on civ3 Sid and can beat Sid level whilst fixing her make -up.All in all she astonishes me.I wonder what she'll think up next.
Might have been a good idea for Firaxis to take her on board during the developement and or beta testing.

This will be brief since I have been having issues with the forum eating my posts, and I do not have my notes or game with me at the moment. Details will follow.

Abstract: This was my first game of Civ IV. I wanted to explore as much of it as possible at a leisurely pace, which this Adventure at Warlord Level certainly allowed me to do. Plan was Space Race victory, which was achived somewhere around 1990.

Lots to do at work, will get the first part of my report up now with more to follow later today; short story is I got a Space Race win in 2011AD. Fun adventure

************************

RULE BRITANNIA

being A Record of the Fates and Fortunes of the

English Empire

Under Her Most Royal Majesty

Queen Victoria

from 4000BC to 2011AD as recorded by Her Majesty's Servant,
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
[with editorial notes by Gnarlo of East Keyboard-by-the-Mousepad]

As Her Majesty had provided such a productive and resource abundant site for London, I quickly proceeded with establishing the lay of the surrounding lands. Our Warrior band made the acquaintance of a nearby group of local natives and procured 108 gold from them in gratitude for elevating their grey lives by absorbing them into the greater English Realm. Grey lives indeed, for tundra was quickly found to the south of the native huts, leading me to believe that we must be near the limits of the world in that direction and should not fear much for incursion upon that border. Our workers began work on a route to the northern wheat fields in anticipation of eventually farming them. Mysticism occupied the thoughts of our scholars and intellectuals in London.

[Would actually like to found a religion this go around; saw how lucrative they can be in Epic One and having the financial trait can only help as well. Worked the lake to the south for the added income, dropping research down to all of 5 turns; have always played epic speed before and am *not* used to how quick things move on normal :-) ]

It was only a span of 40 years before our Warrior band encountered the borders of Spain, and across the channel from London I could just make out a red border... Russian, perhaps? China? I discovered more coast to the north of London, possibly providing a defensible neck of land between us and Spain.

[Close starts on a small world... I'm having to learn a lot of things I'm unexperienced with in this adventure.... "May this peace last until there is no more room to expand" why does she remind of of Genghis's sister? She already has mysticism, so she's 5 turns ahead of me on the religion track. I'm learning to look up what traits the leaders have so I know what I'm up against as well :-) With Izzy's warriors scouting about, change production from the lake to a forest, making a warrior pop in 4 instead of 12. ]

In the Year of Our Queen 3800BC, the Great Realm of England expanded its borders, contacting those of Peter the Great, of the country of Russia on the other side of the Channel. Mysticism so inspired our Intellectual Elite that they continued on to the mysteries of Polytheism. Continued exploration over the next couple of centuries uncovered it was not the English Channel but the English Inlet; English and Russian lands have a northern connection as well. Sheep and deer are discovered in the wilds to our south. Peter is seen to have gold reserves, bless him...

[Got Peter, was hoping for Katherine the Flirt :-) Capitals already touching? Let's see, expansive, expansive, expansive, small world, looks like there's gonna be some conflict, y'all. After Mysticism arrives, I figure a 50-50 shot, choose Polytheism next. Then Buddhism discovered in a distant land in 3720bc... another spiritual on the board (actually Izzy converts next turn, guess she got it). Can still get Hinduism if lucky. ]

The Greatness of the English Empire was confirmed with the founding of Hinduism in 3480BC. Practical matters prevailed over the spiritual next, and we set out to learn the technology of Hunting for both food and defense. Though much must be said for the grit and determination of the British Soldier; at one point our Warriors entered a native village and was set upon by no less that 3 bands of barbaric native warriors, managing to valiantly survive against all three! I immediately awarded the Victoria Cross to Lieutenants Chard and Bromhead, and to Private H. Hook (posthumous).

[Didn't need the happy right then or the bad relations with Izzy, so declined to go state religion. Hunting next, wanted some spearmen, got a feeling one of my neighbors may be just a bit too close to me... and gold is such a pretty metal. Sorry, Pete :-) Made my first ever dot map in 3240, thinking of expansion toward Russia. I like that the strategy layer gets saved now, nice addition in the patch.]


Strat Level lines courtesy of my l33t Etch-a-Sketch sk1llz....

Early in 3210BC, Her Majesty's diplomats made the acquaintance of Frederick of Germany. The great thinkers of London quickly moved through Hunting, Agriculture, and Animal Husbandry. So many new things to do in those days to keep our British People occupied! Around this time, the borders of England expanded again, and we established our first wheat farm. As our Elite discovered the mysteries of Archery, we simultaneously gathered a band of doughty, hardy folk with a taste for adventure and sent them southwestwards in hopes of founding a new city for the glory of our Empire and Monarch.

[York founded 2720 on the southern “New City?” location, starts work on a Scout. Lands around Moscow really looking like a rich target. Frederick, huh? Damn creatives. Notice that Izzy's borders have expanded toward me, wonder if she has planted a new city as well? ]


The Great English Empire post founding of York in 2720BC.

Her Majesty's exploring band of Warriors beyond the extents of Russia were gifted with the knowledge of Priesthood by a awed native population. London's borders continued to expand; indeed we had gained control of the entirety of the English Inlet. Along with the Russian gold, we saw Silver south of Moscow. I was afraid Peter's days may be numbered. I met Asoka of the Indians during this time, he expressed his best wishes to Our Majesty and her Empire.

Bronze working and Pottery quickly came into the ken of our abilities. Copper deposits were found just outside of York. In 2120BC, our Industrious and Hard-Working Citizens finished work on Stonehenge, just the first of many monuments built to the Glory of Our Queen and Empire.


SaveStonehenge.Org quickly founded as erosion begins to eat away at the foundations of this beloved National Treasure.

[Noticed not as many places for animals and barbarians to attack from when civilizations are this close, one good point for small maps I suppose. Workers built mines, pastured pigs, farmed wheat, etc. Want the Oracle after Stoney for the free tech; am about to close the gap between myself and Frederick.]

I received word from our Priests that Peter had seen what great wisdom was possessed of the English, and had adopted Hinduism as his religion as well. Over the next couple of centuries, Her Majesty's scouts found the borders of India, as well as the western coast of the continent. Pottery, Sailing, and Masonry quickly fell to the powers of English Intellectual Thought. Even with the Enlightenment provided by the great Church of England Hindu, Peter fell under the lure of Slavery. I had expected better of him. Then, in 1720BC, Spanish Expansionism founded Barcelona on the northern coast of England! This incursion could not be tolerated!

[Barcelona does not have a chance against my culture, within a couple of turns English border expansion had already cut it off from the rest of Spain. Built several archers during this period as well, learned my lesson about skimping on security during the multiple Aztec and Mongol wars of Epic 1. England ranked 3rd in wealth by St Augustine in 1960bc, I don't think I ever get higher than that as I also don't ever remember dropping my research below 90% for more than a turn or two during the entire game. ]

The Oracle is completed in London in 1640BC; it was a very productive year for English Intellectualism, as we discovered Masonry and then Metal Casting with the aid of the Oracle and England entered into the Classical Era. In celebration, England expanded it's borders to bring the news of Her Majesty's Power and Glory to all the world until we pressed against the very limits of Spanish control.


The Known World as England enters the Classical Age.

It is believed that this was what allowed the Spanish to spy upon English research, as there is no other explanation for their founding of Judaism in Barcelona just before our scientists published their great work on Monotheism. Yet another offense the cursed Spaniards shall pay for!

It was around the turn of the century 1300BC that the English Navy was founded with the launch of our first two Galleys, Her Majesty's Ship English Brawn and the HMS Vigor. Alas, launching from York, the HMS English Brawn remained confined to the English Sea below the German coast as ice flows south of the German and English tundra rendered further exploration impossible for the small open ship :-( The HMS Vigor found greater fortune, eventually exploring the entire coast of Russia as far round as Spain in the north, where they regretfully had to turn back from that vile country's closed borders. Damn Isabella!

Bowing to Her Majesty's Great Wisdom and Long Sight, a brief period of Anarchy ended in 1280BC with the establishment of the Church of England Hindu as the national organized religion. The great English People also voluntarily decided to endure the bonds of Slavery at this time; believing that it was better to give up a little freedom for greater security. Greater numbers of barbarians were seen in the wilderness, and after Writing was discovered, Iron Working was though to be a prudent course to further the defense of the great nation.

925BC was notable as another grand year for our Great Empire, with the founding of a barracks in London and the start of a Forge, the founding of Nottingham in the southern tundra for the harvesting of the beaver pelts, and Barcelona going into an English inspired Revolt! (Its allegiance would teeter for the next 500 years until it finally joined the Empire in 250BC.) Shortly after Barcelona began to revolt, Moses would be born in London and construct the Kashi Vishwanath in the fair city. Over the next few centuries until Barcelona permanently became a part of England we would discover Iron Working, Monarchy, Mathematics, and Code of Laws. The English people, awed with the wisdom and benevolence of their great Monarch, would demand Hereditary Rule in 450BC; thus insuring that the bloodline of Our Most Noble Majesty would remain at the helm of our Great Nation.

[Finances were greatly aided by the Kashi V; I quit bleeding quite as much money each turn. London was my first city to max against the happiness barrier. Founding Nottingham inland instead of on the coast was about the craziest thing I've done yet; I'm going to claim that it must have been early in the morning when I did that as an excuse. It would of course have no chance of ever growing above 2 the entire game; to further compound my error, I would later try to stave it out of existence and discover that you can't kill cities that way... temporary insanity is my only plea! :-) Gibbon declares that England is the Most Cultured civ in 350BC, evidenced by the expansion of York's borders to grab the copper south of Cordoba away from the Spaniards.]


Barcelona joins the English Empire.

Diplo win in 1928, helped by my loyal coBuddhist Isabella of Spain. Not much of a report, since my laptop can't do wonder movies in windowed mode and the game wasn't close enough to keep me interested in writing stuff down after the fact.

I built up an early tech lead, helped by popping a settler from a hut north of Russia (and by the awesome power of the Lighthouse and Colossus in entirely-coastal empires), hit the New World years ahead of everyone else, and settled everything except for the very furthest north, which was frozen and had no visible resources. I then sat back, built infrastructure, and waited for the UN to come round, since I had a huge pop lead and Izzy was a very close friend.

When I built it, I discovered two things: first, Frederick and Izzy had snuck cities into the ice to grab some modern resources; second, I was about a dozen votes short of a diplo win. The solution was obvious. I started building tanks. Frederick had just started getting infantry when he got hit by my armor rush; I captured a large city with my first wave, grabbed his New World settlement with a tank built out of my Versailles city, sat back, and waited for the next vote. My loyal supporter Isabella was allowed to keep her embassy to my private continent in return for her aid in the final election.

This is going up a little later than I had wanted. I kind of forgot that I had finished this game in the flury of the semester ending. After I post this, I will probably not be back that much(midterms) till around Feb 3 or 4th.

Notes on Format – If you have questions about the format, feel free to ask. What I’m doing with my format is noting the dates of major events, and occasionally interspersing my thought processes. For those of you who are familiar with reading Epics (I’ve been lurking around here since Epic 35 or so), you’ll note that there is a spectra between analysis (motives, logic) and logging (events, mostly). I think I’ve struck a nice balance, though I’m leaning more toward analysis, since I’m writing this more to be a bit of a beginner’s “companion,” as it were, to compare a mid-level (Prince) player to a total n00b. I think this game, in particular, was a great opportunity for said new players: it provides an excellent combination of hands-on experience (playing your own game) and being able to see theory (which, I think, is more critical than many players think). These two factors synergize and create a perfect situation for teaching, since the player has a much better grasp of the circumstances behind the choices made. I also think mine will be useful since I went with a somewhat atypical victory. And I will be less wordy with the rest of the report(until the conclusion) and I do realize that I made a pretty unnecessary Urugharak reference.

5000bc: Finish an earlier game. Patch CIV to 1.52. DL the save. Overclock my graphics card like crazy.

4000bc: PAIN! I don’t know if it was the patch or the fact that I directly launched the save, but the game starts up with High Graphics. I quickly prevent my computer from melting.
I decide on the tech path Farming => Animal Husbandry => Bronze Working. More chop-happy people will probably go Bronze Working => Farming => Animal Husbandry. I chose my path, not so much for the wheat tile, but so that I could use the wheat AND the pigs faster. The other logic here is that I wanted to do an axe rush, which is highly useful on Small Terra, which is incredibly cramped early on.

3960bc: Run into Isabella. I could just feel the groans from the collected Iz-haters, but I was more disappointed than anything else. I wasn’t going for an early religion, so my plan, diplomatically, was to convert to the most convenient religion. This would, normally, be whatever Spain is using, since you get ridiculous bonuses for being the same religion as her, and she goes from being a dangerous lunatic to a very stalwart ally. She’s close enough that she’ll be dead before that’s likely to happen, this time.

I decide RBCIV is a boring name. I switch it to Boadicea of the Britons.

Run into Peter. Good thing. I hate Catherine. She’s way too likely to backstab for my comfort.

3500bc: Find Freddy. That means one more AI. This is more cramped than the last Small Terra I played. High water level?

3280bc: I find the Shoker. I don’t find his pupils. And that closes the “find AI’s” stage of the game.

I decide on a plan: Kill, Kill, Kill! Iz MUST go in classical in order for me to expand, and I will hopefully have the momentum to take out Freddy before the middle ages dawn.

Iz founds Hindu(okay, I forgot to note the date) and Buddhism in Madrid. Nice.

Shimatta! No copper immediately available (well, there weren’t that many hills, so I’m not that surprised). Go hunting => Archery.

2520bc: Since getting a metal is prioridad uno, I decide to found York on a desert tile. I’ll explain some of my logic below:



York was founded on iGo ideas. The whole point of it was to capture one resource: copper. Everything else was a peripheral concern. That spot would get me the copper pretty much as fast as possible, but had some other, lesser goals. Those are fresh water tiles, which, with Financial, are pretty powerful. The Sheep would (eventually) be able to make up somewhat for the dearth of “green” (>1F) tiles of a desert/plains city. Now, if I had founded York on the green dot there, I would have gotten the sheep faster, making it productive faster, and eventually gotten the copper anyway. I chose the spot I did for two reasons: the I wanted that copper ASAP, and no chance of Iz stealing it under my nose; also, founding on the plains would have gotten me more tundra, which is marginally better than desert, but would have cost me a plains tile, whereas the pink redeems an otherwise useless desert tile. Slowing the growth slightly was worth it.

Indeterminate time later: get archery, go Mystic=>Sailing for Obelisks and Lighthouses (lighthouses and lake tiles are extremely lucrative). Not a lot of depth beyond that.

1840bc: At this point, I have a handful (3) axemen. Not a lot. Iz, however, has a vulnerable settler. BLOOD! It manages to outrun my axe(forgot about the 2 movement) and founds Barcelona. In the interest of saving the time on building a settler, I park the axe on the hill next to Barcelona and wait for it to go to size two. Send my other axes at Madrid. She founds Judaism in Barcelona during the interturn. Holy Eff.

Now, having 3 religions might sound intimidating, but what that means is that she’s gone Poly=>Meditation=>Masonry=>Mono. With her starting techs as Fishing and Mystic, she has not had enough time to research either Bronze or Archery. She’s a sitting duck, in short.

1640bc: Bold and daring! I attack Madrid with axe#2 without support. Note the total lack of damage. The combat calculator went pretty easy on me this whole game.

1600bc: Unsurprisingly capture Madrid. Axe #3 never even make it halfway there. THIS is why you should not try to go for a Hydra, though I doubt most comps would be this thoroughly aggressive (Alex has attacked me this early, but nobody else).

1560bc: Get iron, entering classical age. Time to rock & roll.

1440bc: I start Stonehenge in London for what basically amounts to getting the creative bonus. Will save me turns on getting culture expanding, keeping domination victory open.

1320bc: I like the odds


1280bc: The first of many.

1160bc: I freely admit that I should have had better things to do.


1040bc: I take a look at the power graph.


Zzz…

775bc: I take another look at the power graph. Not much has changed. I get impatient and charge.

750bc: Munich falls, I take 0 damage despite archers.

600bc: I start Great Lighthouse on “Eh, it’s Warlord” basis. This is not strategically sound!

Capture Berlin for the loss of one Sword. My first casualty.

575bc: Freddy makes a “major assault” on Berlin. His two axes die, causing negligible damage. To give you an idea of how pathetic that was, I had near ten units in Berlin. I would have held it for centuries even if he won every time.

480bc: Second combat loss – axe to a barbarian axe near Madrid.

425bc: I get Construction, the last tech of any importance to this game. Start Alphabet. Seize Hamburg easily.


Down to me, Pyodr, and the Shaker. Check the demographics. I’m #1 in everything but GNP(2nd), approval rate (54%, ahahaha), and life expectancy(2nd, and pointless). I have something like 50% of the world’s hammers, 66% of its soldiers, and about 75% of the population. I could do a backdoor domination as soon as I build the UN…

Check out the cities.


This is also the 1 hour mark in the game.

Also note the religions:

I do, indeed, have 4 of the 4 available holy cities.

200bc: Get Great Lighthouse. Good, but kind of pointless. I have only three coastal cities.

100bc: Die, Asoka!

50bc: Madras for 0 losses.

25bc: Bombay for 0 losses.
Both London Army (in Bombay, used-in-every-war-stack) and Munich Army (in Madras, heavily new recruits and swords, rather than Axes) are pretty exhausted. If I were really racing, I would just leave the wounded behind with an archer garrison, but I wait to heal up. Out of everything I did this game, I would argue this is the only truly daft maneuver I made. EITHER of the two armies would have been excessive to take out both Asoka and Peter. I’m still using Civ3 casualty estimates (thought it must be noted that in Civ3, I lost every battle I didn’t have an 85% chance or better, while CIV has been pretty kind to me). True, I did make other stupid maneuvers, but I did them intentionally, either out of amusement or example.

1ad: I connect furs. That is the first time I use a hunting camp, and the first luxury I
connect. Yes, that’s right. The first luxury. My approval rate ‘jumps’ from 53% to 55%. Just no pleasing some people. And since I have several priorities before I ever get around to Calendar, it might well be my last. Another note: I have not made a single civic or religion change. I haven’t been able to justify the anarchy (remember, this game has been what I call a “surf,” where your only concern is outrunning your own shortsightedness with more immediate benefits. This play style is successful if you can keep up momentum till you win, but otherwise will get sucked under. That is a very, very big ‘if.’).

I also take my first break from the game.
:: INTERMISSION ::
2ad:

That is all I know about Russia. My closest city is London. I don’t have “close borders” penalties for my immediate neighbor. How weird is that? Research, as can be seen, is obviously choking. I take a gander at the Fist for some guidance. I will need 68% of land to dominate. I have 24.41. Peter has 9.00%. Giving Asoka a generous 5%, and a more generous 3% for some of my borders that have yet to expand, that would put me at around 40%, which is still 28% short! The other factor for Domination vs. Conquest is my corruption:

I don’t even HAVE Code of Laws yet, so the chances of me turning that into a killer econ are pretty slight. If I assimilate all of Shoke’s lands, I could run 0 research and still be red. This is pretty bloody amazing. So, conquest it is. For cities that aren’t really amazing, I’ve got torches. I “crank” research to 30% (2gpt!) toward horsebackery. They’ll be useful, and let’s be honest, Peter will launch the spaceship by the time I would be able to make use of crossbows. I also think it’s worth looking at how lopsided my tech tree is:

I have construction, but between me and Peter, neither has Meditation or Polytheism.

Time for some actual important decisions: the London army will be totally unnecessary. The Munich group can easily handle Delhi. I also launched a much smaller army toward Calcutta in the northern jungles. Army of London is relocated to Barcelona in preparation for the final battle.

25ad: Scout from Madrid. This is actually important – it’s time to pull the veil off of Mother Russia. I realize that revolting to slavery will recoup 4GPT, and effect my first civics change.

50ad: The slavers rethink their contract, and 4GPT turns into 1 GPT.

75ad: Catapult easily razes Calcutta.

100ad: Scout enters Russia. Moscow is defended by two spears and an archer. Is he just not paying attention?

150ad: Moses pops from Stonehenge. I forgot these things existed! Research would net me the laughably useless meditation. I decide on building ToS with him, since Judaism is the most prevalent religion.

175ad: ToS nets me 5 GPT, bringing me to -10 GPT.

225ad: Whoot, 2 million souls. More power for the Astronomican!

Now for a little aside: I hate suicidapults. Just in general. The idea bothers me. I find it much better, over the course of a long campaign (as in, more than one city) to use City Raider for catapults (and, indeed, all artillery), since it means the pult stands a good chance to survive. But Delhi will eat my swords for breakfast and then ask for seconds. Siege crews, your sacrifice will not be in vain!

Or your sacrifice…won’t. The catapult wins, and causes enough collateral that my swords and other pults jump over 85% win rate. Raze Delhi.

Madrid group razes Bangalore (further north, jungle boogie).

Sokie is still alive, but I decide that I can, at this point, move the Munich stack from former Delhi to Barcelona.

325ad: Finish horseback. Choose currency, slide tech to 0%. Will take only 403 of my 351 turns.

450ad: Ugh, Peter is scavenging land


500ad: Bactrian (and India) are done.

560ad: I decide that Peter would look good on a pole.

620ad: *(&@!!

Since I merged the Munich and London armies, I have to come up with a new order (Madrid Stack is still independent). I divide it into a North Group and a South Group. Since St. Petersburg and Moscow are much better defended than Rostov and Novgorod, I favor the southern group slightly.

680ad: Take Novgorod. It’s close enough to capital that the corruption is insignificant.

720ad: Take Moscow. It’s the single closest city in the world to London.

760ad: Do suicide cats count if they live? Rostov in flames.
Burn Petersburg. Bloodiest battle for me yet (3 losses), despite good odds.
Making up for being so easy on me earlier, I guess.

780ad: Get Currency. Income goes from -44GPT @30% sci to -45GPT@30%sci...

820ad Start pyramids for no good reason. Burn Yaroslavl’. Hardly worth the effort. Move my armies back into my borders, taking income from -45GPT to -25GPT.

1000ad: Compass=>Drama

1010ad: Burn Yekaterinburg. Russia is dead. I’m all alone.


1020ad: Checkmate. 3 hours, 1 minute, including dinner. 8 cities razed, 2 built.


Concluding remarks: I did this mostly to run counter to the usual “civilized” image of the Brits. I was not Victoria of the British, I was Boadicea of the Britons, overrunning the world in a torrent of blood. I never chose a religion, I only adopted Slavery, I never even thought of getting to the New World. I didn’t even make it to the Middle ages.

Note that I managed to display flagrant disregard for what many people consider key concepts of the game: Religion, tech booming, chop rushing(okay, that would actually have been useful in this strat), and great people. By building a flame of war early on and vigorously fanning it for the rest of the game, my inferno never died. Of course, the Britons would likely fall into complete economic collapse, and would probably splinter into warring factions reminiscent of the old dividing lines in a short time due to the amazingly primitive and inefficient administration system. However, from a game perspective, this strategy was fairly effective, if not exactly orthodox.

Now, I can bet that some of the more experienced players are saying “this wouldn’t work on a higher difficulty.” I don’t expect that it would really. I never consolidated my gains, but then again, by the time I got to Berlin, if I had taken the time to consolidate, I would have simply been a large backward nation. If I had been playing on Prince or higher, I would have still invaded Spain, and probably Germany. At this point, my tech would be lagging remarkably. But that wouldn’t be the point. By taking Madrid and Barcelona, I was easily the largest nation, particularly in hammers. The key difference would have been that I would have invaded Russia at the same time as India, and that instead of trying to knockout punch, I would have gone for the hamstrings on both of them so that I could pull the idiot debate – drag them down to my level and beat them through experience. I would not have had the absurd numerical superiority I had, but I think that by taking out Iz so early, my production easily eclipsed Freddy’s, and with essentially three nations united, I could beat out the other two “fringe” nations through sheer hammer number, as long as I stagnated their tech.

Too bad the extremes are too hard for me, lol. I'll wait around for another epic or "low level" adventure. Seriously, no alphabet? What kind of madness is that!

Sorry for the delay. Here's Morred's report.

Beginning Game

I elected not to pursue the first few religions and instead get some worker techs. After building MANY warriors and doing scouting, I decided to build York to the west in the middle of another resource hotspot. Soon after that, Confucionism was mine. I had Spain to the upper left, Russia to the right, and Germany to the left. I still felt I had some good land to grown on.



Since I felt there were enough neighbors around, I made sure to stay beefed up on military this time (at least more than usual). Other than that, the beginning game was pretty quiet. No war to speak of - mostly just building and growing. With the Warlord advantage it was pretty easy to get a score and tech lead.



Middle Game

The Middle Game really started when I was finally able to cross the ocean and I made a beeline for the New World. I hit land in 1340 AD.



The state of the world at the time. You can see that I had been pushing Confucianism on the heathens.



I also got a nice little message that my builder/turtler self had never personally seen before.



A little while later, the New World looked like this. Visigoth is a big city for being barbarian.



This is something I had never seen before, even in another report. Moscow (Russia's capital and center of all things culturally Russian) flipped to me because of London's culture. Novgord to the north would also flip later.



All was going very easily and smoothly. I didn't get bored, because for once I was winning an Adventure.

End Game

I kept expanding and growing, especially in the New World. I knocked out the Barbarian cities (Riflemen against Warriors, ah...) Suddenly:



OK, that deserves some response. I knew I could win the spaceship game, but I never go war. So, instead, how about this:



A short while later, Asoka was knocked off the main continent and my game-long ally, the Germans, was next. I actually felt bad (I guess I typically play honorably), but he had a city in the New World and we know that's not allowed.



At this point, the world map looked like this. I decided domination would be my victory method.



After Bismarck was gone, I decided to go for Isabella as she had the most land left. She folded really quickly and here's the turn before I won. I actually all (minus 1) spaceship parts queued up also, just for fun.



The final chart and score:





Summary

It was nice to have a Warlord game this time. It's pretty obvious to me that I am a builder and as such can outbuild the computer when given an advantage. However, the higher difficulties still are beating me because I can't outbuild them.

I don't think I'm going to get Adventure 3 done (so little time, so much Civ), but Adventure 4 sounds too fun to miss. See you then.

OK, so this is my first appearance on the boards here - although I've been lurking around for a couple of months. Played turns in a couple of SGs over at Civfanatics, but this was my first chance to jump into a RB game. I didn't feel I'd have the time/skill to play Epic1, but enjoyed the reports immensly, so was happy to see a lighter game presented. I chose Adv1 at the time partly because it was on an easier level that Adv2, and partly because it had a longer lifespan ... good job too since due to various commitments I only finished playing about an hour ago!

My Civ history runs something like: played quite a bit of the original Civ while at Uni, and haven't play much since until November when my Fiancee (who enjoys a nice relaxed game of Civ III on a regular basis) bought the game and then promptly turned around and handed it to me saying something along the lines of "You learn this and then teach me how to play" ... Heh!

I was very quickly addicted and, having found the Civfanatics forums, quickly made my way over here in time to enjoy the fruits of Epic1 - picking up tidbits of advice from the many contributors.

I have skimmed a couple of the reports from other participants who took very different approaches to this scenario, but my main goal was to learn how to put together a decent (and hopefully entertaining) report. I have previously only played a single game on Warlord (my first) and am currently getting used to Prince level, so this would be a step down, but not an unwelome one.

As far as my report goes, I'll let you all judge for yourselves, but I'm quite pleased with the results ... I will have to learn to limit my screenshots, though as I seem to have ended up with 175.

Don't worry, I won't subject you to all of them!


What I'll do is post an Executive Summary now and then come back to fill in the details once I've prepped the screenies ... wouldn't want anyone not reading this because they're too wide!

Fast paced game around 3h30 of play, won a domination victory in 1655, late but had to delay to get the new world conquered. Tried to go conquest but missed 3 cities. So here my second try to write a report for the rbciv.

Settled on spot, started a warrior and set to agriculture. I don't pop the hut that turn (always bad luck to pop a hut before your first city is 1 turn old ). Was good guess because on the second turn I pop .... BRONZE WORKING!!! Hum I know where to build my second city now. In teh following turns I meet the spanish followed by the russian. Get agriculture start Animal husbandry next turn someone founded buddhism. I learn Animal Husbandry in 3400 I start on a settle and research Iron working. Not much happen but in 3080 hinduism is founded. Get my settle in 3000 finish a barrack the turn after and a warrior the turn after... hehe Start anothere warrior in 2800 I get the warrior and I start a second settler. I found iron near london in 2680 and start on mysticism.

Founded york 2 case under the copper and nottingham northeast of the horse ressource north of London. Start stonehengein 2440 in london and finish it by 2000 than I start on swordman Earlier conquest to get some more cities and less competition for the new world. I start my first horse archer in 1440 in memoratin for teh start of teh war against the spanish.. first move capture a worker. Cities fall fast to my mighty swordman .. attacking warrior and archer... pffft to easy. Capture the hindu holy city madrid in 1360 and the jewish holy city of barcelona in 1200, spain fell without an hassle. 80 years lather my army crave for blood and I attack the russian to my east. Horse archer go for the fartest city and my swordman for moscow... destroy teh city that he build next of my swordman defended by an archer... stupid Peter in950 both russian city fell.

My empire after conquering spain and russia. not bad hey?


I set myself in cruise mod adopt hinduism and I spread it to all my cities I build two more and start building my empire but I crave for new land. So I set my sight on exploring the daunting ocean. I learn optic in 300ad start on caravel explore the world and prove that the world is round but most importantly I found a new world!

Here is my empire in 660ad the old world.


Learn astronomy in 1040ad and start on galleon my knight are eager to conquer the new world for the mighty empire of england. Not long after my first knight reach teh land taht he meets teh first mighty city of Phoenm.... something and well axeman warrior and archer... teh barbarian fall fast the new world is soon completly conquered I settle there and grow my second empire there. Starting to grow tired and having mostly converted the new world to my culture I head for conquest... cavalry against longbowman and spears... when I hit domination I miss 3 cities... Frankfurt Bombay and Hamburg.

Here the old world


Here the new world, was about to put anothere settler in teh south to get more culture.. oh well


Was a fun little game anyway, coudl have done better but I played in in two session (same day I think) so pretty much runned a frantic pace to end it... going to try adv2 before long... well this report will surely be out after so hey...
(written on the 30 of december of 2005)