Sorry, finished this a while back and haven't been to this site recently.
Summary:
1710 AD domination victory. 1st in troops.
Went after a religion, first Buddhism (Izzy beat me) then Hinduism (which I got.)
Went straight for oracle/cs slingshot.
Next, straight for iron working (to get at those brutal praets.)
I only built 1 non-capital city (to get at the iron) other than filler cities.
Bismarck declared on me, I bribed Vicky to declare on Bizzy.
Meanwhile, I declared on Izzy because she was closer.
Enjoy huge tech advantage. Izzy was most advanced AI but first to be eliminated.
Bizzy was next to go.
Vicky had to be dealt with next.
I was way too slow and inefficient.
4000 BC
Starting square looks like a hammer mill just south of the conifer line. Has a mountain in the radius, which isnât wonderful. Nowhere else to consider building, though. At least itâs on a hills plains. Original square it isâ¦
I set research to mysticism and start building another warrior. I leave my citizen in his fishing boat on the lake to increase my chances of picking up a religion. Iâm thinking Iâm gonna try to grab Hinduism. I send my warrior out ( to try to bop a worker on the head.)
Oh, marble popped up when I founded my city. Thatâs nice. Settling just south of the marble outcropping would have probably been best, but who knew?
3960 BC
I sent my warrior NE and they immediately discover a goodie hut that will be revealed next turn.
3920 BC
Oh ⦠the earth is flat. Iâve never played a map like this. That sucks, my warrior is completely out of position now (at the edge of the world.)
3800 BC
Rome grew. Decision time. With only 3 AI players, one of whom started with mysticism, do I risk going after meditation when normally I always go after polytheism (usually safer) on a non-mysticism start? I have a lot of starting trade, to boot. I think itâs worth the risk. If Izzy started right on meditation, I should find that out in a turn or two. If not, I should get there first. Meditation it is (fingers crossed.) Iâll be able to crank it out in 7 turns (Iâm using the corn and it says 8 turns, but Iâll switch at the appropriate time to the lake if necessary.)
3760 BC
I check to see if I should rush the warrior out a turn early, but then realize that if I was going to do that I should have done it last turn (2 turns early.) Not worth it now but it probably was then. Early warriors are critical.
3720 BC
No Buddhism bong yet.
3680 BC
Sigh. Izzy went straight for meditation. I guessed wrong (in a regular 7-player game, it wouldnât have been a close decision.) Iâm going for polytheism now, but the game is already tainted. Early luck is such a huge factor in this game, as youâd expect. And Iâve had zero so far (sent warrior wrong way, researched wrong religion.) My warrior stumbles across a panther, at least heâs in a forest.
3640 BC
My warrior survives the panther, but must press on. I need to take some chances to catch up here.
3600 BC
My other warrior is about to be mauled by a lion.
3560 BC
Iâm beginning to suspect that Iâm walled off from the other civs. I thought Iâd meet them right away on a tiny map and built accordingly. My hole is getting deeper and deeper. If thatâs the case, I can afford to heal my warriors now and do so.
3360 BC
Well, the 2nd part of my calculated risk paid off, Iâll discover Hinduism next turn. I send my 3rd warrior north and begin a barracks for a couple of turns before switching to a worker when Rome grows to size 3.
3320 BC
Just when I thought I had the game figured out, the warrior I sent southwest spots the hint of a cultural border. I think itâs Izzyâs and Iâll meet her next turn.
3280 BC
I do meet someone at the beginning of the turn, but it ainât Izzy. A German scout runs into my northernmost warrior. Izzy is indeed to my southwest. But no workers in sight yet.
3200 BC
Izzyâs border expands (due to discovering religion) and I wonât be snagging one of her workers anytime soon.
2880 BC
Iâm mining the hills where my sheep are. I just snagged a goodie hut to the southwest, towards Izzy. Iâm sure Iâve lost one or two due to imperfect scouting.
2840 BC
This was definitely not the right map to play for worker bop. Still havenât found Bismarckâs capital or even met the 4th civ.
2640 BC
I finally meet Vickyâs scout and find Berlin.
1600 BC
I build the Oracle (I should have had it out about 4 turns earlier but my worker negotiated a
break. I hate anarchy. Iâm playing awful. Civil Service. Turn Rome into a Praetorian factory.
I then proceeded to eliminate Isabella and Bismarck as inefficiently, slowly and inelegantly as possible.
After Isabella was destroyed, I destroyed Bismarck. Then I had to decide conquest or domination.
I chose domination, even though I only had about half of the required land area at that point. I started filling the gaps with cities as I prepared for the assault on England.
When my troops (a few grenadiers and macemen, still mostly my trusty praetorians) are in position, I declare on England.
After conquering half of her cities and leaving myself exposed, I get outmaneuvered by Vicky and give her peace to prepare for the final assault and get the last few filler cities up.
One last revolution, in 1690 AD, to switch to caste and free speech so that I can get as many culture pops as possible. I hate anarchy.
I win a domination victory in 1710 AD. Vicky had 3 cities left, defending with longbows and swords against my cavs, grens, cannons, maces and praets. Much, much too slow to be competitive. Truly a disgusting performance. Iâm thinking 500 AD might not have even been good enough. This map was geared to a BC conquest victory if you played flawlessly and aimed for that from the get-go.
Analysis:
I shouldnât have gone for worker bop. I usually play immortal pangea and worker bop is intrinsic to my strategy there. I needed to be more flexible/creative/thoughtful.
I should have gone straight for iron working. Bureaucracy is nice, but Rome was such a hammer-intensive city already that my priority should have been to pop out a fat stack of praets as quickly as possible and lay waste to everything in my path. Half the bonus from oracling civil service is early maces and that part of the equation falls apart when you already have praets.
It was impossible to recover once I made those two early miscalculations. I actually played the third third of the game reasonably well to get out when I did (I went from 35% to 70% land area in about 20 turns.) But the start (as usual) was critical.
Summary:
1710 AD domination victory. 1st in troops.
Went after a religion, first Buddhism (Izzy beat me) then Hinduism (which I got.)
Went straight for oracle/cs slingshot.
Next, straight for iron working (to get at those brutal praets.)
I only built 1 non-capital city (to get at the iron) other than filler cities.
Bismarck declared on me, I bribed Vicky to declare on Bizzy.
Meanwhile, I declared on Izzy because she was closer.
Enjoy huge tech advantage. Izzy was most advanced AI but first to be eliminated.
Bizzy was next to go.
Vicky had to be dealt with next.
I was way too slow and inefficient.
4000 BC
Starting square looks like a hammer mill just south of the conifer line. Has a mountain in the radius, which isnât wonderful. Nowhere else to consider building, though. At least itâs on a hills plains. Original square it isâ¦
I set research to mysticism and start building another warrior. I leave my citizen in his fishing boat on the lake to increase my chances of picking up a religion. Iâm thinking Iâm gonna try to grab Hinduism. I send my warrior out ( to try to bop a worker on the head.)
Oh, marble popped up when I founded my city. Thatâs nice. Settling just south of the marble outcropping would have probably been best, but who knew?
3960 BC
I sent my warrior NE and they immediately discover a goodie hut that will be revealed next turn.
3920 BC
Oh ⦠the earth is flat. Iâve never played a map like this. That sucks, my warrior is completely out of position now (at the edge of the world.)
3800 BC
Rome grew. Decision time. With only 3 AI players, one of whom started with mysticism, do I risk going after meditation when normally I always go after polytheism (usually safer) on a non-mysticism start? I have a lot of starting trade, to boot. I think itâs worth the risk. If Izzy started right on meditation, I should find that out in a turn or two. If not, I should get there first. Meditation it is (fingers crossed.) Iâll be able to crank it out in 7 turns (Iâm using the corn and it says 8 turns, but Iâll switch at the appropriate time to the lake if necessary.)
3760 BC
I check to see if I should rush the warrior out a turn early, but then realize that if I was going to do that I should have done it last turn (2 turns early.) Not worth it now but it probably was then. Early warriors are critical.
3720 BC
No Buddhism bong yet.
3680 BC
Sigh. Izzy went straight for meditation. I guessed wrong (in a regular 7-player game, it wouldnât have been a close decision.) Iâm going for polytheism now, but the game is already tainted. Early luck is such a huge factor in this game, as youâd expect. And Iâve had zero so far (sent warrior wrong way, researched wrong religion.) My warrior stumbles across a panther, at least heâs in a forest.
3640 BC
My warrior survives the panther, but must press on. I need to take some chances to catch up here.
3600 BC
My other warrior is about to be mauled by a lion.
3560 BC
Iâm beginning to suspect that Iâm walled off from the other civs. I thought Iâd meet them right away on a tiny map and built accordingly. My hole is getting deeper and deeper. If thatâs the case, I can afford to heal my warriors now and do so.
3360 BC
Well, the 2nd part of my calculated risk paid off, Iâll discover Hinduism next turn. I send my 3rd warrior north and begin a barracks for a couple of turns before switching to a worker when Rome grows to size 3.
3320 BC
Just when I thought I had the game figured out, the warrior I sent southwest spots the hint of a cultural border. I think itâs Izzyâs and Iâll meet her next turn.
3280 BC
I do meet someone at the beginning of the turn, but it ainât Izzy. A German scout runs into my northernmost warrior. Izzy is indeed to my southwest. But no workers in sight yet.
3200 BC
Izzyâs border expands (due to discovering religion) and I wonât be snagging one of her workers anytime soon.
2880 BC
Iâm mining the hills where my sheep are. I just snagged a goodie hut to the southwest, towards Izzy. Iâm sure Iâve lost one or two due to imperfect scouting.
2840 BC
This was definitely not the right map to play for worker bop. Still havenât found Bismarckâs capital or even met the 4th civ.
2640 BC
I finally meet Vickyâs scout and find Berlin.
1600 BC
I build the Oracle (I should have had it out about 4 turns earlier but my worker negotiated a
break. I hate anarchy. Iâm playing awful. Civil Service. Turn Rome into a Praetorian factory.I then proceeded to eliminate Isabella and Bismarck as inefficiently, slowly and inelegantly as possible.
After Isabella was destroyed, I destroyed Bismarck. Then I had to decide conquest or domination.
I chose domination, even though I only had about half of the required land area at that point. I started filling the gaps with cities as I prepared for the assault on England.
When my troops (a few grenadiers and macemen, still mostly my trusty praetorians) are in position, I declare on England.
After conquering half of her cities and leaving myself exposed, I get outmaneuvered by Vicky and give her peace to prepare for the final assault and get the last few filler cities up.
One last revolution, in 1690 AD, to switch to caste and free speech so that I can get as many culture pops as possible. I hate anarchy.
I win a domination victory in 1710 AD. Vicky had 3 cities left, defending with longbows and swords against my cavs, grens, cannons, maces and praets. Much, much too slow to be competitive. Truly a disgusting performance. Iâm thinking 500 AD might not have even been good enough. This map was geared to a BC conquest victory if you played flawlessly and aimed for that from the get-go.
Analysis:
I shouldnât have gone for worker bop. I usually play immortal pangea and worker bop is intrinsic to my strategy there. I needed to be more flexible/creative/thoughtful.
I should have gone straight for iron working. Bureaucracy is nice, but Rome was such a hammer-intensive city already that my priority should have been to pop out a fat stack of praets as quickly as possible and lay waste to everything in my path. Half the bonus from oracling civil service is early maces and that part of the equation falls apart when you already have praets.
It was impossible to recover once I made those two early miscalculations. I actually played the third third of the game reasonably well to get out when I did (I went from 35% to 70% land area in about 20 turns.) But the start (as usual) was critical.