I discover I am the English. More to the point, I discover I'm Elizabeth. She's Financial and Philosophical, which says my general game-plan involves specialists, cottages, wonders, and coastal settlements. This is more of a build up, not out, strategy. This works well with not being able to declare war until 1000 BC anyways, since that means I'm pretty much devoted to putting early resources into large cities and wonders, and I don't need to push to expand fast early. My unique unit, the redcoat, is oriented to a midgame war, the kind I hate most, but on a pangaea, I probably won't be able to avoid it. In other respects, this should play like a standard game, unless there's something odd about the arrangement of the civilizations I haven't seen yet.

This is my first game as Elizabeth and on a pangaea map, Monarch difficulty, and epic speed. Wish me luck!

Let's open up the save and consider the starting location. I have two warriors and full movement on my settler, which is odd. I send the western warrior north west, figuring the north hill's vision would be blocked by more jungle and hills, while the eastern warrior goes northeast to check out the rest of London's potential city radius. Settling with ocean squares in radius but not on the coast is bad, so the only one-move site for London is one east. That, however, loses the spices and the river hills, and picks up nothing but relatively useless deep ocean squares. I hate to lose the forest, but the starting position looks like it's best.

The biggest liability of this starting position is poor production and food: the best I can do is 3 food or 2 food and 1 production. Financial, however, gets me 2 food and 3 commerce on the inland lake. Noting that only one of the other civilizations, Arabia, has Mysticism, I decide to gamble and try to found a religion while I grow London to size 2. I can use the happiness and culture for the expected large cities I'm going to be building, Organized Religion would be nice for fast building up, and maybe I can form a religious block on my continent. Because it will take so long to get my worker out, I'll have plenty of time to pick up the necessary productivity techs beforehand. In the meantime, I'll work on a warrior, figuring I need to build one eventually, until I figure out how close my neighbors are.

Beginning in a Box

In 3940 BC, a village north of London gives me a map, showing me I'm in the northern hemisphere, and revealing some resources. I redirect my second warrior south, figuring it's less likely there's someone living up there. Unfortunately, in 3880 BC, my other exploring warrior finds a hostile village which spawns two enemy warriors; mine defeats the first, but loses to the second. This is a pretty severe setback to happen so early.

This map has a lot of resources in my immediate territory, particularly health resources. Unfortunately, I don't see either marble or stone, which will make wonder-building hard.

I decide to be daring and go for Polytheism.

In 3550 BC, I meet Hatshepshut's warrior, coming from the south. My remaining explorer strikes out east in hope of finding more huts. On the way, I scare up some stone.

Sadly, it's not marble, but it is in the adjacent river. The odd configuration of this continent makes me think I can seal off the north part from the south with a city. I don't know if there's anyone up there, or if it's connected. I think I need to make finding that out a priority, but I have several other things I need to do first.

London gets an extra forest for clear-cutting!

In 3160 BC, I notice yellow over by my warrior on the west. Hmm. Looks like the Egyptians were coming from the other direction. In 2800 BC, Saladin finds the expanded borders of my capital, from the south. This is unfortunate, since I'd have preferred the other probable religious leader further away from me. My worker pops out the same turn; I've finished Agriculture and started The Wheel. It also appears I've lost shields on my warrior by waiting, which is really annoying. I'm going to wait a bit on expansion to get up to size three or four in my capital, going for mass mines and commerce. I just I hope I don't get blocked off from anything essential.

It turns out the Egyptians get gold and marble.

It's 2650 BC and no one has developed Buddhism. I'm almost tempted to go for it, since I don't have any other urgent tech needs at the moment, but would getting it help or hurt me? There's a good chance one enemy civ will get one religion and the other the other, causing tension that will work against me no matter which way I go. With plenty of hills and forests around and a suspicion of hidden resources at London, I opt for Bronze Working: once I'm ready, I want to kickstart my expansion.

In 2560 BC, I meet Roosevelt's warrior in the west. In 2530 BC, Buddhism is founded, making me glad I didn't gamble. In 2470, Lord McCauley tells me I'm the second-largest civ, after Hatshepsut; at this point, I'm not sure if that's good or bad. In 2410 BC, moving up on a hill introduces to me both Caesar and the Malinese; the latter are Buddhist, conveniently putting the other early religion quite a ways away from me. My hopes of a Hindu block are not dead yet. In 3230 BC, I meet the Chinese, leaving only Tokugawa.

In 2170, Bronze Working finishes. I see copper to the south, and it's clear I need to go there first, before someone cuts me off. I go for Animal Husbandry over Pottery, because I don't think I'm going to be growing London much more for awhile now because I need to get settlers out.

When I discover the Malinese are actually due north of me, despite my never seeing them until much later in the west, it further reinforces my decision to strike south first. Expansion on this map is obviously going to require lots of warfare. I discover Animal Husbandry in 1930 BC and observe that I do have horses in London.

In 1840, I have an amazing bit of luck, when my just-completed mine near London spawns another set of gems. However, this is spoiled when I see an Egyptian city founded on an awful location, in the way of my city. Moreover, there's also an Arabian city due south of me, blocking expansion that way. This map feels awfully small, if there really is only room for one or two cities per civ, and the 1000 BC barrier is fast approaching. If not, I've probably lost the game at this point, because I'm blocked in the north by the Malinese, to the east by the Egyptians, and to the south by the Arabians. I see an early war in my future, probably with the Arabians because I'd prefer not to see their unique unit, all things considered, and I'd rather let the Egyptian and Malinese unique units go obsolete before I fight them. Before I go to war, I want to found at least one and preferably two cities.

With so little room available, wonders that affect multiple cities don't offer much. With space so tight, my capital so strong, Bureaucracy is awfully tempting. I'm thinking I might go for the CS slingshot before declaring war, but I don't know if I can afford the opportunity cost: my best and only chance for early warfare at this point is horse archers. I should have a substantial tech lead, but I don't have marble and can't get it, so it will take me some time to build. If I fail, I probably fall last place for the rest of the game. After some contemplation, I decide I think it's worth the risk and start research on Priesthood; my plan is Priesthood, Writing, Code of Laws, then Masonry and Organized Religion if I have time. My second city will start building settlers in the mean time.

Further exploration reveals that I appear to be the only one surrounded, with so little room to expand. Oh well. I could have built more settlers and pushed south, around Saladin's city, but that would have been risky, militarily. I sign open borders with everyone but Tokugawa, hoping for some peace dividends. In 1150 BC, Code of Laws will be done in 15 turns, while the Oracle will take only 10, so I stop production briefly to build a chariot, hoping to deter any attacks. The computers are all ahead of me at this point, with more and larger cities; I hope this turns out worth the time I've spent on it.

The Malinese demand I cancel with the Chinese—no go, since once I become a Hindu or a Jew I'm going to be at war with them. In 910 BC, they found a city due south of another city I was going to found, right next to York. This game is looking worse and worse, the computer has me completely closed in and there's nothing I can do about it. If they hadn't all chosen to expand towards me first thing, I might have had a chance, but as it is, I think I'm screwed. If I don't have Iron, there will be nothing I can do. Hatshepshut builds Stonehenge and founds Judaism this same year—could things be going any worse?

In 865 BC, I get Code of Laws and Confucianism. I go for Masonry next, and after that, it will be Iron Working. I botched up badly earlier and let money accumulate I could have been putting towards faster research on these techs, which would have gotten the Oracle and Civil Service finished sooner. In 850 BC, I execute the Civil Service slingshot. At this point, I'm researching Iron Working in the faint hope I'll have some in my territory. What's incredibly annoying is that there's tons of unclaimed territory right outside the computers' borders, but I'm in a tiny little box. At this point, the computer's aggressive push to constrain me has succeeded beautifully because I didn't anticipate it and counter it by rushing settlers fast enough.

Shockingly, I do have iron, in York. The next question is, which of my neighbors should I target? Saladin is weak, almost as weak as I am, while Egypt and Mali are both at the top of the power spectrum and have evil religions. Mali has an awesome northern starting location with lots of room too, so will be powerful in the long run, but is right now somewhat limited by lack of food, and has copper. Egypt is centrally located and doesn't have many cities, and their military, last I checked, wasn't spectacular either; however, they have horses and possibly copper, once they hook it up. Saladin is weakest, but has lots of territory still to expand into, and iron, but no horses or copper.

My intuition says that in terms of geography, strategic position, stuff to take, military power, and resources to conquer, I want to kill Egypt. Their road network is all but connected to mine already. They have two decently sized cities and several smaller cities. Their standing military probably won't stop up to an army of swordsmen or axemen, with spearmen to cover against the chariots, because they haven't had copper or iron. We'll see once I have the army fielded. If I can capture Thebes, I'll get a wonder and a strong production city, which should put me in a good position to say, expand. I'm going to raise Memphis because it's off my city tiling. I have a sneaking suspicion I'm going to lose this game because I'm not willing to settle for suboptimally placed cities, but I don't care: if necessary, I will die while fighting to raze the entire continent.

In the meantime, I research Sailing as the last tech I want, for commerce and hopefully spread of Hinduism or Confucianism, before heading up the tree to the wartime technologies. I dither between Mathematics -> Construction or Monotheism -> Theocracy -> Monarchy -> Feudalism, but opt for the former, figuring the latter won't arrive in time to help me in this war. I also look briefly at building the Pyramids for Police State, but decide that's it's not practical at this point. A quick check verifies Egypt still only has archers.

In 550 BC, someone (probably Roosevelt) finishes the Great Lighthouse. I'm steadily falling further and further behind the computers because of the inadequacy of my cities and my tiny size. In 505, Saladin converts to Confucianism. It looks increasingly like I'm going to have to make Saladin my ally for the first part of the game.

In 280 BC, I declare war on the Egyptians. Sadly, Hatshepshut converts to Confucianism one turn before my war declaration, but the units are already in position, so it's really too late. I also birth Moses in London the same turn. With Theology half-way done, figuring there will be more where he came from, and in urgent need of cash and production for more units to finish the Egyptians, I settle him. (Ed. note: I probably should have built the Confucian shrine for more spread of the religion.)

Hatshepshut is apparently the largest civilization in the world. Well, not for long. In 220 BC, someone builds the Pyramids. I'd resigned myself to that; the settlement box has completely stripped me of strategic options this game. In 205, Caesar adopts Representation, so I guess it must have been him. I take Memphis easily, but I pause outside Thebes for my units to heal and reinforcements to arrive. The assault on Thebes involved heavy casualties, but bisects the Egyptians and cut off their horses (no more war chariots).

Hatshepshut offers me peace, but I have no interest in that. The real question is if I want to raze or keep Heliopolis. I'm inclined to the former option, since I can fit in a lot more cities if I do, but I don't know if I have the resources to fill in all the territory. I'm debating a similar question for Elephantine: in the latter portions of the game, space-filling is essential, but both of those cities leave annoying gaps around Thebes. Getting that marble, however, is essential to my long-run decision. My longer term strategy, after I finish the Egyptians, is to take out the Malinese, but given that I'll be up against the Malinese super-archer, I think that will have to wait until I tech to medieval units and medieval civics, and perhaps even *gasp* build another wonder or two. For now, my goal is to kill the Egyptians, establish a perimeter enclosing the Arabians in the south and the Malinese in the north, and then spend some time building infrastructure in preparation for more war.

After rearranging my grid and putting "to raze later" signs over some of Saladin's cities, I figure out a way to keep Heliopolis without losing anything I consider essential. Unfortunately, I discover the Egyptians have founded another city south of Heliopolis in a terrible position, which I will have to raze.

In 110 AD, Saladin requests I change to Confucianism. Since I was more or less planning on doing that anyway, I accept. The annoying aspect is that it cuts down culture production in outlying cities, but Stonehenge is still functioning for the moment. In 140 AD, I develop the Alphabet, after having razed Alexandria, and swap Polytheism around for Meditation and Archery. Most civs have Calendar, but while I do want it soon, I don't need it now.

As always, the computer has a settler ready to fill in any gaps you leave by razing cities. (Baghdad was already there, but the green in the east is new.) At least they're in the right locations, so when I conquer Saladin later, I won't have to relocate them. I develop Literature and go to Music, aiming to make sure I get the great artist. Sometime later, though, as I build in cities to fill in, I think this is probably a mistake: I need Currency for the extra cash flow. My GNP is tanking, which will cost me the only consistent lead I've had this game.

In 380 AD, the borders of Nanjing expand onto the territory I just planned to settle in order to get marble, just as my settler moves into position. I was worried that I should have built that city first because the computer might settle it; there weren't any settlers in the area, though, so I thought I would be ok. Unfortunately, I was right, but not for the reasons I expected. I now face the unacceptable choices of declaring war on the Chinese, capturing Nanjing, trying to make peace, and then building the city, which would take forever; relocating the city into an awful position; or forgoing marble. I'm tempted to resign: I haven't gotten a single break this entire game, ever.

Victory Conditions

I'm coming back to this game after two-weeks-long break. I'm still no less disgusted with the Chinese border pop happening on the turn I had my settler in position.

Given the positions of Pi-Ramsesses, Kumbi Saleh, and Nanjing, there is precisely one city location that makes any sense at all, so even though it sucks, I have to move there, and wait the 15 turns it will take for the borders to expand to get the marble. I'm in serious danger of losing the city to cultural takeover, as well, with the creative Egyptians on one side and an established Malinese city on the other. I still don't have a choice.

War weariness is starting to take its toll in my empire. Talking with Hatshepshut reveals that she has two cities left. I have no idea where the other one is, so I send my axeman scouting. I'm going to need more forces to take Pi-Ramsesses because it's on a hill, so I order some internal cities to build more swordsmen. I don't think I can afford to leave it in position because of the culture issue.

I've played more Monarch games in the interim and learned a fair amount about things that I ought to have been abusing more than I have been. I've also learned things about manipulating the AIs. It was obvious enough that I was in a bad strategic position when I played last, with cities strung out between no fewer than four separate enemies with three different religions between them, plunging military demographics, and a slipping tech lead. What wasn't apparent to me was how bad my diplomatic position was. I don't want to fight any more wars for a long time, so I need to switch out of Confucianism ASAP and try to bribe the AIs into fighting each other so they don't attack me. This also has the ancillary benefit of giving me the culture power from Hastings and Heliopolis, both of which I need to start pushing back the encroaching Arabian and Chinese culture. At the same time, I switch to Hereditary Rule and Slavery to make up for losing the happiness from a state religion and giving me whipping, which I should have been using before and which would have prevented this awful situation from developing.

At this point, I'm interested in getting this game over with in the fashion that requires the fewest remaining clicks. Even if war wasn't incredibly time-intensive because of the micro involved, I'm in a terrible position for fighting anyways, so conquest and domination are out. Diplomatic victory is laughable in every game (unless you're doing it by backdoor domination), but there's no way I'm getting a large enough population and good enough relations to make that work here. That leaves the spaceship, which I don't see having the productive capacity to win easily, and would take forever to boot, and cultural. Cultural is at least vaguely promising: I have marble and stone for wonder building; I'm Philosophical, so I can farm great artists; I'm Financial, so I can abuse the culture slider; I have four holy cities and four religions, with two still up for grabs; I have a significant lead in culture already; and it doesn't take more than nine cities total, which is good because I'm never going to see more than that unless I go to war. I also have a fair amount of experience with it, though under better conditions than these, and I was managing to get it quite early without resorting to the culture slider, which I've heard is imbalanced—guess it's time to find out if it is.

I found Warwick in another awful position and prepare to get on with this ugly game. It looks like Hatshepshut's other city is across the ocean: after I raze Pi-Ramsesses, I'll make peace to get rid of my war weariness and let someone else finish the clean up. In 455, someone develops Currency and immediately swaps it around to a bunch of the computers. I trade Monarchy and Code of Laws to Saladin to get it and all his gold, then sell a bunch of other techs to other computers for even more cash, enough to fund deficit research for centuries.

I think my three mega-culture cities will be Heliopolis, York, and London. London is obvious, York has huge potential production because of the stone quarry and the copper and is the Confucian holy city, and Heliopolis both needs to beat back Damascus and Guangzhou, and has lots of hills for its own production. York or Heliopolis will be my great artist factory. I assign a priest in London, because I'm going to want, probably, three more great prophets to found the Kong Miao, the Kashi Vishwanath, and the Temple of Solomon ASAP, to get their doubled culture as soon as possible and the income from their shrines; that will be before, I expect, the great artist factory comes online, since that's going to take a lot of population growth, production, and tech. I discover Music first and start work on Drama so I can construct theaters early, while sending Homer south to Heliopolis to start pumping out culture.

Saladin asks for horses; I give them to him, since I figure he's a Confucian he's likely to go to war with the Jews. Someone else founds Taoism, so they must have been beelining for it.

On further contemplation, once Musa's borders expand, maybe I should have put the city on the marble. Whatever. This game is horrible.

Once Newcastle's borders pop, I finally trade for Calendar; of course, a religion spread into that city the turn before. My empire has absolutely no unified religion at all, so I expect I'm going to stay atheistic until well into the Liberalism era, because the benefits will be marginal (especially given that I want that culture accumulation), and I don't have the resources to build missionaries for all these cities anyways. The horrible, strung-out shape of my empire is raping my GNP; I need to build courthouses.

In 710, I get a second great prophet. This opens a tough decision: Kashi Vishawanth in London for the GPP; Kong Miao for evening out culture production between my three legendary cities and Confucianism spread; or Temple of Solomon for the border war Judaism spread, and the best income.

The Chinese Wars

In 725, Mao declares war on me. I immediately check with the Malinese and the Arabs, the two pleased AIs, to see if either would be willing to help me, because I don't really have any interest in trying to fight the Chinese alone. The Malinese are willing, for Theology, which I fork over. I trade for Horseback Riding, recall my exploring chariots and start upgrading them, and start building axemen, then switch to spearmen for second builds after I see that Mao has mostly horse archers. I suspect this war is going to involve more pillaging than actual fighting. I guess, the plus side, I may get to settle that city site after all, and pretend Newcastle never happened.

I confess I expected to see more units from the Chinese. Getting Mansa to help apparently directed that stack north, though.

As usual, despite my horribly underprepared state, I turn the tables on the computer, marching my swordsmen and axemen out and razing Nanjing. (I didn't want to keep the city because it was in a bad location relative to my cities and because I didn't want to try to defend it against the Chinese coming up the road, not without a hill or river crossing to help me. Oh, and REVENGE! SWEET, SWEET REVENGE!) Also observe the lying score calculation telling me that my position is good, without taking into account the serious liabilities I have.

This is incidentally a perfect demonstration of why fighting wars becomes increasingly beneficial the higher you go on the difficulty levels in Civ4. In Civ4 the programmers at Firaxis have taught the AI enough about the production game so that with its bonuses, it can keep up with a human player in the production and expansion game. However, teaching it strategy is much harder than teaching it production and expansion, because strategy is dynamic: it requires out-thinking your opponent. I'm not really fond of playing the war-monger's game, and the bloodthirstiness I've displayed so far in the RB games is not typical of my play, but the bigger the computer's other advantages, the more conquest pays off (relatively) than trying to beat the computer at its own game.

The Malinese demand I convert to Buddhism despite having only one tiny city with Buddhism in it, and I do, anticipating switching out ASAP. Mansa, annoyingly, is helping me not at all against the flood of horse archers and war elephants Mao is sending at me. In 950 AD, he makes peace with Mao, despite everything I've been giving him. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the AI's diplomacy? The shape of this game is becomingly increasingly clear: some of the AIs are going to hold me down while the others take the opportunity to tech past me. In particular, right now I'm having to sink massive resources into military units, when I need to be building wonders.

In 1025, Mao finally makes peace, probably because I had troops sitting outside Guangzhou. I don't know if I should have made peace, but I wasn't looking forward to dealing with another war elephant incursion via galley, and I needed to get my wonders started soon. Despite all the computers having opposing religions, so far except for me it's been disgustingly peaceful.

I discover Divine Right and of course Islam is founded in Oxford, a new city I built on the Chinese border to replace Nanjing, which is annoying for my ultimate plans but at least guarantees it will be a strong cultural presence on my border.

I'm pursuing a beeline to Liberalism: rather than delaying it to get a better tech as I do in most of my games, I want to get Free Speech ASAP. My military is still pathetic, I'm still the score leader, and the AIs still haven't gone to war with each other. However, at least the Malinese, Arabs, and Romans are all pleased with me, though that can't last. The AIs, as usual, continue their usual practice of randomly demanding monopoly techs in hopes of angering themselves up enough so they can declare war on me.

In 1190, Roosevelt steals the Sistine Chapel, probably with a great engineer since he hadn't had Theology for very long and didn't have marble. I've yet to see a great engineer this game, so I can't do the same. This confirms my suspicion that Mao's war is probably going to torpedo my strategy. I notice that I apparently took Mao's only source of iron, which should make his future war-making more annoying for him. In 1238, unfortunately, he demands tribute from me, so it looks likely he's going to try to kill me again. There are aggressive AIs in this game, but none of them want go to war with each other; they're content to just peacefully sit around building and teching. This is so annoying.

In 1274, I discover Liberalism. I regret losing Bureaucracy, but +100% culture is incredibly powerful. I double up with a switch to Free Religion, since I still haven't coordinated a state religion. (Later in the game, I can see switching to Pacifism for better great artist farming.) For my free tech, I have to choose between Printing Press and Nationalism. They both have significant advantages: Printing Press gives me some extra commerce and puts me on the road to the irreplaceable Replaceable Parts (for lumbermills and more effective windmills), while Nationalism gives me a way of dealing with stupid invaders, the incredibly important Hermitage national wonder, and the Taj Mahal. Eventually, I decide to pick up the more expensive tech, noting that it's also on the way to Military Tradition, which will give me Defensive Pacts, which if I can ever persuade anyone to sign any will help secure my military position, and cavalry, which should destroy any enemies in this time frame.

The Malinese refuse to trade me Guilds for anything less than Nationalism. As usual, the AIs left out of my trading relationships are falling far behind in score. In 1298, I belatedly remember that Philosophical leaders get a bonus on building universities, so I start a crash program to construct them. In 1310, Tokugawa circumnavigates and I realize that I don't care even a little.

In 1310, I get Archimedes, but decide to stash him in York: I have a strong tech lead and no must-have wonders on my slate that anyone else is even remotely close to the tech for. In 1400, Caesar beat me to Angkor Wat, which I had three turns left on. I'm caring less and less about this game as time passes. In 1424, I'm first to Economics. I'm not sure what to do with the great merchant at first, but I decide to send him to Rome for more cash, for more deficit research. I immediately switch to Free Market. The world is still completely peaceful, but I'm sure that sooner or someone will declare war on me and I'll lose. I'd try starting wars, but my borders are such that none of the people I really need to fight each other are adjacent to me.

In 1460, Saladin demands I stop trading with Mansa; I refuse, of course, but that drops Saladin to cautious. I actually have a plan, though: I'm working on Replaceable Parts, from there I can get Gunpowder to Rifling and then Military Tradition, at which point I may have to take out someone. Meanwhile, Roosevelt has declared war on—Tokugawa. Fifth place is fighting seventh place, with eighth place occupied by the Egyptians, who never recovered from the beating I gave them. Lord McCauley confirms the sad state of my military, calling me the seventh most powerful, right above the poor Egyptians.

In 1496 I declare war on Tokugawa at Roosevelt's behest, sincerely hoping that it's a phony war. In 1502 Caesar declares war on Roosevelt. The world has become hostile in a hurry, which hopefully will refocus the AIs away from hardcore teching—I hope neither Roosevelt nor Caesar asks me to side against the other, because I can't afford to anger either. I'm expect that Roosevelt will lose to Caesar, though, making him even more of a threat. The biggest unknown factor are the Malinese, who're playing leapfrog with Caesar for second place. I really can't afford a war with them; however, once I get Gunpowder, Military Tradition, and Rifling, I think I'd be able to take on either the Arabs or the Chinese, and I may want to launch a preemptive strike, particularly on the latter since lack of iron has deprived them any of significant military at all.

In 1514, London spawns a great scientist, which will probably be the last great person it ever produces, as my great artist factory in Heliopolis will be coming online soon. I use him to construct an academy in York—it's not a great commerce city, but it has potential I've been neglecting, and as always, I need more culture. Everyone wants to trade me Gunpowder, but the deals are all ridiculous.

In 1535, Mao "sneak attacks" me again. Unfortunately, he uses the open borders with my neighbors to come around and hit a bunch of my workers the first turn. (If he disbands them, I'm resigning.) Unfortunately for Mao, I had just finished developing Gunpowder and already had Military Tradition, and had fortified my border cities with walls and, in one case, a castle. I hate fighting, and so I was going to do my level best to make Mao regret his mistake. I decided not to use Nationhood at the outset, figuring the cavalry could deal with most opposition while I researched Rifling so I could draft redcoats.

The following turn I counter-attacked and wiped out most of Mao's offensive force in the first turn. Of course, Caesar completed Versailles in the same turn; it's incredibly annoying that even with a significant tech lead I've been losing all sorts of wonders. Tokugawa offers peace in exchange for me handing over Divine Right; I give that the scoffing. In 1553 Tokugawa reveals that someone has given him the iron to build samurai. I sell Printing Press and Education to Mansa and Caesar, respectively, since I no longer had monopolies and I needed the cash for upgrades and more tech research. In 1556, I discover Rifling and switch to Nationhood, to start drafting redcoats. By 1562, I'm already second in place in soldiers, with plans to put the hurting on Mao.

I lose a city raider 3 redcoat attacking Shanghai. I was hoping to do this without having to mass catapults, but obviously city defenses are just too powerful even as longbowmen.

Beijing falls much more easily than I anticipated. I sent the cavalry in first, hoping they would withdraw if they lost, but not a single one did, so I followed with redcoats to take out the remaining city defenders, to capture it without a single loss. Not surprisingly, Mao has more cities to the south. I was hoping to conclude this war quickly.

With catapults, smashing through Mao's medieval units becomes trivial. Capturing Guangzhou, besides reducing the area I have to worry about defending, also gives me ivory, making my cities happy again without the culture slider despite the war weariness. I start construction of the forbidden palace in Oxford, aided with chops from recaptured workers, because I critically need to reduce my maintenance costs, and it's about in the center of my empire. I discover Steam Power and I do have coal in my territory (well, in this case, former Egyptian and Chinese territory), as does Mansa, but Caesar does not. Roosevelt has apparently halted Caesar's advance, though he's now at four cities so will be a non-entity in the endgame.

Meanwhile, I need to think about the next war. Saladin has dropped to cautious with me and is getting -3 from, "Our close borders spark tensions," because of the massive culture from Heliopolis. If I want to fight him, I want to do it now, before he gets (many) grenadiers. Annoyingly, I now have so many cities it takes two turns of anarchy for any revolution, which means that switching to Nationhood briefly again to draft more redcoats is probably not practical. Wiping out Saladin would secure my southern border, though, as well as giving me massive quantities of raw power from sheer size, and drafting another round of redcoats would probably give me military sufficient to last into the endgame.

I'd wondered how Mao had so many cities left even though it didn't seem like there could be a huge amount of land south. (I was afraid I was going to face a serious problem pushing far enough south to take Mao out.) I don't really intend to keep all these cities: fishing villages take a long time to develop, and so far from my capital or forbidden palace, I can't imagine that they'll actually pay off in terms of maintenance. I'll raze Chengdu and Hangzhou, and keep Xian.

Roosevelt keeps demanding I cancel my deals with Caesar, which would be stupid beyond belief, but as a consequence my diplomatic rating with him is tanking. London spawns another great scientist, who I send south to Heliopolis for another academy. Heliopolis is not a great science city at the moment, but again, I need the culture. Moreover, artists do produce some science, and if I go with Representation, I can see it becoming a powerful science city in the future.

Endgame

I have a final civics switch coming up, from Hereditary Rule and Slavery to Emancipation and—something. Universal Suffrage is my normal choice for this situation, since I could use those extra hammers from the towns I've been building up to take advantage of Financial and I like being able to hurry with cash. However, I don't know if I need that, since I'm going for a cultural victory and not the spaceship (where being able to hurry, e.g., the Space Elevator and laboratories to speed up part production can be critical). Meanwhile, Representation will make Caesar like me even more, making it less likely I'll need to fight one of the other two great powers in the last phase of the game; turn my great artist farm into a science powerhouse; and combine rather well with the Statue of Liberty, if I can manage to get it. (I still have Archimedes stashed.) At the moment, I'm leaning towards Representation. Either way, I intend to combine this last civics switch with a dip into Nationhood for another round of redcoat conscripts.

In 1628, I wiped out the Chinese and revolted back to Nationhood. In 1634, I came out of anarchy, started drafting, and started research on the Assembly Line. I set York to building the Statue of Liberty; the wonder is so expensive that not even my great engineer can finish it in one turn, which is annoying but hopefully that means Mansa or Caesar won't be able to steal it from me. In 1640, Caesar conquers Washington, picking up coal and the Sistine Chapel, both of which will prove annoying. Mansa adopts Free Speech, which means that I'm going to start losing ground on the border until I can get back into Free Speech and start using the culture slider. In 1643, Herodotus confirms that I'm the largest.

Saladin has started upgrading his medieval units to riflemen at the usual AI discount, so it's time to move. In 1646 I raze Damascus. In 1649, having drafted every city once, I revolt to Representation, Emancipation, and Free Speech, hopefully ending the civic switches for the game. In 1655 Saladin overwhelms most of my cavalry force, with which I'd been too aggressive, with a massive contingent of rifles, catapults, and kitchen sinks. Unfortunately, to launch that attack he greatly depleted the defenders in his nearby cities. In 1658 I raze Medina. In 1673, the Malinese adopt Emancipation. I capture Narjan in 1676. The following turn, Caesar asks me to declare war on Roosevelt, who he's reduced to a single city on an island on the far side of the continent; with little left to lose but Caesar's favor, I agree, since I don't expect the Americans to survive much longer. Medina still has a lot of defenders, so I nuke its defenses in 1682 and then send in some suicide catapults the following turn to soften them up. After losing two 90%+ attacks, I take out most of the defenders, and in 1688, I capture the city. In 1694, the Malinese beg for Assembly Line, and I put them off, of course. Somewhere along here, I birthed my first great artist and sent him to York. In 1703, I take Baghdad and discover coal in Nottingham, one of my production-poor fishing cities, which is quite a coup.

In 1715 I destroy Kufah and Saladin doesn't die, so I guess there must have been a distant island after all. I don't care, though, since I've eliminated him as a threat, so I sign a peace treaty. (There are now three mobility-killed AIs in the game, of which I'm responsible for two.) I've now killed no fewer than three AIs. I really hope I don't have to do any more fighting this game. Tokugawa doesn't like me, but I hope he's at least afraid enough of me not to start anything; I sell him Education for 210 gold to fuel deficit research for a little longer and make him, hopefully, a little less irritable. Caesar is pleased and Mansa is friendly.

Also in 1715, London births what will be its last great person, a great prophet. (Ed. note: I still hadn't gotten used to Philosophical at this point.) I thought about holding him for a golden age with the great scientist from physics, but chances are I'll be getting another great prophet because my artist factory is slightly tainted, so I have him found the Kashi Vishwanath, the last of the religious wonders in my three culture cities. In 1721, with the help of Archimedes, I finish the Statue of Liberty. I'm hoping that industrializing sooner and a tech lead will keep me on top of the modern wonders, but honestly at this point I don't know. I also discover Railroad and wake up my army of workers to start railroading my part of the pangaea.

In 1727, London has 20630 culture, Heliopolis 12438, and York 7416. (York suffered the most from having wonders stolen by the computer, particularly Angkor Wat and Versailles.) My goal at this point is to industrialize, then spread all my religions around and start stacking the +50% culture religious buildings in the cities, then pump the culture slider and (hopefully) coast into victory. Because of my military conquests, I also have two plausible back-up plans: the spaceship, if I have aluminum, because I think I can beat either computer on production, and the UN, because if Musa votes for me I bet that will put me over the threshold.

In 1750 Nara, a puny city the Japanese founded on one of the last two Chinese cities I razed, succumbs to my culture and give my very first (Ed. note: and only) infantry. In 1754, Caesar wants me to declare war on Roosevelt again, so I do. In 1758, Heliopolis generates a great prophet instead of a great artist; I stash him for a future golden age, with the scientist from being first to Physics.

In 1790 I sign defensive pacts with both the Malinese and the Romans, on the theory that I had no interest in doing any more fighting, and if one of them gets ambitious the other will hopefully serve as a check. The pact with Caesar will also help if Tokugawa gets fidgety.

Not much is happening. It's 1800. I've been beelining to Genetics because of health issues in my cities, at which point I'm going to double-back to pick up Industrialism, Combustion, and Flight. My legendary culture cities are now at 28212 (London), 19556 (Heliopolis), and 13453 (York). They're currently working on the Eiffel Tower, Broadway, and Rock n' Roll, respectively. I'm not sure how far up the tech tree I want to go before I slam the culture slider home, since I still want some of the wonders and the productivity techs. I don't want to delay too long, though, or else the computer will start working on the spaceship. I'm going to play it by ear and see how it goes.

In 1811, I birth another great artist, who goes to merge with York (of course). In 1817, I finish the Pentagon. I develop Communism and start building the Kremlin in Thebes, my ironworks city, more or less just because I don't want to see Mansa get it. (I'd build it in Heliopolis for the great artist points, but it wouldn't get finished in time.) In 1819, somehow London births a great prophet. Ick! Useless. I consider merging him into Heliopolis, but decide to stash him. It's a remote possibility I'll want two golden ages here in the endgame. Also, Tokugawa wipes out Roosevelt.

In 1822, I get Rock n' Roll, and in 1823 Broadway and the Eiffel Tower. In 1825, I discover that I have aluminum in my vast, sprawling empire, and of course so do Mansa and Caesar. In 1835, I get a great engineer in Thebes(!). I have him hurry Hollywood in Heliopolis: I did some calculations which indicated somewhat more than a hundred turns to finish without maxing the culture slider, which is unacceptable. (The space race will be finished by then.) This projection is pessimistic because it doesn't account for the years of stacking +50% culture religious buildings, but it's still enough to make me nervous. In 1844, I birth another great artist in Heliopolis and immediately merge him, since Heliopolis will start to fall behind once I start using the culture slider, because it doesn't have the huge coastal trade routes the other two cities do.

In 1850, it looks like 40811, 33814, and 26794. I still haven't been using the culture slider much, wanting to ensure that I get the great engineer from Fusion, with a side-trip to Ecology to pick up recycling centers to reduce health issues in a few key cities. Once I get Fusion, I'm going to turn off science and start shooting for the victory, while assessing the computer's attempts on the space race and whether my high-production cities are still working at capacity on projects and wonders. The Three Gorges Dam is seven turns from completion and should help with my health issues.

In 1851, Tokugawa declares war on Hatshepshut. Since he can't go after any of the big three, I guess he figures he'll clean up the losers. In 1852, I get another great prophet from York, despite the low percentage chances. I have no use for another, so I send him to Heliopolis to join the city and increase its relatively weak production. In 1856, I successfully finish the Three Gorges. Caesar and Mansa both have artillery and rocketry, but it's going to take Mansa 23 turns to finish the Apollo Program, much less assemble the rest of the tech and the spaceship parts themselves. In 1860, I estimate it will take about 40 turns at current culture rates for York to pass 75000, though of course that's an underestimate since I'm still building religious buildings. In 1868, Tokugawa finishes off Hatshepshut.

Do you think it might be too hard to flip cities? Gao is in the spotlight of York and London. It's only now that I'm going for the win I've been able to surround it like that, and it still hasn't offered to join me.

In 1871 I complete the United Nations. My opponent is Caesar; time to see who Mansa loves more. Everyone else votes for Caesar, of course, but Mansa does love me more. In 1875, I get another great engineer from Hastings. I pass the one currency and open markets resolutions, ending up with more trade routes than I've ever had in a single city before, aiming to speed up the victory.

In 1881, Heliopolis births the last great artist of my game. At this point, Heliopolis has 11 turns left, York 14 turns left, and London 6 turns left, so it's clearly smarter to use the great artist for a great work than have him join a city. It's also clearly time for a golden age to carry me to the finish line, so I use a great prophet and great scientist to trigger it.

In 1886, London goes legendary and, in an amusing sidenote, I discover gems in a mine I just stole from the Romans. In 1887, I finish the Internet to add insult to injury, taking Artillery and Rocketry from the computer for free. In 1890, I send the great artist to York to send it over the threshold, and the same turn, Heliopolis also goes over. Cultural victory in 1891.

Of course, I dominated the top 5 cities, which is pretty unusual for me.

Gao never flipped, and I never built a single naval unit all game.