I'm going to have to apologize in advance for this report. It didn't turn out the way I originally Intended it would. I lost a very large chunk of my stream of conciousness notes in a crash to restart... something I'd not experienced before playing epic one. I've located the cause of the crashes... for some reason Alt + Tab to return to the game from picture taking is not something my machine likes. It seems to be ok if I click the button on the bar however. Why in the world this makes any diffrence I can not begin to imagine.

I have not yet completed my post mortum with a "points total" (read on and it will all be explained), and screenies from the replay, but I do have my turnlog and screenshots right up until final victory ready to go, so I thought I'd go ahead and post those now. The post mortum section will be completed by me on monday or tuesday night. I'll make a post to reserve the spot.

BTW, with so large a chunk of my report missing the stream of conciousness stuff, I opted to just remove it all togeather. Again, not the report I intended to post originally, but I hope it will be enjoyable nonetheless. On with the show

No screen shots for mine, maybe next time
I finished the game by space race victory in 2004a.d.
my score was 8443.
A few interesting things about this map...
The first unit i built was a worker. Until now, I had NEVER built a worker as my first unit. but since the first tech i researched (animal husbandry) was about the same turns to research as a worker, I decided to try it. It worked marvelously. After growing to size 3, building a settler and then mining the stone soon afterwards I built the pyramids. Gotta have the pyramids and immediately go to Republic. Another major wonder is the colossus to get that extra income. My first 3 cities were north and north east expansions in the direction of the Aztecs to get bronze, iron, crabs, fish, pigs, gold and silver.
I noticed that Aztecs or Mongols were always itching to start a fight. Playing honorably is an interesting challenge and I enjoyed it. So my strategy was to pick one of them and adopt their religion to give me extra faction to prevent war. I never adopted my own religion or built the special religion wonder. I chose the Aztecs to be my friends and therefore only had to fight the Mongols, not both of them. I used the barbarian cities in the south to stop the Mongol advance there and slowly took out the barbarians, making their cities my own. Every time the mongols declared war on me, I would take a couple of cities and make peace with them valuable. Then I let someone else wipe them out around 1900.
Until the whole continent had cities on it, my science continually went down. I think at one point for a few turns, it was at 20%. Finally by the time the continent was covered with different sized cities, my science rate began to climb. At that time I had researched markets and grocers and banks and harbors. Since the aztecs were my friends (at one time, it was +14 ) nobody else started a war with me and I could trade with everyone. I only had to build a few tanks, I didnt do any fighting at all after my Cav became obsolete. I used artillery in my last battle against the mongols, and then those just sat there and rusted as well. I was able to develop all technology until future tech 8.
Most of my Great people were builders.
I hope this report is what you are looking for, this is my first time reporting a Civ win like this. I cant wait for the next challenge!
Oh and, heh, was that comment about "no sheep for you" intended as a kind of a hint? I never found any sheep that I could harvest.
Malacheye

This is my first report, so I'm very open to suggestions about how it could be better. I broke it into two parts (a short summary, and the full log I created), and tried to add enough pictures to give somewhat of an idea of how things went. I also linked all the pictures in thumbnail form for anyone who might have a less than speedy connection. If anyone finds any of this helpful and/or distracting (e.g. moving back and forth between the reports and pictures), please let me know. I think that's everything I wanted to say, so on with the report!

Edit: I've looked over a few other reports, and it looks like my reporting leaves a lot to be desired. With that in mind, I'd just like to re-emphasize my openness to suggestions.

http://www.whitevine.net/civ4/epic1/epic1.html

After playing epic50 as my first epic and had lots of fun with that one, I was looking forward to playing the first epic for civ4. This is my first game on prince difficulty and my second game of civ4 in total (my first game was on noble difficulty which was won easily)

I decided to move my settler to the coast to increase the value of the inland lake. This is my starting position:



My goal from the beginning was a space ship victory and I wanted to stay out of wars. The first two other civ leaders I met were Montezuma to the East and Genghis Khan to the Southeast. Therefore, I planned to expand into this direction first. I also thought that with this two aggressive neighbors there will be war.


Orleans I a very nice city location, only one disadvantage there is no fresh water. Lyons is more strategically placed to stop Genghis from expanding west. (He will try later, but that’s a different story.









Some screenshots about how my empire develops





The first culture bomb:

Genghis is trying to settle in a territory which I consider belongs to me:



Since I don’t want to fight him (and are not allowed until he declares or somebody asks me for help), I thought of using a culture bomb. I never tried one before (just the second game) and it really sounds fun.

Let’s see how it worked:



So far so good, New Sarai is reduced to a 1 tile city and revolts:



Culture bomb, 2nd edition:

Now Genghis is really entering my territory. Well the culture bomb worked once, can it do the trick twice?



Here you see my Great artist Ling Lan (very French indeed) on his way to perform his great work:



Nice performance:



And the result:



Conclusion: Culture bombs are a great tool against newly built cities with little culture.[font=&quot][/font]


My game progresses peacefully, I give in any demand, join no war (there were plenty of them). I am the leader in techs, land and population:



Finally I reached space ship time. Here is a screen shot of the French empire just before launching the space ship in 1916 and 14544 points.



And finally a screenshot of Paris the proud capitol of France:



I liked this epic very much. It was a great learning experience and I can’t wait to read the reports of all the other players. Thanks Sirian for sponsoring this great game.

All things end. Tonight is the end for Sirian's Great Library. There will be no more scrolls written.

It's been a great ride, though.

Read Sirian's Final Log Entry


- Sirian

Okay, first things first:
I'd like to thank Griselda for posting this, because I was out of town during the report-time-window.
I'm german, so there will be something strange about my writings: Be assured: I don't know better
I took screenshots, but stopped doing so, after it was clear that I could not post them myself. So, this is a text-only report.
Have Fun ! (I had !)


Bonjour Mesdames et Messieurs,

veerie vell, ve vill now ztart ze great Empire de France.

letz 'ave a look around...
veeeeri nize... zhere eez a formidable pierre et vache ... ah... what do you zay ? ah yez: ztone and couz. Doez that look like the Coazt to the North ?
Let'z zend our tre bien Warrior zhere...
Oui! Excellente ! It ees ! And alzo Wheat and Zilk, how merveilleux...

*Louis*
Oui ?
*Shut up*
Excuse moi ?
*Stop that terrrrible akzent orrr I Ehm going to do "Zomething"*
'ow rude !
But for ze recordz: What are you going to do ? Invade again ? Ztart a new WorldWar, you miserable, pesky German ripou fiscale ... [The Rest of this speech is censored, due to PG-rated reporting...]
* [murmuring] ooh... he calls me a corrupt tax collector... must be *real* mad at me... [/murmuring] *
* No, Louis, zherrre will be no morrrre Warrrrs frrrom Gerrrman grrrounds hopefully everrrr again (well OK: not outside CIV)*
* I WILL take overrr thiz thrrread and keep you quiet !*

You can try zat you filzzie mmmggrfkrkksgrmblfx...

*Yes. I can.*
*So, can we do this together ? With LESS Accent on both sides ?*

mpfgrmpfprmpf
* oh, sorry...*

Tezt one two zree.. three ...three ok... we try theez ... this together. But only because there MIGHT be people out there who indeed want to read this report.

* [quiet murmuring]yeah, that, and because it's not so easy to write a french accent as a german who does not know french at all...[/quiet murmuring]*

Pardon ?

* Forget it. Please start telling those one or two readers out there what happened next in this game*

So where were we ?
*Coast to the North, Wheat and Silk...*
Oui, I knew that !
*So why did you ask?*
I... [sigh] forget eet. d'accord:

So, will it be better to set Ground on the place we stand, or to move the Settler and get to the Coast, get more Resources, but loose a Round ?
*[murmuring] wether it's nobler in the mind to suffer the Slings and Arrows of outrageous fortune... [/murmuring] *
Will you ztop zat ? you're irritating me...

%[all the readers] Yeah, us too ! [/one ore two people]%

I zay, we go for the Coast ! Think of all the glorious french men, who sailed the five seas of the World ! Nelson, Columbus, Marco Polo...
* [sigh] It's SEVEN seas, Nelson is english, Columbus portugeese and Marco Polo italienic and was moving on land only...*

Ah, quelle bagatelle ! We do it nonetheless. vite, vite.

Ahhh, beautiful Paris is founded... L'etat c'est moi. And L'etat sends his Warrior around for Scouting.

Oh, a neighbor. [silent murmuring] Merde, it's that barbare mongole Gengheez Khan. [/silent murmuring]
'ello my good man, 'ow nice to see you. So you live 'ere as well ? 'ow very... ähm... neighborly... see you...

We 'ave to research very fast. We need Police State, Vassalage and Theocracy.
* We are not allowed to switch to Police State, Vassalage and Theocracy. We're the good Guys, remember ?*
Ahh Oui, I forgot: 'onorable, aren't we ?
May I state, zat we are doomed ?
*...*
'ello ?
*...*
'eeellloooooo
*...*
'EEELLLOOOO
*sorry, there was something more addictive than civ, I had to tend to*
More addictive than Civ ? You zurely are kidding?
*Nope. It's about 84 cm high, weighs 10 Kg, is at the age of 22 Months and walks unsteadily on two very cute feet... And as soon as she woke up from her nap, I just HAD to cuddle with my daughter... JUST ... ONE ... MORE ... TIME ....*

Oh. Oui. Let me repeat: We are doomed
*what?*
Zat eez "pardon?". I said: "we are doomed".
*I heard that.*
Zo why do you ask?
*Groan*
tsihihihi... I've been waiting to zay zat for a long time...
remember: Gengheez Khan ? directly to the east ?
*Oh. Yes. We are doomed*

Bon. After clarifying that point, we can go on. It's 3640 BC and zer eez a warrior built in Paris, and we are almost finished with researching fishing.
Ze glorious french Empire zends the zecond Warrior scouting.
*That is NOT a good idea*
Oui, and ? I will do it anyway...

Ah, 'erbie ?
*Yes, Louis ?*
Zer' eez another Coast to the South...
*Yup. Probably we're on a narrow passage and can easily block Genghis out*
Or ve are on a peninsula and are easily blocked in...

3440 BC: Zere eez a Hut. Let's pop it. Bon. Got Experience. Not bad, now the fearless french warrior can move faster through woods.
*Someone researched Buddhism*
Zees fast ? Zere must be at least one of these pesky spiritual Civs with us. Well, per'aps it eez the beautiful Isabella ?

3280 BC: Another neighbor. How... nice... it's Montezuma. Well, 'ello Monty, I 'ope you are in a peacefull mood...
*Rats. Two Aggressive Civs right next to us. Did I say: We are doomed ?*
"I" zaid that.
*Groan*
*But: Right you are.*

3200 BC: Paris eez growing. We switch from Barracks to Workers.

2960 BC: That eez... Oh NOOOOOOOOO. We are doomed, doomed, triple doomed.
oh non, non Monsieur Alexander of the Greeks, I was just talking to myself. 'ello to you, welcome to the neighbor'ood...[sigh]
*Groan*

2720 BC: We did not find any more huts since zat first one, didn't we ?
*Nope. No Huts and three aggressive Civs around us. We are..*
Doomed. I know zat. I said zo first. Did you notice, zat we are last in score ?
*Groan*

2680 BC: Ahhh, apparently eet was not the beautiful Isabella... Bonjour Gandhi. Eez that your Score, or did you manipulate the scoreboard, so that eet eez showing your Gold ?

2640 BC: *we researched Masonry. Alexanders Score is now actually lower than ours*
Tres bien, tres bien...

2520 BC: Eh, 'erbie ? zis eez no Passage. We are stuck in this corner of the map.
*Well, at least there are enough resources around us. Did you see that fight between the Warrior and the Lions ? We WON, BUT our warrior has 0.0/2 Strength. NEVER seen that before. Amazing.*

'erbie ?
*yes ?*
Eet is dull 'ere.
* Oh come on: pay attention: Our warrior heals, the worker got us Stone, Mystic is researched, we switch to Stonehenge, and suddenly we are second in Score after Gandhi.*
Oui. eet eez dull....
*Groan*

1975 BC: 'ello George, old boy. Well: America still intact ? The glorious french Empire welcomes Washington warmly to the neighbor'ood.

1825 BC: *Hey Louis: we completed Stonehenge*
Oui. And Gengheez founded Hinduism.
*Oh. He did, did he ?*
Oui. Ve need a Settler to get a foot in the door, before he closes us in.

1600 BC: *Hey there's Marble*
Oui. Eet eez ridicolously far away. 'ow are we supposed to build our french wonderful wondress wonders without marble ?

1300 BC: *Our Settler is on the Way*
Oui. Oh, zere eez a barbarian Warrior two fields north. Quick, build a City !
*Wait, there is on good spot the South and another to ...*
[Orleans founded]
*...the north...*
*I don't think, that was a good choice*
Non ? Eet was the only desert Field, right between these two "good spots". It will keep Gengheez away and allows us to get more to the north.
*we will see...*
Oui. Okay, I panicked a little after seeing zat barbarian warrior...
*Groan*

*second to last in Score again...*
*Louis ?*
Oui ?
*Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good - we found Copper right next to Orleans...*
Oui.
...
'erbie ?
*Yes ?*
You stole that remark from Sirian, did you ?
*Ahhh,... yes....*
*I think, we have to thank that barbarian Warrior*
Oui. I could lend 'im an axe to chop some pieces out of Gengheez...

960 BC: Barbarians killed our scouting Warrior, 'erbie !
*Groan*

780 BC: Ze great french Empire completed the Pyramids !
*Yippieh*

720 BC: Ze warrior scouting ahead of our new Settler found a Barbarian City right at the Spot, where we wanted to settle...
*Groan*
... and has just been killed...
*Groan*
*We need more Military !*

500 BC: *Louis ?*
Oui ?
*The People in Paris are not happy*
Oh. Didn't you zwitch to Representation after building the Pyramids ?
* ME ??? I thought YOU...*
*...*
*[murmuring]"not being even average™"[/murmuring]*
Pardon?
*Never mind. Let's change quickly AND DON'T EVER TALK ABOUT THIS OUT THERE !*

420 BC: Ve rezearched iron working.
*Yes. And there is Iron near Paris. Good thing !*

400 BC: 'erbie ?
*Yes, Louis ?*
You remember ze Barbarian City at the Location where we wanted to settle ourself ?
*Ah, yes, in the Southwest of Paris, the city was called Ertrusker, I think.*
Lookie, lookie:
*Behave. Yes, I see: Three fine french Axewarriors against one barbarian Bowman and two Warriors...*
#*!§/&%*' [dustcloud] '*%&/§!*#
*Hmmm... could have been better. One Axeman down, one defender still alive*
#*!§/&%*' [dustcloud] '*%&/§!*#
*Okay: we did it in the second try. According to the Rules we have to keep Ertrusker*
Oui. And what a crappy zity zis eez...
*Yeah. [LOL] 6 Resources inside city radius and another 4 directly around it*

200 BC: Eet eez dull. Just some Barbarian raidings, nothing serious...

180 BC: 'erbie ? Do you see that aztec city to the north directly at our border ? What eez Monty doing there ? Will 'e launch a culture Bomb ?
*I don't know... Does the AI do that ?*
*The southern half of that city-radius is already our cultural realm. Let's watch that !*

100 AD: 'erbie ? Why can't we build a fine french Swordsman ?
* Eh ? Iron is in our cultural realm near Paris, there is a road over it to the Southwest Ex-Barbarian city of Etrusker... BUT NO MINE ???*
'erbie ? You forgot to build a mine on that iron while building a road to zat City ???
*[murmuring]"not being even average™"[/murmuring]*
Pardon ?
*I don't want to talk about that...*
'erbie, Gengheez wants us to stop trading with the Indians (we just 'ave open Borders). I guess 'e will be very mad at us very soon...
*Groan*
*We better build our military...*

280 AD: *That little aztecian town to the north, directly at our borders... It just converted. So: Is it honorable to keep it ? Or do I have to give it back ?*
'ow would you do that ? I zay, since the free citizens of Texcoco decided for themselves to join the glory of the french Empire, I zink we should keep them, at least until Monty demands them back. Zounds 'onorable to me.

290 AD: *Arrgghhh... We're down to 40% Science (and only make 2 Gold per turn). I HAVE to check that more often !!! We need Money ! Where to get it ??? I'm going to build a Triere and send a Scout with it - hopefully to pop some huts still left on some island...*

320 AD: *Now he has done it.*
Oui. Gengheez declared war on the poor french Empire. Great. What now ? Did you see, zat 'e ees standing right in front of Lyon ? 'e declared war while crossing the border...
*Groan*

330 AD: *With luck (with what else ?) we survived the first Wwave of attacks against Lyon. Three mongole Bowman against a fearless french Axeman and a not quite so fearless french Warrior. They killed our Axeman, but the Warrior survived (barely).*
Oui. And there eez one Bowman left, and no reinforce will arrive in Time...

380 AD: Gengheez destroyed Lyon.
*Groan*
One of 'is Chariots 'as killed a Worker.
*Groan*
'e pillaged our Rice and Copper.
*Groan*
...
*Phew, we threw him back and start to gather our troops right before his Capitol. He has too many troops inside that City, so I start to pillage. (Hope that's ok under the honorable rules...)*
Oui. In my eyes, eet eez.

420 AD: Ah 'herbie ?`
*Yes, Louis, what is it ? I'm busy with Genghis at the Moment*
'ave a look 'ere...
*Groan*
*Great. Just great. A sneaky barbarian warrior pillaged our only ironmine, without me noticing him... Now there are no more Swordsman. Grmmbbllllffxxxx....*
*[murmuring]"not being even average™"[/murmuring]*

*Another Thing: Interesting.... I checked the trade options and Ghandi was willing to trade with Ivory. I wanted to give him my (now only) Cow, but he refused. I asked, what would be necessary, he said: not possible. Then I begged him to give this to a good friend, and he did! This is only the second time this happened to me in all my games.*
Ah, 'erbie ...
*not NOW, Louis, I must capture Karakorum*
but...
*NOT NOW !*
...

490 AD: *Just conquered Karakorum. Yeah ! Cost me an arm and a leg, but perhaps Genghis is now willing to make Peace...*
'erbie ?
*Yes Louis, now I have some time*
Ehm... the rules... did you read about tribute ?
*Yes, OF COURSE ! We are not allowed to demand tribute*
Ehm... that gift... from Ghandi...
Eet was not a Gift from Ghandi, eet was a tribute, wasn't eet ?
*Sh**.*
[Timewarp. Back in Time again]
* According to the EpicOne thread on realms beyond, it wasn't. Lucky me... I was so sure, that I'm out... but I played on nonetheless - as a shadow game. But in that thread it is said (by Sirian himself !), that friendly Civs can give you trades for nothing - without breaking the Tribute rule. Tribute is demanded, gifts are asked for... So I could go on legally [which I did not know that time back...*
Oui. And you just couldn't let me zit around 'ere on my own, could you ?
*Groan*
*Nonetheless, I leave those commentaries from earlier on, but fill in some spaces:*
[/Timewarp. Back in Time again]

[I took out some groaning about being out...]
[I took out some more groaning about being out...]
[I took out even more groaning about being out...]

*Since that deal was made in 420 it is way too much in the past to load the last autosave.*
*It would probably honorable to cancel that deal at once...*
*Argh! I can't cancel that Deal now. *
*I have to wait some more turns, I think. *

*So, Griselda, Sirian: I was young and I needed the Money. *

*No, wait, wrong line: I really didn't mean it. *
*Please, please, pretty please: may I play on ? *
*I promise to cancel the deal as soon as possible.*
*After all: it could have happen to everyone... *
*who forgot a rule... *

Non, non, zat eez not good enough...

*wait, that's it: It's Sullla's fault. *
*He made me do it by some strange cuban isolationists psychoattack™. *
*Yes. That's more like it. They just HAVE to believe THAT. *
*It's plausible.*
Oui, of course...
*Pheew, OK, let's get on with the Game.*

Still 490 AD: 'erbie, Gengheez was indeed willing to sign a peace treaty... I suspect, it won't 'old very long...
*Yeah, I suppose so, too.*

530 AD: *At last I was able to cancel the deal with Gandhi. Sending a Settler to build up Lyon again.*
'old it, 'erbie: Zere are two barbarian cities right next to the place where Lyon was. Ah, oui: Must be the brave people of Lyon, who survived Gengheez' massacre. Poor pals. Now they don't recognize their fellow french people anymore. We must do a surgical cut, to separate the traitors (probably spoiled by Gengheez 'imself) from the poor, innocent french peasants...
*Well - as soon as my Army in Karakorum is healed...*

560 AD: *Ups... Monty was faster than me... He conquered the first of the two cities (since it was only Pop1, it got razed...)*
*Groan*

600 AD: *This time, Monty got beaten.*
Oui ! The remnants of the proud french City of Lyon are back in the arms of the french Empire... We just need some money... Our Workers started to build 'uts just in the very few last turns.
*yes: I know: much too late. But this is something, where luck is of no importance. You have to be good (or at least somewhere near average) to think of that... :-((((*
*[murmuring]"not being even average™"[/murmuring]*

620 AD: Merde! Now Monty declared War on us...
*Groan*
*No help from Gandhi or Washington (both pleased with me).*
*So, let's see: I have whipped some units out of my cities in the last war, can't do that anymore - my Science is down, my Production is down... Must stay defensive for a while. Hope it works out...*

640 AD: *Great: sent a warrior scouting for my settler - all clear. Send the Settler: Out of thin air a barbarian bowman appears, slaughters those poor people, AND kills in the next turn my Warrior (with Woodsman I, on a Hill with Wood...).*
*Groan*
'erbie, Monty attacks Texcoco with one poorly Axeman and gets himself killed. Power to the glorious french Empire!
*A Jaguar-warrior sneaks past the City and gets attacked by my Axeman with 2 Strength Promotions - and wins... Only my Chariot could stop that aztecic beast... Groan*
*The only Good Thing: Got a Great Prophet and rebuilt that Hindu-Shrine in Karakorum. Hinduism is spreading throughout the french Empire - Money is floating back into our treasury...*

650 AD: *Science is back to 60%. Riding is due in one Turn. Horse-Archers are coming up !!!!*

700 AD: Gengheez asked me for 'elp in a war against Gandhi !?!? 'e must be joking...
*A Barbarian Axeman sneaked on a mine of mine... (I MUST watch out some more !!!!!!!) he destroyed it, I whipped a Horsearcher out of that city, attacked him, LOST !!, and finished him with my Axeman... Groan*

780 AD: *Gandhi asked for Riding (as a gift...). I declined, but dealt him Riding for Meditation and Polytheism - A good deal for him, but I think I owe him one for that wrong Ivory-Tribute...*
*Hey: Just tried to make peace with Monty: He did ! He must have some other War on his mind. I only pillaged one mine of his (and was about to pillage his Iron and pigs...)*

810 AD: 'erbie ?
*Yes, Louis ?*
Did you zee THAT ?
*Oh PLEASE ! How can something like this happen ???? There is a Barbarian City founded right in those three fields between the cultural area of two of my towns. Only one small (one field wide) three-field-strip of fog of war was there.*
Visualization: C=Cultural Area of mine, V=Visible, F=Fog of War B=Barbarian City:
CVVVVVC CVVVVVC
CCVVVCC CCVVVCC
CCVVVCC CCVVVCC
CCVFVCC CCBBBCC
CCVFVCC became: CCBBBCC
CCVFVCC CCBBBCC
CCVVVCC CCVVVCC
CVVVVCC CVVVVCC


820 AD: *Georgie demands rice... hmmm... it's our only one, but there's another exploitable in the southwest, I think... I'm on quite good Terms with him... I think, we give it to him. He's third in Score... can't be wrong to be on good terms with him.*
Oui. We don't need that rice right now.

900 AD: 'erbie ? we've got some not so welcome company...
*Groan*
*Monty comes with fire and Sword again...*

*And speaking of "Oh PLEASE ! How can something like this happen ????": look at THIS !!!! I just cleansed that barbarian town two turns ago, and there was only ONE field with a fog of war... and there is another Barbarian City built right on that single field with fog of war ????*
Visualization: C=Cultural Area of mine, V=Visible, F=Fog of War B=Barbarian City:
CVVVVVC CVVVVVC
CCVVVCC CCVVVCC
CCVVVCC CCBBBCC
CCVFVCC CCBBBCC
CCVVVCC became: CCBBBCC
CCVVVCC CCVVVCC
CCVVVCC CCVVVCC
CVVVVCC CVVVVCC
There are more fields visible, because my Horsearchers were still there, healing.

970 AD: 'erbie ?
*Yes, Louis ?*
Why don't we convert to Hinduism and make some more Money with zat ??
*...*
*Yep. Another occurrence of "not being even average™"*

*The switch to Hinduism, together with the Coloss, just put me on almost even terms at 40% Science... (I was loosing 8 Gold per turn before and now its "only" -3/turn). Do units on enemy territory cost Money ???*

1025 AD: *made Peace with Monty - after taking his nearest City Teotihuacan.*
*Yep. He gathers his Keshiks...*
*Washington wants my help against Alexander. Since I can't reach Alexander, there's no use in upsetting poor old Alex, so I declined that offer...*
*Still on -4 Gold/turn. Can't switch to organised religion - too expensive !*

1050 AD: 'erbie, Gengheez declared War on Monty ?!?!?!
*Wow, okay... they deserve themselves*

1065 AD: 'erbie, we found Gems in a mine near Ertrusker.
*Nice. Never happened in one of my games before.*
*Sometimes it's better to be lucky than not being even Average™ *
*I just found out, that after playing in Windows mode, the Screenshots don't show the Text anymore - just the map, nothing else ! So no screenshot of a living 0.0/2 Warrior *

1075 AD: 'erbie, Gengheez wants some help to destroy Monty.
*Hmmmm.... tempting.... BUT: Against the Rules. He's definitely no friend of mine... Sorry Big G !*

1115 AD: 'erbie, the fabulous french Empire completed 'anging Gardens.
*Nice.*

1155 AD: 'erbie we got a Great Merchant.
*Hmmm... no way, he makes it alive through "enemy lines". So: Currency (is actually due in 5 turns) or super Specialist ?*
I would zay, the latter....
*yes. It brings us up to +1 Gold/turn with 50% Science.*
*Gandhi was busy missionary-ing me (is there a word in eEnglish for that ? Probably yes...). I will switch to Buddhism, so I'll be on Gandhis, Washingtons and even Alexanders good side....*
*Yeah, switched to Buddhism and was able to trade some techs and resources with them. Great.*

1295 AD: *Nothing much happens. There's much cultural pressure on those captured cities (Karakorum and Teotihuacan) - I hope SOMEONE is going to declare war on me soon...*

1395 AD: *still nothing happening. I've built enough Money-making buildings to be on 70% Science with +7 gold/turn.*

1425 AD: *Made a deal with Alexander. Starting Hagia Sophia.*
1435 AD: *Got a Great Engineer: Finished Hagia Sophia.*

1445 AD: 'erbie, zer' eez an old man in a dirty sheet at the door...
*At last ! Our good friend Gandhi asks for help in destroying the Aztecs. Sorry Monty...*

1460 AD: *Our catapults are merrily bombing away Tenochtitlans defenses...*
1470 AD: 'erbie, we 'ave captured Tenochtitlan. All 'ail to the french Empire.
*Yeah, costed me 2 cats, 2 Swordsman and one Horsearcher...*

1485 AD: *Monty strikes back. Some suicide attacks with catapults and Jaguars. Tricky: He used Trieres to get around my armies, that were blocking his way (or so I thought...).*
Oui. Sometimes I think Soren did a job too well...
*Groan*

*a few years later... we captured Tlatelolco...*

1520 AD: 'erbie, ve are gathering our troops for the siege of Xochicalco...

1540 AD: *Destroyed Atz... Atzop...Atzopo...dingsda (Pop1) *
Oui. One lonely aztecian Longbowman killed two fearless, but obviously verry dumb french Macemen and only the third was successful at last...
*Groan*

1570 AD: *Merrily Bombarding away at Monty's last city... He really wanted to make peace (wow, he even offered my 30 (!) Gold), but since Gandhi is still at war with him, and this time I am in the Mood™... no peace for Monty...*

1580 AD: 'erbie, the Aztecs are no more...
*Yup. They had chosen unwisely in 620 and 900...*

Eet iz dull 'ere...
*But Louis, Gandhi wanted us to destroy the Greek - we declined. We traded with Alexander for Tech and with Washington for Resources. We built Angkor Wat, started building Banks in most cities, got a Great Engineer (and used him to get some Hammer for Chemistry) and now it's 1650 AD.*
Oui. Eet iz dull 'ere...
*Groan*

1702 AD: *Back to 80% Science with a surplus of 22 Gold/turn. Gandhi and Washington both have at least 4 techs more than us...*
D'accord, let's do Science !
*Well, Louis: I think, you are right: I can do Science me ! *

'erbie, I think that Great Prophet we got gave us a lot of Shields for Liberalism, didn't he ?
*Yep. And we could trade Chemistry, Steam Engine and Liberalism with Gandhi and Washington and are now only two or three techs behind... and we are No.1 in Score for quite some time now - 2764 to Gandhis 2049, Washingtons 1910, Alexanders 1035 and Ghengis 1035 - in 1710 AD*

1724 AD: *Washington declared war on Ghengis*
Per'aps 'e asks us for 'elp ? I need that axe back, that I've lend that Barbarian Warrior back in around 1000 BC to slice a piece off of Ghengeez...
*Why do you need that Axe ?*
Eet was a present...
*is this about a certain Woman ?*
Ah, oui...
*I don't want to hear any more of it...*
But she...
*Quiet. She's not even in this Game!*
...

1730 AD: *Washington asks for help in the Fight against Ghengis...*
Bon. Let's go and get that Axe...
*Groan*

1736 AD *Our Catapults have reduced the Defences of Old-Sarai to 0. Merrily, of course...*
I can't zee my Axe...
*Groan*

1738 AD: *Two catapults in suicide missions destroyed. But I captured Old-Sarai with no other losses.*
Vere eez that Axe ?...
*Groan*

1740 AD: *Researched Railroad and finished Taj Mahal. That Golden Age is VERY Welcome...*

1748 AD: *Three suicide-attacks with catapults. Beshbalik is mine*
*Washington made peace with Genghis. [sigh] So, we will make Peace to.*
But... Ve 'aven't found my Axe yet...
*Groan*
*Genghis won't listen. It seems honorable to stop all aggression and leave his cultural area*
'erbie wait ! I still 'aven't got my Axe back !
*No, we will retreat. I don't want to possibly break another rule*

1750 AD: *Peace with Genghis again...*
And I still 'aven't...
*DON'T say it. Please.*

1756 AD: *There was a population decrease in the just conquered City of Old-Sarai. I couldn't do a thing. It was not possible to get more food - those fields were there, they were not occupied by another city and yet: I could not work them...*
I zink eet eez okay, since only forced starvation is against ze rules...

1764 AD: *Researched Physics. Traded it with Gandhi for Constitution and with Washington for Rifling*

1788 AD: Aaahh, 'erbie, now there are 20 Million french people in our glorious Empire. 'ow marvellous.
*Yes. And we're on quite good terms with most of our neighbors: +22 with Gandhi, +18 with Washington, still +2 with Alexander and oh wonder: -10 with Genghis...*

1804 AD: *Gandhi suggests a Defense Pact. We accept. We might get a problem with Alexander this way - but what the heck...*
Oui. What the 'eck...
'erbie, we 'ave got a Great Artist. Shouldn't we use it with the Great Merchant we saved for another Golden Age?
*Yup.*

1828 AD: *Now we have researched Democracy. According to the rules we switch at once to Emancipation.*
Ah, oui. Women will now 'ave a say in our glorious Empire... By the way: I'm still missing that axe...
*Groan*

1832 AD: Alexanders cancels all our deals... 'e certainly is not pleased with us.
*No he isn't. The defense pact with Gandhi and his change to free Religion brought our relationship to an actual -7 !*

1840 AD: *And now Washington wants a defense pact, too*
Oui. Let 'im 'ave it...

1848 AD: *Washington wants military tactics as a gift for a friend...*
Non, non. Monsieur George can research that for 'imself. 'e already 'as plastics - and we don't...

1860 AD: 'erbie, we 'ave got another Great Engineer. Let's get plastic from 'im - or at least a good part of eet. Gandhi and Washington 'ave eet for a long time now, and they won't trade eet for a reasonable price...
*No, I think, we use him for the Statue of Liberty*
But that Statue eez due in 11 turns already.
*Yes, but I want to be sure to get it. Gandhi and Washington have Democracy for a veeery long time now.*

1861 AD: *This Turn we got the Statue of Liberty, The Kreml and we researched Medicin. Good thing, because in our biggest cities deseases start to spread... *

1870 AD: *Through trading we now got all the techs Gandhi and Washington have...*
Oui. Eet eez Time to get a leading position in tech-research...

1874 AD: Ah, oui ! Le Tour d'eiffel has taken its righteous place in Paris ! Vive la France !

1886 AD: Our glorious french Empire 'as just finished United Nations ! Vive la France !
*OK: Let's see how liked we are...*

1888 AD: *We have been elected general secretary. Gandhi and Washington said "Oui", Alexander and Genghis abstained*

1889 AD: *How do you achieve a Diplomatic Victory ? I've never done that before... Do I have to start the Election manually, or am I given a choice after some turns, which resolution should be held ??? I can't find anything, so i'll just wait...*
Don't look at me, 'erbie. I'm just a king...

1891 AD: *Obviously it's an automatic feature. Election for Leader of the World is held. Hmmm. Gandhi is my opponent... That could get an unwanted result...*
Oui, 'erbie, it 'as. Washington stands to us, Alexander and Genghis abstained, but we only have 333 of the needed 344 Votes ! 11 Votes missing....

[10 VERY quick turns later...]

*I could not believe it... so I tried again. Same result. Now I'm building settlers and emphazise Food in all Cities... Something I should have done 75 turns before...*
*[murmuring]"not being even average™"[/murmuring]*

*Next resolution: No atomic weapons... everybody wants that...*

*Texcoco is starving. Building a city next to a fully developed City costs fields in that city ? In spite of them being worked ? Didn't know that... No Population loss until now - quickly irrigating some woods...*

1907 AD: *Third try for World Leadership... After another election for general secretary...*
Necessary: 357 Votes...

1908 AD: *I got 349 Votes... now I'm only 8 Votes short... But there is not enough space for many more cities...*

1912 AD: *Next try... 366 Votes needed, got 361...*
non, non... not good. But 'erbie, the Space Race is now wide open ! We already 'ave finished our first parts of the ship !

1916 AD: *Next Resolution: open markets... everybody wanted that...*

1919 AD: *Next election for general secretary. This time Washington is my opponent ?!?!*

1920 AD: Washington is into the Space race, too... 'e just finished a part...
* and Gandhi also... And they are technologically a little bit more advanced than we are...*

1923 AD: *Another try for the diplomatic "BigBoss™" election... 384 votes needed...*

1924 AD: *At Last ! Washingtons and my votes were enough (393).*
Oui ! 'ooray ! We 'ave the BigBoss™ ending achieved ! Should 'ave done that almost 40 turns ago...

End Scores:
RBCiv1 : 5199
Gandhi : 3545
Washing: 3087
Alexand: 1715
Genghid: 1093
Montezu: 0000

victory points: 15566 (Augustus Caesar)

Well: what surprised me most, was that I actually won... Never ever played a game on prince (not even with civ3). After those three aggressive civs appeared, I really saw them wiping the floor with me... And Barbarians weren't that hard, either. Rumor has it, that they go madly at the one with the highest Score - so it was probably a good thing, that I was so low on score during the first half of the Game. Perhaps this could become a Strategy ??
Fun game.

okay: now I have to do something for my marriage and I have to cuddle with my daughter... JUST ... ONE ... MORE ... TURN ...


Ah, 'erbie ?
*yes, Louis ?*
What about that Axe of mine...
*Groan*

Happy reading.

http://civ4info.com/Sullla/civ4SP.html

Realms Beyond Epic 1
DaveShack’s Demise
Or, How to make enemies and get destroyed very fast

It started innocently enough, just another game of civ4. Or so I thought, having forgotten my first GOTM experience almost two years ago. Then, as a relative (ok, complete) newcomer to Civ, it was hardly surprising that I would lose the first “competitive” game I played. The level was far higher than what I was used to, there were pages of discussions on the really cool things that were being done special to the game, and people with funny and not so funny names were turning in winning games in the early A.D.’s with incredibly high scores. How hard can this be, I thought to myself. Then I found out that the AI on Emperor level would actually invade and destroy a player. That wasn’t how things went on Warlord.

Fast forward to early December 2005. It’s a brave new world, with a bigger badder civ, and instead of being a newcomer in a forest of people who played like deities, I’m a newcomer in a forest of newcomers with the occasional lucky soul who has had the game for a couple of months and plays like a deity. Should be fun, right? :rolleyes:

Downloaded the game, took a quick look at the starting location and said to myself “that’s nice, it’s pretty average for a change”. And I merrily went on my way learning how to die very, very quickly.

The French people, in 4000 BC, found a lake and decided to settle Paris on its shores. Having read the exploits of Sirian the Great and his partner Sulla the Also Great in the game of the Cuban Isolationists, the French leader DaveShack thought that it would be incredibly cool to work one of the lake tiles and speed ahead to founding one or more of the world’s religions. Hey wait a second, the French can’t research a religion directly, they need a pre-requisiste technology. OK, that’s no biggie, with the faster science we can probably get one anyway. Now hold on here, whaddaya mean the citizens refuse to work on the water’s edge? How can that be? Quickly reviewing his well-worn copy of “how to lead a nation”, DaveShack finds that the shoreline cannot be worked until the secrets of “fishing” are known.

Oh well, maybe it’s not to be. We’ll just research Animal Husbandry so we can put the nearby 4-legged beasts to use. After 7 turns and 280 years (what’s with the 40 years per turn he wonders), our exploring warrior finds a village. Upon entering the seemingly peaceful village, he discovers two war parties were lurking in its outskirts, ready to pounce. What rotten luck, DaveShack thought, as the camp-followers returned with news that our brave warriors were mercilessly slaughtered by a horde of barbarians.

Another 3 turns and 120 years later, Paris trains its first band of warriors. DaveShack the not-so-great sends these warriors out too, to explore the surrounding countryside some more. In 3240 BC, research on Animal Husbandry finishes, and the French start learning how to mine the earth for minerals. Another warrior is finished with training, so Paris begins the long process of equipping some settlers. Fearing the appearance of more barbarians, this warrior formation remains home to defend the city. In 3080 BC the exploring warriors survive a massive bear attack, and again survive against panthers in 3000 BC. DaveShack thinks this might mean the whole land is populated with barbarians and wild beasts. Having gained a little experience the exploring warriors learn how to be woodsmen, and find a village from which they garner a small amount of gold.

In 2800 BC, the secrets of extracting minerals from the ground are learned, and the wise men next turn their thoughts to learning how to turn copper into a more useful metal. In 2520 BC, villagers give the French the knowledge of Mysticism, and an emissary of the Aztec empire comes to deliver greetings from that tribe’s leader. In 2240, the Americans and Incans join our little circle of friends. Nobody can do anything but say hi though, since nothing is tradeable yet. At long last, in 2000 BC the settlers are done. They set off with a warrior escort, and Paris starts training a replacement warrior. Over the next 200 years Bronze working finishes and we start on Fishing, Orleans is built and starts a warrior, Paris finishes the warrior and starts a worker. After Fishing is learned we start on Iron Working.

In 1625 BC, we discover there are two more budding civilizations, the Mongolians and the Greeks. Orleans finishes a warrior and starts a worker, and quiet reigns until 1375 BC when Paris finishes the worker and starts a settler. Wow, that’s not many units build or cities founded, and we’re pretty far behind. In 1200 BC we lose another exploring warrior to barbs, this time an archer. In 1125 BC, yet another warrior loses to a barb, and I’m starting to get just a teensy bit upset. Orleans starts on yet another warrior when its worker finishes. In 880 BC we learn Iron Working starting Masonry, and Paris completes the settler. Masonry is learned in 640 BC, starting Writing. At this time, I was probably toast and just didn’t know it yet. In retrospect, should have done the archery path first.

Nothing significant other than unit builds happened until 240 BC, when writing finished and alphabet started. Copper was connected in 220 BC and an Axeman started. I’m paying attention to the barbs to the West, not knowing that leaving my eastern border lightly defended will trigger AI aggression. I continue to fruitlessly pursue barbarians in the west until 240 AD, when Genghis Khan surprises me by declaring war. Tours was razed in 260 AD, Rheims lost in 310 AD, Paris in 360 AD, and I was finally defeated in 620 AD.

At the time, I wrote the following into my game log:

Post-mortem, looks like it is a mistake to drill deeply on the Alphabet
path with these settings. Also a mistake to have only 1-2 fairly weak
defenders per city, the AI's on Prince level will jump you if given a
chance.

Were Barbs on raging or something? That's a lot more barb activity than
I'm used to seeing. And what's with the overly aggressive neighbors,
and how did they generate so many units so fast? Even with a fairly good
ratio, the AI still didn't go for the kill quite as fast as a human might.

Here is my Epic 1 report, titled "Unwise Choices in CottageLand." Enjoy.

http://cassiopeiathedog.net/Civ4/epic1.htm