CHRONICLES

RBCiv Epic Twenty

If I had not gone for the wonder, but instead played my usual high difficulty land grab gameplan, I would have been in a much stronger position, controlling the whole continent by now and perhaps ready to reach out to other islands. The news is not all bad, as my capital is now size 12, but there's no sugar coating it, that's a poor silver lining to this dark cloud. All the edge gained by the free settler has been lost now, and then some. Even with spoiler info and a free settler, it seems I am destined to post a mediocre result for this one.

I'd take more pictures, and give more details, but this is just a shadow. As it was, America soon sailed by with a settler pair, and I was lucky to have my whole northwest coast settled, so they plopped down a settler further north. I refused to pay for contacts, since I was almost to mapmaking myself, and if the AI could reach me, I could reach them. (Contacts are very expensive).

With my eastern galley, I made contact with Greece, then France, and China sailed on by me, so I went ahead and conducted my full trade round, obtaining maps and contacts and techs, in 190BC:

There are only two sites left to grab in the east, and I'll have my whole continent wrapped up, despite the wonder error.

Now notice the worst weed for me in this game. FP at Asyut? WHAT WAS I SMOKING? Yes, it was geographically the best location, but could not get fresh water until electricity, or any tiles with more than one food on them until electricity and rails. I should have gone ahead and built in the less geographically ideal location of Memphis and had the thing done by 300AD at the latest, maybe sooner if I had been decisive and moved quickly on it. Instead, I would play all the way through the middle ages without an FP. Dumbest move I have made in a long time. This was... erm... not my best performance. :)

With no diplomatic, it was either play for a launch or play to go out conquering. Fresh off Epic Seventeen and 18A, I did not want to go conquering, so I was content to control my own continent and ride it out. Apparently, Caesar was not, and got himself smacked down by the Lamb in short order.

Here's my civ once I emerged into Republic. Note the French settler pair in the east, whom I beat to the last site on my land mass by a mere half-turn, and that was WITH using a galley in the bay to ferry the last two settlers across, unescorted.

I secured my first wonder with Bach's, and could not help thinking about T-hawk's comments about Babylon gaining a golden age from Bach plus ToE. Well, Egypt could get one from Bach plus Hoover. I was lucky to get Bach's, though. The AI's turned out to be serious competition for wonders in this game, end to end. It actually felt to me like it was "beyond emperor" in that regard, though maybe that was due to the sting my growth curve suffered from the Pricey Barracks.

Now check this out. This is the first time in eons that I did not complete my FP until the industrial age. I actually finished Newton's first!

970AD! NINE SEVEN OH. Good grief.

I built Ironworks in my fourth city. I remember when I first started playing Civ III, getting Ironworks every other game. Gosh, I didn't know how lucky I was back then!

I nabbed Smith's, too, because the AI's were sluggish to research it, and the cascade was broken before they got to it.

Note that Greece is almost gone, and that once-mighty America is now gassed and losing it with both the other civs on their continent against them.

| Back to Chronicles | Epic Twenty - Part Three | Return to the Main Repository |