012. Since there are lots of empty spaces on the map, early game is a hyper rush for Ancient Ruins. Here my worker (stolen from Hanoi) has to compete with an Egyptian Warrior. I suspect that the AIs also know where the ruins are, as it makes a beeline to Ruin A. And if I grab it first, it makes a beeline to Ruin B. Now Ruin B is also grabbed by me. No ruins for you! Haha!
And I know where the ruins are because this is not my first run of the map. I actually made a map of ruins and plan my routes to maximize my results.
013. That ancient ruin turned out to give culture bonus. The second Worker for Persia!
010. First, sorry about the jumping of picture numbers. The story flows better this way.
Recently I read debates on whether National College (NC) start is actually better than two alternatives: (1) Spawn a few cities first, then NC, (2) Rush down an opponent with Warrios and Archers, then NC.
Alternative (1) gives a lot of early income, and (2) also gives a lot of early income (probably more, from peace treaty). So I tend to go NC first if I know I will have enough income. Otherwise I want to secure my finance situations first. Why early income? They can be used to buy units, buy City States, sign Research Agreements... being rich is never a bad idea.
From early exploration, I realized that there is only ONE good city founding sites nearby, and I don't have any close neighbor to take down. That means NC start is pretty much the only (good) start. It turned out that I was a little short on cash to purchase the library. So I took a little loan from the friendly Harun.
011. Now I can purchase a Library in Persepolis. I heard that advanced players play this game with a sense of "rhythm". For example, as soon as Writing becomes available, they purchase Library and start building the National College without wasting a single turn. I failed that because I got my Writing free from ruins a few turns earlier. (Can't complain about that.)
In addition, to show the true rhythm and mastery of the game, at the start of the National College's construction, the capital should have just finished something so there is nothing left in the queue. I was able to achieve it here (19 turns for 2 Scounts and 1 Monument) because I was delaying the construction of the NC purposely.
Maybe I am not advanced enough to appreciate the advantage of absolutely not wasting anything. Personally, I think this "rhythm" is more about aesthetics than actual importance. It looks great on a walkthrough, but there is no harm to leave something in the queue. The saved progress only gets lost when there are multiple items saved in the queue.
Why Monument after Scouts? I want to get a free Great Scientist from Meritocracy as soon as possible, and open an Academy with it. Then I will head straight to Steel with boosted research rate, upgrade a bunch of Long Swordsman, and rush down my first target.
The standard Long Swordsman rush is to pop Steel with the Great Scientist, or, in a rarer opportunity, pop Steel with the free tech from the Great Library rushed by the free Great Engineer from Meritocracy. That way, the player usually has the time to rush down 2 opponents before the AIs get Musketman. However, since civilizations are spaced far apart on this map, my second opponent will be so far away anyway that there is no way I can reach there before they get Musketman. So I may as well go for the Academy for some long-term benefit.
014. After purchasing the Library with just enough cash, I got into trouble - my turn income goes negative while I was focusing everything in the production of the National College. Every gold of budget deficit hurts my Research output by one after my gold goes down to 0. Luckily, I soon met with another City State. That will kept me floating for another 15 turns or so. And I will certainly find someway to get back into shape in between.
Both the Level 9 MOD and the Mesopotamia map makes the civilizations very poor. The same kind of embarrassment will certainly happen to the AIs later.
015. Another signature feature of Mesopotamia is that there are just so many shadowed tiles and therefore so damn many barbarians. I have to move my workers to safety and therefore lose a few turns on tree cutting (to accelerate the NC) and other improvements.
016. Researched Mining so I can sell Gems immediately (it is right beneath the feet of Persians). The AIs are not rich enough to pay cash. But it doesn't really matter as I don't need the cash in a hurry.
017. The Spanish Queen became friendly to Persia, so the Open Border can be sold for full 50 gold. Her income is still negative, so I guess the gold comes from City States greetings and +gold Ancient Ruins.
018. The National College is completed on Turn 30! What's the next priority? I'd say it is still the economy. All those Cottons are waiting to be harvested and sold. And the profit will be converted into a powerful army that will generate even more profits. It is time to pack up some Settlers!
A recent patch (probably .1.217) introduced an interesting feature - during the training of Settlers, the city does not mind to get into a huge food shortage. So the player only has to worry about maximizing the hammer count to get the Settler out as soon as possible.
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