I've just finished researching mathematics, I've just finished building the Oracle, which tech did I select as my free tech ...
That's right! Construction because it enables my unique unit ... the Hwacha ... the cat replacement. The additional item that the Hwacha has over the cat is the +50% against melee units. It must be that the Hwacha's missiles must have some form of metal seeking weapon. Anyway, I've started to build Hwacha plus axes and sending them North to 'visit' Russia. Stalin has positioned Rostov in the desert near the gems but only protected it with 1 archer. He also has another settler out, protected by a spear. In 575BC, war is declared, Rostov taken and razed. The next turn, Stalin founded Yaroslavl. That city location seems to be quite a popular one as that was the first of 3 cities that I captured that were founded on that location.
This first war is a bit like a hot knife through butter. Moscow is captured and kept fairly quickly. In fact, in 75BC, it becomes the Confucianism holy city when I am the first to discover Code of Laws. I get my first Priest from Stone Henge / Oracle builds (yes, different cities, but still generating GPPs for Priests) and the Mahabodhi is constructed (holy shrine for Buddha). I also get my first Great General who is attached to a scout and turned in to a Scout Medic III warlord. What better way to keep an attack moving than to be able to heal your troops quickly. In 150AD, Novgorod is captured and kept and the Russians are no more. That is a -20 penalty in my scoring for killing an AI. Looking at the 'net modifiers' option would have yielded -10 so the actual penalty is a little steep.
I finally get around to researching alphabet (took about 4 or 5 turns which seems really really fast - either my science rocks or I haven't played normal speed, small map for a while) and caught up on some trades. While in discussions with Eliz (England) and Mao (China) I notice that neither of them have iron. They have the tech, just no iron resource. What happened to their version of the Balanced map? I take a look at what I know of England and find 'their' iron right next to St P'Burg (here is a screenshot from much later in the game) ...
Well, yes, technically, that is within 4 tiles of London but what rotten luck for England. The game enters a small building phase, a new city to grab my Iron and crabs on the Desert tile to the East, a few open borders, rejected trade offers (America: fur for ivory - you must be joking!), Mao completes the great wall (as if there were any Barb problems in this game ... well, apart from that 1 lion!). Mao also settles that silly desert location where I razed the Russian city. A tech demand from China, a stop trading demand from Napoleon and, finally, my free Great Artist from Music.
If you look at this screenshot closely, you will see an American settler and an English settler out and about. They are obviously looking for new city locations. Anyway, not much I can do about that. Now, what to do with my Great Artist ... hmmn ... this seems like a good use ... and Mao with no Iron (oh dear, mind you, no iron means no melee units which means my Hwacha is just a cat ... sniff) ...
Here is the current situation and my battle plans (see later screenshot for China's layout). Raze silly desert city (again), push on Beijing which has the Pyramids, park units on blocking tile South East of Shanghai and then see what happens. A few turns later, my Hwacha & axe task force is bombing Beijing when Lady Liz comes calling with this.
I position a few spears and phants to take care of the English horse archers and then turn my attention back to China. Chengdu (the ex-Russian city site on the desert) is razed. Beijing also falls fairly quickly with minimal loss. I bring in my Great Artist and bring the city out of revolt with a culture bomb. It also adds lots of culture defense and reveals more of the map that I hadn't seen before. Unfortunately, the citizens of Beijing are not that happy about becoming minions of Korea but there is a solution to that ... a barracks is whipped, still unhappy and so next turn a library is whipped. I also discovered why China had no iron.
I now find some Chinese longbows out in the open but my existing units are not strong enough to take them out. My Beijing taking army heals up and then heads South West to capture the two Chinese cities down there while my blocking units (augmented with Hwacha and phants) take Shanghai and proceed North. It is the city of Nanjing that sees the battle of the game. I send in a full strength Hwacha against a fortified longbow, really just aiming for collateral damage and here is the result ...
China is on its last legs and by 1030AD (turn 163), it is dead. Score update: -20 for killing an AI (total now -40). The net modifier score would have been -14 so, for China, the -20 penalty is still higher than the net modifier score.
While all this was going on America settles Chicago (sigh) ...
... I trade silk for fur with America (now that is much more reasonable), settle my second Great General in my hammer rich city Wonsan (more about this city later), give music to America after he demands it (everyone else hates me, I cannot have them all hating me), give gold to Napoleon after he demands it (on turn 140) ... I only remember this trade 30 turns later and cancel it and, finally, I chop those three lucky forests at Seoul for a very good return.
Liz offers peace for 230 gold plus Machinery ... yes, she was willing to offer a tech even though I didn't send any units into her territory. However, that isn't much of a tech as I am only 1 turn away from researching it myself. I offer 230 gold plus 5 gold per turn and a peace deal between Korea and England is agreed. However, her war declaration is not forgotten!
Seoul, after finishing the Great Library is started on the National Epic (due in 7) and Moscow is started on a Palace (due in 7). For the first time ever in Civ IV, I am moving my capital. Seoul, lovely city that it is, is hammer poor. It will remain my science centre and become my GP Farm but I want the hammer bonus from Bureaucracy in a hammer rich city such as Moscow. It might also help that Moscow is much more central to my empire (Original Korea to the South East, Old Russia to the South and Old China to the South West. My economy is -14 @ 40% tech prior to finishing the Palace and -22 @ 40% tech after finishing the palace. Well, that didn't seem to help much. I put a courthouse in Seoul and that does get it back to (roughtly) where it was before.
My Korean kingdom was basically complete. I wasn't planning on building any more cities, nor of keeping any of the cities that I might (cough) happen to capture. See the next page for the next phase discussion and results.