On the tech front, I was still pretty much leading everyone. First to paper but that didn't really help as no one would trade their map. I couldn't even get open borders with France. I had to resort to the old fashion method of building scouts and sending them out to explore. I didn't have OB with France but I was finally able to get a view of his land by trading maps with America. The one tech that I really wanted was Education (science would be turned down once this tech was in). This would enable me to use the Great Generals to build Military Academies (+50% unit production bonus).
I was also positioning my cities for a massive military push ... cities were being constructed to work max hammers, small hammer cities were being asked to build filler units (eg Hwacha) while the big hammer cities were churning maces, elephants (later knights) and Trebs. I also set a rally point, firstly on my border with England and later on a tile further West near France and America. I was also getting ready to swap civics, having run most of the game in Representation, Buraucracy, slavery and Organized Religion. I swapped to Policy state (+25% unit bonus), caste system and Theocracy. This meant that most of my units rolled off with 5XPs, mounted units typically came out with 7XPs (Stables) and any unit from Wonsan rolled out with 7XPs (settled General). Speaking of Wonsan, here is a view of this city while in its 'growth is good' phase.
This city has 6 tiles that generate 19 hammers and 1 food. As such, I will need to generate 11 food from other tiles to be able to work all of the hammer tiles. Irrigated rice yields 3 and 6 irrigated grasslands yields another 6, plus the 2 from the city tile gives me the 11 that I need. However, I will need to work all of these farm tiles plus the hammer tiles for optimal city hammer production ... that is a population requirement of 7 (farms) plus 6 (hammers) for a total of 13. Once the city hit that size, it was reconfigured to work the farms and hammer tiles, finish the Heroic Epic and start to churn units.
My future attack pattern would be England first (that should teach them to declare on me), France (he hated me and would probably declare on me soonish) and then America (the only AI that liked me). I wanted to keep Napoleon busy so I bribed Roosevelt into war with France by flicking him Civil Service, Paper and Engineering (that war resulted in a big fat nothing ... probably just experience for France).
War with England started in 1180AD (turn 178) and during this war I managed to generate 1 Great Scientist (lightbulbed Printing Press) and 1 Great General (Military Academy in Moscow, +50% unit production to go with the +50% from Buraucracy). Moscow was now generating 20 base hammers which were 50 with multipliers (capital, academy, forge, police state), good enough for 5 maces every 7 turns. My power graph was going up while England's was going down.
England was dead in 1370AD (turn 197). During that tour of the ex-British lands, I found a small 2-tile island American city. I uninterrupted one of my cities from a constant Hwacha build to a constant Galley build so that I had some galleys available for possible future cruising. Score update: -20 for killing an AI (total now -60). The net modifier score would have been -28 (-15 for razing cities). So, for England, the -20 penalty is lower than the net modifier score.
France has knights. I don't. My current tech is set on Gunpowder but very slowly as tech is turned all the way down. I turn the tech up to break even (40%) and Gunpowder turns into a 8 or 9 turn research (not bad). I leave the tech rate up and start on Chemistry (9 turns) for Grenadiers (I am not planning on building any, keep building maces, promote them to City Raider II and then upgrade them with my 2500 gold that I have in the bank).
I also trade Printing Press to America for Guilds (knights) and some other techs and gold. Another (almost) first for me is that Napoleon will not talk to me and we are not at war. I don't think that this has happened to me before, having an AI so angry at me that he will not even talk. The attack plan with France is to take out Napoleon's Horses and Iron. I put together a good size stack and send them on their 4 tile journey through enemy lands. It meets significant resistance and one of the bloodiest battles in the game is ON.
While this suicide stack is attracting all the attention, I send slightly smaller stacks into France's Southern regions, they raze cities as they go and head North (Paris) when they hit the West coast. War with France started in 1410AD (turn 201) and was all over by 1520AD (turn 214) - and no Grenadier had seen combat. Score update: -20 for killing an AI (total now -80). The net modifier score would have been -30. So, for France, the -20 penalty is lower than the net modifier score.
I trade maps with America (I have to throw in 10 gold), then demand all of his gold (180) which Roosevelt declined to give up. He is up Philosophy, Banking and Optics on me but I am up Chemistry. The attack plan is for my ex-France troops to take New York and continue North and East, while my new units (including my CRII Grenadiers take San Fran, Washington and then head East. Seattle (the island) city is last on the schedule.
War against America starts in 1545AD (turn 219) and all goes according to plan. The biggest lost of my units during this war was from Barbarian attacks - one of the downsides of razing every city. The mainland is swept clean by 1595AD (turn 229). It took me another 4 turns to position my attack forces to take the final American city. I have (on Seattle's island) 7 Grenadiers, 2 knights, 2 maces, a Hwacha and a Treb to kill off 1 sword. That seems like a bit of overkill. Score update: -20 for killing an AI (total now -100). The net modifier score would have been -20. So, for America, it doesn't matter which I take, the net modifier or the penalty.
Note that huge jump in my power at the start of the English war. Almost all cities were focused on troop production. Also note the plateau while I lost units to French attacks. There is also a horizontal line in the American power while I ferry my troops to the Island city. Finally, I liked that the gaps between AI deaths got smaller.
Victory: +100
Relationship Modifiers: 0 (all civs dead)
AI Kill Penalty: -100
Bonus for Diplomatic Victory: 0
Total: 0
My top three units killed (by count) were Longbow (65), Workers (23), Horse Archers (20).
My top three units built were Hwacha (76), Macemen (57), Trebuchet (42)
My top three units left alive in my army were Grenadier (33), Trebuchet (29), Hwacha / Worker (27)
My top three units lost were Hwacha (49), Macemen (18), Trebuchet (13)
I played for 6:56, built 4 cities and razed 28
I never built a Grenadier and I only built 3 workers
For the first time ever, I built a Palace
Conquest in 1620AD (turn 234)
Civ IV Score of 50,381
3,305 gold in the bank