Pong 2-3: Full Report of France

Bonne nuit! I've played Catherine a few times, not my favorite but a pretty solid leader/civ. 

I enjoy the extra level of visibility, the wonder bonus mid-game, and to be Queen of the spies!

Jungles, not my favorite. Enough bananas to feed Paris, though, and maybe a decent campus spot to the West.

Build order was Scout > (Free Scout from Hut) > Monument > Builder > Slinger.

A bunch of grassland to expand into to my north, plains and deserts to the south.

Found Germany and two city states pretty quickly. The city states provide a decent buffer between me and the AI.

Decent two-luxury city to the south.

Found America to the north, closer than I'd like. 

I begin to ponder where my first settler will go, with Northeast leading in my mind.

I've got 2 scouts, so I play that card. 

I take faith & gold over production because I want a pantheon, preferably pushing my presumed cultural advantages.

Nate met me at this point, but I couldn't figure out where. I'd later find out that our colors (France and Pericles Greece) are practically the same, but I still think I missed seeing his original unit.

I assumed (correctly) that he came from the Southeast.

Go get my secrets, ladies-in-waiting!

I send delegations everywhere, and people seem to like me.

Paris is growing fast, and I haven't even built any improvements.

Working on my first settler on turn 16. I often delay later than this, but with so many good spots nearby and an expansionist America to the north, I figure I need it now.

I rush bought a trader as soon as I could, and sent it to Buenos Aires to complete a quest for an emissary, and to get a road built headed south towards a city I'd like to settle, Marble-Salt-Horse Town.

I think to check the score on turn 16 as well, to compare how Nate and I stack up.

More civics, even tech. Those are what I usually focus on for comparisons this early. Pretty close, and the difference in civics implies he spent his production elsewhere early on.

Paris is hungry and wants amenities. Growing too well!

Popping a settler will fix that temporarily, but I'll need a granary and the luxuries from a second city soon.

Look at how frustratingly similar our colors are!

I missed this scout on my border for a while, and only noticed it as it got too close to my worker. I genuinely worried about Nate going to war just to take this worker from me and set me back a bit, but it didn't happen.

America comes with a settler, as I figured they would. I do my best to annoy them with my units, but they eventually found New York.

This also prompts me to give up on expanding in this direction, focusing on the two multi-luxury cities to the northwest/southwest.

I've got a bunch of bananas, so I'll push the culture. An early game move for sure, not sure it's the best long-term choice, but getting a solid culture lead early is a big deal, and I'm planning a culture-heavy game.



First settler heads northwest, start cranking out the second one.

I find a settler of Nate's, and worry that he's closer than I thought. My scouting hasn't found him yet.



Nate and Gilgamesh declare a joint war on me. I figure he bribed Gishy.

I attempted to bribe Germany and America into a war against them, but apparently you can't start a joint war while already at war? Learn something new every game!



I switch from gold/faith to production, and from scout XP to reduced upkeep. The upkeep was a mistake, it only net me 3gpt. I should have taken +production to units, as that's not a lot of gold and I'd be building an army.



Slingers upgraded to archers.

Corinth seems a fairly aggressive choice from Nate. I still don't see his capital, but it's got to be within range of that trade route that's making the road, so 15 tiles-ish?

Ur is just plain silly, far too close, and I decide to take it to punish Gishy, and to reclaim those resources that were rightly mine.



I get a real government, and go with Oligarchy because I've got all this war I didn't ask for.

Got that +production to units now, churning out archers.



Ur was easy to siege. The AI's warriors dawdled a bit while my archers rained arrows down, while a rush-bought warrior walked down.

With enough archers and a steady stream of gold coming in, I start on a wonder in Paris. I plan to build a blot over the game, and getting free emissaries for each will let me play around with the city states.



Ur falls, and almost immediately the unwashed Greek hordes are at our gates.

I make peace with Gishy, accepting a sum of gold and 4gpt.



Nate also enter an Oligarchy, six turns after me. Close!

Nate's scout pops in to pillage my quarry. He didn't poke too much other than this with it.



The Greek line.

I didn't take enough screenshots of the ensuing battle.

My archers opened with volleys against a hoplite and archer, spreading the damage out to keep them weak. If he wants to heal, he'll have to stand in place, whether fortifying or using a promotion.

My warrior to the south moves onto his salt mine, threatening a luxury, which incentives him not to heal up, and keep extended.

Archers to the west continue to advance, and I'm about to pop Iron Working with a mine already up and some cash on hand for upgrades.



He shifted his units southward, attacking my warrior to defend his salt. He also bombarded with the city, but the warrior survived.

The warrior gained a promotion from the attacks, and healed to full as a result.

I bombard his injured hoplite, and charge it with my northern warrior, gaining the flank with the one on the salt, and handily defeat it.

I also shoot arrows at his archer, beating it up pretty bad.



The siege of Corinth continues.

The bombardment continues for a couple of turns as I whittle down the walls.

I lose a warrior, but trade it for a warrior and an archer of Nate's.

An upgraded warrior becomes a swordsman, and escorts (the now pointless) battering ram.

At this point, Corinth is certain to fall, and Nate concedes.

I'm not sure what I would have done if we continued, but I likely would have pushed to take Pharsalos to utterly cripple him and secure the wide-open area of New France.

I also captured a worker!