The First Millenium - 4000 BC to 3000 BC

Welcome to the Songhai and their leader Askia. Our mission is to build an Empire to withstand the Test of Time. Located in the middle of the Sahara we value the resources available to us. Our initial location has Gems, Ivory and Spices as well as Wheat and WATER.

Gao is our Capital and we start producing a Monument for Cultural Expansion and a Scout next for large scale Exploration. Our first Technology Research Project is Pottery because of the ability to build Granaries and Shrines and it leads to Calendar.

There is an abundance of Ancient Ruins which give us (mostly) useful gifts. We also meet our neighbour Egypt.

The map shows us another Ancient Ruin which yields a population increase for Gao - excellent :)

I choose Liberty for my first Policy - good for Expansion!

We meet Arabia and Ethiopia - Hi, folks :)

As you can see our Warrior has been busy.....

We finish researching Pottery and move on to Animal Husbandry. It allows us to build Caravans which are essential for Trade.


I add Granary to the Production Queue. My 3 citizens are optimized for Growth and Gold.

We meet Dido of Carthage - we need to be friends with them because they have powerful early game combat units.

We make a trade deal with Ramesses of Egypt and meet Maria of Portugal. Finding Gibraltar gives us an extra Happiness Point.

We encounter a Barbarian Encampment and destroy it - it yields 225 Gold! One of the benefits of being the Songhai.

We find another Natural Wonder - there are two more to be discovered in Africa - and meet Byzantium.

We agree to become friends with Arabia and find another Natural Wonder, Mount Kilimanjara.

Another Social Policy, Republic, which slightly increases our productivity. We become friends with Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.

We have completed researching Animal Husbandry and choosing Mining next. The Gems need to be mined :)

We discover the final African Natural Wonder - now it's time to explore Europe and Asia.....we are now also friends with Theodora of Byzantium.

Next we deal with another Barbarian Encampment - we need the Gold :)

I purchase a Shrine in Gao and add a Worker to the Production Queue.

We meet the City State of Yerevan and greet Catherine of Russia.

Finally my statistics - nothing to write home about but we did start at Emperor-level giving the computer opponents a considerable advantage. My military is very weak but nobody has sufficient forces to threaten us at the moment.

That ends the first Millenium. Until soon :)