I am playing a game with a customized civ who has a rifleman UU. Currently, I am in the era of Swords and axes and have Alex to my north and Augustus to my west. North of Alex is Napoleon and to his east there sits Hammurabi and Sitting Bull. I have founded Christianity and plan on converting AC, as he has his praetorians online. I am at cautious with him now. Alex is annoyed with me, even though he has just converted to Christianity, because I decided to cancel deals with him at the request of Hammurabi, the confucian founder. Sitting Bull is Buddhist and Nappy has no religion. I am wondering if I should wait to take out AC until the age of rifles or try to get him now. Should Alex be target #1 because of his annoyance and that I won't have to convert his cities to my religion? Should I convert Nappy and make him my ally and then attack the other infidels? Just looking for some thoughts.

You've got some nearby civ's that are very formidable. Beyond that, there's a lot of unanswered variables to consider - I'm not sure what the state of your civ is in comparison to the other civ's nor what the game options you've got set up are. All things being equal however, I'd expect a difficult battle with both Alex and Augustus especially if they've got access to iron. If you're on good terms with Napolean, you may want try getting him to attack Alexander for you, and then you can join in and dogpile. Be wary of getting dogpiled though by both Alex and Augustus - at this stage of the game would probably be one of the more difficult early game obstacles that you'll ever have to overcome. You'll want to focus on diplomacy as well - religion can be an awesome diplomacy tool. Get some friends. If Augustus doesn't have a religion, he should be a priority to spread it to as you mentioned. He might be an awesome ally. Since Alex is already upset with you, you may want to consider attacking him first (if he is the biggest threat). Before you attack anyone though, try and use diplomacy to stir the pot and get some civ's mad at each other.

This is very general information though - you may want to be more specific about what game options you've chosen and the known civ's comparative strengths / weaknesses.

I wouldn't go after them needlessly just at the time of their UUs (if they have the resources for them, of course). It can surely be done, but it'll be costly. Play nice, convert them to / keep them Christian if you're it yourself, maybe get them to attack their other neighbours once they like you enough. Keep up in military so that they don't perceive you as weak. If you are determined to take them out sooner or later, I'd wait at least until you have Macemen.

I wouldn't go after them needlessly just at the time of their UUs (if they have the resources for them, of course). It can surely be done, but it'll be costly. Play nice, convert them to / keep them Christian if you're it yourself, maybe get them to attack their other neighbours once they like you enough. Keep up in military so that they don't perceive you as weak. If you are determined to take them out sooner or later, I'd wait at least until you have Macemen.

That's a good point too - wars shouldn't be fought for the sake of going to war. What's your gameplan? A diplomatic or cultural victory may be another option.

thanks for the ideas. I agree that I should wait until maces to attack at the earliest. I like the idea of bribing someone else to war with them. I want to take them out because I can see one of them being my biggest rival. I lead in score and AC is right behind me. My strength is at or near the top of the list. In spying on Alex, it looks like he might be beatable soon. Not as many units is his 2 biggest cities as I would have expected. Nap is the lowest on the score list. He got pretty crappy terrain for his land. AC is my biggest worry I think. I plan on converting him to my religion. He is Confucian at the moment, but since that founding city is so far away, it is not very prevalent and I am confident that I can convert him quickly. I plan on going after him around rifles, if at all. The custom civ I am playing has the same traits as AC, IND-IMP. I hope to build the AP and maybe go for a diplo win, since Alex is the only one who dislikes me. But I want to have a stranglehold on the most votes. It's a tactic that has worked well for me in the past.