http://www.civfanatics.net/methos/hof/staff/gauntlet.gifWhile the general Hall of Fame is an ongoing competition, we like to run time-definite competitions between updates that we call Gauntlets. Standard Hall of Fame rules (*) still apply, but any games meeting the settings will be counted towards the Gauntlet.

(*) Please read the >> HOF rules << (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/rules.php) BEFORE playing!


Settings:

Victory Condition: Cultural (though all victory conditions must be enabled)
Difficulty: Warlord
Starting Era: Ancient
Map Size: Standard
Map Type: Ice Age
Speed: Normal
Civ: Russia
Opponents: Any
Version: 1.74.002, 2.13.002 or 3.13.001
Date: 10th to 25th May 2008

Must not play as Inca.

The earliest finish date wins, with score as a tiebreaker.

I got a 1655AD finish - I lost some turns at the end by clicking "add to city" instead of "great wonder" :mad:. Nevertheless a nice game. My strategy was to get 3 good city spots by warrior rushing the nearest neighbors, capitals are always nice spots. I hit the 1st hut with my scout hoping to get a 2nd settler. It was archery, not was I supposed but I changed my strategy to archer-rush them. 2nd hut: AH - :) must not research it by myself and got horses in my BFC - should I chariot rush? - Hmm - No, archers is enough here. Meanwhile I had my 1st archer out and the 2nd in queue. 3rd hut: HBR :eek: - 2nd strategy change: horse-archer rush. With only 6 horse archers I conquered the whole continent, giving me 5 nice city spots. Then its onyl going for culture. I, as always, build too much infrastructure and perhaps are not very good in cottage spamming. But in the end it was an OK game. :cool:

1st attempt with Vanilla Cathy. Not completed, no way of a good date with that production. (we need some production for temples and cathedrals, right?)
Great start, but...
On an island with no stone, no marble, copper in tundra, scout almost useless.
Needed a workboat to make contact. The only good side was i circumnavigate with that.

It looks more like an archipelago than an ice age.
Should i try with low sea perhaps?

1st attempt with Vanilla Cathy. Not completed, no way of a good date with that production. (we need some production for temples and cathedrals, right?)
Great start, but...
On an island with no stone, no marble, copper in tundra, scout almost useless.
Needed a workboat to make contact. The only good side was i circumnavigate with that.

It looks more like an archipelago than an ice age.
Should i try with low sea perhaps?

My settings are/were: high-sea, wide-continents. Never got any vessels out (well ok - some workboats ;)). Sounds for me you don't use "MapFinder"? If not - give it a try :lol:

Anyone interested in a promising start? Here's the autolog up to 2000BC :cool:


New Log Entries
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turn 0/500 (4000 BC) [14-May-2008 11:00:20]
Moscow founded
Moscow begins: Worker (12 turns)
Research begun: Animal Husbandry (10 Turns)

Turn 1/500 (3960 BC) [14-May-2008 11:00:50]
Tech learned: Mysticism
Tribal village results: technology
Contact made: Malinese Empire

Turn 2/500 (3920 BC) [14-May-2008 11:01:13]

Turn 3/500 (3880 BC) [14-May-2008 11:01:18]

Turn 4/500 (3840 BC) [14-May-2008 11:01:23]
Moscow's borders expand

Turn 5/500 (3800 BC) [14-May-2008 11:01:26]

Turn 6/500 (3760 BC) [14-May-2008 11:01:32]
Tech learned: Bronze Working
Tribal village results: technology
Civics Change: HolyHandGrenade(Russia) from 'Tribalism' to 'Slavery'

Turn 7/500 (3720 BC) [14-May-2008 11:01:40]

Turn 8/500 (3680 BC) [14-May-2008 11:01:44]
Buddhism founded in a distant land

Turn 9/500 (3640 BC) [14-May-2008 11:01:50]
Contact made: Dutch Empire

Turn 10/500 (3600 BC) [14-May-2008 11:01:58]
Contact made: Carthaginian Empire
Tech learned: Animal Husbandry
Moscow finishes: Worker

Turn 11/500 (3560 BC) [14-May-2008 11:02:06]
Research begun: Archery (6 Turns)
Moscow begins: Worker (12 turns)

Turn 12/500 (3520 BC) [14-May-2008 11:02:43]

Turn 13/500 (3480 BC) [14-May-2008 11:02:50]

Turn 14/500 (3440 BC) [14-May-2008 11:02:55]

Turn 15/500 (3400 BC) [14-May-2008 11:03:02]
Contact made: Sumerian Empire
A Pasture was built near Moscow

Turn 16/500 (3360 BC) [14-May-2008 11:03:09]
Tech learned: Archery

Turn 17/500 (3320 BC) [14-May-2008 11:03:15]
Research begun: Horseback Riding (23 Turns)
Hinduism founded in a distant land

Turn 18/500 (3280 BC) [14-May-2008 11:03:22]
Tech learned: Horseback Riding
Tribal village results: technology
Research begun: Writing (11 Turns)
Moscow finishes: Worker
State Religion Change: Willem van Oranje(Netherlands) from 'no State Religion' to 'Hinduism'

Turn 19/500 (3240 BC) [14-May-2008 11:03:41]
Moscow begins: Warrior (3 turns)

Turn 20/500 (3200 BC) [14-May-2008 11:03:49]

Turn 21/500 (3160 BC) [14-May-2008 11:03:59]
A Pasture was built near Moscow
Moscow finishes: Warrior

Turn 22/500 (3120 BC) [14-May-2008 11:04:03]
Moscow begins: Warrior (3 turns)
Moscow begins: Horse Archer (10 turns)

Turn 23/500 (3080 BC) [14-May-2008 11:05:01]

Turn 24/500 (3040 BC) [14-May-2008 11:05:17]

Turn 25/500 (3000 BC) [14-May-2008 11:05:22]
Civics Change: Gilgamesh(Sumeria) from 'Tribalism' to 'Slavery'

Turn 26/500 (2960 BC) [14-May-2008 11:05:35]
A Camp was built near Moscow
Moscow grows: 2

Turn 27/500 (2920 BC) [14-May-2008 11:05:38]
Contact made: Incan Empire

Turn 28/500 (2880 BC) [14-May-2008 11:06:15]
Tech learned: Writing

Turn 29/500 (2840 BC) [14-May-2008 11:06:22]
Research begun: Alphabet (25 Turns)

Turn 30/500 (2800 BC) [14-May-2008 11:07:38]

Turn 31/500 (2760 BC) [14-May-2008 11:07:50]
Moscow finishes: Horse Archer

Turn 32/500 (2720 BC) [14-May-2008 11:08:05]
Moscow begins: Horse Archer (10 turns)
Moscow grows: 3

Turn 33/500 (2680 BC) [14-May-2008 11:08:35]

Turn 34/500 (2640 BC) [14-May-2008 11:09:10]

Turn 35/500 (2600 BC) [14-May-2008 11:09:31]
Moscow begins: Horse Archer (6 turns)
Moscow finishes: Horse Archer

Turn 36/500 (2560 BC) [14-May-2008 11:09:50]

Turn 37/500 (2520 BC) [14-May-2008 11:10:17]

Turn 38/500 (2480 BC) [14-May-2008 11:10:35]
HolyHandGrenade(Russia) declares war on Mansa Musa(Mali)
While attacking in the wild near Timbuktu, Horse Archer defeats (5.10/6): Malinese Warrior (Prob Victory: 96.5%)
Attitude Change: Mansa Musa(Mali) towards HolyHandGrenade(Russia), from 'Cautious' to 'Annoyed'

Turn 39/500 (2440 BC) [14-May-2008 11:11:12]
Horse Archer promoted: Flanking I
While attacking in Malinese territory at Timbuktu, Horse Archer defeats (5.52/6): Malinese Worker (Prob Victory: 96.5%)
While attacking in Malinese territory at Timbuktu, Horse Archer defeats (3.12/6): Malinese Warrior (Prob Victory: 90.9%)
Captured Timbuktu (Mansa Musa)
Malinese Empire has been eliminated
Timbuktu begins: Horse Archer (51 turns)

Turn 40/500 (2400 BC) [14-May-2008 11:19:57]
Horse Archer promoted: Flanking I
Moscow finishes: Horse Archer

Turn 41/500 (2360 BC) [14-May-2008 11:21:31]
Moscow begins: Horse Archer (6 turns)

Turn 42/500 (2320 BC) [14-May-2008 11:22:55]
Moscow grows: 3

Turn 43/500 (2280 BC) [14-May-2008 11:23:06]
A Mine was built near Moscow
Civics Change: Willem van Oranje(Netherlands) from 'Tribalism' to 'Slavery'

Turn 44/500 (2240 BC) [14-May-2008 11:23:57]

Turn 45/500 (2200 BC) [14-May-2008 11:25:16]
Moscow finishes: Horse Archer
Judaism founded in a distant land

Turn 46/500 (2160 BC) [14-May-2008 11:25:32]
Moscow begins: Library (10 turns)
A Pasture was built near Timbuktu
Civics Change: Hannibal(Carthage) from 'Paganism' to 'Organized Religion'

Turn 47/500 (2120 BC) [14-May-2008 11:26:21]
HolyHandGrenade(Russia) declares war on Willem van Oranje(Netherlands)
Timbuktu finishes: Horse Archer
State Religion Change: Hannibal(Carthage) from 'no State Religion' to 'Judaism'
Attitude Change: Hannibal(Carthage) towards Huayna Capac(Inca), from 'Pleased' to 'Cautious'
Attitude Change: Willem van Oranje(Netherlands) towards HolyHandGrenade(Russia), from 'Cautious' to 'Annoyed'
Attitude Change: Huayna Capac(Inca) towards Hannibal(Carthage), from 'Pleased' to 'Cautious'

Turn 48/500 (2080 BC) [14-May-2008 11:27:30]
Timbuktu begins: Library (18 turns)
While attacking in Dutch territory at Amsterdam, Horse Archer defeats (4.20/6): Dutch Warrior (Prob Victory: 95.4%)
While attacking in Dutch territory at Amsterdam, Horse Archer defeats (6.00/6): Dutch Warrior (Prob Victory: 98.7%)
Hinduism has spread: Amsterdam
Captured Amsterdam (Willem van Oranje)
Dutch Empire has been eliminated
Amsterdam begins: Library (91 turns)

Turn 49/500 (2040 BC) [14-May-2008 11:37:23]
Horse Archer promoted: Flanking I
Civics Change: Huayna Capac(Inca) from 'Tribalism' to 'Slavery'

Turn 50/500 (2000 BC) [14-May-2008 11:38:13]


This was a real gamble start. I started with worker,worker,warrior and then only horsearchers and teching to HBR. I got mysticism, bronze and HBR from huts, researching archery and AH by myself. It's now easy to take the whole continent and focus on culture. I don't need any other civs on my continent because I will out-tech them really fast.:crazyeye:

Thanks for your answer, HHG.
NO, i use mapfinder 1.7.1. I has problems with older versions, but this one is OK.
Anyway i has a fantastic start: 2 GL gems, 2 different seafood, hills, forests, and a nice gold + 2 sugar for the 2nd city.
The problem was that i was in an archipelago. I guess i was just unlucky with my settings, but i can try high sea instead of medium. Already set to wide continents.
I just finished an archipelago game, and it was less archi than this one.

Thanks for your answer, HHG.
NO, i use mapfinder 1.7.1. I has problems with older versions, but this one is OK.
Anyway i has a fantastic start: 2 GL gems, 2 different seafood, hills, forests, and a nice gold + 2 sugar for the 2nd city.
The problem was that i was in an archipelago. I guess i was just unlucky with my settings, but i can try high sea instead of medium. Already used wide continents.
I just finished an archipelago game, and it was less archi than this one.

What is your strategy to get the culture victory? I think ocean tiles are not the optimum for this. I focus on inland tiles - mainly grassland and floodplains to get as much cottages up as possible. And if you look at my previous post my focus is on conquering the neareast neighbors for their high qualitiy city spots. On "Warlord" you can easy make a warrior, archer or if you are lucky a horse archer rush. But if you are successful with your strategy please post it here (so I can learn from it - hehehehe)

HHG

HHG, usually my strategy for a cultural is to choose a religious leader, so i can jump between civics (US/repr or CS/slavery) at wish. And not forget the cheap temples.
Since Russia offers Cathy Fin/Cre in Vanilla or Peter Phi/Exp in any version or Stalin Agg/Ind in W or BtS, i prefer Cathy, or in case Peter.
Industriuos trait is useless for cathedrals.

And yes, usually i go for cottage spam, but with a financial leader and only 4 tiles of sea, despite being on coast, you can see Moscow is great, not to mention the 2 GL gems.

Anyway, cultural is not my preferred VC, SR or SC are my best (look at the HoF Tables).

At this level i usually go for a warrior rush for 1 and sometime 2 neighbors.
As i said, if i have no neighbors, who can i rush?
No, next game will be abandoned if i uncover a map like this. Pity for one of the best starts of my civ career.

At this level i usually go for a warrior rush for 1 and sometime 2 neighbors.
As i said, if i have no neighbors, who can i rush?This is really a good point - let me think about it :crazyeye:
No, next game will be abandoned if i uncover a map like this. Pity for one of the best starts of my civ career.Aaahh - we finally agreed :cool:

Good luck next time ...

HHG

Just managed to do my first Gminor :)

Poor game though, 1986 finish, had very few resources nearby and the map was awful and broken up.

Still happy though

I finally got a nice game. Settled on ivory and popped a worker from an adjacent hut. I got horses and gold in the BFC and I think Bronze from a hut too. I rushed the nearest neighbors with chariots and the others with horse-archers. The island was nice - only 2 opponents were missing. I kept frederick and roosevelt alive for trading. So at 1 AD I had 7 capital city sports :lol:. Religionwise I conquered bud. and jud. and developed conf. and tao. by myself. At least I founded 2 cities by myself to get the magic number for temples.

By trading and gifting with germans and americans I was able to develop really nice - but then the shock :eek: "1% from domination limit". So the only chance to get a culture victory was to grant cities to my neighbors (after all the cathedrals were build off course ;)). Freddy got "St. Petersburg" and I played 2 times ping-pong with cities who wanted to join my empire. Roosevelt got "Novgorod".

So at the end it was only a game of assigning artits and calculating how much food I have to survive the last rounds.

If anyone wants some more details, like build-order or research path - just ask

As soon as this game is published it can be access with http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/game_info.php?dsply=&entryID=12122

Well HHG, I never played a cultural game before (perhaps a few half attempts in Civ3) so I could use some guidelines.

I'm currently playing a game as Cathy (Philosophical Peter, might be better here, close call) and I've basically beelined writing, drama and music and used the GA to culture bomb 1 of my 3 culture cities. I built the Pyramids and the GW in said city and another city and I just started building the SoZ in the 3rd city (which I captured from Hathepsut, thank you very much for Stonehenge as well). It's 600BC and I'm now beelining CoL for Confusionism (I mean Confucianism). If I'm right I need 9 cities to build 3 temples of 3 religions, in order to build the +50% buildings. Sistine Chapel is on the way as well, then it's culture slider as high as I can afford together with Artists specialists.
How's that? :)

When I go for a cultural victory, I always settle great artists in the early game. They produce a lot more than 4,000 culture over the course of time, especially once a few cathedrials are built. I only use the culture bomb option in the late game if one of my three culture centers is lagging behind.

If you are playing BTS, don't forget that corporations are your friend. A combination of Sid Sushi and Creative Constructions really amps up the culture that a city produces. Found the HQ for both in your Wall Street city of course, and then make sure to spread it to wach of your cultural centers.

Well HHG, I never played a cultural game before (perhaps a few half attempts in Civ3) so I could use some guidelines.

I'm currently playing a game as Cathy (Philosophical Peter, might be better here, close call) and I've basically beelined writing, drama and music and used the GA to culture bomb 1 of my 3 culture cities. I built the Pyramids and the GW in said city and another city and I just started building the SoZ in the 3rd city (which I captured from Hathepsut, thank you very much for Stonehenge as well). It's 600BC and I'm now beelining CoL for Confusionism (I mean Confucianism). If I'm right I need 9 cities to build 3 temples of 3 religions, in order to build the +50% buildings. Sistine Chapel is on the way as well, then it's culture slider as high as I can afford together with Artists specialists.
How's that? :)

I am using mainly the very good strategies described in

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=138647

and

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=147012

What I adjusted is the start where I beeline to Horseback Riding and use some Horsearchers to get good city spots for cottage spaming. One main thing you should throw over board - building unneeded wonders! Normally I just build Parthenon for GPP, Mausoleum for 50% GoldenAge, TajMahal for GA and perhaps in secondary cities Sistine and StatueOfLib. National Wonders are NationEpic and Heremitage. That's it. But read the above articles where this is explained in more detail.

The autolog was too long to add here. But in short here is what I use as tech-path.

- beeline to Horseback Riding (no horses - next game)
- BW (switch to Slavery)
- beeline to Alphabet (trade what I can get afterwards)
- Medi, Poly, Priesthood
- Music
- CoL, Philosophy (switch to Caste and Pacifism)
- Nationalism,Education,PrintingPress, Constitution,Liberalism(Democracy) (switch to US and FS)

Good Luck!

Thanks HHG, I'll try a new game and see if I can make it work. :)

If you are playing BTS, don't forget that corporations are your friend. A combination of Sid Sushi and Creative Constructions really amps up the culture that a city produces. Found the HQ for both in your Wall Street city of course, and then make sure to spread it to wach of your cultural centers.Right, but if you arrive that late, it's a poor game.

Right, but if you arrive that late, it's a poor game.

I was able to beline for Sid Sushi after I finished Education and get it in the 1600s-1700s. My map was like an Ice Age Archapelago so I was getting about 30 or so culture (plus modifiers) per city even with a small empire. I was not able to get Creative Constructions before I won the game.

Just curious, because I forget. Does a wonder in a captured city start to produce culture again?

Just curious, because I forget. Does a wonder in a captured city start to produce culture again?As far as I know - NO. You just earn the benefit. So if you conquer Stonehenge you get no culture from itself but you get the benefit of a monument per city which gives you +1 culture.

a captured wonder never produces any culture, GPP but not culture
the monuments from stonehenge don't double their culture production at any point either

a captured wonder never produces any culture, GPP but not culture
the monuments from stonehenge don't double their culture production at any point eitherI never had the benefit of stonehenge for such a long time to get the double culture :D

He's referring to culture generated by the wonder itself, which does double after 1000yrs, even if it is already obsolete.

Yeah, that's why I usually build the monuments first in my first three cities.

I improved the strategey described above a little bit. Instead of an HorseArcher rush I now go for Chariot rush. And additionally I go for Pyramids as soon as possible so I haven't to research to Democracy. With this strategy I shaved 100 years :D

Tried it again and got a 1944 finish.

Im not last anymore :goodjob: (for the moment at least)

just wondering, what is the fastest date for this gaunlet so far

i got an 1880 finish, which isn't that great i guess, i doubt i will get enough time to try another game before the end of the weekend, i better remember to submit that game when i get home tonight...

just wondering, what is the fastest date for this gaunlet so farHmm - if I give my date now someone else will try to beat it. So I just say it's something with 14xx AD.:crazyeye:

First HoF/Gauntlet submission, ever. :)

Just managed an 1828 finish as Stalin, I built all the wonders available and founded religions 4-7. I know I can do better because I didn't realize date was the tiebreaker so I was teching like mad, hey, it's my first gauntlet thingy, so please don't laugh!

My Ice Age was a pangea.

===========

Also, I had one question, do you submit the Gauntlet entries any place different from the HoF? I couldn't find anything, please advise.

First HoF/Gauntlet submission, ever. :)

Just managed an 1828 finish as Stalin, I built all the wonders available and founded religions 4-7. I know I can do better because I didn't realize date was the tiebreaker so I was teching like mad, hey, it's my first gauntlet thingy, so please don't laugh!

My Ice Age was a pangea.

===========

Also, I had one question, do you submit the Gauntlet entries any place different from the HoF? I couldn't find anything, please advise.

Welcome to the gauntlets :cool:

To your question: You just submit as a normal HoF - it will be automatically detected as a Gauntlet.

I finishd in 1868 as Stalin. I know I can do better, but I heven't found the time to go back and play it through again. My Ice Age map was an Archipelago.

I just conquered to civs, beautiful capital cities and then decided that I may as well take out Vicky. I beelined Drama over my usual CoL and overRXed. My econ tanked and every unit was disbanded and I still lost like 10 gold a turn at 0%. IF not for a few failed wonder races and a GA, I never would have gotten out of it. :lol: I think I may have to switch it to Space race now. Back to the drawing board. :(

Oh, and was I was getting out in the clear a hurricane wiped out my capital's courthouse.....big setback!

First HoF/Gauntlet submission, ever. :)

Welcome to the HOF! :band:

Also, I had one question, do you submit the Gauntlet entries any place different from the HoF? I couldn't find anything, please advise.

Submit your game as you normally would any HOF game, by using this page (http://hof.civfanatics.net/civ4/user_submit.php). We'll take care of the rest.

I just conquered to civs, beautiful capital cities and then decided that I may as well take out Vicky. I beelined Drama over my usual CoL and overRXed. My econ tanked and every unit was disbanded and I still lost like 10 gold a turn at 0%. IF not for a few failed wonder races and a GA, I never would have gotten out of it. :lol: I think I may have to switch it to Space race now. Back to the drawing board. :(

Oh, and was I was getting out in the clear a hurricane wiped out my capital's courthouse.....big setback!

I think just playing peacefully should suffice, unless you rush someone very early (~2000BC) and that ai has a juicy and closeby capital. Also, you can pop workers and settlers from huts, which is a major plus.

I think just playing peacefully should suffice, unless you rush someone very early (~2000BC) and that ai has a juicy and closeby capital. Also, you can pop workers and settlers from huts, which is a major plus.With my strategy I try to get 3 other capitols through a chariot rush. Then you have 4 nice city spots for 3 legendary cities plus a GP-Farm.

With my strategy I try to get 3 other capitols through a chariot rush. Then you have 4 nice city spots for 3 legendary cities plus a GP-Farm.

Thats a good strategy, but that also depends how far the ai capitals are and the opportunity cost of not building something else. To me, this strategy has some risks but alot potentials. In my peaceful approach I only try to grab 6 cities and prepare building cathedrals from the start.

Thats a good strategy, but that also depends how far the ai capitals are and the opportunity cost of not building something else. To me, this strategy has some risks but alot potentials. In my peaceful approach I only try to grab 6 cities and prepare building cathedrals from the start.Sure, that's a risk, but this is a Minor Gauntlet. So my strategy starts with researching AH, and if I can't get Horses with my 1st town, I skip to the next map :blush: This may be wimpy but you want a good finishing date ...

I had to restart even after playing for some time with a really good start only because I had no marble in any city expansion. And without stone,marble,bronze it's nearly impossible to get a nice date

I'm not sure you need 4 great city sites, the GP farm should get the required culture on its own as it will have say parthenon, NE and maybe hermitage as well as running a lot of artist specialists. it seems a waste not to use all that culture.

though as your date is 3 to 4 hundred years faster than mine....

I agree about the culture resources though and taking out a nearby rival or two frees up lots of land, might grab a religion and will grab some useful cities

I'm not sure you need 4 great city sites, the GP farm should get the required culture on its own as it will have say parthenon, NE and maybe hermitage as well as running a lot of artist specialists. it seems a waste not to use all that culture.

though as your date is 3 to 4 hundred years faster than mine....

I agree about the culture resources though and taking out a nearby rival or two frees up lots of land, might grab a religion and will grab some useful cities
It may be enough, but if you intend to get as many artist specialist as possible, you have to farm this city for maximum food. So with 3 cottaged and one farmed city you will get your culture at maximum speed.

This Gauntlet is finished. Results:

1st HolyHandGrenade 1420 AD
2nd Kamino 1510 AD
3rd manic 1585 AD

Congratulations! :goodjob:

This Gauntlet is finished. Results:

1st HolyHandGrenade 1420 AD
2nd Kamino 1510 AD
3rd manic 1585 AD

Congratulations! :goodjob:Ahhhh, my 1st gauntlet victory. I loved the settings, the conditions and the difficulty level. I was able to concentrate on culture gathering. I had 1510 and 1520 results too. (and thanks to MapFinder for some really nice start positions :cool:)

Congrats, HHG! Do you think your pangaea-style map helped? In my only try I had a smallish land with just 3 AI, and after taking these out, I was alone until the very end when a couple caravels showed up. Thus, no free cash from selling tech, no way to run 100% culture for most of the late game.

I lost track of time, though my 1832 finish clearly wouldn't have made a big impact on the leaderboard!! Will have to start the next one sooner!

Congrats, HHG! Do you think your pangaea-style map helped? In my only try I had a smallish land with just 3 AI, and after taking these out, I was alone until the very end when a couple caravels showed up. Thus, no free cash from selling tech, no way to run 100% culture for most of the late game.Most of my tries I had 2 continents with 4 civs each. After I chariot-rushed my continents the science rate dropped to 50-60%. I cottaged all cities (tried to get 9 for optimum cathedral number) and build markets and courthouses in all no culture cities. With this method I get my finances up - even without foreign trade routes. In my 1st few tries I tried to research optics to get the trade routes, but this costs too much time. So finally I get the Pyramids to save research to democracy and get Nationalism through Liberalism. With US I bought all needed religious buildings and after that I go all culture. Here's my normal research path:

AH (no horses - next game)
Bronze - Writing - Alpha (trade whatever i can get, especially from 1st victim, or better 2nd victim because the 1st was gone at this point)
Mathematics - Currency - CoL - Literature - Drama
Music / Philosophy
beeline Education
Nationalism - Metal Casting - Machinery
Liberalism (Printing Press)
research stopped here (slider set to 0)

When Taj Mahal is ready I switch to US and FS a start buying religious buildings.

But back to your original question: If you stop conquering neighbors with your rolling chariots, you will definitely have a big benefit from the trade routes. The disadvantage with pangaea type is, that you have to protect your cities, you have to spread a major religion to the remaining civs and you have to be careful not to get a domination victory through the overwhelming culture expansion. The funny thing with having neighbors is, that as soon as a city revolts to your site, you get a nice defender for your old cities and you get a very nice relation boost by granting this city back to its previous owner, which you really should do to keep your finances in good shape and your landmass small.