(predator)
Going for a 20K victory.
What an interesting map! The crowded start and lack of bonus tiles made this map at emperor level feel tougher to me than GOTM37 felt at deity.
Opening Moves
I began by looking for more food. I moved the worker north and then the settler west. Next turn the settler and worker both moved west, still finding nothing. Next the settler moved north to leave the hilly region and saw the deer forest. I decided he'd settle there, waiting for border expansion to claim the deer. The worker went northwest to begin by mining the tile northeast of the city.
My worker mined the northeast grass, then roaded it, then moved NE to irrigate the plains (necessary to bring water to the deer), then moved to the deer forest, chopped it, and irrigated it.
In the meantime Vienna built warrior (3500), warrior (3300), granary (2750), settler (2510). A slow start.
Exploration and Contacts
A French warrior came near my capital in 3700BC before I'd even built my first warrior.
Next Russia wandered past in 3300BC.
Then Germany showed up in 3100BC. It was starting to feel like a very crowded world. Each rival had arrived near my capital from a different direction. It seemed that Austria was in a central position between a few other Civs.
In 3000BC one of my exploring warriors found the Ottomans. Before they found me for a change
In 2950BC a Roman passed the capital. Vienna was starting to feel like Grand Central station. At least there was little reason to be concerned about barbarians - any that popped up were likely to be smacked immediately by a visiting rival.
I thought that was it for local rivals but of course kept exploring. Not terribly well it turned out - a Spanish unit discovered my territory in 1475BC.
Five Civs who discovered me, one which I discovered. Feels like a record of some sort
I'd have liked to get some boats out exploring. But haven't built a single one by the end of Ancient Times. I have only two coastal cities so far and other needs have seemed more urgent - I haven't felt that I could afford to divert production to boats yet.
Expansion
The capital, with its granary, would need the irrigated deer only every other turn to grow every four turns. So my second city went north of the deer to share them. That city, Salzburg, built a worker and then a granary. It took a long time before that was running but eventually, in 1400BC, I had Vienna and Salzburg both growing every four turns.
I chose the hills NW of the gems for my third city. It would become my cultural center. That location had good production potential - 2 BGs, 2 hills, 4 mountains, and 5 forest tiles which might have BGs underneath.
The land quickly became crowded of course. I decided to push my neighbors' borders. I built cities near them on a few fronts and rushed culture, figuring I could at least keep even with their culture at emperor level and perhaps even push them.
When I entered the Middle Ages at 230BC my world looked like this:
Research
I began by researching Pottery at maximum to be sure I'd be able to build a granary.
After learning Pottery in 3200BC I ran at zero research for a while - I'd already met two rivals and expected to do some trading soon.
In 3000BC I already knew four rivals and was able to trade not only for Alphabet, but also for Ceremonial Burial, Bronze Working, and some gold. I then started research of Writing at the maximum rate.
I learned Writing in 1575BC. Russia learned it at the same time. The other Civs were progressing so quickly that it seemed pointless to try for a Republic slingshot. So I traded Writing to get Mathematics, Iron Working, Mysticism, and The Wheel, then set my research to Philosophy.
In 1250BC I learned Philosophy, took Code Of Laws as my free tech, and started researching Republic. I'd have preferred to hold back Philosophy but very much wanted gold. Extortion had depleted my treasury and I wanted to have enough funds to satisfy further demands if necessary. So I traded Philosophy for about 280g.
In 590BC I learned Republic and flipped to it immediately. I got a nice four turn anarchy.
In 510BC my first warrior (still exploring) saw a pack of barbarian horsemen. Clearly an uprising, and that meant that two or more of my rivals were in the Middle Ages.
In 430BC I learned Literature and flipped my prebuild to Great Library. It was near completion so I stopped researching.
In 250BC I completed the Great Library and in 230BC it gave me Currency, Monarchy, Construction, Feudalism, and Monotheism, bringing me into the Middle Ages.
Conflict
I don't know of any warfare so far in my world.
I've given in to a lot of extortion though: Germany, Ottomans, and Russia have each extorted gold once; Rome and Russia have each extorted tech once.
If ever I've been tempted to refuse early game extortion it was when Russia demanded Republic from me in 510BC. I really wanted to hold that back for a while, both to slow the AIs' progress and to keep it as a bargaining chip for later. But refusing them would have been silly I think - they'd almost certainly have declared and war would have been more expensive than giving up Republic.
Culture Squeezing
I've been pushing my settlements against the other Civs.
One reason is land. The start region is cramped. If I can push my neighbors culturally then I can gain a bit of land peacefully. Perhaps I can even convince some cities to flip to me.
A second reason is luxuries. By settling aggressively close to my rivals I gained gems early on, wines from Germany near the end of ancient times, and I'm still fighting with France for dyes. I had squeezed the dyes from her before I switched to Republic but during my anarchy France gained enough in the culture race to reclaim them. I expect to be pushing them back soon.
I haven't had a culture flip yet but remain hopeful. My culture is about 3 times that of Russia and Rome, 2 times that of France, even with Germany, and will be accelerating soon with the addition of libraries.
Going for 20K
Innsbruck, my third city, is my cultural center.
First it produced a temple with the assistance of three forestry operations.
Next it worked on a wonder prebuild. To keep its production up I had it use the remaining forests - I'd grow it by adding workers from other towns. It hasn't been producing at a very high rate yet though. I'm also trying for high score and the tough start has meant that workers have been in high demand throughout my lands. I haven't felt that I could afford to join many to Innsbruck yet.
I have completed the Great Library in 250BC. I expect that's the only ancient wonder I'll be getting. Still, it is an especially nice wonder for the 20K goal.
QSC Status
At 1000BC I had:
8 towns, 18 population
7 workers, 5 warriors
2 granaries, 2 temples
263g in treasury
I think that was the end of the Ancient age.
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