the two-city rule is definitely lifted if the tiles are on different land masses, i'm sure of that one.
here's my situation:
my people might be viewed as odd i suppose. they're in the future era but they can't hold a rifle. why? because i'm ethopia and i want to be able to build/draft oromos with free Drill 1/2 for as long as i can. nobody's even close to thinking about starting a war with me so i've delayed and delayed it. edit: actually, i just realized ... i can even still build macemen
now all i can research is mass media (hell no, we won't
go lose our lovely apostolic palace!), plastics, and rifling. going for plastics now, after that it's rifles i guess. computers will be an option after plastics but that's another big

, i'd lose AWat/UofS/Spiral.
as soon as i learn rifling, i'll be stuck with infantry, since i already know assembly line. byebye free drill promos, hello more pop dying in a draft.
why do i need free Drill 1/2 promos if i'm so sure i can control the bad guys diplomatically? it's a game, i don't have to be logical about it *giggle*.