Since I just learned a few days ago, that one gets the marble wonder construction bonus right away (without having masonry) when settling on the resource I wanted to try that this game. I opened Tradition so I could make use of the combined wonder bonus from the marble and from aristocracy asap. However I believe Liberty would have been the better choice. Especially since my Collective Rule settler came out a few turns later and then had trouble to actually found a city. I wanted Pasargadae to be on the east of the mountain, so I could quickly steal the gems from the CS by buying a single tile (see the first picture (which is from a later point in the game already)). However when I came there a barbarian camp popped up next to that location (where I ended up settling!). First I brought in a scout, to cover the settler on the hill so he could just place the city next to the barbarians anyway; right in their face! ... I did exactly that... and then... I noticed that spot is too close to Belgrade
Well that sucked! Brought in a second scout (I think I went Monument-Scout-Scout btw) to take out that barbarian camp and settled where that used to be. I somehow still managed to grab the gems before Belgrade later, it was quite expensive though.
At something like turn 32 or 33 (not sure) Washington declared war on me. Seriously? I didn't do even settle anywhere close to him. I was so far away from his cities, that I considered it not to be much of a problem. Still started Archery tech just to be safe. Suddenly, a whole lot of warriors next to my city. The Archer didn't come quite in time, so he missed out on two shots. I nearly died by his warrior rush! Persepolis was damaged by more than 50% before I finally got enough warriors disposed. This was very close. If archery came one turn later (archer was rush bought then), I'd have been lost the game:
And what does one do after barely not succeeding in a solely offensive war with no way whatsoever of the defender to strike back? You offer peace and give him all your gold and luxuries
Just after that Lhasa wanted help against a barbarian camp in that desert north of my empire, so I went there and showed them barbarian. Luckily they even captured a Lhasa worker, which I returned to them. Friends forever. I was allied with them for the rest of the game without pushing a single coin over the table as they always wanted something (1x a great person, 1x a wonder build and 2 times a natural wonder discovered) - excellent!
Expansion time. Just next to Washington was a beautiful place with Ivory, 2 cattle, 1 sheep and a river - just next to a mountain - count me in! That city also completely walled the Americans off, they always were on the bottom of the scoreboard for the rest of them game - surprisingly he never attacked me again (only got 1 RA out of him though in total). My final 4th city also got a spot next to a mountain in the south for obvious reasons. Didn't make any screens from the midgame. It was overall very peaceful. Always expected Washington to strike again, never did. Always expected Askia to assault on me, he never did (well a few turns before I won, but that doesn't count). Proceeded to scout the continent, sell luxuries and sign RAs. Got a few cancelled (Elizabeth is so stupid... kept declaring war on me every few turns), but otherwise the Science Game was pretty successful. Except my first two RAs: They were a total failure as I mismanaged my techs and got only a mere 6 turns out of two RAs. That was so awful
Got a lot of wonders and started creating Great Scientists with universities in all cities. Unfortunately I progressed too fast in culture, which 'forced' me to use up two GS to bulb myself to the Observatory tech (Renaissance) which was necessary to dive into Rationalism for the RA bonus just before my next wave.
I often thought about taking Gao, however it was the right decision not to as he never attacked me and did sign quite a few RAs. The situation just before I finish the Apollo project:
Telegraph finishes in 4 turns. So does Oxford. 3 GS waiting. One more to pop before Apollo. For a long time I glanced at Washington and the juicy 8 aluminium next to his capital. Again it was the absolute right decision not to take it as that war (albeit easily won) would have cost me too much resources/time. Instead I settled a useless 5th city on the aluminium in the large desert between my capital and Lhasa (be careful when you do that in case you are building Oxford or another natural wonder at that time).
You see the coal? I bought it from Alexander (whom I just found around turn 200 lol). No coal anywhere close to my empire... really weird. Bought 2 Factories when I got it. He declared war on me before I could get 2 more factories though.
Wohoo... had to buy a mech infantry to fend him off. Other then that I've just build one artillery piece as England was a nuisance with her constant wars with longbows. And I still had 3 crossbowmen, upgraded from the early archers (not many promotions though).
Alex also brought a few friends to the party:
Good for me that Liz just signed a peace treaty (even though I build the Apollo project just before), so I didn't have to fight on both sides.
Sold all my lux (also unique copies, still didn't drop into unhappiness) and all my income for some cash. Just enough to buy 2 spaceship factories. I build the Luvre before to make sure I was in a golden age when I build the parts. Totally unplanned my cities happened to be able to produce the parts in a very nice manner:
Persepolis (SF): 6 turns for engine, 6 turns for stasis chamber
Pasargadae (SF): 6 turns for a booster, 6 turns for another booster
Ecbatana: 12 turns for the cockpit
Susa: ~11 turns for a booster (+1 turn to walk it into the capital)
= 12 turns to build all the parts. Nice.
Halfway through all the parts suddenly Askia thought I shouldn't win.
However I just rush-bought a rocket artillery piece from the leftover aluminum and managed to take Gao on the final turn (thanks to the goldened 4 movement of my mech infantry!), which boosted my base score from 937 to 1057, as he had 2 wonders there (great lighthouse and the colossus). Only then I added the last spaceship part