Okay, so here's the write-up (finally, i know, and out of order too)
Aztecs are polite; we are up HBR; their military is strong compared to us.
Iroquois are polite; we are up HBR and Writing; their military is the same size.
Inca is cautious; they are up Math and Map Making; their military outnumbers us.
Greece is cautious; we are up HBR and Writing; their military is the same size.
Turn 0 (1000 BC):
Bonampak, a pop 1 city, was on a settler? Settler -> Barracks, due in 10.
Change slider to 3/5/2 to get ppl happy in Chichen Itza. Literature still due in 2 turns; income moves up to 3gpt and start working that entertainer in CI. Pyramids now due in 9.
Change Quirigua from temple to Curragh. Need to get more contacts.
Tikal: Temple -> Granary. My reasoning is that expanding the cultural boundaries will not help Tikal's growth at all, while a granary will.
Yaxchilan: Spearman -> Granary. I want to turn this town into a worker factory.
Turn 1 (975 BC):
Ho-hum
IBT:
Discover Literacy. Begin Research on Philosophy, slider to 2/6/2, due in 7 with 2gpt for income. My goal is to turn us into a republic, if possible.
Turn 2 (950 BC): Incas won't trade Map Making or Mathematics for Literacy; Lit + Philo will budge them from one of those techs.
Turn 3 (925 BC): Workers connect road to Lagartero.
Incans have shopped MM and Math, so we can trade for them now:
Aztecs will go Lit + 146g for MM and Math OR Lit + HBR for MM, Math, and 46g
Greece will do HBR for Math + 66g OR Math for 177g
Inca will do Math + MM for Lit + 138g
The Iroquois have been left behind... so I choose to do business with the Aztecs
Establish an embassy with the Aztecs for 40g: Tenochtitlan is size 5 with 2 spearmen garrisoned. Will complete the Pyramids in 27 turns.
Embassy with the Iroquois for 34g: Salamanca is size 1 with 3 spearmen and a settler. Will complete Pyramids in 128 turns.
Embassy with the Inca for 38g: Cuzca is size 6 with 2 spearmen and will complete the Oracle in 19 turns. Iron is located near Cuzca but is not hooked up.
Embassy with Greece for 37g: Athens is size 3 with 2 hoplite defenders; will build the Colossus in 27 turns.
At end of turn we still have 83 gold and 3gpt income.
Since we will (almost assuredly) build The Pyramids first, I switch Yaxchilan from Granary to Javelin Thrower. Infrastructure not as important for this city since I plan to make it a worker/settler factory. Also I change Tikal from Granary to Library.
Dang it, learning MM switched our Curraughs to Galleys automatically... An extra billion turns until those come out now.
IBT:
Barbarian horseman rears it's ugly head in the south, near Lagartero.
Bonampak: Barracks -> Swordsman
Copan: Spearman -> Barracks
Yaxchilan: Javelin -> Catapult. Cats make good defense, believe it or not, and it also times well with the building of the Pyramids / growth of Yaxchilan.
Turn 4 (900 BC):
Newly formed Spearman from Copan moves along the road to Lagartero to protect the workers there. Those works move across the river to stay away from the barbarians.
Workers connect horses near Yaxchilan; Bonampak switches from Swordsman to Horseman.
IBT:
Barb horseman moves onto road to persue our unprotected workers.
Turn 5 (875 BC):
Warrior from Yaxchilan headed to Chichen Itza to serve as MP so I can free up Lux rate.
Slider to 3/5/2; Philo still in 4, income back up to 3gpt.
Turn 6 (850 BC):
Inca are now up both Philo and Construction.... so it looks like some trading happened without us, and probably with a civ we don't have contacts with.
We have Philo in 3 turns, but that won't be nearly worth as much. Inca wants 2gpt + 90g for Philo, and won't trade Construction.
Turn 7 (825 BC):
Slider to 4/4/2; Philo still in 2, income to 10gpt. At least the cost of Philo dropped enough for us to make some more money off of it...
Workers near Tikal (finally) clear that jungle and build a road to celebrate.
IBT:
Pyramids completed in Chichen Itza, and triggers our GA... Who wants to go to war? Or maybe some infrastructure is in order; I really am a builder at heart. Maybe we should try for a 20k cultural win, though it'd be a little difficult now.
Chichen Itza (20 shields per turn!) starts production on Barracks.
Our palace gets a new lawn.
Turn 8 (800 BC):
Yaxchilan switches from a catapult to barracks. Changing strategies yet again; I plan on whipping our military into shape with our early GA. Slider to 5/3/2, 18gpt, philo in 1.
IBT:
Philosophy learned; research switched to Code of Laws, due in 8 with slider at 1/7/2.
Turn 9 (775 BC):
Here I have been harping about not expanding, and I haven't even made a small effort to do so...
Greece is so backwards I trade the HBR for 66g; this gives us a bit of cash and still keeps them 3 techs behind. Tempted to sell Philo to the Aztecs for 84, but I may want to keep that as a trade chip a little later on.
IBT:
Chichen Itza: Barracks -> Mausoleum of Mausollos, due in 10. Say Hurrah for wonders.
Tikal: Library -> Barracks.
Aztecs are building Statue of Zeus.
Turn 10 (750 BC):
Twiddling of thumbs commenses.
IBT:
Yaxchilan: Barracks -> Settler.
Copan: Barracks -> Horseman.
Inca are buildilng Great Library.
Turn 11 (730 BC):
More twiddling.
IBT:
Bonampak: Horseman -> Horseman.
Turn 12 (710 BC):
Horseman from Bonampak moves north to explore
Turn 13 (690 BC):
Even more twiddling.
IBT:
Lagartero: Galley -> Worker.
Turn 14 (670 BC):
Twiddling is sure fun.
IBT:
Learn CoL, on to Currancy (due in 10).
Tikal: Barracks -> Settler.
Yaxchilan: Settler -> Worker. This city is a great 2-turn worker factory for the duration of the GA.
Turn 15 (650 BC):
Settler moves NE to found a new city.
IBT:
Copan: Horseman -> Horseman.
Turn 16 (630 BC):
Settler continues en route, galley sails to the southwest tip of the continent, and the horseman moves north of Cuzco along the coast.
IBT:
Yaxchilan: Worker -> Worker.
Bonampak: Horseman -> Horseman.
Turn 17 (610 BC):
Calakmul founded northeast of Yaxchilan, nestled at the foot of the mountain chain there. Begins production of Warrior, due in 5.
IBT:
Lagartero: Worker -> Courthouse.
Quirigua: Galley -> Courthouse.
Turn 18 (590 BC):
Galley sets sail north of Quirigua.
IBT:
Iroquois ask us politely to leave.
Galley in west attacked by barbarians. Wins but redlines.
Tikal: Settler -> Settler.
Yaxchilan: Worker -> Worker.
Americans(!) settle Houston to the west of our cities. The world must be filling up.
Turn 19 (570 BC):
Make contact with Lincoln. He is polite, about the same militarily, and way, way, behind in technology. But he does have Construction and 70g, which he parts with both for Literature and HBR.
Galley in the west spots red borders!
IBT:
Chichen Itza: Mausolem of Mausollos -> Library, due in 4. Slider changed to 2/7/1. Feel free to veto this, whoever is up next.
Turn 20 (550 BC):
Make contact with Germany. Germany is up Polytheism we are up Math, Philo, CoL, Lit, and MM. Trade Math and Lit for Poly + 53g.
Embassy with America: Washington D.C. is size 5, two garrisoned spearmen, and will finish The Oracle in 13 turns.
Embassy with Germany: Berlin is size 4, two garrisoned spearmen, and will finish Oracle in 20 turns.
Move settler from Tikal to its settle spot: target location is 1 tile N of the nearby spearman, 2 tiles west of its current location. Spearman is to be it's designated garrison.
Okay, so that's my 20. I think we'll be okay. I am fiddling with the idea of a 20k culture win, as I have never done that before, and Chichen Itza already has two wonders to its name (with about 5 left to build in the AA, so it can probably get at least one more especially with the GA). As for military, we are sound now. I built horsemen because we need military that can quickly move from one end of our empire to the other, depending on who attacks us: basically I was thinking defensively (and later on knights and then cavalry are the way to go). However, if another player wants to make an offensive against another civ in the AA / early MA then it would be better to do it with swordsmen / medieval infantry.
Sorry it took me so long to post this.