I would like to try and get a peaceful CV under my belt.
@Asklepios, what level was that? Did you only found four cities, or did you need to go wide? You wrote that Tradition worked out, but would Liberty have been better?
Only Immortal.
My Deity wins are pretty much limited to my favourite civs, at present, and I'm not great at France.
I do like Liberty starts, but in the long run Tradition covers happiness a lot better when there's no intention to expand beyond 4 cities, and the free Aqueducts and culture buildings are nice, especially with the "nerf" making it very likely to be a free amphitheater. Bizarrely, for me it generally seems that Tradition -> Freedom is strong, while Liberty -> Order. I've played around with Autocracy, and even the funky Autocracy culture win approach which is potentially faster than Freedom, but I've found its generally a harder climb and more fragile.
As it turned out, the "waiting to win" period was a lot shorter than I thought, as once you're in a dominant position its a lot easier to grab the wonders and buildings that multiply tourism, and a handful of Great Musicians dealt the finishing blow to good old Egypt across the seas.
Also, of course, had to do the usual things of paying through the nose for Open Borders at the right stage of the game, paying close attention to the relative amounts of influence needed, and trying to time it out so pretty much every civ became influenced by me within the same 10 turn window
It was fun, and the doubling bonus does feel significant. The Chateaus were great for border expansion and keeping the policies rolling in, but ultimately it felt like there was a big opportunity cost from taking them, as I'd often have preferred a Farm or Trading Post for the indirect science bonuses of those.
Game ended in the modern era, shortly after Hotels became available. Never got as far as Airports or Internet, though I did build the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower with faith-bought GEs. Didn't actually faith buy much else, despite Aesthetics being finished. One Great Writer to get Oxford University sorted, and that was it. Coulda filled Broadway I guess, but instead used the free musician to influence-bomb Egypt. Actually, thinking on it, faithbuying more Great Musicians would likely have sped the game further.
Incidentally, I missed out on founding religion altogether this game. Stonehenge wasn't attainable, no faith-wonders were in sight, and I was too tall and thin to gather faith through massed faith buildings. As the first religion sprang up next door to me and included Cathedrals, I just said "ta very much" and let it run through.
