Hmmm... had some scary moments, but the terrain was very defensive.
Turns out bribing Ashur to make peace with Monaco early on with a whopping 16gpt was the right choice... Genghis took the CS to the southeast of Russia which earned him denouncements, which I was happy to join in and got friendship with both my neighbors. Had to block Monaco from being taken by the Mongols with my own slingers and units, putting me in the red with that CS for a long time.
Nonetheless had an ideal opening game with HUGE capitol size and production; delayed expanding until maybe Hagia or so, and chose not the best spots, but the most defensive ones.
btw, look at the runaway... size 21 at t80... with Petra, ToA, HG AND desert folklore... on desert terrain with oasis and desert hills... wow... He ended the game at size 46 and was very much the source of my headache the whole game.
On the other hand look at the civ that's usually the runaway, that failed to runaway this time and was a non-factor all game science or culture-wise. Size 10 at t110+.... And that, kids, is why you don't open liberty/honor mix and build Pyras and Zeus early if you want to win.
@t150... Sistine, Pisa, Oracle, Hagia and Boro... and about to get PT. Very much happy.
Scariest part of the game was around t210+ or so when Mongols got wiped out and I no longer had a patsy to redirect my neighbors' aggression (even though I had built them both landmarks... I was the lone Freedom.... again... seriously the devs need to adjust the flavor of AI to pick Order less and Freedom more... just to balance the trees a little bit because as it is Order is by far the easiest tree to play)...
Rome also picked this time to denounce me... and Cathy soon followed... When my friend Assur asked me to backstab Brazil (who denounced Rome after Rome denounced me and earned counter-denouncements from Rome's friends) with a denouncement... it was painful, but I had to say yes. Turned out to be correct.... Had some scary moments where I had to rush build military when my diplomat warned that Cathy launched an attack and I couldn't bribe her to attack anyone, but in the end it turned out everyone went for Brazil instead of me. Btw it seems the penalty for denouncing a friend does wear off with time, unlike DoWing a friend which seems to last forever.
Generally 555 tourism at t245 means the end of the game in a CV, but Rome was such a huge runaway I couldn't finish him off with bombs, so I had to wait... (and also for the diplomatic situations to improve a bit)... Scary part is Russia was going for the spaceship.
I hung on and once the denouncements expired, everyone was back to singing Kumbayah with me again... even Brazil who got so weakened by the wars he had to feign friendliness with me.
But eventually, after 6 GM (not atomic, although I'm sure most people would consider them a solution to a heavy runaway) bombs, Rome succumbed. Cathy had 5 SS parts up at the end of the game while Rome and Korea had 2-3 each. The AIs tech speeds were for the most part very fast compared to other games. All the civs at this point are in info era, even Assyria.
68k for Rome... and I was rather unlucky to miss out Uffizi to Rome, Globe and Louvre to Brazil, and didn't get any landmarks near the capitol... so my only theming wonder was Sistine, Hermitage, Oxford, and Museum. Even missed Sydney to Rome... Very lucky science-lover Russia took Great Firewall, which prevented Rome from getting it, ensuring with a victory (could've sniped it with a faith GE, but I decided the faith has to be spent on GMs to stand a chance) btw I built Forbidden Palace at t260-ish
no one liked Patronage.
Yes, that is a manufactory you're seeing (had a GE spawn late game with no wonders left)... a good chunk of my tourism is from foreign exchange students who come to my academies apparently. Did not bulb a single GS all this game.