I think I can make it work for me. I won’t be winning by the Modern Era, but that is okay.
As soon as I got one cap, two other civs DOW’d me. I lost the cap I took and one of my own cities (just for one turn, but it was still devastating). No amount reloading could save me this fate. I kept playing for long while, because it was fun, and got the caps of those two civs -- but it was getting into the 300's and I am sure the runaway will launch before to long, so I gave up and went back to my T23 to try Liberty.
Everything is primed for an attack on the weak neighbour. This map would definitely have been slightly stronger going Liberty instead of Honor IMO, but maybe that's because I'm still a better Liberty player?
I am totally new to 3-city Liberty. What is the advantage there? I feel like I can get 3 cities out with Tradition and Honor about as fast as I do with Liberty. I would like to understand more about what makes this map better for Liberty than Honor.
My Liberty run is going much better than my try with honor did. But does Liberty DV have even faster expectations for getting that first cap? I have fewer problems with gold, but also I did not forget about Calendar and someone other than my chosen first target got the Great Wall. Those two variables might be the real difference.
Update T130 Pause
I've still only taken the one capital, and the mid game would no doubt be a bit tricky, but I feel I've done enough to show the basics of the early game, and I'm eager to provide multiple examples of that here, rather than full LPs, at this stage.
Are you pretty confident that your DV is a forgone conclusion at T130? I agree with all your reasoning regarding gaming priorities. The first 150 turns is where I think I need to improve the most.
Except for Education, I feel like I am on the cusp of getting close enough to your goals for T50 and T100, and I can get a city or even two by T130, but I am not close to the cap at that point. One problem is going North, when I presume you went South? Are the goals for T50/T100 the same whether going Honor/Liberty/Tradition?