For a starting location, I chose the mountain observatory location. The initial game plan was either domination, or possibly diplomatic victory, because of the Bazaar. This was an obvious Petra location, so the initial tech plan was pottery, mining, animal husbandry, and then straight up to currency.
After discovering both Assyria and Shaka, I decided to settle away from Assyria and toward Shaka, although Uluru was tempting. The reason was to take out Shake early, but also to avoid Siege towers. I got Petra somewhere in the 70s, and then conquered Ulundi on Turn 80 with Chariot Archers. This produced some diplomatic hate from Assyria, which eventually faded, but a long-term issue with Persia. Fortunately, the other AIs were unmet, so no diplomatic penalties there. Initial social policies were Tradition.
Education was T115, so my tech rate was a little bit slow.
At Education, I decided it had been a LONG time since I went diplomatic victory, to the point where I was not even sure what the game mechanics were any longer. At first, I could not remember if you had to hard-build the UN in BNW or not. So, I needed to consult the Civilopedia. I also wanted to try out the mechanics of the Arsenal of Democracy social policy. The mid-game was mainly wonder building, to boost culture, so Sistine, Pisa, Forbidden Palace, Big Ben, Porcelain, and Eiffel. Gold was pretty high, so I purchased most of my science buildings. Mid-game social policies were Secularism, Philanthropy, Consulates, and Scholasticism. Used Oxford to bulb Plastics.
The game was an obvious victory after Shaka was de-fanged, so it was a wait until the real fun, Arsenal of Democracy. Ideology choice was freedom, all the way down to Treaty organization. A large Petra city with Statue of Liberty can build a lot of units, and the plan was to pump them out, gaining influence with city states in the process. Fortunately, Shaka re-built from the ashes and became all buddy-buddy with Darius. They both DOWed me around T200. The perfect opportunity, as I was just getting into the fun part of the Tech Tree, Rifles through Infantry. I gifted all the obsolete units I had in favor of the foreign legion via Volunteer Army.
The obsolete, but experienced units, produced minor results in the hands of city states (I had to assist them a bit), but rifles started to make a difference, and then full WWII Infantry propelled the city states into super power status. Like the AI, they are not particularly smart with units, but if you gave them melee units, they sort of knew what to do. The initial gifted units indicated that for whatever reason Kathmandu and Samarkand were truly aggressive, going way outside their borders to seek out Shaka, whereas Kuala Lumpur was a bit more cautious. So, it was decided, more gifts to Kathmandu and Samarkand
!
First Nobomba was conquered, and then Nongoma, Bulawayo, and finally Kwadukuza. Pretty good for a pair of city states. I was hoping one of them would actually keep these conquered cities as puppets, but they were all burned. Oh poor, poor Shaka
ultimately destroyed by the city states that he once pushed around.
I was cheerleading the whole time. There did not seem to be a diplomatic penalty for an allied city state conquering a city. After all, I might be laughing my ass off in Mecca while enjoying the show, but it wasnt me actually conquering the cities, or razing them to the ground. Or was it?
Next, it was time to have a little fun with Persia, while I waited for the World Leader vote. Sure, a de-fanged Shaka is one thing, but the 60-70 defense cities of points-leader Persia? That is asking a lot of a city state. To my surprise, Kathmandu and Samarkand tag-teamed Assur, which Persia had previously captured from Assyria (I might have played a small, indirect part in that).
Since this was a former capital, Samarkand could not burn it down and made a puppet instead, giving me the luxury resources. Oddly, when I checked the victory progress screen, it reported that Assyria had not built a Capital city. Huh?
By this point, I was gifting land ships, artillery, and bombers. As the game ended, both city states were aggressively seeking out more conquest and glory, in the rich lands of Persia. These two were kicking butt. Points leader, huh? Then how come Persia was offering me crazy peace deals to get Samarkand back on its leash?
I got a religion at some point and picked Tithe, but for some unknown reason, I never actually enhanced it. The Arsenal policy was a lot of fun, in a spectator mode sort of way. I had scouts in the vicinity to see all the action, so that I could see all the blunders and triumphs of my city states. The units would have done a lot better in human hands, but that would have created diplomatic penalties and associated maintenance costs. Plus, not nearly as fun.