Any suggestions would be nice.
Turn the barbs off?
I got a decent starting spot, in the northeast corner of the map, with lots of grasslands and rivers, and several health boosters nearby. Figuring that top score will have more to do with population and land, I'm playing Washington, for his extra health and happiness bonus.
Sent out a couple of warriors to explore; after they'd popped the nearby huts,(couple of techs, settler, 3 workers) I set them to auto, so they could go forth and find the neighbors. Research was set to BW, then a couple of worker techs, then IW, then straight to Alphabet. Traded Fishing and Sailing for the four techs available. Built several cities in the meantime, then beelined to Theology. Converted to Christianity in 160BC, built the Church, and watched it spread like wildfire. By this time I had around 12 cities, running 3 west from the eastern map edge, and 4 south.
Set up a commerce city, 3 good production cities, and a couple of GP factories, then had the army of workers farm everything possible. Not much in the way of resources, so am glad for Washington's traits, every little bit helps. Cities are growing wild.
Research dropped as low as 20%, but quickly climbed back up to 60%, which was way more than enough to blow by the AI. I've basically ignored them, except Lizzie, who I kinda dig, she gets gifts of gold and extra wildlife. After learning how to sell techs, I pawned off a couple of low level ones for a pile of gold, which has allowed me to keep pumping out settlers, and expanding to the south.
The AI is just learning that wine is good for what ails ya, but has managed to build 4-6 cities each. The map is starting to fill up, particularly along my western border.
A cool thing about the GP maps; it's very easy to gauge how close you are to the Dom limit by the minimap. It's now 1200AD, and I've settled the entire eastern edge of the map, 24 cities total, putting me within a point of the Dom pop limit, and at 13% of the land, with score just under 40k. Research at 70% and making a bit of extra cash, with plenty in the bank. Have built a modest military, a few muskets and catapults.
Built all wonders except Temple of Artemis, which the Germans on my border were nice enough to do for me.
I'm gonna keep cranking research and building farms, until I get to Tanks. Then it'll be time to go forth and convert the Heathen, razing all but wonder and holy cities.
Except for Liz. I'm gonna give her a bunch of tanks and gold so she can join in the fun.
