1.27
Link to Ancient Age spoiler
I entered the Middle Ages in 550BC. I'd settled most of the home continent, had not yet attacked Greece or Babylon.
The Far Continent
As soon as I learned Map Making in 1600BC I started sending out suicide galleys. After losing four I made contact with the other continent in 900BC. I immediately traded for their maps, gold, and for Mathematics.
A few turns later I traded my knowledge of Republic to instigate warfare on the distant continent. I declared on Iroquois and allied Vikings and Egypt against them. I declared on Japan and allied Aztecs against them. From this time onward I maintained strife for all the Civs on that continent. When a Civ there became peaceful with everyone (this only happened a couple of times) I bought a new alliance to get them fighting again. I wanted all Civs on that continent to be constantly at war to keep them weak and to slow their research pace. It also seemed good to trigger many of their Golden Ages as early as possible and before I visited them.
Research
As soon as I entered the Middle Ages I gifted Greece and Babylon forward. They both got Feudalism as their free tech. I traded Republic to Greece to get Feudalism and so that she'd revolt and not be able to pop rush.
I planned for a conquest or domination victory using Riders. It did not seem that researching to Military Tradition for Cavalry would be worthwhile.
First I researched Monotheism (350BC) and then Chivalry (250BC.)
Then while taking over the Greece/Babylon continent I continued research so that I could sail safely to the distant continent. I learned Theology in 110BC, Education in 30BC, Astronomy in 50AD, and Navigation in 130AD.
I also traded with Egypt for Engineering in 110BC and for Invention in 190AD.
And that was it for tech. I didn't learn anything else nor did any of my rivals.
Greece
Getting horses was a high priority of course. Riders are an awesome UU. I didn't expect to need anything else in this game except whatever was needed to take horses from Greece.
Since I'd gotten Feudalism through trading I delayed my invasion by one turn to upgrade 10 Swordsmen to MIs. Then in 530BC I invaded Greece.
The invasion of Greece was surprisingly easy. I took control of her horses in 470BC. My Medieval Infantries carried on supplemented by a few more from home. In 370BC I gave Greece peace for three of her remaining four towns:
Babylon
After taking most of Greece I was peaceful while learning Chivalry. I completed my Forbidden Palace in Tsingtao (two tiles south of Beijing), built a bit more infrastructure, and prebuilt a few Horsemen.
In 190BC I had 6 Riders, attacked Babylon, and began my Golden Age.
From this time to the end of the game I focused on military production. A few towns built aqueducts, harbors, and marketplaces where these things seemed especially useful. And in a couple of cases I rushed temples for expansion. But the majority of my production was devoted to military for the rest of the game.
My first great leader didn't appear until 10AD. I used him immediately to rush Sun Tzu's and then got a second great leader in the same turn! I saved that leader for Leonardo's (didn't have Invention yet.)
When my peace with Greece expired in 30AD I declared and attacked, then eliminated her in 50AD.
It wasn't until 170AD that I finally eliminated Babylon. I'd taken the Great Lighthouse and Hanging Gardens from her, nice bonuses. At this point my forces had grown to 24 Riders.
In 190AD I was able to trade for Invention and rushed Leonardo's. From that time on I built Horsemen instead of Riders, connecting a source of iron at the start of each turn, upgrading the Horsemen, and then disconnecting the iron.
After finishing off Babylon I paused for a moment to group my forces in a new town in the center of that region and jumped the Palace there in 210AD.
The Third Continent
Toward the end of my invasion of Babylon I began rushing caravels on the west coast of the home continent and on the west coast of Babylon.
And after finishing off Babylon I started accumulating newly produced Riders on the west coast of the home region. Until then new units had been making the short trip to Greece and then traveling south to assist in the war on Babylon.
My troops went over in small groups, accompanied by some settlers who could establish safe coastal towns with harbors to connect luxuries.
In 260AD my first forces arrived. I was already at war with Iroquois and Aztecs. (I'd stayed at war with Iroquois since declaring on them long ago; over time I'd flipped to peace with Japan and war with Aztecs in the southern region.)
In 260AD ten Riders landed on the Iroquois coast and twelve Riders on the Aztec coast. I was up to 43 Riders in total - the rest were already sailing, split roughly half and half in the north and south.
The invasion was very fast. Here's how things looked at the end of 270AD, i.e. at the end of my first turn attacking. Landing additional troops in captured coastal towns enhanced what my troops could accomplish in the first turn:
The main thing that slowed me down after this was the need to heal troops outside towns. Aztec culture was nearly as high as my culture and I didn't want to risk leaving units in their towns.
It was nice to get additional luxuries. By 290AD I'd already gained and connected two.
In 310AD I eliminated Iroquois. My forces were growing rapidly, 64 Riders at this point.
In 320AD I declared on the Vikings and my northern troops attacked them.
I got two more leaders during my invasion but there was little for them to do. One rushed Copernicus' and the other rushed Magellan's in towns where cultural expansion would be useful.
In 350AD I connected a captured source of silks and was finally up to eight luxuries.
In 360AD I declared on Japan and began attacking her towns. She was weak but hard to get at in some jungle locations.
In 370AD I eliminated the Vikings. At this point I was up to 90 Riders and decided to stop producing them - I wasn't sure even all the ones in transit to the third continent would see action.
Up to this point I hadn't decided whether my goal would be conquest or domination. I'd been leaning toward conquest since the invasion of the third continent was "tidy" - no offshore islands and I had forces converging from north and south toward the center, an efficient approach for completing a conquest. But roads were pitiful in some areas, slowing conquest a bit. And I'd done well in expanding to fill captured lands so far. I figured I could reach domination at least a few turns before conquest. I decided that's what I'd go for.
I started using all gold (I'd already started using some before this) to rush settlers in the larger captured towns.
It didn't take long to reach domination. 57.1% in 400AD. In 410AD my last alliance with Egypt expired and I declared on her. My holdings increased rapidly. 63.3% in 410AD, 68.1% in 420AD, and a domination victory in 430AD