After Democracy, I researched Corporation for more money. Kish, my cultural blackhole on Malinese frontiers, started paying up:
I kept the city.
I finally got my Great Prophet in Eridu and used him to build the Jewish Shrine.
Techpath went Chemistry > Steel to open up the line to Combustion for Creative Constructions and have some cannons just in case, Churchill still being around and annoyed. I got a Great Engineer in Nibru, and saved him for Creative Constructions.
Then I researched Scientific Method, because Mansa was beelining for it and I didn't see any reason to let him have the free GPs. Seeing it would take him a long time to get Physics, I went Steam Power to get closer from Combustion.
Churchill then declared war again. He sent a weak stack by land to my northeastern city:
I sent some riflemen to stop them before they could pillage my towns, and gained a GG in the battle, which I saved to unlock HE and WP later. I began to research Military Tradition, and Churchill made peace, just before accepting Zara as a vassal and joining him in his war against Sury and Toku.
I finished MT and went Railroad. Djenne revolted and joined my illustrious empire, giving me Mansa's second holy city (no shrines, tough). After RR I went Combustion, but had to switch temporary to get Physics first before Huayna Capac (Mansa went Cultural for a while, probably trying to save some of his cities from my pressure), and finished building the Statue of Liberty in Nibru. Once Combustion discovered, I founded Creative Constructions in Eridu, my holy city where I did build Wall Street, and researched Assembly Line to have factories and infantry.
I got the event that lowers inflation, and began researching Electricity, Huayna Capac beelining it. Him being Industrious, I couldn't allow him to get it first even with my factories up and running, he could have built Broadway before me.
The AP gave me the choice to assign Timbuktu or Kumbi Saleh to me. I tried Timbuktu, I had enough voices to vote it by myself, but Mansa kept defying the resolution.
Once Electricity discovered I diverted to go Communism and get the GS to use him for a later Golden Age, and then researched Biology to fight the unhealthiness from factories and coal plants, several of my cities beginning to starve.
Much not to my surprise, that lone peak near my only oil well turned out to be a volcano. Nobody ever expected that, I'm sure. It's not like the lone peak near your only well is ALWAYS a freaking volcano !
So, no oil for a while, and more importantly it blew up my towns near Eridu, slowing down my commerce and thus my culture in this city, which was already the lowest of the three I was planning to use for a Cultural Victory. Well, too bad.
I searched Medecine to get Sushi and go Environmentalism to get rid of unhealthiness problems once and for all. My economy was strong enough to support the increased maintenance of the corps.
I finished Broadway in my capital, and used a Great Spy, a Great Artist and a Great Merchant to trigger a Golden Age. I switched to Emancipation and Environmentalism, and built Sid's Sushi in Eridu with a second Merchant I've been saving for ages.
I researched Radio and finished building the Pentagon and the Kremlin in my city north of Kish, that turned to be the most productive with a Levee. I then began to research Mass Media while building Rock'n'Roll in Kish and the Cristo Redemptor in Uruk.
Timbuktu finally suffered its ignominious but inescapable fate, and surrendered to my cultural might:
Note that the culture slider is still on 0, I never raised it. The two corps were giving me something around +50 culture at that point, and Kish had also 3 world wonders with +10, the Forbidden Palace and the Hermitage, so its culture was around +200 per turn with the monasteries, temples and stuff.
Four turns later, Kumbi Saleh decided to join my empire too, but I just disbanded it, not having anything to gain if I kept it. Timbuktu brought me every seafood south of the coast already, boosting Sushi.
After Mass Media I started building Hollywood in Eridu, giving each of my three top cultural cities a +50% wonder and a Jewish Academy for another +50%. I researched Industrialism, and noted a distinct lack of aluminium popping around. No pop at all ? Where's the aluminium ? I need it for Creative Constructions, and for some serious weaponry ! I looked around, and saw the only spot on the landmass, which was unsettled yet, saving me the trouble of DoWing on a friendly AI :
I rushed a settler and settled it, and deployed Creative Constructions in the city to make sure the aluminium would stay mine. I was searching Flight, to open Rocketry and have some fighters, airships being all around and sniffing my frontiers.
I finished Hollywood and got a Great Artist in Kish, which I used to found Civilized Jewelers. Culture bombing in Eridu would probably have been more efficient, but it's not everyday you can build the 3 cultural corps while going for a cultural victory.
From this point I switched to Universal Suffrage, built Culture in my 3 cities, and I just waited for the victory. I never raised the slider, staying full science until the end. Raising the culture slider wouldn't have changed much, not enough cottages around these cities. At best I would have gained 10 turns while stopping my research.
Techpath went Refrigeration > Plastics (to get the sea oil, the volcano blowing my well again and again) > Fascism (for the free GG I settled in my HE/WP city and who allowed me to pump Garnison III Drill II mech infantry later) > Computers > Robotics (Yay, Mech Inf !) > Ecology > Superconductors > Satellites.
I built the UN, Huayna Capac was elected and tried to get a diplo victory, but we were the only ones voting for ourselves, so that never succeeded. He finally gave up and passed some classic resolutions, Emancipation for everyone and Free Markets. I also built the Eiffel Tower (I already had broadcast towers in the 3 cities, not wanting to wait for it), The 3 Gorges Dam and the Internet, mainly because I could.
I flipped some others cities, Gaul north of my aluminium city, Awdaghost south-west of Walata which I didn't keep but disbanding it gave me access to two spots of silver, and Nagara Jayasri, a Khmer city (bet you wouldn't have guessed), south-east of Eridu.
I got 3 more Great Prophets (goddamn Angkor Wat), I used one to trigger a 4 GP Golden Age, and the two others to build the Confucianist and the Taoist Shrines. Once I saw that my next GP wouldn't come before the victory, I switched to Theocracy to get more powerful units. My coastal cities were pumping destroyers and battleships, while my HE/WP city was pumping 13 xp city defenders.
Kish turned Legendary in 1828 AD, Uruk in 1851 and Eridu in 1869, at turn 888. Game over, I won.
The info:
The situation:
+ 95
from the corps.
The score:
So, what did I learn ?
First, I should have paid more attention to the settings. I usually play Noble/prince, true, but on large maps with standard sea level, meaning more AIs and less land for each opponent. Standard size and low sea level made the game really easier, I could probably have gone Monarch and won. Lower sea level doesn't seem to do any good to the AIs: Huayna Capac and Zara Yaqob usually do way better, even on Noble.
On Gilgamesh: despite lacking any trait for it, he's a good leader for early REXing. Early Ziggurats help sustain an empire, while Vultures are basically earlier Swordmen and allow a rush from Bronze Working. Creative help securing resources and Protective helps securing the cities.
On Cultural Victory: contrary to what I was thinking, you don't need to kill your research to pull one. Having a tech lead early is crucial to get the wonders, and later on the corps help a lot, if you're first to get the techs to found them, and can manage to get the good type of GP. I should probably have paid more attention to the number of cottages around my cities, I would have chosen Ur and Nibru for the win instead of Kish and Eridu who had more culture at the moment. It probably would have given me an earlier victory if I had upped the culture slider. Not sure tough, since Kish had really a lead thanks to the world wonders and the Hermitage. Eridu did suck, anyway, and the volcano blowing towns all around didn't help.
On GP: Representation/Caste System/Pacifism + Parthenon is a killer combo to get GP all over the place. I've been able to trigger 4 Golden Ages, build 3 shrines, found 3 corps, rush the Sistine Chapel, bulb Education, build an Academy, settle a Great Spy, a Great Scientist or two, 2 Great Artists... That's around 24 GP, without the Philosophical Trait.
On settled Great Spy: well, I knew it already, but it's probably good to emphatize it. Settling my first Great Spy allowed me to steal Theology, Philosophy, Nationalism and Astronomy. That's quite cost-effective for a single GP.
On vassals: if you don't need them, if it doesn't bring you anything, don't take vassals just because you can. Sure, it looks good on the resume, but that's just more maintenance and diplomatic trouble for nothing.
I guess that's all folks. Feel free to criticize the game. I enjoyed playing it, it was a real "builder game", and cultural victory is quite rare in my book, I think that's only the third one I get since Vanilla was shipped.