I really worry that this is not the optimal way to go, but I don't have solid numbers to back it up and don't want to stall the game. I can probably play a test to 525BC tonight for a comparison. If y'all don't want to wait then let me try to tweak the plan a little:
Unless we think there's a highish probability of getting caught with a useless aqueduct in NY then going for the Hanging Gardens should be a good move. The 210-hammers-worth of whipping potential is only part of the gain--until we whip those bodies away they'll be productive members of society, paying taxes (commerce), farming (food), building cars (hammers), and filing patents (beakers). Put a 2-pop whip toward the aqueduct to speed things along--the sooner we get the HG the better (since there'll be a big break between our 7th and 8th cities).
Unless the timing doesn't work out, NY should build the workboat for Chicago (silver city). The former has good production while the latter is limited and should concentrate on infrastructure that can only be built in that city.
I would tend to build libraries before granaries unless the city has a lot of extra food to grow back very quickly. If we whip granaries, then we have to wait while the city builds (perhaps whips) a library to run scientists. If we build libraries first, we can immediately run scientists while slow-building granaries. The slow granaries are OK because the food bin will be slow to fill up because we're running sci's. Our near-term goal is to research Construction and HBR ASAP, so we should temporarily delay growth to get more beakers. Once we've got our techs in the bag, our granaries are done and we put the sci's back in the fields. And it's not just when we finish HBR that matters; earlier Construction means we can start building cats sooner.
I'd be much more confident in our war if we had at least a couple axes for defense, but I guess we'll have to wait until the next turnset to take the copper site.
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Clever about using the favorite civics info as clues to the AIs' real identities, kcd. Or are you saying, Chris, that it's not useful?
Edit: Read Chris's latest more carefully. I'm in favor of speeding up the copper settler. A boat from Atlanta is probably a good idea, but perhaps wait for a galley, since barbs will soon become a problem.