Update: T110, I've taken two more of Monte's cities, but I have no happiness so I had to sell them both to Genghis. (He was the weakest AI player)
I've got Civil Service and I've got Impi now, with Machinery only a few turns away, but Egypt surprise attacked my flank (by sea!) while I was dealing with Monte. I can fight him off, because he only brought like 3 units, but it's indicative of the problem. Every AI hates me (red text) for not moving away from Monte's borders like I promised that one time. I'm pretty sure that this one mistake has cost me the game. I'm not going to keep playing this one out.
I will say though, this is a particularly tough start position. With no trading partners unless you get lucky, and Monte cutting you off from habitable city spots, this map is rough. (My scout somehow survived running through enemy territory during war, or I wouldn't have met anyone at all)
Honestly though, I think the only reason I struggled is that not *one* of the 8, count them, 8 ruins I found had culture. Getting a free settler many turns earlier is *huge*. Without a ruin, you're at 1cpt until you build a monument, and then you're at three. I build after 2 scouts, so I finished the momument around turn 16, and opened Liberty at turn 20. 30pts at 4/turn = t28 for the next one. 60pts at 4/turn = turn 44 for the next one. Whereas, if you find a culture ruin by turn 5, it shaves *15* turns off getting that free settler, which changes the game. I know I shouldn't rely on it, but there's a reason I get two scouts, and that's part of it!
Anyway, it would have allowed me to get a third city to block Monte on his side of the mountains, and a fourth one to snag KSM + another lux before the CS expanded to take it. That would have made attacking him much easier.
Of course, I could have gotten a monument 4 turns earlier, but as I said, I built a second scout before the monument. (And always do on Pangaea unless I'm on a narrow peninsula)
I also wasted time building a shrine and granary when I should have been building archers, so I had to delay my attack on Monte until I had Construction. I didn't really need the Granary (no wheat) and I wasn't close enough to the wine to benefit from a pantheon really. (And the quarry one was taken)
Anyway. This map is winnable. I shouldn't have sued for peace with Monte. That hurt my reputation because I had to re-DoW. You can and should be able to steamroll him, and with no other neighbors until you steamroll Genghis Khan, it's conceivable to get no DoW penalty for either of them. :-D