1.18 Paragon/normal UHV Strategies

[Tao paï paï]

Rome

UHV1 : Control eight Barracks, six Aqueducts, five Arenas and four Forums by 50 BC
UHV2 : Control two cities in Iberia, three cities in Gaul, a city in Britain, three cities in Africa, four cities in Anatolia, three cities in Egypt and two cities in the Levant in 100 AD
UHV3 : Be the first to discover Architecture, Politics, Scholarship, Machinery, and Civil Service

It's now a crazy experience with this new bigger map, a lot of fun and a real challenge to beat the monsters China and India on needed techs. Hopefully you have some insane modifiers too so with a bit of luck and the right tech path it's doable. And a paradoxal adavantage of the higest difficulty : you will conquer a world very advanced with improvements, almost full infrastructures and great wonders everywhere around med.

Cities : Rome, Mediolanum wich flip, Padua 1N of the Venice marsh. For the fourth city, if Greece built Messana, found Neapolis 1W of the wine, if not, found Rhegium on the extreme south of your core. Keep the settler that last in Rome. I used advanced start to get library + temple in Rome and a libray in Mediolanum to get 2 free scientists from Republic as soon as the beginning. I used the rest for the wheat farm next to Mediolanum. Core cities build libraries and growth buildings, it's important to always build infrastructure that is already present in Rome. Rome builds Granary (take advantage of the Redistribution bonus) -> barracks -> harbor -> forum > arena/aqueduct. Conquered cities build library and forum in priority.
Civics : Deification, Republic (you need this cottage-hamlet bonus and these specialists) Slavery and redistribution. When Currency is discovered, switch to MT and new Manorialism to get your core improved ASAP. Then Citizenship and Hegemony are possible, but it's not an obligation, turns are very precious in the final rush and change two civics cost 2 turns at the end of the classical era for Rome.
Techs : Currency, then engineering. It's very important to get shipbuilding when you sign peace with Greece or Carthage. Next go for scholarship, your first GP has to be a GS or a GProphet to bulb Philosophy or Law, otherwise China will beat you. Then Politics, Machinery and finally Civil service.

Conquest : Contrary as in 1.17, you shall not delay your conquest and do it as quickly as you can (except France) : your spawn is later, it means that the cities you'll conquer will be fully developed and worth the maintenance cost, beside you have MT soon and very good modifiers. Also Egypt is a way too strong competitor to let it live too long.

1) Carthage is a tempting target but you need to go immediately to Greece, on my first attempt when I started by attacking Carthage, they discovered Architecture 7 turns after my spawn. Ignore Messana and capture their core to make them collapsed (make peace just after to earn some cash and maybe shipbuilding), 2 legions lost is the maximum you can afford. Athenes was a great city where I built Archer, barracks and then 4-5 Legions.
2) Don't wait for your legion to heal, ship them immediately and on the way to Carthage, put your galley in a "Rise of" zone, it will heals them almost directly. I conquered Messana, next three cities in Carthage where I captured a total of 4 workers, immediatly sent to Italy.
3) After Carthage, I had 3 Legions left, I shipped them to Egypt, taking a Legion from Athenes (where I settled my first GG) on the path. Egypt was very strong, with a bunch of horsemen + Flavian Amphitheatre, but I finally crushed them and took the 3 cities with some reinforcements from Athenes.
4) Next, while my healed Legions in Egypt rushed Jerusalem and Sur, other Legions from Athenes took an old Greek city and the independent city in Anatolia (really hard to take, on hill with around 8 defenders). My eastern conquest was achieved in 50 BC.
5) Some legions built in Rome and Mediolanum conquered the 3 Celts cities and the war part was completly done. At the end I didn't build any Ballista, Legions are strong enough.

UHV1 : Buildings that you want asap in all your cities for a great economy and specialists, I pratically achieved this one without even look at it, just be careful to the barracks.
UHV2 : I used the saved intial settler to build Byzantium as the fourth city in Anatolia/Greece. I Built 2 spearmen to defend against barbarians in north Africa. Next the classic galley with settler to England and 2 settlers to Iberia. I was spamming Horesemen to defend against barbarians in Europe but no one spawned before the 100 AD deadline.
UHV3 : The VERY tricky part. You will logically run the maximum of scientists, so I got only GS, wich is not so good because once you have researched scolarship you are blocked for bulbing until Machinery. So I used one for an academy in the Great Library city and saved one to bulb machinery when I could, it was a good bet : India got it at the same turn as me. The path research of China seems to be the same as in 1.17 : Scolarship -> Politics -> Architecture, so you need to search in this order. I finally got CS in 90 AD, one turn before the UHV2 deadline, while my cities were building wealth at the end.

Stabilty never was an issue, strong core cities, 14 size Rome and only historical expansion with great economy.

Fun facts :
- I controled every last of classical wonders, without building any of them, and even without have the possibilty to build them (already built when I discovered the associated tech).
- Considering this fact, it seems impossible for Rome to avoid a pagan religious victory, except if you don't build OT. Because of it, I didn't get the victory screen for the UHV

 

[Tao paï paï]

Persia

UHV1 : Build a Road connection from Persepolis to Anatolia by 500 BC
UHV2 : Control ten wonders by 300 BC
UHV3 : Control 35% of the world's population by 300 BC

A very short game now (47 turns on normal speed) but an easier challenge than on 1.17.

Cities : Your 3 core cities are already built when you start. I used advanced start to build farms around Shushan, camp + wheat farm around 3rd core city, and a barrack in Shushan. Then focus on granary, weaver if happiness is needed, barracks and finally spam Immortal. Capital build granary then Apadana palace and Mausoleum. Conquered cities with decent prod build barracks and then unlimited Immortals, just don't forget to build the UB when cement is discovered to maximize population. Starting workers improve quickly the iron and the ressources around core cities, captured workers focus on the road for UHV1, farms on plains (you can let the cottages already built on flood plains to keep your economy alive).
Civics : Slavery, monarchy, clergy, redistribution. Switch to manorialism when you captured enough workers.
Techs : Cement for UB. After, set tech to 0 until you are positive on gold. The other techs you'll get will be bulbed, happily I got a GE and bulbed engineering which is clearly the most important tech you want for the movement bonus, mostly on normal speed.

Conquest :
1) My starting army went for the two Babylonian cities, but suffered huge losses. With reinforcements, I then conquered the two assyrians cities and finally the city on hill in anatolia (a real blood bath).
2) This initial army, constantly strenghten with new Immortals ready to die (The elephant and 2 horsmen + 8 immortals) continued its road trip to the west and conquered Greece, Rome and finally reached independent Messana (size 10) in 320 BC, a road already built on the adriatic coast helped me a lot.
3) During this time, an other army was in formation in ME and rushed quickly on Levant and Egypt, conquering the 3rd Egyptian city in 300BC.

UHV1 : Unfortunaly, even if you get this city on hill in Anatolia before the deadline (23 turns) you will not have enough culture to cover all the path between it and Khalpe in ME, so it's vital to build a settler and settle Tarsos 2W 1N of Khalpe to get the UHV. I did it just on time in 500BC.
UHV2 : With all your conquest + the 2 zoroastrian wonders it should be enough, mostly on Paragon where the world is more advanced. But I was panicking a little, so I switched to paganism and built Aqua Appia and Flavian Amphitheatre. At the end, it turned out to be useless but it's always better to consider all possibilities.
UHV3 : With all the conquest and by focusing on growth, happiness buildings and farms practically everywhere, I was able to reach 38% of world population in 300BC (UB helped a bit), triggering the victory.

Thanks to UP, no stability problems, even with large cities outside of the core. Almost every conquest was in historical area, and the combo manorialism + farms helps you with economy.


Some pics (I certainly had the highest final score I've ever seen) :

Spoiler My empire in 300BC :

 

[Tao paï paï]

Nubia :


UHV1 : Have 200 gold and 200 culture and acquire five happiness resources by 900 BC
UHV2 : Have a population of 40 in happy cities by 300 BC
UHV3 : Found Orthodoxy and control an Orthodox Cathedral by 600 AD

Cities : You must not build your capital on the spot but alternatly found Napa 1NW for 3 main reasons : 1W is needed to culturaly cover and improve the ivory on the west for UHV1 and 1N for your army and reinforcements to rush more rapidly Egypt + to capt the weath from Abdju later for stability purpose. Next, don't need to overthink, capital builds immediatly unlimited Medjay until Egypt is near to be completly conquered. On first tries, I tried less extreme strategies with barracks + UB first but I couldn't wipe Egypt on time.
Civics : Monarchy (don't forget to switch at the start to have it without anarchy), slavery, then Redistribution + caste system (plantation food for UHV2) when associated techs are discovered.
Techs : Calendar -> Leverage -> Writing -> all techs on the path to Ethics, and then to Architecture.

Egypt conquest : I let the two militias in my capital for happiness, while my starting medjay was walking around to kill some animals to gain xp. You can get him level 3, but I got the dilemma to choose between bonus against archer or melee : Egypt produces a LOT of militia, but can also have 1 or 2 archers against whom you have crappy odds. When I had 5 medjays in capital I started the rush on Egypt with permanent reinforcements, happily my conquest was coinciding with sea people attacks, so the Egyptian archers were north dying against bunches of axemen while I was dealing with militias and war chariots that I could crush easily. I conquered the Egyptian capital in 960 BC, the last remaining coastal city was barbarian, I conquered it soon after.

UHV1 : Ignore the culture and gold goal, you will achieve it by conquering the 2 southern Egyptian cities. When an egyptian worker was near my border, I jumped on the occasion, I declared war and captured him, next I signed peace by moving my Medjay toward Abju. If you don't sign peace, Egypt will build way too much Archer. My improvement order was : Millet farm (when culturaly covered), southern ivory, cottage on oasis, second ivory, cottages until calendar is reached, then plantations (except the incense wich is useless for UHV1). Gold was covered by Egyptian territory and you can't reach leverage before the deadline anyway. 2 ivory + 2 dye + 1 cotton = 5 luxury ressources, goal achieved in 960BC, 4 turns before the deadline.

UHV2 : Keep cottages on flood plains, don't build farm on it, it's very important for UHV3. I built a fifth city 2S of the millet, wich had access to sheep and cow, nice bonus for health and happiness (weaver). With this little help, I achieved the goal in 350BC, 5 turns before the deadline, triggering GA.

UHV3 : Cottages and Libraies everywhere, try to run scientists instead of mines, you will not have a lot to build after it, except stables and horsemen for Greek and Roman invasions, and bulb with every GP you get. On 1.17, I saw some paragon games where Greece founded Orthodoxy around 200-250 BC so I was panicking a bit, but they happily collapsed just after their conqueror event, I didn't see how far they were from Ethics. I hitted Ethics in 110 BC and founded orthodoxy, I guess it's a bit lucky. It only remained spreading orthodoxy, building temples and reaching Architecture for the cathedrale, wich I achieved in 190 AD.

Greek and roman invasions : One big stack for each egyptian cities, so you need a bunch of horsemen with the bonus on open terrain attack. Don't build them too quickly to not ruin your economy and try to balance mines and scientists, you have 4 strong good prod cities and time to prepare. It's important to put a horsman on each hill beside Abju and a worker on the marsh to prevent conqueror spawns here.

Stability was a big problem, after the egyptian conquest I was collapsing and I couldn't starve my non-core cities because of UHV2, the fifth city in foreign area was not helping. What I did was to assign all BFC to my capital and I spammed Medjays here for the monarchy bonus, it was enough to stay shaky.

P.S : I really don't see the point of this UP, since your UHV is rather short-term, and once you have a state religion the game is practically finished.

 

[Tao paï paï]

Toltecs :


UHV1 : Have a population of 10 and 200 culture in Tollan by 200 AD
UHV2 : Experience a golden age by 550 AD
UHV3 : Have a total population of 40 and more than 2000 culture by 1000 AD

Cities : Tollan on the spot wich build Pagan temple -> Granary -> worker -> UB -> barracks -> some LS and then Pyramid of the sun. Conquer Daniban with your started troops, and build there a work boat and 2 workers. My order for improvments was : Corn -> Silver -> Spices north -> Obsidian and 2nd corn once alloys is discovered. Try to keep some forests to chop to boost Pyramid of the sun construction later. I built a city 1E of the crab later.
Civics : Monarchy, slavery, deification, Redistribution, I didn't make any changes during the game.
Techs : Alloys -> Calendar -> Mathematics -> Litterature. Writing could be tempting sooner for the 2 scientist slots, but then you would get Pyramid of the sun too late and 2 scientists + 1 artist isn't enough to get your GA on time.

UHV1 : By building a pagan temple + UB and then directly running an artist is largly enough to get the culture requirement. The population goal is not a problem too, with the two corns and spices quickly improved + happiness from monarchy, I achieved UHV1 in 190 AD without forcing anything.

UHV2 : The tricky one, you need 2 GP at least 8 turns before the deadline. Build the UB and run an artist ASAP. Try to priorize commerce tiles to reach mathematics quickly, and then chop all forests you can to speed up the pyramid construction. I achieved the Pyramid in 340 AD, 21 turns before the deadline, then I runned as many citizens as possible, starving a bit my capital (but not enough to lose pop) and got my GArtist and then GProphet (run only citizens to be sure to get one) 9 turns before the deadline.

UHV3 : The 1000AD deadline doesn't mean anything on Paragon, the real deadline is Chinese conqueror event. On two old games, I noticed that it happened around 700AD so I wanted to win before to be sure. With plenty of LS city raider 2 built in my capital and Daniban, I wiped out Mayan easily, turned the culture slider on 70% once Literrature was discovered, and built some settlers to found 3 cities just when I reached the culture goal, achieving victory in 610AD !

Stability is absolutly not an issue.

On this try, China discovered Economics in 550AD (!!!!), happily they had only one caravel traveling around the Indian ocean when I won. On 1.17, they discover it generally around 1100-1200AD on Paragon... I hope we will soon have a huge nerf for this civ who can easily ruin a lot of games.

 

[Tigranes]

I confirm about China, it's crazy how fast it can balloon even on normal(regent) difficulty. I am ok with all kinds of insanity on Paragon, but default difficulty must run similar to real historical tech advancement. Perhaps no conquerors before 1300s can be a good rule. After all, Vikings discovered America in 1000s but there was no mass arrival event.

 

[Genghis Khaiser]

I'm in need for a Vietnam strategy.

I know that I must reload if Hanoi doesn't have at least 4 population, and that I must build Barracks then spam my UU until I get the two generals. These generals can be from wars with indies and Khmer. China should declare war on me rather than the other way around.

As for UHV2, you just spread Confucianism to cities you conquer.

UHV3 haven't figured out yet. I only know that big temples and Great Artists play a key role in them. For what I know I must set research to zero then put as much culture as possible, at least once I enable Vassalage.

 

[Caeser Davidus]

Persia

UHV1 : Build a Road connection from Persepolis to Anatolia by 500 BC
UHV2 : Control ten wonders by 300 BC
UHV3 : Control 35% of the world's population by 300 BC

A very short game now (47 turns on normal speed) but an easier challenge than on 1.17.

Cities : Your 3 core cities are already built when you start. I used advanced start to build farms around Shushan, camp + wheat farm around 3rd core city, and a barrack in Shushan. Then focus on granary, weaver if happiness is needed, barracks and finally spam Immortal. Capital build granary then Apadana palace and Mausoleum. Conquered cities with decent prod build barracks and then unlimited Immortals, just don't forget to build the UB when cement is discovered to maximize population. Starting workers improve quickly the iron and the ressources around core cities, captured workers focus on the road for UHV1, farms on plains (you can let the cottages already built on flood plains to keep your economy alive).
Civics : Slavery, monarchy, clergy, redistribution. Switch to manorialism when you captured enough workers.
Techs : Cement for UB. After, set tech to 0 until you are positive on gold. The other techs you'll get will be bulbed, happily I got a GE and bulbed engineering which is clearly the most important tech you want for the movement bonus, mostly on normal speed.

Conquest :
1) My starting army went for the two Babylonian cities, but suffered huge losses. With reinforcements, I then conquered the two assyrians cities and finally the city on hill in anatolia (a real blood bath).
2) This initial army, constantly strenghten with new Immortals ready to die (The elephant and 2 horsmen + 8 immortals) continued its road trip to the west and conquered Greece, Rome and finally reached independent Messana (size 10) in 320 BC, a road already built on the adriatic coast helped me a lot.
3) During this time, an other army was in formation in ME and rushed quickly on Levant and Egypt, conquering the 3rd Egyptian city in 300BC.

UHV1 : Unfortunaly, even if you get this city on hill in Anatolia before the deadline (23 turns) you will not have enough culture to cover all the path between it and Khalpe in ME, so it's vital to build a settler and settle Tarsos 2W 1N of Khalpe to get the UHV. I did it just on time in 500BC.
UHV2 : With all your conquest + the 2 zoroastrian wonders it should be enough, mostly on Paragon where the world is more advanced. But I was panicking a little, so I switched to paganism and built Aqua Appia and Flavian Amphitheatre. At the end, it turned out to be useless but it's always better to consider all possibilities.
UHV3 : With all the conquest and by focusing on growth, happiness buildings and farms practically everywhere, I was able to reach 38% of world population in 300BC (UB helped a bit), triggering the victory.

Thanks to UP, no stability problems, even with large cities outside of the core. Almost every conquest was in historical area, and the combo manorialism + farms helps you with economy.


Some pics (I certainly had the highest final score I've ever seen) :

Spoiler My empire in 300BC :

View attachment 694815

View attachment 694809View attachment 694810
View attachment 694812
[/SPOILER

Couldn't manage to finish the Road Connection UHV, I built the road, even had mathematics for bridge building and yet it was not showing up as completed

 

[Genghis Khaiser]

Was the other end of the road also a city? Was it all within your cultural borders?

You can either conquer a city in Anatolia and found another one between that city and Khalpe, or you can found one in northern Anatolia once you take out the Assyrians.

 

[Caeser Davidus]

Yes it connected up with Dorylaion in Anatolia, is the intermediate connection needed for some reason im confused on the technicality of the goal

 

[Genghis Khaiser]

You need to have every single tile of that road be within your cultural borders.

 

[Tao paï paï]

Assyria :

UHV1 : Acquire 250 gold from conquering cities and have five level three units by 1200 BC (turn 70)
UHV2 : Control Mesopotamia, Persia, the Levant, and Egypt by 900 BC (turn 90)
UHV3 : Settle three great people in your capital by 600 BC (turn 110)

With the overpowered azmaru it's almost a piece of cake.

Cities : Capital on the spot, Kalliu (UB) and then Azmaru until the Ishtar gate can be built, and a weaver at some point for happiness. It's an obligation to grab the sheep and the wheat from Babylon with your capital. The worker improves the copper and then the olive. Conquered cities build militia, ziggurat (if no second ring) then kalliu then Azmaru ad infinitum, and captured workers build mines or roads to speed up your moves.
Civics : Only switch for slavery to get some workers.
Techs : Masonry (slavery) -> Construction (Ishtar gate) -> Ceremony (monarchy). Then it doesn't matter, but I go for Divination to get +1 happiness from Ziggurat.

UHV1 : My first Azmaru immediatly attacked Babylon, who is pretty weak that soon in the game, without archer and with only 1 or two militias easily destroyed. Without injuries he followed his path to persia who only had militias too. He went back to levant and attacked Khalpe with some reinforcements from my capital, it's important attacking first with the level 2 units for the goal. Those 3 lvl 3 Azmaru went south and captured Jerusalem, after they healed a fourth Azmaru was here to help them attack Egypt, another civ with only militias at this point of the game. The fourth Azmaru got lvl 3 attacking Egypt's capital and I had some Azmarus home to defend against barbs, and one of them was lvl 3 too. I sacked every conquered cities (only 1 turn of unrest with your UP) and finally got the 2 conditions turn 65.

UHV2 : Egypt colapsed after two cities conquered, it remained only the coastal one with 2 archers, that I took turn 69, 1 turn before Phoenician spawn, and because it's a "by" condition it triggered the GA. I recommand strongly to do it before Phoenician spawn, if not you'll have to wait 11 more turns to get the levant just during the sea people storm and it's really near to impossible to keep the Egyptian cities.

UHV3 : Ishtar Gate in the capital, after that I only worked the olive, the sheep and the wheat with my capital, all others pop points were for specialists. My capital was running 5 specialists at its peak and with the help of the GA I got my second GP on turn 91, 19 turns before the deadline ! The UHV conquests weren't enough to get a GG, so I had to attack Phoenicia after their birth protection to get one.

Sea people : I deleted my units in Egypt and gifted my Egyptian cities to Nubia, same thing for Jerusalem (your stabilty can't allow them anyway). Two stacks spawned just next to Khalpe (I thought barbs couldn't spawn just next to a city ?), happily I had some Azmarus with the shock promotion thanks to defense against mesopotamian barbs, it was enough to defend.

Stability can really be an issue and a Babylonian respawn is a major risk, but giving away egyptian cities + limited population in periphery cities, working production tiles was enough to remain shaky at worst.

Like with Rome, I've never built the second UU, because the first one is way too powerful.

 

[Tao paï paï]

Hittites

UHV1 : Acquire four Copper and Iron resources by 900 BC (turn 90)
UHV2 : Generate 1200 production by 800 BC (turn 97)
UHV3 : Be the first to receive tribute in a peace treaty

Cities : I settled the capital one east to be coastal and grab the clam but it's clearly not an obligation and surely time lost given the short term of your UHV but I hate too much the cities 1 tile away from coast while there is a sea ressource reachable, I can't help it. So capital goes for work boat, barracks and unlimited Hulugannis, while your 2 conquered cities build Ziggurat, barracks and unlimited Hulugannis.
Civics : No changes possible, just don't forget to switch to deification at the start.
Techs : Honnestly it doesn't matter, the UHV is possible without the UB, and you don't even need contract because Babylon is the obvious target for UHV3 and they will have contract very soon (fortunaly because your tech rate will be very bad and reaching contract would be a long path). I still went for Bloomery to have something to build at some point and to get UHV2 sooner.

UHV1 : You absolutly need to get Khalpe and the Assyrian capital with your starting troops and without losing your huluganni (to defend against barbs), if Assyria is too well defended, restart. Normally when your troops reach Khalpe it's independent or Assyria just has got it so it's poorly defended, so you can take it without losts. On my successful run I lost only one LS to get the two cities, maybe a bit lucky.

Then it's the difficult part : on Paragon, Babylon is completly out of reach (already 2 archers with 40% defense when your starting huluganni arrives around) and the more you wait the worse it gets (8 archers 20 turns later !!!). So you can't get the phoenician iron because of Babylon culture and the persian one is far (but possible) without OB with Babylon.

What I did was attacking Phoenicia with my huge stack of Huluganni (needed because Sur is heavily defended) just after the end of birth protection, spared the city (you need to keep some gold) and chopped a Zigurrat to reach culturally asap Cyprus where Phonicia always builds a mine with road on the copper. The culture reached the copper turn 90, just on time for the UHV. To be safer I could have switch to despotism before attacking Phonicia and wipe the Ziggurat faster. Meanwhile I was producing a settler in Asshur that I put on the iron in Armenia.

UHV2 : It comes naturally, mostly while improving your capital's lands with a lot of forest, I never used the UP and it's possible without the UB, but I built it to reach 1200 sooner, what I did turn 88.

UHV3 : With the rest of the huligannis from my Phoenicia campain, I invaded babylon and started to pillage all their lands, they finally wanted peace giving me some gold, achieving the UHV just before triggering UHV1.

Sea people : 3 stacks in the south of Anatolia, 6-7 Hulugannis in capital for active defense, you don't want them to destroy your unique horse ressource.

No stability issues with a capital size 5-6 and historical cities not very big.

 

[Tao paï paï]

Swahilis

UHV1 : Import a cumulative of 100 happiness resources by 1300 AD
UHV2 : Reveal 35% of the world's coastlines by 1400 AD
UHV3 : Have 25 trade routes by 1500 AD

Cities : Capital on the spot, two other cities were Mozambique (1SE of silver) and Olpurapurana in Kenya 1E of the gold (not in core but it lets you catch 2 tiles from lake Victoria + you can directly improve the gold, you don't care about stability anyway). I used advanced start to get a library in my capital (you need compass asap) and a road on the cotton plantation, then I improved in priority the ressources around my core. Main cities generally went for library -> harbor -> lighthouse -> star fort, but I progressivly built archers + settlers between those buildings and settled 3 of them in south africa, near forest generally to get good prod more easily (given that you won't have a lot of workers to improve the land rapidly). 1 or 2 other archers are needed to defend against annoying native attacks against your core, and 2/3 dhows too to speed up UHV 2. The 3 settled cities don't bother them with a harbor, and the last one only built lighthouse + star fort because I already had fortification.
Civics/Religion : One of my starting dhow contacted Arabia in 2 moves, so I open border and immediatly became pagan (an absolute obligation to get OB with other civs) without anarchy, none religion ever spread to my other cities during all the game. I switched at the start to : Monarchy (happiness and faster settler prod)/Citizenship/Manorialism/MT/Deification (Optional but Clergy is useless because you are Pagan and expensive)/Thalassocracy.
Techs : Compass -> fortification, then tech rate to 0 to earn gold for OB, then the culture slider to optimize the prod in new cities or tech slider again but it really doesn't matter.


UHV1 : I traded every ressource I had for other happiness ressources (avoid giving gold per turn, you really need compass asap), at some time I saw that I was importing 4 ressources with 25 turns left before the deadline (4 x 25 = 100), and I was already at 15/100 so I thought it was largly enough but at some time three of my trade partners collapsed. The problem is that you have to advance with your dhows so it means losing contact, so I contacted again Arabia who had 2 luxury ressources (they didn't had anything the first time) with a worker, and when I arrived in Europe I imported some wine, achieving the goal only 1 turn before the deadline.

UHV2 : 2 starting dhows went east with two different strategies : the first went using the direct way to contact other civs asap for UHV1, with Australia and islands of the Australian sea as final target. The second one went more slowly, exploring each gulf and circling every little island, with Japan and siberian coast as final target. I used the third one to move my settlers and when compass was ready, I immediatly sent him in Europe, with Mediterranean sea as target. A fourth one was sent later in Europe too, to explore Northern Europe. For Moors, France, Spain, Khmer, Java and Japan I had to give a tech or 90 golds to OB, and I finally got the 35% in 1370, triggering GA.

UHV3 : With my 6 cities I had 22 trades routes in 1400 Ad, I rapidly built 2 settlers and put them in a near random land, giving me 26 trades route, achieving victory in 1430 AD !

I just checked stabilty at the end and I was unstable because of outdated civics and religious disunity, but it doesn't matter because there aren't any civ who can respawn in the area.

 

[Tao paï paï]

Dravidians

UHV1 : Have 2500 culture and 5000 gold in 600 AD and acquire 7500 gold by trade by 1200 AD
UHV2 : Control or vassalize the Deccan, Bengal and Srivijaya in 1000 AD
UHV3 : Have a city of size 25 or larger by 1500 AD

Cities : Capital on the spot wich builds granary, 1 settler and 3-4 workers once size 4 (paddy field and a library in capital with advanced start), the sri lanka city on the flat grassland in core wich builds monument -> WB -> granary. My third city was Golkonda 1E of the ivory, that India built it 4 turns after my spawn with only a Horseman and an archer as defense, I took it with my started troops with no losts, I even razed a crappy undefended indian city in Bengal just after, they gave me some gold for peace. My fourth city was 1E of Iron. They went for granary, WB for the coastal one, and Hindu and buddhist monasteries (I wanted to wait for Citizenship to build library and theaters), or Hindu guru if there isn't Hinduism in a city. Later I built 2 other settlers to build a city 1N of Banana and an another just west of my core, 2N of the pearl, wich worked the millet.
Civics : Monarchy/Manorialism(to improve the land faster)/Clergy/Redistribution at the start, I immediatly switched to MT when currency was researched (you have plenty of time later to get your capital size 25), and to citizenship when Law was reached. Hegemony later, and when I got ethics I switched to Monasticism and Caste system because my land and cities were already developed.
Techs : Currency -> Law -> Navigation (lighthouses) -> Generalship (Elephant and Hegemony) -> Engineering then doesn't really matter but I went for Ethics (monasticism) and belined for Paper for trade routes.

UHV1 :

2500 culture : No GArtist needed, just focus on culture buildings, theaters once you have CItizenships. I adjust the culture slider to 10-20% at some time and hit 2500 on time.

5000 Gold in treasury : Markets everywhere once you have currency and 2 merchants (and ONLY merchants) in the capital and Golkonda, I got 2 before the deadline and the Indian capital gave me 1800 for each one. So 1800 x 2 = 3600, you have to produce 1400 gold on your own, with a lot of merchants and the ressources sold, you can keep a strong tech rate and get the gold on time easily.

7500 gold by trade : My initial war galley went to meet China while my galley was meeting persia, I sold or exchanged (UP but only with Persia bc I didn't had OB with China) some ressources with them as much as possible, I was always looking at the foreign advisors how much gold other civs have to trade. I sold a lot of techs to backwards civ too, my tech pace was pretty good. You also need to keep the gold slider at least on 10% even if you don't need direct gold anymore (you can use it to buy techs) because trade routes count. I wanted to optimize the victory so I only use my first two GM for a trade mission, and settle the others for UHV3, even with this I reached the goal in 1030AD.

UHV2 : When my cities were developped and I was sure to hit the culture gold, I built barracks, swordmen and catapults everywhere. India collapsed just before my attack, so it was a piece of cake to get the Deccan : I razed two crappy old indian cities at my borders, captured the one south of the millet and 2 others in Bengal, I even conquered the old indian capital for fun. While I was rushing northern india, my coastal cities were building the UU, and I shipped all my veteran troops to attack the malays and conquered their 3rd city in 950AD (with my huge capital, my stability allowed it).

UHV3 : At some time I switched back to redistribution, built windmills even on the gold hill, bought some health ressources and built happiness and health buildings in my capital, with obviously giving it all the BFC. I finally reached the goal in 1100 AD, triggering victory !

I practically was in overexpansion just after the conquests but with a capital growing endlessly and a great Sri lanka city it was enough.