Interesting strategy settling Corinth instead of Athens. I can see why you do that, but I like to settle Kyrene in Egypt (which I immediately rename Alexandria). Corinth cramps the Kyrene site and tries to steal its fish. If my Galley can reach the Bosphorus in one move I will wait a turn before settling Athenai and try to make Byzantion my capital, otherwise I just make Athenai on the spot and move my capital to Byzantion later (after completing the UHV).
FWIW my prefered sites in the Greek core are Athenai, Epidamnos, Byzantion, Halikarnassos and Knossos.That gives 5 cities in the core, 4 of them with excellent population and production, and even Knossos eventually grows big enough to help Stability for massive empires. Knossos flips to Arabia, but I evacuate it beforehand and 10 tuns later send a couple of Hoplites on a Galley to retake it. Halikarnassos flips to the Turks, but again it's just a case of evacuate beforehand, agree to the flip, wait 10 turns, then reconquer with an overwhelming army from Byzantion (which by the time the Turks arrive should be your capital).
The reason I settle Kyrene instead of 1E (the real Alexandreia site) is that Arabia's flipzone includes the Alexandreia site. Kyrene is one tile outside the flipzone. When I first capture Egypt I generally raze all the crappy AI cities except Diospolis Megale itself - it's just too expensive otherwise. Immediately before Arabia spawns, I withdraw all my Egyptian military to walled Kyrene, turning it into a massively overgarrisoned fortress that laughs at Camel Archers. Ten turns later I DoW (if Arabia hasn't already DoW'd me) and use that garrison to storm Egypt and recapture that corner of my empire in about 3 moves. Since the AI likes to settle Diospolis Megale one square further south than I would, Kyrene has unfettered access to Fish, Wheat, Dye and Cotton. With a Cottage on Siwa it turns into a very nice city by mid-game, despite missing out on the Marble (which Diospolis Megale works). For historical reasons I try to build both the Lighthouse and the Great Library (thankfully no longer UHV buildings) in my "Alexandria"
.
I'm currently playing a Marathon game (Regent level, not my usual Monarch; this is a recreational game), trying to make Greece into a world-spanning mega-empire, and by chance the game gave me a very similar start to yours (including two Huluganni) except that my Galley was in the Aegean not the Gulf. Settling Athenai on the spot gave my Galley access to the Gulf for a shorter run up to Epidamnos. I then ferried three Hoplites and one Warrior to Egypt on the Galley, meanwhile the two Huluganni went on a suicide run to harass China, capturing Babylon and Afrosiab en route (had to raze Afrosiab because early Stability; after achieving my UHV I rebuilt Marakanda 1W of the site as a northern fortress to hinder barbs and Mongols).
The Huluganni caught China napping, with just one Warrior in Chang'an and another standing on the forest hill north of the city
. My Huluganni had gained a lot of experience and had lost little health from sacking cities and killing barbarians on the way. One killed the Forest Warrior on Turn 171 and the other razed Chang'an on Turn 172. I would have liked to keep it but such a large city so far away would have destroyed my Stability and my economy. I had to settle for eliminating China as a rival (and pillaging its territory for pocket money). So, by 20 turns into a Marathon game game I had eliminated Babylon, Egypt and China, leaving just friendly Harappa (I have both Harappa and Polynesia enabled for the AI). Once the 20 turn grace period ended, the overexpansion and city razing penalties tipped me into Unstable briefly until my core population grew, but since then my empire has never looked back.
Having AI Harappa in a Greek game is interesting. They're very friendly and often have useful techs they will trade to you, they hinder early India, but then they suddenly collapse and all their cities crumble to rubble around 775 BC! My cities Alexandreia Arachoton and Alexandreia tes Indias (founded well after the UHV) benefited from improvements the Harappans left behind.
The Greek UHV doesn't get easier on Marathon versus Normal speed. The issue is that you need all that early plunder from razing cities and pillaging AI improvements to finance a deficit budget to keep your research rate at or near 100%, but in a Marathon game that money must stretch three times as far. In a nutshell, it will run out well short of the UHV, forcing you to drop your research rate to avoid bankrupcy. If the tax rate hits 100% (easy to do if you have too many cities) you're probably screwed. The Romans will eat you up while your cities strike. Diospolis Megale and Babylon are all you need prior to 330 BC since the territorial UHV specifies you need to control Egypt, Bablyon, Phoenicia and Persia
in 330 BC. Taking e.g. Tyros or Hierusalem too early merely costs you research money. You may have no choice if Persia declares war on you, otherwise bide your time.
Low research (short of bankrupcy) doesn't stop you controlling all the UHV territories and building all the UHV Wonders (you only need to get as far as Metal Casting and Aesthetics to complete the Wonders UHV), but if your research flags and you don't harass or eliminate China and Rome then they can easily discover one of the three UHV techs before you. Fortunately no rival spawns with any of the UHV techs until the Japanese in 530 AD, so if you can hinder your rivals enough and stay stable, you can probably make it. That's the real secret to the Greek UHV - keep your enemies weak, keep no unecessary cities, and be patient. There's plenty of time after 250 BC to become an unstoppable colossus.
. I did exact same thing, same cities, early Egypt rush (they only had Militia), never got any stability problems, kept Diaspolis entire game which was the birthplace of many great people, including early Great Engineer which is useful for Parthenon. At some point after conquests in Persia my expansion stability was contributing extra +1 because of some "Recent Expansion" (still don't know how it works)! Note, that you don't have to capture Jerusalem now and to control Persia you need to have more cities then them in that region, you don't even need to collapse them! So overall very enjoyable game and my second largest to date score:
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