Grrr... I'm gonna sound like a broken record from the last time I tried this challenge:
Long story short: Plan was being executed well, but then along comes Alex, declaring war and he has two Combat III Axemen heading toward Novgorod. Meaning even if I whipped an Axeman or two to counter, odds are not in my favor (no Barracks in Novgorod means no veteran units there).
I would still like to make this challenge work, but I think it will be better to do that by discussing with everyone a general plan of action of (a) balancing out the traits of the civ I choose, (b) knowing that we need to priortize tech based on the land I start with and (c) handling the opponents when they are all aggressive, particularly if it's another fractal map that ends up being a giant pangaea.
I'll start another thread later on.
