I took the contender save. Deity is something I set for players who tell me they want deity games, not something I willingly play 
Settled in place (who wouldn't!) 2nd city NW to get the fish and marble. Heading for space.
The 3th city, Heliopolis, was my real unconventional play... I was looking for somewhere to build most of my wonders, and realised there was a spot to the NE with copper, clams and crab, and 4 hills. It was waaay further away than I'd normally go so early in the game, but if I could nab it before Mansa I'd also have what looked like the only copper on our continent. So I went for it. And Heliopolis now has the Great Lighthouse and the Pyramids, and will soon have the Colossus. I put Stonehenge and the Oracle (for CS) in the capital - felt there was too much risk of the AI getting those wonders first if I waited till Heliopolis was ready. With hindsight I'm not so sure if Heliopolis was such a good idea - on the plus side I have a great city (and copper) now putting cultural pressure on Mansa's capital. On the minus side, I lost a lot of worker turns early in the game building a road to it and clearing the jungle to make Heliopolis usable.
4th city was also a bit unconventional (for me) - that went West of the starting area, in the desert, to claim the two fish and block Willem in - I had my eye on that as the city to run some scientists for Thebes' academy, but haven't so far managed to do that.
In total, I have 10 cities (and about to settle the 11th, in the far East by the banana), giving me the entire Southern half of the continent plus one of the Western islands. Total pop 54, sustainable research 149bpt @ 70%. Researched to paper/metal casting/calendar. 2 turns from machinery. Totally peaceful so far, but I plan to eliminate Mansa and the Canaanites as soon as I have engineering - trebs and maces against archers and axes should make for an easy war without having to build too many units
Will probably leave Willem in place, at least until I've discovered the other continents and assessed what land I want, since his land isn't exactly fantastic and he only has one city anyway!
Settled in place (who wouldn't!) 2nd city NW to get the fish and marble. Heading for space.
The 3th city, Heliopolis, was my real unconventional play... I was looking for somewhere to build most of my wonders, and realised there was a spot to the NE with copper, clams and crab, and 4 hills. It was waaay further away than I'd normally go so early in the game, but if I could nab it before Mansa I'd also have what looked like the only copper on our continent. So I went for it. And Heliopolis now has the Great Lighthouse and the Pyramids, and will soon have the Colossus. I put Stonehenge and the Oracle (for CS) in the capital - felt there was too much risk of the AI getting those wonders first if I waited till Heliopolis was ready. With hindsight I'm not so sure if Heliopolis was such a good idea - on the plus side I have a great city (and copper) now putting cultural pressure on Mansa's capital. On the minus side, I lost a lot of worker turns early in the game building a road to it and clearing the jungle to make Heliopolis usable.
4th city was also a bit unconventional (for me) - that went West of the starting area, in the desert, to claim the two fish and block Willem in - I had my eye on that as the city to run some scientists for Thebes' academy, but haven't so far managed to do that.
In total, I have 10 cities (and about to settle the 11th, in the far East by the banana), giving me the entire Southern half of the continent plus one of the Western islands. Total pop 54, sustainable research 149bpt @ 70%. Researched to paper/metal casting/calendar. 2 turns from machinery. Totally peaceful so far, but I plan to eliminate Mansa and the Canaanites as soon as I have engineering - trebs and maces against archers and axes should make for an easy war without having to build too many units
Will probably leave Willem in place, at least until I've discovered the other continents and assessed what land I want, since his land isn't exactly fantastic and he only has one city anyway!
