"Though small in number...your people would come dominate the world stage"
The nation of England came to existence on a peninsula, covered by a mix of open grassland and dense jungle. The land was rich with copper, and scattered by remains of ancient nations. A friendship was quickly made with Vancouver, a nation which mysteriously already had elections to be manipulated by Agent Scarlet. Scarlet was later reassigned to Vienna, and later Thebes, where she stole valuable secrets from our soon to be enemies. England believed in the ideas of progress and equality, and so these discoveries led to great periods of cultural and government reforms.
2,000 years into history, the cadence that would define England was already visible. Despite being outnumbered, we were already the workshop of the world. It was at this point that Elizabeth felt the need to expand our empire, for the glory of the earth mother. Quickly settlers were produced and sent to all areas of the continent, with 2 being placed directly in front of the Austrian empire. Gold from around the empire was gathered to aid these new cities in building shrines, commemorating the powerful earth mother. This led to a dark period for the empire, as disconnection with the great city of London caused widespread unhappiness. However, it was not for the nothing, as the world's first great prophet came to be born in London. A council of elders was formed, to see over the expansion of the faith. England committed to its principle of small, but elite citizens, choosing to pursue mastery of a all specialties.
Later another prophet would be born, and the progressive nation dedicated to a peaceful spreading of its religion, and to diligent production. The Parthenon and Oracle were built in London, its engineers were proud to declare that they finished before Vienna, a city of more than double London's population. After completion of the Oracle, a great debate occurred. The writers of Oxford, London and Hastings all advocated investing in arts as a way to move England forward. Another faction, led by London's scrivener's and emissaries from various allied city states, advocated statecraft. Ultimately the largest delegation, with members from all cities, was victorious and Elizabeth pursued a path of Fealty.
100 turns in, England remains small in population but dominating in all other categories. Our military is small, but we are confident we could build an army if the need arises.
The acutal gameplay version
-Continents, 8 civs, Deity, standard speed. Tech trading turned off, default used for all other settings
-Good start with several ruins. Made a food friend and used my spy to rig the election twice, before discovering Austria's capital and starting the tech stealing. Rushed statue of zeus so the forge would boost my copper monopoly.
-Took Earth Mother because I was working mines and its an amazing pantheon. Only 3 civs on my continent
-Took progress because I can get culture for stealing techs, which I plan to do a lot of. The 10
/10
for buildings was keep to this strategy.
-Stayed on 1 city until my 3rd policy (2
/2
per city), then expanded 3 more (enough to get a monopoly on copper), all of which went monument first
-After getting the 4th policy (the 10
/10
for buildings) I went extremely wide, settling a total of 11 cities, shrine first in all. I was paranoid of missing religion and I didn't expect either neighbor to found. Austria took god of craftsmen but took a very long time to get either trade or construction (I know because spy). Egypt only build 3 cities. This is where playing England was key, any other civ would have fallen so far behind in science after expanding like this, but my spy kept me up.
