My English strategy:
Found Southampton, Newcastle, Dublin and BUDAPEST(you can get there before German does). Caste system first, research meditation - civil service, then paper (to trade with French for calendar). One galley go to Mali to trade for DR. Get aesthetics from Russian.
Switch to bureaucracy & slavery, beeline for gunpowder, then build up an army to conquer Rome, then Istanbul & Athens. English should conquer Alexandria as well (but I didn't) , for stability and wonders there. Then Astronomy...... get both conquerer event, conquer Aztecs, befriend with Inca. I got one settler to Winburg(South Africa) 10 turns before Astronomy, should wait.
French: settle Amiens (NE) . Tech line same as above. Raze Bona Mansio, another settler go to Budapest as well. Conquer Rome, Istanbul (Hagia Sophia is important for +50% work rate), Athens...... it is easier than English because you get more starting force and cities. Liberalism for democracy (destablize slavery but provides security bureau).
This strategy has some problem: later astronomy, and you get too many cities too soon.
Spanish should be even easier: settle at coast, conquer Alexandria ASAP. And their settler map is huge.
Next time I'll try a 3000BC civ and get 10-12 decent city first, then found Sushi co., then start expand via conquest. China & Greek should be easiest. Anyone want to try Romans and found all the sweet spots in Europe, flip to later civs, then retake...? I think I'll just conquer Asia and N. Africa and Greece.