1750 win here (turn 260 AD). 9 turns slower than Neuro, which I might try to beat at another time. I thought I easily had him after my Cristo went up, but then I realized I estimated the number of Social Policies I needed incorrectly (Didn't realize you need to unlock 30, not 25 policies!). Other note is that there were only 3 Culture CS in my game. That really sucked.
Anyway, my opening was very similar to everyone else here. Stonehenge->Great Library->Oracle is the main idea. I built a second city though, which is why I may have been slightly slower than Neuro. However, instead of taking Civil Service with my free tech I took Theology, and used my first few Great Scientists to bulb up to Acoustics. Meanwhile I researched up to Steel on the bottom which allowed me to upgrade my 2 starting warriors to Longswordsman + 1 Swordsman gifted from a CS, and started conquering my continent with 3 Longswordsman. Took over a good portion of my Continent when I decided to be lazy and said that was good enough, when I probably should've finished my continent off since there's no penalty for being in war, and on the plus side I would've spawned some more Great Generals for Golden Ages. My empire was largely fueled by buying out all the City States, after unlocking the 1st 3 in Patronage.
I didn't realize how powerful the Cristo Redentor trick was so I only started saving once I was relatively close to it. I might've shaved a few turns had I stopped after getting 4 in Patronage (I think the science boost is the last must have).
My policies went Tradition->33%Wonder Saving -> Patronage -> all Patronage except for the Happiness one -> Freedom. Took Order as my 5th tree, since I wanted the extra 5 hammers, because I thought I was going to be production locked instead of culture locked in the end. I was incorrect, and still had to wait like 5-10 turns after finishing the Sydney Opera House before I could start on the Utopia Project.
Anyway, my opening was very similar to everyone else here. Stonehenge->Great Library->Oracle is the main idea. I built a second city though, which is why I may have been slightly slower than Neuro. However, instead of taking Civil Service with my free tech I took Theology, and used my first few Great Scientists to bulb up to Acoustics. Meanwhile I researched up to Steel on the bottom which allowed me to upgrade my 2 starting warriors to Longswordsman + 1 Swordsman gifted from a CS, and started conquering my continent with 3 Longswordsman. Took over a good portion of my Continent when I decided to be lazy and said that was good enough, when I probably should've finished my continent off since there's no penalty for being in war, and on the plus side I would've spawned some more Great Generals for Golden Ages. My empire was largely fueled by buying out all the City States, after unlocking the 1st 3 in Patronage.
I didn't realize how powerful the Cristo Redentor trick was so I only started saving once I was relatively close to it. I might've shaved a few turns had I stopped after getting 4 in Patronage (I think the science boost is the last must have).
My policies went Tradition->33%Wonder Saving -> Patronage -> all Patronage except for the Happiness one -> Freedom. Took Order as my 5th tree, since I wanted the extra 5 hammers, because I thought I was going to be production locked instead of culture locked in the end. I was incorrect, and still had to wait like 5-10 turns after finishing the Sydney Opera House before I could start on the Utopia Project.