I once wandered 6 turns, leaving a jungle area until I found a river and a cow. That was definitely worth it.
But back to the game: I went 1E to get the cow into the first ring. As I planned to go for 20K this time, settling on a BG did not matter too much, as Washington was to build only one settler and then go size 12 asap anyway. (The shield from the BG is "recovered", when the city reaches size 7.)
My scout soon popped a settler from a hut, which I then walked to the wheat tile to found my second town. GA was started quite early, around 1100 BC, and then virtually every wonder I wanted was mine. I lost only 4 wonders to the AI the entire game: the Great Lighthouse, Artemis, the Great Wall and the Knight's Templar. And unfortunately the game was over, before I had a chance to build the last three wonders: Longevity, Manhattan and the Hoover Dam. The remaining two AIs were still in the early Middle Ages, when the game ended in 1525AD. (I had gifted the 3 scientifics into the Modern Age, but then eliminated them right afterwards as to not run any risks of cascades.)
There are only two free spots in the Wonder list:
Has anyone ever managed to fill all 24 spots? I don't know if it's possible: if you build the wonders too fast, you will reach 20K before you manage to build all wonders (like in this game), and if you build them too slowly, the AI might snatch a total of 6 or more wonders, and then there are not enough left to fill all spots?!
So anyway, 20K victory was reached in 1525AD.
PS: something strange I noticed in the Replay at the end of the game: the Netherlands got the Great Leader Abel at some point. I assume that is the famous Mathematician Niels Henrik Abel, so that must have been a scientific leader, not a military leader?! Have SGLs been turned on for this game?
