I am amazed that you got to Philo first as I found it impossible in my tests.
The game:
Open save. Initial thoughts...
What a poor area start for Deity level. Yes there were the flood plain tiles, but coupled with desert and marsh. The large jungle area meant very slow expansion. Expansion to the west was quickly cut off by the Babylonians, Carthage and Sumerians. The one bonus was the 4 lux resources I was eventually able to claim and hook up.
Research: BW,IW, The Wheel, Alpha, Math, Currency.
I knew the one key to a successful game would be to try and monopolize any Iron and sell it to the AI which will usually sell several techs for it. However... Babylon settles next to both sources of Iron even before learning IW. I could see them settling to their north as it was on the coast and had flood plains nearby. However the city he settled first (of the two Iron sites) was next to our capitol and at the edge of the jungle , no resources in sight at the time. (Perhaps Hammy consulted a Psychic?) It struck me as a poor choice, but I had been hoping he wouldn't take the site next to the Game. It was somewhat of a relief to see Horses in the capitol's borders but by the time I got to use them, Babylon had Pikemen.
I went to currency as fast as I could because usually this is the last one the AI researches, only to find they all had it, just a few turns before I was done with it.
Cities - settled in place, built Warrior, Warrior, Settler... rinse and repeat until the available land was filled. 1st city was adjacent to Babylons city due west, and claimed the Furs and some fp. I built Temples first in all my cities and was pleased to see this cities borders expand before Babylon's. 2nd city was to the SW on the coast but claiming fp and Wheat. 3rd city was placed 1N of the Game. 4th City was at the top of the marshy area but still claimed 2 fp. Fill in cities went along the east coast and one in the jungle to claim the Dyes.
Culture - here's what really burned me and almost made me throw in the towel. As I said previously, Hammy settled just to the NW of the Capitol next to the Iron and I settled a couple of turns later next to the Game. I built a Temple first and was happy to see my borders expand first, hoping that with it under pressure from this city and Thebes it would culture flip to me. Keep in mind that the only culture improvement available to either one of us at the time was a Temple. A short time after his city expands it 's borders, MY CITY culture flips to them !!!???
If it had been the city I built adjacent to his city near the furs I would have understood as it was a risk but this....
War - (~500BC) There is no option left other than to rush as many War Chariots as I can to make one last effort to obtain Iron and any chance of doing well in the game. My Chariots approach the Iron city to see Pikemen!.. they are whipped forward by a mad as hell general and succeed in taking the city. The units left then turn to my former city near the Game and on their approach see Musketmen defending the city!!
This time the only way Cleopatra can get them to attack is by begging them to obtain glory or die trying. We succeed, barely... and are able to bribe Carthage to help in the war which diverts enough of Babylons military that eventually we take peace after getting his other city near the Iron. Only in this case the Iron reverts to being inside Sumeria's borders. Later I get it when my borders pop.
So, around 0BC we have our area carved out, there isn't any more land to settle. We have two sources of Iron and Horses. Furs, Wines, Dyes, and Spices. The Sumerians built TGL in Ummer just to the NW of Babylon and taking it appears to be our only chance of coming anywhere close to victory. None of the AI will trade any techs and the cost is too high to attempt to steal any. Even though 2 of the AIs don't have Iron neither one will give me anything for it. Greece is the big bully and expanding at the cost of everyone but me. I don't understand how they have 5000+ gold at this point?
Stay tuned for the second half of this story of redemption or disaster....
