Round 4: 1800 BC to 875 BC (38 Turns)
Moving on here. And just to let you know -- I've survived up to this point.

That's a start.
Anyway, I implemented some of the advice you all made. I switched Bombay to produce a Fast Worker, for instance, instead of a barracks. I initially built a barracks early on as I wanted to a) raise my power rating and b) not suffer the unit upkeep cost of the Fast Worker (I'll abbreviate it F.W. from now on). But at this point, a F.W. would prove invaluable in roading my cities, laying down farms, chopping, and so on.
Now here's the big question -- where did I found my third city? In the end....
I went with my original decision. I already talked extensively in this thread about how I believed this was the optimal location. A monument was started ASAP and...look! A F.W. was right there to farm the soon to be 6

corn! This is why having lots of workers, or in this case, F.W.'s, are so important. Also, around this time, I switched out of my religion of Judaism into No state religion. I couldn't afford to have any negatives with Cyrus at this point of the game. And, as you'll see, this turned out to be the right decision.
Now, I finished Agriculture the following turn, and I had a choice of Pottery or Writing. This was a tough choice for me. I know I said I would go Pottery first, but in the end, I realized that Writing had to come first. I desperately needed research, and that research would come more easily with Great Scientists and specialists. The sooner those came, the better. And, I figured, once I started employing some science specialists, that, in turn, would speed up future research. And Gandhi's philosophical, not financial, so why not play to his strengths?
So Writing it was.
Looks like Cyrus built the Temple of Artemis. Good, that will delay his city expansion.
Speaking of which, look at Cyrus's capital! Talk about unbalanced...
Two riverside gold resources, irrigated corn, forests...! Why couldn't I get his start?!?

There's actually a second spice hidden in the eastern forest once my warrior explored there! The only good news from this screenshot is that Wang's borders are right next to the Persian capital.
Meanwhile, in the city of Vijayanagara (maybe I should rename these cities?), the corn tile helped the city beat Tarsus to size 2, so it was time to crack the whip. I made an anarchy-free switch to Slavery, and...
The monument will be done next turn. And look! Cyrus is actually sending a Confucian missionary to me. Awesome! This will:
1. Spread Confucianism to Vijayanagara
2. Add an extra culture point to the city (remember, I'm in "No state religion")
3. Increase the odds of Cyrus making a demand, which I will cave in and get easy diplomatic points
4. Give the city more culture building options.
5. Waste several of Cyrus's hammers to my benefit.
What an idiot.... And also, if you look carefully at the last screenshot, Cyrus is already pleased with me! The +1 from both peace and open borders was all it took.
I wasn't done expanding, of course.
Settling this city before the production one I had in mind seemed to be best. The ivory was another bonus to this, increasing my happy cap.
Unfortunately...!
Cyrus managed to sneak a city there! Maybe it would have been best to put another blocking city there. Then again, I don't have Iron Working so much of the city would be useless to me anyway.
Bactra probably wouldn't be a cultural threat to me anytime soon because my nearby city had a border pop. I beat
all three of Cyrus's surrounding cities in getting a border pop! Now those tiles that were just claimed be me get a hidden bonus culture.
I
still wasn't done expanding. Keep in mind that I was still researching writing at this point.
I was actually in a hurry to get this city out. Cyrus had a settler along with some swordsmen ready to found a city at or near the location in 3-4 turns. Good thing I beat them. Cyrus actually sent that settler further south. Apparently, he's given up trying to find an additional city location there.
AAAAAANNNNNDDDD....finally!
That took way too long. I selected Pottery as my next technology, and began a library in Vijayanagara instantly (for the extra culture and the option of running scientists). I also switched Pataliputra from building a barracks to a library. My capital, Delhi, was one turn away from another F.W. so I let the city finish its build. I would then build a library there next turn.
And then on turn 119 (1025 BC)...someone went into WHEOOHRN mode...
...
...
...
...
Wang Kon! And guess what? He was cautious towards Ramesses II (and me as well) but
annoyed towards Cyrus!

You can tell that he's in WHEOOHRN because the B.U.G. mod shows a red fist to Wang Kon's right on the scoreboard.
And Wang better have a large army, because Cyrus already has longbows!
On the last turn of the round, I finished Pottery. Yes, I researched 2 technologies this round, not counting Agriculture. Next up -- Aesthetics. I'm hoping that I'll be the first on my continent to get the technology, and that someone else will research Alphabet (can you believe it that no AI on this continent has Alphabet yet?).
That ends the main part of this round. A state of the world post (from Sisiutil's idea) will follow.