I submitted a 890AD victory for Russia.
I got 20 2+cow starts from MapFinder. Settings were 80%pangea, warm, wet, 5byo, sedentary barbs, least aggressive ai, 6 sci rivals excluding Sumeria and Babylon. These settings turned out to be not so good. Several were island starts and often ai's were on other islands. Huts tended to run out as well as I only popped through the entire AA once. The last map I played turned out to be the best, but was still less than ideal.
I started by building scouts in Moscow. I popped a town by some wines before 3000BC. Research was set to CB at max even though the chance for an SGL was slim. Mysticism was then researched at max. fishing for an SGL while I popped/traded my way through writing. My 2 towns built 6 scouts before starting on workers and settlers. I popped wc, the wheel, hbr, iron working, math, and writing while trading for masonry and the alphabet by the time mysticism finished with no SGL. Research was then set to philosophy at max. I popped literature and CoL just before philo finished in 1950BC and took Republic as my free tech getting my first SGL for Philo immediately revolting for an unusually high 7-turn anarchy and rushing the Pyramids. Republic was established in 1700BC, but by this time I discovered that the Byzantines and Korea were not on my continent and I popped no more techs.
I had to research MM, currency, construction, and polytheism while expanding which took 27 turns since I had to use the lux. slider for a while and had high unit upkeep. I reached the MA in 1025BC and even though I only knew 4 civs I was fortunate to trade for all first-tier techs, getting invention as my free tech. Research was then set for the upper brabnch of the tech tree. I also got an SGL for polytheism which I used for rushing the MoM in Moscow. I didn't have a good site for the Colossus and planned to get my GA with Cope's in Moscow. At this point I have 22 towns, 1 city, 56 citizens, 13 workers, 3 settlers, 2 warriors, 4 libraries, the Pyramids, and 2 luxes hooked up. I have exactly 9 tiles per city according to CAII making 122bpt at 90% science.
It then took 31 turns to research theology, education, astronomy and banking at which point I acheived sustainable four-turn research on gunpowder in 350BC. At this point I had 43 towns/cities, 155 citizens, 61 workers, 1 slave, 2 warriors, 2 galleys, 1 settler, 15 libraries, 4 universities, the Pyramids, MoM, FP, 4 luxes, iron and horses. I've got 8.3 tiles per city and 370bpt at 90% science.
I completed Cope's in Moscow in 207BC kicking off my GA. I then researched chemistry, physics, ToG, magnetism and metallurgy during my GA reaching the IA in 150AD. I made an error bumping science down when the GA ended and lost a turn researching metallurgy. I had met Korea by then and got industrialization as my free tech without buying nationalism. I now had 85 towns, 300 citizens, 97 workers, 1 slave, 14 settlers, 2 galleys, 4 MDI, 4 luxuries trading for a 5th, iron, horses, salt, coal, 29 libraries, 13 universities, 2 courthouses, 4 markets, 3 banks, 1 barracks, 1 aqueduct, 2 harbors, the Pyramids, MoM, Cope's, Newton's and the FP. I'm down to 6.9 tiles per city making 800bpt at 100% science.
I then researched the corporation in 4-turns, but then took 5-turns on electricity before resuming 4-turn researsh for the rest of the game, though some techs were close. Korea finally built a harbor gaining me a 6th luxury. The Byzantines never built a harbor, but I built one city on their island to trade for all 8 luxuries by the modern age. I had 112 cities and 900+ pop with about 7.4 tiles per city and had also had two cities flip to me. I got a third SGL for electronics which I planned to use to rush Seti in Moscow after it completed Hoover's Dam. I timed a pre-build for the ToE and Palace upon entering the modern age choosing miniaturization and space flight and getting nuclear power as my free tech after gifting everyone to the modern age. I made a giant mistake on my Internet pre-build as the Palace completed before the ToE. Luckily, it caused no lost turns, but I'm not likely to forget the build order of towns on pre-builds in the future. I was able to research satellites in 4-turns and after I rushed the Internet instead of Seti, I was able to get 4-turn research on synthetic fibers, the laser, superconductor and robotics for a launch in 890AD.
There were no wars at all in this game and I was able to claim 44% territory peacefully and could have got more if it was needed. I'm pretty sure this game will be beat and I'll be running MapFinder for another try. This time I'll go for 60%pangea and add-in Sumeria and France. Good luck, everyone.
