Well, thanks to the strategy on this and related threads, I am improving and just posted a 740AD launch. I used mapfinder, but stopped it when I saw a grassland cow on a river, a nearby hut, and floodplain wheat just over a hill. I got an SGL researching CB on turn ten. I didn't get a very early settler, but did get one to move to the floodplain wheat by 3250BC. I also popped a banana-jungle city in 3500BC, popped masonry and built the Pyramids in 3250BC, researched myst in 3050BC, and popped writing in 2950BC. Philosophy was due in 12 turns.
Then things got bad. The map was divided in half by a two-tile land bridge surrounded by jungles and hills. Three civs and five luxuries were on my side, but the nearest of these were through the jungle to the north and the desert to the south. My six explorers couldn't find huts fast enough and my cities couldn't work more than four citizens with no luxuries, so I just kept expanding and making workers to chop jungles and make roads. I didn't pop code of laws until 1910BC, philosophy was on no research for 13 turns. I also had to research mapmaking, currency, and construction myself popping only polytheism in 1870BC. These all took 4-turns each and produced my last SGL with construction, finally entering MA in 1450BC getting theology as a free tech, education due in 9 turns and the MoM due in 11 turns.
The SGL built the Colossus, but this city couldn't help science much working only four tiles. Lack of luxuires was hurting. I entered my GA in 1175BC and by 1000BC I had banking and was 3-turns from astronomy. My 14 cities only had 43 citizens, but I kept two settler-pumps and three worker-factories busy getting to the luxuries and the other civs on my side of the map who had luxuries for trade. All the cities were on rivers and I had 8 libraries, 2 settlers and 23 workers, three scouts and a warrior. Invention, gunpowder, and chemistry took 4-turns each, physics and theory of gravity 5 each, and the other two back to four.
I started the IA in 270BC getting industrial as my free tech, coal was already hooked up and I had 25 cities, a settler, 43 workers, and three luxuries. Corporation was due in 5 turns and electricity in 6, so I researched corp first and then electricity and replaceable part in 5 each. Steel, refining and atomic theory also took five turns each, but all the rest were four turns each.
I reached the modern age in 530AD, timing ToE right to get synthetic fibers, space flight and miniaturization as my free techs. I mistimed my Internet pre-build by four turns and Seti was due in 4 with a US pre-build. I had 39 cities, 95 workers 5 luxuries, coal, iron and rubber. Uranium and aluminum were not in my territory, but my workers soon built railroads to make two colonies of each and an aluminum and rubber city flipped to me. The pre-build was slow because I thought the last four techs would take 5 turns instead of four in the IA. It only cost me one turn as I researched nuclear power in 5, and did all the other required techs in four turns each. Sometimes I had positive gpt with science maxed. I ended with 48 cities all but one at size twelve and fully rail-roaded and improved and lauched in 740AD with a 1720 score.
This might be my last attempt at this gauntlet, so I'm going to take what I've learned and try some other hof games.
