I gave some tries since 2 days and i finally got something interesting. 3rd game had passed 80 turns, i finally decided to put land at low sea level and it reveals to be very beneficial.
I'm stuck in a sort of peninsula. 3 guys are on my continent and they gladly fight each other while they are friendly to me. My strategy consists in getting 2 other cities right after representation(1 built from capital and 1 bought). Then i gather 500
or enough gold to ally a cultural cs. That way, i can get the wonder bonus policy from Tradition right in time when i start the National college(after 3 libraries) around turn 55.
I'm now at turn 83, my next policy(7th one) in 2 turns will serve for a 4th city well placed north of my land around 8 iron, 1 silver and 1 gold(unique) ressource. This land is a real gem for this kind of victory. HS built very soon, i will put the PT in 2nd city and rush Sistine from Liberty finisher from Liberty in 3rd city. I'm pretty confident to finish this one.
My 2 real other tries were finished in a bloodbath. They were at medium sea level. I got eldorado once and got an amazing culture run(like 7 policies in 70 turns) with a very early cultural ally. But i was stuck in a wide open area with some difficulties to make other cities growing due to lack of food. I couldn't build a 4th one too. For my other try, i built the Oracle in my 2nd city and also got a nice culture run for 7 policies in around 80 turns. The problem is that Askia settled between 2 of my cities and cut off my trade route. I declared war to him but England joined the party some turns after. Fail.
Here is some toughts about this gauntlet :
-With an early culture ruin, it's possible to wait for representation before settling any other cities in only 33-34 turns. The capital has time to build a settler for turn 32-35 while selling everything to accumulate 500
in time too. Then you wait for representation to settle 2 new cities in 1 turn. I hard build libraries everytime. I prefer to keep
for other things. Maybe it's not optimal? But at deity you never knows. I didn't try any other early policy paths. I really wanted to try representation before everything else for the long run.
-Pick multiple lux mines or calendar tiles starting locations. Otherwise everything will be much slower. And preferably settle directly on a ressource and beeline that tech for a fast trade.
-Archers are your best friends. I build 3-4 archers from my capital around turn 40 when i wait for other cities to finish their libraries.
-I saw HS built in only 90 turns once(el dorado try). Main reason why i quit that game(2 turns away) but it was tedious anyway. Beeline theology and build this damn wonder ASAP.
-Going full military and conquer the whole continent can take a big load of time and i'm not sure this is the way to go. You need to finish under 300 turns to keep a chance to win so this may be a big guess overall.
That's my first 100 turns thoughts. I know it's good to settle a 2nd city really fast then go for representation for 3rd and 4th city but i really like to put a worker around turn 17 and sell stuff to rich AIs.
It's nice to play these settings because i really didn't know how to handle deity and culture in the last GOTM and i learned a lot. Cultural alone is not my cup of tea.