I will try to find a stone, gems, high food start (wishful, I know). I will build the pyramids and run an artist specialist economy from the get go. The gems should provide enough early research capacity to get it up and running. I am also going to risk the U.N. to try for free speech.
I just finished my first game of this Gauntlet with a stone, a gems, 5 flood plains, bananas and corn in the fat cross. (I avoided the U.N. like the plague though.)
I made a few huge mistakes and numerous small, thus the rather average win date of 1939 AD. This is my prototype blue print for a OCC, PA Cultural win. It may need to be modified slightly for Deity level -- CS sling shot may not be possible for example, but since your PA partner is an AI and will do all the heavy lifting once the PA signed, anything beyond that point shouldn't be affected much by level. It may work best at Noble though Immortal, but the test run below matching this gauntlet was played at Noble level.
Here is your opportunity to learn from my mistakes (at least the ones I remember and tell you about):
Caution: Not every item below contains a mistake. Some of the steps below were actually executed flawlessly, though I can't think of any step right now that couldn't be improved.
1) Researched all the religious technologies to found all seven religions which is my first big mistake, but I didn't want my PA partner to found his own religion and refuse a Defensive Pact.
2) Completed The Pyramids in 1760 BC and switched to Representation.
3) Timed The Oracle to complete on the same turn as Code of Laws (1280 BC), and had Mathematics researched, so I was able to get Civil Service. By 1000 BC, Delhi's Culture was already 1004.
4) In 825 BC, I used the first Great Prophet to create The Church of the Nativity. This was a huge mistake that resulted in 5 Great Prophets instead of the perhaps two that The Oracle alone would have generated. I was probably a little unlucky in getting so many Great Prophets, since the percentage chance was less than 20% very early and went quickly below 10% and even below 5% after PA.
5) Built the Parthenon in 800 BC.
6) Completed the Sistine Chapel in 125 BC via a Great Engineer.
7) Used the last Great Engineer to build Globe Theatre, because I wanted maximum population and thus a high number of Artists ASAP. Traded the pure happiness resources for health resources and happiness resources with a building related health bonus.
8) Researching Divine Right (520 AD) was a pointless diversion. I recommend that it be ignored, since religion is not quite so important by the time an AI would get DR. Actually, I was researching it for my future PA partner and he did complete one of the two world wonders it allows. In retrospect, it may have been OK to research Divine Right after Liberalism.
9) Took the scenic route to Liberalism via Music, and others, so didn't arrive there until 980 AD, grabbed Military Tradition and made a DP with Roosevelt. I traded almost exclusively with Roosevelt so he got all World Wonder related Technologies far earlier than the other AIs; doing so got me about 12 Diplomatic points (at DP time). So with his Industrious trait, he should have built numerous world wonders, but he didn't seem to build them very fast.
10) In 1230 AD, I was able to bribe Roosevelt to use Free Speech for 540G. He stayed in Free Speech until 1400 AD when he switched to Bureaucracy, Mercantilism, and Free Religion.
11) In 1280 AD, Scientific Method was completed, but Delhi has monasteries for only two of the seven religions. This huge mistake costs many GPPs while switched from Pacifism to Organized Religion to build the Missionaries that are missing their Monastery.
12) In 1410 AD (Communism), I impulsively entered into a Permanent Alliance with Roosevelt without even considering an attempt to get him back to Free Speech. After a PA, it appears that there is no direct way cause your PA partner to change Civics. He has three "high culture" cities with about 40 Cpt. The capital has about 4000 Culture and 4 hammers (6 with B.) and the other two cities have about 2000 Culture each and about 25 and 15 B. hammers respectively. None of the cities have Culture multipliers yet.
13) Huge mistake #2 (actually more like #10): I pick the capital with 6 hammers, because its 2000 Culture ahead plus has 18 population and the city with 15 hammers, because it has 15 population, whereas the third city with 25 hammers has only 9 population. I should have taken the two high hammer cities, since we want our PA partner to build (late) Culture world wonders and Culture multipliers fast. At the end of this game, the city I didn't pick had nearly 300 Cpt without my help; I don't want to think about the Culture rate it could have had with the 10 GAs I settled in the capital instead.
14) Still at PA time, 3 GAs, 1 GP and 1 GS are settled in the capital and 4 GAs are settled in the 15 B. hammer city. The GP (2H) and GS (1H) help make the capital a 7 (10 with B.) hammer city. The Culture rate in these two cities go up to nearly 80 and 100 Cpt respectively.
15) In 1515 AD, Roosevelt and I complete Biology and suddenly Delhi can support many more people and Artists. This permitted going from about 10 Artists to maybe 15 Artists as the population increased, but health went down to -2 to -4 eventually.
16) In the following years, Roosevelt builds various world wonders and Culture multipliers spread primarily over his three highest hammer cities, not including his capital. Actually, he does build a few in his capital, but not enough. He also builds many Temples for the various religions I provided for him.
17) Radio is completed in 1740 AD. In 1750 AD, Roosevelt starts building The Eiffel Tower in his capital, but it will take nearly 40 turns to finish (even with Iron).
18) Mass Media is completed in 1760 AD. The United Nations goes into my build queue and stays there, so Roosevelt can't build it.
19) Roosevelt (at my direction) and I build every Technology that another Civ has that we don't. I don't know whether a PA partner can trade Technologies or only the human side of the PA, but I don't want to allow my PA partner the chance to do any Technology trades. Last thing I want is my PA partner to trade away Mass Media to an AI who might build the U.N. Also, I want to slow down all the AIs from completing the Space Ship, so no Technology trades from this point in time forward (actually may have been PA time forward), except old Technologies to Civs way behind in Tech.
20) Oops, there are still a few health related Technologies to be researched that will allow Delhi to grow even bigger and support even more Artists.
a) Completed Medicine in 1695 AD, switched to Environmentalism and started Hospital.
b) Completed Refrigeration in 1860 AD and start building a Supermarket.
c) Completed Genetics to get the +3 Health bonus.
d) Completed Ecology in 1912 AD and start a Recycling Center.
21) One of Roosevelt's cities goes Legendary in 1931 AD.
22) Roosevelt's capital goes Legendary in 1939 AD (8 turns later). Delhi's culture without hardly trying was over 130K at this point.
23) Near the end, Roosevelt hired 4 Artists in his capital increasing the Cpt just a little bit more than needed to win a turn earlier, but he fired 3 Artists two turns too soon and as a result it took three more turns to win. Don't rush to give credit to the AI for a Culture win; it doesn't seem to run Free Speech much (even Washington whose favorite civic is FS); it doesn't put commerce into Culture (slider) ever; it seems to blindly build a few wonders, and Culture multipliers in its high hammer cities and temples in all but the very low hammer cities. It obviously doesn't prioritize Technologies important for a Cultural win.
At the end, Delhi was supporting 17+ Artists.
GP tally was:
GE 2
GM 0
GS 2
GA 15
GP 5
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Total 24
Sun Tzu Wu
So the same turn Huanca thinks he should wipe me out, Hannibal gots enough votes.
), riverside gems. I also had a good amount of grassland. I was on a continent with Mansa and Ramsesses (ideal in my opinion). Both had either gems or gold in BFC, so tech pace was fast. I was able to trade for alot (Metal Casting, Machinery, Optics, Feudalism, Guilds, Theocracy, Replaceable Parts, Steam Power, Railroad, most of the worker techs and Lit I believe to name the important ones.)
I settled my GAs. I had 6 GA and 1 GE ready when I signed.
(The first one I wanted, the last three I didn't) 15GA (including Music. 14 settled, 1 Ramsesses bombed) 1 GE 1 GM (economics)
