Turns 71-80:
Up in the tundra, our curragh discovers the ruins of a town. There must already be wars going on...
In 1200BC (turn 72) the Hittites know Polytheism. How on earth are they doing that?! Too bad I can't trade for HB and Poly, because in the interturn my research of Philosophy will finish, and then I could pick Monarchy as my freebee! Not as good as Republic, but still better than Despotism... Getting out of Despotism at this early stage would be quite nice, in particular for the extra food from the bananas and the fish, but it's only a dream: I have nothing to trade.
Turn 73 (1175BC) is an eventful turn: Philosophy finishes, and I am indeed the first, so I get CoL as my freebee, and -- in Delhi Brahmagupta appears!
Unfortunately I have no good use for him right now... I could currently rush the Colossus, the Oracle, the Pyramids or the Mausoleum, and I could trade Philo + CoL for Polytheism from the Hittites, so I could rush Artemis. However, none of these wonders makes any sense to build on our lousy island. I guess I'll keep him for the Lighthouse or the Great Library, both of which would be quite nice on a large map like this.
The tech situation also looks ok now:
I could get HB, Poly and 20g from the Hittites, but I decide to keep Philo and CoL as a monopoly for some time. Perhaps Map Making becomes available, and that would be much more valuable to me.
Another important decision to make this turn: should I go lone scientist on Republic, or full speed? My total research output at the moment is 16bpt, and Republic costs 995 beakers. In order to get Republic significantly faster, I would need to make at least 995/40 = approx. 25bpt. Is there any chance that I can get there any time soon? And if yes, is it really worth almost 1000 gold just to get Republic 10 turns earlier? With that much gold I could almost cash-rush the necessary army for conquering a new home...
So that's it: min-run on Republic!
And my curragh far, far away meets the Persians, which don't know Writing yet, but know HB! However, they want 6gpt and 12g in addition to Writing. No thanks.
Madras finishes the archer and starts another curragh.
In 1125BC, the Aztecs and America sign a military alliance against us... Well, as long as no one has Map Making, I don't really care...
In turn 76, Delhi gets hit by Jungle Disease. Darn, this will mess up my settler cycle... [mad] And the Hittites know Mathematics.
In 1050BC Delhi finishes the settler, but drops back to size 2 thanks to the Jungle Disease. I decide to let it build a spearman now, so it can grow back to size and at the same time do something against those pesty barbs, which keep appearing in a higher and higher frequency at the northern border.
In the interturn the Hittites had offered to give me Polytheism + 22g for Philosophy. That deal is too good to be true, as Philo is worth only 200b, while Poly is 400b. Do they know someone else who also has Poly, so it's no longer a monopoly to them?! I didn't want to make that deal interturn, as they might have sold Philosophy around, but now I ring them up and make that deal. Then I sell Philo to the Mongols for Horseback Riding and 40g. I still have CoL to buy Map Making (and if someone else besides the Hittites manage to get MM first, I can also get it for Polytheism...)
Also my curragh meets the first barb galley, but it survives.
Would have been a pity, after it has gotten almost around the world.
The Mongols now know Mathematics as well, and the Hittites own 345 gold. (?!?)
Turn 80, 1000BC: another eventful turn! I finally found my fourth town, Bangalore. And the Mongols dicovered Map Making! I get Map Making and 62 gold for Code of Laws, and then sell CoL to the Hittites for Mathematics and 352 gold... The Hittites and the Mongols don't know each other yet, so I was able to sell CoL twice at monopoly price...
So even though my 1000BC stats are not that great (4 towns, 5 population, 3 workers, a granary and a couple of units), I am the tech leader now and have a bank account of 574 gold. Republic is due in 43 turns, and I will rush the Great Lighthouse next turn. (Being the tech leader and the AI being so slow in research, I decided the Great Library doesn't cut it...) Bombay has just finished a worker, so has an empty shield box. I move Brahmagupta to Bombay and rush the Great Lighthouse. Starting next turn, my curragh will have 33% additional speed, and will be save from barb galleys, as now I can always end the turn on a sea tile. (Barbs as well as the AI don't attack ships on sea, even if they have enough movement left to get back into save coastal waters. An important trick to remember in order to avoid ship losses in the ancient times...!)
Now I thought a while about how to make best use of my tech lead and my big bank account... If I can get the AIs to fight against each other, while I develop patiently on my lonly island, the conquest of better land later on will be much easier. So I decide to use the gold for establishing a few more embassies and the tech lead for bribing the Iroquois and the Hittites into the war against the Aztecs and the Americans. Three of those four nations have early UUs, so the chance it quite high, that they will "burn" their Golden Age during Despotism....
Embassy in Karakorum: 50g, embassy in Persepolis: 70g. After I have embassies with them, I can now also see in F4, that the Mongols and the Persians are at war with each other. This explains the ruins I saw on the coast north of Persepolis... The land around Persepolis looks quite nice: a river, a cow, wheat, gold hill, wines...
-- but unfortunately that's going to be too far away?!
Unfortunately, the prizes for these military alliances were quite steep...
I do hope they will pay off...
But we now have three "hot" wars (wars between direct neighbors) on the main continent: Iros versus Aztecs, Hittites versus America and Mongols versus Persia, this will help a lot!