Challenger Class -
Well, I will say that starting with zero techs really sucks. Really changed my plans, as I doubted I'd be able to accomplish all that I needed, and get Oracle + Stonehenge in the same city now for a Civil Service slingshot that I'd toyed with. To top it off...
I moved the settler two SW to the forested hill, and wasn't happy. But, with no real better options in sight, I stayed there. Not any bonus resources, not many trees. Yeah, not happy at all, but oh well.
There was only one real great city site that I liked, to the south, which is where my 2nd city went, 3rd went to the copper. I didn't have any issues with barbs, having sent warriors to all city sites well before the settlers were built for them. That means that hardly any barbs spawned. I did see one barb axe in the N while my best units were still warriors, but I led him over to Monty with a spare warrior.
Research Path:
Agriculture
Mining
Bronze Working (nearby bronze allowed me to ignore archery)
Animal Husbandry
Writing
Wheel (Put this off too long, and almost got burned by it. Bronze doesn't help when you can't hook it up.)
Mysticism (Chopped Stonehenge)
Meditation
Priesthood (Oracle completed the turn before I even learned this)
Hunting
Alphabet
Now I normally never trade Alpha, but surprisingly, it was the only tech I had to trade. So I did.
Alpha + Meditation to Inca for Fishing + Archery + Mathematics
Alpha to Asoka for Poly + Pottery + Masonry (Yeah, no cottages yet)
Next turn, Alpha + Pottery to Saladin for Iron Working + Sailing
310AD learned Construction first. Traded it around and I got Code of Laws, Calendar, Monotheism, and a bunch of gold for it. I could have improved my tech pace by spamming cottages early, but I wanted to kill things, not research techs.
I stopped keeping track of techs at this point. In the end, Cavs/Rifles/Grenadiers were my most advanced units available. I did learn Biology, but only on the winning turn, so it made no difference...not like I was going to milk anyway, too boring for me.
Cities:
3960BC - Kyoto
1925BC - Osaka
1100BC - Tokyo
720BC - Edo
280BC - Satsuma
120AD - Kagoshima
All other cities were captured. I auto-razed two cities though.
Civics:
Once I got the option to use these, I never changed from them...
Hereditary Rule + Org Religion + Caste System + Vassalage + Free Market
OrgRel seems odd at first glance for a warring civ, but it helped me get newly captured cities up to speed, and I felt it was more valuable than turning 6xp into 8xp with Theocracy. Quick Courthouses would be more important to me. I'm usually a big fan of Bureacracy, but the capital sucked, and I didn't feel like moving the palace.
Religion:
I adopted Buddhism after Monty/Hatty/Sal/Vicky did. I kept it the whole time, even though Sal and Vicky eventually converted to other religions. I didn't found any religions, but I captured 3 shrines.
Wonders:
I built Stonehenge in 1525BC, but the Oracle was built by Hatty in 925BC before I even had the tech for it. I was hoping to get both of those...Oracle for CoL, and Prophet for Civil Service, but that just wasn't going to happen. I pretty much ignored most wonders after this. The only others I built were the Taj Mahal, Hanging Gardens, and Versailles.
Great People:
Well...I didn't take any notes on GP's. I turned Thebes into a GP factory. I know I used five GP's for two GA's, two Scientists for Academies, one Merchant for a trade mission. The other handful of GP's researched techs for me.
Wars:
580AD - 840AD I declared on Hatty first. I wasn't worried about Monty declaring on me, he and I were pretty decent friends at this point, and I was sure he'd go for the Incas first. Hatty had the Buddhist Holy City though, which is what I wanted, as she was spamming missionaries. I captured five cities, auto-razed one, then sued for peace, getting Drama + all her gold. I captured Parthenon and the Buddhist Holy City (with Shrine worth 22gpt).
1105AD - 1150AD Declared on Hatty again. Captured last two cities. She'd founded Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. She'd even made a Christian Shrine for me. I also captured the Great Library in her last city, Memphis, which also had almost 10 workers in it as a bonus. Hatty pretty much built my civ for me.
1185AD - 1220AD Monty had started a war with the Inca like I'd predicted, and the Inca asked me for help. I wasn't exactly ready yet, but I wanted one good friend, and this was my chance. Unfortunately, most of my army was in the S, and intended to stay there for a visit to Sal. I did capture two cities from Monty with some crafty moves, and declared war on Saladin during this time as well. Monty had way more troops than I did in the N, so I sued for peace and took what little gold he had.
1195AD - 1325AD As I said, I declared on Saladin while warring Monty. I captured five Arab cities, including his capital. I took Music + Gold for peace because Victoria declared on me.
1325AD - 1425AD Victoria sent a total of one Knight at me. Scary stuff. I couldn't get to her at all (because I'd made peace with Sal), unless I shipped an army by boat. So I just let her rot for a bit, and finally got peace by starving her coastal cities with a couple galleys. She gave me her gold to go away. I was busy up N anyway.
1370AD - 1445AD Declared on Monty again. I'd started a GA by building Taj Mahal just before this, and extended it to 20 turns with GP's. Captured seven cities, left him with that peninsula city that I didn't want to bother with at the time. All his gold for peace.
1445AD - 1500AD Declared on Sal again. Captured his last three cities, Sal is dead.
1500AD - 1580AD Declared on Monty and Victoria to kick this off the same turn I killed off Sal. Finished off Monty in one turn. Declared on Asoka a few turns later when my troops crossed Incan lands and reached his borders. I also started a third and final GA in 1505AD. I captured all but two of Asoka's cities, and left Victoria with three. Got everything they had for peace. All I needed was a couple of cities to come out of resistance now, and expand borders once or twice.
Final Comments:
The Incas were the only civ I never warred with. I usually try to make one good friend in every game, and he was the lucky one here. Somewhere around +15 or so.
I really wasn't impressed with the starting land, especially for the capital. I did enjoy the map overall, I'd not played a full Inland Seas map game before.
My tech pace was rather slow, as I only had two commerce cities out of my first six, both on the West side where nobody could pillage over borders. I could have easily improved tech rate by spamming cottages, I just find that strategy to be too simplistic. I was still able to gain a sizable tech lead through good trading, cash from capturing cities, and a few key GP. I think I only had 4 commerce cities, one GP city, and the rest just cranked out units.
The only navy I built was a few galleys to keep a lookout, leaving almost every city but border cities guarded by a single troop, a warrior in many cases. This allowed me to build a large army and attack in the N and S, instead of just one way.
The two obvious things I could have done to improve the results would have been cottage spam and milking. I don't like either though.
The End:
Domination in 1600AD
5017/108,378
Some pictures as well...
The six cities I built.
Messing with Monty.
End of Sal, and declaring on Vicky. I was going to wait a turn to consolidate troops, but the borders of her city would expand the next turn. By declaring on this turn, I was able to move the cats next to the city without trudging across expanded borders.
End of the Wars, 4 turns before win. I was at around 60% here, just needed two cities to come out of resistance and get a couple borders expanded.
Some final numbers.