The start location didn't look promising to me, so i decided to try my luck and venture southward. After 2 movements i saw quite a better spot, but to reach it i had to travel a little bit more. I finally settled Istanbul after 5 turns of wandering, SW-Sx4 of the original location. Totally worth it, IMO, because i could set up a 4-turner from the very beginning and i had plenty of river tiles.
The initial build order was warrior -> granary (barracks prebuild) -> settler -> warrior -> warrior -> settlers all the way. Cities were placed in a mixed ring: some at RCP3, some at RCP4, not the ideal choice in terms of minimizing waste, but the resulting locations were better for long-term growth: all the "core" cities except for one wouldn't need an aqueduct to get past size 6.
The first hut i popped gave me a much appreciated 2nd worker. Other picks, later on, were another worker and Literature - much useful because i could build cheap libraries without wasting turns into researching the necessary tech. The homeland AS were met, trades were made and i went on with the canonical research path: Writing, then CoL and Philosophy, then Republic, leaving to the AS the task of discovering Map Making.
Thanks to the rich homeland and the presence of libraries i could reach Republic in 1175 BC and, with 3 turns of Anarchy, i decided not to reroll. I also managed to research Math before hitting the QSC mark.
In 1000 BC, my stats were:
13 towns, 38 pop units;
1 settler, 8 workers, 10 warriors, 4 swords, 3 boats;
1 granary, 1 barracks, 2 libraries
132 quids, +3 gpt;
2 AS known;
missing Construction, Currency, Poly, Monarchy;
This is a shot of my empire by that time:
A quite unusual thing for me was to build the Pyramids from scratch in a core city. The idea was to trigger the Golden Age by either capturing or leader-rushing the Great Library later. However, this plan never went to fruition.
After Math, i went for Construction and Currency. With Babylon researching Polytheism, i got to the Middle Ages in 690 BC and swept all the 1st-tier techs thanks to lucky scientific picks: Monotheism from me, Feudalism from Babylon and Engineering from Persia. From there on, i would be going on the upper branch up to Navigation, while the AS would (hopefully) provide Monarchy, Chivalry and Invention.
A few turns later, two survivors of my suicide fleets made it across the ocean and got knowledge of Carthage, Mongolia, Arabia and France. One of these two went north and reached China, but then it was sunk by barbs; the other one went south, beat a buttload of barbarian galleys and managed to circumnavigate the whole far landmass and finally found safety in what was by then Ottoman China.
I sent my first campaign against Babylon. They went down quickly and by 190 BC they were reduced to OCC (not taking them down completely because of the freebies). In the meantime, Persia had built the Great Library. According to my original plan, that was excellent news, but i was already doing well in research; by that time, i was half-way through Astronomy. So i decided that pursuing a Golden Age by capturing the GLib and rushing some other wonder wasn't worth it anymore: it was better to keep Persia untouched as science partner and pursue the Golden Age by completing Newton's, in order to have an extra boost at the beginning of the Industrial Ages.
So, the new plan was: keep Persia and France alive, take over everything else (minus OCC Babylon, for freebies), form a RCP 5 around the Carthaginian city of Utica and move the capital there as soon as a leader was available.
By 50 AD Navigation was known and i launched immediately an invasion of China. I choose them because they were horribly backwards (still in the AA!) and they shouldn't have been much of an issue. By 320 AD China was gone, but the date is misleading: right before the invasion started, China had begun settling the northwestern tip of the mainland, so i waited for these cities to grow before capturing. In the meantime, i boosted my fleet and prepared for the next target: Carthage.
China was supposed to be my elite-fishing target, but an almost-failed attack forced my to strike with an elite unit and, unexpectingly, a leader popped out! Unable to move the capital (China wasn't worth it) i shipped the leader home and used it for Magellan's, de-facto abandoning Copernicus in the hands of Persia.
Along the invasion, a much smaller force was sent toward France, but their purpose was not to gnaw on French territory:
I founded a town in an open spot, rushed a harbor in it, then donated the town to the French. This is a trick i've used a few times in order to have trans-oceanic trade with an AS too stupid to understand the obvious benefit of building a harbor. Ironically, the nearby city of Dijon built a harbor only a handful of turns later
On the research front, two turns before obtaining Navigation i had traded Chivalry and Invention from Persia. It was clearly too late to wait for Gunpowder as well, so i gifted Persia and France to parity, researched Gunpowder myself at the fastest pace possible and donated it as well. The idea was to force the AS into researching Banking, and it worked: i could buy the tech the same turn i completed Theory of Gravity, in 360 AD. At that point, the palace prebuild was switched to Newton's and 2 turns later the wonder was complete; my Golden Age could finally begin.
I hit the Industrial ages in 440 AD and once again i lucked out the freebies: Nationalism to me, Steam from Persia and Medicine from Babylon. France and Persia were sold/gifted to parity, then i went for Electricity at full steam (gifted to all), then Scientific Method, then the upper branch to give the AS time for Replaceable Parts. In the meantime, Persia was so kind to provide Economics and Military Tradition, so i could build Smith's and, finally, steamroll some AS with sipahis.
Back to the war front, i moved against Carthage, then Arabia, then Mongolia. All of them had stragglers somewhere so it went on a little bit more than expected. Carthage fell first and the remaining 2 shortly after. The leader for moving the capital emerged and by around 500 AD (i wasn't taking detailed notes at that point) i had a fully fledged second core between former Carthage and Arabia. By 720 AD my campaigns were over, but my military still had to earn its pay: France sneak-attacked me twice and so did Persia, but at that time i was fully prepared and their vile attempt had the only effect of providing a training ground for my troops, with a pair of leaders for good measure.
Evolution was timed with the completition of Corporation and i could fish Atomic Theory and Electronics. Next turn, a spare leader was used to rush Hoover Dam in the homeland.
Persia did research Replaceable Parts at a time that let me hope that i could fish from them a 2nd compulsory tech, but it wasn't to be. They went for Communism at an annoying slow pace and i had to research all the rest by myself.
I entered the Modern Ages in 980 AD. Once again, good picks: Ecology for me, Fission from Persia and Rocketry from Babylon. I went for Computers, then Miniaturization, then the Robotics branch. The idea was to give time to Persia to research Space Flight and Synthetic Fibers, but it worked only half-way because Jerksees went for Amphibious War first, so only Space Flight was traded. I had a spare leader to rush Apollo so i could start building and prebuilding spaceship part immediately.
No problems timing the last prebuilds. Synthetic Fibers learned and spaceship launched in 1310 AD. The Firaxis score was 6k plus something, the Jason score was just below the 11k mark. Quite an enjoyable game, and my last one for a while
Here are some stats:
Tech progression:
4000bc: Bronze Working, Masonry (prerequisites);
3100bc: Pottery (research);
3050bc: Warrior Code, Ceremonial Burial (trade, Babylon);
2430bc: Alphabet (research); Mysticism (trade, Babylon);
2270bc: Iron Working (trade, Persia);
1990bc: Writing (research);
1950bc: Wheel (trade, Persia);
1675bc: Code of Laws (research);
1550bc: Philosophy (research);
1325bc: Horse Riding (trade, Persia); Literature (hut);
1250bc: Map Making (trade, Persia);
1175bc: Republic (research);
1025bc: Mathematics (research);
_825bc: Construction (research);
_690bc: Currency (research); Polytheism (trade, Babylon);
_690bc: Monotheism (scientific bonus); Feudalism (trade, Babylon); Engineering (trade, Persia);
_430bc: Theology (research);
_370bc: Monarchy (trade, Persia);
_270bc: Education (research);
_110bc: Astronomy (research);
__10ad: Chivalry, Invention (trade, Persia);
__50ad: Navigation (research);
_150ad: Gunpowder (research);
_250ad: Chemistry (research);
_310ad: Physics (research);
_360ad: Theory of Gravity (research); Banking (trade, Persia);
_400ad: Magnetism (research);
_440ad: Metallurgy (research); Economics (trade, Persia);
_440ad: Nationalism (scientific bonus); Steam Power (trade, Persia); Medicine (trade, Babylon);
_500ad: Electricity (research);
_540ad: Scientific Method (research); Military Tradition, Music Theory (trade, Persia);
_590ad: Industrialization (research);
_650ad: Corporation (research); Atomic Theory, Electronics (ToE);
_690ad: Replaceable Parts (trade, Persia);
_700ad: Steel (research);
_750ad: Refining (research);
_800ad: Combustion (research);
_840ad: Mass Production (research);
_880ad: Motorized Transportation (research); Communism (trade, Persia);
_940ad: Radio (research);
_980ad: Flight (research);
_980ad: Ecology (scientific bonus); Fission (trade, Persia); Rocketry (trade, Babylon);
1040ad: Computers (research); Amphibious War (trade, Persia);
1100ad: Miniaturization (research);
1120ad: Sanitation (trade, France);
1150ad: Nuclear Power (research);
1190ad: Laser (research);
1230ad: Space Flight (trade, Persia);
1240ad: Robotics (research);
1270ad: Superconductor (research);
1290ad: Satellites (research);
1310ad: Synthetic Fibers (research); launch;
Cities up to QSC:
3750bc: Istanbul
2590bc: Edrine
2270bc: Bursa (wines)
2110bc: Iznik
1950bc: Uskudar
1750bc: Izmit
1675bc: Aydin
1575bc: Antalya
1450bc: Konya (spices)
1325bc: Adana
1250bc: Sinop
1125bc: Kafa
1025bc: Ankara
Meetings:
3100bc: Babylon
2430bc: Persia
_630bc: Carthage, France, Arabia, Mongolia
_470bc: China
Kills:
_190bc: Babylon is OCC
_320ad: China
_650ad: Carthage
_670ad: Arabia
_720ad: Mongolia
Notable events:
3000bc: granary complete;
2900bc: capital is 5 fpt;
2670bc: 1st settler out;
2270bc: 4-turner is operational;
1125bc: established Republic;
_570bc: Pyramids
_210bc: Forbidden Palace
_370ad: Newton's (golden age begins)