1.27
Going for 20K culture.
Link to Ancient Age spoiler
Warfare and Expansion
At the beginning of the Middle Ages at 825BC I was at war with Persia and with Arabia. I didn't expect to see much action in either of these wars: in the east Rome and Germany were allied with me against Persia; in the west Carthage and India were allied with me against Arabia.
In 800BC Carthage brought France into the anti-Arabian alliance. This was very good news. France would start sending troops through Carthage to reach Arabia. After a while I'd be able to attack a vulnerable France.
I'd started short rushing Mounted Warriors recently and had 12 at this date. A few of them were waiting at the Persian border for a Persian unit to wander past. In 730BC they got their chance, destroyed a Persian unit, and triggered my Golden Age.
A few Civs knew Feudalism and Engineering. Presumably these were Persia and Germany's free techs. So I researched Monotheism while I built up my military and watched France send troops toward Arabia. Unfortunately France learned Feudalism during this time so my MWs would be facing Pikemen, not just Spearmen.
In 590BC I learned Monotheism. My military was up to 29 MWs. I declared on France, then traded Monotheism to Carthage and India to get Feudalism, Engineering, and alliances against France from both of them. That would take care of all of France's offensive units, trapped in Carthage and India now
Even though she had the Great Wall France fell fairly quickly. I razed one city to make space for my intended future Palace location and captured the rest. In 470BC I took the Great Wall from France. In 430BC I took Hanging Gardens. In 410BC I got leader #1. I saved him to rush Bach's later on. And in 390BC I eliminated France from the game.
At the same date, 390BC, I learned Theology. My Golden Age research, combined with the AIs having spent a lot of time at war, had resulted in me keeping up with the AI research pace. Germany and Rome had recently made peace with Persia. So I made peace too and then traded Theology around to get Invention and 103gpt.
Next I built up the population in my intended new Palace city, moved almost my entire military there, and jumped the Palace in 290BC. My part of the world then looked like this:
Next I worked on building and researching for a while. I didn't want my next war until I both had Knights (by trading for Chivalry when possible, my own research was aimed at the 20K goal) and had used my saved leader.
In 90BC my leader rushed Bach's. By this time I had 25 Knights as well as 6 elite Mounted Warriors. Carthage was my next target because she had the Pyramids. I declared on her immediately.
Nothing special in this war. I got leader #2 early in it and used him for an army to enable Heroic Epic. My casualties were high but I was disconnecting and reconnecting iron and short-rushing MWs for upgrading - I stayed roughly even with my losses.
In 190AD Carthage was out of the game and I declared on Arabia, who had not yet learned Chivalry. In 250AD I traded for Metallurgy and decided to slow down while researching Military Tradition. Did lots of short rushing and in 300AD I was able to upgrade 53 units to Cavalry.
In 320AD Persia started a new war on me. I allied Rome and Germany against her and sent a few Cavalry to defend the bridge. Aside from that I'd ignore Persia for a while, wanted to clean up the western lands first.
In 330AD I finished off Arabia. In 360 declared on India. I went slowly, farming for leaders, but no luck. I took India's last continental city in 420AD, reducing her to one island town:
By this time I'd had a very large number of elite wins without producing a third leader. Yuk, just what I didn't want in a 20K game, a leader drought.
Still at war with Persia, I repositioned my cavalry and began invading her. This war was straightforward. Along the way I learned Steam Power and began building railroads.
During the invasion of Persia I decided that India would be my final "captive" opponent. I surrounded her island town and gave her peace.
I eliminated Persia in 560AD. Near the end of that war I finally got leader #3. I wasn't counting elite wins and can't be sure but suspect this was a record leaderless run for me. I used this leader for Universal Suffrage. After this there wasn't much for another leader to do for a while so I stayed at peace with my remaining rivals. I was now well ahead of them in strength and in tech, I could afford to delay hitting them for a while.
In 650AD it was time to continue. I declared on Rome and got leader #4 immediately. I slowed down until he was used. Then in 750AD got leader #5 and after that gave Rome peace.
Soon after, in 830AD, Germany sneak attacked me. No big deal, my forces were far stronger. I got leader #6 during this war then gave Germany peace in 990AD. At that time my world looked like this:
My military consisted of only cavalry and artillery. I'd now ensured that neither Rome or Germany could get rubber so it was safe enough to delay finishing them off until I needed leaders. And my military was strong enough that I could afford the long border I had with both Civs.
In 1180AD I declared on Rome, immediately got leader #7 and carried on to eliminate her in 1190AD.
In 1300AD I declared on Germany, immedately got leader #8, got leader #9 two turns later, and eliminated Germany after that in 1315AD.
20K Culture
During the final stages of the game I milked for score while continuing to add culture to Niagara Falls. After a while it became diminishing returns. Many of the late wonders improved my projected 20K date by only two or three turns. Still they added up and were worth doing.
Throughout the game I researched toward enabling culture 20K builds, treating military and milking goals as secondary most of the time.
In 1762 Niagara Falls reached 20K culture. Not a great 20K date in PTW. I didn't get a single ancient wonder. And I did poorly in the Middle Ages with a long leaderless run. Still, the game was easier than I expected for deity level. I never fell behind in tech and was able to control the game from the start of the Middle Ages, resulting in Niagara Falls making good progress on its own. And I did get a nice score to go with that 20K date
Culture improvements in Niagara Falls were:
Code:
[I] date improvement comments[/I]
2110BC Temple built + pop rush
1150BC Forbidden Palace built
975BC Library built
800BC Colosseum cash rush
570BC Cathedral cash rush
90BC Leonardo's built cascade, went for Sistine but missed it
70BC Bach's leader#1
30BC University cash rush
150AD Heroic Epic built
380AD Shakespeare's built
550AD Newton's built
560AD Universal Suffrage leader#3
670AD Smith's Trading built
690AD Theory Of Evolution leader#4
760AD Military Academy built
770AD Hoover Dam leader#5 (funny in Niagara Falls!)
850AD Battlefield Medicine built
900AD Wall Street built
1180AD Research Lab built
1190AD SETI leader#6
1255AD United Nations leader#7
1310AD Cure For Cancer built
1315AD Longevity leader#8
1355AD Apollo Program built
1360AD Manhattan Project leader#9
1435AD The Pentagon built
1460AD Intelligence Agency built
really, i need to get off my butt and do a decent spoiler so we can rightly compare. i at least owe you that courtesy if this is your last gotm. 
I'd rather have lined up on the border and seen how many I could take the 1st turn but Persia knew Nationalism and I wanted Rome out before they learned it too. I even sign Persia up against them to make sure I dont get sneak attacked. Rome (the city) was a tough nut to crack (cost me 6 or 7 Cavs), but was finally taken a few turns after the rape.
It's all about money.
I thought that my mistake was that I left Persians to be while attacking others. They were only nation capable of killing me and they did it at the end 
