GOTM 49 First Spoiler - end of the ancient age

[ainwood]

GOTM 49 - First Spoiler.

To qualify for this spoiler, you must have reached the start of the middle ages. You must have contacts with all other civs, and know the locations of their capitals.

Please don't post any screenshots of the middle or later ages.

What were your aims in the early game? Did you go for peaceful or military expansion? Who were the major players in the rest of the lands?

 

[seven21]

Open - Goal - Conquest

Settled in place as not much evidence of anything better nearby.
Build - warrior/warrior/warrior/settler/
Contacts
2800 - Arabia
2070 - Zulu
1500 - Aztecs
1325 - Celts
1225 - Japan

Technology
Writing
Pot for Mas - Arabs
CoL
IW for CoL - Celts
CB/Wheel for CoL - Japan
Literature
Maths for Lit - Aztec
Phil/MM for Lit/Maths - Japan
HBR/Mys for Lit/Maths - Celts
Poly/Curr/Const for alliance with Zulu v Arabia

QSC
6 towns
11 citizens
8 warriors
1 nm
1 settler
2 workers

(not the fastest start in history!)

entered MA in 190BC

No wars until the same turn as MA when joined Zulu against the Arabs.

Iron hooked up and swords rearing to go!

 

[Nata]

PTW Open.
Goal: thought about 20K or fast research, but changed to conquest.

4000BC. It's an ocean. No 20K?
Japanese, Aztecs, Zulu, Celts, Arabs. No science Civs?

Settle in place, worker to BG, build warrior->granary-settler, research Pottery -> Writing.

3750BC. Warrior explores North. Yikes! Worker will chop forest for granary.
3300C. Pottery. Start Writing on min.
2900BC - Granary completes, start Settler.
2550BC - Utica founded at RCP4 near Cow.
Meet Arabs, Trade Alpha for BW.
2350BC - Leptis Magna at Western Fish.

1725BC - My exploring warrior dies to Barbs, but not in vain. Zulu contacts us, sells CB for 40g and Writing for 100g (we have 4 turns till it.)
Start Lit.
1275BC - Literature.
Trade Lit. to Arabs for contact with Celts, IW and 10g.
Trade Alpha to Celts for WC+5, trade Writing to them for Wheel+25g.
Trade Lit. to Zulu for TM and contact with Japs.
Trade Lit.+contact with Japs to Celts for Myst+HBR+20g.
Trade Lit. to Japs for contact with Aztecs.
Trade Lit. to Aztecs for 52g.
Trade contact with Aztecs to Celts for 30g.
Buy Math from Zulu for 130g. Start Currency.

1050BC - Colossus in Carthage (thought it would be handy with this bad start). Currency in 15 turns.
1025BC -
Trade Math+WM+10g to Japs for MM+TM
Trade MM to Celts for Philosophy+TM +10g.
Trade Phil. to Japs for WM+20g.

975BC - forgot to save 1000BC.
Have 6 cities, 15 pop, 1 settler, 3 workers, 8 warriors, 1 granary, 2 barracks, 1 library, Colossus.
900BC - Sabratha founded claiming the Iron.

730BC - Currency researched. Trade it+10g+WM to Celts for all missing AA Techs. Sell it to Arabs for 60g+WM, sell it to Zulu for 160g+WM. Have full map of our continent.
Enter MA.

Our cute little Civ at 975BC:

 

[Megalou]

@Nata
How weird: There is no information window for Utica in your screenshot.

It will be interesting to see how your postponement of republic/monarchy and (on the other hand) early MA affect things.

 

[Redbad]

predator

As I didn't like the surroundings much I started walking north. And north it was, turn after turn after turn.... Only mountains and hills. And then: desert. I'm not sure if it was the lack of food and water or just the disappoinment. Anyway the settler died in 3450BC in the arms of the worker.

 

[Shigella]

Predator

I was tempted to take the Predator Challenge, but I've got a couple more awards to chase.

@Redbad - My condolences. I was almost a victim of the same fate.

4000 BC
I was planning on going for Diplo in this game unless a good 20K opportunity presented itself (Sidenote: 20K in GOTM 48 was an unmitigated disaster, so I know I still have that VC to chase). Thus, I really wanted a more central capital with some chance of utilizing RCP.

Seeing that the water on both sides of the land bridge was salty, I decided to take a hike. Unless the map was heavily modded, I knew there wouldn't be much land to the east, so I started hiking North by Northwest

3300 BC
Still hiking. Meet the Arabs. One of their warriors starts following my settler and worker.

3050 BC (Yep - 19 turns after the start)
FINALLY founded Carthage on a hill next to a game forest WAY up north. Started research on - of all things - Bronze Working! I had no techs or cash to trade, and I figured I would need Numidians ASAP.

Thankfully, the Arabs leave me alone for a while.

2270 BC (end of turn) BW learned; start Alphabet

2070 BC Founded Utica on E coast.

1870 BC Arabs demand tribute - I cave.

1650 BC Meet Celts

1575 BC (end of turn) Alphabet learned. Traded it to Celts for Pottery and 23 gold. Started Writing.

1525 BC Zulu buy contact with me.

1275 BC Aztecs buy contact with me.

1225 BC Japan buys contact with me. Also, almost all the other civs learn Map Making, so my WM is valuable for a turn! Lots of trades ensue.

IW from Japan for WM and 8 gold.
Masonry and Writing (mostly completed) from Aztecs for WM and 2 gold.
Math from Arabs for WM and 3 GPT
WC from Zulu for WM and 4 gold
Traded Math to Celts for the Wheel and 12 gold.

1200 BC Founded Leptis Magna to claim horses.

1050 BC Founded Theveste to claim iron.

Also caught the Celts on the turn they learned Map Making, so I traded them my WM and 1 gold for Philosophy. Started research on CofL.

1025 BC (end of turn) Arabs demanded tribute - I called bluff and they DOW.

QSC stats 4 towns, 7 pop

900 BC (end of turn) Arabs and Zulu signed MA against me.

650 BC (end of turn) CofL learned.
Traded CofL to Japan for HBR, Myst and 23 gold
Traded CofL, 2 GPT and 25 gold to Celts for Poly
Traded Poly, WM, 4 GPT and 10 gold to Japan for Construction
Traded Poly, CofL and 3 GPT to Aztecs for Currency.
Still lack Map Making to enter the Middle Ages.
The first massive barb uprising occurs, but most of the heat in my neighborhood is taken by the Arabs.

630 BC (end of turn) A Numidian wins a battle on defense, so my golden age is on.

590 BC (end of turn) Zulu and Japan sign an MA against me.

570 BC (end of turn) Japan and Aztecs sign an MA against me.

310 BC (end of turn) Zulu and Celts sign an MA against me. I'm now at war with all 5 AIs. Arabs and Zulu want towns in any peace deal, so I continue the fight.

290 BC Crash to desktop at beginning of turn - reload autosave, no changes.

Auto-razed a couple of Arab towns in 250 and 170 BC.

130 BC (end of turn) Republic learned. Time for some peace treaties and more trades.
Republic to Celts for peace, Literature, Map Making and 125 gold.
Republic to Aztecs for peace, Feudalism and 40 gold.
Republic to Arabs for peace, Monarchy, TM, 230 gold and a slave.
Republic and 11 gold to Japan for peace and WM (finally get a view of the surroundings)
Signed peace with Zulu, charging them WM and 30 gold.

Revolted immediately during the interturn, drawing a 4-turn anarchy. No re-roll.

Summary:
A little late entering the Middle Ages, but I already have both governments and Feudalism, so the late date is deceptive.

Decent start on RCP around my capital, but the terrain is going to be a bear to improve. Arabs have much better terrain

Will continue with attempt at relatively fast diplo victory, but I don't think anything will be happening very fast on this map.

 

[Nata]

@Nata
How weird: There is no information window for Utica in your screenshot.

Yeah, that's weird. After I hit "Z" it dissappeared under Treveste tag.
As for Republic etc. - it was beaten out of Arabs pretty soon after, but that's for next spoiler. I think I desided on Currency because some Civs already had CoL & Phil but nobody would trade me CoL so I didn't want to repeat the research. And I figured as they've got CoL&Phil they'll get Republic soon.

RedBad - what a tragic story. Here's hugs for the poor souls. (((Settler))) (((Worker))).

 

[Marc Aurel]

@ Redbad - I sincerely join the condolences of Shigella. I only escaped this fate this time, cause I sucked in GOTM 48 due to my early hiking around and consequently swore : Never again (in the next 3 xOTMs) leave the starting point.

 

[Kingsley]

Hello All. My first post on Civ Fanatics and although I've started a couple of GoTMs before this is the first one I've kept a log of with a view to submitting. As it goes, I'm quite please with my AT, although the MA doesn't seem to be going as well, but that for next weeks thread...

I'm playing with vanilla Civ3 btw...

4000BC My worker moves North. Seeing no obvious advantage in trekking North, Carthage is settled in place. Begin by building a warrior and researching Wheel.

3000BC There are no near neighbours and no obvious land to expand into. May need a few small cities in the hills. Ivory needs to be secured. Wheel was possibly a mistake as first tech. May well have been more productive to get BW and IW first.

2850BC Utica founded 4 tiles East of Carthage. Begins building Pyramids as a pre-build for a granary.

2800BC Meet Arabs. Trade Mas+Alpha for WC+BW+25G

2270BC Buy Pottery from Arabs for 57G+1GPT

2070BC The Arabs are rapidly out-expanding me (4 cities to my 2), are 4 techs ahead and won't sell me any contacts. Argh!

1700BC Leptis Magnor founded 4 tiles West of Carthage.

1350 Hoplite victory over Arab warrior trigger GA. Far to early too be of any real use. Ho hum. (The Arabs had declared war some turns before after I refused tribute. I forgot to log the exact date).

1125BC Theveste founded.

1100BC Hippo founded.

925BC Meet Aztecs. Buy CB, Writ & HBR for 179G+3GPT.

690BC Leptis Minor Founded.

670BC Buy Myst, Phil & Lit from Keltoi for 7GPT+51G. Japan and Zulu each declared against me several turns ago in alliance with the Arabs (I don't seem to have logged exactly how or when I met the other civs). I have been beating the Arabs back with ease whilst continuing to expand but have not yet been able to mount a counter attack. Hopefully in the next 10 to 20 turns. Their ivory city looks awfully exposed...

590 Make peace with Zululand for Lit+2G. Everyone else already knows Lit so the chances of it still being worth anything in a couple of turn are remote and even though Shaka posses no immediate threat, peace seems prudent.

470 As troops gather at Theveste for the long awaited counter attack to decisively end this war, I get news of a barbarian uprising near Leptis Minor. The treasury is nearly empty and there are no completed improvements in Leptis Minor, so despite losing shields I withdraw the garrison and let the barbs do their worst.

450 Buy CoL from Keltoi for 7GPT+13G

430 Barbarian hordes had massed near Leptis Magnor as well! Fortunately they attacked the Arab ivory city. This is definitely my first target in the counter attack now. I ignore an incoming Arab column. I have sufficient defenders if I use them wisely. Mount the attack on Anjar!

350BC Buy MM from Zulu for CoL+2GPT+6G.

330BC Anjar is raised as I take it. Frustrating; I'd hopped to install a new governor. Saladin immediately capitulates: 2 techs+11G for peace.

270BC Enter the MA with Monarchy the only tech I don't know that any AI does.

As I say, I'm quite pleased with my Ancient Times. It's into the Middle Ages I start making bad mistakes. Staying up playing all Friday night with a bottle of wine probably didn't didn't help my decision making but more of that next time. The closest screen shot that I've got to 270BC, comes from 10AD and so is probably not appropriate to post in this tread.

I hope this post is close to the format you want for these spoiler threads. If I have got anything wrong, please let me know and I will endeavour to improve my style in future.

 

[jesusin]

Wellcome, Kingsley. Your log is very clear, IMHO.

Vanilla, open, going for Conquest.

4000BC: Nothing is going to make me move at least 3 times so I settle 001 on place. Bad start, so settlers as soon as possible, keeping 001 small for a future FPJ. Researching BW and then IW for early wars (small pangea and UU). Hope to wipe them all with swordmen in AA.
3350BC: See cow.
3150BC: BW. Go for Pott instead of IW, as no early war was expected anymore, (Pot was an error).
3100BC: Gems connected.
2900BC: 002 built N of cow. Dyes seen.
2800BC: Ivory seen.
2750BC: Arab met. Pot and CB gotten for Maso. I did not trade WC for Alph, and couldn’t get such a deal later on :-(
2190BC: Decide to go for war with Swords, as SH are expensive against fortified Spears.
1870BC: IW. Go for Maths, to be able to trade.
1600BC: 003 built W of Iron.
1525 Arab ask for gold, answered no. They dow.
1450BC: See the N tip of the continent, other Civs are W of Arabs.
1400BC: Maths. Go for Wheel.
1375BC: 004 built on the SE tip of the continent.
1350BC: 005 built on N Ivory.
1300BC: Zulu scout, got WC, Writ, Wheel for Maths. Go for Curr.
1200BC: GA started.
1000BC: Zulu traded HR, Myst, Phil, CoL and MapM for 33 gpt. I dow immediately.

Almost always 100% research, as money came from burnt barb camps.

Production in my first 2 cities:
War-war-war-settler-war-war-worker-SH-SH-SH-settler-Swo
Granary-Temple-Settler-Worker-Barracks-Settler-Swo

QSC stats:
5 cities, 15pop, 3LUX, Iron, Set, 3Wor, 4 Swo, 5SH, 4War, 1cat, (1e,4v,9r).
1 granary, 1 temple, 1 barrracs.
74 territory, 206 cult, 4 cpt, 75g, 36f in the box, 89p in the box.
All 1st and 2nd tier techs, 4 3rd tier techs, Curr in 3 turns.
pro75, mfg32, in GA, 221 points, QSC 2753. 2 Civs known, no embassy.

Slow and boring start, indeed.

Afterwards, I took Mecca (maybe I should have left them finish the Pyramids there) and tried a FPJ in 800BC… only to find my capital in 002 instead of Mecca!
I really wanted to understand that, so I tried some variations and I disqualified myself from submitting the GOTM file. Here are my tests:
- 002 4pop, near 001, building FP. Mecca 6 pop (foreigners), far away. Palace goes to 002.
- 002 6pop, near 001, building unit. Mecca 7 pop (6 foreigners), far away, building FP. Palace goes to 002.
- 002 6pop, near 001,. Mecca 7 pop (6 foreigners), far away. Palace goes to 002.
- 002 4pop, near 001, building FP. Mecca 7 pop (6 foreigners), far away. Palace goes to Mecca.

I don´t think I understand it better now.

 

[Shigella]

@Kingsley - Welcome! Nice first post! Don't worry too much about required format, as individual preferences vary.

@jesusin - Refer to this thread http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?threadid=47304
Make sure you read all the way through, as SirPleb discovered that the number of troops garrisoned in a city influences the target for the FPJ.

Also note that CivAssistII has a handy little utility that calculates all this for you.

 

[tao]

1.29 Open

Another strange/bad game. I settled in place and researched pottery full speed - not yet knowing how little food was available. I built warrior (explore), warrior (mp), granary. The explorer finds ivory 3450bc, same turn we learn pottery and start min research on mathematics. We met the Arabs 3200bc and got bronze working for masonry.

In 3000bc, I couldn't resist the temptation to capture 2 unguarded Arab workers, only to learn that they are next to 2 Arab warriors - luckily across the river. Both warriors attacked, both died, and not only did I get 2 precious slaves, but my warrior was promoted to veteran.

In 2800bc, I had my ivory town connected, and without further skirmish, Arabs agreed to peace 2750bc. And they added in ceremonial burial, warrior code, and their 10g.

The victorious warrior continued his exploration eastward and between 1900bc and 1700bc met Zulus, Keltoi, and Japan .

The min research on mathematics completed 1700bc and I traded it for Aztecs contact, wheel, horseback riding, iron working, mysticism, and writing.
I stop research and just collect money.

In 1425bc the Aztecs sell me map making for my wm (I explored a lot) and 92g. Trading gave all maps and most of the cash back.

In 975bc I use my min research cash reserves to buy/broker the remaining AA techs and enter Middle Ages. I start min research on republic.

I run a puny little civilization with only 4 towns and pop 11 (plus 1 settler).

 

[jesusin]

@Shigella Thank you very much! That explains it all.

 

[Salte]

I gave up on this one. I enjoy a challenging start, like gotm 48, but this was just too much for me. Two productive cities, a long way from fresh water and nothing but hills. Well, well, more time for cIV.

 

[Chamnix]

Open Class.

Without seeing anything better to move to, I settled on the spot. I originally planned to go for domination, but about 15 turns in, I perversely decided to try for 20K by the eastern cow (with no fresh water). My capital built warrior, granary (this was already well under production by the time I changed to 20K), settler, then alternating workers and warriors until Utica was size 6 and fully improved.

I also (probably mistakenly) did not go for Construction right away. Instead, after researching Pottery, I did a minimum run to Writing, then maximum to Literature. Along the way, I traded for important things like Bronze Working and Ceremonial Burial. After Literature, I shut down research and waited for the Great Library. At 10 spt at size 6 in Despotism it was very slow going, but when I finally completed it in 290 BC, it brought me all the way to the Middle Ages.

Important 20K Dates:

-2630 Utica founded.
-2030 Temple
-1375 Colossus
-1175 Library
-290 Great Library

 

[Twonky]

Predator class (first time), conquest (first time) - I took the challenge

Worker looks north, sees more crap, I settle in place. Build order is Warrior (goes W/NW), Warrior (goes E), Warrior (MP), Warrior (N), Settler, Barracks.

3300: Pottery learned
3100: meet Arabs and see their adorable lands
2800: Utica founded N of cow
2630: BW learned
1950: meet Zulu
1870: Alphabet learned, trade for WC and CB
1700: meet Aztecs
1650: Leptis Magna founded on hill N of western fish
1550: meet Japan
1500: Arabs demand gold and dow upon denial. I was tempted to actually wage war, but I kept it phoney as I didn´t want to start the GA in despo.
1475: meet Celts
1450: Writing learned, trade for Myst, Wheel, IW
1375: Theveste founded near Ivory
1150: Hippo founded near Iron

QSC-stats:
5 towns with 13 citizens (5 happy, 4 unhappy) and 3 Barracks
2 Workers, 4 Warriors, 1 Archer, 9 Numidian Mercs
9 techs, not even including all first-tiers but Lit due in 1 turn

950: Literatur learned. It´s a monopoly, so I can trade for Poly, Masonry, Maths, Phil, MapM, HBR, Worldmaps and change
630: peace with Arabs+Monarchy for 7gpt+36g, I revolt for 4 turns of anarchy
550: adopt Monarchy, buy Construction for Monarchy, Mecca builds The Great Library, Research is shut down
470: dow Arabia, thereby breaking the gpt-deal...
430: capture Mecca, start GA and learn Currency and CoL from the Library, which brings me into the MA

Now what a crappy start was this? The most urgent plan now is to make Arabia my new core.

 

[denyd]

Wow, that poor start sure did limit growth. I thought my 7 cities with 4 settlers on the march would be middle of the pack.

Condolences to Redbad for your early loss and welcome to Kingsley.

I'll put together a proper narrative and post it later today as to the exploits of Hannibal.

 

[denyd]

Hannibal fidgeted as he awaited the announcement of who would lead the next colony team. For nearly two years he had watched as others had been chosen as leaders and felt he was due another chance soon. His last attempt (GOTM 17) was incomplete due to a failure of the astronomical survey team to notice the nearby black hole which would soon devour his assigned world (HD crash mid-game caused a DNF) and he was lucky to evacuate his entire team before the planet vanished from known space.

As Mursilis announced the new team, there was an air of anticipation throughout the room and a sigh of relief from Hannibal when his name was once again called. At a pre-launch planning meeting, Hannibal discussed expansion strategies with Gozpel and it was decided to dedicate maximum effort to city expansion, while sacrificing military, infrastructure and science when necessary to create as large as empire as possible. Though the initial landing site offered little growth benefits it was decided that traversing the countryside in search of the optimum site was not a viable option and that a Capital relocation would probably be necessary.

With a soft thump Hannibal’s colony pod settled into the soft grassland. Here is where we shall begin he thought. This spot will provide significant commerce with the available gems and will serve as a nice canal city. He sent his work team to improve the nearby bonus grassland and began training a reconnaissance team to survey the local area.

Thor felt honored to be chosen as the initial explorer for Carthage. He decided to head NW along the coast to try to avoid the lands ill suited for new cities that seemed to be to the north. The discovery of local sources would please Hannibal as they would provide additional commerce as well as a valuable trade commodity on the world market. Odin, the second and final scouting warrior headed SE to quickly discover the end of the continent and an excellent city site with a stock of cattle. As Odin began retracing his steps Thor spotted an Orange warrior and contact had been made with the first of Hannibal’s neighbors, the Arabs. After a quick exchange of technologies (Alphabet for Ceremonial Burial & Pottery), Thor continued NW along the coast. In 2850 BC, Hannibal was pleased to oversee the founding of Utica as his empire doubled in size. With granaries in both cities he would soon be able to produce new settlers at an increased rate.

Odin after discovering the SE end of the continent was content to remain near Carthage with only local scouting and settler escort duty to keep him busy. Thor on the other hand continued NW, soon to meet Celts and acquire new technologies (The Wheel, Bronze Working & Mysticism) from them. With the discovery of Writing in 2270 BC, Hannibal quickly parlayed that into contact with the other three tribes (Japan, Zulu & Aztecs) and additional knowledge (Iron Working, Warrior Code & Horseback Riding) to become the technology leader of the new world.

The knowledge of iron working uncovered a source to the N and Hannibal hurried a new settler to claim the source before the Arabs could reach it. After escorting a settler to found Iron City, Odin continue NE to discover the Great Northern Desert and spot a barbarian village on a horse site. Meanwhile Conan (MP Warrior) was trained and escorted another settler to Ivory City on the coast. With the settling of Santa Cruz on the coast, Hannibal now had the southern coast claimed up to the Arab lands. Now was the time to expand to the north.

A quick trade of his WM to the Zulu, who had beaten him by a single cycle to Philosophy, touched off a flurry of trades where Hannibal acquired technologies (Code of Laws & Map Making) and a nearly complete map of the continent (Shaka wouldn’t trade his TM). News of the completion of the Oracle in Zimbabwe in 1300 BC signaled the beginning of the World Wonder Race among the other tribes.

After his long journey from the Celtic lands back to Carthage, Thor was dispatched north to scout the lands there and discovered dye & silk sources as well as a nice area for future cities, though they might be a bit corrupt as they would be far from Carthage. In 1325 BC Conan died defending Iron City from barbarians and the nearby Odin quickly replaced him as the city MP. With the discovery of Mathematics in 1300 BC, Hannibal returned to the trading table and dealt for Polytheism & Literature and soon with the founding of Sabratha (city # 7); he had reached the initial optimum city number (pre-FP). As four settlers headed N and the end of the third millennia was reached the empire of Carthage was spread across seven cities defended by three warriors.

In 875 BC, the first of what would be many demands for tribute was delivered, this time by Shaka. In 750 BC, the Aztecs completed the Great Library touching off a wonder cascade with the Celts building the Pyramids and the Arabs adding the Great Wall (oh great). In 690 BC after a round of Japanese blackmail, news of numerous barbarian uprisings throughout the world reached Hannibal. Luckily, none were near any cities of Carthage though a couple sets of barbarian horsemen were seen by Thor raiding a Celtic city. A minor trade with the Celts in 610 BC netted currency and by joining Montezuma in a fake war against the Zulu, Hannibal acquired Construction in 510 BC and entered the Middle Ages. The remainder of the BC period was highlighted by the acquisition of the Republic, a revolution from despotism and three more instances of blackmail concessions.

The future was still undecided for Hannibal. He had not yet chosen a path to victory at this time though he had eliminated the cultural options and his lack of research capability did not bode well for a spaceship option. He was left with but three options, diplomatic, military and time limit. His population did not seem adverse to war, though their only experience was not sufficient to judge future reactions. Only time will tell where Hannibal’s fate would lie.

Note: For those unfamiliar with the storyline a quick synopsis, back in COTM 1, Mursilis, leader of the Hittites began this continuing saga by leading his tribe to Alpha Centauri where he established the Galactic Colonization Center, which would serve as the academy for colony leaders to unclaimed worlds. There are over thirty tales of heroism and perseverance (and a couple of how not to do it’s) in this anthology with more being added each month.

 

[Megalou]

Open,

Interesting map, this one. I think it's one of the best I've seen in GOTM. I had 6 towns in 1000 BC, 4 of which were at RCP4. Two granaries, in capital and in Utica by the cow.

I employed my usual domination tactics, working with the tiny core area to get a lot of mounted units prepared to explode like a balloon of milk chocolate to give the world that pretty brown tone in one fell swoop.

My confidence in my own ability to generate early palace jumps to top locations is severely limited. I feared the very same thing that happened to jesusin would have happened to me. A successful jump would have required a big army of weak units and it would almost certainly have affected research negatively (before you succeeded.) The things that deterred me from trying a jump were:
* The citizens in Mecca would only count as ⅓ compared to the citizens in my pathetic home area.
* There would be very few towns that could be considered "close" to Mecca (within 7 tiles, giving ⅓ "point of likelihood" each)
* A big garrison in Mecca, each unit giving ⅓ "point of likelihood," would almost certainly have caused a flip
* Keeping the size of the core towns down would feel awkward, having worked patiently to get the size up.
* I did not plan to do a lot of research beyond the Ancient Age in this game.
* C3C tactics tend to influence decisions about FP in PTW too.

To build an FP near Carthage for a later palace flip was an alternative, but when I decided to build The Great Lighthouse I didn't feel I could spare the production.

A few things did happen in the ancient age though. From my log:

3000 BC - 2 Arabian workers start to mine the wheat. We capture them. (Hello tao!)

2950 - Our new workers try to escape towards Carthage (rivers should stop attacks), warrior 1 W towards mountains.

2850 - Spearman in Medina. /.../ Warrior 1 retreats along small mountain ridge. IT: 2 Arab warriors chase him.

2710 - A barb camp has formed close to our eq-workers, not in their path but behind them.

2510 - The Arab warriors head off towards the barb camp. The chasing barbs have clearly lost the scent of our eq-workers.

2070 - Too many Arab warriors (5). We sign for peace for contact with Celts and 8 gold, giving Writing. Celts: Alphabet gets us Warrior Code, 4 gold. Writing gets us contact with Zulu, 1 gold. Zulu: Writing gets us almost nothing (9 gold). Zulu has all contacts. /.../
(Even an early game coward like me can declare war when civs start so far away from each other.)

610 - Zululand demands, we depricate, and they declare.

550 - Incense connected. Uprising. 24 horsemen outside new town. Republic is one turn. We make some embassies. Japan threatens us and we call their bluff. We lose...how much? I don't understand. Republic discovered. We trade everything, except from Zulu. Strange: When we traded, Aztecs went from Polite to Annoyed. We probably became power leaders right there and then. Enter Middle Ages. We revolt and get 5 turns. No re-roll. "Researching" Monotheism.

I did no 40-turn research. Republic took around 18 turns.

 

[Twonky]

Strange: When we traded, Aztecs went from Polite to Annoyed. We probably became power leaders right there and then.

Some thing similar happened to me in my game. I traded a well-known AA-tech (don´t remember which, maybe Monarchy) to the Celts and the Aztecs for money (I think around 90 gold and 70 gold).
Both their attitudes dropped right away. I´m really clueless as to what caused this, but us becoming powerleaders through trades like mine seems rather unlikely imho. Strange indeed.