I am surprised no one else has started a spoiler yet. I know some of you guys are much further into the game than I am.
Yes, I'm in the early AD years and may finish soon. I got distracted by the holidays, and by playing the game.
I typically play peaceful and shoot for the stars, but this game took a life of its own when I got an advanced tribe on what turned out to be the Indian Island. Before I knew it I was at war with Indians and then Romans.
I am playing a war game now. I am still undecided as how to end. I have two scenarios in mind. One is obviously conquest of all rivals, the other is to destroy Romans, contain Indians (they are my key civ, their destruction will be very costly), keep peace with Aztecs and Americans while building a big empire and shooting for a space victory.
I like this kind of description - easier to read than most logs. Stats are also good. I'll provide both, especially economic stats around AD 1, so Hexer or other traders can compare.
I started off playing for the usual ICS + early conquest, but wanted a slightly different and longer game. I decided to build up the biggest possible AD 1 economy [see the main thread] that I could. Roughly, I wanted to steadily earn + spend about 500g per turn by then.
Results .... That's about what happened. I probably could've done a little better by focusing entirely on this goal, omitting all conquest expenses and maybe some ICS-ing. But this is not 100% clear - resources invested in elephants came back in the form of tribute and conquered cities ... maybe as good a return as vans ? Also, in hindsight, my strategy for this game was not really very different from many other games I've played, so much as I expected. It was fun, though.
4000BC: Hut = 50g, then move to river
3900BC: Carthage (1), @ alph, @ size 1 trick
3550BC: rushbuy
3450BC: Hut = Arc, Utica (2), alph -> CB.
3400BC: Hut = Barb Ho, dies vs my Arc.
3050BC: Malaca (3) [will omit next routine ICS-ing notes]
2750BC: Hut = nomads ! Science to 60% for early monarchy
2050BC: Monarchy (oedo year) ->Trade
2000BC: stats ... 8 cities, 2S,1w,1ho,6adv. Expect trade, MPE in 10 turns, then build flotillas, HG, LH etc. There is a gap in my notes to 1300BC, but I can probably find some data or saves if anyone wants that.
1300BC: MPE and get Mapmaking, Pottery, HBR, Wri [and Mas, Mys soon].
1000BC: Poly -> Lit. HG [Next turn?], can omit/delay LH.
stats .... 15 cities, 2S,5w,4misc,2tri, no losses... 12adv, monarchy. 1 outpost near the Romans.
875BC: 5 boats, 2 outposts, 50g tribute from Az's, 0 from Rome
850BC: Ele defeats city of Rome.
825BC: Agree to a [free] cease fire with the Romans, until I can defend my northern outpost from them, one near the Aztecs. They declare war a few turns later, but then pay for peace ... etc ... (it all goes well).
600BC: lit -> mys. I'm rich !! .... barb leader = 150g, +150g for cf with Az's, +150 for US peace [next turn]. 22 cities.
525BC: Pyr's.
475BC: First van = 224g, Carthage to NY.
450BC: phil -> repu -> mono
425BC: Sneak attack vs Aztecs, because stalled there. I prefer a shiny rep, but it is not necessary, especially with restarts off [less need for AI maps].
325BC: Van #2 = 368g [Carthage is approx size 5]
300BC: Colossus in Utica (my HG city, which produces hides. I'll groom it to be my STC). Van3 = 416g.
275BC: Mono -> Seaf. India goes down to ele's, dips...(after some help from barbs). Aztec capital builds walls, and is on a river. I was almost ready to attack, but slows my Az-conquest a LOT. I'll pause to make 3 diplomats, to take down the walls.
225BC: Republic. Can expect approx 400g per turn from vans from now on.
150BC: Romans down.
125BC: Mikes, which helps my cities celebrate + grow. Utica (STC) is now size 6, and producing one Hides van per turn, each destined for New York. I'm building up a ship chain for these super-vans (not so easy with triremes + Republic). Also, some roads towards the US to support lesser van traffic. At peace with US. Aztecs down.
100BC: Bridge Building. I only mention this tech because it helps a little with trade bonuses. Also, seafaring helps for the harbors, but engineering, iron working, math etc are pretty useless for my game plan.
AD 1: Stats + remarks: 54 cities, 23 vans, 16 S, 16 harbors. 5? WoWs. I didn't record all the trade bonuses, but IIRC:
Typical turn = 2 trade bonuses = approx 900g = 1 advance. The bonuses from Utica were maximal (eg 2/3 science costs).
AD 40: NY builds GL. Univ -> Sani (allows Utica more growth, but this is not really crucial, and Utica loses its Hides supply this turn anyway).
AD 60: LH; not really needed, but this may improve my ship chain effectiveness a little and eliminate any stupid trireme errors.
AD 60 thru 160: Trade increases. My Civ2 score is increasing approx 5% per turn from building more cities and harbors (35) for growth. I am now forced to research a bad tech [Feudalism, Invention or Navigation], so I set science at zero.
Bonuses per turn total approx 2000g and I have approx 50 vans in motion, mostly to and from the US.
I will probably play a few more turns just for fun and maybe build some more WoWs, and will then conquer the US. I don't see any fast way to increase my economy further without passing thru the swamp of Invention, Navigation, Democracy, etc.
Note to Magic G + EC players: If I had gone for EC, with the same starting strategy, I probably would have finished by about 100 BC. I had 4 ele's waiting in the US [eg the last AI survivors] at that time, but hadn't positioned them very well. Of course, I had spent some resources on Colossus + vans + ship chain, which could have gone into conquest. Without that, maybe I could've finished by 300BC or so, not sure.
Grigor was good at "lean EC" on this kind of map - wish he was still playing to see what he could do with this GOTM. Maybe 500BC ??
Glad to see you are still with us, G. Hope you can resolve those Mac/PC issues soon. 
