The situation at the dawn of Middle Ages was kind of odd: the AS with the best research potential were some of the non-scientific ones (China, Iroquois, Arabia) while the scientific ones were all backwards. Moreover, the Middle Ages had came when many patches of land were still unsettled and barb camps were present. Therefore, the barb uprising was going to have an impact over the well being of some AS and, once again, the scientific ones were those who would bear the brunt... with the exception of Mongolia, who got the absolute worst: all its road infrastructure was pillaged, its whole work force was slaughtered and all its cities, with the sole exception of Karakorum, were overwhelmed by horse barbs.
Worse still, Karakorum was stuck into building a great wonder which would, later on, cascade into Sun Tzu... at 3 spt. It was curious to see a civilization that, in the real middle ages, built the biggest empire ever, remain in a sort of limbo with no new roads built, no new towns founded, its northern area being slowly colonized by other powers and its southern area completely left untouched.
Even so, i was still confident to obtain a very early end date for a Diplo victory. All i had to do is to expand fast enough, build a 2nd core fast enough, hook up resources fast enough and research fast enough. Not exactly easy, but it isn't supposed to be
During the late AA, i had amended my usual strategy of "military first" by building a library first in some cities. This wasn't only meant to increase my research potential, but also to avoid, in short terms, cultural pressure from scientific neighbours and, later on, to have enough culture to keep the conquered cities at bay without large amounts of MPs. However, the immediate effect was that i didn't have the usual military might. Though i had some maces (mostly upgraded warriors) and a pair of mercs, these few units had to be diverted to counter the waves of barbarian horses that were about to come. At the end of this phase i had gained several elite maces and a pair of elite mercs, by losing only 1 mace and 2 reg warriors.
My planned strategy was to strike at Iroquois first, in order to make Salamanca my new capital with the help of a leader. A RCP-5 around it was already there for the most part: i only had to move a pair of cities and build a new one to have it at full potential. At the right time, Carthage would be prebuild a wonder and then, after the palace jump, switch to the Forbidden Palace and complete it next turn. Added bonuses were the completition of Pyramids in Salamanca and the possibility to hook up with China and Arabia in order to start feeding them luxuries. With all these added benefits, the possible alternative candidate, Berlin, wasn't even taken into serious consideration.
In order to save bucks for research, i decided to go for foot units only. This choice fitted well with my research strategy that consisted of shunning Chivarly and going directly for the upper branch until Astronomy, in the hope that the AS would research useful stuff on the lower branch.
In a nice supporting attempt, the Iroquois decided to anticipate my plan by launching a pathetic excuse for a surprise attack on a border city. Needless to say, i crushed the wannabe invaders and also triggered my golden age with a successful defense with a merc, that also got promoted to elite status. Eat that, Hiawatha
In 570 BC the leader for the capital jump was there. In 490 BC Salamanca was captured. A few turns later, Carthage was ready to switch to FP and the capital was moved to Salamanca. In 390 BC, while still fighting the Iroquois, i opened a 2nd front against Germany. A second leader came a few turns later and was used to rush Copernicus in Carthage. Roughly at the same time, both Iroquois and Germany were reduced to OCC. Next target was Russia, who fell quickly and without complications. During that campaign i fished the 3rd leader, used for Newton also in Carthage. In 50 AD, Russia had become OCC as well.
A few more words need to be spent about research. After completing Astronomy, in 430 BC, the situation wasn't exactly what i'd hoped for, because the AS had gone en-masse to Monarchy first and only after they went for Invention, and at a slower pace than expected. With Invention being known only 2 turns before Astronomy, i decided to go for Gunpowder and Chemistry by myself, at full speed, and to donate them to the AS. My bet was to have the AS research Banking and possibly Metallurgy while i would go for the rest of the MA techs. It worked, to some extent, because China went for Banking, but then none of them researched Metallurgy in a useful time, they went for the optionals instead. Even so, i reached the Industrial Ages in 110 AD, an absolute record for me.
At this point i made some quick calculations and i found out that, indeed, i had a serious chance to beat the all-time fastest end date for a Diplo victory. All i needed was to fish both the first-tier techs from scientific bonuses; with a pristine reputation, a high income and a buttload of resources to sell, buying them wasn't a problem. One by one, i gifted the scientific AS into the IA, and it went even better than expected: 2 instances of Nationalism (one of them being Germany), plus one of each of the remaining techs. Germany was OCC and connected, and i could buy Nat for all the optionals, plus all the resources, plus all the luxuries, plus a buttload of gpt that i recovered almost entirely by selling them the rest of the IA techs. Same story for Russia (Steam), while the Ottomans were happy to shell out Medicine in return for Nat + 2 optionals. Of course, any AS that had a chance to research some useful IA stuff was gifted to parity.
I said "better than expected" because having Nationalism widely known would have meant no AS turns wasted into researching it and, by consequence, Rep Parts resarched earlier and a 2nd IA tech researched by the AS. Maybe. Or maybe not: once again, the AS proved themselves to be too fond of optionals; Rep Part was known only in 450 AD and, although i left open the path to Flight as long as i could, they shunned completely that tech and went for a 2nd wave of optionals. Fortunately i didn't need the 2nd tech for making it in time, as i reached the Modern Ages by 640 AD.
A thing worth reporting is that i made a stupid mistake that *almost* ruined everything. Because of a miscalculation, i found myself out of time for starting the UN prebuild, so i had to rely on a leader to build it. The mop-up of the Iroquois, plus the planned Mongol campaign were, in theory, enough material to fish for it, but victory after victory (all elites) no leader was emerging. The Mongols got one instead, with their *only* successful defense with an elite unit. With only 2 Mongol cities left and 7 turns before reaching the Modern Ages, the long-sought leader finally came. Bullet avoided.
In 640 AD, with the leader ready, the only obstacle still on my path was fishing for Fission but, with all the 4 scientific AS still alive, the probability was on my side: 81/256 for failing, less than one third. Fingers crossed, i gifted the scientific AS one by one, and at the third attempt i got what i was looking for.
The final move was to kill off Russia (still furious), sign all kind of treaties, rush the UN, end the turn and watch for the victory screen: 5-1 for me, Diplomatic victory in 650 AD, all-time fastest and with a Civ that isn't even scientific. Not bad
Here's the final tech log:
4000bc: Masonry, Alphabet (prerequisites);
3200bc: Bronze Working, Warrior Code (trade, Germany);
2630bc: Pottery (trade, Germany); Ceremonial Burial (trade, Iroquois);
2150bc: Writing (research); Mysticism, Wheel (trade, Germany); Iron Working (trade, Mongolia)
1990bc: Horse Riding (trade, Arabia)
1700bc: Literature (research);
1550bc: Code of Laws (trade, Iroquois, 1 turn); Mathematics (trade, Arabia); Map Making (trade, Germany); Philosophy (trade, China);
1150bc: Republic (research);
1025bc: Construction (trade, Arabia); Currency (trade, Iroquois); Polytheism (trade, China);
1025bc: Engineering (trade, Germany); Monotheism (trade, Korea); Feudalism (trade, Russia);
_750bc: Theology (research); Monarchy (trade, China);
_570bc: Education (research);
_470bc: Invention (trade, Arabia);
_430bc: Astronomy (research);
_330bc: Gunpowder (research);
_230bc: Chemistry (research); Chivalry (trade, Korea);
_130bc: Physics (research); Banking (trade, China);
__50bc: Theory of Gravity (research);
__30ad: Magnetism (research);
_110ad: Metallurgy (research); Navigation, Music Theory (trade, Arabia);
_110ad: Nationalism (trade, Germany); Steam Power (trade, Russia); Medicine (trade, Korea);
_210ad: Electricity (research);
_270ad: Industrialization (research); Economics (trade, China);
_310ad: Scientific Method (research);
_350ad: Corporation (research); Military Tradition (trade, Arabia);
_390ad: Steel (research);
_430ad: Refining (research); Atomic Theory, Combustion (ToE);
_450ad: Replaceable Parts (trade, China);
_480ad: Electronics (research);
_520ad: Mass Production (research);
_550ad: Sanitation (trade, China);
_560ad: Motorized Transportation (research);
_600ad: Radio (research); Communism (trade, Korea);
_640ad: Flight (research);
_640ad: Fission (trade, Germany); Ecology (trade, Korea); Rocketry (trade, Ottomans);
