As for my game...at 500AD, I was beginning to ramp up my research pace(finally got past 40% science), had killed off Lizzy, and had both Frederick and Toku at +11 and solid votes for a diplo win.
I slowly slogged through the techs, met Washington, Mansa, and Monty in that order, and proceeded to get circumnavigation in the 1300s.
I never built the GL, I expected someone else to by the time I finished conquesting Lizzy, and by 1100AD I assumed it had already been built and I hadn't noticed it... Mansa buitl it in the 1300s! I was first to Liberalism in the mid 1400s, and took SciMeth with it. I slowly slogged my way up the research tree still, getting 3 Scientists and 1 Prophet(used the prophet for the Mahabohdi, giving me a steady income in London improved by a Market, Grocer, and Bank). I didn't finish Mass Media until the mid-1600s. Then I had to try to rush-buy the UN, since I had failed getting a GE(my last GS was born on 27% odds, GE had 32%, GM had 2x% and GP had 2x%)
I finished the UN in the early 1700s, then spent the next hundred years attempting to win the vote, losing by less than 100 votes each time. I finally won in 1806AD.
Relations Game
When I met Washington, Mansa, and Monty, they were all differing religions and both hated Monty. I brought back two Caravels and started spamming missionaries into both Mali and America, eventually converting both of them to Buddhism
This gave me a base of Washington, Mansa, Frederick, and Toku all with +12 or higher relations with me, and everyone hated Monty, who was at -9 with me(never seen someone you've never warred with hate you that much before)
Unfortunately, by the time I'd built the UN, Frederick was still the largest civ, so was my rival, and Washington liked him just as much as he liked me. So he always voted for Frederick. I was able to take the SecGen spot even without him, but needed to gain the votes from him.
So I tried gifting techs to Toku until I got +1 shared techs with us which gave him enough points to get a DP with him. I then got a DP with Washington and Mansa the same turn, hoping for relationship points(or a switch from Frederick to me in priority) for Washington. It didn't work...I didn't get any points from anyone for DPs...I've always gotten points for them.
Anyway, I gave that up and bribed Toku into declaring war on Monty, then I joined him, then I bribed Mansa and Washington into war with him as well, leaving Frederick on the outside....that also didn't work. Toku and Mansa went up some more, and Washington went up +1, but still wouldn't vote for me.
I had warriors and archers for my defense, but wasn't worried as Monty had never gotten Astro(meanwhile I was using Cossacks, Infantry, and Artillery). A side effect of this war was that I surpassed Frederick in population(taking 70 points of pop with a mere 7 artillery and 2 infantry tend to bump up your score). So I rush-bought the palace in York, and attempted to end the war with Monty by gifting him the UN in Moscow...but he didn't want it...stupid AI. Ok, so let's try Toku...nope...he doesn't want it either.
Mansa, however, was willing to take it, and while he was +20 with me and both Washington and Frederick showed as friendly for him, they both had +15 to me and only +6 and +8 for Mansa. So I went ahead and gifted it to him. 4 turns later I won with Washington, Toku, and Frederick all voting for me.
I slowly slogged through the techs, met Washington, Mansa, and Monty in that order, and proceeded to get circumnavigation in the 1300s.
I never built the GL, I expected someone else to by the time I finished conquesting Lizzy, and by 1100AD I assumed it had already been built and I hadn't noticed it... Mansa buitl it in the 1300s! I was first to Liberalism in the mid 1400s, and took SciMeth with it. I slowly slogged my way up the research tree still, getting 3 Scientists and 1 Prophet(used the prophet for the Mahabohdi, giving me a steady income in London improved by a Market, Grocer, and Bank). I didn't finish Mass Media until the mid-1600s. Then I had to try to rush-buy the UN, since I had failed getting a GE(my last GS was born on 27% odds, GE had 32%, GM had 2x% and GP had 2x%)
I finished the UN in the early 1700s, then spent the next hundred years attempting to win the vote, losing by less than 100 votes each time. I finally won in 1806AD.
Relations Game
When I met Washington, Mansa, and Monty, they were all differing religions and both hated Monty. I brought back two Caravels and started spamming missionaries into both Mali and America, eventually converting both of them to Buddhism
This gave me a base of Washington, Mansa, Frederick, and Toku all with +12 or higher relations with me, and everyone hated Monty, who was at -9 with me(never seen someone you've never warred with hate you that much before)
Unfortunately, by the time I'd built the UN, Frederick was still the largest civ, so was my rival, and Washington liked him just as much as he liked me. So he always voted for Frederick. I was able to take the SecGen spot even without him, but needed to gain the votes from him.
So I tried gifting techs to Toku until I got +1 shared techs with us which gave him enough points to get a DP with him. I then got a DP with Washington and Mansa the same turn, hoping for relationship points(or a switch from Frederick to me in priority) for Washington. It didn't work...I didn't get any points from anyone for DPs...I've always gotten points for them.
Anyway, I gave that up and bribed Toku into declaring war on Monty, then I joined him, then I bribed Mansa and Washington into war with him as well, leaving Frederick on the outside....that also didn't work. Toku and Mansa went up some more, and Washington went up +1, but still wouldn't vote for me.
I had warriors and archers for my defense, but wasn't worried as Monty had never gotten Astro(meanwhile I was using Cossacks, Infantry, and Artillery). A side effect of this war was that I surpassed Frederick in population(taking 70 points of pop with a mere 7 artillery and 2 infantry tend to bump up your score). So I rush-bought the palace in York, and attempted to end the war with Monty by gifting him the UN in Moscow...but he didn't want it...stupid AI. Ok, so let's try Toku...nope...he doesn't want it either.
Mansa, however, was willing to take it, and while he was +20 with me and both Washington and Frederick showed as friendly for him, they both had +15 to me and only +6 and +8 for Mansa. So I went ahead and gifted it to him. 4 turns later I won with Washington, Toku, and Frederick all voting for me.