My first GOTM...
First hut gave a horseman who rode off wildly into the horizon, found some nomads and encountered the Greeks, so used said nomads to found the first of two cities to keep them neatly contained in their corner (a ploy which actually succeeded, although I initially suspected they'd find a way around it - turned out they're in a handy corner). By AD40, 19 cities, including 2 on the island to the south-west (where grumpy Romans had just been found) and two on the island to the north-east. I was still shaken by the Germans sneaking in the Great Library when I lacked resources to block them - but GOTM rules say no restarts, and hey, I figure King difficulty probably makes up for lacking the GL. Still in Monarchy, until I'm confident I know where the remaining other Civs are and can't be easily jumped...
By AD900 that was accomplished and I'd switched to Republic, with 41 cities, and busy playing the mid-game wonder race. I was feeling quite sore about the number the AIs had got, and probably in retrospect spent too long focused on collecting the others instead of pushing research as hard as possible... just a few turns back the Romans had decided to attack me again, and I was also amusing myself swatting them (they had no Gunpowder...
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By 1370AD farmland was spreading like a fungus over my continents (and sprouting engineers), nearly everyone was on the railways and the wonder race was thoroughly won. 56 cities owed allegiance to the People of the Sun, and I was getting much too complacent. I think the spaceship could have been brought forward by at least a century if I'd been more focused here, but I spent a lot of time building infrastructure just as I would in one-player (I actually like Civ's micromanagement, it's one of my favourite parts of the game).
There was a period of national celebration in the 17th century and early 18th which served to boost our population from around 35m to 124m, accompanied by wild building of financial institutions (more for their luxury-multiplication than their cash-multiplication, although that didn't hurt). The Japanese completely snuck one over on me just before the ship launch, stealing one of my core cities in a sneak attack - I decided not to get distracted by them, and bought the city back the next turn, using my friends in the UN to push them into a temporary peace. The pollution situation was a mess, but that's what happens when you rush, I suppose...
The (somewhat stripped-down for speed) spaceship was launched in 1769, and arrived in 1775, accompanied by further wild celebration that had nothing whatsoever to do with boosting my final score.
That was fun, thanks to DoM for organising it.
yramids, Colossus, HG,and Copernicus.
