After entering Middle Ages, I told my scientists to research Monotheism. First, I knew my cities would need Cathedrals soon; second, I thought Babylonians would take Feudalism as the free tech when they enter Middle Ages, and I'd be able to trade Monotheism for it. The latter didn't work out, they chose Monotheism as the free tech
My research plan for Middle Ages was to discover Monotheism, and then go straight for Military Tradition. I expected to buy Chivalry from someone, or get it from the Great Library, if I manage to build it
By 190BC, I had about 10 swordsmen on Egyptian border, and decided it's time for invasion. Most of the cities were building more swordsmen, and I didn't expect any problems with the war. However, I signed up Babylonians as allies for this war
In 170BC, the first Egyptian town was captured, and I finally got Horses. Not they I needed them right at that moment, but it was nice to punish Egyptians for taking my resource
In 70 BC, one of my still wandering jags met a spearman + settler in the open, attacked and won the battle, starting my Golden Age. I decided this was the perfect time to switch to Monarchy. This Golden Age was started at exactly the right moment to ensure I build the Great Library, which was finished in 230AD
In 90AD, the Japanese offered me an alliance against the Arabs. The war with Egypt was almost finished by that time. Only their capital, Thebes, where the Oracle was built, had a decent defence. The Arabs were the natural next target, so I accepted the offer
The war with Egypt finished in 190AD. They were left with one city, which I knew could be captured at any time. I decided to sign a peace treaty, because I wanted to get their other city, the one near the Dyes, and it was at size 1 and not growing. Their cultural influence didn't matter, the flip risk was minimal
In 350AD I got my first GL, and used him to rush Forbidden Palace in a city I founded in a gap in the former Egyptian land. The Arabs were all but finished by that time, they had just one city in the jungles left
Right at that time, when I started to consider signing peace with Arabs and attacking Babylonians, Celtic military units started to enter my territory. In 430AD, I demanded that they remove them, and they declared war. Timing couldn't be better
Celts had Pikemen as defenders, my primary unit was Medieval Infantry, and I didn't have a problem winning most battles
In 520AD, Babylonians decided to also declare a war on me, but they didn't think about the consequences. I had a stack of 30+ MIs and swordsmen returning from Arab lands. They were quickly rerouted to deal with Babylonians; assault of Celts had to be delayed a bit, while I built new MIs
In 640AD, the Arab town in the jungles was captured. To my surprise, they were not destroyed. Bought an updated world map from the Americans, and learned that there are 2 islands in the ocean; one of them had a Babylonian town, the other the last Arab town and another Babylonian one. Started building 2 galleys to send units to these islands after Celts were destroyed
Around 650AD, I obtained Chivalry from the Great Library, and started to build Knights
In 680AD, the second GL was used to rush Leonardo. At the same time, the capital finished Sun Tzu
In 700AD, I reached the northern border of Babylon, the one with India. Immediately declared war on Indians
In 730AD, the third GL was used to rush Sistine. Actually, I didn't have any more good wonders to build, so wondered what to do if I get another GL
Also in 730AD, the Celts were finished
In 740AD, I got the fourth GL. I was ready to research Military Tradition by that time, but decided to deviate and research Economics and build Adam Smith with this GL. I already knew Education by that time, and with my science rate, I expected to research Banking and Economics in about 12 turns
In 760AD, the Babylonians were off the pangaea, with 2 towns left on islands. However, I got a problem with Indians. When I tried to enter their territory with my MIs, their War Elephants destroyed my attackers. Decided to wait for the first knights before continuing the attacks -- they were already on their way
In 770AD, it was time to attack the Americans
In 810AD, I had 6 knights on the Indian border, and was ready to finish them off. By 860AD, they had one city left, in the jungles north of American territory
In 890AD, I researched Economics and built Adam Smith. About time: I had serious problems capturing Washington. It was defended by 5 Pikemen, 2 of them promoted to Elite after my unsuccessful attacks, and I couldn't do anything with them. I needed those Cavalries
While I've been researching Military Tradition, I captured the last Indian town, destroying them in 940AD
In 950AD, I researched Military Tradition, and turned research off. However, most of my knights by that time were in a former American city, and too late I noticed that the road from it to my capital includes one American-owned tile, so I couldn't upgrade them. Anyway, I had about 20 knights there, so decided they will be able to take Washington without an upgrade. I lost some, but finally managed to capture Washington in 960AD
Also in 960AD, I thought that Cleopatra didn't talk to me respectfully enough, so some of the newly built Cavalries captured the remaining Egyptian cities. Egyptians were destroyed in 970AD
In 980AD, my galleys finally reached the Babylonian/Arabian island, and I captured the last Babylonian town
In 990AD, Americans had one town left. This town was behind the Japanese territory. I knew I was approaching the domination limit, so rushed temples in all the captured cities which didn't have them yet. Meanwhile, decided I wanted to attack the Japanese, to be sure I hit the limit as early as possible. Gave peace to Americans, and signed them up against Japanese. Also got Astronomy from them, as it was researched by that time -- not that I needed it, but still, why not
In 1000AD, got another GL. Too late, he didn't even have the time to reach his destination
Captured 4 Japanese towns. They managed to invent Gunpowder, so had to defeat a Musketman in the last one
Hit the domination limit in 1030AD. The Arabs were lucky: 4 MIs were ready to attack their last town, defended by spears. One more turn, and they would've been finished, too...
Firaxis score: 5920
Jason score: 9415
I have to say that I'm very happy about this result. It's much better than in the first GOTM I played, and I feel that my decisions are much more sensible
Thanks for the game and the competition, it's so much fun!
Cheers
Yuri
It rushed the FP in Thebes 360, which was completed in 370AD... Being militaristic with lots of elites, I had always hoped that once I would get an early leader like others usually do, but of course that was not to be. Perhaps I should have done the Palace Jump again, but as I had lost so much time with it in GOTM97, I didn't want to spend time on that again. An early second core would have helped a lot with the long distance war in Japan. Oh well.
. That cost me many cities and casualties. At least before the final attack I remembered to give them Republic... 
) I reloaded the autosave, recreated the moves as good as possible (had a bit better RNG luck this time: i.e I didn't loose a knight in India, that I had lost before, but this didn't matter, as it was too far away from America anyway; and the last Japanese town was eliminated now instead of next turn, but that didn't alter the game either, as the knights that would have finished the job next turn, did not reach America in time either) and then saved the game in case it would crash again at that point. When I continued the game, however, an American archer can to my rescue and killed that barb horseman, before it could enter my town?! Why did the barbs move before the Americans in the original game?!
). But the pop-up saying I had eliminated America did not come! 
"Oh no, not another settler on a boat!!", I said to myself. But when I took a closer look at the map, I noticed a settler/spear pair on a mountain, and luckily two of my knights were within reach. The first one finished the job for a Conquest victory in 390AD.
I decided my second city would be the culture city, south of the capital with a cow, wheat, and several bgs. Unfortunately no river, and no hills and no sea- probably another mistake - modern age production was very high - but ancient age and middle age production matters much more in the long run.
