550 (0): Hmm. The decision between a third army and the Heroic Epic is finely balanced, all right. My first thought is that we're down to one non-asterisked elite unit, setting aside warriors and spearmen, so we can't have great confidence that we'll get another GL soon. If we knew for a fact that Naboplasser would be our last GL for a while, I think we'd certainly use him for an army--so that's my choice.
I'm also influenced by the fact that attacking out of the Damascus bottleneck, which will be tricky because success will widen the front we have to defend, will be easier if we can afford to use one army for defensive purposes.
Babylon swordsman --> swordsman.
530 (1): A healing turn.
El Amarna catapult --> catapult.
510 (2): Our armies move adjacent to Alexandria, destroying two Egyptian archers on the way (2-0).
One of our swordsmen defeats a barb warrior approaching our furs colony (3-0).
In response to our threat to Alexandria, three Egyptian units pass right through the city and advance on Damascus.
Damascus barracks --> swordsman.
490 (3): Our armies take Alexandria from its garrison of two regular spearmen (5-0), and raze it, for a total haul of three slaves.
Our swordsman finishes off the Circassian camp near the furs colony, and we destroy a horseman from the same camp. In the north, however, a full-strength Bowman falls to the warrior holding the other barb camp, without even doing any damage, and I have to divert a swordsman in that direction (7-1).
Ashur swordsman --> swordsman, Uruk catapult --> catapult.
470 (4): Our sword army takes Hieraconpolis from its garrison of two spearmen (9-1).
We found Samarra three squares southeast of Damascus--meaning we're pushing into Egyptian territory, but very cautiously. The city is next to a mountain, but there's no way we can avoid this entirely as we expand out of the bottleneck. We now have twelve cities, and Naboplasser forms our third army. Filling it up with swordsmen will take some time, though.
Our Bowman army moves into Hieraconpolis, destroying a Persian horseman on the way (10-1).
Our northern swordsman disperses the Nubian camp (11-1).
We destroy three Egyptian archers and an Egyptian spearman in the Damascus-Samarra area, with our catapults doing good work (15-1).
An Egyptian archer landed next to Akkad last turn dies attacking it (16-1).
A real surprise--the Persians are willing to attack the yellowlined army I put into Hieraconpolis to cover the redlined army there. They lose three archers without achieving anything (19-1), but I have some anxious moments as they reduce our armies to one and three hit points.
Babylon swordsman --> swordsman.
The Persians are building Knights Templar.
450 (5): We abandon Hieraconpolis. I might have done this anyway, but the dire condition of our armies makes the choice easy.
Construction --> Pottery. We badly need a granary or two to rationalize our production of settlers, and Pottery is practically free at this point anyway--due in four turns at 30% science.
430 (6): We bombard an ancient cav, but have no prudent attacks. The Egyptians are producing regular AC, fortunately.
Ellipi and Nineveh swordsman --> swordsman.
The Egyptians are building Knights Templar.
410 (7): Our healed armies move out of Damascus, overrunning a Persian horseman and an Egyptian settler/spear team (21-1).
The AC we bombarded attacks, though down to 2 HP, and dies (22-1).
390 (8): We destroy another Egyptian settler/spear pair with one of our armies (23-1). I suspect the empty land south of Eridu and Damascus is making the AI compulsively send settlers in our direction--a phenomenon the rest of you must have seen a lot in the course of these AW games.
We get our third army completely loaded up with swordsmen.
The next Egyptian city to the east has had two cultural expansions, so it's presumably Thebes.
We destroy a Sumerian archer outside Damascus (24-1).
The Persians have a RoP with the Egyptians.
Babylon swordsman --> aqueduct, Ashur swordsman --> swordsman, Eridu barracks --> swordsman.
370 (9): Science rate down to 10%, Pottery still due in one turn.
Our two eastern armies move next to Thebes, destroying a Persian archer on the way (25-1).
Pottery --> Horseback Riding, due in four turns at 50% science.
I switch Mecca's build to a granary.
350 (10): I consider waiting to see whether Thebes completes the Great Library, or holding the city for the sake of the Temple of Artemis, but decide both would be oversubtle. So: