Like TMIT, I moved for the river and dropped my city back to get the horses online asap. Roads were built to Monty and I whip/chopped out about 8 immortals. The first city was a push over, the cap (buddhist holy city) defied odds and survived with one archer at .2 health; I took it the next turn but Monty's third city (on the river with the Cu in the BFC) already had two spears. I skipped around it and took the pig-gold city and kill the marble - Fe city (did not have Fe showing at the time).
Tech was Ag -> AH -> BW -> Pottery -> Alphabet. Conquest cash was extremely useful for getting alpha early. I made peace with one city Monty for pretty much all the rest of the ancient era techs. I dropped a blocking city on the western coast near the grassland iron just south of Jao, settled a mass fur city on the river and took a barb city with wine/food/and Ag in the BFC.
Tech was now out to construction; I chop/whipped out the hanging gardens in Monty's grassland Fe city near my cap's river in order to uncover the green tiles and use the hammers on the something useful; also GE points seemed advisable. I was planning to smack Monty with pults + immortals, but getting multiple FE online let me mass some axes and swords quicker. I declared war, uses an immort to crush a pop 1 city with only an archer and then sent in the stack to kill his new cap and reclaim the Cu. His last city (in the desert near the multiple Au) died shortly thereafter.
Tenochtilan was made into a
city for the HE; first GP (a GSc) was dropped as an academy into the cap. Every other city is made into cottages spam with the odd mine thrown in. The cap pops Cu in one its hills. Tech now is on to lit -> music; I win the parth (chopped out in tenochtilan), TGL (built in cap), and the GA from music (saved for a later GA). I get failure cash off the Paya and SoZ.
Initially I back Hindu Nappy vs Jewish SB and Jewish Joa. This was a mistake as the Portugal vs France war is going strongly in favor of Portugal. I get asked to help kill the French (after having embargoed Portugal), and decide to poach some cities with my axes/swords/immortals/mass pults. The French have LBs, but I get the Fe/Marble city on the east coast easy and elect to leave it for a NP/NE city. I tech out CS -> paper -> philo (bulb, no religion founded) -> paper. I use philo and music to trade for military techs and mass upgrade to CRIII maces. Civics are HR/B/Slave/OR having revolted into each when they became an option; religion is Jewish.
After taking Paris, the French cap and I grab lib while back trading for some bottom half techs (most importantly getting optics and engineering). I take Astro off lib, and then run PP -> Chemistry -> Steel. At lib I burn the GA from music to start a GA and flip civics to HR/FS/Slave/FR.
Everything is mass cottages and the HE city at this point. In my horse/clam city I finally build the MS. At steel I turn off science and mass upgrade the cannons to go pound Jao. I tech MS inteding to get CRIII grenadiers, but Jao caps after one city (his coastal Jewish holy city) and I push on up to SB (who is backward with nothing beyond the standard LBs -> knights mix. 4 cities (including capital) later, SB caps.
Tech is now out to communism -> rifling -> physics -> arty.
Cannons are mass upgraded to arty, all of my CI/CRIII maces become rifles. A mass rushbuy of galleons sends them over to hit the Americans, the Romans have given us OBs so we have airships in their cities for support.
We take one American city and get close to taking two (while the Americans lacked astro, they actually had enough caravels to kill 4 galleons and then take out 2 with 6 CR rifles inside; if I had waited just one freaking turn for my frigate). Roosevelt caps.
Tech has been using Jao for useful things (like RP, Steam power, Corporation, constitution, Railroad, AL) while I get the quick bonuses (e.g. bio). I found Mining Inc and use a second GA with the communism spy/random GSc to flip civics to US/FS/Caste/SP->FM/FR->Theo. Kremlin is the last wonder I built. I trade for medicine and found Sushi.
I mass upgrade all my units in American lands to cav/infantry, and tech Fascism out to flight. I gift Roosevelt up to AL and RR and declare on Rome. Rome invades America, I use about 20 airships to weaken his stack and leave my vassal to otherwise fend for himself; I head up to go take Rome.
No surprises here, infantry + arty > MGs + cannons + grenades + curis. Through sheer dint of numbers the Romans manage to take 2 American cities (I evacuate the airships), but I get flight online rushbuy airports and quickly dump in enough units to retake the place. Last tech of the game is industrialism for tanks. After this I'm just mass building tanks, airlifting them, and waiting for Rome to cap.
Mistakes made:
1. Not going for extermination on my 2/3rds of the globe. Just marginally better scouting would have shown that I could get domination without bothering the Americans/Romans. This would have massively decreased finish date.
2. Backing the French. Normally Nappy is good about spamming units and soaking up AI defenders, but Portugal had better land and better tech via trading.
3. Letting caravels sink two full galleons of expensive troops. Not just because they were costly, but because it took too long to get reinforcements over.
All told Darius, with horses in the BFC, plenty of land, and two backward civs across the water makes for an easy game. I should have won this around 1500.
