All right, let's get this show on the road.
I decided to play without Suryavarman and went with the agreed-upon speed and difficulty:
You'll also note that I made a... slight alteration to my name, there. Yeah, that's just a little private joke. Foreshadowing for future war with Greece, you might say.
If we're going to be playing on Immortal, I decided that we should do everything in our power to hit the ground running. So I abandoned my plans to start 1S, and instead went inland, trusting in the power of our Unique Units to fetch us some coastline:
I went Wheel-Animal Husbandry to start in techs before beginning to trudge down the Iron Working road, and I went Worker-Barracks-Warrior-Warrior before pumping out Immortals as fast as my harried citizenry could train them.
My fleet-footed scout met a like-minded soul in the arid scrubland north of Persepolis:
The two sprinted off in opposite directions. The eastward-bound one found a map off in eastern Russia before losing his life to a bear, and the other found a few gold in Scandinavia before meeting a similarly messy end.
Our preparations for war were rather straightforward, so I won't belabor the point here. By 2225 B.C., Persepolis had given me five barracks-trained mounted warriors, ready to bring any Civilization to its knees:
Babylon, with its fertile floodplains and fierce Bowmen, would be our first target. I couldn't allow Hammurabi to gain a true foothold. He can be a difficult opponent if not handled quickly.
Babylon was protected by a pair of City Garrison Bowmen, hurling taunts from the city's towers. Our target had teeth! But I had five Immortals, all trained in the art of countering archers. Only one unit died in the battle, and the rewards were great:
Okay, so it was just a Granary. Those are still pretty darn cool, though! Even though I'll need Pottery before it'll do anything.
My men swept southward and found the remnants of the Babylonian court huddled among the sand dunes in a rough collection of tents and lean-tos:
Out of mercy more than malice, I put an end to Hammurabi's reign and his life.
So my Immortals, bolstered by reinforcements from Persepolis, rested in Babylon's taverns, licking their wounds and biding their time. Tales of blessed Sumeria became more and more frequent as the years went on. Apparently, their leader, Gilgamesh, was well known as a storyteller and epic poet. The proud Sumerian culture bolstered its people, and they strode out and seized the farmlands that had once belonged to the broken people of Babylon.
Xerxes' Immortals would ride again. Babylon could not be allowed to starve:
The people of Sumeria were arrogant and prideful. Their smug feelings of invincibility led them to send their well-groomed Workers out unescorted to tend to their civic duties:
Needless to say, a few centuries of enforced servitude to the Persian Empire will teach them a lesson in humility.
Not only were the Sumerian Workers a disgraceful display of decadence, but their grand city of Uruk was defended only by a few loincloth-clad ceremonial guards!
The city fell without ceremony, but the Sumerian ideal lived on in Turkey.
The Immortals, of course, were relentless in their pursuit:
Eridu was allowed to stand, both as a testament to Pericles of Persia's might, and as an outpost to watch against his incursions (Basically, I figured I'd let Turkey become a cultural battleground, leaving my Middle Eastern possessions largely in peace).
Gilgamesh was bound, his beard was cut off, and he now sings for the amusement of the Persian court when he is permitted to see the light of day.
So with that, I decided to call it a round. Here's a look at our massive empire:
I'm thinking a few Settlers might be in order to consolidate our holdings and keep, say, Ramesses from claiming the Arabian peninsula.
Sadly, Asoka hasn't built us anything worth capturing yet:
Who knows. Maybe patience will be rewarded.
So everyone is Cautious, and a little put out at our early conquests (-1 all around). We have the power to join the Buddhist bloc, which may be helpful. I was overeager to adopt a religion in the De Gaulle game, though, and it came back to bite us. So I'm a little hesitant.
Techwise, Pottery is definitely next on the list after Iron Working (and maybe should have come before it). After that, I dunno, maybe Writing to beef up Babylon's Science output? One thing's for sure- Workers shouldn't be a problem for a while (for once). I have the one I built, and five others gained in conquest! Oh, and I have seven Immortals and two garrison Warriors in my army.
So how'm I doing? I'm a little surprised that Gilgamesh's forces were as skimpy as they were. One Warrior per city!? He had plenty of time to build up his troops! Anyway, here's the save for anyone who's interested:
Anyway incredible good start, good cities. Eridu is a great blocking city. Get the defenses up there to thwart the forces of Europe. Hammy and Gilga out of the way already is great. Less filling up the diplo screen 
