CivNoobie: we're at war, we definitely won't chop anything Bismarck could build for us too.
Nicely done, Joe
So, the plan for this game:
You still didn't tell us what victory condition you'd want to pursue in this game, but for now we will go and kill Kublai in any case
City focuses:
Our front cities and the capital should basically build units (no more axes please, focus on siege and swords) while the back cities build libraries and run scientists. uMgungundlovu should grow 1 size on the pig and then resume working all cottages and the gold. Stagnate there. Workers should chop on and don't forget to cycle through your cities every turn to see if you can whip something. Do not whip anything with 0 hammers in and try to avoid 1-pop whips (except for the granaries in the new cities).
If a trade for Meditation comes up do not trade away Currency or Construction but you can grab it ( + Archery? ) for Alpha or Maths.
We can see that Kublai presumably settled the iron site:
That means we will have to send a smaller stack there (one catapult and say 3-4 units). Let's focus on the established cities for now though, this is the main plan:
I'd say this is the basic idea for the next small set. It might be better though if we played turn by turn though, in which case the more detailed tactical plan for turn 100 would be:
Move chariot from kwaDukuza towards Nobamba. If Kublai's axe moves out in the open this guy can take him. If not, let's leave him there for now, let's join up with the stack.
Move our scouting warrior (which teleported back to our stack) inside Nobamba.
Move chariot in uMgungundlovu towards the tile our stack is assembling on.
Move the whole stack (1 cat, axes and impi) on Kublai's copper, use impi to smash copper. The axe 1S of Nobamba should move 1NW of the copper and await the cats on the move there. He will be their escort.
Our front cities (Bulawayo, Nobamba, Ulundi) should continue to build units. Try to make catapults 2-pop whips and put the whip overflow into a unit that would only be a 1-pop whip. Workers should chop, no need to build tile improvements the cities will never use. Nongoma could use another farm though. uMgungundlovu to grow 1 size and resume the settler (return pig to the capital).
EDIT: The main secret of a successful war is quickness. War costs maintenance and generates war weariness in your cities. Plus the opposition will just build more and more units while in war mode. It's best to get it done fast. This is why horse archer or cuirassier rushes are so popular. Siege is the most reliable way to get cities though. Even for siege wars it's important to move as fast as possible, meaning:
-- you don't want to stop the whole stack and heal units until absolutely necessary. Instead, you want to have a unit with the medic promotion heal up the injured units while the healthy units attack.
-- you don't want to stop and bombard cities unless the city is either untakeable otherwise or unless you have enough siege to bombard down the defenses and do collateral damage too within one turn (this is something we wanted to have before starting the war but we're forced to rush here a bit

). If you don't have enough siege but could get the city without sacrificing too many other units it's best to go for the suicidal move.
--When planning to take multiple cities always think about your next moves and try to save turns on unit movement. In our case we will attack Beshbalik from the NW to enable our stack to move towards Karakorum faster. Beshbalik's culture will hopefully retreat (although culture is a bit unpredictable) so that our axe with the catapults can catch up for Karakorum.
-- Never leave injured or siege units undefended in dangerous areas.