THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND
370 BC (0): Doing our min research on Republic at 10% is costing us 5 gpt, so I hire a homeless scientist--that is, I have a different minor city support a scientist every turn.
330 BC (2): The galley cruising off our east coast spots ocean, and then shallower water beyond that--a sign of land?
I decide to update our map before we discover anything we might want to keep secret. Map trades get us everyone else's WM or TM, at a modest profit of 12 gold.
We merge a worker into Pasargadae and it reaches size 12.
The Mongols and the Ottomans both have Monarchy and Construction--so much the better, provided we don't lose the Great Library at the last minute.
Our galley exploring the exciting possibilities off the east coast--our only ship for hundreds of miles--is attacked by a Magyar galley (make your own "admiral in the Hungarian navy" joke
), gets redlined, but survives.
310 BC (3): Our eastern galley spots coastal water across the sea, and there's a safe galley route.
We found Zohak on our south central coast--two game and a whale, but totally corrupt, probably.
And:
The cascade takes out the Great Lighthouse, predictably--but it gets built in Thebes, our certain first target.
290 BC (4): Our exploring galley discovers an island off the east coast, and it's evidently virgin land, since there's a goodie hut.
We receive the Great Library's first gifts, Monarchy and Construction. On the assumption that our real goal is a republic, I don't initiate a revolution.
270 BC (5): We found Istakhr on the one area of flatland in our eastern region. If we want to build the Forbidden Palace for the sake of one good city, this is the place.
Our exploring galley heads back to our own shore, to pick up a warrior to pop the hut.
Pasardagae completes its first city improvement after three [!] Wonders, a library, and begins a temple (which will only take three turns, so I'm not going to rush it).
250 BC (6): The completion of a forest chop near Samaria reveals BG. In that respect, at least, we can't complain about our motherland.
A massive barbarian uprising is announced near Tarsus (but really in the hills across the bay from the city, clearly, and Tarsus is in no danger). So someone must have entered the Middle Ages, and when I look, the Ottomans, Russians, Chinese, Carthaginians, and Mongols have all done so.
230 BC (7): Our galley returns to the mysterious island and lands a warrior next to the hut.
I merge a worker into Susa so that it reaches size six, and then micromanage it so that it can produce a warrior a turn.
I send a worker to hook up our one source of iron. The immediate motive is to let us spend our cash on upgrades rather than losing it to barbarians, if this seems necessary, but it's about time anyway.
We get Currency from the Great Library, enter the Middle Ages, and get Engineering as our free tech.
The Russians found Kharkov in the northeastern hills of our island. Well, we could scarcely have expanded eastward any more quickly than we did, and it's a useless site (except that it'll probably turn out to command half the coal in the game).
210 BC (8): Our warrior enters the hut on the mysterious island and three Harappan warriors surround him. He defeats the attacks of two, promoting to elite, and the third moves away.
I start a horseman in Gordium. A couple of fast units are invaluable in any offensive, particularly for the fortify-all trick.
Pasargadae completes its temple--and given how close it was on the Great Library, mad-bax, you were absolutely right to suggest that the temple could wait.
Pasargadae begins the Hanging Gardens, and despite the late start we have a decent shot at them, because:
Istanbul, where the Ottomans are building the Gardens, is due to complete them in a snappy 117 turns, as I checked by establishing an embassy;
Karakorum, where the Mongols are building them, is a horrible city for production;
and no other city we know of is building any Wonder whatsoever, so there's no cascade risk. (We later discover that the Greeks are building the Great Wall, but they're likelier just to complete it than to cascade.)
With all this, our chances at the Gardens are probably no better than even, since the Mongols seem to be working on a very old prebuild. But it's worth trying, and at worst we'll get our prebuild started for something else.
190 BC (9): It looks as though the mysterious island is only about 25 tiles large--no surprise, really. Our luck with luxuries is holding true--there aren't any here either, so far.
The Greeks and Babylonians introduce themselves, making trade offers which we decline (given the Great Library). We now know everyone on Earth except the Koreans, and since everyone else does know them, they'll presumably introduce themselves shortly.
We get Monotheism and Feudalism from the Great Library. The only tech in circulation we don't have is Republic, on which Cathy has a monopoly.
170 BC (10): We give the Babylonians Currency for their world map--and d___, that's a big extra continent in there, as Columbus might have said. It looks as though the Greeks and the Babylonians have been fighting.
Our galley heads back to our eastern coast to pick up a settler and a warrior.
There's no great bonanza to be had from selling our map around--in other words, everyone already knows about the Greek/Korean/Babylonian continent--so I don't do it, to keep the secret of the eastern island as long as possible.
Arbela switches to Sun Tzu as a placeholder for Leonardo. The Workshop is the non-cultural Wonder we'd really like to get with this prebuild, and now we have an excellent shot at it. We could build the Great Wall in Arbela right now, but I don't see much advantage in this, unless we want to trigger our Golden Age immediately (more on this below).
No barbarian from the massive uprising attacks us at any point during this round. Perhaps they're concentrating on Kharkov.
If you move a citizen onto that roadless forest tile without adjusting the luxury rate , the town will go into disorder. 
, I guess it is our job to clean it up and make it orderly
. Thats life I guess.
