[BTS] Old player leveling up (starting with Monarch)

[Gasp]

I don't know where that prejudice comes from

Just from the fact that when you actually suggested AH, the only resource you could see was Cows on a plain. AH is a pretty expensive tech. Therefore I didn't think it was a priority, without further exploration at least. Of course, we discovered many other AH resources around so it was a good tech choice.

 

[Anysense]

Just from the fact that when you actually suggested AH, the only resource you could see was Cows on a plain. AH is a pretty expensive tech. Therefore I didn't think it was a priority, without further exploration at least. Of course, we discovered many other AH resources around so it was a good tech choice.

We need either Pottery or AH for writing, and with cows and gold in BFC Pottery did not look very important. Naturally, you only make final decision when Agri is finished. I thought it goes without saying, but I seem to be taking for granted rather a lot of things.

 

[isomittari]

Plan for this turnset:
* Finish AH and BW
* Build my first Settler and hopefully settle the c1 spot
* Fogbust

Spoiler 24-41 :

T24: I update my upcoming city spots.
T27: Warrior is finished, I decide to build another Warrior before switching to a Settler.
T29: Worker continues improving the Gold. I have sent my Warriors to fogbust in the east and in the southeast.
T30: Third Warrior is finished, and I start on a Settler.
T32: Gold mine is finished, I move my Worker to a riverside PH to build a mine.
T35: Some forest grows in the south, hopefully I can grab that later on.
T36: BW is done, there is Copper SE of Delhi! I start on TW and adopt Slavery. KK finds his second city, somewhere in the south probably.
T40: Copper mine is finished, and I will start improving the Pigs in the second city once it is found.
T41: I have found Bombay on the c1 spot as was planned. Delhi is working all four improved tiles and my fogbusters are in their place. Good time to stop this turnset.

Spoiler Map :

Analysis
I got my second city where I wanted it and I also got Copper, so now I just have to decide what to do with KK. As @Anysense said, there are two options, I could start harassing him and steal his workers, or try to expand peacefully and open borders with him. Hatty is further away so I do not really worry about him at all at this point.

Some issues to solve:
1. City planning is as follows:

c2: This city could work both Corns, Cows and the Pigs for some serious whipping action. It also has a nice amount of forests for whipping. I really like this spot because its versatility - I can work four food tiles as needed.
c3: Another food rich spot with lots of rivers. Cottages and commerce, I think. I moved this 1S because of those beautiful forests in the south.
c4: I also moved this 1S on the Marble in order to work the Gold. Getting the Copper reinforced this idea as the Horses are not as urgent anymore.

2. Should I start stealing Workers from KK? Or wait for OB and just expand and trade with him?

3. Tech path? I was thinking TW -> Writing -> Alpha, then trade backward techs with either Hatty or KK (they hate each other). If it's just the three of us, I need to start thinking about Astro route.
4. How is my fogbusting?

 

[Anysense]

That turnset should have been finished on turn 36. You made number of important decisions without discussion. That's your game and you play it as you want, its just better for learning to stop at crucial points like discovery of copper.
1. I think c2 should be 1N of the corn. A city does not need more than 7-8 food surplus for whipping, and two dry corns already make it +8. Odd location for c3, kills a forest and doesn't gain anything in particular. If you want to claim more forests then 1S of the corn looks good. Although c4 is fine, there are better sites that should be settled before that one.
2. If you steal workers, then the wheel is a waste of beakers. Considering that it is one of the few technologies that will 100% be available for trade, I'd skip it and steal workers. As you nearly finished the Wheel, you may as well take peaceful route.
3. I suppose so. I see no reasons for further detours. Pottery would be nice with either Financial or Expansive, but as we have neither...
4. A bit too spread out and the west would be a source of trouble on deity, but for emeror its all right. I don't like what you did with the woodsman warrior, wandering in open is such a good way to get yourself killed. Even wolf would have good odds.

Edit: Due to unique rivers pattern they are connected through the floodlain, that may be useful.

 

[isomittari]

That turnset should have been finished on turn 36. You made number of important decisions without discussion. That's your game and you play it as you want, its just better for learning to stop at crucial points like discovery of copper.

I decided to do a short rewind to T36 as my aim is to get rid of this traditional (and probably harmful) thinking of tech trees (autopiloting with agri -> AH -> BW -> TW -> Pottery -> Writing -> Alpha, instead of adapting to the current situation) and declaring wars only to conquer (instead of for example stealing workers and hindering development). These replays sometimes provide me good information on how much better the play could have been.

1. I think c2 should be 1N of the corn. A city does not need more than 7-8 food surplus for whipping, and two dry corns already make it +8. Odd location for c3, kills a forest and doesn't gain anything in particular. If you want to claim more forests then 1S of the corn looks good. Although c4 is fine, there are better sites that should be settled before that one.

I updated the map accordingly:

Spoiler :

2. If you steal workers, then the wheel is a waste of beakers. Considering that it is one of the few technologies that will 100% be available for trade, I'd skip it and steal workers. As you nearly finished the Wheel, you may as well take peaceful route.

How would I go on about this? Skip TW and go for Writing? This is where I am a little bit confused - if I take the Worker steal route wouldn't TW help me get my troops to pillage KK's territory faster? And shouldn't I connect my cities to get those domestic TR's in case I declare on KK? And do I build some Axes to do the stealing? After I steal one, maybe from that Horses spot, should I take cease fire and declare again once there is a new Worker?

I have never done Worker steal before...

3. I suppose so. I see no reasons for further detours. Pottery would be nice with either Financial or Expansive, but as we have neither...

If I decide to steal Workers, should I still beeline for Alpha to backfill with Hatty?

4. A bit too spread out and the west would be a source of trouble on deity, but for emeror its all right. I don't like what you did with the woodsman warrior, wandering in open is such a good way to get yourself killed. Even wolf would have good odds.

Yeah that wandering Warrior went to explore too far to the south, I was looking for city spots...

Edit: Due to unique rivers pattern they are connected through the floodlain, that may be useful.

I do not understand what this refers to - c3?

Edit: Another question is what should I produce in my cities. This is a very common problem for me, as in the beginning I am limited to only a few options - usually to Barracks, Monument, Warrior/Axe, Worker or Settler. If I decide to skip Pottery here, I won't even have Granary. I think I can put some failgold production to SH but after that I have no idea.

 

[Anysense]

Steal, take cease fire, steal again. The tricky part is the cease fire. KK is not exactly tame, so you'll need some "military success" to make peace. That may include killing units, pillaging and, of course, capturing cities. You don't need a bunch of axemen to do the job. Usually its possible to get away with just warriors, but it wouldn't hurt to have one axe just to make sure you are safe.
As this is just Emperor, you can, of course, selftech a lot, and gold makes it even easier. Still its advisable to avoid researching techs that are not absolutely necessary. Actually, you could argue to skip BW and go straight for Alpha, because there horses are available, although in a rather awkward location. That could be a very good play here: Alpha around 2000 BC and backfill, although the Emperor AI's may simply not have BW that early.
I think that without foreign traderoutes the Wheel isn't much use here. Your capital and c3 will be connected by the river, so the potential gain from roads is just+2 or +3 per turn from traderoutes in other cities.
Edit: I've just taken a look at the save and noticed that c1 spot is unsecured. If you move your settler there without any protection and there is a lion, he, of course, will be delighted, but you won't.
What to build? You'll definitely need a couple more warriors, one axe, settlers and workers. Your workers don't have too much work now, but once you got Alpha and backfilled you'll need a lot of them.

 

[isomittari]

Plan for this turnset:
* Build my first Settler and hopefully settle the c1 spot

Spoiler 36-46 :

T36: I move my Warrior in the east to protect the c1 spot.
T37: Mine on PH is finished, I start working the Copper.
T41: I have found Bombay on the c1 spot as was planned. I start improving the Pigs.
T46: My Warrior barely beats an Archer on the forested hill. I start improving the Gold near Bombay.

Spoiler Map :

Analysis
Not much happened this turnset. I want to start another Settler in Delhi to settle the c2 spot, for which I will probably chop one forest. After that I will build some troops, probably one Warrior and one Axe to prepare for operation "Harass KK".

Some issues to solve:
1. I want to try and settle the c2 spot next.
2. I will just go for Alpha and hopefully my neighbors will backfill me with some early techs.
3. My Workers will run out of stuff to do, but I will just pre-chop some forests around Delhi. No turns will be wasted, really.

 

[Anysense]

You want to settle c2 and steal a worker, but you build a worker for whom you don't even have any important job. This kind of dissonance is your biggest drawback, I don't know what can be done about it, you just sometimes seem to plan one thing and do something entirely different. May be try planning things out on paper and check whether your actions fit the plan. Anyway, for your goals here axe=>settler would be a lot more sensible.
Edit: I'm no expert on worker stealing, so I did a bit of testing.
1. It seems that KK has no desire whatsoever to go after you cities.
2. He takes peace quickly.
Looks like you don't need axe here. In short: Emperor is a paper tiger. Playing from your last save, I stole 2 workers in one go, when KK finally decided to improve horses. He did not seem to notice it, no reaction at all, and accepted a cease fire 4 turns later.

 

[isomittari]

You want to settle c2 and steal a worker, but you build a worker for whom you don't even have any important job. This kind of dissonance is your biggest drawback, I don't know what can be done about it, you just sometimes seem to plan one thing and do something entirely different. May be try planning things out on paper and check whether your actions fit the plan. Anyway, for your goals here axe=>settler would be a lot more sensible.

This is true, which is why I started doing these plans for turnsets. But I still have trouble following them, and I often go back to my narrow thinking such as in the case of building that Worker. I just felt like I needed a Worker because I was settling new cities, and hence did not follow the initial plan...

Looks like you don't need axe here. In short: Emperor is a paper tiger. Playing from your last save, I stole 2 workers in one go, when KK finally decided to improve horses. He did not seem to notice it, no reaction at all, and accepted a cease fire 4 turns later.

I did build an Axe, hoping that I could get some XP from KK's explorers roaming near my borders (and also to protect my cities from possible Archer attacks). I left the game at a point where Worker steal should be 1-2 turns away, let's see how it goes.

Plan for this turnset:
* Worker steal from KK and try to get CF after that
* I will try to get failgold from SH in Bombay
* With tech I beeline to Alpha and backfill with Hatty

Spoiler 47-65 :

T47: Delhi builds a Worker and starts on another Warrior. I start researching Alpha. Bombay whips a Monument.
T48: Warrior in Delhi is done and I start on a Settler, hopefully settling the c2 spot. I OB with KK to explore his lands. I do the same with Hatty in hopes that she will eventually spread Buddhism to one of my cities.
T49: I send my Warrior to watch the Horses spot. I do one chop for a Settler in Delhi.
T52: I am pre-chopping around Delhi and Bombay.
T53: I chop one forest near Bombay for a Settler.
T54: Settler from Delhi is finished. Someone built the GW.
T56: Vijayanagara has been settled 1N of Corn.
T59: I chop another forest and put the hammers to a Settler in Delhi. SH built, I get 52GP of failgold.
T60: Hatty asks me to cancel OB with KK, I agree. Bombay starts on another Settler. Vijay whips a monument.
T62: Settler heads out to c3 spot. Delhi starts on a Library.
T64: Pataliputra has been established.
T65: I trade Writing to Poly with KK. I trade Writing to TW and Hunting with Hatty.

Spoiler Map :

Analysis
I managed to settle two more cities and one Settler is on its way in two turns. KK's Workers should be on their way to work the Horses and my Axe can (hopefully) ambush his Archer on flat land. The forests around Delhi are pre-chopped but I still feel like I am doing a terrible job at controlling my Workers... I am a little bit surprised that KK has not tried to settle the land in the east (Corn + Ivory). Instead he is settling towards the jungle.

Some issues to solve:
1. Tech path - I started to research Pottery so that I can get some Granaries and Cottages - Hatty has it but she's not ready to trade it yet.

2. Still no sign of other Civs, I think it might be just the three of us. I will need to send an explorer further south to map the area. Chariot after I get Horses? Or Scout now? I feel like a Scout would be just waste of hammers because of those deadly jungles in the south.

3. What buildings should my cities get? I was thinking the following:

Delhi: Granary + Library + Barracks
Bombay: I was thinking of Cottaging those riverside grasslands, so maybe Granary + Library.
Vijay: Granary at least. Barracks?
Pataliputra: Granary + Library since the rivers will be cottaged

4. I still do not have any long-term plan against KK - could HA's work here or is it too late? Or should I just keep cease firing and stealing his Workers and expand around him?

 

[Anysense]

Acquiring Hunting was a bad thing, you can't build warriors now, because they are replaced with spears. But you have to replay just one turn, assuming you made a save upon finishing Alpha. Your expansion rate is good, but you need more workers. Probably, build one with a chop in Bombay after settler. Or you may need it not, if KK solves the problem for you - he's finally got AH.
1. Yeah, you need granaries and cottages. Selfteching seems the only choice as both Hatty and KK must have it, otherwise they would not trade it, and you want it soon.
2. There can be someone further south, someone who hates Hatty and would not open borders. You could have done scouting with a warrior long ago.
3. Granaries in every city which has food, library in cities that will or already have decent commerce, that will be Delhi, Dombay and Pataliputra. A new city sheep and riverside cottages will need library too. Barracks... Better build research and settlers, or rather grow building research and whip granaries, ilbraries, settlers, workers at size 4.
Plan your first GS. You don't want to delay it till 800 AD again.
4. The trouble is you can't take his capital with just axemen, the odds are well bellow 10%, thats outright gambling. But you can take the rest of his cities. I think peaceful expansion is a more sensible line now, there are still very good spots to settle.

 

[isomittari]

Barracks... Better build research and settlers, or rather grow building research and whip granaries, ilbraries, settlers, workers at size 4.

I had already started one in Vijay so I will finish that one. The goal is to now grow on research and whip out Settlers, Workers, Libraries and Granaries (not in this order...) and put the overflow on Warriors for Worker stealing, city policing, exploring and fogbusting.

Plan for this turnset:
* Finally steal some Workers (and try to get CF after that)!
* Expand peacefully
* MAYBE invade some of KK's smaller cities

Spoiler 64-74 :

T64: Pataliputra has been established.
T65: Alpha is finished, I trade Writing to Poly with KK, and Writing + Mining to Medi + TW with Hatty.
T66: I DoW on KK, steal two of his Workers and kill his Archer with my Axe.
T68: Pottery is done, I start on Math (to improve chops and eventually go for Construction). All cities but Delhi start building a Granary.
T69: The Oracle has been built somewhere. I start running one GS in Delhi, I will have two after three turns when it grows. I will build another Axe in there that will help me with KK (and maybe take one of his cities). I take CF with KK.
T70: Varanasi has been found 1W of Sheep.
T72: Delhi reachers size 6 and I put my second GS in there. I also start slowbuilding a Settler. I chop + whip a Granary in Vijay, and 2-whip a Granary in Bombay. KK found a new city 1E2S of Horses. This could be a nice city to take at some point.
T73: I chop for Granary in Patali.
T74: I start putting some hammers to a Library in Bombay, as I want to 4-2 whip it. Vijay will get a Barracks and probably nothing else, it will just whip units and build Research/Wealth after.

Spoiler Map :

Analysis
So, no invasions but expanding peacefully. I think there's still room for two more cities - Pigs + Clam and finally the Marble spot. I would really like to take this KK's new city but I think he's just spamming Archers at this point so it might be pretty well guarded. I have sent my Warrior explorers to the south to see if we have more neighbors.

Some issues to solve:
1. Tech path again ... I went for Math because of improved chops, I was thinking that the Marble city would give me a good chance for TGL. So, Math -> Aest -> Lit - What do you think?
2. Is there any sense to whip a pack of Axes to take on KK's smaller cities?

 

[Anysense]

All in all it was a good turnset. The only really bad thing is the monument in Bombay. This city already had pigs, gold, riverside grassland and green hill, thats 4 in total and Bombay won't grow above size 4 in near future. In short, 30 beakers would be a lot more useful. I don't like slowbuilding barracks in Vijayanagara either, luckily its still 31 from completion, you can switch to build research and 2-pop whip barracks later. Next city should be pigs+clam, or split fopod between two cities.
I think its Math=>Construction=>Aest=>Lit. Build some axemen before Construction, quickly whip a few catapults and ~3 turns after you hit Construction you are ready to finish KK off. Could use those axemen to take the ivory city before Construction. You need more and a bit conquest gold won't hurt. Note that KK is creative, meaning that his cities get their first border pop quickly, and you can take them even at size one.
Karakorum with pigs, wet corn and lots of forests will make an ideal NE city, complete with GL if you are quick enough. I'd like to build research in Delhi to speed things up and whip settlers elsewhere. Didn't I say that I don't think much of slowbuilding?
Edit: Lain linked a tool for calculating combat, very handy for battles involving large numbers of units. That should give you idea how many units you need.
Team Game - Isolated Pacal (Deity)

 

[isomittari]

Plan for this turnset:
* Steal more Workers
* Expand peacefully
* MAYBE invade some of KK's smaller cities

Spoiler 74-88 :

T74: I start building a small army of Axes, starting one in Vijay.
T75: KK is sending one of his Workers to improve the Horses again, I think the next turn might be the time to strike. Patali whips a Granary.
T76: I DoW on KK and get two of his Workers again. Vijay whips an Axe and starts building Research again.
T77: Math is done, I will have to self-tech Masonry. So the order is Masonry->Construction->Aest->Lit.
T78: Ning-hsia has 3 Archers defending it. I need more Axes to bring it down.
T80: KK is already offering peace again, but I will wait for a few more turns.
T81: Masonry is finished, I start on Construction. I find Hatty's culture, and it seems like she's sending her Missionaries towards me. I chop a forest near Delhi and put the hammers to a Granary. I kill one of KK's Archers that leaves the city.
T82: KK is trying to settle another city near my northern borders.
T83: I pillage the area around Karakorum. KK flees with his Settler back to Karakorum.
T84: I whip a Settler in Bombay. I destroy another Archer from KK.
T86: KK attacks one of my Warriors on the forested hill near his capital. He loses one Archer but finally kills it.
T88: I take Ning-hsia with some losses. I get my first GS. Varanasi whips a Granary, and I start producing some Catapults. I trade Math to Hunting + Mono with Hatty in order to spread the upcoming religion and to work the Ivory.

Spoiler Map :

Analysis
I have two new cities coming up next turn and I got my first GS so I think this was a good time to stop. I would need to make a decision if I want to take a CF with KK, whip some Catapults and attack him again after a while. Getting religion and the ivory should help my happiness troubles a little bit.

Hopefully the following war will provide me a level 4 unit so that I can build HE ASAP. After taking Karakorum, I will try to chop TGL there real quick. I haven't explored all of the island but it seems to me that there is no one else here besides me, KK and Hatty.

Some issues to solve:
1. The army - I am already in trouble with the upkeep and would not want to build too many units for KK. I was thinking 4 Catapults and maybe 6 Axes would suffice taking Karakorum - how does this sound? I tried the calculator and it gave me pretty good odds.

2. The war - I actually like all of KK's cities - they all seem to have food in the first ring and I should be able to get Calendar before reaching that city in the south. Should I just keep all of them?

3. The GS - Should I build an Academy in Delhi? Or save it for Philo bulb?

 

[Anysense]

1. 4 cataults and 6 axemen sounds about right. Take ceasefire but don't take anything from him in a peace treaty, because then you'll be unable to declare war for 10 turns.
2. Yep, keep them, they look good enough. I think Currency might be better here, once you are through with KK you'll have 11 cities, if you get traderoutes with Hatty, Currency will give a very good boost.
3. Too small commerce output in Delh and its potential isn't very high either. Besides, you'll will get Civil Service rather late in this game. Keep GS for bulbs. Whether to bulb Philo is an interesting question, its priority is higher than that of Optics and Astronomy, i.e. if you get CoL from Hatty you won't have choice. It's not exactly a problem as Pacifism boosts GP generation, so it, probably, won't delay the Astronomy bulb at all.

 

[Anysense]

Hatshepsut appears to have improved her research rate a great deal. I think its worth getting her to friendly for tech trading, settling a crappy jungle city and gifting it seems the easiest way to do it.

 

[isomittari]

1. 4 cataults and 6 axemen sounds about right. Take ceasefire but don't take anything from him in a peace treaty, because then you'll be unable to declare war for 10 turns.
2. Yep, keep them, they look good enough. I think Currency might be better here, once you are through with KK you'll have 11 cities, if you get traderoutes with Hatty, Currency will give a very good boost.
3. Too small commerce output in Delh and its potential isn't very high either. Besides, you'll will get Civil Service rather late in this game. Keep GS for bulbs. Whether to bulb Philo is an interesting question, its priority is higher than that of Optics and Astronomy, i.e. if you get CoL from Hatty you won't have choice. It's not exactly a problem as Pacifism boosts GP generation, so it, probably, won't delay the Astronomy bulb at all.

Hatshepsut appears to have improved her research rate a great deal. I think its worth getting her to friendly for tech trading, settling a crappy jungle city and gifting it seems the easiest way to do it.

Good stuff again, thanks. I will try to be better friends with Hatty, and hopefully she can offer me at least IW at some point to get rid of that pesky jungle.

 

[isomittari]

Plan for this turnset:
* Build an army for KK
* Make final trades with Hatty before demolishing KK
* Build TGL in Karakorum after taking it
* Research or trade Hunting, Fishing, IW and maybe Calendar for KK's cities (in addition to Aesthetics and Literature)
* Either get a GE or level 4 unit for HE which will be built in Bombay

Spoiler 88 :

T88: I take Ning-hsia with some losses. I get my first GS and use it to build Academy. Varanasi whips a Granary, and I start producing some Catapults. I trade Math to Hunting + Mono with Hatty in order to spread the upcoming religion and to work the Ivory. Agra has been settled.
T89: Bombay whips a Catapult. Calcultta has been found, I chop a Monument there.
T91: I whip a Catapult in Patali. I convert to Buddhism.
T92: Bombay whips a Catapult.
T93: KK settles Old Sarai near my northern border.
T95: Patali 2-whips a Library. Varanasi 2-whips a Catapult. I trade Alpha to Fishing + Archery with Hatty.
T96: I DoW on KK.
T98: I take Karakorum while losing 2 Catapults and one Axe.
T99: I got level 4 Axe for HE, nice.
T101: My Workers start preparing the forests around Karakorum for Library + TGL. My conquest is going a bit too slowly.
T102: Turfan is mine. Patali 2-whips a Settler which I will use to settle a crappy city for Hatty.
T103: Old Sarai has been razed. Bombay 2-whips a Library.
T106: Karakorum starts on TGL.
T107: KK has been wiped out. Patali 2-whips a Barracks, I want to build the HE here.
T108: Turfan whips a Monument.
T110: Hatty has Monarchy for trade but I have nothing to offer for it. This could also help with unhappiness in the future.
T112: Hatty offers Monarchy for Construction + 10GP, I agree. I settle Lahore and gift it to Hatty. We are friends, and she's willing to trade more with me. I trade Aest to PH + Sailing + 110GP. I also trade Currency + 15GP for CoL. After this I bulb Philo. I also trade Pigs for 2GP. I switch to HR and OR.
T113: I get 130GP from Lit from Hatty. Varanasi 2-whips a LH. Patali 2-whips a HE. Some coastal cities get LH's.
T114: Karakorum builds TGL!

Spoiler Map :

Analysis
A rather long turnset, but I feel like I did okay. Invading KK was a bit slow, I should have been more aggressive and not worry about losing troops so much. I wanted to stop at the completion of TGL.
We are at friendly with Hatty which makes trades so much easier from now on. I think I made at least two bigger mistakes this turnset: selfteching IW (only helps a bit with the jungle cities) and not switching to OR earlier because of being SPI. There were probably others, too, but these are the ones I am aware of.

Some issues to solve:
1. The army - I have leftovers from the war with KK and it is actually costing me 11GP. Should I take that barb city in the east before Hatty gets it?

2. Teching - I guess the next stop is at Astro, so maybe IW was not a mistake after all? Hatty is teching different stuff at the moment.

3. Win condition - I think there are 4 other Civs in either 1 or 2 continents. All religions except for Hindu have been researched by Hatty, so they are probably all Hindus (if on one continent). Space race or cultural? Or just pure domniation with Astro + Cuirs?

4. Improvements - I feel like I should grow my cities but they should also work the GOOD tiles, right? So I am facing this problem where some of my cities (Vijay, for example) have a limited number of good tiles and then there are some that are just "okay" - should I for example improve non-riverside PH's? Grass cottages (while not being financial...)? When should I build farms? Should for example Delhi get a lakeside farm to support growth and possible GS's? Or do I just keep these cities smallish by whipping stuff and growing with Wealth after?

 

[Anysense]

1. Yep, you can take that barb city, it seems good enough and you'll receive some conquest gold as well. That must be a rather old city, thus the amount of conquest gold is going to be reasonably good.
2. Agree. Delay IW at least until Calendar.
3. I'm quite sure that domination is the fastest way to win the game, but you could do something different, may be space.
4. Some cities are a bit tricky. To decide what improvements to use in a given city, you need work out what that particular city is fit for and find the best way to use it to carry out your general plan.
a) NE city. You want it to run as many specialists as possible with as greater multiplier as possible. Therefore you want Karakorum to grow fast and chop all the necessary stuff. Preferable order: granary, library, GL, NE. Don't run any specialists before NE, it will only slow everything down. And most certainly you don't want Karakorum to work cottages.
b) Agra is another potintial GP farm city, there simply is no other use for that amount of food. Of course, you could share it with another city, but lack of good tiles suggets that first option is better. With caste+pacifism its 4*3*2=24 GP points per turn.
c) Pataliputra, Ning-hsia, Beshbalik are pretty straightforward - work food, cottages and other good tiles like riverside ivory, horses, calendar resources. Don't build cottages on non-riverside tiles, they are rather bad without financial.
d) The GLH in Vijay. Yeah, you can build it. Lets see, with OR you need 200/1.25=160 raw hammers, 90 will come from chops and 14 from overflow, that leaves 56. At 9/turn its 7 turns. Vijay will grow in 3 turns, so its actually 6 turns. Not bad, but you'll need another worker there.

Make failgold. For instance, ten chops into any marble wonder will make 30*10*2.25=675 gold, enough to sustain ~12 turns of research at 100%. Not too shabby?

 

[isomittari]

Plan for this turnset:
* Take the barb city
* Build some Galleys to defend seafood
* Improve cities
* Spread Buddhism to every city and switch to Pacifism + Caste
* Try to get TGli or failgold from it in Vijay
* Build NE in Karakorum
* Hook up more happiness resources
* Build some more Workers
* Get some GP's
* Research Calendar -> IW -> MC -> Machinery -> Compass -> Optics -> Astro (hoping to bulb the last 3 with 4 GS's, not sure about the tech path for this, though...)

Spoiler 114-142 :

T114: Karakorum builds TGL!
T115: I build a few Archers to do some military policing. I start building Galleys in Calcutta and Varanasi for fogbusting. I want to whip them and missionaries before I switch to Caste + Pacifism.
T116: I whip a Galley in Varanasi.
T120: I switch to Caste + Pacifism. Agra starts running two GM's for GA's.
T121: I built TGLi in Vijay. Calendar is finished, next up IW. I start building MoM in Delhi (I need to decide if I actually want to complete it, those 12rnd GA's are a beautiful thing)
T122: IW is done, I start on MC. I get GS in Delhi, and I save it for bulb.
T124: I conquest Gaul, the barb city, from which I got a hefty sum of conquest money.
T126: Karakorum gets its first GS, I have two now.
T127: MC is done, I start on Compass.
T129: I build MoM in Delhi. I have started building Barracks and Forges in some cities with production/whipping/chopping potential.
T132: compass is Finished, I start on Machinery. I bulb Machinery, Optics and half of Astro. I start on CS and wait for the next GS to finish the bulb on Astro.
T133: I have put 395 hammers on Parthenon in Patali, now I just wait for that sweet failgold money. I trade Compass to HBR and Philo to Music with Hatty.
T134: I start building Caravels.
T139: I finish Astro by bulb. I also build my first Caravel.
T141: CS is finished, I start on Nationalism. I switch to Bureau, I will soon switch to Slavery + OR/Theo and start getting those Gallions and Cuirs out.
T142: I meet Willem in the west. He is of course Hindu... but pretty behind in tech, maybe he has had some wars.

Spoiler Map :

Analysis
Another long turnset during the time of peace. I managed to build TGLi and MoM and also prepared some failgold for future use. I bulbed a lot of techs which gave me a nice headstart on the high seas.

Exploring the new continent will probably reveal the situation in there...

Some issues to solve:
1. The army and teching - Maybe Nationalism -> Guilds (after trading Feudalism with Hatty) -> GP -> MT?
2. What should I do about Hatty? Roll him over with Cuirs?

 

[Anysense]

No idea what you've built HE for. You aren't going to build military units any time soon, are you?