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

[Gasp]

It's late for the Oracle. It may be ok here but generally it is better to plan this earlier. Now that you have Gems (nice!) picking MC for free and build Forges for an extra happy isn't a bad option.

I didn't look at your save but it's usually good to whip (2-pop) now unless you do it too much or the city needs to grow (like York). And don't build Monuments where you already have a Library. You don't need a lot of culture anyway and Monuments are just good to build when you need to catch a resource (like this eastern fish).

Also you don't have to hurry settling cities with seafood. They are nice but you could also settle your "c7" earlier. It has a good amount of grass riverside tiles you could grow cottages on. In any case try to bring a workboat to improve the seafood when you settle.
And perhaps you could focus on just the next 3 cities. I would settle c1 > c3 > c7.

 

[isomittari]

It's late for the Oracle. It may be ok here but generally it is better to plan this earlier. Now that you have Gems (nice!) picking MC for free and build Forges for an extra happy isn't a bad option.

I didn't look at your save but it's usually good to whip (2-pop) now unless you do it too much or the city needs to grow (like York). And don't build Monuments where you already have a Library. You don't need a lot of culture anyway and Monuments are just good to build when you need to catch a resource (like this eastern fish).

Also you don't have to hurry settling cities with seafood. They are nice but you could also settle your "c7" earlier. It has a good amount of grass riverside tiles you could grow cottages on. In any case try to bring a workboat to improve the seafood when you settle.
And perhaps you could focus on just the next 3 cities. I would settle c1 > c3 > c7.

Thanks for the tips, I will settle in that order.

I played until T100, here is the summary:

Spoiler Turns 81-100 :

T81: Nottingham tries to finish the Oracle with two chops and working mine and the Marble. London starts on a work boat (way too late!). One Worker heads to mine the Copper (this one is also late, bad planning).

T82: Hunting is done, I start on Monarchy to solve the happiness issue. My plan is to go Monarchy -> Aest -> Poly -> Lit for the GL, after this Alpha -> Currency. Slider to 0 for now - how is this plan?
Canterbury is found west of Copper. Starts building a Granary.

T85: WB in London done, heads for the Clam near Canterbury. I need these sea foods to help with the health problem. Also Deer will help with that. 3T for Oracle in Nottingham.

T88: Oracle is built, I pick MC as free tech. London 2-whips a Library, I really need to start running Scientists in my cities. York already starts on two - there is a little happiness problem with whipping.
I have trouble utilizing my Workers - should I farm near London? Pre-chop?

T89: Nottingham whips (3->2) a Granary, starts on a Library. London puts some hammers in a Galley and starts on a Settler after increasing in size (T91)

T91: I am building Granaries and Libraries, whipping when I can.

T93: Research on Aest -> Poly -> Lit. York works on Forge for two turns and then starts on a Settler. I switch to HR, 1 turn of Anarchy

T97: Whipping Library to Nottingham and Granary to Canterbury. York starts on a Settler.

T98: GS is out - should I save it for later bulbs? Academy does not seem like a good idea as there are no good science cities. Hastings whips a Granary, starts on a Warrior. Canterbury whips also a Granary,
starts on a LH.

T100: Aest is done, next up is Poly. Slider to 0. Coventry is found, starts on a Warrior.
I think I still lack a clear plan - I am getting GS's now (and probably a GM...) but the bulbing plan is not good as I will be trying to get the GL with Aest -> Poly -> Lit. Is there any idea to bulb

Spoiler :

North:

South:

CoL with GM? Is there any chance for Colossus? Is it useless? The bonus commerce would be nice, no?
I clearly do not have enough troops... Hastings can still build Warriors since I forgot to road... maybe this was a happy accident. Also Coventry is not yet roaded so I can do them there, too. Which one
is more imortant, cheap HR troops or road connection?

 

[Anysense]

The first thing you need to do is to switch Hastings to work fish instead of forest. BTW you should have chopped a forest to build a boat faster and start working food earlier. Always seek to improve food as quickly as possible, that is essential. Its a habit of neglecting food that slows you down so much. And a desire to build every world wonder available does not help either. I suggest you forget about the Colossus and turn your attention to something more urgent.
Something like lack of city guards. You can connect Hastings and Coventry, but pillage the copper first. You should not have finished the mine in the first place. Prebuild it, but not finish. Normally you dont want to slowbuild warriors, better use overflow from whips. Later c7 can be a very good city for producing more warriors - its not coastal, so it will miss just one trade route.
The same goes for work boats. Put ~60 hammers into settler, 2pop whip it and 1t build a boat on the next turn. You can do it in York: build for 1-2 turns and then whip. Don't chop the forest! Prebuild mine, but dont finish. Settle c5 and move the boat there to improve clam.

 

[isomittari]

Spoiler 100-118 :

T102: 2-whipped Settler in York, building WB next. Whipped Monument in Hastings, overflow goes to Warrior. Whipped Galley in London, overflow goes to Warrior

T104: Trying to grow all cities much bigger now while improving surrounding tiles - I have hard time picking up improvements for some tiles - is cottage okay for grassland w/o river?

T105: Warwick was found NE of Clam. WB is on it's way. York, London and Nottingham are building Forges now. I will add a few Scientists as soon as I get some more population.

T107: Hastings 2-whips a LH and builds another Warrior with overflow.

T109: Lit is finished, started on Math - is this correct? I was also thinking IW but Math helps a little bit with the GL chops and I will eventually have to tech Calendar for Astro. Canterbury whips a LH and overflow goes to Warrior. Nottingham 3-whips a Forge and overflow goes to a Warrior.

T111: Slider to 100%, Math in 3T. A barbarian Galley comes spoil the Fish near Hastings, I switch production to a Trireme to avoid this in the future. York 3-whips a Forge and overflow goes to another Warrior. After this the GL. Math in 1T after which I chop the forests around York. Hastings is overwhipped and needs a cooldown period.

T114: Math is done and I start teching IW. I have no idea what to tech after this, I should consider those bulbs at some point...

T115: London 3-whips a Forge

T116: Trireme destroys the barbarian Galley. I discover ANOTHER set of Gems near York! This will be good for commerce.

T118: IW is done, no clue what to do next.

Spoiler :

North:

Middle:

South:

Should I bulb Alpha? Save GS's? I honestly have no clue what to do with all these GS's. What should I do with my boats? Fogbust? Should I build more Settlers - 2-3 more cities? I do not know what to build in London - maybe hook up Copper and failgold Colossus? I don't
think I need any more Warriors. Or a Settler? I wanted to stop to T118 as my plan is very unclear at this point. I think I have solved the happiness problem and I would like to run a lot of Scientists, and maybe failgold some Wonders, too?

 

[sampsa]

Poppin' em gems like a boss

 

[Pedro78]

At this point you should consider beelining Optics to meet the other AIs. Double-bulbing Astro is usually a good move when isolated.

 

[Gasp]

but pillage the copper first. You should not have finished the mine in the first place.

It's probably better to say don't road the copper if you don't need it. But mining is always useful (extra hammers are good).
Especially here since you don't need to road thanks to Sailing

 

[Anysense]

Dont build the Colossus, it obsolets with Astronomy. Failgold would be useful.

Spoiler :

Marked tiles can't be worked from your continent, meaning that there is another landmass. Pangaea even mentioned that on the first page. Don't get too excited though, it may be uninhabited. Still worth trying to establish contact pre-optics. For that you need to settle 1W of that fish, improve it ASAP and whip a monument.
Definitely save your GS's in case you need to bulb Astronomy. Otherwise you can use them to bulb education or liberalism or start a Golden Age.

 

[isomittari]

Long turnset, lots of mistakes...

Spoiler 118-146 :

T118: I switched London to build the Parthenon for failgold, it is better ratio because I have Marble? Research switched to Compass. Iron found near London on plains, that should be nice boost to production

T119: Hastings 3-whips a Library, overflow to a Warrior. I put some hammers to a Forge in Canterbury and whip a Library at pop 6

T121: Whipped a Library at pop 6 in Canterbury. Settler is out next turn for the Warrior mill so I will hook up my metals for other cities for extra production.

T122: Coventry 2-whips a Settler, overflow goes to WB. I want to build the rest of the cities so Nottingham starts on another Settler at pop 4 (gonna whip at 2) and Canterbury starts building a Worker. Slider now to 100, Compass in 4T.

T123: 'Mids built somewhere.

T125: The GL is finished in York. Next up is the NE, this will take a while without forests to chop - I guess it is okay as I want to grow? Newcastle is found, starts growing on Pigs and builds a Granary. Nottingham 2-whips a Settler and overflow goes to WB.

T126: Compass finished, started on Machinery. Just noticed that Newcastle is actually connected to my trade network so it can't be used as a Warrior mill - the river I guess?

T129: Liverpool is established near the Crab. I will need a border pop there to work it and I already built the WB - big mistake! I will chop the forest and build a Monument. I am slipping...

T130: Taiosm found, so someone got Philo. I have made many mistakes with Warwick - I should have chopped there and now the city has to work unworked worthless tiles.

T132: I have 3 GS's now.

T133: Christianity found. Slider to 100 for Machinery in 4T. Nottingham whips a Barracks and the overflow goes to a Settler.

T135: Oxford whips a Monument, soon we will see if that island in SE is populated by other Civs.

T136: Newcastle whips a Granary. I am improving the river tiles with cottages. Liverpool gets a Monument with chop on next turn - I really screwed up there.

T137: Machinery is finished, started on Optics. Nottingham 2-whipping a Settler again.

T140: Colossus built somewhere. Dover found near the Fish in E. I don't have anything to build in Nottingham, so I try to get some failgold from Schwedagon Paya.

T141: Got GM from London - I could bulb Currency or save for nice income of extra money later on.

T143: Slider to 100% - I get Optics in 3. I want to chop/whip some Caravels right away for quick exploration. In 3 turns we also connect the other continent/island.

T144: Brighton found in NW part - Worker is again late with pre-chops for a Monument... I really screwed up habiting the northern part. Chopped a Monument in Dover in order to reach the Fish quicker.

T145: 3-whipped a few Forges. Don't know if this was a good idea or not but these cities were closing on unhappiness.

T146: Met Caesar SW of Warwick - he is quite backwards in research. The SE island seems quite empty, only a barbarian Galley there. I start researching Calendar in order to double bulb Astro.

Spoiler Images :

North:

Middle:

South:

Julius:

First of all, I noticed that I played way too many turns as I got excited about going for Optics and meeting other Civs. Because of this I had some troubles with cities, especially in the northern parts. Next time I will do further planning.
Hopefully I can get a few friends from Civs close by and can also get some nice trade networks after Astro is in. This is usually the point where I start lacking concentration - there's too much to do and I get too excited about my goals.

 

[Anysense]

Long turnset, lots of mistakes...

First of all, I noticed that I played way too many turns as I got excited about going for Optics and meeting other Civs. Because of this I had some troubles with cities, especially in the northern parts. Next time I will do further planning.
Hopefully I can get a few friends from Civs close by and can also get some nice trade networks after Astro is in. This is usually the point where I start lacking concentration - there's too much to do and I get too excited about my goals.

Yeah, that was a rather long turnset, but you've been working in the right direction and did not have to take any particularly important decisions, so no real harm has been done. You are about to meet other civs and begin trading with them. Right now you can get Alphabet from Julius. He is so far behind that it does not matter what you give him. You should open borders as well. A few turns later you'll bulb astronomy which will give you +3 or even +4 trade routes instead of just +1. Astronomy also has a drawback - monuments obsolete, meaning that you must finish building one in Brighton, otherwise you will have hard time popping its borders.
To manage a large empire you need to know what you want from your cities. Choose a of kind of victory you will pursue. I suggest Domination. You research pace is very good for Prince, it will be easy to get an edge. Something like cuirassiers vs longbows.
That would make city management very straightforward. Most cities will only need: granary, lighthouse, barracks and may be forge and library. For instance Brighton and Liverpool will only need the first three. Once a city has everything it needs, just make it build wealth until its time to whip units.

 

[Anysense]

BTW its too late for off-river cotages. They start at +1, and it takes 10 turns for them to become +3, so you lose 20 over those 10 turns. Tt takes further 20 turns to become +4 and 20 turns to compensate for the first 10 turns. And only after that cottages start bringing extra rofit, comared to coastal tiles. Fifty turns in total. That is a rather long-term investment. If you do everything right, the game will be over before your cottages even mature.

 

[isomittari]

Yeah, that was a rather long turnset, but you've been working in the right direction and did not have to take any particularly important decisions, so no real harm has been done. You are about to meet other civs and begin trading with them. Right now you can get Alphabet from Julius. He is so far behind that it does not matter what you give him. You should open borders as well. A few turns later you'll bulb astronomy which will give you +3 or even +4 trade routes instead of just +1. Astronomy also has a drawback - monuments obsolete, meaning that you must finish building one in Brighton, otherwise you will have hard time popping its borders.

I think I will get the Monument before Calendar as I am already chopping one forest near Brighton. Shouldn't I spot some other Civs before trading to see if Julius is someone's worst enemy?

To manage a large empire you need to know what you want from your cities. Choose a of kind of victory you will pursue. I suggest Domination. You research pace is very good for Prince, it will be easy to get an edge. Something like cuirassiers vs longbows.
That would make city management very straightforward. Most cities will only need: granary, lighthouse, barracks and may be forge and library. For instance Brighton and Liverpool will only need the first three. Once a city has everything it needs, just make it build wealth until its time to whip units.

I was also planning on going for Domination with Cuirs. I will need to hook up that horse in the south unless I can trade Horses from other Civs after Astro. It will be pretty useless city as there is no food, though. I will now implement this building plan.

 

[Anysense]

I don't think that maintaining good relationships with other civs is important in this game, as you are going to conquer them. Besides, they will need galleons to invade your continent.
Improved sugar is +4 tile. That horse city will be able to work 2 or 3 sugar tiles, which is enough to make it useful. It will be even better than Brighton and Liverpool.

 

[isomittari]

Spoiler 146-160 :

T146: I trade Alpha to Compass with Julius, and he gives me +4 for good trades - would Monarchy + Aest have made more sense?
T147: Liverpool finally gets to work those Crabs. I whip a Caravel in Warwick and also one in Canterbury.
T148: I started preparing for future wars by building Barracks in several cities. I also whipped a Forge in Coventry.
T150: Double-bulbed Astro.
T152: 2-whip a LH in Oxford.
T154: 4T to Parthenon... I might actually get it - should I just abandon the project and wait for the eventual failgold or finish it?
T155: Currency done, and I got a huge boost in commerce. Next up is CoL. I meet Willem in the west, he has a little bit more researched but still nothing too bad (this is Prince after all...). He has Ivory which I would really like so I trade it for Fish + Pigs.
I also met Sury who has a lot of resources, including gold, to trade. I trade Rice for Pigs. They are both Buddhist so I could just trade with them. Aaaand I also meet Ragnar who is Buddhist too. I trade 2GP for Clam. I put my espionage points to Julius since he is backwards in tech and closest to me.
OB with Willem, Sury and Ragnar aka the Buddha Coup.
T156: I actually got the Parthenon... I bulbed Philo as I need it for Cuirs. I trade Compass to Sury for HBR + Mono. I trade map from Willem for Compass - mistake? The map reveals Monty and the Russians in the west.
T157: Mausoleum built somewhere. There is still an unknown wonder-monger somewhere. Buddhism spread to one of my cities, should I convert + change to OR? I trade Cows for Marble with Sury because I do not need it right now and I have some trouble with health. Oxford 2-whips a Library.
I traded 3GP to Sugar with Julius.
T158: Meet Catherine, also Buddhist. OB with her.
T159: Catherine asks for Philo - I give it to her (mistake? I am trying to think as I would be playing on higher level here). Monty is at war Cathy and Sury. I trade 50GP to Mono with Julius. I have started exploring his island with Caravels for the upcoming war.
T160: Willem demands to convert to Buddhism - he made the decision for me, and I convert.

Spoiler Images :

I have 2 GS's and a GM. Should they used for bulbs or GA's? Should I change to Caste at some point? OR now for spreading Buddhism and getting the production bonus for upcoming war? And Bureau after CS? Do I need Stables?

And @Anysense , I also realized that Sugar can give me some nice food bonuses, and also I get more trade routes -> more commerce.

 

[Anysense]

The bonuses from "you gave us help" and "you accepted our state religion" may come in very useful. If you take out Julius and Monty, you will have a good chance to snatch diplomatic victory.
There are not too many uses for GP's. The more tiles your cities work, the more benefit you gain from GA. Therefore it's better to start GA while you are still in a research phase and dont whip your cities much. Ideally you arrange them so you can switch civics without anarchy. If you spread Buddhism to York and Hastings, start GA and switch to pacifism and caste, you can easily get enough GP's both for bulbing and another GA. Once cuirassiers are available switch to slavery and theocracy. If you do the latter, it would be wise to sread Buddhism to other cities.
Edit: You can start GA with a GS right now to avoid anarchy. There are some trading opportunities you disregarded/overlooked. You can trade deer for corn with Cathy. With granary corn gives +2. Willem lacks iron.

 

[isomittari]

Even longer turnset, I got excited about the war...

Spoiler 161-199 :

T161: Willem becomes a vassal of Cathy and also declares on Monty, Sury makes peace.
T162: Whipped a Barracks in Warwick, put the overflow on Explorer to explore the Romans and later on to upgrade to Medic III.
T163: Settler done in Hastings, I'll send it to the southern tip for Horses + Sugar city.
T164: Monty demands Gems, I of course refuse. Got 172 failgold from SP. Also +1 ship movement which helps with my future conquest. Researching Feudalism now. Then Guilds -> Nationalism -> MT -> Gunpowder. Bulbed Paper. Traded Gems to Gold and 13GP to Deer with Sury.
T165: AP built by Cathy, I vote for Sury (vs Cathy). Doesn't matter, I guess. I switch to Bureau + OR, a few turns too late I think. Julius demands HBR, I refuse as I am going to kill him anyways and he has no way to reach me. I whip Monastery in Coventry, I want to spread Buddhism to York and Hastings and start a GA with the GS.
T166: I trade Corn to Sugar with Cathy to fix the health problem in my cities, I get another one anyway in a few turns. Started a Missionary in Coventry.
T169: Norwich settled, I immediately start working on the Horses and Sugar. Oxford 4-whips a Forge - I wonder if this is a good idea... there's plenty of food, though. I trade 60GP to Lit with Cathy.
T170: Newcastle 3-whips a Forge. My Missionaries are on their way to York and Hastings, I am building a few more for bigger production cities.
T171: I trade Paper to Archery + Construction + 50GP + Map.
T172: GA started. I put 4 GS's to York and 8 GA's to Hastings - I might still get two GS's but I still have that GM to lead me to second GA.
T173: I want to settle that nice island in the south, so I started building a Settler. I trade Music to Theo + 10GP + Map and Guilds to Engineering with Cathy so that I can switch to Theo after the end of GA and also to get better movement on roads (maybe useless at this point?). I try to work tiles while in GA.
T174: Ragnar demands CS - I give it to him reluctantly.
T175: I start building a few Knights in order to take the barbarian city in the southern island.
T176: I keep spreading Buddhism to my cities for happiness and for voting power. I get yet another GS, I start another GA.
T178: At this point I decided to switch to Slavery and OR - I will try to spread Buddhism to all cities and whip the rest of the buildings I need for the war effort.
T179: Sugar to Cow with Sury.
T181: Willem gets Liberalism...
T182: 1T to GP, I will start churning out Cuirs after this turn in pretty much every city. I do not know how to whip 'em but I guess 2-whip is the way to go. I will keep York and London a bit bigger and save them from the worst whipping.
T183: I start on Drama to fight the eventual unhappiness. Most cities are now buildings Cuirs. I trade Dye to Marble with Cathy. I switch to Theo. I raze the barbarian city since it is in a terrible spot which misses all food resources. This small island will give me 3 fishes, sheep and iron.
T185: I finish Drama, I start on Chemistry in order to get Frigates.
T187: Crab to Wine with Sury, as I don't need as much health now that I am whipping. I '
T188: I start researching Steel for possible Cannons. Leeds is found on the small island. I will attack on next turn. I forgot the war with Monty, oops... I take peace with 15 GP and immediately declare on Julius.
T189: I upgrade two Caravels to Frigates.
T190: I conquer Arretium, the Roman city with Iron. Next up is Circei, their Horses city. After this they should be ripe for picking.
T191: Circei is mine. I also got a GG which I will use for Medic III Explorer. Julius has no chance against my Cuirs, he is still defending with Archers.
T192: Ravenna falls. I think I will stop building Cuirs at this point and start the recovery phase. I double-bulb Education and start building Universities to boost research.
T193: Neapolis falls. The Romans have six cities left. They have some very nice land.
T194: Setia has been captured. I trade Aest to 120GP + Map with Ragnar. Julius finally gets Longbows
T195: Cumae has been captured. We are approaching Rome, it has the 'Mids and Chichen Itza.
T196: Antium captured, and the Roman empire will fall on the next turn. Then I will check the spoils of war, recover a bit and head for Monty's head.
T197: Roman empire is no more. I played way too long, and I will stop next turn for analysis.
T198: Sury declares on Monty, I think I might be too late for that party. 3GP to Pigs with Ragnar.
T199: I stop here. I need a plan for the future, I still think about conquering Monty. I should also spread Buddhism for either diplo win or for overruling the AP decisions.

Spoiler Research :

 

[Anysense]

You did a lot of horrible things in this turnset. Where to begin... Well, you should be hung for researching Feudalism, drawn for researching Guilds and quartered for losing Liberalism. That's what deity would have done, but, of course, prince is very, very forgiving.
As a rule of thumb: never research what you can get by trade. In this case there is no need for Guilds and you only need Feudalism to enable vassal states. Speaking of the latter, conquering the Romans completely was not a very good idea. You can see your colonial expenses going through the roof now. Would be more use to vassalize him and spread Buddhism.
Sreading the AP religion is very important, you will have to deal with "stop fighting among our brother in faith" resolutions, and the best way to solve the problem is to become the AP resident yourself. It would be a good idea to take some missionaries along with cuirs when you attack the Aztecs.
Universities (in CIV) are usually a waste of hammers, unless you want to build Oxford, which does not fit your plans for domination.
There is no point in "the recovery phase", your whipping potential is still tremendous and cuirs will remain effective for quite a while, and with cannons you will be unstoppable.
Edit: the whole point of a GP farm city is to run as many specialists as possible, rather than work gems. If you just build a theatre and take the pigs back from New Castle that would make huge difference.

 

[isomittari]

You did a lot of horrible things in this turnset. Where to begin... Well, you should be hung for researching Feudalism, drawn for researching Guilds and quartered for losing Liberalism. That's what deity would have done, but, of course, prince is very, very forgiving.
As a rule of thumb: never research what you can get by trade. In this case there is no need for Guilds and you only need Feudalism to enable vassal states. Speaking of the latter, conquering the Romans completely was not a very good idea. You can see your colonial expenses going through the roof now. Would be more use to vassalize him and spread Buddhism.
Sreading the AP religion is very important, you will have to deal with "stop fighting among our brother in faith" resolutions, and the best way to solve the problem is to become the AP resident yourself. It would be a good idea to take some missionaries along with cuirs when you attack the Aztecs.
Universities (in CIV) are usually a waste of hammers, unless you want to build Oxford, which does not fit your plans for domination.
There is no point in "the recovery phase", your whipping potential is still tremendous and cuirs will remain effective for quite a while, and with cannons you will be unstoppable.
Edit: the whole point of a GP farm city is to run as many specialists as possible, rather than work gems. If you just build a theatre and take the pigs back from New Castle that would make huge difference.

It probably went further downhill from there... I was too eager to play and I finished the game with a diplo victory on 1630.

Thank you @Anysense for helping me through this game, even though I went solo in the end. I learned a LOT and I really enjoyed playing this game. I am now much better at organizing Workers (still needs work, though), realize the importance of food and the importance and the use of buildings. I also know to plan things further and this was the first game where I did some civic switching during GA. I learned not to cottage spam and try to work every tile. I also learned to trade for resources and techs.

For the next game I will increase the difficulty to Monarch and hopefully get a few neighbors in the beginning as I have to practise my diplo skills.

Spoiler :

T199: This is a challenging spot for me, as I will have to plan what to do with the Roman cities. I would like to build HE in Rome
T200: I trade MT to Lib + 140GP with Willem. Steel researched. I have no research plan so I will just go PP and beeline for Cavs. My economy is in a bad shape because of so many cities. I am heading for the big continent and will run the Cuirs through Dutch and Russian land for Monty.
T203: Cathy asks me to declare war on Monty - I do it. I cancel Sugar to Corn with Cathy as I now have Corn from the Roman cities and trade Sugar to Monty for Spices as happiness is needed after vicious whipping and era of slavery. I also get 8GP from Sheep from Sury - should I have taken Fur instead?
T204: I start whipping some infrastructure buildings around my empire. Granaries, Libraries and LH's go for most cities. I think most cities are worth it if only for the trade routes.
T205: My Cuirs are closing in on Monty through the Russian lands. I am hoping that the Buddhist coup has softened them for me and that he does not vassal too early.
T206: Teotihuacan has pathetic defense and will probably fall to my Cuirs on next turn.
T207: Tlaxcala falls, and so does Tenochtitlan. My friends did a good job softening the former.
T211: I am trying to conquer Monty ASAP,
T213: Another city taken with small losses.
T214: Aztecs have been obliterated with minimal losses. I think the way to go from here is either diplo victory or waiting on Cavs and conquer more land for domination victory. Willem and Cathy have Grenadiers so I don't think that is a good idea. I will shoot for diplo.
T217: Cathy wins AP vote...
T218: I got Taj with Mausoleum, I will switch to OR first to spread Buddhism. I switch to Caste + OR + Rep.
T219: Cathy demands for Nationalism, I give it to her. I trade 750GP to Banking with Ragnar.
T236: Diplo victory! Sury turned to vote in my favor.

 

[isomittari]

Here goes another one: Difficulty level is Monarch and map type is Fractal. I randomly rolled Cyrus of the Persian empire as the leader:

Spoiler :

And here is the start:

Spoiler :

It looks quite nice with Gold, Crab and Sheep and also plenty of FP's. These are the starts I have most trouble with - I get overwhelmed by choices and tend to make a lot of mistakes with tech choices, worker turns and production.

It looks like there is coast in the north, meaning that there might be more seafood. I was also thinking of moving the Scout on the Gold and maybe settle SW from the starting spot, probably grabbing a few more FP's. Even SIP could work here, I could work the Crab and the first helper city could be in the west to help with cottages later.

Research could be Fishing -> AH (maybe to find Horses for Immortals and early conquests) -> Mining -> BW.

What do you think?

 

[Snowbird]

Fishing is a trap (after throwing some beakers you also throw in 30 hammers for workboat -- while clams have just 1 coin over farmed FP).