Okay, here's the Alexander plan. Unlike Saladin, who doesn't need too uncommon a start, you need a
very specific map setup to pull this off. So, if you're willing to hit 'regenerate map' over and over because you just don't want to play without your favorite Macedonian, then here's what you need:
Capital needs:
- Seafood and a Gold/Silver/Gems tile for commerce. I worked with Silver which gives the lowest commerce, so anything else will be even better. This tile should not have forests on it. This may not be an issue as I don't think I've ever seen such a thing, but if Calendar resources can start with forests, then maybe it's possible.
- 4 forests to be chopped.
- Plains hill to be settled on no later than turn 2.
- Hill available for second Mine.
2nd city needs:
- Plains hill as a base.
- 4 forests to be chopped. In my run-through, I was lucky enough to have 4 forests in the cultural borders. I got sloppy and forgot to verify that the 4th forest might have the option of being outside the borders like it does with Saladin.
- Be founded 3 tiles away from the capital. Saving Worker turns in movement is just too essential.
- Immediate access to a 3F unimproved tile.
- The ability to share a Mine with the capital.
One note on forests that also applies to Saladin: The forests for the second city do not necessarily need to be adjacent to the city. However, they do need to be closer to the second city than the capital in order to actually be able to collect the wood over the capital. Depending on where you have to put the second city, the second cultural expansion of the capital might place trees inside the culture borders of the second city that are actually 2 tiles away from it. This is something you'll have to check out when you are initially looking over the map.
What to do requires (if I can say so without seeming arrogant) fairly masterful play. You cannot afford to do anything that wastes a single Worker turn if you can help it. You'll also have to do things with the capital that I normally wouldn't think of doing in a game. I pretty much had to plan every single detail through to the finishing of the Oracle before I even founded Athens.
Tech progression:
Mining -> Bronzeworking (do
not switch to slavery immediately) -> Mysticism -> Meditation -> Priesthood -> Wheel -> Pottery -> Whatever you like, as long as Masonry is done before the Engineer pops out.
Build queues-
Athens: Worker -> Settler -> Workboat -> Warriors until Oracle
Sparta: Worker -> Warriors until Forge
The first Worker starts on the commerce Mine. When the Mine is done, you will immediately work this tile. Pay attention and do not wait for the game to ask you what the Worker should do next before getting on the Mine. Before you hit the 'end turn' button watch for the appearance of the Mine to switch to it. You are trying to get Bronzeworking done fast enough to make up Settler/Workboat production with trees. After this Mine, if you can start a second Mine, then do so. Otherwise you'll have some lost Worker turns that I don't know how to eliminate. Whatever you do, be sure that the Worker is standing idle over a tree ready to go when Bronzeworking finishes. As I mentioned, do not switch to slavery right away. You cannot afford the delays imposed by Anarchy just yet.
When Bronzeworking is done, chop a tree to finish the Settler and immediately chop a second tree to finish the Workboat. When the seafood is ready, work the seafood until growth to size 2. Then work both seafood and commerce Mine. You will not be able to afford having either city try to grow to size 3. After Mining the Workers are pre-chopping and building roads to all these same forests.
Now here's where you have to be clever: once Athens is building the Oracle, alternate between working Mine + Seafood and both Mines. You work the Seafood 1 turn to build a tiny surplus, then work the Mines until you are about to starve. You would have to grow to size 4 in order to get 2 pop from a whip, and you don't have time to get to size 4. Since you cannot reach size 4, there is no advantage to getting to size 3. Each pop you whip for Oracle only provides 15 hammers anyway since it's a Wonder. You will make much more than these 15 hammers by swapping tiles.
Once you've researched Pottery, you can revolt to slavery. Use 2 trees and 1 whipped pop to finish Oracle. Then use 1 whipped pop and 4 trees over two turns to finish the Forge. Sparta needs to contribute >= 6 hammers per turn for two turns to finish the Oracle (this value varies on whether the 4th forest is giving you 20 hammers or less than that). You get this from sharing a Mine. Depending on if you have plains or grasslands forests you can also get this from working your trees if you're careful about what trees you chop first. Either way you can run Sparta at a food deficit if you have to. Sparta then spends the next 17 turns as a size 1 city doing nothing but making the Engineer. There's no reason really why you couldn't leave it as a size 1 city for the rest of the game just to crank out your first 3-4 GEs, leaving the rest of those tiles available to the capital.
Do all these things and you will have the fame and ovation of the people forever. But I stick with my original claims that this is just too hard to make the plan viable for Alexander. The map requirements are just too stringent and the micromanagement involved is so high I doubt people will even be able to replicate my feat every time. If you have Gold, it will be a huge help. I don't think anything else makes a difference. Discount the farms and cottages in the picture, that all came after the Oracle was done and I had nothing better to do while I waited for the Engineer to pop out. Elizabeth is far more practical since she has Mining and Financial, so you could skip the commerce tile requirement for her, and you might have time to research Agriculture so you could skip the seafood requirement (maybe not, since Financial is not going to help without a water tile to work).
EDIT: Very important tip for those players new to Civ IV micromanagement. If every unit you own currently has an order, then the game will whip through them all and immediately ask you to hit the 'end turn' button. This means that if you intended to have a Worker pre-chop a forest, when he's on the last turn he will actually finish cutting the tree before you get the chance to stop him. Frequently, I tell my starting unit to fortify since it has nothing to do after revealing the second city site. This means that unit has an order, and I won't get an opportunity to interact with my units before Workers use up their actions for that turn. So, when you're doing a pre-chop, make sure your military unit is not fortified and manually skip his turn after you've interrupted any Workers that are about to cut a tree you're not ready for.
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