Some initial observations to add to what Phaedo has said:
The two continents have now met; there is good and bad in this.
The bad is that Celts will have access to any newly learned techs without our being able to act as a middle man.
The good is that we can now trade our resources worldwide; for example, Greece will hand-over their WM for our excess Silks. We can then sell our WM the same turn to our advantage.
China - although broke at the moment, through being at war with Smokey - have good territory, and will eventually provide an opportunity to recoup some of our expenditure on techs. Willie will always be good for a few extra gold also.
I think the time is right to start buying our way up the tech tree, starting with Mono; I can get a reasonable deal this turn by using our WM to supplement our gold.
I feel that we should ignore optional techs; with the exception of Chivalry, which will give us our UU, I can't see value in any optionals in this era, and even Chivalry isn't a priority. If we can get it as make-weight in a deal with China at some stage, we should do so, but our GA will be at it's most advantageous when we are working more tiles. On that subject, it's essential that we now concentrate on building our economy; we need markets, and Ducts where appropriate. We need to become an economic powerhouse.
We must cave to all demands for the foreseeable future now that contacts are made; the last thing we would want is someone allying Celts against us.
The tundra to the South should be settled, not because it offers much in the way of potential, but because it is a likely source of future resources (Rubber, Oil and Aluminium); Willie was quick to settle it, so I suspect he knows something we don't.
We should continue to forment war between Celts and Hittites, partly to exploit Celts' lack of resources, but also to keep their attention from us.
If we can keep from being attacked as far as Replaceable Parts, we will have a chance to pull this out of the bag; once we have Infantry and Arty it will be time to clear our continent of such rabble, and I would be confident of doing so, even against tanks.
Although I'm eager to play this, I'd like to hear some opinions first; Phaedo was spot-on when he suggested downloading each save, as it's much easier to get a feel for the game.
This is a tough variant, at a higher level than is comfortable, so it's going to be a tough challenge; it's essential that we don't rush it.
