Very well, so we begin.
First of all, the Lighthouse being built at Barcelona is major weed. A workboat sent to the fishes in its vicinity is a much greater return on investment. It only takes 10 turns at three hammers, and Lighthouse takes twenty. The benefit of fishes is +3 food, while Lighthouse gives +1 food per tile worked.
We only work one water tile. Ergo, the workboat is twice as cheap and three times as beneficial. In fact, Im hard pressed to come up with a situation where you would choose a lighthouse over a workboat, given the choice (well, a large starving conquered city would be a counter-point but we are nowhere near there yet).
We are playing a pretty difficult variant here lets avoid costly mistakes, please.
We have one settler almost ready at Madrid. I agree with sending him to the small river up north so it can grab the wheat immediately, and the marble after an obelisk. After the worker finishes with the mine at Madrid, he will head over to help with farming/quarrying/building a camp for Barcelona.
Speaking of Madrid, that single move east we made in our very first turn has cost us dearly. Without wheat in its city radius, it will take forever to grow. Without pottery, we cant even do anything useful with people working grasslands for break-even food. So Im not going to try and make it grow for now.
What could it do? I debate going for the Oracle but it would take 25 turns (19 after the mine finishes). This might be doable but the best thing we could pick up with it is Metal Casting from our current tech set. I could, of course, forget about the wheel/pottery, go for writing, hope to pick up alphabet via Oracle and do some trading with AI, and would probably do so in a single game. However, if I fail, it will cost us the game, which would be unthinkably rude to Torello.
Thus, Madrid will finish the settler, then build a galley and another settler so that we can have four cities doubt wed be able to support much more than that. Afterwards, it could build a worker and switch to growing cottages, perhaps, but thats not for me to decide.
Ill play 15 turns.
1360 BC (1) Worker begins mine.
1320 BC (2) Madrid builds settler (7 turns journey for him!). Begins Galley.
1160 BC (6) Stonehenge is BIDAL. Worker finished mine, and is sent north. I change Madrid to work both mines so it will grow no more.
1080 BC (8) Seville founded. Starts on Obelisk. We finish Wheel, start on Pottery.
1000 BC (10) Barcelona builds Workboat, continues working on Lighthouse (what else?).
975 BC (14) Pottery learnt. Iron Working began at 60%. Will take 27 turns. Nothing else strikes me as useful, anyway.
One turn invested in IW. Maybe switch and do Animal Husbandry instead? If horses pop up anywhere near us, itd be a nice boost.
Overall, Im skeptical of our current situation. We have three cities (growth-stunted capital, fishing village and a start-up) and our economy is already non-existent.
However, once we begin building cottages, and Seville comes online, things will start looking better. Barcelona will grow quickly now it could afford having some plains cottages (1F would be no problem with the extra food it has, and 1H would be much appreciated). Seville will be a powerhouse. And Madrid
Well, they are the holy city of (Zen?) Buddhism, right? Theyll be figuring out the sound of one hand clapping, then!
Thus concludes my turn.