Our empire seems to be in great shape. Technologically, we are missing only Feudalism and in a couple cases music, and are up a lot of techs on "barbarian" leaders. The fact that those guys are still missing longbows while we could train maces means that we don't even need Catapults, if we can attack soon enough.
However, we can't train Macemen, because that requires Military Encampment. That is unlocked by Engineering tech. Since Metal Armor is a dead end tech that enables only inferior swordsmen, while Engineering enables Military Camps, Macemen (indirectly), Pikemen, and increased road movement, Engineering looks like a superior choice. No beakers have been invested yet, so I switch from Metal Armor(10) to Engineering(19).
Next I go through our cities.
The Capital no longer needs its scientists, so I fire them, returning the Farm to Mainz. Mainz is reconfigured for faster growth and worker's farm order is cancelled. There aren't enough hills in the area to require extra farms, especially considering the abandance of food already present. However, I let Capital work the farm for a turn to time the growth together with completion of Temple, allowing it to start on a Worker next turn. Hestral is building a Catapult without Barracks, a situation I quickly correct.
Cologne looks good, but I need to remember to reconfigure it to work the cottages when Missionary has been trained. Kassite (our newest city) can whip a Granary, so I do that. The city is a classic fishing village, short on production, so it will need a lot of whipping.
A worker at Kassite is chopping down a Forest.

That forest is the only source of hammers for that city, besides a future mine and pasture. I understand that aggressive chopping is a viable early game strategy, but unless you want the city to rely exclusively on whips for production, it's good to have at least some source of hammers. Another reason to leave these forests is that they are good for emergencies. If we are backstubbed and have to produce an army out of thin air, all forests will be quite handy. Finally, forests give badly needed health boost.
Finally, we get to the Settler. There seems to be a consensus to expand north, so I move the Settler towards the spot south of Dyes. That city will have 2 Seafood resources for whipping, Dyes, and a mine shared with Kassite. I am tempted to settle south-west, grabbing another Dye and fresh water, but that extra Fish is just too good to ignore, especially for a city that will rely exclusively on whips for production.
For city production, we need more workers and settlers. (Why did we raise that Barb city? It was perfectly positioned.) Aside from that, I'll just build infrastructure as needed, and catapults if I run out of things to build. And perhaps missionaries. Although that might not be a very efficient way of getting victory points, so I'll probably train missionaries only for our own cities.
Finally, I send a warrior out of Hestral to explore Saxon territory.
Thus ends the inherited turn.
722AD(turn 65) - Capital Temple -> Worker(3). The farm is given back to Mainz, allowing it to grow. Kassite Granary -> Work Boat(3), thanks to overflow from the whip. Worker will spend a turn building road, then will start pasture on horses. Reims is founded and begins work on Granary. This increases our expenses by 9 gpt. So we'll have to work a lot of cottages to keep up with our expansion. Cottages will be the top priority for our workers now.
The main stack will be positioned on a hill near the Capital for easier response to unexpected aggression.
724AD (turn 66) - Cologne Missionary -> Library(5). The citizens are moved from forests to cottages, dramatically improving our finances.
Bavarians have "too much on their hands" and I see a stack of 4 Cats, 4 HAs, a Sword, and 2 Supply Trains in a city next to our border. I wonder whom they will attack. The cities of other AIs have only 2-3 units in each of them. I also notice that Gundoband is at war with Chiperic. I divert an axeman to watch the frontlines. By the way, most AI opponents have 5 or 6 cities already, so our starting advantage is quickly disappearing.
726AD (turn 67) - Mainz Cat -> Temple(6). Mainly for victory points and culture on the border. Missionary used in Reims.
728AD (turn 68) - Capital Worker -> Settler(7). Most cities are working improved tiles now, so it seems we do have enough workers after all and just need one more Settler. Kassite Work Boat -> Work Boat for Reims.
730AD (turn 69) - Chiperic wants us to attack Gungoband. No way! G-guy is #2 in score and probably has one of the best armies in the world, while Chiperic has only 3 cities.
We popped Gems at the Capital!
And while I am wasting time with pictures, here is a view of the Chiperic-G-guy war:

Note the Hills2 Longbow in a city on flat Grassland. Apparently AI could still learn a lot about optimizing promotions.
732AD (turn 70) - Histral Catapult -> Monastery(5) This will give more culture on the border, improve science, and give us more victory points. Kassite whips Work Boat for Reims. Saxons are now Pleased with us due to shared Civics.
734AD (turn 71) - Cologne Library -> Temple(4) (victory points and culture on the border) Kassite Work Boat -> Work Boat (last one). Saxons found a city very aggressively, but we still have room for our own city.
IBT: Chiperic captures Vienne (next to our Cologne), occupying it with a single Light Cavalry. Apparently that Hill2-promoted Longbow didn't do too well.
736AD (turn 72) - Mainz Temple -> Stable(3) (just in case we want to train mounted units in the future)
738AD (turn 73) - Bavarians attack, capturing a worker who was chopping forest on the border. I send most of our spare troops to the area. Looks like we'll have our chance to capture some cities from backwards opponents after all. The invading stack of 2HA, 2 Light Cav, 4 Cats, and 2 Supply Trains looks impressive, but will be easily destroyed by our Papal Pikemen.
Kassite whips its last Work Boat.
740AD (turn 74) - Kassite Work Boat -> Forge (will have to be whipped). Most of our troops arrive in place.
Here is the main front:

Our 4 Cats are under that Pikeman north of Hestal. As you can see, the attack forse is about to get wiped out, so I wouldn't take this war too seriously.
Let's talk about our expansion. We'll get a settler in 2 turns and I'd suggest to refound on the Barbarian ruins shown below.

That city will be the perfect fishing village with 2 Fish, and a Gems mine. As you can see, I've already started building a road towards it.
Notes:
1. Don't worry about the war. The "barbarians" are too technologically backwards to pose any threat, and our Papal Pikemen will go through their cavalry like knife through butter.
2. Once we get Engineering in 7 turns (or 6 if you don't mind a slight deficit research), you can start building military camps everywhere, and then we can train Macemen and have some fun. Meanwhile, I'd build infrastructure, missionaries, and perhaps a couple workers.
3. For whipping villages, I'd suggest the following build order: Granary (growth=better whipping) -> Forge (better production) -> Monastery (VPs, culture, and research) -> whatever.
4. Capital is still missing Barracks.
5. Please don't chop non-hill forests unless absolutely necessary. Save them for real emergencies. Also, please don't whip our 4 starting cities. They have good production and potential to grow large population, so whipping will do more harm than good. Whipping villages on the other hand ...
Have fun.
