I agree that this map is awfully hard for Saladin. Not a bureau capital, no special resource like gold/stone/marble, poor starting techs, not even a strong axe rush for him or late ancient-era invasion (Romans has praets and Khmer has elephants). The city spot with horses and rice north east of the stating location seems to be easily taken by the Romans by the time you even built your first settler!
Rather than doing the conventional early rush or expansion, I did a gambit by building a great wall! By turn 30, I still haven't expanded and got cornered by Khmer and Rome. By the time I finished the GW, Shaka began plotting. I thought the game was lost but still managed to expand into four modest cities. The corn resource at the starting location was shared among three cities.
Anyway, the only saving grace here is the madrassa which allowed me to secure against Rome and Khmer cultural borders. In my opinion, the madrassa is a nice UB. You can generate GS to bulb philosophy or build an academy just like the normal or Great Priest which allows you to get Theology (AP cheese or Medieval war). Well, as of the moment, we are rather interested in generating a GSpy, which fortunately materialized.
I generated two GSpy along the way, one settled and the other one built the scotland yard. This would prove to be the turning point in catching up my research.
By turn 75, Shaka declared war but fortunately it was Hammurabi. I decided to snatch a late Oracle and get CoL + Confucianism. Another GPriest pops out and got a holy shrine in Medina. At this point in time, I am spending ep points on Rome and Khmer. I spread confucianism on both of their border cities. Stationed a spy for 5 turns, switched to Confucianism and viola -50% ep cost due to own state religion! Stolen Construction, Machinery and Guilds
Once tech stealing is done, I switched back to Hinduism (the dominant religion founded by Pacal). It was Elizabeth who built the AP and she was also in Hinduism so no reason not to spead Hinduism among cities.
Just as things were getting better, Augustus suddenly DoWed me! In first few turns, I am losing Archers and Axes along the way. Preats and HA (later Knights) are a bad combination. Luckily, I have stolen Guilds from him which allowed me to build Camel Archers instantly without any resources. At start, many of my improvements along the border cities got pillaged. However, fighting inside the borders with GW is a good thing. I managed to gain two GG. Later on I sent spys to cut off his iron resource (praet/knights became offline), taken one of his city (with iron resource nearby) and sued for peace!
After that war, I tried to rebuild my cities and consolidate my gains. But then Elizabeth is rushing for Liberalism. She succeeded in doing so; therefore, the only option for me is to go steal more techs. I whipped trebs/camel archers/maces/archers in all cities. I also built hindu temples (AP bonus), markets and courthouses while setting my tech slider to 0% most of the time.
Khmer was spamming wonders so it was logical to invade him. I used the same tactic of luring his army into my borders and finishing them off the moment they are on open ground. Once done, I marched my army to his cities. Even without enough trebs, walled cities easily fall because of City Revolt from spies. One after another, I took his cities and eliminated him. This granted me the Parthenon, Another Holy Shine, Versailles, Hagia Sophia and the Spiral Marinet wonder.
Without delay, it is payback time from Rome. I researched gunpowder, stolen nationalism and set up my HE, NE (capital) and the Global Theater city. Destroyed his iron resource again with spy, mass draft muskets and took Rome (has pyramids) and three more core cities. He capitulated after.
Babylon is next. I finally got cuirs but Shaka vassaled to Hammy and also got rifling! It was a tough fight. I mass suicided muskets to take one of his cities. I lost about 20+ muskets in a single encounter. To show you how I managed to get a huge army in a short spam of time. Here is my Global Theater city (screenshot taken at the end of the game):
I should be able to draft every turn until I win.
I was able to outproduce Hammy and pulverized his more advanced army with cannons. I have taken three cities + Babylon. He capitulated after and gifted me another city. Shaka, on the other hand, was very weak at this point of the game. He is still with longbows and limited to four cities. I have taken his two cities including his capital. He vassalled alongside with Hammy.
I am at 55-ish% in land area and 50-ish% in population. I needed to take another AI to secure my win. Pacal proved to be difficult to be taken out because he has infantry already while Elizabeth has redcoats. I researched rifling, stolen replacable parts and then finally went conquering England. She was going for cultural victory so not very strong militarily. I only need to take out her border city, capitulate her and then win by domination.
