I did some comparison of saves last night. Turns out we were not that slow at all to get started with our aggressive expansion. We were slowed down by Darius, but TSR had some bad luck and failed their first attack on Mecca.
In 900AD, they had captured one AI city, Damascus, and were at war with Zara (a brief defensive war, if I understood it correctly). The same date, we had destroyed Hannibal's core, captured Hippo and Carthage and razed Utica. Main difference, they had 23 Praets at this date, we had 11. (AI under control: a-TSR: Sal (maybe, but not quite yet). ttfkapr: Hannibal)
1180AD, the difference begins to show more. They have taken Mecca, Medina and 2 of Zara's core cities, including capital. Their army consists of Praets, trebs, some knights and some maces. We have taken Pasargadae and are waiting for cuirs to get the real war started. (AI under control: a-TSR: Sal & Zara. ttfkapr: Hannibal, Darius (Darius got beaten by Brennus and Sal))
1380AD, they have finished off Zara, we have beaten down on an already beaten Hannibal while waiting for cuirs and just started the war on Sal, burning a couple of border cities. Both teams have cuirs by now. (AI under control: a-TSR: Sal & Zara. ttfkapr: Hannibal, Darius)
1500AD, since last date they have taken out most of Gilgamesh and several cities of Brennus. We are still at war with Sal and about to soon take care of his 40 unit stack of Grens and Camels camping outside Pasa. Sal's core is still intact and we haven't captured any city to keep yet in the war. (AI under control: a-TSR: Sal, Zara, Gilgamesh, Brennus. ttfkapr: Hannibal, Sal, Darius)
What really set us apart was war strategy. We went by land, starting most wars by burning some worthless border cities. In the case of Sal, it took us forever to get to the cities that mattered. They did it all naval, landing units right next to whatever city they wanted immediately and hitting the AI where it hurt the most on t1 of the war. I don't remember now if we ever discussed that possibility seriously. It seems we should have. Trebs before cuirs to keep warring continuously and take down more AI before rifles was probably also the better decision in this scenario.
