Txurce
Deity
For me, a pangaea map combined with the Keltoi's powerful UU meant going for a domination win, with a personal goal of doing so before nationalism. My approach would be bare-bones, pretty much building only barracks and cheap temples for culture-firming. Taking this sort of flyer requires doing as much as possible to slow down research. Given the number of civs in relatively close proximity, I determined to fight all my wars in alliances.
I founded Carthage on the starting spot, and sent three warriors north, west, and south. This led me to build two early cities near the floodplains, and two others near the gems and iron. I made a strategic decision to hold off on early warfare, and focused on growth while waiting for the Age of the Swordsman. This means I didn't take out Rome early like many others did, which may have been a mistake.
Like everyone else, I quickly made contact with all the civs, and managed to sell several communications as late as 1650BC. (The excepion was China, which was eliminated in 2670BC.) I was ready to research polytheism by 2110BC, but the tech pace in my game led me to quit researching and instead save gold for tech and warrior upgrades. By 1000BC, I had six cities, and two settlers en route to founding two others. At this point, the western civs were clearly more advanced than the eastern ones.
The Middle Ages began in 550BC in Athens, site of the Pyramids. In 370BC the Greeks failed to extort the Keltoi and declared war. The Keltoi were first in population and a cultural leader; nevertheless, I immediately allied with the Iroquois for 60g and 14gpt, then bought and traded polytheism. Rome and Egypt allied with Greece against the Iroquois. One hundred years later, Egypt and France piled on the Iroquois, and I prudently allied with them against far-off Egypt for Republic.
In 210BC, the Keltoi became a republic (no monarchy yet) and met the enemy for the first time with the Swordsmen, starting a GA in 190BC. This led Carthage to ally with Greece against the Keltoi; irrelevant England joined in against us soon after. While my swordsmen made incremental progress against the Greeks, I took the Carthaginian horse and iron resources, and Utica fell in 10AD. I made peace with Egypt as soon as their army arrived in 190AD, giving them 100g, and in 300AD I allied with them against the tragic Iroquois in exchange for monarchy. (My alliance with the Iroquois was long over.)
The Keltoi became a monarchy one turn later. Our first GL came late, in 390AD, and was earmarked for a FP. Knossos and its incense fell, and Carthage had suffered enough losses that it sued for peace, along with England, in 420AD. Among my gains were lots of gold, one more Carthaginian city, and the entry-level trio of monotheism, feudalism and engineering.
At this point, the real power was in the west, where France, Japan, the Aztecs and to a lesser degree Egypt, were all vibrant republics. The Iroquois were on their last legs, England only had two cities on the mainland, and Carthage had been reduced to five cities. To the east, only Rome had any strength. Expansion had been slow, because our first war was against two strong civs with "3" defenders. But now the Swordsmen were ready to focus on Greece, whose power had been checked, build the FP in Knossos, and pick up the spoils of Salamanca.
I founded Carthage on the starting spot, and sent three warriors north, west, and south. This led me to build two early cities near the floodplains, and two others near the gems and iron. I made a strategic decision to hold off on early warfare, and focused on growth while waiting for the Age of the Swordsman. This means I didn't take out Rome early like many others did, which may have been a mistake.
Like everyone else, I quickly made contact with all the civs, and managed to sell several communications as late as 1650BC. (The excepion was China, which was eliminated in 2670BC.) I was ready to research polytheism by 2110BC, but the tech pace in my game led me to quit researching and instead save gold for tech and warrior upgrades. By 1000BC, I had six cities, and two settlers en route to founding two others. At this point, the western civs were clearly more advanced than the eastern ones.
The Middle Ages began in 550BC in Athens, site of the Pyramids. In 370BC the Greeks failed to extort the Keltoi and declared war. The Keltoi were first in population and a cultural leader; nevertheless, I immediately allied with the Iroquois for 60g and 14gpt, then bought and traded polytheism. Rome and Egypt allied with Greece against the Iroquois. One hundred years later, Egypt and France piled on the Iroquois, and I prudently allied with them against far-off Egypt for Republic.
In 210BC, the Keltoi became a republic (no monarchy yet) and met the enemy for the first time with the Swordsmen, starting a GA in 190BC. This led Carthage to ally with Greece against the Keltoi; irrelevant England joined in against us soon after. While my swordsmen made incremental progress against the Greeks, I took the Carthaginian horse and iron resources, and Utica fell in 10AD. I made peace with Egypt as soon as their army arrived in 190AD, giving them 100g, and in 300AD I allied with them against the tragic Iroquois in exchange for monarchy. (My alliance with the Iroquois was long over.)
The Keltoi became a monarchy one turn later. Our first GL came late, in 390AD, and was earmarked for a FP. Knossos and its incense fell, and Carthage had suffered enough losses that it sued for peace, along with England, in 420AD. Among my gains were lots of gold, one more Carthaginian city, and the entry-level trio of monotheism, feudalism and engineering.
At this point, the real power was in the west, where France, Japan, the Aztecs and to a lesser degree Egypt, were all vibrant republics. The Iroquois were on their last legs, England only had two cities on the mainland, and Carthage had been reduced to five cities. To the east, only Rome had any strength. Expansion had been slow, because our first war was against two strong civs with "3" defenders. But now the Swordsmen were ready to focus on Greece, whose power had been checked, build the FP in Knossos, and pick up the spoils of Salamanca.
That's what I get for drinking that session.
Guess I should've kept the GL.
I'm currently building some galleys and plan to attack england and take their island, leaving them with that one barb city. For conquest I'll eventually have to go up and there and take those cities.
Oops! I think you have mistaken the Theory of Evolution for the Great Library. TOE gives the builder 2 free techs, but the GL gives the holder all techs that are known by 2 other civs he knows. So as long as you have contact with every civ, you can just sit back and get the techs leading up to Education (when the GL expires) for free. 
3) In the pregame discussion it looked like most ppl wanted to go for conquest, domination or cultural wins. So I was interested in seeing if diplomacy would work on a map like this.
I paid for peace (around 40 gcs I think) because I suddenly had better things to do...
