I had a good start. My warrior went east, found Germany and fairly soon stole a worker. My scout went north, became a scout archer, and fairly quickly store a worker there too. Both units hung around for a second steal, which they obtained after not too long a wait. After making peace, I kept my units around their borders to help spot and possibly delay settlers. For Germany, this proved unnecessary, since he was attempting Great Library (but failed it), but unfortunately a Swedish settler managed to sneak through.
This was not the end of the world, as I could still settle Solomon's by planting next to the bison, but my plan had been the max greed settle a little south east of Helsinki, to grab some bananas and Bismarck's citrus - not sure that would have been a good idea anyway, but of course Helsinki does steal tiles from my city, unless at some point I burn it.
My early game was scout - stele - scout. With such an amazing UB, I did not want to wait until the free monument from tradition. The delay of my second scout did mean that I had not scouted west at all, and I missed the desert coastal spot with two gems and a gold (the second scout was needed to defend from barbarians). After getting my four tradition cities down, the question was what to do next. I had decent production, but building wonders was out of the question, as the AI was doing too well. Sometimes I like to try for Mausoleum, but it went quite early. I did put some turns into Hanging Gardens, but it was built in a faraway land. I only managed to get Oracle (I managed to offload it to the Solomon's expand), and to make sure I had Sweden declare war on Germany, since Bismarck was attempting it too.
So if not wonders, what then? Since I also had some gold, I started building some archers, then researched construction to upgrade to composite bowmen. Stockholm had built Colossus, and since it was only 23 strength, I decided to go for it. Around turn 86 my army drew near, and what did I spot inside Swedish borders? Crossbowmen, yikes! I managed to persuade Sweden to also declare war on Babylon, even if it cost me 318 flat gold (we had a declaration of friendship that was about to expire). Of course I would have preferred a gpt deal that I could break the next turn, but I had nothing left to give; no luxuries, no strategic resources, no gold per turn. Since I had upgraded most of my units already, I decided the gold would be worth it. Indeed it was. Sweden hardly had any units left to defend, so I managed to take Stockholm quite easily.
In the screenshot, I have another decision to make. Because I did not move my units correctly, I did not kill the swordsman, so there is a chance the capital is recaptured next turn. Alternatively, I could take a peace deal (he is currently offering Helsinki). I think I will take the peace deal, and then decide on a good moment to go after Germany. Berlin has Temple of Artemis and Parthenon so that's a good prize - but no unique luxuries that I already have. A final decision I will have to make: do I still found that second coastal city? It feels weird not to settle such good land, although I'm not sure that city will actually help my game. Of course, if I don't settle it, the AI certainly will (I already have an American settler hanging around my lands).
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