The highlights followed by pics:
-First goal was to, of course, get the GLH finished, do some expanding on our luscious verdant land, send the galley exploring so the GLH can be effective, then shoot for MC and the Colossus. Ultimate goal - get to Astro so that next round we can make use of the UU and possibly send mace/muskets/trebs across the sea for some stealth attacks
-What I quickly knew I was not going to do this round was go for the Aesth/Lit line as Persia was already heavy on that path. Also, I did not expect to break open the can of whup-azz on anyone as I felt the prereqs were not place.
-I was able to get GLH in probably due to some intermediate infra/worker whips in the Dam. Once I expanded and explored a bit this really started to kick in
-Torn between the whale/fur city or the horse/fish city for Maoi. I really like cities that have inland lakes with the lighthouse boost. However, I messed up on not settling the whale fish city adjacent to BOTH lakes, so only one gets the extra food - bummer. Whale is always nice in a Maoi city. Still torn on that one. (Actuall, on further review I just realized that there was no way to get both lakes and the blubber. Maastricht to the east might be a better option.
- Actually ran scientists in Utrecht so that Amsterdam could stay productive for GLH and Colossus - GPs were sloooow. Unfortunately, someone I did not meet built the Colossus. This turned out, surprisingly, to be my number 1 foe in CIV - Nappy. I was fairly close but it least it wasn't the last turn out. I thought I had it in the bag since Ram,BK, Darius did not have MC at that point.
-After MC, the focus was Optics and more exploring. Backing up a bit, I got a galley around Egypt and HRE from a East to West Direction before my galley was mugged by a barb. I met Ram,BK and Darius at that point. Although my caravels haven't revealed all view in that area, I get the impression that I could have met all AIs with a galley. Also, my untimely galley sinkage did not allow me to reveal that peninsula to the east that Rams was able to settle by culture bridge, I think.
- Between focus on the target techs, I did a turn here or there of other techs like Currency to back-fill older techs, i.e., get a better deal to trade for more techs. I'm starting to do this more now and seem to get better deals. Of course, once Currency is in it's usually not a problem.
- After settling Njimegen to the west to grab whales/fur (for happies), I settled 3 cites to the east - all coastal. I'd like to settle that far east peninsula and then take that barb city with a few HAs. I don' think there's a rush but eventually we need to block of all the coast. A city could go between Rotterdam and Maastricht, but that land should be culture blocked by The Hague and Maastricht before anyone thinks of settling there. The reason I mention that is that there is still a blue circle there and I've seen AI sneak in spots like that.
- So I guess the question begs whether Astro is the right approach. For me, I'd kinda like to cozy up to Shaka and joint attack Nappy from the sea. Honestly, Nappy bothers me much more than Shaka from experience. With Astro we get our UU plus what should be a boost to research to get a strategic tech. Conversely, maybe CS was a better approach for a simple mace/cat war to take out wonder-slut Ramses.
- Techs not too bad. Traded for Feud too. Darius is a bit strong here. I wonder if we should even bother with the Lib path in this case and just focus on military techs.