Very Brief Overview:

I research only to Republic and Pottery, Mapmaking and Ceremonial Burial in that order and then stopped research. I build the Great Library in my second city and my Forbidden Palace on the western coast of the southern part of the continent.

In 10AD my population was 2 146 000.

A suicide galley finds the other Cilvilisations in 460AD. I change to Democracy around 800 AD. The Industrial Age was reached 1000 AD, and the Egyptians declare war on me around here too, giving me a Golden Age.

Major wonders built are Newton's University, Theory of Evolution and the Hoover Dam.

I got to the Modern Ages in 1390AD.

In 1500AD my population is 73 121 000.

I launch my spaceship in 1590AD with a final population of 84 428 000 and a score of 4787.

Long Winded Report:

4K BC - Learning to Write

A bit of a nasty looking start site here. Jungles and desert all around. Moved worker 1 space west to scout around, saw the wheat square. I move the settler to the west one space also, and found the city of Tenochtitlan I hardly ever found my capital on the waters edge, because it cuts down on uncorrupted space to build cities. It also gives me a forest tile to work if needed. I begin research with Writing, in the hope of getting libraries to increase the speed we gain knowledge. 40 turns, but I really want those libraries, because on a large map with only 3 other players, it might be a long time before we get contact. I am going for a Space race victory, so I want a lot of gold and citizens and not necessarily great masses of production.

Worker irrigates wheat tile, Tenochtitlan builds a Jaguar warrior. Worker roads wheat and moves to bonus grassland to mine and road it. Tenochtitlan starts on settler (and in fact doesn't build anything else but settlers for about 3000 years) The Jag scouts east along the jungle's edge. Sees the wheat square and marks out a nice 2nd city spot, then turns south to look for more fertile land - I was really worried by that desert.

Tenochtitlan finishes settler, builds settler straight away. Thinking about founding the second city to the south, where it will get 2 wheats, a game and an incense when it expands, but for early growth I decide to found Teotihuacan between the 4 bonus Grassland squares to the east of the capital. This gives me the second wheat and only 3 tiles of overlap. I actually decide that Tenochtitlan needs a second mined grassland, rather than wasting it to irrigate the new wheat square. Thus I have two cities sharing 2 mined bonus grasslands, each with their own wheats. This second city also becomes a settler factory straight off.

I haven't seen a barbarian yet, and the Jag is getting to some really good land down south, so i want to expand as quick as possible into the space. Tenochtitlan finishes settler starts ... settler.

Settler moves to the square just to the east of the floodplain wheat square. This will be worker-town. Starts worker immediately. later under a republic I let this city get to size 3 before popping out a worker. This allows it to produce one worker every 5 turns for quite a while. These workers will all be needed to clear the jungle (which I still have not even started exploring). Hook up the incense to stop having to up luxury every time a city gets to size 3. Teotihuacan finishes settler, and builds a Jag to scout Nth. Still seen no barbs, so I feel safe without units defending my cities.

This 4th settler moves south to get the gems within our territory, and to use the cow and gain the second cow with expansion. Tenochtitlan builds settler, starts settler :) This settler moves blindly North west along the coast.. part explorer. Want to set up uncorrupted cities first. At this stage, i have 4 population 1 cities, 2 Jags (1 south, one north east) + 1 more 2 turns away for M.P., and 2 workers (1 more 8 turns away). The explorer/settler settles next to the bonus grassland NW of Tenochtitlan, and the next 4-5 workers head that way to clear jungle.

Collating Knowledge

Get Writing, start Literature. I am planning on building the Great Library and hoarding money (probably under a republic) so that when I get contact with the other Civs I will be able to read up on all of their techs for free.

6th settler heads south a long way. Down to the two wheats at the mouth of a river near the fish. This city will hold my Forbidden Palace, and should start building it as soon as it can. The settler will take some time to get there however, and I use 2 workers to hook up roads down to this city, both to bring it luxuries and to allow my settlers to move south more quickly.

Teotihuacan starts Colossus as a prebuild for the Great Library. Hook up the gems to give me a second luxury, not that it is really need yet, as my cities are still pumping settlers/workers, but Xochicalco (the FP city) will need them soon. For the first time, it makes a difference to research speed where the slider is. I slide it across, and will research Literature in 19 turns rather than 25, but with no gold increase.

Growing cities have very little to build however... just Jags, settlers and workers. About 1600 BC I am pretty sure we are on an enormous island. Actually lets call it a continent. I have uncovered over 95% of the coast, just a few more edges to go. I like our lands :) Very fertile, and a few spots for nice high production cities, especially close to my FP.

The Big Gamble

I am very sure I will be able to get the Great Library because of my tech direction, so I plan to only research to Republic, then get Mapmaking and Ceremonial Burial for temples. Then I will switch research off and get some money happening. I will catch up after contact with 2 other civs. Possibly Mapmaking then Republic may have been more effective, but I go the whole hog. Code of Laws takes 17 turns with +3gp. After Code of laws Xochicalco is switched to a courthouse to decrease corruption.

In 1650 BC my 12th city is built, and I have to decide whether to build a courthouse in 1 turn or a FP in 31 turns. I go for a FP because the courthouse will be a wasted building once the FP is built. There is a nice core of cities now, mostly centered around the FP with only a few deep in the jungle. In 630 BC Xochicalco reaches size 7 and goes into disorder (no temples, and only 2 luxuries: silks aren't hooked up yet). Luxuries are increased to 10% to keep up production. From now until I get cathedrals in a lot of cities luxuries stay at 10%. My civilisation is just growing too fast dammit :)

My production is a bit weird now... Everywhere that has a library already is building spearmen to help build libraries in farflung cities, except Tenochtitlan which has built nothing but settlers and Texcoco near the floodplain wheat, which is producing a worker every 5 turns. I am trying to keep my population up in anticipation of the 10AD mark. I would like more workers, but will hold off for a few more turns.

The waiting game...

290 B.C. discover Republic. The FP in Xochicalco still has 3 turns to go. However, the FP will do me no good in Anarchy anyway, and a Republic will mean a more productive Xochicalco, and a more productive civilisation in general, so I switch immediately. For some very strange reason, there was only one turn of Anarchy, much like a religious Civ. Are we religious? or is it just because I decided to switch governments so early, or am I just lucky? There is a big rearrangement of city population to take full advantage of the new Republic of Inca.

I still have no military. There are 2 jags sitting on the far NW corner of the continent, and another 5 left over from M.P., who are gonna be putting on their work boots soon and helping to build libraries. There is one spearman still on his way to a library, and 22 workers. I have 2 stacks of 6 workers, and another of 4 clearing jungle. The rest are building infrastructure (irrigation except for hills/mountains/bonus forests) around my F.P.

210 BC build the F.P. and half of my empire comes alive! I get pottery and start on graneries (again population is so important for research, and the commercial bonus really adds up when you have a stack of cities :) . I consider Ceremonial Burial for temples, but I really need contact with the other civs, so I go for Mapmaking. It only takes me 4 turns at -8gp/turn. Tenochtitlan builds a library. This is the first thing my capital has built since Jag/settler/settler/settler/.....

Exploring the world

I get Mapmaking, start Ceremonial Burial. It takes 4 turns at 10% science. My little finger starts to cramp up from pressing shift-C too much. Research stops, and I just take gold… about 100 gpt or thereabouts, depending on which cities have just produced a settler or worker. I build temples and granaries in all cities, and harbours and courthouses in places which need them. I don't hurry very much at this stage as I will need heaps of money to catch up on tech if the other civs have researched past Education.

In 10AD my population is 2 146 000. Only second out of all the civs.

90 AD a galley finds land to the east. Get all hopeful, but it turns out to only be one tiny island. I am getting worried about the tech lead, and the fact that noone has found me yet means they are probably a long way off.

310AD a galley finds the ivory isle to the west of the capital/FP. This is good. Cities that are unhappy or have 6 population and aren't on a river build settlers. These are used to continue colonizing the jungle and also send some to the new continent. I am using optimal spacing ie. as little overlap as possible.

Contact!

I begin sending suicide galleys out from the far west of my land, and one to the east. In 460AD my gamble pays off! A galley sees both a French and an American galley in the same turn, along with Egyptian soil, but no units or cities. I get world maps from the French for mine and 90 gp. My galley is lost, but somehow I still get Egyptian contact. Next turn will be the best turn of the game :) .

I am about level with the other civs in score. Way down in power, due to my lack of units, and up in culture from my temples and cheap libraries.

I get all the techs in the first age, and Monotheism and Feudalism. I research printing press because I want Democracy as early as possible. It takes 16 turns with +66 gold. There is about 4500 gold in the treasury.

So much stuff to build… I build aqueducts or cathedrals in cities which need them (almost every city needs one of the other), hurrying aqueducts occasionally, and libraries on the ivory continent. I consider the Sistine Chapel, but after getting embassies I can see that there is no point, as Thebes is way more productive than my cities and will easily beat me. The wonders that I really want from here are Theory of Evolution and the United Nations. Hoover dam, Copernicus’ Observatory, Newton’s University and Adam Smith’s would be a bonus.

I realize now that I couldn't build the UN but I wasn't sure if the victory condition was switched off or if it was left on and not to be used.

I notice that iron is not connected. Very nasty to put it way up there :) .

Looking into the situation more, the Egypt/America war is probably slowing tech down fairly significantly. Looks like Denver (which is Egyptian) is the only city that has changed hands though.

For the second game in a row the AI researches Education before Engineering. It's as if they know I have the Great Library and want to stuff me around. Still, even though they are all bastards, I want to speed up the tech rate, so I give them every tech I research for luxuries or gold, but not gold per turn. Or nothing if they have nothing to give. If I could knock America out and give the other 2 civs room to grow I would, but the distance is too far.

I get Democracy and start on Copernicus' Observatory. In 880AD the French get navigation. YAY for luxury trading.

I beeline for Theory of Gravity so I don't get beaten to Newton's (I don’t have a chance on Copernicu' because of anarchy). In 900AD the Egypt/America war ends, so maybe the tech rate will speed up – the AI is researching much slower than I am… so I will have to pick the right trees so I can trade for some techs.

I settle the saltpeter island to the NE, more because it is land than because I want musketeers or cavalry. I have 7 luxuries at the moment, as there are no spare silks for me.

It's a Small War After All

1010 AD fill up the last of the land. The Egyptians have placed one city way up in the far NW corner of the island near the iron. They will culture flip to me shortly hopefully. The Egyptians get Economics before me, so I switch from Economics to Metallurgy wasting two turns, and trade them for it. 2 turns later the Egyptians declare war on me. They send a single warrior against a JW that was left over from scouting the far NW corner and looking out for contact who I forgot about.

The JW wins and there is an unexpected bonus: my Golden Age! I had forgotten about it, and probably would have tried to get it through wonders later on. I make some horsemen as they will reach the farflung edges of my empire quicker, and there will probably be peace faster if I can attack a little. Also, I don’t have iron or gunpowder hooked up :) .

Unfortunately I lose two luxuries due to the war, but my G.A. is a HUGE bonus. It guarantees me Newtons Uni and will set me up with a tasty gold surplus to improve on infrastructure. I don't drag anyone else into the war because I don't want to slow the French research.

1040AD the Egyptians land 3 swordsman on my very poorly defended gold/ivory island. I manage to rush some horsemen and my last horseman defends a city against a swordsman to ensure there are no cities lost. I move into the industrial age, and go for the lower Medicine/Sanitation/T.O.E./Hoover Dam route.

Try desperately for peace but they won't listen dammit. They take an island city. In 1120 I take their lone city on my mainland with massed horseman. Now they will listen dammit. I make peace for all of my techs for all of their gold.

In 1140 the Americans declare war on the Egyptians, leaving me and the French to concentrate on the business at hand ie. getting to the modern age fastest. I build lots of libraries and universities with the funds from my Golden Age.

Race to the Stars

At this stage I am running out of time in real life and just as Steam Power is researched I have to automate my workers to save time. This probably costs me a fairly large chunk of population in the long term.

In 1230 my G.A. ends. As well as libraries and universities, there are a large number of granaries, harbours and hospitals to help boost my population. I hold back Scientific Method for a while to ensure that Tenochtitlan can build T.O.E. I take a little gold per turn for Medicine and Sanitation, as Atomic Theory is expensive to research in 4 turns. I GIVE Industrialization and Electricity to Lincoln, but he is still not gracious. I guess he just doesn’t respect my puny army.

I get beaten to Adam Smith’s by a couple of turns. That is annoying, because it would have been really useful. I finish Atomic Theory and build T.O.E, which takes me to radio.

I disband all of my military and build one rifleman on each continent or major island. They will be able to move around on the railways and should be able to hold out for 1 turn while more units are rustled up.

From here it is a straight out race. I trade for replaceable parts but research everything until the modern age from there myself. America and Egypt signed their peace treaty in 1360. I build the Hoover Dam.

I get to the Modern Ages in 1390AD.

I give everything to everyone without taking gold, in the hope that they will research SOMETHING for me. Ecology takes me 6 turns, for the first time in ages. In 1445 I look for techs from the other civs. The French have very usefully researched Military Tradition. And it looks like it took them more than 4 turns also. HAHA.

In 1450 my population is 62 539 000. I build a few research labs in my really good cities. Xochicalco my F.P. city builds its research lab in 2 turns, and with Newton’s Uni it produces 192 science beakers and 25 gold at 90% research. 1490 I trade Fission for Synth Fibers and Computers. This will be my last trade, so I take all the gold per turn I can get. I change every city except a few very high production centres to produce wealth.

In 1500AD my population is 73 121 000.

I get my first unit better than a rifleman in 1515 when an Egyptian city on the far Nth island flips to me and gives me a modern armour.

I launch my spaceship in 1590AD with a final population of 84 428 000 and a score of 4787.