Academy in 1240BC with Beurocracy in 1000BC? Wow. That was a great starting strategy. And Liberalism in 900AD is the earliest I've seen it done. Your start was better than mine and the main thing that slowed you down was probably the fact that you had to fight Quin at a bad time, switching to bad civics and causing draft-anger, while I was able to keep him pacified while building up my military.
That was a very impressive early-mid game and perhaps I shouldn't be skipping religious branch completely. How do you know how long to delay Oracle? (For example, my rule with Hanging Gardens is that it's often ok to delay them until about 1000AD. With delaying Liberalism, it's more complicated and depends on how late AIs discover Phylosophy, combined with how long I can keep Paper monopoly.) What about delaying Oracle for grabbing Civil Service?
That was a very impressive early-mid game and perhaps I shouldn't be skipping religious branch completely. How do you know how long to delay Oracle? (For example, my rule with Hanging Gardens is that it's often ok to delay them until about 1000AD. With delaying Liberalism, it's more complicated and depends on how late AIs discover Phylosophy, combined with how long I can keep Paper monopoly.) What about delaying Oracle for grabbing Civil Service?
So much for military tradition being useless!)