Uh oh. Delhi is 2 turns from Angkor Wat, and I whipped it out of paranoia.
I pushed a city up there to form a border with Monty and Zara. Even if Monty ever attacks me and even manages to capture it, that's OK, it's basically a crumple zone. No chance he gets any farther than that. Behind that front line, I can take my good sweet time backfilling the land; the AIs will never run a settler through another civ's territory at least until all other land is gone. The land-grab is not a priority; that is to keep the economy moving and Delhi stocked with wonder blueprints.
Elizabeth got Literature a few turns ago so I'm playing catch-up there. Delhi slipped a whipped Forge, then finished Chichen Itza and the Statue of Zeus. The Great Spy worked me up to research visibility on the Financial leaders first, as the screenshot shows, which helped a lot. Liz and Mansa are safely on non-wonder techs at the moment.
Great People #6 and #7 were both Prophets. Settled - I'm not yet worried about Divine Right, nobody is on Theology.
What does Delhi look like? Here. Yes, I'm building a world wonder in 3 turns. The happy cap has been nicely pushed with Representation, Gold with forge, and some imported resources.
Surprisingly, Catherine offered Calendar for trade - usually the AIs will refuse until the Mausoleum goes. I had to give up Metal Casting for it, but not a problem - it's not a monopoly any more and the Colossus is well locked. MC also got me Currency in trade.
Researched Drama, since it nets out to just about zero cost against the prereq discounts for Philo and Music. Elizabeth got Music first, but that's okay, she lacks Marble. I'm racing to Philosophy as fast as I can to bid for Angkor Wat. Delhi slipped in Hagia Sophia - no competition yet there but it needs to get done plus has a decently helpful effect.
450 AD brought Philosophy, and started on a 6-turn Angkor Wat build, getting it. (Hee hee, I discovered the World's Smallest Synergy - Angkor gives an extra hammer to the ToA priest. :) )
Uh oh. Delhi is 2 turns from Angkor Wat, and I whipped it out of paranoia.
Noooo! Same turn I got Music, even! Well, if I have to miss a wonder, make it a fairly expensive and almost useless one.
Anyway, at least now both Music and Philosophy could be safely traded to backfill, collecting a big haul: Civil Service, Currency, Construction, HBR, Machinery, Feudalism. And I pulled this in tech trading:
All three of my closest neighbors at war, plus a tech lead, = zero challenge.
GP #8 Artist, save for the 2-man golden age. No - he can lightbulb Divine Right! Which Mansa is now researching. I beat him by one turn - better for me to found Islam and keep it under wraps, so that Mansa won't change away from Buddhism.
Another wonder snag - Delhi can't build Versailles. So I bid for it in my northern outpost city - in large part for the culture to help control territory.
And on the 152nd turn, after 4,840 years of building as many wonders as possible up to the Spiral Minaret, Delhi rested. Finally there was a break in the action to get the National Epic done. Still pending were Sankore, Notre Dame, and Taj Mahal, but with a tech lead there were no worries. Delhi should easily claim every wonder from here on to Alpha Centauri.
GP #9 Scientist - Academy. GP #10 Scientist and now I have to think. The plan had been to settle lots of Great People in Delhi to help build the wonders, but that didn't really hold together. Delhi ended up with only three Prophets and one Spy. All the other GPs had more pressing needs - lightbulbing and the engineer that rushed the Great Lighthouse.
Where am I going after the wonder frenzy? How do a million wonders and great people translate to victory? Not culture without any Great Artist potential and no Sistine. Not military either. I'm not positioned well for diplomacy either, after buying two wars against my former best friend. That leaves space. So this and all future Great Scientists are going for Academies. (Sid's Sushi is definitely the choice over Ethanol.)
