The next important research was Archery, since there's lots of barbs around and we need an escort (or two!) for the settler. I had a forest chop timed to go to the archer escort right after the settler finished.
That copper sure is in an awkward spot, though. Well, there's one strong location: two west of the copper, which also gets the rice and deer. Problem is, that needs a border expansion to get any of the resources. I haven't got Mysticism, nor the time to research it or build an obelisk. But every tile within first-ring of the copper has simply dismal terrain, with no other resources at all.
Finally I decided to simply settle ON the copper. It's a tundra hill tile without any food to support working it anyway, and that plan makes the copper immune to pillaging. The city will be pathetic, but it really has no other purpose in life besides to secure copper as quickly as possible. And I like the idea of not having to wait for a mine to be built on a tundra tile (9 worker turns.)
Extreme games require extreme measures. I'm bending absolutely everything to an axeman rush ASAP. Karakorum is building a second worker in order to get this road connected ASAP.
After Archery, I went for Iron Working, hoping to target the resource with one of my first few enemy city captures and switch over to swordsmen. Iron Working arrived in 1510 BC, and hey ho!
I hadn't expected Sulla to give us BOTH copper and iron within range! Now this is a tough call. Do I delay with another settler to make this a swordsman rush instead of axes? I think we have to; swordsmen are significantly stronger than axemen on city attacks. Karakorum trained another settler who settled one space south of the iron, and the new city of Turfan started right away on the barracks.
Asoka signed Open Borders, and I sent in an archer for some advance reconnaissance.
Hmm - three CG archers. Good thing I waited for swords! A C1 CR1 swordsman attacks at 6 + 30% = 7.8 strength - just barely ahead of a fortified CG1 archer at 3 + 95% + 60% (cultural) = 7.65.
That scouting archer went and waited by Asoka's iron in order to pillage it right after declaring war.
So for another fifteen turns, my cities did nothing but train a swarm of swordsmen, with a few axes and spears for support. And so here's the stack of doom.
Here we go!