One thread of analysis that caught my eye through my first few games of Civilization V is what to do with improvements for regular tiles. The tile management of Civ 5 is not nearly as automatic as spreading cottages or State Property workshops onto every available square. Farming is good with 4-food tiles available early or 2-2-0 farmed hills, but it's not clear whether growing on them is really that great given the high food and hammer (happiness) cost for each added citizen. Maybe it's best to simply take the gold from trading posts instead. Or skip normal tiles entirely to work specialists.
This game is about that last option. I'm going to try playing without ever working a regular hex. Citizens may only work tiles with resources or Great Person improvements, or else become specialists. I'm going for the most economic efficiency per citizen, with the goal of my first science victory.
I debated a while over the civilization to take for this challenge. Egypt is always good for building, but I have another game in mind for them. Not Greece or Siam; city-state bonuses are certainly efficient per citizen, but maritime food could just as easily lead to overrunning the available specialist slots. Persia could work, but Golden Ages aren't all that strong when I'll be working very few gold tiles. Rome was my leading option, looking to use that building bonus to make up for low hammer production.
But then a Steam sale hit and Korea was available as DLC for a buck twenty. +2 science per specialist is omgduhobviously exactly where I'm heading here. And of course the theme fits, Asians are always smaller and more efficient.
Game settings: Emperor difficulty (moving up from King in the first adventure and succession game). Pangaea map, young world (3 billion year age) for hopefully more hammer-tile resources, low sea level. I was tempted to jack up the resource distribution to Abundant or Legendary, but decided that this should be played under normal conditions or it would hardly even be a variant.
If you like, the 4000 BC save is available. Requires the Korea and Babylon DLC.