I get a pleasant surprise and succeed in building Versailles. Even with the GE, I thought I started it to late. With domination being my planned victory type, I am constantly looking for ways to improve the economy.
My GP luck finally breaks and I get a prophet for the Taoist shrine.
Sometimes it is better to be lucky, then good.
I hit the first city with serious resistance. I knew this was going to be ugly, so it took a while to build up a catapult SoD. Nothing can withstand sufficient catapults. Delhi is captured with 3 bonus workers. The Spiral Minaret is now mine. Madras can finally start to grow. This definitely breaks the back on India, the number one tech civ. Now the race is on to start expanding fast.
This is the end of India. I know I won't get a mention for fastest civ kill.
I get hit with ultimate RnG screw over and lost every single fight at Kolhapur on defense. Japan manages to take the city with a catapult. What really blows is WW went up a notch that round. It also cost a valuable pop point toward whipping a theater. Since my people will be emancipated soon, this really hurts. Double speed growth of commerce is very important to keep the economy going.
Shortly after this I plant a city 3 north of Kolhapur. This gives me a solid front again. I was way too stretched in this area. Civ3 and Civ4 AW have one thing in common. Long front lines are a royal pain to defend.
I revolt to emancipation and get stuck with the annoying 2 turn anarchy period over a single civics change.
This is the best odds I have ever gotten on an attack.
I tripped another GA via GPs. This late in the game merging makes little sense.
My next offensive move is to take out Nagoya, and then follow the follow arrow. This adds almost nothing to the front line distance. It does give me another 2 cities closer to domination. Having cavalry when the AI lacks rifles has really allowed me go on the attack.
I snag the statue, and now have 2 specialists in every city. The only bad thing is a new city only gets to run 2 citizen specialists. It takes a bit to get any building that allows me to run better specialists.
I continue to move forward. This allows yellow dot to secure the south, and grey dot to secure the center. Neither are great cities, but at this point my main concern is territory and population. Each site will help with that goal.
This has to take the record for the latest build of this wonder.
I hope this ends most of the war elephants coming my way. They are eaten alive by rifles, but I still prefer the AI sending lower quality attackers.
I captured Osaka shortly afterwards, and Japan bites the dust. I then swing north and grab Medina at the cost too many catapults. This will delay further offense in the north for a few turns awaiting reinforcements.
In 1926 AD I finally enter the industrial era. Unit costs have really eaten into the science budget.