I get another scientist in 1640 AD. I will hold for a low-odds third golden age.
This disadvantage of a large empire is trying to hit 100% culture. Keeping just two cities on rifles to avoid a war limits me to 90% culture.
I get an engineer in 1720 AD.
I get a duplicate scientist in 1736 AD, and he builds an academy in Teno.
I get an artist in 1788 AD. I will hold him to put my third city over the top.
I get stuck with another scientist in 1818 AD, and he builds an academy in Lalibela.
Aksum goes legendary in 1856 AD.
India is also pursuing a culture win, and Delhi is legendary in 1865 AD.
I get a spy in 1866 AD, and trip another golden age.
At this point it doesn't matter much, but I still enjoy this flip. I now control the Islamic holy city with a shrine.
Lalibela goes legendary in 1875 AD.
With the artist push Teno finally goes legendary in 1879 AD.
The game claims this took just 15 hours, but it seemed a lot longer then that.
You can tell where Asoka decided to go cultural before I did. The artist bomb really helped my cause. It was a rather tight race, and the disadvantage of Teno being one of the cities was Moai based water tiles don't mature into stronger income sources as the game goes on.
My major competitor should be clear.
Domination probably had done better for victory time. However, I didn't have the real life time to do so. In addition, this game was mental exhausting. I was totally outside my comfort zone with the early Monty rush and recovering a trashed economy.