The hard decisions

Oracle BIDL in 900 BC . Either it's Gandhi out there, or some lunatic who thinks only religion matters in this world. CoL slingshot didn't occur though. The next turn I find Izzy, the Buddhist Freak, who's already converted Cathy to his heathen faith. Bad bad bad news... I could have to skip confucianism. While I'm teching along the religious path, I follow strictly one russian galley with a settler who has travelled past my empire to the east; will it try to get a city that far? It would cripple Cathy. There must be something... Following the galley, I accidentally click on declare war once. I have to reload, sorry about that. The travel finally ends and Russia founds the city of... St. Petersburg????? Cathy's second city is there??? I understand, it grabbed pigs and ivory, but she'll be paying a zillion gpt in maintenance now! What the hell is her plan? I take polytheism and monotheism, and make my way to monarchy. Happiness is badly needed, and if Buddha doesn't come to enlighten my people, I'm not going to take any religion. As I produce another settler, which I send north, I swap research again, because I realize it's not good to found a city in the jungle without having IW, right?
Aaaand... Buddha has come!

Great, of course I convert. Corinth is founded on the Red Dot (I'm saving the Pink one for my Sixth Column ), starts on walls, my worker is chopping.

Pyramids built somewhere out of Greece, I pick the GL in Sparta. That little effort is worth 71g, which is not bad at all! I didn't have any chances for that wonder anyway. As Iron is dicovered, it pops right in St. Pete's radius. Surely the AI can't see resouces before popping, huh? I meet Mansa. Argh! Another nasty builder! Luckily he's Jewish, so Izzy must already be at -19385 with him . I have to sign OB with him to keep pursuing the Magellan's Expedition, I hope not to anger the mad Buddhist too much.

GL built in a far away land, sigh. I found Gandhi, double sigh.

This is a builder's heaven! Or hell? I'm expecting to find Washington and Lizzie now... Luckily I'm on the safe side, as the only dangerous civ shares my religion, but I have to find a way out of this hole. The GL is gone, I have to push as hard as I can for the Colossus now. Christianity founded... It's getting better all the time! It's 25 BC! Oh yeah, Christianity founded Before Christ. When I reach Monarchy, I double swap to HR and organized religion. Buddhism has spread to Corinth, and infra there has to be built fast. 150 AD: Taoism founded somewhere else than Greece. How in the world am I supposed to stop this? I'll beat the record for "least techs researched when the AI launches". So to recap: Domination is out, Conquest is a joke given the map, the limited production, the already obsolete UU. Time is a dream, Space a nightmare. This only leaves... yes! You guessed it! Survival .
Well let's go for culture, then we'll see. My three home continent cities have 2 food resources each, and with philosophical trait they could be able to spam some artists. Mercantilism could allow all three of these cities to support 5 artists! Why didn't I see that before... Ok, cultural challenge it is again. For now, since I only have libraries, I pop a scientist, and use it for an academy in Sparta. This looks like the city with the best economical potential, and the worst food pool, given the drain from the plains tiles.
Ooooh, what a surprise here. Look, it's Washington!

Lizzie... where are you?
Delphi is founded in the green dot, but now I must find another location before everything is occupied. I lose the Parthenon (if only I had pursued it before!), the 265g is nice however. Pharsalos is founded in a less than optimal spot (it grabs two crabs and a lot of sea), and I'm set for the rest of the game. I head for alphabet-drama-literature, maybe I'll have a shot at the library.