Chevalier Takes the Reins

[Alhambram]

Turn 4:

Found barb camp, deal with it upcoming turns.
   
Next turn size 2, I keep growing till size 4, then stop growth and go full production tiles, might buy 13 tile with 50 gold soon when I can.

[Alhambram]

Turn 10:

Still hasn't finished barb camp because a sand storm passed (it did give desert hill 1E of camp extra) and I moved my warrior out way to avoid damage, next turn raze camp and claim 50 gold.
   
Finished warrior and I decided to buy 13 tile to able complete settler in 8 turns. I could have gone for builder too but with two cities things goes tad quicker then with one city.

Finishing Animal Husbandry revealed horse resource at tile where I did plan commerical hub, so district layout that I did plan can be thrown in bin right away.
Need to plan another layout when I have more time.
Put in Astrology for eventual holy sites, but I am thinking to swap to pottery-irrigration for incense amenity. Or go for archery and build temple of Artemis. Need to have good look of layout properly.

International news: TheBlackSword's empire score jumped to 4, probably found natural wonder as first civ. Cornflakes completed civic as expected as Rome but Kaiser also did complete civic, probably hunted down and killed a barb to farm culture.
With this both Cornflakes and Kaiser got headstart for pantheon unless someone else did find religious city state. I would like to get either Goddess of Open Sky or Festivals for extra culture.
Then I got a idea: when I get 50 gold from barb camp and have work at whale tile which I did, at turn 13 I can buy incense tile which did reveal when I bought 13 tile.
Then work at incense tile instead whale tile and at same time run God of the Kings policy card for 2 per turn and with this I can pass Kaiser and Cornflakes for grabbing Pantheon as long they don't find religious city state.

[Alhambram]

Turn 11:

Razed barb camp, that is threat less nearby Canberra. Meanwhile I did toss down plans:
   
This is just a draft, maybe some changes in future if needed for example campus 1E of 2nd city instead holy site.
Also maybe Stonehenge instead Colosseum.

All of this plans means a lot chopping and harvesting, which means I am going pick Magnus as first governor instead usual Liang or Pingala.
After pottery-irrigration, mining is next to able chop forests, then astrology, archery and masonry. After this wiriting and bronze working.

But I am willing to change plans if situation desires for example possible early rush from other player.

[Alhambram]

Turn 13:

Bought dye tile and worked with that tile, next turn with God of Kings 2 faith per turn. Move warrior and suprise meet!
   
My warrior stumbled upon Kabul's warrior and I am first to meet with them.
Which means extra production for settlers, builders and military units which is always nice. I rearranged tiles so that city do have some growth while still finishing settler at turn 18.
I could have finished settler at turn 17, but then I need to spend 5 turns growing back to size 3, I have powerful tiles around Canberra and I rather put them in use as many if possible.

TheArchduke's era score jumped from 0 to 4, found natural wonder?

[Alhambram]

Turn 15:

Unfortunately barbs aren't willing allow me to explore further:
   
A new camp spawned NE not far from Canberra, nearby warrior shall deal with it. Other warrior in west return to Canberra for settler escort duty against pesky barb scouts.

[Alhambram]

Turn 16:

Getting warriors ready for combat, barb scout in west seems be from camp that I destroyed since it did close up warrior in west.
No worries about my warrior, with discipline promotion and rainforested hills means barb scout is going suicide itself.
   
I hope that barb scout in east stay away from city so I can move settler without worries first turns after its completion.
City spot #2 is 2 tiles away from a volcano in north, that might cause some problems long term since with disaster slide set at 4 which means volcano can cause damage 2 tiles away from it.

Major news of this turn is sudden increase of TheArchduke's empire points and era points, it is probably caused by Lavra.
Lavra is a unique district which gives more points for empire points then normal districts and finishing something unique for a civilization gives extra era points, so Lavra fits the reason for increasing in era/empire numbers.
This means that TheArchduke just did same thing as PBEM 16: going for astrology first and toss down holy sites in 1st and 2nd cities, it didn't went well for him.
But Lavra's is better then standard holy sites since they also offer Great Writers soon, so TheArchduke can attempt to run away with culture early.

If I want to beat TheArchduke, I need to go for Stonehenge. But do I really need to bend my entire empire for this? I think that I  make decision after getting pantheon depending whether I get desired pantheon or not.
If I miss out Goddess of Festivals and God of The Sky is also absent, then I might go for unusual play with Monument to the Gods (15%) for Ancient and Classical wonders.
Why for wonder spamming? For most civs wonders are useful for their power alone, but for Australia wonders can make districts better by giving it appeal bonuses. Wonders can replace woods as appeal bonus, so I can chop woods without worries although it means loss of permanent production.
With absence of China in this PBEM, Ancient and Classical wonders are free for everyone and I can attempt to make headstart for it by grabbing Monument of the Gods and combine with Corvee policy card.
Also I am going for Magnus as first 2 promotions (50% production boost and no pop lose when finishing settler) instead Pingala.
At PBEM 16 I made good use of Pingala and hopefully that would cause all others get Pingala as first 2 promtion, leaving only me with Magnus for some wonder spam.

[Alhambram]

Turn 18:

Finished settler, start builder, he shall improve: rice, horse and dye.
   
Barb scout in west suicided against my warrior as expected. If I kill barb spearman, I get boost for bronze working. I try to get slinger after builder for gettinh archery boost.

[Alhambram]

Turn 22:

Founded 2nd city and volcano 2 tiles north of new city has of course become active....
   
With disaster silde put at 4, volcano can inflict damage 2 tiles away from it, so Hobart can be hit by volcano eruption.

On positive side, 2nd barb camp has cleared, barb scout is still somewhere in north, hopefully I can use it for archery boost.
But barb camp spawns did cause waste of time for scouting, from now if possible scout as many if possible as long new barb camp don't spawn nearby.

[Alhambram]

Turn 26:

Volcano did erupt after all, but damage was limited to one tile around it. It destroyed banana tile and killed one unit which isn't mine, I quess barb scout that I was planning to use for archery boost.
   
More importantly, I reached 25 and is allowed to pick Pantheon. There were 21 remaining from 23, Goddess of Festival was tragically already taken, someone took Earth Goddess for extra faith at breathtaking tiles.
I did express interest in Monuments of Gods, but God of Open Sky was still one of possible picks and I value extra culture more then little extra production for ancient and classical wonders.
Getting God of the Open Sky is natural choice for Australia since Australian pastures do culture bomb.

I plan to plant 3rd city at mouth of Darling River, 1 tile south of cow tile, it is coastal, giving sailing boost. With it I can start galleys for scouting and pick up amber for extra happiness.
Production is going be low till tile picker picks stone and copper tiles.

[Alhambram]

Turn 27:

Warrior in north stumbled upon double faith and culture yield tile, which means Uluru natural wonder is fitting about to be discovered by Australia.
   
With this Kabul's request (boost for Astrology) is going be fulfilled next turn. Got Early Empire boost this turn by growing both cities this turn.

I did put down pins for strong campus spots, 2x 5 adjaceny bonus and city next Uluru even 7 adjaceny bonus! (4+ from2x turtle reef tiles and 3+ from breathtaking tile).
I was uncertain till this turn, now I have more clear game plan:

-research mining for chopping forests, then writing/sailing (both warriors go west in hope to find at least one human player). (Sailing before founding 3rd city)
-settle 3rd city as planned at mouth of Darling river.
-Get Magnus by researching EE, chop out forest at campus spot and overflow back in campus. (might build library to snipe Hypatia)
-Relocate Magnus to 3rd city and chop out campus there. Before and after campus build galleys.
-Move Magnus back to Canberra. Promote him with State Workforce, no pop loss when creating settler.

-Research astrology and masonry (improve one of stones nearby 3rd city).
-harvest marsh and then stone next Canberra with Magnus in city, overflow in Stonehenge at marsh spot, also chop out spot planned for Canberra's holy site.
-And then move Magnus to Hobart, chop out forest 1E and build Government Plaza at spot planned for commerical hub. Pick Pingala and put him in Canberra.

-Research Archery, Bronze Working and Horseback Riding for military defense since I am basically playing farmers gambit till this point.
-Build Temple of Artemis using Magnus if possible. Start putting theater district in Canberra.

-At turn 60 hopefully 2x completed campuses for strong early science, 2x holy sites for faith.
-Also religion from Stonehenge: take Divine Inspiration so all wonders give extra faith. If all goes planned, 20 faith per turn at this point, use it for Monumentality settler/builder push.
-Build Ancrestal Hall for Pingala culture promotion, also get free builders from faith purchased settlers.
-Using extra culture from Pingala to make push for Recorded History for another promotion for Pingala and double adjaceny bonuses for campuses.

This is for large part copy from my Hungarian play at PBEM 16, with 2 differences: I need to build army to defend myself unlike Hungarian levy units. Also I do plan some wonders and faith building this time.