My objective for this set of turns was to attack Mordor with Ansars as fast as possible. I was going to finish America and attack and possibly kill Japan. Getting wonders and leaders was to be more important than doing that fast. In particular, the great lighthouse would make a huge difference to the main objective. A well-placed FP would be nice. If I didn't get a leader, I would have to continue with Kufah's prebuild in a less than perfect position.
I started carrying on the American attack while leaving Washington for a turn until it built a wonder. I sold Map Making to Japan in 530BC for a token price. They already had Monarchy so that would allow them to switch to two of the three 300-cost wonders.
In 510BC, Barad-Dur built the Pyramids as expected. The other AIs didn't switch straight away so I had to delay the attack on Washington again. Philosophy was discovered and Feudalism started.
Wasington built the Oracle, conveniently just before it's capture. That left 5 cities in with a chance at the Great Lighthouse, Kyoto, Osaka, New York and Ur. From what I knew of this continent, I expected New York to be behind the Japanese cities so didn't bother sparing it from the advance.
The Americans proved to be lightly defended. The only offensive units I'd seen were the warriors I'd killed before this block. Every city had 1 or 2 spearmen. I have things like 3 cities falling in 1 turn.
In 430BC, Osaka built the
Great Lighthouse 
and Kyoto followed with the Hanging Gardens in 330BC. In the same turn, a Japanese horseman was sighted. I expect the Japanese to put up more of a fight.
So when I discovered Feudalism in 310BC, I actually bothered to upgrade the remaining non-elite sworsmen and warriors. War followed in 250BC. It took almost that much time to move those swordsmen.
230 BC: The Americans are eliminated. As their last city falls, Uthman decides to make an appearance. That's an FP then. As the Americans seem to have tried to fit in with our 3,5 distance RCP, the best site is Washington, where it was rushed in 190BC.
Meanwhile Kufah, which was pre-building the FP was changed to the Great Wall. This has a large denial value in the AU Mod. But the main reason for building it was to trigger our GA. The Great Lighthouse was capured in 210BC, providing expansionist to the Oracle's religious. So our Golden Age began in 150BC. It seemed like a good idea to use the GA to bring our Ansar rush forwarads. Once we were already figting with them, it would almost be wasted.
The Indians and Babylonians payed 96 gold between them to continue our alliance. You'd almost think the war was their idea. Plans for intervention were already underway. 5 or 7 galleys moved up the west coast, offering what assistance they could against Japan.
130BC: Monotheism was discovered, revealing that Chivalry in 4 would still leave +15gpt. FPs and Gas require some adjusting to.
70BC: The last Japanese city falls. Another dead civ, another leader. I could have saved it for the other continent but 10 of my cities were building barracks. Sun Tzu's in Kyoto came at exactly the right time for the 2nd core to start military production.
50BC: With Chivalry in 1 turn, I have 39 horsemen. I started the crossing. Immeadiately, I run into a Barbarian welcoming party. Luckily their 3 galleys don't manage to scratch any of mine, leaving me with more HPs than I started with. The 6 horseman also prove reluctant to do anything. But they looked good.
30BC: After Chivalry, I thought that Engineering with 1 scientist would be a good idea. I needed gold for upgrading immeadiately and am not even sure of the long term merits of research any more. We can build Ansars, galleys, temples, courthouses, the odd marketplaces and cathedrals. What would anything else be useful for? I started upgrading and convoying my troops.
I know that Sauron doesn't look like an infidel but evil is deceptive.
For five centuries have we been at war with the black land but containment is no longer an option. Should he get pikemen, he will become unstoppable. We have the capacity for pikes ourselves but know that using them would only lead to our own destruction. On the face of it, the black land looks far from pikemen as they still lacks philosophy and currency from this era but the latest intelligence suggests that they already have a secret pikemen program. In particular, there is a pike precusor plant on a mountain near Barad-Dur, deep within Mordor itself. We should go to this mountain and prevent Sauron from ever getting pikes. Only then can he be utterly defeated.
Voting begins tonight and there hasn't been a single save posted for this team yet.
