Rhye's and Fall of Civilization - Greek strategy
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Greek UHV (BTS version 1.184, Monarch difficulty)
by blizzrd
Start
The starting situation for Greece now includes a pre-loaded settler and a warrior in a galley. The galley can start in any adjacent position to the Athens tile, it seems to be random. If your galley starts anywhere but on the tile to the NE of Athens (on the clam), you've got an sub-optimal position. It won't prohibit your chances of winning the UHV, but it will slow you down by a turn.
Athens should be founded on the spot. I find that it is simply better than the alternatives. Sparta is alright, but just not as good as Athens and you lose time getting to Sparta. I found Byzantion on the bridge of land between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea so that both sheep resources can be worked within the fat cross. Unload the settler one tile away from the Byzantion location, send the galley back past the Phalanxes and pick both of them up on the first turn. Byzantion should be founded on your second turn so that Athens is your capital.
Send one of your starting warriors on a tour of the European goody huts. First stop is Bulgaria, just a little to the NW of Byzantion. Then head for Denmark and finally to Portugal. If you are lucky, the goody hut in Asia Minor on the opposite coast of the Aegean from Athens may still be around when you spawn. This is not common, but can happen. You may also be lucky enough to pick up a stray barbarian unit within your area when you spawn. Again not common, but it can happen. The goody huts will probably give you barbarian warriors, which translate as experience.
You start with knowledge of Bronze Working, which allows switching to the Slavery civic. Don't do this straight away. You won't have any spare population in your cities for quite a while to make use of the whip in any case. Your first goal is to build the Oracle. One turn of Anarchy means this is that little bit harder, so wait to switch to Slavery and Hereditary Rule at the same time further on. Your first techs to research should be Priesthood, followed by Masonry.
The Oracle
After much experimenting and micromanagement of which tiles are worked, I believe that the fastest way to build the Oracle is as follows:
- Start by Athens working the marble to the SW. Athens starts building a work boat.
- Use Byzantion to work one of its coastal food resources (fish or clam give the same effect) rather than the sheep. This shaves a turn off the research time of Priesthood. Byzantion also starts building a work boat.
- Your workers should begin by mining the marble SW of Athens. You will destroy this mine later, but this tile with a mine gives you the most hammers into Athens the fastest possible way. Build a road on the marble after the mine is done.
- When the work boat is built in Athens, use it to hook up the fish immediately E of Athens and start working this fish tile instead of the mined-marble so that Athens grows to a size 2 city.
- After the road to the marble is built, mine the hill tile to the NW of Athens and then build a road on this tile also. This hill will reveal Iron once you have researched the Iron Working tech.
- Masonry should be researched at exactly the point that your workers finish the road in the (iron) hill tile. Now send the workers back to the marble and build a quarry.
- After Masonry is researched, Byzantion should return to working the sheep tile. If you captured a worker from the Babylonians (I found that I always could, see below), this worker should move towards Byzantion and start chopping the forests to the SE of the sheep to speed up the work boat production.
- Research Iron Working after Masonry. You will want to time the building of the Oracle to be on exactly the same turn as you research Iron Working. Depending on the timing of your conquests of the Babylonian lands, your research speed to Iron Working may take longer or shorter than building the Oracle in Athens. If necessary, you can switch Athens to work two hill tiles to speed up the Oracle by a turn or two. You may lose some food in this way, but you should not lose enough to starve back down to a size 1 city.
If you follow the above, you should build the Oracle in Athens on turn 74 (1000BC). Just before this triggers, you will learn Iron Working. This allows you to pick Machinery as your free tech from the Oracle. You will later need Machinery to be able to research Optics, which is required to get to your third UHV condition. Machinery is a very expensive tech, so maximise your advantage and grab it now. You won't make a lot of use of crossbowmen straight away, but they will come in handy when either Caesar pays you a visit or if Egypt gets to Axemen before you get to them - but more on that later.
Conquest
You want only the best city sites in the Old World. These are (in generally decreasing order of production capacity) Babylon, Athens, Thebes, Byzantion and Alexandria. Rome is also great, but that isn't an option just now.
There are other small cities which are also available. These are not great for production though and generally just drain your economy. The exception is Jerusalem, which if you can build the Temple of Solomon more than pays for itself and is a good troop building city once you start to use the whip and have the fish hooked up just to the NW. But all the other small cities should be razed upon conquest. And you do want to conquer all of them, because the cash from conquering will basically allow you to keep 100% science going for a very long time.
The first priority should be to conquer Babylon. If you got the optimal starting location for your galley, you can unload your two Phalanxes (Axemen) onto the wine tile at the NE corner of the Mediterranean on Turn 2. Don't worry about declaring war on the Independents, they won't trouble you. If you didn't get the optimal start, it won't stop you from conquering everything, but it will just take you that little bit longer. Time is critical for two reasons: (i) Bablyon will eventually start building Bowmen; and (ii) Egypt will hook up the Copper and start building Axemen. These situations are to be avoided at all costs, but it can be done most times (at least for the three times I recently played out Greece).
Don't declare war on Babylon straight away. Move your two Phalanxes from the wine tile two more tiles to the NE and you should be able to see a worker (and an escort) within the Babylonian cultural area which can be captured at the same time as you invade. This captured worker should be sent directly towards Byzantion as fast as possible to chop some forests and help to create work boats quickly.
Babylon may have founded Nineveh, and may have captured either Shush to the E or Sur to the W (Tyros is the Greek name for this city). There may also still be a barbarian city (Hattusas) in Asia Minor, if Babylon didn't already raze this one. Focus on capturing Babylon first. Your Phalanxes (Axemen) should make mincemeat of the defending Warriors. Always take city raider promotions for your Phalanxes. You will need these later to beat up the Archers in the Independent cities. If you are really lucky, Babylon will have built either the Pyramids or Stonehenge for you. This is not common, but very good news for you if it worked out that way.
During the initial conquest of Babylon, I also like to raid Egypt from the sea to capture their worker. Keep your galley nearby with a loaded Warrior and attack (you may need to beat up an escort - but this is where your promotions via those goody huts will help) when you see the Egyptian warrior start to work the wheat tile on the northern coast of Egypt. Then quickly get back into your boat and get the heck out of there before a bunch of Egyptian Warriors arrive.
After capturing Babylon, pick off the small cities nearby. Shush should definitely be razed. It will flip to the Persians when they spawn otherwise, which is bad for you. Nineveh is a poor city. Babylon is better off working those hill tiles for itself, as it builds wonder after wonder through the middle stages of your game. Tyrolis is also a poor city and should be razed. You'll probably need the experience from Shush and Tyrolis to be able to tackle Jerusalems three archers though. If you are lucky, Jerusalem will have hooked up the fish resource for you. Again this is not common, but very good news for you if it worked out that way.
Babylon should build a worker straight away. Then a Warrior. Then the Temple of Artemis. After that you can take a few alternate paths with Babylon, all of which are OK. I generally try to put the Leaning Tower here which means that all my Great People will be born in Babylon in the long run. Athens should build the Great Lighthouse after the Oracle. Byzantion should build both the Colossus and the Moai Statues, to get maximum benefit out of all those water tiles and coastal resources. Don't forget to prioritize hooking up the copper to the NE of Babylon (even though it is outside Babylon's fat cross) to speed up the Colossus. You should also ensure that you connect Babylon to Jerusalem via a combination of roads and rivers (i.e. trade route) so that your health/happiness/production resources are made availabe in all of your cities.
After Jerusalem, Egypt is your next conquest target. Depending on how quickly you managed to eliminate the small cities around Babylon, Egypt may or may not have Axemen. If they do, you may need to whip out a Crossbowman before you invade. The best Egyptian city site is Thebes, which has the Copper, Marble, Stone and Incense within its fat cross. The second best Egyptian city site is Alexandria or Per Wadjet in its Egyptian form. (Interestingly, capturing this city doesn't see it renamed Alexandr(e)ia - only founding give it this Greek name.) If Egypt built it's second city anywhere other than on the coast tile which has the Dye, Fish, Wheat and oasis in its range, then the second Egyptian city should be razed and you should found Alexandr(e)ia yourself.
Persia, Carthage, Rome and Ethiopia
At about the time that you conquer Jerusalem, Persia will spawn. As long as you razed Shush, they should be pretty friendly to you, at least for a little while. I tend not to open borders with them, because that often lets an Immortal or two get into Asia Minor. Persia will eventually declare war on you and you don't want any Immortals behind your lines. You need to upgrade your Warriors in Babylon to Spearmen before Persia declares war. Spearmen >> Phalanxes when it comes to repulsing Persia. Phalanxes are great against Immortals, but only when on the defensive. This is why you really need Spearmen to be able to take the fight up to the Persians - otherwise your tiles will all be pillaged around Babylon, which is bad. You don't need to conquer any of the Persian cities, just beating up on a bunch of Immortals should be enough. But if the Persians refound Shush, this should definitely be razed, as it will flip to Arabia when they eventually spawn.
Eventually, Carthage and then Rome will also spawn. You should aim to have your galley in their vicinity straight away to make first contact with them both. Carthage usually opens borders if you meet them before they found any cities, as does Rome. You firstly want to trade for Alphabet from either Rome or Carthage, rather than researching Alphabet for yourself. In general when trading with Rome/Carthage, try not to give all your techs to either one, but rather split your traded techs between the two nations. This should see you still keep a significant tech lead on both, even if you do have to give Machinery to one of them to start the tech trading process in motion.
My overall research path usually goes Priesthood -> Masonry -> Iron Working -> Machinery (Oracle) -> Aesthetics -> (big trading for Alphabet, Animal Husbandry, Agriculture, Archery, Horseback Riding, Monotheism, Polytheism and Monarchy) -> Literature -> Drama -> Meditation (trade from India) -> Philosophy -> Feudalism -> Compass -> Guilds -> Optics.
Getting the big tech trades to work can take a little practice. But I usually have contact with Egypt (before I invade), Persia and India once I have traded for Alphabet and thus can get all of the older techs via trades instead of researching them myself. Occasionally even China is a contact, but this is rare. My research focus is usually on the Aesthetics -> Literature -> Drama -> Philosophy path and I rarely spend the time researching a basic worker tech such Agriculture.
Eventually, Ethiopia will also spawn. They vassalized to me almost straight away each time. Just remember to be nice to them when they first arrive, gift them Agriculture or something cheap and the next turn they will usually offer to become your vassal. They can be good to get involved in the big tech trading times also.
Great People
You will get a lot of these. They are all good value for your goals. If whatever GP I have just received can 'bulb' a tech that I don't intend to trade for (see above) then it is an auto-bulb. Getting to Philosphy is the most advantageous use of a Great Person in this way, in terms of saving the maximum amount of research time for you.
I almost always use my first Great Prophet to build the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, because I usually find that I haven't picked up Meditation until a bit later into the game and this is the first tech to be bulbed via a Great Prophet. Great Engineers are excellent value whether they bulb a tech or rush a wonder, particularly when building some of the more expensive wonders like the Parthenon. I never chose to settle any of my GPs in cities though. I recommend always to bulb a tech that will give you another free Great Person (such as Music) as part of the deal, even if it isn't a vital tech towards Optics (and caravels).
Defence and Wonder Building
While your research heads towards Optics and the all-important caravels for circumnavigation, your big cities will be focusing on wonder production. So it is up to your small cities to build military units, with just the occasional unit supplemented from the big cities in between wonders. Jerusalem is the best choice of a military production city, as it is useless for producing wonders. Once you learn Monarchy and switch civics to Hereditary Rule and Slavery, Jerusalem can start to pump (via the whip) out military units. Generally these are Spearmen to defend against Camel and Horse Archers in Egypt and Imortals from Persia, with the occasional crossbow to defend against Native Impis. Building a city in Asia Minor can also lead to a good military production city. Wait until after Gordion, with its two Warriors and a Chariot has spawned and been razed by your troops before sending any settlers into Asia Minor though.
A second civic swap for Organised Religion and Vassalage should be performed once you learn Feudalism. I generally don't adopt a state religion until this point either. I usually choose Judaism, although sometimes I have founded Christianity and this is more prevalent than Judaism in my cities. Jerusalem is a good city to produce missionaries also.
You will also need to significantly increase the defenses of Byzantion. One crossbow and one spearmen are essential here, and a second crossbow doesn't hurt. The Spearman should be capable of razing Gordion when it spawns within Asia Minor. Other Barbarian Swordsmen and Horse Archers will then begin to arrive from the north in a never-ending stream of experience for your defenders. Don't neglect Athens' defences either. If you leave Athens with just a single defender, Caesar will usually launch an amphibious assault on your capital. Better to leave two defenders in Athens and Caesar won't do more than send boats to harass your fishing nets.
If you are lucky, you can even go on the attack against Rome with your super-promoted city-raider specialist Phalanxes. These initial two units should be very experienced after campaigning through Babylon and Egypt. In one game, Caesar declared war on me in a profound error of judgement. While his Praetorians started walking towards Byzantion, I launched my two Phalanxes from my Galley first at Pompeii and then at Rome. Each just had a single archer on defense, and soon fell. Then the Praetorians walked into my crossbows at Byzantion and Caesar was begging for peace.
Arabia
I put a mention of Arabia here because they will probably spawn before you reach your 3rd UHV goal. With some early luck, the Greek UHV can be completed before Arabia spawns, but in all cases you should be prepared for the Arabs. This involves about 4-6 Spearmen and one or two Knights. If you researched Engineering (not a vital tech for Greece) you could bring Pikemen into the equation, but experienced Spearmen are just fine for the task of killing Camel Archers.
When Arabia spawns, you will want to have evacuated Jerusalem of all troops. Put them in the fort in Sinai (see Circumnavigation below) and they won't abandon you to join Saladin. Babylon should have a few Spearmen also, but they can stay in the city, which is outside the Arabian spawn area. Shush should have been razed muchearlier, or twice if the Persians rebuilt it at any stage, otherwise it will flip to Arabia and will be a problem for you.
Jerusalem will want to flip to Arabia in 620AD. Agree to the flip. Then declare war on Arabia, and use a Knight to recapture Jerusalem straight away, as Jerusalem which won't have any Arabian troops yet. If you refuse the flip, at least one of your units will desert to join Arabia every turn for about 6-8 turns. This is very bad, so always initially agree to the flip and then declare war and retake Jerusalem straight away.
Next, the Arabian Camel Archers will advance towards Jerusalem and/or Babylon from their starting location further to the south. Remember to say hello before your Spearmen cut them down. My four Spearmen with two simple 10% combat upgrades took down 4 Camel Archers without a loss. This was perhaps a little lucky, but the odds were in my favour each time. With no more Camel Archers, Arabia is no longer much of a threat to you (or anyone else for that matter). You can either finish them off with Knights or just leave them down in the peninsula to wander about a bit while you finish the circumnavigation UHV condition.
Circumnavigation
To do this in the quickest timeframe requires two caravels. One trireme should be positioned in the Red Sea just before you learn Optics, before upgrading toa caravel and heading SE and then E along the coast of Antarctica. This is best done by building a fort on the Desert hill tile (Sinai) between Jerusalem and Egypt, to allow your boats to sail between the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The second trireme (-> caravel with upgrade) should head W via the Straits of Gibraltar towards the Mayan city of Tikal. Because of the way the circumnavigation bonus triggers, you will link up your E and W caravels a turn before you win the UHV.
Conclusion
I recently completed the Greek UHV five times using this strategy, and each time managed to get the circumnavigation a little faster than the previous time. My best effort was a Historical Victory in 390AD, well before the Arabian spawn event in 600AD. My best score though was a later Historical Victory in 610AD where I had more wonders and more population - I managed to get a 25k score on that occasion.
Addendum for wonder-mongerer/squatting Italy
by Pacifist
It is possible to kill all the ancient civilizations that typically build wonders. Stonehenge is usually built by Egypt so it's the only one that you have to conquer. If you're lucky enough to have the galley west of your starting point, send that settler towards Italy and land him on the first move on the hill. Second step you can found your capital at Neapolis (on the sheep): note that it's not the most optimal spot, but it at least has 2 seafood and gives you a path towards Melpum later. Start with a Greek blizzrd (just like above) conquering Babylonia and Egypt. Chop your Oracle in Neapolis (got my free tech, Machinery in around 1100 on 2 different tries, but technically you can get it even earlier). When Rome appears (probably SE of Neapolis), open borders with them. When your borders rebound, they'll just sit in your territory. Melpum does not flip to the Romans then. Over time, the Romans will lose their settlers and start moving their troops towards Melpum. Close borders with them and they'll be exiled forever in Africa. Then you're free to build ALL the wonders, and with enough luck you can even beat the Chinese and Persians to the Mausoleum of Mausollos, the Colosseum and Great Wall (I would place it in Europe since Egypt and Babylon are easily defended, and you want most of your wonders in your core cities). I had a really lucky game where China collapsed after their capital was captured by barbarians. Won UHV in 1270 with all the wonders up to Statue of Liberty.
Emperor strategy (BTS version 1.181)
by blizzrd with kudos to wr4th
Cities and Combat
I founded Athens and Byzantion inintially. Raze Hattusas enroute to capturing Babylon (but leave Tyros and Jerusalem for now). The raze Shush (or the Persians will get it shortly afterwards, which is bad) and march towards Delhi and raze it to the ground. You should also raze any other Indian cities for the cash as you will later need it. Capture as many workers as you can find, including harassment of Egypt using one of your initial warriors. I can usually get 1 Egyptian, 1 Babylonian and 2 Indian workers. Raze Gordion when it eventually spawns too.
There are only enough turns for a certain amount of healing of your two initial Phalanxes during this tour of duty towards Delhi. If you get beaten up too badly, you may not reach Delhi in time. If Babylon has Ashitaru Bowmen, you are basically not going to reach India in time, I suggest you restart in this case.
On the way back home from India to Babylon with your Phalanxes, Persia will most likely spawn. Persia will inevitably attack you. You will need 2x Spearmen as well as your Phalanxes for this eventuality. To get Spearmen into position in Babylon before Persia attacks, I recommend building 2x Warriors in Babylon from the outset and eventually hooking up the Copper and then upgrading the Warriors to Spearmen. You should have enough money from your city razing spree for this.
After dealing with the Persians (just put them back in their place by destroying any invaders, don't go on the assault yourself though), you should raze both Tyros and Jerusalem. These cities will flip to Arabia otherwise in the long-term, which is bad for you. Carthage and Rome will spawn next, you will need to get your promoted Phalanxes over to Italy without time to enter Egypt. Trust me, you do not want to deal with the level of barbarians in Africa on Emperor if you don't have to, so just give Egypt a wide berth.
I captured Pompeii and Rome and then sued for peace with Caesar. This has the advantage of leacing the northern Roman cities to face the hordes of Barbarians. Eventually Rome will collapse, but their Praetorians still live on in the Independent cities, and these are much better suited to resisting the hordes of Swordsmen which will spawn in Germany and Russia and head south. I recommend keeping Rome, Pompeii, Athens, Byzantion and Babylon only. Pompeii is not a great city, but it allows you to ferry in and out of Italy much more efficiently than landing and unloading all the time outside Rome.
Your deficit research economy can't really handle any more than 5 cities and still keep the research pace at a decent level. You need to time the selective razing of cities to keep your treasury well stocked to keep your research at 100%.
After Rome, I mostly turtled up and build a bunch of defenders in Babylon (spearmen in particular), Rome and Byzantion. Babylon has first barbarian and then Arabian camel archers to deal with. Two spearmen and walls is sufficient for the Barbarians, but you need to get to Longbows before the Arabians come for a visit. Byzantion and Rome get Swordsmen and Horse Archers. Egypt gets an insane number of barbarians on Emperor, don't even bother trying to capture and hold a city down there until you have both crossbows and longbows.
Wonders
I built the Oracle first in Athens, then Colossus, then Parthenon, and much later the Apostolic Palace. After 2 initial Warriors, I built the Temple of Artemis in Babylon, then Stonehenge, Great Library, Leaning Tower, Temple of Kulkallan, Wat Preah Pisnulok and much later the Hagia Sophia. Byzantion built the Great Lighthouse and then the Moai Statues before going almost exclusively military production.
Research
Timing is very critical to complete the Greek UHV on Emperor difficulty. Due to the significantly slower research times compared to Monarch difficulty and the large range of techs necessary to fulfill all of the UHV requirements, there is not much room for creativity or flexibility with the research path.
I started with:
Masonry -> Priesthood -> Animal Husbandry -> Meditation (Great Prophet) -> Aesthetics (Oracle) > Literature
There are limited trading opportunites available and you really need to get contact with Ethiopia and later Mali to do much tech trading. Not including various techs which can be traded for (such as Agriculture and Iron Working) you need to try for the UHV techs in the order of Literature -> Drama -> Philosophy. I tried to vary this order and go for Philosophy early and got beaten to Drama on a regular basis. You absolutely need to trade for Monarchy from someone as your cities won't be able to grow above size 4 otherwise due to unhappiness. I don't think it is possible on Emperor to spend the time researching for Construction (to enable the Great Wall).
You should bulb almost always. I say almost, because sometimes settling a Great Prophet is more useful than half-researching a religioius tech that you cannot afford to spend the time manually researching the other half.
Circumnavigation
Of the prerequisites for Optics, go for Feudalism before any of Compass, Machinery or Guilds. Switching to the combination of Hereditary Rule and Vassalage will do wonders for your stability. I completed circumnavigation in 1240AD for the movement bonus and won the UHV on the next turn.
Generic strategy (pre 2008 versions of RFC)
Overview
The Cradle of Western Civilization. Playing as Greece you inherit a rich history as its very name conjures up images of both great philosophers (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle) as well as fierce warriors (Alexander, Leonidas). Their unique power allows you to grow this legacy even further if you wish to do so. While, if barbarians (and aren't all non-Greeks barbarians?) should approach and threaten a Greek city and demand you surrender your arms to them, then the words of the Spartans at Thermoplyae might be a suitable response: "Come and take them!"
But for now, let us focus on the legacy of Greece as a center of learning and knowledge. Its historical victory calls on you to make the country once again a beacon of philosophy, culture, and knowledge and to allow the Greek spirit and curiosity to re-emerge once more by scanning the oceans and seas of the unknown world around us. While the barbarians growl and bark over this and that piece of land, let the Greeks show that real men do not always win battles by the sword, but also, by the mind.
Winning the Historical Victory
Playing on Monarch level, I founded Athens on the spot. Immediately started to build my 1st wonder (The Colossus) while the warriors stayed put defending the city and the phalanxes eventually did so after searching a bit. In my games as Greece, the Romans declare war almost immediately and will send an army via the sea shortly.
When the barbs, er, Romans came as expected , my Greek forces, remembering their proud legacy, defended the city bravely and despite some pillaging, the army of Alexander was able to repel what was left of the Roman horde. Our great historian Herodotus was happily willing to write a new history based on these events entitled "The Roman Wars"
I first beelined for Priesthood to be able to build the Oracle. After discovering PH, I immediately switched from the Colossus to Oracle as I suspected that that may be a wonder many civs would be going after and I was especially concerned about the older civs that came before me. Fortunately, Zeus was with us! The Gods looked favourably on us as we showed the world that Athens, the center of the universe, was able to build 3 magnificent wonders: The Oracle, the Colossus and The Parthenon.
After building the 3 wonders, I then thought it best to expand. I settled into Northern Greece to pick up the bronze and then settled Sparta. (Byzantium I settled later on but this might be a better city to build as your 2nd or 3rd option)
I traded with other civilizations while I focused our technology tree on gaining the 3 technologies our citizens were demanding: Philosophy, Drama and Literature. If the player is focused on these techs and trades with other civs for techs appropriately, this should not be a problem to acquire.
Our citizens thirst and curiosity about the world did not end with Philosophy however. Apparently, the access to new fountains of knowledge opened their eyes and their minds to the possibilities of new worlds around us...yet to be discovered. Once again, I set the appropriate tech course, built 6 caravels (just in case...I was being perhaps overly cautious here, but you do want to build more than 1 just in case a country declares war or a freak barbarian attack occurs) and the Greeks once again led the world in yet another field: that of discovery.
In the meantime, while your ships are sailing, it might be a good time to expand some more and build an army..just in case a jealous barbarian tribe should come and try to steal some of your hard-earned and well-deserved glory.
Foreign Policy
On the foreign policy front, war with Rome is inevitable at the beginning. My strategy was withstanding the early attack and make peace afterwards. Always protect your workers! The barbarians can be a nuisance but after playing as Persia, they hardly seem like a major threat. Try to keep your phalanxes for as long as possible, they do come in handy. The Egyptians may declare war but my experience has been that they rarely are serious about it. The Persians are too busy to get anywhere close to Greece and I would recommend trying to be on good terms with them.
When the Euro civs spawn, it is a good idea to be friendly with as many as you can, adopt their religion (probably Christianity) or if there is more than 1, adopt the majority. I find that keeping Russia and Germany happy is of primary importance. Spain may declare war on you cause....well, it's Spain, just defend your water resources and you should be all right. Remember to keep those phalanxes (or upgrade to Pikemen) in case the Conquistadors should show up.
The most important factor is trading techs; as Greece you will undoubtedly acquire techs many other civs do not have yet, trade your techs wisely and accordingly to your goals.
Conclusion
Fortunately, the Greek historical victory is one of the more easier ones in the game. The Greek people come prepared with a natural thirst for knowledge and the large amount of Great People the nation is capable of producing speaks volumes. This is probably a good civ for peaceful players or those attempting to complete their first historical victory. With a couple tries as Greece, the armies of Alexander will defend your land successfully and the legacy of your people will be the envy of the barbarian world!
Guide to the UHV, playing India and later switching to Greece
by Wessel_V1
The first thing you have to do is moving your settler as quick as possible to Europe, and build Byzantium. Then I started to build a worker, while researching Fishing. Then build a mine. After you created your worker, you have to wait 2 turns (build a monument, doesn't matter). Switch production to the work boat. Don't let the city grow before you complete your workboat. Place it on a fish resource and let the city grow to size 2. The city won't be razed then. The worker: After you build the mine the worker is useless. Move it to the tile west of Athens. A few turns later, Greece will spawn. Declare war. Otherwise you won't get the worker.
Then you switch to Greece. The phalanxes can conquer Kolhapur. It will collapse before you reach it. India is gone. Move 2 phalanxes to the barbarian city. Don't attack before it has grown to size 2. Then you can conquer it. One warrior can attack the worker, the other one has to go to the tribal villages, to get some gold if you are lucky.
Research path: Priesthood -> Masonry -> Animal Husbandry (sheep and horses). Remember: the AI has started researching archery, don't forget to switch. Athenae has to build a work boat, Kolhapur the Colossus. After you have completed your work boat, build the Temple of Artemis. After you research Priesthood you can switch to the Oracle. Athenae will grow very quick to size 4, and your 3 workers can build mines. I completed the Oracle in 900 BC, the Colossus in 590 BC and the Temple of Artemis in 570 BC.
After you finish the Oracle, you have to choose a tech. There are many tempting options: Machinery, very very very expensive, and needed to research Optics. Aesthetics (?) to research Drama and Literature. Much cheaper then Machinery, but just as important. Final option: Iron working, to discover the Iron source near Athenae, for a even higher production level, to research the compass and to defend against the Romans.
I saved before I had to choose. I think this is one of the most important parts of the UHV, so think about it. I've chosen option 2. Babylonia will go the same way so you have to beat them. And: You can start building the Parthenon. The building goal won't be very hard to achieve.
After you discover Animal Husbandry, switch to Literature, to build the Leaning tower and the Great Library. They are very useful, the leaning tower because of the 100% GP bonus (was already 200% with the Parthenon and the Greek UP), the Great Library gives you 2 scientists, (GP rate and research). The next one could be Iron Working, to defend against the Romans. They will attack your fishing boats, but don't worry. Kolhapur and Athenae can build a trireme every 4 turns. Place them near your fishing boats. The Romans will attack them, but you have the defense bonus, so they will lose. They only have 5, maybe 7 boats. You can stop the landunits with your Phalanxes and Spearman. Use the same strategy to stop the barbarians: Block the entrance with a spearman and a phalanx, that should be enough to stop 80%. Egypt will also declare war, but they don't have ANY troops to attack. Peace Treaty and Meditation will make him happy.
GP: Because you control some worldwonders, many Great Persons will be born, normally Artists and Prophets, sometimes a Merchant. The Merchants should be placed in Athenae to use all mines, the Artists in Hattusas (sometimes it even flips to Babylonia!) or to discover monarchy or music and the prophets to research meditation and caste system or to settle in a city.
We have jumped to 600 AD. The Roman War should be finished, maybe not because you want to conquer some cities when the European Civs spawn. This was the point where my Golden Age started. Use it to research the Compass -> Machinery (if you haven't chosen this tech when you created the Oracle) -> Optics. In my game, Carthage had already almost researched Machinery AND the Compass, so there was a chance I would be too late. I decided to put everything into research: Pacifism, Caste System, cities build Research. In my game, Egypt built the Apostolic Palace. He liked me, and I decided to vote for him. He was quite pleased with that, so he decided to stop every single war against me. Sorry Saladin, Ramesses is always right.
But you haven't won yet. Remember to have some spearman near Hattusas, because the Arabians will come and attack you. Don't worry about them too much: Pacifism doesn't allow large armies, and Babylonia and Persia will help you to defeat Arabia.
Tech trades: When you want to trade some techs, you will discover it isn't very easy to make a deal. But sometimes you just have to. Archery, Meditation, Agriculture, Monarchy and Iron Working: these are the techs you want to buy. Agriculture and Iron Working against Philosophy and Aesthetics is a good deal, for example.
I was lucky. Hannibal didn't want to research Optics. Upgrade your Triremes to Caravels, build some to destroy Independent Triremes and travel south. This is the quickest way to circumnavigate (if Maya is destroyed).
