We ended the first set of turns in 225 BC. Not bad for 2 and a half hours of playing. It goes by pretty quickly.
Now to the game. Kengel, (zulus) could have had a quick start. Hell with his luck he could win the lotto. He got a 4 special start. 1 pheasant, 1 silk, 1 whale and something else. But he choose not to take it and ended up being the LAST person to build a city (after 3000 BC)

If he had taken this decent position he might have been able to snacth the Colossus. But I was able to find an ok city site (1 whale, 1 fish, 1 coal). This early start allowed me to build colossus and get an early tech lead. But the constant attacks by barbs has narrowed the lead down. I managed to get monarchy first, but in a desperate attempt for writing (to boost sciences) I traded it away and rush bought a library. This library greatly helped, allowing me to rush through currency and trade, and very soon construction. I built a market but the barbarians kept me from sending a caravan.

Smartfart has a location that is only slightly better than mine (1 whale, 1 wine, 1 buffallo) but my early start over everyone gave me a short lived lead. If I can get some trade routes up it would help secure my lead. We had slight problems with advanced tribes, but that was solved by unwanted units and barbarians. Only 1 wonder has been build (colossus by me). A landing might be possible but its not looking very good right now. I am on my way to republic, and if I am able to get to it first, I have a good chance of winning.

The biggest problem in the game so far has been getting techs. We all had a slow start because of the lack of starting techs... huts and not "ideal" starting locations.

But otherwise the game is moving smoothly. Never the less... OCC with people is hard (without AI). It calls for revised strategies, as well as new ones. Wonders might have to be replaced (the ones you miss) with other less useful ones. I managed to get some fast explorers from huts early... but others got techs, and I didn't. Yet colossus gave me the power to trade (faster research) for them filling in some holes, CB and mysticism.

If Paul could give us any tips on how to play this, we would greatly appreciate it.