)Research continued. Let's look at the tech tree.
Globalization for the United Nations is the goal, of course. I've been saving Great Scientists for the last and most expensive techs. The difference between the Penicillin column and Ecology column is 1000 beakers, and no use of the scientist sooner would pay out any more than that, so it was correct to save them for the biggest prizes. Presently I arrived at Radio with four scientists saved, meaning it was correct to lightbulb into Mass Media now, since any scientists beyond three would not bulb anything bigger. (And it saved me 4 gold per turn upkeep on the scientist. )
Napoleon declared war again, I think for the fourth time. We fought along my southern border, and I didn't play very well, losing several knights and minutemen and cavalry. The AI isn't completely tactically incompetent, it will kill units in a foot-to-foot slugfest. The player needs ranged units to enforce his tactical superiority. All I had was two cannons, which are very hard to use effectively. A cannon can't move into firing position without leaving itself exposed first, since you can't stack a regular unit on the cannon to defend it. But moving the foot unit in front of the cannon will just get that unit killed instead. My cannons spent a lot of time just out of range of being able to shoot anything important.
But several cities had started wartime build orders of artillery and fighters, and once they completed and arrived, the tide rapidly turned. Artillery are _so_ much easier to use, with that third range making a huge difference, and also the indirect fire capability. Some combat road-laying workers helped a lot too. (I later realized that one-turn roads are only possible on Quick speed with the Pyramids. Odd emergent effect there.)
And wow, those fighters sure have huge range. Presently I realized I should have been hastening up to Radar to get a B17 or two into play, although the war would end before that.
I have no idea how this happened. Somehow a French worker, French musketman (visible graphically but no icon), and my cavalry all got on the same tile. Wacky.
Anyway, here's the point of this fighting.
France had conquered Kuala Lumpur a while ago. Now I could capture and liberate the city, earning its diplo victory vote without paying for the influence with gold. I'd planned ahead for this for quite a while, so I'll claim my 2 points for doing something cool here. The siege went very quickly with five shooty things firing at the city. "Eternally grateful" is not quite right, it gave only 170 influence which declined as usual. But the civilopedia says a liberated city-state will always vote for its liberator, and that's what I'm here for.
Back to economy. I used the second Louvre Great Artist, a Great General from the fighting, a naturally spawned Great Artist, and a GG from a city-state via the Educated Elite policy all for Golden Ages. That paid out huge economy, jumping my income from around 150 to over 400, for 29 turns. The Golden Age was my 8th scenario point, and a trade mission was my 9th. (400 gold from a Great Merchant is absurdly pathetic compared to 4000 or 7000 beakers from a Scientist lightbulb, though.)
(And what in the world is he driving? An Attak Trak?)
And a Citadel for no particular reason or usefulness, just the 10th scenario point.
I built Eiffel Tower, and Sydney Opera House just for kicks. I had completed the Liberty and Patronage trees, plus the Tradition opener. I went into Commerce and the road cost reducer; small potatoes but nothing else looked meaningful.
I built Research Labs while finishing the research up to Globalization, mostly in case the diplomatic victory didn't work out and I'd have to continue on to space. Like a pro, I bulbed Computers and Globalization on the same turn Washington birthed a Great Engineer, and rushed the United Nations. (I'd actually slowed down the engineer GPP just to avoid paying maintenance for him for the extra turns.) It didn't complete the wonder, but it needed just four turns of additional production.
Yup, 10,000 gold saved, hoarding it all for buying votes right at the end.
So I showered money all over the city-states, reaching 12 votes before I burned even halfway through that 10,000 gold. Is it really that easy?
Hmpf, then I saw that. Fine, we'll click through 9 empty turns. I built a bunch of units, mostly mechs, in the interim. And got involved in a couple bidding wars to retain city-state alliances, all of which I won easily.
One last overview:
and there we go. Cash Victory... err, Diplomatic Victory in 1894 AD. Clean sweep on the 10 points for Great Person usage, 4 points for diplomatic victory, and 2 points for doing something cool. 16 total so I will win the scenario if I've got the fastest victory, or if the fastest victory wasn't diplomatic and I have at least the third-fastest, or if the two fastest victories were both not diplomatic.
Turn the page for some thoughts on Civ 5. (For real, there's no more game content.)