numerous barbs

[unamablebuiler]

just noticed that numerous barbs from huts and wildernes mean that you are probably alone in other words once you have lost your 3rd scout to the 3rd of 4th barb you see it might be worth altering your playstyle to reflect this why

cause AI units visibility also clears the fog of war though you don't see it so an AI on the same continent will reduce the area considerably after units etc resulting in fewr barbarians diractly.the AI is know to start going after the barbs quite early esp the aggro ones ie monty and alexander at this point they can grab 2-3 cities making them the dominant power on the ontinent if not the world. Also barbs will occasionally attack AI and lose.

you should be able to tell this around 1000 BC or so(possibly earlier) which is bout the middle of the early game so you can start planning the next phase going for ocean vessels.

[Blake]

Not seeing any AI units is also a good indication that you're probably alone .

[couerdelion]

Both are good guides but still need to be tested before you go all out on the "island strategy". I once popped a barbarian hut early in the game and by 1000 BC had seen no-one else so assumed I was alone with three barbarian cities.

It was only while watching one of these that I saw some of Monty's archers. That particular city had largely controlled a land bridge so Monty's scouts obviously got stopped before they reached me.

Another game I noticed that Peter took around 30 turns from discovering me to meeting the Egyptians (who's capital was 7/8 squares from my own. This might have had something to do with the fact that I killed all of Hatwoman's scouts

Even funnier was the response when I asked Peter what he thought of her. His reply was "A cheap jumped-up little weasel"