I'm absolutely in love with the expansion so far. Started a Prince gamewith Morocco, which isn't too bad. Their UA makes gold a non-issue once you get the trade caravans rolling. I kept the empire at two cities to keep the culture costs down and more easily send my borders. I've spent most of the game floating between second and third in points , which was nice, because everyone not named Assyria had pretty much left me alone. I didn't get to control the world congress, which sucks, cause it looks like there's a lot of cool resolutions the AI didn't go for. Being host of the WC did nothing to save Ethiopia, as they and Brazil got squeezed out between Assyria, Denmark, and a hyper aggressive Austria. Before they were wiped out, Ethiopia passed trade sanctions on Assyria, effectively causing them to collapse under the size of their empire/army. Denmark and Austria have wasted the game pecking at each other, and I've been using archaeology and tourism to assert my influence and cause chaos amongst the other civ's ideologies. It's turn 440 now, and barring any catastrophic event, I've got this game won on points, though I'd rather it be a cultural victory. Next game will be the Shoshone.
As an aside, I just discovered if another civ opens their borders to you, you can replace their improvement if there's an antiquity site underneath it. I removed Assyria's Customs House with a Dig Site, and reaffirmed my belief that providing anyone with Open Borders is just a bad idea.
