Civilization 5

[Myth]

The Mongols are great, especially in G&K where you don't have the humungous warmonger penalties from BNW. Try England as a warmonger race too. It's what I'm playing and experimenting with now.

I feel that early game warmongering is unwarranted on the map sizes I enjoy (Large&Huge). As England. you have the luxury of early game development (1 or 2 tall cities, going for National College around turn 80ish) and then spamming Longbowmen midgame and crushing so much face! When the Renessaunce kicks in you have Ships of the Line which just tear coastal cities and enemy navies apart! By the Industrial Era you should have captured several hugely populated AI cities and possibly some that contain wonders.

The extra spy helps you keep up with the tech, especially since you want to branch off into the "war" tech tree which slows down your Education line.

My preferred build so far:

Start on the coast. Settle next to a river, on a hill. At least 2 fish resources and some nice land resources is key for me. Depending on how much forest I have I might try to steal a worker and chop trees to rush Stonehenge, thus securing my religion (religion is awlays nice). I was lucky last night and started with a faith mountain NW closeby thus getting a religion with God of the Sea, World Church, Pagodas and Mosques (which is basically the best you could get as England IMO). I might try getting a desert start to go for Desert Folklore and Holy Warriors for faith purchased Longbows and SOLs. That would make for an insane warmongering strat.

The only early wonder I beeline for and get 100% of the time is the Great Lighthouse. Nothing says naval dominance like a ship of the line with 8 movement points.

Longbowmen are tied with Keshiks for the best Medieval era offensive unit. They outrange cities. When they get Logistics they outperform Chu Ko Nus. But they upgrade to 2 range Gatling Guns which makes them better than Keshiks for later on IMO.

Also, England is more flexible for a hybrid build and Elizabeth doesn't fall so much behind due to her extra spy. City capturing with masses of longbows and later SOLs is a pleasure.