With a little planning you can get many of the achievements in only a few games.
ACHIEVEMENT GUIDE
Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride - 3 points
Make contact with another civilization.
See "What is the city But the People?" achievement below.
Culture is Worth a Little Risk - 9 points
Build a Wonder of the World.
See "What is the city But the People?" achievement below.
Once More Unto the Breach - 5 points
Combine three identical units into an army.
See "What is the city But the People?" achievement below.
80% of Success is Showing Up - 5 points
Accumulate culture to unlock a famous person.
See "What is the city But the People?" achievement below.
Home is Where One Starts From - 3 points
Construct a special building.
See "What is the city But the People?" achievement below.
Good Afternoon, Doctor Jones. - 9 points
Discover an ancient artifact.
See "What is the city But the People?" achievement below.
Before all Else, Be Armed - 5 points
Earn a special unit ability in combat.
See "What is the city But the People?" achievement below.
Scientia Potentia Est - 3 points
Complete development of any technology.
See "What is the city But the People?" achievement below.
Napalm in the Morning - 3 points
Defeat an enemy unit.
See "What is the city But the People?" achievement below.
The Fruit of Labor - 5 points
Build a second city in a game.
See "What is the city But the People?" achievement below.
What is the City But the People? - 25 points
Grow a city to size 20.
In theory you should get all of these during the course of your first game without much effort.
A Revelation of Man - 20 points
Win a Cultural Victory.
See "A Short Life of Glory" achievement below.
Embiggens the Smallest Man - 30 points
Win a Cultural Victory on at least King difficulty.
See "A Short Life of Glory" achievement below.
Citizen of the World - 45 points
Win a Cultural victory on Deity difficulty.
See "A Short Life of Glory" achievement below.
Have Fun Storming the Castle - 20 points
Win a Domination Victory.
See "A Short Life of Glory" achievement below.
Vi Victa Vis - 30 points
Win a Domination Victory on at least King difficulty.
See "A Short Life of Glory" achievement below.
Such Joy Ambition Finds - 45 points
Win a Domination victory on Deity difficulty.
See "A Short Life of Glory" achievement below.
A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned - 20 points
Win an Economic Victory.
See "A Short Life of Glory" achievement below.
The Guy Who Signs the Checks - 30 points
Win an Economic Victory on at least King difficulty.
See "A Short Life of Glory" achievement below.
Playing the Game - 45 points
Win an Economic victory on Deity difficulty.
See "A Short Life of Glory" achievement below.
Ideas Control the World - 20 points
Win a Technology Victory.
See "A Short Life of Glory" achievement below.
640K Ought to be Enough - 30 points
Win a Technology Victory on at least King difficulty.
See "A Short Life of Glory" achievement below.
Indistinguishable From Magic - 45 points
Win a Technology victory on Deity difficulty.
See "A Short Life of Glory" achievement below.
Destroyer of Worlds - 30 points
Win all types of victories (Domination, Technology, Cultural, and Economic).
See "A Short Life of Glory" achievement below.
A Short Life of Glory - 15 points
Win as a Greek civilization.
Let us unlock all of these with the same game. Choose the scenario "Blitzkrieg" on Deity with the Greeks. This will give you an advantage as each civilization will be more focused on warfare than with production or research. Focus one city on science, one on gold, and one on production. In the production city build a barracks and form a Hoplite army for each city. These will be your primary defense units for most of the early game. DO NOT ATTACK! Hold your cities at all costs but avoid attacking anyone as this will only serve to take away your primary advantage of defense from the Hoplites.
Try to expand into islands or mainland territory away from other civilizations as soon as you can build up enough Hoplites to spare for Settler protection. If you can make it into the second and third science tier before the opposition, then you are off to a great start.
Once you can crank out armies of cannons and rifleman start going on the offensive against the weaker civilizations. Once they are out of the way you should be able to build up enough bomber and battleship armies to overrun the remaining civilization, but DO NOT take their capital city! Once you have taken every other city on the map, surround their capital with your entire offensive force so they cannot exit their capital. This would be the perfect time to save.
Now, take their capital to unlock 4 achievements. Reload the save and build World Bank to unlock 3 more. Next, reload and build the units of the spaceship and launch it for 3 more. Finally, reload and construct the United Nations Wonder for the final 4 achievements.
Don't worry if this takes more than one start as sometimes the your cities are just in a bad starting position. Feel free to gets some experience with the game first as Deity is not a walk in the park.
Absolute Power is Kind of Neat - 25 points
Win without changing governments on King difficulty or higher.
See "Flower and Song " achievement below.
The Will to Win is Everything - 25 points
Win 20 battles with one unit.
See "Flower and Song " achievement below.
That We May Live in Peace - 25 points
Win the game by year 1000 AD on King difficulty or higher.
See "Flower and Song " achievement below.
Flower and Song - 15 points
Win as an Aztec civilization.
Select the Aztec Civilization on the scenario "Money Matters" on King Difficulty. Immediate build a barracks and as many Jaguar Warriors as possible. Send them out in every direction and crush all opposition before you. If luck is on your side, then you will not have to contend with the Greeks and their Hoplites. In theory you should be able to use a single unit to destory 20 enemy units. If not then this can easily be done against the Barbarians in the "Beta Centari" scenario on Cheiftain.
Power Never Takes a Back Step - 25 points
Win with only one city on at least King difficulty.
See "All Others Must Fail" achievement below.
All Others Must Fail - 15 points
Win as a Mongolian civilization.
The trick is that you can still conquer cities and get this achievement. Therefore, we shall use the Mongols on King Difficulty in a normal game since Mongolians can turn Barbarian camps into cities. Unfortunately the Barbarian cities are usually in pretty bad locations. Nevertheless they are better than nothing given the task. If you can take some cities during the second technology tier then go for the Domination victory, but any victory type will earn the achievement. Much of this will depend on the placement of the cities you conquer. Do not hesitate to reload if things begin to look grim.
One Mistress and No Master -15 points
Win as an English civilization.
See "Difficulties Mastered" achievement below.
I Will Not Be Triumphed Over - 15 points
Win as an Egyptian civilization.
See "Difficulties Mastered" achievement below.
Fair and Softly Goes Far - 15 points
Win as a Spanish civilization.
See "Difficulties Mastered" achievement below.
Blood and Iron - 15 points
Win as a German civilization.
See "Difficulties Mastered" achievement below.
Veni Vidi Vici - 15 points
Win as a Roman civilization.
See "Difficulties Mastered" achievement below.
A Great Wind is Blowing - 15 points
Win as a Russian civilization.
See "Difficulties Mastered" achievement below.
Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom - 15 points
Win as a Chinese civilization.
See "Difficulties Mastered" achievement below.
We the People - 15 points
Win as an American civilization.
See "Difficulties Mastered" achievement below.
Imagination Rules the World - 15 points
Win as a French civilization.
See "Difficulties Mastered" achievement below.
An Indomitable Will - 15 points
Win as an Indian civilization.
See "Difficulties Mastered" achievement below.
A Knight Without Fear or Blame - 15 points
Win as an Arab civilization.
See "Difficulties Mastered" achievement below.
This World is a Harsh Place - 15 points
Win as an African civilization.
See "Difficulties Mastered" achievement below.
Victory Over Lesser Men - 15 points
Win as a Japanese civilization.
See "Difficulties Mastered" achievement below.
Difficulties Mastered - 30 points
Win a victory with each civilization.
These will take about 30-45 minutes each. Select Beta Centari as the scenario on Chieftain difficulty. Now switch your city to gold production and build any building/Wonder that increases culture and gold. You do not need to explore or even build another city, and the computer will likely never even find you. Use your great people to increase your income, culture, production, and lower building costs.
The Universal Brotherhood of Man - 25 points
Develop a city to produce 100 culture per turn.
Using either Egypt or Rome build every culture building and Wonder in one city. Great Person (Artist) and culture resources help.
Organized Knowledge - 25 points
Develop a city to produce 200 science per turn.
Build a city near the ocean. Construct every science related building and Wonder as well as a Temple for the +3 Aztec science boost. Democracy and Great Person (Scientist) helps.
The Root of All Evil - 25 points
Develop a city to produce 200 gold per turn.
Using the Spanish, Zulu, or Aztecs build a city surround by ocean, switch production to gold, and build every gold boosting building and Wonder in the same city. Democracy and Great Person (Trader) helps as well.
Curse of the Drinking Class - 25 points
Develop a city to produce 200 resources per turn
Build a city surrounded by mountains and hills late in a game. Make sure to build every production bonus building/Wonder in this city. This is easier with the Mongols +2 production bonus to mountain territories during 4th tier.
Here's Looking at You, Kid - 45 points
Unlock all famous persons.
This is likely the hardest achievement since the Great People are randomized. If you repeat the same procedure used to unlock a victory with each civilization using either the Greeks or the Romans you should be able to unlock any missing Great People. However, I have yet to unlock the Great Leaders (Kind David and Agamemnon) using that method so they may require you to actually play the game. Great Leaders seem to unlock when your play style involves more warfare. Thankfully, the games has only two Great Leaders, but they are still randomized with the other Great People.
One Mistress and No Master -15 points
Win as an English civilization.
I Will Not Be Triumphed Over - 15 points
Win as an Egyptian civilization.
Flower and Song - 15 points
Win as an Aztec civilization.
A Short Life of Glory - 15 points
Win as a Greek civilization.
Fair and Softly Goes Far - 15 points
Win as a Spanish civilization.
Blood and Iron - 15 points
Win as a German civilization.
Veni Vidi Vici - 15 points
Win as a Roman civilization.
A Great Wind is Blowing - 15 points
Win as a Russian civilization.
Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom - 15 points
Win as a Chinese civilization.
We the People - 15 points
Win as an American civilization.
Imagination Rules the World - 15 points
Win as a French civilization.
An Indomitable Will - 15 points
Win as an Indian civilization.
A Knight Without Fear or Blame - 15 points
Win as an Arab civilization.
This World is a Harsh Place - 15 points
Win as an African civilization.
All Others Must Fail - 15 points
Win as a Mongolian civilization.
Victory Over Lesser Men - 15 points
Win as a Japanese civilization.
Difficulties Mastered - 30 points
Win a victory with each civilization.
A Revelation of Man - 20 points
Win a Cultural Victory.
Embiggens the Smallest Man - 30 points
Win a Cultural Victory on at least King difficulty.
Citizen of the World - 45 points
Win a Cultural victory on Deity difficulty.
Have Fun Storming the Castle - 20 points
Win a Domination Victory.
Vi Victa Vis - 30 points
Win a Domination Victory on at least King difficulty.
Such Joy Ambition Finds - 45 points
Win a Domination victory on Deity difficulty.
A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned - 20 points
Win an Economic Victory.
The Guy Who Signs the Checks - 30 points
Win an Economic Victory on at least King difficulty.
Playing the Game - 45 points
Win an Economic victory on Deity difficulty.
Ideas Control the World - 20 points
Win a Technology Victory.
640K Ought to be Enough - 30 points
Win a Technology Victory on at least King difficulty.
Indistinguishable From Magic - 45 points
Win a Technology victory on Deity difficulty.
Destroyer of Worlds - 30 points
Win all types of victories (Domination, Technology, Cultural, and Economic).
The Universal Brotherhood of Man - 25 points
Develop a city to produce 200 culture per turn.
Organized Knowledge - 25 points
Develop a city to produce 200 science per turn.
The Root of All Evil - 25 points
Develop a city to produce 200 gold per turn.
Curse of the Drinking Class - 25 points
Develop a city to produce 200 resources per turn.
Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride - 3 points
Make contact with another civilization.
Culture is Worth a Little Risk - 9 points
Build a Wonder of the World.
Once More Unto the Breach - 5 points
Combine three identical units into an army.
80% of Success is Showing Up - 5 points
Accumulate culture to unlock a famous person.
Home is Where One Starts From - 3 points
Construct a special building.
Good Afternoon, Doctor Jones - 9 points
Discover an ancient artifact.
Before all Else, Be Armed - 5 points
Earn a special unit ability in combat.
Scientia Potentia Est - 3 points
Complete development of any technology.
Napalm in the Morning - 3 points
Defeat an enemy unit.
The Fruit of Labor - 5 points
Build a second city in a game.
What is the City But the People? - 25 points
Grow a city to size 20.
The Will to Win is Everything - 25 points
Win 20 battles with one unit.
Here's Looking at You, Kid - 45 points
Unlock all famous persons.
That We May Live in Peace - 25 points
Win the game by year 1000 AD on King difficulty or higher.
Absolute Power is Kind of Neat - 25 points
Win without changing governments on King difficulty or higher.
Power Never Takes a Back Step - 25 points
Win with only one city on at least King difficulty.
Time Consuming 