Having just started to play online, I've suddenly noticed how different everyone's style of play is. So I'm interested to know what priorities everyone has when a game first starts off. What improvements/units do you look to get built as soon as possible?

Cheers,
Morty

It depends a little on the civilization I play (different units given at start)
But generally :
Build first city
build most basic defens unit (don't know the english name)
build settler
build improvement / great Wonder
and the same for the second city.
and so on
If I don't have any worker from the star, I build one with the 1st city after the first wonder (If I really want it, not to take the risk that someone else builds it)

Thanks for the reply arcan - just out of curiosity, do you not find that building a second city early on cripples your economy?

Also what units/wonder do you aim for first?

In my case the procedure is as follows:
- A warrior
- A worker (plus bronze working -> you can chop and so obtain extra hammers!)
- Another worker
- Settler
- Pyramids (if possible)

And then, it depends on the civilization chosen and the strategy you want to follow, but I usually begin in this way.

No on the contrary. I go for the pyramids or Stonehendge. This allows me to be able to build monuments (taking aevance on other civs) while building other cities to get terrain/ressources and with my second city, build my economy. The major drawback I've experienced is that I fall back on military and city defense. I have to catch up later on.

No on the contrary. I go for the pyramids or Stonehendge. This allows me to be able to build monuments (taking aevance on other civs) while building other cities to get terrain/ressources and with my second city, build my economy. The major drawback I've experienced is that I fall back on military and city defense. I have to catch up later on.

Oh cool - playing online has opened up another whole area of Civ for me, seeing as everyone has different strategies. Good to hear how they work out ...

The initial build order you're going to want for online play is going to look something like this:

1)Warrior until you population hits 2.
2)Worker (make sure you have Bronze Working).
3)Use that worker to chop-rush an archer (Make sure you have Archery).
4)Use that worker to chop-rush another worker.

This is a pretty good approach becaue it gives you a decent balance between early defence and early expansion. Once you have those workers out and a few units to defend with you'll be free chop trees/improve terrain to expand/rush/grow or whatever, depending on the situation.

Just a quick noobie question ... what does "chop-rush" mean? :mischief:

Just a quick noobie question ... what does "chop-rush" mean? :mischief:
When you cut down all the trees on a tile, it gives you hammers to speed-up the production.

Depends in part on the game settings and where civ is placed, but in general:

Warrior
Barracks (interrupted, when my city reaches pop. 3, by...)
Worker
Stonehenge
Oracle
Settler

At that point, I builld a library, finish the barracks, or create another worker.

If you're playing with random online opponents, I strongly recommend the following: research straight to bronze working, plop your second city on top of bronze if you find some, chop rush loads of axemen -> deathmatch. If no bronze is available, go for animal husbandry or iron working, archery might be needed at this point to stay alive.

This is unfortunately necessary in most cases to survive, since human players tend to be pretty ruthless.

Glinka's inital build order reccomendation sounds like to would be okay against an AI or on an Islands game (though I don't agree with it entirely), but I would caution you against leaving yourself so vulnerable for such a long period of time in a multiplayer game where other civs can attack you. I can promise you that a good player will attack you if they think they can win, and when it's turn 20-30 and they see that all you have on your capitol is one warrior, they're going to get ideas.

Oh yeah, and if you're still learning terms like "chop-rush" for the first time I think you might want to harden yourself in single player for a while before playing too much online. It's a lot easier to learn that way.

Single player: worker, warrior, worker, setter

Multiplayer: warrior, warrior, warrior, worker

Single player - worker (bronze working), ready to chop warrior, warrior, settler
(I find with this way the settler is out quicker than if you built warrior from the start, and then you have defence, and 2 scout warriors)

Multiplayer - depends - normally warrior, worker, chop warrior, warrior - and then axemen asap

With most of the civs I play:
warrior, barracks, worker, archer

Depends in part on the game settings and where civ is placed, but in general:

Warrior
Barracks (interrupted, when my city reaches pop. 3, by...)
Worker
Stonehenge
Oracle
Settler

At that point, I builld a library, finish the barracks, or create another worker.


Resources for barracks will be lost if you build worker, stonehenge, oracle and settler in between.

Carn

Single Player: Warrior/Scout, Warrior, Worker, Settler