hi

i'm sort of new to civ 4 and consider myself somewhat of a noob, i've gotten a few victories on noble, mostly space race or diplo

this game i'm playing is normal rules, normal speed, standard size map, continents, random ai's and noble difficulty, i'm playing as catherine by the way
these 2 images are at 4000bc (the start)
http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/3777/civ4screenshot0001ow2.th.jpg (http://img93.imageshack.us/my.php?image=civ4screenshot0001ow2.jpg)

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/989/civ4screenshot0003vv0.th.jpg (http://img89.imageshack.us/my.php?image=civ4screenshot0003vv0.jpg)

what should i do, i'm thinking about moving the scout 1sw and maybe settling 1s if the terrain revealed by scout is decent

by the way how do i make the images appear bigger???

thanks

Well you can move the scout two tiles so you can explore more space. I would say move it 1SE and then 1 SW to explore the most tiles. The starting position is not bad but also not incredible well. Sheep are a nice resource but it is the only resource you can use right now. Another option to explore is 1W and then 1SW to get more ground covered.

The images are ok, we can go to the site and see them there. :)

Killroyan, I don't think the most important thing for him right now is to explore the most tiles, but to find a perfect place for his capital. There are a lot of squares that you don't see in your future fat cross... I'm not sure why, though. Aren't you supposed to see one square farther? You might have forrests all around you (on plains, you'd see the mountains as the one 2NE from your Settler and the one 2NE from your Scout) that cut your line of sight. Since you don't have Mysticism you're not likely to get any of the two early religions anyway, so you might also want to explore with the Settler for the first turn. IIRC it has 2 movement too.

I'd say, go 1S-1SW with the Scout to see if it's more interesting to settle around the wine, and 1NW with the Settler and decide from there.

It looks like you're North of the Equator, since the ressource arrows point down, but not too far to the N so that you'd run into tundra just yet. You might want to build a Scout first and go N to look for any hunting ressources since you already have the tech.

You also have mining and an arrea that seems rich in forrests. Ressearch Bronze Working first and once you've finished the Scout you might go for a worker since it could speed up the production of the rest of your units by chopping. You'd also find out fast if and where you have copper since most of the time that will be the place of your second city. So explore more around then in depth.

Edit: The Scout going N should only walk a couple of turns in that direction and then help chart the terrain around your capital so that you'd see the copper.

Edit 2: Leader traits: Financial and Creative. The Creative trait means you'll be able to build your second city with the copper outside the first cross (but inside the fat one) and reach it very fast anyway. So try to also get a perfect site for your second city, with the most ressources in your fat cross. As for Financial, go cottages! That means an early pottery. You'd also want to found some coastal cities and build the Colossus in one of them. Should be a blast. :) I'm not sure switching to slavery right after you research BW is in your interest, it depends on where you'd found your other cities, since the capital won't have much early whipping potential. On the other hand you're surely going to use it later, especially if you have some nice coastal cities with water ressources so...

All starts are like this unless your settlers are on a hill. He has only 1 resource so far in his fat cross. He is thinking of moving 1S to capture the wine also. So what do you want to know when you settle a capital? Right, more information about its surroundings. So what do you do? Right, move your scout around. It is the most important part of the game almost to decide where to put the settler. He could also move the settler 1NW and back again to get some more info about his starting position. It is not a very strong start which makes it more important to scout around. Delaying the city by 1 turn and getting a better starting spot is something that can be worth it.

1S is already better then the current position because you get an extra forest by it and 1 extra resource, but that is a monarchy resource which are never high on my list. Good luck scouting.

ok so i moved my scout 1s, 1sw and moved my settler 1nw and back
here's what was revealed
http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/3816/civ4screenshot0004mc6.th.jpg (http://img69.imageshack.us/my.php?image=civ4screenshot0004mc6.jpg)

so i decided to settle 1s because i get rice, sheep, wine and ivory in my fat cross

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/7453/civ4screenshot0005nb6.th.jpg (http://img255.imageshack.us/my.php?image=civ4screenshot0005nb6.jpg)

and i think i'm going to build a scout first (then worker, settler, warrior)to help explore and research bronzeworking and then head for pottery picking up agriculture+animal husbandry on the way

Killroyan, we were pretty much having the same idea, only the exact scouting squares were a bit different. :)

nwadams, I really like that position! Ivory means a fast extra happiness bonus, and that means extra-whipping. :D You also have two food resources to help you with this, and a lot of forests. Can it get any better?

Your tech research path seems ok, it lets you exploit those resources fast. Not sure what to do with the worker though. Too many options. :) Chop the settler or improve the ivory tile? Though you'll have to get the wheel for it to add to give the happiness boost. Oh well, it might help to wait and chop that settler instead. The next interesting thing would be to see what you'll discover with your scouts. You could plan the next city/cities and we'll tell you what we think about it. And by "we" I hope it will mean more than me and Killroyan. Should add some more spice to this. ;)

Good luck!

I would definitely use the worker to chop the settler first. You're not going to want to work the Ivory too much until you improve one of your food resources. The extra happiness won't be important until you grow a little bit, and you won't be growing until your settler is done. And in my opinion, it is always better to have your first settler out earlier.

Edit: Nice choice for your capital location.

Its a good starting spot, but I'm now of the opinion that if you have a few decent resources, you should let your city grow to use these before dashing out a settler..

If you chop out a settler It'll cost you several good forests at a much reduced cost, and unless you're playing high lvls and small maps, where the AI will gobble the land up really quickly, it really isn't necessary. (And unimproved land is so inferior in Civ IV to earlier versions of CIV, and a 2nd city that early will remain unimproved for quite a while, that or leave your cap unimproved)

Here's how I'd start (having just played Cath on a huge fractal map / marathon / monarch with now 30 cities, 7 Academies and an era ahead of the nearest AI at 1450 AD) though of course feel free to disagree:)

Worker first, while researching An Hus, camp the ivory (you start with hunting) for 1 f/3 h/2c, then pasture the sheep for 4/1/1. Use both squares at size 2, and build warriors or scouts to explore while waiting for it to grow to size 3, while researching Agr. Farm the wines for 2/1/3 then farm the rice (least useful food source but on a river its 5/0/1).Research Archery (it'll be cheap with decent commerce in already) and build Archers while waiting to grow to 4 (switch to rice/sheep/ivory when rice farmed).

Now you should have a few archers, a size 4 cap, a definite idea of where the best land is, so start building settler, then another worker.Research wheel and start connecting to proposed new city site.Now research bronze wk.Cap is now improved for all the squares it immediately needs so both workers can group, and improve new city. Cap can just build settlers for a while, while new cities build archers while the 2 grouped workers if used correctly will keep pace with improving new cities until you have around half a dozen. Pottery after bw, then its too far ahead to plan..

Anyways an alternative method that doesn't involve wholesale deforestation, whip scarred peasants and maximizes early commerce along with production