Hey guys, only playing a game on Warlord, but I have a problem getting a good start and so higher difficulties would salughter me right now. I am playing as Brennus on an unknown map type (shuffled it) size Tiny. So it is just me, Monty, and someone else. I started off worker, settler, worker in Bibracte because I wanted to grab the spot for Vienne quickly to set up a GPFarm and help wall off the south. I put Tolosa where it is as a production city, it looked like a nice place. I just have one big problem, no copper on the continent, unless Monty is right on top of it, and the iron is in two horrible places. There is a tiny peninsula to the West that is blocked off by a mountain by land, and I am nowhere near a galley to grab it. The other spot is just south of the screen in the tundra. Hence why I am building stonghenge in Tolosa, to extend my borders and grab it. I still think it is too far away and I will have to put a wasted city down there. I have no military to speak of because I tried to beeline to IW and get the Gallic Warriors fast, thinking that I would be able to grab the copper with the settler as my second build, just in case I had to axe rush. Now I have neither, and Monty has access to the marble and stone, and will be boxed in soon, as will I. My two big questions are, is Tolosa in a dumb spot, or was I just unlucky with the metals; and could I have started faster? I am still unsure how to use the whip on my people effectively, I usually end up with big happiness problems. Thanks everyone.

Hmm, while you may have been unlucky with the metals, I personally wouldn't have prioritised the spot where you have Talosa. There is no food or fresh water down there, so it won't be a particularly good city, let alone a production city (which typically requires a couple of super food squares to feed all the miners).

I would have gone 3 or 4 squares north of Bibracte, at least then you get the rivers, and there are still plenty of hills.

It's probably worth building a small city just to get the iron, but there is one alternative course of action here - if you're quick, you could drop a city northwest, hook up those horses and overun monty with horse archers instead.

It seems that you have four feasible options;

1. Settle on the Iron in the south - the city will be junk, but with a lighthouse it will at least be able to contribute commerce to your empire over time.

2. Settle on the Silk in order to create a more developmental fishing village that will split the Iron and the Fish. You'll need to get some culture there for a border pop.

3. Research Sailing and settle to the west. The benefit here will be that you'll get a better feel for the map and possibly bump into the third tribe, which can then open up beneficial technology trading opportunities.

4. Forget the Iron, or as you propose hope that Tolosa's borders will eventually expand to grab it. Frankly I think that this is the weakest option, as you'll be very vulnerable to the erratic Montezuma until you hit Gunpowder. Your course of action here imho would be to chase Liberalism and get Gunpowder while hording Archery units and Catapults. More importantly, switch to Buddhism and address that 'heathen' negative modifier.

Or there's 5.;if you're quick, you could drop a city northwest, hook up those horses and overun monty with horse archers instead.

Personally, I'd go with 1. or 3.

A couple of other minor comments;

Swap into Buddhism anyway. While you're metal-resourceless, the last thing you need is to be attacked. You're spiritual, and only Vienne has Hinduism, while Bibracte has Buddhism - so there's really not much to lose except the culture bonus in Vienne and showing Bibracte to Montezuma.

Mine that Gem tile! It's the best tile in your empire!

You can micromanage Bibracte for this turn so you can work your cottages without losing The Oracle.

I agree with Fold on the food issue with Tolosa.

Thanks for the ideas. I'll give them a try.

It is warlord just beeline to construction whip out tons of cats and whipe out monty. Also grab the iron somewhere.

Tolose IMHO should go 3 east to grab the fish...
Vienne would be better if it was 1 south, as it is right now 1 of the coast.
Unless you have a very specific reason, settling a city 1 tile of the coast is BAD. I dont see this reason.

Why:
1) Are you farming the grasslands
Mining the gems is far more important at this stage of the game.
2) Doing it with 2 seperate workers
Combining the workers on one tile at at a time is more efficient
3) Havent you farmed the Bananas?
More food is allways good....

That spot just east of your scout of bibract Despite the culture presure and the 3 mountains is good enough to allow another city.
In fact it looks like that is where I would have put Vienne, its current location looks like it was a jungle city prior to Iron Working.

Also I think starting Worker-Settler-Worker ... may not be a great idea....

My other computer crashed, so I dont have screens or a save for you guys, but here is an update. It is about 1200 AD and Monty has 1 city left, but it will take me too long to take it. And he won't become my vassal. Tolosa is a horrible city, thanks for pointing that out, I would have wondered why for a bit without you all. All in all, while I think i could pull out the victory here, I will start over on a new map and try not to make the bad decisions I made. Vienne would have worked a lot better as a GPFarm if I had another city to churn out units for the war. Oh well, live and learn. Thanks for all the advice.