No not with the ladies. I need help there, but that isn't the point of this thread. =P

I've been playing this game off and on for a few months and I cannot seem to win a game with the exception of space wins on settler, but that hardly counts. I've read up a lot, and the general consensus on how to improve seems to be to embarrass yourself for the entertainment (and hopefully help) of the community. So, that is exactly what I shall do.

The game was random everything: Shuffle map, Random climate and sea level, random leader (Charlemagne, HRE,) Noble difficulty and Marathon speed. Am I missing anything? Oh yeah, no custom settings of any kind.

Here is my start.

http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l410/EternaAdrian/Civ4ScreenShot0000edit.jpg

I already moved the scout 1NW and uncovered the gold, it is currently outside of the BFC and I could move the settler 1W to pick it up, but I lose one turn in the process. Loving the clams though. My instinct is to settle in place, I can always grab the gold as a resource after two culture pops. Am I wrong?

As far as tech I am thinking Polytheism/Fishing/AH... not sure where to go after that. Or maybe Polytheism/Fishing/Mining/BW/AH. Depends on my surroundings.

I'd settle 1 West. You keep access to the sea and its resources, but you also get the gold in your starting city's big fat cross. The extra commerce really can't be underestimated; it'll give you a big early research advantage, almost like having a second palace in your capital. The one lost turn will be quickly made up for once you have mined the gold. Technologywise I'd research mining and fishing first, then reevaluate from there. Early city production should be a worker and workboats as they become available.

1 west definitely has possibilities. One gold tile makes a huge difference to early research speed, and you want it in your first city, not second. You'll have enough seafood to work it and still grow fast, so that's not a problem. The far side of those hills looks like desert, so a second city to grab the gold may have more trouble for food.

As for the rest you're mostly trading empty sea for desert hills, which isn't a bad switch. Only slight minus is that you won't get the extra hammer from the city tile that you would get by founding in place, but that's not too bad a trade. You may get lucky and pop a resource from the hills or the blank flat plains tile.

As for tech I'd forget a religion for a bit and get Fishing and then Mining to get your resources online. With three commerce from a clams tile and a load from the gold tile, you should have little trouble catching up on the religion race (Judaism would still be fairly easy to get, if not then definitely Confucianism). Unless your scout reveals an animal resource on the hidden few tiles to the north of your capital, I'd put AH on a low priority - you've got nothing to improve with it.

Even though you lose one turn, it's really worth it considering the benefits. The fact that you're playing on Marathon only makes the lost turn practically harmless.

Polytheism/Fishing/Mining/BW/AH.

Hmm... I would rather go Poly/Fishing/Mining/Sailing/BW

Lighthouses provide extra food so you can more easily regain your whipped population.

Don't go for the early religions on higher levels. You can't beat the AI due to its tech rate advantage.

Hooking up to gold means your citizens get 1 :) which means an extra whip.

I wouldn't go for a religious opening without a commerce tile to work, at least a flood plain or something. Im sure you can still pull it off on noble, it just seems like cramming something in thats unnecessary. Barring anything interesting being revealed in the north, I would settle in place and start with fishing.

Turn 1: I settle 1W as suggested. Aachen is found. Looks like a lot of tundra to the west. Hate to make assumptions but it looks like random gave me a pretty warm climate, great. I start with fishing and cue a worker for one turn so that my warrior will come out the same turn that fishing is finished. I want those clams online sooner rather than later.

Turn 2: Pop a hut for another scout who finds stone to the west in the middle of the tundra. Great...

Turn 9: Pop a hut for free archery, which is made even better by the fact that I run into the zea... I mean Isabella in the west across the tundra. Glad I didn't make the run for early religion, I'll just try to catch what she has... err, you know what I mean.

Turn 14: I find a great spot with 2 golds, wheat and plenty of floodplains. Unfortunately it is right next to Isabella's borders so if I want it, I gotta take it soon. It is also separated from my capital by the tundra, so we'll see what happens.

Turn 15: Isabella has two cows and silk at least in her capital. I'll post a picture of the landmass soon enough.

Turn 17: Warrior and fishing finish on this turn as planned. I start up the work boat and mining. Food is an issue in the capital and it is growing very slowly, the little production means a worker will take some time and I do not want to stunt growth while I don't even have the techs to utilize it yet.

Turn 18: I run into Zara to our south. First time I have ever seen him as an AI. This'll be interesting.

Turn 26: Isabella founds Buddhism, here's to hoping she shares her enlightenment.

Turn 30: Hinduism found in a distant land. The more I look at this, the more it looks like continents.

Turn 37: Mining finished. Start the wheel.

Turn 43: Work Boat finally finishes. Growth happened at some point (Turn 34) so I start a worker now.

Turn 45: Random health event. I go all in, losing that growth (D=) and gaining the two health boost.

Turn 50: I call it here. Get some feedback and I will continue later. Here are some pics of my progress.

http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l410/EternaAdrian/Civ4ScreenShot0001.jpg

This is as zoomed out as I can get of the continent. Zara is a little to the south of this picture on the eastern coast. You can see Isabella nearly directly to my west. We by far have the worst land on the continent. I will probably have to partake of someone else's at some point.

http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l410/EternaAdrian/Civ4ScreenShot0002.jpg

This is a closer shot to the south, nothing really pretty down here and I am not fond of expanding in that direction.

http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l410/EternaAdrian/Civ4ScreenShot0003.jpg

This is a picture to the west. Land is much better but by the time I can take it I will probably have to fight Isabella for it. To the north is nearly all tundra so I didn't bother taking a picture.

http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l410/EternaAdrian/Civ4ScreenShot0004.jpg

This is the sad, sad town of Aachen.

Summary:

It has only been 50 turns but I already feel like I am in trouble. Both my neighbor to my west and to a lesser extent my neighbor to my south have better land than I do. I'm fairly certain, unless someone is north in the middle of the tundra and not exploring at all, that it is just the three of us over here. I would prefer to keep them alive as allies and tech partners, but it looks like Isabella has to go. Zara will make a better ally if for no other reason than he is so far to the south that we will not have border clash issues for some time. His land is nearly as bad as mine, except he has a lot of jungle instead of a lot of tundra. I have a bad feeling that if I try to get a settler out to the west, Isabella will beat me to the good spot leaving me with only the tundra, however if I wait to amass an army production will be so slow in the capital I will fall behind in tech and production anyway. Not really sure what to do at this point.

Here is the save file if you want to take a look.
http://www.mediafire.com/?y03hotmno2j

Beeline CoL for your UB (75%!!!!!!) and whip lots of settlers. Try to force Isabella to go for the northwestern are while you grab the Gold/Gold/Wheat and Rice/Gem/Banana/Cow cities.

Yuk - most of the first ring around the capital is unmitigated desert. Just as well you grabbed the gold.

OK, first thing I'd do is rush a settler over to that gold/floodplain/wheat site and try to beat Isabella there. It's far better terrain than anything near your capital, and it'll seriously cramp Isabella if you can get it (be prepared to defend it). Charlemagne is imperialistic (cheap settler - this race is winnable) and protective (uber archers). Make use of those.