Seeding: opening strategies

[Lancor]

Regardless of what else I choose, I'm not certain I would choose anything other than Retrograde Thrusters. Getting that first city in the optimal place could make a big difference.

Well, im singleplayer you can just restart the game until you are satisfied

I'm probably trying out FI with:
-artists (obvious)
-fusion reactor (more flexibility)
-weapons (more scouting)

So I can expand fast, safe, strong and healthy.
This should also help to play as purity *g*

The scanner systems seem very powerful too, but I like exploration too much to spoil myself early.

 

[Lord of Harmony]

Strategies Part 2: Revenge of the civ (5)

Zulu build

Brasilia-tiny combat bonus
aristocrats-help maintain upkeep
continental surveyor-see best route to other civs
weapon arsenal-soldier to start getting promotions right off the bat

Egypt build

PAC-production bonus
Engineers-^
Retrograde Thrusters-So that I may start with lots of production
Machinery-To start improving tiles immediately

Shoshone Build

Kavithan Protectorate-to land steal
Artists-For extra health and to negate rising virtue costs
Continental surveyor-so I know where to settle
Laboratory-to start being able to build settlers

 

[Seek]

A Franco-Iberia/artists/{survey, thrusters or scanner}/laboratory build sounds fun to me, as does a powerhouse generalist AU/engineer/{retrograde or tectonic}/machinery build.

It might be fun to do a "handicap" build where you choose the worst of everything - Brasilia/{any}/fusion reactor/hydroponics. Brasilia's combat bonus is negligible, fusion reactor a very minor bonus, and hydroponics is just weak; you're saving, what, 3-4 turns to get to pop 2? Meh.

 

[Tempestangel]

African Union>Refugees>Retrograde>Clinic
&
Slavic Federation>Aristocrats>Retrograde>Clinic
OR
Slavic Federation>Scientists>Retrograde>Hydroponics

The African Union will grow very fast early on, allowing me an advantage, the clinic will make up for some science as I build infrastructure, it is a fairly simple build.

Slavic Federation allows for control over the game as it progresses, I want either a lot of science to create some basic infrastructure for a tall game, or a large amount of funding and health for the expansionist/imperialist game, allowing me to extend my control of the orbital field.

 

[Lord of Harmony]

Venice build

Polystralia-for the extra trade routes
Aristocrats-For extra energy per turn
Fusion Reactor-Begin with MONEY
Laboratory-to build trade units right at start

India build

PAU-to increase growth
Refugees-for the extra food
Retrograde thrusters-better start
hydroponics-even more pop MWAHAHAHA

 

[swordoflight86]

A Franco-Iberia/artists/{survey, thrusters or scanner}/laboratory build sounds fun to me, as does a powerhouse generalist AU/engineer/{retrograde or tectonic}/machinery build.

It might be fun to do a "handicap" build where you choose the worst of everything - Brasilia/{any}/fusion reactor/hydroponics. Brasilia's combat bonus is negligible, fusion reactor a very minor bonus, and hydroponics is just weak; you're saving, what, 3-4 turns to get to pop 2? Meh.

Hydroponics is better than you think. In addition to saving the turns of growth and getting a (as you say) 3-4 turn head start on pop 3, you have additional resource production for all those 3-4 turns. I think it will be a more than 3-4 turn advantage, and as I've said, turns are a finite resource that everyone has an identical amount of, so every turn you save over the other players is a big deal.

 

[The Prestige]

Im very unimpressed with both the Clinic and the Laboratory start options. In my opinion the Clinic stats are just not enough to take in compared to the other options. The reason why I don't like the Lab is because to me it sounds like you need to make sure to protect your new cities/settlers a lot better compared to Civ5. Having the tech without proper protection to me feels a bit useless, I'd rather be getting myself some infrastructure, size and defense.

I really like the looks of PAC but I'm afraid that I'll just go the boring route everyone else has mentioned aswell (although it looks effective ).

-Kavithan Protectorate: (Wide build)
Engineers: To make the new cities able to quickly build the basic buildings, it also helps the first city.
Tectonic Scanner: Spot those nice settle spots as I try to get some important locations.
Soldier Unit: The aliens looks strong and if I want to play on reasonable high difficulty level I'll need to need some protection to able to scout and later on protect my settlers.

I'm still unsure how bad the aliens will harass cities and workers so I'm don't know how good the Warrior will really be as a start.

 

[Lord Shadow]

I can't decide between Brasilia, Franco-Iberia and ARC. Brasilia has a rather boring UA, Franco-Iberia's usefulness isn't evident, and the ARC's seems perhaps too late-game-ish for my tastes.

As for the bonuses, I'm thinking Engineers, Continental Surveyor and Machinery, to make my starting city quite productive in no time, and know the basic layout of the planet from turn 1.

Overall, the options look fairly balanced, but some appear to be more useful than others in the long-term. As far as colonists are concerned, are Scientists all that useful merely providing +2 Science per city? Would that +2 mean much in the very beginning? It looks to me Food or Production (even Culture, for border expansion purposes) would have a more lasting impact. Energy... I'm on the fence about that. I suppose it's good, and comes with a Health bonus.

Regarding spacecraft equipment, they mostly seem okay, though I have my doubts about the Fusion Reactor, unsure of how far 100 Energy would take me. It doesn't sound like I could rush/purchase anything with that, and seems rather weak as an advance to pay for something later on, with my own income.

The cargo options all seem generally solid, with perhaps Hydroponics being the weakest unless you don't have Food bonuses.

 

[CleverFool]

One I'll likely start with:

Tall Strategy:

African union: +10% food in growing cities when healthy
Refugees: +2 Food in every City
Retrograde Thrusters: Wider areas for choosing where to land first City
Hydroponics: Begin with an extra Population in your first City
~OR~
Machinery: Begin with a Worker unit

Allows you to pick an ideal spot, and then just keep growing. While the health options are tempting, with just a few cities I think they would have less value (though having extra culture could also result in some real fast Virtues which would be nice).


On another note, anyone have any suggestions for ARC? I'm not seeing any particular synergies which really stand out. Perhaps Science which would allow fast teching to Spy related techs? Maybe:

ARC Strategy:

ARC: Covert Operations are 25% faster and cause 25% more intrigue
Scientists: +2 Science in every City
~OR~
Aristocrats: +3 Energy and +1 Health in every City (if Energy relates to Espionage at all)
Fusion Reactor: Begin with 100 Energy
Raw Materials: Begin with a Clinic building in your first City

As we don't know the full options for Espionage it seems tough to decide at this point... Any other thoughts?

 

[vahouth]

My first playthrough will probably be:

PAC
Researchers
Retrograde Thrusters
Hydroponics/Worker

 

[The Prestige]

Hydroponics: Begin with an extra Population in your first City
~OR~
Machinery: Begin with a Worker unit

Since you'll start with the +2 food anyway I think it's better to start with the Worker. You'll soon get to level 2 anyway and the Retrogrades are just in general a nice combo with the worker as well.

 

[bhavv]

PAC
Engineers
Tectonic Scanners
Machinery

I think being able to see where those resources are would be very beneficial to finding good places to settle, depending on how long it would take to research the normal technologies for them.

The seeing more tiles thing doesn't really bother me because bad map = restart.

 

[DarkestOnion]

ARC's seems perhaps too late-game-ish for my tastes

I would love it if spying is available in the early game (and not only in mid to late game) as it would make ARC's UA both a short term and long term strategic investment.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

I would love it if spying is available in the early game (and not only in mid to late game) as it would make ARC's UA both a short term and long term strategic investment.

It seems reasonably early (it you only need to go 2 techs to get to the spying ability building)

 

[GAGA Extrem]

Kavithan Protectorate: Outposts develop into cities 50% faster
+
Artists: +2 Culture and +1 Health in every City
+
Continental Surveyor: Reveal Coasts on Map OR Lifeform Sensor: Reveal Alien Nests on Map
+
Laboratory: Being with the Pioneering technology (allows settlers and trade)

For REX-like playstile


PAC: +10% production towards wonders and +25% worker speed
+
Refugees: +2 Food in every City
+
Fusion Reactor: Being with 100 Energy
+
Machinery: Begin with a Worker unit

For a tall food-focused game

 

[KrikkitTwo]

On another note, anyone have any suggestions for ARC? I'm not seeing any particular synergies which really stand out. Perhaps Science which would allow fast teching to Spy related techs? Maybe:
Any other thoughts?

Part of the problem with ARC is we don't know how you Get spies
other than
1. a tech which has a ?national I assume? wonder that 'allows covert ops'
2. a single virtue and a single synergy bonus both that give 1 Free covert agent

They could be tied to virtues primarily (like they were tied to eras in civV..ie you have a limit and if one dies they come back) in which case ARC would want Artists

Or they could be tied to a mixture of virtues and techs that allow them so Artists/Scientists (+clinic)

Finally, they could be buy/buildable (although probably with an increasing price the more you buy/build like great people..and the virtue ones are a minor bonus) which suggests you want Aristocracy/Engineers

Or they could be Very like Great people in that some specialists (like the Trader specialist) give you city specific Spy points that has an increasing cost as you get more spies

in that case a spy civ wants to go Wide and have lots of moderately developed cities
So
Artists/Aristocrats (for the Health needed to go wide)..or Refugees (to feed the Specialists)

 

[BrotherAriman]

Would you like to know more?
Sponsor:Brasilia
Colonists:Scientists
Ship:Lifeform Scanner
Cargo:Weapon Arsenal
Are you ready for a bug hunt? Well you've been recruited for one marine the more you hunt the better guns you get to hunt some more! Honor tree for alien science bursts and scientists for regular science stream early game. Most likely purity.

It's just business...
Sponsor:ARC
Colonists:Aristocrats
Ship:Fusion Reactor
Cargo:Hydroponics
This build would focus on favors with their early starting energy output and espionage for offensive measures later in the game most likely with commerce virtues.

THEY CAME FROM THE STARS!
Sponsor:Slavic Federation
Colonists:Scientists
Ship:Tectonic Scanner
Cargo:Raw Materials
Designed for early satellite research for spamming, hopefully going harmony for miasma spreading satellites to deny colonization or support in war zones. Knowledge tree for virtues.

 

[Zet]

By the way, the fusion reactor might not be so bad after all.

Sure, continental surveyor, retrograde thrusters, and tectonic scanner are probably better in the long run, but if you're doing some tight early game strategy, the fusion reactor could be a good choice. It's worth half a worker / explorer, and probably a bit more than half a soldier. This will allow you start your first colony several turns earlier.

This is because starting a colony seems to take more initial investment. You'll need a soldier because outposts are vulnerable, you'll want a trade route because it greatly decreases the time it takes an outpost to grow into a city, and for trade routes you need a trade depot first. And you should really build a worker before your first colony pod as well (working unimproved tiles sucks). With a fusion reactor, by the time you have all but the last of these built, you should have saved enough energy to just buy the last.

A strategy that relies on rushing an early wonder might benefit from a fusion reactor as well.

 

[Kratok]

I'm planning on playing the first game on the difficulty equivalent of either Immortal or Deity, depending on whether or not they'll be making the AI itself any smarter to partly negate the need for the silly bonuses... With that in mind I'll try to pick the choices that would eventually help me catch their starting lead. Probably:

ARC: Covert Operations are 25% faster and cause 25% more intrigue
Hopefully tech stealing/wreaking havoc without declaration of war will help catch up.

Aristocrats: +3 Energy and +1 Health in every City
OR
Artists: +2 Culture and +1 Health in every City
The others seem powerful at the beginning but less useful in the long run, especially +production.

Retrograde Thrusters: Wider areas for choosing where to land first City
You need a decent start to survive and stay relevant if the AI decides to attack early game on higher difficulties. Tectonic Scanner could be considered for good expansion spots.

Machinery: Begin with a Worker unit
Can't go wrong with a worker... unless aliens eat it.

 

[DarkestOnion]

One I'll likely start with:On another note, anyone have any suggestions for ARC? I'm not seeing any particular synergies which really stand out. Perhaps Science which would allow fast teching to Spy related techs? Maybe:

ARC Strategy:

ARC: Covert Operations are 25% faster and cause 25% more intrigue
Scientists: +2 Science in every City
~OR~
Aristocrats: +3 Energy and +1 Health in every City (if Energy relates to Espionage at all)
Fusion Reactor: Begin with 100 Energy
Raw Materials: Begin with a Clinic building in your first City

As we don't know the full options for Espionage it seems tough to decide at this point... Any other thoughts?

As a person who intends to start by playing ARC here are my thoughts and suggestions from what limited information we currently have at our disposal.

Colonists
Assuming Spies are Units, it might be best to take Engineers (instead of say Scientists) to maximize Spy Production. If they are Great Spies generated through ‘Civ 5 Guild-like Buildings’ then Engineers would speed the construction of those required buildings. This could put ARC and PAC in a New Cold War which could be great fun

Spacecraft
The Fusion Reactor seems to be a dangling and tempting carrot, yet I think that you can probably get 100 Energy by shrewd Scouting (2 Goody Huts with Fusion Reactors) so it may not be an optimal choice. I think that Tectonic Scanner and Retrograde Thrusters would be a more optimal choice for ARC.

Tectonic Scanners allow you the possibility of knowing where you might exploit Resources earlier than the enemy and knowledge is usually more powerful than money in my estimation. I could even see myself selling that information in MP to other players (and maybe even lying about it for Intrigue Fun) in return for Diplomatic Favors.

Retrograde Thrusters would also be a good choice as a wider choice of Starting Locations can improve a Bad Start Location or turn a Good Start Location into a Great Start Location. As a person who always moves his Settler around for a few turns, this is a hard one for me to pass up.

Cargo
I think that Raw Material would be a suboptimal choice in that it seems to be a way for ARC to ‘cross-class’ into a Science Buff. Upon reflection, I would rather go with Machinery or Laboratory.

Machinery (especially if coupled with Tectonic Scanner and a Production Bonus) could make ARC a formidable Military-Industrial Complex competitor with anyone except a Double Downed Production PAC. Know where to Exploit and be the first to Exploit. If possible, leverage ARC Spies to cripple PAC and you will be both hated and feared in MP

Conversely; you could go with Laboratory and have both the benefit of Early Expansion and Early Trade. In this case you would have to Explore and use the Quest System to be the first person to interact with Stations and reap the rewards.

I think the main difference between your approach and my approach is that you seem to focus on Early Energy and I focus on Early Production. I think that the Best Early Choices should be Production or Science as Energy likely flows naturally enough in time (with good tactics) that an early bankroll is not unique and powerful enough to compete with early and persistent Production bonuses. Of course this probably means I should just play PAC