First Unit: Warrior or Slinger?

[Ryika]

more slingers are better for early defense against deity in my opinion. I dont build second melee if not necessary before the first spearmen. not also worthy much if you dont have iron.

That's interesting, why do you prefer spearmen? They only have +5 Strength over warriors but cost 25 additional production and +1 Maintenance. I usually only ever construct them if the opponent has tons of horsemen.

 

[CaiusDrewart]

That's interesting, why do you prefer spearmen? They only have +5 Strength over warriors but cost 25 additional production and +1 Maintenance. I usually only ever construct them if the opponent has tons of horsemen.

Spearmen also get massacred by enemy warriors (+10 strength vs. anticav units). Not a good unit. Occasionally the AI does start spamming like 15+ horsemen though.

 

[avl8]

I play emperor games with Catherine.
I go scout - builder - monument (Agoge on) - slinger x2.

Its more than enough to clear barbs, scout around and escort early settlers.
And on Immortal every AI starts with a scout, that means 2nd scout is almost a waste of hammers early. Btw the chances to get a free scout is kinda high, much higher than a free relic at least

If I find a barbarian camp near horses I suddenly rush +1 slinger or recruit him with gold. Then I turtle around the camp shooting horsemen until slingers become archers.

 

[Nefelia]

But 6-8 slingers feels like overkill unless you're warmongering. No builder?

That was just a brief summary of my military build up. A builder, Settler, and Holy Site would be built wherever feasible.

A likely order would be: scout > warrior > builder > settler > warrior > Holy Site > slinger > slinger > slinger...

I tend to go for early religion, which delays my warmongering a bit.

 

[sresk]

for emperor if you want a religion I like scout>scout>scout>settler>holy>temple with a holy and temple in the second city as well. the 3 scouts virtually guarantees finding a natural wonder in time to make the eureka worthwhile. If you're not worried about founding a religion then this start isn't necessary.

 

[Qin Shi Hung]

for emperor if you want a religion I like scout>scout>scout>settler>holy>temple with a holy and temple in the second city as well. the 3 scouts virtually guarantees finding a natural wonder in time to make the eureka worthwhile. If you're not worried about founding a religion then this start isn't necessary.

What do you do with 3 scouts after you find a wonder?

 

[sresk]

they aren't that much worse than warriors but I mostly use them to find all of the city states... but man if you can be the first to find 2-3 of the production city states early those +6 hammers are HUGE in the first 20 turns. It takes luck that they are in the game but if RNGesus is with you that's almost a guaranteed win right there by it's self.

 

[joncnunn]

I feel like scouts die too easily to barbs to start with two of them. If you run into an early horse camp, they are so boned.

But 6-8 slingers feels like overkill unless you're warmongering. No builder?

Unless this is Slinger-Settler-Slinger-Settler-Slinger-Settler etc; I would agree.

 

[Furycrab]

You basically reinforced my point: you are using two units to take care of encampments. The difference between a mobile camp defender and one that stays fortified is that you actually have to be careful with the placement of your ranged unit.

Slightly off topic: I love the increased vulnerability of early ranged units in Civ VI.

Not really, your point is that the changes make the AI better, my point is that it makes it slightly better if you don't know what you are doing and objectively worst if you do. I'm honestly a little concerned that you might be able to do this against the AI players. Like I had a few slingers on hills/forests in a war, and the AI kept trying to move in one tile from them, only to be peppered to the point where they felt like running back.

I wouldn't mind if it could make higher decisions... Like not going after slingers / archers if they are not alone as moving forward will not only not get the ranged unit killed, it loses it's fortification bonus for a quick one - two punch. As it stands however... it doesn't. It takes the bait of a 5 strength unit every single time.

 

[JustMormegil]

I feel like scouts die too easily to barbs to start with two of them. If you run into an early horse camp, they are so boned.

yes, thats a problem. I try to move scouts carefully, step-by-step. I didn't face horse barbs in the first 15-20 turns, so scouts are able to get 'another civ', 'another continent', '3 city states' and 'natural wonder' eurecas. After that their mission is completed.

 

[Ribannah]

I'm inclined to start with a monument or a builder, depending on the situation.

 

[ilker]

That's interesting, why do you prefer spearmen? They only have +5 Strength over warriors but cost 25 additional production and +1 Maintenance. I usually only ever construct them if the opponent has tons of horsemen.

Sorry I forget to mention, the one spearman is for the unit kill eureka, and I prefer ranged over melee to defend from the first strike from deity AI, unless they spam chariots, which happened also frequently to me.