Tradition's 4 cities opening

*What was your initial BO of capital? Did you aim for any wonders?

Scout-worker-warrior-settler-settler-settler. Stole a worker from hostile cs. Bought a worker as soon as i hit 320 :c5gold:. 2nd city by salt to the east started with a worker.

My first wonder was the National College :) With all these settlers to build i didn't have time for a wonder.

*I see only 3 workers, is someone hiding or is this correct?

4.

*Did you go intentionally unhappy in the start to accumulate gold/workers?

Not intentionally. I went unhappy for some turns only. But only when i settled my 4th city if i remember.

*Which beliefs did you go for?

Again, i don't remember well but in almost every games i pick happiness and growth bonuses for peaceful games. This time i obviously picked goddess of the hunt for my pantheon.

*Did you manually stop growth of bigger cities to save happy for smaller ones?

It can happen if i'm close of being into unhappiness. I always favor capital before any other cities. At this point you can also stop growth of a city close to gain a :c5citizen: and grow others instead until you gain more happiness.

*Did you tech optics early to find the other civs/CS?

Sailing is enough with 2 triremes. Optics after Philo i think.

*Did you rush buy any buildings up to this stage?

Nope. I rarely rush buy buildings early on. My first rush buy is usually a workshop into my capital(he's often building a wonder at this stage).

Do you guys assign specialist scientist ASAP from unis, even if it will cripple your cities growth? Or what is your approach to this?

The only time i retire them is when all gs and RAs needed are gone.
 
Phew, this is a lot of information. And from people who clearly know the civilopedia like the back of their hands!

For a noob am I right in summarising it like this (attention paid to very early strategy, detail of tech lines ignored here):

  • Get luxury ASAP
  • Trade luxury ASAP for gold, even if its your only one
  • Use gold to rush a settler ASAP
  • Repeat the above to get 4 cities up and running ASAP
  • Build scout then worker in capital
  • Steal worker from CS if possible, buy if necessary
  • Concentrate on getting Crossbows for defence soon and build 3 or 4 ASAP
  • Sign RAs left, right and centre
  • Grow, grow, grow
  • Goal is science victory
 
Actually, you can go pretty much anywhere with this strategy. That's what make it powerful. Cultural, Diplomacy, and Science victory pretty much employs fast teching, and with a such considerable tech lead, you can steamroll everyone with more advanced units should you decide to (getting the wonders you missed from the AI along the way).
 
Something I've been doing with this strategy that seems to be work on Emperor is to fit in the Pyramids while the 4th city is building archers/CBs. Usually my capital is done with the early builds and my first workers are improving cities 3 and 4, because I've already improved the luxuries on cities 1 and 2.

Instead of buying/stealing the last 2 workers, the capital is able to build the Pyramids pretty quickly (15 turns max) and the AI doesn't seem too interested in it, wanting Hanging Gardens and Petra more.

2 free workers, increased worker improvement speed, and I usually pop out a Great Engineer before Education. I hang onto this GE and use it to rush build the Porcelain Tower.
 
Something I've been doing with this strategy that seems to be work on Emperor is to fit in the Pyramids while the 4th city is building archers/CBs. Usually my capital is done with the early builds and my first workers are improving cities 3 and 4, because I've already improved the luxuries on cities 1 and 2.

Instead of buying/stealing the last 2 workers, the capital is able to build the Pyramids pretty quickly (15 turns max) and the AI doesn't seem too interested in it, wanting Hanging Gardens and Petra more.

2 free workers, increased worker improvement speed, and I usually pop out a Great Engineer before Education. I hang onto this GE and use it to rush build the Porcelain Tower.

Pyramid is a good wonder if you can get it becuase its like a stronger citizenship. Also 2 workers means that moast of the pyramid production cost is covered. Also the more efficent workers means that you need less of them and less workers is good because workers cost gold each turn.
 
Something I've been doing with this strategy that seems to be work on Emperor is to fit in the Pyramids while the 4th city is building archers/CBs. Usually my capital is done with the early builds and my first workers are improving cities 3 and 4, because I've already improved the luxuries on cities 1 and 2.

Instead of buying/stealing the last 2 workers, the capital is able to build the Pyramids pretty quickly (15 turns max) and the AI doesn't seem too interested in it, wanting Hanging Gardens and Petra more.

2 free workers, increased worker improvement speed, and I usually pop out a Great Engineer before Education. I hang onto this GE and use it to rush build the Porcelain Tower.

It's the key to get maximum benefits for faster ge production(1 in time for hubble pre 200) and improvements, 2 very important elements. I have not tried building Pyramids with this strategy yet. Probably doable at immortal.

Add Oracle for the rationalism opener(another thing not tried, picked patronnage instead so far) and then you can throw a spaceship very...very...very...early :king:
 
Anyone try this strategy on Domination? Any advice like when to start expanding from your core 4 and how to handle happiness.
 
Anyone try this strategy on Domination? Any advice like when to start expanding from your core 4 and how to handle happiness.

At immortal or below you can ''easily'' capture a city or 2 after getting CBs around turn 60 for a total of 6 cities. Ally a merc. cs to stay afloat.

For more push over, research iron working and machinery. Combine 2/3 of crossbowmen and 1/3 melee units with maybe some catapults/trebuchets and charge against a bunch of cities. Your 4 initial cities will be able to pump a lot of CBs before reaching machinery. Don't build workshops yet. Build them after Machinery while you are steamrolling the entire region. DoW 2 or even 3 civs at the same time for awesome finish times.

Watch the Total Domination Challenge thread if you want some to see some pictures of what i've just explained.

Edit : Over 20 000 views already! :eek: Way over my expectations!
 
Trying out this strategy has been an eye-opening experience for me. There was quite a few tactics I didn't understand until I applied them and saw their effect. Now I realize how narrow-minded I have been in my previous approach to Civ (not just Civ5, but generally). So, thanks a lot!

I'm an extremely anal player, keeping a off-game manual log of everything I do (yes, really), so it's gonna take me a while to finish the game I'm on now. But this guide has made me curious about what else I'm clueless about. So here is a request @Tabarnak:

Could you possibly write two more guides in similar style on opening strategies for the liberty and the honor tree? I'd be eager to try them out as well.
 
Could you possibly write two more guides in similar style on opening strategies for the liberty and the honor tree? I'd be eager to try them out as well.

The main point of this strategy is the possibility to use your luxs as an investment for more earlier cities. I did it with Tradition because i think it's the best tree for this approach and for peaceful victories.

I will probably do something with Liberty someday with a full military approach but i think Honor is more useful for your 2nd tree.

You can always try this strategy with Liberty and see what is better or not.
 
I was not talking about the second tree, after finishing tradition. I was talking about sets of strategies to pursue the liberty or the honor tree as the first tree, respectively. Basically, finishing liberty before opening up tradition and honor in one instance, and finishing honor before opening up tradition and liberty in the other.

Think it as an additional constraint to the game: If only this one social policy tree were available at the beginning of the game, what would be your best strategy to play?
 
I was not talking about the second tree, after finishing tradition. I was talking about sets of strategies to pursue the liberty or the honor tree as the first tree, respectively. Basically, finishing liberty before opening up tradition and honor in one instance, and finishing honor before opening up tradition and liberty in the other.
You should choose either Tradition or Liberty. Don't waste SP's on both. Honor as the first tree is not justified, IMO, unless you play as Huns in which case you don't need second tree.
 
I have played a few games now, and finally managed a 4 city science victory on emperor, below turn 330, which is REALLY good for my usual standards.

So thanks again to the OP, for showing me a great strategy, and everyone else who commented. :)
 
Just won my first ever Deity Tech Victory with Babylon on Pangea.
Used the 4 city trad start strategy with some minor changes.
Got a bit lucky with the map and the opponents, which allowed me to win quite late - turn 321 (and despite misplacing my academies and ending up not using them at all).

Thanks again Tabarnak, this strategy upped my game tremendously.

P.S.: I doubt I'll play Deity again though, it's a good challenge, but it's just such a pain for most of the time.
 
Just won my first ever Deity Tech Victory with Babylon on Pangea.
Got a bit lucky with the map and the opponents, which allowed me to win quite late - turn 321
P.S.: I doubt I'll play Deity again though, it's a good challenge, but it's just such a pain for most of the time.

Nice that you pulled a victory there! The AI usually win around 260-270.
 
I just tested your strategy at empreur and this is a great success! Thank you very much, this is the first time I don't run a backward civilization.
 
Nice that you pulled a victory there! The AI usually win around 260-270.

Yes, I was surprised myself.
Had the Inca, Rome, Polynesia, Ethiopia, Mongolia, Russia and the Iroquois for opponents.
For some reason the leading AI (Hiawatha) decided to go for a cultural victory and didn't tech as well as he usually does, and Cathy lost some of her cities to him so wasn't being her usual self either. At the end Hiawatha was missing 1 policy.
 
Nice strategy thread. The only possible downside is that it sometimes makes me forget I can settle more than 4 cities. :lol: It's like "Hit 4 cities and put brain on auto-pilot."
 
Nice strategy thread. The only possible downside is that it sometimes makes me forget I can settle more than 4 cities. :lol: It's like "Hit 4 cities and put brain on auto-pilot."

Most people are so instinctively driven to expand that this would never become a wide-spread problem.
 
Most people are so instinctively driven to expand that this would never become a wide-spread problem.
Oh ... just one more puppet ... I promise.
 
Top Bottom