How strict are you in your build queue?

Do you ALWAYS build a shrine, then temple, then this, etc?

Or do you skip around a lot?

I find myself in the middle of the game noticing, gee, I never build a granary here or a shrine there.

Am tempted to play a game more 'by the rules' and get all the little stuff first.

For me I almost always research Pottery, build a scout, build a monument until Pottery is ready, then do shrine, than go back to monument. I know that religion isn't everything, but you beat around the bush on faith, you won't get one at all. And then when I found every new city, I build a shrine first if its somewhat early. Their hammers are so minimal that there's not much else to make. If it's a late city, I might leave it for later or skip it if I've already made a Grand Temple. I guess it's appropriate that religion would lose its important as time goes on and society develops.

I skip around a lot based on map type, civ, what ruins I get, what my dirt looks like and what my first policy is going to be. Everyone seems obsessed with building shrines but I can't remember the last time I did, such a low priority building IMO.

lokithepunishr said:

I skip around a lot based on map type, civ, what ruins I get, what my dirt looks like and what my first policy is going to be. Everyone seems obsessed with building shrines but I can't remember the last time I did, such a low priority building IMO.

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Well I explained why I did it previously. Have you been able to guarantee yourself a religion while holding off on Shrines? Also, which difficulty level have you been playing on?

Back in the day (Civ II-IV) I used to be pretty strict, mainly because I would have a couple favorite civilizations, they'd be all that I would play, and I would play them the same way every single game.

Now a days I find much more fulfillment in choosing a random leader, and then basing my game around their unit/ability/theme. If I get Attila, my tech path, wonder priorities, and build queues are going to be completely different than if I were to get a religious or scientific leader. This let's me really enjoy the depth of the game, as each play though has me interacting with entirely different systems. For instance, as Attila I'm never even going to bother with the religion system, as it'll be all military all the time, but with a culture or diplomatic based civ I'll probably never even build a barrracks.

There are buildings that I always build first (e.i. - granary, library, university), and others that depend on the tiles being worked (market/bank, lighthouse ...). I also try to fit shrine and temples in as soon as I can before universities and build my national religious wonder. The sooner those are build, the more faith points you can spend, and allows for better faith perks, which leads to more faith.

Military units will also just have to fit in where they can.

So there are some stuff that is pretty set in stone, with map influence, and other stuff that is more flexible depending on the situation.

Trackmaster said:

Well I explained why I did it previously. Have you been able to guarantee yourself a religion while holding off on Shrines? Also, which difficulty level have you been playing on?

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Immortal 22 civs, but even without shrines I can get a religion about 20% of the time, the shrine is only really useful in getting to a pantheon which will produce much more faith. A religious CS is much better than a shrine IMO and it usually isn't too hard to get a simple quest like killing a barb camp or finding X civs land.

The biggest problem with the shrine is that it's got the upkeep of 1 gold per turn and early in the game you might not want to spend that depending on your starting resources. Obviously if you can get desert folklore or some other heavy faith producing pantheon it's awesome but if your pantheon is going to be average there are better things to build. Also that 40 hammers can go to an extra unit for killing barb camps (gold and CS quests), defending your workers or preventing Shaka from killing you when he spawns 10 tiles away.

I'm not saying a shrine is useless but early in the game there are just more important things than securing a religion.

My early game build order is usually pretty consistent, after that I vary it based on what I seem to need at the time. Usually with Tradition I go scout -> (scout if Pangaea) -> shrine if I want a pantheon/religion -> worker -> settler (can build before worker if I already have one through steal/rush buy) -> granary -> caravan or library, next settler comes soon after, sometimes even before a caravan/library. 2nd city builds granary -> library, 3rd city builds library, build NC in cap, found 4th city. Shrines in other cities sometimes but I often find it doesn't make a huge difference.
Also, I usually try to build production buildings soon after they're available (unless it would delay an important building like say a University) because it speeds up the construction of all my other buildings. I'll sometimes go for Oracle, always build Pyramids if Liberty, but I usually go Tradition in which case I'd never build HG.

Once I have a few cities, I finish a building project; unless :
1) a bum-rush attack (thanks, Alex),
2) when the rush to build the WFair starts, all my cities go into WF production, win it, then finish what they were building .

My build order is pretty inflexible for my first city - Scout, Monument, Shrine, Worker, Settler. Any other city usually builds Shrine (Monument first if I'm going Liberty), Worker, and then maybe a military unit.
Midgame, on the other hand, the build order's all over the place.

If you go Tradition, why build a Monument? And what about Granaries in your other cities?

I play exclusively on pangaea. My build order depends on scouting. If i have a warmongering civ and there's a couple of close neighbours and little space then I go honor. If I have a turtling civ then I go tradition. If neighbours are far then I almost always go liberty. My monument always comes after shrine so by that time I will know if I even need it (tradition).

I rarely build a temple or shrine... If I do end up with faith it is because of the natural resources that give extra faith from a pantheon (i.e religious idols and that extra faith from nearby silver or gold).

I am hard-coded to build Worker, Shrine, Monuement, Great Library and then the Pyramids, and then any other wonders which range usually are Parthenon, Oracle and possibly Colossus if I am already at the coast.

It's weird, I use Liberty's Settler to set up a second city. I am extremely hungry for wonders.

I'll pretty much always build a scout first, but then I'm flexible, particularly if I pop a ruin or find an awesome city spot that I need to claim. I generally will not Build a shrine super early.

If I'm playing a large or huge map, I'm less in a hurry for that second city, But if I'm wary of an expansive AI I'll bump out a Settler much quicker than anticipated. Certainly for a strong Natural Wonder, but also for a strong river or Mountain spot with a lux.

And I will definitely fudge my NC build. Although rarely do I go 4th city planted before NC anymore.

*Immortal difficulty mostly, with the occasional Diety game.

TheKingOfBigOz said:

I am hard-coded to build Worker, Shrine, Monuement, Great Library and then the Pyramids, and then any other wonders which range usually are Parthenon, Oracle and possibly Colossus if I am already at the coast.

It's weird, I use Liberty's Settler to set up a second city. I am extremely hungry for wonders.

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What difficulty do you play on? GL is near impossible to get on Immortal/Deity. I don't think I have gone for it a single time in all of my games on Immortal and Deity.
And how do you plan to fit your key buildings and units into your capital build queue while building all those wonders?

So granary is low priority, at least that's the impression I get. Is the early worker much more valuable?

Usually mine looks something like this:

1. scout
2. worker - if I have a couple hammers, such as those from DEER. (I love deer!) If no hammers, then a monument to help me reach the hammers.
3. granary - if i don't have a high enough population to efficiently build a settler
4. settler
5. library in capitol (While my settler is traveling. If I don't have writing at this point, then an archer or warrior)

The most important thing is getting the settler out and founding a second city. After that:

6. I build x2 shrines (someone else is going to get first pantheon anyway, so no sense in building a shrine before a settler...the only way I'm going to get first pantheon is from meeting a faith city state or popping a faith ruin - with only 1 shrine, I find that i is easy to get left further and further behind in the pantheon race, but if I have 2, it is always enough to catch up.)
7. Whatever I haven't build in my capitol (monument, granary, etc) while my second city is still building the shrine
8. 2 archers
9. A second worker
10. A second settler

And then after that, gold becomes a concern, so I'm looking at building a caravan or cargo ship to a close neighbor ASAP.

I usually skip GL, but I build Temple of Artemis if I can.

I love to play wide on large pangea maps, (Immortal - sometimes epic, mostly normal) so city specialization becomes a priority. Cities in wide empire don't need much food (because of limited happiness the growth is trade for number of cities), so often I find starting build with Colosseum or Worker or Archer. (But if I know that city will be on border, then priority is monument and walls). The kay here is to grab good land which is easy to defend. Later when my Empire finishes expansion limits, I build library->university in food cities and granary/workshop in production city. Ideally each city gets University eventually, but they are second priority after safety, happiness and basic infrastucture (improvements and eventually roads). Two cities size 4 and 6 working good tiles are amazingly useful and can easily compete with 12-size city, which needs to work a lot of food to keep growing. Usually I turtle behind in scince til Renesaince, but after first Universities are set, I skyrocket to Undistrial era and often is first at picking Order (which his kind of obvious choice for that wide empire). Caravans are used for internal trade to speedup key important cities, most of resources traded for money and try to build as many trading posts as possible. Very wide empire has many advantages, e.g. religion spreads very fast, you don't need to protect all cities - only border ones, you can switch improved tiles between cities (e.g. once University is up - then even size 4 city becomes extremely useful and improved mines can be worked by another city, which also needs University asap).

Edit: ah, if question is about Capital - then 2 scouts are usually the case on large maps, sometimes buyng 3rd or building it. Often Settler or Worker afterward, depending on map. I think rushing monument and granary is bad idea, because after initial boost, impact of those buildings is neglectable and tehy only suck money. There are more important things to do (e.g. if you are going to build settler, then granary is really waste of time and gold for those turns when settler is built)

I have a core : shrine - granary/lighthouse - library - harbor/amphis - temple / coliseum - market - univ - obs - workshop - bank - operas - publics school - factories - hydroplants - labs - solar/nuclear plants.
Now, there's the game and this queue can be moved. If I want to expand my borders earlier or reach collective rules, monument are the first building. Also, if I go into Liberty, monument are first.
If it's my 3rd or 4th cities library are before granaries.

I tend to prioritize buildings which have a national wonder.

If I picked a religious pantheon, shrine and temple are delayed to late renaissance.