I took way too many pictures, but since this is one of the first SGs to run, I figure itll be good to show some of the details that later well be able to just tell. For only 20 turns, it felt like I had a fair few decisions to make. Moreso than in my solo games.
I decided to send the warrior south along the river. Rivers are good for expansion, because of the extra commerce they provide. No health bonuses, only a few buildings, but the commerce can add up fairly quickly. Only a few turns in, our brave explorer found something interesting ancient ruins. At the same time, the independent city-state of Dublin is discovered. We are first, so we get 30 gold. AND, the same year, Old Faithful, our first natural wonder, is found. The person (not people, not yet) in Paris rejoices. At the very least, it might get us an earlier Golden Age.
Bear in mind, its 3800 BC, so Im not exactly sure who would have left these ruins. Aliens? Dinosaurs? Regardless, ruins are there, so we must explore them. They are always good in Civ5, from what Ive read and experienced.
People! Cool. Population expansion can be slow, so an extra person (half a science beaker/turn, plus working a tile for +1 gpt and maybe extra food) is a pretty nice pop (pun intended). Our warrior continues on his way, reassured by the now-larger Paris behind him.
40 years pass. The warrior, somehow, continues on as strong as he was in the past. Descendents of the original? Did they discover the fountain of youth? No one is certain, but the warriors report the discovery of a bountiful area, with sheep, bananas, cotton, and incense.
Our first true foe is discovered a few years later. Gandhi. He has more gold than us (indicating either gold in ruins or contacting more city-states). Our income is higher, though.
Around the same time, 3680 BC, our scout moves out of Paris, exploring the world in the opposite direction. To the west is water of salt. To the north, a nuclear launch is detected!!!
Oh, wait, its just a spot of red on the tundra hill. It looks so much like the old Starcraft red dot that it threw me for a minute. This scouts job is to follow the river in the other direction. I expected to send him a little west across the rough terrain, but that plan was ruined. Paris is working on a worker who will hopefully improve the land significantly.
A second set of ruins came in after Animal Husbandry was learned. A quick scan of the surrounding area showed
wait, let me count again, double-check, yep, zero horses anywhere near Paris. We shall not be mounted Frenchmen.
That advanced technology was archery. We have the ability to build a ranged unit!
Good news. Work continues on a worker. I select Mining as our next technology. Mining is a good worker tech (especially with silver nearby and all our hills) and it leads to better ground units than warriors/archers. With no horses, well need some semi-metal units.
At the same time, Pariss culture overwhelms our people. As discussed, I push us down the Liberty path. The French shall have their Liberty! Once we get into expansions/extra cities, this will be really nice. Settlers become much cheaper this way. And while settlers need escorts, cities can defend themselves pretty well against barbs without additional units.
Then, Augustus Caesar of Rome shows up by our doors. I didnt capture his gold/trade status, but no deals are made. We part ways as friends.
More ruins. Not such luck this time. A map of the nearby enemy barb encampments, one of which we already knew about, one of which was right on our scouts path, and a third one we can do nothing about. Oh well.
More foes. Added to the list. Harun al-Rashid of Arabia also shares our continent. Both he and Augustus were also in my first game. Bad PRNG problems again?
To be continued....