TSG 135 Opening Actions

Welcome to the TSG135 Opening Actions thread.

STOP - Please do not continue reading this thread until you have completed at least 80 to 100 turns in your game.

This thread is used to discuss the game once you've started playing through your first 100 turns. Apart from normal decency, the only posting restrictions are to please not post videos until the deadline is finished and to use the spoiler tags for screenshots. Here you can post questions related to the game and share your achievements/anger/frustration/victories while you play. Please remember that we are running a family friendly site, so express anger or frustration with this in mind.

Please use this thread to discuss your goals for the game and your opening moves through the first 100 turns. Anything after that should be posted in the After Action thread once you have completed your game.

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
- What were your initial priorities?
- What tech path did you follow and why?
- What Social Policies did you choose?
- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?
- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith
- How did the policy restrictions affect your normal gaming style?

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
There was a lot of things to think about.

• With Raging Barbs, Honor is tempting
• With Continents you will want Astronomy sooner then later
• Petra makes you want to veer away from Astronomy
• You really want desert folklore

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
I moved up on the hill and settled next to the mountain. Scout Monument. Settler as soon as I got to pop 3. I was going to go for early shrine, but I found a religious CS and got to a pantheon early... desert folklore. Didn't need shrine right away any more.

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
Like I mentioned above desert folklore is a must. Food was hard to come by. Needed to find fish.

- What were your initial priorities?
Explore as much as possible to find all the City States I can. Found 2 Cities quickly and start building up some cash.

- What tech path did you follow and why?
Kinda All over unfortunately. Went Pottery first, Mining, writing. I picked up archery earlyish as well to take care of those barbs.

- What Social Policies did you choose?
Liberty opener, then some in Piety, then finished out Liberty.

- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?
I was only thinking about Petra, and I got it. I also got Oracle, Colosus, Chitra.
- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith
Pagoda, Mosques, and missionaries to convert all the CS I can.
- How did the policy restrictions affect your normal gaming style?
No rationalism will hurt more than no Tradition. We will see what I can get my science up to.

t100 Astronomy


- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
I was hoping for some crazy desert religion.
Peacefull DV with better timing than TSG134...until I realized it is quick speed and large map => no experience here, so just screw the timing

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
Moved one tile north to the mountain.
build order
- scout
- monument
- granary
- shrine
- GL (t29 finished into philo)
- NC t36
- settlers
- petra t54
bought worker, some archers, and one settler

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
Not too much.
Terrain obviously is DF (and thanks to Geneva a pretty early one).

- What were your initial priorities?
Quick NC, spread settlers, Petra - I am not used to liberty, so I am not sure how many cities pre-NC is best.

- What tech path did you follow and why?
Philo, Lux-Techs, Currency, Education etc.

- What Social Policies did you choose?
Liberty (finished t60 for a planted GS) and then Piety (finished ~t99).
Reformed into the all GP thing as without Rati I cannot buy GS - also obviously pondered with Jesuit Education...hmm?
Nest is probably Patronage

- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?
Gl, Petra, Pyramids (for a tradition player these workers are really on speed), GLH, Oracle, MoH, Colossus, Boro, CI, Machu
Lost ToA by 1 turn (((

- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith
2 Religious CS
founded t25 enhanced in t54 - pagoda, mosque, tithe, +30% range

- How did the policy restrictions affect your normal gaming style?
It forced my to go liberty - usually I dislike to manage so many cities but I do enjoy it so far - so thanks for pushing.
Went for 7 cities plus 1 conquered La Venta.

Finished my IAG Askia straight up Honor domination game and rolled right into this one, but they really couldn't be much more different. I'm leveraging the mud mosque much more than the UA.

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
Whether to go Liberty/Piety or Honor, really.

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
Move settler to the hill by the mountain, settled. Went Scout > Monument > Scout > Shrine

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
I wanted Desert Folklore and Petra, so...

- What were your initial priorities?
Get a shrine up early, hopefully find Faith CS or ruins to get DF.

- What tech path did you follow and why?
Standard science/culture path, beelined currency (Petra) then to Civil Service and Education. Working lower part for Scientific Theory and Banking now.

- What Social Policies did you choose?
Left side of Liberty - Piety to reformation - finish Liberty. Opening Patronage next.

Opted for Liberty over Honor... the raging barbs was tempting, but ultimately knowing it was a Diplo VC I wanted to try to be somewhat peaceful, and with the lower difficulty I figured that the gold and culture from Honor would be much less as there wouldn't be a bunch of high-value troops to kill. Also on quick, there are fewer turns to kill people, so it seemed Honor wouldn't be the correct play in this game.

Having seen a lot of the map, that was definitely the right call...

- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?
GL - nope. Missed by one turn because I was dumb.
Then got everything I went for: Pyramids, Petra, Oracle, GMoD, Hagia, Great L'house, CI, working on Sistine now.

- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith
Yes, Pagodas, Mosques, and Jesuit Education. Decided JE over Charitable Missions because it's a quick game so that'll save me construction in my off cities and balance the spread of cities. Wondering if that's going to be the right call, as all the free great people would've been smart too to gift to CS... we'll see how it works out compared to other folks who pick a different reformation belief.

Also picked the double spread to friendly CS instead of RT after seeing the map. It's paid off... coupled with Tithe, I haven't struggled at all with gold.

- How did the policy restrictions affect your normal gaming style?
Didn't, not yet. Wouldn't use Tradition with Askia... I often take the Rationalism opener and Secularism, but obviously won't this time, probably opting for something in commerce or exploration if I have extras to throw around...

I've lurked around here off and on for about ten years, and lately started going over some of the TSGs, but this is the first time I've posted, I think. (Alright, after posting I see I have done a few before. Must be long ago, I don't remember them!)

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?

The policy restrictions and the amount of desert expected guided my thoughts. Raging Barbs and Askia? Honor, please! I further considered Liberty and/or Piety as secondary paths but ended up going with Patronage. I was fairly sure I'd want to go for a pantheon ASAP, for the competition for Desert Folklore was sure to be fierce. The suitability of the site for Petra also led me to consider going for that wonder before the NC, and I followed up that impulse.

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?

I settled just NE of the starting location, on the hill next to the mountain. I suspect it will prove a very popular settling spot. Build order: Scout, Monument, Warrior, Granary, Settler, Settler, Settler, Caravan, Archer, ToA with worker buys included fairly early thanks to meeting CSs, tribute, and clearing barbarian camps.

I was rather surprised to see many of the nearby CSs susceptible to tribute demands due to my "massive" army of two warriors and a scout. I suppose that's due to playing on Prince level? I've not played around with tribute much in the past, but gave it a try to see if I could jumpstart my cash a bit.

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?

See above. Actual play did little to alter my pre-game decisions, except that once I noted that all four of my initial cities were going to be adjacent to mountains, Astronomy became an even further priority.

- What tech path did you follow and why?

Pottery, AH, Mining, Calendar for happiness, beeline Currency, Sailing, Writing, Optics, Philosophy. It was frustrating to delay Writing so long, and again to stick Optics in there before taking Philosophy, but it worked out well enough. I needed Optics to reach the many ruins and Barb Camps my trireme had found, and was still busy finishing libaries anyhow.

- What Social Policies did you choose?

Honor, Discipline, Military Caste, Warrior Code, Patronage, Consulates, Philanthropy, Scholasticism, Professional Army, Military Tradition, Exploration.

- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?

My path was bent primarily for Petra, and that was successful. I also built the ToA, Oracle, GLH, and AW. I rarely build AW but Gao had many needed hexes to expand to and my economy wasn't doing well enough to buy them at a good pace yet. Tombouctu lost Stonehenge about halfway through the building.

- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith

Nearby CSs gave me a pantheon and let me delay shrines quite a long time, until I was ready to build them, mud pyramid mosques, and the Grand Temple all in a short span. Desert Folklore has kept my faith skyrocketing, and I had my religion enhanced (Tithes, Pagodas, Mosques, and Religious Unity) before the first AI religion had been formed. Assyria and Germany are both following my religion, and the tithes are finally giving me a decent economy.

- How did the policy restrictions affect your normal gaming style?

Without them, I quite possibly would have gone full Tradition, possibly taking the Honor opener after the Tradition opener before finishing Tradition, then as much of Honor and Patronage as I could until Rationalism. Looking at things from this perspective, I can see that the left side of Liberty should have been very suitable here also.

One regret I have is not turning my eastward-heading caravel south while doing my initial post-Astronomy exploration, as I didn't find Poland until turn 127, delaying the World Congress 8 turns beyond Printing Press (I realize that that's rather beyond turn 100, and I have mostly reported here only what happened up to that point, but at this moment I've actually played to 130).

Welcome to the GOTM
Hopefully you enjoy the games. Good luck

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

Player (You): Askia of the Songhai
Victory Condition: Diplomacy all other VCs are enabled, Difficulty: Prince
Civs/City-States (including player): 10/20

Click to expand...

Just as a note, I've now met 21 City-States in this game, plus I see that Shaka has made a puppet of Sydney for a total of 22?

I seem to have forgotten that i added a few based off of the opponents present. Ill tally it up tonight and adjust

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
This map has desert everywhere. Get Pantheon quickly, get strong religion, reformation after industrial for more GP to allow for buying GS due to policy restriction. Also liberty to claim most spot for continent, allowing for wars if needed, using barb/CS for training.

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
Desert hill next to mountain for observatory. Scout, monument, scout, scout opening. Skipped shrine due to religious CS.

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
I've never played quick so it threw me off the timings, wasn't expecting 1 turn roads with pyramids. This difficulty meant that I can safely delay GL and spam settlers before going for it. I plan to leave 1 barb camp that can be farmed but too bad no CS workers got caught in it.

- What were your initial priorities?
Religion, expand to 6+ cities. Built NC after the 5th and planted 6th immediately afterwards with settler from 1st expo. Petra in capital, then NC after Petra since it allows for more time for expo to build libraries. Other wonders can be built in cities with King Solomon's mine. Due to continents, happiness can be problem so also prioritize happiness.

- What tech path did you follow and why?
Pottery, archery, lux tech, writing, GL philosophy, Currency, Engineering, Civil Service, Education, Astronomy

- What Social Policies did you choose?
Liberty left side, right side to free worker, Piety opener, Liberty happiness, Patronage opener.

- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?
Capital built Great Library, Petra, Chichen Itza. Missed Oracle by 1 turn
N expo built Pyramids, Great Lighthouse, Colossus.

- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith
Pantheon DF, Pagoda + Mosque religion, quickly got all of my part of continent. Initiation rites helped with gold immensely which is problem of liberty. Planning reformation after industrial era. I don't plan to spread to other AI due to not much benefit of doing so since whole map is desert.

- How did the policy restrictions affect your normal gaming style?
No Tradition -> Liberty which would be my default on large maps anyway.
No Rationalism -> Piety reformation, probably To the Glory of God is better than Jesuit Education as late game bulbs will be deciding factor.

I don't play Askia very often, so I don't really have a specific strategy for him. I saw all that desert with lots of hills and floodplains and I knew I needed Desert Folklore and should try for Petra. If I was smart, I would have moved my first GP to my coastal city to found my religion instead of founding in my capital, just for the extra trade route pressure from a Grand Temple.

I went Liberty opener, Honor opener, then finished Liberty -- I took the free worker before the free settler, and I didn't wait for Collective rule to build my first settler. Then started working on Patronage. Settled my first expo on the coast to the northwest It's about turn 110, and I have 5 cities, just finished Astronomy and have started meeting the other civs. I'm allied with all the nearby citystates, and it seems like this map has a *lot* of CS's. I have knights and pikes in the water travelling to other continents now to kill barbs and free captured workers.

Is this a large map? Or a standard map with large continents? [rhetorical question, I can look that up when I restart it] I just assumed it was a standard-sized map.
ETA: It's a large map with continents on it, not a large continents map.

I have 3 prophets just sitting around, it's about time to embark them and start converting the foreign cities that are too big for a missionary to handle.

I've built a lot of wonders, and not all of them are in Gao: ToA, Petra, Oracle, Mausoleum, Angkor Wat, Pyramids, Great Lighthouse, HS, Zeus, and Machu Picchu. My highest priority now is to build Forbidden Palace, but Leaning Tower will unlock first. I'll probably build them in different cities so I can get some overlap.

My priority was early religion and my main tech was Patronage. I've had a very good start with ruins: two techs, scout to archer, added population plus faith, culture and money – not so many maps and barb camps.

At turn 99 I was planning a peaceful game but Assyria is close enough to attack me if I don't move first. I didn't attack Germany because it's a long march; the same for Poland. On the other hand capturing those extra cities early is probably the key to a fast finish.

Not having Tradition means I've settled more cities: four so far, and I expect to keep all three from Assyria.

I hate to sound like an elitist, but Jesus Christ, I've forgotten how easy Prince feels. I've finally started to feel slightly comfortable playing Immortal so being the first to a religion feels weird.

As another aside, posting on a forum without swearing is also on the "not my norm" side of things so I'll try to keep things here PG. Not going to be easy considering every other word that comes out of my mouth on a daily basis will have you running for a "safe space". It will be colourful, mind you.

Anyway, Songhai. Considering that I have to win via Diplomacy, money is my big issue. I decided that I was going to build tall but without Tradition, that's not going to be perfectly viable. So I decided on a Frankenstein of Social Policies that go thusly:

Honour (Opening) -> Piety (Opening/Organized Religion) -> Liberty (until Patronage opens up) -> Patronage (Opening)

Opening to Honour for Askia is like breathing for your average human being (assuming you have an IQ in the positive numbers); you do it because it makes sense. Combine that with Raging Barbarians and a Barb camp that conveniently spawned about 3 tiles away from Gao and you've got a recipe for success. I milked that camp hard for about 40 turns for a lot of culture (even bought an Archer so that he could kill the Brutes without liberating the camp) and returned a worker to La Venta on Turn 41 for 95 influence and an extra 50 influence with Geneva. That's 6 Faith to add onto the 7 Faith I was getting from Desert Folklore/Organized Religion.

Here's the funny thing. I could go all the way down Piety and pick up nice things like Theocracy or Charitable Missions (which would both be excellent) but both of those policies are drowned out by the sheer usefulness of the right side of the Liberty tree, especially Representation. If the Songhai are going to have to be declared World Leader, they're going to need a lot of Policy/Tenet help and the more culture going, the better. That's my take on the matter but feel free to disagree. I also say that drilling into my skull with a power drill is a stupid idea but you can disagree with that too while you're at it.

I founded Islam on Turn 38 (thanks to Desert Folklore) and went with Papal Primacy and Monasteries to begin with. Yes, that's right. I am actively spreading peace with Islam. Pigs might begin to fall out of the sky soon too (I'd make this kind of joke to the woman I'm dating but since she's Arab Christian and not Muslim, it wouldn't really fly). Papal Primacy is obvious for a Diplomatic win but Monasteries is to capitalize on the two Incenses just south of Gao.

Production and purchasing is pretty standard for my own style. I always build a Scout first and usually chase that up with a Shrine/Monument depending on the Civ that I play. Today, I went to Monument and then immediately built a Caravan to capitalize on early trading routes. However, a Barbarian got to my first Caravan so I wasted 6 turns building another one. Oh well, I'll still crush this game. As of Turn 41, I have 2 Archers (one an upgraded Scout), a Spearman (upgraded Warrior) and a Chariot Archer. Toss on a Library, Shrine and Monument along with a Settler nearly built and you've got a recipe for a kick in the balls. Possibly a very pretty, well executed kick in the balls with the best of intentions. Oh and a Caravan and Worker too.

This is until 41 so I'll periodically make snarky comments as I work to turn 101.

- Finished up Horseback Riding on Turn 42 which opens up Patronage. I might just wait before the Opening since I need it for the Forbidden Palace but I'm a long way away from Banking. Since I already have Sailing (blame ruins), Calendar and Writing, it's time to shoot for Currency (and more importantly, Petra).

- Found Germany on 42 and found some ruins in Germany's backyard on the next turn. Seriously, Otto? Were you just sitting around sticking your finger up your nose this entire time? Don't mind if I do, in that case.

- Tombouctu was established on 46 immediately west of Gao. Sits on the coast and is beside a mountain with two Copper spots available. Yes please.

- Germany went and trapped my Scouting Archer so I'm considering attacking Otto simply for pulling that on me. Yes, I can be vindictive.

- Enhanced Islam on Turn 62. Picked up Pagodas for even more Faith and Culture while Itinerant Preachers should help the religion spread far. In case you were wondering, I'm currently gaining 21 Faith and 15 Culture but I blame the Golden Age that I started on Turn 51 and kept alive with Representation for the Culture.

- Jenne went to the north by King Solomon's Mines and the three fishing resources including Crabs. I don't think I'll build another city since there's no real reason to but we'll see. That's Turn 63.

- Found Prague on Turn 68 via a Trireme and I was still the first Civ to meet them. Jesus, I know it's only Prince difficulty but c'mon, give me a challenge.

- Met Assyria on Turn 71. Nothing interesting to add.

- Petra is mine on Turn 78 and I have 19 Happiness. Time to Wonder-whore my way to victory.

- Picked up Patronage on Turn 90 and the game now becomes a "burn Social Policies until Commerce opens up" game. At this point, there is no way I can possibly lose, especially considering that I'm first in both GNP and Manufactured Goods.

- Bismarck beats me to Civil Service and offers me Open Borders on Turn 94. That'll work because my archer can now move.

- Met Casimir III on Turn 98 and he's actually got a higher score than me... for now.

And we're at Turn 101. I'm making 58 Faith per turn (I know it's the Songhai but still) and 47 Gold. This is hilarious. I'll keep playing this file and see how quickly I win.


EDIT: So I played another 15 turns in and I think I'm going to restart because I'm going to shoot for a sub-200 win (if I can even pull that off). I don't know how people here get techs so quickly but it ain't from warring so we'll see what happens.


EDIT: So this is round 2 and I should get somewhere close to 200 turns. So let's answer the questions.

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
Pretty much wanted to get as money as possible in order to buy CS. I figured that if a big Civ was close, I'd build up an army and just storm through their cities for extra cash and that goes double for Egypt. Aside from that, Forbidden Palace is a must and founding the WC also helps.

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
Moved to beside the mountain and settled in order for a later Observatory to kick in. Started off by building Scout, Monument and Worker but I forget what came after those.

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
Wanted coastal cities that were worth a damn and it turns out that every single spot was also conveniently near a mountain and decent tiles so that helped. Desert is great for a religion but too much of it makes for terrible growth. Raging Barbarians are excellent because with Honour, I was able to milk them for at least 200 extra culture (I sat Archers near Barbarian camps in my area and farmed them hard).

- What were your initial priorities?
Great Library and a religion. La Venta and Geneva solve the second problem and being on Prince solves the first.

- What tech path did you follow and why?
Hmm... Writing was pretty early (2nd tech, I believe) and after that, I completed some more Worker techs (Animal Husbandry, Trapping, Mining) before bee-lining the Research tech.

- What Social Policies did you choose?
Honour Opening, filled out Liberty, Piety to Reformation (still currently working on it), Patronage opening. I'd love to also shove some points into Commerce but we'll see.

- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?
Great Library for sure. After that, it was a game of "pick and choose". Oracle is always great, Forbidden Palace is required and I'm still considering others. And since this is Prince, they're pretty much mine.

- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith
It's the Songhai. That's like asking if I like breathing oxygen. Picked up Monasteries and Mosques (couldn't care less about happiness) and started building Holy Sites afterwards. Papal Primacy helps keep nearby CS (especially Sidon, La Venta and Geneva) on my side so religion is a great help.

- How did the policy restrictions affect your normal gaming style?
Rationalism is excellent so that kinda sucks but the fact that I'm aiming for a Diplomatic win messed with my style more than the restrictions.

What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
The idea was to generate a lot of faith with Desert Folklore, buy two happiness buildings in every city and spend the rest on Great People later.

When our Warrior promoted to Spearman on turn five the game changed. Suddenly we were able to demand tribute from the City States which we did abundantly. With the extra gold we bought a Worker and a Settler, and it didn't stop there.

Where did you settle and what did you build first?
Settled Gao on the hill at the mountain, which looked perfect. The usual build order with Monument, Scout, Granary. We could skip the Shrine since we had our pantheon already on turn2! After the Granary we needed some troops though to deal with all the Barbarians, so the Great Library had to wait a bit.

How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
Well, there was room for lots of fast-growing cities, but struggling somewhat for production, so Metal Casting became a key technology.

What were your initial priorities?
The idea was to set up a good-sized empire. We stopped at nine cities.

1 Gao (river, mountain, 2x Gold, 2x Cotton, 2x Incense, Horses, 2x Iron)
23 Tombouctu (nw) (coast, river, mountain, King Solomon's Mines, Crab, Silver, Iron)
39 Jenne (sw) (coast, river, mountain, 2x Cotton, Ivory)
47 Taghaza (s) (lake, 2x Iron)
48 Tondibi (w) (coast, mountain, 2x Copper)
50 Kumbi Saleh (ne) (river, Cotton)
55 Kukia (far s) (coast, Whales)
59 Walata (ne) (coast, river, Cotton)
63 Tegdaoust (sw across the water, no desert) (coast, Salt, Marble, Iron)

Population = 88 (20, 14, 11, 7, 10, 8, 5, 8, 5)

What tech path did you follow and why?
Utiility techs first, then Writing, Optics, Currency (for Petra), Civil Service, Metal Casting, Education, Astronomy.

8 Pottery
13 Animal Husbandry
17 Mining
22 Calendar
22 Bronze Working (ruins)
26 Writing
30 Trapping
32 Archery
34 The Wheel
34 Philosophy (Great Library)
36 Sailing
39 Optics
41 Masonry
43 Mathematics
48 Currency
51 Construction
55 Engineering
58 Horseback Riding
61 Drama and Poetry
66 Civil Service
69 Iron Working
72 Metal Casting
75 Theology
79 Education
81 Compass
85 Education

What Social Policies did you choose?
With Rationalism out of the picture, we're looking for the smaller science bonuses in the Patronage and Commerce trees. We wanted the Piety bonuses first though, to get most of our faith buildings when they're still cheap. The extra culture from the Mud Pyramid Mosques is most welcome.

9 Liberty
14 Citizenship
24 Republic
35 Collective Rule
45 Piety
56 Organized Religion
62 Patronage (Oracle)
65 Philanthropy
70 Scholasticism
77 Representation
81 Commerce

What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?
Quite a few. Thanks to Petra and with Tombouctu settled early at King Solomon's Mines, we quickly had two strong production centers.

34 Great Library (Gao)
40 Temple of Artemis (Gao)
54 Petra (Gao)
62 Oracle (Gao)
62 Great Lighthouse (Tombouctu)
65 Pyramids (Gao)
71 Chichen Itza (Gao)
77 National College (Gao) (rushed)
79 Colossus (Tombouctu)
80 Great Mosque of Djenne (Gao)

Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith
Obviously.
We managed to spread the faith naturally to most cities. A single Missionary strategically converted rim cities Jenne and Kukia. Only Tegdaoust, across the water, still lacks faith buildings. We'll have a first Holy Site on the tundra near Walata next turn.

2 Desert Folklore
30 Islam: Pagodas, Tithe (Gao)
45 Islam enhanced: Mosques, Religious Texts

How did the policy restrictions affect your normal gaming style?
There was no reason to wait with the Oracle or to time entering the Renaissance. Skipping the Tradition opener was not that bad because all cities generate plenty of culture. Some key tiles were bought though.