BTS - Spawning settlers

[R0gue]

I have read about several post about spawning settlers between (4000bc & 1AD) how often should you spawn the settlers, with conjuction with the economy. it seem you can't spawn loads as this effects to gold/research conversion. Any help would be appriciated.

[iggymnrr]

It'll depend on the map, economy and whether you intend on rushing someone. Often it is good to block off land and settle (backfill) it later when you can afford it.

[VoiceOfUnreason]

Originally Posted by R0gue

I have read about several post about spawning settlers between (4000bc & 1AD) how often should you spawn the settlers, with conjuction with the economy. it seem you can't spawn loads as this effects to gold/research conversion. Any help would be appriciated.

On a map which calls for a peaceful expansion, I'm usually expanding in two phases. The urgent part is usually about three cities, motivated by claiming (a) cities that can immediately help with more expansion (b) key strategic resources (c) important blocking locations, (d) locations so awesome that it will spoil my mood if the AI gets there first.

Second phase is purely a land grab, trying to ensure that I can claim more than my fair share of green.

Normally, I hold off on training the first settler until I reach the happy cap. Recently I've been experimenting with training that settler at pop 3. No firm convictions either way.

Size 3 is 22 + 24 = 46 surplus food on normal speed. If all you had was a green cow to work with, you should hit size 3 about 13 turns after the worker is trained, which suggests that you would start training the settler before 30. In a better food situation it might be sooner.

In my normal play, I'm not so quick as that.


The economy question is mostly a matter of ensuring that you discover the techs you need to dig yourself out of the hole before you fall into it. Roughly, making sure that you have Pottery and Writing before things get bad, and ensuring that you can make it to Currency without losing territory.

[Sian]

my feeling with trying around a bit is that Settler when you reach size 3, is the best, followed up by growing to cap and then from there start pumping out workers and settlers

the good part of building the settler at size 3 is that your worker have time to keep up, which its unlikely to be able to if you just keep growing asap to the cap

[admtanaka]

Although I'm certainly not sure if it is optimal in most situations, I usually train the settler at pop 4, so that if I need to whip it to ensure I get a specific spot, I can do so.

[Gwynnja]

Bronze Working and Animal Husbandry are two necessities in the ancient era revealing copper and horses, resources that will allow you to defend yourself from barbarians and rivals. I rarely wait for my capital to reach the happiness cap before I start building my first settler in order to ensure that I can snag strategic resources.

[Aoxomoxoa]

A very typical build order for me is worker>warrior>warrior>settler with a tech path of <whateverfoodresourceneedsimprovingorjuststraightt o>mining>bronzeworking and whipping the settler at the first opportunity, usually at pop. 2.

Obviously certain civs and maps can change this, but this seems to be the most common order I use.