TSG101 Opening Actions

Welcome to the TSG101 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.

- 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 and why?
- Did you find your Natural Wonder first?
- Did you use Faith to gain an advantage? If so, how?

This opening action past covers thru turn 87. (I'd since played to 112) :

I sent the starting warrior and was first to the world to discover

This effectively gave me a second starting capital near there when I cash rushed a settler with that 500 gold I received.

My first unit built was a Scout, but since I initially sent it

Standard Pottery first in techs. I was forced to delay Literacy in favor of Trapping for happiness reasons. Fishing also became a higher than normal priority post Literacy.

Standard Tradition social policy.

I built a Shrine early for Desert Faith as I'll quickly work more than 8 desert tiles between my first two cities. (2nd to Pantheon, was first but picked the standard really bad pantheon choice the AI always does) I used Desert Faith + to be first to found. (Tithe + Pagoda). I also was first to enhance, choosing Religious Texts + Mosques.

Sinaitown (thanks for that BTW <3) built Library while Madrid built GL (turn 38, late but hey its Emperor), then NC while Sinaitown hard built Petra. Became One with Nature (+8 faith per NW is godly) and snuck past Austria to settle the amazing Marble/Salt/Gold/Pigs Mt. Kilimanjaro coastal tile. 2 more cities near Cotton/Gold and Chocolate/Copper, planning Gems/Wine 6th city.

Cranking out Pagodas and Mosques every few turns, Liberty to Piety for intended Sacred Sites victory. Madrid production stank until Lighthouse since I chopped a couple forests. May need to settle some bad cities to maximise tourism.

Horseman just lucked into Conquistador gear at ancient ruins t128. Nice.

I made a mis-click and bought a worker when I meant to buy a settler to settle Sinai. That set me back a little bit.

OK, for this new year i should post reports for the GOTM i play rather than just play them. So let's go.

leif erikson said:

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

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Settled on spot, locked citizen on the stone and queued 3 scouts. I wanted to find those Natural Wonders.

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

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Terrain didn't affect much. Raging Barbs did (more later)

- What were your initial priorities?

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Find the closest natural wonder. My initial plan was, if possible to get some faith, either directly from NW or with One with Nature and go Piety for Sacred Sites. This would require lots of cities so i also wanted to get NC up fast too.

- What tech path did you follow and why?

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As i wanted religion, i went pottery first then Writing for Great Library in order to get to NC as fast as possible before expanding.

- What Social Policies did you choose and why?

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An early culture ruin before i could see my first NW forced me into a detour from Piety. I didn't want to invest into piety if i couldn't get a religion fast enough to get 2 religious buildings. I opened Liberty as it would, at worst help me settle some NW if i miss the 500 gold, and at best help me keep a large empire for Sacred Sites

- Did you use find your Natural Wonder first?

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Yep, perfect timing when cap grow to size 2. Almost like it was placed there on purpose

- Did you use Faith to gain an advantage? If so, how?

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Early religion, took Initiation Rites and Mosques. Then Pagodas and Messiah. Early gold helped me buy stuff, Buildings helped me for culture and Happiness and of course Sacred Sites can be quite strong on such a map. I took Messiah rather than a passive spread because i don't really want my religion to spread too much to AIs (i already have a hard time not converting them) so i don't give them more culture, and this way i will have more Holy Sites for gold and Culture.

I scouted west with my warrior as south was full of jungle/marches and east was coast. Quickly got 2 ruins, first turned him into a very useful spearman, 2nd gave me culture earlier than i would have liked, but in the end starting with Liberty proved beneficial.
First scout followed the coast to the south-east (found a gold ruin on the way) then north east around the bay. Found Sinai T8 just as my cap grew to size 2
I bought a settler immediately and brought my spearman back to escort it. Scout turned into an archer and pushed further east, past Portugal, met Dido, met some CS, found Uluru (100 gold) and got locked there, killing a few barbs and razing a camp for 2 CS.
2nd scout followed the coast north-west, past Austria, established contact with Yerevan, found Kilimanjaro for 100 gold and got killed by barbs trying to navigate around a camp to the west
3rd scout explored the jungle, met a number of CS and Russia and got killed by barbs near Brussels but after seeing the CS and NW on the small peninsula.

All those NW gave me enough happiness not to worry about Luxuries for a while fortunately as i couldn't steal any Worker with my Spearman busy escorting settlers and all the barbs causing workers to fall back to towns continually. I went Liberty until the free settler and sent him to north to Kili with my spearman back from Sinai as an escort.

Second city built a Granary while working Sinai then worked the wheat to grow and Sinai again after growth. Got first pantheon and took One With Nature as i was planning to settle Kilimanjaro. 24 faith for one tile is huge. I could get a religion and buy a missionary to follow the Liberty settler. Converting 3rd city and Yerevan gave me enough gold to buy a Library in 3rd city (2nd hard built one after granny) so i could start building NC soon after bulbing Philosophy. Took some time thought as i still had no worker at that time I started buying some with gold from CS conversions a bit later.

Finally got NC somewhere near T80 and decided it was time to really expand. Built 4 more settlers in cap. I had enough faith/turn to get a Missionary for every 2 settler and buy the Mosque than Pagodas in new cities almost as soon as they were settled so it didn't slow my culture too much and the gold gave me more workers. I was in a natural golden age that helped me pump those settlers very fast. I settled near Austria and China to secure the most contested land but the barbs really helped me delay the AI. Will get more cities near Monaco and in spots i kept between my second wave cities. There is one AI i still couldn't meet. I guess it's to the west, past Theodora where my 2nd scout should have gone if not killed on the way. Now will have to negotiate an Open Border with the most friendly AI, could be worst.

I am glad I played a few test starts with these settings and did some research on the culture victory. During that I stumbled upon Sadato's description of a strategy for a quick culture victory using Sacred Sites. In my test games this proved to be a powerful approach, except with an isolated start. But I also noticed that instead of the snakelike structures that the fractal map setting is supposed to produce, in most cases the world turns out to be one single land mass.

I settled in place and started building two scout units. Exploration is everything! I found a decent amount of ancient ruins, one of which upgraded my warriors to spearmen. That upgrade proved to be useful, it won me a very early cultural city state ally. Yerevan had a steady inflow of barbarian units and it weakened them sufficiently with city bombardments for me to be able to kill them off in a single turn. Actually the spearmen were supposed to abduct some Austrian workers. That never happened, but I think the early culture was more help than an early worker.

In fact, I did not steal a single worker. I hard built my first worker instead and soon after liberated two more from barbarian camps. One of these was a former Austrian settler, so it seems the barbarians helped me a lot. I think the loss of a settler was a big setback for Austria, my closest neighbour. I think that meant a significant lesser threat of a war with all the waste of time and resources that goes with it. I did build an occasional bowman, to lessen the chance of a neighbour thinking that Spain was weak. So far there has not been a single war. Is war really a masculine thing only?

I quickly discovered two natural wonders. I was the first the discover mount Sinai, very welcome so close by. I had the second pantheon and the first religion, thanks to Barcelona harvesting all the faith from mount Sinai. Choosing a pantheon belief took some thought, but I am very glad I picked One With Nature. By now (around turn 110) I have settled close to three world wonders so that means an extra 24 faith per turn (I had to look it up: yes, Spain's natural wonder bonus also applies to the faith gain from One With Nature).

I had a good game so far, the only bad thing is that I lost a scout to barbarians on the other side of the world.

I think I am safe from war now, I have enough units and quite a few city state allies. Now all that is left to do is spam some more cities and soon the whole world will be listening to Flamenco music and taking afternoon naps!

And now it's question time..

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
In place, scout, scout, shrine
- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
I knew I had to scout fervently.
- What were your initial priorities?
Scout, find ruins and natural wonders, but also get an early pantheon.
- What tech path did you follow and why?
No beelines this time. I will not build the national college. Instead I just researched what was needed the most, like technologies for unlocking luxuries. I got writing from a ruin, by the way.
- What Social Policies did you choose and why?
Started Tradition, for a quick boost to the capital and some starting culture. Then Piety, Organized Religion, Mandate of Heaven and then straight to Reformation for sacred sites.
- Did you use find your Natural Wonder first?
I am not sure I understand the question, but I was the first to discover two natural wonders up till now.
- Did you use Faith to gain an advantage? If so, how?
Yes, that is the point of the Sacred Sites strategy: every building bought with faith brings in two faith per turn. In my case those buildings are mosques and pagodas. The nice thing is that happiness keeps increasing too, keeping up with the growth of the empire.

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
I settled in place

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

It ended up being tight on space. Once I had gotten my second settler, China had already settled the cotton area. So my third city settle to the west of Beunos Aries by the copper and horses and coco. My last city was to the east of the CS, north of the gems, but Lisbon's boarders were already expanding like mad.

- What were your initial priorities?

Find the early natural wonders, and establishing my religion.

- What tech path did you follow and why?

Getting some techs for improvements. Next would be to get some early tourism by getting the Parthenon. With settling Sinai, I found it important to get to Petra.

- What Social Policies did you choose and why?

Went full Tradition first, followed by Aesthetics. Wanted the growth required to hold specialists, and then make those specialists easier to get.

- Did you use find your Natural Wonder first?

I wouldn't say it was my wonder, but I was the first to get to Mt. Sinai.

- Did you use Faith to gain an advantage? If so, how?

It he first 100 turns, not sure. I picked Cathedrals to hold more artist great works. Going with One with Nature with Mt. Sinai would give me 24 fpt. This would help me pump out great people faster once finished Aesthetics.

First to discover Sinai, not the first to Kilimanjaro. Went with the left side of Liberty and then moved onto Piety. Lost a worker to barbarians, eventually got it back. Stole a worker from a city state and scored a former Portuguese worker from the barbs. Been playing a little sloppy, new to Spain and the BNW cultural victory.

Currently on turn 107, and LoooOOOOooving it! Decided to go for a Sacred Sites strategy with all the beautiful faith around (Mt. Sinai and Desert Folklore). Just finished Petra in Sinai city, and now I just spam cities and mosques/pagodas for the win!

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
Settled in place. Sent Warrior down and over through desert first.
Early Build: Scout, Shrine, Worker, Work Boat, Warrior; I was able to buy most of the early buildings. Didn't build monuments, waited for free ones.

My biggest mistake so far was not settling a good second city. Austria beat me to the good cotton/river spot by like 2-3 turns. I was literally walking over to it when they settled. Had to settle in the cocoa/copper spot south of Madrid. Eventually settled a third city in the desert mountains to take advantage of the good stuff while having Sinai in ring 3 for later GP spam.

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
I started scouting toward the desert, not necessarily because the desert was there but because I didn't want to cross the river near Madrid to slow down scouting with the warrior. As it turned out, I got lucky and found Sinai and the first CS on turn 3. Lots of things changed then.

- What were your initial priorities?
Scout. Bought a scout and built a scout so we had two scouts + warrior exploring by T6. Found 4 CSs first by T15 and found a couple more later by T30 still first.

Spend. With 600G by T5 (Sinai, CS, ruin) and more to follow, we bought many early buildings. Bought first granary at T10, bought first library at T29, bought second granary at city founding.

- What tech path did you follow and why?
Beeline to Philosophy for Oracle/NC
Round out early ones for tile improvement
Beeline to Currency for Petra
Round out again to find iron, etc..
Beeline to build guilds

Got lucky with free Mining and Sailing from ruins. Sailing was at a perfect time so I didn't have to stop Philosophy beeline to get crab.

- What Social Policies did you choose and why?
Full Tradition open, then couple in Patronage, Aethetics next

- Did you find your Natural Wonder first?
First to Sinai (T3), not first to Kilimanjaro (T30), first to Old Faithful (T39!) after having to plow through some barbs with upgraded archer scout to get there.

- Did you use Faith to gain an advantage? If so, how?
Probably not yet. Got T29 God-King pantheon thanks to ruin faith find. Also considered the pasture one. Didn't start religion until T122. Took tithe and religious art; will beeline to Hermitage. That will probably be the first advantage I use. Will promote faith in later game to spam some GPs.

Overall, I made a couple mistakes, but did OK job maximizing all the early gold. I got to about T150 with game progressing as planned.

Settled in place. BUild scout, monument, shrine.

Warior went SE to discover city states, but not Mt Sinai

I discovered it only on T60 or like that and it was my first Natural Wonder to find. I immediately settled my second city there from the free settler. Was first to religion and has (+1 culture plantations, pagodas, cathedrals, tithe and religios texts). Took the culture, because no good faith generating pantheon for cap and I did not find the Sinai location at that time.

But I have tons of culture. Opened tradition, then full liberty, piety for sacred sites. Will be Quite late to that so I plan for some mix sacred sites/war strategy. I took out most of Portugal with CB when Dido invited me to join. (Originally thought Theo invited me to attackea Austria, so when the war started after 10 turns of preparations, my army was on the oposite site of my empire).

I took one worker from China and one from Austria. Thanks to the barbs I am cranking tons of culture. They had a camp next to Buenos Aires, so I just kept killing the barbs. Got allied Monaco as well and Yerevan with trade routes and some cash.

A case of RTFM here but it's still a fun game nevertheless. I'm further on than t100 but trying to remember where I was then so if my science or culture sound impressive, they're not!

Did a one city NC for reasons below which has slowed me somewhat. Only concern at the moment is runaway Portugal, cash and happiness.

Where'd I settle?

On the sheep for an extra hammer. Was a while before I could settle anywhere else because Austria spam settled me - one city right next to the four horses so their border kissed mine.

Wanted faith for great musicians so rushed (and got) Stonehenge. Unlike everyone else, I didn't find Mt Sinai (until after turn 100). Scouts got massacred and borders shut down my options.

After Stonehenge build was units to deal with the Austrian plague. Took two cities and now have China on my doorstep and hostile.

Terrain and map settings?

For some reason I had "Terra" in my head instead of Fractal so went for the sailing techs... Didn't expand too quickly thinking I'd have a whole other continent to scrap over...

Initial priorities?

Deal with Austria...

Tech path?

Calendar for Stonehenge then detour to construction for Austria and back to the Science path beelining navigation for that other continent...

Social path?

Tradition. Opened Aesthetics waiting for Rationalism.

Natural wonder first?

No... Scouts got eaten by barbs then I went wonder-whoring (Stonehenge, attempted GL and ToA) then Austria spammed in my face and needed to be dealt with... Expo next to Vienna for coastal trade routes to Madrid then Petra. The frigate for finding the "other continent".

Oh, and had to bribe Austria to take her army elsewhere (China).

In short: No room for scouts...

Faith advantage?

Not yet but having finally settled Sinai and having Stonehenge and Desert FL and +2 per wonder it'll come with scientists and musicians to burn in the late game (literally).


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