TSG111 Opening Action

Welcome to the TSG111 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?
- How did you use your free Great Scientist?
- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?
- 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?
- Has it been peaceful? Did anyone start a war?
- Did you go for early Faith to gain an advantage? If so, how?

Hi,
I've followed TSG for quite a while (since the TSG 90-something, I believe) and have attempted a number of games, but was either bored or had a poor start that discouraged me from finishing. Anyway, this one's for realz

Turn 101, so far so good (surprisingly). Second place in literacy, got Great Library and Hagia Sophia. Missed Hanging Gardens.





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

I've played 3-4 games with the same settings before that to get accustomed to Immortal (I usually play one level below) and try out different strategies with Babylon since I haven't played it before. So, it was definitely doable. I've never been able to get GL --- but I've never had such a good start either. I played tall, relying on population and great scientist generation for progress. Despite the early military advantage with the bowmen, the strategy that seemed to work best was being friendly with everybody and entering lots of research agreements. The problems I've had before had to do primarily with happiness and, later, high tourism from other ideologies --- so I'm going to focus on culture generation more now. Or, maybe, just try to win earlier

- How did you use your free Great Scientist?

I built an academy on one of the non-river grassland spots. Had to wait a few turns -- but was okay since I needed the hammers to complete GL (boy, was I nervous about missing it!). To be honest, I think it's a no-brainer what to do with him: the academy so early on tends to boost research productivity 2- to 3-fold. But it's better not to compromise growth --- so putting the academy on a grassland seems like the only choice.

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?

No, settled the same turn.

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

Moved my warrior NE to scope out the extent of the desert. Looked like just 3 desert tiles that I thought could be tolerated without Petra, so I settled in place.

I built a scout first because of ruins and also to get the lay of the land. Then a worker. Then a shrine to try and get Earth Mother. Then GL.

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

I had a pretty good idea of the starting position from the announcement. So, I decided to have a very tall capital and invest in GL and NC early, before making a new settler.

- What were your initial priorities?

Great Library, for sure. And balancing hammers and food.

- What tech path did you follow and why?

Beeline to writing, mining, calendar to get philosophy later. Then beeline to mathematics in hope of getting HG. But didn't really have time to build it.

- What Social Policies did you choose and why?

Tradition -- because I wanted to play tall. Also helps with wonders.

- Has it been peaceful? Did anyone start a war?

Very peaceful. All neighbours are far away. No wars at all. Noone has even been plotting so far.

- Did you go for early Faith to gain an advantage? If so, how?

Yes. I've got an early shrine. Then went Earth Mother to get faith from the two salt tiles I've already been working. Got the second religion in the world (Islam) from Hagia Sophia: Interfaith Dialogue (+science for proselytizing) and Pagodas (wanted to get some help with happiness). The game plan with religion is to buy great scientists late game (obviously, I'll be getting Rationalism).


Overall, I'm quite optimistic about the game: even with Assyria and Korea in the picture.

KissMyAxe said:

Hi,
I've followed TSG for quite a while (since the TSG 90-something, I believe) and have attempted a number of games, but was either bored or had a poor start that discouraged me from finishing. Anyway, this one's for realz

<snip>

Overall, I'm quite optimistic about the game: even with Assyria and Korea in the picture.

Click to expand...

Welcome to CivFanatics and GoTM.

Glad you decided to join the fun and best wishes for victories in future.

Is you forum name what you tell the AI players?

Ah Nebuchadnezzar, my good old friend
The starting area was perfect, though I would have liked to get that deer, but I settled in place. First build order was scout, monument, shrine (got pop from a ruin), granary, worker, library, settler and NC before settling by the truffles (had to block Assyria from settling there first). Then I went for another settler and made a city by the Mesa. Got HG which was a surprise, but it helped ALOT.

Atm I'm already in lead with tech so things are looking up

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
I was very curious about the layout of the land. It turned out to be a little stretched out to my taste but manageable.

- How did you use your free Great Scientist?
Academy by the river with forest, though i should have planted it away from the river for extra food later.

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?
Nah, settled on the first turn in place.

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
Settled on the first turn in place and went for a scout.

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
Because of the wheat and salt, I decided to rush NC.

- What were your initial priorities?
To get the layout of the land and grow the capitol.

- What tech path did you follow and why?
Writing of course hehe.

- What Social Policies did you choose and why?
Tradition for playing tall with 3-4 cities and HG. Best suited for Babylon.

- Has it been peaceful? Did anyone start a war?
So far it has been quiet, though Assyria seems to want my lands so I expect a war soon. Let's change history.

- Did you go for early Faith to gain an advantage? If so, how?
As I got population from a ruin I did go for an early shrine and Earth Mother pantheon. It helped me get a religion and all the good beliefs.

Excited to play more of this game, will try to beat my personal best.
Good luck to you all!

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
My recent strategy is to maximize science with Great Library and National College, helped along with high population from Hanging Gardens and cargo ships. I was thinking, "I wonder if I can get the Great Library in time."

- How did you use your free Great Scientist?
Academy. I looked at the bulb yield and it was basically nothing.

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?
I just checked to see if the water to the south was usable ocean. It was!

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
Right where I started. I produced a scout in the hopes that he would find writing early, but he found mining instead.

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
I've kept my cities on the coast so I can send my capital some apples on cargo ships. I was going to put a city next to that mountainous natural wonder but it might have annoyed Assyria so I stayed away.

- What were your initial priorities?
Like I said, I wanted to get the Great Library, but someone beat me to it by 4 turns. Grr.

- What tech path did you follow and why?
I headed straight to universities because without the Great Library there were no scientist specialists so the boost in Great Scientist generation was wasted.

- What Social Policies did you choose and why?
Tradition! It helped with population.

- Has it been peaceful? Did anyone start a war?
Not with me. I've stayed away from Ashurbanipal and he's left me alone.

- Did you go for early Faith to gain an advantage? If so, how?
I built a shrine early on so I could get to Earth Mother and get some faith for a Great Prophet, but just before I got one someone took the last religion. Grr. I'm not fast enough for these immortals.

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

Tried a test game on same settings and managed to get Great Library so thought I would try that again unless something more compelling suggested itself.

- How did you use your free Great Scientist?

Planted free GS on river/grassland/forest tile once Mining came in to chop the forest, didn't actually work the academy until GL was complete.

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?

Moved the warrior to the gold hill to see if there was any reason to move the settler. Didn't want to waste any turns as the start looked pretty good anyway and this is immortal.

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

Settled in place and built scout, worker and most of a Monument before switching to Great Library.

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

Considered long and hard about whether to go for GL, HG or Petra given that there are desert tiles nearby, or some combination of all three. Decided to stick to the initial plan of completely prioritising science (GL, NC and Oracle) rather than try something I was less sure about.

- What were your initial priorities?

Get the Great library then National College before settling some more cities before the space goes, as it turned out this was not an issue as we are quite far away from everyone else.

- What tech path did you follow and why?

Bee-lined Writing for the free GS (see above) and GL.
Mining for the salt and to chop the forests.
Risked switching from GL to complete monument for one turn so that we researched Calendar on same turn as GL finished - sweet
Chose Philosophy for NC.

- What Social Policies did you choose and why?

Was expecting that other civs would be closer and we would be fighting for space to expand so went Liberty, as it turned out there is loads of space, bah.

Chose free worker (after building one) to chop all the nearby forests to ensure GL, then left-hand side to get settlers going once GL was complete.

- Has it been peaceful? Did anyone start a war?

Very peaceful. Again looks like there is plenty of space for all the civs met so far (all but one at ~T100) so little or no aggression due to proximity. In fact we already have two DoFs.

- Did you go for early Faith to gain an advantage? If so, how?

No, ignored religion completely, I think this will turn out to be a bad thing

Fun game so far. Deciding where to settle my 2nd/3rd cities was altered slightly by jockeying for position with Assyria's roaming settler. I had to settle Akkad two turns before NC was finished in my capital in order to prevent Assyria from settling near Grand Mesa, which forced me to drop 400g on a library in a 1pop city, oh well! I got that NC up early. I finished GL around turn 40 and managed to get HG after NC, which was quite lucky I think.

Empire overview as of turn 105:


Capital:


Tech Tree:




- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
Basic plan was to be peaceful and study!

- How did you use your free Great Scientist?
I settled the plains/river tile to clear the forest and increase production for GL ASAP.

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
I settled in place. Scout --> Monument --> GL --> worker --> granary --> shrine

- What tech path did you follow and why?
pottery --> writing --> (mining from ruin) --> animal husbandry --> rush philosophy

- What Social Policies did you choose and why?
Decided to go Tradition, although Liberty would have been quite nice due to the abundance of land and observatory locations. Luxuries are slightly lacking perhaps...

- Has it been peaceful? Did anyone start a war?
Peace in the realm!

- Did you go for early Faith to gain an advantage? If so, how?
I built a late shrine, snagged Earth Mother pantheon.

What a map: so much salt and so much quality space. The salt is great; but the space is a bit of an issue. It is hard to get much from the AIs in terms of workers or Caravans. At t100 I've got 4 very solid cities and a settler who will found in a turn or two.

Locations are very similar to RyAnne's. Except the truffle city is 1S, and my fourth is 1N of Fes. Having such spread out locations is costing more than I would like.

T100:

Pop: 15/10/7/6/Settler
Tech: Edu in 1 turn
Workers: 9. All but 1 hard built or bought.
No religion or wonders.

I don't usually play Immortal, but enough to know that without enough military units I get destroyed around turn 60. In my practice games the bowmen weren't enough to defeat the neighbours. Instead my strategy is to build the Walls of Babylon so that the neighbours will come to conquer and break themselves on the walls. Then I can counter-attack.

I settled in place. My Great Scientist was rushed and planted. That helped a lot. I've been first or second in science most of the game. First I built a scout who, with the warrior, found 5 ruins by turn 26: map, barb camps, one free technology (Animal Husbandry) and two culture boosts.

After discovering the mountain range I went north to get fortified before Korea or Morocco could attack. My second city was south of the Grand Mesa. My third was on the horses on the river just to the north of that. I planned to be beside another mountain for another observatory but I forgot I had to settle four tiles away.

Technology focus twitched between rushing science and upgrading the army. Policies were full Freedom followed by Patronage, except that I opened Tradition for the city growth.

So far, to my disappointment, no one has started a war. I was slow building faith but my pantheon was God-King on turn 52 where in practice I often missed it at turn 20. Three religions have started by turn 94 so I'll be lucky to get one of the last two. I'll need to try for the Hagia Sophia. I did get the Oracle.

Since I'm playing some liberty wide games lately let me extend it to this Gotm.

I went for my standard way of playing Liberty opening with 7 cities and rushing NC with the GE (because capital had poor production on this map). Engineering before philo then metal casting then education (around turn 108).

The AI were shy on the wonders. Got a late Mausoleum and a late ToA. I also was able to keep Oracle up to turn 120 for secularism. I got some lame late religion that I probably have trouble spreading but at least the capital will benefit from the +15% production out of it.
Wonders:
Babylon: ToA, Chichen Itza, Oracle
Akad: Hagia Sophia
Nippur: Mausoleum

Screenshot at secularism:


- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
n/a
- How did you use your free Great Scientist?
Settle of course
- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?
no, start is good
- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
on spot. Scout x2 Monument Worker Shrine Bowman Settlers x5
- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
Pangea gotta have 2 scouts minimum. Hard to get worker so gotta build one myself. Still managed to steal some
- What were your initial priorities?
Scout and find potential expansion spots
- What tech path did you follow and why?
Luxuries + Strategic then Aqueducts then NC then Workshop. Because I like it.
- What Social Policies did you choose and why?
Liberty. Because I'm free.
- Has it been peaceful? Did anyone start a war?
Peaceful. Bribed yellow guy to look elsewhere.
- Did you go for early Faith to gain an advantage? If so, how?
Faith is bad on the map. I got a pantheon and some really late last religion but it won't do a lot.

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

Where to settle. Also I'd like to try going wide for once, which this map turned out to be perfect for.

- How did you use your free Great Scientist?

Planted it next to the river.

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?

No, settled t1.

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

In place as the warrior didn't reveal anything too exciting elsewhere.
Build order was: Scout - scout - shrine - monument - granary - bowman - bowman - settler

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

Lots of room to expand, so after my first settlement near Assyria to box them in, rush bought a library in my 2nd city to build NC quickly (finished it t67). Then pumped out settlers, workers and units in my capital.

- What were your initial priorities?

Scouting and stealing a worker from Assyria (t22).

- What tech path did you follow and why?

Pottery - writing (for GS) - archery (for UU) - mining - BW (both for tile improvements) - Philo (for NC)

- What Social Policies did you choose and why?

Full Tradition

- Has it been peaceful? Did anyone start a war?

Except for me stealing a worker from Assyria, it's been peaceful. Made peace with them soon after. I put a bowman near their borders in case I notice any suspicious siege towers coming my way.

- Did you go for early Faith to gain an advantage? If so, how?

Yeah, got earth mother t37. Should get a religion in a couple of turns (I'm at t100 now).


So far I settled 4 cities, with a 5th settler heading for the spot between gold and mountain on the coast, east of cap.

2nd city in the jungle near Assyria
3rd city east of natural wonder, next to river and mountain
4th city to the NE, with access to dyes, gems and salt (bought some tiles to make sure I get the gems before the CS gets them)

plans for the next couple turns:
- settle city on the coast (all other cities except the cap are inland so far)
- found a decent religion
- get education (due in about 10 turns) and unis
- beeline astronomy
- get a couple ships
- scout the seas in case there's a good 6th city spot on some island
- get sea trade routes running for food in capital and coast city

What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
I thought it would be an intresting game considering its my first time doing a science victory and playing on immortal.All I really stragegised before the game is to get writing and rush education for the science agreements,

- How did you use your free Great Scientist?
I built an academy on the tile by the ocean with one food.

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?
I swapped my warrior and my settler.

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
I settled were the two salts and wheat were.
- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
I didn't really take that into consideration

- What were your initial priorities?
To explore and find other civs and citystates.
- What tech path did you follow and why?
I reasearched everything in the classical era and now I'm rushing education.
- What Social Policies did you choose and why?
I have not really been going into the social polices I went for liberty for the expansion
but I am mainly waiting for the rennicance era for rationalsation

- Has it been peaceful? Did anyone start a war?
Its been prety peaceful, my empire is friends with everyone except russia, china and japan ( who I want to be friends with for the science.
h

Welcome to CivFanatics and GOTM.

Best of luck in your game.

This is my second GOTM (after 112, which I played first, because I've seen first).

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

As it happens with me in Immortal and Deity difficulty levels, I kind of expected to be left behind by the other powers in terms of science and strenght in the early game. So I resorted to keep optimizing growth and gold and to keep a minimum but effective deffensive army to withstand the attacks from my greedy neighbours (especially Ashrubanippal). This will help me in the future, because the only way to revert things will be by conquering at least to major capitals (to get their Wonders), but I'll rather do so responding to aggression, so I can keep most of the other civs my friends (I need this for commerce).

- How did you use your free Great Scientist?
Built an Academy in Grassland, as I always do with them.

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?
No. I don't see the point in wasting precious inicial turns doing that.

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
Where my Settler was in the first turn. I built a Monument.

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
I was looking for resources, so I could couter the happiness penalties and get some gold by selling the stuff I didn't need. My second city was close to the Jungle north, my third next to the Natural Wonder (good food, resources and natural defenses), and a fourth city next to the Cotton resource to the east, next to Morrocco.

- What were your initial priorities?
Food, culture and science in this order.

- What tech path did you follow and why?
The cheapest I could get. With attention to wonders, but I missed most of them.

- What Social Policies did you choose and why?
I opened Tradition, Liberty and Honour, to get culture. Then I finished the Liberty group (to save money and production). Then I opened the Patronage group. I believe that city-states will help me, as the game advances, to rever things.

- Has it been peaceful? Did anyone start a war?
Ashrubanippal eventually attacked, as expected. I was weaker (in terms that their units were more advanced, but I managed to repel him to his territory). I will keep the war going forever (since I can't take any of his cities - the very fortified capital is the one next to me), but I can use the siege I forced on him to strenghten my ranged units (the aim is to get 2 or 3 of them with better range and double shots). Morrocco, although my friend, covets my lands to the east so I'm might be forced to make peace with Assiria, in order to defend against them. But if it happens, I'll will transfer my eternal siege to him. By the way, I keep pillaging Assiria and their trade routes to weaken them and get some money.

- Did you go for early Faith to gain an advantage? If so, how?
I tried to. Got a Religion with good bonuses, but I'm not sure it will have much future.

I am reviving this thread with a bit of necromancy

I decided to play some of the earlier GOTM for fun. Even though the competition is over, I am submitting my status report according to the rules. I played the first 100 turns on Sunday, and should finish the game up this weekend.

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
This is a standard science victory game. I want to get about 6 tall cities and maximize my GS points. I am shooting for an end game of bulbing the finishing technologies in about 30 turns after Plastics. Hopefully I can finish in under 200 turns.

- How did you use your free Great Scientist?
An early Academy is the only way to go with Babylon. I made the mistake of moving him to one of the Marsh tiles, forgetting that I need to have Masonry before I can build on Marsh and had to take some extra time to move him back to a grassland tile.

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?
Not before settling. I moved my initial warrior and then decided to settle in place.

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
I settled in place and built Scout -> Monument -> Shrine -> Scout -> Library IIRC. Once I got Collective Rule, I expanded to 3 cities quickly, followed by a 4th when happiness allowed.

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
The AI players were not very close, so the early game was very peaceful. This allowed me to expand much easier. Having a lot of salt is very nice.

Here is what my little empire looks like on turn 100:


- What were your initial priorities?
Scouting, getting a few units to defend/hunt barbarians, starting a religion, and expanding to 4 cities.

- What tech path did you follow and why?
I beelined for Writing of course. After that I filled out the early production techs and researched Philosophy to get my NC up in Babylon. I beelined Education next and then went for Astronomy. I am now filling the lower path Medieval Techs on my way to Printing Press to get the World Congress started. The sooner I finish WF, the sooner I will fill out Rationalism with my GWs.

- What Social Policies did you choose and why?

I am going for a blended Tradition/Liberty strategy. I opened Tradition, took Liberty to Collective Rule and Citizenship and now I am finishing Tradition. As I expanded rather quickly to 4 cities, happiness has been a limiting factor, so delaying the Tradition finisher a bit is okay. I was also able to get Amphitheaters in my first four cities before Legalism, so I will get 4 free Opera Houses and a faster Hermitage. I will save the Liberty finisher for a free GS at the end of the game.

- Has it been peaceful? Did anyone start a war?

Assyria has a tall capital and has managed to build both Hanging Gardens and Great LIghthouse. Since I was able to nab Terracotta Army, I decided to take his capital.

- Did you go for early Faith to gain an advantage? If so, how?

I built a Shrine relatively early in my first two cities. This allowed me to nap Earth Mother (a lot of salt on this map) and also to found a religion with Tithe and Pagodas as my beliefs. Once I enhance my religion, I will work on getting Pagodas in all of my cities to help with happiness.