(0) 4000BC I see no reason to move the starting settler; this spot has two food bonuses, a freshwater lake for early commerce, and is on a river AND on the coast. Now... what to build in Moscow? I would usually build a worker, but we're going to be chasing religions initially, and we lack any worker techs beyond Mining. There's no point in having a worker who can't do anything, so let's start with a warrior while growing at max speed to size 2, at which point in time I'll start a worker. Research goes into Mysticism, natch. I am of course working the 3/0/1 cattle tile at Moscow.
(1) 3970BC We get a map from the nearby hut. Wonder if anyone will get a tech there (?) It reveals mostly desert to the southeast.
(2) 3940BC Ice and tundra to our north... looks like we're at the upper end of the pangaea.
(3) 3910BC Hello!
Americans to our east, so it would seem. Depending on the layout of the land, we may want to push early settlers in this direction. Need more map info still.
(4) 3880BC Borders expand at Moscow. I am reminded that you need Fishing tech to work lake tiles (d'oh! forgot that one) Oh well, not a lot we can do about it now.
(6) 3820BC Meet Temujin in the southeast. Looks like they're further past the Americans in that direction. Still seeing a lot of desert to our south.
(7) 3790BC Meet Tokugawa to the south; we actually run into his capital's borders, not just a unit. Another fun guy to hang out with.
(10) 3700BC Mysticism -> Meditation (13 turns). Moscow will grow to size 2 next turn. We spot a hut with our scout, let's hope for something good!
(11) 3670BC Hut has 76 gold inside, blah. Moscow at size 2; since we still haven't popped any worker techs from huts, I'm going to finish our warrior and only then swap to a worker. That's only in 6 more turns. (There's an American warrior walking around outside undefended Moscow, but fortunately the AI is programmed not to attack this early!)
(12) 3640BC Find Napoleon's borders CLOSE to the south. Just look:
Wow, we're all pretty packed in together here! But that should be fun.
Still need more map info to think about placing first settler.
(17) 3490BC Warrior -> SETTLER (changed my mind). There's no point in building a worker if we don't have the worker techs to do anything! Let's get another city out there ASAP instead, then backfill in workers afterwards. (Strange opening, but our tech choices dictated it!) Warrior heads out scouting to find out more of the local terrain.
(23) 3310BC Meet Bismarck in the west. More importantly, we found Buddhism!
Tough choice on what to research next; Fishing for work boats and to get the lake tile in play? AH for our cows? Polytheism for another religion? I opt for the long-term play and decide to chase Hinduism. Slow initial growth curve, but big eventual cultural payoff.
(28) 3160BC Lot of land down on a peninsula to the south. It's a shame we don't have Napoleon's more central starting position, but you play the hand you're dealt!
(29) 3130BC Moscow's borders expand to level 3. Being Creative + Buddhist founder sure is nice!
(30) 3100BC That's 30 turns; usually I would stop here, but we have 10 turns until finding out whether or not we land Hinduism. I HAVE to know that, so I'll play 40 to start. (Executive privilege has its advantages!
) Besides, not a whole lot going on right now anyway.
(31) 3070BC Meet Caesar in the extreme southwest. That's everyone then. Napoleon (south), Tokugawa (southeast), and Roosevelt (east) are our close neighbors. The others are more distant.
(39) 2830BC Looks like the gamble will pay off...
(40) 2800BC We land Hinduism, woohoo!
That gives us the first two religions, excellent. Now it's time to go back and start catching up on our growth curve, so I select Fishing next (Moscow's next build after the settler should be a work boat).
Situation: That was a bizarre opening, but this is a bizarre game. We don't have any workers, but we don't have any worker TECHS so that doesn't really hurt us too much, does it? We did get both of the early religions, and we've met all 6 AIs so we get discounts on techs they already know (such as Fishing, which will only take 7 turns to research). There is a settler due in 9 more turns; let's look at potential spots to put him:
The terrain around our start is not the best. In an ordinary game, the floodplains to the southwest might be the place to go, but for this variant we need to put pressure on the AIs immediately. (And we'll have to be careful, because they might not like that very much!) My preferred spot is the red dot above; only 4 tiles from Paris, grabbing ivory, stone, and dyes. (Don't discount those dyes; as a Creative civ, we'll be building half-cost theatres everywhere!) The one downside is a lack of food bonuses, but it would be a strong production center where we could possibly build some of the wonders we need. Green dot is another possibility, with a corn resource and a floodplains tile, but I think the location is weaker overall (too many desert tiles). I'm bringing our scout back east to get some further info over there, because the next settler will probably have to go in that direction. The warrior is also being recalled, and should guard our new city, wherever we put it.
I'd probably research Fishing, then Animal Husbandry for our cows, and then Masonry -> Monotheism. We don't want to delay chasing Judaism too long, or someone else will found it! (We want the religion to pop in city #2 if at all possible.) Let's have everyone play 20 turns for this first turnset, and then we'll go to 10 each on the second go-around.
Sullla
darkwatcher <<< UP NOW
LKendter <<< on deck
dathon
http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/12069/RB29a-BC-2800.zip
In order to knock out defenders serving as culture flip garrisons, our borders must expand to the point where they touch the enemy city. We can't ever enter enemy territory! (Although we can do so peacefully via Open Borders.)
![[party]](/images/smilies/partytime.gif "Party [party]")
