If you're really going to put New York right on top of the copper, I suggest you move your capitol there as soon as the option is available.
I don't follow your reasoning here. To my mind the capital should be a commerce and hammer-rich city to take best advantage of Bureaucracy. Orange city on my dot map fits the bill; Yellow city will have the gems, yes, but that will be its only commerce; its flat tiles will need to be farmed so the hills can be worked. And cottages are better beside rivers, especially in the capital, each one contributing +1 extra
for bureaucracy to multiply.
Since you have an outstanding GP farm (with enough food that you can donate the Corn to the Copper city) and there appear to be so many civs close by, it looks like you won't have a whole lot of cities.
When you have lots of cities working lots of tiles, a Golden Age is an enormous benefit. When you have just a few cities, settled great people make a big difference because each city is a much greater percentage of your entire empire.
This map looks like a situation where settling Great People will be a nice option to consider - especially any Great Scientists, Prophets or Engineers. Those extra hammers are quite helpful on an Archepelago map. Just make sure they're settled in a city outside of Washington so that you can get the most benefit from them.
An interesting suggestion--if it turns out that I have a smaller number of cities than I'm used to, I'll definitely consider this. However, one of the key elements of the SE is using Great People to lightbulb techs, which you can in turn trade for techs you need (not to mention using Great Scientists this way to chase Liberalism). So it may depend on which GP I get.
I have certainly grown fond of settling Great Prophets; I often find that's the best use for them if you get one early on, especially if you have no holy city in need of a shrine, since the early religious techs they lightbulb are so cheap as to make using a Great Prophet to get one a waste. That changes when Theocracy is available, though. However, Lincoln seems an unlikely candidate to generate Great Prophets.
perhaps #2 could be settled 1E to get the fresh water bonus
Hmmm... tempting, because its 6 flood plains (2.4
) will be a bit of an issue throughout the game. Nevertheless, I'm in a good position in terms of health. In the early game alone, assuming I grab just the cities in my dot map, I'll have +6
, +8 with a granary. A grocer in mid-game will add three more
(from the wine, sugar, and spices), and a grocer will be a high priority in a high-commerce city. And I may be able to nab those bananas in the north and the fish from Huayna's captured capital for two more
, too.
By moving it 1E I trade 3 hills, 1 sugar, and 1 grassland for 1 plains, 1 hill, 2 grassland and 1 unworkable peak. So I lose a Calendar resource and a lot of good production tiles for a city I anticipate making the capital with its commerce and production bonus--which will make building health modifiers like an aqueduct and a grocer much faster. And hey--sugar! So no, I like orange city where it is.
EDIT: I notice Hodory is also advocating settling for the fresh water bonus (the only way in which his dot map differs from mine), so I'd like to hear some more debate on the placement of this city before making a final decision. I'd like to get it settled in either location in the next round so the AI doesn't beat me to it.
Sisiutil: I'm curious as to why you decided to settle in place as 1W seems a better GP farm location. To get the extra hammer? To avoid wasting a turn?
Mainly because this is a new level for me, so in addition to everything you mention, I'm probably going to play as conservatively as possible. That meant that I was already leaning toward accepting the starting position no matter what.
I agree that trading 1 clam, 2 water tiles, and 2 grassland for 3 flood plains, 1 riverside grassland, and 1 plains would have made it an even more powerful GP farm, but it would have cost me a turn I'm not sure I can afford on this level.
In addition, I'm a little more reluctant to move inland on an archipelago map, even with low sea levels. As you can see now, 1W would have crowded any city to the west, which is what I was afraid that move would do.
Another consideration is the defensive bonus from the plains hill. It's very rare for my capital to come under direct attack, but again, this is a new difficulty level. I've been warned that barbs appear sooner and more frequently, and that wars are more common, and that the AI techs ahead of you. All of which could result in Washington coming under attack.
***
Speaking of playing conservatively--has anyone else noticed the lack, thus far, of wonder-accelerating resources? I have yet to see marble, stone, gold, or ivory. (Though I do have copper for the Colossus and Statue of Liberty.) This also may not be a bad thing. When moving up a level, I think it's a good idea to go on a bit of a "wonder moratorium". Nevertheless, we'll see; much of the map has yet to be explored, and if I manage to pull off an early rush or two, who knows what the conquered territory may contain?