New Player here! Help me out with some quick questions!

[rode92]

Hey guys!

So I just started playing this game. I am definetly a beginner. Only have like 3 completed games so far and like 15 experimental games. Been watching a lot of youtube games from FilthyRobot and Marbozir. And I have some questions:

1. What makes a good city location? If there is a lux resource, and some hills for mines, as well as a river to make civil service-farms around as well as benefit from hydroplants. Then thats a good location? And if it happens to be coastal, and next to a mountain for observatory then its even better? Im guessing you want to settle your capital on a hill for early game production? But other cities on flatland for windmills? Or allways on hills if possible?

2. I like going tradition. What are some good early game build orders? I've been playing around with scout-monument-shrine-worker-3x settler and throwing in an archer as needed. Thoughts on this?

3. As tradition, when do you expand from your fourth city?

Thanks in advance guys.

 

[SoonerJBD]

1. Lots of things make a good potential city location, and it depends a bit on what you are looking for. You ideally want one or two unique luxuries within the eventual max city radius, at least one close enough to work quickly. Growth is important, which means food. So bonus resources that give you access to lots of food are great. Rivers are good for growth because of the extra food and because of the additional buildings (water mill, garden, hydro plant). Next to a mountain is good because of the potential for an observatory or Machu Picchu. Deserts can be great if there are resources and the potential to build Petra. Natural wonders give huge bonuses that are like great people improvements. If you can settle a city next to a natural wonder that also has nearby luxuries or a nearby river, it is usually worth it. You also want a city that is defendable, so it helps if it has some natural choke points or if it is a reasonable distance to be connected via roads to your other cities (which also helps for city connection gold and caravans to bring food and lots of other things). You want a variety, as well. You want at least one coastal city, maybe two. You want a good science city, and a mountain helps. But you don't need all your cities on the coast or next to a mountain because you might need other things. You might need an early expansion to have access to iron if your Capitol doesn't. Later in the game, you might settle a city specifically for a strategic resource like coal or uranium.

 

[SoonerJBD]

2. Depending on map size and type, you probably want more than one scout. I usually go scout, scout, monument. Maybe even a third scout if it is a large Pangea. You want to find as many ancient ruins and natural wonders as you can and meet city states for the bonuses. This is particularly important for some Civs. The Shoshone get Pathfinders which can choose their ancient ruin bonus. This gives you a massive advantage in the early game, so you want to crank out several Pathfinders early. They will get you culture ruins for early social policies, free tech, free population, eventually a religion bonus that can help you get a Pantheon. They can also upgrade to Composite Bowman, which is a really big advantage in the early game. Spain needs additional Scouts because they get big gold rewards for finding natural wonders, especially if they are the first to discover.

 

[SoonerJBD]

3. Typically with Tradition, you aren't going to build more than four cities unless you need a late game expansion for a strategic resource or as a beach head on another continent for a domination strategy. The Tradition bonuses are designed to give you four "tall" cities, meaning they build all the necessary buildings and grow really big in population. Building more cities limits the potential population growth in your four core cities because of the extra drain on resources and happiness.

 

[rode92]

SoonerJBD Thank you so much for these in depth descriptions! They will help me out! And I feel that I am on some kind of good path anyway!

I will ease up on the mountaincraving if I allready have one mountain city for example. And I like that I dont have to worry about more than 4 good cities plus one to get like aluminum or what not, or a beach head as you said for domination games.

Will try these things out the next time I play, and also the build order.

Again, thank you so much mate! Good luck and have fun!