TSG 124 Opening Action thread

[Knowtalent]

Welcome to the TSG124 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?
- 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?
- When did you decide your VC?
- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?
- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith?
- Any surprises?

 

[zxcvbob]

I'm at turn 150. I don't think I'm posting anything spoiler-y here, if I am let me know and I'll edit it. I'm in last place for number of techs and number of policies, and I don't have the National College up yet. But I'm okay with that, I think I'll catch up soon. (the number of social policies worries me more than the number of techs) NC is next on my capital's build queue, after it finishes Circus Max. My expos are busy building keshiks.

Alexander declared war on me early, and attacked my closest expo with a sea of hoplites with a few archers mixed in. He had the largest military at the time and I had the smallest, but that city had walls and I had a Khan (from Honor) and I killed all his units and only lost one of mine (don't remember what.) He offered peace several times and I refused. I just upgraded my chariot archers to keshiks a few turns ago and I've started taking (and razing) Greek cities. Khans are awesome, they can run around along the front line supporting all the fighters, then drop back and be "super medic" to get wounded units back to the front quicker, all in the same turn.

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
I've been playing the Mongols and Vikings scenarios a lot recently, so figured I would take over my continent first, then decide what to do next.

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?
- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
I moved east and settled on the hill next to the mountain on turn 2, more for the extra production than for the mountain. Built a scout, then a shrine, monument, and worker. I met both Greece and Arabia right away; didn't meet Sweden for a long time, even tho' I could see their cities on the horizon. Finally sent a horseman over to say "hello". Early wars really limit your ability to scout.

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
Not enough unique luxuries to support more than 3 or 4 cities (I settled 4, mostly for the iron and horses and to have a coastal city) I've been struggling with happiness. I have multiple copies of several luxes, but the AI's don't have anything to trade for them (and no gold yet to buy them) That coastal city might have been a mistake, since I should be able to annex one later.

I only found 2 decent goody huts. Free technology (Pottery) and a weapons upgrade for my warrior. The rest were crap like "reveals evidence of barbarian activity" (duh! The barbarians are right on top of me) That spearman and my scout were both killed by barbs. But I got another spear from a CS.

- What tech path did you follow and why?
Animal Husbandry to reveal horses, then the lower row of techs to Bronze Working and Construction, then I bee-lined Chivalry. Then I came back for Philosophy, and started filling in the cheap ones like Sailing and Optics.

- What Social Policies did you choose?
Left side of Liberty, then Honor (left side first). I plan on filling both, then Commerce or Rationalism. Right side of Liberty might have made more sense.

- When did you decide your VC?
I don't know for sure, but probably domination. My goal right now is to exterminate Alex.

- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?
First wonder was Stonehenge, then Pyramids and MoH. I picked up Machu Picchu with a GE. That's probably all the wonder for a while unless I get another engineer.

- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith?
My pantheon was God-King and I got that as soon as I could (built shrine before monument or granary) for the early boost. I've been spending faith on pagodas for the happiness. The religion spread on its own pretty fast, now Greece's religion is pushing back; all the more reason to exterminate him. I stopped buying pagodas long enough to get a 2nd GP and enhanced my religion. G-K, Tithe, Pagodas, Religious Texts, and I don't remember the other follower belief.

- Any surprises?
The barbarians kicked my butt early on, even tho' there weren't that many of them (I opened Honor for my 4th policy instead of my usual 2nd.) They just played well; would jump out of the shadows and surround my scout, or I was trying to clear a camp with a spearman and it spawned 2 new units just as I was about to take it and they killed him. Then when I was ready to take them on with archers and horses and Honor, they disappeared cuz the AI's spammed cities and filled in the map.
Also the pace feels like epic for some reason rather than standard; that's probably because I've been playing those fast scenarios lately.

 

[strake]

Turn 135 or so. Things are going ok, I managed a solid 3 city tradition core, but I'm having trouble deciding what my goal is.

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
My initial theory was to go for a strong science core, and pick a non-domination victory after seeing how the first 150 turns played out.

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?
I did, I saw the hint of shore line in the fog, and spent a couple turns checking to see if there was an interesting coast option.

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
I settled on the coast, on the south side of the mouth of the river. That moved the wheat to the 2nd ring, so I bought that as soon as I found my first city state, The location is a little light on hills, but otherwise I've liked it. I think I built scout scout shrine granary settler to start. Dropped the 2nd city west along the coast, and did cargo ships after the libraries.

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
Large map, and a few civs less than normal on that map type made me want to do plenty of scouts early, and made me think I should be able to be relaxed about getting a 3rd and 4th city out.

- What were your initial priorities?
Since I had built on the coast, I really wanted to get a 2nd coastal city established quickly for at least 1 cargo ship back to the capital.
Otherwise, scout, take a stab at a late GL, and get my NC built and a religion started.

- What tech path did you follow and why?
Pottery - Horses - Calendar - Writing - Mining - Sailing - then moved towards Education. I wanted the strong science core. I figured I might need Keshiks to clear an encroaching Civ, but decided i wanted Universities before dealing with annoyances.

- What Social Policies did you choose?
straight Tradition start

- When did you decide your VC?
Heh, yeah, I really oughta decide what that is, any turn now. I just know I'm not doing Dom. Having seen the continent, I wish I had tried for SS and used Keshiks to clear the path for a swarm of settlers and just fill the whole continent. Maybe I'll try that with a 2nd run, just for fun. For now, I'm leaning towards a Diplomatic Victory.

- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?
I got a late Great Library, and then got beat to the HG which was a surprise, since I only delayed a little longer than I usually do. I got the Oracle, and am working on Hagia Sophia at the moment.

- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith?
I went for an early pantheon, but then didn't worry about faith much after that. I took goddess of festivals as my pantheon. Sadly, someone on the other continent took Monasteries, and amusingly, Pagodas and Mosques as well. Hmmm, I wonder who could have taken 3 religious buildings with their religion. That could get bad if she also ends up taking Sacred Sites. I ended up settling for Tithe and Divine Inspiration.

- Any surprises?
Losing out on Hanging Gardens. Also Greece. He had all that gorgeous land near him, and he decides that the place he wants to be is on my doorstep? He showed up before I was ready with a half dozen hoplites and catapults. I paid him to go harass someone else, and then about 15 turns later he was back on my doorstep and declared war. But I was ready by then, with 4 chariot archers and a couple horsemen. So turned the tables on him, and got Sweden to help me, and I'm wiping out his troops. With a little luck, I'll take Athens for my own, and bombard everything else until Sweden takes it.

 

[toffeeboy]

First post here - I bought the Civ5 package in the summer and have been slowly working my way through the different countries and levels. Currently I'm wavering between Prince (where I almost always win) and King (where it depends on the civ, landscape and personalities). Mongolia and the Keshiks were one of the most fun to play, which is why I decided to take part in this.

My approach to the game was to have a clean Domination win at King level and try to avoid getting bogged down in the mid-game which seems to happen all too often. (I think, looking at the quicker players at high levels, that I overbuild.)

I settled in place and had only moved the warrior once - looked like a good location and turned out to be so. Built Scout-Monument-Scout-Worker (which is an extra scout on my normal procedure).

Ruins broke kindly, with weapons and eventually two techs (Bronzeworking and Mining). Both Scouts eventually got eaten on peninsulas but had managed to explore much of the continent before then.

The terrain was extremely important for my decisions. I knew from before that I wanted horses and flat ground so I planned to stake out the southwest corner and use the mountain range to the east as a block for anyone coming from that direction.

Apart from the donated techs, I went straight to chariot archers and started leveling them up on barbarian farming and made pretty much a beeline for Chivalry after getting the Great Library. NC coming after 100 but hasn't mattered that much.

Wonders: amazingly (at least in my experience at this level) got everything I went for: ToA, Statue of Zeus and Great Library.

Opened Honor, opened Liberty and then did a mix as the situation demanded.

No faith whatsoever and the AIs don't seem to be that interested either. Figured I would end up inheriting culture and faith from someone.

Alexander to the north was aggressive forward spamming which forced me to move with expansion. I took his city which he'd placed into 'my' corner which gave me a nice blocking line against him with 10 horses on my land. Still at war (it's Mongolia after all) and he is going to lose against the experienced chariot archers/keshiks as long as the money holds out for upgrades. (Must remember not to let Horsemen get killed taking cities which aren't completely dead....)

Sweden and Arabia to the east are initially quite friendly although I do get nervous about the UUs of both of them.

Although it's on continents, have not managed to get a city with sea access so far, which is only surprise and against my usual gameplay.

 

[leif erikson]

Welcome to CivFanatics and GoTM!

Best of luck in your games.

 

[zxcvbob]

I was *so* tempted to reload, when a Greek companion cavalry killed my Khan and I didn't have a spare. But I didn't.

I really thought he was safe behind 2 keshiks and a fortified pike, and with a river in the way. I forgot they have 5 moves too, and somehow he found a long-way-around path that got there in one turn.

 

[Kendon]

Before starting I wanted to find the Horses and Iron on the way to Temple of Athena and chariot archers. I saw good settlement spots so I went Liberty rather than Tradition. I've got Honor for culture and my next chance I'll get the Great General.

I couldn't steal a worker so I started the Pyramids but Sweden beat me. I got Temple of Athena and I'm ready to start the Oracle. There are two cities I want to establish so the National College will wait til their libraries are in place.

Faith is progressing. I should get a religion. I missed God-King and settled for Fertility Rites.

From the beginning I've assumed Domination. I've got four chariot archers and a spearman who have razed Sparta. Around turn 100 I should capture Athens.

 

[Tillverkad]

Been playing Civ V for a while but this is my first GOTM. So far so good. Going for domination victory.

Strangely I haven't had any trouble with the Greeks. Easily stole their worker early and almost captured their first settler. Not even a counter-attack or anything.

Settled my second city about 6-7 tiles east of Athens. Going for a wide play. Had 4 cities on turn 100 and a fifth settler on the way. Got it from the left side of liberty. Went for honor left side first. Cities too far apart, can't afford to build roads...

No coastal cities yet. Might be the cause for negative gpt i've been having a lot. Started a war with Arabia to kill their settlers (2 down)....

 

[sebtanic]

Turn 140, just researched Chivalry.

I went tradition/honor and built one expo to the northwest, bordering on Athens with access to 6 horses. Beelined NC, then Chivalry but figured I'd need composite bows to counter Alex's Hoplites (which in hindsight I think may not have been necessary), so I got sidetracked researching Construction.

Got even more sidetracked when I decided to do a quick detour to Engineering in order to build Great Wall. The turn I finished Engineering, someone completed the Great Wall already.

Went after Alex with 4 chariot archers, 2 pikes and 2 crossbows. Razed one of his cities and annexed Athens in t126.

Moved the slower part of my army towards Arabia while my chariot archers are waiting for Chivalry in order to upgrade. Just upgraded the lot of them so the conquering spree may now begin

 

[sebtanic]

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

I don't think I've ever completed a domination victory in Civ 5, if I ever did I don't remember. So I did some reading up on domination, and on Mongols, and it sounds like fun

I also thought about conquering just my continent and going for science or culture (don't like diplo too much), but I thought Mongols are just made for dominating. Also, it's December and I have time to put in the game as I'm sure it's gonna be a while for me (not a sub t150 win like some people here will surely pull off ). Most people will probably go for dom also, so it's a decent chance to learn a new playing style

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?

Nope, sent warrior 2 tiles west to see if there are any interesting tiles, but there weren't so settled in place to take advantage of the 2 wheat. (Thought about moving to the hill next to mountain, but didn't want to lose the early food.)

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

In place. Built scout, monument, scout, granary, shrine (I think).

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

Needed horses for conquest so researched AH first, then scouted the map and settled near two horse tiles (4 and 2 horses, respectively) to the northwest.

- What were your initial priorities?

Get horses, get NC, then get Keshiks asap. Got sidetracked researching construction then engineering as I described in my previous post, but basically these were my priorities. Oh and I also got the Oracle along the way.

- What tech path did you follow and why?

See above

- What Social Policies did you choose?

Trad opener, honor opener, right honor, trad until monarchy for some happiness and gold.

- When did you decide your VC?

Pretty early. Reading up on the Mongols just made me want to go full conquest. Also it's a nice "counter-theme" for Christmas holidays, hehe!

- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?

Oracle - got it ; Great Wall - failed (it went just as i researched Engineering - at least I didn't waste any hammers )

- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith?

Not really. Built a shrine for pantheon, but took happiness form cities on rivers whihc was probably a lame choice but I thought I needed it at the time.

- Any surprises?

No really, except I was (again) surprised how easy it was to take out Alex's capital and one of their main cities. I don't warmonger a lot so I'm still baffled at how bad the AI is at it...

 

[Wild_Woojsha]

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

Going to try for fastest Domination possible, hopefully have all of the capitals on my continent.

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?

Nope, I wanted to get this conquest started ASAP.

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

Settled in place, built Scout-Monument-Scout-Worker-Warrior-Settler-Water mill-Chariot Chariot Chariot Granary. Epic fail on great library by 1 turn, nailed pyramids, and now dealing with a late NC.

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

Open terrain means my chariot archers are dominating.

- What were your initial priorities?

Get as many chariot archers as possible and start earning experience on everything that moves.

- What tech path did you follow and why?

Roads, then luxuries, then philosophy, and now heading to chivalry and astronomy ASAP.

- What Social Policies did you choose?

Left liberty after popping culture ruin, then just finished it off a few turns ago. Starting Commerce as soon as I can.

- When did you decide your VC?

Before I started.

- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?

Great Library when I saw it was only 13 turns. Chopped the whole woods down but missed it by 1 turn. Whoever built it will pay...

Got the pyramids, which is by far the most important.

- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith?

Didn't waste my time, Greece founded a religion with Tithe, and I have Athens now.

- Any surprises?

Everything feels much slower than usual? Why is this? Something weird is going on. 11 turns for the first tech? IDK, I feel like I am doing this one somewhat ok (Except for late NC but I do have 10 chariots ready to be upgraded soon.) But everything seems really slow, and I am not sure why.

 

[aafritz17]

Been Civ-ing for almost a year, but this is my first GotM. I'll post more detail later (when my fingers thaw - I'm in a tree-stand, and it's 29F), but I have a question.

Sayin' this carefully...I own all capitols (on my continent) but one, and that DOF just expired. So with half of my 10 or so Keshiks having both Range and Logistics, I reckon I'll own the continent in about 5 turns.

From afar I've seen one missionary and one City-State ship. My question is this; If I exterminate now, will either of them tell the Civs I haven't met? Or will the missionary-sender be the only one that knows? (And, if it's the latter, then I guess Xxxx is going to have a bad day...)

 

[Knowtalent]

Once you have met a civ, they will know about the war mongering you do after that point. I believe that if you betray your word that is known to all civs weather or not youve met them. The last is only anecdotal recollection so i may be wrong on that.

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

 

[aafritz17]

Thanks, Knowtalent. I, too, am thinking that's how it works.

 

[Mesix]

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
I thought that most people will likely go for either Domination or perhaps a Culture through Domination Victory. With this assumption, I decided to shoot for a Science Victory.

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?
Nope. Moved one tile to the right to get the hill production and the mountainside location.

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
My initial build order was Scout -> Scout -> Monument -> Shrine -> Granary -> Archer -> GL

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
Saw a lot of desert to the east. This included a rather close spot for a strong Petra city. This framed my decision of where to settle my 2nd city and what pantheon to choose. I was also able to find 4 nice locations next to mountains for Observatories later in the game.

- What were your initial priorities?
Expand to 4 cities, build a few wonders, get a decent military to conquer my continent. As I built a few early units, I cleaned up barbarian camps and rescued settlers to get good relations with CS on my continent.

Research was a bit slow (still more than 10 turns away from Education and do not yet have NC up at turn 100). I built a few units along the way and made sure to keep at least one of each type around long enough to get Terracotta Army. My first war has just begun, and I have already razed 2 (of 5) cities. I should be done with Alex in a few more turns and ready to go after Cathy. I plan to take the AI players on my continent in clockwise order, hopefully finishing before I meet the AI players on the other continent(s).

Spoiler :

- What tech path did you follow and why?
Pottery -> Writing -> Animal Husbandry -> Mining -> Archery
beeline to Mathematics & Currency (for Hanging Gardens and Petra)
next to Construction and Iron Working (for CB and Swordsmen)
next Engineering (for Great Wall)
next Horseback Riding & Theology
Now working on Civil Service with Education up after that (need to get Universities up)

- What Social Policies did you choose?
I went for a blend of Tradition and Liberty. I opened Tradition first, then Liberty to Collective Rule, back to Tradition for Aristocracy & Oligarchy. I returned to Liberty for Citizenship and Representation (right after getting my first natural GA for a double shot along with the reduced future policy cost). I will save the Liberty finisher for the late game so I have now returned to Tradition for Legalism netting me 4 free Amphitheaters.

Spoiler :

- When did you decide your VC?
When I started playing. I almost always choose a VC when I start the game because it shapes the early decisions.

- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?
I got almost all of the wonders I went for.

In my capital:
Great Library
Oracle
Terracotta Army (I just finished this on about turn 90 to nearly double the size of my army)

In Beshbalik:
Petra
Temple of Atremis
Hanging Gardens
Great Wall (only took 6 turns because Petra is just that awesome!)

In Turfan:
Pyramids

I also tried to build a rather late Stonehenge in Turfan, but was beaten by an unmet AI player. Russia has built the Statue of Zeus and the Mausoleum. Colossus and the Great Lighthouse were built by unmet AI players.

- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith?
Yes. I built a Shrine right after I finished my Monument. This allowed me to get Desert Folklore which was valuable in Beshbalik and will become more valuable as I expand towards Arabia later.

Spoiler :

- Any surprises?
Not really any surprises. It was nice to find Lake Victoria well placed for my 4th city. Here is my budding empire on turn 100.

Spoiler :

...and I have the pointiest sticks!

Spoiler :

Edit: Update...I took out Greece on turn 102, Russia on turn 124, Sweden on turn 141, and Arabia on turn 144. My whole continent is secure before I met someone from another continent on turn 148. I would post a screenshot, but it might be a spoiler for people who are only on turn 100. I will post more pictures in the After Actions thread once I finish the game.

 

[WackenOpenAir]

Research: pottery – Calendar – Writing – HBR – Mining. Archery came from a ruin.
Build order: scout – scout – archer (purchase) – granary – archer – settler – settler – Great library.
Policy order: Tradition till landed elite, then aristocracy before monarchy because i didnt need the happiness and i think faster library + NC was worth more than the gold.

One of my scouts as well as my warrior found weapons. The spearman stole workers from rome and ormus. I later took Rome's settler too. The archer stole a worker from almaty. The remaining units were fighting barbs which made florence and kyzyl happy for a little while. Unfortunately i didnt get more barb quests.

I chose to go for 3 cities NC. I could have easilly built a 4th city while keeping it happy and probably still getting the great library, but this should be a short game, so i wanted to get that library and NC sooner. A little spare happyness wont hurt either with the conquests to come. I also didnt really feel like researching masonry, so i skipped the marble expansion spot.

Turn 67: great library complete.
Turn 80: national college complete

Turn 75: Tradition complete. By the time i have culture for the next policy i will see if there is really a chance complete liberty too. I expect not, so ill probably get some honor policies instead.

Russia has build Colosus, ToZ and ToA. I will take moscow soon, but first Athens. In the early 70s i captured a second ormus worker, made peace and demanded tribute. Purchased a second chariot archer, used the worker to bait out Athens defence. Then proceeded to capture Athens on turn 81 right after my NC was finished and got a khan in the process which should help me fight the much stronger Russia.

Turn 82 silly gustav declares on me. I'll have to delay conquering russia a bit more and deal with him first. I dont want his crappy capital for now so i just destroy his forces and make him pay everything hes got for peace. They delay is probably no disaster. I first need to hook up spices and build the courthouse before i can deal with russian unhappiness.

Turn 90:

Spoiler :

 

[Thrallia]

Sadly, I won't be submitting this time, as I somehow accidentally deleted my save when trying to mess with some mods, but I'm replaying anyway to try to learn better how to deal with a mass-war game and not lose my empire and army to unhappiness and money troubles.

I started out rather slowly, militarily. I built up a strong core of 3 cities, one through the pass to the east, one north next to Ormus, as a stage for attacking the rapidly expanding Greece. Once I got Horse Archers, I used the barbs to get them all to level 3, and as soon as I got Horseback Riding I built a couple Horsemen and shockingly, Greece declared war on me. They had 5 cities, I burned 2 and puppeted 3, including the holy city for their religion. It only took me about 2 turns per city, they really had no defense once I killed their invasion force.

After that, it was about turn 110, and I planned to war against Russia, Sweden and Arabia as soon as I could, as none of them really had a military to speak of and I wanted to take advantage of that. We'll see in the next session whether that works out or not.

Arabia, Greece and Russia all founded their own religions, though Arabia is the only one trying to spread it farther than just to the neighboring city-states. I'm ahead on tech on this continent, but I'm pretty sure I'm behind the other one.

My plan is to go for a diplo victory once I kill everyone here and take the continent for myself.

 

[FancyPete]

I first played Civ 5 for about 100 hours when it was first released, took a long break until two months ago when I really started playing intensely. First GotM!


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

I thought about going for some goofy build (Piety start for example) but then realized I would probably learn more by going after Tradition domination, since I presume that's what many experienced players are doing, so I can compare my strategies with theirs at the end.

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?

Just a little bit - I wanted to see if I'd miss out much if I settle on the hills next to the mountain. I initially wanted to settle south of the river but found out that it would be too close to the ocean.

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

Once I figured out that I would have no super early access to horses, I decided to take the first capital with CBs. Knowing that my closest neighbor is Alexander, I wanted to take him out as soon as possible before he can spam annoying units!

- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?

Currently 4 turns away from completing the Oracle. I started building it because my capital had nothing else better to do.

- Any surprises?

Apparently I haven't met Catherine. She seems to be hiding in my game .

Spoiler :

I am currently assaulting the Arabs. I am planning on not wiping any civs this game and leaving them with poop cities.

 

[ButSam]

My initial approach to this game was to try for Diplo victory, just for the irony of it all I am not a fantastic player, but I am getting comfortable with King more and more, so I am trying to stretch my abilities a bit with this one (Emperor still gives me problems more often than not). Through the first hundred turns, no wars, but Greece needs to be cut down to size once I get to Keshiks so I have less competition for City States. No religion founded yet, but I am close. I did found a Pantheon, and just settled a third city. I settled in place for the first city, the second city was almost due west on the coastal bay, and the third city that just settled is almost due north from the first, to get iron and ensure I have plenty of wine.

Catherine has been building wonders like crazy, so perhaps after I knock out Greece, I may have to capture Moscow--we shall see. So far, doing well on tech so I should be able to keep up quite well with these competitors, particularly once Greece is gone to eliminate City State competition!

EDIT: To clarify, I have not founded a religion yet in the first 100 turns, but am close. Other players have founded a religion! This continent seems to be religion central!