6otM 01 - Opening Actions

[Golden Skull]

Like Chowee, I lurk on the forums a bit, and only have posted a handful of times before. I've started a couple of Civ4 and Civ5 GOTMs, but never finished one. Really excited about this game though.

It was a pretty eventful first 100 turns. I settled one SE of the starting position to try to take advantage of the river to our north, and I was going to try for rapid expansion. Picked River Goddess pantheon, thinking ahead, to get a free amenity in all the excellent river locations that I saw around the start. I was going to try to expand rapidly, had a second city out by around T20 (I don't remember exactly when), had just turned out a settler for my third city, and was about to build one for the fourth, when France warrior-rushed Rome. I had skimped on my defenses to push out more cities rapidly, and that ended up costing me Rome. Right around that time I finished Political Philosophy, so I adopted Oligarchy, took the Agoge policy, pushed out a bunch of units, and took Rome back. Then, I upgraded my new warriors to Legions, pushed on to Paris, and took that too. I was going to take Catherine's second and final city, but I was suffering from -2 war weariness and was behind where I wanted to be on city infrastructure, so I let that go.

The sack of Rome really hurt my tech advancement and my infrastructure, as I had started district production to lock in cheaper district costs, but hadn't finished any at the time Rome got hit. In the past I would have quit and started a new game, but I think I'm in an ok position for having lost and retaken my capitol. Have 6 cities now, and focusing on developing infrastructure, primarily commercial districts. I haven't yet unlocked industrial zones, nor the tier 2 governments, but I would guess I'll get to those in the next 20 turns or so.

During my defense of Rome I was surprised to see that I could not buy Ancient Walls, which I had unlocked and would have saved the city. It doesn't seem that I can buy them in any of my cities, actually.

 

[Saykor]

- Where did you settle your city?
Move one tile from the mountain around the river.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Usually research faster tech with eureka. I got eureka on almost all techs.

- What was your build order?
Scout, Builder, Slinger, Slinger, Slinger, Slinger....

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Not soon, around turn 100 i start to build District. Prioritize Commercial Hub because I start to be on -10+ gold per turn.

- How did you place your districts?
On place with maximum adjacency bonus.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Hah... after French declare me war in the beginning when i just start to build my first Slinger i was in a war to around turn 90. Faster I get Archers and go to capture Paris with 4-5 archers + 1 warrior. In the meantime capture a french builder and settler in the city. Create a new city with Iron with their settler. Go for Russian city Asterkhan, next for St. Petersburg. Last attack was with the first Legion. In the meantime Rome create 2 warriors that I upgrade to Legions when get the tech. So with 4-5 Archers and 3 Legions continue my expansion to capture Arabian capitol. Now I move my army back to Rome to upgrade to Crossbowmen and go for Egypt.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Discipline and God King
some time change military with +50% classic range units
After swith to Oligarhy -> Professional army to update units to Crossbowmen, Sarfdom to make some builders, Charismatic Leader, +2 Great Prophet ( yes I found a religion ) and not it is +2 Great Scientist

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?

Spoiler :

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
French declare war in the beginning. Other I not ask if they will be peaceful after I have army to crash them.

- How were the Barbarians?
Everywhere.

- Any surprises?
I not expect French to attack me so early.

Spoiler :

 

[IgrOK[SU]]

My empire after 100 turns:

20161104015454_1

• IgrOK[SU]
• Nov 3, 2016

 

[IgrOK[SU]]

Ok, it was a bad idea to play without war. If you want science victory war is a key.
It's a bad thing for Civ6 probably...

 

[lamaros]

Ok, it was a bad idea to play without war. If you want science victory war is a key.
It's bad thing for Civ6 probably...

Any victory is faster with war, bar perhaps culture (depending on on how the mechanics work, that we know of).

I agree it's a bad thing.

 

[rockytop00]

Greetings, my first post since... CIV 3 or 4... here goes:

- Settled on the spawn
- Went for archers first, policies were geared toward production.
- Build order: builder, slinger, slinger, archer, archer, archer, archer, archer, archer
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize? ---> Not too soon, I attacked France, then started building districts after my first war.
- How did you place your districts? --> Still working that out, just going with the adjacency bonuses atm.
- Expansion, so far at turn 100 I believe I have 6 cities, 2 of which were captured.
- Barbarians are a pain in my butt, but I over built archers to start, so no problems there.

My strategy so far has been to build up an army to deter my opponents, kill off the one so far and expand into that vacuum while building up my science districts, then commercial, then industry. I'm at around turn 100, not sure where to go from here, but will think on it overnight.

 

[TheoDMC]

First time post for GotM, and really first time officially playing it...

The long short of it, I settled in place, and essentially followed the Eurekas through the tech and civil tree, otherwise researched what was fastest, or what my priorities were (in this case, writing, astrology, and then whatever military was needed at the time). My typical build order is Scout->monument->slinger-> builder/warrior (depending on situation)-> settler/slinger (depending on situation). Since Rome starts with a building, my build order was Scout->Slinger->Builder-->Settler. From there my priority was campus, then holy site (to establish a religion, just so another Civ doesn't swoop in with that victory), and from there military/economy.

Surprisingly, I was able to build a campus relatively quick, and a holy site. I picked up the policies, and used Classical Republic to boost my Great Prophet points and steal it away before the other Civs. I became friends with Stockholm and Hattusa (I believe). France was openly aggressive, lining warriors outside Rome; however, they were already at war with Russia. Once Catherine declared her surprise war, I happened to have just discovered the tech for Legions, and quickly amassed an army to crush her army, then swung down and took over Paris, which was her last remaining city, because Peter took the others. By turn 100, she was defeated, Paris mine, and I turned back to establishing my groove of deep city building (which tends to be my play style) and the science pursuit. Cleopatra is actually my declared friend, and tensions are growing between Rome and Russia. I've been settling south and west, as you can see in the photo below.

Spoiler :

GotM1

• TheoDMC
• Nov 4, 2016

 

[budweiser]

What a mess!

This is what I call a danger close game and I started out aggressively building settlers. Made a mistake of settling right next to Moscow which pissed off Peter. He sent all his warriors at me and I lost the city around turn 47! I feel I could have saved the city but France had a line of warriors right next to Rome that blocked any movement towards the battle.

I did have a second city to the NW which was safe by itself. By t71 I had rallied and Moscow was mine. Peter was out. I captured 2 settlers.

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Spent the rest of the first 100 turns attacking Paris. So I have 7 cities and after I clear out a couple barb camps I can settle down and grow. I will post some screen shots from the saves. I've played 4 sessions so far just to get this far.

Spoiler :

 

[Arylaryl]

Here we are!!

I settled down on starting point, with this build order:

1. Builder
2. Warrior
3. Settler
4. Warrior
5. Warrior

I founded the second city near the Cliffs of Dover, I wanted to focus on the expansion of the cities and on the foundation of a third city, but France declare war after 20 turns from the beginning of the game (after the requirement of a straight of way in change of Artwork ). The war resulted in nothing in a few turns.

On the 40th turn I built the third city on S of the Cliff to use copper, On turn 60 built in Rome Encampment and Barraks to prevent the French attack. In the meantime I met Cleopatra, but wasn't love at the first sight, I was confident about my Warriors, used before for the French War and upgrated them to Legions (Went for iron working quickly for this purpouse), so at 100 I've defeated her, and taken her cities.

I haven't meet Russian yet, but I met the three City-States Stockholm, Hattusa and Hong Kong. I've a strong relationship with Stockholm.

Spoiler :

 

[RedRover57]

Settled in place. Build order: scout, slinger, builder, slinger, slinger, settler, slingers/archers, <various infrastructure buildings when needed, like water mills>, legions. Forward settled toward France, who showed up with a small army of warriors and declared war. I killed all her units and then took Paris (her only city) on turn 57.

Spoiler Bye bye France :

Settled a city E of Rome, NW of Kumasi. Declared on Russia and conquered his 2 cities by turn 76. Took a wandering settler from him and settled on the coast west of Paris.

Spoiler So long Russia :

Moved my army east and conquered Arabia turn 93. Also took a settler from him and settled on the river to the west of his capital.

Spoiler See ya later Arabia :

While I was conquering Russia and Arabia I built a small army of legions, sent them north and conquered Egypt on turn 95. Also took a settler from her (a pattern emerges) and plan to settle Cliffs of Dover area.

Spoiler Nice knowing you Egypt :

So now on turn 95 I have 11 (soon to be 12) cities, 3 different religions, 3 suzerainships, Stonehenge, Pyramids and the entire continent to myself. I figure I will spam out about 10 more cities, build the needed districts (industrial, commercial and baths in all; campus, theater and/or entertainment in select cities) and then basically hit "end turn" until the science game is won.

The religion part is strange. I captured 3 religions, but I'm not the founder of any of them. So I can't enhance, etc. I was working on a GP for my own religion, but all of a sudden there are no more prophets to be obtained even though there are 2 more religions that can be founded. Since I apparently am in control of all of the religions in the game I guess I could technically win a really easy religion victory by just spamming out missionaries/apostles from one of them and converting all my cities and then eventually the other continent. Very odd mechanics.

 

[Photi]

Well here i am after 108 turns. Wanted to get a screen shot at turn 100, but i was in the middle of a french war and was just about to take Paris. not sure if i will continue on to defeat france, but it makes sense as i have all these units and France will fall quickly from here. i have been focusing on a REX and forward settling, so far i have been able to accomplish a partial backfill, i have 3 or so more settlers in the queue, that will probably be it. atm i think i have like 11 cities, so 14 or so will likely be my count in the next few turns. i built an early trader who traded to stockholm to start accumulating some early science, though the pretty much expected imposed war by France has set me back on building campuses. I decided to move north to the gypsum for my first city Rome, which revealed a sweet campus spot to the NW with 2 mountains and 2 rainforests, will be idyllic place to study. in my early REX, i sent a slinger to recon to the south and just east of Paris right before my first settler build and got lucky with a settler capture from a barbarian who i assume captured it from france. had a short war with Russia, but my practice of sending all my settlers escorted with slingers and then archers left me with plenty of support to fight France and hold off Russia. Made peace with Peter on around turn 96 or 97. been a good game so far, now it is time for internal development now that the REX is about finished.

Spoiler Rome at turn ~108 :

 

[Photi]

Well here i am after 108 turns. Wanted to get a screen shot at turn 100, but i was in the middle of a french war and was just about to take Paris. not sure if i will continue on to defeat france, but it makes sense as i have all these units and France will fall quickly from here. i have been focusing on a REX and forward settling, so far i have been able to accomplish a partial backfill, i have 3 or so more settlers in the queue, that will probably be it. atm i think i have like 11 cities, so 14 or so will likely be my count in the next few turns. i built an early trader who traded to stockholm to start accumulating some early science, though the pretty much expected imposed war by France has set me back on building campuses. I decided to move north to the gypsum for my first city Rome, which revealed a sweet campus spot to the NW with 2 mountains and 2 rainforests, will be idyllic place to study. in my early REX, i sent a slinger to recon to the south and just east of Paris right before my first settler build and got lucky with a settler capture from a barbarian who i assume captured it from france. had a short war with Russia, but my practice of sending all my settlers escorted with slingers and then archers left me with plenty of support to fight France and hold off Russia. Made peace with Peter on around turn 96 or 97. been a good game so far, now it is time for internal development now that the REX is about finished.

City #2 was Mediolanum which was built with the captured barbarian settler (and is where my first settler build was heading) and #3 was Antium which was spawned from my first settler build. Not sure if we all encounter the same city name build order, previous games with Rome it seems like #2 was Cumae

 

[Xger]

Spoiler :

View media item 3954

I know it's a little past 100, but I waited until I captured Kumasi. Here's a rundown:

• Discovered France and Russia early, and Egypt not that long after. Managed to be the first to meet Stockholm and Hong Kong
• I decided from the get go to rush down some nearby cities, so I prepped for that.
• Around turn 30, I'm approaching France with 3 archers and 2 warriors. Lo and behold, they have a loose settler, so I declare a little early and take it.
• By 34, France is dead. Taking Paris got me four eurekas/inspirations. Quite a nice boost.
• I'm getting low on options to stay in the ancient era, and I'm close enough to Russia's second city I declare a little early to avoid the penalties. Turn 44 I take that city
• I found my first city with a settler I created, on turn 49 on the coast.
• Because I am super pro, I finally clear a barb camp at turn 51
• Turn 54, I take St. Petersburg, get 2 eureka/inspiration
• Somewhere around here, I left the 20% tile purchase on for 8 turns
• Finally meet Saladin around turn 60-61
• Nothing really happens for a while as I wait to attack Kumasi. They got walls and I decided to wait until I had crossbows.
• Turn 90 I finally get Mercenaries done so I can get the 1/2 upgrade cost, and upgrade 4 archers and a warrior.
• 104 I finally get my units close enough and take Kumasi, also switched to Monarchy then

Easily the most annoying thing was being swarmed with barbs. I probably could have taken Kumasi before they got walls without barbs everywhere, and I lost a few units to them.
I founded a religion around turn 70. I built the Hanging Gardens in Paris because it would only take 13 turns (maybe 17?). Currently working on Great Library in Rome. I'm one turn away from Ship Building on the way to factories. I have 68.8 /turn and 24 techs. I've popped 2 great scientists, a prophet, and one merchant.
- Where did you settle your city?
I stayed in place. My warrior movement didn't reveal enough, and the starting spot seemed okay enough. I'm mostly okay with it, though food is an issue.
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Only thing strange is shooting to Astronomy to unlock the Potato Palace. Next up is Industrialization, then I might fill in a bunch of techs.
- What was your build order?
Slinger, Slinger, Slinger, builder, builder, builder. I think.
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
I think I finished a campus around turn 30.
- How did you place your districts?
Haphazardly until I started placing industrial zones.
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
I have 11 cities. I founded 7 (including Rome), though one was a stolen settler
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Cannot remember anything unusual.
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Meet Stockholm, Hattusa, Hong Kong, and Kumasi. I conquered Kumasi, and am suzerain of the sciencey ones. Will be suzerain of Hong Kong once I conquer Egypt in the next 20 turns or so.
- Were your neighbors peaceful?
Them yes, me no.
- How were the Barbarians?
I hate them, their mothers, and their mothers' mothers. I dealt with several waves of horseman.
- Any surprises?
Saladin and Cleo have not been building wonders, or going that religion heavy/

 

[War_Pig]

Went in trying not to have too much of a plan. I kind of like to see how the map and setting feels first.

- Where did you settle your city?
​

Went SE one hex, planning to place a bath where my settler started a campus right above that so both can be next to the mountain.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
​

One thing I think that always gets overlooked whenever anyone talks about Rome is them starting with a free culture building. Yes, this could mean freeing up more time to really build a army but I figured there would be plenty of early wars going on here. Plus, I was the first to meet Kumasi giving me the free envoy for even more free culture. Even going for a science win you will still be wanting culture for the space race policy and all the goodies to speed up all the building you need at the end. With this in mind and going off of some boosts I got from goodie huts I went for the standard Political Philosophy straight into Mysticism for the + GPP for scientists. Getting my first great scientist on turn 61 as the 2nd great person of any kind in the game, and getting 3 great scientists in the first 101 turns.

- What was your build order?
​

Scout into a 2nd warrior (went warrior instead of ranged in case I decided to go with a fast army of legion). Followed by a early builder to get one of the Dyes online and clear the jungle for my campus.

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
​

This is the big one that I really wanted to test. If going for a science win is it still better to wait for Industrial zones first or are the turns lost of not having a campus greater then the time you saved in production from building a faster campus later? (if that made sense!) First district was a campus, finishing on turn 45, with enough gold to buy a library the turn it was done.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
​

Science is all about them hammers in the end so making sure to get my first four cities all to overlap their Industrial zones.

Edit: screenshots failed will have to check it out later if anyone wanted to see them. Side note: any recent topic about how to post a screenshot

 

[Alphons Rodulfo]

This GoTM will be my first full Civ 6 game, after two test games that I aborted before getting to turn 100. So am was not completely clueless as to the new game mechanics, but still I probably made a lot of non-optimal choices. Anyway, this game is a great learning experience, especially with the opportunity to compare to how others did it.

• Where did you settle your city? At the starting location
• What did you research and which policies did you choose and why? I assumed I had to research everything for the science victory so I researched whatever was boosted.
• What was your build order? Started with a scout, then a warrior. Discovered the other civs soon, unfortunately very few villages.
• How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize? I try to build a campus at each city, for the science.
• How did you place your districts? I placed the campuses at a tiles with maximum bonus.
• Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns? There was plenty of room to expand. I founded five cities, conquered none, because I did not want to waste resources on military.
• How did you play your governance cards, priorities? I did whatever seemed beneficial for science or gold. The card for great scientist points seemed useful, got a few great scientists already.
• What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side? Again I tried to focus on science, so I tried to befriend the scientific city states first. Cleopatra is trying to occupy Hong Kong, I am looking forward to liberating it when she succeeds. I hope it can be liberated and that it provides so extra influence, like in Civ V.
• Were your neighbors peaceful? Catherine did not like me participating in her spying game (I still have no idea what she meant) and amassed an army of warriors near my southernmost city. It built walls, my warrior and a slinger took defensive positions north of the river and had an easy job at obliterating the French army. Then I got an agreeable peace settlement. Cleopatria did not like my feeble army but Peter seemed taken with my culture.
• How were the Barbarians? I managed to intercept barbarian scouts before they reached my cities, so they where no threat. It did take a long time to get the barb-related science boosts because I did not develop a strong military.
• Any surprises? Not really, I was mostly trying to understand the new rules and UI, but development of the game seems similar to civ 5.

Spoiler :

 

[Dr. Whizgig]

- Where did you settle your city?
In the starting position

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
[TECH] Mining > Pottery > Irrigation > Bronze Working
Reasoning: My early game focus is on getting Builders to chop forests and rainforest to speed up settler, military, and wonder production.

[POLICY] Code of Laws > Craftsmanship > Foreign Trade > Early Empire > States Workforce > Political Philosophy
Reasoning: Craftsmanship provides a production boost for Builders. Early Empire provides a production boost for settlers. Chose Autocracy for the Wonder production boost.

- What was your build order?
Scout > Spammed Builders > Hanging Gardens > 3 Settlers > Pyramids in my first settled city > Enough Military units to War > More builders > Science stuff

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Built science districts in 2 cities w/ one library and a Great Library in production. Didn't get started on these until after turn 75.

- How did you place your districts?
Near mountains for the bonuses

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
4 Cities built and captured on of Russia's. Still at war but may make peace since Egypt just declared a surprise war.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Started w/ bonus against Barbarians and +1 production in each city. Went w/ bonuses that allowed for production boost for builders and settlers. Switched to 100% for defensive buildings bonus at one point. When Russia declared war, switched to pillaging bonuses.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Russia, Egypt, France, Arabia. Traded with all 4 at different times. Egypt and Russia have declared war on me. All 4 were upset because I settled to close.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
Nope. No one likes me. Egypt and Russia declared surprise wars separately.

- How were the Barbarians?
Fewer than I remember there being in Civ V. Manageable but still had to take them into consideration.

- Any surprises?
Two wonders in the first 100 turns and 2 more on the way.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

Spoiler :

Well, that was a quick game . Killed in the Classical Age by *FRANCE*.....oh, the IRONY. I was doing pretty well, though, up until that point. Seriously, the AI in this game is borderline INSANE.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

Spoiler :

So now for some added details.
Where did you settle your first city?

What Technologies and Civics did you research?
Like many people, I tended to focus on things that I'd already gained a Eureka or an Inspiration in-like going for Writing after meeting Catherine (my eventual bane!

or Craftsmanship after finishing 3 improvements

How soon did you get your first district?
I got my one-and only-district, a Campus, pretty late in the game. Wish I'd focused on getting an Encampment now!

Did you emphasize Expansion?

No, not especially. Had my second city built, on the coast, nearly 1800 years after Rome was founded.

How did you play your Governance Cards?

I was keen to get a Pantheon.....for the Inspiration....so went God-King......and Discipline to deal with barbarian threats. I was still facing a lot of barbarians when I got Political Philosophy, so went with Autocracy.....also because I wanted to build a couple of Wonders. I emphasized policy cards that would help me build Wonders and Ancient/Classical Units, primarily.

What City States did you meet & which did you cultivate?

I met Kumasi, Hong Kong and Stockholm. I got an automatic Envoy with Hong Kong and Stockholm, then completed a City-State quest for Kumasi, in order to get an envoy with them

Were your neighbours peaceful?

Ha!!! What do you think?

Sadly, the "Gauls" got their revenge on Rome in this game. As I said above, highly ironic .

How were the Barbarians?

Quite tough.....the main upside is that dealing with them earned me quite a few Eureka moments.

Any Surprises?

Mostly I continue to be surprised at how incredibly aggressive & hard to please the AI Civs are.....with the seeming exception of Peter the Great!

 

[KDaley8349]

My first GOTM.

- Where did you settle your city?
Right where I spawned. Chopping the jungles made building Rome quick.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
I went for writing early to get campus otherwise I picked ones that had boosts and/or would let me grow my cities quicker.

- What was your build order?
Builder -> Slinger - > Builder

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
I prioritized campuses. I started building them fairly quick but had to take some time off for the war. I've since sent builders out chopping to catch up.

- How did you place your districts?
Rome has a campus on the far side of the mountain and another city to the south has one nestled between 2 mountains. St.Petersburg has a nice spot to build a campus near 4 mountains, once the city gets cleaned up. I'll be building my industrial and commercial districts near my main 3 cities next.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
I built 3 initially and was planning a few more for mid-game. But when Russia declared war I grabbed their 3 cities plus 1 city-state, Kumasi. When I conquer France I'll have another 3 cities.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
I focused on builders but had to switch to commerce when I ran out of money in the war with Russia.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Stockholm was the first choice. Kumasi became friends with Russia and became part of my empire during the war. Also friends with Hong Kong now.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
Not at all. France denounced me and Russia declared a surprise war. Russia should have taken one of my cities but backed off last minute. Russia has now been removed and France is my next target.

- How were the Barbarians?
Nothing more than nuisance really. It funny when they try to attack a city I'm attacking. Russia killed the barbarians, I killed Russia and took the city. Nice of Russia to help me out.

- Any surprises?
Only France denouncing me for having no spys in ancient/classical plus Russia randomly attacking me then backing off before they took a city.

 

[culdeus]

- Where did you settle your city?

Went 1 SE to try and get a bit away from the jungle and give some breathing room to the north city. This left with me chopping the jungle in the middle of a triangle to make room for districts which works out quite well.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?

I primarily eureka hunted and had no particular beeline path early on. If not going for a pure domination victory need a pretty wide base. I'm new to Civ6 so this might not have been the best idea, I see others pushed hard to get Industrial districts in place, but factories are really the only thing that make those useful and that's ages away. dunno

- What was your build order?
Scout-Slinger-Settler-Builder

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
A bath is a district, no? I built a bunch of baths. Threw some research districts down, but those seem underpowered.

- How did you place your districts?
Using tight city spacing will maximize overlap.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
I didn't capture any cities in first 100 turns. I had settled 4 by then. Barbs were a major problem.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Kept foot on gas for production as this starting location was hammer poor.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
I sent envoys to all the sciency ones, they all are reasonably good to me. Will probably keep them all alive.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
Um, no. France and Peter have been at war since roughly turn 1 sending wave after wave of warriors at eachother.

- How were the Barbarians?
Awful, On my ass from start to finish. Horseman showed up super early at a really bad time. Had to change tactics a bit from launching an early war vs. France to just survival. The Barb AI was shockingly good and they pushed in and took out some of my newly upgraded archers.

- Any surprises?
I was a little surprised to see such low production for a science victory condition in the first GOTM. I think it will be hard to win on Science and not culture. I am thinking I'll have an accidental culture win (or loss).