6otM 01 - Opening Actions

[leif erikson]

Welcome to the 6otM 01 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 Actions thread once you have completed your game.

- Where did you settle your city?
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
- What was your build order?
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
- How did you place your districts?
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
- Were your neighbors peaceful?
- How were the Barbarians?
- Any surprises?

Please use spoiler tags for any surprise details you'd like kept hidden. Thanks.

 

[Jelloholic]

First out of the blocks....

Can't remember the exact situation at 100 turns but...

-- Rainforests / no hills all looked yuck to me so I just SIP.
-- Took the plunge and went for the early Campus. I went Scout > Slinger > Builder > Slinger > Campus (to NW, with + 2 from four rainforests).
-- The faith from the Dyes gave me a Pantheon (Oral Tradition).
-- Second city is to the NW near Cliffs of Dover, I'll likely only found one more, to the SW (likely on the Stone with Bath connected to the Mountain).
-- French Catherine threw an almighty tantrum almost immediately for no apparent reason and is lining Warriors on my border.
-- I'm predicting slow growth for cities as it is, so I don't think I'll go military on Catherine; Peter forward settled her so they should amuse each other for a while.
-- Barbarians very polite with me so far.

Questions

-- What's the best thing to do with a zero hill capital? I plan on getting Ind. Zone and Encampment up for some extra hammers, and then just leveling the rainforests for farms - do we think this wise?

 

[Lord Yanaek]

OK. Slightly more than 100 turns in (111 exactly).
I decided i really didn't like the starting location and the warrior revealed less jungle to the north so i moved next to the gypsum to settle t3. That's a really low production area and i suffered from the lack of production until i got Machinery (not enough hills to make an early Apprenticeship interesting) but those riverside lumberyards are great. I certainly didn't play an optimal game but this is the first "serious" game for me, before i just researched without any plan, tested units and policies and messed with stuff until late when i decided to improvise some victory

- Where did you settle your city?
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?

• For SP i went with my now usual opening Foreign Trade → Early Empire then Craftsmanship → State Workforce → Political Philosophy. I find Early Empire more important early for +50% settler than the 30% off the cheaper workers. Next was Theology (as i founded a Religion), then Feudalism (+2 charges is great) and finally (as you can see on the screenshot) Exploration for Merchant Republic government.
• On the Science front it was slightly less clear. I Went for Mining (only early resource was Gypsum) then Astrology as i wanted to try and get a Religion with Jesuit Education. After that i went for Bronze Working so i could get rid of those jungle where i wanted some districts, then Writing (for Campus) and finally some partial research into multiple techs leading to Machinery, Apprenticeship (and some others i thought i would need later) as i was trying to get the most of those Eurekas but the result was a bit messy i might have been better just focusing on Machinery for some production. Finally got it online and i'm now on the way to Industrialization to get some Factories online.

- What was your build order?

Early BO was Scout - Builder - (buy Slinger) - Start Settler - Holy Site then some Settlers and workers, a Campus in Rome. Other cities built more Slingers (up to 3), a Spearman (for a CS quest), Trader and stuff as the game progressed.

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

Early Holy Site for my Religion, then a Campus in Rome. Other cities built an assortment of Commercial Hub (not that many as i find the early output of internal TR low, especially the cogs and that's what i was missing most), Campus and Holy Site but not really early, thought i did place a few as soon as i settled to save on the building cost (when i had the money to buy the tile where i wanted the district)

- How did you place your districts?

Not very scientifically . I didn't have a big plan except for a block of Industrial Zones in the middle of my first 4 cities, so i placed them where the Adjacency was good. Mountain/Jungles for Campuses, Mountains for HS, River for Commercial Hub.

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

I built 4 cities early, then developed them a bit, then 2 more for a total of 6. Not that much i know. I've had my eyes on a 7th spot but so far forgot to get the settler.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?

• Military was Anti-Barbarians for as long as i had a Military slot.
  
• Early on i got the +1 production/city as it's a real boon in such a low production area. I went for Classical Republic for my first real government (Rome really helps you get there fast) and kept the +1 production card. Second economic card was the +50% settler while expanding, then not sure what, then +2 charges for workers for a long time, then +2 gold from Trade Routes.
• Diplomacy have been for more envoys ever since i had a Diplo slot.
• Wildcard have been for Great Prophet at first, then Scientists with other cards temporarily like first envoy doubled, cheaper tile purchase and probably others.

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

I met 4 CS so far. I'm keep Stockholm (for the Great People) and Hong Kong (for production) and haven't done a lot with the others so far.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?

Not really. Well, Cleo was.

- How were the Barbarians?

Closer to other civilizations borders than mine

- Any surprises?

Several surprises actually, but maybe it's not those surprises you had in mind.

• Peter and Saladin declaring a joint "Formal War" on me without any of them denouncing me first
  
• Catherine denouncing me for not having enough spies ... in the Ancient Era
• Peter complaining i don't have Science or Culture while i'm ahead of everyone
• Catherine attacking the cultural CS and failing to capture it
• Saladin still have only 1 city and haven't founded a Religion yet
• Oh, yes, really few hills in the starting area (did i mention i don't have a lot of production in Rome?)

Spoiler :

 

[Katakanja]

State of things at turn 100...

Spoiler :

Decided to get out of the jungle and make for the NE river with my starting settler, second settler went west to claim the cliffs of Dover and the iron mine. Met Cleo early on and pumped out a few warriors/slingers to trigger positive reaction, but when she sent out an unescorted settler I figured the opportunity was too good not to seize - grabbed it, then since I'd just finished up iron working I upgraded to legions and went on to take her capital and put her out of the game. Catherine didn't much like this and went to war with me, which left Peter free to annoyingly go berserk on the city states to the SE and absorb them all into his empire. Catherine's army pillaged the area around Rome but were easily defeated and made peace once my army got back from the north. Plan going forward is probably to finish encircling Stockholm with another city or two, then consolidate with industrial/commercial districts for internal trade routes.

-- What's the best thing to do with a zero hill capital? I plan on getting Ind. Zone and Encampment up for some extra hammers, and then just leveling the rainforests for farms - do we think this wise?

I'm compensating with lumber mills on the riverside forests atm, but I have similar intentions to you. I see no reason to keep the rainforests in the long term, so I'll probs replace them with farms too

 

[Mike Lemmer]

After a bit of exploring and learning there were 2 bananas and a mountain range north of our starting spot, I spent 2 turns settling north of the mountain on the other river. I quickly met my neighbors, got a Pantheon at Turn 21 from village & latent bonuses, and found my 2nd city of Cumae on Turn 43.

A few turns later, France & Russia both declared war on the city-state of Kumasi, while an Unmet Player was defeated on Turn 52. I researched Political Philosophy on Turn 59 and changed to an Oligarchy, and managed to declare Friendship with Egypt on Turn 64. Then I was just about to settle my 3rd town northeast of Rome on the east coast, when a settler from Egypt beat me by one turn. I decided to settle north of Stockholm instead, creating my 3rd city on Turn 75 while I was building Baths in my other cities. Between that and France settling next to Rome, I decided to prepare for war; France went to war with Russia on Turn 76, and I hoped to declare war against France before it finished.

I started building Legions, a Catapult, and several Battering Rams, but France made peace with Russia before I could denounce her. Regardless, I went ahead as planned and denounced her on Turn 97. Now on Turn 100, my army is amassing at my borders, preparing to invade her. I plan to declare war in a few turns.

Time will tell if my early focus on amassing an army instead on focusing solely on settling & building districts pays off. I'm still sore Egypt beat me to Horse River by 1 Turn, but I'm still hoping to stay on good terms with them; if not, I can always capture it later.

Spoiler :

 

[Sbrubbles]

I'll start by saying that Rome's special ability is really about one thing: expansion. Getting that free monument and free roads mean you can set up cities real fast and don't have to worry about culture early on. With the overarching plan to expand and expand fast, these were my first 100 turns.

Like a lot of people here, I wasn't impressed with the starting location. Sending the warrior north I saw the two bananas and decided to settle there instead. Went Scout->Warrior->Settler (no builder, you'll see why). Didn't bother rushing campus because first Great Scientist wasn't that impressive (in the end I could have gotten him anyway, but prefered to pass him up). Sent my settler north to get that great location with the cattle and sugar and prepare to invade Egypt.

In the meantime I got some of the most bizarre luck I've ever had in an opening. Not only Egypt's builder popped out right as my scouting warrior was walking by (so, I declared war and kidnapped him), but A FREE BARBARIAN SETTLER JUST STOPPED NEXT TO ROME! Seriously, wtf! I rush bought a warrior and established my third city to the south.

With these three cities my plan was to build a bit of infrastructure until I got legions and conquer Egypt to the north. I wanted a great general so I started building an encampment in my northern city. This proved entirely uncessary, as the Strategos card (+2 Great General) was more than enough to get one (Sun Tsu) and Egypt had no defences watsoever, so 3 legions and 2 archers were way more than enough to steamroll him. In fact, it was so easy that I decided to focus exclusively on settlers and infrastructure while conquering as much stuff as possible with these 5 troops (plus a spearman and chariot I built to get the envoys). Right now it's turn 102 and I've conquered St Petersburg to the south while establishing another 5 cities (for a total of 12). I think I'll kill France now while keeping and eye on Arabia (who has a huge ammount of chariots southeast of Hattusa) while filling in the blanks of the continent with cities.

Overall I'm in a great spot. If I can take France without any additional units, it's probably gonna be SimCity from now on.

Spoiler :

 

[Trasselknut]

My game plan from the beginning is to try to keep the amount of techs and civics researched to a minimum until I have started building industrial districts. For every two techs/civics (can be two techs or two civics as well) the cost to build a district goes up by about 10.7 cogs in the beginning at least. The same goes for the repair cost which can cripple an early empire in case of war. I will focus on getting the industry up and running with at least four cities before committing to science and then depending on the map go wide to my hearts content. So, beeline to Apprenticeship and a decent gouvernment and keep beelining until I'm happy with my setup.

One step to the west with the warrior didn't reveal anything exiting so I settled in place. The plan was to go for a scout and then found a city in a more productive spot asap so I sent a warrior to go from W to N to E sround the capital and the scout from W to S to E. I found the land around Cliffs of Dover looked kind of promising but I liked the site to the sw with two luxury, one rice and two stone resources better.

Lucky enough I found the Blood of Martyr in a hut (relic +4 faith, +8 tourism). I was halfway done with a settler already when I got to choose a pantheon so I gambled with + faith from quarries without realizing at the time gypsum would become a quarry when improved as well.

Second city was founded to the SW and because of the relic I found I went for a holy district first but wasn't commited enough to actually found a religion. I also put the campus in the same city on the only spot a bath could be placed

Third city SE of rome to grab two more luxury resources (sugar/silk) and to prevent AI landgrab. At this time France declared a surprise war so the fourth city was founded to the NW by Cliffs of Dover for the Iron. By this time I had three warriors ready for an upgrade. After fending off the french I captured Paris and Catherine begged for peace .

So far I have one campus district and two in the works, a holy district completed and an industrial building in the capital. I will try to get the Colosseum wonder for the regional amenity bonus.

Spoiler :

 

[Happydays]

Long time civ player, first time civ poster.


- Where did you settle your city?
Starting location was meh, I knew that based on the size of the map the rainforest is only 3 tiles wide so I moved the Warrior NE, didn't see anything I like. With the new districts there is no reason to settle next to a mountain anymore, when you can have an extra workable tile in your starting 6. SO I took a gamble and moved SE and boom 2 wheat. Perfect place to settle.
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
I went pottery, to go irrigation and get the dyes. I went foreign trade as the second continent starts a few tiles south, and pushed into a standard political philosophy. I used Discipline and God King to try and get a pantheon and Religion.
- What was your build order?
I went scout-slinger-builder-warrior I was getting pressure from barbarians, and the French were amassing a huge force to my south (6-7 warriors)
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
I went for a holy site first after i took the pantheon that holy sites get a bonus from being next to rain forest tiles. This let me get a late religion
- How did you place your districts?
The holy site was placed in the rain forest for maximum benefit. After the Holy Site I went Campus next to the mountain
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
I only managed to build one settler before France declared war on me and since she was to the south I settled towards the cliffs of Dover
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
With an early war against France I needed to have unit production up so I used both Manuver and Agoge and pumped out 3 or 4 chariots and a few archers as well
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
I met Stockholm to the north and the cultural one to the East. Russia was attacking it and was busy doing so for pretty much the whole 100 turns. But he was never able to capture it. Probably best as if Russia and France both were focused on me it was game over early.
- Were your neighbors peaceful?
No. France was war hungry from turn one it seems with how many warriors she pumped out, and Egypt settled just to my North, literally on my boarder. If that's not forward settling I don't know what it is. I will declare war on her as soon as I finish off France
- How were the Barbarians?
A little troublesome, sometimes helpful distracting the AI.
- Any surprises?
The Cliffs of Dover so close made it easy to pick my second city, but I only really built one city and then it was just war time. Took most cities through domination.

I didn't take a screen shot at turn 100, but I will for the next GotM.

 

[lamaros]

- Where did you settle your city?

Settled in place.

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

Went for irrigation, then mining, then straight to legionaries (with archery as needed).

- What was your build order?

My usual, warrior, builder, slinger, slinger, warrior, etc.

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

Got an encampment a little bit in, but wasn't any priority.

- How did you place your districts?

No real plan, not my focus.

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

Yes. I build one, and have captured another 6-7.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?

Early military buildup via cheaper archers and melee, other cards used without much purpose beyond efficiency.

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

Met four, took out one myself, in charge of two, and Cleo just took out another.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?

No, France went from friendly to war. Egypt loves me though.

- How were the Barbarians?

No real issues with barbarians to speak of, just annoyances.

- Any surprises?

Yes, I got a religion! Used to playing Deity where I have no chance unless I go for it specifically, but got one here without even trying for it after taking over enemy holy sites. Otherwise pretty standard to date.

I've wiped out France and Russia by turn 100, and Egypt is next up. I'm pretty far ahead in culture and science, and will transition to a big production and science focus as soon as Cleo goes down.

Not sure how quick the transition will go, as I've never played to rush science before, but I hope to be pushing over 100 science by turn 200, if not more, and hogging all the great people.

 

[Esperr]

t100
8 citys, 2 captured from egypt(wiped them out) and Paris(whiped them out). Settled the rest. Already way ahead of the other civs, currenly researching industrialization. Game is over, now its just about time.

Bad start meant im going to have to kill early, SIP, beeline political philosiphy. Went mining, AH, archery and then bronze working to start getting rid of jungles. Built 6 slingers before popping archery and upgrading 5 to archer, went south and took paris first, then north and took Ra-kadet, then back south to take another egyptian city, wiping them out. My citys are all over the place, have currently met peter and saladin. Didnt mean to bother with religion(I never do) but paris had a holy site so I popped one anyway. Unfortunatly Ra-kadet had a campus before I could capture it, which choked building an industrial district until later. Im also currently sending a settler to pop city 9, probably stop at ten and then settle in for science VC.

Using basic "I have no soul strategy" of beelinging PP and aprenticeship-->industrialization into high production factory overlap nation. Have been playing deity....messed up a little, sent my archers in search of roaming settlers and builders that...just kinda werent there. Probably cost myself conquering a russian city or two. I think if I had known and restarted I could have had 11 or 12 citys up by now.

Went scout, slinger, builder(figured I could get away with it on king), slinger, slinger, slinger, slinger....slinger....settler while I went to go kill some fools.

edit:BTW that start was sooooo bad(If it wasnt GOTM I wouldnt even bother bad). My rule is that if you have a bad start its time to start killing, which is what I did. If I didnt have Rome's roads idk how I would be getting my army around. Also, there really arent any amazing spots on the whole continent it seems, all the super high production spots seem to be in tundra, although Paris is pretty good.

 

[thegenk]

I scouted northeast with the warrior, but didn't see anything that looked particularly promising so settled in place.

I basically followed Eurekas through the early part of the tech tree before heading to Apprenticeship. I've almost certainly researched more techs/civics than seems to be considered optimal atm, but am I going to try to use this game as a litmus test for the value of beelining versus maximizing Eurekas and Inspirations.

Went Scout, Slinger, Settler, which is standard for me, but went Builder 4th (which isn't) because I ended up going Craftmanship before Early Empire in an attempt to get an Inspiration for the latter (but that didn't happen). Ended up in Autocracy through t100 before of constant war, but I don't feel like I lost much as opposed to going Republic. Monarchy is now ready to go but I'm going to wait for one more Civic to complete a final legacy bonus.

No districts until quite late b/c of lack of production/need for troops, first ended up being a Holy Site in the crippled city I forward settled south with my initial settler. First district in Rome was a Campus that only just finished before t100, but Commercial and Industrial Hubs are up or building in most of my more functional cities.

I was able to settle my fourth city before turn 46 since Peter walked his first settler into my warrior. Was DoWed by Catherine shortly thereafter, but I held her off and took a rich treaty offer while I cleaned out Peter. She attacked again as I was taking his second (and last) city, and I just finished her off immediately prior to t100. There was another settler in Paris, and the city that it settles will be my 8th (I razed France's garbage second city).

Egypt conquered Hong Kong and Saladin is one envoy ahead on Hattusa, but I'm suzerain of Kumasi and Stockholm. I will look to liberate HK and conquer Egypt next, and then probably Saladin too since I don't see him being friendly down the road (four of the five religions were founded on my continent).

Maybe the most surprising thing also falls under the category of religion: I founded mine in St. Petersburg, which was the only place where I had a Holy Site when the GP popped, despite the fact that Peter had previously founded his there.

Spoiler :

 

[Gomoto]

• I settled in place on turn 1.
• I choose policies according to my production. Bonus for builders (ilkum), settlers and defensive buildings (limes). I used the +1 production (urban planning). I also use (conscription) to save some money
• Before placing districts I check out a spot in the city view and use builders to chop the tile in advance. I focused on builders for tile improvements before districts also.
• I plan to support the citys with factories inbetween where possible to allow a faster spacerace in the endgame.
• Rome is an autocracy for now.
• I met four city-states and I am the suzerain of Stockholm (research).
• Catherine started a futile war against the imperium.
• A babarian uprising was used as an excuse for intense military spending.

Spoiler :

 

[mayhemster]

I must learn to read, I thought this was a Dom game and only realised my mistake when I had a look at this thread. I'll play it out and submit anyway as I think it will be a pretty fast finish.

I did learn a few things though.

Chopping rainforest is an insane boost to get a new city started.
Chopping in general is too strong.
3 archers and 1 warrior is enough to take someone out early.
The AI is useless at settling, I took out France by around turn 40 and Russia by around turn 55 and both had their original 2nd settler sat in the capital doing nothing.
If you pillage a district that you don't have the tech for then you can't repair it after you capture the city

 

[Chowee]

Hi there ! First time posting on this forum even though I check it regularly since a few years now.

For this game I decided to try out some city spamming to see how it would perform with Rome. I wanted to try out some ICSing in Civ VI and that was a good occasion. Up until now it's going pretty smoothly with some good expanding and some additional cities captured because France declared on me and then I had nothing better to do with my army than to capture Russia's cities. I'm a bit low still on science and production so preparing for factories still takes some time but I'll get there...

- Where did you settle your city?
I settled 1 tile SE to leave more room for early expansion along the northern river.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
I beelined for Political Philosophy and I am now working my way up to Exploration for the Merchant Replublic and to get the nice military bonuses along the way. In terms of research, I'm mostly beelining for Industrialiyation to get my factories ASAP. I did some deviation for archers and legions for early warfare and of course Irrigation. I did wasted some science into Masonry for god nows what reason...

- What was your build order?
I went for Scout-Builder-Slinger and then spammed Settlers with a quick break for some military when France declared war ^^ I recently stoped Settler production to prepare the infrastructure for factory. In the other cities, I did not have specific build orders but priorities were Granary, military as needed, some builders and one or two districts.

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
- How did you place your districts?
For districts, I did not build them early on but waited until I had Apprenticeship to start building Industrial District in every city were it does not take an insane amount of time... I did build a few Commercial Hubs in some of my cities but with insight I think I might have been better of with some more builders or settlers. For placing the districts I'm mostly focusing on how I can maximize factory AOE efficiency with my Industrial Zones. Commercial Hubs were placed to create adjancency bonuses on the Industrial Zones.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Obviously I focused on expanding a lot and very early to get my cities running ASAP. Additionaly early warfare got me some juicy rewards ! Right now I'm at 8 self founded cities and 3 captured from France and Russia

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
I went for God King until I got a pantheon (Oral Traditions) and then switch almost 100% of the time to Colonization and Urban Planning. I did switch to Ilkum and some Servage here and there and I think Caravansaries at some point when there was nothing better. Militaristicly it was Disipline or Survey early, Agoge when war was declared, then Conscription for gold savings. Because I met all close-by city states early I stayed on Charismatic Leader for diplo card.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
I basically have at least 1 envoy in every CS that matters for now (Hattusa, Stockholm and Hong Kong). I'm sitting now on 4 envoys waiting for a good oportunity to be sent somewhere.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
Nope ! France declared on me but I could see it comming as she stationed a bunch of units close to my border very soon... I still did not switch to military until I was declared on. Keeping Rome was very tight but I managed and with my additional units and getting archers I was able to push her away and march on Paris which was her only city. From there I upgraded to legions and decided that I would march east to Russia. I guess Arabia is next ^^

- How were the Barbarians?
Not so much of a problem. I did not have so many coming and it was easy to handle them with my early units. After conquering Paris I did clean up encampments a bit before pushing east because they were starting to get in the way for expansion.

- Any surprises?
Not so much up until now except from the god awful land....

Spoiler Screenshot :

 

[Mulfar]

- Where did you settle your city?
Right on the spot!

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
I went for god king and the culture pantheon for banana's, etc. For civics I rushed the first government one, tryng to unlock inspirations on the way.

- What was your build order?
Scout, builder, slinger, settler, etc.

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
The first district I built was a commercial one in Rome to set up internal trade routes. However, I gained a lot of religious ones taking over France and Russia. I must have had 1 commercial one and 3 holy sites at that point.

- How did you place your districts?
Nothing special, I don't think you can build a lot early game or it slows your expansions and military down. So I ploped my commercial district near a river for the bonuses and that's that.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
I wanted to get some massive expands going on.... BUT foward settling near france with my 3rd city caused a war between our nations with France as the agressor. I actualy lost the city and had to retake it by force a few turns later as I underestimated the military France had... plus the surprise attack was brutal.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
God king for pantheon bonus, then switch to +1 production. Afterwards it was all military bonuses until I smacked France and began attacking Russian afterwards.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
I tried to get the industrial one and the later scientific states (because I wanted to try a later science victory)

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
Not at all, France DOW me around turn 40-50 and took one of my undefended cities before I could react. Then once I had the military in place... I saw no reason not to use it my standing army on Russia.

- How were the Barbarians?
Not a whole lot, France and Russia helped take out the barbs in the Tundra to the south and I barely saw any barbs.

- Any surprises?
Yeah, France surprise attack was nasty! I rolled my face on the keyboard when my city was taken over. Also, surprising how close you can build cities in this Civ6 and still let them grow strong. My towns are literaly 3-4 tiles from each other and it's not hurting me one bit.

 

[oakdragon]

Unfortunately, I did not keep good track of my actions of the first 100 turns, so this will be a rough summary. I'll keep better track next month.

- Where did you settle your city?

In place.

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

Plantations first to get to irrigation so I could work the luxuries. Then animal husbandry so I could get to archery. Then mining to get to ancient walls. Archery and walls are my go-tos for early defense.

- What was your build order?

Scout, slinger, scout, settler, I think. I wanted to focus finding goody huts and getting my second city north of Hong Kong for the horses, which I figured I'd need for early military. I focused my tiles on food and production and didn't go for an early builder because I figured having more pop working tiles was more important early than improving them.

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

I don't remember exactly when, but It was probably within the first 100 turns that I started building campuses. Normally, I would not do this, starting with commercial hubs instead, but it was kind of handy knowing what victory condition I'd be going for by turn 0, so to speak, and I wanted to see if early campuses helped much.

- How did you place your districts?

Suboptimally, no doubt. I've been watching a lot of Filthy Robot's videos lately, trying to improve my strategizing, so I tried to play as optimally as I could at first, but I soon got distracted by Catherine and Cleo and trying to handle everything at once. Soon I was back to trying to play well, but not worrying about being perfect.

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

I think I had my third city placed by turn 100. I don't tend to care about expansion much generally. I prefer to have less stuff I have to manage. Now, after watching Filthy's videos, going wide had been something I'd intended to try but I never really got around to it. I was more worried early on about possible rushes from Catherine and Cleo.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?

For the cards, I chose +1 production to cities because that's always useful early and 50% production to early units, expecting a military rush that never ended up happening. After that, I went straight for political philosophy so I could get classical republic for the great people points.

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

By turn 100, I'm pretty sure I'd only met Stockholm, Hong Kong, and Hattusa. I might have met Kumasi by then, but I'm not sure. Originally, I wanted to try to be suzerain of Stockholm, Hattusa, and possibly Kumasi, but I ended up only focusing on Stockholm.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?

Except for occasional trash talk from Cleo about weak military and from Catherine about settling too close to her, yes.

- How were the Barbarians?

Surprisingly trouble-free. Occasionally annoying in that new camps would spring up really close by, but they were never any real threat.

- Any surprises?

Not really.

 

[Jozo_NL]

Where did you settle your city?

In place.

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

Got as much eurekas as possible. Went for iron working quite quickly, as it was my plan to make use of the legionaire as much as possible.

- What was your build order?

Slinger, warrior, settler, trader (bought that one).

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

Yes. Build my first settler very quickly. Soon after I build 2 more. Once 4 cities were online (turn 40 or so), I started pumping out 2 archers, 2 battering rams and 10 legionnaires to conquer more cities.

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

Build a campus in Rome just before building my army. The only district I built had for quite a while. At turn 80 I started building industrial zones in all my cities.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?

Not really. France conquered Stockholm quite early. In retaliation, I conquered France. Got Paris and Rouen at turn 60. Just after I made peace under favorable conditions, Peter and Cleopatra declared a joint war against me. To punish them,

I captured St Petersburg (only Russian city) and an egyptian city in the north somewhere between turns 80-90. I am heading to Saladin now.

Spoiler :

 

[Brewster]

I went and documented everything like a succession game. Here are my notes:


Old habits die hard. It took me until turn 31 before I remembered I should really be documenting this game.

As of turn 31 I only have one city (founded in place), two slingers, two scouts, a warrior and a builder. I'm currently working on mining as I need to get rid of some of this jungle. In my haste to get things produced quickly, I cranked out a builder with my third action in Rome, only to find I did not have any work that could be done as I had not researched the needed techs. Major mistake on my part.
Looking at the landscape I am at a bit of a loss as of where to settle first. I have a few spots eyed up but nothing is standing out as the perfect go-to spot. I will likely settle aggressively towards France to the south and try to claim another two luxury resources (inscence and silk). There are desirable sites to the east and west of Rome as well. With all the flat terrain to the south, I would like to grab the horses to the east with my second or third city.
I have met France in the south and Egypt to the north. If there is to be war, it may have to be against Egypt as they are at the bottom of the power list. I should be wary of Catherine as she has amassed the largest force in the lands.

Now back to the game.
turn 32 - I finished the third charge on my builder and improved the dyes south of the mountain, boosting (and completing) Craftsmanship. My northern scout has just popped his fourth goodie hut getting 20 faith (not relevant to my game).
turn 33 - Finish researching Mining (can finally clear some jungle!). As I have not yet boosted any techs at this point, I will do some turns on both Bronze Working and Wheel.
turn 34 - Settler finished! I will send them up northeast to the river near the horses. I need better units! Start another warrior. Finish Early Empire and change up to Colonization for the Settler boost. I will research State Workforce the hard way as I will be focusing on troops and settlers for a while.
turn 35 - My slingers finally get a kill! My scout reveals things are tough for Egypt as the barbs are thick around her right now. The time is ripe for us. We must move quickly. Cathy wants open borders. I decline.
turn 36 - Switch to Agoge for the boost to unit production.
turn 37 - The settler is now escorted by one of my scouts. Should be there in a few more turns. Peter of Russia enters the fray. We send a delegation.
turn 41 - Ostia is founded! Starts on a warrior. Bronze Working is at 50% so I switch to Archery. Road is built instantly!!! I love Rome. Killed my third barb and finished Bronze Working. I spy some Iron to the west so that is where we will be going next (probably).
turn 42 - I purchase a builder in Ostia and switch production to granery. I'm going to improve the rice and horses and chop the jungle with this builder.
turn 43 - Rome grows to 5 next turn so I start a settler to get the iron to the west.
turn 46 - Egypt declares war on Stockholm. This could be my opportunity. I just upgraded all three of my slingers to archers. Gonna get messy soon.
turn 47 - While investigating the scene in Egypt, my scout inadvertently wandered near some barbs. His time may be up but he did reveal Ra-Kedet to be empty. Horses have been improved. I will send most of my units up north in hopes of surprising her.
turn 48 - Cleo has a settler with a slinger advancing southwards. Northern scout is dead.
turn 49 - She settled Memphis right where I want it. I just want a few more units and then it is time.
turn 50 - Settler finished, and sent west to get the iron. I see Peter moving some units near the city states to the east.
turn 53 - With two warriors and two archers (third on the way) I declare war on Cleo. I feel unprepared but have to strike while she is besieged by barbs. I finally find the Russian borders to my southeast. France is stirring to the south. Good thing I left an archer behind. I could see this becoming an Always War game if things continue like this.
turn 54 - We research Horseback Riding (Wooooo!!!) and Political Philosophy. Time for Oligarchy. We start on Iron Working to get the Legion. Good times. We advance on Memphis.
turn 55 - Crap! We need two horse for Horseman. If I can't win with quality, go for quantity. Unit spam incoming.
turn 56 - Cumae is founded on the bend in the river to the west near the iron. I need a builder.
turn 58 - Rome is pumping out three turn spears and Ostia is working on four turn archers. I think Egypt is gassed. No counterattack for the last two turns. Memphis is in the red. It should fall next turn.
turn 59 - Memphis is under new management. My god! Instant roads to a captured city too. This is quite a powerful ability.
turn 60 - With things looking quite nice up north, I turn my attention the the growing number of warriors to my south. Time to annoy Cathy. DENOUNCED! I will try to get her to declare on me to avoid penalties and get a civic boost.
turn 61 - Cathy declares war on us. She is atop the power rankings with near double my score, but I now have four cities to her one. It will be defensive for a while.
turn 62 - She has at least 10 warriors outside the jungle. I have a few spears and an archer. I should be fine.
turn 64 - Archers are crap in the jungle. My spears are at 50% but have wounded 8 warriors. I need those Legions soon. Ra-Kedet is in the red.
turn 65 - Cleo has left the building! Now to drive out the heathen French. We now have five cities. That was my goal for turn 100. Let us see how far we can take this.
turn 67 - Plenty of shuffling but no attacks, Cleo is giving me a chance to build up a force. Such a nice AI. The aquisition of the Egyptian capital has netted me a second horse. Horseman are back on the menu!
turn 69 - I just counted 14 French warriors milling about outside the jungle.
turn 71 - The first Horseman finishes. Let the counterattack begin! We're going to need a Battering Ram. Ostia will start on one next turn. Rome will continue with more horse units. Cathy sees the tides have turned and tries to broker a peace dead. DENIED!!! Paris will be mine!
turn 75 - The French warriors are starting to fall with regularity now. My forces leave the jungle to the south for the first time in search of blood. French blood.
turn 77 - Monster DERP!!! I decided to check up on my policies and noticed I was running Maritime Industries and not Maneuver. Aggggg! The wasted production. That was even worse than the builder goof earlier. Battering ram is finished and on its way to Paris.
turn 79 - I notice I am running into gold issues. I need to get my economy up and running before taking on Peter (maybe). I have to delete a warrior to compensate.
turn 82 - Peter is disappointed in my lack of culture. I am disappointed in his lack of pointy sticks. I will need a new opponent after I take Paris. He will do.
turn 86 - The siege continues. France is down to two heavy chariots and a settler. I've already made plans for the settler.
turn 87 - Paris is mine and Cathy has joined Cleo on the sidelines. Peter is next as are the city states. I have the forces for it so I may as well do it. I will now focus on the economy and science.

Peter has a settler/slinger combo just south of one of the city states but little else. For some reason he is still on his first city. I will attack and begin my development of the continent with settlers and builders. It will be glorious!

I have not built any districts yet, just conquered them.

 

[AboutTime]

Where did you settle your city?

Settled on the gypsym
​

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

Tech - first 50 turns:

Mining (for immediate forrest chops with first builders)
Pottery*
Writing (for early campus and library)
Irrigation (for bananas and dyes)
Bronze Working (for jungle chops)
Animal Husbandry*
Wheel*
Currency*
Archery (To upgrade slingers since russia was massing on border)

*Filler techs to help out with eurekas
​

Civics - first 50 turns:
Code of laws

1 Production + barb combat strength​

Foreign trade

No changes​

Craftmanship

30% Builder production + combat strength​

Early Empire

50% Production Melee and ranged production +1 Production​

Political Philosophy - Classical Republic

50% Settler production + 1 Production + 2 influence points + 2 scientist points
​

Scientists for more boosts. Prebuilt 6 builders, finished them after feudalism.

​

- What was your build order?

First 60 turns:

2 Builders
Scout
Campus
Library
Granary
2 Builders
3 Slingers
2 Builders
4 Settlers
​

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

Built campus on turn 20 and library on 22.
Ignored holy sites.
Prioritizing campuses or baths. Generally campuses for rivercities and baths for non-river cities.
Commercial hubs amd industrial zones thereafter.
​

- How did you place your districts?

Bought tiles to get maximum adjacency bonuses.
Districts adjacent to other districts if possible
​

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

Built 8, including cap. captured 3.​

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?

Always built in bulk to their respective cards. Prioritized poliitical philosophy then feudalism. Recorded history for 100% campus adjacancy.
​

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

Met stockholm, hattusa and hong kong. 3 6 3 envoys respectively and suzerain of all 3.
​

- Were your neighbors peaceful?

Yes. Both russia and egypt sporadically lined up units at border though
​

- How were the Barbarians?

Minimal amounts of barbarians. Captured one builder which got retrieved the turn following.
​

Spoiler Turn 101 :

 

[Luca_zbr]

Italian guy here on first game with Romans, how could I miss it

I settled Rome on the starting spot, I founded the first 3 cities and built 4 legions and went to war against Kumasi at t66, marched down and took over Russian civ at t93, followed by the French empire.
My idea behind was going wide, building few legions to take over cities from the dully AI and fill every empty space with my cities to maximise population and science output. Not really worried about warmongering penalties or other civs relationship because I think that strategy doesn't really pay.
Ive seen from other people screenshoot in this topic that I have same science output so far, but I hope my legions and having more cities will allow me to finish the game earlier than the others guys here

Spoiler :