6otM 02 Opening Actions

[Sir Prizer]

Strictly a civ build game for the first 100 turns. I've met 4 AI civs thus far, only scouting. England sent a missionary but it didn't even try to share religion. I only lately sent our galleys for scouting. Its impossible to tell how I'm fairing. My score (121) is mid-table, but not very meaningful at this age. Plan is to stay put and build strong culture production on the rock Island. It has plenty of resources. I think it will hold 9 or 10 cities. I expect an AI invasion at some point, so will need defensive army and navy. We'll see how well that works.

- Where did you settle your city?
settled in place.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Writing for campus as I identified 2 mountain enclaves in each of first two cities. Decided not to fight for religion, so can give best mountain spots to campus not holy sites.
Didn't need hoplite so kept going on science and will open Education next turn. will build a few hoplite pairs for defense soon. On civics tree, mostly tried to upgrade government ASAP. Still 20 turns from Monarchy.

- What was your build order?
Slinger, Settler, Scout, builder, Slinger, warrior, settler, builder

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Turn 52 Campus in 2nd city mountain enclave with 4 adjacency. Plan is to let science lead way to culture

- How did you place your districts?
Plan a row of districts south of capital and pastures - only campus in place so far. Because of low food in some places, I grabbed Hanging Gardens in cap. Keeping jungles to the north for late rushes. In second city, initial campus and working harbor for navy and trade. I took one science GP so far and another soon. Will miss all early culture GPs, but plan to finish strong after steady build.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Building fast. Settled 4th city after a long march past Dover Cliffs. 3rd city is desert oasis with 3 sheep and 2 diamonds - will be small but productive after IZone and Encampment. Plan 9-10 cities total.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
I shuffled them regularly over the first 100 - which is usual for me. Since civics come frequently, its helpful to pair cards and build orders, especially for settlers, builders, and wonders. Using science GP card constantly. Key choice was pantheon. Took culture for pastures considering Island has 8 pastures. This is giving early culture until England or American decide to spread religion.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Zanzibar, NanModal, and Yerevan - not allied with any yet as England and American also fighting for them,

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
All chill so far.

- How were the Barbarians?
A blessing for Glad to have them add culture using Gorgo's ability.

- Any surprises?
Only that island had no city states. Isolation so far. Build and defend. Build until culture sources peaked, then crank on theater square festivals for GPs later.

 

[Sir Prizer]

Mining, Pasture (To get the three resources, Stone, Coppar, Sheap = bonus in several polices/tech).

Does this mean the combination of all 3 gives a bonus or each individually? I guess I'm not familiar with that aspect.

 

[Hythian]

Does this mean the combination of all 3 gives a bonus or each individually? I guess I'm not familiar with that aspect.

Each action gives their own Tech bonus:
Stone -> Quary for a bonus on Masonry
Copper -> Mine for a bonus on Wheel
Sheep -> Pasture for a bonus on Horseback Riding
+
Improve 3 Tiles -> Bonus on Craftsmanship (civic)
Build 3 Mines -> Bonus on Apprenticeship
Mine Iron -> Bonus on iron Working (need Bronze Working first to reveal Iron)

 

[culdeus]

I haven't picked this game back up since my first session or two. I had a game with the same setup to learn the ropes of things. I wanted to test whether I could take an early DOW on me, and pivot it into a expansion war coupled with some C-S aggro. Well this failed hardcore. I got a warmonger penalty for a war that I didn't even start, because I guess I rejected a peace treaty !!!!??? And a war I declared on a C-S left me as denounced by the entire globe. So I didn't have trade routes, and ultimately was declared on by 4 different AI.

Moral of story is don't DOW on anyone if going for a culture, and take the first peace offer you get. And for gods sake don't DOW on a C-S.

Also I didn't realize that acropo doesn't count towards district limit, that is nice at least. Will tackle the next 100ish turns soon.

 

[Hythian]

Also I didn't realize that acropo doesn't count towards district limit, that is nice at least. Will tackle the next 100ish turns soon.

That is true for all of the UDs, (Unique Districts) that Civs get. The Greek Acropolis (replaces Theatre District), the German Hanza (replaces Industrial Zone), English Royal Navy Dockyard (replaces Harbor), and Russian Lavra (replaces Holy Site). They also require only half the normal amount of production to build.

I think this also includes the Street Carnival of Brazil (replaces Entertainment District) but I have never bothered to build one in a Brazil game so I don't know for certain.

The Roman Baths (replaces Aquaduct) and Kongo Mbanza (replaces Neighborhood) benefit from the half-cost, but since those aren't specialty districts they don't get the benefit of not counting against pop limit.

 

[Warden USA]

Where did you settle your city?
I went 2 W to settle on the coast...not a coast
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
I met 1 gold city-state and 4 others had already met it. Took 3 to get the bonuses
- Were your neighbors peaceful?
Of the 3 I have met they have been peaceful
- How were the Barbarians?
Alright, no problems so far
- Any surprises?
Lake, not a coast.

My score is only 99 with other civ's around 130-150 so I'm a little worried. First time playing at this difficulty and for the VC. Having fun though. Cya at the finish line

 

[Hardcorey]

It's worth mentioning in the intro that I found a relic in a tribal village really early on (like turn 15 or something), which offered an obscene amount of faith and tourism for the early game, so pretty much every decision I made from there on out intended to build on that lead. I was really lucky to find it. Get the right religious beliefs and at T100, I'm generating 40 tourism! After that, I just need to focus on meeting all the other civs and stealing their tourists.

- Where did you settle your city?
In Place

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Research - Prioritized Astrology, Petra and Forbidden Palace. All others were really just situational.
Policies - Prioritized Mysticism for Great Prophet Points and Oracle, then the Divine Right with Mont. St. Michel, then I'll swing around and pick up Monarchy.

- What was your build order?
Something like slinger -> settler -> warrior -> settler. Prioritized expanding quickly and safely.

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Not very early, but started with a holy site so I could get a Great Prophet, then prioritized Acropolis. Still haven't built any Campuses, which everyone else seems to have prioritized... I might regret that

- How did you place your districts?
Didn't put a ton of thought into placement beyond "is there a decent bonus?" and "will I need this tile for any key wonders later?"

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Yes. Priority #1 for me was making sure I had full control of my island. Settled 6 cities with another coming around T108.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
That extra wildcard slot is awesome. Got to take production and gold and faith! Also got Great Writer points early and used the extra production from settler/builder as smartly as possible.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
I still haven't met a single one. It's really weird.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
They're peaceful with me, though I'm planning to beef up military soon, just in case.

- How were the Barbarians?
Aggressive, but not too many to handle.

- Any surprises?
That free relic at the beginning seems way overpowered. Also, some jerk stole my Petra.

I was tempted to rush Oracle, but it seemed like it would force me to give up a ton of production/expansion. I'll be curious to see how those who managed to grab Oracle end up doing!

Spoiler :

 

[DanQuayle]

I went ICS-style settling focusing mainly on fresh water locations and then got forward settled on my island by America.
I made two early Galley for exploration and have met all civilizations.

Spoiler :

 

[Sir Prizer]

Each action gives their own Tech bonus:
Stone -> Quary for a bonus on Masonry
Copper -> Mine for a bonus on Wheel
Sheep -> Pasture for a bonus on Horseback Riding
+
Improve 3 Tiles -> Bonus on Craftsmanship (civic)
Build 3 Mines -> Bonus on Apprenticeship
Mine Iron -> Bonus on iron Working (need Bronze Working first to reveal Iron)

Got it. I was over reading it. Thanks for walking through the details.

 

[Justus II]

Long-time Civ player, but new to Civ6, and haven’t played Civ5 in a couple years, so some re-learning to get thru. This is only my third game on Civ6, and first on Immortal – first two were a Science victory on Prince, and a Religious victory on King. I’m still getting the hang of districts, and probably put them off too long, but I think I’m in a good position to focus on internal building now.

Where did you settle your city?
In place

What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Science: Initial focus on enabling builder improvements, then fighting barbs, then focus on sea techs to meet my neighbors, finally shifted to drive toward industrialization
Animal Husb/Mining/Archery/Bronze/Pottery/Sailing/Wheel/Irrigation/Masonry/Celestial/Shipbuilding, then Writing/Currency/Horse/Apprentice

Culture: Focus on getting Political Philosophy with a detour to pick up Mil Trad when the barb fighting got intense, then drama for the Acropolis. Culture times looked long (especially for a couple I didn’t have a boost for), but then a barb wave would speed them along!
Code/Craft/Trade/Empire/Workforce, start PolPhil then MilTrad, back to PolPhil/Drama/Mysticism/Games/DefenseTactics

What was your build order?
Scout/Builder/Sling/Sling/Archer/Archer/Hoplite, then Settler/Settler/Builder/Builder/Watermill. After that a Trader, 2 more Settlers, 2 more Builders, and finally started the Acropolis.
First two cities (on E/W coasts) built Galleys, Walls, a builder/settler, and started on districts

How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Way late – As of turn 100 I have only completed one district (Acropolis in Sparta), I’m halfway done with a Campus in Corinth and a Harbor in Rhodes. After this next round of builders (timed w/Feudalism), I will focus on districts. Plan is a Commercial and Acropolis in each city, industrial in the central cities and harbors on the coast, and Campus where I can get bonus.

How did you place your districts?
Initial sites based on planned adjacencies, I’ve tried to plan improvements around district sites and purchased tiles and cleared or started a couple more already (Campus in Corinth, Comm and Campus in Sparta)..

Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
A couple initial barb rushes made me focus on defense, then I felt like I hadn’t expanded fast enough so I focused on settlers/builders, and finally started on districts. I have six cities (all self-founded), considering one more to block off the SW.

How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Initial focus was heavy military, tried to alternate between the +30%Builder/+50% Settler in waves, also used the +100% Naval to get two galleys out early. Used the wildcard slot so I could run GodKing early and get a pantheon (Open Sky for more culture from pastures), then military (under Republic) vs barbs and now free unit maintenance for cashflow.

What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
The two galleys went exploring, so I met 5 AI and 5 City States already. Have 1 envoy w/Nan Madol (Culture) and 2 w/Jakarta (gold).

Were your neighbors peaceful?
So far so good, but Harald denounced me, so I’m expecting visitors. Rome and America had a war but I didn’t see much come from it.

How were the Barbarians?
The initial waves were tough, I saw the scout spot me but couldn’t catch it before it made it back. I set up a couple slingers and my warrior on the river south of the capital and ran thru several waves, before I could upgrade to Archers and march on the camp. I then set a sentry in the south and started clearing fog west and around the island. Then I realized how much my culture slowed without the barbs, so I backed off and let a couple camps spawn to farm in the SW, it makes a big difference early in getting thru the culture tree.

Any surprises?
I didn’t realize early on how much difference the barb culture was making, or I would have probably left more camps up. I was also quite surprised to be alone on the island, I assumed I’d have at least one AI or city state.

Spoiler Map at 100 :

 

[Eyswein]

- Where did you settle your city? SIP – was hoping it would be coast with whales, but just a lake, so stayed in place
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Science – AH, Mining, Pottery, Irrigation, Archery, Wheel, Sailing (basically looking for synergy with resources on map, ranged military, expansion and long term culture goals)
Culture – beeline for Early Empire (got boost from GH at size 5, which was nice) and then better government for more policies
Religion – God of the Open Sky pantheon, got beat to religions
- What was your build order? Builder, Slinger x3 (upgrade at archery),
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize? One campus near mountain for big science boost, then would focus on harbors/commerce/industry districts
- How did you place your districts? For bonuses and would set up industry ones to be within 6 of most cities possible
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns? Played a peacenik, so zero captured, had 8 cities covering my island at turn 100
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities? For first 3, all but recon bonus; then focused on money/production always, settler spam at Early Empire, builder spam for new cities just built
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side? None met
- Were your neighbors peaceful? Very peaceful during the first 100 turns
- How were the Barbarians? Generally nice culture boost when killed, but annoying due to my stupidity: lost my trade route to a scout on turn 56; built my first galley on turn 84 only to lost it to a barbarian frigate reckoning the American coastline on turn 103; a slow down early on
- Any surprises? GH galore – no relics for me L, but some nice boosts

Spoiler Map at turn 100 :

 

[AugusTIN0007]

I joined the GotM1, and feel very thankful for the experience of "being forced" to NOT replay turns, AND having the chance of compareing strategies and results. So I decided to play ONE GotM per month as it seems like the time limit I can sacrifice at the moment.
But when I compared the anouncement thread of GotM2 and 3 I was drawn to the CHALLENGE of playing IMMORTAL rather than Prince in GotM3 ... even more because it was the Island map ...so early warmongering seemed not realistic for my level of playing ... and I knew that it would mean TROUBLE and running behind in the first 100 turns for sure.

I want to THANK ALL players who wrote their experience and strategies, but especially the TOP players elitetroops, and DanQuayle inspired me to try some of "their" aproaches.

So here I am

GENERAL STRATEGY: as I played GotM1 "intuitively", on a step by step basis without belining and long time focus, this time I decided to use some of the ideas I read from the TOP players and decided to:
1) beline apprenticeship ... industrialization,
2) target the useful science GP giving extra science for getting as much as possible 1 turn "old" technologies"
3) plan districts ahead with pins
4) play "peaceful" and try to outpaste the AI
.... LOL ...now, after 100 turns I know how easy it sounds when You READ the tips but how far from "smooth" it goes when you try follow theese goals

- Where did you settle your city?
On spot - because I thought it was coast to the west and NOT a lake
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?

- What was your build order?
scout, builder, slinger, settler ...... at early empires I produced settler 3 and 4 in both cities!! - so early expansion
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Maybe biggest mistake out of the perspective of the first 100 turns was to go for religion. So early Holy site (divine spark por extra GP point) and then 2 campus with 4 bonuses.
- How did you place your districts?
Priority was to use MAXIMUM bonus from great starting position with mountains and hills, so maximizing bonus was priority - Of the first 6 cities, 2 had science bonus 4(!!) and 2 had bonus 3. Later I plan 3 industry districts with bonus of 5!!
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
YES, expansion .... 6 cities in turn 100 - zero captured ...but sadly America settled in the north a city with defence 40!!!??
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
One of the biggest MISTAKES was neglecting building ships for early exploring the seas
I was so much in panic around turn 50 -70 seeing being last in score and in many other aspects exept science, that I just tried to improve my empire and could not force myself to loose production to build 2 early Galleys - so when I earned my 1st envoy I had NO CS to send him to - not even in turn 100!!
- Were your neighbors peaceful?
YES, peaceful they were, but from around turn 50 carpets of missionaries and apostles from England (west) and America (east) fought heavily all around my nice little Island. In turn 74 I founded religion as the LAST civilization and was strugelling to keep at least in my capital the faith of the Greece religion.
- How were the Barbarians?
In some moments they were making trouble. For example instead of settling 2nd city towards east like I planed I had to "escape" towards the west and found 2nd city there instead.
- Any surprises?
I was sooo happy to see many hills this time (not like in GotM1), that I underestimated the low food production on the west of the Greek Island.
I forgot how "slow" the borders grow and planed some of my districts with great bonus 3 tiles away from city center ... so I had not the "timing" I imagined at the beginning when I pinned the locations ...lol

Situation at turn 100:
At least I am leading science 42/turn, 8 GP science/turn, and score is 133 so I caught up and reached the TOP civs by score, but still it is clear that, on my level of playing I have NO CHANCE to beat the AI on immortal by "outplaying" all their "advances" ... and my closest neighbor America is by far leading CULTURE and last in science - so it is clear now, that "peaceful game" is NOT an option anymore, but WAR and capturing America is the REALITY in this game

Spoiler turn 100 :