6otM 08 Opening Actions Report

[Knowtalent]

Welcome to the 6otM 08 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.

 

[lqwertyp]

- Where did you settle your city?
Settled in place
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
I went for bronze working first, since I wanted to build the encampment. After this I filled in euraka's and went for Currency so I could place commercial districts fast.
- What was your build order?
I went slinger, slinger, worker, slinger, Eagle Warrior, settler, slinger, Eagle Warrior, Eagle Warrior, settler settler.
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
After I researched BW, I build an encampment fast, because I wanted to get the extra cog for trade routes. Not many high production tiles close to new cities.
- How did you place your districts?
I placed the encampment two tiles north of the capital. Wanted to get nice adjency with commercial districts with my second city to the north.
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Here's where I misplayed a little I think: usually I play on epic pace so I think I didn't build enough settlers. Hoped to wage war early, but the Sun Gods gave us an isolated start. Focused a lot on military early on, but there was nothing to capture. Eventually, on turn 98 I settled 6 cities myself and captured Vilnius after Political Philosophy was done. Vilnius was nice for culture early on, but they build a theather district so I figured that would even out the loss of 2 culture in the capital when I captured it. Since I didn't plan to build any theather districts myself, putting any more envoys in Vilnius didn't seem to be a wise choice. Plus, there are four (!) unique luxuries around Vilnius, so I figured that would be a nice combat bonus in the long run. Last, but not least, Vilnius had quite a large army, which meant a lot of free builders to kickstart districts in cities.
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Pfew, I think I went for the 50% bonus for military early, so I could build an army fast. After this I switched the barbarian card and the maintenance reduction cost on and off. For economy I used the +1 faith and +1 gold for the pantheon first (I got the +1 cog for floodplains, marshes and oasis). After this I got the 50% production boost for settlers. After policital philosophy I went for unit maintenance cost reduction, +1 cogs in all cities, extra envoy points and I switched the wildcard between scientist and useful economic policy cards.
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Only met Vilnius and Preslav (?). Used the extra Vilnius culture untill policital philosopy and dumped some envoys at Preslav, because extra cogs for building units seems very useful for domination victory. I'm surprised that I didn't meet any other CS on the continent. I explored from south pole to north pole. Maybe I should've gone for an earlier trireme.
- Were your neighbors peaceful?
What neighbors?
- How were the Barbarians?
Rather easy to deal with. Especially with the Eagle Warrior.
- Any surprises?
Definitely!
- Really surprised about the size of the landmass I started on. Doens't look like Island Plates to me
- Really surprised about the diversity of luxuries for amenities on the landmass. There must be 8 or 9 unique ones on the starting landmass.
- Really surprised there wasn't any AI close by.

This seems like a very nice game to complete! Looking forward to build an empire, build a fleet and steamroll the #$%^& out of everyone!

PS: No screenshots attached, because I'm *working* right now.

 

[Leyrann]

Slightly over 100 turns in, but I suppose that still counts.

I just settled in place (it seemed like a fine spot to me, and it turned out I could even choose on which side to build a harbor). Immediately started building and Eagle Warrior, figuring I could just go conquer the first city I came across. Sent my starting EW to the north, and found out there was quite a bit of floodplains as well as Kilomanjaro, so it was clear to me that I wanted to expand that way, and also build Petra east of Kilomanjaro to get some awesome tiles (seriously, Oasis + Kilomanjaro + Petra). Sent my second EW south, came across Vilnius and Preslav, with both giving me the free envoy, so I decided to stay at peace with them for a bit, while I went for Settler - Eagle Warrior - Builder - Eagle Warrior - Eagle Warrior in my capital, in the meanwhile using the culture from Vilnius to get some civics and rushing Monument in my second city alongside the river. Then I went south with my Eagle Warriors and declared war on Vilnius (also starting on Monument in my capital the same turn) and managed to conquer them within a few more turns, getting a total of 5 builder charges along the way (in retrospect I should've killed some more of their warriors). By that point, some 50 turns in, I took the fact that I had not met a single other civilization yet as an indication I was alone on my island, so I decided to just empire build as fast I could, spamming Settlers in my capital, while in the meanwhile exploring the rest of my island. By turn 100 (99 to be exact) I finished Petra, and I was indeed rapidly expanding. Very interested in how it's going to continue now that I met some other civilizations. Two of them already declared a joint war on me, though that's not exactly frightening considering I got quite a strong military (I think I got some 7 Swordsman and a few other units).

As far as tech go, I rushed pretty hard for Horseback Riding, as I found out it was really easy to reach (I normally play with a mod that alters the tech and civic trees) and I had already pastured the horses next to my capital. Currency wasn't long after, and I believe it was indeed within 100 turns that I had also researched Apprentinceship already.

The start was, in my opinion, simply amazing. I can remember having starts on the border of continents, but I cannot remember starting on the border of three continents, while playing Aztecs, who get 50% more out of their luxery resources and buff their military units with it (seriously, I got some 5 luxery resources right now, and there's at least three on my island I don't yet have), and on top of that being alone. It's just free empire building. If you're ahead of all emperor AI in score at 100 turns without any wars, something's up with your start (at least for me).

For districts, I got two early encampments out so I can get an army out fast at any time. One is in my capital, which enjoys some nice bonuses from Preslav (by virtue of me conquering Vilnius and having just one city state to send envoys to), while the other is in Vilnius. While that city may have trouble growing with all the tundra and plains, production is quite fine. For the rest, I got a Commercial Hub and am also building a bunch of Harbors, and I built an Entertainment Complex in my capital with the intention of building a Colloseum to have some more amenities to counter having cities equal to half the land size of the map (considering it is domination victory, after all). (talking about that, does anybody know wheter Toronto (if it's even on this map) buffs Colloseum?)

For the rest I also haven't really had any problems - Started out with Classical Republic for a while as extra empire-building boost, sitting on the Settler production policy card for quite a while. I've just swapped to Oligarchy though, for the wars I am in right now, and also because that means I can put the military maintenance reduction card in military and free up my wildcard slot. And Barbarians are just free experience when you have Eagle Warriors and a few luxery resources. I only lost a single Swordsman later on because he stumbled on a horse camp that had just a few units while it was exploring far away at half health (my fault).

All said and done, I think this might very well be one of the best starts - if not the best start - I have ever had.

 

[whacker]

(talking about that, does anybody know wheter Toronto (if it's even on this map) buffs Colloseum?)

No, Toronto does not work with Colloseum.

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

So, turn 101 and so far a nice game.

Long story short: I invaded Vilnius early-ish (before Political Philosophy, at least) for the luxuries nearby. Went then for a settling spree, barbarian hunting and some time later, building galleys to explore the world.

Spoiler :

In the last 20-ish turns, went to war with India, and captured all 3 cities from them. Gandhi did find me a warmonger for conquering Vilnius before meeting him, so I better live up to his expectations .

Spain did denounce me as a warmonger because I conquered India, but I'm going for Domination, why should I care?

Probably there's not so many people that met India quite close to your landmass, so no more information about it in the rest of the post.

- Where did you settle your city?
Moved the Settler to the woods and settled there. I was wondering if I should move him to the coast, but there I'd have both the Tea and the Ivory within my second ring in just a few turns with cultural borders. Also, I managed to squeeze in one more city to the west (which became a good spot for Colosseum)

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Animal Husbandry > Mining (it was supposed to be Pottery, but I misclicked and didn't check back) > Pottery > Archery > Irrigation > Sailing (really wnated Galleys to see if there were CS nearby) > Writing > Currency.

- What was your build order?
Slinger > Builder > Slinger > Settler > Monument > Slinger > Slinger > Eagle Warrior. I built the Monument to offset the culture loss from attacking Vilnius.

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Somewhat late, my first were Commercial Hubs. Then some Campi and Harbours, and an Entertainment Complex for Colosseum and an Encampment in capital for production.

- How did you place your districts?
CH mostly went along rivers or the coastline (for Harbour adjacency). I didn't particularly seek high adjacency bonuses for Campi, though.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Yes. Domination is all about producing units and maintaining/upgrading them, and a bigger empire is needed. I got 14 cities in 101 turns.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
This time, I swapped Conscription for Maritime Industries for a few turns (around turn 60) to build enough Galleys to explore the world. Also, I had to use Agoge a second time (around turn 70) to invade India, just before I researched Shipbuilding (turn 75). Otherwise, it's been the usual cards (Conscription, Colonization, Urban Planning, Agoge, Charismatic Leader and Ilkum).

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
I met Vilnius and Preslav early to the south. Shame Vilnius had som many luxuries around, it had to be mine. I usually don't attack Cultural CS because the extra culture is good, but it had to go this time. I did suzerain Preslav, though (it was the only CS in the met for a long time, and not quite worth taking).

Spoiler :

The third one I met was Kabul, which was near the North Pole (!). I also know there's Amsterdam somewhere due to notifications between turns, and a Mercantile CS always helps when almost all your cities have Commercial Hubs.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?

Do far away civs count as neighbors?

- How were the Barbarians?
Pretty tame so far. No horses came until now (and those that might have spawned were quickly dealt with. The only camp that caused trouble was one to the south, which I didn't notice.

- Any surprises?

• This landmass is HUGE. Seriously, it's so huge I'd assume it was Pangaea if it wasn't for the map description.
• There's so many luxuries nearby. Ivory and Tea within reach, Vilnius has Diamonds, Silk, Salt and Truffles nearby, plenty of Coffee to the north, and Cocoa and Marble in the eastern peninsula. That's 9 luxuries to grab without real competition.
• In the beginning, there were some barbarians from the north that were going to my city, but couldn't find the camp. Strange.
• When I loaded the game, the Warrior had already moved!!

 

[CaptainFranz]

Not too pleased with how this one is going so far. Nobody on land mass and not a big fan of the terrain, other than the starting location. Not a big fan of the kind of terrain you get with island plates in general. Anyways:

- Where did you settle your city?
In place.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Usual AH into archery. No barbs nearby, so no boost this time. Then balanced between bottom of the tree / military and center of the tree for districts.

- What was your build order?
Slinger, slinger, builder, eagle warrior, settler I think. Builder earlier than usual due to lower difficulty and obviously nobody nearby.

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Campus first around 40 or so, then encampment in the capital.

- How did you place your districts?
Mostly for adjacency. +2 campus in the capital. CH along rivers as much as possible. Also planning on a +5 IZ in the capital.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Only have 7 cities by 100 which is significantly less than usual. I captured Vilnius for nearby luxuries, given the civ unique bonus. Nobody else nearby, so I went for colonization and founded the other 6. I am really struggling with the isolated position and the terrain on this one. Not many obvious good spots to put cities down. Not much production around other than in the capital.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Met the 2 on continent. Took Vilnius, doing nothing with Preslav for the moment. Maybe later if/when I get more encampments.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
No neighbors.

- How were the Barbarians?
Much milder than usual. Barely anything around at the start.

- Any surprises?
A few. Land mass is huge, although very "stringy". Kind of hard to place cities. Lots of luxuries but not much production around.
I was surprised of how hard it was to take Vilnius with 3 archers + 1 eagle warrior. Must have taken like 10-15 turns. I have taken AI's cities on deity with the same army and same timing in as little as 3 turns. They kept popping warrior after warrior. In retrospective, I should have used eagle warriors more for free builders, I guess I forgot about that. A big difference is whether they decide to keep a garrisoned unit, which they did. It really makes a huge difference at this stage of the game.

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

A pro tip for everyone, straight out from my game: Rams work with melee naval units!

 

[Eliminator_Sr]

Where did you settle your city?
I moved 1E on top of the forest.

What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
I didn't really beeline for anything early other than archery and the basics. Went for writing pretty early to unlock campus and then currency. Nothing noteworthy on the policy side.

What was your build order?
Slinger, worker, slinger, Eagle Warrior, Archer, Settler, campus

How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
I prioritized campus districts because of all the mountains and lack of nearby opponents. I have a particular strategy in mind that requires some faster research. I did get a commercial district down in the capital and working on an Industrial zone there. A few Harbors as well. My economy is pretty weak right now but I plan to fix that soon.

How did you place your districts?
This was my first game where I started locking districts in place early when available. Campus districts went near the mountain chains - I got some nice adjacency bonuses +3 on a few and one +5.

Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
I tried to but I didn't get down quite as many cities as I wanted because I was also prioritizing districts. I didn't find India until the last 20 turns so my strategy might have changed a bit had I found them earlier. I have 9 cities down so far but the last four are babies.

How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Worker bonus is a no brainer with Aztecs - that will be there for most of the game. The other two that I prioritized were the settler production bonus and +100% production on naval units for galleys.

What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Just the two neighboring ones near the capital. I cultivated Pre-Slav since it was in a lousy location and captured Vilnius to get some early workers and luxuries.

Were your neighbors peaceful?
It's a ghost continent here - more land for me.

How were the Barbarians?
Pretty useful for the extra gold and eurekas - I relied on the camps to help boost my treasury. A few horseman popped at the end but I had enough troops nearby to handle them.

Any surprises?
Just having such a massive amount of land with no neighbors - maybe not ideal for the Aztecs but it was nice to have a few city states close by for the UU. The other unpleasant surprise was the lack of ocean resources - I chose the pantheon that yields an extra cog for fishing boats but it has been completely useless.

 

[DogBoy]

This is my first 6otm game since I was late getting Civ VI. I made a huge flaw before I started which was reading the game parameters. I didn't realize the type of land mass this game is and by turn 100, I still haven't built a harbor or a ship. The game is still fun.

-Where did you settle your city?
I settled on the starting position.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
I didn't choose a specific path although I did choose ones that helped me improve terrain. I mainly stayed on the ones that I got Eurekas for as best I could. I got 16 Tech Eurekas and 8 Civic Eurekas.

- What was your build order?
Eagle Warrior, Builder, Eagle Warrior, Eagle Warrior, Settler, Trader, Settler. I still have those 4 Eagle Warriors by turn 100 - the starting one plus the 3 I built.

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
I built my first Commercial Hub in the capital on turn 59 and it was complete by turn 63 due to using Builders. Then the capital built a Campus. By turn 100 I have 3 Commercial Hubs and 2 Campus, 1 of my Campus has a Library.

- How did you place your districts?
All the Commercials Hubs are on a river for the bonus. The Campus in the capital is south of the mountain range to get a +2 beaker bonus.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
I didn't emphasize expansion at first for three reasons. One, I didn't read the game parameters and didn't realize this was islands. Two, my highest level on Civ 6 is King and I figured there would be more barbarians around and I wanted to get units out quickly instead of settlers. Three, I haven't played Aztecs before and reading what the Eagle Warrior can do, I figured I would use that to capture Builders and cities. I have 5 cities on turn 100 and a Settler built my 6th city on turn 105.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Nothing special. I ran the +5 barbarian card and +1 hammer/city for the longest time. As soon as I could change governments I put in the +2 GG card.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
I met both City-States to the south on turn 15 at the same time. Surprise! I was the first person to find them and got free envoys. I never did cultivate them to my side because once I saw we were alone I had a different plan for them. More on that on the next question.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
I was the non-peaceful one. I attacked Vilnius on turn 37 and attacked Preslav on turn 69. Vilnius provided me 7 Builders, gold, and faith for attacking their units and pillaging their lands. Preslav only gave me 2 Builders and gold for attacking their units and pillaging their lands. I used those 9 Builders to rush build my districts. I made peace with both City-States on turn 104, but I have plans to attack them in the future to harvest more Builders. I don't plan on upgrade my Eagle Warriors. I met Norway on turn 69 and he doesn't like me because my navy is small. I met Russia on turn 77 and he doesn't like me because my culture is small. I met Egypt right after turn 100 and she may think I'm worthy.

- How were the Barbarians?
Not as bad as I thought. I haven't lost a single unit this game. The barbarians provided me Eurekas, experience, and, gold.

- Any surprises?
Just the one about the land mass. My fault completely. After I'm done with this game I'm going to play another game (not this one) with the same land mass style and build an early harbor and ships. I enjoy water maps.

 

[Eyswein]

- Where did you settle your city?
1E on forest to ensure all four resources were within 2nd ring; was hoping for sea resources, but no luck
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Science- AH, Mining, Pottery, BW, Archery, Writing, Sailing, Irrigation, Currency (first 61 turns)
Culture- CoL, Craftsmanship, FT, EE, Mysticism, State Workforce, Political Philosophy (first 63 turns)
Wanted Craftmanship for faster unit builds and EE for faster settlers; BW for Encampment, Archery for barbarians and war; tried to align research with inspiration and eureka moments – writing was only early one I didn’t get bonus to that point
- What was your build order?
Scout, Builder, EW, Slinger, Slinger, EW, Slinger, Slinger, Encampment, Settler x4 (4th settler on turn 60)
-Religion?
I didn’t go after Religion (didn’t find Mount K until T29 so didn’t do Astronomy until much later), but did get Pantheon Open Sky on T37, no faith being generated now
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
T42-Encampment, T80-Commerce in capital; T65-Campus in Vil; T99-Commerce in Chap
- How did you place your districts?
Encampment and Campus next to each other for future bonus with 3rd district; Commerce next to river/sea for future harbor bonus; built pyramids on turn 91 in Ixtapul and on turn 89 added +2 builder actions from Feudalism as a policy so new builders now have 6 actions to max out district builds in all cities; capital still only size 6 after making 4 settlers, but at size 7 with build Industrial area next
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Only have 6 cities total at turn 100 (Capital, 4 built, and Vilnius), so expanding too slow after realizing how big this island is and no one to our N; probably should have emphasized this more, but now in the process of building 3 settlers
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Discipline / God King to start, then faster building units/settlers as available and more production; went after the +2 Great Scientists with Oligarchy, but at 58/60 an AI rushed it on me, bye-bye 3 eureka; at Feudalism using the +2 builder action for cheaper District builds
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Vilnius/Preslav early, Kabul on turn 98; War on Vilnius on turn 40, Suz of Preslav as soon as could
- Were your neighbors peaceful?
T56- Egypt galley, exchange capital info, sell ‘excess’ luxury to them to rush monuments faster
T64- India galley, T73- find India territory with galley, they already think I’m warmongerer
T92- England galley with my galley; T93- Spain territory; All peaceful – have to fix that J
- How were the Barbarians?
Too easy so far with EWs/archers, but I am using units to limit where they pop up and using choke points
- Any surprises?
The map in general, island so huge with no one on it with me
So many luxuries and I’m not taking good advantage of them - yet

 

[Khalid]

Stopped at turn 91. I just got cartography from two hut eurekas and jumped from classical directly to Renaissance. I have to reconsider my strategy now as I am able to sail everywhere.

- Where did you settle your city?
On coast between the horse and cow. Expected a small island
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
AH-Sailing-Mining-Potery-???-Shipbuilding quite early after the eureka. Wanted to sail my eagles to the neighbors who were not there.
- What was your build order?
After settling at the coast, Vilnius became visible. So I started with eagle-builder-slinger-settler
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
A campus around T60, now finishing several CH and harbors with my builders.
- How did you place your districts?
According to adjacency bonuses. Campus +2, CH next to rivers and harbors. No bonus water resources for my harbors
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Settled 6 cities, captured Vilnius for the extra unique luxuries after I was tired farming their warriors. Explored a lot with 2 galleys.
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Economic always urban planing combined with settler. Military Discipline then naval unit bonus, than Agoge. Went republic and run both diplo policies.
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Met Kabul as the third with a bonus envoy as well. DoWed Vilnius when they build second warrior and farmed it for builders. Trained my archers on the city defenses, which never bothered with walls. Finally got tired and took the city when I saw all the unique luxuries it has.
- How were the Barbarians?
Easy. However they managed to delay my second city because my first eagle was busy exploring north and my second was busy farming Vilnius.
- Any surprises?
Size of the landmass, lots of empty space.
All the nice luxuries around.
The free cartography at T91 from huts.
Lack of production.

 

[Markus5]

I settled in place. I'm researching toward Merchant Republic and Venetian Arsenal, sidetracking as necessary. Policies chosen for rapid expansion. I built slinger, warrior, slinger, builder, then settler + archer + builder spam. I got the archery boost. Barbs were not an issue, but I lost one archer because I'm careless. I built a campus between the mountains to the south. Commerce district to the north. Plan for industrial district on the coast. I think there were 5 or 6 cities at this time. I'm not sure if the placement is ideal. I didn't capture any cities. I'm playing nice with with the city states. No wars with any other civs. I haven't met them all, yet. I expect that I'll get DOW in the future. Not worried yet. I'm surprised at the size and emptiness of the island. And, I'm surprised how fast cities grow with Aztec abilities.

My goal is to fill most of the island with cities. When I get the Venetian Arsenal, I'll start building naval units and naval infrastructure. Other cities will emphasize science, commerce and culture. I want to get to ironclads and submarines. And lots of gold in the bank. Then, conquest.

 

[CPWimmer]

- Where did you settle your city?
Settled in place since warrior had already moved and we didn't see anything else. I was tempted to go all the way to the coast for the early sailing boost given island plates but decided against it. Someone pondered moving 1 W to the forest in the previous thread; I like the ivory in ring 2 as part of that, but in the end I stuck with my basic instinct. I really don't like loosing that first turn to move the settler.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
TECH:
Animal Husbandry (1-9)->Pottery (9-14)->Mining (14-19)->Archery*(19-36)
Wheel(24-33)-> Irrigation (??)->Bronze Working (-50)->Horseback Riding (50-54)
Sailing*(54-61)->Masonry (56- ) ->Currency (??)->Construciton (-75)
Astrology (75-77)->Celestial Navigation (77-81)->Shipbuilding(81-86)->Apprenticeship(86-92)
Iron Working (92-95)->Engineering(95...

CULTURE:
CoL (1-12): +Discipline +God King
Foreign Trade (12-17)->Early Empire* (17-38)
Craftsman (28-33): -God King + Ilkum
State Workforce* (33-50): - Ilkum + Colonization
Military Tradition* (41-46)->Drama and Poetry (46-51)
PP (51-66): Oligarchy {-Discipline +Conscription+Cha Leader+Urban Planning}
Drama & Poetry (66-75): -Colonization +Maritime Industries
Games & Rec (75-80): -Maritime Industries +Caravansaries
Defensive Tactics (80--92): -Caravansaries +Ilkum
Feudalism (92-99): -Ilkum +Serfdom (4 builders set to pop)
Military Training (99-

- What was your build order?
Slinger->Settler->Builder->Slinger->Slinger->Builder->Water Mill
Campus->Settler->Trader->Settler->Settler->Commerce->Trader
Builder->Eagle Warrior->Monument->Granary->Builder

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Campus (Turn 50) Commerce (Turn 82) Commerce#2 (Turn 96)

- How did you place your districts?
Mountain and River Adjacent as appropriate

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Yes, although I want to have another wave of expansion before I build up an invasion army. Currently i have 7 cities, all founded by Aztec Settlers.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
See Culture above - mostly internal improvement since I have so much room to myself

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Vilinus and Preslav, but unlike just about everyone else i didn't go to war with either of them. I did buy the Gems SW of Tenochtitlan to make sure Vilinus didn't get them

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
Yes, since they were nowhere nearby. So far I have met Egypt (t68) Spain (t81) India (t97) and Norway (t100), but haven't traveled to any of their lands.

- How were the Barbarians?
Pretty basic, no real scares of any kind.

- Any surprises?
Basically the same thing everyone else is saying - surprised at the size of the land mass and the lack of immediate neighbors. I clearly misplayed my peaceful relationship with the city states - I forgot that the Eagle Warrior ability would work on them - so I didn't bother harassing them. I was thinking City States were like barbs for that ability and wouldn't pop builders.

The World So Far:

Spoiler :

 

[Half Nelson]

Bit of a frustrating start for a Domination quest. I have spent most of the first 100 turns exploring the map in search of highly elusive AI Civs, alongside dealing with some pesky barbarian hordes. In order to get some value from the Aztec UA, I resorted to attacking the 2 local CS for slave builders then conquest. As a result, I have 6 cities (4 settled, 2 former CS) and a lot of vacant territory in between. I am beelining naval techs for caravels and frigates. Have recently met 2 AI (Spain and Egypt) but neither seem very close. I am hoping to get the Aztec achievement of +16 luxury combat bonus at some point.

My first districts were 2 Holy Sites through which I claimed a late religion (Buddhism) to counter any AI attempt at religious victory. Then built a couple of Campuses (some nice sites for these) and subsequently only Harbours or Commerce districts.