6otM 12 Opening actions

[Knowtalent]

Welcome to the 6otM 12 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?
- How did you plan to augment your score?
- 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.

 

[Katakanja]

I guess I get to go first!
Score victory is not something I have done before, and neither have I finished a game as Egypt, so this will be a journey of discovery.

I settled in place, and it was pretty slow going for the first 50 turns or so, lots of rough terrain and mountains about that slowed down exploration. I met Teddy, saw that his cities were waaaaay down south and therefore decided it would be more worthwhile focusing on my own infrastructure to rack up points rather than going for domination and stealing everyone else's stuff, so I've been focusing on growth and spamming out cities wherever I can, expanding to the west.

I'm building mainly campuses and commercial zones to begin with, though a did get one holy site up and have let it work away on getting a religion in its own time since no one else seems to be generating Great Prophet points. I've been running Classical Republic to enable me to have the most economic cards possible - I've pretty much had Colonization permanently active as I've had at least one settler under construction somewhere in my empire at any time for the first 100 turns, Caravansaries too, with the Wildcard slot alternating between Ilkum and Urban Planning.

I wasted a half-dozen turns trying to get the Oracle only to have someone beat me to it but apart from that I haven't been doing much in regards to wonders. I've got quite a high production city settled over by Torres Del Paine, so I might try to get some wonders built there later for points, and I'm thinking about getting Great Zimbabwe in my capital since the prereq's are there.

Teddy attacked Jerusalem, but gave up quickly. I was quite lucky with city-state quests and got an envoy in basically all of them without having to put too much effort in, so the number of boosts I have in my capital has convinced me to be peaceful towards them All in all, its been pretty peaceful, barbs have stayed away, and three archers have been enough to keep things under control.

I take it it's a side effect of turning off all the victory conditions that makes it impossible to actually see your own score? It certainly makes it a lot harder to judge how well you are doing, but I guess it will make the reveal at the end more exciting

Spoiler :

 

[jeremy savarese]

After that last GoTM this one is a nice breather! I settled in place and nearly completely neglected making a military. I've been trying to maximize production and expand to every fresh water location that looks like it can be settled. There have been no issues with hostility from America or barbarians; just kind of peacefully growing my economy.

 

[Photi]

Spoiler map :

Been wanting to start this game all day, quick finishes are not my forte so i thought this is the game of the month for me. hope to finish it as i have had good starts before on 6OTM and then was unable to complete. It's a good, fun map after the first 100 turns, so i'm feeling good about finishing.

- Where did you settle your city?

Settled in place.

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

I decided not to pursue religion. Instead i have been pursuing cities, cities and more cities. Along the way i am hoping to get those wonders that will increase my policy slots and then leverage those additional slots to get more great people, more science, more culture. I am not sure what science and culture will look like around 200, but i am hoping to be far enough ahead to get the future techs and civics. I figure by going for a few wonders, the extra great people points and score points will offset the points i am not getting with a religion and resulting tedium of missionary apostle spam. I went with Divine Spark pantheon to help along those GPPs. Lots of land to settle on this continent, so while i plan on overseas colonies, i still have 8 cities to settle on home continent beyond the current 9 settled so far. Haven't captured any cities. Goin' wide tho.

- How did you plan to augment your score?

See above.

- What was your build order?

Scout>Scout>Settler>Warrior>Oracle (completed T54) (there may have been a slinger before the Oracle. Bought my first builder.

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

First district was a campus in my capital, probably by turns 60-70. Currently building a theater in capital, been so focused on settlers that i haven't had a chance to build the infrastructure. exciting things to come in the next 100 turns.

- How did you place your districts?

So far i am concerned with having the proper tiles to build the wonders for the policy slots, so wherever is good that doesn't take away from those spots.

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

Yes, expansion big time. America was too far away for an early war, so with the wonder nearby that doubles yields, that area was my first settled city, which was churning out settlers while capital was building oracle. After Oracle i was hoping for Hanging Gardens, but Teddy completed it after 1 turn of me trying to build it.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?

So far it has been all about production and hard settling more cities. So at first, choice was +1 production card, and then as soon as was prudent i switched to the settler card. After Political philosophy, i have been running the Settler and Builder cards, -1 unit maintenance, and +2 Great Scientist (already received a GS, for the 3 Eurekas for classical and medieval techs).

Edit: actually, the -1 unit maintenance was only giving a +3 gold, so i switched to Builder and Settler cards, the extra envoy points, and the GS points.

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

I've met like the 4 or 5 on the continent. Teddy has taken Jerusalem and Yerevan. I met Hong Kong, Yerevan, and Nan Midol first for the free envoys. Currently sitting on 2 envoys, earned a couple of quest envoys.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?

Teddy and me have been BFFs since ages ago, declared friends and all that (at least until a turn or two ago), which has saved a few of his settlers, as it seems you cant declare surprise wars against friends, otherwise i would have two more cities and an enemy.

- How were the Barbarians?

Been pretty tame so far with all the city states to keep them in line.

- Any surprises?

Teo Pilopitati or whatever that natural wonder is, great surprise actually. First time i have noticed such long wait times between turns. Played some opening moves the other night as Cyrus, but didn't notice the now noticeable lag bt turns.

 

[Katakanja]

First time i have noticed such long wait times between turns. Played some opening moves the other night as Cyrus, but didn't notice the now noticeable lag bt turns.

Actually I had abnormally long wait times between turns too, but only up until turn 60ish. Like you I played a game with the new leaders last week and the turn times were their normal length, so perhaps its just some quirk of this particular map rather than something the patch did?

 

[PontifexMaximus]

Haven't tried a Score VC yet, nice change of pace.

- Where did you settle your city?

Settled in place.

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

Policies --> beelined Classical Republic.
Tech --> prioritized Astrology and Writing in the beginning, no real priorities afterwards, just tried to get as many eurekas as possible.

- How did you plan to augment your score?

Many cities, religion, great people and wonders. Don't know the exact scoring formula so I'm just gonna try to do my best in general.

- What was your build order?

Scout>3 slingers>worker>settler>Holy Site

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

Holy site at around turn 40.

- How did you place your districts?

Just placed them on the tile with the biggest bonus, I don't feel like planning way ahead.

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

Yes, but not enough. I've built 5 cities so far, none captured.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?

Started with Discipline and God-king, switched to Urban planning as soon as I hit the third city. Went for colonization two times while building settlers. Current policies with Classical Republic: Urban Planning, Corvee, Charismatic Leader and Inspiration.

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

Met all of them on my continent. Allied to Hong Kong and Yerevan (mostly through quests), my next target is Jerusalem.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?

Not a single war so far.

- How were the Barbarians?

OK.

- Any surprises?
Someone beat me to Oracle by one or two turns.

 

[runawayRoman]

a. Where did you settle your city?

On the spot.

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

Animal husbandry>Archery(boosted)>Pottery>Writing>Astrology

Agoge/Urban Planning alternatively Colonization/Ilkum for expansion.

c. What was your build order?

Slingers>Slingers>Archer>Archer>Settlers. It my first time to build many slingers/archers at the start. Most of my games I stop at 2 slingers with scouts and warriors.

d. Where there any early wars? Did you start them?

None, I wish I had but I'm not good at conquest.

e. How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?

I started with the Holy District because I found a wonder (Torres de Plaine) and met two (2) religious City-States early, so I guess religion is my path.

f. Did you try to build any Wonders?

Yes, I built two (2), the Oracle and the Pyramids. Next would probably Petra for Memphis.

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

I expanded, yes, built three (3) cities. Not aggresively though, not my style to conquer civs very early.

h. How did you play your governance cards, priorities?

After Chiefdom, got to Classical Republic, prioritize Great Prophet for religion then Inspiration, while Teddy got Oligarchy.

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

i. Jerusalem>Yerevan>Hongkong>Valleta>Nan Madol. At turn 100, I'm suzerian with Hongkong and Yerevan, I'm aiming at Jerusalem but Teddy got them first.

j. Were your neighbors peaceful?

Only met Teddy (America), and we became friends quite early.

k. How were the barbarians?

Not a threat at all.

l. Any surprises?

Well, I only met Teddy, sad. But the land have lots of luxuries which is a good incentive for expansion. So far, two (2) unmet players have been defeated.

 

[Duzt]

- Where did you settle your city?

I choose to move up one tile to the north east.​

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Every game I play I tend to have my first research be something that I need to improve the tiles around my capital. In this case I went with Animal Husbandry first. When I saw the desert I immediately started scouting it to see if I could find somewhere to settle and immediately rushed for Masonry so that I could get the pyramids going. After I researched Masonry, I went for Astrology hoping I wasn't to late to finding a religion.
- How did you plan to augment your score?
I haven't ever gone for just a score victory (I usually have time limit turned off). So this game is going to be about trying to figure out what might work best, unfortunately I won't know how well I did until I get to turn 250. My main plan is to dabble a little in everything, with the main objective being settling lots of cities, and building districts and going for more wonders than I usually do. (I really need to get better at wonders, I usually only ever build them when they are convenient, and I don't have anything else to do)
- What was your build order?
Builder->Settler->Granary->Trader->Archer->Settler
Immediately Sent Trader to Hong Kong for Quest

Bought Warrior Turn Before Settler (to move together due to early barbarian presence)​

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

I got into districts much later than I usually do. I ended up focusing getting Thebes built and running as quickly as possible so that I could build the Pyramids (Which proved to be a challenge, and I will explain in surprises) The first districts I built were​

Holy Districts (2 of them)
- How did you place your districts?

I realized that there were 2 areas that were really good for Holy or Science Sites, those areas being the Mountain's east of Ra-Kedet and Thebes. Both provided +4 to Holy/Science So I ended up buying both those land tiles costing me about 300 gold. I did this immediately after building the pyramids as I checked the Great Person panel and saw an unmet Civ was 30 turns from gaining the last Great Prophet. (Will add more info to Surprises)​

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

I am just barely pushing expansions. (You can see the settler to the south), so at the moment I am sitting on 5 Cities with 2 of them not being around too long.​

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?

At the beginning I grabbed the Discipline and God King. I usually go with Discipline because I tend to play as Gilgamesh so I never build scouts as the Arrow Carts essentially explore just as fast, and can attack back, so the experience from Survey is never worth it over the battle strength against barbarians. As a result of this though my exploring of land with any other civ tends to suffer (I haven't built a single scout in the game up to this point) I did use Ilkum for a short time while I was pumping out builders for all my cities.​

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

I have currently met 4, maybe 5, city states Hong Kong, Jerusalem, Nan Madol, and a few others. (sorry i closed game and can't remember names) I just meet 2 of them a few turns ago. The only one I have cultivated is Nan Madol (3 envoys) the others sit on 2 or 1 depending on quests that I have completed. I mainly have Nan Madol at 3 because I needed their luxury resource at the time.​

- Were your neighbors peaceful?

I have only met America and they have been on friendly terms with me the entirety of the game, and they actually ended up being a big benefit(See Surprises)​

- How were the Barbarians?

They delayed me building Shedet in the begining. I ended up having to build an archer that I usually don't build early in my build order so that I could take out their encampment, aside from that they haven't been to aggressive which is a surprise because I usually have more issues with them then with the Civs on any difficulty.​

- Any surprises?

Luck was on my side. I lucked out on several different things in the game that got me a better start than I was suspecting. First off Nan Madol, the turn after I meet them I ended up getting the eurika for Agriculture which happened to be their quest so I ended up getting two envoys with them in just two turns. When I met Hong Kong they ended up having the Trade Quest so I immediately sent my first Trader shortly after to them. Then plopped a third envoy onto them so that I could gain their luxury. This helped my capital and Thebes keep growing quickly. Usually the City States I get don't work out like that when it comes to quests.

Secondly also with Luck, Religion! The city states and America both played a Huge role in me securing my religion. I was way behind on getting the last GP that was available and thought that I was going to fail. However, America and the City State of Hong Kong ended up coming through. Shortly after I grabbed the Pigs North east of Swenett (giving me 2 including the one from Hong Kong i secured earlier), and two cotton (from Shedet and Iwnw) America contacted me and traded me GPT, Open Borders, and their Relic. This Relic ended up being the boost in GP points I needed to overtake the unmet civ and secure me a religion (with 2 turns to spare). Without the relic I would of missed out, and most of my Holy Sites would of been just for VP.

The Pyramids were a big surprise because of having almost to give up on it all together. I forgot that I needed flat land to build the Pyramids and ended up only having one possible spot to it. Unfortunately that spot had 3 food on it which I ended up having to get rid of in exchange for the 2 culture, and the extra builder action which ended up paying off in the end (I think)

Petra, I am taking a HUGE risk with this but it will pay off with its bonuses if I ended up completing this. I ended up starting it's construction on top of the Wheat Field once again getting rid of the Food and improvement bonus. I currently have the town set to production focused and will switch it back to standard before the population goes down but I am rushing it because if someone beats me to it then Thebes might be put at a big loss as I would of given up 6 food (3 for land pyramids was built on, 3 for wheat that was lost upon starting petra) with only a gain of 2 Culture (from Pyramids). If Petra finishes then I get back 2 of the 3 food I lose (Giving me a loss of 4 food instead) but gain 7+ Production, which is a better trade off that I can make even better if I find a spot there that would be suitable for a Production Zone. This would allow the city to pump out units and buildings very quickly.

Another Surprise was going through others screen caps before posting this and seeing that I was the only one who settled in the Thebes location. (Probably because it wasn't to great) and taking the risk of building the pyramids there. Most people I see settled where the two wheat fields are.

I was surprised to find the Natural Wonder, and wish I would of sent a warrior down there earlier as I could of used the Eureka a few turns before.

Spoiler T100 :

​

 

[cheffster]

Where did you settle your city?
on spot

What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
started animal husbandry - archery until eureka - pottery - irrigation (after getting the eureka from farming the rice) etc then beeline towards apprenticeship. With all the hills for +1 yield mine improvements and an industrial city state I wanted to start industrial districts asap before starting wonders. Then I prioritized cartography to start exploring the world and meet more city states.

How did you plan to augment your score?
I think the 'jack of all trades' approach is the best idea prioritizing all aspects off the game in the most efficient to way possible while building as big of an empire the map can hold.

Afaik the multiplicative factors that go into score are the number of: cities, civics, districts, population, great people, religious followers, techs and wonders.

As to where it's better to go for early conquest or wait till later to then capture cities that the AI had already developed I'm not sure but I plan on mostly staying peaceful until t200ish.

What was your build order?
builder-settler-settler-builder(2nd city)-slinger x 3 - mass settler/builder and few more singers.

How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
around turn 50ish I finished a campus district, then marked locations for industrial zones asap.

How did you place your districts?
near rivers if possible, tiles with adjacency bonuses that didn't require purchasing or removing resources.

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

Settled east near the natural wonder and north for the dream Petra city asap, these are some pretty juicy locations.

Currently I have 11 cities, 3 settlers on route and another 3 settlers 1 turn off completion so I will have ~17 cities up and rolling pretty soon.

I stole 2 settlers off America and finished conquering their 2 cities around turn 70.

Any surprises?
Nearly had a heart attack after researching mathematics and not seeing any suitable locations to build Petra on my city to the North - every single desert tile was hill! seemed there was no flat land. Thankfully the wheat to the north ended up being a suitable location once I purchased a few tiles.

 

[Ert]

- Where did you settle your city?
In place. Thought about going NE 1 tile, but .. ended up staying in place.
2nd: Thebes (t51) (Ideally situation for Petra.)
3rd Memphis (t60)
4th: Iwnh (t72)

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
TECH: AH > Mining > Pottery > Writing > Archery > Astrology > Bronze Working > Irrigation > Sailing > Wheel > Currency > Horseback Riding > Masonry > Mathematics > Iron Working > Construction > Engineering > Machinery

CIVICS: CoL > Foreign Trade > Craftsman > Early Empire > Mysticism > Military Training > State Workforce > Political Philosophy > Drama & Poetry > Games & Rec > Military Training > Defensive Tactics > Theology

- How did you plan to augment your score?
Well, this is a perfectly fine question ... as far as augmentation goes, I just planned to do as much as I could in the time I have available (250 turns) ... but, given the question and the victory condition, it would seem I should have put a little more thought in than that!

- What was your build order?
Ra-kedet: Slinger > Builder > Slinger > Slinger > Granary > Campus > Library > Settler (x4) > Builder > Water Mill > Builder > MCA > Walls > MCA > Commercial District
Thebes: Holy District > Shrine > Water Mill > Granary > Ancient Walls
Memphis: Granary > Water Mill > Builder > MCA > Builder > Holy District > Shrine
Inwh: Water Mill > Walls > Theater District
Baltimore : Archer

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Campus, followed by Holy (x2) … not too soon. Didn’t start a Theater District until t99.

- How did you place your districts?
Only one of my initial 4 was near a river. Prioritized adjacency over expedited Iteru 15% bonus.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
3 Egyptian cities, plus a captured American city (Baltimore).

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
GK & Discipline early. Colonization & Survey (t38). Then Autocracy.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Nan Madol; Jerusalem; Yerevan - Suz; Hong Kong; Valletta

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
City States were peaceful. Only Civ neighbor was Teddy. He attacked (t73, unprovoked).

- How were the Barbarians?
No worries. They were impeded by the terrain, I suppose.

- Any surprises?
Tribal Villages: +40g > Scout (t15) > Trader (t32) > Sailing (t38) > Insprtn: Military Training (t40) > +20F (t43)
Patheon: Monument to the Gods
Captured Baltimore (t95)
Relative isolation is a bit of a surprise.

NOTE: Didn't take a screencapture or save a file at Turn 100. I'm currently at T178. Shouldn't be much longer. (He says, knowing that T178 - T250 will take at least 3 times as long.)

 

[DogBoy]

-Where did you settle your city?
I settled in place. It looked as good as any site near by.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Animal Husbandry, Mining, and Pottery. Then I mainly focused techs and civics that I had Eurekas for since score is determined by how many you have at the end of the game. I wanted to have as many techs and civics as possible.

- How did you plan to augment your score?
Lots of cities. I want them as populated as possible to build as many districts as possible. Build as many wonders as I can, but don't focus on wonders until I get my cities going.

- What was your build order?
Slinger, Builder (for Eurekas), 3xSlinger, Warrior, Archer. My plan was to have 5 Archers and 2 Warriors and kill my nearest AI to have more cities. Turns out my nearest AI is America but I couldn't find his lands so I went after the AI instead. Once I had my 5 Archers and 2 Warriors I shifted to my capital building settlers from turn 35 to....still building settlers by turn 100.

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Jerusalem built an Encampment on turns 50-63. Edfu built a Campus turns 50-70. I built an Encampment in Jerusalem because there was a massive barb uprising to my south and I needed to deal with that. After that, there is no priority, just wanted to start building districts.

- How did you place your districts?
Along rivers as best as I could.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Yes, I want lots of cities. Settled 7 cities. Captured 3 cities. Have 1 settler about to settle a city in a few turns. One more settler being built.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Discipline and God King to start. I wanted to deal with barbarians and an early Pantheon. I got Fertility Rites for faster growth rate. Then switched to Colonization to pump out settlers. Later switched to Conscription to pay for my army. Finally switched to Serfdom for lots of chops and Corvee to start building wonders.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
I met Valletta, Nan Madol, Yerevan, and Hong Kong first. Nan Madol belongs to me...that will pay off once I make lots of Theater Squares. I also met Jerusalem. I captured Jerusalem, Yerevan, and Hong Kong so they are gone.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
Yes, me and America are friends. He is the one asking me to declare our friendship.

- How were the Barbarians?
Found one barbarian early. Then had massive uprising south of Jerusalem. Now there are no more.

- Any surprises?
Big landmass with lots of room to expand. Where are the rest of the AI?

 

[Half Nelson]

Turn 99. I have 5 cities (4 built + Yerevan) with 3 settlers in pipeline. Unfortunately I have absolutely no idea how I am scoring as the World Ranking window is completely empty! I am assuming this is because all VCs are disabled, or is this a glitch in my game? It makes achieving the goal of high score a total shot in the dark. I will carry on because it is an interesting map but I find the complete lack of information on score or AI leader progress lessens my usual level of immersion in the game.

 

[Eyswein]

- Where did you settle your city?
Settled in place after moving warrior 2S to see if I’d see anything

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Science – Animal Husbandry (2 capital squares need it), Pottery, Writing (place Campus in 1st two cities), Mining (chop with captured builder), 34-Archery (time for wars), Currency (place Commercial Hub in all non-coastal cities), Irrigation, 51- Bronze Working (place Encampment in Abydos), HB Riding, Sailing, Astrology, 66- Celestial Nav (place Harbor in all coastal cities), Shipbuilding, 73-Apprenticeship (place Industrial in Abydos and 2 other cities), Math, Education, Iron Working, 93- Cartography (must find other continents!)
Culture – CoL, Craftsmanship, Foreign Trade, EE, SW, 51- Political Philosophy, beeline to Feudalism, beeline Mercenaries, couple others, 94- Drama & Poetry, 100- Humanism
Other – Not doing it as well as I would like, but in general I want to dive deep into the trees early instead of wide so I have less policies early for cheaper districts, then go wide for the remainder of them for score
Religion – 21- Pantheon due to Relic, take Fertility Rights (more population for score)

- How did you plan to augment your score?
Mainly empire expansion via conquest and settling (5/city + 1/pop + 3/district); capture or build all wonders later in the game; great people, science, and culture basically just due to empire expansion (will try to synergize districts later)

- What was your build order?
Scout (find stuff), Builder (faster craftsmanship), Settler (found great spot a little N, so decided to take the chance; ended up bringing scout back to protect area from a barbarian scout), Slinger x7 (war and conquest), Warrior, Campus (for State Workforce and the good 1st scientist), Settler x2, Spearman (Nan Modal quest), Settler; 2nd city, Swenett, started with Slinger x2, Trader, Settler x2

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Turn 40 – Campus in capital; otherwise focus is Commercial Hub or Harbor first in each city, then Campus in most cities; In Abydos to East of Capital (near Natural Wonder) did Commercial Hub, Encampment, Industrial so it provides +1 food / +4 production – goal is all new cities will start trading with Abydos; goal is to place districts as soon as I reach the right size, even if I don’t construct them till later

- How did you place your districts?
Whatever synergy worked in that city; goal is near river and on coast (plan to be Suz of Nan M until near the end or maybe always)

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Very much. Total of 17 so far (Capital, 8 settlers, 2 captured settlers, 3 city states, all 3 American cities)

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Decided to completely avoid Exploration Civic as I don’t want Urban Planning to go away, I want the +1 production in ALL my cities forevermore, combined with trade route to +4 production Adydos, new cities will get up to speed quicker

13- Discipline and Urban Planning; 20-Agoge; 40- Conscription & Colonization; 51 – get Political Philosophy, switch to Autocracy with Conscription Maritime (get 3 galley out) Colonization Urban; 78 – switch to Classic Republic with Serfdom (builder spam) Urban Charismatic Inspiration (some gold cost, but want to ensure I win the first Great Scientist, also stopped building the expensive settlers to focus on current cities, but will start again soon I hope); 86 – Drop Inspiration for Conscription; 93- drop conscription for Profession Army to upgrade to 3 swordsman & 3 caravel; 94- get Conscription back

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
All on island; Suz with Nan Madol (great for +2 culture on all my coastal districts) and Valetta (will eventually take, but got lucky with a quest, getting some monuments with my faith, and they have 11 archers so just avoiding them for now)

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
America didn’t have much of a chance to be; started first war on turn 13 to steal a builder; then peace and some trading; two later wars of 63-73 and 83-89 when they were eliminated; just met England on turn 100 with a Caravel

- How were the Barbarians?
Annoying; lost two archers so far to barbarians, didn’t lose any military in wars - I was focusing on taking out city states and America with just enough back to protect settlers, but since all eliminated can focus on barbarians now; actually had to gold rush a couple military to defend open areas

- Any surprises?
Only America on my continent, was really hoping to expand more through conquest early; the Natural Wonder to the East – started south with warrior and north with Scout, warrior escorted back captured builder and scout protected my very early settler, so didn’t find the wonder for a long while (even Hong Kong found me before I started exploring that direction)

 

[Hezzer]

Hello! This is my first time posting in the GoTM although I've been playing them for a few months now. I'm still pretty new at civ and I've never done a no VC game or played as Cleo, so this should be a learning experience for sure..

- Where did you settle your city?
I settled in place. Looked pretty good to me.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Animal Husbandry > Archery > Pottery > Writing > Currency> Math Policies didn't have a certain set order - just boosted what I could and researched the ones that took the least time.

- How did you plan to augment your score?
It was my goal to get a good number of cities to start, build some districts and then pump out what wonders I could.

- What was your build order?
Scout, Slinger x2, builder, settler

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Built 2 campuses (1st around turn 70ish), 1 commercial district and a holy site. Will probably do an encampment next.

- How did you place your districts?
I tried to place them on the rivers as per Egypts bonus, but couldn't get away with it in a few instances. Have a few really nice spots for campuses (+4), but need to buy the tiles.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Not really - I just tried to settle as many cities as I could on the rivers in the general starting vicinity. I was headed E to settle near Torres del Paine but Teddy beat me to it (by one turn!). So I attacked him and captured the city, but that's the only I've taken. So far I have 6 cities.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Discipline and God-king to start. Then switched to Colonization after I got my pantheon.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Nan Madol, Hong Kong, Jerusalem, Yerevan, Valleta. I'm suzerian of Nan Madol and Jerusalem.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
Fairly so. Teddy declared friendship with me early in the game - like turn 30 ish? I declared war on him to take his city that he placed near the natural wonder, but he sued for peace and has been quiet since. Just grumbly now and then.

- How were the Barbarians?
Not bad. A few camps near some areas but they were easily cleared out.

- Any surprises?
I guess like lots of other people, I just have to say the seemingly isolated continent. Teddy doesn't seem to care too much about me, so there's not much for me to do but focus on building and infrastructure.

 

[leif erikson]

Welcome to CivFanatics and Game of the Month. Best of luck in your games.

 

[zxcvbob]

I started this one but don't think I'll finish because I can't tell how I'm doing because everything is disabled. I started another game with everything disabled except score, and you can see your score and everybody else's; much less frustrating.