6otM 15 Opening Action

[leif erikson]

Welcome to the 6otM15 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 capital city? Your second city?
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
- What was your build order?
- How soon did you start Warmongering?
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
- Did you try to build any Wonders?
- 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.

 

[Rakish]

100 turns in and this one feels like Ive struggled to make good progress. maybe getting a classical era general is more trouble than it worth but dammit I want those buffed up Elephants and I don't care how much it costs me.

- Where did you settle your capital city? Your second city?
on the spot for the first, second went north to the strong banana tiles in the jungle
my second settler got stolen by an off screen barb scout 5 tiles out of the city, so I panic bought a scout that turn and manged to wrangle them back to the home team. 3rd settler went south to crater lake.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
AH, Mining, Archery, bronze working, Pottery, writing, semi filled anything until eureka for Currency.

- What was your build order?
builder - slinger - slinger - slinger - slinger - warrior (upgrade 3 remaining slingers to archers) - settler - gold scout

- How soon did you start Warmongering?
excluding conquering Kabul only really started Waring proper mid 90's

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
got a military district up around turn 40-50 followed up with a 2nd in the next city and a commerce hub for the capitals second district.

- Did you try to build any Wonders?
No

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
build 3, captured 1 (Kabul)

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
ran the great general card for 20 odd turns along with a couple of projects, used all 3 governments, pretty standard otherwise.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Ive fully explored the starting continent so met all the CS there and have focused on Carthage and the two southern trade nations.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
To me yes, In general... not so much.

- How were the Barbarians?
this is the real cause of my slow progress. 1 barb camp to the south east must have spawned about 7 warriors 4 slingers 2 archers and 2 scouts. I discovered it with my initial warrior just as I was coming up to code of laws. I was ready to take it out with the bonus when it spawned 2 warriors. Ok no problem I'll just fortify on this forest hill here, problem solved that worked a treat. Then a slinger spawned just as i finished them up. Ok no problem i can get first attack problem solved, then another spawned and another warrior. ok this is starting to get a bit dodgy but its ok, Ive got two slingers on the way. Then another warrior and an archer to pincer me in, who both proceed to attack my lone warrior that turn, he's now down to 10% and needs to run so I have like 5 barbarians that include 2 archers to try to face with 2 slingers... I've had double horse camps cause me less trouble.

that warrior is still alive and is a proud swordsman atm, though he spent about 12 turns running away from a barb warrior and archer combo hot on his tale to loop back around to the safety of the capital.

- Any surprises?
China seems to have settled not on a river and consequently struggled and In-fact the Germans conquered all bar one of their cities... quite quickly. I'm in the process of correcting this with my armies poised to conquer the two main German-chinese cities at turn 100-101 respectively.

 

[Eliminator_Sr]

Well there's a reason I haven't played India yet but I guess now is the time. In all honesty their bonuses are awful (maybe the worst) but at least they have a solid UU which was the foundation of my strategy. I made some mistakes in this one including losing a settler. I declared war on Germany around turn 70 and did not realize they were suzerain of Kabul (I just assumed they weren't and never bothered to check) and my unescorted settler was captured. I also accidentally put the naval production card in thinking it was agoge so I lost out on some early unit production.

I did get a little lucky and popped an early relic which allowed me to get God of the Forge (score!). That was my strategy all along but I'm not sure I would have locked it down without that since there were no religious CS nearby but there were some faith tiles so 50/50.

My build order was scout, slinger, slinger, warrior, worker, slinger, settler, monument, settler. I only got one CS bonus though because barbarians swarmed me early. Luckily the first camp only spawned warriors and archers instead of horsemen but it was a LOT of them and it slowed me down. I rushed for archery and dealt with the camp eventually. Another camp spawned later while I was attacking Germany and this one did pop horsemen so I had to turn some elephants around to deal with them which also slowed me down.

I researched all the basic techs and then beelined to horseback riding to get the most out of my pantheon. I've built 5 varu but was not able to capture as many cities as I wanted because of barbarians. I did capture two cities from Germany (who had already conquered one of them from China) using a combo of swordsman, archers, and several varu. No walls were up so those were easy. Towards the end I declared a surprise war on china since they moved an escorted settler right between my newly captured cities and I was behind on expansion. I had a battering ram in progress so I plan to use that to at least capture Beijing and maybe the capital but that has 45 defense so it will be difficult. I plan to leverage the power of Carthage to ramp up my economy and I've built one encampment in the capital and 1 campus with another on the way. I don't have any coastal cities yet so it will probably take me awhile to get my navy going.

All in all not too bad but barbarians were a serious thorn in my side and I could have done better if I was more deliberate.

 

[Strig_000]

So this is my first go with GoTM (still new to Civ 6 in general) and was not prepared for immortal! The game really does play differently. Also I turned off all mods except for the Aztec DLC.

- Where did you settle your capital city? Your second city?

I settled my capital on the starting spot; it looked pretty good with the mountains and fresh water. My second city was north along the river from my first city, near the rain forest/banana clusters. My third city was to the SE of the capital down by the coast.
​

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

I have read that doing more military research early (trying for archery) is required on higher difficulty so I aimed for mining first then some military based tech. For policies I used the +5 attack to barbarians (there was a camp I had to clear out to the SE of my capital) and the +1 prod in each city - I tried to keep an eye on getting civics that would let me get the Agoge policy too.
​

- What was your build order?

For the capital, it was slinger, slinger, builder, warrior, settler I believe then started building more naturally depending on what was needed. I definitely screwed up building for my other cities need to focus more on optimization instead of going with low build turns.
​

- How soon did you start Warmongering?

I didn't really, and I think that was wrong on my part. China was the first Civ I met located a fair bit away to the West from my capital; they were fighting with Germany at the time and after Germany stole a settler from them I stole it from Germany and ran back to my area and settled near Crater Lake and some Iron.
​

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

I built an encampment as soon as I unlocked it in the capital, and a few turns later started one in my second city to the north.
​

- Did you try to build any Wonders?

I tried to build a few but other Civs got them before me.
​

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

I don't think I emphasized it but ended up with 3 naturally settled and 1 from a stolen settler. I have no idea if that is reasonable at this difficulty.
​

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?

I tried to focus on military/upkeep reduction and production bonus until I could start generate gold off my trade routes.
​

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

I forget their names, but it was 2 gold CS and 1 Military one way to the north. I tried to get friendly with the 2 gold CS as they were the closest to me.
​

- Were your neighbors peaceful?

For the most part, yes. I had an agreement, with open borders, with China and some small trades.
​

- How were the Barbarians?

They were fine at the start and I was able to deal with the closest camps pretty easily; that changed however.
​

- Any surprises?

Around turn 90 (after China and I had made our agreement, through which they had 2 archers near my northern city) a barb spearman, 3 archers and 1 warrior appeared along the east coast of the area I settled (at this point I only had about 7 military units on boarD) and then China and Germany Declared on me. I am fairly sure I am going to lose several cities in the coming turns or have them set me back drastically.
​

Overall this was a good experience and shows I need to get familiar with mechanics at higher difficulties.
Once we fail in the GoTM, can we pull down the save file again and try again?

Thanks again!

 

[leif erikson]

Once we fail in the GoTM, can we pull down the save file again and try again?

Yes, and you may post about it and discuss the differences in your games.

However, only your first try counts towards results. In posting about your subsequent games, please note in the write up that it was your second, or third... attempt.

Good luck with your predicament.

 

[PontifexMaximus]

- Where did you settle your capital city? Your second city?
Capital in place, second city a bit to the west, between the lake and Amsterdam.
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Focused on military techs.
- What was your build order?
Just a whole bunch of slingers and a couple of warriors. I had early troubles with barbs.
- How soon did you start Warmongering?
I was dealing with barbs SE of my capital for quite some time, only DoW'd China around turn 70.
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Very late, I think it was around turn 80 (Commercial Hub).
- Did you try to build any Wonders?
Nope.
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Well yeah, but it took a while to get rid of the barbs and build a solid army. I captured X'ian on t97 and sued for peace immediately. I don't want to waste time completely eliminating China so my army is now on its way towards Germany. So far I've built 4 cities and captured 1.
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Discipline and God-king in the beginning. Switched between Colonization and Ilkum, depending on what I was building at the time. As for military policies, Agoge while building ranged units, Maneuver while building Varus, currently on Conscription.
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
All of them on home continent. Allied Kabul, figured they might help me when I DoW Germany.
- Were your neighbors peaceful?
Germany attacked China, but didn't capture any cities.
- How were the Barbarians?
Annoying as hell. 2 camps SE spawned whole armies, it was a struggle for the first 50 turns.
- Any surprises?
Norway has sent a settler on my continent, I guess it's pretty crowded overseas.

 

[WackenOpenAir]

- Where did you settle your capital city? Your second city?
On spot. After building an army i settled first on the bananas in the north, then crater lake and the landpoint towards other continent.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
AnimalH. Pottery. Archery. Irrigation. Horseback. Construction.
Unit production bonus, settler production bonus, government.
Most importantly focussed on not wasting research/culture where i can get a bonus.
Finally i ran lowered upkeep, cheaper upgrades, 1 production and 50% cavalry production for the second half of the game.

- What was your build order?
Slinger x 5, Archer, Settler, Worker, back to units.

- How soon did you start Warmongering?
My first army was ready at 25. I conquered Amsterdam at 35, giving China and Germany a little time to fight eachother before going there.

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
I built a bunch of commercial districts with forest cuts in the 80s. 2 or 3 campusses as well.

- Did you try to build any Wonders?
Didnt build any wonders.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Captured Amsterdam, 3 Chinese cities and 1 German city with my initial archer army.
Captured Kabul because my troops need to move there.
Captured 2 Norwegian cities with 4 varu, 3 knight, some archers.
Settled 5 cities, 1 from a stolen Norwegian settler.
Total cities @ turn 100: 13

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Conquered Amsterdam early.
Kabul was invaluable early game, conquered it later when its strategic location was more important.
Got 6 envoys into Portugal to make income with a handful of commercial districts.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
They were fighting eachother both wanting to be my friend until i attacked them.

- How were the Barbarians?
They were quite a pain and slowed me moving from amsterdam to china and requiring extra archers.

- Any surprises?
Meeting someone on a nearby continent.

I sent out 6 archers as initial army with the warrior. I produced more archers to deal with barbs, while my army do Amsterdam + China. They later joined up for a total of 10 archers after losing 1. Then produced a few workers, settlers and monuments while my archers start on germany. With these cities (4 settlerd, Amsterdam, 3x China) i then started producing varus and siege towers followed by chariots while teching for Stirrups. I forest cut some commercial districts to keep some cash flowing in while upgrading knights and building more varus. Ended up with 900 military strength at turn 900 and gold to soon upgrade some archers to xbows.
-4 varu, 3 knight, 1 siege tower, ~5 knights are just done with Norway and ready to move east.
-5 varu, 3 knight, 1 siege tower are moving west with 3 backup varu coming a little later.
-4 archers are awaiting machinery at 109 to upgrade and move for the german capital with a handfull of varus and a siege tower.

 

[antimony]

- Where did you settle your capital city? Your second city?
Capital in place, 2nd city near crater lake and iron (SE of Amsterdam).

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Teched to horseriding, iron working, machinery, now a few turns from stirrups.
For civics I prioritized military tradition for Maneuver, then as usual pol. phi. and feudalism.

- What was your build order?
4 Slingers, Warrior, then Worker and Settler.

- How soon did you start Warmongering?
I think I was busy with barbarians until at least turn 50, then around 60 Germany (+Kabul) and Norway started a joint war on me. Norway never attacked with anything, and I got a few swordsmen, archers and varu to Aachen before seeing German troops.

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Encampment in capital once I could break from unit rush, then commercial in capital and campus in 2nd city. Two more commercial hubs on the way.

- Did you try to build any Wonders?
No.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Build 4 cities, conquered Kabul + 2 German cities. I signed peace with Germany after which China DOW'ed them to get their weaker cities. I tried launching a surprise war on China at the same time to prevent them from running away with two many cities, currently dealing with their rather large horse army.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
God-king to get pantheon (I picked God of War since it scales a bit and most enemy cities have holy sites), then usual

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Friendly with Lisbon and Amsterdam for the cash flow bonuses, was happy to take over Kabul since their location is much better for growth.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
Was friend with China during the war on Germany, thanks to lack of wonders.

- How were the Barbarians?
I only got one camp in the SE, I think, but as others noted they had lots of units. Had to fight them near my capital and managed to only lose one slinger.

- Any surprises?
Seeing the two iron pop up near Amsterdam was a good surprise.

 

[WackenOpenAir]

It seems i am experiencing some kind of bug where the enemy city defense doesn't fire at my units sometimes.

 

[Half Nelson]

India turn 107. Settled in place and built 2xslinger, worker, slinger, settler. China DoW almost on contact and I was also attacked by barbarian horde from East. Some sharp early combat, in which I lost a slinger. I researched straight to archery, took the attack to invaders and secured strong peace deal with China. Established 3-city core then built some Varu and attacked China. I now have 9 cities, 5 settled (including 1 bought with peace deal gold and 2 captured Chinese settlers) and 4 captured from China who are no more. Have met Germany and Norway but made a mistake in declaring Friendship with both, so now exploring until I can DoW with Germany. There seem to be some well-armed AI opponents according to stats, so hopefully looking forward to some interesting action.