6otM09 Opening Actions

[leif erikson]

Welcome to the 6otM09 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?
- Did you try to build Stonehenge? Did you succeed?
- Did you prioritize religion in your first 100 turns, how?
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
- What was your build order?
- Were there any early wars? Did you start them?
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
- 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.

 

[Forster]

I am surprised that no one has put anything here yet. Is everyone like me? I didn't get a religion, so by turn 45 I had already lost.

 

[leif erikson]

Did you try for Stonehenge?

 

[CPWimmer]

Just hit turn 100. I'll be doing my write up soon. As to the lack of replies so far,

My chief guess is Surprise.
Surprise and Fear...
Fear and Surprise...

Amongst my guesses are:

• Fear
• Surprise
• Waiting for the weekend
• Waiting in anticipation of a new patch
• Religion is a less popular Win condition

I'll come in again...

 

[paulthebug]

Just hit turn 100. I'll be doing my write up soon. As to the lack of replies so far,

My chief guess is Surprise.
Surprise and Fear...
Fear and Surprise...

Amongst my guesses are:

• Fear
• Surprise
• Waiting for the weekend
• Waiting in anticipation of a new patch
• Religion is a less popular Win condition

I'll come in again...

Lol. Just haven't time yet.

 

[CPWimmer]

So far so good - no inquisition yet, but i'll certainly kick one off for the achievement if nothing else.

- Where did you settle your city?
Settled in place, I'm going with the stone circles pantheon theory as mentioned in the discussion of the announcement thread. I also realized that I can build a +2 Faith Holy Site 1 tile NE thanks to the mountain and 2 forest tiles.

- Did you try to build Stonehenge? Did you succeed?
I didn't try for it - I considered it but given the risk, and the need for holy sites to build religious units I just went for holy sites.

- Did you prioritize religion in your first 100 turns, how?
Of Course.
t23 Pantheon Founded - Heck Yeah Stone Circles
t31 first holy site completed
t64 Founded Catholicism
t70+t78 2 Missionaries to convert close cities
t93+t96 2 Apostles after finishing the Mosque in Madrid

All 6 Spanish cities and 2 Congolese cities are Catholic at turn 100
I am generating 45 Faith so far which I think is a pretty good start.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
TECH: Animal Husbandry -> Astrology (was hoping to find a natural wonder but didn’t in time)
Mining -> Pottery -> Irrigation -> Archery -> Writing -> Bronze Working -> Sailing
Currency -> Wheel -> Masonry -> Engineering -> Ship Building -> Horseback

CIVICS: CoL-> Foreign Trade -> Early Empire -> Craftsmanship->Mysticism
State Work Force -> PP (t41) {Classical Republic} -> Drama -> Theology (t64)
Recorded History -> Games & Rec -> Defensive Tactics-> Mil Tradition

- What was your build order?
For Madrid: Slinger -> Builder -> Slinger -> Holy Site (t31)
Shrine -> Builder -> Setter x5 -> Com Hub -> Temple -> Mosque -> Trader #2 -> Water Mill

Unlike in other games trader #1 was actually built in my 2nd city so I could keep the settlers pumping out. The non-capital cities focused on getting a Holy Site up ASAP.

- Were there any early wars? Did you start them?
Nope 100% peace.

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
I have Holy Sites in 3 cities plus 1 Commercial Hub in Madrid

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Yes, I have settled 6 cities by turn 100. This is the first time for me that I had half of them built where they will need aqueducts. I'm not sure how i fell about that.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
God King early. Colonization for a big Settler push from roughly turns 40-70. Revelation as soon as I could and Scripture as well. Others came and went to fill in some gaps as appropriate. I'm about to go on a bug builder push with Ilkum

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
I have 1 or 2 Envoys in Kumasi, Toronto, Vilnius, Hong Kong & Amsterdam
I have met, but hold no influence in Nan Madol, Valletta and Stockholm
Arabia and I are fighting over Jerusalem, currently they are neutral as we are tied with 5 envoys

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
Yes, although I see things brewing with Arabia in the future.
Congo is friendly and willing to enter a Joint War with me for only 1 GpT.

- How were the Barbarians?
They have been minor players.

- Any surprises?

• No close AI Civs giving me quite a lot of room to spread out.
• Lack of Mountain ranges for good Holy Site adjacency bonuses.
• 2 very interesting and opposite (in terms of religion) neighbor AI Civs sharing my land mass.
• Settling 2 cities just across the continent border, offering immediate use of Treasure Fleet ability

Spoiler :

 

[kcd_swede]

- Where did you settle your city? Other side of river next to mountain.

- Did you try to build Stonehenge? No, never even thought about it.
- Did you prioritize religion in your first 100 turns, how? Oddly enough, I wasn't really thinking about the VC, and just set up a decent generic start with no religion focus. I settled a second city on the crab coast before building a holy site. Then a couple projects and finally bought a Great Prophet with faith - got the second religion founded, so the AI are slow in this one. I should mention that my first tribal village granted me a relic, and I met the relig city state first, plus took stone circles as pantheon...so had pretty good faith rate pre-religion.
- What did you research an
-d which policies did you choose and why? What was your build order? I don't recall... not a lot of choices early so all games go the same... just following eurekas most of the time.
- Were there any early wars? Did you start them? No wars anywhere to t100 (that I know of).
- How soon did you build a District? Not early, but quick enough. Which ones did you prioritize? Holy Site, Campus, and Commerce hub in that order
- Did you emphasize expansion? No. How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns? Built 5 from coast to coast in the south., figure I'll be glad to have water access on both sides of the landmas, and could get at least 1 lux with each city. No war = no captures.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities? Barb +5 strength, Plus faith until religion, then focus on gold, mainly. Settler and builder bonuses. Not very methodical.
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side? No a lot of competition for city states on my continent... I was suzerein of 4 with no more than 3 envoys in each. I prioritized the religious state, and the financial one. Good trade routes to Amsterdam and Hong Kong kept the god pouring in.
- Were your neighbors peaceful? Yep, MBongo is a declared friend and Saladin has denounced me for converting him, but I could kick all their butts at any time and they seem to understand this.
- How were the Barbarians? Suprisingly few and inneffectual.
- Any surprises? Apostles promotion availability does not seem random, it seems rigged against the player going for rel vc.

Making about 120 faith/turn and just have to cross distances with my clerics. I might need to take a city on far away continent to get a healing site for apostles and shorten some travel times.

 

[CappyAA]

So far, so good I think. I still have work to do in optimizing my mid-game moves - especially for religious and culture victories. But early game went very well.

- Where did you settle your city?

1 tile NE over the river next to the mountain

- Did you try to build Stonehenge? Did you succeed?

I didn't initially plan on it. I sent my warrior east to scout inland and found a natural wonder, giving me the Astrology eureka right as I was about to finish AH. So I decided to go for it. Succeeded in building Stonehenge just before turn 30 (I forget the exact turn but I think it was 28). I did use one of my builder charges to chop a forest and cut off 4 turns.

- Did you prioritize religion in your first 100 turns, how?

Yes, but that's easy when you get SH up. I built a holy site fairly early in Madrid and am in process of building the 2nd one now.

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

Research: AH -> Astrology -> Mining -> then I pretty much just researched things I had Eurekas for. I'm catching up on the top half of the tree now so I can get ships out to meet the other continent.
Policies: Pretty much just beelined for Political Philosophy. Researching Feudalism now.

- What was your build order?

Slinger, Builder, Stonehenge, Builder, Slinger, Settler, Slinger, Holy Site

- Were there any early wars? Did you start them?

I forward settled on Kongo. I liked the spot south of their capital below the mountains so I got up there and immediately got to work on an Encampment with Walls. I also brought a couple archers up there with me. They had a settler escorted by a lone warrior. I waited for them to pass the point of no return and declared to steal the settler. After killing a few of his units, we peaced out. I have converted his cities to my religion and now we're declared friends.

Arabia denounced me (they're currently in a war with Kongo). They sent a settler south, probably headed east of Amsterdam, so I just declared on him to steal his settler. We're still at war.

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

Holy Site rather quickly after I got SH. I have a campus up in Madrid as well, and an Encampment.

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

Yes. I currently have 7 cities settled with 1 more settler (my captured one from Arabia) ready to settle just east of Amsterdam. I have 2 more settlers that are within 5 turns of being finished. Will likely stop building settlers here and build out cities more.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?

Played the +1 production most of the time. I've swapped in the 50% settlers to crank out a bunch of them. About to switch to Ilkum and mass build builders for the Feudalism rush.

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

Pretty much all the southern ones. I think I am suzerain of 3 of them now.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?

See the warring above.

- How were the Barbarians?

Surprisingly light. I was worried going SH early, I would be vulnerable without an army. But the combo of no close neighbors with light barbs made it pay off.

- Any surprises?

This was the first time I tried to build SH ever. I always see it getting built at the higher levels in the early 30's, so I thought about going for it for a while. I was really nervous the last few turns that I wouldn't get it, but it worked out!

Spoiler :

 

[Forster]

Did you try for Stonehenge?

No. I am really surprised some of the others here got a religion so late.

 

[Eric Lindvall]

After 100 Turns

- Where did you settle your city?
Moved up one step, turn out to be bad. Slow start.

- Did you try to build Stonehenge? Did you succeed?
No, did not go for the Stonegenge instead used "pray" funktion to get the extra points to get a profeth

- Did you prioritize religion in your first 100 turns, how?
Yes and no, se below. tryed to build HS as fast as a could but took forever for me.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Go so I later can get Mont St. Michel. Having trouble with barbarians so some archers.

- What was your build order?
slinger-slinger-Holy-slinger---then I dont recall

- Were there any early wars? Did you start them?
Yes, I took Amsterdam early on instead of bulding a settler.

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Holy Sites and Hubs right.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Have four cities I think one caputerd

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Extra faith and then points to get me religion.

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

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
Yes

- How were the Barbarians?
A lot, they are spawning like hell, hunting down the recoon unit but they spaw a lot this time

- Any surprises?
My second try, my first try crashes around turn 57. Hade a great start and no barbarians then so was suprises how many came at me this time around.

 

[RATANA]

A bit late on my write up.

Spoiler :

- Where did you settle your city?North side of the river
- Did you try to build Stonehenge? Did you succeed? Yes and yes
- Did you prioritize religion in your first 100 turns, how? Yes used god king and founded pantheon monument to the gods, built stonehenge, with help from a few chops
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why? Astrology, mining, and all naval techs to try spread my religion to other continents and faster than AI,
- What was your build order? Scout, settler, builder, slinger,settler
- Were there any early wars? Did you start them? No wars as yet thankfully as I have no army
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize? A little later as i needed builders to improve cities, prioritized HD and HS
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns? Built three cities early and settled in a triangle, the first city on the north east side of the river from the starting point, the second west of Madrid on the coast south of the river and the third 4 tiles north west of Madrid on the coast just south of Vilnius, chopped in HD for both coastal cities for the eureka, and chopped in HS for all three. I chopped using the stone as i didnt have stone circles pantheon.
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities? Used classic government for the two economic slots i used apoge and colinisation as growth was slow and production as well.
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side? Alot did'nt cultivate any except for putting one envoy in each CS for the capital bonus, have not found Jerusalm, saved a bunch of my envoys for a faith CS have 8 at the moment, obviously im going to try and find it now.
- Were your neighbors peaceful? Yes
- How were the Barbarians? Killed three scouts of mine which prevented me from searching the north of the continent, so im guessing Jerusalm is their somewhere
- Any surprises? Yes no one has declared war against me yet for not having military, but have been denounced for it, even Ghandi cautioned me over it.

 

[dthompson32]

Just hit turn 100, so far so good I think.

- Where did you settle your city?
Settled in place

- Did you try to build Stonehenge? Did you succeed?
Yes. I figured there would probably be a natural wonder around so I went for Astrology first, built a scout, then explored with the scout and warrior until I found it. I had SH by around turn 35 or 40.

- Did you prioritize religion in your first 100 turns, how?
Build stonehenge, get stone circles pantheon, found religion. I waited on my Holy Site to build a settler and campus first, but got it up around turn 75. I just finished my Temple, enhanced my first belief, and started constructing the Mah Temple wonder. I've spread my religion around to CSs and Kongo. But Arabia is also working to spread Islam so I plan to take him out with Conquistadors. Also I took requiliaries but no artifacts yet. I'm going to try and get Mont St. Michele.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Standard policies to get to Political Philosophy. Then went to get religion and Temples. Science I've just tried to take advantage of eurekas. Working my was up to gunpowder.

- What was your build order?
Scout, settler but then switched to SH quickly. Once Sh was done I went back to the settle, then 3x slingers, campus, holy site, water mill. Monument was in there early too. I also built 2 more settlers.

- Were there any early wars? Did you start them?
I started a war with Vilnus to steal a builder and killed one of his units with slingers. Made peace and been at peace since. Arabia and Kongo just started fighting though.

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Campus, but it took time after SH, settler, and slingers. I have commercial and campus in city 2.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Yes, tried to get settlers out early. I put my first city over by Hong Kong at the closest river on the other continent for the trading bonus. I also snagged tea there. City 3 is close by for the 3 stones while City 4 is off to the east to get a horse.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Bonus card for building slingers, bonus card for settlers, just put in the holy site bonus card. Also trying to build up envoys using the diplomat cards.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
A lot, especially when looking for the natural wonder. I've prioritized Toronto and Hong Kong for the district build bonuses.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
So far they are leaving me alone.

- How were the Barbarians?
When I wanted to kill them I couldn't find them. The CSes were killing them off too fast.

- Any surprises?
Nothing stands out.

All in all I think it is going well. I think my science is a little low, but faith is going well. 20 spt, 13 cpt, 34 fpt, and 14 gpt. I never play religious, so hard to tell if I'm making mistakes I will pay for later.

 

[Mahatmajon]

Unfortunately I'm caught on a turn 52 CTD, but so far this has been a lot of fun. Much more interesting than last month's annoying map ;-)
Plan is:
1. Settle 1NE. Use 5 food, 3f/1h, & 1f/3h square to
2. Build Stonehenge
3. Play thematically (religious units/spread religion)
4. ?????
5. Profit

- Where did you settle your city?
1NE
- Did you try to build Stonehenge? Did you succeed?
Yes. This was aided buy a T10 hut Eureka for Astrology. Very nice timing
- Did you prioritize religion in your first 100 turns, how?
Well, it's turn 52, but I founded the first religion and have a missionary halfway to Kongo.
After stone circles (+4faith for now, another +4faith expected for 2nd city) took Divine Inspiration (+4faith/wonders) and Papal Primacy (City State Bonus +50%). There are sooooo many city states I think I'll slip in a couple more ancient/classical wonders and have a huge faith capital.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Research: Astrology*, Mining, AH, Pottery, Writing*, Masonry*, Archery*, Bronze Working*
Policies: CoL, Foreign Trade*, Mysticism*, Early Empire, Craftsmanship*, State Workforce*, Political Philosophy*, Military Tradition*
* means I had a maximized Eureka. No reall plan here, though I tthink it's tthe first time I took Autocracy in...ever? (+10% to wonders (not yet using this), + to City State bonuses (lots of these))

- What was your build order?
Slinger, Stonehenge, Holy Site, Shrine, Slinger x2, Warrior, Slinger (oops/lost one), Trader, Settler x2

- Were there any early wars? Did you start them?
Arabia is about to get a religion and I have 3 archers, 2 warriors, and 2 scouts on the way to them. Once they found a religion I'll kill 'em

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Just the holy site so far. I figure expansion is more important now than others

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Only 1 city and a settler out at T52. Building another settler (with the 50% bonus policy)

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Mostly +1 production/anti-barbarian. Now +50% settler

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
ALL OF THEM. This map is definitely different and impressive

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
So far, but apparently the CTD may be related to someone declaring war on me.

- How were the Barbarians?
Mediocre

- Any surprises?
That is a lot of city states...I think I was the first to meet ~5 of them. Not exactly sure what to do with all of them, but it seems worth building a theater in the capital (have 2 culture CS) and definitely a IZ (2 of those too). Not sure where the AI explored as they missed finding at least 2-3 that they should have beat me to.

 

[DogBoy]

Where did you settle your city?
I moved one tile northeast. I could see the coast to the west and I wanted to be able to settle my second city there.

- Did you try to build Stonehenge? Did you succeed?
No. I figured the AI would build it fast and I was correct. An unknown AI built it faster than I would have.

- Did you prioritize religion in your first 100 turns, how?
Yes. My capital began constructing my first Holy Site on turn 28 and completed it on turn 36. Then built a shrine. I also used the Revelation policy card.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
The only tech I beelined for was Astrology to build a Holy Site. I built an early scout and went out searching for a Natural Wonder for the Eureka bonus. I found one and was able to rush Astrology. After that, I researched techs and civics based upon Eurekas.

- What was your build order?
Scout, Builder, Settler, Slinger, Builder, Holy Site, Shrine. I saw the coast to the west and took a gamble on an early Scout, Builder, Settler, then my first Slinger. I was able to build a second city faster than I normally do, but the late Slinger meant I had to repair 2 tiles due to barbarians. My city on the coast built a Galley to search the seas for other AIs and I have explored the coast, but can't sail across the ocean so can't fine any AI other than the two on my continent.

- Were there any early wars? Did you start them?
I haven't heard of any wars.

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Capital built Holy Site on turns 28-36. Then I started building Commercial Hubs on turn 79. So far I have only built Holy Sites and Commercial Hubs, no other districts.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
I built 5 cities. Haven't captured any.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
God King for faith. Revelation for Great Prophet points.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
I met Vilnius, Amsterdamy, Hong Kong, Toronto, Valletta first.
I met Kumasi, Nan Madol, Jerusalem but not first.
I haven't tried to cultivate any to my side.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
So far, yes. No wars.

- How were the Barbarians?
Pesky barbarians to my east that pillaged two of my tiles due to only have one Slinger.

- Any surprises?
I didn't expand as fast as I wanted. This is my first time to play a religious game and I wanted to make sure I prioritized an early religion so I would get it.

 

[afireinside]

- Where settle?
2 NE + 1 NW: Figured that the Silver was a pipe dream (was 4 spaces from start pos)

- Stonehenge?
No

- Religion in your first 100 turns?
3 Holy Prayer projects.
Quarries +2 Faith
Belief: FAITH TO BUY CAMPUS BUILDINGS
Belief: Cathedrals (to hold apostle corpses)

- What did you research? Policies?
On turn 115 I almost have cavalry, by nabbing the Great Scientist who gets +250 for each mountain. Was a 5 mountain-hex in Kongo's territory!
Hoping that Missions are going to boost that tundra-tiled natural wonder to the SE.

- Build order?
Scout + Sling + Worker + Settler

- Early wars?

Spoiler :

Arabia + Kongo declared on turn ~100. Kongo has crazy tech lead with units. Nabbed his 2X Horse city .

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
No Encampments. Holy Sites + Campuses (purchase libraries w/ faith)

- Emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Yes. 1 city each for Natural Wonder, Tea, and

Spoiler :

Grapes + Jade to the SE

- Governence cards?
+100% Holy Site is a godsend
+1 Culture per district

- City-States?
I really like Kumasi's Bonus! (+2 culture and gold in routes to city-states)

- How were the Barbarians?
Painless

- Any surprises?
Didn't realize that we had Toronto to the left

 

[RaidandTrade]

Where did you settle your city?

I moved across the river to the North-East next to the mountain to better reach the other side of the range for +2 Holy Site adjacency without needing to sacrifice the Stone. That much rock was begging for Stone Circles.

Did you try to build Stonehenge? Did you succeed?

Missed it be three turns but only invested 8 turns and one chop so it was a gamble worth making.

Did you prioritize religion in your first 100 turns, how?

Yes. Main aim was to get a religion ASAP so I went straight for Astrology. In hindsight, I should have gone Mining first. My builder sat idle for 5 turns and I started a settler. Once mining was done, I chopped the Holy Site location and built that plus a Shrine ASAP. Settler was next order of business then straight into Holy Site prayers. I paused briefly to attempt Stone Henge but, after failing at that, kept praying. Got the third religion.

Catholicism
Stone Circles
Reliquaries
Holy Orders
Pilgrimage
Mosques

I have three apostles ready for action with Debater, Martyr and Proselytiser promotions.

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

Mainly looking to slowly grow science so half-researched a lot of techs to maximise the time available for Eurekas and keep district costs down. I’ll likely take the top of the tree to pick up Cartography as soon as I can get it in order to spread the word. I want a city on the other continent relatively quickly. (I have made a small diversion to pick up some cheap techs to find Iron, build walls, etc.)

Culture was all focussed on getting to Temples ASAP. I diverted into Mysticism for the Prophet card but forgot I needed a new government to use it (my previous game was Gorgo) but the number of CS neighbours around meant a handy boost. Will be looking to move through Monarchy into Theocracy and after that I don’t really care.

What was your build order?

Mostly settlers. I found a lot of goody huts which I’ve found is usually an indicator of an isolated start so did not build any units. My starting warrior, Kevin, was the sole protector of my budding empire.

Were there any early wars? Did you start them?

Peace and love man. Peace. And. Love.

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

Mostly Holy Sites. Planted a couple of Campus seeds and a Commercial seed to lock in costs but this is all about religion.

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

Madrid north-east of starting position
Bilbao on the coast above the Elephants
Cordoba on the coast south of the river
Seville near Amsterdam. (Mis-click had me settle before I reached the river but I’m next to the coast and jade).
Toledo near Toronto. (South of the mountain so blocking the causeway to Toronto).
A Coruna North-East of Madrid a tile from the mountain to reach Pigs and Elephants
Zargoza East of A Coruna on the hill next to the river with stone in the second ring.

Looking at another expansion wave to see if I can get:
- Two more cities south-west and south-east of Toronto
- A city on the tundra south of Madrid to grab the silver
- A “troll” city between Kumasi and Hong Kong. There’s stone up there I’d like to grab if possible.
- A city north of Seville. This would be a “filler” city.

How did you play your governance cards, priorities?

Chiefdom
+5 Barbs
+1 Production -> + 50% Settlers -> +30% Builders


Classical Republic
+ 1 Production
+ 50% Settlers -> +30% Builders
+ 2 Envoys
+ 2 Prophet -> + 2 Scientist

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

3 x Culture (Kumasi, Vilnius and Nan-Madol)
1 x Money (Amsterdam)
2 x District (Toronto and Hong Kong)
1 x Faith (Jerusalem - discovered bang on turn 100).

I have Toronto, Vilnius and Kumasi in my pocket at the moment.

Were your neighbors peaceful?

I went 99 turns before I met anyone but CS. Kevin spotted my neighbour’s borders but headed east to explore some more. (Kevin’s lazy charges couldn’t be bothered to build walls around their cities and Kevin’s only military experience was with barbarian scum - he wasn’t so keen to advertise our whereabouts too soon).

Now that we know our neighbours and know of their tendencies towards heathen beliefs it would appear Kevin could use some back-up. Through our early diplomacy, we already know they don’t like us, despite our delegation. But it would appear there’s someone else they don’t like more so that’s okay. They’ve gone monarchy and we’re still a republic as well which doesn’t help. (Progress to monarchy slowed waiting for a second campus to boost Recorded History).

How were the Barbarians?

Nothing Kevin couldn’t handle. One spearman in a camp and two scouts.

Any surprises?

Not meeting anyone for so long and so many city states close by. At one stage culture was outstripping my science which almost never happens in my non-culture games.

Spoiler Turn 100 Screenshot :

 

[nikAlto]

OK, so this submission does not count. I tried the game twice, and each time lost out on a religion around turn 60/65. I was keeping an eye on the Great Prophet points, but I think each time the AI used gold or faith to purchase the last little bit, and leap frog me.

Third time. Built stonehenge. Without any builder chop assistance. And got first religion. Wanted to play the map anyway, as enjoy playing along with the GOTM.

- Where did you settle your city? In place. Im a big fan of setting in place, and in this instance, think it turned into a good location.
- Did you try to build Stonehenge? Did you succeed? Yes. And without chopping. About turn 36.
- Did you prioritize religion in your first 100 turns, how? Yes. Stonehenge. Then HS in all cities, and now working my way through building all the HS buildings. Converted one city of Kongo. But now focussing on Arabia and trying to remove its religion from the map. Slow process.
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why? Civics I beelined PP. Now working my way towards Theocracy/Theology (whatever it is called). Science I went for Astrology. Then jumped around the eurekas. Now working on cartography so I can head across the ocean.
- What was your build order? Scout, Builder (part), Stonehenge, Builder (finish), HS, then some slingers, then settlers, then back to builders.
- Were there any early wars? Did you start them? No. Arabia and Kongo had a brief flare up between themselves. I can see more trouble brewing up there. Im thankful for the mountain range separating us. Although the flip side is limited spots for my missionaries to make it through.
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize? HS x 4. Have placed some commercial hubs, but not finished building them.
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns? No cities captured. Playing peacefully. 4 cites, plus one more about to be settled. Think I will leave it at 5. My 5th one was mainly to get a location on the coast to be some good naval units which I plan on using to help me finish (by warring, and clearing the way for my religious units).
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities? God king to start. Then flipped between settler and builder cards as i needed them. Now running HS adjacency bonus card.
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side? So many of them!!! Have one envoy with each. Super annoyingly, Kongo decided to wipe out Jerusalem. I have no idea what provoked the attack. They are actually quite some distance apart. So no faith CS on my continent now. Sigh.
- Were your neighbors peaceful? Yes, towards me.
- How were the Barbarians? Limited. Helpfully, the CS would clear up the encampments pretty quickly after they appeared.
- Any surprises? The massive number of CS, and the fact they sort of form a protective shield between me and the AI. And then Kongo's annoying decision to wipe out Jerusalem.

 

[Mahatmajon]

Unfortunately I'm caught on a turn 52 CTD, but so far this has been a lot of fun. Much more interesting than last month's annoying map ;-)
...
- Were your neighbors peaceful?
So far, but apparently the CTD may be related to someone declaring war on me.

Huzzah! My crash-to-desktop was apparently fixed by the latest update. I decided to try again and it held up in between turns but managed to make it to turn 53. Apparently the crash was caused by a settler getting captured because once it was captured "successfully" the game advanced to turn 53. It's ~turn 100 now and I'll try to get back into this game.

 

[Half Nelson]

I waited to play this 6oTM until after the new patch was installed. I settled in place with the sole goal of establishing a religion. I took Stone Circles as pantheon (Divine Spark was available but I reasoned I could manage without it) and grabbed the fourth religion on turn 71. Eastern Orthodoxy believes in amenities for districts and cheap apostles. The investment in Holy Site buildings held back expansion and I used most of the local CS for culture / money rather than conquest. This has hampered my expansion such that at turn 102 I only have 5 cities and am last by some margin in score. I have only met 2 AI to date:- Kongo loves me as I am spreading my religion but Arabia hates me for stealing a settler. My forays into warfare so far indicate that the AI may be a bit smarter than before:- I attacked 1 CS for builders and experience but was ambushed by war chariots and lost a warrior and the “rescuing” archer. Arabia then turned up with crossbows much earlier than expected after I DoW, forcing me to use stored envoys to ally bordering CS who took the strain of the attack. I am now beginning to explore more with galleys and have mined a source of iron (on peninsula W of capital) for knight upgrades and a second bite at Arabia.

 

[cheffster]

- Where did you settle your city?

on spot


- Did you try to build Stonehenge? Did you succeed?

Yes, also managed to build oracle with no contest from the AI


- Did you prioritize religion in your first 100 turns, how?

Only a little bit. I built a holy site + shrine/temple/mosque asap in capital, 2 apostles to evangelize and enough missionaries to spread my religion as much as I could, However my MAIN focus was expansion. I took very slow and thoughtful turns, managed to steal 3 builders and 2 settlers as well as build up enough of an army to conquer Mumba before turn 100. I also got VERY lucky and found a holy artifact around turn 30 for +4 faith/turn as well as 2 scouts from goodie huts)


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

I researched the necessary techs and civics for rapid expansion. Most of the game so far I used +1 production/city and 50% faster settler build.


- What was your build order?

slinger->builder->slinger->settler->slinger->2 scouts (from huts) and 2 builders (1 stolen from Mumba, 1 from Saladin) ->stonehenge->settler->oracle.


- Were there any early wars? Did you start them?

yes, I only stayed at war with Saladin for 10 turns after stealing a builder and was at almost constant war with Mumba (Around turn 60 he was being heavily invaded from barbs so I bought a couple military units and was easily able to take his 3 cities (while stealing a settler on DoW turn from my scout)


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

Since I didn't need a super early holy site with the religious artifact I built stonehenge/oracle and about 4-5 settlers before completing any districts. On the first turns they were available however I started district construction to minimize inflation and get them for the cheapest possible price. After finishing 1 holy site I prioritized commercial hubs in each of my cities to get the gold flowing and taking advantage of the 3 - envoy bonus (+4 gold/con hub) I have with Amsterdam.


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

Yes, as I already talked about I spent many hours contemplating during my early turn to get expand as rapidly as possible. Currently I control 14 cities which I believe is a personal best for me in all my civ6 games


I know for a religous victory this might be unnecessary but I do not expect to pull off some sort of early game miracle like whacker and win within the first 150-200 turns so I'm thinking the more overall size and power of my empire will help me beeline to an early win once I do focus all out on relgion.