6otM59 Opening Action

[leif erikson]

Welcome to the 6otM59 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.

- How long did you search for a site for your first city? What criteria did you use?
- Where did you settle your capital city? Your second city?
- Did you make a plan for achieving Diplomatic VC, what are the major steps you planned to take?
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
- What was your build order? Was early production handicapped by your Unique Attribute?
- Did you try for a Pantheon? Which one did you select and why?
- How long did it take to find your neighbors? Were they hostile or friendly?
- 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 quickly did you get Trade Routes working, who did you trade with?
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
- Which Governors did you choose and why did you choose them?
- Was your first age a Dark Age? Did you take any Dark Age cards?
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
- How were the Barbarians?
- Any surprises?

Please use spoiler tags for any surprise details you'd like kept hidden. Thanks.

 

[kb27787]

Got some CRAZY floods there, look at the flood plains yields....

Going OCC for the time being with Pingala... beelining Petra like a madman. Have a pretty nice holy site + Suguba thing going right now. Friends with neighbors as -30% malus with this starting dirt is just too bad for early conquest.

Unforunately, doing 2 fpt at the beginning was not enough to get first pantheon... had to settle for desert folklore (which is not bad)

 

[BarbarianHunter]

- How long did you search for a site for your first city? What criteria did you use? I think I settled on the 5th turn. Wanted fresh water and desert. I’d like to think I could build the Petra at some point. I’m not holding my breath.
- Where did you settle your capital city? Your second city? Capital (see above), 2nd city @ the horses to the west.

Spoiler :

- Did you make a plan for achieving Diplomatic VC, what are the major steps you planned to take? I figure the only way to achieve a Diplomatic Victory in a timely manner is eliminate all but 1 of the civs. With that in mind, I just started DOW’ing…
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why? Pingala x3 for feudalism & stirrups.
- What was your build order? Was early production handicapped by your Unique Attribute? Not as much as I would have imagined.
- Did you try for a Pantheon? Which one did you select and why? Goddess of the Harvest.
- How long did it take to find your neighbors? Were they hostile or friendly? Dow’ed them all except the Ottomans. Defended Bologna from Dido, liberated Ngazargamu and Jerusalem from Egypt. Now all I need to do is get an encampment, stable and armory for Ngazargamu and I’ll be set.
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize? Subuga for era score to avoid a dark age.
- Did you try to build any Wonders? None.
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns? Built/captured 7 (5 internal, 2 from Egypt). Liberated 2 CS’s.
- How quickly did you get Trade Routes working, who did you trade with? Fairly early for the boost.
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities? Maneuver for horses.
- Which Governors did you choose and why did you choose them? Pingala x3.
- Was your first age a Dark Age? Did you take any Dark Age cards? Normal age x2.
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side? Met Bologna and Ngazargamu for envoys and Mexico City for the political philosophy boost.
- How were the Barbarians? Push overs.
- Any surprises? I seem able to war against the Maryannu archers with horses. Shrug. Edit: Sometimes I have trouble with them even with knights.

Spoiler :

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[DanQuayle]

Mali is probably the worst civ for early aggression... but I did it anyway (with God of the Forge)

Interesting start... DoW'd by Dido T70 who has over 800 military strength (probably includes a lot of Biremes)

Spoiler :

It seems like my capital can easily be put under siege because of its location near the mountains

Bug

Spoiler :

T100:
Killed Egypt
Captured Tyre
Liberated Mexico City (100 DF)
Emergency against me (so 200 DF more on the way)
I am behind on infrastructure
About to get 6 Mandekalu Cavalry

Spoiler :

 

[Leucarum]

- How long did you search for a site for your first city? What criteria did you use?

I moved up one spot to get some desert. My goal was to have some hills for gold mines and some desert.

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

Second city was forward settled towards Egypt as I found myself in a position for an early alpha strike against them.

- Did you make a plan for achieving Diplomatic VC, what are the major steps you planned to take?

Dido is currently (very) friendly, but she had an early run conquering most of the city states. That does, however leave me with the option of liberating them once I've consolidated my position. I need to knock out as many AI as possible to make a diplomatic victory less nightmarish. I've been selling all my DF so far. That will need to change at some point...

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

Mining first to get my money up. Then agoge as I had the opportunity to catch Cleo while she was pre-occupied elsewhere. I've got feudalism and am about ready to start chopping my non-desert cities into usefulness...

- What was your build order? Was early production handicapped by your Unique Attribute?

I lucked out and got a builder from a goodie hut, so I went scout - slinger - settler - slinger - slinger. It was handicapped, but the builder gave me a free opportunity to catch up.

- Did you try for a Pantheon? Which one did you select and why?

I picked Desert Folklore. As Mali it would have been rude not to. I made a half-hearted push for a religion when it looked like the last great prophet wasn't really being fought over. I faith bought them and should have a religion shortly. I may hold off on founding it until my faith production is high enough for it not to be wiped off the planet in a few turns.

- How long did it take to find your neighbors? Were they hostile or friendly?

I found Egypt in the first 10 turns, Phoenecia early afterwards. Both were friendly, me less so.

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

In the classical era I put down a holy site first. I wanted to have a shot at founding a religion.

- Did you try to build any Wonders?

None yet, my production is terrible, but I did capture the hanging gardens.

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

I built one forward city, then pounced on Egypt taking another 3. Cleo had gone to war with Bologna, but got pipped to the conquest by Dido. I was able to knock her out while her troops were otherwise engaged. I founded a further 3 cities pushing north and took another one from the Ottomans, in the next turn or so another ottoman city will fall so I am on roughly on track. My infrastructure sucks, and my desert cluster lacks much wood to chop it out. Catchup could be slow. At least the victory condition is also slow.

- How quickly did you get Trade Routes working, who did you trade with?

My first trade route went to Jerusalem to avoid a dark age by suzeraining (is that a word?) them. Now I'm trading with Dido.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?

Agoge at first to try and get around Musa's malus. The trade route boost should start to really help soon.

- Which Governors did you choose and why did you choose them?

I have magnus and reyna out in cities with wood and population respectively. I had to take Victor to avoid loyalty problems. I need to get better at managing that...

- Was your first age a Dark Age? Did you take any Dark Age cards?

I managed to avoid it narrowly. I was mid conquest and did not want to lose my gains.

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

Jerusalem.

- How were the Barbarians?

One barb hut spawned under Niani while I was attacking Cleo. They pillaged one of my mines but I dealt with them shortly after.

- Any surprises?

Dido really wants to be my friend. For the moment I am obliging. I will need to push back against her soon though.

Spoiler T101 (I forgot to snap it on T100) :

 

[arthur486]

Attempt #1 - Cleopatra rises to 300+ milpower very early, DoWs and takes my second city
Attempt #2 - this is it

- How long did you search for a site for your first city? What criteria did you use?
Settled in place once I saw the desert was not irrigated.

- Where did you settle your capital city? Your second city?
Second city towards Egypt. Next 2 cities were with settlers taken from Egypt, followed by the Egyptian cities.

- Did you make a plan for achieving Diplomatic VC, what are the major steps you planned to take?
Hmm... try to buy favours from friendly neighbours. Suze city-states, get to the modern era quickly. Here the question is whether leaving opponents with 1 city slows era progression?

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Went early military, then focused on Apprenticeship as I had several mines ready.

- What was your build order? Was early production handicapped by your Unique Attribute?
Early warriors and slingers. Only built 1 settler, no Government Plaza (yet)

- Did you try for a Pantheon? Which one did you select and why?
Got desert folklore, goddess of the harvest was already unavailable.

- How long did it take to find your neighbors? Were they hostile or friendly?
Friendly except Cleopatra, she was on to something. Got a military emergency when I took her capital, it was downvoted by Suleiman and Dido.

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Holy sites and Sugubas.

- Did you try to build any Wonders?
No way.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
2 cities settled, 2 settled with stolen settlers, 2 cities occupied.

- How quickly did you get Trade Routes working, who did you trade with?
Only now setting up trade routes and going for development

- Which Governors did you choose and why did you choose them?
Went with Pingala, just recruited Magnus for some development

- Was your first age a Dark Age? Did you take any Dark Age cards?
Only normal ages. Will try for a golden one next.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Got first meeting bonus with Bologna, Ngazargamu.

- How were the Barbarians?
Pleasantly absent They would have been the last thing i needed

- Any surprises?
Very big one actually. Turn 96 I asked Suleiman not to convert my cities (he is focused on religion) and he obliged. Turned the missionaries the other way immediately. Was actually very, very surprised at this.

 

[WideCoast]

- How long did you search for a site for your first city? What criteria did you use?
I just moved it one tile to NE to get near desert to get bonuses from Mali's abilities.
- Where did you settle your capital city? Your second city?

Spoiler :

- Did you make a plan for achieving Diplomatic VC, what are the major steps you planned to take?
Just that I'd buy the currency when I can and never sell. Also if wonders were available which might help me win VC, I might try to grab them
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
I wanted to go money>holysite/campus>rest, but I noticed egypt was so close so I thought maybe I'll try to still use archers to fend them off, but realised it's not so simple with Mali especially a bit late and abandoned the plot to try to squeeze atleast four cities and then try to manage till I can crush egypt. So I was a bit all over the place.
- What was your build order? Was early production handicapped by your Unique Attribute?
Yeah it was.. I had heard their early game is slow, but never thought it would throw me off that much.
- How long did it take to find your neighbors? Were they hostile or friendly?
Hostile egypt found quite early and Dido's scout came in for a visit a bit later.
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Well I just planted campus, never did have time to finish it lol.
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Tried to, but egypt beat me to it. Never got that far, but I had 2 cities in my control at most xDD
- How quickly did you get Trade Routes working, who did you trade with?
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Tried to avoid prod, cuz Mali's unique.
- Which Governors did you choose and why did you choose them?
The military one, since it was fastest to "deploy" and had loyalty problems, because I went into dark age.., but didn't help. Probs gave me few turns at the end of game, but couldn't stop the inevitable.
- Was your first age a Dark Age? Did you take any Dark Age cards?
The first one. Nope, since I had nothing to take advantage of... Tempted!
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Didn't get past egypt thanks to her and barbs.
- How were the Barbarians?
Less than the Prince game, but with Cleopatra irritating enough that I got locked down on that peninsula(?)
- Any surprises?
The amount of troops Egypt had. I guess I was still having lullaby of the Prince AI.

Spoiler :

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[arthur486]

No worries @WideCoast this also happened to me on my first playthrough. Try it again

 

[kb27787]

Yup early expansion is suicidal as Mali... could've told you that. Will be much worse on deity too... (almost unplayable if you have a neighbor you cannot befriend on deity)

At that very early stage you are far better off with one 6-pop city with granary and monument and Pingala happily slotted than your three insanely weak cities.

 

[Cherenkov]

Yup early expansion is suicidal as Mali... could've told you that. Will be much worse on deity too... (almost unplayable if you have a neighbor you cannot befriend on deity)

At that very early stage you are far better off with one 6-pop city with granary and monument and Pingala happily slotted than your three insanely weak cities.

It's not all bad. In my first violent game I had time to settle 3 cities and still warmonger. There is a really nice spot east of Bologna which has 4 trees, 3 stone tiles to chop a bunch of stuff with Magnus plus a few good volcano tile(Walata on included screenshot)

Speaking of which I finally finished the first game just for lolz just to see how much wealth I could obtain. I ran out of things to discover/create/etc so I ran into a dark age in the Information Era. I really hope they fix this diplomatic victory crap. Really sucks to miss the vote by 1 because of no emergencies in the game then wait around for 30 more turns.

Ended up with 115,000 gold even after spending a bunch more on buildings and 49,000 faith.

EDIT: Oops moved screenshot to AAR

 

[Eyswein]

1st game - abandoned (saved as I'd like to see if I can still win)
Settled 2N for a good start; foolishly got overzealous on the desert bonus and settled 2d city 4NE...just 6 tiles from Egypt capital...while only having a warrior for defense & having spent my gold on tiles...DOW by Egypt and lost city...saved, but abandoned

2nd game - tried an expansion start again without issues and going well - smarter placement of 2d city
Capital - 2N & got Goddess of the Harvest; 2nd City - 6W/1SW of capital near horses; 3rd City - 9W/2NW of capital on lake E of Bologna
This led to no issues and starting war against Egypt on T72 & Ottomans on T93 & soon Phoenicians who have captured 4 of the 6 city states - add the eventual liberation of these for 400 DF and 200 DF for an emergency against me and you can see the diplomatic favor adding up fast!
Initial build order: 11-Scout, (11-buy tile), (21-builder from TV), 24-settler, 37-settler, 44-campus, 51-monument, 55-Gov Plaza, 62-Ancestral Hall, 83-Pyramids; military in 2d/3d city - T45 first slinger; 60s horses & heavy chariots (chopped in 3d city for fast military expansion)
51&93-Golden Ages w/ Monumentality for builders/settlers; Science - AH, Pottery, Irrigation, Sailing, Writing, Mining, BW, Currency; Culture - CoL, Craft, SW, FT, EE, Pol Phil; Governors - Liang, Magnus, Pingala x3

Found an exploit while trying to save the last Egypt city for +5 era score as I was near the era change and already had enough era score for my 2d golden age - listed in Exploits thread.