6otM72 Opening Action

[leif erikson]

Welcome to the 6otM72 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 a Science 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?
- 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?
- 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.

 

[Palo]

I moved my warrior and then settled in place. I was happy immediately upon discovering the mountains to the north with good sites for a Campus and Holy Site. Since it was King I decided I'd get a religion, try for a classic golden age, and use faith to pump out workers and settlers to jump start the empire. I found Vesuvius really quickly for the Astrology eureka and met five CS's getting first meet bonus with all but Akkad. I ended up as suze with four of these city states with Maori suze of Ngazargamu I think. I got the golden age secured and then stopped exploring though I did accidently stumble on the wonder just south of Nidaros.

My build order if I recall was Scout, Warrior, Settler, Settler, Holy Site. I was hoping for the rain forest pantheon given that I'd started with rain forest all around but that wasn't to be nor was religious settlements available so I picked stone circles since there was lots of quarries around. I thus never harvested any stone all game. I built a +3 holy site in my second city to the south east and then no more holy sites during this period.

I met Spain, England, and Norway in the ancient era and made friends with Spain after cutting off their expansion path to the south with Konya which was to be my Pyramids/Government district city. I didn't want any trouble with Spain while I dealt with Norway who took out Akkad fairly early. The Maori wandered over for a meet sometime in the classical era if I recall, too.

I built a bunch of wonders chopping out Apadana and the Oracle in Istanbul and the Pyramids in Konya. I also hard built the Temple of Artemis in Instanbul after the first two wonders and before I finished my capital campus. The last wonder I built in the first 100 turns was the Colloseum in Trabzon. I didn't want to go too crazy on wonders given that it's only King difficulty and I didn't want to win an accidental culture victory like I had a while back in the Sweden diplo GoM.

I ended up with 8 founded cities and the Norway capital in the first 100 turns. Norway never built a second city before I eliminated them. Bursa is planned to be my Mausoleum of Hali city and I've got industrial zones started in several other cities.

Governors went Liang, Magnus, then Pingala taking culture and the double GP points promotions, and finally the Turkish unique governor who I used to help pump out some military to conquer the rest of the continent. The screenshot shows my gathering military near Konya right before my plan to upgrade to x-bows, swords, with catapults led by Hannibal who I faith bought as I wasn't quite able to finish earning him naturally with my encampment.

Spoiler :

 

[BarbarianHunter]

- How long did you search for a site for your first city? What criteria did you use? Not long. Wanted to settle in place but didn't have the will to destroy that 2/2 tile.
- Where did you settle your capital city? Your second city? Capital on grassland to the southeast. 2nd city near Mt. Vesuvius (a nice money maker for King).

Spoiler Mt. Vesuvius :

- Did you make a plan for achieving a Science VC, what are the major steps you planned to take? I knew the AI would be of little help for many cities or much gold @ King level and I decided I'd have settle allot of my own cities for Campus spam. With all those warmongering bonuses the Ottomans have it pained me to do it but I built mostly settlers and builders. Ended up taking out Harold with 3 archers and a warrior. Lost 1 archer due to a misclick then panicked and bought a catapult with gold, spicing up the battle of Nidaros significantly.
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why? No particular rhyme or reason other than getting more governor promotions ASAP then to feudalism.
- What was your build order? Settler, settler, settler, settler, builder, settler, settler... I bought a couple of slingers in there somewhere.
- Did you try for a Pantheon? Which one did you select and why? The +2 quarries one. I figured IZ's will benefit and there seemed a decent amount of stone in the area.
- How long did it take to find your neighbors? Were they hostile or friendly? Friendly until I Surprise Warred Harold (took him for all his gold before the DOW).

Spoiler Took Harold's Bankroll :

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize? Quite some time as I was busy building settlers. Built a few Campus districts and a commercial hub.
- Did you try to build any Wonders? Temple of Artemis for spaceport city in order to raise pop capacity and food production.
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns? Looks like 12 with 1 settler about to found a city and 4 settlers in que being built.
- How quickly did you get Trade Routes working, who did you trade with? Got a free trader with a goodie hut & sent to Vilnius then to a militaristic CS for an envoy.
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities? 1st founded an oligarchy then realized there was no one around to conquer and switched to a classical republic for the amenity legacy card.
- Which Governors did you choose and why did you choose them? Pingala x3.
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side? Suz'ed Palenque. Others, just took the free envoys.
- How were the Barbarians? Push overs by & large. I think they may actually have helped with Harold by keeping him busy.
- Any surprises? None.

Spoiler North :

Spoiler South :

 

[Casualty of war]

Well, no one's taking Palenque unless by air! If I can just find another Scientific City-State, this game will take off for space in a rocket.

So many Military City-States found early meant I used my capital to spam Settlers, one after the other, expedited by the production bonus for units. Blunted the effect of a Classical Monumentality because I had ratcheted the cost up to around 400 Faith for a Settler by then; I just got to easily pop out a Builder wherever I needed one.

If I hadn't gotten the Astronomy eureka through a Great Scientist, I would have bought a University by now. I'm setting up a Dam-Aqueduct-Industrial Zone nexus between Trabzon and Istanbul that should work out pretty nicely; I should place pins before I accidentally mess it up.

Hanging Gardens and Temple of Artemis should assure that my cities are a nice size by The Enlightenment. I'm glad that I remembered/noticed the reef adjacency that was added with the latest patch because now my western coastal cities will be excellent Science generators too.

I left my neighbors alone because of wanting trading partners and future Alliances; I'm enough techs ahead that they are no threat. And any City States they take will just Loyalty flip to me anyway. I might have gotten more aggressive if Iron had been a bit more convenient.

 

[Monthar]

By turn 100 I had 10 cities. I founded 6, captured 4 from Norway, including Akkad which I decided to keep instead of liberating. I built the Great Bath in the capital hoping for some floods to get the bonus faith on those tiles. I only built (or placed) campuses and the government plaza. Since Norway built Stonehenge and a couple of holy sites I used their cities to try to found a religion. My plan going forward is to get a religion with Choral Music and Religious settlements and take out all the AI's on my landmass, then fill it with every city I can. I'm bee-lining to Janissaries without worrying about getting all the eurekas.

 

[PendinTempest]

- How long did you search for a site for your first city? What criteria did you use? Moved my warrior south but did not find anything useful. Considered moving the settler towards the Dye, but the plains hill next to a river I started on was too good to move from.
- Where did you settle your capital city? Your second city? Settled in place for first city. Second city to the east because I hoped there might be a civ to conquer in that direction but there wasn't. It is a productive and profitable city with lots of copper.
- Did you make a plan for achieving a Science VC, what are the major steps you planned to take? No major science until turn 75 when I plopped down a +4 campus. My strategy was to use Ottoman military might to secure the continent and then build campuses all over. By turn 100 I had only one campus.
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why? Animal Husbandry in hope of good horses (nope),then mining and bronze working in hope of nearby iron (nope), after that it was an unfocused study of ancient and classical techs I had boosted. By turn 100 I had beelined into Stirrups for knights.
- What was your build order? Scout, Monument, Settler, then military units mostly. I ended up build in several holy sights, some granaries and water mills just to keep things growing.
- Did you try for a Pantheon? Which one did you select and why? Intention from turn one was to use whatever money I have to buy the dye tiles and work them for the faith. With a goody hut for forty gold, by turn 9 I had both dye tiles worked. Went with God of the Forge on turn 19.
- How long did it take to find your neighbors? Were they hostile or friendly? Met Norway turn 17, Spain was next, soon followed by England. The Maori appeared and the city they founded flipped to me with some help from my army. I was the one who was hostile and the I am the one who knocks.
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize? Prioritized Holy Sites after it became apparent no one was going for religion.
- Did you try to build any Wonders? Only Temple of Artemis, captured Stonehenge and great bath.
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns? Captured Sarpsborg on turn 56, and soon after took out Norway. Phillip was next on my hit list. I had 9 cities by turn 100.
- How quickly did you get Trade Routes working, who did you trade with? Pathetically I lost two trade routes in a row to barbarians. Absolutely pathetic.
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities? Survey for the two scouts, God King for even faster pantheon, then Agoge for churning out military units.
- Which Governors did you choose and why did you choose them? Ibrahim for building units and the promoted him to Serasker for the +10 attack.
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side? First to meet Akkad, First to meet Granada, Palenque and Ngazargamu were already met, eventually the rest of the continent. By turn 100 I had Suzerain status with 2/3 of the military city states with a third on the way.
- How were the Barbarians? First barbarian scout from the East appeared turn 10 and turned into a nest of them by turn 25. After that barbarians were manageable, although they did take out both my scouts and my traders. I felt very sloppy to have this happen on King!
- Any surprises? Population goody hut turn 9! Goody hut scout at turn 12! Vesuvius discovered by a scout (with Survey just turned on) on turn 14! Philosophers Stone goody hut at turn 34 had me suddenly considering a religion! So many natural wonders on the continent!

 

[leif erikson]

Welcome to CivFanatics and Game of the Month.

Hope you enjoy your games and this great community.

 

[PendinTempest]

Welcome to CivFanatics and Game of the Month.

Hope you enjoy your games and this great community.

Thanks! I used to play in the "CivCast" reddit games of the month, and kind of missed them, so decided to try this out.

 

[FeiLing]

Scout, Scout, Scout, Settler, Settler, Warrior (2 barb camps made it hard to settle the 3rd city), Campus, Builder (bought), Campus Project x2, Builder, Trader (bought)
Animal Husbandry, Pottery, Writing, Mining, Bronze Working, Irrigation, Sailing, Shipbuilding
Craftsmanship, State Workforce, Foreign Trade, Early Empire, Political Philosophy
Pantheon T22: Divine Spark (Rel. Settlements, Earth Goddess and Initiation Rites were already gone).

1st meets: Akkad, Granada, Vilnius, Palenque
Goody Huts (8): Military Tradition boost, 40g, 20f, +1 pop(Sivas), +20 diplofavor, +Exp (scout reached lvl 3), 20f, Envoy

Ran Survey (3 Scouts) at the beginning and Urban Planning.
Barb camp stolen by CS.
Two First spottings of natural wonders. Remarkable; especially since Gobustan is only 3 tiles away from Norways capital.
Harald was having trouble with Barbarian Horsemen (T26)... which somewhat explains how they didn't see the NW yet.

T29: Settled Sivas on the Coast (and bought a Bananas tile before Akkad would grab it) [going Monument --> Granary --> Harbor --> Campus].
Bought +3 Campus 3rd ring tile in the capital and started it.
T36: meet Palenque (LUL)

T37: Harald built Stonehenge.
T38: Settled Halep on the Lake [going Monument --> Builder --> Campus].
Found Madrid which was nearly done with the Great Bath - unfortunately he got last turn'd by an unmet civ (I wouldn't have been unhappy to be able to capture it ).
T43: Pingala (Istanbul)
T51: Finally found a new continent (and Victoria).
T55: missed Hypatia even though I was running 2 campus projects :thinking: (this is only king and my start was pretty nice so far).
T59: Golden Age (31/25) - chose Exodus (to get a religion) and not Monumentality since I only have 3fpt from the Dyes tiles.
T78: concrete District and wonder planning has been happening:

Spoiler :

T119: Golden Age (67/66) - chose Free Inquiry (still only 7 fpt, so again no Monumentality). Bonus: All Medieval techs were left unfinished to now receive full eureka boosts.
T120: I feel well prepared for Serfdom^^

Spoiler :

So much for my early game. The initial plan to conquer Norway and Spain (because cities conquered by
the Ottomans are fantastic) unfortunately was scrapped because they both haven't really expanded much.

Instead I settled 10 cities of my own in total and will probably play a fully peaceful game, I guess.
I'm really happy with my city placement; got plenty of great harbors, commercial hubs and campuses.
The combined base yield of these districts is 28 science and 25 gold (so +25 science from the Golden Age).
And all that doubles up via policy cards . Only sad thing is I haven't built a single wonder yet...