Round 1: to 2440 BC
I decided to play through to a point where I have some important decisions to make, and just enough information to make them. Specifically, city locations--assuming, of course, that the AI doesn't beat me to them.
First off, I sent the Warrior SE and saw nothing of great interest (i.e. no other resources) from the hill. The Settler went SW to the corn tile, revealing the desert tile to be nothing more than that. I then sent the Settler east into the forest, and settled exactly 1 tile south of the starting position on the following turn, as several of you recommended:
In the end, it was Nares' point about the additional hammers that won me over. I'm Industrious and I wanna build wonders, dammit.
Nares will also be gratified to know that I followed his recommended build and tech order, at least at first. I started building a Worker while I researched Hunting and then Animal Husbandry. The timing was perfect: AH finished on the very turn the Worker was able to start work on the sheep tile.
My Warrior did some exploring and I quickly encountered my first neighbour:
Well, I always prefer being on the same continent with Huayna. So I can kill him before he becomes a problem. Sorry, but I
never get along with this guy. He's trouble. But as you'll see, I may have my hands quite full in that regard.
I haven't had a lot of luck with goody huts. I've only found one, and popped it for some early research funds:
It was, however, very gratifying to beat that Quechua to it. Loser.
And I soon encountered another Civ, this one to my southwest:
Great. Another Civ charm school graduate. Unless Toku and I somehow end up sharing the same religion, he'll follow his usual pattern: obstinate, cranky, and then dangerous.
I finished my Scout and after Animal Husbandry was done, went on the Mining -> Bronze Working tech path. The Warrior was wandering around in the southwest, so the Scout went southeast. That's where I met my third friendly neighbourhood psychopath:
So here I was prepared to be all diplomatic this game, and what do I get? Three of my worst enemies and favourite targets. Isabella has already founded a religion (Hinduism), and Huayna will probably follow suit. That means they'll have holy cities--in Izzy's case, also her capital--which are, of course, prime targets.
Of course, any early war ambitions depend very much on one thing...
...and, of course, the whereabouts of copper.
Well, guess what:
And that, if you check the map as revealed thus far, is the only souce of the stuff I've found:
So let's see... Paris has 148/500 culture before the next border pop, and is generating 4 culture per turn, so I could claim the copper in... 88 turns.
...
Yeah, right. With the neighbours I have, I'll be DEAD by then.
Here's the thing that we really need to discuss, though: cities. My wandering Warrior is heading back north to protect Workers and Settlers, my second one is nearly complete in Paris, and he'll be followed by my first Settler. I have some general city sites picked out.
First of all, to the southwest, near Japan:
That forested grassland tile 2 west of the gold seems like the best choice. It misses the fish but claims the gold and the pigs. It's not possible to get the fish and the gold in the same fat cross anyway, and since there's plenty of grassland, 2 fresh water sources, and another food resource, I'd rather have the gold for my early economy.
Next, due south:
I'm thinking of both the marble and the ivory, but I have to send my Scout over there (sorry, the Warrior is needed in the north) to lift the fog some more. I wouldn't be surprised to get beaten to this area, especially since I'd have to push very far south to avoid those useless desert tiles.
And to the southeast:
Yes, horse city. I'm thinking of the plains tile 1 east of the lake. It would snag not only the horses, but also the cow and the irrigated wheat tiles, plus it would have a fresh water bonus. If it wasn't for the cow and wheat, this area would suck for food, especially with 1 peak, 2 desert, and 3 lakes that won't produce a surplus. It misses the fish tile, but again, I can't have that and the horses.
Of course, if anyone has better suggestions for city sites, I'm all ears. That long strip of desert down the middle of the map--with no floodplains like we were all hoping--makes it difficult, though. In some ways this is almost as challenging a start as the Mao game's map.
And to top things off, the copper is in an unfortunate location. As I noted above, it's going to take too long for Paris' borders to encompass it. Even if I raise the capital's culture, that's still too long to wait compared to building a settler and marching him over there. So I may have no choice but to build a crappy little city on the east coast just to make copper available.
OR...
The problem with Crappy Coppertown is I really want to expand southwards lickety-split, given the dearth of good sites. I want to claim those sites I mentioned above, and their resources, before the AI gets there. Building Crappy Coppertown would divert me from that.
Now I think there's a very good chance that if I can claim all those sites, and those French borders expand in that lovely way that they do, then I'll probably have iron within my borders. So what I could do is focus on expansion and land-grabbing at first, then switch research from Pottery to Iron Working. If I have no Iron, fine, Crappy Coppertown it is. But if I do have it, which I think is likely, then I have a metal and a plan, and it ain't being Monsieur Nice Guy. (Please imagine my pronouncing "Nice" and "Guy" in the French manner, there.)
Okay, look, I know we talked about diplomacy, but I'm clearly not going to get along with everyone. War is unavoidable with this nut cluster around me. I can build maybe the three additional cities I've described, if I hurry and I'm lucky, before the AI civs hem me in and start getting cranky. So let's talk friends and enemies.
As in the Vicky game, I think it makes sense to try to get one of their religions to spread to my cities, then adopt it as my state religion. That should keep either Huayna or Isabella happy with me for a good long while. There aren't many good long rivers so far, so that means Fishing and Sailing will become important for early trade routes along the coast. Well, I was planning on pursuing Optics for contact with the other continent and its civs earlier in this game, so that fits.
Beyond that, it's tough to say just yet. Much will depend on whether Huayna founds a religion, and whether his or Isabella's (maybe both) spread to my cities, and to Tokugawa's. I may delay the SR long enough to see if I can get both Izzy's and Huayna's faiths, see which way Toku jumps, then commit.
On this map and with these neighbours, though, I think religion and war are going to play a much bigger role than we anticipated in the pre-game discussion.
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