An opening strategy I had not heard of...

[stwils]

I dug out two old Civ1 strategy books. One by Keith Ferrell and the other by Jason Rich.

Both suggested building two militia at the beginning, and FORTIFYING them immediately in your city.

Then they suggesting building the NEXT two units for going out and exploring.

Sorry. I can't wait that long to see what is near me or to explore the map.

Have you ever in the beginning of the game had anyone attack your city? Why fortify so early?

I do my exploring with my first two militia, then fortify a third one, then build a settler.

What do you do?

stwils

 

[Gundus]

I don't know if you play Earth or random map,
but if you don't know where the AI is, it's risky
to leave your home city I think.

What if you go in the wrong direction and the
enemy comes by and takes your city? Or do you
just reload and start over? How many opponents
do you play against?

I usually play strictly "only one try allowed, no
reloads" and I usually start on the safe side like this:

If I have bronze working, I build a phalanx, research
horseback riding and send out a couple of cavalry units
in different directions, not opening huts that are very
close to the capital.

If I don't have bronze working, I research it while building
a militia, then sends the militia for exploring when the
phalanx is ready, and then go for the cavalry.

Slow but safe.

 

[stwils]

I play a small map. And I am usually on an island. I feel a great need to explore soon... And get quickly to alphabet/map making.

But I need to get Bronze Working so I can get better militia.

I have never had anyone attack my city in the beginning.

What to do?

stwils

 

[ew0054]

I always try to have at least one malitia defending a city when I start. Then I send out explorer units, but I alternate my efforts and keep tabs on the city. It doesn't matter how many units you have in the field - you lose the city and you lose the game.

 

[Alex Johnson]

I used to build phalanx for defence and I don't remember what I explored with, but I don't think it was a militia. Back in the old days I never used a militia for anything, ever. Since I rediscovered Civ I've been using militia for both defence and exploration. I usually send the first milita out to explore and the second stays home and defends, or if I have determined I'm relatively safe, he goes out to explore in the opposite direction. I've had my first city taken by near-by Civs, but very rarely. Maybe one in two dozen games ended that way and since the early game goes so fast I don't care that I have to start over.

 

[Ifrit9]

One militia is definetly enough.

 

[Alex Johnson]

I was thinking back and I'm pretty sure I never used a militia in the past. I'd build a phalanx first to defend home and then build a phalanx to explore. Why not a militia? I think I believed that the explorer is more likely to be attacked while exploring than to attack, so the extra defence was desirable. Now I just use militia to explore first and defend second. The idea is that militia come out faster and the earlier you explore the better.

 

[Ali Ardavan]

The edition of Civ1 I bought came with a strategy book. I read it early on when I was still learning to play the game. As I learned the game, I realized that the author was not such a good player after all and was not really qualified to write a strategy book.

My first unit is always a militia even if I have Bronze Working. And it goes out exploring. The second unit is either another militia for exploration (if I have not gotten any units from a hut and the land mass I am on is big) or a settler.