Ancient Era Theory Crafting

[The Highwayman]

The starting build orders are obviously map/civ dependent, but I enjoy theory crafting. After an initial Scout, I think the next few builds will include (in no particular order):

Slinger - Kill Barb scouts/accompany warrior in wiping out nearest village. Eureka bonus for archery.
2nd Scout - Go in the opposite direction of first scout and don't look back.
Another Military Unit - Unit type will be as needed. Regardless, I'm taking the fight to them.
Builder - Improve my tiles for obvious reasons.
Settler - Let's see how aggressive the expansion can get.
Another Military Unit - As needed.
Monument - Adds culture and expands borders if I understand it correctly. Sounds useful in the early game.

I'm going to experiment with an early settler. Watching some of the pre release vids, I'm not seeing too many reasons not to expand very early. Cities grow very quickly at low population so it seems to be a low opportunity cost and getting a second city online quickly could be a big boost. Potential Barb aggression and a lack of amenities for the second city could blow this up but we'll see.

 

[ExemplarVoss]

Lack of amenities doesn't seem like a big deal. If it comes after a builder, you should be able to hook up something around your capital.

My biggest fear is not having fresh water for a second or third city. Everything skips a gear at that point.

 

[The Highwayman]

Lack of amenities doesn't seem like a big deal. If it comes after a builder, you should be able to hook up something around your capital.

My biggest fear is not having fresh water for a second or third city. Everything skips a gear at that point.

Yeah amenities haven't been too hindering at the beginning from what I've seen. And the fresh water settle seems like a big deal, having to build a granary right away seems like a set back for your first few cities.

 

[Cyberian]

With most Civs and on most maps I will probably do

Scout, Scout, Slinger, Slinger, Slinger + Buy Builder
then second Builder or start Settlers depending on Chopping opportunities

 

[Frank327]

From what I've seen so far I'd probably go scout-slinger-builder-settler on anything that's not pangea. Probably purchase a scout or slinger somewhere in there. I think something that's underestimated a bit right now is how important early builder/settler will be, not just because of fast expansion but also because of eureka's. The first builder will probably trigger more than one early eureka/inspiration and you pretty much need the second city for early empire inspiration.

Another thing is that improving three resources and then building a settler on 3/4 pop is very efficient. It used to be that settlers wouldn't take away population and instead would hinder growth which makes them better to produce in big cities. Now that they take away population, it's more efficient to let them take away an earlier population that's easier to grow back.

The interesting thing about many inspirations is that you need to build something of a kind and then it gives you access to more of that. For example, three improvements for cheaper builders and 6 pop for cheaper settlers. It's probably going to make it most efficient to build an early second city, wait a bit, then spam cheaper settlers. Same with early builders, wait a bit, then build some more.

 

[Dynamic]

How much food we get from harvesting food resources? And what's the formula for city growth? May be it's a good boost for early cities.

P.S. Especially if resource is placed on the future district tile....

 

[Erneiz Hyde]

How do you deal with an angry Deity Gilgamesh spawning next to you?

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

How much food we get from harvesting food resources? And what's the formula for city growth? May be it's a good boost for early cities.

It increase over time so haveresting is better the later you do it.

How do you deal with an angry Deity Gilgamesh spawning next to you?

Have a resonable army

 

[Erneiz Hyde]

How much is reasonable and how do you build them? How much infrastructure should we sacrifice in order to deal with that? Scout - Slinger - Army spam? Maybe get a settler after that slinger?

 

[CPWimmer]

OK, People have had the game for the whole weekend now.

How are these early theories holding up?

 

[Martinus]

I usually build a Slinger after the first Scout, as if left unchecked, barbarians can quickly get out of hand, especially if you manage to start in the middle of a larger continent and get two Scouts visiting you from two directions.

 

[Acken]

How much is reasonable and how do you build them? How much infrastructure should we sacrifice in order to deal with that? Scout - Slinger - Army spam? Maybe get a settler after that slinger?

I had a situation with an angry Rome just next to me in a deity game. I just went scout builder warrior slinger x 4 and beelined archery.

 

[Luven]

My Priorites:

1) Getting Colonialization (50% Settler build speed). This will most likely be achieved fastest by going Scout-Scout-Worker-Settler, getting the 6-population needed to boost Colonialization with two cities.

2) Now Archery seems a like a good plan. Because of how movement works, Archers cannot be attacked from two tiles away if they are on Hills/Forest. This is basically a ranged unit buff, and we need something to protect our settlers.

3) Now Spam Workers/Settlers/Archers for quite some time. Don't let cities build their own builders, have one ready to start improving asap or buy one. And I think in this phase exceptions start. Exceptions meaning at some points in some cities prioritizing other things depending on game situation and terrain.
- if warmonger civ and close neighbor, more military and conquer them
- if 2 or 3 mountain location, campus - library
- if religious civ and natural wonder, holy site - shrine
- if money needed, foreign trade route
- something you can do to get eureka's...

4) After you run out of space, it is probably time to work towards your desired Victory condition. And you Victory condition is hopefully reached fastest by abusing your civ specific bonuses and units.

Capital BO:
Scout - Scout - Worker - Settler - Worker - Slinger - Worker - Settler - Worker - Settler - Settler - Settler

Other Cities:
Slinger/Archer - Slinger/Archer/Worker/Settler - City-SpecificThing

5) From here the possibilities are endless and the optimum is probably bonus specific. As Rome, you could go for a "Bath" and granary strategy, prioritizing Growth. By building Granaries and Bath-District first in all cities and growth max them out asap to size 6-8.
With this, all your gold will probably be spent on buying tiles, so use that policy.