Beginner with a few beginner questions.

[Atiajulii]

I'm pretty much new to Civ - never played I or II, and dabbled around with III barely getting anywhere. But III was really really addictive so here I am for another round. Picked it up on Steam (bet there's a lot like me that did that)

Playing on Settler, Egyptian Empire under Rameses just to figure out how the game works now. Yes, I am an utter noob. I like playing for the cultural win, and I suck at war, but we'll see. Maybe the Chariot will be enticing enough for me to smash a few civs before they get off the ground.

From what I've been reading, this time around chucking out settlers as fast as you can build them isn't a good idea in terms of overall maintenance costs. Okay, I can deal with that; that'll give me time to learn how to properly micromanage my workers in the early stages (I usually just automated them) with just one city. When I get to pop 3, I'll churn out a settler.

Okay. Question I:
Is it a good idea to move your opening settler a spot or two, or does that hose you in the overall race since that puts you back by one turn? The opening spot I had by a river was vastly improved by moving across it - opened up a shoreline and other interesting stuff.

Question II:
After I settled, I sent out my warrior to remove some fog of war and maybe pick up a few goody huts. Found two, both within four squares or so of my opening position. YAY!

They BOTH pop settlers! I'm not sure that's so YAY in this early game based on what I've read, unless I find some really awesome squares to chuck them in. Advice? I'm gonna slog through with this, I swear. Must. Not. Restart.

 

[Ramesses]

Okay. Question I:
Is it a good idea to move your opening settler a spot or two, or does that hose you in the overall race since that puts you back by one turn? The opening spot I had by a river was vastly improved by moving across it - opened up a shoreline and other interesting stuff.

If an ideal settle spot can be reached in one turn, then yes, do it.

Question II:
After I settled, I sent out my warrior to remove some fog of war and maybe pick up a few goody huts. Found two, both within four squares or so of my opening position. YAY!

They BOTH pop settlers! I'm not sure that's so YAY in this early game based on what I've read, unless I find some really awesome squares to chuck them in. Advice? I'm gonna slog through with this, I swear. Must. Not. Restart.

Since you're playing on the lowest difficulty setting, maintenance costs are reduced by a huge amount. For this same reason, Settlers are also a lot more common to pop. If you want to train yourself to be a good player on higher difficulties, then I'd suggest holding on to them until you've built at least one military unit for each future city so they have some protection. But if you just want to win on Settler difficulty, then go ahead and use them right away.

Welcome to the forums, Atiajulii!

 

[Atiajulii]

Went ahead and settled 'em after getting military backup for each city.

It is now 1120 AD. I went on a building spree about 960 AD and got quite a few wonders in in an effort to culture strafe my border with the Aztecs. They are now annoyed with me and won't trade. A quick check shows that Rome has their two-three cities hemmed in on their eastern side, so I've been fortifying my border with walls and defensive units as well as building catapaults and Knights for the quick kill before Rome gets territory-happy. About to move in, with a Great Artist and Prophet (as well as missionaries) held in my main city for when I roll over Azteca. Also currently building Musketmen in my cities now that I just got hold of Gunpowder.

I now have two vassal states - Mayans and Incans, who are waaaay over on the other side of the world. But soon I will have Galleons to sail over there and drop a Great Merchant. Yeah, I've got one of those too.

The next few rounds will be...interesting.

(wow. I missed this game)

I am currently musing over my dive for the religious win. Missed Buddhism and Hinduism, but got Judaism, Christianity and Islam in rather scary succession (I didn't think I'd make Judaism, seriously.)

 

[bestrfcplayer]

Okay. Question I:
Is it a good idea to move your opening settler a spot or two, or does that hose you in the overall race since that puts you back by one turn? The opening spot I had by a river was vastly improved by moving across it - opened up a shoreline and other interesting stuff.

Question II:
After I settled, I sent out my warrior to remove some fog of war and maybe pick up a few goody huts. Found two, both within four squares or so of my opening position. YAY!

I. I think that you should settle where your settler is at the start. If you move it, your behind, but by a bit. In Civ, you can pick tech's on your first turn, one turn before all other civs. You do this by clicking on the tech pictures on the top where the resurch bar is.

II. That's good, but I would get a civ that has at the start, the tech "Hunting". Scouts have better incounters with villages, and if you use a warror, you could get barbarian warrors that could kill you civ before yours gets off the ground.

BTW, weclome to the forms Atiajulii.

 

[Atiajulii]

Thank you both for your warm welcome.

It is now AD 1540. The Egyptian Empire - long may Ra extend his mighty hand over our empire and show us favor - has now made an example of the upstart Aztecs, who chose unwisely when we extended the hand of friendship to our eastern neighbor.

Never choose to pick a fight with someone that has been blessed with the discoveries of guns and trebuchets. The second if you're still trying to figure out how that thing called 'walls' work. We do, however, deign to praise their valiant spirit on the battlefield despite overwhelming odds (FARKING JAGUAR WARRIORS WTH).

We were rather put out when our northern neighbor Shaka decided to make a land grab right as We finished the job. We walked into the throne room of the capital city and found....HIM sitting in a place that was ours by right of combat. But we said nothing and stayed our hand, still dripping with the blood of our enemies.

(One turn later he realized just how stupid it was to take a capital city THAT far from his own territory and offered it to us. HEE.)

Others have seen our wisdom and power and chose to bend the knee - the far-off lands of the Inca, their Mayan brothers, and the Koreans became ours without so much as firing a shot. Perhaps now that this unfortunate war is over, We will take ship across the seas so they may pay us homage in person.

(GOD I LOVE THIS GAME.)

 

[Sisiutil]

Sounds like you're already primed and prepared to move up a difficulty level or too.

 

[davelisowski]

In Civ, you can pick tech's on your first turn, one turn before all other civs. You do this by clicking on the tech pictures on the top where the resurch bar is.

I don't think it matters for the first turn.

Try this:
1. Load a 4000-BC save. Settle a city and check the research times for each tech. Go one turn. Next time check the research times for the techs again. IIRC, they all go down by one.

2. Load the same 4000-BC save. Settle the city. Select a tech. Go one turn. I think it will be the same as when you 'started' researching in the first situation.

 

[Peteusmax]

Try the Advanced Start (if your version supports it - Was that a Beyond The Sword thing?)

That solves the problem of fog of war hiding a perfect starting spot two squares away from your settler, as well as getting rid of the most boring early turns.