Build order

[WoundedKnight]

1. What order do you go after wonders? (i.e. which wonders are your priority, and which are less important). And why?

2. What is your typical city build order in an average game? What do you build first? Barracks? Temples? What buildings do you build frequently, and what buildings do you never build at all, and why?

Thanx.

WoundedKnight

 

[ainwood]

It all depends.

On higher levels, people get unhappy faster (eg on deity the second citizen is unhappy, on emporer its the third I think), so you need to take account of that.

I will generally try and build a granary in my first city, with the hope of churning out lots of settlers with warrior or spearman escorts as quickly as possible, and maybe do this in the second city as well. If I find I am near to other civs, I might build a barracks in an early city, with a view of going to war early.

 

[Bamspeedy]

1. On huge pangea maps, the Pyramids is awesome. If going for culture, then I would shoot for the Oracle, instead. Collossus really boosts commmerce and is more powerful on the smaller maps. After that, Great Library. Depending on difficulty level, the Great Library can be more powerful than all the 3 wonders I mentioned above, combined! The Great Lighthouse only if I end up all alone on an island and really want to find the AI. The next 3 to choose from is usually Sun-Tzu's/Hanging Gardens/Great Wall. I go for them in that order. Great Wall is next to worthless. Then I shoot for JS Bach's. I usually don't build any cathedrals in my games, so Sistine Chapel isn't important for me, but if you do build cathedrals, then you definitely want the Sistine! Then I'll go for Leo's Workshop for cheap upgrades. Then I shoot for Adam Smith's. Don't even bother with Shakesphere's unless I'm going for a culture win. The one-city science wonders are awesome if you get them all in the same city, and that city has the colloses! I like to get Magellan's voyage, because that's faster ships for the rest of the game!

Since I like to use a Monarchy I then don't really need universal suffrage, other than to simply deny the AI from getting it. Theory of Evolution which will get me the techs to Hoover's. Build Hoover's. After that, other than the UN there really isn't any wonders that need to be built. Longevity and Cure for Cancer will only be built if I'm milking a game.

2. After I have at least a defender or two in a city, the first thing is a temple. I usually build temples in every city. I never build walls. If I know I will get the pyramids, I don't build graneries. If I can't get the Pyramids, then graneries in only a few cities. Barracks in a few cities for an early war, otherwise wait for Sun Tzu's. After that, it depends on the situation. If I have multiple luxuries, then marketplaces will be built faster, since they will be more powerful. I like to build courthouses first, since they will cut corruption/waste and make everything else be built faster. I try to get aqueducts built just before the city will have enough food before getting past size 6.

 

[Mikal]

In wonders I try and grab Great Library to keep up the tech and combine leonardo's workshop with Sun Tzu's Art of War.
Build list wise it tends to follow the lines of defender - worker - settler - temple, and then wash rinse repeat replacing temple with whatever is needed.

 

[chiefpaco]

I usually play Emporer. I usually build a granary as soon as I can and then settlers, settlers, and more settlers. Sprinkle some warriors, workers, and maybe spearmen until all my lands are full of my cities. If I don't the other civs creep in too far. Save the buildings till later.

 

[Arathorn]

First city -- warrior, warrior, warrior, settler (unless expansionistic, then replace warrior with scout) -- barring bonus resources making things easier. Then usually granary.

Later cities -- warrior, worker/temple.

At this point, I basically never build libraries, universities, research labs, colusseums, coastal fortresses, and rarely build walls.

Depending on my civ's traits and city locations, it's usually defender, temple, settler, ... There's not really a set pattern -- see what the city's good at and take advantage of it.

Does it have lots of shields but limited food? I use those as my main military producers.
Lots of food? Granary and then settlers/workers (or other order)
Near luxuries? Temple/worker early to get as many luxuries as possible hooked up.
On the sea? Temple (if can get a bonus this way), harbor, or worker.
Semi-corrupt? Courthouse gets high priority (almost as good as a factory, in its own way). One of these usually gets an FP ordered.
Hopelessly corrupt? Workers/temple.
Need the enemy? Barracks/temple, depending on borders.

(Many temples can be replaced with library if scientific, but I am tending to steer clear of scientific civs at the higher levels).

Later builds depend on some of the same things. I try to get my "first-ring" cities (those ~6 nearest the capital) with a marketplace ASAP. Most get temples and granaries, too.

Wonders? Too many shields for too little benefit, usually. On regeant/lower, I might, depending on the map.

Arathorn

 

[Sullla]

My build order is very much dependent on the map I'm playing. However, a few general trends have been developing in my games of late. I've been having good success with

warrior - warrior - granary - settler

(as Arathorn said, replace warrior with scout for expansionistic civs). The warriors are exclusively for scouting, not military police duty. I deal with unhappiness by raising the luxury tax. The granary helps a lot with getting settlers out, especially in low-food starting spots. After seeing players who built granaries out-settle me in GOTM7 (in which I got a bonus settler on the 2nd turn of the game) I began to realize the power of the early granary. After this, I like to keep the capitol on settler duty for the next 50-100 turns, normally switching between size 2 and 4 or 3 and 5 on the settlers. I normally build a warrior first in new cities for military police, followed by a temple (or library for scientifc). My second city normally builds a barracks after this and provides vet spearmen for the rest of the cities. All of this can change depending on the map though; if there are lots of barbarians I will produce more warriors, for example. There is no one "correct" build list, though some do work much better than others.

Wonders? On Emperor you can get one early one if you shoot for it, but I normally don't bother. I would much rather be streaming settlers out of my capitol than building a wonder in the crucial early game. On Deity, you can pretty much kiss any pre-industrial wonders goodbye. Maybe you could build one, but your civ will be too crippled in the early game to survive if you devote that much production to an ancient wonder. On Regent and lower though, I really like the Pyramids. IMO the only wonders really worth the effort are the Pyramids, Sun Tzu's, and Adam Smith since they provide a benefit in EVERY city. Wall Street's not a great wonder, but I consider it just as good. On the higher levels though, you have to learn how to play without any wonders (which is not really that hard at all to do).

I will end my rambling here.