Civ6 6otM 06 Opening actions

[Knowtalent]

Welcome to the 6otM 06 Opening Actions thread.
STOP - Please do not continue reading this thread until you have completed at least 80 to 100 turns in your game.
This thread is used to discuss the game once you've started playing through your first 100 turns. Apart from normal decency, the only posting restrictions are to please not post videos until the deadline is finished and to use the spoiler tags for screenshots. Here you can post questions related to the game and share your achievements/anger/frustration/victories while you play. Please remember that we are running a family friendly site, so express anger or frustration with this in mind.
Please use this thread to discuss your goals for the game and your opening moves through the first 100 turns. Anything after that should be posted in the After Actions thread once you have completed your game.
- Where did you settle your city?
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
- What was your build order?
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
- How did you place your districts?
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
- Were your neighbors peaceful?
- How were the Barbarians?
- Any surprises?
Please use spoiler tags for any surprise details you'd like kept hidden. Thanks.

 

[budweiser]

I suffered a crash on T97. Here is a shot from the T90 auto save.

Spoiler :

Note that the CS has a settler, captured from Egypt.

 

[RoFortaleza]

Where did you settle your city?
1 North, next to the quarry and below the deer

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
should be finishing terracota army soon and got shipbuilding to get land units and explore.
Oligarchy and mostly wonder building and wild card to make archers to clear egipt but is already on science because I want some boost to science.
Still no theaters but very soon they will come in mass and natural history for relic hunting.

- What was your build order?
Scout, Builder, Slinger, Settler, Slinger

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Lavra, around turn 20ish ? Went minig, then camps, then lavra as soon as it was ready.

- How did you place your districts?
Top north, together with encampent, and my second city, and a comercial is going down and the theater should be next to terracota army and who knows what other wonder. I do expect to have a natural park at the bottom near the marsh and hills where St Michel and B

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
I wanted to expand more but map wasn kind of tight... and hard to move around. 4 built 2 conquered.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
barbs, ranged units, cavlary, ancient era wonder, builders/settlers, oligarchy,

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?

Spoiler :

kabul, cartaghe, mohenjo daro, geneva, amsterdam, vilnus and just mohenjo daro is by my side but i'm going to get geneva and vilnus for sure.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
No... got dowed by cleo so I decided to leave her with 1 city only... get all her people to visit me! The rest has been kinda peacefull, except spain that of course doesn't like me to have different religion.

- How were the Barbarians?
Not very annoying, easy to deal with, a spawn appeared north but egypt cleared it and since then almost no issues, they do helped me to destroy egypt though.

- Any surprises?
Damn map haha, rainforest as been hindering any expansion plans and it seems ill have to get a scout to get as many goodie huts as possible cz i found many with my galley

Please use spoiler tags for any surprise details you'd like kept hidden. Thanks.

Spoiler T107 Map situation :

 

[Justus II]

Interesting to get a Cultural victory target again so soon. I played GOTM2, but wasn’t nearly as fast as some of the others, so I hoped to learn from that attempt (and the other descriptions) and do better here.

The Lavra seems to promote getting an early religion, for self-protection if nothing else, and the extra Great People points should really help get great works down the road. I planned to use an early archer upgrade to grab a city or two from a neighbor, but didn’t want this one to go all-out warfare.

Where did you settle your city?
Starting hex- on a river with plenty of production, and lots of forests for some early chops.

What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Science:
Animal/Mining/Astronomy(for Lavra)/Pottery(time to build another slinger and get the boost)/Archery. Then Irrigation/Writing/Currency/ Masonry/Wheel/Bronze/Horse/Apprent/Iron/Sail/Engine/Machine, now working on Printing.
Culture: Push to Political Philosophy (turn 55), then toward Feudalism(85), now working on Divine Right for Monarchy.

What was your build order?
Scout/Builder/Slinger/Builder/Slinger/Lavra/Slinger/Slinger/Warrior – (Force for Egypt)
then Settler/Trader/Warrior/Archer/builder/Shrine/Settler/Commercial Hub/Builder/WaterMill/Theater
Other cities generally got a granary (or walls) and then all participated in the builder rush around Feudalism. I did build Pyramids in RaKadet (seemed like a good location, and at the time I didn’t have space to build districts yet).

How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
I went with an early Lavra in St. Petersburg (turn 28) to get a religion and start accumulating GP pts. I also built a couple commercial districts. I kept waiting for a better site for a campus, and as of turn 100 I still don’t have one – RaKedet is building one now. (Awkward, I got a Great Scientist from using the +2 points card, but I can’t activate him without a campus!).

How did you place your Districts?
Most cities will get commercial and theater, and a few more lavra, I am planning an IZ from St. Pete in the center of my territory (which will cover 4 cities) and one in the NE at Yaroslav (covers RaKadet and future cities along east coast). I have also started an Entertainment disctict in the center at Smolensk.

Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
I wanted to get a core of 6-8 cities. I captured Ra-Kadet and a settler from Egypt, and built 3 settlers, for a total of 6 cities as of turn 100. Once I saw the layout of the starting continent, I wanted to push Egypt back, and then settle everything south of her and the city-states. I am planning two more along the east/southeast coast, and maybe one in the tundra to the far south to use Mother Russia’s ability.

How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Initial priority was the +5 vs Barbs, and GodKing to get a pantheon (+1 culture for pastures). Switched to the bonus toward ancient units when Egypt denounced me (turn28), and started building extra slingers/Archers. I chose Classical Republic for the GP point bonus, and am close to getting Monarchy, but will probably go for Merchant Republic for more flexibility on cards and more cash.

What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Just two so far, Mohento and Carthage. I sent my first envoys to Mohento, and got a free one at Carthage (I found it first). I didn’t realize Mohento’s Suzerain bonus right away (all cities get housing as if on a river), but I’m suzerain now w/5, and will prioritize keeping that bonus (plus the culture as I build more theaters).

Were your neighbors peaceful?
Sort of. Cleo denounced me on turn 28 (for being weak), I had been planning to expand her way anyway, so I upgraded my archers and headed north. Almost on cue, a settler came south (w/slinger escort) and the war was on. Cleo was in a bad fight with barbs, so I had to fight through a wave of those before I could take RaKadet, plus the settler and 2 builders, and then settled for peace. Scythia and Spain have been very quiet.

How were the Barbarians?
Frustrating – I cleared a camp in my area early. Just after I sent my forces north to Egypt, a scout to the south found St. Pete, and I had to build some more troops to hold off that wave, while I was fighting through another group interfering with my war with Egypt. Had another wave pop up to the southeast just as I made peace w/Egypt. While it was nice to get some promotions, I ended up posting some units to keep an eye on the empty spaces so they wouldn’t reappear for a while.

Any surprises?
After the last two GOTM (w/Diety AI) I was surprised Ra-Kadet didn’t have any districts. Then I realized I couldn’t build any districts on the flood plain tiles, and had to start chopping rainforest to clear some space. Also surprised we only had one AI (and only 2 CS) on the starting continent.

 

[Comandante]

Where did you settle your city?
In the north by the river.

What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
I investigated games and recreation fast to get the Colosseum and Iron Working to get swordmen.

What was your build order?
Scout, Slinger, Settler, Builder.

How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
I built the lavra first to get the prophet. I built the campus fast to get the great scientific.

How did you place your districts?
In the capital I built the lavra and the campus in such a way that they obtained bonuses later from the aqueduct and the theater square. The theater square, in turn, will receive bonus from the Hanging Gardens.
In my second city I built a commercial hub and started with the entertainment complex to get the Colosseum fast.

Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Yes, I did. I built 5 cities and, in the next turn, I will capture Swenett.

How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
In the military cards I prioritized discipline, agoge and maritime industries.
In the economic cards I prioritized urban planning, colonization, ilkum and corvée.
I chose classical republic and I prioritized wildcards like revelation and inspiration. In Diplomatic card charismatic leader.

What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?

Spoiler :

Mohenjo Daro, Kabul and Carthage. Mohenjo Daro and Carthage are by my side.

Were your neighbors peaceful?

Spoiler :

No. Cleopatra and Tomyris declared war against me.

How were the Barbarians?
They served to train some of my units.

Any surprises?
No.

Turn 100 Screenshot:

Spoiler :

 

[whacker]

- Where did you settle your city?
2 tiles NE, on top of the cotton.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Followed heurakas on my way to Industrialization/Cartography.

- What was your build order?
Scout, builder, settler, 6x slinger

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
I placed CD and campi as soon as they were available. Finished them after granary, builder. Also got 1 ED for the Colloseum and 3 IZ for GEP and overlapping factories. Starting to get TD everywhere now.

- How did you place your districts?
CD next to rivers, campi next to rainforest if possible. One campus next to the hill in the south.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Yes, i attacked Cleopatra around t45 with 5 archers and 1 warrior. Conquered 3 cities and captured 1 settler. Settled 8 additional cities for a total of 13 cities by turn 80, not gonna add more settlers/cities before t150 i guess.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Urban planning, colonization, ilkum / discipline, agoge

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?

Spoiler :

I met Mohenjo-Daro and Carthage very early. Later, when i had my 2 scouting galleys, i also met Amsterdam and Geneva. I am the suzerain of Mohenjo-Daro with 3 envois and i am working to become suzerain of Geneva.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
Yes, but i was not.

- How were the Barbarians?
Pretty annoying, since i expanded asap i had to cover a lot of borders. I managed to clear all camps/barbs/fog on my part of the island by t90, so i can finally live in peace.

- Any surprises?

Spoiler :

This is the first game i come to use suzerainty over Mohenjo-Daro, and it really helped me out with some cities.
Also almost being isolated like in the gotm2 was a surprise.

As i don`t know how to put screens into spoilers, i will attach my t100 screen below. If someone could help me out it would be appreciated.

 

[FireSale]

Where did you settle your city?
on site

What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
sci : bronze working, then apprenticeship. tried to finish minimum tech to place cheap lavra / theatre / campus
civic : feudalism, then omw to theocracy. planning to buy all campus/theatre buildings with faith.

What was your build order?
Scout, builder, settler, 6x slinger/warrior

How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
lavra everywhere, campus in capital. finished 3 lavra fast but left other districts unfinished for a while.

How did you place your districts?
didn't matter that much this game. counted tiles for incoming colloseum though.

Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
9 cities total, built 2 settlers, stole 4 (dow'd egypt 3 times already..) conquered 2.

How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
wasted some time early with +2 general card and encampment, but gave up midway after seeing isolated start.
luckily kazan had lots of forest -- enabled me to time +30% builder card, pyramid, seven 6-action builders on turn 93.

What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
I don't know how to use spoiler tags

Were your neighbors peaceful?
Yes. Egypt will be 1-city settler factory for rest of the game.

How were the Barbarians?
barbaric but quiet

Any surprises?
I got the second writer and first prophet without any fests/prayers.
I guess I can chase multiple rabbits in lower difficulty setting.

Turn 100 Screenshot:

 

[RaidandTrade]

Edit: Updated to turn 100.

Where did you settle your city?
Settled in place after sending my warrior south to see if there was anything more that direction.

What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Base techs then started meandering towards engineering (for catapults) with a bunch of part researched techs hoping to boost-complete.

After catapults I went for apprenticeship beeline.

Policy-wise I'm 3 turns from Feudalism and then planning a beeline to Exploration then Humanism. (Except I messed this up and ended up going Diplomatic Service first).

What was your build order?
Slinger, builder, settler, slingers/archers, builders/settlers. Was late getting my Holy Site up and missed a religion. Put an encampment south of St Pete's for inevitable barb spawn.

Who started the first war? Were you ready if it wasn't you?
Me. I forward settled Cleo to get cotton and she had builders roaming around. Captured five of them and a settler during the war. Sweet. Took two cities then peaced out as she had walls up and my catapult wasn't done.

Building other things and ended up buying catapult to march through the rainforest. Met Spain and Scythia before catapult was done which was a shame. Spain has a settler swimming to my shores. DOWed Cleo and immediately DOWed by Scythia and Spain. Not sure if Spain just wanted to get through my borders instead of swim around. (They end up marching through and settling Barcelona on the North coast - a city I later add to my empire).

How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Encampment
Holy Site (too late)
Campi
Commercial
Industrial in three places to overlap
Theatres

Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Captured: 2
Built: 7.

At turn 100 I have nearly covered my continent with the exception of the south eastern tundra, a coastal strip west of St Pete's and the northern coastal strip. (Spain settled Barcelona there a few turns later and I took it).

Haven't yet scouted north west of Mo so might find some more dirt to settle there?

How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Usual +5 barbs but God King instead of +1 prod. Missed religion so switched to prod then builders/settlers as needed.

What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Met Amsterdam, Vilnius and Carthage when I was DOWed. Only Mo prior to them. I'm Suzerain to Mo now.

Were your neighbors peaceful?
Neighbors? Which neighbors?

How were the Barbarians?
Annoying but containable. Did have a period when my quarries and campus were pillaged but encampment + walls brought that under control and fog busting cities pretty much drove them into the sea.

Any surprises?
Missing religion. Thought I'd have plenty of time and have Stone Circles pantheon. Should have gone Divine Spark...

 

[arenquinha]

- Where did you settle your city? Settled in place.
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why? So about 20 turns in I remembered wonders were a good way to build tourism, and forgot I needed to get culture so I could start the culture buildings. Hope I corrected in time.
- What was your build order? Scout, Slinger, Holy Site, Oracle
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize? Started as soon as I could. Religious districts first since they didnt count against the size.
- How did you place your districts? Religious to the East, Culture to the south.
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns? 5 built, including capitol.
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities? Went for classic republic early.
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side? Met Mohenjo and Carthage, Suzerain of Mohenjo
- Were your neighbors peaceful? No, I wanted to play peacefully but I am strongly considering taking out Egypt. After the first 20 or so turns they were already stacking troops outside my boarder. Preem ptively declared war and took a settler, theyve declared war on me another time after that.
- How were the Barbarians? Was able to chase them off the little part of the continent we have down here.
- Any surprises? None yet.

Turn 102 screenshot: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=837643875

 

[WillowBrook]

- Where did you settle your city?
Settled in place, didn't want to think too much.
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Didn't really beeline anything so far, but did take Poetry and Drama before political philosophy, unusual for me. I was hoping to meet three city states for the PP boost, but ended up hand-researching the whole thing.
- What was your build order?
barb scout showed up turn two or three, so several (3?) slingers, builder, settler, warrior (last two may have been switched).
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Fairly early Lavra in capital (which failed to get me a religion), but still can't figure out which to prioritize among CH, TS, and Lavra. At turn 100, I have 2 TS, 2 Lavra, 1 CH and at least one more of each almost complete.
- How did you place your districts?
Nothing creative.
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Settled second city fairly early, then geared up for war with Cleo. Captured three of her cities and then built a bunch more for 11 total by about turn 90. I plan to get districts up, then fill in spots around the world for easier international trade routes and seaside resorts.
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
nothing creative or unusual
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
The water-giving cultural civ (whose name I can't recall) I discovered first and have been Suz for a while - very convenient. I just switched out the envoy points card for the two-for-first-envoy card and placed three more envoys, one each in a cultural, a science, and a trade city state.
- Were your neighbors peaceful?
Cleo forward-settled me. I don't know how long she would have been peaceful if I haven't declared on her first (before I left the ancient era). The others haven't been an issue yet.
- How were the Barbarians?
Almost lost a city from a camp on the north edge of the starting island. Did lose 5 or 6 units, but it was after the war with Cleo so not much of a setback. And they killed her few remaining units.
- Any surprises?
Someone got a great writer quite early - I'm going to have to pay 240 pts for my first one. I was hoping for a religion but missed out, so I still have no international tourism. And an unmet civ has several times more domestic tourism than me. These emperor civs may prove more of a challenge for a culture victory than the immortal civs were in GOTM 2.

 

[Nefhilion]

Where did you settle your city?
I settled on the starting square - I don't know if this is a bad habit, but I never move the settler! It's a rule!

What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Animal Husbandry to Archery - see logic below on early archers and there was an improveable tile nearby. Afterwards I pushed for religion pretty hard thinking that it would be helpful to get the relics going and that I had a reasonable shot at one since it's Russia. Took a pretty hard line towards crossbows to make sure to stay ready for another DOW from Egypt.

What was your build order?
Went with the usual 2 slinger with the tech to Archers - it's a pretty safe start. Russia is pretty incredible with the increased territory, more improvable resources really encourages some solid worker spam.

How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Prioritized Lavra for the early Prophet points, ended up managing to get a religion! Went with Tithe and Productivity since I don't really have faith in relics tourism and just wanted to get strong facets to help the overall civ.

After the prophet, started prioritizing Commercial and Theater districts to start the flow of gold and culture.

How did you place your districts?
Adjacency bonuses when possible, but really just making sure to get down the Commercial / Theater districts early.
Haven't built any campuses or industrial centers yet, which is antithetical to my usual approach!

Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
I definitely wanted to expand eastward, since the territory to the south looks terrible and Egypt is immediately north. Those bastards plopped a city directly between my two opening salvos, but with some careful tile purchases I have basically cut 95% of the key tiles off. I don't really want to conquer them in a culture game, but I might have to take it out eventually. Seems like no one really likes me anyway (all the relationship modifiers are almost neutral, but people are pretty unfriendly). I suppose I should start making some gifts.

How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Extra builder actions is always nice, went for merchant republic, have scientist points as the widlcard. Thinking I may want to switch to writers but am concerned about falling behind in science (my normal victory type).

What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Mohenjo Daro, nice bonus actually for this map, but a little risky to rely on them. Haven't really met anyone else!

Were your neighbors peaceful?
Egypt was a nuisance as always criticizing my weak military. She DOWed me shortly after forward settling. Lots of chariots and troops, but never a real threat. Ended up giving me all her gold and GPT to declare peace.

How were the Barbarians?
Annoying. Pillaged a few districts before my archers could swat them away.

Any surprises?
Nothing yet!

 

[Timothy001]

Where did you settle your city?
On site
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Animal Husbandry
Mining
Pottery
Irrigation
Masonry
- What was your build order?
Scout, Slinger, Slinger, Builder, Settler, Warrior, Encampment
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Seventh build. Then 2 Holy Sites, Campus
- How did you place your districts?
Tried for good adjacency
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Built 5 (3 from captured Settlers), Captured all 3 Egyptian cities
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Tried for Great Prophet, but came up short
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Mohenjo Daro, nice find. After knocking out Egypt, became suzerain
- Were your neighbors peaceful?
Egypt forward settled me. I wiped her from the face of the planet. Destroyed Memphis, captured 3 others.
- How were the Barbarians?
Early pain, but not bad
- Any surprises?
Egypt forward settles.
Got lots of goody huts.

 

[alh_p]

This is my first GoTM in CIV6 and the first time i have played Russia or gone for a faith based culture win. I really appreciate this series and the work that goes into preparing and hosting them It helped me lot with CIV5.

- Where did you settle your city?
1 west, above the sheep and cattle.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Animal husbandry, mining, mysticism, archery (eureka)

- What was your build order?
slinger, slinger, builder, slinger, slinger

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Lavra started once forces went off to take Egypt's capital.

- How did you place your districts?
Lavra went next on the tundra next to the mountain (1 East of the salt). Theatre and commercial centres came next, but probably after turn 100. Managed to build the oracle in St Petersburg.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Yes but I was constrained by the map and a non ICS strategy. By turn 100 i had near enough 7 cities (some settlers still possibly en route), 1 of which I'd taken from Egypt. 1 City is NE of the nearest city state, among the jungle and bananas.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Initial priorities were mil production, then switched to production (builders/settlers bonii and faith).

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Only moheno daro and carthage. Lack of sea tech restricted my scouting.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
Broadly, I warred Egypt and took Ra Khedet, though settled after it as there was a simultaneous barb eruption which threatened my forces more than Egypt's - although they now had chariots against my archers and warriors.

- How were the Barbarians?
Containable in my lands but not mastered before T100. Main irritation was their interference in my fight with Cleo. I couldn't continue the fight after capturing Ra Khedet due to a rash of horsemen and archers in no mans land.

- Any surprises?
Restricted living space, pace of other civs advancement in religion, culture and tech vs my own.

 

[Khalid]

- Where did you settle your city?
Settled on site.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
AH for the early builder, Astrology, Mining, Archery

- What was your build order?

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Quick Lavra. Got the third prophet, but just to be safe I used the wildcard and a Lavra project. Then 2 Commercial, Capmus in Ra Kedet in the middle of the jungle, some IZs and some extra Lavras.

- How did you place your districts?
Industrial zones in the middle of the stone.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Cleo settled E from St Petersburgh at the sea just when I settled the cotton space. DoWed Cleo, took this city, RaKedet and another settler. Settled the whole SE part.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
+5 barbs, +1 production, Republic government.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side? Both.

- How were the Barbarians?
Barbs keep coming from the south.

- Any surprises?
After fighting for the last Egyptian city over the jungle an uprising at Ra Kedet happened with 3 swords and 1 crossbow appearing. Cost me some units.

 

[CaptainFranz]

- Where did you settle your city?
In place.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Techs: AH -> Archery for early conquest, Mining, Astrology, then no precise plan. With cultural victory I feel less constrained than in domination. Got techs for CH, harbord and IZ, but you have to make choices on what to build first anyway.
Civics: Loose focus on getting political philosophy soon, then no precise focus. Got drama and poetry fairly early.

- What was your build order?
Slinger x4, builder, scout.
I wanted to go for early conquest.

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Started Lavra at 40 in the capital. Lavra is cheap and tempting. So far I have a few Lavras, a couple theatre districts, a couple CH and one harbor. I am also building my first campus.

- How did you place your districts?
Adjacency has been kind of meh for me in this game so far. CH next to river. No major adjacency bonuses from other ones.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Went for Egypt ASAP. Took 2 settlers and 2 cities from them and eliminated them from the game by turn 53. Founded 6 cities other than the capital. Total so far is 9 cities. I will probably find a couple more, but terrain isn't that great on the continent. Loads of jungle to clear.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
No particular priorities, took bonus vs. barbs, then mostly situational. I like the double-first-envoy card that I make sure to use for each new CS I meet, then switch to +influence points.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Met quite a few but only 2 on starting continent. I am suzerain of Mohenio-Daro with only 3 envoys. Bonus turns out to be quite useful early for faster city growth. I don't have a definite plan here either.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
Egypt declared on me at 18, which was pretty obvious since a few turns earlier. I was definitely ready, lots of lessons learned from the previous Deity GOTM. Destroyed their army, then refused multiple peace proposals and took them out of the game by turn 53.

- How were the Barbarians?
A nuisance as usual, but nothing too bad, especially if compared to the deity games. I still don't like that the "alert" mode doesn't seem to work reliably, at least not for barbs scouts. Sometimes I miss the barb notification, ugh! I lost a trader, a builder and a settler to the barbs. Totally my bad on each of them. Retook the builder and settler later.

- Any surprises?
Interesting map. Continent appears to have a desert band and a large jungle band. Also, lots of shallow water. I don't recall if the islands map from GOTM2 was somewhat like this.

Spoiler Situation at 100 :

 

[Rain]

Where did you settle your city?
I settled on the starting square - generally I don't move unless its a slower speed

What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Animal Husbandry, Mining, Pottery, Archery, Irrigation ~ to develop base sites and get archers > xbows > cannon
Policies I use are the +1 faith til I pantheon then its builder bonus and also the 50% unit build bonus.

What was your build order?
worker warrior x 3 and then archer spam

How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
First District around turn 60 approx. Encampments Commerce and Industrial also built a couple of Lavra just to see what they were.

How did you place your districts?
Generally place districts to optimize bonuses, but also with some view to future locations being kept clear for future development.

Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
I expanded via Egypt. Captured 3 of Cleos cities and 2 settlers by turn 75 approx. I added one more for 7 by turn 82.

How did you play your governance cards, priorities?What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Carthage is a favorite of mine. With Carthage encampments and Commerce you can a lot of traders. I captured mohjendaro. Generally capture any city states that I have to fight for or that benefit the AI too much. I favor industrials too but there were none close.

Were your neighbors peaceful?
Egypt said I was weak and then I took her cities.

How were the Barbarians?
Relatively normal. One horse camp proved a bit annoying early on.

Surprises?
Its lonely now that Cleo is gone

 

[aba aba aba]

- Where did you settle your city?
The exact starting position
- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
animal husbandry to archery for early rush
- What was your build order?
slinger - builder - slinger - slinger
- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
turn 20 or 30 somewhere ard there... I build Larva for religion.
- How did you place your districts?
beside my cap to get a +1 bonus...=.=
- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
If taking AI city is considered as expansion... I am quite expansive...otherwise I am not... I bulit 3 cities including cap, took 3 cities from egypt, razed 1...
- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
ehh classic republic... I focused on hammer...so +1 hammer,30%worker etc
- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
just the Mohenjo-Daro and Carthage, both are with me.
- Were your neighbors peaceful?
yeap...until i dow them
- How were the Barbarians?
Annoying...keep appearing at random spot taking down my trade routes....
- Any surprises?
Nope...

 

[fortydayweekend]

- Where did you settle your city?
2 tiles up-river on the cotton for an extra 3 gold/turn and lets me place a city on the river mouth near lots of tundra.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Archery then Bronze Working (not sure why - probably just a habit from playing as Rome). Then Currency, then filled a lot of techs up to 1 turn remaining, then Apprenticeship.
The usual civics route - Craftsmanship, Early Empire, Pol Phil then Feudalism - with a detour to Drama because I popped the inspiration in a hut so it was only 4 turns and I had a few cities at 4 pop ready to place a nice cheap TD.

- What was your build order?
Slinger, slinger, builder (changed to warrior), finished the builder, slinger, archer, settler.

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
Turn 100 about to finish first CD! Lots of CD and TD placed, plus 3 IZ and 2 Campuses. CD/3IZ/2C will be priority then TD everywhere.

- How did you place your districts?
CD on rivers where possible, TD just on plains/grassland or desert.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Yep.. took Ra-Kedet about turn 40 and Memphis turn 60. 11 cities total by turn 100 with another 5 settlers almost built. Should have 19 cities on the starting landmass by turn 120 and will try to build a few more on good overseas coastal spots later on.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?
Production bonus for units, then settlers, then a wave of builders, then settlers, then builders leading up to Feudalism on turn 100.
Went Classical Republic initially then switched to Oligarchy when barbs north of the Egyptian cities brought horses to the fight and took out a couple of units.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Mo-Daro early, will keep them aroundn providing fresh water to my many coastal cities and culture to all my TDs. Carthage a bit later, haven't decided yet whether to attack them with crossbows. For a SV I definitely would but it might be better to keep Scythia and Spain happy and not be a warmongerer. They won't be much use to me but could be an envoy sink for the AI.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?
Sort of... Egypt denounced me and moved an army to St Petersburg on about turn 20 - but didn't declare. I took the opportunity to do so after upgrading to archers, wiped her out in the field and took Men-nefer easily. Scythia and Spain are overseas and neutral, I've been selling them luxuries to help keep them that way.

- How were the Barbarians?
No problem around Russian territory (no horses!) Bit of a pain around Egyptian territory especially in the north (horses).

- Any surprises?
Semi-isolated start is something I'm not used to. Nobody seems to be going for great scientists which makes me think there'll be a lot of competition for the cultural ones. Maybe will have to watch out for religious victory too.

Spoiler Turn 100 :

 

[Eliminator_Sr]

Fun game so far. I have yet to try a cultural victory or even research it, but I kind of prefer to go into it blind and learn through the GOTM. Like a lot of other posters I also tried to take out Egypt early with archer spam but I ran into some bad luck when a barbarian horseman camp spawned in Egypt yet they ended up chasing down and killing a number of my archers instead of pursuing Egyptian units. I had them almost dead early on but they pillaged Egyptian farms for health and then attacked again - clever bastards! At that point I left Egypt alone and focused on expansion.

Where did you settle your city?
In place as usual

What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
I went for all the basic techs first and researched archery till 1 turn until completion but switched off to build a few more slingers. I went early mysticism and astrology for the religion then beelined for the government upgrade and selected Autocracy. Key policies were the +2 great prophet points card, and boosted settler and worker production. I had unit maintenance reduction and +50% production for early melee/ranged in my military slots. Now I am aiming for reformed church and Engineering.

What was your build order?
Scout, Slinger, Worker, Slinger, Settler, Slinger, Lavra, Worker, and a few more slingers. I built the Oracle shortly after.

How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?
I have built 0 campus districts haha. Just lavras and encampments so far but I will get an early industrial district in and then shift to theatre and entertainment. I'm trying to place the districts close together to boost culture adjacency for future theatre districts.

Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?
Big time after my attack on the Egyptian capital stalled out. I have nine cities all of them built by me.

What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?
Only three so far but Carthage!!! They are my favorite and I think the trade strategy will work great with the Russian boost (hence the 0 campus districts). I'm currently Suzerain of the cultural CS too but not going to focus too much on them.

Were your neighbors peaceful?
So far they have been. I declared on Egypt early and managed to steal a settler from them. I didn't take any cities from them but I cut their expansion off pretty well.

How were the Barbarians?
Determined to spoil my offensive so kind of a thorn in my side. I did get a barbarian settler though and lots of gold from barbarian camps.

Any surprises?
I popped an early relic! That should give me a nice tourism boost since I picked reliquaries as one of my beliefs.

 

[Hardcorey]

So far, so good, I think. I've focused on grabbing up as much land as early as possible and building a strong foundation.

- Where did you settle your city?
In place.

- What did you research and which policies did you choose and why?
Took animal husbandry, because there were pastures nearby to boost early production. Didn't really focus down any policies too heavily, though I made good use of Feudalism.

- What was your build order?

Slinger, worker, settler, worker... I think.

- How soon did you build a District? Which ones did you prioritize?

I built a Lavra much earlier than I would normally start building districts, but not so fast that it stunted my growth. Wanted to start getting those great people points rolling. 2nd district I built was a Lavra too. Then I think Commercial, Campus, Theatre. Now I'm at Industrial.

- How did you place your districts?

As strategically as I could, which isn't saying much.

- Did you emphasize expansion? How many cities have you built/captured in the first 100 turns?

Yes. I built 4, captured 2 (soon to be 3) and stole 2 settlers. Got really lucky that I caught Egypt trying to forward settle me... twice.

- How did you play your governance cards, priorities?

Built builders faster when appropriate, built settlers faster when appropriate, used the card that gives +1 culture per district.

- What City-States did you meet and which ones did you cultivate to your side?

Met Mohenjo Daro, Carthage and one other military one. Only became suzerain of Mohenjo Daro and am not really using the alliance much.

- Were your neighbors peaceful?

Egypt declared war twice... and paid dearly.

- How were the Barbarians?

Mostly good. Nipped them in the bud whenever possible.

- Any surprises?
Can't believe I got to steal 2 Egyptian Settlers.

Spoiler :

[/spolier]