Could use some advice on very first dotmap

[OneBinary]

Hi All,

Edit: You can ignore this, I realized I haven't even researched AH/BW/IW yet, so there's no point in planning cities without knowing where those resources are.

I'm hoping to get some advice on my very first dotmap attached below. I have met 4 other civs so far on this Standard Big_Small map, but I have only located a city for one of them (Mongolia). This leads me to believe that the other civs are to the south of me.

If these locations seem reasonable, which would you prioritize first? I was thinking maybe Red for the commerce/research. But Green seems like a fairly critical happiness location, and I'm sure Khan is going to be settling a city south of his capital on some of the resources in that area (although maybe a little further East). It will also give me access to marble/stone (can't remember which one that is right now) sooner for Wonders.

Cyan seems like a bit of a waste since there is no seafood. I need to explore further south on that coast.

Purple would be nice for commerce and happiness, but I have a feeling it won't happen because I think that the other civs are right in that fog.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[slaze]

You have no strategic resources on this map; have you even researched Animal Husbandry or Bronzeworking?-very relevant information.

However, city placement has everything to do with the food, and that remains the same with or without strategic resources. I'd also say that dot mapping starts with only one city, then another, and another and so on. To "dot map" the cities down from the start is only ever going to be a crude estimate and to be taken lightly if at all.

With that said, I'd say the most valueable site I see is the corn/ivory/wine site, either with the silk or on the tile with the second wine. Of course, the location of strategic resources certainly changes the "valueabilty" of things and if you haven't researched BW and there is bronze around, then that city would probably be even more valueable that the site described above. And then of course, committing to a "2nd city site" also commits you to play in a certain way (i.e., tech path, etc., etc.).

Sorry to go off on such a tangent, but to truly answer your question, one would need a little more information than the screen shot provides.

 

[OneBinary]

Well, you brought up an excellent point that I completely over looked. I have not researched AH/BW/IW yet, so as you hinted at, it doesn't make any sense to try to plan out cities without having the complete picture. I'll wait until I research those 3 important techs before re-evaluating this.

Thanks!