Situation Assessment: Well, CT would have generated us an Archipelago map with the other options set to random. So, I'll kick this off by pressing F8 and see what we actually got for a map. We have a rocky climate with high sea level. No mention of landmass type. Not sure if thats a bug or a feature. With no mention of that setting, it will be more interesting to figure it out on our own. But then why give the other settings? Oh well, we take what we got! My guess is tiny islands. Should be interesting.
From our earlier discussion, I am going to burn the two turns to settle at orange dot on the north shore.
Our starting techs are Agriculture and Mining. As ChrTh pointed out, fishing will be a priority. Sailing would be nice, too. I take a moment to review our variant rules so that I don't hose it up. We must click on Currency and research those 4 techs, first. I'm allowed two deviations for Hunting and/or Fishing, only. Next, we must click on Banking and research those 16 techs. We are allowed 3 deviations for Archery, Sailing, and any other single tech. I think I've got it.
Objectives: Pretty obvious, explore the island and found a capitol. A boat or two would be nice, we'll just have to wait and see.
Turn 0 (4000BC): Move the Warrior 1 tile N to get a better view of our starting location. As previously noted, we are on a small island. I move the Settler north, as well.
Turn 1 (3960BC): The Settler pops the goody hut for 53 gold. And you are not going to believe it -- there is more land to the north. Unfortunately, it is tundra and ice. The tundra can take a workshop, but the ice will be useless.
Evidently, my math was off. Beijing is founded at orange dot, losing only 1 turn. I set production to a barracks, for lack of anything better to build. I don't see that we need another Warrior; and the Worker and Settler are premature. I set research to Fishing followed by Currency. Fishing in 6 turns, Currency in 126 turns. I'll interrupt the barracks once Fishing is complete.
Turn 2 (3920BC): Send the Warrior northward to see what is up there.
Turn 3 (3880BC):
Turn 4 (3840BC): I think I've made a critical mistake placing Beijing at orange dot. There appears to be a much larger landmass to the north. And from the chunk of floating, impassable ice, it may extend all the way to the top of the map. If I'd have left our capitol at the original location, or founded it on the tundra tile, it would have served as a natural canal city. Fortunately, the situation can be rectified with a fishing village up here. There are a couple of fish resource tiles, too.
Turn 5 (3800BC):
Turn 6 (3760BC): Border expansion. There is a 1-tile island to the west. The northern landmass is looking much larger, albeit all ice. Sure wish I would have queued up another Warrior, to help with the exploring, rather than that barracks. Oh well, fishing due in 1 turn.
Turn 7 (3720BC): Fishing learned; Animal Husbandry due in 12 turns. I suspend the barracks for a Work Boat. Emphasizing shields, I can get the boat in 10 turns, but I decide to leave it with food for the growth in 5 turns.
Turn 8 (3680BC): There is another icey landmass that is 1 coastal tile away. I also see more fish.
Turn 9 (3640BC):
Turn 10 (3600BC): Buddhism is founded in a distant land.
Turn 11 (3560BC):
Turn 12 (3520BC): Beijing grows. I emphasize hammers and the boat is now due in 5 turns.
Turn 13 (3480BC): There appears to be another 1 tile island off to the west (NW, actually).
Turn 14 (3440BC):
Turn 15 (3400BC):
Turn 16 (3360BC):
Turn 17 (3320BC): We've trained a Work Boat. I queue up another, due in 8 turns.
Turn 18 (3280BC):
Turn 19 (3240BC): Animal Husbandry is learned. The tundra tile has horses; it won't be such a bad tile after all.
Meanwhile, our work boat discovers another island south of ours. It appears to be small, maybe one or two tiles. I decide to send him the long way around and check out this island. We're in no hurry for a clam bake are we?
Turn 20 (3200BC): Well, there are at least 4 tiles on that southern island, possibly even 5 or more. Its appears to be lifeless, though, with 2 worthless desert tiles.
The world as we know it:
And our capitol, Beijiing:
The NW islands:
The southern island:
And finally, Iceland:
We are currently researching Writing, which is due in 13 turns. Currency isn't due for another 104 turns; emphasizing commerce would lower that to 81 turns. Of course, that does not include gains from growth. That may not be a bad idea, since we cannot research Sailing until we complete Currency.
As for production, I would suggest a boat navy for the moment, with an odd settler or two thrown in for good measure. I really don't see a pressing need for a worker at the moment. The stone is useless until Masonry; although, the boost from a pasture would be nice.
I'll see about making an initial stab at a dot map later this evening.
I'll have the new start up in a couple hours (have to go to Yoga class first ... what? I like Yoga! 
)
If we settle in place, this is a one city island. If I burn 2 turns, we can make this a 2 tile island and use ALL of the available land.![[c3c]](/images/smilies/c3c.gif "Civ3 Conquests [c3c]")
it would be a no-brainer decision. However, I would probably choose not to overlap. Here's why: The cities on this island should have absolutely no food constrainsts, whatsoever. Assuming we can locate the health and happiness bonus', both cities should grow to max population quite easily. Blue dot will easily be a self-sustaining commerce powerhouse at full population! And, orange dot, as well. Delaying forest chops, blue dot should be able to construct any of the early buildings with the 5 shields from the CC and the forests. Then, when it is building the Wall Street (or some other high shield building), we can chop the forests and whip/buy the remainder.
Totally my fault. Sorry about that!
