first noble game (input wanted)

[stratos_v2]

I've been a long time civ player, but never really botherd with getting past the first few difficulty level's before. Mostly because i'm a builder and not much of a warmongerer, and i was content by just overpowering the other civs. However this forum and a few MP games i've played again a friend convinced me to become beter at the game and start doing the higher difficulty levels.

So i read the thread about how to become a warmongerer if your a builder, and started a 'warlord' difficulty game with catherine. At first i was suprised that the AI actually kept up a bit. But i was soon out teching and out producing it, and got a domination victory.

So now i wanted to try noble level, but also polish my game. Because i'm still uncertain about my build/tech order and such. So i would like to ask you to give some input about my first couple turns.

I'm played a standard game on pangea with catherine. And have no real goal yet.

it's now 875BC and my game looks like this;

Moscow and St. Petersburg will mostly become production cities.
Rostov will become a commerce city.
I'm not sure what Novgorod will become, probably a disaster but i wanted the stone.

I haven't had much problems with barbs yet, but i don't think that will last.
Since there are two barb cities near by.
My normal strat of dealing with barbs is either get copper and whack em, or iron and whack em.

my tech tree currently looks like this;

I first got BW (i always to that to be able to chop rush)
then (since i wanted to found a religion) i beelined monotheism (the AI's had taken the other two), then to be able to spread it i got meditation.
Because i was afraid AI's would be quite capable of keeping up i then first got Pristhood to be able to build the oracle. (I chose metalcasting as free tech, since there was no beter alternative and it was the most expensive)
Then i went for Agriculture and then pottery to let my cities grow and to get some money coming in. (since as you can see i'm flat broke and getting worse)

I've met most AI's already and a few are annoyed because i've got a diffrent religion then them. However Cyrus is next to me, and i can mostly get along with him. So i think i'm going to use him as buffer.
My first course of action will be to get some priests to spread my religion both in my own cities and with Cyrus to get him to convert.
Meanwhile i will also be producing some sort of attack unit to deal with the barbs. although i have no copper, so perhaps i should research archery??

 

[Cam_H]

Stratos,

Welcome to CivFanatics!

All up, it looks like a good start to me.

Iron working would be my preference over Archery at this point as you'll want to clear some Jungle around Rostov and the Jungle north of St. Petersburg, but access to Iron will allow for an Axe rush. There may be a case that Rostov should have been settled one tile to the east where you could have got some extra Hills and Grassland.

Personally I would have settled Novgorod one tile north so you could work that second Incense (it's 'generally' not a good idea to settle on resources), used an otherwise useless Desert tile as your city centre, still had ocean access, and picked up a couple of extra Hills.

You are probably mindful of not over-stretching your empire's size, but the Ivory and river to the east looks awful tempting. The placement of the Barbarian city makes things a little more complex if you also want the Gems in the fat-X (keep the Barb city or raze it?).

As before, it looks like a good start to me - best of luck!

 

[dutchfire]

looks ok, but you might want to have more cottages.
Techs: Ironworking-Animal Husbandry-Writing-Alphabet and trade with the ai to get those last ancient techs.

 

[NKVD]

got to agree with dutchfire that you needs more cottage...you have to start them early to keep your science at 100% the longer you can. You already are at 0 and you are generating -4 GPT at 80%... maybe you were not lucky with hut popping.

I would also found another city near the Ivory and not so close of the barbarian city because it is likely to become yours when you'll have enough maceman

 

[stratos_v2]

Iron working would be my preference over Archery at this point as you'll want to clear some Jungle around Rostov and the Jungle north of St. Petersburg,

It has mine too, especially since i don't have any copper, and i mostly get it anyway because of jungle indeed.

should have been settled one tile to the east where you could have got some extra Hills and Grassland.

I actually fumbled there, i didn't see that putting the city 1 east would still make it a coastle city.

looks ok, but you might want to have more cottages.

got to agree with dutchfire that you needs more cottage...you have to start them early to keep your science at 100% the longer you can. You already are at 0 and you are generating -4 GPT at 80%... maybe you were not lucky with hut popping.

i very much heed by cottage spam. (that's why i like catherine) but i only just got pottery, (perhaps 10 turns) so i didn't have the time yet.
Also i indeed was very much not lucky with hut popping, i got ~100 gp from a hut, and a few moves later my scout was killed.
So i build a new one, but that one got killed as wel.

I would also found another city near the Ivory and not so close of the barbarian city because it is likely to become yours when you'll have enough maceman

I was preparing to do that in the next couple of years, but aparently victoria had the same idea. Her defence was weak however

I'm now in the end game though, and must say that it was a breeze.
Although the AI keeps up a bit, i still have a 4 to 5 tech lead on them and overpower most of them.
Cossack are pretty overpowerd, and great for ransacking multiple cities in only a few turns, i don't even use catapults or cannons to weaken cities, it would just slow it all down. I'm russia anyway, so strength trough nummbers

here's a screenshot of my current state;

 

[Jonnus]

Is that a lumbermill on some uranium?? Definitely get a mine on it ASAP, because whether you intend on the Manhattan Project or not, you can work it, and someone else might go for nukes.
Also, you've got 2 dye plantations in the north that can't be worked. It might be an idea to found a city there to work them, building cottages on the plains. Try to place between the two dyes, then its coastal also for food and ships. Make sure you keep its culture low, or at least behind that of Circassion and Rostov - this way they won't lose tiles from their fat x, and you'll have a nice little money city.