Build Order
Thus the question then becomes, what should our build order be and thus in what order should be improve the terrain? The initial area is comparatively food and production poor. Under my usual gaming style I would attempt to get a settler out as soon as possible and found a city in a more food rich area to create a settler factory, whilst switching my capital production to military units. However the addition of the woodland means that I could possibly rush off a quick granary before I hit a population size of three. If I can do this then I will gain an additional ten food units early on when my town moves to size three which will offset the few turns lost producing my first settler because my second and subsequent settlers will be produced more quickly. Had there not been any woodland then the production time lost in producing a granary and a settler (90 shields worth) would delay me too much given my slow production rate (although this is debated); had I missed the city size increase my entire gambit would be fatal as my settler would be set back a further five turns as I recoup the lost food. To construct this granary in time I will need to clear the forest at the right time so that production is not wasted (switching production from a settler to a granary as it becomes available) and ensure that I have researched pottery by then. With this in mind it is time to get out the paper.
Potential Worker Order
S,rr,mmm (6)
NE,ii,rr (5)
S,ccccc (6)
Our production boost would come on turn 17.
Thus if we mine first we would create our granary at the end of turn 17, wasting four shields and not gaining the gold. If we build the road first we would still create our granary for turn 18,
but waste only two shields and gain one extra gold (on turn four).
Our second decision regards our food production vis-à-vis the plains square. As with shields once the box is filled, additional production is wasted, thus ideally we would produce our third citizen after the production of the granary (delaying growth if necessary to gain the additional 10 food when the city grows in size) and without wasting any food. If food is to be wasted it would be better to gain the additional gold from putting a road on the plains before irrigating it.
Road first (food units)
Code:
Up to t10 20 [i](as before)[/i]
t11 @ 1,4 1 [i]Note: Granary reset[/i]
turns 12-21 @ 2,4 3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19
So we would grow to size three on turn twenty-two, well past our granary production but wasting one food and gaining on gold on turn eleven.
Irrigation first (food units)
Code:
Up to t10 20 [i](as before)[/i]
t11 @ 2,4 2 [i]Note: Granary reset[/i]
turns 12-21 @ 2,4 4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20
Consequently we will grow to size three a turn earlier and will not waste any of our precious food, but will not gain that extra gold.
Thus if we want to build a granary we can do so before our town reaches size three by initially building a settler and researching pottery and then switching to pottery as soon as possible. This means that we have to have pottery technology by the time we have produced thirty shields (or else we will waste some), that is, by turn 12. On a small map with 100% science and the additional benefit of the river this should be possible.
We will then produce a granary for turn 18 and have sufficient population to support a settler on turn twenty-one. Furthermore our worker and production will be freed up from turn 18 in order to produce the settler and a workable terrain square for our third citizen. From turn twenty-two we will have a population of three, and twelve shields plus whatever can be produced by out four workers. What then should out worker do on turn 18? If we mine the grassland immediately when our city grows on turn 21 the mine will be complete and our output per turn will be 2,5 or 2,6 if the forest reveals a bonus grassland.
Now on turn 21 we will have twelve shields in the pot. If we get normal grassland production will go 12, 17, 23, 28, 33 finishing our settler on turn twenty-four with a three shield waste. If we get bonus grassland we do one turn better; 21:12, 18, 24, 30 getting the settler on turn twenty-three.
Most efficient Granary game plan
Our final worker orders would be thus:
S,rr,mmm (6)
NE,ii,rr (11)
S,ccccc,mmm,rr (22)
We would set out tax to 100% to research pottery and start to build a settler, switching a granary when it becomes available and then to a settler as soon as it completes. We will then be in a position whereby settler production will be limited by production and not food, hence production may well be switched to another forest or hill to increase the production rate.
Note: If our initial worker move reveals a bonus grassland or better on the adjacent terrain then it may make more sense to mine or irrigate this and might effect the decision to build a granary, but I rather suspect that we'll see the bonus grassland under that forest and any others further out.
, but after playing a few emperor games on a small map the importance of land-grabbing often ended up with one or two settlers first being a higher priority. 
Time to open the save...
