Help with early game build order

[Dewii]

In BTS you will want to save most forests for maths.

Up to a point.
Hammers now are (often) better than hammers later. If you're building a settler to grab a prime position, or an early game wonder (The Great Lighthouse, Oracle, Huge Stack of Axemen) chopping without waiting for Mathematics might make the difference between success or failure. Or The Great Lighthouse or say chopping out a library might boost your economy more now than the extra hammers you'd get if you waited would.

Also, if you're working a forested hill you'll quickly earn more hammers if you mine it immediately than if you leave it.

 

[sampsa]

Damn, looks like it's possible to pop barbs from a hut even just outside of capital's cultural borders, 4 tiles away from city center. Either that or barbs don't like workers entering their village.

Spoiler :

 

[Tatran]

^
I've been playing with raging barbarians + goody huts for almost a decade and I can't remember getting barbs from a hut that close to own cultural borders.

 

[sampsa]

Oh btw, I didn't SIP (obviously), not sure if that could matter. Original spot was 1SW of corn, so 4*1,5=6 tiles away from the hut.

 

[gaash2]

I guess (if you play no barbs) worker/settler (if you can get bw in time to chop it, or worker/something/settler at size 2) is a bad starting strategy?

 

[sampsa]

I guess (if you play no barbs) worker/settler (if you can get bw in time to chop it, or worker/something/settler at size 2) is a bad starting strategy?

It's not horrible, but often it's better to just skip BW for now. I very often get BW via trade.

 

[Bibor]

If there would be an universal formula, I'd say it would be this:

1a) If seafood start AND the worker would have downtime waiting for techs -workboat first.
1b) If pasture food AND you don't start with hunting or agriculture - warrior first.
1c) Otherwise - worker first.

2) Grow up to improved tiles (especially cottages), NOT happy cap. Build warriors as filler.
Exception: river-connected horses or copper. Then build chariots or axes instead.

3) Settler.

From here, I guess it really depends on diff. level and proximity of contested good city sites, terrain, beelines like Oracle etc.

Regarding chops, I'd say leaving 50% of forests for math (regardless of their #) is a good call. I also often leave 2-4 forests (usually plains forests) in the capital for the University or Oxford. The exception are The Pyramids, GLH and rushes.

 

[rah]

The only time I ever go warrior first is in MP games.