Help with the first 200 turns? (King)

[tgreg99]

I'm looking for advice about how best to use my first 200 turns on King and figured you all would have some good ideas. I'm not a great player by any means (clearly since King is my ceiling for not getting my butt kicked every time) and would love to hear some different takes from people on here. I'm not looking for step by step ideas (though if you want to write that I'd read it), more just the broad strokes. I realize everyone has their own strategy, and that probably varies based on Civ, and lately my style has become stale so I'm looking for ways to change it up.

Thanks (and apologies if this isn't the right place for this thread).

 

[MarshalN]

What kind of settings do you play with (map size, length - 200 turns is a long time in a normal game -, etc?)

I think the most important thing to remember is to not over-expand early on without having secured the necessary happiness/gold, and to make sure you don't fall behind in tech too much. Explore a lot early on to find others to trade with and hit the ruins if you enable them. Also don't build a settler too early - it really cripples your city for a long time. Finding that balance takes some practice

 

[stealth_nsk]

First tech to research is Pottery. First policy to adopt is Tradition opener. Building queue in Capital is Scout-Monument-Shrine-Settler. Worker needs to be taken from city-state.

That's more or less universal (well, except Venice not having settlers ), the rest depends on the game settings, actual map and chosen civ.

Also don't build a settler too early - it really cripples your city for a long time. Finding that balance takes some practice

I'm not sure I agree with you here. Building second city allows dedicating capital to wonders. The third needs some thought, though.

 

[tgreg99]

Thanks for the reply. And yes, I should have specified, good idea. I tend to play on Hemisphere or Continents Plus, Epic and King.

 

[_invy_]

You need to focus on growing and building infrastructure first. Go Liberty or Tradition, build workers, manually improve tiles (do not ever automate workers). After two or three cities build libraries everywhere and then build National College (need Philosophy tech for it) - this is VERY important. It speeds up things a lot. Build more cities if you see very nice spots around - build some happiness and trade routes - think about sending food trade route to your capital and small cities early on.

Once you have nice cities and nice +gpt you can think about your neighbours and victory type.

 

[tgreg99]

Good stuff, everyone. Thank you for these.

Couple of follow up questions. My normal build (which I am kind of tired of and can win on Prince nearly every time with and 75% of the time on King pre BNW) was: Scout, Monument/Shrine, Settler, Library/GL. My goal was to have 3 to 4 cities by turn 100 with 1 wonder and another on the way. NC as soon as my second wonder is done in the capital. Research depends on luxuries near my cities but normally went Pottery (for shrines), Mining/Calendar, Writing. I've always tended to go Liberty/Honor first two policies, filling out the liberty tree asap and not doing much with honor but for the first culture/barb get.

After that I kind of go off script depending on the situation at hand. I have no idea if my build is smart, it just tends to work for me. I'm looking for ways to mix it up, and on BNW King level I am keeping my head above water but not dominating by any means. I win more often than I lose on King but haven't dominated enough to want to jump up a level (which is my eventual goal).

Thanks!

 

[earthwulf]

I never take my worker from CS's. I really should, I guess... a lot of people talk about it. Do you just demand it or DOW?

 

[rmattbill1]

I've found that if I don't build shrines very early on, I won't be able to accumulate enough Faith to found a religion (unless you're playing as the Celts or Ethiopia). Also, your first caravan or cargo ship can't wait to long or you risk going broke. Last, you may need to build more military units early on depending on your neighbors. If you get Russia, Rome, Assyria, the Zulu or another aggressive civ next door and you focus too much on workers, libraries, etc., you can get wiped out before reaching the birth of Christ.

 

[OmniPotent42]

I never take my worker from CS's. I really should, I guess... a lot of people talk about it. Do you just demand it or DOW?

Put your worker or scout where it can take the worker the next turn, then declare war and take the worker, then immediately sue for peace.

My opening strategy is to focus on my capital's growth and science output, building granaries if there is wheat and 2 workers. Then I expand according to how much happiness I have (if I have less than 8, only 1 city, more than 10 and I'll plop down 2 cities). If I can, I'll delay my second city until I finish the National College in the capital.

 

[SheckyS]

The biggest thing I'm having trouble getting used to is not expanding too early.

It used to be that the only limiting factor was happiness. If I had some excess happiness and needed more gold, the solution was to found a new city because cities would be profitable right away.

But that instinct is no longer valid because a brand-new city probably won't produce any gold initially - it takes time for a new city to start working luxury resources or connecting to the capital via a road/harbor.

So before you found a new city, consider whether or not you are making enough gold to support it while it come up to speed.

 

[simonthesinner]

Build NC sooner with two cities, then expand to city 3 and 4. Buy archers for money from barb camps and hit more camps for more gold with those archers (and tradition opener). A quick granary and caravan in the second city really helps with the growth of the capital.

If a city-state gives a mission that you can do within a near future, protect them until the quest is done. It gets you up to 10 more influence.

As soon as you have some horses, unless you are going to build horsemen in the amount of turns that a trade is, rent them to a civ. 2 gold per turn or whatever. It's better than the 0 gpt you would get by not trading. The civ gets a "traded recenty" diplomatic modifier on you and if they attack you with horsemen built with your horses the units gets crippled when the trade ends.

As soon as you have a 2nd of a lux, trade it, even for crap. Give it for free to a friend or s ribute to a threat if you have to. In a number of turn you can get a better deal.

Check early if one of your neighbour is going for piety. If they are and you can't start producing 10+ faith early, you might just let him convert your heathen ass instead. You get the reformation bonus, which probably puts it on par or better with the 4rth choice religion you might get if you don't have a special building /natural wonder/ religiou city state ally to help you.

 

[Muskie]

My opening has been refined over many games of Civ V and seems to work well enough in BNW. I don't play against real people very much and I don't play the highest difficulty level, but I've started forcing myself to research Archery first, which I dubbed the safety first opening.

My safety first opening also includes building Stonehenge before my 2nd city, that is my guarantee I found a relgion regardless of which Civ I'm playing. I often build my national college before my second city too. Needless to say I like Tradition.

I typed out the gist of my opening here.

For my next game I plan to change it up, go Liberty with Franch and expand a lot more.

 

[SheckyS]

My opening has been refined over many games of Civ V and seems to work well enough in BNW. I don't play against real people very much and I don't play the highest difficulty level, but I've started forcing myself to research Archery first, which I dubbed the safety first opening.

My safety first opening also includes building Stonehenge before my 2nd city, that is my guarantee I found a relgion regardless of which Civ I'm playing. I often build my national college before my second city too. Needless to say I like Tradition.

I typed out the gist of my opening here.

For my next game I plan to change it up, go Liberty with Franch and expand a lot more.

What difficulty level do you play?