How to play Greece Early Game

[Bhawb]

I'm wondering how other people play Greece's early game. I feel like I should be getting a more significant lead with my Hoplites, but I often just get a couple of Heavy Tributes and maybe a city or two. I usually go Authority, rush Statue of Zeus and get 1 settler (build a 2nd when the free settler policy is coming to get the settling bonus), and spam Hoplites to smack into wall-less cities and get Heavy Tributes. But I often find what feels like a successful war still leaves me significantly behind in science and culture, and I often don't found even with a nearby faith CS.

So I've got a couple questions:

Faith: Do you usually try to found a religion?
Progress vs Authority: Is there a reason to go Progress or is it pretty much default Authority?
When do you shift from bullying CSs to allying them for that sweet +5%?
What is your early game goal in general?

 

[randomnub]

I'm wondering how other people play Greece's early game. I feel like I should be getting a more significant lead with my Hoplites, but I often just get a couple of Heavy Tributes and maybe a city or two. I usually go Authority, rush Statue of Zeus and get 1 settler (build a 2nd when the free settler policy is coming to get the settling bonus), and spam Hoplites to smack into wall-less cities and get Heavy Tributes. But I often find what feels like a successful war still leaves me significantly behind in science and culture, and I often don't found even with a nearby faith CS.

That's pretty much as I play them on continents/pangea, with the caveat that Hoplites+SoZ+Drill are good against walled cities as well (and any other unit before swordmen don't pose a big threat even if you don't follow the Shock line) so I keep pushing with them well into late classical.

So I've got a couple questions:
Faith: Do you usually try to found a religion?

No. Shrine second and go for God of All Creation or God of Expanse or anything providing meaningful yields in the early game and then ignore religion until I conquest an Holy City.

Progress vs Authority: Is there a reason to go Progress or is it pretty much default Authority?

I only picked Progress on a small continent (2 CS and an opponent only), Authority seems pretty default to me.

When do you shift from bullying CSs to allying them for that sweet +5%?

It comes naturally, once you start getting big influence boosts for some easy quests (conquer a nearby city or bully another CS) the influence drops so slow that you can't bully them anymore. I keep bullying everybody for as long as I can else, usually stopping in Medieval when I'm not #1 in military anymore.

What is your early game goal in general?

Cripple anybody that can become a quick tech runaway if ignored, so given the choice and my experience against the AIs, I'd wage my first war against Ethiopia or Russia and not America or Austria. Also take down Progress civs before tougher nuts to crack, exception if an Authority neighbour is settling in your direction and you must strike before they unlock their UU (Rome, Songhai). Try to harass an opponent that is bordered by a good number of CSs, to milk tributes while warring. Don't take capitals before they found a religion.

 

[crdvis16]

I made a Greece post a while back that might be useful:

https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/greece.644275/