Insane start: 3 gold mines with flood plains

[Wilhelmus]

After regenerating many starts where I was isolated on the most infertile piece of arctic land, suddenly this start appeared:


Three gold mines in the BFC! They can all be worked thanks to the cow and four flood plains. Now what would be the fastest way to develop this land?

I was thinking worker first (23 turns) and tech animal husbandry (18 turns) then mining (11 turns). When the worker finishes the pasture, he can continue with a gold mine. But other possibilities are warrior first, to grow to size 3, and the worker. Or instead of mining, research agriculture first for farms, and faster growth.

I want to build the stonehenge to add a bit of celtic flavour, for the happy bonus, the culture, and the great prophet.

Anyway, what are your ideas?


Here's the save, have fun
View attachment AutoSave_Initial_BC-4000.CivBeyondSwordSave

 

[Supr49er]

I would start with a warrior, then research Ag. If city is size three build worker, research mining. Keep flexible, your scout may pop a tech.

 

[MyOtherName]

Three gold mines in the BFC! They can all be worked thanks to the cow and four flood plains. Now what would be the fastest way to develop this land?

Try saving this start someplace, and after you play the game, reload the start a few times and experiment with different methods, and write down how they each performed.

I have a hard time imagining that worker first wouldn't be best; it has a lot of work to do! You want to grow ASAP, and farming flood plains is slow. Also, you want to make sure those gold mines already have mines on them when you near your population cap (and are thus ready to start working them). I would wait on animal husbandry; there's no reason to work a pastured cow early, because it doesn't give as much food as farmed flood plain.

 

[Wolfshanze]

I'd regenerate and try for a better starting location... that one sucks... only three gold mines?

Hehe...

 

[Nestorius]

I'd go for Buddhism then agriculture

 

[afa2000]

First of all: worker, research mining. You'll get a boost in research. Next, if barbs on, warrior. If not, another worker, research BW, agriculture, pottery and AH.

 

[noto]

this reminds me of a start i got with Hannibal. Back then I usually played prince but decided to notch it up to monarch - and I got a start like this, so I thought I had a good chance of winning. What happened was I got a sick tech lead at first, but I wasn't able to exploit that and turn it into a win. I got bogged down in too much war in the mid game.

 

[MyOtherName]

First of all: worker, research mining. You'll get a boost in research.

It strikes me that stagnating at size 1 by working a gold mine probably isn't the most viable of strategies

Besides, he'll get a bigger overall boost in research if he grows ASAP so that he can work all three gold mines.

 

[HerrDoktor]

this reminds me of a start i got with Hannibal. Back then I usually played prince but decided to notch it up to monarch - and I got a start like this, so I thought I had a good chance of winning. What happened was I got a sick tech lead at first, but I wasn't able to exploit that and turn it into a win. I got bogged down in too much war in the mid game.

Yeah, me too. Do whatever you want, but SAVE this game, it's a, ho-hum, golden opportunity for experimentation. Also, I would really consider growing the city to size 4 before thinking about expansion-halting workers or settlers.

 

[Rvil Plum]

I always play as English, so I have mines as a start tech. If I was English, I would,

Build 2 warriors - whilst researching Bronze Working
Build worker when size 3 - Research Masonry
Build second worker, (have first worker chop)
Build / chop and whip settler - research roads
Build Great Wall or Pyramids (not both - one or other in capital city as they pop different types of Great People) - research Agriculture

Send settler and 2 warriors to found second city, (best location near copper -if none available, locate near stone / marble).

That much gold guarantees you an early teach lead, and you gain the special double speed building time of any wonder that benefits from access to gold, (I think the wonder that allows you to choose all the religious civics benefits from gold). Depends what's nearby really. If stone is close, then you can build the Pyramids in the Capital and Great Wall in your second city via a chop.

Not sure what civ you are playing, guess it's Celts from the flag, hence wanting to build Stonehenge.

Not sure I would, as the tech lead from all that gold will give you first choice to build almost any classic era wonder you want, and the Pyramids should pop 2 Great Engineers if you don't specialise anyone in that city.

The Stonehenge route will work, as there is no right way or wrong way to play civ, but Barbs will be all over those gold mines, so without the Great Wall you will have to be ready for them with military. My gut feeling is that a tech lead combined with the Pyramids would give you enough early wonders to go for a culture win, and the Great Wall will keep the barbs off you whilst building them.

Save the start and try different routes to see which one works best. The Pyramids / Great Wall route may not be the best, but given your starting position I would be very surprised if it wasn't in the top 3.

Regards - Mr P

 

[Ammar]

Looks interesting. Certainly a very good position. How's the health in that city?

Anyway, if it's possible without crippling the city I healthwise would do this :

techpath mining -> bronze -> agri -> animal husbandry -> try to go for monotheism

Animal Husbandry might be useful IMO because the cow is better than the floodplains when it comes to building settlers and workers. It might also be needed depending on where you build your second city.

worker, research mining, worker finishes, begin second worker, worker mines gold (delays second worker+settler a little, but worth it for the early tech boost IMO), chop settler, begin farming.

If you can't chop two workers without crippling the city healthwise, I would probably go for warrior first while researching Polytheism. When city is at size two use the original plan but chop only the settler.

I'd almost certainly skip Stonehenge, developing your capital for productions IMO isn't good considering the gold. Depending on the surroundings you could try to get it with the second city.

 

[sydhe]

I'd go for Buddhism then agriculture

I wouldn't. Too good a chance of losing Buddhism, and with the gold mines, you're almost certain to get Confucianism.

I'd start building a warrior, researching animal husbandry, switch to worker when the city hits size two, mining, bronzeworking, then shoot for code of laws. You can switch mining and animal husbandry since you'll probably have both by the time you get the worker. Research archery before code of laws if neither copper or horse shows up. You'll need pottery before priesthood if like me you like to get metal working from the Oracle.

 

[Parmenion]

I disagree.
With the flood plains being worked, he'll easily be the first to Bhuddism, especially if he builds a warrior first and allows the city to reach size 2 (the extra pop also working the flood plains.)
After that I'd go with building a worker and research AH for the cattle. Then pop out warrior/settle combos until the nearest source of horses is found.

 

[Minmaster]

i have learned that a kickass starting location usually means there's not much else around. anybody else notice this trend?

 

[Ammar]

i have learned that a kickass starting location usually means there's not much else around. anybody else notice this trend?

Not really, though flood plains often mean that there's a nearby desert. Usually there's at least one decent direction to expand too.

There's also the high seafood start, where you are often located near the pole and everything around the capital is tundra or ice.

But all in all you often have good surroundings as well.

 

[Parmenion]

My last game with HRE had a totally kickass start - 3 floodplains, 1 gold, 1 corn and a pig, but apart from another gold outside my BFC, it was desert and plains in all directions. There wasn't even a river through the plains to irrigate them with, and there seemed to be a complete lack of forests for some reason - I bet there was some AI on the other side of the world complaining about being surrounded by 24 forests...

 

[mike p]

Worker first, research Agriculture is the way to go. When worker completes, farm at least two flood plains, you'll need the food to work the gold mines. Agriculture first will also give you a discount on Animal Husbandry as well, and you'll probably need the health.

With that much stuff in the fat cross, I'd probably detour to Archery, after the Wheel, since I don't believe you'd also start with copper or horses nearby, and it won't be that big a detour anyway.

Not before size 5, when you can work two farmed flood plains and three gold mines, would I look at building another worker or a settler. At some point soon you'll want pottery to cottage the remaining floodplains. This will give you the ability to control growth to avoid unhappiness. With three mines and plains cows, you probably be wrong to whip here, except in extreme emergencies.

 

[Airefuego]

That's an awesome start.

Here's another good one - maybe even better?

Spoiler :

Three seafood, three gold, three floodplains.

PS I have NO idea why the blue circle has chosed that tile. It loses two gold and a seafood - nice going AI! Needless to say I ignored it and settled one north of where the settler is now. Soon, all the other Civs died.

 

[sylvanllewelyn]

Wilhelmus: you are charismatic, meaning stonehenge is an option to you.
You have mysticism, which means Buddhism or Hinduism is also an option to you.
Finally, you have 3 gold mines, which means you can take advantage of your increased initial tech somehow.

However, what you cannot do is go for everything. You can only pick one piece of toy for Christmas, I'm afraid. If you try to go for more than one advantage, it definitely comes with disadvantages as well.

That, and you actually do not have the option to chop forests at all, for health reasons. It's a good start, but all starts come with pros and cons, and this one weakens your worker and settler production greatly. Which means while charismatic, (free) monument and early religion gives you +3 hapiness, you won't have many expansion cities to take advantage of it. That and you have health issues, which is only partially offset by farming floodplains. Speaking of floodplains, you may need pottery for cottages too.

I see two main routes:
- try going for Civil Service slingshot, and break the tech race completely.
- go for the stonehenge and early religion, but then go for early iron working. Use swords to take out whoever's defending with archers. It's likely those city sites should have been yours anyway, but now they are under AI hands because they can chop settlers and you can't.

 

[Parmenion]

sylvanllewelyn,
Surely the floodplains won't have that much of an adverse effect on the start.
I count 5 in total, which I'm taking a guess at only a 1 health penalty.
This will be offset if he encounters health resources, so I'd personally encourage chopping to rush those settlers.

Otherwise I'd agree with both your choices of advice - CS slingshot or SH religion-fest.