Looking to Jump to Apollo Difficulty, Question About My Start

I originally posted this on reddit but got no response. So I thought I'd come here.

Here is a picture of my start after retrograde thrusters whiffed on me.

Spoiler :

I had a few questions given the start:

Other start noteables:

• Went with 10 sponsors on a standard Fungal Terran map just to ensure conflict
• Went with staggered starts
• For load out, Artists, Retrograde (as mentioned), free Pioneering (I don't have Starships)
• There is 10 Floatstone near my start. And desert with grasslands on my south black border.

Based on the screenshot above and the information given, I'd just like some advice and feedback on how to begin. I have won Civ 5 on Immortal and BE on Gemini, although the BE victory was far too easy and I was pretty much hitting end turn from the time I started building the mind flower. So I'm excited for a bit more of a challenge and hopefully the AI actually contesting me throughout the course of the game.

I did have a few questions regarding starting from those of you all with Apollo experience:

• I've heard some people say build 2 explorers at the start to have a total of 3 going around. Makes sense, especially with my start. Should I pop culture/research artifacts and save the rest for combos?
• Is a 5 city start plan still a thing in CivBE? How quickly should I focus on building a colonist? Just after the Old Earth Relic?
• Are there any techs that can help me take advantage of the desert tiles I have? Or should I just farm the out of them?
• In general I plan to do a prosperity start for the free worker and colonist. Should I stick with the tree to reduce health, or is it more important to improve research or econ after the early game?

Any other thoughts or useful information? I don't mind losing. I have never won on Deity in Civ5, but that doesn't stop me from trying. Anything else you'd like to know about my start?

Moderator Action: Wide image wrapped inside spoiler tags

 

I would have landed on the tile where your explorer is now because it would have given you the Silica and Gold resources to the South.

 

- I like the two (or three) explorer opening while you grow to size 3 or 4 before colonist spam. I've nearly always picked the worker to start, however, so that may change things a little here. An Old Earth Relic should be in there somewhere too.

- I think 5-6 early cities is still the way to go. With a few production artifacts this can happen very early. I would only cash in early culture or production or energy artifacts - everything else can be saved for combos.

- Well, the Vivarium can help with desert - but I think that I'd stick to the water for growth. Coast is basically like plains and can be much better with a Water Refinery. There are two algae tiles that can be farmed. I'd make getting one early a priority. The desert hills can be mined for production.

- Whether to put more than 5 points into prosperity depends on how the game looks in 30 turns or so. Some games I find I don't need nearly as much health from the Virtues as others.


Overall this is a harder than average start. Settling on a hill is pretty bad since the city tile yield is so low - but I don't think you had a better choice. I'd likely play a few turns if you post the starting save.

Edit: There is fruit and desert floodplains to the south so I'm not sure you took the best location depending on where settling was possible.

 

Looks like you kind of have a bad start. You have the right idea though, OER, and at least one other explorer. I've actually had some decent success with an all prosperity start lately (except a little spash for the 10% science and production bonuses) and I've won two games on Apollo without any academies at all. It's seeming to me that RT is an improvement over the vanilla game in that the starting strategy really isn't fixed as much as it used to be where industry and mass academy was basically a must. Still, teching up really fast through a single affinity is still very important. You'll have coast or aquatic cities at some point, so you need a decent navy that isn't out-teched.

 

Try to grab a nearby Crashed Satellite or Sunken Vehicle to get an early production boost. If none is nearby, dig up the Derelict Settlements to grab Old Earth artifacts. If you get a culture artifact use it immediately.

Capital build order: OER -> Depot -> Trade Vessel -> Explorer (and if you get a free production boost use the overflow to get another explorer somewhere inbetween there).

Grab the free settler and the +4 expedition modules from Prosperity, then go Industry.

Considering your terrible starting location, I'd recommend to go with an all-ocean city approach. Send the free settler somewhere 4 tiles away from the capital, then start pumping out Settlers and Trade Convoys.