Ministry of War Discussion: Opening moves

[Sarevok]

I agree. We also will want to know where horses are too.

 

[DaveShack]

I agree. We also will want to know where horses are too.

We start with the wheel, so horses are visible immediately. Iron is the one we must have to get our UU.

 

[blackheart]

We should focus on finding out where our neighbors are and blocking off their expansion.

 

[Falcon02]

As most have said here, Barracks "right off the bat" isn't a good idea. I'd suggest building a Barracks after the first or second expansion city is founded.

We should aim to pump out a settler as soon as our Capital is able to produce one, whether that is 2nd in line, or 3rd in line will depend on the surroundings, and as Cyc's research suggests it's likely it could be pumped out 2nd or even first thing.

However, I'm not sure I like the Idea of havin the Settler being the FIRST unit we produce, because it's good to get an explorer out there to make sure we're not sending our settler into a vast wasteland, wasting time.

When we contact our Neighbors, we need to first analyze our military strength verses them (for future referance) and keep track of it every turnchat, whenever possible. Secondly, Blackheart is right, if possible we need to try to prevent their expansion, however it's unlikely we'll be able to do this early in the game, our best chance early on is to find an Isthmus seperating us and them which we can take 1-2 units (or even a city) to block their passage. This city would also be able to serve another purpose in the future as a Canal for ship travel. However, whether we get such an Isthmus is not garenteed.

As I see it, we have three research options early on
Bronze Working - For spearmen and lead to Swords
Warrior's Code - Lead to Horsemen should we have horses nearby
Masonry - So we can get an early start on Wonder Race if we wish.

 

[Sarevok]

I like that Idea. Thanks for your input

Personally, I think our research should get the tech needed so that we can see where the Iron and Horse resources are on the map. Then the DM (Domestic Minister) can plot out where our other cities can be accoriding to resource placement and generally good locations.

 

[mhcarver]

I personally favor building at least two or more warriors before a settler and I personally like the idea of Bronze working as our first bit of research

 

[blackheart]

Pertaining to research we must remember about trade too. We need to find out about our neighbors and what they will likely research. Then we need to research what they won't research first so we can trade tech.

 

[Immortal]

as far as exploration goes, I think we should head along the coastline to maximize vision benefit.

 

[Chieftess]

This isn't a very "early warrior friendly" map (2 wheat), so 1 might do, and 2 if we have more shields to go around. We should explore in a circular pattern (north->east->south) in that direction.

We should move the worker on to the more southern wheat to irragate it, then move the settler SE and settle on turn 1. It will reveal that coast we saw.

 

[superpelon]

I favor the building of at least ONE warrior (2 or 3 would be better) before the building of any settler units.

Here are some things that i think should be stressed in the first moves:
EXPLORE
FIND GOODY HUTS
FIGHT OFF BARBARIANS (making veterans out of our regulars)
FIND HORSES
FIND A BOTTLENECK TO PREVENT EXPANSION AND OCCUPY IT

Im also a coastline explorer, like Immortal proposes. Make use of mountains to explore the interior.

 

[Sarevok]

Ill look at the save, then ill get a big plan to look at.

 

[Civman2004]

We have hills - there could be iron there. I usually go straight for iron working in a situation like that. I like to have as much information as possible when planning city locations I agree - it's not very warrior-friendly terrain, I'm of the opinion that war-set-war is the way to go.

 

[Sarevok]

I agree. We can use the hills and mountains to get viewing done quickly though.

 

[Donovan Zoi]

Can someone tell me which quadrant of the map we are located on? If it is one of the the northern quadrants, then I would have our first Warrior head S and then S again by hill to gain the best lay of the land.

We also have a hill up north if we are on a southern quadrant.

Long story short........head for the Hills!!

 

[Chieftess]

I think far-west and center.

 

[Donovan Zoi]

Thanks, CT. Then I guess any hill will do.

 

[superpelon]

We arein the southwest corner. South will lead us to tundra, west will lead us to ocean... i think