My First Online Game

[Copterman]

Greetings all. I've been a lurker for some time here on CivFanatics. I have played this glorious game for a couple of years but have never gotten past incessant turtling. Before I know it, I've hit enter a few hundred times and have managed to win the game but with little to no long term strategies involved.

I know the game mechanics well, so I'm no newbie. I just want to start playing the game with purpose. Slow down and think.

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading RPC and ALC threads, so I thought I'd start one of my own. If no one wants to add their input, I will completely understand. I will try to do short rounds and post screenshots. Please feel free to correct me as I go along. I want to improve so I can beat my lousy brother online!

So I'm playing on Normal Speed / Standard Map / Monarch / 7 civs.

And my leader is Suleiman.

Here's my start. Should I settle in place? Seems to me I should move 1NW to get the floodplain, clam and calendar resource. But I'm scared that hill (which is unforested) might have a hidden resource.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Silu]

1NW is very bad, no lighthouse for the Clam and can't build the workboat for ages. Plus the resource danger you mentioned. 2S or 2E1S also have high chance of being food. I'd settle in place.

To me NWNW looks like desert instead of a flood plain - this can happen in capital area-generated rivers before 3.19. Have you patched to it?

 

[Valivator]

Wait its possible that that 3f1c tile is a desert? thats wierd.

 

[Silu]

OK I'm officially an idiot, my brain seems to be wired to ignore the show yields yields for some reason. Disregard me. I blame the flu...

 

[Shurdus]

Well if it shows 3F1C as its yield then it's indeed a flood plain. But if you didn't actually check it and haven't patched to 3.19, then there's a chance it's a 0F1C Desert

Eh... no. Then the yield would have shown 0f1c.

You are right that patching is needed in order to prevent nasty desert-riverside-nonfloodplain tiles, but if the yield shows 3f then it is a floodplain.

 

[LuCiver]

The OP screenshot has yields on, and the village tile is 3F, so it is a floodplain.

Other thing that looks suboptimal about settle in place is that you are not on a river: Actually have two separate rivers, running east and west 1 tile away. I might consider at least moving settler 1sw (onto plains hill for +1 hammer city site) or 1SE (keeps both unforested, fogged tiles in your BFC, but loses unforested hill. And if the move happens to show that this choice sucks, you can always move back without further turn penalty.

 

[Shurdus]

The OP screenshot has yields on, and the village tile is 3F, so it is a floodplain.

Other thing that looks suboptimal about settle in place is that you are not on a river: Actually have two separate rivers, running east and west 1 tile away. I might consider at least moving settler 1sw (onto plains hill for +1 hammer city site) or 1SE (keeps both unforested, fogged tiles in your BFC, but loses unforested hill. And if the move happens to show that this choice sucks, you can always move back without further turn penalty.

1SW loses the sheep, and I would strongly advice against that.

There is fresh water in place, so I would just settle in place. The levee becomes available in 1600ish on monarch - cause trading is rather slow. Settling in 4000BC as though it was 5000 years later is not something I would advice...

 

[Copterman]

Wow! I didn't expect this many comments. I have to say that this community is unlike any other online community. Intelligence AND friendliness!

 

[Shurdus]

We are here to help, and if people would not be friendly no one would come back. Then who would we discuss Civ with... our girlfriends?

A lot of people here learned from threads like these, from these discussions and from each other. Most want to do something back and have a chat while at it. It is what makes this community so great.

By the way...

Welcome to civfanatics Copterman!

 

[Copterman]

Oops. My map size is Standard, not Large. I will correct that in the original post.

 

[Valivator]

On the settling argument, would settling 1E have merit because settling in place you probably are wasting the village floodplain and the (it looks like) floodplain 1SW? Also, i have read somewhere that settling 1-2 tiles from the coast might interfere with future cities. Is this true? because that probably affects the decision on where to settle.

 

[Silu]

OK, let's see if I can say something sensible...

On the settling argument, would settling 1E have merit because settling in place you probably are wasting the village floodplain and the (it looks like) floodplain 1SW? Also, i have read somewhere that settling 1-2 tiles from the coast might interfere with future cities. Is this true? because that probably affects the decision on where to settle.

In place won't waste anything since there's room to settle both to the north and west, if desired/needed. 1-2 tiles from coast can screw with the dotmap especially with regards to grabbing seafood with sensible cities. Here the absolute worst case scenario (if going to settle in place) is to have to settle a good city 1SW of the hut FP with 6 tiles of capital overlap but that scenario is not very probable (land doesn't continue west, land doesn't continue southwest, north sucks). As an example of 1-tile-from-coast settling dangers, settling 1NW here would have a high probability of royally screwing the Clam.

That said, to my eye 1E does look like the best option if you'd want to move and many players would go for it - I wouldn't on Normal.

Main reason moving is iffy IMO is that there are 4 possible foggy/hidden resources and all sensible moves lose one of these.

 

[0range]

There might be a corn/pig/cow 2 South of Settler.

 

[mjg5591]

Move war SW and if don't see anything worth moving I would just settle in place.

 

[Copterman]

Round 1 - 4000-2840 BC (28 turns)

I decided to settle in place rather than move 1E. Nothing motivated me to move. Just figured I'd trust the map. I've got grassland pigs in my capital. That's a resource I rarely seem to get.

I immediately begin production of a worker and research AH. Discovering AH reveals horses close by.

I popped a hut for some gold, then a map, then I got the very tech I was researching. Saved me a few turns.

When I finished the worker, I began working on a warrior. This picture is to ask if I used the right tile. Should I have gone with what I did - the3 yield tile with the additional commerce?

Met my first AI. He came from the north.

He's the founder of hinduism, btw. Holy city to the east of Istanbul.

Speaking of Istanbul, BW revealed one source of copper in Saladin's capital. Maybe there's more out there in the fog. Let's hope so. Chariot rush, much?

I stop here to ask for your help. Here's the map so far:

1) What do you think I should research next? I'm thinking mysticism so I can build a city on the grassland next to the flood plain. I'll need a border pop to claim the horses.

2) My capital is working on a settler. Should I switch to slavery and whip? I've got 71 or so hammers invested. Is that not leveraging my imperialistic trait? Shouldn't I try to whip for 45 hammers instead of 30?

3) Should I try and Rex? Take all the good spots? Or is a chariot rush in the cards for me?

4) It's just dawning on me that I have no escort for my settler. Should I switch to a warrior real quick before I complete my settler?

5) Have you ever seen so many pigs in your life?!

Thanks, guys!

 

[Silu]

So much land, so much food. I don't see a need to rush even though many would even in that position. I'd just settle 2-3 cities to block Sally off (if he's really the only AI you've met) and proceed to settle the hinterlands after that. If that closest-to-Arabia-Pig is really in his 4th ring I might take that with the first city (though this is very much debatable, the culture pressure will be huge from religion and Madrassas) and Pig/Marble with another. In any case you'll want to block Saladin from expanding northwards.

For the west I'd rather grab Pig/Fish/Horse than the FP tile, no need for so much overlap. I'd probably go with 1S of Fish and 1NE of Clam when there's time to settle those.

Mysti's good to complete the block, though all the good city spots IMO have enough decent tiles in the initial ring to delay Mysti some and aim for Pottery/Writing first. Dunno.

As for whipping Settlers, well, you have 14 forests in the capital - I'd say that's all the IMP leveraging you need. I'm not a huge fan of whipping even IMP Settlers with just 1 decent food tile. With decent fogbusting like that you won't need specific settler escorts either.

 

[Leventis]

I would have grown to 3 before queuing a settler. Not sure why you didn't work the pigs as soon as the worker was done; growth >> warrior. No need for a rush IMO, you don't yet know if you have any other neighbours and you should be able to keep Saladin well under control with the land surrounding you. 1S of fish seems ok, but it's hammer poor so maybe consider 2N1E of horses? You can at least borrow some mines from the capital to use the city as a unit pump.

 

[Copterman]

I did work the pig tile immediately. Why should I have waited to size 3?

 

[Leventis]

I did work the pig tile immediately. Why should I have waited to size 3?

In your screenie you are working the spice. I grow to 3 before worker because you would have had at least 1 warrior done (2 if you MM a bit) and you get your next worker/settler/warrior out faster. There isn't much to gain by building a settler at 2 -- you're going to get whichever spot you want anyway.

 

[Copterman]

I'm very sorry. I thought you were asking why my worker didn't immediately improve the pigs.

Thanks for taking the time to help me.