Old Debate, New Circumstances: What do you build first?

[thelibra]

Just thought I'd open the floor to an old debate that takes the new circumstances into consideration.

Now that BtS is out, what do you build first, and why?

Personally, I build a settler first, because the long-term seems to give more bang for buck, but I've hardly got any BtS hours under my belt at the moment, and am curious if anything has changed that now.

 

[MusX]

worker, scout or warior

 

[Blaarg]

worker if you have(or soon will have) the necessary techs. If not, then settler. Sometimes a workboat makes sense.

 

[jkp1187]

If I start with mining, I'll research bronze and build a worker first so he can start chopping as soon as he's built.

If there's a sea resource next to the capital, work boat first.

Warrior too, depending on how the map feels to me.

I used to occasionally do settler first...but I've gotten out of that habit. Just too many down turns.

 

[entwood]

You can sometimes take one CIV out of the game with 3 or 4 Warriors if you do it pretty fast while searching for goody huts until you find the 1st closest Civ to you and then move against it....Depends on the map being used to some extent.

edit: Sometimes you can capture this 1st CIV's worker that you attack also and save 10-15 turns building one yourself.

 

[Jperkinson]

I usually build a worker first...

However, I wonder if it's better to build something that doesn't 'waste' your food until you hit a pop size 2. Which makes the warrior - worker argument stronger perhaps

 

[Enigma256]

worker, worker, settler

after that some warriors and buildings.


i might skip a worker or replace it by a warrior if the worker don't have much to do.

 

[MrScorpio]

I agree with jkp, it only makes sense to build a 1st worker if he will have something meaningful to do - namely chop. I only build a worker first if I will have bronze working researched by the time he is built. Then I can chop a settler and build a warrior.

I build a warrior first if I have to research mining - bronze working. I also will consider building a warrior first (or at least starting on one until my city grows to 2) if I am not on a hill.

 

[RockTheCazbah87]

I go for the Warrior usually, followed by a worker. I like to get my cities up to 2 pop before I get the worker.

 

[eewallace]

As usual, the answer is "it depends."

On a large landmass with few opponents and scouts available--build a scout!

Are there resources you can claim easily in the city's fat cross? Build a worker or workboat!

Or, as mentioned above, if you are going for bronzeworking right away and see some good tress, get the worker.

But as to a settler, think seriously about cranking out a warrior first. On lower difficulty levels, unaccompanied settlers may do okay, but if it is moving more than a square or two beyond your cultural radius, you better have a warrior to accompany him because there is nothing worse that seeing some wimpy wolf chomp down your very first settler.

 

[Will9]

I never build a worker first. It is just a bad idea. Chances are you don't have enough techs to do much with them. Ontop of that, if you wait until you get a second citizen it won't take much longer than going worker first plus you'll have 1-2 warriors by the time the worker is done.

 

[TheLastOne36]

Warrior, Worker, Barracks, Archer, Archer, warrior, Warrior, Warrior, Take nearest enemy capital, Worker, Settler

 

[IronCrown]

I don't think it's right under any circumstances to build a settler first. I always start with worker, or sometimes warrior, worker.

 

[TheRisen1]

I like it when I get sea resources to start so I can kick off with a work boat. Otherwise, I usually go with a warrior or scout and wait to build my first worker until I have 2 pop.

 

[Blaarg]

I like it when I get sea resources to start so I can kick off with a work boat. Otherwise, I usually go with a warrior or scout and wait to build my first worker until I have 2 pop.

Sea resources and a civ that begins with fishing.

 

[SwordofStriker]

Being that I always play with raging barbs checked, I always build a warrior first and foremost.

The landmass and terrain features determine my next choice, but if I'm on the coast with nearby food resources, a work boat is my next order of business.

Barring coastal food resources, I'll build more warriors if there are nearby opponents and I think I can pull off a successful rush, and this saves me from building workers early because I raid other nearby civs for them. If there are no nearby civs, then I tend to spam scouts for a while since I typically play on huge maps unless I'm in a multi-player game.

All this is subject to change of course.

 

[DigitalBoy]

Warrior, warrior (time so city reaches size 3 before finishing second warrior), settler then worker (whip one or the other), archer, settler

Add a workboat at the front of the queue if capital is near a seafood resource.

 

[vilemerchant]

On marathon it takes much longer to research BW than it does to build a worker, so if I have mining I will normally build a warrior first and then a worker to come out around the time I get BW. I will then always either chop a settler or chop another worker and they will both chop a settler.

Sitting around wasting all those turns building a settler in a size 1 city without any chopping or whipping possble is a bad way to start IMO.

 

[Elandal]

I guess play speed should be mentioned in any discussion. Also map size affects teching speed.

Marathon has unit training scaled at 2x, everything else at 3x. So, if you play marathon / huge then research timing is completely different from other choices. I play Epic / Large, and research timing for me is close enough to normal / standard that it can be worked out.


So, what do I build first? Depends

Workboat, if applicable. Up to two of them - even if I have more seafood I will need worker after two workboats.

Worker, if I have suitable techs. My primary purpose is to get my capitol to grow, so this generally means either deer + hunting or grain + agriculture. I do consider what the worker will do after first food improvement, and may need to either reshuffle my research plan or insert warrior(s) before worker.

Warrior(s) if neither of the above. I play without tribal huts, so I won't build a scout even if I have hunting. When I played with huts, I built scout often even if I had agri + grain or another combination suited for worker first, as the huts are random element that can grant you at least one difficulty level of gain in form of techs (which is why I no longer play with them).


My general plan is to:
- get capitol on growth
- get either AH or BW to see some strategic resources
- settle second city, preferably claiming strategic resource (sometimes I don't get AH or BW early enough due to unusual start where settler comes out earlier and other researach has higher priority).

I never, ever go for Meditation or Polytheism even if I start with Mysticism. Mysticism I consider simply wasted starting tech. Thus, Mysticism doesn't affect my early research / build choices.

 

[Will9]

Sea resources and a civ that begins with fishing.

Or can research fishing before the workboat is finished.