Openers: Any Changes?

[Lyoncet]

So having had between a few days and a few hours to learn all the ins and outs of BNW (lol), how are people shaking up their openers? I only have a few starts under my belt, but I've found I'm still playing more-or-less the same. Open Pottery, scout into monument, switch to Shrine if I'm gunning for early religion. Grab a defensive unit and a worker. Buy early libraries so I can get NC. Ignore Great Library because you'll never get it (on Emperor at least) without giving up everything else. Stonehenge is still super easy. The biggest changes so far have been getting a little extra anti-barb force, and then experimenting with different mixes of Piety, Tradition, and Liberty. And deciding when to invest the hammers into a Caravan.

What's been your experience? Similar? Any big divergences?

 

[IAmOzymandias]

In a way, yes. When possible, I would say it's more important to focus on GL now for the writing slots plus the old bonuses. Getting to bronze working is important to secure that early game iron, too, and of course the naval aspect as there always has been. You certainly CAN play as you always have, but I find the tech tree is a lot more balanced in what you shoot for in ancient/classical rather than beeline writing, grab archery, beeline construction, beeline iron working.

 

[Wuddel]

Pretty much always Pottery. Scout->Monument/Shrine (switch for Religion)->Library/Worker.

Actually the Hanging Gardens are much more doable in BNW. At Immortal you still have a decent shot at them. I see me going for them more often now. Usually Writing->Mathematics.

For desert starts Petra of course.

Piety for Maya, Egypt Songhai

 

[ggmoyang]

If my capital is coastal, I get another coastal city and make food trade route. It's so great bonus.

 

[Jon the Bastard]

I used to build a monument first, but now, I'm doing a scout, monument, trade caravan, scout progression. I'm trying to find the best place to put in the trade caravan. I've always been a player who focused on having a strong economy because I believed that all other strategy stemmed from that. So, moving the trade caravans up toward the beginning of the tech tree has shifted my focus, and therefore my build order, a bit.

 

[daswede1127]

My new favorite "general purpose" opening has become:
pottery > writing > AH > luxury tech > beeline Drama or Philo (depending on VC) > sailing > luxury techs

I'm not in a hurry to grab luxuries since I can't trade them as easily, so I focus on science to get going quicker and set up my infrastructure. I use early trade routes to funnel food to early cities so they can focus on hammers, quickly getting infrastructure up.

Usual build:
Scout > worker > shrine > library > settler > caravan

It's all general stuff though, I've found that in BNW a general strategy doesn't work as well as GNK. There are so many more variables to consider!

 

[animalcross]

I've been going Scout > Worker > Shrine > Monument > Great Library > Caravan/Cargo Ship for Liberty (I generally get my second city out with Collective Rule) and Worker > Scout > Shrine > Great Library >Caravan/Cargo Ship > Settler for tradition. Have yet to experiment with Piety and I never go honor. Might try a Celts/Piety or Byzantium/Piety. That might be really strong.

 

[JustinianIV]

The 4 city opener strategy is definitely affected by BNW. You need DoFs in order to trade goods for lump sums of gold, which means you need to either wait for DoFs then sell your luxs, or sell them for GPT... either way it takes longer.

Personally, I like the new tweek to lux trading.

 

[Wuddel]

Also, beelining Drama for Writers guild is pretty good on Korea and Sweden.