optimal build and tech order for prehistoric era?

[tramwajg]

like in title, does anyone have some favourite order of researching techs in prehistoric era, that is most efficient and fastest for reaching sedentary lifestyle?

 

[Fletchers_Requiem]

Honestly the order I go for sedentary is always spawn dependent, but I generally follow this ruleset to get to Tribalism:

I always try to go for gathering as soon as possible UNLESS I can settle my first city ontop of or adjacent to a cave, followed by unlocking chasers and scavenging, then ritualism, rushing for venus of willendorf, then shelter building, then barter, then carpentry, then tracking, then tribalism (and using the golden age from the 'finding fire' national wonder to switch civics without penalty).

I don't think it's ever failed me.

 

[tramwajg]

ohhh firing fire golden age being left for later, that's really clever! I actually never thought about it did you consider staying at chiefdom for lower maintenance costs, I don't remember what were modifiers on tribalism exactly? my maintenance costs are always so huge (like 250 gold per 7 cities) that I try to minimize impact from civic in early game, my gold economy only gets better about medieval when having guilds

 

[Fletchers_Requiem]

Yeah I generally try to rush for chiefdom if I have a crowded spawn and/or play conqueror (like I am in my current game). A lot of my path to sedentary is really spawn dependent unfortunately. If I have a source of stone, I always try to head to megaliths, if I have horses, I rush for stables and saddles, if I have a LOT of animals or fruit, I try to rush to shamanism or druidic traditions, and if I have a lot of rivers, I rush up the fishing tree to grab river ports.

My economy almost always starts to get really good when I get mining, the gemcutters are worth their weight in gold.

 

[Somebody613]

I rather tend to go for Neanderthal culture, then tediously hunt-grind a unit or two for Super Generals who can (with some fodder help) take over cities via killing the Tribal Guardians.
In Eternity games this seems to be the best strategy, because Prehistoric economy is utter horse product anyways, compared to the captured units labor, so to speak.
Basically, a Super General is way more useful than even several cities, since your goal is to become the Only Survivor first, and only then go for Expansion and Economy.
At least that's how I tend to play - and in most games it pays off nicely (unless I get UNLUCKY, and my units are EATEN by random animals early on, but then it's better to just restart).

 

[Fletchers_Requiem]

Honestly while I like the Neanderthal culture, more often than not I find myself getting absurdly powerful units from what I call the "Birds of Doom" stack.
A bunch of birds (Most often eagles) all decide to attack a unit but deal no damage, yet I still get the xp from it. Easiest way to upgrade a super hunter that can take a city on one v one, I managed to kill 1 civ and steal the capitals from 2 other civs (and kill them) in the prehistoric era, giving me a major boost to put me ahead going into the ancient era. If I hit sedentary first, grabbing ideograms for free and rushing Nineveh in my capital pretty much has me set for the rest of the era.

 

[Somebody613]

Honestly while I like the Neanderthal culture, more often than not I find myself getting absurdly powerful units from what I call the "Birds of Doom" stack.
A bunch of birds (Most often eagles) all decide to attack a unit but deal no damage, yet I still get the xp from it. Easiest way to upgrade a super hunter that can take a city on one v one, I managed to kill 1 civ and steal the capitals from 2 other civs (and kill them) in the prehistoric era, giving me a major boost to put me ahead going into the ancient era. If I hit sedentary first, grabbing ideograms for free and rushing Nineveh in my capital pretty much has me set for the rest of the era.

Why not both at once (as in Neanderthal Hunters, lol)? Though, not sure how Free Promotions (the BEST "cheat" in the mod, lol) REALLY work, to be honest.
In some games, I get a unit (NOT a Hunter) all the way to Combat 5 simply through LUCKY hunting feeding Free Promotions almost non-stop.
In some OTHER games, I get basically nothing like that, no matter how much I try. It's... ABSOLUTE RANDOM, to say it mildly.

 

[Fletchers_Requiem]

Why not both at once (as in Neanderthal Hunters, lol)? Though, not sure how Free Promotions (the BEST "cheat" in the mod, lol) REALLY work, to be honest.
In some games, I get a unit (NOT a Hunter) all the way to Combat 5 simply through LUCKY hunting feeding Free Promotions almost non-stop.
In some OTHER games, I get basically nothing like that, no matter how much I try. It's... ABSOLUTE RANDOM, to say it mildly.

AI always seems to beat me to neanderthal unless I get SUPER lucky and spawn near stone or a cave, I've taught myself to not rely on it (and I don't like going more than a few turns without settling). Neanderthal's totally a valid strategy though !

 

[Somebody613]

AI always seems to beat me to neanderthal unless I get SUPER lucky and spawn near stone or a cave, I've taught myself to not rely on it (and I don't like going more than a few turns without settling). Neanderthal's totally a valid strategy though !

If your entire Prehistoric strategy boils down to "unlock N.C.", you should probably simply restart, if you don't have Stone/Caves in the immediate vicinity.
It's not exactly a game-ender (I've had non-N.C. games where I still dominated due to "lucky hunting"), but it's pretty explicit in that one regard anyways.

 

[Fletchers_Requiem]

If your entire Prehistoric strategy boils down to "unlock N.C.", you should probably simply restart, if you don't have Stone/Caves in the immediate vicinity.
It's not exactly a game-ender (I've had non-N.C. games where I still dominated due to "lucky hunting"), but it's pretty explicit in that one regard anyways.

Yeah there's a reason I taught myself not to rely on NC, I almost always manage to dominate with the strategy I outlined above.-

 

[Thunderbrd]

Yeah there's a reason I taught myself not to rely on NC, I almost always manage to dominate with the strategy I outlined above.-

North Carolinians are super unreliable that way.

 

[Fletchers_Requiem]

North Carolinians are super unreliable that way.

To be fair I dated a guy from North Carolina, can confirm they're that unreliable myself--

 

[JosEPh_II]

After 15 years of playing C2C I no longer try to conquer early. I do play rush the tribes so that I have at least 4-6 cities built before Sed LIFE. Territory grab is a must. Cut the AI off before they grab the nearby goodies. I play wide not tall early game. Then I back fill in Ancient era and explore other land masses.
I rarely play a Huge map or High number of AI anymore. Small Map 5-6 AI, Barbs, and Neanders provide all the conflict I want. I don't usually take the Neander units unless I get set in a place where my stone thrower and tribe have to explore for 10+ turns to find a decent spot for an early city. I don't look for Caves but will use 1 if it's nearby with water.