[R&F] Optimal Choices When Building Around a Wonder?

[rarmonio8920]

So I have this game save from Turn 1 (Japan, Prince Difficulty) where I've been playing around with the start over and over... To me, it seems like the most epic start.

To the north, I have a peninsula. About 7 tiles south of where my settler starts though, I have Mount Kiliminjaro. As I explored the surrounding area, I realized that the game created this very natural valley where I could build five or six cities with maximum spacing, each along this river running along the perimeter, surrounding Mount Kilimanjaro, and I don't have any civilizations competing with me over that land. Outside of that valley were a couple city states and Tamar on the other side of some mountains... I was left pretty undisturbed for quite awhile. Brazil is the next closest neighbor and they're annoyingly aggressive later on in spreading their religion.

I'll try to take a screenshot of it later, but was just curious... what would you think would be optimal settling/district placement if you were to place a natural wonder at the center of it?

I re-did that start a couple times to see what would work best. I think what I ended up doing was spacing five cities so that the edges of their borders would surround Kilimanjaro. I don't recall exactly what districts I built, but I believe it was a Holy Site, 2 Campuses, 2 Cultural Centers surrounding it... and then I built adjacent districts to all of those.

Even as great a start as it was, it was kinda tricky because I didn't have the Gold to buy tiles for 5 cities. I also think I could've had similar results if maybe I just tried to have Kilimanjaro and its tiles fall under one city's borders and then build from there. I'll post a screenshot of this valley when I can, but any thoughts?

 

[rarmonio8920]

Hi,

Here's a screenshot of that start. As I mentioned, Tamar doesn't expand into that northern area and this entire section is what the game appears to have carved out for me.

How do you suggest settling?

 

[jhjhjh]

I look at this screenshot and I think WTH 8 slingers??

If your scouting reveals that you're undisturbed, go greedy. When pop hits 2, start working on a settler. Scout→builder→settler is a good build especially on prince. Barbs can't do much this early and neither can the AI. So there's no need for military. My first three cities would probably be by the diamonds, the iron and east of the river wheat tile. Trade route to Georgia, conquer with warriors and archers, make peace for lots of money, settle the rest of the lands.

 

[rarmonio8920]

I look at this screenshot and I think WTH 8 slingers??

If your scouting reveals that you're undisturbed, go greedy. When pop hits 2, start working on a settler. Scout→builder→settler is a good build especially on prince. Barbs can't do much this early and neither can the AI. So there's no need for military. My first three cities would probably be by the diamonds, the iron and east of the river wheat tile. Trade route to Georgia, conquer with warriors and archers, make peace for lots of money, settle the rest of the lands.

Naw... I just built a bunch of slingers just for the sake of clearing barbs and making a screenshot for this scenario. My game save is from Turn 1, so I've been playing around with this start.

My question is though, what would you think is the best way to build around Kilimanjaro, given that it's pretty much in the center of this plot of land?

 

[jhjhjh]

I've been thinking about this for a while now. And it's certainly not optimal, but in my games I would be happy to reach pop 4, thanks to the natural wonder, very quickly in my first expansion while I ensure the iron mine eurekas. Sorry that it doesn't answer your question though

Kilimanjaro just isn't good enough a wonder that I would base my early settling strategy completely around it and think 40 turns into the future like a grandmaster just to get maximum adjacency bonuses and what tiles I need to buy. In early game there are so many other factors to think about and bigger decisions to be made. That said, I'm curious to read how others would play this out.

 

[playshogi]

I would settle 2 tiles SW of the wonder on the river, for era score. Then to the west along the same river, a city on the coast next to the coastal mountain, to grab gems and pearls. Then to the east along the same river between the gems and 2 stones and a city north of this to grab the 2 coffee. Fill in the back area to squeeze as many cities as you can. Spam chariots and upgrade to knights ASAP and capture Tamar's cities.