Personality Traits and Virtue Progression

[vorlon_mi]

Two thoughts / questions from my NSA game that I started last night (up to turn 200 or so) ...

Virtue Order: In the last several games, pursuing diffferent affinity victories, I have tended to pursue both the Prosperity and Might virtues first. My goals are to get to both: Scavenging (Might) to get science from killing aliens; Pathfinders (Prosperity) to get extra expedition modules on my Explorers. Some recent games saw me prioritizing Might with my first 3 virtues, so that I can supplement the meager science from 1 or 2 cities. Some games, I alternated between the two trees.
Last night, I beelined for Pathfinders, while building 2 Explorers before my first expansion city, followed by a third shortly after.
This approach gave me 2 explorers (before turn 80 or 100) that no longer had to keep circling back to replenish. More artifacts, even with out choosing the research that boost them! Going for Might next, only later going for the free Colonist in Prosperity, got me the science I needed.
Which virtues do you prioritize first? Does that change, depending on the victory you're aiming for?

Personality Traits: For the Domestic trait, I tend to choose either Industrialist (boost city production) or Innovative (boost city science) most of the time. If I know that I want to win a Harmony victory, I usually choose Innovative. However, in this game I found that the large island where I started had a lot of tundra terrain. Hard to grow your population with less-than-fertile land. So I chose Humanitarian (boost city food) for this game, which I think is a first. I had chosen Engineers (boost production) for my colonists, which is working well.
In all Civ games, one must play the map -- assess the resources and terrain, decide where to settle, which aspects to emphasize. BERT is part of that pattern.

 

[Falein]

I usually mix Might and Prosperity early too, Pathfinders and Scavenging are both strong openers. Trait-wise, I lean Industrialist, but going Humanitarian on tundra terrain sounds like a smart call. Always comes down to reading the map.

 

[vorlon_mi]

Welcome to CivFanatics!

A related point ... I often choose "Subtle" for the Political trait, so that my spy missions finish quicker for the whole game. Some games I can initiate diplomatic agreements, while in other games my neighbors are grumpy for the first 150 turns. It's harder to reap the benefits of Enlightened, Insightful, or Progressive.

On the Military side, "Honorable" is a favorite (culture for each kill). I purchase a few tiles with energy, but not enough to make "Colonial" more useful than Honorable.

 

[Aldor]

I rarely mix virtues early on, instead I usually choose either the industry or the prosperity tree, and go deep to reach the +health virtues. I will fill out 10 virtues in the tree to reach the t2 bonus, then switch to another tree (normally knowledge).

For traits, I find Generous in Political Traits very hard to beat, especially early on (and it synergizes perfectly with the industry virtue tree). Insightful is an alternative I choose occasionally. In the Domestic Traits, I like Industrialist and Innovative...both are great. For Military Traits, I like Precise. Haven't tried Honorable but that would be a good alternative. If I don't plan on fighting much, I go with Integrated instead.

 

[vorlon_mi]

Two mechanisms that I've found helpful are espionage and exploration, especially sending my explorers to Progenitor sites.
For exploration, getting to Pathfinders in the Prosperity tree is an early priority, since finding them is basically a race against the AI.
I'm intrigued by @Aldor 's tactic of going deep (tier 2) before switching to another tree. I'm also intrigued by using the Industry virtue tree, which I usually pass over. Since I usually play at Soyuz difficulty, if an AI spawns near me, they usually will declare on me in the first 100-150 turns.
I need to build some units to defend, right during the time that my expansion has put me to -5, -8, -10 in health. The tier 1 Might virtue "Public Security" fits nicely into my goals of defending against aggression and digging out of the "unhealthy pit."
I tend to have more smaller cities, so productivity boosts thru the Industry tree seems less useful. Buying what I need, rather than hard-building it, is often my style. I don't build a lot of wonders, but I love the affinity boosts from Might's Adaptive Science and Martial Meditations.

For espionage, I'm not quite as devoted to it as Tiberiu or others, but I do love siphoning energy/gold to fund buying buildings. This is especially true in the mid-game (turns 150-220), after conquering and later annexing cities. As a result, I emphasize traits that improve espionage (Subtle) which directly confliicts with Generous. The Might virtue Special Service fits with that.

The Knowlege tier 1 virtues for science (Laboratory Apprenticeship) and culture (Creative Class) would fit nicely with my tendency to expand, both peacefully and violently. I should try switching to Knowledge sooner than I currently do.