I'm a noob (really!) currently trying to win on emperor, but, with Alex, I do several different starts, all depending on my surrounding resources.
Each starting position difference will of course effect how quickly or rather, how directly you can actually research a tech in order to use it or be able to find it, such as horses or bronze (which is what I am always trying to settle near ASAP so i can start my first war even faster!)
This is important because like future said, the timing of the tech orders you pick will sometimes have your worker doing nothing, which we will avoid ^^.
Additionally, the starting positions I use the following builds on are the typical 2F 1H 1C starting cities, with at least one additionally available 3F source. Added Commerce onto the 3F source normally times our builds so that everything happens at the same or near same finishing time. I.E. Bronze working and settler pop out same time or settler one turn before. If you have a 3F 2C source, then you would need to add on 1-3 additional turns in the city growing phase to avoid wasted worker turns.
Also, if you don't have a 3F tile in your immediate borders you will have to wait till your borders Pop, in which case your first Warrior will usually be finished one turn after your city hits size 2. If this happens, you will need to grow your city untill it has 4 more turns to hit size 3.
Further, if you don't have a single hill with out forest you will have to grow your city to size 3 by building a barracks (put bottom of que once size 3) after your initial warrior in order to avoid worker inactivity. The same is true if you only have AGR resources available. This delays our settler slightly both ways but at least it ensures we have no worker inactivity, and of course, when our settler does pop out, we will know where the bronze/horses are available.
So, you have Pigs/Cows/Sheep/Deer (we have hunting!) you go:
Warrior/Worker/Settler/Worker/Barracks/Scout/Scout.
AH/Mining/BW/Wheel/AGR/Writing
This allows you to find your key resources and avoid worker inactivity. I skip pottery because it delays my library and 2 scientist at my 2nd city. I get wheel before AGR because I want to hook up horse/bronze ASAP therefore creating charriots or AXE very fast.
If you get very lucky, you might not even need to make a scout at all. Scouts are in the que simply because you cant make charriots or Axe yet, and need to build something (and hey, they can scout which is good place to attack).
After the first worker pops out and you finish the pasture you should have approximately 4 turns left till BW is finished, so you go mine that empty hill. Once hill is finished Your settler should be about 4 turns from being finished now, the same time needed to finish researching TheWheel. Start Chopping forest at a hill you plan to use later on. Your chop will be finished same time your settler hits 2 or 1 turns giving some overflow for your 2nd worker.
Once settler is done following him with your 1st worker to new city and start pasture or mine followed by road. I normally have my 2nd worker start making a road to 2nd city also because I like to train attacking units fast.
By the time your resource is hooked up, writing should be 1 to 2 turns from finishing, so Just have one worker make farm or 2nd pasture (food) while the other once chops in your library. Then for me, the 2nd city is done for a while. I have resources hooked up and 2 scientist started early (if unlucky, I can only run one because I don't have a 4F tile).
From there the workers finish mines at capitol and any other resources they can find, and of course, roads where needed.
Once again, if no Pig/Cow/Sheep/Deer size 3 first. You should research AGR/AH/Mining/BW/Wheel.
Each starting position difference will of course effect how quickly or rather, how directly you can actually research a tech in order to use it or be able to find it, such as horses or bronze (which is what I am always trying to settle near ASAP so i can start my first war even faster!)
This is important because like future said, the timing of the tech orders you pick will sometimes have your worker doing nothing, which we will avoid ^^.
Additionally, the starting positions I use the following builds on are the typical 2F 1H 1C starting cities, with at least one additionally available 3F source. Added Commerce onto the 3F source normally times our builds so that everything happens at the same or near same finishing time. I.E. Bronze working and settler pop out same time or settler one turn before. If you have a 3F 2C source, then you would need to add on 1-3 additional turns in the city growing phase to avoid wasted worker turns.
Also, if you don't have a 3F tile in your immediate borders you will have to wait till your borders Pop, in which case your first Warrior will usually be finished one turn after your city hits size 2. If this happens, you will need to grow your city untill it has 4 more turns to hit size 3.
Further, if you don't have a single hill with out forest you will have to grow your city to size 3 by building a barracks (put bottom of que once size 3) after your initial warrior in order to avoid worker inactivity. The same is true if you only have AGR resources available. This delays our settler slightly both ways but at least it ensures we have no worker inactivity, and of course, when our settler does pop out, we will know where the bronze/horses are available.
So, you have Pigs/Cows/Sheep/Deer (we have hunting!) you go:
Warrior/Worker/Settler/Worker/Barracks/Scout/Scout.
AH/Mining/BW/Wheel/AGR/Writing
This allows you to find your key resources and avoid worker inactivity. I skip pottery because it delays my library and 2 scientist at my 2nd city. I get wheel before AGR because I want to hook up horse/bronze ASAP therefore creating charriots or AXE very fast.
If you get very lucky, you might not even need to make a scout at all. Scouts are in the que simply because you cant make charriots or Axe yet, and need to build something (and hey, they can scout which is good place to attack).
After the first worker pops out and you finish the pasture you should have approximately 4 turns left till BW is finished, so you go mine that empty hill. Once hill is finished Your settler should be about 4 turns from being finished now, the same time needed to finish researching TheWheel. Start Chopping forest at a hill you plan to use later on. Your chop will be finished same time your settler hits 2 or 1 turns giving some overflow for your 2nd worker.
Once settler is done following him with your 1st worker to new city and start pasture or mine followed by road. I normally have my 2nd worker start making a road to 2nd city also because I like to train attacking units fast.
By the time your resource is hooked up, writing should be 1 to 2 turns from finishing, so Just have one worker make farm or 2nd pasture (food) while the other once chops in your library. Then for me, the 2nd city is done for a while. I have resources hooked up and 2 scientist started early (if unlucky, I can only run one because I don't have a 4F tile).
From there the workers finish mines at capitol and any other resources they can find, and of course, roads where needed.
Once again, if no Pig/Cow/Sheep/Deer size 3 first. You should research AGR/AH/Mining/BW/Wheel.
