Pointers for early game requested

[grenzdebil]

Hello gang,

after silently lurking this forum for years I finally decided to do more than just read. I consider myself a battle-proven veteran of Civ, I've had them all since Civ I and I always managed to get by. Until now.

Civ 5 was a "blind buy" (does that expression exist in English?) and so far it does not seem to agree with me too much. Or maybe it's the other way round. I am not yet sure if I like the new Civ, those low tile yields don't seem to be too much fun.

But maybe I am just doing something wrong, I am looking to improve my game and I was hoping that you guys here might be willing and able to give me some pointers. Any help would be much appreciated.

I started a Continents game, Standard size, Prince difficulty. Anything else is set to standard values, with the exception of Quick Combat, which I checked. As nice as the combat animations look, turns take long enough even without them, and I don't even have a slow computer.

I chose Random Civilization and got Askia of Songhai. Starting location didn't look too bad:

Spoiler :

Turn 1, Warrior has been moved

Fish, Gold and Cotton. I've had some better, but mainly I've had worse. I started researching Mining and had Gao build a scout followed by a worker.

On turn 10 I had met the Ottomans to the North and Catherine to the South plus one cultural CS. The land looks promising so far, but I am not really sure how to go from here. I considered settling on the marble to the South, but is this really the best choice?

Spoiler :

Turn 10

Any hints?

 

[LD1977]

I am currently playing Emperor but have been playing Prince a lot.

As Songai I would really prioritize finding horses ASAP (= research Animal Husbandry), since:
1. I like to start mass farming barbarian camps for triple cash, which I then spend on buying settlers. I don't like to make settlers since it stops growth. I do not use maritimes extensively since the AIs don't do it either and on Prince the playing field is level otherwise.
2. Horses upgrade into the lovely Songai cavalry, which comes handy for conquest later on.

I like to settle near rivers for the gold bonus and the +1 food from farms after Civil service.

Good option might be to put city No. 2 one the hill right of the sheep, but then you have to put No. 3 on the left coast so you can make a fishing boat to connect the fishes on the left later on That position will have decent food (4 river farms) and decent production and also immediately block the passage for AIs - this way if you want you can handicap them into not making contact with "other side", which means no $$$ from meeting city states. Helps with defense too, if needed.

Consider that there are much better players around before listening to me

Edit: Just noticed the blocking argument is irrelevant since the capital does it already. But I still like the hill position.

 

[southpw11]

I am the same as you. Played since Civ 1, but after Rexing died and I had kids I never had enough time to adapt my playstyle to win at higher levels. In Civ5, I can win domination victory on prince most of the time but still have trouble winning on king.

I'd do basically what LD1977 said with city 2. Park it right in the middle of all those resources and once you research masonry buy tiles to get marble (if necessary), and then look around for a good spot for city 3 probably amongst the resources to the north which will give you dyes as well.

I typically play as rome/england so I try to secure iron by the 3rd city if possible, but as LD1977 said securing horses seems a lot more important as you can go on a rampage especially after you get Mandekalu Cavalry.

 

[grenzdebil]

Thank you, guys. We'll see where that takes me. AH research is already in progress (2nd screenshot) and I do have horsies in my capital - right next to the cotton.

Looks like I still need to get rid of old CivIV habits, settling one tile away from the coast was a no go back then. The one extra food from a lighthouse does not seem to be worth it anymore. Sigh ...

 

[elthrasher]

Thank you, guys. We'll see where that takes me. AH research is already in progress (2nd screenshot) and I do have horsies in my capital - right next to the cotton.

Looks like I still need to get rid of old CivIV habits, settling one tile away from the coast was a no go back then. The one extra food from a lighthouse does not seem to be worth it anymore. Sigh ...

Yeah, plain sea tiles are dreadful in this game. Of course you'll want some coastal cities on a continents map.

Check out the threads about the early national college. That would probably really put you far ahead in tech on prince. Then you expand a bit and go to war when it suits you.