Quite a start, let's play with strategy ideas.

[Red_Snake]

Hey guys, I just ended up with a pretty fantastic start, but I would hardly call myself a good Civ4 player. I figure we can collaborate here and help me build up Rome into a world super power.

Up until this point I haven't really won a game, and I've been far from establishing anything that has ever looked like a specialist city. Currently I am not sure of what victory I want to peruse, but in this game I'd like to run a specialist economy and play with corporations. OK, let's get down to business.

Rome: Augustus Caesar (IMP/IND)

Game Settings:
Large map - Big and small, snaky, high sea level
12 civs
Epic

GameSave

Ideas?

 

[Red_Snake]

The first few turns:

I met a scout from Raggy to the north. Hopefully he has some good land up there for my preats to conquer! The hut popped mysticism which was a nice bonus, I'm thinking building Stonehenge after my first worker pops is a good idea for the osbliek bonus. Great lighthouse will be a priority also.

What do you think of Pyramids/Great wall? Is it good to horde wonders at the beginning of the game?

As for teching I'll likley go bronze working -> iron working to make sure I can settle a city with Iron.

Sound good? Stupid?

 

[InvisibleStalke]

What an embarrassment of riches. I would probably go with BW, Ag (if you don't start with this) and then Iron followed by masonry. Got to find the iron city. With Masonry then build stonehenge and pyramids - both will help you manage the vast lands your Praets will conquer. Forget Great Wall unless you find no iron or bronze on the map and need to change plans.

Chop out a settler quick so you can settle iron if you find it. Maybe a couple - looks like a lot of forest available to chop Praetorians.

With Industrious and stone and this start you can probably afford to delay the wonders until you have a couple of cities out. You build cities faster than anyone and will build the wonders faster too. Then maybe chop them quickly - in different cities if possible. From there it should be all out war on the cities the AI will have built for you.

Normally I would say just go for it and build Praets, but the Praets will be just as effective 30 turns later and you will have two very good starting wonders.

 

[futurehermit]

Stonehenge, GW, and Pyramids for sure. Preferably all in different cities though to specialize GP production. Hanging Gardens should also be a priority in the 'mids city.

The gold will help super-power your early research. Going for IW seems reasonable.

Getting a few good specialist cities with forums will be key.

With stone + industrious you should be able to claim every stone-based wonder in the game. Plan to do this.

Going for math + masonry early for H.gardens means a construction beeline to me, which is nice. Cats + Praets = unstoppable.

Currency = forums and is also great for funding expansion.

So I'm thinking math as a priority tech after IW and then currency/construction/col and expand your empire!

I would suggest a hybrid econ with some specialist cities and some commerce cities, with a few production cities.

 

[Red_Snake]

Ok, here is where we currently sit.

I guess the dot will be a good spot for my iron city? Then place a city on A for a mega production city.

My research will end up taking a huge hit. Hopefully it will bounce back with Rags money.

Do the city ideas look good?

 

[futurehermit]

A looks fine.

I would move the iron city 1 S. 2S is also a good possibility since those lake tiles will be 3f2c with a lighthouse. I would pair the rice with the other gold pit. Maybe 1N of the rice.

 

[Red_Snake]

Update (probably the final of the night):

Raggy seems to be massing archers in his capital, while uppsala seems to just be defended by a loan warrior. Once the respective buildings finish in Antinum and Cumae they will go to Preat mode. Rome is already pumping them out. My war plan is to take a single city, sue for peace if possible and then move on from there.

Rome has both the Pyramids and Great Wall while the Great Lighthouse is in Cumae.

I am going to finish researching metalworking and then go alphabet to see if I can get the pre-req's for the Great Library. Speaking of that, Antinum will probably become a super science city, sound good?

Both red and green dots look like they will make for good commerce cities as well, especially with the moi statues up in red. Could green end up being a science city as well with a lighthouse? Could that be a better spot for the Great Library? Rome will probably be getting the Hanging Gardens.

Thanks for all the input by the way. I really appreciate all of your ideas, it helps to have a few extra glances at my work

 

[Jet]

Arrgh. Just lost a big post. More tersely this time:

Take your whole island. Only sue for peace if it gives you good techs.

By super science city I'll assume you mean:
- earlyish academy
- scientists and/or cottages
- some or all of the rest of your scientists settled there
- oxford (unless a better one comes along, but if you've invested in an academy and settled great scientists, one probably wont).

No, Antium really isn't good for that. Not enough food and tiles for the scientists and/or cottages.

Green dot and Nidaros have similar tile commerce and food. Green dot has better trade routes, but Nidaros has more land tiles and better production, so it's better.

In Nidaros, either you can run cow + 3 flood farms + 2 river grass farms + 3 silk + 5 specialists and leave every forest that Ragnar doesn't chop for your National Park; or you can cover it with a mix of cottages and farms and run no specialists. Both choices are good, but they have different consequences.

 

[Underdawg]

I don't have anymore additional tips, but this game reminded me why I never play Rome. Praets are sickening... Ragnar rolled over like nothing. I played your savegame.

Actually I do have some tips. I suggest putting Maoi Statues in Rome and then follow up with a Wall Street later, I built Colossus there also. Antinum as a super science (Oxford City?), the city is quite subpar IMO. Take over Ragnar already and use Nidaros instead, it's prime territory for an Cottage Spam/Oxford site or a National Epic site.

My intention was to see how long this game would take me, but once I got to the end of the little island, I just stopped playing, knowing using 2 capacity galleys to transport my legions will take me forever.

 

[futurehermit]

I agree with the consensus to take your continent. Why would you sue for peace?

Your two city spots seem fine. Nidaros for super-science city. Try and find a gpfarm before too much longer though. Colossus is probably a good idea.

 

[LlamaCat]

just a thought for future reference: if you had moved and settled directly on the gold plains hill, you would have all those resources in your fat cross (+ horses to the north!), and 1 extra hammer in your city tile for quick production and immediate access to the gold.

I know it loses some commerce from the gold, but man that city would have been a monster eventually! maybe a little unconventional but anyway...

edit: do you happen to have the start file save to me to try that strategy? never mind it looks like you do...

 

[xanadux]

I would say this start is only quite nice because of Ind + stone. Long term, resource wise, your capital is not too impressive. Food is decent, but not great. Early production and commerce are good because of the stone and gold. But overall, food, commerce, and production are if anything a bit subpar. Only 2 hills, too much water, and too many plains.

But thanks to the stone and your industrious trait, you have an opportunity for a stong wonder building binge. You can in relatively quick time build the GW, Stonehenge, and Pyramids. You have a good supply of forests. This is a perfect start to leverage the power of the pyramids and settled GPs. Your capital will get its strength not from the power of the land around it in the long run, but the settled GP it produces. Build those 3 early stone wonders as soon as possible, chopping as necessary. Personally, I would suggest using the worker to chop a second worker (BW first), then a couple improvements and chop those first 3 wonders.

 

[Silence101]

I would say this start is only quite nice because of Ind + stone. Long term, resource wise, your capital is not too impressive. Food is decent, but not great. Early production and commerce are good because of the stone and gold. But overall, food, commerce, and production are if anything a bit subpar. Only 2 hills, too much water, and too many plains.

I agree - too much water... I'm not sure that I would consider this a "great" start. You could do worse, but I can tell already that there's not a lot of good land available for settling in your area - things are already starting to get crowded and future expansion efforts in your area of the map are probably going to lead to war. There's just not much land here.