Really really need help

[wcbarney]

...I would say you should definitely be doing a scout as your first build, every time. Maybe even 2 scouts, I forget exactly how much free land you are looking at in huge, but I recall it is pretty big. Scouts will help you track down barbs earlier, nab more ruins (which again will be more plentiful due to more land), and discover more CSes.

I always play on huge maps, at the Emperor level, and I always build two scouts, and keep exploring close-in with my warrior. There is just So . Much . Territory to cover.

Yeah, you want a monument, and a shrine, and a granary, and a worker, and more units, and a library, and a settler -- so much to build and so many turns required to do it!. I really do depend on goodie huts (i.e., ruins) for some gold, some culture, once in awhile for a free tech, once in a really great while some faith. An upgrade of one of your scouts to an archer is nice; an upgrade of your warrior to a spearman is meh.

Finding City States is also extremely important. If you're really lucky you can find two Religious CSes and get enough gifted faith to get a pantheon (I've only been lucky like that once in many, many games). But all newly discovered CSes will give you gold (30 or 15); I almost always buy a shrine or a granary with goodie hut & CS gold.

I'm not sure how you handle barbs, but 5 combat units should be more than enough. The scouts can be very helpful in dealing with them as well. Barbs should be handled more defensively. Don't make a move that might cost you one of your units. Use terrain to your advantage. Put your scouts on fortify and let the warriors attack them a couple times. Your scout should be able to heal enough to outlast the barb.

Barb camps are good! I never take them out 'til a CS offers me a quest to do so. Often you will get the same quest from 2-3 CSes. Taking the barb camp out gives you 50 influence points with each one, plus you will usually get 12 more points by killing off another barb; if you're lucky you can even rescue a CS worker and get another 50 (40?) points. Bottom line: You get early-game CS allies and/or friends whose benefits will last at least 20 turns.

Plus, of course, your units get XP on both offense and defense, and you get 25 gold when you eventually take out the barb camp.

 

[KungFuMonkey52]

I just wanted to wholeheartedly agree with everyone advocating early Scout production. There are so many reasons why this is a good idea, even for a one city challenge cultural victory.

 

[Setiwoh]

k. the response from njmfff drives me nuts. 9units early game? yeah right. and you don't even need 9. I am not even joking, you can take out any city with your starting warrior and just one battering ram. maybe build another warrior to be safe. as time goes on you'll need more and more guys postpone your conquests just to build an army you don't need.