Seeding: opening strategies

[SupremacyKing]

For the first time, I think I will actually play all the factions instead of just sticking to 1-2 favorites like I do in previous civ games. The different combos make all the factions really interesting.

Since I always like science and production civs, I think I will try this:

Sponsors
PAC: +10% production towards wonders and +25% worker speed

Colonists
Scientists: +2 Science in every City

Spacecraft
Retrograde Thrusters: Wider areas for choosing where to land first City

Cargo
Machinery: Begin with a Worker unit

 

[ggmoyang]

I would go for Kavithan, Artists, Continental Surveyor and Machinery.

Kavithan for expansion, Artists will help that with health(like happiness was problem in ciV) and culture(More cities will make unlock virtues faster in earlier stage, border pop w/o old earth relic would be nice).
Continental Surveyor would make early exploring more effective.
And a Free worker sounds insane. (+1 pop doesn't sound that good since I'm not really a fan for working unimproved tiles, and no laboratory since you are not going to build settlers turn 1 anyways.)


For some roleplaying, Brasilia/Artists/Lifeform Sensor/Weapon Arsenal. Kill aliens from T1 and unlock might virtues fast.

 

[Liex]

Also, the Continental scanner seems useless. You can get the gist of the land shape with either the Tectonic scanner or the Lifeform scanner.

I think the Tectonic Scanner don't reveal any tile, only the otherwise hidden resources in already discovered tiles. So it does nothing to the fog of war. It's like being able to see the coal and oil resources in the Ancient Era, so you can make better informed decisions about where to settle new cities. Maybe you can even improve those resources and trade them, albeit they'll probably have no use early on.

 

[ManOfRet]

Well, since you can't really tell what you're going to get before you get it, I think I'd rather go with a less-risky and more generally-applicable strategy. Here goes!

Sponsor: Likely Pan-African Union, and potentially Franco-Iberia or the PAC, since they have very good collateral bonuses. I like to play tall, small empires of high technology, and the first step on that path is to get people, hence the food bonus. Also, wonders are very helpful, if not important in the overall strategy here.

Colonists: Well, based on my earlier statement, Refugees seems to be the way to go, but I personally like to think that the Artists would definitely help with the Health issue, and the Culture provides a lot of flexibility, especially down the Prosperity and Industry paths, where you'd get a lot of early-game Virtues, and Knowledge coming a little bit later.

Spacecraft: Most likely Retrograde Thrusters, since you need to pick a location with a good balance of tile yield to get the best start out of this loadout. An area on the coast with 2-3 hills within 2 tiles of your city is a good bet to start out with. The alternative is almost certainly Tectonic Scanner, since that lets you plan out your future cities better, and given the Tall n' Small strategy, city location and strategic resource location are going to be incredibly important.

Cargo: Any of these are good in this situation. However, I find it doubtful that a Laboratory will ever be useful in this loadout. Hydroponics seems like a decent choice, but given your growth bonus, it seems like almost a waste. A clinic could be useful, but science and health will be more important later on. I would pick a Soldier with the PAU or Franco-Iberia so you can scout more land, and potentially get some Energy or Culture, and pick a Worker with the PAC, for obvious reasons.

"Tall n' Small" Strategy:

Option 1 -
Pan-African Union/Franco-Iberia with Artists (maybe Refugees), Retrograde/Tectonic Scanner, and Weapon Arsenal

Option 2 -
Pan-Asian Cooperative with Refugees (maybe Artists), Tectonic Scanner (maybe Retrograde Thrusters), and Machinery

 

[s0nny80y]

PAU food bonus, Aristocrats energy/money, retrograde thrusters, and a soldier which adds .25 to social healthiness. Build priorities belong to soldier and worker.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I think with Kavithan Protectorate, I would pick Artists for the health and culture. I presume that there is still a wide penalty for gaining virtues, so the culture per city will offset that.
I would also set up the Laboratory that will give me the tech that is required to build colonists and the trade units you need to make them cities.

I would do the Tectonic scanner that will reveal the unseen strategic resources. That way I can set my new cities in place with the best information you can have.

 

[Lord of Harmony]

First game-to learn gameplay

PAC-adaptable faction
Scientists-Get to wonders faster for PAC bonus
Retrograde thrusters-Better Start
Machinery-Works well with retrograde thrusters to improve from turn 1

Culture heavy-to explore virtues

Franco-Iberia-extra techs from virtues
Artists-Extra culture from start
Lifeform Sensor-to take advantage of scavenging
Weapons arsenal-^

Science heavy-explore as much of tech tree as possible

ARC-Steal techs from different parts of the web
Scientists-More science at start
Retrograde Thrusters- More likely to land near science boosting resource
Raw materials-to start with a science building

Satellite heavy-to explore orbital layer

Slavic Federation-Free tech and longer satellite duration
Aristocrats-To buy satellites
Tectonic scanner- In case I need any of these resources for satellites
Weapon Arsenal-Explore and hope I find solar collector

I'll post more tomorrow

 

[swordoflight86]

ARC + Engineers + Tectonic Scanner + Machinery

I will build it or I will steal it, MURICA!

I like this combo. Though I would probably swap out the Scanner for the Retrograde Thrusters.

 

[Bechhold]

Machinery OP.

 

[Dargoth]

Im going to call this my Clive Palmer Polystralia build

Poltystralia: +1 possible trade route from every city that can establish a trade route
Colonist: Engineers +2 Production in ever City
Ship: Tectonic Scanner No technology is needed to see Petroleum, Geothermal and Titanium resources
Cargo: Laboratory: Being with the Pioneering technology (allows settlers and trade)

Why?

Polystralia: Because I am Australian (Im suprised they didnt model the Polstralia leader on Gene Hackman)

Engineers: It versitile it will help with building everything Units, Buildings wonders..

Tectonic Scanner: It allows you to see resources that you would otherwise need to reseach 3 techs to see

Laboratory: Never turn down a free tech! and its a tech that helps with Trade Polystralias UA

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Machinery OP.

Possibly...it (and pop) do seem to be the only one that goes from turn 1

Ways they could boost up the others
Weapons-Promoted Soldier, or 2 soldiers (or 2 soldiers but no explorer), or a Ranger or a Rover
Raw Materials- also allow Old Earth relic or get a better building instead
Lab-include planetary survey OR just make it 1 free tech (choosable on landing)
Pop-increase to +2 pop or 1 pop and 50% (or 30%, 75%, etc.) of granary full

 

[Ivan Hunger]

I still want to go for an emancipation victory as Kavitha for my first game, so I'm thinking something like this:

Scientists

Every colonist choice is good for Kavitha, because they're all "per city" and Kavitha is the city spam Civ. Since I'm going for an affinity victory, aggressively pursuing affinity techs seems like a good choice.

Lifeform Scanner

This is just so I can procrastinate on how I'm going to deal with the aliens. If they're super close, I can rush the fence tech. If they're not, I can focus on expanding away from them.

Raw Materials

Here me out on this one. Bringing a lab would let me use my ability sooner. But I already have scientists as my colonists, so the amount of turns I save by getting one early tech for free isn't really worth it. A free clinic, on the other hand, would not only get me more science in the long run, but also save me health and production (from not having to build one).

 

[UnderKingDuck]

For my first game it most likely will be...

Franco-Iberia
Artists
Retrograde Thrusters or Tectonic Scanner
Hydroponics

I wanted to play Kavithan Protectorate first, but I don't like the UA like I said in another thread. :/

 

[Tagma]

It's probably been obvious to everyone for a while, but it only just hit me: BE isn't taking away our UUs and UB's and powerful UA's; instead, it is letting us completely customise them every single game. Ahh, all those games where I wished I could have the Merchant of Venice combined with the Hanse and Siam's UA.........

 

[Zet]

There are exactly 1000 different seeding combinations.

 

[Martinus]

For my first game it most likely will be...

Franco-Iberia
Artists
Retrograde Thrusters or Tectonic Scanner
Hydroponics

This is exactly my choice as well. Lends itself very well to a tall civ, with few large cities (and the capital founded on a sweet spot).

 

[Lord Katana]

There are exactly 1000 different seeding combinations.

That just means we have to play/win the game 1000 times ... might take some time

 

[Zet]

Aristocrat colonists seems to be a really bad choice at the moment.

An old earth relic costs 40 production, or 200 energy. Engineers would take 20 turns to produce this much, aristocrats 67 turns. Energy is more flexible than production, and aristocrats also give +1 health, but engineers still seem the clear winner here.

Also, there's no way 2 culture is worth 3 energy.

 

[Knut_Are_M]

kavithan protectorate ,5 turns saved on standard speed from outpost to city. 3on quick.
artists +2 culture+1 Health per city.
lifeform skanner, lets avoid that exsplorer loss.
machinery( lets improve tiles on turn 1 so we can grow).

get 10 prosperity policies as fast as possible and rex like mad. With buldings/workers and trade units and some defensive units as needed. early Techs are ecology,chemistry and pioneering.

you got to remember that With artists you can get 5 culture out early. With any other pick you are limited to 3 culture per turn. and some of those tier 2 policies might be decent to have sooner. those that do not pick artists will have to wait untill they can get a second city up to match the 5 culture those With artists and old relic gives. and that is another 186 hammers. +more Health is usually really nice if you want to rex.
those 5 choises look fairly balanced to me.

 

[Eisenhart]

I think I would go for:

Franco-Iberia
Artists
Life-form Surveyor
Laboratory