Settlers: How can I get best locations?

[Prozac1964]

Hi everyone, I have a habit of rushing Settler production so I can settle the best locations on the map. I feel if I don't settle first, another civ will beat me to a really good spot.

Is this a bad habit I should break, or does everyone else do the same?

 

[yung.carl.jung]

that is a very good habit. some exceptional players even use build orders like scout / scout / scout / settler. (manpanzee did that in a few dcl games iirc)-

settling as early as possible (if your happiness allows it) is always your priority. especially when playing tradition.

when playing liberty you generally wait until you get collective rule.

 

[Sherlock]

I try to build my first settler when my city hits '3'.

 

[Prozac1964]

that is a very good habit. some exceptional players even use build orders like scout / scout / scout / settler. (manpanzee did that in a few dcl games iirc)-

settling as early as possible (if your happiness allows it) is always your priority. especially when playing tradition.

when playing liberty you generally wait until you get collective rule.

Food for thought. And I'm playing tradition...

I try to build my first settler when my city hits '3'.

Wow! Really? That means you're having to build your settler very fast. If I had to guess I'd say you have to build your first settler in under 30-40 turns....

 

[Primacide]

I'm glad the other feedback agrees: you are absolutely correct to get your settlers out early. More chance to develop and you can pick city locations that are great instead of merely what is left over.

In terms of practicality, I would say the trick to building settlers efficiently is to note the trade off between one more pop and a significant increase in hammers. In other words, building a settler at city size 2 will probably take 20 turns. However, waiting 6 turns until the city grows will lead to a settler produced in 12 turns. (These are typical numbers for me.). So, just make sure you hit that sweet spot before pumping out settlers. FYI, I too generally let my capital hit size three and then just spam three settlers.

Bottom line, kept doing what you're doing. That kind of play works well all the way up to deity.

 

[blankity_blank]

I play on Immortal, and I have the exact same thought process as you. The AI WILL take your city spots if you don't get there fast enough.
As soon as I grow to a population with decent Settler production, I immediately start making them.

A typical build order for me would be scout-scout-(monument)-shrine-granary-settler(s). But If I grow to pop 4 when building a granary and there's decent production, i'll switch to Settler immediately, then finish the granary.

 

[Prozac1964]

Awesome feedback everyone!

 

[Plumfairy]

Wow! Really? That means you're having to build your settler very fast. If I had to guess I'd say you have to build your first settler in under 30-40 turns....

That's pretty common for a decent Tradition start. Basically, as soon as your city hits size 3, you start feeling kinda anxious & asking yourself "Do I really really need to be building this other thing that's not a settler?" Sometimes the answer is "yes", in which case: carry on! (e.g. if your city has 3 wheat within range, it's well worth delaying that first settler to build a granary first.) But most of the time, a settler would be better.

Liberty, on the other hand, tends to build its first settler only after you get Collective Rule. (The policy that gives you a free settler & reduced production costs for settlers) Even though most players go with a Scout-Monument-Scout initial build order in order to get social policies ASAP, most of the time Liberty ends up building its first settler a little later than a Tradition player would.... but when they *do* start building settlers, they'll pop out several & expand much faster than a Tradition player. (Happiness permitting, of course.)

 

[bhavv]

I still like to open tradition then go for collective rule to get settlers out faster.

 

[Plumfairy]

I still like to open tradition then go for collective rule to get settlers out faster.

That causes you to reach Collective rRle *later*, in most situations. I believe the exception is if you get an early cultural ruin. But even in that case, opening Tradition slows down later policy acquisitions by quite a lot.

Of course, you do get the advantage of Tradition's faster border growth, which is no small thing. Sometimes I'll open Tradition for that very reason... but only after I've gotten Collective Rule.

 

[bhavv]

Oh right, I should get collective rule first? I mean I also then max out tradition anyway, and leave Liberty at collective rule.

And also I like Hanging Gardens.

 

[lindsay40k]

You will settle faster with CR beeline or pure Tradition with early settlers. Full Tradition + CR means expending three SPs, with a long-term gain of +1 culture & hammer per city. that's pretty low returns on the investment if you're not going to go wide with it, and could instead be two policies in Patronage and your Rationalism opener. Or left side Honor and get training some Range Logistics archery.

 

[Mahasona]

The other trick to getting a settler out quickly is to play around with which tiles are worked.

Because food gets turned into settler production I switch citizens around on the city screen to see what gets higher production, then lock them until a turn before the settler is ready. There's maths to this but just simply playing around with the tiles is all you need to do.

 

[lindsay40k]

Really, the best approach is to see for yourself. Save a game on 4000BC and play through each of the three early approaches; Trad opener then CR, and CR before full Trad, and pure Trad with Settlers on population 3. Try it out with and without an early culture ruin. That way, you'll see which of the strategies is best suited both to yourself and to particular circumstances

 

[Redaxe]

A typical build order for me would be scout-scout-(monument)-shrine-granary-settler(s). But If I grow to pop 4 when building a granary and there's decent production, i'll switch to Settler immediately, then finish the granary.

Its common wisdom to leave the granary out. While it may help produce settlers a tiny bit faster (from the extra food) it just isn't worth it - you'll delay your settler unnecessarily (60 hammers is a big investment so early in the game - and it isn't going to pay off unless you are Venice...).

The best luck i've actually had with building settlers is getting population ruin, culture ruin, archer upgrade ruin, population ruin. And then bingo size 4 population at turn 20!

Thus my build order is usually scout, scout, shrine, ??? (as others have said if i'm close to size 4 i'll hold off a wee bit longer to get that extra citizen).

 

[Aea]

Its common wisdom to leave the granary out.

Agreed. Even if you have zero excess food the granary will at most add +2 production towards settlers.

P.S. Not sure if it's worth mentioning but it's totally fine to not complete something before switching towards settler production.

 

[cazaderonus]

Food for thought. And I'm playing tradition...




Wow! Really? That means you're having to build your settler very fast. If I had to guess I'd say you have to build your first settler in under 30-40 turns....

Exactly. Some amazing players will consistently have 4 cities and NC built under 85 turns. That s how they break records on fast wins.

I d recommend watching some Ackers let s play to any beginner. It s full of great pointers and basic strategies

 

[Sclb]

Many player partially build granary or caravans while waiting for a natural pop increase before switching to settlers. I'll usually prebuild caravan for liberty and granary for tradition.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

Many player partially build granary or caravans while waiting for a natural pop increase before switching to settlers. I'll usually prebuild caravan for liberty and granary for tradition.

this is excellent advice. especially with caravans you want to delay them until you
a) took care of barbarian camps so that there is no chance of your TR getting pillaged
b) another Civ forward settles you in order to grant you a Caravan with very high beaker output and decent gold as opposed to food for your second/third/fourth city (seeing as at that time no city but your capital will have a granary)

 

[isau]

In single player, don't be afraid to declare war on someone running a Settler near your territory. Especially if you either got Archery from a hut, or one of your early units got a free upgrade. Even if you dont actually kill the settler/unit, they tend to not like charging at your units and you can really slow them down, even with Scouts.