Starting Plays

[Slicknick1136]

Hi everyone,I have a quick question to ask.

When building my first city,I always wonder to myself what would be the best opening plays.By that i mean what to build in your first city.I usally do this.Take my worker and move to the most valuble square,hes going to move their anyway.Then I settle my city,reserch whatever i think is the best tech at the time,and set reserch to 90.I set production on my capital city to warrior.I continue working the land with my worker.After the warrior is popped out,I set production on another one.I send my first warrior to go explore and continue with my worker actions.When the next warriors done i send him off to explore too,this is when i get confused on what to do.Build another worker,go strait for the settler?also what to do with reserch towards science?When to build my second city is a very big problem with me.Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-Nick-

 

[mtgfreak]

if you are playing on a higher difficulty level, such as monarch+, it is always important to get the second city ASAP

 

[nullspace]

Like everthing else in civ, what you do in the opening moves depends on lots of things. The first thing to do is build some units for exploring, like you said. I usually send some out looking for contacts, and use one to explore nearby terrain for city spots. After that, it depends.

If there's a spot for a second city that's better than my first city, I'll build a settler. Growth is very important early on, so if there's a spot with wheat or cattle, I'll send a settler there ASAP. If space is really tight and I need to claim territory before the other civs, that's another reason to start with settlers.

If that's not the case, meaning that the capital has the best growth around, and I'm certain to get the best spots without competition, I'll build a granary. That'll help this city pump out settlers and workers. Pottery is the only thing I'll research at the beginning, so I can build granaries.

Sometimes I'll build a worker if the capital or future second city will need improvements before becoming useful. Lots of trees to chop, or several spaces to irrigate before getting to the tile that really needs irrigation are calls for workers. Roads going towards city sites are helpful for getting settlers to their destinations faster, too. So, it depends.

 

[yu173023]

Slicknick1136,
Something else to be aware of, although I'm sure you already know:
Be sure to send early settlers to any luxuries (or even strategic resources if you've uncovered any of them already). I think that making a beeline for these is really important from early on, especially if you've got competition close by. I've had some tough times deciding whether or not to build an early settler (my 2nd, 3rd, or 4th or so) on a nice shield-bonus grassland area near to my core or capital, or whether I should just beeline to a more isolated spot and take the corruption hit just to secure a luxury/strategic resource that's way on the other end of my landmass. What do you guys normally do? I'm assuming make a beeline for the "good stuff"...?

 

[Tranquility]

You should police your city with a warrior, cause on hgher diffculties th peopel get unhappier quite quickly. I build one warrior for scounting. The next one i make is to for military support. As for what next, well you could make a granary(well, if you're an agricultural civ), or amke settlers. Don't make mtoo many improvements in yoru cities yet, the upkeep can be steep when your revenue is less than 15gold per turn. Colonise a wee bit.

If you're civ has an earely UU, i'd suggest using it(unless your goal is a diplomatic vic, in that case wage your wars a bit more mercifulliy, and strategically). As for the worker problem...i (personnaly) use em to connect my cities together in the begining. So i'd suggest 3 or 4 workers. Tech wise, i'd try to get philosophy first, to get a free tech of your choice(republic is a greay choice, but if you want something else, go for it).

After that...well your choices will be made by what kind of allies/enemies you ahev around, the world you choose, and generally what happened during these few turns.

By no means i think my way is the only way. Feel free to expiremement with all kinds of strats. Different peopel, different ways.

 

[axxessdenied]

I play emperor. Here is my opinion:

If my capital starts off with a wheat tile. My build order will usually be: warrior, warrior, warrior, warrior (if I have no lux within reach of my capital), settler, settler, settler...
I grab land up until the end of the ancient age. Now, that is usually if I'm playing a civ that doesn't have a strong ancient UU that is what I'll do. During the ancient age I'll have around 3 - 5 cities pumping settlers constantly until I'm satisfied. Now, if I'm playing a civ that has a strong ancient UU (Celts, Iroquois,etc) that I can put to good use taking over foreign cities, my strategy changes from trying to grab as much land and settle as many cities as I can to setting up a nice little territory and quickly starting to pumping the UU, while still keeping one city to keep pumping settlers if there is still really good land to grab around my borders.

I'll only use a UU that can move 2-tiles per turn, or else I won't go with an early land-grab war. My philosophy when it comes to waging war early on is if I can get there twice as fast, that means they have much less time to build more militaristic units, which gives me the advantage. The Gallic Swordsman and Mounted Warriors are monsters in my opinion that can easily dominate the ancient era. 30 shields to build, 3.2.2 and 3.1.2 respectively.

If I'm playing a civ such as the Mayans, I will definately employ the more peaceful route to grabbing lots of land. In emperor, the ancient era doesn't last very long so I don't see it as a viable option to try building up an army of javelin throwers and attempting a land grab. Fantastic unit because of the enslave ability. But, it costs the same as a Gallic Swordsman and Mounted Warrior and would take twice as long to reach my enemies.

 

[wisewood]

THIS IS THE PERFECT FORMULA..well almost..

Here it is:

Capital city

Warrior (First should be scouting), Scout, Granary, Settler, Warrior (Fortify), Settler, Worker (Build Mines), Scout, Settler, Spearman (Fortify, send warrior scouting), Warrior, Settler, Worker (Build Roads), Wonder.

First Couple Near Capital Cities (Main Cities):

Warrior, Granary, Settler, Worker (Roads), Warrior, Settler, Spearman, Settler, Spearman Temple, Worker.

Bordering cities

Temple, Walls, Spearman, Worker (Mines or roads), Granary, Worker, Library (Or, you don't have it yet, skip to next), Spearman, Worker, Settler (For either any uncolonized bits of land, or reserve for a galley).

 

[wisewood]

Just to add something...I am assuming you are playing (expansionistic/agrocultrual civ)...and that you have a nice landscape near your capital. This formula is perfect for americans.

 

[Darkness]

THIS IS THE PERFECT FORMULA..well almost..

Here it is:

Capital city

Warrior (First should be scouting), Scout, Granary, Settler, Warrior (Fortify), Settler, Worker (Build Mines), Scout, Settler, Spearman (Fortify, send warrior scouting), Warrior, Settler, Worker (Build Roads), Wonder.

First Couple Near Capital Cities (Main Cities):

Warrior, Granary, Settler, Worker (Roads), Warrior, Settler, Spearman, Settler, Spearman Temple, Worker.

Bordering cities

Temple, Walls, Spearman, Worker (Mines or roads), Granary, Worker, Library (Or, you don't have it yet, skip to next), Spearman, Worker, Settler (For either any uncolonized bits of land, or reserve for a galley).

There is no perfect formula. The map immediately around the capital should factor into the decision-making process somewhere....

 

[petermarkab]

I always try to get two tiles each producing two food (at least - preferably more) and two shields. for example mined bonus grassland, sugar plains or desert oasis. this way, when my capital is size two, i have 5 shields per turn (all units cost multiples of 5 so no waste). I time my first settler build to coincide with the city's fastest growth to size three.

I always set research to a minimum at the start of the game - collect that gold and buy tech or even workers (especially from aggressive neighbours) as it cripples their expansion. i seldom leave police in my cities - use the luxury slider instead. Research direction is usually a 2nd level tech first eg writing, then head for literature and pre build the great library. trade for pottery for graneries. in the medium term, with the GL built, you can neglect research and concentrate on military power and infrastructure.

As for securing luxuries or resources, i prefer a solid tight core working the same tiles, churning out units and settlers, than a thinly spread collection of small corrupt cities. You can always capture the enemy city later with your superior armies!

this is on emperor level. generally speaking more micromanagement is required for harder levels and vice versa.

 

[MikeH]

There is no perfect formula. The map immediately around the capital should factor into the decision-making process somewhere....

Exactly, my normal start is a couple of scouts (warriors, scouts or curraghs depending on civ type), after that it depends. I don't bother with MPs early in the game, I use the luxury slider to control happiness. I'll also start research on a second tier tech., ideally writing or mysticism and try to get the rest of the first tier by trading.

 

[wisewood]

Well , you are right. There is no perfect formula. If you have a good terrain around your main cities (cattle, wheat, river, etc. ) you could try using this.