Tech Path Confusion

[Squarg]

I started a game
Cyrus, Marathon, Shuffle, Noble

Heres my start


I was wondering what should my starting tech path be? Mining or AH or fishing?

 

[Aseon]

Fishing.

Building work boats doesn't halt your city's growth while you build them and once the seafood tiles are being worked you'll have a lot more food per turn to put toward the production of workers.

You should be able to research both mining and AH before you finish a worker.

Oh, and I'd also switch you current build from a worker to either a warrior or scout.

 

[madscientist]

Gotta agree. Fishing first, build a warrior. Once you get finishing build a boat for the fish (not the clam), then build a worker. Tech Mining next for , then AH. Wheel next if you find horses, otehrwise BW.

But you don't really need my help if you can get education off the oracle!!

 

[GeorgeF]

Definitely not a warrior for the build, either a worker or a scout. The way the terrain is, you likely don't need a second scout, I'd save on that and go directly for the worker. The fishing boat will go so much faster working the cow. Research AH,Fishing,Mining, reverse Fishing/Mining if you can finish one before the worker is done. Or build a Scout until fishing is done. Your worker loses a few turns perhaps, but this I think is the fastest route to working all 5 of your special tiles.

 

[madscientist]

The only problem I see in building the worker first is he'll get built before you tech AH and will sit arround doing nothing. The pasteur will get built and he sit arround doing nothing while you tech Fishing. If you go mining before fishing your city will not grow as fast as you are only working the cows (3 food, 3 hammers if I can view correctly). Dropping a boat on the fish gets you 5 food. Also the fish will speed up teching the other techs because of the extra 2 commerce which the cows will not give you.

It's really splitting hairs, that's a dynamite start and there not much to do wrong, unless Monty or Boduca are immediately to you south.

 

[GeorgeF]

Yeah, thats true, I don't have the relative tech speeds memorized, wouldn't the worker be like 23 turns? Wouldn't you get AH before that? The fish on a coast square is also very nice, usually I see fish in open water for the lower commerce.

So pretty much then Scout/Boat/Boat/Worker, Fishing/AH/Mining?

 

[madscientist]

On marathon speed (which I play) a worker takes 30 turns working a traditional 2 food 1 hammer tile, however his capital is on a hill and may have an extra hammer. AH takes 38 turns I think without the knowledge of fishing but less if you know fishing.

 

[Orion071]

On marathon speed (which I play) a worker takes 30 turns working a traditional 2 food 1 hammer tile, however his capital is on a hill and may have an extra hammer. AH takes 38 turns I think without the knowledge of fishing but less if you know fishing.

That's a grassland hill so no extra hammer. I say build a Warrior and research Fishing. Grow to size 2 and then build a Workboat for the Fish. Research Mining then AH after Fishing. Personally, I would build both Workboats before the Worker, but I won't argue with people who only build 1 at first.

That city will be an absolute monster early working both seafood, Cows and both Gold mines.

 

[slobberinbear]

I agree with the others.

I would go in this order:

1. fishing
2. mining
3. bronze working
4. wheel
5. animal husbandry
6. pottery

Hook up the gold, seafood, and cows, then find a source of horses and get your Immortal army going!

 

[Gooblah]

SInce you're clearly on a Fractal map with a lot of water or an Archipelago, Sailing would take priority. Not much war can go on, so military techs can be delayed a little. Beeline for Sailing and then start researching more techs.

 

[kjnoren]

I started a game
Cyrus, Marathon, Shuffle, Noble

Heres my start
[ snip ]

I was wondering what should my starting tech path be? Mining or AH or fishing?

Slobberinbear's path is good. Why it is good is shown by the matching build order. As far as I can tell, on marathon, the cost of techs and units are:

Fishing: 120
Animal Husbandry: 300 (reduced to 180 due to prerequisites?)
Mining: 150

Warrior/Scout: 30
Work Boat: 60
Worker: 120

Grow 1->2: 66
Grow 2->3: 72

Right now you produce 2 food, 2 hammers and 9 commerce. It'll take you 40 turns to produce a worker, 17 turns to grow, 15 turns to train a scout/warrior and 30 turns to build a boat (you'll have its benefit by turn +31).

It takes you 14 turns to research fishing, 20 to AH and 17 to mining. So you can have a worker start improving the cow on turn 42, and be finished on turn 54. You'll still be size 1, but produce 3-4-9. It will now take you 8 turns to finish the boat, but it'll be 22 more turns until you can work more than the cow (switching to the fish gets it done faster, but then you've wasted the early cow).

If you start with fishing and a warrior, you'll finish the warrior and start the boat on turn 16. You grow the next turn to 2-3-9. Say you finish the boat on turn 37. Now you know fishing and mining. On turn 38 you start working the fish, and produce 5-2-11. Also, you have enough food surplus to work both gold mines already, so build the worker now. With all that extra food, it'll be built faster than the second boat. You'll have your worker around turn 56. So around turn 55, both options have improved tiles, but the fishing option has higher population and research.

Only thing I disagree with is bronze working. I'd go Fish - Mining - Wheel (you will need the happiness boost early) - AH - BW - Pottery. But that's details. If you can get BW before the worker has finished the gold mines, by all means go for it.

 

[Defiance]

Nevermind.. I just noticed your playing Marathon lol that changes the build order tech path I was gonna say

 

[mudphud]

Only thing I disagree with is bronze working. I'd go Fish - Mining - Wheel (you will need the happiness boost early) - AH - BW - Pottery. But that's details. If you can get BW before the worker has finished the gold mines, by all means go for it.

I like having BW earlier so you can whip. those seafood tiles put out a lot of food and the whip can help you deal with your happiness issues until you get the wheel.

 

[xanadux]

I would go mining then fishing while building worker first. Worker builds mine, and as soon as it is finished, work the gold mine to build work boat. Once workboat is finished, work seafood to size 2, then work seafood plus gold while building second workboat. Work both seafood from then on out, growin g to size 5 to work all 5 good tiles. As long as your worker isn't going to be idle, worker first should be right, especially since it allows you to work gold profitably very early for the work boat. And with the gold mines, your worker shouldn't spend much if any idle time. Mining-Fishing-AH-BW-chop a settler at size 5. Don't underestimate the power of working 2 gold mines while growing as early as possible.

 

[Squarg]

I decided to go worker first with mining because the gold helps research the other techs. Just wait untill the city is size 2 then build settler with the extra commerce from the gold.

 

[slobberinbear]

Don't underestimate the power of food, particularly seafood, in the early game. Being able to build the workboat while growing, and then deliver a 4 food/2 commerce payoff, is huge.

I'd build two boats before a worker. Having two seafood tiles worked gives you 8 food / 4 commerce, allowing growth and research. The gold after that is just gravy.

 

[Defiance]

Each gold mine equals a palace

 

[slobberinbear]

Food is always underestimated, but it powers everything in the game. The truth is you can't optimally work the gold tile until you have at least one workable seafood tile.

Growing to size 3 with two workboats and then building a worker will pay greater dividends in the long run, allowing the city to produce a settler much faster than in the gold-first strategy. I would only do gold first if I was racing to beat the AI to found a religion.

 

[madscientist]

I have to agree here. Getting the gold doesn't help if the city cannot grow. Seafood first, then you can build the goldmines.