A lot of how your Civ-game will develop is decided within he BC time-frame (due to the snowball-effect)
Your skill can turn the tables but if you are left too far behind you will have a hard time (especially on higher difficult levels).
Therefore, I consider the opening play as one of the most important parts of the game.
This is not supposed to be an article about how to start a Civ4 game (there are some opening-guids in the forum, helpfull to a certain degree).
Often, newer players rely on a special build-orders advised by others or they apply the same strategy to every start they are dealt with, once they were successfull.
However, the unique leaders (traits, techs, units, buildings) and the starting position require different strategies for different situation.
In fact, there is no 'one-for-all' startegy concerning Civ4 opening play.
Since I first played Civ4 I experimented with this critical, initial part of the game, it has been something like a playground for me where I try different approaches, compare them and with each other and with the AI.
I played numerous test-games with various starts on (nearly) all difficult levels to gain experience and find out the most effective ways to build up from scratch.
Some Civ4 starts are rather straightforward (for example grassland-start near 2 wheat with agriculture) but sometimes real interesting positions turn up.
I want to share one of those challenging examples, a position that came up during one of my testings.
I will give you the 'case studie' first and wait for some response/input.
I also gave those starting position to 3 fellow civ players and I now have already 4 (including my own) different turnlogs for analysis.
BTS
small pangea, noble, 5 opponents, no barbs
HC (Inka)
financial
industrious
UU is the quechua (warrior replacement)
UB is a granary replacement with added culture
starting techs are agriculture and mysticism
![](http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/30880/test017.jpg)
Let's look at the initial position. First thoughts are, hey, very strong start, some clams out there, but hey, no fishing![Frown :( :(](/data/assets/smilies/frown.gif)
Then one might think about all those woods but we got unlucky again, we don't start with mining.
And there are some stones within the radius, and what about our mysticism starting tech, well sooo many options.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/30880/HuaynaCapac_4000BC.CivBeyondSwordSave
My own analysis will come later, first you have the opportunity to show your skills regarding opening play.
I've posted the 4000BC save and will wait for any takers who would like to play until let's say 1000BC.
If you provide a written report of what you did (and why, perhaps with a few pics or saves) I could even analyse your strategy as I did with the ones of my fellow players.
I will then show you the different strategies and how they develop in BC-times, for comparison and to show you totally different,
interesting solutions to an extremly interesting starting position![Smile :) :)](/data/assets/smilies/smile.gif)
So let the discussion begin, what would you do...
Your skill can turn the tables but if you are left too far behind you will have a hard time (especially on higher difficult levels).
Therefore, I consider the opening play as one of the most important parts of the game.
This is not supposed to be an article about how to start a Civ4 game (there are some opening-guids in the forum, helpfull to a certain degree).
Often, newer players rely on a special build-orders advised by others or they apply the same strategy to every start they are dealt with, once they were successfull.
However, the unique leaders (traits, techs, units, buildings) and the starting position require different strategies for different situation.
In fact, there is no 'one-for-all' startegy concerning Civ4 opening play.
Since I first played Civ4 I experimented with this critical, initial part of the game, it has been something like a playground for me where I try different approaches, compare them and with each other and with the AI.
I played numerous test-games with various starts on (nearly) all difficult levels to gain experience and find out the most effective ways to build up from scratch.
Some Civ4 starts are rather straightforward (for example grassland-start near 2 wheat with agriculture) but sometimes real interesting positions turn up.
I want to share one of those challenging examples, a position that came up during one of my testings.
I will give you the 'case studie' first and wait for some response/input.
I also gave those starting position to 3 fellow civ players and I now have already 4 (including my own) different turnlogs for analysis.
BTS
small pangea, noble, 5 opponents, no barbs
HC (Inka)
financial
industrious
UU is the quechua (warrior replacement)
UB is a granary replacement with added culture
starting techs are agriculture and mysticism
![](http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/30880/test017.jpg)
Let's look at the initial position. First thoughts are, hey, very strong start, some clams out there, but hey, no fishing
![Frown :( :(](/data/assets/smilies/frown.gif)
Then one might think about all those woods but we got unlucky again, we don't start with mining.
And there are some stones within the radius, and what about our mysticism starting tech, well sooo many options.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/30880/HuaynaCapac_4000BC.CivBeyondSwordSave
My own analysis will come later, first you have the opportunity to show your skills regarding opening play.
I've posted the 4000BC save and will wait for any takers who would like to play until let's say 1000BC.
If you provide a written report of what you did (and why, perhaps with a few pics or saves) I could even analyse your strategy as I did with the ones of my fellow players.
I will then show you the different strategies and how they develop in BC-times, for comparison and to show you totally different,
interesting solutions to an extremly interesting starting position
![Smile :) :)](/data/assets/smilies/smile.gif)
So let the discussion begin, what would you do...