Thought Process for when to create settlers?

[Lil Sassy]

I've been playing regularly everyday since the game came out but I still haven't quite figured out optimal timing for creating settlers / expanding.

I've been leaning towards starting the creation of the first settler at 4 population and after I've completed at least one district in my first city and then after that I just try to fast expand to all nearby luxuries / strategic resources that are within 5-6 tiles from that first city as population allows.

Just curious if this is a good way to go about it or if I'm really hurting my early game by expanding so too quickly.

EDIT: On Deity

 

[Victoria]

Nope, you are fine. Early settlers are good. Ideally you build them once you get the 50% off but i find the first one naturally comes before this.
Its a bit of a night at the opera really, you have to balance eurekas and efficiency and drive for what you want.
I am just playing a Pericles Emporer and at turn 50 I have 5 cities peacefully settled , going for 7 then acropolis (which I just got by pushing it before a government change)

It is about surviving barbs initially then building how you want to in the safest way... I have egypt and brazil very cross with me on my borders due to all my fast expansion so am suspecting I had better build more bowmen and get city walls with some priority too.

To get where I got to I got an initial builder early to get the eureka then no more for a while while I got settlers out and other bits but it kept my capital 5 or below meaning no need for amenities... all very efficient. Now my buklder rush is coming where my builders dash out chopping down wood and digging up anything to help me get in shape fast.

Getting builders early is very important... they grow a city so that when you come to have a builder make it better there is a decent population to work it. I think i am settling for 7 cities this game but if I was lucky I could get close to 10 I think as I got 5 in 50 turns.

 

[Chibisuke]

I usually try to build a settler as my fourth build item. Usually I start builder, slinger, slinger, settler. I alter that a little if I'm playing a civ with a strong warrior/swordsman upgrade. For those I build warriors rather than slingers until maybe 5th or 6th build item, then get slingers.

 

[stormtrooper412]

I have a bit of a bad habit left from 5 that makes me go Settler spam as quickly as possible but it's better to invest in an army, take out a civ, capture their cities and be in a better position

 

[isau]

On higher difficulties, if the enemy AI is close enough I generally find it best to rush Archers (by upgrading Slingers) and take a city from them. You need 6 pop total to get the Eureka for early empire, so if your main city is pop 4 (easy) and the city you take is pop 2, you're golden. You also get the Eurekas for whatever stuff the AI built with Builders, so often you trigger a bunch of additional stuff too. If you get super lucky you even get the "build a District" Eureka which often comes too early to be practical.

Of course due to the cheese of Settler stealing, its even better to just grab the enemy's free Settler as it bumbles along if you can. IMO that really needs to be removed from the game. But I play with a mod that removes Settler stealing anyway.

 

[XplosiveLun]

I usually build settler after a builder, if there are farm resource or mineral/quarry resource. It gives a nice boost to growth and production in the early game. Or the starting position has plantation resource or woods/rainforest, I would go scout before settler. My capital gets 2-3 pops before producing settlers.

The +1 Production policy helps a lot. It reduces production time for the capital ~10% and gives nice boost to new-found cities. And its works well with +50% Production towards melee/ranged unit. Helpful when rushing for defending against rush. Around 4 cities, you could be a war machine.

 

[Sun Tzu Wu]

Starting a settler at Pop 4 sounds fine. Others say wait until Pop 5. I'd suggest starting a settler when you run out of good tiles to work. A builder can improve three tiles, so start the settler at Pop 3 and hopefully it will be completed just as the city grows to Pop 4.

 

[Gtdead]

I start pumping them nonstop when I have the policy card and enough pop to work the best tiles.
The first settler comes earlier though. In a perfect opening, I will do slinger->builder->settler->trader and then pump military units till I'm safe and the city is big enough to work the best tiles.

 

[Victoria]

On prince one will go scout, slinger, builder
on Emperor slinger, slinger, builder
On immortal and above one tends to go slinger slinger slinger builder which one suspect is what many do.

One will sometimes mix it up for a difference and of course meeting vilnius or similar just encourages one to go slinger slinger slinger.

Having 3 early archers allows you to hunt barbs with 2 and defend with 1 or just to for an early city state.

It's funny, last 2 games one has not consciously gone for a victory, just played.and had just such a great time not worrying. One stopped both but may try to points victories because that allows a richer game I think.

 

[Genghis_Sean]

What is the pop hit for building a settler? That's what keeps me from cranking them out. It seems to devastate the size of my capital. Is there a prime time to produce them that won't cripple your growth?

 

[Victoria]

I am not sure what it is, I guess it is interesting to know. It seems to reduce it by 1 normally a bit like Civ 5 but I like it. It means I do not have to farm Amenities for a long time.
Good question

 

[budweiser]

Here is what I have been doing (Immortal) assuming I don't have to fight a war. Worker, improve a tile or 2, then settler with a chop. Gets it out real fast. I'm pretty sure everything works better in Civ VI in two's so you want second city asap. Then its rinse and repeat with city 2 after they get a monument. Then I try to grow my cap so I can make districts. I use colonialism when it comes available. I try to make settlers in the 9 to 13 turn range: IE not taking more than 9-13 turns to make one.

 

[stormtrooper412]

On prince one will go scout, slinger, builder
on Emperor slinger, slinger, builder
On immortal and above one tends to go slinger slinger slinger builder which one suspect is what many do.

One will sometimes mix it up for a difference and of course meeting vilnius or similar just encourages one to go slinger slinger slinger.

Having 3 early archers allows you to hunt barbs with 2 and defend with 1 or just to for an early city state.

It's funny, last 2 games one has not consciously gone for a victory, just played.and had just such a great time not worrying. One stopped both but may try to points victories because that allows a richer game I think.

you mix up a bit depending on your start. If there's some nice tiles around the capital, I try to fit in the builder a bit earlier for those precious early production

 

[manu-fan]

I am not sure what it is, I guess it is interesting to know. It seems to reduce it by 1 normally a bit like Civ 5 but I like it. It means I do not have to farm Amenities for a long time.
Good question

It deducts 1 population. That's it. Even if you buy a Settler, it reduces the pop by 1.

 

[MyOtherName]

Starting a settler at Pop 4 sounds fine. Others say wait until Pop 5. I'd suggest starting a settler when you run out of good tiles to work. A builder can improve three tiles, so start the settler at Pop 3 and hopefully it will be completed just as the city grows to Pop 4.

You want to finish the settler before you grow, not after. The ideal timing is when you need less than 10 food to grow. e.g. if you have 25/35 food in the food bar when you build the settler at size 3, you'll regrow back from 2 to 3 instantly.

I haven't checked whether having 35/35 food at the end of your turn causes you to grow to size 4 then lose a population and have 0/35, or you lose the population then grow to size 3 and have 10/35.

 

[Customgoban]

What is the pop hit for building a settler? That's what keeps me from cranking them out. It seems to devastate the size of my capital. Is there a prime time to produce them that won't cripple your growth?

I think you lose the amount of food that was needed to make your last citizen. So, if you build a settler at pop 2, you will lose 15 food. If you don't have 15 food stored up, you will go back to 1 pop.

 

[Sun Tzu Wu]

You want to finish the settler before you grow, not after. The ideal timing is when you need less than 10 food to grow. e.g. if you have 25/35 food in the food bar when you build the settler at size 3, you'll regrow back from 2 to 3 instantly.

I haven't checked whether having 35/35 food at the end of your turn causes you to grow to size 4 then lose a population and have 0/35, or you lose the population then grow to size 3 and have 10/35.

My assumptions were very simple. Use a builder to improve the best three plots. Work all three plots as much as possible. So it is reasonable to want to grow to 4 as the settler is completed, so the city continues to work those three plots. My goal had nothing to do with micromanaging food. I simply wanted all three plots worked at all times; completing the settler as Pop increases to 4 will not always be possible, given an arbitrary set of three improved plots.

On further thought, one probably should be using the builder to chop forests/jungle or harvest other features/resources into the settler to start a snow-ball effect rather than slow build the settler. Both slow building a settler or "chopping" it are valid approaches depending on the context (early game, mid game, later game, need one in a hurry) in which the settler is being built.

Finally, I don't believe the OP was necessarily looking for a food micromanaging solution to the timing of his settlers. He probably wants a solution that is higher level and easier to achieve.

 

[mayhemster]

Unless you are playing Deity, then you won't need tons of units to start with so it can be fine to go Slinger > Settler. You really want to get settlers out as early as possible to take advantage of district cost scaling so don't worry if your capital is only size 2, you'll catch up later. Having 2 cities ready to take advantage of the +50% settler production card is a big deal for me.

Later on until around T100 the thought process usually is quite simple for me. If your city is size 2 and you have the settler production card selected then get it building a settler . I put a high priority on settlers in every city except my captial where I'll be building either units or districts.

 

[Victoria]

Getting 3 slingers has its advantages because I end up with 3 archers which is a eureka. I can then send 2 archers out to waste all barb camps and leave one at home which makes short work of those pesky scouts. Sometimes efficiency is about those damn barbs at the start, even on prince.
I just hate reloading/restarting. I like an all round strat that may not get me there fastest but safest.

 

[manu-fan]

I think you lose the amount of food that was needed to make your last citizen. So, if you build a settler at pop 2, you will lose 15 food. If you don't have 15 food stored up, you will go back to 1 pop.

Why are you people talking about losing food. It's simple, you lose 1 population no matter how far into the next you are:

May create new cities. Reduces city's Population by 1 when completed. Requires at least 2 Population.