Update : I have put an example with images at end of post
Update 2: Better orthograph, syntax, etc. thanks to a volunteer(i didn't ask at all
) : tomtom5858 
Thanks a lot mate!
Update 3: A better and enhanced strategy originaly transformed from this article is online!(war academy)
I present you a 3 cities Trad approach based on food caravans. This approach is for players that want to get a nice empire based on population and huge cities. A bit like the GnK approach, we want the gpt or gold from AIs to fuel our empire. But things are a lot different. AIs react differently, you can't trade for lump sum of gold, etc.
This approach have been tested under Emperor and Immortal exclusively, standard settings and pace, mainly on continents/fractal maps. I haven't tried this at Deity but it's possible that the caravans are better suited for international trade routes because the AI techs so fast the bonus earned can be more valuable than food. But this is another debate; I will concentrate only on these levels. I tested with civs with no early bonuses to keep the thread ''optimistic''. Take note that the caravans include the cargo ships as well. A cargo ship is much stronger than a single caravan but needs more hammers.
This strategy is not the ''holy grail'' or something like that. It's only a kind of start that can be used for long term diplo/science game, or even mid/late game domination for players who love or want to play the Tradition tree but still wonder how to get a good start from it.
The goal is to get 3 cities(your capital and 2 more cities), 3 or 4 workers and 2 caravans sending food from the capital in a reasonnable timeframe. I played many games and ended a large majority of games with everything before the turn 70. But there is something important to know:
-You need some workable hammer tiles and at least 1 non jungle/sea lux tile
-You need AIs with at least a little gpt to trade, at least 2 or 3 in general
This is the minimum. Otherwise it will take too much time for a good start, and it would be better to go with 2 cities. But you miss the extra early food caravan, which is the main point of this thread
And here is the build and rush buy order which i find the most ''practical''. Lot of things can happen and this should be used only as a set of guidelines, not as law.
Build Order :
Scout-Worker(until Pottery)-Shrine-finish Worker-Settler-Scout-Settler-Caravan-Caravan-...???
Can be a lot different(aka faster, easier) playing some suited civs, traders, etc.
Rush buy Order
1-Worker
2-Granary(in capital)
Don't buy any tiles. Buy them ASAP, in that order.
Tech Order
Pottery--->Lux Tech--->AH--->Lux Tech--->Writing--->Sailing--->Philo(NC)
Policy Order :
-Opener
-Legalism
-Landed Elite
-Monarchy
-Aristocracy
-Oligarchy
Explanation :
Settling on a lux and/or in prevision to work 2 or 3 hills can be very important. I find a single scout enough for the first 35 turns. The idea is to use warrior and scout to scout for 25 turns, approximatively the time when the 1st worker will be done. Use warrior to protect worker and use scout to maybe steal an early cs of you are lucky.
Improve first lux ASAP. Sell it for at least 4 gpt. Improve everything that can be sold. You can run with 2 cities without a single lux. You can run 3 cities with a single lux combined with Monarchy and even more if you find some natural wonders.
The scout after 1st settler serves to get extra protection for your 2 or maybe 3 civilian units wandering around. This scout can steal a worker from a nearby cs, right in time when they begin to send them out. Use a unit to explore farther and check for other civs/cs.
Around turn 35-40, with 2 workers and 2 cities, the gpt will raise drastically, to over 10 or 15 gpt if everything is right. A worker bought around turn 40-45 is a good start. 3rd city goes around 45-50, and it's time to build on Caravans. If a granary is rushed, your capital should be able to build them faster too. This granary(bought) really give a large boost, even for building settlers faster if bought very early.
2nd city can build stuff for your personnal taste
You only need to start a library ASAP in 3rd city right when you settle. 2nd city can finish a granary before starting with the library if it has enough hammers. GPT can reach over 30 gpt if cities got really big very fast, even before the turn 70, if caravans are online very quickly.
Lot of civs and events can accelerate the build order. I ran into games where i made a Declaration of Friendship with 1 or 2 AIs very early. I will not explain more how much this can be really great. This whole thing can be done without lump sum and under conditions where the capital can hard build a granary and still get nice results. It's too mush to discuss in this post, so i will let the other players find what is the most fun and playable around this strategy.
Pros :
-Nice and juicy cities before the turn 100. Can be 4 of them if you rush/build a 4th city, get engineering, send another food caravan and let him grow at lightning speed with his free aqueduct, right after the National College.
-Strong empire for solid core cities with strong production. Great for mid game wonders/science approach.
Cons :
-Lack of early wonders built
-Low military(pre 70)
-------------------------------------------------------------
At emperor and immortal i never been attacked before the turn 70. Never. It isn't bad even if you have low in military. But when your cities have finished libraries and getting food trades, this is where the empire really jump into great growth. This is where you can easily build an army of 5-6 CBs in less than 10 turns(build archers before getting construction) and start with a pretty large army around the turn 80-90.
When the first round of both caravans are expired, it's often the time to switch for international trades. With many luxs hooked, bigger cities and better choices, you will be in measure to get the best from these routes. Your big cities will generate enough gold from your own trade route combined with free buildings from Tradition. The rest is for your own profits
You can get over 40-50 gpt around the turn 100.
This approach can be good, i think, for GOTM games where a scout opening can be enough to check if this start can be faisible or not, in the right timeframe.
Example
Here is a start i rolled with Assyria(very 1st one) on a pangea map immortal. Let's see the starting position :
As we can see, the overall aspect don't really fit for a Trad start because of lack of hammers. We need to buy the hill to the left to make it work but that's way too expensive. So i scouted with warrior to the left and settled there instead. Now we can build settlers at a good pace.
Only 1 unique lux to improve immediately. But it will be a good idea to settle for ivory later to the right. I hit a free
and saw Brazil for the first time.
Some turns later i found 60 gold from a ruin. Gold is always welcome. Around 20ish turns my initial units came back to to heal and protect the worker. Starting on my 1st settler.
Don't forget to work best hammer tiles while building a settler.
I managed to DoF Brazil on turn 28 but his income sucks a bit.
After some turns the barbs are a bit more annoying, but the 2 improved tiles are safe.
My spearman came back with a worker from a cs. The 2nd settler is about to go out.
Finally got an ok deal from Brazil.
Too bad i only have 2 unique luxs total and very few of them(and it's pretty rare) but i managed to work something good anyway. I sold my first 2 unique luxs and voluntary entered into unhappiness for 5 turns, time for the 3rd worker to improve another copper tile to the left. Better get extra gold more earlier then really try to stay happy. Next turn i will rush a granary in capital and send the first caravan. But to which city? The oldest one.(Nineveh) Usually. Because he can finish his library faster and work on something else ASAP.
So here is Nineveh with a whopping +8 fpt on turn 54.
And finally turn 60 with libraries under construction and enough gold to rush buy another worker if wanted. Nineveh will surpass the capital eventually. But 2 unique luxs only is a bit harsh but with some allied cs and lux for lux trades you can go away with something good anyway especially under Tradition where free happiness is more abundant early on.
That's it for now, i will surely edit this post over and over(adding pictures, etc) for some time, some of you might want to suggest other or similar starts. So check for updates often
Update 2: Better orthograph, syntax, etc. thanks to a volunteer(i didn't ask at all
) : tomtom5858 Thanks a lot mate!Update 3: A better and enhanced strategy originaly transformed from this article is online!(war academy)
I present you a 3 cities Trad approach based on food caravans. This approach is for players that want to get a nice empire based on population and huge cities. A bit like the GnK approach, we want the gpt or gold from AIs to fuel our empire. But things are a lot different. AIs react differently, you can't trade for lump sum of gold, etc.
This approach have been tested under Emperor and Immortal exclusively, standard settings and pace, mainly on continents/fractal maps. I haven't tried this at Deity but it's possible that the caravans are better suited for international trade routes because the AI techs so fast the bonus earned can be more valuable than food. But this is another debate; I will concentrate only on these levels. I tested with civs with no early bonuses to keep the thread ''optimistic''. Take note that the caravans include the cargo ships as well. A cargo ship is much stronger than a single caravan but needs more hammers.
This strategy is not the ''holy grail'' or something like that. It's only a kind of start that can be used for long term diplo/science game, or even mid/late game domination for players who love or want to play the Tradition tree but still wonder how to get a good start from it.
The goal is to get 3 cities(your capital and 2 more cities), 3 or 4 workers and 2 caravans sending food from the capital in a reasonnable timeframe. I played many games and ended a large majority of games with everything before the turn 70. But there is something important to know:
-You need some workable hammer tiles and at least 1 non jungle/sea lux tile
-You need AIs with at least a little gpt to trade, at least 2 or 3 in general
This is the minimum. Otherwise it will take too much time for a good start, and it would be better to go with 2 cities. But you miss the extra early food caravan, which is the main point of this thread
And here is the build and rush buy order which i find the most ''practical''. Lot of things can happen and this should be used only as a set of guidelines, not as law.
Build Order :
Scout-Worker(until Pottery)-Shrine-finish Worker-Settler-Scout-Settler-Caravan-Caravan-...???
Can be a lot different(aka faster, easier) playing some suited civs, traders, etc.
Rush buy Order
1-Worker
2-Granary(in capital)
Don't buy any tiles. Buy them ASAP, in that order.
Tech Order
Pottery--->Lux Tech--->AH--->Lux Tech--->Writing--->Sailing--->Philo(NC)
Policy Order :
-Opener
-Legalism
-Landed Elite
-Monarchy
-Aristocracy
-Oligarchy
Explanation :
Settling on a lux and/or in prevision to work 2 or 3 hills can be very important. I find a single scout enough for the first 35 turns. The idea is to use warrior and scout to scout for 25 turns, approximatively the time when the 1st worker will be done. Use warrior to protect worker and use scout to maybe steal an early cs of you are lucky.
Improve first lux ASAP. Sell it for at least 4 gpt. Improve everything that can be sold. You can run with 2 cities without a single lux. You can run 3 cities with a single lux combined with Monarchy and even more if you find some natural wonders.
The scout after 1st settler serves to get extra protection for your 2 or maybe 3 civilian units wandering around. This scout can steal a worker from a nearby cs, right in time when they begin to send them out. Use a unit to explore farther and check for other civs/cs.
Around turn 35-40, with 2 workers and 2 cities, the gpt will raise drastically, to over 10 or 15 gpt if everything is right. A worker bought around turn 40-45 is a good start. 3rd city goes around 45-50, and it's time to build on Caravans. If a granary is rushed, your capital should be able to build them faster too. This granary(bought) really give a large boost, even for building settlers faster if bought very early.
2nd city can build stuff for your personnal taste
You only need to start a library ASAP in 3rd city right when you settle. 2nd city can finish a granary before starting with the library if it has enough hammers. GPT can reach over 30 gpt if cities got really big very fast, even before the turn 70, if caravans are online very quickly.Lot of civs and events can accelerate the build order. I ran into games where i made a Declaration of Friendship with 1 or 2 AIs very early. I will not explain more how much this can be really great. This whole thing can be done without lump sum and under conditions where the capital can hard build a granary and still get nice results. It's too mush to discuss in this post, so i will let the other players find what is the most fun and playable around this strategy.
Pros :
-Nice and juicy cities before the turn 100. Can be 4 of them if you rush/build a 4th city, get engineering, send another food caravan and let him grow at lightning speed with his free aqueduct, right after the National College.
-Strong empire for solid core cities with strong production. Great for mid game wonders/science approach.
Cons :
-Lack of early wonders built
-Low military(pre 70)
-------------------------------------------------------------
At emperor and immortal i never been attacked before the turn 70. Never. It isn't bad even if you have low in military. But when your cities have finished libraries and getting food trades, this is where the empire really jump into great growth. This is where you can easily build an army of 5-6 CBs in less than 10 turns(build archers before getting construction) and start with a pretty large army around the turn 80-90.
When the first round of both caravans are expired, it's often the time to switch for international trades. With many luxs hooked, bigger cities and better choices, you will be in measure to get the best from these routes. Your big cities will generate enough gold from your own trade route combined with free buildings from Tradition. The rest is for your own profits
You can get over 40-50 gpt around the turn 100.This approach can be good, i think, for GOTM games where a scout opening can be enough to check if this start can be faisible or not, in the right timeframe.
Example
Here is a start i rolled with Assyria(very 1st one) on a pangea map immortal. Let's see the starting position :
Spoiler :
As we can see, the overall aspect don't really fit for a Trad start because of lack of hammers. We need to buy the hill to the left to make it work but that's way too expensive. So i scouted with warrior to the left and settled there instead. Now we can build settlers at a good pace.
Spoiler :
Only 1 unique lux to improve immediately. But it will be a good idea to settle for ivory later to the right. I hit a free
and saw Brazil for the first time.Spoiler :
Some turns later i found 60 gold from a ruin. Gold is always welcome. Around 20ish turns my initial units came back to to heal and protect the worker. Starting on my 1st settler.
Spoiler :
Don't forget to work best hammer tiles while building a settler.
Spoiler :
I managed to DoF Brazil on turn 28 but his income sucks a bit.
Spoiler :
After some turns the barbs are a bit more annoying, but the 2 improved tiles are safe.
Spoiler :
My spearman came back with a worker from a cs. The 2nd settler is about to go out.
Spoiler :
Finally got an ok deal from Brazil.
Spoiler :
Too bad i only have 2 unique luxs total and very few of them(and it's pretty rare) but i managed to work something good anyway. I sold my first 2 unique luxs and voluntary entered into unhappiness for 5 turns, time for the 3rd worker to improve another copper tile to the left. Better get extra gold more earlier then really try to stay happy. Next turn i will rush a granary in capital and send the first caravan. But to which city? The oldest one.(Nineveh) Usually. Because he can finish his library faster and work on something else ASAP.
Spoiler :
So here is Nineveh with a whopping +8 fpt on turn 54.
Spoiler :
And finally turn 60 with libraries under construction and enough gold to rush buy another worker if wanted. Nineveh will surpass the capital eventually. But 2 unique luxs only is a bit harsh but with some allied cs and lux for lux trades you can go away with something good anyway especially under Tradition where free happiness is more abundant early on.
Spoiler :
That's it for now, i will surely edit this post over and over(adding pictures, etc) for some time, some of you might want to suggest other or similar starts. So check for updates often
