TSG 131 Opening Action Report

[Knowtalent]

Welcome to the TSG131 Opening Actions thread.

STOP - Please do not continue reading this thread until you have completed at least 80 to 100 turns in your game.

This thread is used to discuss the game once you've started playing through your first 100 turns. Apart from normal decency, the only posting restrictions are to please not post videos until the deadline is finished and to use the spoiler tags for screenshots. Here you can post questions related to the game and share your achievements/anger/frustration/victories while you play. Please remember that we are running a family friendly site, so express anger or frustration with this in mind.

Please use this thread to discuss your goals for the game and your opening moves through the first 100 turns. Anything after that should be posted in the After Action thread once you have completed your game.

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?
- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
- What were your initial priorities?
- What tech path did you follow and why?
- What Social Policies did you choose?
- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?
- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith
- Any surprises?

 

[budweiser]

T81 My tech path was writing>mining philo>currency>civil service. I got mining from a hut. I also got 2 pop from a hut & culture. Tradition saving monarchy for last. Desert Folklore, Interfaith Dialog (you’ll see), Swords to Plowshares. NC, HG, Petra in place. Civil Service complete. I bought a second worker with gold. All at the expense of any Bowmen, but I can make some now. 45 beakers right now, growth will now explode.

Sejong just settled next to me and two flood planes are at risk in my third ring. That’s not cool, but I was hoping he would be on my continent and he was.

 

[vadalaz]

T83 Education

Spoiler :

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
I played a lot of Emperor/OCC back in GnK, this game will bring good memories. The start looks fantastic and Babylon is a very powerful civ.

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling? Where did you settle and what did you build first?
Settled in place on turn 0.

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
Built only one scout since it's Continents

- What were your initial priorities?
Rush Writing and build Great Library fast enough to secure it, demand tribute from CSs and take AIs' gold in peace deals.

- What tech path did you follow and why? What Social Policies did you choose?
Tech: Writing -> Mining -> Wheel -> Philo (GL) -> Drama (for the free amphitheater) -> Currency -> Civil Service -> Education
SP: Full Tradition, Patronage opener

- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them? Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith?
I got all the wonders I wanted: GL, HG, Petra and ToA. My religion is Desert Folklore, Tithe, Swords into Plowshares, +2 faith from Wonders and 50 faith for using Great People.

- Any surprises?
Nope.

 

[budweiser]

Nice job. Your game and mine seem like the difference between getting the GL and not getting it.

 

[bjelar]

Oh, there is an opening action thread! I only looked above the line (facepalm).

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
I didn't think I have never played OCC before, I didn't prepare, I didn't think. My approach was to stay peaceful and spam wonders. It's so fun, yet rarely viable.

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?
None whatsoever, I've never seen an easier starting location. Settled in place, obviously.

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
First I built two scouts. Then I started building a shrine (must have that desert folklore), but I ran into two religious city states and got DF for "free" so I abandoned the shrine half built and went for granery instead.

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
That's an interesting question. The desert ment it would be a disaster if anyone else took desert folklore and/or built Petra. Those two were of utmost importance to me. Given the insanely OP starting position by a mountain, I also reckoned the growth wonders would be strong (high pop + observatory = science)

- What were your initial priorities?
1.Scouts
2.Shrine (in order to maximize the chance of getting DF)
3.Granary and worker, capitalizing on early growth.
4.The growth wonders, ToA, HG and Petra.
5.Great library if at all possible.
6.Other useful but non-essential wonders like stonehenge, the colossus and oracle.

- What tech path did you follow and why?
If I remember correctly, it went pottery-mining-archery(found AH in ruin)-the wheel-writing and then beelining Petra

- What Social Policies did you choose?
Tradition, obviously

- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?
Got ToA first, then missed out on GL (Korea built it 5 turns before I would have), then I got HG, got Petra, got stonehenge (which for some reason noone had grabed yet) got the oracle, lost the colossus after just a few turns trying to build it.

- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith
Got very early faith (by finding religious city states) and chose desert folklore. Will buy tons of great scientists later.

- Any surprises?
It was a surprise to me that two city states was enough for desert folklore. I could have saved a few turns not building shrine. It was also a slight surprise to find desert tiles (not floodplains) next to a river, and a graphical bug with a tile looking like a river delta which was a hill not next to a river (?) I could not irrigate it....

EDIT: Oh, I forgot, I brainfarted and thought planting a GS would connect gold. Which, if you didn't know, it won't. Facepalm yet again.

 

[bjelar]

Spoiler :

omg, I actually thought my start was [close to] the theoretically fastest growth start possible! You are 1 pop higher than me 17 turns sooner!

 

[Hammer Rabbi]

@vadalaz: i chose the exact same religion too. i actually didnt go for GL but i got Petra and HG and load of other wonders, but those were mostly for CS quests plus CI for strong golden ages. Instead of GL I got MoH so now when I pop a great person i get 50f and 100g, haha. They are going to help pay for the 2500f GS down the road.

also, i settled inland just to the right of the mtn. i decided to give up the water tiles for maybe better academy spots but ive only settled one now and may not settle another at all. so moving inland wasnt quite the move i expected but im still pleased with the terrain, it is so strong once you get Petra. i dont regret it yet because im still swimming in money but time will tell if i miss the Cargo ships. i think im going to go Order instead of Freedom and try to rush the last 2 or 3 SS parts with GEs. all im shooting for is sub300, but by how much i cant tell yet.

 

[budweiser]

I'm going to have the Great Mosque and I am going to be spamming cheap missionaries that will give at least 100 or 120 Beakers X3 when I crash them into Sejong and who ever else.

Example:

Spoiler :

Lets see if it pays off. I was getting 120 beakers on missionaries last night against Gaja cap.

 

[fyar]

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
My thinking was surely the same as everyone else's: Holy Petra, Batman! I almost wanted to just rush Petra before doing anything else.

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?
Seriously? About the easiest settle-in-place decision ever. Of course I moved my warrior first, just because that's the proper thing to do. But about the only thing that could've gotten me to move was if my warrior saw on turn 1 the same exact setup but next to Uluru. If I saw Uluru + Great Barrier Reef but an otherwise normal settling location, I still would've settled in place.

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
I settled in place and built 2 scouts. I would've stopped at 1 if I realized that it was continents but for some reason I thought it was Pangaea.

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
I continued to think it was Pangaea all the way until maybe turn 70. My two scouts died to barbs, so I rush-bought a 3rd still thinking that I had to find the rest of the civs. It turned out that my 2 initial scouts had already explored 95% of the continent, so the rush-bought scout was a waste.

- What were your initial priorities?
Desert folklore, writing, and then wonder-hoarding.

- What tech path did you follow and why?
Writing (obviously for Babylon's academy but also for the Great Library scientist points), mining (for all the gold/silver), currency (to pick up the other 3 key wonders I had pegged: Temple of Artemis, Hanging Gardens, and Petra), philosophy (national college, Oracle), civil service (food), acoustics (to rush-buy universities and then to open rationalism ASAP)

- What Social Policies did you choose?
Knowing that I was going for 4 straight wonders to start the game, I actually took aristocracy before oligarchy out of tradition. This may have been sub-optimal but I wanted to minimize the risk of losing any of those first 4 wonders. After finishing tradition, I used my Oracle policy to open commerce, then opened rationalism as soon as I entered the Renaissance.

- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?
I got every wonder I tried for: Great Library, Temple of Artemis, Hanging Gardens, Petra, Oracle, Chichen Itza (I slowed down a golden age by 2 turns so that it would begin 1 turn after Chichen Itza), Borobudur, Hagia Sophia.

- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith
I intended to build a shrine after my two scouts, but after meeting Vatican City and Wittenberg, that was no longer necessary. I actually considered religious idols, but not for that long... in the end, desert folklore of course. I easily founded Catholicism and enhanced before Cathy had founded the second religion. Swords into plowshares (because ToA and HG weren't enough), religious community (I really considered divine inspiration, as I already had 5 wonders by then for +10 faith, but in the end hammers won out), tithe, and itinerant preachers (I find this is better than religious texts when going on "offense" in a religion war). Borobudur means basically my whole continent except Russia is Catholic. Hagia Sophia allowed me to build my grand temple without a shrine.

- Any surprises?
I think only that I got all those wonders so easily. I was really worried about losing both GL and ToA. I considered skipping GL in favor of ToA but decided to risk going for both.

Next plan is for astronomy to buy an observatory and a caravel. Then printing press for the Leaning Tower. I've attached some images from turn 105. Yes, I'm just now building my monument.

(Actually, I sold my monument a few turns ago to slow down my culture so that I could finish researching acoustics before my next policy. I wanted to open rationalism ASAP.)

 

[RincewindOtti]

Education t84 rush buying university at population 12.

OCC science is actually my favorite thing and the starting location is INCREDIBLE (ok there is no salt!!! ).

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
Growth, desert folklore and NC right after GL.
I dared to go GL (t34), NC (t44), ToA (t54), HG (t65), Petra (t75). Risky but was ok in a test game with a slightly worse start, though it seems that HG must go before Petra.
Worked out and was very very exiting until HG - I wasn't too scared about being too slow for Petra.
Build order was scout, worker, monument (instead of shrine as planned, due to two religous CS).

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?
nope

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
In place - @HR I guess you won't really miss the cargo ships - my first thought was don't move away from the fish! but +two bananas and some more jungle could be ok.

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
1 Scout.

- What were your initial priorities?
see above

- What tech path did you follow and why?
Writing, Philo for NC, techs for wonders, in between "fillers" for potentially more production (AH, bronze) whenever suitable with the build times (so always).

- What Social Policies did you choose?
Tradition, managed to open rati with Oracle in t92.

- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?
see above

- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith
Yes, Tithe, swords into plowshares, +30% spread range and +15% production => and looking at Vadalaz and HR that was a mistake.
Obviously the extra faith is more useful for more GS and spread/production is less crucial.

- Any surprises?
Nope or well maybe that raging barbs did not bother as much as expected (protecting the early academy) due to the nicely hidden spot behind the CS.

"Full" log

Spoiler :

t0 settle
t2 ruin map ... revealing another ruin, well at least
t5 finished scout
t5 growth pop2
t5 ruin pop+1=3
t6 ruin tech AH
t6 met Antanavario 30g
t7 ruin map
t8 met Vatican City 30g 8 faith
t8 met Cahokia 30g
t8 bought sheep tile
t9 pottery
t9 ruins pop+1=4, yesss
t9 bought sheep tile
t10 met Wittenberg 30g 8 faith, yesss I can skip shrine in the build order !!!!
t10 met China
t10 ruins tech mining (nice but now I really like to get some culture)
t11 pantheon DF
t13 met Russia
t14 accept embassy from China
t14 finished worker
t17 met Prague 15g - also scout experiences first movement issues due to raging barbs
t18 finish monument
t18 writing (plant GS on sheep)
t20 SP open tradition
t21 met Corea/accept embassy
t21 buy silver tile
t22 accept embassy from Russia
t23 bronze working (iron yes )
t23 met Huns/accept embassy - seems to be a pretty crowded continent
t24 growth pop5
t25 archery
t25 SP aristocracy
t26 met Samarkand 15g
t27 met Bucarest 15g
t27 sold silver to Korea for 4gpt and embassy
t28 calendar
t30 worker steal Wittenberg - finally - warrior was scouting between the three northern CS - peace asap and return both home
t32 ruin scout upgrade, nice
t34 finish GL into philosophy
t35 SP oligarchy
t39 drama and poetry
t42 DoF Korea
t42 5gpt for lump sum from Korea to rush buy granary
t42 the wheel
t43 DoF Russia
t43 met Colombo 15g
t44 finish NC
t46 math
t48 sailing
t49 DoF Huns
t49 found religion, tithe and swords to plowshares
t49 growth pop6
t49 SP legalism
t50 Optics
t50 12gpt for lump sums to rush buy lighthouse
t53 buy fish tile
t54 finish ToA
t55 currency
t57 trapping
t60 horseback riding
t65 HG - yes that was the big gamble with going NC first
t65 growth pop7
t66 SP capitol growth thing
t66 cleared tripple quest barb camp
t68 civil service
t70 growth pop8
t74 growth pop9
t75 finish Petra
t75 theology
t77 growth pop10
t80 growth pop11
t81 SP finish tradition
t83 growth pop12
t84 finish water mill
t84 education rush bought university
t85 finish stables
t85 growth pop13
t85 enhanced religion, religious community and +30% spread reach
t87 growth pop14
t88 GS plant on horses
t89 golden age
t90 growth pop15
t91 compass
t91 finish oxford into astronomy
t91 spy capitol
t92 oracle (prebuilt) open rati
t92 masonry
t93 construction
t93 growth pop16
t95 observatory
t95 iron working
t96 writers guild
t96 machinery
t96 growth pop17
t98 metallurgy rush buy workshop
t99 SP secularism
t99 growth pop18
t100 guilds
t100 finish national epic

 

[StrideColossus]

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?

Two things:
1. How many scientists do we want to plant and where will they go.
2. We want to wonder-whoring so we want LOTS of cash to buy buildings and units.

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?

Moved the warrior north-west but was 99% we were going to be settling-in-place.

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?

Settled in-place. Initial builds: Scout, Monument, Worker.

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?

Continents meant at least one Scout to meet our neighbours in case there are any nutters nearby.
Lots of silver and desert meant trying to get a terrain pantheon made a lot of sense.

- What were your initial priorities?

Mainly working out which wonders to go for and in what order.

- What tech path did you follow and why?

Bee-lined Writing obviously to settle early scientist and start the Great Library, then Currency to get HG and Petra.
Used the free tech for Philosophy (I think).
Archery was very late as was less concerned about ToA and didn't expect to need any Bowmen.

- What Social Policies did you choose?

Tradition seems a no-brainer. Completed that then opened Exploration for production bonus and Commerce for gold. Will be Patronage next and then Rationalism (probably all).

- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?

Great Library, HG, Petra, ToA, NC, Oracle.

- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith

Oh yes! Managed to meet the two religious CS for a pantheon on T10 I believe! Have yet to build a Shrine. Chose Desert Folklore (another no-brainer I reckon).
Got the first religion and decided to maximise gold income from Tithe by aggressively spreading to other civs and CS via missionaries. Didn't think getting buildings (Pagoda, etc) would be much benefit for OCC.
Also chose Swords into Plowshares (growth), later enhanced and chose the +production% buff and Religious Texts.

- Any surprises?

Getting that early pantheon!

 

[Billick]

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
I hadn't done OCC before, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?
None

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
Settled in place. Opened scout -> worker. Figured I could delay monument and shrine since I got a faith and culture ruin.

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
Went for mining early because of the gold and silver. Went for Petra because of all those sweet desert hills and oasis.

- What were your initial priorities?
ToA, HG and Petra. Delayed library/NC a bit to get them. Not sure if that was optimal.

- What tech path did you follow and why?
Beelined currency for Petra/HG.

- What Social Policies did you choose?
Full Tradition

- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?
ToA, HG and Petra. Got them all.

- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith
Desert folklore was a no brainer. Grabbed Tithe, Swords into plowshares, Religious community and Religious texts.

- Any surprises?
Not really.

 

[StrideColossus]

"Full" log
...

Was going to post mine but I think it would be an almost exact duplicate of yours!

 

[MPoxon]

All going swimmingly so far. No aggressive neighbours so I was able to have a wonderfest

Build order:
Scout, Monument, Purchased Granary, ToA, GL, HG, Petra, Oracle, NC, NE, Colossus, writers guild, beaten to parthenon by Russia.

T100 just about to research education. Will build uni, then Oxford Uni and use free tech for Astronomy to build an observatory.

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
Lots of hammers so good for early wonders, need ToA and HG for population since restricted to OCC. Petra is a must!

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?
Settled in place

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
Scout

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
Surrounded by city states and no hostile neighbours so didn't worry to much on defence.

- What were your initial priorities?
Scout to get bonuses from ruins and gold from CS

- What tech path did you follow and why?
Beline writing for free GS to place academy and boost science.

- What Social Policies did you choose?
Tradition start for the 3 culture and 15% wonder building. Full Tradition and then the city state policies so I get 25% science from city state allies to mitigate the disadvantage of OCC

- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?
ToA, GL, HG, Petra, Oracle, NC, NE, Colossus.


- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith
Ignored faith, still don't really understand it. Might be a mistake looking at others.

- Any surprises?
Being able to nail all the wonders.

Great game so far, I look forward to getting some time to progress and see what the outcome is. Any tips for mid game strategy? I am planning on building up a good economy with cargo ships so I can ally more CS and get the science bonus.

 

[fyar]

Great game so far, I look forward to getting some time to progress and see what the outcome is. Any tips for mid game strategy? I am planning on building up a good economy with cargo ships so I can ally more CS and get the science bonus.

A good economy with cargo ships is never a bad idea. I probably will spend my money on rush-buying buildings though, because I my build queue is backlogged with so many wonders it's ridiculous. Some of them I didn't even really need (Parthenon). I am probably wasting hammers building them just to build them. In fact a workshop is probably better than the Parthenon for the purposes of this game. But you can buy a workshop, and you can't buy the Parthenon!

 

[sebtanic]

Easy going so far. Settled in place, went scout-monument-worker-granary(bought) and then started wonder whoring.

Found lots of lucrative ruins: 95 gold, cultrue, archery, 85 gold, map, spearman upgrade, 50 gold, pop, map.

Went tradition, then commerce opener, then patronage.

Got DF pantheon on turn 6, religion t48 (swords into plowshares & papal primacy), enhanced t85 (2 faith from wonders, itinerant preachers)

Wonders built: GL(t41), Petra(t57), HG(t66), ToA(t71), Oracle(t81, finished tradition), NC(t82), Chichen Itze(t96).

Got Education t97, forgot to buy the university until 3 turns later.

@t100 my capital has 17pop with 92 beakers, 2 academies planted. I'm friends with Korea & Russia.

Let's see how fast we can finish this one

 

[Sclb]

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
Push growth and science as much as possible while getting enough gold to rush buy buildings while spamming wonders.

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?
No, start was good enough with coastal mountain petra spot.

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
In place, scout monument granary, skip shrine due to 2 religious CS. Stole and rush buy workers.

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
Excellent petra spot, so definitely aim for that after other earlier wonders. Don't think RA makes much difference but early RA could be good.

- What were your initial priorities?
Get enough pop and workers to build GL in reasonable time.

- What tech path did you follow and why?
Usual science tech path. Philosophy with GL, then currency for petra, Education, Astronomy into renaissance.

- What Social Policies did you choose?
Full tradition, Patronage opener, Oracle SP into rationalism.

- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?
GL, ToA, HG, Petra, Chichen Itza, Borobudur, Oracle so far. I built NC relatively late, after Petra since I wanted the food wonders done first.

- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith
Pantheon was DF, Religion with both +hammer and +growth, instead of higher pressure, took +faith from expending GP.

- Any surprises?
I was taking a risk by delaying GL to get better infrastructure and surprised that it still was fine after turn 40.

 

[RincewindOtti]

Was going to post mine but I think it would be an almost exact duplicate of yours!

hehe, nice - so let's finish it!

 

[stormtrooper412]

- What did you think about before starting the game, what was your approach to this game?
get GL, ToA, HG, Petra and NC all before turn 75

- Did you spend much time doing reconnaissance before settling?
Settled in place on turn 0

- Where did you settle and what did you build first?
Settle in place, Scout, Monument, GL, rush buy Worker, NC, rush buy Granary, ToA, HG, Petra, start Oracle, Cargo ships

- How did the terrain and map settings affect your early decisions?
I figured Petra and Desert Folklore were a must

- What were your initial priorities?
Get two workers and a Granary asap without delaying the wonder spam.

- What tech path did you follow and why?
Archery and Writing from ruins. Beeline Philosophy, then Mining and beeline to Civil Service, Education on t85, then Astronomy.

- What Social Policies did you choose?
Full tradition, Patronage opener, Rationalism opener, Oracle for Secularism on turn 109.

- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?
GL, (NC in between), ToA, HG, Petra, Oracle, Pisa, Sistine, Alhambra, Globe to get the culture running

- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith
Desert Folklore, first founded, Tithe, +growth, then spammed Missionaries to convert the many city states around, then Enhanced to +2 faith per wonder and 50 faith per spent GP

- Any surprises?
No, not really

 

[InaneObserver]

I settled in place as well, that starting location is insane

- What tech path did you follow and why?
Writing, Philo, Mathematics, Currency, Education (t84), Astronomy
- What Social Policies did you choose?
Tradition, 1 in Patronage and then Ratio
- What Wonders did you try to get and did you get them?
Got GL, HG, Petra and a surprise ToA around t75 (thought it would go sooner). Then spammed all the rest.
- Did you go for early Faith? How did you use faith.
For religion I went Interfaith dialogue, 15% growth, 15% production and cheaper missionaries.

That last one was probably a mistake, should've gone +50 faith. The other civs on the continent were too slow in founding so the early science boost was small. BUT, I got to do 3-4 CS spread religion quests cheaply so that's a bonus.