Jungle gives 2 science with a University, so we decided to keep it all untouched except for where it covered the Spices.
Naturally, that meant a need for good productive locations for other cities.
We sent our intitial Warrior to explore east where he found just such a spot, as well as various City States, but no ruins at all. To our pleasant surpise, some were still there in the south when we got our Scout out, which was not our first build. So we still got some goodies, including Calendar when it was already half researched, and an upgrade to - of course - Atlatlist.
Another conscious choice was not to prioritize a Pyramid, since it was unclear at the start which pantheon we wanted. When we finally got to choose one on turn 28, we had seen the vastness of the desert and chose Desert Folklore (again).
So, on turn 60, we have 3 cities: Palenque on the starting tile, which will be a center of learning, then Tikal nearby on the lake, and thirdly Chichen Itza a mere 4 tiles away from Stockholm, on the river and overlooking that desert. It has much potential!
Like others did, we bought these first Settlers with gold from luxury and horse sales, before the raging barbarians could become an obstacle. But we didn't do that so early that the empire would become unhappy. Tikal just missed stealing the Whales from Rio de Janeiro, but perhaps a later Great General can rectify that.
We still want a few more cities though. It's a small map, so a total of 5 or 6 seems optimal, provided they all have luxuries.
With the early expansion to more cities in mind, a Granary was not a priority and with a Pyramid also not at the top of the list we didn't have to start on Pottery right way and could research Animal Husbandry first. That helped, although we had to buy both horse tiles first.
Taoism was founded this very turn and we could still have our preference for this game. A fresh Settler from Collective Rule is on its way to a mountain location in the southeast. And so far we have killed 18 barbarian units. The City States love us, especially Ragusa which is our first ally.
So, basically, all is going to plan.
Religion
28 Desert Folklore
60 Tithe, Religious Community
Policies
13 Tradition
18 Liberty
24 Citizenship
40 Republic
58 Collective Rule
Cities
0 Palenque (Incense, Spices, 2x Horses)
33 Tikal (Copper, Wine) (river hill 1 tile away from the lake)
43 Chichen Itza (Incense, Spices, Horses) (river northeast of Stockholm)
Size: 5, 3, 3 (11)
Builds
Technology
9 Animal Husbandry
16 Pottery
21 Calendar (ruins, half researched)
26 Mining
33 Writing
37 Archery
42 Bronze Working
46 The Wheel
49 Philosophy (GL)
50 Trapping
55 Horseback Riding
57 Masonry
59 Sailing
)
(I only took pictures of positive huts, not several which only had maps, barbs, etc.)
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