TSG64 Opening Actions thread

[leif erikson]

Welcome to the TSG64 Opening Actions thread. This thread is used to discuss the game once you've started playing through your first 100 turns. There are no posting restrictions as such (apart from normal decency), although we encourage players 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.

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

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

- What did you consider in your decision of where to settle your capital?
- What were your initial priorities?
- What tech path did you follow and why?
- Were there any early wars and who started them?
- How did you use your UU's? Did you find them effective?

 

[golem]

I went SW with settler, next to the mountain. Next make two scouts, granary, warrior and look around. I saved money for settler and build second city south on Incense. Good location to destroy barb camp. Fortunetely Iron was near too.

Sci - Calendar, Writing, Iron working ...Education (turn 127)
Rel - I made Stonehenge to receive some faith. Took Fertility rates, Ceremonial burial, Pagodas. extension - Faith from wonders + faster spreading.
War - First I conquered Berlin, next China, the last was Kyoto. The Aztecs looks rather powerfull, I let them friends and instead I will finish Germans - they broke my trade roads. Balistas are great, legie are good too.
Policy - full tradition.

One civ I still did not find, maybe it is time for some peace and scouting. I am going beeline to Astonomy now.

 

[Monthar]

I moved the warrior east then south and moved the settler to the forest intending to settle there. After moving the settler I noticed the coast 1 tile to the west. So on the 2nd turn I gambled with moving the settler 1 more west to settle on the coast. Sure it means losing Petra in the capital, but adds the harbor and seaport as possibilities in the capital and was still on the river and next to the mountain on flat plains so I can still have the windmill, watermill, hydro plant, etc.

I'm currently at turn 96. Someone else built the Great Library when I was 1 turn from finishing it. I used my free settler to build my 2nd city on the plain desert next to the mountain just SE of the capital. I didn't put this one on the river, because of where Valetta is, as it would have had to be on the wheat or 1 off the coast to have that river. The other problem with this location is the marble is in the 4th ring. However, if my Liberty GE to rush Petra gamble pays off this city will be a production powerhouse.

I've had 2 wars. The first was against Oda mainly to take an unescorted settler. His archer took out my injured scout that took his settler. I deleted the worker it turned into, because I had no chance of getting it home with all the barbs in the way. He offered white peace almost as soon as he could, which I accepted. Then I noticed Bismark moving troops in my direction so I Dow'd him after taking all his cash. I just made a white peace with Bismark after killing most of his troops and his first GG, but losing my warrior and several archers in the process.

I went full liberty, I went for the free worker first, built one after losing the GL and either built or bought a 3rd after building several archers.

I will finish both Liberty and currency in 4 turns and take a GE to get Petra up in my 2nd city.

Techs
Pottery, Writing, Calender, Animal Husbandry, Archery, Mining, Trapping, Philosophy, Masonry, Bronze Working, Iron Working, Mathematics and currently researching Currency. As soon as Currency is done, I will likely beeline for Education. The delay in Philosophy was to let the 2nd city finish building its library, which it finished 2 turns before I finished the research.

I will likely use my ballistas instead of composite bows with my legions to go after Bismark then Wu and possibly Oda. After all I covet their lands. I'll likely raze the city Bismark dropped near me because it's not quite where I want it. In fact I'll likely raze every city I can and just build replacements so I don't have to build courthouses.

Religion
Goddess of Festivals: Faith and culture from Wine & incense.

 

[Dancognito]

So many warmongers! I'm shooting for a care bear game.

I took the desert hill next to the mountain to reach a few more desert tiles. Even though it's not an ideal Petra location, for a science focus I actually don't mind all the plain deserts without freshwater once Petra is up, since they make excellent GS planting spots. I did some BRUTAL kill-stealing with my scout to knock out some hut quests and basically built my army for free from the military CS's. But I've neglected the Roman uniques for early conquering.

With the CS happiness I've been able to sell all my luxuries, so I'm doing well on diplo. Biz offered DoF just as his HUGE army started my way (he's a good friend as long as he respects your strength), then I paid him off to DoW Wu (glad I saw her and didn't waste turns on GL). They've worn each other down and now she and Monty are working on Oda. I denied her DoF earlier to keep Biz Markee happy, and she doesn't like where my second city is, but I think I can win her over later with some snooping or an opportunistic DoW if it looks like she's going to take Oda down.

Beelined NC, took a risk and settled the second city a good ways away in that sweet desert river area, then Petra, Oracle, and now Great Mosque for missionary science spam (got desert folklore, so my faith is cray cray). I may cap Monaco to bridge the gap, or put what will surely be a crappy little city on the coast if I can spare the happiness.

My plan is essentially to be the neighborhood gossip/merchant and play Wu and Biz off each other to keep the friendships and therefore the RA's flowing. After I get all the national wonders up in the capital I'll look at expanding/conquering if people aren't cooperating.

Is it me or are all the capitals pretty crappy? The only one I really want is Technochillytown.

 

[numaru7]

moved settler west and saw the coast, but still decided to go on the forest tile because i didn't think i'd get much food out of it on the coast. Started with worker, then granary, no scout, no monument, because i presumed im on some kind or arhipelago/small continents map when after 6 turns i didn't find anyone with warrior. Went full tradition, hard built a settler and plopped a city near the oasis+iron(good thing that was there). wanted to build a 3-nd city near valleta(which was also almost raised by them when i attacked china) on river but bismark started expanding all over the place. Made 9 archers, 1 horseman and 1 ballista and wanted to attack him, but he attacked me first, Took out his cap, had to rebuild 2 of his cities cause he didn't build them as he should have.
Now i've just taken China's capital, he had GW so i had to use 2 GG's. His chukonus managed to do nothing. Japan is also dead, and the other's have met me.

Missed Petra in 2-nd city at the last turn.
I'm currently building Pisa in cap, i have 110 science with no scientists and im in turn 182... pretty crappy, At least i have managed to build HG in capital. I'm 10 techs behind in Literacy.

Oh yeah, and o chose +1 faith from desert tiles.

 

[glory7]

I have been waiting for a good Roman game (glory of Rome!), but it seems that this one is not going well.

Settled 1 SW for river and mountain.

Went for tradition - I think this was a critical mistake, as cap had poor growth potential. I should have chosen my usual liberty path. I started to hard build a settler when I hit pop 4 (I didn't even try early wonders including GL) and bought one too.

When Germany built a city near marble (south of Rome where I was about to build my 2nd "petra" city) just before I build one, I got really angry - stupid barbs made me waste like 2 turns and that's why I lost that spot.

I built two cities near Germany (one on the cotton, one near 2 bananas and truffle). I thought that I have to kill Germany (and other guys) fast.

I knew that it was not a good idea to do CB rush for fast SV, but I just could not control my temper after losing 2nd city spot and wasted several turns. I could not find good 4th city spot, so I decided to go with 3 cities to start. One excuse for an early war could be that Germany will attack me anyway so it's good to kill him before he gets enough army, especially UU.

I upgraded 4-5 CBs and DoWed Germany. I think it was around or before t60 - yes, I did not even get writing before construction. Other guys at the same continent were asking to DoW together their neighbors several times already and with close distance among them and aggresive warmonger leaders, I was sure that they will fight to death before I clear Germany. I even accepted DoF request from China to make sure that I can concentrate on one battle line.

I was totally wrong. Next turn, China denounced me (backstab!) and 2 turns later both Japan and China DoWed me. At this point, I completely forgot the purpose of this game (science ... yes...but....) and I decided to clear the continent asap. I knew that at this point I cannot finish really competitively anyway.

I got a nice peace deal from Germany after killing most (if not all) of his units so that I could go back to def my cotton city from China. China had lots of units but you know how stupid AI is. My 5-6 CBs+2 horse+2 warrior went for China cap and took it. Got a nice peace deal, and I continued to attack Japan right after. I needed a coastal city to explore the map with caravels and Japan cap looked nice.

I had to stop my war campaign when Aztec offered me a nice peace deal (all gold + lux). I was in unhappy for like 10 turns and those two lux could help me getting back to growth. Moreover, I could not take his cities without Xbows anyway.

For techwise, I think my NC was pretty late (like t80-90) and I hit education around t115. One good thing was that with lots of early puppets I could rush buy 3 univs. my 2nd and 3rd city had really low production so rush buy was mendatory (3rd city had tons of jungles and had like 2-3 hammers...) I entered renaissance around t130 with astromony and used Oracle to open rationalism.

I went Petra and HS in my cap, but I should have built HG instead... cap growth is miserable. I thought that it would be okay after getting back in happy state, but I was wrong again.

Got DF-ceremonial burial-pagoda but had trouble with happiness for 10-15 turns during the wars. It seems that religion didn't spread fast even though I used 2 missionaries (for example, I used it on Osaka and Kyoto, both 4 pop, and it could not even convert the cities! it only made 2 follwers and cities didn't convert. Don't know why.)

Will post some screenshots later.

 

[Tabarnak]

Played first 2 sessions and ended up at the turn 135 for now. My game is a mixbag of glory7's and golem's stuff. Went Tradition, rush bought a worker when i could, i built 2x warriors instead for my initial BO.

(61) I managed to build 2 more cities and had build Stonehenge to please 3 cs :

Spoiler :

Some turns later Germany attacked me with archers and warriors. After killing them, i crossed through Hambourg and Berlin and captured them.

Spoiler :

At the same time Munich has been taken by China but it was their 2nd city only after Beijing so i could capture this city later. Well, the japs decided that they were the first to get them and i DoWed him right after the German campaign. I captured China's cap and 2 more japan cities(cap included). Meanwhile Cumae built Petra, entered Edu around 115 and Astro 130 like glory7. Also built Oracle to enter Rationalism.

I stopped around 135 and i possess 8 cities. Hamburg is annexed and 4 unis are running. Will annex other cities when i can to pump more science. So it will be me and Aztecs for a while i guess. Funny enough, i captured a settler(worker) from the Aztecs and they have been my best friend so far I like my faith rate, it's almost over 40 fpt now.

 

[glory7]

@Tabarnak

Your Cumae position was the one I was going for my 2nd city as well. I cannot believe that Germany built his city there that early. As you got Petra there, I am pretty sure that your start is much better than mine.

 

[Maxym]

Yes my game looked pretty much like yours guys. Tried to get a nice four city tradition thing going but when i met the neighbours and saw the setup i knew war was in the air. So i did not wait, met Wu then Oda even before my warrior reached Beijing. I thought Oda was close so i sold him my gpt with intention of snatching his worker and then reselling it to someone to get a quick shrine. It turned out he was on the othr side of the continent and my poor warrior just kept walking and walking as I was bleeding gold and when i got there he put his worker in cap and put a warrior in there for good measure. Were my intentions that obvious?

I eventually had to DoW him to get out of the deal and thensold the gpt to WU and Biz and had to work one of the incense tiles so not to get my science into negative. I only allow myself one free DoW for gold like that and saw no reason to change my play. When my pooor battered warrior decided to turn around after dodging Oda's cities and units, he met Monty's unescorted settler, as i was dirt poor and even had to build a worker MYSELF, as i was saving for settler to grab that juicy desert river confluence spot, i thought why now? He ran a bit through a jungle but i cornered him and now both the new workere and my warrior were dodging Monte's cities and units. I was not about to delete him, WHY WOULD YOU? If you lose the dodge game all you have is no worker and someone has one. If you win... He is a very productive member of Roman society and a free man by now.

I had DoFs with Germany and China, but my antics ans forward settling must have unnerved them, and on t 70 they both decided to return my gpt and pay me a visit instead. It just did not work the way they intended.

Spoiler :

China was sitting on only cap and GL but with a beastly army boosted by their GG and going full honor. And already trounced Oda and took his city, Biz was not far behind and Monte was just getting going. I had little time to do it. thanks to such poor food cap, i had lots of hammers and was cranking archers every two turns and beelining construction. it was slow going at first as i had to divide forces and keep Antium garrisoned and hills guarded. But once few free troops from militray CS (spear and CA) showed up i moved everyone else to hamburg and took it and then Berlin. Got to love those legionnaries. On open ground can take a shot from 24 def cap, CB and CA and still walk out on their own.

Once Berlin was down i was thinkning of how to get rid of Wu without diplo hit as she just had a cap and a city on the way to Kyoto. Thankfully my new BFF, Monte helped settling a troll city just south of Beijing, which she promply took, while he relieved her of Osaka. He was such a nice chap he DoWed Oda for me for 75 gold and gave me OB which i thought i will need to help him with Kyoto as you all know how bad AI is sometimes. I was on my way there after taking Beijing but he already finished the job. Now i paid hih for some whales Oda used to hunt for ma and am waiting one more turn to get GA before plunging my empire into ruin and unhappiness as i eradicate Oda. I am not sure if i will leave him alive, if not then I will try to erase Biz and no one will know my wicked deeds. But as i am already struggling on happy, i think i will just take the juiciest bits and deal with the consequences.

Spoiler :

I was of course super late to Education (t122) but thought i had a chance to catch up as i had cash for two unis and could open Rennesaince with acoustics same turn as i fiinished Oracle. Except someone built it over there with one turn to go and now i am too deep into it to get Astro before next SP. oh well it wont be a contending game as i am sure someone will do it right and not mess it up like us. But it sure is a fun one, and i rarely had a chance to take over a continent like that with classical units (i will try to avoid XB and use what i have) it might not be feasible, as I got Bad Monty, sitting on eight cities already, lots of iron and horses, with SM and i am sure LSM in a turn or two if not already as he is 4 techs ahead of me.

 

[leif erikson]

Did you play this in the newly patched version of the game?

If so, would you please attach a save so Alan can try to run it through the newly adjusted parser? Thanks.

edit - every time I have tried, I get server busy and it throws me out.

 

[pkf]

t110 edu :/

im going liberty, wu is about to fall, happiness is tight and i just missed ci by one turn... could be going better. at least i got petra in a decent location. 4 cities so far, will place two more soon. scouted badly and found monty very late. nc was late too, ~70-80s. starting position is kinda hard.

my civ is behaving weirdly since the patch, had to reload twice because "invisible" (no menu icons whatosever) trades appeared that i couldnt get out of (even with ESC). also japan offered me peace even though we were never at war. thus i couldnt accept it either because he wouldnt. now it just froze..

cant load the autosave, freezes every time, will probably take a break..

 

[Monthar]

With all the issues caused by the patch, I think I'll wait for the hotfix before continuing.

 

[Hieschen]

Interesting read your opening actions, was a bit different for myself.

Settled like the rest on the forest near the mountain and build 2 scouts to explore.
Met the different city states, but the quests did not help, no barb camp to clear, no civs to discover, no easy luxes, still befriended Lavaletta and Monaco.

Pottery > AH > Archery (a world of warmongers near by) > writing>trapping

After 2nd scout gpt/ money with Oda, rush bought worker and build a shrine and a granary, pumped out 4 archers afterwards.
T48 got a panthenon with 30 faith (that seemed more than usual) and chose DF

Went liberty and dropped 3 additional cities between T60 and T70 (North of cotton on 3 river site > Cumae, NE of oasis on the grass, last on the coast between marble and sheep N of the fish.
Accepted DOF from all but Krauts who show up on T74 with an army S of Cumae, so I sold him my horses and my cotton and dow him, not my usual play style, but he was annoying me and i am learning from you guys here. Stole his worker who was alone near his army and shot some of his warriors to pieces. Now that was a preemptive strike. Krauts were running around a bit headless after this, lost his catapult another couple of warriors to my cb. Asked for peace giving me all his money and his horses on T81, gamble won.

Dropped another city east of Hamburg on the river hill next to the wheat.

Dropped Oracle on T88 and finished liberty on t100, rushed Petra in desert city N of oasis
NC T110 (that is pretty late) and got edu T128 which is late too, bought a university in cap and have to build the others...

Overall not looking too bad, 5 cities, Krauts under control, as is happiness, started to explore the coast with a trimere. Have to get science going and keep out of trouble on my continent of warmongers

 

[leif erikson]

Should you have diplo issues, Dennis Shirk (Firaxis Civ5 Producer) has asked for saves for them to analyze in this thread.

If you wish to post them there, it may result in a faster hotfix so we can get this train back on the rails.

 

[StrideColossus]

Not posted or played civ for almost a year, but thought I'd get back into the fold (I would just before a new update) and this GOTM seemed a good one for a refresher.

On about t100 and things going pretty well, NC built, cities developing nicely, got some good trades going, etc. Closest neighbour is Germany who has just DOWed but has a crappy army of warriors and a few archers vs my legions and ballistas, so am expecting to rip him a new one.

However I think I've made quite a few mistakes and thought I'd share my 'lessons learnt':

1. I forgot which way round Emperor and Immortal are and thought I was playing on a level easier than I am! That said things seem OK thus far.

2. I dithered a bit with techs that were less important rather than bee-lining for Currency and consequently lost out hard-building Petra by a good few turns. e.g. got Mining but no intention of buildings any mines just yet, we have no metal resources, and there is only forest in the capital for chopping.

3. I was expecting the raging barbs to have a much bigger impact but they've been more like tepid barbs to be honest, perhaps the reason is we are relatively tucked away in one corner of the map. Probably could have got away without building so many units for barb-defence earlier.

 

[leif erikson]

Welcome back and good luck.

 

[Hieschen]

I seriously hate being dow'ed a turn after a DOF with all green by a civ, it just is massively annoying....and on top this stupid backstab comment

Welcome to the negative play experience, not all payers here thrive on constant warring! If i want a constant war, i play a bloody wargame ....

Mind you still in the game, but instead of building and growing cities, to war again....

 

[Maxym]

Oda or Wu? With him in my experience it's almost a given.

 

[Hieschen]

Oda or Wu? With him in my experience it's almost a given.

Wu

Crushed her army now (+- t 160) and accepted white peace. She has GW, so i cannot be bothered to go after her cities.

 

[Monthar]

I'm now up to turn 201 and am still 4 turns from Scientific Theory. The wars didn't go well. I just made peace with Wu and Bismark after they DoW'd me together. I think the only reason they agreed to peace is because Monty took all but one city from Wu and that's a city she's taken from Bismark earlier in the game. Just before that joint DoW, Wu coop'd Valletta away from me, who almost took my Petra city.

My biggest mistake in this game was focusing on building wonders and buildings instead of building more military. In fact that's my biggest mistake in pretty much every game. if I had built more military I would probably have been able to take over my entire continent by now and been a LOT further in the tech tree.

At this point Cathy has taken over her entire continent. Just a few turns ago she finished off the Songhai. She finished off Greece before I met anyone from the other continent.

At the rate I'm going I'll be lucky to achieve a sub 350 science victory. Odds are I'll lose well before I can even get the first SS part unlocked. So I doubt I'll finish this game.