What is the first thing you usually build at the beginning?

[spider1]

More often than not, I find the monument as first build to be more important. While this is not always the case, when I do screw up and this wasn't the right decision, I usually find I should have built a warrior not a monument. The scout as first build doesn't really seem to help me in the long run.

 

[ense7en]

This poll is very helpful...shows i've been doing it wrong apparently.

Will be trying scouting ASAP next time.

 

[Ruler]

It depends, in my opinion granary is only "must" things to do at the beginning. As long your capital grow fast.

 

[carbontaxes]

Worker 1st. Your warrior can usually grab most of the ruins that are in the area. Meanwhile, you really need that one or two hammer tiles improved for whatever your second build is going to be (monument).

Athough, if my capitol is just surrounded by a bunch of food/lux and only a few simple hill tiles, then I'm really just not going to be very interested in this capitol anyway. In this scenario I'd probably go Monument or Warrior as 1st build.

 

[Noatz]

Always scout first. The plethora of bonuses just one scout can bring far outweigh any other first build option.

Exception: You are playing on Tiny Islands/Archipelago and can see the extent of your island (and aren't Polynesia)

 

[woodshadows]

Always scout first. The plethora of bonuses just one scout can bring far outweigh any other first build option.

Exception: You are playing on Tiny Islands/Archipelago and can see the extent of your island (and aren't Polynesia)

Play on anything above King and the AI starts with several scouts which will beat you to the majority of ruins. Still some advantage in having the territory scouted, but a warrior can do this too and later be used to help defend/invade against neighbours.

 

[Noatz]

Play on anything above King and the AI starts with several scouts which will beat you to the majority of ruins. Still some advantage in having the territory scouted, but a warrior can do this too and later be used to help defend/invade against neighbours.

You can still usually snag multiple (extra) ruins with your scout even on Deity. And the higher the difficulty level, the more beneficial it is to quickly reveal all possible trading partners so you can offload resources and open borders.

 

[vexing]

Play on anything above King and the AI starts with several scouts which will beat you to the majority of ruins. Still some advantage in having the territory scouted, but a warrior can do this too and later be used to help defend/invade against neighbours.

they start with at most one scout,
even on deity a starting build scout will capture ruins you'd otherwise miss.

if you happen to hit an upgrade ruin with a scout, those scout-archers can be extremely valuable in wars, a lot more so than a warrior turned spearman.

 

[TedToaster22]

Scout usually, if I'm aiming for a cultural victory I may go with monument first.

 

[woodshadows]

they start with at most one scout,

You know this for a fact? I haven't looked into any of the code or references to confirm or not, but it certainly seems as if on the higher levels the AI has more than one scout a piece. I know this was also the implementation in Civ IV, the AI starting with extra scouts as one of their advantages with increased difficulty level. I too enjoy when a scout is upgraded into a terrain-ignoring archer, but this seems to happen so little as not to put much stock in it. I will keep track of how many ruins I find in future games, either building a scout or a warrior as initial build. I feel pretty certain however that since switching from a scout build to a warrior build I have noticed no difference in ruins found, I have however noticed a sharp decline in losses of scouts and increases in barbarian camps destroyed with a warrior + initial warrior exploring team.

 

[vexing]

You know this for a fact?

yes. it's in the handicapInfos table. king adds a warrior, emperor a scout, immortal another warrior and worker, deity a settler and another worker.

their building bonuses at high levels just lets them spit out an extra scout or two with ease.

 

[Smokeybear]

Wow, I'm just supirsed not as many people voted for monument... I always go monument > scout > Great Library that way I can get tradition > aristocracy > liberty > citizenship and found a second city to produce units while building the GL in my capital.

If I went that route, just on King difficulty, I'd most likely be broke, out of happiness, and overrun by barbs and nearby civ's bumrushes, before the GL ever popped out. I usually have to have at least 2 wars and 1 archer guarding the fort against the Alex's and Bismarck's of the world, and keeping barbs at bay, before I can even think of starting the GL or other wonder.

 

[MasterMishi]

mon first gives you liberty free settler those few turns before your neighbour, prob more useful in a land grab ie mP

 

[woodshadows]

If I went that route, just on King difficulty, I'd most likely be broke, out of happiness, and overrun by barbs and nearby civ's bumrushes, before the GL ever popped out. I usually have to have at least 2 wars and 1 archer guarding the fort against the Alex's and Bismarck's of the world, and keeping barbs at bay, before I can even think of starting the GL or other wonder.

same here.

 

[qyll]

My standard build (that I use 99% of the time) is scout --> monument --> worker

 

[tommynt]

scout obviously if there are ruins, monument if non.

Also deity ai doesnt scout much more as price ai as vexing stated allready.

Seems like ai got units binded to special actions so the "defensive" warris will NEVER pop a ruin even when its just 3 tiles from ai boarder while the "scout" (which can be warris aswell) units wont attack u no matter what happens no killing of 1 hp units or workers even when at war.
So as deity doesnt scout a lot even when it got 10 warris allready - nearly all of them are binded to "defense"

 

[Glassmage]

2 scouts if Spain

1 scout + monument + warrior if waiting for using Legalism on later culture buildings or not go Tradition

1-2 warrior/UU to capitalize on Warrior UU's.

 

[builer680]

Most (not all) games I play with the following settings:

Emperor Marathon Huge Continents 19 Civs

I find in this setup that Warrior is the way to go. AI already has Scouts and is going to beat you to most ruins anyway. Your Warrior will find the close ones if you're lucky before they do. A second Warrior will help you fend off any early rushes,, whereas I find that a Scout doesn't really help much in this regard.

Not sure with other game speed setups. When I change it up it's only to go higher difficulties or Pangaea/Fractal, where you still need that extra Warrior more than a Scout.

 

[Mesix]

You can still usually snag multiple (extra) ruins with your scout even on Deity. And the higher the difficulty level, the more beneficial it is to quickly reveal all possible trading partners so you can offload resources and open borders.

When I play Deity level, the AI generally finds me fast enough since they start with units to explore the map. I can generally get 2-3 nearby ruins with my initial warrior and building a scout rarely improves that. Generally speaking, I find that a scout is most beneficial at Settler level (since there is so much more time to plan and policies/techs come faster) and become much less beneficial as the difficulty level increases.

 

[Pouakai]

Typically I go for a Scout, then a Monument.