What to build at the start

[Balderstrom]

After a few more regular BTS Epic games, I'm gonna try a few tests.
If I can get the DLL to compile, will change how the cost of road movement is done.
And will give all units x2 movement or something like that. Leaving the build times as Normal speed. I'll have to dig up the thread I posted it into here.

 

[killmeplease]

on marathon not only movement rate but also unit production is higher than on other speeds.

 

[Balderstrom]

I have too many units at the late game in Normal and Epic to deal with. The ability to have even more units by going Marathon isn't appealing to me.

 

[GIO888]

Always build workboats first, coastal cities grow fast and you can warrior settler worker from them until you have enough cities that you need code of laws to keep out of the red.

By that time I'm normally as big as anyone else in terms of size so can cut the cloth according to who my neighbors are - build military units if it's Monty or Shaka, build science improvers like libraries etc if it's a less warlike AI.

 

[MikeUK]

I'm finding the whole balance of this play extremely frustrating at the moment! I'm trying to follow some guidelines by building workers and settlers quickly, but am slipping well behind other civs because it takes so long to build settlers! Also as I'm focusing on spreading my civilization I keep getting beaten to wonders!

I can't seem to win no matter WHAT I do!!!

 

[Clam Spammer]

Unless you have a perfect start location or play on a very low level, expansion and early wonders are mutually exclusive - you can't have both. You simply don't have enough hammers. I would recommend that you don't try to build wonders if you want to expand quickly. The benefits of early wonders are nice, but then again so is having more cities (and better developed cities) than the AI.

Yes, settlers cost a lot of hammers. You need to chop forests otherwise they will take forever.

 

[Balderstrom]

You need to chop-rush things, and whip. In my latest game I've been playing for a while, I completed StoneHenge @ 1550 BC (Ramses II, Industrious +50% Wonder Production). Which is by no means an "early" completion for it.
City #1: 3975 BC, Thebes - 1 turn delay to build on a Hill, better BFC outlay.
City #2: 2200 BC, Memphis - Next door to the Capital.
City #3: 0650 BC, Heliopolis - Walked a ways to Hook up Stone.
City #4: 0260 BC, Elephantine - Travelled by Boat to Hook up Copper.
#5/ 160 AD, #6/655 AD, #7/850 AD, #8/870 AD, #9/940 AD,
#10/980 AD, #11/1010 AD, #12/1170 AD, #13/1375 AD, have 2 more coming in the next 2-3 turns.
Took 2 others from the Barbarians. Somewhere in between.

Theres also some things you can do with Production Queue toggling, where you bounce back and forth between building things. And when you Chop-Rush/Whip put in a building that you get a big bonus to production, for Ramses that'd be a Temple... later game forges, but yer not building those early on.
Or Chop Rush a Warrior a Settler when there are many turns left to completion but the 30+ will complete it 4/5+ turns quicker.
Generally don't whip/or chop rush, when the carryOver will be more than the cost of the unit - that is lost hammers.

Sometimes You'll want to whip 2 population or more.

So I didn't complete Stonehenge until after my 2nd city. And I didn't bother for the pyramids since it took too long to get stone hooked up. I generally don't go for the pyramids, but for some people thats one of their must-haves.

 

[killmeplease]

Balderstrom,
#13/1375 AD?? isn't it an overexpansion? i have 5-6 cities at most at this time.. (monarch level). how you manage to deal with so huge empire that early? i cant imagine this (unless your leader is Gilgamesh).

MikeUK,
as for wonders, you don't need them all. choose a wonder you need most of all, beeline it and start to build, use chopping to speed it up.
i.e. if i'm not going for founding a religion and i'm not creative, i prefer stonehenge. if i'm philosophical and there is a stone resource available, then pyramid is my choise. if there is much of water, lighthouse is preferable etc.

 

[Willem]

Sweet, then many of the chop/start strategies would still work.

No because your production costs are increased as well. It takes more Hammers to produce anything in Marathon so the chop yield is just adjusted enough to compensate.

 

[pangu]

There is, I think, no single standard starting build. It all depends on the resources on the BFC, your traits, your UUs, etc. However, for non-coastal starts, I often go for one of the following on Monarch level:

1/ (if ind or have stone in BFC) Worker > Unit > Stonehedge > GW > Unit > Settler > Worker > Mids

2/ (if creative and I see a nice 2nd city site) Worker > Worker > Settler > Unit [note: the starting warrior will escort the settler]

3/ (if non-ind/creative and I intend to rush) Worker > Stonehedge > Unit > Unit > Settler

But these are mere examples. If, for example, I find out very soon that I can block off a huge chunk of land from an AI with 2 cities in, e.g. pangea map, and leave him with no space for expansion, I may go for Worker > Settler > Settler with starting warrior as escort. This puts a strain on the very early economy though, so best to be done if there is a nice commerce tile to work on in the capital.

 

[Balderstrom]

Balderstrom,
#13/1375 AD?? isn't it an overexpansion? i have 5-6 cities at most at this time.. (monarch level). how you manage to deal with so huge empire that early? i cant imagine this (unless your leader is Gilgamesh).

Leader Ramses II, and yeah I've overexpanded a little bit, My science slider has dipped - but since every city is coastal its not too bad.
I had to shore up my minimal amount of Archipelago land-area, to stop Sitting Bull from boxing me in and a couple other nearby civs from poaching the corners.

40% (+22/Turn)
40% (+249/Turn)
10% (+218/Turn)
10% (+65/Turn)

I had to up culture, after Mongolia declared war and stopped trading 2-3 resources with me, which severely impacted happiness in a number of my key cities. Should be able to turn that down soon, will switch back to unit production after a little more infrastructure is in place.

And if I had less than 11 cities (Huge Map, 18 Civs), I would not be able to of completed any of the quests
HorseWhisperer - 11 stables before Renaissance, (Finished this one)
LibraryOne - 11 Libraries before Renaissance (Might be able to get this one)