Which is your favorite starting resource?

[Abegweit]

Gems on grassland are majorly good... they fit into the growth pattern I mentioned above. They are not on the list though. If they were I would have cast a vote.

 

[Reprisal]

Warpstorm: Oh yes, I forgot about that one.

 

[DarkSchneider]

I suppose I should have given my vote when I started this poll I would choose Gold because of a very good experience I had playing a starting spot with Gold on Emporer. The 2 gold mines next to my capital single handedly kept me in the tech race against my opponents, and indirectly allowed me to get the Pyramids by allowing me to quickly master masonry as well as all of the initial production techs (hunting, mining, agriculture, the wheel, etc) Since I was able to build a quarry on Stone at my second expansion, I was able to chop rush the Pyramids many years ahead of what I expected.

So I imagine if gold could be found on a grassland or hill/grassland that would be the best. Also, any luxury resource should really be thought of as a second population point in Emporer+ difficulty games.

 

[Calder]

Gold: When mined gives you +1 production, +6 commerce, +1 happy.

 

[Byrath]

I like fish, my city grows to size 3 while the work boat is built, and then my first worker is built quite quickly with a nice 5 food tile.
Gold would be my second choice... mm, gold.

 

[Beleg Strongbow]

Stone. With it I have a much better change of getting 2CP per city for fast boarder expansion, 3 happiness for my whole empire (which won't break 5 cities for some time anyway), and 3 beakers for specialists, which make my next wonder, The Great Library, amazing and makes any GP farm a science city as well.

That sure beats 1 happiness when I don't need it yet anyway and the production bonus for the quarry is decent as well. Only marble and ivory come close to being this game changing.

 

[Skanderbeg]

Marble = Oracle + Parthenon + Sistine Chapel + Great Library = Culture Victory

My experience is only Prince and below. Maybe not valid for higher levels.

 

[punchandpie]

I love to see stone, that way I can build Stonehenge for half the cost. If not that then either gold or a food source.

 

[PopTarts]

Agreed. Definitely the best way to get a jump on the AI. Unfortunately, unless you're playing on very low levels, you probably won't get this near your first city.

Are resources really tied to difficulty level? I'm not so sure. In my last Prince game, I started with BOTH marble and stone in my starting grid! I was Qin for that game so I nabbed every wonder except the Great Lighthouse.

 

[STDIO]

I'd like to bring to your attention the famous dwarven song: Gold Gold Gold, Gold Gold Gold, Gold Gold Gold, Gold Gold Gold, Gold Gold Gold, Gold Gold Gold, Gold Gold Gold Gold Gold Gold Gold Gold Gold Gold Gold Gold, Gold Gold Gold, Gold Gold Gold, Gold Gold Gold. Gold Gold Gold, Gold Gold Gold, Gold Gold Gold.
This is only an excerpt as you must know. The next 47 minutes of song are quite similar to what was already brought. Atleast as far as lyrics go.

 

[al_thor]

Do people REALLY hook up stone BEFORE building Stonehenge? I can't imagine waiting that long, unless it's within my capitol's boders anyway.
If you have to build another city to get it, I'm thinking you would already start on Stonehenge immediately after spitting the settler out. So unless you actually then settle right on top of it, I can't see how to get it hooked up for Stonehenge.

But I digress slightly off-topic. Stone is sweet, Marble is nice. Grassland Tusks is VERY powerful militarily, financially, AND production. Kinda rare (at least in my experience) to see only a single Tusk, so I will often put a cottage on the 2nd, 3rd, etc Tusk. Nice cash boost with some hammers thrown in. It's rare for me to actually trade Tusks to the AI for obvious reasons.

 

[sukadi]

i like gems on flatland without jungle.if it's with a river, that's super.

 

[Roxtar]

I'm torn between stone & marble, but I voted the latter since it accelerates production of the Oracle, Parthenon & Great Library, the early Wonders that boost my tech or GPP. The next most useful resource for me would be horses, so I can more effectively fight barbs & escort settlers.

 

[josephstalin]

I live cow near my first city, because of its output. Stone and Mable are not so much useful early on to me.

 

[dcode147]

Does anyone know how many times I have tried to build a wonder before the AI on Emperor? This said, even with the production bonus, stone will not suffice to beat the AI to the first several wonders.

 

[Spearthrower]

I voted Gold due to numerous excellent results starting with one or more Gold resources in my Capital.... one in particular playing as Inca with a fish, a clam, 5 flood plains and the rest were desert/grass hills. One hill had gold, I mined it then mined the hill next to it.... 1 turn later Gold spawned there. That basically kept me tech leader throughout the game, allowing me to found multiple religions, maintain a healthy number of cities and a large standing army. Yeah, the other resources certainly helped, but those Gold mines were the heart of my empire!!

 

[Roxtar]

Does anyone know how many times I have tried to build a wonder before the AI on Emperor? This said, even with the production bonus, stone will not suffice to beat the AI to the first several wonders.

Another factor is whether or not you are Industrious; that's why I like to play Gandhi when aiming for Culture vic. Of course, I have read in previous posts that the higher the difficulty, the less effective that trait is. I've also gathered that those who play above Noble rely less on building Wonders & founding rels, & more on other things like warmongering. But for those like me who play below Noble, stone & marble are quite useful, with or without the Industrious trait.

 

[Strobe]

Stone. Simply for the pyramids.

I also like Gems and flood plains for cottages.

 

[DaviddesJ]

Does anyone know how many times I have tried to build a wonder before the AI on Emperor? This said, even with the production bonus, stone will not suffice to beat the AI to the first several wonders.

Nonsense. If you start with stone in the radius of your first city, it's easy to build the Pyramids before the AI, at Emperor. You can get Stonehenge too, if you want.

 

[Roxtar]

Do people REALLY hook up stone BEFORE building Stonehenge? I can't imagine waiting that long, unless it's within my capital's borders anyway.

I usually don't wait for stone in the case of SH (or for marble in the case of Oracle) but in my last game as Gandhi I did build other wonders in my stone & marble cities while the roads from them to my cap were being built. When the roads were finished, I either was building or had just built the Pyramids in my cap. Thus stone & marble don't necessarily help with early Wonders, but once connected they do help with mid-game Wonders.