Which tech to research first? Does it matter?

[Memoryjar]

I can see starting with Animal Husbandry if you know you want to go Liberty and will delay the Granary for a Monument but you probably don't know you want to go Liberty at this point.

Basic, but I didn't think about, despite I often open Liberty. Thx.

 

[budweiser]

The way the math works, there is plenty of time to grab more than 1 or 2 techs before you make the long journey to philo. You can actually benefit from some of the other techs before you commit 10 to writing, 12 to calendar and 17 to philo. Growing a little cuts these turn numbers down.

 

[BuzWeaverCiv]

When I'm watching the guys on Playthrough's I noticed that a majority of them almost always start with Pottery. Regardless of the victory type I go for I'm typically playing with a Science focus, so opening with Pottery leads me straight to Writing.

My first build is typically a Scout because I'm hoping they'll get a Ruin with a Weapons upgrade. As you guys mentioned AH is a good one as well, however as someone else mentioned Barbs seems to always disrupt my Caravans in the very early game.

 

[GhostSalsa]

Do you ever build scouts? I have found el dorado first 5 or 6 times and I have only 600hours

I've probably only even had it in my games anywhere 5 times at all.

I'll model from my Spain games even though the sample size is too small, because you know for sure with all wonders as Spain: on average I only first-find one wonder per game even with heavy scouting. Sometimes 3, sometimes 0, probably 1 average.

This makes sense since there's more AI opponents on Standard than there are wonders, and they start with a scout on my difficulty. 6 wonders appear on standard maps now. So I first-find 1 of 6 generated wonders in all games. In 2000 hours I've had El Dorado in about 5 games, the likelihood would be that I first-found it 1 time by now. The actual result has been 0 which is pretty close to 1.

You seeing it a lot is a normal fluke - I've personally seen Solomon's Mines 4 or 5 times which is aberrant according to what most here seem to report - but I wouldn't expect it to continue happening.

 

[njmfff]

Oh! I actually forgot something: On higher difficulties (mainly Deity though it kinda works on Immortal too) you can start with Animal Husbandry and build a Caravan for the science boosts. At that point in the game +3 or +4 beakers is very powerful.

Yeah, very powerful if you don't want religion... but if you want tone, Pottery is probably better. You'll have trouble finding that pantheon without a shrine, especially on Deity.

I would even pre-build Monument, switch to Shrine, then finish monument once Shrine is done on Deity. Lot of times I miss out religion on DT, by like one turn.

 

[Vathris]

Alright, this is the Tradition opener I've hammered out:

Settle first city, build Scout, research Pottery. When Scout finishes (but before Pottery is done) shave turns off a Worker until Pottery is done. On Pottery finish, switch production to Shrine (Granary instead if 2 or more benefiting tiles). Research Archery next. Build Granary after Shrine. When at 200 gold, buy Archer and go clear barb camps. After Archery, research 1-2 land improvement techs (Mining and Calendar preferable) while accepting Embassies for gold. After Granary, start Worker and research Writing. After Worker finishes, build Library while Worker improves land. Library should line up with capital hitting 6 pop, then start Settler. Steal worker from CS and settle second city, immediately start building Library in second city. Build Caravan in capital while beelining Philosophy. After Caravan finishes, build NC in capital at around T80. Send Caravan to ship food to second city.

Does that sound good to you guys? My first Library comes in at around 6 pop, my NC at around T80. I've tried building a Settler at 4 pop but that feels like it murders my capital's growth. I take full Tradition doing this. After NC I head for Aqueducts then Education. I use this build in 90% of my games, unless I decide to skip Shrine and fit Stonehenge in there somewhere.

 

[GhostSalsa]

Does that sound good to you guys? My first Library comes in at around 6 pop, my NC at around T80. I've tried building a Settler at 4 pop but that feels like it murders my capital's growth. I take full Tradition doing this. After NC I head for Aqueducts then Education. I use this build in 90% of my games, unless I decide to skip Shrine and fit Stonehenge in there somewhere.

It's relatively easy to settle 4 cities and finish NC at turn 90, so in my opinion two fewer cities is way too much of a sacrifice for 10 turns earlier NC. Besides, why focus on killing your start to build a shrine and gaining a pantheon so much, or even at all, if your entire game-start is based on racing to Education, rather than settling cities. Religion has little to offer a two-city empire, nor a late-blooming four-city one.

A library in the capital, in the turn/population range between when you are building it and turn 90, gives you yields such as: 4 beakers. There's no reason to build it before the second and third settler. Plant 2 more cities and they will give you 4 beakers within 7 turns. What I'm saying is building library in the capital, way before the other cities are about to finish theirs, is not worth opportunity costs.

 

[reddishrecue]

You should get that trade caravan out right after the settler or sooner. The caravan will keep the maintenance for all the buildings that you're trying to build. If you get monarchy social policy, you'll make a lot more money and be able to shop for more buildings or military if you get a sudden dow.

 

[isau]

Maybe for a rare start where you are the Shoshone and your first city got placed on top of Gems, Gold, Silver, Salt, Sheep, or Cows. I say this because with a little luck as the Shoshone you can grab ruins at turn 20 and pick the 20 Faith option, which could bypass the need for an early shrine.

 

[Vathris]

It's relatively easy to settle 4 cities and finish NC at turn 90, so in my opinion two fewer cities is way too much of a sacrifice for 10 turns earlier NC. Besides, why focus on killing your start to build a shrine and gaining a pantheon so much, or even at all, if your entire game-start is based on racing to Education, rather than settling cities. Religion has little to offer a two-city empire, nor a late-blooming four-city one.

A library in the capital, in the turn/population range between when you are building it and turn 90, gives you yields such as: 4 beakers. There's no reason to build it before the second and third settler. Plant 2 more cities and they will give you 4 beakers within 7 turns. What I'm saying is building library in the capital, way before the other cities are about to finish theirs, is not worth opportunity costs.

I've just been following the advice on the forums, namely trying to get both Libraries done by T65-T70, NC ASAP and Education done by T100-T130.

Even when I do hit those turn numbers though, my science way is below what it (supposedly) should be, the benchmarks of 125 BPT after Unis on turn 125 and 400 BPT by turn 200. I regularly struggle to hit 50%-75% of that science. Perhaps this is because I build Settlers so late. I generally only have 2 cities by the end of the Classical Era, and don't settle my fourth until late Medieval or early Renaissance.