Contents

First Turns
Expanding
Developing Your Capital
Policies and Technology
Diplomacy
Checklist

First Turns

Found your Capital wherever you spawn, and start building a Worker.

Use your supplemental Warrior as a scout. Don't use auto-exploration. Seek out nearby Ruins and loot them for the advances or bonuses they offer.

There will likely be a Barbarian encampment near your Capital. Move into advantageous position, crush it, heal up and move on.

If you're fortunate you'll meet a City-State or two in the first few turns. They provide you with decent gifts of Gold. You may also find a Natural Wonder, improving Happiness.

Don't stray more than eight Tiles away from your Capital until you have at least 200 Gold in reserve. If a Barbarian shows up you could lose your Worker or Improvements. Once you have 200 Gold feel free to range farther, as you can use the Gold to buy a Warrior if a Barbarian approaches.

Destroy any Barbarian encampments as soon as you can. They become a real headache if you ignore them.

After you finish your first Worker, set him to creating a Mine, Plantation, Pasture, Trading Post, Camp or Quarry. After completing one of these, build a Farm or two, then create any available Improvements around Resources.

Expanding

Next, build a Settler. He'll stifle your Capital's growth for a few turns but in the long run you'll grow bigger by founding a second City quickly.

After the Settler is built, send it to the nearest suitable location, found a City, and build a Worker there. If you have cash on hand, buy the Worker and build a Monument followed by a Settler. If you don't have the money, build the Worker, then build a Settler and then construct the Monument.

Use the new Worker to Improve the area around the second City, and then to build a Road back to the Capital, forging a trade route.

Send the new Settler out to found a third City, and start the newest City on a Worker. After your second City finishes a Monument, build a Granary there.

Developing Your Capital

Meanwhile, in your Capital, purchase or build a Monument and a Granary. Purchase or build another Military Unit, and then start on a Wonder. Stonehenge, the Oracle, Hanging Gardens, Great Library or the Pyramids are good choices. Then build a Lighthouse or Water Mill if you can.

Develop the area around your Capital with constant Improvements. Build lots of Farms to grow your population, and develop land around Resources with the appropriate Improvements to generate Happiness.

By this point your roving Warriors should have found enough City-States that there is at least one Barbarian-clearing mission available. Send out the troops and start working on gaining Influence.

If you've been handling your Happiness properly, you'll hit a Golden Age somewhere between turn 60 and 85.

Around Turn 100, it's a good idea to start work on two new Military Units. Things tend to get bloody at about this point in the Civilization 5.

Policies and Technology

Your first Social Policy should be Honor unless you are pursuing a Cultural Victory, in which case you should choose Tradition.

In most Civilization 5 games, by Turn 100 you should have unlocked Honor, Tradition, Piety and another Social Policy of your choice.

When choosing your first Technology, take a close look at the land surrounding your Capital.

• Are Resources adjacent to your Capital obscured by Forest, Marshes or Jungle? If so, you should discover Mining first so that you can clear them. Otherwise...
• ...if nearby Resources include Gold, Silver, or Gems, choose Mining. If there is Marble nearby or you need to drain a Marsh, follow Mining up with Masonry. If there is Jungle that you must clear to get at a Resource, follow Masonry with Bronze Working.
• ...if there are Furs or Ivory nearby, choose Animal Husbandry and then Trapping.
• ...if the nearby Resources are anything else, choose Pottery and then Calendar.

Don't move into the Classical Era until you have Mining, Animal Husbandry, Pottery, Calendar, Masonry, Trapping, Bronze Working, Archery, Writing, Sailing and the Wheel.

After these, develop these Classical Era Technologies:

1. Mathematics
2. Philosophy
3. Iron Working
4. Horseback Riding

By Turn 100 you should have these 15 Technologies unlocked.

Diplomacy

Your explorers will likely encounter several other Civilizations and City-States throughout the first 100 Turns. It's usually best to play nice until you have the measure of your foes, though if you find yourself in close geographic proximity to a weak City, don't be afraid to churn out some Units and attack.

If you do conquer another City Early, make it a Puppet until you develop Mathematics, then annex it and build a Courthouse there.

Make City-State missions a priority throughout the first 100 Turns. Building Influence with Maritime and Cultural states is particularly important in the early game, as these provide Food, which helps your Cities grow, and the scarce commodity of Culture. Friendly City-States also share their nearby Resources once they develop them.

After meeting a City-State's mission requirements, it's often a good idea to bribe them with Gold to increase the longevity of your Influence with them, especially if they're providing something you really want.

Other civilizations are pretty useless Diplomatically until after turn 50 when they start making Luxuries available for trade. Unless you're set on war, try to build Pacts of Cooperation and trade for any goods you can't generate yourself. After developing Philosophy, start making as many Research Agreements as you can afford.

Checklist

By Turn 100 you should have:

1. Three Cities, at least two of which are connected by a Road
2. A minimum of two competitive Military Units experienced in conflict with Barbarians, and at least 2 more in Production or ready to be purchased
3. A Wonder
4. 15-16 Technologies
5. 3-4 Policies
6. Improvements ringing your Cities
7. A completed Golden Age under your belt